Sueba USA is close to securing a permit to build the multifamily Ivy Lofts in the planned Ivy District development, a Pearland Economic Development Corp. official reports. The Ivy Lofts, 1466 Park Terrace near Beltway 8, will boast 332 units and a wrap-style parking garage in the center. This is the first real vertical (development) in our more urban Lower Kirby area; so were real excited about it, Pearland EDC President Matt Buchanan said during a recent virtual State of Brazoria County event hosted by the Houston Apartment Association. They are out for a permit right now, and I would expect construction to start this summer, Buchanan said of the Ivy Lofts project. Sueba USA has completed projects throughout the Houston area, including the second phase of The Residences at Pearland Town Center in 2012. The Ivy District has been in the works for some years. The area, which is west of Texas 288, is targeted for a 48.5-acre mixed-use development zoned for condos, office space and retail outfits as well as multifamily residences such as the Ivy Lofts. Melissa Black, the Pearland EDCs director of marketing, said the Ivy District also will include gated townhomes and already features a public park adjacent to Clear Creek. Additionally, part of the space is reserved for aesthetic features. Approximately 16.05 acres is dedicated to water features, parks, open spaces and tree plantings, she said. The Ivy Park portion of the trail system is part of the eventual 21-mile Clear Creek Trail, and a pedestrian bridge across Clear Creek is under construction to provide access from the (Ivy) development and Lower Kirby District to the city and Shadow Creek Ranch trail systems. Buchanan cited other ongoing commercial development in the Lower Kirby District, including the following: Endress + Hauser, a field measurement company based in Switzerland, recently opened a 120,000-square-foot-building at Kirby and Beltway 8 that employees about 150 people. The 17-acre site will eventually be home to multiple buildings, Buchanan said. Lonza Houston, a viral and cell therapy manufacturer that opened a 300,000-square-foot building in the Lower Kirby District in 2018 has continued to grow and now has more than 500 employees. Buchanan said this type of industry is especially attractive for Pearland, which boasts a large population of medical professionals. This is the cutting edge of medicine in the future and plays into our life sciences and health care emphasis as a community, he said. A HCA Houston Healthcare training facility that has been under construction in Pearland Town Center since 2020 should open later this spring. The planned 48,000-square-foot building will boast a hospital simulation lab and draw thousands of health care workers for training. It should be a great activity generator for Town Center, Buchanan said. During his April 8 presentation, Buchanan also talked about several multifamily developments and senior living facilities either just completed or underway. He discussed the 215-unit Larkspur on Shadow Creek senior-living development at 12635 Shadow Creek Parkway, as well as The Elan at Shadow Creek, where 276 units are planned at 12900 Shadow Creek Parkway. Also under construction is The Vineyard at 2680 Business Center Drive, with eventual capacity for 299 units, as well as Fordham at Silverlake, 2760 County Road 94. The 190 units in that development should be available for leasing toward the end of 2021. Buchanan said residents should keep an eye to plans to reconstruct FM 518 from Texas 288 to Texas 35. Design work on the project is happening now and the Texas Department of Transportation has started right-of-way acquisition. The $88.4 million project will be done in two phases: the first from Cullen to Texas 288, which is expected to begin construction in 2024, and the next from Cullen to Texas 35. A construction timeline for Phase 2 has not yet been determined. MCLEAN, Va., April 14, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- The United States House of Representatives today passed the Food Allergy Safety, Treatment, Education and Research (FASTER) Act (S. 578), a critical piece of legislation requiring that sesame be labeled on packaged foods and prioritizing food allergy research. This legislation will benefit the 85 million Americans who are affected by food allergies or intolerances, of which 32 million suffer from a potentially life-threatening condition. Last month, FARE hosted its Courage at Congress virtual fly-in where 500 food allergy champions met with more than 200 members of the House, Senate and their staff to push for passage of the bill. "There is nothing more important to the food allergy community than ensuring that the FASTER Act is put into law," said Lisa Gable, chief executive officer of FARE. "On behalf of the nearly 1.6 million Americans who are allergic to sesame, I thank Representative Doris Matsui (D-CA-6) and Representative Patrick McHenry (R-NC-10) for championing this critical piece of bipartisan legislation and now look forward to President Biden signing it into law." The FASTER Act has been the highest legislative priority for FARE, the world's leading non-governmental organization engaged in food allergy advocacy and the largest private funder of food allergy research. Today's action follows the Senate's passage of the bill on March 3, 2021. The FASTER Act would require that sesame be labeled as an allergen on packaged foods. Sesame would become the ninth food allergen for which the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) requires plain-language labeling. Sesame is often used when a label reads "natural flavors" or "natural spices," adding another layer of difficulty when consumers review product labels at their local grocery store. This is the first time since 2006 that a new allergen has been added to the Food Allergen Labeling and Consumer Protection Act (FALCPA). "Today is a testament to the hard work of thousands of food allergy advocates who sent emails, made calls, and visited members of Congress and staff to build support and make sesame the ninth allergen to be labeled under law," said Congresswoman Doris Matsui. "The outpouring of support was incredible, and I'd like to thank Lisa Gable and everyone at FARE for their hard work mobilizing this dedicated, resilient community. The FASTER Act will truly make a difference for those living with potentially life-threatening food allergies and we are proud that it will now be signed into law." The FASTER Act would also require the Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS) to issue a report on scientific opportunities in food allergy research that examines prevention, treatment and new cures. In addition, the legislation establishes a risk-based scientific process and framework for establishing additional allergens covered by the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act. "Today, I was proud to see the FASTER Act pass the House," said Congressman Patrick McHenry. "This bill provides a much-needed update to allergen labeling laws to include sesame, which affects the over 1.5 million people allergic to sesame. Additionally, the bill will enable us to better treat the millions of Americans that suffer from life-threatening food allergies by requiring the Secretary of Health and Human Services to regularly review promising food allergy treatments and research." "Today is a life-changing and life-affirming day for our family and for the families of the nearly 1.6 million Americans allergic to sesame," said Talia Day, a food allergy advocate with two children who are allergic to sesame. "With today's passage and hopefully President Biden's signature, no longer will I have to live in fear that my children could accidentally eat something that would kill them simply because it was not included on a food label. I thank Senators Scott and Murphy, Representatives Matsui and McHenry, FARE, and the thousands of food allergy advocates who helped make today possible and created a better future for the more than 32 million Americans living with potentially life-threatening food allergies." For more information on the importance of the FASTER Act, please visit foodallergy.org/FASTER. About FARE FARE (Food Allergy Research & Education) is the world's leading non-governmental organization engaged in food allergy advocacy and the largest private funder of food allergy research. Our mission is to improve the quality of life and the health of individuals with food allergies, and to provide them hope through the promise of new treatments. FARE is transforming the future of food allergy through innovative initiatives that will lead to increased awareness, new and improved treatments and prevention strategies, effective policies and legislation and novel approaches to managing the disease. To learn more about FARE, visit our Living Teal YouTube channel , or www.foodallergy.org . SOURCE Food Allergy Research & Education Related Links http://www.foodallergy.org Popularity is relative, and especially in the digital age. You could have hundreds of thousands of followers online, but be completely unknown in the streets massively famous on Instagram, YouTube or Twitter, but lack any kind of real, authentic cool in person. For our new series, Coolest Person in the Room, New York-based photographer Megan Walschlager pinpoints all the people whose energy is contagious regardless of their following count or celebrity. Meet McLayne Ycmat, the NY-based art director, fashion obsessive and style icon you need to know. Tell us about your day job. I'm an art director and a graphic designer. I'm at this company called Framework which is within an agency called Black Frame. Basically I do art direction for fashion campaigns and magazines. I used to work for Fabien Baron when I graduated college, and I did art direction for the Dior campaigns and Dior Magazine. And now I do Garage Magazine and I work on campaigns for the brand Woolrich. They're a heritage brand and we've been working on rebranding them. I also work on Helmut Lang and Kenzo. Did you go to Parsons? Yeah. Did you study fashion design? No. Oh, I thought you did. What did you study? Communication design, but everyone at Parsons also thought I studied fashion design. I grew up Mormon in Utah. When I came out and went through all that, I was basically like, "Fuck this!" and applied to Parsons. My parents weren't super supportive of that, so to show them I took out all these loans to come here. Now I pay so much in student loans. Photo by Megan Walschlager I'm with you I have so many loans. Really? Well, it's good to know other people do too. It's fucking ridiculous. Truly. I always think it's so funny that you're from Utah because you have such a cosmopolitan air about you. It's so funny a lot of people that work around me in the industry especially when I worked for Fabien, and I know this is the case for a lot of European brands but you grow up with this idea of what luxury is and how to look chic or whatever. And people are like, "Oh, my mom was my biggest inspiration." And that was not the case for me. The Internet taught me a lot. You're also really active in New York nightlife. How did you get started in that? It started pretty organically because I just started going out a lot. My first gig was doing Flash Factory for Nicky Ottav, but my first official gig was subbing for Jordan [Stawecki] at Linda. Then I just started doing other things after that. Like Ty [Sunderland's] pool party and then LadyFag. Harry [Charlesworth] and Jordan [Stawecki] were like, "If you wanna host for Lady, just ask her! That's what we did." So I told her and it wasn't until like months later that I was talking to her at Battle Hymn that she was like, "Oh my God, Why don't you host for me?" and I was like, "I'm waiting on you!" Now I do Lady, and I just hosted Unter which was amazing. The music is so good there. And I got to be on set with Seva [Granick] who started it for a campaign I was doing for Woolrich, so we got to know each other and that was really cool. Do you remember your first party in New York? Oh girl yes, I do though. It was called The Chocolate Factory and it was in Bushwick. And this was like a Parsons freshmen type of thing. It was like a house party off the Morgan L stop. My first nightlife experiences after that were like The Darby, which is Up and Down now, and lAvenue, the Dream Hotel PH-D. And I remember I hated it. It's funny because it was actually an issue in my relationship at the time. He was so mad that I never wanted to go out and now I'm so not that person. Actually, when I started working my full time job for Fabien, which was super intense, I basically needed to go out. So that was the first time I really started going out every week. Because before that with school and stuff I didn't really. Photo by Megan Walschlager Do you have a specific getting ready routine when you're going out? For example one of my friends in college wouldn't have a sip of alcohol before she finished her eye makeup. Oooh, I get that. I guess I'm like a natural host. I always want to bring my friends together. Actually when I lived in Utah and I ran away, I was introduced to this gay group. Since my coming out, I've been surrounded by, like, groups of gays. Salt Lake City is actually like this queer haven, and so when I ran away it was the first time I really saw these gay guys in heels and makeup and they were just so much fun. I love gay people. I guess in terms of pre-game rituals, I try to make everyone meet at my place. Everyone always ends up wearing my clothes. I feel like you style out your friends. They always ask to wear my clothes! And I always end up doing everyone's makeup because they ask me to! In no way am I like dressing up my friends to look like me I'm not that person I just let them wear my clothes. Totally. You have a very specific aesthetic. Yeah and it caught on. "Right now I'm super inspired by the cosmos. I'm fucking obsessed with it. Everything I do now needs to have some scientific grounding." I have to ask you: when, where and what was the inspiration for your iconic smokey eye? Girl! Paolo says you invented it. Invented it? No. You wanna know the first time I did a smokey eye? It was for a halloween costume of Adam Lambert. Really? Yes, I sat there and copied a picture of him. That was in high school. Honestly, I've been wearing makeup everyday since high school like concealer and stuff like that and it has always been to just make myself look better. I feel like when I'm doing my smokey eye, I'm doing it to make my face look better. Like more snatched. Like it isn't coming from a place where I'm looking at a photo like, "Oh, I want to be that person in eyeliner." I just kind of do it. It's like photoshopping or FaceTuning in real life. Photo by Megan Walschlager What is your go to drink at the club? A whiskey sour. Or some really really gay drink like a tequila sunrise. I don't drink vodka. I hate vodka. I mean, okay, I do drink vodka but I don't buy vodka. Where are some of your favorite places to go in NYC? Well, I used to go to Roosevelt Island all the time. There's this spot where you have to climb over a fence, then you can get down to the rocks onto the river. I love to just like chill there with friends and smoke a joint. In terms of going places, I'm not super attached to any establishment because I think it always depends on who's there and who I'm with. I really just like being outside when it's warm. When it's summer, I'm out. One of my favorite McLayne memories is that summer when we all went to Fire Island and we met up at the train, and you were wearing three pieces of cloth but none of them were actual pieces of clothing. Yes! Speaking of that. That's where I like to be. In the heat, half naked, on Fire Island. Photo by Megan Walschlager I think another layer of your mystique is you always have so many references and so much archival knowledge. Oh, well that's just because I am obsessed. When I found Style.com wait, actually you want to know what it was? Ugly Betty on ABC. I was obsessed with it. So, I actually literally used looking at runway shows to continue my obsession with it. And eventually I was like, "Woah, this shit's actually fascinating." From the beginning I got books queue a montage of me studying. I would quiz myself on fashion shows. That's how I knew I wanted to get into fashion advertising. In high school I took a class on graphic design and I did well, and my teacher even helped me get paid gigs. And I just knew, because I love fashion so much that I wanted to do art direction. Do you have any favorite books or shows that you always go back to? I'm currently obsessed with Dutch Magazine. They've been out of print like 15 years or more now. It was a '90s magazine, but every picture, layout, everything is just amazing. I'm obsessed with magazines particularly. I collect all that shit. But apart from that, the Internet has become such a solid basis for both my career and myself, so it always starts on the Internet. I'll find a picture I like or something, then I'll go deeper. This sounds really cliche, but the things I'm inspired by change. Right now I'm super inspired by the cosmos. I'm fucking obsessed with it. Everything I do now needs to have some scientific grounding. I know that sounds so dumb, but that's why like my Instagram profile picture right now is a diagram of the earth's rotation [Laughs]. Related | Spencer Pratt Interviews Morgan Saint Do you have any personal projects coming up? Didn't you do a really big side project last year? Yeah, I helped my friend Peter Do with his logo and the launch of his brand. And he's doing really well now. I just did an album cover for my friend Morgan her name is Morgan Saint and she is signed to Sony. It was so cool because I felt like it was the first thing in a long time that I was able to show my distinct taste. I want to work in music a lot more doing album artwork. Especially for electronic music. I'm really inspired by a lot of electronic music right now. I know that sounds really cliche too. I listen to a lot of trance music, but I realized my personal taste is actually called melodic techno. It's very like Deadmau5, Kaskade. I still listen to Deadmau5. I've been to a Kaskade concert and I was literally, like, crying. I used to be so ashamed of this until my friend also confessed he was into it. Then I was like, "Ok, I guess it's cool to be so unashamedly into something like Deadmau5 and Kaskade." Photo by Megan Walschlager Its one of Hawaiis most infamous hikes: 3,922 steps across the steep Ko'olau mountains in Oahu. It offers spectacular views of Honolulus vistas, the heady sensation of climbing into the sky and potentially a very hefty fine. Hiking the Haiku Stairs which are in disrepair and dangerous is illegal and considered trespassing. It comes with a $1,000 fee if youre caught, but that hasnt stopped almost anyone with an Instagram account from visiting the popular site. Now, the Stairway to Heaven could be dismantled altogether. Honolulu Mayor Rick Blangiardi is asking for $1 million in his proposed budget to plan for the removal of the stairs, saying that the stairs bring too much liability, Hawaii News Now reports. Majicphotos/Getty Images/iStockphoto Its an about-face for the city of Honolulu, which now owns the facilities after ownership was transferred in July 2020 from the Board of Water Supply. Previously, the city, under then-Mayor Kirk Caldwell, had planned to turn the Haiku Stairs into a destination with paid public access. Access to the Haiku Stairs, which closed to the public in 1987, has been beset with problems. Many nearby residents have complained of hikers trespassing through their properties to reach the steps; and one even allegedly set up a booby trap to deter trespassing would-be hikers. In March alone, Honolulu police arrested six and issued more than 90 citations to people trying to access the trail. Its got to come down, said Allen Walterman, who said that he lived in the Haiku neighborhood in public testimony before the Honolulu City Council on the subject this Wednesday. ... Today already, I had four people trespassing through my backyard to get up to the stairs. They bring trash. Theyre rude. Theyre ruining the land. This has got to end. Melinda Podor/Getty Images However, others are opposed to the closure of the popular site, which was first built as part of a top-secret military facility in 1942. Although we agree that absolutely illegal trespassing to access the stairs is not acceptable, but we feel very strongly that the best solution is not to spend a million dollars of taxpayers money to remove the stairs, said Vernon Andsell, president of the advocacy group The Friends of Haiku Stairs, in public testimony. It makes so much more sense to so many more people to solve the problem of illegal trespassing by reopening the stairs under managed access. It is not the first time the Haiku Stairs has faced the threat of demolition. The Board of Water Supply had recommended the removal of the stairs, citing costs and liability issues, before transferring ownership to the city of Honolulu. Back in April 2020, 3,600 people submitted testimony in support of keeping the stairs, while 180 people submitted testimony in support of their removal. A sheep farmer has failed to convince a court the RAAF owes her $15.3 million for flying fighter jets over her property. NSW woman Julie Steepe issued a series of invoices in 2020 after the air force didn't comply with her notices for them to 'cease and desist'. The final notice, issued on July 30, stated the air force had seven days to show what lawful authority it had to 'trespass' on her farm in Bulahdelah, 50km northeast of the RAAF's Williamtown base. 'A breach of the border... will incur a fee of $167,000 plus a further $167,000 for each subsequent breach,' the notice said. 'This being compensation for breaching my lawful right to quiet enjoyment of my property, as well as my lawful right to the alienation of my property from the Crown. 'The border of my property extends to the centre of the earth and to the expanse of the universe.' A Royal Australian Navy MRH-90 Taipan helicopter takes off from Royal Australian Air Force Base Williamtown, Newcastle Unsatisfied with a squadron leader's explanation of the legality of the flights, Ms Steepe took the air force to the NSW Supreme Court, seeking orders that the invoices totalling $15.3 million be paid. She also sought orders preventing further aircraft incursions and claimed damages due to her privacy was being breached. Ms Steppe, who says online that she farms ethically, regeneratively and chemical-free, also claimed the aircraft may be carrying pest and disease and therefore be in breach of the NSW Biosecurity Act. Justice David Davies on Thursday dismissed the case. Ms Steepe had placed considerable emphasis on one judge's reasons in a 1923 High Court decision concerning mineral rights and a comment about land extending 'notionally upward indefinitely'. But Justice Davies said the position at common law was that a landowner didn't have any right to prevent aircraft flying over their property, 'provided that it is at a height above that which is necessary for the ordinary use and enjoyment of the land and the structures upon it'. Further, the flights over the property were duly authorised under the Airspace Act and the Airspace Regulations. 'The plaintiff does not demonstrate any right to prevent the flight of the RAAF aircraft over her land,' the judge said. Ms Steppe was ordered to pay costs. YEREVAN, APRIL 15, ARMENPRESS. A stable operational situation with no incidents has been maintained along the Armenian-Azerbaijani line of contact of the Armenian state border overnight April 14-15, the Defense Ministry of Armenia told ARMENPRESS. According to the information provided by the Armenian National Security Service, no border incidents were registered in Vorotan-Davit Bek section of the Goris-Kapan inter-state road which is under the responsibility of the NSS border troops. The Armed Forces of Armenia and the NSS border troops confidently control the border situation along the entire borderline. Philadelphia Mayor Jim Kenney laid out his proposal for the city's fiscal year 2022 budget during a city council meeting on Thursday. Video Transcript - Philadelphia Mayor Jim Kenney laid out his proposal for the city's budget in fiscal year 2022. Much of the proposal was based around the $1.4 billion in federal relief from the Biden administration's American Rescue Plan. That federal money will prevent massive cuts. Kenney's plan calls for wage tax reductions, after-school programs, money for policing reforms, and efforts to reduce violence, among many other things. JIM KENNEY: This budget was created with one guiding vision-- that Philadelphians in every neighborhood can and must benefit from what I believe will be a strong recovery-- every neighborhood. That vision is what guides me every single day and what keeps me going. - The mayor just wrapped up his presentation moments ago. You can go to 6abc.com to get more details on the proposal. Mount Carmel School senior Sinahi Cepeda implores families to avail themselves of the MCS Early Bird Special. To learn more about enrolling at Mount Carmel School for the upcoming 2021-2022 school year, call 234-6184 or visit www.mountcarmelsaipan.com MCS photo Close polluted beaches Sydneys northern beaches could be closed permanently if councils accept a plea by 80 doctors to stop swimmers risking their health in dirty water. The doctors have called on Manly and Warringah councils to close 15 beaches until the NSW Health Department can prove they are safe. Dr Peter Macdonald [from Manly] said the doctors feared there could be an outbreak of disease if people kept swimming. Bunch of whingers British movie master David Puttnam has branded Australian film-makers a bunch of whingers on his return from a Sydney lecture tour. Puttnam, who produced the international blockbusters Chariots of Fire, Midnight Express [and] The Killing Fields blamed Australias flagging movie industry on the welfare state mentality of film-makers. He said the Aussie film industry was the most subsidised in the world. Chaplin, Hitler share stage ANN ARBOR, MI - Rising COVID-19 cases locally and in Michigan will push back the return to in-person classes for students that have remained in remote learning at Ann Arbor Public Schools. Superintendent Jeanice Swift recommended pausing the return to in-person learning until May 3 for grades 4-12 during the Ann Arbor School Board meeting Wednesday, April 14. While students in third grade returned to the classroom this week for the first time this year, the district had already pushed back the return for students in fourth and fifth grades to April 19 before moving that date back another two weeks during Wednesdays meeting. Under the previously approved plan, preschool, young fives and kindergarten students returned to the classroom in the hybrid learning format on March 25, along with small groups of students in grades 6-12. First- and second-grade students returned in the hybrid format after spring break on Monday, April 5. Those students will remain in hybrid learning. Currently, Washtenaw County sits at 355 cases per 1 million, placing the county in Level E, the highest risk category according to the MI Safe Start Map, and at High transmission within the CDC risk levels for operating schools. The district reported four elementary school students among approximately 1,200 attending hybrid learning on campus had COVID-19, along with four staff and three student-athletes as of April 14. Swift said that number doesnt represent the total number of cases in the district, which is much more difficult to quantify since those cases arent counted on the districts dashboard. Despite a desire to not let students who were hoping to return to the classroom down, Swift and board members said the decision to pause bringing more students back makes the most sense for the district to maintain a consistent stance on health and safety. What were almost saying with this recommendation is lets focus on finishing the year strong, which may best be approached with the pause now, Swift said. Our fear is bringing additional students in during a period of higher spread would only result in more disappointment if were not able to sustain (in-person learning). Board member Rebecca Lazarus said she didnt want to risk exposing more children to the possibility of spread, given the number of cases currently in the community, which are higher than at any point during the pandemic. There are going to be a lot of disappointed children and families because we have to postpone the return for the fourth and fifth graders that have had that disappointment already, she said. But our community spread is just too high. The fact remains that AAPS faces different challenges than neighboring districts that have been able to provide more in-person instruction throughout the course of the year, Board Vice President Jessica Kelly said. We are going to do whats right for our students right now, with our data, Kelly said. Trustee Ernesto Querijero was in favor of moving all students back to remote learning, given the level of community spread, noting that having only a few students in hybrid learning while others remain remote has further driven inequity within the district. I cant think of another place in the civilized world that is wrestling with COVID than here in the state of Michigan, he said. We once took such a strong posture in safety when the numbers were at a certain level and now we see those numbers approaching again. The district wants to get a better understanding of the amount of spread within the district, and is attempting to do so through testing its students and families. AAPS will host free COVID-19 testing from noon to 6 p.m. Sunday, April 18, at Pioneer High School, and is encouraging all AAPS staff and families to be tested before returning to the classroom. READ MORE: Ann Arbor Public Schools moves back return to classroom for some grades Frustration over spring sports pause growing among Ann Arbor athletes, parents Ann Arbor Public Schools pauses spring sports after surge in COVID-19 cases CLEVELAND, Ohio Throw a dart at the fishing map for the weekend. Wherever it lands, there seem to be reports of fish biting, from Lake Eries incredible walleye fishing to steelhead trout, stocked trout, smallmouth bass and crappies in the Lake Erie tributaries. The big lake might be a little bumpy Friday, but is predicted to settle down for the busy weekend. Expanding the usual crowds expected around Western Lake Eries reefs and islands will be more than 120 two-angler teams battling it out in the Cabelas Masters Walleye Circuit and another batch competing in the Lake Erie Walleye Trail. The MWC is a national walleye tournament, and it is being held in prime time, with the spring trophy walleye fishing peaking on Lake Erie right now. To see the live MWC weigh-ins, which begin on Friday and Saturday at 3:30 p.m., visit the Jefferson Street Pier in Downtown Port Clinton. Walleye fans from around the country will be watching live online at masterswalleyecircuit.com or the Facebook page MastersWalleyeCircuit. Anglers have been having lots of success fishing the massive reef complex between Port Clinton and Toledo, and around the Lake Erie Islands. Many savvy walleye fishermen are escaping the crowds by targeting the near-shore areas off Ruggles Beach in Huron, Lorain and Cleveland, where water depths of 32 feet of water have been the key for trolling minnow-style diving plugs such as Bandits, Deep Husky Jerks and Yaleye Fish Lures, a new Canadian crank bait making waves. Even kayak fishermen are finding walleye success on Lake Erie, but they must be cautious. The Lake Erie water temperature is only 37 degrees in the Cleveland and Lorain areas. Stocked trout for family fishing: The Cleveland Metroparks released more foot-long rainbow trout in the East Branch of the Rocky River on Thursday. The fish were stocked between Royalton Road in Strongsville and to the parkway north of Wallace Lake in Berea. The Ohio Division of Wildlife has also perked up the rainbow trout fishing with its trout truck making stops at Shadow Lake on Clevelands East Side, Hinckley Lake in northern Medina County and the Ohio & Erie Canal ponds off East 49th Street in the Cleveland area. Rainbow trout bite on nibbles of canned corn, maggots and waxworks, or a small ball of PowerBait putty, all suspended close to the lake bottom under a tiny float. Walleye seminars at Catawba Boat Show: The Progressive Catawba Island Boat Show will drop anchor at the Catawba Island Club on the Catawba Peninsula in Port Clinton on Friday through Sunday, April 30-May 2. Tickets ($8) will be needed. Visit catawbaislandboatshow.com. A limited number of tickets will be sold at the gate. To make sure people maintain safe distances, tickets are designated in time blocks. Walleye pro Jason Fischer of the Lake Erie Walleye Trail is hosting a seminar on Saturday from 10 a.m.-noon. The $12 ticket covers boat show admission. Steelhead trout make late surge: The recent rains had kicked up the Lake Erie tributaries, luring a late surge of steelhead trout up the Northeast Ohio streams from Lake Erie. Vermilion River anglers report surprisingly good steelhead trout fishing recently. As the rivers have dropped and begun to clear, the steelhead trout success has improved. Smallmouth bass are also making an appearance in the Lake Erie tributaries, including some trophy bass willing to chase a small diving plug, spinner, spoon or tube jib. Crappie are invading the marinas in the lower stretches of the rivers. Inland lakes, reservoirs lighting up: The largemouth bass and crappie fishing has begun to heat up at Mosquito Lake, a spring hot spot, and the walleye are biting after dark. Anglers are wading the shorelines and casting minnow-style diving plugs once the sun goes down. Good numbers of walleye are still hanging around the Maumee and Sandusky rivers, and the white bass are starting to show up, as well. LONDON, April 15, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Highlights: Alfa-Bank, the largest universal privately owned bank in Russia , has used FICO Decision Central to automate monitoring of its predictive models, to meet requirements from the Central Bank of Russia , has used FICO Decision Central to automate monitoring of its predictive models, to meet requirements from the Central Bank of Automation of model monitoring has cut report preparation time by 90 percent and improved transparency Alfa-Bank has won the 2021 FICO Decisions Award for Regulatory Compliance Alfa-Bank, the largest universal privately owned bank in Russia, has used FICO Decision Central to automate monitoring of its predictive models, in order to meet requirements from the Central Bank of Russia. The project has reduced report preparation time by more than 90 percent, created complete transparency into model performance and recommendations for improvement, and will help the bank qualify for an internal ratings-based (IRB) approach to Basel II, which should reduce the capital the bank needs to set aside on loans. For its achievements, Alfa-Bank has won the 2021 FICO Decisions Award for Regulatory Compliance. More information: https://www.fico.com/en/products/fico-decision-central "Alfa-Bank is using more and more predictive models based on different data types," said Vera Perevitskaya, head of the validation at Alfa-Bank. "Because of this, we implemented FICO Decision Central to make the monitoring of models more transparent and comfortable. We can now prepare the reports nearly two times faster and are fully compliant with Russian Central Bank regulation." Alfa-Bank also worked with FICO to develop a wide range of custom statistical and qualitative tests covering different types of models, including PD, EAD and LG, for retail and corporate business models, and special tests for low-default portfolios. "Alfa-Bank has provided an excellent example of how model monitoring should be done," said Nikhil Behl chief marketing officer at FICO. "This kind of work is absolutely critical, not just to meet regulations but to ensure the quality of the models that drive a bank's lending decisions. As an economy changes such as in the current pandemic continuous validation of model performance is even more important." "Model maintenance or the model lifecycle is a very hot area in the world of analytics," said David Dittmann, vice president, data & analytics, P&G and one of the FICO Decisions Awards judges. "I was impressed that Alfa Bank was pushing forward with new ways to think and manage the model lifecycle that addressed the top risk and compliance challenges." About Alfa-Bank Alfa-Bank is the largest universal privately owned bank in Russia. It has been leading in all banking business segments for 30 years. Alfa-Bank serves more than 850 thousand corporate clients and 18.7 million retail customers. Alfa-Bank is developing according to the phygital model, combining digital innovation with an effective physical presence network, which has 498 retail offices in Moscow and Russian regions, 900 cities with courier delivery and 27,900 of its own and partner ATMs. According to 2020 IFRS report overall assets of "Alfa-Bank" Banking group including ABH Financial, AO Alfa-Bank and financial subsidiaries is $61,9 bln., credit portfolio - $42,7 bln, shareholders' equity $8,7 bln, net income $1347 mio. https://alfabank.com/ About the FICO Decisions Awards The FICO Decisions Awards recognize organizations that are achieving remarkable success using FICO solutions. A panel of independent judges with deep industry expertise evaluates nominations based upon measurable improvement in key metrics; demonstrated use of best practices; project scale, depth and breadth; and innovative uses of technology. The 2021 judges are: Prasanna Dhore, chief data & analytics officer, Equifax chief data & analytics officer, David Dittmann , vice president, data & analytics, P&G (2019 winner) vice president, data & analytics, Rene Javier Guzman, market & liquidity risks director at Banreservas (2019 winner) market & liquidity risks director at Tomas Klinger , decision science and data director at Home Credit (2019 winner) decision science and data director at Marcel Le Gouais, managing editor at Credit Strategy managing editor at Tiffani Montez , banking analyst at Aite banking analyst at Lisa Morgan , journalist & analyst at InformationWeek journalist & analyst at Ignazio Provinzano , head of risk operations at Swisscard (2019 winner) The winners of the FICO Decisions Awards will be spotlighted at and win tickets to FICO World 2021, the Decisions Conference, November 2021 in Orlando, Florida. About FICO FICO (NYSE: FICO) powers decisions that help people and businesses around the world prosper. Founded in 1956 and based in Silicon Valley, the company is a pioneer in the use of predictive analytics and data science to improve operational decisions. FICO holds more than 195 US and foreign patents on technologies that increase profitability, customer satisfaction and growth for businesses in financial services, manufacturing, telecommunications, health care, retail and many other industries. Using FICO solutions, businesses in more than 120 countries do everything from protecting 2.6 billion payment cards from fraud, to helping people get credit, to ensuring that millions of airplanes and rental cars are in the right place at the right time. Learn more at www.fico.com . FICO is a registered trademark of Fair Isaac Corporation in the US and other countries SOURCE FICO Related Links https://www.fico.com Cox's Bazar (Bangladesh): A boat packed with Rohingya refugees fleeing violence in Myanmars Rakhine state capsized on Monday in a river near the coast of Bangladesh, leaving at least two people dead and scores missing, officials said. Coast guard and border guard officials said the boat was overloaded with about 100 people when it sank in the mouth of the Naf river that divides Myanmar from its South Asian neighbour Bangladesh. It capsized near Galachar (coastal village in Bangladesh) with nearly 100 people. We recovered two dead bodies. Two people were rescued alive, area Coast Guard commander Alauddin Nayan told AFP. Nayan said some 40 people in the boat were adult Rohingya Muslims fleeing their villages in Rakhine for Bangladesh. The rest were children, he said, adding that the coast guards have launched a search and rescue operation. Nearly 520,000 Rohingya Muslims have fled to Bangladesh in the last six weeks after the military in Buddhist-majority Myanmar launched a crackdown after attacks by Rohingya militants. For all the Latest World News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. Education Specialist, Coxs Bazar, Dhaka, Bangladesh Organization: UNICEF - United Nations Childrens Fund Country: Bangladesh City: Dhaka, Bangladesh Office: UNICEF Bangladesh, Dhaka Grade: P-4 Closing date: Tuesday, 20 April 2021 Education Specialist, P-4, Temporary Appointment (364 days), #116049, Coxs Bazar, Bangladesh # 539541 (Not for Bangladeshi Nationals) Job no: 539541 Position type: Temporary Appointment Location: Bangladesh Division/Equivalent: Kathmandu(ROSA) School/Unit: Bangladesh Department/Office: Dhaka, Bangladesh Categories: Education, P-4 UNICEF works in some of the worlds toughest places, to reach the worlds most disadvantaged children. To save their lives. To defend their rights. To help them fulfill their potential. Across 190 countries and territories, we work for every child, everywhere, every day, to build a better world for everyone. And we never give up. For every child, education How can you make a difference? Purpose of Assignment: The purpose of the Assignment is to provide technical and managerial support to ensure effective management of the education programme, including management of the Global Partnership for Education (GPE) funds for the Continuity of Education for Rohingya nationals and host communities under the Coxs Bazar Field Office. Before the COVID 19 pandemic, UNICEF in collaboration with 14 partners ensured access to education for over 220,000 Rohingya refugee children, which represents over 70 per cent of all refugee children aged 4 to 14 years who have been supported by all partners to have access to education. The Education Programme also supports the Coxs Bazar District to enhance the delivery of high quality, inclusive and improved learning outcomes for Bangladeshi children. Due to considerably large size (currently supported by 22-member team) and complexities of the programming context in Coxs Bazar, the education programme requires solid technical, managerial and strategic leadership to ensure effective delivery and accountability for results for children. Under the overall guidance and direction of the Education Manager (team lead), the Education Specialist will support the overall management of the programme including serving as Officer in Charge (OIC) in the absence of the Education Team Lead and be responsible for providing oversight function and managing $10 million GPE funds that has recently been approved to support the programme to accelerate delivery of results for Rohingya and Bangladeshi children in Coxs Bazar District following over one year of disrupted learning due to COVID 19. The Education Specialist is expected to provide authoritative technical guidance and operational support throughout all stages of programming to facilitate the management and delivery of quality, equitable and inclusive primary/early childhood education, especially for Rohingya and Bangladeshi children who are marginalized, disadvantaged and denied the right to quality education. The Education Specialist contributes to the achievement of concrete and sustainable results according to the Education Sector and Government of Bangladesh COVID 19 response plans, resources allocated to the Education as well as UNICEFs Strategic Plans, standards of performance and accountability framework. Specifically, the education specialist will contribute to sustaining and accelerating current efforts of the Government of Bangladesh and education partners to ensure Rohingya and host community children affected by the humanitarian crisis in Coxs Bazar District have access to quality education and skills development opportunities through alternative and remote-based learning platforms. Major duties and responsibilities: Manage the Global Partnership for Education (GPE) and support the education team to ensure that the Myanmar curriculum pilot and scale up plan of action, the learning centres and schools safe reopening plans are effectively operationalized when learning centres and schools are allowed to reopen. Provide strategic leadership to the operationalization of GPE grant and other key education programme priorities including transition to provision of education in the camps based on the Myanmar curriculum, to ensure access to equitable, gender-responsive learning opportunities in an enabling, protective environment for crisis-affected children, strategically aligned with Education Sector standards, and within approved frameworks for teaching and learning. Provide technical and operational support to ensure integration, coherence and harmonization of programmes/projects with other UNICEF sectors and achievement of results as planned and allocated. Work closely and collaboratively with internal colleagues and partners to discuss strategies and innovative approaches to enhance ownership, engagement the delivery of inclusive access and improved learning outcomes for Rohingya children including children with disabilities. Support the development of Education Sector partners capacity to improve their comparative advantages in providing equitable education services and strengthened monitoring systems. Contribute in technical discussion with Bangladesh country office, regional office and HQ colleagues on pertinent technical issues such as technology aided education programming, leaning outcomes assessment and the Myanmar curriculum inclusive of providing oversight role in the development of terms of reference and recruitment of a vendor to conduct terminal evaluation of Learning Competency Framework Approach (LCFA). Support education programme management, monitoring and quality control of results Provide managerial support and guidance to the education team on all aspects of programming and implementation to enable them to achieve performance objectives Actively monitor programme implementation and progress towards planned results (as per work plans and partnership agreements) through field visits and exchange of information with stakeholders to assess progress, identify bottlenecks and potential problems, and take timely decisions to resolve issues and/or refer to relevant officials for timely resolution Engage in intensive resource mobilization by identifying critical education resource gaps as well as develop corelating Concept Notes/Proposals covering both humanitarian and development needs inclusive of addressing COVID-19 response needs in Education in Cox Bazaar District. Ensure optimum and appropriate use of programme resources (financial and supplies/assets) confirming compliance with organizational rules (including HACT), regulations/procedures and donor commitments, standards of accountability and integrity, ensuring timely reporting and liquidation of resources. Participate in monitoring and evaluation exercises, programme reviews and annual reviews with the government and other counterparts to assess progress and to determine required action/interventions to achieve results. Prepare/quality assure monitoring and evaluation reports to identify gaps, strengths, weaknesses and use of lessons learned in planning and timely intervention to achieve sustainable results Prepare/quality assure regular and mandated programme reports for management, donors and partners to keep them informed of programme progress. Participate in statutory committees, Coxs Bazar management and external coordination meetings with government and Education Sector partners Support inter-agency collaboration and Education Sector coordinator to ensure to ensure efficient and effective deliver of education services to Rohingya refugees and host community children in Coxs Bazar District Provide technical advice to key government officials and implementing partners on UNICEF policies, strategies, best practices and approaches on education and other related issues to support programme development planning, implementation and delivery of results. Coordinate and ensure the availability of technical experts to ensure timely support throughout all stages of programming. Participate in strategic discussions through the Education Sector coordination platforms, including the strategic advisory group (SAG), to influence policy and agenda setting strategies and approaches to promote universal access to quality, equitable and inclusive education for children in the country. Prepare policy papers, briefs and other strategic programme materials for management use, information and consideration. Participate in education sector emergency preparedness, programming and contingency planning, including development of the joint response plan, to ensure proactive and appropriate responses are in place to meet the onset of emergencies in designated locations under Coxs Bazar field office. Advocacy, networking and partnership building Participate in advocacy and coordination meetings with government and non-governmental partners, UN Agencies, donors and relevant private sector actors to enhance existing collaboration and pursue new opportunities to promote the right to quality education and skills development for Rohingya and Bangladeshi children, adolescents and youth Ensure updated programme factsheets and briefing notes are available to support donor visibility and results achieved by UNICEF. Work closely with the Communication, Advocacy and Partnership (CAP) team to ensure appropriate visibility and accurate communication to donors and external audience of UNICEF plans, strategies and results, inclusive of strengthening branding and brand positioning of UNICEF and donors Engage strategic partners, especially UNHCR and Save the Children to ensure consistency of messages to the media and donors on key issues such as the Myanmar curriculum pilot and education sector response and recovery plans for the COVID-19 pandemic. Innovation, knowledge management and capacity building Support the team to initiate and rollout educational technology solutions for enhancing the delivery education programme results in the context of COVID-19 pandemic. Contribute to the development of guidelines and standards on the use of educational technology and other innovative solutions such as radio programme in the camps to ensure optimum efficiency and efficacy of sustainable programmes and projects. Support and guide implement of capacity building initiatives to enhance the competencies of education programme partners to promote achievement of sustainable results To qualify as an advocate for every child you will have... An advanced university degree in one of the following fields is required: education, economics, psychology, sociology or another relevant technical field. A minimum of eight (8) years of professional experience in programme planning, management, and/or research in education is required. Developing country work experience and/or familiarity with emergency is considered an asset. Relevant experience in a UN system agency or organization is considered as an asset. Familiarity/ background with emergency is considered as an asset. Fluency in English is required. Knowledge of another official UN language (Arabic, Chinese, French, Russian or Spanish) or a local language is an asset. For every Child, you demonstrate: UNICEFs values of Care, Respect, Integrity, Trust, and Accountability (CRITA) and core competencies in Communication, Working with People and Drive for Results. The UNICEF competencies required for this post are: Core competencies Nurtures, Leads and Manages People (2) Demonstrates Self Awareness and Ethical Awareness (3) Works Collaboratively with others (3) Builds and Maintains Partnerships (3) Functional Competencies: Analyzing (3) Deciding and initiating action (2) Applying Technical Expertise (3) Innovates and Embraces Change (3) Thinks and Acts Strategically (3) Drives to achieve impactful results (3) To view our competency framework, please visit here. Click here to learn more about UNICEFs values and competencies. UNICEF is committed to diversity and inclusion within its workforce, and encourages all candidates, irrespective of gender, nationality, religious and ethnic backgrounds, including persons living with disabilities, to apply to become a part of the organization. UNICEF has a zero-tolerance policy on conduct that is incompatible with the aims and objectives of the United Nations and UNICEF, including sexual exploitation and abuse, sexual harassment, abuse of authority and discrimination. UNICEF also adheres to strict child safeguarding principles. All selected candidates will be expected to adhere to these standards and principles and will therefore undergo rigorous reference and background checks. Background checks will include the verification of academic credential(s) and employment history. Selected candidates may be required to provide additional information to conduct a background check. Remarks: Mobility is a condition of international professional employment with UNICEF and an underlying premise of the international civil service. UNICEF is committed to promote the protection and safeguarding of all children. This position has been assessed as an elevated risk role for Child Safeguarding purposes as it is either: a role with direct contact with children, works directly with child, is a safeguarding response role or has been assessed as an elevated risk role for child safeguarding. Additional vetting and assessment for elevated risk roles in child safeguarding(potentially including additional criminal background checks)applies. This position is classified as rotational which means the incumbent is expected to rotate to another duty station upon completion of their tour of duty. Only shortlisted candidates will be contacted and advance to the next stage of the selection process. UNICEF does not charge a fee at any stage of the recruitment process. Internal candidates may be given preference over external candidates. The term Internal refers to all personnel with an ongoing employment relationship with UNICEF, including staff members on a continuing, fixed term and temporary appointment, individual contractors and full-time time-based consultants, and UNV. Advertised: Apr 12 2021 Bangladesh Standard Time Application close: Apr 20 2021 Bangladesh Standard Time Link to the organizations job offer: https://unjobs.org/vacancies/1618262332324 Dwarka: Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who arrived in Gujarat on Saturday morning for a two-day visit, offered prayers at the famous Dwarkadhish temple of Dwarka. After visiting the temple dedicated to Lord Krishna, the Prime Minister came out and waved at people waiting outside to greet him. He also shook hands with some of them. Modi is on a two-day visit to poll-bound Gujarat. He will lay foundation stones and inaugurate a number of projects. He is also scheduled to visit his birthplace Vadnagar for the first time after becoming prime minister. At Dwarka, Modi will lay the foundation stone for a four-lane cable stayed signature bridge between Okha and Beyt Dwarka to be built at a cost of Rs 962.42 crore. Other projects for which foundation stones will be laid include the four-laning of 116.24 km of the Porbandar-Dwarka section of NH-51 and the four-laning of 93.56 km of the Gadu-Porbandar section of NH-51.From Dwarka, Modi will go to Hirasar in Rajkot district where he will lay the foundation stone for a greenfield airport, 20 km from Rajkot city. Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi had started his Gujarat political campaign by visiting Dwarkadhish temple in September.During his three-day campaign tour across Saurashtra region of the state, Gandhi had visited four other famous temples. For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. As the use of drones continues to rise throughout the island in both educational and commercial sectors, the University of Guam via NASA Guam Space Grant and NASA Guam EPSCoR will be offering its first-ever drone certification and training program for UOG students. The UOG Drone Corps aims to build a team of Federal Aviation Administration-certified drone pilots who will practice flying unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) through Guam's skies by capturing drone footage and data for local agencies. In addition to teaching students the regulations of proper flying operations, the program seeks to bring unique research opportunities to the island by encouraging researchers to utilize drones within their fields. Leslie Camacho Aquino, executive director of NASA Guam EPSCoR, said this program will help propel the island's technical expertise forward. "We are excited about this workforce development opportunity for students since having our own corps of FAA-certified UAV pilots will make it easier and safer for researchers to incorporate drone technology in their work," she said. "NASA EPSCoR is about building research and technical capacity throughout the island, and developing this cadre of pilots will help us support a wide variety of projects at the university and other agencies and organizations on Guam." Drones, now with advanced technological functionality that includes accurate data collection from aerial views and increased durability when faced with harsh environmental conditions, can allow local researchers to achieve previously unthinkable feats. Potential projects that would benefit from remote sensing, for instance, span a variety of research applications, including the mapping of coral reefs and the identification of erosion-prone areas. The FAA requires commercial drone owners to be certified and registered. The UOG Drone Corps will cover fees for successful applicants to take the certification test, allowing the students to become licensed drone pilots. Members will also be eligible to receive a $1,000 stipend upon successful completion of their FAA licensure and achieving 80 hours of flight time per semester. "NASA Space Grant and NASA Guam EPSCoR are pleased to offer this fun and amazing opportunity for UOG students to become licensed FAA UAV pilots," said Romina King, associate director of NASA Guam Space Grant and NASA Guam EPSCoR. "This is a great chance for students to earn FAA certification, practice in a safe environment, and collect data for various UOG research units and government of Guam agencies." The UOG Drone Corps will be accepting applications throughout the year. Both novice and experienced students are encouraged to apply. Applicants must be U.S. citizens, 18 years or older, and UOG students. ### Interested students and research organizations seeking a partnership can apply and learn more by contacting King via email at roking@triton.uog.edu. The often predatory charges for such calls make it difficult for people behind bars to keep up with family members, friends, members of the clergy and so on. Such people form the basis of the support system that will help them ease back into society when they are released, as more than 95% of them will be someday. And those with weaker support systems are more likely to reoffend, thus eroding the very safety and security of society that prisons are supposed to enhance and taking a literal toll on all of us. U.S. Malaria Cases Highest in 45 Years Holding the Line to Protect Americans In late 2020, an otherwise healthy woman in her 40s returned home to Tennessee after a mission trip to a sub-Saharan African country. Following three days of fever, chills, sweats, and headache, she went to a local emergency room and was tested for COVID-19 and malaria. Her condition rapidly worsened. When her blood test came back positive for malaria six days later, her doctors contacted CDCs expert 24-hour malaria hotline for guidance on treatment. After that call, her care team arranged for her to be air-lifted to another facility where she could start an urgent course of antimalarial medicines. Sadly, it was too late; she died a few days later. Each year on April 25, CDC joins the global community to recognize World Malaria Day because malaria remains a leading cause of preventable illness and death around the world. Malaria was eliminated from the United States 70 years ago yet still infects 2,000 Americans each year. Preventing, tracking, and treating malaria in the United States CDC has a decades-long history fighting malaria. In fact, eliminating malaria was CDCs founding purpose when it started in 1942 as the agency for Malaria Control in War Areas, designed to keep the southeastern states malaria-free during World War II. By the early 1950s, malaria was eliminated from the United States. The devastating case of the woman from Tennessee is a reminder that our work is not done. Crucially, drawing the line against malaria also requires holding the line in the United States to sustain progress. The number of malaria cases diagnosed domestically has been increasing since the mid-1970s corresponding to the increase in international travel, particularly to places with malaria. A new CDC publication shows that malaria cases in the United States rose to 2,161 in 2017, the highest number in 45 years. This is an unacceptably high number for a preventable and treatable disease. For the last two years, in the absence of a commercially-available, FDA-approved antimalarial drug, CDC has delivered lifesaving injectable artesunatethe first line drug and global standard for treatment of severe malariato patients in need. In May 2020, FDA approved artesunate for treatment of severe malaria in the United States. The commercial availability of Artesunate for Injection launched in March 2021external icon. It may take some time between the commercial launch of Artesunate for Injection and adequate stocking in pharmacies and hospitals across the United States. In the meantime, CDC will continue releasing artesunate in situations where FDA-approved Artesunate for Injection is not available within 24 hours of a clinician requesting it. Once availability expands nationwide, CDC will discontinue its distribution. Treatment is just one aspect of our domestic malaria strategy. We want to prevent travelers from getting malaria in the first place. CDC does this in three ways: Educating Americans about the risk of malaria, and offering prevention tips and medication to use when visiting malaria-endemic regions Helping healthcare providers diagnose and treat malaria in the United States promptly and correctly Working with our partners to reduce the global burden of malaria. Reducing the risk of contracting malaria internationally helps everyone, including American travelers (business and leisure) and servicemembers Bernard Madoff died in prison on April 14 at the age of 82. We are republishing this article, originally published in 2009, which noted that Madoff's sentencing was "an effort to separate the Ponzi scheme operator from Wall Street counterparts whose financial manipulations were even more destructive." None of those counterparts were ever criminally prosecuted for their role in the 2008 financial crisis. Financier Bernard Madoff was sentenced Monday to 150 years in prison for operating one of the biggest fraud schemes in history. Federal District Judge Denny Chin acknowledged that giving such a sentence to a 71-year-old man was purely symbolic, but declared, The message must be sent that Mr. Madoffs crimes were extraordinarily evil. While acknowledging that Madoffs decision to plead guilty and cooperate with investigators seeking to unravel his schemes would ordinarily count in his favor, Chin underscored the political reasons for imposing the maximum sentence possible under the law. Madoffs fraud had left his victims doubting our financial institutions as well as our governments ability to regulate, he said. In other words, the 150-year sentence to Madoff is an effort to separate the Ponzi scheme operator from Wall Street counterparts whose financial manipulations were even more destructive. While the damage caused by Madoffs phony investments has been estimated at $50 billion, the Wall Street Crash of 2008 has wiped out tens of trillions in paper values, and has already cost millions of people their jobs, homes and life savings. The court system resolved this case with unusual speed, suggesting a desire among all the key actorsprosecutors, the judge, the federal regulatory agencies and Madoff himselfto dispose of the matter with as little disturbance as possible to the broader Wall Street milieu. The Ponzi scheme was exposed in December, Madoff pled guilty to 11 felony counts in March, and the sentencing essentially ends the process, barely more than six months later. The principal federal regulator of the stock market, the Securities and Exchange Commission, moved even more quickly to bury the case, agreeing to settle its civil suit against Madoff in February without even requiring him to admit or deny the charges against him and avoiding a civil trial that could have aired the facts of the gigantic fraud. Despite the efforts of the media to demonize Madoff, which reached their peak on Monday night when all three network television news programs began their evening broadcasts with the story of his sentencing, he is only one of dozens of Wall Street figures who deserve to sit in the dock for acts of greed and financial robbery. It would have been impossible for Madoff to carry out a fraud scheme over some 20 years without an array of financial institutions and highly placed individuals in both Wall Street and Washington who were his enablers. The Ponzi scheme was brazen and, in retrospect, easily detected. Madoff did not actually put into the financial markets any of the billions invested with him by thousands of individuals, ranging from fellow billionaires, to pension funds, to retirees of modest means and Jewish charities seeking to safeguard their endowments. Every financial statement was fabricated, and Madoff paid dividends to his clients out of the cash coming in from new investors. It was only when the global financial crisis undermined market confidence and caused many investors to seek to withdraw their funds that Madoffs scheme collapsed. Madoff was repeatedly referred to the SEC by investors who found his unfailing achievement of a ten percent annual return, regardless of broader market conditions, suspicious. One especially aggressive critic sent a letter to the SEC in 1999 declaring, Madoff Securities is the worlds largest Ponzi scheme. The agency made no serious investigation. In his public statements before the court, Madoff has revealed that rather than actually invest the funds flooding in to his investment firm, he simply placed the money in an account at Chase Manhattan Bank. It is inconceivable that top officers of that bank, now part of JPMorgan Chase, were unaware of the billions flowing in and out of this account. At least a half dozen big hedge funds and private investors had close relations with Madoff, and seem to have had advance notice of his collapsethe bankruptcy trustee is now suing them for making more than $10 billion in withdrawals in the months before December 2008. As the World Socialist Web Site observed at the time of his arrest, The Madoff fraud is but one expression of the vast looting operation that is at the core of contemporary capitalism. What Madoff did was perhaps cruder and more brazen than most, but it is not fundamentally different from what Wall Street as a whole did to working people both in the United States and internationally. As the culmination of a vast redistribution of wealth over the past 30 years from the bottom to the top, American society has been completely subordinated to the class of Madoffsthe financial parasites whose speculation and manic pursuit of personal wealth produced a disaster for working people. A Washington truism applies equally well to Wall Street: The scandal is not whats illegal, its whats legal. Madoffs Ponzi scheme violated even the pathetically lax regulatory regime of American capitalism. There are countless other investment rackets which are not officially illegal, but no less criminal in a class sense, because they put at risk the jobs, living standards and pensions of working people to increase the fortunes of the super-rich. The response of the American political elite, with President Barack Obama at its head, has been to bail out the very swindlers whose manipulations precipitated the crisis. One Madoff goes to jail, but the class of Madoffs is the recipient of a financial bailout that has pledged virtually unlimited sums from the Treasury and Federal Reserve, resources that are being plundered from the American people. Patrick Martin A compelling collaboration. The faculty authors brought the writing talent, curation of open resources, and understanding of what works in the classroom; panOpen brought the tools for faculty and students, the editorial support, and learning design. Dr. Terry Gilmour, Professor at Midland College panOpen, a courseware company that helps educational institutions adopt Open Educational Resources (OER), announced today the release of groundbreaking, interactive courseware for Texas Government, a required course for all public higher education students in Texas. The work, which is being released under a Creative Commons CC-BY-NC license, has been designed, organized, and authored collaboratively by community college teaching faculty from across the state. They not only have Texas government expertise, but also an understanding of how best to reach students with the subject matter through decades of experience teaching it. After reviewing and choosing to adopt the work for his own classes, Dr. Reed Welch, Teel Bivins Professor of American Politics at West Texas A & M University, commented, "I was impressed how this text covered topics in more depth (than others he was considering and using), with better explanation but I didnt see superfluous coverage." Relying on an open model for usage and for its production, panOpens Texas Government improves equity of access for economically disadvantaged communities, and shifts the authorship from a single perspective to a multiplicity of voices. This replaces the conventional edition cycle with a work that is always in development, extending and iterating, and, crucially for faculty adopters, enables localization of materials and includes community-specific content. Its a compelling collaboration. The faculty authors brought the writing talent, curation of open resources, and a strong understanding of what works in the classroom, noted Dr. Terry Gilmour, Professor of Government at Midland College, where she runs the honors program, panOpen brought the tools for faculty and students, the editorial support, and the learning design. Professor Gilmour, who was awarded Teacher of the Year, contributed the chapters on political culture and local government. The Government Department at Houston Community College has a strong presence in this iteration of the work, with contributions from three of its faculty: Professors Mark Shomaker, Andrew Teas, and Penny Watson. Professor Shomaker, who previously co-authored a Texas government textbook with a major publisher, noted the difference in the experience between commercial and openly licensed textbook authorship: This is an approach that blends the best of open and commercial. As an open resource, we can adapt quickly to the changing circumstance and keep costs low to students; at the same time, the model preserves the recognition that authors deserve for their work. This has been a missing piece until now in open publishing models. Professor Shomaker contributed chapters on the court system of Texas, interest groups and the Texas criminal justice system, and co-authored the chapter on the executive branch of Texas government. Professor Teas sees the courseware as an expression of best practices in teaching the material. Whether online or my own images from onsite at the state capitol, Professor Teas notes, I like to mix it up for students and pull in a range of resources for my class. The courseware has allowed me to bring it all together into a single narrative flow. Professor Teas contributed the chapter on the legislature and supported the chapters on financing state government and Texas public policy. For Professor Penny Watson, the inclusion of social media and other multimedia are crucial elements in todays classroom: To reach students effectively, one needs to meet them where they are, and use the same technologies that they use to connect with one another and develop their worldviews. The flexibility of the new courseware not only allows this group of faculty authors to achieve this, but faculty adopters can carry this forward and adapt the social media threads to their local contexts. Professor Watson contributed the chapter on Texas political parties, elections and participation, and co-authored the chapter on the executive branch of Texas government. The state legislature met this past January and passed important legislation, commented Dr. Kevin Jefferies, Professor of Government at Alvin College. Whats more, some of these new laws wont have a practical effect until this summer or beyond. While traditional textbooks lock the material down long before such events can be reflected, the panOpen courseware is constantly a work in progress, incorporating the latest developments in state government. Professor Jefferies contributed chapters on the Texas state constitution, the American federal system, financing state government, and Texas public policy. This work on Texas Government is an important milestone in the movement toward distributed forms of educational content authorship and collaboration made possible through the open license, noted panOpens founder and CEO, Dr. Brian Jacobs. Gone is the hard and fast distinction between textbook author and faculty adopter. Openness allows a blending and cross-over of these domains that have been historically determined by publishing technologies and are now artificially sustained through the commercial copyright. We are thrilled to work with this impressive group of faculty authors who are concerned not only with the quality and integrity of the work but in making a difference in the classroom, for their own students and for those of others. About panOpen Designed by educators, panOpen is a courseware platform that realizes the promise of OER by providing all of the components required for its widespread use. panOpen offers complete peer-reviewed content, customization tools, assessments, analytics, LMS integration, and a means of financially sustaining campus-based OER efforts. With panOpen, faculty adopt enhanced interactive OER as they would a commercial textbook, with confidence in the quality and reliability of the content. panOpen preserves the virtues of OERradically reducing textbook costs and freeing faculty from the constraints of commercial copyrightwhile delivering the quality, features, and ease-of-use faculty expect from their learning materials. The result has enormous implications for pedagogical practices, changing the relationships of instructors and students to their educational content. To schedule a demo of panOpens new Texas Government courseware, click here. CHARLOTTETOWN, PE, April 15, 2021 /CNW/ - The Honourable Wayne Easter, Member of Parliament for Malpeque, on behalf of the Honourable Marie-Claude Bibeau, Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food, together with the Honourable Bloyce Thompson, Prince Edward Island Minister of Agriculture and Land, will announce a new initiative to assist hog producers affected by processing shut downs due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Date April 16, 2021 Time 2:30 p.m. (Atlantic Daylight Time) Participation information Access by videoconference: https://canada.webex.com/canada/j.php?MTID=mfa6c152d71b30aebee7b936d58f97a67 Conference number: 129 459 4114 Access code: 4JHz584EKZ* *** The event will be recorded. Participants may decline to have their likeness recorded by turning their camera off. This will not affect the audio or visual transmission of the event. Please select "use computer audio" when opening the meeting in the application. *** Access with telephone line Please contact the Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada Media Relations team to register and obtain instructions. Follow us on Twitter: @AAFC_Canada Like us on Facebook: CanadianAgriculture SOURCE Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada Cision View original content: http://www.newswire.ca/en/releases/archive/April2021/15/c0612.html YEREVAN, APRIL 15, ARMENPRESS. Foreign Minister of Armenia Ara Aivazian received on April 15 European Unions Special Representative for the South Caucasus and the Crisis in Georgia Toivo Klaar and his delegation, the foreign ministry told Armenpress. The sides discussed issues relating to regional security and stability. Minister Aivazian introduced the EUs Special Representative on the ongoing actions aimed at addressing the humanitarian situation in Artsakh and attached importance to the direct engagement of international partners to this process. In the context of the implementation process of the November 9 statement and the humanitarian problems requiring urgent solutions, the Armenian FM drew the attention of the guests on non-fulfillment of obligations by Azerbaijan, which continues keeping the Armenian prisoners of war and civilians in captivity. Both sides emphasized the importance of preserving the religious and cultural heritage in the conflict zone, including with the involvement of respective international organizations. The Armenian FM stated that the Armenophobic policy of Azerbaijan, as well as its targeting of the Armenian Christian heritage is a direct challenge to the international efforts for regional peace and stability. The EU Special Representative introduced the Foreign Minister on his visit to the bordering provinces of Armenia and his impressions. Editing and Translating by Aneta Harutyunyan The latest clash between two of Nigerias richest men, Aliko Dangote and Abdul Samad Rabiu, over sugar production in Nigeria has been settled by Governor Abdullahi Ganduje of Kano and Aminu Dantata, a prominent northern billionaire who is Mr Dangotes uncle. PREMIUM TIMES earlier reported that the dispute between the duo is over who controls the sugar market in Africas biggest economy. While Mr Dangote accuses his competitor of attempting to appropriate an undue advantage, Mr Rabiu says Africas richest man wants to monopolise the market and manipulate prices. Mr Dangote denied the price-fixing allegation in a statement. On Thursday, Abba Anwar, Mr Gandujes spokesperson, said in a statement that the Kano Emirate and Kano State Council of Imams resolved the rift between the two men who hail from Kano, thanks to Mr Dantatas intervention. Mer Anwar said the reconciliation meeting took place at the Kano governors lodge in Asokoro, Abuja, Wednesday. They agreed to work together and ensure sufficient supply of sugar to meet local demand, the statement said. According to the document, they all dismissed allegation that Dangote was planning to see to the increase of sugar price, through pressuring BUA to succumb to the increment. They described that allegation as baseless and lacking any iota of truth. Mr Rabiu, chair of BUA Group, in a February letter to Minister of Commerce, Trade and Investment Niyi Adebayo alleged Mr Dangote intended to eliminate his sugar business from competition and establish a monopoly in the sugar trade, going further to say Mr Dangote felt threatened by the potential of BUA Sugars Lafiagi and Port Harcourt refineries to drive the prices of sugar downwards for Nigeria and Nigerians. Mr Anwar said all the two business moguls agreed to work together as brothers for the growth and development of the nation at large. Assuring that, henceforth, there would be no differences, that could cause any disharmony between them. The commerce, trade and investment minister, representative of the Kano Emirate, Aminu Agundi, Chairman of the Council of Kano Imams, Muhammad Adam, the chief imam of Sheikh Ahmadu Tijjani Friday Mosque, Kofar Mata, Kano and the chairman of NEPZA, Adamu Panda, attended the meeting. The Sugar War Messrs Dangote and Rabiu, Africas richest and sixth richest men respectively according to Forbess estimate, have squabbled over compliance concerns relating to the backward integration policy of the Nigerian sugar industry, compounding an already knotty wrangle over the ownership of a cement site. Mr Dangote told Mr Adebayo, in a letter seen by PREMIUM TIMES, that the establishment of a sugar plant by BUA International Limited in the Port Harcourt free trade zone was out of tune with export laws. The mid-term review conducted by the NSDC (National Sugar Development Council) was clear in its conclusions BUA has failed to invest substantively in local production or comply with its undertakings under its BIP, Mr Dangote said in a letter co-signed with John Coumantaros, chairman of Flour Mills of Nigeria Plc, which also makes sugar. BUA intend only on importing and refining raw sugar whilst claiming to be investing in developing sugar plantations in order to qualify for quotas to import raw sugar. Relations between both men became soured in June 2020 when BUA Cement, where Mr Rabiu owns the majority interest, got a restraining order against Dangote Cement, also majority-owned by Mr Dangote, after the police stormed its three sites in Obu Okpella, Edo State. ADVERTISEMENT BUA Group claimed Dangote Cement initiated the action. BUA takes serious exception to the ludicrous claims by its two major competitors that it aims to circumvent the BIP of the sugar industry an initiative in which it has invested billions of Naira and is almost nearing completion, it said in a rejoinder to the sugar policy contravention indictment. To thus claim that the BUA PH export focused refinery in an Export Zone will amount to an undermining of the NSMP (National Sugar Master Plan) is false. President Muhammadu Buhari consented to the establishment the Port Harcourt plant, according to Mr Rabiu. BUA struck a deal with Frances hydrocarbons group, Axens, last September for the construction of a 200,000 barrels per day refinery and petrochemical plant in Akwa Ibom State, just slightly more than a year to the completion of Dangotes 650,000 bpd oil refinery in Lagos. Forbess estimate in January valued Dangotes wealth at $12.1 billion and Mr Rabius at $5.5 billion, making the latter Nigerias third richest man. By Tony Howley Congratulations, New Jersey. Youre a three-time champ in a dubious category. For the third consecutive year, New Jersey leads the nation in residents moving to other states, according to data from United Van Lines. Thats disappointing but not surprising, considering our states penchant for high taxes and unresponsive government. Its time for lawmakers in New Jersey to take a new approach, starting with this budget cycle. Gov. Phil Murphy recently kicked off the process with a budget proposal that does not include higher taxes and fees. Thank heaven for small favors. It was only a few months ago that his administration allowed a nearly 10 cent per gallon gas tax increase, and raised tolls on the Turnpike by 36% and on the Parkway by 27%. Then he authorized $4.5 billion in state borrowing. These measures were intended to address a budget crisis that wound up being far milder than projected, with state tax collections coming in billions of dollars above expectations. More recently, lawmakers in Washington approved a massive new coronavirus spending package, from which New Jersey is slated to receive more than $6 billion in additional federal funds. Considering all this, its hardly surprising Murphy has avoided another tax increase. If anything, its amazing officials can find programs to spend all this money on. If the governors budget is enacted, our state government will have increased spending by 29% in the four years of the Murphy administration. Murphy claims hes being fiscally prudent but that claim falls flat when you consider just how dramatic his tax and spending increases have been. Last year in the middle of a pandemic that led to crushing economic damage to businesses and families Murphy imposed the tax and fee increases noted above. Plus, he reversed the corporation business tax rate decline, effectively increasing taxes on many state businesses. He also extended the CBT surtax through 2023 and increased the annual assessment on new written premiums for health maintenance organizations from 3% to 5%. Once this raft of taxing and borrowing was in place, he took credit for adding to the states rainy day fund as if the state can credibly claim to have saved money after borrowing $4.5 billion. New Jersey has a spending problem. Our elected officials refuse to match spending to available revenue. Instead, they commit to wasteful spending on low priorities, then find a way to stick taxpayers with the bill. Far from benefiting from smart fiscal policy, New Jersey now has the highest combined state and local tax burden of all 50 states, according to recent research by WalletHub. The median family in our state pays nearly $12,000 per year in taxes. If lawmakers were committed to restraining spending to even a small degree, it would allow people to spend a little more on education, health care, and other priorities or maybe to increase retirement savings so they could continue to live in a state they have long called home. If we want our state and communities to thrive consistently and enjoy long-term growth, it will require smarter budgeting, better decisions and a reduced tax burden. According to a 2019 survey, nearly half of New Jersey residents are considering leaving the state over the next 10 years. The top reasons cited: high taxes, high cost of living, government corruption and crime. These are all problems lawmakers in Trenton could address. Most of them have probably promised to do so. But year after year, those promises are broken, the problems grow more serious, and more residents make the decision to leave. The governor and members of the state legislature have the power to change course. It begins with restraining spending, cutting waste, and seeking new ways to allow taxpayers to keep more of their hard-earned money. New Jersey is a great place to live, and lots of us want to find a way to stay. We just need our state government to stop seeking new ways to drive us out. Tony Howley is state director of Americans for Prosperity-New Jersey. Our journalism needs your support. Please subscribe today to NJ.com. Heres how to submit an op-ed or Letter to the Editor. Bookmark NJ.com/Opinion. Follow us on Twitter @NJ_Opinion and on Facebook at NJ.com Opinion. Get the latest news updates right in your inbox. Subscribe to NJ.coms newsletters. A senior Czech government official claims UEFA only handed out a 10-game ban to Ondrej Kudela for abusing Rangers midfielder Glen Kamara in order to satisfy the perverted expectations of a small group of activists. The Slavia Prague and Czech Republic defender is set to miss this summers Euros after he was punished for racist behaviour after insulting Ibrox midfielder Kamara during last months explosive Europa League clash in Glasgow. He also faces a potential court appearance in Scotland after police submitted a report of racially aggravated conduct against the 34-year-old to the Procurator Fiscal. But while football figures from across the continent have united to condemn the lenient nature of UEFAs ruling with 10 games the minimum sanction for racist abuse Vratislav Mynar has accused European footballs governing body of acting in the pinnacle of hypocrisy in banning Kudela. And he bizarrely suggested the ruling will see non-black players become the victim of discrimination. Mynar heads up the Office of the President of the Republic, which is a department set up to ensure presidential powers and are carried out. In his open letter to UEFAs control, ethics and disciplinary body, he wrote: I note that racism is unproven and alleged. The UEFA inspector himself questioned that Ondrej Kudela had made a racist statement. Nevertheless, you have decided on a completely unprecedented punishment for a player who did not harm anyone and only verbally according to his statement offended his opponent. You condemn a decent person without a single piece of evidence. You make it impossible for athletes to fulfil their dream in the Europa League all this just to fulfil the perverted expectations of a small group of activists and a club unable to win on the field, all the more so by shouting empty and hurtful phrases about racism. This content is not available due to your privacy preferences. Update your settings here to see it. In your submission, the fight against racism has become the fight of the unsuccessful against the successful, the pinnacle of hypocrisy, positive discrimination and embarrassing undermining with stupid trends. Story continues Your efforts can lead to the opposite, a situation where a person with a colour other than black will be discriminated against, oppressed and deprived of their rights. That is why I also consider it necessary to oppose this procedure. Although youre probably not used to it, let me tell you one thing. I very much appreciate the fact that the Czech public does not identify with your verdict, across the whole society. On the contrary, even if only for a short time, you have managed to unite ancient rivals. We will not kneel before you and no threats apply to the Czech football fan. Kamara was himself given a three-game ban after assaulting Kudela in the tunnel after the game, which Gers lost 2-0 as they crashed out at the last 16 stage. His Ibrox team-mate Kemar Roofe has also been given a four-game suspension for the horror tackle which left Slavia keeper Ondrej Kolar with a fractured skull. But Mynar insists the Gers duo got off lightly. Kemar Roofe has been banned for four games (Jane Barlow/PA) A lot has happened in the mentioned match, he said. The opponents insidious foul ended in a serious injury to goalkeeper Ondrej Kolar. He ended up with a skull fracture and will have to walk on the field with a helmet for the rest of his life. Result? The player who crushed the opponents skull with a football boot received a penalty from you for not entering 4 matches, another player for a physical attack for a three-match penalty. Mynar added that Czech president Milos Zeman was also taking an interest in the matter. He said: The President of the Republic Milos Zeman is acquainted with the situation in detail and considers it important not only from the point of view of sport, but also from the point of view of justice and human dignity. It expresses belonging to all citizens of the Czech Republic who follow this case and are disappointed during it. At the same time, he wishes all players and fans not to be discouraged by the whole affair and to continue to support their team so valiantly. PA have contacted UEFA for a response. Normal People star Paul Mescal has reportedly 'quietly' quit Instagram after it 'became a drain'. The Irish actor, 25, who soared to fame last year as Connell Waldron, is said to have deactivated his account after 'wasting time' on it and wants to instead 'focus his energy' on his personal life and work. It is not known when Paul, who had more than 1million followers, deactivated his account but his profile is now absent on Instagram. His Twitter, which has 179.1K, is still active although his last tweet was in August 2020. Quit: Normal People star Paul Mescal has reportedly 'quietly' quit Instagram after it 'became a drain' (pictured in September) A source told The Sun: 'Paul deactivated his Instagram account because it just became a drain. He felt like he was wasting time on there, reading the comments is no good for anyones mental health. 'There are more important things going on in his life and he wants to focus his energy into his personal life and his work, he doesnt need social media for that. Hes a private guy and doesnt feel the need to share everything online.' The source added that Paul doesn't feel it is 'worthwhile' to cash in on 'lucrative offers' from brands where he reportedly could have charged six-figures. They also claimed that the Irish actor may reactive his Instagram in the future but is currently 'enjoying' his break. Fame: The Irish actor, 25, who soared to fame last year as Connell Waldron, is said to have deactivated his account after 'wasting time' on it and wants to instead 'focus his energy' on his personal life and work (pictured in Normal People still with Daisy Edgar-Jones) Gone! It is not known when Paul, who had more than 1million followers, deactivated his account but his profile is now absent on Instagram Remains: His Twitter, which has 179.1K, is still active although his last tweet was in August 2020 MailOnline has contacted Paul's representative for comment. In December, Paul spoke about the pressures of social media in a candid interview with Glamour after his account soared from 1,000 to more than 100,000 followers. He said: 'It's an amazing privilege to have a platform like that and it did kind of happen overnight. It was going from 1,000 followers to couple of 100 thousand. It's amazing. 'I get the most joy out of it in terms of that is that it is coming from people who saw Normal People and really related to it. But it's also important to acknowledge that I think we do live in an age where we can become obsessed with that. 'As time has gone by this year, I've learned a lot in terms of needing to step away from those things. Nobody's going to remember your Instagram following. It's not going to be written on your tombstone.' Last post? It is not known when Paul deactivated his Instagram account and in February the Irish actor shared his excitement for the upcoming TV series of Sally Rooney's 2017 book Conversations With Friends on his profile It is not known when Paul deactivated his Instagram account and in February the Irish actor shared his excitement for the upcoming TV series of Sally Rooney's 2017 book Conversations With Friends on his profile. The actor, who soared to fame in the adaptation of Rooney's 2018 best-seller Normal People last year, also praised his friend Alison Oliver who has been cast as the lead character Frances. Alison is an emerging talent from drama school Lir Academy in Dublin, Ireland, whose fellow graduates include Paul. Paul took to Instagram after it was announced that his pal would be joining Joe Alwyn, Jemima Kirke and Sasha Lane in the 12-part BBC and Hulu series. He excitedly penned: 'Here we go! Can't wait to see this' followed by a red heart emoji. Support: The actor, who soared to fame in the adaptation of Rooney's 2018 best-seller Normal People last year, also praised his friend Alison Oliver (pictured) who has been cast as the lead character Frances Paul sweetly added: 'Big shout out to my pal @alisonoliver333 who is going to blow you all away' followed by a hands rejoining emoji. The actor's career has gone from strength to strength since debuting as Connell Waldron in Normal People in April last year. He has since featured in drama The Deceived and will star in The Lost Daughter, opposite Dakota Johnson and Olivia Colman. Earlier this year, Paul was spotted shooting scenes for his upcoming movie Carmen in Sydney, Australia. Paul's work as a lovelorn student on Normal People alongside co-star Daisy Edgar-Jones, also won him a nomination for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Limited Series or Movie at the 2020 Primetime Emmy Awards. Normal People is available to stream on Stan in Australia. Credit: Pixabay/CC0 Public Domain Portugal will push ahead with a phased exit from its virus lockdown on Monday with the reopening of restaurants, shopping centres, theatres, high schools and universities, the government announced. Eleven municipalities out of a total of more than 300 will however not be able to proceed with the step due to an elevated COVID-19 incidence level, officials said Thursday. "Most of the country will move Monday to the next stage of reopening," Prime Minister Antonio Costa said after a cabinet meeting. It will be the third step of four in a gradual lifting of restrictions that began in mid-March, following two months of lockdown that helped stem a severe third wave of the pandemic. The lifting of measures began with the reopening of primary schools a month ago, followed at the start of April by secondary schools and outdoor service for cafes and restaurants. Controls at the Spanish border will be maintained for at least 15 more days along with a requirement for travellers to present a negative COVID-19 test. Since the lifting of measures began, the number of new daily cases in Portugal has stabilised at around 500 compared to a peak of nearly 13,000 in late January. The number of people hospitalised for COVID has also fallen below 500 for the first time since September. Of the 11 municipalities with elevated incidence levels, seven will stick with current restrictions while four will revert to measures that were in place until Easter weekend 10 days ago. Explore further Follow the latest news on the coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak 2021 AFP Australia to withdraw last 80 troops from Afghanistan View Photo CANBERRA, Australia (AP) Australia would complete its troop withdrawal from Afghanistan in September in line with the United States and other allies, the prime minister said Thursday. Australias contribution to the NATO-led mission had once exceeded 15,000 personnel, but only 80 remain. In line with the United States and other allies and partners, the last remaining Australian troops will depart Afghanistan in September, Prime Minister Scott Morrison said, without nominating a day. The decision represents a significant milestone in Australias military history, he added. President Joe Biden plans to withdraw the last 2,500 U.S. troops from Afghanistan before the 20th anniversary of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks on the United States that triggered the campaign. More than 39,000 Australian military personnel have served in Afghanistan since 2001, and 41 have been killed there. Morrison became emotional when reading the names of the Australian soldiers who had died between 2002 and 2014. He said the Afghanistan campaign was worth the sacrifice. Freedoms always worth it. Australians have always believed that. Thats why Australians who have serviced in our defense forces have always pulled on that uniform, Morrison said. Pulling on that uniform and serving under that flag, defending our values and standing up for them is what Australians do and those 41 brave men have exhibited that more than any other Australian can ever hope to, he added. NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said the alliances full withdrawal would be completed in months, but did not mention the Sept. 11 anniversary. Australias military legacy in Afghanistan has been tarnished in recent years with allegations of war crimes. Australia last year established an investigative agency to build criminal cases against Australian special forces suspected of committing crimes from 2005 until 2016. A military report released in November found evidence that elite Australian troops unlawfully killed 39 Afghan prisoner, farmers and civilians. The report recommended 19 current and former soldiers face criminal investigation. Benjamin Roberts-Smith, Australias most highly decorated member of the armed services when he left the Special Air Service in 2013, has been accused by former colleagues of unlawful treatment of prisoners including illegal killings. The former corporal, who was awarded the Victoria Cross and the Medal for Gallantry for his service in Afghanistan, has denied any misconduct. Australia became a staunch ally in the U.S.-led war on terror. In 2003, President George W. Bush described then Prime Minister John Howard as a man of steel after Howard committed Australian combat troops to back U.S. and British forces in the Iraq invasion. By ROD McGUIRK Associated Press STARKVILLE, Miss. (WTVA) - OCH Regional Medical Center is pivoting after the state ordered hospitals to pause the use of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine. The order came Tuesday when the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) said it was investigating blood clots in six women across the country. OCH Regional Medical Center is located in Starkville, Mississippi. OCH Regional Medical Center is located in Starkville, Mississippi. Read More - US recommends 'pause' for J&J vaccine over clot reports The hospital used the single-dose J&J vaccine during its in-home vaccinations. Over 7 million of those vaccines have been administered, Interim Nursing Chief Savannah Brown said. So, this a minuscule amount of possible reaction. Open this link to view the total amounts of vaccines administered. She helped begin the hospitals homebound vaccine program. Read More - OCH hospital providing in-home vaccinations Even though were pausing the Johnson & Johnson, we will continue those efforts with either Pfizer or Moderna, she said. And when the second shot comes due, we will go and deliver the second shot. Unlike the J&J vaccine, the vaccines from Pfizer and Moderna both require two doses administered weeks apart. Brown said the homebound patients will not need to make a second appointment. EMTs will automatically come when the second shot is due. Brown said workers will call to check on the homebound patients who received the J&J vaccine less than a week ago. We feel like its our responsibility," she said. "While yes, a hospital is a business, we dont want the homebound patients to have to be here; and if we can give them this vaccine and it keeps them out of the hospital, I mean thats all of our goal, right? Is to keep this community healthy. Brown did say she does not want people to fear the vaccine. However, anyone who received the J&J vaccine within the past two weeks should monitor for symptoms such as a warm place on arms or legs, trouble breathing, headaches and chest pain. WARM tributes have been paid to a Limerick college lecturer, who was described as one of the sweetest people you could meet. There is sadness among students and staff at the Limerick School of Art and Design (Lsad) following the sudden passing of Helen Byrnes. The mum-of-three had worked at the Clare Street college for more than 20 years. A well-respected academic, Helen also worked at the National Gallery, the National College of Art and Design library and Dublins Griffith College. At Lsad, she fronted the course in critical and contextual studies. Louise Masterson, a friend of Helens since her university days, said: Helen was lovely. She was one of the sweetest nicest people you could meet. She was very gentle, very kind. She had an infectious laugh. If she laughed, everyone ended up laughing. She was witty. Just lovely. Her colleague described her as a very dedicated teacher. Helen cared about the students she taught. Really conscientious, someone who wanted to help all the students. She was a really big family person. A lot of us would have kids the same agew as he children. She was dedicated to her family, Louise said. In a statement on its Instagram page, Lsad described Helen as a gentle and woman whose kindness and wit was greatly appreciated by both her students and her workmates. Helen taught across all four of the colleges year-groups, carrying out lectures, seminars, tutorials, and one-to-one lessons. A lot of the work she would have done would have been with third and fourth years individually, helping them with their self-directed projects. Her second year seminars were focused on contemporary art and design, Louise explained. She also recalled how her friend loved the jewellery of Alan Ardiff. View this post on Instagram A post shared by LSAD (@lsadlimerick) Helen died unexpectedly at her home in Dublin on April 1. She is survived by her three girls Lucy, Ava and Holly, and husband Peter. She is also very deeply missed by her sister Louise, her mother-in-law, brothers-in-law; nieces, nephews, extended family, relatives and friends. A private family funeral took place in her home parish in Dublin. May she rest in peace. Tehran, April 15 : Iran has no problem negotiating the return to the 2015 nuclear agreement, but will do so "according to its own logic", President Hassan Rouhani said during a cabinet meeting. "We are not in a hurry for negotiations to be held today or tomorrow, and that depends on the other part. We are ready and our position is clear," Xinhua news agency quoted Rouhani as saying on Wednesday while referring to the nuclear talks in Vienna. The US, he said, must implement the very same conditions that were agreed in July 2015, and as soon as Iran verifies those conditions have been met, it will "immediately fulfil all (its) obligations". The Iranian government, Rouhani added, has already made plans for the verification procedures, so verifying the compliance will not take long. Commenting on the upgrade of Iran's uranium enrichment at the nuclear plant in Natanz, Rouhani described the move as the "first response" to the "mischiefs" of Tehran's enemies, after an explosion was reported in the facilities on Sunday. Analysts said the incident at the enrichment plant has complicated efforts to rescue the 2015 deal, officially known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), with lifting sanctions on Iran and nuclear implementation measures on the top of the agenda. On Tuesday, Iranian chief nuclear negotiator Abbas Araqchi said the country has notified the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) that Iran plans to start uranium enrichment at 60 per cent purity and add 1,000 advanced centrifuges to its enrichment devices in Natanz. The explosion was "apparently" the work of Israel, the President said at the cabinet meeting. He described the incident in Natanz an act of "nuclear terrorism" aimed at disrupting Iran's "peaceful legal technology under IAEA oversight", but Iran will continue to work "legally" within that framework. In any case, Rouhani said, the IAEA will continue to monitor Iran's enrichment activity whatever the degree of purity is. Under the JCPOA, Iran is allowed to enrich uranium only up to a 3.67 per cent of purity and its stockpile should not be more than 300 kg. However, Iran has been scaling down its compliance to its JCPOA obligations since the US withdrew from the deal in May 2018 and re-imposed sanctions on the country. On January 4, Iran started to produce uranium enrichment of 20 per cent purity. Not much is known about the South American variation P1 apart from the fact that it is more contagious. France has already suspended all flights to and from Brazil for a duration of two weeks, and now six cases have been reported in the Grand Duchy. The British coronavirus variant B.1.1.7 remains the most prevalent one in Luxembourg, making up 74.1% of cases. The latest weekly review, which was published by the National Health Laboratory on Wednesday, further indicates that the South African variant B.1.351 represents 19.4% of cases, more or less the same value as during the previous week. However, the report also revealed that six cases of the Brazilian variant occurred within seven days. Up until now, isolated cases of the mutation occurred sporadically, like in the week from 8 to 14 March. While France already took steps to limit the potential exposure to the P1 variant on Tuesday evening, Luxembourgish health officials continue to monitor the evolution. At this moment, they do not yet consider banning travel to or from Brasil. The Ministry of Health has indicated that there is little evidence the variant is only brought to Europe from South America. How contagious is the Brazilian variant? According to Natalia Pasternak, microbiologist and director of the Questoes de Ciencia Institute, fears over the new Covid-19 mutation are "justified, since it is highly contagious and managed to quickly spread across a country as enormous as Brasil." The P1 mutation first emerged near the Brazilian city Manaus in December last year, but was only recognised as a Covid-19 variant in January, when travellers brought it to Japan. Like the South African variant, P1 is thus considered to cause more infections within a short period of time, and a greater number of antibodies is needed to resist it. Are current vaccines effective agains the variant? P1 has already spread across all of Brasil, although the country currently being overrun with new cases has trouble following up on its data reports. Unsurprisingly, no conclusive study on the mutation's mortality rate has yet been published. The elevated rate in Brasil may also be linked to the over-saturation of hospitals, which is difficult to assess at this point. The only positive news so far concern the efficacy of vaccines. According to preliminary research, the Chinese vaccine CoronaVac, which is the type most used in Brasil, is able to deal with the mutation. The same goes for the Pfizer/BionTech jab and the one from AstraZeneca. Mask. That was 2-year-old Rosie Werners voice coming clearly from the back seat. Shed said only a few words in her young life, but there it was part of her embryonic vocabulary. Her mother, Kaz Werner, who had just donned a face mask for their outing, was momentarily startled. I mean it makes sense. Its something that she saw a lot of, the 40-year-old Santa Clara mom said. But it was not something I was expecting. Who expects their kids first word to be mask? A baby with pandemic lingo: It was just another twist in whats been a long haul for parents like Werner, a year laden with quality moments but also plenty of stresses that have upended family life. Tied down, often struggling to stay upbeat, many have worked their jobs while simultaneously trying to keep life smooth for kids who are knocked off school routines and missing play time with friends. With a semblance of normalcy now on the horizon, parents of young kids are some of the happiest and most relieved among those newly eligible for the lifesaving vaccinations. They were all swept into the eligibility fold Thursday when California opened vaccine access to the 16-49 age group, essentially removing barriers for everyone in the federal governments approved age range for vaccine safety. In California, that wraps in about 760,000 households with children under 6, according to U.S. census data. Some parents previously were eligible through job categories, such as health workers and educators. But with doors now open to everyone, others have been scrambling for the soonest possible appointments. Some managed to schedule shots for the end of this week, while others have been furiously refreshing webpages in an effort to snag the next available slot. One things clear: Parents of young kids are eager to get vaccinated, to feel protected, to inch closer toward normal life. Parents are obviously being taxed by a number of factors in addition to worrying about their own physical health, the physical health of their kids, family members, said Melissa Hagan, a psychology professor at San Francisco State University and UCSF. Theyre also likely needing to do child care, work from home with the kids. ... So more than anything, I think that parents are probably exhausted. For Melissa Ng, 36, a San Francisco mother of boys ages 2 and 4, there was a little bit of mom guilt. I was yelling more. We were grumpy, said Ng, an analyst who was able to work from home while her husband was not. By default, she ended up taking on most of the child care responsibilities. We tried to carve out times to go on walks and do things that we really wouldnt have been doing on a day-to-day basis, she said. So I actually enjoyed hanging out with my kids. That being said, because I was with them 24/7, there were times when it was less rosy. Her husband is now fully vaccinated as an essential worker, and she managed to get her first shot of the two-dose regimen last week as they move toward securing their familys safety. Werner and her husband had previously planned to drive all the way to Turlock (Stanislaus County) to get shots, but their appointments were canceled with the pause on administering the Johnson & Johnson vaccine. They were thrilled to then nab Friday morning appointments in Santa Clara County, much closer to home. Demand was outstripping supply for so long. I was thinking were never going to get vaccinated until like next Christmas, Werner said. Now shes thinking of all the things her family can do after the couple are fully vaccinated. Im ... really looking forward to a little bit of time to myself. Like I have not had a day off from this stay-at-home parenting gig for a year, Werner said. My husband is great, but he works full time. ... To have one of our friends babysit for (Rosie) and to be able to just go do something fun with my husband, I cant even imagine it right now. A return to normalcy isnt as immediately on the horizon for Matt Fuller of San Mateo and his wife and 2-year-old son, Isaiah. Fuller spent early Thursday morning scouring websites for appointments, without luck as the day proceeded. Im still looking ... tried at 2 a.m., 4 a.m., 6 a.m, he messaged a Chronicle reporter Thursday. I didnt sleep that much. Fuller, 46, who works for a venture capital fund, said he has enjoyed spending extended home time with his son which he couldnt do before the pandemic because he frequently traveled for work. At the same time, its quarantine has been mentally challenging. Being holed up in the same room on Zoom all day long is exhausting, he said. Every little decision you make (is) stressful, whether its going to the store or deciding whos in your pod or even just walking down the street: Do you wear a mask? Every little interaction becomes a minor stress inducer. The emergence of vaccines has made parents feel more comfortable about sending kids back to preschool, said Magda Bach, owner of Kangaroos Preschool in San Francisco. Its been good for both parents and kids. Parents are like, Oh, my God. Now, I can sit down and work from home. I can actually go to the store. They can feel ... normality a little bit, Bach said. You see much happier parents. You see happier kids where they say, Oh Mommy, Mommy is here rather than, Ive been with Mom all day long. Theyre unhappy because its a lot of stress when you have your kids 24/7 and youre not a stay-at-home mom. As previously eligible groups have been vaccinated, the schools enrollment has crept back to near normal numbers, she said, albeit with smaller class sizes and safety measures in place. Hagan is working on a study of about 100 moms of kids around age 7, looking at how theyre handling the pandemic, how much they think or dream about it, and how it affects their concentration. We definitely see that mental health symptoms related to the pandemic ... have increased, she said, especially when people experience job or child care loss, or contract COVID-19. Its important because we also find that greater mental health problems related to the pandemic in moms was related to similar symptoms in kids. Many parents plan to maintain pandemic vigilance and wear masks even after vaccination, because children still are not approved for vaccines. But they look forward to resuming at least some normal activities. When it gets warmer, Werner wants to teach Rosie not just new words, but also how to swim. Meghan Bobrowsky is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: meghan.bobrowsky@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @MeghanBobrowsky Michigans worst-in-the-nation coronavirus outbreak shows no signs of abating. Daily reports of new cases continue to climb. Hospitalizations are approaching peak levels. And deaths are rising, too. But Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, a Democrat who unapologetically locked down her state last year, signaled again on Wednesday that she had no plans to impose new restrictions. Instead of mandating that were closing things down, we are encouraging people to do what we know works, Ms. Whitmer said, stressing that a mask mandate and occupancy limits remained in place in the state. Its not the policy problem. It is a variant and compliance problem. Ms. Whitmer finds herself overseeing a rapidly escalating crisis with no easy solutions. Sixteen of the 17 metro areas with the highest recent case rates in the country are in her state, which has accounted for more than 10 percent of all U.S. cases reported in the last week. A total of 1,279 new COVID-19 cases have been reported in Massachusetts schools in the past week, state education officials said Thursday, the highest weekly total to date. Those cases, among 1,095 students and 184 staff members, were reported from April 8 to 14, according to a weekly report from the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education. The report, which comes out each Thursday, includes positive cases among students and staff members who have tested positive for the virus within seven days of being inside a school building. This means students learning remotely are not included. This weeks report shows an increase in total COVID cases from last week and the week prior, as well as the highest number of student cases reported to date. Last week, the state reported a total of 978 new cases. The week before, there were 1,045 total new cases. Education officials, however, noted that a larger number of student cases could be linked to the increase in students who are learning in school buildings. There are roughly 650,000 students and 125,000 staffers in public school buildings. Most districts in the state started offering full-time education for K-5 students on April 5. The percent of individuals in schools reported with COVID is 0.17% among students and 0.15% among staffers. With hundreds of thousands of students returning to school buildings, medical experts have forecasted that the number of positive cases reported to schools may increase due to the increased volume of students. The Department will continue to follow safety guidelines and mitigation strategies, including pooled testing to help identify and isolate positive cases, reads a note with Thursdays data. Cases in this weeks report include 1,081 student cases and 175 staff cases at local school districts, 10 student cases and 4 staff cases at education collaboratives, and 4 student cases and 5 staff cases at approved special education schools. For the first time this week, DESE released information about results from pooled COVID testing programs in schools. From April 5 to 11, there were 185 districts participating in pooled testing, according to the data. There was an average of 7.3 swabs per pool and 10,568 pools processed. Of those processed, there were 109 positive pool results. The average pool positivity rate was 1.03% and the average turnaround time was 13.5 hours. Among school districts, Springfield saw the most student cases in the last week with 38. Boston followed with 32 and Worcester had 30, according to the data. Methuen reported 27 student cases and there were 25 in Lowell. Staff cases were highest among districts in Holyoke with 23. Boston reported 11 staff cases and Springfield and Worcester both reported eight each. Student cases at education collaboratives included three cases each Collaborative for Regional Educational Service and Training (CREST) and South Shore Educational Collaborative (SSEC) and one each at Central Massachusetts SPED Collaborative, LABBB Collaborative, North River Collaborative and Northshore Education Consortium. Among approved special education schools, there was one case reported each at the Arlington School, Cardinal Cushing Centers School - Hanover, Cotting School and Willow Hill School. There was one staff case reported each at Manville School, Lighthouse School, Hillcrest Educational Centers School, May Center School for Autism and Developmental Disabilities (Randolph) and Perkins School for Blind. Throughout the school year, officials have said in-person spread of the virus has been minimal. In K-12 schools, 22 new clusters of COVID-19 have been identified from March 14 to April 10, according to data from the Department of Public Health. There are 27 ongoing clusters identified before March 14. School clusters include cases associated with a school where in-school transmission cannot be completely ruled out, officials have said, though other transmission settings are considered more likely. A cluster is considered closed after 28 days have passed since the last confirmed case. 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. Earlier this month, most districts statewide started five days a week of in-person learning for elementary school students. By May 3, all elementary schools in the state will have fully in-person learning for K-5 students. On April 28, DESE is requiring districts to start offering full-time in-person learning for students in grades 6-8 unless the district has received a waiver. A return date for high school students has not yet been announced. Related Content: TEMPE, Ariz., April 15, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Persefoni , an intelligent carbon accounting and management platform for enterprises and investors, today announced it has raised $9.7 million in its Series A financing round. Rice Investment Group led the round, with participation from NGP ETP and Sallyport Investments. Persefoni intends to use the funds for business expansion, product innovation, recruitment, and to scale its business internationally. As global companies strive to fight climate change and respond to new requirements increasingly being made by investors and regulators, they lack a broad set of tools to assemble, calculate, manage, and report organizational carbon footprints with the same confidence that they manage their financial transactions. Established in January 2020, Persefoni's SaaS platform is the market's first "ERP for Carbon Data", enabling global organizations and institutional investors to calculate and manage their carbon footprint enterprise-wide, and do so both real-time and in-line with the Greenhouse Gas Protocol (Scope 1-3). "On the back of a banner year of net-zero commitments from governments, asset managers, and organizations the world over, we saw the venture and software investor communities wake up to what is the formation of the largest regulatory compliance software market since the introduction of Sarbanes Oxley," said Kentaro Kawamori, CEO and co-founder of Persefoni. "We applaud the efforts of financial regulators around the world who are implementing carbon and climate disclosure requirements. Such regulation is one of the most impactful ways to get companies accounting for, and reducing, their carbon footprint." Persefoni has accelerated its leadership position in the ClimateTech industry with the goal of combatting climate change worldwide. The Series A investment brings total capital raised to $13.2 million, which includes previous investments from Rice Investment Group and Carnrite Ventures, a venture capital firm. As part of the financing, Kyle Derham, partner at Rice Investment Group, and Greg Lyons, Principal at NGP, will join the Persefoni Board of Directors. "We are excited about the progress that Persefoni has made in only a year," said Danny Rice, co-founder and partner at Rice Investment Group. "It's clear that the Persefoni team is creating a new category of software solutions that bridge the gap between investor and reporting company carbon reduction ambitions." Persefoni continues to expand its customer portfolio with global clients like Private Equity firm TPG. The company enables organizations to plan across their entire enterprise or a single business unit to track and manage their carbon footprint, to seamlessly report over multiple standards, and ultimately to promote their decarbonization efforts. The Persefoni SaaS platform enables organizations to quickly surface data-driven insights that improve understanding of how and where to systematically lower the environmental impact of operations and financed emissions. The new Series A funding follows the recent appointment of ESG integration expert Robert G. Eccles to the company's Sustainability Advisory Board. Eccles is a leading authority on corporate purpose and the integration of ESG factors in resource allocation decisions by companies and investors, and the founding chairman of the Sustainability Accounting Standards Board (SASB). Persefoni was also recently recognized as the best technological innovation and winner of the Enterprise & Data category at the 13th annual SXSW Pitch competition, held during the South by Southwest event in March. Supporting Statements from NGP ETP and Sallyport Investments "NGP ETP only invests in companies that can meaningfully and cost-effectively contribute to global decarbonization efforts, like Persefoni," said Greg Lyons Principal at NGP ETP. "Persefoni has built a sophisticated enterprise-grade data management platform that should ultimately allow for transparency and accountability around organizational emissions targets. And the market need for carbon calculations and reporting that are accurate and auditable is exploding even before most major regulation can come into effect." "Sallyport looks to partner with high-growth companies with an aim of making a meaningful industry impact," said Doug Foshee, founder and owner of Sallyport Investments. "Persefoni's world-class management team has a deep understanding of the sustainability and technology markets, and the company is well positioned to establish a market leadership role. This isn't about simply making carbon accounting and reporting available it is about making it meaningful." For more information about Persefoni, please visit https://persefoni.com/. About Persefoni Persefoni is a SaaS company that enables enterprises and institutional investors to measure, analyze, plan, forecast, and report on their carbon footprint. The Persefoni platform leverages AI to provide users contextual sustainability performance scores for their organization and enables them to manage their carbon transactions and inventory with the same rigor as their financial ones. Built for both reporting companies and institutional investors, Persefoni is a complete carbon footprint management system. SOURCE Persefoni Related Links www.persefoni.com Dan Andrews may not be able to return to work in ten days as he continues to recover from broken ribs and a fractured spine. The Victorian Premier suffered five broken ribs and a fractured T7 vertebrae after slipping on wet stairs at a holiday home on the Mornington Peninsula, south of Melbourne, on March 9. He was discharged from the Alfred Hospital six days later and has made steady progress at home, but state officials fear the 48-year-old will not be well enough to resume his political duties at the end of April as planned. 'This was a nasty, nasty injury. Fractured ribs, fractured vertebrae,' acting premier James Merlino told reporters on Thursday. The Victoria premier (pictured with wife Cath) was rushed to hospital when he fell on wet stairs outside a house his family rented on the Mornington Peninsula Mr Andrews (pictured) said he is making 'steady progress' in his recovery after his horror fall 'He's very, very lucky - and that was the message from his doctors when he got discharged.' When asked about whether Mr Andrews will return to work in ten days as planned, Mr Merlino replied: 'He'll come back when his doctors say he's able to come back.' He added that the 48-year-old is making good progress and that doctors are happy with his recovery. 'Anyone with a severe back injury will know that the recovery is tough and everyone's different, of course, but doctors are pleased,' he said. On April 4, the premier posted an update on Twitter and said he was finally back on his feet and able to walk for 18 minutes a day. Mr Andrews (pictured, back) is undergoing his rehabilitation process at his Melbourne home The Victorian premier on Easter Sunday revealed he is able to walk for 18 minutes a day 'Im making steady progress and being diligent with my physio exercises,' he wrote. Mr Andrews extended his gratitude to Victorians who sent him support during the Easter holidays for his ongoing recovery. 'Thanks for all your messages of support over the past couple of weeks,' he tweeted alongside a photo of a card and some chocolate eggs. 'Theyve really helped to keep my spirits up in whats been a pretty painful time.' After the fall, Mr Andrews rushed to hospital and transferred to a specialist trauma centre at The Alfred hospital, before announcing he would take a leave of absence. 'It's been a long, painful and difficult week,' he wrote at the time. Daniel Andrews fractured his T7 vertebrae (in red), which is in the middle of the spine 'My doctors also want me to get rest and undertake a comprehensive program of physiotherapy. That's why I will take a leave of absence from my duties for at least six weeks.' He also revealed that one doctor told him 'you are very lucky to be here in one piece' and urged him to buy a lotto ticket. 'I'm not sure about the Tattslotto ticket but I'm certain that with rest, continued high quality care and the support of family, friends, colleagues and the Victorian community, I'll be back doing the job I love as soon as possible,' Mr Andrews said. Deputy Premier James Melino will continue to act as premier. Mr Merlino, who has been deputy premier since 2014, sought to reassure Victorians he would be able to fill Mr Andrews' shoes for a longer period if required. 'We made a commitment back in 2014 when we first came into government to not waste a day,' he said. A Dubai Chamber of Commerce and Industry delegation participated in the Ethiopian Transport Investment Summit, which recently took place in Addis Ababa, and explored prospects for expanding cooperation between the UAE and Ethiopia in the logistics and transport sectors. The Summit, organised by Ethiopias Ministry of Transport, aimed to promote the sectors untapped investment opportunities and create a networking platform for potential foreign and local investors. At the summit, Dagmawit Moges, Minister of Transport of Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, expressed her governments readiness to collaborate with the private sector to achieve the transport and logistics sectors ten-year perspective plan and hence dedicated her effort to the preparation of the summit. She said that as the country seeks to increase infrastructure assets, and renovate the services, the amalgamation of state of art technological inputs, and enjoying a late comer advantage of accessing all contemporary transport related inventions and mechanisms would only happen, through opening up of the sector to the private investors both foreign and domestic. A panel session during the event, titled Opportunities for Private Sector Engagement in the Ethiopian Transport Sector, was joined by Omar Khan, Director of International Offices. During the discussion, he noted that the summit shed light on new opportunities in Ethiopias logistics and transport sectors, which offer tremendous potential for Dubai Chamber members, and companies specialising in IT companies, delivery and freight forwarding in particular. The transport sector is vital and important to any country, and Ethiopia is witnessing many changes in terms of investment, trade and opening up opportunities for international companies, Khan said, adding that Ethiopia is expected to witness unprecedented economic transformation with the Africa Continental Free Trade Agreement coming into play. Since Dubai Chamber opened its first Africa office in Addis Ababa several years ago, Dubais non-oil trade with Africa has surged by nearly 42% over the 2014-2019 period, Khan explained, adding that the number of African companies registering with Dubai Chamber has grown to exceed 17,000 today. In addition, he encouraged Ethiopian companies to participate in the Expo 2020 Dubai and the Global Business Forum Africa descending on Dubai later this year, as they provide an ideal platform for these businesses to boost their global profile, explore new growth opportunities and build cross-border partnerships. Dubai Chambers delegation, headed by Khan, also met with prominent and influential leaders from Ethiopias public and private sectors, including Ministry of Foreign Affairs; Ministry of Innovation and Technology; Ministry of Trade; Land Bank Development Commission; Orbit Health; Ministry of Health; Ministry of Mines and Petroleum; Muya Ethiopia; CAWEE; Wild Coffee, Industry Park Development Commission; Ethiopian National Bank; and Hadero Coffee Roasting Centre.-- Tradearabia News Service EXCLUSIVE: The quest toward reparations for slavery gains steam as Democrats in the U.S. House of Representatives push H.R.40. through committee Members of the U.S. House Judiciary Committee take another historic step closer to considering the legacy bill, H.R. 40, on the House floor. On Wednesday, the committee is voted on the legislation that, if passed, would establish the first commission to study a case for reparations to descendants of American slavery. As lawmakers consider the big picture of getting the government to research and gather the reparations claims, the debate is brewing on what reparations would look like once the U.S. House and Senate pass the bill and make its recommendations on what reparations will look like for the millions of African Americans and Black Americans impacted by the negative effects of generational racism stemming from the enslavement of Africans over 400 years ago. Read More: Brown University students vote for reparations for slavery descendants Circa 1830: A slave auction in America. (Photo by Rischgitz/Getty Images) This week, Human Rights Watch held a press conference on the matter with the top thinkers and lawmakers who have been working on the issue. One question that has followed the matter of reparations for the past 24 years has been whether or not there should also be a presidential apology for slavery. During the second term of Bill Clintons administration, the question of an official apology for slavery had at points dominated that presidency, but in the end, no such apology was issued. During his presidency, George W. Bush did not want to apologize for the U.S. government-sanctioned enslavement of Africans, as he rationalized that Africans also participated in the slave trade. When it comes to former president Barack Obama the prevailing thought was that a Black man should not apologize for slavery, which took place at the hands of white government leaders 401 years ago. U.S. President Barack Obama holds the last news conference of his presidency (Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images) Then came Donald Trump, who struggled with reconciling the truth of the Civil War and why it was fought. He also seemed to support the Confederacy, which lost the battle to keep slavery in place. Story continues Now were faced with a new administration that has signaled a break in the trend to dodge reparations. President Joe Biden is in support of H.R.40, calling for a commission to study what reparations would look like. Vice President Kamala Harris is in support of S.40 in the Senate, which is the companion bill to H.R.40. Read More: Bidens top aide says White House will start acting now on reparations for African Americans Still, many questions remain as it relates to reparations in the United States, like what would reparations look like, and how will it be determined? Also, who are the descendants of slaves in America? Will it be only financial disbursements to the descendants of slaves, and if so, how will that be determined? Theres also the question of whether reparations would include a financial infusion to zip codes that are predominately Black and disadvantaged? TheGrio took part in the Human Rights Watch webinar on H.R. 40 and asked Kamm Howard of the National Coalition of Blacks for Reparations in America, to address the question of General William T. Shermans hope for 40 acres and a mule provided for slaves who fought on behalf of the Union in the Civil War. On Monday, the 18-member 1776 Commission released its 1776 report Monday, which defends slavery as part of Americas founding. (Photo by Hulton Archive/Getty Images) They stated emphatically that they needed land to be free, because of all that you can produce from land, Howard said. Today, what we need to be free is education. Its economic development. Its access to capital. Its food healthy food is healthy existence. Its a many of things today that we need in order to equate to, what, 40 acres, what it did to our people at that time, what we need to do today to be free. Another question theGrio asked focused on whether seeking an apology for slavery from the president of the United States needs to be a part of the conversation on reparations for the enslavement of Africans in America? An apology is part of the satisfaction, said Howard. It is part of returning dignity to a people It is also the acknowledgement that a crime has been done. Howard also offered an apology shows the government is taking full responsibility for that crime and a willingness to do whatever it takes for correction. U.S. Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee said H.R. 40 will establish a very strong commission that will not presume what the results will be, but it will fact find. U.S. Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee (D-TX) listens during a hearing before the Subcommittee on the Constitution, Civil Rights, and Civil Liberties of the House Judiciary Committee at Rayburn House Office Building on Capitol Hill March 18, 2021 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images) The Texas congresswoman and the lead sponsor of the bill added, I think the key element is standing up this commission and dealing with the direct connection between slavery and the condition of African Americans today and through the period post-slavery. Weve never done that. And an apology by its very name will be an element of the commission. But the work of the commission will be the establishment of the reparation proposals, which will cross the gambit to be able to be responsive, honest and effective. Memphis Congressman Steve Cohen chairs the Judiciary Committees subcommittee on the constitution, Civil Rights and Civil Liberties. There has to be a financial and economic response, not just an apology We are committed to rectifying the lingering consequences of Jim Crow and slavery, he said, adding both houses [House and Senate] need to act on it. Former Democratic New York Gov. David Paterson, and the first Black man to hold the post, argued that reparations are needed as Africans built the wealth and infrastructure of this country for free. The enslaved who built this country and never got any credit for it, said Paterson. New York Gov. David Paterson speaks during a town hall meeting at Borough Hall March 8, 2010 in the Brooklyn borough of New York City. (Photo by Mario Tama/Getty Images) Just because they were slaves dont mean they dont deserve credit. They built this country. They financed the southern state governments. Without them, there was nothing. Currently, the fight for slaves and their descendants is unfolding as Paterson explained slaves couldnt fight for themselves as both their minds and bodies were shackled. The fashion in which Africans were brought to this country is what made it so hard for them to fight back when they became slaves, adds Paterson. Congresswoman Jackson Lee said descendants of slaves in this nation are still dealing with the fright and the horror. She cited the horrific and conspicuous racial issues of deadly policing, mass incarceration, inadequate primary and secondary schools as just a few issues that face present-day descendants of slaves. It has been 32 years since H.R. 40 was first introduced by Congressman John Conyers. This committee vote on Wednesday finally puts the United States on track to pass the bill. Have you subscribed to theGrios Dear Culture podcast? Download our newest episodes now! TheGrio is now on Apple TV, Amazon Fire and Roku. Download theGrio.com today! The post As reparations bill moves in House, should Biden issue US apology for slavery? appeared first on TheGrio. Mumbai-based couple Oniba and Sharique Qureshi, who was sentenced to 10 years in jail in a drug case in Qatar in 2019, returned to the city on Thursday with their minor daughter. A Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) official said the couple landed at the Mumbai airport at 2.30 am. The couple had been cleared of all charges after it came to light that a relative planted narcotics in their bag without their knowledge. The couple was arrested at Hamad International Airport in July 2019 after Qatari authorities recovered 4.1 kg of hashish in their bag. It later came to light that Shariques aunt, Tabassum Qureshi, had used them to transport the drugs. The trip had been sponsored by Tabassum, the official said. At that time, while Sharique was employed with a Japanese company, Oniba had just learnt that she was pregnant. She delivered a girl, Aayat, in jail last February. The couples family members approached the Indian Government, asking it to intervene in the matter. Following this, the NCB got in touch with the authorities in Qatar and the family challenged the lower court order convicting the couple. Eventually, the couple was cleared of all charges. (Disclaimer: This story is auto-generated from a syndicated feed; only the image & headline may have been reworked by www.republicworld.com) Cancer is an insidious disease that, despite being around for centuries, is still very difficult to diagnose and treat. Thus, cancer has been the focus much research in the biomedical fields. Today, with research methods advancing rapidly and the base pool of researchers growing constantly, our fundamental understanding of the mechanisms of cancer formation and proliferation have increased, and new more promising treatment avenues have opened up. In a new review article published in Chinese Medical Journal, scientists from Guangxi Medical University, China, have organized and analyzed the latest papers published on one promising avenue of exploration for many cancers, the cell receptor neuropilin-1 (NRP-1). Their work provides a much-needed overview of the salient findings in this field that helps direct future research on cancer treatment. Neuropilins are transmembrane protein receptors with many functions in the body. For instance, they act as part of cell signaling pathways, regulating cellular function when various ligands (proteins) bind to them. NRP-1 in particular is critical to nerve cell and heart and blood vessel development and is otherwise found to be expressed on the surface of many types of cells, including regulatory T cells (a type of immune cell), osteoblasts (bone forming cells), adipocytes (fat storage cells), keratinocytes (a type of skin cell), and bone marrow fibroblasts (connective tissue in the bone marrow). Because of its role in cell growth and blood vessel formation, this receptor is implicated in cancer development and proliferation. For instance, one action of NRP-1, forming complexes with various growth factors--which are a type of protein or hormone that helps stimulate cells to multiply--appears to promote tumor proliferation and metastasis (movement of the tumor into other parts of the body). In addition, NRP-1 binds to a protein expressed on regulatory T cells, an important player in anti-tumor immunity. This binding interferes with T cell functioning, speeding up tumor progression. Further, it promotes action of tumor-associated macrophages, which suppress the body's normal immune system, helping tumors proliferate. Finally, the importance of NRP-1 in blood vessel formation also applies for blood vessels that tumors use to obtain nutrients for continued growth. All of these factors combine to make hampering NRP-1 function an attractive idea for treating cancers. Several therapeutic strategies have already been developed, including blocking the interaction of NRP-1 with growth factors to prevent tumor blood-vessel formation, preventing NRP-1 presence in tumor regulatory T cells so that cancers are more susceptible to the body's immune system, and directly targeting NRP-1 expression in several types of cells. Other, more cutting-edge technologies include the development of alternative splicing variants which are basically mutant versions of original proteins that bind to NRP-1; these variants change how NRP-1 acts when they bind to it. Some studies have also looked into combining multiple drugs that target NRP-1, or administering NRP-1-related drugs along with existing chemotherapy drugs. These studies have found that such "combination therapies" work well to eliminate multiple types of cancers. Lead author of the article, Dr. Shao-Dan Liu, discusses the importance of reviewing recent progress in research on NRP-1 and its relationship to cancers. He says, "A comprehensive review gives us a better sense of where we are at the moment and what still needs to be known. For example, a lot of questions remain to be answered about the exact molecular mechanisms of NRP-1 action in cancer progression." Nonetheless, recent NRP-1 research has considerably increased our understanding of this receptor's role in tumor development and enhanced our ability to predict the likely outcome of cancers, in addition to diagnosing and treating them. Dr. Liu adds, "We also hope that reading about all these advancements in cancer treatments will give the public confidence that cancer research is on the right track." Indeed, in time, cancer may not be the formidable disease that is today. ### Reference Titles of original papers: Targeting neuropilin-1 interactions is a promising anti-tumor strategy Journal: Chinese Medical Journal DOI: 10.1097/CM9.0000000000001200 [April 15, 2021] Cart.com Completes Series A Bringing Total Raise to $45M in Five Months to Level the E-Commerce Service Providers Playing Field Cart.com, the first end-to-end e-commerce services provider delivering a fully integrated and owned suite of software, services and infrastructure to scale businesses online, today announced the closing of its $25 million Series A round of financing, led by venture capital firms Mercury Fund and Arsenal Growth, following its initial $20 million Seed funding by Bearing Ventures. The round also includes funding from Moonshots Capital and Scarlet Venture Fund. The funding is the second round in five months, totaling over $45M, and will further power Cart.com to respond to rapidly increasing customer demand, make key hires, and accelerate growth as the world's pioneer E-commerce-as-a-Service (ECaaS) provider in the ecommerce services space. Cart.com was co-founded in September 2020 by CEO Omair Tariq, former executive at Home Depot and COO of Blinds.com, and Executive Chairman Jim Jacobsen, co-founder and former CEO of RTIC Outdoors. Motivated by the gaps they saw across the e-commerce value chain as they built and grew e-commerce brands from startups to nine-figure household names, Tariq and Jacobsen created Cart.com to help businesses of any size to grow their e-commerce capabilities with less friction than the fragmented plug-in and vendor intensive approach available today. The founders combine their e-commerce expertise with an experienced leadership team to provide brands the full spectrum of e-commerce capabilities as a smarter, more cost-effective, and more brand-centric alternative to existing industry players. "The current e-commerce offerings favor the service providers, not the brands. We are on a mission to flip that dynamic and put the sellers back in charge of their e-commerce journey and their customer relationships. Our team will continue to obsess over our brands' success, so they can obsess over their customers. This is what will create tremendous long term shareholder value and be the true measure of our success," said Omair Tariq, CEO of Cart.com. "We know the pain points brands face in the e-commerce value chain because we have experienced them firsthand. We built Cart.com to solve those problems and deliver unequaled value for brands from a single platform," said Jim Jacobsen, Executive Chairman of Cart.com. Cart.com is built from a brand-first perspective because the company understands that every brand's journey is unique. The Cart.com e-commerce platform can meet the needs of each business and help accelerate their growth during any point in their e-commerce journey-from marketing services and automation to powerful storefront software to inventory management and fulfillment. "It was clear within minutes of meeting Omair that the vision and mission to democratize e-commerce and gve merchants the freedom to grow unhinged was something we wanted to support," said John Trbovich, General Partner, Arsenal Growth. "The explosive demand Cart.com has seen is validation of the impact their multi-tiered solution is having in the marketplace and we are proud to back such a strong operating team enabling brands of all sizes to move faster and think bigger." The company has an aggressive growth strategy aimed at delivering immediate and game-changing value to brands. To accomplish this, Cart.com has made five acquisitions to date including online storefront software platform AmeriCommerce, a storage supplies business with nation-wide fulfillment capabilities, and two full service digital marketing agencies. Brands are realizing the benefits of a true end-to-end solution as the company has over 800 customers in the pipeline since the start of 2021 without yet launching outbound marketing efforts to attract customers to Cart.com. "Our online store revenue now blows away the revenue we get from Amazon and we have control over the messaging, control over our customer interactions, and control over the entire experience," said Brian Gluck, owner of ProjectorScreen.com. "There is no other solution out there with as low of a barrier to entry and as broad of an offering to help my business grow as what Cart.com provides. Our sales are up over 100% year-to-date and we are adding in additional digital marketing services from Cart.com. Our messaging and our incredible customer experience are two of the biggest reasons we are one of the fastest growing independent projection specialist companies in the country, and Cart.com allows us to grow and scale while retaining control over these critical aspects of our business." "Competition in the e-commerce market is reaching a precipice, and only those companies with the pedigree, vision, technology and the been-there-done-that perspective will be able to truly shift the surge away from market monopolies and provide power back to the brands themselves to the benefit of the businesses and their customers," said Blair Garrou, co-founder and Managing Director, Mercury Fund. "Our financial commitment illustrates our confidence in the mission and strategy of Cart.com. The team assembled has incredible opportunity to be a true market leader and pioneer E-Commerce-as-a-Service (ECaaS) in the e-commerce services space." For more information, visit www.cart.com. About Cart.com Cart.com is the first end-to-end ecommerce solutions provider delivering a fully integrated and owned suite of software, expert services and infrastructure to scale businesses online. Founded in September 2020 by experienced ecommerce experts, Cart.com is on a mission to put brands back in charge of their ecommerce journey and their customer relationships as the premiere Ecommerce-as-a-Service (ECaaS) provider in the ecommerce services space. Cart.com offers a wealth of business solutions - including online store software, digital marketing services, fulfillment services, financial services, and customer service capabilities so brands of any size are able to work with a single partner to attain the same capabilities as some of the world's largest companies. About Mercury Fund Mercury is an early-stage venture capital firm. With over $300 million under management, Mercury focuses on entrepreneurs and innovation originating in Middle America. Our investment themes target SaaS (News - Alert) , marketplaces, and data platforms allowing the digital transformation of markets and industries. Nearly 20 years ago, Mercury recognized the rise of entrepreneurs and innovation in Middle America. Our venture investment strategy leverages our unparalleled network of platform partners, startup development organizations, corporate innovation partners, and co-investors to assist entrepreneurs with the resources they need to rapidly scale their businesses. Our team has spent our professional careers advising, mentoring, and investing in entrepreneurs. We believe now, more than ever, Middle America represents a great venture capital opportunity. For more information, please visit www.mercuryfund.com and follow us on Twitter (News - Alert) @mercuryfund. About Arsenal Growth Equity Arsenal Growth Equity is an execution-stage private equity firm based in Florida with offices in Palo Alto (News - Alert) , and Boston. Founded in 1999, Arsenal invests in emerging software companies across a myriad of sectors-targeting capital efficient, high growth businesses where they can leverage their operational and strategic network to help founders scale. Prior e-commerce and logistically intensive investments include: FattMerchant, Plumslice, MyUS, BoxC, Thrive Market, Second Nature and Orderbot. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210415005740/en/ [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] By MATTHEW LEE, AP Diplomatic Writer KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken made an unannounced visit to Afghanistan on Thursday to sell Afghan leaders and a wary public on President Joe Bidens decision to withdraw all American troops from the country and end Americas longest-running war. Blinken was meeting with Afghan President Ashraf Ghani, chief executive Abdullah Abdullah, and civic figures, a day after Biden announced that the remaining 2,500 U.S. soldiers in Afghanistan would be coming home by the 20th anniversary of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks that led to the U.S. invasion. His trip also came after NATO immediately followed suit, saying its roughly 7,000 non-American forces in Afghanistan would be departing within a few months, ending the foreign military presence that had been a fact of life for a generation of Afghans already reeling from more than 40 years of conflict. Blinken sought to reassure the Afghan leadership that the withdrawal did not mean an end to the U.S.-Afghan relationship. I wanted to demonstrate with my visit the ongoing to commitment of the United States to the Islamic Republic and the people of Afghanistan, Blinken told Ghani as they met at the presidential palace in Kabul. The partnership is changing, but the partnership itself is enduring. We respect the decision and are adjusting our priorities, Ghani told Blinken, expressing gratitude for the sacrifices of US troops. Blinken arrived in the Afghan capital from Brussels where he and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin briefed NATO officials on the move and NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg announced the alliance would also be leaving. FDNY firefighters stand along Church Street near some of the wreckage of the towers on 9/11/2001 in New York. Photo by Aristide Economopoulos / The Star-Ledger, fileAristide Economopoulos / The Star-Ledger The Talibans spokesman Zabihullah Mujahed warned Wednesday that problems will be compounded, if the U.S. misses a May 1 deadline for withdrawal set during the Trump administration. The insurgent movement has yet to respond to Bidens surprise announcement that the pullout would only start on that date. Biden, Blinken, Austin and Stoltenberg have all sought to put a brave face on the pullout, maintaining that the U.S.- and NATO-led missions to Afghanistan had achieved their goal of decimating Osama bin Ladens al-Qaida network that launched the 9/11 attacks and clearing the country of terrorist elements that could use Afghan soil to plot similar strikes. However, that argument has faced pushback from some U.S, lawmakers and human rights advocates who say the withdrawal will result in the loss of freedoms that Afghans enjoyed after the Taliban was ousted from power in late 2001. Later, in a meeting with Abdullah, Blinken repeated his message, saying that we have a new chapter, but it is a new chapter that were writing together. We are grateful to your people, your country, your administration, Abdullah said. Despite billions of U.S. dollars in aid, Afghanistan 20 years on has a poverty rate of 52%, according to World Bank figures. That means more than half of Afghanistans 36 million people live on less than $1.90 a day. Afghanistan is also considered one of the worst countries in the world to be a woman, according to the Georgetown Institute for Women Peace and Security. For many Afghans the past two decades have been disappointing, as corruption has overtaken successive governments and powerful warlords have amassed wealth and loyal militias who are well armed. Many Afghans fear worsening chaos even more once America leaves. Peace talks between the Taliban and the Afghan government are at a stalemate but are supposed to resume later this month in Istanbul. Under an agreement signed between the Trump administration and the Taliban last year, the U.S. was to have completed its military withdrawal by May 1. Although Biden is blowing through that deadline, angering the Taliban leadership, his plan calls for the pull-out to begin on May 1. The NATO withdrawal will commence the same day. It is time to end Americas longest war, Biden said in his announcement in Washington on Tuesday, but he added that the U.S. will not conduct a hasty rush to the exit. We cannot continue the cycle of extending or expanding our military presence in Afghanistan hoping to create the ideal conditions for our withdrawal, expecting a different result, said Biden, who delivered his address from the White House Treaty Room, the same location where President George W. Bush announced the start of the war. I am now the fourth United States president to preside over an American troop presence in Afghanistan. Two Republicans. Two Democrats. I will not pass this responsibility to a fifth. Biden, along with Blinken and Austin in Brussels, vowed that the U.S. would remain committed to Afghanistans people and development. Bringing our troops home does not mean ending our relationship with Afghanistan or our support for the country, Blinken said. Our support, our engagement and our determination remain. Austin also said that the U.S. military, after withdrawing from Afghanistan, will keep counterterrorism capabilities in the region to keep pressure on extremist groups operating within Afghanistan. Asked for details, he declined to elaborate on where those U.S. forces would be positioned or in what numbers. These vision centres will be fully equipped with screening equipment and will be manned by a trained optometrist. CBM India with the support of Fullerton India has equipped two more vision centres in Haryana and Karnataka in their fight to reduce avoidable blindness and vision impairment in rural India. These would be the first primary screening facilities initiated by RIO Rohtak and RIO Bangalore at primary health centres in rural districts. The inclusive vision centres situated in these rural areas will cater to the most vulnerable communities, including people with disabilities. These vision centres will be fully equipped with screening equipment and will be manned by a trained optometrist. The centre will also engage a community mobilizer, who would be responsible for building awareness and making the community members testing experience easy and comfortable. Spectacles would be provided free of cost for those in need and for those who require surgery (in case of cataract, glaucoma, corneal blindness etc) would be referred to the nearest RIOs. There are 18 Regional Institutes of Ophthalmology (RIOs) in India. CBM has partnered with RIOs over the years to support development of low vision services with equipment and training. With the support of Fullerton India, CBMs collaboration with RIO Rohtak and RIO Bangalore will help integrate eye care into the health system and look to benefit over one lakh population in the two areas. MINNEAPOLIS, April 15, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- The American Brain Foundation has partnered with the Alzheimer's Association , The Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson's Research and the American Academy of Neurology to establish its 2022 Cure One, Cure Many Award: A research award for early diagnosis of Lewy body dementia. This $3 million, multi-year research award was created to improve the diagnosis of Lewy body dementia (LBD), which causes a progressive decline in cognitive function and is the second most common cause of neurodegenerative dementia, after Alzheimer's disease. Currently, LBD can only be definitively diagnosed with a brain autopsy after death. As a result of a delay in diagnosis and misdiagnosis, people with LBD and their caregivers endure daily challenges and uncertainty. The goal of the American Brain Foundation's 2022 Cure One, Cure Many Award is to attract the best minds in brain disease research to find a biomarker (diagnostic test) for LBD. The hope is that this will lead to an accurate method of diagnosing the disease giving patients and their loved ones clarity about the prognosis. This will also allow researchers to better study LBD and develop effective therapies. American Brain Foundation Board Vice Chair Susan Schneider Williams spearheaded this initiative in honor of her late husband, actor and comedian Robin Williams, who received the diagnosis of Lewy body dementia after his death. She will officially announce the award during the Foundation's upcoming April 21, 2021, Commitment to Cures virtual event . "I am so hopeful about the inaugural Cure One, Cure Many Award and the changes it could bring. Diagnosis is vitalnot only for the LBD patients and caregivers but also for the doctors and researchers. So much time, effort, resources, and life itself can be saved by having an accurate diagnosis," said Williams. Funding for the American Brain Foundation's 2022 Cure One, Cure Many Award is provided by the Alzheimer's Association and The Michael J. Fox Foundation .The American Academy of Neurology is the American Brain Foundation's research partner. These partnerships highlight the interconnectedness of brain diseases and the American Brain Foundation's belief that when we cure one brain disease, we will cure many. "Better biological measures of brain disease are urgently needed to speed therapeutic development and improve care. More resources, research and collaboration are critical toward those goals," said Todd Sherer, PhD, CEO of The Michael J. Fox Foundation. "Shared pathology across Parkinson's disease and Lewy body dementia means that better understanding the biology of one can help advance research into the other, growing the impact of this program across diagnostic lines." "The Alzheimer's Association is pleased to collaborate with these other passionate and dedicated organizations to inject much-needed energy and resources into Lewy body dementia research," said Maria C. Carrillo, Ph.D., Alzheimer's Association chief science officer. "As an added benefit, it may also increase the understanding of degenerative brain diseases, including Alzheimer's and all other dementia, leading to better diagnosis, improved treatments and effective prevention strategies that may benefit millions of people around the world," Carrillo added. Proposals for the award will be reviewed by a panel of preeminent scientists, and can address disorders across the LBD spectrum. Projects should specifically have the potential to identify one or more biomarkers that can be used to diagnose Lewy body dementia as the underlying cause of cognitive impairment. LBD and other neurodegenerative diseases like Alzheimer's disease and Parkinson's disease share many similarities, and patients often experience overlapping symptomsas well as the abnormal synuclein protein clusters called Lewy bodies. As a result, they are often mistaken for one another, which hinders diagnosis, treatment, and research. "The American Brain Foundation promotes and invests in research across the whole spectrum of brain diseases and disorders in the belief that when we find a cure for one brain disease, we will find cures for many. Our holistic approach focuses on building bridges between different brain diseases to break new ground in both research and application," said Jane Ransom, the Foundation's executive director. Applications for the 2022 Cure One, Cure Many Award will open on July 1, 2021. Grant winners will be selected and announced later this year. To learn more about the award and to see how you can help support this initiative, visit americanbrainfoundation.org/cocm Media Contact Ashley Logan [email protected] 312-282-4314 SOURCE American Brain Foundation Related Links https://www.americanbrainfoundation.org Wooden products displayed at the Vietnam Furniture Matching Week A dynamic Vietnamese handicraft and wood sector is portrayed at the Vietnam Furniture Matching Week 2021 taking place on April 12-19, luring in representatives from more than 70 large wood buyers across the world. On April 13, the first online trading event of the Vietnamese handicraft and wood sector, with over 100 online showrooms on the HOPE platform, attracted 17,000 visitors. At the Furniture Sourcing Day, the main event of the Vientam Furniture Matching Week, the representative of Fine Scandinavia, a Swedish-owned manufacturing company, stated that amid COVID-19 almost all wood businesses witnessed an increase in sales as orders were continually on the rise. The pandemic pushed us to use the online platform of HOPE to introduce our products to customers. Thanks to online matching, we can access a large number of foreign buyers, 30-40 per cent more than the previous year, said she. Savier Duquesnoy, commercial manager of Squarehome, a Spanish company focusing on modern indoor furniture collections, said that after two months of decrease at the outbreak of the pandemic, orders returned to normal and rose even higher. As March and April are peak months for the handicraft and wood sector, he said that in April, the company targets to hit 75 per cent of its full-year sales target while at the same time rising 30 per cent above its performance last year. The positive prospects for handicraft and wood items during and after the pandemic is also giving a leg up to associated sectors and businesses. Ho My Linh, executive assistant at BYD Forklift, a company specialised in leasing and selling forklifts for manufacturers, told VIR that orders amid COVID-19 increased by 10-20 per cent on-year. Nguyen Quoc Khanh, chairman of the Handicraft and Wood Industry Association of Ho Chi Minh City (HAWA) said that despite a volatile 2020, Vietnam's handicraft and wood sector witnessed many breakthroughs and reaped encouraging results due to the dynamism of businesses. In the middle of March, Vietnam's wood exports ranked second in the world, following China and running laps around Germany, Poland, and Italy. Especially, the Vietnamese handicraft and wood sector has proved itself with The Wing Desk, inspired by social distancing and remote working, became the first project from Asia to receive the European Design Awards in 2021. Vietnam will become a priority destination in the global supply chain. The increase in the country's ranking showed the clear efforts of businesses to adapt to changes by quickly applying new methods in production management, investing in design and researching new models and materials for products. Buyers have many chances to connect with high-quality suppliers, he added. Statistics from the General Department of Vietnam Customs show that in 2020 the export turnover of wood products reached $9.5 trillion, an increase of 22.5 per cent compared to 2019, accounting for 77.22 per cent of the total export turnover of wood and wood-based products, up from 73.67 per cent in 2019. In 2020, wood and wood-based product exports were the sixth-largest commodity group in terms of export turnover in Vietnam. The US is the main export market for Vietnamese wood and wood-based products. Despite the heavy impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, the export turnover of wood and wood-based products to this market reached $7.2 trillion last year, up 34.37 per cent compared to 2019. The was the highest increase among Vietnam's export markets and accounted for 57.92 per cent of the total export turnover of industrial wood and wood-based products. It is anticipated that in 2021, the increase in FDI inflows to Vietnam, the COVID-19 vaccine, as well as the control of wood input sources will all help Vietnam's exports of wood and wood-based products continue to grow a rate of over 15 per cent. Apr. 15An Atlanta attorney has joined in the defense of William "Roddie" Bryan, one of three men accused of murder in the shooting death of Ahmaud Arbery on Feb. 23, 2020, in the Satilla Shores neighborhood. Attorney Jessica Burton filed a motion Friday in Glynn County Superior Court stating her intention to represent Bryan "as additional counsel" in the case. She joins local attorney Kevin Gough, who has represented Bryan since his arrest last May on charges that include felony murder and criminal attempt to commit false imprisonment. Gough issued a brief statement Wednesday stating Burton had joined the defense. "I am pleased to announce the addition of Jessica Burton, an associate with Atlanta's Bernard & Jonson, LLC, to the defense team for William 'Roddie' Bryan," Gough said in the statement. Burton did not return phone calls or emails sent this week from The News. "Ms. Burton is an honors graduate of John Marshall School of Law, where she received various awards and served as an editor for the Law Journal. Jessica also interned previously with the Fulton Solicitor's office and Georgia State Representative Matt Gurtler." Georgia Bureau of Investigation Agents say Bryan joined Travis McMichael and Gregory McMichael in the pursuit of Arbery, 25, through the Satilla Shores neighborhood. The father and son were in a pickup truck chasing Arbery as he ran past Bryan's home. Standing outside, Bryan joined the pursuit in his pickup truck and, GBI agents say, used his truck several times to block Arbery from running away. Bryan also used his cellphone to video the deadly final showdown, in which Travis McMichael, 35, shot the unarmed Arbery three times with buckshot at close range as the two men struggled for possession of McMichael's shotgun in the middle of a neighborhood street. The video was released to the internet in early May, sparking national and international outrage and leading to the arrest of the three men. The McMichaels said they suspected Arbery of burglarizing a home in the neighborhood. Travis McMichael, 35, Gregory McMichael, 65, and Bryan, 51, all remain without bond in the Glynn County Detention Center. Fears have been expressed ovover fate of Bord na Mona workers at factory in Offaly Workers employed at the Derrinlough plant expressed worry and concern about their future, despite assurances from the company that production will continue until 2024. Derrinlough was constructed in 1959 and for over sixty years, bales of briquettes have rolled off the production line at the factory. In three years, these conveyor belts will come to a permanent halt as the company exits the peat energy business in part of a national movement to lower carbon emissions. But before the plant shuts its door, the country has seen the arrival of alternative imported briquettes from abroad to the shelves of our stores and forecourts and this has angered the workers in the Derrinlough factory. It prompted employees, Michael Henry, Noel Flynn and Paul Doorley to take to the national airwaves and speak to RTE midlands correspondent, Ciaran Mullooley on 'Morning Ireland' recently. Speaking last week, they said: It was wrong to see another country profiting from this when we can be making this here ourselves. We made 140,000 tonnes of briquettes last year and we sold 140,000 tonnes of briquettes last year. Why do we need German briquettes, I don't know. Continuing, they said they were going about importing briquettes from Germany, Estonia and all over Europe and leaving a bigger carbon footprint than what we are doing here. It begs to differ and do they really know what they are doing, they continued. Concluding, they said that Ireland and in particular the Midlands was having to pay the price for everyone else. They want to clear the bogs here just for a big carbon sink that we are going to store. We are going to store other people's carbon here and we are going to leave people out of work here, they added. The trio later raised concerns that time was running out for the Derrinlough plant. According to them, they were told they would be going until 2030 but that has halved very quickly. Now, they are not producing peat on bogs anymore. So, when are they going to pull the pin on the briquette factory? Nobody knows. There's huge uncertainty and then there are no jobs in the midlands. It's very bleak at the moment. There's not a whole load going on around us at the moment. They are not fighting back. It's time we fought back to keep our jobs and keep our fuel and heating. In a statement issued to the Tribune, a spokesperson for Bord na Mona stated the company's production and supply of peat briquettes are meeting current demand, which is running in line with expectations for this time of the year. However, they pointed out there have been increases in the operational, logistics and blending costs associated with accessing the remaining available peat stocks from the bogs, along with significant increases in the cost of carbon credits and labour. These additional costs and the new carbon tax increase (announced in Budget 2021) are reflected in the revised pricing. As previously stated, Bord na Mona will continue to manufacture peat briquettes well into 2024. Until then, our clear focus will be on investing in and developing a wider range of sustainable home heating products for our customers who look to us to supply them with quality Irish solid fuel products. Retailers have always made their own decisions regarding where they source solid fuel products from. Bord na Mona will continue to offer a range of high-quality solid fuel products to its customers in this market. SPRINGFIELD State Sen. Rachelle Crowe, D-Glen Carbon, has advanced an initiative requiring property owners to notify communities of demolition plans across the state. Its concerning to hear blasts within your community without a warning, Crowe said. To prevent residents from being caught off guard and aware of potential health concerns, this measure seeks to require plans for power plant demolitions to be made public. HILLSBORO, Texas, April 15, 2021 /PRNewswire/ - After an electrical fire tore through Alexandria House, damaging the home and its roof, the SoCal Council of National Women in Roofing (NWiR) and several industry partners, including shingle manufacturer IKO, stepped forward to ensure that the shelter's residents can take comfort in having a safe, secure roof overhead. Alexandra House, a community-oriented transitional house and neighborhood center in the Mid-Wilshire neighborhood of Los Angeles, has a new roof featuring IKOs Cambridge Weatherwood Cool Plus architectural shingles. Photo Courtesy of IKO. (CNW Group/IKO Industries) Located in the Mid-Wilshire neighborhood of Los Angeles, Alexandria House is a transitional residence that provides safe and supportive housing for women and children moving from emergency shelters to economic stability and permanent housing. In March 2020, the second and third floors of the home caught fire and caused damage to the roof. With a replacement estimate in excess of $70,000 for the roof, and significant other damages to address inside the building, the home's development director reached out to the SoCal Council of NWiR for help. "When I received the phone call from Alexandria House, the first thought that came to mind was, 'I'm going to call IKO,'" stated NWiR council Chair Maria Alcala. She reached out to Juan Trujillo, IKO's territory sales rep in the Los Angeles metropolitan area. "This whole project began when Maria, who works at RoofLine and is a member of NWiR, called and asked if IKO would be able to donate materials to help restore the house," explained Trujillo. "IKO and its distributor, RoofLine, were able to provide 6,000 square feet of shingles for the project." Thanks to product support from IKO and local IKO distributor RoofLine Supply and Delivery, as well as labor donated by Final Touch Construction, roof construction wrapped up in mid-March of this year. The building is now sporting 60 squares of IKO's Cambridge Weatherwood Cool Plus architectural shingles, which were used to comply with California's Title 24, Part 6 cool roof requirements. "We wouldn't have been able to do it without IKO," said Alcala, adding, "It's a beautiful job." Alexandra House is a community-oriented transitional house and neighborhood center. More than 92% of the women who have moved through its program have secured financial stability and permanent housing. On the Web: www.nationalwomeninroofing.org www.iko.com www.rooflinesupply.com www.alexandriahouse.org About IKO IKO is a worldwide leader in the roofing, waterproofing and insulation industry for residential and commercial markets. Committed to a high level of vertical integration, IKO operates more than 35 manufacturing plants throughout North America and Europe. IKO is a family-owned business established in 1951. Copyright 2021 IKO. All rights reserved. For media or industry analyst support, please visit our website at https://www.iko.com/. SOURCE IKO Industries Related Links www.iko.com Over a quarter of college and high school students 'never' attend church, new poll finds Email Print Img No-img Menu Whatsapp Google Reddit Digg Stumbleupon Linkedin Comment A new poll suggests that nearly 30% of high school and college students never attended religious services even before the coronavirus pandemic caused many churches to cease in-person services. Young Americas Foundation, a conservative youth advocacy organization, released a poll Wednesday asking young Americans for their views on various issues, including taxes, the economy, student debt, the coronavirus, education and the countrys most prominent political figures. The poll, released in partnership with Townhall, was conducted by Echelon Insights. A total of 801 high school students and 819 post-secondary students between the ages of 13 and 24 were surveyed online from March 30 to April 7. The survey asked respondents, Before the COVID-19 pandemic, how often did you typically attend a religious service? Overall, 27% of respondents said that they never attend a religious service. Among high school students, 26% said they never attended a religious service, while that number rose to 28% among those out of high school. Nearly one-quarter (24%) of young Americans said they attend church services at least once per week, including 28% of high school students. However, weekly religious attendance was significantly lower among post-high school students (19%). About 14% of respondents claimed to attend church once or twice a month: 12% of high school students and 16% of post-high school students. Meanwhile, 15% reported that they attend religious services a few times a year, while 12% said that they only participate in religious services on religious holidays. Eight percent of respondents preferred not to disclose their frequency of religious attendance. Among high school students, 15% said that they attend religious services a few times a year, 10% reported that they attend religious services only on religious holidays and 9% preferred not to say. Fifteen percent of post-high school students claimed to attend religious services a few times a year, while 14% said they only attend on religious holidays and 9% preferred not to say. Additionally, nearly half of respondents (48%) declined to identify with a particular religion. About 16% responded that they prefer not to say when asked to describe their religion, 15% listed their religion as something else, 10% identified as atheists and 7% described themselves as agnostic. A plurality of young Americans surveyed identified as Catholic (23%), followed by 14% who described themselves as Evangelical Protestant/Born-Again Christians and 6% who said they belong to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. Just 4% identified as Jewish. Small minorities of respondents described themselves as Mainline Protestants (3%) or Muslim (2%). In an interview with The Christian Post, YAF spokesperson Kara Zupkus attributed the low religious attendance rates among young Americans to a trend in our culture where a lot of younger people nowadays are idolizing pop culture [and] politicians. So, they dont really need to find, in their view, a place where they can worship a God, Zupkus stated. Describing the trend as concerning, Zupkus warned that it can lead to younger people depending more on their government to take care of them instead of their churches and local communities. When asked how to reverse the trend of young Americans never attending church, Zupkus suggested that a lot of it has to start in the family. I think its important for parents to teach their children the importance of religion, to have that community building. I think its important for kids to be exposed to that at a young age. And I think that that is a good way that we can ... turn that around, she said. Its a lot harder if children are growing up in a household where maybe religion isnt as valued, and they dont attend (church) regularly. Obviously, theyre probably not going to once they go to high school, go off to college, theyre not going to continue or start. Or maybe its going to be a lot harder for them to start something new, a new tradition of going to church, she added. I think expanding different youth groups specifically in these different churches is going to be really important. Zupkus recalled her own experience in a youth group, noting that it really inspired me and motivated me knowing that I had peers my age that were willing to learn more about religion and learn more about the faith. In light of the fact that pop culture criticizes and demonizes religious people, she emphasized the importance of having peers to look up to, which she said can be an incentive and help boost the confidence of those young people. Additionally, Zupkus advised churches to use social media to reach out to young Americans. I think if maybe churches engaged more with young people on social media and did more outreach that way, that could be a good way for them to help identify a local church in their area that they want to get involved with, she said. I know it probably can be pretty overwhelming for a brand new person to move to a brand new state, city, wherever theyre going for college and try and find a church and feel welcomed. Zupkus contended that the low church attendance rates among young Americans have negative implications for political discourse in the U.S. The current climate in America with all the divisiveness and the hatred, it seems like, for other Americans, really does stem from this lack of religion, she argued. So, I think hopefully this poll kind of serves as a warning light for Americans that we do need to return to our roots and restore faith in our young people. Hopefully, that will, in turn, lead to more healing and respect for other peoples opinions in politics. Ltd ( ) is on the verge of restarting operations at Kayelekera Uranium Project in Malawi, with multiple work programs underway to revitalise the mine that has laid dormant for seven years. Kayelekera, which as of late March is five-sixths owned by Lotus and one-sixth by the Malawi government, is a proven uranium operation, having produced 11 million pounds over five years. However, it ceased operating in 2014, following sustained low uranium prices. Lotus has three main work programs being undertaken - a development study, a drilling program and environmental consultation. Uranium is back Lotus managing director Keith Bowes said renewed optimism in the uranium sector was driving further excitement with regards to Kayelekera. Brownfield uranium projects with proven production history, such as Kayelekera, are well placed to be the first to respond and meet the ever-increasing supply-demand gap, he said. Given these factors, as well as our strong existing cash position of more than $17 million, the company is accelerating a number of work programs aimed at positioning Kayelekera to quickly and economically restart operations. Uraniums revitalisation has been driven by a few factors, including a bill signed by the US Senate last year to create a national US uranium reserve. The spot price for uranium has reached above US$30 per pound this year, following spikes in May last year when it rose to four-year highs. There is also a growing groundswell of support for uranium to be designated as a legitimate source of renewable energy. The company has a market cap of approximately A$161.5 million and since November 10, 2020, shares have traded in the range of $A0.083 to A$0.18 on the back of newsflow along with improved uranium fundamentals and are currently trading around A$0.15. Test-work the first focus Bowes said test-work developed to assess the cost reduction strategies identified in the 2020 scoping study was the main priority for Lotus. The scoping study cost assumptions were largely based on actual operational data achieved over the projects five-year period of production, he said. Since its closure in 2014, there has been a number of proven technological advancements not available at the time, as well as a number of other relevant initiatives we are considering. We believe that if all of the initiatives prove to be successful, there is potential for savings in the order of 10-20% from the previous estimate. The cost reduction strategies are focused on ore sorting technology, power generation, acid recovery and examination of the tailings storage facility. Drilling and environmental studies Also imminent is a 5,000-metre reverse circulation drilling program to test near-mine uranium targets, as well as a maiden drill program at the high-grade Milenje Hills Rare Earths prospect. There are six radiometric anomalies to the south of the existing pit that cover areas of outcrop and have similar signatures to the Kayelekera anomaly, which are between two and four kilometres from the plant and have received no historical drilling. Lotus has also appointed a highly regarded environmental, social and governance (ESG) consultant to assist in performance measurement, reporting methods and a communication strategy related to ESG considerations for the project. It is also seeking a potential OTC markets listing. - Daniel Paproth Chinese police in Sichuans Kardze Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture have arrested six Tibetans considered prominent in their communities in recent weeks, with the reasons for their arrests unknown, a Tibetan living in exile said Wednesday. Writer and environmental activist Sey Nam was taken into custody on April 2 in Kardzes (in Chinese, Ganzis) Serthar (Seda) county, Golok Jigme, a former political prisoner now living in Switzerland, told RFAs Tibetan Service, citing local contacts. Due to tightened restrictions on communications in the area, my source doesnt know the reason for his arrest, Jigme said. Also arrested on April 2, Tibetan activist and former political prisoner Tsering Dolma had been detained at least twice before in 2008 and 2012 after she took part in protests against Chinese policies and rule in Tibetan areas. I think this was the third or fourth time she was arrested, Jigme said. Gangkye Drubpa Kyab, a writer and former political prisoner also called Gangme Thak, was arrested in Sertha on March 23, Jigme said, adding, Kyab had not committed any crime, and the Chinese government has not shown any valid reason for his arrest. Political activist Gangbu Yudrum was taken into custody on March 22, with no reason given for his arrest, Jigme said. Yudrum had previously served a three-year prison term beginning in 2008 for his role in a protest in which he raised the banned Tibetan national flag and called for the return to Tibet of exiled Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama. He was arrested again in 2012 and released in 2014, receiving a warm welcome from people in his village, who hailed him as a Tibetan fighter for the truth. Upon his release, he wrote and distributed copies of a letter to local Tibetans urging them to work to free Tibet from Beijings rule. Two of the six recently detained Tibetans have not yet been identified, and the whereabouts of all six are still unknown, Jigme said. Formerly an independent nation, Tibet was invaded and incorporated into China by force 70 years ago, and the Dalai Lama and thousands of his followers later fled into exile in India and other countries around the world following a failed 1959 national uprising against Chinas rule. 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 Lobe Socktsang for RFAs Tibetan Service. Translated by Tenzin Dickyi. Written in English by Richard Finney. SACRAMENTO, Calif., April 15, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- The unified California business community today released a new public service announcement (PSA), "Do It For," which will air statewide on TV, radio and social media, reaching millions of California residents in both English and Spanish, encouraging them to get vaccinated when it's their turn. "Over the past year, the business community has invested hundreds of millions of dollars to protect employees and customers, while dealing with unpredictable openings and closings, capacity limitations and other economic disruptions. Our efforts helped slow the spread, and now we're stepping up to be part of the solution in ending this pandemic by encouraging our employees and the general public to get vaccinated and help their local businesses and schools get back to normal," the coalition said. Together, the California Chamber of Commerce, California Business Roundtable, Southern California Leadership Council, California Asian Pacific Chamber of Commerce, California African American Chamber of Commerce, and California Hispanic Chambers of Commerce, all representing major employers, small businesses, and women- and minority-owned businesses, recognize the role the safe, effective and life-saving vaccines play in reducing transmission, achieving herd immunity and allowing businesses to re-hire and restart the economy. California's economy has been hit hard by the COVID-19 pandemic, decimating entire industries and disproportionately affecting small and minority-owned businesses. Over the past year, California has lost 1,253,400 jobs, the most out of any state. New York, which saw the second-highest job loss during the pandemic, lost only half that number, approximately 674,200 jobs. While California saw significant gains in workforce numbers in February, conditions will continue to improve as vaccination rates allow for more aspects of the economy to reopen. Repeated surveys have shown that business, especially an individual's employer, is the most trusted resource on information regarding COVID-19. In fact, the 2021 Edelman Trust Barometer now shows that the business community is the most trusted institution regarding information on the pandemic, outpacing NGOs, government and the media. In their survey, business held a 61 percent trust level globally, with 86 percent of respondents encouraging CEOs to get involved in this conversation. Business leaders across the state offered their perspectives as to why getting vaccinated is so critical: "Do it for your family, neighbors, friends and colleagues because the key to opening up California's economy safely and responsibly is to get every Californian vaccinated." - Allan Zaremberg , President and CEO of the CalChamber. "Do it for our business community, so that our employees and customers are safe, and we can get our kids back to school full-time." - Rob Lapsley , President of the California Business Roundtable. "Do it to keep the momentum moving in the right direction to defeat COVID-19 so we can get our economy back up and running." Mike Roos , President and CEO of the Southern California Leadership Council. "Do it because vaccination is the fundamental step in getting our businesses back on their feet and turning the page on this pandemic. We can all be part of the solution, part of the cure and keep our families safe and help our businesses thrive."- Pat Fong Kushida , President and CEO, California Asian Pacific Chamber of Commerce. "Do it for the Black business community, which was hit especially hard by the pandemic. Getting vaccinated will get us back to work and get our kids back to school so we can combat the economic and academic loss that has devastated our communities." - Edwin A. Lombard III, President and CEO, California African American Chamber of Commerce. "Do it because the vaccine is safe and effective and critical to reopening the economy and schools. The pandemic disproportionately affected our community and our essential workforce. Getting vaccinated means getting back to normal." - Julian Canete, President and CEO, California Hispanic Chambers of Commerce. Funding for the "Do It For" campaign is provided by a wide cross-section of the state business community. For more information on the state's efforts, please visit myturn.ca.gov. SOURCE California Chamber of Commerce; California Business Roundtable; Southern California Leadership Council; California Asian Pacific Chamber of Commerce; California African American Chamber of Commerce; California Hispanic Chambers of Commerce Piers Morgan accuses Meghan Markle of telling 'downright lies' over her claim to have been married to Harry three days before their ceremony in Windsor in a new interview. The Mail Online editor-at-large makes the comments in a preview clip of his grilling on Australian television by Karl Stefanovic in a 60 Minutes interview. A clip from what's set to be a compelling interview shows Morgan calling Meghan a liar - and says she even personally complained to his boss before he sensationally quit Good Morning Britain. In the new interview, Morgan also launches a fresh assault on cancel culture after quitting GMB after a live war of words with the show's weatherman Alex Beresford over Harry and Meghan. Now, the bestselling author of 'Wake Up: Why the World has Gone Nuts' has hit back at the couple - and the 'woke' goody two-shoes-types who are in their thrall. Recalling Ms Markle's claim that she and Harry were secretly married three days before the official ceremony, he fires up in the interview: 'They were downright lies. 'I don't believe a word she says. That [ceremony] would make the Archbishop of Canterbury a criminal.' Back when the spring watch shows took place in person, Cartiers horological presentation was always one of our favourites thanks to the brands incredible creativity that would surprise us year after year with the most interesting technical and artistic innovations. This year is no different, and even if we cant touch and feel the pieces, they are a feast for the eyes. Cartier Libre Baignoire Tortue The story of the Cartier Baignoire dates back to 1912 when Louis Cartier first decided to play around with a round case shape by elongating it to form this unique oval, bath-tub shape that was later named the Baignoire. Cartier Libre Tortue Snake Watch and Cartier Libre Baignore Turtle Watch Cartier This year, Cartier is reinterpreting the Baignoire inside its Cartier Libre collection, a line that takes the Maisons signature shaped timepieces and reimagines them using design codes from its archives. The Cartier Libre Baignoire Tortue takes this iconic case shape and turns it into one of the French brands favourite animals, the tortoise. Using a combination of random diamond paving, playful black and anthracite lines, buff-top tsavorites, and sapphires, Cartier creates a striking geometric composition that brings the scales of a tortoises shell to life. Limited to 30 pieces, this iconic animal may be known for its slow and steady pace but it keeps perfect time thanks to a quartz movement! Cartier Tank Must Yes, you did read that right, Cartier has created a brand-new Tank Must collection that combines both its Tank and Must icons in one watch. With the creation of the Tank in 1917 and the unveiling of the Must in 1977, this new design combines the codes from both historic models. A host of different models are being presented for Watches and Wonders 2021, including these three monochrome models in burgundy, green, or blue with minimalist dials with no Roman numerals or railway tracks. But it isnt only the beauty of the Tank Must that is the big news, Cartier is also introducing invisible perforations in the Roman numerals that allow the light to reach photovoltaic cells under the dial that charge the batteries directly. This SolarBeat movement has an average lifespan of 16 years. This pioneering watch also comes with a strap that is made out of 40% plant matter, produced from the waste from apples grown for the food industry. Tank Must Watches Cartier Cartier Prive Cartier Prive was designed to be the collectors collection with unusual limited-edition watches that break all the traditional codes of watchmaking. Timepieces such as the Crash, the Tank Cintree, the Tonneau, and the Tank Asymetrique have surprised and delighted the brands clients for decades. Cloche de Cartier Watches Cartier This year, Cartier is unveiling the fifth opus in the collection, the Cloche de Cartier. This bell shape, which resembles the type of service bell that often sits on a hotel or shop counter, is not new to Cartier. It first appeared in 1920 but is one of the Maisons rarer aesthetics. The advantage of the Cloche de Cartier is that it can be read on the wrist, but also removed and placed on a table as a desk clock. Cartier has also developed two new mechanical manual-winding calibres to power these uniquely-shaped timepieces, one of which is beautifully skeletonized. Ballon Bleu de Cartier Cartier is unveiling a delightful range of new Ballon Bleu models in a 40 mm case size this year which are powered by a manufacture automatic, the Calibre 1847 MC movement, that comes with a 40-hour power reserve. This 18-karat rose gold model set with 52 brilliant-cut diamonds really stands out. Thanks to an interchangeable strap system, there is also the possibility of pairing it with a large choice of beautifully coloured alligator straps for a variety of entirely different looks. Ballon Bleu de Cartier Watch Cartier Pasha de Cartier Last but not least is the Pasha de Cartier. Relaunched just last year, the collection is now being enhanced with two new designs: a feminine 30mm version and a more masculine 41mm chronograph iteration. The chronograph features a stylish rotating bezel and two pushers and a crown that are adorned with blue cabochons, in keeping with the very first Pasha chronographs from the 1980s. The timepiece is equipped with the brands 1904-CH MC Cartier Manufacture movement and comes in a choice of steel or yellow gold. Like the Pashas released in 2020, these new models also include the French Maisons practical QuickSwitch and EasyLink strap/bracelet systems. 04/15/2021 Photo (c) xavierarnau - Getty Images Major airlines are rejecting the Centers for Disease Control and Preventions stance on keeping middle seats on airplanes vacant to prevent the spread of COVID-19. On Wednesday, the CDC released a report referencing a lab-based study which found that blocking middle seats on planes would lead to a 23% to 57% reduction in flight passengers being exposed to the virus. Passengers on opposite ends of a three-seat row with the middle open cut their risk of exposure by 57%, according to the study. Despite these findings, airlines -- eager to get back to pre-pandemic levels of operation -- appear to be sticking to their original plans for unblocking middle seats. Airlines including American Airlines, United Airlines, Delta Air Lines, Hawaiian Airlines, and Southwest Airlines have all announced plans to unblock middle seats and have referred media outlets to industry trade group Airlines for America for additional information on the matter. The group confirmed that no changes would be recommended to airlines because several large studies have concluded that the risk of onboard transmission is low. "Multiple scientific studies confirm that the layers of protection significantly reduce risk, and research continues to demonstrate that the risk of transmission onboard aircraft is very low," a spokesperson for the group stated. Other precautions still in place Airlines started blocking middle seats early on during the pandemic to keep passengers safe. However, more airlines started opening those seats back up after evidence started rolling in that air travel was safer than previously thought. Studies from the Department of Defense and Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health both indicated that wearing masks and having air-filtration systems in place were enough to drastically reduce the possibility of catching COVID-19 while flying. Earlier this week, Delta became the last major airline to announce that it would soon be unblocking the middle seats on all of its flights. Alaska Airlines said it would block the middle seat in Premium Economy through May 31. United Airlines never introduced a policy of keeping the middle seat empty, saying there was no health reason to do so. It characterized middle seat blocking as a publicity stunt. Although airlines are opening up middle seats again, theyre continuing to implement precautions like enhanced cleaning procedures and requirements like mask-wearing in order to keep flyers safe during the pandemic. In January, Vasily Vlassov, 67, got sick with COVID-19. He was lucky, the Moscow academic said. His symptoms werent bad, and hes had no lingering aftereffects. He said he could get vaccinated with the homegrown, Russian-designed Sputnik V, the first coronavirus vaccine in the world to be approved by a national government for use. But he hasnt, and doesnt plan to any time soon. Why? He doesnt trust it. I want a better understanding of the efficacy and safety of the vaccine. Unfortunately, as more time goes on, I have less faith in the quality of it, said Vlassov, a medical doctor, epidemiologist, and researcher of public health at Moscows Higher School of Economics. Russia was first out of the gate with a vaccine, with the Kremlin hailing Sputnik V's approval in August as a triumph. But despite a later positive report in the peer-reviewed science journal The Lancet, the buzz from being first has been clouded by concerns about whether it rushed the process for political reasons. Distribution has been plagued by marketing missteps and self-inflicted wounds, experts say. Russias vaccination of its own population is seriously lagging compared to other major industrial countries. Production problems have also hampered its use inside and outside Russia, and tarnished what might have been a fresh reminder of Russias scientific potential. If what Russia wanted was kudos and credit for having developed one of the first earlier, very probably safe and effective vaccines for COVID-19 -- and it would have been well-deserved kudos and credit -- a better strategy would have been transparency from the very beginning, said Judy Twigg, a professor of political science at Virginia Commonwealth University and expert on global health issues in Russia and Eurasia. Theyve shot themselves in the foot here, by jumping the gun through regulatory processes to begin with, and then stretching the story about this vaccine in their public-relations campaign from the very beginning, she told RFE/RL. Early Doubts Announcing his governments approval of Sputnik V on August 11, Putin called it a first and very important step for our country, and generally for the whole world. He thanked the scientists involved in the effort. The Sputnik V vaccine itself was developed by one of Russias most renowned and respected scientific institutes: the Gamaleya National Center of Epidemiology and Microbiology in Moscow. Last spring, as the pandemic spread like wildfire around the world, Gamaleya announced it had developed an effective vector vaccine, employing an adenovirus -- a family of viruses that are known for causing common colds -- to do its work. Adenovirus vaccines are considered more stable and dont need to be kept at super-low temperatures. That compares with other major vaccines now being employed around the world, such as Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna, which use a bit of genetic coding to generate an antibody response in the body. Another U.S. vaccine, developed by Johnson & Johnson, uses the same adenovirus technology but requires just one dose. By contrast, the Gamaleya vaccine requires two doses, utilizing two separate adenoviruses to achieve what some scientists have said could be a superior outcome, with better, longer-term results. But the Russian vaccine came under intense scrutiny from the outset, due to the fact that its promoters heralded it as a success even though it hadnt undergone the typical three-phrase process of clinical tests, relying instead on smaller numbers of volunteers and also military personnel. Russia also did not initially release full data sets of the trials for public and peer review, something that is standard practice. In February, six months after the initial announcement, the first peer-reviewed study of Sputnik V, involving about 20,000 people in Russia, appeared in the British medical journal The Lancet. The study found a 91 percent effectiveness rate, which is comparable to other major vaccines. But outside researchers and scientists have questioned the underlying data used in the published papers on Sputnik V, including what they say are inconsistencies in data provided from the Phase I and Phase II stages of the Russian clinical trial. Our concern is not connected to the way they work in the labs, but is how they communicate what they do: how transparent they are, how they publish data, said Enrico Bucci, an Italian biochemist who teaches at Temple University in the United States and who has co-published letters in The Lancet and elsewhere alleging flaws in the Russian methodology. This is a really important point: No one is questioning the skill and integrity of the Russian scientists who were involved, and the Russian scientific institutions that have been involved, Twigg said. Nobody is questioning Gamaleyas scientific skill and integrity. Its the politics and the PR. Its the people at the higher levels of the organization chart who are doing a disservice to those scientists and those scientific institutions by overstating the case prematurely, for what the vaccine is and what it can do, she said. Sputnik V got a small dose of good news on April 15, when Russian news agencies reported the countrys health-care regulator, Roszdravnadzor, had not detected any cases of blood clots arising from the use of the shot, an issue that has dogged the AztraZeneca vaccine and which is now responsible for a pause in using the Johnson & Johnson vaccine in the United States. 'Greatest Achievement' Russia has since approved two more vaccines: EpiVacCorona was approved in October, while CoviVac was approved in February. But its Sputnik V that has captured an outsize share of the public attention, due mainly to the marketing and promotion of the Russian Direct Investment Fund. Known as the RDIF, the multibillion-dollar sovereign wealth fund has created a slick video that drew a direct line to the vaccine from its namesake: the Soviet Unions pioneering orbiting satellite, launched in 1957. The RDIF has also used a Twitter account to promote the shot and praise the countries that have approved its use -- but also to mock other vaccines and highlight adverse complications, such as the pause in AstraZeneca in Europe due to concerns about blood clots. It was later cleared by European regulators. The RDIFs chief executive, Kirill Dmitriyev, is believed to have close connections to the Kremlin, and his wife reportedly has a close relationship with one of Putins daughters. The RDIF did not respond to multiple messages and e-mails from RFE/RL seeking comment. But in a meeting with Putin on April 2, Dmitriyev again extolled the vaccine, calling it truly the greatest achievement of Russian science and saying that was acknowledged by the entire world, according to a Kremlin transcript. Vaccination Rates, Vaccine Hesitancy Outside of Russia, about 40 countries are using or are scheduled to start using Sputnik V. In the European Union, where regulators have asked Russia for more data on the clinical trials, only Hungary has gone ahead and started using it. Other countries -- including the Czech Republic and Slovakia, frustrated with the EUs slow vaccination pace -- have also moved to acquire Sputnik V doses. So has Germanys Bavaria region. But that has been clouded by questions by European officials, including European Council President Charles Michel who last month cast doubt on Russias motives for promoting Sputnik V, saying Moscow had orchestrated widely publicized efforts to supply the vaccine abroad. Slovakias agreement to acquire the vaccine was seen as another endorsement for Sputnik V. But it later emerged that it was a secret deal signed by then-Prime Minister Igor Matovic, who was later forced to step down by government officials worried about Russian influence. Weeks later, Slovakias drug regulator publicly questioned the Russian vaccine and suggested there might be serious quality problems with its manufacture. The agency also said its delivered doses of Sputnik V appeared to be different than those reviewed by The Lancet. That sparked a series of caustic posts from the RDIF-run Twitter handle, which called the Slovak announcement fake news and accused the agency of an act of sabotage, but did not provide evidence for either claim. It also demanded all the Russian doses be returned. Vaccine contracts are often shielded from public view, Bucci said; Slovakias with Sputnik V was no exception. The problem was that it was signed before anyone could agree on it, Bucci said. Production Woes The other issue clouding Sputnik V successes is production. Experts say Russia does not have the manufacturing capability to ramp up production to meet national demands for vaccinating the Russian population and also fulfill foreign orders, and that has resulted in some supply shortages. Its also resulted in the unusual situation of Russia having to import its own vaccine from foreign manufacturers, which include India and South Korea, something Dmitriyev pointed out to Putin. According to our assessment, we believe that Russia is not only one of the current leaders in the world in terms of vaccination rates, but we can provide vaccines to all people in Russia who want to be vaccinated before June using the production capacities in Russia and abroad, he asserted. In fact, Russia is not a leader in vaccination rates. Despite having a four-month jump on other countries vaccinations efforts, Russia -- as of the first week in April -- had given at least one dose of a vaccine to only around 6 percent of its population. By comparison, more than 48 percent of Britains population has received at least one shot; in the United States, the figure is 37 percent; in Germany and France, the percentage is around 15 percent. The main factor is production: They need desperately to scale up production, and it is unclear to me and others whether they can fix this, Bucci said. Public opinion polls show Russians deeply skeptical of vaccines in general -- as much as 60 percent of the population. What ended up happening is two problems simultaneously, Vlassov told RFE/RL. The research was done at a very high level, research for the vaccine. But at the same time, evidently there were many elements of the research, analysis, and data that werent done at the same level, at a comparable level to Western counterparts. The second problem: marketing, unfortunately. Marketing is an incomplete science in Russia, he said. Also in contrast to the RDIFs aggressive marketing outside of Russia, there are few signs of a mass-marketing or public-relations campaign within Russia. A handful of billboards have popped up in some Russian cities, featuring photographs of doctors exhorting Russians to get vaccinated. Given the Kremlins control over the dominant TV channels and its influence with major national publications, the lack of a concerted national advertising campaign has perplexed observers. So has Putins reluctance to get his vaccine in public, before photographers and TV cameras -- an easy way to promote the effort. In general, Vlassov said, even if there was a concerted marketing campaign within Russia, it would probably have a hard time overcoming the biggest obstacle: In general, Russians dont trust the government. They dont trust state institutes, agencies, he said. In my opinion, it is the major reason for anti-vaccine behavior. The world's No.1 crawler crane, with CE Mark approved, has three internationally pioneering technologies, six world-leading technologies and more than 80 national patents. The XGC88000 was a major breakthrough in the industry and the first model to realize modular design for agile construction, helping China to overcome the long-term monopoly of foreign brands in the sector of super tonnage cranes. Since the XGC88000 came onto the market in 2013, it has taken lead roles in major construction projects worldwide delivering superb achievements. It set the largest hoisting record of 2,155 tons in 2013 after hoisting and installing a FischerTropsch process reactor, and the latest 2,600-ton lifting weight not only broke the model's own record since its market release, but also set a new engineering-applied record for the world's largest mobile crawler crane. The XGC88000 crawler cranes have participated in 26 major construction projects in China and abroad, including the Hengli project in Dalian, Shenghong refinery in Lianyungang, Jubail Industrial City in Saudi Arabia and Duqm Oil Refinery in Oman. The model has lifted and installed more than 100 units of equipment over 1,000 tonnage, with the total lifting weight reaching 200,000 tons and a total safe operation time of nearly 10,000 hours. "The XGC88000 has truly become the industry's first 4,000-tonnage crawler crane that has been put into operation with the broadest application, most mature technologies and highest sales. It's a pinnacle product developed with independent innovation and is considered a proud calling card for China's equipment manufacturing industries," said Wang Min, Chairman and CEO of XCMG. On April 17, the XGC88000 will join hands with a 5,000-ton gantry crane to lift Asia's largest pressure vessel manufacturer's tower with a maximum transportation weight in Guangdong Province. For more information, please visit: www.xcmg.com, or XCMG pages on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, LinkedIn and Instagram. SOURCE XCMG Related Links www.xcmg.com New Delhi: BJP national president Amit Shah on Sunday attacked the ruling Communist Party in Kerala, saying that the maximum murders of RSS, BJP activists took place in Chief Minister P Vijayans constituency. While addressing Jan Raksha Yatra in Delhi, Shah said the communist party should be ashamed of the killings of 120 BJP-RSS party workers. He said: communist are politically violent by nature. He said bodies of their party workers were chopped to pieces to instill fear but they aren't scared of sacrifice. Communist Party should be ashamed, most murders took place in CM's area.Over 120 BJP-RSS workers killed since Communists came to power: Shah pic.twitter.com/NRQhdxQP5f ANI (@ANI) October 8, 2017 Shah also slammed Human Rights activists who are not raising the issue. He said their move exposed them that how selective they are. Human rights' champions ka selective virodh unko expose karta hai, kyu nahi vo laal bhaiyo ke khilaf mombatti lekar nikalte?: Amit Shah pic.twitter.com/C67pGOwODi ANI (@ANI) October 8, 2017 For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. The city-owned Mas property could become a manufacturing corporate park and extending Constitution Boulevard North is the key to making it a reality. Mayor Mark Lauretti at a joint meeting of the Planning and Zoning and Inland Wetlands commissions earlier this month presented concepts for developing the nearly 70-acre parcel near Bridgeport Avenue, with plans that included extending Constitution Boulevard to reach Shelton Avenue/Route 108. The Mas property extends about halfway to Route 108 from Bridgeport Avenue, and the city has secured the rights-of-way for the rest, he said. The hour is now, Lauretti said. The economic cycle comes once every 10, 15 years, and if you miss it, you will be left behind. When people are ready to put their oar in the water, we have to be ready as well. Lauretti said he called the joint meeting to open a dialogue with both commissions, since the city would need a zone change before any work could be done on the site. Members of both commissions sought assurance that the development would not adversely affect the surrounding residential neighborhoods. To that, Lauretti asked that both commissions rewatch a drone flyover of the area, which shows how the city melds residential with similar developments. The vision is great ... I love it, P&Z Commissioner Mark Widomski said. The Mas property was the citys first Planned Development District in the 1980s, but the designation has expired. Lauretti said a new zone change request would call for the property to move to light industrial or another similar zone. Much of the land is zoned residential. There has been significant interest from light industrial (operations) over the past nine months, Lauretti said. These are some national name brands. Lauretti said one major manufacturer whose name he would not give because negotiations are ongoing is seeking a 270,000-square-foot building on the property. While negotiating with the company, Lauretti said he has since been approached by two other companies each eyeing 100,000-square-foot buildings. We have a significant number of companies from Connecticut and New York looking to relocate here, Lauretti said. They are seeking to consolidate and bring their headquarters here. They want to be in Shelton, for many reasons. The companies, according to Lauretti, are major manufacturers, which would also distribute their products from the location. This is all contingent on getting access and the road constructed that will not be a small task, Lauretti said. But I think at this point I think the economic viability for this type of use is now there. The uses in the whole area would be consistent it would become a manufacturing corporate park. In 1988, the P&Z approved a Planned Development District for most of the Mas property that included four 10-story office buildings and an 82-unit residential condominium. The project collapsed in the real estate crash of the late 1980s. The lead development entity was Citytrust, a Bridgeport-based bank that no longer exists. The city bought the land after it went into foreclosure from the FDIC and got an adjoining small parcel from the FDIC once environmental remediation was completed. The Mas property is now vacant. It is mostly wooded with considerable stone ledges and several ponds, including one some 600 feet long and 250 to 300 feet wide, and lies between Bridgeport Avenue, Cots Street, Tisi Drive, Sunwood Condos on Nells Rock Road, Regent Drive, Walnut Avenue, and Kings Highway. Part of the land abuts the back of the Perry Hill School property. Lauretti said some of the lands rougher features could be terraced into the landscape. He also said some of the interested companies recommended the creation of walking trails. The wetlands features are what are attracting interested companies, Lauretti said. Lauretti said the April 7 meeting was held to give commissioners a flavor of where we would and could go depending on the challenges. Plans on the city website show an extended roadway with seven separate lots, one of which is 10.6 acres of designated open space. Each of the remaining lots has one structure on it. In all, there is a 276,250-square-foot building, two 105,000-square-foot buildings, and two 34,250-square-foot buildings, along with related parking for each separate structure. Constitutional Boulevard North would extend northerly, terminating at Shelton Avenue/Route 108 where it intersects with Nells Rock Road, according to Lauretti. Lauretti said the road work would cost between $10 and $12 million. He said he plans to seek state and federal highway funding to cover roadway development. There is a lot of money out there right now ... the government is printing a lot money, Lauretti said. The government likes shovel-ready jobs, and this is about as shovel-ready as it gets. Its right in their wheel house. Its economic development, and its jobs. Im hopeful the Lamont administration will see the value of this project, Lauretti added, saying that in his 30 years as mayor he has received funds from four different governors and five U.S. Presidents. These governors understand the value a place like Shelton brings to the state. Weve become an employment hub, he said. Lauretti said plans remain preliminary. The mayor said he is working with the citys commissions, with engineering firms and the State Traffic Commission. The last eight months have been very hectic, Lauretti said. brian.gioiele@ hearstmediact.com The LG logo / Yonhap A joint venture between South Korean battery maker LG Energy Solution Ltd. and U.S. automaker General Motors Corp. will build its second battery factory in Tennessee to step up production, industry sources said Thursday. Ultium Cells, a joint venture between LG and GM, has picked a site in Tennessee for their second electric vehicle (EV) battery plant, which will be similar in scope to its $2.3 billion Ohio plant, according to sources familiar with the matter. The two companies will jointly announce the investment plan on Friday, they noted. Britons with Android smartphones and tablets have been urged to watch out for fake software updates that could give away passwords, financial information and even let criminals take control of their devices. Computer security company McAfee warned it had noticed a spate of malware trojans originally from Brazil targeting the Google Play Store and trying to trick users into downloading them. In Britain, where phones with the Android operating system account for almost half of the market, people have also been told to be on the lookout. The cybersecurity company McAfee warned of sophisticated banking trojans attacking Android smartphone users So-called 'BRATAs', or Brazilian Remote Access Tool Android, originally appeared in the South American country in 2018, according to McAfee, and became widespread from January 2019. Now spreading elsewhere, these RATs pose as security apps which tell their users they need to update their software, whether that is a search engine like Google Chrome, a messaging app like WhatsApp or even a PDF viewer. However, rather than updating these apps, they install malicious software, malware, which allows criminals to take control of devices. According to McAfee, these trojans can display phishing websites which are used to harvest financial details which can be used to steal money or commit identity theft; and can directly capture lock screen details like a password or keystrokes through keylogging software. They can even introduce screen recording software. The company said it had found at least five malicious apps in the Google Play store, where Android users can download everything from Candy Crush to TikTok, which were capable of such actions. Most were downloaded between 1,000 and 5,000 times, but one had as many as 10,000 downloads. The trojans originally targeted Brazilians and other Portuguese speakers but have now been seen targeting Spanish and English speakers in the United States too Of the ones McAfee said it had found, the first was discovered in May and the latest last October, all of which had been removed by Google from its store. They all posed as security software, calling themselves names like 'PrivacyTitan' and 'SecureShield'. While they initially targeted Brazilians or other Portuguese speakers with Android phones, these malicious apps have become more widespread. 'In June we noticed that threat actors behind BRATA started to add support to other languages like Spanish and English, McAfee said in a blog post published on Monday. McAfee found at least 5 of these apps in the Google Play store last year 'Depending on the language configured in the device, the malware suggested that one of the following three apps needed an urgent update: WhatsApp (Spanish), a non-existent PDF Reader (Portuguese) and Chrome (English).' Although McAfee had not suggested these apps had become widespread in the UK, Britons living through a fraud epidemic which has stolen hundreds of millions of pounds during the pandemic were urged to be on their guard. Impersonators throughout the coronavirus pandemic have posed as legitimate financial firms, parcel delivery companies, and even the NHS and the Government, using cheap number-spoofing software. These apps can allow criminals to take complete control of devices as well as steal financial information As a result, this could simply be the latest step. Ray Walsh, from the company ProPrivacy, said news of the spread of the 'sophisticated' trojan meant it was 'vital' those in the UK were warned they could be infected. He said: 'By accepting and agreeing to accessibility services, the user installs a sophisticated banking trojan that gives the hacker full remote control over their device. 'The exploit works by taking full control of the infected device, allowing the hackers to display phishing webpages that steal the victim's banking credentials, capture their screen lock passcode, and perform keylogging to steal other sensitive credentials and passwords.' Walsh added: 'It is vital that users are extremely wary of any apps they install, and that they do not accept updates for their apps outside of the official Play Store, which will automatically update and patch their apps when needed. 'Always be wary of any apps that prompt you to update existing apps for security purposes, and never accept accessibility services. 'Always check an app's reputation before installing it and stick to well-recognized apps, even if you are sourcing them on Google Play.' A few years ago, while covering a story on Republican New Hampshire legislator Werner Horn, I summoned the best and brightest scholars that America had to offer. Horn, who represents his 95.9 percent white hometown in his state's House of Representatives, confounded people who actually know things by stating that owning slaves doesn't make you racist. During an interview with The Root, Horn doubled down by insisting that the Founding Fathers were not racist. Karen Olivo will not be returning to the Broadway production of Moulin Rouge! when the theater shutdown ends, she revealed on Instagram. Olivo, Tony-nominated for playing Satine, departs the show calling for greater integrity in the theater industry, and in protest of the wide-ranging industry silence following the recent Hollywood Reporter article detailing lengthy workplace harassment claims against theater and film producer Scott Rudin. (Rudin, a producer of many Broadway shows, is not part of the Moulin Rouge! team.) "Social justice is actually more important than being the Sparkling Diamond," Olivo said in a scathing video post. "Building a better industry for my students is more important than putting money in my pockets. The silence about Scott Rudin, unacceptable...Now it's about humanity. What is your integrity saying you should do? Are you going to protect your pocketbook and let people go to the emergency room, so you can do your next concert?" Watch Olivo's video post below: John Kerry has been flying around the world trying to get some of the biggest polluters to step up their fight against climate change in time for a White House summit on April 22. If new goals are the measure of success, the meeting is shaping up to be a disappointment. U.S. President Joe Bidens climate envoy this week touched down in Shanghai, Chinathe most high profile stop on a tour thats so far included India, the U.K., Bangladesh and the United Arab Emirates. Later hell travel to Seoul, South Korea. His mission is to reestablish America as a leader on global climate action after four years of backtracking under Donald Trump. That means setting an ambitious 2030 emissions reduction target and then cajoling others to strengthen their goals. Before the U.S. can lead, however, it will first have to overcome the world's mistrust. After all, the countrys reneged on its climate promises before. Theyve clearly been looking to try to encourage other countries to also increase their ambition, but I dont think this is the date, said Pete Ogden, who served in the Obama administration and is now vice president for energy, climate and the environment at the United Nations Foundation. I do not expect that everything will be on a glide path to 1.5 degrees after the summit, he said. The Paris Agreement strives to keep global temperatures from rising more than 1.5 degrees Celsius from pre-industrial levels, the limit scientists say is needed to avoid the worst effects of global warming. To get there the world will have to zero out greenhouse gases emissions by 2050, a timeline that will only be achieved if countries step up their climate action significantly. Kerry can rely on some of the U.S.s close allies to show support. Canada plans to present more aggressive targets this month. Japans Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga, who'll meet Biden Friday at the White House, is currently discussing plans for stronger 2030 commitments, Environment Minister Shinjiro Koizumi told a BloombergNEF summit in New York on Wednesday. South Korea, which has invested billions of dollars in overseas coal power plants, is debating whether to halt financing further projects amid pressure from the U.S. ahead of Biden's summit, according to government officials who requested anonymity to discuss private talks. Kerry hasnt had similar success with other countries. In New Delhi, he pushed Prime Minister Narendra Modi to set a net-zero target for India, the worlds third-biggest emitter. Top officials are considering a 2050 goal, people familiar with the discussions said earlier. The timing and scope of any announcement is unclear, not least because India wants to see more climate finance first. In climate debates, historical responsibility is a very important aspect, minister Prakash Javadekar said in New Delhi on Wednesday. We are not responsible for the climate change that is happening. Getting developed countries to contribute more is a sticking point. Brazils Environment Minister Ricardo Salles said in an interview he plans to ask Biden for $1 billion a year to curb deforestation in the Amazon basin. President Jair Bolsonaros administration is holding weekly meetings with Kerry. Brazil has been able to preserve 84% of the rainforest and that means it has the credentials to ask for that money, Salles said. In 2009, rich countries promised to collect $100 billion a year in climate finance for vulnerable nations by 2020. They arent on track to deliver on their pledge, said Nisha Krishnan, senior climate finance associate at the World Resources Institute. Were at a critical point where there is an urgent need for new leadership in the climate finance debate, she said. Financing needs are just increasing. Kerry has said he wants to work with the worlds 20 worst polluters to cut emissions more rapidly. A question mark hangs over China, the biggest emitter. President Xi Jinping has said he wants to eliminate emissions by 2060, but hasnt announced a stronger 2030 goal, which all countries are required to do under the Paris accord.On Thursday, China said that Xi will attend a virtual leaders climate summit with the leaders of France and Germany on Friday. That may be seen as a snub to Kerry while he is in China, especially since Xi hasnt officially confirmed if hell attend Bidens summit. It may also help to thaw relations between Beijing and Brussels that have become strained over accusations of human-rights abuses in Chinas far western Xinjiang region. China and the European Union engaged in tit-for-tat sanctions last month over the claims. I dont think Chinas goals will be adjusted because of the requirements from the U.S., said Zou Ji, president of Energy Foundation China who was a key member of the Chinese climate negotiation team in Paris. The blame game is the wrong direction. Zou said it was possible that China and the U.S. could reformulate a joint working group on climate change, signaling a new era of collaboration among the two countries that together spew out 40% of greenhouse gases. While Russias President Vladimir Putin plans to attend, his economy ministrywhich is responsible for emissions legislationhas given no indication it will strengthen its conservative climate targets in the near future. Meanwhile tensions between the two nations continue to rise after Biden labelled Putin a killer and confronted him over issues including a buildup of forces near Ukraines borders on a phone call. The Biden administration is poised to impose a raft of new sanctions on Russia, people familiar with the matter said, though Biden has also offered the possibility of a summit meeting with Putin in the coming months. Not even all U.S. allies are on board with Bidens green push. Australia hasnt publicly confirmed its attendance and the country has yet to commit to a specific net-zero goal. Prime Minster Scott Morrison said in February that the nation should aim to do so and preferably by 2050. Another key target for Kerry is Saudi Arabia, which depends largely on oil export revenue and has promised to announce more details of its green plan later this year. The nation hasnt said if it will attend the summit. The invitation is received and certainly we will work with our friends, but we have also our own initiatives and we would like to keep a good deal of what we want to do for when people visit us hopefully soon to celebrate with us, Energy Minister Prince Abdulaziz Bin Salman told reporters in Riyadh. The summits objective is to encourage major economies to boost their climate ambition so that the 1.5C goal is within reach, a State Department spokesperson said in a statement, adding that the U.S. has invited countries to use the meeting as an opportunity to announce their plans. While it may not deliver immediate wins on that front, the gathering could help to galvanize momentum ahead of the COP26 global negotiations due to be held in November in Glasgow, Scotland. I am expecting stronger political will toward the achievement of our objective, said Manuel Pulgar-Vidal, Global Leader of Climate & Energy at WWF and former President of COP20. It is not the role of the U.S. to push other countries but to show what is happening and to lead by example to bring and convene more countries to do the same. As part of the campaign, Bonchon has created a line of custom T-shirts where one hundred percent of the proceeds from the sale of each shirt will be donated to GoFundMe's AAPI Community Fund , a fund committed to rectifying the racial inequalities in our society. Bonchon will also match the dollar amount raised from the overall sales. Each shirt has "Stop Asian Violence" inscribed over the wearer's heart, below the Korean symbol for love. Across the back, Bonchon's "Stop Asian Violence" mission statement reads: "Be kind with Open arms, with No hate. Instead, be filled with Compassion & Harmony. We are One world and should come together in uNity." T-shirts are available for purchase now for $20.00 each exclusively through https://stopasianviolence.orderpromos.com , with all proceeds and matched funds going to: GoFundMe's 'AAPI Community Fund' at: https://www.gofundme.com/c/act/stop-aapi-hate. Bonchon is simultaneously supporting this urgent mission from within, offering a day off to all corporate team members who volunteer for any non-profit supporting the AAPI community or who participate in a peaceful demonstration. "The Stop Asian Violence Campaign offers Bonchon customers and non-customers alike another effective way to show their support for the inclusion of all people in the U.S., while helping to halt violent attacks directed towards the AAPI community," said Bonchon CEO Flynn Dekker. "This initiative is just one example of our growing commitment to a national cause that promotes unity, harmony, and equality and is just part of Bonchon's dedication to communities in need of support." Some of Bonchon's past charitable efforts have included granting workers and company employees a day off to join peaceful protests for Black Lives Matter, as well as the day off to vote or volunteer at their local polling places. Bonchon also launched Hearts & Soles, a program selling fashionable socks and sneakers to raise money for furloughed restaurant workers affected by the Covid-19 pandemic through the National Restaurant Association Educational Foundation's Restaurant Employee Relief Fund. Throughout the pandemic, Bonchon has provided free food at hospitals and clinics across the U.S. and paid bonuses to its own frontline workers. With the launch of the "Stop Asian Violence" campaign, Bonchon is hoping to unite all people towards the common goal of making the world a safer place for the AAPI community and continues its commitment to the ideals of unity, harmony, compassion, and equality. ABOUT BONCHON: Founded in South Korea in 2002 and established in the United States in 2006, Bonchon, Korean for 'my hometown,' currently has more than 100 U.S. restaurants with franchise outposts in Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Washington D.C., Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Massachusetts, Maryland, Minnesota, New Jersey, North Carolina, Nevada, New York, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Texas, Virginia, and Washington. Bonchon has over 370 locations worldwide including Thailand, Philippines, Singapore, Cambodia, Myanmar, and Vietnam. Bonchon was recognized by Business Insider in 2019 as "the gold standard for fried chicken" beating out five major restaurant brands for "best chicken wings." Bonchon was most recently recognized in Nation's Restaurant News: Next Generation Chains featured as one of the 10 fast growing chains to watch in addition to their recent distinction as a top ten Movers & Shakers in Fast Casual Magazine's 2020 Top 100. Bonchon restaurant provides a friendly, fast casual experience great for dining with family and friends. For the ultimate convenience, Bonchon fried chicken is just as enjoyable at home, with all restaurants currently offering take-out and delivery services. SOURCE Bonchon Related Links https://bonchon.com 404 This page could not be found . Rod Nordland and Feb. 29, 2020 Soon after the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, the United States militarys attention turned to Afghanistan, where Al Qaedas leaders were based. Many knew an invasion was sure to come. What no one knew was that Operation Enduring Freedom, the invasion to rout Al Qaeda and its hosts, the Taliban, would turn into a war that is now in its 20th year Americas longest. It has vexed four American presidencies and outlasted 14 American military commanders. It has also opened a window, for much of the world, onto a country where modernity still clashes with ancient customs and religious edicts. Here, in chronological order, are images showing the long arc of the war, as seen through the eyes of New York Times photographers. On Day One of the lockdown announced by the Government, it wasnt business as usual for automobile manufacturing units in the State. Confusion prevailed over regulationswhat is allowed and what isn't. While some units ran with less than half the workforce, others sought clarity from the government on what is permissible and what isn't. The State accounts for close to 20 per cent of the total vehicle production and is home to manufacturers like Tata Motors, Mahindra & Mahindra, Bajaj Auto, Force Motors, Mercedes Benz and Volkswagen. It is also a critical auto parts hub for for vehicle manufacturers outside The lockdown is estmated to crimp monthly output by 30-40 per cent. Officials at most firms said they have scaled down operations and are complying with the Break the Chain guidelines and adhering to safety protocols, distancing norms and hygiene standards. They are also actively collaborating with the health officials to inoculate eligible employees. ALSO READ: Realtors fear sales will fall in June quarter due to coronavirus curbs "Tata Motors is running operations at its Pune plant in strict compliance with the guidelines mentioned in the order of the government, said a company spokesperson adding that the company has begun the vaccination drive in collaboration with local health authorities for its employees who are 45 and above. Rajeshwar Tripathi, Chief Human Resources Officer, Automotive and Farm Sectors, Mahindra & Mahindra, said all of the companys plants are operational with lower levels of manning and following strict adherence to social distancing, hygiene protocols and safety, including compulsory testing for Covid at the plant and maintaining high standards of safety for our associates. All its offices in Maharashtra remain closed. Mahindra is bearing the cost of inoculating its associates and their spouses, eligible as per the government norms, Tripathi said. So far, over 90 per cent of its eligible workforce, including temporary and contractual associates, have been vaccinated, he added. Mahindra has also set up company maintained quarantine centres for its associates at hotspots like Mumbai and Pune and is providing for complete medical assistance where required, said Tripathi. The lockdown is likely to hit overall production for the month by 30-40 per cent, said an official at a large auto component maker. We are hoping to achieve 60-70 per cent of what was originally planned for the month, he said. The company counts most automakers including car market leader as its customer. Today being the first day, there was lot of confusion he said. Amid the rising cases, the suppliers and automakers saw the lockdown coming and are better prepared this time, he added. Given the uncertainties, automakers have stopped short of giving a revised production schedule for the month, he said. A Mercedes Benz India spokesperson said the company will be operating its manufacturing facility with reduced capacity and limited workforce, which is required for its process continuity and within the framework of the guidelines issued by the government. The company continues to strictly adhere to all the mandated health and safety measures, the spokesperson added. A top official at the Volkswagen Group said the company is seeking further clarity from the government on what is permitted and what is not. Last night, the national capital of India registered 17,282 cases in just 24-hours. These numbers are scary and they intensify the need for an immediate solution. Even if India plans or is forced to implement a lockdown, if its economy would be able to sustain it or not remains a huge concern. With the Covid-19 situation in India deteriorating rapidly, the calls for another lockdown are getting louder. If experts are to be believed, India needs to be put under lockdown for 15 days in order to break the transmission chain. However, there is another section that is arguing that imposing a lockdown would devastate the business and lives of people. Last night, the national capital of India registered 17,282 cases in just 24-hours. These numbers are scary and they intensify the need for an immediate solution. Even if India plans or is forced to implement a lockdown, if its economy would be able to sustain it or not remains a huge concern. Another concern for India with a population so huge would be ensuring basic facilities for its vulnerable and weakest sections. Amid Covid-19 cases spiking at an alarming rate, the central government and state governments are engaging in a sort of argument where state governments are complaining of shortage of vaccines, while the central government is blaming poor planning of state governments for being unable in handling the Covid-19 situation. With initiatives like Tika Utsav, India is constantly ramping up its vaccination drive but as per some doctors, the inoculations are not going to prevent the 2nd wave as its already here. Doctors suggest that this vaccination might help with the next wave but for this, its too late. In a conversation with NewsX yesterday, Dr Dhiren Gupta, Sr Paediatrician, Sir Gangaram Hospital said that he thought it was rightly said, India had missed the bus and now vaccination was not going to prevent this wave, its for the next wave. He added that probably the vaccination must have been done at a much quicker pace from January onwards. We probably missed the bus and the virus has changed its direction, added Dr Gupta. Also read: ISRO espionage case: SC to hear Centres plea and SCs high-level panels report today The US government on Thursday imposed new sanctions on Russia over harmful foreign activities against the countrys sovereignty and inte... The US government on Thursday imposed new sanctions on Russia over harmful foreign activities against the countrys sovereignty and interest. According to the White House, the sanctions are retaliatory moves against what the administration described as interference of the Russian government in the 2020 presidential election and cyber-attacks on federal agencies. Sanctions were imposed on 32 entities and individuals linked to the Russian government over the attempt to influence the 2020 presidential elections. The expulsion of 10 personnel from the Russian diplomatic mission in the US was also announced. President Biden signed a new sanctions executive order that provides strengthened authorities to demonstrate the administrations resolve in responding to and deterring the full scope of Russias harmful foreign activities, the White House said in a statement. This includes, in particular, efforts to undermine the conduct of free and fair democratic elections and democratic institutions in the United States and its allies and partners; engage in and facilitate malicious cyber activities against the United States and its allies and partner. Foster and use transnational corruption to influence foreign governments; pursue extraterritorial activities targeting dissidents or journalists; undermine security in countries and regions important to United States national security; and violate well established principles of international law, including respect for the territorial integrity of states. In 2020, several federal agencies were attacked with a software that contained malicious codes in an attempt to gather top government secrets, which was tagged, SolarWinds. US cybersecurity experts alleged that the Russian government was responsible for the attack. This is the second sanction within two months as the US government earlier sanctioned seven mid-level and senior Russian officials over the attack on Alexei Navalny, an opposition leader in Russia. Health experts and even government officials now admit that the COVID-19 pandemic in Canada is at its most dangerous stage to date, with the pandemics third wave threatening to be the most lethal yet. A nurse holds a phone while a patient affected with COVID-19 speaks with his family from the intensive care unit. (Image Credit: AP/Daniel Cole) As a direct result of the criminal policies of all levels of government, which have prioritized corporate profits over human lives, COVID-19 has already killed more than 23,400 Canadians and infected 1.08 million. With more contagious and deadly variants of COVID-19 becoming prevalent in Ontario, Quebec, British Columbia and the Prairie provinces, the numbers of infections and hospitalizations are soaring. Last Friday, for the first time since the pandemics earliest days, Canadas per capita rate of daily new infections surpassed that of the United States, long the epicentre of the global pandemic. So virulent are the new variants, some experts are characterizing the countrys third wave of COVID-19 infections as a new pandemic. In Ontario, where the second wave took more than three months to reach the 2,500 daily case threshold, that mark was reached in just 30 days during the ongoing third wave. The province has averaged more than 3,500 cases per day for the past week, with a record 4,456 cases on Sunday. Currently, a record 605 COVID-19 patients are being treated in the provinces intensive care wards, an increase of over 40 percent in just two weeks. Ontarios COVID-19 Science Advisory Table predicts that by the end of this month that number could surpass 800. As the second wave reached its peak at the beginning of the year, Ontario authorities warned that if the number of intensive care patients rose above 350 it would be impossible for the provinces hospitals to continue to provide regular care to all patients. The situation is not much better elsewhere in the country. In neighboring Quebec, the acceleration of infections is also notable. In the greater Quebec City area, the average number of daily cases has risen from 100 to 400 in just two weeks, with a peak of 630 new infections in a single day. Across the country, there is an exponential increase in new infections, with multiple records being broken in the Western provinces. British Columbia reported 1,293 new infections on Wednesday, April 7, while neighboring Alberta reported 876 new variant cases last Saturday, also a record. Considering that Albertas test positivity rate was 9.9 percent last Friday, the severity of the situation in the province and the country as a whole is undoubtedly underreported. The new variants have certainly contributed to the acceleration of the third wave. But it is the political establishments mercenary drive to keep schools and nonessential businesses open that has allowed the variants to run rampant. When new infections started to fall in the second half of January due to the limited lockdowns hastily instituted at the end of 2020, all levels of government rushed to reopen businesses and schools creating the conditions for a resurgence of mass infection. Rather than pursuing measures aimed at ending the pandemic by bringing the number of new infections down to zero, the capitalist ruling elite has prioritized keeping the economy open, i.e., profits flowing. Open schools are central to this mercenary policy, because if kids are herded into classrooms, their parents can be forced to work, churning out corporate profits, amid the pandemic. As a result, the new variants now account for 40 to 50 percent of new infections, rising to 70 percent in Ontario. The B.1.1.7 variant, first seen in the United Kingdom, accounts for 94 percent of the 25,000 cases of variants sequenced across the country. But two other variants, the B.1.351, first identified in South Africa, and especially the P1, first seen in Brazil, are also responsible for many outbreaks. Canada is possibly unique in having community transmission of all three of the major COVID-19 variants, and this was no doubt a major reason that the US Centers for Disease Control last week issued it highest-level advisory against travel to Canada. The variants are sending ever larger numbers of younger patients to the hospital. According to Quebecs health institute (INESSS), while people 70 and over represented more than 70 percent of hospitalizations in January, they now represent just 30 percent. People in their 50s and 40s, and even some in their 20s, are now routinely having to be put on ventilators and intubated. This massive influx of patients into hospitals and Intensive Care Units threatens to overwhelm the health care system. Triage, which describes a situation where doctors must determine who to care for and who to leave to die, is openly being discussed. Because of the extreme pressure on the health care system, the Ontario Public Health Agency sent a memo to the vast majority of the provinces hospitals late last week ordering them to stop performing all but emergency and life-saving surgery starting this Monday. The hard-right provincial government led by Doug Ford has boasted that it intends to add a further 1,000 critical care beds to deal with the surge in desperately ill COVID-19 patients. However, medical experts point out that due to the lack of trained personnela product of decades of cuts to health care and social servicessuch promises are all but meaningless. We can line up all of the beds in the world, but if you dont have someone who is healthy, capable, able to help you and provide the care to you when you are there in that bed, the bed doesnt matter, Dr. Shelly Dev, an intensive care physician at Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre in Toronto, told CBC. Referring to medical personnel who have already endured over a year of delivering pandemic-related care, she added, They are physically broken by how hard theyre working. The worry among all of us workers is that our ability to provide that kind of top-of-the-line carethat were so proud to provide in our health-care systemis waning. In Quebec, according to INESS, dedicated hospital capacity, particularly in intensive care, could be reached within the next three weeks outside of Montreal. In Alberta, health officials expect to see more than 1,000 hospitalizations by the end of April. Despite the acceleration of the crisis, nothing is really being done to prevent another massive wave of deaths. Schools largely remain open and, apart from some localized shutdowns, industries and factories continue to operate as if nothing has happened. In Ontario, the Ford government was forced to make an about-face on Monday and announce a temporary shift of all schools to online learning. But there is no indication how long this will last, and no support is being given families now struggling to manage childcare and work responsibilities. If vaccines demonstrate the potential of science to help stop the pandemic, their rollout could not be more chaotic. In what can only be described as a complete mess, vaccination in Canada has been marked by logistical problems, lack of doses and lack of access for many vulnerable groups. As if this was not enough, the ruling class is invoking the prospect that the population can be inoculated against COVID-19 as yet another argument to immediately get rid of virtually all remaining public health restrictions. As of April 13, some four months after Canadas inoculation drive began, only 20.79 percent of the population had received at least one vaccine dose, and just 2.2 percent was fully inoculated. While Premier Ford announced with great fanfare last week that 18 to 49-year-olds in COVID-19 hotspots were now eligible to be vaccinated, they are currently unable to register to do so. Yesterday, health authorities in the Toronto borough of Scarborough had to cancel 10,000 vaccination appointments due to a lack of vaccines. Faced with the inaction of governments, several groups of doctors and scientists are speaking out. In Quebec, the Stop COVID Collective, which includes nearly thirty health experts, is calling for a lockdown before the crisis escalates further. We are really behind schedule, declared Dr. Marie-Michelle Bellon, a specialist in internal medicine assigned to the COVID-19 unit at Montreals Notre-Dame Hospital. Thats why lockdown needs to be implemented now. A shutdown of all schools is among the critical measures that must be taken to stop the virus spread. Not only are schools responsible for a quarter of all infections. Studies have shown children have played a critical role in spreading Canadas second and third waves, infecting their parents. And contrary to the claims of the ruling elite and the corporate media, children are themselves at serious risk from COVID-19, accounting for two percent of hospitalizations. Each wave of the pandemic has been accompanied by an increase in cases of post-infectious multisystem inflammatory syndrome, which sends many children to intensive care. At the Sainte-Justine Childrens Hospital in Montreal, a 16-year-old girl died last week of COVID-19. As the deadly third wave of the pandemic unfolds, the ruling elite is united in opposing any measures to curb the pandemic that challenges the right of the corporations to continue raking in profits. Right-wing Quebec Premier Francois Legault and his so-called progressive New Democrat counterpart John Horgan of British Columbia are blaming youth and private gatherings. In fact, it is their inaction and insistence on keeping schools and businesses open to protect private profit that is fuelling the current health and socio-economic crisis. The federal Liberal government of Justin Trudeau is no less responsible for Canadas ruinous handling of the pandemic. It took no action in the critical months at the beginning of 2020, waiting until March 10 to even ask the provinces about potential shortages of ventilators, PPE (personal protective equipment) and other critical supplies; and it has strongly promoted the ruinous back-to-work/back-to-school drive. In last Septembers Throne Speech, the Liberals sent a clear signal to big business that no new lockdowns comparable to those implemented under the pressure of working class protests in the spring of 2020 would be imposed. Instead, the Trudeau government declared that in the face of a resurgence of COVID-19 infections any restrictions should be local and short-term. The working class must draw the lessons of the previous two waves of the pandemic. If a scientific response to the pandemic that prioritizes saving lives over big business profit is to be implemented, the working class must mobilize its social power and intervene as an independent political force. Rank-and-file safety committees must be established in every workplace and neighborhood in order to enforce the public health measures and secure the social support necessary to halt the pandemics third wave and protect working peoples lives and livelihoods. Islamabad, April 15 : The United Arab Emirates (UAE) is facilitating and mediating back-channel talks between India and Pakistan with an aim to turn their rivalry into a healthy and functional relationship, its envoy in Washington has confirmed. As part of the backdoor talks and meetings, top intelligence officials from both Pakistan and India have had secret meetings in Dubai during January 2021 as the UAE played important part in bringing the two sides to calm military tensions over the Kashmir region. "UAE played a role in bringing Kashmir escalation down and created a ceasefire, hopefully ultimately leading to restoring diplomats and getting the relationship back to a healthy level," said Ambassador Yousef Al Otaiba, during a virtual discussion with Stanford University's Hoover Institution. "They might not sort of become best friends but at least we want to get it (relations)to a level where its functional, where its operational, where they are speaking to each other," he added. The revelation made by the UAE Ambassador to Washington has hinted towards the US's indirect intervention in the India-Pakistan relationship through its trusted ally, the UAE. It has also raised questions over statements from Pakistan's top ministers, of not having any backdoor channel active between India and Pakistan. Pakistan Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi has repeatedly maintained that there can be no talk with India until the Narendra Modi government reverses its decision to abrogate Articles 370 and 35A, stripping the special status of Jammu and Kashmir and bifuracting into two Union Territories. However, the intervention of the UAE to de-escalate tensions between India and Pakistan, especially in reference to the boiling tensions along the Line of Control (LoC), has certainly yielded positive results as both sides agreed to enforce the ceasefire along the borders. Positive results of the backdoor secret negotiations were also evident with exchanges of complementing letters from Indian PM Modi and his counterpart PM Imran Khan, sharing a mutual desire for peace. But what remains, as the major point of contention between the two sides, is Kashmir. Pakistan has reiterated that it will not be taking any forward movement towards dialogue with India until New Delhi agrees to put the Kashmir 'dispute' on the table. One reason for Pakistan's rigid position on Kashmir is because it cannot afford to show any flexibility on the issue as it not only plays an important role in gaining political mileage for all political parties in the country, but any deviation on Kashmir and forward movement on other matters, would trigger a massive response from across the country, something that no ruling party of Pakistan can afford to see happen. With UAE playing its role in bringing both countries closer, it remains to be seen if the Modi government and the Imran Khan led government, would agree to compromise on political backlash domestically and give priority to rational and functional relations with each other. Parents and students participate in an orientation session at an elementary school in Seoul in this Jan. 6 photo. Joint press corps By Bahk Eun-ji The local education office of Gyeonggi Province has developed and distributed educational guidance materials in eight languages to help elementary schoolchildren from multicultural families adapt to school life, and their parents better understand Korea's school system. The Gyeonggido Office of Education said, Thursday, it has also made two videos, one for students and the other for parents, in eight languages Korean, English, Chinese, Russian, Vietnamese, Japanese, Thai and Tagalog. The videos reflect opinions from elementary schools that students and parents of multicultural families in the early stages of their stay here often have difficulties understanding the Korean school system and various administrative procedures. A captured image of video material for parents of multicultural families / Courtesy of Gyeonggido Office of Education Extra Technology recognised by leading RPA software provider for enabling customers to transform their businesses LONDON, April 15, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Extra Technology Ltd, a leading automation research and advisory firm, today announced it has been named Automation Anywhere's 2021 Digital Workforce Partner Award (EMEA) to recognize outstanding success in selling Automation Anywhere's Intelligent Automation solutions and enabling customers to transform their businesses. The award was presented to Extra Technology at Automation Anywhere's annual 2021 Global Partner Awards. Extra Technology has been an Automation Anywhere partner since 2016 and was previously awarded the Emerging Partner Award (EMEA) at their 'Imagine London' event in 2019. "Client demand for Digital Transformation solutions continues to rise, and Extra Technology's holistic understanding of Intelligent Automation makes us ideally positioned for continued growth in 2021," said Mark Mannion, CEO, Extra Technology. "Our partnership with Automation Anywhere, a global leader in RPA and Intelligent Automation software, enables us to offer our clients access to market-leading, native cloud-based, truly scalable automation of their business operations." Extra Technology is a market leader in automation and digital business solutions. The firm's Intelligent Automation business is one of its fastest-growing specialisms, reflecting strong market demand among enterprise clients for business process automation. Their portfolio includes RPA, Cognitive Automation, Machine Learning, Natural Language Expertise, and Enterprise Workload Automation advisory and delivery services. "Automation Anywhere is delighted to recognize Extra Technology with this award," said Arnaud Lagarde, Vice President European Partner and Channel Business at Automation Anywhere. "We are thrilled to honor Extra Technology for their continued dedication in putting the customer first, ensuring successful implementations and business transformations with each customer they engage with." "Harnessing Automation Anywhere's RPA platform, we help organizations transform their businesses, as we all recover from Covid-19 and build for the future," Mark Mannion said. About Extra Technology Extra Technology is a specialist automation consultancy, a trusted advisor on Intelligent Automation technologies delivering radical, affordable, truly scalable transformation outcomes to finance, workforce, and operations teams. Founded by renowned automation experts, we've been transforming business processes since 2007. We have successfully deployed automation solutions for the NHS, councils, global banks, major retailers, automotive manufacturers, global pharmaceuticals including Amgen, telecom organizations, online gaming companies and international stock exchanges. "It has been a pleasure to work with Extra Technology. They showed us very clearly the benefits that RPA could offer and then very professionally and very patiently got us going on that journey. Their team is full of energy, enthusiasm, and in-depth knowledge. Since working with Extra Technology we can really see the huge benefits that automation will bring to our organization." Edd Berry, Programme Finance Director at Manchester University NHS Foundation Trust, 2021 Collaborative Consultation We provide trusted advice and guidance in collaboration for those embarking on the automation journey. Our dedicated team of experts have an enviable track record of successful automation deployments in large organizations. Working with the latest technologies and vendor certified to the highest possible level. We work to understand our clients' challenges; offering education-led advice and recommending the ideal Intelligent Automation solutions. Our clients are informed on the costs versus benefits value of any project investment from the outset, avoiding projects without tangible benefit. Education: The Key to Effective Transformation Our executive courses demonstrate how Intelligent Automation can be harnessed to deliver meaningful business change in a scalable, safe and rapid fashion. Our online and live classroom courses are instructor-led, hands-on and completely interactive. Our instructors are experienced practitioners, providing relatable, real-life examples. After attending our training, office staff become certified experts and able to implement their own departmental bots. Using the latest Intelligent Automation technology coupled with education, sophisticated bots can be developed rapidly by the business's own administrative staff, supported by Extra Technology. We offer a truly scalable and value-assured transformative delivery methodology. Automation is in our DNA. For more information about Extra Technology, visit extratechnology.com or email [email protected] Related Images extra-technology-ltd-2021-digital.jpg Extra Technology Ltd 2021 Digital Workforce Partner of the Year A prestigous award presented to Extra Technology at Automation Anywhere's annual 2021 Global Partner Awards. SOURCE Extra Technology Ltd The Georgia Hemp Company is expanding to their 3rd location where co-owners Joe Salome & Ryan Dills met, Woodstock, Ga. Tweet this Come celebrate 420 at the newest Georgia Hemp Company Store. There will be CBD infused cake, dj's, 4 for $20 pre-rolls, and fun events throughout the weekend to celebrate all things 420. If you are not in the Woodstock area, celebrate 420 at the Sandy Springs location at 290 Hilderbrand Drive on 4/18 from 1-6 pm with pop ups like Sweet Bowls, CannaB Spa, Atlantabis Clothing. Dj 2nd Nature will be spinning all day long. There will be 4 for $20 pre-rolls, giveaways, The Georgia Hemp Company merch for sale, and even more! The Georgia Hemp Company's newest location is specifically catered to meet the needs of any and all customers with a wide range of products including hemp flower, oils, softgels, pain creams, beverages, delta 8 products, gummies, organic pet treats and more. Co-owner Ryan Dills says, "We want people to know that our lineup can fit every lifestyle, so come out with your friends, family and pets to celebrate with us!" For more event details, please contact The Georgia Hemp Company directly at (678) 705-3682 or visit www.thegeorgiahempcompany.com About The Georgia Hemp Company The Georgia Hemp Company - a retail store based Sandy Springs GA- serves CBD and Hemp products to enthusiasts, newcomers, tourists, and those seeking the numerous plant-based benefits. The store offers a consultative and educational buying experience designed to make shopping and learning about products an enjoyable and meaningful part of using cannabinoid products. The Georgia Hemp Company is located at 290 Hilderbrand Dr Sandy Springs & 1524 Church Street Decatur and 12186 Hwy 92 Woodstock, Georgia. MEDIA CONTACT: Joseph Salome, [email protected], 404-343-2796 SOURCE The Georgia Hemp Company Crematoriums and burial grounds in national capital Delhi are overwhelmed due to sharp rise in Covid-19 deaths. The Nigambodh Ghat, Delhi's biggest crematorium ground, has seen a spike in cremation since April 11. The ghat observed the last rites of 13 COVID-19 victims on April 10. But on April 11, it rose to 24; 22 on April 12, and 33 on April 13. Suman Gupta, the general secretary of Badi Panchayat Vaishya Beese Agarwal organisation that manages Nigambodh Ghat said the number of cremations had risen sharply in the past few days. He said, "Usually, around 50-60 cremations are performed here daily. The number has gone up to over 80 now". He further said: "The cremations of over 100 COVID-19 victims were performed in the last five days. On Tuesday, 33 bodies were cremated". At the Nigambodh Ghat, currently, 22 platforms and six CNG-run furnaces are being used exclusively for cremating COVID-19 victims. Around 70 staff members of the cremation ground are working hard to cope with the rush of bodies. Mashqoor Rashid, a member of the management committee of the graveyard at ITO, said the bodies of COVID-19 patients were being sent there from across the city as local cemeteries were overwhelmed. However, Amantullah Khan, the chairman of Delhi Waqf Board which runs several graveyards in the city, said there was no scarcity of land for burials so far. "We have enough land for burials." According to North Delhi Municipal Corporation(NDMC) figures, a total of 219 confirmed and nine suspected deaths due to COVID-19 have been reported at cremation grounds and burial places under its jurisdiction in April so far. North Delhi mayor Jai Prakash said he has written a letter to Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal seeking his help for arranging land for burials. The burial of COVID-19 victims requires especially dug-up graves, which are being prepared through backhoe loaders as the digging manually would take more time and manpower, said a municipal corporation official, supervising the burials. "As compared to normal graves of 4-5 feet deep, the COVID-19 victims require to be buried 12-14 feet deep. Such graves can also not be reused due to the highly infectious nature of the virus," he said. According to an official figure on confirmed and suspected cases, the virus has killed 409 people in Delhi in the first 13 days of April, while it had claimed 117 lives in the entire month of March and 57 in February. This substantial rise in the fatality rate has led to a rush at the city's crematoriums and burial grounds. The last rites of 38 COVID-19 victims have been conducted at the Mongolpuri cremation ground in April so far; 26 at Beriwala Bagh; and 20 at the Panchkuian Road. A total of 77 last rites, including 63 confirmed and 14 suspected cases of COVID victims, were performed at five cremation and burial grounds under East Delhi Municipal Corporation until April 12, municipal officials said. Yesterday, Delhi recorded the biggest single-day jump in its COVID-19 tally with 17,282 new cases, and over 100 deaths. In Delhi, 11,540 people have succumbed to coronavirus as of April 14, 2021. Amid a massive surge in cases, the Delhi government has issued an order to ramp up the number of beds reserved for COVID-19 patients at its hospitals and attach banquet halls and hotels to these facilities. The move will add around 3,269 beds in COVID health facilities in the national capital. (With PTI inputs)Also read: Rajasthan to impose 12-hour night curfew from Friday amid COVID-19 surge Also read: COVID-19: Govt approves plan to increase production of Remdesivir, drug cos to cut price BALTIMORE, April 15, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- St. Mary's County Health Department and PinPoint US, LLC are partnering to offer free digital COVID-19 vaccine cards for St. Mary's County residents. The VaccineCheck service will generate a personalized digital version of a CDC vaccine card after verifying COVID-19 vaccine history through Maryland's statewide immunization registry. Residents can also use the service to upload images of their paper CDC vaccine card for safe digital record-keeping accessible through their smartphone or computer. Data uploads and verification of vaccine history are conducted using the HIPAA-compliant PinPoint platform. County Residents and Employees now have access to an authenticated, personalized digital vaccine card to privately share their health status and ensure they never lose their proof of vaccination. "We could not be more excited about the partnership with St. Mary's County Health Department, the first local health department to implement the VaccineCheck program in the country," says Mr. Chris Nickerson, PinPoint Managing Partner. "The VaccineCheck program will create an authenticated digital copy of vaccination cards for all St. Mary's County residents after their records have been verified with the Maryland State Immunization Registry, enabling ease of access county-wide." "This innovative and user-friendly service offers St. Mary's County residents a convenient way to carry with them an electronic version of their CDC vaccine card," says Dr. Meena Brewster, St. Mary's County Health Officer. "In addition, residents who have lost their paper record can now access an authenticated digital version to verify their vaccination status. We are so grateful for the ingenuity of the PinPoint team and their partnership in making this service available for free to St. Mary's County residents." St. Mary's County residents can access the VaccineCheck service at www.smchd.org/covid-19-vaccine. For local COVID-19 updates, information, and data, please visit www.smchd.org/coronavirus or call the St. Mary's County Health Department at 301-475-4330. County Health Departments looking for more information should visit VaccineCheck online at https://vaccinecheck.us/health. Contact: Abby Chandler Director of Verification [email protected] 888-750-2247 SOURCE VaccineCheck LLC A recent YouGov poll revealed that Americans had ranked Washington, D.C. as the "worst place in the country." The poll put two together in head-to-head matches and ranked all the states on their "win percentage." D.C. ranked in the last place, with only 35 percent winning in its matchups, according to a Breitbart News report. Washington, D.C. earning the last place could be attributed to it being the political capital of the U.S. It could also be due to its nature of not being a state. Washington, D.C. got the worst state despite having a world-class city with top restaurants, music venues, galleries, and historical attractions. Other low-ranking states included Mississippi, Alabama, and New Jersey. Alabama and Mississippi each had a winning rate of 38 percent. Iowa, Indiana, Arkansas, and Kentucky are also ranked low in the poll. Missouri and South Dakota received the same category. "Americans might be rejecting the political divisiveness it stands for - or could be protesting that it is, in fairness, not a state," the survey was quoted in an RT report. READ MORE: Washington DC Beckons Latino Population Amid Opportunities in Business, Politics, Economics & Education The Poll The poll discovered that respondents tended to lean more to their home states when asked about their favorite state, as well as the state they are currently residing in, according to an Independent report. Americans chose their home states 77 percent of the time, while they chose their state of residence 79 percent of the time. Only one-third of Americans are living in a state that is not their home state. Meanwhile, Hawaii came up to be Americans' favorite state. Americans also placed Colorado, Virginia, Nevada, and North Carolina among the top-rated states. Other states included in the top 10 were Florida, Arizona, New York, Georgia, and Texas. Hawaii was likely to have topped the list because of its image as a welcoming state, apart from its tropical vibe. D.C. Statehood Meanwhile, the House Oversight and Reform Committee has approved a bill on Wednesday that seeks to make Washington, D.C. the country's 51st state. Those in favor of D.C.'s statehood argue that its residents are being denied their most basic democratic right to be represented in Congress, according to a Business Insider report. "The United States is the only democratic country that denies both voting rights in the national legislature and local self-government to the people of its capital and that is wrong. It violates everything we stand for as Americans," the Oversight Committee chairwoman, Rep. Carolyn B. Maloney, was quoted in a report. Congress has already passed the same measure last June. However, the then Republican-controlled Senate refused to bring the matter on the floor last year. The issue of its statehood has been discussed for decades. Residents are clamoring that they are being taxed without representation. D.C. has a larger population as compared to both Vermont and Wyoming. In addition, D.C. residents are paying higher federal taxes compared to about half of the other states. Republicans have argued that its statehood is unconstitutional and a Democratic power grab. READ ALSO: The Continuous Increase of Immigrant Population in Washington, D.C. WATCH: Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton's Opening Statement: H.R. 51, the D.C. Statehood act, Markup - from Oversight Committee Nicola Sturgeon - Andy Buchanan/AFP Nicola Sturgeon has been accused of attempting to dupe voters over her drive for independence after the SNP scrapped plans to include a reference to a second referendum on ballot papers. The SNP had sought approval for two slogans making reference to IndyRef2 to appear alongside the party name on voting slips for the Holyrood election, suggesting that Ms Sturgeon planned to make her push for a new referendum the central message of her election campaign. However, when the first postal ballots arrived on Wednesday, the IndyRef2 references had been dumped and replaced with Nicola Sturgeon for SNP First Minister. The Scottish Tories said the move to abandon the IndyRef2 description was a tacit admission that the SNP's independence policy is a turn-off for voters and amounted to an attempt to hide it from the public. Ms Sturgeon will on Thursday unveil the SNP manifesto, which will include a commitment to holding another referendum on independence if there is a pro-independence majority at Holyrood after Mays election. However, in a major announcement ahead of the launch event, the party chose to highlight a commitment to boost NHS spending by 2.5 billion within five years rather than focus on the constitution. The commitment came after the Institute for Fiscal Studies found that health spending in England has increased more than three times faster than in Scotland over the past decade. Under election rules, parties are able to print a pre-approved slogan alongside their names and logos on regional ballot papers, where voters choose a party rather than a candidate. The SNP had registered Vote SNP for IndyRef2 and Both Votes SNP for IndyRef2 for possible use. Parties are entitled to use different slogans in electoral regions, but the SNP opted against the IndyRef2 slogan even in Glasgow, which voted in favour of independence in 2014. Ms Sturgeon has said she wants to hold a new independence referendum by 2023, however, a string of opinion polls have shown most voters believe that issues such as the economy and education should be the main priority. Story continues Dean Lockhart, constitution spokesperson for the Scottish Tories, said: The SNP clearly think they can dupe voters by pretending that they are not planning for another vote on independence. After initially planning to put this on the ballot, theyve clearly realised how the people of Scotland simply dont want another divisive referendum as we recover from the pandemic. Polls currently suggest that winning an overall majority for the SNP is in the balance. However, a majority of pro-independence MSPs are highly likely to be returned due to the Scottish Greens, surveys suggest Alex Salmonds Alba Party also attacked Ms Sturgeon after she ditched the IndyRef2 slogan, claiming it showed she was backsliding over her commitment to leaving the UK. "Given the lack of urgency shown by Nicola Sturgeon in this campaign towards independence it is hardly surprising that she has now ditched IndyRef2 on the ballot paper, Kenny MacAskill, the MP who defected from the SNP and is now standing as an Alba Holyrood candidate, said. This is a wake up call for SNP voters and Independence supporters who will look on in dismay as the SNP backslide on independence. In Thursdays manifesto launch, the SNP will attempt to reassure voters who have been impressed by Ms Sturgeons handling of the pandemic but are not fully sold on independence. Strategists at Holyrood believe this group, and particularly female voters, will be key in deciding whether or not the SNP claim a majority. The commitment to spend an additional 2.5 billion per year on the NHS by the end of the next parliament a rise of at least 20 per cent will be part of a package Ms Sturgeon will attempt to sell as a programme for sustained economic recovery and job-creation. She is expected to say: "As we recover, we have the opportunity to reimagine our country. Not to return just to how things were but to build a better nation. "If the SNP is re-elected we will use our experience to undertake a full-scale post-pandemic remobilisation of the NHS. She will also promise increases in spending to mental health services of at least 25 per cent and expand on plans to develop a National Care Service, which she will compare in scale to the establishment of the NHS following the trauma of the Second World War. The National Care Service will improve standards, ensure enhanced pay and conditions for workers and provide better support for unpaid carers, Ms Sturgeon will say. A German Shepherd has been lauded as a police dog in waiting after his owner shared hilarious video of the dog looking stunned at the mere mention of the word 'cocaine'. Thousands who watched the video have asked police to take on Dante, who made his disapproval of drugs clear in footage which has since gone viral. Sitting on the bed casually looking out the window as his owner, Davey Rutherford, watched Netflix, Dante was uninterested as a shopping list was read out. 'Bread, milk, pasta, eggs...,' Mr Rutherford can be heard saying on the video as Dante looks serenely into the distance. Dante (pictured with his owner Davey @Daveywa on Instagram) never completed police dog training, but thousands of people are urging the force to take him on after he made his disapproval of drugs clear to his owner in footage which has since gone viral Mr Rutherford casually added 'mayo, cocaine and biscuit' to his list before adding 'cocaine'. Immediately Dante whipped his head around with a look of alarm on his face. He tilted his head and sat upright at attention on high alert. Hundreds of viewers pointed out that Dante appeared to disapprove of the suggestion. The video was viewed more than seven million times, with thousands of people begging Mr Rutherford to consider allowing Dante to work with police. He initially claimed Dante was a sniffer dog who 'knows English' but later clarified that he didn't actually receive any formal training. Mr Rutherford casually added 'mayo, cocaine and biscuit' to his must-have items. At the very moment that cocaine was mentioned, Dante whipped his head around and dropped his smile Sitting on the bed casually looking out the window as his owner, Davey Rutherford, watched Netflix, Dante was uninterested when conversation turned to grocery shopping 'Catching crims is his calling,' one person said after seeing the video. 'He'll get a job in no time,' another said. 'He's a police dog in waiting'. Others suggested he must be 'an undercover sniffer dog' given his sharp reaction. Mr Rutherford's video was taken and repurposed after he first uploaded the video to Tik Tok, with others falsely claiming to have adopted Dante and describing him as a retired police dog. He has since fielded hundreds of messages from confused fans. 'Dante's not a retired police dog,' he confirmed. Police dogs in Australia are bred and trained from the time they are puppies and are able to sniff out drugs and respond to their owner's commands. Daily Mail Australia does not suggest anyone in this picture was found to have drugs in their possession But he acknowledged the clever German Shepherd appears to have a knack for responding to illegal activity. In a separate video, Mr Rutherford suggested they 'get a bag' - a common reference to purchasing cocaine - and Dante had a similar, equally as shocked response. Mr Rutherford shares more of his adventures with Dante on his Instagram account, here. Police dogs in Australia are bred and trained from the time they are puppies and are able to sniff out drugs and respond to their owner's commands. They often retire with their handlers after years of service. Police dogs are often used at festivals and large scale events to help police detect drugs. Daily Mail Australia does not suggest anyone in this picture was found to have drugs in their possession STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- Albert Bourla, CEO of Pfizer, said people who receive the companys coronavirus (COVID-19) vaccine will likely need a booster dose one year after full vaccination, CNBC reported. Bourla, whose comments were made public Thursday but taped on April 1, 2021, also said people could need to be vaccinated against the virus annually. We need to see what would be the sequence, and for how often we need to do that, that remains to be seen, he told CNBC during an event with CVS Health. A likely scenario is that there will be likely a need for a third dose, somewhere between six and 12 months and then from there, there will be an annual revaccination, but all of that needs to be confirmed. And again, the variants will play a key role. It is extremely important to suppress the pool of people that can be susceptible to the virus, said Bourla. Pfizer and BioNTechs vaccine, the first to receive the Food and Drug Administrations emergency use authorization in the United States, demonstrated high effectiveness against COVID-19 up to six months after full immunization, the Advance/SILive.com reported. The companies also said the vaccine is 100% effective in adolescents, the Advance/SILive.com reported. Additionally, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said both Pfizer and Modernas vaccines demonstrated real-world effectiveness, even after just one dose. PPD provides a broad range of clinical research and laboratory services to enable customers to accelerate innovation and increase drug development productivity. A leader in the growing $50 billion clinical research services industry, PPD has more than 26,000 colleagues operating in nearly 50 countries. In 2020, the company generated revenue of $4.7 billion. Upon close of the transaction, PPD will become part of Thermo Fisher's Laboratory Products and Services Segment. "Pharma and Biotech is our largest and fastest growing end market, and our customers value us as a strategic partner and an industry leader. The acquisition of PPD is a natural extension for Thermo Fisher and will enable us to provide these customers with important clinical research services and partner with them in new and exciting ways as they move a scientific idea to an approved medicine quickly, reliably and cost effectively," said Marc N. Casper, chairman, president and chief executive officer, Thermo Fisher Scientific. "Longer term, we plan to continue to invest in and connect the capabilities across the combined company to further help our customers accelerate innovation and drive productivity, while driving further value for our shareholders." David Simmons, chairman and chief executive officer, PPD, said, "This is a very exciting announcement for our shareholders and will provide customers with an even better opportunity to bring meaningful innovation to the market faster and more efficiently. Thermo Fisher is a world-class company with a very similar culture and values and will provide a great foundation for our colleagues to continue to deliver for our customers and to develop their own skills and careers." Casper added, "Both companies have complementary mission-driven cultures, and I can't wait to welcome PPD's colleagues from around the world to Thermo Fisher once the transaction is completed." Benefits of the Transaction Establishes Thermo Fisher as One of the Global Leaders in the Attractive, High Growth Clinical Research Services Industry PPD serves a $50 billion industry forecasted to grow long-term in the mid-single digits, driven by scientific breakthroughs, the continued expected robust funding for drug discovery and the need for strategic suppliers for the pharma and biotech industry to help them bring safe and effective medicines to the patients that need them. PPD has invested significantly in its capabilities and is one of the leading global players providing services to both emerging biotech customers and to all of the top pharma companies in the world. Combination Further Enhances Thermo Fisher's Value Proposition for Pharma and Biotech Customers by Adding Highly Complementary Services Thermo Fisher is a leading supplier to the pharma and biotech industry, supporting research and development, clinical trials and production. PPD enhances Thermo Fisher's offering, bringing a proven drug development platform, excellent patient recruitment capabilities, strong laboratory services and a complementary reputation for excellent quality and service. These combined capabilities further enhance Thermo Fisher's value proposition to pharma and biotech customers and allow them to more efficiently access these services, which are key enablers of their success. Creates Meaningful Benefits for Customers In the near-term, Thermo Fisher's access to key decision makers in pharma and biotech companies will increase the opportunities for PPD to win additional work from existing and new customers as the pandemic has further highlighted the need for these customers to develop strategic relationships with their key suppliers. The combined company's extensive capabilities and knowledge in serving the pharma and biotech industry will enable new solutions for customers that create the potential to reduce the time and cost of the drug development process. Delivers Attractive Financial Benefits The transaction is expected to be immediately and significantly accretive to Thermo Fisher's adjusted EPS, adding $1.40 in the first 12 months after close. Thermo Fisher expects to realize total synergies of approximately $125 million by year three following close, consisting of approximately $75 million of cost synergies and approximately $50 million of adjusted operating income benefit from revenue-related synergies. Approvals and Financing The transaction, which is expected to be completed by the end of 2021, is subject to the satisfaction of customary closing conditions, including the receipt of applicable regulatory approvals. In addition to board approval, shareholders holding in aggregate approximately 60% of the issued and outstanding shares of common stock of PPD have approved the transaction by written consent. No further action by other PPD shareholders is required to approve the transaction. Thermo Fisher has obtained committed bridge financing with respect to a portion of the purchase price. To fund the transaction, Thermo Fisher intends to use proceeds from debt financing and cash on hand. Advisors Barclays Capital, Inc. and Morgan Stanley & Co. LLC are serving as financial advisors to Thermo Fisher, and Cravath, Swaine & Moore LLP and Arnold & Porter Kaye Scholer LLP are serving as legal counsel. For PPD, J.P. Morgan Securities LLC is serving as exclusive financial advisor, while Simpson, Thacher & Bartlett LLP is serving as legal counsel. Conference Call and Webcast Thermo Fisher will host a conference call and webcast at 8:30 a.m. Eastern Time today to provide more information on this announcement. The webcast and accompanying slides can be accessed in the Investors section of www.thermofisher.com. An audio archive of the call will be available in that section of the website until April 29, 2021. Conference Call Dial-In: Domestic: (833) 979-2843 International: (236) 714-2942 Conference ID: 2766349 Replay Dial-In: Dial-In: (800) 585-8367 or (416) 621-4642 Conference ID: 2766349 About Thermo Fisher Scientific Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. is the world leader in serving science, with annual revenue exceeding $30 billion. Our mission is to enable our customers to make the world healthier, cleaner and safer. Whether our customers are accelerating life sciences research, solving complex analytical challenges, improving patient diagnostics and therapies or increasing productivity in their laboratories, we are here to support them. Our global team of more than 80,000 colleagues delivers an unrivaled combination of innovative technologies, purchasing convenience and pharmaceutical services through our industry-leading brands, including Thermo Scientific, Applied Biosystems, Invitrogen, Fisher Scientific, Unity Lab Services and Patheon. For more information, please visit www.thermofisher.com. About PPD PPD is a leading global clinical research organization providing broad, integrated drug development, laboratory and lifecycle management services. Our customers include pharmaceutical, biotechnology, medical device, academic and government organizations. With offices in 47 countries and more than 26,000 professionals worldwide, PPD applies innovative technologies, therapeutic expertise and a firm commitment to quality to help customers bend the cost and time curve of drug development and optimize value in delivering life-changing therapies to improve health. For more information, visit www.ppd.com. Additional Information and Where to Find It This communication is being made in respect of the proposed transaction involving Thermo Fisher Scientific and PPD, Inc. PPD will prepare an information statement for its stockholders containing the information with respect to the transaction specified in Schedule 14C promulgated under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, and describing the proposed transaction. When completed, a definitive information statement will be mailed to PPD's stockholders. Investors are urged to carefully read the information statement regarding the proposed transaction and any other relevant documents in their entirety when they become available because they will contain important information about the proposed transaction. You may obtain copies of all documents filed with the SEC regarding this transaction, free of charge, at the SEC's website, http://www.sec.gov or from PPD's website at www.ppd.com. Forward-Looking Statements This communication contains forward-looking statements that involve a number of risks and uncertainties. Words such as "believes," "anticipates," "plans," "expects," "seeks," "estimates," and similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements, but other statements that are not historical facts may also be deemed to be forward-looking statements. Important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those indicated by forward-looking statements include risks and uncertainties relating to: the duration and severity of the COVID-19 pandemic; the need to develop new products and adapt to significant technological change; implementation of strategies for improving growth; general economic conditions and related uncertainties; dependence on customers' capital spending policies and government funding policies; the effect of economic and political conditions and exchange rate fluctuations on international operations; use and protection of intellectual property; the effect of changes in governmental regulations; and the effect of laws and regulations governing government contracts, as well as the possibility that expected benefits related to recent or pending acquisitions, including the proposed acquisition, may not materialize as expected; the proposed acquisition not being timely completed, if completed at all; regulatory approvals required for the transaction not being timely obtained, if obtained at all, or being obtained subject to conditions; prior to the completion of the transaction, PPD's business experiencing disruptions due to transaction-related uncertainty or other factors making it more difficult to maintain relationships with employees, customers, other business partners or governmental entities; difficulty retaining key employees; the outcome of any legal proceedings related to the proposed acquisition; and the parties being unable to successfully implement integration strategies or to achieve expected synergies and operating efficiencies within the expected time-frames or at all. Additional important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those indicated by such forward-looking statements are set forth in Thermo Fisher's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2020, which is on file with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission ("SEC") and available in the "Investors" section of Thermo Fisher's website, ir.thermofisher.com, under the heading "SEC Filings," and in any subsequent Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q and other documents Thermo Fisher files with the SEC, and in PPD's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2020, which is on file with the SEC and available in the "Investors" section of PPD's website, investors.ppd.com, under the heading "SEC Filings," and its subsequent Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q and in other documents PPD files with the SEC. While the Company or PPD may elect to update forward-looking statements at some point in the future, the Company and PPD specifically disclaim any obligation to do so, even if estimates change and, therefore, you should not rely on these forward-looking statements as representing either the Company's or PPD's views as of any date subsequent to today. Use of Non-GAAP Financial Measures In addition to the financial measures prepared in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP), Thermo Fisher uses certain non-GAAP financial measures, including adjusted EPS, which excludes certain acquisition-related costs, including charges for the sale of inventories revalued at the date of acquisition and significant transaction costs; restructuring and other costs/income; amortization of acquisition-related intangible assets; certain other gains and losses that are either isolated or cannot be expected to occur again with any regularity or predictability, tax provisions/benefits related to the previous items, benefits from tax credit carryforwards, the impact of significant tax audits or events and the results of discontinued operations. Thermo Fisher excludes the above items because they are outside of the company's normal operations and/or, in certain cases, are difficult to forecast accurately for future periods. Thermo Fisher believes that the use of non-GAAP measures helps investors to gain a better understanding of the company's core operating results and future prospects, consistent with how management measures and forecasts the company's performance, especially when comparing such results to previous periods or forecasts. 1 Adjusted earnings per share is a non-GAAP measure that excludes certain items detailed later in this press release under the heading "Use of Non-GAAP Financial Measures." SOURCE Thermo Fisher Scientific Related Links http://www.thermofisher.com Louisiana State Trooper Kaleb Reeves, son of the former agency head, was suspended for 4 months without pay the maximum suspension allowed under state civil service rules after investigators concluded his reckless driving caused a crash in Monroe last October that left a child and teenager dead from their injuries. The news comes during a time of turmoil for the agency, where leaders are scrambling to address a series of unresolved scandals at the Monroe-based Troop F, including several incidents where troopers are accused of brutally beating Black suspects. Four troopers have been arrested in recent months. State Police officials announced the discipline decision in a news release Thursday morning, calling the crash preventable and reprimanding Reeves for his poor driving record. Investigators found he was driving more than 20 mph over the speed limit in this case, among other violations. Late at night on Oct. 1, Reeves was responding to an earlier crash when he slammed into a Kia sedan traveling the same direction and in the same lane on U.S. 165. The two rear passengers ages 11 and 18 were hospitalized but later died. Reeves was not injured. Officials said that in addition to the 720-hour suspension, Reeves will face future restrictions on overtime hours and vehicle use. He must successfully complete additional training in remedial driving and patrol operations. "All of these measures are directed toward correcting conduct to ensure that Trooper Reeves can safely perform his job duties upon his return to work," officials said in a statement. "The tragic loss of life as a result of this incident will never be forgotten." Officials released few details immediately after the crash, including whether Reeves would face discipline. But records released Thursday confirm the suspension and paint a more complete picture of what happened that night. Officials said the crash Reeves was responding to did not involve injuries or road blockage and therefore was not an emergency, but he was nonetheless driving 77 mph, well above the 55 mph speed limit. Reeves applied the brakes less than one second before the crash, slowing his SUV to 57 mph upon impact, investigators found. In an interview with investigators, Reeves said he realized at the last second that there was a vehicle in front of him traveling slowly, then slammed on the brakes and steered to the right hoping to avoid a collision. State Police leaders found that Reeves violated internal policies by driving too fast without his emergency lights on and failing to wear a seatbelt. He also violated a policy that requires troopers to avoid reckless driving. This was not his first time getting into trouble behind the wheel, his superiors wrote in a disciplinary addressed to Reeves. He was involved in another preventable crash in Winn Parish in September 2019. 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 State Police leaders warned Reeves that any similar violations in the future would result in more serious discipline, including possible termination. The letter was signed by Col. Lamar Davis, who was named State Police superintendent last fall after Kevin Reeves retired from the position less than a month after his son was involved in the fatal crash. The elder Reeves spent decades at Troop F in Monroe before being named to head the agency in 2017. His retirement also came not long after the 2019 death of Ronald Greene came to light, prompting scrutiny of Troop F. The Greene family filed a lawsuit last year claiming troopers engaged in wildly excessive force during the encounter, including beating Greene and using stun guns, then lied about what caused him to stop breathing. Kaleb Reeves was not named in the lawsuit. Since then, several similar incidents have surfaced at Troop F, though none involving deadly force. Four troopers were arrested in February, accused of using excessive force in two separate traffic stops involving Black suspects. Two of the arrested troopers have resigned from the agency and the other two will be placed on unpaid leave pending the resolution of an internal investigation. One of the troopers who resigned was Jacob Brown, the son of Bob Brown, who also came up in Troop F and later served as assistant superintendent and chief of staff under Kevin Reeves, before retiring in recent months. Louisiana State Police head Kevin Reeves out after three-plus years leading agency The head of the Louisiana State Police will retire this week after more than three years in charge, stepping down after a series of recent con About two months after Kevin Reeves was named superintendent, the Louisiana Legislature carved out an exception in state nepotism laws to allow his son, who had recently graduated from training academy, to remain on the force. Before that legislation was passed, state law prohibited an immediate relative of an agency head from working for the same agency unless the family member had already been employed there for at least a year before the appointment. The new legislation shrunk that grace period to four months but limited the exception to State Police, not other agencies. Kaleb Reeves had started training to become a trooper several months before his father was promoted, though he had applied to join the force about two years earlier. There was no indication when he applied that Kevin Reeves would later become his boss, a change that occurred after Col. Mike Edmonson abruptly stepped down amid allegations he was misusing public funds and abusing his power. Is This The Toughest-Ever SCOOP Final Table? April 14 2021 Matthew Pitt It should not be surprising to find a final table full of stellar names when the tournament in question costs $25,000 to enter, but the final nine of the SCOOP-43-H:@ $25,000 NLHE [8-Max, Super High Roller] at PokerStars is something else. Seventy-one players bought into this $1.5 million guaranteed event and only nine remain in contention for the near $470,000 top prize. What an unbelievable group of players those final nine are. SCOOP-43-H:@ $25,000 NLHE [8-Max, Super High Roller] Final Table Chip Counts Seat Player Country Chips 1 Mikita "fish2013" Badziakouski Belarus 1,021,752 2 Benjamin "bencb789" Rolle Germany 2,687,426 3 Samuel "uropan" Vousden Finland 1,877,297 4 Conor "1_conor_b_1" Beresford United Kingdom 1,684,957 5 Wiktor "limitless" Malinowski Poland 1,962,432 6 Niklas "Lena900" Astedt Sweden 968,102 7 Christian "WATnlos" Rudolph Germany 1,906,328 8 Michael "imluckbox" Addamo Australia 4,377,475 9 Joao "Naza114" Vieira Portugal 1,264,231 Michael "imluckbox" Addamo leads the way when the cards are back in the air from 7:05 p.m. BST on April 14. Addamo is armed with 4,377,475 and will take some stopping. The UK-based Australian needs no real introduction, and it is easier to list the High Roller and Super High Roller events he has not won during his career. Now Addamo is in pole position in yet another high stakes event, although this could be his greatest challenge yet. Former WCOOP Main Event champion Benjamin "bencb789" Rolle returns with 2,687,426 chips, so must fancy his chances of glory in this $25,000 Super High Roller. Rolle is guaranteed $54,286 but there is no way on this planet that he is settling for that sum. PLAYING THE ULTIMATE FINAL TABLE OF DEATH TOMORROW Also took down the 5k Super Tuesday for 236k https://t.co/zl5wPPR3rB bencb (@bencb789) Third place at the restart belongs to the high-stakes cash game expert Wiktor "limitless" Malinowski. The Polish star has 1,962,432 chips, which are enough to cause great concern for the rest of his opponents. Anyone who is willing to take on Fedor Holz in a heads-up battle while drunk deserves the respect of his peers! Things do not get any easier the further down the chip counts you go. World Series of Poker bracelet winner Christian Rudolph (1,906,328), recent SCOOP champion Samuel "uropan" Vousden (1,877,297), and former world number one Conor "1_conor_b_1" Beresford (1,684,957) all have enough chips in their arsenal to cause some major damage to those around them. Just as you think matters could not get any worse, you find Joao "Naza114" Vieira, Mikita "fish2013" Badziakouski (1,021,752), and the Swedish legend that is Niklas "Lena900" Astedt (968,102) still in the mix. The final table is, quite frankly, ridiculous. We cannot wait for the action to commence. Follow the action from the toughest SCOOP final table ever! Who do you think with come out on top of this battle of poker Goliaths? You do not have long to wait to find out because the tournament resumes at 7:05 p.m. BST on April 14, and does so under the watchful eyes of the PokerNews Live Reporting team. Our reporters are on hand to bring you all the action, from the first pitched cards, to the final pot being raked in. Tune in and join them in what is sure to be one of the most epic battles online poker has ever witnessed. NEWS WNY News As part of Canisius 2021 Borders and Migration Event Series, Kosciuszko Foundation Visiting Professor Bohdan Szklarski will be presenting Immigration and Populism: Comparing Poland, Hungary and the United States on April 20, 2021 at 6 p.m. The lecture is livestreamed at canisius.edu/polandandhungary. Szklarski is professor of political science at the University of Warsaw, a specialist in the field of studies on democracy, political leadership and political culture. He was visiting professor at the University of South Carolina (2020) and a Kosciuszko Foundation grant recipient. Professionally he is interested in the subject of political leadership, political communication, political culture, political anthropology, and American internal and foreign policy. He often appears in the media as an expert on current political events in Poland and in the world. Prof. Szklarski served as head of American Studies Center at the University of Warsaw in 2012-2016 and of the Department of Political Science at Collegium Civitas in 1997-2007 where he also lectured. He has served as a visiting professor at the University of Alcala, Madrid; Torino University; Paris Diderot University; University of Athens; Kyongpook University Daegu, South Korea; Notre Dame University; Boston College; Northeastern University; City University of New York; University of Louisville; and the University of Kentucky. The event is sponsored by the Department of Modern Languages, Kosciuszko Foundation, The Permanent Chair of Polish Culture at Canisius College, Vice President of Academic Affairs, and Campus Ministry Office of Mission and Identity. The remote event is free and open to the public. Contact Dr. Reitsma at reitsmar@canisius.edu with questions. Prof. Szklarski's time in Buffalo is funded by the following sources: the Kosciuszko Foundation, the Permanent Chair of Polish Culture at Canisius College, Canisius College, the Center for Polish Studies at Daemen College and the History & Political Science Department at Daemen College. What Is a Sleep Divorce? Here's When & Why It Could Save Your Relationship Could a Sleep Divorce Save Your Relationship? Heres What to Know Whether its snoring that keeps you up all night, an accidental elbow to the face that jolts you out of a blissful dream or the insistence to keep the television on when youre just about ready to turn out the light, you might be heading towards a sleep divorce. But as drastic as that sounds, all it entails is sleeping in separate beds, which is something couples have been doing for a long time now as a signifier of the relationship going south. The difference here? People are realizing that it could actually improve their intimacy rather than destroy it. According to the Better Sleep Council, more than 25% of couples are opting for a sleep divorce, and its an arrangement thats on the rise. In a 2020 survey, 35% of adults even admitted that the pandemic has led them to consider buying a separate bed. Thats no surprise when you consider that studies have shown people are less likely to wake up during the night and more likely to get almost 30 additional minutes in the deeper stages of sleep when they werent in the same room as their partners. Sleep, as most already know, plays a pretty important role in your physical, mental, and emotional health and well-being. When you dont get enough of it, you might find yourself feeling cranky, leaving you to take out your frustrations on the person you caused it all: your significant other. RELATED: How to Stop Snoring Poor sleep can easily disrupt our moods and alter our behaviors, explains Dr. Gary Brown, a prominent couples therapist in Los Angeles. This is why therapists and physicians will often ask their patients how they are sleeping as this can be a major contributor to a persons' well-being. In other words, if separate beds translate to better rest, it could also mean fewer fights with and resentments toward your loved one. That said, before you go and give a sleep divorce a shot, heres what experts want you to know. What Is a Sleep Divorce? The term sleep divorce has been making the rounds online for more than a year now, but its just a dramatic way of describing the decision to not sleep in the same bed as your long standing partner anymore. There are many ways to have a sleep divorce, though. For some couples, it may mean having individual beds in the same room so that both partners can sleep through the night undisturbed by each others tossing and turning. For others, it may mean sleeping in different rooms entirely due to noise issues. Ultimately, its all about finding what arrangement addresses the specific problem you and your partner are struggling with. As for Mary Kay Cocharo, LMFT, she prefers the term independent sleep. Any couple who is not getting enough sleep with their partner nearby might benefit from sleeping apart, says Cocharo. This can include people bothered by snoring, differences in heat regulation, restlessness, illness, even blanket hogging. What are the Benefits of a Sleep Divorce? Being in separate beds allows you more physical space to roll around, which may help you to get higher quality sleep. Unless you are sleeping in a king-size bed and even if you are there actually may not be enough room to accommodate a wide range of sleep movements during the evening, explains Brown. Sleeping in separate beds allows both partners to have enough physical space to sleep in their own natural positions and to move about freely without interrupting their partner. Not only that, but if you and your partner have mismatched circadian rhythms, a sleep divorce can allow you both to accommodate your own needs. For example, if your partner is a morning person, theyll be able to start their day at the crack of dawn without worrying about disturbing you. If your main fear is that your sex life will take a dip by being in separate beds, think again. In reality, A good nights rest can have the opposite effect, helping to stoke your sexual desire. Being sleep-deprived leads to stress that, in turn, inhibits your libido, says Brown. The quality and frequency of sex can actually improve if both of you are enjoying the many benefits of a good night's sleep. While personal space is important in any relationship, this is particularly true once the pandemic forced couples to spend more time than ever together. Cocharo says that if you think your relationship could benefit from a little separation (and thats been hard to achieve), a sleep divorce may be just the breather you both need. Again, theres no reason why this has to take a toll on your intimacy in fact, it can add some intrigue back into the relationship. Scheduling time to cuddle and make love can be more mindful and exciting, explains Cocharo. Planning when to have intimate time harkens back to the early stages of the relationship before we just put on our jammies and collapsed exhausted. If you suspect the spats between you and your partner may have something to do with inadequate sleep, Cocharo also notes that sleeping apart may actually reduce your arguing. When people are sleep deprived, they are more irritable, she tells AskMen. This can lead to bickering and quicker frustration and anger. When we are well-rested, we tend to have more patience and can approach our partners with understanding and compassion. Should I Try a Sleep Divorce? Israel and Cathie Helfand, a husband and wife counseling team for couples, dont recommend a sleep divorce if your relationship is already on the rocks. On the other hand, if your generally happy relationship is taking a hit due to irritable sleepless nights in bed, it might be worth a shot. Fun fact: men have a 12% higher chance of snoring, and according to Brown, those noses are one of the most common reasons why couples choose a sleep divorce. Couples that have good reasons are those with health issues or in surgery recovery, note the Helfands. Another common issue is sleep apnea machines and different schedules, which can be a logistical nightmare. And sometimes its a result of past habits or trauma. Some examples are PTSD from active duty, childhood abuse, or simply being used to sleeping alone. Another legitimate reason why you might decide to try a sleep divorce? If you and your partner require very different sleep environments. For example, one of you needs total darkness and a cool temperature, while the other prefers a night light, a warmer room, and a white noise machine. How Do I Go About Having a Sleep Divorce? The first step is to have the sleep divorce discussion with your partner. Are they happy with the conditions and quality of their sleep? What would they change if they could? How would they feel about separate beds (or being in entirely separate rooms)? A lot of what we do is encourage couples to start a dialogue, and often separate sleeping arrangements will be a catalyst for starting bigger conversations about comfort and needs, the Helfands tell AskMen. Opening up the conversation about what each person needs from the relationship is a huge step for couples, and one that will benefit most relationships. As is the case with any major changes in your relationship, both people need to be on board with a sleep divorce. If youre on the same page, Brown recommends doing a test run to ease into this arrangement. Try sleeping in separate beds or rooms for just one week, and then circle back to share how you felt about it. Once youve re-evaluated, youll be able to tell whether or not this approach is going to benefit you both in the long run. Youll also have an opportunity to discuss whether any adjustments are needed. For example, if one or both of your love languages is physical touch, perhaps try making sure that you cuddle before you go to bed, and then repeat this in the morning by having one partner climb into their partner's bed in the morning, explains Brown. Remember that you always want to find ways to both feel your love, express your love, and expand your love for each other. This gives you a chance to miss each other and that can help you get in touch with wanting to spend more waking time together. Bottom line? Creating some distance when it comes to sleep could actually bring you closer together but only if youre doing it for the right reasons while making a conscious effort to stay connected in other ways. You Might Also Dig: The president indirectly suggested that Finance Minister Igor Matovic did not tell the truth about the deal, calls for the contract to be made public. The Russian fund marketing the Sputnik V vaccine did not ask the Slovak government to return the vaccines from Slovakia due to the certification of the laboratory that tested the samples. President Zuzana Caputova stated the above-mentioned after she studied the contract, which has not been made public. The president opined that she saw no reason for the contract to be kept hidden from the public, and called on those who closed the contract to duly publish it. Caputova studied the undisclosed contract for the purchase of Sputnik V vaccines and a letter in which the Russian Direct Invesment Fund (RDIF) asked the government to return the unused vaccines. There was a different reason for their return request, Caputova said during her briefing on April 15. Lab was not the reason The Finance Minister Igor Matovic claimed earlier that the Russian side wanted the Sputnik V vaccines back because Slovakia tested them in a laboratory without OMCL certification, which violated the contract. "The [Russians] feel that exceptional damage was caused to them when the SUKL assigned the assessment of the vaccine to a non-registered laboratory," Matovic told journalists on April 9. He travelled to Hungary to agree on testing the Slovak batch of Sputnik V in a Hungarian laboratory. Whether Slovakia has already sent Sputnik vaccines to Hungary is unclear for now. Krajci's request The State Institute for Drug Control (SUKL) claimed that tests in the laboratory of the Biomedical Centre of the Slovak Academy of Sciences was assigned by former health minister Marek Krajci. SUKL has not seen the contract, because it is still classified. The Sme daily meanwhile looked at the published contract between Hungary and Russia on the purchase of Sputnik V vaccines and found no such condition. President Caputova appreciated that the Sputnik-related agenda is now managed by the Health Ministry. Under new Minister Vladimir Lengvarsky, the Health Ministry is analysing the contract from a legal point of view. The results should be known soon. 15. Apr 2021 at 11:37 | Compiled by Spectator staff Source: Xinhua| 2021-04-15 00:49:44|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close RIGA, April 14 (Xinhua) -- Like most other European Union (EU) members, Latvia started its COVID-19 vaccination campaign at the end of last year, aiming to immunize most of its population by the end of this summer. However, due to various reasons, the vaccination campaign has not been as smooth as expected, which now calls Latvia's chances of achieving herd immunity by August or September into question. So far, Latvia has been using COVID-19 vaccines made by AstraZeneca, Moderna and Pfizer/BioNTech - the three jabs approved by the European regulator for use in the EU. On Tuesday, Latvia received the first shipment of the fourth EU-approved COVID-19 vaccine, made by Johnson & Johnson, but its use was immediately put on hold because of concerns that this vaccine might be the cause of rare cases of blood clots. The main obstacle to Latvia's vaccination drive has been delays in vaccine deliveries, but blunders have also been made by the Baltic country's health authorities. In November 2020, Latvian officials passed up an opportunity to order over 800,000 doses of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine, hoping that the country will be able to rely on vaccine deliveries from AstraZeneca. However, AstraZeneca has failed to fulfil the EU member states' - among them Latvia's -- vaccine orders, and reports of the AstraZeneca jab's potentially life-threatening side effects have badly damaged its popularity. Accordingly, the country briefly suspended the use of the AstraZeneca jab in mid-March, while the EU medicines regulator was reviewing its safety. So far, however, Latvia has not recorded any cases of blood clots, or thromboembolism, following inoculation with the AstraZeneca jab, and Latvian health experts claim that the vaccine has fallen into disrepute quite undeservedly. Meanwhile, health officials started to roll over the failure to procure the necessary amount of other COVID-19 vaccines. In January, Health Minister Ilze Vinkele lost her job and was replaced by Daniels Pavluts, who ordered an inquiry into Latvia's botched vaccine procurement. As a result of this inquiry, Pavluts demoted the Health Ministry's top administrator and opened a disciplinary probe against the head of the State Agency of Medicines. Latvia's vaccine rollout gathered pace, and on April 5, seven mass vaccination centers opened in Riga and several other cities to speed up the process, but COVID-19 vaccines at these centers were only available to groups prioritized for vaccination -- the elderly and people with chronic health conditions. This prompted calls from the public to let everyone who wants the vaccine to get it at the vaccination centers, which on the first days of operation failed to administer all the vaccine doses at their disposal, also because they only offered the AstraZeneca shot. Addressing Latvia's slow vaccine rollout at a government meeting on Tuesday, Prime Minister Krisjanis Karins did not hide his exasperation over the many hindrances that have been holding back the immunization of Latvia's population and called Health Minister Pavluts as the official responsible for the process to task. However, the prime minister also said that he was confident that the Health Ministry was capable of coping with the task of immunizing the population against the virus. "The Health Ministry must cope with this challenge and I am sure that it will," Karins told reporters following the cabinet meeting. As the world is struggling to contain the pandemic, vaccination is underway in an increasing number of countries with already-authorized coronavirus vaccines. Meanwhile, 272 candidate vaccines are still being developed worldwide -- 88 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 April 13. Enditem Click here to read the full article. In July 2020, Netflix canceled production on Turkish series If Only after Turkish authorities refused to grant it a shoot permit on the eve of it going into production. The bone of contention, the original series creator and screenwriter Ece Yorenc told the Financial Times, was the presence in the screenplay of a character who was gay. Rather than capitulate to the sensed demand of Turkish authorities to excise this character, Netflix and Yorenc took the joint decision to cancel the shoot. On Thursday, nine months after the cancelation, Netflix Spain announced a Spanish adaptation of If Only, Si lo hubiera sabido, written by Spains Irma Correa, who has already helped adapt Yorencs Fatmagul as Spanish TV series Alba, produced by Boomerang for Atresmedia. Correa will serve as the Spanish adaptations showrunner, Yorenc as a consultant. Once more produced by Boomerang, the Spanish adaptation of Yorencs original Turkish screenplay for If Only will star Megan Montaner, fast becoming a major star in Spain after playing the lead female roles as a no-nonsense cop in The Hunt. Monteperdido for public broadcaster RTVE and a veterinarian combatting the forces of hell in Alex de la Iglesias 30 Coins, a banner HBO Espana title. In If Only, Montaner takes on the role of Emma, 30, married to Nano for the last 10 years, but unhappy with her relationship and family life and a routine lacking romance and excitement. She realizes that if she could turn back the clock, shed never have married him and decides to file for divorce. On the way to witness a rare lunar eclipse, a supernatural event described as a time error sends her back 10 years to 2008 where her 30 year old mind is dropped in a 20-year-old body, giving her the chance to reflect on who she was and wants to be, knowing what happens over the next decade. A doyen of Turkish TV scriptwriting, Yorenc broke through with 2005s primetime series Fallen Leaves and broke out internationally with 2013s Forbidden Love, hailed as the first Turkish series to be widely reversioned outside Turkey. Forbidden Love, 2012s Fatmagul and 2011-13s Kuzey Guney are rated many the most reformatted titles in Turkish TV history. What was striking about the interview was the joint creative excitement of Ece and Irma and a new sense of nationality emerging in a more globalized world. These are two creators based out of different countries writing from but no longer totally in the countries, contributing to a universal dialog which is developing fast on how women can live their lives better, or at least try to. If Only shows not only the universality of good stories but an alliance between two women creators, said Diego Avalos, Netflix VP, original contents, Spain & Portugal, calling If Only special and unique. He added: Ece, known internationally for great drama series that have left their mark on millions of people in Turkey as the rest of the world, will work with Irma, a screenwriter, playwright and actress multi-prized for her works. On the eve of a Netflix preview of original productions in Spain, Variety talked to Yorenc and Correa about the second chance drama. Could we circle back to the circumstances leading to Netflixs cancellation of your Turkish series If Only. Yorenc: Turkeys Ministry of Culture has the power to cancel a series depending on the image it gives of the country. Although it hadnt used this power before, it applied it to my series though it didnt give any explicit reason. But we know that its because the series has a gay character. Was that decision final? Yorenc: They hoped wed change the screenplay, adapting to the moral norms they expected. But I, along with Netflix didnt agree to making any change to to the original screenplay and we finally decided to cancel the series. But I really want now to focus on the project which is very exciting and giving me a sense of a lot energy. I want to forget the past. Where did the idea come from to make the series in Spain? Yorenc: Netflix.We received a lot of offers from a lot of countries. Netflix Espana showed the greatest interest. Besides, Irma had worked on the adaptation of a prior series of mine, Alba. Spain is different to Turkey. Given that, will the screenplay change? Correa: Its the same story, a Spanish story told in Spain. We will retain its essence because its a universal story: Everybody would like to go back to the past and change some things. Things we dont like or which we were sorry abut having done or got wrong. Our protagonist has the opportunity to journey to the past and make different decisions. Though it has to be seen if these changes work out well for her. Will the gay character gain any more prominence? Will he kiss another man? That would be natural. Yorenc: In the original Turkish version, a man and a women expressed their love in a certain way. Im not talking about any specific scene. But two men could live that love in the same way. Correa: We cant say [whether theres any kissing between gay characters]. All I can say is that we will have diversity in all its senses, and a strong Turkish flavor.. Yorenc: Our story will be set over four seasons Spring, Summer etc. like the characters. All the characters will live four seasons in their lives. What state is the screenplay in? Have you completed any episodes? Correa: Were still working on them with Ece. How are you working together? Yorenc: First of all, Irma read my version. She loved it and decided to do the adaptation. After Irma read the screenplays, we went episode by episode, although Irma understood perfectly the spirit of the screenplay. There were some details moments of humor or cultural aspects which maybe werent totally comprehensible. We focused on these. We have a similar creative spirit, so were very much in synch when working, and weve been working quite intensely. Turkish series have scored huge ratings in Latin America. Is the Spanish adaptation designed to make that impact even larger? Correa: Its a Spanish version, with an Spanish crew, our names, culture, humor, and cities. But, as I said, this is a universal story, and its the story which makes it universal. Its going to be storytelling for the world, not for specific audience, a universal story created for an universal audience. Yorenc: This is cause for celebration. Ive had other screenplays adapted [into other languages]. But having a Turkish screenplay adapted to be made in Spain is a sign of success. Once the shoot is over. I will publish the adapted screenplays in book in Turkish which Ill publish. Sign up for Varietys Newsletter. For the latest news, follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. The $1.9 trillion coronavirus stimulus law included U.S. Sen. Cory Bookers provisions to temporarily increase the federal tax credits for low-income households with or without children. For New Jersey, the provisions benefitted 1.6 million children and 354,000 workers without children, according to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, a progressive research group. Joining other members of the Congressional Black Caucus at the White House for the first time in more than four years, Booker left with President Joe Bidens backing to make those increases permanent. With the presidents leadership, we will make those changes permanent, and in doing so have a transformational impact on Americas children for generations to come, Booker said Wednesday. This is the kind of compassionate governing and commonsense policies we need to help reduce racial inequality and help every American emerge stronger from this pandemic. CORONAVIRUS RESOURCES: Live map tracker | Newsletter | Homepage Biden told the group that the stimulus bill reduced child poverty, and we reduced poverty in Black communities significantly, just by that act alone, and said an overall objective is to make those changes permanent. It was the first visit by caucus members in more than four years, since Donald Trump became president, which Booker noted on Twitter. The Congressional Black Caucus Fams first visit to the White House in four long years. pic.twitter.com/gXcKnX8tXU Cory Booker (@CoryBooker) April 13, 2021 At the meeting, also attended by Vice President Kamala Harris, the first Black elected to that position, and other White House officials, the participants discussed the ongoing criminal trial of former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin for the death of George Floyd, the recent killing of Daunte Wright in another Minnesota municipality, the justice and policing bill named for Floyd sponsored by Booker, and new economic opportunities for minorities. Its about income, he said. Its about being able to earn a living. Its about being able to be in a position where you have economic opportunity. They also discussed some of the elements in his $2 trillion infrastructure proposal, including replacing all lead water pipes, addressing the disproportionate impacts of pollution on minority neighborhoods, building affordable housing, and boosting wages for caregivers, which the White House said were predominantly women of color. Our journalism needs your support. Please subscribe today to NJ.com. Jonathan D. Salant may be reached at jsalant@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him at @JDSalant. Sign up here to get the latest stories on COVID in New Jersey, straight to your inbox. Climate change is affecting the entire South Caucasus region, which includes vast mountain ecosystems and remote coastal areas. The human security implications of climate change are likely to become more pronounced over time, Nika Chitadze. Director of the Center for International Studies, Professor of the International Black Sea University, writes in his article for Italian Institute for International Political Studies. Several recent studies confirm that the average annual air temperature is steadily increasing. For example, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) 2019 Global Climate Summary, the combined land and ocean temperature has increased at an average rate of 0.07C per decade since 1880; however, the average rate of increase since 1981 (0.18C) is more than twice as great. As a result, extreme weather events such as hurricanes and heat waves have intensified over the past decades. Georgia, Amenia and Azerbaijan are prone to a range of hazards such as landslides and floods, all of which are exacerbated by climate change and result in severe infrastructure damage, casualties, and economic losses. National and international measures to fight climate change At the political level, the countries of the South Caucasus are active participants in global climate change policy. All three states are Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and support international efforts to keep the global average temperature rise below 2C a goal set at the Conference of the Parties in Paris in December 2015 within the framework of Paris Agreement. All three countries presented their climate commitments (INDCs) before the UNFCCC, setting specific emission reduction targets and pledging their commitment to implementing adaptation plans. Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia have developed national security strategies. Although none of these states consider climate change to be a clear threat to national security, protection from natural and man-made disasters, as well as the implementation of rational environmental practices, are recognised as important factors in ensuring the safety of the population, and in a broader sense, national security. The Climate Commitments (INDCs) of Armenia and Georgia highlight climate change-related security threats in sectors such as agriculture. Across the region, there are concerns about food security, biodiversity loss and water vulnerability. Several strategies and programs related to poverty, sustainable development, and renewable energy have been implemented, but few of them include measures to adapt to climate change, and in general, concern about climate change remains limited to those directly involved in environmental protection. For example, according to a 2021 Poll conducted by the Office of the National Democratic Institute in Georgia, the majority of Georgians are concerned about economic challenges (72%) and not environmental and other issues. The Georgian government is thus more focused on solving socio-economic problems. When planning other important economic activities in sectors such as energy, healthcare or tourism, despite some achievements in these areas, all three South Caucasus countries lack adequate measures to adapt to climate change. Moreover, climate change is not taken into consideration for important technical and financial measures, such as building standards and insurance schemes, and adaptation planning does not sufficiently consider the impact of climate change on the most vulnerable populations, such as women. None of the South Caucasus countries have adopted climate change legislation to stimulate the implementation of adaptation measures. Disruptions to the hydrological cycle caused by climate change can lead to tensions between upstream and downstream water users if their likelihood of occurring is disregarded in water management. A system of linkages between agriculture, energy, and water is critical, especially in coordinating sector action at the national level and between upstream and downstream countries. Currently, none of these three neighbouring countries has signed agreements on water use with the others, but significant progress has been made in the preparation of bilateral agreements. The current situation is likely to be affected by political events. Georgia has ratified an Association Agreement with the EU, which requires cooperation on a range of sectoral policies, including measures to adapt to climate change. The Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU), of which Armenia is a member, primarily focuses its efforts on the economic integration of member states, providing a framework for common transport, agricultural and energy policies, but not necessarily directly targeting the cooperation aspects of these policies in the field of climate change. The economies of the South Caucasus countries remain fragile and, so far, climate change adaptation activities have been largely supported by external donors. A few measures have been taken at the state level in Azerbaijan, where the government has invested in flood prevention, rehabilitation and reforestation activities, but they are still only a handful of actions. The way ahead The security risks posed by climate change are of national and regional importance. At the local level, ongoing institutional and municipal reforms may provide opportunities for specific climate change adaptation measures to be put in place outside the capitals of the region, but progress is hampered by lack of coordination between central administrations and local municipalities, as well as lack of knowledge and resources to adapt to climate change. Based on the findings of recent research and consultation with national experts to assess areas of special concern for climate change and security, a number of areas were identified where climate change can disrupt socio-economic systems, threaten infrastructure or livelihoods, or compromise security, exacerbating political or social tensions. Environmental problems in the South Caucasus are particularly acute in Georgia. For instance, one of the research exercises carried out by the Parliament of Georgia and partner organisations is a thematic survey on the air quality in Tbilisi. This revealed that despite numerous steps taken by the government, the problem of air pollution in the country remains acute and its damage to health is significant, suggesting the need for the development and coordinated implementation of effective measures. Studies have shown that Georgia ranks 50th in the world in the relative number of deaths attributable to air pollution. According to the data for 2018-2019, the average content of PM2.5 solid particles in Tbilisi exceeds the allowable norm by 15%, while the NOx content exceeds by 33-58%. However, it was revealed that the main cause of air pollution is vehicle emissions, as well as the abundance of older vehicles in the country. At the same time, the steps taken to improve the environment in Georgia are noteworthy. In particular, as a result of the reforms, protected areas were expanded, and the area of protected territory increased by 288,539.5 ha in 2012-2019 and reached 697,250 ha in 2019. The forestry sector was reformed, and a new forest code was adopted. Unprecedented international financial support for Georgia for this important reform was provided by the Green Climate Fund (GCF), which allocated 33 million to the country. To reduce air pollution, fuel quality has been controlled since 2017. A new European system for reducing air pollution from industrial facilities and emission control was developed, and the Parliament of Georgia adopted legislative amendments in two readings. The draft law on "Environmental Responsibility" was drafted in accordance with European requirements and adopted by the Parliament in three readings in March 2021. In general, governments in the South Caucasus, from the local to the regional level, should take immediate action to cope with climate change impacts and their security implications. Some of the proposed areas of activity within environmental policy, including the programmes in the framework of the Environment and Security Initiative, suggest the need to strengthen cross-border cooperation as well as for more consistent and targeted international support. Ending the military conflict between Azerbaijan and Armenia and signing a ceasefire agreement, as well as devising some initiatives for the possible development of economic cooperation between the two countries can lay the foundations for cooperation on environmental protection issues among the three South Caucasus countries in the future. Georgia, which has good relations and close ties with both Armenia and Azerbaijan, has the potential to mediate between the two countries to achieve greater regional environmentalism. For example, Georgia could host a regional forum on environmental issues with the participation of the representatives of governmental and non-governmental sectors of Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia (with the possible involvement of foreign experts) to consider and develop appropriate recommendations to improve the environmental conditions of the South Caucasus. The EU could also play a proactive role, as environmental aspects are among the spheres of cooperation of the EU Eastern Partnership Programme, which includes all the three South Caucasus countries. Washington, April 15 : Former police officer Kim Potter, who fatally shot 20-year-old African-American man Daunte Wright in the US state of Minnesota, will be charged with second-degree manslaughter for the killing, a prosecutor said. On Wednesday, Washington County Attorney Pete Orput said he is filing a second-degree manslaughter charge against Potter, a 48-year-old veteran female police officer who resigned on Tuesday and was subsequently arrested by agents with the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension (BCA), reports Xinhua news agency. The BCA, which is investigating the fatal shooting, said Potter will be booked into the Hennepin County Jail. The second-degree manslaughter charge carries a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison, according to local media reports. Protesters clashed with police for a third day on Tuesday in Brooklyn Center following Wright's killing in a traffic stop in the city on Sunday. The State Patrol said there were more than 60 arrests. A day before stepping down on Tuesday, the city's then police chief Tim Gannon said that Potter mistakenly used her gun instead of her taser in the fatal shooting, which he described as an "accidental discharge". The Hennepin County Medical Examiner said Wright died by a single shot to the chest and ruled the death a homicide. "No conclusions should be made until the investigation is complete," the Minnesota Police and Peace Officers Association said in a statement on Tuesday, calling for protests to be peaceful. Wright's family is not "prepared to say that that was an accident", their attorney Jeffrey Storms told CNN on Tuesday. Brooklyn Center, a city of about 31,000, is just a few miles away from Minneapolis, where the murder trial of former police officer Derek Chauvin over the killing of African-American man George Floyd in May 2020 is underway. "We will fight for justice for this family, just like we're fighting for our brother," Philonise Floyd said on Tuesday, extending his family's condolences to the Wright family. The Worcester City Council decided not to fight a lawsuit brought by city residents of color who alleged that the at-large system for electing school committee members is discriminatory and violates federal law. Mayor Joseph Petty said following the 8-2 vote Tuesday, the city will instead seek approval from the state Legislature to change the school committees electoral process, The Telegram & Gazette reported. A coalition including the Worcester branch of the NAACP sued the city in federal court in February, alleging the use of an at-large system for all seats on the Worcester School Committee dilutes the voting power of minority voters and violates the federal Voting Rights Act and the U.S. Constitution. Despite the fact that more than half of students in Worcester identify as either Hispanic, Latino/Latina or Black, the citys six-member school committee is all white, and historically has been predominantly white, the suit said. The city was not conceding a violation of the Voting Rights Act, but felt that it was in the citys best interest to resolve the matter, Petty said. An attorney for the residents who brought the suit said her clients welcomed the councils decision. On behalf of the plaintiffs, we are very pleased that the City Council has committed to changing the electoral system for school committee to a system that will provide individuals of color in Worcester an equal voice, Rebecca Lecaroz said in a statement. We look forward to working with the city to formalize the agreement in a consent decree that will lead to a new system which will ensure fair representation. ALBANY The New York State Writers Institute is sponsoring the inaugural Albany Film Festival, running April 24 through May 3 and combining multiple online events and programming with two opportunities for in-person attendance. The free festival will explore "the intersection of writing and film," the Writers Institute's executive director, Paul Grondahl, said in a statement announcing the festival on Wednesday. Among the highlights is "Passages," a light show projected on the 195-foot-wide facade of the University at Albany's Science Library. Being held with limited-capacity daily viewings from 8:30 to 11 p.m. Friday, April 30, through Monday, May 3, "the immersive light show will present a narrative of the Capital Regions cultural legacy and the history of major movies filmed on location in the area," according to promotional material. Britain has officially invited South Korea delegates to attend the G7 meeting as a guest at the conference, in Carbis Bay, this year. Hotel workers in Cornwall to get specialist training to ensure a warm welcome for G7 Korean delegates Hotel workers in Cornwall will receive specialist training to ensure South Korean delegates at the G7 conference receive a warm welcome. Hospitality staff will be given guidance on how best to greet attendees as part of a new course, where they will learn about the Korean language, culture and geopolitics. Britain has officially invited South Korea delegates to attend the G7 meeting as a guest at the conference, in Carbis Bay, this year. The online training will be for around ten workers and will take place over five hours, during three sessions in April and May run by Dr Sun Young Yang, from the University of Exeter. It will ensure hotel workers use the most polite language, and give them an awareness of how South Korea is different to other Asian countries. The training is being coordinated by Truro and Penwith College through a new partnership with the University of Exeters Language Centre and the Colleges ESF part-funded Hospitality Table Cornwall (HTC), Employer Led Skills and RISE projects. K pop and popular films have led to growing interest in Korean culture in the UK, but the language can be hard to learn because of its tricky grammatical structure and different word order with the verb or adjective coming at the end of the sentence. Dr Yang said: I hope the training will ensure a warm welcome for delegates from South Korea. Im going to start by working with the staff to find out what theyd like to know. It would be lovely if by the end they were able to greet people and say a few simple phrases in Korean. There are lots of different ways to say hello and thank you in Korean, but if you end up using a mobile phone to translate you might not end up using the most polite phrase. People in Korea know about, and are impressed by, British history, democracy and the beautiful landscape. Recently theyve been receiving the coronavirus vaccine developed in Oxford. I think people in Britain know about Korea through the war, and of course the association with North Korea, which is a completely separate country. Coronavirus has meant there is interest in the effective measures in Korea to tackle the spread of the virus. I hope to show the importance of kindness and hospitality in Korean culture, and how friendly the country is. Dr Yang was born in Busan, Koreas second city, but grew up in Seoul. She is an expert in Japanese history and has taught Korean in the UK, after she moved here when she met her husband. Language and culture specialists from the College and the University of Exeter have been working with a focus group of hospitality businesses and G7 hosts to design five new courses that are tailored to the needs of those welcoming world leaders and their teams in June. There will also be courses for hospitality workers who will be supporting delegates from Italy, Germany, Japan and France. The College has matched funding provided by the European Social Fund to offer businesses the free training, highlighting its support for a sector that has endured a torrid 12-months in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic. Andy Stittle, Director of Partnerships at the College commented: The College is pleased to fully-fund this training, with the help of the European Social Fund to enhance its support to Cornwalls Hospitality and Tourism sector. We are grateful for the input of our colleagues at the University of Exeter and our employer partners and are confident this training will put businesses in the strongest possible position to take advantage of this unique influx of international guests. Im sure the training will also inspire participants to explore language learning further, while helping them feel connected to what is a once-in-a-generation event for Cornwall. The College has been recruiting for the courses over the last few weeks, with the training available to any business hosting delegates for the G7 summit. Booking are now closed, however, if you have any questions or queries, please contact the College on 01872 305500 or hospitalitytablecornwall@truro-pewith.ac.uk. Teton County Reporter Previously the Scene editor, Billy Arnold made the switch to the county beat where he's interested in exploring Teton County as a model for the rest of the West. When he can, he still writes about art, music and whatever else suits his fancy. Samurai Incubate, a Tokyo-based venture capital firm, announced today it has closed its "Samurai Africa 2nd General Partnership" fund, totalling 2.026 billion yen (~$18.6 million). According to the firm, the fund was oversubscribed as it targeted 2 billion (~$18.4 million) and a total of 54 investors joined as LPs. One notable LP is the Toyota Tsusho Corporation, which has a diverse network across the continent. The firm founded Mobility 54, a corporate venture capital (CVC) looking to invest $45 million into African mobility, logistics, and fintech startups. Kentaro Sakakibara founded Samurai Incubate, and in 2018, the firm began investing in Africa by establishing a subsidiary called Leapfrog Ventures. From August 2018, Samurai Incubate invested $2.5 million in 20 African startups via the newly established firm. Then in June 2019, renamed itself Samurai Incubate Africa. "Throughout our journey, we have focused on refining and optimizing our operating approach to maximize our value proposition to founders. However, we might not always have been perfect. We believe that the value we bring should go beyond capital and access to Japanese investors and corporations," the firm said in a statement. A sector-agnostic fund, Samurai Incubate Africa has already invested in 26 companies. The six from this second fund include Eden Life, a tech-enabled home service startup; online loan marketplace Evolve Credit; energy startup Shyft Power Solutions; microfinance services for car lenders FMG; freight forwarding company Oneport; and online grocery platform Pricepally. Most of Samurai's companies are from three African countries -- Kenya, Nigeria, and South Africa. However, that will change going forward. According to Rena Yoneyama, the managing partner at the firm, Samurai Incubate Africa is joining Egypt to the list of countries it will target. africa vc market Image Credits: Bryce Durbin/TechCrunch Since 2018, Egypt has been witnessing outstanding ecosystem growth and is producing talent, startups and indigenous investors at a breathtaking pace. For Samurai Incubate Africa, it's only fair to tap into this growth because Egypt's inclusion ensures the firm has startups in the Big Four -- the continent's top startup ecosystems. Story continues "Egyptian startup ecosystem and its economy is rapidly expanding and we got to know that there are many talented founders and great investors in the country as well," Yoneyama said to TechCrunch. "We already decided to make one investment into an Egyptian startup, and we know we'll never regret it." When Samurai first announced this fund back in January 2020, its ticket size was between $50,000 to $500,000. For pre-seed to seed rounds, startups got $200,000 or less. And for pre-Series A and Series A rounds, not more than $500,000. But upon completing the fund, Samurai Incubate is extending the maximum amount of investment to $800,000. "We would like to support our portfolio companies' pre-series A and series A raises as an existing investor. To do so, we thought it would be better to increase the ticket size considering the recent round size and valuation of companies," Yoneyama said of the ticket size increase. Although sector-agnostic, the firm is particular about companies in fintech, insurtech, logistics, healthtech, consumer and commerce, energy, agritech, mobility and entertainment. The Japanese VC plans to invest in 30 to 40 new companies at the pre-seed and seed stage as well as follow-up pre-Series A and Series A investments in 7 to 10 existing portfolio companies. Samurai Incubate is part of the growing list of Japanese VC firms like Kepple Africa and Uncovered Fund targeting African startups. JD Vance, the Hillbilly Elegy author, venture capitalist and potential Ohio GOP Senate candidate, has resigned from the board a company that uses green technology to mass-produce food in Appalachia just days after posting a series of controversial tweets. The 36-year-old, who was an early investor in AppHarvest, is no longer serving on the mega-greenhouse company's board, the company announced on Wednesday. It wasn't immediately clear if Vance, who is being floated in Ohio as a Republican candidate for the Senate, resigned on his own accord or if he was ousted. The news comes just days after Vance voiced his opposition to big corporations that are protesting Republican efforts in multiple states to change voting laws. He said in a recent Twitter post that states should 'raise their taxes and do whatever else is necessary to fight these goons. 'We can have an American Republic or a global oligarchy, and it's time for choosing.' JD Vance, who was an early investor in AppHarvest, is no longer serving on the mega-greenhouse company's board, the company announced on Wednesday In another tweet, Vance said: 'At this very moment there are companies (big and small) paying good wages to American workers, investing in their communities, and making it easier for American families. Cut their taxes. No more subsidies to the anti-American business class.' He has also praised Fox News host Tucker Carlson in the last week, calling him 'the only powerful figure who consistently challenges elite dogma - on both cultural and economic questions'. AppHarvest, a mega-greenhouse company that produced its first tomatoes this year at a 300-employee facility in Morehead, Kentucky, would not confirm why Vance left the board. A company spokesman told The Herald-Leader that Vance had let them know he wanted to leave the board and handed in his resignation. 'J.D. Vance let us know that he wanted to exit the board recently and gave us his resignation, which we announced once it was final,' the spokesman said. When asked about Vance's recent online commentary, the spokesman said 'it would not be appropriate for me to discuss his motivation' for leaving the board. The news comes just days after Vance voiced his opposition to big corporations that are protesting Republican efforts in multiple states to change voting laws A source told Axios that Vance had informed AppHarvest of his intentions to leave the board ahead of a board meeting during the week of March 22. Vance had told his fellow board members that he was likely going to run for the Senate and didn't want the company to become politicized, the source said. The AppHarvest board of directors also includes TV star and businesswoman Martha Stewart. Vance, who lives in Cincinnati with his wife and children, has not officially announced a run for the US Senate. A super PAC supporting the Hillbilly Elegy author and venture capitalist has raised at least $10 million thanks to donations from billionaire PayPal co-founder Peter Thiel and hedge fund manager Robert Mercer's family. The PAC, Protect Ohio Values, is pushing heavily to recruit Vance. Vance rose to prominence with his 2016 memoir Hillbilly Elegy about poverty in the US Midwest and his roots in Appalachian Kentucky. His memoir was turned into a Netflix film produced by Ron Howard late last year starring Glenn Close and Amy Adams. Close received an Oscar nomination for supporting actress for her role in the film. Vance, who lives in Cincinnati with his wife and children, has not officially announced a run for the US Senate AppHarvest, a mega-greenhouse company that produced its first tomatoes this year at a 300-employee facility in Morehead, Kentucky, would not confirm why Vance left the board Vance considered running against Ohio Democratic Sen. Sherrod Brown back in 2018 but ultimately declined. Vance rose to prominence with his 2016 memoir Hillbilly Elegy about poverty in the Midwest and his roots in Appalachian Kentucky At the time, Vance said he was busy with investment work, a nonprofit he started to help address Ohio's opioid crisis and a young family. 'Count me out of politics for now,' Vance said back then. Vance's memoir, released in 2016, became an election-year explainer to liberal America about the white underclass that fueled President Trump's rise. It quickly made the New York Times' best sellers list later that year. Vance, who is a former US Marine who served in Iraq and studied at Yale Law School, quickly became a popular talk show guest for his insights into Trump's white working-class support. His memoir details his roots in Appalachian Kentucky and how they related to growing up in Middletown, Ohio. His family were originally hillbillies from the poor and remote Appalachian Mountains that run from Pennsylvania to Alabama. He details in his memoir growing up with violent, alcoholic grandparents, a heroin addicted mother and an absent father. Ontario Racing is continuing to communicate with the Ontario Government in regards to vaccinations for horsepeople, the need for the safe return of live racing, and the industrys ongoing commitment to the highest standards of health and safety throughout the pandemic. Over the past 13 months, Ontario Racing, the voice of the Ontario horse racing industry, has been in constant contact with various elected officials, providing updates and information on how the industry has been affected by COVID-19, and the measures it has taken to conduct all aspects of racing in the safest manner. Recently, Ontario Racing announced that Standardbred horsepeople have the opportunity to receive equine benefit payments (for cancelled April race dates) as a result of the suspension of live racing in the province due to the COVID-19 pandemic, through certain purse funds that remain available under the Funding Agreement with Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corporation (OLG). It is OR's expectation that equine benefit funds will continue to be distributed through the lockdown period. Ontario Racing is also actively working with industry partners, and others, in an effort to determine the potential for equine-related support payments for Ontario Thoroughbred horsepeople. With Ajax Downs opening day of racing scheduled for May 12, preliminary discussions with Quarter Horse representatives will take place in the near future, should the current lockdown measures be extended. Ontario Racing will provide horsepeople with updates regarding vaccinations, the resumption of live racing, and any other important details, as they become available. It has been an extremely difficult past 13-plus months for the many hardworking horsepeople in our industry whose livelihoods have been severely impacted by the pandemic, said John Hayes, Chair, Ontario Racing. We remain dedicated to ensuring the best interests of horsepeople are both heard and understood. (Ontario Racing) The attorney for the families of George Floyd and Daunte Wright declared Thursday that while the manslaughter charges against former Brooklyn Center police officer Kim Potter marked progress for racial justice and police accountability, it's only a small step. Ben Crump, the attorney who represents the family of the 20-year-old man shot and killed by Potter during a traffic stop Sunday afternoon, stood alongside a dozen members of the Wright family at New Salem Missionary Baptist Church in north Minneapolis shortly before the family went to the funeral home to view Wright's body for the first time. "It's a long journey to justice," Crump said. "We have to remember, not so long ago they weren't charging any police officer for killing a Black person. So we're making progress in America. Are we at a point where we can say it's equality? Oh, we're a long way from that. But we're making progress." When Crump was asked whether he believed Potter intentionally shot Wright with her gun despite yelling "Taser!," he demurred. But he spoke of several videos he'd posted on his Instagram account of young white men assaulting police and not getting shot. A young Black man in the same situations would have been treated far less delicately, Crump said. "I don't know what's in her heart," Crump said of Potter. "What I do know is she used excessive force. Because he didn't really need to be Tased. You look at those videos of those white young men challenging, attacking, assaulting ... police. They did not shoot them. They did not use Tasers on them. ... In some of the videos, the police actually retreat. They run from the white men." "So why is it, in every instance, the police engage in the most excessive force with Black people?" he continued. "When they overpolice us, when they use the most force, it has deadly consequences for us and our children." Story continues Wright's attorneys as well as his family emphasized their point that race is the clear difference. They noted that former Minneapolis police officer Mohamed Noor was a Black officer who shot a white woman, and he was convicted of 3rd degree murder. But Potter, a white officer who shot a Black man, was charged with manslaughter, a lesser charge. And they disputed whether Wright's shooting was really a mistake, as Brooklyn Center police have characterized it. "What did happen was an intentional, deliberate act of force that began with an intentional, pretextual stop and ended with the intentional pulling of the trigger," said Jeff Storms, another of the Wright family's attorneys. Naisha Wright, Daunte Wright's aunt, held up two photographs: One of a black Glock 17 pistol, the other of a yellow Taser X26P. "Y'all see the difference!" Wright said. "Justice? What is justice? Will we get to see Daunte's smile? We don't get to see that. The highest accountability? I know the highest is going to be judged by God. But can we get a conviction? Can we get something?" Reid Forgrave 612-673-4647 on Thursday reported 61,695 fresh coronavirus cases, taking the tally to 36,39,855, while 349 new fatalities pushed the toll to 59,153, the state health department said The COVID-19 case tally is the second highest single-day count so far after 63,294 infections were reported in the state on April 11. Also, 53,335 patients were discharged during the day, taking the number of recovered cases to 29,59,056, the department said. is now left with 6,20,060 active cases, the department said in a release. Mumbai recorded 8,209 new cases and 50 fatalities, taking the tally to 5,53,404 and the toll to 12,197 With 2,34,452 new tests, the number of samples examined so far in rose to 2,30,36,652, the department added. Currently, 35,87,478 people are in home quarantine, while 27,273 people are in institutional quarantine in the state. Maharashtra's COVID-19 recovery rate currently stood at 81.3 per cent, while the fatality rate was 1.63 per cent, the department said. The Mumbai division, including Mumbai city and its satellite towns, recorded 16,906 cases and 82 deaths during the day, taking the count of cases to 11,50,776 and the fatalities to 21,416. Mumbai's neighbouring civic bodies, which are part of the division - Thane city, Navi Mumbai, Kalyan Dombivli - and also Thane district - reported COVID-19 cases in four digits The Nashik division reported 9,582 cases, including 3,235 in Nashik city. The Pune division saw 12,169 fresh infections, including 5,469 in Pune city. Out of 88 new deaths recorded in the division, Pune city and Satara reported 42 and 23, respectively, the department said. The Kolhapur division added 2,019 new cases, the Aurangabad division 3,334, the Latur division 4,561 and the Akola division 2,093. The Nagpur division registered 11,031 cases, including 4,282 in Nagpur city, while Chandrapur district added 1,029 infections. Maharashtra's coronavirus figures are: Positive cases 36,39,855, new cases 61,695, death 59,153, recoveries 29,59,056, active 6,20,060, people tested so far 2,30,36,652. (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.) US Secretary of State Antony Blinken vowed Thursday that the United States will have a lasting partnership with Afghanistan even after it withdraws all forces from the country before this year's 20th anniversary of the September 11 attacks. The unconditional withdrawal -- four months later than a deadline agreed with the Taliban last year -- comes despite a deadlock in peace talks between the insurgents and the Afghan government and threatens to leave a power vacuum that could plunge the country deeper into violence. Blinken, in an unannounced visit, met Afghan President Ashraf Ghani as well as senior US officials in Kabul and briefed them on Biden's announcement Wednesday that he was ending "the forever war", which began in response to the 2001 September 11 attacks. "I wanted to demonstrate with my visit the ongoing commitment of the United States to the Islamic Republic and the people of Afghanistan," Blinken said after meeting Ghani. "The partnership is changing, but the partnership is enduring." In a separate meeting with Abdullah Abdullah, who is leading the Afghan government side of the peace process, Blinken said it was the start of "a new chapter that we're writing together". The Pentagon has around 2,500 troops in Afghanistan from a high of over 100,000. Thousands more serve as part of a 9,600-strong NATO force, which will withdraw at the same time. - Pullout consternation - Prior to meeting Ghani, Blinken visited the US embassy in Kabul and told an audience made up mostly of soldiers: "What you and your predecessors did over the last 20 years is really extraordinary." The US pullout has caused consternation in Afghanistan, where citizens live in fear of daily bombings and targeted assassinations by an emboldened Taliban. "My views are pessimistic," said Afghan lawmaker Naheed Farid, waiting to meet Blinken at the embassy. "It could cost us losing everything we worked and fought together for in the past 20 years and could risk overall security in Afghanistan," Metra Mehran, a Kabul-based women's rights activist told AFP. Story continues For the US, however, after 20 years and more than 2,400 deaths, enough is enough. "We cannot continue the cycle of extending or expanding our military presence in Afghanistan hoping to create the ideal conditions for our withdrawal, expecting a different result," Biden said on Wednesday. The delayed withdrawal -- even by just over four months -- has angered the Taliban, who have threatened to resume hostilities against US forces. "It in principle opens the way for the Mujahideen of Islamic Emirate to take every necessary countermeasure," the Taliban said in a statement released minutes after Blinken's arrival. - Fighting continues unabated- The US military has not engaged in direct combat with the insurgents since last year's agreement, but it provides vital air support to Afghan forces engaged in daily warfare. After a phone call with Biden Wednesday, President Ghani said Afghan forces are "fully capable" of controlling the country. Fighting continues unabated on the ground despite months of talks in Qatar between the Taliban and Afghan government negotiators. Turkey announced this week that it would host a separate international peace conference on Afghanistan from April 24, but the Taliban have said they will not attend. The US wants the conference to get the Afghan government and Taliban to agree to some form of unity interim administration and map a future for the country by consensus. Ghani is seeking a brokered ceasefire followed by elections, while the Taliban -- without being specific -- want Afghanistan to become an Emirate again, ruled under Islamic law by religious elders. jds/fox/rbu A teacher aide has been arrested for sending threatening messages that caused the lockdown at Clark Middle School in January, according to Laredo police. Irma Yvette Granger, 29, was served with arrest warrants that charged her with five counts of terroristic threat impair public service, a third-degree felony that carries a punishment of up to 10 years in prison and a possible $10,000 fine. Webb County Jail records show she is out on bond. The United Independent School District released a statement regarding the arrest: Earlier this year, Clark Middle School received threats about potential violent acts through texts. The school was placed on immediate lockdown, and parents were informed. A thorough investigation by United ISD Police and the Laredo Police Department has confirmed that the perpetrator of the threats was a United ISD employee. The district will take appropriate personnel action and will make the recommendation that this individual be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. The safety of all district students and staff is our highest priority. We urge our UISD family to report any suspicious activity to UISD police immediately to help maintain the health and safety of all students and staff. The case unfolded when officers responded to a terroristic threat report at about 9:15 a.m. Jan. 7 at Clark Middle School on West Hillside Road. The principal reported that she had received a threat via her personal cellphone. She also reported a second threatening text that stated that some people would have a shootout at the school, according to court documents. Detectives responded to Clark Middle to meet with the principal. She stated she had received a text the night before and another in the morning while she was with a UISD officer. Police said the texts made threats of shooting and killing everyone in the school. The threats came from two different numbers. School officials placed Clark Middle on lockdown. Students had their phones searched and checked, according to court documents. Threats Court documents stated the first message was sent at about 9:24 p.m. Jan. 6. It read, I will destroy Clark middle tomorrow! Shoot every stupid individual in that school! Fire it up just how I know! Next time tell your teachers to treat me better! The principal asked who the sender was but she did not get a reply. A second message was sent at about 9:47 a.m. Jan. 7 that read, Get ready for your Clark middle teachers to get shooted we have arrived and you think your smart but your not get ready for the party b---- and your polices are so stupid they will find us but after everybody is dead! Ill start slowly! A third message sent on Jan. 7 read, This is not over b---- we are still hiding and we will shoot one way or another right now clark middle teachers and everyone will pay your about to hear some gun shots you all will pay, states the affidavit. A fourth message sent at about 1:52 p.m. Jan. 8 stated, Your not smart I will destroy you all anytime now or next week if I have to put a bomb to kill everyone I will and you will not know when it will explode iam smarter that you officers f--- everyone We will be watching until we are done and over with all of you. A fifth message sent at about 3:09 p.m. Jan. 15 read, Your so stupid every student and teacher at Clark middle will get shooted one by one and this is not a threat anymore I will take action and kill you all we are watching, states the affidavit. Dispatch locates IP address Dispatch was able to locate the IP address that originally created the Pinger app, according to court documents. On Jan. 27, a detective submitted a subpoena requesting the subscriber information for the Spectrum IP address 70.113.200.3. The return showed a subscriber name of Granger with an address in the 4000 block of Aidin Street. Authorities then discovered that Granger was a teacher aide at Clark Middle who had been hired in November. On Feb. 17, detectives met with Granger. She stated she was a teacher aide hired in November and that she recalled the threats at the school. Granger stated she was at school when the first threat was made but then missed the next day of school. Ms. Granger stated she recalled the polices (police) at the school. Ms. Granger called the police polices multiple times, which is how police is spelled in one of the messages received (by the principal), states the affidavit. Granger added she had just received the principals number the previous days and did not have it in the past. Granger further added that she heard of the Pinger app because her sister had used it in the past to play pranks on her ex-boyfriend, states the affidavit. Granger initially denied having Pinger but then stated that she had it before. Granger provided a signed consent to search for her cellphone. Soon after, she allegedly called detectives to withdraw consent. Authorities then obtained a search warrant for her cellphone. When detectives served the search warrant, Granger explained that she missed school on Jan. 6 because she filed a burglary of a vehicle report. She went to school the next day and learned about the threats. Possibly hacked Granger decided to miss school on Jan. 8 due to fear from the threats. She stated she felt the principal was bothered because she missed school. She stated that an attorney friend of hers told her she would be accused of the threats because she had Pinger in the past, according to court documents. Forensic data extraction from Grangers cellphone revealed she was using the words polices and shooted, which are both words used in the threats the principal received. Ms. Granger also expresses that she is unable to take days off multiple times in these messages and mentions she wants to make more days off but needs an excuse. Ms. Granger also had messages dated on Nov. 12, 2020, in which she requested (the principals) personal cellphone number from her co-worker and asks to make sure it is her personal cellphone number after receiving it, states the affidavit. On March 25, Granger told police that she never had Pinger on her current phone and was possibly being hacked, according to court documents. The life of Hollywood icon Audrey Hepburn will be heading to the small screen with a new TV series being developed about her life. The Good Wife writer-producer Jacqueline Hoyt has come aboard to write the drama series, according to a new report from Variety. The show will be a joint production between the Italian production company Wildside and Fremantle, which is coming off hits like The Young Pope. New show: The life of Hollywood icon Audrey Hepburn will be heading to the small screen with a new TV series being developed about her life The series will be based on a treatment written by Hepburn's son, Luca Dotti, and Italian journalist and writer Luigi Spinola. Hepburn was married to Dotti's father, Italian psychiatrist Andrea Dotti, who she was married to from 1969 to 1982. The actress was one of the most beloved and recognized faces of the 20th Century, starring in iconic films such as Sabrina, Roman Holiday, Breakfast at Tiffanys and My Fair Lady. Beloved: The actress was one of the most beloved and recognized faces of the 20th Century, starring in iconic films such as Sabrina, Roman Holiday, Breakfast at Tiffanys and My Fair Lady She won an Oscar for her performance in Roman Holiday, and was nominated for four more, while also receiving the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award in 1993, just after she passed away at 63 years of age after battling cancer. The series will be the first in-depth look at her life in a high-end TV series which will certainly have global appeal. Both Dotti and Spinola previously wrote the 2015 bestseller Audrey at Home, described as, 'a part-biography, part-cookbook combining anecdotes, excerpts from Hepburns correspondence, her recipes and unpublished family photographs.' Oscar winner: She won an Oscar for her performance in Roman Holiday, and was nominated for four more, while also receiving the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award in 1993, just after she passed away at 63 years of age after battling cancer A statement from Wildside added, 'Luca and Luigi explored the singularity of Audreys real self,' adding, 'the muse, the mother and the later humanitarian all closely relate to a girl that never stopped to be amazed by the gift of life.' The writers delved even deeper into their research for the series, particularly with the actress' 'formative years' which the show will explore. The show will be executive produced by Wildside CEO Mario Gianani and Lorenzo Gangarossa with Ludovica Damiani, who originated and shepherded the project. Formative: The writers delved even deeper into their research for the series, particularly with the actress' 'formative years' which the show will explore Luca Dotti and Luigi Spinola will also serve as executive producers along with their writing duties. 'For Audrey our goal is once again to produce a show that is born locally to deliver globally,' Fremantle COO Andrea Scrosati said in a statement. 'The creative team assembled by Wildside and the IP are perfectly positioned to make this happen,' he added. Press Release 15 April 2021 COVID-19 sparks a dramatic 48.8% collapse in the sector's contribution to GDP 193,000 jobs lost, while many more remain protected by job retention scheme However, the return of international travel this year could see GDP contribution rise sharply and jobs return WTTC thanks the government for its commitment to the private sector in its efforts to save Travel & Tourism Advertisements London, UK - The World Travel & Tourism Council's annual Economic Impact Report (EIR) today reveals the dramatic impact COVID-19 had on France's Travel & Tourism sector, wiping out 103 billion from the nation's economy. The annual EIR from the World Travel & Tourism Council (WTTC), which represents the global Travel & Tourism private sector, shows the sector's contribution to GDP dropped a staggering 48.8%. Following three consecutive years in which the Travel & Tourism sector's growth outpaced that of the overall economy, its impact on the nation's GDP fell from 211 billion (8.5%) in 2019, to 108 billion (4.7%), just 12 months later, in 2020. The year of damaging travel restrictions which brought much of international travel to a grinding halt, resulted in the loss of 193,000 Travel & Tourism jobs across the country. WTTC believes the true picture could be significantly worse, if not for the government's job retention scheme which offered a lifeline to thousands of businesses and workers. However, the scheme is hiding the real extent of the losses and the terrible social impact they could bring. These job losses were felt across the entire Travel & Tourism ecosystem in the country, with SMEs, which make up eight out of 10 of all global businesses in the sector, particularly affected. Furthermore, as one of the world's most diverse sectors, the impact on women, youth and minorities was significant. The number of those employed in the French Travel & Tourism sector fell from nearly 2.7 million in 2019, to 2.5 million in 2020 - a drop of 7.2%. However, due to the government's robust job retention scheme, this figure was significantly lower than the global average fall of 18.5%. The report also revealed domestic visitor spending declined by 49.8%, and while international spending fared even worse due to more stringent travel restrictions, falling by-52.9%, this was once again significantly better than the global average decline of almost -70%. Gloria Guevara, President & CEO WTTC, said: "The loss of 193,000 Travel & Tourism jobs in France has had a terrible socio-economic impact, leaving huge numbers of people fearing for their future. "However, the situation could have been far worse if it were not for the government's job retention scheme, which is one of the best in Europe, and one that saved thousands of jobs and livelihoods under threat and helped to halt the total collapse of the Travel & Tourism sector." "We must applaud President Macron for his incredible efforts as there are now real grounds for optimism with the country's vaccine rollout recently hitting its 10 million inoculations target ahead of schedule. WTTC and its members would also like to thank Minister of State for Tourism Lemoyne for his commitment to the private sector in its efforts to save Travel & Tourism." "WTTC believes that if restrictions on travel, especially from countries outside of the EU, are relaxed before the busy summer season, alongside a clear roadmap for increased mobility and a comprehensive testing on departure scheme in place, the 193,000 jobs lost in France could return next year." "Another year of terrible losses can be avoided if the government supports the swift resumption of international travel, which will be vital to powering the turnaround of the French economy." "Our research shows that if mobility and international travel resume by June this year, the sector's contribution to global GDP could rise sharply in 2021, by 48.5%, year-on-year." As it will take a significant amount of time to vaccinate the global population, particularly those in less advanced countries, or in different age groups, WTTC strongly believes that we should not discriminate against those who wish to travel but have not been vaccinated. WTTC says the key to unlocking safe international travel can be achieved through a clear and science-based framework to including rapid testing before departure, as well as enhanced health and hygiene protocols, including mandatory mask wearing. WTTC also supports the introduction of a health pass such as the European Commission's Digital Green Certificate, which would further enable safe international travel. These measures will be the foundation to build the recovery of the many millions of jobs lost due to the pandemic. It would also reduce the terrible social implications these losses have had on communities reliant on Travel & Tourism and upon ordinary people who have been isolated by COVID-19 restrictions. Credit: Pixabay/CC0 Public Domain Africa is "in a bind" over coronavirus vaccines, as some countries could run out without knowing when more doses will be available, the continent's disease control body said Thursday. Health officials hope to vaccinate at least 20 percent of the continent's more than one billion people by the end of the year. But many African countries are depending on AstraZeneca jabs produced in India and allocated under the Covax scheme, which aims to provide equitable access around the world and particularly in poorer countries. India announced last month it was putting the brakes on vaccine exports as it battled a new wave of infections and a faltering inoculation drive at home. "We are in a bind as a continent," Dr. John Nkengasong, director of the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC), told a press conference Thursday. "Access to vaccines has been limited for us as a continent and it's affecting the way in which we roll out our vaccination programme." He highlighted the case of Ghana, which he said had already administered "70 to 80 percent" of its current supply of shots, most of which came via Covax. "Even if Ghana had the money it would not know where to go get the vaccine," Nkengasong said, noting that AstraZeneca is a two-dose vaccine. "We cannot predict when the second doses will come." The African Union (AU) is also trying to secure shots bilaterally, outside the Covax scheme. Johnson & Johnson announced last month it would make up to 400 million doses of its own single-shot vaccine available to Africa, though the first shipments were not expected to arrive until the third quarter of 2021. South Africa is the only country to have acquired J&J shots of its own, but this week it suspended their rollout after US health authorities recommended a pause over blood clot fears. No blood clots linked to J&J have been reported in South Africa, Nkengasong said. The Africa CDC had also at one point been in talks to acquire AstraZeneca shots bilaterally from the Serum Institute of India, but Nkengasong said last week it had abandoned that effort to avoid replicating the work of Covax. He stressed Thursday, though, that he still sees the shot as central to Africa's vaccination strategy, despite concerns that it too might be linked to rare blood clots. "If they have vaccines at the Serum Institute today we'll be happy to get them," he said. As of Monday the AU's 55 member states had acquired 34.6 million vaccine doses and administered 13.9 million, although 8.6 million of those were in Morocco alone, Nkengasong said. Explore further Follow the latest news on the coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak 2021 AFP The New Jersey Supreme Court on Tuesday ordered a construction company to reimburse a workers compensation claimant for marijuana that was prescribed to relieve his back pain caused by a work injury. The high court rejected M&K Constructions argument that if it paid for Vincent Hagers marijuana it could be subject to criminal liability under federal law. The 7-0 decision, written by Justice Lee A. Solomon, says M&K fails to show and we strain to find how its compliance with the order exhibits a specific intent to aid-and-abet Hagers marijuana possession. The decision aligns New Jerseys workers compensation medical marijuana policy with positions taken by the supreme courts of New Mexico and New Hampshire and an appellate court in New York. The high courts in Maine and Massachusetts, on the other hand, ruled that insurers and employers have no duty to reimburse claimants for marijuana use. Solomon devoted a large portion of his opinion to an analysis of the Controlled Substances Act and Congress decision in each of the seven past fiscal years to bar the Department of Justice from prosecuting marijuana users and sellers who complied with state laws. The federal law lists marijuana as a Schedule I drug the governments strictest classification of controlled substances. No valid medical use is recognized, meaning marijuana cannot be prescribed. But according to the opinion, in the past decade the US Justice Department deprioritized prosecution for marijuana use in a series of instructions to US attorneys. While attorney generals during the Trump administration signaled they may renew enforcement, Congress tied their hands. Every federal appropriations act dating back to 2015 contained riders that prohibited the Justice Department from spending appropriated funds on prosecutions for marijuana activities that complied with state law, the opinion says. During oral arguments, attorney Matthew Gitterman said despite those apparent conflicts, employers cant pick and choose which laws to obey. Whether the payment is direct or indirect, the payment is still for marijuana, he said. Its knowingly for marijuana. Its a crime. Hager countered that M&K doesnt face any credible theft of criminal prosecution and asserted that employers in New Mexico were not charged after the high court there upheld orders requiring employers to reimburse injured workers for medical marijuana. The American Property and Casualty Insurance Association filed an amicus brief supporting M&Ks position. The National Organization for Reform of Marijuana Laws and two state marijuana advocacy organizations filed briefs supporting Hager. Hager hurt his back while toting a load of cement in a wheelbarrow while working as a laborer for M&K in 2001. He underwent surgery but continued to suffer pain that was treated with opioids for years. In 2016, he enrolled in New Jerseys medical marijuana program. Dr. Joseph Liota prescribed marijuana to wean Hager off of opioids. The doctor later increased the prescription to two ounces per month the maximum amount allowed costing $600 per month. M&K contended that Hager was no longer injured and no longer needed medications. Nevertheless, a workers compensation court found Hager was permanently disabled with a 65% disability rating 50% because of complications after back surgery and 15% attributable to his marijuana use. The court also ordered M&K to continue paying for Hagers medical care, including reimbursement for marijuana. M&K appealed but the Appellate Division affirmed the award. M&K argued that it should be treated as a health insurer, which the New Jersey Compassionate Use Act specifically exempts from any mandate to reimburse patients for marijuana use. The Supreme Court said state statutes clearly state that the term health insurance does not include medical care provided through workers compensation law. The court also rejected M&Ks argument that marijuana is not a reasonable and necessary medical treatment. Competent medical evidence was submitted to justify the request and the state legislature itself recognized marijuanas ability to relieve pain when it adopted the Compassionate Use Act, the opinion says. Finally, the Supreme Court was not persuaded by M&Ks argument that the Compassionate Use Act was pre-empted by federal law. It said Congress enactment of legislation barring prosecutions weakens that argument. M&Ks position that it faces aiding-and-abetting liability because it will reimburse Hager while knowing what the funds will be used for does not persuade us that it satisfies the specific intent requirement when the facts so clearly indicate that it will be doing so against its will and at the behest of this court, the opinion says. This article first was published in Insurance Journals sister publication, Claims Journal. Topics Workers' Compensation Cannabis New Jersey Amazing Overcomers: Triumphing to New Heights and Better Tomorrows: a firsthand account of the power of determination. Amazing Overcomers: Triumphing to New Heights and Better Tomorrows is the creation of published author, Brenda Stevens, a proud single mother of two and college graduate. Brenda shares, Amazing Overcomers are individuals that tried to follow the blueprint laid out by society but end up with heartbreak and pain in the process. They seek validation from others to determine their self-worth. They long for a sense of belonging and/or love. Published by Christian Faith Publishing, Brenda Stevens new book examines the gender roles within a traditional male and female dynamic and how modern men and women have permitted the breakdown of a traditional family unit. With firsthand experience, Brenda provides an honest voice to the issues faced by many today as they seek validation or love from unhealthy relationships. Ms. Stevens encourages her readers to work towards healthy relationships and provides examples of both good and poor choices that can be made. View a synopsis of Amazing Overcomers: Triumphing to New Heights and Better Tomorrows on YouTube. Consumers can purchase Amazing Overcomers: Triumphing to New Heights and Better Tomorrows at traditional brick & mortar bookstores, or online at Amazon.com, Apple iTunes store, or Barnes and Noble. For additional information or inquiries about Amazing Overcomers: Triumphing to New Heights and Better Tomorrows, contact the Christian Faith Publishing media department at 866-554-0919. The nomination period for the eighth edition of the .eu Web Awards is now open and will run until 5 August 2021 BRUSSELS--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- The .eu Web Awards are an online competition created to acknowledge websites that have a great look, excellent content, and high security standards. Anyone who is eligible under the Web Awards rules, including domain name holders, can nominate their favourite .eu, ., or . website. We are excited to continue the .eu Web Awards tradition and launch the eighth edition today. With over 1,200 nominees and almost 35,000 votes gathered over the past seven years, we believe the Web Awards represent a great opportunity for.eu domain name holders to showcase their websites. We are also thrilled to add a sixth category this year, The BEST OF . or ., which will highlight the multilingualism that exists in cyberspace. states Giovanni Seppia, EURids External Relations Manager. The 18 finalists (three per category) will be announced on 16 August 2021 and will be invited to the .eu Web Awards gala in September 2021, where the six winners one per category will be announced. The winners will receive a prestigious award package, including a three-month billboard advertising campaign at Brussels Airport, a custom video produced by EURid for promotional purposes, and a custom trophy. Visit webawards.eurid.eu to submit your nomination and cast your vote for the best .eu, ., and . websites around! About EURid EURid is the not-for-profit organisation that operates the .eu, ., and . top-level domains, following a tender process and appointment by the European Commission. EURid works with over 700 accredited registrars. As part of its ongoing commitment to data security, EURid has been certified under the ISO27001 security standard since 2013. EURid is also registered under the EU Eco-Management and Audit Scheme (EMAS), which is an expression of its environmental commitment. EURid has its headquarters in Diegem (Belgium), and regional offices in Pisa (Italy), Prague (the Czech Republic), and Stockholm (Sweden). More information at: www.eurid.eu. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210415005477/en/ EURid Reelika Kirna press@eurid.eu Source: EURid 7 day print subscribers enjoy unlimited access to yakimaherald.com Enter the LAST NAME and the 7 DIGIT phone number on your print subscription account to connect your print subscription to your yakimaherald.com account. [April 14, 2021] California Insurer Announces 15th Consecutive Dividend for Policyholders Nonprofits Insurance Alliance (NIA) today announced that the board of directors of Nonprofits Insurance Alliance of California (NIAC), an insurer under the NIA brand, has approved a $3 million dividend for policyholders (members). Since 2007, NIAC has cumulatively returned $50 million in dividends to its members, all of whom are 501(c)(3) nonprofits. "Nonprofit organizations are tireless champions for the communities they serve. It is an honor for the Board to declare a dividend to our members as a way of supporting their work," says Tammy Wilson, chair of the NIAC board of directors. NIAC's innovative dividend plan for its nonprofits members is based on individual member premiums paid during the dividend period, length of continuous coverage, and favorable claims experience. "As a 501(c)(3) nonprofit ourselves, our mission is to support other nonprofits," says Pamela Davis, founder, president, and CEO. "Knowing that our member nonprofits continue to feel severe financial hardships brought on by COVID-19, our ability to pay ou NIAC members a dividend for the 15th consecutive time has special meaning for us this year." The COVID-19 pandemic revealed both vulnerabilities and strengths of nonprofit organizations. Like many industries, the nonprofit sector continues to face economic shortfalls as a result of extended disruptions to business operations. At the same time, nonprofits' role as a safety net within the communities they serve has become increasingly important. NIA recognizes these challenges and continues to find ways to support nonprofits and their important work. Dividends are just one example of how NIA supports its nonprofit members. For more than 30 years, NIA has provided specialized insurance coverages with stable pricing to 501(c)(3) organizations. NIA also supports the sector through comprehensive, award-winning risk management resources to help reduce claims, which can disrupt the critical services that nonprofits provide to their communities. Founded in 1989 during an insurance crisis when many social service nonprofits saw cancellation and non-renewals from commercial insurers and were forced to suspend many social service programs, NIAC was the first organization under the NIA group brand and the first multi-line, nonprofit insurer offering coverages exclusively to other 501(c)(3) organizations. Today NIA has 21,000+ members and continues to prove that nonprofits are well-managed and eminently insurable, even as they continue to be disfavored by commercial insurers. About Nonprofits Insurance Alliance Nonprofits Insurance Alliance (NIA) is the nation's leading property and casualty insurer exclusively serving nonprofit organizations. Founded in 1989 in Santa Cruz, California, NIA is a social enterprise developing the long-term sustainability of the nonprofit sector. NIA has one of the best customer retention rates in the industry. NIA members enjoy stably-priced insurance, specialized insurance coverage, dividends, and innovate risk management and member services. The NIA group brand is comprised of Alliance Member Services ( AMS (News - Alert) ) and three AM Best A VIII (Excellent) rated insurers: Nonprofits Insurance Alliance of California (NIAC), Alliance of Nonprofits for Insurance, RRG (ANI), and National Alliance of Nonprofits for Insurance (NANI). All organizations under the NIA brand are 501(c)(3) nonprofits. Learn more about Nonprofits Insurance Alliance at insurancefornonprofits.org/about. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210414005967/en/ [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] There were plenty of things Peter Schulz imagined hed be doing in retirement: Home renovations. Planning a trip to Europe. Taking his whole family to see Phantom of the Opera. After 26 years as an operating room nurse at the Veterans Affairs Medical Center in East Orange, Schulz had earned a break. Then came COVID-19. Schulz, 64, a Cranford resident, was out with a shoulder injury before he retired and already missed interacting with patients. Hes an outgoing, teddy bear of a guy with presence 62, with salt and pepper hair, a wide mustache and a booming voice. Hes the nurse that disarms people by cracking them up, always ready with a dad joke, always performing. He had something of a following at the VA. But now? Home? On the couch? During a global pandemic? He couldnt do it. And so Schulz became the volunteer every county wishes they had: He takes every shift offered, comes early, stays late, works doubles and frequently racks up more than 40 hours a week. We can rest when its over, he says. I get such pleasure helping people and dealing with the public, and I cannot sit home. A year ago, he volunteered as a COVID-19 tester, trying to calm nervous car-fulls the best he could while also being a big guy in a blue hazmat suit, coming to shove a giant Q-tip up your nose. He worked with other volunteers in snow, rain, heat, wind. One day I swear I saw a flying monkey, he says. Now, hes vaccinating thousands at the Union Countys various centers and events. Theyve given more than 68,000 vaccinations. Schulz estimates he does about 100-150 a day. Whats it like to spend three minutes with people from every walk of life some fearful, many grateful as they step into the world of the vaccinated? Its been a trip. COVID-19 Vaccination Clinic at Kean University in Union. 4/9/2021Steve Hockstein | For NJ Advance Media Schulz worked injection clinics at the VA flu shots, pneumonia vaccines but hes never spent all day, every day for weeks doing it. Now, hes turned it into an art form. My name is Painless Pete, and I dont feel a thing! he says, acting out some of his signature lines to break the ice when the next person walks into his booth. Hell compliment someones shoulder, telling the person they should be a shoulder model. After vaccinating, he likes to dramatically snap his glove off and belt, NEEEXT! whatever it takes to keep the mood up, get a laugh, calm the nerves of the thousands (1,200 to 1,400 daily) who come through the vaccination center at Kean University. I say, Hey! Welcome! You did it! You survived! You won the lottery! he says with pep in his voice. And in those early days, where there were so few appointments, it was like winning the lottery. Hes vaccinated neighbors and others he knows, teens and the elderly, people with special needs, each time adjusting his routine depending on what he senses from the person in front of him. Frequently, he connects with veterans, too, who often notice the VA badge on his scrubs. As a nurse you use all your senses, he says. You adapt. You adjust your plan of care accordingly. Youre trying to make people feel more comfortable. Humor never gets in the way of the business, though. He shows with his fingers how to find the proper spot deep into the deltoid which cant be too high or too low. Hes careful with screening questions. He makes the clinical determination on whether someone needs to sit for observation for the standard 15 minutes or a full 30 because of other conditions. And you forget how many people are afraid of needles, he says. I tell them they can close their eyes and that I close my eyes, too. That usually gets a laugh. Then he counts down from five, but gives the shot on two. Sometimes the mood is more emotional. I had one woman who told me her husband of 40 years died from COVID at Christmas, he says. He remembers the tears in her eyes. Another time a man handed him a Mass card. He said, My mother died of COVID. She was in a nursing home. I want you to have this. This is in honor of my mom, Schulz remembers. He still has the card. COVID-19 Vaccination Clinic at Kean University in Union. 4/9/2021Steve Hockstein | For NJ Advance Media Schulz, too, lost a childhood friend of more than 50 years to COVID-19. He bristles when he thinks about those who never took the virus seriously. He calls families who got together during the holidays foolish. He also had COVID-19, testing positive on his birthday last year. Luckily, he had no symptoms at all. My joke was, if I knew I was gonna get a case of Corona on my birthday, Id have bought more limes! he says. But seriously, Im very fortunate. Nobody knows why someone is going to get very sick. Its the luck of the draw. Schulz came to nursing late in life after a career in the printing business. He credits his wife for encouraging him even though they had two young kids at home. He attended nursing school full time at Elizabeth General Hospital and then worked nights at his printing job, sleeping in the attic of their home during the day to try to get some quiet. He immediately loved being a nurse. The day he saw a C-section performed the coolest thing I had ever seen he decided he wanted to be an operating room nurse. At the VA, he might oversee cataract surgery in the morning and a total hip replacement in the afternoon. Every day was different. Despite his hard work as a volunteer, he feels guilty when he thinks of his coworkers other operating room nurses who worked on COVID-19 patients, witnessed people take their last breaths, watched people die alone. There were so many patients who passed away that they had refrigerator trucks, he says. This is why nurses get burnt out. How much sadness and depression can you deal with? His passion for helping people was just one reason he continued his work as a volunteer. Another was his daughter Allison, who works at Johnson & Johnson, currently serving as a vaccine program distribution lead for North America. Peter Schulz and his daughter Allison, who serves as vaccine program distribution lead for North America at Johnson & Johnson. (Courtesy Peter Schulz) He says they had a camaraderie, both doing what they could to help amidst a global pandemic. Its one that extended to the rest of his family, too his son Evan followed in dads footsteps, became a physicians assistant and has been working in a hospital during the pandemic. His other daughter, Emmery, is a second-grade teacher in East Orange. Were all taking care of people, he says. Im so proud of them. Union County Board of Commissioners Chairman Alexander Mirabella says the countys work during the pandemic would truly not have been possible without volunteers like Schulz. Their efforts to vaccinate our residents are essential to the success of defeating the pandemic, keeping our residents healthy, and returning society as a whole back to normal, Mirabella says. That normalcy, finally, at Passover this year was magical, Schulz says: I got to hug my kids again. Some of his friends ask why hes working so hard when he should be retired, enjoying his golden years. Then he remembers the strangers, seeing him in his scrubs, who have stopped him to say, Thank you for what youre doing. And he shows up for another shift. Jessica Remo may be reached at jremo@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter @JessicaRemoNJ. Find NJ.com on Facebook. MBABANE Mystery surrounds the alleged disappearance of exhibits worth over E1.7 million at Tshaneni Police Station. The exhibits, which are now reported to have grown legs at the cop shop, were initially taken from a group of five sugar cane farmers of Vuvulane, who were arrested for alleged theft of farming equipment and tools, whose charges were later withdrawn. The farmers are Mpisi Dlamini (80) of Lavumisa, William Mkhaliphi (82) of KaShoba, Philemon Maseko (45) of Khuphuka, Nhlanhla Mazibuko (28) of Dvokolwako and Msolwa Dlamini (66) of Vuvulane. They now demanding the items backs since the charges against them were withdrawn. Some of the exhibits, which are now reported to have disappeared at the police station include a kombi, Toyota bakkie, gear box, engine, Dyna four tonne diesel, tractor, water pumps, engine, various mechanical spanners, mower, motor bikes and rum crane. Committed The items, as they appeared in the charge sheet, were valued at E1 718 000. The theft is alleged to have been committed at Vuvulane VIF Company yard between May 20, 2013 and October 22, 2013. Two counts of theft were preferred against the farmers. The farmers have engaged Leo Ndvuna Dlamini of SA Nkosi Attorneys to represent them in the matter. They have since moved an application at the High Court, where they are seeking an order for the release of the items. Respondents in the matter are the national commissioner of police, director of public prosecutions and the attorney general. The aggrieved farmers want the High Court to compel the national commissioner of police to return the exhibits to them in terms of Section 52 of the Criminal Procedure and Evidence Act of 1938. Section 52 (5) states that: At the conclusion of a summary trial or if the director of public prosecutions declines to prosecute, the magistrate shall, in respect of the property or thing seized, make one of the following order; that the property or thing be restored to the person from whom it was seized if that person satisfies the magistrate that he is the lawful owner of the property or thing or that he is lawfully in possession of the property or thing. These are allegations whose veracity is still to be tested in court and the respondents are yet to file their papers in the event they are opposing the application filed by the farmers. Charged Giving a background of the matter, Mpisi told the court that, together with the other farmers, they were charged with theft of items which he claimed belonged to them. Southeast Texas residents still living in the shadow of Tropical Storm Imelda likely wont have to wait much longer to apply for housing help. The Texas General Land Office hopes to begin accepting applications for its Imelda Homeowner Assistance and Reimbursement programs as soon as April 24. The state also is rolling out a similar program for homes in South Texas and the Rio Grand Valley that were impacted by flooding events in 2018 and 2019. Were trying to expedite the state and regional guidelines so we can get this program kicked off, said Brittany Eck, communications director for GLO Community Development and Revitalization . Starting Wednesday, state residents and other interested individuals have 15 days to submit comments and concerns regarding those guidelines, which essentially lay out the procedure to conduct both programs. However, Eck said there havent been many substantial deviations from what was used for a similar program rolled out in the wake of Tropical Storm Harvey. Related: Storm survivor gets new Port Arthur home The Homeowner Assistance Program will rehabilitate or reconstruct the Imelda-damaged homes of qualifying homeowners. The Homeowner Reimbursement Program will reimburse up to $50,000 in Imelda-related home repair expenses or U.S. Small Business Association disaster home loans. Together, those programs are expected to spend more than $71.6 million across Chambers, Harris, Liberty, Jefferson, Montgomery, Orange and San Jacinto counties. An additional nearly $66.2 million will go to residents in Cameron, Jim Wells, Hidalgo and Willacy counties. Homeowners can apply for both the HAP and HRP using the same application, Eck said, and application processing will be prioritized for residents who fall at or below the low-to-moderate income threshold for the given area. The Harvey-related HAP program received applications from nearly 4,000 residents of Hardin, Jefferson and Orange counties. As of last week, 572 homes had been completed in the region. An additional 235 applications were approved, some of which already are under construction. Top hits: Get Beaumont Enterprise stories sent directly to your inbox The Homeowner Reimbursement Program, also as a response to Harvey, saw just over 4,000 applications. Of those, 871 applications were approved for nearly $26 million in reimbursements made to Southeast Texas residents. While that means well over 1,000 Southeast Texas residents were assisted by these programs, 206 residents ultimately were waitlisted for the HAP program when funding ran out. Eck said, if residents can prove those homes also were damaged by Imelda, they can apply for the new program. But thats unlikely to be the only overlap between the programs. She said the agency learned a number of lessons during the first rollout that likely will assist in this process. Especially top-of-mind, she said, is the importance of word-of-mouth advertising when making people comfortable with the program itself. People get very nervous that youre going to tear down their house and then theyll have no house, she said. You can say youre the state and you wouldnt do that to people, but it makes people feel anxious. We had folks that got pretty far through the application process, but then they got anxious and didnt complete it. Were trying to avoid that. Related: Confusion over FEMA floodplain leaves Harvey repair bills in homeowners hands The GLO-built homes have seemed to set such a great standard that a number of those built after Hurricane Ike now have withstood Harvey and Imelda, and some built in Orange after Harvey were still standing after Hurricane Laura. Those stories really help create an uptick in applications, she said. The agency also learned the importance of partnering with local organizations and public officials to help make applicants feel more comfortable asking for help. Where an individual might not feel comfortable calling up the state of Texas, they likely will feel better stopping by their mayors office. As a result, Eck said, GLO has a standing call with local officials to try to answer questions and meet additional needs when necessary. Based on the Harvey process, she said the agency also is placing a particular emphasis on setting expectations with applicants up front and it is prepared to go above-and-beyond helping applicants with the process. She said she anticipates sending more information out in the next few days regarding the opening of local application offices and a firm date that the agency will begin accepting applications. kaitlin.bain@beaumontenterprise.com twitter.com/KaitlinBain ISLs Tea Talks aim to bring together the UGA community to discuss international and cultural topics. Wednesdays discussion concentrated on the effects of modernization and the advancement of technology in East Asian cultures, particularly on the elderly. (Screenshot/Nimra Ahmad) NEENAH, Wis., April 15, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Menasha Corporation is proud to announce it has been selected as a 2021 US Best Managed Company. Sponsored by Deloitte Private and The Wall Street Journal, the program recognizes outstanding U.S. private companies and the achievements of their employees. The 2021 designees are U.S. private companies that have demonstrated excellence in strategic planning and business execution, a commitment to their people and fostering a dynamic, resilient culture, as well as strong financial performance, all while facing the uncertainty of the COVID-19 pandemic. Despite major operating and market challenges, they continued to lead with purpose and with the goal of making significant contributions to their customers, workforces, shareholders, and communities. "It is an honor for Menasha Corporation to receive this award," said Jim Kotek, President and CEO, Menasha Corporation." Tweet this "It is an honor for Menasha Corporation to receive this award," said Jim Kotek, President and CEO, Menasha Corporation. "It is our employees who are to be commended for this recognitionthey demonstrate daily the importance of our company values and their incredible commitment to our customers cannot be overstated. The pandemic presented extra challenges for our employees in 2020 and I view this award as a testament to their extraordinary efforts and success." Applicants are evaluated and selected by a panel of external judges and join a global ecosystem of honorees from more than 30 countries recognized by the Best Managed Companies program. About the Best Managed Companies Program The Best Managed Companies program is a mark of excellence for private companies. U.S. designees have revenues of at least $250 million. Hundreds of private companies around the world have competed for this designation in a rigorous and independent process that evaluates four key criteria in their management skills and practices strategy, execution, culture, and financials. U.S. program sponsors are Deloitte Private and The Wall Street Journal. For more information, visit www.usbestmanagedcompanies.com. About Menasha Corporation Menasha Corporation is a leading corrugated and plastic packaging manufacturer and supply chain solutions provider specializing in retail merchandising packaging and displays, plastic reusable containers and pallets, protective packaging interiors, and packaging supply chain and fulfillment services. Menasha Corporation's products and services are used by major food, beverage, consumer products, industrial/automotive, health and beauty, over-the-counter pharmaceutical, and electronics companies. Established in 1849, Menasha Corporation is one of America's oldest privately held, family-owned manufacturing companies. Headquartered in Neenah, Wisconsin, the company employs approximately 6,400 employees in 112 facilities in North America and Europe. For more information, visit www.menashacorporation.com. Please see www.deloitte.com/us/about for a detailed description of our legal structure. SOURCE Menasha Corporation Related Links http://www.menashacorporation.com The City Council of Evanston voted to approve a plan to make reparations available to Black residents due to past discrimination. On Wednesday the House Judiciary approved H.R. 40 a reparations bill written more than 30 years ago. It's a long-overdue but history-making step. The bill, which will form a commission to study the possibility of federal reparations, heads to the House floor as states, universities and private organizations across the country push for reparative action. Below is one of three columns USA TODAY Opinion is publishing as part of an exploration of the national fight for reparations addressing systemic discrimination faced by the Black community. EVANSTON, ILL. I'm a Black woman and a fifth-generation Evanston resident. I was also the only council member to vote against our city's "historic" reparations plan. Last month, Evanston became the first metropolis in the U.S. to call a housing program a reparations program. The city council is being credited with precedent-setting action a model for the nation. But this program is not a guiding light. It offers housing assistance to only a few Evanston residents 16 families as compared with the thousands who suffered under the citys blatantly racist policies over the past 100 years. It promises $9.6 million more over the next 10 years, but provides no specifics for what further repair will look like. Black people know all about governments empty promises. SUBSCRIBE: Help support quality journalism like this. Most significant, it does not give those harmed autonomy and self-determination, most often represented by cash payments. Instead, the plan places myriad restrictions on how, when and where the so-called reparations can be used. That said, I applaud my colleagues on the city council for at least making a start, and I applaud municipal leaders in other cities who are wrestling with reparations. Nonetheless, responsibility for reparations should not lie primarily with the nations municipalities, or even its states. It must lie with the federal government, and the federal government, which has caused great harm to Black America for hundreds of years, must act now to move real reparations forward. Story continues Its way past time. Freed slaves were promised 40 acres in January 1865. The order redistributed 400,000 acres of Southern plantation land, but President Andrew Johnson returned all of it to plantation owners. The horrors that befell Black families living on the land after the program was revoked are unspeakable. Many became sharecroppers, returning to conditions similar to the miseries of slavery. The Freedmans Savings Bank, another Reconstruction program designed to increase wealth among freed slaves, collected millions of dollars worth of deposits from Blacks across the country, but was so poorly managed that it failed in just over a decade. The people who were financially ruined were the Black depositors, not the white bankers. Cicely Fleming The New Deals Home Owners' Loan Corporation, established in 1933 to help Americans either stave off foreclosure or buy homes, invented redlining, the practice of drawing red lines on maps around majority-Black neighborhoods to mark them as undesirable to lenders. This practice drove down Black home values, and many of those redlined neighborhoods are still disenfranchised and disparately impacted. Evanstons majority Black neighborhoods are among them. History gives us one example of federal legislation that qualifies as true reparations relative to the enslavement of Black Americans, even though it was not defined as such. In 1862, President Abraham Lincoln signed the District of Columbia Emancipation Act, a bill ending slavery in Washington. It gave all slaveholders $300 per slave. By contrast, emancipated slaves were given $100 if they left the country. If the federal government could repair economic damage done to slaveholders, it can finally attempt to repair the generational damage done through the racism baked into our nations educational, financial, health care, housing and justice systems since its founding. Germany offers a possible model to follow. The national government has awarded hundreds of millions to victims of the Holocaust. But leaving the task to a patchwork of municipalities taking their cues from Evanstons modest housing program is woefully inadequate to the monumental task of attempting to alleviate the harm done. I urge municipalities considering reparations to at the very least provide cash payments to those harmed. And I urge the federal government to truly take the lead in the U.S. reparations movement by repairing the monumental damage done with a monumental, cash-based reparations plan. Cicely L. Fleming is beginning her second term as 9th Ward alderwoman on Evanston's city council. She is also a founding member of OPAL, a political advocacy group pushing for racial equity in government. You can read diverse opinions from our Board of Contributors and other writers on the Opinion front page, on Twitter @usatodayopinion and in our daily Opinion newsletter. To respond to a column, submit a comment to letters@usatoday.com. This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Here's why Evanston's reparations aren't reparations Email Whatsapp Menu Whatsapp Google Reddit Digg Stumbleupon Linkedin Comment On a regular basis, we are hearing reports of high-profile Christian leaders renouncing their faith, most recently Dr. Paul Maxwell, an author, former Moody Bible Institute professor, and writer for Desiring God. Yet, for many of us, it was even more shocking to learn that Abraham Piper, son of the influential pastor John Piper, had become an internet sensation, best known for his videos mocking his former evangelical beliefs. As reported by Ruth Graham for the New York Times, Abraham Piper became a sensation on TikTok nearly overnight. He posted his first video in November, and he now has more than 900,000 followers, many of them young people who thank him for capturing their experiences so precisely. His unlikely path to online stardom: irreverent critiques of evangelical Christianity aimed at others who have left the faith. It turns out that Abraham had fallen away from the faith at the age of 19, so his non-belief is not news in itself. (Personally, I knew nothing of John Pipers family, so all of this was new to me.) What is news is the popularity of his videos, recorded in an upbeat, conversational tone that no doubt appeals to todays youth. What are we to make of all this? First, we have no idea what Abrahams own experience was with the Lord. Did he ever know Him personally and intimately? Did he ever experience Gods power firsthand? Did he ever go beyond knowing the truths of the Bible to knowing the God of the Bible? But I do not say this to accuse or judge. Instead, Im simply saying that, unless I could speak with him personally, I have no way of knowing whether he ever enjoyed fellowship with Jesus and whether he was ever truly born again. In any case, rather than belittle him or demonize him, we should pray for him. Second, Abraham is right to challenge evangelical hypocrisy, asking on one video about hell, How are you going to take your family to Outback after church while millions of people are burning alive? Back in the 1980s, I preached a message titled, Four Things Christians Do Not Believe. They were: God, salvation, heaven, and hell. In other words, if we really believed in the God of the Bible, if we really believed in the power of salvation, if we really believed in the existence of heaven and hell, we would live differently. When D. L. Moody was in England, he met privately with a well-known atheist. Some of the Christian friends of the atheist asked Moody afterwards if he was able to speak to this man candidly about Jesus. Moody answered yes. They then asked him, Did you speak to him about hell? Yes, the answer came. They responded, But he never listens to us when we tell him about hell. Moody replied, I spoke to him with tears. (This is my paraphrase of the conversation.) On a certain level, I do believe that we have presented some caricatured views about hell to others. But Abraham is right to challenge how deeply we believe what we preach. Is eternity real to us or not? Is Jesus our all in all or not? Is the Bibles Gods infallible Word or not? Leonard Ravenhill, a great man of prayer and revival who befriended me the last 5 years of his life, was most famous for this one saying: Are the things you are living for worth Christ dying for? For many of us, the answer is a loud and resounding no. That being said, I believe that if Abraham could spend time face to face with many of our missionaries serving sacrificially around the world, or if he could spend time with the ministry I have worked with closely in India for years, he would say, These people are living out their faith! Im sure he saw good examples growing up as well, since there are plenty of fine Christians here in America (and presumably in his fathers church). And again, only God knows exactly why Abraham has rejected the faith. But he is right in pointing out the shallowness and even hypocrisy of many other American evangelicals. This remains an Achilles Heel in our movement. Third, it is the spirit of the age to question God and to mock the Bible, part of a perfect societal storm including the following elements: 1) a superficial, me-first Christianity preached in America for the last generation; 2) the lack of personal experience with God; 3) a dearth of solid discipleship and in-depth knowledge of the Word; 4) a steady stream of leadership scandals; 5) the rise of the new atheism, and with it, the demonizing of the God of the Bible, especially the God of the Old Testament; 6) the ubiquity of the internet, instantly popularizing the latest anti-God statement and turning it into a viral meme; 7) the continued breakdown of the American family; 8) the increasing number of out and proud LGBTQ individuals, many of whom are friends and family members of Christians, causing the latter to question the Bibles teaching on homosexuality. Obviously, there are more factors that could be added here. But the bottom line is that we cannot ignore this ongoing apostasy, nor can we simply write off those who are on the attack. Instead, now is the time for us to fall on our faces in fervent prayer, searching our own hearts and repenting of our own sin and hypocrisy. Along with that, we must cultivate an atmosphere of openness and honesty where people feel free to ask their questions and express their doubts and where we can respond to them with patience and with truth. The fact is that none of the attacks on our faith are really new, and Christian leaders in every generation have had to deal with their own societys serious objections. But our faith is based on truth, and that truth comes from the one and only God, and those who put their lives in His hands fully and without reservation will never regret doing so. Yet just because we feel secure does not mean that others do. And just because our faith is strong does not mean that the faith of our children is strong. History teaches us that every generation must have a fresh, personal encounter with God, otherwise apostasy will set in. And thats where we find ourselves today. What are we going to do about it? My newest book Has God Failed You? Finding Faith When Youre Not Even Sure God Is Real, addresses the biggest reasons that people lose their faith. I pray that God will use it to restore, strengthen, heal, and make whole. And may the Holy Spirit powerfully visit Abraham Piper and bring him to repentance and faith. He will not be the first prodigal to come home. Move sees chief executive Moulding become one of UK's biggest philanthropists The founder of The Hut Group has pledged to donate 100million of the online retailer's shares to charity and hand all his salary to good causes - despite the firm's 482million annual loss. Executive chairman and chief executive Matthew Moulding, 49, will give the mammoth stake to the Moulding Foundation, set up by the entrepreneur and his family last year. The move, which comes just seven months after The Hut Group owner THG's initial public offering (IPO), sees him become one of the UK's biggest philanthropists. THG said it had already donated 300,000 to charities between last September's IPO and the end of 2020, instead of paying Mr Moulding and co-director John Gallemore their base salaries. Executive chairman and chief executive Matthew Moulding (centre) will give the mammoth stake to the Moulding Foundation, set up by the entrepreneur and his family last year THG (headquarters in Manchester pictured) confirmed the donation as it said revenues soared 41.5 per cent to 1.6billion in 2020 and underlying profit jumped 35 per cent to 151million THG - which also owns MyProtein, Lookfantastic and ESPA - confirmed the donation as it said revenues soared 41.5 per cent to 1.6billion in 2020 and underlying profit jumped 35 per cent to 151million. But the group reported an operating loss of 481.8million for the year, ending December, which it said was 'driven by a significant proportion of non-recurring and non-cash events'. The technology platform for health and beauty brands said solid trading had continued into 2021, with sales up 58.2 per cent in the first quarter. It confirmed it expects revenue growth of between 30 per cent and 35 per cent for 2021. Mr Moulding (pictured above), a major Conservative Party donor who created the online retailing company in 2004, received a massive shares fortune on the firm's flotation Mr Moulding and his wife Jodie (both pictured above) own 319million shares - a 25 per cent stake worth 2.2billion before the donation Matthew Moulding (above, in red shorts), 49, started online retailer The Hut Group (THG) company in 2004 The UK's top 10 philanthropists 1. Lord Sainsbury (2020 wealth of 512m, 170.8m in donations) 2. Dame Janet de Botton (wealth of 200m, 65.1m in donations) 3. Sir Chris Hohn (wealth of 1300m, 348.6m in donations) 4. Jonathan Ruffer (wealth of 159m, 35.8m in donations) 5. Sir Brian Souter and Dame Ann Gloag (wealth of 730m, 129.6m in donations) 6. Sir Paul Marshall (wealth of 630m, 106.8m in donations) 7. Alan Parker (wealth of 2823m, 229.7m in donations) 8. David and Heather Stevens (wealth of 236m, 18.4m in donations) 9. Elisabeth Murdoch (wealth of 1200m, 82.4m in donations) 10. John Stone (wealth of 176m, 11.5m in donations) Source: The Sunday Times Giving List 2020 Advertisement THG's charitable donation comes after controversy over Mr Moulding's position as landlord to the public company's premises. The firm said the handout is equivalent to 100 per cent of the profit that his Moulding Capital property company could make over the next 100 years. Mr Moulding - a major Conservative Party donor who created the online retailing company in 2004 - received a massive shares fortune on the firm's flotation, receiving at least 830million in stock after its shares hit targets in the IPO. The target was set when the company was floated on the London Stock Exchange in September at 500p a share and a value of 5.4billion. In November last year, the price was 647.8p. Floating means giving over a percentage of the company for purchase by the public in the form of shares. It's the process by which a privately-owned business starts to become publicly owned. The Hut's float was the largest-ever ecommerce IPO in Europe, according to the London Stock Exchange, and the largest tech IPO ever in London. The only other sums which would best Moulding's was the 1.2billion Topshop boss Philip Green awarded to himself in 2005 and the 1.1billion bonus Lakshmi Mittal - the steel magnate - received in 2004. It was estimated last year that Mr Moulding would be paid a basic salary of 750,000 a year as part of the flotation. In 2019, he was paid a total of 4.7million, mostly through share awards. Mr Moulding and his wife Jodie own 319million shares - a 25 per cent stake worth 2.2billion before the donation. They will have around 305million shares or 24 per cent of the firm after the transfer. The Moulding Foundation has recently pledged 5million to support the construction of a new campus at The Seashell Trust, a residential school for seriously disabled children based in the North West. Protests drive HHS to redo cloud contract The Health and Human Services Department was planning to issue a series of blanket purchase agreements for cloud computing services, but has pulled the solicitation following complaints. Oracle and Mythics filed protests with the Government Accountability Office and argued the terms of the solicitation would restrict competition. Both protests were filed April 5. Eight days later, HHS said it was canceling the solicitation. That means there is now nothing to protest, so GAO dismissed the protests without ruling on the merits of the claims. Given how quickly HHS reacted to the protests, the two companies obviously struck a chord at the agency. No word on a timetable of when a new solicitation will be issued, or what specifically in the old solicitation was restrictive to competition. HHS is working with the General Services Administration's Federal Acquisition Service to develop the group of cloud BPAs. Oracle and Mythics also were involved in protest last year of a cloud contract at the Library of Congress was trying to issue. They successfully challenged the solicitation, arguing that it limited competition by specifying that the winner had to support AWS, Microsoft or Google. A senior public health official has urged caution as lockdown is lifted, with a warning that a dangerous wave of cases is hitting countries on our doorstep. Public Health Englands medical director Yvonne Doyle stressed the importance of following guidance as restrictions are eased. Meanwhile efforts continued to limit the spread of the South African coronavirus variant following a cluster of cases being discovered in London. Englands lockdown was partially lifted on Monday, with shops, hairdressers, pavement cafes and pub beer gardens reopening. Dr Doyle said: Our efforts over many months have helped to suppress the virus, but I want to stress how even more vital it is to follow guidance as we go back to doing the things we have missed for so long. Many countries, including those on our doorstep, are facing another dangerous wave. Following guidance continues to be a matter of high protection for us all. About half of us do not yet have protective antibodies from either recent infection or vaccination, so when you are offered the vaccine, do not delay. It has already saved more than 10,000 lives. Dr Doyles colleagues were scrambling to contain the outbreak of the South African variant in the capital. Mutant strains of coronavirus are concerning because they may be less susceptible to current vaccines. A total of 600 cases of the South African variant have been detected so far in the UK, an increase of 56 in a week. (PA Graphics) It is still too early for results on surge testing in response to outbreaks of the South African variant in London and Sandwell in the West Midlands to show up in the figures. Professor Kevin Fenton, Londons regional director of Public Health England (PHE), said: As we begin the process of unlocking and re-entering society and mixing, even small numbers of variants, when they occur, can have the potential to spread relatively quickly. He told the BBC that was why there was a proactive programme of screening and testing for new variants, and where we have found (them), we surge. We need to get ahead of the infection, and not keep following behind it, he said. First Minister of Scotland Nicola Sturgeon receives her first shot vaccine (Jane Barlow/PA) Additional testing facilities have been set up in parts of London to process hundreds of thousands of residents following the detection of cases of the variant of concern. Home testing kits were being delivered door-to-door in the N3 postcode area of Barnet, north London after a case was detected locally. To view this content, you'll need to update your privacy settings. Please click here to do so. It follows more than half a million adults living in south London boroughs being offered tests, including 264,000 in Lambeth, 265,000 in Wandsworth, and 14,800 in the Rotherhithe ward of Southwark. The extra testing comes as new analysis revealed that Covid-19 rates dropped below 100 cases per 100,000 people in all local areas of UK for the first time since September. (PA Graphics) In other developments: Up to April 14 32,444,439 in the UK had received a first dose of vaccine, a rise of 117,835 on the previous day, with 8,513,864 having received both doses, an increase of 343,783. A further 30 people were reported to have died within 28 days of testing positive for Covid-19 as of Thursday, bringing the UK total by that measure to 127,191. As of 9am on Thursday, there had been a further 2,672 lab-confirmed cases in the UK. Scotlands First Minister Nicola Sturgeon had her first dose of the AstraZeneca vaccine, describing it as an emotional moment. Northern Irelands powersharing executive signed off on a plan for relaxing more lockdown measures in stages on April 23, April 30 and May 24. Despite the success of the UKs vaccination programme so far, the rate for staff at older adult care homes is below the level recommended by scientists advising the Government in more than half of Englands local authorities, figures show. The Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (Sage) says 80% of care home staff and 90% of residents need to be vaccinated to provide a minimum level of protection against Covid-19 outbreaks. Figures published by NHS England on Thursday show that 86 out of 149 local authorities have not reached this threshold for employees. In 22 areas less than 70% of staff have had a first jab. Lambeth in south London had the lowest uptake at 50.1%. The figures came as the Government opened a public consultation on a proposal for staff to be required to get a jab as a condition of deployment to protect elderly residents. But the Equality and Human Rights Commission warned that a blanket policy requiring workers to be vaccinated, applied inflexibly, is likely to be unlawful. It also raised concerns about so-called vaccine passports, warning that coronavirus status certificates could create a two-tier society which discriminates against certain groups. While the certificates being considered by the Government could be a proportionate way of easing lockdown restrictions, the watchdog had concerns about unlawful discrimination against people from disadvantaged or ethnic minority backgrounds, by restricting access to jobs and services. The key Indian equity indices reversed their initial gains on Thursday to trade in the negative territory. Around 10.19 a.m., Sensex was trading at 48,290.94, lower by 253.12 points or 0.52 per cent from its previous close of 48,544.06. It opened at 48,512.77 and has so far touched an intraday high of 48,686.17 and a low of 48,268.64 points. The Nifty50 on the National Stock Exchange was trading at 14,436.20, lower by 68.60 points or 0.47 per cent from its previous close. Heavy selling pressure was witnessed in auto and IT stocks while metal stocks rose. Press Release April 15, 2021 De Lima urges Congress to streamline COVID-19 vaccine procurement process Opposition Senator Leila M. de Lima has urged the Congress to investigate the status of the National Government's COVID-19 Vaccination Program to streamline the procurement process for the private sector which is under a tripartite agreement with the national government and the vaccine manufacturers. De Lima filed Senate Resolution (SR) No. 700 directing the appropriate Senate Committee to revisit and improve its COVID-19 vaccine procurement process and come up with solutions to help liberalize access to vaccines and ensure the success of the national vaccination program. "Unless there is a conscious effort to get to the root of the problem and change the tripartite agreements that cause bottlenecks and disincentivizes private sector participation, and allow the private sector to directly import vaccines without the unnecessary red tape, the country will continue to fall short of its vaccination procurement targets for 2021 and beyond," she said. "The private sector has shown willingness and competence to help address the issue of bottlenecks and inefficiencies in vaccine procurement. The national government should not become an obstacle to private companies with its delays, hurdles and ill-considered preconditions," she added. It may be recalled that after the government gained nationwide backlash for its leaked plan to prohibit several companies from procuring vaccines for their employees, Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque clarified last March 23 that the restrictions on private companies had been removed and that the requirement for private companies to donate half of their procurement to the national government would be reconsidered. Critics earlier pointed out that the requirement under the tripartite agreement requiring any private company wishing to import vaccines to "donate" half of its order to the government effectively doubles the cost of procurement and discourages private sector's participation in the negotiations for vaccine procurement. De Lima said the laggard approach of the government to implement mass vaccination swiftly and efficiently has wasted the global effort to discover and manufacture vaccines in record time. "It is a waste of opportunity at the cost of public health and to the detriment of Filipinos who remain fearfully locked in their homes waiting in vain for the government to step up in its Constitutional mandate to protect the right to health of all," she said. De Lima further stated that mass vaccination in the most expeditious manner is necessary "in order to combat the possibility of new strains which could potentially wreak havoc at an unprecedented and exponential rate than ever before." "The State must heed the warning of experts that vaccination is essential for the desired "population immunity". Government's lackluster performance in its vaccination campaign, which caused the Philippines to be the last Southeast Asian country to commence inoculation, is unacceptable," she noted. Dahil sa kawalan ng maayos na plano at palpak na implementasyon, naging napakabagal ng pag-usad ng bakuna, na kung nagawa lang nang matino at maagap ay hindi tayo aabot sa ganito na namang kalalang sitwasyon. We need to step up our vaccination campaign and we need to work with our private sector. Only then can we even hope for anything close to acceptable accomplishment in our fight against COVID-19," De Lima said in an earlier statement. As of 3 April 2021, a total of 795,320 individuals were reported to have received their first doses of the vaccine, which translates to only roughly 1.1 to 1.6 percent of the government's target of 50 to 70 million people vaccinated by the end of 2021. New Delhi, April 15 : The 'Asmbhav Summit', successfully held virtually across India representing the voices and aspirations of lakhs of small retailers and traders across India saw enthusiastic participation from participants across industry. A key point that emerged was the need for stricter regulation and penalization for wrongs done by the foreign retailers posing as marketplaces. According to Ashwani Mahajan from Swadeshi Jagran Manch, "Some government agencies have now become active and vigilant. ED is one while the Competition Commission of India (CCI) is also investigating and has gone to court too. My request is for the RBI to investigate FEMA violations wherever these have taken place so that the foreign platforms, if they are defaulters, can be checked and stopped". The panelists were of the view, put forth by Mahajan when he said, "Believe me, and I say this with full responsibility, that these foreign retailers are all working illegally in India. These companies are operating in my country through deception in e-commerce, since otherwise, as per law, they can only operate under certain clearly stated restrictions. For instance, they can only run a platform, implying that these companies cannot keep any stocks, sell own label brands, or offer market discounts. Unfortunately, and to the detriment of our small sellers and even the entire Indian market, foreign retailers, under the guise of running platforms, have blatantly misused their money and influence to wield their clout and twist the regulations at will. We hope that our coming together at Asmbhav will prod the government and our institution to quick and effective action." The key points that emerged from the various deliberations go to the very nub of the issues that are destroying the small trader who has gone largely unseen and unheard so far. The central issue of the summit was the absence of implementation of rules and laws through oversight and loopholes. Speakers agreed that there was a need to urgently strengthen our regulatory system so that errant foreign retailers may be brought under control. For this, it was stated, our institutions had to work as mandated, and, over and above all, there is political will. Another tent-pole of the discussion was the issue of monopoly and how CCI law and FDI laws need to be re-worked. According to Pranav Sachdeva, Advocate on Record, Supreme Court, "We should not focus too much on FDI law since these e-com giants do not technically violate these. We must focus on competition law being violated and create a policy that stops retailers above a certain size from becoming sellers." Elaborating on this, MM Sharma, Advocate, Head - Competition Law & Policy, from Vaish Associates Advocates Law opined, "Effective enforcement of law through CCI is an absolute must now. Predatory pricing cannot be applied as a contravention since none of the players can be designated as 'dominant'-only one entity can be dominant as per competition law". The systemic illegality of the so-called platforms operating as marketplaces was highlighted. According to Sharma, "There are three clear aberrations of the new digital marketplace: Self-preferencing, abuse of dominance, foreclose of data access in acquiring potential customers." According to Chanakya Basa, a legal expert, "The need of the hour is objective dispute resolution between the platform and the aggrieved retailers and, where applicable, a deterrent penalty. In many cases, we now see the crying need for an Ombudsman also." The issue of ill-treatment of small retailers at the hands of so-called platform owners turned marketplaces assumed centre-stage. According to Abhay Raj Mishra, PRAHAR, "the small to medium sized traders have been constantly subjected to a cruel bias by the foreign retailers. It is apparent that these merchants serve no other purpose than just becoming lifeless statistics for the large platforms to claim bragging rights on reach and depth." Bewailing their plight, the All-India Online vendors Association (AIOVA) spokesperson said, "When we failed to find solutions to our issues of mistreatment and arbitrariness by the monopolistic platforms, we reached out to the government five years ago, who ignored our complaints saying we were just 0.5 per cent of retail then. Today, as per the government figures we have a seven percent share. Hope we shall be heard now." Said Abir Roy of Sarvada Legal, "Today, it is the CCI that can give relief. My recommendation is that the SEBI example can be a good one to emulate. There should be no relation between sellers and platform at all, no common employees, no holding, no equity." The contentious matter of data was also extensively discussed. As per Parminder Singh from IT for Change, "The central issue that faces us today is data ownership. With a single entity controlling all data, power fully resides with that entity always. This has to be addressed and data must be made democratic and free." One of the key issues discussed related to loss of livelihoods through predatory pricing and arbitrary contracts. According to Arvinder Khurana, AIMRA, "The large e-commerce portals are flouting FDI rules at every level and tying up directly with brands and offering deep discounts that none of us can match. As a result, over 40,000 mobile shops have shut down in the last two years. Portals now have 55 percent market share in mobiles whereas mobile shops have seen 60 percent loss in business." The Summit also included views and observations by Vijay Gopal, a former Amazon manager, who brought to light the unsavoury practices of arbitrary legal contracts and sudden modifications to the modes of engagement between small retailers and the large foreign retailers. He said, "Fundamental rights are suspended in e-commerce, so to speak; anyone can be ousted, or terms changed at will without assigning any reason." This is the first such incident that took place along the LoC since the last week of February Army sources said it is not yet clear if the soldier, identified as Jasvir Singh, who has since been brought to Srinagars 92 Base Hospital for specialised treatment, was injured due to the firing from across the LoC by militants attempting to breach the divide line or due to mistaken firing. Representational image/AFP Srinagar: An Indian soldier was injured in a shooting incident in a forward area along the Line of Control in J&Ks Kupwara sector late Tuesday night. This is the first such incident that took place along the LoC since the last week of February when India and Pakistan had agreed to strictly observe all agreements on ceasefire along the de facto border and other sectors. However, Army sources said it is not yet clear if the soldier, identified as Jasvir Singh, who has since been brought to Srinagars 92 Base Hospital for specialised treatment, was injured due to the firing from across the LoC by militants attempting to breach the divide line or due to mistaken firing. Giving details of the incident, sources said the Indian Army personnel manning the Anil Post along the LoC, about 32 km from the district headquarters of Kupwara, observed some suspicious movement close to their post at around 10.30 pm on Tuesday. An alert soldier who was on guard duty at its access fired a few rounds from his service rifle. That was when Singh, 46, sustained a bullet wound, and given his condition was airlifted to Srinagar early Wednesday, the sources said. It is not, however, clear if the jawan sustained the injury due to the suspected infiltrators fire or in mistaken firing, the sources said. Indias director-general of military operations (DGMO) Lt. Gen. Paramjit Singh Sangha and Pakistani DGMO maj. Gen. Nauman Zakaria had on February 25, after holding a discussion to review the situation along the LoC and all other sectors in a free, frank and cordial atmosphere over their established telephone hotline, announced that the two armies had begun observing a ceasefire along the borders in J&K from the midnight of February 24. The pledge was welcomed by the UN Secretary-General, the United States and several other countries, and brought smiles on the faces of the border residents who had suffered immensely due to unending military tensions and frequent bouts of skirmishes between the troops across the divide line over the years. HONOLULU, April 15, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Matson, Inc. (NYSE: MATX) today announces preliminary first quarter financial results, provides a business update and announces that its first quarter earnings call date will be held on April 27, 2021. "Matson is off to a strong start to 2021 with continued solid performance in both Ocean Transportation and Logistics," said Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Matt Cox. "Within Ocean Transportation, our China service continued to see significant demand for its CLX and CLX+ expedited ocean services as volume for e-commerce and other high demand goods remained elevated, which resulted in very strong pre- and post-Lunar New Year volumes. Our financial performance in the China service was the primary driver of the increase in consolidated operating income year-over-year. Currently, significant supply chain congestion continues, particularly at the California ports, and these conditions will most likely persist through the second quarter and into the traditional peak season. We also expect demand in the Transpacific tradelane to remain favorable as elevated consumption trends, including heightened e-commerce activity, are expected to continue beyond the second quarter. Consequently, we expect significant demand for our expedited CLX and CLX+ services to remain throughout the peak season into late October." Mr. Cox added, "In our other core tradelanes, we continued to see steady demand for sustenance and home improvement goods with higher year-over-year volumes. Logistics operating income increased year-over-year as a result of continued elevated goods consumption and inventory restocking in addition to favorable supply and demand fundamentals in our core markets. As a result, Matson expects first quarter operating income for Ocean Transportation of $110.0 to $115.0 million and Logistics operating income of approximately $6.0 million. We also expect first quarter 2021 net income and diluted EPS to be $80.0 to $85.0 million and $1.83 to $1.93, respectively." First Quarter Tradelane Volume (Forty-foot equivalent units (FEU)) (1)(2): For the three months ended March 31, 2021 compared to the three months ended March 31, 2020 and on a FEU basis: Hawaii container volume increased 0.6 percent primarily due to higher demand for sustenance and home improvement goods, partially offset by one less westbound sailing and lower tourism activity as a result of the pandemic; container volume increased 0.6 percent primarily due to higher demand for sustenance and home improvement goods, partially offset by one less westbound sailing and lower tourism activity as a result of the pandemic; Alaska volume decreased 4.9 percent due to lower northbound volume primarily due to one less sailing this year and volume related to a competitor's dry-docking in the year ago period and lower southbound volume, partially offset by volume from the Alaska -to-Asia Express service. Normalizing for the one less sailing this year and volume related to a competitor's dry-docking in the year ago period, Alaska volume increased modestly; volume decreased 4.9 percent due to lower northbound volume primarily due to one less sailing this year and volume related to a competitor's dry-docking in the year ago period and lower southbound volume, partially offset by volume from the -to-Asia Express service. Normalizing for the one less sailing this year and volume related to a competitor's dry-docking in the year ago period, volume increased modestly; China volume was 218.6 percent higher primarily due to volume from the CLX+ service in addition to higher volume on the CLX service as a result of our increased capacity in the tradelane; volume was 218.6 percent higher primarily due to volume from the CLX+ service in addition to higher volume on the CLX service as a result of our increased capacity in the tradelane; Guam volume was 2.0 percent higher primarily due to higher demand for sustenance and home improvement goods, partially offset by lower tourism activity as a result of the pandemic; and volume was 2.0 percent higher primarily due to higher demand for sustenance and home improvement goods, partially offset by lower tourism activity as a result of the pandemic; and Other containers volume decreased 2.4 percent. (1) Approximate volumes included for the period are based on the voyage departure date, but revenue and operating income are adjusted to reflect the percentage of revenue and operating income earned during the reporting period for voyages in transit at the end of each reporting period. (2) Other containers includes containers from services in various islands in Micronesia and the South Pacific, and Okinawa, Japan. A slide presentation that accompanies this press release is available on the Company's website at www.matson.com, under Investors. Teleconference and Webcast A conference call is scheduled on April 27, 2021 at 4:30 p.m. ET when Matt Cox, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, and Joel Wine, Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer, will discuss Matson's first quarter results. Date of Conference Call: Tuesday, April 27, 2021 Scheduled Time: 4:30 p.m. ET / 1:30 p.m. PT / 10:30 a.m. HT Participant Toll Free Dial-In #: 1-877-312-5524 International Dial-In #: 1-253-237-1144 The conference call will be broadcast live along with an additional slide presentation on the Company's website at www.matson.com, under Investors. A replay of the conference call will be available approximately two hours after the call through May 4, 2021 by dialing 1-855-859-2056 or 1-404-537-3406 and using the conference number 7354223. The slides and audio webcast of the conference call will be archived for one full quarter on the Company's website at www.matson.com, under Investors. About the Company Founded in 1882, Matson (NYSE: MATX) is a leading provider of ocean transportation and logistics services. Matson provides a vital lifeline to the domestic non-contiguous economies of Hawaii, Alaska, and Guam, and to other island economies in Micronesia. Matson also operates two premium, expedited services from China to Long Beach, California, provides service to Okinawa, Japan and various islands in the South Pacific, and operates an international export service from Dutch Harbor to Asia. The Company's fleet of owned and chartered vessels includes containerships, combination container and roll-on/roll-off ships and custom-designed barges. Matson Logistics, established in 1987, extends the geographic reach of Matson's transportation network throughout the continental U.S. Its integrated, asset-light logistics services include rail intermodal, highway brokerage, warehousing, freight consolidation, Asia supply chain services, and forwarding to Alaska. Additional information about the Company is available at www.matson.com. Forward-Looking Statements Statements in this news release that are not historical facts are "forward-looking statements," within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, including without limitation those statements regarding operating income, net income, earnings per share, demand for expedited CLX and CLX+ services, supply and demand dynamics in the Transpacific tradelane, supply chain congestion, consumption trends, and economic growth and drivers in Hawaii, Alaska and Guam. These statements involve a number of risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those contemplated by the relevant forward-looking statement, including but not limited to risks and uncertainties relating to repeal, substantial amendment or waiver of the Jones Act or its application, or our failure to maintain our status as a United States citizen under the Jones Act; regional, national and international economic conditions; new or increased competition or improvements in competitors' service levels; fuel prices, our ability to collect fuel-related surcharges and/or the cost or limited availability of low-sulfur fuel; delays or cost overruns related to the installation of scrubbers; our relationship with vendors, customers and partners and changes in related agreements; the actions of our competitors; our ability to offer a differentiated service in China for which customers are willing to pay a significant premium; the imposition of tariffs or a change in international trade policies; the magnitude and timing of the impact of public health crises, including COVID-19; any unanticipated dry-dock or repair expenses; any delays or cost overruns related to the modernization of terminals; consummating and integrating acquisitions; changes in general economic and/or industry-specific conditions; competition and growth rates within the logistics industry; freight levels and increasing costs and availability of truck capacity or alternative means of transporting freight; changes in relationships with existing truck, rail, ocean and air carriers; changes in customer base due to possible consolidation among customers; conditions in the financial markets; changes in our credit profile and our future financial performance; our ability to obtain future debt financings; continuation of the Title XI and CCF programs; the impact of future and pending legislation, including environmental legislation; government regulations and investigations; relations with our unions; satisfactory negotiation and renewal of expired collective bargaining agreements without significant disruption to Matson's operations; war, terrorist attacks or other acts of violence; the use of our information technology and communication systems and cybersecurity attacks; and the occurrence of marine accidents, poor weather or natural disasters. These forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance. This release should be read in conjunction with our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2020 and our other filings with the SEC through the date of this release, which identify important factors that could affect the forward-looking statements in this release. We do not undertake any obligation to update our forward-looking statements. Investor Relations inquiries: News Media inquiries: Lee Fishman Keoni Wagner Matson, Inc. Matson, Inc. 510.628.4227 510.628.4534 [email protected] [email protected] SOURCE Matson, Inc. During an online meeting with World Bank Managing Director of Operations Axel van Trotsenburg, Prime Minister of Ukraine Denys Shmyhal discussed the fight against COVID-19, the procurement of vaccines, the transformation of coal regions and reforms in Ukraine, the Communications Department of the Secretariat of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine has reported. The Prime Minister of Ukraine said that the World Bank is Ukraine's strategic and reliable partner. "I hope for the continuation of constructive cooperation between Ukraine and the World Bank. We hope that together we will be able to work out possible mechanisms to support Ukraine in this difficult period," Shmyhal said. The Prime Minister of Ukraine expressed gratitude to the World Bank for financing projects aimed at countering the COVID-19 pandemic, in particular regarding financing the procurement of vaccines. Ukraine welcomes the new World Bank project Ukraine COVID-19 Emergency Response and Vaccination Project. The total project cost is $ 90 million to respond to the threat posed by the pandemic, Shmyhal said. The head of government said that despite the pandemic, Ukraine continues implementing reforms that shall become the basis for further economic growth. "The government of Ukraine has approved about 100 priority investment projects for the period up to 2023 in energy, infrastructure, processing industry, tourism and sports. Our state needs long-term cooperation programs and investments," Shmyhal said. Mr. van Trotsenburg announced the readiness of the World Bank team to provide Ukraine with advisory and financial support in the framework of priority projects for the government. Source: Xinhua| 2021-04-15 23:44:02|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close WASHINGTON -- The United States on Thursday imposed sanctions against Russia and expelled 10 diplomats in response to Moscow's alleged election interference and cyber activities. The White House said in a statement that President Joe Biden had signed a new sanctions executive order against Russia. (US-Russia-Sanctions) - - - - DHAKA -- Bangladesh's COVID-19 death toll reached a grim milestone Thursday as 94 more people have died from the pandemic, bringing the total fatality to 10,081. The country's Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS) also reported 4,192 new confirmed cases of COVID-19, raising the case tally to 707,362. (Bangladesh-COVID-19) - - - - COTONOU -- The provisional results released by the Constitutional Court of Benin on Thursday showed that the incumbent President Patrice Talon won the presidential election held in the West African country on April 11. The provisional results showed that Talon won 1,982,534 votes out of 2,297,315 votes cast, gaining an absolute majority of the votes. (Benin-Election-President) - - - - BAGHDAD -- Up to five people were killed and 21 others wounded on Thursday in a car bomb explosion in a crowded area in eastern Baghdad, a source with the Interior Ministry said. The explosion occurred in the afternoon when a car bomb detonated near a marketplace in al-Habibiyah area in Sadr City, the source told Xinhua on condition of anonymity. (Iraq-Car Bomb) Enditem Forecasts by Application (Drug Discovery, Precision Medicine, Medical Imaging & Diagnostics, Research), by Technology (Machine Learning, Other Technologies), by Offering (Hardware, Software, Services), by Deployment (Cloud, On-Premises) AND Regional and Leading National Market Analysis PLUS Analysis of Leading AI Companies AND COVID-19 Recovery Scenarios New York, April 15, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Reportlinker.com announces the release of the report "Artificial Intelligence (AI) in Pharmaceutical Market Report 2021-2031" - https://www.reportlinker.com/p06061831/?utm_source=GNW How Adoption of Artificial Intelligence Impacting Pharmaceutical Industry? The global pharmaceuticals industry is in the throes of transition, both clinical trials and regulatory approvals have been challenged by the proliferation of specialized drugs catering to smaller patient groups. In order to boost results in drug discovery, clinical trials, and research and development, the pharmaceutical and life sciences companies are switching to robotic process control, artificial intelligence and machine learning. All these factors are anticipated to propel demand for artificial intelligence in pharmaceutical across the globe. Artificial Intelligence Anticipated to Revolutionize Several Aspects of Pharmaceutical Industry The way drugs are made, prescribed and ingested today will be standardized by artificial intelligence. Many facets of the pharmaceuticals and life sciences industry will also be revolutionized but will not heal sickness or replace physicians. Understanding the main aim of artificial intelligence, which is to improve human capability and accomplishment instead of challenging it, would dispel much of the technologys concerns and put out its excellent ability to serve humanity. Which Factors are Fueling AI in Pharmaceuticals Industry Growth? . Growing Complexity of Modern Pharmacology . Growing Demand for Viable Therapeutic Candidates . Improves Overall R&D Productivity . Concerns Associated with Rising Capital Requirements in Drug Discovery . Increasing Awareness Related to Artificial Intelligence Among Pharmaceutical Manufacturers Which Factors are Restraining Growth? . Lack of Skilled Professionals . Limited Availability of Datasets UNIQUE COVID-19 VARIATIONS- only available in this Visiongain report are dedicated analysis of 4 different rebound scenarios of how the market will develop - no matter how COVID-19 affects the economy. To access the data contained in this document please email contactus@visiongain.com How do prominent players strengthen their position throughout the world? You must read this newly updated report if you are involved in this sector. The report from Visiongain shows you potential revenues up to 2031, evaluate information, trends, opportunities and business outlooks. Discover how to stay ahead Our 350+ page report provides 500+ tables and charts/graphs. Read on to discover the most lucrative areas in the industry and the future market prospects. Our new study lets you assess forecasted sales at overall world market and regional level. See financial results, trends, opportunities, and revenue predictions. Much opportunity remains in this growing AI in Pharmaceuticals Market. See how to exploit the opportunities. Forecasts to 2031 and other analyses reveal the commercial prospects . In addition to revenue forecasting to 2031, our new study provides you with recent results, growth rates, and market shares. . You find original analyses, with business outlooks and developments. . Discover qualitative analyses (including market dynamics, drivers, opportunities, restraints and challenges), SWOT Analysis, PEST Analysis, Porters Analysis, product profiles and commercial developments. Discover sales predictions for the world market and submarkets Application . Drug Discovery . Precision Medicine . Medical Imaging & Diagnostics . Research Technology . Machine Learning . Other Technologies Offering . Hardware . Software . Services Deployment . Cloud . On-Premises In addition to the revenue predictions for the overall world market and segments, you will also find revenue forecasts for 5 regional and 13 leading national markets: By Region (Segmental Breakdown for All the Regions) . North America - U.S. - Canada . Europe - Germany - France - UK - Italy - Spain - Rest of Europe . Asia Pacific - China - Japan - India - Rest of Asia Pacific . RoW Need industry data? Please contact us today. Leading companies and the potential for market growth Overall world revenue for AI in Pharmaceuticals Market will surpass $xx billion in 2021, our work calculates. We predict strong revenue growth through to 2031. Our work identifies which organizations hold the greatest potential. Discover their capabilities, progress, and commercial prospects, helping you stay ahead. Prospects for established firms and those seeking to enter the market- including company profiles for 16 of the major companies involved in the AI in Pharmaceuticals Market. Some of the companies profiled in this report include are Microsoft Corporation, NVIDIA Corporation, IBM Corporation, Alphabet Inc., Atomwise, Inc., Deep Genomics, Cloud Pharmaceuticals, Inc., Insilico Medicine, BenevolentAI, Exscientia, Biosymetrics, Euretos, Insitro, Cyclica, Biovista, and OWKIN, INC. Key Questions Answered by this Report . What is the current size of the overall global AI in Pharmaceuticals market? How much will this market be worth from 2021 to 2031? . What are the main drivers and restraints that will shape the overall AI in Pharmaceuticals market over the next ten years? . What are the main segments within the overall AI in Pharmaceuticals market? How much will each of these segments be worth for the period 2021 to 2031? How will the composition of the market change during that time, and why? . What factors will affect that industry and market over the next ten years? . What are the largest national markets for the world AI in Pharmaceuticals? What is their current status and how will they develop over the next ten years? What are their revenue potentials to 2031? . How will market shares of the leading national markets change by 2031, and which geographical region will lead the market in 2031? . Which are the leading companies and what are their activities, results, developments, and prospects? . What are the main trends that will affect the world AI in Pharmaceuticals market between 2021 and 2031? . What are the main strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats for the market? . How will the global AI in Pharmaceuticals market evolve over the forecasted period, 2021 to 2031? . How will market shares of prominent national markets change from 2021, and which countries will lead the market in 2031, achieving highest revenues and fastest growth? Read the full report: https://www.reportlinker.com/p06061831/?utm_source=GNW About Reportlinker ReportLinker is an award-winning market research solution. Reportlinker finds and organizes the latest industry data so you get all the market research you need - instantly, in one place. __________________________ Story continues CONTACT: Clare: clare@reportlinker.com US: (339)-368-6001 Intl: +1 339-368-6001 Investment to build a modern solid-waste landfill facility to help improve the environment Twelve municipalities to benefit from the EBRDs first solid-waste project in Armenia EBRD loan boosted by EU and E5P donor grants to construct the facility The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) and the European Union (EU), in partnership with the Ministry of Territorial Administration and Infrastructure of Armenia, have launched the construction of a new solid-waste landfill facility in Hrazdan, a town in central Armenia that serves as a transport hub between the capital, Yerevan, and the north of the country. The ceremony was attended by Suren Papikyan, Minister of Territorial Administration and Infrastructure of Armenia; Her Excellency Andrea Wiktorin, Ambassador of the European Union to the Republic of Armenia; Dimitri Gvindadze, EBRD Head of Armenia; His Excellency Patrik Svensson, Ambassador of Sweden to Armenia, His Excellency Pawel Cieplak, Ambassador of Poland to Armenia, and other distinguished guests, including representatives of the Czech Republic and Slovak Republic. The new solid-waste landfill facility will meet EU standards and make a major contribution to environmental improvements in Hrazdan and the 11 other municipalities it will serve. The EBRD has extended a 5.5 million loan to construct the facility, alongside a 3.5 million grant from the EU Neighbourhood Investment Facility and a 2 million grant from the Eastern Europe Energy Efficiency and Environment Partnership (E5P) fund. The new facility will be equipped with modern solid-waste management processes, encompass the collection and disposal of municipal solid waste and provide major environmental and social benefits for local residents and businesses. It will be located near the Yerevan-Sevan highway and cover seven municipalities in the Kotayk region (Hrazdan, Abovyan, Nor Hachn, Byureghavan, Charentsavan, Eghvard and Tsakhadzor) and five in the Gegharkunik region (Sevan, Vardenis, Gavar, Martuni and Chambarak). This is the EBRDs first solid-waste project in Armenia and supports the governments plans to modernise and upgrade the countrys waste management system to the standards of the Confederation of European Pest Management Associations. To date, the EBRD has invested more than 1.1 billion in 158 projects in Armenias financial, corporate, infrastructure and energy sectors, with 88 per cent of those investments in the private sector. Background information on the EU The EU is a key reform partner in Armenia. Its current, substantial Armenian portfolio focuses on supporting the governments reform agenda, private-sector development, green growth, human capital and regional development. The EU has stepped up its support for Armenia, almost doubling its annual grant allocation to 65 million a year in 2019 and 2020. In addition, since 2014, more than 1 billion has been invested in the country in the form of blended loans and grants to support green growth, agriculture and the transport sector. Background information on the E5P The E5P is a multi-donor fund operating in the all of the Eastern Partnership countries. The EU is its largest overall contributor, with committed funds of 95 million. The EU has committed 10 million to the E5P in Armenia, boosted by additional commitments from the Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, Germany, Lithuania, Norway, Poland, the Slovak Republic, Sweden and the TaiwanBusiness-EBRD Technical Cooperation Fund. The pledged funds are to help Armenia improve its energy efficiency, energy security and economic competitiveness and boost policy dialogue, while having a positive impact on the environment. Armenia is also a contributor to the E5P, with committed funds of 1 million a year. The main objective of the initiative is to use grants to leverage loans from international financial institutions for municipal energy-efficiency and environmental projects, such as the rehabilitation of water and wastewater systems, solid-waste management, street lighting and energy-efficiency measures in public buildings. (Natural News) California has launched a new Wuhan coronavirus (Covid-19) vaccination program called Operation Homebound that involves sending police officers to peoples homes to force-vaccinate their special needs children. Shocking video footage see below shows masked Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) officers jabbing needles into the arms of scared children with disabilities who clearly do not consent to being medically raped by the police state in the name of public health. So they're going after the mentally disabled/housebound ppl who CAN'T fight back/aren't allowed to say no? Gee, this reminds me of The way Nazi's started with the mentally disabled. How long before we hear of these ppl dying? This is wrong on SO many levels!#BidensAmerica pic.twitter.com/71bxP4wRWu TheJokerMouce (@TheJokerMouce) April 11, 2021 In one of the clips, a terrified special needs woman is seen struggling to escape her captors as they pull out a syringe and chase her arm for injection. Two officers are then seen restraining the woman while a third stabs it into her body without her permission. Ill be gentle, okay? Ill be gentle, the officer holding the vaccine says. Noooooo! the poor woman yells as she attempts to resist the chemical violence being inflicted upon her. After finishing up forever modifying the womans DNA with the experimental messenger RNA (mRNA) syringe, the officers start clapping while the woman wails in horror at what happened to her. In another clip, a special needs girl is seen in her driveway trying to escape officers who similarly inject her against her will with a gene-modifying cocktail, all while her family stands around watching. An Alzheimers patient in yet another clip is seen being given an injection without even knowing what was going on. There you go; piece of cake, the female officer who administered the shot to the dementia patient says. Its okay, hon, we just gave you a vaccination, thats all. According to the Los Angeles County Sheriffs Office, Operation Homebound is a program designed to vaccinate the most underrepresented, homebound, and underserved disabled residents in our communities, including those experiencing homelessness. Why are Americans putting up with these crimes against humanity? Forcibly vaccinating the sick and vulnerable without their consent is no different than what violent dictators from the past did to prisoners who were kept in concentration camps. While the prisoners of yesteryear were held behind barbed wire, todays prisoners are kept inside their homes, distanced from others and masked for their own protection. And while the prisoners of old were experimented on in confined sanitariums, todays prisoners are visited in person by a masked law enforcement gestapo. The only thing that has changed all these years is that the genocide now taking place is slightly more veiled than that of the early 20th century. Instead of being herded into gas chamber showers, todays victims are herded into testing and vaccine clinics for their disease cure. And today we have communist China pulling many strings with regards to the total annihilation of the West, as opposed to Benito Mussolini or Joseph Stalin. And the cops wonder at why they are being targeted, wrote a commenter at Newswars about how door-to-door forced vaccinations is a really bad look for law enforcement. When those sick Gestapo bastards come to your door, do not answer it. The war is on my friends and if we do not start fighting back this will shortly become another dying socialist experiment by stupid politicians who are beyond being touched by education, this same person added, noting that this is why our founders put the Second Amendment in place. Only when enough of those bastards [pay a price] will the politicians get the message that they cannot pull this crap on patriotic Americans. More of the latest news about how the American police state is blatantly violating the Nuremberg Code with forced Wuhan coronavirus (Covid-19) vaccination of the disabled can be found at ChemicalViolence.com. Sources for this article include: Newswars.com NaturalNews.com BrainTale, an innovative French company dedicated to neurological disorders and brain injured patient's management with its portfolio of digital medical devices in neurology and intensive care, announces the featuring of two of its cofounders and Scientific Advisory board members, Professors Lionel Velly and Louis Puybasset during EuroNeuro 2021 held digitally on April 14th 16th 2021. Cofounders and members of the Scientific Advisory Board of the company will share their insights and perspectives about clinical practice in intensive care, and notably the improved management of comatose patients. EuroNeuro 2021 conference is the outstanding event for Key Opinion leaders to share latest information and practices in clinical neurosciences. Co-President of the conference and cofounder, Professor Lionel Velly, member of the Scientific Advisory board of the company has joined the "Long term post traumatic neuroinflammation" roundtable, chaired by Professor Tarek Sharshar on Wednesday April 14th. Professor Louis Puybasset, cofounder and President of Braintale' Scientific Advisory board Together with Pr Nicolas Bruder, has chaired the Roche Symposium entitled "Biomarker of Brain damage: review of clinical utility" and shared his vision about "S100B and subarachnoid hemorrhage monitoring" on Wednesday April 14th at 12:30 pm; - Will chair Session three, dedicated to "Prognostication after Brain Injury" on Friday April 16th at 2 pm; - Will lecture on "Quantitative imaging to adapt prognostication" on Friday April 16th at 3:30 pm; - and will chair Session four, dedicated to "Enhancing recovery" on Friday April 16th at 4 pm. About BrainTale BrainTale is an innovative company opening a new era in medicine by providing physicians with clinically validated prognostic solutions for the management of brain injured patients through sensitive and reliable measurements of brain white-matter microstructure alterations. Building on more than 15 years in clinical development, BrainTale's products are developed collaboratively to address medical need and fulfill expectations of healthcare professionals and patients alike. Since its inception in 2018, the company has set up a complete quality management system and is now ISO :13485 :2016 certified, with a suite of products available on the European market. For more information, please visit www.braintale.fr View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210415005443/en/ Contacts: Julie Rachline, CEO julie.rachline@braintale.eu +33662420358 Sounding exactly like the BJP, CPM politburo member Md Salim accused Banerjee of 'instigating unsuspecting supporters' towards violence The CPI(M), which was ousted by the Mamata tsunami of 2011, believes that if the BJP comes to power in Bengal, the Left could stage a comeback. PTI file photo New Delhi: If the Left parties transferred their votes to the BJP in the Lok Sabha election of 2019, the Marxists are once again seeking to damage the Trinamul Congress in the ongoing Bengal Assembly elections. Aware that it cannot hope to come to power, the Left leaders have covertly sent a signal to their cadres and supporters -- Aage Ram, pore baam (First bring in Ram, then we bring in the Left). Hardcore Left voters, who have tilted towards right-wing politics, are now openly talking about the Aage Ram philosophy. In fact, the CPI(M) seemed to have joined the saffron chorus of blaming West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee for the Sitalkuchi violence. CPI(M) politburo member Md Salim, calling the incident a black day in democracy, claimed that the TMC supremo and chief minister also stands accused of responsibility in the incident. Sounding exactly like the BJP, he accused Ms Banerjee of instigating unsuspecting supporters towards violence. The CPI(M), which was ousted by the Mamata tsunami of 2011, believes that if the BJP comes to power in Bengal, the Left could stage a comeback. The Left strategy to join hands with the Indian Secular Front led by Abbas Siddqui is also aimed at damaging Ms Banerjees Muslim votebank. SUCI leader Subhash Gupta lashed out: The CPI(M) forged an alliance with the ISF to eat into the Muslim votebank. The CPI(M) has compromised with its ideologies by joining hands with the Congress, which has always taken a soft Hindutva stand. Over the past few weeks, the social media is agog over the CPI(M)s role in fostering soft Hinduisation of Bengal. Author and senior journalist Monobina Gupta writes: We must also remember that the Jyoti Basu government had banned Taslima Nasreens novel Dwikhondito, while his successor Buddhadeb Bhattacharjees administration bundled the Bangladeshi author out of the state in the dead of night after protests by some Muslim organisations. She added: Does the alliance with Siddiqui suddenly become secular simply because of the CPI(M)s presence? Monobina Gupta then asked: If the party (CPI-M) is indeed keen to defeat the BJP, why not back Mamata in the first place? Prof Aditya Nigam wrote in his Kafila blog of an alleged misogynist and patriarchal campaign unleashed by the CPI(M) against Ms Banerjee. One meme by people obviously linked to the CPM, for instance, portrayed her witch-like, with a haggard and wicked expression, which was counter-posed to the young beauteous CPI(M) candidate Meenakshi Mukherjee. The meme describes Meenakshi as the beloved daughter of Bengal, while Mamata is described as the old hag spinster sister-in-law. (After a lot of hue and cry, this meme was taken off though the page still continues to be on Facebook.) HAMILTON, Bermuda, April 15, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- 24 Exchange, the multi-asset class trading platform, announced today that it has launched and traded the first anonymous interbank FX Swaps order book with streaming quotes. The trade, conducted with 24 Exchange's central counterparty partner Standard Chartered Bank PLC, represents a landmark in this $3.2 trillion/day* market. In addition to the central counterparty option, bilateral trading for short tenors is also available. Trading in the one-week tenor the most liquid part of the market which accounts for around 65% of transacted volume is free on the 24 Exchange platform. "24 Exchange FX Swaps are a low-cost electronic option for our customers seeking help with hedging and risk management. The market has been asking for an electronic alternative to existing flows for some time and 24 Exchange is excited to be leading the way. With this important addition, 24 Exchange's FX offering now exclusively brings its central counterparty model to the FX market's most important products spot, swaps and NDFs," said Dmitri Galinov, CEO and Founder of 24 Exchange. The 24 Exchange platform offers streaming liquidity on a number of major tenors in addition to a central limit order book, with access via GUI or FIX API. Credit is dynamically managed and updated in real time using Cobalt. Post-trade details are available from a variety of middleware vendors or direct via FIX STP. "The FX Swaps market has been underserved for many years. With today's launch, 24 Exchange is giving all market participants the ability to interact in the same manner that they have demanded in other FX products. Traders now have a way to manage their information leakage associated with their swap pricing and trading, and no longer have to rely on old tools and workflows," added 24 Exchange President Jason Woerz. "Having been trading swaps on the buy side for more than 20 years, I know first-hand how important this evolution in Swaps trading is. The wait is finally over for traders on the 24 Exchange platform for FX Swaps." 24 Exchange also announced that it set a new record NDF ADV (single-counted) in March of $456 million, as well as a new single-day record volume last month in FX NDFs when in excess of $800 million traded. *Source: Bank for International Settlements Triennial Central Bank Survey of Foreign Exchange and Over-the-counter (OTC) Derivatives Markets in 2019 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. 24 Exchange's mission is to enable members to initiate the most cost-effective trades across a growing range of asset classes, 24 hours a day. 24 Exchange lowers 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 Standard Chartered Bank Standard Chartered Bank is a leading international banking group, with a presence in 59 of the world's most dynamic markets and serving clients in a further 85. Our purpose is to drive commerce and prosperity through our unique diversity, and our heritage and values are expressed in our brand promise, Here for good. Standard Chartered PLC is listed on the London and Hong Kong Stock Exchanges as well as the Bombay and National Stock Exchanges in India. 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. Media Contact : Eric Andrus KARV Communications Email: [email protected] Phone: +1-212-333-0275 SOURCE 24 Exchange Related Links https://www.24exchange.net Source: Xinhua| 2021-04-15 00:13:28|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close CAIRO, April 14 (Xinhua) -- Egyptian Health Minister Hala Zayed said on Wednesday that the government is preparing the vast Cairo International Convention and Exhibition Centre for mass COVID-19 vaccination, noting the center can accommodate 10,000 citizens daily. In a virtual cabinet meeting, Zayed explained that 75 clinics are currently being prepared at the spacious venue, according to a cabinet statement. She pointed out that the center has a yard with an area of 1,500 square meters where citizens can wait, "which ensures social distancing." The Egyptian COVID-19 vaccination campaign relies on two vaccines: Chinese Sinopharm and British-Swedish Oxford/AstraZeneca. Egypt started in late January vaccinating medical staff of government hospitals with Sinopharm vaccine, which was the first to be approved by the Egyptian Drug Authority (EDA), followed by Oxford/AstraZeneca and Russia's Sputnik V vaccines. In early March, the North African country started vaccinating elderly people and patients with chronic diseases against coronavirus. Egypt has so far reported a total of 212,130 COVID-19 cases, including 12,526 deaths and 160,431 recoveries. Enditem The Delhi government allowed inter and intra State movement and transportation of essential and non-essential goods and delivery of all essential goods under the weekend amid rising Covid-19 cases. In its order detailing the roadmap for the weekend beginning Friday 10 pm, the Delhi government said that movement within the city for certain categories of people, including people making essential deliveries will be allowed by applying for a pass on State government website. The order steers clear of the confusion on essential and non-essential goods by allowing inter and intra city movement of all kinds of goods, unlike Maharashtra, where clarity on these issues took some time over the past two days. Delhi government has also allowed movement of people providing services under telecom, Internet services, broadcasting and cable services, IT and IT enabled services. Maharashtra government also clarified late Wednesday night that the State, which is under curfew, will allow online home deliveries of food and essential supplies (e-commerce) through all online service providers like Zomato and Swiggy, 24 hours on all days of the week. On Wednesday, industry body National Association of Software and Services Companies (Nasscom) had written to the CEO of Maharashtra Industrial Development Corporation, Secretary, Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) and Secretary, Ministry of Home Affairs with a request to enable e-commerce companies to deliver all goods and services and not restrict them to just "essential" ones, subject to appropriate safety norms. A senior government official told Business Standard that DPIIT is yet to take a call on the matter. In its letter to MIDC NAsscom urged them to issue a clarification and allow e-commerce companies to deliver all goods and services, while adhering to safety norms. Access to items such as laptops and chargers, home printers, mobile phones and chargers, stationery, crucial for work-from-home, essential household goods such as kitchen, bath, electrical items are necessary to carry out day-to-day activities. In this context, we believe permitting e -commerce companies to supply all goods and services will minimise the number of people stepping out of their homes to avail goods and services, according to the letter. Enabling access to such items will not only prevent any disruption in daily activities but will also curb the spread of Covid-19," Nasscom said. Nasscom has highlighted in its representation that in April 2020, the central government had allowed e-commerce companies for the delivery of all goods and services. For the last one year, the industry has been taking all necessary precautions to contain the spread of the pandemic including providing contact less delivery. As more and more States look at complete and partial lockdowns or curfews with rising Covid-19 cases, the issue of deliveries facilitated through online channels is beginning to mirror the situation last year. The e-commerce industry is asking for all kinds of deliveries to be allowed, without distinction of essential or non-essential goods. On the other hand, offline traders say if e-commerce firms are allowed to operate without distinction, they should also be allowed to open shops. Press Release 15 April 2021 COVID-19 sparks a dramatic 51% collapse in the sector's contribution to GDP More than 337,000 jobs lost, while many more remain protected by the job retention scheme However, the return of international travel this year could see GDP contribution rise sharply and jobs return As the current Chair of the G20, Italy is in a unique position to accelerate the recovery of Travel & Tourism Advertisements London, UK - The World Travel & Tourism Council's annual Economic Impact Report (EIR) today reveals that the dramatic collapse of Italy's Travel & Tourism sector has wiped out a staggering 120.6 billion from the nation's economy. The annual EIR from the World Travel & Tourism Council (WTTC), which represents the global Travel & Tourism private sector, shows the sector's impact on GDP dropped 51%. Following three consecutive years in which the Travel & Tourism sector's growth outpaced that of the overall economy, its contribution to the nation's GDP fell from 236 billion (13.1%) in 2019, to 116 billion (7%), just 12 months later, in 2020. The year of damaging travel restrictions which brought much of international travel to a grinding halt, resulted in the loss of 337,000 Travel & Tourism jobs across the country. WTTC believes the true picture could have been significantly worse, if not for the government's job retention schemes, which offered a lifeline to thousands of businesses and workers. However, this is hiding the real extent of the losses and the devastating social impact they could bring. These job losses were felt across the entire Travel & Tourism ecosystem in the country, with SMEs, which make up eight out of 10 of all global businesses in the sector, particularly affected. Furthermore, as one of the world's most diverse sectors, the impact on women, youth and minorities was significant. The number of those employed in the Italian Travel & Tourism sector fell from 3.5 million in 2019, to nearly 3.2 million in 2020 - a drop of 9.6%. However, due to the government's generous job retention scheme, this figure was significantly lower than the global average decline of 18.5%. The report also revealed domestic visitor spending declined by 49.6%, while international spending fared even worse, due to more stringent travel restrictions, causing a fall of 62%, however lower than the global average fall of almost 70%. Gloria Guevara, President & CEO WTTC, said: "The loss of 337,000 Travel & Tourism jobs in Italy has had a monumental socio-economic impact, leaving huge numbers of people fearing for their future." "However, the situation could have been far worse if it were not for the government's Cassa Integrazione Ordinaria scheme which supported up to 80% of a worker's salary and kept many people in their jobs whilst the Travel & Tourism sector continued to suffer." "As the current Chair of the G20, Italy is in a unique position to lead the international recovery of Travel & Tourism, save millions of jobs and protect the livelihoods of those who depend on a thriving sector." "WTTC believes that if restrictions on travel, especially from countries outside of the EU, are relaxed before the busy summer season, along with a clear roadmap for increased mobility, we predict the 337,000 jobs lost in Italy could return next year." "Another year of terrible losses can be avoided if the government supports the swift resumption of international travel, which will be vital to powering the turnaround of the Italian economy." "Our research shows that if mobility and international travel resume by June this year, the sector's contribution to global GDP could rise sharply in 2021, by 48.5%, year-on-year." WTTC says the key to unlocking safe international travel can be achieved through a clear and science-based framework including rapid testing before departure, as well as enhanced health and hygiene protocols, including mandatory mask wearing. WTTC also supports the introduction of a health pass such as the European Commission's Digital Green Certificate, which would further enable mobility in the region. These measures will be the foundation to build the recovery of the many millions of jobs lost due to the pandemic. It would also reduce the terrible social implications these losses have had on communities reliant on Travel & Tourism and upon ordinary people who have been isolated by COVID-19 restrictions. (Newser) For the second year in a row, the White House Correspondents Association has called off its annual dinner. COVID-19 was given as the reason, as it was last year. Hundreds of journalists and people in the reigning administrations usually attend the dressy event, which includes speeches, the awarding of scholarships, and the honoring of journalists' work. The association will still announce award recipients for White House coverage, the Hill reports. "Dinner or not, we will spend the next few months celebrating and honoring the First Amendment, the remarkable journalism produced over the last year and the promising young reporters who will serve as the next generation in our ranks," the association wrote. The dinner will return on April 30, 2022, the group said, per Politico. story continues below The president usually attends the event, but former President Trump boycotted the three during his term and told administration officials in 2019 to do the same. This would have been the first dinner of President Biden's administration. The idea of journalists partying with the people they cover makes some uncomfortable, and the New York Times is among the outlets that has pulled its employees out of the event, per the Washingtonian. And a comedy bit by Michelle Wolf in 2018 that drew widespread criticism led the association to drop the attempts at humor the next year, bringing in historian Ron Chernow to speak instead. Comedian Samantha Bee has held a competing event, called Not the White House Correspondents' Dinner. (Read more White House Correspondents Dinner stories.) Thiruvananthapuram, April 15 : Three days after Kerala Higher Education Minister K.T. Jaleel resigned, Leader of Opposition Ramesh Chennithala said, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan also has to quit. Incidentally, the case pertains to an appointment made by Jaleel in 2018 when he posted his close relative as general manager in a state-owned corporation. The Lokayukta said that Jaleel has no moral right to continue in office as he has misused his powers and indulged in nepotism. Chennithala said Vijayan is also a partner in this 'crime' committed by Jaleel as it was in 2013 the then Congress-led UDF government through a cabinet decision had changed the qualifications for the post to which Jaleel appointed his relative. "However, when Jaleel decided to appoint his relative, instead of taking the permission of the cabinet to alter the qualification requirements, he prevailed upon Vijayan, who instead of taking the file to the cabinet, cleared it himself and hence he is also a partner in the crime and he has no moral right to continue in office," said Chennithala. Jaleel appointed his close relative K.T. Adeeb, as general manager in the Kerala State Minorities Development Finance Corporation, under his Ministry and since then the Youth wing of the Indian Union Muslim League, the second biggest ally of the Congress-led UDF was up in arms. Following a huge protest inside and outside the assembly even though Jaleel vainly defended that the appointment was in order and also got the support of the CPI-M, but finally Adeeb quit the post and returned to his banking job. It was P.K. Mohammed Shafi a resident of Jaleel's home district Malappuram who approached the Lokayukta against the posting. "We now hear that the government is going to take this case to the Kerala High Court. It's really surprising to note that, on one hand this government speaks of morality and on the other, they do everything which is immoral," added Chennithala. The European Union is poised to ban artificial intelligence (AI) systems used for mass surveillance or for ranking social behavior, while companies developing AI could face fines as high as 4% of global revenue if they fail to comply with new rules governing the software applications. The rules are part of legislation set to be proposed by the European Commission, the blocs executive body, according to a draft of the proposal obtained by Bloomberg. The details could change before the commission unveils the measure, which is expected to be as soon as next week. The EU proposal is expected to include the following rules: AI systems used to manipulate human behavior, exploit information about individuals or groups of individuals, used to carry out social scoring or for indiscriminate surveillance would all be banned in the EU. Some public security exceptions would apply. Remote biometric identification systems used in public places, like facial recognition, would need special authorization from authorities. AI applications considered to be high-risk would have to undergo inspections before deployment to ensure systems are trained on unbiased data sets, in a traceable way and with human oversight. High-risk AI would pertain to systems that could endanger peoples safety, lives or fundamental rights, as well as the EUs democratic processes such as self-driving cars and remote surgery, among others. Some companies will be allowed to undertake assessments themselves, whereas others will be subject to checks by third-parties. Compliance certificates issued by assessment bodies will be valid for up to five years. Rules would apply equally to companies based in the EU or abroad. European member states would be required to appoint assessment bodies to test, certify and inspect the systems, according to the document. Companies that develop prohibited AI services, or supply incorrect information or fail to cooperate with the national authorities could be fined up to 4% of global revenue. As artificial intelligence has started to penetrate every part of society, from shopping suggestions and voice assistants to decisions around hiring, insurance and law enforcement, the EU wants to ensure technology deployed in Europe is transparent, has human oversight and meets its high standards for user privacy. The rules wont apply to AI systems used exclusively for military purposes, according to the document. A European Commission spokesman declined to comment on the proposed rules. Politico reported on the draft document earlier. Its important for us at a European level to pass a very strong message and set the standards in terms of how far these technologies should be allowed to go, Dragos Tudorache, a liberal member of the European Parliament and head of the committee on artificial intelligence, said in an interview. Putting a regulatory framework around them is a must and its good that the European Commission takes this direction. As artificial intelligence has started to penetrate every part of society, from shopping suggestions and voice assistants to decisions around hiring, insurance and law enforcement, the EU wants to ensure technology deployed in Europe is transparent, has human oversight and meets its high standards for user privacy. The proposed rules come as the EU tries to catch up to the U.S. and China on the roll-out of artificial intelligence and other advanced technology. The new requirements could hinder tech firms in the region from competing with foreign rivals if they are delayed in unveiling products because they first have to be tested. Once proposed by the commission, the rules could still change following input from the European Parliament and the blocs member states before becoming law. Tudorache said it was critical that the final version of law doesnt stifle innovation and limits bureaucratic hurdles as much as possible. We have to be very, very clear in the way we regulate when, where and in which conditions, engineers and businesses have to actually go to regulators to seek authorization and to be very clear where its not, he said. Photograph: A closed-circuit television (CCTV) security camera monitors the exterior of the Rabobank Group money laundering investigation facility in Zeist, Netherlands. Photo credit: Jasper Juinen/Bloomberg. Copyright 2021 Bloomberg. Topics Europe InsurTech Data Driven Protesters gather outside the Brooklyn Center Police Department in Minnesota Wednesday to call for justice for Daunte Wright, who was killed by an officer during a traffic stop. (Los Angeles Times) Traffic stops are the most common form of encounter between citizens and the police. Tens of millions occur across the country every year. We need no reminder that some have tragic outcomes, as in the fatal shooting of Daunte Wright by police in a Minneapolis suburb during the trial of former police officer Derek Chauvin for the killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis. Even when traffic stops do not result in death, they can be frightening, humiliating and wrong, as we saw in the video of Army 2nd Lt. Caron Nazario being pulled over, threatened and pepper-sprayed in Windsor, Va. As we have long known, racial profiling and harassment of people driving while Black is very real. A U.S. Justice Department lawsuit against the New Jersey State Police, for example, showed that troopers were targeting Black motorists. The federal investigation of Ferguson, Mo., found that the city was engaged in predatory policing extracting money by targeting drivers of color for fines and fees. Both of these examples illustrate the broader reason why traffic stops go wrong": They are often less about traffic safety and more about exerting control or conducting informal criminal investigations. It is easy for police to target drivers improperly because most states have literally hundreds of traffic and vehicle codes, so following each one of them to the letter of the law is virtually impossible. If you are moving and behind the wheel, you are most likely breaking a law. Decades of precedent have established that officers have the right to pull over any motorist committing even a technical violation. Of course, low-level violations are so ubiquitous that officers cant be expected to act every time they see one. Instead, at their discretion, after watching hundreds of other lawbreakers drive away, officers can decide to pull over your car. They are able to justify any stop given all the nuances in the traffic code. In Wrights case, one reason for the stop might have been because he had an air freshener dangling on his rearview mirror; a Minnesota statute prohibits hanging objects in that location. He also had expired tags, a common reason for an officer to start a conversation with drivers who interest them, but is often ignored for others. Story continues Once police make a stop, the interaction can quickly shift to whether or not there are any drugs or guns in the car. If the police have probable cause, they can search the car whether the driver consents or not. But if they do not have probable cause, they may ask for consent. Given the power dynamics and the fact that the officer has a Taser, a gun, handcuffs and the authority to arrest the driver for failure to comply with orders (which can be confused with a request for consent to search), drivers often consent. For some drivers particularly people of color suspicion comes first, and the traffic code becomes a legal justification for the officer to initiate an encounter, which can escalate into violence. Weve reviewed tens of millions of traffic stops for a recent book and a series of articles dealing comprehensively with stops in North Carolina, Illinois, Maryland, Vermont and other states where the data allow. We found that the most common reason for a stop is a speeding violation. Interestingly, speeding stops, which are more connected to safety, are actually less likely to lead to an unjustified search, and the racial difference in searches in speeding cases is relatively low. We also found that a significant percentage of traffic stops are more likely connected to some effort to fight drug-related crime than to any effort to keep the roads safe. And racial disparities are higher when the traffic stop relates to a purpose that is more likely to be a pretext. Using the traffic code as an excuse to fight crime particularly drug crime is a needle-in-the-haystack proposition. In this, we are left with another terrible effect of the war on drugs: the widely adopted practice of using the traffic code in a way that creates mistrust in communities and does little to improve public safety. Because middle-class white drivers are less likely to experience these pretextual traffic stops, they may be unaware of their extent. Philando Castile, for example, was pulled over dozens of times before he was shot and killed during a traffic stop in 2016. Daunte Wrights case is another example that shows any encounter between citizens and police can turn deadly. 2nd Lt. Nazario was completely right to be afraid about what did in fact happen after he was pulled over. One step toward reducing the threat to drivers from police is straightforward: Make traffic stops focus on maintaining traffic safety. Stop using them as a pretext to start an investigation, which turns a process meant to keep us safe into something dangerous for all, with few benefits and disastrously high costs. There are reforms that could be put in place. The Oregon Supreme Court, for instance, reduced the incentive for police to target drivers in hopes of finding contraband. It ruled that drugs or guns found even during a consensual search could not be used as evidence in court if unrelated to the purpose of the traffic stop. Policymakers in other states would be wise to follow Oregons lead in curbing officer discretion in such cases. Frank R. Baumgartner, Derek Epp and Kelsey Shoub are the authors of "Suspect Citizens: What 20 Million Traffic Stops Tell Us About Policing and Race." This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times. Journalist Iliana Hernandez and art historian Carolina Barrero have something in common: in addition to their courage in condemning the Cuban regime's human rights violations, and not giving in to its pressure, they are both Spanish citizens. This nationality has been acquired by tens of thousands of Cubans in recent years. Thanks to this status, they can, from the island, exercise their right to vote or stand for election in Spain, and receive financial aid. None of this bothers the Cuban regime. Whether a Cuban votes or not in the Spanish elections does not harm it, and the fact that many receive financial aid, in reality, benefits it, resulting in more Cubans who will spend their euros in the government's stores. The recognition of dual citizenship by the Cuban Government has been one of the demands voiced by Cubans residing abroad, who have been able to obtain the nationality of the country in which they live. This entitles them to enter Cuba with the passport of the other country and be exempted from paying for the Cuban credential, one of the most expensive travel documents in the world, which they only use for entry to the island. This wish was "satisfied" in the Constitution approved in 2019. Article 36 of the new document states that "The acquisition of another citizenship does not entail the loss of Cuban citizenship." However, as if to keep Cubans with a different citizenship from getting too uppity, the article clarifies: "Cuban citizens, while they are in the national territory, are governed by said condition, in accordance with the terms established in the law, and cannot make use of any foreign citizenship." This means that, although the government can now boast about the progress of its recognition of dual citizenship, in practice Cubans cannot make use of it while they are in Cuba. Spanish citizenship, for example, does not imply merely a right to vote and receive financial aid. It also entails a degree of responsibility on the part of the Consulate towards its citizens, to whom it is bound to provide consular assistance. The website of the Spanish Ministry of Foreign Affairs, European Union and Cooperation explains that all Spanish citizens in a foreign country are subject to the law of the country in which they are located. If they break it, they are susceptible to judicial proceedings in accordance with the country's regulations, without it being possible to claim exemption from submission to local judges or, where relevant, sentences handed down against them. But it also clarifies that consular protection can be exercised over Spanish detainees who also possess the nationality of the country in which they are held, if the internal laws and regulations of the same do not place limits on consular protection, which is understood as a limit on the defense of citizens. In cases of arrest or imprisonment, the Consular Offices of Spain abroad are to ask the local authorities to communicate with the Spaniard immediately, and access to him or her from the moment his arrest is known until his release. In addition, the Consulate is to request from the local authorities information regarding their case, and about prisons that do not cover the basic needs of detainees (food, medicine, clothing, etc.). The Consular office is to try to help the detainee meet these needs, to the extent possible. The Spanish Consular Offices are in a position to provide a list of lawyers specialized in certain types of cases, although they cannot recommend any particular one, or be parties to said professional relationship. Iliana Hernandez, a Spanish citizen, has suffered arrest and property confiscation, before and after the entry into force of the new Constitution. In addition, the Cuban government has prevented her from leaving the country for the past three years. Carolina Barrero was arrested and subjected to two interrogations, and criminal proceedings were initiated for clandestine printing. Both reported that the Spanish Consulate remained on the sidelines. Iliana Hernandez states that she reported her situation, "but they don't care. They have abandoned me." Carolina did not request consular assistance, nor was she contacted by consulate staff at any time. "The position of the Spanish diplomatic mission in Cuba has left a lot to be desired for years. They do not speak out or take an interest in violations of the human rights of Spanish citizens if they have dual nationality, an irregularity even violating Spanish laws and institutions," explains Carolina. According to this young woman, the reasons for this positioning "are shaped, above all, by economic interests, a historical nostalgia, and a misplaced left-wing political stance." Although it has obligations towards these two citizens, the Spanish Consulate can justify its lack of involvement pointing to Article 36 of the Cuban Constitution, which, although it recognizes dual citizenship for the island's citizens, prevents them from exercising a second citizenship on Cuban soil. As usual, the rights of Cubans end where the regime's need to repress begins, and they will not enjoy any guarantees that allow them to shake the foundations of dictatorial power. But, what about passive and obedient Cubans who do not intend to stand up to the regime, and only want to enter the country with their second passport, and stop paying for the Cuban one? In order for them to benefit from dual citizenship, which, with limitations, the Constitution recognizes, the Migration Law must be modified and the Citizenship Law must be legislated. Both are slated on the Legislative Schedule, but neither the modification of one nor the promulgation of the other has taken place, such that, for now, Article 36 of the Constitution is a dead letter to determine the scope and exercise of dual citizenship. Nothing says summer on the Shoreline like a lobster roll. From year-round restaurants to seasonal, side-of-the-road shacks, summer is prime time for this succulent sandwich. And some of your favorite lobster roll joints have announced opening dates for the 2021 season. RELATED: Summer eateries open for the season The hunt for the perfect lobster roll will take you from Fairfield County all the way along the I-95 corridor to where Connecticut meets Rhode Island. These rolls are worth the ride. Polish animal welfare officers were left baffled after being called out about a dangerous-looking animal, which turned out to be a croissant. The Krakow Animal Welfare Society said in a Facebook post on Wednesday that the organisation had received a desperate call from a resident in the southern Polish city about a creature lurking in a tree. 'It's been sitting in a tree across the house for two days! People aren't opening their windows because they're afraid it will go into their house,' the caller was reported as saying, adding that the mysterious beast was brown. While animal welfare workers suggested it could be a bird of prey, the caller said it looked more like an iguana but she could not remember the lizard's name and initially called it a 'lagoon', potentially adding to the confusion. Polish animal welfare officers were left baffled after being called out about a dangerous-looking animal, which turned out to be a croissant Inspectors visited the area, concerned that a reptile may not survive in the cool spring temperatures. They eventually spotted something in a lilac tree, noting that it had 'no legs or head'. 'We already knew that we could not help this creature... The mysterious 'lagoon'... turned out to be a croissant,' the society wrote on Facebook. It said it hoped that the bizarre incident, which it believed was genuine, would not discourage others from reporting their animal welfare concerns. The society said it had gotten calls about abandoned cats, dogs, and even fish. US to Withdraw all Troops from Afghanistan by Sept. 11 President Joe Biden will withdraw all U.S. troops from Afghanistan by Sept. 11, the 20th anniversary of the terrorist attacks on America that were coordinated from that country, several U.S. officials said Tuesday. The decision defies a May 1 deadline for full withdrawal under a peace agreement the Trump administration reached with the Taliban last year, but leaves no room for additional extensions. A senior administration official called the September date an absolute deadline that wont be affected by security conditions in the country. While Bidens decision keeps U.S. troops in Afghanistan four months longer than initially planned, it sets a firm end to two decades of war that killed more than 2,200 U.S. troops, wounded 20,000, and cost as much as $1 trillion. The conflict largely crippled al-Qaida and led to the death of Osama bin Laden, the architect of the Sept. 11 attacks. But an American withdrawal also risks many of the gains made in democracy, womens rights and governance, while ensuring that the Taliban, who provided al-Qaidas safe haven, remain strong and in control of large swaths of the country. ADVERTISEMENT Biden has been hinting for weeks that he was going to let the May deadline lapse, and as the days went by it became clear that an orderly withdrawal of the roughly 2,500 remaining troops would be difficult and was unlikely. The administration official said the drawdown would begin by May 1. Bidens choice of the 9/11 date underscores the reason that American troops were in Afghanistan to begin with to prevent extremist groups like al-Qaida from establishing a foothold again that could be used to launch attacks against the U.S. The administration official said Biden decided that the withdrawal deadline had to be absolute, rather than based on conditions on the ground. Were committing today to going to zero U.S. forces by Sept. 11, and possibly well before, the official said, adding that Biden concluded that a conditioned withdrawal would be a recipe for staying in Afghanistan forever. Defense officials and commanders had argued against the May 1 deadline, saying the U.S. troop withdrawal should be based on security conditions in Afghanistan, including Taliban attacks and violence. White House press secretary Jen Psaki said Biden will deliver remarks Wednesday on the way forward in Afghanistan, including his plans and timeline for withdrawing U.S. troops. She didnt provide details, but said during a White House briefing that Biden has been consistent in his view that there is not a military solution to Afghanistan, that we have been there for far too long. Psaki tweeted later Tuesday that Biden would also visit Arlington National Cemetery to pay his respects to the brave men and women who have paid the ultimate sacrifice in Afghanistan. ADVERTISEMENT Several U.S. officials confirmed Bidens withdrawal decision to The Associated Press, and an administration official provided details to reporters on condition of anonymity, speaking ahead of the announcement. According to the administration official, the only U.S. forces remaining in Afghanistan will be those needed to protect diplomats there. No exact number was provided, but American troop totals in Afghanistan have been understated by U.S. administrations for years. Officials have quietly acknowledged that there are hundreds more in Afghanistan than the official 2,500 number, and likely would include special operations forces conducting covert or counterterrorism missions, often working with intelligence agency personnel. Bidens new, extended timeline will allow a safe and orderly withdrawal of American troops in coordination with NATO allies, the administration official added. The presidents decision, however, risks retaliation by the Taliban on U.S. and Afghan forces, possibly escalating the 20-year war. And it will reignite political division over Americas involvement in what many have called the endless war. An intelligence community report issued Tuesday about global challenges for the next year said prospects for a peace deal in Afghanistan are low and warned that the Taliban is likely to make gains on the battlefield. If the coalition withdraws support, the report says, the Afghan government will struggle to control the Taliban. Congressional reaction to the new deadline was mixed. Precipitously withdrawing U.S. forces from Afghanistan is a grave mistake, said Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky. It is retreat in the face of an enemy that has not yet been vanquished and abdication of American leadership. Sen. Jim Inhofe of Oklahoma, the ranking Republican on the Senate Armed Services Committee, slammed it as a reckless and dangerous decision. He said any withdrawal should be conditions-based, adding that arbitrary deadlines could put troops in danger, create a breeding ground for terrorists and lead to civil war in Afghanistan. Democrats were generally more supportive. Sen. Jack Reed, chairman of the Armed Services Committee, said Trumps May 1 deadline limited Bidens options. We still have vital interests in protecting against terrorist attacks that could be emanating from that part of the world, but there are other areas, too, we have to be conscious of, Reed said. Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va., said troops should come home, and the U.S. must refocus American national security on more pressing challenges. But at least one senior Democrat expressed disappointment. Sen. Jeanne Shaheen of New Hampshire said in a tweet that the U.S. has sacrificed too much to bring stability to Afghanistan to leave w/o verifiable assurances of a secure future. Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahed told The Associated Press that the religious militia is waiting for a formal announcement to issue its reaction. The Taliban previously warned the U.S. of consequences if it reneged on the May 1 deadline. In a February 2020 agreement with the administration of President Donald Trump, the Taliban agreed to halt attacks and hold peace talks with the Afghan government, in exchange for a U.S. commitment to a complete withdrawal by May 2021. Over the past year, U.S. military commanders and defense officials have said that attacks on U.S. troops have largely paused, but that Taliban attacks on the Afghans increased. Commanders have argued that the Taliban have failed to meet the conditions of the peace agreement by continuing attacks on the Afghans and failing to totally cut ties with al-Qaida and other extremist groups. When Biden entered the White House in January, he was keenly aware of the looming deadline and had time to meet it if he had chosen to do so. He began a review of the February 2020 agreement shortly after taking office, and has been consulting at length with his defense advisers and allies. In recent weeks, it became increasingly clear that he was leaning toward defying the deadline. Its going to be hard to meet the May 1 deadline, Biden said in March. Just in terms of tactical reasons, its hard to get those troops out. He added, And if we leave, were going to do so in a safe and orderly way. ___ Knickmeyer reported from Oklahoma City. Associated Press writers Kathy Gannon in Islamabad, Eric Tucker and broadcast correspondent Sagar Meghani contributed to this report. The Alsek River as it meets Dry Bay, Alaska. Credit: Sam Beebe/Flickr The Alsek River flows from the Yukon Territory in northern Canada to the Pacific Ocean, with its mouth right on the edge of Glacier Bay National Park in Alaska. On its course, the Alsek cuts through some of the wildest country in North Americaglaciers plunge into bright blue water, mountains tower in distance, and grizzly bears hunt wild salmon along its wildflower-studded banks. This wilderness has made the Alsek host to one of the world's most renowned rafting routes, from the Yukon to the Gulf of Alaska. Today, the mighty glacier-fed Alsek River meets the Pacific Ocean in Dry Baybut that could change in the near future. "Everyone just assumes that's where that river goes," said geologist Michael Loso in an interview with GlacierHub. "But it could go somewhere else." For years, Loso, who is the National Park Services' principal glacier investigator for central and southeast Alaska, has suspected that the Alsek may be destined to shift course. In a recent paper in the journal Geomorphology, he collaborated with several scientists to demonstrate this point. On the way to its terminus in Dry Bay, the river passes through Alsek Lake. To the southeast of Alsek Lake there is a second body of water, Grand Plateau Lake, that is not currently fed by the Alsek River. Between the two lakes is the Grand Plateau Glacier, which serves as a dam that keeps them from merging. The Grand Plateau Glacier has been shrinking slowly for decades, but recession has accelerated in the last decade, when at times it has retreated more than one kilometer a year. Researchers have concluded that at the current rate of retreat, the merging of Alsek and Grand Plateau Lakes is inevitable. One key piece of evidence is the depth of the glacier. If the glacier were shallow, there could have been enough land in between the two lakes that they would remain dammed even if the glacier disappeared completely. Loso explained that this is not the case, saying "Radar data allowed us to demonstrate that the glacier's depth is such that when the ice is gone, there will be nothing to prevent the two lakes from connecting." Loso and his co-authors predict that once the Grand Plateau Glacier has retreated to the point that it can no longer serve as a dam, gravity is likely to entice the Alsek River to abandon its current route and enter the Pacific by the much steeper route of Grand Plateau Lake. While shifting the course of an entire river is significant on its own, this particular shift includes several challenging logistical consequences. "Presently, the main recreational activity that takes place on the Alsek River is rafting. When people raft from Canada into Alaska, they end the trip in Dry Bay," explained Loso. "If the river moves to the other outlet it will actually move into the boundaries of Glacier Bay National Park." This will pose some significant challenges, as the part of the park that includes the new outlet is designated as National Park Wilderness. When rafters finish the route trip today, they end up in a part of Alaska not connected to the road system. At Dry Bay there is an air strip, meaning that voyagers can easily be picked up by plane or helicopter. At the new outlet, there is no air strip and current regulations prohibit the building of such a structure. The National Park is supportive of rafting, but the process to allow pick-ups would not be simple. "The National Park Service would have to figure out how to get people out of there and potentially modify some regulations," said Loso. "This is possible, but not trivialit would take some advance planning and effort, and there would have to be a public process. It would be complicated." In addition to rafting, there is also a small, but thriving, commercial salmon fishery at Dry Bay. If the Alsek abandons Dry Bay, so will the bulk of the salmon that traverse the river. Loso explained that the fishery likely would not be able to continue. "That fishery has been dealing with declining fish numbers for some time anyway," he said. "It would probably become economically impractical to continue a commercial fishery there without the main flow of the Alsek there to support these fish populations." Joel Hibbard, who owns Canadian River Expeditions, a company that leads rafting expeditions on the Alsek, shares Loso's concerns. "Our guests travel from around the globe to see the ecosystems supported by the cold clean water that these glaciers provide," said Hibbard in an interview with GlacierHub. "This change would compromise a crucial component of how we, and the fishing community at Dry Bay, do business." The people who depend on the Alsek River don't have long to establish contingency plans. Loso estimates that the shift of the Alsek will happen within 10-30 years, and possibly within the next decade. "The uncertainty is because of calving," explained Loso. "Because this glacier terminates in two different lakes, it loses a lot of ice to icebergs calving off into the lakes. It is much more difficult to predict the timing of calving than the timing of melt." Hibbard hopes that the projected shift of the Alsek River will inspire people around the world to carefully consider the implications of climate change. "There is hope that this dynamic event will draw attention to the region and the challenges that climate change is presenting and, through that, help inspire people to visit and come to understand the scale of the change that is occurring," said Hibbard. For now, rafting and fishing on the Alsek will continue, but in the future these industries may be another casualty of the climate crisis. With thoughtful preparation, the National Park Service may be able to work with rafting companies to ensure that visitors can be inspired by the Alsek River for years to come. Hibbard and Loso both highlighted the importance of recreation on the Alsek, which appears to leave an indelible mark on those who visit it. "Life seems to stand still for a moment on Alsek Lake," said Hibbard, who described with enthusiasm the route he first traveled 17 years ago. "We do not know how this will play out," he continued. "But we can immediately begin asking tough questions of our political leaders and ensure we are planning for these changes now." More information: Michael G. Loso et al. Quo vadis, Alsek? Climate-driven glacier retreat may change the course of a major river outlet in southern Alaska, Geomorphology (2021). Journal information: Geomorphology Michael G. Loso et al. Quo vadis, Alsek? Climate-driven glacier retreat may change the course of a major river outlet in southern Alaska,(2021). DOI: 10.1016/j.geomorph.2021.107701 This story is republished courtesy of Earth Institute, Columbia University http://blogs.ei.columbia.edu. The defense team of Derek Chauvin, the ex-cop charged with the murder of George Floyd, brought a medical expert who said during Wednesday's trial that carbon monoxide poisoning might be one of the contributing factors to the Black man's death. Retired forensic pathologist Dr. David Fowler was called by Derek Chauvin's defense team on the 13th day of his murder trial. His testimony was considered a marked departure from what was previously stated by medical experts called in by the prosecution. David Fowler, a former chief medical examiner of Maryland, was asked about his opinion on George Floyd's cause and manner of death. This was after he reviewed the death certificate, medical records, and autopsy of the victim. Fowler said a sudden cardiac arrhythmia due to his atherosclerotic, and hypertensive heart disease caused Floyd's death during the restraint, Yahoo! News reported. He was then asked if he believed there were other factors that could have contributed to Floyd's death. Fowler noted that there were several substances, including methamphetamine and fentanyl, that could have been factors. He added that carbon monoxide might also have played a role in the death of George Floyd. The medical expert further noted that potential paraganglioma added adrenaline to the whole mixture of the said substances that made things worse for George Floyd. David Fowler said paraganglioma is a tumor found in the victim's abdominal area during the autopsy. READ NEXT: Kim Potter: Cop Who Shot Daunte Wright Resigns, Flees Home First Mention of Carbon Monoxide in Derek Chauvin's Trial Fowler's statement was the first time that the potentially lethal gas, carbon monoxide, was brought up during Derek Chauvin's trial and was considered a contributing factor to Floyd's death, CBS News reported. According to Fowler, when the former police officer subdued George Floyd, the victim was exposed to the vehicle's exhaust, leading to a possible increase of carbon monoxide in his bloodstream. Moreover, Dr. Andrew Baker, the medical examiner who performed Floyd's autopsy, noted that the deceased showed recent use of meth and fentanyl intoxication. However, state medical examiners have already testified that the amount of substances in George Floyd's body was minimal and could not have played a large role in his death. With all these contributing factors that played a role during the incident, such as the drug intoxication, natural disease, and the restraint, Fowler noted that he would label George Floyd's cause of death "undetermined," MSNBC News reported. However, Fowler's professional opinion and conclusion are different from that of the medical examiners who conducted separate autopsies for the victim's family and Bakers. Others have all concluded that George Floyd died of homicide. The testimony from Fowler is consistent with the arguments of Derek Chauvin's team throughout the trial. It can be recalled that defense attorney Eric Nelson argued during his opening statement on March 29 that Floyd's death was not solely caused by Derek Chauvin's use of force but by other factors as well. The defense team is expected to continue their arguments this week. Derek Chauvin is currently facing charges of second-degree manslaughter, second-degree murder, and third-degree murder for Floyd's death. George Floyd's death became a high-profile case as it sparked several protests all over the country as people marched against police brutality and systemic racism. READ MORE: Medical Expert Defends George Floyd's Cause of Death Focusing on Oxygen Loss WATCH: Derek Chauvin Trial Continues On George Floyd's Death - Day 13 - From NBC News AM Best has affirmed the Financial Strength Rating of A (Excellent) and the Long-Term Issuer Credit Rating of "a" of Oman Insurance Company P.S.C. (OIC) (United Arab Emirates). The outlook of these Credit Ratings (ratings) is stable. The ratings reflect OIC's balance sheet strength, which AM Best assesses as very strong, as well as its strong operating performance, neutral business profile and appropriate enterprise risk management. OIC's balance sheet strength is underpinned by its strongest level of risk-adjusted capitalisation, as measured by Best's Capital Adequacy Ratio (BCAR). AM Best expects prospective BCAR scores to remain comfortably in excess of the minimum required for the strongest level assessment, as the company actively manages its capital position, ensuring its capital base supports its business plans. The company's balance sheet strength is supported by its conservative investment portfolio, excellent liquidity and prudent reserving practices. An offsetting factor is OIC's high level of reinsurance dependence, albeit not as significant as other regional peers, with low retention across many lines of business. This is partially mitigated by a panel of reinsurers of high credit quality. OIC has a track-record of strong operating performance, demonstrated by a 10-year (2011-2020) weighted return-on-equity (ROE) ratio of 8.2%. The company reported a profit after tax of AED 196.5 million (USD 53.5 million) for 2020, an increase of 3% from the prior year, which translated to an ROE of 9.9%. Underwriting performance improved from 2019 with the company benefitting from the removal of certain loss making accounts and increased retention of profitable business in line with its risk appetite. The overall impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on OIC's underwriting performance for 2020 was broadly neutral with favourable claims experience on the company's motor line of business offset by higher claims in its medical portfolio. OIC's investment performance improved in 2020 with the company continuing to benefit from an increase in its free cash flows generated from the robust credit management strategy. AM Best expects operating performance to remain strong prospectively, supported by disciplined underwriting and stable investment results. OIC has a market leading position in the UAE, where it ranks as the third largest insurance company by gross written premium. In 2020, the company's gross premium revenues increased marginally to AED 3.6 billion (2019: AED 3.5 billion) despite challenging market conditions. Whilst OIC's business continues to be concentrated in the UAE, it is well-diversified by line of business across the life and non-life segments. Geographic concentration in the UAE is expected to reduce slowly as the company prudently expands its international facultative business. This press release relates to Credit Ratings that have been published on AM Best's website. For all rating information relating to the release and pertinent disclosures, including details of the office responsible for issuing each of the individual ratings referenced in this release, please see AM Best's Recent Rating Activity web page. For additional information regarding the use and limitations of Credit Rating opinions, please view Guide to Best's Credit Ratings. For information on the proper media use of Best's Credit Ratings and AM Best press releases, please view Guide for Media Proper Use of Best's Credit Ratings and AM Best Rating Action Press Releases. AM Best is a global credit rating agency, news publisher and data analytics provider specialising in the insurance industry. Headquartered in the United States, the company does business in over 100 countries with regional offices in London, Amsterdam, Dubai, Hong Kong, Singapore and Mexico City. For more information, visit www.ambest.com. Copyright 2021 by A.M. Best Rating Services, Inc. and/or its affiliates. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210415005667/en/ Contacts: Barnaby Unwin Hoskins Financial Analyst +44 20 7397 0327 barnaby.unwinhoskins@ambest.com Christopher Sharkey Manager, Public Relations +1 908 439 2200, ext. 5159 christopher.sharkey@ambest.com Jessica Botelho-Young, CA Associate Director, Analytics +44 20 7397 0310 jessica.botelho@ambest.com Jim Peavy Director, Communications +1 908 439 2200, ext. 5644 james.peavy@ambest.com Kathmandu, April 15 : Indian traders and businessmen doing business in China are now queuing up in hospitals in Kathmandu to get the Chinese Covid-19 vaccines, according to officials. The officials said that there was an acute surge of Indian businessmen and traders in Kathmandu hospitals this week. We started probing this issue after we noticed that Indian businessmen are getting jabs, two senior Nepal government officials told IANS. After the probe, we came to know that Indian businessmen flying to Kathmandu to receive the jab and going back after the immunisation, they added. Some Indian traders had shown their identity cards written in Chinese and they spoke in Hindi, the officials said, adding that it was later found they were flying from India only to receive the jab. Over 30 Indian traders who are doing business in China got the Covid jab on Wednesday, while a huge number are still looking for the jab, a senior official at the Shukraraj Tropical and Infectious Disease Hospital in Teku told IANS. Since Beijing has made Covid vaccination mandatory to enter the country, Indian traders and businessmen are submitting the identity of doing business in China, the official said. But only later we came to know that they were Indians, the official added. On March 16, the Chinese Embassy in Kathmandu issued a notice and informed that anyone visiting Beijing should have to submit a certificate of Covid-19 vaccination manufactured in China while applying for the visa. Nepal has recently received 800,000 doses of Chinese vaccine called "Vero Cell" developed by Sinopharm as a grant and started inoculating its selected population. On Thursday, a similar line of Indian businessmen are queuing up in Kathmandu-based government hospitals to get the jabs, the officials confirmed. After the incident came into the light, authorities will now shut down the facility to the Indian businessmen and asked anyone seeking jab should provide a Nepali citizenship. After receiving the Chinese vaccine, the Nepal government has started inoculating those involved in essential services; students studying in China under the Chinese government scholarship but are currently stuck in Nepal due to pandemic; Nepali students preparing to leave for China for the higher study; and people involved in cross-border trade between Nepal and China. As of Wednesday, 54 000 individuals have received the Chinese jabs. Amid the worsening Covid situation in India, Nepal is in also a spot. Covid cases are rising in Nepal particularly people coming from India using the open border. Latest updates on Coronavirus (COVID-19) Tirupati, April 15 : A total of 1,500 security personnel, comprising both Andhra Pradesh Police as well as paramilitary forces will be deployed for the smooth conduct of the April 17 Tirupati Lok Sabha bypoll, an official said on Thursday. Chittoor Superintendent of Police S. Senthil Kumar on Thursday said these will include district policemen as well as four companies of paramilitary forces. He said 274 polling booths will be set up at 187 polling locations, and of the latter, 87 have been identified as sensitive. He also said 33 route mobile parties, 11 special strike forces and six flying squads have also been arranged. According to Kumar, 48 hours before the election day, no non-voter should stay in the area and all the hotels, lodges, halls and other such establishments have been told not to rent out their premises to outsiders. Police seized liquor and vehicles worth Rs 1.44 crore in their checks carried out at 25 inter-district as well as inter-state check posts. The police chief shared a Whatsapp number, 9440900005, for people to share polling day and vote counting time violations. So far, the city has paid out about $1.1 million, with about a quarter of the claims still unresolved, according to the city comptrollers office, which handles the process. Some residents said they felt pressured to take low offers to cover mounting bills. Basic homeowner and tenants insurance in New York State either does not cover, or limits coverage, for sewer backups. One point of confusion has been the practice that the city follows and argues is their legal responsibility covering the depreciated value of lost property, not the original value. If someone purchased a couch for $1,000 a decade ago and it was ruined, they may only get $300 from the city today, even if that is not enough to buy a new couch. Bill Neidhardt, the press secretary for Mayor Bill de Blasio, blamed the comptrollers office for delayed payments. The city has accepted responsibility, and we urge the comptroller to make these payments as quickly as possible to make these families whole again, Mr. Neidhardt said in a statement. A spokeswoman for Scott M. Stringer, the city comptroller, said the office has worked swiftly. We also recognize that the sewage backup aftermath has underscored systemic inequities that cannot be fully alleviated within the legal limitations of the powers of the comptrollers office, said Hazel Crampton-Hays, the press secretary for Mr. Stringer, who is running for mayor. Initially, homeowners had believed the city would fully reimburse them, they said. They had felt that they had been discouraged from hiring lawyers, though city officials had told them that was an option. Now, 19 people have filed a joint lawsuit, and another 15 families are being represented by pro bono lawyers through the South Ozone Park Sewage Legal Assistance Project, an initiative of the New York Lawyers for the Public Interest. Craig Phemister, the lawyer who is representing the 19 residents who filed suit, said the citys response has been hurtful. You put people in a situation where they are out of their home, or can barely stand to be in their home, and then you expect them to fight you on top of it, he said. Iran: Photo taken on April 9, 2021 shows a meeting of the Joint Commission of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) in Vienna, Austria. (EU Delegation in Vienna/Handout via Xinhua/IANS) Image Source: IANS News Tehran, April 15 : Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has reiterated Tehran's position that US sanctions must be lifted before the Islamic Republic returns to its compliance with the 2015 nuclear deal, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA). "The officials' assessment is to go and negotiate in order to implement that policy, and we have no objection in this regard," Khamenei said in a public event on Wednesday. Talking through video conference in a religious ceremony to celebrate the first day of the holy month of Ramadan, the Supreme Leader stated that the US officials' expressions of readiness to negotiate do not mean that Washington is ready to "listen and accept what is fair", but are rather a sign of their determination to "impose their unjust position". The US "has not kept its promises on dozens of occasions", he said. Two meetings of the JCPOA Joint Commission were held last week in Vienna, chaired by Enrique Mora, the deputy secretary general and political director of the EU External Service Action Service, and attended by representatives from China, France, Germany, Russia, the UK and Iran. Washington sent a delegation led by US Special Envoy to Iran Robert Malley. They did not meet their Iranian counterparts face-to-face, but a shuttle diplomacy approach was adopted with the intensified help of the coordinators. This week, voices were clearly heard in Tehran asking the government to halt the Vienna talks after the Iranian uranium enrichment plant in Natanz suffered an attack on April 11, which the country has accused Israel of. There were minor interruptions in 55 feeders out of the 2,500 feeders in the Metro Zone, and this was also the case with three feeders in RR Zone. Repreesntational image/DC HYDERABAD: Residents across the Old City experienced intermittent power cuts during the first Taraweeh and Saheri (pre-dawn meal) timings on Tuesday night as also during the early hours of Wednesday. The outages, in some localities, lasted a couple of hours. With spells of heavy rain and gusty winds resulting in repeated disruptions of power supply, people in several localities like Chanchalguda, Hafiz Baba Nagar-A Block, Bandlaguda, Mehdipatnam, Nampally, and Red Hills had a hard time at night. Residents complained on social media that the officials were not prompt in responding to their grievances. Spokesperson of Majlis Bachao Tahreek (MBT) Amjadullah Khan Khalid said there was no power supply in Chanchalguda the previous night. Director of operations of the Telangana state southern power distribution company (TSSPDCL) J Srinivas Reddy clarified that the power supply from a few feeders was disrupted due to the heavy wind and gale. He said there were minor interruptions in 55 feeders out of the 2,500 feeders in the Metro Zone, and this was also the case with three feeders in RR Zone. Our officials and workers were monitoring the situation and engaged in restoring the power through the entire night, he said. The official said a large number of employees were suffering from the pandemic. Yet, we are on job to provide uninterrupted supply to our consumers. We understand that people may face difficulties in summer and fasting days even if the supply is disrupted for a short while. We express our regrets to our valuable consumers. New Delhi, April 15: The rising number of false negative tests for Covid-19, surfacing in the second wave of the pandemic sweeping across India, have become a cause for grave concern. This is being attributed to some new strains of coronavirus that the standard RT-PCR tests are not being able to detect. There are increasing cases of patients with full-blown symptoms of Covid-19 testing negative. Health experts are of the view that the coronavirus is constantly mutating and some new strains have emerged which may not be detected by the current RT-PCR tests. A false negative test report, leads to a costly delay in the treatment of patients and comes in the way of early isolation of infected people which is essential to prevent the rapid spread of Covid-19. It poses a major setback in the fight against the dreaded pandemic as such persons can turn out to be "super carriers" of the disease. USFDA recommendations The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (USFDA) regularly monitors the potential effects of genetic variation in molecular tests. It had alerted clinical laboratory staff and health care providers in the US in January this year that false negative results may occur with any molecular test for the detection of SARS-CoV-2 if a mutation occurs in the part of the virus' genome assessed by that test. The FDA recommends clinical laboratory staff and health care providers who use molecular tests for the detection of SARS-CoV-2 to: - Be aware that genetic variants of SARS-CoV-2 arise regularly and false negative test results can occur. - Be aware that tests that use multiple genetic targets to determine a final result are less likely to be impacted by increased prevalence of genetic variants. - Consider negative results in combination with clinical observations, patient history, and epidemiological information. - Consider repeat testing with a different test (with different genetic targets) if COVID-19 is still suspected after receiving a negative test result. The USFDA said it monitors these potential performance changes by comparing the sequence of genetic variants of the SARS-CoV-2 virus with the RNA sequences targeted by authorized SARS-CoV-2 tests. The clinical impact of genetic variants on test sensitivity is influenced by the sequence of the variant, the design of test and the prevalence of the variant in the patient population. Tests that rely on the detection of multiple regions of the genome may be less impacted by genetic variation in the SARS-CoV2 genome than tests that rely on detection of only a single region, according to USFDA. Hasty testing also a factor Another factor that has been identified for false negative test reports is the hasty manner in which some of these tests are being carried out. Prime Minister Narendra Modi had pointed out at the meeting with the chief ministers of states last week that they must ensure that tests are carried out properly. He had said that there were many cases in which careless healthcare workers were taking samples in a superficial manner without properly inserting the swabs as a result of which false negative reports were being recorded. (This content is being carried under an arrangement with indianarrative.com) --indianarrative/ Latest updates on Coronavirus (COVID-19) ST. MARTIN, Mississippi -- A 17-year-old has been arrested and charged as an adult for the March 31 armed robbery of Big Bs in the St. Martin community. Jackson County Sheriff Mike Ezell said Wednesday that Treyvontae Javaughn Livingston robbed the Big Bs store on north Washington Avenue in St. Martin at gunpoint on March 31. Livingston turned himself in Tuesday afternoon. Wednesday, he posted $20,000 bond and was released to his mothers custody. No other information on the incident was released. The Pennsylvania Historical & Museum Commission on Saturday morning is planning to hold a dedication ceremony that will include the unveiling of a marker honoring George Croghan. The 10 a.m. ceremony will take place at the residence of Rev. Dr. Stephen and Anne Gallaher; 401 Skyport Road, Mechanicsburg. It is open to the public. Croghan was an Irish immigrant and land speculator who launched one of the largest and most effective British trade networks in America beginning in the 1740s, according to a release sent out earlier today. From his original trading post at 401 Skyport Road, he expanded as far as the French-controlled Ohio Country and into present-day Michigan and Illinois. He learned several Native American languages, embraced Native American customs, and kept his word in negotiations, the release said. These traits gained him a significant advantage in securing sources for the furs in high demand in Europe. In addition, he was a key negotiator for the British and Indian conferences for three decades. Says Stephen Gallaher, We want to honor the legacy of a man who was so influential in the early development of our emerging nation. The event will include music, reenactors, and refreshments. COVID-19 protocols will be in effect, including masks and social distancing. Parking is available next door to the ceremony location at Hampden Elementary School. In addition, visitors can park on the street. While there is no rain date, the event will move inside a large garage in case the weather is bad. Would you like to receive breaking news notifications from The Post and Courier? Sign up to receive news and updates from this site directly to your desktop. Breaking News Columbia Breaking News Greenville Breaking News Myrtle Beach Breaking News Aiken Breaking News Click on the bell icon to manage your notifications at any time. Success! Please click the 'Allow' button in the 'Show Notifcations' alert in your browser if one is available. Thank you for signing up! Please enable notifications in your browser and reload the page. HSBC has doubled down on its shift to Asia, sending yet another of its top executives from London to Hong Kong. Nicolas Moreau, the banks head of asset management, will now join three other bosses in the former British territory later this year. HSBC, which was founded in Hong Kong by Scotsman Thomas Sutherland in 1865, has been ramping up its business in Asia as it cuts back its less profitable divisions in Europe and the US. HSBC, which was founded in Hong Kong by Scotsman Thomas Sutherland in 1865, has been ramping up its business in Asia as it cuts back its less profitable divisions in Europe and the US Earlier this year it was reported that Greg Guyett, co-head of global banking and markets, Nuno Matos, chief executive of wealth and personal banking, and Barry OByrne, chief executive of global commercial banking, would move to the lenders historic home. But in an internal email, chief executive Noel Quinn confirmed Moreau would be joining them. HSBC makes the vast majority of its profits in Asia, but now almost all of the banks global revenue will be run out of Hong Kong. In the email, Quinn said the moves underscore the importance of the Asia-Pacific region. He added: An important part of our global strategy is to base more of our leadership in Asia. Quinn was careful to give a nod to Britain, saying: We remain fully committed to the UK, both in terms of our domicile and our significant businesses and client base in the country. The shift may raise questions about how much power remains in London. For British politicians, who have slammed HSBC for failing to stand up for Hong Kongers in the face of increased Chinese bullying, the departures may be seen as another step to sever ties with the UK. Earlier this year, MPs on the Foreign Affairs Committee accused HSBC of aiding and abetting one of the biggest crackdowns on democracy in the world. Terrifying footage has captured a curious shark stalking a crocodile in crystal clear waters in Australia's Top End. The croc was seen floating on the water's surface in the Northern Territory last Saturday as a shark lurked beneath it, circling the reptile. In the nerve-wracking footage of the two apex predators, the brave shark, believed to be a tiger shark, is seen swimming right behind the large croc which then appears to flee onto nearby rocks. A curious shark was seen stalking a crocodile in waters in the Northern Territory last weekend The encounter was filmed by Duncan Brotchie who said the crocodile was definitely a 'bit weary' of the shark hot on its tail and 'keen' to get onto the rocks. 'I took a few pictures of the croc by itself and thought that was it and then the shark appeared and I just hit record and tried to follow them without freaking out too much!' Mr Brotchie told Daily Mail Australia. 'We were probably about 10 meters away but could only see the footage from the drone because of the glare on the water, so you wouldn't know at all what was happening without seeing it from above. 'The shark did get really close to the croc so I thought something might happen, but it probably had second thoughts!' The terrifying encounter between the two apex predators was seen in the Northern Territory on Saturday The croc appeared to flee onto nearby rocks as the shark swam right behind it In a face off between predators such as a shark and a crocodile, it's believed that sharks will usually come off second best. Earlier this year, a four-metre saltwater crocodile was seen devouring a shark that a woman had just caught on her fishing line in Far North Queensland. The croc had stalked the shark along the shore after it was reeled in by the woman and seconds later the reptile had the fish between its teeth. Claranova is a high-growth international technology group with a long-term vision and resilient business models operating in high potential markets. As the leader in personalized e-commerce (PlanetArt), Claranova provides added value through technological expertise in software publishing (Avanquest) and the Internet of Things (myDevices). These three business divisions share a common mission to simplify access to new technologies through solutions combining innovation and ease of use. Based on these strengths, Claranova has maintained an average annual rate of growth for the past three years of more than 45% and in FY 2019-2020 had revenue of 409 million. 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. Former Secretary of State Mike Pompeos dormant U.S. House campaign fund has donated to a newly formed political action committee that uses the same Kansas-based bank and bears the name of his new political slogan, according to financial disclosures. The Champion American Values committee was created on February 22. Two days later, Pompeos former House committee, Pompeo for Kansas, Inc. contributed $155,000 to the new PAC. Pompeo for Kansas had just over $845,000 at the end of March, according to the committees filing Thursday with the Federal Election Commission. Both Champion American Values and Pompeo for Kansas have the same treasurer, Robert F. Carlin. Champion American Values shares the same bank as Pompeos old campaign committee, Emprise Bank in Wichita, where Pompeos wife, Susan, was formerly a senior vice president. Pompeo frequently uses the phrase championing American values, including twice during his speech at the Conservative Political Action Conference in Orlando this February. Keep grinding, keep championing American values, Pompeo told the convention of conservative activists. Pompeo has taken other steps to suggest that he might run for president in 2024, including a trip to Iowa last month. Other prospective 2024 candidates not currently in office have federal political action committees. Former Vice President Mike Pence established the Great America Committee in May 2017, shortly after taking office in the Trump administration. The committee had just over $240,000 on hand at the end of February. Former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations and South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley formed the Stand for America PAC in the final days of the Trump presidency, on January 11. She said the PAC will be focused on supporting Republican candidates in 2022 midterm elections. The committee hasnt reported yet how much it has raised. Representatives of Pompeo and of the PAC did not immediately respond to requests for comment. The Stars Bryan Lowry and McClatchys Michael Wilner contributed to this story. 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. Demonstrators protesting the shooting death of Daunte Wright face off with police near the Brooklyn Center police station on 13 April, 2021 (Getty Images) A journalist at the Minneapolis Star Tribune was reportedly shot with a non-lethal round and was seriously injured while covering the Daunte Wright protests in Minneapolis. According to freelance journalist Jared Goyette, he is working with the ACLU to file an emergency restraining order against the Minneapolis Police Department to force them to stop firing non-lethal rounds at journalists covering the protests. He said the journalist - a reporter at the Minneapolis Star Tribune - is doing "ok," but said he was worried more reporters would be injured while trying to do their jobs. "We have a constitutionally protected right to cover events of public interest. That is also our job. We need to be able to see what's happening and document the actions of all parties," he said in a Twitter post. Throughout the 2020 George Floyd protests, numerous instances of police shooting non-lethal rounds, throwing explosive devices at journalists, or beating and detaining journalists occurred. A video from protests in Kentucky showed police officers aiming their weapons at journalists, and firing pepper balls at them, which prompted an apology from the mayor of Louisville. In another instance, Minneapolis police threw an explosive device near an MSNBC crew who were covering the protests in the wake of Mr Floyd's killing. Also in Minneapolis in 2020, journalist Linda Tirado was blinded after an officer shot her in the eye with a non-lethal round. Non-lethal rounds are not intended to be aimed at people's heads. Protests broke out after Brooklyn Center police officer Kim Potter shot Mr Wright, killing him. She claims she intended to use a Taser on the man, but accidentally drew her side arm and killed him. In police body camera footage, Ms Potter can be heard saying "Taser" three times before pulling her gun and firing a single shot at Mr Wright, killing him. "Holy s***, I just shot him," she says in the video. Story continues She has since resigned, as has Brooklyn Center police chief Tim Gannon. She was arrested Wednesday on charges of second degree murder. The protests are fueled not just by another policing killing of a young Black man, but by the ongoing murder trial of former Minneapolis police officer Derrick Chauvin, who is accused of killing Mr Floyd last march by kneeling on his neck for nearly ten minutes while detaining him. Read More Daunte Wright was accidentally shot dead by officer who was trying to taser him GOP leader said he got Covid after being forced to attend party event Soldier charged for accosting Black man in wrong neighbourhood Pilibhit : , April 15 (IANS) A 19-year-old girl, said to be mentally unstable, was found dead under mysterious circumstances in her house in the Gajraula area of Pilibhit district. Her family alleged that she was murdered on Tuesday night after a failed rape attempt by a local who entered their house through the roof. The police said there were no injury marks on the body and the post mortem report on Wednesday also failed to ascertain the cause of death. The viscera has been preserved for a further test. The police have detained a 35-year-old suspect, a labourer and resident of the same village, for questioning. No evidence has yet been found against the suspect. Pilibhit Superintendent of Police, Kirit Kumar Rathod, said, "A police team rushed to the village after receiving the information. The girl's kin have named a local whom they had seen with the girl in an objectionable position earlier in the evening. Action will be taken on the basis of evidence. So far, we have not found any evidence against the alleged accused." No FIR has been registered in the case as yet. The girl's parents are also labourers and she used to stay alone at home in their absence. STARKVILLE, Miss. (WTVA) - On Monday, President Biden discussed issues with bridges across the country. In Mississippi, county bridges may need the most help. A professor at Mississippi State University hopes a popular building material from the past could be a cost effective and environmentally friendly option for the future. Rubin Shmulsky has worked with timber products for nearly 25 years. He said this would could help build stronger, more durable bridges. We have bridges that are derated or in need of repair and we find theres never enough money to replace all the bridges all at once and do all the work thats needed," said Shmulsky. "Finding the lowest cost, best solutions is favorable for everybody. Shmulsky said the timber is preserved to ensure no rotting or decaying takes place, helping these bridges last for 50 years or more. The professor said the bridges can handle heavy loads with ease and minimize their deflections making for a comfortable ride across. The timber bridge in Oktibbeha County took very little time to construct, giving people a chance to resume using the road faster. With all these benefits, Shmulsky hopes timber will become more widely considered in the bridge building process. Often timber is the lowest cost, but it doesnt get considered," he said. "We think that could help Oktibbeha County. We think it could help the state and it helps the nation when we come up with low cost transportation solutions. There is also a timber bridge in Tallahatchie County. It took crews just five days to fully install. Sierra Specialty Sierra Specialty, program specialist, managing general agency and wholesale insurance brokerage, has appointed Vicky Dith as a broker and underwriter specializing in construction insurance. Dith is located in Clovis, Calif. Dith will be working with Sierra Specialtys commercial lines team to expand the companys construction division. She has more than 20 years of commercial lines experience. Her areas of expertise include construction for all lines casualty, excess, and professional as well as high-hazard property insurance, garage and agricultural risks. Most recently, Dith held the position of production underwriter for Burns & Wilcox, focused on general liability, property, professional liability, umbrella, auto, property, inland marine and cyber liability. Lockton Lockton Companies has named Patrick McHugh as vice president in its Seattle, Wash., practice. Prior to joining Lockton, McHugh was vice president with Parker, Smith & Feeks hospitality and real estate practices, where he developed insurance, risk management and employee benefits programs for hotel and restaurant groups, as well as real estate investors, managers and developers. His specialty areas include traditional insurance and alternative risk placements, owner-controlled insurance programs, builders risk, and association-sponsored affinity programs. CWCI Kris Mathis, senior vice president of claims for CopperPoint Insurance Cos., a Western-based super regional commercial insurance company, has been re-elected to the California Workers Compensation Institute Board of Directors and Executive Committee for 2021. The CWCI is a private, nonprofit association working to improve California workers comp through research, information, education and representation. CWCI members include 26 insurer groups, as well as 33 of the largest public and private self-insured employers in the state. Topics California Lockton (Newser) Walmart is moving more of its workers to full time as the nation's largest private employer looks for ways to attract and retain employees. The company said Wednesday it plans to have two-thirds of its US store hourly jobs be full time with more consistent work schedules by Jan. 31, the end of its current fiscal year, the AP reports. That's up from 53% five years ago, the company said. With the move, Walmart will have 740,000 of its 1.2 million US Walmart hourly store workers working full time by early next year. Walmart employs roughly 1.5 million workers in the US, including those at Sam's Club, distribution centers, and in corporate and managerial jobs. Drew Holler, Walmart's senior vice president of U.S. people operations, said workers are demanding full-time jobs, which have better health and dental benefits. The exploding pickup and delivery businesses also are calling for more full-time jobs. story continues below "We know offering more full-time opportunities along with skills training and equipping associates with tools to make work easier will help us continue to attract and retain top talent," Holler wrote in a blog. Walmart considers any employee working 34 hours or more a week full time, though anyone working 30 hours a week or more is eligible for health coverage. With team scheduling, Walmart workers will have consistent 39- to 40-hour schedules, the retailer said. But Walmart has been criticized by labor-backed groups and its own workers for lagging behind retailers like Target, Amazon, and Costco. Costco just raised its minimum hourly wage to $16, while the starting pay at Target and Amazon is $15 per hour. Walmart last raised its entry-level wages for US hourly employees to $11 in early 2018. Cynthia Murray, a 20-year associate in Hyattsville, Maryland, and member of United for Respect, a worker advocacy group, says she's encouraged that more workers at Walmart will be full-time. But she says the company needs to take greater action to respect us." (Read more Walmart stories.) Facing rising competition throughout the Indo-Pacific and reminded that its mission is to use lethal force, the Australian navys decision to hire a group of twerking dancers for the commissioning of a naval vessel was an unexpected choice. It seems the strategic pivot to regional tensions, so often cited in defence white papers, will also perhaps be accompanied by a step-ball-change and a few pirouettes. In what was supposed to be a great military moment, the official launch of the HMAS Supply in Sydney last weekend was emphatically upstaged by a hip-hop routine from Sydney dance troupe 101 Doll Squadron. While the unison choreography didnt have the same faultless precision of most military drills, the squads involvement was an apparent attempt by the navy to engage all parts of the local community in the days celebrations. What some cannot believe is that the routine involved twerking a dance move originating in West Africa and now popularised in black urban dance culture at an otherwise dignified and important event. One Liberal backbencher has called for better standards, with another senior MP labelling it a shitshow. Its since transpired that the ABCs now-viral footage of the performance was highly edited and skewed the sequence of events. The Australian Defence Force (ADF) has insisted the most important VIPs, including the Defence chief and Governor-General, werent in attendance for the livelier parts of the day. (@ChaudhryMAli88) DUSHANBE (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 15th April, 2021) Russian and Belarusian military will begin to carry out joint air defense duty at a Belarusian airfield this summer, Maj. Gen. Igor Golub, the commander of the Belarusian air force and air defense force, said on Thursday. An action plan for the duty forces of the Russian-Belarusian unified regional air defense system was approved late last year. "As part of its practical implementation, forces and equipment of the air force and air defense force of the Republic of Belarus, and Russia's aerospace forces will begin their joint combat duty at an airfield in the Republic of Belarus already this summer," Golub said at a meeting of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS)' air defense coordination committee. Apart from that, Russia and Belarus will jointly take part in battle exercises in Russia's Astrakhan region, and in the CIS Combat Commonwealth-2021 drills later this year, the military official added. Sinn Fein TD Brian Stanley has called for domestic turf cutters" to be protected, following a meeting with Bord na Mona's top brass this week. The TD was among a number of midlands politicians to meet with the Chief Executive of Bord na Mona Tom Donnellan who briefed them on the impact of the 2019 High Court Case on peat extraction operations. Laois Offaly TD Stanley said the ruling is a concern to households who depend on turf from Bord na Mona bogs as a fuel. We are facing into another turf cutting season with hundreds of households in both counties, who are dependent on fuel from Bord na Mona owned turf banks, are at risk of not being able to cut this year. The 2019 High Court ruling that forced Bord na Mona to cease commercial peat harvesting is also causing problems for small scale domestic turf cutters. Those who owned their turf banks or who have turbary rights are unaffected. "However, hundreds of turf cutters, some of whom are former Bord na Mona workers are now being told they cant cut as their banks are owned by Bord na Mona and therefore come under court ruling," he said. The TD outlined what he said to the management. "I made the case that solutions must to be found to resolve this issue as most of the households affected cannot afford the 40 - 60K to retrofit their homes. A lot of their homes are not suitable for retrofitting. I also put it to Tom Donnellan that Bord na Mona where possible should try and relocate cutters to suitable turf banks as some of these moved off other turf banks in the past, which they had rights to, to facilitate Bord na Mona harvesting. I also requested that the companies legal advisors would re-examine the outcome of the 2019 ruling to ascertain if domestic turf cutting can continue under licence or some other means on their bogs, he said. The Laois TD said the CEO committed to revisit this, and also the suggestion that the small scale turf cutters could be facilitated by way of being formed into local groups or associations. Dep Stanley added that the management is also to examine all these options and to engage in a process with turf cutters and representatives to find solutions on each of the relevant to local bogs. LONDON, April 15, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Travel + Leisure, a leading travel publication based in New York City, has praised the Federation of St Kitts and Nevis' robust health and safety travel protocols, highlighting the nation as a model for other destinations to follow. The dual-island nation has been open for international travel since October 2020 after effectively managing to curb the spread of the coronavirus with zero casualties. With tourism a significant revenue-producing sector on the islands, St Kitts and Nevis developed a framework designed to encourage travel whilst keeping the nation and visitors safe. The Nevis Tourism Authority worked with editor Erinne Magee to ensure that all travel requirements were followed. This included having a negative PCR-test within 72 hours of departure followed by uploading a copy of the results on to St Kitts and Nevis' travel portal along with a picture of the traveller's passport. Subsequently, the traveller receives approval forms for boarding and a health screening and temperature check after arriving on the islands. Erinne Magee wrote: "The biggest takeaway? In Nevis, hospitality is not a job, but a way of life. The customer service here shines not because it's required, but because warmth and openness are simply second nature. The slogan in Nevis is: "You're only a stranger once." But I think it's more accurate to say: You're not a stranger at all." Those who are eager to enjoy the islands thoroughly can look forward to its full reopening in October 2021, as recently announced by Prime Minister Timothy Harris. The news comes after the country hit a major vaccination milestone, with 30 percent of the target population now inoculated. "The Federation of St Kitts and Nevis has done exceedingly well in the fight against COVID-19, and we are grateful that to date, we have had no major hospitalisations nor deaths from the virus. As you move towards the full reopening sometime in October, we can expect the virus to return and re-enter our communities," said Medical Chief of Staff at the JNF General Hospital, Dr Cameron Wilkinson. "The difference now compared to the early days in the fight is that we have a vaccine available that can protect us," he added. Those who want to make their stay in St Kitts and Nevis permanent can do so by investing in the popular Citizenship by Investment (CBI) Programme. The Programme provides wealthy individuals with second citizenship after they make an economic contribution to a government fund. Operating since 1984, St Kitts and Nevis' CBI Programme is considered a 'Platinum Standard' within the industry. Those who successfully pass the rigorous multi-tiered vetting procedure gain access to a wealth of opportunities, from visa-free travel to nearly 160 destinations to the right to live, work and study in the nation. Lastly, citizenship can be passed down, thus establishing a future legacy for investors and their families. +447867942505 [email protected] www.csglobalpartners.com SOURCE CS Global Partners Related Links http://www.csglobalpartners.com Radnor, PA, April 15, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- BM Technologies, Inc. (NYSE American: BMTX, BMTX.W), one of the largest digital banking platforms in the country, announced that Hans Fleming has joined the company as SVP, Director of Business Development and Melanie Mathias has joined as SVP, Director of Marketing. In his role, Fleming will work closely with leadership to drive innovation and partnership development. Mathias will lead the marketing team to deliver strategic initiatives that further expand the organizations presence across the marketplace as well as drive customer engagement. We are excited to welcome both Hans and Melanie to BM Technologies (BMTX), stated Luvleen Sidhu, Chair, CEO, and Founder of BM Technologies (BMTX). Their industry knowledge will help further fuel our continued growth as a publicly-traded, neobanking fintech with the mission to financially empower customers. Fleming brings more than 25 years of senior leadership experience within payments and banking, having helped accelerate growth through innovation, operations, strategic partnerships and investments. Prior to joining BM Technologies (BMTX), he spent over 15 years in leadership roles at American Express, and was previously a co-founder and Partner at Amex Ventures, the venture capital arm of American Express. Fleming is passionate about working with teams to drive innovation, and brings deep start-up expertise, having served in various mentorship, operational and board roles at start-ups, most recently as COO of an innovative design and renovation platform and marketplace. He holds an MBA from The Wharton School and a BS in Operations Research from UCLA. BM Technologies (BMTX) has built a robust Banking-as-a-Service (BaaS) platform with a suite of differentiated services that can truly help our partners earn incremental revenue while differentiating their core customer offerings. I look forward to being part of the team to build new partnerships and uncover new-found strategic opportunities, said Fleming. Prior to joining BM Technologies (BMTX), Mathias spent more than 20 years working in the finance, banking and payments industries, and was an integral part of their transformation into FinTech. Over the course of her career, she has become a seasoned expert in growth performance marketing, lifecycle communications, customer experience and creative. Mathias has worked at large organizations including GE and Barclays, in addition to being a marketing leader at smaller start-ups and mid-sized companies such as Green Dot Corp. She is passionate about data-driven marketing and developing marketing talent and capabilities. Mathias holds a BS in Marketing and Finance from the University of California, Berkeley. BM Technologies (BMTX) continues to break barriers in the banking and FinTech industries and I am thrilled to join the team. I will lead the creation of marketing campaigns and initiatives to reach new audiences in addition to utilizing a customer-centric approach to engage and retain our current customer base, said Mathias. Launched in January 2015, BM Technologies (BMTX), formerly known as BankMobile, is on a mission to provide a compliant, digital-first banking experience that is simple, affordable and consumer-friendly. The company has a disruptive, multi-partner distribution model, known as BaaS. Today, BM Technologies (BMTX) provides its BaaS platform to colleges and universities through BankMobile Disbursements, which serves approximately one in every three college students in the United States. Additionally, BM Technologies (BMTX) expanded its BaaS strategy with T-Mobile for the launch of T-Mobile MONEY. The company also executed an agreement with Google to introduce digital bank accounts, which will be available to its customers. # # # About BM Technologies, Inc. BM Technologies, Inc. (NYSE American: BMTX, BMTX.W) is among the largest digital banking platforms in the U.S., providing access to checking and savings accounts, personal loans, credit cards, and financial wellness. It is focused on technology, innovation, easy-to-use products, and education with the mission of being customer-obsessed and creating customers for life. The BMTX digital banking platform employs a multi-partner distribution model, known as Banking-as-a-Service (BaaS), that enables the acquisition of customers at higher volumes and substantially lower expense than traditional banks, while providing significant benefits to its customers, partners, and business. BMTX currently serves over two million account-holders and provides disbursement services at approximately 725 college and university campuses (covering one out of every three students in the U.S.). BM Technologies, Inc. is a technology company and is not a bank, which means it provides banking services through its partner banks. More information can also be found at https://ir.bmtxinc.com/. Attachments Credit: UCLA Center for the Transformation of Schools The UCLA Center for the Transformation of Schools today released a new report examining the relationship between educational outcomes and social, health and environmental factors of Black students in 14 school districts, serving 800 Black students or more in Los Angeles County. Together, these school districts serve more than two-thirds of Black students in the region. The findings spanned neighborhoods from the northern reaches of the Antelope Valley to Long Beach. Detailing a shrinking and shifting Black student population long beset by low levels of academic achievement, the research makes it clear that a disproportionate number of Black children in L.A. County reside in neighborhoods where poverty is concentrated, educational enrichment opportunities are limited, environmental hazards are severe, and resources are lacking. In many of these communities, the challenges facing Black children in school are exacerbated by adverse environmental and social conditions related to concentrated poverty, impacting student learning. And given the disproportionate impact of the COVID-19 virus on low-income communities, the researchers contend that the challenges facing Black students have likely worsened. "The impact of the global pandemic on the education of Black students may potentially be devastating," said UCLA Professor of Education Tyrone C. Howard, faculty director of the Center for the Transformation of Schools."This new research can inform the strategic use of resources to address inequalities, racism, and historical disadvantage, and guide decision making to better serve Black students. "The long and persistent presence of systemic racism inside and outside of schools continues to affect the educational experiences and outcomes of Black students. The report also offers examples of successful efforts and specific recommendations to assist educators and policymakers." "Our hope is that this research will generate intense attention on the needs of Black students in the County," adds UCLA researcher Stanley L. Johnson Jr., lead author of the study, "and spur innovative and meaningful actions to address the economic, social, emotional and environmental challenges that shape and hinder their educational opportunities. We can and must act boldly." The report includes a detailed table of funding made available to school districts in the report by the recently passed federal American Rescue Plan. The 14 districts examined in the research are in line to receive $6 billion in COVID-19 relief funding to support learning recovery efforts. "Black student sand families have been impacted by multigenerational roadblocks to learning opportunities prior to the pandemic. As school districts make plans to use these new resources as they reopen in COVID's wake, it is urgent key decisionmakers at the local, state and federal level pay close attention to the needs of Black students and act to address their needs," said Joseph Bishop, co-author of the report and the director of the UCLA Center for the Transformation of Schools. The report, Beyond the Schoolhouse: Digging Deeper analyzes data from the 14 school districts in LA County with a substantial number of Black students. These districts include: ABC Unified, Antelope Valley Union High School, Bellflower Unified, Centinela Valley Union High School, Compton Unified, Culver City Unified, Inglewood Unified, Long Beach Unified, Los Angeles Unified, Paramount Unified, Pasadena Unified, Pomona Unified, Torrance Unified, and William S. Hart Union High School. The report includes an interactive map of Black student educational outcomes. http://transformschools.ucla.edu/beyond-the-schoolhouse-digging-deeper/interactive-map/ The research makes clear that Black students in the districts included in the studylive in neighborhoods challenged by concentrated poverty and inequality. In 10 out of 14 school districts where Black students attend school and their surrounding neighborhoods, more than 40 percent of these families live two times below the federal poverty line. Black student enrollment has also declined across Los Angeles County by 42 percent over the past 20 years. But some districts, including Antelope Valley and William S. Hart High School District, have seen significant growth in enrollment of Black students, raising concerning academic and discipline challenges. In this context, the report digs deeper into the academic achievement and school climate and policing data, and explores the health and neighborhood conditions of the focus districts. Key among the findings: Academic Achievement Black students have historically trailed their student peers on California's measurements of academic achievement. In many of the school districts in the study, the performance of Black students on standardized assessments and graduation rates is significantly lower than is observed for other groups. For example, in 10 of 14 of the districts, more than half of Black students failed to meet state standards in mathematics in 2018-19. In three of those districts, more than eight in ten students failed to meet the state's standards in mathematics. Black students also trailed their peers on such measurements as graduation rates and completion of courses for UC/CSU eligibility. Black students continue to graduate at a lower rate compared to their counterparts and there is a great deal of variation in graduation rates. For example, only 76 percent of Black students in the Antelope Valley Unified School District graduated in four years compared to 97 percent of Black students in the Torrance Unified School District. School Climate The research highlights important findings regarding school policing, student suspensions, and chronic absenteeism. School policing has a disproportionate impact on Black students. Every district in the report's sample has some form of police involvement on high school campuses and arrests, and other involvement with school police in Los Angeles County falls especially hard on Black students. A recent UCLA report analyzing 2014-2017 arrest, citation and diversion data, found that although Black student enrollment during this period was just 8 percent in LAUSD, Black students accounted for 25 percent of serious interactions with school police. The report also finds agreat deal of variation in suspension rates for both Black male and female students. In Antelope Valley, Bellflower and Pasadena Unified, Black male and female students are suspended at higher rates far greater than the County average. Black students also exhibit higher rates of chronic absence (defined as missing more than 10 percent of the school year), with 24 percent of Black students in L.A. County chronically absent, a rate significantly higher than other student groups. There is also significant variation in absence rates among the 14 districts studied, with Black students in Antelope Valley and Centinela school districts absent for three or more weeks per year, while more affluent districts such as Culver City have much lower absence rates for Black students (7 percent). Previous research has shown that Black students in L.A. County are more likely to experience economic and social hardships. The new research finds that in 10 of the 14 focus districts, there are significant poverty disparities between Black and White students. For example, a Black student in Long Beach Unified is three times more likely to receive free or reduced lunch than a white student in that district. The research also provides analysis of Black youth in foster care, Black students experiencing homelessness, and those challenged by disabilities, raising concerning questions about suspensions, absence and graduation rates in some of the school districts in the study. For example, 12 of the 14 focus districts have chronic absenteeism rates of 20 percent or higher for Black students in foster care, and in eight of the 14 focus districts, Black students are twice as likely to experience homelessness as other groups Health and Environment The CDC has said that structural racism poses a serious threat to public health. The new report examines indicators of the environmental and health contexts of Black students in the fourteen focus districts, connecting data from the California Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment (Enviroscan) to specific census tracts with residential concentrations of Black people. In Census tracts for these districts, both Black and White residents are exposed to diesel emissions, yet in neighborhoods in Los Angeles and Long Beach, Black residents have significantly higher rates of exposure than White residents. Groundwater pollutants can also have a significant impact on health. In Los Angeles and Torrance Unified school districts, Blacks reside in census tracts with the worst levels of groundwater pollution while Whites in those districts generally reside in areas with among the lowest levels of groundwater threats. Asthma and low birth weight are two health conditions that have been causally linked to air and water pollution, and that have been shown to disproportionately impact Black students and their families. "The impact of social, health and environmental conditions on academic performance has too often been overlooked, said Johnson. "Our schools are not separate from our communities. As we return to campus, we need to look beyond the schoolhouse to develop strategies and innovations to address the challenges facing our communities and engage them in ways fuel the success of Black students." To further that effort, the report identifies examples of school and community efforts where Black students are well served. The researchers also offer specific recommendations for educators, community members and policy makers at the local, state and federal levels. Those recommendations are focused in three key areas: COVID-19 and reopening schools, in-school policies, and out-of-school policies. "The COVID-19 pandemic has only underscored the challenges facing Black students in Los Angeles County, our state and our nation," concludes Professor Howard. "But it has also provided an opportunity for real change. We hope this report will be a catalyst for that effort." "Beyond the Schoolhouse: Digging Deeper, Overcoming Challenges & Expanding Opportunity for Black Youth in Los Angeles" is a project of the UCLA Center for the Transformation of Schools. A patient recovering from COVID-19 came to Dr. Dennis McGorry frustrated that she still didnt feel right and couldnt effectively return to work. The business executive from Doylestown had her complaints written off by her primary care doctor as simply part of the recovery, he said. A few tests determined that her brain function was indeed low, McGorry said, and her lung function had been impacted as well signs of a condition known as Long COVID, a series of symptoms that can last months following a coronavirus infection. It can be mild or debilitating. And it has been observed across all age groups of COVID-19 patients, regardless of the severity of their initial infection. These symptoms are not imagined they are real, they can be measured and they can be treated, said McGorry, a senior regional medical director at St. Lukes University Health Network. The Lehigh Valley-based network on Thursday announced a clinic to address these lasting symptoms and speed the recovery of these COVID long-haulers. The St. Lukes COVID Recovery Clinic will consult with primary-care physicians, even out of network, and provide access to specialists who can determine if a patient is suffering from long-haul COVID-19 or another condition, followed by appropriate care, including treatment and therapy. Once you find the problem, you can start to fix it, McGorry said in a video call with reporters. A COVID-19 infection is typically over within four weeks. But an infection can result in a number of long-term conditions, some serious. Long-haulers have a condition labeled by the National Institutes of Health as Post-Acute Sequelae of SARS-CoV-2, or PASC, but more generally referred to as Long COVID. Its only roughly defined, but long COVID-19, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, is a range of symptoms of varying severity lasting weeks or months. They appear more than a month after the initial infection and can include extreme fatigue, loss of smell or taste, aches and pains, anxiety and depression, difficulty breathing, irregular heartbeat and brain fog memory impairment that McGorry called one of the more elusive symptoms and an especially frustrating one for patients, like his Doylestown executive. These people need to get back to life, McGorry said. Thats what were offering with these clinics is a way to get them back a little quicker. It is not clear who will develop long COVID-19 symptoms the CDC says it can appear in patients who had mild or even asymptomatic cases of COVID-19. The NIH this year launched a study of these effects, seeking, in part, just how widespread the condition is. We do not know yet the magnitude of the problem, NIH Director Dr. Francis Collins said in a February statement, but given the number of individuals of all ages who have been or will be infected with SARS-CoV-2, the coronavirus that causes COVID-19, the public health impact could be profound. Pennsylvania is approaching 1.1 million coronavirus infections since March 2020, with almost 70,000 cases coming from the Lehigh Valley. The state is reporting more than 4,700 new cases daily. (Cant see the chart? Click here.) During Thursdays news conference, St. Lukes Dr. Jeffrey Jahre, the networks vice president of medical and academic affairs and an expert on infectious diseases, said as many as a quarter of the 32 million Americans impacted by COVID-19 could develop symptoms of long COVID-19. Having COVID as an acute illness, even if its asymptomatic, is not the end of the story, Jahre said. The number of patients expected to have continuing symptoms requires a disciplined approach. St. Lukes long-term COVID recovery program runs through primary care doctors to verify any conditions in play, then sets up treatment plans with specialists based on symptoms. That could include physical or speech therapy, medication or access to specialists like neurologists or pulmonologists for specific conditions. COVID-19 support groups are also part of the clinic. The clinic will also help the health network compile information on long-term effects of COVID-19 for research and publication, helping the medical community better understand the next phases of treatment for potentially millions of people worldwide. We truly believe we are at the beginning of this, Jahre said. HOW TO GET HELP FOR LONG COVID St. Lukes says anyone who suspects they may be suffering from long COVID-19 should consult their family doctor or call the health network at 1-866-785-8537 and select option 7. Our journalism needs your support. Please subscribe today to lehighvalleylive.com. Steve Novak may be reached at snovak@lehighvalleylive.com. Deputy PM Dan Barna maintains that the prime minister "has gratuitously generated a major political crisis, perfectly avoidable, for a mean ego victory." "Florin Citu has decided to publicly announce the dismissal of a USR PLUS minister while we were discussing mature option to solve the differences. He had prepared himself in advance for a strike that he wished to be spectacular, but which proved to be incredibly immature and damaging the coalition stability. Florin Citu has gratuitously generated a major political crisis, perfectly avoidable, for a mean ego victory. The first condition of a partnership is respect. To get respect one must offer respect. This hasn't happened today," Dan Barna wrote on Facebook on Wednesday evening. He says the prime minister "knew perfectly well that he had loyal partners in USR PLUS." "He verified this tens of times over the past few months. He knew we are fair, he knew I, personally, as well as my colleagues, had always sought the path of a reasonable agreement. Florin Citu knew as well that I was a few offices or a phone call away and I was willing to discuss for days if needed to preserve the unity of the coalition, to stay focused on reforms, to continue an effort that we had started together," the Deputy PM shows.Prime Minister Florin Citu on Wednesday decided to remove from office Health Minister Vlad Voiculescu. OTTAWA - The government House leader has asked the Speaker of the House of Commons to investigate a photo leak of a Liberal MP caught naked on camera during a virtual sitting of Parliament. Leader of the Government in the House of Commons Pablo Rodriguez responds to a question during Question Period in the House of Commons Tuesday December 1, 2020 in Ottawa. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Adrian Wyld OTTAWA - The government House leader has asked the Speaker of the House of Commons to investigate a photo leak of a Liberal MP caught naked on camera during a virtual sitting of Parliament. Pablo Rodriguez said Thursday the incident involving Quebec MP William Amos was "mean-spirited" and has been "life-changing" for him. He suggested there could be serious implications for the person who took and shared this intimate image on Wednesday. "Taking a photo of someone who is changing clothes and in the nude and sharing it without their consent could very well be criminal," Rodriguez said. A screenshot shows Amos standing unclothed behind a desk between the Quebec and Canadian flags with what appears to be a phone covering his private parts. During virtual House of Commons sittings, only those who speak are shown on the public feed. Therefore, Amos's fellow MPs could see him on camera but he did not appear on the main screen. Bloc Quebecois MP Claude DeBellefeuille, the party whip, raised the incident in a point of order after question period Wednesday, as she called for parliamentary decorum. "It may be necessary to remind the members, especially the male ones, that a tie and jacket are obligatory, but so are a shirt, boxer shorts or pants," DeBellefeuille said in French. "We have seen that the member is in great physical shape, but I think members should be reminded to be careful and control the camera well." In a statement Wednesday, Amos said he had returned from a jog and was changing into his work clothes, and did not realize his camera was on. "This was an unfortunate error," said Amos, parliamentary secretary to Industry Minister Francois-Philippe Champagne. "I sincerely apologize to my colleagues in the House of Commons for this unintentional distraction. Obviously, it was an honest mistake and it won't happen again.'' Thursday morning, Rodriguez opened the House of Commons by blasting the unidentified person who leaked the nude photo of Amos to media, asking if they had given any thought to the ramifications on Amos's personal life when they shared it. He called it a case of "callous disrespect." "Did they think of (Amos's) family, children, friends and the fact that the internet is forever? Are we really at the point in our politics that it is acceptable to try and destroy the reputation and humiliate a colleague because someone finds an unfortunate error and unintentional mistake to be funny?" Rodriguez said. "Our politics have taken a very dark and destructive turn if this is the case." Neither MPs nor staff are allowed to to take photos in the House of Commons when it is sitting a rule that has been extended to include virtual sittings. This includes taking screenshots of the public and non-public video feeds, Speaker Anthony Rota ruled in September 2020. "For taking screenshots, it is the same as being in the House. If a member takes a picture, they are taking a picture, and posting it just adds to that. Members are not permitted to take photos in the House," Rota said in an exchange on Sept. 29. Rodriguez has asked Rota to launch an immediate investigation to determine who took the controversial photo so the House of Commons could then decide on a next course of action. Rota said he would take the matter under advisement. In another statement posted to Facebook on Thursday, Amos thanked people who "sent messages of moral support and encouragement in the aftermath of this most regrettable situation." He described the past day as having been difficult, both personally and professionally. "It is most unfortunate that someone shared, without my consent, a photo in which I was changing my clothes," he said, adding that he expects the Speaker to investigate. Procurement Minister Anita Anand also expressed concern over the shared image. Amos was scheduled to appear at an announcement with Anand Thursday morning, but she said he is instead "taking a day" and noted that he has apologized for the incident as an accident. I do, as a member of Parliament, have concerns that we should all, as members of Parliament, be respecting the rules of the House of Commons as well as any additional applicable law, Anand said when asked about the incident. Amos was described by Liberal government whip Mark Holland as an "upstanding member of the House" who made an honest mistake. "His screen was on while in the middle of getting dressed. It could have happened to any of us," Holland said in a statement. "We must know who is responsible for leaking non-consensual images from a private video feed. We must also be assured that the video taken by this person is deleted so that further violations of privacy and decency are not possible." This report by The Canadian Press was first published April 15, 2021. A federal judge on Thursday affirmed Gov. Ned Lamonts emergency powers used during the COVID-19 pandemic when he dismissed a lawsuit filed by New Haven restaurant owners who claimed the executive orders violated the constitution. The suit, from the owners of the 50's Lounge in the Westville neighborhood, argued that Lamonts executive orders violated the owners constitutional rights by limiting gathering sizes and preventing them from earning a living. U.S. District Judge Michael P. Shea wrote in his ruling Thursday that the owners had largely failed to show how the orders violated their rights. Our states constitution is unambiguous the governor has broad authority during public health and civil preparedness emergencies to take steps that save lives. The federal courts decision today affirms what we already know and leaves no doubt that the governor's actions during this pandemic have been fully lawful and justified, Attorney General William Tong said in a statement. The restaurant owners, Michael Amato and Joy Monsanto, argued in the lawsuit first filed on April 3, that Lamonts executive order violated their right to assemble and right to freely associate with their customers and their friends protected by the First Amendment. The suit had sought to have the executive orders declared unconstitutional, an injunction that would lift the order and compensatory and economic damages. The plaintiffs' complaint simply does not show how the executive orders impinged on their First Amendment rights there are no allegations as to their attempts to assemble or to associate with anyone, Shea wrote in the ruling. In his ruling, Shea acknowledges that more than 7,800 people have already died from COVID-19 during the pandemic. Shea wrote in the ruling that Lamonts orders are narrowly tailored to achieve the compelling government interests of slowing the spread of COVID19 and preventing the overwhelming of the health care system, and they were issued relying on expertise from public health agencies. The lawsuit also contended that Lamonts orders deprived the owners of the right to earn a living. In his order, Shea wrote that restaurants were allowed to sell food and beverages for off-sight consumption, and the orders have since been replaced with mandates that allow for restaurants to operate for in-person dining with social distancing and a curfew. The suit from the owners of 50s Lounge also brought claims against New Haven Mayor Justin Elicker, but those were also dismissed by Shea. The lawsuit was one of several that have challenged Lamonts executive powers since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic last year. In most cases, judges have upheld Lamonts authority to issue the orders meant to stop the spread of the virus. The COVID-19 pandemic has touched thousands of Connecticut residents and has required immense personal sacrifices of all kinds, but nothing is more important right now than saving lives and protecting public health. We will get through this together if we wear our masks, continue to social distance and get vaccinated, said Tong, whose office has represented the governor in the matters. The "Europe High Speed Connector Market Forecast to 2027 COVID-19 Impact and Regional Analysis By Product and Application" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering. According to this report the European high speed connector market is expected to reach US$ 910.30 million by 2027 from US$ 543.47 million in 2019. The market is estimated to grow at a CAGR of 6.8 from 2020 to 2027. The report provides trends prevailing in the Europe high speed connector market along with the drivers and restraints pertaining to the market growth. Rising electronics and infotainment systems in automotive sector and growth in networking and communication sector are the major factor driving the growth of the Europe high speed connector market. However, costly and technical challenges hinder the growth of Europe high speed connector market. In case of COVID-19, Europe is highly affected specially the UK and Russia. The European electronic component manufacturers are also experiencing tough times to supply their products in adequate quantities to respective customers. This is majorly due to the significant disruption in raw material supply chain business. The electronic components or high speed connector manufacturers are witnessing two or more weeks of delay in receiving raw materials, which is pressurizing the manufacturers to slow down the production pace, which is showcasing the declination trend in revenue generation. The UK and France have numerous electronic component manufacturers, while the Russia has significantly large number of equipment manufacturing sectors ranging from communication equipment manufacturers, aerospace defense contractors, and automotive OEMs. The emergence of COVID-19 virus has negatively impacted the businesses of European equipment manufacturers as well as high speed connector market. Additionally, the UK, France, Germany, and Italy have been observing the second wave of COVID-19 over the past couple of weeks, which has again compelled the manufacturers to restrict their production unit workforce, resulting in deceleration in high speed connector demand. The Europe high speed connector market is segmented based on product, application, and country. Based on product, the market is segmented into board-to-cable, board-to-board, and others. The board-to-board segment held the largest market share in 2019 and board-to-cable segment is expected to be fastest growing during forecast period. Based on application, the market is segmented into communication, automotive, aerospace defense, energy power, electronics, and others. The aerospace defense sector held the largest market share in 2019 and automotive sector is expected to be fastest growing during forecast period. Reasons to Buy Save and reduce time carrying out entry-level research by identifying the growth, size, leading players and segments in the Europe course authoring software market 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 Europe course authoring software market, thereby allowing players across the value chain to develop effective long-term strategies Develop/modify business expansion plans by using substantial growth offering developed and emerging market. Scrutinize in-depth Europe market trends and outlook coupled with the factors driving the course authoring software market, as well as those hindering it Enhance the decision-making process by understanding the strategies that underpin commercial interest with respect to client products, segmentation, pricing and distribution. Market Dynamics Drivers Growth in Networking and Communication Sector Rising Electronics and Infotainment Systems in Automotive Sector Restraints Costly and Technical Challenges Opportunities Increasing Developments in Network Services Future Trends Flexible, High-Speed, water-resistant, Small Size Connector Companies Mentioned Fujitsu Limited Hirose Electric Co., Ltd. IMS Connector Systems GmbH Molex, LLC OMRON Corporation SAMTEC, Inc. TE Connectivity Ltd. Yamaichi Electronics Co., Ltd. For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/r/rywudu View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210415005513/en/ Contacts: ResearchAndMarkets.com Laura Wood, Senior Press Manager press@researchandmarkets.com For E.S.T Office Hours Call 1-917-300-0470 For U.S./CAN Toll Free Call 1-800-526-8630 For GMT Office Hours Call +353-1-416-8900 Since last spring, many governors have used the pandemic to assume emergency powers, giving them wide-ranging authority to, among other things, shut down businesses, close schools, and enforce stay-at-home orders. Unfortunately, many abused this authority, wielding unilateral powers while dismissing the checks and balances of state government. Throughout the United States, excessive lockdowns resulted, harming local economies and individual livelihoods. Were only now beginning to understand the costs of these restrictions on jobs, mental health, education, and civil liberties. But state legislatures are moving against governors arbitrary decision-making. The pushback, dating to last summer, has gathered increasing momentum as the rationale for lockdowns subsided. Just this year, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures, 45 states have proposed more than 300 measures to limit governors executive authority. A bipartisan consensus has emerged among lawmakers to check excessive gubernatorial emergency powers. In Arkansas and Utah, for example, Republican governors welcoming legislation that limits their executive power recently signed bills to restore legislative oversight. In Kentucky and Ohio, state legislators overrode their governors vetoes of similar legislation. A similar proposal is advancing in Indiana, while in Kansas, lawmakers voted to end existing emergency orders while providing legislative oversight of new ones. All six states have legislatures with Republican majorities. Even in deep-blue New York, Democrats struck a deal to limit the powers of its embattled Democratic governor, Andrew Cuomo. Limiting governors unchecked power isnt a partisan fight; its about good governance. The movement to limit a governors emergency powers is particularly evident in Pennsylvania, where lawmakers have pursued a year-long effort to restore checks and balances. Last summer, in addition to favoring numerous bills to reopen the economy, the legislature voted with a bipartisan majority to end Democratic governor Tom Wolfs emergency declaration. The state Supreme Court, however, ruled that the governor could veto this resolution, and he did a ruling that set the bar for overturning an emergency declaration even higher than the votes necessary for impeachment. The Pennsylvania General Assemblys efforts to restrict Wolfs emergency declaration renewed four times has reached its endgame in the form of two constitutional amendments in a statewide voter referendum. In the May primary, Pennsylvania voters will decide whether the governors emergency declarations should be limited to 21 days, with legislative agreement required to extend them. Pennsylvanians have suffered the social and economic consequences of Wolfs emergency declaration, which passed the one-year mark last month. The governors extraordinary powers did not make the Keystone States pandemic response more efficient, as many had hoped. Instead, Wolfs stewardship has proved short-sighted and erratic. His actions were among the most draconian, ineffective, and least transparent of any governor. Today, Pennsylvania ranks among the top tier of states with COVID restrictions. The commonwealth fared worse before the legislatures pushback forced Wolf to change course somewhat. Many states ordered business closures, and most governors applied similar metrics for making these determinations. But Wolf created his own standard for defining life-sustaining businesses, then enacted a selective and opaque waiver process so that he alone had the power to determine whether a specific business could remain open. Wolf was especially tough on restaurants, though his own data showed that dining establishments were not a major source of spreading COVID. Yet he proceeded with nonsensical regulations, including ever-changing capacity limits and various alcohol restrictions, such as no drinking of alcohol without ordering a meal. As a result, Pennsylvania ranked second in the nation in most jobs lost due to government action, as well as second in most businesses forced to close behind only Michigan in both measures according to Census data. As of February, Pennsylvanias unemployment rate stood at 7.3%, among the highest in the United States, and it has continued to lag behind most states in job recovery. Wolf claims that his restrictions have saved lives, but the data suggest otherwise. Last summer, Wolf blasted the governors of Florida and Texas for being less restrictive, yet Pennsylvania has far more deaths per capita than either Florida or Texas about 26% more than Florida and 17% more than Texas. And Pennsylvania like its neighbors New York and New Jersey has seen new case counts exceed those of Florida and Texas, even while maintaining tougher restrictions. Wolfs extreme unilateral actions failed Pennsylvanias communities, families, and small-business owners. As lawmakers pushed back, Wolf vetoed no fewer than 19 bills since last year. The governor has essentially sidelined the legislative branch. Amending the state constitution to require collaboration between the two branches is the only remaining option. As this past year shows, Pennsylvanians should follow the lead of other states, including New York, by restoring a balance of power. Its a nonpartisan precept that when facing a crisis like COVID, the executive branch should work with the legislature. The alternative to such cooperation is what happened in Pennsylvania, where recovery is only now beginning slowly. He refused to acknowledge his ex-wife Georgia Fairweather at the reunion dinner party on Wednesday. And now, Liam Cooper, 30, has gone rogue and revealed the real reason he didn't speak to his TV bride. The 30-year-old prison case officer attacked producers of the show and their editing tactics for not showing what really happened. Not happy! Married At First Sight groom Liam Cooper has gone ROGUE in a fiery new rant and slammed the producers for his 'disgusting' edit and accuses show of 'covering up' that leaked homophobic video In a leaked Snapchat video, posted just minutes after the episode aired, Liam expressed his anger for the way producers edited his arrival at the dinner party and failed to mention the reason he was angry during the show's reunion. 'How in God's name are you guys covering this edit up?' he says in the clip. 'Like [the dinner party] was solely based around the (homophobic) video that came out from Georgia, Johnny, Jason, that video was f**king disgusting,' he continued. Explaining his version of events, Liam said: 'Tonight at the very start of the dinner party, we all went to town and questioned Jason about the video.' Not impressed: Uploading a video to his Snapchat account, Liam expressed his anger for the way producers edited his arrival at the dinner party and failed to mention the reason he was angry during the show's reunion. Pictured left with his bride Georgia Fairweather (centre) 'I pulled Georgia up on this video ... Georgia sat there and said that she was sorry. And then I said to her, "now you're only sorry, because you've been caught out", and then everyone else jumped in and we talked about it.' 'Jason just sat there with a smug look on his face and didn't even want to talk about it,' he said. Liam told his followers he was 'disgusted' that he was edited to make it look like he walked into the room and ignored his former bride for drama. 'I would never, ever diss the editing, but to sit there and not show me, walk into the reunion and ignore Jason straight up, and then walk around and then ignore Georgia because of the video ... that is f**ked on so many levels,' he said. 'I pulled Georgia up on this video ... Georgia sat there and said that she was sorry. And then I said to her, "now you're only sorry, because you've been caught out", and then everyone else jumped in and we talked about it,' he said The gutted groom went on to say that after arriving, he explained to both Patrick Dwyer and Joanne Todd the reason he wasn't happy and said it was 'poor form' that none of it went to air. Liam was left feeling betrayed after his ex-'wife' Georgia Fairweather laughed along in a leaked video of their co-star Jason Engler calling him 'ugly', 'chubby' and a 'full-blown homosexual'. On Wednesday, Daily Mail Australia shared footage of Georgia, 26, in tears at the reunion dinner party in Sydney on February 10 - just moments after she was confronted by Liam about the scandal. Unseen tears: On Wednesday, Daily Mail Australia shared footage of Georgia, 26, in tears at the reunion dinner party in Sydney on February 10 - just moments after she was confronted by Liam about the scandal The events organiser wiped tears from her face while speaking to producers at the Grounds of Alexandria restaurant, having just tried to defend Jason, 35, and herself in front of the other participants. 'I'm ashamed, I'm sorry, I feel apologetic, I feel disappointed,' she said. She explained that laughing along while Jason used a homophobic slur against Liam was 'a really innocent f**k-up'. 'It's like one of those things you do and you're like, "I need to learn from it." I can't take it back. It's all out there now,' Georgia added. Georgia went on to say that while she regretted laughing at Liam in the video, she didn't feel like what she'd done was that bad. 'I am the most accepting person in the world. I have more gay friends than anyone you will ever meet,' she said. The Brisbane native said it was 'ridiculous' that Liam was accusing her of lying when she said she accepted him for being bisexual. Married At First Sight continues on Sunday at 7pm on Nine The Three Little Boys is a story of three boys who journey out into the world to find where they belong. The Three Little Boys is the work of business owner Crystal Daniels-Carter, who provides services for the elderly and disabled in the community. Daniels-Carter writes, This is the story of three little boys that set out on their own journey to figure out where they belong and what path they want to take. Through trial and error, they realize there is only one pathway that leads to everlasting happiness. Published by Christian Faith Publishing, Crystal Daniels-Carters light-hearted, inspiring piece is great for children who are looking forward to venturing out on their own. A person of faith herself, this book is a reflection of her own life and family. Crystal Daniels-Carter began writing childrens stories to feed her own sons curiosity about the world, The Three Little Boys being one of them. View a synopsis of The Three Little Boys on YouTube. Consumers can purchase The Three Little Boys at traditional brick & mortar bookstores, or online at Amazon.com, Apple iTunes store, or Barnes and Noble. For additional information or inquiries about The Three Little Boys, contact the Christian Faith Publishing media department at 866-554-0919. Irans ambassador to Moscow says Tehran has signed a contract with Russia to purchase 60 million doses of the Sputnik V COVID-19 vaccine. Kazem Jalali told the state-run IRNA news agency on April 15 that the deal with the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF), which is responsible for marketing the vaccine abroad, would provide enough shots to fully vaccinate 30 million people. Jalali said 60 million doses would be sent to Iran between June and December. He added that so far two Iranian companies have signed a contract with Russia for the joint production of vaccines in Iran. Sputnik V, developed by Moscow's Gamaleya Institute, overcame international skepticism in February after peer-reviewed results published in the medical journal The Lancet showed it to be safe and 91.6 percent effective against COVID-19. Sputnik V is a vector vaccine based on the human adenovirus, which causes the common cold. Iran is struggling to stem a new wave of COVID-19 infections, with the coronavirus killing one person every four minutes in the country, state TV reported on April 15. The country of 83 million people has recorded a total of 65,680 coronavirus-related deaths and more than 2.1 million infections since the pandemic began. Authorities imposed a 10-day lockdown on April 10 across most of the country to curb the spread of a fourth wave of the coronavirus, triggered in part by people ignoring health protocols during a two-week public holiday for Norouz, the Persian New Year. In some cities, hospitals are inundated with the sick and running out of beds. Businesses, restaurants, schools, and other public institutions have been forced to shut and gatherings are banned during the holy month of Ramadan. Iran is testing a homemade vaccine that may be ready for distribution in the spring. The country has also began working on a joint vaccine with Cuba. It is also planning to import some 17 million doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine under COVAX, an international collaboration to deliver the vaccine equitably across the world. COVAX delivered its first shipment of 700,000 AstraZeneca vaccine doses this week. With reporting by AP, IRNA, and Reuters TORONTO - Intensive care nurse Jane Abas is assessing her patient, checking her medication and monitoring her heart rate. A 60-year-old COVID-19 patient fights for his life, desperately gasping for air as head intensivist Dr. Ali Ghafouri, centre, provides life saving medical care in an emergency situation in the intensive care unit at the Humber River Hospital during the COVID-19 pandemic in Toronto on Tuesday, April 13, 2021. The patient was intubated and put on a ventilator successfully. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Nathan Denette TORONTO - Intensive care nurse Jane Abas is assessing her patient, checking her medication and monitoring her heart rate. The 68-year-old woman tested positive for a COVID-19 variant shortly after arriving at Toronto's Humber River Hospital for an unrelated health concern. Her condition rapidly deteriorated and she had to be placed on a ventilator, suffering a cardiac arrest after the intubation process. Abas says the woman is more stable this morning, but as cases involving the variants of the novel coronavirus rise, a patient's situation can change quickly. The day before, another COVID-19 patient in a similar condition who had just retired last month passed away. She says it happened fast. "We tried to bring them back, we couldn't," she recalls. "It was so sad." Abas and her colleagues are exhausted, but they know the third wave of infections is still rising. Claire Wilkinson, another ICU nurse treating a patient in the next room over, says she's noticing the increase in severely ill patients. "The third wave is just getting started," she says. "I think that'll be a big challenge this time around." Minutes later, across the hall, intensivist Dr. Ali Ghafouri starts rallying team members for an immediate intubation procedure. A 60-year-old patient who had arrived at the emergency room earlier in the morning with shortness of breath is struggling to breathe. A team of medical staff rapidly donning personal protective equipment from head to toe storms the room with equipment and medication, working fast to treat and reassure the frightened man as he gasps for air. It's a situation staff at this hospital's ICU say they see every day. The procedure is traumatizing for patients and can leave them in an induced coma for weeks. Ghafouri says it's an illustration of life on the front line a year into the pandemic. Today, so far, is a bit calmer than the day before, when Ghafouri says the team had to intubate four patients, one after the other. "That's what life is like here," says Ghafouri. "People are burning out, including myself and some of my colleagues. We don't know how much longer it's going to be dragging out." It's a struggle doctors and nurses in ICUs across the province are facing. A year into the pandemic, staff at Humber River say they now have more experience treating the disease, but the relentless pace, personnel shortages and much younger patients are weighing heavily on them. "The patients that are coming in sick with COVID are definitely more acute," says Raman Rai, who manages the ICU. "They're sicker and they're younger, which is hard for the team to see that." The spike in cases has strained intensive care capacity across Ontario, prompting discussions about the possible need to triage life-saving care. There are about 50 patients in Humber River's ICU on Tuesday, more than 60 per cent of them with COVID-19, Rai says. Staffing has become a challenge as exhausted nurses seek time off to rest. Transfers from other units have helped alleviate some pressure but Rai says she still worries about staffing, especially the lack of ICU-trained nurses. Across the province, there were 644 patients with COVID-19-related critical illness in intensive care beds as of Thursday, according to Critical Care Services Ontario. Hospitals are ramping down all non-essential surgeries this week and are transferring sick people across jurisdictions. The government has promised to create up to 1,000 more ICU beds in response to the growing need. ICU workers, particularly in hard-hit Toronto, witness the human side of the startling numbers firsthand. At Humber River, after any serious development involving a patient, Olivia Coughlin slips away to make a phone call. As a unit social worker, she is the point of contact for families of the critically ill patients who can't be at the bedside of their loved ones. Family visits are allowed, though many relatives cant visit because they are also COVID-19 positive. Coughlin says the emotional support work has been harder than she anticipated. "It's just really horrible, there's no better way to put it," she says. She has an office for making phone calls, but today she dials a family from the ICU lounge, just a few feet from the patient's room. "I know that they're sitting at home around the phone waiting for that update," she says. "I like to try and do my best to get in touch with them as soon as Im able." Like her other colleagues, Coughlin says she's been struck by the young age of some of the intensive care patients coming in now. The case of one previously healthy COVID-19 patient her own age just 28 stood out to Coughlin. "I think that really just goes to show that this virus affects everyone, and I wish everyone understood that," she says. Two floors above the ICU, respiratory patient Jose Garcia is feeling much better after being admitted to hospital two weeks ago with COVID-19 that strained his breathing. He is still taking oxygen after a frightening battle with the illness that at one point he thought would kill him. "The doctors helped me like crazy," the 67-year-old Brampton, Ont., resident says from his hospital bed. Garcia doesn't know where he caught the virus. He's retired and he wears a mask when he goes out. Others in his family were also infected with COVID-19. He doesn't dwell much on his illness though, repeating his eagerness to go home once he tests negative for the virus. His message to others: take the virus seriously. "People have to be careful," Garcia says. "Anybody can get it." This report by The Canadian Press was first published April 15, 2021. SELMA, Ore. The officer who shot at an unidentified driver during a confrontation south of Lake Selmac last month has been cleared for a return to active duty, according to the Josephine County Sheriff's Office. The officer-involved shooting followed the grim discovery of two bodies in a burned vehicle off McMullen Creek Road on March 24. According to newly-released details from the Sheriff's Office, the burned vehicle was found at the end of a logging road, several miles from Lakeshore Drive. Because of the remote location, deputies had to use side-by-side and other all-terrain vehicles to reach the scene. Investigators set up a staging area down the logging road at a fork on McMullen Creek Road. One fork led to the scene, while the other traveled further up McMullen Creek before connecting with Kerby Mainline Road. Just after midnight on March 25, deputies and Oregon State Police troopers were at the staging area, developing their plans to continue the homicide investigation the next morning when they heard a vehicle approaching from the other fork of McMullen Creek Road. RELATED: Police arrest man on murder charges in connection with deaths south of Lake Selmac The Sheriff's Office said that there were two vehicles, an SUV and a small truck. A truck and trailer from the Sheriff's Office were blocking the road at the fork, and officers at the spot saw the approaching truck pass in front of the SUV as they drew near. "As the vehicles approached, because of the area, the hour, and the outstanding double homicide suspect(s), the officers attempted to contact the drivers," the Sheriff's Office said. Lt. Jim Geiger of the Sheriff's Office approached the vehicles as they slowed. The agency said that he was wearing his uniform, and walked toward the truck. Other officers also came up, reportedly saying things like "police," "show us your hands," and "Sheriff's Office." Instead of stopping, the driver of the truck first moved slowly forward, then threw the vehicle into reverse hitting the SUV behind. "This movement of the truck and position of Lt. Geiger placed him in imminent threat of serious physical injury or death. As a result, Lt. Geiger discharged his service pistol five times before diving into a roadside ditch to avoid being run over," the Sheriff's Office said. The driver of the truck managed to get away, and the Sheriff's Office said that it still has not been located. The latest statement did not mention what occurred with the SUV or its occupants. The Jackson County Sheriff's Office led the investigation into the officer-involved shooting, and Oregon State Police performed reconstruction of the scene. After a review of the investigation, the Josephine County District Attorney cleared Lt. Geiger of wrongdoing. The Sheriff's Office said that he has been taken off administrative leave and is cleared for active duty. The boss of Foxtons is facing mounting pressure to hand back his 1million bonus and return Government support used during the pandemic. Nic Budden was handed a bonus of 389,300 and 569,000 in shares for 2020, meaning on top of his salary his total pay package grew to 1.6million compared to 1.25million the previous year. This is despite Foxtons tapping taxpayers for 4.4million in furlough money and 2.5million in business rates relief during the pandemic. Bonus row: Foxtons boss Nic Budden (pictured) was handed a bonus of 389,300 and 569,000 in shares for 2020 The company also went cap in hand to shareholders for 22million in April last year to shore up its balance sheet. And it has not been shy to splash the cash, buying Douglas and Gordon for 14.25million and ploughing 3million into property portal Boomin, which was set up by Purplebricks founder Michael Bruce. As a result advisers to Foxtons' shareholders, Glass Lewis and ISS, have called on investors to oppose the remuneration report at the AGM this month. ISS said: 'There is a material disconnect between bonus outcomes and company performance. Nic Budden was handed a bonus of 389,300 and 569,000 in shares for 2020, meaning on top of his salary his total pay package grew to 1.6million compared to 1.25million the previous year. Pictured: Stock image As a result advisers to Foxtons' shareholders, Glass Lewis and ISS, have called on investors to oppose the remuneration report at the AGM this month. Pictured: Stock image 'Some investors may question the appropriateness of awarding bonus payments to the executive directors before paying back the Government support received.' Glass Lewis wants Budden's bonus slashed altogether. It said: 'Given the shareholder and wider workforce experience, there is no reason as to why the company could not reduce the bonus to nil.' Rivals in the industry, including Winkworth, have paid back furlough cash as have builders such as Barratt and Taylor Wimpey. HOW DOES THE UK'S FURLOUGH SCHEME WORK? Chancellor Rishi Sunak extended the furlough scheme until the end of September during his Budget announcement on March 3. He said the scheme would help Britons through 'the challenging months ahead'. Furloughed staff now get 80 per cent of pay from the state, up to 2,500 month, with employers paying only national insurance and pension contributions. From July firms will also have to pay 10 per cent of wages as the state share shrinks to 70 per cent and in August the figures will change again, to 20 per cent and 60 per cent respectively. Almost five million people were furloughed at the end of January - double the number in October, but well below the peak of almost nine million last May. The furlough scheme has cost the Government 58billion, while business rates relief will be worth 16billion by the time the scheme ends. Chancellor Rishi Sunak extended the furlough scheme until the end of September during his Budget announcement on March 3. He said the scheme - which pays 80 per cent of employee' wages for the hours they are unable to work - would help Britons through 'the challenging months ahead'. Employers are, however, expected to contribute 10 per cent towards the hours their staff are unable to work from July, and this will increase to 20 per cent in August and September. But despite the pressure Foxtons has stuck by the bonus payment. It said: 'We believe it's right to reward hard work and results in a year when the business did well in very tough circumstances. 'We were very grateful for Government support which we used for as short a period as possible but entirely as it was intended to keep people in jobs during a lengthy closure.' Last year, Foxtons reported a 12 per cent fall in revenues to 93.5million but its pre-tax loss narrowed from 8.8million to 1.4million. Yesterday, it posted a 24 per cent jump in revenues for the first three months in 2021 as sales boomed. The property market has returned to near normal, egged on by Rishi Sunak's extension of the stamp duty holiday until the end of June. The group's cash position at the end of March was 22.3million. The company has had a sharp fall in its share price from 94p before the pandemic to 65p now. The latest furlough row comes after it emerged Wetherspoons founder and chairman Tim Martin pocketed millions of pounds from selling shares while his pub chain was claiming government cash. Mr Martin, who still owns more than a fifth of Wetherspoons, sold 50 million worth of shares in January. Government data shows the business claimed more than 25 million in furlough money in the same month. The outspoken businessman is now facing calls to hand back the furlough funds. Tory MP Sir Bob Neill said: A number of reputable firms have returned furlough cash if they have managed to weather the Covid storm better than expected, and theyve been applauded for it. Wetherspoons founder and chairman Tim Martin pocketed millions of pounds from selling shares while his pub chain was claiming furlough cash Perhaps Mr Martin might consider following suit. Labour MP Dame Margaret Hodge said it was quite right that we set up a scheme that saves jobs but added: Hes made 50 million from a share sale, then takes 25 million from the furlough scheme. Is that a thank you? Wetherspoons, which has 875 pubs, claimed more than 97 million in the six months to the end of January, during which time its sales plummeted by over half. A Wetherspoons spokesman said: We are a huge net contributor to the Treasury. Even in the last financial year, when pubs were closed by the Government for a long period, Wetherspoons paid 436.7 million in taxes, in spite of making a loss of 89.6 million. Co-op chief executive Steve Murrells (pictured) said he believed the move to hold onto 66 million it secured in business rates relief was still 'in line with our ethics' The Co-op has seen revenues jump during the pandemic (pictured: Store in Kentish Town, London) Elsewhere, the Co-op recently said it would repay the 15.5 million it received in furlough during the height of the pandemic - but stopped short of handing back the 66 million it secured in business rates relief. More than 2 billion in rates relief has been handed back to the government by other essential retailers who continued to trade during lockdown measures. Asda announced it will hand back 340 million saved in business rates relief, Sainsbury's said it would return 440million, while Tesco and Morrisons agreed to respectively return 585 million and 274 million. Aldi also announced that they too will hand back around 100million saved in business rates relief - bringing the total across retailers to 1.7billion. But the Co-op announced last week that they would not be returning the business rate relief at the same time as it revealed its revenues increased by 5.5 per cent to 11.5 billion during the year to January 2. Co-op chief executive Steve Murrells said he believed the move to hold onto the property tax relief was still 'in line with our ethics'. 'It was a decision supported by the board and our membership counsel,' he said. They offered to set up clients with fake IDs. A passport or drivers license could be purchased for $30, and several New Jersey residents bought them on-line, along with a phony non-immigrant visa, authorities said. It was all part of a world-wide clearing house for the kind of documents needed to open accounts at banks, payment processors, social media sites, and digital currency platforms, say federal prosecutors who also claim that Russian operatives who targeted the 2106 Presidential election were among the customers. On Thursday, two Pakistani men identified as the brains behind the enterprise were named in a six-count federal indictment unsealed in New Jersey, charging them with aggravated identity theft, conspiracy to produce and transfer false identification documents and other related charges. The FBI put both men, Mohsin Raza, 34, and Mujtaba Raza, 33, on its cybercrime wanted list. The two were believed to be in Karachi, authorities said. According to Acting U.S. Attorney Rachel Honig in Newark, the men dealt with counterfeit passports, drivers licenses, and national identity cards associated with more than 200 countries and territories around the world. The indictment alleges a global scheme to produce fraudulent identity documents that other wrongdoers then used to further additional illegal activity, including activity intended to interfere with U.S. elections, Honig said in a statement. According to the indictment, the men allegedly accepted more than $1.5 million just in Bitcoin transfers from customers, in connection with more than 20,000 separate transactions. The online operation was based out of Karachi, authorities said, using the names SecondEye Solution and Forwarderz, and advertised services on cyber hacker forums. They didnt promise the documents would open doors, authorities said. Only that they would look real. One customer, for example, was trying to register an account and needed a Social Security card. How would that work if they ask for it? the individual asked in an email. According to the indictment, SecondEye responded in broken English, 'We can make ssn [social security number] document which number you provide us. We do not provide guarantee for any documents but our customers did many times by using our documents. What we provide is just original looking documents. The men charged in the case also claimed that SecondEye documents could be used by those who had been banned or suspended to restore access to their online accounts, prosecutors said. They alleged some SecondEye customers used the false documents to commit and facilitate the commission of various cyber crimes and other criminal conduct. No specifics were provided. But according to the indictment, a member of the Internet Research Agency, a Russian organization that prosecutors said engaged in operations to interfere with elections and political processes including the 2016 U.S. presidential election purchased multiple false identification documents from SecondEye in the names of real and fictitious U.S. persons. It said the fake IDs were later used as supporting documents for accounts previously operated by the Internet Research Agency at a social media company. Separately, the U.S. Treasury Department, in announcing new sanctions Thursday against Russia over its alleged efforts to influence the 2020 U.S. presidential election, also took aim at SecondEye. Officials claimed that the Pakistan-based organization assisted the Internet Research Agency in concealing its identity to evade sanctions. They added that the fraudulent documents produced by SecondEye are likely used at many online services to evade sanctions and anti-money laundering screening protocols beyond what Treasurys Office of Foreign Assets Control has been able to identify. In the indictment that was unsealed in New Jersey, prosecutors said other customers used the fake documents to defraud payment processing companies, e-commerce businesses, and virtual currency exchanges, gaining access to customer accounts that previously had been revoked or suspended. The U.S. seized three domestically-hosted domain names used by SecondEye. __ Local journalism needs your support. Subscribe at nj.com/supporter. Ted Sherman may be reached at tsherman@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @TedShermanSL She announced she was pregnant with her third child in February. And Casey Batchelor proved she's bumping along nicely on Wednesday, when she showcased her changing shape in a black swimming suit while perched poolside. The mother-to-be, 36, enjoyed a luxury outdoor spa day with friends, telling her Instagram fans they had 'taken advantage of lockdown lifting and head to the spa for relaxation without kids'. Radiant: Casey Batchelor, 36, proved she's bumping along nicely on Wednesday, when she showcased her bump in a black swimming suit while perched poolside in an Instagram snap Casey who is expecting her third child with fiance Dane Goodson looked radiant as she dipped her legs into an infinity pool, wearing her long brown hair loose and keeping the sunshine at bay with a pair of stylish tortoiseshell sunglasses. In a second snap shared on social media, Casey posed alongside three of her robe-clad friends as they enjoyed afternoon tea outdoors. Spas in England reopened on April 12, however steam rooms and saunas will remain closed until May 17. Captioning her photos, Casey joked it was nice to 'be out somewhere other than Tescos' and wished her 'gorgeous' friend Emily a happy birthday before joking that she'd forgotten 'how nice it was to have food made for you'. The TV personality's friends also shared snaps of their relaxing day out on social media, showing off the spa's beautiful grounds and giving an insight into their day. Fun day out: In a second snap shared on social media, Casey posed alongside three of her robe-clad friends as they enjoyed afternoon tea outdoors Aside from their outdoors afternoon tea, the group also enjoyed a swim in the spa's enormous pool and wrapped up their day with fireside glasses of champagne. Casey is set to welcome her third child in under ten weeks' time with Dane. She revealed last month that she was finding her third pregnancy exhausting. Wow: The sprawling space was decked out with many sun loungers making it the perfect place to unwind Tranquil: Aside from a large pool, one of Casey's friends revealed there was also a stylish outdoor shower In a candid Instagram post, the yoga teacher told her followers: 'I've not really been on social this weekend. I keep getting massive waves of tiredness where I literally can't keep my eyes open!' She is already a doting mum to Florence, two, and Sadie, 13 months, who she co-parents with her fiance. She said: 'I remember feeling tired in both my previous pregnancies but this time it's a whole other level, unless I've just forgot how tired I felt before. Taking a dip: The group of friends appeared to spend most of their time around the spa's infinity pool Cheers to that: The group of four wrapped up their day with fireside glasses of champagne before heading home 'Or maybe that I have a 2 year old and a 1 year old that needs my attention. 'I am definitely starting to balloon, starting to swell a little, my face is starting to fill out or in more blatant terms.... I'm getting fat.' Confirming her latest pregnancy to OK! magazine in February, the mum-of-two said that although she'll have a 'crazy' household to manage, she feels 'happy and fortunate' at how easy she they have found it to conceive. VANCOUVER, BC / ACCESSWIRE / April 15, 2021 / Noram Ventures Inc. ("Noram" or the "Company") (TSXV:NRM)(Frankfurt:N7R)(OTCQB:NRVTF) is pleased to announce that the Company is in receipt of the final assays and results will be announced shortly. The Company is now proceeding with an updated NI 43-101 compliant technical report (the "Report") to include the most recent results in addition to an expanded, upgraded resource estimate. This Report will also include an open pit design and allow the Company to take a significant step forward in efforts to complete a Preliminary Economic Assessment by the end of the year. Figure 1. Zeus lithium claystone project, 2021-02-23. The current indicated and inferred resources at >900 ppm cutoff is shown in red, and the Phase 5 drill collar locations through CVZ-68 are shown. The dashed line is a hypothetical area covered by Phase 5 drilling to date. The drill spacing is similar to that used for claystone resources outlined within the Esmeralda Formation in Clayton Valley and nearby. At the request of the Board, Mr. Tucker Barrie has stepped down as the President and Chief Executive Officer. About Noram Ventures Inc. Noram Ventures Inc. (TSX - Venture: NRM / Frankfurt: N7R / OTCQB: NRVTF) is a Canadian based junior exploration company, with a goal of developing lithium deposits and becoming a low - cost supplier. The Company's primary business is the Zeus Lithium Project ("Zeus") in Clayton Valley, Nevada. The Zeus Project has a current resource estimate of 124 million tonnes at 1136 ppm lithium as Indicated Resources, and 77 million tonnes lithium at 1045 ppm lithium as Inferred Resources (900 ppm Li cut-off: 1.18 million tonnes lithium carbonate equivalent - "LCE". Noram's long term strategy is to build a multi-national lithium minerals company to produce and sell lithium into the markets of Europe, North America and Asia. Please visit our web site for further information: www.noramventures.com. ON BEHALF OF THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS /s/ "Anita Algie" Director and CFO Office: (604) 553-2279 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 information which is not comprised of historical facts. 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. Forward-looking information in this news release includes statements regarding, among other things, the completion transactions completed in the Agreement. Factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from such forward-looking information include, but are not limited to, regulatory approval processes. Although Noram believes that the assumptions used in preparing the forward-looking information in this news release are reasonable, including that all necessary regulatory approvals will be obtained in a timely manner, 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. Noram 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 applicable securities laws. SOURCE: Noram Ventures Inc. View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/640564/Noram-Proceeds-with-the-Successful-Expansion-Upgrade-of-Resource-Estimate CHICAGO, April 15, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- The Voelker Litigation Group has thrown down a challenging gauntlet to law firms across the United States to join the firm in passing out 100 $100 dollar bills to essential workers who risked their health and safety supporting our citizens during the COVID-19 pandemic. "Most law firms are full of attorneys who have made a healthy living from the cozy confines of their wood-paneled offices, far removed from the machinery that keeps this country moving. It's time we barristers recognize the value that our fellow citizens, the essential workers, thanklessly provide through their flesh, blood and spirit, and share some of the wealth that we've accumulated through pushing paper and talking," says Daniel J. Voelker, Managing Partner, Voelker Litigation Group. The program parameters are simple and explained on the project website: Each donor lawyer or law firm will hand-out 100 $100 dollar bills to those who have helped in their neighborhood or community. Each $100 bill will be accompanied by a card with a message of thanks and appreciation, and a link to the $100 for 100 website where recipients can post a comment of thanks in return. Attorneys or law firms interested in participating can sign up here. The Voelker Litigation Group is a boutique business law firm with a 35-year track record of serving small, medium sized and Fortune 500 businesses in a variety of commercial matters. For additional information: https://www.voelkerlitigationgroup.com/ Media contact: Daniel Voelker [email protected] 312-254-7666 SOURCE Voelker Litigation Group Related Links https://www.voelkerlitigationgroup.com/ You understand that you have a Fifth Amendment privilege to remain silent. Do you understand that? Yes. You understand that if you choose to exercise that right to remain silent, neither the state nor the court can comment on your silence as a sign or an indication of your guilt? Meaning they cant say he didnt get up and defend himself, so equate your silence with guilt. You understand that? Yes. All right. Now, you also understand that you can waive that right and testify? Do you understand that? Yes, I do. Have you made a decision today whether you intend to testify or whether you intend to invoke your Fifth Amendment privilege? I will invoke my Fifth Amendment privilege today. Mr. Chauvin, Im going to address you directly because the decision whether or not to testify Im going to take this off is entirely yours. In other words, its a personal right. Mr. Nelson makes a lot of the decisions in trial, but one he cannot make for you is whether or not you testify, and he can give you advice and you can take that advice or reject that advice. But the decision ultimately has to be yours and not his. Is this your decision not to testify? It is, your honor. All right. Do you have any questions about your right to remain silent or to testify on your own behalf? Not at this time, I dont. Has anyone promise anything or threatened you in any way to keep you from testifying? No promises or threats, your honor. Do you feel that your decision not to testify is a voluntary one on your behalf? Yes, it is. One consequence of the coronavirus pandemic has been global restrictions on mobility. This, in turn, has had an effect on pollution levels in the atmosphere. Researchers from across the world are using this unique opportunity to take measurements, collect data, and publish studies. An international team led by Forschungszentrum Julich's Institute of Climate and Energy Research - Troposphere has now published a comprehensive review providing an overview of results up to September 2020. The study also has its own dedicated website, where additional measurement data can be added to supplement and refine existing research results. At the same time, this collection of data allows scientifically substantiated predictions to be made about the pollution levels of future mobility scenarios. The meta-analysis was coordinated by Prof. Astrid Kiendler-Scharr, director at Julich's Institute of Climate and Energy Research - Troposphere. The analysis covers the measurement data of around 200 studies from the first seven months following the onset of the pandemic. It focuses on the following air pollutants: nitrogen dioxide, particulate matter, ozone, ammonia, sulfur dioxide, black carbon, volatile organic compounds (VOCs), and carbon monoxide. A third of the studies take into account the prevailing meteorological situation when calculating the influence of lockdowns on the air composition. The Government Stringency Index (SI) - summarizing the severity of local shutdown measures in a number that can be compared at international level - acted as a reference value. A key finding of the analysis is that lockdowns, which have the sole aim of slowing down the infection rate, are also reducing the global pollution of the atmosphere with nitrogen dioxide and particulate matter - the higher the SI, the greater this impact. However, this only applies to pollutants that primarily have an anthropogenic origin, i.e. are directly emitted by humans, especially in the field of mobility. In contrast, ozone levels increased. This increase was a result of atmospheric chemical processes caused by reduced nitrogen oxide levels in the air. The study also highlights current gaps in the data collection and the need for further research. The authors are therefore of the opinion that the period of analysis should be extended to cover the entire year of 2020. The scientists place a particular emphasis on hydrocarbons, which have so far only been examined sporadically in studies, and on extended analyses looking at the impact of emission changes on the climate. An important addition to the meta-analysis is a database that can be accessed via a website (COVID-19 Air Quality Data Collection). It contains all data from the study on pollution levels, including data on pollutions levels in individual countries. Researchers can also find a list of publications to date and thus obtain a quick overview of previous studies. The website also invites scientists to present data from their new studies and to thus become part of the reference system. It therefore acts as a "living version", with the presentation of collected results being constantly refined. Similarly, there are plans to further develop the data collection to include measurement results and the analysis of other pollutants that are not part of the current canon, for example hydrocarbons. The important data could also form the basis for better assessments of the impacts on atmospheric chemistry in future scenarios. This includes a considerable, long-term reduction in pollution levels for a comprehensive transition to electromobility. In March, the government decided to increase the interval between the first and second doses of Covishield to up to eight weeks in its vaccination drive against COVID pandemic. Covishield vaccine is Serum Institute of Indias version of AZD1222 Developed by AstraZeneca in collaboration with the University of Oxford. Larger interval increases vaccine efficacy Many citizens whose second dose was the Covishield vaccine was due in four weeks have been asked to get the jab in another four weeks, making it an interval of eight weeks, which is said to be most effective against COVID. The Centre revised the time window within which the 2nd dose of Covishield vaccine can be taken, asking all states and Union Territories to administer it between 4-8 weeks instead of 4-6 weeks. Reuters "In view of the emerging scientific evidence, the interval between two doses of a specific COVID-19 vaccine i e. Covishield, has been revisited by National Technical Advisory Group on Immunisation (NTAGI) and subsequently by NEGVAC in its 20th meeting during which the recommendation has been revised to provide 2nd dose of Covishield at 4-8 weeks' interval after 1st dose instead of earlier practiced interval of 4-6 weeks, the Union Health Ministry had said. In a letter written to the chief secretaries of states and UTs on Monday, Union Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan said the ministry has accepted the recommendations of NTAGI and NEGVAC. Reuters and has thereafter advised the states and UTs to ensure the administration of 2nd dose of Covishield to beneficiaries within this stipulated time interval of 4-8 weeks after the 1st dose," he said. Keeping the existing scientific evidence in view, it appears that protection is enhanced if the second dose of Covishield is administered between 6-8 weeks, but not later than the stipulated period of eight weeks. The four-week dosing gap for Covaxin, Indias homegrown Covid-19 vaccine, remains unchanged. PHOENIX, April 15, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- SinglePoint Inc. (OTC PINK: SINGD) ("SinglePoint" or the "Company"), a company focused on providing renewable energy solutions and energy-efficient applications to drive better health and living, today announced that Wil Ralston, President of SinglePoint will participate in the Virtual Investor 'Ask the CEO' event on Friday, April 23, 2021 at 1:00 PM ET. As part of the virtual event, Mr. Ralston will provide a brief presentation, followed by approximately 20 minutes of an interactive Q&A session. This 'Ask the CEO' event is intended to provide retail investors access to ask their questions directly to Mr. Ralston. Questions can be typed in live during the event or pre-submitted through the event website at virtualinvestorco.com. Mr. Ralston will answer as many questions as possible during the event. To register and participate during the SinglePoint 'Ask the CEO' session, please click here. About SinglePoint Inc. SinglePoint Inc. is a renewable energy and sustainable lifestyle company focused on providing environmentally friendly energy efficiencies and healthy living solutions. SinglePoint is initially focused on building the largest network of renewable energy solutions and modernizing the traditional solar and energy storage model. The Company is also actively exploring future growth opportunities in air purification, electric vehicle charging, solar as a subscription service, and additional energy efficiencies and appliances that enhance sustainability and a healthier life. For more information, visit the Company's website (www.singlepoint.com) and connect on LinkedIn and Twitter. Forward-Looking Statements Certain statements in this news release may contain forward-looking information within the meaning of Rule 175 under the Securities Act of 1933 and Rule 3b-6 under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 and are subject to the safe harbor created by those rules. All statements, other than statements of fact, included in this release, including, without limitation, statements regarding potential plans and objectives of the Company, the use of proceed, anticipated growth and future expansion, are forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties. There can be no assurance that such statements will prove to be accurate and actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements. Technical complications, which may arise, could prevent the prompt implementation of any strategically significant plan(s) outlined above. The Company undertakes no duty to revise or update any forward-looking statements to reflect events or circumstances after the date of this release. Investor Contact: JTC Team, LLC Jenene Thomas 833-475-8247 [email protected] SOURCE SinglePoint Inc. Related Links singlepoint.com CHARLOTTE, N.C., April 15, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- SPX FLOW, Inc. (NYSE: FLOW), a leading provider of process solutions, announced today its plan to report first quarter 2021 financial results on May 5, 2021. During a conference call at 9:00 a.m. Eastern time, SPX FLOW President and Chief Executive Officer Marc Michael and Vice President and Chief Financial Officer Jaime Easley will discuss the company's first quarter 2021 results. Those interested in participating in the conference call should dial in five minutes prior to the start of the call. The call will be webcast simultaneously via the company's website at www.spxflow.com and the slide presentation will be available in the Investor Relations section of the site. An archive of the webcast will be available through the company's website after the call. Conference Call: Dial in: (877) 346-3961 From outside the United States: + 1 (262) 558-6099 Conference ID: 4277946 A replay of the call will be available by telephone through May 15, 2021. To Listen to A Replay of the Call : Dial in: (855) 859-2056 From outside the United States: + 1 (404) 537-3406 Conference ID: 4277946 About SPX FLOW, Inc.: Based in Charlotte, N.C., SPX FLOW, Inc. (NYSE: FLOW) improves the world through innovative and sustainable solutions. The company's product offering is concentrated in process technologies that perform mixing, blending, fluid handling, separation, thermal heat transfer and other activities that are integral to processes performed across a wide variety of nutrition, health and industrial markets. SPX FLOW had approximately $1.4 billion in 2020 annual revenues and has operations in more than 30 countries and sales in more than 140 countries. To learn more about SPX FLOW, please visit www.spxflow.com. Investor Contacts: Scott Gaffner VP, Investor Relations and Strategic Insights 704-752-4485 [email protected] Media Contact: Peter Smolowitz External Communications Manager [email protected] 704-390-6918 SOURCE SPX FLOW, Inc. OSLO, Norway, April 15, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- MPC Container Ships ASA ("MPCC" or the "Company", together with its subsidiaries the "Group"), is pleased to announce its support and membership of the recently launched Eyesea initiative. Eyesea, with the support of the shipping and maritime industry, is developing a maritime pollution reporting and mapping smartphone application through the use of geotagged pictures. CEO Constantin Baack comments in relation to the announcement "The Eyesea app proposes a simple yet effective way for the broader shipping industry to leverage its presence on the world's oceans to enhance maritime protection and conservation. Our crews have the high seas as their workplace and care deeply about ocean health. Moreover, our vessels operate in parts of the globe accessible to few others. With a combined 80,000 commercial ships navigating the world's oceans, the shipping industry has a unique opportunity to monitor and report on marine pollution. The data we can collect and compile will in turn have a profound impact on our ability to target areas in need of attention and solutions in need of development. As such, Eyesea comes across as a good match for the ESG commitment of both MPC Container Ships and the broader MPC Group." Graeme Somerville-Ryan, founder of Eyesea, commented "MPC Container Ships was the first major shipowner to see the potential of Eyesea, and their support have acted as an accelerator to other industry participants. Constantin Baack, Teodor Teigen and MPC Group representative Dr. Ignace Van Meenen offered their time, experience and valued advice, all of which were critical as we scoped out the project. The MPCC team all volunteered to part-take in Eyesea's governance team and have really championed the idea." Mr. Baack commented on the difficulties facing both maritime start-ups and environmentally-focused projects: "Selling ideas to shipowners is not an easy quest, but Eyesea require access to commercial vessels and their crews to test and refine its data collection capabilities. In our view, Eyesea as a concept is well overdue and represents an opportunity for shipowners and managers alike to advance their engagement for conserving and sustainably using the oceans and marine resources. Our seafarers and on-shore staff, cargo owners and the general public all express a desire for ocean protection. Eyesea fits well with our ESG commitments, but is more than a box-check exercise or sustainability report feature. A small difference is made every time one of our crew members collects pollution data. Understanding what is out there is an important first step towards cleaning up and changing the way our oceans are treated. For these reasons, MPC Container Ships is proud to be engaged with Eyesea." Eyesea is set up as a non-profit society and is made up of members of the shipping and maritime community. The Eyesea app is currently being tested on board commercial vessels and amongst community volunteers and recreational boat users. Once beta testing is complete, the Eyesea app will be made available to the general public. Further information and contact: To be involved in Eyesea at an individual level or as a company, please contact: [email protected] (+30) 694 8089923 About MPC Container Ships ASA: MPC Container Ships ASA (ticker code "MPCC") was formed in April 2017. Its main activity is to own and operate a portfolio of container ships serving intra-regional trade lanes. The Company is registered and has its business office in Oslo, Norway. For more information, please see our website: www.mpc-container.com . This information was brought to you by Cision http://news.cision.com https://news.cision.com/mpc-container-ships-asa/r/mpc-container-ships-announces-support-of-eyesea,c3325354 SOURCE MPC Container Ships ASA (Photo : Flickr/osde8info) Google Maps timelapse feature Google updated Google Earth's features, and added a timelapse mode. The new mode brings together 24 million satellite photos from the last 37 years. Google Earth update Google stated that it is the biggest update to Google Earth in years. The last redesign made was back in 2017, as per Wired. Google Earth timelapses launched a few years already, but on a dedicated site and only in 2D. Now it is in 3D. Since Google Earth lets users visit any place on Earth, users can now see how the places have changed over time. The update was announced on Thursday, Apr. 15, to the program that allow users to explore the evolution of a location in timelapse form, according to Slash Gear. Also Read: Google Earth Reveals Nearly 400 Ancient Stone Gates In Saudi Arabia Rebecca Moore, the director of Google Earth, Earth Engine, and Outreach, wrote in a blog post that with timelapse in Google Earth, users can have a clearer picture of the changing planet right at our fingertips, one that shows not just problems but also solutions, as well as mesmerizingly beautiful natural phenomena that unfold over decades. Google stated that it will continue to add new imagery to timelapse every year over the next decade. The project was created in collaboration with NASA, the U.S Geological Survey's Landsat program, and the European Union's Copernicus program. The internet giant also stated that it worked with Carnegie Mellon University's CREATE Lab on the technology that powers the timelapse feature. How Google Earth showed effects of climate change Notably, the timelapse feature of Google Earth showed users the striking effect of climate change over the past four decades. The feature showed visual evidence of how the Earth has changed due to human behavior, causing global warming and climate change. The feature takes Google Earth's static imagery and turns it into a dynamic 4D experience, so users can click through timelapses that highlight melting ice caps, receding glaciers, massive urban growth and wildfires that affected agriculture. According to CTV News, the timelapse covers photos taken from 1984 to 2020, an effort that took Google 2 million processing hours across thousands of machines in Google Cloud. To explore Google Earth's timelapse feature, users can type any location into the search bar to see it in motion. Users can type in landmarks, neighborhoods, cities, countries and more. User can take virtual tours as well. Google stated it removed elements like shadows and clouds from the images, and computed a single pixel for every location on Earth for every year since 1984, stitching them together into a timelapse video. This means that it is possible to see the Cap Cod coast slowly shifting south, the agriculture growth in the middle of a desert in Al Jowf, Saudi Arabia, and the development of Songdo beach, which is a man-made beach in Busan, South Korea. Moore added that visual evidence can cut to the core of the debate in a way that words cannot, and communicate complex issues to everyone. Google also created numerous guided tours through Voyager, which is a storytelling platform, around some of the broader changes seen in the imagery. The company stated that it hopes governments, journalists, researchers, teachers and advocates can use the imageries and analyze it, identify the trends and share their findings. Related Article: Utah's Mysterious Monolith Coordinates: People Begin Searching for It on Google Earth This article is owned by Tech Times Written by Sieeka Khan 2021 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. European countries reopening to summer holidaymakers will take some time and will depend on how quickly vaccines can be rolled out, the EU coronavirus chief has said. Dr Andrea Ammon, director of the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC), has thrown doubt on plans for summer holidays abroad. The director of the EU agency told Irish think-tank the Institute of International and European Affairs (IIEA) that she could not say when international travel will reopen. Reopening in the way we were in 2019 will still take some time, Dr Ammon added. Reopening in a way without all these restrictions will depend on how quickly we can roll out the vaccinations and how effective the vaccine is protective in the longer run. Emergency planning must be constant. We have to learn lessons and improve weaknesses all the times. Member states must learn systematically. Pending a change to the @ECDC_EU mandate a European Health Task Force may be created. Dr Andrea Ammon pic.twitter.com/nAe7qZxhPl IIEA (@iiea) April 15, 2021 Dr Ammon said the introduction of widespread antigen testing is still under discussion. A number of businesses in Ireland have started using rapid antigen testing to prepare for staff returning to work, and many hope it will be an effective way to safely reopen offices. Dr Ammon said the EU has published guidance on its use. Its very good that someone can do the test. There is of course a necessity that if the test turns positive, that there is recourse for further support, and its important that a follow-up test can be done so these cases are not lost to the general surveillance, she added. The totalities are still under discussion but that is something that needs to be ensured. She also said that there is huge potential for digitalisation of public health, but warned that citizens must trust and be assured that their data will be protected and used in their best interests. She said that monitoring of future outbreaks of disease will be more digital and participative. To rapidly detect outbreaks and community transmission, we need good confidence and trust of the population, Dr Ammon added. We have all seen that these contract-tracing apps never took off because of the the low trust and take-up in the population. The idea for future surveillance is more digital and more participative. There is huge potential for digitalisation in public health. However, rigorous validation processes and clear governance will be needed. She also warned that emergency planning for future pandemics and outbreaks in EU member states must be constant. This year #Covid19 has shown us that we are even more connected globally than we thought. An infectious disease present anywhere in the world can be in Europe in 24-48 hours. Nowhere is remote. Early detection and a strong response is essential. Dr Andrea Ammon @ECDC_EU IIEA (@iiea) April 15, 2021 We want to come to a point where member states systematically learn from all these outbreaks. We are seeing pandemic fatigue because of a failure to engage communities in a way that they see a necessity to follow all the measures. We have seen that it is hugely important to have international co-operation in sharing data and sharing knowledge. We have seen that we are even more connected than we thought globally. Infectious diseases anywhere in the world can be around the globe and arrive in Europe within 24 to 48 hours. In infectious diseases, nothing is remote. All is close to home. UPDATE: The body of Aiden Blanchard, an 11-year-old Chicopee boy reported missing in February, was recovered this week from the Connecticut River, officials said Friday. CHICOPEE Police divers recovered a body in the Connecticut River Wednesday morning while searching for an 11-year-old boy who has been missing since February. The departments Underwater Response Team was searching the Connecticut and Chicopee rivers at about 11:15 a.m. when it located the body in the water between the North End and Memorial bridges in Springfield, said Danusia Liszka, police public information officer. Officials have not determined if the victim discovered is Aiden Blanchard, who disappeared in February after going for a walk from his home. Aiden, a sixth-grader at Edward J. Bellamy Middle School, was last seen on Feb. 5 heading toward the Medina Street Boat Ramp in the Willimansett section of the city. His family reported him missing later that day, sparking a massive search. The body was recovered and brought to the Hampden County Medical Examiners Office. Officials there are working to identify the victim, Liszka said. The Chicopee Police Detective Bureau and the Massachusetts State Police Detective Unit assigned to Hampden County District Attorney Anthony Gullunis Office were called to the scene after divers discovered the person in the water, she said. Chicopee Police and Fire Departments with the assistance of the Massachusetts State Police and other agencies have been searching the Chicopee and Connecticut rivers regularly since Aiden disappeared with dive teams, by boat, and with drones and helicopters. Police with trained dogs also assisted. Officers canvassed the neighborhood looking for anyone who had seen Aiden and asked anyone who had video cameras to check their footage to help them track his movements. State police have said there is no evidence to suggest foul play in Aidens disappearance. Family, friends, his teachers and other community members gathered two weeks after Aidens disappearance for a vigil and to hope for his safe return. Just eight months before his disappearance Aiden lost his father, David Blanchard, who was killed in a vehicle crash. Josh Blanchard described his younger brother as funny and outgoing. Aiden attended Gen. John J. Stefanik School for kindergarten through grade five before graduating to middle school. He just brightens up the room, he said. On Saturday 17 April, the royal family will pay their respects to the late Duke of Edinburgh with a small funeral attended by only close relatives due to coronavirus restrictions. Prince Philip passed away on Friday 9 April at the age of 99 at Windsor Castle. While the funeral of such a high-profile figure would usually be expected to be attended by hundreds of guests with crowds of the public gathering nearby in support and to watch the procession, just 30 people will be permitted to attend Saturdays service due to government guidelines. Likewise, the public has been urged to stay away and leave messages of condolence online instead. It will be a royal ceremonial funeral as opposed to a state funeral, which are usually reserved for the head of state. Both The Queen Mother and Princess Diana had royal ceremonial funerals. The 30-person limit does not include clergy; the Archbishop of Canterbury and the Dean of Windsor will preside over the service. While the Queen and Prince Philip have 10 great-grandchildren, the family has considered them too young to attend the service as they are all aged 10 and under. These are the family members who will be in attendance at Prince Philips funeral on Saturday. The Queen (Getty Images) Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip were married for 73 years, making him the longest-serving consort in British history. It has been up to the monarch to decide who else will attend the service. The Prince of Wales and the Duchess of Cornwall (Getty Images) Prince Charles, 72, Prince Philip's eldest son and heir to the throne, will attend the funeral on Saturday with his wife, Camilla Parker-Bowles. The Princess Royal and Vice Admiral Sir Timothy Laurence (Getty Images) Princess Anne, the only daughter of the Queen and Prince Philip, will attend the funeral with her husband, Sir Laurence, a retired Royal Navy officer. The Duke of York (Getty Images) Prince Andrew, the Queen and Prince Philip's third child, stepped back from royal duties in November 2019, following his Newsnight interview with Emily Maitlis over his friendship with convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. The funeral will be the first official televised royal event he has attended since - he was not even featured in published photographs of his daughter Beatrice's wedding last summer. The Earl and Countess of Wessex (Getty Images) As Prince Philips youngest son, Prince Edward will also attend the funeral with his wife, Sophie, Countess of Wessex, who has said to be particularly close to the Queen. Peter Phillips (Getty Images) Peter Phillips, 43, is Princess Annes eldest child and the only son of hers and her first husband Captain Mark Phillips. As for his relation to Prince Philip, Peter was one of his many grandchildren. Zara Tindall and Mike Tindall (Getty Images) Zara Tindall, 39, is the second child of Princess Anne, whose father is also Captain Mark Philips, Annes first husband. The British equestrian will attend the funeral on Saturday with her husband, Mike Tindall. The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge (Getty Images) As the eldest son of Prince Charles and the late Princess Diana and third in-line to the throne, Prince William, 38, will attend on Saturday and walk in the procession behind his grandfathers coffin. His wife of 10 years, Kate Middleton, 39, will also attend. The Duke of Sussex (Getty Images) Prince Harry, 36, is the youngest son of Prince Charles and Princess Diana. In a personal statement, Harry described his grandfather as a master of the barbecue, legend of banter, and cheeky right til the end. He has flown from his home in Los Angeles to attend the funeral on Saturday, though his wife, the Duchess of Sussex, has stayed in the US given her pregnancy with the couples second child. Princess Beatrice and Edoardo Mapelli Mozzi (Getty Images) As the daughter of Prince Andrew and his ex-wife, the Duchess of York, Princess Beatrice will attend the funeral on Saturday. She will bring her new husband, Edoardo Mapelli Mozzi, whom she married last year. Princess Eugenie and Jack Brooksbank (Getty Images) Beatrices sister, Princess Eugenie, will also be in attendance this weekend and will bring her partner, Jack Brooksbank, whom she married in 2018. Lady Louise Windsor (Getty Images) Lady Louise Windsor, 17, is the only daughter of the Earl of Wessex and the Countess of Wessex. As the youngest granddaughter of the Queen and Prince Philip, who also happens to be 14th in line to the throne, she will attend the funeral on Saturday. Viscount Severn (Getty Images) James Mountbatten-Windsor, 13, is the youngest child of the Earl of Wessex and the Countess of Wessex and will attend his grandfathers funeral on Saturday with his parents and his sister. Princess Alexandra (Getty Images for Ascot Racecours) Princess Alexandra, 84, is one of the Queens cousins and is a working member of the Royal Family. She is the daughter of Prince George, Duke of Kent (the younger brother of the Queens father, George VI) and Princess Marina of Greece and Denmark. Her mother, Princess Marina, was also a first cousin of Prince Philip, meaning that she is his first cousin once removed. The Duke of Gloucester (Getty Images) The Duke of Gloucester, 76, is another one of the Queens first cousins and will attend on Saturday with his wife. He is the second son of the late Duke of Gloucester and the late Princess Alice, Duchess of Gloucester, who was the third daughter of the 7th Duke of Buccleuch. He is a grandson of George V and became heir to his fathers titles following the death of his elder brother, Prince William of Gloucester, in a flying accident on 28 August 1972. He is a working member of the royal family and lives at Kensington Palace with his wife, the Duchess of Gloucester, Birgitte van Deurs, and their three children. The Duke of Kent (Getty Images) The Duke of Kent, 85, is the older brother to Prince Michael of Kent and Princess Alexandra, and is first cousin to both The Queen and Prince Philip. The Earl of Snowdon (Getty Images) David Armstrong-Jones, known as David Linley, 59, is the 2nd Earl of Snowdon and, as Princess Margarets son, he is the Queens nephew. His father is the photographer Antony Armstrong-Jones. David was divorced from his wife, the Countess of Snowdon, last year after 26 years of marriage. Lady Sarah Chatto and Daniel Chatto (Getty Images) Lady Sarah Chotto, 56, is the daughter of Princess Margaret, and Antony Armstrong-Jones. This means that she is the Queens niece. She will attend Prince Philips funeral on Saturday with her husband, actor David Chatto. Bernhard, Hereditary Prince of Baden (Getty Images) Bernhard, Hereditary Prince of Baden, 50, is the eldest son of Maximilian, Margrave of Baden and Archduchess Valerie of Austria. He is a great-nephew of Prince Philip. Prince Donatus, Landgrave of Hesse (Getty Images) Prince Donatus, 54, known as Don, is the eldest son of German aristocrat Moritz, Landgrave of Hesse, and his ex-wife, Princess Tatiana of Sayn-Wittgenstein-Berleburg. He is the head of the House of Brabant and the German House of Hesse, which is the house into which Prince Philips two younger sisters, Cecile and Sophie, got married. He is a descendant of Queen Victoria. Prince Philipp of Hohenlohe-Langenburg Phillipp Fuerst zu Hohenlohe-Langenburg and Erbprinz Bernhard von Baden pictured in 2013. (Getty Images) Prince Philpp of Hohenlohe-Langenburg, 51, is the child and only son of Kraft, Prince of Hohenlohe-Langenburg and his first wife, Princess Charlotte of Croy. He is also part of Prince Philips wider German family. The Countess Mountbatten of Burma HM Queen Elizabeth II and the Countess Mountbatten of Burma (Shutterstock) Penelope Knatchbull, 67, is the current Countess Mountbatten of Burma and is the only daughter of Marian Hood and Reginald Eastwood. In 1979, she married Norton Knatchbull, Lord Romsey (Prince Charless cousin), who is the son and heir of the late Patricia Knatchbull, who was the 2nd Countess Mountbatten of Burma, and John Knatchbull, the 7th Baron Brabourne. Prince Charles served as best man at their wedding. Brussels, April 15 : The European Commission announced that it would borrow 800 billion euros from the capital market in current prices until 2026 to fund the European Union's (EU) massive plan to bail out its Covid-stricken economy. A diversified funding strategy was created to ensure that the ember states of the bloc would receive loans under the package known as the NextGenerationEU at an advantageous rate, reports Xinhua news agency. The EU has set December 2058 as a deadline for itself to fulfil all the repayment, and plans to generate new own resources to strengthen the repayment capability. Making the announcement at a press conference on Wednesday, European Commissioner for Budget and Administration Johannes Hahn also urged EU member states which have not ratified the Own Resources Decision to do so as soon as possible. "The message is clear: as soon as the Commission has been legally enabled to borrow, we are ready to get going," said Hahn. So far, Germany, Estonia, Poland, Hungary, Austria, Finland, Romania, the Netherlands, Ireland and Lithuania have not ratified the Decision. All other 17 have ratified it, according to Hahn. The EU has decided to release a historic stimulus package worth 1.8 trillion euros in 2018 prices, or over two trillion euros in current prices, to help the bloc tackle the economic fallout of the pandemic and achieve a greener and more digital recovery. Bulgarias new parliament convened Thursday for its first session since the country's April 4 general election. Lawmakers from six political forces were sworn into the 240-seat national legislature. Prime Minister Boyko Borissov's GERB party won the most seats in the election, 75, but fell well short of the majority needed to form a government on its own.. Addressing the legislators, President Rumen Radev said he would hold consultations with the parliamentary groups on Monday about the formation of Bulgaria's next government. Radev, who was a vocal critic of Borissovs outgoing government, said the fragmented 45th National Assembly was an expression of a widespread desire for change after months of protests. Under the terms of the Bulgarian Constitution, the president will give Borissov's GERB a mandate to form a government. GERB is unlikely to be able to do so since other parties have refused to work with GERB. If that happens, the party that placed second in the election, ITN, will get the mandate. ITN is a new party formed around popular TV entertainer Stanislav Trifonov, holds 51 parliament seats. Its The nominee for parliament speaker, legal expert Iva Miteva, was elected to the position in a 163-0 vote, with 75 abstentions. (Disclaimer: This story is auto-generated from a syndicated feed; only the image & headline may have been reworked by www.republicworld.com) Who is Song Hye Kyo dating right now? Less than two years after her divorce from Song Joong Ki, what is Song Hye Kyo's relationship status right now? Is Song Hye Kyo Dating Hyun Bin? The year opened to the sad news that the pandemic is not far from over, and no news about who Song Hye Kyo is still dating. Almost two years now since she and Song Joong Ki divorced, people are raring to find out if she has finally, at last, found someone new. The last known rumor about her dating life however, remains to be that of with "Crash Landing on You" actor Hyun Bin. Back in August 2020, the rumor mill was abuzz with the possibility of Song Hye Kyo and Hyun Bin rekindling their old relationship after someone uploaded on social media a blurry picture of them together, allegedly walking side-by-side. The Instagram fan account of the 'Binkyo' pairing managed to screengrab a low-res picture of two people out for an evening stroll with the caption "Nothing..", which it assumes to be of the two superstars. They also alleged that it was uploaded to Instagram Stories by Hyun Bin's stylist but was quickly removed a few moments later. Some refused to believe the photo is of the two, with some claiming it was impossible for the two to date because the actor was in Jordan filming his new movie "Bargaining." However, others were quick to say that since the photo was uploaded on June 28, the two had the time to meet and date. This was allegedly two weeks before the 37-year-old left South Korea. After this rumor circulated online, however, there is silence on whether the two are in fact dating (or have dated). It seems quite impossible for them to be together now though because on January 1, 2021, Hyun Bin and Son Ye-jin, made the their shippers quite happy when they confirmed that they are dating. The two are the stars of "Crash Landing on You" so it is not that hard for them to form a bond. Rumors of them liking each other emerged for the first time after they filmed "The Negotiation" together in 2018. Song Hye Kyo is At Peace Being Alone In reality, it can be said that Song Hye Kyo must still not be ready to date anyone. There was a recent report alleging she is already tired of people speculating about her relationship status and of how her marital life went with her ex-husband Song Joong Ki. Every time Song Joong Ki does something - such as selling off his own personal home, this is often being linked to Song Hye Kyo and she is allegedly beyond tired of it. Instead, a recent report had it that she is returning to television soon, and this might be where all her focus is on right now. It was recently reported that the South Korean actress will return to the small screen in a new drama written by none other than screenwriter Kim Eun-sook, who was the mastermind behind hit dramas such as Descendants Of The Sun (2016) and Goblin (2016 to 2017). The eight-part series is, reportedly, titled "Glory." Kdramastars owns this article. Written by Annie Dee A gunman with 'mental issues' was shot and killed after driving up to the terminal of San Antonio International Airport and opening fire indiscriminately. The unidentified man was shot and killed by a cop on Thursday afternoon, with a person filmed being stretchered onto an ambulance surrounded by police officers shortly afterwards. San Antonio Police Chief Mark Williams told KSAT the officer's quick-thinking had likely averted a mass-shooting. He said: '(The shooter) had a lot of ammunition and was shooting indiscriminately. 'Were lucky today not to have a lot of people injured or killed during this event.' McManus said his department had previous interaction with the shooter, who was pronounced dead after being taken to hospital. The police chief also confirmed earlier reports that the same man had been firing his gun off a nearby highway ramp shortly before driving to the airport. Afterwards, the airport was locked down, with a police spokesman saying there was no threat to the public. KSAT News reported that a a man had earlier been seen firing 9 to 10 shots from a flyover overpass near the airport at about 10:30 am Thursday. San Antonio Police placed the airport in lockdown on Thursday after a person was shot by police San Antonio International Airport put on lockdown after 'officer-involved shooting' on Thursday Passengers at San Antonio International Airport are forced to wait after the terminal was placed on lockdown on Thursday. San Antonio Police Chief William McManus said the man had likely fired a pistol, and police had been actively seeking the gunman. Police said the shooter may have been driving a red Mini Cooper or a gray minivan, McManus said in a briefing near the scene. 'The description of the vehicle that he was standing in front of was all over the place, we don't have a consistent description of the vehicle,' he said. Arrivals and departure information on the airport's website indicated there had been little to no disruption to flights, with just one 3pm departure to Detroit being delayed. [April 15, 2021] New Retro Message iOS App Reimagines Mobile Messaging with Vintage Black-and-White Film Clips SANTA BARBARA, Calif., April 15, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- The team of imaging tech veterans and film buffs at Retro Message Studio is bringing a new twist to mobile video messaging with the launch of Retro Message for iOS. With its vast collection of vintage films, Retro Message lets users send messages superimposed on vintage black-and-white movie clips. Users can either choose a quote from a classic movie or create their own text message to superimpose over the selected clip. Retro Message is available on the App Store and is currently exclusive to iOS iPhone. Users can send their first three messages for free; after that, users will need to purchase a Retro Message membership in order to send more messages. However, Retro Message Studio has streamlined its process to keep pricing low at the cost of just $5.99 for three months or $19.99 for one year. With a Retro Message membership, users can: Select retro clips from a vast library of vintage black-and-white film clips. Send an unlimited number of retro messages. Receive additional new hand-curated vintage film clips each month to expand their creativity. "Dedicated to the early pioneers of filmmaking, as well as the filmmaker in all of us, the Retro Message film library represents the art of black-and-white movies from the late 1940s and early 1950s. We use clips from these classics as a way to completely refresh mobile video messaging, making it more artistic than ever before," said Scott Hawthorne, CEO of Retro Message Studio. "Retro Message has been a hug hit with our early adopters, who have been loving the level of creativity they've been able to add to their messages. We're thrilled to finally launch Retro Message to the public, giving people a whole new, much more aesthetic and elegant way to send video messages." Hawthorne, a digital art pioneer and creative technologist, started creating computer art in 1978. In 1979, he was awarded "Best Overall" in a nationwide computer-generated art competition showcasing emerging digital art methods. In 1991, Hawthorne was invited to show his early computer artwork at the Franklin Institute in Philadelphia, where he combined traditional pen and ink drawing with digital art using the new release of Adobe Photoshop. Hawthorne's early computer-generated art has been showcased at CalTech, the Rochester Institute of Technology, MIT, UCSB, and UCLA during lectures or speaking engagements on emerging computer graphic technologies. Also on board at Retro Message Studio is Tom Rzonca as Chief Creative Officer. A world-class UX designer, art creator, photographer, cinematographer, and interactive designer, Rzonca's work has gained prestigious recognition over the decades his career has spanned. He was a winner in the ninth annual Webby Awards, and was also nominated for both 2011 and 2012 National Design Awards from Cooper-Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum. "Once in a great while, an app comes along that redefines a paradigmin this case, messaging. This is one such app, and messaging will never be the same as a result," said Sandra S., a Retro Message early adopter. Retro Message can be downloaded here on the App Store. About Retro Message Studio Headquartered in Santa Barbara County, California, Retro Message Studio manages historical archives of film, historical photography, and early American digital art. The Retro Message Studio team is a brain trust of digital art and digital video pioneers, as well as award-winning UI and UX designers. The company is also the developer of the Retro Message video messaging app, which allows users to send artistic messages with a vintage black-and-white film clip. For more information on Retro Message Studio, please visit RetroMsg.com. Additional Materials Press Release Files for [>] retro message Media Contact Scott Hawthorne 307004@email4pr.com (805) 450-6640 View original content to download multimedia:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/new-retro-message-ios-app-reimagines-mobile-messaging-with-vintage-black-and-white-film-clips-301269839.html SOURCE Retro Message Studio [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] The six-month month ban came into force on December 31. Yerevan described it as retaliation for Ankaras inflammatory calls, arms supplies to Azerbaijan and deployment of terrorist mercenaries to the conflict zone. Speaking in the Armenian parliament, Grigorian said the government is now inclined to extend the measure in June. He clarified that the import ban does not apply to Turkish raw materials and parts used by Armenian manufacturers. Armenia imported (mostly via Georgia) $220 million worth of Turkish-manufactured products last year, Grigorian said, adding that local firms can produce or import them from China, Russia or other ex-Soviet states. I think that the market will very quickly adapt to this situation, he told lawmakers. Turkey has refused to establish diplomatic relations with Armenia and kept the border between the two states closed since the early 1990s out of solidarity with Azerbaijan. It has also banned all imports from Armenia. Ankara has yet to clarify whether a final Karabakh settlement acceptable to Baku remains a precondition for normalizing Turkish-Armenian relations after the six-week war that resulted in the restoration of Azerbaijani control over all districts around Karabakh. Foreign Minister Ara Ayvazian said late last month that the Turks must end their hostile actions against Armenia if they want to contribute to peace and stability in the region. Ayvazians remarks contrasted with a statement on Turkish-Armenian relations made by Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian earlier in March. The latter said Armenia also needs to review its policies towards Turkey as well as Azerbaijan. We, the regional countries, must reappraise our mutual attitudes and postures, said Pashinian. Opposition leaders and other critics of the Armenian government denounced that statement as further proof of Pashinians desire to continue sacrificing Armenias national interests. New Delhi: A female prison officer in Englands Yorkshire was jailed for 10 months for having a relationship with one of the inmates. The 22-year-old woman, Scarlett Aldrich, even got the prison number of the jailed man named Jones tattooed on her body. When her superiors discovered the body art, they sent her to undergo a medical examination. Following the discovery, a case was registered against her. She admitted misconduct in public office and smuggling a mobile phone and sim card into prison at a previous hearing, a report by the Daily Mail said. The officers even found love letters from Aldrich in the inmates cell. The judge hearing the matter considered a suspended sentence, but the charges were so serious that he imposed ten months' custody, with half to be served. 'You allowed yourself to be taken in by him. You put the safety and security of the prison in jeopardy, the judge said. The prosecutor informed the court that the accused lady visited the prison workshop quite frequently and spent hours with the said inmate. Also Read: Customer's amazing welcome by a 'Paanwala' leaves netizens surprised -- Watch Live TV Data published in the Lancet's EBioMedicine shows that the pathogenic envelope protein of the human endogenous retrovirus W (HERV-W ENV) is found on lymphocytes of hospitalized patients with COVID-19, and that its level of expression is associated with disease severity. HERV-W ENV's pro-inflammatory properties thought to act as an "accelerant" of the activation of the innate immune system, fueling the severity of COVID-19 evolution and impacting long term recovery. Preliminary data available on Research Square also shows HERV-W ENV expression in lymphocytes following in vitro exposure to SARS-CoV-2 in about 20% of healthy blood donors, suggesting individual susceptibility. With HERVs as a possible aggravating agent of COVID-19, GeNeuro's temelimab, an anti-HERV-W ENV monoclonal antibody already in Phase II clinical trials with an excellent tolerability and safety, could, without any prejudice to its existing programs, start tests against COVID-19 as early as this summer. Regulatory News: GeNeuro (Euronext Paris: CH0308403085 GNRO), acknowledges data published today in the Lancet's EBioMedicine showing that HERV-W ENV expression was detected in the lymphocytes of all 30 studied hospitalized COVID-19 patients, versus none in healthy subjects, and that the level of HERV-W ENV was correlated with the severity of the evolution of the disease. The study, published under the title "Evidence of the pathogenic HERV-W envelope expression in T lymphocytes in association with the respiratory outcome of COVID-19 patients, was conducted by a team led by Dr. Claudia Matteucci at University of Rome "Tor Vergata", in collaboration with the International Center for Infectiology Research in Lyon, France (CIRI) and GeNeuro. "Our findings on HERV-W ENV in the blood of hospitalized COVID-19 patients are truly novel, as this pro-inflammatory protein is usually found in specific disease situations, mostly in the brain, but has never before been observed circulating in the body at high levels and, in particular, was never seen expressed in T-lymphocytes" said Prof. Claudia Matteucci, Department of Experimental Medicine, University of Rome "Tor Vergata". "The study shows a clear association between HERV-W ENV expression in lymphocytes and the severity of the respiratory evolution of COVID-19 in hospitalized patients. Understanding the mechanisms leading from SARS-CoV-2 infection to severe disease is critical for the development of effective treatments. The identification of the association between HERV-W ENV expression and inflammatory and immune dysfunction in COVID-19 opens an avenue for further investigation of its role as a trigger of detrimental immune response and potential target for therapy In a parallel effort supported by the French National Research Agency (ANR), the CIRI in Lyon started research to understand why HERV-W ENV was found at high levels in the blood of hospitalized COVID-19 patients. Preliminary findings, available online on Research Square, show that when human peripheral blood mononuclear cells from healthy donors were cultured and exposed to SARS-CoV-2, about 20% of donors responded by expressing HERV-W ENV in lymphocytes, cells in which the virus did not replicate. This expression was triggered specifically by the spike protein of SARS-CoV-2, independently from cytokine release. "Our research suggests a genetic and/or epigenetic susceptibility associated to the activation of HERV-W ENV in blood lymphoid cells, which could be important in understanding how SARS-CoV-2 infection may lead to severe forms of COVID-19 in some patients," said Dr Branka Horvat, who heads the "Immunobiology of Viral infections" team at the International Center Infectiology Research-CIRI. "The findings made in Rome and Lyon, combined with the known pro-inflammatory properties of the HERV-W ENV protein, may shed a new light on the development of severe forms of COVID-19, and may also offer an unforeseen opportunity to stop this evolution through a novel therapeutic approach HERV-W ENV is found in specific disease situations, and its presence is always tied to negative disease outcomes for the patient. The pro-inflammatory effects of HERV-W ENV are mediated through the activation of the TLR4 innate immune receptor, a pathway closely associated with some of the key features of COVID-19, such as hyper-activation of immune functions, endothelial cell activation, vasculitis as well as coagulopathy. To date, HERV-W ENV has mostly been studied in neurodegenerative diseases, with widely observed pathogenic effects on peripheral and central nervous system cells. "The presence of HERV-W ENV in COVID-19 patients may have a double effect. In the short-term, when activated in genetically susceptible individuals, HERV-W ENV can act as an accelerantto the innate immune response, fueling complications and leading to the need for ventilation. But even after the primary infection is over, if HERV-W ENV has reached a self-fueling expression level, it may cause persistent damage to endothelial cells in blood vessels and also to cells from the peripheral and central nervous system, which could explain many of the long-term neurological symptoms experienced by patients long after SARS-CoV-2 infection," said Dr. Herve Perron, Chief Scientific Officer of GeNeuro, who has been working on HERVs for over 30 years. The link between viral infection and HERV activation in specific diseases has already been well documented. But until now, HERV expression had been observed in limited amounts and mainly found in an affected organ, predominantly in the brain in neurodegenerative disorders. GeNeuro was founded in 2006 as a spin-off of Institut Merieux to leverage HERV biology into novel treatments by neutralizing pathogenic HERV proteins. Its most advanced drug candidate, temelimab, has shown very promising results in Phase II trials against Multiple Sclerosis (MS), and is presently in a trial against disability progression at the Karolinska Institutet's Academic Specialist Center (ASC) in Stockholm, Sweden. Temelimab is an anti-HERV-W ENV monoclonal antibody, with demonstrated excellent tolerability and safety in over 400 patient-years of treatment, and is immediately available to study the effects of neutralizing HERV-W ENV in COVID-19 patients. "GeNeuro is focused on developing treatments to neutralize the pathogenic effects of HERVs for the benefit of patients. Our main focus is on autoimmune and neurodegenerative diseases, such as MS, where the link between HERVs and disease is best established," said Jesus Martin-Garcia, CEO of GeNeuro. "We are intrigued by these very novel findings, which show once again the importance of HERV biology to understand and tackle severe conditions. As the leaders in the HERV field and with HERV-W ENV as a possible aggravating agent of COVID-19, we have started working with leading medical centers in Europe and the USA to evaluate temelimab as a therapeutic treatment, both to prevent immune system hyper-activation in recently infected patients, as well as to tackle severe neurological and psychiatric syndromes in long-COVID patients. Without any prejudice to our existing programs, we have enough temelimab to start both tracks of clinical trials, as early as this summer About GeNeuro GeNeuro's mission is to leverage HERV biology to develop safe and effective treatments for the benefit of patients, by neutralizing causal factors encoded by HERVs that represent 8% of human DNA. GeNeuro is based in Geneva, Switzerland and has R&D facilities in Lyon, France. It has rights to 17 patent families protecting its technology. For more information, visit: www.geneuro.com About University of Rome "Tor Vergata" The University of Rome "Tor Vergata" was established in 1982. Designed on the model of Anglo-Saxon campuses, it hosts important research institutions, such as the National Research Council CNR and the Italian Space Agency ASI. Tor Vergata's School of Medicine and Surgery is ranked among the top academic medical centers in Italy and its Department of Experimental Medicine works closely with the "Policlinic Tor Vergata" university hospital. For more information, visit https://en.uniroma2.it/. About the International Center for Infectiology Research (CIRI) The International Center for Infectiology Research (CIRI) is a joint research unit of the Lyon 1 University, Inserm, CNRS and the ENS de Lyon in partnership with VetAgro Sup, the Institut Pasteur and the Hospices Civils de Lyon. The CIRI gathers the scientific and medical research communities with complementary disciplinary backgrounds grouped in 3 specialties working together with the objective to understand host-microbe interactions to better fight infectious diseases. For more information, visit https://ciri.ens-lyon.fr Disclaimer This press release contains certain forward looking statements and estimates concerning GeNeuro's financial condition, operating results, strategy, projects and future performance and the markets in which it operates. Such forward-looking statements and estimates may be identified by words, such as "anticipate," "believe," "can," "could," "estimate," "expect," "intend," "is designed to," "may," "might," "plan," "potential," "predict," "objective," "should," or the negative of these and similar expressions. They incorporate all topics that are not historical facts. Forward looking statements, forecasts and estimates are based on management's current assumptions and assessment of risks, uncertainties and other factors, known and unknown, which were deemed to be reasonable at the time they were made but which may turn out to be incorrect. Events and outcomes are difficult to predict and depend on factors beyond the company's control. Consequently, the actual results, financial condition, performances and/or achievements of GeNeuro or of the industry may turn out to differ materially from the future results, performances or achievements expressed or implied by these statements, forecasts and estimates. Owing to these uncertainties, no representation is made as to the correctness or fairness of these forward-looking statements, forecasts and estimates. Furthermore, forward-looking statements, forecasts and estimates speak only as of the date on which they are made, and GeNeuro undertakes no obligation to update or revise any of them, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as required by law. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210414005878/en/ Contacts: GeNeuro Jesus Martin-Garcia Chairman and CEO +41 22 552 4800 investors@geneuro.com NewCap (France) Louis-Victor Delouvrier Mathilde Bohin (investors) +33 1 44 71 98 52 Nicolas Merigeau (media) +33 1 44 71 94 98 geneuro@newcap.eu Halsin Partners Mike Sinclair (media) +44 20 7318 2955 msinclair@halsin.com LifeSci Advisors Chris Maggos (investors) +41 79 367 6254 chris@lifesciadvisors.com Credit: University of Michigan Press The opening lines of Tolstoy's "Anna Karenina," where the Russian author posits that "Happy families are all alike; every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way," can also be applied to the responses to COVID-19 by countries around the world, say researchers at the University of Michigan. U-M professors Scott Greer and Elizabeth King and colleagues in Brazil analyzed early government responses from 34 countries on five continents to the emerging COVID-19 pandemic and how those decisions impacted their citizens' health and lives. They brought together a team of about 70 public health researchers and political scientists who dove into understanding policy and politics to measure the effectiveness of governments' responsesinstead of looking at classical data like the number of deaths and the contagion curve of the disease. In a broad and in-depth portrait of how different nations responded to the same pandemic, the U-M-led team found that the few countries who were relatively successful by the end of 2020 were alike in regard to their responses. These "happy countries"South Korea, Vietnam, Germany and Denmarkhad a fast public health response through pharmaceutical interventions (mask-wearing, strict guidelines on shutting things down). They quickly implemented robust testing and contact tracing responses to stop the virus from spreading, paid people to stay home and did serious public health work quicklyending up with "the best of both worlds," the researchers say. "Governments have responded in divergent ways to manage the COVID-19 pandemic and our work shows what countries have succeeded or failed," said Greer, professor of health management and policy at the U-M School of Public Health. "We wanted to start identifying what mattered the most and explain it to shape future conversations about the meaning and lessons of this disease for comparative politics and health policy." Greer and King, who co-authored "Coronavirus Politics" with their Brazilian colleagues, professor Elize Massard da Fonseca of Getulio Vargas Foundation and public health specialist Andre Peralta-Santos, gathered data from the first nine months of 2020 when the pandemic management depended on nonpharmaceutical interventions and test-trace-isolate-support systems. "The main goal was to gather an impressive group of interdisciplinary scholars with deep country or region-specific expertise to describe the public health and social policy responses," said King, associate professor of health behavior and health education at the U-M School of Public Health. "And also to provide explanations for how and why the countries were responding in the ways that they were during the first wave of the pandemic." Unhappy countries While the "happy countries," or those that did the pandemic response right, were similar in their approaches to managing the pandemic, the "unhappy countries," or those that did it wrong, were uniquely unhappy, the researchers say. These countries, like the United States and Brazil, responded with varying policiessome expected and some not. For example, these governments gave some stimulus and essentially made it possible to stay home, but then didn't really build any public health infrastructure. In both casesand for different reasons considering the political systems are differentthe U.S. and Brazil were "two really salient countries that did a huge stimulus and then just did not make coherent policies," the researchers say. "You see the effects in mortality, you see the effects in the number of cases," Greer said. "The people appreciated the money and a lot of them stayed home, but then, in the absence of public health policy, you got state-by-state chaos. It seems that you have to combine social policy and public health work right." India may have used a different method for "getting it wrong," say Greer, King and colleagues. India ignored social policy, producing a tragedy of a different kind. The government told the population to stay home, later realizing that millions of migrant workers had to work to eat. "When they shut down their employment, they're all starving," Greer said. "We don't know it yet, but it could be that the lockdown in India killed more people than the virus. It's quite possible." For King, it is hard to have a successful COVID-19 response without responding with social policies that allow individuals, communities and businesses to survive the social and economic consequences of the pandemic. Leaders matter The politics and policies implemented were often even more predictive of how a country responded to COVID-19 than the state's capacity to do so. Leaders considered controversial, such as Donald Trump, Jair Bolsonaro (Brazil), Sebastian Pinera (Chile), and Boris Johnson (United Kingdom), acted with authoritarianism when responding to COVID-19, the researchers say. Both Trump and Bolsonaro adopted destructive denialist approaches to the epidemic, which undermined efforts to respond effectively, they say. "Presidentialism and authoritarian governments, in general, guarantee these leaders powerful instruments, which in the hands of a populist denialist can have devastating effects on the response to COVID-19," said co-author Fonseca, assistant professor of public administration at the Sao Paulo School of Business Administration at Getulio Vargas Foundation. "Brazil was very well positioned to deal effectively with the pandemic but unfortunately failed to do so even having a relatively robust research and health infrastructure." For Greer, this pandemic shows there are serious coordination problems in global health governance. In country after country, the difference in what people's lives are like today compared to about a year ago is the result of public policy decisions. "Political institutions matter, and we need more political analysis to better understand and prepare countries for future health crises," he said. "There are a lot of dead people around the world because of political decisions. "There is also great hope that many countries will be able to change their trajectory in the COVID-19 pandemic. Vaccines show promise that surprised most informed observers. They created hope amid the disarray seen in many countries." A free online version of Coronavirus Politics will be available April 22. Explore further Follow the latest news on the coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak Iranian President Hassan Rouhani reiterated that the Islamic Republic had no intention of making a nuclear bomb and called on world powers to honour the deal. "Don't worry about Iran. We have always remained committed to our obligations," Rouhani said in a televised cabinet meeting on Thursday. "Even today, if we wish, we can enrich uranium at 90% purity. But we are not seeking a nuclear bomb ... If others return to full compliance with the deal ... we will stop 60% and 20% enrichment." He said Tehran would then return to compliance with the 3.67% cap set by the deal on Iran's uranium enrichment level, Reuters reported. The President of the High Court has ruled that a General Practioner who has allegedly told a patient that the Covid19 pandemic is "a hoax" should be temporarily suspended from practising medicine. In a recently published judgement Ms Justice Mary Irvine said she was granting orders suspending the practising certificate of Dr. Gerard Waters, pending the outcome of any full disciplinary proceedings into allegations against him. Dr Waters who is aged in his early seventies is based in Celbridge, in Co Kildare. The application seeking Dr Waters' suspension was heard by the President before Easter in private. The court's decision has been made available to the public. In her judgement Ms Justice Irvine said the Medical Council received a complaint about the GP from a patient who attended at his surgery in September of 2020, with a suspected chest infection who was concerned they may have covid-19. After being told that Dr Waters surgery could not refer patients for covid-19 tests, the patient attended a different doctor. The other doctor said the patient's symptoms were not consistent with covid-19 and that it was likely that the patient had a chest infection. The patient returned to Dr Waters' surgery. In the surgery the patient says that he saw a pamphlet entitled "No pandemic killing us." The patient alleges that he was treated to a barrage of nonsense "about the hoax that is covid19" by Dr Waters, the judge said. It is also alleged that Dr Waters also told the patient that the government were scamming the people, and that wearing of masks was causing illness. and that people who had died from the illness had not actually died from the virus. The patient also claims that Dr Waters told him that his own symptoms were caused by the mask the patient was wearing, describing it as @the silly f***king thing" the patient was wearing, the judge said. After thinking "long and hard" about the situation the patient decided to make a complaint due to his belief that what the doctor said was dangerous and undermining messages given by public health professionals trying to manage the current global public health emergency. Arising out of the complaint the medical council contacted Dr Waters. He admitted setting out his point of view on Covid19 to the patient, but claims he did so in a professional manner, the judge said. In her judgement Ms Justice Irvine said in a response to the allegations Dr Waters expressed his views regarding the government's handling of covid19 pandemic and his research regarding the pandemic. He stated that the state's measures have "done more harm than good," specifically the psychological damage done by lockdowns. He also supplied documents sourced from abroad to support his views, the court also noted. He also said that the government had instigated 'media propaganda' which was being used to front run an economic collapse in the Western World, and that the death toll from covid19 is inflated. The doctor also said that his views have only been communicated to patients who seek his professional opinion, and that he has not shared his views on the internet or stood on a platform speaking to the public. The Medical Council said that in response it wrote to Dr Waters expressing its concerns and sought assurances from him that he would adhere to best professional practice and that he would follow HSE Covid-19 guidelines, the judge said. Last February the medical council discovered that Dr Waters told sections of the media that he would not administer covid19 vaccines to patients as he was a conscientious objector. After it was unable to get the assurances, it had sought from Dr Waters the Medical Council instructed its lawyers to make an application under the 2007 Medical Practioners Act to the High Court to suspend his registration. It claimed that the patient's complaint raised serious issues about Dr Waters clinical practice, and about public safety, and that he was failing to follow ethical guidelines. The Medical Council said it was particular concerned about Dr Water's admission that he had not referred any patient of his for a covid-19 test, the judge added. The council said that certain undertakings to co-operate with the HSE were tendered by Dr Waters, however it was their case that they did not go far enough to protect the public and Dr Waters' patients. Opposing the application to suspend him Dr Waters argued that the convictions he holds regarding covid19 were protected by his right to conscientious objection. He denied putting his patients at risk, Ms Justice Irvine added. He also argued that there was significant scepticism in the public and medical professional about vaccines, and that his actions did not amount to an attempt to undermine public health. In her decision Ms Justice Irvine said that the Council was justified in bringing the application to suspend Dr Waters, pending the outcome of an investigation into his alleges conduct. The allegations were sufficiently serious to warrant the bringing of an application seeking his temporary suspension, she added. In addition, the undertakings offered by Dr Waters were not sufficient to allow the court impose any less restrictive measures. Having considered all the material before the court that Judge said she was satisfied to grant the relief sought by the council. Sen. Ed Markey (D-Mass.), center, and Reps. Hank Johnson (D-Ga.), and Jerrold Nadler (D-N.Y.), introduce a bill that would add four seats to the Supreme Court, in Washington on April 15, 2021. (James Lawler Duggan/Reuters) Democrats Introduce Bill to Expand Supreme Court, but Reception Is Tepid A group of Democrats on Thursday unveiled their bill to expand the Supreme Court, but party leaders showed little support and Republicans assailed the proposal as radical. The Judiciary Act of 2021 would add four seats to the nations top court, effectively flipping the balance from 63 in favor of conservative-appointed justices to 76 in the opposite direction. The rationale fueling the proposal is that Republicans confirmed Justice Amy Coney Barrett after Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg died last year. The GOP broke no rules or laws, but some Democrats were bitter that they did not hold the seat open for whoever won the 2020 election. Republicans stole the Courts majority, with Justice Amy Coney Barretts confirmation completing their crime spree, Sen. Ed Markey (D-Mass.) said in a statement. This legislation will restore the Courts balance and public standing and begin to repair the damage done to our judiciary and democracy. Markey introduced the bill with Reps. Jerrold Nadler (D-N.Y.), Hank Johnson (D-Ga.), and Mondaire Jones (D-N.Y.). The representatives tried taking another angle on the proposal. Thirteen seats, they said, would match up well with the 13 circuit courts. Top Democrats, though, showed lukewarm support for the proposal. I have no plans to bring it to the floor, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) told reporters in Washington, as she voiced support for President Joe Bidens commission to study possible changes to the court. I just heard about it. Im not ready to sign on yet. I think this commission of Biden is the right move, Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), the Senate majority whip, added. Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.), one of the most moderate Senate Democrats, said separately Thursday that he opposes expanding the court. The Supreme Court of the United States in Washington on May 7, 2019. (Samira Bouaou/The Epoch Times) Republicans decried the proposal as one of a number of Democrat attacks on institutions, including efforts to eliminate the filibuster. Last week, President Biden, who was marketed to the country as a moderate and an institutionalist, jumped in with both feet, set up a pseudo-academic commission to study the merits of packing the Supreme Court, just an attempt to close this transparent power play in fake legitimacy. But, alas, the far-left cannot even wait for the fake theatrics of the fake study to play out, Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) said on the Senate floor. House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) accused Democrats of promoting a plan to dismantle a government institution in pursuit of their socialist agenda. Never in my time in politics did I ever believe they would go this far, he added in his weekly press conference on Capitol Hill. I question: is there a moderate Democrat left in the party? A counterproposal was introduced by Rep. Mike Gallagher (R-Wis.) earlier this week. His constitutional amendment proposal would limit the number of justices to nine. Congress can adjust the number of seats on the Supreme Court with legislation, but it has been at nine seats since 1869. The last major effort to change the number, by President Franklin Roosevelt, a Democrat, was rejected in 1937 by Congress. Democrats face an uphill battle in getting the bill passed. Their already-slim majority in the House shrunk to six seats with the swearing-in of Rep. Julia Letlow (R-La.), while they hold control of the Senate only through the ability of Vice President Kamala Harris to cast tiebreaking votes. A single defection such as Manchin means they would have to convince at least one Republican to join them, which is widely seen as unlikely. Still, sponsors tried putting a positive spin on the dim prospects. Jones told reporters in Washington he would have been shocked if Pelosi had immediately backed the bill, claiming he would not have wanted that because he and the other proponents have not had a chance to speak with fellow Democrats about the legislation. The Supreme Court will continue to render down terrible decisions out of step with the American public and we will continue to, I think, see the Democratic caucus unified behind this in the House, in the Senate, he said. Masooma Haq contributed to this report. [April 15, 2021] Alight Solutions posts analyst day materials, provides update on business Alight Solutions (the "Company"), a leading cloud-based provider of integrated digital human capital and business solutions, on April 13, 2021 held an analyst day and provided an update on its business in connection with its planned business combination with Foley Trasimene Acquisition Corp. (NYSE: WPF, WPF WS). The Company has posted the analyst day presentation and video, which provide an overview of the Company's business, growth strategy and financial profile, along with an update on strategic initiatives, including Alight's technology-led transformation, to its website. As part of the presentation, the Company announced that total bookings on a total contract value (TCV) basis increased 15% to $327 million and business process as a service (BPaaS) bookings TCV increased 202% to $41 million in the first quarter of 2021 compared to the first quarter of 2020. The Company continues to expect the business combination to close in the second quarter of 2021, after which the combined company will operate as Alight, Inc. and be listed on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol "ALIT." The analyst day materials may be accessed in the Newsroom section of the Company's website using the following link: https://alight.com/our-story/newsroom in addition to the Investor Relations section of Foley Trasimene Acquisition Corp.'s website using the following link: https://investor.foleytrasimene.com/investor-info/default.aspx Follow Alight on Twitter (News - Alert) : https://twitter.com/alightsolutions About Alight Solutions With an unwavering belief that a company's success starts with its people, Alight Solutions is a leading cloud-based provider of integrated digital human capital and business solutions. Leveraging proprietary AI and data analytics, Alight optimizes business process as a service (BPaaS) to deliver superior outcomes for employees and employers across a comprehensive portfolio of services. Alight allows employees to enrich their health, wealth and work while enabling global organizations to achieve a high-performance culture. Alight's 15,000 dedicated colleagues serve more than 30 million employees and family members. Learn how Alight helps organizations of all sizes, including over 70% of the Fortune 100 at alight.com. About Foley Trasimene Acquisition Corp. Foley Trasimene Acquisition Corp. is a blank check company whose business purpose is to effect a merger, capital stock exchange, asset acquisition, stock purchase, reorganization or similar business combination with one or more businesses or entities. For more information please visit https://www.foleytrasimene.com/. Forward-looking Statements This communication includes certain forward-looking statements that are provided for illustrative purposes only and are not intended to serve as, and must not be relied on by any investor as, a guarantee, an assurance, a prediction or a definitive statement of fact or probability. Foley Trasimene Acquisition Corp.'s ("Foley Trasimene") and Tempo Holding Company, LLC's ("Alight") actual results may differ from their expectations, estimates, and projections and, consequenly, you should not rely on these forward-looking statements as predictions of future events. Words such as "expect," "estimate," "project," "budget," "forecast," "anticipate," "intend," "plan," "may," "will," "could," "should," "believes," "predicts," "potential," "continue," and similar expressions (or the negative versions of such words or expressions) are intended to identify such forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements include, without limitation, Foley Trasimene's and Alight's expectations with respect to future performance and anticipated financial impacts of the proposed business combination, the satisfaction or waiver of the closing conditions to the proposed business combination, and the timing of the completion of the proposed business combination. These forward-looking statements involve significant risks and uncertainties that could cause the actual results to differ materially, and potentially adversely, from those expressed or implied in the forward-looking statements. Most of these factors are outside Foley Trasimene's and Alight's control and are difficult to predict. Factors that may cause such differences include, but are not limited to: (1) the occurrence of any event, change, or other circumstances that could give rise to the termination of the definitive business combination agreement (the "Agreement"); (2) the outcome of any legal proceedings that may be instituted against Foley Trasimene and/or Alight following the announcement of the Agreement and the transactions contemplated therein; (3) the inability to complete the proposed business combination, including due to failure to obtain approval of the stockholders of Foley Trasimene, certain regulatory approvals, or satisfy other conditions to closing in the Agreement; (4) the occurrence of any event, change, or other circumstance that could give rise to the termination of the Agreement or could otherwise cause the transaction to fail to close; (5) the impact of COVID-19 on Alight's business and/or the ability of the parties to complete the proposed business combination; (6) the inability to obtain or maintain the listing of the combined company's common stock on the New York Stock Exchange following the proposed business combination; (7) the risk that the proposed business combination disrupts current plans and operations as a result of the announcement and consummation of the proposed business combination; (8) the ability to recognize the anticipated benefits of the proposed business combination, which may be affected by, among other things, competition, the ability of Alight to grow and manage growth profitably, and retain its key employees; (9) costs related to the proposed business combination; (10) changes in applicable laws or regulations; and (11) the possibility that Foley Trasimene or Alight may be adversely affected by other economic, business, and/or competitive factors. The foregoing list of factors is not exclusive. Additional information concerning certain of these and other risk factors is contained in Foley Trasimene's most recent filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (" SEC (News - Alert) ") and are contained in the Form S-4 (as defined below), including the proxy statement/prospectus/consent solicitation statement filed in connection with the proposed business combination. All subsequent written and oral forward-looking statements concerning Foley Trasimene or Alight, the transactions described herein or other matters and attributable to Foley Trasimene, Alight or any person acting on their behalf are expressly qualified in their entirety by the cautionary statements above. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance upon any forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date made. Each of Foley Trasimene and Alight expressly disclaims any obligations or undertaking to release publicly any updates or revisions to any forward-looking statements contained herein to reflect any change in their expectations with respect thereto or any change in events, conditions, or circumstances on which any statement is based, except as required by law. Additional Information about the Business Combination and Where to Find It In connection with the proposed business combination, a registration statement on Form S-4 (File No. 333-254801, as it may be amended or supplemented from time to time, the "Form S-4") has been filed by Alight, Inc., a Delaware corporation ("Alight Pubco"), with the SEC. The Form S-4 includes a proxy statement to be distributed to holders of Foley Trasimene's common stock in connection with Foley Trasimene's solicitation of proxies for the vote by Foley Trasimene's stockholders in connection with the proposed business combination and other matters as described in the Form S-4 and consent solicitation statements to be distributed to certain direct and indirect holders of Alight, as well as a prospectus of Alight Pubco relating to the offer of the securities to be issued in connection with the completion of the business combination. Foley Trasimene, Alight Pubco and Alight urge investors, stockholders and other interested persons to read the Form S-4, including the proxy statement/consent solicitation statement/prospectus that forms a part thereof, as well as other documents filed with the SEC in connection with the proposed business combination, as these materials contain important information about Alight Pubco, Foley Trasimene, and the proposed business combination. Such persons can also read Foley Trasimene's Annual Report on Form 10-K filed with the SEC on February 26, 2021 (the "FTAC Annual Report") for additional information about Foley Trasimene, including a description of the security holdings of Foley Trasimene's officers and directors and their respective interests as security holders in the consummation of the proposed business combination. After the Form S-4 has been declared effective, the definitive proxy statement/consent solicitation statement/prospectus will be mailed to Foley Trasimene's stockholders as of a record date to be established for voting on the proposed business combination and to direct and certain indirect Alight equityholders as of a record date to be established for the submission of written consents to approve the business combination transactions. Stockholders will also be able to obtain copies of such documents, without charge, once available, at the SEC's website at www.sec.gov, or by directing a request to: Foley Trasimene Acquisition Corp., 1701 Village Center Circle, Las Vegas, NV 89134, or (702) 323-7330. These documents, once available, can also be obtained, without charge, at the SEC's web site (http://www.sec.gov). Participants in the Solicitation Foley Trasimene and Alight and their respective directors, executive officers and other members of their management and employees, under SEC rules, may be deemed to be participants in the solicitation of proxies of Foley Trasimene's stockholders in connection with the proposed business combination. Investors and security holders may obtain more detailed information regarding the names, affiliations and interests of Foley Trasimene's directors and executive officers in the FTAC Annual Report. Information regarding the persons who may, under SEC rules, be deemed participants in the solicitation of proxies of Foley Trasimene's stockholders in connection with the proposed business combination will be set forth in the definitive proxy statement/consent solicitation statement/prospectus for the proposed business combination when available. Information concerning the interests of Foley Trasimene's and Alight's participants in the solicitation, which may, in some cases, be different than those of Foley Trasimene's and Alight's equity holders generally, will be set forth in the definitive proxy statement/consent solicitation statement/prospectus relating to the proposed business combination when it becomes available. No Offer or Solicitation This communication is for information purposes only and is not a proxy statement or solicitation of a proxy, consent, or authorization with respect to any securities or in respect of the proposed business combination and shall not constitute an offer to sell or a solicitation of an offer to buy the securities of Foley Trasimene or Alight, nor shall there be any sale of any such 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 such state or jurisdiction. No offer of securities shall be made except by means of a prospectus meeting the requirements of Section 10 of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, or exemptions therefrom. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210415005896/en/ [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] Victims reintroduces notorious serial killers as the innocent children they once were. According to FBI veteran and author Robert Ressler, the kind of evilness serial killers exhibit does not happen overnight; their behavior is a direct result of the prolonged child abuse they experienced. Research shows that child abuse is known to repeat itself across generations. In fact, one out of three child abuse victims will become an abuser themself.1 Along with the headline, "Some victims of child abuse wind up with victims of their own," the hard-hitting campaign shows childhood photos of the murderous cult leader Charles Manson, serial killer Eileen Wuornos, and the notorious "Night Stalker," Richard Ramirez. Each was a victim of horrific child abuse and neglect. Amigos For Kids understands that aiding victims captured in a cycle of abuse is not enough. Amigos For Kids aims to get to the root of the problem by raising awareness of the importance of strengthening families and educating communities to help prevent child abuse. "It is our organization's core belief that the cycle of abuse can only be broken when the silence ends, and we all have a role to play in building strong communities to help stop the cycle," said Karina Pavone, executive director of Amigos For Kids. Child abuse statistics in the U.S. are among the worst in industrialized nations. In the U.S. alone, between four and five children lose their lives to child abuse and neglect every day. The Victims campaign launched on multiple platforms including digital and print media that targeted states where child abuse has reached an all-time high. Coincidentally, half of the featured serial killers were caught in targeted states, including California and Florida. The campaign was created by Republica Havas, the pro bono agency of record for Amigos For Kids. About Amigos For Kids Amigos for Kids is a 501(C) 3 nonprofit corporation founded in 1991 to respond to the diverse needs of South Florida's abused, abandoned, neglected, and less-fortunate children and their families, through education, abuse prevention, and community involvement. To fulfill its mission, Amigos relies on the support of dedicated volunteers and donors throughout the community. Throughout the year, the organization creates awareness of its cause through public service campaigns, fundraising events, and community efforts. To fulfill its mission, Amigos For Kids relies on the support of dedicated volunteers and donors. To become an "Amigo" by donating your time or other resources to children and families in need, please call 305.279.1155 or visit www.amigosforkids.org. For more information, visit www.amigosforkids.org . About Republica Havas Republica Havas is one of America's leading and fastest-growing creative, media, and communications agencies. Founded in 2006 and based in Miami, Florida, Republica Havas provides integrated marketing services including strategy, creative, research, media planning and buying, analytics and consumer science, digital, public relations, social, and experiential to numerous blue-chip clients in the United States and markets around the world. Republica Havas also boasts Havas House, a global custom media, content and publishing company. Republica Havas is the lead U.S. multicultural agency partner of Paris-based Havas Group. Havas is a subsidiary of Vivendi, a global content, media, and communications group with assets including Universal Music Group, Canal+, Gameloft, StudioCanal, Editis, and Dailymotion. For more information, visit republicahavas.com and follow @RepublicaHavas on social media. 1 The New York Times, January 24, 1989 https://www.nytimes.com/1989/01/24/science/sad-legacy-of-abuse-the-search-for-remedies.html SOURCE Amigos For Kids Related Links https://amigosforkids.org Our congregations decision in 2018 to provide sanctuary to the Chavez family was unanimous. So, too, is our decision now to join her and other sanctuary leaders in a lawsuit against the Department of Homeland Security and ICE for their cruel and retaliatory policies. The past three years have taught us that faith cannot be passive. It must fight alongside those who seek to right the tyranny of injustice. By targeting immigrants in sanctuary, Homeland Security and ICE threaten our most fundamental values, including those enshrined in the First and Eighth Amendments of the Constitution and the Religious Freedom Restoration Act. Freedom of speech and religion means little if our government may choose to levy its most aggressive penalties on indigent asylum seekers who, moved by their faith, dare to speak out about their plight and openly seek the refuge of our churches. Nor does the Constitution allow our government to use excessive fines to punish. If these fines are allowed to persist, Ms. Chavez and her daughters face financial ruin and will lose all hope of living a normal life, even as Mr. Biden begins to put in place long-awaited reforms to asylum and immigration policies. Through this lawsuit, Ms. Chavez and the other sanctuary leaders demand that the agencies cancel these fines and end the retaliation against immigrants in sanctuary so they may finally live in freedom and safety here in the United States. Since 1895, The Indianapolis Recorder has been a major voice for our local community, the state of Indiana, our nation, and now internationally. From the beginning, the Recorder has been an advocate for those who could not express their thoughts or concerns; we've also been a supplier of truth and justice. April 15, 1945 Bergen-Belsen Is Liberated The British 11th Armored Division liberates the Nazis Bergen-Belsen concentration camp, where Anne Frank is among an estimated 50,000 Jews and others who die in the final two years of World War II. About half the 120,000 people sent to the camp are alive, scattered among 13,000 unburied corpses, but they suffer from malnutrition, typhus and other diseases. Almost 14,000 of them die in the 2 months after liberation. April 16, 1983 Watches, Art Are Stolen From Islamic Museum In what may be the costliest heist since modern Israels founding, watches, clocks and paintings are stolen overnight from the poorly secured Museum for Islamic Art in Jerusalem. The loot includes 57 watches crafted by 18th century French-Swiss artisan Abraham-Louis Breguet; one of them, a timepiece made for Marie Antoinette, is valued at $30 million. The theft remains unsolved for more than 20 years. April 17, 1948 Rabin Leads Relief Convoy Into Jerusalem Commanded by 24-year-old Yitzhak Rabin, the Harel Brigade delivers a supply convoy to Jerusalem under fire from Arab guerrillas. The supplies bring relief to Jewish residents who have been blockaded since February. The convoy arrives four days after an ambush of a medical convoy bound for Hadassah Hospital on Mount Scopus kills 80 Jews, most of them doctors and nurses. Arab forces again cut off the roads to Jerusalem on April 20. ADVERTISEMENT April 18, 1955 Albert Einstein Dies Physicist Albert Einstein, who declined an offer in 1952 to serve as Israels second president, dies at age 76. Einstein opposed militant nationalism, but after witnessing attacks on Jews, he was drawn to Zionism. He wrote in 1921 that Jewish nationalism must be developed both in Palestine and everywhere else. He joined a U.S. fundraising tour for Hebrew University that year and spoke at the universitys planned site in 1923 in his first visit to the Land of Israel. April 19, 1956 Writer Gadi Taub Is Born Gadi Taub, a leading interpreter of modern Zionism, is born in Jerusalem. Taubs maternal grandparents moved to Mandatory Palestine in the 1920s; his father arrived in 1939 after escaping from Nazi-occupied Czechoslovakia. A Hebrew University instructor, author and newspaper columnist, he is a critic of the settlement movement and a supporter of a Palestinian state. He also writes novels and works on films and TV series. April 20, 1799 Napoleon Backs Jewish Claim to Palestine A month into an expensive siege of the Turkish-held city of Acre, Napoleon issues a proclamation offering to hand over Palestine to the Jewish nation if France is successful in capturing it. The proclamation aims to win the support of Palestines Jews, but evidence indicates that they feared the French and helped the Turks fortify Acre. Napoleon withdraws his plague-ridden army in June and returns to Egypt. April 21, 1947 2 Jewish Militants Kill Themselves Before Hanging Moshe Barazani, 20, of Lehi (the Stern Gang) and Meir Feinstein, 19, of the Irgun kill themselves with a grenade smuggled into their prison in Jerusalem to prevent the British from hanging them the next morning. Iraq-born Barazani had been caught with a grenade meant for the assassination of a British officer, and Jerusalem native Feinstein had been captured after participating in the sabotage of a railway station. They met in prison. Items are provided by the Center for Israel Education (israeled.org), where you can find more details. Yasmin Amri Sued, ambassador of Rwanda to Korea, takes part in an online event to commemorate the 27th anniversary of the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi. Courtesy of Embassy of Rwanda to Korea By Kwon Mee-yoo On the occasion of the 27th anniversary of the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi in Rwanda, the African country's embassy in Korea held an online event on April 7 to honor the memories of the victims and spread awareness about the incident. April 7 is designated by the United Nations as the International Day of Reflection on the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi in Rwanda to remember the last genocide of the 20th century against the Tutsi minority by the Hutu extremist-led government. Within some 100 days, more than 1 million Tutsis were murdered. Over 40 ambassadors here took part in the lighting of candles and observed a moment of silence in honor of the victims, led by Ambassador Carlos Victor Boungou of Gabon, the dean of the Diplomatic Corps in Korea, during the opening of the online event. A documentary film about the history of the Rwanda genocide was streamed online, followed by testimony by genocide survivor, Serge Rwigamba. Colin Keating, the former permanent representative of New Zealand to the United Nations and the Security Council from 1993 to 1996, shared his experience at the U.N. during the 1994 Genocide and the failure of the international community to prevent and stop it. Kim Gunn, deputy minister for political affairs at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, emphasized on behalf of the Korean government during the event that Korea stands in solidarity with the people of Rwanda and the world in such a noble endeavor of commemorating the genocide. "This occasion bears a special meaning to Korea, a country that suffered a three-year-long war some seven decades ago which took millions of lives, a country that rose from the ruins of war to prosperity, but is still striving for lasting peace," Kim said. "Our reflection and remembrance of the genocide in Rwanda must go beyond one particular country and moment. However, amid the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the world, it is troubling to see rising hatred and violence. We hear nowadays Black Lives Matter, we see hate crimes against Asians. What we commemorate today presents us with an opportunity to stand together, raise our voices against hatred, racism, xenophobia and all kinds of discrimination." Yasmin Amri Sued, ambassador of Rwanda to Korea, urged the Rwandan community to support each other during the commemoration period and in these challenging times of the COVID-19 pandemic. "Our journey for the past 27 years has been one dedicated to fostering unity, regaining our core cultural values, learning forgiveness and cementing our resilience as a nation," Amri Sued said. "Today more than 60 percent of our population was born after the genocide. Our country has fundamentally transformed. The past has shaped us, but we turn to the future with hopeful eyes. Scars may still be visible, but today Rwandans understand the work that lies ahead and are committed more than ever to see it come to fruition." A hiker who went missing in California was found to be safe, thanks to his last mystery photo and the weird hobby of a man to likes to track locations from pictures people share. Rene Compean, 45, went missing on Monday after he went on a hike at a popular ski destination in the San Gabriel Mountains in Southern California. The 45-year-old texted his picture to a friend from his outdoor adventure, showing his legs dangling from a precipice with a view of a canyon beneath and the slopes in the distance. He told him his phone battery is running low and he was lost. Shortly after, he went off the map. The friend reported him missing to the authorities at 6 pm and turned his last photo over to the investigators. The Los Angeles County Sheriffs department immediately launched a search operation in the Mt Waterman area and looked for him through the night but were unable to locate him. To make things worse the hikers phone location was off and investigators were not able to track it either. The investigators then shared his picture on social media and asked people if they recognised the spot in the photograph. Benjamin Kuo, an avid hiker with a passion for locating places from pictures shared online, offered to help. He used his prior expertise of tracking wildfires in remote areas on forests. "Ive got a very weird hobby, which is I love taking a look at photos and figuring out where theyre taken," Mr Kuo said to NBC Los Angeles. He was able to find the coordinate of the lost hiker after using satellite images, maps and the scenery of the photograph shared by Mr Compean. He sent the clue to his possible location to the investigators and helicopters were sent to locate the man. Mr Compean was airlifted out of the Angeles National Forest, the Los Angeles County Sheriffs department said on Tuesday afternoon. Mr Kuo and the lost hiker met virtually on Tuesday. "I crazy appreciate what you did...I really dont know if I could make it there another day. It was just so cold," Mr Compean told Mr Kuo. Mr Compean said he might have lost track of the area after a recent wildfire due to which some signs were burned down and might have taken wrong turns. Ambassador Dang Dinh Quy, Permanent Representative of Vietnam to the United Nations (UN), has called on the international community to further support victims of sexual violence in conflict. Women and children are seen in the al-Hol camp in Syria's Hasakeh province on January 28, 2021. The victims should be assisted to access psychological, medical, training and legal services, integrate into the community and seek livelihood sources, Quy said while chairing an open debate of the UN Security Council (UNSC) on women, peace and security on April 14. The virtual debate is one of the initiatives raised by Vietnam in its capacity as President of the UNSC in April. Quy expressed his concern over sexual violence in conflict as well as its impact on victims, particularly women and children, emphasising the need to take a comprehensive approach to the problem. Such an approach should not only include timely assistance for victims, but also measures to address the root causes of sexual violence in conflict, he said. Preventing such violence also requires the full and equal participation of women in decision-making and peace processes, Quy went on. While states bear primary responsibility to address sexual violence, the international community, and the UN system in particular, can provide much-needed development assistance, capacity-building, technical support and training, he said. In that regard, he called for sexual violence prevention and response to be incorporated in peacekeeping mandates and for more women to be deployed in peacekeeping missions to work closely among communities on the ground. Addressing the meeting, Pramila Patten, Special Representative on Sexual Violence in Conflict, said there were over 2,500 UN-verified cases of conflict-related sexual violence in 18 countries last year alone. The COVID-19 pandemic has given rise to new gender-based protection concerns, the Special Representative said. She affirmed that now was the time to take stock of both the persistent and entrenched, as well as new and emerging, challengesto eradicate the scourge. Prevention is the best and only cure to stem the multiple, devastating and enduring consequences faced by survivors of sexual violence in conflict, especially as a brutal tactic of war. Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Denis Mukwege said humanity should feel a collective sense of shame, for doing so little to draw a red line against those who commit odious crimes of sexual violence. And while some progress has been made in international law surrounding sexual violence in war, abuses remain far too frequent and responses dramatically under-funded. Meanwhile, Caroline Atim, Director of South Sudan Women with Disabilities Network, highlighted the prevalence of sexual violence as a tool of subjugation and control, including for victims who are forced to marry their abusers. She also spoke of the specific needs and vulnerabilities of women with disabilities and the importance of non-discriminatory services for victims, including psychological services. Other UNSC member countries thanked Vietnam for promoting dialogues on the humanitarian and urgent issue, and affirmed their commitments to preventing and putting an end to sexual violence in conflict./. VNA PORT FOURCHON, La. (AP) The Coast Guard kept searching by air and sea for 12 people missing off the coast of Louisiana on Wednesday, hours after six other crew members were pulled from rough seas following the capsizing of their commercial platform vessel during a microburst of bad weather. The search involved at least four Coast Guard vessels, four private ones and Coast Guard airplanes based in Corpus Christi, Texas, and Mobile, Alabama. A Coast Guard helicopter also was being used. Lafourche Parish President Archie Chaisson III confirmed that 18 people were on board before the Seacor Power flipped over in rough seas. The hope is that we can bring the other 12 home alive, Chaisson said Wednesday morning. Time is of the essence in the rescue efforts, as we have the potential for some rough weather around lunchtime, he added. Relatives of the missing crew members rushed to the port from their homes nearby, seeking any information they could get, Chaisson said. We continue to pray for the 18 men who were on that vessel as well as their families, Chaisson said. The company involved, Houston-based Seacor Marine, set up a private hotline to share information with families of those onboard, Chaisson said. An employee who answered the phone Wednesday morning said he had no immediate information he could share. The National Weather Service in New Orleans had been warning of bad weather offshore, including a special marine warning issued before 4 p.m. Tuesday that predicted steep waves and winds greater than 50 knots (58 mph). The Seacor Power crew, sent an emergency distress signal a half-hour later, at 4:30 p.m., according to the Coast Guard, which then issued an urgent marine broadcast that prompted multiple private vessels in the area to respond, saving four of the crewmembers, the agency said. Coast Guard crews in boats rescued another two people. A search plane also joined the effort, miles south of Port Fourchon. There was a microburst of weather that came through the area at the time, Coast Guard Petty Officer 2nd Class Jonathan Lally said. The Seacor Power, a bulky vessel 129-feet (39-meters) long at its beam, is designed to become an offshore platform by dropping three towering legs down to the sea floor. It flipped over in the high wind and rough seas. At one point, it would be seen on video with one of its legs pointed awkwardly skyward as rescuers searched in the heaving water. Port Fourchon, Louisianas southernmost seaport, is a major base for the U.S. oil and gas industry, supporting most of Louisianas offshore platforms and drilling rigs. The storm also overturned other vessels and damaged property from Louisianas shore up to New Orleans. The Coast Guard warned in a Facebook post that the storms caused significant hazards to life and property. Please join (at)FirstLadyOfLA and me in praying for those who remain missing after yesterdays capsizing off the coast of Grand Isle and for those who are working to rescue them, Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards said on Twitter Wednesday morning. About the photo: A Coast Guard Station Grand Isle 45-foot Respone Boat-Medium boatcrew heads toward a capsized 175-foot commercial lift boat Tuesday, April 13, 2021, searching for people in the water 8 miles south of Grand Isle, Louisiana. The Coast Guard and multiple other boats rescued six people onboard a commercial lift boat that capsized off the coast of Louisiana on Tuesday night and were searching for more, the agency said.(U.S. Coast Guard Coast Guard Cutter Glenn Harris via AP) Copyright 2021 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. Page Content The Speaker of Council, Cllr Nonceba Molwele, joined by the Executive Mayor, Cllr Geoffrey Makhubo, Members of the Mayoral Committee (MMCs) as the City of Johannesburg leadership hosted a consultative Integrated Development Planning (IDP) session in region D2 - Soweto, Orlando East on 14 April 2021. Officially opening the session, Cllr Molwele urged residents of Soweto to give inputs on the draft budget and IDP. The IDP inputs help shape what ultimately ends into the final budget to be approved by Council before the conclusion of the current financial year. The IDP is a five-year plan which is reviewed on an annual basis. The IDP sessions are used to give residents an update on the progress of the projects that have been initiated in their respective areas said Cllr Molwele. The IDP sessions help the City to identify challenges, along its vision, mission and priorities, develop appropriate strategies and align the budget. The MMC responsible for Region D and the portfolio of Environment and Infrastructure Services, Cllr Mpho Moerane gave the presentation on behalf of the Executive Mayor. He said whenever we increase tariffs, we have to consult with you as we are doing today. When we improve the quality of life for our residents, we reduce poverty and add calm to the economy, said Cllr Moerane. The Regional Director for Region D, Salome Mogotsi, said some of the successes in the Soweto area include the rise in clean-up campaigns, community-based planning meetings, and fire safety awareness in the informal settlements and more. There is a lot of work that Joburg Water is already doing on the ground as well as City Power and Pikitup said Mogotsi. Mogotsi presented service development interventions and what the City has planned for the Sowetans. Projects are in place and more money has been allocated to improve the areas that are still struggling. We need to do more as administrators. We are trying by all means to improve the pace of service delivery by providing a budget to attend to the issues raised by residents. The City is holding a series of IDP engagements across the seven regions, which are employing virtual, physical or hybrid approaches. This is due to the current Covid-19 restrictions which has put limitation on the number of people allowed to gather. After the presentations, residents were given an opportunity to raise their issues and ask questions. Responding to the residents comments, Mayor Makhubo said he appreciates the inputs that the residents are making. The inputs are adding to what we seek Joburg to be. The City has launched 120 days of heightened, intensive and accelerated service delivery programme. This means we bring all the City entities and departments onboard and together we deal with all the service delivery issues of the particular area, ward by ward, block by block and street by street. The project will include closing potholes, cutting grass, improving traffic signaling, road marking, and more. The problems that the residents have raised will be addressed through the 120 Days of accelerated service delivery programme, said Cllr Makhubo. Cllr Makhubo announced that the City is engaging Eskom and other government entities to hand over the electricity supply in Soweto to the City, subject to the final sign-off from the Presidency. We want to co-produce services of the City with the residents of Johannesburg. Lets start something and co-produce services. We must go back to looking after our communities and find ways to profit from it, said Cllr Makhubo. The City also invites written submissions on the Draft 2021/22 IDP, Medium-Term Budget and Tariffs from residents/stakeholders and any interested organisations in the City of Johannesburg. The submissions can be made online at www.joburg.org.za Written By Thami Dhladhla Tuolumne County Superintendent Of Schools Office View Photo Sonora, CA The Tuolumne County Superintendent of Schools Office has received a distinguished honor from California Superintendent of Schools Tony Thurmond. It is one of only 20 in the state recognized as a 2021 Model School Attendance Review Board Winner. A School Attendance Review Board, better known by the acronym SARB, helps ensure that students are attending classes and having educational needs met, regardless of life challenges. Thurmond says, These 19 school districts, and one county office of education, created exemplary plans and worked hard to follow through on them to help students stay engaged in their educationall during the unprecedented closure of our schools due to a global pandemic. Tuolumne was the single county office of education referenced by Thurmond. Many of the supports and services provided by the SARB program have been invaluable to families during these trying times, says Rob Egger, local SARB Program Director with the Tuolumne County Superintendent of Schools Office. Our goal is to remove barriers and provide access to education for students who are struggling with school attendance issues. Superintendent Cathy Parker says her office is honored by the recognition, adding, Our SARB team is made of dedicated people who truly make a difference in the lives of students. Multiple community agencies and partners help the SARB program locally. They include the Amador Tuolumne Community Action Agency (ATCAA), Friday Night Live (ATCAA), Center for Non-Violent Community (CNVC), Infant/Child Enrichment Services (ICES), Tuolumne County Resiliency Coalition, Me-Wuk Tribal Domestic Violence, Me-Wuk Indian Health Center Tribal Social Worker, Tuolumne County Department of Social Services, Tuolumne County California Highway Patrol, Tuolumne County Social Services, Tuolumne County District Attorneys Office, Tuolumne County Behavioral Health, Tuolumne County Juvenile Probation, Tuolumne County Public Health, and Tuolumne County Sheriffs Department. TCSOS representatives TCSOS Mental Health Clinicians, the Alternative Education and Gold Ridge Education Center Coordinator, the Foster & Homeless Youth Liaison, TCSOS Nurse, and Director of Special Education. MANSFIELD, Texas, April 15, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Republican Big Dan Rodimer, who is running for Texas' Congressional District 6 (TX-06), is holding a free family event, called Wrestle for Your Rights. Rodimer is hosting the event with former WWE star and Mayor of Knox County Glenn "Kane" Jacobs in Mansfield, Texas. "Our campaign is excited to be hosting the first Texas wrestling political event in history. It's going to be a blast. We'll have my friend Kane there and a bunch of other stars. Make sure to bring your entire family," said Rodimer about the event. Dan Rodimer is holding Wrestle For Your Rights, a free event for families. Dan Rodimer pictured with President Trump. Dan Rodimer will be joined by other fighters who will be featured at the event, including WWE stars Al Snow, Doug Basham, Tough Enough winner Dan Puder and many others. "America needs a fighter in Congress, someone who will stand up to Pelosi and the other liberals. I am exactly what Texas, and America, needs right now. We wanted to bring a little bit of that spirit here to Mansfield," Rodimer said. This is a free family wrestling event, so everyone is encouraged and welcome to attend. Food trucks and other services will also be available. The event will take place on April 17 at 4 pm at 110 S. Main Street in Mansfield, Texas. The Rodimer campaign says they planned the event to help the community and bring people together after the Pandemic. They hope to keep holding similar events to continue their community engagement up until Election Day. Tickets can be picked up for free here: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/wrestle-for-your-rights-a-free-family-event-tickets-148020418055 The Rodimer campaign recently released a "heart wrenching" campaign ad highlighting the stories of Angel Moms on the southern border. It was featured on his social media and highlights the Angel moms that lost their children or loved ones because of open border policies. Rodimer proposes the Angel Act in the video as the solution to the border crisis. He named it after the Angel Moms that he met at the border last month and its desired goal is to "codify Trump's Remain in Mexico policy into law." The Rodimer campaign has opened up their campaign office at 103 W Broad St. Mansfield, TX with a ribbon cutting ceremony. Learn more about Congressional Candidate for Texas's 6th Congressional District Dan Rodimer (TX-06) at https://danrodimer.com Media Contact: RC Maxwell 914-708-8749 [email protected] SOURCE Dan Rodimer For Congress Related Links https://danrodimer.com Scott Morrison has lauded Western Australia's resources industry for propping up the economy during one of the nation's toughest years. The prime minister jetted to WA's Pilbara region on Thursday where he joined billionaire Andrew Forrest to tour Fortescue Metals Group's Christmas Creek mining operations. Mr Morrison inspected an ore processing facility, climbed aboard an autonomous truck and was shown an enormous solar farm that helps power the Christmas Creek and nearby Cloudbreak mines. The Prime Minister was given a tour of Fortescue Metals Group's Christmas Creek mining operations (pictured on Thursday) WA's resources sector reported record sales of $174billion in 2020 and a record 140,940 people are working in the industry. 'One of the reasons I was so keen to get to WA this week was to say thank you to Western Australians,' Mr Morrison told reporters. 'The earnings that you've been able to generate in one of Australia's toughest years has kept our economy going. 'The way the Australian economy is coming out of this COVID pandemic recession, in large part we can say thank you to the resources industry, especially here in Western Australia.' Scott Morrison thanked the WA resource industry for propping up the economy during 2020 Fortescue has set a target of achieving carbon neutrality by 2030, exceeding Australia's goal of 'preferably' reaching net-zero emissions by 2050. The company's drive into renewables at Christmas Creek and Cloudbreak will replace the use of 100 million litres of diesel per year. 'I'm very passionate and proud of what Australians are doing to change the technology that enables them to achieve great things,' Mr Morrison said. 'And energy is central to that, it is the thing that drives our economy - it always has - and we need to change gear over the next 30 years. And that's exactly what's happening.' Mr Morrison was due to meet workers at a mining camp on Thursday evening. He will head to Kalbarri on Friday to inspect the widespread damage inflicted by Tropical Cyclone Seroja. ADVERTISEMENT The presidency has reassured parents and concerned citizens that the missing students of Government Girls Secondary School, Chibok, Borno, remain constantly on the minds of government as they are always on the minds of their parents. Garba Shehu, the Presidents Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity, gave the reassurance in a statement to mark the 7th anniversary of the abduction of the Chibok girls. Over 100 of the 276 schoolgirls kidnapped on April 14, 2014, still remain with the Boko Haram terrorists. Mr Shehu also gave assurances that the release of the remaining Chibok girls is still work in progress. No one is giving up hope here. Efforts to secure their release through various channels and activities of the security and intelligence agencies remain on course. According to the presidential aide, the recent decisive push by the military against the terrorists gives hope that a breakthrough is possible and can happen anytime soon. Mr Shehu asked for support, understanding and prayers for the military as they discharge their historic mandate to quickly finish off the insurgency war and free all citizens held hostage. (NAN) SYC/MST The North American Passive House Network (NAPHN) today announced the program for the Passive House 2021 Conference: Passive House For All. The conference will take place June 10-11 in person, in New York City, and online. The program is organized around the idea that Passive House should serve everyone and be accessible to everyone. Sessions feature a wide, and emerging, range of projects and intersecting interests - in use, region, climate, construction type, and audience - demonstrating that Passive House can be a core tool in making sustainable communities, more equitable living conditions, higher-skilled workers, healthy populations, and climate solutions. We are at an inflection point. People see the interconnectedness of our environmental, health, and social crises like never before, and they want to act on it, they want to build thriving equitable sustainable communities, says Ken Levenson, Executive Director of NAPHN. Our conference program supports this effort and demonstrates that Passive House, in the hands of professionals, builders, developers, activists, and policymakers, can be a core strategy in making stronger, more resilient communities. Highlights include: Small-Town EnerPHit: sustainable energy funding meets sustainable community building. A Passive House retrofit demonstrates the power of green funding to help revitalize a downtown property, provide local job training, and be a beacon of climate resiliency and adaptation. Nuutsumuut Lelum: Passive House multifamily in service of an Indigenous community, looks at the complex intersection of native cultures, modern zoning, and affordable living, delivered with technical and artistic sophistication. Home on the Prairie: an American archetype remade for 2050 and beyond, tracks the contemporary technical and aesthetic evolution by a leading Midwestern Passive House practitioner, of this particular American building type, for our Anthropocene age. Not Your Familiar Big Box Retailer: Passive House supermarkets. Take a deep dive into this emerging building type and see how our green retailers like Walmart and Whole Foods, can do much, much better. Breaking Grounds Betances Residences: community, affordable housing & Passive House, Reveals how a leading developer of affordable housing that addresses chronic homelessness, has enlisted Passive House to support their holistic efforts. Keeping it Real: the Passive House Standard meets American builders, explores contractor concerns, priorities, and how contractor training can effectively close gaps and sensibly elevate all work. Excellence for Everyone: Passive House examples from NYSERDAs market transforming building program, examines several trailblazing winners of this $40 million competition that recognizes great design, construction, and operation of very low or zero carbon-emitting multifamily buildings. As Goes The City Of Exeter, So Goes The United Kingdom: experience Passive House acceleration The biggest Passive House developer in the UK tells the story of a national Passive House transformation, the lessons being learned, and what is on the horizon. To increase accessibility to the conference - which includes an expo of leading manufacturers of Passive House components and providers of Passive House services - the program and expo are being presented both in-person in New York City and online. Also, the ticket pricing has been made more affordable and is supplemented with additional discounts for students, faculty, and Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) attendees, in support of more diverse and inclusive participation. NAPHN encourages everyone to review the full program and register today. About NAPHN: The North American Passive House Network (NAPHN) is an independent national non-profit educational organization affiliated with the International Passive House Association (iPHA) and the Passive House Institute (PHI), located in Darmstadt, Germany. NAPHN has chapters based in New Jersey (http://www.njpassivehouse.com), Washington DC (http://www.naphnetwork.org), the Rocky Mountain Region (http://www.phrockymountains.com), Minnesota (http://www.passivehouseminnesota.org), and Pennsylvania (http://www.passivehousepa.org). NAPHN supports the widespread adoption of the international Passive House design and construction standards, building science principles and protocols, as a critical response to our climate crisis - providing unparalleled effectiveness in mitigating climate disruptions and adapting to rapidly changing environmental conditions. NAPHN is focused on the inflection point between policy and implementation. We partner with leading stakeholders across all building sectors, including governments, professional associations, manufacturers, owners, builders, labor organizations, and educational institutions to make the transformation complete. http://www.naphnetwork.org About Passive House: Passive House is an international building standard and methodology, applicable to buildings of all kinds from office buildings to hospitals, new-build and renovations, that results in a dramatic drop in operational energy use, and more comfortable and healthy occupants - meant to aggressively mitigate our climate crisis while providing resilient adaptation. The Passive House Standard was developed by the Passive House Institute (PHI), an independent scientific research organization, located in Darmstadt, Germany, and includes specific requirements for energy use and comfort of occupants. The Passive House Standard is being successfully applied to thousands of buildings and millions of square feet around the world, from Boston to Beijing. The Passive House methodology starts with reducing cooling, dehumidification, and heating loads by focusing, not on gadgets and active technology, but instead on fully integrated durable passive building components, such as proper continuous thermal-bridge-free insulation, continuous airtightness, high-performance windows and doors, and ventilation that includes a high-efficiency heat/energy recovery core, carefully calculated, and all integrated with the entire architectural process of design and construction. http://www.passivehouse.com http://www.passipedia.org View an Introduction to Passive house video: https://naphnetwork.org/resources/passive-house-basics/ A person is assisting police with their inquiries after the body of an 11-month-old baby was found inside an elite private school. Kingsway Christian College in Darth, Perth, is yet to publicly comment on the gruesome discovery, which was made late on Wednesday afternoon. The school is one of Western Australia's most prestigious colleges, costing upwards of $10,000 per year. West Australian Police confirmed on Thursday morning a person has been assisting with the investigation. They offered no further detail about the person in question, and would not confirm if the death is being treated as suspicious. An 11-month-old baby was found dead on the grounds of Kingsway Christian College in Darch, Perth (pictured) Three crews from St Johns Ambulance Service arrived at the campus about 5.40pm on Wednesday. The baby was declared dead. Forensics officers were also on the scene and appeared to focus on one classroom in particular. They also paid close attention to a white van which was on the campus and eventually towed away by police, The West Australian reported. Officers continued to search the area using torch light late into Wednesday evening. The school, 17km north of Perth's CBD, is a co-educational school with pupils from kindergarten to Year 12. While the school is currently closed due to the Easter school holidays, an after-hours daycare facility was open and operational earlier on Wednesday. Children had been coming and going for much of the day before the body was found. The centre reopened on Thursday, with the college confirming holiday care and daycare activities were running as usual. Western Australian Police told Daily Mail Australia investigations are ongoing. BOSTON, April 15, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Implicity, a leader in remote patient monitoring and cardiac data management solutions, today announced the company has been selected to join Plug and Play Cleveland one of the world's largest accelerator programs. Implicity is among only six startups chosen from hundreds of startups around the globe to be accepted into the 12-week health program for Spring 2021. "We're excited to work with the amazing network at Plug and Play," said cardiac electrophysiologist, Dr. Arnaud Rosier, founder and CEO of Implicity. "Remote monitoring for cardiac devices is evolving rapidly, but to manage care more effectively requires a solution that can tie together patient-specific medical information from various sources and deliver contextual alerts. That's a key benefit Implicity brings to the market." Implicity is already a leading solution in Europe for remote monitoring (RM) of patients with Cardiac Implantable Electronic Devices (CIEDs) pacemakers, defibrillators, and implantable loop recorders. The cloud-based platform aggregates data from all CIEDs across manufacturers (Abbott, Biotronik, Boston Scientific, Medtronic and Microport) and is designed to make the remote clinical workflow more efficient, and improve patient care outcomes. Implicity is also developing AI-based digital medical devices serving the future of preventive medicine. The company recently expanded into the United States via a partnership agreement with IronRod Health where there are currently an estimated 5 million patients with CIEDs. About Plug and Play Plug and Play is a global innovation platform. Headquartered in Silicon Valley, we have built accelerator programs, corporate innovation services, and an in-house VC to make technological advancement progress faster than ever before. Since inception in 2006, our programs have expanded worldwide to include a presence in over 36 locations globally, giving startups the necessary resources to succeed in Silicon Valley and beyond. With over 40,000 startups and 500 corporate partners, we have created the ultimate startup ecosystem in many industries. Companies in our community have raised over $9 billion in funding, with successful portfolio exits including Dropbox, Guardant Health, Honey, Lending Club, and PayPal. For more information, visit https://www.plugandplaytechcenter.com/ About Implicity Implicity provides a remote monitoring and research platform used by Independent Diagnostic Testing Facilities and cardiac electrophysiology centers to deliver high-quality care for patients with connected Cardiac Implantable Electronic Devices. On this platform, Implicity aggregates, normalizes and standardizes data from any implantable cardiac device across all manufacturers. Furthermore, Implicity carries out R&D on AI-based algorithms aiming at improving patient care and serving the future of preventive medicine. Implicity has been the first private company authorized to access the Health Data Hub*, one of largest databases of patients with heart diseases in the world, supporting the development of its AI solutions. Implicity covers more than 30,000 patients in over 60 medical facilities across Europe and the United States. For more information visit: www.implicity.com * Health Data Hub is a health data platform put in place by the French government to combine existing health patient databases and facilitate their usage for research and development purposes. Media Contact: Andrea LePain eMedia Junction 617-275-8112 [email protected] SOURCE Implicity The Polish President and the HRH Grand Duke of Luxembourg exchanged letters to commemorate the anniversary in which they have highlighted cooperation and future exchange importance. The two states formally established relations on 18 April 1921. Today, Luxembourg is the third-largest direct investor in Poland, with more than 24bn invested in 2019, while commercial exchange exceeded 750m. Nearly 5,000 Polish nationals live in Luxembourg today. Marking the event, Polish President Andrzej Duda wrote in a letter to the Grand Duke that he is delighted that relations between the two countries "are based on genuine partnership and friendship," continuing to say the he hopes "that we will continue to develop them as effectively and in all dimensions, especially at the political, economic, and cultural level and in people-to-people contacts." Press release from the Polish Embassy To mark the occasion, the Polish Embassy in Luxembourg is today launching an anniversary campaign to commemorate the many links the two countries have established over the years and showcase the ties Poles and Luxembourgers have developed. The project is a celebration of how important Poles have become in the multi-cultural Luxembourg society, Piotr Wojtczak, the Ambassador of Poland said. It also shows little known ties some Luxembourgers have developed with our country, he said. The many inspiring stories from Poles in the Grand Duchy and Luxembourgers with links to Poland will now be shared with the public in a 8-minute spot and on a dedicated website polonais.lu. We worked for over a year to gather all the fascinating stories and have discovered some fascinating anecdotes, said Pia Libicka-Regulska, the Consul of Poland. We have selected 24 inspiring persons and 15 initiatives to present on the website, but the plan is for it to be an ever-growing project, with new names added in the coming month and years, she said. For the project, the Embassy cooperated with many prominent Luxembourgers. The video features, among others, the CEO of Lux-Airport Rene Steinhaus; Claude Bertemes, the director of the Cinematheque Luxembourg; and Cardinal Jean-Claude Hollerich, the archbishop of Luxembourg. The clip unveils some little known ties between the countries. It showcases, for instance, a Polish dancer who established the first ballet school in Luxembourg or a Luxembourg soldier forced into the German army who deserted to help the Polish Resistance. It also tells the story of a contemporary Polish artist living in Luxembourg whose sculptures are scattered around the country, including at the Lorentzweiler town hall entrance. The video and website present some fascinating stories; I am sure anyone who watches or reads it will get inspired, the Consul said. The anecdotes should interest not only those interested in the Polish culture but anyone who wants to learn about the people who might be their neighbours or colleagues, she said. A dance gala concert and photographic exhibition will complete the centenary celebrations, with the dates of the events to be announced later in the year when the sanitary situation stabilises. I have worked and lived in several countries, and I can say with all certainty the Grand Duchy is among the most welcoming ones, the Ambassador said. Thats why so many Polish people have settled here and we are now proudly sharing their stories, he said. [April 15, 2021] InnovoEdge Joins Microsoft for Startups Program NEW YORK, April 15, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- InnovoEdge, an AI-powered multi-cloud and edge application orchestration company, today announced it has joined the Microsoft for Startups program, which is designed to help business to business (B2B) startups scale with access to technology, subject matter experts, and business benefits. InnovoEdge works with leading data center operators, internet service providers and large-scale enterprises to enable and optimize multi-cloud, hybrid-cloud and edge service delivery. The InnovoStudio software as a service (SaaS) platform is multi-tenant by design and offers advanced features such as automated geo load balancing, multi-site application optimization, self-healing capabilities, global price arbitrage and predictive maintenance. "We're really excited to be able to leveage Microsoft Azure's comprehensive artificial intelligence and machine learning (AI/ML) capabilities for workloads that incorporate features such as prediction, natural language processing, and imagine processing and analysis." stated Jim Brinksma, InnovoEdge CSO. "The Microsoft for Startups business enablement benefits are amazing. Having access to a dedicated success manager and getting the opportunity to collaborate on go to market plans is a real differentiator," added Nick Balletta, InnovoEdge CEO. Microsoft for Startups prioritizes enterprise technology startups that can best serve the Microsoft customer base. New applicants are evaluated based on offering an innovative technical solution that supports customers in their digital transformation, being less than seven years old, having less than $25M in total annual revenue, and having raised Seed, Series A, B, or C stage funding (or validated equivalent). Eligible startups can apply here . About InnovoEdge InnovoEdge is a young, ambitious, startup focused on using artificial intelligence, automation and beautiful design to overcome the complexities associated with delivering products and services in multi-cloud, hybrid-cloud and hyper-edge environments. Established in 2019 and headquartered in the city that never sleeps, we'll know we've succeeded when the machines are doing the heavy lifting, the human tasks are simple and intuitive, and all of our customers tell us they can rest easy. Learn more at https://innovoedge.com Contact InnovoEdge Public Relations pr@innovoedge.com (646) 397-3210 View original content to download multimedia:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/innovoedge-joins-microsoft-for-startups-program-301269124.html SOURCE InnovoEdge [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] The IN3's Urban Transformation and Global Change Laboratory (TURBA Lab) research group is pleased to invite you to the webinar "Hacia una espacializacion de la critica de las politicas publicas. El caso de la politica economica en una region argentina" [Towards the spatialization of the criticism of public policies. The case of an Argentinian region's economic policy] , which will be presented by Gerardo Iraci , a social sciences doctoral candidate at the University of Buenos Aires who is currently participating in the TURBA Lab research group as a visiting student. Program This seminar forms part of the Cycle of Seminars on Urban Transformation and Global Change. Abstract Tierra del Fuego is a province in the south of Argentina that since the 1970s has implemented a regional economic promotion system. Under this regulatory framework, companies are encouraged to relocate their activities to the region's two cities (Ushuaia and Rio Grande). In my presentation I analyse the role of the economic promotion public policy in place in Tierra del Fuego, which enables the reproduction of individual capital in the context of competition in the global market that led to the new division of labour. I will theoretically and empirically investigate this aspect based on a re-discussion of Neil Brenner's seminal work, New State Spaces. This agenda of new state spaces will be subjected to a Marxist criticism of public policies. In Europe, the political scientist Ulrich Brand argued that Marxist criticism theoretically focussed on the analysis of polity and politics, but the same was not true of policy. It is in this sense that my presentation will seek to further the theoretical developments of the Marxist criticism of public policies as a trial-and-error process in which the correspondence between the reproduction of capitalist social relations and public policies is an uncertain process, combining them with the agenda of new state spaces. In other words, making progress towards the spatialization of the criticism of public policies based on the economic promotion that enabled processes of de/industrialization in Tierra del Fuego's industry from 1972 to 2021. Gerardo Iraci He is a social sciences doctoral candidate at the University of Buenos Aires. In his doctoral thesis (a historical ethnography on industrial workers in the current province of Tierra del Fuego, Argentina) he discusses economic and political geography and class anthropology from the perspective of the Frankfurt School's Critical Theory and Theodor Adorno's critical account of the political economy. He currently forms part of the IN3's TURBA Lab research group as a visiting student. To participate in this session, please contact larguellesr@uoc.edu. [April 15, 2021] Dentsu Launches Merkle Canada to Expand its Customer Experience Capabilities As part of dentsu's move to strengthen its Customer Experience Management (CXM) offering, the network announced today the expansion of its CXM services in the Americas region by launching Merkle Canada. Merkle's expansion into Canada brings globally leading capabilities across data transformation, digital transformation, and customer experience management, tailored to the Canadian market and its local, social, and cultural diversity. Under the simplified model, brands gain easy access to solutions spanning CX transformation, technology consulting, program strategy, CRM/loyalty, digital experiences, commerce, and data science/analytics. "The fastest growing brands today are maximizing their competitive advantage by delivering best-in-class customer experiences. Launching Merkle Canada and scaling our capabilities in this mission-critical space, enables even stronger solutions for our clients to drive growth in a consumer-led economy. This expansion brings scale, award-winning credentials, and world-class expertise in CX strategy, digital and data transformation, and technology consulting in a way that few else can in the market," said Jeff Greenspoon, CEO, Canada and President, Americas Solutions for dentsu International. With deep expertise and strategic partnerships across AWS, Adobe, Google (News - Alert) , and Salesforce, Merkle brings together its data-driven customer experience approach to form a strong and holistic offering in market. This launch was timed to coincide with major forces that are changing the Canadian marketing landscape specifically: The acceleration of a decade's worth of digital transformation taking place in the past year including surges in D2C and e-commerce activities. Canada has known some of the most stringent COVID-19 restrictions in the region - including months of continuous stay-at-home orders and curfews, which radically accelerated those areas of customer experience. Now, many Canadian brands are quickly turning their focus quickly to identifying new audiences and associated journeys. including surges in D2C and e-commerce activities. Canada has known some of the most stringent COVID-19 restrictions in the region - including months of continuous stay-at-home orders and curfews, which radically accelerated those areas of customer experience. Now, many Canadian brands are quickly turning their focus quickly to identifying new audiences and associated journeys. The importance of diversity and equity, which both continue to be key focus areas As one of the most multicultural countries in the world, Canadian clients request and need DEI principles in their marketing, including unbiased segmentation and anti-racist customer journeys. Our Canadian teams are highly attuned to those needs. As one of the most multicultural countries in the world, Canadian clients request and need DEI principles in their marketing, including unbiased segmentation and anti-racist customer journeys. Our Canadian teams are highly attuned to those needs. The shift to the new cookieless world that all markets are facing. Canada is currently reviewing its own privacy regulations which will, in terms of stringency, land somewhere in the middle of the US and Europe's GDPR. This will give Canada an opportunity to operate in a regulatory "middle ground," which Merkle will explore to expand into local data co-op and clean room solutions. Walter Flaat, who will lead Merkle Canada said, "We believe that especially after these recent years, the future of brand loyalty and competitive advantage lies in elegant, effective, and simple customer experiences. Experience-led companies on average have 1.6 times higher brand awareness and 1.4 times faster revenue growth. We also know that martech will completely reset in the next two years, in a way that will shape a generation. These are all reasons for us to ensure we bring the best possible CXM capabilities to Canada, together with our most Important partners." Michael Komasinski, President, Merkle Americas said, "Merkle's expansion in Canada is a big part of our strategy in the Americas, since the opportunity in Canada is two-fold; made up of both the resident Canadian market, and American brands that want to expand into that market. Those brands face a challenge that Merkle is uniquely positioned to help them solve. And, with highly skilled teams in all key Canadian metro areas, we're here to help them successfully navigate the transformation required to provide those regionalized, personalized experiences." Merkle Canada will launch with a team of 80 across Canada, closely connected to Merkle's 7,000 strong American team. About Merkle Merkle is a leading data-driven customer experience management (CXM) company that specializes in the delivery of unique, personalized customer experiences across platforms and devices. For more than 30 years, Fortune 1000 companies and leading nonprofit organizations have partnered with Merkle to maximize the value of their customer portfolios. The company's heritage in data, technology, and analytics forms the foundation for its unmatched skills in understanding consumer insights that drive hyper-personalized marketing strategies. Its combined strengths in performance media, customer experience, customer relationship management, loyalty, and enterprise marketing technology drive improved marketing results and competitive advantage. With 11,000 employees, Merkle is headquartered in Columbia, Maryland, with 50+ additional offices throughout the Americas, EMEA, and APAC. Merkle is a dentsu company. For more information, contact Merkle at 1-877-9-Merkle or visit www.merkleinc.com About dentsu international Part of dentsu, dentsu international helps clients to win, keep and grow their best customers and achieve meaningful progress for their businesses. With best-in-class services and solutions in media, CXM, and creative, dentsu international operates in over 145 markets worldwide with more than 46,000 dedicated specialists. www.dentsu.com View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210415005658/en/ [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] They have been a duo for seven months. And showbiz couple Kaia Gerber, 19, and Jacob Elordi, 23, were glimpsed Wednesday night enjoying a night on the town in Los Angeles. The dynamic duo were spotted looking glamorous as ever as they emerged from the Kardashian hot spot Nobu Malibu with friends. Showbiz couple: Kaia Gerber, 19, and Jacob Elordi, 23, were glimpsed Wednesday night enjoying a night on the town in Los Angeles In spite of her mask Kaia bore a striking resemblance to her Supermodel mother Cindy Crawford while stepping out of the restaurant. The teen model brought New York chic to the West Coast in a black cocktail dress and a matching pair of high leather boots. She wrapped up in a pinstripe blazer and added a splash of glitz to her evening ensemble with a gold medallion. Meanwhile her sizzling boyfriend of The Kissing Booth fame showed off his well-built torso in a tight white tank top. Off they go: The dynamic duo were spotted looking glamorous as ever as they emerged from the Kardashian hot spot Nobu Malibu with friends On the move: In spite of her mask Kaia bore a striking resemblance to her Supermodel mother Cindy Crawford while stepping out of the restaurant Fashion statement: She wrapped up in a pinstripe blazer and was seen wearing a pair of sunglasses in the car despite the fact that it was nighttime The Australian heartthrob threw a colorful floral jacket over the top and slipped into a pair of fashionably faded blue jeans. As he and Kaia headed over to their car at the end of their evening out Jacob could be seen to be wearing a tiny Celine purse. Jacob rounded off the look with blue and white sneakers and made sure to take the precaution of wearing a mask on his outing. After strolling out of the restaurant the famous couple clambered into a car together where Jacob took the wheel and Kaia sat in the passenger's seat. Meanwhile: Her sizzling boyfriend of The Kissing Booth fame showed off his well-built torso in a tight white tank top Swanking about: As he and Kaia headed over to their car at the end of their evening out Jacob could be seen to be wearing a tiny Celine purse In transit: After strolling out of the restaurant the famous couple clambered into a car together where Jacob took the wheel and Kaia sat in the passenger's seat Careful: Jacob rounded off the look with blue and white sneakers and made sure to take the precaution of wearing a mask on his outing Meanwhile that same day Kaia's smoldering father Rande Gerber, 58, was seen stepping out with a male pal in Los Angeles. Rande has been married to Cindy since 1998 and in addition to Kaia they also have a 21-year-old son whose name is Presley. When he was seen out with his friend during the day Rande was wrapped up in a sleek dark jacket with a Nehru collar. That evening Rande was also seen stepping out to dinner at Nobu Malibu but was surrounded by what appeared to be a different group of friends than Kaia's. Walk and talk: Meanwhile that same day Kaia's smoldering father Rande Gerber, 58, was seen stepping out with a male pal in Los Angeles Family matters: Rande has been married to Cindy since 1998 and in addition to Kaia they also have a 21-year-old son whose name is Presley In fact his star-studded dining companions included Oscar-winning actor Sean Penn, 60, and his latest wife Leila George, 29. Rumors circulated at the beginning of last August that Sean and Leila had secretly tied the knot after four years of dating. News of the wedding spread when they received congratulations on Instagram from Josh Brolin, as well as from movie producer Mike Medavoy's wife Irena. A few days later Sean went on Late Night With Seth Meyers and showed off his gold wedding band, confirming that he has married for a third time. On the town: That evening Rande was also seen stepping out to dinner at Nobu Malibu but was surrounded by what appeared to be a different group of friends than Kaia's There they are: In fact his star-studded dining companions included Oscar-winning actor Sean Penn, 60, and his latest wife Leila George, 29 History: Rumors circulated at the beginning of last August that Sean and Leila had secretly tied the knot after four years of dating Newlywed: Sean went on Late Night With Seth Meyers and showed off his gold wedding band, confirming that he has married for a third time 'We did a COVID wedding. By that I mean it was a county commissioner on Zoom, and we were at the house,' Sean revealed. 'My two children and her brother, and we did it that way,' said Sean, who won an Academy Award in a biopic of Harvey Milk. Sean has a daughter called Dylan, who is a year older than her new stepmother, and a son called Hopper, who is two years younger than Leila. Upon hearing Sean's explanation of his latest wedding Seth cracked: 'Having had a very large wedding, that actually sounds pretty nice and low stress.' 'We did a COVID wedding': 'By that I mean it was a county commissioner on Zoom, and we were at the house,' Sean revealed 'Let's say there are socially liberating factors under COVID,' quipped Sean, whose nonprofit CORE has helped set up coronavirus testing sites. Leila comes from a showbiz family - her mother is actress Greta Scacchi and her father is actor Vincent D'Onofrio, who is just one year older than her new husband. Sean has been married twice before, to Madonna from 1985 until 1989 and to Robin Wright, the mother of his two children, from 1996 to 2010. 'There is no shame in my saying that we all want to be loved by someone. As I look back over my life in romance, I don't feel I've ever had that,' he said in 2012. Family matters: Sean has a daughter called Dylan, who is a year older than her new stepmother, and a son called Hopper, who is two years younger than Leila Sean told Esquire: 'I have been the only one that was unaware of the fraud in a few of these circumstances blindly. When you get divorced, all the truths that come out, you sit there and you go, What the f*** was I doing? What was I doing believing that this person was invested in this way?' 'Which is a fantastically strong humiliation in the best sense. It can make somebody very bitter and very hard and closed off, but I find it does the opposite to me.' Kaia and Jacob were first linked in September and by October they were doing a Halloween couple's costume as Elvis and Priscilla Presley. In mid-March the duo were seen singing along to the radio in the car after a joint workout session marking their first public sighting together in months. Looking back: Sean has been married twice before, to Madonna from 1985 until 1989 and to Robin Wright, the mother of his two children, from 1996 to 2010 Jacob used to date his Kissing Booth co-star Joey King and there were also once unconfirmed rumors he was involved with his Euphoria castmate Zendaya. In a recent interview with W magazine he dished that the first time he had a crush on someone in a movie it was Orlando Bloom. 'It would have probably been Orlando Bloom, who played Legolas from The Lord Of The Rings. I was like: "Wow, this guy is perfect." He was so pure and fine,' said Jacob. Meanwhile in 2019 Kaia had a relationship with Saturday Night Live funnyman Pete Davidson who is seven years her senior. Stylish: Rande's ensemble that evening included chic fitted jeans and black leather shoes Reports of their split circulated at the start of last year with an E! News insider saying that Pete was 'taking a break to work on his mental health.' Her parents Cindy and Rande had been filmed by Page Six in December 2019 talking emphatically outside their daughter's apartment. DailyMail.com learned from a bystander that Rande had a conversation with someone upstairs - likely Pete - who was 'freaking out' and had 'scratched eyes.' Shortly thereafter he quipped during the Weekend Update section of Saturday Night Live that he was about to take 'the kind of vacation where, like, insurance pays for some of it, and they take your phone and shoelaces.' Source: Xinhua| 2021-04-15 13:40:45|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close Juha-Pekka Vaisanen, chairperson of the Communist Party of Finland (SKP), receives an interview with Xinhua in Helsinki, Finland, March 24, 2021. (Xinhua/Zhu Haochen) HELSINKI, April 15 (Xinhua) -- Facing changes and rising to them, the 100-year-old Communist Party of China (CPC) has been constantly revitalized by its enthusiasm and motivation, said Juha-Pekka Vaisanen, chairperson of the Communist Party of Finland (SKP), in a recent interview with Xinhua, before the centenary of the founding of the CPC. Vaisanen, who has visited China several times and has been following the country's development, commended China's fast economic growth, victory in eliminating absolute poverty and success in fighting the COVID-19 pandemic. "All the achievements are inseparable from the strong leadership, scientific planning and active efforts of the CPC," he said. Under the CPC leadership, China has established a socialist market economic system and made outstanding achievements, he said, adding that this signifies a great deepening and exploration of Marxism. Hailing China's elimination of absolute poverty as a remarkable feat, Vaisanen praised the CPC's fundamental purpose of "serving the people wholeheartedly" and the "people-centered" development philosophy. On the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, Vaisanen said China has, under the leadership of the CPC, contained the virus successfully, and provided help and experience to other countries. During the fight against the pandemic, the socialist system with Chinese characteristics has shown great advantages, and the CPC, as well as the Chinese people, has shown a strong sense of mission and proactivity, he said. Vaisanen met with Chinese President Xi Jinping in 2017 at the CPC in Dialogue with World Political Parties High-level Meeting held in Beijing. He said Xi has brought great encouragement and inspiration to representatives from many political parties. On behalf of the SKP, Vaisanen congratulated the 100-year-old CPC on its inspiring achievements. Enditem It seems that news about vaccine problems keep emerging on a daily basis by now, but what implications do they have on the Grand Duchy's strategy? None whatsoever, according to Xavier Bettel. The Prime Minister continued his country-wide tour on Wednesday with a visit to the vaccination centre in Ettelbruck. He was joined by Minister of Social Security and temporary Health Minister Romain Schneider. Naturally, this does not mean that health officials ignore the recent developments, Bettel acknowledged: "The government council already met once this week, and will convene again on Friday. We continuously analyse the situation and assess the risks of postponing vaccination attempts, given how dangerous Covid-19 still is. It is important that people are being informed about all these matters." Read also: Ministry of Health and public prosecutors investigate possible vaccine-linked death Since there is no such thing as a Luxembourgish medicines agency, the government has to rely on the advice from the European Medicines Agency (EMA). Contrary to what some individual countries have decided, EMA continues to hold on to the AstraZeneca vaccine for all age groups. The evaluation process of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine is meanwhile underway, and set to be concluded over the course of the next week. Until then, the European agency will stand behind the vaccine. Read also: Johnson & Johnson shots delivered to the Grand Duchy on Monday Read also: US pauses J&J vaccine in blow to global immunization drive PM Bettel explained: "We listen to what EMA says, and right now, there is no indication for us to stop using AstraZeneca or Johnson & Johnson. Should EMA change its evaluation, we will be the first ones to drop the vaccines." Further Reading: Xavier Bettel joins TikTok Up until now, the reported vaccine problems have not affected people's willingness to get the shot in Luxembourg, and most citizens continue to wait impatiently. 1,400 people received their shot at the Ettelbruck centre on Wednesday. Ministers Bettel and Schneider both declined to further address the investigation into the possible vaccine-related death of a 74-year-old woman, who passed away two weeks after receiving the AstraZeneca shot. The Prime Minister did however highlight the ongoing threat of the virus: "We have not yet received a great number of complaints about side effects. But I can tell you that I get daily calls regarding the new number of deaths in relation to Covid-19, which is a fact." Beshear Sees Useful Lessons in Pandemic By The Associated Press FRANKFORT - Gov. Andy Beshear said Wednesday there are lessons to be drawn from the COVID-19 pandemic from a greater sense of shared responsibility to the outsized role social media plays in a crisis.Despite the divisions over mask wearing and restrictions on a cross-section of activities, the fight against the coronavirus has taught us how connected we all are in what we thought was a disconnected world, Beshear said in a phone interview with The Associated Press.In a world that sometimes said you need to go out and do the best for just yourself and your family, now we know that our decisions have impacts on the people around us, he said. "In the pandemic ... every choice we made could have a positive or negative impact on the health or even the life and death of an individual.And now that we have spent a year and a couple months living for each other, and sacrificing for each other, I think weve got a chance to be better people coming out of this, Beshear added.The state's post-pandemic economy is set to take off, Beshear said. He pointed to recent discussions with business prospects regarding potential billion-dollar-plus projects in Kentucky, noting that there's more interest in larger projects and expansions than at any point in my lifetime."The governor who has faced protests, lawsuits and impeachment petitions over his virus-related executive actions criticized the role of out of control social media platforms in promoting sensationalism that in turn grabbed headlines during the pandemic. Those social media sites can make a small group appear a lot larger than it is, the governor said.Beshear has faced steady criticism and occasional protests over his actions. Armed protesters gathered near the governor's home last year and then hanged Beshear in effigy in a tree near the State Capitol. The event was billed as a rally in defense of constitutional rights, including the right to bear arms, but turned into a protest against the governors virus restrictions.Earlier this year, Beshear pointed to a social media video that warned the governor risked being struck down by God unless he rescinded a COVID-19 order from applying to churches. The video showed a gun behind the man.Beshear faced petitions this year seeking his impeachment. A Republican-led legislative panel recommended that the governor not face removal from office and the matter died after that.The governor said Wednesday that he separated virus-related decisions from politics, and insisted that the vast majority of Kentuckians know his actions were necessary. That includes people who voted against him when he ousted Republican incumbent Matt Bevin in 2019."I cant tell you how many times somebody has come up to me and said, You know, I didnt vote for you and I dont apologize for it, but youve done a good job and I appreciate it. I get more of those every day than we ever see people at a protest, Beshear said.The first-term Democrat, who intends to run for reelection in 2023 in a state Republicans have dominated in recent years, downplayed questions about the political consequences of restrictions he imposed across many aspects of life in Kentucky to slow the viruss spread.Beshear remains popular in the state but is likely to face a tough political battle in Republican-trending Kentucky. Looking ahead to his reelection bid, he said that if his record in fighting the virus generates negative repercussions" politically then Im ready for them. But he added, If it comes with positive outcomes, OK. But thats not why Im doing it.In two years, Beshear said he hopes the dominant issues are how were doing then.If in 2023 when Im up, if people arent thinking about the pandemic any more, then Ive done my job," he said. "Now whether thats good or bad politically, again I can live with that. If its us defeating this virus this year, which I want to do, if its us defeating the virus this summer, which I hope we do, and that means its no longer on peoples minds by that point, good for us. Source: Xinhua| 2021-04-15 03:45:22|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close AMMAN, April 14 (Xinhua) -- Jordan on Wednesday welcomed a resolution by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) on the Old City of Jerusalem and its walls. Jordan's Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Deifallah Fayez said Wednesday that the UNESCO Executive Board adopted a resolution during its 211th session that considered all Israeli procedures aimed at changing the nature of the holy city and its legal status quo as null and void. He added that the resolution was the result of Jordanian diplomatic efforts in cooperation with Palestinians and the Arab and Islamic groups in the organization, according to the ministry's statement. He said the resolution calls on Israel to halt its illegal and unilateral procedures against the Al-Aqsa Mosque and the Old City of Jerusalem and its walls. Enditem (Alliance News) - Kerry Group PLC on Thursday announced talks with Kerry Co-Operative Creameries Ltd, its dairy-related business in Ireland and the UK, have been suspended. Kerry Group in February announced it is conducting a strategic review of dairy-related businesses in the UK and Ireland, saying that the review may have led to a transaction in the coming months. The Ireland-based food company confirms that discussions with Kerry Co-Operative Creameries around the potential transaction have been suspended. "While the strategic review continues, there is no certainty that this will lead to a transaction and a further update on the strategic review process will be communicated later this year," Kerry Group said. Kerry Group shares closed 0.5% higher at EUR110.04 each in London. By Greg Roxburgh; gregroxburgh@alliancenews.com Copyright 2021 Alliance News Limited. All Rights Reserved. Healthcare Advocate Summit Live, In Person, and Safe Past News Releases RSS The 2021 Healthcare Advocate Summit, presented by the National Association of Medication Access & Patient Advocacy (NAMAPA), announced today its inaugural summit is taking place on September 8-10, 2021. The three-day summit will be held at the Galveston Island Convention Center at The San Luis Resort, Galveston Island, Texas. Out of an abundance of caution for the safety of our guests and feedback from the advocate community, we postponed the event from May to September, said NAMAPA executive director Eric Hoffend. The Healthcare Advocate Summit was created by Advocates, for Advocates and is the premier event for anyone involved in patient access, navigation, and reimbursement. The event anticipates drawing over 300 advocates and healthcare leaders attending, along with over 100 leading industry experts. Healthcare advocates working on behalf of the patient may not be aware of all the resources available or may not be trained on how to effectively navigate the complex healthcare landscape. This lack of actionable knowledge can negate or delay treatment, and can severely impact patient care. The goal is to educate healthcare advocates on the available pathways to resources, solutions to barriers that streamline the patient journey, that all can be leveraged to dramatically improve patient care. About the Summit The Healthcare Advocate Summit provides networking opportunities, engaging exhibits, educational panel discussion and presentations across topics to include; how best to ensure correct authorization, procurement, and reimbursement, how to leverage manufacturer resources, work with specialty pharmacies, supplement technology solutions, navigating share of care for VA patients, the impasse of pharmacy benefits vs. medical benefits, and patient assistance best practices for optimized enrollment and renewal. Day 1 is Education Day and will convene with Advisory Boards, Executive Meetings, Educational Workshops, and Training with Continuing Education Credits. Day 2-3 are Conference Days with LIVE HIVE Informative Sessions, Innovation Zone Talks, and Collaborative Exhibit Hall The Healthcare Advocate Summit was created to fulfill an unmet need within the industry, a focus on educating the people actually doing the work, and a place for those healthcare advocates to join together and amplify their voice and passion for the patient. About the Presenting Sponsor The National Association of Medication Access & Patient Advocacy is a growing non-profit (501c3) organization of like-minded healthcare professionals who passionately work to empower other healthcare advocates by providing a collaborative community focused on resources to navigate medication access and support. The president of NAMAPA, Elizabeth Johnson LPN, CPC, PACS stated, We are excited to partner with the Healthcare Advocate Summit as it aligns perfectly with our goals and mission: By Advocates, For Advocates. NAMAPA leadership will be present during the Summit to engage and network with advocates and industry leaders. The Healthcare Advocate Summit is hosted by Paige Consulting, LLC, a healthcare consulting and solutions provider with extensive experience in growing access programs across the therapeutic spectrum to include Oncology, Hematology, Rheumatology, Pulmonology, Immunology, Dermatology, and Neurology. Bubble tea drinkers will need to brace themselves, as the U.S. is reportedly experiencing a boba shortage. A Business Insider report said that bubble tea supplies are running low due to shipping delays. Retailers arent able to get the supplies they need to make the popular Taiwanese milk tea drink that features chewy pearls of tapioca called boba. Oliver Yoon, the vice president of sales and global marketing for bubble tea supplier Boba Direct, explained that the shortage started about a month ago. U.S. ports on both the East and West Coasts are reportedly having a hard time with logistical issues. These issues include navigating the coronavirus pandemic, tens of thousands of shipping containers on boats waiting outside ports and higher consumer spending. Yoon described it as a perfect storm. In recent years, bubble tea has exploded in popularity. According to Yoon, supply has been tightened for the last month. Most likely it wont let up until the end of April at the earliest. Wholesalers cant get products used to make bubble tea. These products include tapioca pearls, popping bobas, flavored powders and syrups, and disposables. All are stuck in a huge bottleneck, Yoon explained. Yoon added consumers just need to be patient, while also acknowledging the frustration of retailers. This is temporary, not forever. I get it; theyre a small business, and theyre trying to survive. Were all in the same situation -- just trying to survive, Yoon said, according to Insider. READ MORE: Patna, April 15 : Keeping in view the alarming situation in Bihar due to Covid 19, Rashtriya Janata Dal leader Tejashwi Yadav urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi and BJP National President J.P. Nadda to release state health minister Mangal Pandey from the West Bengal poll campaign. Tejashwi's reaction came after soaring infections and consequent deaths including of two IAS officers in Bihar. "Humbly request Hon. PM @narendramodi ji & @JPNadda ji to spare Bihar Health Minister from BJP's #BengalElections duty. His tokenism as Bihar HM has already cost many precious lives. Since last year nothing has been done to ramp up the capacity building of hospitals in Bihar," Tejashwi tweeted. "The health infrastructure in Bihar has collapsed after a higher number of cases of Corona have appeared. The preparation of the Bihar government to tackle the pandemic is zero. As a result, a large number of people are getting infected and the state government is unable to provide them beds in the hospitals," the RLD leader said while interacting with the media. Mangal Pandey, who was busy in the West Bengal election campaign for the Bharatiya Janata Party, came to Patna on Tuesday and inspected Nalanda Medical College and Hospital (NMCH). While he was inspecting the facilities inside the NMCH, a 60-year-old retired armyman Vinod Kumar Singh died outside the casualty ward of the NMCH. His son Abhimanyu Singh claimed that he had requested the hospital administration several times to at least allow him inside but the doctors refused. "I requested the doctors to allow him inside the corridor of the hospital. The atmospheric temperature was high and an uncomfortable patient like him who is suffering from Corona infection could not stay there for so long. The doctors said that he would get admission only after the inspection of the health minister was completed. We waited for one and a half hours in an ambulance and he eventually died in it," Abhimanyu said. Tejashwi said that hospital beds are not available for the common people. Several ministers, IAS officers, top bureaucrats are currently infected with Corona. "The principal health secretary has sought help from Indian Army to provide 50 doctors to open a hospital in Bihar having a capacity of 500 beds. It is an admission by the state government that the situation is beyond control of the Bihar government," Tejashwi said. "I have repeatedly said that the Bihar government is insensitive on Covid-19. We have requested to set up adequate numbers of isolation centres, quarantine centres, and tests for every person but the health facilities of the state are minimal," Tejashwi said. -- The story has been published from a wire feed without any modifications to the text Machine Gun Kelly is set to launch a unisex nail polish brand called UN/DN in a collaboration with Unlisted Brand Lab. Unlisted CEO Candy Harris said in a news release Wednesday, Page Six was first to report. 'Were honored to be working with MGK on this rare opportunity to build a brand that will progress a category to embody a cultural shift that has been a long time coming,' Harris said. Business: Machine Gun Kelly, 30, is set to launch a unisex nail polish brand called UN/DN in a collaboration with Unlisted Brand Lab. He was snapped in NYC last year The Tickets To My Downfall artist, 30, has often showcased his irreverent nail polish styles in public outings and on social media. The actor-rapper has been dating actress Megan Fox, 34, since May in a relationship that blossomed as they were making the motion picture Midnight in the Switchgrass. The pair 'got serious quickly' and enjoy 'a great relationship,' an insider told People earlier this week, as they celeb couple are mapping 'a future together.' The recording artist, whose real name is Colson Baker, has been spending time with Fox's sons with ex-husband Brian Austin Green, 47: Noah, eight, Bodhi, seven, and Journey, four. The Tickets To My Downfall artist has often showcased his irreverent nail polish styles in public outings and on social media The Dirt actor was snapped with girlfriend Megan Fox in Las Vegas last March The Houston native 'is getting to know her kids,' the insider said. 'Megan loves her boys, and they will always be her priority. 'She is excited that they have accepted Colson ... Megan is very happy.' Prior to Fox, the entertainer was romantically linked to Sommer Ray, Amber Rose and Emma Cannon, who he shares daughter Casie, 12, with. Mumbai: The Centre would abolish the subsidy for Haj pilgrims in accordance with a Supreme Court order, Union minister Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi said today. "A constitutional bench of the Supreme Court had, during the Congress regime in 2012, directed that the Haj subsidy be done away with. Hence, in the new policy, as per the recommendations of a committee, we have decided to do away with the Haj subsidy gradually," he told PTI. Earlier in the day, sources had said that abolition of the subsidy was among the highlights of a proposed Haj policy drafted by a government committee. The minority affairs minister, who is on a two-day visit to Mumbai, said the committee also suggested that the money spent on the Haj subsidy be used for the educational empowerment of the Muslim community. The Ministry of Minority Affairs had, earlier this year, constituted the committee to review the existing Haj policy and suggest a framework for a new Haj policy for 2018-22. The committee presented its draft to Naqvi today. The minister told PTI that among other recommendations, the committee suggested that women above 45 years be allowed to perform Haj without a 'Mehram' (a male relative by blood) in a group of four or more. Also, it recommended that coupons for 'Adahi' (sacrifice of animals) be made compulsory for all the pilgrims and the quota of Mehram be increased from the present 200 to 500, he said. It also sought that the special quota for Jammu and Kashmir be increased from 1,500 to 2,000. The committee also suggested that the number of embarkation points (EPs) be reduced from 21 to nine and those should be at Delhi, Lucknow, Kolkata, Ahmedabad, Mumbai, Chennai, Hyderabad, Bengaluru and Kochi. It also recommended that suitable Haj houses be built at these EPs, Naqvi said. For the tour operators, the committee suggested that the quota be distributed in a 70:30 ratio between the Haj Committee and private tour operators (PTOs). The PTOs should collect the full package cost from the pilgrims only through their bank accounts and render the details to the ministry before the departure of the pilgrims. The panel also recommended an amendment in the Haj Committee Act to extend 'Umra' and 'Ziyarat' to Syria, Iran Iraq and Jordan. For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. Delhi will observe a weekend curfew in view of the rising cases of the coronavirus disease (Covid-19), chief minister Arvind Kejriwal announced on Thursday after his meeting with Lieutenant Governor Anil Baijal. Read more To control the spread of COVID19, it has been decided to impose weekend curfew in Delhi: Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal pic.twitter.com/4oc4kFMBLG ANI (@ANI) April 15, 2021 Here's more top news of the day: 1) Haridwar Hospital Almost Full, COVID Patients Referred To AIIMS Rishikesh As Kumbh Continues Reuters Throwing caution to the wind amid rising cases of coronavirus, lakhs of people congregated on Wednesday at the ghats in Haridwar to take a dip in the Ganga during the third shahi snan of the Kumbh mela. Read more 2) In Chhattisgarh, Sanitation Workers In Garbage Vans Are Ferrying COVID Bodies To Crematoriums Reuters Amid the spike in COVID cases and acute shortage of medical infrastructure, a garbage van was used to ferry the bodies of patients who died of coronavirus in Chhattisgarh's Rajnandgaon. Read more 3) Why You Shouldn't Worry If Your Covishield Vaccine Gap Has Been Increased From 4 To 8 Weeks Reuters Many citizens whose second dose was the Covishield vaccine was due in four weeks have been asked to get the jab in another four weeks, making it an interval of eight weeks, which is said to be most effective against COVID. Read more 4) Running Short Of COVID Beds, Delhi, Mumbai Adds Hotels, Banquet Halls To Accommodate Patients BCCL The highest single-day spike in Delhi till the third wave of the pandemic - 8,593 cases, was reported on November 11 in 2020, while on November 18, the city had recorded 131 COVID-19 deaths, the highest single-day fatality count till date. Read more 5) After Video Showing Mass Cremation Of COVID Victims In Lucknow, A Wall Comes Up To Block View This is not Ganga Aarti, this is burning funeral pyres at Bhainsakund Crematorium, Lucknow. Now they have tin sheets surrounding it to stop videos and pics. Thats how they handle Covid in UP. By denying its existence. pic.twitter.com/T1dlfyNf4H Sangita (@Sanginamby) April 15, 2021 A day after a shocking video surfaced online showing a large number of funeral pyres burning together at the Bhainsakund Crematorium in Lucknow, the authorities have put up tin sheets, around the area, in an apparent effort to cover up the view. Read more Any farmer can explain the problems that come with being dependent on generous rain clouds to water the crops. It seems there is often either too little or too much. Many people in Kyrgyzstan are about to face the consequences of too little water. In a country where 90 percent of the electricity is generated by hydropower facilities, the problems caused by a long drought do not end in the farmers fields but could extend to neighboring countries. Kyrgyzstans Toktogul hydropower plant (HPP) was opened in 1975, during the Soviet era. It took some 15 years to prepare the massive reservoir and fill it before the four 300 megawatt (MW) units could start producing energy. It was one of the earliest attempts to tap into Kyrgyzstans hydropower potential, which even today is only being used at 10 percent of its capability. The plant has suffered several problems in recent years associated with its aging equipment. In December 2015, one of the turbines shut down and, in less than a week, three of the four units had stopped functioning, forcing authorities to ration electricity during the coldest part of winter. The HPP is currently undergoing renovation work that aims to replace or rehabilitate the old equipment and bring the total output up to 1440 MW. The Toktogul reservoir is in the western Kementub Valley, along the Naryn River that eventually flows into Uzbekistan and merges into one of the two great rivers of Central Asia, the Syr Darya (the other is the Amu Darya), before snaking into Kazakhstan. The Toktogul HPP provides some 40 percent of Kyrgyzstans electricity, but the water level at the reservoir has been falling in recent years, which will soon result in the reduction and maybe the suspension of operations. In August 2017, the reservoir was filled to the maximum, with 19.5 billion cubic meters (bcm) of water. But on March 30, 2021, Kyrgyz Energy Minister Kubanychbek Turdubaev said the level had dropped to 8.7 bcm. The new leadership in Kyrgyzstan has been promising to decrease the countrys debt and any additional financial burden is especially unwelcome at the moment. Turdubaev called 8.5 bcm the critical level where the operation of the Toktagul HPP would be affected. The water level might reach this critical level very soon, judging by the rate it is falling. On March 22, Kyrgyzstans main electricity provider, Elektricheskiye Stantsii, said the water level at Toktogul was 8.83 bcm. Turdubaev noted that the amount of water spilling out of the reservoir has exceeded the amount coming into it for several years and "every year the volume of water is decreasing by 1.5-1.8 bcm." The simplest way to correct the problem would be to close the spillways out of the reservoir for brief periods and allow water to accumulate. But while Toktogul is a source of domestic power for Kyrgyzstan, its water is needed in two other countries. Some 80 percent of the water that leaves the Toktogul reservoir goes into Uzbekistan, where it joins the Syr Darya. This water is desperately needed for agriculture in both of the downstream countries. Kazakhstan has promised to send up to 1 billion kilowatt hours (kWh) of electricity exports, with Uzbekistan offering 750 million kWh to help Kyrgyzstan with its power problem. The idea is that this will allow Kyrgyzstan to cut back on the water used for the Toktogul HPP. All three parties seem to be counting on melting snow and spring rain to raise the water level at Toktogul, though there is no guarantee this will happen. In the meantime, Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan also want to ensure sufficient water from the reservoir for this years crops. As for electricity imports, there was reportedly a deal with Uzbekistan for a swap, whereby Uzbekistan will export electricity to Kyrgyzstan from March to October and again in March and April next year. In return, Kyrgyzstan has pledged to send electricity to Uzbekistan during the June-August period for 2021-2023. But Turdubaev indicated Kyrgyzstan will have to pay both countries for electricity imports and said his cash-strapped country cannot immediately make those payments. We explained the situation to them and asked for [electricity supplies] on credit, Turdubaev said. Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan have pledged to charge low rates for the electricity, but the new leadership in Kyrgyzstan has been promising to decrease the countrys debt and any additional financial burden is especially unwelcome at the moment. Besides that, electricity imports from Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan will not be enough to cover the shortfall from the low water level at the Toktogul HPP. Turdubaev said other power plants that normally reduce their output during the warm months when HPPs operate will have to keep operating at or near winter capacity, and he specifically named the Bishkek thermal power plant (TPP). The coal-burning Bishkek TPP is thought to be a major contributor to air pollution in the Kyrgyz capital, which at times during this winter had some of the worst air pollution of any major city in the world. The clean electricity produced by Toktogul helps ease pollution problems in Bishkek and other areas of Kyrgyzstan during the warmer months of the year, but this year the summer skies above Kyrgyzstans capital might be even browner than usual. Longer term, the current drought is something Kyrgyzstan needs to consider in its grand plans to become an electricity exporter. Kyrgyzstan has exported electricity to its immediate neighbors during years when there was sufficient water for all of the countrys HPPs. But the country has much bigger plans. President Sadyr Japarov attended a ceremony in Kyrgyzstans southern village of Kara-Bulak on April 3 to launch construction of the first high-voltage power transmission line for the Central Asia-South Asia project, better known as CASA-1000. CASA-1000 aims to bring some 1,300 MW of surplus electricity generated during the summer months from HPPs in Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan to Afghanistan (300 MW) and Pakistan (1000 MW). The project is tentatively due to launch in 2023. But the current situation at the Toktogul reservoir is a reminder that the water needed to operate HPPs is not guaranteed to be constant. Some in Kyrgyzstan have also noted domestic demand for power is growing in the country and that that should be satisfied before any electricity is exported. People walk at the Griffith Observatory with a view of the Hollywood sign in Los Angeles, Calif., on May 22, 2020. (Apu Gomes/AFP via Getty Images) Denied Equal Opportunity in the Marketplace, Conservative Filmmakers Start to Fight Back A documentary film about an African American lawyer who rose from poverty and oppression in the Deep South to the highest court in the land would seem a natural for Black History Month. Yet, in February, at the very time its Prime Video service was featuring films highlighting black history makers, Amazon without explanation stopped offering digital streams of Created Equal: Clarence Thomas in His Own Words. While the film was pulled despite having at one time reached No. 1 on Amazons documentary charts, the worlds largest online retailer continued to make available streams of less-popular documentaries, including a favorable one on Anita Hill, the former Thomas colleague who nearly derailed his Supreme Court confirmation. Associate Justice Clarence Thomas poses for the official group photo at the U.S. Supreme Court in the District of Columbia on Nov. 30, 2018. (Mandel Ngan/AFP via Getty Images) That was frustrating to Michael Pack, writer-director of Created Equal and a documentary filmmaker for decades. But it was no surprise to him and the small but growing cadre of other conservative documentarians, who say they face obstacles because of their politics and are starting to fight back against the long odds of cancel culture. Black conservative scholar Shelby Steele saw Amazon initially refuse to carry his documentary What Killed Michael Brown? last year because it challenged the liberal narrative about the 2014 shooting in Ferguson, Mo., that helped spark the Black Lives Matter movement. Amazon, which relented after a public outcry, did not respond to a request for comment. Justin Folk, director of No Safe Spaces, which focuses on college-based attacks on free speech and features prominent liberals including Dr. Cornel West and Van Jones, along with conservatives such as Dennis Prager, Dave Rubin and Ben Shapiro, said he had a hard time finding a traditional distributor for his documentary because Hollywood saw the film as conservative. Despite having big names in our film, a big audience, and a very relevant topic, we were mostly ignored, said Folk, who said his film, which eventually grossed $1.3 million, was rejected by the prestigious Telluride Film Festival. In one case, a major distributor actually admitted to us that they think our film is a winner but they cant get behind it because Dennis Prager is in it. Conservative filmmakers faced little discrimination in the past because there were so few of them. That started to change in 2012, when conservative commentator Dinesh DSouzas 2016: Obamas America became the second-highest-grossing political documentary of all time ($33 million). Dinesh DSouza attends the D.C. premiere of his film, Death of a Nation, at E Street Cinema in Washington on Aug. 1, 2018. (Shannon Finney/Getty Images) The years since have been a golden age for documentaries. Streaming services such as Amazon, Netflix, and Hulu have created major distribution channels, matching content with massive, algorithmically targeted audiences. This, in turn, has led to explosive growth in filmmaking. Documentaries that in the past might never have seen the light of daysince their economic viability would be tied to packing movie housescan flourish today, particularly lately with people more homebound due to the coronavirus pandemic. Typically it was liberal activists, not conservative polemicists like DSouza, who made documentaries. As Thom Powers, who runs Americas largest documentary festival, DOC NYC, told CBS News, the best documentaries try to make a difference. There have been films that have gotten people out of prison, like the Paradise Lost series, or Errol Morris Thin Blue Line. Super Size Me totally changed the conversation around fast food. Inconvenient Truth totally changed the conversation around climate change. So all over the world, you can see documentaries having an effect. Director Bruce Sinofsky attends the Paradise Lost 3: Purgatory press day at HBO Studios in New York City on Jan. 6, 2012. (Michael Loccisano/Getty Images) But the idea of making a difference has generally trended in one direction politically, illustrated lately by Barack and Michelle Obamas film production deal with Netflix, which has already yielded a best documentary Oscar. Virtually ignored is an underserved niche in the market. More than 70 million Americans voted for Donald Trump in the November election, the Hollywood Reporter noted in a March 11 story. And, at the moment, theres little Hollywood content that directly appeals to them. That leaves a big opening for those willing to risk ostracization from the rest of the industry. Industry support is crucial because it helps in raising money, in earning film festival slots to persuade a distributor to get a film in front of an audience, and enticing journalistic outlets to cover and review it. If youre on the left, theres a whole infrastructure that enables you to make things very easily, said DSouza, who illustrated his point by citing what he calls the charmed life of left-wing filmmaker Michael Moore. Each new Moore film is considered a pop-culture moment. They are featured at the top festivals, where they often win prizesto go along with his Oscar for Bowling for Columbine. Hes on the Today show and The View. Theres a whole apparatus of publicity in place, DSouza added. DSouza has succeeded without enjoying such support. But he said the odds against conservatives have worsened in recent years because of suppression by both Big Tech and woke corporations. His 2020 film, Trump Card, scrapped its planned theatrical release for a video-on-demand slate due to COVID-19, but the hurdles didnt stop there. The radioactive connection wasnt me, but Trump, DSouza says. Trump Card hit video-on-demand services several weeks before the 2020 presidential election, by design. DSouza says Amazon placed a large order of Trump Card DVDs, which his company met. But some Amazon customers were told the product was out of stock and wouldnt be delivered until after Election Day. Im not used to these kinds of obstacles, he says. I never thought of Amazon as a left-wing company. Hes changed that view after seeing it take part in a concerted takedown of Twitter alternative Parler as well as it removing books such as When Harry Became Sally, which criticized elements of the trans movement. What Killed Michael Brown? produced by filmmaker Eli Steele in tandem with father Shelby, faced similar discrimination. Amazon initially rejected the handsomely mounted, jazz-filled work, saying it didnt meet the streaming giants quality standards and that no appeal would be heard. That news brought attention from the Wall Street Journal editorial page and other media outlets, and Amazon quickly reversed course. Eli Steele says that opened his eyes to how much sway Amazon holds over the film marketplace. The numbers between Amazon and other platforms are not even comparable, Steele says of its sizable audience reach. He says most film festivals lack the backbone to show perspectives outside of their echo chambers, but he doesnt want ideological diversity to be forced into the current system. Anyone can start their own film festival and they program it however they wish, he says. So why not plan a prestigious film festival that crosses all sorts of lines and invites healthy dialogue and debate? The conservative film sub-genre is attracting some unlikely participants. Radio talk show host Larry Elder made a splash in 2020 with Uncle Tom, a documentary letting black conservatives like him share their views and discuss how theyre treated by select liberals. The title captures the latter sentiment. Talk show host and bestselling author Larry Elder at his home in Los Angeles on June 17, 2020. Elder is the executive producer of the new film Uncle Tom. (Hau Nguyen/The Epoch Times) Elder, a best-selling author and nationally syndicated talk show host, says right-leaning documentaries often turn to private sources, like affluent Republicans, to fund their work. His film got little attention outside of conservative outlets at a time when the media invested heavily in telling black stories by black creators. It was ignored by the Hollywood we want diversity community, including all the film reviewers of the major newspapers and trade publications like Variety and The Hollywood Reporter, says Elder, who co-wrote, co-produced and appears in the film. Uncle Tom boasts only three official reviews at RottenTomatoes.com, and no critics-average Tomatometer score, in contrast with a robust 96 percent fresh rating from users. Neither The Hollywood Reporter nor Variety would comment on the matter. Yet none of that stopped Elders documentary from turning a tidy profit. The films virtual opening weekend last June grossed $400,000. Elder notes the film quickly recouped its costs and ended up earning multiples of its budget of some $450,000 including post-production. It helped that Elder has a hearty social media presence859,000 followers on Twitter alonealong with a syndicated radio show to promote the project. Its commercial success was also aided by the development of alternative distribution platforms, showing that markets can punish discrimination, and that discrimination may serve as the mother of innovation. Initially, Uncle Tom was sold exclusively through a partnership with SalemNOW, part of the conservative media company that distributes Elders radio show. Following that 70-day exclusive with SalemNOW, the films website (UncleTom.com) became the primary sales location, with additional platforms added over the ensuing few months, including iTunes, Amazon and, later, Amazon Prime. Elder says his team unsuccessfully approached Netflix about carrying Uncle Tom, a platform that features a crush of original, left-leaning documentaries including 13th and Miss Americana, a film that honored Taylor Swifts progressive awakening. The team behind the film didnt submit it to most major film festivals, save for the boutique USA Film Festival in Dallas. The documentarys conservative bent helped shape that decision, as did restrictions in place from the ongoing pandemic. RealClearInvestigations reached out to multiple documentary groups for comment on this story, including DOC NYC, the Southern Documentary Fund, the Center for Independent Documentary, Docs in Progress and the International Documentary Association. None responded to those queries. Neither did several major film festivals, including Sundance, Telluride, Slamdance and the Toronto International Film Festival. Other conservative filmmakers are going outside traditional channels. SalemNOW began streaming Packs Created Equal on March 30 in response to Amazons decision to pull the film. (Its listed on Amazon as a DVD but often out of stock.) Christopher Rufo has used YouTube to distribute his short films, including Chaos by the Bay: The Truth About Homelessness in San Francisco and Mob Rule in Seattle. I can immediately inject it into the bloodstream of the national conversation, Rufo said. But, he added, coming out as a right-leaning storyteller in the documentary field is complete poison to your career. People tell me, Youre now conservative. I cant even work with you, says Rufo, who adds documentary organizations that once collaborated with him suddenly stopped returning his calls. Its kind of shocking. They cant even process how anyone would have another opinion. Documentary producer Nadia Gill of Encompass Films noted the industrys allegiance to identity politics in a recent column for Persuasion.com: First-hand experience of a subject has always been considered helpful in documentary filmmaking. But this has traditionally been a genre in which creators are free to engage with material that lies far beyond the boundaries of their own lives. Now, during the entire processfrom access to financing and distributionthe filmmakers identity is at least as closely scrutinized as that persons filmmaking aptitude. Gill, who describes her political philosophy as center left, says modern documentaries can be broken down into two categoriesclassic and commercial, the latter fueled in part by Netflixs robust documentary lineup. The former, Gill says, isnt just liberal in nature but fringe left, while the commercial market offers some room for right-of-center storytelling. Either way, conservative documentaries rarely grace the film festival circuit. The Netflix logo is seen on a computer in Washington on July 10, 2019. (Alastair Pike/AFP via Getty Images) The vast majority of submissions [to film festivals] are, in fact, going to be from the left perspective, she says. It would be good for our industry to hear those voices [from the right] and have an honest conversation. That wont happen unless more independent funders show up to support this brand of art. Left-of-center storytellers can lean on a variety of sources, including the Ford Foundation (2017s Whose Streets?) and the MacArthur Foundation (2010s How Democracy Works Now) to finance their work, Gill says. Progressive institutions have set themselves up for years to make these films, she says. So far, few non-left groups have copied that approach. Amanda Milius agrees. The donor class of the right has to start acting like the donor class of the left, says Milius, director of the 2020 documentary The Plot Against the President, based on the book of the same title by Lee Smith, a freelance contributor to RealClearInvestigations. Put that money into issue-based culture and creators that hold the same values you do. Make something that lives forever. Youre probably gonna make your money back and more, she adds, plus, youre investing in an actual change of the culture. This article was written by Christian Toto for RealClearInvestigations. When we were children my mother always told us there was nothing to fear from thunderstorms. But it was hard not to notice that she did so whilst running around the house disconnecting every electrical appliance. She compared her sensible approach to the superstitious excesses of her own mother who, at the sound of rumbling thunder, would gather the cutlery into her apron and hide the saucepans in cupboards. Both my mother and my grandmother had been born and raised in the very urban context of Londons East End, where lightning strikes were presumably pretty rare, but maybe my maternal great grandmother, a rural Irish immigrant of the potato famine era, had come to London imbued with Celtic thunder and lightning folklore. In any case, I always loved the excitement of thunder and lightning as a child. It was not until the age of eighteen that I experienced real, body-shaking fear during a thunderstorm. I was working as a woefully ill-prepared teacher in a rural community school in the highlands of Swaziland. The school was located high on an exposed mountainside, away from the road and the village, but not far from a working iron ore mine. I lived with another volunteer teacher, not in a warm circular Swazi house, but one built especially from cold concrete blocks, with a corrugated iron roof. We had no electricity, so there was no need to unplug anything during the mind shattering red and blue lightning storms that frequently fizzed around us at close quarters, but I did often worry about the roof: too big to be wrapped in my grandmothers metaphorical apron. Many things about life in rural Swaziland surprised my small barely post-imperial British mind. Amongst these were the bitter cold, the lightning strikes and the South African police raids across the nearby border. Unannounced and apparently unchallengeable, uniformed South African police would swoop into the classroom, grab one or sometimes two of the older male students, bundle them into a truck and drive away. If the nearby police state was a source of unpredictable danger, so too were the forces of nature. Quite often on winter mornings as we lined up outside to sing the national anthem and raise the flag, I would be told that a primary school pupil had been found dead from hypothermia the previous day, having collapsed on the long trek to school. Just as frequently, during the summer months, we would hear that a child (usually a boy herding cattle) had been struck and killed by lightning. I had no way of calculating the risks, but death by lightning seemed not to be a rare occurrence at all and people would often remind me of this when they saw me out walking across the hills after school. I hadnt thought much more about lightning strikes until quite recently. While researching food systems and agriculture in Malawi, an epidemiologist colleague drew my attention to two articles on the frequency of lightning strikes and fatalities from lightning in a lakeshore area in the north of the country where I had recently been carrying out interviews. Using a community-based survey, the researchers had concluded that the Nkhata Bay district on the western shore of Lake Malawi recorded the highest known rates in the world : 419 strikes per million people per annum and 84 mortalities per million per annum far outstripping the previous record set by Swaziland (15.5 per million). Around one in four of injuries resulted in death (Salerno, Msalu, Caro, Borgerhoff-Mulder, 2012; Borgerhoff-Mulder, Msalu, Caro and Salerno, 2012). Reading these two papers confirmed with statistics what my former neighbours in Swaziland had been trying to tell me for some communities, the risk of being struck by lightning was nowhere near as rare as my mother had implied. In the developed world an average of 0.3 lightning fatalities occur per million people per annum, whilst in the developing world the equivalent number is 6. In part this is because 78% of lightning flashes occur in the tropics, but it is also closely related to urbanisation, work patterns and the quality of housing. These factors account for a reported decline in lightning fatalities over the past century in western European countries and elsewhere in the developed world. For example, in the United States in the early twentieth century there were around 6 deaths per million of population per annum; now that figure is estimated at 0.1. (Holle, 2016). So my grandmother really did have more to fear from thunderstorms than I do. Death is not the only thing to be feared from a lightning strike: the authors of the Malawi study also reported on the trauma of survivors and families of those who had died, the shock, lasting pain, hearing damage and recriminations and suspicions. Even in the global capital of lightning strikes the why me? question still gets asked. The Malawi study seemed to me to be interesting and important in its own right, but it is also a lesson in the construction of a global health object. What is required for such an object to come into being? There are a few stages. First is the need for quantification where limited data has previously existed. Quantification leads to demystification and a kind of disenchantment, allowing us to see that there is no such thing as an act of god, and or an unmediated act of nature. The subject is attached to a developmental agenda. This is where lightning researchers persuade us that their work is relevant to a much larger set of global issues. An anthropological audit is conducted of local beliefs and practices, with a view to revealing which of these are possibly to blame for poor outcomes and which are harmless. Some recommendations are made. First, quantification. Though metrics sometimes get bad press in the critical global health literature, its hard to argue against the more accurate reporting of health conditions and hazards that go hidden in the worlds poorest communities and are sometimes wrongly assumed to be infinitesimally rare. Having gathered the data to establish that rates of consequential lightning strikes are very high in northern Malawi, the authors of the papers go on to place these statistics within a longstanding, though contentious, model of development, arguing that Where the risk of extrinsic mortality is great, there are diminishing returns to parental effort, which selects for high fertility and lower investment in offspring,(Borgerhoff-Mulder, Msalu, Caro and Salerno, 2012: 2). Pointing to the evidence that giving birth at an early age is linked to high crime rates in the USA and high rates of HIV in South Africa, they push the argument further: We might therefore expect less diligent child care, higher fertility and earlier age of first reproduction in areas of especially high CLS than in areas with lower lightning activity(2). Let me be clear that I do have a lot of sympathy for the lightning researchers. If you live in a community where lightning strikes are terrifying and not so rare events, it doesnt matter to you that the risk is still much smaller than dying of an infectious disease. But it does appear that to get this relatively niche research acknowledged in the global health literature involves some fairly extreme acrobatics linking lightning fatalities to an early age at reproduction, neglect of children and crime rates and a generally apocalyptic scenario. Even the authors themselves seem to feel a little uncomfortable with this, issuing a kind of health warning at the end of their paper and stressing that in Malawi rates of mortality in infancy from diseases including malaria, TB and HIV/AIDS are far greater threats to community welfare(Borgerhoff-Mulder, Msalu, Caro and Salerno, 2012:3). If consequential lightning strikes are to a large degree avoidable, then of course it makes sense to investigate what circumstances give rise to higher rates of injury and mortality and which groups within a population are most at risk. The forensic and epidemiological literature from both South Africa and Swaziland makes for grim and disturbing reading. As my Swazi neighbours had warned me, standing outside on an exposed hillside during a thunderstorm is not a good idea. Children walking home from school and herding animals are, indeed, particularly vulnerable. Its a scientific literature full of the bodies of children and adolescents, struck down, clothing seared. And though being indoors is some protection, its not much protection if your house or shelter is poorly grounded. My belief that the corrugated iron roof might attract lightning was just as unfounded, it seems, as my grandmothers fear that her cutlery would act as a magnet. It might not offer much protection, but at least it would not burst into flames as a thatched roof might. Despite the widespread recognition that its peoples living conditions that make them vulnerable to injury and death from lightning strikes, the impulse of much global health research is to teach people a lesson. So, whilst clearly acknowledging that telling people they should seek shelter during thunderstorms is of only marginal benefit if those buildings are inadequate (in a Swazi study most deaths actually occurred indoors), nevertheless one study in South Africa also concluded that by walking in open ground during a storm the victims have made themselves prime targets,(Hunt, Blumenthal, Nixon and Gomes, 2020:13). In the Swazi study the author similarly concludes that: Although lightning fatalities can be related to coincidental circumstances, they are still mainly determined by the activity and location of the individual or group of individuals during the thunderstorm This implies that fatalities are mainly the result of the choices that people make and thus are potentially preventable, (Dlamini, 2009 : 188; my emphasis). Some choices, the literature implies, are related to traditional beliefs. This is another familiar component of the construction of a global health subject: identifying local (meaning pre-modern, superstitious) beliefs and practices that increase vulnerability to harm or are actively harmful in themselves. Rarely are such practices found to be protective. And not infrequently practices thought locally to be protective are found to be harmful. So, in the case of Swaziland, where there exists a dense and powerful set of ideas around lightning, the belief that certain trees species are protective clearly has the potential to lead to harm (Dlamini, 2009) though how often in a thunderstorm one has time to locate a specific tree for shelter is not very clear. In one South African study a tire placed on the roof of the house as protection was clearly not protective in any scientific sense (Trenglove and Jandrell, 2015) but I think you could argue that by encouraging people to stay beneath the roof rather than out of doors, it might offer some protection, depending on the nature of the shelter. Along with a belief in the protective powers of muti or medicines, these ideas are assumed to lull people into a false sense of security. In other words, the subjects of these studies are insufficiently fearful of lightning and therefore less likely to follow scientifically based advice. Some of these ideas are interpreted as cultural coping mechanisms employed to make sense of the otherwise unfathomable. In the most thorough study of lightning myths in Southern Africa (which included a sample of dual-thinking electrical engineering students) the authors conclude that some false beliefs can be regarded as harmless, as long as they do not put others at risk. However, the belief that witches could harness lightning presented more of a dilemma. Though recognising this belief as mistaken and misleading, in the end, it seems, there has to be a limit placed on science and its disenchantments. Arguing that it is not the place of those who do not believe in witchcraft to dissuade those that do, the authors recommend that lightning education should focus on protecting oneself against natural lightning, implying that another kind of lightning does indeed exist (Trenglove and Jandrell, 2012:10). Somewhat predictably, in 2019/20, the lightning strike has become a frequently cited comparator for the risk of dying from COVID 19. The airline industry argues that an individual (which, where?) has a much greater chance of being struck by lightning over a twelve month period than they do of catching COVID 19 during a commercial flight. In South Africa it is pointed out that children under 15 years have a 1/35 million chance of dying from COVID19, compared to their 1/350000 chance of being struck by lightning. The global pandemic and climate change either separately or together have given further fuel to lightning research. As the frequency and distribution of lightning inducing storms are affected by climate change and air pollution, so COVID-19 presented an opportunity to study the effects of lockdowns on lightning activity (Chowdhuri et al. 2020). My most recent near encounter with lightning occurred while kayaking on a river. I followed my instincts and got out of the river pretty quick then sheltered from the torrential rain under a tree. Some of us, it seems, never learn. Megan Vaughan is Professor of African History and Health at University College London. She has written on the histories of medicine and psychiatry in colonial Africa, on gender, nutrition and food systems and on slavery in the Indian Ocean. She heads a Wellcome Trust funded project on the critical histories and anthropology of NCDS in Africa and is writing on food, environment and metabolism in Malawi and Southern Africa. Borgerhoff-Mulder, M., Msalu, L., Caro, T., and Salerno, J., 2012, Remarkable Rates of Lightning Strike Mortality in Malawi, PLoS ONE doi: 10:1371/journal.pone.oo29281 Chowdhuri, I., Pal, S.C., Saha, A., Chakrabortty, R., Ghosh, M., Roy, P.,2020, Significant decrease of lightning activities during COVID 19 lockdown period over Kolkata megacity in India, Science of the Total Environment, 747. doi: 101016/j.scitotenv.2020.141321 Dlamini, W.M, 2009, Lightning Fatalities in Swaziland, 2000-2007, Natural Hazards, 50:179-191 Holle, R.L., 2016, A summary of recent national-scale lightning fatality statistics, Weather, Climate and Society, 8:35-42 Hunt, G.P., Blumenthal, R., Nixon, K.J., and Gomes, C., 2020, A multidisciplinary forensic analysis of two lightning deaths in South Africa, International Journal of Disaster Risk Reduction, doi: 10.1016/j.i.drr.2020.101814 Salerno, J., Msalu, L., Caro, T. and Borgerhoff-Mulder, M. (2012), Risk of injury and death from lightning in Northern Malawi, Natural Hazards, 62:853-862 Trenglove, E., and Jandrell, I.,2015, Lightning Myths in Southern Africa, Natural Hazards, 77:101-110 Share this: Share Email Facebook Twitter Reddit Tumblr LinkedIn [view academic citations] [hide academic citations] 10-year Yangtze fishing ban in full swing, shows Chinas determination in ecological restoration by Lin Xiaoyi in Yichang and Lu Yameng in Beijing April 14,2021 | Source: Global Times The surface of the Yangtze, China's longest river, is still bustling, but the fishing boats have gradually disappeared. When the 10-year fishing ban began to be implemented along the Yangtze River, the "mother river" of the Chinese nation ushered in a historic opportunity for ecological restoration. On January 1, 2021, a 10-year fishing moratorium in all-natural waterways along the Yangtze River came into effect, with some 231,000 fishermen surrendering nearly 111,000 boats in a dozen provincial-level regions. This "fish in and people out" movement eyes to not only restore the fish population in the river but also create a new life for the fishermen who head ashore. Fisheries officials and experts told the Global Times that the 10-year fishing moratorium on the Yangtze River reflects China's commitment to prioritizing ecological protection. The comprehensive and sustainable implementation of this policy is also a campaign that requires determination and great effort for the benefit of future generations. There were many people in Yichang, Central China's Hubei Province, who spent the past weekend full of anticipation and hope, as they bid farewell to 10,000 Chinese sturgeons jumping into the Yangtze River, leaving their familiar captive breeding environments, swimming from Yichang to the middle and lower reaches, eventually entering the ocean and returning to the Yangtze again to spawn after 10 years. "This was the first release since the 10-year fishing ban was applied in these pivotal waters of the Yangtze River. We all know that the Yangtze River is sick. A long-term fishing ban and release initiative may be the antidote," a Yichang resident told the Global Times. Since January 1, 2021, productive fishing of natural fishery resources was prohibited within the main stream and important tributaries of the Yangtze River, China's Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs announced in December 2019. On March 1, the Yangtze River Protection Law came into effect, further promoting the implementation of the 10-year fishing ban policy at the legislative level. "After considering for many years, the government finally made up its mind on banning fishing, indicating that the most critical time has come to protect the ecology of the Yangtze River," Wang Yamin, an expert on fishery resource protection at Shandong University, told the Global Times. The Yangtze River is one of the rivers with the richest aquatic biodiversity in the world, supporting approximately 424 species of fish, 183 of which are endemic. However, because of over-fishing and water pollution, the environment of aquatic organisms in the Yangtze River has continually deteriorated. In the past several years, the resources of previously common domestic fish in the Yangtze River have fallen to less than one-tenth compared to 30 or 40 years ago. Rare species, such as the Yangtze River dolphin have yet to be seen since 2004. The Chinese sturgeon and Yangtze finless porpoise were also on the verge of extinction. "The reproductive cycle of fish in the Yangtze River is about three to four years, compared to previous three-month closed fishing season, a 10-year closed fishing period can allow them to reproduce for about three generations, which may lead to a significant increase of these species," Wang said. "The ban is 10-year 'people's war' on overfishing," Mo Hongyuan, deputy chief of the Yichang Fishery Supervision Detachment told the Global Times. However, Mo noted that Yichang used to be hardest hit by overfishing because it's located at the junction of the upper and middle reaches of the Yangtze River and the heart of the Three Gorges Dam reservoir area. These factors combined and the rich fish resources on top made it a magnet for illegal fishing. In 2018, Yichang took the lead as the Chinese sturgeon nature reserve by installing 14 high-definition cameras along the main stem of the Yangtze River to enable 24-hour no-take monitoring of key waters. Currently, Yichang has further arranged for 16 million yuan ($2.44 million) to plan for the deployment of more than 100 monitoring probes along the 232 kilometer Yangtze River Yichang section, while deploying a scientific research team to carry out big data storage and algorithm analysis of the navigation trajectory of vessels and personnel movement on the river, Mo introduced. "Previously, many fishermen secretly caught fish at night during the fishing ban season. Once caught, they would throw their nets into the water so we would have no evidence to regulate. Now, we have established an intelligent supervision system that supports evidence retrieval, facilitating smooth law enforcement," Mo said. In addition to Yichang, the Global Times found that various cities along the Yangtze River have stepped up efforts to carry out the fishing ban. For example, in the river's upper reaches, the public security department of Guizhou Province has deployed police helicopters and drones to conduct regular high-altitude inspections of areas with a high incidence of illegal fishing. This year, at the mouth of the Yangtze River, Shanghai has gradually completed the work of clearing up illegal vessels along the river, carrying out closed management of all tidal flats and sluices, and strengthened comprehensive management of personnel to cut off the shore-based service chains that facilitate illegal fishing, an official of Shanghai Agriculture and Rural Affairs Committee, surnamed Zeng, told the Global Times. "All the people on the Yangtze River were in action," said Zou Li, chief of the fishery administration section of the Yichang Agriculture and Rural Affairs Bureau. Zou told the Global Times that as many fishermen were not well educated, they do not understand the great impact of illegal fishing methods such as killing fish by explosion, with poison, or with electricity. After strengthening the publicity of the project, more people are becoming environmentally conscious. Some citizens even spontaneously created slogans and videos to publicize the fishing ban on the internet. In 2020, Liu Chenglin, who had spent 23 years on fishing boats, put away his nets and joined the anti-fishing patrol organized by the Yichang fisheries department. Liu told the Global Times that all the members of the team are fishermen who quit fishing, "We know exactly where incidences of illegal fishing could happen and which fish in the market are wild in the Yangtze River. I think our work is a 'feeding back' of the Yangtze River using the skills we have learned from her." "More and more enterprises, organizations, and individuals are joining the campaign to ban fishing. We want to see more fish, to see that the endangered Yangtze finless porpoise is once again appearing in group. We hope our mother river is gradually regaining its former vitality," Chen Weikang, secretary-general of the Straw Circle, an NGO that has long been committed to protecting the finless porpoise, told the Global Times. Fortunately, the local authorities have actively assisted fishermen in their resettlement. In addition to giving those who surrender their fishing boats and gears a one-off financial compensation of over 200,000 yuan ($30,562), the authorities have also developed and implemented a series of resettlement policies, including assistance with employment, and the introduction of full coverage pension insurance, and monthly living allowances. Baishuigang Village also built a "Fishermen's Post house" to display the fishing boats and tools donated by local people. Statistics showed that as of January 31, 2021, China had fully funded 25.167 billion yuan ($3.84 billion) in compensation and subsidies to those who have withdrawn from fishing. In the key waters, 129,743 people have been transferred to other industries (accounting for 99.76% of the base number waiting to be transferred to other industries), and 171,626 people have been guaranteed social security. "A lot of research and effort went in before the ban, because we cannot just look at the decade ahead, but must prepare for the long haul," Wang said, adding that it is a courageous decision for China to exchange the economic gains of the Yangtze River fisheries for ecological restoration, and the well-being of the people alongside the river. In the next stage, normalizing the illegal fishing crackdown, further rolling out a slew of measures to take care of the fishermen's welfare, and strengthening scientific research and monitoring of ecological restoration in the Yangtze River Basin will be the focus of our work, Wang said. 2021 Global Times All Right Reserved Theme(s): Fisheries Development and Aquaculture. As part of many climate and environmental initiatives, French MPs voted to not allow domestic airline flights on routes that can be traveled by direct train in less than two and a half hours. The moratorium, a watered-down version of a central proposal from President Emmanuel Macron's citizens' climate conference, was introduced after a tense debate in the Assemblee Nationale over the weekend. Short internal flights from Orly airport, south of Paris, to Nantes and Bordeaux, among other destinations, will be discontinued. In contrast, connection flights from Charles de Gaulle/Roissy airport, north of Paris, will begin. Macron's climate commission had previously advised that all flights between French destinations be canceled if a direct train journey of less than four hours was available. After heavy opposition from some regions and Air France-KLM, which, like other airlines, has been severely impacted by local and international Covid-19 travel bans, it was limited to two and a half hours. Negotations The French government agreed to a 7 billion loan for AF-KLM a year ago because such internal flights are discontinued; however, the decree would exclude low-cost carriers from serving the prohibited domestic routes. Benjamin Smith, the CEO of Air France-KLM, has stated that the airline is committed to cutting the number of domestic routes in France by 40% by the end of this year. "We choose two and a half hours because four hours threatens to isolate landlocked areas, including the greater Massif Central, which would be inequitable," Transport Minister Jean-Baptiste Djebbari told MPs. Despite bipartisan resistance, the measure was approved as part of an environment and adaptation law. The action would have a "disproportionate human expense," according to Socialist MP Jol Aviragnet, who warned of work cuts in the airline industry. Some members of parliament, including those from the Green Party, argued that watering down the climate convention's recommendation rendered the measure useless. Related Article: Camel Crossing: China Launches Traffic Signals for the Desert Animals Preemptive Measures The measure had been "emptied," according to Mathilde Panot of the hard-left La France Insoumise. At the same time, her colleague Daniele Obono said that keeping the four-hour threshold would have enabled routes that "emit the most greenhouse gases" to be halted. The French consumer group UFC-Que Choisir had urged MPs to keep the four-hour recommendation and give the new legislation "some substance while guarantees that SNCF would not take advantage of the potential to unnecessarily inflate costs or degrade rail service." "The Covid-19 pandemic is worsening pre-existing environmental and social problems. It must cause us to reconsider our health plans to meet the burden of potential infectious-related health crises." Comparing Planes to Trains It went on to say that prohibiting domestic flights if a direct train option with a travel time of less than four hours existed would have a "real effect" on lowering CO2 emissions while having no negative impact on travel times or costs. "On these lines, the plane emits 77 times more CO2 per passenger than the train, even though the train is cheaper and the time difference is just 40 minutes," the report said. "Our research reveals that the government's option is designed to deplete the measure's content." In the official order, the exact routes that will be halted will be mentioned. Flights can proceed from Paris to Nice, which takes about six hours by rail, and Toulouse takes four hours by train. Similar Initiatives Other countries will be keeping a close eye on France's latest legislation. Last June, Austria's conservative-green coalition government imposed a 30 surcharge on airline fares for flights of less than 217 miles (350 kilometers), as well as a moratorium on domestic flights that could be completed in less than three hours by rail. Meanwhile, the Netherlands has been attempting to ban short domestic flights since June 2013. Dutch MPs voted in 2019 to prohibit flights between Amsterdam's Schiphol airport and Brussels' Zaventem airport, a distance of 93 miles. However, the ban was not enforced because it was deemed to violate European Commission free-movement regulations. Also Read: Traveler's Guide on Dealing with Stray Dogs For the latest news from the animal kingdom, don't forget to follow Nature World News! A man who pleaded guilty to selling drugs more than a decade ago is actually innocent, the states highest court ruled Wednesday, citing the deceit and perjury of the former Houston police officer who arrested him. Steven Mallet and his brother have long contended they didnt sell Gerald Goines drugs outside of a south Houston home back in the spring of 2008. But Goines the former officer accused of lying to obtain a warrant used in a 2019 drug raid that ended with the deaths of two people and who is now charged with murder told prosecutors hed arranged to buy a quarter of crack cocaine from the brothers. He charged Otis Mallet, now 65, with two felonies and Steven Mallet, 62, with one. The case rested almost entirely on Goines testimony, and at trial, a jury convicted Otis Mallet. They sentenced him to eight years in prison. The elder Mallet brother served two years behind bars before being paroled, but he always maintained his innocence and later challenged his conviction. Wrong Door: Botched Houston drug raid not the first After Goines alleged misconduct surfaced in early 2019, prosecutors and defense attorneys asked a local judge to recommend his conviction be overturned. The states highest criminal court came to the same decision last summer. After spending 10 months in jail, Steven Mallet agreed to plead guilty because he wanted to get out of jail. Both brothers filed post-conviction writs seeking their cases be overturned, and prosecutors ultimately agreed with defense attorneys that their cases should be overturned. Wednesdays opinion comes more than a year after Harris County District Judge Kelli Johnson recommended the CCA formally overturn his conviction. On Wednesday, judges on the Court of Criminal Appeals noted that Goines deceit, perjury, and continued wrongdoing lie at the heart of this case As the final arbiter of criminal cases in Texas, this Court cannot stay silent in the face of such unmistakable injustice. Goines came under scrutiny in January 2019, after he and other narcotics officers raided a home on Harding Street in south Houston that devolved into gunfire and ended with the deaths of Dennis Tuttle and Rhogena Nicholas. In the aftermath of the raid, police investigators said Goines had lied about ever buying drugs from the home. The scandal prompted additional investigations from prosecutors and the FBI, leading to charges against Goines and 11 other current and former officers. Attorney Bob Wicoff who handled his post-conviction writ, said Mallet rebuffed initial plea deals from prosecutors that would have required him to sign paperwork that implicated his brother. On Wednesday, Wicoff said Steven Mallet was relieved to learn that the states highest criminal court had found him innocent. Out of Control: Damning HPD narcotics audit reveals hundreds of errors Hed been concerned that they might not understand why someone who is not guilty might plead guilty, Wicoff said. And this is one of several situations where people plead guilty, even when theyre not guilty. Wicoff said its not uncommon for defendants to make such pleas in order to get out of jail, or because they cant afford the cost of a trial, or dont believe a jury would believe them. So far, the Mallet brothers and one other former defendant have seen their cases overturned. In a statement, Harris County District Attorney Kim Ogg said Mallets case was just one of thousands under review by prosecutors following charges filed against Goines and other current and former HPD narcotics officers. When evidence of a persons innocence comes to light, even years later, it is a privilege to obtain justice for them, Ogg said. In response to the news of the CCAs decision, Goines attorney, Nicole DeBorde Hochglaube, repeated past accusations that Ogg was using cases like the Mallet brothers to strengthen a weak case against her client without any significant evidence. There is no new or actual evidence to support the DAs recommendation in the case other than a desire to bolster the case against Gerald, she said. Three months after the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol, the Republican Party still wont fully renounce it. In Congress, Republicans are opposing an investigation of the attack unless other incidents are included. On Friday, sponsors of a conference at former President Donald Trumps Miami resort proudly displayed photos of the crowd that had gathered before the attack. On Saturday, Republican donors cheered as Trump boasted about the Jan. 6 crowd and complained that his allies should have fought harder to prevent the certification of his defeat. Advertisement In recent weeks, numerous Republican lawmakers have belittled the attack, defended the mob that precipitated it (Sen. Ron Johnson called them people that love this country), voted against a resolution condemning it, or accused liberals of overreacting to it. In February, at the Conservative Political Action Conference, speakers blamed a rigged election for provoking the rioters. But the sickness goes deeper. The Republican base is thoroughly infected with sympathies for the insurrection. Advertisement Advertisement In polls taken shortly after Jan. 6, roughly 15 percent of Republicans openly endorsed the rebellion. They did so even when survey questions explicitly called it an attack, storming, and taking over the Capitol. But other questions found broader support. Twenty-three percent of Republicans agreed that in America today it can be acceptable for people to use force or violence to try to achieve political goals. Forty-two percent, when asked about the people who took over the Capitol, said they were mostly peaceful. Forty-five percent rejected the notion that those who participated in the storming of the Capitol were criminals. Instead, this half of the Republican base chose an alternative description of the invaders: They went too far, but they had a point. Fifty-one percent of Republicans said the partys leaders did not go far enough on Jan. 6 to overturn the election. Only 27 percent called the attack terrorism, and only 19 percent called it a coup attempt. Advertisement These sentiments dont seem to have waned. Since January, the share of Republicans who insist that President Joe Biden did not legitimately win the election, nearly 80 percent of the GOP, has hardly budged. Nearly two-thirds of Republicans say Trump won the election, and nearly 30 percent say theyll never accept Biden as president. Two weeks ago, by a two-to-one ratio, Republicans reaffirmed their view that the election was stolen from Trump. Last week, 70 percent said there had been enough fraud to change the elections outcome. Advertisement This faith in the myth of the stolen election is driving an enduring sense of affinity with the Capitol invaders. In a Harvard-Harris poll taken in late February, two-thirds of Republicans refused to call the clash an armed insurrection, insisting it was just a protest that had somehow turned violent. In March, when a Monmouth survey asked about the anger over the presidential election that had led to the attack, 40 percent of Republicans said the anger was at least partially justified. Two weeks ago, in an Ipsos poll, most Republicans said that the people who gathered at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6 were largely peaceful, law-abiding Americans. Advertisement Republican politicians often stipulate that anyone who broke the law that day should be fully prosecuted. But many of their own voters dont believe this. In a Pew survey taken last month, most Republicans and Republican-leaning independents said too much attention had been paid to the insurrection and its aftermath, and 37 percent said the people who broke into the U.S. Capitol would probably be punished too severely. (Only 26 percent said they wouldnt be punished severely enough.) In the Harvard-Harris poll, only 22 percent of Republicans said the national backlash against the insurrection was a legitimate response to the violence. The rest, 78 percent, said the attack was being used as an excuse to silence political voices on the right. Advertisement Advertisement The violence shown on TV on that day, and in video clips afterward, awakened many viewers to the menace of right-wing fanaticism. But Republicans seem largely unmoved. In February, by a two-to-one ratio, they continued to dismiss right-wing militia groups as a minor threat or no threat. In March, only 29 percent of Republicans and Republican leaners conceded that right-wing violent extremism was a major problem. Only 18 percentdespite having just witnessed a domestic terrorist attack on Congressconceded that members of Congress were in danger of a domestic terrorism attack. Its not that Republicans dont worry about terrorism or violence. They do, when the accused organization is antifa instead of the Proud Boys, or when the prospective perpetrators are Black, Latino, or Muslim. In the same surveys in which Republicans shrug off right-wing or Christian extremism, they express lots of concern about left-wing extremism and extremism in the name of Islam. They emphatically support Trumps ban on travelers from Muslim-majority countries. They complain that law enforcement officers treated the Jan. 6 Capitol demonstrators more harshly than they treated Black Lives Matter demonstrations. And while two-thirds of Republicans insist that fences around the Capitol are unnecessary, they support, by even bigger margins, construction of the border wall. What Republicans dont support is applying similar scrutiny or security precautions to Americans, even after Americans stormed our Capitol. And thats because, while few Republicans identify with Muslims, migrants, or Black Lives Matter, many identify with the Trumpist insurgents who marched on Congress. The insurrection is over, for now. But the insurrectionism lives on. Engineers at the University of California, Berkeley, have created a tiny wireless implant that can provide real-time measurements of tissue oxygen levels deep underneath the skin. The device, which is smaller than the average ladybug and powered by ultrasound waves, could help doctors monitor the health of transplanted organs or tissue and provide an early warning of potential transplant failure. The technology, created in collaboration with physicians at the University of California, San Francisco, also paves the way for the creation of a variety of miniaturized sensors that could track other key biochemical markers in the body, such as pH or carbon dioxide. These sensors could one day provide doctors with minimally invasive methods for monitoring the biochemistry inside functioning organs and tissues. It's very difficult to measure things deep inside the body. The device demonstrates how, using ultrasound technology coupled with very clever integrated circuit design, you can create sophisticated implants that go very deep into tissue to take data from organs." Michel Maharbiz, Professor of Electrical Engineering and Computer Sciences, UC Berkeley and a Chan Zuckerberg Biohub Investigator Maharbiz is the senior author of a new paper describing the device, which appears in the journal Nature Biotechnology. Oxygen is a key component to cells' ability to harness energy from the food that we eat, and nearly all tissues in the body require a steady supply in order to survive. Most methods for measuring tissue oxygenation can only provide information about what is happening near the surface of the body. That is because these methods rely on electromagnetic waves, such as infrared light, which can only penetrate a few centimeters into skin or organ tissue. While there are types of magnetic resonance imaging that can provide information about deep tissue oxygenation, they require long scanning times, and so are unable to provide data in real time. Since 2013, Maharbiz has been designing miniaturized implants that use ultrasonic waves to wirelessly communicate with the outside world. Ultrasonic waves, which are a form of sound too high in frequency to be detected by the human ear, can travel harmlessly through the body at much longer distances than electromagnetic waves and are already the basis of ultrasound imaging technology in medicine. One example of such a device is Stimdust, designed in collaboration with UC Berkeley electrical engineering and computer sciences assistant professor Rikky Muller, which can detect and stimulate electrical nerve firings in the body. Soner Sonmezoglu, a postdoctoral researcher in engineering at UC Berkeley, led the effort to expand the implant's capabilities to include oxygen sensing. Incorporating the oxygen sensor involved integrating both an LED light source and an optical detector into the tiny device, as well as designing a more complicated set of electronic controls to operate and read out the sensor. The team tested the device by monitoring the oxygen levels inside the muscles of live sheep. Sonmezoglu points out that this type of oxygen sensor differs from the pulse oximeters that are used to measure oxygen saturation in the blood. While pulse oximeters measure the proportion of hemoglobin in the blood that is oxygenated, the new device is able to directly measure the amount of oxygen in tissue. "One potential application of this device is to monitor organ transplants, because in the months after organ transplantation, vascular complications can occur, and these complications may lead to graft dysfunction," Sonmezoglu said. "It could be used to measure tumor hypoxia, as well, which can help doctors guide cancer radiation therapy." Study co-authors Jeffrey Fineman and Emin Maltepe, who both are pediatricians at UCSF and members of the Initiative for Pediatric Drug and Device Development, became involved in the work because of its potential for monitoring fetal development and caring for premature babies. "In premature infants, for example, we frequently need to give supplemental oxygen but don't have a reliable tissue readout of oxygen concentration," Maltepe said. "Further miniaturized versions of this device could help us better manage oxygen exposure in our preterm infants in the intensive care nursery setting and help minimize some of the negative consequences of excessive oxygen exposure, such as retinopathy of prematurity or chronic lung disease." The technology could be further improved, Sonmezoglu said, by housing the sensor so that it could survive long term in the body. Further miniaturizing the device would also simplify the implantation process, which currently requires surgery. In addition, he said, the optical platform in the sensor could be readily adapted to measure other biochemistry in the body. "By just changing this platform that we built for the oxygen sensor, you can modify the device to measure, for example, pH, reactive oxygen species, glucose or carbon dioxide," Sonmezoglu said. "Also, if we could modify the packaging to make it smaller, you could imagine being able to inject into the body with a needle, or through laparoscopic surgery, making the implantation even easier." ADVERTISEMENT The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has cited the ruling APC governance style as the reason for the location of Twitters African Headquarterters in Ghana despite Nigerians high patronage. Twitters announcement on Monday to set up its first Africa base in Ghana did not go well with many Nigerian users who trended the development on the platform. The Twitter CEO, Jack Dorsey, in a statement announcing the decision, described Ghana as a champion for democracy, a supporter of free speech, online freedom, and the Open Internet. The total number of active twitter users in Nigeria is more than the entire 32 million population of its favoured neighbour, Ghana. Extension of failure The PDP, in its reaction to the development on Wednesday, said Mr Dorseys decision is an extension of the failure of the President Muhammadu Buhari-led administration. This is in addition to infrastructural decay, massive corruption and manifest failure of the Buhari Presidency and the APC to address the escalated insecurity brought upon our nation by their incompetent watch. Indeed the decision by Twitter to by-pass Nigeria to locate its African operational base in Ghana is another sad commentary of how our nation, which was hitherto a global investment hub under the PDP, has now been so degraded in global economic competitiveness under the APC, the PDP spokesperson, Kola Ologbondiyan, said. The opposition party argued that the disturbing move by Twitter has further dwindled Nigerian youth opportunities in the tech industry and ridiculed Mr Buharis claims on Nigerias friendly business atmosphere coupled with its towering unemployment rate and foreign loans. Moreover, if President Buhari and the APC have the interest of the struggling youth demography of our nation at heart, they ought to have taken the necessary proactive steps to ensure that Twitter brought this huge investment to Nigeria, particularly given that we have the highest number of Twitter users on the continent. It is indeed disturbing that the Buhari administration is taking no decisive steps to address the worsening situation in our country, which has become the worlds poverty capital under their watch, the PDP further stated. According to a member of the Android Auto team, the latest version of the application also comes with a fix for connection problems experienced by users after updating to Android 11.For context, the update to Android 11 has caused a series of problems for Android Auto users, including connection glitches that turned the screen black whenever the phone was plugged into the head unit.A post on Googles forums specifically describes this issue on Nokia devices, but in fact, owners of phones from other brands encountered the same behavior after installing Android 11.But as per a Google community specialist , we have addressed a fix for Android 11 users and we would request you to update Android Auto to the latest version and let us know if the issue still persists.While the wording is a little bit weird, it looks like the connection struggles experienced by Android Auto users after installing Android 11 on their devices have finally been resolved, and everything should be back to normal after installing.Google hasnt provided us with a changelog on whats being fixed and improved in the app's latest update, so more information is yet to be disclosed.In the meantime, the good news is that many of the bugs encountered after the update to Android 11 are already fixed. In theory, the experience with Android Auto should now be much smoother for a device running the latest operating system.Of course, it remains to be seen if the connection issues have been addressed for everybody. Additional information should be provided as more people install the latest version of the app. A permanent police presence should be established in the South Australian outback town of Fregon where outback nurse Gayle Woodford was brutally raped and murdered, a coroner has recommended. SA Deputy Coroner Anthony Schapel has handed down his findings into the death of Ms Woodford in 2016. The 56-year-old's body was found buried in a crude grave three days after she went missing from her Fregon home. Gayle Woodford's (pictured) body was found buried in a crude grave three days after she went missing from her Fregon home in SA's north Dudley Davey (pictured third from left) subsequently pleaded guilty to her rape and murder and is serving a minimum 32-year jail term Dudley Davey subsequently pleaded guilty to her rape and murder and is serving a minimum 32-year jail term. It's believed Davey, who had a significant history of violent and sexual offending, tricked Ms Woodford into opening a security cage around her home and overpowered her as she walked to her ambulance. Mr Schapel said while it was difficult to determine if a police presence in the town would have prevented her death, it was a matter of common sense and human experience that it would have a deterrent effect on criminality and other misbehaviour. 'The evidence of those witnesses who were called and who expressed a view about police presence in the Fregon community having regard to the level of lawlessness within it, would suggest that a permanent police presence would be essential,' the coroner said. 'The proposition that a community in which certain of its members need to be protected by cages does not require an immediate police presence within that community would, I think, strike the ordinary man or woman in the street as perverse.' In other recommendations, Mr Schapel called for measures to prevent serious repeat offenders from residing on SA's Indigenous lands and for changes to laws to require police and other authorities to make more extensive submissions in relation to the release of such people on parole. The four-wheel-drive ambulance Ms Woodford used for work, which was found being driven by the 34-year-old man charged with theft and her alleged murder A colleague of Gayle Woodford, Belinda Schultz (right) arriving at the Adelaide Coroners Court in January 2020 Despite Davey's long criminal history, the coroner said there was no evidence that Ms Woodford had met him before or knew of his previous behaviour and it was unlikely she would have left the protection of her home if she had. 'I have little doubt that if Mrs Woodford had known of the background and propensities of Dudley Davey she would never have engaged with him without the walls of the cage at all times intervening between the two of them,' he said. Mr Schapel also pointed to problems with new legislation designed to better protect outback nurses by requiring them not to attend medical callouts alone. The husband of Gayle Woodford, Keith Woodford (pictured, centre), outside the Adelaide Coroners Court in 2020 He said the so-called Gayle's Law was silent on the question of what should happen if someone attended at a health practitioner's home and there was no callout as such. 'The legislation as currently crafted appears to contemplate that a callout involves a journey on the part of the health practitioner from one place to another,' the coroner said. 'That is not the only circumstance in which danger might be posed to a health practitioner in a remote area. Mrs Woodford's is a case in point. 'To my mind her abduction occurred at her home.' (Newser) Prominent on the FBI's "What We Investigate" page is a section dubbed "The China Threat," which the agency describes as the "counterintelligence and economic espionage efforts emanating from the government of China and the Chinese Communist Party" that have become the FBI's "top counterintelligence priority." On Wednesday, that priority was underscored by FBI Director Christopher Wray, who detailed for Senate Intelligence Committee members just how intense his agency's efforts on China have become. "We're opening a new investigation into China every 10 hours, and I can assure the committee that's not because our folks don't have anything to do with their time," Wray said, adding that the agency now has 2,000-plus probes related to China underway, per the Hill. story continues below Democrat Sen. Mark Warner, the Intelligence Committee chair, stressed that, despite said issues with China, "our problem is with the Chinese Communist Party, not with the people of China or the Chinese diaspora globally, and certainly not with Asian Americans here in the United States"a point also noted by the FBI in the wake of increased attacks on Asians in the US. The agency accuses China of trying to become "the world's greatest superpower," via "predatory lending and business practices, systematic theft of intellectual property, and brazen cyber intrusions," among other machinations. This was the first hearing on worldwide threats since 2019, as the Trump administration declined to take part in 2020, the Hill notes. The hearing took place just a few days after the US intelligence community released its "Annual Threat Assessment" report, which pointed the finger at both China and Russia for their attempts to exploit the coronavirus pandemic "to grow their global influence," per CNN. (Read more China stories.) (Newser) A clock that stopped working after the catastrophic 2011 earthquake in Japan has resumed ticking a decade laterafter another strong earthquake. The BBC reports that the century-old, spring-driven clock in a Buddhist temple stopped keeping time when the temple was damaged by the quake and ensuing tsunami. The temple's head priest didn't part with the 31-inch clock, however, and now he's glad. After another powerful quake rattled the Miyagi and Fukushima prefectures earlier this year, Bunshun Sakano visited the temple to assess damage and heard the clock ticking again for the first time in a decade, per the Mainichi Shimbun newspaper. story continues below "It's like a sign of encouragement that the real restoration is to come," he said, referring to recovery efforts now in their 11th year following the original tragedy. The Fumonji temple is located in the town of Yamamoto in Miyagi prefecture. So how to explain the weird phenomenon of the clock? The Japanese newspaper reached out to manufacturer Seiko, and a rep offered some possibilities. "It's possible that the pendulum, which had stopped, started moving again with the shaking of the earthquake, or that dust which had built up inside came loose." (The more recent quake might actually be an aftershock of the original.) Update: 4:45 p.m.: San Antonio Police Chief William McManus said police shot and killed a man at the San Antonio airport Thursday afternoon. McManus said police believe it was the same man who was shooting from the overpass of the Loop 1604-U.S. 281 interchange at about 10:30 a.m. earlier in the day. Four hours later, the man showed up at the airport, driving the wrong way on the lower-level road serving the passenger terminals. An airport police officer confronted the man, who got out of the car and began shooting. The officer returned fire, hitting the suspect. Police did not say how many shots were fired but said the man had a. .45 caliber handgun and a box of ammunition. The man was taken to the hospital, where he later died. "The officer saved many lives. What we had there was the start of an active shooter situation," McManus said. "We are very lucky today." McManus said the man matched the description of the person who was shooting from the interchange but did not know what led to the shootings. According to the police chief, SAPD has a history with that individual concerning mental health issues. The FBI said it does not believe it was an act of terrorism. One person inside the airport was treated after they were hit by shrapnel from the bullet and a second was taken to the hospital with a broken ankle from running from the scene, McManus said. Tom Bartlett, the deputy director of the aviation department, said the arrival level remains closed. Passengers can be picked up on the departure level, he said. Original The San Antonio International Airport is under lockdown after an officer-involved shooting Thursday afternoon, police said. At 2:39 p.m., airport police called SAPD to report the shooting. On ExpressNews.com: Bill would allow unlicensed Texans to carry pistols in public In a tweet, SAPD said there is no active threat to the public and the lockdown is a precaution. Police say they are not looking for any suspects. Police have not said if there were injuries. Just after 4 p.m., the airport said it was under lockdown and asked travelers to check with their airlines for flight status. Once security officials clear the facility, the airport said it will make an announcement via its social media channels. Individuals inside the airport tweeted that they had to be evacuated and could hear gunshots. In perhaps the weirdest flight to nowhere since the coronavirus pandemic began, the Ukrainian national airline plans an overflight of the location for the worst nuclear accident in history. On 25 April 1986, reactor number 4 at the Chernobyl nuclear power planet exploded killing some people instantly and many more over the following years. Radioactive material covered the surrounding area, laying waste to territory both in Ukraine and across the border in Belarus. While desperate efforts took place to limit the destruction, the wind carried nuclear debris across Europe, reaching as far as Sweden in just 24 hours. The site of the blast is still contaminated and cleaning up the area is expected to take decades. Yet on the eve of the 35th anniversary, Ukraine International Airlines (UIA) will operate what it calls a Flight over Kyiv and Chernobyl. The company says: On the occasion of the 35th anniversary of the accident at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, Ukraine International Airlines invites you to take the opportunity and visit the unique flight Flight over Kyiv and Chernobyl, which will take place on the eve of the anniversary April 25! Passengers of the flight will be able not only to see Kyiv and Chernobyl from the most unusual angles and the minimum allowable height - 900 metres [3,000 feet] but also to deepen their knowledge about the causes and consequences of the Chernobyl accident. Participants are offered the chance to take a photo in the cockpit and take a selfie with the pilot, presumably while the plane is on the ground rather than in the air. One of the tour companies that normally runs terrestrial trips to the exclusion zone will be onboard. The airline says the flight will be accompanied by aviation stories from UIA pilots who will fly with passengers in the cabin. There will also be a raffle for souvenirs and gifts from UIA with a top prize of a day trip to the Chernobyl zone, one of the most popular tourist locations in the world. The cost is 2,970 Ukrainian hryvnia (77), much less than most flights to nowhere. British tourists will be unable to take part because the UK government bans non-essential travel overseas. Before the flight, UIA recommends: You can plunge into the whirlpool of emotions of the flight and watch a video from UIA co-pilot Ivan Iliuchenko. Dr Claire Corkhill, reader in Nuclear Material Corrosion at the University of Sheffield, said the experience should not be dangerous for participants. Now that the new safe confinement the large arch covering the reactor is in place, the radioactive particles in the reactor are completely sealed in, so there should be no issues with flying over the top, she told The Independent. And 35 years after the disaster is roughly the equivalent of one half life of the most radioactive elements in the reactor. So the gamma rays that are emitted from the hole in the top of the reactor building are not only shielded by the new safe confinement, but they are half as intense as they were at the time of accident. Dr Corkhill added: I often watch airplane maps on long-haul flights to spot when were flying over nuclear reactors, but this is really something. Several other airlines have offered joy flights during the coronavirus pandemic, as international air travel remains in a deep slump. The latest was an Emirates flight from its hub in Dubai, notable because everyone on board had been vaccinated. You can view Simon Calders film on Chernobyl here. Illicit drugs worth more than $8 million have been seized after they were found hidden in a Melbourne apartment which police allege was leased by a criminal syndicate for the sole purpose of storing imported drug consignments. The safe house in Docklands was raided and 34 kilograms of illicit drugs and chemicals were seized in January. On Thursday, a 35-year-old Melbourne man was arrested at his city apartment and charged in connection to the seizure. On January 22, officers from the Australian Federal Police, Australian Border Force and Victoria Police seized 13.3 kilograms of methamphetamine, with an estimated street value of $8.3 million, at the Docklands property. [April 15, 2021] Governments of Canada and Northwest Territories invest to bring high-speed Internet to 152 homes in the North Slave region Residents of the Northwest Territories to benefit from increased connectivity OTTAWA, ON, April 15, 2021 /CNW/ - The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted how much we rely on our connections. Now more than ever, Canadians across the country need access to reliable high-speed Internet as many of us are working, learning, and staying in touch with friends and family from home. Right now, too many Canadians living in rural and remote communities lack access to high-speed Internet. Through the Universal Broadband Fund (UBF) Rapid Response Stream, the Government of Canada is taking immediate action to get Canadians connected to the high-speed Internet they need. Today, the Honourable Daniel Vandal, Minister of Northern Affairs and Member of Parliament for Saint-BonifaceSaint-Vital, on behalf of the Honourable Maryam Monsef, Minister for Women and Gender Equality and Rural Economic Development, along with Michael McLeod, Member of Parliament for Northwest Territories; the Honourable Caroline Wawzonek, Minister of Finance and Minister of Industry, Tourism and Investment for the Northwest Territories; as well as Chief Alfonz Nitsiza, Chief of Whati from the Tli?cho? Government, announced almost $11 million in combined funding with the Tli?cho? Government to bring high-speed Internet to rural residents of Whati in the North Slave region. This project will connect 152 underserved households to high-speed Internet in the Northwest Territories. Funding is being provided as follows: $5 million from the Government of Canada's Universal Broadband Fund from the Government of Universal Broadband Fund $3 million from the Canadian Northern Economic Development Agency from the Canadian Northern Economic Development Agency $1.5 million from the Tli?cho? Government from the Tli?cho? Government $1.4 million from the Government of the Northwest Territories The $1.75-billion Universal Broadband Fund was launched on November 9, 2020. The project being announced today was approved within six months of the formal launch of the program. Projects funded under the UBF, as well as through other public and private investments, will help connect 98% of Canadians to high-speed Internet by 2026 and achieve the national target of 100% connectivity by 2030. The Canadian Northern Economic Development Agency (CanNor) supports the territories through its suite of economic development programming and makes foundational investments in economic infrastructure, such as broadband, that help position Northerners and Indigenous peoples across the territories to move toward self-reliance. CanNor is supporting this Tli?cho? Government project by helping to fund costs for the engineering, construction and commissioning of the fibre optic cable that will connect the residents of Whati. Fast and reliable Internet is essential for the full participation of Northerners and Indigenous peoples in all aspects of Canadian society. Today's announcement builds on the progress the Government of Canada has already made to improve critical infrastructure in the Northwest Territories. Since 2015, the federal government has approved over 185 infrastructure projects, totaling over $634 million in federal investments, in communities within the Northwest Territories. These investments mean 61 km of new or upgraded roads are now making our communities safer and more than 13 projects are providing residents with cleaner, more sustainable sources of drinking water. Quotes "Access to fast and reliable Internet connections is essential for everyone living and working in the Northwest Territories, including in rural, remote and Indigenous communities. This investment will bring reliable, high-speed Internet access to 152 households in the North Slave region, helping to create jobs, enhance the delivery of vital services such as health care and online learning services, and keep families connected. Our government will continue to make critical infrastructure investments like these to improve the quality of life and create greater economic opportunities for Arctic and northern residents and all Canadians." The Honourable Daniel Vandal, Minister of Northern Affairs "Accessible and reliable connectivity creates new possibilities for Whati, and other communities in the Northwest Territories. Our government is proud to invest in high-speed Internet projects in the NWT that bridge the digital divide, stimulate economic growth and create jobs." The Honourable Melanie Joly, Minister of Economic Development and Official Languages and Minister responsible for CanNor "For those of us living in smaller northern communities, we know first hand the struggle too many Canadians face when it comes to accessing reliable Internet service. With today's investment, the Government of Canada is helping the community of Whati bridge the digital divide and enabling its residents to more fully participate in everything the Internet has to offer. My congratulations to the Tli?cho Government on its successful application, and I look forward to seeing Whati connected both by all-season road and by fibre in the near future." Michael McLeod, Member of Parliament for Northwest Territories "The COVID-19 pandemic has reinforced something we already knewthat universal access to reliable high-speed Internet is critical to the well-being of our communities. While our government is committed to increasing broadband accessibility and speed in the territory by advocating for and supporting large-scale infrastructure investments, we cannot achieve this without strong partnerships. The Whati Fibre Project is an excellent example of what can be achieved with three governments working together to address the needs of our residents." The Honourable Caroline Wawzonek, Minister of Finance and Minister of Industry, Tourism and Investment for the Northwest Territories "This project is a great example of the very positive things that can happen when the Tli?cho? Government works closely with our partners in the federal government, the Government of the Northwest Territories, Northwestel and our own Tli?cho? Business Arm to make projects like this Whati Fibre Optic Project a reality for the Tli?cho? People." Chief Alfonz Nitsiza Quick facts Canada's Connectivity Strategy aims to provide all Canadians with access to Internet speeds of at least 50 megabits per second (Mbps) download / 10 Mbps upload. Connectivity Strategy aims to provide all Canadians with access to Internet speeds of at least 50 megabits per second (Mbps) download / 10 Mbps upload. The Universal Broadband Fund is a $1.75-billion investment designed to help connect all Canadians to high-speed Internet. Applications to the UBF were accepted until March 15, 2021 , and are now being evaluated. investment designed to help connect all Canadians to high-speed Internet. Applications to the UBF were accepted until , and are now being evaluated. The UBF is part of a suite of federal investments to improve high-speed Internet. The suite includes the Connect to Innovate program, which is expected to connect nearly 400,000 households by 2023, and the recently announced $2-billion broadband initiative from the Canada Infrastructure Bank. Associated links Backgrounder: Universal Broadband Fund and Telesat low Earth orbit satellite capacity agreement Universal Broadband Fund Connect to Innovate Program Project status updates Canada Infrastructure Bank announcement High-Speed Access for All: Canada's Connectivity Strategy Stay connected Follow Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada on Twitter: @ISED_CA SOURCE Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] Police sergeant Park A-ron / Yonhap By Bahk Eun-ji When facilities for homeless people around Seoul Station were temporarily closed after group infections of COVID-19 were found there at the end of January, dozens of the local homeless who tested positive could not be reached to be informed of testing positive. Among them, nearly 50 were located by Park A-ron, 38, a police sergeant at Namdaemun Police Station in Jung District in Seoul. Sergeant Park's main job involves dealing with the homeless people around Seoul Station. There are dozens of such people living in and around the station particularly in the station's pedestrian tunnels and nearby park areas. Park keeps an eye on them, handles disputes among them, and even takes them to hospital for medical treatment when needed. "But the job isn't just about helping the homeless; I also need to deal with investigations when crimes are committed," Park said. Park said he has become familiar with the faces and names of about 140 homeless people living around Seoul Station. Park was appointed to the job last May. When he first approached the homeless in the area, some showed aggressive reactions and he was even assaulted. But with time he has built trust through repeated engagement with the homeless people of Seoul Station. Sergeant Park can sometimes be seen cleaning up garbage strewn around the station which is one of the ways he sets the scene for comfortable interactions with the homeless people of the area. After the outbreak of the coronavirus last year, Park was in charge of informing the homeless about COVID-19 testing. He was also required to locate those who tested positive; no easy feat when those affected are without a home address or mobile phone number in many cases. In January, Park lost around 10 kilograms while seeking the whereabouts of infected homeless people who had tested positive. He patrolled the area wearing protective gear for up to 10 hours a day, a far cry from the regular patrol work of police. "If I just walk away from these people, it would be a dereliction of my duty as a police officer; we must protect people's safety and this is a life-threatening virus," Park said. At Namdaemun Police, Sergeant Park is the third police officer to have been charged with the task of homeless affairs since the position was created in 2011. Although his age and rank did not initially meet the qualifications required to take the job, Park thought he could manage it. He said he took great efforts to make up for his lack of experience by studying up on the law on welfare for homeless people and mental health related issues. "The homeless are also citizens of this country. The welfare system offers benefits, but many are not well informed of these. There is not much I can do, but at least I can guide them to find such benefits so that they can live better," he said. According to the United Nations Population Fund, more than half of the worlds population now lives in urban areas, and it is predicted that approximately 66 percent of the worlds population will live in an urban environment by 2050. Massive efforts are underway today, designed to address the consequences of this surge, which, left unmanaged, would result in climate, energy, environment, and living conditions in the cities of the future. Citizen engagement is mission-critical to achieving true Smart Cities, which can improve the lives of those who live, work and play in modern cities, but with this comes the important resolution of data security and privacy. Today, the physical and digital infrastructures of cities are embedded with billions of devices at the edge, part of a layered approach to Smart City solutions. We have already witnessed attacks, including unauthorized access to sensitive data and denial of service (DoS), which can quickly nullify the benefits of connected systems designed to support those who live in urban areas. Even as early as 2015, nearly a quarter of a million citizens living in Ukraine suffered a long period of electricity disconnection because the power grid system was attacked by hackers. Fast-forward to 2021, and now that many Smart City systems have been implemented, security and privacy issues have become a major challenge that requires effective countermeasures. The challenges are great when we add cameras, people counters, and other applications as traditional cybersecurity protection strategies cannot be applied directly to these given the heterogeneity and ever-evolving characteristics of smart cities. For people to trust sophisticated Smart City solutions, we must address security and privacy threats when designing and implementing new mechanisms or systems. We caught up this week with Avner Ziv, CEO of Cloud of Things, at the Frontier Conference, where Ziv spoke on a panel discussing the value, integrity, management, and security of big data lakes where sensor-generated information is stored and analyzed. Citizen concerns are very real, Ziv said, since, given the rapid development of information technologies including AI, machine learning, and data mining, adversaries are developing the ability to bypass the current detection mechanisms. Security and privacy are the only way to get to trust in Smart City applications, and so we are spending a great deal of time understanding and addressing the gaps. Ziv explained that there is no uniform IoT architecture; however, the Industrial IoT community and global ecosystem are heading in that direction. The sensing layer is used for data collection from things, and that layer must be fully secured, from hardware and firmware to edge compute software. The network layer is the core layer in physical/digital architectures, and it must also be fully secured, whether the data is traversing the public Internet or private networks that connect smart things, network devices, and servers and ship data to the cloud through gateways. Ziv explained Smart City IoT as more of an Industrial IoT category, including additional layers for support, which works very closely with the application layer, and provides support for the requirements of diversified applications via intelligent computing techniques (edge, fog, and cloud). It is in the highest layer, the application layer, where we find the most challenges in terms of trust, as this layer provides intelligent and practical services or applications to users based on their personalized requirements, Ziv said. For example, a citizen within a Smart City may wish to understand and manage their energy consumption with smart meters, but they may be worried about the kind of behavioral data collected about their energy consumption at any hour of the day. We are observing a movement toward citizen engagement that enables individuals and families to contribute to carbon reduction, alongside the utilities, but are also seeing concerns about what that practically means. Ziv, whose company based in Israel is supporting certain government and service provider initiatives, also pointed out that smart government needs to manage data interconnecting it across systems, institutions, digital and physical infrastructure management. We are seeing more and more demand for data ownership solutions including the secure routing of data to more than one application or cloud, Ziv said. Citizens may trust more if they are aware that their data is not being used by special interests and that their data is being secured by government agencies on highly protected edge, network, and cloud application layers. Cloud of Things offers its customers the option to securely send data from their devices in the field directly to their private cloud tenant, while still enjoying our advanced device management features. Standardization and interoperability are also important areas to tackle, Ziv said. Intelligent public transportation networks can enhance the safety, speed and reliability of light rail and traffic and parking management can benefit those who choose to use their private vehicles when they are in the city, but without a common understanding of how the collection, analysis, and activation of near-real-time systems works, natural concerns rise for example, the government tracking the moves of individuals and organizations. Ziv applauded the efforts of organizations like The Linux Foundation and their LF Edge projects which aim to build standards that will drive trust in the future. We are already a highly connected society, and now a hyper-connected society, Ziv said. Only by collaboration, by bringing together public and private organizations, and by engaging individuals and businesses in the discussion can we sustainably develop solutions that provide personalized services but not at the risk of invasion of privacy and threats to freedom and democracy. Ziv presented at The Frontier Conference this week as part of a panel, Data is the True Currency of Connected Industrial Solutions, sponsored by Rocket Wagon Venture Studio and moderated by Don DeLoach. Chris Swan of Dispersive is also on the panel. Edited by Maurice Nagle Photographer Scoping the Stars Accidentally Captures Space Rocket Zooming Through Sky A photographer who was hoping to capture images of the Milky Way got more than he bargained for when a SPACE ROCKET unexpectedly shot across the night sky in his dazzling set of imagesleaving baffled onlookers thinking he snapped a UFO. Mike Carroll had only visited the Judges Shack in New Jersey in March in the hope of capturing routine pictures of the stars, when just as he was about to pack up, a big bright light suddenly appeared in the sky. The 41-year-old says fellow photographers were astonished by the sight and speculated whether the huge object was a plane, helicopter, or even a UFObut soon realized it was a space rocket. Mike Carroll, 41, captured an epic photo of a rocket while shooting the stars. (Kennedy News and Media) Mike believes the vehicle was the SpaceX Falcon 9, which launched 60 Starlink internet satellites into orbit, and said it was amazing to spot something that set off from several states away in Florida. The photographer claims he was in the right place at the right time and luckily, with his gear still set up, captured the mind-blowing photos and time-lapse of the rocket flying over the shack. The rare shots, captured by Mike on his Canon EOS R5, show the rocket flying overhead and illuminating the former fishing shanty with the Milky Way in the frame as the blue hour was approaching. This is probably definitely the most epic photo Ive ever takenthis has got to be one of the most unique photos that anyone could ever take, said Mike, of North Arlington, New Jersey. A shot of the what Mike Carroll believes to be the SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket over the Judges Shack in New Jersey. (Kennedy News and Media) It was accidental that I captured this as I wasnt planning on it at allI was very fortunate to be in the right place at the right time. I was about to pack up my gear and all of a sudden I saw this big bright light in the skyI had no idea what it was, it looked like a plane or a helicopter. But then as it came closer, it was not a plane, and it was huge, and people were like is that a UFO? Mike says that you could try to plan for something like this if you knew the rocket was launching, but it was only the ninth time that it had ever done so. He just luckily happened to be there. Its a very rare shotmaybe three or four people in the whole world have this exact shot, he said. I dont think they have a time-lapseI might be the only person in the whole world who has a time-lapse of it. A time-lapse shot that Mike Carroll captured of the rocket flying over the shack. (Kennedy News and Media) Mike said that the Judges Shack is a popular location to photograph the Milky Way in New Jersey because its very dark and has an appealing foreground. Most photographers had packed up and left thinking theyd snapped everything they were going to see when Mike and a few remaining photographers who were about to clear up had an incredible surprise. I luckily still had my gear set up, [so I] zoomed in as far as I could and started taking pictures and also made a time-lapseI was the only one that had a time-lapse of that rocket over the shack, said Mike. You could start to see the nose of it and it was very bright, but the trail that it left in the sky was also pretty intense. The other amazing part was that the sun was starting to approach blue hourif you look closely you can see how the sky is a little bright and there was some color in the sky which made it a little more intriguing. There were only a few people thereit was definitely a unique morning. The rocket is seen passing overhead in a time-lapse photo. (Kennedy News and Media) When he first spotted the rocket, it wasnt yet aligned with the shack so he had just a minute or two to set up his composition, and he skillfully managed to take the amazing sequence. The 41-year-old, who specializes in night photography, said hes received an overwhelming response to his work as his Instagram posts have amassed more than 26,340 likes and plenty of positive comments. Mike added, I read about it afterwards and probably got a notification about it, but when you see something launching from Florida and you dont check its path youre not going to plan for it and think that its going to be over where you are. Its the first time Ive ever seen itIve never seen a rocket in my life. It was mind-blowing to see the picturesespecially when I did the time-lapse I was blown away by how you can actually revisit what you just saw. A lot of people love it toothey were blown away by it, couldnt believe it and all that kind of stuff. A photo Mike Carroll captured of the shack and the Milky Way that same morning. (Kennedy News and Media) Epoch Times staff contributed to this report. Share your stories with us at emg.inspired@epochtimes.com, and continue to get your daily dose of inspiration by signing up for the Epoch Inspired newsletter at TheEpochTimes.com/newsletter In this Feb. 3, 2021, file photo, EMT Rachel Bryant, right, administers a COVID-19 vaccine to a homeless man in the courtyard of the Midnight Mission in Los Angeles. Homeless Americans who have been left off priority lists for coronavirus vaccinationsor even bumped aside as states shifted eligibility to older age groupsare finally getting their shots as vaccine supplies increase. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong) Homeless Americans who have been left off priority lists for coronavirus vaccinationsor even bumped aside as states shifted eligibility to older age groupsare finally getting their shots as vaccine supplies increase. While the U.S. government has only incomplete data on infections among homeless people, it's clear that crowded, unsanitary conditions at shelters and underlying poor health increase the danger of COVID-19 infections, severe complications and death. COVID-19 outbreaks have been documented at homeless shelters in cities such as Boston, San Francisco and Seattle. Vaccinating in vulnerable areas will be a key to achieving herd immunity, the goal of building a barrier of protected people to stop uncontrolled spread. "It was important for me to protect myself and the health and welfare of others," said Cidney Oliver, 39, who got her first dose of Moderna vaccine April 7 at the Seattle YWCA shelter where she sleeps. Wanona Thibodeaux-Lee, 43, has lived in several Seattle shelters while trying to get back on her feet, most recently at WHEEL, a 26-bed women's shelter in a church basement. On April 5, she received the single-dose Johnson & Johnson vaccine. "I feel like I can move around without anyone getting me sick," she said. "It's good to know that I don't have to go back for a second one." Cidney Oliver poses for a photo, Wednesday, April 7, 2021, by the bunk she sleeps on at a YWCA shelter for women lacking housing in Seattle. Earlier in the day, Oliver received the first dose of the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine at a clinic staffed by workers from Harborview Medical Center at the shelter. "It was important for me to protect myself and the health and welfare of others," Oliver said. (AP Photo/Ted S. Warren) The single-shot vaccine is preferred by many clinics who serve homeless people and by homeless people themselves, said Bobby Watts, CEO of the National Health Care for the Homeless Council. The U.S. government on Tuesday recommended a "pause" in using the Johnson & Johnson vaccine to investigate reports of rare but potentially dangerous blood clots. It is a temporary setback in the drive to vaccinate homeless people, forcing organizers this week to switch to other vaccines or postpone events. Watts said he's worried the pause will lead to more vaccine hesitancy. "Assuming it is ultimately found to be safe and effective, it will be harder to convince peopleespecially people experiencing homelessnessthat it is safe," Watts said. Seattle, with the third-largest homeless population in the U.S., has seen at least 1,400 of them test positive for COVID-19 and 22 die since the pandemic began. More than 100 shelters and other homeless service sites have had outbreaks. Seattle's health department will switch to the Moderna vaccine for its planned events targeting homeless people. Melissa Mason gives Kenny Collins a COVID-19 vaccination at the Fourth Street Clinic in Salt Lake City on March 23, 2021. Homeless Americans who have been left off priority lists for coronavirus vaccinationsor even bumped aside as states shifted eligibility to older age groupsare finally getting their shots as vaccine supplies increase. (Jeffrey D. Allred/The Deseret News via AP) Homeless people are at greater risk of being infected and greater risk of hospitalization and death than the average person, Watts said. Shorter lifespanschronic homelessness can take 20 to 30 years off a person's lifeshould have qualified them for vaccination priority much earlier, Watts said. Instead, political pressure to vaccinate older adults moved them to the back of the line. Clinics serving them, Watts said, "were put in the unreasonable position of saying, 'I know all of you are at high risk, but I can vaccinate only the few or you who are over age 70.'" Now, that's changing. With eligibility opening widely, homeless service providers are mobilizing to get vaccine to shelters and encampments. In Nashville, 19 organizations have set a goal of bringing the vaccine to all homeless people by Memorial Day. In Salt Lake City, vaccinators offer incentives such as $5 grocery store gift cards or donated pizza. The Los Angeles Fire Department is delivering vaccine to the tent cities of Skid Row, MacArthur Park and other neighborhoods. Aurora Artman, right, a medical assistant at Harborview Medical Center, talks with a colleague as they work Wednesday, April 7, 2021, at a COVID-19 vaccination clinic set up at a YWCA shelter for women lacking housing in Seattle. Homeless Americans who have been left off priority lists for coronavirus vaccinationsor even bumped aside as states shifted eligibility to older age groupsare finally getting their shots as vaccine supplies increase. (AP Photo/Ted S. Warren) "Looking people in their eyes, telling them the truth about the vaccine ... I love what I do every day," said Melanie McConnaughy who works for Community Organized Relief Effort, a nonprofit that's helping Los Angeles firefighters at mobile vaccine events. Her job is to answer questions and build trust. She described a homeless woman, covered in tattoos, who at first said she didn't want the shot because she didn't like needles. Pointing to her tattoos, "we said, 'How can you say you're afraid of needles?' She said, 'You're right, you're right. I'm going to go tell my brother. He's over there.'" Both siblings got vaccinated that day. Vaccinating homeless people is good for the health of everyone, said Los Angeles Deputy Mayor Jose "Che" Ramirez. "We're all in it together. The more shots in arms the better," Ramirez said. "The more folks who are vaccinated, the stronger we are in building herd immunity and the faster we can reopen our city and engage with each other like we were before." In this April 7, 2021, photo provided by Neighborhood Health, Dr. Pete Cathcart vaccinates Deng Autiak in Nashville. With vaccine supplies increasing in the U.S., the shots are finally reaching thousands of Americans who are homeless. In Nashville, many organizations have set a goal of bringing vaccine to everyone experiencing homelessness by Memorial Day. (Jeremy McCraw/Neighborhood Health via AP) Giving outreach workers a unified message was important in Nashville, where organizers put together a one-page fact sheet about the vaccines in English and Spanish. "Let's please all sing off the same song sheet," said Brian Haile, CEO of Neighborhood Health in Nashville. "This is Music City, so we have a vaccine song sheet." All homeless adults in Washington, D.C., became eligible for the vaccine in January, long before most states and before the J&J vaccine was available. The city has fully vaccinated more than 1,300 by giving out yellow bracelets printed with second-dose appointment dates as reminders. The district also trained key shelter residents "so they could be ambassadors for the vaccine and talk about it to their peers," said Dr. Catherine Crosland of Unity Health Care, a clinic system serving homeless people. Cidney Oliver, center, walks through an area being used for a COVID-19 vaccination clinic Wednesday, April 7, 2021, at a YWCA shelter for women lacking housing in Seattle where she is staying. Earlier in the day, Oliver received the first dose of the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine at the clinic, which is staffed by workers from Harborview Medical Center. Homeless Americans who have been left off priority lists for coronavirus vaccinationsor even bumped aside as states shifted eligibility to older age groupsare finally getting their shots as vaccine supplies increase. (AP Photo/Ted S. Warren) Walk-up vaccine events are crucial for a population with limited access to cars, cellphones or Wi-Fi, organizers say. In Salt Lake City, the health department and a homeless clinic have given more than 1,000 doses of vaccine to homeless people. Pizza, candy bars, "whatever we can get donated," helps keep people waiting if there's a line, said Janida Emerson, CEO of Fourth Street Clinic. "In our area, there are 10,000 people experiencing homelessness. We've got a ways go to. It's a start," Emerson said. Even before the pandemic, homelessness had been rising across the U.S., with the biggest increases seen outside the shelter systemthose people living on sidewalks, under bridges and in abandoned buildings. The pandemic's economic downturn uprooted people from their homes despite a moratorium on evictions. Cities closed crowded shelters to prevent infection, offering rooms in motels, but some shelter users who didn't want to move to unfamiliar neighborhoods joined those on the streets. Moira Andrews, a street outreach nurse for Neighborcare Health, speaks with Charles Ussery, 52, who lives in an encampment in the Georgetown neighborhood of Seattle on Monday, April 12, 2021. Andrews spoke with Ussery about the COVID-19 vaccines and answered questions in an effort to vaccinate people experiencing homelessness. Advocates say homeless people are at greater risk of being infected and greater risk of hospitalization and death than the average person, and they should have been prioritized earlier. (AP Photo/Manuel Valdes) How much the pandemic is further increasing the number of homeless Americans isn't entirely clear. Many cities, under stay-at-home orders, canceled their annual homeless counts this year. In January 2020, a one-night tally showed 580,000 homeless people in the United States. Advocates say that total should be multiplied by three to get the true scope of Americans using shelters and living on the streets. In Seattle, it will take at least two months to get the vaccine to an estimated 575 housing, shelter and service sites, 85 unsanctioned encampments and nine youth service sites. For Oliver, the pandemic was the least of her worries when she arrived in Seattle last month without family, friends or a job. "Abuse, unemployment, losing everything," Oliver said. "My life, it wasn't that great. I was experiencing things prior to COVID that prepared me to deal with this pandemic." Judy Jideonwo, left, a case manager at Angeline's Day Center For Women, which is part of a YWCA shelter for women lacking housing in Seattle, holds her vaccination card after she received the first dose of the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine, Wednesday, April 7, 2021, from Aurora Artman, right, a medical assistant at Harborview Medical Center, at a vaccination clinic set up at the shelter. Advocates say homeless people are at greater risk of being infected and greater risk of hospitalization and death than the average person, and they should have been prioritized earlier. (AP Photo/Ted S. Warren) In this March 12, 2021 photo provided by Unity Health Care, Othon Sosua, right, talks with a patient during a vaccination drive in Washington, D.C. Homeless Americans who have been left off priority lists for coronavirus vaccinationsor even bumped aside as states shifted eligibility to older age groupsare finally getting their shots as vaccine supplies increase. Walk-up vaccine events are crucial for a population with limited access to cars, cellphones or Wi-Fi, organizers say. (Unity Health Care via AP) Moira Andrews, a street outreach nurse for Neighborcare Health, speaks with Shane Pisson, 48, who lives in an encampment in the Georgetown neighborhood of Seattle on Monday, April 12, 2021. Andrews spoke with Pisson about the COVID-19 vaccines and answered questions in an effort to vaccinate people experiencing homelessness. Advocates say homeless people are at greater risk of being infected and greater risk of hospitalization and death than the average person, and they should have been prioritized earlier. (AP Photo/Manuel Valdes) In this Feb. 10, 2021, file photo, Viola Roberson, 75, far right, and 61-year-old Mark McNamee, foreground, wait for their COVID-19 vaccine at a vaccination site set up in the parking lot of the Los Angeles Mission in the Skid Row area of Los Angeles. While older homeless adults were eligible for vaccination in many states earlier this year, the shots now are finally reaching thousands of younger adults who are homeless. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong, File) She says Seattle has been a good move so far. She found a job and is learning about housing options from the staff at Angeline's, the YWCA facility where she keeps her top bunk neatly made. She sums up her philosophy: "You wake up and you're still living. You're breathing, you got two legs, you got two feet. Be thankful." 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. Vancouver, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - April 15, 2021) - BlockchainK2 Corp. (TSXV: BITK) (OTCQB: BIDCF) (FSE: KRL2) (the "BlockchainK2" or "Company") is pleased to announce an operational update to its existing profit sharing partnership with Standard Power. The operations have been profitably producing Bitcoin with the Company's original generation Bitmain S9 miners since the beginning of operations in July of 2019. Located in Coshocton, Ohio, Standard Power has existing hosting capacity that allows for 56 MW of power use for operations. The company also has secured a 40 acre site in nearby Conesville, Ohio, with plans to add an additional 160 acres there. This would provide hosting capacity to accommodate cryptocurrency miners with up to 1,000 MW of power use at Standard Power's below-market pricing. This attractive price allows the Company to have a low Bitcoin mining breakeven price for its miners and provides a robust platform for the Company to grow its Bitcoin mining business. The Company is using its industry reach to identify additional hosting partners to expand its profit sharing partnership with Standard Power. BlockchainK2 is looking forward to expand its working relationship with Standard Power with industry leading mining hardware. About BlockchainK2 Corp. BlockchainK2 Corp. is a holding company investing in blockchain technology solutions for capital markets and other sectors that can be made more efficient through tokenization. The Company owns a gaming platform Amplify Games Inc changing the way video games are distributed and promoted. BlockchainK2 is also invested in RealBlocks, a technology platform for private equity, private credit and real estate that provides tokenized secondary trading of LP interests. The company's wholly owned subsidiary iRecover Inc is working to implement the findings and principles of behaviorism, social neurodevelopment, and behavioral economics in a blockchain based application to support individuals recovering from addiction. The Company also has executed a joint venture agreement with Standard Power, an industrial scale crypto currency mining facility with very low power costs in the United States. For information on BlockchainK2 Corp., please visit www.blockchaink2.com. For further information, please contact: Sergei Stetsenko, CEO 604-630-8746 About Standard Power Standard Power is a leading infrastructure service provider for advanced data processing companies. As part of its Tier III+ data center designs, Standard Power focuses on technologies that support high performance computing and is one of the first to adopt liquid 2-phase immersion cooling technology. Standard Power has developed robust designs and systems to provide large scale blockchain mining infrastructure to its institutional partners. Please visit: https://standardpwr.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 Note Regarding Forward Looking Statements This press release contains statements which constitute "forward-looking statements", including information concerning the intentions, plans and future action of the Company described herein. The words "may", "would", "could", "will", "intend", "plan", "anticipate", "believe", "estimate", "expect" and similar expressions, as they relate to the Company, are intended to identify such forward-looking statements. Investors are cautioned that forward-looking statements are based on the opinions, assumptions and estimates of management considered reasonable at the date the statements are made, and are inherently subject to a variety of risks and uncertainties and other known and unknown factors that could cause actual events or results to differ materially from those projected in the forward-looking statements. These factors include the general risks of a public company, currently with limited business and financial resources, as well as those risk factors discussed or referred to in the Company's continuous disclosure record available at www.sedar.com. Should one or more of these risks or uncertainties materialize, or should assumptions underlying the forward-looking statements prove incorrect, actual results may vary materially from those described herein as intended, planned, anticipated, believed, estimated or expected. The Company does not intend, and does not assume any obligation, to update these forward-looking statements except as otherwise required by applicable law. To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/80528 WASHINGTON The White House Thursday morning accused the Russian Foreign Intelligence Service, or SVR, of orchestrating the recent massive breach that affected private sector networks and U.S. government agencies through the popular IT monitoring software made by SolarWinds. The statement linking the SVRs hacking group, also known as Cozy Bear, to the broad-scope cyber espionage campaign is the most concrete connection the Biden administration has made between the hack and Russia. The damage was first uncovered in the final days of the Trump administration, which described the attack as likely Russian. SolarWinds headquarters in Austin, Texas. (Sergio Flores/Reuters) The SVRs compromise of the SolarWinds software supply chain gave it the ability to spy on or potentially disrupt more than 16,000 computer systems worldwide, according to the White House statement, which also included a number of measures directed against the Russian government for a range of malign activities in addition to the SolarWinds breach. The scope of this compromise is a national security and public safety concern, the White House said. According to the White House, the U.S. intelligence community, which has been investigating the breach, has high confidence that the SVR is the culprit. That's the strongest level of certainty the community uses in describing its assessments. During a recent webinar, Anne Neuberger, the deputy national security adviser for cyber and emerging technology and President Bidens top cyber adviser, warned that the SolarWinds breach, while clearly a sophisticated espionage campaign designed to leave no trace, could in a moment become something more serious. Hackers could use that access to launch a destructive attack, or publicly release the data they stole, as when Russian intelligence agencies dumped broad troves of emails belonging to Democrats during the 2016 U.S. presidential election. In a joint advisory Thursday morning, the National Security Agency, the FBI and the Department of Homeland Securitys Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency released technical details about vulnerabilities being exploited by the SVR, in order to allow affected companies and agencies to patch their software. The release focused on publicly known vulnerabilities, or flaws in code that have already been made public but that adversaries can continue exploiting when users fail to patch them. Story continues Anne Neuberger, deputy national security adviser for cyber and emerging technology, at a press briefing on Feb. 17. (Saul Loeb/AFP via Getty Images) The government's Thursday announcement included sanctions against multiple companies involved in providing technical support or resources to the SVR, as well as the broader recommendation that anyone using software or hardware with ties to Russia reconsider that decision. According to a senior administration official who spoke with journalists Thursday morning, the U.S. government has already mandated that the nine government agencies affected by the SolarWinds breach ramp up cybersecurity standards. The White House is also planning to move forward with other measures soon, including an executive order on protecting federal networks, which will require companies that sell software products to the U.S. government to do cybersecurity reviews and report breaches. The SolarWinds breach has led to a debate about whether the NSA, which focuses on foreign networks, requires additional authority in order to monitor domestic networks so as to detect anomalous activity such as this breach. Without the initial identification of the breach by the cybersecurity company FireEye, which was among its victims, its unclear when the U.S. government would have learned of the vulnerability being exploited by the SVR. While intelligence officials have told lawmakers they are not requesting additional authority to look into U.S. networks, NSA Director Paul Nakasone has made clear there is a gap in visibility that the agency needs to find ways around, in particular through partnership with the private sector. But its unclear whether additional visibility into U.S. networks would have allowed the NSA to make quicker detection regardless, experts have speculated, particularly because the DHSs own systems tracking U.S. networks didnt detect the well-disguised breach. The announcement of formal attribution to the Russian intelligence service was accompanied by an announcement of broader U.S. government efforts to establish a framework for responsible state behavior in cyberspace. President Biden speaks from the White House on Wednesday about the withdrawal of U.S. troops from Afghanistan. (Andrew Harnik-Pool/Getty Images) The Biden White House, which has consistently stated it will respond to the SolarWinds hack at a time and place of its choosing, is reserving the right to take additional action in the future. We will continue to hold Russia accountable for its malicious cyber activities, such as the SolarWinds incident, by using all available policy and authorities, it said in its statement Thursday. Not all U.S. government actions against Russia on Thursday were made public. According to a second Biden administration official speaking to reporters on Thursday morning, the government is responding in ways that will remain unseen. ____ Read more from Yahoo News: (Natural News) Following an in-depth safety review, Denmark has decided to permanently ban the Wuhan coronavirus (Covid-19) injection from AstraZeneca due to the risk of deadly blood clots. The first European nation to do so, Denmark determined that continuing to administer AstraZenecas China Virus jab to Danes puts them at undue risk of suffering serious adverse events. While some recipients suffered deadly blood clots, others experienced low blood platelet counts. Both phenomena render the injection dangerous, officials determined. As we previously reported, Denmark put the AstraZeneca jab on temporary hold after a 60-year-old woman died shortly after receiving it. She died with a very unique disease picture, where she was both affected by internal bleeding, a very low platelet count and blood clots, reports indicate. Roughly three dozen similar cases have been reported across the E.U. (European Union). Proponents of the jab claim such side effects are very rare and the result of random immune system reactions to the injections adenovirus components. Since most people probably will not have an immediate reaction, they say, the benefits outweigh the risks. Denmark disagrees, though. The risks clearly outweigh the benefits, and even the European Medicines Agency (EMA) says there appears to be a direct connection between the jabs and the reactions, which have also been documented with the Johnson & Johnson (J&J) adenovirus injection for the Wuhan flu. The only other jab for Chinese germs that contains adenovirus technology is Russias Sputnik V, which Dr. Peter Marks of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) says is also being looked at along with the others for safety and efficacy. Czech Republic says it will take all of Denmarks AstraZeneca injections to administer to its own population Denmarks decision to stop using the AstraZeneca jab will set the country back as far as vaccinating its entire population according to the proposed schedule. Officials now estimate that it could take an additional three months to inject everyone as planned. E.U. Commission President Ursula von der Leyen recently announced that Europe as a whole has plunged 100 million vaccines into peoples arms, a milestone that was made possible by a recent acceleration in the program. We spare no effort to ensure that Europeans can be vaccinated as fast as possible, Leyen tweeted, along with the hashtag #StrongerTogether. Other European countries are already showing interest in taking Denmarks AstraZeneca vaccine stockpile to administer to their ownpopulations. Czech Interior Minister Jan Hamacek made an offer via tweet, and others are gearing up to make their own offers. Funny how the only vaccines left are those using mRNA. Coincidence? Probably not, wrote one Zero Hedge commenter making a valid observation about the hidden agenda behind all this. Look, there is a cure, why are they still pushing experimental vaccines when there is a cure? The FDA is corrupt. Pay attention to what is going on here because it is important. Others speculated that billionaire eugenicist Bill Gates is probably thrilled about the news, seeing as how it coincides with his plan to massively reduce the worlds population. A virus can be a vector for the transfer of genes from one organism to another, wrote another. Of course, the problem with such a mechanism is targeting it to a specific group, as a virus could presumably come back to bite you. The best way of accomplishing that would be to give your target group a precursor that would allow it to become more susceptible to the gene altering virus, then build a virus that was dependent, for example. Then install a gene into people that the virus would look for, for its own needs. An mRNA vaccine would be just the ticket. More related news about the deadly effects of Wuhan coronavirus (Covid-19) injections can be found at ChemicalViolence.com. Sources for this article include: ZeroHedge.com NaturalNews.com Thai investors scaling up presence with raft of activities(source: cafef.vn) Central Retail Corporation on April 3 announced its 5-year plan for an investment of approximately $1.1 billion for the Vietnamese market. The move is part of its broader strategy to secure a stronger footprint in the country. Philippe Broianigo, CEO of Central Retail Corporation said, The corporation has set up the roadmap with key focus to expand multi-concept penetration in all clusters across city, suburban, and rural areas. Thus, we will revamp brands in the food category for better synergy and enhanced customer experience and build brands for our non-food section, as well as develop our omnichannel presence. In 2020, Central Retail opened four GO! malls in Tra Vinh, Quang Ngai, Buon Ma Thuot, and Ben Tre, and rebranded Big C to GO! and added five more branches, while opening the first branch of its GO! supermarket in Tam Ky in the central province of Quang Nam to target rural customers. In 2021, Central Retail continues its endeavour and plans to open four GO! malls in Thai Nguyen, Ba Ria, Thai Binh, and Lao Cai provinces. For its food segment, the corporation will four GO! hypermarkets, one GO! mini market, and rebrand 15 Big C stores to eight GO! hypermarkets and seven Tops Markets, as well as further diversify its non-food category. Central Retail welcomes an average of 175,000 customers per day at 37 malls and over 230 stores, with a total area of one million square metres across 39 cities and provinces. The long-term plan is to expand to covering 55 cities and provinces nationwide within five years and provide comprehensive services. Meanwhile, SCG, one of Thailands top industrial companies, is upbeat about the bright outlook for the Southeast Asian market, particularly Vietnam. SCG CEO Roongrote Rangsiyopash said in an interview with Nikkei Asia that some Asian countries have fought COVID-19 well. So my expectation is that the growth of ASEAN markets, for example Vietnam, will continue to be better than the Thai market. Theres a trend of localised production within the region. Thats the strategy we are seeing within this region that we will focus on. For the next few years, I foresee that Vietnam will be our top priority, he said. We have several projects ongoing, like a petrochemicals complex in southern Vietnam. Once the Vietnamese plant comes online, we anticipate that revenue from Southeast Asia excluding Thailand will rise to 35 per cent from the current 26 per cent, Rangsiyopash added. After 25 years of operation in Vietnam, SCG has 21 local subsidiaries in packaging, chemicals, and cement and other building materials. During the global health crisis, SCG still stepped up its expansion in Vietnam by acquiring Bien Hoa Packaging in 2020 and Duy Tan Plastic in 2021. Other Thai investors also continue their steadfast expansion in the country. Last December, WHA Industrial Development Plc. announced the signing of an MoU with Thanh Hoa Peoples Committee for the development of two industrial zones (IZs) in the province. The first project, WHA Smart Technology IZ Thanh Hoa, will represent a gross area of approximately 600 hectares, plus an additional residential area of 30 to 50ha. The second, WHA Northern IZ Thanh Hoa at 540ha, will target downstream industries including plastics, rubber, chemicals, and bio-chemical products. Both constructions are expected to commence in 2023 and 2022, respectively. Also in the same month, C.P. Vietnam opened an export-only poultry complex in the southern province of Binh Phuoc, which is the largest of its kind in Southeast Asia. C.P. Vietnam invested $250 million in this project to raise the standards of livestock production in Vietnam, paving the way for the country to be a world-class food producer. The complex can produce and process up to 50 million chicken per year in the first phase (2019-2023) and 100 million chicken per year, in the second phase. The ongoing investment of Thai investors reflects the attractiveness of the Vietnamese market. According to statistics by the Ministry of Planning and Investment, Thailand is currently ninth-largest investment partner of Vietnam with 607 foreign-invested projects worth nearly $13 billion. It is expected that investment flows from Thailand to Vietnam will further increase. Speaking at the conference Golden Opportunity for Thai investors in Vietnam held in January, Sanan Angubolkul, chairman of the Thailand-Vietnam Business Council, highlighted key reasons for Thai investors to scale up presence in Vietnam, including political stability, successful containment of the pandemic, a high-quality workforce, favourable investment incentives, and a lucrative local market with large purchasing power. COLUMBUS, Ohio - A new Ohio Senate bill would require doctors to perform life-saving care to fetuses surviving abortions. Senate Bill 157 is sponsored by Republican Sens. Terry Johnson and Steve Huffman, both practicing physicians. Health care providers who dont take measures to save a babys life and the baby dies would face a new crime in Ohio: abortion manslaughter, a first-degree felony. If the baby survives, notwithstanding the health care providers failure to take measures to save its life, would face a charge of failure to render medical care to an an infant born alive, also a first-degree felony. The woman would be able to sue the doctor for damages under SB 157. The heart of the Born-Alive Infant Protection Act is quite simple: no helpless newborn child should be left alone to die, said Mike Gonidakis, president of Ohio Right to Life. It is our sincere hope that shared human decency will compel legislators at the Ohio Statehouse to come together to protect innocent, born babies desperate for a chance to live. But Planned Parenthood of Greater Ohio says SB 157 is unnecessary because health care providers are already obligated to provide appropriate medical care, said its spokeswoman, Laurel Powell. To suggest otherwise is false, offensive, and dangerous, she said. In the middle of a global pandemic, there are far more rational ways for lawmakers to spend their time in the legislative session. In 2002, Congress passed the Born-Alive Infant Protection Act, which was sponsored by U.S. Rep. Steve Chabot, a Cincinnati Republican, and signed into law by former President George W. Bush. The law said that members of the homo sapiens species who are completely expelled or extracted from their mother -- at any stage of development -- who have a beating heart, pulsation of the umbilical cord, or definite movement of voluntary muscles, regardless of whether the umbilical cord has been cut, and regardless of whether the expulsion or extraction occurs as a result of natural or induced labor, cesarean section, or induced abortion, are considered born alive and they have the same rights as any other person. Abortion rights supporters have said that this law means doctors could be charged with homicide if the fetus were born alive. However, abortion opponents dont believe that law is clear enough. The federal law does not mandate appropriate treatment to an abortion survivor, Gonidakis said. The 2002 act just recognizes the child as a person if she survives. More coverage: Keeping Wolstein vaccination site open after 8 weeks not off the table: DeWine State working with Wolstein Center, college campuses on Johnson & Johnson vaccines Ohio legislature to see bills critics say are anti-transgender What Ohio could have learned about the coronavirus if the state had the data Madelines Law would require Ohio insurance plans to cover childrens hearing aids Judge temporarily blocks Ohios telemedicine abortion ban 70 school districts preparing to sue Ohio over private school vouchers Judge temporarily blocks Ohios enforcement of fetal remains abortion law KPC News is available 24/7 online at kpcnews.com. Browse stories, view photos and videos or view the e-edition of your local newspaper any time online. A hiker missing in the Californian mountains was rescued after a GPS-obsessive cross-referenced a grainy photo of the mountaineer's foot with satellite images. Renee Compean, 46, sent a photo to a friend of his legs hanging over a rocky cliff face in the Angeles National Forest to say he was lost and his cell phone dying on Monday night. The friend passed on the photograph to the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department who posted it to Twitter asking for help locating the missing man. Using Google Earth and his knowledge of the hiking trails around California, GPS obsessive Ben Kuo was able to narrow down the location of the missing hiker to within a few kilometers. Kuo posted GPS coordinates of a possible location to grateful local search and rescue teams, who located Compean three quarters of a mile away. Compean and Kuo met virtually on Tuesday where the hiker expressed his gratitude. 'I crazy appreciate what you did...I really don't know if I could make it there another day. It was just so cold,' Compean told Kuo. Missing hiker Renee Compean sent this photo to a friend as his cell phone was dying to say he was lost. The LA County Sheriff's Department then posted it to Twitter asking for help to locate him Acting on a tip from Ben Kuo, who matched the photo to vegetation and terrain on satellite imagery, members of the LA County Sheriff's search and rescue team were able to find and rescue a hungry Compean about 3:45pm on Tuesday Compean is hauled from the remote mountain ledge by the LA County's search and rescue team Los Angeles County Sheriff's and search and rescue teams pose with rescued hiker Renee Compean, 46, after he was pulled from the Angeles National Forest on Tuesday GPS: An invention of the US military now used by millions every day GPS, or global positioning system, was originally a creation of the US Air Force in the 1970s. A network of 31 satellites spaced evenly at different orbits at an altitude of approximately 12,550 miles circle the Earth sending data back. The satellites are positioned so that there are always four visible to any smart phone or car navigation system with a GPS receiver, through urban geography can get in the way. By combining the coordinates of three satellites, a GPS receiver can provide precise coordinates. If a fourth one is in view, altitude can also be included. GPS began being used outside of the military in the 1990s, and became a common feature in cars in the 2000s. Advertisement After being stranded in the treacherous mountains 45 miles northeast of Los Angeles, Compean was hungry, tired and lost, and wasn't sure he'd survive another night. He'd been lost for more than 24 hours, and having turned off the locator on his cell phone, search and rescue teams had little clue where to start looking when they were notified the previous night. The LA County's Sheriff's Department took to Twitter to ask for help, posting the photo Compean had sent his friend of his dirt-covered legs. Kuo, 75 miles away at home in Thousand Oaks, saw the post and began matching the photo with terrain and vegetation from satellite images. 'I've got a very weird hobby, which is, I love taking a look at photos and figuring out where they're taken,' Kuo, a keen hiker himself, told NBC Los Angeles. 'I was hoping I didn't send them on a wild goose chase, and then they'd get mad at me,' Kuo told KCBS-TV. Sergeant John Gilbert told CBS Los Angeles that the coordinates supplied by Kuo matched cell phone data they were tracking and helped them pinpoint his precise location. 'This was a good clue and it was worth investigation,' Gilbert said. 'So that's when we asked our Air Rescue 5 to go and check out that area and see if they saw anything, lo and behold we were able to find him.' A grateful Compean paid tribute to the 'awesome' rescue team, saying: 'I really appreciate everything they did, they didn't give up.' Compean thinks he got lost because was a recent wildfire in the Mount Waterman area. He believes it burned down some direction signs and made him to take a wrong turn. The LA County Sheriff's team showed the power of social media in seeking help finding the missing hiker, and expressed their gratitude afterwards Ben Kuo - whose Twitter handle is @ai6yrham - is thanked for his help finding the missing hiker The All Progressives Congress (APC) has said Nigeria remains Africas biggest economy and top investment destination. Secretary of the APC Caretaker and Extra-ordinary Convention Planning Committee (CECPC), John Akpanudoedehe, said this in a statement on Thursday in Abuja. Mr Akpanudoedehe was reacting to insinuation that Twitters decision to cite its African operations in Ghana was caused by bad governance in Nigeria. The PDP had blamed Twitters decision to locate its African operational base in Ghana instead of Nigeria to the Buhari administration misrule. Mr Akpanudoedehe said decisions of private concerns particularly businesses, on where to cite operations were their exclusive preserve and should not be an issue. He said Nigerias current status as Africas largest economy was attained under President Muhammadu Buhari-led APC administration, adding that our industrious citizens were the ultimate beneficiaries. However, for the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) that mocks the country and its citizens over what it celebrates as missed business prospects, does not mean well and should definitely not be considered as a governance option. It is exhausting and depressing highlighting PDPs ignominious past, he said. Mr Akpanudoedehe said the APC would rather consolidate and focus on how Nigeria was finally getting it right under Mr Buhari. He wondered how come what the PDP termed the present misrule did not stop multinational technology companies such as Facebook and Google from opening offices in Nigeria. The APC secretary pointed out that the claim of misrule by the PDP did not stop the worlds largest brewer from establishing business in Nigeria. This, he said, included Anheuser-Busch InBev and multinational food manufacturing giants and Kelloggs which established their multi-billion naira breweries and factories in Nigeria. He said in spite of uncertainties due to COVID-19 pandemic, Nigeria earned $2.6 billion of the global volume of Foreign Direct Investment. This surpasses major competitor South Africa (2.5billion dollars), following the latest 2020 United Nations Conference on Trade and Development Investment Trends Monitor, he said. Mr Akpanudoedehe said Nigeria had achieved a lot through the Presidential Enabling Business Environment Council (PEBEC). He said the PEBEC was set up by the Buhari-led administration to remove bureaucratic constraints in doing business in Nigeria and the ongoing implementation of Economic Recovery and Growth Plan. Nigeria is on the right trajectory and the PDP cannot wish away these solid achievements, Mr Akpanudoedehe said. He reminded Twitter and other frontline social media platforms of their important responsibilities in curbing fake news, disinformation and hate speech. ADVERTISEMENT Mr Akpanudoedehe said in the last U.S. presidential election, the proactive role played by social media operators in checking fake news and divisive rhetoric was a solid pointer to how proper social media usage ultimately benefits society. We expect no less in Nigeria from social media operators, he said. (NAN) Presidente @FSagasti: Hago un llamado a todos los partidos politicos para que firmemos un pacto por la mejora de la salud publica en el Peru. Es fundamental que apoyen decididamente este esfuerzo. pic.twitter.com/Dwo2UvBat0 House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) speaks during a press conference at the U.S. Capitol in Washington on April 15, 2021. (Alex Wong/Getty Images) Pelosi Says She Wont Commit to Expanding Supreme Court, Backs Bidens Commission Expanding the Supreme Court could happen but should be studied first, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) said on Thursday. A group of House Democrats were expected to announce a bill later in the day that would expand the nations top court from nine seats to 13, with members upset that six of the current members were nominated by Republican presidents, including three Trump appointees. Asked if she would commit to bringing the bill to a vote, Pelosi said, no. I support the presidents commission to study such a proposal but frankly, Im notright now were back, our members, our committees are working, were putting the infrastructure bill and the rest [together], she told reporters in Washington during her weekly press conference. Still, Pelosi is not ruling out expansion of the court, noting that it has been done before. I dont know that thats a good idea or a bad idea. I think its an idea that should be considered, and I think the presidents taking the right approach to have a commission to study such a thing, she said. Its a big step. Its not out of the question. It has been done before in the history of our country, a long time ago. and the growth of our country, the size of the country, the growth of our challenges in terms of the economy, etc., might necessitate such a thing. But I have no plans to bring it to the floor, no. President Joe Biden last week signed an executive order creating a commission to study possible reforms to the Supreme Court, including potential expansion. The Supreme Court of the United States in Washington on May 7, 2019. (Samira Bouaou/The Epoch Times) The commission, which will have up to 36 members appointed by the president, will produce a report that includes information about the role of the Supreme Court and an analysis of core arguments for and against expansion. Republicans say changing the courts size amounts to court packing and note that the last time a president tried expansionDemocrat Franklin Rooseveltthe effort was rejected by Congress. This faux-academic study of a non-existent problem fits squarely within liberals years-long campaign to politicize the court, intimidate its members and subvert its independence, Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) said. Biden while a senator called the idea of court packing boneheaded but has recently expressed openness to doing so. A number of sitting and late Supreme Court justices oppose expanding the court, including Clinton appointees Justice Stephen Breyer and the late Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. Breyer told Harvard University Law School last week that such a move would only serve to erode the trust the public has in the court, which is meant to be independent of political influence. Egyptian authorities Wednesday released two local journalists after spending about a year and a half in pre-trial detention, their lawyer and family members said, the latest in a series of releases in recent months. Solafa Magdy and her husband Hossam el-Sayyad arrived at their home in Cairo, Magdys mother Taghred Zahran said. She posted a photo on Facebook showing the couple hugging their child. The freelance journalists were released pending an investigation into whether they disseminated false news, misused social media platforms and joined an outlawed group, said lawyer Khaled Ali. Magdy is a multimedia reporter and el-Sayyad is a photographer. Magdy and her husband were detained in a Cairo district in November 2019. At the time, she was an outspoken critic of the arrest of rights activist Esraa Abdel Fattah, who remains in detention. Their release came a day after authorities freed Khaled Dawoud, an opposition leader and former head of the liberal Dostour, or Constitution political party. He spent more than a year and a half in pre-trial detention. The Egyptian government has in recent years waged a wide-scale crackdown on dissent, jailing thousands of people, mainly Islamists, but also several well-known secular activists. Journalists have also been targeted, with dozens imprisoned and some foreign journalists expelled. Egypt remains among the worlds worst jailers of journalists, along with Turkey and China, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists. (Disclaimer: This story is auto-generated from a syndicated feed; only the image & headline may have been reworked by www.republicworld.com) BOSTON, April 15, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- According to the latest report from Boston Consulting Group (BCG), Most Innovative Companies 2021: Overcoming the Innovation Readiness Gap, the COVID-19 pandemic has demonstrated the importance of innovation excellence in turbulent times. Pharma companies performed strongly this year, joining technology and software companies that have dominated the rankings in recent years. The survey also identified strong regional variations in the innovation readiness of companies, with China and the US in the lead. The 50 Most Innovative Companies of 2021 The report finds that only about 20% of companies globally have built high-performing innovation systems that can transform ambitious aspirations into real results. Moreover, some industries show big gaps in innovation readiness. Companies that are both committed (they back priorities with investment) and ready (they have the necessary platforms and practices in place) are up to four times as likely as those that aren't to outperform their peers in terms of revenues from new products, services, and business models. "Innovative companies have reaped the benefit of their earlier investment through this current crisis period, both for their shareholders and in terms of wider societal impact," said Ramon Baeza, BCG managing director and senior partner and a coauthor of the report. 17 Companies Enter the Top 50 This year's ranking of the 50 most innovative companies underscores the power of commitment and readiness. (See the list below.) In addition to 33 holdovers from last year, the 2021 list includes 12 companies that have returned to the top 50 after an absence of at least one year, and 5 firms that are new to the list. While technology and software companies continue to dominate, this year's ranking saw a breakout performance by pharma, with 9 companies ranked (three times the number in 2020), a third of them making their first appearance there. Differences in readiness also show up in performance, as demonstrated by the shareholder returns that members of BCG's previous 50 most innovative companies rankings have generated. "The pre-pandemic top 50 from 2020 have outperformed the MSCI World Index by a staggering 17 percentage points in the past year; and even if you remove the high-flying tech giants, top innovators still beat the index by 13 percentage points, demonstrating that investment in innovation delivers short-term as well as longer-term benefits, particularly in a time of crisis," said Konstantinos Apostolatos, BCG managing director and senior partner and a coauthor of the report. Regional Divergences on Innovation The US continues to lead with 27 of the top 50 companies (up by 2 from last year), driven by tech, software, and pharma companies. Owing to its relative lack of tech and software companies, Europe placed only 11 companies on this year's list (down by 4 from the previous year), but it remained competitive in other sectors including automotive, medtech, pharma, industrials, and fashion. Although China earned only 4 spots among the top 50, more Chinese companies are likely break into the ranking in coming years as they compete more visibly in global markets. Diversity and Innovation Companies in the top 50 tend to exhibit higher gender and ethnic diversity in their leadership: Microsoft, Alibaba, Cisco Systems, Philips, and Novartis, for example. "There's this big chicken-and-egg question when it comes to diversity and innovation: what comes first?" said Johann Harnoss, associate director and report coauthor. "We tried to put this question to rest, using the unique data we have going back to 2005. We see clear evidence that it's diversity that drives innovation, and not so much innovation attracting more diversity." Overcoming the Readiness Gap Is Essential This year's research reveals a worrisome readiness gap. On the positive side, 75% of companies identify innovation as a top-three priority (up 10% from 2020the largest year-over-year increase in the 15 year history of the report), and 60% plan to increase their investment in innovation, with one-third of those planning to boost spending by more than 10%. But 80% of companies fall short of BCG's innovation readiness benchmark across multiple dimensions of their innovation systems. The report suggests that attention to two areas can help bridge the gap: C-suite engagement and stronger bonds between product and sales teams. BCG data shows that among companies that outperform their peers on innovation outcomes (as measured by the share of sales from new products and services), close to 90% demonstrate clear C-suite-level ownership, compared with only 20% of underperformers. Meanwhile, almost a third of companies in the 2021 survey cited less-than-optimal collaboration between their R&D and sales teams as their biggest barrier to higher innovation output. "CEOs are ramping up their companies' efforts and investment, recognizing that innovation's power to boost resilience and drive advantage is more important than ever," said Justin Manly, managing director and partner and report coauthor. "We see a risk, however, that their hopes will not be realized because their companies are not ready. The good news is that most can radically improve their readiness with a few targeted changes in strategy, operating model design, and organizational capabilities." A copy of the report can be downloaded here. To arrange an interview with one of the authors, please contact Eric Gregoire at +1 617 850 3783 or [email protected]. About Boston Consulting Group Boston Consulting Group partners with leaders in business and society to tackle their most important challenges and capture their greatest opportunities. BCG was the pioneer in business strategy when it was founded in 1963. Today, we work closely with clients to embrace a transformational approach aimed at benefiting all stakeholdersempowering organizations to grow, build sustainable competitive advantage, and drive positive societal impact. Our diverse, global teams bring deep industry and functional expertise and a range of perspectives that question the status quo and spark change. BCG delivers solutions through leading-edge management consulting, technology and design, and corporate and digital ventures. We work in a uniquely collaborative model across the firm and throughout all levels of the client organization, fueled by the goal of helping our clients thrive and enabling them to make the world a better place. SOURCE Boston Consulting Group (BCG) Related Links www.bcg.com Nearly a decade ago, in a Fort Bragg, N.C., airplane hangar packed with nearly 3,000 servicemen and -women, President Obama welcomed some of the last troops home from Iraq and uttered these knowing -- and prophetic -- words: Its harder to end a war than to begin one. At the time, Obama couldnt predict just how hard it would be or calculate the manifold U.S. security costs involved. Despite his best efforts to pivot his administrations attention from the Middle East to Asia, the rise of the Islamic State and its deadly rampage across Iraq and Syria once again drew the U.S. back into Iraq three years later, with U.S. troops deployed to stop a gruesome genocide taking place in the security vacuum the U.S. left behind. ISISs determination to build a caliphate exacerbated the existing refugee crisis in the region, the worst in a generation with millions displaced, and led to the exporting of terrorist plots to the U.S. and Europe, as well as the rise of home-grown, ISIS-inspired terrorists. Now its President Bidens turn to make a security gamble this time in Afghanistan, where the U.S. troop footprint stands at 2,500, down from the roughly 8,400 at the beginning of President Trumps tenure. Biden on Wednesday announced a complete withdrawal of U.S. combat forces from the country will take place by Sept. 11 -- the 20th anniversary of the attacks that first drew America into its longest war. Im now the fourth United States president to preside over an American presence in Afghanistan: two Republicans, two Democrats, Biden said. I will not pass this responsibility onto a fifth. In making the decision, Biden extended by several months the planned May 1 withdrawal date the Trump administration negotiated with the Taliban. Speaking in highly personal terms about his own view of this seemingly endless war, Biden said he was keeping a U.S. promise to leave the country because he saw no military solution that would permanently stabilize it. Im the first president in 40 years who knows what it means to have a child serving in a war zone, he said. Throughout this process, my north star has been remembering what it was like when my late son Beau was deployed to Iraq. How proud he was to serve his country. How insistent he was to deploy with his unit and the impact it had on him and all of us at home. Now there are military members in Afghanistan whose parents served in the same combat theater. War in Afghanistan was never meant to be a multi-generational undertaking, he said. Biden has plenty of Democrats backing his withdrawal plan many who wish he would have stuck with the May 1 deadline. It took us 10 years to find and kill Osama bin Laden. We stayed an additional 10 years to help train Afghan security forces and create conditions for a more stable future for that country, said Sen. Tim Kaine of Virginia. It is now time to bring out troops home. Some Republicans, including close Trump allies such as Sens. Ted Cruz and Rand Paul, are also on board after years of supporting Trumps America-first agenda and his own campaign promise to pull U.S. troops out of the region and end the wars there. Cruz argues that withdrawing our troops from the country wont stop Biden from using military force to protect American interests, as well as those of our allies, if the security situation in Afghanistan worsens after the departure. Bringing our troops home should not be taken as a sign that America will be any less vigilant in protecting American lives and those of our allies, but we can do so without a permanent military presence in a hostile terrain, Cruz said on CNN Tuesday. But his support for the withdrawal, along with Pauls, is not common on the GOP side of the aisle. Certainly, far more Republicans than Democrats are issuing dire warnings against the move. Sen. Lindsey Graham, consistently one of the most hawkish Republicans in Congress, called Bidens announcement of a date for withdrawal insane and warned that picking up and leaving would make any type of raid on a terrorist leader, like the one Navy SEALs conducted against 9/11 mastermind Osama bin Laden, far more difficult. A number of Democrats also are deeply concerned about the withdrawal, arguing that ending the U.S. military presence is a risky gambit for both Americas interests and those of the Afghan people. When Obama pulled all U.S. troops out of Iraq, an effort Biden, as his vice president, spearheaded, he was under enormous political pressure to do so as the U.S. troop death toll continued to mount a year ahead of his reelection effort. But ending the pandemic was the overriding concern of the 2020 presidential campaign, with Afghanistan barely a footnote. Why then, critics of the withdrawal ask, take the risk of destabilizing the region, allowing the country to once again become a hotbed of terrorism, and eroding the progress made in establishing the rule of law and protecting the Afghan people, especially women, from tyrannical Taliban rule? Im very disappointed in the presidents decision to set a September deadline to walk away from Afghanistan, Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, a Democrat from New Hampshire who sits on the foreign relations and armed forces committees, said in a statement. Although this decision was made in coordination with our allies, the U.S. has sacrificed too much to bring stability to Afghanistan to leave without verifiable assurances of a secure future. "It undermines our commitment to the Afghan people, particularly Afghan women," she continued. "I urge the Biden administration to make every effort between now and September to safeguard the progress made and support our partners in the formation of an inclusive, transitional government." Rep. Seth Moulton, a Massachusetts Democrat, said its clear the U.S. has little chance of winning the war in Afghanistan, but there are still devastating ways we could lose. While Trump and other war-fatigued Americans have deemed Afghanistan a forever war, others say the combat mission that began after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks has morphed into partnership with the countrys elected government with the U.S. benefiting from it as an insurance policy on security. The Taliban has not altered its plans to retake the country and still has not cut ties to al-Qaeda the terrorist groups second in command was killed in Afghanistan less than six months ago. With the Taliban back in power, women could pay the highest price and once again be barred from attending school or holding jobs. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell called the impending move a grave mistake, arguing that NATO allies have practically been begging the United States to stay by their side. McConnell referred to a 2019 amendment he authored that cautioned against precipitous retreats from Afghanistan and Syria a measure that a supermajority of senators backed. "The amendment called upon the administration to, quote, 'certify that conditions have been met for the enduring defeat of al-Qaeda and ISIS before initiating any significant withdrawal of United States forces from Syria or Afghanistan,'" McConnell said. "Can President Biden certify that right now?" he asked. Though Trump never succeeded in pulling all troops out of the country, he drew down the force level carefully, negotiating a May 1 date for a complete withdrawal after months of peace talks with the Taliban but only if the Taliban met certain conditions. Critics of Bidens decision argue the Taliban clearly shows no intention of upholding its end of the deal. The U.S. Special Inspector General for Afghan Reconstruction has produced its 2021 High-Risk List, which identifies threats to reconstruction effort in Afghanistan. That report showed the Taliban hasnt altered its long-held goal of taking over the country, use of violent attacks against outside forces or its alliance with terrorist groups that still operate freely in Afghanistan with Taliban cover. Just last month, the Taliban twice targeted U.S. personnel at a military installation in the eastern region of the country with rocket attacks, and last week another occurred in Kandahar with rockets landing near a NATO air base used by U.S. and coalition troops providing support to Afghan forces. In light of that record, especially when Bidens decision about U.S. withdrawal was hanging in the balance, why would the rebel group uphold its end of the deal and allow the Afghan government to continue operating after American forces leave? Although Biden didnt condition the U.S. withdrawal on violence levels in Afghanistan, his national security team no doubt will be watching them closely. Exiting on Sept. 11 would make for dramatic bookends to Americas longest war, but only if doing so isnt just a prelude to another, perhaps bloodier, struggle. Our understanding of alien planets might need revision, according to scientists who cooked meteorites. The atmospheres of other rocky planets like our own Earth could be significantly different from the assumptions that researchers currently use when they create theoretical models of the ways they form, the new research suggests. Scientists drew the conclusion after conducted novel research that saw them heat pieces of meteorite in a high-temperature furnace, and watch for the gases that were released. It is detailed in an article published today in the journal Nature Astronomy. This information will be important when we start being able to observe exoplanet atmospheres with new telescopes and advanced instrumentation, said first author Maggie Thompson, a graduate student in astronomy and astrophysics at UC Santa Cruz. The researchers used three meteorites: the Murchison chondrite, which arrived Australia in 1969; Jbilet Winselwan, from Western Sahara in 2013; and Aguas Zarcas from Costa Rica in 2019. All of those meteorites were taken from our own solar system, given that there is no access to visitors from the kinds of other worlds that the study aims to understand. But researchers say there is still plenty to learn from the rocks. It may seem arbitrary to use meteorites from our solar system to understand exoplanets around other stars, but studies of other stars are finding that this type of material is actually pretty common around other stars, said coauthor Myriam Telus, assistant professor of Earth and planetary sciences at UC Santa Cruz. Researchers have historically believed that the rocky planets like our own get their early atmosphere when gases are released out of the surface of the planet. As they are heated up by processes including volcanic actvity, the gases are pushed out, and go on to form the atmospheres that help shelter us on Earth and may help alien life elsewhere in the universe. By baking the rocks, researchers intended to recreate that process, using pieces of meteorite that are referred to CM-type carbonaceous chondrites, and are composed similarly to the material that formed our sun and planets. When the building blocks of a planet are coming together, the material is heated and gases are produced, and if the planet is large enough the gases will be retained as an atmosphere, explained coauthor Myriam Telus, assistant professor of Earth and planetary sciences at UC Santa Cruz. Were trying to simulate in the laboratory this very early process when a planets atmosphere is forming so we can put some experimental constraints on that story. To conduct the simulations, researchers built an oven that is something like the beginnings of a rocky planet: a furnace that could heat the rocks up to 1200 degrees Celsius, attached to a mass spectrometer and vacuum that allowed them to analyse the gases as they came out. They found that water vapour made up most of the gas, alongside significant parts of carbon monoxide and carbon dioxide, and less hydrogen and hydrogen sulfide. Often when creating models, researchers assume a similar make up to that on the Sun referred to as solar abundances with a lot of hydrogen and helium, which is likely to work for bigger planets similar to our Jupiter, which get their atmosphere from gaseous clouds coming out of their star. Planets like ours, however, are thought to get more of their atmosphere from gasses that come up from the surface, in a process called outgassing. Study of meteorites suggest that would lead to an early atmosphere with more water vapour. ITHACA, N.Y. - Since state austerity policies initiated a potable water crisis seven years ago in Flint, Michigan, public health monitoring has focused on potential developmental deficits associated with lead exposure in adolescents or fetuses exposed in utero. New research from Cornell and the University of Michigan offers the first comprehensive evidence that the city's adult residents suffered a range of adverse physical and mental health symptoms potentially linked to the crisis in the years during and following it, with Black residents affected disproportionately. In a survey of more than 300 residents, 10% reported having been diagnosed by a clinician with elevated blood lead levels - well above national averages - after a state-appointed city manager, as part of a cost-saving measure, switched the city's water source to one that became contaminated with lead and harmful bacteria on April 25, 2014. Nearly half the survey respondents reported experiencing skin rashes and more than 40% experienced hair loss, among physical symptoms associated with elevated levels of bacteria and heavy metals in water. More than a quarter of respondents reported symptoms of depression or anxiety, and nearly a third had PTSD symptoms specifically related to the water crisis. "If you don't trust your water and you actively avoid it over persistent concerns on its safety, that's a stark form of psychological trauma in and of itself," said Jerel Ezell, assistant professor in the Africana Studies and Research Center in the College of Arts and Sciences. Ezell and Elizabeth Chase, a doctoral student at the University of Michigan School of Public Health, are co-authors of "A Population-Based Assessment of Physical Symptoms and Mental Health Outcomes Among Adults Following the Flint Water Crisis," published March 31 in the Journal of Urban Health. The researchers conducted surveys in late 2019 as part of the Flint Community Engagement Project, a longitudinal study started in 2017 for which Ezell, a native of the Flint area, serves as principal investigator. Even several years after the city switched back to its original water source in 2016, the researchers said, federal, state and local government guidance, and guidance from healthcare practitioners in the city, about tap water safety remained ambiguous and often contradictory. The surveys were administered at nine public sites - including libraries, a laundromat, a cafe and a bus station - in an effort to capture the racial and socioeconomic diversity across the low-income, predominantly Black city. Ezell and Chase found that more than half the respondents were never screened for elevated blood lead levels, but that Black residents were nearly twice as likely to seek screening as whites - possibly an indication that they perceived a higher threat level, Ezell said, similar to the gap in threat perception seen across race in relation to COVID-19's severity. Nearly 60% of Black respondents reported skin rashes beyond what they considered normal before the crisis, compared with 33.9% of whites. Black residents also reported significantly higher percentages of hair loss, nausea and emotional agitation. The more physical symptoms one reported, the study determined, the more likely they were to report psychological symptoms. The study used validated surveys to measure feelings of depression or anxiety and of post-traumatic stress disorder, as was observed in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina and more recently in Puerto Rico after Hurricane Maria. They asked, for example, if respondents had persistent and ongoing thoughts about the quality of their tap water, or if they blamed themselves or someone else for the city's water crisis. The results - 26.3% of residents exhibited depressive or anxious symptoms, and 29% met criteria for trauma - revealed "a steep and broad mental health toll," the researchers said. The authors acknowledged limitations to the study, including that the survey sample was not randomly selected and that symptoms were self-reported and could have been affected by recall bias. Factors other than water contamination, they cautioned, could have contributed to elevated blood lead levels and other reported symptoms. The data nonetheless suggests, Ezell said, that Flint's adult residents experienced significantly more adverse health symptoms during and in the years after the water crisis' initiation than would be expected from the city's population. "Flint adults, particularly Blacks," Ezell and Chase concluded, "experienced deleterious physical and mental health outcomes following the city's water crisis that appear to represent a substantial burden of excess cases." The findings, they said, point to the need for continued testing of Flint's water quality and any potential negative health impacts, and a broader imperative to restore civic trust by addressing "macrosocial forces, many of which have racist and classist antecedents," that contributed to the crisis. "It is these forces," they wrote, "that ultimately laid the groundwork for the devaluation of Flint's water and negligence towards residents' health." ### The study received funding support from the National Science Foundation. Public asked to help guide Michigan's goal of carbon neutrality by 2050 Public asked to help guide Michigan's goal of carbon neutrality by 2050 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE April 15, 2021 Nick Assendelft, Public Information Officer, AssendelftN@Michigan.gov, 517-388-3135 Online listening sessions scheduled for Earth Day and May 5 The Office of Climate and Energy is asking members of the public for their insights about climate and how Michigan can move toward carbon neutrality by 2050. Two online public listening sessions have been scheduled, one on Earth Day, April 22, and the second on May 5. The Department of Environment, Great Lakes and Energy (EGLE) through its Office of Climate and Energy is charged with formulating and overseeing implementation of the MI Healthy Climate Plan, a roadmap to reducing greenhouse gas emissions statewide, with input from the Council on Climate Solutions. Details of the public listening sessions using the Zoom meeting platform: Thursday, April 22, from 10:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. and Wednesday, May 5, from 6-8 p.m. Links to join either session are posted to the Michigan.gov/Climate webpage. Those who wish to speak should send an email to EGLE-ClimateSolutions@Michigan.gov with "Public Comment Request," the date of the session at which you would like to speak and your name in the subject line. Those who send an email request will be allowed to speak first. Members of the public who do not submit their names ahead of time will still be allowed to make a comment. Each speaker will be limited to three minutes. Sessions are designed to gather comments and input from the public; organizers will not answer questions posed by attendees. Individuals needing language assistance or accommodations for effective participation at the listening sessions should contact Kimber Frantz at FrantzK@Michigan.gov or 517-284-5035 at least seven days before the event to request language, mobility, visual, hearing, translation and/or other assistance. Each listening session will begin with an overview of Gov. Gretchen Whitmer's Executive Order 2020-182 that established the Council on Climate Solutions, an explanation of how it is structured and its role in advising EGLE and OCE on the development of the MI Healthy Climate Plan. The council's input will be informed by the public comments at the listening sessions and guidance from five workgroups: Energy Production, Transmission, Distribution, and Storage; Buildings and Housing; Transportation and Mobility; Natural Working Lands and Forest Products; and Energy Intensive Industries. The two scheduled public listening sessions will be recorded and posted in a timely manner to Michigan.gov/Climate. Those who cannot attend the listening sessions can offer their topical comments at any time by sending an email to EGLE-ClimateSolutions@Michigan.gov. The council is comprised of 14 state residents as well as representatives from nine state departments and agencies. EGLE Director Liesl Clark is the chair of the council, which is scheduled to meet publicly the fourth Tuesday of each month through the end of the year. The MI Healthy Climate Plan is an effort to combat the impacts of climate change in Michigan. Climate change is having a detrimental impact on the state's environment and economy and threatens the health and well-being of residents, with communities of color and low-income Michiganders bearing a disproportionate impact of climate disruptions. Gov. Whitmer has also signed Executive Directive 2019-12, in which Michigan joined the United States Climate Alliance, a bipartisan coalition of governors from 25 states devoted to pursuing the goals of the Paris Agreement. EGLE does not discriminate on the basis of race, sex, religion, age, national origin, color, marital status, disability, political beliefs, height, weight, genetic information or sexual orientation in the administration of any of its programs or activities, and prohibits intimidation and retaliation, as required by applicable laws and regulations. # # # Cr Leppert said operators were still able to take online bookings, but many were flouting the local law preventing them from accepting street trade by passing pedestrians. Many continue to conduct street trading, contrary to the local law, but enforcing this is exceptionally difficult given the inability of local law officers to apprehend the driver of a moving vehicle, he said. A photo taken by activists of a horse that fell near Crown Casino in February, 2018. Credit:Melbourne Against Horse-Drawn Carriages Swanston Street is the busiest tram route in the world, with more truck movements than ever from Metro Tunnel works, and too many horse-drawn vehicle operators continue to perform illegal road movements. The situation is simply unsafe to members of the public, to vulnerable road users and to the horses themselves ... the status quo does not work, and the risks of government inaction are too high. Loading Unique Carriage Hire owner Dean Crichton, who is not accused of breaking the law or road rules, said the council had made assumptions about the way he operated his business and had refused to consult him in the past. We are not standing on the street touting for carriage rides. The majority of my work is all done over the internet, Mr Crichton said. He said occasionally tourists paid cash in hand, usually after they were referred to him by hotels, but he did not see accepting the business as breaking a local law. I am quite happy to be paid cash for my carriage rides, but it is not street trading, Mr Crichton said. He said he wanted an opportunity to sit down with the council, but believed the motion was bowing to pressure from animal rights activists. By making it hard for my business, they make it hard to care for my animals, Mr Crichton said. I do what I love because I am an animal lover not an animal hater. Loading Replay Replay video Play video Play video Activists have lobbied Melbourne City Council to step up its efforts to remove horse-drawn carriages, including by working with VicRoads. One woman, Elizabeth Viggars, told council on Tuesday she had had frequent near misses with carriages. I regularly cycle to work through the city and have had many encounters with horse-drawn carriages taking over bicycle lanes, she said. Loading I feel vulnerable when pushed into traffic in order to bypass the horses. It is particularly dangerous at night, when we are less visible to drivers. Recently on my way home from work I was forced into general traffic, due to a horse-drawn carriage fully occupying the bicycle lane, also a no-standing zone. Animal Justice Party MP Andy Meddick described horse-drawn carriages as rogue trade. The only way to get through this is to ban them completely, he said. Speaker of the National Assembly of Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh) Artur Tovmasyan has issued the following statement on Azerbaijans subsequent Armenophobic policy: The War Trophy Park that Baku opened a few days ago was a vivid manifestation of Azerbaijans subsequent Armenophobic and genocidal policy. We witnessed inhumane and humiliating scenes portraying Armenian soldiers and prisoners of war. Such attitude of the Azerbaijani elite not only neglects and violates the norms of international humanitarian law, but also attests to the continuation of the activities of the military-political leadership of Azerbaijan that are combined with interethnic hostility starting from May 12, 1994. In one of the statements he made after the war that took place in the fall of 2020, President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev stated that he had raised such a generation of Armenophobic people that helped determine the outcome of the war. With this, Azerbaijan is clearly showing its anti-humanistic and immoral stance and showing its atrocities against Armenian captives and hostages in Azerbaijani prisons. The National Assembly of Artsakh fundamentally condemns the activities that Azerbaijans military-political leadership is carrying out to destroy Armenians and calls on the international humanitarian community and interested organizations to give a proper evaluation of the violation and humiliation of national dignity. Studies will focus on toxic protein in the brain and genetic factors NEW YORK, April 15, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- CurePSP has awarded Venture Grants to three researchers studying tau protein pathology and genetic factors in progressive supranuclear palsy (PSP) and corticobasal degeneration (CBD). Each grant is for $100,000. Dr. Rohan de Silva of UCL Queen Square Institute of Neurology in London has received a grant for his study of the propagation of toxic tau protein in the brain. The aim of this project is to understand how healthy tau is converted to toxic strains related to PSP and CBD and to identify their imprinted defects that enable the strain-specific progression. As Dr. de Silva explains, "Tau protein is essential for healthy nerve cells, but tau gone bad drives the devastating damage and progression of PSP, CBD, and other diseases involving the tau protein. Understanding why tau goes 'off the rails' and also the structural differences of its toxic forms could provide leads for better-tailored therapies and biomarkers for differential diagnosis." CurePSP made a grant to Dr. Chao Peng, Department of Neurology, UCLA David Geffen School of Medicine, Los Angeles, to study the modulation of normal tau protein in the brain to slow the spread of toxic tau. Dr. Peng will employ the autopsied brains of patients with PSP to study this phenomenon with the goal of developing a novel therapy to slow or stop disease progression. Dr. Peng said, "The transmission and amplification of pathological tau in the brain is a key process for the progression of PSP. This study aims to explore a new strategy to slow this process." Dr. Franziska Hopfner, Department of Neurology, Hannover Medical School, Hannover, Germany, has been awarded a Venture Grant for her study of epigenetic changes in the brain that may lead to the spread of toxic tau protein in the brain. Epigenetics involves genetic changes that are caused by environmental factors. Dr. Hopfner's study will focus on microRNA, which is double-stranded RNA that regulates most protein-coding genes in the brain. The study may discover previously unknown molecular targets and pathways that can be used to develop new therapies. Dr. Hopfner said, "I am very grateful for the funding from CurePSP. My team and I will use it for the sake of patients with PSP, to shed further light on the molecular mechanisms of this disease." Story continues CurePSP's Venture Grants are awarded twice a year. Applications are reviewed and recommended to the CurePSP Board of Directors by an independent scientific advisory board. The next application deadline is May 1, 2021. About CurePSP CurePSP is the nonprofit advocacy organization focused on progressive supranuclear palsy (PSP), corticobasal degeneration (CBD), multiple system atrophy (MSA), and other prime of life neurodegenerative diseases, a spectrum of fatal brain disorders that often strike during a person's most productive and rewarding years. Currently, there is no effective treatment or cure for these diseases, which affect more than 150,000 people in the U.S. alone. Since it was founded in 1990, CurePSP has funded nearly 200 research studies and is the leading source of information and support for patients and their families, other caregivers, researchers and doctors, and allied healthcare professionals. CurePSP is based in New York City. Please visit www.curepsp.org for more information. Contact: David Kemp 802-734-1185 kemp@curepsp.org Cision View original content to download multimedia:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/curepsp-awards-three-new-venture-grants-for-the-study-of-psp-and-cbd-301269950.html SOURCE CurePSP, Inc. When her flight from Scotland landed in Chennai in December 2019, Nishi Ravi knew what she wanted. After a master in counselling from the University of Edinburgh, she was determined to take a break. Then the pandemic struck. Fifteen months later, she says, I am yet to take that break. As Covid-19 upended life and added new layer of stress to it, many turned to therapists. But who did therapists turn to? They peered inwards and, well, reached out to their therapist. A therapists therapist may seem like a fiction writers imagination. Surely they know all about ... She was the third celebrity to be voted off Dancing With The Stars this week. And on Thursday, Schapelle Corby was cheered up by her mother Rosleigh Rose as the pair took a cruise around Sydney Harbour. Schapelle, 43, shared a photo of the mother and daughter duo beaming on a boat while taking in the view of the iconic Harbour Bridge. Playing tourists! She was the third celebrity to be voted out of Dancing With The Stars this week, but on Thursday Schapelle Corby was cheered up by her mother Rosleigh Rose as the pair took a cruise around Sydney Harbour Schapelle was excited to be spending quality time her mother, writing in a caption of a photo she posted on Instagram 'Sydney' with blue heart emojis. She dressed for their day out in a burnt orange polka dot mini dress, which she accessorised with a pair of trendy oversized sunglasses and a crossbody bag. Rosleigh, who travelled from her home in Loganlea to support her daughter, looked equally as thrilled to be out on the town with her girl. Standing by her daughter: This is Rosleigh's first appearance on her Instagram. She was a ardent supporter of Schapelle during her prison sentence and was seen celebrating Schapelle's release in media reports back in 2014 Fierce: She was often in attendance at Schapelle's court hearings in Denpasar, Indonesia with her older daughter Mercedes (left) This is Rosleigh's first appearance on her Instagram. She was a ardent supporter of Schapelle during her prison sentence and was seen celebrating Schapelle's release in media reports back in 2014. In October 2004, Schapelle became a household name when she was arrested at Bali airport with 4.2kg of cannabis wrapped in plastic inside her boogie board bag. The world watched in May 2005 as she broke down in the Denpasar courtroom after being sentenced to 20 years' imprisonment in Kerobokan Prison. Following a series of sentence reductions, Schapelle was released on parole in February 2014, having served nine years behind bars. Schapelle's day out in Sydney comes after a leading TV commentator suggested the former Kerobokan Prison inmate was 'unfairly' voted off the show by the judges. Aaron Ryan of TV Blackbox said in an opinion piece that Schapelle, who previously appeared on Seven's SAS: Australia, had three out of the four judges in her corner. Unfair exit? This week a TV commentator suggested Schapelle (pictured with dance partner Shae Mountain) was 'unfairly' voted off Dancing with the Stars On the night, Schapelle and former Bachelor Matty Johnson were the bottom two contestants who had to battle it out in a dance-off. Mr Ryan explained that DWTS co-host Sonia Kruger had told viewers the judges - Mark Wilson, Paul Mercurio, Todd McKenney and Helen Richey - would be making their final decision 'based on that dance alone'. Mark was the only one of the judges to vote for Matty without any hesitation. Tellingly, Todd pointed out that Schapelle had 'danced so much better' - an assessment both Paul and Helen agreed with. But in the end, their favourable opinions of Schapelle's performance didn't count for much and she and dance partner Shae Mountain were sent packing. Paul and Helen voted for Matty, overruling Todd and thus eliminating Schapelle. Afterwards, several viewers commented on the DWTS Instagram page to say the judges made a 'good choice' to vote her off. Others said they were glad to see Schapelle gone, arguing that a 'convicted criminal' shouldn't be classed as a celebrity. One critic wrote: 'What was she doing on this show?! Or any show for that matter. Heads up - she most definitely is NOT a star.' The last dance! In the end, the judges' favourable opinions of Schapelle's performance didn't count for much and she and dance partner Shae Mountain were sent packing 'What was she doing on this show?!' Several viewers commented on the DWTS Instagram page to say the judges made a 'good choice' to vote Schapelle off Fortunately, there were fans who praised Schapelle for her 'cracking effort'. 'She was so gracious and lovely, I wish her well,' one supporter commented. Schapelle competed as a 'wildcard' contestant on Dancing with the Stars, alongside Matty, Jessica Gomes and Renee Bargh. The other participants have all appeared on the reality show before. Well-wishes: Fortunately, there were fans who praised Schapelle for her 'cracking effort' Description "Landmark on Main Street and Transition Town Port Washington present a conversation with Geovaira Hernandez and Ryan Madden, Coalition Organizers for NY Renews, led by moderator Melanie D'Arrigo, community activist and former congressional candidate. The speakers will discuss legislative proposals that are designed to address the climate problem on the state and national levels. Learn more about the Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act (CLCPA), passed into law last year in New York State, and the national Thrive Agenda, supported by the Green New Deal Network, that is currently being proposed in Congress." Landmark on Main Street Boston Children's Museum Announces Reopening We are thrilled to reopen the Museum and once again engage children in joyful discovery experiences. This past year has been very stressful for everyone, especially children who need time to play, explore, and discover in order to stay mentally and physically healthy. Boston Children's Museum has announced its plan to reopen to the public after being closed since December. The Museum will initially open on Saturdays and Sundays in May, and then with an expanded schedule of Wednesdays through Sundays beginning June 2nd. The Museum is welcoming visitors back by launching the Summer of Play that will offer families a range of fun, hands-on, and social activities that include access to all Museum exhibits including the New Balance Foundation Climb, outdoor programs under the tent, the new Fantastic Forts exhibit, PlaySpace, the new Turtle Tank, and everyday hands-on activities involving science, art, music, and more. The Museum is also offering its first ever Explore It Summer Camp during the month of July. The Museum will be open in two time slots 9:00am-12:00pm and 1:30-4:30pm with tickets available online. Museum staff and all visitors ages 2 and over will be required to wear masks. For full information on what to expect, parents and caregivers should visit the Museum's website https://www.bostonchildrensmuseum.org/reopening. We are thrilled to reopen the Museum and once again engage children in joyful discovery experiences, said Carole Charnow, President & CEO of the Museum. This past year has been very stressful for everyone, especially children who need time to play, explore, and discover in order to stay mentally and physically healthy. We are launching our Summer of Play campaign to emphasize just how important it is to recover the sense of joy and wonder that comes from play. During the Museums short-term closure to the public, many of the most beloved exhibits were refurbished and refreshed including the New Balance Foundation Climb, Raceways, Bubbles, Peeps World, and Countdown to Kindergarten. Boston Children's Museum continues to maintain the highest standards for ensuring a safe and playful experience for staff and visitors. The Museum will continue to follow safety protocols in keeping with State and Federal guidelines, including social distancing and face mask requirements for all visitors ages 2 and over. To manage visitor capacity, admission is only by advance registration and ticketing. Online ticketing begins Friday, April 16, and all visitors, including members, are required to reserve an advance ticket online at https://www.bostonchildrensmuseum.org/ticketing. The Museum will continue to offer its extensive online play and learning activities that it has been providing to families over the past year. These resources can be found at https://www.bostonchildrensmuseum.org/learning-resources About Boston Children's Museum Boston Childrens Museum engages children and families in joyful discovery experiences that instill an appreciation of our world, develop foundational skills, and spark a lifelong love of learning. More information about Boston Childrens Museum can be found at http://www.BostonChildrensMuseum.org. Become a fan of the Museum on Facebook and follow us on Twitter. Canberra, April 15 : Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison announced on Thursday that the country's remaining troops in Afghanistan will leave in September. Morrison said Australia would follow the US in ending its military presence in Afghanistan after 20 years, reports Xinhua news agency. "Over the past two years we've been reducing our military presence in Afghanistan from a high of over 1,500 personnel to around 80 personnel currently," he told reporters. "In line with the US and our other allies and partners, the last remaining Australian troops will depart Afghanistan in September 2021." Australian Defence Force personnel arrived in Afghanistan in 2001. More than 39,000 Australian troops had been deployed to Afghanistan, 41 of whom died in the country. He acknowledged that the conflict has "exacted an enormous toll" on the Afghan people and said that Australia would continue to support peace talks between the Kabul government and the Taliban. The Australian Defence Force last year released the findings of a four-year inquiry that found "credible evidence" of the special forces soldiers' murdering of 39 Afghans, including children, in 23 incidents, and none of those killings occurred in "the heat of a battle". The killings have been described by many as war crime. Paul Flores is arrested by the San Luis Obispo County Sheriff's Department on suspicion of murder of Kristin Smart, who went missing 25 years ago after leaving a college party. (San Luis Obispo County Sheriff's Department) Paul Flores, the man accused this week in the slaying of Cal Poly SLO student Kristin Smart in 1996, was years later investigated for sexual assault cases in the Los Angeles area, police and prosecutors have revealed. San Luis Obispo prosecutors charged Flores with first-degree murder, alleging that he killed Smart in his college dorm room as he sexually assaulted her. He has in the past denied wrongdoing. Authorities in Los Angeles County say Flores, who lived in San Pedro, was also the subject of sexual assault investigations locally. What do we know about the L.A.-area cases? LAPD Capt. Jonathan Tippet, head of the agencys Robbery-Homicide Division, said detectives in recent months gathered evidence against Flores in two sexual assaults that allegedly occurred over several years. The L.A. County district attorneys office has not made a decision whether to file criminal charges against Flores in the alleged attacks. In 2013, Redondo Beach police presented prosecutors with a rape allegation. The D.A. declined to charge Flores in that case due to insufficient evidence," officials said. Is there an ongoing investigation? L.A. County authorities provided few details about the local cases, but Tippet said the two LAPD cases were open and ongoing. San Luis Obispo County Dist. Atty. Dan Dow said his office is looking into whether Flores sexually assaulted other women in San Pedro, where he has lived since about 2005. He asked that women who may have been assaulted by Flores contact San Luis Obispo authorities. Where does the Smart case stand? Flores, 44, was arrested Tuesday at his home, nearly 25 years after Smart left a party near the Cal Poly campus and vanished on the way back to her dormitory. Dow said prosecutors decided they could prove Flores guilt after investigators discovered more evidence and interviewed new witnesses in the last two years. He declined to provide specifics, saying only that text messages taken from Flores phone had been helpful and that detectives obtained very important information in March. Investigators that month searched a home owned by Flores father with cadaver dogs and ground-penetrating radar. Story continues Weve got physical evidence, Dow said, we have witness statements, things that, in our view, in their totality, have brought us to the point where we believe we can go forward and prosecute Mr. Flores for the murder of Kristin Smart. Flores father, Ruben Flores, 80, was charged Wednesday as an accessory to Smarts murder. He is accused of helping his son dispose of Smarts remains. What is the next step? Both men have yet to enter a plea. An arraignment scheduled for Thursday in San Luis Obispo County Superior Court was postponed until Monday. Flores' family has steadfastly maintained his innocence. Last month, his mother reiterated the claim, telling a television reporter, We have no responsibility for her disappearance and what happened to that young woman. The whereabouts of Smarts body remain a mystery. On Wednesday, Dow said we do believe we have the location where the body was buried, but would not elaborate. Authorities have not found Smarts remains and are continuing to search for them, Sheriff Ian Parkinson said Tuesday. This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times. Cryptocurrency exchange Luno recently revealed its customer base has surpassed 7 million users, up 892% from 705,000 users in the beginning of 2017. Notably, it recorded 300% year-on-year growth in transactions on its platform in January 2021, hitting a value of $8.3 billion (R121 billion). Luno currently offers its range of consumer products in 40 countries, with an international team comprising more than 400 employees working from offices in Johannesburg, Cape Town, London, Singapore, Kuala Lumpur, Jakarta, and Lagos. It is also ranked in the top six cryptocurrency exchanges by the CryptoCompare Exchange benchmark, with a top tier AA rating. To understand the significance of these achievements, one should go back to eight years when the exchange was started. The company was founded in 2013 by two South Africans former investment banker Marcus Swanepoel, and Timothy Stranex, who had previously worked for Google as a software engineer. Initially going by the name of Switchless, the team was focused on building blockchain systems for large financial institutions, including the first fully integrated Bitcoin system for Standard Bank. However, realising that it would take banks very long to move into the space given the many misconceptions as to what blockchain technology could do. They decided to focus on the value of blockchains as decentralised cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin or Ethereum. To offer cryptocurrency trading services for consumers, they launched the BitX exchange in South Africa. In 2014, it was expanded into Indonesia, Malaysia, and Nigeria. 2015 saw BitX received a $3 million injection in a funding round led by Naspers, with additional funds from Digital Currency Group (DCG) and Ventura. The following year, the company grew its team to 15 people and reached 100,000 downloads on the Google Play Store. 2017 marked a milestone for BitX, starting with its rebranding to Luno in January. In September 2017, Luno closed another funding round for $9 million, before announcing its expansion into Europe and reaching 1 million downloads on the Google Play Store. Notably, it added support for the Ethereum network the worlds second most valuable cryptocurrency by the end of that year. In 2018, Luno integrated Segwit, doubled its app users, and launched new offices in London and Johannesburg. It also won the award for fastest growing tech company in the UK in TNWs Tech 5 competition. In 2019, Luno 2.0 was launched with support for Bitcoin Cash among its new capabilities. Swanepoel said the last 12 months hastened the global adoption of cryptocurrency. While a lot of the attention has been around institutional adoption, retail adoption has been growing at an arguably even more frantic pace. In 2021, we expect to continue this exponential growth, on track to reaching our goal of one billion customers by 2030, Swanepoel said. Luno has developed an aggressive road map for future growth and ultimately aims to compete with financial services firms globally, with the goal of upgrading the world to a better financial system. Its success led to one of its earliest investors the worlds largest blockchain investment company Digital Currency Group (DCG) acquiring it in September 2020. CEO Barry Silbert described Lunos growth as phenomenal and said it was one of the fastest-growing companies in DCG. We will continue to make significant investments to support Lunos commitment to drive global economic and social change through the transformation of traditional financial services, Silbert stated. While Luno is now headquartered in London, its growth in South Africa continues. The exchange processed nearly $3 billion (R44 billion) in the country last year, and already exceeded this volume in the first three months of 2021. It has added almost a million new South African customers during 2020, and over 250,000 thus far in 2021. This puts Luno at 2.1 million users in South Africa. According to the platform, an estimated 15% of South Africans have invested in Bitcoin the second highest percentage in the world according to the Global Web Index, beating even the USA and Japan. Its also the fifth most popular finance app on iPhone and third on Android ahead of most of Africas biggest banks. Uncertainty over government regulation of cryptocurrency remains a major challenge to increased adoption in South Africa, however. Luno Africa General Manager Marius Reitz previously said that the lack of regulatory framework has made it difficult for crypto platforms to operate bank accounts. In turn, this makes it very difficult for customers to buy Bitcoin with their local fiat currency, Reitz said. However, he said that regulators in South Africa have shown great willingness to engage with the cryptocurrency community to works toward pragmatic regulation. The chart below shows the trading volume of transactions of the four biggest countries represented on Luno . District Metals (CVE: DMX) CEO Garrett Ainsworth joined Steve Darling from Vancouver to share news the company has updated their drilling program ongoing at the Tomtebo Property in Sweden. That includes how many holes they have drilled so far. Ainsworth also told Proactive they have filled a key role with the company with a tremendous amount of experience working with polymetallic ore deposits in Sweden. Additionally, MMNA marked the completion of construction on Arrotta's Mitsubishi, located in Spokane, Washington. The facility underwent an extensive renovation under the brand's corporate Visual Identity Program to improve sales and customer service environments while also aligning Arrotta's with a new era of Mitsubishi Motors' retail experience. The Visual Identity Program enhances the customer shopping experience with a high-quality retail environment, working in concert with the brand's "Drive your Ambition" brand message to engage and inspire customers across all Mitsubishi retail stores. The main color palette is cool and muted, black and gray, with red accents that match Mitsubishi Motors' brand colors. The Visual Identity Program ensures clean branding throughout the showroom and service waiting areas to tell a consistent, upscale brand story. "We continue to invest in and improve every aspect of the vehicle shopping experience with our dealer partners, and we are thrilled to have 10 new partners join the Mitsubishi Motors brand," said Mark Chaffin, Chief Operating Officer, MMNA. "2021 is a pivotal year for Mitsubishi Motors, with one all-new and three substantially revised vehicles that are now arriving in dealer showrooms. New or long-standing, it's an exciting time to be a Mitsubishi dealer, and we're looking forward to working together with all of our dealer partners to make the most of this opportunity for mutual success." These newly opened and remodeled retail facilities across the U.S. are the latest step in the ongoing plan to rejuvenate every aspect of Mitsubishi Motors and its operations in the U.S., from corporate leadership to dealer partners to each touchpoint in a customer's relationship with their vehicle. For more on Mitsubishi Motors and its U.S. dealer network, please visit media.mitsubishicars.com. About Mitsubishi Motors North America, Inc. Through a network of approximately 330 dealer partners across the United States, Mitsubishi Motors North America, Inc., (MMNA) is responsible for the sales, marketing and customer service of Mitsubishi Motors vehicles in the U.S. MMNA was the top-ranked Japanese brand in the J.D. Power 2020 Initial Quality study, ranking sixth overall and experiencing the greatest year-over-year improvement of any brand. With headquarters in Franklin, Tennessee, and corporate operations in California, Georgia, Michigan, New Jersey, Texas, Florida and Virginia, MMNA directly and indirectly employs more than 8,000 people across the United States. For more information on Mitsubishi vehicles, please contact the Mitsubishi Motors News Bureau at 615-257-2698 or visit media.mitsubishicars.com. Contacts Jeremy Barnes Senior Director, Communications and Events [email protected] Mobile: 714-296-1402 Lauren Ryan Manager, Communications and Events [email protected] Mobile: 404-862-8286 SOURCE Mitsubishi Motors North America, Inc. Related Links www.mitsubishicars.com Founded in 2010, Linke has helped countless companies navigate and implement complex cloud migrations with their unparalleled expertise and innovative SAP and AWS solutions. The company was one of the first AWS Partner Network (APN) companies to achieve Premier Consulting Partner Status and became a SAP Gold Partner, the highest category of SAP's PartnerEdge Program, in 2020. "Syntax is known for its commitment to innovation, our people and our customers. As we looked for a company with a similar mindset that could help us expand our presence in Europe, we could not have found a better company than Linke," said Christian Primeau , Global CEO of Syntax. "Linke's unmatched expertise in deploying, migrating, operating and automating enterprise applications specifically SAP workloads on AWS and dedication to customer success is well-known. This transaction represents an exciting opportunity for Syntax to further Linke's impressive capabilities and help even more customers reach their cloud goals." Syntax will aim at expanding Linke's AWS Professional Services practice by growing its European Advisory and Migration offering in the DACH region (Germany, Austria and Switzerland) and in the Americas. Additionally, Syntax customers will benefit from the addition of innovative, new solutions and technologies, including AWS Connector for SAP, Emory Cloud Backup for SAP HANA and SAP Automation Platform. "Over the past 10 years, we have established Linke as a leader in Europe for SAP on AWS environments, developing projects in 17 countries," said Chabier Sanvicente , Linke co-founder and CEO. "Joining our expertise with Syntax will allow us to grow faster, accelerate our international expansion, improve the development and capacity for our solutions and expand our value proposition so our clients can transform and innovate their business." For more information about Linke and all of Syntax's SAP on AWS offerings, please visit syntax.com . About Syntax Since 1972, Syntax has been providing comprehensive technology solutions to businesses of all sizes with thousands of customers trusting Syntax with their IT services and ERP needs. Today, Syntax is a leading Managed Cloud Provider for Mission Critical Enterprise Applications. Syntax has undisputed strength to implement and manage ERP deployments (Oracle, SAP) in a secure, resilient, private, public or hybrid cloud. With strong technical and functional consulting services, and world-class monitoring and automation, Syntax serves corporations across a diverse range of industries and markets. Syntax has offices worldwide, and partners with Oracle, SAP, AWS, Microsoft, IBM, HPE, and other global technology leaders. Learn more about Syntax at www.syntax.com . About Linke Linke, a Syntax company, is an expert in migrating SAP environments to Amazon Web Services (AWS) to help companies located primarily in Spain, Europe and the Middle East unlock the advantages of cloud computing in real, effective and simple ways. As an AWS Premier Consulting Partner, Linke has achieved several AWS competencies, including the SAP, Migration, DevOps and Nonprofit Consulting Competencies. Linke additionally has more than 70 certifications from AWS and SAP. For more information, visit: https://linkeit.com/ SOURCE Syntax EnTrust Global, a leading asset management firm, today announced the launch of Purus Marine, a maritime holding company that owns environmentally-advanced vessels and infrastructure equipment, contracted long-term to high-quality end users. The Company serves a wide variety of maritime sectors, including the industrial shipping, short-sea, ferry, offshore wind and environmental remediation sectors. Julian Proctor, who brings more than 24 years of experience in the maritime industry, will serve as Chief Executive Officer and as a Board Member. Purus Marine's fleet will reduce the carbon emissions and ocean pollution of its customers by using: Low-to-zero carbon fuel technologies Energy-saving devices Design and operational efficiencies "As the maritime industry confronts the challenges of climate change, Purus Marine is strongly positioned to meet our customers' increasing demands for low-carbon vessels and equipment," said Julian Proctor, Chief Executive Officer of Purus Marine. "Our specialized industry knowledge, our extensive relationships with end users, banks and shipyards, and the talent of our senior leadership, will support Purus Marine's growth," said Svein Engh, Senior Advisor and a Board Member of Purus Marine. "We are excited to launch Purus Marine and make an immediate and measurable impact on reducing carbon emissions and pollutants from the maritime industry. Our mission is to support the industry's transition to a zero-carbon and sustainable future," said Gregg S. Hymowitz, CEO and Chairman of EnTrust Global and Chairman of the Board of Purus Marine. Purus Marine has formed its first partnership, called DP Lease, with Damen Shipyards Group of the Netherlands. DP Lease will focus on owning electric and hybrid-electric ferries, towage and harbor equipment, contracted out to Damen's clients. About Purus Marine Purus Marine is a maritime holding company that owns environmentally-advanced vessels and infrastructure equipment, contracted long-term to high quality end-users. The Company serves a wide variety of maritime sectors, including the industrial shipping, short-sea, ferry, offshore wind and environmental remediation sectors. Purus Marine is committed to supporting the maritime industry's transition to a zero-carbon and sustainable future by owning vessels and infrastructure equipment that reduce carbon emissions and ocean pollution. For more information visit www.purusmarine.com. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210415005317/en/ Contacts: Alastair McDonald +44 20 7389 1351 amcdonald@purusmarine.com EDITOR'S NOTE: The writer is addressing the status of Earth Day in 2021. Earth Day is April 22. (TNS) 2020 was the year that the climate crisis came to my doorstep again. Just eight years after my parents home was destroyed by Superstorm Sandy, record-breaking wildfires swept through the West, claiming homes, lives and even an entire town. For one terrifying day, my sky turned orange; for weeks afterward, my family and I and millions of others breathed smoky, unhealthy air. We were far from alone. From Australia, to Honduras, to Iowa and the Gulf Coast, 2020 brought climate disasters to communities around the world, including those that have already been pummeled by storms made fiercer by climate change. Its clearer than ever that we must take immediate action to prevent the climate crisis from getting even worse. Earth Day isnt the only day we should spend working to make that happen, of course. But its a useful ritual that can draw everyones attention back to an issue that can seem too overwhelming to even think about. Its an opportunity to set aside the voice that says, Ill deal with that tomorrow, and consider what we can do to protect our shared home for ourselves, our kids and future generations right now. Weve suffered through years of escalating crises. How about we make 2021 the year of starting to solve our biggest problems at the pace and scale thats needed? This year offers the best opportunity weve had in years maybe ever to pass meaningful climate legislation. With allies in Congress and the White House and a rapidly approaching deadline to stave off the worst effects of climate change, its time for an all-out mobilization that meets the crises our country faces at the speed and scope we need. We have no more time for limited, piecemeal action. According to a 2018 report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, getting us off track for catastrophic levels of warming will require rapid, far-reaching and unprecedented changes in all aspects of society over the next nine years. In that time, well need to transform how we generate energy, how we get around, how we grow food and much else. We dont have the luxury of tackling the climate crisis in isolation, either. Millions of Americans remain out of work because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Racial injustice remains a deep and continuing crisis for communities of color and one of the ways it manifests is in disproportionate exposure to toxic air and water and climate disasters. We need solutions as big and as interconnected as the problems we face. The THRIVE Act, which will be introduced to Congress this month, is a road map out of our countrys crises. It would invest $1 trillion a year for a decade to create over 15 million family-sustaining jobs enough to end the unemployment crisis while cutting climate pollution nearly in half by 2030 and cleaning up pollution in communities of color. It would invest in sectors across our economy, like clean manufacturing, clean energy and transportation, upgrading infrastructure and buildings, protecting our lands, regenerative agriculture, and care for children and the elderly, with at least half of the investments going to the communities on the front lines of the climate crisis. All of these jobs would include strong wage and benefit guarantees, access to unions, and equitable hiring practices that recruit women and people of color. The THRIVE Act already has support from a broad coalition of unions, environmental organizations, racial justice groups, faith groups and cultural institutions. Its roots are in plans created by grassroots environmental justice organizations, which serve those most affected by pollution, and its central provisions are popular with voters across the country. But to turn THRIVE into a reality, well have to do more to build a multiracial, cross-class coalition powerful enough to push it through Congress. Thats another reason to return to the spirit of the original Earth Day, which was largely organized by people with ties to the Civil Rights movement. They saw environmentalism as one part of a larger struggle for justice. As Denis Hayes, coordinator of the original Earth Day celebration, put it, their goal is not to clean the air while leaving slums and ghettos, nor is it to provide a healthy world for racial oppression and war. This Earth Day, lets remember that all our struggles are connected. If we want to build a better world, well need to take action to solve the climate crisis and ensure that everyone has access to a healthy environment and well need to fight for economic opportunity and freedom from racial inequality. When we come together across lines of race, class and geography to fight for solutions as large as the issues we face, theres no limit to what we can win. This is our moment to create a livable future for all. We have no time to waste. Mike Brune is executive director of the Sierra Club. He wrote this for InsideSources.com. UNITED STATES SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION WASHINGTON, DC 20549 FORM 8-K CURRENT REPORT Pursuant to Section 13 or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 Date of report (Date of earliest event reported): April 9, 2021 ANNOVIS BIO, INC. (Exact Name of Registrant as Specified in Charter) Delaware 001-39202 26-2540421 (State or Other Jurisdiction of Incorporation) (Commission File Number) (I.R.S. Employer Identification No.) 1055 Westlakes Drive, Suite 300 Berwyn, PA 19312 (Address of Principal Executive Offices, and Zip Code) (610) 727-3913 Registrants Telephone Number, Including Area Code Not Applicable (Former Name or Former Address, if Changed Since Last Report) Check the appropriate box below if the Form 8-K filing is intended to simultaneously satisfy the filing obligation of the registrant under any of the following provisions (see General Instruction A.2. below): Written communication pursuant to Rule 425 under the Securities Act (17 CFR 230.425) Soliciting material pursuant to Rule 14a-12 under the Exchange Act (17 CFR 240.14a-12) Pre-commencement communication pursuant to Rule 14d-2(b) under the Exchange Act (17 CFR 240.14d-2(b)) Pre-commencement communication pursuant to Rule 13e-4(c) under the Exchange Act (17 CFR 240.13e-4(c)) Securities registered pursuant to Section 12(b) of the Act: Title of each class Trading Symbol(s) Name of each exchange on which registered Common Stock, par value $0.0001 per share ANVS NYSE American Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is an emerging growth company as defined in Rule 405 of the Securities Act of 1933 (17 CFR 230.405) or Rule 12b-2 of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (17 CFR 240.12b-2). Emerging growth company x If an emerging growth company, indicate by check mark if the registrant has elected not to use the extended transition period for complying with any new or revised financial accounting standards provided pursuant to Section 13(a) of the Exchange Act. x Item 5.02 Departure of Directors of Certain Officers; Election of Directors; Appointment of Certain Officers; Compensatory Arrangements of Certain Officers. On April 9, 2021, Reid S. McCarthy was appointed to the Board of Directors (the Board) of Annovis Bio, Inc. (the Company) and to the position of chairman of the Audit Committee of the Board. Mr. McCarthy is an independent director for general and audit committee purposes under applicable SEC rules and under the NYSE American LLC Company Guide. Mr. McCarthy also qualifies as an audit committee financial expert under applicable SEC rules. Mr. McCarthy, 67, is experienced in corporate financial management, operating management, and new venture development. A specialist in bank, bond, and equity financings, Mr. McCarthy retired after serving from 2016 to 2019 as the Chief Financial Officer of JJ Haines & Company, Inc., a $400 million revenue distribution company operating internationally. Between 2011 and 2016, Mr. McCarthy provided consulting Chief Financial Officer services to several life sciences companies. Prior to his service as a consulting Chief Financial Officer, Mr. McCarthy served as Chief Financial Officer of Topaz Pharmaceuticals, Inc. from 2007 to 2011, in which capacity, among other things, Mr. McCarthy arranged over $34 million in capital investment to fund the development and FDA approval of Topaz Pharmaceuticals, Inc.s therapeutic product. Mr. McCarthy and his colleagues successfully sold the company in late 2011 to Sanofi Pasteur, an international pharmaceuticals company. From 1993 to 2007 Mr. McCarthy served as a founding executive of several venture capital-backed companies operating in the senior real estate, bio-metric technology, and agribusiness industries, all of which were successfully sold. Mr. McCarthy's past positions include Vice President of Financing for Trinity Capital Corporation, Director-Project Financing for ASEA Brown Boveri, Inc., and officer positions with New York-based money center banks, including J.P. Morgan Chase. Mr. McCarthy holds an undergraduate degree in international relations from the University of New Hampshire and an MBA in international finance from New York University. A press release announcing Mr. McCarthys appointment to the Board is attached hereto as Exhibit 99.1 and is incorporated herein by reference. Item 9.01 Financial Statements and Exhibits. (d) Exhibits. SIGNATURES Pursuant to the requirements of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, the registrant has duly caused this report to be signed on its behalf by the undersigned hereunto duly authorized. ANNOVIS BIO, INC. Date: April 15, 2021 By: /s/ Jeffrey McGroarty Name: Jeffrey McGroarty Title: Chief Financial Officer Exhibit 99.1 Annovis Bio Appoints Reid McCarthy to Board and to Role of Audit Committee Chairman BERWYN, PA. April 15, 2021 Annovis Bio Inc. (NYSE American: ANVS), a clinical-stage drug platform company addressing Alzheimers disease (AD), Parkinsons disease (PD) and other neurodegenerative diseases, today announced the appointment of Reid S. McCarthy to its Board of Directors and to the role of Audit Committee chairman, effective April 9, 2021. A specialist in bank, bond, and equity financings, McCarthy retired after serving from 2016 to 2019 as CFO of JJ Haines & Company, Inc., a $400 million revenue distribution company operating internationally. Previously, McCarthy provided CFO consulting services to several life sciences companies, served as CFO of Topaz Pharmaceuticals from 2007 to 2011, and served as a founding executive of several VC-backed companies operating in the senior real estate, biometric technology, and agri-business industries, all of which were successfully sold, from 1993 to 2007. McCarthys past positions include Vice President of Financing for Trinity Capital Corporation, Director-Project Financing for ASEA Brown Boveri, Inc., and officer positions with New York-based money center banks, including J.P. Morgan Chase. McCarthy holds an undergraduate degree in international relations from the University of New Hampshire and an MBA in international finance from New York University. We are delighted to welcome Reid to our board and audit committee, commented Maria Maccecchini, Ph.D., CEO of Annovis Bio. Annovis is entering an exciting period of corporate development as we near the completion of our two ongoing Phase 2a trials. Based on positive initial interim data announced last month, we believe we will ultimately move into pivotal trials, and having someone of Reids caliber on our board at this stage further strengthens the Company. I am excited to work with the Annovis team as they execute on their mission of addressing chronic and acute neurodegeneration through a novel approach that offers new hope in the fight against the largest unmet need of our aging population, said McCarthy. About Annovis Bio Headquartered in Berwyn, Pennsylvania, Annovis Bio, Inc. (Annovis) is a clinical-stage, drug platform company addressing neurodegeneration, such as Alzheimers disease (AD), Parkinsons disease (PD) and Alzheimers 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 companys 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. 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. Further, certain forward-looking statements are based on assumptions as to future events that may not prove to be accurate, including that clinical trials may be delayed and that the initial interim data referenced herein is interim data, conclusions as to which may be superseded by subsequent data we expect to receive in connection with Phase 2a trials and/or subsequent clinical trials. 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, 2020 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. In this file photo, then-Vice President Joe Biden, left, speaks with then-Interior Secretary Ken Salazar before a ceremony in New Castle, Del., March 26, 2013, at First State National Monument, which was designated a national monument by then-President Barack Obama, the monument is the first step toward creating a national park in Delaware, the only state not included in the national park system. Twitter has been accused of protecting CNN after Project Veritas founder James O'Keefe was permanently banned from the site - one day after he published an embarrassing expose on the network. O'Keefe, 36, whose account was shut on Thursday, has now vowed to sue the tech giant after it accused him of operating fake accounts. The day before, he had published another embarrassing clip of a CNN camera director, Charlie Chester, on a Tinder date with an undercover operative discussing his employer's attitudes towards Donald Trump and Matt Gaetz. In one clip Chester tells his 'date' that CNN's focus was to remove Trump from the presidency. Project Veritas, the media watchdog which O'Keefe founded, said it was proof of the network's bias. James O'Keefe, Project Veritas founder, was removed from Twitter on Thursday Twitter said on Thursday that 'The account you referenced (@JamesOKeefeIII) was permanently suspended for violating the Twitter Rules on manipulation and spam. 'As outlined in our policy on platform manipulation and spam, 'You can't mislead others on Twitter by operating fake accounts,' and 'you can't artificially amplify or disrupt conversations through the use of multiple accounts.'' O'Keefe said he would sue the company. 'I am suing Twitter for defamation because they said I, James O'Keefe, 'operated fake accounts.' 'This is false, this is defamatory, and they will pay. Section 230 may have protected them before, but it will not protect them from me. 'The complaint will be filed Monday.' Donald Trump Jr was among those to criticize Twitter's decision to suspend O'Keefe's account, after O'Keefe's organization showed the senior CNN figure discussing how they set out to discredit his father. 'In case you haven't figured out how it works by now... @CNN spreads propaganda to elect Democrats. And then @Twitter runs interference to protect CNN. They're all on the same team,' he tweeted In a follow up tweet, he wrote: 'At this point, both CNN and Twitter should have to register with the FEC as Democrat Super PACs' Donald Trump Jr was among those to criticize Twitter's decision to suspend O'Keefe's account, after O'Keefe's organization showed the senior CNN figure discussing how they set out to discredit his father. 'In case you haven't figured out how it works by now... @CNN spreads propaganda to elect Democrats. And then @Twitter runs interference to protect CNN. They're all on the same team,' he tweeted. In a follow up tweet, he wrote: 'At this point, both CNN and Twitter should have to register with the FEC as Democrat Super PACs.' Other Twitter users accused the tech giant of censoring free speech. 'Freedom of speech is disappearing. Did you see Project Veritas thing about CNN? Then Twitter bans James O'Keefe! It's brazen but I think more people are realizing what's happening,' user @ACRoscoe tweeted. Another account with the user handle @carolinastreet tweeted: 'Twitter will not get away with their latest and most outrageous act of censorship. They BANNED James O'Keefe (Project Veritas) because he exposed so much corruption at CNN this week. Truth telling is unacceptable to these corrupt Big Tech Hacks.' O'Keefe is seen at CPAC in August 2020 in National Harbor, Maryland In Project Veritas's expose, Chester told his fake date: 'Look what we did, we got Trump out. 'I am 100 percent going to say it, and I 100 percent believe that if it wasn't for CNN, I don't know that Trump would have got voted out. 'I came to CNN because I wanted to be a part of that.' As a technical director, Chester operates video editing equipment for the cable network, where he has worked since 2018, according to his now-deleted LinkedIn bio. It is unlikely that he would have had editorial input at CNN, or participated in the network's daily editorial calls. But Project Veritas argues that he has unique insights on the editorial culture at CNN, in which he would be immersed daily. Though the video clips of Chester only provide snippets of his remarks, they do provide enough context to make it clear that the general thrust of his comments hasn't been concocted through editing. A CNN source told Mediaite that Project Veritas found Chester through the dating app Tinder, where he boasted of his work for CNN. A Veritas employee claiming to be a nurse matched with him and met him for several dates. Chester and the woman went on a total of five dates, before their final rendezvous in a coffee shop was interrupted by O'Keefe, the CNN source said. CNN technical director Charlie Chester was caught in the embarrassing footage after a woman working with the conservative group Project Veritas found him on Tinder Chester and the woman went on a total of five dates, before their final rendezvous in a coffee shop was interrupted by Project Veritas founder James O'Keefe The clips released by Project Veritas show Chester describing an openly partisan editorial culture, aimed at boosting Joe Biden and damaging Trump in the 2020 election. O'Keefe was suspended from Twitter in February after repeated violations of their rules 'against posting private information'. He also was temporarily locked out of his account for breaching the same privacy policy, pending the deletion of the tweet, a Twitter spokesperson said. The suspensions reportedly stemmed from a video the group shared featuring Facebook's Vice President of Integrity, Guy Rosen, a screenshot shared by Project Veritas on Telegram indicated. In the outlet's video, Hartsock is seen asking Rosen to comment on leaked footage from an internal meeting in which he appears to state that Facebook has a 'system that is able to freeze commenting' where 'there may be a thread that has hate speech or violence, sort of in the comments.' 'These are all things weve built over the past three-four years as part of our investments into the integrity space, our efforts to protect the election,' Rosen continues in the clip. When confronted over the comments, a startled looking Rosen refuses to respond to Hartsock and simply walks inside his home. Project Veritas tweeted the footage, writing: 'Facebook VP of Integrity @guyro didn't look too happy to see us...' O'Keefe also shared the footage. In his post, he wrote: 'INTEGRITY ALERT Facebook Vice President @guyro REFUSES to comment from confronted by @Project_Veritas Senior Journalist Christian Hartsock'. Twitter flagged both of the posts for violating its private information policy. During todays session, the Armenian government decided to properly hold the events commemorating the 106th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide. Based on the decision, a series of events commemorating the victims of the Armenian Genocide will be held, and the events will be broadcast on Armenian Public Television. On April 23 at 10:30 p.m., after the torch-lit march, the Armenian National Philharmonic Orchestra and the State Academic Choir of Armenia, as well as guest soloists from Armenia and abroad will perform Verdis Requiem at Tsitsernakaberd Armenian Genocide Memorial Complex. At 12 a.m. on April 24, under the direction of guest conductor Iradyan from Germany, the State Chamber Choir of Armenia and Hover State Chamber Choir will perform Mozarts Requiem at Komitas Chamber Music Hall. The commemoration events will end with a performance of Mansurians Requiem by the Armenian National Symphonic Orchestra, the State Chamber Choir of Armenia and Yerevan State Chamber Choir on April 24 at 19:15 at Karen Demirchyan Sport and Concert Complex. MASON CITY, Iowa - One person was arrested Wednesday in connection to a shooting that occurred in August of last year. Donavan Ward, 20, of Mason City, was booked into the Cerro Gordo County Jail after he was picked up on a warrant for felony willful injury. Ward allegedly shot another person in the leg on Aug. 8 of last year at 4th St. NE and Hampshire Pl. "The defendant (did) possess and discharge a 9 mm handgun at another passenger in the vehicle he was in during an argument, striking the passenger in the legs. The victim required hospitalization," court documents state. Ward is being held on $10,000 bond and for violating probation. Source: Xinhua| 2021-04-15 19:28:54|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close YAOUNDE, April 15 (Xinhua) -- Cameroon has set a goal to vaccinate 20 percent of its over 25 million population with a COVID-19 vaccine as the country is struggling with a new surge of infections, Cameroon's Minister of Public Health Manaouda Malachie said Wednesday. The Central African nation will have 1,752,000 doses of AstraZeneca vaccine via COVAX, and has ordered 4,000,000 doses of Johnson & Johnson vaccine, Manaouda told a press conference Wednesday night in the capital Yaounde. "Some of the vaccines will arrive this month and others will follow. Vaccination is now a cornerstone of our strategy to curb the spread of the pandemic," he added. Cameroon launched its COVID-19 immunization campaign on Monday after receiving a batch of Sinopharm vaccines donated by the Chinese government. It was the first batch of COVID-19 vaccines that Cameroon has received since the pandemic hit the country in March last year, according to the Ministry of Public Health. The country has prioritized frontline health workers and essential personnel in the first round of its vaccination. Later on, the immunization campaign will target the elderly as well as those who have existing chronic illnesses, and the general public will then follow. Cameroon had planned to introduce the AstraZeneca vaccines before the government suspended the plan in March due to safety concerns. Enditem The Port of Malaga is beginning to see the first green shoots of recovery in the tourism sector. Towards the end of this summer the cruise ships will return; and not only that, but they will have a base port on the Costa del Sol - where cruises start and finish - according to the President of the Port Authority, Carlos Rubio. The first itineraries will be only national, for the most part along the Andalusian coast from Huelva to Almeria although it is also planned to extend them to other nearby areas which could include Ceuta, Melilla, Murcia and also Valencia. Esther Molina, manager of Suncruise Andalucia, highlighted that the region has 900 kilometres of coastline and a wide variety of ports certified to comply with all the health protocols required by the pandemic. A key element in making all of this possible is that cruise passengers will travel in bubble groups, and will have been vaccinated or have produced negative PCR tests as will the crews. This type of cruise has already been operating in the Canary Islands since 6 November, while waiting for the ban on international cruises to be lifted. [April 15, 2021] BioStem Technologies, Inc. Announces Launch of National Sales Force Expansion Pompano Beach, Fl., April 15, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- BioStem Technologies, Inc. (OTC PINK: BSEM) ("BioStem" or the "Company"), a pre-clinical-stage biotechnology company focused on harnessing elements of perinatal tissue for use in regenerative therapies, today announced the launch of a national sales force expansion. The expansion aims to increase the number of dedicated regional sales representatives actively selling the Companys perinatal tissue allografts. As the economy reopens from blanket shutdowns related to COVID-19 prevention, treatment facilities are resuming elective surgeries and regenerative therapies. The Company plans to capitalize on the growing demand for high quality perinatal tissue allografts, precipitated by the booming return of these medical procedures. BioStem will be hiring experienced sales representatives with technical knowledge and business competencies in the orthopedic, wound care and urology verticals. The regional focus of the expansion will concentrate on three regions, North East (with states such as New York, Pennsylvania, Connecticut, and New Jersey), Midwest (with states such as Illinois, Ohio, Minnesota and Wisconsin) and the Mountain Region (with states such as Nevada, Arizona, Colorado, Utah, New Mexico, Montana and Wyoming). Qualified sales representatives who may be interested are asked to visit www.biostemtechnologies.com/agents and fill out the contact form to receive more information. About BioStem Technologies, Inc. (OTC PINK: BSEM): BioStem Technologies, Inc. is a pre-clinical-stage biotechnology company focused on harnessing elements of Perinatal Tissue and the bodys innate biology to repair or reverse damage caused by a broad range of degenerative diseases. Our proprietary approach, called Local Microenvironment Activation, or LMA, uses combinations of Small Molecules, Cytokines, and Growth Factors to activate the microenvironment within the body to create communication for repair in the tissue. BioStem Technologies offers a comprehensive portfolio of high-quality brands that include RHEO, OROPRO, AEON, VENDAJE, VENDAJE AC, and VENDAJE OPTIC. The Company is comprised of a diverse group of scientists, physicians, and entrepreneurs who collaborate to create innovative products. These technologies improve the Quality of Life for our patients and, as a result, drive shareholder value. Forward-Looking Statements: Except for statements of historical fact, the matters discussed in this press release are forward looking and made pursuant to the Safe Harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. "Forward-looking statements" describe future expectations, plans, results, or strategies and are generally preceded by words such as "future," "plan" or "planned," "expects," believe" or "projected." These forward-looking statements reflect numerous assumptions and involve a variety of risks and uncertainties, many of which are beyond the company's control that may cause actual results to differ materially from stated expectations. These risk factors include, among others, limited operating history, difficulty in developing, exploiting and protecting proprietary technologies, intense competition and additional risks factors as discussed in reports filed by the company with OTC Markets. BioStem Technologies, Inc. Phone: 954-380-8342 Website: http://www.biostemtechnologies.com Email: info@biostemtech.com Twitter: @BSEM_Tech Facebook: BioStem Technologies Investor Relations: info@biostemtech.com (954) 380-8342 [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] Source: Xinhua| 2021-04-16 02:40:21|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close Photo taken on April 8, 2021 shows the White House in Washington, D.C., the United States. (Xinhua/Liu Jie) The United States is expelling 10 personnel from the Russian diplomatic mission in Washington D.C. The Treasury Department designated six Russian technology companies that "provide support to the Russian Intelligence Services' cyber program," and 32 entities and individuals related to the 2020 U.S. presidential election interference. WASHINGTON, April 15 (Xinhua) -- The United States on Thursday imposed sanctions against Russia and expelled 10 diplomats in response to Moscow's alleged election interference and cyber activities. The White House said in a statement that President Joe Biden had signed a new sanctions executive order against Russia. According to the order, the U.S. Department of the Treasury issued a directive that prohibits U.S. financial institutions from participation in the primary market for ruble or non-ruble denominated bonds issued after June 14, 2021, by Russia's central bank, the national wealth fund, or finance ministry. The Treasury also designated six Russian technology companies that "provide support to the Russian Intelligence Services' cyber program," and 32 entities and individuals related to the 2020 U.S. presidential election interference, the statement said. In addition, the Treasury, together with the European Union, Britain, Australia, and Canada, blacklisted eight individuals and entities over the Crimea issue. Photo taken on March 26, 2018 shows the Russian national flag at Embassy of Russia in Washington D.C., the United States. (Xinhua/Yang Chenglin) The United States is expelling 10 personnel from the Russian diplomatic mission in Washington D.C., the statement added, saying the personnel "include representatives of Russian intelligence services." The statement also accused the Russian Foreign Intelligence Service of carrying out the alleged SolarWinds hack last year. These measures came days after Biden warned his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin in a phone call that the United States will "act firmly in defense of its national interests in response to Russia's actions, such as cyber intrusions and election interference." The Kremlin repeatedly said that claims of Russia's alleged meddling in the 2020 U.S. elections were baseless and regretful, calling them a pretext for additional sanctions. Relations between Washington and Moscow have been adversarial for recent years. The two were bitterly divided over Ukraine, Syria, and cybersecurity issues, and they mutually accused the other of domestic political interference. Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson in the Senate Chamber of the state Capitol in Little Rock, Ark., on April 8, 2020. (Tommy Metthe/Arkansas Democrat-Gazette via AP) Arkansas Governor Signs Alternative Hate Crimes Bill Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson on April 14 signed into law whats been deemed as an alternative hate crimes bill. Arkansas SB 622, introduced as a class protection bill, requires criminal defendants to serve at least 80 percent of their sentences if its found that they had purposely selected the victim because the victim was a member of or was associated with a recognizable and identifiable group or class who share mental, physical, biological, cultural, political, or religious beliefs or characteristics. The bill, filed in the state Senate on April 1, was approved 227 on a party-line vote on April 7. The states Republican-majority House voted 6526 in favor of the measure on April 12, before it headed to Hutchinsons desk. The law applies to those found guilty of serious felonies involving violence, including first- and second-degree murder, first-degree battery, aggravated assault, terroristic acts, arson, unlawful discharge of a firearm from a vehicle, or an attempt, solicitation, or conspiracy to commit felony offenses. It doesnt apply to other crimes, including misdemeanors. Critics slammed the bill as not being a true hate crimes bill, saying it doesnt refer specifically to categories such as race, sexual orientation, or gender identity. The Anti-Defamation League called the legislation a sham and one under which virtually any violent crime based on a persons association or belief would be covered, including crimes targeting white supremacists or neo-Nazis. Lets be clear, the legislation is not a hate crime bill, and if enacted, Arkansas will remain one of the last states without a hate crime law, the ADL said in a statement. Hate crimes are message crimes that target individuals because of immutable characteristics. Immutable characteristics does not mean being part of any recognizable and identifiable group. It refers to particular categories of people who have been historically targeted for violence and discrimination. Any legitimate hate crime law must name the hate by enumerating the immutable characteristics of race, religion, national origin, disability, gender, gender identity, or sexual orientation. But throughout the process, proponents of SB 622 have vehemently opposed their inclusion. Sen. Jimmy Hickey Jr., who is also the state Senate president and the legislations chief sponsor, said earlier in April that he believes the legislation would include crimes targeting a wide range of identifiable groups. If someone targets someone because theyre transgender, thats obviously an identifiable group, Hickey said on April 1, the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette reported. If someone targets someone because theyre a Baptist or Methodist minister, thats also an identifiable group. Its more fair this way. State Sen. Jim Hendren said that the bills definitions were too broad. Rep. Matthew Shepherd, who is the states House speaker, said that the language of the bill on how it defines groups of people ensures that every single class of people is coveredeven if newer groups of people arise in the future. Once we enact it, its there. Youre covered. Every class, every category, every group is covered, across the board, and really isnt that the way its supposed to be? Shepherd said on April 1, according to Nexstar Media Group. Hutchinson said he supports the SB 622 measure but acknowledged it wasnt his first choice. Prior to the signing of the bill, Hutchinson said the measure would still provide greater penalties for offenders who seek to target someone because of their race, sexual orientation, or gender identity. The protection provided and the increased penalties are the ultimate test, and while I preferred different language, I am confident that this bill accomplishes the objective of increased penalties for hate crimes, Hutchinson said in a statement. The first hate crimes bill filed during the states legislative session, Arkansas SB 3, had been introduced in November 2020, sponsored by Hendren, and remained with the states Senate Judiciary Committee since January, but was later voted down by the committee amid debate among lawmakers. This measure called for up to a 20 percent addition to any fine, imprisonment, probation, or suspended sentence, if the criminal defendant is found guilty of having committed the offense due to [the] victims race, color, religion, ethnicity, ancestry, national origin, homelessness, gender identity, sexual orientation, sex, disability, or service in United States Armed Forces. It would have applied to both felonies and misdemeanors. Hutchinson had previously called for support for a similar version of SB 3 in August 2020 in the previous legislative session. The Associated Press contributed to this report. ADVERTISEMENT A windstorm which occurred on Wednesday in Umuejem Community in Owerri West Local Government Area of Imo State has killed a middle aged man and injured three others. Chidi Ogundu, the acting head of the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA), Imo-Abia Operations Office, confirmed this to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Thursday. Mr Ogundu, who led the agencys team on an assessment tour of the disaster area, said 575 persons in the community were displaced while 35 houses and business premises were damaged. We are conducting a joint assessment with other humanitarian agencies in Owerri to ascertain the level of damage caused by the windstorm. It was evident from the assessment that the windstorm wreaked havoc at Umuejem village in Obinze community causing wide range of damage. Residential buildings, churches, business premises and critical infrastructure were completely destroyed leaving a lot of people in agony, he said. He said at the time of the assessment by the joint team one life was lost while three persons were injured and sent to the hospitals for treatment. READ ALSO: The assessment, he said, further revealed that goods and property worth millions of naira were damaged. Mr Ogundu commiserated with the victims, adding the agency would alert relevant authorities for possible assistance. In the neighbouring Anambra State, a windstorm on Tuesday pulled down about 14 structures and 15 electric poles in the 61-year-old Catholic Secondary School Onitsha, forcing the school principal to appeal to the public for help to rebuild the school. (NAN) The shocking incident was filmed on Tunisair flight TU216 at Istanbul Airport in Turkey before the plane was meant to head to Tunis-Carthage International Airport in Tunisia on April 10. Footage shows a mass brawl which saw passengers lash out and pull each other's hair on a Tunisair flight just before take-off. The brawl is believed to have originated from a fight about overhead locker space on the plane, according to Business News. An airline spokesperson said a row broke out between passengers which led to a delay of five hours, and confirmed that an investigation into the incident is underway. The airline spokesperson confirmed that cabin crew had to ask for the assistance of security teams to calm down tensions before the plane eventually took off. SPRINGFIELD State courts across Massachusetts will ease COVID-19 restrictions May 1, allowing a return of some 12-member juries. The Supreme Judicial Court announced the changes on Thursday, affecting all state courts and courthouses. They replace stricter guidelines issued on Feb. 24. The new order allows for the resumption of 12-person jury trials in Superior Court criminal and sexually dangerous person cases as part of Phase 3 of the plan for the gradual resumption of jury trials, the court said in a news release. The purpose of the new guidelines is to allow the courts to conduct as many jury trials as possible in as many locations as possible, but with health and safety practices in place, the court said, citing recommendations from the Jury Management Advisory Committee in its report of July 31. In Springfield, the Roderick L. Ireland Courthouse is preparing to use the former movie theaters at the Eastfield Mall on Boston Road which offer more space for social distancing for jury trials. The state is paying $480,000 to rent the space for a year. The utilities cost will be an additional $235,800. In order to maximize cases, civil cases in Superior and Housing Court will continue to be heard by six-member juries, the court said. In addition, cases can be heard by six-member juries when there is consent of the appropriate parties in criminal cases, the court said. The cases that will be tried during Phase 3, as well as the locations, are subject to the approval of the Chief Justice of the applicable Trial Court Department, the court said. Priority will continue to be given to conducting jury trials in cases where a party is in custody. The plans for the courts can be adjusted at any time, balancing safety during the pandemic, and the fundamental constitutional right to a trial by jury, the court said. We are ready to increase the number and locations of jury trials, said Supreme Judicial Court Chief Justice Kimberly Budd, but our courts will need to follow recommended health and safety practices, including mask-wearing, frequent hand washing, physical distancing, and courtroom and courthouse occupancy limitations, for some time to come. Beyond the new guidelines, the courts will continue to conduct its business both virtually and in person as needed, and courthouses will continue to be physically open to the public, the court said. Clerk, register and recorder offices will continue to be physically open to the public while business is also conducted remotely as much as possible, the court said. Related content: Dharamsala, April 15 : Central Tibetan Administration (CTA) President Lobsang Sangay said that the administration of US President Joe Biden should appoint an envoy to Tibet, who will not only "access the ground situation but will also future play a pivotal role in arriving at a solution acceptable to all". Sangay made the remarks in an interview with Nadir Ali, Director of the Centre for Peace and Justice (CPJ), on the prevailing situation in Tibet, while also discussinf about the pragmatic and acceptable solution for the problem. According to the CTA President, long-lasting peace and prosperity for Tibet can only be achieved by seeking the middle way policy as suggested by Tibetan spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama. "We want a peaceful and meaningful settlement of Tibet in accordance to the aspirations of Tibet, a settlement which will be acceptable and beneficial for both China and Tibet," he said. In response to a question regarding the US' role in towards resolving Tibet issue, Sangay said: "Tibet has been for 60 years now struggling for securing rights, in the past we have seen very little being done. "The US in response to the gross human rights violations and cultural assimilation have recently passed the Tibetan Support and Policy Act of 2020, which has been a source of hope for Tibetans across the globe. However, the job is not done yet. "In my humble opinion, the US being the world leader should appoint an envoy to Tibet. This would not only be helpful in accessing the ground situation but will in future play a pivotal role in arriving at a solution acceptable to all. "The US under President Biden should be the torch bearer for the cause of Tibet, and urge the world leaders for working towards the amicable solution. "The US can play an active role in taking confidence building measures for acceptance of middle way solution as suggested by the Dalai Lama. "If the US was to succeed in building the confidence it would mean a world of difference for Tibet. Tibetans will get to play the part in shaping their destiny. The freedom of following their religion, preserving the language and culture and preventing and conserving their ecology which is closely associated with religion." Sangay also urged the international community to come forward for the Tibet cause and build towards arriving at an amicable solution. "It is the responsibility of all the peace-loving nations across the globe to help the people of Tibet." He also said that China should act with responsibility and if it has to declare its position on the world stage, "it should in the least settle the long pending issues within its own borders first". The CTA President further noted that appointing and sending the envoy will not only boost the Tibetans and give them a new hope but it will also send a clear message to China that the peaceful solution is an implicit condition for the prosperity of all. "I am very optimistic about the future and I am sure that with the blessings of the Dalai lama, we will be successful in our pursuit towards building a peaceful and prosperous Tibet as envisioned by Him. "I am hopeful that the world community will continue to support Tibet and Tibetans for their legitimate struggle for prosperous and safe future," he added. -- The story has been published from a wire feed without any modifications to the text A bouncer hanged herself two years after her ex-girlfriend lured her back to a flat where she was ambushed by an all-girl gang in a savage 'happy slap' attack. Aimee Purdey was found dead at a Manchester hotel room last March after struggling with anxiety and depression as a result of an attack that left her fearful of leaving the house in 2018. An inquest heard she had previously attempted to take her own life, but a coroner did not give a verdict of suicide. In a narrative ruling, coroner Fiona Borrill said: 'It appears that Aimee was an impulsive person and I believe it is possible she hoped that she was going to be discovered.' In January 2018 her ex-girlfriend Simone McDermott then 19, lured Aimee to her apartment at 1am on the pretext of needing a shoulder to cry on - only for the victim to be violently ambushed by McDermott and three female friends who filmed the attack. This week the inquest in Manchester made no mention of the assault but was told Miss Purdey had been suffering from severe mental difficulties and previously attempted to take her own life. She was found dead in her room after booking into the New Union Hotel in Manchester's Gay Village following a night out with friends. Aimee Purdey, 21, was found dead at a Manchester hotel room last March after struggling with anxiety and depression as a result of an attack that left her fearful of leaving the house Aged 18, Miss Purdey suffered a brutal attack at the hands of her ex-girlfriend and her friends, which saw her stamped on the head and repeatedly punched. The entire attack was filmed on one of the attacker's phones As Miss Purdey then 18, curled up in a ball and begged: 'Let me go, please let me go,' McDermott and the other girls laughed as they rained down kicks and punches whilst one filmed the assault on her mobile phone. In the two minute video, one the attackers could be heard shouting: 'Giver her here - I'll have a go' whilst another said: 'I'm gonna break your face.' Miss Purdey was left with multiple bruising to her head and body and underwent a CT scan in hospital after doctors found a footprint on her forehead. One of her finger nails was so badly damaged in the assault, it fell off her finger. The following year McDermott and her friends Melissa Marriott, of Blackley, Siobhan Wait, also of Blackley, and Victoria Houghton, of Wythenshawe, who are all 19 avoided jail after admitting to assault with intent to rob. At the time Miss Purdey from Royton, Oldham said: 'I thought they wanted to kill me - I could have died. I had a lot of pain with my injuries and I was unable to leave my room for two to three weeks - when I did go out I had to have someone with me. The brutal attack on Aimee was organised by her ex-girlfriend, Simone McDermott, who lured Aimee back to her home In the two minute video, one the attackers could be heard shouting: 'Giver her here - I'll have a go' whilst another said: 'I'm gonna break your face.' Miss Purdey was left with multiple bruising to her head and body and underwent a CT scan in hospital. Two years on she would take her life in a hotel room in Manchester The attack in 2018 left Aimee feeling 'unsure going to the shops'. She struggled with anxiety and depression for two years after the attack 'I've started getting shopping delivered to my house and I feel unsure going to the shops as I might bump into Simone McDermott and her friends. I didn't think they were sorry for what they did. 'I couldn't work or do anything and I didn't feel safe or have the confidence to. The assault made me feel paranoid in relationships. When friends arrange to meet me I think I'm going to get hurt and 'I am on medication in relation to my anxiety. 'The feeling of being attacked by someone I cared about and who I thought cared about me had left me feeling really betrayed. I was so distressed I couldn't sleep. I am frustrated to be made to feel a victim by this girl. I don't want to feel weak and have these feeling hanging over me. 'This has affected everything in life and I think about the assault every single day, it's the first thing I think about when I wake up and when I go to sleep, I have dreams about being attacked and having things stolen from me.' In a statement heard at the inquest into Miss Purdey's death, Det Ch Insp Mark Astbury of Greater Manchester Police, said: 'She had been out for the evening in Manchester and a hotel room was booked for the night. Aimee told a court she had nightmares about being attacked following the brutal assault. Pictured: Siobhan Wait, one of the gang who attacked her also of Blackley Melissa Marriott, of Blackley avoided a prison sentence along with all the other attackers, after admitting to assault with intent to rob As Miss Purdey then 18, curled up in a ball and begged: 'Let me go, please let me go,' McDermott and the other girls laughed as they rained down kicks and punches. Pictured: Victoria Houghton, another of Amy's attackers 'She and her friends went back to the hotel 3.50am where they had something to eat and her friends left at about 5.15am. 'During the course of being in the hotel room, Aimee had been messaging her then-girlfriend who called police after receiving a message in the early hours saying, "I'm sorry". Officers attended but Aimee was already deceased. 'Aimee had made threats in regard to taking her own life and there had been issues in regard to self-harm, suicidal thoughts and suicide during the previous year. A recent relationship break-down had left her feeling unwell. Pennine Care NHS Foundation Trust said staff had helped Aimee between August 2019 and January 2020 following an overdose of diazepam medication. She was due to see a psychiatrist in June 2020. Miss Purdey's father David Purdey said: 'At the time of her death, I felt Aimee was getting on with her life and she was loving her job and that she was considering going back to college to do a hairdressing course. 'She seemed happy, and her depression was at bay. I just wished that you had known about Aimee's other attempt to end her life.' Pennine Care NHS Foundation Trust said staff had helped Aimee between August 2019 and January 2020 following an overdose of diazepam medication. She was due to a psychiatrist in June 2020 - three months after her death Her mother Jennifer Purdey said: 'She had had some relationship difficulties around September 2019 and that that caused some considerable distress to her.; Recording a narrative conclusion, assistant coroner Miss Fiona Borrill said: 'Aimee had been out drinking with her friends over the course of the evening. She had been distressed by a previous relationship breakdown and she was also very impulsive, and before had made the decision on impulse to overdose in January 2020. 'She had been drinking in the course of the evening but it is difficult to know if that had any effect on what she decided to do. She was in a hotel room and was on her own. She had been in contact with her then-girlfriend and said, "I'm sorry" and the hotel room was locked. 'It appears that Aimee was an impulsive person and I believe it is possible she hoped that she was going to be discovered. She was a young woman who clearly had a lot to live for and plans for the future, and it's desperately sad that her life has ended in this way.' Quarterly Activities Report 31 March 2021 Perth, April 15, 2021 AEST (ABN Newswire) - Horizon Minerals Limited ( ASX:HRZ ) is pleased to provide the March 2021 Quarterly Activities Report. Horizon is a gold production, development and exploration company with a key focus in the Kalgoorlie and Coolgardie regions of Western Australia.A key focus for the Company is on exploration upside within our tenement package of 890km2 with up to four drill rigs currently operating as part of the largest ever 70,000m exploration program. Horizon holds numerous non-core assets including royalties, listed investments and a joint venture in place covering the 1.8Bt Richmond-Julia Creek Vanadium Project in North Queensland.HIGHLIGHTS- Trial mining and toll milling testing the geological model completed at the Boorara gold mine, 15km east of Kalgoorlie - Boulder in the Western Australian Goldfields- Total open pit material movement of 513k BCM with total ore mined (high and low grade) of 267kt at a mine claimed grade of 1.23g/t Au for 10,560oz mined- Final milling campaign comprised 15kt of Regal east ore grading 1.60g/t Au and a parcel of low-grade ore grading 0.9g/t Au producing 1,183oz at 93.4% recovery- All gold sold during the Quarter for A$2.8 million in revenue at an average sale price of A$2,356/oz generating $1.2 million in net cash flow after haulage and toll milling costs- In total, trial generated A$3.6 million net cash flow from haulage and toll processing of 156kt of ore at a mill reconciled grade of 1.4g/t Au and gold recovery of 94.5%- Grade control, extensive pit mapping and trial data now completed enabling the compilation of an updated Mineral Resource estimate expected in the June Quarter 2021- Commenced 50,000m exploration program across the 890km2 portfolio with excellent results received from Crake, Jacques Find and Peyes Farm and further results pending- New high-grade mineralisation discovered at Windanya with further assay results pending and follow up drilling underway at the new Gemini and Scorpio prospects- Acquisition completed for 50% interest in the high-grade Penny's Find gold project- Nimbus silver zinc project to be retained and advanced- Sale Agreement executed for divestment of two royalties for A$7 million- Full repayment of debt facility and interest with the Company now debt free- Current Cash on hand of $12.9 million and listed investments totalling $5.3 millionTo view the full quarterly report, 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. A 68-year-old New Jersey man admitted he posed as a 17-year-old boy on Facebook to trick a teenage girl into sending him nude photos of herself. In a bizarre twist, Herman Christopher Jensen, of Union Beach later confessed to the girl that he was an adult and she moved to New Jersey to live with him, the U.S. Attorneys Office for New Jersey said in a statement Wednesday. Jensen pleaded guilty on Wednesday to one count of receiving child pornography. He faces five to 20 years in prison when he is sentenced Sept. 14. Jensen began communicating with the then-16-year-old victim in January 2018 using the name Kevin Bennett, according to court documents. Over the course of the next eight months, the girl believed the two were in a romantic relationship as she shared with Jensen details about arguments she had with her family and problems in school. During that time Jensen asked for and received via Facebook messenger nude and semi-nude photos of the girl as well as sexually explicit videos, court papers state. In August, Jensen admitted to the girl that he lied about his age but she continued to communicate with him. By early December she agreed to live with Jensen and he drove to another state to pick her up. The two then began having a sexual relationship, authorities said. Police removed the girl from Jensens home on Dec. 19, 2018. The next day Jensen agreed to let investigators search his cell phone and told them he was helping her escape her family life. In late January 2019, authorities interviewed the girl. Then in March investigators obtained a warrant to search the Kevin Bennett Facebook profile. Jensen was charged in May 2020 following an FBI-led investigation. Jeff Goldman may be reached at jeff_goldman@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @JGoldmanNJ. Our journalism needs your support. Please subscribe today to NJ.com. Source: Xinhua| 2021-04-15 17:14:10|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close ISTANBUL, April 15 (Xinhua) -- The passage of two U.S. warships through Turkey to the Black Sea have been canceled, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu announced on Thursday. The United States had notified the Turkish Foreign Ministry about the cancellation verbally on Wednesday, Cavusoglu said at a televised interview with the local NTV broadcaster. The ministry said Turkey received a notice last week that two U.S. warships would pass toward the Black Sea on April 14 and April 15. Enditem If the Progressives (socialists, globalists, Deep State) were hoping President Trump would go quietly into that dark night, they are sadly mistaken. If the Progressives were praying that Trump would cower in obscurity after November of 2020, their prayers have not been answered. If the Progressives were dreaming that Trump and the Trumpsters would never be heard from again, their dreams have become a nightmare. Rather than looking like John Adams or Jimmy Carter or Bush 41, Trump is showing a remarkable resemblance to President Andrew Jackson. The political histories are remarkably similar. As we approach the first 100 days since Biden was suspiciously placed into office, President Trump and the MAGA nation have done anything but concede, anything but beg for forgiveness, and anything but accept the fraudulent results of the 2020 presidential election. As Trump might quote Andy Jackson, these first 100 days with Biden resemble another "corrupt bargain," and he's not going to stand for it. It appears that patriots are not going to stand for it, either. Trump has summoned politicians, donors, Trumpsters, MAGA nation, and potential rivals to Mar-a-Lago to map out the political future. Trump is endorsing governors, congressmen, senators, attorneys general, and secretaries of state. Trump appears to be all in for the off-year elections of 2022 and the presidential election of 2024, and he wants to make sure he controls as many of the chess pieces as possible. By doing this and appearing so certain, Trump freezes the rest of the possible GOP candidates for 2024. They cannot move if there is a likely Trump candidacy for re-election in 2024. The most obvious examples of this are Nikki Haley and Mike Pence. Trump is supporting "his" populist candidates, building up plenty of political IOUs and favors, and trying to build a framework, legal system, and culture such that the presidency cannot be stolen from him...again. This is much like what Andrew Jackson did between 1824 and 1828. When Donald Trump took the office of president in January of 2017, one of the first things he did was to put up a bust of former president Andrew Jackson. A current president giving a shout-out to President Jackson seemed odd. Old Hickory certainly is not much favored in today's woke history and politically correct politics. But upon further analysis, Trump and Jackson do seem similar. Jackson was a populist; put America First; loved America; was foul-mouthed; despised the corrupt ruling class despite his own wealth; and was insanely hated by the Washington, D.C. permanent class. Trump like Jackson, was never accepted by the refined and cultured circles of the D.C. elite. One thing President Trump did not know back in January of 2017 was just how much he would be like Old Hickory especially when it came to running for president and a corrupt bargain by his enemies costing him a questionable election. In the election of 1824, Jackson and three others ran for president. Jackson had the most popular votes as well as the most Electoral College votes but not enough Electoral College votes to win. John Q. Adams was able to convince Henry Clay to give Adams all of his electoral college votes. And soon after that, Adams gave Clay the position of secretary of state. So within this corrupt bargain, Adams became president, Clay became secretary of state, and Jackson became mad as hell. Jackson called out this "corrupt bargain" for four long and bitter years. The masses, the populists of that time, felt that Jackson had won, and thus they had been cheated out of their own votes. History repeats itself because human nature does not change. The corrupt bargain today centers on the Progressive mass media (CNN, MSNBC, ABC, N.Y. Times, Washington Post) and Big Tech (Google, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Amazon) and their collusion with the Deep State of Washington, D.C. The usual suspects of the Progressive media and the oligarchs of Big Tech in Silicon Valley have done two desperate acts that were clearly unfair, borderline illegal, and certainly unconstitutional to hurt Trump's re-election chances of 2020. First, they reported non-news or unfounded news or simply fake news against Donald Trump for five years to make him look bad. Second, they refused to report any real and accurate negative news that would hurt Joe Biden's candidacy. Not a word about Biden's diminished cognitive skills, China's blackmailing of the Biden family, Hunter Biden's reported felonious behavior, or Biden's misogynistic behavior. All censored for political reasons for five straight and unyielding years. In the writing of history, almost as important as what the historian writes is what the historian does not write. In the history books, what is not put on the written page is as crucial as what is written. Big Tech and the Progressive media did not want anything on the written page that negatively affected Biden's chances. They censored unauthorized critical information. This censorship of real news probably changed the course of history. Certainly, today's corrupt bargain's censorship and Pravda/TASS type of behavior changed the 2020 election result outcomes. Only impending events such as Biden's mental state, the illegal alien border crisis, Chinese/Biden corruption, turning our backs on Israel, or a Chinese invasion against Taiwan will determine the exact results of this modern-day corrupt bargain. A collusion by the elites, oligarchs, and the Deep State that stifles "unauthorized" free speech; censors real news; casts questionable, fraudulent ballots; and then tells the masses to "sit down and shut up or else" tends to make 80 million voters want to do things they normally would never consider. Andy Jackson came back four years after the first corrupt bargain to win the presidency in the elections of 1828 and then 1832. Only time will tell whether today's Corrupt Bargain II will end as favorably for President Trump and MAGA nation as it did for President Jackson and the people of his time. As always, at the end of the day, in a democratic republic, it will be up to the American people...hopefully. Image: David via Flickr, CC BY 2.0. To comment, you can find the MeWe post for this article here. Tottenhams new partnership with Dulux got off to a rocky start after the paint suppliers mocked the club on Twitter. Spurs announced that Dulux had become the clubs official paint supplier, with the companys famous dog getting a tour of the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium and Hotspur Way training ground. But they were soon mocked by their new partner in hastily-deleted tweets, with the social media team hitting the wrong tone. Duluxs social media team made fun of their new their new partners on Twitter Responding to other users tweets, they made fun of the clubs lack of recent silverware, posting a picture of an empty trophy cabinet being for sale and then made a barb about the clubs defenders. In a reply to a tweet asking whether the Dulux dog can play centre-back, they tweeted: He might do a better job. The tweets certainly made a splash as Dulux was the second top trend on Twitter in the UK. Spurs said the partnership will see the club benefit from the unrivalled expertise in paint and colour of the countrys leading paint supplier, with all club buildings getting a facelift using specific paint colour matches. MINNEAPOLIS An expert witness in the Derek Chauvin trial on Wednesday backed the defenses contention that George Floyd died of cardiac arrest combined with illicit drugs in his body and not from a lack of oxygen while pinned to the pavement by the now-fired police officer for more than 9 minutes late last spring. The testimony of Dr. David Fowler, who recently retired after 17 years as the chief medical examiner for the state of Maryland, started the cause of death phase of the defenses case. Fowler wrapped up his testimony by saying he would have classified Floyds manner of death as undetermined due to the multiple factors he cited. During the afternoon and under cross-examination by prosecutor Jerry Blackwell, Fowler endorsed the states contention that Chauvin and the other officers were negligent in failing to provide lifesaving measures to Floyd once he lacked a pulse roughly five minutes into being restrained. As a physician, I would agree, Fowler said when asked whether Floyd should have been given immediate medical attention at that point. Are you critical that he wasnt given immediate medical attention? Blackwell then asked. Again, Fowler responded, As a physician, I agree. Defense attorney Eric Nelson rose again to question Fowler further late in the days proceedings but did not address Fowlers opinion on that exchange, which scored points for the prosecution. At the outset of Fowlers testimony, he said Floyd had a cardiac arrhythmia due to his heart disease during his restraint by police while prone on the pavement at 38th and Chicago. The doctor said Floyds fentanyl and methamphetamine use also played a significant role. He also included exposure to possible vehicle exhaust from a police squad close by his paraganglioma, tumors that can form near the carotid artery, and along nerve pathways in the head and neck. All of those combined to cause Mr. Floyds death, Fowler said. He did not include lack of oxygen, or asphyxia, as the prosecution contended during the two-plus weeks it presented evidence. Much of what Fowler pointed to is largely the same as the findings of Dr. Andrew Baker, the Hennepin County medical examiner. However, Baker previously testified in the trial that paraganglioma played no role in Floyds death. Nelson said in his opening statement that such a tumor increases the flow of adrenaline. A woman, who did not want to be identified, held a sign outside the Hennepin County Government Center. The third week of testimony in the Derek Chauvin murder trial at the Hennepin County Government Center in Minneapolis on Wednesday, April 14, 2021. (Leila Navidi/Minneapolis Star-Tribune/TNS)TNS Fowler said his review of Floyds case was subjected to scrutiny by 13 members of The Forensic Panel, a for-profit group of medical professionals. He said there were seven forensic pathologists among the 13 who provided peer review, along with specialists in behavioral health, pulmonology, emergency medicine and toxicology. Fowlers testimony came as he is among several people being sued in federal court on behalf of the family of Anton Black, a young Black adult who died in police custody in September 2018 in Maryland. The suit alleges that Blacks death was caused by officers excessive use of force and that Fowler and other public officials covered up for those officers. The suit contends that Fowler unnecessarily delayed the release of autopsy results and was unethically influenced by police. No one was charged in Blacks death. Two years before George Floyd died after being restrained and pinned down by police, 19-year-old Anton Black was killed by three white law enforcement officials and a white civilian in a chillingly similar manner on Marylands Eastern Shore, the suit reads, according to the Washington Post. Anton Black died because police employed excessive force, laying him out prone on his stomach, lying on top of him for approximately six minutes and approximately five minutes after he was handcuffed, and folding his legs toward the sky in a manner that further compromised his ability to breathe, the lawsuit continues, the Post reported. LaToya Holley, Blacks sister, told WTOP Radio in Washington, D.C., this week, Its surreal that you have two men on the opposite sides of the country that experienced almost the same treatment by two different police officers. The medical examiner [Fowler], in my opinion, was egregious in the way he finalized Antons autopsy results. Now, hes being called to be an expert witness for another police officer. The lawsuit did not come up during Fowlers time on the witness stand or at any other time during the proceedings, which concluded about 45 minutes sooner than usual. The trial is scheduled to resume between 9:15 and 9:30 a.m. Thursday with additional defense testimony. After Wednesdays morning break in the Chauvin trial, Fowler explained why he added carbon monoxide poisoning as a possible contributor to Floyds death even though he found no evidence the autopsy ran tests for the toxic gas. Fowler said that video from an officers body-worn camera showed Floyds face pointed toward an exhaust pipe of a running police squad. The doctor testified that it doesnt take much carbon monoxide saturation, as low as 6%, to begin showing effects in young healthy individuals, let alone people with underlying health conditions such as Floyd. In Mr. Floyd, it robs him of an additional percentage of oxygen-carrying capacity, whether its 5% or 10%, it takes away from the important factor of getting blood to his heart, he said. This is another insult, another brick in the wall of possible contributing factors, he said, adding that the officers holding down Floyd were farther from the source presumed healthier and less likely to be affected. Earlier testimony revealed that the vehicle was a hybrid, which operates with both an electric motor and gasoline engine. Fowler also cited a study that concluded that no individuals were found to suffer from asphyxia in the so-called hog tie position. Weights were applied to individuals totaling up to 225 pounds, and the study still found no disturbance in their ability to breathe. However, he acknowledged the subjects of the study were placed under different circumstances than Floyd such as on a softer floor surface and knowing that their lives were not at risk. In connection with having Chauvin and other officers on top of him, Fowler also testified that he could find no bruises or other injuries to the back. He also said he concluded that Chauvins left knee was nowhere close to the airway at any time. Any of the sounds Mr. Floyd is making requires you to take air in ... and out, the doctor. You cannot make sound unless youre ... moving air and your mouth is open. Floyd was coherent and understandable and not confused, incoherent or disoriented before very rapidly becoming silent and motionless, Fowler said. He went on to call Floyds transition much more consistent with a sudden cardiac event vs. low oxygen, which affects the brain first. Fowler spelled out the health risks of taking the powerful opioid fentanyl as well as methamphetamine. Both drugs were found in Floyds body during autopsy. The doctor also said his review of toxicological tests on Floyd showed the meth use was recent. The doctor said there were conflicting manners concerning Floyds death. Restrained in a very stressful situation, that would be homicide, he said. Ingesting drugs would be accidental, and there were the natural causes of Floyds heart problems and other health challenges, he said. Therefore, Fowler said, I would fall back to undetermined in this particular case. Under cross examination, prosecutor Blackwell suggested that Fowler was expressing bias, cherry-picking the facts to confuse the jury and jumping to conclusions when he testified about the possibility of carbon monoxide playing a role in Floyds death and at other times when questioned by Nelson. Going right to the punch line on carbon monoxide, Blackwell said, you havent seen any data or test results that showed Mr. Floyd had a single injury from carbon monoxide, correct? Fowler replied, It is true. As you were talking about carbon monoxide, you were referring to the squad car that Mr. Floyd was near? Have you ever laid eyes on the squad car you were referring to? Fowler said he had not but knew it had four exhaust pipes. How do you know the car was even on? Blackwell said, to which Fowler said he noted water on the pavement that could have come from the vehicles exhaust. Rodney Floyd, brother of George Floyd, handed his identification to security to enter the perimeter of the Hennepin County Government Center at the start of the trial day. The third week of testimony in the Derek Chauvin murder trial at the Hennepin County Government Center in Minneapolis on Wednesday, April 14, 2021. (Leila Navidi/Minneapolis Star-Tribune/TNS)TNS Blackwell accused Fowler of assuming about the waters origin, and Fowler countered, Its not an assumption; its an evaluation that the car was running. Referring to Fowler classifying Floyds death as occurring very rapidly, Blackwell asked the doctor whether he documented in his analysis of the evidence the time of death. I dont specifically remember doing that, Fowler said. Theres not going to be a period time in this particular case. The moment of death is not something you can easily document. Blackwell also elicited testimony that Floyd didnt complain of a headache, a common symptom of a paraganglioma or abnormal cell cluster secreting adrenaline, as Fowler contended. He also noted how Floyd complained of being choked and that he never fell sleepy or had a slowed heart rate signs of an overdose. Chauvin is charged with second-degree unintentional murder, third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter in the killing of Floyd last spring. Three other fired officers who assisted in Floyds arrest J. Alexander Kueng, Thomas Lane and Tou Thao are scheduled to be tried in August on charges of aiding and abetting murder and manslaughter. Before testimony started Wednesday, Hennepin County District Judge Peter Cahill ruled that a friend who was with Floyd at the time of his arrest can refuse to testify. Morries L. Hall, 42, invoked his constitutional right against self-incrimination and told the judge that he fears being charged with serious crimes should he answer questions from the defense or prosecution. I am fearful of criminal charges going forward, Hall said while standing at the podium usually reserved for attorneys. I (also) have open charges thats not settled yet. His attorney told the court last week that Hall would open himself up to third-degree murder charges in connection with Floyds death if he were to testify. Cahill said, Im finding that he has a complete Fifth Amendment privilege here and then quashed the subpoena, a ruling that was a defeat for the defenses effort to strengthen its contention that fentanyl and methamphetamine played a role in Floyds death. Hall is suspected of being a provider of illicit drugs to Floyd over an extended period of time. Floyds girlfriend testified earlier that Hall supplied Floyd with drugs sometime in the month of Floyds death. Paul Walsh of the Star Tribune wrote this story. (Star Tribune staff writers Rochelle Olson and Chao Xiong contributed to this report.) 2021 StarTribune. Visit at startribune.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC. OTTAWA, ON, April 15, 2021 /CNW/ - The Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) announced today that it is launching an investigation to determine whether certain small power transformers from Austria, the Separate Customs Territory of Taiwan, Penghu, Kinmen and Matsu (Chinese Taipei), and South Korea are being sold at unfair prices in Canada. The investigation is the result of a complaint by Transformateurs Delta Star Inc. (Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu, QC), Northern Transformer Corporation (Maple, ON), PTI Transformers Inc. (Regina, SK), and PTI Transformers L.P. (Winnipeg, MB) and is supported by Stein Industries Inc. (London, ON) and Transformateurs Pioneer Ltee. (Granby, QC). The complainants allege that they are facing an increase in the volume of the allegedly dumped imports, price depression and suppression, loss of sales, price undercutting, loss of market share, impacted financial results, underutilization of capacity, reduced employment, and threat to continuous investments. The CBSA and the Canadian International Trade Tribunal (CITT) both play a role in the investigation. The CITT will begin a preliminary inquiry to determine whether the imports are harming Canadian producers and will issue a decision by June 14, 2021. Concurrently, the CBSA will investigate whether the imports are being sold in Canada at unfair prices, and will make a preliminary decision by July 14, 2021. Currently, there are 127 special import measures in force, covering a wide variety of industrial and consumer products, from steel products to refined sugar. These measures have directly helped to protect the Canadian economy and Canadian jobs. Quick Facts The subject goods are certain small power transformers. For more product information, please refer to Canada Border Services Agency: Anti-dumping and countervailing. Small power transformers are used almost exclusively by end-user utility companies, in engineering, procurement and construction (commonly referred to as "EPC"), and large industrial or commercial customers to increase, maintain or decrease electric voltage in high voltage transmission and distribution systems. A copy of the Statement of Reasons, which provides more details about this investigation, will be available on the CBSA's website within 15 days. As of December 31, 2019, special import measures have directly helped to protect 34,810 Canadian jobs and $9.56 billion in Canadian production. Associated Links Story continues Follow us on Twitter ( @CanBorder ), join us on Facebook or visit our YouTube channel . SOURCE Canada Border Services Agency Cision View original content: http://www.newswire.ca/en/releases/archive/April2021/15/c9992.html Bengaluru, April 16 : An Indo-French accelerator was launched on Thursday here for driving innovation in technology in the presence of visiting French foreign minister Jean-Vyes Le Drian and Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister Ashwath Narayan. "The accelerator will boost collaboration between India and France in the field of innovative technology and enable Indian start-ups to become part of the global ecosystem," said Narayan on the occasion. An agreement was also signed on the occasion between Indo-French Chamber of Commerce and Industry (IFCCI) and Karnataka Innovative & Technological Society to implement the accelerator programme between the two countries. IFCCI is a member of CCI France International, a network of 124 French chambers of commerce and industry in 95 countries, with 37,000 member companies the world over. "As a major destination for French firms, Bengaluru hosts global French software Capgemini, Gemalto, Technicolor and 3DS among others. IT services provider Atos, which has 20 per cent of its global workforce in India, also operates from this tech hub," said Narayan, who holds portfolios of IT, BT, electronics and science and technology. Noting that Karnataka had been a pioneer in framing sector-specific policies to promote IT, BT, Electronics System Design and Manufacturing (ESDM) and Animation, Visual Effects, Gaming and Comics (AVGC), the minister said global firms invested $49.7-billion in the state over the last 2 decades. "Our IT department and French consulate have been associated with various programmes between the two countries to promote collaborations," he added. French ambassador to India Emmanuel Lenian, French consul-general in Bengaluru Marjorie Vanbaelinghem, state IT-BT secretary Ramana Reddy, IFCCI representative Yohann Samuel and KITS managing director Gopala Krishna were present on the occasion. Le Drian, who flew into the city from New Delhi earlier in the day, visited the Bangalore Life Sciences Cluster, comprising National Centre for Biological Sciences, Centre for Cellular and Molecular Platforms and Institute of Stem Cell Science and Regenerative Medicine. The French minister also visited the Indian space agency's (ISRO) human space flight centre and interacted with its chairman K. Sivan and its director Unnikrishnan Nair. ROME, APR 14 - Italian and Cambodian police on Wednesday arrested two Italian fugitive criminals convicted of sexual violence against a minor and financial offences respectively. Antonello Marras, 45, from Ozieri near Sassari, and Christian Casagrande, 45, from Pordenone, were caught in Cambodian capital Phnom Penh after Marras was lured to the local immigration office with a ruse, police said. Interpol helped track the pair down. Marras was sentenced in 2003 to eight years and eight months in jail for sexual violence against a minor while Casagrande, sought since 2017, must serve remaining prison time of 13 years for a series of financial crimes ranging from aggravated extortion to counterfeiting credit cards. Authorities said extradition proceedings would soon begin for the pair. (ANSA). The Ministry of Health in Spain is finalising a draft proposal to prohibit smoking on the terraces of bars and restaurants, whatever the circumstance and regardless of whether or not there is a safety distance maintained from other people. The department headed by Carolina Darias wants to approve this measure as soon as possible with the approval of all the regions claiming that with tobacco smoke "aerosols are emitted that could contribute to the transmission of the virus". Since August 2020 smoking is only prohibited on terraces or in public if there was no possibility of maintaining a safety distance. However, six regions - the Balearic Islands, the Canary Islands, Cantabria, Valencia, Asturias and Aragon extended this ban. And now the Ministry of Health wants to replicate the measure across the entire country prohibiting the consumption of tobacco, electronic cigarettes and water pipes on outdoor terraces regardless of the safety distance of two metres. When smoking and exhaling the smoke, whether from conventional tobacco, electronic cigarettes and using equipment such as water pipes, tiny respiratory droplets are expelled, similar to those that are expelled when speaking, coughing, sneezing or breathing, that can contain viral load and be highly contagious. These droplets remain suspended in the air in the form of an aerosol and can travel further than larger drops and remain in the environment even after the issuing person has left it, argues the draft text. The Ministry of Health considers that banning smoking on the terraces would meet the "double objective" of "acting on smoking as a risk factor for infection and contagion of Covid-19, together with the need to contribute to the control of the evolution of the disease itself (smoking) in Spain. For this reason, it says it is essential to avoid the consumption of tobacco products and related products on the outdoor terraces of the bar and restaurant establishments, homogeneously throughout the national territory, and regardless of the maintenance of the two metres interpersonal safe distance. The draft document insists that there are numerous scientific publications that argue that coronavirus is transmitted by aerosols that spread more strongly with smoke and the fact that smoking puts the health of the people around a smoker at risk when inhaling that 'infected' smoke or vapour at higher speeds and farther away. The text that will be proposed for debate and approval by the regions the Ministry of Health experts explained - is based on a 43-page technical document entitled "Evaluation of the risk of transmission of SARS-CoV-2 through aerosols. Prevention measures and recommendations" that was published in November last year. Mumbai, April 15 : Cinema halls have been shut, and the Maharashtra government has ordered all film and TV shoots to be stopped immediately. This has come to a huge impediment to Bollywood as many big-ticket films including Shah Rukh Khan's "Pathan", the Ranveer Singh-starrer "Cirkus", and Ajay Devgn's "Mayday" and "Maidaan" were currently being shot in the state. According to reports, Salman Khan's "Tiger 3" and the Prabhas-starrer "Adipurush" has also been put on hold. Approximately, Rs100-150 crore is at stake as besides these films shot, there were numerous other films at various stages of production -- where sets were being constructed or other stages of pre-production or shooting. "Around 20 to 25 films were at different stages of shooting. Some shoots were on, or sets were being constructed. But there was no other option, the way it (Covid) is spreading. Almost every unit is reporting (Covid cases). It made sense to stop shooting," says trade analyst Komal Nahta. Adding to this, producer and film business expert Girish Johar says there will be considerable cost that will be added to the budgets of these films. "To every film project, vis-a-vis their budget, 15 to 20 per cent loss is there. This cost will be added. It's a comprehensive loss. Mumbai, Maharashtra is the hub of content production. Not only artistes and technicians but also for daily age workers who help in shootings, it's a big blow to them," he says. However, there are films where the shoot might be shifted outside Maharashtra. "There are quite a few. These are small films. If a big set has already been set up in the state, you don't want to move out. Small films can plan and move out to another state. But, for that, you need to follow other protocols," says Johar. He says producers are looking towards East India to complete shoots. "East is what they are looking at. The cases are quite less. That's the key area where a lot of shootings are being directed to. But it depends on the pending shooting content and if it gels with the story or not and if you can take the crew or not," he says. Latest updates on Coronavirus (COVID-19) -- The story has been published from a wire feed without any modifications to the text National Spot Exchange Ltd (NSEL) on Wednesday said NSEL Investors' Forum (NIF) and its chief Sharad Saraf have tendered an unconditional apology in the Delhi High Court to 63 moons technologies and its founder Jignesh Shah and also agreed to withdraw the defamatory tweet and document maligning them. NIF and Mr Saraf had published a defamatory tweet and document with the intention of smearing the name of Jignesh Shah and 63 moons, NSEL said in a statement. "Against this untrue propaganda and blatant lies, Jignesh Shah had filed a civil suit against Sharad Saraf seeking declaratory and injunctive relief." While the matter was pending, NSEL said that Mr Saraf and NIF requested Mr Shah to settle the matter. Insisting that the truth should be on the record, Mr Shah demanded an unconditional apology and withdrawal of tweets and maligning documents, which was accepted by both NIF and Mr Saraf. The NIF chief was also asked to apologise on a public forum, which he did through Twitter. Earlier this month, Ketan Shah, who heads NSEL Investors Action Group (NIAG), stood exposed when his petition got dismissed in Bombay High Court and, subsequently, in the Supreme Court where he wanted to block payment to 6,445 small traders out of the 13,000 'questionable' traders of NSEL, the statement said. I clarify that I bear no ill will or malice qua Jignesh Shah or 63 Moons and had no intention of publishing any defamatory content qua them. I apologize for the words used by me and retract the same unconditionally. sharad saraf (@sharadsaraf1947) March 28, 2021 NSEL said the recent developments clearly established that truth cannot be suppressed perpetually. The NSEL payment default crisis was created, fuelled and kept unsolved for eight years, while it was solvable in eight days, it said. "The trio of Ramesh Abhishek, KP Krishnan and P Chidambaram engineered this crisis to eliminate 63 moons group from exchange space and thereby protect the monopoly of the National Stock Exchange (NSE). The biggest ever stock exchange scam of co-location with Algo-trading, was going on in NSE since 2008 with the blessings of this trio and their cartel of brokers," NSEL alleged. The company said "the aggressor groups of NSEL Aggrieved and Recovery Association (NAARA), NIAG and NIF have misled the traders by promising them recovery by illegally attacking 63 moons and Jignesh Shah, instead of defaulters and brokers, where the legal rights of traders for recovery lie under the client-broker agreement." "These groups have misled investigations by the EOW, ED, CBI and SFIO to gratify P Chidambaram, Ramesh Abhishek, and KP Krishnan and their cartel of brokers and defaulters, where the money trail is 100 per cent established, and who are the actual beneficiaries of crime," it added. NSEL said the barter taken for this can be unearthed if a detailed income tax (I-T) and money laundering probe is done on Ketan Shah's and NIAG's accounts. "The exponential rise in the income of Ketan Shah post-2014 from Rs 16 lakh to Rs 16 crore coincides exactly with the time when he started trading the 'pain of traders' and masquerading as the messiah of traders. However, the naked truth is that he is the only one who opposed payment to small traders by filing a writ petition, which eventually Bombay High Court and also the Supreme Court dismissed," it pointed out. NSEL urged all genuine trader claimants and bonafide traders' groups to join hands with it to pursue recovery. "We also invite Sharad Saraf and NIF to join the recovery efforts of the Exchange and now do a truthful service to genuine traders, unlike NIAG and NAARA." NSEL has been striving to recover the default amount from the 22 defaulting entities which has resulted in obtaining the decree of Rs3,365 crore and crystallisation of liability by the High Court Committee to the tune of over Rs900 crore, which is pending confirmation by the Bombay HC, and an injunction of Rs4,515 crore. The company said it is confident that after eight years, the truth is getting firmly established and will finally be victorious also. Average annual salary in the Bay of Plenty has hit an all-time high in the first quarter of this year, according to a report from TradeMe Jobs. It is part of a wider trend of overall increase in pay across the nation, with the exception of Wellington, when compared to the same period last year. Average pay in the Bay of Plenty now sits at $60,770, an all-time high and an increase on last years result. Canterbury also reached an all-time high of $60,411 with the capital the only area to not experience an upward trend, remaining the same overall at $68,796. In Wellington city, an average of $74,548 a year marks it out as the highest paid district in New Zealand. Jobs in IT are still the best paid, with the top five paying jobs listed on TradeMe within the IT sector. This marks the second quarter we have seen this in a row, showing the important role IT is playing in the post-Covid world, with many employers looking to tech solutions to help bolster their organisations and survive the pandemic, says TradeMe Jobs spokesperson Matt Tolich. The highest-paid role, an IT project manager, comes with an average salary of $148,582. The Bay of Plenty has also seen a rise in year-on-year increase in job listings along with the rest of the country, with a nationwide rise of 29 per cent. The biggest rise in job listings across the nation were in the automotive sector at 50 per cent, construction and roading at 43 per cent and manufacturing and operations at 40 per cent. We put much of this down to the lack of migrant workers creating a skill short market, says Matt. Were also seeing Kiwis increase their discretionary spending on things like house renovations and car upgrades from their redirected overseas holiday funds. The job market is in extremely good health, there are a lot of roles out there. One year ago the outlook for the job market was pretty dire, to say the least, so its remarkable to see such a strong start to the year and evidence of more good news for job seekers and employers to come. Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., at a news conference at the Capitol in 2021. Manuel Balce Ceneta/AP Republican lawmakers responded to Biden's decision to withdraw all US troops from Afghanistan. Hawkish lawmakers' positions on a US pullout were similar to when Trump proposed it, though their protestations this time around were much more voluble. Lindsey Graham called the move "dumber than dirt," saying Biden was "paving the way for another 9/11." See more stories on Insider's business page. Several top Republican lawmakers have responded harshly to Biden's decision this week to pull US troops from Afghanistan. Biden announced on Wednesday after 20 years, the US will withdraw some 2,500 troops from Afghanistan by September 11 this year, the anniversary of the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. "We were attacked. We went to war with clear goals. We achieved those objectives," Biden said on Wednesday. "Bin Laden is dead and al Qaeda is degraded in Afghanistan and it's time to end the forever war." But some Republican leaders did not share his sentiments. While many of their positions on an Afghanistan withdrawal remained by and large the same as they were six months ago, hawkish Republicans responded harshly to Biden's announcement in a stark contrast from the comparatively mild response that they leveled at former President Trump when he proposed the same plan. President Trump said in November that he wanted "all" troops home by Christmas, and for a full withdrawal to be completed by January 15, before Biden's inauguration. At the time, South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham said: "We have a chance to end this war in Afghanistan smartly and well. But we're going to need a residual US force, a counterterrorism presence for years to come, because I don't trust the Taliban to police al Qaeda and ISIS." Six months later, Graham is among the most passionate deniers of Biden's decision for troop withdrawal, calling it "dumber than dirt and devilishly dangerous." Story continues "President Biden will have, in essence, canceled an insurance policy against another 9/11," Graham said in a statement reported by The Hill. He went on to say that a residual counterterrorism force would essentially be the US's insurance policy against the rise of radical Islam in Afghanistan. This insurance, if taken away, he said, could pave the way for "another attack against our homeland or our allies." Graham continued to repeat claims that a US withdrawal from Afghanistan would spark another 9/11 in a Fox News interview, telling Sean Hannity that Afghanistan will "disintegrate into civil war. He then held a press conference on Wednesday, warning women in Afghanistan and the US that "terrorists were coming for them." "I pray for you, the women of America. The people will do what they're doing to their own women, they'll hurt us all," Graham said. Graham continued with his speech, gesticulating at a printed-out photo of the Twin Towers burning, saying: "What makes you think this won't happen again?" Mitch McConnell: US withdrawal a "gift" to enemies Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., listens as the Senate Rules Committee holds a hearing on the "For the People Act," which would expand access to voting and other voting reforms, at the Capitol in Washington, Wednesday, March 24, 2021. Scott J. Applewhite/AP Sen. Minority Leader Mitch McConnell has consistently rejected a withdrawal from Afghanistan. McConnell warned on Tuesday that pulling out the troops would be a "grave mistake." Speaking on the Senate floor, McConnell said: "The administration decided to abandon U.S. efforts in Afghanistan, which have helped keep radical Islamic terrorism in check. And bizarrely, they've decided to do so by September the 11th." "Apparently, we're to help our adversaries ring in the anniversary of the 9/11 attacks by gift-wrapping the country and handing it right back to them," he added." He went on to call the withdrawal of US forces a "retreat in the face of an enemy that has not yet been vanquished, and an abdication of American leadership." In November 2020, McConnell broke with Trump and spoke up against the extraction of US troops from Afghanistan, warning against a "premature American exit," saying it would "hurt our allies and delight the people who wish us harm." But in the same breath, he also gave the former president credit for emerging victorious over terrorists, and other geopolitical wins in North Korea. Liz Cheney: withdrawal will embolden jihadists Republican Conference Chair Liz Cheney, R-Wyo., and House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., conduct a news conference after a meeting with the House Republican Conference on September 23, 2020. Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call via Getty Images House Republican Liz Cheney of Wyoming called Biden's decision a "huge propaganda victory" for terrorists. Cheney is the daughter of Dick Cheney, who served as vice-president under former President George W. Bush on 9/11. Speaking to The Hill, Cheney said: "Any withdrawal of forces based on a political timeline... that is not based on conditions on the ground puts American security at risk." She added that she was "not sure" why September 11 was selected as the deadline for a full withdrawal. "I can tell you that that is a huge victory, a huge propaganda victory for the Taliban, for al Qaeda. The notion that on the day that they attacked us, we are going to mark that anniversary by withdrawing our forces?" she said. Cheney had also previously criticized Trump for brokering a "peace deal" with the Taliban, saying US withdrawal should be dictated by conditions on the ground, not "arbitrary deadlines." Jim Inhofe: Biden's decision "reckless" and "dangerous" Sen. Jim Inhofe, a Republican from Oklahoma and chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, speaks during a Senate Armed Services Committee confirmation hearing for Kenneth Braithwaite, U.S. President Donald Trumps nominee for navy secretary, May 7, 2020 in Washington, D.C. Al Drago/Getty Images) Sen. Jim Inhofe of Oklahoma, appeared to flip flop on Afghanistan. Inhofe, who until recently was the leader of the Senate Armed Services Committee, released a statement in November offering his support of Trump's plan for troop withdrawal in the region. "I have been assured by Acting Secretary of Defense (Christopher) Miller and the president's national security adviser, Ambassador (Robert) O'Brien, that they are consulting with our allies, and that, with their plan, we will be able to carry out our mission of protecting the American people from terrorist attacks originating in Afghanistan, safeguarding Afghan gains and supporting our partners and allies," Inhofe said. But in a statement released Tuesday, Inhofe called Biden's move "reckless," "dangerous," and "a political decision on something where there isn't any justification." "No one wants a forever war, but I've consistently said any withdrawal must be conditions-based," he continued. "Arbitrary deadlines would likely put our troops in danger, jeopardize all the progress we've made, and lead to civil war in Afghanistan." Surprisingly, Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas and Wyoming lawmaker Cynthia Lummis welcomed the move. Cruz, who is known to be a vocal critic of Biden, said he was "glad the troops are coming home," while Lummis said she was "pleased," and even wished the withdrawal could have taken place by the initial deadline of May 1. Some Democrats have also expressed concern over a hasty withdrawal. Sen. Tammy Duckworth, a retired Army National Guard lieutenant colonel, said during a Fox News interview in March: "I want our troops to come home, absolutely. But, I want them to come home in a way that we don't have to send them back three months later, six months later. And so, as a soldier, you never tell your enemy, 'hey by the way we're leaving next week on Tuesday at 3 pm.' You don't do that. You don't tell your enemy what your actions are going to be that's just common sense.'" Read the original article on Business Insider Joe Biden: support for the Afghan government, but no longer on a military level. There are 3,500 US troops on the ground, along with another 7,000 from NATO. The Taliban sing victory: The United States has lost, we will restore the Islamic government. A civil war scenario. The conflict has caused almost 160 thousand deaths: between 35 and 43 thousand are civilians. US forces suffered 2,312 casualties. Washington (AsiaNews / Agencies) - The United States will withdraw its troops from Afghanistan by 11 September, the anniversary of the attacks on the Twin Towers and the Pentagon orchestrated by al-Qaeda. The announcement was made yesterday by President Joe Biden, who thus puts an end to the longest war ever fought by the US. Biden has delayed the withdrawal agreed by the Trump administration with the Taliban in February 2020 by a few months. It provided for the demobilization of all US and NATO military by May 1st. In exchange, the Taliban guerrillas were supposed to cut ties with other jihadist organizations, lay down their arms and participate in the political life of the country: commitments that according to Washington were only partially respected. The Taliban are Muslim fundamentalists of Pashtun ethnicity, originally from the south of the country. They are active in almost all Afghan provinces. Washington and Northern Alliance forces (mostly Tajiks and Uzbeks) overthrew the Taliban government between late 2001 and early 2002, immediately after the 9/11 attacks: the fundamentalist group was home to the leaders of al -Qaeda. Currently the US has 3,500 soldiers in Afghanistan, 2,500 are framed in the NATO mission. Biden stressed that the United States will continue to support the Afghan government, but no longer on a military level. President Ashraf Ghanis executive has long been engaged in peace talks with the Taliban; however, the negotiations are struggling to make progress. According to most analysts, the Taliban will take advantage of the US withdrawal to regain power. The scenario that presents itself for the future is therefore that of a new civil war. In an interview with the BBC published today, a Taliban leader said that his group "won the war and the US lost it". Haji Hekmat, "shadow" mayor of the northern province of Balkh, said equally explicitly that the Talibans goal is to restore a sharia-ruled Islamic emirate. According to the latest data, the conflict has caused almost 160 thousand deaths: between 35 and 43 thousand are civilians. US forces suffered 2,312 casualties. Ben Lambert / Hearst Connecticut Media MONTVILLE During a court appearance this week, a local man admitted to robbing a Norwich bank while on supervised release from a previous bank robbery conviction, federal prosecutors said. Anthony Hall, 60, pleaded guilty Wednesday before Judge Janet C. Hall in New Haven federal court to one count of bank robbery. Police secure the house of a couple suspected of killing themselves on March 28 in a suicide bombing outside a church in Makassar, Indonesia, March 29, 2021. Police in Indonesias South Sulawesi province on Thursday shot and killed a man allegedly linked to last months suicide bombing outside a church in Makassar, a spokesman said. Officers from the Densus 88 anti-terrorism police unit took the action after the suspect, identified only by his initials, M.T., lunged at them with two sickles during a raid of his home in the provincial capital Makassar, police spokesman E. Zulpan said. We wanted to arrest him because we suspected he was involved or had a role in the suicide bombing of the cathedral church, Zulpan told BenarNews without providing details about the mans suspected involvement in the attack on Palm Sunday. The suspect ignored warning shots by police and lunged at them aggressively, Zulpan said. Investigators said that a newlywed couple Muhammad Lukman Alfarizi and Yogi Sahfitri Fortuna associated with a local cell of the Jamaah Ansharut Daulah (JAD), a pro-Islamic State (IS) Indonesian militant network, had carried out the suicide bombing that left the two attackers dead and injured 20 people on March 28. Zulpan said the man slain on Thursday belonged to this cell that was based in the Villa Mutiara housing complex in Makassar, where 18 militant suspects were arrested and two others were killed during a police raid in January. Meanwhile, national police spokesman Ahmad Ramadhan said officers also arrested one suspect on Wednesday and six others on Tuesday in connection with the Makassar attack. Ahmad said the suspect arrested on Wednesday, also identified only by his initials, M.Y., was involved in planning the attack. He belongs to the same group, the JAD group at Villa Mutiara, Ahmad told reporters. Police said the six suspects arrested on Tuesday have ties to Lukman and Sahfitri, but officials did not provide details. The militants had created a WhatsApp group called the Battalion of Faith, where members allegedly discussed attack plans, police said. Police have so far arrested at least 31 people in connection with last months attack at Makassars Sacred Heart of Jesus Cathedral. Since the bombing, police have arrested more than 60 suspected militants, including many they said are not linked to the church attack. JAD in South Sulawesi The recent arrests would likely weaken JAD in Makassar, said Muh Taufiqurrohman, a senior researcher at the Center for Radicalism and Deradicalization Studies (PAKAR), estimating that the local cell has 60 members. The researcher said other cells in the province remained largely intact and have contacts in Poso, a regency in Central Sulawesi province, where pro-Islamic State militants belonging to the Eastern Indonesia Mujahideen, or MIT, are active. They can still pose a threat to South Sulawesi, Taufiqurrohman told BenarNews. JAD members are committed to fighting the authorities to their death. They prefer to die resisting authorities than to be captured alive. The Makassar cell also has contacts in the southern Philippines, Taufiqurrohman said. Police had earlier said the cells members had ties to Rullie Rian Zeke and Ulfah Handayani Saleh, another married couple who carried out a twin suicide bombing at a church in the southern Philippine city of Jolo in 2019. Another analyst said future attacks by lone wolves people who are not formally affiliated to any militant groups were possible. They could be autonomous, independent cells without a chain of command or a structure. But the ideology is the same, Sidney Jones, director of the Institute for Policy Analysis of Conflict (IPAC), told BenarNews earlier this month. New cells could be splinters from JAD or other militant groups, Jones added. Three days after the Makassar suicide bombing, Zakiah Aini, 25, was killed at the national police complex in Jakarta as she brandished a gun in an apparent attempt to attack police. National police chief Listyo Sigit Prabowo had said Zakiah was a lone wolf with sympathies toward IS. Meanwhile on Thursday, 34 terrorism convicts at a prison in Bogor, a city south of Jakarta, swore their allegiance to the Indonesian state, said the local office of the Ministry of Law and Human Rights. It said the prisoners were among 56 who are serving sentences at the high-security Gunung Sindur penitentiary. This pledge of allegiance is the result of the deradicalization program, the ministry said in a statement, referring to a government program. Dave Goldiner and Chris Sommerfeldt, New York Daily News (TNS) House Speaker Nancy Pelosi poured cold water on a bill Thursday that would add four seats to the Supreme Court, saying she has no plans to put up the high-stakes measure for a vote. I dont know that thats a good idea or a bad idea, Pelosi told reporters about the legislation, which was introduced in the House earlier in the day by New York Reps. Jerry Nadler and Mondaire Jones, with assistance from Rep. Hank Johnson, a fellow Democrat from Georgia. Pelosi, whose consent is more or less mandatory for bills to move anywhere in the House, said she wanted to wait to consider Supreme Court expansion until President Bidens newly-formed special commission produces a report on the issue later this year. I think its an idea that should be considered and I think the presidents taking the right approach to have a commission to study such a thing, she said. Still, the powerful California Democrat didnt completely rule out the possibility of putting more justices on the top court. Its not out of the question. It has been done before in the history of our country, Pelosi said. But to answer your question, I have no plans to bring it to the floor. The Supreme Court is currently dominated 6-3 by conservative-leaning justices. Three of the courts members were appointed by former President Donald Trump, including Justice Amy Coney Barrett, whose confirmation was fast-tracked just days before the 2020 election by now-Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), who used to claim Supreme Court vacancies shouldnt be filled in election years. If there were to be 13 justices, Biden would get the opportunity to flip the political balance of the top court, likely allowing him to more easily adopt sweeping reforms in health care, immigration, gun control and a range of other issues. The likelihood of Supreme Court expansion appears slim, though, with Republicans rigidly opposed to the idea. Pelosis reticence echoed remarks earlier in the day from Illinois Sen. Dick Durbin, the No. 2 Democratic leader in the Senate and the chair of the chambers judiciary committee. Im not ready to sign on, Durbin told reporters. Nadler, a longtime Manhattan Democrat who chairs the House Judiciary Committee, said he wasnt disappointed in Pelosi and Durbin, but expressed confidence that they will eventually have a change of heart. Speaker Pelosi is a very good judge of events and of history and I believe that as events unfold, as the court comes down with decisions destructive to womens rights to chose, as they come down with decisions destructive to the climate, as they come down with decisions destructive to civil liberties, I believe that Speaker Pelosi and others will come along, Nadler said at a press conference outside the Supreme Court. Jones, a freshman progressive who represents Westchester and Rockland Counties, was less patient and questioned the need for Bidens Supreme Court commission. The damage has already been done. We dont need a commission to tell us that we need to restore balance to the court, Jones said. Republicans quickly trashed the Democratic move as shameless partisan court packing. The Daily News political team supplies the essential news and analysis on the critical 2021 elections in New York City that will define the citys future after coronavirus. Sent to your inbox every Monday, Wednesday and Friday. Democrats (want to) pack the court, destroy its legitimacy and guarantee the rulings that liberals want, said McConnell. Democrats have been fuming for years over Republicans successful effort to install right-wing judges to cement control over the high court, which exerts remarkable power in American politics. Republicans successfully blocked then-President Barack Obama from appointing Merrick Garland when Justice Antonin Scalia died in February 2016, refusing to even grant him a hearing because McConnell claimed that years presidential election was too near. In a stunning violation of his own past principle, McConnell rushed to confirm Coney Barrett after Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg died shortly before the 2020 election. Durbin referenced the Garland controversy in his decision to hold off on expanding the court. The current situation, which I believe was influenced by the McConnell decision to keep that vacancy open until Trump could fill it, a conscious design to control the future of the court, he said. I wasnt happy with that and Ive said so. I want to make sure that our response to that is reasonable, fits in the cause of justice. The decision to pause the use of Johnson & Johnson's COVID-19 vaccine and the furor that now surrounds it underscores the confounding psychology behind risk assessment. Why it matters: From vaccines to emerging technologies, the future will force us to make difficult, risk-based choices that our Stone Age brains are ill-equipped to handle, especially in an environment where social trust has evaporated. Stay on top of the latest market trends and economic insights with Axios Markets. Subscribe for free Driving the news: The FDA's move on Tuesday to halt J&J vaccinations came after reports that six women out of roughly 7 million people who had received that shot experienced potentially dangerous blood clots, with one dying. Scientists are reviewing the data to "assess their potential significance." On Wednesday, the CDC's vaccine advisers agreed to a pause of at least a week and a half as they review safety data. Based on those numbers alone, the decision may look puzzling. As my Axios colleague Sam Baker reports, common medications like birth control as well as the coronavirus itself carry a much higher risk of blood clots than the extremely rare side effects seen so far with J&J's shot, while any delay in vaccine rollout raises the risk of continuing the deadly pandemic. Yes, but: We don't evaluate vaccines based on a simplified cost-benefit analysis not that our brains are great at making those calculations anyway. Virtually unique among medical interventions, vaccines are given to healthy people to prevent disease, which demands a higher level of safety. While six blood clots is a minuscule amount, further investigation may well discover more unreported cases of side effects. On Wednesday, Denmark announced it would not restart the use of the AstraZeneca vaccine which employs a similar adenovirus vector as J&J after identifying concerning side effects in 1 out of 40,000 shots. Because a vaccine for a disease like COVID-19 ultimately needs to be taken by the bulk of the population to effectively stop the pandemic, keeping public trust in their safety and quality is paramount which is precisely what the FDA's pause is meant to inspire. This content is not available due to your privacy preferences. Update your settings here to see it. The catch: Since we naturally tend to evaluate risk on an emotional rather than a mathematical level, there's no guarantee the move will accomplish its aim. Story continues Psychological research has shown that under conditions of uncertainty which definitely includes the pandemic most people make judgments not off hard numbers, but using mental shortcuts that can be heavily influenced by emotion. Seeing the government stop distribution to investigate apparently very low levels of risk theoretically should help shore up vaccine confidence in the U.S., where 30% of people surveyed in a recent poll said they definitely aren't going to take or will wait and see about getting a COVID-19 vaccine. But in Europe with the exception of the U.K. public confidence in the AstraZeneca vaccine plunged after countries temporarily halted its distribution, even though the EU medical regulator said it was safe and effective. Of note: A pause wouldn't have much effect on Americans' vaccine confidence if they had full trust in their leaders but a survey earlier this year indicated that trust in every institution has fallen to historic lows. The big picture: The future will present even more complex questions about risk analysis that we may be ill-equipped to process. The debate over whether to experiment with the unknown effects of solar geoengineering to combat climate change qualifies, as do questions about whether to close down carbon-free nuclear plants like New York's Indian Point over the small chance of an accident. The annual threat assessment from the U.S. intelligence community released on Tuesday highlights the rising threat from emerging technologies like biotech and AI, which require balancing the benefits these tools can bring with the risks that they could be misused. What's next: The real challenge will come as regulatory agencies including the FDA try to decide what level of risk is ultimately acceptable as we work to vaccinate the entire world. On Wednesday, the EU Commission reportedly decided not to renew its vaccine contracts with both J&J and AstraZeneca, likely slowing the pace of vaccination. The bottom line: The FDA paused J&J out of an "abundance of caution" and it was likely correct to do so. But in a pandemic and in a risky future more generally it won't always be easy to identify which decision is ultimately more cautious. Like this article? Get more from Axios and subscribe to Axios Markets for free. Governor Whitmer Announces Steps to Fight Payroll Fraud and Prioritize Michigan Jobs in State Purchasing Decisions Governor Whitmer Announces Steps to Fight Payroll Fraud and Prioritize Michigan Jobs in State Purchasing Decisions FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE April 15, 2021 Contact: press@michigan.gov Governor Whitmer Announces Steps to Fight Payroll Fraud and Prioritize Michigan Jobs in State Purchasing Decisions LANSING, Mich. - Today, Governor Gretchen Whitmer announced changes to protocols for state contract bids to implement the Michigan Jobs First Executive Directive 2019-15. These new protections will level the playing field for companies that play by the rules, allowing companies to compete fairly while protecting workers' wages and health care. The new processes also account for the overall economic impact of a state contract on Michigan's economy. "Michigan is home to the hardest working people and best businesses in the world, and our state should work to ensure that more of our Michigan tax dollars support Michigan workers and businesses at every opportunity," said Governor Gretchen Whitmer. "We want Michigan to be a home for opportunity for everyone, which begins with supporting businesses that provide fair wages and good benefits. Today's actions strengthen our commitment to these priorities and bring the greatest possible benefit to Michigan's businesses, workers, and families." Under the new protocols, the Department of Technology, Management and Budget will have bidders complete a vendor questions worksheet, which includes disclosure of a bidder's labor and environmental compliance record, disclosure of information related to economic impact in Michigan, and a certification that the bidder has properly classified its employees. These disclosures and certifications protect workers against payroll fraud, which can happen when a business misclassifies its employees as "independent contractors," which can deprive employees of access to overtime pay, workers' compensation, health care, and other benefits. Payroll fraud undercuts businesses that play by the rules, treating their employees fairly and in accordance with Michigan's labor laws. By taking these steps, the state will fully account for the overall economic impact of the potential supplier's bid on Michigan businesses and workers, the wages and benefits offered by the supplier to its workers, the supplier's track record of labor and environmental compliance, and the supplier's commitment to economically-disadvantaged zones. DTMB will be able to use the information obtained through the disclosures on the vendor questions worksheet to incorporate consideration of labor and environmental track records into the procurement process. As part of the implementation of Executive Directive 2019-15, DTMB also began a rulemaking process to allow for debarment of suppliers who demonstrate a lack of integrity. "For companies that are doing the right thing, these anti-fraud measures are an important step forward that can promote fairness, competition, and greater workplace protections," said Tom Lutz, Executive Secretary-Treasurer of the Michigan Regional Council of Carpenters and Millwrights. "After a year of a devastating pandemic, small businesses and workers have made tremendous sacrifices, and the governor's actions will give them the support they need to compete on a level playing field. Tax fraud hurts businesses that are doing the right thing and leaves workers with lower wages and no health care when they get hurt on the job. Gov. Whitmer's leadership is critical to getting Michigan back to work." According to Economic Policy Institute analysis, payroll fraud costs Michigan workers an estimated $429 million in wages and overtime pay between 2013 and 2015, impacting more than 2.8 million workers. Meanwhile, Michigan taxpayers are shortchanged $107 million a year in revenue through tax fraud when businesses misclassify workers by reporting employees as self-employed independent contractors or paying them off the books as a way to avoid paying their fair share of taxes, a Michigan State University study found. Governor Whitmer's announcement is the latest effort to fight tax and payroll fraud: In 2019, Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel created a special task force to investigate and prosecute payroll fraud. ### Quotes from local business leaders below: "When a company misclassifies employees as 1099 independent contractors, that's unfair and it hurts three groups of people - workers who get paid less than what they're owed, Michigan taxpayers who pay their share, and other businesses that play by the rules but just can't compete with artificially low costs," said John Marinelli, Director, Commercial Contracting Corp., based in Detroit. "The workers don't get a fair wage and the health care and benefits they're owed. Taxpayers don't get the revenue that goes to our communities for roads and schools. Our business follows the rules because we believe in doing our part for the community and the future of our state." "As a family business, we applaud Gov. Gretchen Whitmer for standing up to criminals," said Jim Judd, Director of Master Craft Floors. "Businesses like ours have had to tighten our belts because of the pandemic. By working so companies like mine can compete on a level playing field, we are hopeful that our business and many others can rebound, grow and thrive in the months and years to come. We want the cheating to stop so we can keep our Michigan workers doing what they do best." "Tax fraud is a crime that has gone unchecked for far too long, and the ones that suffer are the businesses that actually follow the rules," said Josh Barney, Vice President, J.J. Barney Construction. "All we ask for as a business is a fair opportunity to compete on a level playing field. For years, offenders have gamed the system with impunity. They have kept their labor costs artificially low by circumventing the law and cheating their employees. Now, we can hold them accountable and make Michigan a welcoming and fair place for all businesses." Prime Minister Scott Morrison has warned the world is at risk of splintering between authoritarian regimes and liberal democracies, saying like-minded countries need to join together to push for freedom. Mr Morrison hailed the first leaders-level meeting of the Quad group of nations last month as historic for bringing together four great liberal democracies to work on a positive and inclusive agenda for the Indo-Pacific. The four countries Australia, India, Japan and the United States view the strategic dialogue as central to its efforts to counter Chinas growing dominance in the region. Scott Morrison has warned the world is at risk of splintering between democracies and authoritarian regimes. Credit:Dominic Lorrimer Speaking virtually to Indias annual Raisina Dialogue on Thursday night, Mr Morrison said liberal democracies were under assault from foreign interference, cyber attacks and economic coercion. Over the past year, China has imposed more than $20 billion of trade strikes on Australia, while sophisticated foreign interference plots and cyber attacks have also been blamed on Beijing. Mr Morrison warned there was a great polarisation that our world is at risk of moving towards. CHERRY HILL, N.J., April 15, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- After years of serving patients from around the country from locations in South Florida, Legacy Healing Center has opened a brand-new addiction and behavioral health treatment facility in Cherry Hill, New Jersey. Having served many clients coming in from the northeast region of the US, Legacy Healing Center decided it was time to bring their transformational treatment centers closer to home. Legacy Healing Center Cherry HIll New Jersey Reception Area Cities and towns in the northeastern U.S. see more drug overdoses than any other region, making it an epicenter of the opioid crisis. According to CDC data, more than 50,000 people in the U.S. die from opioid-involved overdoses each year. This includes overdoses on prescription painkillers, heroin, and synthetic opioids such as fentanyl. With opioid abuse on the rise in the U.S., and especially in this region, it was natural for Legacy Healing Center to open a facility to help more people in the area who may otherwise not be able to travel to South Florida. Many of the staff at Legacy Healing Center are from Philadelphia, New Jersey, and other cities and towns across the northeast. Most of the staff are also on their own recovery journeys. They have a clear perspective on how addiction is impacting individuals and communities in the northeast and they have a unique understanding and ability to empathize with the clients they serve. According to Legacy Healing Center, there are many factors that contribute to successful recovery from alcohol and drug addiction. Traveling for treatment and seeking help close to home both have their merits. By providing residents of the northeast both options, they're able to cater treatment to the individual needs and goals of each patient. Offering care closer to home makes treatment accessible to more people as traveling is simply not an option for everyone. Some people prefer to stay in a familiar environment where they know family and friends are close by. Travel costs are lower when staying closer to home since airfare or other long-distance travel expenses aren't required. Also having a local treatment center nearby opens up options for outpatient treatment where a patient comes to the facility for treatment during the day then returns home at night. For some, traveling to Legacy Healing Center in South Florida will remain the most effective treatment option. Traveling provides a change of scenery and an opportunity to get away from triggers and negative influences that may be part of a person's day-to-day environment. Traveling can give patients a greater sense of privacy as well. And it provides an opportunity to focus solely on oneself and the healing process of recovery without distractions from home. One of the hallmarks of the high standard of care provided by Legacy Healing Center is customized addiction treatment planning that's catered to the unique needs of each individual patient they treat. Opening the new Cherry Hill location allows them to further cater to individuals' needs by offering the option to travel or receive high-quality care close to home. The Cherry Hill facility offers the same holistic client-centered care that Legacy Healing Center has built its reputation on. The Cherry Hill location boasts a beautiful setting where clients can focus on their recovery in a comfortable and relaxing environment. And like all Legacy Healing Center locations, Cherry Hill maintains the highest level of accreditation, the Gold Seal of Approval from the Joint Commission. Their individualized approach allows every person who enters their program to pursue their own unique path to successful long-term recovery. The mission of Legacy Healing Center is to empower every client, to show them that they are worthy and capable of transforming their lives, and to help them find true happiness, peace, and joy in a life of sobriety. If anyone is struggling with addiction, contact Legacy Healing Center for help today. Call (888) 534-2295 anytime 24/7 to speak to an addiction specialist or find them online at www.legacyhealing.com Source: "Opioid Overdose Crisis". National Institute on Drug Abuse. March 11, 2021. https://www.drugabuse.gov/drug-topics/opioids/opioid-overdose-crisis Media Contact: David Levin (888) 534-2295 [email protected] SOURCE Legacy Healing Center Cherry Hill Related Links http://www.legacyhealing.com This $20 a month donation gives you full online access to all four of our local papers - Sonoma West, The Healdsburg Tribune, Windsor Times and Cloverdale Reveille - and will help the paper survive. This renews automatically, and we will charge your card monthly until you tell us to stop. Thanks for going above and beyond! A 28-year-old New Jersey man went on a rampage Wednesday after being arrested on an obstruction charge, head-butting a police officer, spitting blood and kicking other officers, and damaging both a mug shot camera and a holding cell, officials said. Ralph Lezin was taken into custody when he wouldnt cooperate with Jackson police officers called to investigate a report that he slashed the tires of an acquaintance in the Pineview Apartments parking lot, police Capt. Steve Laskiewicz said. Lezin became even more combative after being brought from the complex on West County Line Road to police headquarters, Laskiewicz said. First, Lezin repeatedly kicked an emergency button in the processing area, activating it several times. Then the Toms River resident flipped over a table in the room and head-butted the mugshot camera, damaging a bracket which holds it in place, police said. Once in a holding cell Lezin allegedly pulled the mattress off the cot and used it to jam the toilet, which flooded the cell. When officers told Lezin he was going to be moved to the Ocean County jail, he attacked them, head-butting one and kicking and kneeing several others who tried to assist, officials said. Lezin was injured while struggling with police and spit blood in the face of several police officers before finally being restrained, police said. The Jackson First Aid squad checked Lezin and then brought him to a local hospital for treatment Even while being treated, Lezin acted aggressively toward officers and hospital staff, police said. Eventually, he was brought to the county jail in Toms River. Lezin is charged with criminal mischief, obstruction by means of physical interference, aggravated assault on a police officer and aggravated assault by throwing bodily fluid. Additional charges are pending. Several police officers were treated for minor injuries and for being hit with Lezins blood. The cell block and patrol car used to transport Lezin were cleaned and sanitized. Attorney information for Lezin wasnt immediately available. Our journalism needs your support. Please subscribe today to NJ.com. Jeff Goldman may be reached at jeff_goldman@njadvancemedia.com. 3 1 of 3 Courtesy of Kendra Scott / Submitted Show More Show Less 2 of 3 Courtesy, Kendra Scott Show More Show Less 3 of 3 Kendra Scott has built her success around women. In 2002, the Austin-based CEO famously started her eponymous company with just $500, all the capital the then-single mother could muster. Over the past two decades, Kendra Scott has grown into a bedazzling billion-dollar empire, and Scott herself has become one of the richest self-made women in the country, all while raising three children and juggling the various commitments familiar to so many mothers. New research from the Florida State University College of Medicine has found that the personality trait neuroticism is consistently associated with a higher risk of developing the brain disorder Parkinson's disease. The research by Professor of Geriatrics Antonio Terracciano and team, published in Movement Disorders, found that adults in the study who scored in the top quartile of neuroticism had more than 80% greater risk of Parkinson's, compared to those who scored lower on neuroticism. "Some clinicians think that the anxiety and depression is just the result of Parkinson's," Terracciano said. "However, our findings suggest that some emotional vulnerability is present early in life, years before the development of Parkinson's disease." The effects were similar for women and men and across socioeconomic strata. Furthermore, the association was virtually unchanged in models that excluded incident cases within the first five years of follow-up and remained significant in models that accounted for demographic variables and other risk factors, including smoking, physical activity, anxiety and depression. Three similar studies have published results consistent with Terracciano's findings, but with smaller sample sizes. Collectively, they provide a "pretty robust and replicable" assessment of the link between neuroticism and Parkinson's, Terracciano said. "It kind of gives you a better understanding of the risk factors for the disease and what could be a contributing cause," he said. "This is one of many [factors], but the evidence is convincing." Globally, an estimated six million people suffer from Parkinson's disease -- about 1% of all older adults -- making it the second most common neurodegenerative disease after Alzheimer's. The causes of Parkinson's disease are not well understood, but scientists believe genetic and environmental factors contribute to its onset. Neuroticism is a personality trait that measures individual differences in the tendency to experience negative emotions, vulnerability to stress, inability to resist urges and self-consciousness. It is one of the five major personality traits known as the "Big Five" or five-factor model of personality and is one of the most studied psychological dispositions for its relevance spanning normal to abnormal emotional functioning. Neuroticism has been linked to mood disorders and Alzheimer's, but there have been fewer studies on its prospective connection with Parkinson's. "Individuals who score high in neuroticism are at higher risk for poor health outcomes across the lifespan, particularly in the domain of mental health and neurodegenerative diseases, including Alzheimer's disease and related dementias," Terracciano said. Central to Terracciano's research was a large-scale study by the UK Biobank, which recruited nearly a half-million individuals ages 40-69 between 2006 and 2010, and collected data obtained over nearly 12 years of follow up. A baseline assessment measured neuroticism. There were 1,142 identified cases of Parkinson's ascertained through UK National Health Service electronic health records or death records up to 2018. "Anxiety and depression are comorbid with Parkinson's disease," Terracciano said. "Many people with Parkinson's tend to be anxious or tend to get depressed. Part of that could be due to the disease and how it alters the brain and can have an influence on emotions. Part could be a psychological reaction of having a diagnosis of the disease." Parkinson's is a long-term degenerative brain disorder that causes progressive decline of motor and physical functions. As the disease progresses, nerve cell damage in the brain causes dopamine levels to drop, leading to symptoms such as tremors, slow movement, stiffness and loss of balance. Dopamine is known as a "feel-good" hormone involved in reward, motivation, memory and attention in addition to regulating body movements. Terracciano led the research team, which included Damaris Aschwanden, a post-doctoral researcher in the FSU Department of Geriatrics, and Angelina Sutin, professor in the FSU Department of Behavioral Sciences and Social Medicine. Researchers from the University of Montpellier in France; the National Research Council, Sant'Anna Institute and Tor Vergata University of Rome in Italy; and the University of Cambridge in the United Kingston contributed to this study. ### [April 15, 2021] Global Unmanned Combat Aerial Vehicle (UCAV) Market- AeroVironment Inc., BAE Systems Plc, Baykar, among others to contribute to the market growth NEW YORK, April 15, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- The unmanned combat aerial vehicle (UCAV) market is poised to witness a decremental growth of $ 1.08 bn during 2021-2025, at a decelerating CAGR of over 9% during the forecast period. View our Exclusive report on Market scenarios, Estimates, the impact of lockdown, and Customer Behaviour. Download FREE Sample Report! The report on the unmanned combat aerial vehicle (UCAV) market provides a holistic update, market size and forecast, trends, growth drivers, and challenges, as well as vendor analysis. The report offers an up-to-date analysis regarding the current global market scenario and the overall market environment. The market is driven by changing nature of advanced warfare. The unmanned combat aerial vehicle (UCAV) market analysis includes type segment and geographic landscape. This study identifies the escalating security threats as one of the prime reasons driving the unmanned combat aerial vehicle (UCAV) market growth during the next few years. This report presents a detailed picture of the market by the way of study, synthesis, and summation of data from multiple sources by an analysis of key parameters. The unmanned combat aerial vehicle (UCAV) market covers the following areas: Unmanned Combat Aerial Vehicle (UCAV) Market Sizing Unmanned Combat Aerial Vehicle (UCAV) Market Forecast Unmanned Combat Aerial Vehicle (UCAV) Market Analysis Companies Mentioned AeroVironment Inc. BAE Systems Plc Baykar Dassault Aviation Group Denel Dynamics Elbit Systems Ltd. General Atomics Israel Aerospace Industries Ltd. Lockheed Martin Corp. The Boeing Co. Related Reports on Industrials Include: Aerial Work Platform Truck Market by Product, End-user, and Geography - Forecast and Analysis 2021-2025- The aerial work platform (AWP) truck market has the potential to grow by USD 1.92 billion during 2021-2025, and the market's growth momentum will accelerate at a CAGR of 7.61%. Download FREE Sample Report!? The aerial work platform (AWP) truck market has the potential to grow by during 2021-2025, and the market's growth momentum will accelerate at a CAGR of 7.61%. Cross-border E-commerce Logistics Market by Service and Geography - Forecast and Analysis 2021-2025- The cross border e-commerce logistics market has the potential to grow by USD 44.61 billion during 2021-2025, and the market's growth momentum will accelerate at a CAGR of 10.53%.Download FREE Sample Report! Key Topics Covered: Executive Summary Market Landscape Market ecosystem Market characteristics Value chain analysis Market Sizing Market definition Market segment analysis Market size 2020 Market outlook: Forecast for 2020 - 2025 Five Forces Analysis Five forces summary Bargaining power of buyers Bargaining power of suppliers Threat of new entrants Threat of substitutes Threat of rivalry Market condition Market Segmentation by Type Market segments Comparison by Type Medium-altitude UCAV - Market size and forecast 2020-2025 High-altitude UCAV - Market size and forecast 2020-2025 Market opportunity by Type Customer landscape Geographic Landscape Geographic segmentation Geographic comparison North America - Market size and forecast 2020-2025 - Market size and forecast 2020-2025 Europe - Market size and forecast 2020-2025 - Market size and forecast 2020-2025 APAC - Market size and forecast 2020-2025 MEA - Market size and forecast 2020-2025 South America - Market size and forecast 2020-2025 - Market size and forecast 2020-2025 Key leading countries Market opportunity by geography Market drivers Market challenges Market trends Vendor Landscape Vendor landscape Landscape disruption Vendor Analysis Vendors covered Market positioning of vendors AeroVironment Inc. BAE Systems Plc Baykar Dassault Aviation Group Denel Dynamics Elbit Systems Ltd. General Atomics Israel Aerospace Industries Ltd. Lockheed Martin Corp. The Boeing Co. Appendix Scope of the report Currency conversion rates for US$ Research methodology List of abbreviations About Us Technavio is a leading global technology research and advisory company. Their research and analysis focuses on emerging market trends and provides actionable insights to help businesses identify market opportunities and develop effective strategies to optimize their market positions. With over 500 specialized analysts, Technavio's report library consists of more than 17,000 reports and counting, covering 800 technologies, spanning across 50 countries. Their client base consists of enterprises of all sizes, including more than 100 Fortune 500 companies. This growing client base relies on Technavio's comprehensive coverage, extensive research, and actionable market insights to identify opportunities in existing and potential markets and assess their competitive positions within changing market scenarios. Contact Technavio Research Jesse Maida Media & Marketing Executive US: +1 844 364 1100 UK: +44 203 893 3200 Email: media@technavio.com Website: www.technavio.com/ Report Link:https://www.technavio.com/report/unmanned-combat-aerial-vehicle-ucav-market-industry-analysis View original content to download multimedia:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/global-unmanned-combat-aerial-vehicle-ucav-market--aerovironment-inc-bae-systems-plc-baykar-among-others-to-contribute-to-the-market-growth-301269704.html SOURCE Technavio [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] Far-right President Jair Bolsonaro continues to downplay the coronavirus, despite still surging infections and deaths. Video Transcript MONICA YANAKIEW: The pandemic is changing the demographics in Rio de Janeiro and 11 other large Brazilian cities. In recent months, they've been witnessing more funerals than births. Yet another tragic statistic in a country that already has the world's second largest COVID-19 death toll and was late to start its vaccination campaign. From the start, President Jair Bolsonaro has been accused of downplaying the coronavirus and of setting a bad example by not wearing a mask nor respecting social distancing rules. But on Wednesday, as Brazil surpassed 360,000 deaths by COVID-19, widespread criticism of Bolsonaro those actions took a serious turn. The Supreme Court authorized a congressional inquiry into the Brazilian president's handling of the pandemic. GERALDO TADEU: [SPEAKING PORTUGUESE] INTERPRETER 1: The probe is a blow to Bolsonaro because it'll put the spotlight on the government's mistakes, which were many. The president will have to explain why he had no national plan to fight the pandemic and why he fought the governors who tried to control the outbreak on their own by imposing lockdowns or importing vaccines. MONICA YANAKIEW: Bolsonaro reacted by saying that the crisis caused by the pandemic has turned Brazil into a powder keg and blamed the restrictive measures he opposed for increasing poverty and hunger in Brazil. JAIR BOLSONARO: [SPEAKING PORTUGUESE] INTERPRETER 2: Brazil is at its limit. People say I should take action. I am waiting for the people to give me a sign because the hunger, the misery, the unemployment are there. MONICA YANAKIEW: But while many in Brazil's slums are crying out for help and food, in the hospitals, doctors and nurses are at their wit's end. They're running out of drugs to treat the increasing number of patients fighting for their lives in intensive care. Monica Yanakiew of Al Jazeera, Rio de Janeiro. U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken has called Iran's enrichment decision a provocative announcement. It calls into question Irans seriousness of purpose in the nuclear talks, Blinken said in Brussels after meeting with senior NATO leaders. Iran insists its nuclear program is peaceful, though the West and the International Atomic Energy Agency says Tehran had an organized military nuclear program up until the end of 2003. An annual U.S. intelligence report released Tuesday maintained the American assessment that Iran is not currently undertaking the key nuclear weapons-development activities that we judge would be necessary to produce a nuclear device. Iran previously had said it could use uranium enriched up to 60% for nuclear-powered ships. However, the Islamic Republic currently has no such ships in its navy. At a joint news conference in Brussels, US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin also called on Russia to respect Ukraine's territorial integrity. The United States and its allies are concerned over the concentration of Russian troops along the frontier with Ukraine and increased ceasefire violations. Russian-backed separatists and Ukrainian forces have been engaged in conflict following Moscow's 2014 annexation of the Crimean peninsula of Ukraine. (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) While speaking at a Midland County Republican Womens function on Wednesday, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton addressed the migrant facilities for unaccompanied minors and said the situation at the border is as bad as I can imagine it being. Paxton spoke during the MCRW monthly luncheon and was asked about the U.S.-Mexico border and child migrant facilities following his speech. He criticized the Biden administration for reversing a Trump policy that required migrants to stay in Mexico while seeking asylum, which Paxton called genius. He also cast doubt on assertions that minors who cross the border are being reconnected with family, saying its hard to believe that kids from Central America have connections here. When asked if state lawmakers could dedicate funding to building a wall along the Texas border, Paxton said it would be too expensive to do so. It would be erroneously expensive, he said. Our budget would have to be almost entirely dedicated to that. Paxton told those in attendance at the luncheon that they could help defend the border by praying and contacting their elected representatives. Several hundred teenage boys, most from Guatemala and Honduras, were brought to a converted man camp in Midland County on March 14 after the time limit was passed to hold them in border patrol facilities. Local officials said at the time that they were blindsided by the federal governments decision. On Monday, U.S. Rep. August Pfluger said in a press release that those minors have been moved and girls and boys between the ages of 5 and 12 and some teenage girls will be transported to the Midland County facility. Pfluger condemned the Biden administrations lack of transparency and said the man camp is not suitable for young children. Paxton declined to answer questions about the migrant facility from the Reporter-Telegram after Wednesdays event, saying he would not be doing press interviews. MOSCOW -- A Moscow court has placed in de facto house arrest four editors of the student magazine Doxa who have been accused of "engaging minors in actions that might be dangerous" over a video related to unsanctioned rallies to protest the incarceration of opposition politician Aleksei Navalny. The Basmanny district court late on April 14 ordered Armen Aramyan, Vladimir Metyolkin, Natalya Tyshkevich, and Alla Gutnikova not to leave their homes between midnight and 11.59 p.m. for two months, giving them only one minute to be outside each day. The four were detained for questioning at the Investigative Committee after their homes and the magazine's offices were searched over the video, which the magazine posted online in January. Dozens of supporters held single-person protests near the court and organized "a live chain," to express support for the four editors. Police detained one of the protesters. As the journalists left the court one by one after the announcement of their pretrial restrictions, supporters cheered and applauded them. The video for which the journalists were charged questioned teachers' moves to warn students about possible repercussions they could face for participating in unsanctioned rallies on January 23 and 31 in protest of Navalny's arrest. Doxa editors say the video was deleted from the magazine's website following a demand from Russian media watchdog Roskomnadzor to remove it. More than 10,000 supporters of Navalny were detained across Russia during and after the January rallies. Many of the detained men and women were either fined or handed several-day jail terms. At least 90 were charged with criminal offenses and several have been fired by their employers. Human rights groups have called on Moscow repeatedly to stop targeting journalists because they covered the protests or expressed solidarity with protesters since both are protected under the right to freedom of expression. "Instead of targeting journalists, the authorities should hold accountable police who attack journalists and interfere with their work," Human Rights Watch said in a statement on February 3. Navalny was detained at a Moscow airport on January 17 upon his arrival from Germany, where he was recovering from a poisoning in Siberia in August 2020 that several European laboratories concluded was from a military-grade chemical nerve agent. Navalny has insisted that his poisoning was ordered directly by President Vladimir Putin, which the Kremlin has denied. In February, a Moscow court ruled that while in Germany, Navalny had violated the terms of parole from an old embezzlement case that is widely considered as being politically motivated. Navalny's 3 1/2-year suspended sentence from that case was converted to a jail term, though the court said he will serve 2 1/2 years in prison, given the amount of time he had been held in detention. Four more imported Covid-19 patients confirmed on Thursday morning Four Vietnamese people who recently returned from abroad have tested positive for SARS-CoV-2, raising the total number of patients in the country to 2,737, the Ministry of Health reported on Thursday morning. Illustrative photo According to the ministry's report, three of the newly-reported patients include two men and a woman aged between 26-32 who arrived at Cam Ranh Airport in Khanh Hoa Province from Japan on April 11. They were sent to a local quarantine site upon arrival and tested positive for coronavirus on April 14. The patients are now being treated at the Khanh Hoa Provincial Hospital for Tropical Diseases. The other patient is a 25-year-old man who returned from abroad through Ha Tien International Border Gate on April 10. He was sent to a local quarantine area upon arrival and tested positive for SARS-CoV-2 on April 13. The man is now being treated at the Ha Tien City Healthcare Centre. With these new infection cases, the number of Covid-19 patients in Vietnam has increased to 2,733, including 910 locally-transmitted cases reported since the new outbreak started in Hai Duong on January 28. As of 6 pm on April 14, a total of 2,445 Covid-19 patients had recovered and been discharged from hospital. There have been 35 deaths, most of them being the elderly with serious underlying diseases. At present, nearly 39,000 people who had close contact with Covid-19 patients or returned from virus-hit areas are being monitored at hospitals, quarantine facilities, and at home. Toronto, Ontario--(Newsfile Corp. - April 15, 2021) - Datametrex AI Limited (TSXV: DM) (FSE: D4G) (OTC Pink: DTMXF) (the "Company" or "Datametrex") is pleased to announce that Concierge Medical Consultants Inc. ("Concierge"), a wholly-owned operating subsidiary of the Company has opened in partnership with ScreenPro Security Inc. (CSE: SCRN) ("ScreenPro"), a COVID-19 testing clinic in Vancouver, British Columbia located in the Coal Harbor. The clinic offers both rapid testing with results in ten (10) minutes and traditional lab-based polymerase chain reaction ("PCR") testing that can detect the new variants with results within twenty-four (24) hours. The testing centre is operated by Concierge with testing performed with ScreenPro's trained nurses and lab partner technicians. "As the third wave begins to spread in every region of the country with new Brazil and UK variants spreading, there is a significant need in the marketplace for providing personal COVID-19 testing solutions and the Company recognizes that continued testing is part of the solution to this growing public health pandemic," said Dr. Jibran Sharif, Chief Executive Officer, Concierge Medical Consultants Inc. "The B.C. Centre for Disease Control has revealed that in late March the province of British Columbia reached a record percentage of positive COVID-19 test results and reached a positivity rate of 12.5 percent and 14.9 percent in Vancouver Coastal Health," added Dr. Sharif. In addition to the testing services, through this partnership with ScreenPro the Company can provide travel documents electronically with the ScreenPro's app GoStop for travel from Canada to the United States and destinations worldwide with the PCR test. About Datametrex Datametrex AI Limited is technology-focused with exposure to Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning through its wholly-owned subsidiary, Nexalogy (www.nexalogy.com). Datametrex's mission is to provide tools that support companies in fulfilling their operational goals, including Health and Safety, with predictive and preventive technologies. By working with companies to set a new standard of protocols through Artificial Intelligence and health diagnostics, Company provides progressive solutions to support the supply chain. For additional information on Datametrex and other corporate information, please visit the Company's website at www.datametrex.com . For further information, please contact: Marshall Gunter - CEO Phone: (514) 295-2300 Email: mgunter@datametrex.com Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor it's Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. Forward Looking Statements: All statements 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. These forward-looking statements involve numerous assumptions made by the Company based on its experience, perception of historical trends, current conditions, expected future developments and other factors it believes are appropriate in the circumstances. In addition, these statements involve substantial known and unknown risks and uncertainties that contribute to the possibility that the predictions, forecasts, projections, and other forward-looking statements will prove inaccurate, certain of which are beyond the Company's control. In particular, there is no guarantee that the parties will successfully negotiate and enter into a definitive agreement on mutually acceptable terms or complete the Transaction in the manner contemplated herein, if at all, that the due diligence of any of the parties will be satisfactory, or that the parties will obtain any required board, shareholder, third-party and/or regulatory or other governmental approvals, if any. Readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements. Except as required by law, the Company does not undertake to revise or update these forward-looking statements after the date hereof or revise them to reflect the occurrence of future unanticipated events. ### To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/80473 Its been a brutal 12 months for workers in the Permian Basin. The Texas Workforce Commissions Permian Basin Workforce Development Area, which covers 17 West Texas counties, saw the unemployment rate more than triple, from 2.9 percent in January 2020 to 9.4 percent in January 2021. That rise was fueled by the loss of 24,000 from the civilian labor force and the number of employed residents plunging by just more than 39,000 and the number of unemployed lept by 15,200. Since unemployment hit its peak early last summer, rates have improved Midland has seen its rate fall to about 8 percent and Odessa to about 11 percent. Overall, it may take another year before we see the civilian labor force get back over 109,000, said Willie Taylor, chief executive officer of the commissions Workforce Solutions Permian Basin. He was referring to the civilian labor force in the Midland metropolitan statistical area, which stood at 109,280 in January 2020 before falling to 97,700 in January 2021. Hardest hit among industrial sectors is the dominant Mining, Logging and Construction sector, which incorporates oil and gas activities, which shed more than 11,000 jobs m the Midland MSA alone. But there may be some good news on the horizon, even if its the silver lining in the dark cloud of a potential ban on oil and gas development on federal lands. A pause on oil and gas permitting on federal lands expired March 20 and returned to Bureau of Land Management field offices, including Carlsbad, New Mexico, the bureaus most active. But a ban on new oil and gas leasing on federal lands remains in effect and could have a negative impact on the New Mexico portion of the Permian, where half its production came from federal lands in 2020. A study by the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas found that in the most restrictive scenario, New Mexico production would fall to 700,000 barrels per day, 800,000 barrels less than the 1.5 million barrels per day by the end of 2025 in the studys reference scenario or benchmark. In that case, Kunal Patel, business economist at the bank, said jobs could migrate from the New Mexico portion of the Permian to the West Texas portion of the basin. These are direct drilling and completion workers, he told the Reporter-Telegram by telephone. Its harder to get a handle on support jobs housing, hotels, restaurants. Patel and Garrett Golding, also a business economist with the bank, wrote the study and detailed the impact of the leasing ban on New Mexico. They operated under the assumption a standard three-well pad on average requires 240 workers. Under the hybrid and the restrictive scenarios, New Mexico would not need between 3,500 and 6,600 drilling and completion workers from now through the end of 2025. At the same time, Texas would require between 5,400 and 7,400 more workers. Looking at the exploration and production sector, the two said consolidation has already had an impact on employment and will continue to do so as consolidation is expected to continue. Weve not seen the end of the wave of consolidations or the end of layoffs from consolidation, Golding said. Weve spoken with groups of engineers, he added. A lot have valuable technical expertise that can translate to other sectors like data science. There are petroleum engineers who want to stay petroleum engineers; that will be a difficult job market. After the oil downturn of 2015-16, he said a number of field personnel left for other trade like construction, welding and plumbing or left the Permian Basin altogether. Kevin Broom, director of communications and research with the Energy Workforce & Technology Council formed earlier this year following the merger of the Petroleum Equipment and Services Association and the Association of Energy Service Companies - said he expects more hiring as the world demands more crude. Demand drives production, which drives service company hiring, he told the Reporter-Telegram by telephone. Still, Patel of the Dallas Fed cautioned not to expect a significant uptick in hiring. The big push in technology makes it so they can do more with less, he explained. The Federal Ministry of Women Affairs has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the International Organisation for Migration (IOM) to improve interventions for migrant women and children. The MoU, which was signed in Abuja, on Thursday, would also focus on interventions around gender-based violence, child rights as well as violence against persons. Minister of Women Affairs, Pauline Tallen, who spoke shortly before the signing of the MoU, said the MoU would foster the relationship between the ministry and IOM on interventions in areas of mutual interest. Today, history is being made as we witness another glorious moment in consolidating our activities at addressing our areas of mutual interest. This event further strengthens the existing relationship between our organisations, which I understand dates back to August 2002 when the first MoU was signed. I am convinced that the implementation of the provisions of the work plan and MoU will not only be inclusive but will also impact positively on the wellbeing of the target group. We will focus on the interventions around gender-based violence, Child Rights Act of 2002 and Violence Against Persons Prohibition Act of 2015, migrant child protection, disarmament, demobilisation, reintegration. The MoU is coming at the appropriate time as we work towards the development of the Third National Action Plan as prepared for the implementation of the UN Security Council resolution on Women, Peace and Security. This will, therefore, go a long way to refocus projects and programmes that will help the country and impact positively to alleviate the situation of our target beneficiaries, she said. She said the ministry had been at the forefront of addressing migrants issue and such coordinated intervention was very important and timely. Frantz Celestin, Chief of Mission, IOM, said that the first point of call after the MoU signing was the assessment of the shelter facilities in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT). He said the focus on women stemmed from IOM data which showed that 42 per cent of the over 20,000 Nigerian migrants returned by IOM, were women. Mr Celestin said women and children were the most exploited and suffered the most brunt of violence and marginalisation. I am truly honored to be part of this historic moment. I know, together, bringing our respective strength to bear, we can do a lot. In recent years, we have seen what we referred to as the feminization of migration. Where more and more women are on the move. They often find themselves in vulnerable situations, be it trafficking or exploitation. Looking specifically at Nigeria, our data showed that 42% of the 20,000 Nigerian migrants IOM brought back from Libya in the last three years are women. Our data also show that they often suffer the most severe cases of exploitation and abuse. They need more support when they come back to fully reintegrate in society, he said. The IOM chief said that the organisations programme seeks to give voice to women and children by removing the victimhood veil from them. We know they can be the masters of their own destiny. This is why this MOU is so important, he added. This MOU will link IOMs work with the Ministrys Strategic Plan and Operational Framework, especially Strategic Result Areas. IOM is looking forward to having specific focal points from the Ministry to participate in our proposed quarterly coordination meetings, he said. ADVERTISEMENT (NAN) The Quad, or the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue, is not an Asian NATO and India never had a NATO mentality, said External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar on Tuesday even as he stressed the need for like-minded countries to come together to form coalitions in the changing global order. The comments were made at the Raisina Dialogue, where the Minister spoke along with Jean-Yves Le Drian, Minister for Europe, Foreign Affairs of France, and Marise Payne, Minister for Foreign Affairs of Australia. Jaishankar said when Quad nations come together, it sends a message of threat to others which people need to get over with. Using words like Asian NATO etc is a mind-game which people are playing, he added. Others cannot have a veto about what I am going to discuss, with whom Im going to discuss, how much Im going to contribute to the world. Thats my national choice. That kind of NATO mentality has never been Indias. If it has been there in Asia before, I think its in other countries, not in mine, Jaishankar said. Quad labelled as 'Asian NATO' After the revival of Quad in 2017, and since the first-ever summit of the Quad countries India, Japan, Australia and the US in March, many commentators have referred to the alliance as the Asian NATO. The North Atlantic Treaty Organization or NATO is an intergovernmental military alliance between 30 European and North American countries. Denying that the Quad is a security alliance or an Asian NATO, Jaishankar said the group has discussed over 10 broad subjects so far includingvaccine collaboration, higher education and student mobility, climate action, HADR (high availability disease recovery), emerging technology, resilient supply chains, semiconductors, disinformation, counterterrorism and maritime security. That list will tell you what is in our minds and what we are trying to do So, the purpose of coming together is actually to find ways of working for our national benefit, our regional benefit and global benefit, the EAM said. Indo-Pacific is about overcoming Cold War Jaishankar said the Indo-Pacific construct reflects a more contemporary world, mirroring the overcoming of the Cold War and not reinforcing it. He said the Indo-Pacific refers to a seamless world that was historically present in the form of Indian-Arab economic-trading ties and cultural influences from ASEAN nations like Vietnam and the east coast of China. "I would argue that in a way, the Indo-Pacific is a return to history. It reflects the more contemporary world. It is actually the overcoming of the Cold War and not reinforcing it," Jaishankar said at the Raisina Dialogue. "I very much hope that all of us who run contemporary foreign policy look at it that way," he added. Historically, India used to see Indo-Pacific as the Indian Ocean and Asia-Pacific. But today, due to globalisation, the rebalancing of power and multipolarity coming together of countries have taken place, he said. MADRID (Reuters) -Spain is confident it can maintain its coronavirus vaccination targets despite the United States suspending the Johnson & Johnson shot and delays to its European rollout over clotting concerns, the government said on Wednesday. The early delivery in the second quarter of 50 million doses produced by Pfizer and BioNTech vaccines to EU countries partially offset the doubts caused by the suspension of J&J's single-dose vaccine. Spain will receive between four and five million more doses of the Pfizer vaccine than expected in the second quarter, Health Minister Carolina Darias told a press conference. Spain received an initial delivery of 146,000 J&J doses on Wednesday, which the Health Ministry said would be kept in storage pending new guidance from the European Medicines Agency, expected next week. The Netherlands adopted a similar stance, while France has decided to push ahead with administering the drug. Darias echoed earlier statements by Industry Minister Reyes Maroto, who remained optimistic about getting 70% of the population vaccinated by the end of the summer. Spain aims to have half its population of 47 million fully inoculated by the end of July. So far around 6.7% have been fully inoculated. U.S. health agencies on Tuesday recommended suspending the vaccine after six women under 50 developed rare blood clots. J&J subsequently announced it would push back the European deployment of the shot, which it began delivering within the EU on Monday. Accelerating the vaccination campaign has become increasingly urgent as Spain's national infection rate creeps higher. On Wednesday the rate as measured over the preceding 14 days exceeded 200 cases per 100,000 people for the first time since late February. The Health Ministry reported 10,474 new cases, bringing the overall tally to 3.39 million, while the death toll climbed by 131 to 76,756. (Reporting by Aida Pelaez-Fernandez, Belen Carreno, Nathan Allen, editing by Steve Orlofsky and Grant McCool) [April 15, 2021] Colony Capital Announces Partial Sale of Tolka Irish Asset Portfolio Colony Capital, Inc. (NYSE: CLNY) ("Colony" or the "Company") today announced the monetization of additional Other Equity and Debt ("OED") portfolio holdings. The Company sold its 74% controlling interest in two high-quality office properties located in Dublin's city center for total gross proceeds of $351 million (292 million) to Blackstone Property Partners Europe Holdings S.a.r.l. The sale of the Company's interests in Burlington Plaza, a 238K square foot office complex located in central Dublin, and The Three Building, a 157K square foot office property located in the South Docks, generated $102 million in net equity proceeds to Colony. These interests were held in the Company's 'Tolka Irish NPL Portfolio' within OED, which will continue to own several Irish assets on a debt-free basis subsequent to the transaction, which was consummated in-line with carrying values for the assets. Gross and net proceed figures reflect Euro/USD foreign exchange pricing as of April 15, 2021. 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 $52 billion portfolio of real assets on behalf of its shareholders and limited partners, including $30 billion in digital real estate investments through Digital Colony, its digital infrastructure platform. Colony Capital, structured as a REIT, isheadquartered in Boca Raton with key offices in Los Angeles, New York, and London, and has over 350 employees across 17 locations in 12 countries. For more information on Colony Capital visit www.clny.com. 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. Factors that might cause such a difference include, without limitation, the Company's ability to continue to execute its digital transformation and other risks and uncertainties, including those detailed in Colony Capital's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2020, and its other reports filed from time to time with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (" SEC (News - Alert) "). 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. Colony Capital 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 Colony Capital does not intend to do so. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210415006058/en/ [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] A Colorado geophysicist who stormed the Capitol and dragged an officer down the steps will remain in jail after his motion to be released on bail was denied by a federal judge, citing the man's attempt at fleeing the country to Switzerland and his attempt at suicide. U.S. District Judge Emmett Sullivan denied 51-year-old Jeffrey Sabol's request to be released pre-trial, citing his actions on January 6 and his efforts to escape accountability, according to 64-page ruling filed on Wednesday. 'To arm himself, he stripped a vulnerable police officer of his police baton,' Sullivan said in the decision. 'He then used that stolen police baton to force another officer away from his post and into a mob of rioters who proceeded to viciously attack him, leaving him bleeding from the head. 'Mr. Sabol himself has admitted much of this, and the weight of the evidence against him is strong. For these reasons, the Court is convinced that Mr. Sabol would pose a danger to his community and the broader community of American citizens if he were to be released pending trial.' Prosecutors say that after the Capitol attack Sabol booked a flight from Boston Logan International Airport to Zurich, Switzerland, where he believed he would not be extradited back to the United States. But he allegedly abandoned that plan after seeing police officers at the airport. He then hired a car, which was pulled over for erratic driving in Clarkstown, New York. Police found Sabol covered in blood with cuts on his arm and thighs. Sabol was arrested at the Westchester Medical Center on January 22. Federal authorities say that the man in the tan jacket and black helmet who was seen dragging a Washington, DC, police officer down the steps of the United States Capitol on January 6 before he was beaten with an American flag is Jeffrey Sabol, 51, a Colorado geophysicist Sabol - along with four co-defendants - was indicted in January for their roles at the Capitol insurrection. The latest court decision mentions that Sabol's motion included option to return to either to his home in Colorado or under house arrest in New York at a home owned by his girlfriend. But given the possibility of Sabol serving a 20 year maximum sentence for assaulting the police officer, Sullivan noted that 'he has an even more compelling incentive to flee.' 'Releasing Mr. Sabol from custody and allowing him to return to Colorado or move to New York with strict conditions of home incarceration, as Mr. Sabol proposes and as he says the Pretrial Services Agency in New York recommended, would be insufficient to mitigate Mr. Sabols danger to the community and the risk that he would flee or try to obstruct justice,' Sullivan said in his release. Sullivan also noted that he had taken into consideration the letters written on Sabol's behalf, showing of his commitment to his community in Colorado prior to the seige. 'His history of a productive and peaceful life did not prevent him from committing horrific acts on January 6, 2021, and those acts inform the Courts view of his propensity for further violence if he were to be released pending trial,' the judge wrote. In late January, Sabol was ordered held without bail after his alleged attempt to flee to Switzerland. US Magistrate Judge Andrew Krause, based in White Plains, said during an electronic hearing that he found the alleged actions by Jeffrey Sabol, a 51-year-old born in Utica, New York, 'beyond the pale and it is troubling to a degree that is really ... shocking.' Krause said the allegations were 'very disturbing, deeply troubling' and that Sabol needed to remain behind bars as he was a danger to the community and there was a risk he could flee. 'What we see is Mr. Sabol, part of a group of people dragging a law enforcement officer down the steps of a building at the Capitol, where that officer has been repeatedly assaulted by a number of people, apparently including Mr. Sabol,' Krause said. The judge said he also saw video footage that showed Sabol going back up the stairs after the first officer was dragged down to possibly look for someone else to bring 'down those stairs into the teeth of that mob that was at the Capitol that day.' The horrific beating of the police officer was captured on video. U.S. District Judge Emmett Sullivan denied 51-year-old Jeffrey Sabol's request to be released pre-trial Trump supporters clash with police and security forces as they push barricades to storm the US Capitol in Washington D.C on January 6 Assistant US Attorney Benjamin Gianforti said Sabol identified himself to law enforcement authorities as the black-gloved man in the video wearing a brown or tan jacket, a black or gray helmet and a green backpack. 'We see the defendant dragging a police officer down a set of stairs just outside the Capitol,' Gianforti said. 'This allows another man, who's standing nearby, to beat that police officer with an American flag ironically, as the officer is being dragged down the stairs.' That other man who beat the officer with the flag has been identified by authorities as Peter Francis Stager of Arkansas. Stager, who is alleged to have been filmed saying 'Death is the only remedy for whats in that building' was arrested last week and charged with obstructing, impeding, or interfering with a law enforcement officer. In a second video, shared on social media, Stager brazenly says, 'Everybody in there is a treasonous traitor. Death is the only remedy for whats in that building', referring to people in the Capitol. The FBI said a person recognized him in the videos and alerted authorities. A second person also identified the man in the videos as Stager, telling authorities he spoke to Stager after the riot and Stager allegedly told him he thought the person they were hitting was part of the Antifa movement. However, the police officer was in a police uniform with 'Metropolitan Police' clearly visible on the back of his clothing. MAGA rioter Peter Francis Stager, of Arkansas, was arrested Thursday for allegedly beating a police officer with a large American flag during the January 6 protest at the Capitol. He was identified after videos of him circulated on social media including one where he said: 'Everybody in there is a treasonous traitor. Death is the only remedy for whats in that building.' A screenshot of that video above The same informant told the FBI that Stager told him he planned to apologize to his children and turn himself in to police. Stager told the second informant he was 'wired up' from either pepper spray or tear gas and thats why he made his comments in the video about treason and death. The affidavit says Stager 'was able to clearly see the police markings on B.M.s uniform and was aware that the individual who he was striking was, in fact, law enforcement.' Stager lives in Conway, a city of 68,000 north of Little Rock in Arkansas. The federal prosecutor in White Plains said other images show Sabol holding a police baton across a police officer's neck, and 'we have reason to believe he may have assaulted another police officer to procure that baton.' Gianforti said Sabol had offered investigators 'self-serving statements' saying he was trying to protect the officer but had also 'admitted to being in a fit of rage that day and that the details of the day were quote, "cloudy".' Gianforti noted the video evidence and said: 'I would just submit that a picture is worth a thousand words.' After the attack, the prosecutor said, Sabol booked a flight from Boston Logan International Airport to Zurich, Switzerland, where he would not be able to be extradited to the United States. Sabol's lawyer, Jason Ser, argued for his client's release on $200,000 bail, saying the man had steady employment for decades. Ser said Sabol's job, in which he supervises other employees and contractors, involves removing unexploded ordnance from testing grounds for the military. The attorney said that Sabol still has the support of family that includes a longtime girlfriend, an ex-wife, three children and parents. Stager (with a red box around him) was identified after videos showing the moment a mob of Trump supporters attacked and repeatedly hit a police officer on the ground on the steps of the Capitol circulated online, the FBI said in a court affidavit The FBI shared footage of Stager, circled in red, striking the officer with the pole attached to an American flag he was carrying during the January 6 Capitol rampage The FBI shared this photo circling the area where the attack on the cop took place He said video of the actions by his client were not as clear cut as they had been described by a prosecutor and noted that Sabol was currently charged only with civil disobedience charges that carry a potential maximum penalty of five years in prison. He said his client was coherent, stable and cooperative with federal law enforcement authorities after he underwent treatment at a psychiatric facility for a week and spent several days at the Westchester Medical Center. Both the judge and the prosecutor referenced Sabol's suicide attempts in the wake of the attack, though Ser told pretrial services his client was no longer suicidal. 'I'm sorry for what Mr. Sabol has been through since he left the Capitol but I think, your honor, that his suicide attempts can be taken as consciousness of guilt and in some respect really the ultimate flight attempt,' Gianforti said. 'This is a man who just can't face the fact that he is facing a felony charge because of his actions on January 6.' DC Police called for backup 17 times in 78 minutes during MAGA mob riot as crowd grew to nearly 10,000 and outnumbered officers by more than 58 to one Officers with the Metropolitan Police Department of the District of Columbia (MPD) requested backup at least 17 times over the span of 78 minutes, according to an analysis of the events that unfolded when MAGA fanatics descended on the Capitol on January 6. The mob of Trump supporters would eventually grow to at least 9,400 people, outnumbering officers by more than 58 to one. Police radio communications and footage from the insurrection were jointly analyzed by the Washington Post to understand the failures of police and how they were hindered by insufficient numbers. Cmdr. Robert Glover, who had just arrived with a team of D.C. police officers, shouted his first call over the radio at around 1.13pm from the west side of the U.S. Capitol as the mob stormed. Officers with the Metropolitan Police Department of the District of Columbia (MPD) requested backup at least 17 times over the span of 78 minutes when MAGA rioters stormed the U.S. Capitol 'Hard gear at the Capitol! Hard gear at the Capitol!' he shouted into the radio channel used to communicate with joint operations centers at D.C. police headquarters, calling for more officers in riot gear. At 1.18pm, he announced: 'Multiple Capitol injuries. Multiple Capitol injuries.' As more time went on and as more Trump supporters stormed the Capitol, Glover's calls for help became more desperate. 'I need those two other hard platoons up here now,' he said between 1.36 and 1.39pm. He was told one was 'coming' as the MPD platoon Unit 42 geared up on the north side of the National Mall. 'They're gearing up, and they should be to you now,' Glover was informed. Capitol Police officers were pulled back between 1.50 and 1.59pm, as the crowd grew more intense, according to recordings. 'A decision was made by the United States Capitol Police to pull their personnel back inside the building at a point leaving one of my flanks pretty weak,' Glover said on January 12. Glover would go on to request guidance on a fallback position four times between 2.13pm and 2.25pm. 'I need a command official from Capitol so we can coordinate where they want us to pull back to,' he said. 'We cannot hold this without more munitions or manpower.' A rioter would soon break through police lines near the center of the inaugural platform, allowing the frenzied crowd to barge their way toward the entrances of the building. 'We lost the line! We've lost the line! All MPD fall back!' Glover screamed at 2.28 pm, shouting the code for an emergency. 'I repeat, 10-33, West Front of the Capitol. We've been flanked and we lost the line.' US Capitol police officers try to stop supporters of US President Donald Trump to enter the Capitol on January 6 The mob of Trump supporters would eventually grow to at least 9,400 people, outnumberings officers by more than 58 to one At 2.31pm, Glover called for backup for the 17th time as the MPD retreated up to an upper terrace. 'Cruiser 50 still going to need reinforcements upper deck West Front. Upper deck West Front; we cannot lose the upper deck,' he said. The MPD team would eventually lose the upper deck, some 10 minutes later. The analysis of the radio calls comes after a blistering internal report by the US Capitol Police described a multitude of missteps that left the force unprepared for the January 6 insurrection which saw hundreds of Donald Trump's supporters laying siege to the Capitol. The watchdog report, released internally last month, describes riot shields that shattered upon impact, expired weapons that could not be used, inadequate training and an intelligence division that had few set standards. The report, obtained by the Associated Press ahead of a congressional hearing on Thursday, adds to what is already known about broader security and intelligence failures that Congress has been investigating since the January 6 incident. In an extensive and detailed timeline of that day, the report describes conversations between officials as they disagreed on whether National Guard forces were necessary to back up the understaffed Capitol Police force. It quotes an Army official as telling then-Capitol police chief Steven Sund that 'we don't like the optics of the National Guard standing in a line at the Capitol' after the insurrectionists had already broken in. Inspector general Michael A Bolton found that the department's deficiencies were and remain widespread. The petition carried over 15,000 signatures, complaining that they were forced to prepare for exams without proper guidance and syllabus completion. ANI Hyderabad: The Union Government decision to postpone CBSE Class XII exams and cancel Class X exams, owing to the nationwide surge in Covid-19 cases, has woken up the Telangana government into action vis-a-vis state board exams. The state education department is holding a meeting today to discuss on the future and modalities of the board exams. Over five lakh students will appear for the SSC exams and about four lakh for Intermediate second-year exams. While the CBSE decision has come as a major relief to students and parents, those under state board remained uncertain about the SSC and Intermediate exams scheduled from May 1. Worried, some students in the state had filed an online petition seeking cancellation of the board examinations. The petition carried over 15,000 signatures, complaining that they were forced to prepare for exams without proper guidance and syllabus completion. Parent bodies in the state have been demanding relief for the students and requesting the government to take a call on the exams scheduled for next month. The Telangana Parents Association and Hyderabad Schools Parents Association hailed the CBSE decision and said this will give immense relief to students across the country. They urged the state government to take a similar decision. New Braunfels, TX (78130) Today Cloudy skies with a few showers this afternoon. High 82F. Winds SE at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 40%.. Tonight Some clouds. Low 68F. Winds SE at 5 to 10 mph. New Delhi: Bollywood actor Arjun Kapoor is heading to Goa to start shooting for Ek Villain 2 that also stars John Abraham, Tara Sutaria, and Disha Patani. The actor last shot in Goa for his critically acclaimed film Finding Fanny with Deepika Padukone and he is excited to go back to the picturesque locations to reunite with his Half Girlfriend director Mohit Suri. Arjun Kapoor said, I have been dying to collaborate with Mohit again and we had an amazing time during Half Girlfriend a very different film for me. I really enjoyed myself. He has given me my careers best music and I always say this to my friends and people around me that apart from Aditya Chopra who believed in me so much, I know Mohit is working with me again because he has always believed in me. The actor added, "He is somebody who I am looking at keeping my head down and learn from again. I really want to get into doing action big time again and I want to experience working with Mohit on such a big film. To do a sequel, to do a franchise and to be able to work with an ensemble cast, its a big one. He as a director has been able to bring together John, Me, Tara, Disha, and of course banging music. Arjun revealed that he has been a big fan of his director and is supremely excited about the magic Mohit will make with his music again. He said, I am looking forward, out of sheer excitement like a child, to the kind of music he is going to give me. I have to say I have been very fortunate that I have had Ishaqzaade and Two States but Half Girlfriends music, whether it is Baarish or Phir Bhi Tumko Chaahunga, I really feel I have been lucky. I am a big fan of Mohit Suri. I loved Awarapan. I always tell him it's one of the best films for me, his most underrated film. He is a great guy to collaborate with. He is so young with his thinking and he allows you to be and he is still mainstream. So for me, I think that balance is very important. I am looking forward to working with him again and hoping to give something new to the audience", quipped the actor. Hang-drying your laundry is one of the easiest and cheapest ways to save energy, carbon emissions and money, says Joe Wachunas, a program manager at an organization in Portland, Ore., that advocates electric transportation. More than two decades ago, Wachunas traveled as an exchange student to Italy, where only about 3 percent of households own a dryer. He has been evangelizing sun-dried clothes ever since. A few years back, a local television station featured him on a segment about line-drying to fight climate change. They filmed me hanging up my underwear, he says. Youll need some clothespins and a folding rack or a clothesline. If youre using a washing machine, its better to have one that spins out most of the water. You dont need a yard or a big house people all over the world dry clothes on tiny high-rise balconies or in windows. Check the weather first. If the sun is out, hang your laundry outside in the morning. Use pins to maximize the surface area exposed to the sun. If the forecast calls for rain, put up a rack inside. If your heat is on, put the rack near a vent. If it isnt, open windows; cross breezes can dry garments in a couple of hours. To avoid crunchy towels and wrinkly clothes, vigorously shake them before pinning. Wachunas has repeatedly timed himself and estimates that hanging a load of laundry takes about eight minutes longer than putting it in the dryer. Larger items go up faster than smaller ones like baby clothes or socks. If you work from home and have easy access to a washing machine, the task itself gets you up from your chair and often outside in the sun. If you rely on a laundromat, youll have to carry wet clothes but Wachunas calculates that by line-drying, youll save about $600 a year. And your air-dried clothes will shrink less and last longer. In the United States, some 80 percent of all households use a clothes dryer, an electricity hog of an appliance, second only to a refrigerator. Even with renewably sourced electricity, humans will need to cut their power usage to drastically reduce greenhouse-gas emissions. Wachunass house is covered in solar panels, and still he hangs his laundry out in the elements. This is a small way to help enormous problems, he says. DOVER, Del. (AP) Attorneys for the Boy Scouts of America told a Delaware bankruptcy judge Monday that they plan to file a new reorganization plan after gaining little support for a previous proposal that has been roundly criticized by attorneys for child sex abuse victims. Jessica Lauria, an attorney for the BSA, told Judge Laurie Selber Silverstein that an amended plan would be filed Tuesday unless the stars align and the Boy Scouts reach a meaningful resolution with one or more other parties Monday night. Sex Abuse Victims Say Boy Scouts Bankruptcy Plan Falls Short in Compensation, Details Lauria said the new plan is designed to continue momentum from a three-day mediation session that ended April 1 in Miami. She acknowledged, however, that differences remain among attorneys representing abuse victims, insurers and other parties. There are some issues that will have to be litigated in connection with the plan, Lauria said. The revised proposal will include a default plan, or Plan A, similar to what the BSA proposed in March. It calls for a global resolution of abuse claims that includes a substantial contribution to a victims trust fund by the BSAs local councils in return for a release from further liability. Local sponsoring organizations of Boy Scout troops that contribute to the victims trust also would be released from further liability under the amended plan, which, like the previous plan, also would provide a framework for settlements with BSA insurers. Unlike the previous plan, however, the new plan will include an estimation of the Boy Scouts abuse liabilities, something that attorneys for abuse victims have said is critical in determining whether any reorganization plan adequately compensates victims. Weve heard the parties loud and clear, Lauria said, referring to court filings by victims attorneys seeking an estimation proceeding in federal district court in Delaware. The BSA, which argues that the estimation process should be overseen by the bankruptcy court, plans to object to those filings by Thursdays deadline, Lauria said. The Boy Scouts of America, based in Irving, Texas, sought bankruptcy protection last February in an effort to halt hundreds of lawsuits and create a compensation fund for men who were molested as youngsters decades ago by scoutmasters or other leaders. Attorneys for abuse victims made clear from the onset that they would go after campsites and other properties and assets owned by local councils to contribute to a settlement fund. The local councils, which run day-to-day operations for local troops, are not debtors in the bankruptcy and are considered by the Boy Scouts to be legally separate entities, even though they share insurance policies and are considered related parties in the bankruptcy case. The bankruptcy case has been bogged down by disputes over the provision of information by local councils about their financial assets, claims by the BSA that hundreds of millions of dollars worth of its own assets are restricted and unavailable to abuse victims, and concerns by BSA insurers that attorneys for abuse victims have submitted tens of thousands of claims without ensuring their validity. The BSAs previous plan proposed a $300 million contribution by local councils to a victims trust, about $115 million in cash and noninsurance assets from the BSA, and the assignment of BSA and local council insurance policies. In return, the 253 local councils and thousands of sponsoring organizations would be released from further liability. The official tort claimants committee, or TCC, which is charged with acting as a fiduciary for all abuse victims in bankruptcy, has estimated the value of the roughly 84,000 sexual abuse claims at about $103 billion, describing those estimates were extremely conservative. Richard Mason, an attorney for an ad hoc committee representing local Boy Scouts councils, said Monday that if the case proceeds to finalizing financial contributions from local councils, the committee needs to be much more involved than what we recently have been asked to be. Mason also said that, while the councils are willing to contribute cash, property and insurance rights to a victims trust, the amount and other terms, in our view, need to be realistic. Meanwhile, in the event that Plan A fails to win support from abuse victims, the BSA is also proposing a Plan B that would not involve contributions from, or liability releases for, local councils and sponsoring organizations. Lauria said such a plan would be suboptimal and would complicate any insurance settlements, given that BSA and its local councils have shared policies. She noted that the BSA-only plan is similar to what has been proposed by the tort claimants committee. The committee has called for a plan that allows BSA to emerge from bankruptcy and continue its operations while leaving liability releases for local councils and sponsoring organizations to be negotiated later by the committee or the settlement trust, but not for the relatively paltry sum offered by the local councils. Related: Copyright 2021 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. On Monday, US News & World Report published an article titled, Teachers Union Switches Stance, Now Endorses CDC Guidance on School Reopenings. The article describes American Federation of Teachers (AFT) President Randi Weingartens collusion with the Biden administration and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in reducing spacing recommendations for schools. AFT President Randi Weingarten (left), First Lady Dr. Jill Biden and NEA President Becky Pringle at January 21 White House meeting On March 19, the CDC unscientifically changed its guidelines saying that children in schools only need three feet of spacing between them instead of six feet. Just before the change, CDC Director Rochelle Walensky cynically told a House committee hearing, As soon as our guidance came out [in mid-February], it became very clear that six feet was among the things that was keeping schools closed, and in that context science evolves. The studies cited by Walensky and the CDC were limited and in no way justified the policy change, with the most rigorous studies proving that fully remote learning is essential to contain the pandemic. The CDCs distortion of science capped off two months of the new Biden administrations full-court press to reopen all schools across the US, in which Weingarten and the AFT played the most pivotal role. On February 12, the CDC modified its school reopening guidelines for the first time under Biden, encouraging districts to reopen at any level of community transmission. Despite the fact that the guidelines only noted ventilation twice and encouraged districts to open windows instead of renovate their air filtration systems, Weingarten gave her full endorsement. Two days before these guidelines were released, she revealed to the New York Times that she was spending upwards of 15 hours each day on the phone with the CDC, the White House, local mayors and local union heads, orchestrating the Biden administrations national school reopening drive. The further blatant distortion of science by the CDC on March 19, when they arbitrarily reduced spacing recommendations to three feet, provoked a flood of opposition from educators on social media. Knowing she would lose all credibility among teachers, for nearly a month Weingarten postured as being opposed to this loosening of spacing guidelines in schools. Mondays article makes clear that her feigned opposition was fraudulent and largely meant to recover her tarnished image. The US News & World Report article says that Weingarten wrote to local leaders last week to inform them about the reversal of her position, which she did after the CDC provided answers to a series of questions she posed about the revised guidance. Without detailing either her questions or the CDCs answers, Weingarten wrote, There remain some within-school tough logistical issues to work out, and some real concerns around ventilation, but todays letter made a compelling case. The article notes that the CDCs letter was sent to Weingarten last week and signed by Walensky and Education Secretary Miguel Cardona. Neither the letter from Walensky and Cardona to Weingarten, nor the letter from Weingarten to local leaders has been posted publicly, underscoring the backroom maneuvering involved in this sordid affair. The article notes that in her letter to unspecified local leaders, Weingarten apparently wrote, Personally, their response has eased my concerns with the physical distancing guidance change. Parroting the language of Walensky and the CDC, she added, The letter makes clear the new physical distancing guidance is a floor, not a ceiling, and how the CDC recommendations are implemented will vary dependent on the local context in addition to the evolving science. The article gives no details on what scientific evidence led Weingarten to change her position, but rather makes clear that it was a result of political pressure brought to bear by the Biden administration, stating, The about face comes as President Joe Biden and Cardona have increasingly pushed school districts to reopen for in-person learning, including urban school districts. The article quotes Cardona as stating last week, I think we need to put our foot on the gas pedal Our students cant wait until the fall. If we can safely reopen now, we should be doing it. Our students deserve it. Mondays article was published on the same day that elementary schools began reopening in Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD), the second-largest district with roughly 665,000 students. Next Monday, Chicago Public Schools (CPS), the third-largest district with roughly 400,000 students, is set to reopen high schools, while a host of other districts are pressing ahead to fully reopen schools. Weingartens reversal takes place under conditions in which the mass reopening of schools has precipitated a major new surge of the pandemic across the US and globally, driven by the spread of more infectious SARS-CoV-2 variants, which unvaccinated children more readily transmit to their parents and other family members. In Michigan, the epicenter in the US, the surge is definitively tied to the reopening of schools. In numerous other states, schools are the now the leading source of COVID-19 outbreaks. As of April 5, roughly 55.3 percent of K-12 students are now attending school fully in-person, while only 14.4 percent of all K-12 students are learning safely from home, according to Berbio.com. Under Biden, roughly 40.3 percent of all K-12 students have switched from remote learning to either fully in-person or the equally unsafe hybrid model, which alternates between in-person and remote learning. In order to contain the pandemic and halt the deepening global surge, it is necessary to close all schools and nonessential workplaces internationally, while providing full economic security to all affected workers and small businesses as the population is safely vaccinated. Instead, in the US, both big business parties, with the support of the teachers unions, are pushing to pack the schools in order to compel as many parents as possible to return to work producing profits. Weingartens about-face is a transparent effort to facilitate this process. This development once again makes absolutely clear that the AFT, the National Education Association (NEA), and all their state and local affiliates are corporatist entities that fully support the prerogatives of the ruling class. Weingarten herself sits on the Democratic National Committee (DNC) and rakes in an executive salary of roughly $500,000 each year, while hundreds of bureaucrats in the local, state and national teachers unions garner over $100,000 annually. None of the local leaders to whom Weingarten wrote her letter have come forward to denounce her about-face or protest the horrific conditions that educators, parents and students confront. In direct opposition to the union bureaucracies, among rank-and-file educators there is a growing militancy and determination to close schools in order to save lives. Michael Hull, a member of the Texas Educators Rank-and-File Safety Committee, questioned Weingarten at a March 16 online event hosted by the Facebook group Badass Teachers Association, raising the limitations of the CDC guidelines, in particular under the spread of more dangerous COVID-19 variants. On Wednesday, Hull wrote a statement denouncing Weingartens endorsement of the CDCs three-foot spacing recommendation, noting that at the March 16 event, I gave Weingarten evidence that schools are not safe, particularly in places like Texas where mask mandates have been lifted. I told her about the deaths, disabilities and financial hardships educators, parents and students have endured. I gave her the benefit of the doubt and asked her to pivot away from the disastrous safe reopening strategy. I gave her and AFT the chance to fight for us. What I have discovered is that the trade unions are not colluding with the establishment; they are the establishment. While Weingarten told Hull that the teachers unions might call for school closures in the event that the new variants spread further, she is doing the exact opposite. The critical task facing educators, parents and students is to expand the network of rank-and-file safety committees that now exist in districts across the US, and unite with similar networks among autoworkers, Amazon workers and more, to prepare for national and international strike action to close schools and nonessential workplaces in order to contain the pandemic and save lives. The law firm of Tom Girardi, the estranged husband of reality star Erika Jayne, is in debt to 'hundreds of clients' and ex-workers amid his divorce from the Real Housewives of Beverly Hills personality. A trustee's probe of the liquidation of the 81-year-old Colorado native's firm Girardi Keese released Tuesday indicated the company owed a minimum of $26 million to 'anywhere from dozens to hundreds of clients' in settlements, according to US Weekly. Trustee Elissa Miller of the firm SulmeyerKupetz PC said in the report that about $2 million in the unpaid settlements are earmarked to planitiffs in the Lion Air Flight 610 crash. The latest: The law firm of Tom Girardi, 81, the estranged husband of reality star Erika Jayne, is in debt to 'hundreds of clients' and ex-workers amid his divorce from the Real Housewives of Beverly Hills personality, 49 After Erika Jayne, 49, filed for divorce last November, a class action firm Edelson PC said in December said the divorce was orchestrated to 'fraudulently protect Tom and Erika's money' as they're 'on the verge of financial collapse' in a lawsuit accusing the pair of embezzling settlement funds for the families of the victims of the 2018 crash, in which all 189 people onboard died. Miller's report indicated that Girardi's firm was also on the hook for $11 million to a San Bruno, California family as result of a suit stemming from a gas pipeline explosion in 2010. Also impacted were more than 8,200 clients who had damages in the 2018 Woolsey fire in Southern California. The report stated that there was ample 'evidence that many cases had settled but the clients had not received the funds from the settlement,' and that new claims for unpaid monies continued to trickle in. Details: Jayne issued a statement following her divorce filing after 21 years of marriage last fall Insiders told the outlet this month that Jayne has hit a 'breaking point' amid production of the current season The former couple was snapped in 2016 in LA Jayne opened up about the ongoing legal problems in a preview for the Bravo series' upcoming season, claiming she had no clue about any of it. Kyle Richards specifically asked about the money for the crash victims, and she told her that 'no one knows the answer but Girardi. Jayne issued a statement following her divorce filing after 21 years of marriage. 'After much consideration, I have decided to end my marriage to Tom Girardi,' Jayne said. 'This is not a step taken lightly or easily. I have great love and respect for Tom and for our years and the lives we built together. It is my absolute wish to proceed through this process with respect and with the privacy that both Tom and I deserve. I request others give us that privacy as well.' Insiders told the outlet this month that Jayne has hit a 'breaking point' amid production of the current season, as she's been inundated with questions from castmates about the divorce and legal issues. 'From day one Erika was, like, "I will tell my story, but you have to let me tell you myself,"' the source said. 'Then news kept coming out about all these legal issues Tom was involved in and it led to the girls wanting answers. 'They kept trying to stir up more drama on top of the existing drama Erika had going on in her personal life.' The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills' new season begins airing on Bravo May 19 at 8/7c. Vernon, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - April 15, 2021) - True Leaf Brands Inc. (CSE: MJ) (OTC Pink: TRLFF) (FSE: TLAA) ("True Leaf" or the "Company") has received preliminary subdivision approval from the Village of Lumby for a first-of-its-kind Cannabis Business Park in the Okanagan Valley. True Leaf's 40-acre parcel of land in Lumby is zoned for cannabis production. Through a phased approach, the Company plans to subdivide the property into 14 lots to offer land packages to regional micro-cultivators. This will create a hub for the craft cannabis community adjacent to the Company's existing operations at its True Leaf Campus grow facility. "We are pleased to progress to the next phase of our plan to support micro-cultivators by creating a regional hub for the craft cannabis community," said True Leaf CEO Darcy Bomford. "In addition to in-house cannabis production and future offering of seed-to-shelf solutions for micro-cultivators, True Leaf is unlocking the tremendous value of this 40-acre property zoned for cannabis production." Demand for industrial land in B.C.'s Central Interior region is high, with land in the Kelowna area valued at $1 million an acre. Lumby is an ideally situated alternative, just a 45-minute drive from the Kelowna airport. Lumby Mayor Kevin Acton confirmed his support for the Company's plans: "The North Okanagan region has tremendous potential to support enterprises such as True Leaf's. I am pleased to see True Leaf's interest in building its business in the region and I'm excited to see this project progress to the next phase of planning." The Company received preliminary subdivision approval for phase one, consisting of the grow facility site and three additional lots fronting Shuswap Avenue. The lots will be fully serviced with municipal water and power, ideal for micro-cultivators or other businesses looking for a home in the area. The Company is preparing full subdivision plans which it plans to submit within a few weeks and expects to begin marketing phase one this summer. About the Company True Leaf is a Licensed Producer of cannabis preparing to launch a program to provide seed-to-shelf solutions for micro-cultivators. The program will operate from the Company's 40-acre True Leaf Campus property in Lumby, B.C., Canada, and will provide a full suite of in-house production, processing, and packaging services to the burgeoning craft cannabis community. To learn more, visit our website at www.trueleafbrands.com. Investor Contact: Darcy Bomford Chief Executive Officer Darcy@trueleafbrands.com 250.275.6063 Media Inquiries: media@trueleafbrands.com Cautionary and Forward-Looking Statements Certain information in this news release may contain forward-looking statements that involve substantial known and unknown risks and uncertainties. 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 statements 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 True Leaf to be materially different from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking information, including but not limited to: general business, economic, competitive, geopolitical and social uncertainties; regulatory risks; and other risks related to the cannabis industry. Forward-looking statements in this press release are expressly qualified by this cautionary statement. The forward-looking statements in this press release are made as of the date of this press release, and the Company undertakes no obligations to update publicly or to revise any of the included forward-looking statements, whether because of new information, future events or otherwise, except as expressly required by applicable securities law. This press release shall not constitute an offer to sell, nor the solicitation of an offer to buy, any securities in the United States, nor shall there be any sale of securities mentioned in this press release in any state in the United States in which such offer, solicitation or sale would be unlawful prior to registration or qualification under the securities laws of any such state. Not for distribution to U.S. Newswire Services or for dissemination in the United States. Any failure to comply with this restriction may constitute a violation of U.S. Securities laws. To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/80472 Jen Shah Evan Ross Katz is In The Knows pop culture contributor. Follow him on Twitter and Instagram for more. You have to be very clean to go on a show like Housewives, Margaret Josephs, a cast member on The Real Housewives of New Jersey, recently told In The Know. The viewers will pick up on any and every single thing that you are doing, good and bad. If this was the beginning of a Housewives episode, youd hear Josephss good and bad echo through interior shots of empty rooms in a giant, over-furnished home. But before I get ahead of myself, lets roll footage: People are wondering, howd you get so rich? Andy Cohen asked Jen Shah during the reunion of The Real Housewives of Salt Lake City. Our company does advertising, she said mid-way through a vastly unintelligible explanation. I dont know what she does, her co-star and frenemy Heather Gay responded, But I like it! That exchange aired during a segment on the three-part reunion in February. Shortly after, on March 31, Shah was arrested during filming for the shows second season. The federal charges? Conspiracy to commit wire fraud and money laundering, including allegations that Shah and her assistant, Stuart Smith, cheated hundreds of people in a decades-long telemarketing scheme. Shah has pleaded not guilty to all charges. She follows in a long lineage of arrested Housewives, both former and current, including Teresa Giudice, Luann De Lesseps, NeNe Leakes, Sonja Morgan, Tinsley Mortimer, Kim Richards, Danielle Staub and more. Not all of these instances are the same, of course. In the case of De Lesseps, for example, her arrest took place while she was a cast member on the series, and was never something she attempted to cover up. In fact, it became a central plot point on the following season. There have also been several other reality stars outside of the Housewives series who have faced legal woes and even jail time (Abby Lee Miller and Mike The Situation Sorrentino come to mind), but these run-ins were after the peak of their reality television fame. Story continues Shahs instance is particularly unique in that it was, allegedly, an ongoing scheme even up to and through her time on the series. People going on these shows knowing theyre criminals and thinking theyre going to get away with it tells you why Batman would always be fighting the same criminals, concluded Keep It co-host Ira Madison on this weeks episode of the hit podcast. Criminals are stupid. Imagine going on a reality television show and hiding crimes. Youd think this might be reason enough to pivot to recluse, at least in the immediate, but not so for Shah. The powers that be at Bravo are planning to make the federal fraud and money laundering charges she faces a central part of the reality shows second season including exclusive footage of the embattled businesswomans arrest, a source told Page Six earlier this week. For her part, Shah has been regularly posting on her Instagram since her arrest, including re-posting messages of support and even fan-made Free Jen merch. Absolutely! Shah responded over Instagram DM when a fan asked if shed continue to film season two. Shah is hardly the first instance of this. Perhaps the most memorable occurred over a decade ago, when cameras began rolling on the E! reality series Pretty Wild. Two days into production, the police showed up to arrest the series central star, Alexis Haines (nee Neiers). An 18-year-old Haines spoke to police without a lawyer present and ended up incriminating herselfand it was all caught on camera. When the police showed up to arrest me, I really wish that someone, one of my parents, would have stepped in then and been like, Were not doing this show anymore. Well give your signing bonus back, she told The Cut in 2020. But why agree to be on a television show at all without the foregone conclusion that any and all skeletons in your closet will be revealed and some with grave consequence? I think that they think truly that they are doing nothing wrong, Josephs, who dealt with her own legal woes in 2018 when she first joined Housewives, told In The Know. I believe that there is a certain personality type that could convince themselves that there are not skeletons [in their closet]. They go on TV without even the thought that theyll be found out because they believe they are doing absolutely nothing wrong. Just look at the way they behave after theyre found out. They show no remorse. The difference between Josephs and some of her cohorts? She says she never tried to hide her skeletons. In fact, she speaks frankly about them in her new book, the title of which Caviar Dreams, Tuna Fish Budget: How to Survive in Business and Life denotes Josephss outlier status among the wealthy Housewives. So, why continue filming once the truth comes out? With a $1 million bond required to be secured by $250,000 cash or property, Shah might see continuing on with the series as her only viable path to securing such funds. But wont continuing on with the series amplify public scrutiny over her case? Of course. But feeding that curiosity will likely increase viewership, which, in turn, will keep the profits rolling in. In addition to fame, wealth and egoism, I imagine motivations vary, a high-powered attorney whos helped negotiate Housewives contracts in the past told In The Know on the condition of anonymity. According to him, someone like Shah may consider reality shows as a get-rich-quick scheme to avoid bankruptcies, loans coming due and other looming ruinous financial obligations. Still, he doesnt see it as a net positive, despite potential short-term gains. From a legal perspective, I only see downfall, the lawyer added. Cameras record the good, bad and ugly, and may be used against the participant in a criminal or civil investigation or in a court of law. Even the day to day behaviors of a reality show participant may raise red flags. Consider in RHONJ season one when Teresa Giudice bought tens of thousands of dollars of furniture in cash. From there, it is not a far leap to IRS inquiries of her ex-husbands and her businesses, real estate holdings and other finances. As for Josephss advice to anyone that finds themselves in this uniquely precarious situation: I think they should follow the advice of their counsel. That, and be humble. If you liked this story, read about Jonah Hills powerful response to body shaming. More from In The Know: The best cheap (but expensive-looking) apartment home decor on Amazon This gadget turns water into a super disinfectant in just one minute All the best merch to show your love for Disney and Pixars new movie Soul Cozy up with Amazons best-selling sherpa fleece comforter for winter The post Why go on reality television with skeletons in your closet? appeared first on In The Know. ROME - Greece is moving forward towards reopening to tourism by abolishing the obligation to quarantine for visitors arriving from 32 countries if they have been vaccinated against COVID-19 or have tested negative for the virus. British daily the Guardian on Wednesday quoted a tourism ministry official as making this announcement. Starting Monday, thus, EU citizens and those of the US, Britain, Serbia, Israel and the United Arab Emirates will no longer have to self-isolate. "They are baby steps before the country opens as planned for tourists on 14 May," a senior tourism ministry official told the Guardian. "Nine airports will open at the same time that the restriction is lifted." The airports will be: Kos, Mykonos, Santorini, Rhodes, Corfu, Athens, Thessaloniki and Chania and Heraklion on Crete. The Supreme Court of the United States in Washington on May 7, 2019. (Samira Bouaou/The Epoch Times) Dont Accept Legal Challenge to All-Male Military Draft, DOJ Urges Supreme Court The Biden administration is urging the Supreme Court not to take up a petition asking the court to strike down as unconstitutional a law that authorizes military conscription solely for men. The Trump administration defended the current system in the lower courts. President Joe Bidens Department of Justice (DOJ) obtained two deadline extensions before filing its response. The case is National Coalition for Men v. Selective Service System, court file 20-928. In 1981, the Supreme Court ruled 63 in Rostker v. Goldberg that the Military Selective Service Act, under which men, but not women, are required to register for the draft, survived constitutional scrutiny because women at that time were categorically prohibited from serving in combat roles. Because the primary purpose of registration was to replace combat troops, the court stated, the existence of the combat restrictions clearly indicates the basis for Congress decision to exempt women from registration. Although the Department of Defense rescinded the ban on women in combat in 2013, the obligation to register for the draft remains limited to men. From age 18 to 26, men are required to submit their information to the Selective Service System in case a draft is deemed necessary in the future. In a brief filed with the high court on April 14, the Biden administration carefully avoided taking a position on whether the draft system should be changed, explaining that Congress was now taking a look at the issue. Any reconsideration of the constitutionality of the male-only registration requirement would be premature at this time, Acting Solicitor General Elizabeth Prelogar wrote in the document. Congress is actively considering the scope of the registration requirement, and Rostker itself made clear that the Court should defer to Congress where possible in this sensitive military context. Congresss attention to the question may soon eliminate any need for the Court to grapple with that constitutional question. The organization that brought the case is the San Diego-based National Coalition for Men (NCFM), which was founded in 1977 upon the realization that men needed a unified voice in addressing issues concerning men and boys, according to its website. The NCFM is represented in the case by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), which takes the position that scuttling the men-only registration requirement would undo one of the last examples of overt sex discrimination in federal law after the Supreme Court allowed gay marriage and found last year that employment discrimination against gays and transgender individuals was illegal. The question presented is whether the federal requirement that men but not women register for the Selective Service violates the right to equal protection guaranteed by the Fifth Amendment, NCFM stated in its petition. The Michigan-based Center for Military Readiness (CMR) argued in a friend-of-the-court brief filed March 12 that the Supreme Court should turn away NCFMs petition because Congress, not the courts, is authorized by Article 1, Section 8 of the Constitution to set military policy. We support the Selective Service System as an insurance policy in the case of a catastrophic national emergency, CMR President Elaine Donnelly previously told The Epoch Times in an interview. In a recent interview after the government brief was filed, Donnelly said her group wasnt sure what position the Biden administration was going to take. The argument that they make that Congress is responsible for the issue is essentially the same as the one we make in our amicus brief, she said, referring to her groups amicus curiae, or friend-of-the-court, brief. They did not, however, address the elephant in the roomwhether men and women are similarly situated, essentially interchangeable in combat units. CMRs Supreme Court brief acknowledges that some women have proved themselves capable of meeting the high standards that combat demands and previous policies regarding women in combat billets have been repealed, but the physiological differences between men and women have not been repealed. Ria Tabacco Mar, counsel of record for NCFM and director of the ACLU Womens Rights Project, was critical of the Biden administrations filing. Noticeably absent from the governments brief is any argument that men-only registration is constitutional. That is not surprising given that men-only registration is outdated, based on gender stereotypes, and no longer recommended by the military itself, she told The Epoch Times. Rather than try to defend men-only registration, the government asks the Supreme Court to give Congress more time to update the law. But President Carter made the same ask in 1980, and Congress hasnt fixed the problem despite having 40 years to do so. Its long past time for the Supreme Court to declare that men-only registration is unlawful sex discrimination. The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has once again decided to set up a regulations review authority (RRA 2.0) under the leadership of its deputy governor M Rajeshwar Rao to review the RBIs regulations and compliance procedures. The RRA will have a tenure of one year till 30 April 2022, which can be extended by RBI. In a release, the central bank says, The RRA will also take suggestions from the RBI regulated entities and other stakeholders on the simplification and ease of implementation of these regulations. Considering the developments in regulatory functions of the central bank over the past two decades and evolution of the regulatory perimeter, it is proposed to undertake a similar review of the Reserve Banks regulations and compliance procedures with a view to streamlining and rationalising them and making them more effective, RBI says. Almost 22 years back, in April 1999, RBI had set up an RRA for reviewing the regulations, circulars, reporting systems, based on the feedback from public, banks and financial institutions. RRA 2.0 is expected to make regulatory and supervisory instructions more effective by removing redundancies and duplications. It will also reduce compliance burden on regulated entities by streamlining the reporting mechanism, revoke obsolete instructions and obviate paper-based submission of returns wherever possible. RRA 2.0 will also obtain feedback from regulated entities on simplification of procedures and enhancement of ease of compliance while suggesting changes required in the dissemination of RBI circulars. RBI stated that the RRA will engage internally as well as externally with all regulated entities and other stakeholders to facilitate the process. LOS ANGELESCanadian-born porntress Samantha Mack has announced the relaunch of her official website, MackMovies.com. I am thrilled to announce the relaunch of MackMovies.com," Mack stated. "After a brief hiatus during 2020 where I relocated to Los Angeles, we slowed down on releases. During this time, I not only transformed myself physically, but I also took the opportunity to refresh and expand the entire Samantha Mack brand, including my content site. I am thrilled to announce MackMovies.com is back and better than ever. The site features Mack alongside Canadian Mack Models talent, featuring both fresh faces and top industry performers from across both sides of the border. After creating Porno Boot Camp in 2016, and helping other people start their own careers, I made the decision to switch domains from SamanthaMack.com to MackMovies.com so I can feature not only myself but the amazing men and women I have worked with along the way in my 11 year career, Mack explained. Regarding the new faces featured on her site, Mack stated, I absolutely love working with amateurs! Being an educator, and helping newcomers by dispelling the common myths and stereotypes of this industry, while teaching them the right way to do things and how they should be done is what really motivates me to provide a platform like Mack Movies where they can be showcased. With two new releases per week and hundreds of videos already in the library, Mack Movies comes fully loaded with a variety of content. One of the benefits of currently being in Los Angeles is that I get to work with superstars that I myself still fangirl over, Mack admitted. Stars such as Lily Lane, Alex Legend, Ramon Nomar, Isiah Maxwell, Shay Sights and more! The list goes on. I get to fulfill my own fantasies, while making some of the best content that I have ever made in my career. While the site is free to join, and offers pay-per-view videos and photo sets for individual purchase, subscription members will receive special advanced access to all new releases of all of Mack's scenes as well as exclusive BTS content. My fans and members mean the world to me, especially those that have stuck by me throughout all these years," she stated. "I want to be able to give them a more intimate look at my world. I am known for being very open publicly, but I want to be able to take my members behind the scenes with me whenever I can. With plans to expand the site to include exclusive Mack Merch and more, Mack has her sights set firmly on the future expansion of Mack Movies. I never imagined that I would see Mack Movies apparel featured on models in other countries. I am so humbled by the support weve received already for the brand. We even have athletes showcasing our decals on their equipment. "I plan to continue to develop the brand until it is big enough, so that we can start to sponsor community events and position ourselves as industry leaders with the mission of education and sexual empowerment of women both in front and behind the camera, all while producing some of the hottest and highest quality porn from first timers to industry vets. More information about her website can be found here, and fans can also find her on AVN Stars. For more information, follow Samantha Mack and Mack Movies on Twitter. S.C. Gov. Henry McMaster has had COVID-19, and his latest interactions were outdoors. So the chance that he could be infected again and could infect someone else is low. But it isnt zero. Yet there he was last week, jaunting down to the U.S.-Mexico border to use our National Guard troops as props for his photo op. And stand a lot closer than 6 feet apart while he talked and listened and shook hands, their faces covered for his protection but his uncovered. And really not much of anything they could do about it. Back at the Statehouse, more representatives each week walk around the House chamber maskless, and senators and representatives routinely remove their masks during committee and subcommittee meetings, even though theres not a lot of distance between House members in those meetings. Last month, a witness was starting to testify at a Senate subcommittee meeting when the chairman noted that he had already been vaccinated and told him to take off his mask. It was clearly meant as a friendly gesture, but it put the witness in a position our lawmakers shouldnt put South Carolinians in: If he said he preferred to keep his mask on, he ran the risk of embarrassing or even alienating the senator, which you dont want to do when youre trying to win votes. Against the backdrop of increasing disregard for basic COVID precautions among our states leaders, is it any wonder that a growing number of local governments are dropping their mask requirements even though only a quarter of South Carolinians have been fully vaccinated? On Tuesday, the Charleston City Council technically extended a scaled-back mask requirement for 30 days exempting most outdoor areas and some indoor settings but it removed the fines, which means its effectively nothing more than a recommendation now. Mount Pleasants mask requirements for grocery stores and pharmacies were to expire Wednesday night. The Conway City Council eliminated its mask requirement last week, following similar decisions the previous week by North Myrtle Beach and by Myrtle Beach, which still requires masks in city government buildings. Earlier in March, the Lexington and Summerville town councils eliminated their general mask requirements. All of those local pullbacks followed Mr. McMasters own decision on March 5 to stop requiring masks to be worn inside state government buildings, with some local officials arguing that his decision meant they had to eliminate their own requirements. For the record, it means no such thing. To the contrary. If local officials care about the well-being of their residents, and of their economy, it makes it all the more important to keep those restrictions in place. Sign up for our opinion newsletter Get a weekly recap of South Carolina opinion and analysis from The Post and Courier in your inbox on Monday evenings. Email Sign Up! Although state agencies still have the option of requiring their employees to wear masks, the governors order means they cant stop infected members of the public from marching into their offices and infecting workers unless there are local ordinances preventing that. The good news is that 54 cities and towns, including Charleston, North Charleston, Columbia, Greenville, Spartanburg, Hilton Head and Florence, and nine counties, including Charleston, Beaufort, Georgetown and Richland, still require people to wear masks in most businesses and other public places. The bad news is that most South Carolinians who want the vaccine still havent been able to get it. More bad news is that local governments are starting to seriously question whether theres any reason to continue the mask ordinances. We wish there were a legitimate reason to raise that question. And we look forward to the time when thats a question they will need to ask. Unfortunately, we arent there yet. Yes, a lot of people are voluntarily wearing masks. And yes, businesses absolutely can and should require everyone to wear masks. But wearing a mask doesnt just or even mostly help the business that requires it. It helps all of us, by reducing the spread of COVID-19 while so many of us wait our turn to get vaccinated, which has the dual benefit of protecting individuals from sickness or even death and also reducing the chance that the virus can mutate into something the vaccine cant fight. As weve seen so painfully over the past year, fighting COVID-19 isnt just a medical necessity. Its an economic necessity, because many people arent going to resume their normal commerce until the danger is gone. Against that backdrop, its both inefficient and unfair for governments to require businesses to be the bad guys who require people to wear masks. Mount Pleasant and all the other local governments that still require masks need to extend those requirements, at least one more time. The ones that never required masks or let up too early need to impose requirements. Our governor, legislators and other elected officials need to model responsible behavior for just a little longer. And even if they don't, all of us need to keep wearing our masks, keep keeping our distance and get vaccinated as soon as we can. The pandemic could end soon, but unfortunately we still have the opportunity to change that. Photo: The Canadian Press Teachers demonstrate outside a school during a morning walk-out in Longueuil, Que. on Wednesday, April 14, 2021. Teachers are striking to express dissatisfaction with negotiations with the Quebec government that have gone on for more than a year. A Quebec teachers strike was marred on Wednesday after a teacher picketing with her colleagues in Sherbrooke, Que., was struck by a car in what police described as a deliberate gesture. Sherbrooke police spokesman Martin Carrier said the woman was participating in a strike outside her high school around 9:30 a.m. when she was struck by a driver who allegedly drove into the picket line. Carrier said the woman escaped with minor injuries. The 54-year-old suspect left the scene but was later arrested at his home for assault with a weapon. Carrier said witnesses indicated the suspect has a connection to the school and was possibly the father of a student, but said his identity had yet to be confirmed as of Wednesday afternoon. The teachers union, called Centrale des syndicats du Quebec, wrote on its Facebook page that the incident was "unacceptable." Florent Tanlet, a spokesman for Treasury Board President Sonia LeBel, said the act, if deliberate, "has no place in a civil society." The victim was one of tens of thousands of Quebec teachers who held an early morning strike on Wednesday that began just after midnight and lasted until 9:30 a.m. The teachers have been without a contract since March 2020. In Montreal, teachers could be seen grouped outside schools waving signs and demanding better working conditions as they protested the stalled talks. Robert Pigas, who teaches grades 5 and 6 at St. Patrick Elementary in Pincourt, Que., west of Montreal, said in a phone interview that the strike is not just about salaries even though he adds that Quebec teachers are the lowest-paid in the country. He said teachers are also fighting for better working conditions, smaller class sizes and more resources for special needs students, such as integration aides in the classroom who can offer extra help. We have more kids that require more time, and were still split up between all our students, he said. He said teachers have been encouraged by the support they've received from parents, some of whom he said joined them on the picket lines or kept their children out of online classes for the day out of solidarity. He said hed personally received emails from about 10 parents who expressed their support for the teachers and the work theyve done in keeping students safe and in school during the pandemic something he accused the government of failing to recognize. The teachers union had said the timing of the strike was designed to put pressure on management without affecting students' learning. In an email, LeBel's spokesman said the offer the government has made to the public sector unions is a fair one. "We believe that there is everything on the table right now to reach agreements with the various unions," Tanlet wrote. Several school boards announced classes would move online for the day because the strike affected school buses and early morning supervision. ISTANBUL - A Turkish government delegation at the deputy ministers level will travel to Egypt in May on the invitation of the authorities in Cairo. The announcement was made on Thursday morning by Turkish foreign minister Mevlut Cavusoglu in an interview with NTV. The move is an important step in normalisation of ties between the two countries after the resumption of diplomatic contact last month following almost eight years of tension after Egyptian president Mohamed Morsi was ousted in 2013. On Wednesday, Cavusoglu spoke of a "new era" of relations with Cairo. Creative Assembly has a lot to celebrate today, with the launch of a brand new studio that makes it the largest UK games developer. Summon the Elector-Counts everyone, Creative Assembly has amassed enough people to become a faction unto themselves, according to a recent release from the popular UK Games studio. Creative Assembly, makers of Total War: Warhammer and the rest of the Total War series, are celebrating 21 years of Total War and a surprising amount of growth over the last year with the opening of a third studio. Operating in West Sussex, this new studio brings CAs total development space to more than 100,000 square feet, comprising three UK studios, a state-of-the-art Motion Capture facility, and an Eastern European base with CA Sofia in Bulgaria. What does that mean? It means that Creative Assembly is ready to go full throttle with their new projects, perhaps the biggest of which is Total War: Warhammer 3, slated for release later this year(!), and an oft-mentioned but little-talked about new sci-fi shooter IP, which famously, District 9 Director Neil Blomkamp, has gotten to see. So, this happened. @NeillBlomkamp dropped by CA HQ for a behind-the-scenes look at the development of our brand-new FPS IP! pic.twitter.com/hXEAnAHEEX Creative Assembly (@CAGames) February 4, 2019 Creative Assembly has been topping the charts lately, with Warhammer 3 still going strong on the Steam pre-order rankings, beating out many other popular franchises in both the US and China, meaning that this past year of growth might be just the beginning for the UK studios. And now with 800 permanent employees, and an eye towards flexible working plans as the norm, this new studio promises to help support that. And with new motion capture facilities it looks like CA will be getting a big upgrade soon. Which all bodes extremely well for the Empire, in a weird way. Because when the powers that create the Elector-Counts are happy, then everyones happy. Except for Beastmen playersbut thats honestly for the best. If a beastmen player ever felt joy, the shock might kill them When he was 25 years old, Cuban exile Eduardo Zayas Bazan, fearful that his homeland would forever remain under communist rule, made a fateful decision. Leaving behind his young wife and 2-month-old son, he enlisted in a CIA-led mission to secretly invade Cuba and defeat the Castro regime. Zayas Bazan was one of 1,400 American-trained Cubans who took part in the Bay of Pigs invasion of the island on April 17, 1961. It was in the middle of the Cold War and the United States government wanted to topple the Castro regime, a communist government supported by the Soviet Union. President John F. Kennedy followed through with the invasion plans. Ultimately, the invasion failed because the U.S. did not include air support, according to Zayas Bazan. Zayas Bazan On the upcoming 60th anniversary of the invasion, Zayas Bazan, professor emeritus of foreign languages at East Tennessee State University, who sits on the board of the Amigos of the University of Miami Cuban Heritage Collection, firmly believes that if the U.S. had followed through with its promise, Cuba would be free, prosperous, and a tourist paradise. We had no doubt whatsoever that the invasion would succeed. The Americans were financing us in all kinds of ways and the CIA was training us. We were convinced that even though some of us may die, the invasion would still succeed, he said. It never crossed my mind that the invasion would fail. Because of his background as a swimming instructor in Cuba, Zayas Bazan had volunteered as a frogman, or underwater demolition diver for the incursion. He and four other frogmen landed on Giron Beach along the east bank of the Bay of Pigs, and the rest of the troops followed. During the three-day battle that ensued, he was wounded in his right knee and captured, along with the rest of his colleagues. About 114 Cuban exiles were killed during the attempted invasion. The rest of the men were imprisoned, brought to trial, and given long sentences. Eventually, they were released to the U.S., traded for food and medicine. Zayas Bazan was jailed for almost a year. On his return to Miami, he and his colleagues of the Brigade 2506 were honored during a packed ceremony at the Orange Bowl stadium, where Kennedy spoke. We were received like heroes, remembered Zayas Bazan. Anything that has to do with Cuba is sacred for Zayas Bazan. That is why he donated the original document listing the sentences of all his colleagues and himself to the Cuban Heritage Collection. The instrument, which was given to the men by the Cuban government, is one of the dozens of manuscripts, objects, and books on the Bay of Pigs held by the collection. Elizabeth Cerejido, director of the Cuban Heritage Collection, said that the Cuban Heritage Collection's fundamental mission is to collect, preserve, and provide access to a vast repository of materials related to Cuba, the Cuban exile experience, and Cuba's global diaspora. According to Cerejido, this vast repository of resources, which we safeguard in perpetuity, not only support research and the production of innovative scholarship, but they serve the important function of educating present and future scholars about all aspects of Cuban history, she noted. Just as important, these are testaments that help connect material culture to lived experiences. Among the objects in the collection are graphic photos depicting the battle on Giron Beach and its aftermath, a flag with the 2506 logo, and books and papers on the invasion, including some from Cuba. The Flying Fish, a novel that Zayas Bazan co-wrote with Robert Higgs, a fellow academic, is part of the collection. It chronicles the Bay of Pigs event. Zayas Bazan also plans to donate his recently published autobiography, "My Life." Zayas Bazan stated that as he recalls the invasion as its anniversary approaches, he does so with the conviction that if the invaders had been successful, the world would be different because there would not be a communist government in Cuba causing problems. BAY CITY, MI An Essexville man is accused of embezzling five figures from Michigans largest beer wholesaler. Daniel J. Fabera, 33, is charged with one count of embezzlement by an agent or trustee between $20,000 and $50,000. The charge is punishable by up to 10 years in prison and a fine triple the value of what was stolen. According to police reports contained in court files, Fabera had worked as a delivery driver for Fabiano Brothers Inc., headquartered at 1885 Bevanda Court in Monitor Township. In late July, police met with Chief Operating Officer John Bicknell who reported Fabera had stolen a large sum of money. Fabera would deliver the correct amount of ordered alcohol to a store, accept cash payment for it, then void the original invoice to state he had delivered less, Bicknell said. Fabera would then pocket the difference, he said, according to police reports. The stores, meanwhile, showed they had paid their full amounts on the original invoices, records show. The issue came to light when a Fabiano sales representative noticed Fabera had voided an invoice to a grocery store because a portion of the order was not on the truck. The grocery stores management told the sales rep that she had received the complete order and paid in full, reports show. Fabiano staff then began looking through Faberas delivery record. Bicknell went back to Jan. 1, 2019, and provided a summary of all the voided invoices to police. Fabera had allegedly stolen about $45,000 from 16 businesses, most of which are located in Flint, Clio, and Lapeer, records show. Bicknell subsequently met with Fabera and his union representative. Fabera denied having stolen money. Bicknell placed him on unpaid leave for two weeks, after which Fabera submitted a resignation letter, reports state. Michigan State Police troopers interviewed Fabera in August, during which Fabera denied any wrongdoing. When troopers confronted him with invoices and order records, Fabera said it did not make sense and that he only voided invoices due to issues upon delivery. Asked by troopers why the stores had only the initial invoices and not voided ones, Fabera said if I were to do this it would be because Fabiano Brothers overworks their employees and under pays them, troopers wrote in their reports. Fabera went on to say some of the stores asked him to void the invoices to save them money and that he would get cash, liquor, and cigarettes in return. He also said that if he received cash, it was about 25% of what he had cut off their bill. Fabera said he began doing this in 2018 and doubled his pay as a result. When troopers again pressed him on why the stores didnt have the voided invoices, Fabera said he did the crime on his own, without the stores staff asking him to do so. He also told the troopers he was not the only delivery driver engaging in such conduct, reports show. Authorities issued a warrant for Fabera on March 3. Fabera appeared in Bay County District Court for arraignment on April 9 and is represented by Bay City attorney Marcus R. Garske. Fabera is free on bond and will appear for a preliminary examination at 2 p.m. on April 29. Founded in 1885, Fabiano Brothers operates distribution facilities in Monitor Township, Petoskey, and Wausau, Wisconsin. The company distributes beer and non-alcoholic beverages to 24 counties in Michigan and Wisconsin. It employs nearly 500 people and has more than 3,500 clients. Read more: Fabiano Brothers expands beer distribution business to Detroit Michigan man charged after infant tests positive for meth Mount Pleasant man charged federally with sexually assaulting 2 children over several years Michigan man federally charged with murder in alleged shooting death of father on reservation land Daschbach faces up to 20 years in prison if found guilty. He and his lawyer declined to be interviewed by the AP. The church defrocked Daschbach in 2018, saying he had confessed to sexually abusing children. But he maintains strong political ties and is still treated like a rock star by many, especially at the Topu Honis shelter, which means Guide to Life. The accusers said Richard Dashbach regularly oversaw the girls showers. They said the children removed their clothes and stood together naked around this large concrete water basin, with the nude priest going from girl to girl shampooing their hair and splashing water on their private parts. Credit:AP Former Timorese president Xanana Gusmao attended the trials opening in February. A month earlier, the independence hero visited Daschbach on his birthday, hand-feeding cake to the former priest and lifting a glass of wine to his lips, as cameras flashed. Daschbachs lawyers have not made their legal strategy public, and court proceedings are closed. But documents seen by AP indicate that they will argue he is the victim of a conspiracy. In January, however, the former priest appeared to be preparing his supporters for the worst. He told local reporters that his message to the children who remain in the orphanage was: Be patient. We wont meet again because I will be detained for life, but I will still remember you and you have to be happy there. From the US to East Timor The son of a Pittsburgh steelworker, Daschbach began his religious studies as a teenager. In 1964, he was ordained by Divine Word Missionaries in Chicago, the Catholic churchs largest missionary congregation, with around 6000 priests and brothers serving in more than 80 countries. When he arrived in South-east Asia a few years later, the nation now known as Timor-Leste was under Portuguese control. That colonial rule would last until 1975 when the country was almost immediately invaded by neighbouring Indonesia. A bloody, 24-year independence struggle followed, leaving as many as 200,000 people dead a quarter of the population through fighting, famine, and starvation. Daschbach started the shelter in 1992 and earned his reputation during the conflict. He often told visitors about defending the women and children living in Topu Honis and surrounding areas, sheltering them in a cave, and leading a ragtag group armed with spears to stave off attackers. Stories about the charismatic priest who joined in traditional dances with bells on his ankles, spoke local languages fluently, and gave mass where he blended Catholicism with the areas customs and animist beliefs, spread far beyond East Timor. Foreign donors, tourists, and aid workers who made the three-hour hike up the steep, narrow jungle path to Kutet village were met by the grandfatherly priest who was often surrounded by laughing kids playing hopscotch in matching uniforms. In many photographs of Topu Honis taken by visitors and posted online, young girls are seen by Daschbachs side, on his lap, or with his arm pulling their tiny shoulders against him. Some visitors stayed on the mountain for weeks or even months, so impressed by what they saw that they sent tens of thousands of dollars to support the shelter or pay for college scholarships. Now-defrocked Catholic priest Richard Daschbach at the Topu Honis childrens shelter in 2010. Credit:AP Jan McColl, who helped fund Topu Honis, said she was devastated after she and another longtime Australian donor, Tony Hamilton, flew to East Timor and asked Daschbach point-blank whether he was a paedophile. He said, Yes. Thats who I am. And always have been, said McColl, adding he responded calmly while continuing to eat his lunch. So, we just got up and left the table. We were just absolutely distraught. Hamilton said the exchange was jarring and surreal, and he has struggled to make sense of it while continuing to support some of the children. He and McColl have given affidavits. I think in some crazy way, he recognises that what he has done is a crime, he said. But he reconciles it somehow with the good that hes done. Accusations The global clergy sex abuse scandal that has rocked the Catholic Church for more than two decades, has led to billions of dollars in settlements and the establishment of new programs aimed at preventing further abuse. But experts have seen a growing number of victims coming forward in developing nations like Haiti, Kenya, and Bangladesh, where priests and missionaries deployed by religious orders often operate with little or no oversight. Even if theyre caught, they rarely face consequences. For some, the idea of ever jailing a priest, no matter the crime, seems blasphemous. Many supporters in East Timor insist the accusations against Daschbach are lies and part of a bigger plot to take over the shelter and other property, including a beachside boarding school. After the trials opening, dozens of mostly women and children waited outside the courtroom, wailing as the ex-priest waved goodbye to them from a vehicle. Law enforcers must see which one is better: omitting one person or eliminating the future of many? said local resident Antonio Molo, one of the doubters, who worries that hundreds of children may lose a chance at a better life if Daschbach is gone. Though the Vatican acted swiftly to investigate and remove the priest when accusations were levelled three years ago, the local archdiocese was more accommodating. Xanana Gusmao, right, former East Timorese president and prime minister, gives a fist bump to Richard Daschbach, after a court hearing in Oecusse, East Timor, in February. Credit:AP It agreed to lodge him under informal house arrest at a church residence in the town of Maliana. But Daschbach still moved around with relative ease, including taking an overnight ferry to Oecusse enclave where he returned to the childrens home, infuriating accusers and their families. Despite being stripped of his priestly duties, local media reported he continued to perform mass while there. Monsignor Marco Sprizzi, Vatican ambassador to East Timor, stressed that Daschbach should not be allowed to be among children, but said theres little the church can do now. Loading Replay Replay video Play video Play video Once hes defrocked ... hes no more a priest. He is no part of the clergy, he said. And, of course, that house for children was not since the beginning was not belonging to his religious congregation. He did it by himself, and it was in his own name. Zach Hiner, executive director of the US-based Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, or SNAP, said the church had a moral responsibility to do more and should have recalled Daschbach to the US before laicising him. We fear for the vulnerable children that he may still have access to, he said. But Daschbach still has strong support within factions of the church, locally. Loading Late last year, the Archbishop of Dili sacked the president of the churchs Justice and Peace Commission and publicly apologised following the publication of a report naming the victims and implying prosecutors, police, and NGOs investigating the allegations had sexually abused the accusers, themselves, by carrying out forensic exams. The report also alleged human trafficking, referring to seven accusers who had been moved to a safe house. Former donors and the accusers were outraged, saying the report put the lives of those who came forward in danger. Threats of violence have been made against anyone who speaks out against Daschbach. The ex-priest faces 14 counts of child sexual abuse, one count of child pornography and one count of domestic violence. He also is wanted in the US for three counts of wire fraud linked to one of his California-based donors, which accused him in a court case of violating an agreement to protect those under his care. An Interpol Red Notice has been issued internationally for his arrest. The accusers who spoke to AP described systematic abuse and inappropriate behaviour, including Daschbach regularly overseeing the girls showers. They said all of the children removed their clothes and stood together around a large concrete water basin outside, with the nude priest going from girl to girl shampooing their hair and splashing water on their private parts. They said he also took photos of them naked as they played in the rain, and that some girls were told he didnt want them to wear underwear. Loading His accusers said they were filled with hope when they arrived at the shelter. For the first time, they, along with many others, had clean clothes, time to play, and an emphasis on school. Most importantly, they had food. The meals were basic but steady. The adoration and respect for the white American missionary was so commanding, the accusers said they did whatever he wanted without question. One recalled first arriving at the shelter still distraught after her father had died and said the priest raped her that same night. She said he continued to do so frequently the entire time she was there. She said he would lock the door and pull the curtains, telling her they had to be careful and that no one could know. She said he typically chose young children, but for those like her who were nearing puberty, Daschbach exercised caution. Loading He would pull out and say, I have to stop, otherwise youll be pregnant, she said. Now, accusers say they struggle to process how someone who appeared so kind and selfless could ask them to do things that felt so wrong. When I was getting abused, I was like, Is this sort of like the payment? one accuser said. Thats what I was computing in my head this must be the price that I have to pay to be a part of this. You know, like those shiny little dresses that these girls are wearing to church. Thats not free. This is the price tag. The 2021 theme is "Navigating the New Normal: A 360 Approach to Safety at Work," which will address how the Covid-19 pandemic is fundamentally changing the world of workplace safety. "Our industry is going through a transformation, but the mission remains the same: To protect workers. That makes this year's conference more vital than ever before. The knowledge leaders gain from peers and experts will set them on a new path of safety," said Angelica Grindle, DEKRA Vice President of Client Engagement. The conference's nearly 100 sessions will focus on seven tracks: Exposure Reduction, Supervisor and Manager Development, Executive Transformational Leadership, Serious Injury and Fatality Prevention, Human Performance Reliability, Industrial Ergonomics, and Total Worker Wellbeing. A one-day Leadership Summit on Aug. 17 invites safety leaders across industries to share best practices and learn together about how to influence the success of its safety culture. The 2021 topic is "Brains, Behaviors & Culture: The Hidden Connections" which will help leaders understand the hidden connections embedded between exposure, the brain, and human behavior. For Safety in Action Steering Committee Co-Chair Charles King, Director of Environmental, Health and Safety at Armtec, "the ability to once again meet in person to share ideas, concepts, as well as industry success and failures throughout the last 12 to 15 months is refreshing." "Missing this opportunity to safely comingle with other safety professionals should not be missed." The Safety in Action Conference was moved to late summer to ensure the safety of employees, attendees, and community. The in-person conference will be followed on Sept. 8 by The Safety in Action Digital Experience, a one-day virtual conference featuring the same tracks both in real time and on demand for three months. About the Safety in Action Conference: The Safety in Action Conference is the largest privately-held safety event in the U.S where employees at every level gather to address the top issues affecting safety today. Engaging breakout sessions and workshops focus on real-world applications of the latest safety best practices. The results are dynamic networking and discussion sessions, provoking the kind of action that moves safety forward. About DEKRA North America: As the global leader in safety at work, DEKRA North America is a partner to many of the world's largest organizations. With a passionate, scientific approach to transforming safety, our clients mitigate risk to their employees, assets, and reputation in a quantifiable manner and, in the process, enhance business performance. DEKRA North America is a service unit of DEKRA S.E., a global leader in safety since 1925 with over 40,000 employees. SOURCE DEKRA North America TORONTO, April 15, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- As MPPs vote on the third reading of Bill 254 today, the Ontario Federation of Labour and Democracy Watch are calling on Ontario Attorney General Doug Downey to release the government lawyers evaluation about whether the Ford governments Bill 254 violates constitutional Charter rights. Fords Conservative government has made numerous attempts at unconstitutional changes to Ontarios laws that the courts have rejected, said Patty Coates, Ontario Federation of Labour President. The public has a right to know whether the governments own lawyers think Bill 254 violates Charter rights. Lawyers from the Ontario Attorney Generals Constitutional Law Branch usually review all proposed bills to ensure they are constitutional. The federal government enacted a law in 2019 requiring the Department of Justice to issue a public statement concerning whether each bill complies with the Charter. Since 2016, the federal government disclosed its lawyers Charter opinions about each bill soon after each bill is introduced in Parliament, said Coates. If Attorney General Downey has nothing to hide, he will disclose the legal opinions prepared by the Ford governments lawyers about whether Bill 254 is unconstitutional. Bill 254 increases the pre-election period from 6 months to 12 months during which advertising spending by interest groups and individuals known as third parties is limited, while the current spending limit remains the same. This doubling of the length of the regulated period prior to the writ also does not include any corresponding change to the definition of political advertising to permit issue-based expression. This is unprecedented in Canada and constitutes an unheard-of attack on the political expression of third parties. The Ford governments proposal to extend the restrictions on advertising spending by interest groups for the year before the election are very likely unconstitutional because they arbitrarily limit spending too much, and for too long, and impose too many requirements on groups that only spend small amounts, said Duff Conacher, Co-founder of Democracy Watch. The restrictions should be cut from Bill 254 or, at the very least, the Ford Cabinet should refer them to the courts, before they become law, for a ruling on whether they are constitutional. In May 2012, the B.C. government referred similar proposed third-party restrictions to the B.C. Court of Appeal. The Court of Appeal ruled in October 2012 that the restrictions were unconstitutional because they restricted spending on ads as part of a third partys advocacy on any issue. The federal government did not restrict spending on issue ads during the pre-election period of 2-3 months when it changed Canadas election law with Bill C-76 in 2018-2019. During the pre-election period, the federal law only restricts spending on partisan ads that support or oppose a candidate or party, and the spending limit is meaninglessly high. While restricting massive ad campaigns by wealthy interest groups and individuals in the few months leading up to an election is a good, democratic idea, as reaffirmed by the Supreme Court of Canada , an independent commission should be set up to study the actual costs of reaching voters to ensure the ad spending limits are realistic, and disclosure and reporting of spending should be easy, said Conacher. For more information, please contact: Melissa Palermo Director of Communications Ontario Federation of Labour mpalermo@ofl.ca l C: 416-894-3456 Duff Conacher Co-founder, Democracy Watch info@democracywatch.ca T: 613-241-5179 | C: 416-546-3443 Cope343 The on Thursday asked the to apprise it of a reasonable time frame within which it can respond to the recommendations made by its collegium for appointment of judges as the government said that it will adhere to the timeline fixed in the Memorandum of Procedure (MoP). The government blamed the delay on clearing of names on High Courts for not sending the recommendations on time and said that many of them have not sent the names for the last five years against the existing vacancy. The top court pointed out that there are 10 names recommended by its collegium and pending with the government for a year and half and by what time frame it expects those names to be cleared. Attorney General K K Venugopal said that the government will take a decision on those 10 names within three months. A special bench of Chief Justice S A Bobde and Justices Sanjay Kishan Kaul and Surya Kant told Venugopal, You leave the issue of High Courts to us. We as the of India will take care of High Courts and ask them to make recommendations six months ahead of the vacancy. But we are on the question of delay. Why can't you tell us the fixed reasonable time frame within which you can respond to the names sent by collegium? Tell us a fixed reasonable time frame. Venugopal said that the government will strictly adhere to the time frame fixed in the Memorandum of Procedure (MoP) as it gives the timelines for different branches-High Court collegium, collegium and the government. There is no time frame given for the Prime Minister in the MoP and once the file is cleared from the office of Prime Minister, it is sent to the President for approval, the Attorney General said. When the bench asked, is the timeline given in the MoP, Venugopal said, Yes. In the 1998 MoP the timeline is fixed for different branches. The MoP made post NJAC ( Judicial Appointment Commission) judgement is still pending with the Supreme Court. At the outset, Venugopal said that the Supreme Court has the sanctioned strength of 34 judges and there is vacancy of five judges but the government has not received any recommendation. He said that there are 416 vacancies in High Courts against the sanctioned strength of 1080 judges but the government is yet to receive the recommendations from various High Court Collegium for 220 names. The government has pointed out in a note that as on April 13, High Courts of Andhra Pradesh, Chattisgarh, Gujarat, Jharkhand, Meghalaya, Orissa and Sikkim have not recommended names for vacancies from bar which have been existing for five years or more. It said, High Courts of Bombay, Calcutta, Delhi, Gauhati, Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Patna, Punjab and Haryana, Telangana, Tripura and Uttarakhand did not recommend names for vacancies from Bar which had been existing for one to five years. It had further said that similarly High Courts of Manipur, Punjab and Haryana have not recommended names for vacancies from services which have been existing for five years or more. High Courts of Allahabad, Andhra Pradesh, Calcutta, Delhi, Gujarat, Karnataka, Kerala, Orissa and Patna did not recommend names for vacancies from service which has been existing for one to five years, it said. The note said that High Courts of Jharkhand and Chattisgarh have a delay of 83 and 74 months in making recommendations for appointment of judges from Bar respectively. On March 25, the top court had said that the should respond to its collegium recommendations within a reasonable time frame and favoured appointment of ad-hoc judges in the high courts to reduce the pendency of cases in the judiciary. It had taken note of delay on part of the central government in acting on the collegium's recommendations. It had said that on each stage there is a certain thought process and therefore there should be a reasonable time frame within which the Union Ministry of Law and Justice should act. After collegium recommends they need to reply in a specific time frame. It had asked Venugopal to make a statement regarding clearing of names recommended by the top court collegium. On January 27, the top court had taken strong note of the delay on the part of the Central government in acting on the collegium's recommendations clearing names for appointment of judges in higher judiciary, saying it is a matter of great concern. The apex court had then said that as on date 189 proposals on appointment of judges are pending and sought an update on the latest position from the government. (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.) NORTH AUGUSTA Travis Smith would be turning 37 on April 15. For his sister, looking back on eight years without him, it's a reminder of all the things he'd never get to do. He won't see his daughter graduate from high school this spring with a stellar GPA, ready to enter college. At every family celebration in North Augusta, where he and sister Tyesha Simmons grew up, his seat is empty. What Simmons most remembers is her brother's laugh how he was always teasing her and his friends, ready with a sarcastic quip. On Sept. 29, 2012, Smith was standing outside the Ridgeview Manor apartment complex when two men approached, fatally shooting him. In the years since, there's been no motive or suspect uncovered for the crime, which is being investigated by the North Augusta Department of Public Safety. He was 28 years old. The investigation has been "pretty much a dead-end road" so far, Simmons said. She's wondered whether it was mistaken identity or just a random act of violence, as she doesn't believe her brother was involved in anything that could prompt such an attack. The more time passes, witnesses will move or pass away, diminishing the chances that someone will come forward. "The longer these things go on, the harder it gets," said Lt. Luke Sherman with the North Augusta Public Safety Department. There have been no recent developments in Smith's case. With the case open and unsolved, Simmons and her family have been left with endless questions. "You constantly play it back in your mind and try to piece it together in your head," she said. Who were those unknown men? Was her brother just in the wrong place at the wrong time? Will he ever get justice? When Smith died, his daughter was 9 years old. He hadn't been able to spend much time with her and had just started reconnecting, his sister said. "There's a lot of things he never got to do," Simmons said. Smith was planning to go back to school. "He was ready to get that break he needed." She hasn't given up hope that the answers they're seeking are still out there. Daily, she prays someone will come forward to offer information on the case. Simmons is one of many family members across the United States waiting for justice. In 2019, the Department of Justice estimated the nation has around 250,000 unsolved murders under investigation, a number that grows by about 6,000 each year. Anyone with information on Smith's death can contact the North Augusta Department of Public Safety at 803-279-2122, or reach out anonymously to Crime Stoppers at 888-274-6372. A technology firm is campaigning for people to work one day a week from the pub - in an effort to bolster the hospitality sector. The meeting space company's idea has been greeted with enthusiasm from bars, restaurants and hotels who think it could help the economy. And the concept - which was dreamt up by app-based network WorkClub - could be the tonic for working from home employers sick of their front room. It is similar to an initiative from the Irish government, who recently announced a proposal to turn pubs into remote working hubs to give rural villages a boost. The prospective UK drive, called the Work 4 Good pledge, launches on May 17 and has the backing of some of Britain's biggest companies. Young's Brewery head of sales Sarah Groves said: 'Working from the pub has become even more popular over the last year with a reduction in office work. 'Working remotely from your local has many benefits; it's usually a short walk from home, no overcrowded tube journey required and it's supporting the industries recovery. 'We offer free WIFi in all our pubs and many of them offer "work from the pub" packages through WorkClub which include unlimited tea and coffee and a choice of lunch.' Young's Brewery head of sales Sarah Groves was one who was in favour of the new idea The Royal Saracens Head pub in Beaconsfield as bars are now allowed to serve alcohol The idea comes from WorkClub, which was founded by Nick Donnelly and Upile Chasowa WorkClub is offering its services at no cost to hospitality venues across the UK to help them recover. It says its app will promote their venues to increase traffic and revenue, by encouraging people to work from them during daytime hours. Service apartments firm Edyn Group said it thought the idea had merit and could help business across the sector. Paul Spencer, Operations Director, said: 'We anticipate that hotel social spaces will see a significant increase in demand from the remote workforce in the wake of the pandemic. 'As the novelty of working from home begins to wear thin, and people crave a sense of community, these spaces provide a more stimulating environment to work from, as well as high-tech facilities and amenities. 'By adopting hotels as an alternative workspace, it also creates new revenue opportunities for the hospitality industry which needs as much support as possible at this moment in time.' It comes a day after a new poll suggested a quarter of people wanted to remain mostly or completely working from home, a new poll has suggested. An Opinium survey conducted for the Prospect trade union showed that 24 per cent of people wanted to stay working at home when life goes back to normal. But some 37 per cent said they wanted to work mostly or completely from the office. Meanwhile, 17 per cent of workers said they wanted to split their time in half between the office and their home. A new Opinium poll for the Prospect trade union showed a quarter of workers want to remain working mostly or completely at home after the pandemic The polling suggests that young people are more likely than their older counterparts to want to spend at least some of their work time back in the office The Government is set to consult on extending flexible working rights amid fears for the future of struggling city centres. Oxford Street in central London is pictured in March this year A similar YouGov poll published in November last year suggested that half of workers, 50 per cent, wanted to work from home every day or most days. Meanwhile, the new poll findings, published by The Times, showed that young people are more likely to want to return to the office than some of their older counterparts. Some 64 per cent of 18 to 34-year-olds said they wanted to spent at least some of their time back in the office. But the number was 48 per cent for the 35 to 54 age group and 49 per cent for over-55s. The polling, conducted between April 1 and April 7, comes as the Government prepares to launch a consultation later this year on extending flexible working rights. It could mean more people being able to retain high levels of working remotely or even completely avoid a full return to the office. The consultation will inevitably prompt concerns about the future of struggling city centres. The Opinium poll also suggested that two thirds, 66 per cent, of home workers support a 'Right to Disconnect' policy. This would require companies and staff to agree rules on when people cannot be contacted for work purposes. Andrew Pakes, Prospect research director, said: 'Remote working is here to stay, but it can be much better than it has been in recent months. 'Including a Right to Disconnect in the Employment Bill would be a big step in redrawing the blurred boundary between home and work and would show that the government is serious about tackling the dark side of remote working.' In ten years of operation the LHCb experiment has probed the nature of physics attempting to answer some of the Universe's most fundamental questions. A new review examines its past achievements and future potential A new review published in EPJ H by Clara Matteuzzi, Research Director at the National Institute for Nuclear Physics (INFN) and former tenured professor at the University of Milan, and her colleagues, examines almost three decades of the LHCb experiment - from its conception to operation at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) - documenting its achievements and future potential. The LCHb experiment was originally conceived to understand the symmetry between matter and antimatter and where this symmetry is broken - known as charge conjugation parity (CP) violation. Whilst this may seem like quite an obscure area of study, it addresses one of the Universe's most fundamental questions: how it came to be dominated by matter when it should have equally favoured antimatter? "LHCb wants to study by which mechanism our universe, as we see it today, is made of matter, and how antimatter disappeared despite an initial symmetry between the two states," says Matteuzzi. "The Standard Model contains a tiny amount of violation of this symmetry, whilst the observation of the universe implies a much larger one. This is one of the most fascinating open questions in the Particle Physics field." The LHCb experiment investigates this problem by studying the behaviour of systems and particles made from so-called heavy quarks. These are produced in abundance by highly energetic collisions - explaining why the LHC is the perfect location to study them - and were also abundant in the highly energetic early Universe. "The field in which the LHCb is active is so-called 'heavy quarks physics' which aims to study and understand the behaviour of the particles containing the c and b heavy quarks - usually named charm and beauty quarks," says Matteuzzi. "The rich sector - spectroscopy - covered by LHCb is how quarks of different types, or flavours, aggregate together to form particles in a way that is analogous to how 'Up' and 'Down' quarks in different combinations make protons and neutrons." "It became clear that the potentiality of the LHCb detector was in other fields beyond the study of CP violation that also hinged on aspects of heavy quark interaction. One was the spectacular success of spectroscopy and the measurement of many new states composed by heavy quarks," concludes Matteuzzi. "This incredibly rich variety of results is demonstrated in our paper - we hope!" ### References 1. Roads. The citys roads are a mess. Significant resources are needed to fix them. 2. Public safety. The crime rate is too high. Police pay and resources come first. 3. More city programs. The city must invest more in city programs and services. 4. Comprehensive plan. The city needs to focus on rebuilding and rebranding. 5. Cut city spending. City officials must get serious about trimming the budget. Vote View Results The Australian firm Azimuth Security was responsible for hiring a researcher who succeeded in gaining access to an iPhone 5C used by a terrorist in the US in 2015. The incident led to a well-documented stoush between Apple and the FBI in 2016. Azimuth, founded by former IBM X-Force member Mark Dowd, was sold to US-based defence contractor L3 Intelligence in 2018. Until the Washington Post claimed on Wednesday that Azimuth had been involved in breaking into the phone, many reports had attributed the hack to the Israeli firm Cellebrite. The phone in question was used by Syed Rizwan Farook, one of two terrorists involved in shootings in San Bernardino, California, in December 2015. The FBI demanded that Apple unlock the phone and, when the company refused, it attempted to get the courts to force Apple to do so. However, before the case could come up for hearing, the FBI ended the stoush, announcing that it had been able to obtain the data it needed by using the services of a third party. That third party was speculated to be Cellebrite and US Government records showed that the FBI had made payments of US$15,278.02 to the firm on 21 March 2016. However, in May 2017, Democrat senator Dianne Feinstein cited a figure of US$900,000 as having been paid to the company that carried out the crack. Hackers dont need to exclusively give their bugs away for free or sell via lower priced defensive market bug bounties & hacking contests to be contributing to the broader protection for all. Offensive exploit sales are an essential part of keeping us safe from mandated backdoors pic.twitter.com/8rN0caxC7y Katie Moussouris (she/her) is 1/2 vaccinated (@k8em0) April 14, 2021 The FBI announced in March 2016 that it had gained access to data on the phone. Six months later, the Associated Press, Vice Media and USA Today sued the agency, to find out how much had been paid and who had done the job. In response, the FBI released a number of documents in January 2017, but redacted the name of the company which carried out the hack and the amount that was paid. One additional detail available in the documents released in January was the fact that the FBI had signed a nondisclosure agreement with the company. A court granted an FBI request not to disclose the name of company that had been hired for the job. The Post report claims Dowd contacted Portland-based David Wang, who was well-versed in iOS exploits, after hearing of the case through the media. Dowd had earlier found a vulnerability in code from Mozilla that Apple had used, one that allowed the plugging in of accessories to an iPhone's lightning port. Wang chained Dowd's exploit to two others and gained access to the phone's main processor. He was then able to write code that tried all possible passcode combinations, bypassing all security measures that had been put in place. iPhones allow a set number of passcode guessing attempts, before locking up and requiring intervention from the user and Apple to use the device. However. the fallout from the case appears to be continuing. In 2017, Wang set up a security company in South Florida known as Corellium which makes tools allowing for testing iOS using virtual iPhones. Apple sued Corellium in 2019, alleging copyright violation, and, having hauled Azimuth into court on a subpoena, attempted to find out whether Wang or his employees had contributed to any iPhone hack, including the San Bernardino case. While Apple claimed that its case was to stop Corellium infringing on its copyright, the latter has claimed that Apple is trying to put it out of business, having failed to buy the firm in 2018. In December, Apple's copyright claims against Corellium were thrown out by a judge. But the company now claims that Corellium creates tools that illegally bypass its [Apple's] own security measures. The case will come up for hearing in the Western summer. ASHGABAT -- Turkmenistan's authoritarian president, Gurbanguly Berdymukhammedov, who is also the head of the government in the tightly controlled state, has added another title to his name: the speaker of the newly established upper chamber of parliament, the Halk Maslahaty (People's Council). State media in the extremely isolated former Soviet republic reported on April 14 that Berdymukhammedov was "elected to the post by secret ballot" by the chamber's members. During the session, Berdymukhammedov appointed eight additional members to the Halk Maslahaty, bringing the total number of members to 56. The other 48 members of the upper chamber were "elected" in late March. With a cult of personality around the 63-year-old authoritarian ruler, dissent is not tolerated in the Central Asian state and all media is under strict state control. With the exception of turning the parliament into a two-chamber institution, other details of the constitutional changes that Berdymukhammedov signed into the law in September 2020 remain largely unknown. Berdymukhammedov initiated the constitutional changes in 2019 and led a commission he established that prepared a bill of amendments. The Halk Maslahaty was created in 2017 as a separate entity on the basis of the Council of Elders. Berdymukhammedov was the body's chairman. Critics have said that Berdymukhammedov plans to use the constitutional amendments to secure his lifetime presidency and to pass it on to his son and grandchildren. Before the bill was signed into law last year, dozens of Turkmen citizens held rallies in Washington, as well as in the cities of Houston and Pittsburgh, protesting the plan. Government critics and human rights groups say Berdymukhammedov has suppressed dissent and made few changes in the restrictive country since he came to power after the death of autocrat Saparmurat Niyazov in 2006. A national political action committee dedicated to helping elect Democratic woman who support abortion rights say they are targeting a series of Republican governors, including Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker. The group, EMILYs List, faulted Baker for refusing to expand abortion rights in Massachusetts. Specifically, the group criticized Baker for opposing legislation that would enlarge access to reproductive care and codify the right to an abortion into Massachusetts state law. They also pointed to his opposition to allowing abortion later in pregnancy under certain medical conditions, and his support of requiring minors to obtain parental consent to have an abortion. Each and every one of these nine Republican governors have failed to perform what should be their primary duty in office: to use their offices to improve the lives of families across their states, Emily Cain, executive director of EMILYs List, said in written release Tuesday. We need governors who place the public good over their personal and partisan political agendas. Every one of these states would be much better served by electing a Democratic pro-choice woman governor, she added. A representative of Bakers political organization did not immediately return a request for comment. Other Republican governors in New England being targeted by the group include New Hampshire Gov. Chris Sununu and Vermont Gov. Phil Scott. Baker last year vetoed a bill known as the Roe Act which sought to codify abortion rights into state law, allow abortions after 24 weeks of pregnancy in cases where the child would not survive after birth, and lower from 18 to 16 the age at which women could seek an abortion without consent from a parent or guardian. Baker said while he strongly supports many provisions of the measure, he could not support expanding the availability of later-term abortions and permitting 16- and 17-year-olds to get an abortion without parental consent. The Democratic-controlled Massachusetts House and Senate voted to override Bakers veto, making the measure a state law despite his opposition. Baker, 64, is currently in the middle of his second term and hasnt said whether hell seek a third term in next years election. Former Massachusetts state Sen. Ben Downing became the first Democrat to formally announce a run for governor in 2022. Democratic state Sen. Sonia Chang-Diaz, a critic of Bakers handling of the coronavirus pandemic, said last month she is weighing a bid for governor. Democratic Attorney General Maura Healey is also seen as a possible candidate. Baker is generally seen as relatively moderate compared to national Republicans. He was a frequent critic of former President Donald Trump and refused to vote for him in the 2016 and 2020 elections. Baker remained very popular among Massachusetts voters during much of the pandemic, although his popularity dipped during the distribution of vaccines after a website created by the state to inform residents about where to get vaccinated crashed. According to the poll, the top three environmental issues on the minds of young people are: air quality (60%), water pollution (59%) and plastic pollution (56%). More than half (54%) said they are 'very concerned' about the planet running out of resources. One in four (26%) said that an environmental event or natural disaster like a flood, fire or hurricane - has impacted their ability to concentrate in school. "Climate change is very real and there are a lot of environmental disasters happening," said 22-year-old Justin Valenzuela, co-president of the Ohlone College Sustainability Club and co-founder of Renegade Feedings in the Bay Area. "Most importantly, I know a lot of marginalized communities around the world are facing different ends of climate change, even though they aren't the contributors. Providing sustainable health care to all, especially marginalized communities that are affected by climate change, seems like the right step." The poll coincides with the nonprofit health plan's unveiling of its new climate goals efforts to help improve the health of individuals, families, and communities through better environmental stewardship. "At Blue Shield of California, we understand the intrinsic relationship between the environment and personal well-being. It is incredible to see that youth have already made the connection to their immediate health," said Paul Markovich, president and CEO, of Blue Shield of California. "That's why we are making new sustainability commitments today, to safeguard the health of the next generation and ensure a brighter future for them." Blue Shield, which is a CarbonNeutral certified company, today announced its new NextGen sustainability goals that include: Become carbon negative by 2023 Achieve zero waste operations by 2025 Quantify the cost of climate change on human health by 2023 Adopt and promote climate smart health care by 2025 These commitments are also part of the health plan's climate action and social justice efforts to achieve health equity throughout California. Research shows climate change disproportionately impacts communities of color and lower incomes. "Blue Shield is working towards being the most sustainable health plan in California because environmental sustainability is core to our overall health and well-being," Markovich said. "Young people understand that, and we all have a part to play in making our children's future healthy." Hope for the future and taking responsibility for climate change Other highlights from Blue Shield of California's NextGen Climate Survey include: Racism and social justice (62 %), the environment and climate change (47 %), education (47 %), health care (43 %) and gender equality (41 %) are top social issues among Gen Z. 62 % of Gen Z respondents said they felt their generation takes climate change at least somewhat seriously, while only 34 % said they felt their parents' generation take it as seriously. Respondents say they want both federal (71 %) and state/local (58 %) governments to do more to protect people from negative health effects from climate change. Nearly half (48 %) of Gen Z respondents said they feel better about the future health of the planet under the new administration in the White House, while 19 % said they feel worse. Blue Shield of California NextGen Climate Survey methodology Blue Shield of California commissioned Quest Mindshare to field a representative survey online of 1,200 youth nationwide, including an oversample of 300 in California, aged 14-24. The survey was fielded online March 5-12, 2021. To see the full survey report, click here. About Blue Shield of California Blue Shield of California strives to create a healthcare system worthy of its family and friends that is sustainably affordable. Blue Shield of California is a tax paying, nonprofit, independent member of the Blue Shield Association with over 4.5 million members, over 7,500 employees and more than $21 billion in annual revenue. Founded in 1939 in San Francisco and now headquartered in Oakland, Blue Shield of California and its affiliates provide health, dental, vision, Medicaid and Medicare healthcare service plans in California. The company has contributed more than $150 million to Blue Shield of California Foundation in the last four years to have an impact on California communities. For more news about Blue Shield of California, please visit news.blueshieldca.com. Or follow us on LinkedIn, Twitter, or Facebook. CONTACT: Mark Seelig Blue Shield of California 510-607-2359 [email protected] SOURCE Blue Shield of California Related Links https://www.blueshieldca.com Click here to read the full article. Some movies can bring out the life coach in you, the one who wants to get the characters to straighten up and fly right. Is that just because theyre behaving badly? Not exactly. Bad behavior is half of what movies are. No, when a film nudges your inner life coach, its because someone onscreen is up to something so wrongheaded that it ceases to be clear whether its him or the movie that needs an intervention. For a while, Monday gives you the fizzy sensation that its just what an indie romantic comedy should be: buoyant and real, full of the sexiness of smashed boundaries, with two alluring free spirits at its center. At a disco house party in Athens, Chloe (Denise Gough), an American visitor whos in the middle of a drunken breakup via cell phone, meets Mickey (Sebastian Stan), an American expatriate whos DJ-ing the party, spinning Donna Summers I Feel Love, a song that drives the films early burst of hormonal romantic rapture. The two escape into the night, and the next thing that we or they know, theyve woken up naked on the beach, the Greek morning sun glinting off their bodies. Apparently, it was a reckless night. But we can also see that it was love at first shag. Mickey is a blithely boyish tall charmer, cruising through life, the kind of laidback rogue who prides himself on being a total sweetheart (and he is, until he isnt). As Chloe tells him when he drops her off on his motorcycle, Thank you for not being an asshole. Shes about to head back to the States, and looks a bit raccoon-eyed after their night of depravity. But he convinces her to spend her last day or two in Greece with him, which means more parties, more dancing, and a lot more shagging and more chances for him to show off what a nice guy he is, like when he improvises a halfway stylish outfit for her by shearing off the legs of his own pants. Mickey has lived in Greece for seven years, and doesnt do much besides DJ-ing and sponging off his crazy wealthy party-animal friend Argyris (Yorgos Pirpassopoulos). But Sebastian Stan, loosening up in one of his breaks from the MCU, makes him the soul of likability. As for Chloe, shes an immigration lawyer, and Denise Gough gives her an arresting sharpness. Shes a straight arrow who drinks too much, as hungry for chancy pleasure as Mickey is, but not as carefree. Shes got complications, and treats whats happening as a fling, until the movie trots out that staple of a thousand rom-coms, the dude-bares-his-soul-by-chasing-down-girl-at-the-airport scene. Only here it happens half an hour into the film. And then they lived Happily? We know it cant be that easy, because there wouldnt be a movie. Its a symbol of Chloe and Mickeys newfound commitment that she gets him to load up a van with her uncomfortable-looking modernist designer couch, and its also a sign of that commitment when she watches him set fire to it while hosting another disco party in the square outside his apartment. Yet the real problem is that as soon as they move in together, the director, Argyis Papadimitropoulos, starts to the overload the screen with red flags. Like the fact that Mickey has a six-year-old son he claims to have a relationship with, but from all evidence barely sees. Or the scene in which his old bandmate, Bastian (Dominique Tipper), stops by for a visit. It seems that their band had a good run, but as soon as theyd found success during a tour, Mickey quit. Why? You fuckin hate yourself, says Bastian. You are not happy unless youre failing. Chloe listens to all this aghast. Did she make a terrible mistake? At least, thats what we think shed be asking herself, and thats the way that Gough plays it. Yet as the movie throws in more and more moments of Mickeys flakiness, his short fuse, and, for all his natty charm, the selfishness he wears like a bad suit, Chloe, for increasingly hard-to-fathom reasons, simply goes along with it all. Monday, shot with a mostly Greek crew, has been made with a certain degree of lively flair, and the two actors have moments where they really fuse. A party scene in which Chloes friends, who are elegant achievers, meet Mickeys, who are like supporting players from My Big Fat Greek Frat House, produces comic sparks. But Papadimitropoulos treats most of the film as if he were making Blue Valentine or Head-On: a study in masculine narcissism. Sebastian Stan has the moody skill as an actor to pull this off. Yet the movie, which at times feels semi-improvised, isnt structured to allow the central relationship to build dramatically. By the time Chloe screams at him, What am I fucking doing?, we wonder, frankly, why it took her so long to say it. And even then shes not done. Mickey simply expects the woman hes with to go along with his arrested antics, and the problem with Monday is that on some level the movie does too. Reviewed online, April 14, 2021. MPAA Rating: R. Running time: 116 MIN. Production An IFC Films release of Wishmore presentation of a Faliro House, Protagonist Pictures production, in association with Automatik & DJ Films, Oxymoron Films, Blonde Audiovisual, Cosmote TV. Producers: Christos V. Konstantakopoulos, Argyris Papadimitropoulos, Deanna Barillari, Brian Kavanaugh Jones, Damian Jones. Executive producers: Fred Berger, Fenia Cossovitsa. Crew Director: Argyris Papadimitropoulos. Screenplay: Rob Hayes, Argyris Papadimitropoulos. Camera: Christos Karamanis. Editor: Napoleon Stratogiannakis. Music: Alexis Grapsas. With Sebastian Stan, Denise Gough, Yorgos Pirpassopoulos, Dominique Tipper, Andreas Konstantinou, Elli Tringou, Sofia Kokkali, Sylla Tzoumerkas, Vangelis Mourikis, Marisha Triantafyllidou, Heronymos Kaletsanos. Sign up for Varietys Newsletter. For the latest news, follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. WKTV - On Wednesday, President Biden announced the end to our country's longest war 20 years - as he will begin to withdraw troops from Afghanistan beginning May 1. The president said that it's time for American troops to come home. He made this announcement in the Treaty Room at the White House, the same room that George W. Bush declared military action against the Taliban in 2001 after 9/11. Over the past 19 years, about 2,400 American troops died in Afghanistan and about one trillion dollars was spent. There are 2,500 troops currently serving in Afghanistan. During Wednesday nights virtual town hall, Congresswoman Claudia Tenney discussed this resolution. Im concerned about us leaving a void in Afghanistan. I understand that we don't want to have our sons and daughters in harm's way, said Tenney. But why would you pick September 11? That was a day where we had a terrible attack on our nation and that Afghanistan war resulted from that. I don't know if they're looking at symbolism or if it was random. I'd like to know more information, I wish we had been consulted at least on the Foregin Affairs Committee before this decision was made. This decision is in-line with the US exit deadline negotiated by the Trump administration with the Taliban last year and will be completed by September 11. Critics argue that this could pave the way for another 9/11. President Biden pledged that the US will not take an eye off the terrorist threat. The Napa Valley Cannabis Association will host Nicole Elliott, senior advisor on cannabis to Governor Gavin Newsom, via Instagram Live at noon on April 20. Elliott will join the group as part of its 2021 Speaker Education Series to discuss statewide cannabis policy initiatives, according to a release from the group. Interested viewers can join the Live event, hosted by NVCA President Stephanie Honig, by visiting NVCAs Instagram page at @napavalleycannabis. As senior cannabis advisor, Elliott has focused on the regulation of the states legal cannabis industry. She was previously the director of the San Francisco Mayors Office of Legislative and Government Affairs. Honig and Elliott will discuss how marijuana legalization at the federal level might impact Napa County; the outcomes of California counties that have moved ahead with legalizing commercial cannabis cultivation; the potential impact of legalization on economic development and tax revenue; the impact of legalization on the black market; and public safety concerns, Honig said in an email. Moscow, April 15 : Russian President Vladimir Putin said that the country seeks to establish year-round navigation along the Northern Sea Route in the Arctic. "In the coming years, movement along the Northern Sea Route may become year-round, bearing in mind the consequences of possible climate change," Putin said on Wednesday while addressing a meeting of the Board of Trustees of the Russian Geographical Society via video link. The Arctic is a region where the effects of climate change are most obvious, he said, adding that the study of the Arctic is in the interests of all mankind, reports Xinhua news agency. Putin underlined Russia's ongoing efforts to construct "the world's most powerful" nuclear-powered icebreaker fleet. Last month, the Russian Navy conducted the "Umka-2021" comprehensive Arctic expedition in the Franz Josef Land archipelago, during which three nuclear-powered missile submarines broke thick ice and surfaced from the Arctic Ocean for the first time in its history. The submarines shattered 1.5-metre-thick ice and ascended to the frozen sea surface at the same time in an area with a radius of 300 metres. More than 600 military and civilian personnel, and about 200 pieces of military and special equipment and weapons are involved in the expedition. Last week, Pentagon Press Secretary John Kirby said that the US Department of Defence is "very closely" monitoring Russian military activities and infrastructure build-ups in the Arctic. In response to Kirby's remark, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that Russia also keeps in mind the US presence in the Arctic. Titular de la PCM: Hemos acordado mantener las medidas restrictivas para cada nivel de riesgo (alto, muy alto y extremo). La clasificacion que comunicaremos hoy se aplicaran por tres semanas, desde el 19 de abril al 9 de mayo. HOUSTON, April 12, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- VAALCO Energy, Inc. (NYSE: EGY; LSE: EGY) (VAALCO or the Company) today announced that its Board of Directors has named George Maxwell as Chief Executive Officer effective April 12, 2021. Mr. Maxwell, who has been a Non-Executive Director of the Company since June 2020 and resides in the U.K., will continue to serve as a member of the Board. Cary Bounds who has served as Chief Executive Officer since 2016 will leave VAALCO to pursue other interests. The Company also provided details on its newly updated forward strategy. The Companys stated goal is to continue to be one of the leading independent exploration and production companies in West Africa, with a strategy of achieving significant shareholder returns by maximizing the value of, and free cash flow from, its existing resources, coupled with highly accretive inorganic growth opportunities. The Board believes that Mr. Maxwells recent achievement of founding, building, and selling a successful African energy company, as well as his significant experience serving in executive leadership positions, a proven track record in M&A and strong ties to the European, American and African capital market communities will complement and accelerate the Companys ability to achieve this strategy. The Board believes that enhancing the Companys corporate presence in London, the primary financial and advisory hub for African energy companies, will augment the experience within VAALCOs leadership and complement the Companys supportive equity shareholder base in the U.S. With a majority of transactions for North Africa and Sub-Saharan Africa energy companies taking place within the European financial markets, and a large part of the Companys peer group active within this environment, it is strategically important to have an enhanced presence within this market environment. Further to VAALCOs successful dual listing on the London Stock Exchange, the Company intends to open a business development office in London and appoint a permanent Chief Financial Officer who will be based in this new London office. Mr. Maxwell expects to split his time equally between Houston and London. The VAALCO executive leadership team intends to maintain its strong relationship with the Gabonese government. Andrew Fawthrop, VAALCOs Chairman of the Board, commented, We are excited to begin the next chapter of VAALCOs 35-year history with our decision to increase our presence in the U.K. and international markets, a move that we believe will support VAALCOs ambition to maximise shareholder returns. We are very fortunate to have George Maxwell serve as our new CEO as he has significant experience serving in executive leadership positions, a proven track record in corporate and M&A activities and strong ties to the London investment community. He has gotten to know our Company well since joining our Board in June of last year and can therefore ensure a smooth transition of leadership. He has provided invaluable insight and his knowledge of the international energy and capital markets have made him an important resource for us and we look forward to his leadership as our new CEO. Mr. Fawthrop continued, We would like to thank Cary for his dedication and valued years of service to VAALCO. Cary guided VAALCO through some very challenging periods for the industry and helped the Company emerge stronger. He oversaw the highly successful 2019/2020 drilling program and the very accretive Sasol acquisition, the combination of which has grown production and reserves considerably and positioned VAALCO for significant cash flow in 2021. We wish Cary the best in the next phase of his career. George Maxwell commented, Im excited by this opportunity to build on a successful foundation and lead the existing teams to grow the Company to the next level. The positions we have in Gabon and Equatorial Guinea provide exciting development opportunities to enhance our business and provide a strong platform for investors. In this current and future market environment, I believe it is paramount that businesses are sustainable in order to provide benefits to all stakeholders, with a focus on growth and investor returns. This is one of the guiding principles I successfully applied in my previous executive role and I believe VAALCO is in an excellent position to ultimately achieve this. VAALCO has adopted share repurchase programs in the past as a way to return value to our shareholders and we will consider similar programs in the future as well as potential dividends to complement our growth strategy. I remain wholly committed to our roots and investor base in the U.S., and believe that our expanded presence in the U.K. financial and advisory markets maximizes opportunities for us to achieve our stated strategy. About George Maxwell George Maxwell joined VAALCOs Board in June 2020 and has over 25 years of experience in the oil and gas industry, including in both the producing and service/manufacturing arenas. Mr. Maxwell founded Eland Oil & Gas Plc. in 2009 and served as the companys Chief Executive Officer from September 2014 to December 2019, Chief Financial Officer from 2010 to 2014, and as a member of the Board of Directors from 2009 to 2019, until the company was acquired by Seplat Petroleum Development Company Plc for a value in excess of $500 million, in December 2019. Prior to founding Eland, Mr. Maxwell served as the business development manager for Addax Petroleum and, prior to this, commercial manager in Geneva. Mr. Maxwell joined Addax Petroleum in 2004 and held the general manager position in Nigeria, where he was responsible for finance and fiscal and commercial activities. Prior to this, Mr. Maxwell worked with ABB Oil & Gas as vice president of finance based in the U.K. with responsibilities for Europe and Africa. He held a similar position in Houston, from where the organization ran its operations in ten countries. Mr. Maxwell also serves as a non-executive director on the board of LEKOIL PLC, a publicly traded Africa-focused exploration and production company with interests in Nigeria and Namibia, but plans to step down from this position to focus on his role at VAALCO. Mr. Maxwell graduated from Robert Gordon University in Aberdeen with a Masters in Business Administration. He is a Fellow of the Energy Institute in the U.K. and has formerly served on the boards of directors of Elcrest Exploration and Production Nigeria Ltd. and Westport Oil Limited. About VAALCO VAALCO, founded in 1985, is a Houston, USA based, independent energy company with production, development and exploration assets in the West African region. The Company is an established operator within the region, holding a 63.6% participating interest in the Etame Marin block, located offshore Gabon, which to date has produced over 120 million barrels of crude oil and of which the Company is the operator. For Further Information VAALCO Energy, Inc. (General and Investor Enquiries) +00 1 713 623 0801 Website: www.vaalco.com Al Petrie Advisors (US Investor Relations) +00 1 713 543 3422 Al Petrie / Chris Delange Buchanan (U.K. Financial PR) +44 (0) 207 466 5000 Ben Romney / Kelsey Traynor / James Husband VAALCO@buchanan.uk.com Forward Looking Statements This document includes forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended. All statements, other than statements of historical facts, included in this document that address activities, events, plans, expectations, objectives or developments that VAALCO expects, believes or anticipates will or may occur in the future are forward-looking statements. These statements may include statements related to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, including the sharp decline in the global demand for and resulting global oversupply of crude oil and the resulting steep decline in oil prices, production quotas imposed by Gabon, disruptions in global supply chains, quarantines of our workforce or workforce reductions and other matters related to the pandemic, well results, wells anticipated to be drilled and placed on production, future levels of drilling and operational activity and associated expectations, the implementation of the Companys business plans and strategy, prospect evaluations, prospective resources and reserve growth, VAALCOs 2021-2022 drilling program, its activities in Equatorial Guinea, expected sources of and potential difficulties in obtaining future capital funding and future liquidity, its ability to restore production in non-producing wells, future operating losses, future changes in crude oil and natural gas prices, future strategic alternatives, future acquisitions, capital expenditures, future drilling plans, interpretation of seismic data and costs thereof, negotiations with governments and third parties, timing of the settlement of Gabon income taxes, and expectations regarding processing facilities, production, sales and financial projections. These statements are based on assumptions made by VAALCO based on its experience and perception of historical trends, current conditions, expected future developments and other factors it believes are appropriate in the circumstances. Such statements are subject to a number of assumptions, risks and uncertainties, many of which are beyond VAALCOs control. These risks include, but are not limited to, crude oil and natural gas price volatility, the impact of production quotas imposed by Gabon in response to production cuts agreed to as a member of OPEC, inflation, general economic conditions, the outbreak of COVID-19, the Companys success in discovering, developing and producing reserves, production and sales differences due to timing of liftings, decisions by future lenders, the risks associated with liquidity, lack of availability of goods, services and capital, environmental risks, drilling risks, foreign regulatory and operational risks, and regulatory changes. Investors are cautioned that forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance and that actual results or developments may differ materially from those projected in the forward-looking statements. VAALCO disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events, or otherwise. LOS ANGELES The suspect in the 1996 disappearance of California college student Kristin Smart killed her while trying rape her in his dorm room and his father helped hide the body, the San Luis Obispo County district attorney said Wednesday. District Attorney Dan Dow said prosecutors would seek to prove Paul Flores tried to sexually assault Smart by showing prior sex acts he engaged in and crimes they believe he committed in more recent years. Prosecutors filed a first-degree murder charge against Paul Flores, 44, and an accessory after murder charge against his father, Ruben Flores, 80, for helping him conceal Smarts body, which has never been found. The two were arrested Tuesday after years of investigation and a search last month using ground-penetrating radar and cadaver dogs at the elder Flores home that led to evidence connected to Smarts death, authorities said. They didnt revealed what was found. Smart, 19, of Stockton, was last seen May 25, 1996, with Flores while returning to her dorm at California Polytechnic State University campus in San Luis Obispo after an off-campus party. She was inebriated at the time, and Flores, a fellow freshman, had offered to walk her home. Dow revealed that investigators think Flores killed Smart in his dorm room during the Memorial Day weekend when many students had left the campus. Investigators, who launched a renewed search Tuesday at his fathers property in nearby Arroyo Grande, believe they know where the body was buried but have not yet found it or disclosed the location. Paul and Ruben Flores are in jail and scheduled to be arraigned Thursday in San Luis Obispo Superior Court. A lawyer for Paul Flores declined to comment on the arrest or charges. Harold Mesick, a lawyer for Ruben Flores, told the Los Angeles Times his client is absolutely innocent. Paul Flores has remained mum through the years, invoking his Fifth Amendment right to not answer questions before a grand jury and in a deposition for the lawsuit brought against him. Susan Flores, the mother of Paul and estranged wife of Ruben, broke years of public silence last month in an interview with KSBY-TV in which she said her family had no role in the death and her son had been a scapegoat. They keep trying to find the answers with us and they keep failing because the answers are not here, she said. We have no responsibility for her disappearance and what happened to that young woman. Susan Flores hung up the phone when contacted by The Associated Press on Tuesday. The criminal charges include a disclosure that prosecutors intend to admit evidence of prior sexual acts by Paul Flores. These prior sexual acts include ... incidents described in the investigative reports and audio/video provided to defense, and other alleged incidents of abuse, which will be provided as they are obtained by the prosecution, the document said. Dow said investigators have evidence Paul Flores continued to prey on women after Smarts death and the prosecutor appealed to any victims to come forward. Dow didnt disclose what investigators found, but said Flores frequented bars around his home in the San Pedro area of Los Angeles area since 2005 and may have committed crimes there. He has a record of several convictions for driving under the influence. We have evidence that we do believe there were other people not yet identified that have had some kind of a criminal act perpetrated on them by Mr. Flores, Dow said. Were concerned about sexual assault. Flores has been under suspicion from the earliest days of Smarts disappearance. He has gone from being a person of interest to a suspect to the prime suspect and, now, defendant. Sheriff Ian Parkinson acknowledged Tuesday that early missteps by law enforcement, including a slow response to reports of Smarts disappearance, hampered the investigation. The revelation that the alleged crime scene was in Paul Flores dorm room highlighted one of those failures. Smart was reported missing May 28, 1996, but no search began until two days later. Flores room wasnt searched for another two weeks after he had moved out for the summer. Smarts family, who welcomed news of the arrest as a step toward bringing their daughter home, noted that an indifference and lack of resolve we experienced early on set the course for many years. A renewed effort to investigate the case led to new witnesses coming forward and warrants that allowed investigators to intercept and monitor Paul Flores phone and text messages and search his own home, along with those of his mother, father and sister that turned up new evidence, Parkinson said. He declined to offer more details because search warrants are sealed. Investigators served over 40 search warrants at 16 locations over the years, collected nearly 200 new items of evidence and used modern DNA techniques to test more than three dozen older pieces of evidence. So much evidence was compiled that it would fill three terabytes on a computer hard drive, he said. Brian Melley of The Associated Press wrote this story. Germany's ruling conservatives are locked in a bitter dispute over who they want to succeed Angela Merkel as chancellor when Germany goes to the polls in September. Merkel, who is still immensely popular with voters, is stepping down this year after 16 years in power. As head of the Christian Democratic Union, affable Merkel loyalist Armin Laschet would normally be the obvious choice to lead the party and the CSU, its smaller Bavarian sister party, into the election as their chancellor candidate. But with support for the parties plumbing new depths amid anger over Germany's pandemic management, Laschet has faced calls to step aside in favour of the better-liked Bavarian premier Markus Soeder. Here's a look at the two men grasping for a chance at Merkel's throne, with a decision on the candidate expected as early as this week. - Slow and steady - Elected as head of the CDU in January, 60-year-old Laschet has since faced a series of setbacks including a damaging spat with Merkel over virus containment measures. In a recent survey commissioned by business daily Handelsblatt, just 12 percent of Germans said they thought he would be a good chancellor candidate. But coming back from behind has always been a speciality for Laschet, who has an uncanny ability to "sit out his opponents", as Der Spiegel news magazine observed. "He does not aim for a quick knockout, but wears down his opponents slowly, continuously, with great endurance," the magazine noted. A defender of multiculturalism and self-declared "passionate European", Laschet famously stood by Merkel during the fallout from her decision to leave the border open to hundreds of thousands of asylum seekers in 2015-16. Born in Aachen, the spa city in western Germany near the border with Belgium and the Netherlands, he has a reputation for pragmatism and an ability to unify. The father of three is a great fan of Charlemagne, the king of the Franks credited with uniting Europe whose empire was based in Aachen, and his family has even said they are direct descendants. Story continues But Laschet also plays up his common man image, telling party members in January how his father fed his family digging for coal. "When you're down in the mine, it doesn't matter where your colleague comes from, what his religion is or what he looks like. What is important is, can you rely on him," he said. Laschet studied law and political science in Munich and Bonn before working as a journalist for Bavarian radio stations and television, and as the editor of a Catholic newspaper. He was elected to the Bundestag, or lower house of the German parliament, in 1994 and to the European Parliament in 1999, and has been the state premier of North Rhine-Westphalia since 2017. - Southern eccentricity - With his brash posturing and a playful penchant for dressing up as Marilyn Monroe or Shrek, Bavarian leader Soeder would not seem the obvious choice to inherit Merkel's mantle. But behind his rakish charm and passionate Star Trek fandom, there is molten ambition. If he were to win the election, the 54-year-old would be Germany's first-ever chancellor from the CSU, after two failed attempts by previous party leaders, bringing a dash of southern eccentricity to the often staid world of Berlin power politics. While Laschet has faced criticism over his flip-flopping approach to virus restrictions, Soeder has steadfastly advocated a hard line, marching in lockstep with Merkel. The strategy has served him well, with one recent poll naming him as Germany's most popular politician -- outpacing even Merkel. But Soeder, a former television journalist with a flair for showmanship, has not always seen solidarity with Merkel as being to his political advantage. The trained lawyer has long had the reputation of a cunning political operator, skilled in exploiting the vulnerabilities of his opponents. After Merkel came under fire during the refugee influx in 2015-16, particularly from the far right, Soeder vocally distanced himself from her welcoming stance -- something Laschet said would come back to haunt the Bavarian if he stood as chancellor. Soeder has been a fixture of his state's politics for a quarter century, serving first in the state parliament before becoming CSU general secretary, a state minister and then successor to current federal interior minister Horst Seehofer as party chief and state premier. As a Protestant from the Franconia region, Soeder was something of an upstart for the traditionally Catholic party. He grew up in Nuremberg as the son of a couple who ran a small construction company. He famously hung a giant poster in his attic bedroom as a teen of Bavaria's larger-than-life arch-conservative premier Franz Josef Strauss, whom Soeder called a "titan". His political rise was fuelled by media savvy pointed up by his extravagant carnival season costumes, with Shrek, Monroe and Homer Simpson among the highlights. fec-dlc/jz A young Afghan refugee is biometrically registered for a smartcard at a centre in Rawalpindi, Pakistan. UNHCR/Asif Shahzad UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, welcomes the launch today of a country-wide campaign in Pakistan to verify and update the data of some 1.4 million registered Afghan refugees and to issue them with smart identity cards. The last large-scale verification of refugees in the country was undertaken 10 years ago. The exercise will boost Pakistans efforts, with UNHCRs support, to enhance protection for refugees. The new smartcards will better enable refugees to access critical services. Pakistan is a global leader in refugee protection and continues to pioneer efforts to find solutions and support inclusion for people forced out of their homes by a prolonged conflict, said Indrika Ratwatte, UNHCR Regional Director for Asia and the Pacific. This step will allow refugees to have better, faster and safer access to services, including schools, hospitals and banks. Officially known as the documentation renewal and information verification exercise (DRIVE), the campaign will continue for at least six months, renewing and updating information on Afghan refugees who currently hold Proof of Registration (PoR) cards. Registered refugees will be issued new smartcards with the capacity to hold biometric data. These cards, which will be valid for two years, will also be technologically compatible with systems used in Pakistan to authenticate the identities of nationals to access services. Six hundred staff a combination of government and UNHCR will be working at some 35 sites around the country, and using mobile registration vehicles, to support refugees throughout the process. Both male and female staff will be on hand to assist. Measures are in place at all DRIVE sites to mitigate COVID-19 risks through enhanced hygiene, physical distancing, and the scheduling of set numbers of appointments each day. More detailed information about Afghan refugees educational and professional backgrounds will allow for better tailored refugee assistance in Pakistan as well as enhanced support for those who may in the future return voluntarily to Afghanistan. DRIVE is part of a wider effort to assist displaced Afghans, through the Support Platform for the Solutions Strategy for Afghan Refugees (SSAR). UNHCR is seeking US$7 million in 2021 to fund information campaigns about the new ID cards, call centre support, the DRIVE verification sites, as well as software development, smartcard and ICT equipment and staff training. News footage is available for media and broadcasters: For more information on this topic, please contact: A banner encouraging workers to vote in labor balloting is shown at an Amazon warehouse in Bessemer, Ala., on March 30, 2021. (Jay Reeves/AP Photo) Why the Attempt to Unionize at a US Amazon Warehouse Failed Workers in Alabama tried to form the first union at an Amazon facility in the United States, but saw their efforts fail. The final tally of the vote at the Bessemer warehouse was 1,798 to 738. Another 505 ballots were challenged, but that number is not sufficient to affect the results, according to the National Labor Relations Board. Workers who opted against joining the Retail, Wholesale, and Department Store Union (RWDSU) said they did not know if the union could improve conditions that are already better than most entry-level jobs in the area and were not sure if their jobs would be safe. Amazon is not perfect, there are flaws, but we are committed to correcting those flaws and management has been, thus far, on board with us, William Stokes, who works in the warehouse, told reporters in a press conference organized by Amazon. Circumstances in Alabama made targeting the Bessemer facility an ill-advised strategy from the get-go, said Mark Cohen, director of retail studies at Columbia University Business School. The warehouse had only been opened about a year and in a town which has chronic unemployment, and very, very few prospects for employment, he told The Epoch Times. When Amazon opened the distribution center last year it was like a godsend for people in the area, Cohen said. Amazon not only offered $15 an hour, which is over twice the states minimum wage, but also first-day benefits like health care. They dont hedge with regard to benefits, but they expect the people that they employ to work their tails off, added Cohen, a former business executive with companies including Sears Canada. And the union makes promises of all sorts of things, and [it] looks like a lot of people who voted decided, we dont need you to deal with the issues we have, well deal directly with the company if theres a way to do that.' RWDSU, the union, alleges Amazon won because it employed illegal practices, including the installment of a drop box even after the board rejected a request to have one installed. People should not presume that the results of this vote are in any way a validation of Amazons working conditions, and the way it treats its employees. Quite the contrary. The results demonstrate the powerful impact of employer intimidation and interference. We will be calling on the Labor Board to hold Amazon accountable for its egregious behavior during the campaign, Stuart Appelbaum, president of the union, told a conference call following the vote. People hold a banner at the Amazon facility as members of a congressional delegation arrive to show their support for workers who will vote on whether to unionize, in Bessemer, Ala., on March 5, 2021. (Dustin Chambers/Reuters) The union filed objections over Amazons tactics. After reviewing the objections, the National Labor Relations Boards regional director may hold a hearing to decide if there will be a new election, a board spokeswoman told The Epoch Times in an email. Before the vote, a union official said that whether the effort would succeed was up in the air. Its anybodys guess. Your guess is as good as mine, the official told The Epoch Times. Amazon challenged the impropriety accusations before they were made. Its easy to predict the union will say that Amazon won this election because we intimidated employees, but thats not true. Our employees heard far more anti-Amazon messages from the union, policymakers, and media outlets than they heard from us, the company, the nations second-largest employer, said in a statement. And Amazon didnt winour employees made the choice to vote against joining a union. Our employees are the heart and soul of Amazon, and weve always worked hard to listen to them, take their feedback, make continuous improvements, and invest heavily to offer great pay and benefits in a safe and inclusive workplace. But Amazon was able to expand the worker pool voting on whether to unionize from 1,500 to 5,800, a move the union agreed to in order to avoid months of delay, according to the Economic Policy Institute, which said the tactic served to dilute the unions support by adding thousands of workers to the bargaining unit who hadnt previously been involved in the organizing drive. Jeff Bezos, chief executive officer of Amazon, in New York City, Dec. 14, 2016. (Drew Angerer/Getty Images) Emmett, an Amazon worker on the union call, said that people felt frustrated, disappointed, and angry with the failed effort to unionize. He attributed the results to being misled and manipulated and lied to. If we had to lose this election here in Bessemer for people across the United States to succeed? That is the point, our time will come around again. And next time we will win, he said. Linda Burns, another worker, added that she was not discouraged but happy because she sees the effort to organize as just getting started. Whether Amazon turned to illegal practices is not yet determined, but one key factor in the vote was the uneven playing field between the union and management, where management had plenty of tools at its disposal to dissuade workers from voting for the union, and the union had very little means to counter Amazons messaging, according to Jake Rosenfeld, professor of sociology at Washington University in St. Louis and author of What Unions No Longer Do. This was exacerbated by COVID, which prevented organizers from doing house calls to help convince workers that the union was best for them. Were these factors decisive? Hard to tell, and may not have been given the magnitude of labors loss. Without an even playing field to start from, its impossible to know, he told The Epoch Times in an email. The union did not respond to an inquiry regarding whether it plans to try to organize at other Amazon facilities, but an official previously said that the effort could spur organizing across the south at a range of different companies. Amazon has seen sales leap during the COVID-19 pandemic. Stock prices for Amazon soared by 70 percent from March 2020 to the end of the year, according to the Brookings Institution. But workers inside the company have not seen substantial gains since the pandemic started, Beth Gutelius, research director for the Center for Urban Economic Development at the University of Illinois at Chicago, told The Epoch Times in a previous interview. I think its possible that what were starting to see and at this Amazon effort is sort of maybe a canary in the coal mine, that were witnessing the start of a pretty big course correctiona market correction, reallywhere youre seeing the value of this industry but youre seeing it in a new light, she said. Cohen, the former Sears Canada executive, predicted unions would keep targeting Amazon. Unions, generally speaking, they cant survive by treading water, they have to acquire more and more members. Given that theres a Democrat in the White House and theres a change in the general outlook with regard to the working man from where it was before Jan. 20, the unions are working to make as much inroads wherever they can. And Amazons a juicy target because A. Jeff Bezos is the richest man in the world, and B. Amazons got a lot of facilities with a lot of people working and theyre not union, he said. But the Bessemer vote serves as a somber message for other prospective organizing efforts, according to Rosenfeld, the sociology professor. It provides more evidence about the risks involved and difficulties in succeeding, he said. Until there is proof otherwise, workers and unions will approach these possibilities with wariness. Twenty-four people were arrested in Brooklyn Center, Minnesota, on a fourth night of protests following the police shooting of Daunte Wright. Police said deputies, troopers and officers were shot at with industrial-sized fireworks, spray paint, rocks, and other items, though local reports said the scenes at the local police department were generally calmer. Public safety officials issued multiple dispersal warnings on Wednesday before a curfew began. Video posted on Instagram by @tierrys_boy shows officers separated from protesters by a metal fence surrounding the police department. Demonstrations began in Brooklyn Center after a police officer fatally shot Daunte Wright during a traffic stop on April 11. The officer involved, Kim Potter, was charged with second-degree manslaughter on April 14, according to media reports. Credit: tierrys_boy via Storyful Thirty members of the Mexican navy were turned over to civilian authorities this week to face charges related to forced disappearances in the border city of Nuevo Laredo. Why it matters: The Mexican marines for years had the mission of combating drug-trafficking and transnational criminal organizations, for which they received U.S. training and financing. Get market news worthy of your time with Axios Markets. Subscribe for free. It was during those years that they were accused of over 20 extrajudicial killings and of the forced disappearances of people who did not have any apparent involvement with criminality. At least 47 men, women and children went missing in 2018, last seen after being dragged away in official vehicles of an elite navy unit. So far only one of the criminal cases filed by family members has made it to court. Like this article? Get more from Axios and subscribe to Axios Markets for free. [April 15, 2021] Lenovo Accelerates Artificial Intelligence with Ready-to-Deploy AI Solutions Today, Lenovo (News - Alert) (HKSE: 992) (ADR: LNVGY) Infrastructure Solutions Group (ISG) announces the expansion of its partner ecosystem and launches five new ready-to-deploy artificial Intelligence (AI) solutions. This growing global ecosystem of industry-leading independent software vendors (ISVs) enables Lenovo to bring to market AI solutions for a wide range of applications and industries, including manufacturing, healthcare, retail, and financial services. Lenovo also deepens engagements with industry leaders Intel and NVIDIA (News - Alert) to help support its extensive portfolio of AI-ready servers and storage, enabling ISVs to optimize their AI applications across the entire hardware and software stack, ensuring customers receive the stellar performance for their AI investments. Lenovo's continued mission to make AI solutions easy to consume by global customers is enabled through its ability to partner with leading developers and data scientists. Leveraging Lenovo's AI innovation centers, AI architecture and hardware expertise, Lenovo is helping move AI from concept to reality. Lenovo Collaborates with Addfor - Develops AI Solution to Track COVID-19 Safety Protocols When the COVID-19 pandemic spread across the globe, normal life in Italy was severely disrupted. Addfor, headquartered in Turin, Italy, set out to use its AI expertise to help governments and local authorities keep citizens as safe as possible. For the City of Turin, Addfor developed and deployed an AI solution crowdHEDGE, based on Lenovo ThinkSystem SE350 edge servers to interface with networked video systems, using AI drone footage to extract data insights in outdoor spaces like city parks. crowdHEDGE focuses on tracking foot traffic and crowd sizes to closely monitor compliance with COVID-19 public policies. Lenovo's ThinkSystem edge server solution, powered by NVIDIA T4 Tensor Core GPUs, powers the image recognition captured by the drone footage. "Thanks to this pilot project in the field of safety and security of public spaces, the City of Turin addresses the combined use of drones, AI, and edge computing to focus on urban and aerospace mobility as an opportunity for the use of AI within the Public Administration," said Deputy Mayor Innovation and Smart City, City of Turin. Addfor is one of several ISV partners Lenovo is working with as part of an AI Accelerator program to enable, build and optimize AI solutions designed to solve real-world problems. "We are already exploring ways that the solution can be adapted to help prevent overcrowding in business and public settings, to help better protect citizens," said Enrico Busto, Founding Partner & CTO at Addfor. "We're excited to continue developing cutting-edge AI and edge computing solutions supported by Lenovo and NVIDIA. We're confident that our partnership will play an important role in pushing the frontiers of data science innovation." Lenovo Accelerates Ready-to-Deploy AI Solutions for AI Developers As part its newest AI Solutions Accelerator Program, Lenovo elevates partnerships with ISVs to create ready-to-deploy AI solutions to help enterprise and SMB customers improve efficiency and customer satisfaction. These solutions build on Lenovo's commitment to accelerate AI adoption for enterprise and SMB customers by diminishing barriers to deployment through practical offerings: Retail Visual AI Solutions with Everseen Computer Vision + AI for Loss Prevention and beyond. Identifies scan errors in real-time using computer vision technology. Improves profitability with AI capabilities, enabling cost savings and store transformation. Improves the customer experience and customer throughput. Scalable MLOps solution with cnvrg.io The cnvrg.io platform, running on Lenovo AI-Ready Servers fueled by Intel (News - Alert) Xeon Scalable Processors with built-in AI acceleration, provides data scientists with a unified environment optimized for Intel Deep Learning Boost to build, deploy and manage machine learning workloads on top of the Lenovo AI purpose-built solutions and products. This simplifies and streamlines all phases of end-to-end machine learning pipeline development. Data scientists can easily manage, experiment, track, version and deploy models in a single unified platform with one click. Designed to be agnostic and portable, it solves key MLOps challenges to help data scientists deliver more models to production quickly. Edge Analytics Solution with SAS (News - Alert) With SAS Event Stream Processing running on Lenovo Edge AI platforms, customers can analyze streaming data, uncover hidden insights with AI and make real-time, intelligent decisions. Customers can choose from a broad line-up of Lenovo AI-Ready infrastructure including the ThinkSystem SE350 powered by the latest generation Intel Xeon D processor, the ThinkEdge SE30 or SE50 running the latest Intel Core processors or the ThinkSystem SR650 V2 powered by the 3rd Gen Intel Xeon Scalable processors, for flexible deployment options that best meets the customers edge environment. Customers can overcome data decay and lost value by deriving real-time insight from streaming IoT sensor data or video data streams. Deploy models to the edge with ease, using a low-code visual dashboard or popular open-source programming languages and frameworks. Setup streaming event phases at the far edge, fog, cloud, or data center for a hybrid architecture suited to fit specific requirements. Edge-to-Core Data Management with NetApp AI Enables AI workloads at the edge or core with intuitive data management tools built in. Storage reference architectures including compute, storage, and networking for quick start deployment. Provides affordable AI training or inferencing solutions suited for organizations of all sizes, allowing customers to start with a small cluster and add infrastructure as their workload demands increase. Deploy and manage AI training workloads by adding Lenovo LiCO AI Platform software. Lenovo and Intel Support AI University Research Through Lenovo's global AI Innovation Centers, Lenovo and Intel are working with universities around the world to help students in their research efforts, unlocking their potential through access to Intel's innovative and flexible x86 hardware ecosystem. The research and learnings discovered in these public labs around the world continue to help build optimized AI solutions that can be easily adopted and deployed by a variety of businesses. Lenovo and Intel recently worked with the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill's Reese Innovation Lab's, student fellows and staff at their lab to design and engineer a new Health Greeter Kiosk solution to encourage the use of masks and social distancing through AI technology detection (without the use of facial recognition). The kiosks provide real-time feedback to patrons to support proper mask and social distancing guidelines. Three of these AI health kiosks are currently deployed at UNC-Chapel Hill's campus as they work to bring both students and employees back together in person. Lenovo will be bringing the Health Greeter Kiosk software to market for other industries beginning this May. Visit Lenovo's ready-to-deploy AI solutions for more information. About Lenovo Lenovo (HKSE: 992) (ADR: LNVGY) is a US$50 billion Fortune Global 500 company, with 63,000 employees and operating in 180 markets around the world. Focused on a bold vision to deliver smarter technology for all, we are developing world-changing technologies that create a more inclusive, trustworthy, and sustainable digital society. By designing, engineering and building the world's most complete portfolio of smart devices and infrastructure, we are also leading an Intelligent Transformation - to create better experiences and opportunities for millions of customers around the world. To find out more visit https://www.lenovo.com, follow us on LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Instagram, Weibo and read about the latest news via our StoryHub. LENOVO and THINKSYSTEM are trademarks of Lenovo. Intel, the Intel logo, and other Intel marks are trademarks of Intel Corporation or its subsidiaries. NVIDIA is a trademark of NVIDIA Corporation. NetApp is a trademark of NetApp. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners. 2021, Lenovo Group Limited. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210415005285/en/ [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] The Myanmar ambassador is facing eviction from the official London residence along with his family and remaining staff - Jamie Lorriman The ousted Myanmar ambassador to the UK has urged the British Government to help him as he faces being evicted from his residence by the countrys military regime. Kyaw Zwar Minn, who was last week forced out of the Myanmar embassy at the orders of the junta, was told to leave by Thursday the London house where he has lived with his family since his appointment in 2013 or face prosecution. The military regime which seized power on Feb 1, paving the way for a bloody suppression of all civilian opposition appears determined to extract revenge on the ambassador for daring to criticise the coup. Now he has urged Boris Johnsons government to intervene and offer protection to him and his family. Speaking outside his residence in Hampstead he said: I say to the British Government help me, help me, help me. I am hoping they will do so over the next few days. The ambassador and his supporters say they will not leave the building voluntarily and have vowed to resist any attempt by officials loyal to the military junta to force him out. Kyaw Zwar Minn told reporters gathered outside the padlocked gates of the residence: I will be staying here. I am not going anywhere. Last time they seized the embassy and locked me out, so I am not going anywhere. Supporters of the ousted ambassador have been sleeping with pepper spray by their beds in anticipation of regime loyalists breaking into his residence to evict him and are only letting those they trust through the padlocked gates. One, who asked not to be named for fear of reprisals against his family in Myanmar, told The Telegraph: We are all terrified they will try to force their way into the residence to evict the ambassador. We are staying here to support the ambassador and his family. The regime is illegitimate and has no right to take this building, which belongs to the people of Myanmar. Outside the residence the Myanmar flag was being flown at half mast as inside the ambassadors staff anticipated the prospect of regime loyalists attempting to break in and seize control. Story continues Weve lowered the flag to express our sadness at whats happening to our people at home, said one of the ambassadors staff. They are suffering under the military regime. It is terrible. At one stage the ambassador sent coffee and biscuits to reporters and photographers gathered outside, in a gesture intended to thank the British media for highlighting his plight and that of Myamnars people. A small police presence was seen around the residence throughout the day with police cars, bikes and mounted officers patrolling the area periodically. By the afternoon preparations were under way to add fencing to the low walls surrounding the property in a bid to secure the perimeter of the property. ST. LOUIS, April 15, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Spire Inc. (NYSE: SR) will host a conference call and webcast on Friday, May 7 to discuss our fiscal 2021 second quarter financial results. We will issue our earnings news release before the market opens that day, and it will be available on our website at Investors.SpireEnergy.com under the News tab. To access the call, please dial the applicable phone number 5-10 minutes prior to the start time. Date and Time: Friday, May 7 8:00 a.m. CT (9:00 a.m. ET) Phone Numbers: U.S. and Canada: 844-824-3832 International: 412-317-5142 The call will be webcast in a listen-only format for the media and public. The webcast can be accessed at Investors.SpireEnergy.com under the Events & presentations tab. A replay of the call will be available from 10 a.m. CT (11 a.m. ET) on May 7 until June 7, 2021, by dialing 877-344-7529 (U.S.), 855-669-9658 (Canada) or 412-317-0088 (international). The replay access code is 10153426. A replay of the webcast will be available on our website at Investors.SpireEnergy.com under the Events & presentations tab. About Spire At Spire Inc. (NYSE: SR) we believe energy exists to help make people's lives better. It's a simple idea, but one that's at the heart of our company. Every day we serve 1.7 million homes and businesses making us the fifth largest publicly traded natural gas company in the country. We help families and business owners fuel their daily lives through our gas utilities serving Alabama, Mississippi and Missouri. Our natural gas-related businesses include Spire Marketing, Spire STL Pipeline and Spire Storage. We are committed to transforming our business through growing organically, investing in infrastructure, and advancing through innovation. Learn more at SpireEnergy.com. Investor Contact: Scott W. Dudley Jr. [email protected] 314-342-0878 Media Contact: Jessica B. Willingham [email protected] 314-342-3300 SOURCE Spire Inc. Related Links www.spireenergy.com Altria to Host Webcast of 2021 First-Quarter Results Altria Group, Inc. (Altria) (NYSE: MO) will host a live audio webcast on Thursday, April 29, 2021, at 9:00 a.m. Eastern Time to discuss its 2021 first-quarter business results. Altria will issue a press release containing its business results at approximately 7:00 a.m. Eastern Time the same day. The webcast can be accessed at altria.com. During the webcast, Billy Gifford, Altria's CEO, and Sal Mancuso, Altria's CFO, will discuss the Company's 2021 first-quarter business results and answer questions from th investment community and news media. The webcast will be in a listen-only mode. Pre-event registration is necessary; directions are posted at www.altria.com/webcasts. An archived copy of the webcast will be available on altria.com. Tag: Other Financial View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210415005681/en/ Avril Haines, director of the U.S. Office of the Director of National Intelligence testifies during a Senate Select Committee on Intelligence hearing about worldwide threats, on Capitol Hill in Washington, April 14. AP The top U.S. intelligence official on Wednesday maintained that North Korea may resume its nuclear and long-range missile testing as part of efforts to drive wedges between the United States and its allies. Avril Haines, director of national intelligence (DNI), testified before the Senate Intelligence Committee. "For its part, North Korea may take aggressive and potentially destabilizing actions to reshape its security environment and will seek to drive wedges between the United States and its allies," she said at the Senate hearing. "These efforts could include the resumption of nuclear weapons and intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) testing," she added. Her remarks come a day after her office released an annual assessment on global threats, which suggested North Korean leader Kim Jong-un might resume its nuclear and ICBM testing this year. "Kim may be considering whether to resume long-range missile or nuclear testing this year to try to force the United States to deal with him on Pyongyang's terms," the report said. Gen. David VanHerck, commander of the U.S. Northern Command and North American Aerospace Defense Command, highlighted the possibility of the North resuming long-range missile launches "in the near future" to test its recently paraded ICBM. "In October 2020, North Korea unveiled a new ICBM considerably larger and presumably more capable than the systems they tested in 2017, further increasing the threat posed to our homeland," the Air Force general said in a written statement submitted to House Armed Services Committee before a hearing. "The North Korean regime has also indicated that it is no longer bound by the unilateral nuclear and ICBM testing moratorium announced in 2018, suggesting that Kim Jong-un may begin flight testing an improved ICBM design in the near future," he added. North Korea has maintained a self-imposed moratorium on nuclear and long-range missile testing since November 2017, but declared in 2019 that it no longer feels bound by such restrictions. The country fired two short-range ballistic missiles last month, resuming its short-range ballistic missile testing after a yearlong hiatus. Haines grouped North Korea with three other countries China, Russia and Iran that pose threats to the United States, along with global terrorism organizations. Still, the DNI noted the threats posed by China marked the "unparalleled priority" for the U.S. intelligence community. (Yonhap) Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) arrives before the fifth day of the Senate Impeachment trials for former President Donald Trump on Capitol Hill on February 13, 2021 in Washington. (Stefani Reynolds/Getty Images) Trump Celebrates Prospect That Murkowski Might Not Run for Re-Election Former President Donald Trump issued a statement on Wednesday celebrating the possibility that Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) may not run for reelection. Trump vowed to work on defeating Murkowski in the Republican primary in 2022 and the Alaska senator voted in favor of convicting him during the second impeachment trial. Great news for the Republican Party! Senator Lisa Murkowski said she is still weighing whether she will run again for the Senate in Alaska. In other words, there is a chance that she wont run! Wouldnt that be great? Trump said in a statement issued via his Save America political action committee. And so many people are looking to run against Crazy Liz Cheneybut we only want one. She is so far down in Wyoming polls that the only way she can win is numerous candidates running against her and splitting the vote. Hopefully, that wont happen. Ill make an Endorsement soon! Murkowski told reporters on Tuesday she is still considering whether to run for reelection. She would provide a timeline for when she would make the final decision. I have been doing everything that a good incumbent does in terms of preserving my options, visiting with Alaskans, spending a lot of time, as much time on the ground as I can, and raising money, Murkowski said, according to Roll Call. Murkowski filed a statement of candidacy with the Federal Elections Commission on March 9. Two other Republicans have announced their intention to challenge Murkowski: Kelly Tshibaka, the former commissioner of the states Department of Administration, and Bob Lochner, a mechanic who ran for the U.S. Senate in 2016. Tshibaka has hired a campaign team composed of several Trump-campaign alumni: Bill Stepien, Justin Clark, Nick Trainer, and Tim Murtaugh. Murkowski is among a handful of Republicans who had frequently criticized Trump and sided with Democrats on key votes. Club for Growth, an advocacy group tracking lawmakers votes on legislation related to economic freedom, ranks her lower than some far-left Democrats. She is only one of two Republican senators to receive a failing grade on the pro-life scorecard maintained by the Susan B. Anthony List. Earlier this month, state Republican Party leaders voted to censure Murkowski over her impeachment vote. Party leaders in other states took similar measures against Republicans who voted as she did. All but two of the House Republicans who voted to impeach Trump are also facing primary challenges. Trump has already thrown his support behind Max Miller, a former Trump White House official who is challenging Rep. Anthony Gonzalez (R-Ohio). Trump won Alaska in 2016 and 2020. Alaska instituted election reforms last year that scrapped party primaries for a system in which the top four candidates advance to the general election. The state also instituted a ranked-choice voting system for general elections. The Associated Press contributed to this report. A Fort Jackson sergeant has been suspended from his instructor duties at the Army installation after being charged in the assault of a young Black man that was captured on a widely shared video, according to base officials. Soldier conduct on and off duty must be exemplary to retain the trust of our communities and our nation, Fort Jackson Commanding General Milford Beagle Jr. said. Fort Jackson continues to work with and support Sheriff (Leon) Lott, our local law enforcement professionals, and community and civil leadership as this case moves forward. Pentland, a sergeant 1st class, will remain suspended until all investigations are complete and the criminal charges are adjudicated, Fort Jackson spokesperson L.A. Sully said. The video, which has gained national attention, shows Pentland interrogating the Black man about what he is doing in the Columbia neighborhood and then repeatedly telling him to leave, police said. He pushes the Black man at one point. This content is not available due to your privacy preferences. Update your settings here to see it. On Wednesday, the 42-year-old Pentland was charged with third-degree assault and battery, Richland County court records show. It was terrible. It was unnecessary, Richland County Sheriff Leon Lott said. The young man was a victim. The man we arrested was the aggressor. After being booked at the Alvin S. Glenn Detention Center on the assault charge, Pentland was released on a $2,125 personal recognizance bond, court records show. A condition of his release is that he avoid all contact with the victim, and Pentland must stay 1,000 yards from the victims place of work, home, school or place of! worship, according to court records. If convicted on the misdemeanor assault charge, Pentland could face a maximum sentence of 30 days in jail and a $500 fine, according to South Carolina law. Prior to the charges against Pentland being made public, officials at Fort Jackson said the U.S. Army had begun its own investigation into the incident. The leaders at Fort Jackson in no way condone the behavior depicted in the video posted recently, Beagle said in a statement Wednesday. Story continues This action deeply impacts our community the neighbors in the Summit, the city of Columbia, Richland & Lexington counties, and our Army family, he said. I ask that our communities and leaders exercise a degree of patience, affording Sherriff Lott and law enforcement investigators to account for the full measure of events before, during, and after the incident that was recorded. Pentland has been stationed at Fort Jackson since 2019, where he has worked as a drill sergeant, the Associated Press reported. Fort Jackson is the Armys largest training installation, with more than 50,000 recruits assigned there each year. Washington: The Biden administration is preparing for the likelihood people will need a third dose of COVID-19 vaccine within a year of being inoculated, a requirement that would put even greater strain on the global supply of vaccines. The statements by David Kessler, the chief science officer on President Joe Bidens coronavirus response team, echoed remarks released earlier in the day from Pfizer chief executive Albert Bourla. Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla said a third COVID-19 vaccination may be needed within a year of the two-dose regimen. Credit:AP Bourla told CNBC it was likely a booster shot will be necessary as soon as six months after the initial two-dose vaccine regimen. The US would need to secure hundreds of millions of extra doses for its own population if a third dose is required and eligibility is extended to younger children, which would make it even harder for nations such as Australia to acquire extra Pfizer doses from American factories. I experienced a bit of nostalgia when I went out to lunch this past weekend at Alexs Railside Restaurant. I fondly recall the restaurant when it was stationed along the Pere Marquette Rail Trail in Sanford. My family and I used it as a destination as we biked about five miles from Midland, starting at the Senior Services Center on Dublin Road. The promise of ice cream kept my feet peddling on the way there and gave me energy for the journey home. However, I never had a meal at Alexs Railside until it moved into the spot previously occupied by Ruby Tuesday in the Midland Mall. I have avoided eating at indoor restaurants as much as possible this past year for some inexplicable reason, so I knew eating at the new Alexs Railside location was going to be a special experience. And what a wonderful experience it was. Upon arriving, I was greeted and seated at a table toward the front with a view of the mall corridor from which I could occasionally glance at passing shoppers; I have a chronic people-watching problem, developed over years of being a social wallflower. My waitress came over and we chatted for a bit before I ordered. Another thing you should know about me, I tend to research what is available at a restaurant Im not familiar with, so I have a basic idea of the lay of the land. At first, I considered getting the chicken ranch wrap but then I noticed the turkey melter and was immediately smitten. My waitress confirmed my choice, saying it was one of her favorites. Ive found you can rarely go wrong when a dish is recommended by restaurant staff. I also added a side of cottage cheese since Ive found that to be a rarity in restaurant side orders. The service was quick and precise, even during the lunchtime rush on a Sunday afternoon. My drink and hearty serving of cottage cheese came out just a few minutes after I ordered. I barely had time to dive in before the main course arrived. That lunch, dear reader, was bordering on perfection. The sandwich consisted of sliced turkey thinly cut off an apparently robust bird, no ultra-processed deli meats here was topped with half-melted swiss cheese and Dijon mustard that had more sweetness than tang, cushioned in a roll that looked exactly like a compressed giant pretzel, complete with small holes that let the juices bubble up. The fries were golden and lightly crisp on the outside while white and fluffy on the inside. The portions were so generous that I was glad that I came in with a stomach that was running on empty, as that lunch filled me up and sustained me for the rest of the afternoon. When I was offered dessert from a selection of fruit and cream pies as well as cheesecake, I had to decline, but resolved to return one day and have dessert first. The atmosphere at Alexs Railside Restaurant maintains the sophisticated, yet warm comfort of the former Ruby Tuesday while putting its own spin on the space. The walls were decorated with a couple of abstract paintings and pictures of either railroad objects or fresh produce. Here and there were further touches that harkened back to trains, which I found comforting. My late grandpa used to work on the railroad and instilled a love of trains in me through trips to expos and displaying his model railroad at his home in Illinois. I know he wouldve liked this place, both for the food and the decor. The waitstaffs personalities matched the restaurants welcoming ambiance. They were timely, considerate and friendly. After hearing about how a woman at a nearby table lost an earring, I watched as no less than three staff members combed the area after she left, looking in vain for the wayward piece of jewelry. When my order came, my waitress instinctively brought a set of extra napkins, which I found very helpful. Its often the little details that are the most important. Sometimes an advantage of living in your hometown for 25-plus years is experiencing change. Very few things last forever, and it can be challenging to see places youve grown to love evolve with the times. But in the case of Alexs Railside Restaurant, what comes to pass is as good as, if not better, than what came before. At least we can trust in a few constants, and one of them is knowing where to find a good, homestyle meal in Midland. Cheers! Editor's note: Out to Lunch with Tori appears each Thursday in the Midland Daily News. Victoria (Tori) Ritter can be reached at vritter@mdn.net This article appears in the April 16, 2021 issue of Executive Intelligence Review. Forging a U.S.-China Alliance To Develop the Americas [Print version of this article] April 10During Panel 2 of the Schiller Institutes March 20-21 World at a Crossroad conference, The Strategic Crisis Facing Humanity, a set of four presentations was made, jointly focused on the need for the United States and China to work together to bring a surge of economic development to the Americas, North and South. Two speakers from Mexico, one from Argentina, and one from the United States addressed the special opportunities that were emerging around the close working relationship of the Presidents of Mexico, Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, and Argentina, Alberto Fernandez. EIR publishes those four presentations in this Conference Section. One of the results of that dialogue was an April 10 policy statement issued by the Schiller Institute for wide circulation in the Spanish-speaking Americas and beyond. Under the headline President Alberto Fernandez to China; Ibero-America to Mars! the statement begins: The upcoming May 2021 trip to China by Argentine President Alberto Fernandez, in which he is scheduled to sign a Memorandum of Understanding with China on the Belt and Road Initiativethe global infrastructure project involving nearly 150 nationspresents a unique strategic opportunity. 1. All of Ibero-America can take a giant step toward finally breaking out of the straitjacket of financial looting by the dying London/Wall Street system, and join instead with the Belt and Road, sometimes called the New Silk Road, and its high-tech, science-driver approach to development. 2. An Argentina-Mexico axis can emerge to propose a game-changing policy in the Western Hemisphere: that China and the United States jointly work on developing the Mexican-Central American region in particular, and also all of Ibero-America, by cooperative efforts around extending the BRI into the region. Such development is the waythe only wayto stop the drug trade, stop desperate migration, stop the gangs, stop the poverty, and stop the COVID-19 pandemic. But is it possible? people will ask skeptically. Can we really get the United States and China to cooperate in the development of Mexico and all the Americas, instead of heading towards confrontation and war which only serves the Establishments geopolitical interests? Yesif the United States returns to its senses, and to the policies of its greatest sons: Washington, Lincoln, Franklin Roosevelt, and Lyndon LaRouche. The current breakdown crisis of the Western financial system has now made that possibility a necessityif the U.S. itself is to survive Wall Streets unavoidable demise. The statement continues: Argentine President Fernandez should be entrusted with a mission on behalf of all of Ibero-America during his upcoming trip to China. In addition to the package of Argentine infrastructure projects that he is already planning to discuss with Chinas President Xi Jinpingwhich importantly includes nuclear energyFernandez should propose regional great development projects as well, especially in the field of space. Specifically, he should propose establishing two polytechnic institutes, or institutes for space science educational activity: one in Argentina and one in Mexicoperhaps in the city of Queretaro near Mexico City. These two centers will serve as centers of international scientific cooperation, and as poles of educational and technological progress required to bring the entire continent into this kind of high-technology space development. They will be centers of the emerging New Space Silk Road. The Schiller Institute statement concludes: President Alberto Fernandezs upcoming trip to China can become the first step in Ibero-Americas participation in mankinds mission to Mars. Initiatives towards great power cooperation are also coming from the Mexican side. Foreign Minister Marcelo Ebrard announced on April 6 that, on instructions of President Lopez Obrador, he is preparing visits to Moscow, New Delhi, Beijing, and Washington. The official agenda of the trips is vaccines, but in todays global crisis, this vaccine diplomacy could well open many possibilities for broader discussions, including along the lines to be taken up during the Fernandez visit to China a month from now. Ebrard stated that, while he is not planning to go to Argentina in the immediate future, the first lots of vaccines from the AstraZeneca plant now operating in Mexico, as a result of a Mexican-Argentine agreement, will be available by the end of April. That initiative, he said, is a model of the kind of cooperation that is needed to address the COVID crisis. I am a conservative gun owner with a concealed weapon permit. I am also a strong supporter of the Second Amendment. With that said, I think it is irresponsible to pass a law that would allow people to carry a lethal weapon in public without being fully trained in what they can and cannot legally do with it. If people want to carry a weapon in public, concealed or open carry, they should be required to take a class to demonstrate basic proficiency with the weapon. They also should be required to take at least an 8-hour course to make sure they understand all the laws associated with the use of firearms and especially use of lethal force. I suggest all state House and Senate members be required to take a concealed weapon permit class. This would awaken them to the realities, risks and responsibilities of gun ownership and safety. E. MAC MCBRIDE Beresford Creek Street Daniel Island Provide another route I have an idea that could be a bold and smart solution to Charleston area traffic problems. Create an outer loop that runs from S.C. Highway 41 in Mount Pleasant through North Charleston, Goose Creek, Summerville and back into West Ashley, connecting to the Glenn McConnell Parkway. I have no idea if it is feasible, but it seems like this would solve much of the traffic problems. People from Moncks Corner, Goose Creek and Summerville could get to Mount Pleasant and West Ashley without ever getting on Interstate 26. If possible, this seems like the logical solution, considering that so much of the growth is happening farther up I-26. Why not give commuters another route instead of jamming everyone onto the same roads? GLENN S. COHEN Lowcountry Boulevard Mount Pleasant Support tech companies After the challenging year that our country has experienced, the role that technology plays in our lives has become even more apparent. Tech companies have proven to be beacons of innovation and job creation, and they supply businesses with useful tools and resources to help them grow. These companies should not be burdened by extreme regulations or be under government control. Sign up for our opinion newsletter Get a weekly recap of South Carolina opinion and analysis from The Post and Courier in your inbox on Monday evenings. Email Sign Up! Some of our South Carolina congressmen have recently shown support for government control and regulations of tech companies for the sake of politics. These positions are taken by some in order to score political points against large tech companies. The proposed regulation, however, would disproportionately affect the already vulnerable small business community, people who use tech tools and platforms to reach customers and supporters every day. With little protection remaining for Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act and federal overreach into the social media sphere, we would see tech companies become even more restrictive about what they allow on their sites, which is a loss for everyone involved. Additionally, regulating this industry is counterproductive and hurts startups and existing businesses trying to operate online. I hope that members of Congress and other elected officials will commit to values that promote free and open internet spaces, as well as free and open markets by supporting tech companies. CHUCK WILSON East Liberty Street Sumter Can't forget quote I dont remember many quotes from politicians, but this one stuck with me. In 2016, then-South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley said about Donald Trump, hes everything we teach our kids not to do in kindergarten. Just cant forget that one. CAROLINE BAILEY William Street Mount Pleasant VA vaccine done well The Department of Veterans Affairs is doing some things very well. When it was announced recently that both veterans and spouses were eligible for COVID-19 vaccinations, my wife, Jenny, asked if I would check on our eligibility. We wanted to be vaccinated as soon, and as close to home, as possible. I had never applied for VA medical benefits. The online application took 15 minutes and it was approved in 72 hours. We made appointments on day four and received our vaccinations at the Ralph H. Johnson VA Medical Center on day five. The preparation and efficiency at the center were wonderful. We showed up three hours early for any possible walk-in spots, were immediately seated and walked out in less than an hour. There were three groups of about 30 people, sorted by which vaccine they would receive and seated in three separate areas. These groups were screened, briefed and vaccinated 30 at a time. What a smooth process. Well done, VA. And, we thank the Girl Scouts for donating the cookies available on our way out. FRANK M. CONWAY IV Retired Navy Reserve Commander Smythe Street Daniel Island In response to strong demand for electric vehicles, the California Air Resources Board (CARB) expects rebate funds for the statewide Clean Vehicle Rebate Project (CVRP) to be exhausted within 30 days. Electric vehicles (EVs) account for nearly 8% of all light-duty vehicles sold in California. More than 145,000 EVs were sold in California in 2020 with a majority of sales taking place in the latter half of the year. Through the first quarter of 2021, CVRP rebate applications have already exceeded levels seen in early 2020, with substantially higher participation by low- and moderate-income consumers. This growing interest has led to a quicker draw on available funds through CVRP than anticipated. Existing funding for both standard and increased rebates is projected to be fully reserved in the coming weeks. A waitlist will be established for applications and applicants will receive a rebate contingent on funding appropriated through the legislative budget process. There are additional opportunities throughout the state that consumers can take advantage of, including the Clean Fuel Reward, the Clean Air Vehicle Decal, and various local incentives offered by air districts and local governments. Almost two-thirds of current EV owners have taken advantage of this program, and its a key driver of the EV market. CARB Executive Officer Richard W. Corey Created in 2010, CVRP has played a key role in supporting the deployment of EVs in California, which leads the nation in EV adoption. Nearly 65% of all California EV owners have received a CVRP incentive. The project has issued moe than $926 million to state residents for more than 405,750 new EVs. Since 2016, when the project instituted caps for higher-income applicants and created increased rebates for lower income-qualified consumers, 34% of rebate funding, or $182.9 million, has gone to lower-income applicants and those living in disadvantaged communities. The percentage grew to 38% last year. As the end of current funding draws closer, information about CVRPs waitlist will be posted on the CVRP website. Additionally, a public work group meeting will be held from 9 a.m. to 10 a.m. on 16 April 2021 to discuss next steps. There are other related programs that also support consumers considering purchasing or leasing an electric vehicle. The California Clean Fuel Reward program offers all EV purchasers up to $1,500 off the vehicle cost at the point of sale. CARB offers additional EV purchase incentive programs for lower-income consumers including Clean Cars 4 All, which offers up to $9,500 for scrapping an older car and replacing it with an EV, and the Clean Vehicle Assistance Program, which offers grants of up to $5,000 to pay for a hybrid electric vehicle or plug-in EV and access to affordable financing. Clean Cars 4 All is available in participating air districts, which include the South Coast Air Quality Management District, San Joaquin Valley Air Pollution Control District, Bay Area Air Quality Management District, and Sacramento Metropolitan Air Quality Management District. Air districts are expected to exhaust their existing Clean Cars 4 All funding by July 2021. Americans have a longstanding tradition of discriminating against criminals. They have made criminals second-class citizens. They often refuse to welcome criminals in their communities. When criminals manage to move into some affluent or privileged residential areas in order to experience better lives, many law-abiding Americans will flee, leaving the criminals without help in once flourishing but now crime-ridden, dilapidated, and vandalized communities. They judge criminals based on being criminals and not on the actual virtues and talents that the latter may possess, never mind taking into accounts hardships and discrimination that the criminals have been suffering from in America. The American justice system is a specimen of systemic anti-criminalism and is stacked against criminals. So are police. Courts are dramatically more likely to sentence a criminal than a law-abiding American. Police are often arresting criminals just because they're criminals while at the same time not arresting the law-abiding just because they're law-abiding. The statistics are clear: although criminals constitute a small minority of America's population, they are the ones who are being investigated, stopped, frisked, charged, convicted, and punished more than anybody else. The so-called "routine" traffic stops are often a manifestation of the discriminatory practices of police, who may stop an unobtrusive driver just for "driving while criminal." And criminals are disproportionately shot by police; it hardly ever happens to law-abiding Americans. The above facts must be clear to any observant bystander. There is one question, though, that puzzles me. As a nation, today's Americans have been known as friendly, generous, and tolerant people, compassionate and ready to help those who suffer or are in need. They seem to be the last people on Earth who would resort to such unworthy things as discrimination and being "anti." Why, then, is it that the same Americans have chosen to discriminate against criminals so stubbornly and brazenly? Could it be because criminals have been doing something bad that the Americans cannot ignore? Is this why they discriminate against criminals? Just asking. Mark Andrew Dwyer's recent columns are posted at https://federalobserver.com/?s=mark+andrew+dwyer and at https://canadafreepress.com/members/1/Mark-Andrew-Dwyer/895. Links to his other commentaries can be found here: http://www.oocities.org/readerswrite/List_date.htm. Image via Pxhere. To comment, you can find the MeWe post for this article here. YEREVAN. A silent protest is taking place in front of the UN office in Yerevan. These protesters demand the return of more than 300 Armenian POWs and civilians who are held hostage in Azerbaijan after the recent Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh) war. An earlier statement issued by the organizers of this protest said that thousands of human rights advocates will raise this issue on the same day also in Toronto, Montreal, Berlin, Warsaw, Rome, Los Angeles, New York, Geneva, Houston, and Paristaking to the streets and demanding the return of Armenian POWs As per this statement, the Azerbaijani government denies the fact that six months after the war, hundreds of Armenians are being held in Azerbaijani prisons in violation of the Geneva Conventions, as well as of the November 10, 2020 trilateral ceasefire agreement between Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Russia. The protesters will continue their demonstration in front of the Russian embassy in Yerevan, too, demanding to force Azerbaijan to abide by the terms of the aforesaid trilateral agreement and return all Armenian captives. LEWISBURG -- A former Williamsport police officer is headed to trial on charges he used the state JNET records system to obtain information on women for personal reasons. Specially assigned Union County District Judge Jeffrey Rowe found Thursday that the state attorney generals office had presented sufficient evidence to hold for trial the 28 counts a different judge had dismissed. The new felony counts filed under a different section of the same computer law accuse former Cpl. Eric B Derr, 36, of intentionally and without authorization accessing the record systems. The dismissed charges alleged he intended to do so under false pretenses. Defense attorney Robert A. Hoffa argued for dismissal claiming there was no evidence of criminal intent. Williamsport police Capt. Jason Bolt produced a spread sheet he said showed Derr between June 2015 and Dec. 11, 2019, used JNET 94 times to obtain unauthorized information about 26 individuals including one female 18 times. JNET system is for authorized police work and personal use is prohibited by law, Bolt said. Billie Strickler testified while on vacation in North Carolina in 2015 she witnessed Derr use his phone to pull up an old drivers license of her aunt. Agent David Schicchitano of the attorney generals staff related his interview with Logan Chetaitis, a former Williamsport police intern, now an officer in York County. The investigator said Chetaitis told him once when he rode with Derr the officer ran information on three or four women and asked him after displaying their pictures if he thought they were hot. Previously held for court were misdemeanor counts of unsworn falsification to authorities, tampering with public records and obstructing the administration of law. A female at the earlier hearing testified during a 2-year consensual relationship Derr ran her name on the records system and that despite knowing she did not have a valid drivers license never charged her. They met when a male friend of hers was arrested in a drug case, she said. Derr, who remains free on $10,000 unsecured bail, resigned from the force Sept. 24. He had been suspended with pay June 14. The date and location of the trial is unknown because all Lycoming County judges have recused themselves. Gross amount of the capital increase: 15 M. Market capitalization: 79 M, after issuance of 1,930,000 New Shares at a unit price of 7.80 , representing a 5.1% discount. Funding secured until first semester 2024. A sustainably secure financial situation that does not include milestones payments and potential royalties resulting from the partnership with Nestle Health Science as well as additional revenues associated with the signing of any new partnership. Regulatory News: Valbiotis (Paris:ALVAL) (FR0013254851 ALVAL, PEA-PME eligible), a Research Development company committed to scientific innovation for the treatment and prevention of metabolic diseases, today announces the large successful capital increase through a private placement open to certain categories of beneficiaries launched the previous day and achieved using an accelerated bookbuilding process. Given the very high demand from French and international investors, Valbiotis decided to set the amount of the capital increase at 15 million euros, compared to approximately 12 million euros initially forecast. Sebastien PELTIER, CEO of Valbiotis stated: "I am extremely grateful to all the new investors who participated in this capital increase, as well as all our historic shareholders who continue to support our company in its mission and its development. This capital increase is key, as it will enable us to accelerate our development program for the prevention of high blood pressure with the aim of marketing by 2023, up to three years ahead of our initial schedule. It will also contribute to the achievement of our preclinical programs across our entire portfolio and to the strengthening of our supply chain in view of, among other things, the future commercialization of TOTUM63 in prediabetes by Nestle Health Science. Thanks to these new resources, that secure the execution of our roadmap in the long term, we have everything we need to succeed!" Allocation of funds to the development strategy of Valbiotis The net proceeds of the capital increase of approximately 14.2 M are primarily intended to finance the acceleration of the development of TOTUM854 (prevention of arterial hypertension) with the launch of three clinical trials at the end of this year including a Phase II/III clinical trial prior to a health claim application. In partnership with a major healthcare player, TOTUM854 could then be marketed at the end of this study, up to 3 years ahead of the initial schedule. This acceleration comes in the wake of the positive preclinical results obtained with this active substance, presented at the annual ESH ISH congress (press release of April 12, 2021) and available on the Company website (www.valbiotis.com/en). These results obtained in vivo on predictive models of human hypertension have shown that TOTUM854 effectively prevents arterial hypertension, considered as the number one chronic disease worldwide with over 124 million people with moderately high blood pressure in the United States and the 5 main European countries (Germany, Spain, France, Italy, and the United Kingdom) alone. This represents an addressable market for Valbiotis worth an estimated 1.15 billion euros (source: AEC Partners, 2020). The capital increase will also help to extend Valbiotis' funding horizon and enable the Company to reach the next steps in value creation of its various products: funding of preclinical research on the other products in the portfolio; reinforcement of staff, mainly clinical and supply chain teams, to prepare the upcoming marketing of TOTUM63 in prediabetes by Nestle Health Science; financing the Company's overall costs until first semester 2024. Main characteristics of the capital increase Valbiotis has issued 1,930,000 new shares at a unit price of 7.80 euros, share premium included, which corresponds to a nominal value of 0.10 euros and a share premium of 7.70 euros, for a gross amount of 15,054,000 euros. This represents 25% of the share capital of Valbiotis before the capital increase and an overall dilution of 20%. The capital increase was executed with the removal of shareholders' preferential subscription rights through a private placement using an accelerated bookbuilding process with both French and international qualified investors belonging to the category of persons referred to in the 13th resolution of the Shareholders' Annual General Meeting held on May 28, 2020. The Board set the subscription price at 7.80 euros per new share. This price, fixed under the conditions provided for in the above-mentioned 13th resolution, represents a 5.1% discount compared to the closing price of the Company shares on April 14, 2021. Incidence of the capital increase on the capital distribution This transaction will result in an increase of the share capital of Valbiotis from 777,626.20 euros to 970,626.20 euros divided by 9,706,262 shares with a nominal value of 0.10 euros each, and is broken down as follows: Before offering After offering Shareholders Number of shares of capital Number of shares of capital Stake of Board members (1) 1,006,051 12.9% 1,006,051 10.4% Sebastien PELTIER (via Djanka Investissement and as an individual) 647,100 8.3% 647,100 6.7% Jocelyn PINEAU (via Financiere ELOUJON and as an individual) 349,751 4.5% 349,751 3.6% Pascal SIRVENT 9,200 0.1% 9,200 0.1% Stake of Supervisory Board members (1) 13,400 0.2% 13,400 0.1% Laurent LEVY 10,400 0.1% 10,400 0.1% Sebastien BESSY 3,000 0.0% 3,000 0.0% Liquidity contract (2) 10,679 0.1% 10,679 0.1% Public 6,746,132 86.8% 8,676,132 89.4% TOTAL 7,776,262 100% 9,706,262 100% (1) The other members of the Board and Supervisory Board do not hold any shares. It is recalled that all the members of the Board and the Supervisory Board together hold 867,124 share warrants and share warrants for entrepreneurs out of a total of 1,140,046 share warrants and share warrants for entrepreneurs issued. (2) Data from the session on March 31, 2020. The allocation of voting rights is as follows: Before offering After offering Shareholders Number of shares of capital Number of shares of capital Stake of Board members (1) 1,863,551 21.5% 1,863,551 17.6% Sebastien PELTIER (via Djanka Investissement and as an individual) 1,252,100 14.4% 1,252,100 11.8% Jocelyn PINEAU (via Financiere ELOUJON and as an individual) 602,251 6.9% 602,251 5.7% Pascal SIRVENT 9,200 0.1% 9,200 0.1% Stake of Supervisory Board members (1) 13,400 0.2% 13,400 0.1% Laurent LEVY 10,400 0.1% 10,400 0.1% Sebastien BESSY 3,000 0.03% 3,000 0.03% Liquidity contract (2) 0.0% 0.0% Public 6,808,460 78.4% 8,738,460 82.3% TOTAL 8,685,411 100% 10,615,411 100% (1) The other members of the Board and Supervisory Board do not hold any shares. It is recalled that all the members of the Board and the Supervisory Board together hold 867,124 share warrants and share warrants for entrepreneurs out of a total of 1,140,046 share warrants and share warrants for entrepreneurs issued. (2) Data from the session on March 31, 2020. Impact on the situation of the shareholder Based on the post-transaction share capital, the stake of a shareholder holding 1% of the capital of the Company before the capital increase and not having subscribed to the latter now holds 0.80%. Shareholder stake Non-diluted basis Diluted basis (1) 1% 0.88% 0.80% 0.72% (1) Taking into account the subscription of 1,930,000 new shares likely to be created to date. The impact on the equity per share is as follows: Equity (1) per share on December 31, 2020 Non-diluted basis Diluted basis (1) 0.92 0,81 0.74 0.66 (1) Established according to the IFRS and before charging expenses against the issue premium, based on audited accounts, closed and not approved at December 31, 2020. (2) Taking into account the subscription of 1,930,000 new shares likely to be created to date Admission to trading of new shares The new shares will bear dividend rights and will be admitted to trading on the Euronext Growth Paris market under the same ISIN code: FR0013254851 ALVAL. They will be subject to all statutory provisions and will be ranked with the existing shares upon completion of the capital increase. The settlement of the new shares and their admission to trading on the Euronext Growth Paris market is scheduled within 3 working days. The information presented in this press release is so following the placement of shares through an accelerated bookbuilding process, now closed, but remains subject to the correct execution of the settlement transactions. Pursuant to the provisions of Article 211-3 of the General Regulation of the Autorite des marches financiers and Article 1(4) of Regulation (EU) 2017/1129, the Offer has not resulted in or will not result in the preparation of a prospectus submitted to the AMF for approval. About Valbiotis Valbiotis is a Research Development company committed to scientific innovation for preventing and combating metabolic diseases in response to unmet medical needs. Valbiotis has adopted an innovative approach, aiming to revolutionize healthcare by developing a new class of health nutrition products designed to reduce the risk of major metabolic diseases, based on a multi-target approach enabled by the use of plant-based ingredients. Its products are intended to be licensed to players in the health sector. Created at the beginning of 2014 in La Rochelle, the Company has forged numerous partnerships with leading academic centers. The Company has established three sites in France: Perigny, La Rochelle (17) and Riom (63). Valbiotis is a member of the "BPI Excellence" network and has been recognized as an "Innovative Company" by the BPI label. Valbiotis has also been awarded "Young Innovative Company" status and has received major financial support from the European Union for its research programs via the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF). Valbiotis is a PEA-SME eligible company. For more information about Valbiotis, please visit: www.valbiotis.com Name: Valbiotis ISIN code: FR0013254851 Mnemonic code: ALVAL EnterNext PEA-PME 150 Warning This press release contains forward-looking statements about VALBIOTIS' objectives. VALBIOTIS considers that these projections are based on rational hypotheses and the information available to the company at the present time. However, in no way does this constitute a guarantee of future performance, and these projections may be reconsidered based on changes in economic conditions and financial markets, as well as a certain number of risks and uncertainties mentioned in this press release. This document is available on the Company's website (www.valbiotis.com). This press release, as well as the information contained herein, does not constitute an offer to sell or subscribe to, or a solicitation to purchase or subscribe to, VALBIOTIS' shares or securities in any country. As a reminder, pursuant to the provisions of Article 211-3 of the General Regulations of the Autorite des marches financiers and Article 1, 4 of Regulation (EU) 2017/1129, the offer of the Company's shares in the context of the capital increase carried out for the benefit of a category of persons meeting specific characteristics, in particular qualified French and international investors, will not give rise to a prospectus subject to the visa of the Autorite des marches financiers Detailed information about Valbiotis, including its business, results and risk factors, has been presented in the annual financial report for the financial year ending December 31, 2020, in the half-year financial report for the period ending June 30, 2020 and in the registration agreement approved by the French Financial Markets Regulator (AMF) on 31 July 2020 (application number R 20-018). These documents, as well as other regulated information and press releases, can be consulted on the Company's website (www.valbiotis.com). This press release is for information purposes only. This press release does not constitute and shall not be deemed to constitute an offer to the public, an offer to subscribe, an offer to sell or a solicitation of interest to the public in connection with any transaction by way of public offering of securities in any jurisdiction. Securities may be offered or sold in the United States only pursuant to registration under the U.S. Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the "Securities Act"), or pursuant to an exemption from such registration requirement. The securities of the Company that are the subject of this press release have not been and will not be registered under the Securities Act, and the Company does not intend to conduct a public offering of the securities that are the subject of this press release in the United States. The release, publication or distribution of this press release in certain countries may violate applicable laws. The information contained in this press release does not constitute an offer of securities in France, the United States, Canada, Australia, Japan or any other country. This press release may not be published, transmitted or distributed, directly or indirectly, in the United States, Canada, Australia or Japan. This document does not constitute an offer to sell or a public offering of Valbiotis shares in the United States or in any other country. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210414005964/en/ Contacts: Corporate communication Valbiotis Carole ROCHER Marc DELAUNAY +33 5 46 28 62 58 media@valbiotis.com Financial communication Actifin Stephane RUIZ +33 1 56 88 11 14 sruiz@actifin.fr This article appears in the April 16, 2021 issue of Executive Intelligence Review. III. Committee for the Coincidence of Opposites Takes Action COMMITTEE FOR THE COINCIDENCE OF OPPOSITES Join Forces Against Pandemic and Famine [Print version of this article] View full size Courtesy Khadijah Lang, M.D. April 11The world has now reached a new, horrific milestone of more than three million deaths worldwide from COVID-19. With the infection rate increasing in many countries and new variants on the rise, the urgency of concerted, coordinated actions by major governments has never been clearer. An even greater number of lives are now threatened by famine. UN World Food Program Director, David Beasley, warns that as many as 270 million people are at risk due to conditions exacerbated by war, the pandemic, locusts, and other disasters. At the same time farmers in the worlds highest-output food beltsFrance, Germany, India and elsewhereare in the streets with their tractors, protesting low prices, and new agro-dictates that will ruin them and reduce world food production. U.S. farmers are fighting for the very existence of independent family farming. It is precisely this grievous picture that the Committee for the Coincidence of Opposites is committed to change. The Committee was launched in Summer 2020, by Schiller Institute founder and President, Helga Zepp-LaRouche and Dr. Joycelyn Elders, former U.S. Surgeon General. To date, actions of major governments, with a few notable exceptions, and international relief organizations, have been woefully inadequate in addressing this crisis. If we are to solve these problems for humanityeliminating pandemics, starvation, and povertywe require a new type of thinking. Helga Zepp-LaRouche has emphasized the need to think in terms of the coincidence of opposites. This is the method developed by the theologian and scientist Cardinal Nicholas of Cusa (1401-1464) and utilized in the nonviolent direct-action approach of Mahatma Gandhi and Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. It is essential that governments work together to: 1) implement full-scale emergency relief programs; 2) establish modern healthcare systems in every nation, including full set medical infrastructure and trained staff; and 3) defend and expand family-farm scale, independent agriculture everywhere. View full size CC/Randeep Maddoke The Committee is bringing together people of good will, of various backgrounds, including youth, social activists, medical personnel, farming and military experts, religious institutions, and others; people concernednot just about themselves, but the crises facing all humanity. The conception is to demonstrate in a few initially small, but well-designed pilot projects, how we can mitigate tragic circumstances and inspire the large-scale government and related response needed. The first project involves Community Health Workers, a project long championed by former Surgeon General and Committee leader, Dr. Joycelyn Elders, and is centered in the nations capital, Washington, D.C. The second project entails the delivery of medical supplies, food, and seed to Mozambique. View full size Schiller Institute, 2021 Two Pilot Projects Washington, D.C. Ward 8 in the District of Columbia currently has the highest COVID-19 infection and death rate in the city. It was the locus of the Schiller Institutes battle 20 years ago, to save D.C. General Hospital, the former full-service, large public hospital that served the mostly poor, primarily black residents of the area. Dr. Walter L. Faggett, former Chief Medical Officer for the District of Columbia, has recently been appointed to chair the Ward 8 Pandemic Emergency Task Force. He reported during the recent Schiller Institute international conference (see below for more information), that the Task Force is now utilizing the concept of youth brigades as community healthcare workers, championed by Dr. Elders. They educate their fellow citizens on public health safety measures, and on overcoming vaccine hesitancy; they set appointments, provide transportation, etc. Medical, nursing, and other students from the Greater Washington, D.C. area colleges are being recruited to assist, including the University of the District of Columbia, Howard University, and Morgan State University in Baltimore. The objective is to have as many people as possible ready and willing to take the vaccine as soon as the supplies become available, on May 1, to everyone over 16 years of age. Washington D.C., as the nations capital, could ideally serve as the hub for spreading such a program to cities and counties around the country, and even around the world, which could use this model in their own area. Similar programs are now being discussed or initiated in East St. Louis, Illinois; Natchez, Mississippi; Detroit, Michigan, and other localities. Future teleconferences are planned with students from the United States, together with their counterparts in Africa. Mozambique. The Committee for the Coincidence of Opposites, in collaboration with the Golden State Medical Associationthe California branch of the National Medical Association (NMA), has launched a major effort for the delivery of medical supplies, food and seeds to Mozambique, in Southeastern Africa. With a population of 31 million, Mozambique is one of the poorest, and youngest (17 years is the median age) nations in the world. Terrorist attacks in the northern province of Cabo Delgado, have displaced more than 670,000 people. There is chronic malnutrition, with over half of the children malnourished. There is widespread damage from recent cyclones. Crowded shelters and homes lack the most basic necessities, including soap, contributing to cholera, malaria, and COVID-19. The disruption to Spring harvesting and replanting is severe. The goal is to get a delivery of food, medical supplies, and seeds into Mozambique as rapidly as possible, at the same time publicizing in the U.S. and internationally, the necessity for a global mobilization by governments and institutions for health security for all. Several farm leaders and military experts are joining with the Committee to publicize and support this mission. The Committee intends to supply food (corn-soy meal, dried fish, etc.), seeds (corn), water purification tablets, medical supplies (PPE, pharmaceuticals, bandages etc.) procured both in the U.S. and directly in Africa, to minimize transport costs. Funds and donations-in-kind are now being collected by the Committee and are tax-deductible. Our Mission Dr. Khadijah Lang, President of Golden State Medical Association, and Chairman of the NMA Council on International Affairs, in her concluding remarks to the March 21st Schiller Institute conference, beautifully captured the spirit with which we should approach the responsibility that each of us bears in the current crisis. She stated, Everything weve said today goes hand-in-hand with the importance of us trying to see how we can make an impact, whether its in one small village, or one small province, and demonstrate for the world to see what can be done. How we can help when we come together and work together with our resources to make one place a better place. Hopefully, others will be inspired and motivated by that, to do the same thing elsewhere. So many times, people think if they dont have full control of a situation, that theres nothing that can be done. But I think it is important for all of us to realize that theres plenty that we can all do. It doesnt necessarily have to be something where you have full control. Where theres a will, theres a way. Together, we can make this work. For more information on the Committee for the Coincidence of Opposites: Contact: Lynne Speed at lynnespeed@schillerinstitute.org Watch Panel 4, The Challenge of Famine and PandemicsThe Coincidence of Opposites or Mass Extinction? Panel IV, from the Schiller Institute international conference March 20-21, 2021, The World at a Crossroad. The full transcript of Panel 4 of the conference was published in EIR Vol. 48, No. 14 on April 2, 2021. Sobol sentenced to suspended community service for illegal entry into dwelling Moscow's Perovsky District Court 11:52 15/04/2021 MOSCOW, April 15 (RAPSI) - Opposition figure Lyubov Sobol on Thursday was sentenced to one-year suspended community service with 10% monthly pay deduction for forcible violation of inviolability of dwelling, RAPSI was told in the press service of Moscows Perovsky District Court. Moreover, she was ordered to come to a specialized community service body every month and banned from changing her place of work and residence without notification. Prosecution demanded one-year community service for Sobol with the 20% pay deduction in favor of the state. Investigators claimed that on December 21 a group of persons, among them Lyubov Sobol, repeatedly attempted to entry into an apartment, where an old woman resided, of a house situated in the Eastern District of Moscow. Those involved illegally used uniforms of Russias consumer rights watchdog Rospotrebnadzor. After two attempts to enter the house had failed, Sobol deceived a delivery man saying she was a abandoned wife with a baby, could enter the building and as the old woman opened the door of her apartment Sobol pushed her back, entered the apartment, took a video of the premises on her phone, and left the place, according to the Investigative Committee. The legislation sets the punishment for such a crime as imprisonment for up to 2 years. VANCOUVER, British Columbia, April 15, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- HUDSON RESOURCES INC. (Hudson or the Company) (TSX Venture Exchange HUD, OTC HUDRF). On April 6th, 2021, Greenland held elections in which the Inuit Ataqatigiit party (IA) won 12 of the 31 seats with 37% of the votes. The IA party is currently in negotiations with other parties to form a coalition government. The party is led by Mute Egede who was a former Minister of Mining in Greenland between 2016 and 2018 during which time he visited the White Mountain anorthosite project. Since winning the election, the IA party has publicly stated that they are pro-mining and cited Hudson as a good example of the importance of mining in Greenland. The IA party has a strong environmental platform which Hudson is supportive of. The IA party has stated that it is opposed to the export of uranium for nuclear purposes. Under Greenland mineral legislation all exploration licenses, including those granted to Hudson, do not provide the right to export and sell radioactive elements. Although Hudsons rare earth element and niobium-tantalum projects do contain minor amounts of thorium or uranium, Hudson will not export and sell these elements and they will be dealt with in an environmentally responsible manner. The nearest community to Hudsons projects is approximately 80 km away. Jim Cambon, President commented: I have congratulated Mute Egede on his victory and have also reached out to numerous government officials and community leaders in Greenland. Based on these discussions we are confident that it is business as usual for Hudsons projects. Hudson has always done what we promised in Greenland and treated people fairly while respecting all stakeholders and the environment, and as such, we believe we have earned the respect of local communities and the government. We look forward to working with the new government in the continued operation of the White Mountain anorthosite mine and in the advancement of our rare earth elements project and our niobium-tantalum project. Story continues Hudson owns 100% of the Sarfartoq REE project and Nukittooq niobium-tantalum project in Greenland and also holds a 31.1% interest in Hudson Greenland A/S which owns the White Mountain Anorthosite mine in Greenland, where the Company provides operational, marketing and sales support. ON BEHALF OF THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS Jim Cambon President and Director For further information: Ph: 604-628-5002 Forward-Looking Statements CAUTIONARY STATEMENT REGARDING FORWARD-LOOKING INFORMATION: This News Release includes certain "forward-looking statements" which are not comprised of historical facts. Forward looking statements include estimates and statements that describe the Companys future plans, objectives or goals, including words to the effect that the Company or management expects a stated condition or result to occur. Forward-looking statements may be identified by such terms as believes, anticipates, expects, estimates, may, could, would, will, or plan. Since forward-looking statements are based on assumptions and address future events and conditions, by their very nature they involve inherent risks and uncertainties. Although these statements are based on information currently available to the Company, the Company provides no assurance that actual results will meet managements expectations. Risks, uncertainties and other factors involved with forward-looking information could cause actual events, results, performance, prospects and opportunities to differ materially from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking information. Forward looking information in this news release includes, but is not limited to, the Companys objectives, goals or future plans, statements, exploration results, potential mineralization, the estimation of mineral resources, exploration and mine development plans, timing of the commencement of operations and estimates of market conditions. Factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from such forward-looking information include, but are not limited to failure to identify mineral resources, failure to convert estimated mineral resources to reserves, the inability to complete a feasibility study which recommends a production decision, the preliminary nature of metallurgical test results, delays in obtaining or failures to obtain required governmental, environmental or other project approvals, political risks, inability to fulfill the duty to accommodate indigenous peoples, uncertainties relating to the availability and costs of financing needed in the future, changes in equity markets, inflation, changes in exchange rates, fluctuations in commodity prices, delays in the development of projects, capital and operating costs varying significantly from estimates and the other risks involved in the mineral exploration and development industry, , an inability to predict and counteract the effects of COVID-19 on the business of the Company, including but not limited to the effects of COVID-19 on the price of commodities, capital market conditions, restriction on labour and international travel and supply chains, and those risks set out in the Companys public documents filed on SEDAR. 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 TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. Married At First Sight's Melissa Rawson's flaunted her curves in a unique frock at the reunion dinner party on Wednesday. But it's not the first time the workplace trainer, 32, has showcased her hourglass figure in that very same dress. The reality star, who hails from Melbourne, had in fact worn the orange and black off-the-shoulder dress at a horse racing event in 2016. So nice she wore it twice! Married At First Sight's Melissa Rawson's flaunted her curves in a unique frock at the reunion dinner party on Wednesday (left). She previously wore the dress a horse racing event in 2016, when she sported a far more vampish look (right) At the time, she accessorised her race day look with a statement black headpiece. She styled her long dark hair in waves that cascaded down her shoulders, and for makeup opted for heavy eyeliner and deep red lipstick. Melissa and her gal pal pouted and blew a kiss in the Boomerang clip, which she captioned: 'The horses are on the track #peninsulacup #cidermarquee #bariano.' Fillies on the field: She accessorised her race day look with a statement black headpiece. At the time, Melissa and her gal pal (left) pouted for a Boomerang clip on Instagram Vampy: At the time, she sported quite a vampish look with dark brunette locks, and often wore tight black outfits that accentuated her figure At the time, she sported quite a vampish look with dark brunette locks, and often wore tight black outfits that accentuated her figure. Her glamorous race day style is a far cry from her girl-next-door appearance on Married At First Sight. Most notably, she has dyed her hair blonde. Changes: Her glamorous race day style is a far cry from her girl-next-door appearance on Married At First Sight; most notably, she has dyed her hair blonde. Pictured with Bryce Ruthven Proving them wrong: Melissa made a defiant return at Wednesday's reunion dinner party. She and Bryce arrived hand in hand following the controversy over his 'secret girlfriend' scandal But it seems her fashion sense has remained relatively similar, as she often wore fitted dresses to MAFS' weekly dinner parties. It comes after Melissa made a defiant return at Wednesday's reunion dinner party. She arrived hand in hand with her 'husband' Bryce Ruthven following the controversy over his 'secret girlfriend' scandal. The couple were met with a rather frosty reception from the other participants as they entered - in particular Bryce's enemies Sam Carraro and Beck Zemek. Frosty! The couple were met with a rather frosty reception from the other participants as they entered - in particular Bryce's enemies Sam Carraro and Beck Zemek Melissa told producers: 'The reception tonight was really cold, actually. 'People are still clearly holding on to issues that didn't even affect them personally. It affected us as a couple.' Bryce added: 'I think they're just jealous of our success in the experiment and the fact that we walked in so strong. It just pisses them off, and look, I love that to be honest with you. 'I'm more than happy for them to sit down and think, "Oh, look at these two. That's all fake" and whatnot. Whatever they've got for us, bring it on.' Married At First Sight continues Sunday at 7pm on Channel Nine JAKARTA, Indonesia, April 15, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Archipelago International, Southeast Asia's largest privately owned and independent hotel management group, today announced the signing of hotel management agreements with Jabal Omar Development Company (JODC), a leader in real estate development in Saudi Arabia, for two hotels in their prestigious Jabal Omar project, which is within a few steps of the Holy Mosque in Makkah. Both parties signed Hotel Management Agreements (HMA's) for the 5 Star Luxury 'Jabal Omar The Royal Alana Makkah' which has 581 rooms and the 5 Star 'Jabal Omar The Alana Makkah' which has 560 rooms. The hotels, which are located in Phase 4 of the Jabal Omar project, are currently under construction and are situated adjacent to each other in a prime location overlooking the Holy Mosque. "The entire Archipelago team is delighted to sign these HMA's and to continue to grow our portfolio of hotels in the Kingdom. We are fortunate to work with a partner like JODC who understands the value and importance of superior hospitality experiences that are specifically customized to the needs of guests from Southeast Asia and in particular Malaysia, Indonesia and Brunei. Southeast Asia is one of the fastest growing and strategically important source markets for the Kingdom and its Vision 2030 program. Our positioning, brand equity and infrastructure in these markets means we can deliver for our partners and add significant value to projects, not only in the holy cities, but throughout the Kingdom and the region," commented Gerard Byrne, Managing Director, Archipelago Overseas. Mr. Khaled Al-Amoudi, Chief Executive Officer of Jabal Omar Development Company confirmed that "the company is striving throughout its journey of accomplishments to keep up with the ambitious vision of Saudi Arabia 2030 in supporting the hospitality sector and enhancing the spiritual experience of pilgrims, by expanding our partnerships with a group of international hotel brands at the Jabal Omar destination. Therefore, Archipelago, a global company with a proven track record in Southeast Asia, has been attracted with the aim of joining the Jabal Omar Royal Alana Hotel and the Jabal Omar Alana Hotel within Jabal Omar's distinguished hotel group." Al-Amoudi added, "through this partnership, Jabal Omar and Archipelago are keen to enrich the experience of our guests by providing the highest standards of quality and performance throughout their religious and cultural journey in Makkah and to help them perform their rituals and return home with the most beautiful and unforgettable spiritual memories." About Archipelago International Southeast Asia's largest privately owned and independent hotel operator, with 200+ hotels (32,000+ rooms) operating or under development across Southeast Asia, the Middle East and the Caribbean. Trusted hotels with a long track record in more than 60 destinations with brands including ASTON, Collection by ASTON, The Alana, Huxley, Kamuela, Harper, Quest, NEO, favehotels and Nordic. www.archipelagointernational.com About Jabal Omar Development Company (JODC) JODC is one of the largest real estate developers in the Middle East and one of the largest listed companies in the Saudi stock market (Tadawul). The Jabal Omar project is one of the most important integrated real estate developments located within walking distance of the Holy Mosque in Makkah. As the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia continuously seeks to increase the capacity of Makkah for pilgrims, JODC is proud to contribute to this by developing the areas overlooking the Holy Mosque, to give visitors and residents of Makkah a unique living and spiritual experience. The total area of the Jabal Omar project is 235,869 square meters. The project includes 40 hotel towers and is a mixed-use development with commercial markets, apartments, luxury residential units and Islamic exhibitions. The hotels are managed by major international hotel companies, with every room having a dedicated space for private prayer and contemplation and views to the Holy Mosque. Hotels currently operating include the Jabal Omar Conrad Hotel, Jabal Omar Hyatt Regency Hotel, Jabal Omar Marriott Hotel, Jabal Omar Hilton Suites Hotel, Jabal Omar Hilton Makkah Convention Hotel and Jabal Omar DoubleTree by Hilton Hotel. www.jabalomar.com.sa Logo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1488447/Archipelago_Overseas_Logo.jpg Photo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1488448/Foto_1.jpg Photo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1488446/Foto_2.jpg [April 15, 2021] Apex-Brasil Hosts Virtual Startup Program to Immerse Brazilian Startups in New York City Business Ecosystem BRASILIA, Brazil, April 15, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- This week, Apex-Brasil, the Brazilian Trade and Investment Promotion Agency, is hosting its first virtual "StartOut Brasil" program in North America, to present Brazil's most promising startups to the New York market. The event will feature a comprehensive agenda of sessions to ultimately promote U.S. investment in 17 Brazilian startups that generated a combined revenue of USD $23.9 million last year. "Brazil's government-led StartOut program focused on the internationalization of its most innovative startups is a unique opportunity to immerse Brazilian startups in the U.S market," said Isabel Fontoura, Apex-Brasil's Internalization Coordinator. "Together with our partners the National Association of Entities Promoting Innovative Enterprises (Anprotec), Sebrae, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and the Special Secretariat for Productivity, Employment, and Competitiveness for the Ministry of Economy we are inspired and excited by the opportunity to bring together Brazilian startups and U.S. investors from the New York market for an entire week of virtual experiences highlighting Brazil as a startup ecosystem to watch. Each of the 17 participating companies represent some of the best and brightest innovators that Brazil has to offer. I look forward to watching as they demonstrate their ability to learn, network, and expand into new international markets." Before participating in StartOut Brasil, interested startups first undergo a rigorous selection process by a board of market experts, investors, mentors, entrepreneurs, and consultants. Of the total applicant pool, the jury ultimately chooses up to 20 candidates for each immersion cycle. After being thoroughly vetted, the selected startups then receive two-months of internationalization training, mentorship, and rehearsals with experienced professionals in order to prepare them to pitch to U.S. investors on "DemoDay" (April 15). This year, StartOut New York features a wide variety of game-changing Brazilian startups that specialize in some of the newest areas of technology today, from artificial intelligence to enterprise tech to cybersecurity and more. Throughout the week, the startups in the StartOut NY cycle will participate in diverse daily activities, organized based on the following categories: Learning: Sessions that prepare startups for requirements of international investment. Sessions that prepare startups for requirements of international investment. Mentoring: Personal mentoring opportunities with exectives from the host market ( New York ). Personal mentoring opportunities with exectives from the host market ( ). Pitching: Pitch training with industry specialists. Pitch training with industry specialists. Investment: Access to investors and investment funds. Access to investors and investment funds. Business assistance: Curated agenda of business meetings with the support of a local matchmaker. Curated agenda of business meetings with the support of a local matchmaker. Counseling: Counseling regarding the internationalization process. New York -based business opportunities and improve their international expansion strategy. With support from Apex-Brasil's international offices, the National Association of Entities Promoting Innovative Enterprises (Anprotec), Sebrae, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and the Special Secretariat for Productivity, Employment, and Competitiveness for the Ministry of Economy, StartOut strives to go beyond the "immersion week" and give Brazilian startups all the tools necessary to start a global operation and facilitate exports with interested global consumers. Through efforts like StartOut New York, Apex-Brasil is focused on underscoring on a global stage the critical role the country of Brazil plays as a burgeoning innovation hub. Just consider that 50% of Fast Company's "Most Innovative Latin American Companies of 2021" are currently based in Brazil. What's more, as Apex-Brasil recently announced, the country has maintained its overall rank on the 2021 Bloomberg Innovation Index and jumped four places on the 2020 Global Innovation Index, which is underscored further by a stark increase in the number of startup unicorns in the country from only seven unicorns less than two years ago to 19 today, a 156% increase. Please visit: https://www.startoutbrasil.com.br/english/. Here, you can learn more about how StartOut Brasil has expanded since the program's launch in 2017 to introduce Brazilian startups to 11 international markets, including London, Shanghai, and Toronto. By 2021, an estimated 270 startups will have participated in the program. To learn more about Apex-Brasil, please visit: http://www.apexbrasil.com.br/en/home. About Apex-Brasil The Brazilian Trade and Investment Promotion Agency (Apex-Brasil) works to promote Brazilian products and services abroad, and to attract foreign investment to strategic sectors of the Brazilian economy. Apex-Brasil organizes several initiatives aiming to promote Brazilian exports abroad. The Agencys efforts comprise trade and prospective missions, business rounds, support for the participation of Brazilian companies in major international trade fairs, arrangement of technical visits of foreign buyers and opinion makers to learn about the Brazilian productive structure, and other select activities designed to strengthen the country's branding abroad. Apex-Brasil also plays a leading role in attracting foreign direct investment (FDI) to Brazil, by working to identify business opportunities, promoting strategic events and lending support to foreign investors willing to allocate resources in Brazil. Media Contacts Lilian Leao Alves Apex-Brasil lilian.leao@apexbrasil.com.br +55 (61) 9 8462 0525 McKenzie Naylor Ruder Finn PR on behalf of Apex-Brasil in the U.S. McKenzie.Naylor@ruderfinn.com +1 (212) 593-6434 View original content:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/apex-brasil-hosts-virtual-startup-program-to-immerse-brazilian-startups-in-new-york-city-business-ecosystem-301269827.html SOURCE Apex-Brasil [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] Close Get email notifications on {{subject}} daily! Your notification has been saved. There was a problem saving your notification. {{description}} Email notifications are only sent once a day, and only if there are new matching items. The Nigerian government on Thursday announced that it has approved the activation of new SIM card registration with mandatory National Identification Number (NIN) linking, starting from April 19. This was disclosed in a statement issued and signed by Femi Adeluyi, Technical Assistant (Information Technology) to the Minister of Communications and Digital Economy. The implementation of the policy will commence on Monday, 19th of April 2021. The issuance of new SIMs and other suspended activities will resume on the same date, as long as verification is done and the guidelines are fully adhered to, the statement reads. Mr Adeluyi stated that the minister has also directed the Nigerian Communications Commission and NIMC to ensure that the provisions of the policy are strictly followed by all operators and subscribers. The ban On December 9 last year, the government ordered mobile telecommunication operators in the country to stop the sale and registration of new SIM cards. In line with the Federal Government desire to consolidate the achievement of the SIM Card registration exercise of September, 2019, the Honourable Minister of Communications and Digital Economy has directed the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) to embark on another audit of the Subscriber Registration Database again, the communication ministry said. It said the objective of the audit exercise was to verify and ensure compliance by Mobile Network Operators (MNOs) with the set quality standards and requirements of SIM Card Registration as issued by the Federal Ministry of Communications and Digital Economy and the Commission. Accordingly, MNOs are hereby directed to immediately suspend the sale, registration and activation of new SIM Cards until the audit exercise is concluded, and Government has conveyed the new direction, the ministry statement read. Steps taken so far Mr Adeluyi in the statement explained that with the Nigerian Communications Act 2003, Section 23(a), the Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Isa Pantami, coordinated and led the development of a revised National Digital Identity Policy for SIM card registration in collaboration with all other stakeholders. He noted that the key aspects of the draft policy were presented to the stakeholders at the 4th review meeting of the Ministerial Task Force on the NIN-SIM registration which was held in February. According to the statement, Mr Pantami also presented the revised policy to President Muhammadu Buhari, on March 26, and the final amendments were completed Wednesday with further improvements and endorsed by the president. The statement noted that the policy includes guidelines on new SIM acquisition and activation, SIM replacement, New SIM activation for corporates and Internet-of-Things, Machine-to-Machine, amongst others. For the corporate registration, institutions would be required to appoint a Telecoms Master (at the minimum of an Executive Management level) to provide the operational Primary NIN representation, it said. The Telecoms Master would also be responsible for ensuring that the users provide their NINs to serve as a secondary NIN, according to the statement. The statement said, For IoT/M2M activations, SIM security protocols would be implemented on the SIM profile to ensure that SIMs can only be used for point to point data services specific to the URL they are working with. All other services will be barred. In the event that a data only service is particular to individual use (eg home car tracking, WiFi, MiFi services, etc), the standard NIN registration process will be followed. A Telecoms Master will also be required for Corporates requiring IoT/M2M activations. Speaking on the NIN registration progress, Mr Adeluyi said the biometric verification process had been slower than anticipated, owing largely to the non-adherence of many previous SIM biometric capture processes to the National Identity Management Commission standards. He added that the revised policy would ensure that operators conform to the required standards for biometric capture. ADVERTISEMENT He urged citizens and legal residents to bear with the government as the process had been developed in the best interest of the country. We may still be two months from the Galaxy Tab S7 Lite's release, but Evan Blass has delivered several marketing renders. Shown in Mystic Black, the 12.4-inch tablet is expected to launch with a Snapdragon 750G, 5G connectivity and S Pen support. 4 Reviews , News , CPU , GPU , Articles , Columns , Other "or" search relation. 5G , Accessory , Alder Lake , AMD , Android , Apple , ARM , Audio , Business , Camera , Cannon Lake , Cezanne (Zen 3) , Charts , Chinese Tech , Chromebook , Coffee Lake , Comet Lake , Console , Convertible / 2-in-1 , Cryptocurrency , Cyberlaw , Deal , Desktop , Exclusive , Fail , Foldable , Gadget , Galaxy Note , Galaxy S , Gamecheck , Gaming , Geforce , Google Pixel , GPU , How To , Ice Lake , Intel Evo / Project Athena , Internet of Things (IoT) , iOS , iPad Pro , iPhone , Jasper Lake , Lakefield , Laptop , Launch , Linux / Unix , Lucienne (Zen 2) , MacBook , Mini PC , Monitor , MSI , OnePlus , Opinion , Phablet , Radeon , Renoir , Review Snippet , Rocket Lake , Rumor , Ryzen (Zen) , Science , Security , Smart Home , Smartphone , Smartwatch , Software , Storage , Tablet , ThinkPad , Thunderbolt , Tiger Lake , Touchscreen , Ultrabook , Virtual Reality (VR) / Augmented Reality (AR) , Wearable , Windows , Workstation , XPS , Zen 3 (Vermeer) Ticker Evan Blass has published Galaxy Tab S7 Lite marketing renders on Twitter and his Voice channel. WalkingCat leaked a Tab S7 Lite render earlier this year, but this is the first time that we have seen the tablet from multiple angles. According to Blass, we are looking at the Tab S7 Lite in Mystic Black, although we imagine that Samsung plans to release the tablet in more than one 'Mystic' colour. The renders show that the tablet can hold an S Pen on its rear, but USB Type-C is its only port. There are also AKG-tuned stereo speakers, two cameras and relatively slim bezels around its 12.4-inch display. One of the most distinguished and sought after cheeses that Italy has to offer is Parmigiano Reggiano. Dont mistake this with the imitation Parmesan that has a powdery texture and somewhat dull flavor. Parmigiano Reggiano is a force to be reckoned with in the world of cheese, and it bears a monumental backstory. The history of Parmigiano Reggiano The history of Parmigiano Reggiano dates way back to the late 1000s with Benedictine and Cistercian monks. They allegedly were in search of a cheese that could be preserved well, so they utilized salt from Salsomaggiore salt mines and the milk from cows in granges (farms belonging to monasteries) to create a paste-like cheese preserved in wheels. The first official sale of this cheese was in the 1200s as a notary showed Caseus parmensis (Parma cheese) being sold in Genoa, an area outside of where the cheese was produced. The 14th and 15th centuries saw major economic development and the cheese was now being traded in Romagna, Piemonte, Toscania, and even Mediterranean ports. The increase of production plains in Parma and Reggio led to an increase of the cheese, and inevitably, even further economic development. Parma merchants called formaggiai or lardaroli were selling cheese and deli meats to traders in Milan and Cremona, which were then exported to other European destinations such as Germany, France, and Spain. In terms of usage, Parmigiano was frequently mentioned in recipes at this time, mostly for pasta or even desserts. An official region to avoid imitations In the 17th century, the Duke of Parma, Ranuccio I, decided to designate an official region to protect the cheese from being imitated. The provinces decided , which remain the same today, consist of Parma, Reggio Emilia, Modena, Bologna, and Mantua. It was no easy feat to establish the meticulous parameters for Parmigiano Reggiano. In the 1900s, the verification of the cheese was of the utmost importance. In 1934, dairy representatives from the five provinces agreed that a mark of origin was needed for their cheese, which was C.G.T. Parmigiano Reggiano. The Parmigiano Reggiano cheese consortium After World War II, the International Convention for the Use of Appellations DOrigine and Denominations of Cheeses was held to establish that certain European countries maintained the right to create unique branding. A few years later in 1954, the Parmigiano Reggiano Cheese Consortium was established as the protection body. Then, what seemed to be a crucial change in the branding of the cheese occurred in 1964, when a dotted inscription that marks the circumference of the wheel was introduced which reads, unsurprisingly, Parmigiano-Reggiano. A little more than thirty years later and Parmigiano Reggiano became officially recognized as a European PDO (Protected Designation of Origin). How Parimigiano Reggiano is made Despite its somewhat complicated journey to becoming the esteemed cheese we know and love today, Parmigiano Reggiano has maintained the same, classic production technique since its creation about a thousand years ago. Primarily, it is necessary to start with milk that came from cattle that is fed with locally grown produce. The milk collected from the evening prior is left to rest so it skims in a natural way. Then, approximately 550-600 liters are poured into a copper, bell-shaped vat. The milk slowly congeals with rennet (enzymes from the cattles stomach) and whey starter (which is rich in starter cultures) and curds begin to form. It is then broken down by a master cheese-maker into tiny granules with a tool called a spino which is an ancient wooden or iron tool which is crucial in giving the cheese a grainy texture. It is kept cooking at 55 degrees celsius for about 50 minutes, which allows the cheese to form into a mass of two twin wheels which are cut in half and placed into separate moulds. The wheels receive an alphanumeric code and a marking brand engraves the date and year as well as the perforated edges. In the final stages of the production cycle, which is after only a few days, the wheels are immersed in salt water and the osmosis process begins. Tapping the wheel At the 12 month mark, the most crucial step arrives. Consortium experts carry out a test of the cheese, in which they tap the wheel with a hammer. A trained ear can detect defaults (talk about a dream job), and depending on the grade of the cheese, they are sent on their merry way. First grade Parmigiano Reggiano are perfectly fine wheels, and are branded with a hot iron. Medium-grade shows minor defects in the rind or paste structure, but theyre not defected severely so they are still marked with the brand but have parallel grooves on the rind to distinguish it. In what I imagine to be cheese exile, de-rinded wheels are the worst of the worst and cannot be approved by the PDO. They are sripped of the Parmigiano Reggiano name (quite literally, as the rind is scraped of its engravings) and are downgraded to cheese blends. Another important step at the 12 month mark is deciding the length of the cheese aging. The minimum is 12 months which allows the young cheese to be soft and more delicate. The next stage is called Vecchio and is 18-24 months. This time period allows for a more crumbly, textured cheese that is typically used for pasta fillings and pairs nicely with sparkling wines. Stravecchio is 24-36 months and provides an intense flavor, and the saltiness pairs well with honey or aceto di Modena. These are the most common aging periods, yet even lengthier maturation periods are used from 40 months to 100 months. Health benefits Not only is Parmigiano Reggiano a delectable treat, but Italians have declared some health benefits it possesses. For example, the cheese is naturally lactose free, so most anyone can indulge in it. Even the youngest fermented cheese is safe for babies. In addition, the high percent of free amino acids aids with muscle regeneration after physical exertion. So, if youre at the store browsing for something to snack on, dont opt for the cheap imitation, get the real thing and reap the benefits of this divine creation. Products featured in this Mail Best article are independently selected by our shopping writers. If you make a purchase using links on this page, we may earn an affiliate commission. Constant hand washing and the cold weather have left most people's hands dry and more parched than ever. This can be a real challenge to relieve, no matter how many creams and lotions you slather on. But hundreds of Amazon shoppers say the Nursem Caring Hand Cream is the antidote you need for tackling dry and cracked hands that are in need of some serious TLC. Users and even health professionals say the cream, which costs 9.99 a tube, is 'the best hand cream for hard working hands', leaving hands 'soft soft' and 'silky' after use. The protective and nourishing cream from Nursem (9.99) has an all-star formulation of medical-grade Manuka honey, colloidal oatmeal, allantoin and hyaluronic acid And as it turns out, Amazon shoppers aren't the only fans of Nursem Caring Hand Cream. Jonny and Antonia Philp, the co-founders of Nursem, recently appeared on Dragons' Den, and all five Dragons made them an offer on investment in the company. After much deliberation, the couple struck a deal with Tej Lalvani and walked away with a 75,000 investment. Founded by nurse Antonia and her husband Jonny, Nursem was created to treat the skin condition contact dermatitis, which causes the skin to become itchy, blistered, dry and cracked. Many NHS workers have experienced this, including Antonia, who in 2009 was unable to work for several weeks as her hands became sore, cracked and even bled. With this in mind, the Nursem Promise states that the business will give a month's worth of hand cream to a nurse or midwife for every product purchased. Amazing, right? Speaking to the dragons, Jonny said they were pitching for 75,000 in return for 1.5 per cent equity - before ending up with a full house of dragons fighting for a share in their business Thanks to a soothing, conditioning and hydrating blend of medical-grade Manuka honey, colloidal oatmeal, allantoin, and hyaluronic acid, the lotion has a balm-like consistency that works not only to hydrate skin but also help protect it from future damage. And despite its ultra-moisturising line-up, many reviewers say the formula is quick-drying and non-greasy, while others claim to feel relief within a couple of days (if not instantly). 'Wow,' one reviewer exclaimed. 'I have been suffering so much with all the hand washing. I always suffer anyway, but COVID times have only exacerbated the issue. Often I am almost in tears due to the pain from sore, cracked and bleeding hands. 'I received the cream this morning and couldn't wait to put some on my very sore hands (I ordered next day delivery as I couldn't bear it any longer!) I felt immediate relief, and after a couple of applications, my hands feel great! The Nursem Promise states that the business will give a month's worth of hand cream to a nurse or midwife for every product purchased With all dragons deadlocked at five per cent, and agreeing it'll go down to three per cent once they get their money back, Jonny finally announced the winning dragon, Tej Lalvani (pictured) 'As other reviewers have said, it doesn't leave hands greasy and doesn't require a wipe of Palms after use. A really amazing product. Highly recommend!' 'The best I have tried,' another reviewer wrote. 'Very good hand cream. Most hand creams don't last or are really greasy. This one makes a great difference to dry hands, and I will certainly be buying it again. Definitely recommend.' A third shopper, who suffers from eczema, commented: 'This cream must be tried. It's no more expensive than a prescription. I suffer from eczema on my hands. It's been life long, and I'm 54. I was having a shedding episode. 'That means the skin comes away like sunburn on your back, in huge pieces, then it cracks and is painful even with steroid cream; it is awful for more than two weeks. 'This cream was amazing. I was able to flex my hands although I still used cotton gloves, and my hands were healed within a week.' The Prince William Times is honored to serve as your community companion. To say thank you, we are excited to offer 4 weeks FREE Digital & Print access to all subscribers new and returning alike. We are dedicated to continuing providing reliable, high quality journalism. This is possible with the trust and support of our subscribers in the community we are proud to serve. MEDFORD, Ore. Local students are transforming school buses into homes for families who lost everything in the Almeda Fire. The Bus Project is the first of its kind, and just started a couple weeks ago. Talent Maker City, Skoolie Home Foundation, Southern Oregon Educational Service District, Medford School District, Phoenix-Talent School District, Project Youth Plus, Armadillo Technical Institute and industry partners are all teaming up to make The Bus Project possible. Skoolie Home Foundation, which transforms school buses into homes for the homeless, donated two school buses to get the project started. What began as an inspiration in the wake of the Almeda fire has transformed into a far-reaching community project that can not only provide much-needed housing to families in need but also teach students construction skills. The students know first-hand the impact the Almeda Fire had on our community. I was one of the ones affected, said Bryan Flores, a senior at Phoenix High School who is a part of The Bus Program. I feel like Im contributing and doing something for the community, said Ami Safady, a sophomore at Phoenix High School who is also a part of The Bus Program, Its been fun but also kind of scary because you dont want to mess up. Community partnership between industry, education, and nonprofit organizations has come together to pro-mote STEM education and Career and Technical Education: SOESD, Southern Oregon STEM HUB, Talent Maker City, Medford School District, Phoenix-Talent School District, Project Youth Plus, and Armadillo Technical Institute. The first two skoolies are expected to be completed by June as part of a pilot program. Were hoping this is just the beginning, said Alli French of Talent Maker City, If all goes well, well be back in the fall creating more opportunities for teaching and housing families. Students from SMHS, PHS, and ATI are participating in converting these first two buses as prototypes so that this process can be repeated across Jackson and Josephine counties next year. Student Construction Interns are being paid a stipend through Project Youth Plus to complete the project using employability skills rubric. Theyre learning employability skills, said French, Theyre learning about having a good attitude, working in a hot bus; I mean, the temperature got a little warm in there the other day so its dirty, its hard work and theyre learning construction skills. One of the highest needs in our region is skilled workers in the construction trades. The Bus Project provides exploration and training in the trades allowing students the opportunity to get to know local professionals in the process. We want this to impact and influence all of Southern Oregon, our entire Valley in a really positive way for years to come, said French. Right now, The Bus Program is looking for more industry partners. You can find a list of needs and opportunities to get involved HERE. A young peregrine falcon hatched on the top of Syracuse City Hall last year that was having trouble fledging was rescued by a nearby state worker, not a city employee. A story late last month on Syracuse.com reported how the city of Syracuse, with the state Department of Environmental Conservations help, put a peregrine falcon nesting box on top of city hall to deal with a nagging pigeon problem. In thestory, it was noted an unnamed city worker came to rescue of a young peregrine falcon that had recently hatched and was having trouble after it left the nest. The worker, the story reported, contacted the state Department of Environmental Conservation, who turned it over a local animal wildlife rehabilitator who then took the young male bird to Cornells School of Veterinary Medicine, where he was treated for elevated lead levels in his blood. After being successfully treated at Cornell, the healthy bird was returned to the city of Syracuse, where he reunited with his parents on top of City Hall. The worker who actually found the hurting bird was Bob Fedrizzi, one of our senior New York State Office of General Services staff, according to Dennis Coughlin, a building manager at the nearby Sen. John Hughes State Office Building on Washington Street. Bob is an avid watcher of our local falcons and monitors them regularly, Coughlin said. On the day the bird was actually rescued, Bob was watching the baby falcon trying to gain enough energy to fly back up to roof height. The falcon was exhausted and could no longer remain in flight, he landed at the rear of the Sen. John J. Hughes State Office Building. Bob walked over to the falcon and picked him up before he could be injured. Coughlin said it was Fedrizzi who contacted the DEC and turned the little guy over. Bob is a very caring man and takes pride in everything he does -- including rescuing baby falcons, Coughlin added. MORE UPSTATE NY OUTDOORS County by county approval needed for NY hunters age 12, 13 to hunt deer with firearms, crossbow Hudson River striped bass fishing season: Use of in-line circle hooks with bait mandatory NY seeks volunteers to help with increased numbers of hikers at popular trailheads and problems they cause Troutland 2021: Upstate NY anglers share photos of their impressive catches Confused about NYs new trout fishing plan and regulations? Go online -- for now Dont be that trout angler who trashes the side of a stream, ruining things for others Anglers tail: I caught a 14 1/2-inch goldfish in Onondaga Lake with my fly rod Who goes there? The owls of New York, the unique sounds they make and more (videos) UPGRADE YOUR OUTDOOR GEAR 2020 shooting-related hunting accidents: 2 of the 3 fatals occurred in Onondaga County Fishing Gear | Camo Face Masks | Hunting Gear | Camping Supplies Partnering with MrTaxes.ca, Filogix Expert Pro can now deliver Canadian mortgage brokers with Notice of Assessment (NOA) documentation in as little as 30 minutes TORONTO, April 15, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Filogix, a Finastra company, announced that Filogix Expert Pro now offers enhanced NOA functionality through an exclusive partnership with MrTaxes.ca Inc. The new functionality provides an unparalleled level of service to the Expert Pro user, all accomplished within the Expert Pro platform, with a turnaround time of as little as 30 minutes (within business hours), once customer consent is received. Filogix Expert Pro has streamlined the process of retrieving necessary NOA documentation, including two years of Notices of Assessment and taxpayer's statements, with all processes completed within the Filogix Expert Pro platform. The broker no longer needs to establish its own business relationship or process documents outside the platform to fulfill NOA requests for its borrower. And because the borrower completes the request for NOA documentation directly, without broker intermediation, the borrower's data is protected as standard. "Filogix is committed to leading the digital enablement of the Canadian mortgage industry," said Siobhan Byron, Senior Vice President and Head of Finastra's Technology Enabled Managed Services. "By partnering with MrTaxes.ca to enhance NOA capabilities within the Filogix Expert Pro platform, we are providing the industry with the most modern, fastest, seamless solution for assisting borrowers in obtaining important Canada Revenue Agency documents required by the lender." "MrTaxes.ca's partnership with Filogix removes a significant hurdle for both brokers and clients," added Robert Stone, Founder, President and CEO, MrTaxes.ca Inc. "Working together, we can better serve the mortgage community through the most comprehensive tax documentation service for mortgage brokers throughout Canada." Filogix Expert Pro's enhanced NOA functionality follows the launch of Filogix Expert Pro and Filogix Expert Plus - solutions that digitize the full end-to-end mortgage process. Both Filogix Expert Pro and Filogix Expert Plus are built on the cloud-based point-of-sale mortgage capabilities obtained through the acquisition of Doorr to give Canadian mortgage professionals a dynamic platform to run their businesses, their way - anytime, anywhere. finastra.com About Finastra Finastra is building an open platform that accelerates collaboration and innovation in financial services, creating better experiences for people, businesses and communities. Supported by the broadest and deepest portfolio of financial services software, Finastra delivers this vitally important technology to financial institutions of all sizes across the globe, including 90 of the world's top 100 banks. Our open architecture approach brings together a number of partners and innovators. Together we are leading the way in which applications are written, deployed and consumed in financial services to evolve with the changing needs of customers. Learn more at finastra.com LinkedIn Twitter YouTube Corporate headquarters 4 Kingdom Street Paddington London W2 6BD United Kingdom T: +44 20 3320 5000 North American headquarters 744 Primera Boulevard Suite 2000 Lake Mary, FL 32746 United States T: +1 800 989 9009 Logo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/967510/Finastra_Logo.jpg The Kremlin, on April 14, stated that a summit between Russian President Vladimir Putin and his American counterpart Joe Biden would be contingent on US behavior, a statement that comes days after reportedly asking Washington to scrap plans to impose sanctions. With Moscow escalating its military build-up in Ukraine, Biden on Tuesday dialed Putin and asked him to deescalate tensions in the region. During his call to Putin, the 78-year-old also proposed a summit in a third European country, to deliberate upon the tensions between the two. However, on Wednesday, Kremlin Press Secretary Dmitry Peskov clarified that the proposed summit would only be possible taking into account an analysis of the actual situation and further steps from our counterparts. Speaking to RIA news agency, the Kremlin spokesperson had previously downplayed the possibility of the summit highlighting that it was still too early to talk about it in tangible terms. "It's a new proposal and it will be studied," Peskov told reporters, saying no preparations for the summit were yet underway. When asked by Russian daily Kommersant about potential topics of discussion, Peskov asserted that it was too early to comment on that, however, he emphasised that the summit could potentially focus on enhancing bilateral ties. Bilateral relations are important in those aspects that represent mutual interests and in the discussions that the parties are interested in, he said. New Lows The relationship between the cold war foes hit rock bottom last month after Biden publically called Putin a "killer." The Russian President responded by saying "it takes one to know one." Moscow also called its ambassador to the US back. Apart from the Kremlin's treatment and arrest of opposition leader Alexei Navalny, Moscow and the US have also been warring upon Russia's 2014 annexation of Ukraine's the Crimean Peninsula, election meddling, hacking attacks amongst others. Earlier, NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg expressed the Western military alliance's "unwavering" support for Ukraine and warned Moscow on April 13. Stoltenberg at a news conference with Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba called the Russian movements "unjustified, unexplained and deeply concerning". The comments came amid rising in ceasefire violations over the Ukrainian border. (Image Credits: The Associated Press) Colorado Springs, CO (80903) Today Sunny to partly cloudy. High 88F. Winds ESE at 10 to 15 mph.. Tonight A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible early. Partly to mostly cloudy. Low 59F. Winds NW at 10 to 15 mph. A demonstrator holding a poster of George Floyd and sign reading Justice for Wright in front of a line of police officers outside the Brooklyn Center police station while protesting the death of Daunte Wright who was shot and killed by a police officer in Brooklyn Center, Minnesota on 14 April 2021 ((AFP via Getty Images)) Former Brooklyn Center police officer Kim Potters first court hearing on second-degree manslaughter charges is scheduled for today, while the defence in the Derek Chauvin murder trial could wrap up its case. Ms Potter was charged with second-degree manslaughter on Wednesday, stemming from the fatal shooting of 20-year-old Black Man Daunte Wright during a traffic stop on Sunday. In a statement announcing Ms Potters charges on Wednesday, Imran Ali, Washington County assistant criminal division chief, said that her action caused the unlawful killing of Mr Wright and she must be held accountable. Her first court appearance is scheduled to be via Zoom at around 1:30pm. Under her current charges, Ms Potter faces up to 10 years in prison. Meanwhile, nearby to where Mr Wright was killed, the defence in the Derek Chauvin trial is scheduled to wrap up its defence today. Mr Chauvin is currently standing trial for the murder of unarmed Black man George Floyd, who died in the former Minneapolis police officers custody last May. Tensions in the city are already high amid Mr Chauvins trial and Minneapolis faced its fourth night of civil unrest on Wednesday after the killing of Mr Wright, which occurred in the suburb of Brooklyn Center. Protests continued outside the Brooklyn Center police station on Wednesday evening, just hours after Ms Potter, who resigned from the force the day before, was charged with second-degree manslaughter. Although the protests on Wednesday were calmer then previous nights, demonstrators called for Ms Potter to be charged with murder as 24 were arrested. The Star Tribune reported that during the protests on Wednesday, Jaylani Hussein, executive director of the Minnesota chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, shouted: What do we want? Murder charges! What she did was murder! Check out The Independents updates and analysis below. THE HAGUE (dpa-AFX) - Dutch telecom firm Royal KPN NV (KKPNY.PK, KPN) said that Annual General Meeting of Shareholders approved all items on the agenda. The agenda included a resolution to declare a total dividend over the fiscal year 2020 of 13.0 euros cents per ordinary share. Therefore, a final dividend of 8.7 euros cents per ordinary share will be paid in cash, net of 15% dividend withholding tax, on 21 April 2021. In addition, the AGM decided to appoint Gerard van de Aast as member of the Supervisory Board, to succeed Derk Haank who reached the end of his third term of appointment. The AGM also decided to reappoint Edzard Overbeek as member of the Supervisory Board. 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. SEVEN Oaks School Division is preparing for a rise in exposures of highly contagious variants of COVID-19 in its schools. SEVEN Oaks School Division is preparing for a rise in exposures of highly contagious variants of COVID-19 in its schools. The division plans to order 75,000 medical-grade respirators enough to equip each of its teachers, educational assistants and other school employees with one mask daily for the rest of the school year. The first batch of masks, which arrived Wednesday, will be distributed this week. "With the rise in variants, and they seem to be hitting younger age groups, we are worried about the vulnerability of our staff. This is one additional precaution that we could take, so were inclined to take it," said superintendent Brian OLeary. A total of 560 cases of highly contagious variants 88 per cent of which involve the B.1.1.7 variant have been confirmed in Manitoba. Research suggests younger adults have experienced more severe symptoms and outcomes after contracting variants, in comparison to the original COVID-19 strain. The bulk of Seven Oaks approximately 1,500 employees are in the 30 to 50 age range, OLeary said, noting the division wants to provide staff with maximum protection. He added, "Our staff have been doing an incredible job throughout (the pandemic) and I wish we could do more for them." Seven Oaks sourced the masks independently, at a price tag of approximately one dollar per respirator, because the division wasnt able to secure its supply through the province. N95 respirators, which are often used in health-care settings, form a seal around the nose and mouth of a wearer to protect them from hazardous airborne particles. When worn properly, they provide 95 per cent protection against exposure to respiratory viruses, according to Health Canada. JOHN WOODS / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS Marty Harasymchuk, Maintenance and Custodial Coordinator for the Seven Oaks School Division moves a pallet of new N95 masks. The division will be ordering 75,000 of these masks to help protect staff against COVID-19. The provinces top doctor has yet to recommend front-line school employees wear them; staff who interact with different student cohorts are required to wear disposable medical masks at present, while others can wear non-medical face coverings. "While we want to make sure teachers and school staff are protected, public health officials tell us that exposures and transmission in schools is different from that in health-care settings, and doesnt require the N95 masks," Education Minister Cliff Cullen said in an email statement Wednesday. Cullen said the province dedicated $12 million for masks and personal protective equipment through the safe schools fund in 2020. School staff has been given medical masks, face shields, gloves, and disposable medical gowns, among other items, throughout the pandemic. Dion Delorme, president of Educational Assistants of Seven Oaks, welcomed the additional N95 protection Wednesday. "This is definitely a step in the right direction," said Delorme. The Manitoba Teachers Society said it is focusing advocacy efforts on making front-line educators a priority in the COVID-19 immunization queue. "Were disappointed that another day has gone by and (there have been) no announcements about prioritizing teachers and other adults working in schools for the vaccine," said Nathan Martindale, vice-president of MTS, following an education news conference unrelated to vaccines Tuesday. There have been at least 44 variant exposures in schools since March 1. Public health officials, however, insist schools are doing an exceptional job of limiting transmission, which they say is happening primarily at gatherings outside school hours. The province has touted stricter contact-tracing protocols and longer isolation periods as proactive measures to limit variant transmission in schools. maggie.macintosh@freepress.mb.ca Twitter: @macintoshmaggie The Queensland Supreme Court has ruled in favour of Advanta Seeds, a subsidiary of UPL. "We are pleased that the Supreme Court of Queensland in Australia has dismissed a class action litigation against Advanta Seeds Pty Ltd, Company's subsidiary in Australia. This class action, funded by a UK based litigation funder, alleged that seeds sold by Advanta in 2010/2011 to certain growers in Queensland and News South Wales region of Australia, were contaminated," the company said in a regulatory filing. Advanta Seeds stated that its team has continued to work closely with growers in the interests of improved crop productivity and farm management. The company invests heavily in research and development and continue to pioneer industry-leading practices and new seed products. "From here, we intend to continue to invest in research, technology and new products and support those hardworking farming businesses who are the backbone of Australia's agricultural sector. We respect the 28-day period that the plaintiffs now have to consider whether to appeal this decision. Given this, we will not be making any further comment regarding the case at this time, Advanta Seeds said in a statement. On a consolidated basis, UPL reported a 12.6% jump in net profit to Rs 944 crore on 2.6% rise in net sales to Rs 9,126 crore in Q3 FY21 over Q3 FY20. UPL is a global provider of sustainable agriculture products & solutions. Shares of UPL gained 0.87% to Rs 609.70 on BSE. Powered by Capital Market - Live News (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Nicky Hilton is excited her older sister Paris became engaged this year to businessman Carter Reum, 40. But the author and shoe designer told New You magazine that the former reality TV star has not started planning the wedding yet. 'I don't think she's doing it in the immediate future. She wants to do it when everyone is safe and theres a bit more clarity but I'll definitely be helping her, especially with the fun things like the bachelorette party,' she said, adding her sister will have a joint bachelor/bachelorette party possibly in Las Vegas or Miami. Happy for sis: Nicky Hilton is excited her older sister Paris became engaged this year to businessman Carter Reum, 40 New cover: But the author and shoe designer told New You magazine that the former reality TV star has not started planning the wedding yet; image by Fadil Berisha Photography The New York resident then said Paris has been very busy with her ventures: 'Or maybe it's because she's been so busy with launching her podcast and her production company but she hasnt really had time to even think about it.' And Nicky also shed light on what kind of bride Paris, 40, will be. 'Paris is the opposite of a Bridezilla,' shared Nicky. 'I told her, If you want to have a wedding anytime soon, you better get on it. Venues get booked up. Some of these dresses take a few months to make. But she seems very focused on her business right now.' As far as Carter, Nicky said he is 'really nice' and they are very happy together. 'They are very similar. They are very focused and passionate about their work. They get along great,' she added. Her older sister: 'I don't think she's doing it in the immediate future. She wants to do it when everyone is safe and theres a bit more clarity but I'll definitely be helping her,' said Nicky The future Mr and Mrs Reum: Nicky and Carter became engaged earlier this year; seen in the US Virgin Islands And she thinks her sister will be a great mom: 'If how she is as a mother to her pets is any indication, shes going to be a fantastic, doting mother.' As far as her own husband - she has been married since 2015 to European banking heir James Rothschild with whom she has two daughters, Lily and Teddy - things are just dandy. They are about to celebrate their sixth wedding anniversary: 'We dont have plans. Usually, we are visiting my husbands family in Europe. Sometimes we like to go to Italy, which is where we got engaged, but Im not really sure whats going to happen with travel restrictions. So, no plans. Maybe a nice home-cooked dinner.' When asked how she stays happy with her man, she said: 'How do we do it? We laugh sometimes, like thank God we enjoy each other so much because this would be really tedious otherwise. Because we have literally not left each others side since last March. Busy girl: The New York resident then said Paris has been very busy with her ventures: 'Or maybe it's because she's been so busy with launching her podcast and her production company but she hasnt really had time to even think about it' 'But I really cherished that family time. When you look back at the beginning of the pandemic, when we were really locked down, just to be having breakfast, lunch and dinner with your husband and children every single day for 100 consecutive days. She has been married since 2015 to European banking heir James Rothschild; seen in 2020 'When else in my life will I do that? We are very happy and grateful for our family and our familys health.' And there could be a third child: 'I dont know but never say never. Who knows whats in store for me? I love girls so I would be happy with another girl. I would be thrilled with a boy. Honestly, as long as they are healthy, Im happy,' she told writer Ashley Hume. These days Nicky is bringing sustainability to the forefront of the luxury footwear space. For her fourth collection in partnership with Manhattan-based brand French Sole, the 37-year-old businesswoman fulfilled a long-time goal of producing a 100% eco-friendly and cruelty-free shoe line. Rothschild collaborated with one of her closest childhood friends, Amanda Hearst Rnning, to create the collection, which launched exclusively on Rnnings earth-conscious fashion platform, Maison De Mode. In honor of Earth Month, 10% of sales in April will be donated to Rnnings animal welfare charity, Wellbeings. Shoe maven: These days Nicky is bringing sustainability to the forefront of the luxury footwear space. For her fourth collection in partnership with Manhattan-based brand French Sole, the 37-year-old businesswoman fulfilled a long-time goal of producing a 100% eco-friendly and cruelty-free shoe line 'Its something that I have wanted to do for a long time. I feel like we all have to do our part. I consider myself a pretty eco-conscious person. Im not perfect but I do try to lead a more sustainable life by taking shorter showers, turning the lights off when I leave the room and bringing reusable bags to the market, so it was only a matter of time before I incorporated that into my business. 'I wanted the collection to be 100% sustainable, not partly, so it was a big deal for me to have all animal-free materials and all certified recycled materials. We worked with a factory in Spain that specializes in sustainable materials. It was very new for me but it was really interesting too. 'One of my favorite parts of the process was going through the different soles of the shoes and seeing how they have advanced so much, even in just the past few years. They have all these amazing soles that are plant-based or made out of recycled water bottles. Everton target Aarons as long-term solution at right-back | Wednesday, 14 April 2021 With Jonjoe Kenny expected to leave the club this summer and Coleman turning 33 later this year, the Blues are in the market for a new right-back. Aarons is highly-rated and has been linked with a move to Everton ever since Marcel Brands signed his former team-mate, Ben Godfrey, from the Canaries last summer. It appeared as though Brands was in for stiff competition for the 21-year-old's signature when it was claimed that Bayern Munich held serious interest in him but there were reports last month that the German giants had cooled on the idea. That could leave the path clear for Everton if, as Paul Joyce suggests in The Times, they can "haggle" Norwich down from their 30m asking price. Original Source: The Times Reliability rating: Note: the following content is not moderated or vetted by the site owners at the time of submission. Comments are the responsibility of the poster. Disclaimer About these ads ToffeeWeb Malawi is set to destroy 16,400 expired AstraZeneca vaccines out of 100,200 doses donated by the African Union only two weeks before their expiration date, the country's Health Ministry spokesman Joshua Malango told Sputnik on Thursday JOHANNESBURG (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 15th April, 2021) Malawi is set to destroy 16,400 expired AstraZeneca vaccines out of 100,200 doses donated by the African Union only two weeks before their expiration date, the country's Health Ministry spokesman Joshua Malango told Sputnik on Thursday. "We have already withdrawn and are to destroy the vaccines. We absorbed others for inoculation reasons prior to the expiry date. Our rollout is going unhindered as we expect more vaccines in May from the Covax Facility," Malango said. According to the official, Malawi managed to use the 85,600 doses in its mass vaccination campaign before expiration, though the country was forced to speed up the rollout to prevent bigger waste. Malawi aims to inoculate 11 million people by the end of the year. Apart from the vaccines directly obtained from the African Union, the country has secured 360 000 vaccines through the Covax Facility. India has also donated a further 50,000 doses to the country's vaccination program, Malango noted. "The EVgo Lab is powering the innovation to meet the significant future demands for EV charging infrastructure," said Ivo Steklac, EVgo's Chief Operating Officer and Chief Technology Officer. "The facility is enabling our engineers and technologists, along with our EVSE and OEM partners, to design, develop and safely test the comprehensive charging solutions of today and tomorrow." The critical research, development and testing completed at the EVgo Lab ensures the reliable operation of the Company's fast charging network and enables partners to bring EVs and their charging solutions to market with confidence. As a technology focused company with a dedication to integrating innovation with validation and testing, EVgo has an industry-leading 98 percent uptime across its network of over 800 charging sites that serve more than 235,000 customers across 34 states. The EVgo Lab serves as an innovation hub and proving ground for the latest generation of charging equipment, including market-leading power-sharing high power charging technology, new and existing electric vehicles, and new products and applications such as EVgo's Access and Reservations programs. The EVgo Lab is specifically designed and equipped to perform verification and certification of EVSEs (electric vehicle supply equipment), including cables and connectors, the latest modular power-sharing equipment, and critical EV and EVSE interoperability testing. The Company recently certified its next-generation power-sharing EVSE with development and testing accomplished at the EVgo Lab. This future-proof technology and other expandable solutions are capable of delivering power well in excess of capabilities of even the next generation of EVs, ensuring that EVgo stations can meet tomorrow's increasing kW demands. As the next generation of fast charging EVs are poised to hit the market, EVgo is collaborating with a broad array of automakers to test their vehicles' interoperability capabilities with cutting-edge hardware and software solutions. EVgo's EVSE and OEM partners are currently able to access the EVgo Lab to ensure EVgo network compatibility with their newest models, including Level 2 AC and 350kW DC Fast chargers, including those with power-sharing capabilities. EVgo's hardware team continues to innovate on new designs, including its integrated Tesla Connectors currently deployed at over 100 EVgo stations with active expansion programs underway. EVgo is the only U.S. network currently capable of charging all three fast charging protocols, including CHAdeMO, SAE Combo or CCS, and Tesla. Partners interested in collaborating with the EVgo Lab should contact the Company's hardware team at [email protected] . About EVgo EVgo is the nation's largest public fast charging network for electric vehicles, and the first to be powered by 100% renewable energy. With more than 800 fast charging locations in 65 metropolitan areas across 34 states, EVgo owns and operates the most public fast charging locations in the US. and serves more than 235,000 customers. Founded in 2010, EVgo leads the way on transportation electrification, partnering with automakers; fleet and rideshare operators; retail hosts such as hotels, shopping centers, gas stations and parking lot operators; and other stakeholders to deploy advanced charging technology to expand network availability and make it easier for all Americans to enjoy the benefits of driving an EV. As a charging technology first mover, EVgo works closely with business and government leaders to accelerate the ubiquitous adoption of EVs by providing a reliable and convenient charging experience close to where drivers live, work and play, whether for a daily commute or a commercial fleet. EVgo's parent company is LS Power, a New York-headquartered development, investment and operating company focused on leading edge solutions for the North American power and energy infrastructure sector. On January 22, 2021, EVgo announced that it entered into a definitive business combination agreement with Climate Change Crisis Real Impact I Acquisition Corporation ("CRIS") (NYSE: CLII). For more information visit evgo.com and lspower.com. About LS Power LS Power is a development, investment and operating company focused on the North American power and energy infrastructure sector. Since its inception in 1990, LS Power has developed, constructed, managed or acquired more than 45,000 MW of power generation, including utility-scale solar, wind, hydro, natural gas-fired and battery energy storage projects, and has developed more than 660 miles of high voltage electric transmission. Additionally, LS Power actively invests in businesses focused on renewable energy and renewable fuels, as well as distributed energy resource platforms, such as CPower Energy Management and EVgo. Across its efforts, LS Power has raised in excess of $46 billion in debt and equity capital to support North American infrastructure. For more information, please visit www.lspower.com. Contacts: EVgo For Investors: [email protected] For Media: [email protected] LS Power Steven Arabia Director, Government Affairs & Media Relations [email protected] 609-212-3857 SOURCE EVgo Related Links evgo.com Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has informed European Council President Charles Michel about the aggravation of the security situation in eastern Ukraine and stressed that a strong and adequate response from the international community is the key to preventing further escalation. This was said during a phone conversation between the leaders on April 15, the Ukrainian presidents press service reports. "We appreciate the European Union's support for Ukraine's sovereignty and territorial integrity. A decisive and adequate reaction on the part of the international community is a guarantee of preventing further escalation and saving lives, Zelensky stressed. The key focus of the conversation was on the aggravation of the security situation in eastern Ukraine. Zelensky briefed his interlocutor in detail on the developments that have taken place since the joint visit of the leaders of Ukraine and the EU to Donbas on March 2 this year. Volodymyr Zelensky and Charles Michel also discussed the initiative of the Crimean Platform and its content. In addition, the interlocutors agreed to approve shortly the date of the 23rd Ukraine-EU Summit to be held in Kyiv in the second half of the year. As Ukrinform reported, European Council President Charles Michel paid a two-day visit to Ukraine on March 2-3. ish Authorities Wednesday identified Thomas Gillis, a 42-year-old Boston man, as the pedestrian killed in a hit-and-run crash on Interstate 93 early Tuesday. The crash was reported around 4:25 a.m. on I-93 southbound near Exit 6 in Braintree. Gillis was found dead at the scene, according to a statement from Massachusetts State Police. The Boston man had entered the highway when he was hit near the second and third lanes. The vehicle that hit him didnt stop but instead sped away, state police said. State police troopers said Tuesday they were working to get a possible description of the vehicle and investigate the facts and circumstances surrounding the crash, including why Gillis was walking on the highway, according to authorities. The center and right travel lanes of the interstate were temporarily closed in the wake of the crash to let patrol, detective, collision reconstruction, and crime scene units investigate the scene, state police said. Related Content: Pedestrian killed in hit-and-run crash on Interstate 93 in Massachusetts Toronto, Ontario--(Newsfile Corp. - April 15, 2021) - Oxford Investments Holdings Inc. (OTC Pink: OXIHF) ("Oxford" or the "Company") is pleased to announce the launch of its online hemp sales website, PioneerGreenFarm.com. Oxford's Florida-based subsidiary, Pioneer Green Farms LLC ("Pioneer Green"), through its nursery partner, Drymon's Citrus Nursery ("Drymon's") is currently harvesting its winter hemp crop, one of the few winter crops that were grown in Florida. In preparation for harvest, the Drymon's facilities were subject to a comprehensive Dept. of Agriculture inspection to ensure the operations were in full compliance of the department's rules and regulations for hemp cultivation. Once its hemp crop was ready for harvest, Drymon's plants were sent to a state-approved third-party testing laboratory to ensure the plants are in compliance with the State's quality assurance guidelines. Subsequently, Drymon's received notification from the Florida Dept. of Agriculture that it is approved to harvest hemp Lot 7. This now enables Pioneer Green to market its CBD and CBG hemp flower throughout Florida, and to sell its "Fresh from Florida" hemp flower through its www.pioneergreenfarm.com website, which is now live. Pioneer Green is also pleased to report that Drymon's has completed planting its spring hemp crop, both indoors and outdoors, which will be harvested in July, 2021. Pioneer Green has essentially created a blueprint to assist and enable other Florida farmers to grow hemp in partnership with Pioneer Green. Under this structure, Pioneer Green would provide funding to the nursery to set up the infrastructure and provide guidance for the effective cultivation of hemp. The nursery would enter into a contractual revenue sharing agreement with Pioneer Green, replicating the Company's hemp operations under the Pioneer Green agreement with Drymon's. The hemp will be sold and marketed by Pioneer Green. Oxford also reports that the Company's auditors are reviewing and finalizing the audit of Pioneer Green's 2019 and 2020 financial statements, and will then complete the audit of Oxford's 2019 and 2020 Consolidated financial statements. "Despite a number of hardships, I'm very proud of our crew who worked incredibly hard and we learned a lot, survived bad weather conditions, pests, and other difficulties to successfully grew two hemp crops, and the revenue from the sale of the flower will enable Pioneer Green to continue operating for the next year debt-free," stated Michael Donaghy, President of Oxford. "The winter crop is being harvested and the spring crop has already been planted. This gives us the ability to sell top-quality 'Fresh from Florida' CBD and CBG flower throughout the State of Florida and through our Pioneer Green Farms website." Contacts: Oxford Investments Holdings Inc. Michael Donaghy 1-727-304-8003 Website: www.pioneergreenusa.com About Oxford Investments Holdings Inc. Oxford Investments Holdings Inc., through its Florida-based subsidiary, Pioneer Green Farms LLC., is engaged in funding and supporting farming operations for the cultivation of hemp in the State of Florida. Once CBD legislation is established in Canada, Oxford will be marketing the sale of retail store franchises and license agreements throughout Canada under the Pioneer Green brand. FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS DISCLAIMER: Statements in this press release, which are not historical, are forward-looking statements made pursuant to the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. There can be no assurance that such statements will prove to be accurate; actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements. Investors are cautioned that all forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties including, without limitation, risks associated with the Company's financial condition and prospects, legal risks associated with product liability and risks of governmental legislation and regulation, risks associated with market acceptance and technological changes, risks associated with dependence on suppliers, risks relating to international operations, risks associated with competition and other risks detailed in the Company's filings with securities regulatory authorities. These risks may cause results to differ materially from those projected in the forward-looking statements. To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/80430 Married At First Sight star Samantha Harvey proudly debuted her new relationship with boyfriend Jesse, earlier this month. And now the 31-year-old mother-of-two has revealed the strange connection between Jesse and her 'ex-husband' Cameron Dunne on Thursday. Speaking to WHO magazine, Samantha explained that crane rigger Jesse knows Cameron as they have worked together in the past. Link: Married At First Sight's Samantha Harvey, 31, reveals the surprising link between her new boyfriend Jesse (pictured) and ex Cameron Dunne on the show to WHO magazine 'Not long after we met I told Jesse I'd be going on Married At First Sight and it turns out he had worked with Cam,' she began. '[Cam was] also a rigger on a mine site in WA, it's a small world, right?' Finding love: 'Not long after we met I told Jesse I'd be going on Married At First Sight and it turns out he had worked with Cam,' she began. '[Cam was] also a rigger on a mine site in WA, it's a small world, right?' Samantha publicly debuted her new boyfriend at birthday celebrations for her co-star Liam Cooper in Canberra this month. She had been secretly dating Jesse since January. 'He is so supportive and encouraging and have a lot in common,' a close friend revealed of the couple. Romance: The 31-year-old property developer was spotted arriving at Kokomo's Canberra with the new man Jesse with the pair clearly smitten with each other The 31-year-old property developer was spotted arriving at Kokomo's Canberra with the new man last weekend. The couple couldn't keep their hands off each other, and were seen kissing and looking very much loved up throughout the night. The couple were joined by their fellow Married At First Sight co-star Booka Nile and her bridesmaid on the show, Madlin Sims. Loved-up: Samantha and her new beau were seen chatting and drinking as they watched co-star Booka Nile perform a song at Liam's 30th birthday celebrations Samantha's marriage to Cameron fell apart when he admitted he felt no emotional connection with her despite having sex on their honeymoon. The couple exited the experiment early only for Samantha to get a larger storyline with the Bryce and Melissa drama. Married At First Sight continues Sunday at 7pm on Nine But if youre turning to Google Maps to explore some parts of outback Queensland in Australia, you might come across a series of inaccuracies that local mayors are already fed up with.As it turns out, the errors on Google Maps go as far as claiming that the town of Eromanga is some 85 kilometers from its actual location, so drivers who may use the navigation to drive to this city could end up in a completely different place.Furthermore, according to local reports , the local Street View imagery is more than a decade old, and officials say this affects them more than you could imagine because they rely a lot on tourism.If you're looking at really old pictures, you might go, Well I don't really want to go there, Winton Shire Council tourism and economic development officer Adam Head has been quoted as saying.I can share the sentiments of tourism operators who've invested significant money in infrastructure to upgrade and that's not being accurately reflected, whether that's on Street View or a rating system, Barcaldine Regional Council Mayor Sean Dillon added.Some of the errors on Google Maps have actually been fixed, but local officials claim it sometimes takes weeks for Google to update the location with the correct information.As a result, the authorities recommend people stick with the traditional way of navigation and use the street signs to find a specific location.If you see a signpost saying a town is this way and Google Maps is telling you something different, don't trust Google Maps, Quilpie Shire Council Mayor Stuart Mackenzie said.As seen in the screenshot in the article, the Winton, Queensland images available on Street View are dated 2008, so theyre already 13 years old. Weather Alert ...Strong Thunderstorms This Afternoon and Evening... Strong to locally severe thunderstorms will exist across central and northern portions of the North Country this afternoon and evening. The primary threat with these storms will be strong to possibly damaging winds. Thunderstorms will begin in New York between 11 AM and noon along the New York/Canadian border and track eastward. Meanwhile, storms are expected to develop between 1 PM and 3 PM across northern Vermont. Scattered thunderstorms will then persist through the afternoon and evening. If you plan to be outdoors, seek shelter at the first sign of thunder. Credit: Unsplash/CC0 Public Domain Even the mention of parasites can be enough to make some people's skin crawl. But to recent UC Santa Barbara doctoral graduate Dana Morton these creepy critters occupy important ecological niches, fulfilling roles that, in her opinion, have too often been overlooked. That's why Morton has just released the most extensive ecological food web that includes parasites. Eight years in the making, the dataset includes over 21,000 interactions between 942 species, all thoroughly annotated. The detailed description, published in the journal Scientific Data, is a boon for basic research, conservation efforts and resource management. Understanding who eats whom, or trophic interactions, in an ecosystem is prime information for biologists. These relationships alone can tell researchers a great deal about a system, its complexity and even its overall health. However, ecologists often overlook parasites when investigating these interactions, perhaps because parasitology only recently joined the sphere of ecology, emerging from the medical sciences. "But you can't overlook parasite interactions once you know about them," said Morton. "If you're ignoring half of the interactions in the system, you don't really know what's going on in that system." Previous work led by her mentors, Armand Kuris and Kevin Lafferty in the Department of Ecology, Evolution, and Marine Biology, found that parasites were common in estuarine food webs. But Morton wanted to tackle a more diverse ecosystem. Given the body of research conducted on California's kelp forests, she thought it would be easy enough to simply add parasites and small, free-living invertebrates to an existing network. But she quickly realized that previous food webs compiled for the kelp forest were too coarse to build on. They focused on big fish eating little fish, but gave less attention to mammals, birds and invertebrates. She'd need to start from scratch. An exhaustive endeavor First Morton compiled a list of species that call the kelp forest home. She and her co-authors used basically every credible source they could find. They pored over literature reviews and got data from long-term research projects, like the Santa Barbara Coastal Long Term Ecological Research Program and the Channel Islands National Park Kelp Forest Monitoring program. She also sought out fellow divers, and when that wasn't enough, Morton and her team conducted their own field sampling. Morton especially acknowledged the help she received from undergraduate student volunteers and experts throughout the process, including Milton Love, Bob Miller, Christoph Pierre, Christian Orsini and Clint Nelson at UC Santa Barbara; Mark Carr at UC Santa Cruz; Ralph Appy at Cabrillo Marine Aquarium; and David Kushner at Channel Islands National Park. The authors' next task was discerning all the interactions, which fell primarily into three sorts: predator-prey, parasite-host and predator-parasite. Morton's general rule was that every animal had to eat something, and every node should have at least one connection. It soon became clear that adults and juveniles often have different roles in food webs, requiring more detail than other food webs usually contain. This also was an exhaustive task that required scouring academic literature and databases, conducting field observations and dissections and talking with expert researchers. By combining information on predator-prey and parasite-host relationships, Morton was able to infer some relationships based strictly on logical reasoning. For example, this helped to determine whether an ingested parasite was likely to die or infect the predator that ate its host. Each node on the food webcorresponding to a particular species or life stagehad a reference in its entry. In fact, Morton made sure that the entire web was replete with metadata. "We don't want food webs to be just these black boxes where you don't know how they were put together, so you don't know how to use them appropriately," she said. She was particularly attentive to uncertainty, and estimated her confidence for each of the tens of thousands of putative relationships. For instance, certain parasites may turn up in only one or two specimens simply because they are rare, rather than due to any specialization. Unobserved but real interactions between hosts and parasites create a false negative in the food web. Morton, therefore, estimated the probability of false-negative links for every potential host-parasite interaction. If an absent interaction had more than a 50% change of a false negative, then she assigned it as a link in the network. She also removed parasite species that were especially prone to false negatives, to reduce overall error. She also included an estimate of her confidence for each of the tens of thousands of putative relationships. About a dozen purple urchins crawl around on the reef as fish and giant kelp fronds drift in the sunlight above. A major challenge Morton faced was simply knowing when the project was done. There are few sharp divides in the ocean; ecosystems are incredibly interconnected, and many species that live in the kelp forest also inhabit other ecosystems in Southern California. This project could have crept its way to becoming an account of the entire eastern Pacific. To keep it from ballooning, Morton limited the study to the rocky reef in the depth range of giant kelp. She also made no attempt to include viruses and bacteria, nor did she specify the many phytoplankton species. Eventually the food web reached a point where additions did not change the overall structure of the network, indicating that the web was converging toward a complete account. A complex system Morton's years of work yielded a comprehensive food web comprising 492 free-living species and 450 parasites. Accounting for specific life stages brings the total nodes to 1,098, with 21,956 links between them. "This is the first food web for a really structurally complex marine ecosystem, that's really dynamic and open," Morton said. She was amazed by the extent to which the network expanded after accounting for often overlooked groups of organisms. Including small, free-living invertebrates doubled the network size. Adding parasite interactions doubled it again. The results highlight something she suspected all along: "Whether or not you decide to build a food web (which I would not recommend)," she joked, "you could still think about the parasites that might be participating in the system. If you're missing half of the interactions you['re probably missing a huge part of the picture." Parasites were even more prevalent in the kelp forest food web than in the estuarine food webs that inspired her project. Although a parasite-filled food web might sound unhealthy, according to Morton, it is actually a good sign because parasites often need complex food chains to complete their lifecycles. "Finding a lot of parasites indicates that there are intact trophic structures and high species diversity," she said. The parasites are only present because the kelp forest provides so many opportunities for them. Kelp forests are well known biodiversity hotspots, particularly those in the Santa Barbara Channel, which lie at the confluence of the cold-water communities north of Point Conception and the warm-water communities of Southern and Baja California. "This new look at kelp forest food webs puts fishes in the back seat," said co-author Kevin Lafferty, Morton's advisor at the Marine Science Institute. "Most of the action is with the invertebrates. And most of those invertebrates were parasites." Morton was surprised to find a large number of parasites that use birds and mammals as their final hosts. This suggests that birds and mammals have a larger presence in the kelp forest ecosystem than she expected. As for next steps, Morton has already set to work comparing her kelp forest food web to the few other intertidal and lake food webs in the literature that include parasites. She also plans to study how the kelp forest food web might change as the ocean warms. But the main point of publishing her data, she said, was to inform conservation efforts and resource management in kelp forest ecosystems. When studying ecosystems, there's often a big cloud of unknowns that lead to a lot of variability in the data. "My hope in doing this was to provide people with the resources to get a more mechanistic understanding of what they're seeing," Morton said, "because now they basically have a map of all the things that possibly could be happening in this ecosystem." Explore further Biodiversity is key to kelp forest health More information: Dana N. Morton et al. A food web including parasites for kelp forests of the Santa Barbara Channel, California, Scientific Data (2021). Dana N. Morton et al. A food web including parasites for kelp forests of the Santa Barbara Channel, California,(2021). DOI: 10.1038/s41597-021-00880-4 Tanks of the Ukrainian Armed Forces are seen during drills at an unknown location near the border of Russian-annexed Crimea, Ukraine, on April 14, 2021. (Press Service General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine/Handout via Reuters) Russia, Ukraine Hold Military Drills, NATO Criticizes Russian Troop Build-Up MOSCOW/BRUSSELSRussia and Ukraine held simultaneous military drills on Wednesday as NATO foreign and defense ministers began emergency discussions on the massing of Russian troops near the Ukrainian border. Washington and NATO have been alarmed by the large build-up of Russian troops near Ukraine and in Crimea, the peninsula that Moscow annexed from Ukraine in 2014, and two U.S. warships are due to arrive in the Black Sea this week. Russiawhich said the U.S. naval move was an unfriendly provocation and warned Washington to stay far away from Crimea and its Black Sea coastsays the build-up is a three-week snap military drill to test combat readiness in response to what it calls threatening behavior from NATO. It has said the exercise is due to wrap up within two weeks. Ahead of the arrival of the U.S. warships, the Russian navy on Wednesday began a drill in the Black Sea that rehearsed firing at surface and air targets. The drill came a day after NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg called on Moscow to end its troop build-up. In Ukraine, armed forces rehearsed repelling a tank and infantry attack near the border of Russian-annexed Crimea while its defense minister, Andrii Taran, told European parliamentarians in Brussels that Russia was preparing to potentially store nuclear weapons in Crimea. Taran provided no evidence for his assertion but said Russia was massing 110,000 troops on Ukraines border in 56 battalion-sized tactical groups, citing Kyivs latest intelligence. Ukraines President Volodymyr Zelenskiy visits positions of armed forces near the frontline with Russian-backed separatists during his working trip in Donbass region, in Ukraine, on April 8, 2021. (Ukrainian Presidential Press Service/Handout via Reuters) Clashes in Eastern Ukraine Fighting has increased in recent weeks in eastern Ukraine, where government forces have battled Russian-backed separatists in a seven-year conflict that Kyiv says has killed 14,000 people. U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, who held talks in Brussels with Stoltenberg ahead of a video conference of all 30 NATO allies, said the alliance would address Russias aggressive actions in and around Ukraine, without elaborating. Russias relations with the United States slumped to a new post-Cold War low last month after U.S. President Joe Biden said he thought Vladimir Putin was a killer. In a phone call with Putin on Tuesday, Biden proposed holding a summit between the estranged leaders to tackle a raft of issues, including reducing tensions over Ukraine. The Kremlin on Wednesday said it was too early to talk about such a summit in tangible terms and that holding such a meeting was contingent on Washingtons future behavior, in what looked like a thinly veiled reference to potential U.S. sanctions. Russia has regularly accused NATO of destabilizing Europe by bolstering its troops in the Baltic countries and Polandall members of the Atlantic alliancein the wake of Moscows annexation of Crimea. NATO has denied a claim by Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu that the alliance was deploying 40,000 troops and 15,000 pieces of military equipment near Russias borders, mainly in the Black Sea and the Baltic regions. By Gabrielle Tetrault-Farber and Robin Emmott The Nagol is Back! VTOs guide to this years Nagol, plus where to stay and play in south, central and north Pentecost. Here's the latest indication that rising violence in the region and across the nation travels more quickly than most news watchers can imagine. The local connection . . . "A call from the Kansas City, Missouri Police Department informed Leavenworth, Kansas investigators that a shooting victim arrived at Childrens Mercy Hospital in a black Volkswagon Jetta sedan. "The victim, a 12-year-old boy, was pronounced dead at the hospital. During the investigation, detectives obtained descriptions of the three suspects and their vehicle. "The vehicle was located at a home in the 200 block of South 12th Street in Leavenworth. Officers made contact with the occupants at the home and three suspects were detained." Links . . . KCTV5: 3 in custody after 12-year-old boy fatally shot at Leavenworth pharmacy KSHB: 12-year-old boy murdered in Leavenworth KMBC: Police said all three are facing homicide charges. Developing . . . [April 15, 2021] Canada Invests in Clean Mining Technology QUEBEC CITY, April 15, 2021 /CNW/ - Canada's mining and minerals industry is important to communities across the country. Developing Canada's natural resources in more sustainable and responsible ways drives our economy, reduces our environmental impacts and creates jobs. Joel Lightbound, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness and Member of Parliament for Louis-Hebert, on behalf of the Honourable Seamus O'Regan Jr., Minister of Natural Resources, today announced a federal investment of $730,096 for a clean mining technology project located in Quebec City and Ottawa. The Government of Quebec has also provided $10,000 to the Universite Laval to support this project. Corem and Universite Laval have also invested in the project, bringing the total combined contribution to more than $1 million. This funding will support Universite Laval's development of an innovative pilot-scale clean technology that eliminates the need for harmful cyanide in the gold extraction process and is expected to reduce the impacts of gold mining on the environment. Once deployed commercially, the technology could help generate jobs for skilled operators, technicians and engineers in gold refineries. Funding is provided through Natural Resources Canada's Clean Growth Program, which invests in clean technology research, development and demonstration projects in Canada's energy, mining and forest sectors. The program is a $155-million investment fund that helps emerging clean technologies toward commercial readiness so that natural resource operations can further reduce their environmental impacts, such as greenhouse gas emissions, while enhancing competitiveness and creating jobs. The Clean Growth Program also provided support to Universite Laval for the capacity to collaborate with NRCan's CanmetMINING on engineering support and testing of pilot-scale technology. This investment was made through the Program's Science and Technology Assistance for Cleantech initiative, which provides federal laboratory support for innovators, intended to help bring Canadian clean technologies to market by providing federal research expertise, facilities and equipment. The Government of Canada will continue to support innovative projects in the mining sector that create a clean, sustainable and competitive natural resource sector that reduces pollution and fights against climate change. Quotes "We're investing in projects that help companies power the clean technologies we'll need to reach net zero by 2050." The Honourable Seamus O'Regan Jr. Minister of Natural Resources "The Government of Canada continues to invest in projects that position Canada's mining industry as a leader on the global stage. Through innovative ideas and dedicated partners such as Universite Laval, we are helping to reduce impacts on the environment, create jobs and ensure good mining practices in Quebec for years to come." Joel Lightbound Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness Member of Parliament for Louis-Hebert "We are working hard to make Quebec a world leader in the development of critical and strategic minerals. I'm proud of the collaboration we have established between our respective governments in order to propel Quebec's mining sector into the economy of the future." Jonatan Julien Quebec Minister of Energy and Natural Resources and Minister Responsible for the Cote-Nord Member of Parliament for GaspesieIlesdelaMadeleine region "The development of less polluting industrial processes is at the heart of Universite Laval's concerns, especially when they can reduce the environmental footprint on fragile environments. Universite Laval, a leader in the field of Nordic studies, advanced nanomaterials and green technologies, is proud to take part in the development of clean technologies for the gold mining industry." Dr. Line Lapointe Vice-Dean of Research, Faculty of Science and Engineering, Universite Laval "Corem is proud to contribute to the development of alternative technologies to reduce the environmental impact. The expertise of our research team combined with the shared challenges of our industry members and customers, through the collaborative approach of our research program, allows us to develop innovative, concrete and sustainable solutions for the mining industry." Francis Fournier President and CEO, Corem Associated Links Clean Growth Program Science and Technology Assistance for Cleantech Universite Laval Corem Quebec Ministry of Energy and Natural Resources Atmospheric Plasma Technologies Towards Elimination of Cyanides from Gold Extraction Processes Follow us on Twitter: @NRCan (http://twitter.com/nrcan) SOURCE Natural Resources Canada [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] Source: Xinhua| 2021-04-15 20:33:22|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close Fu Ziying, director of the Liaison Office of the Central People's Government in the Macao Special Administrative Region (SAR), addresses the opening ceremony of an exhibition on national security education in Macao, south China, April 15, 2021. The exhibition was co-organized by the Macao Special Administrative Region (SAR) government and the Liaison Office of the Central People's Government in the Macao SAR. It is the third exhibition on national security education held in Macao since 2018. The event will last until May 16. (Xinhua/Cheong Kam Ka) MACAO, April 15 (Xinhua) -- Ho Iat Seng, chief executive of the Macao Special Administrative Region (SAR), said on Thursday that Macao must continuously improve the legal system and implementation mechanism for safeguarding national security and step up system and capacity building in this regard. April 15 of each year is designated as the day for raising the public awareness of national security after the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress passed a new national security law in 2015. Speaking at the opening ceremony of an exhibition on national security education, Ho stressed the need of fully implementing the principle of "patriots administering Macao," safeguarding national sovereignty, security and development interests, and firmly opposing the interference by any external forces in Macao affairs. Safeguarding the overall security of the nation is the fundamental principle and basic requirement for Macao's lasting prosperity and stability, Ho noted, adding that a good situation of "patriots administering Macao" has basically taken shape in Macao since its return to the motherland. Fu Ziying, director of the Liaison Office of the Central People's Government in the Macao SAR, in his speech expressed confidence in the bright prospect of "one country, two systems" in Macao and urged concerted efforts by various sectors in Macao to safeguard national security and maintain Macao's prosperity and stability. The exhibition was co-organized by the Macao SAR government and the liaison office. It is the third exhibition on national security education held in Macao since 2018. The event will last until May 16. Enditem .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... DENVER Colorado lawmakers are considering a bill to improve maternal health aimed at bettering pregnancy outcomes for minority women, as the U.S. recognizes Black Maternal Health Week. About 700 women across the country die annually from complications during pregnancy, delivery and post-partum. Black and Indigenous women are about three times as likely to die from pregnancy-related causes as White women, according to the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. I call on all Americans to recognize the importance of addressing the crisis of Black maternal mortality and morbidity in this country, Biden said in a proclamation Tuesday, announcing April 11 through April 17, 2021, as Black Maternal Health Week. ADVERTISEMENTSkip ................................................................ The bill which passed the Senate Health & Human Services Committee on Wednesday, aims to improve maternal healthcare through expanding Medicaid coverage, improving data collection on perinatal and postnatal maternal health and ensuring safe transfers of patients between health facilities. There are big systemic changes that will challenge the status quo, but they are necessary steps to reduce inequality and lower the maternal mortality rates for people of color, said Democratic Sen. Janet Buckner, one of the bills sponsors. The bill directs the Colorado Maternal Mortality Review Committee to collect data on race and ethnicity correlations for birth outcomes, neonatal intensive care unit stays, preeclampsia cases, deaths and distances traveled for care, Buckner said. It also requires the health department to make recommendations to improve numerous topics on maternal health. Indra Lusero, founder of Elephant Circle, a non-profit that works towards birth and reproductive justice, said that the lack of data collection is a systematic failure amongst medical providers to listen to women of color. Black women should not be dying on the table because their doctor dismissed that she had high blood pressure, said Democratic Sen. Rhonda Fields, chairwoman of the Senate committee. Under U.S. law, women who become eligible for Medicaid while pregnant lose their coverage 60 days after giving birth. The bill would also expand Medicaid coverage for 12 months of postpartum care to those who qualified for benefits while pregnant. Without that coverage, theyre unlikely to get the physical and mental health care that they need to reduce maternal deaths, said Dr. Alethia Morgan from the Colorado Section of the American College of Obstetrics and Gynecology. Six in ten maternal deaths are related to post-partum depression and substance abuse, Morgan said. By strengthening the screening and of treatment of post-partum depression through prolonged Medicaid coverage, Colorado can reduce the risk of maternal death, she added. The bill calls for the state to reimburse health-care providers that provide labor and delivery services and does not discriminate on the type of provider or facility. Jill Bergman from the International Cesarean Awareness Network, who testified in support of the bill, highlighted the importance of community birth centers under the bills equitable reimbursement provision. Community home and birth centers provide care for low-risk individuals, reduce overall costs to private and public insurance providers and reduce pregnancy risks by having fewer cesarean births, Bergman said. By requiring health benefit carriers to equitably reimburse all licensed providers, we open up community birth to vastly more Coloradans, rather than limiting the choice to only those who can pay out of pocket, Bergman added. Virginia Love raised concerns with the proposal while testifying on behalf of Americas Health Insurance Plans, and said requiring the same payments for providers with different levels of expertise or credentials was a big concern. By implementing this language, you are creating a new (insurance) mandate and that is a much bigger conversation, Love said. The bill would also require hospitals to accept community-birth transfers without discrimination of the type of facility. Aubre Tompkins, a midwife and president of the American Association of Birth Centers, testified in support and said that the smooth transfer of birth centers to hospitals has shown to improve birth outcomes for the mother and child based on a report that studied Washington states model for transfers. Tompkins also said the bill would be a great improvement to a system where birth centers and midwives are required to have transfer policies, but hospitals do not. Patrick Boyle from COPIC, a medical liability insurance provider, testified against the bills section on the mandatory acceptance of transfers. Boyle suggested that the state health department establish processes for healthcare exchange where obstetricians and midwives build relationships before sending an unknown patient into a hospitals care. He also said that midwives should identify a hospital beforehand where they would send a patient in crisis. The bill will be heard next by the Senate Appropriations committee. ___ Nieberg is a corps member for the Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues. Chief of Army Staff (COAS) General Qamar Javed Bajwa Thursday inaugurated a 100-bed hospital and Foundation University Institute (FUI) School of Nursing during his visit to the Fauji Foundation (FF) Headquarters RAWALPINDI, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 15th Apr, 2021 ) :Chief of Army Staff (COAS) General Qamar Javed Bajwa Thursday inaugurated a 100-bed hospital and Foundation University Institute (FUI) school of Nursing during his visit to the Fauji Foundation (FF) Headquarters. The COAS was given a detailed briefing on the ongoing and future projects of Fauji Foundation and review of various set-ups working under it, said an Inter Services Public Relations (ISPR) media release. The COAS appreciated the performance and commitment of Fauji Foundation in the provision of quality services and assured of his full support in all future endeavours. Earlier, on arrival, the COAS was received by Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of Fauji Foundation Waqar Ahmed Malik. Rick Stein's online shop faced claims it misled customers by advertising their smoked salmon as caught in England - but it was actually from the Faroe Islands. The fish's packaging had said the Severn & Wye Smokery is situated on the edge of the Royal Forest of Dean 'between two of England's most celebrated salmon rivers'. 'It is there that they practice the old-fashioned art of smoking only the highest quality fish and meat,' it said. But anti-salmon farming campaigner Don Staniford launched a complaint against the celebrity chef's shop and launched a complaint with Cornwall Council over the 'misleading' description. Mr Stein's website has now changed the packaging to say the fish is from the Faroe Islands - but said they 'did not attempt to mislead consumers'. A spokeswoman for the top chef's company said the description had been taken from their supplier, Severn and Wye Smokery in Gloucestershire. Anti-salmon farming campaigner Don Staniford (left) launched a complaint against Rick Stein's (right) shop and launched a complaint with Cornwall Council over the 'misleading' description The fish's packaging had said the Severn & Wye Smokery is situated on the edge of the Royal Forest of Dean 'between two of England's most celebrated salmon rivers' And she said it had been changed online and on packaging 'without hesitation' following the complaint. The description of the salmon no longer mentions the English rivers and says the fish are 'sourced from two boutique salmon farms' in the Faroe Islands. Mr Stein's company explained it had used its supplier's description on their website and packaging as 'we thought it a good and accurate description'. Scottish Salmon Watch director Mr Staniford, who recently appeared in Netflix hit Seaspiracy, argued the original description was 'misleading', according to the BBC. He said retailers must be more 'honest' and clearer in their labelling of farmed fish products. Mr Staniford said: 'They were implying that these were wild salmon caught in these English rivers. This is 100 per cent a farmed salmon product'. The fish's packaging had said the Severn & Wye Smokery is situated on the edge of the Royal Forest of Dean 'between two of England's most celebrated salmon rivers'. Mr Stein's website has now changed the packaging to say the fish is from the Faroe Islands - but said they 'did not attempt to mislead consumers' He said thanks to the alteration people were 'more knowledgeable about what goes on with smoked salmon'. A spokeswoman for the company said it changed the wording based on a complaint to 'clearly reflect the source of the farmed salmon', before contact was made by Trading Standards. She said: 'A couple of weeks ago it was suggested by a customer that saying that the fish was being smoked in an area near the Severn and Wye rivers could also imply that it came from the rivers. 'I absolutely agree that some people may not be in favour of farmed salmon and so without hesitation we changed the wording to give a better understanding.' Richard Cook, from Severn & Wye Smokery, explained the original description came from the location of their business between the Severn and Wye rivers. He said: 'Which historically were two very important wild salmon rivers and as a result of this fishery Severn & Wye Smokery was born.' Cornwall Council confirmed a complaint had come in on Twitter. A spokesperson from said: 'Although the salmon is sourced from a number of locations, it is smoked on the premises as stated on the website and this is now more clearly explained.' Nairobi-based femcee Femi One is having the last laugh two years after the now-defunct Gengetone group Ochungulo Family expressed their contempt for her music. At the height of their meteoric rise to fame about two years ago, the group comprised of Nelly the Goon, Dmore, and Benzema said Femi One was not worthy of consideration in the Kenyan rap scene. Ochungulo Family made their sentiments known in a social media post, which Femi One appears to have screenshotted and kept in the archives for future use. The Kaka Empire signed femcee shared the post on her socials, giving Ochungulo Family a taste of their own medicine. Atleast I lasted longer!! This jokes really write themselves, Femi One wrote. She also took a dig at Ochungulo Familys apparent lack of humility, writing: Kimbelembele ugali mbichi , Ona sasa #Mungusioathumani. Ochungulo suffered the inevitable split sometime last year, but only confirmed it in February of this year. The Bora Uhai hitmakers said the split was mutual as they each had different goals going forward. Meanwhile, Monster Energy recently unveiled Femi One as its brand ambassador for East and Central Africa, making her the first African female to bag the position. Teela Moore Hendrix, 35, of Ooltewah, was sentenced by Judge Curtis L. Collier to 235 months in federal prison. She earlier pleaded guilty to one count of transportation of child pornography and one count of creation of a crush video, which includes depictions of the sexual assault of an animal. Her prison term will be followed by 10 years of supervised release. Ms. Hendrix will be required to register with state sex offender registries and comply with special sex offender conditions during her supervised release. Prosecutors said she sexually abused her four-year-old son and the family dog and created digital videos of the abuse, which she traded with someone she met in an online room dedicated to sexually abusing animals. Acting United States Attorney Francis M. Hamilton III said, Mrs. Hendricks sentence reflects the seriousness of her crimes and the enduring harm caused when offenders record and preserve their abhorrent exploitation of minors in visual media. Thanks to a partnership between the Hamilton County Sheriffs Office, Homeland Security Investigations, and the North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation, Mrs. Hendricks is now in prison, and her son is now safe." Chief Deputy Austin Garrett of the Hamilton County Sheriffs Office said, The results of this investigation highlight the Hamilton County Sheriffs Office commitment to protecting our children and the collaborative partnerships we share with our law enforcement partners specifically the United States Attorneys Office, the Department of Homeland Security Investigations, and the North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation. "Together, we will continue to aggressively pursue and prosecute those who prey upon our communitys most vulnerable, our children. Special Agent in Charge Jerry C. Templet, Jr, HSI Nashville. said, HSI agents make it a top priority to work with all of our law enforcement partners to investigate predators involved with the production, distribution and possession of child sexual abuse material. Each year, millions of children fall prey to sexual predators, and it is imperative that we do our part to protect vulnerable children from victimization and ensure the perpetrators are punished for their heinous crimes. The criminal indictment was the result of an investigation by the Hamilton County Sheriffs Office, Homeland Security Investigation, and the North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation. The investigation was led by Task Force Officer Ed Merritt and Special Agent Dave Nalley of HSI and Special Agent Chris Munden of the NC SBI. Assistant United States Attorney James T. Brooks represented the United States. This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood (PSC), a nationwide initiative launched in May 2006, by the Department of Justice to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse. Led by the United States Attorneys Offices and the Criminal Divisions Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, PSC marshals federal, state, and local resources to locate, apprehend, and prosecute individuals who sexually exploit children, and to identify and rescue victims. "While many nonprofits focus on introducing students to STEM, students of color continue to face bias and systemic barriers to advanced STEM education and career opportunities," said Pam Erickson, Raytheon Technologies' chief communications officer and head of corporate social responsibility. "By partnering with SMASH, we hope to help break down those barriers." Raytheon Technologies will sponsor more than 600 high school and early college students over five years across two flagship programs: SMASH Academy is a three-year, intensive residential college prep program that empowers high school freshman to deepen their talents and pursue STEM careers. Raytheon Technologies will provide funding for students to spend three summers at top tier colleges, including Morehouse College , Northeastern University , and the University of Michigan , where they will build core technical skills, as well as develop critical soft skills and community building skills. The company will also provide mentoring and school-year programming to build on their summer experience. is a three-year, intensive residential college prep program that empowers high school freshman to deepen their talents and pursue STEM careers. Raytheon Technologies will provide funding for students to spend three summers at top tier colleges, including , , and the , where they will build core technical skills, as well as develop critical soft skills and community building skills. The company will also provide mentoring and school-year programming to build on their summer experience. SMASH Rising is designed for college freshmen and sophomores. The program provides SMASH Academy graduates with pre-internship opportunities at leading technology companies. Participants learn problem-solving skills and gain real-world work experience, while building personal networks that will benefit them throughout their careers. Raytheon Technologies will provide paid opportunities to SMASH scholars. The students will spend five weeks working alongside company engineers as they build solutions to address some of the world's biggest challenges. Through the partnership, Raytheon Technologies has also committed to support SMASH alumni as they enter college, awarding engineering and computer science scholarships to 10 new students each year. The partnership will help further close the gap between college and career by giving Raytheon SMASH scholars priority placement when applying for any of Raytheon Technologies' established internship programs. "We are excited to partner with companies like Raytheon Technologies who are moving beyond 'check the box' performative pledges to form equitable, actionable initiatives that have an immediate impact on communities facing systemic disparities and lack of access," said Danielle Rose, president of SMASH. "Through this partnership, we will continue to not only identify and develop the next-generation of STEM talent, but also enable more scholars inside the underrepresented communities we serve to put their skills and lived experience to direct use while generating change for a more equitable world through tech-driven solutions. It is our hope at SMASH that this partnership serves as a model for other companies who want to invest in quality programming that amplifies diversity in a direct and measurable way." SMASH produces more than twice the national average of college graduates who receive bachelor's degrees in STEM fields and who work full time in a STEM profession. Raytheon Technologies will work to source high-potential students from partner organizations to participate in the SMASH program, while also encouraging students to apply directly through SMASH.org/apply. This non-profit partnership is part of Raytheon Technologies' recently announced Connect Up initiative , a $500 million, 10-year commitment to drive transformative, generational impact on critical societal challenges. This focused philanthropy expands upon and elevates the company's legacy of community investment through lifelong learning, veteran and military family support, and localized community engagement. About Raytheon Technologies Raytheon Technologies Corporation is an aerospace and defense company that provides advanced systems and services for commercial, military and government customers worldwide. With four industry-leading businesses Collins Aerospace Systems, Pratt & Whitney, Raytheon Intelligence & Space and Raytheon Missiles & Defense the company delivers solutions that push the boundaries in avionics, cybersecurity, directed energy, electric propulsion, hypersonics, and quantum physics. The company, formed in 2020 through the combination of Raytheon Company and the United Technologies Corporation aerospace businesses, is headquartered in Waltham, Massachusetts. About SMASH SMASH Academy and supporting SMASH programs weave together STEM education, mentorship, social justice curriculum and workforce opportunities, helping scholars hone their knowledge while building the networks and life skills necessary for a career in technology and entrepreneurship. All of this work aims to equip brilliant students who aspire to create the future. Media Contact Chris Johnson C: 202.384.2474 [email protected] SOURCE Raytheon Technologies JACKSON COUNTY, MI. -- A Norvell Township home was damaged by heat and smoke during a fire early Thursday morning. Firefighters found flames coming from the roof when they arrived at little past midnight, April 15, to the 500 block of Harris Drive, Napoleon Township Fire Department Assistant Fire Chief Jeremy Holbrook said. Firefighters were able to contain the fire and the home appears to be repairable, Holbrook said. No one was home at the time of the fire, Holbrook said, adding that the fire department is working with the Jackson County Sheriffs Office to contact the homeowners,. There were no injuries, and the origin and cause of fire is still under investigation, Holbrook said. The Grass Lake, Columbia and Manchester fire departments and the Blackman-Leoni Department of Public Safety assisted at the scene. Read more: Jackson County house fire displaces residents Hoverboard catches fire inside Jackson-area home On the big screen or in the truck, former Jackson fire chief was a community fixture NEW YORK, April 15, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- FRAME, the iconic American fashion brand renowned for its collections in denim, cotton, leather, and cashmere, has partnered with HERO to launch virtual shopping to online customers. The new virtual shopping service connects customers on Frame-store.com live with stylists through chat and video consultations, and is already growing FRAME's average order values by 61%. Virtual shopping brings the FRAME in-store experience to life online in an engaging and seamless way. FRAME's team of stylists can follow what customers are shopping for in real-time, answer product questions and easily share personalized product recommendations just like they would in-store over chat and video. FRAME's partnership with Hero follows the brand to their 15 retail locations, with the most recent openings being in major cities like New York City, Boston, and Austin. Today, FRAME is sold through its retail locations and e-commerce store, and leading department stores and boutiques across the world. "At FRAME, we pride ourselves on providing a best-in-class customer experience and are always looking for ways to enhance it by blending our online and offline channels in an engaging way" said Jens Grede, Co-Founder of FRAME. "We've always believed that brands need to create an e-commerce platform that helps consumers shop on their terms. Through our partnership with Hero, we're able to provide an authentic and easy virtual shopping experience for FRAME shoppers from around the world." FRAME's stylists also use Hero for clienteling; to stay in touch with customers and share product updates by text, recommend complementary items, or send notifications when a product is back in stock. To learn more or to connect with FRAME's stylist team, visit https://frame-store.com/. FRAME joins leading brands around the world partnering with Hero to offer shoppers a seamless virtual shopping experience. Check out our customer stories to discover how others are making online shopping more human. Press contact Natalie Rizk, Director PR + Communications, HERO [email protected] Angel Xu, Director of Communications, FRAME [email protected] About FRAME FRAME is an American fashion brand renowned for its collections in denim, cotton, leather and cashmere. The company's founders Erik Torstensson and Jens Grede strive to design a modern versatile wardrobe through signature denim fits, cotton shirting and coveted leather pieces. Since the brand's inception in 2012 in Los Angeles, California, FRAME has evolved from making handcrafted denim to offering ready-to-wear and accessories collections in the finest natural materials. FRAME is committed to sustainable and fair manufacturing practices, balancing profit with a commitment to people and planet. About HERO HERO is on a mission to make eCommerce human. Our #1 virtual shopping platform connects millions of shoppers with product experts via text, chat and video, all directly from a brands ecommerce store. This is how Levis, rag & bone, Herman Miller and over 200+ of the worlds best brands bring the IRL experience to their online store, driving sales and increasing average order value. Shoppers are 21x more likely to make a purchase when using Hero, and brands using Hero saw a 7x increase in online shopping sessions in 2020. Founded in 2015, Hero has raised $15M to-date. SOURCE HERO Related Links https://www.usehero.com/ CLEVELAND, Ohio Every day, tens of thousands of Ohioans ease their autos into traffic on I-71, traveling some portion of the interstate between Cleveland, Columbus and Cincinnati. Amtrak believes a small percentage of them would rather ride the train. The passenger rail service last month outlined a plan for a major expansion throughout the U.S., featuring several new routes in Ohio, including service linking Cleveland, Columbus, Dayton and Cincinnati. Its an idea thats been discussed for years the route was well into the planning stages in 2010 when newly elected Gov. John Kasich famously returned $400 million to the federal government in startup costs for the 3C corridor. Fast forward 11 years, and rail advocates are hopeful, once again, that the idea may become reality. President Joe Biden has included $80 billion in railroad investments in his $2 trillion infrastructure plan. And although its not exactly clear how that $80 billion would be spent, Amtrak simultaneously released a 15-year plan for growth that includes dozens of new routes and the potential to serve millions of new passengers. Read more: Rail advocacy group wants Cleveland Amtrak station back at Tower City Major Amtrak expansion in Cleveland and Ohio included in Biden infrastructure plan In addition to whats now being called the 3C&D plan, Amtrak is also proposing new service from Cleveland to Detroit, plus more frequent trains along existing routes, connecting Cleveland to Pittsburgh, Buffalo and Chicago. Amtrak estimates that Ohio could see as many as 1 million passengers annually, up from 132,000 in 2019. Among the potential new travelers: * Luis Vazquez of Cleveland, who wishes there was train service to Columbus back when he worked for Cuyahoga County and made many day trips to the state capital. On the train, you can take out your laptop, get your work done, he said. I couldnt do anything because I was driving. In the future, he said, he looks forward to taking the train to visit his son in Detroit. * Chris Schmitt of Cleveland, who works remotely for an organization with offices in Chicago and Washington, D.C. Schmitt, who has traveled extensively in Europe via rail, said hed love reliable train service to both cities. The huge benefits or train travel were the very comfortable cabins, the free wifi, and the ability to actually get work done versus the impossibly small space on commuter jets, he said. * Stu Nicholson, the executive director of All Aboard Ohio, a passenger-rail advocacy group, who looks forward to taking the train from his home in Columbus to Cleveland when the Yankees come to town. Under decent conditions, I dont mind driving, he said. But Ive sat in a dead stop on I-71 because of a car wreck up ahead. Ive driven it in horribly bad weather. If I dont need to drive, Im not going to drive. Add to them: Thousands of students at Ohio State University, Cleveland State and the University of Cincinnati, people who cant drive, people who prefer not to drive, environmentalists, leisure travelers, business travelers and more. Rail service increasing in the U.S. With 32.5 million passengers, Amtrak experienced record ridership in 2019, the year before the pandemic brought an abrupt end to most travel. Communities in the Northeast are the biggest users of Amtrak, but plenty of Midwesterners like train travel too. Illinois had 4.7 million Amtrak riders in 2019, Wisconsin had 971,000, Michigan had 843,529 and Missouri had 692,000. Ohio, meanwhile, had 132,095 passengers get on or off the train in 2019, down from 159,000 in 2013. Michigan, with a population thats 15% less than Ohios, has more than five times as many Amtrak passengers. The three Amtrak routes in Michigan the Wolverine (Chicago to Detroit), Pere Marquette (Chicago to Grand Rapids) and Blue Water (Chicago to Port Huron) are all state-supported routes; in other words, the state pays a portion of the upkeep and operational expenses. The new routes that Amtrak is proposing in Ohio and elsewhere would not require any state buy-in, not for infrastructure improvements nor operating support, at least for the first several years. Joseph Schwieterman, a professor at DePaul Universitys School of Public Service, said the Cleveland-Columbus-Dayton-Cincinnati corridor is ripe for train service, with four densely populated metro areas relatively close together. At about 250 miles, the distance between Cleveland and Cincinnati is the sweet spot for train service, according to Schwieterman. I cant think of another area quite like it. Still, he said, it may take time to build support for train travel in the state because there is so little of it. Travelers will have to get used to going downtown to catch the train. And public transportation options in the cities might have to improve to better accommodate visitors who arrive without a car. Its hard to build a culture that will allow train service to flourish, which can take years, he said. The effort might be worth it, however, particularly for places that are working to boost their populations. Younger people dont want to drive cars, said Laura Kliewer, director of the Midwest Interstate Passenger Rail Commission, which supports the development of rail service throughout the Midwest. They want alternate modes of transportation. Indeed, the busiest station in Michigan, by far, is Ann Arbor, home to the University of Michigan. What matters most: frequency and reliability Nicholson said would-be train travelers are pretty clear about whats important to them. Its on time performance and frequency, he said. Thats when you get ridership. Chronic lateness is a serious problem for Amtrak. The Lake Shore Limited, which connects Chicago and New York City and travels through Cleveland, had an on-time performance of 48% in 2019; the Capitol Limited, which also travels through Cleveland, was on-time just 31% of the time. Delays are most commonly caused by freight trains which are required by law to give preference to Amtrak on their tracks, but frequently do not. The Chicago area is a notorious chokehold. The state of Michigan and Amtrak have spent years acquiring and improving track along the Wolverine route, which links Detroit and Chicago, to speed up the train, which now travels at 110 mph along much of the route. Even so, its still late a majority of the time because of conflicts with freight trains. Chronic lateness was one of the reasons Indiana recently decided to defund the Hoosier State, Amtrak service between Indianapolis and Chicago, according to Kliewer. In 2010, opponents of the Cleveland-Columbus-Cincinnati corridor criticized the plan because of what was projected to be its slow speed, at least initially. Early projections estimated the trip from Cleveland to Cincinnati could take as long as 6 hours at least two hours longer than driving. Marc Magliari, a spokesman with Amtrak, said any investment in Ohio would include track upgrades that would make train travel competitive with driving. It doesnt have to be exactly the same speed as driving because people can be productive, or choose not to, on the train, he said. But it has to be competitive. A hypothetical schedule created by All Aboard Ohio shows three daily departures from Cleveland along the 3C route at 6:25 a.m., 12:30 p.m. and 5:25 p.m. The trip to Columbus would take two hours; the trip to Cincinnati, four and a half. Ken Prendergast, public affairs director for All Aboard Ohio, said with the right track improvements, 4.5 hours is not only realistic, its probably conservative. That schedule also includes something thats been missing from passenger rail travel in Ohio: daylight trains. Currently, the four trains that travel through Cleveland two headed west to Chicago and two headed east to New York, Boston and Washington, D.C. pass through Ohio between 1 a.m. and 6 a.m. No one wants to get on or off the train in the middle of the night, said Kliewer. The potential Amtrak schedule includes as many as 22 trains passing through Cleveland at all hours of the day and night. Will it happen? Congressional leaders have promised a vote on Bidens infrastructure package sometime this summer. And then the real work will begin discussions with state and local leaders about what routes are are most logical and most likely to be supported by the traveling public. In the meantime, the Ohio Department of Transportation this month announced $2 billion in road construction projects for 2021. On the list: the continued widening of I-71 to three lanes between Columbus and Cincinnati. Amtrak ridership in 10 most populous states State Riders per 1,000 population California 148 Texas 7 Florida 22 New York 322 Illinois 186 Pennsylvania 258 Ohio 6 Georgia 7 North Carolina 47 Michigan 42 Amtrak ridership by city City Passengers per 1,000 population Columbus 0 Cincinnati 4 Cleveland 27 Nashville 0 Las Vegas 0 Phoenix 2 Houston 3 Philadelphia 936 Sacramento 646 New York City 551 Milwaukee 493 Chicago 367 St. Louis 180 Buffalo 125 Source: Amtrak; note: figures are from 2015 Mumbai, April 15 : Actor Anupam Kher took to Instagram to post a message of hope for fans on Thursday. "Hope is being able to see that there is light despite all of the darkness!" he wrote, with a picture where he is seen smiling warmly. Kher's wife, actress Kirron Kher, has been diagnosed with multiple myeloma, which is a cancer of plasma cells. She is currently undergoing treatment. The actor shared this with his fans on social media a few days back. The actor's peers and others from the film industry as well as the political arena took to social media to express their concern and prayers for her recovery. Meanwhile, Kher also informed his fans recently that he had started working on his next project titled "Moh Maya" in Bhopal. It is being helmed by Narayan Shi. He had shared pictures from the Mahurat of the film. By Lisandra Paraguassu and Ricardo Brito BRASILIA (Reuters) - Federal prosecutors in the Brazilian state of Roraima are investigating reports that illegally-mined gold is being exchanged for COVID-19 vaccines in the Yanomami indigenous reserve, the prosecutors office told Reuters on Wednesday. Tribal leaders in the Amazon region have complained of the deals and prosecutors say they will investigate the reports as part of an investigation already underway into the diversion of vaccine shots intended for indigenous people. Brazil is currently experiencing one of the worst waves of the coronavirus pandemic any country has suffered, and its indigenous people are among the most vulnerable. The Hutukara Association, which represents the Yanomami people, flagged the issue to prosecutors with the backing of the Instituto Socioambiental, a non-governmental organization. The association said a health worker in the Homoxi district gave illegal miners vaccines in exchange for gold. The worker also sold gasoline and a generator to the miners for gold, the association said. "The Yanomami have long complained that materials and medicines intended for indigenous health are being diverted to wildcat miners," Hutukara's Dario Kopenawa Ianomami said in a letter outlining the formal complaints sent to prosecutors and the Health Ministry. Another case involved a separate health worker who met miners at night and gave them medicine in exchange for gold, the association said. The Health Ministry said it received the letter on April 5 and had opened the investigation. (Reporting by Lisandra Paraguassu and Ricardo Brito, writing by Jamie McGeever; editing by Jane Wardell) Washington, Apr 15 (UNI) The US presidential administration is expected to expel a dozen of Russian diplomats from New York and Washington, they will be given 30 days to leave the country, CNN reported on Thursday, citing a source familiar with the plans. Another source told CNN that the measures are expected to be taken later on Thursday, with Washington currently coordinating it with allies in Europe. According to CNN, this will be a response to Russia's alleged election meddling and SolarWidns hack. The last message that was relayed from Royal Mail Steamer Titanic was - Sinking by the head. Have cleared boats and filled them with women and children. Indeed, more than half of the passengers on the ill-fated Titanic on her maiden voyage that sank on April 15, 1912, were men, many of whom stayed on board the sinking ship as the women and children were evacuated in lifeboats. In a newspaper story in the days after the sinking as anxious family and friends awaited the slow-to-come news of survivors, The Patriot printed a story that said: The picture that inevitably presents itself, in view of what is known, is of men like John Jacob Astor, master of scores of millions; Benjamin Guggenheim, of the famous family of bankers; Isidor Straus, a merchant prince; William T. Snead, veteran journalist; Major Archibald W. Butt, solder; Washington Roebling, noted engineer of any or all these men stepping aside and bravely, gallantly, remaining to die that the place he otherwise might have filled could perhaps be taken by some sabet-shod, shawl-enshrouded, illiterate and penniless peasant woman of Europe. Thus, the stream of women, with toddling infants or babes in arms perhaps most of them soon to be widowed filed up from the cabins and over the side and away to life. Then men by far the greater part of them remained to die, millionaire and peasant, and man of middle class, alike, bravely, it must have been, sharing each others fate and going down to a common grave. The Royal Mail Steamer Titanic was one of three large ships built by the White Star Line during a time of intense competition among shipping lines, according to history.com. Construction of the lavish ship with 10 decks and 840 staterooms took two years from 1909 to 1911. It was constructed at a shipyard in Belfast, Ireland. At the time, it was the largest passenger steamship ever built. According to history.com, the ship had 29 boilers to power two main steam engines. More than 100,000 people turned out to see it launched. Titanic had a capacity of 3,300 people. Titanics maiden voyage created a stir. Passengers included celebrities and dignitaries. First-class passengers included American millionaires Benjamin Guggenheim, John Jacob Astor and Charles M. Hays. Astor and his wife, Madeleine, 18, were returning home to await the birth of their child. He was the wealthiest passenger on board. Also on board were the owner of Macys, Isidor Straus and his wife; and heiress Margaret Molly Brown. According to history.com, Brown would earn her unsinkable nickname by helping to maintain calm and order while the lifeboats were being loaded and boosting the spirits of her fellow survivors. Guggenheim, Astor and Straus and his wife did not survive. The ship left from Southampton, England, on April 10, 1912, bound for New York. There were 2,240 people - including passengers and crew - on board. More than half of the passengers, 1,680 were men. One person who had a ticket but was not onboard was Milton S. Hershey. Hershey bought the ticket for $300 but left England on the German liner Amerika on April 6 and arrived in New York before Titanic set sail. Passengers did include Pennsylvanians from Philadelphia, Germantown, Bryn Mawr, Pittsburgh, Haverford and Scranton. Another passenger was Nora Keane of Harrisburg. She was returning from her native Ireland where she had visited her mother. Keane survived the sinking of the Titanic and returned to live in Harrisburg where she and her brothers operated a hotel on Paxton Street. She eventually returned to Ireland before the death of her mother then stayed there. Around 11:40 p.m. April 14, Titanic hit an iceberg. A lookout had spotted the iceberg and the crew attempted to move the ship quickly. Titanic grazed the iceberg but a jagged, underwater spur that no one had seen ripped a 300-foot hole below the ships waterline. By the time the captain toured the damaged area . Five compartments were already filling with seawater, and the bow of the doomed ship was alarmingly pitched downward, allowing seawater to pour from one bulkhead into the neighboring compartment. The ships builder, Thomas Andrews, was on board and determined that the ship would be able to stay afloat only for another hour and a half. The crew attempted to evacuate Titanic. The number of lifeboats on board could only accommodate 1,178 people but as they were floated, they were not filled to capacity. Each lifeboat could hold 65 people, but many left with less than half of that. Titanic snapped in two and sank around 2:20 a.m. on April 15 in the North Atlantic Ocean about 300 miles south of Newfoundland. Passengers were dumped into the frigid water - many dying from cardiac arrest and cold incapacitation. The Carpathia, which was headed toward Titanic after receiving a distress call, rescued 705 people from the lifeboats. The estimated number of dead is 1,517. When news of the sinking began to trickle in, The Patriot reported that thousands of anxious persons gathered at the White Star Line offices in New York seeking information about relatives and friends who were sailing on the Titanic. From early morning until late tonight pathetic scenes were witnessed in lower Broadway and Bowling Green, opposite the steamship offices. Hundreds of anxious inquiries were received also by long distance telephone. White Star Lines had an incomplete list of survivors. Those seeking information could not believe that the White Star officials were giving out all the news of the disaster. Mrs. Benjamin Guggenheim, wife of the smelter millionaire, was one of the first visitors in the forenoon. When informed that no word had been received of her husband, she became hysterical. The Patriot also printed this Figures of the Great Catastrophe: First cabin passengers, 325 Second cabin passengers, 285 Third cabin passengers, 710 Total number of passengers, 1,320 Members of the crew, 850 Total passengers and crew, 2,180 Number of known survivors, 868 Number who probably perished, 1,312 Total number of named survivors, 328 Approximately 20 lifeboats manned by seven members of the crew each, 140 Estimated saved steerage passengers, 400 Named survivors: First cabin women, 141; men, 63; children 6; total 210 Second cabin women, 92; men, 16; children, 10; total, 118. The wreckage of Titanic was not discovered until Sept. 1, 1985. Total metal production for 2021 is expected to be 64,000-72,000 gold equivalent ounces versus the 67,249 gold equivalent ounces achieved last year ( ) expects its gold production to fall this year, as the Ugur mine in Azerbaijan has now been depleted, although it forecast an increase in copper output. The AIM-listed miner forecast gold production of between 48,000 and 54,000 ounces this year, down from the 56,864 ounces achieved in 2020, as it will mine only from the existing Gedabek and Gadir mines in 2021 with no contribution from Ugur. "This year we will only be mining from our existing Gedabek open pit and Gedabek and Gadir underground mines, said chief executive Reza Vaziri. However, we are expecting an increase in copper production as we take more ore from the Gedabek open pit. The first quarter's production and the full-year production guidance reflect this fact, he said. Copper output is expected to rise to between 2,500 and 2,800 tonnes, up from the 2,591 tonnes achieved last year. The production forecast assumes no contribution from the three restored contract areas in Nagorno Karabakh during 2021. Total metal production for 2021 is expected to be 64,000 to 72,000 gold equivalent ounces versus actual output of 67,249 gold equivalent ounces last year. It produced 15,810 gold equivalent ounces, using budgeted metal prices, in the first quarter of this year. First-quarter gold production fell to 11,907 ounces, from 15,867 ounces in the year-earlier quarter, while copper output rose 14% to 638 tonnes and silver production grew 2% to 35,365 ounces. Anglo Asian had cash of US$22.9mln at the end of March 2021 and an unsold gold dore and copper concentrate inventory of US$15.2mln. Some gold dore production from the quarter was not shipped to the refiner until April to minimise shipping costs. It sold 2,000 ounces of the contained gold bullion on April 6 for US$3.5mln. The company continued its exploration programme in 2020. We are looking forward to starting to reap the benefits of this exploration with production next year from Avshancli, said CEO Vaziri. The drilling results from Zafer continue to be encouraging and we have now engaged third-party consultants to provide indicative estimates of resources. We are also just starting to understand the potential of the newly restored contract areas. A recent visit to the Vejnaly contract area in Zangilan has identified some high-grade ore stockpiles and the feasibility of transporting this ore to Gedabek for processing is being evaluated. For the midday we start #TBT inspired by hottie Alessandra and her enduring body of work that inspires this peek at pop culture, community news and top headlines. Social Justice Shopping Coming Soon To Kansas City Introducing The Black Pantry-An Eclectic Blend of Products From Black-Owned Companies and Brands - In Kansas City If you've driven by Martini Corner lately, you may have spied The Black Pantry-a new shop in burgeoning Midtown. The store, which is set to fully open this Saturday, is a collaboration between owner Brian Roberts and the squad at Made in KC. Roberts's new store features an eclectic blend of local Kansas City products... Tech Help Confronts Tragic KCK Student Circumstances KCKPS holds 'Enough is Enough' virtual community forum Thursday KANSAS CITY, Kan. - Last year, KCKPS lost 22 students - 11 were due to gun violence and other students died from overdose or suicides. It's the reason why the district launched its "Enough is Enough" initiative to stop what's happening and find solutions. Show-Me Bad Timing Missouri lawmakers move to make daylight saving permanent Missouri's Republican-led state House on Wednesday advanced a proposal to make daylight saving time permanent. Lawmakers in a voice vote gave the bill initial approval. It needs another full House vote to move to the Senate for consideration. Federal law prevents states from moving to daylight saving time permanently, so the Missouri bill would only take effect if Congress changes federal law. Middle-Aged Hotness Shared Victoria's Secret model Alessandra Ambrosio wows in swimwear as she turns 40 The Victoria's Secret model, seen in swimwear for fashion label Lascana, marked the milestone by holding up golden balloons for an online pic. Brazilian Alessandra told her 10million Insta followers: "Celebrating this beautiful journey. "Feeling grateful for all the amazing opportunities and experiences and most of all for everyone that has enriched my life. Prez Biden Pushes Back Russia Biden administration sanctions Russia over election interference, Crimea The Biden administration on Thursday leveled an array of sanctions against the Russian government for its attempted interference in the 2020 U.S. election, occupation of the Crimea region of Ukraine, and other malign activities by Moscow. More Deets On Speaker Vs. AOC Pelosi mocked Ocasio-Cortez and the Squad by talking like a baby: 'See how perfect I am and how pure?' Nancy Pelosi criticized Rep. Ocasio-Cortez and other members of the left wing "Squad" for posing as "perfect" and "pure" progressives. USA Today's Susan Page writes in her forthcoming book that the House Speaker told her some members "pose for holy pictures" while others legislate. Debatable Reform Underway Schumer lays groundwork for future filibuster reform But the effort is also a way to convince Democratic senators to agree to reform the filibuster. The thinking is that if Republicans show they aren't interested in working with Democrats, it will help the case within the Senate Democratic Conference to reform the filibuster, which requires most legislation to win 60 votes to move forward in a chamber where there are only 50 Democratic votes. SUPREME PACKING STARTS!!! Democrats unveil plan to pack Supreme Court with 13 justices Democratic politicians on Thursday unveiled their plans to expand the US Supreme Court from the current nine justices to 13 - a proposal that has been roundly criticized as "court packing" to meet political needs. "We are here today because the United State Supreme Court is broken," said Massachusetts Sen. COVID Recovery For Now Unemployment Claims Likely Fell as Covid-19 Recovery Picked Up Unemployment claims likely resumed their decline as the U.S. economic revival picked up speed. Economists surveyed by The Wall Street Journal expect that the Labor Department will report that jobless claims, a proxy for layoffs, fell to 710,000 last week from 744,000 a week earlier. Debating Doggie Style After lost dog found, KCK owner says local pet rescue not giving him back MISSION, Kan. - A lost dog from Kansas City, Kansas ended up at a pet rescue in Mission and the owner says she's having a hard time getting her dog back. The owner of the dog named Capone, who is at Unleashed Pet Rescue, got loose a couple of weeks ago. Local Gift Of Life Needed Blood donors needed as supply runs low KANSAS CITY, Mo. - Blood donation centers are sounding the alarm on low blood supply and asking people to consider donating. According to the Community Blood Center in Kansas City, they're facing a chronic blood shortage connected to the pandemic. Spokesperson Chelsey Smith said the center currently has a five-day supply of blood compared to their average seven-day supply. Thursday Chill Cloudy, cooler Thursday -- rain starts overnight DRESS AND GET A FEW LAYERS AT KAUFFMAN STADIUM. 36 DEGREES, DRESSED IN LAYERS THIS MORNING, AND THE WARMER COAT, TRUSTEE CONDITIONS ACROSS THE METRO AND A FREEZE FROM ST. JOSEPH INTO MARYVILLE. ADDITIONAL FROSTY DAYS ON OUR FIRST ALERT 9 DAY FORECAST FOR NEXT WEEK. Billboard #1 for this week in April 1991, Londonbeat - I've Been Thinking About You is the #TBT song of the day and this is the OPEN THREAD for right now. Part of the overturned ships hull and one of its legs were still visible, leaving most of the bulky vessel underwater, in an area 50 to 55 feet (15 to 17 meters) deep, according to the Coast Guard. Also called a jackup rig, it has three long legs designed to reach the sea floor and lift it out of water as an offshore platform. DENVER, April 15, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Dempsey International Packaging, a KCooper Brands company ("Dempsey International" or the "Company") and Timoneer Strategic Partners ("Timoneer") are pleased to announce they have reached a Partnership Agreement that establishes Dempsey International Packaging as an acquisition platform within the rigid packaging industry. Founded in 2016 by Kathi and George Dempsey, and headquartered in Denver, Colorado, Dempsey International Packaging is led by CEO George Dempsey, a 24-year veteran of St. Louis, Missouri based TricorBraun, where he served as Chief Operating Officer. Ben Frazier, Managing Partner and co-founder of Timoneer, noted, "We are incredibly excited to partner with George, Kathi, and the entire Dempsey International team. It is amazing what Dempsey International has accomplished in just a short period of time. George not only brings an unparalleled understanding of the rigid packaging industry, but also has tremendous experience in driving private equity-backed acquisition strategies in the space." Dempsey International's organic growth trajectory has continued to steepen through the COVID-19 pandemic. The Company is on track to top $50 million in revenue, making it the ideal platform for founders Kathi and George Dempsey to partner with other like-minded, entrepreneurial companies in the rigid packaging space. Ultimately, Dempsey International has the goal of becoming the acquisition partner of choice for closely held businesses in the industry, and the industry partner of choice for end customers, suppliers, and all constituents in the value chain. Together, Dempsey International and Timoneer will employ a methodical and thoughtful roll-up strategy, targeting both distribution and specialty manufacturing businesses, that will provide an avenue for complementary companies to integrate into a platform that offers: (i) the necessary resources for sustainable growth and operational enhancement, and (ii) an inclusive culture with compelling go-forward economic incentives for current ownership and management. Through this partnership, Dempsey International and Timoneer believe they can quickly scale to become one of the largest rigid packaging specialty distribution platforms in the industry. "It will be a resource-driven consolidation model, operating through a distributed structure, that keeps sales and operations decision-making activities close to the customer," said George Dempsey. "Locking arms with Timoneer not only brings dedicated financial resources to the table, but also additional execution horsepower in support of the Company's growth strategy through acquisition. Consistent with Dempsey International's existing culture and approach, the newly created partnership will focus on high-touch creative services and value-added solutions for the Company's customers and suppliers." "In what we believe to be an improvement over many consolidation efforts in the market today, our aim is a more inclusive approach to both ownership and operations. This differentiated and integrated approach signifies a unique milestone in the market's evolution and promises the necessary resources and support for continued growth, a friendlier and more seamless transition, and an opportunity for all key stakeholders to participate in the upside. Ultimately, we believe this will create a win-win scenario and a model that drives long-term sustainable value for all parties," said Matt Joen, Managing Partner and co-founder of Timoneer. Timoneer will also provide further support to the continued expansion of Dempsey International's game-changing Raptor Packaging E-commerce Platform, designed to help manufacturers reach distribution customers in a manufacturer-direct and brand-forward capacity. About Dempsey International Packaging: Dempsey International Packaging is a closely held, women-owned and veteran-owned corporation headquartered in Denver, Colorado. The company supports large and small brand owners through manufacturing, sourcing, and distribution of rigid packaging components (glass & plastic bottles, closures, tubes, dispensing systems) and other value-added services primarily in North America. The two founding principal owners, Kathi & George Dempsey, have over 50 years of experience in the packing industry, including both domestic and international partnerships, positioning their firm at the forefront of industry expertise. For more information, please visit: www.dempseyinternational.com. About Raptor Packaging: Raptor Packaging is a revolutionary e-commerce marketplace platform designed to allow manufacturers direct access to more than 30,000 rigid packaging distributor customers, while providing customers a single interface to order multiple SKUs from multiple manufacturers. Raptor launched its exclusive platform in 2020 and is seeing continued growth in both manufacturers and customers on the platform. For more information, please visit: www.raptorpackaging.com. About Timoneer Strategic Partners: Timoneer Strategic Partners is a private equity firm focused on making control, or meaningful minority, investments in profitable, closely held, lower- and middle-market businesses. Timoneer strategically partners with companies and operators to build exceptional businesses and brands and focuses on investing in opportunities where it can support superior management teams in driving transformational change through enhanced operational initiatives, strategic planning, and tactical and accretive M&A. Timoneer has investment professionals located in Newport Beach, Chicago, and Charlotte. For more information, please visit: www.timoneersp.com. For more information about Dempsey International, please contact: Nate Calvert VP of Marketing Dempsey International Packaging 720-405-9001 [email protected] For all inquiries and interested parties, please contact: Matt Joen Managing Partner Timoneer Strategic Partners 828-777-1820 [email protected] SOURCE Dempsey International Packaging Related Links http://www.dempseyinternational.com Srinagar, April 15: The students from Indian illegally occupied Jammu and Kashmir, pursuing medical and engineering courses in various colleges in Pakistan, have said that the Indian immigration officials stopped them from returning to their colleges. Over 40 students had come for vacation to IIOJK in January and February this year. However, the students are not allowed by the Indian Immigration officials to return to their colleges. A student said, we had planned to return to the colleges on March 17 but Indian Immigration department stopped us at Wagah Border and asked us to obtain the No Objection Certificate (NOC) from the Indian authorities concerned to return to the colleges in Pakistan. The students pursuing MBBS course have been asked to obtain NOC from the National Medical Council of India (NMCI), while the engineering students have been asked to get the clearance from the Indian Human Resource Development (HRD) ministry. We approached both the MCI and HRD as well but were told that both the departments directly deal with the institutions and students have nothing to do with it, the students said. The students said that they made their first attempt on March 17 to return to their colleges through Wagah Border. But we were stopped at the border and asked to get the NOC. Later we tried to go through the New Delhi airport and planned to go to Pakistan via Dubai but again we were not allowed to return to the colleges, another distressed student told media men in Srinagar. We even requested the Immigration department to provide us the copy of the order and that we will accordingly complete the formality but they denied us the order, saying it was confidential, the students said. They complained that the Indian Immigration department was dodging them, on one pretext, or the other, only to bar them from returning to the colleges. The students are enrolled in different colleges in Lahore, Islamabad, Baluchistan and other cities of Pakistan in 2018 or earlier and were never asked to complete any such formalities while returning to the colleges after vacation. Even MCI and HRD officials told us that no such rule exists on the ground wherein NOC will be sought from the students. They completely feigned ignorance about any such development, the students said. The medical students said their 3rd year exams were scheduled next month and they needed to attend the colleges without any further delay. We fail to understand why we arent allowed to report to the colleges, the Kashmiri students said. They said that the Immigration department conveyed to them the policy to obtain NOC from MCI and HRD was framed by the current IIOJK authorities. The students urged the IIOJK authorities to intervene into the matter so that they are allowed to return to their colleges to continue their studies. A police officer stands between Police Appreciation rally attendees and counter-protesters at the City Hall in Houston, Texas, on June 18, 2020. (Mark Felix/AFP via Getty Images) Texas State Senate Passes Bill Requiring Voter Approval of Police Budget Cuts The Texas Senate on Tuesday passed a bill that would block local governments from reducing their law enforcement budgets without voter approval, in the Republican-led state legislatures latest pushback against calls to defund the police. Senate Bill 23, which passed the state Senate in a bipartisan 28-2 vote, requires a local election before any city or county in Texas can cut law enforcement funds as a percentage of its overall budget, lower the number of officers, or reduce funds per officer for training and recruitment. Under the bill, a citizen complaint would be able to trigger an investigation by the Criminal Justice Division of the governors office to determine whether a local government had cut police spending without an election. If the complaint is determined to be valid, the Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts could issue a penalty that bans the municipality from raising property tax until the budget is restored. Republican state Sen. Joan Huffman, who sponsored Senate Bill 23, said her bill is meant to show support for law enforcement. This sends a message to the citizens that we are going to back the blue, Huffman said on the Senate floor, reported The Texas Tribune. Thats what this bill intends to do. The bill comes as Texas Gov. Greg Abbott urges the state legislature to take actions to resist the widespread Defund the Police movement. The Republican governor said last year that he would back legislation to freeze property tax revenues for cities that puts residents in danger by cutting police budgets. Any city that defunds police departments will have its property tax revenue frozen at the current level. They will never be able to increase property tax revenue again if they defund police. Cities that endanger residents by reducing law enforcement should not then be able to turn around and go back and get more property tax dollars from those same residents whose lives the city just endangered, Abbott said. In August 2020, the Austin City Council unanimously voted to cut its police department budget by one-third, or $150 million. About $20 million in the police budget decrease came from re-allocating money to subsidize social services programs, including abortion. Another $50 million came from creating a safety fund that will divert money toward alternative forms of public safety and community support. The other $80 million was shifted from the police department budget by moving some offices to civilian control. In September, the Dallas City Council narrowly voted to increase the police funding by nearly $8 million, but only after cutting $7 million from the $24 million set as overtime pay for police officers. Imperial Valley News Center American History Matters Washington, DC - Less than two months after the siege of the Alamo, the Texas War for Independence took a turn towards triumph; on April 21, 1836, Sam Houston overwhelmed the unvigilant army of Mexican General, Santa Anna in the Battle of San Jacinto. Houston and his volunteers flogged the Mexican army and imprisoned their leader. Houston agreed to release Santa Annaa former Mexican president eleven times--only if he endorsed a treaty that acknowledged their independence and ended Mexicos aggressive machinations. In the meantime, the Republic of Texas was formed in 1836, and Houston was elected president--twice. On December 29, 1845, Texas became Americas 28th state, but maneuvers with Mexico persisted another two year; according to History.com, it helped to fulfill America's manifest destiny to expand its territory across the entire North American continent. For more information about Sam Houston, the Grateful American Book Prize recommends The Mexican American War by John DiConsiglio ... In 1847, Vermont Congressman, George Perkins Marsh, gave a speech that positioned the nation into thinking about the necessity to conserve Americas natural resources, according to the Library of Congress. Seventeen years later, President Lincoln signed the Yosemite Valley Grant Act; it declared that Californias Valley and Mariposa Big Tree Grove shall be held for public use, resort and recreation. Eight years later, President Ulysses S. Grant signed the Yellowstone National Park Protection Act into law and set up the first national park in the world. Throughout the industrial revolution-- in the end days of the 19th century and most of the 20ththe environmentalists lobby to restore water and air pollution to reasonable ratios, has laggedin most cases. Then, in 1969, Wisconsin Senator Gaylord Nelson inaugurated a crusade to enlighten America about why the earths resources needed to be saved. The first Earth Day was celebrated April 22, 1970. According to the website, the event inspired 20 million Americansat the time, 10% of the total population of the United States---to take to the streets, parks and auditoriums to demonstrate against the impacts of 150 years of industrial development which had left a growing legacy of serious human impacts. The Grateful American Book Prize recommends World Without Fish by Mark Kurlansky. ... On April 30, 1789, George Washington was humbled when he was elected Americas first president, according to the Library of Congress. Washington delivered the speech in a deep, low voice that betrayed what one observer called manifest embarrassment. He conveyed his Federal Hall remarks in the nations New York City capital. They were somewhat brief and fixated on the passage of the Bill of Rights. He had no obligation to deliver a message, other than to take his oath of office, but with that gesture, he set a precedent to address the nation -- a tradition observed by every president since. Washington was the Chief Executive two consecutive, four-year terms. The Grateful American Book Prize recommends George Washington and the Founding of a Nation by Albert Marrin New Delhi: The Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) is expected to release the admit cards for exams for the recruitment of various positions soon. The admit cards will be made available on the official website at upsc.gov.in. The exams will be conducted on May 9, 2021. UPSC had invited applications for the recruitment of Enforcement Officer (EO)/ Accounts Officer (AO) posts in the Employees Provident Fund Organization. Over 400 vacancies were notified with reservations for various categories of students. The exam was earlier scheduled to be held on October 4, 2020, but it was postponed due to the COVID-19 situation in the country. The selection procedure involves a written test and interview. The test will consist of objective-type questions. The duration of the exam will be 2 hours. Candidates must carry admit card to the exam centres. Live TV Domestic traders' body CAIT on Thursday asked the Delhi government to impose a complete lockdown for at least 10 days to control infections but at the same time ensure movement of vehicles carrying essential goods for the people. Amid surging COVID cases, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal has announced weekend curfew in Delhi apart from various other curbs. The Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT) said that people engaged in essential services should get e-passes on time and that the government should ensure smooth movement of vehicles at borders. "The time has come to take a strong step in order to curb the rapid outbreak and a complete lockdown for at least 10 days in order to break the chain seems the right thing to do," CAIT Secretary General Praveen Khandelwal said. He said the Delhi government's decision on restrictions is a right step but inadequate as the number of cases are increasing at a very fast pace. "It is very important to break the chain and for that it is very important to put a complete lock down for at least 10 days in Delhi. Traders of Delhi stand with the government and will continue supplies of essential commodities uninterruptedly," he added. CAIT will soon convene a meeting of various trade organisations of Delhi and take a detailed view on all the issues-related to possible lockdown, he said. "If necessary, the traders can also call for closing their shops," he noted. According to him, e-commerce companies should not be allowed to sell non-essential goods under the present conditions of curfew and lockdown. If e-commerce companies are allowed to sell non-essential commodities, then it will create an uneven-playing field for the traders whose shops will remain shut for compliance of the curfew orders in different parts of the country, he said. "It will be highly unfair if the e-commerce players are allowed to deliver all kinds of goods whereas brick and mortar retailers are allowed to deal only in essential commodities," he noted. (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.) DENVER, April 15, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- The next evolution of drinking with friends has come to the Midwest and East Coast. Keef Brands, founded in 2010 in Boulder, CO as one of the original cannabis-infused beverage companies and now ranked by BDS Analytics as the country's number one cannabis beverage brand, is proud to announce a major expansion into Missouri, Ohio and Maine. Their products can now be found in seven states across the country and Puerto Rico, with additional markets on schedule to launch this summer. "Now is a prime time for Keef Brands to make its way across the country and introduce new markets to our revolutionary wave of consumption," said Keef Brands CEO Travis Tharp. "We set ourselves apart with drinks that taste great and have fast-acting effects two extremely powerful properties both for those who use cannabis as prescription medicine as well as for adults who consume cannabis for pleasure. Keef brings people together as they connect over the shared experience of enjoying infused drinks." Keef Brands' award-winning portfolio has already earned a loyal customer base in the Western United States, as the company currently offers eight of the top ten-selling cannabis beverages in Colorado as well as two of the ten top-selling in California. Their beverages, formulated with high-quality cannabis extract, include infused versions of classic soda flavors, low calorie options, mocktails and more. Below is the list of Keef Brands products currently available by state: Maine: Keef Classic Original Cola (10 mg THC): previously Keef Cola ; the first Keef product to ever be made provides a familiar cola taste that you would find in soda fountains across the country. previously ; the first Keef product to ever be made provides a familiar cola taste that you would find in soda fountains across the country. Keef Classic Bubba Kush Root Beer (10 mg THC): Winner of the High Times Cannabis Cup for Best Edible; this flavor also mixes extremely well with ice cream to create the ultimate cannabis-infused root beer float. Winner of the High Times Cannabis Cup for Best Edible; this flavor also mixes extremely well with ice cream to create the ultimate cannabis-infused root beer float. Keef Classic Orange Kush (10 mg THC): Refreshing and tangy notes of orange citrus flavor. Ohio: Keef Life H20 Strawberry Kiwi (100 mg THC): Designed for more health conscious indulgence, this cannabis flavor-enhanced water has less than 5 calories and 1 gram of sugar per serving. Complete with a built-in, resealable, child-resistant, dosing cap that allows for easy and precise dosing every time. Add Keef Life H2O to your favorite (non-alcoholic) beverage as an enhancement, or enjoy it on its own as a light and refreshing stand-alone beverage. Designed for more health conscious indulgence, this cannabis flavor-enhanced water has less than 5 calories and 1 gram of sugar per serving. Complete with a built-in, resealable, child-resistant, dosing cap that allows for easy and precise dosing every time. Add H2O to your favorite (non-alcoholic) beverage as an enhancement, or enjoy it on its own as a light and refreshing stand-alone beverage. Keef Mocktail Lemonade (100 mg THC): Your classic lemonade flavor with the perfect cannabis twist! This timeless non-carbonated beverage contains 10 servings of 10mg THC per bottle and is equipped with a resealable dosing cap for both precise and flexible consumption. Missouri: Keef Classic Original Cola (100 mg THC) Keef Classic Bubba Kush Root Beer (100 mg THC) Keef Classic Orange Kush (100mg THC) Keef Classic Blue Razz (100 mg THC): A blend of raspberry and blueberry flavors, creating the ultimate berry soda. A blend of raspberry and blueberry flavors, creating the ultimate berry soda. Keef Classic Purple Passion (100 mg THC): Your classic grape soda flavor with carefully calculated amounts of sweetness and fizz. Your classic grape soda flavor with carefully calculated amounts of sweetness and fizz. Keef Life H20 Strawberry Kiwi (200 mg THC) Keef Mocktail Lemonade (200 mg THC) The cachet of cannabis beverages is on the rise, with sales up 40 percent from 2019 to 2020 according to recent Headset data. Less experienced cannabis consumers and medical patients in newly legal markets are turning to beverages as an approachable, familiar way to experience the plant, while others are embracing cannabis beverages as both a social libation and alternative to alcohol. The expansion follows a benchmark 2020 for Keef Brands, during which the company celebrated its 10th anniversary. 2020 also saw Keef Brands earn the largest year over year growth of beverage market share (by dollars sold) in 2020, according to BDS Analytics, and a partnership with BevCanna to position Keef Brands' expansion into Canada later this year . Along with this most recent expansion to Ohio, Maine and Missouri, Keef Brands is widely available at more than 1000 dispensaries and delivery services in California, Colorado, Arizona, Oklahoma, as well as Puerto Rico. For more information on the full product portfolio and to view the rebranded Keef aesthetic, please visit keefbrands.com . About Keef Brands A recognized leader in the cannabis space known for its track record of innovation, taste and consistent quality, Keef Brands develops, produces, and distributes multiple cannabis-infused product lines including Keef Classics, Keef Mocktails, Keef Sparkling H2O, Keef Energy, Keef Life H2O, Keef PAX Pods, Keef Carts and Keef Oil Syringes. This diverse and carefully curated product portfolio continues to be an award-winning brand, including the Westword 2019 Best in Denver Readers' Choice for Best Edible Company. According to BDS Analytics, Keef is the #1 cannabis beverage brand (by both dollars and units sold) in the United States in 2020 and Keef has seen the largest year over year growth of beverage market share (by dollars sold) in 2020. Founded in Boulder, CO, the company has been at the forefront of innovation around social cannabis product development and education since 2010. The brand is currently available in seven states: Arizona, California, Colorado, Maine, Missouri, Ohio, Oklahoma, as well as Puerto Rico. Follow Keef Brands on Instagram and Facebook . Contact: Alex Rush [email protected] 212.255.6382 SOURCE Keef Brands KONNOR PERRIN, Chariho boys lacrosse, freshman: Perrin established a school record for assists in a game with nine in the Chargers 22-0 win over Ponaganset. Perrin leads the team with 21 assists to go with 14 goals. LILA RICH, Stonington girls track, senior: Rich won two events at the ECC Division I track meet. Rich was first in the high jump (5-0) and the pole vault (10-0) as the Bears finished third at the meet. MADIGAN HILTZ, Westerly boys lacrosse, senior: Hiltz scored seven goals and had three assists in pair of victories for the Bulldogs. Hiltz has 17 goals and seven assists for the season. ADDIE HAUPTMANN, Wheeler softball, junior: Hauptmann was 4 for 9 with a home run and six RBIs in two games. For the season, Hauptmann is hitting .617 with eight homers and 42 RBIs. She has 50 hits. Vote View Results - Second transaction of 2021 highlights successful, growing partnership between Capital Dynamics and Energiekontor - Project estimated to reduce greenhouse emissions by over 0.7 million metric tons during its lifetime and contribute to Scotland's pursuit of net-zero carbon targets LONDON, April 15, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Capital Dynamics, an independent global private asset management firm, announced the acquisition of a 100 percent equity stake in the Sorbie onshore wind project from Energiekontor AG. Sorbie, a 13 MW shovel-ready, subsidy-free onshore wind project located in North Ayrshire, Scotland, represents Capital Dynamics' second acquisition of 2021 under its partnership with Energiekontor and follows the 50 MW Longhill wind transaction in March. Sorbie is estimated to reduce greenhouse emissions by over 0.7 million metric tons during its lifetime - the equivalent of emissions produced by over 150,000 passenger vehicles driven for a year or the electricity to power over 110,000 homes for a year. The project will commence construction in July 2021 and is expected to achieve commercial operations in the second half of 2022. Once operational, the project will benefit from Capital Dynamics' Clean Energy Infrastructure affiliate platform, Arevon Energy, and Energiekontor's longstanding operations management experience and optimisation support. "We are delighted that our multi-discipline collaboration with Energiekontor has yielded a second successful transaction in 2021, and together we look forward to bringing this critical UK infrastructure to fruition," said Barney Coles, Managing Director, Clean Energy Infrastructure at Capital Dynamics. "In the year Scotland plays host to the COP 26 UN Climate Change Conference, we are proud to contribute to the region's pursuit of meeting ambitious net-zero carbon targets and to support the UK's post-pandemic 'green recovery' plan." "We have always considered our Scottish pipeline, which we have built up over the last few years, to be of great value. With the sale of the Sorbie wind farm project the value has been confirmed a second time," explains Peter Szabo, CEO of Energiekontor. "We are delighted about the renewed cooperation with such a renowned investor like Capital Dynamics." Pinsent Masons LLP acted as legal counsel to Capital Dynamics on the acquisition and DNV GL served as lead technical advisor. About Capital Dynamics Capital Dynamics is an independent global asset management firm focusing on private assets including private equity, private credit and clean energy infrastructure. Capital Dynamics' Clean Energy Infrastructure is one of the largest renewable energy investment managers in the world with USD 6.6 billion AUM and has one of the longest track records in the industry. The CEI strategy was established to capture attractive investment opportunities in the largest and fastest growing sector of global infrastructure - proven renewable energy technologies, primarily in North America and Europe, across solar, onshore wind, energy storage and related infrastructure with a focus on both utility-scale and distributed generation technologies. The CEI platform's fully-integrated asset management affiliate provides highly-specialized services to ensure optimal performance and value from projects. The CEI strategy currently manages 7.9 GW of contracted gross power generation across more than 150 projects in the United States and Europe and is one of the top 3 global solar PV owners. As a sustainable asset manager, we have gone beyond standard ESG requirements by designing, implementing and trademarking the Capital Dynamics R-Eye Rating System - a unique, best-in-class approach to diligence and rating of each investment based on PRI principles and UN Sustainable Development Goals. Since Capital Dynamics' Clean Energy Infrastructure platform's inception in 2010, over 19 million metric tons of greenhouse gas emissions have been avoided as a result of the firm's renewable investments. This is equivalent to the emissions produced by over 4.0 passenger vehicles driven for a year or the electricity to power over 3.2 million homes for a year. In 2020, the CEI strategy received top rankings from GRESB (the ESG benchmark for real assets) for commitment to sustainability, and in 2019 awarded Global PE Energy Firm of the Year by Private Equity International. For more information, please visit: www.capdyn.com. About Energiekontor AG A solid business policy and a lot of experience in renewable energies: Energiekontor has stood for this for 30 years. Founded in Bremerhaven in 1990, the Company is one of the pioneers in the industry and is now one of the leading German project developers. The core business ranges from planning and construction to the operational management of wind farms in Germany and abroad and was expanded to include solar energy in 2010. In addition, Energiekontor operates wind and solar farms with a nominal output of almost 280 megawatts in its own portfolio. Energiekontor also aims to play a pioneering role in economic terms and to realise the first wind and solar parks in all target markets at market prices as quickly as possible, independently of state subsidies. In addition to its headquarters in Bremen, Energiekontor has offices in Bremerhaven, Hagen im Bremischen, Aachen, Augsburg, Bernau near Berlin and Potsdam. The Company also has offices in England (Leeds), Scotland (Edinburgh, Glasgow), Portugal (Lisbon), USA (Austin/Texas and Rapid City/South Dakota) and France (Toulouse, Rouen). The proud record since the Company was founded: 126 realised wind farms and eleven solar parks with a total output of over 1 gigawatt. This corresponds to an investment volume of around 1.7 billion euros. The Company went public on 25 May 2000. The share of Energiekontor AG (WKN 531350 / ISIN DE0005313506) is listed in the General Standard of the German Stock Exchange in Frankfurt and can be traded on all German stock exchanges. Contact Capital Dynamics Nicholas Rust Vice President | Prosek Partners NRust@prosek.com T: +1 646 818 9252 Energiekontor AG Investor Relations / Press Peter Alex Peter.Alex@energiekontor.de T: +49 421 3304-126 www.energiekontor.de Daunte Wright and his son Daunte Jr., at his first birthday party in an undated photograph. (Ben Crump Law, PLLC. via AP) Minnesota Police Union Chief: Daunte Wright Would Be Alive Today If He Had Complied With Orders The head of Minnesotas largest police union says Daunte Wright, who was killed by an officer over the weekend, would be alive if he had complied with police orders. This is going to be an unpopular statement, Brian Peters, executive director of the Minnesota Police and Peace Officers Association, said during a WCCO interview on April 14. Daunte Wright, if he would have just complied. He was told he was under arrest. They were arresting him on a warrant for weapons. He set off a chain of events that unfortunately led to his death. Of the shooting, Peters said that he is not excusing it but noted that what were seeing in policing these days is that noncompliance by the public. Tim Gannon, the former police chief of Brooklyn Center, Minnesota, where Wright was shot, said the officer in question was 26-year Brooklyn Center Police Department veteran Kim Potter, who allegedly mistakenly drew her gun instead of her Taser when she shot Wright. Potter resigned from her position and was later charged with second-degree manslaughter. Wright was resisting a felony outstanding warrant and was trying to flee in his car. Black Lives Matter protesters have descended on Brooklyn Center and have looted businesses, engaged in riots, and clashed with officers in front of the precinct building following Wrights death. Dozens have been arrested and the state was forced to deploy the National Guard. Peters, meanwhile, said that Brooklyn Center Mayor Mike Elliott likely cant deal with the riots. This is way over his head, Peters said. Both Curt Boganey and Tim Gannon were political pawns in whatever game the current mayor is playing. If I were the mayor, I would not allow the political activists to run the show. Boganey, the city manager, also resigned from office this week. Police say Wright was pulled over for expired tags on April 11, but they sought to arrest him after discovering he had an outstanding warrant. The warrant was for his failure to appear in court on charges that he fled from officers and possessed a gun without a permit during an encounter with Minneapolis police in June 2020. Body camera footage released by Gannon on April 12 shows Potter approaching Wright, who is being arrested by another officer in front of his car. As Wright struggles with the police officer, Potter shouts: Ill tase you! Ill Tase you! Taser! Taser! Taser! before firing a single shot from a handgun in her right hand. A criminal complaint against the former officer noted that Potter holstered her handgun on the right side and her Taser on the left. To remove the Taserwhich is yellow and has a black gripPotter would have to use her left hand, the complaint stated. The Associated Press contributed to this report. A fire over the weekend at a BNSF Railway terminal in western Nebraska is estimated to have caused $3 million in damage to the facility. The fire broke out early in the afternoon on April 11 at the BNSF terminal building in Alliance, and the Alliance Volunteer Fire Department had the blaze mostly under control about three hours later, the Scottsbluff Star-Herald reported. No injuries were reported, but damage to the building and its contents is estimated at around $3 million. About $2 million of that is in estimated damage to sensitive electronics inside the building. Fire Chief Troy Shoemaker said that while the fire was mainly restricted to the buildings roof, the construction of the roof coupled with the way the fire burned through it caused a phenomenon called roof drain. Every ounce of water that we put on to extinguish the fire went into the interior, he said. It went through the roof deck, collapsed the false ceiling, so we basically had open penetration to the inside of the building. BNSF spokeswoman Amy Casas said the railroad set up a temporary worksite for employees who worked out of the terminal. The cause of the fire remains under investigation. Copyright 2021 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. Topics Berkshire Hathaway Nebraska In this Feb. 9, 2021 file photo, a medic prepares a shot of Russian Sputnik V coronavirus vaccine for injection in a staged event at Imam Khomeini hospital in Tehran, Iran. Iran has finalized a deal with Russia over purchasing 60 million doses of the Sputnik V Coronavirus vaccine, state-run IRNA news agency reported Thursday, April 15, 2021. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi, File) Iran has finalized a deal with Russia to purchase 60 million doses of Sputnik V coronavirus vaccine, the state-run IRNA news agency reported Thursday. The report quotes Iran's ambassador to Russia, Kazem Jalali, as saying the contract has been "signed and finalized" for enough vaccinations to inoculate 30 million people. Jalali said Iran will receive the vaccines by the end of the year. On Saturday, Iran began a 10-day lockdown amid a fourth wave of coronavirus infections. Authorities ordered most shops closed and offices restricted to one-third capacity in cities declared as "red zones" with the highest infection rates. The capital Tehran and 250 other cities and towns across the country have been declared red zones. They have the highest virus positivity rates and the most severe restrictions in place. Over 85% of the country now has either a red or orangeslightly lowerinfection status, authorities said. The severe surge in infections follows a two-week public holiday for Nowruz, the Persian New Year. Millions traveled to the Caspian coast and other popular vacation spots, packed markets to shop for new clothes and toys and congregated in homes for parties in defiance of government health guidelines. In this Feb. 9, 2021, file photo, Parsa Namaki, center, son of Health Minister Saeed Namaki, left, is injected with the Russian Sputnik V coronavirus vaccine in a staged event at Imam Khomeini hospital in Tehran, Iran, Iran. Iran has finalized a deal with Russia over purchasing 60 million doses Sputnik V Coronavirus vaccine, state-run IRNA news agency reported Thursday, April 15, 2021. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi, File) The new lockdown restricts access to parks, restaurants, bakeries, beauty salons, malls and bookstores. There appeared to be no respite in sight to the virus's spread as Iran's vaccine rollout lagged. Only some 200,000 doses have been administered in the country of 84 million, according to the World Health Organization. COVAX, an international collaboration to deliver the vaccine equitably across the world, delivered its first shipment to Iran on Monday from the Netherlands, containing 700,000 Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine doses. Iran in December began the human test phase of its homemade vaccine that it is expected to distribute in spring. The country has also began working on a joint vaccine with Cuba. It is also planning to import some 17 million doses of vaccine from COVAX and millions of doses from other countries. Arman, 2, plays in front of closed shops of Tehran's Grand Bazaar, Iran, Saturday, April 10, 2021. Iran on Saturday imposed partial lockdown on businesses in major shopping centers as well as intercity travels through personal cars in major cities including capital Tehran as it struggles with the worst outbreak of the coronavirus in the Mideast region. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi) People walk through closed Tehran's Grand Bazaar, Iran, Saturday, April 10, 2021. Iran on Saturday imposed partial lockdown on businesses in major shopping centers as well as intercity travels through personal cars in major cities including capital Tehran as it struggles with the worst outbreak of the coronavirus in the Mideast region. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi) Iran says several factors played a role in the rising number of cases, but insists the prime culprit was the U.K. variant of the virus that entered Iran from Iraq. Earlier this year, the country started its coronavirus inoculation campaign, administering a limited number of Russian Sputnik V vaccine doses to medical workers. 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. By Ruth Anderah Older persons and ex-prisoners in Uganda are set to get financial support from the Uphold Friends in Need Association, a Non-Government Organisation started by a group of army veterans. This has been revealed by association General Secretary Jimmy Mugalu while addressing the media at their head offices in Matugga, Kito zone in Wakiso District. Mugalu says the association which was launched in 2016 by Rtd Captain Lawrence Mukasa Kalira, will also pay half of school fees for the orphans and children of former prisoners and caters for medical bills of the needy older persons. Mugalu adds that they have chosen to help ex-prisoners because most of them come out of the prisons and have have nothing to start a new life with and end up committing other offences. He says the covid-19 pandemic has specifically made life very difficult for them. The BBC is to mark the funeral of the Duke of Edinburgh with a series of special programmes. The broadcaster has announced it's planned special programming of Prince Philip's funeral ahead of this weekend after it received a record number of complaints over its coverage of the Duke's death last Friday. Huw Edwards will lead the live reporting of the funeral in three programmes broadcast from Windsor across Friday and Saturday. The special programming will begin on Friday evening at 7pm with a programme titled HRH The Duke of Edinburgh Remembered. The programme will be broadcast live from Windsor and feature commentary from 'people who are playing key roles' in Saturday's ceremonial procession and funeral service. The BBC says Huw Edwards will be joined by guests who knew The Duke, and Royal experts who share their thoughts on a remarkable life of duty and service. Saturday's coverage will begin at 11am on BBC one with a programme called The Duke in his own Words - an hour long feature made over the course of the year by the BBC at Windsor. Huw Edwards (pictured) is set to present three special programmes spread over Friday and Saturday as part of the BBC's coverage of the ceremonial funeral for the Duke of Edinburgh Edwards will present coverage live from Windsor on Friday evening and Saturday afternoon The corporation describes the programme as 'a journey through the life of a very modern man, a pioneer and innovator who was at the heart of the British Monarchy, and the Queen's side, for over seventy years'. The BBC's live coverage of the funeral will begin at 12.30pm and will be titled The Funeral of HRH The Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh. Huw Edwards will introduce live coverage of the ceremonial funeral of the Duke of Edinburgh from Windsor. Her Majesty The Queen, together with other members of the Royal Family will attend the Funeral Service. A full military procession and members of the Royal Family will accompany the coffin, as it makes the final journey from Windsor Castle to St George's Chapel. Throughout the afternoon, Huw Edwards will be joined by special guests with royal experts sharing their thoughts and analysis on the historic occasion as well as paying tribute to The Duke of Edinburgh life of service and duty. Sophie Raworth and JJ Chalmers will provide additional reporting for the BBC's coverage of Prince Philip's funeral on Saturday afternoon and reflective coverage in the evening on BBC2 Ceremonial: A full military procession and members of the Royal Family will accompany the coffin, as it makes the final journey from Windsor Castle to St George's Chapel (pictured) All the TV coverage of Duke of Edinburgh's funeral this weekend BBC's Coverage BBC One Friday at 7pm - HRH The Duke of Edinburgh Remembered presented by Huw Edwards Saturday at 11am - The Duke: In His Own Words Saturday at 12.30pm - The Funeral of HRH The Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh presented by Huw Edwards BBC Two Saturday at 8.10pm - The Funeral of HRH The Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh - Huw Edwards reflects on the events of the day live from Windsor Castle ITV's Coverage Saturday at 1.15pm - Prince Philip - a Royal Funeral presented by Tom Bradby Sky News Coverage Saturday at 10am - Sky News live from Windsor Castle presented by Sarah Hawson Saturday at 12.30pm - Prince Philip's Funeral presented by Dermot Murnaghan Saturday at 5pm - Sky News live from Windsor Castle presented by Mark Austin Saturday at 7pm - Sky News live from Windsor Castle presented by Anna Botting Saturday at 9pm - Prince Philip's Funeral - Anna Botting reflects on the events of the day live from Windsor Castle Advertisement JJ Chalmers and Sophie Raworth in Windsor will report on the events from key locations around the castle and will meet people participating in Saturdays ceremonial events. The coverage is scheduled to conclude on BBC One at 4.20pm. Later on Saturday, Huw Edwards will present a third programme on BBC Two from 8.10pm. The hour-long programme, also titled The Funeral of HRH The Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, will see Edwards reflect on the day's events at Windsor Castle. There will also be additional reporting from JJ Chalmers and Sophie Raworth. It comes following his death on Friday at the age of 99 - having spent more than 70 years at the Queen's side. A maximum of 30 people can attend the funeral because of coronavirus restrictions. Social distancing will be in place, Buckingham Palace has said, with the Queen set to be wearing a mask at the funeral. The monarch, 94, who returned to work on Tuesday four days after her husband's death, may also have to sit at least two-meters from other royal family members due to social distancing rules. On the day of his death, the BBC received a record number of complaints in response to their coverage. The corporation was reported to have received more than 110,000 complaints from viewers who were unhappy with interrupted programming. The figure proved to be the highest number of complaints ever published in the UK about television programming. Many viewers expressing their disappointment over the cancelling of programmes - and the broadcaster set up a dedicated webpage for viewers to lodge their dissatisfaction. The funeral will be broadcast with extended coverage on Saturday from 2pm until 4.10pm on Radio 4 and Radio 5 Live. It will also be broadcast on BBC Radio Wales and BBC local radio with some variation in start times. Martha Kearney will present from the studio, with Jonny Dymond and historian Tracy Borman. Our commentators will be Eleanor Oldroyd in St Georges Chapel; and Allan Little, Clare Balding and Clive Myrie at Windsor Castle. A school where an 11-month-baby girl was found dead has issued a statement about the tragedy, calling it 'the most awful of circumstances'. The little girl, who was found dead inside the grounds of Kingsway Christian College, was accidentally left inside a car by her mother, police believe. Detectives think the mother was in the process of dropping off or collecting another child at an after-hours childcare facility when the tragic accident unfolded. Principal Peter Burton has since released a statement. This is the statement that Kingsway Christian College released in the wake of the baby's death Mr Burton wrote: 'Words cannot express the depth of sadness we feel as a result of what, at this time, appears to be the accidental death late yesterday afternoon of an 11-month- old child,' the statement read. 'Given that a formal investigation is being conducted, the College is unable to provide any additional detail to what has been provided by the police.' The principal defended his school as he said that despite the incident occurring on school grounds the after-school care was not run by the college and that pastoral support was being offered to centre staff and parents. 'While Kingsway After School Care is situated on our campus, it operates completely independently of the College.' 'Nevertheless, we are doing everything we can to provide pastoral support to the centre staff and parents who are understandably distraught about this terrible incident.' An 11-month-old baby was tragically found dead on the grounds of Kingsway Christian College in Darth, Perth on Wednesday (pictured) The school also said they were offering support to the mother during the circumstances. 'Above all else, our prayers go out to the loved ones of the child so tragically lost,' he added. 'While respecting their privacy, we will continue to offer our utmost support to them as well as our full cooperation, as required, with the police investigation of this most awful of circumstances.' The school is well-known in Western Australia, with tuition costing upwards of $10,000 per year. Three crews from St John Ambulance Service attended at the campus just after 5.40pm on Wednesday after the baby's body was found. Who called authorities was not publicly revealed. Forensics officers were also on the scene and appeared to focus on one classroom in particular. They also paid close attention to a white van which was on the campus and eventually towed away by police about midnight. Major Crime squad detectives were at the scene late on Wednesday and were focusing on a portable classroom and a white van (stock image) Officers continued to search the area using torch light late into Wednesday evening. The school, 17km north of Perth's CBD, is a co-educational school with pupils from kindergarten to Year 12. The school is closed due to the Easter school holidays, but an after-hours daycare was open earlier on Wednesday. Children were coming and going for much of the day before the body was found. The centre reopened on Thursday, with the college confirming holiday care and daycare activities were running as usual. Western Australian Police told Daily Mail Australia investigations are ongoing. Walmart-backed e-comm giant Flipkart has acquired 100 per cent stake in Cleartrip, which is one of the oldest online travel technology companies in India. The acquisition of Cleartrip will strengthen Flipkart's digital commerce offerings for customers. As per the deal, all Cleartrip operations will be acquired by Flipkart. But, Cleartrip will continue to operate as a separate brand, retaining all employees while working closely with Flipkart "to further develop technology solutions to make travel simple for customers". As per Flipkart CEO Kalyan Krishnamurthy, the deal will help Flipkart transform customer experiences through digital commerce. "Cleartrip is synonymous with travel for many customers, and as we diversify and look at new areas of growth, this investment will help strengthen our wide range of offerings for customers," he said. ALSO READ: Flipkart adds Gujarati; app now available in eight Indian languages Co-founder and CEO of Cleartrip Stuart Crighton said Cleartrip has been a pioneer in capitalising on technology to simplify the travel experience. "This product-driven focus has enabled us to become the preferred travel partner of choice for consumers in a wide range of markets in the region. We are delighted to be part of the Flipkart family." Cleartrip is the latest addition to the list of acquisitions by the Walmart-owned Indian e-commerce major in various sectors. The acquisition of Cleartrip enhances the Flipkart group's position in India, which already has Myntra, PhonePe, eBay, Ekart, Jeeves, and Jabong and Flipkart Wholesale as its subsidiaries. Cleartrip, on the other hand, is the leading online travel and leisure aggregator, which was founded in 2006. It specialises in comprehensive and personalised travel experience latest online solutions. ALSO READ: Flipkart partners with Mahindra Logistics to accelerate deployment of EVs Hrush Bhatt, Matthew Spacie and Stuart Crighton founded Cleartrip in 2006 as an air travel and hotel booking aggregator. The deep jolt to travel and tourism industry on account of the coronavirus pandemic led to Cleartrip slipping into distress. Before the pandemic and subsequent lockdowns, Cleartrip faced tough competition after Naspers merged MakeMyTrip and its portfolio firm GoIbibo in 2016. Naspers then sold its stake in the company to China-based Ctrip and exited the challenging market. Cleartrip also came under pressure with other players like EaseMyTrip, Booking.com and Yatra entering the space. With Flipkart's backing, Cleartrip will be in a position to weather the turbulent and competitive travel and tourism sector. New Delhi, April 15 : Goldman Sachs has downgraded Indian consumer discretionary stocks, which include autos and consumer durables, from overweight to marketweight given the near-term earnings impact from the lockdown restrictions and margin headwinds from rising commodity input costs. It said that record virus cases and lockdown restrictions have fuelled correction/growth concerns. "We reduce Q2 forecasts but expect moderate impact overall as the restrictions have been targeted to specific sectors without broad spillovers so far. Our economists have revised down their CY21 real GDP growth forecast to 10.5 per cent (from 10.9 per cent previously) but remain above consensus. "We lower our CY21 earnings growth forecast to 24 per cent (from 27 per cent previously). We expect recovery to resume from Q3 onwards as restrictions normalise, vaccination pace accelerates and the global growth backdrop remains supportive," Goldman Sachs said. "We stay underweight the defensive and consumer-facing service sectors like staples, telcos and utilities. Within financials, we neutralise PSU banks but downgrade NBFCs to underweight as they are least favorably positioned given higher exposure to consumer finance, relatively higher cost of funds and market share loss to banks," it added. The sharp rise in virus cases and containment policies by the government have sparked concerns about macro and earnings recovery among the investors. "While we do expect Q2 GDP growth and earnings growth for this calendar year to be slower than our initial expectations, we don't think the broader recovery has been derailed," Goldman Sachs said. "Consequently, our economists have revised down their overall CY21 real GDP growth forecast to 10.5 per cent (from 10.9 per cent previously) but remain above the consensus forecast of 9.4 per cent," it said. "We remain pro-cyclical in our sector allocations to position for the economic recovery. However, within cyclicals, given our expectations of strong recovery in global growth and upcycle in commodities, we favour global and commodity cyclicals over defensive sectors," it added. Goldman Sachs has lowered NIFTY target slightly, incorporating the earnings cuts and expects NIFTY to reach 16300 in 12 months versus 16500 previously, which implies 14 per cent upside from the current levels in local currency terms. It has adjusted MSCI India CY2021 EPS estimate lower by 2 per cent and now expects earnings to grow 24 per cent this year (from 27 per cent earlier). This is mostly on account of lowering the CY Q2 forecast to include the impact of lockdown restrictions. "We incorporate the 40bp downgrade in CY21 GDP growth and EPS cuts in consumer-facing discretionary and services sectors like durables, retail, autos and airlines. On the other hand, tailwinds in the staples sector from higher restocking/home consumption demand and the strong deal activity for the Infotech sector are likely to cushion some impact," the report said. "Our economists believe that the containment restrictions are likely to be more targeted with hits to specific services (such as food and beverages, leisure & recreation, transport) but with limited spillovers into other sectors such as construction and manufacturing," it added. While these restrictions are likely to hit activity in Q2, it said activity is likely to rebound sharply from Q3 onwards as containment policies normalise. "Consequently, our economists have revised down their overall CY21 real GDP growth forecast to 10.5 per cent (from 10.9 per cent previously), but remain above the consensus forecast of 9.4 per cent," Goldman Sachs said. Total vaccinations have reached more than 100 million persons with the daily pace of vaccination crossing 3mn/day, more than double the pace a month ago. "The pace of vaccination has continued to rise across large metro cities. We expect the vaccination pace to further accelerate in the coming months, which should help ease restrictions," it said. (Sanjeev Sharma can be reached at sanjeev.s@ians.in) This obituary is part of a series about people who have died in the coronavirus pandemic. Read about others here. If you requested a snake image from the Vermont tattoo artist Anthony Audy, hed make it cute. Ask for a spider, it would come out whimsical. A demonic goat? It would be adorable enough for your babys crib. During his 15 years at Yankee Tattoo in Burlington, Mr. Audy imbued his work with a fantastical, cartoonish style that was instantly recognizable to friends and other artists. His personal style was equally distinctive: he wore thick, black-framed glasses and a rotating collection of fedoras and often a bow tie with his flannel shirt. He sometimes coifed his mustache ends to a flare. There was a childlike glee to him, said Jim DuVal, who worked with Mr. Audy and recently started his own tattoo studio. There are people in the world who are just made of sunshine and pixie dust and magic, and Anthony was clearly one of those people. 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. London: A Yemeni model who posed for photographs without wearing a hijab is facing prosecution by Houthi rebels who abducted her from the streets of Sanaa, the womans lawyer has claimed. Entesar al-Hammadi, 20, was arrested in the Yemeni capital in February with two friends as they travelled to a film set, according to Saudi media reports, which said the Houthis had accused her of violating Islamic dress codes. Entesar Al-Hammadi, a popular Yemeni model and actress, has been kidnapped by the Houthi militia in Sanaa. Credit:Social media Khaled Mohammed al-Kamal, Hammadis lawyer, told the website Arab News that his client was arrested without a warrant. He added that she was due to be questioned by a Houthi-controlled court on Sunday but did not give further details on the charges. CONYERS, Ga., April 15, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Who would have thought a girl who grew up in a small town called Madison, GA would become a C-level executive at a multi-million-dollar company while still in her 30s? Well, that's exactly what happened for Shanee McCambry, the new Chief Operating Officer of Novae. Congratulations to Shanee McCambry, new Chief Operating Officer of Novae Novae, also affectionately known as Novae Money, is a financial services and training company based in Conyers, GA. Since the company's inception in 2014, Shanee has served as the Director of Operations where she has provided continuous oversight and direction to the company's employees, maintained vendor relationships and processes, and efficiently managed Novae's overall operations, leading to the most profitable fiscal year in Novae's history in 2020. A college graduate of Georgia Southern University, Shanee earned a degree in Middle Grades Education and taught for 5 years at a Title I School, earning recognition as a top educator. She is now using that passion for education to lead the charge in providing financial literacy to the communities that lack it nationwide through Novae. As Novae continues to expand nationwide, adding thousands of customers and affiliates monthly, Shanee's responsibilities have also expanded to include oversight over Novae's fastest growing segments, the Business Credit & Funding division, as well as the White Label Franchise Program. No stranger to leadership, Shanee has been involved in the direct sales industry since 2005. She has trained and built sales organizations of thousands of people, producing millions of dollars in revenue. She has been able to successfully transition from being an independent sales representative to a C-level executive and part owner of a multi-million-dollar company. In addition to her recognition for being an excellent educator, Shanee has also been frequently recognized in the annual publication "Who's Who in Black Atlanta", which highlights some of the most accomplished African Americans in the Atlanta, GA area. Most notably, Shanee was inducted into the National Association of Professional Women, the largest and most recognized networking organization of professional women in the country. Particularly passionate about inspiring women, Shanee is a much sought-after female empowerment speaker. She enjoys writing blogs to inspire women from all walks of life to stay encouraged and to excel in everything they endeavor to do, as she explained after the announcement of her promotion to the C suite. "It doesn't matter where or how you start, but what matters is that you actually finish. Success is a process of growth, preparation, evolution, and consistent action. Strive to succeed with purpose!" Media Contact: Arielle Dothard 6787503787 [email protected] SOURCE Novae LLC CATANZARO, APR 15 - Italian police on Thursday smashed one of the Calabrian 'Ndrangheta mafia's biggest drug trafficking rings. 'Ndrangheta, Italy's richest and most powerful mafia, controls the European cocaine trade. Police on Thursday made 20 arrests in Calabria and Tuscany. They said leaders of the Guardavalle clan belonging to the Gallace family had set up a transnational trafficking ring that imported cocaine from Colombia and Brazil and distributed it in Europe (Spain, the Netherlands, the UK and Slovenia), as well as New Zealand and Australia. Police seized some four million euros in assets in the probe. The 20 alleged 'Ndranghetisti have been charged with conspiracy to traffic drugs and illegal weapons possession. The gang put much of their proceeds into legal businesss in Calabria, Tuscany and Umbria including roadworks and leather tannery firms, police said. (ANSA). A new study in SLEEP, published by Oxford University Press, demonstrates the significant benefits of later school start times for middle and high school students' sleep schedules. Sleep is essential to a student's overall health, social development, and academic achievement, yet lack of sleep is common among children and adolescents. Biological changes to sleep cycles during puberty make falling asleep early difficult for adolescents. This, coupled with early school start times, means that students often end up with insufficient sleep. Approximately 28,000 elementary, middle, and high school students and parents completed surveys annually, before changes to school start times and for two years afterward. Participating elementary schools started 60 minutes earlier, middle, 40-60 minutes later, and high school started 70 minutes later. Student and parent surveys separately asked about students' typical bedtime and wake time on both weekdays and weekends. The surveys also asked respondents to report on students' quality of sleep and their experience of daytime sleepiness. Researchers found that the greatest improvements in these measures occurred for high school students, who obtained an extra 3.8 hours of sleep per week after the later start time was implemented. More than one in ten high school students reported improved sleep quality and one in five reported less daytime sleepiness. The average "weekend oversleep," or additional sleep on weekends, amongst high schoolers dropped from just over two hours to 1.2 hours, suggesting that with enough weekday sleep, students are no longer clinically sleep deprived and no longer feel compelled to "catch up" on weekends. Likewise, middle school students obtained 2.4 additional hours of sleep per week with a later school start time. Researchers saw a 12% decrease in middle schoolers reporting daytime sleepiness. The percent of elementary school students reporting sufficient sleep duration, poor sleep quality, or daytime sleepiness did not change over the course of the study. The benefits of later start times were similar across racial and socioeconomic groups, but survey results indicated differences in weekday bedtimes. The authors encourage steps to be taken to "identify and ameliorate systemic factors that contribute to these differences," recommending education programs developed in partnership with families to ensure that guidance for adjusting bedtimes and increasing sleep opportunities are sensitive to sociocultural and environmental factors. Previous studies have not concurrently considered the impact of changing start times on sleep for students from Kindergarten through 12th grade, a key factor in policy outcomes due to the need for school districts to stagger start times to accommodate transportation schedules. "This study is remarkable due to the large sample size, the inclusion of elementary and middle school students, the two-year follow-up, and both student and parent report. It also provides the strongest evidence to date that moving elementary school start times to 8:00 am caused no significant negative effect on student sleep or daytime sleepiness. As students return to in-person learning, it is important for districts to consider healthy start times for all students." ### Direct correspondence to: Lisa J. Meltzer National Jewish Health 1400 Jackson Street, G311 Denver, CO 80206 meltzerL@njhealth.org To obtain a copy of the paper please contact: Timothy Thomas Timothy.Thomas@oup.com SHELTON Eating out at certain Valley locations will help keep those restaurants open and feed those suffering from food insecurity, according to a soon-to-start fundraising campaign. Women United of the Valley United Way is introducing Feed the Valley, a fundraiser designed to alleviate hunger in the region while supporting restaurants and their employees as they recover from financial difficulties caused by the pandemic. The fundraiser will be held at participating restaurants from April 15 through June 1. Women United is pleased to partner with 11 local restaurants to alleviate food insecurity in the five Valley towns of Ansonia, Derby, Oxford, Seymour and Shelton, Women United Chairperson Karen Stockla said. Restaurant owners and their employees understand the hardships that the pandemic has caused firsthand, Stockla added, so they were eager to help those who face hunger through this initiative. Valley United Way board member Jill Johnson said the idea for Feed the Valley came from the Womens United Group of the Valley United Way. Part of the groups mission is to help solve problems within the community, Johnson said. The COVID-19 pandemic has created many difficulties, including food insecurity, and has also presented challenges for restaurants and their employees. The intent of this initiative is to raise money for local food banks while helping to bring in business into local restaurants. At the end of a meal at a participating restaurant, patrons will be asked if they would like to add a donation onto their bill through the restaurants point of sale system to support Feed the Valley. Donations will be provided to Valley United Way partner agencies that support those who struggle with food insecurity, including the Kathleen C.B. Samela Memorial Food Bank, Salvation Army, Seymour Oxford Food Bank, Spooner House and St. Vincent DePaul Food Bank. Restaurants participating in the Feed the Valley fundraiser include Copper City Bar & Grill, Chifrijo, Relish Wine Bar & Grill and The Hub Wood Burning Pizza Bar (all in Ansonia); Riverwalk Social Bar & Restaurant in Derby; Oxford House Tavern; M.A.Gs Pizza Bar & Grill and Olives and Oil, both in Seymour; and Breeze Latin Fusion Cuisine, Red Lotus and Wellingtons, all in Shelton. Johnson said additional restaurants are welcome to join the campaign should they like to participate. For more information, visit Women United - Valley United Way. This is an awkward subject, and I'm sure my attempts to verbalize it will be awkward and perhaps inept. So please forgive me if my words are insufficient. I'm hoping I'll manage to communicate anywaythat you'll "know what I mean." All photographs translate the visual world we see with our eyes into some form or other. All of these forms have characteristics. With experience, we learn what characteristics belong to which equipment, techniques, and tastes. So my question is, do you have a favorite kind of way that you prefer photographs to look? I'm not talking about a litmus test...I'm not suggesting if you like one look it means you can't appreciate many others. I assume that the more photographs you look at knowledgeably, the more catholic (small c) your taste is. I'm not accusing anyone of being narrow-minded. Years ago I had an exchange with Howard Bond, an underappreciated large format photographer. He, of course, has a broad ability to appreciate many types of photographs. I, too, have a broad ability to appreciate many types of photographs. But where our discussion of formats seemed to be leading, in the end, was that I had a certain kind of photograph I liked to see besta 35mm B&W negative from fast film (i.e., Tri-X, HP-5+) printed full-frame on something close to 11x14 paperand he had a certain kind of photograph he liked to see bestan 8x10 negative, also B&W, printed larger but still mid-sized I'd call it, with Zone System technique. (See Howard and get an idea of the print sizes he likes at this link). I don't think it's a bad idea to have a sort of prototype of the way you like best to see the visual world translated by the camera. We have an appetite for these things, because when we see what we like best it actually creates a sort of visceral satisfaction for that goes beyond the merely intellectualwe can get a sort of "charge" out of it, a sense or even a sensation of gratification. The reason it's not a bad idea is that it's really unavoidable for many artists. It's an inherent part of expressing what we call a "style." You'd never mistake an Edward Weston print for a Eugene Richards print, or an Uta Barth for a Gregory Crewdson. Some people have more than one style they work in. Carl Weese is a dedicated platinum/palladium printer but he makes other kinds of work as well. And I suppose some people don't have any preference at all...although I would have to confess to being slightly biased against such claims. Sort of like when someone says "I like all kinds of music!" (That post was one of the most fun to write of all the posts and articles I've ever written.) And some people change, of course. Ctein used to "translate" his visual world into 16x20" dye transfer prints. Now he makes somewhat smaller color inkjet prints from Micro 4/3 files. (Do you subscribe to "Ctein's Occasional Newsletter"? You should; it's very non-intrusive and often entertaining and informative.) However, I'm having a bit of a mini-crisis here...because I have to admit, my old allegiance to my "Photo 101" style as I called itB&W Tri-X, printed with a filed-out negative carrier on an 11x14 sheetis just that now, "old." I don't practice it any more and haven't for years. So what's my preferred type of photograph now? Hmm, I might have to do some soul-searching myself! Mike Book o' this Week: Black in White America 19631965 by Leonard Freed, a new reprint of this classic from the Civil Rights era. I got to meet Leonard Freed once. 20 year mine life.About the Pogo Gold Mine and Pogo style mineral systemsNST's operating world-class high-grade Pogo Gold Mine has an endowment of 11M oz of gold and started production in 2006, producing approximately 300,000oz/year at over 13g/t Au through much of this time. This demonstrates the highly prospective nature of the district overall. The Pogo style gold system present is typically shallow dipping (almost flat lying), quartz hosted gold mineralisation of 4m to 20m thick arranged in "stacked sheets" of very high grade gold mineralisation and is mined underground. This style of mineralisation is potentially found at shallow depths (50-150m) on the East Pogo Prospect and was the target of deeper diamond core drilling in 2020 at RML's Aurora Prospect.*To view tables and figures, please visit:About Resolution Minerals Ltd Resolution Minerals Ltd (ASX:RML) is a mining company engaged in the acquisition, exploration and development of precious and battery metals - such as gold, copper, cobalt, and vanadium. The company is led by Managing Director Duncan Chessell and an experienced team with proven success in corporate finance, marketing, metallurgy and geoscience. This equips Resolution Minerals with the tools to meet the changing demands of the mining markets. Resolution Minerals Ltd Listed on the ASX in 2017 with a focus on the exploration of the Wollogorang Copper Cobalt Project. It has since aquired the Snettisham Vanadium Project and more entered into a binding agreement witth Millrock Resources to earn up to 80% of the highly prospective 64North Gold Project. A man who stabbed a police dog in the throat while on the run for assault has been jailed over his crime spree. Beau Dean Budak, 25, pleaded guilty to wounding police dog Kaos at a sentencing hearing in the Brisbane District Court on Thursday. Budak appeared in custody on charges including unlawfully wounding an animal and unlawful use of a motor vehicle. The bricklayer also pleaded guilty to wounding and grievous bodily harm after attacking another man in December 2019, fracturing his cheekbone and stabbing him in the arm with a drill bit. Beau Dean Budak, 25, pleaded guilty to wounding police dog Kaos at a sentencing hearing in the Brisbane District Court on Thursday Budak was on the run and high on ice when he and another man fled from police north of Brisbane in February last year and were tracked by police dog Kaos. The dog cornered the pair, biting both on the legs before latching on to Budak's left calf muscle. During the struggle, the pair lashed out before Budak pulled out a knife and stabbed Kaos in the neck. Police said the seven-year-old dog suffered a deep wound that needed several surgeries. His handler performed first aid before Kaos was taken to an emergency vet surgery for treatment. Budak was on the run and high on ice when he and another man fled from police north of Brisbane in February last year and were tracked by police dog Kaos Officers kept a constant vigil by the police dog's side before Kaos made a remarkable recovery and returned to work. Lawyers said although Budak needed stitches for bite wounds and was permanently scarred, he was 'horrified' by his actions and had apologised. Judge Paul Smith said Budak had a history of drug abuse and violence. 'I appreciate he was bitten, but he was running away. The dog was seriously injured,' Judge Smith said. Budak was sentenced to nine months in custody for stabbing the police dog. It will be served concurrently with a head sentence of three years and three months to be suspended for release in August. Changes to the eligibility criteria for the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine could be announced shortly as the province whittles down its inventory of the fridge-stable vaccine. Changes to the eligibility criteria for the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine could be announced shortly as the province whittles down its inventory of the fridge-stable vaccine. As of Wednesday, about 22,000 doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine had been administered in the province, said Dr. Josss Reimer, the medical lead for Manitobas vaccine task force. Manitoba has received 84,100 doses of the vaccine, including 11,500 that arrived Wednesday, which are administered at pharmacies and medical clinics. "A lot of the low numbers that we're seeing in our distributed channel come from a variety of different things," Reimer said. "We know that there's delays in data entry from that channel, but the second is that those channels are slower for good reason. They need to continue to do their regular work at the same time as doing this rollout." In Manitoba, the AstraZeneca/Covishield vaccine is only offered to people 65 and older, and to people between the ages of 55 and 64 who have specific health conditions, despite the general age eligibility criteria for immunization currently at 59 and older. The 55-plus age restriction follows a recommendation by the federal National Advisory Committee on Immunization to pause administering the vaccine to younger people as health authorities investigated a serious, but rare, side-effect that causes a blood-clotting condition. One such case has been reported in Canada. Health Canada announced Wednesday it would not restrict the use of the vaccine in any specific populations following its review of the scientific data. "Based on the review of available data from Europe and from the United Kingdom and AstraZeneca, no specific risk factors have been identified," Health Canada said in a statement. "The potential risk of these events is very rare, and the benefits of the vaccine in protecting against COVID-19 outweigh its potential risks. Health Canadas findings are based on a sound and thorough review of all evidence available. In the very rare event that someone experiences unusual blood clots with low platelets, there are treatments available," the statement said. The national advisory committee is reviewing information to determine whether to modify its recommendation not to use the vaccine in people under 55. In other provinces, the AstraZeneca vaccine is administered to people 55-plus who have no underlying health conditions; however, Reimer said the province is waiting on the national advisory committees recommendation before changing how the product will be used in Manitoba. "We really want to work together with them to have one approach. As soon as we hear from NACI, and we hope that its soon, were looking forward to increasing eligibility if thats what they recommend," she said. danielle.dasilva@freepress.mb.ca In March 2021 Turkey announced that it was developing a new helicopter gunship, the T929, based on the existing, but smaller, T129. The T929 will use engines from Ukraine, a country that has often sold military tech to Turkey when such equipment was not available from American or European suppliers. The 11-ton T929 is comparable with the American AH-64, is not expected to make its first flight until 2024, and wont enter service until the end of the decade. Turkey proved it was capable of building a version of the smaller (4.6 ton) Italian A129 gunship in Turkey as the ATAK T129. In 2007 Turkey obtained a manufacturing license to build the T129 and export it. That export license did not cover the engines, which Italy did not build but imported from am Anglo-American manufacturer. As such the U.S. government could block any use of these engines in T129s Turkey wanted to export. This became a problem after 2018 when Pakistan agreed to buy 30 T129 helicopter gunships from Turkey. That deal is being held up because of disagreements between the U.S. and Turkey. In short, the U.S. has refused to approve the export license for the CTS800 engines that power the ATAK gunships. While substitute engines can be obtained from France, Ukraine, Poland or a few other countries, modifying the ATAK to handle a similar, but not identical, engine would delay getting the ATAK gunships operational. The helicopters, minus the engines, have already been delivered to Pakistan. Turkey is developing an engine that could replace the CTS800 engine but it is not ready yet and may take years to complete. Meanwhile Pakistan has stood by Turkey and extended the delivery deadline for the engines several times but the current deadline is 2021 and Turkey has assured Pakistan that they will have a replacement engine ready. That is optimistic and one reason Turkey sought larger engines from Ukraine for the new T929. The T129 was supposed to enter service in 2010 but that was delayed until 2014 because of technical problems. So far Turkey has built sixty. The Pakistan purchase is partly driven by the 2018 Turkish purchase of 52 Pakistani MFI-395 Super Mushshak training aircraft. This was the largest export order to date for Pakistani built aircraft. In response to the MFI-395 sale to Turkey, Pakistan agreed to pay about $1.5 billion for the T129s in a deal that will include training, spare parts and technical support. Failure to complete this deal will be embarrassing for both Turkey and Pakistan. The Italian A129 is roughly comparable to the upgraded versions of the U.S. AH-1, especially the AH-1W SuperCobra. The 4.6-ton A-129 was the first helicopter gunship designed and built in Western Europe and first flew in the 1980s but was not ready for service until the 1990s. While it has been upgraded frequently, for a long time the only customer was Italy, which bought 60 of them. A 2012 upgrade produced the A129D, which had advanced features first found on the AH-64. These include Toplite; a longer (by about 50 percent) range targeting radar and optical system with zoom that allows the A129D weapons operator to spot targets for the A129Ds new Spike ER (range 8 kilometers) missiles or laser guided missiles or bombs from aircraft above (via the laser designator on the A129D). Toplite also enabled the A129D to fly in any weather, day or night. In 2015 Italy sent some of its A129Ds to serve in Afghanistan, where they performed well. Prototype of a gesture-control glove for electric longboards invented by Florida Polytechnic University students. The team has earned thousands of dollars in funding to further develop the product. "The students applied their STEM knowledge in the creation of a prototype and then went above and beyond applying entrepreneurial skills to turn that idea into reality." An entrepreneurial team of Florida Polytechnic University students has earned thousands of dollars in funding for the development of an innovative gesture-control device for electric longboards. Seniors Aaron Apigo, Kevin Racktoo, and David Terry were selected this week as finalists for the Frank & Ellen Daveler Entrepreneurship Competition through the University of South Floridas Center for Entrepreneurship. The prestigious recognition earned them $3,000 and they will now compete for a $5,000 prize through the program. Winners will be announced April 24. The team also recently walked away with a $2,500 microgrant for their creative invention at the 2021 Catapult LAUNCH Pitch Night in Lakeland on March 18. The prize money will help them evolve their prototype and advance their business, dex. Interfaces. I feel fantastic. Its amazing what weve been able to accomplish, said Terry, a computer engineering major from Orlando, Florida. Current longboard controls generally rely on traditional remote controls. Their invention, the dex. Glove, allows riders to easily, accurately, and intuitively control their electric longboards with the flick of a wrist. With so many of their peers zipping across campus on longboards and skateboards, the team knew the potential for innovation in the space was real. Its a beachhead market, said Terry. Whenever youre pitching a big idea, you have to start small and prove your concept will work and your prototype is where it needs to be. Theirs was the only student team invited to the finals of Catapults Shark Tank-style event. Organizers were so impressed with all five competition pitches that each of the requests was fully funded. Everyone there was an established business, which was a bit intimidating because we have an early-stage product, said Racktoo, a computer engineering major from Ocala, Florida said. Our idea is sound, and we know that, so we wanted to present it and now we are going to use the money to develop a better prototype. Eventually, the group hopes the technology can be used in many high-tech devices across industries, including law enforcement and health care. They added the concept can also be helpful by making it easier for those with disabilities to use devices. The team is also preparing to pitch the invention at the annual Governors Cup entrepreneurial competition later this spring. Justin Heacock, entrepreneurship center coordinator at Florida Poly, said the teams innovative idea and skill level are impressive. The students applied their STEM knowledge in the creation of a prototype and then went above and beyond applying entrepreneurial skills to turn that idea into reality, Heacock said. Catapults LAUNCH event and the Frank & Ellen Daveler Entrepreneurship Program are amazing opportunities and Im so proud to see our community investing in student entrepreneurs. Agra, April 15 : The Bharatiya Kisan Union (BKU) has issued a statement asking people to choose any candidate, other than those from the BJP in the Panchayat elections that begin on Thursday. A statement issued by the BKU general secretary read, "Samyukt Kisan Morcha (united farmers front) is fighting against the anti-farmer policies of the Central government. We are going to the states where Assembly polls are being held and asking people not to vote for the BJP. Regarding the Panchayat elections in UP, we would like to state that BKU is a non-political organisation. We do not indulge in politics and do not appeal to people to vote for any party. We want people to vote for anyone except BJP-supported candidates." BKU's national spokesperson Rakesh Tikait said, "I also never asked people to vote for BJP. It is a local election and people are free to choose anyone they want." Gurnam Singh Chaduni, a senior leader of Samyukt Kisan Morcha, said, "So far, no agenda for discussion over the Panchayat election in UP has been received by the Morcha. Our stand is clear. BJP will be opposed in elections." He said, "Farmer leaders from UP have been actively campaigning against the BJP in West Bengal. They should do that in UP as well." This comes a day after BKU general secretary Yudhveer Singh had told reporters that the farmers' outfit has not taken any stand against the ruling party in the upcoming Panchayat polls in UP. Meanwhile, several farmer leaders have themselves joined the poll fray. Somveer Yadav, Pradeep Sharma and Mukesh Pathak are contesting for the post of block development council members. Former army man Ramnath Singh Sikarwar, who was the 'Republic Day parade commander' of the farmers during the tractor rally' at the Chilla border, is contesting for the post of district council member. Savitri Chahar, Agra district head of the BKU women's wing, who had joined the protest at Ghazipur border with 18 other women supporters, is also a candidate. With this, farmers' issues have, perhaps, for the first time, upstaged caste dynamics in Uttar Pradesh. The farmer has become the central figure in this Panchayat election and farmer leaders have become star campaigners. Many industries are facing shortages, but that's not stopping the smartphone industry from churning out new phones. For OPPO, there's the OPPO Reno 5F that's now on pre-order and coming soon. But aside from that, there's also the new OPPO A35. OPPO quietly launched the OPPO A35 yesterday in China. Based on details from the website, this is a new entry-level device that looks quite good. The phone is equipped with a MediaTek Helio P35 chipset, 4GB of RAM, and 128GB of internal storage. It also comes with a 6.52-inch LCD screen with 1600x720 resolution and a 4230mAh battery. This phone is basically a rebadged version of the OPPO A15s, which was launched in India at the end of last year. The only difference is that the OPPO A35 comes with a more powerful 8MP front camera (vs 5MP). As for the back, you'll find a triple-camera (13MP+2MP+2MP) setup and a fingerprint reader. We'll probably get this rebadged version in Malaysia if OPPO plans to launch it here. Having said that, would you be interested in getting it over other entry-level devices? Let us know in the comments, and stay tuned to TechNave for more news like this. James Franco's predatory ass should've been banned from the industry years ago. I've never found him interesting or funny or whatever he was going for. What's scary is how many more men like him still get to have careers in Hollywood, I'm looking at you Jared Leto. Reply Thread Link I honestly would have no problem if the Oscars were like the BAFTAs in that they just have a host to do an opening monologue, then introduce the presenters and do nothing else, no skits or funny costume changes or anything. Its too OTT and try hard and always sets up the host for failure. Reply Thread Link that's why bafta's reign supreme darling ;) Reply Parent Thread Link The BAFTA'S were so cringe this year. Idk who had the idea to use a laugh and applause track but it made it unwatchable. Reply Parent Thread Expand Link It adds nothing to the show other than make it go over its run time every year. Reply Parent Thread Link must be a trip to be able to show complete disinterest in your work and abuse your coworkers without getting the least bit reigned in not to mentioned fired, the enabling is... wow. Reply Thread Link His level of disrespect goes beyond Anne in this instance. He spent the entire night making a mockery of the entire industry and barely got away with a "boys will be boys" level of shaming. Anne, meanwhile, not only hosted, she had to baby sit him on-stage to make sure his improve didn't go out of hand. She was as professional as she can be under such circumstances and she did great. She deserves more than all the flack she got for pointing out her misspelled name on an award she earned, or her whole "It came true" reaction. Edited at 2021-04-15 03:05 pm (UTC) Reply Parent Thread Link i didnt even know about the oscar thing so i just watched her reaction and its fine? shes happy she won an oscar? everyone wants an oscar? she looks... cute, excited? what am i missing? so many question lol Reply Parent Thread Expand Link mte, if Anne had behaved that way, unprofessional is the tamest thing she would have been called Reply Parent Thread Link There's an interview I saw recently on Youtube where they speak about the Oscars and they are actually really cute and touchy-feely. If you only watched that you'd think they got along really well. Reply Thread Link The power of ACTING! Reply Parent Thread Link It really annoys me that I liked him so much in Freaks and Geeks. He is everything shitty about men - predatory, self-important, pretentious, and not funny. Reply Thread Link He is everything shitty about men - predatory, self-important, pretentious, and not funny. Tick, tick, tick and tick Reply Parent Thread Link Learn more about LiveJournal Ratings in Hello! Your entry got to top-25 of the most popular entries in LiveJournal!Learn more about LiveJournal Ratings in FAQ Reply Thread Link Ann is the consummate professional. Franco snapping at her is ridiculous. As if at any point he was remotely funny. Asshole. Reply Thread Link At that point she also already had an Oscar herself, and what did he have, except for bad attitude? Wouldn't be surprised if he felt she didn't deserve to be more successful than him. Such a loser. Reply Parent Thread Link Typical misogynist dickhead. Reply Parent Thread Link Agree with this but didnt Anne win for Les Mis in 2013 though Edited at 2021-04-15 11:19 am (UTC) Reply Parent Thread Expand Link I felt so bad for Anne watching this. She really carried the whole presenting thing on her shoulders Reply Thread Link One of my favorite James Franco-related moments was when Barack Obama called him James Flacco during a press conference, because I 100% believe Obama did that on purpose to Ron Swanson him Reply Thread Link I don't want to call a former president a shade queen but...if the desk fits, sit behind it. Reply Parent Thread Link I never cared for his slick sleek nonsense, can Hollywood please catch up. Reply Thread Link james franco is such a piece of shit Reply Thread Link Honestly it was that night that had me respect Anne and I felt bad for all the shit she got afterwords. As "Anne" as she may be, she never slacks on any project she does and I respect anyone who works hard and who is kind to others. Fuck Franco. Reply Thread Link what does this "anne" thing mean, i never get what she actually did? genuine q. Reply Parent Thread Link They spelled her name "Ann" at an award show and she corrected them with Anne. Ppl got annoyed by that and started making for of her, which idk why bc I hate when my name is mispelled too, especially for professional events. Reply Parent Thread Expand Link She had the audacity to point out her name was misspelled on an award she received, and she wanted to win too much. Reply Parent Thread Link idg the hate she gets like shes worked hard for all this why shouldnt she want to win awards or be appreciated and addressed properly? i feel this way about a lot of artists Reply Parent Thread Expand Link She got a lot of hate here and elsewhere and its always rubbed me the wrong way. God forbid a woman be ambitious, earnest, or sincere, or all of the above! Reply Parent Thread Link "we got a lot of s*** for it. I probably got more than she did, but she got a lot. Oh did sheeeeee? Yeah, keep trying to say she got shit for it when it was all your fault. What a subtle strategy. Who thought he would make a good host anyway? Reply Thread Link ppl love to shit on Hathaway for literally just putting a lot of effort into her job. Reply Parent Thread Link my mom called me out on this the other day lmao, I forget why she came up but we were talking about her and my mom said that she didn't understand why Anne was so disliked, so I said I thought she sometimes gives off the vibe that she tries too hard, and my mom was like so?? it's her job!! I was schooled that day lmao. Reply Parent Thread Link It's so gross and overtly misogynistic. How dare a woman, who clearly works incredibly hard at her job, want to succeed at it and receive appropriate recognition? Reply Parent Thread Link this is a very pernicious form of misogyny. expectations are high but the act of meeting those expectations must be effortless. never reveal yourself to be trying too hard, or at all. this pervades EVERYTHING too - physical appearance, dating, work, everything. Reply Parent Thread Link i can't imagine how frustrating it must have been for Anne Hathaway to be trying her hardest and doing a good job only for some creep flop to refuse to put the effort in and then be thrown in w/ the same bag as him. i remember she had a cute segment w/ hugh jackman. honestly it should have just been the two of them doing it i loved his opening musical number when he did it. Reply Thread Link Yeah, Anne and Hugh would have made a better hosting duo. Or Anne and literally any other celebrity lol Reply Parent Thread Link Idgi either, they had the option of Hugh Jackman but thought James Franco's the obvious choice? How? Reply Parent Thread Link I feel like so many women, myself included, have been in this exact position in our jobs when it comes to a male co-worker and I can't stand it. Reply Parent Thread Link He really was phoning it in. At least Anne was trying with the shit material the writers gave her. I want to know how these people get hired to write comedy. People on this site are way funnier. Reply Thread Link I wonder the same about SNL. Reply Parent Thread Link Update: The sheriff's office said two subjects are still at large, and three subjects are in custody. Deputies continue to patrol the area Thursday night. Original story: The Morgan County Sheriffs Office is searching for Dakota Quintorrian Long after the office says he ran away while being served arrest and search warrants. The office said the 22-year-old Florence man ran barefoot into the woods during a search of home in the 1,400 block of Gum Springs Road. Long was going to be arrested for trafficking methamphetamine, the sheriffs office said. Long was last seen wearing red shorts in the area between Gum Springs and Sample roads. Another man was with him. Deputies are currently searching the area with K9 Deputy Havoc and an Alabama Law Enforcement Agency helicopter. A stolen vehicle was recovered at the scene, the sheriffs office said. Use caution in area and report any suspicious activity to 911. Dr. Anthony S. Fauci said on Thursday that he hoped the nation would soon be able to resume use of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine, as a pause that now looks indefinite threatened to upend vaccination efforts overseas and in some of the most marginalized communities in the United States. Dr. Fauci, President Bidens chief medical adviser for the pandemic, made the comment during a hearing of the House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Crisis, where he and other top federal health officials implored Americans to continue to get vaccinated and sought to reassure the nation that all three federally authorized vaccines are safe. Hopefully well get a decision quite soon, as to whether or not we can get back on track with this very effective vaccine, Dr. Fauci told the panel. With cases rising in the Midwest, he added, the nation is in a precarious situation and it is imperative to vaccinate as many people as quickly and as expeditiously as we possible can. But it was increasingly clear that a suspension that initially was to last two to three days would be considerably longer, as officials wrestled with reports of at least six rare cases of blood clotting among women immunized with the Johnson & Johnson shot. Federal health agencies are trying to decide whether to recommend that doctors resume use of the vaccine, possibly with new restrictions. President Joe Biden on Thursday warned Vladimir Putin he will hit back if Russia interferes with American democracy after the United States issued a series of tough sanctions on Moscow. Biden also reiterated his offer to Moscow to hold a summit between the two leaders in Europe this summer and, in brief remarks at the White House, said there were areas the two nations could work together. But the president also warned Putin that the series of US sanctions announced Thursday - hitting the Russian government and some entities and individuals with financial penalties - could have been far tougher. But, the president said, he didn't want to escalate the already high tensions with Moscow. 'I was clear with President Putin we could have gone further, but I chose not to do so. I chose to be proportionate. The United States is not looking to kick off a cycle of escalation and conflict with Russia. We want a stable predictable relationship,' he said. But, he warned, if Russia hit back, the US would strike harder. 'I urged [Putin] to respond appropriately, not to exceed it, because we can move as well,' he said. The United States issued the sanctions in retaliation for Russian interference in American elections, the SolarWinds cyber attack, and its aggressive actions in the Ukraine. 'If Russia continues to interfere with our democracy. I'm prepared to take further actions to respond. It is my responsibility as president of the United States to do so,' Biden said. 'Where Russia seeks to violate the interests of the United States we will respond. We will always stand in defense of our country, our institutions, our people and our allies,' the president noted. He said he was hopeful Russia would accept his offer to meet for a summit in a third nation this summer. 'I proposed that we meet in person this summer in Europe,' he said. 'to address the range of issues facing both of our countries. Our teams are discussing that possibility right now.' Russia called in America's ambassador in response. Russia's foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said in a televised briefing that Ambassador John Sullivan had been summoned for a 'difficult conversation.' And she said that a Russian response to the sanctions was 'unavoidable.' 'Such aggressive behavior, without question, will receive a decisive push back, a response to the sanctions is unavoidable,' she said. 'In Washington, they must realize that it's necessary to pay for the degradation of bilateral relations. Responsibility for what is happening lies entirely on the U.S.' President Biden warned Vladimir Putin US sanctions could have been much worse Biden announced sweeping new sanctions against Moscow as the White House seeks to rein in Russian aggression while avoiding an all-out war with the Kremlin. 'We have no desire to be in an escalating war with Russia,' a senior administration official said Thursday on a briefing call with reporters, saying the White House doesn't want things 'spinning out of control.' 'We do not seek a downward spiral. We can and think we can avoid that,' the official said. To give the sanctions teeth - in a way financial sanctions have not deterred Russia before - the US is seeking to choke off lending to the Russian government. The US also expelled 10 Russian diplomats. And the Treasury Department and Western allies also targeted eight individuals and entities associated with the 'ongoing occupation and repression in Crimea'. 'The Transatlantic community stands united in supporting Ukraine against unilateral Russian provocations along the Line of Contact in eastern Ukraine, in occupied Crimea, and along Ukraine's borders, as well as agreeing on the need for Russia to immediately cease its military buildup and inflammatory rhetoric,' the White House said. Manafort's associate Konstantin Kilimnik sanctioned for passing polling data to the Kremlin One of the individuals sanctioned Thursday by the U.S. government was Konstantin Kilimnik, a Russian-Ukrainian political consultant who worked with former Trump campaign manager Paul Manafort as a lobbyist for the pro-Russia president of Ukraine. Kilimnik was indicted in Robert Muellers 2018 investigation for carrying out election influence operations on behalf of Russian intelligence services. The Senate Intelligence Committee assessed that Kilimnik is a Russian intelligence officer and found that Manafort passed him sensitive internal polling data and campaign strategy. The Treasury Department, in its sanctions notice, found that Kilimnik provided Russian intelligence "with sensitive information on polling and campaign strategy" during the 2016 election. Treasury noted that Kilimnik, who is wanted by the FBI on charges of obstruction of justice, helped promote the false narrative that Ukraine, not Russia, interfered in the 2016 election. Kilimnik and his wife live in a heavily-fortified residence outside of Moscow. Konstantin Kilimnik in a March 2006 photo Advertisement The White House also denounced Moscow for offering the Taliban bounties for U.S. troops serving in Afghanistan. But a senior administration official noted the US intelligence community has only 'low to moderate confidence' that Russia offered bounties on American troops and isn't imposing any punishment on Moscow for the possible action right now. 'The United States Intelligence Community assesses with low to moderate confidence that Russian intelligence officers sought to encourage Taliban attacks against U.S. coalition personnel in Afghanistan in 2019, including through financial incentives and compensation,' the official said. Administration officials described its actions on Thursday as 'tailored and proportional' and reiterated it seeks a 'predictable and stable' relationship with Moscow. In a series of actions on Thursday, the United States sanctioned 32 Russian entities and individuals along with six technology companies, formally attributed the SolarWinds cyber breach to Russian intelligence agencies, and accused Moscow of still trying to hack American targets. 'The President signed this sweeping new authority to confront Russia's continued and growing malign behavior,' said Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen in a statement. The Treasury Department is in charge of carrying out the sanctions. 'Treasury is leveraging this new authority to impose costs on the Russian government for its unacceptable conduct, including by limiting Russia's ability to finance its activities and by targeting Russia's malicious and disruptive cyber capabilities,' she said. Biden signed an executive order Thursday morning authorizing the sanctions and expelling of diplomats, who the administration claims includes representatives of Russian intelligence services. The administration specifically cites Russian interference in free and fair elections, its 'malicious cyber activities' against the United States, fostering corruption to influence foreign governments, targeting dissidents or journalists, undermining security in countries important to American national security and violating well-established principles of international law, including respect for the territorial integrity of states. It also criticized Russian for offering the Taliban bounties on U.S. troops serving in Afghanistan but said that would be handled through diplomatic channels. 'Given the sensitivity of this matter, which involves the safety and well-being of our forces, it is being handled through diplomatic, military and intelligence channels,' the White House said in a statement. President Biden announced on Wednesday he will remove all US troops from Afghanistan by September 11th. The executive order also expanded an existing ban on US banks trading in Russian government debt. It prohibits U.S. financial institutions from buying new bonds directly from Russias central bank, finance ministry and the countrys massive sovereign-wealth fund after June 14. Republicans on Capitol Hill praised Biden's tough response. 'I think this is a good step. Keep it up,' said Republican Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina. 'I applaud him,' said Republican Senator Chuck Grassley of Iowa. 'And I think that's all you have to say - he's doing the right thing.' The administration has been warning the actions are coming as President Biden takes a much harsher stance against Moscow than his predecessor, Donald Trump. Biden spoke to Russian President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday to warn him. 'He did not hold back on his concerns, including reiterating that there will be consequences to the actions that were taken. I expect you will know more about that soon,' White House press secretary Jen Psaki said of the call on Wednesday. In its Thursday announcement, the administration targeted six Russian technology companies it claims are supporting Kremlin intelligence agencies. The administration also blamed - for the first time - Russian intelligence agencies for the SolarWinds cyber hack, which Moscow denies. The US said it had 'high confidence' the hack was masterminded by the SVR, one of the Russian intelligence agencies that was also involved in the hacking of the Democratic National Committee six years ago. And the Biden criticized the Russian intelligence agencies for their involvement in the August 2020 poisoning of Aleksey Navalny and its targeting of Russian journalists. Additionally, the National Security Agency on Thursday issued guidelines for companies on how to counter Russian cyber actions. The agency said it was taking such action to 'highlight additional tactics, techniques, and procedures being used; by Russian intelligence agencies 'so that network defenders can take action to mitigate against them. The massive Russian hacking campaign - familiarly known as the SolarWinds breach -targeted at least nine vital federal agencies, including the Treasury, Justice, Energy and Homeland Security departments. The scale of the hack is still being determined. A spokesperson for Russian President Vladimir Putin warned that a response from Moscow was 'unavoidable' BIDEN'S SANCTIONS ON RUSSIA DURING TROOP BUILD-UP IN CRIMEA The White House listed a number of reprisals against Moscow for the Ukraine build-up, election interference, the 'bounties' on Afghanistan soldiers and the SolarWinds hack ADDITIONAL SANCTIONS Treasury sanctioned 32 entities and individuals carrying out Russian government-directed attempts to influence the 2020 U.S. presidential election, and other acts of disinformation and interference. This action seeks to disrupt the coordinated efforts of Russian officials, proxies, and intelligence agencies to delegitimize our electoral process. The U.S. government will continue to pursue those who engage in such activity. Treasury, in partnership with the European Union, the United Kingdom, Australia, and Canada, sanctioned eight individuals and entities associated with Russia's ongoing occupation and repression in Crimea. The Transatlantic community stands united in supporting Ukraine against unilateral Russian provocations along the Line of Contact in eastern Ukraine, in occupied Crimea, and along Ukraine's borders, as well as agreeing on the need for Russia to immediately cease its military buildup and inflammatory rhetoric. AFGHANISTAN BOUNTIES The Administration is responding to the reports that Russia encouraged Taliban attacks against U.S. and coalition personnel in Afghanistan based on the best assessments from the Intelligence Community (IC). Given the sensitivity of this matter, which involves the safety and well-being of our forces, it is being handled through diplomatic, military and intelligence channels. The safety and well-being of U.S. military personnel, and that of our allies and partners, is an absolute priority of the United States. EXPELLING DIPLOMATIC PERSONNEL l The United States is expelling ten personnel from the Russian diplomatic mission in Washington, DC. The personnel include representatives of Russian intelligence services. RESPONSES TO THE SOLAR WINDS HACK Today the United States is formally naming the Russian Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR), also known as APT 29, Cozy Bear, and The Dukes, as the perpetrator of the broad-scope cyber espionage campaign that exploited the SolarWinds Orion platform and other information technology infrastructures. The U.S. Intelligence Community has high confidence in its assessment of attribution to the SVR. The SVR's compromise of the SolarWinds software supply chain gave it the ability to spy on or potentially disrupt more than 16,000 computer systems worldwide. The scope of this compromise is a national security and public safety concern. Moreover, it places an undue burden on the mostly private sector victims who must bear the unusually high cost of mitigating this incident. Today, the National Security Agency, the Cybersecurity & Infrastructure Security Agency, and the Federal Bureau of Investigation are jointly issuing a cybersecurity advisory, 'Russian SVR Targets U.S. and Allied Networks,' that provides specific details on software vulnerabilities that the SVR uses to gain access to victim devices and networks. The advisory also provides specific steps that network defenders can take to identify and defend against the SVR's malicious cyber activity. Additionally, the SVR's compromise of SolarWinds and other companies highlights the risks posed by Russia's efforts to target companies worldwide through supply chain exploitation. Those efforts should serve as a warning about the risks of using information and communications technology and services (ICTS) supplied by companies that operate or store user data in Russia or rely on software development or remote technical support by personnel in Russia. The U.S. government is evaluating whether to take action under Executive Order 13873 to better protect our ICTS supply chain from further exploitation by Russia. GLOBAL CYBERSECURITY The United States continues to strongly affirm the importance of an open, interoperable, secure, and reliable Internet. Russia's actions run counter to that goal, which is shared by many of our allies and partners. To strengthen our collective approach to bolstering cybersecurity, we are announcing two additional steps: First, the United States is bolstering its efforts to promote a framework of responsible state behavior in cyberspace and to cooperate with allies and partners to counter malign cyber activities. We are providing a first-of-its kind course for policymakers worldwide on the policy and technical aspects of publicly attributing cyber incidents, which will be inaugurated this year at the George C. Marshall Center in Garmisch, Germany. We are also bolstering our efforts through the Marshall Center to provide training to foreign ministry lawyers and policymakers on the applicability of international law to state behavior in cyberspace and the non-binding peacetime norms that were negotiated in the United Nations and endorsed by the UN General Assembly. Second, we are reinforcing our commitment to collective security in cyberspace. The Department of Defense is taking steps to incorporate additional allies, including the UK, France, Denmark, and Estonia, into the planning for CYBER FLAG 21-1, which is an exercise designed to improve our defensive capabilities and resiliency in cyberspace. CYBER FLAG 21-1 will build a community of defensive cyber operators and improve overall capability of the United States and allies to identify, synchronize, and respond in unison against simulated malicious cyberspace activities targeting our critical infrastructure and key resources. Advertisement Russian hackers are believed to have infected widely used software with malicious code, enabling them to access the networks of the federal agencies. Officials believe it was an intelligence gathering operation aimed at mining government secrets. The sanctions, foreshadowed for weeks by the Biden administration, are the first retaliatory action announced against the Kremlin for last year's hack. The sanctions are intended to send a clear retributive message to Russia and to deter similar acts in the future. They come amid an already tense relationship between the U.S. and Russia amid a large Russian military buildup on the borders of Ukraine and in Crimea, the peninsula that Moscow annexed in 2014. President Biden told Putin this week in their call to 'de-escalate tensions' following a Russian military buildup on Ukraine's border, and said the U.S. would 'act firmly in defense of its national interests' regarding Russian intrusions and election interference. Ukraine and the West have become worried about the Russian troops' concentration and have urged Moscow to pull them back. Russia has argued that it's free to deploy its forces on its territory and sternly warned the government in Kyiv against using force to reclaim control of the rebel-held territory east where more than 14,000 people have died in seven years of fighting. But the Ukraine has warned Russia that it will bear 'very painful' consequences if it invades as Vladimir Putin continues to mass his forces in eastern Europe. Dmytro Kuleba, the country's foreign minister, said Thursday that Moscow is 'openly' threatening Ukraine with 'destruction' by stationing 80,000 troops along its border - with more arriving every day. 'Today, the four of us can firmly declare that we condemn the exacerbation of the situation by Russia, the actions and statements of Moscow aimed at escalating tensions,' Kuleba said at a joint news conference with the Baltics ministers in Kyiv. 'The world is on the side of Ukraine and international law, and this is one of the elements of restraining Russia from reckless actions,' he added. It remained unclear whether the U.S. actions would actually result in changed behavior, especially since past measures by the U.S. have failed to bring an end to Russian hacking. The Obama administration expelled diplomats from the U.S. in 2016 in response to interference in that year's presidential election. And though Trump was often reluctant to criticize Putin, his administration also expelled diplomats in 2018 for Russia's alleged poisoning of an ex-intelligence officer in Britain. Last month, the U.S. sanctioned seven mid-level and senior Russian officials, along with more than a dozen government entities, over a nearly fatal nerve-agent attack on opposition leader Alexei Navalny and his subsequent jailing. Christian Abraham / Hearst Connecticut Media As rain falls across Connecticut on Thursday, some parts of the state are gearing up for a small amount of snow, according to the National Weather Service. While earlier in the week some meteorologists were predicting snow, the weather service wasnt. But by Thursday afternoon, the weather services forecast called for rain and snow in Litchfield County between 1 and 5 a.m. Friday, with just snow likely after 5 a.m. Talks to revive the Iran nuclear deal ended in Vienna amid renewed tensions as Tehran prepares to ramp up uranium enrichment following an alleged sabotage attack on the country's main nuclear site. Iran and other parties to the 2015 agreement - Britain, France, Germany, China, and Russia -- last week launched what has been described as "constructive" talks to bring Washington and Tehran into full compliance with the accord. But on April 13, Iran announced it would start enriching uranium at up to 60 percent purity, higher than it has ever done before, casting a shadow on the negotiations at which European countries have worked as intermediaries between Washington and Tehran. Iranian officials say the move comes in reaction to an alleged attack on the Natanz nuclear site two days earlier that they have blamed on archenemy Israel. After more than two hours of talks in Vienna, diplomats said two working groups would continue discussions and refine details on how to lift U.S. sanctions and bring Iran back into compliance with restrictions on its nuclear program. "Currently I think the nuclear working group is more advanced, much more advanced, than [the] sanctions-lifting working group," Wang Qun, China's ambassador to the UN atomic watchdog, told reporters. Russia's ambassador to the UN in Vienna, Mikhail Ulyanov, wrote on Twitter after the meetings that the "general impression is positive" and issues would be taken up by the expert groups. U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said late on April 14 that Tehran's provocative announcement on enrichment calls into question Iran's seriousness with regard to the nuclear talks." Britain, France, and Germany have expressed grave concern over Tehrans dangerous announcement, saying it is contrary to the constructive spirit and good faith of ongoing efforts to revive the 2015 pact. Meanwhile, Iran's Foreign Ministry said its negotiators had defended their decisions and expressed their disappointment at "the weak reaction" from European powers to the alleged sabotage attack on Natanz. Under the deal, abandoned by the United States under former President Donald Trump, Iran had committed to keep enrichment to 3.67 percent. Recently it has been enriching up to 20 percent, saying the deal was no longer enforceable. While enriching uranium to 60 percent would be the highest level achieved by Iran's nuclear program, it is still short of the 90 percent purity needed for military use. Tehran has repeatedly denied it is seeking nuclear weapons and that its nuclear ambitions are purely for civilian purposes. Few details have emerged about the April 11 alleged sabotage attack, which Iranian officials said knocked out power at the enrichment plant in central Iran. Israel has neither confirmed nor denied involvement but multiple Israeli media outlets quoted unnamed intelligence sources as saying that the country's Mossad spy service carried out a successful sabotage operation at the Natanz site. Lawmaker Alireza Zakani, who heads the research center of Iran's parliament, said in an interview that "several thousand centrifuges were damaged and destroyed." Other officials said that only first-generation machines had been affected. Citing two intelligence sources, The New York Times has reported that production at Natanz could be set back by at least nine months due to the attack. Inspectors from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), the UN nuclear watchdog, have visited the site but have not commented on the extent of the damage caused by the alleged attack. However, the IAEA did say that Iran had "almost completed preparations" to enrich uranium to 60 percent purity. The 2015 nuclear deal lifted international sanctions on Tehran in exchange for limits on its nuclear program. But the Trump administration imposed a raft of sanctions under a "maximum pressure" campaign after it withdrew from the nuclear agreement in 2018. Iran responded by gradually breaching many of the nuclear restrictions, saying the deal no longer applied. U.S. and Iranian officials have publicly clashed over the sequencing of possible U.S. sanctions relief and Iran reversing its breaches of the deal. Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif on April 15 said the Natanz attack had unleashed a "dangerous spiral" and warned Biden the situation could only be contained by lifting the sanctions Trump imposed. "No alternative. Not much time," he wrote on Twitter. Addressing a cabinet meeting, Iranian President Hassan Rohani reiterated that his country is "not seeking to obtain the atomic bomb." "If others return to full compliance with the deal...we will stop 60 percent and 20 percent enrichment," he said. Ali Vaez, director of the Iran project at the International Crisis Group think tank, said that events of the past few days had "added urgency" to the talks. "It is clear that the more the diplomatic process drags on, the higher the risk that it gets derailed by saboteurs and those acting in bad faith," he added. Eric Brewer, a senior fellow at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, told RFE/RL that "enriching to 60 percent is a significant Iranian step and will further shorten Iran's breakout timeline." However, the Iranian move was "unlikely to have the intended effect of forcing the U.S. to accept Iran's demands," said Brewer, who served as a deputy national intelligence officer and was responsible for monitoring Iran's nuclear program. With reporting by AFP, Reuters, dpa, and RFE/RLs Radio Farda World Trade Organisation (WTO) Director-General Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala attends an interview with Reuters at the WTO headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland, April 12. She laid out a series of actions on Wednesday for countries and drug makers to increase production of coronavirus vaccines and share them more widely and fairly. Reuters The head of the World Trade Organization laid out a series of actions on Wednesday for countries and drug makers to increase production of coronavirus vaccines and share them more widely and fairly. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, who became WTO director-general in March, called a closed-door meeting of producers, governments and others over inequitable access, with low-income countries administering just 0.2% of 700 million global doses. In her concluding remarks, Okonjo-Iweala said that concerns over cross-border supply chains, including export curbs and shortages of skilled personnel, had reinforced her view that the WTO must play a central role in the response to the pandemic. "In the coming weeks and months, we expect concrete follow-up action. These issues are not easy, but the political will and engagement from the private sector displayed today, suggests it is possible," she said. WTO members, she said, needed to reduce export restrictions and work to ease logistics and customs procedures. They should also advance negotiations on a proposal by India and South Africa and backed by over 80 WTO members, to temporarily waive intellectual property (IP) rights of pharmaceutical companies. WTO members have discussed the issue eight times, without a breakthrough. Western nations argue protecting IP rights encourages research and that suspending those rights would not yield a sudden surge of vaccine supply. Okonjo-Iweala said she hoped a common goal would bring parties to the middle and find a solution acceptable to all. The WTO head urged vaccine makers to increase technology transfer to bring in new manufacturing capacity and to be transparent on contracts and pricing. Pfizer and BioNTech, Moderna, Johnson Johnson and AstraZeneca are among those producing the shots. U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai told attendees the gaping divide between developed and developing countries' access to medicines, seen previously during the AIDS crisis, was "completely unacceptable" and could not be repeated. "As governments and leaders of international institutions, the highest standards of courage and sacrifice are demanded of us in times of crisis. The same needs to be demanded of industry," she said, adding that the "market has once again failed in meeting the health needs of developing countries." The U.S. Chamber of Commerce said Tai's comments were unfair given the rapid development of multiple vaccines over the past year, big boosts in production, and over 260 partnership agreements already in place for production and distribution. "Industry has been doing its part by investing in RD for many decades," said Patrick Kilbride, senior vice president of the Chamber's Global Innovation Policy Center, adding that Tai "threw the industry under the bus" with her statement. He said the debate over the IP waiver was a distraction from the bigger problem of ensuring ways to quickly distribute and administer the vaccines in developing countries. The Chamber argues that waiving IP rights could allow China and other countries to unfairly benefit from U.S. development efforts. (Reuters) Updated April 19: A judge granted the Oregon State Hospital a pause on admissions until April 26. ---- As the Oregon State Hospital grapples with major staffing shortages because of the COVID-19 pandemic, administrators asked a judge on Tuesday to halt admissions for the next two weeks, saying theyre getting an influx of new patients faster than they can make room for them. Under state law, people accused of a crime who have severe mental illness may be sent to the state hospital for mental health treatment so they can become able to aid and assist in their own defense. But state hospital Superintendent Dolly Matteucci and Oregon Health Authority Director Patrick Allen requested a federal judge pause admissions to the psychiatric hospital until April 26 because of the hospitals highest influx of aid-and-assist patients in recent memory. Since the beginning of 2021, the state hospital has admitted an average of 71 aid-and-assist patients a month, which is higher than the number admitted in any month during the previous year. The influx of new patients has now outpaced OSHs ability to discharge aid-and-assist patients into community settings or to return them for the resumption of their criminal cases, Matteucci and Allen said in a federal court filing. As a result, beds have not opened at the pace needed for OSH to continue moving new patients into hospital beds, and OSH has now reached its limits. Deputy Superintendent Derek Wehr also said in a filing that while some beds are open in the hospitals admissions unit, staffers cannot move new patients to the unit before existing patients are done quarantining because doing so could expose the current patients to COVID-19. Several outbreaks of the virus have been reported at the hospital, most recently in January. The hospital began admitting patients on a restricted basis at the beginning of the pandemic, quarantining cohorts of new patients for two weeks and then placing the newcomers in the general population. Hospital administrators, meanwhile, have made several requests to halt admissions since last April, each time citing coronavirus concerns. All the requests have been granted. Tuesdays court filing was unique, however, as it marked the first time since the pandemic began that administrators requested a halt on admissions specifically because of aid-and-assist patients. The terms of a 2002 federal lawsuit require the hospital to admit a certain number of patients each week so people are not languishing in jail. And Disability Rights Oregon, the plaintiff in the federal lawsuit, has objected to each of the hospitals requests to halt admissions, claiming that the requests harm patients and violate the court order. The advocacy group has called for the state to find community treatment options for patients, but Matteucci and Allen said in their court filing that staffers have been unsuccessful in their attempts to find space in other facilities for 17 patients who no longer need hospital care. Today, we filed a motion in court to stop the state hospital from pausing admissions because it will result in a rise in the number of people with mental illness in Oregon who wait in jail indefinitely for treatment, Jake Cornett, director of Disability Rights Oregon, said in an email to The Oregonian/OregonLive on Wednesday. The failure of the state to build community-based treatment for individuals with mental illness is not a justification for denying people their constitutional rights. If the state continues to ignore this central issue, the problem will only grow worse. Jayati Ramakrishnan; 503-221-4320; jramakrishnan@oregonian.com; @JRamakrishnanOR (@FahadShabbir) The EU said Wednesday it would get 50 million Pfizer vaccine doses earlier than expected, as rival drugmaker AstraZeneca faced a fresh setback after Denmark banned its use over blood clot links Brussels, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 14th Apr, 2021 ) :The EU said Wednesday it would get 50 million Pfizer vaccine doses earlier than expected, as rival drugmaker AstraZeneca faced a fresh setback after Denmark banned its use over blood clot links. The news comes after Johnson & Johnson said it would delay its European rollout, a major hit for the continent's beleaguered immunisation campaign as several countries battle rising caseloads. The vaccine setbacks threaten to dampen hopes that immunisations will allow countries to emerge from the pandemic that has now killed close to three million people and ravaged the global economy. But it was not all bad news in Europe, which will soon receive 50 million doses of the BioNTech/Pfizer vaccine initially expected at the end of this year. The doses will now be delivered in the second quarter of this year, and will start arriving as soon as this month. EU Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen said "there are still many factors that can disrupt the planned delivery schedules of vaccines", referring to the J&J delay. "It is therefore important to act swiftly, anticipate and adjust whenever it is possible." More than 820 million doses of vaccine have now been administered globally, but with demand far outstripping supply, countries are scrambling to secure much-needed jabs. The race to secure vaccines has sparked diplomatic rows, notably between the European Union and the UK after the bloc accused London of hoarding jabs. But Australia has also accused the EU of falling short on promised jabs. Canberra's trade minister will travel to Europe this week for talks with his counterparts in Germany, France and Brussels about vaccine exports. - 'Third wave is upon us' - Johnson & Johnson said it would put off its European deliveries over reports of rare blood clots among people who had received the shot. US health regulators also recommended pausing its use after six reported cases of clots -- among more than 6.8 million J&J doses administered in the US. The European Medicines Agency (EMA) said Wednesday it would make a recommendation on the safety of the J&J jab next week after evaluating clot links. AstraZeneca has faced similar setbacks, with many countries now limiting its use to older people following isolated cases blood clots among younger populations, some fatal. Denmark said Wednesday it would stop using it altogether -- a European first -- despite assurances from the EMA and the World Health Organization that side effects far outweigh possible risks. The melee over vaccines comes as several countries, from Germany to India to Turkey, battle a worrying spike in cases. In some places, it is no longer just the elderly who are crowding into overrun hospitals. German doctors said they are treating an increasing number of young people as new variants sweep the country. "The third wave is clearly upon us," said Thomas Marx, the medical director at the Bavarian hospital in Freising. Most Covid patients are now between 40 and 60, and are badly hit by the virus, he told AFP. "They often have to be intubated and then face a long fight with the virus." - River Ganges infections - In India more than 1,000 people tested positive for the virus after bathing in the River Ganges for the world's biggest religious festival. A huge crowd of worshippers packed the river's banks to take a dip in the waters as part of a bathing ritual -- despite soaring virus cases in the country. "Our faith is the biggest thing for us. It is because of that strong belief that so many people have come here to take a dip in Ganga," Siddharth Chakrapani, a member of one of the Kumbh Mela organising committees, told AFP. "They believe that Maa (mother) Ganga will save them from this pandemic." In Turkey officials imposed new restrictions including a tougher overnight curfew, while in Bangladesh police patrolled the capital as a strict nationwide lockdown was rolled out. Europe passed a million Covid deaths this week, with many countries from France to Italy and Spain still facing some form of virus restrictions after the continent's sputtering vaccine rollout. But in Belgium, cafes and restaurants got the greenlight to open their terraces from May 8 after a slight easing of cases there. Swiss officials also announced that bars and restaurants and some leisure facilities could reopen next Monday. In Japan, a spike in Covid cases forced a section of the Tokyo Olympics torch relay to be pulled from public roads, fuelling fears about whether the postponed Games should go ahead with just 100 days to go before the scheduled opening. International Olympic Committee vice president John Coates said Wednesday cancellation is "certainly not" on the table. "The Tokyo Games will be the light at the end of the tunnel," he told reporters. Lori Van Buren/Albany Times Union ALBANY The College of Saint Rose has openings available for vaccinations this afternoon. As of 7:36 a.m., 76 appointments remained. The clinic is giving out Pfizer shots and anyone who is inoculated must be able to return for a second dose on May 6. Donald Trump has mocked the re-election chances of GOP lawmakers Lisa Murkowksi and Liz Cheney's after vowing to campaign against Republicans who backed his impeachment. The former president issued a statement Wednesday in which he said it would be great if Murkowksi did not run, and called Cheney 'crazy' and said 'so many people are looking to run against' her. Senator Lisa Murkowksi of Alaska and Rep. Liz Cheney - both Republican lawmakers - backed impeaching Trump following the Capitol riot on January 6. In the Twitter style statement Trump wrote: 'Senator Lisa Murkowski said she is 'still weighing whether she will run again' for the Senate in Alaska. In other words, there is a chance that she won't run! Wouldn't that be great? 'So many people are looking to run against Crazy Liz Cheneybut we only want one. 'She is so far down in Wyoming polls that the only way she can win is numerous candidates running against her and splitting the vote. Hopefully, that won't happen.' He then pledged: 'I'll make an Endorsement soon!' The National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC) presented the inaugural Champion for Freedom Award to Trump on the same weekend the former president slammed Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell as a 'stone-cold loser'. He also mocked McConnells wife, Elaine Chao, who was Trump's transportation secretary. Donald Trump has mocked the re-election chances of GOP lawmakers Lisa Murkowksi and Liz Cheney's after vowing to campaign against Republicans who backed his impeachment The former president issued a statement Wednesday in which he said it would be great if Murkowksi, right, did not run and called Cheney, left, 'crazy' and said 'so many people are looking to run against' her Murkowski, who has been in the Senate since 2002, has not yet announced formal plans to seek re-election next year. She was one of seven Republicans who voted to convict him at his Senate impeachment trial in. The Alaska Republican Party then censured Murkowksi over her impeachment vote and pledged to recruit a primary challenger to oppose her. Rep. Liz Cheney, R-Wyo., was among 10 House Republicans who joined every Democrat in voting to impeach Trump for inspiring the January 6 attack. The Wyoming GOP then censured Rep. Cheney for voting to impeach Trump. 'The former president is using the same language that he knows provoked violence on Jan 6. As a party, we need to be focused on the future, we need to be focused on embracing the Constitution, not embracing insurrection,' Cheney told CBS. She said this week that she would not back Trump should he run for election in 2024. Trump wrote: 'Senator Lisa Murkowski said she is 'still weighing whether she will run again' for the Senate in Alaska. In other words, there is a chance that she won't run! Wouldn't that be great? 'So many people are looking to run against Crazy Liz Cheneybut we only want one' Trump and his allies have already promised to fuel primary challenges against Cheney and those Republicans who supported his impeachment. The former president called Murkowski a 'failed candidate' and a 'disloyal and very bad senator.' Trump took aim at Murkowski in March, telling Politico he would 'not be endorsing, under any circumstances, the failed candidate from the great State of Alaska, Lisa Murkowski.' 'She represents the state badly and her county even worse,' Trump said. 'I do not know where other people will be next year, but I know where I will be - in Alaska campaigning against a disloyal and very bad Senator. Polling from the GOP polling firm Cygnal reported earlier this month found that GOP challenger Kelly Tshibaka was leading in an all-party primary, taking 33.6 per cent of the vote, compared to Murkowski's 18.8 per cent. Al Gross, an independent who was the Democratic nominee for Alaska's 2020 Senate race, came in third with 17.6 per cent. The National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC) presented the inaugural Champion for Freedom Award to Trump on the same weekend the former president slammed Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, pictured, as a 'stone-cold loser' Trump veered sharply from prepared remarks Saturday night and instead slammed McConnell and his wife, Elaine Chao. Trump also said he was 'disappointed' in his vice president, Mike Pence, and used a profanity in assessing McConnell, according to multiple people in attendance who were not authorized to publicly discuss what was said in a private session. He said McConnell had not thanked him properly for putting Chao, who was labor secretary under President George W. Bush, in his Cabinet. McConnell and Chao have been particularly critical of Trumps role in encouraging the insurrection; Chao resigned her post in protest. Pence, meanwhile, presided over a congressional session that certified Bidens election victory over Trump. Following Trump's comments McConnell said: 'What Im concentrating on is the future. And what we are confronted with here is a totally left-wing administration with a slight majority in the House, a 50/50 Senate, trying to transform America into something no one voted for last year.' The Alabama Senate has passed a bill that would make it a crime for state and local officials to enforce any new gun control laws or regulations from the Biden administration or Congress. The bill, by Sen. Gerald Allen, R-Tuscaloosa, is one of several bills in the Legislature that are aimed at blocking enforcement of any new federal gun control measures. Similar laws are being proposed in other states. The Senate passed the bill by a vote of 21-5. It moves to the House. Allen said the intent is to protect constitutional rights, and his bill is called the Alabama Second Amendment Preservation Act. It would apply to any federal gun laws or regulations imposed after January 1, 2021. Two Democratic senators have spoken against the bill this morning. Sen. Rodger Smitherman, D-Birmingham, a lawyer who has taught constitutional law, said the bill would be unconstitutional because of the supremacy clause that says federal law supersedes state law. We are going to get sued, we are going to lose, and its going to cost us a lot of money as a state because we want to make a statement, Smitherman said. Related: Alabama lawmakers take sides in national debate over gun rights The recent mass shootings in Georgia and Colorado that left 18 people dead have caused President Biden to issue new calls for gun control, including a ban on assault weapons and stricter background checks on gun sales. Sen. Bobby Singleton, D-Greensboro, said the bill was unnecessary because the Constitution already protects gun rights. Singleton said he would use Senate rules to try to block a vote on the bill. The rules allow each senator to talk for up to two hours during a debate. This is just posturing, Singleton said. This is just a bill that only sets the state of Alabama back. Singleton later relented, and stopped the filibuster to allow a vote on the bill. But he said he still opposed the bill. This story will be updated. Kim Potter, the police officer who resigned after fatally shooting Daunte Wright, is now facing a charge of second-degree manslaughter, according to a prosecutor. Washington County Attorney Pete Orput charged the 26-year police veteran of the Brooklyn Center Police Department on Wednesday for the Sunday shooting that has inflamed racial tensions in Minneapolis City. The shooting incident happened just blocks away from the spot where George Floyd died at the hands of police last May. Daunte Wright was shot as police were trying to arrest him due to an outstanding warrant. According to USA Today, Washington County assistant criminal division chief Imran Ali said that certain occupations carry immense responsibility and none more so than a sworn police officer. Ali noted that they intend to prove that Kim Potter abrogated her responsibility to protect the public when she used her firearm instead of a taser. Ali said that Kim Potter's action caused the unlawful killing of Daunte Wright, and "she must be held accountable.'' Jill Oliveira, a spokeswoman for the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension (BCA), said the agency's agents had already arrested Kim Potter on Wednesday morning. Oliveira noted that the 48-year-old former white cop was taken into custody before noon at the BCA in St. Paul. But she was later released on $100,000 bail, BBC reported. Kim Potter resigned on Tuesday as calls for justice for the 20-year-old Black man echoed throughout Minnesota. The former police officer is scheduled to make her first court appearance on Thursday. Tim Gannon, the police chief, has also resigned on Tuesday. Gannon earlier said that he believes that Kim Potter mistakenly grabbed her gun when reaching for her Taser. In bodycam footage, she could be heard shouting, "Taser! Taser!" But Wright's family rejected this explanation. They said that they could not accept that it was just a mistake and called for Potter to be held accountable. RELATED ARTICLE: Kim Potter: Cop Who Shot Daunte Wright Resigns, Flees Home Up to 10 Years of Jail Time If proven guilty, Kim Potter could face up to 10 years imprisonment and will have to pay a $20,000 fine based on Minnesota law. In a statement, Ben Crump, a civil rights lawyer representing Wright's family, together with co-counsel Jeff Storms and Antonio Romanucci, said that they appreciate that the district attorney is pursuing justice for Daunte Wright. However, Crump noted that no conviction could give the Wright family their loved one back. The statement added that this was no accident as it was an intentional, deliberate, and unlawful use of force. The medical examiner of Hennepin County said that Daunte Wright died of a gunshot wound to his chest and ruled his death a homicide. NAACP President Derrick Johnson noted that a badge should never be a shield to accountability. He said that a police officer brutally killed Daunte Wright, and justice must prevail, NBC News reported. The Attorney's Office of Hennepin County handed over any charging decision to Orput earlier this week as the BAC investigates the case. Last year, local prosecutors in the Minneapolis area agreed to refer the cases that involve police use of deadly force to prosecutors in other jurisdictions, On Tuesday, Brooklyn Center Mayor Mike Elliott said state Attorney General Keith Ellison should handle the investigation of the case to ensure that there will be transparency and continue building trust in their community. READ MORE: Minnesota Sports Teams Postpone Games Following Daunte Wright's Shooting WATCH: US Police Officer Arrested Over Killing of Black Motorist Daunte Wright - From BBC News An expert who testified for the defense in Derek Chauvin's trial for the murder of George Floyd is being sued by the family of a black teenager who accuse him of covering up the cause of the boy's death. Dr David Fowler, who was Maryland's chief medical examiner until his retirement in 2019, told the Minneapolis court on Wednesday that Floyd's death was the result of heart disease that caused his heart to beat erratically. Fowler similarly concluded that a black Maryland teenager, Anton Black, died of natural causes while he was being held to the ground by white police officers in 2018 for six minutes. According to a lawsuit filed by the Black family, the police 'escaped' responsibility for Anton's death because Fowler helped cover up the true cause of death, which the family says was a lack of oxygen resulting from police restraint. The family of Anton Black (left) filed a lawsuit accusing Dr David Fowler (right) of covering up the 19-year-old's true cause of death in 2018 Fowler testified for the defense at Derek Chauvin's trial on Wednesday (pictured) and said George Floyd's death was the result of heart disease that caused his heart to beat erratically Fowler is represented by the State of Maryland in the lawsuit. The state, which declined comment, asked the court last week to dismiss the Black family lawsuit, saying it was based on improper legal grounds, and that the way Fowler determined Black's death did not infringe on his family's constitutional rights. Contrary to all other medical experts, Fowler concluded that Floyd (pictured) suffered cardiac arrest during his restraint by Chauvin Floyd died in May 2020 while being pinned face down for more than nine minutes by former Minneapolis policeman and defendant Chauvin, an event captured on video that touched off global protests against police brutality. Hennepin County's chief medical examiner ruled Floyd's death a homicide caused by Chauvin and other officers. But Fowler on Wednesday told the court he would have ruled the cause of death as 'undecided'. Fentanyl and methamphetamine found in Floyd's blood and carbon monoxide poisoning from the exhaust fumes of the adjacent police car may have contributed to the death, Fowler said. The Black family responded to Fowler's testimony in a statement on Wednesday through the American Civil Liberties Union of Maryland. 'Initially, our family was shocked to learn that Dr Fowler was testifying in Chauvin's defense, but there is an eerie and terrifying similarity between the police killings of Anton and George Floyd,' the statement read. Fowler was Maryland's chief medical examiner until his retirement in 2019. He is pictured in a file photo from 2008 Local police confronted Black, 19, in September 2018 while he was in the 'midst of a mental health crisis', according to the family's lawsuit. Three white officers and a civilian chased Black to his home, forced him to the ground and restrained him in a prone position, during which time he struggled to breathe and suffered cardiac arrest, according to the lawsuit. Fowler, as chief medical examiner, was responsible for the accuracy and integrity of Black's autopsy. It was performed by the assistant medical examiner, who also determined the cause of death, according to court documents. The Black family lawsuit names Fowler and other officials, as well as the state of Maryland as defendants. The suit alleges the medical examiner's report ignored clear signs that the teen was asphyxiated due to restraint and masked the true cause of death, violating the family's civil rights. Fowler's ruling enabled the state's attorney to decline to criminally prosecute the officers, the family said. 'Our family believes Dr. Fowler colluded with police to cover up their responsibility for killing Anton,' said the statement. Apr. 15Portland councilors expressed support for a plan to move the city's social services and public health programs into a single downtown building, but said they want to take more time to weigh the concerns of neighbors. Some community members defended the city's plan and criticized neighbors, including the Maine College of Art, whom they say have misplaced concerns about the safety of students and others. Councilors who attended a Health & Human Services and Public Safety Committee meeting Tuesday night said the proposal to consolidate the programs would benefit both staff and clients. However, they wanted more time to discuss the proposal with neighbors and other community groups who were taken off guard by the aggressive timeline for making a decision. "For so many reasons, I would support this but I agree we need to find a way to inject more community dialog," said City Councilor Tae Chong, who leads the committee. "As the mayor said, this is the beginning of the conversation, but we also know there's a looming deadline we need to meet." City officials had hoped to get council approval in the coming weeks to lease a two-story building at 39 Forest Ave., primarily because its existing lease for office space at 196 Lancaster St. expires on June 30. That space houses social services, such as the General Assistance office. The new space would also house public health programming, including the needle exchange, STD/HIV testing and the Portland Community Free Clinic, which provides health care to low-income people. The proposal was reported Saturday in the Press Herald. On Monday, the Maine College of Art and a local developer revealed that they are finalizing plans to build a 180-student residence hall next door at 45 Forest Ave. and were concerned that the city had not contacted them. Both MECA officials and the developer, Jonathan Culley, expressed concerns about student safety, specifically mentioning the high percentage of young women who would be living there. Story continues Fairen Stark, a current MECA student, said Wednesday that she and other art students do not agree with the college's concerns and believe what administrators have said goes against the college's diversity initiatives. Stark and other students have started a petition, calling the statements made by the college president and executive vice president "inappropriate and classist." She said she's also begun a dialog with MECA leadership. "I was very disappointed with the way they represented the college, and I believe that MECA needs to readdress their priorities and role within the Portland community," Stark said. In response to the concerns of MECA and others, the council's Health and Human Services committee heard public comments on the city's proposal Tuesday evening. A staff member of Portland Stage Co. and a local real estate attorney also raised concerns about the proposal and the timeline. Others, including nonprofit social services providers, said they support the proposal and accused opponents of stigmatizing people in poverty. Anita Stewart, Portland Stage's executive and artistic director, said the nonprofit is also concerned about safety. She said the theater is only about 20 feet away from the proposed location and has had robust programming for children and nighttime shows attended by older adults. She was concerned about safety issues that might arise when the city offices are closed, and with the needle exchange, which is currently located on India Street. "As neighbors, we feel left out of this process completely," Stewart said. "Rather than learning about this through the paper, we would have greatly appreciated being involved in the planning process, having somebody contact us so that we could ask our questions and get them answered and maybe find a better solution." MECA President Laura Freid said in an interview that her concerns about safety stem from the college's experience renting apartments for students in Bayside, which has a high concentration of city and nonprofit social service providers, including homeless shelters, day programs and the like. She noted that over 70 percent of MECA's 500 students are female. City staff and the nonprofit social services agency Preble Street pushed back against those concerns on Tuesday night. HHS Director Kristen Dow said she used to work in the India Street Public Health Clinic and that experience, combined with her recent experience overseeing the city's social services division, has proven the safety concerns are unfounded. Dow said she would allow her 18-year-old daughter to work or volunteer at the needle exchange. "I can say first-hand our clients are amazing people and I am also including General Assistance in here," Dow said. "There were some statements that were made (Monday) night that criminalized our clients of our clinics, harm reduction services and our General Assistance program." In response to questions about why two security guards and a metal detector would be needed at the planned facility if there are no safety issues, Social Services Director Aaron Geyer said the city has employed security guards at its General Assistance office since at least 2006. He said the city had contracted security services until 2017, when they decided to have existing, civilian staff provide security, in part to help people navigate their way around the office. It was not clear Wednesday how long the office has used a metal detector and why. The metal detector would only be used at the GA office, not at the clinic or the needle exchange, Dow said. Donna Yellen, a social worker and deputy director at Preble Street, said she supports the city's move and also pushed back on safety concerns. "There were some very surprising statement that revealed ignorance and harmful stereotypes of the families and individuals who access General Assistance and the city's health services," Yellen said. Elizabeth Elicker, executive vice president of MECA, said Wednesday that "we at MECA care deeply about providing essential services and support to Portland citizens; our concerns are regarding the specifics of what is being proposed." Elicker said Tuesday's meeting helped the college better understand the city's proposal, but more time and conversations are needed. "We invite the opportunity that more time will afford for substantive conversation, collaboration and problem solving." Harold Pachios, a well-known Portland attorney, sought to reframe the debate as a matter of land use policy. Pachios said his family owns property on Forest Avenue that they want to develop, but may not move forward if the city relocates there. He stressed that he is a longtime Democrat who supports social services and public health programs. "I think we're off on an issue of who respects people and who does not and that's not what the issue is here," Pachios said. "I do believe in the dignity of these clients. I do want help. I think it's a real estate issue." While generally supportive of the city's proposal, councilors made clear they want more time to consult with community groups and neighbors. Dow said she is scheduled to meet with neighborhood associations in Bayside and Parkside next month, but councilors said more needs to be done. "The abutters are significant voices that must be attended to," Councilor Mark Dion said. "They have raised some concerns already that I think require a legitimate and thoughtful response." City Councilor Belinda Ray said she supports the plan, but suggested the city host a meeting similar to those it requires of developers, which involve providing notice to councilors, abutters and other interested parties. Mayor Kate Snyder described Tuesday's meeting as the first step and said she would work with staff and councilors to conduct neighborhood outreach. Dion suggested and other councilors agreed that city staff should try to negotiate a grace period for the Lancaster space and the proposed location in the event that public outreach has not been completed. The pending deadline of June 30, Dion admitted, made him and others in the community anxious. "I don't like being anxious," he said. Geneva High School Principal Tom Rogers sent an email to students and parents Wednesday detailing the two-day shift to remote learning to determine what, if any, adjustments can be made to ensure ongoing success for our students. All extracurricular activities at the school will continue as scheduled, and students who need to pick up materials at the school can do so between 7 a.m. and 4 p.m. GatewayPundit.com is reporting: The Biden Justice Department announced Wednesday it has closed the investigation into the homicide death of Trump supporter Ashli Babbitt that took place inside the Capitol during the January 6 riot while Congress was meeting in joint session to certify the November presidential election in favor of Joe Biden. Babbitt, who was unarmed, was shot and killed without apparent warning by a plainclothes Capitol Police officer as she climbed through a broken window in a door at the Speakers Lobby. The name of the officer was not released. The statement concluded, the investigation revealed no evidence to establish that, at the time the officer fired a single shot at Ms. Babbitt, the officer did not reasonably believe that it was necessary to do so in self-defense or in defense of the Members of Congress and others evacuating the House Chamber. Acknowledging the tragic loss of life and offering condolences to Ms. Babbitts family, the U.S. Attorneys Office and U.S. Department of Justice have therefore closed the investigation into this matter. The U.S. Attorneys Office for the District of Columbias Public Corruption and Civil Rights Section and the Civil Rights Division, with the Metropolitan Police Departments Internal Affairs Division (IAD), conducted a thorough investigation of Ms. Babbitts shooting. Officials examined video footage posted on social media, statements from the officer involved and other officers and witnesses to the events, physical evidence from the scene of the shooting, and the results of an autopsy. Based on that investigation, officials determined that there is insufficient evidence to support a criminal prosecution. Officials from IAD informed a representative of Ms. Babbitts family today of this determination. The investigation determined that, on January 6, 2021, Ms. Babbitt joined a crowd of people that gathered on the U.S. Capitol grounds to protest the results of the 2020 presidential election. Inside the Capitol building, a Joint Session of Congress, convened to certify the results of the Electoral College vote, was underway. Members of the crowd outside the building, which was closed to the public during the Joint Session, eventually forced their way into the Capitol building and past U.S. Capitol Police (USCP) officers attempting to maintain order. The Joint Session was stopped, and the USCP began evacuating members of Congress. The investigation further determined that Ms. Babbitt was among a mob of people that entered the Capitol building and gained access to a hallway outside Speakers Lobby, which leads to the Chamber of the U.S. House of Representatives. At the time, the USCP was evacuating Members from the Chamber, which the mob was trying to enter from multiple doorways. USCP officers used furniture to barricade a set of glass doors separating the hallway and Speakers Lobby to try and stop the mob from entering the Speakers Lobby and the Chamber, and three officers positioned themselves between the doors and the mob. Members of the mob attempted to break through the doors by striking them and breaking the glass with their hands, flagpoles, helmets, and other objects. Eventually, the three USCP officers positioned outside the doors were forced to evacuate. As members of the mob continued to strike the glass doors, Ms. Babbitt attempted to climb through one of the doors where glass was broken out. An officer inside the Speakers Lobby fired one round from his service pistol, striking Ms. Babbitt in the left shoulder, causing her to fall back from the doorway and onto the floor. A USCP emergency response team, which had begun making its way into the hallway to try and subdue the mob, administered aid to Ms. Babbitt, who was transported to Washington Hospital Center, where she succumbed to her injuries. The focus of the criminal investigation was to determine whether federal prosecutors could prove that the officer violated any federal laws, concentrating on the possible application of 18 U.S.C. 242, a federal criminal civil rights statute. In order to establish a violation of this statute, prosecutors must prove, beyond a reasonable doubt, that the officer acted willfully to deprive Ms. Babbitt of a right protected by the Constitution or other law, here the Fourth Amendment right not to be subjected to an unreasonable seizure. Prosecutors would have to prove not only that the officer used force that was constitutionally unreasonable, but that the officer did so willfully, which the Supreme Court has interpreted to mean that the officer acted with a bad purpose to disregard the law. As this requirement has been interpreted by the courts, evidence that an officer acted out of fear, mistake, panic, misperception, negligence, or even poor judgment cannot establish the high level of intent required under Section 242. The investigation revealed no evidence to establish beyond a reasonable doubt that the officer willfully committed a violation of 18 U.S.C. 242. Specifically, the investigation revealed no evidence to establish that, at the time the officer fired a single shot at Ms. Babbitt, the officer did not reasonably believe that it was necessary to do so in self-defense or in defense of the Members of Congress and others evacuating the House Chamber. Acknowledging the tragic loss of life and offering condolences to Ms. Babbitts family, the U.S. Attorneys Office and U.S. Department of Justice have therefore closed the investigation into this matter. Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, April 15) The Philippines has asked the Biden administration if it could borrow from its stockpile of AstraZenecas COVID-19 vaccine, which is not approved for emergency use in the United States, Philippine Ambassador to the US Jose Manuel Babe Romualdez said Thursday. We have written formally to the HHS (United States Department of Health and Human Services) and also to the White House if we could borrow some of these AstraZeneca [vaccine doses], Romualdez told an online forum. Millions of doses of the coronavirus vaccine made by the British-Swedish company were sitting idly in manufacturing facilities in the US awaiting official usage approval, CNN said in a report last month. CNN quoted White House press secretary Jen Psaki as saying America has 7 million releasable doses available of AstraZeneca, of which over two million were lent to Mexico and 1.5 million to Canada. Last week, vaccine advisers to the US government told CNN they do not foresee AstraZeneca shots being used in America even if the firm applies for emergency use authorization and gets regulatory approval because of other available options. Three COVID-19 vaccine candidates are approved for emergency use in the US -- those made by Pfizer, Moderna, and Johnson & Johnson. But the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the US Food and Drug Administration have recommended a pause on the use of Johnson & Johnson's vaccine after six recipients experienced a rare and severe" type of blood clot, CNN reported on Tuesday. Meanwhile, the AstraZeneca coronavirus shot is approved for restricted use in the Philippines. The country has suspended its use on persons below 60 years old after some cases of blood clotting with low platelet count were reported in Europe. The Philippines has received 525,600 doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine from the COVAX facility. Officials expressed hope additional doses may arrive next month. As of April 6, only 31,912 of the doses remain unused, according to National Task Force Against COVID-19 spokesman Ret. Gen. Restituto Padilla. CNN Philippines asked the Department of Health about the vaccines latest inventory but has yet to receive a reply. The World Photography Organisation is pleased to reveal the finalist and shortlisted photographers in the Professional competition for the Sony World Photography Awards 2021. Now in its 14th year, the Awards Professional competition rewards a remarkable body of work for technical excellence and a fresh perspective on contemporary subjects. The winner of Photographer of the Year 2021 will be selected from the group of Professional finalists and revealed on the 15 April. To mark the occasion a specially commissioned program featuring the winners and hosted by art historian Jacky Klein and entertainer Nish Kumar will be available to stream via the World Photography Organisation digital platforms on the 15 April. Over 330,000 images from 220 territories were submitted across the 2021 Awards four competitions and more than 145,000 were entered into the Professional competitions 10 categories the highest number of entries to date. A Portfolio category has been introduced this year, presenting photographers with the opportunity to submit individual images from various bodies of work but in which their style and technical skills are consistent throughout. The Sony World Photography Awards 2021 finalist photographers and projects are: ARCHITECTURE & DESIGN In Hymn of the Building Site, Gu Guanghui (China Mainland) presents images of construction sites across Ninghai County, Zhejiang Province. Taken from above, the sites and workmen are reduced to abstract shapes. Also working with an abstract point of view is Frank Machalowski, (Germany) whose series Meisterhauser Bauhaus-Dessau comprises layered images of Walter Gropiuss Masters Houses in Dessaue using multiple exposures. For his project, Eternal Hunting Ground, Tomas Vocelka (Czech Republic) chose to photograph a former military complex turned pet crematorium by minimalist architect Petr Hajek. CREATIVE Using family heirlooms to create staged visual metaphors Sasha Bauer (Russian Federation) explores her family history through the prism of her grandfathers tumultuous life from growing up in an orphanage to his years of service in the Russian army. Ampelio and I by Luigi Bussolati (Italy) features photographs found in an old family album and projected onto the landscapes of Parma and along the river Po. The project was conceived in memory of Bussolatis uncle, a passionate photographer himself who in 1942 tragically took his own life. In Mark Hamilton Gruchys (United Kingdom), The Moon Revisited, previously unprocessed pictures of the Apollo missions from NASA and the JPL were combined with copyright-free images which reference key periods in history, from past wars to the pop art movement to the current pandemic. The resulting composites contrast the unchanging surface of the moon with the always dynamic pace of events on Earth. DOCUMENTARY PROJECTS In Thatchers Children, Craig Easton (United Kingdom) investigates the chronic nature of poverty and the effects of successive governments social policies as experienced by three generations of one family in the north of England. The Killing Daisy by Vito Fusco (Italy) focuses on the pyrethrum, also known as the flower of death. This delicate but deadly-to-insects daisy stands at the centre of a thriving organic insecticide industry in Kenya. Lorenzo Tugnolis (Italy) powerful Beirut Port Explosion documents the devastation in the aftermath of the explosion that shook Beirut in August 2020, when 2,750 tons of ammonium nitrate detonated in the citys port, killing hundreds and injuring and displacing thousands. ENVIRONMENT Mohammad Hossein Madadis, (Islamic Republic of Iran) A City Under Dust Clouds features the cityscapes of Ahvaz, one of the worlds most air polluted cities, covered under a sepia cloud of dust and contamination. In The Sea Moves Us, the Sea Moves Fuvemeh, Antonio Perez (Spain) presents the inhabitants of Fuvemeh, a small fishing village in Ghana, in a series of portraits juxtaposed with photographs of their abandoned homes, now lying in ruins due to rising sea levels and coastal erosion. Net-Zero Transition by Simone Tramonte (Italy) explores Iceland, a country which now produces 100% of its electricity from renewable sources, as a successful case study for other nations looking towards a more sustainable future. LANDSCAPE In Silent Neighbourhoods, Majid Hojati (Islamic Republic of Iran) presents a series of landscapes centered around deserted structures that in their quiet stillness poetically evoke the stories of those that once inhabited them. Zaim by Andrea Ludovico Ferro (Italy) explores notions of iconography and devotion as expressed in the political propaganda posters that dominate the urban landscapes of Tripoli, Lebanon. Volcano by Fyodor Savintsev (Russian Federation) depicts the vibrant colors, natural diversity and otherworldly qualities of the volcanic belt in the Kamchatka Peninsula, Russia. PORTFOLIO Taken in and around his hometown of Ourense in the region of Galicia, photojournalist Brais Couto (Spain) presents a series of poignant and dramatic scenes exploring local events and issues ranging from the effects of the pandemic to forest fires and carnival season. In Citizens of Tomorrow, creative director and photographer Loli Laboureau (Argentina) contrasts statured and lively street scenes of the world as we used to know it with colorful and dramatically staged portraits depicting the new normal. In images taken from a variety of personal projects, social documentary and portrait photographer Laura Pannack (United Kingdom) uses symbolism and a muted color palette to evoke vulnerability in and intimacy with her subjects. PORTRAITURE For his second shortlisted project Craig Easton (United Kingdom) presents Bank Top, a collaboration with writer and academic Abdul Aziz Hafiz, examining the representation and misrepresentation of communities in northern England, specifically looking at the residents of one tight-knit neighborhood in Blackburn. In Looking Out from Within, 2020 Julia Fullerton-Batten (United Kingdom) took to the streets of her local area of West London to document her neighbors in their state of lockdown meticulously staged at the windows of their homes while forlornly staring out. Inspired by John Houstons film The Misfits (1961), Drag Queen Cowboys by Jane Hilton (United Kingdom), comprises black & white portraits of Las Vegas Drag Queen performers photographed in Western outfits against Nevadas desert backdrop. SPORT In Sport and Fun Instead of War and Fear, Anas Alkharboutli (Syrian Arab Republic) movingly documents Wasim Satots karate school for children in the village of Aljiina, near Aleppo, where boys and girls, aged 6 -15 years-old, with and without disabilities, come together to form a community and overcome the traumas of war. Iron Fit Kenya by Patrick Meinhardt (Spain) depicts athletes from across East Africa taking part in the second Iron Fit Bodybuilding competition in Nairobi. Rooftops by Farzam Saleh (Islamic Republic Of Iran) captures Iranian athletes as they take to the rooftops of their city to maintain a regime of health and fitness during the pandemic. STILL LIFE In Still Life Composition, shot on Wet Plate, Peter Eleveld (Netherlands) showcases a series of black & white images of glass vases, fruit and flowers expertly photographed and developed using a large-format camera and the wet plate collodion process. Conceived during the first national lockdown in Milan, Alessandro Pollios (Italy) Volatile Interests is a visual investigation of the photographers domestic environment in which simple and often humorous compositions of food and everyday objects represent memories of days spent in isolation. Mexican Feast is a celebration of Mexican food and handcraft traditions. In a vibrant and brightly lit mix of colors and textures, Paloma Rincons (Spain) studio constructions pay homage to her cultural influences. WILDLIFE & NATURE Sea Drops by Angel Fitor (Spain) is a photographic essay exploring life inside drops of sea water. Using micropipettes, and a self-designed micro studio set-up, Fitor opens a drop shaped window to the splendidly diverse world of different species of planktons. Through close-up portraits, aerial images and underwater shots, Raw Nature by Graeme Purdy (United Kingdom) captures the fierce and majestic beauty of wild animals. Locust Invasion in East Africa by Luis Tato (Spain) documents a destructive infestation of desert locust across East Africa as it wiped out entire fields of vegetation and crops. This recent outbreak has been the most severe the region has known in decades, made worse by Covid-19 restrictions disrupting the supply chains of pesticides. The work of finalist and shortlisted photographers in the Professional competition was judged by: Natasha Egan, Executive Director, Museum of Contemporary Photography, Chicago; Sunyoung Kim, Curator, Museum of Photography Seoul, South Korea; Azu Nwagbogu, Founder and Director, African Artists Foundation and LagosPhoto Festival; Lindsay Taylor, Curator, University of Salford Art Collection; Hannah Watson, Director, Trolley Books; and Mike Trow, Independent Curator and Photo Editor, Chair of the Jury. Commenting about this years finalists and shortlist Mike Trow says: The integrity, intentionality and considered edits presented in this years projects stirred up debate and genuine appreciation among the jury. Photographers rose up to the challenges of 2020 using the time to delve deeper into personal projects and explore the stories unfolding in their local communities. Their efforts have truly paid off with shortlisted and finalists works presenting a noticeable step up in quality, which made the competition feel special this year. The overall winners in the Student, Youth, Open and Professional competition of the Sony World Photography Awards 2021 will be announced on the 15 April 2021 via the World Photography Organisations digital and video platforms. Scientists have searched for years to understand how cells measure their size. Cell size is critical. It's what regulates cell division in a growing organism. When the microscopic structures double in size, they divide. One cell turns into two. Two cells turn into four. The process repeats until an organism has enough cells. And then it stops. Or at least it is supposed to. The complete chain of events that causes cell division to stop at the right time is what has confounded scientists. Beyond being a textbook problem, the question relates to serious medical challenges: Cells that stop dividing too soon can cause defects in growing organisms. Uncontrolled cell growth can lead to cancers or other disorders. A study from Dartmouth, published in Current Biology, provides a new answer to the question by tackling the problem in reverse: The research focused on large cells that reduce their size through division until enough cells are formed to move to other stages of development. The early embryo is an ideal place to study cell size control. The cells we work with are eggs that are visible to the eye. They don't need to grow before dividing, so it allows us to look at connections that are obscured in adult cells." Amanda Amodeo, assistant professor of biology at Dartmouth and lead researcher According to the study, a set amount of the protein histone H3 is loaded into an embryo before fertilization and is used up as the embryo divides into more cells. As histones are consumed to accommodate the growing number of nuclei, they release the enzyme Chk1 to bind with another protein, CDC25, to stop the multiplication of cells. The research is technical, but the mechanism is relatively straightforward: With histone H3 out of the way in a growing cell, the stop enzyme Chk1 finds and disables the protein that triggers cell cycle progression, CDC25. "The key to our research result was coming up with the possibility that unusually large amounts of histone H3 may feed into the stop enzyme," said Yuki Shindo a postdoctoral research fellow at Dartmouth and first author of the paper. "Once we noticed that, we were able to test this idea in our living test tube, fruit fly eggs." The new research builds on earlier studies which found that a biological constant exists between the size of a genome and the size of a cell. Researchers knew that once a balance point was achieved, cells would stop duplicating, but didn't understand how cells could determine the ratio. To find the answer to the long-running question, the research team studied fruit fly eggs. Because of their large size compared to other cells, the team was able to get a different perspective on the cell cycle. "We've had all of the pieces for years but couldn't quite get them to fit together," said Amodeo. "Once we recognized that H3 interacts directly with both DNA and Chk1, the work went very fast. Everything worked the first time, which is a good sign that the hypothesis is right." Since the same molecules that control cell division--histone H3, CDC25 and Chk1--are all identified in cancer and other ailments, the finding can help researchers that are seeking answers to questions related to development and disease. "We were originally curious about a basic biological question on how cells in a growing egg make a decision to stop at the correct timing," said Shindo. "We are now excited that our findings may also have an important implication for a broader context such as disease." Research conducted for this study was performed at and supported by the Lewis-Sigler Institute at Princeton University as well as by grants from the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science, the Uehara Memorial Foundation, and the Japanese Biochemical Society. Barry West died in August last year after being found slumped over a table in Maidstone, Kent The son of Fred and Rose West died of a painkiller overdose after telling a doctor his life was 'not worth living,' an inquest heard. Barry West was just seven when he watched his parents beat his sister Heather to death at their Cromwell Street home in Gloucester. He died at the age of 40 on August 28 last year after being found slumped over a table at his supported living accommodation in Maidstone, Kent. An inquest into his death this week heard how Mr West, who was too scared to give evidence at his mother's 1995 trial, had a 'complex medical history'. It was said he tried to commit suicide in 2015, and that he had taken 'many overdoses' alongside suffering from PTSD, anxiety, depression and chronic pain. Mr West also struggled with dissociative identity disorder, in which people may feel the presence of other identities with their own names, voices and mannerisms. Coroner Patricia Harding, sitting at Maidstone Coroner's Court, heard how Mr West felt 'abandoned' by the NHS and died after injecting himself with pain relieving medication. Fred West killed himself in prison in 1995 while awaiting trial on 12 murder charges. His wife, 67, was sentenced to life in jail without parole for ten murders. The couple killed West's step-daughter Charmaine, as well as Heather. He was just seven when he watched his parents (above) beat his sister Heather to death at their Cromwell Street home in Gloucester An inquest into Mr West's death this week heard how Mr West, who was too scared to give evidence at his mother's 1995 trial, had a 'complex medical history' The inquest heard how Mr West had an addiction to opioids, as well as a history of heroin misuse dating back almost 20 years. The hearing was told how he was living in 'supported accommodation' in Maidstone after being released from St Martin's mental health hospital in Canterbury on August 3. Giving evidence at the inquest, Nicholas Esson, a mental health manager at Kent County Council, said Mr West was having 'difficulty coping with pain' and felt he had 'no quality of life'. Pictured: Heather West, who was killed by her parents in June 1987 He said that when he met with a social worker on August 26 - just two days before he died - he said he 'felt abandoned' by mental health services. Mr Esson said that in the wake of Mr West's death an internal review had been launched into how better to support people during Covid-19 pandemic. The inquest heard how Mr West had 'clashed' with his doctor about the best drugs to treat his chronic shoulder and back pain, with the serial killer's son saying he wanted to be put on 'opioid treatment', which he said made him 'happier' and the 'most pain free'. Mr West's doctor told the inquest: 'There were many times he was very frustrated at our unwillingness to prescribe an additional opioid - and he said life was not worth living.' Ms Harding ruled that Mr West had died following 'voluntary injections of pain relieving medication' and gave a verdict of misadventure. Barry was Rose and Fred West's youngest child, with the couple also parents to daughters Heather Ann, Mae June and Louise, alongside son Stephen, 45. Rose also had Tara, Rosemary Junior and Lucyanna outside the relationship. In June 1987, Heather, 16, became the final victim of the Wests after suffering years or trauma and abuse at the hands of her parents. Barry, then seven, witnessed the death of his sister at the hands of her parents. Fred West killed himself in prison in 1995 while awaiting trial on 12 murder charges. His wife, 67, was sentenced to life in jail without parole for ten murders. Pictured: The victims Barry was Rose and Fred West's youngest child, with the couple also parents to daughters Heather Ann, Mae June (above) and Louise, alongside son Stephen Taken into care five years later, he was too scared to give evidence at his mother's 1995 trial and was plagued by nightmares and psychiatric problems his entire life. A family source said: 'He never found peace, never escaped the ghosts of Cromwell Street. Of all the Wests' younger children, Barry had the most difficult life.' Initially remaining in the Gloucester area after the trial, Barry later moved to a different part of the country, living under a new identity. Barry's bedroom had been in the soundproofed cellar at 25 Cromwell Street, and, as the only other son apart from older brother Stephen, he had been close to his father. In an interview in 2002, Barry gave a harrowing account of life inside the House of Horrors and recalled a June night in 1987 when Heather came home late to face the wrath of his parents. Pictured left: Anne Marie, Fred West's daughter with another woman and right: Stephen West 'It was about 3am when I heard Heather coming in,' he said. 'I heard my dad shouting, 'Where have you been? We've been waiting for you.' 'I heard my mum slap her, then I looked through the crack and saw my dad walk round behind her and put his leg out. Then he grabbed her neck and tripped her over. 'She went on to the floor. I could see her just a few feet away. Then my mum just booted her. She was kicking and kicking her and calling her a slag. My dad still had her by the throat. 'Then, when he tried to get her to do things to him, she refused. I think that's why she ended up dead.' After 15 minutes, Rose 'rubbed her hands together' and said: 'Right, let's clear this up.' Barry said: 'I could hear my dad wrapping her in some plastic and I could see my mum scrubbing the floor with a bucket and brush. 'There was some white bubbly stuff which must have been soap. 'Mum was telling him to hurry up and he asked her to help him, but she said, 'I can't. I've got to get rid of this before the kids get up.' ' Fred West with his wife Rose at his daughter Anna's wedding in 1994 Later, Barry was forced by his father to disguise Heather's grave. 'I didn't realise what I was doing at the time,' he said. 'When Dad said do something you did it, you never stopped to ask him why.' Barry and his siblings were later told Heather had gone to university. Of his mother, an inmate at HMP New Hall in West Yorkshire, Barry said: 'She's a psychopath. 'I was happy when my dad committed suicide and now I think they should put my mum in a room with all the parents of the people she helped murder so they could tear her to pieces.' The couple's other victims included Alison Chambers, 16, Shirley Robinson, 18, Juanita Mott, 18, Shirley Hubbard, 15, Theresa Siegnethaler, 21, Lucy Partington, 21, Carol Ann Cooper, 15, Lynda Gough, 19, Rena Costello (Fred's ex-wife), 27, Charmaine West (Fred's daughter), 8, and Anne McFall, 18. Fred is also believed to have also killed 15-year-old Mary Bastholm, although her remains have never been found. For confidential support in the UK call the Samaritans on 116123 or click here The Royal Family's official Instagram released several photos looking back at Prince Philip's life in service to the Commonwealth. Prince Philip undeniably lived a long life, most of which was dedicated to serving the Commonwealth alongside his wife, Queen Elizabeth. As her life partner and consort, he traveled across the country and globe to attend several engagements. As such, many know of Philip's work, and many mourned when he passed away on Friday, April 9, 2021. He was 99 years old and a few months away from celebrating what would have been his centennial year. DEDICATED TO THE COMMONWEALTH In memory of the Duke of Edinburgh, the palace released old photographs from his trips around the world since 1949, visiting 50 Commonwealth nations and 70 percent of the globe's countries. Most of the candidly taken pictures featured the late royal smiling at people from different walks of life during his 22,219 solo engagements and thousands of other visits alongside her Majesty. The post's comment section was instantly filled with sweet words from fans who praised Philip's service and contribution, including some who did not know about royal history until his recent passing. Screenshot of comments on the Royal Family's post about Prince Philip. | Source: Getty Images FANS APPLAUD PHILIP Harry returned home from California to attend his grandfather's funeral, while his pregnant wife, Meghan Markle, remained in the US. "His amount of work for the kingdom and the commonwealth was astonishing, and there are no words that could explain the amount of work he has done," one royal supporter said. Another comment read: "HRH was committed to the Commonwealth and now the Commonwealth cries and mourns his passing." Screenshot of comments on the Royal Family's post about Prince Philip. | Source: Getty Images THE ROYALS' TRIBUTE Members of the royal family also paid tribute to the duke, including his only daughter, Princess Anne, who reflected on her father's life and legacy. According to the Princess Royal, Philip was her mentor, defender, and critic. But of all things, he was the epitome of a role model who lived his life dedicated to service, who promoted respect for every individual. Prince Andrew also shared kind words about his father, whom he called a great man and good listener. The Duke of York also revealed that his mother, the Queen, felt Philip's passing the most but remained stoic. However, her husband's death left a void in her heart that can never be filled. Prince Andrew during the King George VI racing meet at Ascot Racecourse on July 29, 2017 in Ascot, England. | Source: Getty Images WILLIAM AND HARRY'S TRIBUTE Philip's grandchildren, Prince William, and Prince Harry, also honored him in separate statements. According to William, having been guided by such a wise and dedicated man until his adult life was a blessing. He noted that Philip was an amazing great-grandfather to his three children, who will continue his legacy. Meanwhile, Harry's statement shared the fun, loving, and humorous side of his grandfather. "He was my grandpa: master of the barbecue, legend of banter, and cheeky right 'til the end," he wrote in a statement. Harry returned home from California to attend his grandfather's funeral, while his wife, Meghan Markle, remained in the US as she is heavily pregnant. Bengaluru, April 15 : Covid test would be mandatory for all Karnataka pilgrims returning from Kumbh mela at Uttarkhand's Haridwar, state Health Minister K. Sudhakar announced on Thursday. "Pilgrims returning to the state after taking part in the holy Kumbh mela at Haridwar must self-isolate at their home for a week and take an RT-PCR test," said Sudhakar in a tweet in Kannada, tagging an order from the state Health Department. The returnees have also been advised to resume normal activities only after their Covid test report result is negative. According to latest reports, at least 1,700 pilgrims from across the country tested positive after participating in the Kumbh mela between April 10-14 in the northern hill state. The state Health Department, however, has no information on the number of pilgrims going from the state for the holy dip in the river Ganga at Haridwar during the month-long fair. "Pilgrims visiting the Kumbh mela at Haridwar should strictly comply with the standard operating procedure (SOP) issued by the Union Health Ministry on February 23, 2021," said the order. Nigel Tutt Chief Executive of Priority One Readers will no doubt have seen the government announcement a couple of weeks ago on steps to address New Zealands runaway housing market. This included methods to curb investors alongside ways to ramp up supply. We can turn ourselves to thinking how these changes might have an effect on Taurangas housing market. I have written about the poor state of Taurangas housing market before, we have the worst statistics of any major New Zealand city for housing and rental affordability, and provision of social housing. Our house prices increased by 15 per cent last year, a little above the national average of 13 per cent. Housing affordability is not just a New Zealand problem, house prices in Sydney increased by 12 per cent last year, Melbourne by 11 per cent, but we get it a little worse here, causing a number of issues in the community. The government housing package recognises the dire state that we are in, and has made a number of changes to attempt to get better outcomes. While some of those are about tipping the balance to first home buyers, it is hard to see this making a useful difference unless availability and price is looked at (our median price is now just under $900k). The $3.8B in the housing acceleration fund is a big number and where we need to focus our thinking. So what would make a difference in the Tauranga housing market? In this area it is all about creating supply. As a rough rule of thumb we need 1000 new dwellings per year to be able to keep up with population growth. Subdivisions are the traditional way to do provide more supply, but these generally need heavy duty infrastructure to be put in first. Infill or intensification is preferred, but there are no guarantees about a market response to planning changes or whether this could provide enough dwellings, fast enough. Provision of social, transitional and affordable housing is also really important through the likes of Accessible Properties, Te Tuinga Whanau, and Kainga Ora. The state that we are in demands that we throw the kitchen sink at getting more supply, which means using all of the methods above. We need some of that government acceleration fund to unlock well planned, transport network friendly, subdivisions - this is generally for roading connections. We need more apartment blocks and townhouses in key areas, such as the CBD, and we need government departments to help transform availability, particularly at the lower end of the market so that affordability can improve. This might seem drastic, but we ignore our current problems and future population growth at our peril. Urgent action and a good chunk of that government funding are needed for better housing outcomes in our community. Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, April 15) Manila Mayor Isko Moreno revealed on Thursday that he was not informed about the fresh batch of dolomite sand that was dumped along the Manila Baywalk, but noted that there is nothing wrong about the ongoing 389 million project. In an interview with CNN Philippines' The Source, Moreno said other government initiatives may still continue amid the COVID-19 fight. This includes the controversial "white sand" project which critics earlier slammed as "mere aesthetics" and waste of taxpayers' money. "Life must go on. Things must move on," the mayor said. "All other things in the government in terms of vision, aspirations, future development for midterm and long-term, must be done simultaneously while we're fighting against the pandemic. We cannot stop." Photos taken by CNN Philippines on Wednesday showed heavy equipment dumping the artificial sand along Roxas Boulevard, with the new haul covering darker-colored sand. LOOK: Fresh batch of dolomite dumped along Manila Bay coast Moreno also supported the previous claim of the government that the project is safe. "The Department of Environment and Natural Resources said it is not harmful to the environment," he said. "We agree with that." The DENR has yet to provide the latest details on the project which was previously slammed by netizens and environmental advocates. The Department of Health and marine experts from the University of the Philippines' Marine Science Institute also earlier warned that aside from the environmental impact brought by the dolomite material, prolonged dust inhalation may cause chronic health effects to the public. These risks include discomfort in the chest, shortness of breath, and coughing. In September 2020, the agency said measures are in place to ensure that the "white sand" will not be washed away by storms and high tide. It also assured the DOH that the dolomite material used for the project is bigger than dust and does not count as a health hazard. READ: DENR: Measures in place so Manila Bay's white sand won't get washed away Vice President Leni Robredo previously said the 389 million project could have instead gone to the over 80,000 poor families who were left hungry due to the pandemic. READ: Funds for Manila Bay's 'white sand' project could have fed 80,000 hungry families - Robredo City College of San Francisco is at risk of insolvency and a takeover by the state because it has lost control of its payroll expenses, a new report obtained by The Chronicle says. City College must act quickly if it wants to continue operating independently in the California community college system, the states Fiscal Crisis and Management Assistance Team said in the four-page report it sent to the California Community College Chancellors Office on April 7. The college lost 39% of its enrollment over the last decade from 90,000 to 55,000 full- and part-time students. But the school failed to cut expenditures in line with that loss, said the report by the team formed in the 1990s to help troubled schools. City College can no longer fulfill its commitments to its staff, faculty, administration and, most important, its students while also remaining solvent, the report said. The devastating assessment follows months of protests by students and faculty against steep budget cuts. College officials sent out 163 layoff warnings to full-time faculty last month, and expect to slash 447 part-time instructors for next fall and eliminate hundreds of of classes. The trustees will vote on May 10 on how many full-time faculty to sever. Correctly sizing its staffing for all employees will clearly be the largest factor in improving CCSFs fiscal situation, wrote Michelle Giacomini, deputy executive officer for the fiscal crisis team. She said colleges statewide spend an average of 88.8% of their unrestricted general fund on salary and benefits, while City College spends nearly 98%. But faculty leaders say that cutting classes and instructors is the wrong approach. It would destroy the college, said Malaika Finkelstein, the union president. We need to grow our enrollment, and the current administration has failed to do that. Theyve driven students away by cutting. The union says the college should find a way to raise the $33 million needed to close its deficit from federal, state and local sources. A campus group, the Higher Education Action Team, has collected nearly 2,200 signatures on a petition of no-confidence in the administration. City College, which offers free classes to San Francisco residents, has been a crucial institution for generations because of its inexpensive, quality instruction not only for students hoping to transfer to a four-year school, but also for immigrants who take English classes, people seeking licenses in a skilled trade, and retirees who enjoy classes in art, science and other subjects. But the college was forced to shrink or end many programs after a five-year accreditation crisis from 2012 to 2017 that nearly shut it down. Enrollment plunged in that time and never recovered, even though the Accrediting Commission for Community and Junior Colleges renewed the schools all-important accreditation in 2017 for seven years. At that point, the college vowed to build up enrollment and repair the financial practices that had brought it so low. In an indication that those efforts were flagging, the commission placed the school on enhanced monitoring status in September, requiring evidence of improvement. Now, the fiscal crisis team is sounding the next-level alarm, pointing to an array of dangerous practices, including reserves below the state-recommended 5%, and a lack of plans for replenishing retirement funds and reducing costs when extra state allocations expire in 2025-26. COVID Resources Coronavirus Map Tracking COVID-19 cases across the Bay Area and California. The alarming rate of deficit spending, including borrowing from its own retirement funds, is unsustainable, said Lizette Navarette, vice chancellor of college finance at the office of California Community College Chancellor Eloy Ortiz Oakley. The state is monitoring the situation, she added. City College interim Chancellor Rajen Vurdien said that the new report reinforces what we have known all along, and that the trustees approved a multi-year budget and enrollment management plan in November that is a road map to a secure and sustainable future. The proposed layoffs, he said, are the first step in moving the college to fiscal solvency. The trustees understand that the cuts are difficult, said Shanell Williams, president of the board. But we have a fiduciary responsibility to our current students, to our community and future generations to balance our budget. City Supervisor Gordon Mar will join the college faculty Thursday in a stop the cuts Zoom meeting, highlighting deep cuts in the English as a Second Language program. He said the college needs to fix its structural deficit, but there is a role for the city government to play in supporting the college in these difficult times. Note: This story has been updated with comments from the faculty union, which could not be reached on Wednesday. Nanette Asimov is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: nasimov@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @NanetteAsimov HELSINKI, Finland, April 15, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Caverion Corporation's Interim Report for January-March 2021 will be published on Thursday, 29 April 2021, at approximately 8:00 a.m. (Finnish Time, EEST). The stock exchange release and presentation materials in Finnish and in English will be published at that time on the company's website at www.caverion.com/investors. Webcast news conference for investors and media Caverion will hold a news conference on the Interim Report as a live webcast at www.caverion.com/investors on Thursday, 29 April 2021, at 10.00 a.m. Finnish time (EEST). Due to the coronavirus pandemic, the news conference cannot be attended in person. The presenters at the event are interim President and CEO Mats Paulsson and Chief Financial Officer Martti Ala-Harkonen. A recording of the webcast will be available at the same address at approximately 12.00 noon (EEST). Conference call It is also possible to participate in the event through a conference call. Participants are requested to call one of the assigned numbers at least five minutes before the conference call begins, at 9.55 a.m. (EEST) at the latest: +44 (0)330 336 9105 +46 (0)8 5033 6574 Participant code for the conference call is "1505696 / Caverion". During the webcast and conference call, all questions should be presented in English. Schedule in different time zones Interim Report published Webcast news conference and conference call Recorded webcast availale EEST (Helsinki) 08.00 10.00 12.00 CEST (Paris, Stockholm) 07.00 09.00 11.00 BST (London) 06.00 08.00 10.00 EDT (New York) 01.00 03.00 05.00 CONTACT: For additional information, please contact: Milena Hggstrom, Head of Investor Relations and External Communications, tel. +358 40 5581 328, milena.haeggstrom@caverion.com This information was brought to you by Cision http://news.cision.com https://news.cision.com/caverion/r/publishing-of-caverion-corporation-s-interim-report-for-january-march-2021-on-29-april-2021,c3325253 The following files are available for download: IONIA, MI -- A former Lowell police officer has been ordered to stand trial on two felonies after a judge found he unloaded his gun, basically at a fleeing car. Two people in the car -- which had just backed toward then-Officer Jason Diaz and nearly struck him -- were injured by bullets. One, a teen, had a graze wound to the head. This case is not that simple, Judge Raymond Voet said, noting questions about what the officer knew before he fired. But what I can say, and this is where the prosecution is hanging its hat, is that eight shots were fired at a car that was driving away, Judge Raymond Voet. Voet, after hearing testimony and watching bodycam video during a hearing Wednesday, Aprl 14, ordered Diaz to stand trial on charges of assault with intent to do great bodily harm less than murder, misconduct by a public official and careless discharge of a weapon causing injury. The most serious charge carries a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison. Related: Police officer involved in shooting charged with two felonies by Michigan Attorney General Diaz attempted to stop a red Chevy Impala at about 2 a.m. Aug. 29 in downtown Lowell for operating without a plate but also failing to dim headlights for his oncoming cruiser. The Impala driver took off at high speed with Diaz in pursuit. Speeds exceeded 100 mph. The Impala went north off M-21 onto Whites Bridge Road, where a fallen tree soon blocked its path. Diaz exited the cruiser but was forced to jump back in when the Impala began backing quickly and scraped the drivers side of the cruiser. Diaz fired three rounds at the Impala as it passed. The Impala driver then backed sideways in the road, and started taking off at high speed. Diaz allegedly then fired eight more rounds as the Impala sped away. Bodycam video shown by Assistant Attorney General Alexandria Casperson during Wednesdays hearing seemed to confirm he claim. A 15-year-old boy in the Impalas back seat was grazed by a bullet that apparently went through the trunk. The other injured person, a man in the front passenger seat, was struck in the arm during the first volley of three bullets. The Impala soon after crashed along M-21 after nearly striking an oncoming vehicle. Five people in the car fled but were captured after a search. Related: Former police officer accused of firing 8 rounds at fleeing vehicle, striking 2 people, due in court The Impala was stolen and Diazs attorney, Marc Curtis, alleged there was items from Metro by T-Mobile in the trunk. Curtis, in a statement prior to Voets ruling, said there isnt sufficient evidence to show that Diaz did anything wrong. This is a law enforcement officer case that took place in 20 seconds, at which point this officer was faced with great bodily harm and responded with such. For us to sit back and judge what happens in 20 seconds six months later, puts quite a burden on the officer, Curtis said. He went on to say that the people in the car, particularly the driver, didnt want to go to jail and chose to put this officers life in danger by backing toward him. Curtis suggested that it was misguided to argue that this officer, as that vehicle is backing away and driving away, should have decided this incident is over and theyre not a threat. They just attempted to take out a police officer. But Voet said the testimony and videos showed the defendant unloaded his gun basically, eight shots at a car that was driving away, and I think thats a question for a fact finder. More form MLive Grand Rapids man, 36, dies after driving across I-196 median in Berrien County Whitmer urges antibody therapy as COVID-19 surge continues in Michigan HOUSTON, April 14, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Oasis Midstream Partners LP (NYSE: OMP) (the "Partnership" or "OMP") today announced that Daniel E. Brown, Oasis' Chief Executive Officer, has been elected to serve on the board of directors of the general partner of OMP, and he is expected to be elected by the board of directors of the general partner (the "GP Board") to serve as Chairman of the GP Board. Chief Executive Officer, Taylor Reid, commented, "Oasis Midstream Partners is extremely pleased to welcome Danny Brown to OMP's Board of Directors. Danny brings a wealth of experience and strong leadership capabilities from his extensive tenure at premier upstream and midstream companies. His skill set is highly complementary to our existing senior leadership team and puts OMP in a strong competitive position going forward. OMP will continue to pursue strategies to maximize unitholder value in a responsible fashion with a strong focus on our ESG values." Mr. Brown has 23 years of experience in the oil and natural gas industry having spent his career with Anadarko Petroleum Corporation, or one of its predecessors, until Anadarko was acquired by Occidental Petroleum in August 2019. From October 2017 to August 2019, Mr. Brown served as Anadarko's Executive Vice President, U.S. Onshore Operations. Prior to that position, he served as Executive Vice President, International and Deepwater Operations beginning in May 2017; Senior Vice President, International and Deepwater Operations beginning in August 2016; Vice President, Operations (Southern and Appalachia) beginning in August 2013; and Vice President, Corporate Planning beginning in May 2013. Mr. Brown joined Anadarko in August 2006 upon the acquisition of Kerr-McGee Corporation, where he began his career. In addition to those positions mentioned above, Mr. Brown held positions of increasing responsibility with Anadarko and Kerr-McGee throughout his career in U.S. onshore and Gulf of Mexico segments, as well as internationally. Mr. Brown was also a director of Western Gas Equity Partners, LP and Western Gas Partners, LP from November 2017 to February 2019. After the February 2019 simplification of those two MLPs, he served on the board of Western Midstream Partners, LP until August 2019, when the Anadarko-Occidental transaction was completed. Since January 2020, Mr. Brown has served on the board of Beacon Offshore Energy LLC, a private-equity sponsored exploration and production company that is focused on the deepwater Gulf of Mexico. Mr. Brown is a registered Professional Engineer in the state of Texas and serves on the board of Junior Achievement of Southeast Texas. Mr. Brown holds a Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering from Texas A&M University and an MBA from Rice University, where he was a Jones Scholar Award recipient. Forward-Looking Statements This press release contains 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. All statements, other than statements of historical facts, included in this press release that address activities, events or developments that the Partnership 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 may include the expectations of plans, strategies, objectives and anticipated financial and operating results of the Partnership, including the Partnership's capital expenditure levels and other guidance included in this press release. These statements are based on certain assumptions made by the Partnership based on management's experience and perception of historical trends, current conditions, anticipated future developments and other factors believed to be appropriate. Such statements are subject to a number of assumptions, risks and uncertainties, many of which are beyond the control of the Partnership, which may cause actual results to differ materially from those implied or expressed by the forward-looking statements. These include, but are not limited to, the Partnership's ability to integrate acquisitions into its existing business, changes in oil and natural gas prices, weather and environmental conditions, the timing of planned capital expenditures, availability of acquisitions, uncertainties in the estimates of proved reserves and forecasted production results of the Partnership's customers, operational factors affecting the commencement or maintenance of producing wells, the condition of the capital markets generally, as well as the Partnership's ability to access them, the proximity to and capacity of transportation facilities, and uncertainties regarding environmental regulations or litigation and other legal or regulatory developments affecting the Partnership's business and other important factors. Should one or more of these risks or uncertainties occur, or should underlying assumptions prove incorrect, the Partnership's actual results and plans could differ materially from those expressed in any forward-looking statements. Any forward-looking statement speaks only as of the date on which such statement is made and the Partnership 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. About Oasis Midstream Partners LP Oasis Midstream Partners LP is a premier gathering and processing master limited partnership formed by its sponsor, Oasis Petroleum Inc. to own, develop, operate and acquire a diversified portfolio of midstream assets in North America that are integral to the crude oil and natural gas operations of Oasis Petroleum Inc. and are strategically positioned to capture volumes from other producers. For more information, please visit the Partnership's website at www.oasismidstream.com. Contact: Oasis Midstream Partners LP Bob Bakanauskas, (281) 404-9638 Director, Investor Relations SOURCE Oasis Midstream Partners LP Related Links http://oasispetroleum.com Approximately one-fourth of ARDS patients have disease features that put them at increased risk of death within the first month of hospitalization BOSTON - Approximately one in four patients hospitalized for the acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) associated with severe COVID-19 infections may have a distinct phenotype (disease presentation) or biochemical profile associated with organ dysfunction, blood-clotting abnormalities and greater risk of death than patients with other, seemingly similar forms of the disease, researchers at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) have found. Among 263 patients admitted to intensive care units (ICUs) at MGH for respiratory failure due to severe COVID-19 infection, 70 (26.6%) had increased levels of biomarkers in the bloodstream indicating disordered blood clotting, higher inflammation, and organ dysfunction compared with the other patients, report Sylvia Ranjeva MD, PhD, and Lorenzo Berra, MD, investigators in the Department of Anesthesia, Critical Care and Pain Medicine, and their colleagues in that department and Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine and Respiratory Care at MGH. Patients with this more severe phenotype had twice the risk of death, despite minimal differences in respiratory mechanics or in the severity of ARDS between the two phenotypes. Their findings are published in EClinicalMedicine, an open-access journal of The Lancet group. ARDS is a catch-all term for lung injury that can arise from many different conditions such as pneumonia, severe influenza, trauma, blood infections or inflammation of the pancreas. The syndrome can be life-threatening and may require patients to be put on mechanical ventilation, but it has been difficult for clinicians to develop effective therapies because of the wide spectrum of causes associated with it. Pulmonary care experts typically base treatment decisions for patients with ARDS on how their bodies and immune systems respond to disease. Prior studies have suggested that some patients have what is called a "hyperinflammatory" phenotype, because their bodies respond to disease or injury by unleashing a flood of cytokines (proteins released in response to inflammation) and other substances to fight the disease. Several studies have shown that patients with the hyperinflammatory phenotype have about a 20% greater risk for death compared with other patients. But until now, it has been unclear whether patient responses to ARDS from other causes are the same as responses to ARDS associated with COVID-19, Ranjeva explains. "The motivation for our work is that if we can identify subsets of patients with different biochemical characteristics, and then those patients respond differently to treatment or have different clinical outcomes, we would be one step closer to a more mechanism-based understanding of ARDS," she says. The researchers identified two distinct phenotypes of COVID-19-associated ARDS that had substantial differences in their responses to disease and in risk for death, despite having minimal differences in respiratory function and oxygenation levels. Patients with the less common but more serious phenotype could be identified by increases in markers of organ dysfunction (for example, kidney function and cardiac biomarkers) and by increased evidence of blood-clotting dysfunction (coagulopathy). Their results suggest that disruption of the normal regulation of blood vessels and circulation could be a key feature of critical illness, severe symptoms, and death related to COVID-19 infections, the researchers write. ### Co-authors with Ranjeva and Berra are Riccardo Pinciroli, MD, Evan Hodell, MD, Ariel Mueller, MA, C. Corey Hardin MD, PhD, and B. Taylor Thompson, MD, all from MGH. The study is supported by the Reginald Jenney Endowment Chair at Harvard Medical School to Berra, by Lorenzo Berra Sundry Funds at MGH, and by laboratory funds of the Anesthesia Center for Critical Care Research of the Department of Anesthesia, Critical Care and Pain Medicine at MGH. About the Massachusetts General Hospital Massachusetts General Hospital, founded in 1811, is the original and largest teaching hospital of Harvard Medical School. The Mass General Research Institute conducts the largest hospital-based research program in the nation, with annual research operations of more than $1 billion and comprises more than 9,500 researchers working across more than 30 institutes, centers and departments. In August 2020, Mass General was named #6 in the U.S. News & World Report list of "America's Best Hospitals." Contributed photo A longtime New Haven-based company is changing towns, relocating to an East Haven industrial park later this spring. Electric motor repair business Schulz Electric, currently located at 30 Gando Drive in New Haven, is expected to move to 110 Commerce St. in the East Haven Industrial Park in May, according to an announcement from Mayor Joseph Carforas office. [April 14, 2021] SHAREHOLDER ALERT: CLAIMSFILER REMINDS LDOS, REGI, VLDR, WKHS INVESTORS of Lead Plaintiff Deadline in Class Action Lawsuits NEW ORLEANS, April 14, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- ClaimsFiler, a FREE shareholder information service, reminds investors of pending deadlines in the following securities class action lawsuits: Renewable Energy Group, Inc. (REGI) Class Period: 5/3/2018 - 2/25/2021 Lead Plaintiff Motion Deadline: May 3, 2021 SECURITIES FRAUD To learn more, visit https://www.claimsfiler.com/cases/view-renewable-energy-group-inc-securities-litigation Velodyne Lidar, Inc. (VLDR) Class Period: 7/2/2020 - 3/17/2021 Lead Plaintiff Motion Deadline: May 3, 2021 SECURITIES FRAUD To learn more, visit https://www.claimsfiler.com/cases/view-velodyne-lidar-inc-securities-litigation p align="justify"> Leidos Holdings, Inc. (LDOS) Lead Plaintiff Motion Deadline: May 3, 2021 SECURITIES FRAUD To learn more, visit https://www.claimsfiler.com/cases/view-leidos-holdings-inc-securities-litigation Workhorse Group, Inc. (WKHS) Class Period: 7/7/2020 - 2/23/2021 Lead Plaintiff Motion Deadline: May 7, 2021 SECURITIES FRAUD https://www.claimsfiler.com/cases/view-workhorse-group-inc-securities-litigation If you purchased shares of the above companies and would like to discuss your legal rights and your right to recover for your economic loss, you may, without obligation or cost to you, contact us toll-free (844) 367-9658 or visit the case links above. If you wish to serve as a Lead Plaintiff in the class action, you must petition the Court on or before the Lead Plaintiff Motion deadline. About ClaimsFiler ClaimsFiler has a single mission: to serve as the information source to help retail investors recover their share of billions of dollars from securities class action settlements. At ClaimsFiler.com, investors can: (1) register for free to gain access to information and settlement websites for various securities class action cases so they can timely submit their own claims; (2) upload their portfolio transactional data to be notified about relevant securities cases in which they may have a financial interest; and (3) submit inquiries to the Kahn Swick & Foti, LLC law firm for free case evaluations. To learn more about ClaimsFiler, visit www.claimsfiler.com [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] Megan E. Hall is scheduled to go on trial in late September for allegedly killing Pottsville businessman and civic leader Patrick J. Murphy in February 2019 in New Orleans. At a pre-trial conference Wednesday, the court set a tentative trial date of Sept. 27 for Hall, 27, of New Orleans. Hall and her lawyer, John Fuller, New Orleans, appeared at the conference by Virtual Courtroom. State/defense noted that this matter is in a trial posture, according to the docket master, which is maintained by Orleans Parish Sheriff Marlin N. Gusman. The court also has scheduled another pre-trial conference for Sept. 20. Hall, formerly of Tennessee, faces charges of second-degree murder, armed robbery and obstruction of justice. She remains in prison in lieu of a $750,000 bond pending trial. New Orleans police allege Hall stabbed Murphy, 62, three times in the early morning hours of Feb. 28, 2019, in a room at the Empress Hotel in the citys Treme section. A housekeeper discovered Murphys body at 11:41 a.m. in a room registered to Hall, prosecutors allege. Video surveillance footage showed Murphy and Hall arriving at the hotel together at 2:10 a.m., according to prosecutors. Hall was seen leaving the hotel room alone and briskly walking out the front door at 3:42 a.m., prosecutors allege. Police said they believe Hall left the hotel with some of Murphys possessions. No one else was seen entering or leaving the room until the housekeeper eight hours later, according to prosecutors. Murphy and his family have operated Murphy Jewelers in downtown Pottsville since 1913. The business also has locations near Hamburg, Berks County, and in the Lehigh Valley Mall, Whitehall, Lehigh County. Murphys civic involvement included service on the Pottsville Parking Authority and Pottsville Area school board. Hall faces a mandatory life sentence if convicted of second-degree murder. As is the case in Pennsylvania, a life sentence in Louisiana carries no chance of parole. She also faces maximum prison sentences of 99 years and 40 years, respectively, for armed robbery and obstruction of justice. Courts in Orleans Parish, which consists entirely of the City of New Orleans, are not yet holding trials due to the coronavirus/COVID-19 pandemic. A Louisiana parish is equivalent to a Pennsylvania county. The Orleans Parish District Attorneys office did not return email and telephone requests Wednesday for comment. New Delhi, April 15 : Japanese consumer electronics brand AIWA on Thursday announced its entry in India with the launch five products in the audio range. The products, priced between Rs 699 and Rs 7,999, will be available on Amazon and across 500 Reliance Digital, Jio Stores (+ RelianceDigital.in) starting next week. "India is one of the fastest-growing consumer electronics markets on the global roadmap and research reports show that there is a great inclination from Indians towards personal audio products," Ajay Mehta, Managing Director, AIWA India, told IANS. "Our aim at AIWA is to provide Indian consumers with a wide choice of products with innovative, advanced features that meet all requirements across different demographics and price brackets," Mehta added. Priced at Rs 7,999, the AIWA AT-80XFANC True Wireless Active Noise Cancellation earphone provides audio enjoyment to the fullest. Supported by Bluetooth 5.0 with a transmission range of 10 metres, this pair of TWS provides intelligent noise reduction up to 23-25dB. The earphones provide seamless automatic pairing and provide up to 16 hours of playback time with the charging case (with ANC on). Priced at Rs 2,999, the AIWA ESBT 460 Quad Driver Neckband comes with a microSD slot to enable you to store your favourite music hassle-free. The earphones provide a super long battery life of 15 hours and 180 hours of standby time in just under 2 hours of charge. The other products are AIWA ESTM-101 wired premium stereo in-earphones, AIWA ESBT 401 ultralight neckband wireless in-earphone and AIWA AT-X80E true wireless stereo earphones at Rs 1,999, Rs 1,499 and Rs 699, respectively. (Natural News) Googles team of lawyers made a huge mistake with the release of key documents requested by a group of state attorneys general. Portions of the documents that should have been redacted were left in plain sight, revealing illegal behavior on Googles part with regards to its massive advertising monopoly. Googles online advertising marketplace, we now know, has long been secretly rigged under a scheme known as Project Bernanke. As explained by Matt Stoller, the scheme allowed Google to have one arm of its ad business front-running trades for ad inventory, which the company used to award itself hundreds of millions of dollars a year by giving itself a better position in the auctions. We also now know that Facebook was also involved. The agreement was signed by, among other individuals, Philipp Schindler, Googles Senior Vice President and Chief Business Officer, and Sheryl Sandberg, Facebooks Chief Operation Officer. Not only is this little operation illegal, but it is also criminal. Such collusion and rigging of the online advertising ecosystem is about as illicit as it gets when it comes to Big Techs monopolistic behavior. That this all went on in secret for so many years speaks volumes as to the failure of our current regulatory system in keeping companies in check. Stoller explains it even better: Today, big business in America is far too secretive, with an endless thicket of confidentiality rules, trade secrets law, and deferential judges and enforcers who think that revealing public information about big business is some sort of scandal, he writes. Its so bad that when the FDA asked pharmaceutical companies where their manufacturing plants were at the beginning of the pandemic, some firms cited trade secrets rules and refused to divulge the information. Google and Facebook both need to be disbanded The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) could have brought a case against Google back in 2012 when much was already known about the companys antitrust criminality. The regulatory body failed to do so, however, because it works with Google against We the People. They say that God works in mysterious ways, however, and Googles lawyers failure to cover up for his client by accidentally spilling the beans serves as poetic justice that ones sins tend to eventually find him out. In this case, Googles collective sins as one of the worlds most evil corporations are now on fully display for the world to see. The company could not care less about following things like laws those are for the peasants and now everybody knows it. Stoller notes that there is a lot to learn about this hilarious blunder. First, he says, judges redact far too much information under the guise of protecting business proprietary information when the reality is that what they redact is often incriminating details about illicit behavior. The court system is supposed to be a public accounting, he notes. Secondly, lawyers, no matter how much money they charge, are not gods and we should stop looking at them in such a manner. Google and other large corporations pay them the big buck so they can thwart having to abide by the rules that the rest of us have to follow. The Financial Services Industry has long been the clear leader in criminal activity Google Bernanke name for its criminal front-running activity was no accident, wrote one of Stollers commenters. Second, of course, is Big Pharma, which routinely writes checks for billion-dollar fines, but this time its for killing people rather than just robbing them and thank God the Feds pick up the tab for vaccines. More related news about Google can be found at Evil.news. Sources for this article include: MattStoller.Substack.com NaturalNews.com LOVELAND, Ohio A former Loveland police officer who was convicted of sexually assaulting a man is now facing an additional charge because prosecutors say he knew he was HIV positive when he committed his crimes. WLWT Channel 5 reports Anthony Pecord, 48, was charged Wednesday with one count of felonious assault. Pecord was sentenced in March to four years in prison after he was convicted on three counts of gross sexual imposition. According to Fox 19, prosecutors say that on Jan. 24, Pecord used an intoxicant to impair his victim, a 26-year-old man, then sexually assaulted him multiple times. The victim was not aware that Pecord was HIV positive, prosecutors say. Set aside the fact hes a police officer, Hamilton County Prosecutor Joseph T. Deters tells WLWT. He was friends with his victim, rendered them unconscious, and its, we know definitely, there was more than one person he did this with. There were numerous pictures on his phone and Im just, frankly, upset that there are people out there that dont know that they may be HIV positive. If convicted of the felonious assault charge, Deters could be sentenced to an additional eight years in prison. The trauma of a sexual assault is something that changes you forever, Deter tells Fox 19. To add to that the fear of contracting HIV is horrifying for the victim. Anyone who has had sexual contact with Pecord and who believes they might have been exposed to HIV should contact Hamilton County deputies at 513-595-7484, WLWT reports. More crime-related content on cleveland.com: Undercover DEA agent shoots 20-year-old man police say was armed on Clevelands East Side Man is found dead outside of an store in East Cleveland, police releases photos of a possible suspect Judge sends ex-Cuyahoga County jailer who ignored dying inmate to jail Columbus police release bodycam video from fatal shooting in hospital ER (CNN) -- Buckingham Palace has revealed the 30 people who will make up the congregation at the Duke of Edinburgh's funeral service on Saturday. Prince Philip, who died last Friday at the age of 99, is being laid to rest on Saturday at 3 p.m. (10 a.m. ET) at St. George's Chapel in Windsor, west of London. Arrangements for the funeral have been in the works for many years but the memorial service has had to be stripped back in light of the pandemic. The congregation of mourners will only consist of close family and friends of the beloved patriarch. However, the remembrance will retain the colorful traditions of a royal funeral and "are a reflection of The Duke's military affiliations and personal elements of His Royal Highness's life," a Buckingham Palace spokesman said Thursday. The palace spokesman said the family was "grateful" for the condolence messages sent from across the globe. "The tributes received from young and old are truly a testament to the remarkable life and lasting endeavors of His Royal Highness," he added. Over 700 Armed Forces personnel from the Royal Navy, Royal Marines, British Army and Royal Air Force will provide ceremonial support during the funeral. Princes William and Harry will reunite to walk behind the Duke of Edinburgh's coffin with their father, Charles, and other members of the royal family as part of a private procession ahead of the funeral service on Saturday. While the Queen will not take part in the procession before the service, Prince Charles and his sister Princess Anne will follow a specially modified Land Rover, which will carry the Duke's coffin to the chapel. The journey is expected to take around eight minutes. Their siblings, Edward and Andrew, will participate in the procession immediately behind them after which William, Harry and their cousin Peter Philips will join. And behind them will be the final family members, Anne's husband, Vice Admiral Tim Laurence, and the Earl of Snowdon. Royals who are not involved in the procession such as the Duchess of Cornwall and Duchess of Cambridge will join the 94-year-old monarch to watch the funeral parade outside the chapel's Galilee Porch. This also includes blood relatives from the Duke's side who will be in attendance including Philip's great nephews, the Hereditary Prince of Baden and the Prince of Hohenlohe-Langenburg. The decision for some royals to walk behind the coffin will inevitably draw comparisons to Princess Diana's funeral in 1997 when Charles, William and Harry participated in a similar procession alongside Prince Philip and Diana's brother Earl Spencer. Saturday's memorial will be unlike any other recent royal funerals due to the coronavirus pandemic. The congregation will wear masks for the duration of the service, the palace spokesman said. In line with the Duke's wishes, it will be a ceremonial funeral, rather than a state event, and all arrangements are set to take place within Windsor Castle without public engagement making sure to adhere to existing Covid measures. In a break with tradition, members of the royal family will not be dressed in military uniform and instead don morning coats with medals or day dress, the spokesman added. The subject of clothing emerged in recent days after some British media reported Prince Andrew wished to wear an admiral's uniform. Andrew stepped back from his royal duties in 2019 over his ties to disgraced financier and convicted pedophile Jeffrey Epstein. The Duke of York joined the Royal Navy in 1979 as a Seaman Officer, sub-specializing as a pilot. He was promoted to the rank of vice-admiral in 2015 when he turned 55. He was due to be elevated to admiral upon his 60th birthday but that did not come to be in the wake of a disastrous interview with the BBC when he discussed his relationship with Epstein. The decision against uniforms will also solve a dilemma facing the family as Prince Harry recently lost his honorary military titles when he chose to step down as a senior royal with his wife Meghan last March. Harry was enlisted with the British Armed Forces for nearly a decade before ending his military service in 2015. He served two tours in Afghanistan and achieved the rank of captain in 2011. He has also qualified as an Apache Aircraft commander. During the service, a choir of four will sing music selected by Philip for the occasion. They will be seated in the nave, socially distanced from the assembled family members and close aides. One notable absence will be the lack of congregational singing which is currently prohibited by public health guidelines. Following the service, the coffin will be lowered in the Royal Vault below the chapel as the choir sings the national anthem. Here is the full list of guests who will attend the Duke of Edinburgh's funeral: 1. The Queen 2. The Prince of Wales 3. The Duchess of Cornwall 4. The Duke of Cambridge 5. The Duchess of Cambridge 6. The Duke of Sussex 7. The Duke of York 8. Princess Beatrice 9. Edoardo Mapelli Mozzi 10. Princess Eugenie 11. Jack Brooksbank 12. The Earl of Wessex 13. The Countess of Wessex 14. Lady Louise Windsor 15. Viscount Severn 16. The Princess Royal 17. Vice Admiral Sir Timothy Laurence 18. Peter Phillips 19. Zara Phillips 20. Mike Tindall 21. Earl of Snowdon 22. Lady Sarah Chatto 23. Daniel Chatto 24. Duke of Gloucester 25. Duke of Kent 26. Princess Alexandra 27. Bernhard, Hereditary Prince of Baden 28. Prince Donatus, Landgrave of Hesse 29. Prince Philipp of Hohenlohe-Langenburg 30. The Countess Mountbatten of Burma This story was first published on CNN.com, "Buckingham Palace announces guest list for Philip's funeral" SUFFIELD, Conn. The body of U.S. Capitol Police Officer William Billy Evans arrived at Bradley International Airport Wednesday evening ahead of his funeral Thursday in the Berkshire County town of Adams. The procession traveled through Suffield, where residents were encouraged to line the route. Evans died April 2 in Washington, D.C., when a driver struck him and another officer at a barricade outside the Senate. He was the second Capitol Police officer killed in the line of duty this year; Officer Brian Sicknick died after his encounter with rioters during the Jan. 6 insurrection. A native of North Adams and graduate of Western New England University, Evans was honored Tuesday in a ceremony at the Capitol Rotunda. A private funeral for Evans will be held at Saint Stanislaus Kostka Church Thursday. The burial, also private, will be at Bellevue Cemetery, also in Adams. Evans will be buried with his father, Howard Evans. The town of Adams encouraged residents to gather along Park Street at 1 p.m. Thursday as the funeral procession heads from the church to the cemetery. We ask that if you choose to gather on Park Street, you do so practice social distancing and wearing a facial covering, the town said in a Facebook post. Please bring an American flag, if possible. I Never Expected to Get to This Point: Man Told He Had Just Weeks to Live Beats Cancer After being told he had just weeks to live, a 39-year-old man battling stage 4 bowel cancer has beaten his diagnosis. Moved to let others know that cancer need not be a death sentence, he claims that a positive mental attitude was the key to his recovery. I never expected to get to this point and to be fair, it is only through seeing the experiences of others that I realized it was possible, Danny de Brabander, of Claughton in Wirral, North West England, told the Liverpool Echo. Danny de Brabander (Courtesy of Danny de Brabander) Danny knows there is a strong chance his cancer will return, as its stage 4, but claims, I have to just stay positive and hope that every scan is clear. Scans from mid-March show that Danny is currently in remission. However, even to get to this point, it hasnt been easy for Danny, as he lost 60 percent of his liver, his gall bladder, and his spleen before undergoing invasive chemotherapy to remove cancer from his stomach lining. He will need scans every three months for two years, then every six months. In a Facebook post on March 22, Danny thanked his social circle for their messages of love and support as he battled through cancer. Im still on a real high after my positive news at the weekend and the words NO CANCER VISIBLE,' he shared. Whilst the percentage changes are still against me, I am certainly going to enjoy not having to worry about cancer not to mention the heartache and stress of not knowing how long you have left to live! Danny told the Echo that he is excited to get back to work, his family, and the planning of his wedding for 2022. Admitting he had his dark moments, the sales manager for a telecommunications company is looking forward to returning to work, in-person in Birkenhead, after having his COVID-19 vaccination. Danny learned that he had stage 4 bowel cancer, which had spread to his liver, in January 2019, after initially ignoring the warning signs. Early signs can include a persistent change in bowel habits, abdominal pain, blood in the stool, and unexplained weight loss, according to Mayo Clinic. Danny fought his diagnosis for two long years, during which time he suffered a chemotherapy-induced heart attack, and sepsis after emergency surgery to insert a stent. No one knows if my delay in seeing the doctor had an impact on the stage of the cancer, he said, but it is one of the reasons I try my best to promote the symptoms of bowel cancer and encourage people to seek medical advice Bowel Cancer Awareness is key. If caught early, its successfully treated in 90 percent of cases. With the support of family and three friendsBen Douglas, Ben Lavell, and Will DavenportDanny started a fundraising campaign called Team DDB. Raising over 48,000 pounds (approx. US$66,150) to date for charities including Wirral Foodbank, The Critical Care Team at Arrowe Park Hospital, and Bowel Cancer Awareness, Danny claims the fund was a perfect distraction for the mind during his own cancer treatment. Sharing his most profound insights on Facebook, Danny posted, All I would say to anyone who is going through something: Please try to be positive. Believe in yourself. Never ever give up! Im going to enjoy every single moment from now on, he signed off, hopefully many days like this one. Share your stories with us at emg.inspired@epochtimes.com, and continue to get your daily dose of inspiration by signing up for the Epoch Inspired Newsletter at TheEpochTimes.com/newsletter China has asked Japanese Deputy Prime Minister Taro Aso to drink treated radioactive water from Fukushima to prove his claim that it is safe to drink. The comments came as Tokyo said it will release water from the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant into the Pacific Ocean in two years. The accumulating water has been stored in tanks at the plant since 2011, when a massive earthquake and tsunami damaged its reactors and their cooling water became contaminated and began leaking. 'A Japanese official said it is okay if we drink this water, so then please drink it,' Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijan said at a press conference on Wednesday. During the event, Zhao described what he saw as Japan's ignorance of the ecological environment as 'totally unjustifiable'. On Tuesday, Japan announced plans to release the water into the sea. The controversial decision came after more than seven years of discussion on what to do with the water. The plant's storage capacity will be reached late next year. At a press conference on Tuesday, Aso said 'I have heard that we will have no harm if we drink' the water. China has asked Japanese Deputy Prime Minister Taro Aso to drink treated radioactive water from Fukushima to prove his claim that it is safe to drink. The comments came as Tokyo has said it will release the water from the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant into the Pacific Ocean in two years time. Pictured: Jinbo party members protest against the decision outside the Japanese embassy in Seoul, South Korea, on Thursday Japanese Deputy Prime Minister Taro Aso told a press conference on Tuesday: 'I have heard that we will have no harm if we drink' the water from Fukushima [File photo] Japanese government scraps animated mascot The Japanese government had introduced an animated mascot to help garner support for the release of more than one million tonnes of contaminated water from the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant into the sea. But the authority has now been forced to scrap its 'Little Mr Tritium' character. The mascot's appearance on the reconstruction agencys website angered Fukushima residents. Riken Komatsu, a local writer, took to Twitter with a post that read: 'If the government thinks it can get the general public to understand just by creating a cute character, it is making a mockery of risk communication.' The water will be treated before being discharged but will still contain tritium - a radioactive hydrogen isotope. Advertisement The former prime minister has regularly made controversial remarks since becoming both deputy prime minister and finance minister in 2012, Japanese daily The Mainichi reported. At the Chinese press conference on Wednesday, Zhao urged the Japanese government 'not to forget the historical tragedy' of thousands of people who became affected by what is now known as Minamata disease. The condition, which paralyzes the central nervous system and produces birth defects, was caused by mercury-tainted water that was dumped into the sea by a Chisso Corp chemical plant in southwestern Japan from 1932 to 1968. 'Japan's Minamata disease happened not far away and the pain of the local victims has yet to be healed,' Zhao said. Zhao also urged Japan not to proceed with releasing the water into the ocean 'without permission' from other countries and the International Atomic Energy Agency. China is joined by South Korea and Taiwan in opposing Japan's decision, arguing that the water would harm the marine environment as well as risking food safety and human health. Japan has pointed out that several other countries operating nuclear power plants - including China and South Korea - have themselves released treated radioactive water from reactors into the environment. Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga said the ocean release was the most realistic option and that disposing the water is needed to complete the decades-long decommissioning of the Fukushima plant. He said the government would work to make sure the water is safe and to help local agriculture, fisheries and tourism. 'A Japanese official said it is okay if we drink this water, so then please drink it,' Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijan (pictured) said at a press conference on Wednesday [File photo] The plant's operator, Tokyo Electric Power Co. (TEPCO), and government officials say tritium, which is not harmful in small amounts, cannot be removed from the water, but all other selected radionuclides can be reduced to releasable levels. Some scientists say the long-term impact on marine life from low-dose exposure to such large volumes of water is unknown. Residents, fisheries officials and environmental groups issued statements denouncing the decision as ignoring environmental safety and health, and further hurting Fukushima's image and economy. The New Orleans Police Department is investigating a shooting in the Lower 9th Ward that left one man dead Wednesday night. The department also responded to two other shootings in Algiers and Gentilly that left two men wounded and led to an arrest in one of the cases. The fatal shooting occurred about 10:38 p.m. in the 5400 block of North Rampart Street (map), according to NOPD. 73-year-old ride share driver falls from moving vehicle in carjacking, NOPD says A 73-year-old woman driving for a ride share service was dragged alongside her vehicle during a carjacking early Sunday morning, New Orleans p The department received reports of gunfire in the area. They arrived and found the male victim dead from multiple gunshot wounds, according to the NOPD. Authorities have not yet released the name of the victim. No other details were immediately available. Earlier in the evening, a bicyclist was wounded in an Algiers shootout, NOPD said. A 47-year-old man was riding his bike in the 3900 block of Behrman Highway (map) about 7:38 p.m. when someone shot at him, hitting him in the arm, according to authorities. The bicyclist returned fire before running from the scene, NOPD said. He was gone by the time officers arrived to investigate reports of gunfire in the area. Police did find a discarded handgun, according to authorities. Top stories in New Orleans in your inbox Twice daily we'll send you the day's biggest headlines. Sign up today. e-mail address * Sign Up The wounded bicyclist was later brought to a hospital in a private vehicle. No condition information was available. While police were still at the scene on Behrman Highway, Byron Pierre, 46, approached and spoke with an officer, NOPD said. He allegedly told investigators he had been involved in the shooting. Pierre is accused of firing at the bicyclist "for unknown reasons," NOPD said. One of the bullets also struck a nearby house. Pierre surrendered himself and a gun he said he'd used in the shooting. He was arrested and booked with attempted second-degree murder, aggravated criminal damage to property and illegal discharge of a weapon. The third shooting was reported about 10:38 p.m. in the 4600 block of Chef Menteur Highway (map), authorities said. In that incident, an undetermined number of suspects chased a man into a business about 10:38 p.m. The suspects opened fire, injuring the man, according to NOPD. He was taken to the hospital but his condition was unknown Thursday. Anyone with information about the North Rampart Street homicide is asked to call Det. Christian Recile at 504-658-5300. Those with information about any of the three shootings can also call Crimestoppers at 504-822-1111 or toll-free at 1-877-903-7867. Callers do not have to give their names or testify and can earn a reward of up to $2,500 for information that leads to an indictment. High notes Comedian Gab Bonesso will join the National Alliance on Mental Illness NEPA chapter Monday during the groups April free online programs to support community mental health. Ride the Wave with Gab Bonesso is a raw, high-energy and hilarious experience meant to empower people living with mental health issues and to raise awareness for those who do not, according to the organization. Bonesso will discuss her origin story full of trauma, mood disorders, high anxiety and grief. She professionally speaks about her struggles with mental health issues and advocates for both children and adults on the subject. Mental health and mental illness arent usually considered funny topics. We know people who have a mental illness have been victims of ridicule but when it is done well, comedy can create a space for us to laugh and let down our guard in a safe environment, said Marie Onukiavage, executive director of NAMI Northeast Region PA. When its not demeaning or negatively targeting people we might find that barriers and stigma relent, maybe just a bit. Sharing a laugh is like sharing a meal, it creates a connection. We are not alone when we are laughing together. That is what NAMI does, we create connections so people know they are not alone. Bonesso, the only woman named best comedian in Pittsburgh three times, is best known for pioneering Pittsburghs alternative comedy scene. An award-winning childrens performer, her band the Josh and Gab Show has appeared on various television stations and stages. Join NAMI Northeast Region PA on Monday at 7 p.m. on Zoom; the meeting ID is 840 4241 4351 and password is 498772. For details, contact NAMI at info@naminepa.org. Library provides Through a $6,000 grant from the Pennsylvania Humanities Council and the National Endowment for the Humanities as part of the CARES Act of 2020, the Abington Community Library provided mental health programming in response to the pandemic and anti-racism programming in response to the anti-racism movement of the past year. Since November, the library has hosted monthly programs focusing on stress reduction and mindfulness, facilitated by Dr. Tiffany Griffiths. Weve had an amazing response from our community on the topic of mental health and this program series, said Renee Roberts, project manager. We hope to run similar sessions in the future to accommodate even more people. Also monthly, library staff have held open forum discussions for participants with a focus on anti-racism attitudes and inclusivity, facilitated by Dr. Lia Richards-Palmiter and staff. The Pennsylvania Humanities Council grant enabled the library to be responsive to current events in a much more robust, varied and long-lasting manner, that otherwise would not have been possible. said Sandy Longo, director. Were thankful for their support. The library also launched kits for all ages focusing on these topics. These anti-racism and mental health kits for all ages are great ways to have conversations at home about these timely topics, said Laura Gardoski, head of Youth Services. We are thrilled to offer these resources to our community through the Pennsylvania Humanities Council. The library also purchased four portable light therapy lamps to help alleviate certain Seasonal Affective Disorder symptoms, which are available for checkout by the community. 1 killed, 12 wounded in market explosion in Iraqs capital View Photo BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) An explosion rocked a market in east Baghdad on Thursday, killing one person and injuring 12 others, according to Iraqs military. The military said the blast in the capitals Sadr City, in the Habibiya neighborhood, was caused by a car laden with highly explosive materials that blew up while passing through a popular used furniture market. It sent a cloud of black smoke above the area. Shortly afterward, a crowd of people gathered around the mangled wreckage of a charred car and a burned-out white van. A fire engine was parked nearby. A military statement said one person was killed and 12 injured, according to a preliminary investigation. Five vehicles were burned, it added. It did not say what caused the detonation. The driver of the car was killed in the explosion, the statement said. Iraqs president condemned the attack, calling it a shameless attempt by terrorist groups to destabilize the country during the holy month of Ramadan. We stand firmly against these attempts, Barham Salih tweeted. Explosions in the Iraqi capital, particularly in the predominantly Shiite Muslim Sadr City district, were once almost daily occurrences but have become less frequent in the past few years, particularly following the defeat of the Islamic State group in 2017. In January, twin suicide bombings ripped through a busy market in the Iraqi capital, killing more than 30 people and wounding dozens. No one immediately claimed responsibility for Thursdays bombing. The development comes hours after a drone strike targeted US-led coalition troops near Irbil airport and a Turkish military base in northern Iraq. Wednesday nights drone attack targeted coalition forces based near Irbil international airport and caused a fire that damaged a building, according to the Kurdish regions Interior Ministry and coalition officials. Separately, a rocket attack targeting a Turkish military base in northern Iraqs Bashiqa region killed one Turkish soldier and wounded a child in a nearby village, Turkeys Defense Ministry said. There was no claim of responsibility for either attack. ___ Associated Press writer Samya Kullab contributed reporting from Istanbul. By ALI ABDUL-HASSAN Associated Press Molson Coors Beverage Co has bought a minority stake in Tru Colors, a North Carolina brewer that was founded to combat gang violence. Announced yesterday, the purchase gives Molson Coors equity in Tru Colors above-premium beer portfolio as well as a role in a company with a unique message. This partnership represents an opportunity to not only invest in what we believe will be a successful business, but also in a brand with a strong social justice presence that will have an immeasurable positive impact on hundreds of lives, said CEO Gavin Hattersley. The brewer will enter Molson Coors US craft beer portfolio, Tenth & Blake. Financial details of the acquisition were not disclosed. Tru Colors employs gang members and aims to curb street violence by providing opportunities to disadvantaged groups. The brewer has linked up with Molson Coors to help expand its business model to communities across the US. Meanwhile, Tru Colors is building a production site in Wilmington, North Carolina, and will commence the distribution of Tru Light, a 95-calorie, 4.2%-abv lager, in North Carolina and Virginia this Summer. Tru Colors plays a significant role in [a] reduction of violence, said CEO George Taylor, who founded the brewery in 2019. I know the bullets that our team has stopped from flying on a regular basis. Anheuser-Busch InBev Performance Trends 2016-20 results data On Tuesday, Germanys federal cabinet agreed on a new Infection Protection Act. The legislation, which is intended to give the government more powers in the coronavirus pandemic, is described by politicians and the media as an emergency brake against the third wave of the pandemic. The fight against the pandemic must become more stringent and consistent, explained Chancellor Angela Merkel (Christian Democratic Union, CDU) in a press statement. The previous federal-state consultations are no longer sufficient for this. The new law does not mean a departure from the murderous profits-before-lives policy that has already led to almost 80,000 deaths in Germany alone. What is being centralised is not a consistent lockdown policy but allowing the virus to run through the population. While the number of COVID-19 patients in intensive care is rising exponentially and threatens to exceed 6,000 this month, the main drivers of the pandemicbusinesses, schools and day-care centresare to remain open to ensure the flow of profits. The draft law, which is to be passed in an emergency procedure this week if possible, does not mention businesses at all and even if the infection continues to escalate provides for comprehensive emergency care to continue the operation of day-care centres. Attendance at schools, however, is to be stopped only if the weekly incidence level exceeds 200 new infections per 100,000 inhabitants for three consecutive days. The previous limit of 100, which was largely ignored by the state governments and has now been reached across the board, is thus being doubled without further ado. The exponential spread of the virus among children, which, due to the often-asymptomatic course of the disease, goes predominantly undetected and for the most part is not recorded by the health authorities, will thus continue to worsen. Although the average age of coronavirus patients in intensive care is continuously decreasing, one in two patients still requires a respirator. The number of deaths has also been rising for the past week and was over 342 on Tuesday. On Wednesday, more than 21,000 new infections were reported by the Robert Koch Institute (RKI). The decision to double the incidence limit for schools is justified by asking students to take a coronavirus rapid test twice a week. The central role in developing this calculus was played by Social Democratic Party (SPD) health politician Karl Lauterbach, who tweeted on Friday that schools could stay open up to an incidence rate of 200 if you test twice a week to do so. Teachers and parents stress that testing in its current form serves as an alibi for reopening schools. In the completely unsafe conditions at the schools themselves, this new policy will create high-risk situations. Moreover, model calculations by researchers at the Berlin Technical University have shown that the weekly incidence rate in May would still rise to 1,200 even if all schools and day-care centres conducted three tests a week under textbook conditions. Such a scenario would mean tens of thousands of deaths per week. Year Six pupils carrying out a rapid test in the presence of the State Premier Malu Dreyer and State Education Minister Stefanie Hubig (both SPD). The students must remove their masks to conduct the test and count loudly up to twelve. (Screenshot Twitter, Rheinland Palatinate state government) Even in the event of a possible end to face-to-face teaching, the draft law holds out exceptions for graduating classes as well as the possibility of so-called emergency care in schools, so that parents can continue to work, and exams can be carried out. To this end, companies are to be obliged to offer tests through an amendment to the Occupational Health and Safety Regulations, which, however, will not come into force for at least a week and does not require any proof of the results to be provided. Meanwhile, the increase in the number of days a parent can take off when a child is ill from the current 20 to 30 days, being passed at the same time as the law, shines a spotlight on the fact that parents are still being forced to use up their personal sick and holiday days for quarantine orders and COVID-19 illnesseseven if they have been proven to have contracted the disease at work. The cabinet decision states that the childrens sick days are to be used by parents to care for children even when schools and day-care centres are closedwhile foregoing 30 percent of their gross wages. In addition to accelerating the infection among children and intensifying the exploitation of parents, the new Infection Protection Act also provides for further private contact restrictions and curfews in districts that have a weekly incidence level above 100 for three consecutive days. According to the draft law, in this case, staying outside a dwelling is prohibited between 9 p.m. and 5 a.m.a formulation that is likely to expose homeless people in particular to police harassment. While general curfews can be part of a rational health plan, depending on the pandemic situation, the governments measure, in its current form, serves to distract from its criminal inactivity, increase the police presence after hours and to enflame right-wing extremists who completely oppose any fight against the pandemic. At the same time, the regulation could have a counterproductive effect, especially in the case of working class housing estates, multi-family apartment buildings, and student and refugee hostels. All these environments have repeatedly proved to be hotspots for so-called superspreading events during the pandemic. This fact was explicitly acknowledged by leading scientists last Sunday. An open letter to the German government written by the Society for Aerosol Research (GAeF) urgently warns that coronavirus transmission is extremely rare outdoors, and it is rather INSIDE the danger lurks. Due to the measures taken by politicians to combat the pandemic, including the curfews currently under discussionmany citizens... have misconceptions about the potential for infection associated with the virus they write. The new Infection Protection Act follows almost eight weeks of criminal inaction by the government, which had taken on increasingly aggressive features in recent weeks. While the number of COVID-19 patients admitted to intensive care units began to rise exponentially from the beginning of March, the federal and state governments refused to implement the necessary lockdown, flatly ignored the cries for help from senior intensive care doctors and the protests of leading virologists, and instead systematically opened up schools and retail outlets. On March 24, Chancellor Angela Merkel personally removed the so-called Easter Truce, which had only been agreed the day before by the meeting of federal-state politicians. She asked business leaders and trade associations for forgiveness and then disappeared almost completely from the political scene for a fortnight. Recently, the summit meeting of state premiers scheduled for Monday was also cancelled just a few days earlier. In the meantime, the intensive care doctors association DIVI warns that the number of coronavirus intensive care patients threatens to rise to 7,000 before the end of April if developments remain unchanged. This figure is 23 percent higher than the previous peak at the beginning of the year, when intensive care units were on the verge of nationwide collapse, with 5,700 patients and more than 1,000 COVID-19 deaths on many days. Dear decision-makers, how high are the numbers supposed to go before you want to react? tweeted the scientific director of the DIVI intensive care register, Christian Karagiannidis, last Wednesday. In view of the impending overwhelming of hospitals, Lothar Wieler, President of the RKI, called on the media and politicians on Friday, not to talk or discuss stupidly, but to act immediately. Without a massive reduction in mobility, many people will lose their lives, he noted. Every day we act later, we lose people. Federal Department of Foreign Affairs Bern, 15.04.2021 - Today, for the first time, Federal Councillor Ignazio Cassis, head of the Federal Department of Foreign Affairs (FDFA), received Dominique Hasler, the new Minister of Foreign Affairs, Education and Sport of the Principality of Liechtenstein. This is the first official working visit of Liechtenstein's new foreign minister in Switzerland. It focused on cross-border and bilateral relations as well as European and international issues. The official meeting also served as an occasion for Mr Cassis and Ms Hasler to pay tribute to the long tradition of friendly relations and the particularly close connection between their two countries. The fact that this first visit of Liechtenstein's new foreign minister to Switzerland came just a few weeks after she took office is a renewed expression of these excellent relations. Ms Hasler is the former Minister of Home Affairs, Education and Environment of Liechtenstein. Following the February 2021 elections, she took the reins of the countrys Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Education and Sport. Close collaboration between neighbouring countries especially in times of crisis Mr Cassis and Ms Hasler agreed that the COVID-19 pandemic has clearly demonstrated how important solid and close collaboration with neighbouring countries is. Cultivating and strengthening such relations is also a central pillar of Switzerland's foreign policy strategy. Against this backdrop, cross-border and bilateral cooperation between Switzerland and Liechtenstein is to be stepped up. The discussions also included European and international issues. Liechtenstein forms part of the Swiss economic and monetary area and has been a member of the European Economic Area (EEA) for 25 years. Finally, Mr Cassis and Ms Hasler expressed their satisfaction at their close cooperation within the European Free Trade Association (EFTA) and the UN, where both countries are committed to promoting robust and effective multilateralism. Tomorrow, Friday, 16 April 2021, Ms Hasler will also attend the annual meeting of foreign ministers from the five German-speaking countries Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Luxembourg and Liechtenstein. This year, at the invitation of Mr Cassis, the meeting is taking place in Lugano. Address for enquiries FDFA Communication Federal Palace West Wing CH-3003 Bern, Switzerland Tel. Communication service: +41 58 462 31 53 Tel. Press service: +41 58 460 55 55 E-mail: kommunikation@eda.admin.ch Twitter: @SwissMFA Publisher Federal Department of Foreign Affairs https://www.eda.admin.ch/eda/en/home.html By the time George Floyd died in May, Leslie Redmond was a veteran of protests in Minneapolis. In 2015, she was one of the people who occupied a police precinct for 18 days. In 2020, she was the leader of the local chapter of the N.A.A.C.P., organizing marches and meeting with community leaders. But even though she is accustomed to standing up for what she believes in, Ms. Redmond said it was difficult to watch the trial of Derek Chauvin, the former police officer who is charged with murdering Mr. Floyd. Here we are in 2021, waiting to see if we get justice, she said, referring to other cases in Minneapolis in which police officers have been acquitted in the death of Black men. I was exhausted last May. You can only imagine how exhausted I am now. It is unbearable. I constantly get emotional. Ms. Redmond, 29, said she was focused on using her new organization, Dont Complain, Activate, to help heal a community that has been repeatedly traumatized, especially these past few weeks while having to rewatch Mr. Floyds death over and over during the trial. Multimedia Specialist 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). UPDATE: 4:42 p.m. April 16 The man believed to have been killed by a park police officer Thursday during a shootout at San Antonio International Airport died from a self-inflicted wound, according to the Bexar County Medical Examiner's Office. The gunshot wounds the suspect suffered from the responding officer were not fatal, the medical examiner said. It appears the man shot himself after he was wounded, San Antonio police said. Authorities identified the officer as John Maines, who will be placed on administrative duty while SAPD conducts an investigation. The case will then be forwarded to the Bexar County District Attorneys Office for an independent review. SAPD said the man was driving the wrong way in the lower terminal area when he was confronted by Maines. The suspect then got out of the car and began shooting in the direction of the officer, numerous bystanders and passing vehicles, police said. Maines returned fire, hitting the suspect twice, police said. UPDATE A police officer on Thursday shot and killed the man authorities believe was shooting from the U.S. 281-Loop 1604 overpass earlier in the day. According to San Antonio police, the same man showed up at the airport hours later and began shooting indiscriminately outside a terminal at San Antonio International Airport. An officer confronted the man and critically wounded him, police said. Police said the man had a .45-caliber handgun and a full box of ammunition. RELATED: Police shoot and kill 'active shooter' at San Antonio International Airport The suspect, who was in his 40s, was taken to a hospital, where he died, police said. McManus said the man matched the description of the person who had been seen shooting from the highway interchange hours earlier. Police have not identified the suspect. ORIGINAL STORY San Antonio police are searching for a man who was firing gun shots off of a North Side highway on Thursday. Police Chief William McManus said the department received several calls at around 10:30 a.m. reporting a man with a pistol standing on the highest flyover on U.S. 281 at the Loop 1604 interchange. McManus said the man was shooting in the area across from the Northwoods Shopping Center. On ExpressNews.com: Bill would allow unlicensed Texans to carry pistols in public Police do not know why the man was shooting and said they have not received reports of injuries from the gunshots. That may change. We will have to wait and see if anyone shows up at the hospital, McManus said. The man fired at least 10 shots before he fled southbound on U.S. 281 in either a red Mini Cooper or a gray van, McManus said. Police have not found the man, who was described as bald and wearing a red shirt. Police consider him armed and dangerous. Three to four shell casings were found on the overpass and another six or seven were found on the ground below the interchange, police said. McManus said anyone who sees either of the two vehicles or the man should call 911. DEERFIELD, Ill., April 15, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Pregis, a leading manufacturer of protective packaging, is announcing two new manufacturing facilities in the Dallas area to support growing demand in the Southern region of North America. The recently opened 128,000 square foot Garland, Texas facility produces protective packaging materials, acts as distribution center for a variety of Pregis products and will have an onsite customer demo and training center. The Garland facility has already begun production and is expected to ramp up production later in the year. The Garland facility already has 44 employees, with another 40 to be added later in the year. Pregis' new 265,000 square foot manufacturing facility in Arlington, Texas will be producing the recently rebranded Pregis EverTec mailer which features lightweight, recyclable all-paper cushioned construction. The Arlington facility will begin production in the summer. Pregis is currently looking to fill 80 new manufacturing positions in Arlington. Both facilities have room to expand to meet future demand, and are expected to provide additional employment opportunities in the region. Pregis acquired the technology to manufacture the envirotech shipping solution in October 2020 with the goal to scale the production of the curbside recyclable product to meet consumer demand. The company self-manufactures the proprietary equipment used to produce the mailers. The new capacity in Arlington is in addition to the recently announced Bethel, Pennsylvania location, as well as the Elk Grove Village, Illinois facility. The company has plans to expand with an additional site to serve strategic geographic markets during 2021 which will create approximately 450 new jobs, in total. "E-commerce is continuing to grow exponentially. Brand owners and retailers are looking for sustainable alternatives to ship their products through the parcel network direct to consumers. Pregis' investment in several new manufacturing facilities in 2021 is yet another commitment to our robust e-commerce offering and our dedication to offering a diverse portfolio of shipping solutions tailored to this need," said Kevin Baudhuin, president and chief executive officer, Pregis. For more than a decade, Pregis has brought to the marketplace a portfolio of products that address environmental concerns, as well as delivering the protective attributes critical for damage-free delivery of products to consumers. About Pregis Pregis LLC is a customer-driven solutions provider of innovative protective packaging materials, equipment systems and surface protection. As a material neutral company, the company works with its customers to find the right solution to solve their business challenges. Pregis serves a wide variety of consumer and industrial market segments including food, pharmaceutical, healthcare, medical devices, agricultural, e-commerce, retail, automotive, transportation, furniture, electronics, building, construction, and military/aerospace. For more information: www.pregis.com. SOURCE Pregis Corporation Related Links http://www.pregis.com A team of scientists compared methodologies to count African forest elephants (Loxodonta cyclotis), which were recently acknowledged by IUCN as a separate, Critically Endangered species from African savannah elephants. Credit: WCS Gabon A team of scientists led by the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) and working closely with experts from the Agence Nationale des Parcs Nationaux du Gabon (ANPN) compared methodologies to count African forest elephants (Loxodonta cyclotis), which were recently acknowledged by IUCN as a separate, Critically Endangered species from African savannah elephants. The study is part of a larger initiative in partnership with Vulcan Inc. to provide the first nationwide census in Gabon for more than 30 years. The results of the census are expected later this year. Contrary to savannah elephants (Loxodonta africana) which can be counted directly, usually through aerial survey, accurately censusing elusive forest elephants is more challenging and refinements of methods were needed. Publishing a new survey method to counting forest elephants in the journal Global Ecology and Conservation, the team compared traditional methodologies to count elephant dung piles along line transects, with spatial capture-recapture (SCR) techniques using both camera traps and DNA dung analysis. SCR estimates populations by measuring how many times and in what location individual animals are recounted. Said the study's lead author, Alice Laguardia of WCS's Gabon Program: "The more accurately we can count forest elephants, the more we can measure whether conservation efforts are successful. We are hopeful that the results of this study will help governments and conservation partners protect this Critically Endangered species throughout its range." Researchers assessed the performance of the methodologies to three relatively large forest elephant populations in Gabon. They found that the SCR method that used DNA sampling of dung was comparable in accuracy to the line transect method but less expensive on larger scales. Stephanie Bourgeois, coauthor and geneticist at ANPN, said: "Testing of this new DNA approach has been made possible by the recent development of novel genetics techniques by ANPN and the creation of a new genetics lab in Gabon enabling to perform all DNA analyses in-country." SCR Camera trap surveys were more precise on smaller scales but more expensive. The authors recommend that the use of both SCR methods, and their development, continue. They say that future findings and improvements should be compiled across studies to ensure their robust evolution as an option for monitoring the African forest elephant across its range and inform strategies and action for its conservation. Forest elephants have been decimated by ivory poachers in recent years. A WCS-led census released in 2014 documented a 65 percent decline in forest elephant numbers between 2002 and 2013. Through this new study, researchers will gain a better understanding of how many forest elephants remain and where they reside. Efforts have been focused on Gabon as it is thought to harbor more than 50 percent of the remaining forest elephant population, despite accounting for less than 15 percent of the species' range, making Gabon the most important country for forest elephant conservation. "As long as ivory is a precious commodity, elephants will be at risk," said Lee White, the Gabonese Minister of Water, Forests, the Seas, the Environment, charged with Climate Change & Land Use Planning. "In Africa there is a clear link between environmental governance, peace and security. Countries that have lost their elephant populations have all too often descended into civil strife. Through the results of this study we hope to obtain a clear picture of the trend of poaching and elephant populations in all of Gabon." "Vulcan recognizes the significant role of accurate population data for conservation management and policy decisions," said Ted Schmitt, director, conservation at Vulcan Inc. "By providing timely census data, we can fill critical knowledge gaps and enable prioritization of conservation resources. We are pleased to be part of this effort with Wildlife Conservation Society and the government of Gabon to help preserve this important species." Funding for this critical work was provided by Vulcan Inc., a Seattle company founded by the late philanthropist Paul G. Allen and his sister Jody Allen, who currently serves as chair. More information: A. Laguardia et al, Assessing the feasibility of density estimation methodologies for African forest elephant at large spatial scales, Global Ecology and Conservation (2021). A. Laguardia et al, Assessing the feasibility of density estimation methodologies for African forest elephant at large spatial scales,(2021). DOI: 10.1016/j.gecco.2021.e01550 Heart-breaking: Following the news of Adam's death, many devastated fans flooded social media with their tributes (pictured in his final Instagram post) The L.A. County Coroner's office has revealed TikTok and Vine star Adam Perkins died on Sunday April 11 at an L.A. 'residence' - but the cause of his death remains unknown. Adam made his name on Vine with comedy videos and he was best known for one where he appeared in a bathroom mirror, enthusiastically saying: 'Hi, welcome to Chilli's'. His death was announced by his twin brother Patrick on social media. Patrick said he did not want to disclose how his brother had died. The pair grew up in California. Their father Lars is a tech entrepreneur who sold photography sharpening software to Google in 2004. Their mother Susan is a British actress. The family have property on the west coast, in L.A., and in Maine. It's unclear where his relatives have been living recently, or if he was living alone. DailyMail.com understands that police were called to the property where Adam died and that the unit that responded was the LAPD's West L.A. branch, but no more detail has been given. His family are now mourning his death in part with thoughtful tributes on social media. Patrick has now released an album that his brother had been working on before his death. Adam studied music at NYU and graduated in 2019. His loving parents described him and his brother online as the light and pride of their lives. Lars, his father, is on the NASA Advisory Committee. The family seem to split their time now between Maine and L.A. After announcing his brother had passed away aged 24, Patrick shared a series of tributes on Instagram and among heartfelt best wishes from fans, he shot down questions about how Adam had died. 'Think I need to take this opportunity to explain something to you: if the cause of death is not released, there is a reason... 'There is intention in every part of this. Please respect both of us by not asking that question... not sure how it's not obvious that I didn't say for a reason. Everything in this is intentional. Please respect that,' he said. Adam's twin brother Patrick announced his death on Instagram then shot down fans who asked how he had died Patrick's messages to fans came before he shared a heartbreaking tribute to his sibling on Wednesday. To the tune of Joni Mitchell's 1976 hit Coyote, from his favourite album Hejira, the late online sensation was seen larking around while filming, having his haircut, driving, petting a dog and many more candid moments from their life. He added a caption on the heartbreaking video reading: 'Adam Perkins 1997 - forever and ever. I love you my brother. Always.' Tragic news: He added a caption on the heartbreaking video reading: 'Adam Perkins 1997 - forever and ever. I love you my brother. Always' The Boston-born star's twin confirmed the news on Instagram, as he revealed the star died on April 11 but did not disclose any cause of death. Beneath the touching video, Adam's fans penned: 'My heart hurts. What a huge part of my youth your brothers vines were rest in peace... 'Sending my condolences to you and your family... Life just doesnt feel real anymore lately, sorry for your loss... One last time as a tribute Hi welcome to chillis!' As well as having thousands of TikTok followers, Adam was also known for an iconic clip on the social media site Vine which saw him parody an advert for the American restaurant chain Chili's. In his announcement, Patrick penned: 'My brother, Adam Perkins, passed away this previous Sunday, 4-11-21. 'I can't even really put into words what this loss means for me. I'm often asked the question, ''what's it like to be a twin?' and my response is usually, 'what's it like to NOT be a twin?''... 'Being a twin is a very central part of my identity. it's all i've known. and i'm struggling to find the words to explain what it will be like for me to live in this world without him. my best friend. 'In his honor, I will be releasing his album 'Latch Relay' on a limited edition vinyl. it will be the first release on Plas Teg Records (@plas.teg), a label that will seek to fulfill his musical destiny that was so tragically cut short. 'I love you, my best friend Adam. 1997-forever.' Following the news of Adam's death, many devastated fans flooded social media with their tributes and offered their sympathies to Patrick. One wrote: 'My heart aches for you Patrick. I've been fans of both of you for years, sending love and strength,' while another added: 'I'm so sorry, thinking of you.' A third penned: 'So deeply sorry man... sending so much love,' with one also writing: 'I can't believe this I'm so so sorry.' One fan also wrote: 'Unbelievavbly tragic. Sorry for your indescribable loss,' while another commented: 'I'm so so so sorry :( in my thoughts forever and ever.' 'I love you and Adam to the moon and beyond and to say I'm heartbroken is a huge understatement. I will cherish all the incredible hilarious memories we made together forever,' one of Patrick's followers wrote in a moving tribute. Adam's ex-boyfriend Kelton Elliott also took to social media to pen a lengthy tribute, along with a gallery of snaps from their relationship. He wrote: 'This past weekend my forever best friend and ex-boyfriend passed, and I've been devastated. We spent almost every day and night in 2020 and 2021 together in our little home until I temporarily relocated to Oregon. 'We were there for each other during the hardest year of our lives. I could and have talked about him for hours, but I'm just saying one thing right now: Me and him discussed how we'd want to be remembered after we died, and he said he'd like to be remembered for his art, his music. 'The second slide is a screenshot of Redwood Reverie, the track on Spotify he most liked sharing with his coworkers and friends. It's from his 2018 album Latch Relay, and it's one of my favorite songs of his along with The Engine and Arms Akimbo. 'Last week he was working on more to release. Give his music a listen, and know that the artist was loved so so so much. The link in my bio takes you to his Spotify.' While he boasted over 19,000 followers on TikTok, Adam was most well-known for a 2015 viral clip on the now-defunct social media site Vine. Cabral Gold (CVE: CBR- OTC: CBGZF) CEO Alan Carter joined Steve Darling from Proactive to bring news the company has received results from two diamond drill holes at the MG gold deposit within the Cuiu Cuiu Project in Brazil. Cater telling Proactive these first two holes of their current 5000-metre drill program showed very strong results and were 75 metres south of the MG Deposit. With husband Justin Bieber hard at work on his latest livestream concert in Paris, France this week, Hailey Bieber has been keeping busy, in part, on Instagram. And on Wednesday the model blended some modern fashion with a taste of 1970s as she reprised her beloved $9,450 Bottega Veneta teddy shearling coat for a stylish Instagram snap. The latest post comes one day after Hailey teased her 34.2 million fans and followers with a similar snap where she flashed her toned and tanned midsection. Working it: Hailey Bieber, 24, the model blended some modern fashion with a taste of 1970s as she reprised her beloved $9,450 Bottega Veneta teddy fur coat for a stylish snap In the newest photo, taken inside the Beverly Hills home she shares with her pop superstar husband, Hailey oozed attitude in fitted white cargo pants with a white crop top. She also donned the longline lambskin coat which she has famously been spotted in late last year, sparking many fans to compare the piece to a mop thanks to its sheared bottom. Adding to that old school vibe, Hailey wore retro white sunglasses with white and orange sneakers and her blonde tresses styled long, straight, and with a part in the middle. Four-legged family: Earlier on Wednesday, the model snuggled up with beloved dog Oscar, while she awaits the return of husband Justin Bieber Earlier on Wednesday, the daughter of actor Stephen Baldwin and niece of Alec Baldwin, shared an adorable photo of herself snuggled up with her beloved dog Oscar. No doubt, Oscar helped keep her female owner company until Justin returned to the fold. The Arizona native looked to be laying back on a couch with the pet pooch, presumable a Maltese Yorkie, with their heads leaning against one another. Hailey's left eye can be seen peeking through her black-rimmed glasses as she flashed a look of contentment alongside her doggie. Fab figure: The Arizona native flashed her taut midriff while posing up a storm on a driveway Beauty secrets: The model showed off her 'bedtime glow' in a post Tuesday night Obviously, Hailey had her mind on her husband when she posted a photo of the couple sharing a passionate hug with the caption: 'pretty much,' along with a tag for photographer @rorykramer. One day earlier, the 24-year-old model showed off her taut midriff when she struck a goofy pose for the camera in a driveway, using her hands as antlers while exuding a pouty look on her face. She wrote 'YKTV' along the side of the picture, which is an abbreviation for 'you know the vibe.' Justin Bieber held his latest virtual concert from the ultra-luxe Hotel De Crillon in Paris on Tuesday, where he performed some songs from his new album, Justice, that dropped last month. Feelin' European: Justin Bieber held his latest virtual concert from the ultra-luxe Hotel De Crillon in Paris on Tuesday New Delhi: Union finance minister Arun Jaitley on Saturday said that demonetisation has resulted in a steep decline in insurgent and terror activities in Jammu and Kashmir where stone throwers were no longer active in the last 8-10 months. Jailtleys comments came while refuting the impression that transformational initiatives like Swachh Bharat, GST and demonetisation have not resulted in any changes on the ground. The finance minister said the country has observed sharp fall in insurgent and terror activities in states like Jammu & Kashmir and Chhattisgarh. The terror funding itself has gotten squeezed, Jaitley said in a keynote address via video conference - to the Berkeley India Conference yesterday ahead of his visit to the US to interact with the corporate world and attend the annual meeting of IMF and World Bank in Washington DC. You are having terrorist incidents (now), but the fact that you were finding 5,000-10,000 stone throwers being provided with money by the terrorist organisations, why is it that in the last 8-10 months it has not happened? he asked. Also Read: Finance minister Arun Jaitley says people seeking development must pay what's required to them In a surprise announcement, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had in November last year announced scrapping of old notes of Rs 1,000 and Rs 500 notes, in a bid to clamp down on black money, fake currency menace, terror funding and corruption. For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. PHOENIX, April 15, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- RAADR, Inc. (OTC PINK: RDAR), a technology and software development company that monitors cyber-bullying and social media platforms with artificial intelligence is pleased to announce that RAADR has approved the Lynn Cole Capital sale of debt to Tri-Bridge Ventures, LLC. On March 30th 2021 Lynn Cole Capital sold Tri- Bridge Ventures LLC, the principal amount of $771,887.29 from a Debenture loan dated April 29th, 2013. The sale to Tri-Bridge Ventures LLC also included the interest from the original note. RAADR approved the debt being purchased by Tri-Bridge ventures LLC, to be convertible. "Like I have stated before we are making a huge effort this year to clear out old debt. We are hard at work on other old loans that we plan to do the same with very soon," says CEO JACOB DiMARTINO. SOURCE RAADR, Inc. Related Links raadr.com Update from the National Weather Service: The slight risk for severe thunderstorms has been extended to the east of San Antonio, according to the National Weather Service. The northern parts of San Antonio are still in a slight risk to see strong to severe thunderstorms through around 8 p.m. this Thursday evening. The highest chance of severe weather with damaging winds and large hail of possibly 2 inches are for areas north of Kerrville, Austin and La Grange. Tornadoes are not expected as a hazard at this time. READ MORE: Taste of the Northside officially canceled for Fiesta San Antonio 2021 Previous Story: Don't give up hope for some rain in the San Antonio area just yet. A severe thunderstorm watch has been issued for areas north of San Antonio including Boerne and the Hill Country until 3 p.m. According to the National Weather Service, strong to severe thunderstorms are possible through the afternoon. NWS adds the best chances are north of San Antonio. That's because a second disturbance will move into the Hill Country later today, bringing with it a slight risk for severe storms. READ ALSO: Veteran news anchor Randy Beamer did the weather Storms could produce up to an inch of hail. Forecasters say hail could be the size of apples. Winds could gust up to 70 mph or more. According to forecasters, an isolated tornado is also possible. The provincial government will soon decide whether to disregard our wishes and grant Manitoba Hydro a final licence for the Churchill River Diversion, a project that diverts up to 95 per cent of the flow of the second largest river in the province at great cost to us. Opinion The provincial government will soon decide whether to disregard our wishes and grant Manitoba Hydro a final licence for the Churchill River Diversion, a project that diverts up to 95 per cent of the flow of the second largest river in the province at great cost to us. The final licensing decision should have been made 44 years ago when the water first went up, but that didnt happen. The history is complicated, but one thing is clear: the diversion was built without our consent, and against our wishes. Though Manitobans benefit from the Churchill River Diversion every day, few people have seen it or know about the severe, widespread and ongoing harm it causes. The Churchill River carries five times more water than the Red River; by means of control structures and a nine-kilometre channel, the CRD backs up the Churchill at Southern Indian Lake and sends it southward into the Nelson River, where Manitoba Hydros main dams are located. The immense undertaking affects the territories of our First Nations: O-Pipon-Na-Piwin Cree Nation centred at South Indian Lake, and Tataskweyak Cree Nation at Split Lake. The diversion floods Southern Indian Lake the fourth largest lake in Manitoba by three metres on average. We estimate that hundreds of islands have been lost to flooding and erosion. Most of the lengthy, pristine beaches on the lake are gone. The entire village of South Indian Lake was forcibly relocated. Imagine forcing the residents of a cottage community on Lake Winnipeg to move and burn their homes. South Indian Lake used to be home to the third-largest lake whitefish fishery in North America. It was the economic heart of a prosperous and self-reliant community. In the 10 years prior to diversion, our annual catch averaged 400,000 kilograms. In the past decade it has been less than one-tenth of that. Downstream of the diversion, a 415-km stretch of the Churchill River the Lower Churchill is a de-watered shadow of what it was. The culturally important sturgeon on the river have been driven to the brink of extinction. Despite scientific and traditional evidence, the federal government has not yet recognized these sturgeon as endangered. The Lower Churchill suffers from both extremely low flows and exceptionally high flows. Hydro occasionally releases sudden flushes of water down the Lower Churchill far exceeding the highest pre-diversion flows. These releases wreak havoc with wildlife and destroy our cabins, docks and equipment. Cecil Rosner / Winnipeg Free Press archives The northern community of South Indian Lake, seen here in 1984, was forced to relocate to make way for Manitoba Hydro projects. With basic planning and foresight these flushes could be avoided. Instead, our lands are sacrificed. Where the diversion route empties into the Nelson River system at Split Lake, the massive unnatural flows dump silt and sediment into the lake, choking out vital fish habitat, degrading water quality and killing the fishery in that area. In all, the diversion affects more than 10,000 km of shoreline through flooding, de-watering and unnatural fluctuations. Various agreements have been signed and compensation payments made in most cases only after great struggle to overcome efforts by Hydro and government to downplay damages and delay action. Despite the agreements, fairness and respect remain elusive. Government oversight of the CRD has been feeble Hydro gets its way; we get trampled. In 1973, the province issued an interim licence that allowed for construction of the project. Among other things, it set limits on flooding and the amount of water that could be diverted. Instead of issuing a 50-year licence when the project was completed in 1976, as the law contemplated, the province granted Hydros wish to experiment with higher levels of flooding and diversion. This experimentation continued for years. In 1986, the province rubber-stamped the new water regime and called it the "Augmented Flow Program." The AFP augments harm, permitting higher flooding levels and increasing the allowable annual drawdown of Southern Indian Lake, from 0.6 metres in any 12-month period to 1.37 metres over an unspecified period. This has greatly increased ecological harm. Every year, an assistant deputy minister sends Manitoba Hydro a letter approving the AFP deviations. That means a civil servant in Winnipeg has more control over the water in our territories than we do. As far as we know, neither this person nor Minister of Conservation and Climate Sarah Guillemard has even visited the waterways they manipulate. The province will make a decision regarding a final licence in coming weeks. And while Manitoba would say it has been engaging with us about this for years, its consultation efforts have fallen far short of its constitutional obligations. Based on actions to date, we worry Manitoba will ignore our concerns and allow Hydro to continue with business as usual, as if nothing has changed and nothing has been learned in the past 44 years. The interim licence issued in the 70s is a licence to destroy our lands. Hydro wants no changes to that licence, other than inclusion of the AFP deviations. Our First Nations recognize that each Nation is impacted in different ways, and therefore specific accommodations will differ. While further consultation and study are essential, the demands of our two communities include: suspension of the AFP higher flows down the de-watered Lower Churchill no massive flushes down the Lower Churchill measures to support recovery of lake whitefish and sturgeon; and a meaningful say for us in CRD operation. We would like to think times have changed since the 1970s. Well see. Shirley Ducharme is chief of O-Pipon-Na-Piwin Cree Nation and Doreen Spence is chief of Tataskweyak Cree Nation Graduating a defensive driving can lower your insurance rates. Besides that, you will learn new safe driving techniques and you will become a better driver, said Russell Rabichev, Marketing Director of Internet Marketing Company. Drivers attending defensive driving courses will not only get educated about traffic hazards and defensive driving techniques, but they will also get an insurance discount from their insurers. Of course, there are other reasons for attending defensive driving courses. 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This website is unique because it does not simply stick to one kind of insurance provider, but brings the clients the best deals from many different online insurance carriers. In this way, clients have access to offers from multiple carriers all in one place: this website. On this site, customers have access to quotes for insurance plans from various agencies, such as local or nationwide agencies, brand names insurance companies, etc. Vietnams Ministry of Health confirmed 25 imported coronavirus cases on Thursday, taking the nations caseload past 2,700. All of the new patients had been quarantined upon their arrival in the country, the health ministry noted. They are being isolated for treatment at local hospitals. Vietnam has logged 2,758 COVID-19 patients, including 1,570 local infections, as of Thursday night, the health ministry said. Since January 27, the country has recorded 910 community-based cases, most in Hai Duong Province. A total of 2,445 patients have recovered from the respiratory disease whereas 35 have died, the majority having suffered critical pre-existing conditions. At the time of writing, Vietnam is quarantining more than 38,700 people who either came into close contact with infected patients or entered the country from virus-struck regions, according to the health ministrys data. Health authorities administered the first shot of AstraZeneca vaccine to 1,767 people in Vietnam on Wednesday. Over 62,000 people have been given the first jab since the Southeast Asian country rolled out its vaccine doses on March 8. Those inoculated are medical staff and other frontline workers. The government has so far received 928,800 AstraZeneca doses from direct purchases from the company or via the COVAX scheme, co-led by the World Health Organization, according to the health ministrys figures. Vietnam had hoped to secure 150 million vaccine shots to vaccinate its population of 97 million this year, but the health ministry has recently said that supply is hard to come by given the stress of the health crisis around the world. The country is also testing domestically made vaccines on humans. However, any of the jabs cannot be made available for use before the end of the third quarter, health experts said. Like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter to get the latest news about Vietnam! (Alliance News) - Britain and the EU are mounting a fresh attempt to resolve the problems over post-Brexit trading arrangements for Northern Ireland. Brexit minister Lord Frost is travelling to Brussels for talks with European Commission vice-president Maros Sefcovic as they attempt to iron out differences over the Northern Ireland Protcol in Boris Johnson's Withdrawal Agreement. The Protocol has been blamed as one of the factors behind the recent upsurge of violence in loyalist areas amid concerns in those communities it has weakened their place in the UK. Under the terms of the Protocol, goods moving from the rest of the UK to Northern Ireland may be subject to checks. The measures are intended to protect the EU single market while maintaining an open land border between the North and the Republic in line with the Good Friday peace process. However, critics have warned that the way it has been implemented has given rise to renewed sectarian tensions, at the same time as hampering the free flow of goods within the UK. Meanwhile, relations between London and Brussels have been further strained after the EU announced last month it was taking legal action in response to a unilateral decision by the UK to extend a series of "grace periods" intended to ease the introduction of the new controls. Ahead of Thursday evening's meeting between Lord Frost and Sefcovic, an EU spokesman said they would "take stock of ongoing technical work" on the protocol. A UK government spokesman said there were still "significant differences" which needed to be resolved if they were to rebuild confidence in the agreement among communities in Northern Ireland. "This meeting is part of our ongoing engagement with the EU to work through the outstanding issues with the protocol, in order to restore confidence on the ground, reflect the needs of communities and respect all dimensions of the Belfast Good Friday Agreement," the spokesman said. "The discussions so far have been constructive but there are still significant differences that need to be resolved. "Both the UK and EU are continuing to engage with business, civil society and other stakeholders in Northern Ireland to understand the issues they are facing." Meanwhile, the European Parliament's foreign affairs and trade committees will vote on Thursday on the post-Brexit trade deal, but no date has yet been set for a full plenary vote to ratify the agreement. The Trade and Co-operation Agreement, reached by Johnson with Brussels on Christmas Eve, has been in place provisionally since the start of the year. The UK agreed to extend the provisional application until the end of April, but a date has still not been set for MEPs to approve it as they remain concerned about the implementation of the earlier Withdrawal Agreement. Downing Street said it had agreed the April extension and expected the EU "to complete their processes to this timeline". By Gavin Cordon source: PA Copyright 2021 Alliance News Limited. All Rights Reserved. Source: Xinhua| 2021-04-15 16:54:09|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close HANGZHOU, April 15 (Xinhua) -- An international commercial space launch center with a planned investment of 20 billion yuan (about 3.06 billion U.S. dollars) will be built in Xiangshan County in Ningbo located in China's eastern coastal province of Zhejiang. The planned commercial space launch center will include a 35-square km launch site and supporting facilities spanning 32 square km. The center is expected to launch up to 100 rockets a year, according to a draft document for key projects in Zhejiang Province during the 14th Five-Year Plan period (2021-2025) released last month. A total of 12 billion yuan will be invested during the 14th Five-Year Plan period (2021-2025), the draft document noted. The construction of the launch site will focus on building a commercial space launch field, an assembly and test center, a satellite-rocket docking center, and a ground control center. A rocket and satellite R&D and manufacturing base and an industrial base for satellite data application will be among the supporting facilities. The commercial rocket assembly and test center is expected to be completed and undergo the project acceptance test no later than July 31. The launch center is built to meet China's rising demand for commercial launches. Dou Xiaoyu, vice chairman of China Aerospace Construction Group Co., Ltd., said that the domestic demand for commercial satellite launches is expected to surge in the next five to 10 years, reported China Space News. China urgently needs to build a launch site mostly for commercial satellite launch, she noted. In terms of the site selection, Dou suggested that the site should be located in the coastal area around 30 degrees north latitude. Besides, it should have a safe area for the falling rocket parts to land, wide launching azimuth, convenient transportation, complete industrial support, good natural conditions, and sufficient social support. Launch azimuth is the initial launch direction, measured clockwise from zero degrees north. China has three inland launch sites, namely the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in northwest China, the Taiyuan Satellite Launch Center in the north and the Xichang Satellite Launch Center in the southwest. Besides, one coastal launch site, the Wenchang Space Launch Center, is located in south China's Hainan Province. Xiangshan County is located at a latitude close to Xichang, and the falling area of the rocket debris is almost purely the ocean. Enditem "Fast & Furious 9" officially started its engine by dropping a new trailer ahead of its June 25th debut. Over a year since the "Fast & Furious 9" hyped fans for the first time, it debuted a brand new teaser which briefly explains how Han will be able to appear again. What "Fast & Furious 9" New Trailer Reveals About Han's Return On Wednesday, Universal dropped the second look of the film which focuses on the fan-favorites come back and the petition "justice for Han." The same trailer explains further how Mia and Letty recruit Han to Dominic Toretto's crew. It turns out that Han's return is part of the group's attempt to face Jakob and his private army. Instead of looking for more backup to defeat the group, they find Han in Japan and reunite with him. Aside from Han's secret, the final scene of the trailer discloses that the franchise may drive to space with Tej and Roman dressed like astronauts. For what it's worth, the "Fast & Furious" has been bombarded with questions about whether they would expand their universe through a galactic adventure or not. Han's Story on "Fast & Furious 9" Before his reappearance on the upcoming "F9" film, Han actually appeared on the other flicks even after his death. Han joined "Fast & Furious" in 2009, "Fast Five" in 2011, and "Fast & Furious 6" in 2013. The three movies, however, all happened before "Tokyo Drift." Still, fans could not get over him that they began an outcry online, with fans calling for "Justice For Han." Fortunately, the "Fast & Furious" team supported this movement that they have been talking about the character in the past few years. Director Justin Lin himself promoted the hashtag #JusticeForHan even before they confirmed the character's return. Sung Kang also told Empire how grateful he feels to be loved by the viewers that way. "In my own Hollywood struggle as an Asian-American, in your darkest hours, you go, 'Wow, there are actually people from all over the world that appreciate what I did with that character,'" he said. The movie's writer Chris Morgan also told Slash Film in 2017 that he had been trying to find ways to bring Han into the film. "Fast & Furious 9" will also see the return of Letty Ortiz (Michelle Rodriguez), Magdalene Shaw (Helen Mirren), Tej Parker (Ludacris), and Roman Pearce (Tyrese Gibson). The upcoming film will hit theaters in the U.S. starting June 25. See Now: Famous Actors Who Turned Down Iconic Movie Roles RABI has introduced Welsh speaking counsellors as part of a measure to communicate and interact with farmers in Wales more efficiently. The farming charity's recently launched online wellbeing platform has been boosted by the recruitment of two Welsh speaking counsellors. Census figures suggest 43% of agricultural workers speak Welsh, compared with 19% of Wales wider population. Many farmers live and work in remote rural areas and with the restrictions imposed throughout Wales during lockdown, people may be feeling isolated at this time. Alicia Chivers, RABIs chief executive said having a route to qualified professional support and resources was 'really important' for farmers. As a charity that supports farming people throughout England and Wales, were absolutely thrilled to have found not just one, but two new counsellors who can interact with Welsh speaking farming people. Its our aim to provide accessible support to as many people as possible in our community. "We hope the new appointments will enable us to reach an even wider audience," Ms Chivers said. The rural charity's online service offers free, anonymous resources to adults and young farming people. Users can access one-to-one counselling via a chat function, with British Association of Counselling and Psychotherapy accredited counsellors. In addition, all counsellors receive farm knowledge training to ensure they are aware of the complex issues and challenges that many within the farming community face. Every year, we try to do something special for 420. This year, we were able to give our customers a bigger reason to celebrate with our much-anticipated lineup of Delta 8 products The big day is just around the corner 4/20. Get a kickstart on 420 with this massive 42 percent off sitewide sale on SmilynWellness.com. This exclusive deal is available from April 15 April 20, 2021, using code GET420. "We're excited to create this sale for our line of Smilyn products. Every year, we try to do something special for 420. This year, we were able to give our customers a bigger reason to celebrate with our much-anticipated lineup of Delta 8 products," stated Brett Weiss, CEO and Co-founder of Smilyn Wellness. Smilyn Wellness Delta 8 The customer-awarded, five-star line of Delta 8 products featuring tinctures, gummies, diamond and royal jam concentrates, and chocolates are now available at SmilynWellness.com. The brand prides itself on the clarity and potency of its Delta 8 and on offering top-of-the-line products that meet the highest standards of safety and quality. Delta 8 is one of the 100+ cannabinoids in the hemp plant. Processors extract the cannabinoid and concentrate it to therapeutic levels. Feel more relaxed, clear-headed, and energized. Delta 8 is reported to offer a smooth high without the anxiety or paranoia that Delta-9 THC can induce. Like other cannabinoids, Delta 8 interacts with the body's Endocannabinoid System (ECS), offering potential therapeutic benefits. The National Cancer Institute describes the power cannabinoid as having 'antiemetic, anxiolytic, appetite-stimulating, analgesic, and neuroprotective properties.' "We're continually exploring new ways to innovate, and Delta 8 has been a long-running interest of ours," stated Dakoda Collins of Smilyn Wellness. "It's been great to meet the expected demand of our customers and make a deeper splash on the wellness industry." National 420 Day What is it? April 20 is known as 420 Day' and yes, it may seem illogical. So, how did the number 420 come to be? Both cannabis and Delta 8 users recognize the day as a national holiday for cannabis culture, but few know how the date was chosen. To put it bluntly, there is no real answer to why 420 became a wonderfully celebrated holiday. The most credible theory traces 4/20 to Marin County, Calif. In 1971, five students at San Rafael High School would meet at 4:20 p.m. by the campus' statue of chemist Louis Pasteur at this prime time because extracurricular activities had usually ended by then. Here at Smilyn Wellness, we celebrate 4/20 as a holiday that restores the free-spirited origins of individuals looking to simply enjoy the day and improve their overall wellness. About Smilyn Wellness Smilyn Wellness in California is a CBD-wellness brand simplifying the benefits of premium hemp extract. We exist to revolutionize. We exist not only to help individuals look and feel amazing but also smile throughout the adventures of life. Combining scientific data with health-based knowledge, Smilyn offers a portfolio of hemp-derived CBD and Delta 8 products that are trustworthy, tasty, and geared toward an active new-age lifestyle. Facebook | Instagram YEREVAN. As of Thursday morning, 1,014 new cases of the coronavirus were confirmed in Armenia, and the total number of these cases has reached 206,142 in the country, the National Center for Disease Control and Prevention informed Armenian News-NEWS.am. Also, 23 more deaths from COVID-19 were registered, making the respective total 3,817 cases. Seven more cases of coronavirus patients dying from some other illnesses were recorded in Armenia in the past one day, and the corresponding overall death toll in the country is 964 now. The number of people who have recovered over the past one day is 882, the total respective number so far is 185,125, and the number of people currently being treated is 16,236which is an increase by 102 in one day. And 4,950 COVID-19 tests were conducted in Armenia over the past one day, while 920,423 such tests have been performed to date. The FDC Kampala Woman MP candidate Stella Nyanzi has revealed that angry Kenyans on social media have threatened to deport her if she does not shut up. Nyanzi, who posted on her Facebook account yesterday said that Kenyans are stopping her from expressing herself but instead be grateful that they can accommodate her. Another horribly evil group of human beings commanded me to be quiet because I am a foreigner seeking refuge in Kenya. They ordered me to politely stay in my place lest they would withdraw their hospitality to me in their country. They forced me to be grateful that refugees have taken advantage of Kenyas relative peace to seek refuge here for many many many years, she posted. Stella Nyanzi adds that she has received messages and comments asking her to return to Uganda if she finds Kenya hostile. Stella Nyanzi You are in our country on refuge and still have guts to portray Kenya as a cursed country just coz of one unfortunate case.Pack and leave if you think our country is a risky place to be. Whom do you think you are? read a comment from Charles Njuguna. Stella Nyanzi we have enough human rights activists here. We cant continue hidding you at the same time exposing our rot. We will hand u over to the old dictator, Favour Muttunga posted. She says the social media attack comes after she posted about a refugee who was burnt along with several others in Block 13 of Kakuma Refugee Camp in Kenya. Nyanzi shows her disappointment with some Ugandans who have also attacked her instead of defending her. She says this is mainly because she doesnt share the same beliefs with them. And the horribly evil Ugandans just outdid themselves by combining homophobia, misogyny, xenophobia, tribalism, ethnicism, and a deep hatred for me because I hold different beliefs and values to some of them. All these sentiments were freely expressed on my timeline and in my in-box as threats, shaming, mockery, insults, and dismissals, she posted. Early in February, Nyanzis lawyer, Prof George Luchiri Wajackoyah, in an interview said Nyanzi left Uganda seeking political asylum in Kenya. WASHINGTON A group of House and Senate Democrats on Thursday introduced legislation to expand the Supreme Court to 13 members from nine, working to build momentum for rebalancing the court after an aggressive Republican drive to move it to the right. The bill, which would change the makeup of the court for the first time in 150 years, is unlikely to move forward even with Democrats in control of Congress at least not before a new commission named last week by President Biden completes a study exploring the subject. But its introduction opened a new front in the escalating partisan war over the judiciary, drawing outrage from Republicans, who called it a power grab. Democrats, who announced their plan on the steps of the Supreme Court, said the change was necessary to restore equilibrium on its bench after Senate Republicans blocked President Barack Obamas nominee in 2016 and pushed through three of President Donald J. Trumps conservative appointees, including one Justice Amy Coney Barrett just days before the election last year. Republicans stole the courts majority, with Justice Amy Coney Barretts confirmation completing their crime spree, Senator Edward J. Markey, Democrat of Massachusetts and a sponsor of the legislation, said in a statement announcing it. Senate Republicans have politicized the Supreme Court, undermined its legitimacy and threatened the rights of millions of Americans, especially people of color, women and our immigrant communities. International scientists from around the world are warning that chemical pollutants in the environment have the potential to alter animal and human behavior. A scientific forum of 30 experts formed a united agreement of concern about chemical pollutants and set up a roadmap to help protect the environment from behavior altering chemicals. The conclusions of their work have been published today in a paper led by Professor Alex Ford, Professor of Biology at the University of Portsmouth, in Environmental Science and Technology. Until now the effect of chemical pollutants on wildlife has been studied and risk assessed in relation to species mortality, reproduction and growth. The effect on behavior has been suspected but never formally tested or assessed - the scientists say this needs to change. The world leading experts came from a variety of relevant disciplines including environmental toxicology, regulatory authorities and chemicals risk assessors. The group were in no doubt that pollution can impact the behavior of humans and wildlife. However, our ability to regulate chemicals for these risks, and therefore safeguard the environment, is rarely used. For example, chemicals that are deliberately designed as pharmaceutical drugs to alter behavior, such as antidepressants and antianxiety medications, have been shown to alter the behaviors of fish and invertebrates during laboratory experiments. These medications like many prescribed drugs enter the environment through wastewaters." Alex Ford, Professor of Biology, University of Portsmouth History shows us there are other examples of behavioral alterations from chemicals. During the 19th century, the phrases "Mad as a hatter" and "Crazy as a painter" were coined when those in these trades were found to have changed behavior, from the use of lead and mercury. In more recent times concerns over metal toxicity resulted in the enforcement of unleaded fuels. The scientists are not just concerned about the obvious pollutants such pharmaceutical drugs leaking into the environment but they also warn about the potential unknowns such as chemicals in plastics, washing agents, fabrics and personal care products. The forum have come up with a roadmap they are urging policy makers, regulatory authorities, environmental leaders to act upon. The recommendations are: Improve the mechanisms of how science studies contaminated-induced behavioral changes. Develop new and adapt existing standard toxicity tests to include behavior. Develop an integrative approach to environmental risk assessment, which includes behavior. Not just mortality, growth and reproduction. Improve the reliability of behavioral tests, which need to allow for variation in behavioral reactions. Develop guidance and training on the evaluation of reporting of behavioral studies. Better integration of human and wildlife behavioral toxicology. Professor Ford said: "We know from human toxicology and pharmaceutical drug development that regulatory authorities and industry have advanced with confidence in the use of behavioral endpoints, either in chemical risk assessment and drug development. We are yet to see this used fully when addressing the health of the environment and the impacts chemicals may have on wildlife behaviors. There is real concern around our lack of knowledge of how pollutants affect wildlife and human behaviors and our current processes for assessing this are not fit for purpose." Dr Gerd Maack, from the German Environment Agency (UBA) and host of the forum, added: "We know that chemicals affect human and wildlife behaviors, especially hormones are affecting the mating behaviors of vertebrates. However, this knowledge is still not reflected in the regulation of chemicals in Europe, partly due to a lack of standardized methods, but also due to a non-understanding of the more complex study designs by many regulators. As one of the first of its kind, this workshop brought together behavioral scientists and regulators underpinning the importance of behavioral studies for the regulation. The results of this paper will serve a road map for a better acceptance and integration of behaviors studies in regulatory practices." Joel Allen, from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency said: "Along with my U.S. EPA colleagues, Jim Lazorchak and Stephanie Padilla, and as participants in the workshop and the preparation of this manuscript, we are excited about being part of a ground-breaking area in the potential use of behavioral responses to chemicals in chemical risk assessments as well as being co-authors on this topic in the prestigious Environmental Science and Technology Journal." Dr Marlene Agerstrand, an expert of chemicals risk assessment from the University of Stockholm said: "The regulation of chemicals is constantly evolving, as the scientific basis improves. A workshop like this, where researchers and regulators meet, could be the starting point for a change in how behavioral studies are viewed upon in the regulatory sphere. In this paper, we have identified knowledge gaps and regulatory needs with the purpose to continue the discussion with a wider stakeholder group." The forum took place at the German Environment Agency (UBA). Who qualifies for TOPS scholarships sparked new complaints Wednesday when a key state House committee learned that 59% of recipients live in families with incomes of $70,000 per year and more. "We have a lot of work to do," Commissioner of Higher Education Kim Hunter Reed told the House Appropriations Committee. The Taylor Opportunity Program for Students, known as TOPS, is a merit-based college scholarship program that carries modest academic requirements. Two Baton Rouge lawmakers on the committee renewed complaints that surfaced periodically that the aid is top-heavy with students living in families with comfortable incomes. Figures supplied to the committee show that 22% of students who receive TOPS live in households with incomes of $150,000 per year and more. Conversely, those in families with incomes of $50,000 per year and less account for 41% of the total. The median household income in Louisiana is $49,469, according to House figures. Rep. C. Denise Marcelle, D-Baton Rouge, said while TOPS was initially launched to aid students who could not afford college that is not happening. "How did we get from the intent to what we have here, that it is just the opposite?" Marcelle asked. ACT exam is unfair to Black high schoolers seeking college credits, education group says The ACT requirement is the key barrier, and an unfair one, to Black students enrolling in high school classes for college credit, education of "We have to change the trajectory at some point," she added. Rep. Barbara Carpenter, D-Baton Rouge, raised similar concerns. "I am deeply troubled by this chart," Carpenter said, referring to the document that show TOPS recipients by income levels. "We cannot continue to be in the same situation year after year," she said. Reed said there is a clear link nationally and in Louisiana between family income and academic success. LSU, other colleges set to get $268 million from coronavirus relief bill LSU and other public colleges and universities are set to get $268 million from the latest federal stimulus bill, up 82% from what schools got She said higher education leaders are working to ensure that "your parent's income is not your destiny." Legislative leaders often call TOPS one of the most popular programs in state government. Efforts to revamp the program have gone nowhere. Nearly 60,000 students are getting the aid for the current school year at a cost of $321 million. Plan to let veterans qualify for TOPS clears hurdle Some military veterans honorably discharged from Louisiana installations would qualify for one of the Taylor Opportunity Program for Students The scoop on state politics in your inbox Get the Louisiana politics insider details once a week from us. Sign up today. e-mail address * Sign Up State aid for colleges based on financial need, called GO Grants, is set to rise by about the same amount as the allocation for TOPS $11 million. However, that aid would total $40.5 million starting July 1, which critics called a disparity that needs to be addressed. Reed noted that, while lawmakers have discussed linking TOPS to family income, nothing has come of the talks. "We have tried to make sure we advocate for affordability, advocate for GO Grants," she said. GO Grants average $1,212 per student. Ray Belton, chancellor for Southern University, told the committee 62% of his students receive federal Pell Grants, which are based on financial need. Belton is also president of the Southern University System. The income distribution for TOPS recipients has changed little in the past decade. In 2009-10, 55% of students who got the aid lived in families with incomes of $70,000 per year and higher. TOPS recipients also graduate at roughly double the rate of those who do not get the scholarships. Committee figures show that 36% of TOPS students graduated in four years compared to 18% of others. Also, 63% of TOPS students earned diplomas in six years compared to 38% of others. Officials also said 64% of TOPS recipients complete their college degree requirements. The schools that make up the LSU System account for 37% of TOPS awards versus 1% for the Southern University System. The University of Louisiana System, which includes the University of New Orleans, Southeastern Louisiana University and the University of Louisiana at Lafayette, make up 51% of the total. The TOPS discussion came up during the committee's review of Gov. John Bel Edwards' $3 billion higher education proposal for the financial year that begins July 1. The plan includes $19.8 million for faculty pay raises of about four percent, which would be the first of their kind in 13 years. Faculty pay at four-year colleges ranks 15th of 16 states studied by the Southern Regional Education Board. The average is $71,701 per year, which is nearly $12,000 below the SREB benchmark. State aid per student at four-year schools is last among 14 states counted $4,025 per student. The average is $6,929, according to the SREB. New Delhi: Both present and past CMs of Uttar Pradesh -- Yogi Adityanath and Akhilesh Yadav -- tested positive for Covid-19 as the pandemic spread its tentacles to infect more than 1.84 lakh persons in one day in India. The death toll too has started rising. In the past 24 hours, 1,027 fatalities were recorded as dead bodies piled up for last rites. Pressure is now rising on the government to defer the Uttar Pradesh panchayat polls. In Uttarakhand, facing widespread criticism over the huge maskless crowds at Haridwars Kumbh Mela, the state government is planning to cut short the duration of the religious gathering, where thousands of pilgrims are testing positive every day. With 10 states accounting for 68.16 per cent of the countrys total active cases, the medical health infrastructure is under tremendous pressure -- hospitals are overwhelmed with patients and facing an acute shortage of oxygen, ventilators and Remdesivir injections. Delhis AAP government has attached a number of hotels with hospitals to increase the bed capacity to treat Covid-19 patients. In Odisha, Congress candidate for Pipli byelection Ajit Mangaraj died of Covid-19, while in Mumbai actor Ashutosh Rana tested positive despite having taken the first shot of the Covid vaccine. In view of the short supply of Remdesivir injections, the government has decided to increase production and to reduce prices. The current total installed capacity of the seven manufacturers of Remdesivir is 38.80 lakh vials per month. Fast-track approval has been given for seven additional sites having a production capacity of 10 lakh vials/month to six manufacturers. Another 30 lakh vials/month production is lined up. This would ramp up the production capacity for manufacturing to around 78 lakh vials/month. As an additional measure, Remdesivir, API and formulation were placed under an export ban on April 11 by the DGFT to increase the supply of Remdesivir in the domestic market. On the governments intervention, Remdesivir supplies of approximately four lakh vials meant for export is being diverted by the manufacturers to fulfil domestic demand. The EOU/SEZ units are also being enabled to supply to the domestic market, the chemicals and fertilisers ministry said in a statement. Officials said Remdesivirs manufacturers have volunteered to reduce the price to less than Rs 3,500 by the end of this week. They have also been directed to give priority to fulfil hospital/institutional level supplies and the enforcement authorities have been directed by the DCGI to take immediate action against any blackmarketing, hoarding and attempts to overcharge for Remdesivir injections. Dr Harsh Vardhan, the Union health minister, said that the shortage of Remdesivir injections had happened because its production was reduced as Covid-19 cases were decreasing. Vineeta Pandey New Delhi: Both present and past CMs of Uttar Pradesh -- Yogi Adityanath and Akhilesh Yadav -- tested positive for Covid-19 as the pandemic spread its tentacles to infect more than 1.84 lakh persons in one day in India. The death toll too has started rising. In the past 24 hours, 1,027 fatalities were recorded as dead bodies piled up for last rites. Pressure is now rising on the government to defer the Uttar Pradesh panchayat polls. In Uttarakhand, facing widespread criticism over the huge maskless crowds at Haridwars Kumbh Mela, the state government is planning to cut short the duration of the religious gathering, where thousands of pilgrims are testing positive every day. With 10 states accounting for 68.16 per cent of the countrys total active cases, the medical health infrastructure is under tremendous pressure -- hospitals are overwhelmed with patients and facing an acute shortage of oxygen, ventilators and Remdesivir injections. Delhis AAP government has attached a number of hotels with hospitals to increase the bed capacity to treat Covid-19 patients. In Odisha, Congress candidate for Pipli byelection Ajit Mangaraj died of Covid-19, while in Mumbai actor Ashutosh Rana tested positive despite having taken the first shot of the Covid vaccine. In view of the short supply of Remdesivir injections, the government has decided to increase production and to reduce prices. The current total installed capacity of the seven manufacturers of Remdesivir is 38.80 lakh vials per month. Fast-track approval has been given for seven additional sites having a production capacity of 10 lakh vials/month to six manufacturers. Another 30 lakh vials/month production is lined up. This would ramp up the production capacity for manufacturing to around 78 lakh vials/month. As an additional measure, Remdesivir, API and formulation were placed under an export ban on April 11 by the DGFT to increase the supply of Remdesivir in the domestic market. On the governments intervention, Remdesivir supplies of approximately four lakh vials meant for export is being diverted by the manufacturers to fulfil domestic demand. The EOU/SEZ units are also being enabled to supply to the domestic market, the chemicals and fertilisers ministry said in a statement. Officials said Remdesivirs manufacturers have volunteered to reduce the price to less than Rs 3,500 by the end of this week. They have also been directed to give priority to fulfil hospital/institutional level supplies and the enforcement authorities have been directed by the DCGI to take immediate action against any blackmarketing, hoarding and attempts to overcharge for Remdesivir injections. Dr Harsh Vardhan, the Union health minister, said that the shortage of Remdesivir injections had happened because its production was reduced as Covid-19 cases were decreasing. Vineeta Pandey New Delhi: Both present and past CMs of Uttar Pradesh -- Yogi Adityanath and Akhilesh Yadav -- tested positive for Covid-19 as the pandemic spread its tentacles to infect more than 1.84 lakh persons in one day in India. The death toll too has started rising. In the past 24 hours, 1,027 fatalities were recorded as dead bodies piled up for last rites. Pressure is now rising on the government to defer the Uttar Pradesh panchayat polls. In Uttarakhand, facing widespread criticism over the huge maskless crowds at Haridwars Kumbh Mela, the state government is planning to cut short the duration of the religious gathering, where thousands of pilgrims are testing positive every day. With 10 states accounting for 68.16 per cent of the countrys total active cases, the medical health infrastructure is under tremendous pressure -- hospitals are overwhelmed with patients and facing an acute shortage of oxygen, ventilators and Remdesivir injections. Delhis AAP government has attached a number of hotels with hospitals to increase the bed capacity to treat Covid-19 patients. In Odisha, Congress candidate for Pipli byelection Ajit Mangaraj died of Covid-19, while in Mumbai actor Ashutosh Rana tested positive despite having taken the first shot of the Covid vaccine. In view of the short supply of Remdesivir injections, the government has decided to increase production and to reduce prices. The current total installed capacity of the seven manufacturers of Remdesivir is 38.80 lakh vials per month. Fast-track approval has been given for seven additional sites having a production capacity of 10 lakh vials/month to six manufacturers. Another 30 lakh vials/month production is lined up. This would ramp up the production capacity for manufacturing to around 78 lakh vials/month. As an additional measure, Remdesivir, API and formulation were placed under an export ban on April 11 by the DGFT to increase the supply of Remdesivir in the domestic market. On the governments intervention, Remdesivir supplies of approximately four lakh vials meant for export is being diverted by the manufacturers to fulfil domestic demand. The EOU/SEZ units are also being enabled to supply to the domestic market, the chemicals and fertilisers ministry said in a statement. Officials said Remdesivirs manufacturers have volunteered to reduce the price to less than Rs 3,500 by the end of this week. They have also been directed to give priority to fulfil hospital/institutional level supplies and the enforcement authorities have been directed by the DCGI to take immediate action against any blackmarketing, hoarding and attempts to overcharge for Remdesivir injections. Dr Harsh Vardhan, the Union health minister, said that the shortage of Remdesivir injections had happened because its production was reduced as Covid-19 cases were decreasing. Op-Ed by Brandon Smith It might sound like US exceptionalism to point this out (and how very dare I), but even if the globalist Reset is successful in every other nation on Earth, the globalists are still failures if they cant secure and subjugate the American people. As Ive noted many times in the past, most of the world has been sufficiently disarmed, and even though we are seeing resistance in multiple European nations against forced vaccination legislation and medical tyranny, it is unlikely that they will have the ability to actually repel a full on march into totalitarianism. Most of Asia, India and Australia are already well under control. Africa is almost an afterthought , considering Africa is where many suspect vaccines are tested. America represents the only significant obstacle to the agenda. Conservative Americans in particular have been a thorn in the side of the globalists for generations, and it really comes down to a simple matter of mutual exclusion: You cannot have an openly globalist society and conservative ideals at the same time in the same place. It is impossible. Conservatives believe in limited government, true free markets, individual liberty, the value of life, freedom of speech, private property rights, the right to self defense, the right to self determination, freedom of religion, and the non-aggression principle (we wont harm you unless you try to harm us). None of these ideals can exist in a globalist world because globalism is at its core is the pursuit of a fully centralized tyranny. There are people on this planet that are not satisfied to merely live their lives, take care of their families and make their mark peacefully. They crave power over all else. They desperately want control over you, over me, over everything, and they will use any means at their disposal to get it. I would compare it to a kind of drug addiction; globalists are like crack addicts, they can never get enough power, there is always something more to take. They tell themselves and others that they are philanthropists, that they know what is best for the rest of us. They believe themselves superior and therefore it is their destiny to dictate and micro-manage society for the greater good of us all. But really, when we witness their methods it becomes clear that they have no noble aspirations. They have no empathy or honor. They dont care about the average human being, or the environment, or the economy or society in general. They only care about themselves and their delusions of grandeur. These people are a cancer on the rest of civilization. They seem to be particularly obsessed with deconstructing and sabotaging America in the pursuit of their global Reset. Real philanthropists would not have a problem if someone didnt want to accept their charity, but psychopaths cannot abide a group of people rejecting them and their ideology. You are not allowed to walk away from them. You are not allowed to do things your own way. You must be forced to comply. The agenda only works if EVERYONE submits. Unfortunately for the globalists, the Reset is not working out for them everywhere. In the US, the agenda is failing miserably compared to Asia and parts of Europe. As the head of the World Economic Forum, Klaus Schwab, is so fond of reminding us, the Covid pandemic is the perfect opportunity to push forward the globalist plans for a total Reset of human economy and society. To the globalists, the crisis is a panacea, a doorway to their version of a better world. They love the pandemic, they are not distressed by it. The problem is, its not doing enough damage or terrifying enough people. Consider the Event 201 coronavirus pandemic simulation It was held by the World Economic Forum and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation only two months before the real thing coincidentally happened in early 2020. The pandemic war game was less about saving lives and more about how the elites planned to keep the public under control. The suppression of alternative media and censorship in social media was discussed at great length. Dissenting voices need to be silenced if the Reset is going to prevail. One factor within the Event 201 simulation that never played out, though, was the WEF projections on deaths. The war game suggested at least 65 million initial deaths due to the pandemic. Early projections on the death rate suggested 2% to 3% of the population or more. The same projections were repeated by the UNs World Health Organization when the real pandemic was first revealed to the public. Instead, Covid-19 has been a letdown for the globalists, with a tiny death rate of around 0.26% outside of nursing homes. Meaning, 99.7% of the population has nothing to worry about from covid. Millions of Americans are becoming savvy to the situation and are refusing to comply with mandates over a virus that is a non-threat. Instead of backing off of the Reset scheme, the globalists are continuing to double down. Why? Because they have no other choice. They let the cat out of the bag and bloviating big-mouths like Klaus Schwab told the world exactly what the plan is. If they retreat now, they might NEVER get another chance to implement a world centralization plan; a massive grift which requires medical tyranny in order to prevent rebellion. You see, if the death rate had been dramatically higher than 0.26% and covid represented a legitimate threat, then maybe a larger portion of the US population would have been on board with longer term restrictions and medical passports. Maybe not. The fact remains that 40% of deaths have been in nursing homes among patients with preexisting illnesses, the death rate outside of these facilities is minimal, the mask mandates have been proven completely ineffective and the states that have remained open and removed mask mandates have FALLING death and infection rates when compared to states that are enforcing lockdowns. The fear narrative is falling apart. States across the US are opening and are refusing to implement useless mandates. In my home state of Montana, legislators and the governor are passing laws that forbid the enforcement of medical passports. Even major corporations are not allowed to demand vaccine passports from customers or employees. On top of that, 40% to 50% of the US population in polls are refusing to comply with the vaccine rollout or medical passports. Why take a vaccine for a virus that 99.7% of the population is unaffected by anyway? The jig is up. The globalists are going to need another crisis if they hope to enforce further lockdowns in the US, along with medical passports and disarmament. Do not be surprised if there is more engineered chaos going into the summer months. But what will the next crisis look like? I think we are already seeing the signs Covid Mutations The mainstream media is pushing a non-stop narrative of covid mutation hype. We hear about UK and Brazilian variants on a weekly basis, and the assertion has been that surely, these variants will be more infectious and more deadly that the original virus. There is still no proof whatsoever to confirm this, but the globalists only care about planting the idea in peoples heads. They only care about reigniting the fear. My feeling is that this strategy is going to fail, at least in the US. Too many Americans are aware of the con game, and a new virus threat is not going to have the same effect as Covid-19 did in the early months of the pandemic. None of us really knew what we were facing back then, and caution was a practical response. Today, we know for a fact that covid is not a concern for the vast majority of the public. Media attempts to amp up the threat will be ineffective, but they will of course still try. BLM Riots This is the next obvious tactic on the part of the establishment. Numerous state officials are openly supporting renewed riots across the country due to a recent police shooting in Minnesota. The shooting itself was accidental, with the suspect violently resisting arrest and leaping into his car. A female officer grabbed her pistol in a panic instead of her taser and fired. This event had nothing to do with racism, and nothing to do with police brutality. But, thats not stopping Marxist groups like BLM from taking advantage and making it all about white supremacy. The real danger of unrest, however, will arrive at the closing of the Derek Chauvin trail. With the trail coming to an end, evidence has been revealed that George Floyd was involved in heavy drug use and the medical examiner indicated that this along with heart disease were contributing factors to Floyds death. A speed ball containing Fentanyl was also discovered in the back of the police cruiser in which Floyd was originally restrained. So, even if Derek Chauvins knee to the neck tactic helped kill Floyd, it is unlikely that a jury will convict him of 1st or 2nd degree murder based on the evidence. Any lesser charges will undoubtedly trigger more BLM riots. Conveniently, these powderkeg events are taking place at the onset of the warm spring and summer months, which is prime time for riots. My concern is that civil unrest will be allowed to spread and fester in the US until regular citizens start taking matters into their own hands. And, of course, any community that tries to defend itself against looting and destruction will be accused of racist aggression At which time the Biden Administration will then try to assert the authority to institute martial law measures in various regions. This combined with renewed attempts at covid lockdowns is a highly likely scenario. Cyber Polygon Just as the Event 201 simulation of a coronavirus pandemic preceded the real thing by only two months, there are concerns that the next World Economic Forum simulation event will also be a precursor to another crisis. Cyber Polygon is a war game being held by the WEF this July which is meant to simulate a major cyber attack on the global supply chain and the economic system. There has been endless discussion int the media the past year building up fears of cyber attacks by Russia, China, Iran and even North Korea. In terms of supply chain threats, Im not sure exactly how a cyber attack could do much to disrupt global shipping, unless we are talking about another blockage in a major shipping route like the Suez Canal. But, a successful attack on stock exchanges in places like Wall Street could be devastating. I suggest watching this event carefully as it may be designed to precede a real cyber attack sometime this year. [April 15, 2021] BlackRock Reports First Quarter 2021 Earnings BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE: BLK) today released its financial results for the first quarter of 2021. The company's earnings release and supplemental materials are available via ir.blackrock.com/QuarterlyResults. Teleconference, Webcast and Presentation Information Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Laurence D. Fink, President, Robert S. Kapito, and Chief Financial Officer, Gary S. Shedlin, will host a teleconference call for investors and analysts on Thursday, April 15, 2021 at 8:30 a.m. (Eastern Time). Members of the public who are interested in participating in the teleconference should dial, from the United States, (800) 374-0176, or from outside the United States, (706) 679-8281, shortly before 8:30 a.m. ET and reference the BlackRock Conference Call (ID Number 5079868). A live, listen-only webcast will also be available via the investor relations section of www.blackrock.com. Both the teleconference and webcast will be available for replay by 11:30 a.m. (Eastern Time) on Thursday, April 15, 2021 and ending at midnight on Thursday, April 29, 2021. To access the replay of the teleconference, callers from the United States should dial (855) 859-2056 and callers from outside the United States should dial (404) 537-3406 and enter the Conference ID Number 5079868. To access the webcast, please visit the investor relations section of www.blackrock.com. About BlackRock BlackRock's purpose is to help more and more people experience financial well-being. As a fiduciary to investors and a leading provider of financial technology, we help millions of people build savings that serve them throughout their lives by making investing easier and more affordable. For additional information on BlackRock, please visit www.blackrock.com/corporate | Twitter (News - Alert) : @blackrock | LinkedIn (News - Alert) : www.linkedin.com/company/blackrock View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210415005495/en/ [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] During the early phase of a natural disaster, theres a sense of community building, a feeling that were all in this together, said Dr. Christine Moutier, chief medical officer for the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention. The survival instinct can really kick in front and center. The initial sense of crisis and purpose may have been a source of strength for people around the world. A new study of suicide trends among residents of 10 countries and 11 states or regions with higher incomes found that the number remained largely unchanged or had even declined during the early months of the pandemic, though there were increases in suicide later in the year in some areas. (Another study that has not yet been peer reviewed reported sharp increases in suicide from July to November in Japan, with a greater increase in suicides among women during that time period.) In the United States, the pandemic has taken a starkly disproportionate toll on communities of color: Hispanic, Black and Native Americans, as well as Alaska Natives, are more likely than white Americans to be hospitalized with Covid-19 and to die from it. Two in five Black and Hispanic Americans have lost a close friend or family member to the virus, compared with one in four white adults. People of color have also been pummeled financially, particularly low-wage earners who have lost their jobs and had few resources on which to fall back. Many who remain employed hold jobs that put them at risk of contracting the virus on a daily basis. Anxiety and depression have risen across the board, and many Americans are consumed with worry about their health and that of their families. A recent study found that one in 12 adults has had thoughts of suicide; Hispanic Americans in particular said they were depressed and stressed about keeping a roof over their heads and having enough food to eat. Some Americans plunged into poverty for the first time, shattering their sense of identity and self, said Dr. Brandi Jackson, a psychiatrist who is director of integrative behavioral health at Howard Brown Health in Chicago. News reports about the killings of Black people, from Breonna Taylor and Ahmaud Arbery to the shocking death of George Floyd in May, added to the trauma for Black Americans, Dr. Jackson said. On Wednesday, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 6th Circuit upheld an Ohio law that prohibits doctors from performing an abortion if they know the reason is because the fetus has been diagnosed with Down syndrome. The 97 decision seems to defy the Supreme Courts decisions in Roe v. Wade and Planned Parenthood v. Casey, which found a constitutional right to terminate a pregnancy before viability. Yet the courts conservative judges claimed that those precedents did not necessarily apply here, because Ohio was not simply regulating abortion; the state claimed to be combatting eugenics by protecting disabled fetuses from discrimination. The Supreme Court has never squarely confronted these trait-selection laws, which often forbid abortions because of race or sex as well; while these bans have cropped up around the country in recent years, courts have consistently ruled that they are foreclosed by precedent. The 6th Circuits conservative majority, by contrast, made a bet that todays SCOTUS will weaken or overturn Roe and Casey to uphold Ohios statuteand, perhaps, overturn the constitutional right to abortion in the process. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement To get around precedent, the 6th Circuit drew heavily from Justice Clarence Thomas 2019 solo opinion in Box v. Planned Parenthood, which decried abortion as a tool of modern-day eugenics. A lower courts heavy reliance on a lone concurring opinion may seem odd. But, in an article published in the Harvard Law Review just two days before the 6th Circuits ruling, New York University law professor Melissa Murray presciently anticipated Thomas impact on anti-abortion jurisprudence. By tethering abortion to the eugenics movement, Murray wrote, Thomas had not just provided a justification for trait-selection laws, but laid the groundwork for overruling Roe and Casey on the grounds that they are tainted by discrimination. I spoke with Murray on Thursday about her article, the 6th Circuits decision, and the impact of Thomas Box concurrence on the future of abortion rights. Our conversation has been edited condensed for clarity. Advertisement Mark Joseph Stern: Lets start with Thomas concurrence in Box. What was his argument? Melissa Murray: Justice Thomas concurrence in Box provided a defense of trait-selection laws that really called into question Roe and Casey because it framed these laws as anti-discrimination or anti-eugenics measures, and suggested that Casey and Roe had nothing to say about them. Then there was all of this discussion about race. Justice Thomas was leaning into this racialized history of eugenics and specifically associating the history of abortion with the history of birth control and the movement that Margaret Sanger led in the 1920s and 1930s, which in recent years has been criticized for its affiliations with the eugenics movement. Advertisement That got my attention because the history of birth control is quite distinct from the history of abortion regulations. And in fact, the racialized politics of abortion regulation run the other way. Theres significant historical research that the effort to regulate and restrict abortion after the Civil War was fueled by anxiety that Black women and immigrant women were outpacing their white sisters in reproduction. Abortion restrictions were fueled by the fear that white women were using abortion and, as a consequence, were not having as many children, and the white race was about to be overwhelmed by African Americans and immigrants. This was demographic anxiety about the changing complexion of the United States and the diminution in the white birthrate. Thomas tried to graft the history of abortion onto the history of birth control, but they are not the same thing. I dont think its fair or accurate to conflate them. Advertisement Subscribe to the Slatest Newsletter A daily email update of the stories you need to read right now. 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. You write that another recent case, Ramos v. Louisiana, intersects with Box to turbocharge Thomas argument. Can you explain that? Ramos is a case that challenged Louisianas policy of allowing criminal convictions to proceed from a nonunanimous jury verdict. Its not the first time the court had taken up that question; they had done so before in 1972. Now the court was dealing with this question again, and this time there is all this historical evidence that the nonunanimous jury rule was steeped in the post-Reconstruction effort to diffuse the power of Black jurors and to entrench white supremacy throughout the South. So, there is very clear racial residue around it. In striking down nonunanimous jury rule, the court noted how steeped this was in this history of white supremacy. Advertisement Advertisement Ramos was a really significant development when paired with Thomas Box concurrence. It laid out a path for not simply upholding these trait-selection laws, but also for using a challenge to a trait-selection law as a vehicle for revisiting Roe and ultimately dismantling and overruling Roe on the ground that it perpetuates racial injustice. And in his Box concurrence, Thomas also talks about the disability aspectthe idea is that abortion could have eugenic potential because it could keep certain parts of the population who are deemed unfit from reproducing in the future. It could be African Americans you believe to be unfit, or those with disability. He specifically invokes the example of Iceland, where through abortionwhich is state-facilitated and subsidizedtheyve basically rooted out all incidents of Down syndrome. Advertisement That brings us to the 6th Circuits decision, which upheld a law banning abortions because of Down syndrome. How did the majority draw from Thomas Box opinion? Thomas Box concurrence essentially invited more litigation on the question of abortion and eugenics, and hes getting what he solicits in an opinion like this. He seeded this narrative and now youre seeing it take root and flower. In the 6th Circuit decision, the majority and almost all of the concurrences cited Thomas opinion in Box. Judges John Bush and Richard Griffins concurrences really leaned into this idea that abortion has eugenic potential. And specifically, this idea that when women seek an abortion for the purpose of avoiding having a child with Down syndrome, theyre basically engaging in a kind of modern-day eugenics program that is undifferentiated from state-sponsored sterilization programs. The 6th Circuit concurrences say there is nothing distinguishable about a state program of sterilization abuse and the individual choice to terminate a pregnancy. The two are coextensive and indistinguishable according to these concurrences. Advertisement Advertisement Judge Julia Smith Gibbons, in her dissent, argues that this is apples to oranges. Theres a real difference between a state sterilizing the feeble-minded in Buck v. Bell and an individual womans decision to terminate a pregnancy because of a fetal anomaly or diagnosis. But thats not the language of the Box concurrence, nor is it the language of the 6th Circuit concurrences. Theyre very much like, this is eugenics, and if it can be deployed here to avoid the prospect of Down syndrome, it can also be deployed in these other ways potentially to deracinate entire scores of the population. You call Thomas history, which obviously influenced the 6th Circuits decision, masculinist. What do you mean by that? Advertisement Black men are the ones who historically have been making this claim about abortion and family planning being tools of state-sponsored genocide. These were arguments that Pan-Africanists like Marcus Garvey made in the 1920s and 1930s. Those same arguments were reprised by the Nation of Islam and Black Panthers and Black Nationalists in the 1960s and 1970s. They were primarily invoked by the men within those movements, and the women in those movements often registered their objections. They would say: The state-sponsored genocide were concerned about is not abortion or contraception but the fact that Mississippi and North Carolina are maintaining entire systems of state-sponsored sterilization that are bringing Black women into their ambit. Were worried about the conditions in which women of color are raising their children. Were worried about state violence against Black and brown children. We dont see abortion and contraception as the genocide. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Thomas has coopted the masculinist narrative but completely sidelined the feminist objections being raised alongside the arguments in the 1960s and 1970s. He has really limited and cherry-picked the people whose voices he wants to highlight. Do you think the 6th Circuit did, too? In her dissent from the 6th Circuit decision, Judge Karen Nelson Moore takes her colleagues in the majority to task for this. She essentially says: You want to be historians? Well, historians use primary sources. Maybe you should cite one of those. Im going to cite some primary sources. Its really easy to do. Can you even find a primary source for this? And lo and behold, they dont. What are the odds that the Supreme Court itself uses this bad history to hobble or overrule Roe and Casey? Advertisement First you need a case that gets to the Supreme Court. And I think the 6th Circuit may just have done that. Now there is a circuit split on the question of whether these trait-selection laws are unconstitutional under Casey. That may truly provide a vehicle for getting a case to the court. And once it gets to the court, it opens up a larger question about whether Roe continues to be good law. And if you have this narrative thats been raised repeatedly in those concurrences in the 6th Circuit that abortion has eugenic potential. Once youve credited that idea, you can begin to line up the arguments against Roe. In light of Ramos, I think theres an opening to think about whether Roe is rooted in this earlier history of eugenics and the possibility of deracination and is part of a genocidal plot. And suddenly youre in business. Advertisement Advertisement As you point out in your article, Amy Coney Barrett joined an opinion suggesting trait-selection bans are constitutional while serving on the court of appeals. Do you think the stars are aligning for abortion opponents with this case? I think one of the reasons why so many were keen to have Barrett on the court was to replace Justice Ruth Ginsburg with a woman who has pro-life sensibilities in the event there was an opportunity to overrule Roe. Then it wouldnt look like all the conservative men were striking down Roe with all the women in dissent. Now you have a woman with conservative sensibilities who is very clearly skeptical of abortion rights. I think that was a big part of her appeal as a nominee and as a prospective justice. I think the time is right. Shes in the right place. The rest of the court is in the right place. I dont know what else stands in the way. ATLANTA, April 15, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- CryoLife, Inc. (NYSE: CRY), a leading cardiac and vascular surgery company focused on aortic disease, announced today that first quarter 2021 financial results will be released on Thursday, April 29, 2021 after the market closes. On that day, the Company will hold a teleconference call and live webcast at 4:30 p.m. ET to discuss the results, followed by a question and answer session hosted by Pat Mackin, Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer of CryoLife, Inc. To listen to the live teleconference, please dial 201-689-8261 a few minutes prior to 4:30 p.m. ET. A replay of the teleconference will be available April 29 through May 6, 2021 and can be accessed by calling (toll free) 877-660-6853 or 201-612-7415. The conference number for the replay is 13718912. The live webcast and replay can be accessed in the Investor Relations section of the CryoLife website at www.cryolife.com and selecting Webcasts & Presentations. In addition, a copy of the earnings press release, which will contain financial and statistical information for the completed quarter and full year, can be accessed in the Investor Relations section of the CryoLife website. About CryoLife, Inc. Headquartered in suburban Atlanta, Georgia, CryoLife is a leader in the manufacturing, processing, and distribution of medical devices and implantable tissues used in cardiac and vascular surgical procedures focused on aortic repair. CryoLife markets and sells products in more than 100 countries worldwide. For additional information about CryoLife, visit our website, www.cryolife.com. Contacts: CryoLife D. Ashley Lee Executive Vice President, Chief Financial Officer and Chief Operating Officer Phone: 770-419-3355 Gilmartin Group LLC Brian Johnston / Lynn Lewis Phone: 631-807-1986 [email protected] SOURCE CryoLife, Inc. Related Links http://www.cryolife.com Texans would be able to carry handguns in public places without a license under a bill that was approved by the state House of Representatives on Thursday. Republican lawmakers are pushing to make Texas the largest of about 20 states to adopt the so-called constitutional carry law. The measure, which passed largely along party lines, is a win for the states conservative faction, which has promised to uphold Texas reputation as a pro-Second Amendment state even as Democratic President Joe Biden pushes for tighter gun restrictions. Under House Bill 1927, those 21 and older would not be required to pass a training class and hold a permit to carry a handgun in public. The bill does not apply to anyone with a criminal record. This bill should be called common sense carry because this law is about common, law-abiding citizens being able to carry commonly owned handguns in common public places for the common reason of personal and family protection, said State Rep. Matt Schaefer, R-Tyler, the sponsor of the measure, as he introduced the bill Thursday morning. It passed, 84-56. Legislators spent seven hours debating the bill and sparred over more than a dozen proposed amendments, including one that would have lowered the eligibility age to 18 and two that would have explicitly barred domestic terrorists and white supremacists from carrying handguns in public. All three of those were rejected. Advocates filled the House gallery at the start of the debate. Members of Moms Demand Action and Gun Owners of America sat in separate sections of the chamber, both sides wearing shirts promoting their causes. Democrats wore red ribbons on the House floor to remember victims of gun violence. Faith leaders who oppose the bill were escorted out of the chamber by security about an hour into the debate as they began reciting the Lords Prayer. The group sang Amazing Grace as it left. Victory in the House! the Texas State Rifle Association wrote in an email blast to its supporters about six hours later. The Texas Senate must also pass the bill, and Gov. Greg Abbott has to sign it, before it becomes law. Dallas PD chief: It makes us less safe. Democrats and other critics have said the measure could lead to increased crime and gun violence. In a series of tweets Thursday afternoon, the Texas House Democratic Caucus referenced mass shootings that have occurred in Texas, calling it unconscionable to take up a permitless carry bill while declining to consider legislation to close loopholes in background checks and limit use of semi-automatic weapons. Those reforms, they say, would make Texas safer and prevent future tragedies. In August 2019, a gunman shot and killed 23 people at an El Paso Walmart. Four weeks later, another shooting occurred in Midland-Odessa, when a gunman driving through West Texas killed seven people and injured 25 others. Both were armed with semi-automatic rifles. Our focus needs to be on passing laws to ensure every Texan with a gun is safe and responsible with it, not gutting the systems that keep guns out of dangerous hands, the Democratic caucus wrote. We will fight hard on the floor today to give Texans the leadership they deserve on this issue. State Rep. Joe Moody, D-El Paso, introduced an amendment to strike the enacting clause of the bill in an effort to effectively kill it. In his remarks, he recalled hearing news of the El Paso shooting, telling his colleagues that he is so tired of doing nothing to improve Texas gun safety laws. The amendment failed, 63-79. In a separate interaction, State Rep. Carl Sherman, D-DeSoto, grilled Schaefer on the bills impact on Texas communities of color. Black and Latino Texans are already unfairly perceived as threats, Sherman said, and he fears the constitutional carry bill could make everyday life more unsafe for all people of color. I implore you to consider the other parts of your district and the entire state of Texas, Sherman said. We are very diverse, and every law that we pass here affects every family. The bill also faces opposition from prominent Texas law enforcement officers, who gathered outside the state Capitol in Austin on Tuesday to protest the legislation. This bill does not make officers more safe, Dallas Police Chief Eddie Garcia said. It makes us less safe. Schaefer and other bill supporters have argued that the legislation would not dilute any Texas law addressing misuse of firearms or criminal behavior. It does not address background checks required for firearm sales or other gun control issues, and it would not alter any existing laws preventing people from taking firearms into schools, airports or other sensitive locations. Rather, the legislation would improve access to firearms for individuals who find themselves in life-threatening situations and want to protect themselves, Schaefer said. The time it takes to get a permit could be a matter of life and death for some people, and Texans cant expect law enforcement officers to be present at every dangerous situation, he said: The simple truth is, criminals dont care about our gun laws. The House deliberations came just a day after the Texas Senate overwhelmingly passed Senate Bill 20, which would make it legal for gun owners to bring weapons into their hotel rooms. Supporters of the bill say currently licensed gun owners have to leave their guns in their cars in hotel parking lots, making them a target for car thieves. Jeremy Wallace contributed reporting. cayla.harris@express-news.net (Natural News) All across Minneapolis, Black Lives Matter (BLM) terrorists are rioting, looting and destroying property in a show of solidarity for Daunte Wright, a black man who was shot by police after resisting arrest during a traffic stop. Those seeking to find information about these riots on Google, however, are being met with censorship. According to reports, Google is censoring the search terms riots and riots today, preventing users from learning the truth about the systemic violence and anti-white racism that underpins the BLM movement. Google would rather you believe that the riots are peaceful protests. We Are Changes Luke Rudkowski tweeted a pair of screenshots showing what comes up on DuckDuckGo when searching for riots today compared to what shows up on Google. The contrast is striking. The first four stories that appear in the News section on DuckDuckGo are all about the protests that erupted in and around Minneapolis after the shooting. On Google, however, the first four stories are about the Jan. 6 false flag insurrection and the Brixton riots from 40 years ago. Microsofts Bing pulls up similar results as DuckDuckGo, suggesting that Google is the only major search engine censoring stories about the riots from its search platforms. Googles new motto should read: Be completely evil if it advances the communist agenda As for social media, Twitter is trying to censor content about the riots as well. Similarly to Google, the Big Tech platform wants its users to believe that only protests are occurring in Minnesota, and peaceful ones at that. Even Resident Joe Biden admits that violence and looting is not a legitimate form of protest, but Google and Twitter are unconcerned with the facts. Once again, despite the fact that Wrights killing is blatantly being exploited by opportunistic thugs to commit crimes that have nothing to do with justice or peaceful protest, the media and the Big Tech establishment continue to run defense for violent BLM-inspired scumbags, reported Zero Hedge. Commentator Paul Joseph Watson tweeted that the world should ready itself for another round of articles aiming to justify the violence and looting as a legitimate form of protest. Why burning down small businesses and looting Nike for the latest Air Max is a legitimate form of protest, Watson wrote jokingly about a hypothetical mainstream media headline that is sure to emerge. At this point, the conscientious and cognizant among us are already well aware of the fact that Google and Twitter tweak the news, along with access to it, in order to push an agenda. Many who regularly use these two platforms, however, still have no idea what is being veiled from them. Google is no longer a search engine, it turns out, and neither is Twitter. These two tech platforms are nothing more than propaganda engines that generate and churn out government-approved lies for mass consumption. Dont be evil has turned into be completely evil if it advances the communist agenda,' joked one Zero Hedge commenter, contrasting Googles longtime Dont be evil mission statement to how the Silicon Valley giant actually operates in real life. Who is organizing and funding the violence and rioting? Who pays their travel expenses, prepositioned rioting supplies, etc.? Could it be that the Ruling Class criminals at Google and other Tech companies are both funding and organizing the violence? asked another. Dont bother asking the corrupt and incompetent denizens of the Federal Bureau of Investigation. It took them many decades to discover that there were organized interstate criminal organizations operating in the United States. More related news stories about Google and Twitter silencing the truth can be found at Censorship.news. Sources for this article include: ZeroHedge.com NaturalNews.com Presidents Vladimir Putin of Russia and Alexander Lukashenko of Belarus in a phone call expressed determination to boost allied ties between the two countries, the Kremlin press service said in a statement on Thursday. "[The presidents] discussed pressing issues on the bilateral agenda. The parties expressed mutual determination to boost allied ties between Russia and Belarus in all areas," the statement reads. According to the Kremlin press service, Putin and Lukashenko also touched upon efforts to resolve the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict in connection with the Belarusian presidents visit to Azerbaijan on April 13-14. The two presidents agreed to maintain contact at various levels. The Belarusian presidential press service, in turn, said that the focus of the conversation had been on enhancing Belarus-Russia relations. "The presidents also exchanged views on international issues and considered the schedule of future meetings," the press service said. The White House is naming Tommy Beaudreau, a former Obama administration official, to be deputy secretary at the Interior Department after dropping plans for a more liberal nominee who faced key Senate opposition. President Joe Biden on Wednesday nominated Beaudreau, a former chief of staff at the department who was the first director of the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management. The agency, created after the disastrous BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico in 2010, oversees offshore drilling and wind power. Beaudreau grew up in Alaska and is politically close to Republican Sen. Lisa Murkowski, a former chair of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee who holds great sway over oil drilling, endangered species and other department issues. Murkowski and West Virginia Sen. Joe Manchin, a Democrat who now heads that committee, opposed Biden's plan to nominate former Interior Department official Elizabeth Klein as deputy secretary. Murkowski and Manchin told the White House they were concerned that the progressive Klein would not be a sufficient counterweight to new Interior Secretary Deb Haaland, a former Democratic congresswoman from New Mexico who has criticized the oil and gas industry. Beaudreaus appointment is widely seen as an attempt to win favor with Murkowski and Manchin, moderates who are vital to a number of Biden's priorities, including his $2.3 trillion infrastructure and clean energy plan. Murkowski was one of four GOP senators who voted in favor of Haaland, the first Native American to lead a Cabinet department, but said she struggled with her decision, citing Haalands views on oil drilling and other resource development. Manchin also hesitated for weeks before announcing his support for Haaland. Beaudreau is a lawyer in the Washington office of Latham & Watkins and a member of the firms Environment, Land & Resources Department. He told E&E News in a 2013 interview that growing up in Alaska was crucial to his role at the Interior Department. I know how important resource development is to the state. Its the economic blood of the state. But I also know how important the outdoors are to everyone in Alaska. Everyone in Alaska wants to see that preserved and protected, he said. Beaudreau later served as acting assistant secretary and as chief of staff under then-Secretary Sally Jewell. Klein also served at the department during the Obama administration, working on renewable energy and climate change. Most recently, she was deputy director of an environmental center at New York University School of Law. Biden is expected next week to nominate Tracy Stone-Manning, a former top aide to ex-Montana Gov. Steve Bullock, to lead the Bureau of Land Management, according to a person with knowledge of the plan but who was not authorized to discuss the matter publicly before the official announcement and spoke on condition of anonymity. The BLM oversees nearly a quarter-billion acres of public rangeland and wilderness, primarily in Western states. She left Bullocks office in 2017 for a senior post at the National Wildlife Federation, where she led the environmental groups public lands conservation efforts and was an outspoken critic of Trump administration actions to expand oil and gas drilling and mining. She previously was director of Montanas environmental quality agency, and worked as an aide to Sen. Jon Tester, D-Mont., and as director of an environmental group. Klein will remain as a senior adviser at the Interior Department, along with Jennifer Van der Heide, who is serving as chief of staff but is being demoted to senior counselor this month. Van der Heide ran into problems with the White House after she pushed for a large, indoor celebration for Haaland's confirmation during the COVID-19 pandemic. Larry Roberts, a former acting assistant secretary for Indian Affairs, will become Haalands chief of staff. Haaland defended Klein and Van der Heide in an interview with reporters this month, calling them two tremendous women. They're dedicated public servants and I look forward to both of them remaining on my senior staff and ... working with them for many years. (Disclaimer: This story is auto-generated from a syndicated feed; only the image & headline may have been reworked by www.republicworld.com) Engaging in household chores may be beneficial for brain health in older adults. In a recent Baycrest study, older adults who spent more time on household chores showed greater brain size, which is a strong predictor of cognitive health. "Scientists already know that exercise has a positive impact on the brain, but our study is the first to show that the same may be true for household chores," says Noah Koblinsky, lead author of the study, Exercise Physiologist and Project Coordinator at Baycrest's Rotman Research Institute (RRI). "Understanding how different forms of physical activity contribute to brain health is crucial for developing strategies to reduce the risk of cognitive decline and dementia in older adults." In this study, published in the journal BMC Geriatrics, the researchers looked at the links between household chores, brain volume and cognition in a group of 66 cognitively healthy older adults living in the community. The participants attended three assessment visits at Baycrest Hospital, including a health evaluation, structural brain imaging and cognitive assessment. Participants were asked about the time they spent on household chores, such as tidying, dusting, meal preparation and clean up, shopping, heavy housework, yard work, home repairs and caregiving. The researchers found that older adults who spent more time engaging in such activities had greater brain volume, regardless of how much exercise they did. This was observed in the hippocampus, which plays a major role in memory and learning, and the frontal lobe, which is involved in many aspects of cognition. Although it is possible that individuals with larger brains are more likely to take up household chores, there could be several explanations for the brain benefits of household physical activity. First, we know that heart health is closely tied to brain health. It could be that household chores have a similar effect on the heart and blood vessels as low-intensity aerobic exercise. Second, the planning and organization involved in household chores may promote the formation of new neural connections over time, even as we age. Third, it could be that the older adults who engaged in more household chores spent less time being sedentary, which has been shown to be associated with negative health outcomes, including poor brain health. "Besides helping to guide physical activity recommendations for older adults, these findings may also motivate them to be more active, since household chores are a natural and often necessary aspect of many people's daily lives, and therefore appear more attainable," says Dr. Nicole Anderson, Senior Scientist at the RRI, Director of the Ben and Hilda Katz Interprofessional Research Program in Geriatric and Dementia Care, and senior author of this study. This study was funded in part by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR). As a next step, the researchers would like to assess household physical activity more objectively using wearable technology. With additional funding, they could also plan controlled trials with the aim of increasing individuals' household activity and studying brain changes over time. ### About Baycrest Baycrest is a global leader in geriatric residential living, healthcare, research, innovation and education, with a special focus on brain health and aging. Baycrest is home to a robust research and innovation network, including one of the world's top research institutes in cognitive neuroscience, the Rotman Research Institute; the scientific headquarters of the Canadian Consortium on Neurodegeneration in Aging, Canada's largest national dementia research initiative; and the Baycrest-powered Centre for Aging + Brain Health Innovation, a solution accelerator focused on driving innovation in the aging and brain health sector. Fully affiliated with the University of Toronto, Baycrest provides excellent care for older adults combined with an extensive clinical training program for the next generation of healthcare professionals. Through these initiatives, Baycrest has remained at the forefront of the fight to defeat dementia as our organization works to create a world where every older adult enjoys a life of purpose, inspiration and fulfilment. Founded in 1918 as the Toronto Jewish Old Folks Home, Baycrest continues to embrace the long-standing tradition of all great Jewish healthcare institutions to improve the well-being of people in their local communities and around the globe. For more information please visit: http://www. baycrest. org About Baycrest's Rotman Research Institute The Rotman Research Institute at Baycrest is a premier international centre for the study of human brain function. Through generous support from private donors and funding agencies, the institute is helping to illuminate the causes of cognitive decline in seniors, identify promising approaches to treatment and lifestyle practices that will protect brain health longer in the lifespan. A majority of Americans said they would back President Joe Bidens $2 trillion infrastructure proposal as long as corporations paid for it, according to a poll released Wednesday. The plan was backed by 53% in a Quinnipiac University Poll, with 39% in opposition. Biden proposed paying for it by increasing the corporate income tax to 28% from 21%, still below the 35% level before Donald Trump and congressional Republicans enacted their tax law. But if money for infrastructure was to come via user fees such as gasoline taxes, then support dropped to 44%, with 38% opposed. The presidents infrastructure bill, a $2 trillion national makeover, gets a lukewarm go ahead from Americans, but a warmer reception when the suggestion that big corporations, not taxpayers, should be forced to front the funding, Quinnipiac Polling Analyst Tim Malloy said. In addition, 62% supported raising taxes on corporations and 64% backed taxes on people earning more than $400,000 a year. Opposition to both proposals was 31%. The infrastructure plan also drew majority support on Thursday in the NPR/PBS Newshour/Marist College Poll, where 56% of Americans backed it and 34% opposed it. Most Americans find that Bidens infrastructure proposal falls well within their comfort zone, Marist Poll Director Lee Miringoff said. In that survey, 65% favored raising taxes on the rich to pay for it, almost double the 33% who opposed it. There was much less enthusiasm for raising corporate taxes, with 49% supporting it and 46% in opposition. Congressional Republicans have criticized both the size of the infrastructure proposal and the idea of raising taxes on corporations to pay for it. Biden has said he was willing to negotiate on both the size of the bill and how to fund it, but insisted that the proposal be fully funded and said he did not want to raise the gas tax, which would have the biggest impact on lower-income individuals. Besides roads and bridges, Bidens proposal also funds rail, including the Gateway Tunnel project under the Hudson River, high-speed internet connections, housing, charging stations for electric cars, and higher salaries for caregivers under Medicaid. Republicans also opposed Bidens $1.9 trillion coronavirus stimulus law, including its $1,400 checks, but most Americans supported the legislation then and now. In a Monmouth University survey also released Wednesday, 63% of Americans supported the bill with 34% in opposition. Just 27% of Americans supported the job Republicans in Congress were doing in the Quinnipiac poll, with 63% opposed. The Democrats job approval raring 43% positive and 49% negative. As for Biden, 48% approved of his performance in office and 42% disapproved. The Quinnipiac poll of 1,237 adults was conducted April 8-12 with a margin of error of plus or minus 2.8 percentage points. The Monmouth survey of 800 adults also was conducted April 8-12 with a margin of error of plus or minus 3.5 percentage points. The Marist poll of 1,266 adults was conducted April 7-13 and had a margin of error of plus or minus 3.5 percentage points. Our journalism needs your support. Please subscribe today to NJ.com. Jonathan D. Salant may be reached at jsalant@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him at @JDSalant. Start your day with the latest from Trenton, D.C. and your town. Get the N.J. Politics newsletter now. New Delhi, April 15 : The Supreme Court on Thursday said some allegations levelled against judges are shockingly false, as it heard a plea seeking appointment of ad-hoc or additional judges to High Court as per Article 224A of the Constitution. A special bench headed by Chief Justice S.A. Bobde and comprising Justices Sanjay Kishan Kaul and Surya Kant emphasised that the position of a judge has to be made secure. "We have seen allegations against judges which are shockingly false..You can easily knock out a judge if there is no security. There has to be security of tenure for ad hoc judges," it noted. In a measure to reduce the pendency of cases, the top court has voiced its support for tenure of two or more years for ad hoc judges if they are appointed in High Courts. The bench said that frivolous complaints are often made when a judge is appointed, as it emphasised that it cannot put the entire system of appointment of ad hoc judges in question. Article 224-A says that "the Chief Justice of a High Court for any State may at any time, with the previous consent of the President, request any person who has held the office of a Judge of that Court or of any other High Court to sit and act as a Judge of the High Court for that State". During the hearing, the bench noted that ad hoc judges cannot be made vulnerable. The bench also did not agree with the contention of senior advocate Vikas Singh and other counsel that many former judges may not show interest, rather they would be more interested in other lucrative fields like arbitration. "We think this decision should be left to the former judges. We cannot decide for them," the bench noted. It added that if retired judge thinks he has something better to take up, then the judge could simply decline the appointment. "If an ad hoc judge is appointed, then regular cases can be dealt by him and the Chief Justice can focus on important constitutional issues." The observations were made by the bench while hearing arguments on the modalities of appointments of ad hoc judges raised in a plea filed by NGO Lok Prahari. The petitioner sought appointment of additional judges in the high courts under Article 224A in order to reduce the pendency of cases. After a detailed hearing in the matter, the top court has reserved the verdict. 100 years ago 1921 Mechanicsville: Mrs. Ludwig, of Reading, returned home after spending a few days here as the guest of her sister, Mrs. John Holman, who accompanied her home. 75 years ago 1946 Recent robberies of two homes on Mahantongo Street, Pottsville, were solved by local police Saturday by the arrest of a West Arch Street man. 50 years ago 1971 Cortez E. Fisk, director of th Bureau of Building Constructions, State Department of Education, will deliver the address for the dedication of Pottsville of Pottsville Areas D.H.H. Lengel Middle School Sunday afternoon. 25 years ago 1996 A tranquil hush hung in the air as the rippling Little Schuylkill River followed its natural course alongside the greening forest near New Ringgold. Up and down the crystal-clear river bed, a handful of anglers scattered about in water to their hips. Among them was Matthew G. Snukis, who was casting his line, then slowly and every so enticingly skipping a wet fly back and forth across the water in a never-ending rhythm. Lurking under the cool, rippling water a 12-inch rainbow trout considers the alluring wet fly. Back and forth the fish swims until it is confident that the inviting insect is for real and takes a huge bite. Above the surface, Snukis beaming face displays his childlike glee while he expertly reels the prize of the morning in for a look. Packs of freshly printed 20 USD notes are processed for bundling and packaging at the US Treasury's Bureau of Engraving and Printing in DC on July 20, 2018. (Eva Hambach/AFP via Getty Images) In the States, COVID Spending Heads Off to the (Robo-Dog) Races One robot dog armed with a thermometer: $150,000. Forty all-terrain vehicles, five utility terrain vehicles, and 18 utility trailers: $626,000. Using public funds earmarked for coronavirus relief to buy these items: priceless. Thats just a fraction of supposedly COVID-related spending by a single police department, in Honolulu, Hawaii. But it hints at what authorities will find as they begin to comb through the receipts from the emergency spending binge of public offices across the country during the pandemic. In March 2020, Congress passed the roughly $2 trillion Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act, or CARES Act. Government watchdogs, critics and the media have so far focused on federal loans to businesses and unemployment scams, finding hundreds of millions of squandered dollars. Less scrutinized is how state and local offices themselves deployed the money. Also tapped were the emergency funds of some states, again opening the door to misspending that will be examined in the coming months. Already, early examinations by state auditors are exposing spending carelessness and abuses. In Michigan, auditors compiled a summary questioning $10 million in spending between March through August 2020. The probe found insufficient documentation for purchases of masks, beds, and face shields, a $321,000 payment to a state university unrelated to COVID, $5.1 million paid to a vendor after a contract was canceled, and an unspecified loss from a $5.5 million order for medical gowns. As the coronavirus pandemic unfolded in March 2020, Michigan in an emergency move wired $96.9 million for personal protective equipment to vendors before the gear was received, in violation of prescribed financial procedures. While conducting one such transaction, a vendors bank cautioned Michigan that the relevant account was flagged, according to the state audit, without going into further detail. The state ignored the warning and proceeded with a $4.9 million transfer. The vendor immediately initiated a large cash withdrawal of the money, according to a state audit. Michigan had been swindled. While it was able to recoup most of the money, it took a $25,000 loss. Under Democrat Governor Gretchen Whitmer, Michigan has combined some of the most onerous coronavirus-based restrictions in the U.S. with some of the highest infection rates. But its not unusual among states in managing to misuse taxpayer money. Oregon received $1.6 billion in CARES money, and its audit office in October noted that one small city, unnamed in its report, requested reimbursement for payroll costs related to the virus for as much as other cities five to six times its size, even though the USA Facts data indicates its countys COVID-19 incidence rate is relatively low. Oregons audit office also found that several cities used CARES funding to cover their entire law enforcement and public health payrolls. The states office of inspector general, which would normally investigate such practices, appears to have settled on this approach being allowed as an administrative convenience with no documentation required beyond substantiation of position and payroll costs, the review stated. In California, State Auditor Elaine Howle in an August note to Gov. Gavin Newsom and several state lawmakers said the spending of its $15.3 billion in CARES Act funds was at high risk for fraud and misuse. The CARES Act money the state was given, she said, was being managed by 18 departments, some of which had previously botched handling federal money. These past audit findings highlight issues with departments abilities to manage federal funds appropriately even before the significant influx of federal COVID19 funding, Howle wrote. In Vermont, State Auditor Doug Hoffer sent a written appeal in June 2020 to the head of appropriations in each state chamber, seeking cooperation in tracking the spending of the $1.2 billion in CARES Act funds allocated to the state. I understand the desire to get aid to Vermonters, but Im concerned that the Legislatures COVID-19 spending proposals lack sufficient accountability provisions, Hoffer told the officials. The $150 billion in collective federal CARES relief to the states came with seemingly straightforward instructions: Spending had to relate directly to COVID-19; it could not be part of any budget approved before March 27, 2020; and costs had to have been incurred in the calendar year 2020. A Dec. 30, 2020, deadline to spend the money was ultimately extended to year-end 2021. But to some state lawmakers and agencies, the instructions were open to interpretation. This was reflected even in widely varying rules concerning the mere tracking of the spending itself, which appears in some cases to have been done haphazardly. A review of audits conducted within various states reveals widespread unmonitored spending. Michigan auditors blame a lack of preparedness for the poor performance. The purchasing environment during this time was chaotic and, if not cautious, there was a huge amount of risk for fraud, Christyn Herman, a spokeswoman for the Michigan Department of Technology, Management, and Budget, which oversees spending, said in an email. Unknown vendors, distributors, and manufacturers were entering the market with products that we needed. Our team vetted each new lead and performed reference checks with known, reputable sources before moving forward on any transaction. But RealClearInvestigations faced delay and resistance to its routine request for records related to the $25,000 loss to the vendor, even though the state previously provided the records to the auditor. In response to a Freedom of Information Act request, the Department of Technology, Management, and Budget claims it will take 19 hours to retrieve the records, and asks for $596 to re-conduct the search. The Center for Public Integrity, an investigative journalism organization, has deemed Michigan one of the worst states in the U.S. with regard to transparency. The state auditors office and the governors office did not respond to emails seeking an interview. Auditors in other states expressed concerns about the accounting of COVID money early on in the pandemic. A financial review by the Hawaii auditors office reported in October that the states Department of Budget and Finance allowed the agencies and offices that received Hawaiis $1.2 billion in federal COVID relief funding to police themselves in spending it. We have strong reservations about delegating such oversight to the departments and counties, State Auditor Leslie Kondo wrote in his report. His fears were realized with the discovery that the Honolulu Police Department spent part of its $16.5 million in CARES Act money on some 100 new vehicles and the $150,000 robot dog. What did that dog have to do with the coronavirus? Deputy Police Chief John McCarthy told a local news outlet in an email that the battery-powered quadruped, called Spot, will help to mitigate the spread of COVID-19 through touchless field screening and interaction with homeless individuals in self-quarantine. Kondo said his office had offered to help coordinate spending of the CARES Act money, but was rebuffed. The Budget and Finance Department thought they had it under control, Kondo said. But there was this scramble to spend and distribute this money and we wanted to do some real-time audit work to make sure there were controls in place. Most other states have yet to scrutinize their spending. Still others claim to be tracking spending, but show little effort at assessing the content of itthat is, whether and which transactions may have been wasteful or fraudulent. West Virginias auditing office states on its website that it is monitoring the spending of relief funds, but has done no audit of the money. Other states have established portals, in select cases allowing the public to see who the recipients are. While the portals allow taxpayers to know where the money went, they fail to disclose whether the money was used for its intended purpose. Hoffer, the Vermont auditor, suggests that beyond the problems of tracking, politicians could naturally have assumed that the strings that came with the federal funding were loosely tied. To say it has to be related to COVID sounds simple, but put some lawmakers together and they say, Wow, all this money. Can we use it for X? said Hoffer. He cautioned legislators to be watchful over spending the $1.2 billion in CARES Act funding the state received, or face consequences later on. It could be months, even years, before any misspending is discovered, said Nathan Benefield, vice president of the Commonwealth Foundation, a right-leaning Pennsylvania-based think tank, and if you have to pay it back, the state has to come up with revenue to do that. This article was written by Steve Miller for RealClearInvestigations. South City Hospital Our purpose is to provide our partners sensible, progressive technology that helps them work to a higher standard. We only succeed when our partners succeed." Accessibility to high-quality healthcare in minority-based, inner-city communities has experienced a steady decline over the last several decades. From 1937 to today, over 210 private hospitals representing 30,000 hospital beds in 52 of the largest cities in the U.S., have either closed or relocated. This is in direct contrast to the fact that minority inner-city residents have higher rates of comorbidities and require more medical care than other Americans.* Ben Klein has owned and operated healthcare businesses in St. Louis for the last two decades. By investing millions of dollars into the revitalization of South City Hospital, he set out to make a meaningful impact to ensure that the citizens of this southern St. Louis neighborhood would have access to high-quality, preventive, emergency, and psychiatric care within their own community-based hospital. South City Hospitals mission to be a provider of high quality, patient-focused healthcare that is readily accessible, cost-effective and meets the needs of the community we serve is a direct reflection of his actions. South City Hospitals CEO, Gregory Brentano, was chosen to be the driving force behind the transformation of newly-named South City Hospital, formerly St. Alexius Hospital, and has focused primarily on improving the emergency and acute care services provided by the facility. From a medical device perspective, the initial requirements of this transformation were two-fold: to make an investment in the required state-of-the-art medical equipment for key departments and to ensure rapid delivery and installation. This desire compelled Mr. Brentano to reach out to a long-term colleague and trusted partner within the medical industry, Paul Garcia, Mindray North America, Senior Corporate Accounts Manager. After all, Mindrays global mission and vision reflect the same foundational ideologies as South City Hospital; Better healthcare for all by Providing advanced medical technologies that make healthcare more accessible. At Mindray, solutions always start with people, relationships and an enduring partnership rooted in expertise and trust. The result of this collaboration was the identification, selection and acquisition of a full range of Mindray devices, including patient monitoring (critical care and emergency), anesthesia machines (operating room) and point of care diagnostic imaging ultrasound. Mindrays position of market leadership with regard to total cost of ownership provided this reemerging hospital with a full continuum of medical device solutions positively impacting both patient and overall financial health. As stated by Mr. Brentano, In the midst of this pandemic, Paul Garcia and the Mindray team treated this bankrupt, inner-city hospital like the most important customer in the world. Not only did Mindray bring us state-of-the-art equipment, but they also expedited the delivery time by months which has allowed us to effectively manage the care of dozens of patients every day that would otherwise go untreated. The South City / Mindray partnership works simply because our goals and level of commitment to the project are entirely aligned. Our purpose is to provide our partners sensible, progressive technology that helps them work to a higher standard, stated Wayne Quinn, President Mindray North America. We only succeed if our customers and partners succeed. Our long-standing relationship with Greg and our emerging relationship with South City Hospital is a direct reflection of this philosophy and is indicative of how we engage with every customer. About South City Hospital South City Hospital is a for-profit 178 bed hospital in St Louis, Missouri that includes acute care, intensive care, surgical services, interventional cardiac catheterization lab, and behavioral health. We are committed to improving the health of our community by utilizing state-of-the-art procedures and equipment along with our highly trained professionals to provide our patients with excellent healthcare services. It is the policy of South City Hospital to admit and treat all persons without regard to race, color, sex, national origin, or religious creed. By demonstrating compliance with The Joint Commissions national standards for healthcare quality and safety, South City Hospital has shown its desire to put our communitys care first. For more information, please visit https://www.southcityhospitalstl.com/. About Mindray Mindray is a leading developer, manufacturer and supplier of medical device solutions and technologies used in healthcare facilities around the globe. We believe we can change lives by making the most advanced healthcare technology attainable for all. We do this by empowering healthcare professionals through innovative, high-value solutions that help create the next generation of life-saving tools across three primary business segments: patient monitoring and life support, in-vitro diagnostics, and medical imaging. Mindray maintains its global headquarters in Shenzhen, China; Mindray North America is headquartered in Mahwah, New Jersey. Our Ultrasound Innovation Center is located in San Jose, California with additional facilities in major international markets around the world. For more information, please visit http://www.mindray.com. *Health Care in the Inner City: Asking the Right Question, Sidney D. Watson, Parent Category: Health Care, Generally, Category: Healthcare Disparities, January 13, 2019. We are extremely excited about the work we are engaging in with The Open Group OSDU Forum and our collaboration with IBM. For clients who manage hybrid cloud environments, our goal is to bring the technology to where they need it in the cloud and in their locally hosted environment. INT today announced that IVAAP a leading enterprise subsurface data visualization platform integrates with IBM Open Data for Industries for Cloud Pak for Data built on Red Hat OpenShift. These open technologies will enable the upstream industry to visualize exploration and drilling data across hybrid cloud environments to drive efficiencies and speed decision making. As the oil and gas industry undergoes unparalleled transformation, members of the value chain are seeking solutions to maximize digital opportunities across their operations. Data is a critical asset and when leveraged with artificial intelligence, can yield mission-critical insights and competitive advantage. However, quite often, domain specific data exists in silos limiting workflow efficiencies that leverage data insights for real-time decision-making. Todays announcement focuses on open technologies for the IVAAP platform that remove these barriers: IVAAP leverages IBM Open Data for Industries for IBM Cloud Pak for Data, a data platform enabling seamless integration of data sources with the flexibility to deploy across any infrastructure that leverages The Open Group OSDU Forum data standard. The Open Group OSDU Forum is an industry organization that brings together technology leaders, producers and members of the oil and gas value chain to build a data foundation based on data standards making subsurface data easier to find, combine, and use across geoscience workflows. IVAAP integrates with IBM Open Data for Industries for IBM Cloud Pak for Data powered by Red Hat OpenShift, the industrys leading open source Kubernetes platform. This will enable INT customers to run IVAAP on-premise, unlocking speed and agility for local operations as well as remote locations through the cloud, yet all with one consistent architecture. This provides upstream operators greater value and flexibility for real-time operational decision-making, as well as consistency to the enterprise operations. We are extremely excited about the work we are engaging in with The Open Group OSDUTM Forum and our collaboration with IBM. For clients who manage hybrid cloud environments, our goal is to bring the technology to where they need it in the cloud and in their locally hosted environment, says Olivier Lhemann, President of INT. Our collaboration with INT enables choice and flexibility in deploying subsurface data visualization across hybrid cloud environments. By leveraging IBM Open Data for Industries for IBM Cloud Pak for Data, INT and the oil and gas community can leverage an enterprise grade open source platform based on the OSDU data foundation, improving access to subsurface data across any infrastructure, including public cloud, local country cloud and on-prem, says Dariusz Piotrowski, Global Solutions Leader, IBM Industrial Sector. IVAAP is a sophisticated domain visualization and analytics platform that provides a central access to data regardless of where it is stored in the cloud and on-premise. Users can access, view, search, visualize, and analyze their subsurface data wellbore, seismic, schematics, log, and more in a web browser. ABOUT INT: INT software empowers the largest Oil & Gas (IOC/NOC) and services companies in the world to visualize their complex subsurface data (seismic, well log, reservoir, and schematics in 2D/3D). INT offers a visualization platform (IVAAP) and libraries (GeoToolkit) developers can use with their data ecosystem to deliver subsurface solutions (Exploration, Drilling, Production). INT's powerful HTML5/JavaScript technology can be used for data aggregation, API services, high-performance visualization of G&G and petrophysical data in a browser. INT simplifies complex subsurface data visualization. For more information about IVAAP or INTs other data visualization products, please visit https://www.int.com. INT, the INT logo, and IVAAP are trademarks of Interactive Network Technologies, Inc., in the United States and/or other countries. Red Hat, the Red Hat logo and OpenShift are trademarks or registered trademarks of Red Hat, Inc. or its subsidiaries in the U.S. and other countries. China was emboldened to showcase its military might over Taiwan because President Joe Biden's Administration focuses on LGBT and racism, as per a report. "The Chinese are embolden with the Biden Administration running the military. Biden's team appears more interested in the color or sex of a soldier than with the nation and the world's safety," The Gateway Pundit said in its report on Wednesday. The Gateway Pundit was referring to some 25 Chinese warplanes flying over Taiwan on Monday that included a simulated attack on a U.S. aircraft. The said warplane flew over the Taiwan Air Defense Identification Zone as part of an aerial campaign. This was followed by the Theodore Roosevelt Carrier Strike Group sailing south of Taiwan, near the Philippines' northernmost island of Luzon. Experts weighed in last week on the possibility of China invading Taiwan soon based on its mounting "power," "general increase in aggressiveness," and "cross-strait war." Days after, the warplanes and simulated attack already took place. Channel News Asia said the incident happened with President Joe Biden's emissaries were traveling to Taiwan. Biden's emissaries were former Deputy Secretaries James Steinberg and Richard Armitage and former U.S. Senator Chris Dodd. They arrived in a private jet on Wednesday in Taiwan. As per CNA, the 25 aircraft included nuclear-capable bombers and fighters, as a sign of China's disappointment over Taiwan's dealing with "external forces" -particularly the United States- that provoke and damage "peace and stability." CNA said China called the military exercise over Taiwan as "combat drills." "The People's Liberation Army's organising of actual combat exercises in the Taiwan Strait is a necessary action to address the current security situation in the Taiwan Strait and to safeguard national sovereignty," CNA quoted China's Taiwan Affairs Office Spokesperson Ma Xiaoguang in saying. "It is a solemn response to external forces' interference and provocations by Taiwan independence. The PLA's military exercises and training operations are sending a signal that our determination to curb Taiwan independence and Taiwan-U.S. collusion is not just talk," he added. Xiaoguang also said, as per CNA, that the arrival of Biden's emissaries "will only exacerbate the tense situation in the Taiwan Strait" and "will only push Taiwan towards disaster." He announced China's resolute opposition of the "U.S.' exaggeration of the so-called 'Chinese military threat' argument" and the "U.S. playing the 'Taiwan card' and continuing to send wrong signals to Taiwan independence forces." Meanwhile, Deutsche Welle reported that the military planes flying over Taiwan is China's way of telling the United States "not to play with fire." DW quoted China's Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian telling reporters on Tuesday urging the United states "not to play with fire on the Taiwan issue, and immediately stop any increase in official contacts with Taiwan." CNA said this is the first time China spoke about its military exercises over Taiwan after being almost quiet about it since their activities began in January. The outlet also highlighted that the U.S. emissaries' arrival meant a "personal signal" of Biden's commitment to Taiwan. They will be meeting with Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen on Thursday. CNA cited Taiwan presidential spokesperson Xavier Chang in saying that the arrival of Biden's emissaries show a "rock solid" relationship between Taiwan and the U.S. and that it is a "full expression of cross-party support for Taiwan." Thiruvananthapuram, April 15 : The long running feud between Union Minister of State for External Affairs V. Muraleedharan and Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan took an ugly turn with the former calling the latter a 'Covidiot'. He wrote this in his official Twitter handle, "Kerala CM @VijayanPinarayi is a #COVIDIOT. There is no better word to describe a Chief Minister who continuously violates #COVID Protocols". He further tweeted, "In an attempt to protect @vijayanpinarayi's #COVID violations @shailajateacher is misleading people with half-cooked info on #COVIDProtocols. If a Health Minister cannot understand @ICMRDELHI revised guidelines, how can she help people? Their ego & arrogance costing lives. Shame", wrote Muraleedharan. His tweet came after he slammed Vijayan while speaking to the media in Delhi and demanded that a case be registered against Vijayan for violating Covid protocols. "None is above the law and for the past one year practically every day we all saw Vijayan holding press conferences speaking on how Covid protocols should be followed. At times even he admonished political leaders for violation of Covid protocols. I want to ask him one question," said Muraleedharan. "We all wish to know from him when did he turn Covid positive, as according to the Kozhikode Medical College officials, after Vijayan was discharged on Wednesday, it was said that on April 4 that he showed Covid symptoms and hence after 10 days, when he tested negative he was discharged. If that is the case, how come he conducted a roadshow along with film stars on April 4? Also on polling day on April 6, he walked 500 metres from his house to the polling booth," asked Muraleedharan. "It must also be noted that all saw his daughter voting wearing a PPE kit. Here again there was a violation because if a family member is positive, others have to follow Covid protocols. So there has been large-scale violation by Vijayan and hence the Kerala Police should register a case against him, as none is above law," added Muraleedharan and pointed out that all saw Vijayan travelling in a car to the hospital for getting admitted and on his return, his wife who was Covid positive, travelled with him. Trouble for Vijayan began soon after news came that he will be discharged on Wednesday and the entire visual media was there at the Kozhikode Medical College hospital and there was no social distancing as there was a good crowd with officials, police and others coming to wave him goodbye. It was on April 8, two days after voting in the Assembly polls, that Vijayan revealed he had tested positive. According to the rules, anyone who has turned Covid positive should be tested after 10 days and then discharged. However State Health Minister K.K. Shailaja flatly denied that Vijayan broke protocols. "There is always a tendency to drag the CM into needless controversies and this is another one. He has not violated any protocol," said Shailaja. Last year, Vijayan had come down heavily on a Congress leader from Idukki who turned Covid positive and had admonished him for not following Covid protocols. Latest updates on Coronavirus (COVID-19) -- Except for the title, this story has not been edited by Prokerala team and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed Authorities said the catchment area is large and the detection was 'unexpected' Anyone who lives in north, west and eastern suburban parts should get tested Thousands of Victorians are on high alert after coronavirus fragments were found in sewage. The Department of Health issued an alert for the areas surrounding Cranbourne, in Melbourne's south, on Thursday after 'unexpected' virus particles were found in the wastewater. Authorities urged people who lives in or have visited suburbs surrounding Cranbourne between April 6 and 12 to get tested if they get any symptoms. Anyone who lives or has visited north, west and eastern suburban parts of the city between April 4 and 12 has also been asked to be on alert. Pictured: Shoppers walk down a city laneway in Melbourne after coronavirus restrictions eased in 2020 Pictured: Areas where Covid-19 particles have been found in wastewater surrounding Melbourne VICTORIAN SUBURBS ON ALERT: Cranbourne and surrounding suburbs between April 6 and 12. North, west and eastern suburban parts of Melbourne between April 4 and 12. Source: Vic Health Advertisement 'This detection is in a very large catchment that services suburbs stretching from Melbourne's north-west to the outer north-east,' the Department of Health said. Fragments of Covid-19 in sewage could indicate undetected infections, or existing cases who are shedding the virus. On Tuesday, Victorian health authorities issued an urgent warning for residents in the Ringwood area, east of Melbourne. People in suburbs such as Bayswater, Croydon, The Basin, Montrose, Heathmont, Boronia, Kilsyth, Tremont and Wantirna have been urged to monitor for cold or flu-like symptoms. Anyone with symptoms, however mild, who visited or lives in the areas were told to get a test immediately and isolate. Victoria has not reported any cases of community transmission in 50 days. About 17,040 cases were taken on the 24 hours to midnight on Wednesday. Queen Maxima of the Netherlands stunned today as she recycled a navy floral dress and bold red coat for a visit to the International Theater Amsterdam. The Dutch royal, 49, first wore the outfit in 2019 but brought it back out of her wardrobe for the solo engagement today. The mother-of-three refreshed the look by teaming it with an oversize rectangular clutch bag and coordinating heels. Queen Maxima of the Netherlands (pictured) attended the International Theater Amsterdam today for a discussion about the impact of the corona crisis Dutch Royal, 49, (pictured) recycled a floral dress from Natan Couture AW/19 and a bold crimson coat with diamond buttons and a ruched collar Maxima (pictured right) observed social distancing and wore a black face mask as part of guidelines to prevent the spread of coronavirus Despite her eye-catching attire, Maxima styled her hair with very loose waves and subtle makeup for a relaxed look. She accessorized with silver jewels including the same drop earrings previously worn to compliment the spring colours in her dress. The royal spoke to the management of International Theater Amsterdam about how they went from 350,000 visitors in 2019 to having programmes cancelled because of the pandemic. The organisation began steaming performances in October 2020, attracting new audiences including those who had never been to the theatre before. It is expected that the organisation will continue to offer the opportunity to live stream production after the corona crisis. During her visit, Queen Maxima attended a rehearsal for new production 'The Hours', which is about one day in the lives of three women. Maxima (pictured) wore her hair in loose waves with subtle makeup to give her bold outfit an overall relaxed look Maxima (pictured centre) spoke to those who've devoted themselves to finding new ways to attract audiences since programmes were cancelled because of the pandemic Dutch Royal attended a rehearsal for new production 'The Hours', followed by a discussion with the director and actors She appeared in good spirits as she later spoke with the director and actors about how creatives have had to adapt to the recent challenges to the industry. One actress from the International Theater Amsterdam reflected on her experience of performing without an audience, as technicians voiced the benefits and challenges of live streaming. The International Theater Amsterdam was created in 2018 from a merger between the Stadsschouwburg and Toneelgroep Amsterdam. Queen Maxima followed guidelines put in place to prevent the spread of coronavirus throughout the day and was seen wearing a simple black face mask. It has been a busy week of engagements for the royal with a digital working visit to the national Student InzetopSchool platform among plans. Queen Maxima (pictured) heard from an actor about their experience of performing without an audience Technicians also spoke to Maxima (pictured centre) about the opportunities and challenges of live streaming perfomances New Delhi, April 15: It is April 15 - Poila Boishakh for Bengalis living across the globe. Poila Boishakh, like many other states in India which observe Baisakhi, Bihu, Vishu among others, marks the first day of the Hindu New Year. But Poila Boishakh-the Bengali new year has an international dimension across the eastern border. The day is celebrated with gusto in West Bengal as well as Bangladesh and is a binding force for all Bengalis cutting across the international border and religious lines. For Bengalis, celebrations are rarely complete without food which includes a variety of dishes along with fish, which preferably has to be "ilish"-Hilsa. Naturally for fish sellers in West Bengal, this is one opportunity, to jack up prices for "Bangladeshi Ilish"-considered far superior in taste than the fish which is available locally. People familiar with the culture would know the importance of "Padmar Ilish" (Hilsa coming from Bangladesh's Padma river) and "Gangar Ilish" (the fish which is sourced from Ganges). A never-ending debate over which is better has continued since the partition of India. "Poila Boisakh as it's called is celebrated with equal fervour - though it has religious significance attached - as in with the Bengali Hindu calendar. What binds the two sides, is the celebrations - which inevitably surrounds food. Though the official ilish season starts in Bangladesh much earlier, in West Bengal, Poila Boisakh is when the new season fish starts appearing in the market," Sandip Ghose, a political observer and commentator said. Hilsa diplomacy It was a relief for West Bengal when the Sheikh Hasina government last year in September decided to send 1,475 tonnes of hilsa to India as a goodwill gesture to coincide with the Durga Puja celebrations in West Bengal. After banning exports of Hilsa to India in 2012, Bangladesh allowed shipment of the fish in 2018. The ban, imposed after the West Bengal government refused to give a go ahead to the Teesta river water sharing treaty, created a stir in the state. The issue has even been raised in the state legislative assembly. "Bangladesh has stopped supply of Hilsa for some time. I understand they are sad as we could not give them water from the Teesta," Mamata Banerjee, the state's chief minister said in 2019. Until then the Bangladesh government frequently sent Hilsa to senior political leaders and diplomats here as a goodwill gesture. Needless to say therefore that the ban on Hilsa imports hit West Bengal and the overall Bengali community. Banerjee had to assure the people of West Bengal that the state government was committed to breeding Hilsa which would be of the same level in richness and taste that of the Bangladesh variety. In fact, with the aim of producing high quality fish breed, the West Bengal government even set up a Hilsa preservation and research centre. "If we are successful with our research on Hilsa production, then Bengal would supply Hilsa to the world market," The Telegraph quoted Banerjee as saying. Sumggling of Hilsa Despite the ban, Hilsa has continued to come into India through the borders albeit through informal channels. "This is a function of demand and supply, there are hundreds of fish traders who deal with Hilsa which are brought in through informal channels. The same fish is sold at exorbitant prices in Kolkata and other cities," a fish dealer said. A CUTS International report noted that restrictions on the import of Hilsa from Bangladesh into India have not succeeded in reducing consumer demand for the fish in the country. "Ironically, restrictions increased the demand-supply gap for Hilsa. Given that both India and Bangladesh share a long and porous border, trade-in Hilsa through informal channels have flourished. It is estimated that the volume of informal trade is twice the volume of formal trade between India and Bangladesh," the report said. (This content is being carried under an arrangement with indianarrative.com) --indianarrative/ ALBANY The College of Saint Rose is hosting a COVID-19 vaccine clinic on Thursday for their students, employees, alumni, upcoming students, and family members of all those groups. As of early Thursday morning, the clinic had 76 appointments available, and is now making them available to the general public. Anyone who is in need of a vaccine can register for an appointment: https://app.acuityscheduling.com/schedule.php?owner=21704086&appointmentType=22045819. (TNS) Time is close to running out for Hawaii taxpayers to file individual income tax returns by a deadline thatunlike every other state that taxes wageswasn't extended this year due to the coronavirus pandemic.Hawaii's deadline to file is Tuesday.The traditional April 20 due date was unchanged despite the federal government extending its tax filing deadline to May 17 from April 15.All other states that tax wages have extended their filing deadlines, often matching the new federal deadline and in some cases going beyond that into June or July. For many people, having to file Hawaii income tax returns by the usual due date is no big deal, other than not having extra time to procrastinate over what can be a despised chore. However, the unique decision by the state Department of Taxation to stick with its usual annual deadline could result in negative financial ramifications for some Hawaii taxpayers.A representative of one local tax preparation service said many of its clients wrongly assumed Hawaii had extended its tax filing deadline because of the federal government's May 17 move, which led a progression of states to follow suit, and are now shocked to learn their taxes are due next week.The Tax Department said Wednesday it had received almost 58 percent of individual income tax returns and doesn't have an estimate of how many returns it will receive by Tuesday.At downtown Honolulu-based Tax Services of Hawaii, accountant Ken Gironda said business this year is like any other year because tax filers pretty much need to prepare their federal return to determine their adjusted gross income in order to file their state return.This suggests that many Hawaii taxpayers are not taking advantage of the federal deadline extension."Our office is just as busy as ever, " Gironda said.Under longstanding Hawaii Tax Department policy, income tax filers have an option of receiving an automatic six-month extension through Oct. 20 that requires no action.But to avoid a stiff penalty, taxpayers opting for the extension must either be due a refund or pay, by Tuesday, a reasonably calculated estimate that turns out to be at least 90 percent of their actual tax obligation.This year, making such an estimate can be more complicated for thousands of workers who received unemployment benefits if taxes were not withheld. Capital gains from stock investments also can make estimates challenging.The penalty for not paying a proper amount of taxes by Tuesday is 5 percent per month on what is owed, with a 25 percent cap, plus monthly interest of 0.66 percent."Taxpayers who are not able to pay the properly estimated tax amount owed should pay as much as they can to avoid additional interest and penalties, " the Tax Department advises on its website.The agency also notes that it has the authority to partly or fully waive penalties and interest, and can consider the enormous economic impacts on taxpayers caused by the pandemic.Most Hawaii taxpayers receive state refunds. According to the most recent state data from 2018, refunds totaling about $550 million were issued, compared with about $130 million owed to the state from 739, 352 returns.Given this split, most taxpayers have a beneficial financial interest not to opt for the automatic extension because the state owes them money."Thanks for the free loan, you babooze, " Tom Yamachika, president of the nonprofit Tax Foundation of Hawaii, jokingly described the state's view of taxpayers who delay filing when they are due refunds.Yamachika said generally Hawaii taxpayers wouldn't have received a major benefit if the state pushed back the filing deadline by a month, and therefore the foundation didn't take issue with the state's decision.Another factor the foundation considered is what it would have cost taxpayers for the state to reprogram computers to adjust the deadline for a relatively short period.The Tax Department announced its decision March 24.Alika Ke-Paloma, a spokesman for the agency, said factors considered included whether the Legislature would amend state law before May 17 in ways to conform with recent federal tax changes.Other factors included the cost to reprogram computers to accommodate a deadline change and the need to adjust forms, instructions, interest, penalties and statute of limitations issues arising with an extension."The benefit of a 30-day extension of time to file did not outweigh the issues that it would cause considering there are other alternatives including the appropriate waivers of penalties and interest, " Ke-Paloma said in a statement.Other states made different moves, sometimes because their tax laws by design must conform with federal tax law and they needed time to make such adjustments.For instance, Maryland extended its deadline to July 15 from April 15 in part to adjust software programs and forms to achieve conformity."We've never before seen so many changes to the current year's tax code in the midst of the tax filing season, " Maryland Comptroller Peter Franchot said in a March 11 announcement. "We're realistic about the burden this puts on taxpayers, tax preparers and our staff, which is why I'm taking this emergency action."The Iowa Department of Revenue extended its deadline to June 1 from April 30 in part to conform with federal tax law and to help residents whose lives have been disrupted by COVID-19.Several states do not tax wages, including New Hampshire, which kept its April 15 deadline for taxpayers to file returns for interest and dividend income."We feel any extension to the April 15, 2021 due date, even by one month, risks causing confusion and does not offer meaningful relief to taxpayers who will still need to complete their 2020 tax return in order to calculate the estimated tax payment that continues to be due on April 15, 2021, " the agency explained.Questions? The deadline to file Hawaii income tax returns is Tuesday, April 20. Hawaii tax officials urge anyone needing information about tax filings to contact their office at 587-4242 or toll-free at 1-800-222-3229. The state Connecticut Department of Labor estimated on Tuesday that employers statewide have created 5,400 jobs. Federal data also showed that 21,700 fewer people received unemployment checks at the end of the March. Based on surveys, the Dept. of Labor calculates that the state has regained 84 percent of the jobs it lost since last March, when Gov. Ned Lamont issued executive orders shutting down swaths of the economy, including malls, hotels and restaurant dining rooms. DOL estimated Connecticuts unemployment rate at 8.3 percent, down from 8.5 percent in February. While still high, its great progress as the labor force increased, the number of employed increased and the number of unemployed decreased in March, said DOL research director Patrick Flaherty, in prepared comments via a pair of online videos posted Thursday. Retail has now regained more than 80 percent of the jobs it lost during the recession. New Haven-area employers reported the biggest hiring gains to DOL, which estimated an additional 5,500 jobs for the region for a 2 percent increase. Separately on Thursday, the U.S. Department of Labor reported about 190,200 state residents receiving jobless assistance as of the last week of March, including some 37,200 independent workers who have seen their main sources of income evaporate during the pandemic. That was down from nearly 212,000 Connecticut residents at the end of February. The possibility remains that some individuals have inadvertently allowed their benefits to lapse after failing to file new initial claims for unemployment, a requirement for those still receiving benefits a year after their original claim. As of Thursday on the the Indeed.com jobs board, more than 18,000 open jobs are listed by employers, ranging from retailers like Home Depot hiring seasonal help to hospitals like St. Vincents Medical Center in Bridgeport and Yale-New Haven Health affiliates. And multiple hotel chains like Marriott International and the Hyatt Regency are advertising for events specialists, a year after the pandemic resulted in mass cancellations of business meetings and social events like graduations and weddings. Flaherty cautioned the Connecticut job market likely underwent some permanent alteration, with the full scope still unknown. There will need to be some adjustments in the labor market folks who lost their jobs at the beginning of the pandemic probably hoped that they would go back to the same job they had had, particularly if they had worked for the same company for many, many years, Flaherty said. While we know the economy is growing and we know that there are job opportunities out there, theres some folks that unfortunately may not be able to return to the job that they previously had. And ... they may not have the experience in terms of job search of someone who is brand new to the labor market. Alex.Soule@scni.com; 203-842-2545; @casoulman The "new double mutant variant" of the novel coronavirus has been found in India, the National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) recently reported. Now, whether this new strain is resulting in a huge spike in coronavirus cases in the country is the big question. The variant, classified as 'B.1.617', has been found in eight nations, with 70% of samples comprising mutations believed to have stemmed from India. Experts have termed the "new double mutant strain" a desi (Indian) variant. At first, strains 'E484Q' and 'L425R' were enabling double mutations, causing more infectious variants of COVID-19. Also Read: COVID-19: Second wave can weaken India's economic recovery, says Moody's "There is another mutant called the E484K mutant, a slight variation of which is now a part of the Indian variant. The double mutant that India is talking about is a variant that has 15 different mutations. It just happens to be that there are two critical mutations in the region of the spike protein, one of those mutations was found in California, and it led to an increase in virus transmission in southern California so if it happened there why wouldn't it happen in India," Dr. Shahid Jameel, virologist and Director, Trivedi School of Biosciences at Ashoka University told India Today TV. "If you compare this virus to the virus that came out of Wuhan that is our reference strain. Compared to that, there are 15 different changes that have also functionally changed the virus in some way. Three of those changes are in the spike protein. This is the protein that is responsible for allowing the virus to get inside the human cells. This is also the protein against which antibodies protect against viral infection. When these changes happen, they lead to the evasion of immune responses. These changes also allow the virus to get into human cells a little better and therefore become more infectious," Dr. Jameel added. Are COVID-19 vaccines tested against desi variant? Both Covishield and Covaxin have been tested against the UK variant of the novel coronavirus, and it was found that both jabs protect against the UK variant. However, immunity doesn't work basis one antibody binding to some variants of the virus, Dr. Jameel noted. "Immunity works on the basis of multiple antibodies binding to multiple sides of the virus. Immunity also works based on T-cells which remove virus-infected cells. One of the misnomers people have about infection, none of the vaccines has been tested against infection. All vaccines provide protection from disease," he stated. "The India strain is a hybrid of the South African, the UK, and the Brazilian strain in some way. We have only found one or two which we call double mutants; there may be hundreds of them. The Covishield (AstraZeneca) vaccine when it was tried in the South African variant was no better than water," said Dr SK Sarin, head of ILBS Hospital and key advisor to the Delhi government. "We are clear that some variants in India started with a South African variant somewhere in the month of March. We may have a surge of South African variants where one vaccine may not work. Even Sputnik-V may not work against some variants," he added. Also Read: Second wave of COVID-19 may peak by April 15-20: What we know so far What's the role of desi mutant in India's second COVID-19 wave? Experts say that it is the nature of viruses to mutate, indicating that around 5,000 mutant variants have been detected since India began sequencing coronavirus mutations. Experts caution that the virus doesn't even want people to develop herd immunity. "Suppose you are infected with one virus in the past, you may get a second or third infection," said Dr SK Sarin. India's daily count of new coronavirus infections is approaching the 2 lakh mark, with the new variant now prevalent in many states. In Maharashtra, 61% of the total logged COVID-19 cases have the desi mutant variant. Similar cases are also being reported in Uttar Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Delhi, and Gujarat. Also Read: Covid-19 mutants: How dangerous are different strains? "Every state will see some spreader events. The question also arises - why not in Bihar in 2020? because the virus hadn't mutated to this extent," said Dr. Jameel. "The UK variant evades immunity a little better, it transmits better. It is prevalent in Punjab and is coming up quite effectively in Delhi as well," he added. Meanwhile, epidemiologists are of the opinion that there have been considerable mutations. "We haven't understood this bullet completely. We don't know the extent of these homegrown variants of concern as compared to the imported variants," said Dr. Giridhar Babu, Professor and Head Lifecourse Epidemiology, PHFI. Using fluorescent stains, researchers are able to visualize cells of different species origins in an early stage embryo. Credit: Weizhi Ji, Kunming University of Science and Technology The ability to grow the cells of one species within an organism of a different species offers scientists a powerful tool for research and medicine. It's an approach that could advance our understanding of early human development, disease onset and progression and aging; provide innovative platforms for drug evaluation; and address the critical need for transplantable organs. Yet developing such capabilities has been a formidable challenge. Researchers led by Salk Professor Juan Carlos Izpisua Belmonte have now come one step closer toward this goal by demonstrating a new integration of human cells into animal tissue. Published in the journal Cell on April 15, 2021, the new study builds upon previous work by the Izpisua Belmonte lab to take the next step in chimeric organismsorganisms that contain cells from two or more speciesto understand a host of diseases and address the severe shortage in donor organs. "These chimeric approaches could be really very useful for advancing biomedical research not just at the very earliest stage of life, but also the latest stage of life," says Izpisua Belmonte. The World Health Organization estimates that the 130,000 organ transplants performed every year represent only 10 percent of the need, which is exacerbated by a shortage of available organs. Researchers hoped that growing human cells in pig tissuewhose organ size, physiology and anatomy are similar to humans'could alleviate this problem. Previously, in a 2017 Cell study, Izpisua Belmonte's group reported groundbreaking work in which they incorporated human cells into early-stage pig tissue, marking the first step toward producing transplantable human organs using large animals. But the contribution of human cells was fairly low, which could be due to the large evolutionary distance (90 million years) between the two species. So Izpisua Belmonte set out to investigate chimera formation in a more closely related species, macaques. While these types of chimeras with macaques wouldn't be used for human organ transplants, they nevertheless reveal invaluable information about how human cells develop and integrate, and how cells of different species communicate with one another. Izpisua Belmonte likens the process of two types of cells integrating to communicating with different languages: human cells in pig tissue was akin to the cells trying to find common ground between Chinese and French for example, whereas human cells in macaques operated more like two closely related languages, like Spanish and French. By better understanding molecular pathways involved in this interspecies communication, researchers could ultimately improve the integration of human cells into more suitable hosts, such as pigs, that could be used in regenerative medicine, as well as better understanding the aging process. In the present study, the team tagged human pluripotent stem cells (cells that are capable of developing into all the cell types in the body) with a fluorescent protein and inserted these labeled stem cells into macaque embryos in petri dishes. The current study was made possible by technology published last year by the collaborating team led by Prof. Weizhi Ji of Kunming University of Science and Technology in Yunnan, China, that allowed monkey embryos to stay alive and grow outside the body for an extended period of time. In the case of this work, all experiments were terminated 19 days after stem cell injection. Through immunofluorescent studies, in which antibodies bind to the fluorescently tagged stem cells, the scientists observed that human stem cells survived and integrated with better relative efficiency than in the previous experiments in pig tissue. Chimeric tool advanced for wide range of regenerative medicine, biomedical research applications. Credit: Salk Institute To identify the molecular communication pathways between the two species' cells in the current study, Izpisua Belmonte's lab analyzed the chimeric transcriptome, a readout of which genes and molecules are active. They observed that cells from chimeric tissue had distinct transcriptomic profiles from controls and detected several communications pathways that were strengthened or novel in the chimeric cells. Once this molecular communication is further understood, chimeric organisms could allow researchers an unprecedented glimpse into the earliest stages of human development. Chimeric organisms containing human cells could be used to generate cells and organs for transplantations in host species more evolutionarily distant to humans, like pigs, that might be more appropriate for various reasons (social, economic and ethical, among others). Additionally, these studies constitute a new platform to study how specific diseases arise. For instance, a particular gene that may be associated with a certain cancer could be engineered in a human cell. Then, observing the course of disease progression using those engineered cells in a chimeric model might reveal more applicable results than a typical animal model in which the disease might take a different course. Chimeric models of disease could also be used to test the efficacy of drug compounds and obtain results that could similarly better reflect the response in humans. Another research avenue where chimerism could offer unique insights is aging. Izpisua Belmonte says researchers don't know if organs age at the same rate or if perhaps one organ drives the aging of all the other organs and acts as a master switch for the aging process. Using chimerism to grow, for example, the organ of a common rat in a much longer-lived species like the naked mole rat, scientists could begin to probe which organs may be key to aging and what signals are involved in their survival. As a leading expert in the field of chimera research, Izpisua Belmonte consulted all the appropriate regulatory bodies as well as independent bioethicists to ensure their work met current ethical and legal guidelines. "As important for health and research as we think these results are, the way we conducted this work, with utmost attention to ethical considerations and by coordinating closely with regulatory agencies, is equally important," says Izpisua Belmonte. "Ultimately, we conduct these studies to understand and improve human health." Next, Izpisua Belmonte plans to take a closer look at the molecular pathways the team identified as involved in interspecies communication and determine which ones are critical to the success of this process. Explore further Researchers generate human-monkey chimeric embryos More information: Cell, Tan et al.: "Chimeric contribution of human extended pluripotent stem cells to monkey embryos ex vivo" DOI: 10.1016/j.cell.2021.03.020 Journal information: Cell , Tan et al.: "Chimeric contribution of human extended pluripotent stem cells to monkey embryos ex vivo" www.cell.com/cell/fulltext/S0092-8674(21)00305-6 A 20-year-old Queensland woman who lied on a border declaration form after travelling to a declared coronavirus hotspot for a party has been sentenced to community service. Olivia Winnie Muranga is the last of three women who travelled together to Victoria to plead guilty. She was sentenced in Brisbane Magistrates Court on Thursday to 40 hours of community service. Olivia Winnie Muranga, 20, (pictured, centre) was accused of lying on her border declarations to avoid quarantine in Queensland last July. She later tested positive for Covid Deputy Chief Magistrate Janelle Brassington lowered the penalty Diana Lasu (pictured right) and Haja Umu Timbo (at left) received due to 'racist and threatening' messages the pair received Her co-accused Diana Lasu and Haja Umu Timbo were sentenced last month to 80 hours of community service each. All three women were originally charged with one count of making false or misleading documents and one of fraud. But they pleaded guilty to the lesser charge of failing to comply with a public health direction. Muranga and Lasu tested positive to COVID-19 after the trio returned to Queensland from attending a party in Melbourne. Muranga received infringement notices while still in Victoria for failing to comply with gathering restrictions, but these 'didn't serve as a deterrent', prosecutor Lisa Pye told the court on Thursday. She moved around in the community while unaware she was infected, attending a school, restaurant and other public places, which had a 'knock-on effect' requiring businesses to be closed for cleaning, Ms Pye added. Muranga realised she 'did the wrong thing', accepting responsibility for her actions, defence lawyer Dominic Brunello said. 'She was a young woman who thought momentarily a bit selfishly and immaturely that the rules didn't apply to her,' he said. Muranga's lawyer Dominic Murello told the court 'public vitriol was heavily incited', describing some comments on social media as 'disturbing' After the quarantine incident became public Muranga's mental health was affected, she had been sacked from her job as a cleaner and stopped attending university But the treatment she received, being subject to 'persistent lambasting' in the media, was 'grossly disproportionate' to her actual culpability. He told the court 'public vitriol was heavily incited', describing some comments on social media as 'disturbing'. They had greatly affected the 20-year-old's mental health, she had been sacked from her job as a cleaner and stopped attending university. 'Ms Muranga could not have been more severely denounced than she has been to date by the mass and social media,' Mr Brunello said. 'She has received extreme abuse and vilification.' The court was told Muranga had a 'very troubled start to life' and was six when when her family were granted asylum in Australia. In handing down the sentence, Magistrate Sue Ganasan said Ms Muranga made an 'extremely foolish decision' when she could not afford the cost of hotel quarantine. 'That was clearly misguided thinking,' Ms Ganasan told Muranga. 'It was indulgent, careless, a self-endangering act.' Ms Ganasan took into account Muranga is a young woman who had been 'demonised' and subjected to racial vilification. She said Muranga was 'persistently and viciously insulted' on Facebook, Instagram and Snapchat. Muranga is required to complete the 40 hours of community service within 12 months. No conviction was recorded. Ms Pye told the court the maximum penalty for the offence was more than $13,000 or six months in prison, and argued a significant fine was appropriate given the cost to the community. BOISE - On Wednesday, April 14, the Idaho State Board of Education directed its Executive Director to work with Idahos public college and university presidents to begin preparing tuition and fee requests for the 2021/22 academic year with no tuition increases for resident undergraduate students. The directive comes one week after the proposed higher education appropriation (S1179) was voted down by the Idaho House of Representatives. Given the uncertainty, the Board directive is intended to enable each college and university to move forward and finalize their tuition and fee requests. The Legislatures Joint Finance-Appropriations Committee (JFAC) is working on a new higher education appropriation, Board President Debbie Critchfield said. We dont know how long it will take to get approved and this is a critical time for our institutions in terms of recruiting students. Now they can at least move forward with their requests knowing that resident undergraduate tuition increases are off the table. Late last year, the university presidents at Boise State University, the University of Idaho, Idaho State University and Lewis-Clark State College announced they would not request tuition and fee increases for resident undergraduate students if the Governors higher education budget recommendation had been approved. The Board will discuss the requests from each of Idahos four-year institutions when it meets next week on April 21-22. Hudson County Community College is (HCCC) removing the barriers that prevent students from succeeding in their studies and completing their degrees. To provide a complete array of services and resources to address the myriad of needs and ensure their academic success, HCCC opened the new Hudson Helps Resource Center on Thursday, April 15. The College held a ribbon-cutting ceremony at 10 a.m. at the Resource Center on the third floor of 70 Sip Avenue, on the Colleges Journal Square Campus in Jersey City. In the summer of 2019, the College instituted Hudson Helps, and in addition to the food pantries, the College offered emergency financial assistance for those times when students may not be able to pay their utility bill or rent, or fix a problem with the car they depend on for going to and from work and classes. Hudson County Community College is a beacon of hope and promise to so many and HCCC students often refer to the College as their home, said Dr. Chris Reber, HCCC p resident. We are determined to remove the barriers that prevent our students from succeeding in their studies and completing their degree and certificate work, he said. This Resource Center provides a complete array of services and resources to address students myriad of needs, and ensure their academic success. In 2018, United States Government Accountability Offices research demonstrated that up to 50 percent of community college students experience food insecurity, and 15 percent endure homelessness. In spring 2019, with seed money provided by the HCCC Foundation, the college established food pantries on both the HCCC Journal Square and North Hudson campuses. Since opening, thousands of students used the pantries. In viewing the response to the pantries, it became apparent that HCCC students had other needs, and some were discontinuing their studies for life happens reasons. The new Hudson Helps Resource Center will provide HCCC students with services, goods, financial assistance, counseling, and a variety of programs in-person and remotely, all year-round. Two new features that are being added to the Hudson Helps Resource Center are: the Career Clothing Closet and Single Stop. The Career Clothing Closet provides business attire and accessories donated by Lord Abbett for students interviews and jobs. Lord Abbett is a 92-year-old, global asset management company headquartered in downtown Jersey City. Single Stop is a centralized network that links students to child- and elder-care services; transportation; health care; financial counseling; employment assistance; tax services; mental health counseling; legal aid; food assistance; housing assistance; emergency relief, recovery assistance and start-up help; and a host of other support services. Single Stop was made possible as part of an $850,000 investment in HCCC from JPMorgan Chase to fund the HCCC Gateway to Innovation initiative, which is designed to provide lasting improvement in the Hudson County workforce ecosystem. The new Resource Center will continue to offer the hallmark programs of Hudson Helps, including the food pantry with shelf-stable, refrigerated and frozen foods as well as HCCC Culinary Arts Institute-prepared, ready-to-heat meals; nutritional counseling; mental health and social work services; emergency financial assistance; financial counseling; emotional health and spiritual counseling; immigration counseling; technology support; and Chromebook loans. Covenant Healths mission to not only provide for the medical needs of our region, but also support the community as a whole was once again put into action as the healthcare organization proudly announces the acquisition of the Plainview-based West Texas Family Medicine. Acquiring West Texas Family Medicine clinics will have a great impact on our community and the surrounding communities that we serve said Covenant Health Plainview CEO Cassie Mogg. Changes in the healthcare industry have made it increasingly difficult for stand-alone medical groups such as West Texas Family Medicine to stay financially viable. Its Covenant Health Plainviews mission to ensure our communities have access to quality care. West Texas Family Medicine has a significant patient base not only in Plainview but in Hale Center and Floydada. This acquisition will ensure those patients will still have access to their providers while at the same time creating opportunities to bring more advanced care closer to home. The West Texas Family Medicine clinic was established in 2009 and is run by physicians, including: Dr. Mark McClanahan, Dr. Jon Watkins, Dr. Monte Swanson and Dr. Craig Horton. The pandemic has taught us that we really need to be a part of a bigger organization to stay viable and there was really no reason to look outside of Covenant Health Plainview, who are already well established in our community said McClanahan. Covenant Health has purchased both Plainview clinic locations (1806 Quincy Street and 1605 W. 5th St.) as well as the West Texas Family Medicine clinic in Hale Center (315 W. Cleveland St.) and will lease the Floydada building (901 W. Crockett St.) from the Cogdell Clinic group. I am thrilled that Covenant will be in Floydada. I know the standard of care that Covenant thrives for and I am confident that our citizens will have the best care available to them, said T.K. Farris, president of the Cogdell Clinic Board. The clinics will now operate under the supervision of Covenant Health Plainview and will employ more than 80 caregivers and five mid-level providers. Operations, hours and providers at each clinic will not change. The best thing about this whole thing is that everybody can work together more, added Watkins. I think Covenant Health does a good job of taking care of their employees and their patients. So, Im looking forward to all the benefits our employees will now have as a part of Covenant Health Plainview. The West Texas Family physicians all agreed that the Covenant Health Plainview acquisition would be beneficial for everyone including their patients and employees. I think the most important thing, to us, that the pandemic highlighted is the necessity to be involved in a larger group that could deliver medicine more economically and more efficiently than a small group could, explained Horton. This move will help us to continue to provide employment for over 80 employees and their families in the area. This also keeps seven providers local to provide care in a rural community. Swanson agreed, adding the acquisition will help provide a seamless patient experience between the hospital and clinics. There will be better transparency of medicine between us and Covenant Health Plainview. We can integrate medicine better for an overall better healthcare experience, said Swanson. A better healthcare experience will include utilizing West Texas Fifth Street medical plaza to bring in more specialty physicians and services to Plainview. More patients will now have access to the Covenant Health network. It is evident that a larger primary care base is essential to meet the needs of our community, which allows us the opportunity to provide more specialized services to our patients, said Mogg. Covenant Hospital Plainview already offers outstanding care in cardiology, orthopedics, general surgery, ophthalmology, and gynecology. Covenant Health Plainview also contracts with specialty providers to offer satellite clinics for services including oncology, spine care, and pain management. We have a large population of patients that cant travel to the tertiary facilities to see a specialist. The more services we can offer inside Hale County, the more we feel we are fulfilling our mission and promise of providing care closer to home to ease the way for our patients. Both organizations agree, the overall mission for both medical groups have been strengthening the care in Plainview and in the surrounding communities. Recognizing the change in the reimbursement system coming, the West Texas group approached the Covenant Health group in late 2020. All of us really like the current CEO, Cassie Mogg, and the past CEO, Alan King, because they are very pro-family medicine and very pro Plainview, said McClanahan. Covenant Health Plainview saw the potential. West Texas Family Medicine takes care of a large percentage of patients, without their services, we could not meet the needs of our community. Im excited to see Plainview continue to grow and I look forward to working together as a unified team, said Mogg. Horton agreed. This will improve the coordination of care, added Horton. There are some areas where competition is good, but when youre trying to provide a higher level of care, teamwork is better. Covenant Health Plainview will officially take over the West Texas Family Medicine on Monday. [April 15, 2021] Credit Agricole CIB Supported Chile's Inaugural Formosa Bonds in a Sustainable Format, Becoming First Sovereign Issuer in Taiwan's Growing Sustainable Debt Space The Republic of Chile has successfully issued US$1.5 billion of sustainability bonds. Dual listed on Taipei Exchange and London Stock Exchange, this is Chile's first sustainability bonds issuance and first Formosa bond, and the Formosa market's first sustainability bond transaction by a foreign issuer. The active participation of Taiwanese investors in this issuance highlights the success of the issuer's effort in diversifying its investor base, and reflects the increasing appetites for sustainable finance in Taiwan. Credit Agricole CIB is a joint bookrunner and the lead manager in this transaction. The issuance of these Formosa bonds and the participation of Taiwan investors are the successful result of Chile's diversification strategy to broaden their investor base, and reaffirmed the issuer's leadership on the market of thematic bonds, which represent 15.5% of the Central Government's outstanding debt stock. "Credit Agricole CIB is proud to create value on a transaction for a sophisticated issuer like the Republic of Chile," said Gordon Kingsley, the Head of Latin America Debt Capital Markets at Credit Agricole CIB. "The transaction has demonstrated the Bank's top sustainable banking credentials and the ability to deliver high-quality transactions for our clients with a strong global capital markets platform." The bonds leverage Chile's Sustainability Bond Framework, which lays out eligible green and social expenditures and guides the issuance of Chile's Social, Green, and Sustainability Bonds. Jorge Ramirez, Senior Country Officer of Credit Agricole CIB Chile said, "For the third consecutive year, we are verypleased to have advised the Republic of Chile with an innovative transaction, helping Chile to further consolidate its leadership and pioneering role in thematic bonds in the Americas." Chile has been the most active sovereign ESG issuer in the Americas. In total, the Republic of Chile has issued approximately USD14.4 billion in thematic bonds, of which 54% are green, 36% are social and, as of March 30th, 10% are sustainable. This issue also marked the first sovereign sustainability bond in Taiwan market, since the promulgation of related regulations by Taipei Exchange in October 2020. Taiwan has been engaging with sustainable finance practices since 2017, when the Taipei Exchange rolled out the first green bonds scheme in Taiwan. Benjamin Lamberg, Chief Executive Officer of Credit Agricole CIB Taipei Branch, added, "From our perspective Taiwan is well positioned for the development of this sector. With increasing numbers of local institutional investors answering the call of responsible investments, demand for sustainable bonds have picked up quickly and the strong appetites for this Chile issuance affirms this trend." Credit Agricole CIB developed its deep knowledge and presence in this market with its 40 years of operations in Taiwan. The Bank has been an active underwriter and issuer in sustainable bonds, being the first foreign issuer to issue green bonds in Taiwan, and in 2020 it took a step further by issuing two series of TWD denominated green bonds to support its lending activities in Taiwan directly. Credit Agricole CIB believes that the consistent regulatory framework and efficient execution process in Taiwan will attract more market players. About Credit Agricole Corporate and Investment Bank (Credit Agricole CIB) Credit Agricole CIB is the corporate and investment banking arm of Credit Agricole Group, the 12th largest banking group worldwide in terms of tier 1 capital (The Banker, July 2020). Nearly 8,400 employees across Europe, the Americas, Asia-Pacific, the Middle East and Africa support the Bank's clients, meeting their financial needs throughout the world. Credit Agricole CIB offers its large corporate and institutional clients a range of products and services in capital markets activities, investment banking, structured finance, commercial banking and international trade. The Bank is a pioneer in the area of climate finance, and is currently a market leader in this segment with a complete offer for all its clients. For more information, please visit www.ca-cib.com View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210415005628/en/ [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] Source: Xinhua| 2021-04-15 20:26:31|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close Cypriote Defence Minister Charalambos Petrides receives a dose of COVID-19 vaccine, in Nicosia, Cyprus on April 15, 2021. Most members of Cyprus' government received AstraZeneca jabs on Thursday in a move aimed at restoring people's trust in the vaccine, after reports linked it to a number of blood clot incidents. (Photo by George Christophorou/Xinhua) NICOSIA, April 15 (Xinhua) -- Most members of Cyprus' government received AstraZeneca jabs on Thursday in a move aimed at restoring people's trust in the vaccine, after reports linked it to a number of blood clot incidents. All unvaccinated ministers, except Foreign Minister Nikos Christodoulides who is abroad, were accompanied by President Nicos Anastasiades to a vaccination center on the outskirts of the capital Nicosia to get the first dose of the vaccine. Anastasiades himself was among the first to be vaccinated in December 2020. Mistrust in the AstraZeneca vaccine has thrown the country's vaccination program into disarray as most people sought to get the other two licensed vaccines made by Pfizer and Moderna. Anastasiades called on people to get vaccinated as soon as possible with any available vaccine. "The presence of most ministers at the vaccination center is aimed at sending a strong message that what matters is the vaccination, not the vaccine," he said. Health Minister Constantinos Ioannou said that within the next few days the number of those vaccinated will reach 200,000, about one-quarter of the population. He added that herd immunity is expected to be achieved by the end of June, as tens of thousands of vaccine doses will arrive in regular intervals starting next week. Cyprus has lifted almost all lockdown restrictions except a night curfew from 11 p.m. to 5 a.m. and a ban on restaurants and similar premises using their internal spaces to serve customers. However, Health authorities said that they are alarmed by an increase in coronavirus infections over the past few days, which has led COVID-19 hospitals close to their capacity. Authorities are also preparing to restart tourism as of May, provided that the United Kingdom, the biggest tourist market for Cyprus, will allow its vaccinated citizens to travel abroad. Enditem As frogs and toads migrate from pond to pond in Estonia's capital Tallinn, the city has partially closed one of its roads overnight to help the amphibians. Meghan McCain defends her pro-life stance in spat with Planned Parenthood: Abortion is murder Email Print Img No-img Menu Whatsapp Google Reddit Digg Stumbleupon Linkedin Comment Meghan McCain clapped back at Planned Parenthood in defense of her pro-life stance following criticism from the billion-dollar abortion business. McCain has become an outspoken pro-lifer in recent months as she regularly shares her views as a co-host on ABC's daytime talk show The View. Planned Parenthood's criticism of McCain followed a post on Twitter of her fellow co-host Sara Haines speaking on "The View" about the vaccine passports which would ban U.S. citizens from traveling unless they've had a vaccine for COVID-19. "I cannot argue privacy on a public health issue like this when I don't understand how the most private thing in my body my uterus seems to be open for business when it is convenient politically," Haines said of her support for vaccine passports. While Haines didn't directly address McCain, nor did McCain respond to Haines on the show, a commenter on Twitter attempted to make the issue personal between the women by adding both of their names in a tweet that got the attention of Planned Parenthood. In a retweet of Haines post, the person added: Sara to Meghan McCain. Sara to Meghan McCain: "I don't understand how the most private thing in my body my uterus seems to be open for business when it is convenient politically." #TheView ???? pic.twitter.com/RpMD2sLp0F The Chat (@LiveOnTheChat) April 7, 2021 Planned Parenthood retweeted the post and included fire emojis. McCain saw the tweet from the abortion giant and responded by defending her long-held pro-life views. "I believe life begins at conception I will NEVER apologize or back down from defending the rights of the most vulnerable in our society, the unborn," said the daughter of the late Arizona senator and former Republican presidential nominee John McCain. During his last term in the Senate, however, McCain was roundly rebuked by pro-life groups for refusing to defund Planned Parenthood which was part of the 2017 healthcare reform package. It failed by one vote after McCain decided to vote against it. I believe life begins at conception - I will NEVER apologize or back down from defending the rights of the most vulnerable in our society, the unborn. https://t.co/fmF0Zgj443 Meghan McCain (@MeghanMcCain) April 7, 2021 Following her defense, pro-life advocates rallied behind McCain on social media. "Thank you for standing up for women & children, Meghan!" Live Action tweeted. Susan B. Anthony List stated, "Life begins at conception and ends at Planned Parenthood." McCain took her post further and added another tweet, which said, "Always. Abortion is murder." Live Action also noted that pro-life pregnancy centers have been a major contribution to society. "In a single year, PRO-LIFE Pregnancy Resource Centers: Served 1.85M people, Provided $267M in FREE services, Gave parenting courses to 313,328, Provided 1,290,079 packs of diapers, Supplied 2,033,513 baby outfits. Not one is run by a 'pro-choice' advocate," Live Action maintained. McCain has been known for her pro-life advocacy. In 2019 she was honored with the "Defender of Life" award by the Americans United for Life, an organization that opposes abortion. The groups president and CEO, Catherine Glenn Foster, revealed that they awarded McCain because they admired her "courage in the cause of life," as she called for Planned Parenthood to be defunded by supporting the Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act. On Jan. 28, President Joe Biden revoked the Mexico City Policy, which prohibits U.S. tax dollars from being used by nongovernmental organizations and other entities that provide abortions, referrals for abortion or expand abortion services. Under the Trump administration, the policy was reinstituted and subsequently expanded. The Mexico City Policy, which critics call the "global gag rule," was first implemented by President Ronald Reagan. Ever since, Republican administrations have supported it and Democratic administrations have revoked it soon after entering office. Abortion rights activists have petitioned the Biden administration to rescind Trump's pro-life policies. Bidens move marked an end to a four-year period under the Trump administration that saw the greatest expansion of the policy in its history, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation. The policy was first implemented by President Ronald Reagan in 1984. Ever since, Republican administrations have supported it and Democratic administrations have revoked it soon after entering office. Abortion rights activists have petitioned the Biden administration to rescind Trump's pro-life policies. Jean Mancini, president of the March for Life Defense and Education Fund, criticized Biden's actions rescinding his predecessor's pro-life policies. She said the move goes against the "wishes" of the majority of the American people because 77% of the population in the U.S. oppose the federal funding of abortion overseas. The grieving parents of a 28-year-old man who police say died in an Easter Sunday armed confrontation with Birmingham police are demanding answers in the slaying. Desmon Montez Ray Jr. was killed in a north Birmingham alley just before 11 p.m. on April 4. His father, Desmon Ray Sr., and mother Lashonda Wilson held a news conference Wednesday outside police headquarters. They were joined by their attorneys Johnathan F. Austin and Richard Rice. The family said they have not been allowed to see their sons body since he was fatally shot by police and have not heard from police or city officials since the shooting 10 days ago, despite repeated requests. Ray Jr.s funeral is Saturday. I just want to see my baby. I dont know whose body Im fixing to see,' Wilson said. I want answers. The world gonna know Desmon Ray. Im never going to see my baby no more walking through the door telling me he loved me. Desmon Montez Ray (Contributed) The Birmingham Police Department released this statement to AL.com following Wednesdays news conference. It is truly devastating and heart breaking when an officer discharges his weapon in the line of duty resulting in the death of another. Chief Patrick D. Smith along with the Command Staff has met with other concerned community members and would surely be welcoming to open dialog with the family of Desmon Ray. The Alabama State Bureau of Investigation is the lead investigative agency and the only agency at this point that can release information pertaining to this case. " ALEA released this statement to AL.com: Special Agents with the Alabama Law Enforcement Agencys (ALEA) State Bureau of Investigation (SBI) are currently conducting an investigation relative to a fatal shooting that occurred Sunday, April 4, involving Officers with the Birmingham Police Department. SBI began the investigation at the request of the Birmingham Police Department. Nothing further is available as the investigation is ongoing. Once complete, the State Bureau of Investigation will turn over all findings to the Jefferson County District Attorneys Office. The shooting happened that Sunday night after Birmingham 911 received a call from a third-party alerting police to a domestic disturbance inside of the vehicle in north Birmingham, said Officer Truman Fitzgerald. Dispatchers obtained the location and description of the vehicle, and provided that information to officers. North Precinct officers spotted the vehicle in the 300 block of Ninth Avenue West. Officers attempted to stop the vehicle; the driver later identified as Ray - refused to stop, police said. The vehicle then came to a rest in the 200 block of Ninth Avenue West after crashing into a fence. Fitzgerald said Ray exited the vehicle brandishing a gun. An officer then fired, striking the Ray. He was taken to UAB Hospital by Birmingham Fire and Rescue Service with life-threatening injuries and pronounced dead at 12:34 a.m. Police said a handgun was recovered on scene. Alabama court records do not list any criminal history for Ray. The Alabama Law Enforcement Agencys State Bureau of Investigation is leading the probe, which is standard procedure for officer-involved shootings. Austin, the attorney, said Ray had been at an Easter celebration with his family that Sunday. They were having a great time. He left, dropped his cousin off at home and was on his way home with his girlfriend when he was confronted by the police,' Austin said There was a random phone call that they said was made by a third party that we dont even know who that was, and it led to the police stopping Desmon and ultimately killing him. Since then, there has been no conversation from the city of Birmingham. No apology, no acknowledgement of this young mans death and the family, the last time they saw him , was on Easter Sunday,' Austin said. What happened? Why did they shoot him? We dont know how many times they shot him. There are conflicting reports coming from the media outlets, but we dont know what happened. " At the very least, Austin said, the family deserves answers, and they havent gotten any. This was someones son. This was someones fatherThis was someone that was loved. They want answers. We demand answers. Austin said Birmingham Mayor Randall Woodfin has talked about restoring faith in the police department, but the actions following Rays death dont back that up. We see whats happening across the country. We are experiencing the murder trial of George Floyd. Daunte Wright was just gunned down a few days ago,' he said. It seems like its open season on Black men in America. We have got to stop this. Weve got to come up with better solutions. Rice agreed. The Ray family, they deserve to know what happened to their son. The mother, she deserves to be able to identify her son, to see her son, prior to the funeral,' he said. This is a tragedy. Even though we dont have all the answers, this is not a situation that should have happened. We deserve transparency and accountability as a community and the Ray family deserves that as well,' Rice said. Its the same thing any one of us would want if we so happened to find ourselves in this unfortunate situation. Birmingham activist Frank Matthews, president of the Outcast Voters League, was also at the news conference in support of the family. He (Ray) had $10,000 in his pocket. We dont trust Birmingham police. We want to know wheres the $10,000? Was it a shakedown? Because it went down,' Matthews said. The father told me specifically he had $10,000 in his pocket. For whatever reason, that aint your business. This family needs some justice. If you want crime to stop,' Matthews said, stop the police from killing. Covid, Cocaine Take Europe to a Breaking Point, warned an April 12 headline in Barrons.[1] The problem is that people in search of peace amidst the economic and other crises brought on by the pandemic have turned increasingly to drugs. We are at the breaking point, said Catherine De Bolle, a European Union official, in an interview with journalist Jan Hennop. I read those lines while contemplating the United States own come-apart. Desperation grows and leads to cravings for opiates that will bring peace. Governments enact new policies, and the policies petrify into rigid laws that become unyielding fossils all in the name of protecting the people. Source:The Christian Post With Endowment of 100,000 euros - A person in the field of research and science from anywhere in the world, whose work has contributed significantly to improving the health of individuals and populations, will be awarded - This award, of Spanish origin, is created with the purpose of highlighting for international society the impact of medical-scientific advances and innovations. - Deadline for submitting applications is May 31st, 2021 MADRID, April 15, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Applications can now be submitted for the First Edition of the Doctor Juan Abarca International Prize of Medical Sciences, 'ABARCA PRIZE', which strives to be the highest benchmark in the research communication of Grupo HM Hospitales and, therefore, of the Abarca Cidon family. This award was created in 2021 with the aim of highlighting for international society the impact of medical-scientific advances and innovations. It will be granted to a person in the field of research and science anywhere in the world, whose work has contributed significantly to improving the health of individuals and populations. The prize has an endowment of 100,000 euros and a diploma for the winner. For Dr. Juan Abarca Cidon, President of HM Hospitales: "Today more than ever, medical-scientific advances are vital to addressing today's health challenges. The ABARCA PRIZE has been created to recognize health professionals who dedicate their lives to the care of others. It is inspired by the commitment of Dr. Juan Abarca Campal, and the values that he has maintained, and continues to do so, throughout his professional career." Dr. Juan Abarca Campal, with his wife Dr. Carmen Cidon Tamargo, founded HM Hospitales in 1990 as a project to develop a new care model in Spain. HM Hospitales today owns 16 hospitals. The permanent investment in research is a fundamental and manifest premise of Dr. Juan Abarca Campal, together with the defence of the freedom of healthcare professionals to do their work without pressure and giving maximum priority to the care of human health. Scientific medical advances over the past fifteen years have brought a remarkable improvement in people's quality of life and have made it possible to overcome challenges that seemed insurmountable, through translational and personalized medicine. Candidates' selection and winner's election process The process of filing and selecting will be in two phases. The first (April 1st to May 31st) nominations may be submitted, which will be carried out through the sending of a letter of intent, according to model available in www.abarcaprize.com. In this letter, the entities or persons who submit the applications, must explain the reasons why the candidate qualifies, in accordance to the values of the prize. From June 1st, and once the nominations have been received, Fundacion de Investigacion HM Hospitales will evaluate the fulfilment of the requirements, as well as the suitability of the nominations. This evaluation will result in a final selection, including a maximum of 5 proposals, which will be submitted to the Jury. Those entities or persons responsible for these 5 proposals will be invited to submit any documentation they consider relevant to their evaluation by the Jury, before September 30th. In the second phase, the members of the Jury will evaluate the documentation and, finally, in a meeting to be held by teleconference and before October 12th, the proposal of the person awarded will be determined with a report in which the merits that justify the election will be reflected. The ABARCA PRIZE jury will be diverse in terms of professional profiles (scientific, clinical and other branches) and nationalities, and will ensure that the winner has contributed scientifically globally and significantly to improving people's health. Its composition, external and independent, will be carried out by Fundacion de Investigacion HM Hospitales, taking into account both their experience of accredited academic and professional prestige and its international relevance for its contribution to science. The granting of the prize will be made public on October 25th and the prize ceremony will take place in Madrid, in the last week of the same month. Fundacion de Investigacion HM Hospitales Fundacion de Investigacion HM Hospitales is a non-profit organization, established in 2003 with the fundamental objective of leading a bio sanitary R&D, within the framework of translational research, that directly benefits the patient and the general society. It also aims to achieve excellence in health care, with a clear social, educational and promotion commitment to translational research to be applied quickly and directly to patients. Also, with a clear social commitment, in addition to carrying out various social-health projects, it promotes scientific dissemination and health education, organizing scientific forums and editing informative and educational monographs. Logo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1488072/Abarca_Prize_Logo.jpg Related Links http://www.abarcaprize.com SOURCE Abarca Prize China to raise proportion of middle-income earners By Xu Peiyu (People's Daily Overseas Edition) 09:10, April 15, 2021 Customers line up to pay for their purchases in front of a cashier's counter at a duty free shop in Haikou, south China's Hainan Province, March 26, 2021. (People's Daily Online/Zhang Junqi) China's consumption has been on a continuous rise in recent years, and its consumption structure is also being optimized. Last year, the country's total retail sales of consumer goods reached 39.2 trillion yuan ($6 trillion), and final consumption contributed 54.3 percent to China's GDP. As a result, China maintained its position as the second largest consumption market of the world. New business forms such as online shopping and influencer marketing experienced rapid development. In 2020, a total of over 24 million livestream shows were aired on e-commerce platforms; online sales of national entity bucked the trend and grew 14.8 percent; the express delivery industry handled 31.2 percent more parcels than it did a year ago. China has become the world's largest market of online retailing for eight consecutive years. The robust recovery of China's consumption, despite the severe impacts from COVID-19, showcased the strong resilience and huge development potential of the Chinese market. As a major force of consumption, the middle-income group is a pillar of economy. At present, China has 400 million middle-income earners that account for around 30 percent of its population. In developed countries, the distribution of household income is always in an "olive shape" that is sharp at both ends and plump in the middle. In other words, middle-income group usually accounts for 60 percent to 70 percent of the population in developed countries. Such a structure is considered healthy and good for economic and social development. In contrast, China still has a long way to go to expand the size of its middle-income group. Vice Minister of Commerce Qian Keming said that with 1.4 billion people, China boasts a super large market and huge development potential. In the next 15 years, the number of Chinese middle-income earners is expected to reach 800 million, which will generate robust momentum for consumption upgrading and bright prospects. According to China's 14th Five-Year Plan, China will work to increase the income for graduates of universities and vocational schools, skilled workers and migrant workers in the next five years. Experts believe that it's both possible and necessary to include them in the middle-income group. Graduates of universities and vocational schools come in huge size and are well educated and skillful, which makes them possible to become middle-income earners. "Most people from this group, with their degree of education and competence, will not work simple and repetitive jobs, so it's possible that they become middle-income earners," Su Hainan, a contract research fellow with China Association for Labor Studies, told People's Daily during an interview. According to the latest statistics from the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security (MOHRSS), China has over 200 million skilled workers, who take 26 percent of its total jobs, up from 20 percent a few years ago. More than 50 million of them are highly skilled workers. In recent years, skilled workers are in a short supply in China, and their income keeps rising. The MOHRSS recently issued a guideline, encouraging enterprises to institute annual salary system and offer special awards for skilled talents, especially highly skilled ones. "Migrant workers are a major part of China's workforce, many of whom are also well educated and skillful, and are able to work complicated and innovative jobs," Su said. Last year, the number of migrant workers in China reached 280 million, including 170 million who worked out-of-town. The average monthly income of them stood at 4,072 yuan. Many of them are getting close to the threshold of middle income if calculated in terms of household. "To make a part of migrant workers middle-income earners is necessary for narrowing rural-urban income gap, improving the competence of workforce and accelerating rural vitalization, and it's also feasible to do that," Su noted. As the income of these major groups rises in the future, the size of China's middle-income group will be further expanded, turning the country's household income distribution into the "olive shape." By that time, China's consumption vitality will have been further activated, and the country will also release more dividends to the world. (Web editor: Hongyu, Liang Jun) Natalie Barr joined the many famous faces at Sydney's St Mary's Cathedral to honour the life of Carla Zampatti at her state funeral on Thursday. After wrapping up hosting duties on Channel Seven's Sunrise, the 53-year-old put on a chic white suit created by the late fashion designer. Her outfit consisted of a $699 cream jacket with wide lapels and a tie waist, which she cinched at the back. Paying tribute: Sunrise host Natalie Barr (right) wore a chic white suit by the late Carla Zampatti as she attended the fashion designer's state funeral in Sydney on Thursday The TV presenter teamed the jacket with a pair of $399 wide-leg trousers. She accessorised her power suit with a white clutch purse and nude heels. Natalie walked alongside a male friend who was also attending the funeral service, before making her way up the stairs to meet with a small group. Stylish: Her outfit consisted of a $699 cream jacket with wide lapels and a tie waist, which she cinched at the back, and a pair of $399 wide-leg trousers Elegant: The brunette kept her makeup simple with a flawless base, fluttery lashes, a hint of pink blush and lipstick Fashion homage: Natalie accessorised with a white clutch purse and nude heels She greeted a group of her industry colleagues at the memorial; among them was former Marie Claire editor Jackie Frank. Kaftan queen Camilla Franks was dressed in a navy ensemble while speaking with former Sunrise host Melissa Doyle. Melissa, who hosted the Seven breakfast show from 2002 to 2013, warmly hugged Natalie outside of the cathedral. Friends: Natalie greeted a group of her industry friends at the memorial; among them was former Marie Claire editor Jackie Frank (second from right) Catching up: Kaftan queen Camilla Franks (second from left) was dressed in a navy ensemble while speaking with former Sunrise host Melissa Doyle (left) Reunion: Melissa, who hosted the Seven breakfast show from 2002 to 2013, warmly hugged Natalie outside of the cathedral Paying their respects: They had a brief catch-up before going inside the church Natalie and Melissa had a brief catch-up before going inside the church. The former Seven colleagues joined the likes of Julie Bishop, Sam Armytage, Sonia Kruger and former prime minister Malcom Turnbull at the funeral. Carla, 78, died on April 3, days after falling at an outdoor opera performance. Tragic: Carla, 78, died on April 3, days after falling at an outdoor opera performance. The mother of three and grandmother of nine had spent a week in hospital after the accident The mother of three and grandmother of nine had spent a week in hospital after the accident. Born in Italy in 1942, Zampatti migrated to Australia with her parents in 1950 at age nine, and set up her fashion famous label at 24. Her designs have been worn by some of Australia's most influential women, including Princess Mary of Denmark, Australia's first female prime minister Julia Gillard and Oscar-winning actress Nicole Kidman. French poultry processor LDC has agreed to sell three slaughterhouses owned by Brittany-headquartered peer Ronsard in order to comply with a takeover ruling by the countrys competition regulator, which has also excluded a fourth site. Clearance from the Autorite de la Concurrence was the final hurdle in a deal LDC entered into last year with Ronsards owner Eureden Cooperative. The regulator identified competition issues in Ain in the Auvergne-Rhone-Alpes region of eastern France, and Morbihan in Britanny, where Ronsard operates facilities, and has approved the transaction on the condition LDC divests those operations. LDC, which owns the Le Gaulois, Maitre Coq, Marie and Loue brands, said in a statement that Ronsard runs seven facilities in France, three of which it will take over in accordance with the regulators ruling, located in Brittany, Aquitaine and Ile-de-France. Another three in La Bresse in Ain will be sold by LDC amid the competition concerns identified by the Autorite de la Concurrence. Meanwhile, the so-called CADF slaughterhouse in Morbihan will be retained by Eureden. LDC added that the four sites now excluded from the deal represented a turnover in Ronsard's 2019/20 fiscal year of EUR38m (US$45.5m), and which employ a total of 170 workers. The regulator explained: "The LDC and Ronsard groups are both mainly present in Ain, Morbihan and Landes. In these last two departments, the operation does not harm competition because breeders will continue to have alternative outlets to the new entity (competing slaughterhouses) to sell their production. Concerning Ain, the operation leads to the strengthening of the position of LDC, which was already a major buyer in the area, thus depriving the breeders of alternative outlets in the area." Thematic Reports Are you worried about the pace of innovation in your industry? GlobalData's TMT Themes 2021 Report tells you everything you need to know about disruptive tech themes and which companies are best placed to help you digitally transform your business. Find out more It continued: "The Ronsard group currently provides standard turkey slaughtering services in its CADF slaughterhouse in Morbihan for third-party operators, who then use the slaughtered animals to market them in the form of fresh meat or processed products, markets in which Ronsard is hardly present. "However, the situation is different with regard to the LDC group, which is present in these downstream markets for the marketing of standard turkey meat and products made from turkey meat. The Authority therefore considered that LDC, by acquiring control of the CADF slaughterhouse, could hinder its competitors' access to this slaughterhouse. "Given in particular the generally limited market shares of the Ronsard group on the various markets for the marketing of fresh meat and products made from poultry meat, the existence of powerful competing groups and the counter-power of buyers (market players, large-scale distribution, out-of-home catering and the agri-food industry), the Authority considered that the transaction was not likely to harm competition in these markets." Questions remain why a 48-year-old woman who died after being given the AstraZeneca vaccine got the jab a day after health authorities recommended against its use for those under 50. The woman, from the New South Wales Central Coast, was given the AstraZeneca vaccine on April 9, developed major blood clots the next day and died on April 14. Australian health authorities had recommended on April 8 the vaccine not be administered to people under 50 amid reports of deadly blood clots developing in recipients overseas. The next morning NSW Health announced a temporarily pause to giving the AstraZeneca vaccine to anyone until it could update its 'informed consent' forms with information about the blood clot risk. The AstraZeneca vaccine rollout for those over 50 resumed later that day. The alternative Pfizer vaccine was preferred for those under 50, such as the Central Coast woman. A middle-aged New South Wales woman died after developing blood clots following administration of AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccine (stock image) NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian offered her 'heartfelt condolences' to the woman's family on Friday and announced her death would be the subject of an investigation. Daily Mail Australia understands the woman, who was diabetic but otherwise previously in good health, was placed in an intensive care unit after she fell ill. A NSW Health spokesman said the department could not confirm any link between the woman receiving the vaccine and her death. Addressing the woman's death, Prime Minister Scott Morrison said there was 'a lot more to understand about the issue' and pleaded for caution in drawing conclusions. Australia had been relying on the AstraZeneca dose for the bulk of its vaccination program - but links to rare cases of blood clots in some countries had thrown the rollout into disarray. Experts in Australia now say those under 50 should be offered the Pfizer alternative, while use of the British-made AstraZeneca jab has been stopped altogether in Denmark. Daily Mail Australia understands the woman, who was diabetic but otherwise previously in good health, was placed in an intensive care unit and died on Wednesday (stock image) The risk of dying from Covid-19 is significantly higher than the rate of blood clots, which have not been definitively linked to the vaccines (based on fatality estimates from Cambridge University and CSVT occurrences in Germany) 'I think there is a lot more to understand and learn about that issue and I would caution others in making conclusions about this at this point as well,' Mr Morrison said while on a visit to Western Australia's Pilbara region. 'We've been very transparent, very transparent when it comes to information on these issues and people can expect us to do that.' Mr Morrison said potential concerns around vaccine hesitancy meant it was important that the matter was fully investigated by medical experts. 'I think it's important, because of the fact that people can have concerns, that we follow that important process, to inform ourselves properly,' he said. Asked about the Central Coast woman's death, a spokesman for NSW Health told Daily Mail Australia it 'does not speculate on or discuss individual cases'. WHICH COUNTRIES HAVE SUSPENDED THE ASTRAZENECA VACCINE? NOT SUSPENDED Austria Bulgaria Croatia Cyprus Czechia Hungary Latvia Luxembourg Malta Poland Romania Slovakia Slovenia SUSPENDED FOR UNDER-30s Greece United Kingdom SUSPENDED FOR UNDER-55s Belgium France SUSPENDED FOR UNDER-60s Estonia Germany Ireland Italy Portugal Spain SUSPENDED FOR UNDER-65s Finland Lithuania Sweden SUSPENDED FOR UNDER-70s Iceland SUSPENDED FOR ALL AGES Denmark The Netherlands Norway Advertisement 'But the death of anyone is always a tragedy and our condolences are with the family and loved ones of the person who has passed away,' he said. The Therapeutic Goods Association is now investigating the woman's death, and the Department of Health has not yet established whether her clot was related directly to the vaccine. The Australian Technical Advisory Group on Immunisation advised earlier this month that people aged under 50 should not be vaccinated with the AstraZeneca jab due to the risk of blood clots. News of the 48-year-old's death comes on the same day Denmark announced it will be ceasing use of the AstraZeneca vaccine all together, while under 30s in the UK are already being offered alternative vaccines. Denmark was the first country to pause the use of the AstraZeneca jab in March amid concerns about blood clots. Several other countries followed suit though most, including Germany and France, have since resumed the use of the vaccine for older people. Denmark has also put Johnson & Johnson's vaccine on pause pending further investigations into a possible link to rare blood clot cases. The European Union's drug watchdog said last week that it had found a possible link between the AstraZeneca vaccine and very rare blood clot cases. However it said the risk of dying from Covid-19 was 'much greater' than the risk of mortality from rare side effects. The AstraZeneca vaccine is significantly cheaper than other vaccines and is easier to store as it does not require to be kept at an extremely low temperature. The concern over clots and mixed messages surrounding the vaccine are expected to affect people's willingness to take it. Mr Morrison promised the whole adult population would be immunised by October, but the rollout has since been derailed by the jab's link to blood clots. Twenty million doses of Pfizer are on their way but no more help is on hand for younger Australians until at least October. The prime minister said he 'would like' all Australians to get at least their first dose by the end of the year, but made no guarantees. In a desperate attempt to get the stalled program back on track, he plans to create huge hubs to ramp up vaccinations. 'NSW Health investigates these events and refers its expert panel findings to the TGA, which is responsible for assessing causality,' a spokesman said. 'Many conditions can arise during normal life, whether or not a vaccine is administered, but it remains important to report any new serious or unexpected events so that safety can be appropriately monitored. Scott Morrison (pictured with the AstraZeneca vaccine) promised the whole adult population would be immunised by October, but the rollout has since been derailed by the jab's link to blood clots The 48-year-old woman, from the Central Coast, was given the vaccine last Friday, developed major blood clots and was put on dialysis the next day. Stock image 'Anyone concerned that they are experiencing a serious adverse event following vaccination should see their health care provider in the first instance or dial 000 in an emergency.' Blood clots are a common problem for people with diabetes. The metabolic disease, which causes high blood sugar levels, increases the risk of plaque build-up in the arteries which can cause dangerous blood clots. In fact, nearly 80 per cent of people who have diabetes will eventually die of clot-related causes, according to Heart.org. But it still remains unclear how some Covid vaccines may trigger blood clots. The 48-year-old's death comes just two days after it was revealed a Western Australian woman in her 40s was hospitalised with blood clots after getting the AstraZeneca vaccine. The woman received treatment for 'thrombosis with thrombocytopenia' and is now in a stable condition. Back in April, a 44-year-old man in Victoria also developed blood clots after being inoculated with the AstraZeneca vaccine. He has since recovered. With our amazing team, especially our heroic teachers, Endeavor Schools is more focused than ever on providing children with the best education and care, said Endeavor Schools CEO, Ricardo Campo. Inc. magazine has announced that Endeavor Schools ranked as the fastest-growing private school and early childhood education company in Florida with 61 percent growth over the past two years. Overall, Endeavor ranked 185 out of 5000 private companies based in the Sunshine State. The Inc. magazine list is a highly regarded ranking of the fastest-growing Florida-based private companies. Born of the annual Inc. 5000 franchise, this regional list represents a unique look at the most successful companies within the Florida economy. With our amazing team, especially our heroic teachers, Endeavor Schools is more focused than ever on providing children with the best education and care, said Endeavor Schools CEO, Ricardo Campo. We are very proud to be ranked so highly on the Inc. magazine list and look forward to continuing our growth and helping parents realize their educational goals for their children. Between 2017 and 2019, Endeavor Schools expanded its national presence with new school acquisitions in several states, including Minnesota, Oregon, Texas, South Carolina, and California. During this time of impressive growth, Endeavor Schools was named one of Inc. magazines fastest-growing companies nationwide in 2018. Since then, Endeavor Schools has continued growing and will announce several new acquisitions during 2021. Complete results of the Inc. 5000 Regionals: Florida, including company profiles and an interactive database that can be sorted by industry, metro area, and other criteria, can be found at https://www.inc.com/inc5000/regionals/florida. This list proves the power of companies in Florida no matter the industry, says Inc. editor-in-chief Scott Omelianuk. The impressive revenues and growth rates prove the insight and diligence of CEOs and that these businesses are here to stay. More about Inc. and the Inc. 5000 Regionals Methodology The 2021 Inc. 5000 Regionals are ranked according to percentage revenue growth when comparing 2017 and 2019. To qualify, companies must have been founded and generating revenue by March 31, 2017. They had to be U.S.-based, privately held, for profit, and independentnot subsidiaries or divisions of other companiesas of December 31, 2019. (Since then, a number of companies on the list have gone public or been acquired.) The minimum revenue required for 2017 is $100,000; the minimum for 2019 is $1 million. As always, Inc. reserves the right to decline applicants for subjective reasons. About Inc. Media The worlds most trusted business-media brand, Inc. offers entrepreneurs the knowledge, tools, connections, and community to build great companies. Its award-winning multiplatform content reaches more than 50 million people each month across a variety of channels including websites, newsletters, social media, podcasts, and print. Its prestigious Inc. 5000 list, produced every year since 1982, analyzes company data to recognize the fastest-growing privately held businesses in the United States. The global recognition that comes with inclusion in the 5000 gives the founders of the best businesses an opportunity to engage with an exclusive community of their peers, and the credibility that helps them drive sales and recruit talent. The associated Inc. 5000 Conference is part of a highly acclaimed portfolio of bespoke events produced by Inc. For more information, visit http://www.inc.com VANCOUVER, BC, April 15, 2021 /PRNewswire/ - Strategic Resources Inc. (TSXV: SR) (the "Company" or "Strategic") announces that it has hired Jukka Pitkajarvi as Vice President Finland Operations. Mr. Pitkajarvi has worked for more than 30 years in the international mining and metallurgical industry. Most recently he was CEO of Ferrovan Oy, a private company developing the Mustavaara project and other vanadium projects in Finland. Mr. Pitkajarvi holds a M.Sc in Geology and Mineralogy from University of Oulu (Finland), Business Engineering Diploma from Oulu Polytechnical University (Finland) and Business Management Diploma from POHTO - Institute for Management and Technological Training (Finland). Scott Hicks, CEO and Director, commented: "We are excited to have Jukka join the team in a more formal role. His project knowledge and expertise will help push the project towards a Pre-Feasibility study and enhance Strategic's ability to permit the project. Jukka has been consulting with Strategic on the Preliminary Economic Assessment that we expect to release this quarter." In conjunction with his appointment, Strategic has granted Mr. Pitkajarvi 100,000 options pursuant to its stock option plan. Each option has an exercise price of $0.30, will expire on April 14, 2026, and vests in 1/3 tranches annually, with 1/3 vesting on the date of grant. About Strategic Resources Strategic Resources Inc. (TSXV: SR) is a Vancouver, Canada based mineral exploration and development company that is focused on vanadium projects in Finland and Peru. The company is primarily focused on its flagship Mustavaara vanadium-iron-titanium project in Finland. The Company continues to evaluate new opportunities that are related to the electrification of the economy. Further details are available on the Company's website at https://strategic-res.com/. To follow future news releases, please sign up at https://strategic-res.com/contact/. STRATEGIC RESOURCES INC. Signed: "Scott Hicks" Scott Hicks, CEO Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this news release. Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Information Certain statements and information herein, including all statements that are not historical facts, contain forward-looking statements and forward-looking information within the meaning of applicable securities laws. Such forward-looking statements or information include but are not limited to statements or information with respect to completing a National Instrument 43-101 compliant Preliminary Economic Assessment. Often, but not always, forward-looking statements or information can be identified by the use of words such as "will", "expect" or variations of those words and phrases or statements that certain actions, events or results "will" or "expect" be taken, occur or be achieved. SOURCE Strategic Resources Inc. Related Links https://strategic-res.com Debra Morgan may have died in the final season of Dexter, but that might not be the last you see of her. In October 2020, Showtime announced a 10-episode limited series revival of the show that will follow Dexter Morgan after that controversial closer. Despite his efforts to stop killing, its been confirmed that people will die in the revival. But instead of Harry guiding him, some fans think itll be Deb. Dexter actors Jennifer Carpenter and Michael C. Hall | Paul Archuleta/FilmMagic First, a recap of what happened to Deb in Dexter Because its been eight years, lets quickly go back and discuss what happened to Deb. If you recall, she had been closing in on Oliver Saxon, but when she tried to arrest him, he shot her. Doctors expected she would be fine once she had surgery, but after the procedure, she suffered a blood clot and stroke that resulted in the loss of her motor functions. RELATED: Dexter: This On-Screen Sibling Duo Was Married in Real Life While Playing Brother and Sister Realizing her life would never be the same, Dexter decided to pull the plug before burying her body at sea. He then fled Miami for Oregon and started a new life as a lumberjack. Will Deb be in the new Dexter? So far, Michael C. Hall (Dexter) is the only original actor confirmed for the revival. But showrunner Clyde Phillips has hinted that Deb could show up. There is some flexibility for movie magic, and thats all I can say about it, he told The Hollywood Reporters TVs Top 5 podcast. RT @darklydextercom Michael C. Hall & Jennifer Carpenter #Dexter season 7 new official promotional photo pic.twitter.com/8qPCA8Wy Marcelo Medici (@marcelomedici) August 24, 2012 RELATED: Dexter: New Cast Additions Offer Insight Into the Plot of the Revival Series Since then, rumors of her involvement have continued due in part to an alleged now-deleted Instagram post Jennifer Carpenter (Deb) shared in the same location where the revival is reportedly filming. Showbiz Cheat Sheet reached out to representatives for Carpenter for comment about her possibly appearing in the revival but did not hear back by the time of publication. However, fans are convinced she will. I wonder what role she will serve as the dark passenger as Harry helped Dexter to stick to the code and keep his family, one person said under a Reddit thread about her possibly becoming Dexters new conscious. shed basically tell him to stay away from Harrison. She will be the reason he cant go back, another speculated. A third fan agreed, saying, I thought [she] would keep him from caving and going to see Harrison, like she will keep him thinking hes poison to the people he cares about. So far, there hasnt any word on Harrisons whereabouts, so the assumption is that hes still in Argentina with Hannah. All we know is that Dexter has since relocated to the fictional New York town Iron Lake, where hell face antagonist Kurt Caldwell (Clancy Brown), a power community leader. If hes got your back, consider yourself blessed. But should you cross Kurt, or hurt anyone that he cares for, God help you, his character description says in part (via TV Line). When does the Dexter revival air? As of writing, the exact release date for the Dexter revival is unknown, but it is expected to come out in 2021. Stay tuned to Showbiz Cheat Sheet for updates as they become available. [April 15, 2021] Parkbench and Dragos Ruxandu from EXP Quebec Announce Partnership; Creating a Disruption in the Canadian Real Estate Industry. Parkbench and Dragos Ruxandu from EXP Realty Announce Partnership to help the small businesses and neighbourhoods in Montreal and Montreal's South Shore get stronger, post-covid MONTREAL, April 15, 2021 /CNW/ - Grant Findlay-Shirras, co-founder of Parkbench.com, a leading online website that helps local professionals connect with their community, has partnered with Dragos Ruxandu of EXP Realty, a leading real estate brokerage in Montreal, Quebec. In a time when #shoplocal roles off peoples' tongues, Parkbench has pioneered a new and innovative way for community residents and small business owners to 'meet' in a safe, online environment. Findlay-Shirras explains. "I created Parkbench to be the one-stop shop for community information and connection." When Dragos Ruxandu heard what Parkbench was doing, "I had to jump on board." As the pandemic threw so many business owners into a tail-spin, Dragos felt compelled to help. "Business owners are the backbone of every local economy and we want to support them and now (with Parkbench) we have a vehicle to do this," explains Dragos. Because of the sponsorship by Dragos' EXP Quebec Team, the local residents and small business owners of each community get to have all the resources that Parkbench's platform provides, for free! As Grant and his Parkbench team expand across North America, more communities are being added daily, due in part, by the generosity of people like Dragos. "Our goal is to have a Parkbench site in every community across Canada and the US and getting our platform in the hands of locals is now even more important with so many people working from home and so many businesses struggling with all the constraints of this pandemic," Grant explains. Parkbench.com is a resource for people wanting to learn about the people behind the local businesses, the events happening down the street, the deals & specials being offered and much more. There isn't a website on the internet that has more information about neighbourhoods than Parkbench and local news is so important in this new world. As for Grant and Parkbench, "We are excited to partner with Dragos and his team to help provide a local news source for the people who live in Quebec and the free marketing platform for local businesses. Together we can help improve the economy and quality of life in Quebec." SOURCE Parkbench Inc. [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] Mumbai: Crime Branch of Pune City Police have arrested 5 people in two different cases for black marketing of Remdesivir injection. Notably, Remdesivir is listed for use in serious COVID-19 patients in the Clinical Management Protocols for COVID-19 as an investigational therapy. In view of a sudden spike in demand for Remdesivir injection due to the surge in COVID-19 cases, India on Sunday banned the export of the injections till the situation improves. Maharashtra Health Minister Rajesh Tope on Thursday said they have requested the Central government to allow the Remdesivir stock, to be distributed in the domestic market to bridge the gap in its demand and supply. Tope told reporters in Mumbai, "We have requested the Centre to allow the exportable Remdesivir stock to be distributed in the domestic market. It will help in bridging the gap between the demand and supply of the medicine" Tope told reporters here. Tope said they have asked all the doctors treating COVID-19 patients to use Remdesivir judiciously, adding "The state COVID-19 task force has given clear instructions on the use of Remdesivir, but we have still noticed its over-usage. It is one of the reasons for the shortage of medicine in the state." The minister further said that "The state government has decided to supply Remdesivir to every district, depending on the number of active cases (under medical supervision). It will streamline the availability of the medicine." (With Agency Inputs) Syracuse, N.Y. Two more large high schools will hold Covid-19 vaccine clinics next week in Onondaga County. East Syracuse Minoa Central High School will provide vaccines Tuesday, and Liverpool High School will give shots April 23. County officials launched their effort to vaccinate high school students today with a lead-off clinic at Baker High School in Baldwinsville. At least 150 students and staff received shots today, County Executive Ryan McMahon said. The high school clinics are part of a growing county effort to go into the community with vaccines. Students receive Pfizer shots, the only vaccine approved for 16- and 17-year-olds. Future vaccine clinics will be held at other high schools. In the weeks to come, the county also will hold more events at community centers, churches and other neighborhood sites to vaccinate people who have not yet had shots. More than 208,000 county residents have received at least one dose of vaccine, or about 58% of all adults. County officials hope to vaccinate at least 70% of the population by May, McMahon said. Libraries: Beginning April 22, the downtown Central Library and all city branch libraries will open 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday. Patrons can visit without making an appointment. The branches had previously been open by appointment only, in many cases just two or three days a week. The county today confirmed 115 new cases of Covid-19 since Wednesday. There were 46 Covid-19 patients in local hospitals today. Nine patients were in intensive care. No county resident has died from the virus since April 8. In Bengali, the word Pohela means first and the word Boishakh signifies the new month of the Bengali calendar. Together, this festival signifies the Bengali New Year. The festival typically falls on April 14 or 15 every year and dates its roots back to the lunisolar Bengali calendar. People of Bengali origin in West Bengal, Assam, Tripura and Bangladesh celebrate this day by holding community fairs, classical Jatra plays, preparing special and festive delicacies. However, since strict lockdown restrictions have been implemented this year, most of these lively events had to take a step back. Although one won't be able to participate in the festivities this time, they can still take part in spreading knowledge about Pohela Boishakh's significance and history. Pohela Boishakh History This time, Bengali New Year 2021 falls on April 15. Pohela Boishakh history has two varying theories. While some believe that the Bengali era had commenced thanks to King Shoshangko in the 7th century, a divergent view suggests that it was King Akbar who had introduced the Bengali calendar after combining the lunar Islamic calendar and the solar Hindu calendar. In some rural parts of India, Bengali Hindus credit its commencement to emperor Vikramaditya and believe that the Bengali calendar starts from 593 CE. Pohela Boishakh Significance Bengali people across India celebrate Pohela Boishakh with lots of joy and vigour. This day is typically seen as an excuse to meet and greet families, buy new clothes and items and feast on Pohela Baisakh festive meals to name a few. In some parts of the world, Bengalis even hold small-scale parades and processions called the Prabhat Pheri that begins early morning. These processions see people dressed up with floats or traditional wear, dance troupes are called to showcase their performance on Rabindra Nath Tagore melodies and folk songs. People usually wish each other by saying 'Shubho Nobo Borsho' on Pohela Boishaakh to begin the day. 'Shubho' means happy, 'Nobo' means new and 'Barsho' meaning year. Temples like Dakshineswar and Belur are packed with devotees during this day as everybody goes to offer prayers as part of their tradition. Goddess Lakshmi and Lord Ganesha are especially worshipped during this auspicious day. In Tripura and West Bengal, Pohela Boishakh is a state-level holiday. Image Source: Shutterstock To be better synchronised with the body clocks of teenagers, secondary schools should consider starting the day 70 minutes later, a study has concluded. Experts from the US studied the impact of shifting back the school day by different amounts by age group on around 28,000 students between the ages of 518. They found that students at the US high school level (ages 1418) benefitted most from their delated start at 8.20 am getting 3.8 hours of extra sleep per week. For children and teenagers, sleep is essential to health, social development and academic achievement yet many are clinically sleep deprived. The main reason for this is that sleep cycles are affected by puberty in such a way that makes it difficult for adolescents to fall asleep early. When this is combined with typically early school start times, students end up effectively burning the candle at both ends and end up getting insufficient sleep. To be better synchronised with the body clocks of teenagers, secondary schools should consider starting the day 70 minutes later, a study has concluded (stock image) The research was conducted by paediatric psychologist Lisa Meltzer of National Jewish Health in Denver, Colorado and her colleagues. In their study, Dr Meltzer and colleagues surveyed 28,000 US elementary, middle, and high school students and their parents on an annual basis both before and for two years following trial shifts in school start times. Participating elementary schools (for ages 510) started 60 minutes earlier at 8:00 am, middle schools (for ages 1113) started 4060 minutes later at 8:50 am and high schools (for ages 1418) began their days 70 minutes later than usual at 8:20 am. Both the parents and the children were separately polled about the student's typical sleep schedule on both weekdays and weekends as well as their quality of sleep and their experience of daytime sleepiness. The team found that the students who benefitted the most from the new start times were high school students (ages 1418), who were seen to get an average of 3.8 hours of extra sleep per week as a result of the change. Furthermore, more than 10 per cent of high school students reported that their quality of sleep had improved, 20 per cent said that they experienced less daytime sleepiness and weekend oversleep dropped from 2 to 1.2 hours a week. This, the team said, indicates that being allowed extra weekday sleep means that students are no longer clinically sleep deprived and do not feel compelled to catch up on needed rest on the weekend. Middle school students (ages 1113) also gained 2.4 additional hours of sleep per week thanks to the later start time and there was a 12 per cent decrease in reports of daytime sleepiness from this group. No significant changes were seen among elementary school students. The team found that the students who benefitted the most from the new start times were high school students (ages 1418), who were seen to get an average of 3.8 hours of extra sleep per week as a result of the change. Pictured: a teenager gets the sleep he needs (stock image) According to the researchers, the benefits of shifting back the school day were felt across different racial and socioeconomic groups. However, the survey results did indicate significant differences between these groups in the times that students went to bed on weekdays Dr Meltzer and colleagues have said that steps should be taken to 'identify and ameliorate systemic factors that contribute to these differences.' While previous studies have explored the benefits of changing start times for teenagers, none have considered the impacts on sleep of also changing start times for ages from Kindergarten onwards. Such coordinated shifts would be necessary in the US, with school districts needing to stagger start times in order to accommodate transportation schedules. 'This study is remarkable due to the large sample size, the inclusion of elementary and middle school students, the two-year follow-up, and both student and parent report,' the authors said. 'It also provides the strongest evidence to date that moving elementary school start times to 8:00 am caused no significant negative effect on student sleep or daytime sleepiness.' 'As students return to in-person learning, it is important for districts to consider healthy start times for all students.' The full findings of the study were published in the journal Sleep. Singapore Issues Advance Ruling On IP Rights Transfer by Mary Swire, Tax-News.com, Hong Kong 15 April 2021 On April 1, 2021, the Inland Revenue Authority of Singapore issued a summary of an advance ruling concerning franchise income earned by a Singaporean company from licensing intellectual property rights. The anonymized ruling says the franchise income derived by the Singapore company from outside Singapore is taxable in Singapore when it is remitted to Singapore, or is deemed to have been remitted. Background and facts IRAS said the ruling was granted to one of the world's largest technology suppliers in a certain industry. That Group has a subsidiary ("Company B") that owns the legal and economic rights to certain intellectual property (IP) and other intangible properties. Company B entered into a franchise agreement with a related company ("Company C"), granting the latter the rights to operate certain elements of the Group's business model and the use of its IP rights. Both Company B and Company C are incorporated and operate outside Singapore. Due to internal organizational restructuring, Group X is considering to incorporate a new company, Company A, in Singapore to acquire the legal and economic rights to the IP and other intangible properties from Company B, as well as all the rights related to Company B's Franchise Agreement signed with Company C. Company A intends to replace Company B and be responsible for all activities currently conducted by Company B as the owner of the IP rights, including activities related to the Franchise Agreement. Company A will derive franchise income from the Franchise Agreement, subsequent to the planned restructuring. To enable Company A to replace Company B in its role and responsibilities without disrupting the global relations and transactions, Company A will maintain similar contracts that Company B has with affiliated and non-affiliated companies necessary to carry out its activities as the owner of its IP rights. All significant operating management and decision making as the owner of its IP rights will be done outside Singapore by non-resident employees outside of Singapore. All management activities with regard to portfolio evaluation and adjustment, process improvement, asset enhancement, business development, sales and marketing, etc. will be performed outside Singapore by affiliated entities. All contracts relating to the IP rights will be negotiated and executed outside of Singapore. Company A will establish Singapore tax residency by ensuring its Board of Directors, a majority of whom will be Singapore residents, will hold their meetings in Singapore where all material strategic decisions regarding the direction of its activities carried on outside Singapore will be made. Company A will employ a Managing Director ("MD") in Singapore and a few staff to support the MD in Singapore. The MD's main responsibilities will include: Monitoring the franchisee's compliance with terms and conditions of Franchise Agreement and report any non-compliance to its Board; Providing regular reports to the Board and the Board's designated agents outside of Singapore responsible for the day-to-day management of the Company's operations; Providing quarterly updates to the Board and monthly updates to the Board's designated agents outside Singapore responsible for the day-to-day operations with regards to the franchisee performance; Ensuring required performance under all agreements with its affiliates and external parties and by monitoring and reporting on contract performance and immediately notifying the Board or the Board's designated affiliate outside Singapore tasked with addressing non-compliance and contract enforcement; Maintaining the company's books and records; Establishing annual budgets and the company business plan; and Developing long-term staffing plans, as required. Ruling The ruling provides that the franchise income derived by Company A is sourced in Singapore, and it is taxable on an accrual basis under the provisions of the Income Tax Act. The ruling states: "The franchise income is regarded as sourced in Singapore in view of the following: Lord Frost will meet with his EU counterpart Maros Sefcovic in Brussels this evening for crunch talks as the two sides inch towards a deal to ease post-Brexit trade checks in Northern Ireland. The Cabinet Office minister and the vice president of the European Commission are due to meet for dinner amid signs progress is being made. It is hoped a breakthrough on the thorny issue of border checks will help to bring to an end recent disorder on the streets of Belfast. The meeting comes on the same day that Lord Frost and Northern Ireland Secretary Brandon Lewis met with Irish foreign affairs minister Simon Coveney. Mr Coveney also met with Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab in a sign that diplomatic efforts to push for an agreement are ratcheting up. Meanwhile, MEPs on two key EU committees today voted by an 'overwhelming majority' to recommend that the European Parliament backs the Brexit trade deal between the bloc and Britain. Lord Frost, the Cabinet Office minister (pictured left), will meet with EU counterpart Maros Sefcovic in Brussels tonight for talks relating to the Northern Ireland Protocol The protocol has inflamed community tensions as unionists believe the processes create an Irish Sea border between Northern Ireland and the rest of the UK which threatens the Union The parliament's trade and foreign affairs committees voted today in what is the second to last step in the parliamentary ratification process of the Trade and Co-operation Agreement. The deal has already been rolled out, with the post-Brexit transition period having ended on January 1, and the UK Parliament backed it before it was implemented. But the EU's lengthy ratification process means it is being approved retrospectively. However, a date for a final vote to ratify the deal in a plenary session of the European Parliament has not yet been set. Lord Frost and Mr Sefcovic will meet in Brussels amid rising hopes of a breakthrough on the Northern Ireland Protocol. Downing Street said the meeting is 'part of an ongoing process with the EU to resolve outstanding differences' on the issue. Brussels and Britain are locked in talks on how to improve the implementation of the protocol against a backdrop of recent violence in Northern Ireland. The atmosphere surrounding the talks was said to have 'warmed up a bit' earlier this week with discussions 'advancing on a technical level'. The protocol was agreed by the EU and UK as part of the Brexit divorce deal and it is designed to prevent a hard border on the island of Ireland. It achieves that by keeping Northern Ireland in the EU single market for goods, with regulatory checks and inspections now required on agri-food produce moving into the region from the rest of the UK. The new arrangements have caused some disruption to trade since the start of the year as firms have struggled with new processes and administration. Last month the UK Government unilaterally decided to extend post-Brexit grace periods on certain trade checks in Northern Ireland in an attempt to reduce friction. That prompted the EU to accuse the UK of breaching international law as the bloc launched formal legal action The checks have also inflamed community tensions as unionists believe the processes create an Irish Sea border between Northern Ireland and the rest of the UK which threatens the Union. The protocol has been blamed as a factor behind the recent upsurge in violence in loyalist areas. Last month the UK Government unilaterally decided to extend post-Brexit grace periods on certain trade checks in Northern Ireland in an attempt to reduce friction. That prompted the EU to accuse the UK of breaching international law as the bloc launched formal legal action. CHICO, Calif. The CPUCs Public Advocates Office is recommending the CPUC reject PG&Es plan until the serious flaws are fixed in its wildfire safety plans. The advocate's office is claiming that PG&E is following a pattern of ignoring wildfire safety recommendations. They claim that PG&E's 2021 Wildfire Safety Plan falls short, pointing to shoddy management, neglecting inspections in high-risk areas. It claims the utility is upgrading grids in mostly low-risk areas. The office also claims PG&E sent arborists to verify tree-trimming that had not been done yet. The CPUC's Public Advocates Office wants the CPUC to reject PG&E's Wildfire Safety Plan until it makes immediate changes. PG&E responded by saying it shares these goals and will work with regulators to refine its plan. PG&E's full response can be read below. We appreciate the thorough and careful review by all stakeholders of PG&Es 2021 Wildfire Mitigation Plan. We all share the goal of addressing the growing wildfire risk in California, and we look forward to working with our regulators, community partners and other stakeholders to develop and refine our wildfire mitigation plan. PG&E is focused on further improving the quality and consistency of our work as we strive to uphold our most important responsibility, which is the safety of our customers and the communities we are privileged to serve. "We reviewed Cal Advocates comments and addressed them in detail in our reply comments. Our 2021 WMP highlighted many of the ways we prioritized customer safety including: conducting more than 1,800 miles of enhanced vegetation management, 342 miles of system hardening, the installation of more than 600 weather stations and high definition cameras, and the installation of more than 603 sectionalizing devices, which allowed for a reduction in the scope and impact of PSPS events in 2020. We also recognized some gaps in 2020 and offered specific plans for addressing those gaps in 2021. Our employees accomplished much for our customers, and we look forward to working with Cal Advocates, the CPUC, Wildfire Safety Division and other stakeholders to continue improving our performance and addressing the states ever-growing wildfire risk. Send to Email Address Your Name Your Email Address Post was not sent - check your email addresses! Email check failed, please try again Sorry, your blog cannot share posts by email. New Delhi, April 15 : With Delhi reeling under surging Covid-19 cases, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Thursday suggested that the Hindu Rao and Swami Dayanand hospitals, coming under the BJP-ruled MCDs, be made Covid hospitals. Making the suggestion at a review meeting on the Covid situation, he said that this measure will lead to an increase of 900 beds for Covid patients, as he sought full cooperation and no politics on the matter. The Chief Minister also assured every possible help, including funds, to the MCD hospitals. Kejriwal said that the focus of his government is towards increasing the bed capacity, which will ensure adequate treatment for people requiring urgent assistance, and the government and private hospitals should aim towards taking over more facilities. It was also suggested that a time-bound preparation plan should be prepared to monitor the increase and availability of beds. Noting that he came across a situation recently where an asymptomatic patient was turned back from a hospital and created a ruckus, Kejriwal said: "This situation should never happen." "We must issue an order to allow directing patients to our Covid Care Centres (CCCs), to make the patient feel safe and in the care of the doctors. More and more patients should be shifted to these centres to cater to very critical patients in the hospitals." "Secondly, all the helpline numbers of the hospitals, which are also mentioned on our app, should remain fully functional. The hospitals must be directed to make people available round the clock for providing assistance through the helpline numbers. Thirdly, all the hospitals must be directed to ensure an adequate flow of information on the real-time availability of beds. This data should be updated every day," Kejriwal said. In the meeting, special focus was laid on the three-tier arrangement of health infrastructure in Delhi, of which first is home isolation, second is Covid Care Centres, and third is an increase in beds and facilities in hospitals in Delhi. Additionally, the Delhi government has requested the Centre to increase and make 2,700 beds from Central government hospitals available for the treatment of coronavirus patients. Currently, around 15,048 beds have been made available as Covid beds, out of which over 5,000 beds are empty. The availability of 2,700 beds will further increase the Covid bed capacity in Delhi to around 20,000. Along with this, the current number of ambulances available with the Delhi government is 629, and the current response time is 14 minutes, with no refusals recorded. Latest updates on Coronavirus (COVID-19) A school of deadly jellyfish have been spotted lurking in the waters of a popular Sydney swimming spot during the school holidays. Fisherman Yacov Lewin filmed at least five box jellyfish swimming in Yowie Bay at Port Hacking in Sydney's south on Thursday morning. Mr Lewin told Nine News he had never seen anything like it. Regarded as the world's most venomous marine animal, a sting from a box jellyfish can result in paralysis, cardiac arrest, and even death. But some viewers who commented on the footage believed they were jimble jellyfish, which are more commonly found in Sydney Harbour than box jellyfish, but also produce painful stings. A school of dangerous jellyfish (pictured) were spotted lurking at a popular swimming spot on Thursday The latest potential sighting comes six weeks after a Far North Queensland teen tragically died three days shy of his 18th birthday. Tommy Johnson, 17, was swimming with family at Patterson's Point on Cape York in late February when he was stung by a box jellyfish. He was airlifted to Townsville Hospital in critical condition where he died surrounded by friends and family three days later. Tommy's death came 14 years after the last box jellyfish death in Australia at nearby Umagico Beach when a seven-year-old girl was fatally stung. Only 80 deaths caused by box jellyfish have been recorded in Australian waters since the 1880s. Tommy's death prompted local council and health authorities to issue a warning to locals and tourists to stay out of the water during the stinger season - which runs from October to May. Lisa Schroder survived a box jellyfish sting on the top half of her right leg while paddle boarding with her husband and children at Pallarenda Beach in Townsville, far north Queensland on Sunday. Box jellyfish (pictured in Sydney waters on Thursday) are regarded as the world's most venomous marine animal She said the pain was as so 'excruciating' that she wanted to vomit after the venomous tentacles wrapped around her. 'We doused the stings in the vinegar by this stage I was crying and shaking,' she told the Townsville Bulletin. She also sustained injuries to her hand while removing the tentacles. 'I could hardly think (or) talk and was crying out in pain,' Mrs Schroder said. She was rushed to hospital but expected to make a full recovery. Box jellyfish are cube shaped with tentacles that can grow to three metres. A sting from one can kill a swimmer before they reach the shore. They can also swim without having to rely on currents, unlike other jellyfish, and have clusters of eyes on each side. The deadly marine creatures were seen lurking in Yowie Bay (pictured) on Thursday morning Swimmers can avoid being stung by wearing stinger protective clothing such a wetsuit or lycra suit or staying out of the water if they had no protective clothing. 'If you don't have a protective suit and you know there could be stingers or jellyfish in the water, just don't go in,' Torres and Cape Hospital and Health Service Northern Director of Medical Services Dr Marlow Coates said. 'The recent incident at Bamaga is a timely warning to take precautions when swimming in the sea in any northern waters. 'It's also important that people are familiar with resuscitation methods early resuscitation after major stings from box jellies has saved lives in the past few years.' On Monday, Cecil Roberts, the long-time president of the United Mine Workers of America (UMWA) union, released a video statement on the two-week-long strike by 1,100 coal miners at Warrior Met Coal in central Alabama. Although the video lasts only three minutes and 19 seconds, and was shot from the comfort of his Washington, D.C., office, Roberts appears nervous and unsteady as he hypocritically declares his support for the miners and piles one lie on another. This is no doubt the result of the fact that only a few days earlier, the UMWA president was shouted down and run out of town by striking miners when he attempted to ram through a five-year pro-company contract. It got hostile up there, one miner told the World Socialist Web Site. The coal miners rejected the deal by a 1,006-45 vote and then videoed themselves burning the contracts and throwing them into a barrel. Roberts conveniently omits these details as he begins, almost incoherently, at first. Recently I called a strike at our operations in Alabama, at four local unions, at Warrior Met, and many people might look at this and say, Why did you do that? Over the past five years, Warrior Met has been a terrible company for our people to work for. Working as long as 12 hours a day, seven days a week, in some of the most dangerous conditions in the mining industry in North America. Cecil Roberts After describing the unsafe conditions and the fact that many workers are forced to work on holidays, Roberts says, So many people would look at this and say, So, how did it end up that way, because UMWA contracts are generally much better than that? That is absolutely a fact, but we have something here that encompasses everything thats wrong with the laws in America, starting with the bankruptcy laws. In 2016, Jim Walters Industries filed for bankruptcy, and this company Warrior Met was created by Wall Street investors, and this is how we ended up with a contract like we have. Several things need to be said. First of all, Roberts did not decide to call the strike on his own. If it were up to him, he never would have called a strike. Five years ago, the UMWA signed a contract that imposed a $6-an-hour wage cut, and it is clear that the union was prepared to accept a contract that restored less than a quarter of the hourly pay cut over the period of five yearsas the agreement reached by Roberts demonstrated. But the fact that company has pumped record production and profits out of workers, handed all the productivity bonuses to supervisors, maintained its brutal absenteeism policy, and handed its top executives multimillion-dollar payouts led to such anger that the UMWA had no choice but to call a strike. As one miner told the WSWS, Underground, the supervisors show off the new homes theyve bought with their bonuses. Its humiliating. With all the harassment, we couldnt wait to get on the picket lines. When you cuss them as they head into the minesit is therapeutic. Unable to contain his hostility towards the militant action of miners, Roberts said in a press release announcing the walkout on April 1 that nobody in their right mind wants to go on strike. In fact, during his 25 years as union president, Roberts has not called a single significant strike. In the nearly three decades since the last walkout by Peabody miners in 1993, the UMWA has colluded with the coal bosses and their Wall Street investors in the restructuring of the industry and the decimation of miners jobs, wages, pensions and working conditions. UMWA, which once had half a million members, and still more than 100,000 in 1980, has fallen to 35,000 members, of which barely 20,000 are miners. From 2010 to 2019, more than 50 US coal companies filed for bankruptcy, including Peabody , Alpha Natural Resources , Patriot Coal Company, Walter Energy, and James River Coal. During every bankruptcy, Roberts and the UMWA leadership either passively allowed union contracts to be wiped off the books or actively aided the company. Such was the case with Patriots bankruptcy, where the UMWA agreed to allow the workers pension fund to be annihilated and replaced with a Voluntary Employees Benefits Association (VEBA) to which Patriot provided $15 million in cash, a fraction of its current health care costs, now averaging nearly $7 million a month. In return, the union was guaranteed a 35 percent stock holding in the restructured companymaking Roberts & Co. active partners in the exploitation of coal miners. In the video, Roberts makes the claim that it was the union in 2016 that saved the pensions and the healthcare. But we still ended up with a contract forced upon us mainly because we lost our right to represent the workers there. This is an outright lie. The UMWAs bankruptcy experts worked with Walter Energy at every step of the bankruptcy process, ensuring that the financial and institutional interests of the UMWA bureaucracy were protected even as workers hard-won gains were gutted to put the companys costs into line with the new realities of our industry, as Walter Energy-turned-Warrior boss Walter Scheller said. At the time, Roberts publicly assured miners that the bankruptcy would not affect the terms and conditions of their employment. In reality, Roberts gave Walter Energy and its successorCoal Acquisition LLC (now Warrior Met Coal)massive concessions in the form of a $6-an-hour wage cut, mass layoffs, and cuts to pensions and benefits. Robertss concerns over the methane gas and other deadly dangers at Warrior Met are no more sincere. The UMWA has directly collaborated with Warrior and its predecessor to eviscerate basic safety protocols. In 2001, a buildup of methane gas in Warrior Mets No. 5 mine (at the time under Walter Energy) triggered an explosion that killed 13 miners. This was also the root cause of the 2010 mine disaster at Massey Energys Upper Big Branch mine in West Virginia, which tragically took the lives of 29 miners. In both cases, the warnings made by gas sensors put in place to measure methane levels were ignored by management in the interest of continuing coal production. And in both cases, these were disasters which occurred under the purview of the UMWA. During the time of the West Virginia disasterthe worst in 40 yearsJoe Main, a former UMWA safety director, headed up Obamas Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA), which was no less complicit. In his statement, Roberts said he called the strike to fix the problems with Warrior, and then the members voted, they could have had a contract that made improvements in their terribly bad working conditions, or they could choose to strike. And they overwhelmingly chose to strike, again leaving out that rank-and-file miners did that in defiance of the sweetheart contract the UMWA was prepared to accept. Roberts then concludes: We dont strike at the UMWA to lose. We strike at the UMWA to win. Such a statement would be laughable if the outcome of the strikes betrayed by the UMWA and Roberts personally had not led to the devastation of miners, their families and communities, which have been transformed into centers of economic desperation and opioid addiction. The coal miners of Appalachia, central Alabama and other regions were always the most militant and class-conscious sections of the American working class. In 1982, Richard Trumka and Cecil Robertsboth associated with the Miners for Democracy movement of former UMWA president Arnold Millertook over the presidency and vice-presidency of UMWA, pledging no more backward steps, no takeaway contracts and to organize the coal mines and bring stability to the union. What Trumka and Roberts did, however, was abandon the UMWAs traditional policy of nationwide strikes to shut down all mines, union and non-union, until every union mine had a contract. The introduction of this selective strike policy led to the isolation of the AT Massey (19851986) and Pittston (19891990) strikes, even as miners faced levels of violence by the companies and the government not seen since the Mine Wars of the 1920s. The defeat of these strikes opened the floodgates for mass layoffs, the expansion of non-union mines, the spinning off of assets and the setting up of dummy companies, and finally the wave of bankruptcy restructurings. April 5 marked the 32nd anniversary of the Pittston strike. Roberts was the on-site leader and strategist and chief negotiator during the 10-month strike. During the strike, more than 50,000 miners launched a series of wildcat strikes to break the isolation of the Pittston miners. In September 1989, Roberts ended the occupation of a coal-cleaning facility before thousands of miners came to defend it against Virginia national guardsmen. At the time, one miner told the Bulletin, a predecessor of the World Socialist Web Site, Cecil Roberts pulled the rug out from under us. He marched them out of the plant and told us to go home. The men were pissed off. We had finally done some damage and he tells us to put our tails between our legs and quit. Roberts made the excuse that if we stayed the union would be hit with a big fine. The real reason was the union leadership had an explosion on their hands. There were too many people and the UMWA leaders saved the company. By January 1990, Trumka and Roberts shut down the strike and accepted a contract that granted the company all of its demands, such as round-the-clock seven-day production and ending contributions to the union-controlled 1950 benefit fund. This is the real record of the UMWA. All the talk about holding unity rallies to mobilize local and national allies, is only to soften miners up for another sellout agreement. Warrior miners must stop this by electing their own rank-and-file negotiating and strike committee to demand the full restoration of all concessions, the abolition of the brutal absentee system and workers control over production. This rank-and-file committee should expand the strike reaching out and fighting for common action with the thousands of BCOA miners whose contract expires this December, along with striking ATI steelworkers, Massachusetts nurses, Columbia and New York University grad students, and the growing network of rank-and-file committees among educators in Alabama and other states, Amazon and autoworkers. Source: Xinhua| 2021-04-15 16:31:21|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close CANBERRA, April 15 (Xinhua) -- Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison announced on Thursday that the country's remaining troops in Afghanistan will be withdrawn in September. Morrison said Australia would follow the United States in ending its military presence in Afghanistan after 20 years in the country. "Over the past two years we've been reducing our military presence in Afghanistan from a high of over 1,500 personnel to around 80 personnel currently," he told reporters. "In line with the United States and our other allies and partners, the last remaining Australian troops will depart Afghanistan in September 2021." Australian Defence Force personnel arrived in Afghanistan in 2001. More than 39,000 Australian troops had been deployed to Afghanistan, 41 of whom died in the country. He acknowledged that the conflict has "exacted an enormous toll" on the Afghan people and said that Australia would continue to support peace talks between the Afghan government and the Taliban. The Australian Defence Force last year released the findings of a four-year inquiry that found "credible evidence" of the special forces soldiers' murdering of 39 Afghans, including children, in 23 incidents, and none of those killings occurred in "the heat of a battle." The killings have been described by many as war crime. Enditem Sabic is showcasing its sustainable material solutions that help to address some of the industry needs after Covid-19 pandemic at the ongoing ChinaPlas 2021. The event is being held at Shenzhen World Exhibition & Convention Center (SWECC) from April 13 to 16, in Shenzhen, China. The global leader in diversified chemicals said it is demonstrating its commitment to response to industry challenges for circular economy by highlighting a series of high-performance material solutions in packaging, automotive, building & construction, healthcare, and consumer goods. The global pandemic has enormously changed the world in many ways. In the process to recover from the pandemic, a more sustainable and low carbon future will be the common pursuit of human, further pushing industries to achieve circular economy. The petrochemical industry plays a key role in this transition, by providing sustainable products and solutions. Sabic, fully aware of this dynamic, is working actively with the value chain to adapt to the global megatrends and address challenges in achieving circular economy, the company said in a statement. Sabic recognises that global megatrends of food & water, sustainability, energy efficiency, healthcare, and urbanisation still greatly influence human life these days, especially healthcare and sustainability in the post-pandemic period. We are actively leveraging our expertise and advanced solutions to address the major challenges from our key target markets and industries, said Abdulrahman Al-Fageeh, Executive Vice President of Petrochemicals at Sabic. We are unleashing superior technologies, supporting China's high-quality development endeavors, and ultimately moving towards a brighter future, he added. China is gearing up for high-quality economic growth and accelerating to a more sustainable society. Sabic enhances collaboration with the industry value chain in China to capture emerging needs by offering market-oriented solutions. The company is displaying a comprehensive portfolio thsi year at its premium booth: Lexan PC films for vaccine cold chain packaging Sabic captures the increasing needs of the healthcare industry and offers its new cold-chain packaging material solutions, including Lexan 8040 and 8B45 polycarbonate films, which meet the ultra-low temperature requirements of Covid-19 vaccine transportation and storage and contribute to combating the pandemic. Fortify POE for PV module Among all noticeable megatrends, clean energy plays a major role in improving energy efficiency. Sabic provides innovative material solutions to support the booming PV industry. Sabics POE Fortify C5075DP and C13075DP used as sealing material for PV module, offering excellent protection for PV modules and ensure efficient, reliable energy output. Lexan PC based on certified renewable feedstock Sabic has successfully partnered with eyewear lens leader Polyray to apply its certified renewable feedstock-based Lexan polycarbonate (PC) resin, part of Sabic Trucircle portfolio and services for lenses of sunglasses, safety glasses, and sports goggles. This first-ever partnership involves the application of its renewable PC with a local partner in China and celebrates Sabics renewable and sustainable solutions.--TradeArabia News Service ADVERTISEMENT The Chairman of the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), Adeolu Akande, has called for more involvement of professionals in Nigerian politics. Mr Akande, a professor, made the remark in Abuja on Wednesday while speaking as guest speaker at the 2021 Fellows Investiture programme of the Nigeria Institution of Surveyors.He spoke on the topic, Professionals,Politics and National Development. Mr Akande, who teaches Political Science at the Igbinedion University, Okada, Edo State, said professionals, as individuals who have acquired requisite knowledge and skill in a particular sphere of human endeavour, should show more interest in politics so that they can enrich the conduct of politics and government in the country. He stated that the attributes of professionalism include education, skill, reliability, integrity, team play, among others, are in short supply in the nations political scene. The more professionals we have in politics, the more the likelihood that our politics will exude these attributes and the more the chances that our conduct of politics and government politics will improve, he said. Mr Akande noted that these attributes among politicians is a reason there is always tension between them and professional politicians who refer to them as technocrats who have been invited :to come and chop, when professionals take up roles in government. He said the involvement of more professionals in politics will strengthen the professionals already in politics and help them to make their attributes improve the conduct of politicians in the country. He however noted that many professionals have also fallen prey to the common ills in Nigerian politics and this creates fears about the positive impact of more professionals participation in politics and government. Mr Akande noted that the quest for development will be helped when politicians complement the efforts of their colleagues in formulating quality decisions that would fastrack service delivery by government. Professionals in politics have the added advantage of combining practical knowledge of realities of the society with their skill and knowledge, the professor said. With such professionals, there is no dichotomy between technocrats and politicians. The expertise required for good decision making is combined with the political knowledge and skill of being a politician. This helps in the formulation of realistic decisions and polity that will enhance quality of service by the government. Nothing that politics could sometimes be dirty, Mr Akande said professionals who shy away from politics because it is dirty subject themselves to the tyranny of dirty politicians who would end up ruling over them. On Thursday last week, the government issued a notice requesting restauranteurs and other nighttime business operators to close their businesses after 9 pm as the number of active Covid-19 cases is on the rise again. Following the recent spike in Covid-19 cases in India, Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli, also on Thursday, urged the public to remain vigilant. He also warned of another round of lockdown. On Friday last week, the Ministry of Health and Population recommended the closure of crowded areas, such as schools, colleges and restricting the gathering of more than 25 people. All these statements and notices from the government following the risk of the second wave of Covid-19 have created a state of panic in the private sector again. The long halt in business and trade following the lockdown induced by the Covid-19 pandemic last year had already severely impacted the economy. And, all the businesspersons, traders, entrepreneurs fear the economy that is gradually recovering from the losses caused by last years lockdown may collapse if another lockdown is imposed. Cant afford another lockdown Due to the pandemic, we have suffered a lot that we still have not been able to recover, says the president of the National Entrepreneurs Federation of Nepal, Naresh Katuwal, We cant afford to shut down. If we do so, our economy will collapse. Police personnel mobilised to shut shops in New Road of Kathmandu, during the lockdown, on Wednesday, June 10, 2020. Meanwhile, he also mentions the health protocols should be followed by everyone to avoid the Covid-19 infection. Remembering last years lockdown, Katuwal says, We were forced to defy the lockdown rules and open shops as we were struggling to sustain our daily livelihoods. Besides, we also had problems in paying rent, bank instalments, and interest as well as the salaries of the employees as all the businesses were completely shut at that time. Katuwal suggests if everyone is aware and adopts safety precautions, no decision should be taken that would affect the daily lives of the people. Likewise, Rajesh Kazi Shrestha, the president of the Nepal Chamber of Commerce (NCC), says the countrys economy is not in a satisfactory state at the moment. Even though its been more than a year since the Covid-19 crisis has begun, the pace and direction of the economy are still uncertain, he said at the annual event of NCC on Thursday. Although the economy has not suffered further losses due to some relief measures brought by the budget and monetary policy of the government, it has not yet embarked on the path of recovery, expressed Shrestha. I would like to urge the Prime Minister to create a situation in which Nepal can be recognised by the whole world as an economy that has recovered quickly after the Covid-19 pandemic, for which we (the private sector) are ready to support the government in every possible way, he said. Need to focus on awareness According to a study conducted by the Nepal Rastra Bank in December 2020, of the industries and businesses shut down owing to the pandemic, 54 per cent had begun operating fully. The rest were also preparing to come into operation gradually. File: Some people walk along a street during the nationwide lockdown, in Kathmandu, in June 2020. The president of the Confederation of Nepalese Industries, Satish Kumar More, hence, says another round of lockdown would be fatal for the economy. Instead, the government should focus on spreading awareness to prevent the spread of Covid-19 infection, he suggests. Economist Chandra Mani Adhikari agrees, In such a situation, we should not impose lockdown like in the past. Economic activities need to be growing. By imposing yet another lockdown, we should not weaken the stagnant economy again. Last year, there was no treatment available for Covid-19, which stood as one of the compulsions to impose the lockdown then. However, things have changed now as vaccines against the coronavirus are in use, they say. Many health workers, security personnel, and even the media personnel have been vaccinated against the coronavirus. A few days ago only, Nepal had received 800,000 doses of Vero Cell Covid-19 vaccines donated by the Chinese government. Now, the government should focus on vaccinating its citizens, suggests More. There is a lot of fear as a new variant of the coronavirus has been detected and the number of Covid-19 cases is on a rise in India. Therefore, the border area should be tightened, suggests Adhikari. Screening of people coming from outside should be done, not by intimidation or stopping at checkpoints, but by testing. And, economic activities should be carried out maintaining physical distance, recommends Adhikari. Lazard to Announce First-quarter 2021 Results Lazard Ltd (NYSE: LAZ) will announce its first-quarter 2021 results in a press release to be issued Friday morning, April 30, 2021. The press release will be available on Lazard's website at: www.lazard.com. Lazard will host a conference call at 8:00 a.m. EDT on April 30, 2021, to discuss the company's financial results for the first quarter of 2021. The conference call can be accessed via a live audio webcast available through Lazard's Investor Relations website at www.lazard.com/a>, or by dialing 1 (800) 458-4121 (toll-free, U.S. and Canada) or +1 (323) 794-2093 (outside of the U.S. and Canada), 15 minutes prior to the start of the call. A replay of the conference call will be available by 10:00 a.m. EDT on April 30, 2021, via the Lazard Investor Relations website, www.lazard.com, or by dialing 1 (888) 203-1112 (toll-free, U.S. and Canada) or +1 (719) 457-0820 (outside of the U.S. and Canada). The replay access code is: 6389433. ??ABOUT LAZARD Lazard, one of the world's preeminent financial advisory and asset management firms, operates from more than 40 cities across 25 countries in North America, Europe, Asia, Australia, Central and South America. With origins dating to 1848, the firm provides advice on mergers and acquisitions, strategic matters, restructuring and capital structure, capital raising and corporate finance, as well as asset management services to corporations, partnerships, institutions, governments and individuals. For more information on Lazard, please visit www.lazard.com. Follow Lazard at @Lazard. LAZ-EPE LAZ-CPE View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210415005341/en/ Watertown, NY (13601) Today Mostly cloudy skies. A stray afternoon thunderstorm is possible. High around 80F. Winds WSW at 10 to 20 mph.. Tonight Partly cloudy skies. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. Low near 65F. Winds SW at 10 to 20 mph. The stepmother of former US President Barack Obama has died. Kezia Obama, the mother of Malik and Auma Obama, died on Tuesday. The cause of her death has not been disclosed but Kenya's Standard newspaper says she died in the UK. Kezia Obama's daughter Auma, who enjoys a close relationship with former President Obama, said she was numb after losing her: Lost my beloved mother yesterday. Im numb. pic.twitter.com/Hq8MIkhfAu Auma Obama (@AumaObama) April 14, 2021 The Obamas lost their grandmother Sarah Obama on 29 March.Kezia was Obama senior's first wife and had two children - Malik and Auma - with him before he went to the US, where he met President Obama's mother Ann Dunham. Source: BBC Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority. Featured Video Schools across California should be ready, willing and able to fully reopen to all students in the fall, albeit with masking, testing and other mitigation efforts, Gov. Gavin Newsom said Wednesday at a recently reopened school in Sonoma County. The key word, however, continued to be should rather than must. As this school year winds down with most districts across the state offering limited or no in-person instruction, families, teachers and education officials are looking to the state to provide not just guidance on what to do in the fall, but mandates on when and how to reopen. Newsom has repeatedly declined to guarantee a full reopening in the fall, barring an unforeseen shift in the direction of the pandemic. The governor says he is working with the Legislature to provide direction, while acknowledging diverse needs among the 1,000 school districts. Mandates are not as often looked on as favorably as you might think, he said. I expect all our kids to be back in the fall. More than 9,000 of the states 11,000 public schools have reopened, with hundreds more returning to in-person learning in some form, the governor said. Most have adopted a hybrid model, with students in class part of the day or part of the week. In many districts, including San Francisco and Oakland, most middle and high school students will not return to classrooms this school year. Several states have required schools to reopen, including Iowa, New Hampshire, Texas and New Mexico. Much of what happens in the fall hinges on whether state elected officials take action in the next few months to renew or replace legislation allowing for distance learning and other accommodations during the pandemic. That measure expires at the end of this school year. Without additional action, the law would revert to what it was prior to COVID-19, meaning districts would be required to offer a full-time, in-person education five days a week. Albany parent Jolanka Nickerman said she prays at night that the governor wont extend the order allowing for distance learning for the fall. As a parent, I care most about the health and safety of my kids, and I would have sent them back a long time ago, said Nickerman, who has two elementary schoolchildren. She has spent 40 to 60 hours watching school board meetings, urging the district to reopen. While her kids returned to in-person learning two weeks ago, she still worries about the fall. Im holding my breath to some extent, she said. What school districts are doing is all over the map, and none of it seems based on science. State Sen. Scott Wiener, D-San Francisco, said he believes the path forward is clear. Distance learning needs to end for the next school year. Period, he said. Unless something really unexpected happens with the pandemic, we need to go back to full-time, five days a week in-person learning for everyone. San Francisco parent Sabeen Ahmad said she is hoping schools will fully reopen in the fall after what has been a rough spring for her kindergarten son. He was doing well up until Christmas; he was super engaged, she said. After Christmas everything went downhill. He was just fighting. He was getting lazy. It was a constant battle. She pulled him out of his daily Zoom lessons at Serra Elementary and put him in a pod to have social interaction, where he has done most of his learning out of a workbook, Ahmad said. She worries many parents have left the district for private schools, which her family cant afford. Ahmad said she loves her sons school and his teacher, whom hell have next year, too, if all goes well. COVID Resources Coronavirus Map Tracking COVID-19 cases across the Bay Area and California. For me the biggest issue is private schools have been open since October, she said. That just made me feel angry. How is that fair? If the state does give schools wiggle room on reopening in the fall, its likely some or many will not fully reopen. Its also possible labor negotiations could stall or limit when and how students return. Based on labor law, and as is the case with any union-management relationship, any anticipated changes to or departures from the collective bargaining agreements ... which cover wages, hours, and conditions of work, must be negotiated, said Susan Solomon, president of the United Educators of San Francisco. It is our fervent hope that conditions will continue to improve so that educators and all students, regardless of their familys ZIP code, income level, race, ethnicity, or immigration status, will be able to return safely to in-person instruction, without fear or danger of COVID infection, in the fall. The governor noted many families are still reluctant to return and that the state needs to be sensitive to the needs of those parents in particular, those children in particular. That could mean the state will allow districts to continue using distance learning or hybrid schedules in the fall in some form. The California School Boards Association supports the idea of allowing a distance learning option for families who want it, while continuing to provide the guidance and resources needed to facilitate in-person instruction, said spokesman Troy Flint. Health officials have noted that masks and other mitigation efforts, including testing and contact tracing, likely would remain in place in the fall, given that not all children will qualify for a vaccine. We can do this safely. We know that, Newsom said Wednesday. Evidence is overwhelming we can safely do this. Jill Tucker is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: jtucker@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @Jilltucker The Hanahan Fire Department will offer the Moderna COVID-19 vaccines April 17. The vaccination event will be held at the gymnasium behind Hanahan City Hall at 1255 Yeamans Hall Road from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Because of limited supplies, appointments will be required for the vaccination clinic. The city has received 520 doses of the Moderna vaccine with help from S.C. Department of Health and Environmental Control and Roper St. Francis Hospital. Hanahan fire chief Bo Bowers said the city bought two $5,000 storage units for the clinic and hopes to average about 30 vaccines per hour. Weve had the storage units since the end of January, Bowers said. Weve been waiting on getting the vaccines, which we finally did. The frustrating thing is that wed do everything theyd tell us to do to get the vaccines and then theyd add another hurdle that we had to jump over. Those who receive their first dose at the clinic will also be scheduled to receive their second dose on May 15th. To find an appointment and register for the event, go to https://www.signupgenius.com/go/10c0c4dafaf29aaf4ce9-hanahan1 Anyone interested in receiving a COVID-19 vaccine can use vaxlocator.dhec.sc.gov to find one. As of April 15, appointments are available at many DHEC clinics across the state; find one by visiting cvas.dhec.sc.gov. Statewide numbers New cases reported: 589 confirmed, 512 probable. Total cases in S.C.: 473,442 confirmed, 92,576 probable. Percent positive: 6.3 percent. New deaths reported: 2 confirmed, 1 probable. Total deaths in S.C.: 8,194 confirmed, 1,113 probable. Percent of ICU beds filled: 73 percent. Sign up for our new health newsletter The best of health, hospital and science coverage in South Carolina, delivered to your inbox weekly. Email Sign Up! How S.C. ranks South Carolina ranks 42nd in the nation regarding the number of vaccines administered per 100,000 people as of April 14, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Hardest-hit areas In the total number of newly confirmed cases, Greenville County (78), Richland County (63) and Charleston County (48) saw the highest totals. What about tri-county? Charleston County had 48 new cases on April 15, while Berkeley had 35 and Dorchester 36. Deaths One of the new confirmed deaths reported was a patient age 35 to 64, and ones was 65 or older. Hospitalizations Of the 567 COVID-19 patients hospitalized as of April 15, 141 were in the ICU and 66 were using ventilators. What do experts say? Anyone without health insurance who is interested in buying a plan can get help April 15 from the S.C. Hospital Association during a phone bank. Normally, the period of time when people can sign up for coverage through HealthCare.gov ends in mid-December. But given the effects of COVID-19 on jobs and health insurance coverage, the White House extended the deadline through Aug. 15. COVID-19 relief plans have also increased the financial assistance available to people. Nine in 10 plans purchased through the marketplace come with a tax credit to help reduce the cost of monthly premiums. Insurance agents are available for people to talk to at 803-988-9007 on April 15 from 12 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. He once tagged in the school and everyone was obsessed with needing to paint over his tag, but no one took the time to ask why he was tagging in the first place, one teacher told me. It was clear he needed someone to talk to and the space to socialize himself better. He really liked to draw, his penmanship was perfect. I think if we offered an art class, he wouldve taken it, but we dont even offer that to our students. He just needed one friend, one classmate or one other student he could connect with ... AUSTIN, Texas, April 15, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Harte Hanks (Harte Hanks), a leading global customer experience company, today announced the opening of a new state-of-the-art fulfillment and distribution facility in Kansas City, Kansas. This new location enables Harte Hanks' clients to reach their customers with products in any region of the contiguous United States using standard ground transportation within three days, and outer regions such as Hawaii, Alaska and Puerto Rico within five days. The Kansas City facility is expected to begin distributing over 20,000 packages a day, supporting the company's move into eCommerce fulfillment. The facility expects to employ up to 125 professionals in various areas, including packaging, warehousing, logistics, and sales in both new and existing job opportunities. Harte Hanks chose the Kansas City area to enable existing employees to access the new operation easily and to tap into the skilled workforce in the Kansas City marketplace as the company grows. Brian Linscott, Harte Hanks' Chief Operating Officer, said, "We are excited to expand our Fulfillment footprint, retain our highly skilled Kansas City team, and leverage the central distribution location to create efficient solutions for current and new customers." The facility, which features leading-edge digital print and packaging capabilities, is registered with the FDA and the Kansas Department of Agriculture to store and distribute packaged food products. These features, along with the facility's grade A National Sanitation Foundation (NSF) certification, ensure that products and brands will be stored and shipped using the highest sanitation and food safety standards. "Whether fulfilling OTC products like vitamins and supplements, coffees and teas, pet foods, snack foods, cereals, or any packaged food product, this state-of-the-art temperature-controlled facility ensures that your product is delivered quickly and safely to your most desired customer," said Pat O'Brien, Managing Director of Harte Hanks' Fulfillment and Logistics business. "Our Marketing Services capabilities also provide clients with the ability to manage their digital storefront, end to end, making our offer highly differentiated." Mr. O'Brien noted, for example, the facility's ability to deliver fast and easy "smart sampling" options for customers. "Whether sampling packaged goods, pharmaceutical products, eCommerce goods or healthcare patient kits, the new facility's central location can rapidly process and ship these products to customers in an incredibly effective manner that also provides significant cost savings." About Harte Hanks Harte Hanks (OTCMKTS: HRTH) is a global omnichannel customer experience company. We partner with clients to seamlessly manage experiences with their customers throughout the entire customer lifecycle through our marketing services, customer care, and fulfillment and logistics offerings. Harte Hanks works with some of the world's most respected brands, including Bank of America, Cisco, IBM, Pfizer, Sony and Ford, among others. Headquartered in Austin, Texas, Harte Hanks has more than 2,000 employees in offices across the Americas, Europe and Asia Pacific. For more information, visit hartehanks.com. For any questions, please contact [email protected] Images Available Upon Request SOURCE Harte Hanks Related Links http://www.hartehanks.com Kabul: US Secretary of State Antony Blinken made an unannounced visit to Afghanistan on Thursday to sell Afghan leaders and a wary public on President Joe Bidens decision to withdraw all American troops from the country and end Americas longest-running war. Blinken was meeting with Afghan President Ashraf Ghani, chief executive Abdullah Abdullah, and civic figures, a day after Biden announced that the remaining 2500 US soldiers in Afghanistan would be coming home by the 20th anniversary of the September 11 terrorist attacks that led to the US invasion. US Secretary of State Antony Blinken speaks during a media conference at NATO headquarters in Brussels on Wednesday. Credit:AP His trip also came after NATO immediately followed suit, saying its roughly 7000 non-American forces in Afghanistan would be departing within a few months, ending the foreign military presence that had been a fact of life for a generation of Afghans already reeling from more than 40 years of conflict. All Australian troops will also be withdrawn by September this year, Prime Minister Scott Morrison said on Thursday. LUBBOCK, Texas, April 15, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Rene Whitt published her first children's book The EXTRAOrdinary Skye to teach awareness about Down Syndrome. The EXTRAordinary Skye introduces a spirited young girl who has Down Syndrome and lives life to the fullest. The character Skye is based on Whitt's daughter that she and her husband adopted in 2014. Throughout the book, readers will see that indeed Skye is different, but she is still worthy of friendship, kindness, and inclusion. As an author and illustrator, Whitt shows true to life examples of how fun and sweet the world is when it includes children with Down Syndrome. The goal is to normalize social and educational inclusion and encourage acceptance of those who are differently abled. The EXTRAOrdinary Skye by Rene Whitt, children's book about Down Syndrome published by WordWhitts As the parent of a child with Down Syndrome, Whitt knows that children often have questions about her daughter's differences, to which many parents, teachers, or adults reading The EXTRAordinary Skye to children may not readily know the answers. Whitt ended the 21 page book with two pages of questions and answers about Down Syndrome, as a condition that occurs in about 1 in 700 babies each year. The EXTRAordinary Skye was published in 2021 and available on Amazon, Goodreads and Barnes & Noble and from the author. Rene Whitt was born and raised in northwest Louisiana and lives in Lubbock, Texas. Whitt married her husband Eric in 2006 and, through the blessing of adoption, became parents in 2014. Whitt loves being a girl mom and writing down the funny and mischievous antics that fill every day with their daughter. Friends and family have enjoyed reading the stories on social media and encouraged Whitt to write a book. The EXTRAOrdinary Skye introduces the main character who, like Tylee, has Down Syndrome. Whitt completed the script for her second children's book for the planned series. Visit www.wordwhitts.com or follow on Facebook. MEDIA CONTACT: Cece Liekar The League Lady, LLC 214-695-8192 [email protected] Related Images the-extraordinary-skye-by-rene.jpg The EXTRAOrdinary Skye by Rene Whitt, children's book about Down Syndrome published by WordWhitts The EXTRAOrdinary Skye by Rene Whitt, children's book about Down Syndrome published by WordWhitts SOURCE WordWhitts KALAMAZOO, MI MLive/Kalamazoo Gazette journalist Brad Devereauxs work on issues of public transparency has been recognized with the prestigious First Amendment Award from the Associated Press Media Editors. Devereaux was announced as the winner during the APME boards annual meeting Wednesday, April 14, held over Zoom. This is Devereauxs second time winning the organizations First Amendment Award, having secured it five years ago for reporting on a police department in Saginaw County. As a whole, MLive Media Group reporters, photographers and videographers won 51 awards in this years APME contest for work published in 2020. Related: MLive Media Group wins 51 AP awards for 2020 coverage Earning Devereaux the First Amendment Award win this year was a series of stories published on MLive.com and in the Kalamazoo Gazette detailing a long-held practice among Kalamazoo city commissioners to routinely meet behind closed doors, in advance of public meetings, to discuss issues on the upcoming agendas. There is nothing more gratifying to a journalist than performing the watchdog role on behalf of our readers and communities, said John Hiner, vice president of content for MLive Media Group. Its gratifying that the Gazettes efforts to compel transparency in government were recognized with this honor. The series, titled Kalamazoos Closed-Door Meetings, in its entirety: Those subquorum meetings, Devereaux discovered, had been held for decades in Kalamazoo with few, if any, questioning the practice. Legal experts say the meetings, held with fewer than a quorum of city commissioners present, cut citizens out of key discussions and likely violated Michigans Open Meetings Act. Devereaux, 36, of Kalamazoo, knew as the reporter responsible for covering Kalamazoo City Hall that he had a duty to be there on the publics behalf. They kept the door shut on me and anyone else not invited to attend, he said. Devereaux used the Freedom of Information Act to seek documentation on the meetings, as well as discussing their history, purpose and legality with officials, citizens and experts alike. When the meetings were questioned, elected officials were quick to point out the city attorney said they were legal, Devereaux said. I was given conflicting information about what was happening at the private meetings. There were no minutes taken, so the only information about what happened was in the minds of the attendees. Documents he received in response to his FOIA request detailed topics for prior closed-door meetings, which ran the gamut of controversial local issues. Among them was discussion of a recent change in holiday decorations that caused some in Kalamazoo to criticize the citys new Candy Cane Lane. If candy canes are too controversial to talk about in public, what else are you talking about behind closed doors? Devereaux asked. And why? The closed-door meeting discussion included much more than candy canes: public safety issues, protests, recreational marijuana rules, and hundreds of other topics. To me, these sound like discussions the public should be allowed to hear. The stories not only highlighted a government transparency issue previously unknown to most Kalamazoo residents; they also drove change. A city commissioner critical of the long-held practice, after talking with Devereaux about the issue, proposed the city change the format to ensure public access. Officials discussed the proposal and ultimately voted in favor of replacing the private, small-group meetings with public Committee of the Whole meetings now being held regularly. Related: Kalamazoo commissioners will test out public meetings to replace closed-door sessions City residents can now watch the meetings to see detailed presentations from city staff and discussion of issues that, previously, would have been out of reach for all but those invited to the subquorum meetings. Few things are more central to the mission of journalism than serving as a check on our governments and on all those who hold power, said Mark Tower, news leader for MLive/Kalamazoo Gazette. We stand for everyday people their eyes and ears as well as their voice. From the instinct and tenacity that spurred his initial questions and FOIA requests to the execution of the stories, Brad Devereauxs work is a clear example of that core mission. The Michigan APME First Amendment Award, according to the organization, recognizes individuals and news organizations that made a distinguished contribution on behalf of the First Amendment or Freedom of Information and work done to overcome obstacles on behalf of the unrestricted flow of information vital to a free society. In 2016, Devereaux won APMEs First Amendment Award for his coverage of reserve police officers in the Saginaw County village of Oakley. He used the Freedom of Information Act to report the story, even as village officials threw up roadblocks and legal action ensued. The series of more than 50 articles, titled Small Town, Big Problem, detailed ongoing legal and insurance problems for the small village related to its large force of reserve police officers. In recognition of his work on that series, Devereaux also won the State Bar of Michigans Wade H. McCree Award for the Advancement of Justice. Devereaux, a Romeo-area native, graduated from Romeo High School in 2002. In 2007, he graduated from Western Michigan University with a journalism degree. Devereaux has worked as a reporter for MLive.com and the Kalamazoo Gazette as well as The Saginaw News, and also worked as news editor for the Lovell Chronicle in Lovell, Wyoming. In addition to the First Amendment Award, Devereaux and MLive multimedia specialist Joel Bissell together won first place for Best Illustration or Graphic, for a GIF they created to show how high water and other forces have shrunk beaches in South Haven and elsewhere. Elsewhere in the 2020 Michigan APME contest, Kalamazoo Gazette was recognized with a first place win in the Spot News category, for coverage of summer protests and unrest in Kalamazoo. Judges had high praise in their comments. Simply outstanding balanced coverage and a great team effort, judges wrote. Staff members did not stand on the sideline but put themselves in the middle of this unrest, which allowed readers to see and feel and the tension and passion that boiled over into the streets. The Kalamazoo Gazette also one second place for best digital presence in its division, and multimedia specialist Joel Bissell received a third place award for Best Feature Photo. More from MLive: Kalamazoo airport zip-ties valve shut after PFAS firefighting foam spilled Kalamazoo homeless encampment doubles in size after Mills Street site vacated A mask shouldnt have a political party, says GOP leader who thinks he caught COVID-19 at Republican meeting ADVERTISEMENT President Muhammadu Buhari has returned to Abuja after weeks in London for medical consultation. The presidential aircraft conveying Mr Buhari and some of his aides landed at the Presidential Wing of the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport Abuja at about 4.45 p.m. Those at the airport to welcome the president included the Chief of Staff to the President, Ibrahim Gambari, the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Muhammed Bello, and the National Security Adviser to the President, Babagana Monguno. Others were the service chiefs, acting Inspector-General of Police, Usman Alkali, the Director-General, National Intelligence Agency (NIA), Ahmed Rufai, the Director General of the State Securitt Services, Yusuf Bichi and other presidential aides. President, Buhari, after a brief welcoming ceremony at the airport, boarded a presidential helicopter that conveyed him to the Presidential Villa. President Buhari had on March 30 departed Abuja for London, United Kingdom, for routine medical check-up. The president has been criticised by many Nigerians for travelling for medical treatment at a time resident doctors in the country were preparing for a nationwide strike. The doctors commenced the strike two days after the presidents trip. They have since suspended the strike. While Mr Buhari was airborne on March 30, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) lashed at him, saying his medical trip abroad was a direct indictment of his presidency over its failure to fix the countrys healthcare system. In a statement by its spokesperson, Kola Ologbondiyan, the PDP said it was worrisome that under Mr Buhari, even the highly-rated State House Clinic had become moribund that it could not provide medical check-up for the president. The opposition party said although it had nothing against any person, including Mr Buhari seeking medical services abroad, it was worried that the Buhari presidency is taking no decisive steps to fix our healthcare system, ostensibly because Mr President can afford overseas medical treatment at taxpayers expense. It advised the president to think of millions of Nigerians cannot afford overseas treatment and have become despondent by his failure to take decisive steps to address our national healthcare needs. On March 3, a group led by a former presidential aide, Reno Omokri, organised a protest in London, an action they said was conceived to harass Mr Buhari out of the United Kingdom. Waga Energy, a leader in landfill gas to renewable natural gas (RNG) technology, has been enlisted by The Mauricie Residual Materials Management Board (RGMRM) to deploy its innovative gas upgrading solution at the Saint-Etienne-des-Gres landfill, in Quebec. The green gas produced will be purchased by Energir and injected into its gas grid onsite. This landfill gas-to-RNG project will be the first in Canada to use the Wagabox technology, developed by Waga Energy to recover landfill gas in the form of RNG, also known as biomethane. Under the agreement signed in March, Waga Energy will buy the landfill gas from RGMRM for a period of 20 years. It will then be transformed into grid-compliant RNG by a Wagabox gas treatment unit built onsite. Waga Energy will generate income by selling its RNG production to Energir. Until now, the landfill gas at Saint-Etienne-des-Gres was captured and burned in a flare. Designed to process 3,400 c m of biogas per hour (2,000 scfm), the Wagabox unit in Saint-Etienne-des-Gres will produce 468,000 GJ of renewable gas per year, corresponding to the annual consumption of 8,000 local households. The Wagabox unit will be built in Shawinigan by a local company under the supervision of Waga Energys Canadian subsidiary, except for the cryogenic distillation module which will be imported from France. The project is scheduled to be completed by 2022. Mathieu Lefebvre, President and Co-founder of Waga Energy, said: Thanks to the Wagabox solution, hundreds of landfill sites across the US and Canada will be able to produce renewable natural gas, contribute to the energy transition, and generate a new revenue stream, without the need for investment, and free from additional operating constraints. The project carried out jointly by RGMRM and Waga Energy will improve the environmental record of Mauricie and will contribute to Quebec's energy transition. It will prevent the release of 23,000 tons of CO2 per year into the atmosphere by substituting renewable gas for fossil natural gas. Michel Angers, President of RGMRM, said: This contract is the result of an initiative undertaken several months ago to identify the best technology to enable us to use our landfill gas to its full potential. Thanks to the Wagabox technology, treating our gas is no longer an expense, it is a new income stream, and more importantly, it is yet another step towards a more sustainable approach to landfill management. The project fits perfectly with the government's greenhouse gas reduction objectives and we are proud to contribute to Quebec's energy transition. Renault Lortie, Vice-President, Customers and Gas Supply, at Energir, concluded: The development of the green gas industry in Quebec is one of the cornerstones of our efforts to decarbonize our economy. Energir aims to inject an ever-increasing amount of renewable gas into its network, corresponding to a volume of at least 10% that of the annual volume it distributes by 2030. This fantastic project brings us a step closer to this objective, demonstrates the value of smart circular economy, and allows more and more of our customers to benefit from clean and local energy. Tradearabia News Service The document is now the oldest continuously recognized Indigenous treaty in Anglo-American lawbut for reasons that have nothing to do with 1722 crime. It has stayed on the books for three hundred years for the simple reason that it recorded new land cessions made by the Five Nations in western Pennsylvania and New York, providing part of the legal underpinning for those colonies territorial claims and later for the sovereign rights of the United States, Eustace writes. This explains why Anglo-Americans chose to preserve the treaty. But today we can find more in it than they intended to pass down because it also recorded the Five Nations request to the colonists for the liberation of the two killersJohn and Edmund Cartlidge. In effect, the treaty permanently documented a manifestation of Native American justice. NYU News spoke with Eustace about how this little-known crime and its aftermath can still be instructive today. Criminal justice has been the subject of debate and controversy in the United States since its founding. Was this handling of this 18th-century, colonial killing controversial as well? Yes, because what you see through this case is a real debatea back-and-forth between two very different worldviews about what to do when there is a rupture, created by violence, in the fabric of social relationships. Everyone could agree that these two murderers were people who had committed a grave offense. However, under the Indigenous justice system, they did not lose their value as human beings after committing this horrific crime. According to Native protocols, they had to make amends through a series of ritual actions designed to create emotional and economic redress. If they did so to everyones satisfaction, they could then count on being welcomed back into society to continue playing roles as fur traders, as interpreters, and as go-betweens within their own community and across communities. However, according to the Anglo-American legal system, they deserved to be treated simply as criminals in need of punishment. When the killers attempted to make amends, the colonists saw them as attempting to subvert justice, to have a sham trial to exonerate themselves, and to buy people off or buying their way out. Are there ways that Indigenous justice lives on today? Yes, we can look to Scandinavian countries and other nations that are taking a less punitive approach to justice. And there are modern-day efforts in the U.S. to reduce incarceration rates and to reduce capital punishmentVirginia recently abolished the death penalty; cash bail is being eliminated in many places; mandatory minimum sentences guidelines are being reformed. There are even reparative justice projects that seek to create dialog, forgiveness, and catharsis for both the victims and the perpetrators of crimes. Overall, drawing on Indigenous forms of justice means that a person who commits a crime is going to be encouraged to take responsibility, offer remorse, and engage in service or other acts of repair, but not face the attitude that their human worth has been erased. So this can mean creating transitional programs that offer housing support, job training, and other basic kinds of care upon release from prison. Its about making amends and then its about being reintegrated and not losing your value as a member of society after committing a crime. Native American justice is still a seed that could, even after all of this time, be made to blossom. It was a road not taken in America, but its still there. You write that The Great Treaty of 1722, which remains in effect nearly 300 years later, reflects balanced values of pluralism and communalismvalues that are a part of our national heritage, but, at the same time, ripe for reclamation. What could reclaiming them look like? Im a historian, not a policy maker, but it seems like its high time that we get away from a notion of crime as a sort of moral failing of the individual and start looking at it as a sign that things have gotten off balance in the community. Native American societies of the Northeastern woodlands, including a variety of Algonquian and Iroquoian nations, have long been recognized for the ways that they value all members of their communities, not just the select few. Today, when childhood learning disabilities are one of the biggest predictors of adult criminal convictions, thats a sign that our education system is failing children. When people can gain lasting criminal records, which make applying for housing and employment difficult to impossible, just because theyve stolen basic necessities like food and diapers, thats a sign that our community is not valuing all its members. From farm policy to mortgage policies, Black people, Indigenous people, and people of color generally have been systematically dispossessed in this country, and as the activist Winona LaDuke puts it, the only compensation for land is land. Still, if we can seriously commit ourselves to strengthening our communities and supporting all our children, we will start to see truly transformational improvements in all our lives. Historians examine documents and other materials to record and illuminate the past in ways that are instructive to later generations. And they do so with great care and tireless attention to detailyour book, for example, includes 80 pages of notes and references. However, today, we see the recounting of events marred by liesfrom Antifa was behind the Capitol Hill insurrection to The 2020 presidential election was stolen. Have there been previous periods in which history was in danger of being falsely rewritten? I think its pretty fair to say that history has always been falsely rewritten in some sense and that what we saw around the 2020 election was just the apotheosis of centuries of distortion. Theres a West African proverb that has been circulating a lot recently: Until the lion tells the story, the hunter will always be the hero. American history has long been written in a heroic vein that exalted elite white male leaders over everyone else. Only now are the lions really beginning to roar. Were seeing things like the New York Times 1619 project bringing critical perspectives to popular audiences and thats generating a backlash. Taking criticism is hard and so the question is how can you reach people with a revised and more realistic view of history? What I try to do in this book is to tell a story in the round of real human beings. In this, Ive been very much inspired by the approach of the novelist Imbolo Mbue, who has talked about how hard she works to portray her characters deep human flaws while respecting their humanity. With Covered with Night, the case I look at is not abstract. We know who the Native Americans were who commented on the crime and who tried to school settler colonists in Indigenous perspectives on justice. We know who their colonial counterparts were and we can see how the colonists world view blinded them to the value of Native peoples teachings. I wanted to elevate the perspectives of Indigenous people, to trace the ideas of specific thinkers in real-time situations. And I hope that by telling a multi-perspectival story I can give readers themselves an opportunity to consider new points of view. Drug Charges for Two Paducah Women By West Kentucky Star Staff PADUCAH - Two Paducah women were arrested Wednesday afternoon on drug charges after a traffic stop.The McCracken County Sheriff's Office said a deputy pulled over a vehicle at the intersection of Benton Road and Calvert City Drive.A K-9 unit reportedly found four grams of suspected methamphetamine, 23 grams of suspected marijuana, and drug paraphernalia in the vehicle.Deputies arrested the driver, 40-year-old Lindsey Stultz. She's charged with failure to wear seat belt, failure to produce insurance card, trafficking in marijuana, possession of drug paraphernalia, and possession of methamphetamine.Deputies also arrested a passenger in vehicle, 34-year-old Davie Leach. She's charged with tampering with physical evidence, possession of methamphetamine, and possession of drug paraphernalia. Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, April 15) The government is hoping to secure up to 40 million doses of the COVID-19 vaccine made by American firm Pfizer, Philippine Ambassador to the United States Jose Manuel Babe Romualdez said Thursday. We have already asked if we could purchase 20 million through the COVAX facility and another 20 million on a bilateral agreement that we would like to sign with them, Romualdez said in an online forum. COVAX is a global initiative co-led by the World Health Organization, Gavi the Vaccine Alliance and the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations or CEPI. It aims to accelerate the development and manufacture of COVID-19 vaccines and ensure equitable access to every country in the world. But it is the same problem. They cannot give any specific date of delivery because of the requirement that they need to supply first the United States before they supply other countries, he added. He said they are doing the best they could to bring more vaccines to Filipinos as quickly as possible. It is just that the global supply remains limited, he pointed out. Romualdez said in an interview with CNN Philippines on Monday that the government has initially secured 2.4 million doses of the Pfizer vaccine, which may arrive next month. It is not clear if the 2.4 million doses are separate from the up to 40 million doses being negotiated. The country was supposed to receive an initial batch of 117,000 Pfizer doses through COVAX in February, but the delivery was hampered due to the absence of an indemnification deal between the parties. This prompted the government to pass a law that would set up a fund for the compensation of vaccine recipients who may experience serious side effects or die after inoculation. The COVID-19 Vaccination Program Act of 2021, signed into law by President Rodrigo Duterte in late February, allocates 500 million for the COVID-19 National Vaccine Immunity Fund. A man said he nearly fainted after he discovered builders had built his family half a house, and claimed he wasnt informed about the design by the company. Bishnu Aryal, who moved from Nepal to Sydney, paid a total of AU$700,000 (approximately 392,792) for his house in Edmondson Park. But three years after he employed the services of Zac Homes to build a custom off-plan home worth AU$322,400, he was left in shock when he discovered his free-standing build had been turned into a duplex. The house, featured on Australian news programme A Current Affair, is flat and windowless on one side, giving it the impression of being an unfinished build. Mr Aryal told the programme he nearly fainted when he first laid eyes on the house. He claims he was not given any notice of changes to the home design plans - which Zac Homes contradicts. In a legal letter to A Current Affair, Zac Homes said Mr Aryal was made aware of the change and was given multiple opportunities to pull out. The company said the construction initially started as a free-standing home but had to be changed to comply with Liverpool Council regulations that reportedly state the block had to be an attached dwelling. Mr Aryal said that while English is not his first language, he is adamant he did not agree to half a duplex. Its not a free-standing house, its not a duplex, its half a house. And it looks embarrassing, he said, adding that he was told the house would be ready in a year, but instead, we wait three long years. Bishnu Aryal gestures in front of half a house' he claims the building company did not inform him about (A Current Affair/Nine News) To add insult to injury, the mortgage advisors family had to move into the house during the coronavirus pandemic as Mr Aryals wife was pregnant and he was losing my work. We were in a really harsh situation and we needed to find a place to live because we didnt have a place, he said. But the family do not have an occupation certificate, which verifies that either the council or a private certifier is satisfied that the building is suitable to occupy or satisfies requirements in Australias building code. Zac Homes said it has been trying to get the certificate signed off for nine months, but the council want a guarantee that the other half of the duplex will be built and completed. The company addressed the issue on its Facebook page and said it was done all we can to get the certificate issued and waived a fee of AU$23,000 to alleviate some of [the familys] stress. Its a mess. We know that. Even though this situation hasnt been caused by us, we are doing what we can to ensure that the right thing is done by Mr Aryal and his family, it added. US threatens sanctions unless reforms made in Lebanon Washington's envoy ends visit to Beirut (ANSAmed) - BEIRUT, APRIL 15 - US Under Secretary of State David Hale on Thursday concluded a two-day visit to Beirut, meeting with Lebanese president Michel Aoun and inviting all religious and political leaders to find a solution to the institutional stalemate in place for over eight months. Lebanon is suffering from a full-fledged economic crisis and has not had a fully-empowered government since August. Despite repeated international pressure, Lebanese political and religious leaders have not found an agreement for the creation of a new government, which will be tasked with negotiating with foreign financial institutions for the allocating of funds to get out of the tunnel of the financial crisis. The allocating of funds however been tied by international donors to the starting of a structural reforms process. If this process is started, it will affect the interests of the political and clientelism system on which the power of the current leaders lies. In statements made to journalists at the end of a meeting with the Lebanese head of state, Hale did not rule out that the US might adopt punitive measures against Lebanese politicians that continue to block the formation process for the new government and that, therefore, in his view, slow the reform process. Hale noted that those slowing down reforms are endangering relations with the US and their allies and thus risk being sanctioned. On Monday, a meeting of EU foreign ministers will be held in Brussels and, according to Lebanese media, the possibility of introducing sanctions against certain politicians will be discussed then as well.(ANSAmed). (ANSAMed). Vogue Williams took a break from parenting duties on Thursday as she cut a chic figure while leaving a TV studio in Leeds. The presenter, 35, wowed in a tropical print navy wrap dress by Hayley Menzies as she made her way down the street following the filming of Steph's Packed Lunch. During the appearance on the show, she weighed in on how she has been trolled for losing weight after having children, especially after the birth of her first child, Theodore. Yummy mummy: Vogue Williams took a break from parenting duties on Thursday as she cut a chic figure while leaving a TV studio in Leeds 'Peple just love to comment when you've had a baby, it bothers me so much!' she said. Talking about Big Brother star Kate Lawler, who has been shamed for shedding her pregnancy weight quickly, Vogue said: 'I know Kate and I've spoken to her and she's been amazing, I think, for women who've just had children. 'She hasn't had the easiest path and she has been really open with that which is great, but then she has people attacking her because she's lost the weight. That's just her body type, she can't help that. 'I remember when I had Theodore first, I lost the weight quite quickly, I didn't put on that much to begin with, but then I lost the weight and I had people telling me, oh you couldn't be looking after your child properly if all you are doing is concentrating on your body. 'Sometimes some people's bodies just lose the weight, everyone is different. I just think there is so much judgment around new parents. 'I don't know if you saw Laura Whitmore's post, she posted about enjoying motherhood and people hating her because she was enjoying motherhood. Fashionista: The presenter, 35, wowed in a tropical print navy wrap dress as she made her way down the street following the filming of Steph's Packed Lunch 'I feel like people are just bothered about everything' Vogue looked radiant in her flowing maxi dress which featured a palm tree and sun pattern throughout as she exited the studios following the stint on the air. The stunner flashed a bit of leg via the dress's split, with Vogue's narrow waist cinched in with a chunky black leather belt. Vogue completed her stylish look with black buckled boots and a large black handbag, further accessorising with dark shades, a silver necklace and gold hooped earrings. The Irish model wore her golden tresses loose for the day, while she added a dewy make-up palette including a coral lip. Walk this way: Vogue completed her stylish look with black buckled boots and a large black handbag, further accessorising with dark shades, a silver necklace and gold hooped earrings Vogue appeared in great spirits as she flashed a smile, despite her little boy Theodore being poorly. On Wednesday she shared a snap of the two-year-old and explained he had fallen out of his toy car. Taking to Instagram, Vogue, who shares Theodore with her husband Spencer Matthews, wrote: 'Poor puppy fell off his car and hit his lip'. At work: The Irish model wore her golden tresses loose for the day, while she added a dewy make-up palette including a coral lip (pictured filming for Steph's Packed Lunch) The reality star then shared a close-up snap of her son's bruised lip and wrote: 'Poor little thing'. Vogue and husband Spencer Matthews, 32, tied the knot in Scotland in June 2018 and welcomed their son that September. The couple, who met on Channel 4 series The Jump, are also parents to daughter Gigi who was born in July last year. It comes after Vogue explained that she 'didn't want to make anyone else feel bad' about how she'd lost the weight following Gigi's birth. 'Poor little thing': Vogue Williams recently revealed her son Theodore was left with a swollen lip after suffering a nasty fall at home Speaking with The Sun, the mother-of-two also discussed how she plans to have 'definitely four' children with Spencer. Vogue said: 'There is so much pressure put on women about this and I didn't want to add to that when, instead of worrying about losing the baby weight, we should be worrying about where our pelvic floor is at and how our mental health is doing. 'It's purely down to my body type that I went back to how I was before without too much effort, and I did find myself trying to hide that for the first few months. 'I just didn't want to make anyone else feel bad by being all, 'hey, look at me after having a baby,' because the last thing anyone wants to see is someone who's lost the weight quicker than you.' Vogue added that it's impossible to win online as people will always comment on posts, whether it's saying she lost weight fast or carried the baby weight. Steph's Packed Lunch airs weekdays at 12.30pm on Channel 4. New Delhi: The national capital on Wednesday (April 14) reported over 104 deaths, whereas the country reported 1,033 deaths due to COVID-19 infections, which was the highest since October 2020. In Delhi, the number of cremations at its biggest crematorium, Nigambodh Ghat have gone up by at least 30 percent. Mashqoor Rashid makes a grim projection as he oversees the burials of coronavirus victims' bodies one after another at the city's largest graveyard. "At this rate, we will run short of land in a month," he said at the Qabristan Ahle Islam near ITO. "Since last week, on an average 10-15 bodies of COVID victims are being buried daily here. Yesterday, 18 burials were performed," he added. Suman Gupta, the general secretary of Badi Panchayat Vaishya Beese Agarwal organisation that manages the city's main crematorium at the Nigambodh Ghat, has an equally sobering number to share. "Usually, around 50-60 cremations are performed here daily. The number has gone up to over 80 now," he says. With a sharp rise in deaths due to the latest surge in COVID-19, crematoriums and burial grounds in the city are struggling to manage resources. As per the official figures, the virus has killed 409 people in Delhi in the first 13 days of April, while it had claimed 117 lives in the entire month of March and 57 in February. This sudden rise in the fatality rate in the national capital has led to a rush of bodies at the city's crematoriums and burial grounds. Mashqoor Rashid, a member of the management committee of the graveyard at ITO, said the bodies of COVID-19 patients were being sent there from across the city as local cemeteries are getting overwhelmed. However, Amantullah Khan, the chairman of Delhi Waqf Board which runs several graveyards in the city, said there was no scarcity of land for burials so far. "We have enough land for burials." North Delhi mayor Jai Prakash said he has written a letter to Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal seeking his help for arranging land for burials. The burial of COVID-19 victims requires especially dug-up graves which are being prepared through backhoe loaders as the number of deaths are rising and the digging manually would take more time and manpower, said a municipal corporation official, supervising the burials. "As compared to normal graves of 4-5 feet deep, the COVID-19 victims require to be buried 12-14 feet deep. Such graves can also not be reused due to the highly infectious nature of the virus," he added. The national capital had on Wednesday recorded the highest-ever spike of over 17,000 COVID-19 cases and 81 deaths due to the infection, giving it the dubious distinction of being the worst affected city in the county. "The cremations of over 100 COVID-19 victims were performed in the last five days. On Tuesday, 33 bodies were cremated. We have prepared specially barricaded coronavirus blocs where 22 platforms are being used for last rites. If needed more platforms will be added to it," Suman Gupta of the Badi Panchayat Vaishya Beese Agarwal organisation that manages it said. Around 70 staff of the cremation ground are working hard to cope with the rush of bodies. All the staff of Nigambodh Ghat have been administered COVID-19 vaccine and provided with necessary items to save themselves from the infection, he added. Meanwhile, the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS) mentioned that cases involving respiratory distress requiring mechanical ventilation should be admitted to a dedicated COVID-19 hospital. Additionally, the Directorate General of Health Services also stated that as per the reports, the hospitals are admitting mild and moderate cases of COVID-19 which are not in line with the prescribed admission protocol. (With inputs from PTI) Live TV ADVERTISEMENT Despite the insecurity ravaging virually every part of Nigeria, the police in Rivers State said they have deployed no fewer than 17,500 personnel for Saturdays local government elections in the state. The police spokesperson in the state, Nnamdi Omoni, made this known in a statement in Port Harcourt on Thursday. Mr Omoni, a superintendent of police, said the deployment of the personnel and hardware was aimed to forestall possible violence and ensure free, fair and transparent exercise. He said, The Rivers State Police Command wishes to inform the general public that adequate security has been emplaced to ensure a peaceful exercise. To realise the full objective of the council elections and engender a seamless exercise, the command has deployed 17,500 personnel. The deployment will be complemented by deployments from other sister security agencies to maintain law and order before, during and after the elections. Mr Omoni said the state Commissioner of Police, Eboka Friday, had directed total restriction of movement of persons, vehicles and boats on land and waterways before and during the exercise. He said the restriction would begin from midnight on Friday to 2 p.m. on Saturday. According to him, the police commissioner who is the Chairman of the Inter-Agency Consultative Committee on Election Security, also barred VIPs and politicians from going to voting centres with their security details. Movement of VIPs and politicians is only allowed from their houses to the voting centres and back, as provided by the Electoral Act. In addition, all entry and exit points to the state will be completely blocked until the elections are over. No commercial activities will be allowed close to the polling units, Mr Omoni stated. He further noted that security forces would patrol the communities to ensure full compliance with the directive, and warned that violators would be arrested and prosecuted. He said the directive was targeted towards ensuring a conducive atmosphere for a free, fair and transparent exercise. (NAN) "We are excited to have Leslie advance our customer-centric culture in this new role of Customer Experience Officer, a key initiative for our growth strategy," says Husic. "Her knowledge of customer experience applications will help ensure we keep the people and businesses we serve at the center of our universe. Our commitment to helping individuals prosper and businesses grow all begins with offering great customer experiences throughout our organization. Leslie's leadership has also been instrumental in earning our female executive team its third Most Powerful Women in Banking Top Team award from American Banker." "For more than three decades, my passion has been to build high-performing retail banking teams that help our clients thrive and meet their financial goals. To do that you need a culture of trust and a runway to grow; Centric Bank has given me both," says Meck, an executive at Centric Bank since 2011. An Advisory Board member of The Salvation Army Harrisburg Capital City Region, Meck is passionate about serving her community, especially with programs for children and nutrition education. A past Director of the PA Bankers School of Banking and its Professional Development Policy Committee, Meck advises the bank's Millennial Advisory Board. She has served on the Go Red for Women Executive Leadership Team for the American Heart Association; as co-chair for the United Way of the Capital Region Day of Caring; and participated in the inaugural 100 Women Reading event. Meck and her team also lead financial literacy programs in schools including Teach Children to Save, Get Smart About Credit, Junior Achievement's Real Life Budgeting workshops, and ABA's Lights, Camera, Save! video contests. ABOUT CENTRIC FINANCIAL CORPORATION AND CENTRIC BANK An American Banker 2020, 2019, and 2018 Best Banks to Work For, three-time American Banker Most Powerful Women in Banking Top Team, three-time Best Places to Work, and Top 50 Fastest-Growing Companies for seven years, Centric Bank is headquartered in south central Pennsylvania with assets of $1.1 billion and remains a leader in organic loan growth. A locally owned, locally loaned community bank, Centric Bank provides highly competitive and pro-growth financial services to businesses, professionals, individuals, families, and to the health care and dental industries with the Doctor Centric Bank Division. Centric Bank was named one of the Top 200 Community Banks in the U.S. in 2019 and 2020. Founded in 2007, Pennsylvania-based Centric Bank has financial centers located in Harrisburg, Hershey, Mechanicsburg, Camp Hill, Doylestown, Devon, and Lancaster, as well as a loan production office in Devon and an Operations and Executive Office campus in Hampden Township, Cumberland County. To learn more about Centric Bank, call 717.657.7727 or visit CentricBank.com. Connect with them on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, and Instagram. Centric Financial Corporation is traded over the counter (OTC-Pink) with the ticker symbol CFCX. Contact: Anne Deeter Gallaher Tel. 717.580.4856 [email protected] SOURCE Centric Bank Governor Whitmer Signs Executive Order Establishing Task Force on Forensic Science Governor Whitmer Signs Executive Order Establishing Task Force on Forensic Science FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE April 2, 2021 Media Contact: Press@Michigan.gov Governor Whitmer Signs Executive Order Establishing Task Force on Forensic Science LANSING, Mich. -- Today, Governor Gretchen Whitmer signed Executive Order No. 2021-04, establishing the Task Force on Forensic Science. "A fair trial is at the core of the American criminal justice system," said Governor Gretchen Whitmer. "While forensic science is an important tool, misapplication of forensic science can deprive a person of a fair trial. We must ensure that Michigan adheres to the highest standards of evidence, and that practitioners throughout our criminal justice system understand how to apply forensic science properly." "Michigan will always ensure that the highest standards are being met when it comes to justice," said Lieutenant Governor Garlin Gilchrist. "The work of the Forensic Science Task Force will ensure that our legal and criminal justice systems can keep up with the times. The Governor and I look forward to their recommendations." The Task Force will be an advisory body nested within the Michigan Department of State Police and be comprised of medical practitioners, legal professionals, government officials, academics, private sector experts, and representatives from the Michigan State Police, Michigan Supreme Court, and Attorney General's office. "I'm honored to take on this important work to ensure that our criminal legal system delivers justice for the people of Michigan," said Chief Justice Bridget M. McCormack. "Michigan can be a national leader in better science promoting better justice." "As a national leader in forensic science, the Michigan State Police is committed to further improving the use of forensic science in Michigan through the work of this advisory panel," stated Col. Joe Gasper, director of the MSP. "We look forward to working alongside the other stakeholders to ensure that Michigan continues to set a high bar for forensic science." The task force's mission is to review the state of forensic science in Michigan and deliver their completed findings and policy recommendations to the Governor no later than December 31, 2021. The findings will recommend, among other pieces, methodology improvements, processes to address misconduct, and procedures to update stakeholders on developments in forensic science. The Task Force on Forensic Science will include Director Col. Joseph Gasper of the Michigan State Police and Chief Justice Bridget Mary McCormack of the Michigan Supreme Court who will serve as Co-Chairs of the Task Force. It will also include Jeff Nye the Director of the MSP Forensic Science Division, Attorney General Dana Nessel or her designee, and Judge Paul J. Denenfeld of the 17th Circuit Court of Kent County who was designated by the Chief Justice. Four members of the Legislature, two from the Senate and two from the House of Representatives, will also participate as non-voting members. The Governor has appointed the following members to the Task Force: Christopher R. Bommarito, of Williamston, is the president and chief forensic scientist of Forensic Science Consultants, Inc. He holds a Bachelor of Science in Chemistry and Criminalistics and a Master of Science in Forensic Science from Michigan State University. Mr. Bommarito is appointed to represent forensic science practitioners with at least five years of experience in the field for a term commencing April 2, 2021 and expiring December 31, 2021. Kent Gardner, of Davison, is the administrator of forensic lab services for the Oakland County Sheriff's Department. He holds a Bachelor of Science in Business from Wayne State University and a Master of Science in Criminal Justice from Michigan State University. Mr. Gardner is appointed to represent a forensic science practitioner from a county forensic service provider for a term commencing April 2, 2021 and expiring December 31, 2021. Brandon N. Giroux, of Northville, is the president of Giroux Forensic, Inc. and Forensic Assurance, Inc. Mr. Giroux is also a forensic firearm and tool mark instructor and consultant for the National Forensic Science Technology Center and a forensic science instructor at Wayne State University. He holds a Bachelor of Science in Biochemistry from the University of Michigan and a Master of Science in Forensic Science from the University of Illinois at Chicago. Mr. Giroux is appointed to represent forensic science practitioners with at least five years of experience in the field for a term commencing April 2, 2021 and expiring December 31, 2021. Jeffrey M. Jentzen, M.D., Ph.D., of Ann Arbor, is a clinical professor emeritus of pathology for the University of Michigan Department of Pathology. Dr. Jentzen has served as the chief medical examiner for Washtenaw County and deputy medical examiner for Wayne County. He holds a Bachelor of Science in Biology from Michigan Technological University, Doctor of Medicine from Wayne State University, and a Master of Science and Ph.D. in Medical History from the University of Wisconsin. Dr. Jentzen is appointed to represent a board-certified pathologist with experience in forensic pathology. He will serve for a term commencing April 2, 2021 and expiring December 31, 2021. Barbara O'Brien, Ph.D., of East Lansing, is a professor at the Michigan State University College of Law. She holds a Bachelor of Arts in Economics from Bowdoin College, Juris Doctor degree from the University of Colorado Law School, and a Ph.D. in Psychology from the University of Michigan. Dr. O'Brien is appointed to represent an individual from the private sector or from a university in this state who has published scholarship related to cognitive bias. She will serve for a term commencing April 2, 2021 and expiring December 31, 2021. Jonathan Sacks, of Ann Arbor, is the director of the State Appellate Defender Office. He holds a Bachelor of Arts in European History from the University of Pennsylvania and a Juris Doctor degree from Columbia Law School. Mr. Sacks is appointed to represent a public defender or criminal defense attorney for a term commencing April 2, 2021 and expiring December 31, 2021. Donald Shelton, Ph.D., of Saline, is the director of the criminology and criminal justice program at the University of Michigan-Dearborn and program director for their Justice Reform Project, Alternatives to Violent Force. He holds a Bachelor of Arts in Social Science from Western Michigan University, Juris Doctor degree from the University of Michigan School of Law, Master of Arts in Criminology and Criminal Justice from Eastern Michigan University, and a Ph.D. in Judicial Studies from the University of Nevada. Dr. Shelton is appointed to represent individuals from the private sector or from a university in this state who have earned a doctoral degree in a distinct field relevant to forensic science and who have published scholarship related to the field in a peer-reviewed journal. He will serve for a term commencing April 2, 2021 and expiring December 31, 2021. Ruth Smith, Ph.D., of Okemos, is a professor of forensic chemistry and the director of the forensic science program at Michigan State University. She holds a Bachelor of Science and a Ph.D. in Forensic and Analytical Chemistry from the University of Strathclyde. Dr. Smith is appointed to represent individuals from the private sector or from a university in this state who have earned a doctoral degree in a distinct field relevant to forensic science and who have published scholarship related to the field in a peer-reviewed journal. She will serve for a term commencing April 2, 2021 and expiring December 31, 2021. Matthew J. Wiese, of Marquette, is the prosecuting attorney for Marquette County. He holds a Bachelor of Science from Northern Michigan University and a Juris Doctor degree from Vermont Law School. Mr. Wiese is appointed to represent a prosecuting attorney for a term commencing April 2, 2021 and expiring December 31, 2021. The following members of the Legislature will serve as participants on the Task Force: Sen. John Bizon designated by the Senate Majority Leader, Sen. Stephanie Chang designated by the Senate Minority Leader, Rep. Robert Bezotte designated by the Speaker of the House, and Rep. Laurie Pohutsky designated by the House Minority Leader. These appointments are not subject to the advice and consent of the Senate. ### STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. - The pause in giving the Johnson & Johnson vaccine continued to have a big impact in New York City. Dr. David Chokshi, commissioner of the city Health Department, said that it was highly unlikely that people would experience the blood-clot issues that have affected six women who have received the J&J vaccine. He said that New Yorkers have more to fear from fear itself. However, Mayor Bill de Blasio announced that the city would suspend delivery of vaccines to homebound seniors through Sunday due to not being able to give the J&J jab. Meanwhile, it was reported that sales of toilet paper in March of this year had plunged 33 percent versus March 2020, when many Americans began hoarding toilet paper amid shortages of paper products in the early days of the pandemic. Pandemic managers in the U.K. are testing a mix-and-match vaccine program, the BBC reported, where people on a two-dose regimen will receive vaccines from two difference manufacturers. Medical experts want to see if mixing vaccines will improve immunity. They also say that being able to mix and match vaccines would help if any one vaccine is in short supply. 'Mix and match' UK Covid vaccine trial expanded https://t.co/oJWzy4IqFG BBC News (World) (@BBCWorld) April 14, 2021 The coronavirus pandemic has turned our world upside-down, and we need information like we never have before. How many new cases were there on Staten Island today? How many deaths? How many people have been released from the hospital? What are out elected officials, federal, state and local, doing to keep New Yorkers safe? What other news is top of mind? More importantly, when are we going to get back to normal, whatever normal is? Its almost too much to keep up with. So every day around 4 p.m., Mark and I take to Facebook Live to give you all the information you need. You can then look for this written wrap-up on SILive.com at the end of the day. Well give you the numbers and all the latest news. Well answer your questions. Well follow up on your news tips. Well share the good news too, the way that the Staten Island community is coming together in this time of crisis. Or well just share this strange and unique pandemic moment with you, as fellow Staten Islanders. Were all in this together. Well all get through this together. New Delhi: Top intelligence officers from India and Pakistan held secret talks in Dubai in January in a new effort to calm military tension over the disputed Himalayan region of Kashmir. Ties between the nuclear-armed rivals have been on ice since a suicide bombing of an Indian military convoy in Kashmir in 2019 traced to Pakistan-based militants that led to India sending warplanes to Pakistan. Later that year, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi withdrew Indian-ruled Kashmir`s autonomy in order to tighten his grip over the territory, provoking outrage in Pakistan and the downgrading of diplomatic ties and suspension of bilateral trade. But the two governments have re-opened a back channel of diplomacy aimed at a modest roadmap to normalising ties over the next several months, the people said. Kashmir has long been a flashpoint between India and Pakistan, both of which claim all of the region but rule only in part. Officials from Indias Research and Analysis Wing, the external spy agency, and Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence travelled to Dubai for a meeting facilitated by the United Arab Emirates government, two people said. The Indian foreign ministry did not respond to a request for comment. Pakistan's military, which controls the ISI, also did not respond. But Ayesha Siddiqa, a top Pakistani defence analyst, said she believed Indian and Pakistan intelligence officials had been meeting for several months in third countries. "I think there have been meetings in Thailand, in Dubai, in London between the highest level people," she said. Such meetings have taken place in the past too, especially during times of crises but never been publicly acknowledged. "There is a lot that can still go wrong, it is fraught," said one of the people in Delhi. "That is why nobody is talking it up in public, we don't even have a name for this, it's not a peace process. You can call it a re-engagement," one of them said. Both countries have reasons to seek a rapprochement. India has been locked in a border stand-off with China since last year and does not want the military stretched on the Pakistan front. China-ally Pakistan, mired in economic difficulties and on an IMF bailout programme, can ill-afford heightened tensions on the Kashmir border for a prolonged period, experts say. It also has to stabilise the Afghan border on its west as the United States withdraws. "Its better for India and Pakistan to talk than not talk, and even better that it should be done quietly than in a glare of publicity," said Myra MacDonald, a journalist who has just published a book on India, Pakistan and war on the frontiers of Kashmir. "...But I dont see it going very far beyond a basic management of tensions, possibly to tide both countries over a difficult period - Pakistan needs to address the fall-out of the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan, while India has to confront a far more volatile situation on its disputed frontier with China." Following the January meeting, India and Pakistan announced they would stop cross-border shooting along the Line of Control (LoC) dividing Kashmir which has left dozens of civilians dead and many others maimed. That ceasefire is holding, military officials in both countries said. Both sides have also signalled plans to hold elections on their sides of Kashmir this year as part of efforts to bring normalcy to a region riven by decades of bloodshed. The two have also agreed to dial down their rhetoric, the officials added. This would include Pakistan dropping its loud objections to Modi abrogating Kashmir`s autonomy in August 2019, while Delhi in turn would refrain from blaming Pakistan for all violence on its side of the Line of Control. These details have not been previously reported. India has long blamed Pakistan for the revolt in Kashmir, an allegation denied by Pakistan. "There is a recognition that there will be attacks inside Kashmir, there has been discussions as to how to deal with it and not let this effort be derailed by the next attack," one of the people said. There is as yet, however, no grand plan to resolve the 74-year-old Kashmir dispute. Rather both sides are trying to reduce tensions to pave the way for a broad engagement, they said. Pakistan is transiting from a geo-strategic domain to a geo-economic domain," Raoof Hasan, special assistant to Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan said. "Peace, both within and around with its neighbours, is a key constituent to facilitate that." Live TV A proposal to transform Hoffs Sunoco in Lenox into a modern convenience store and gas station has passed muster with the towns Historic District Commission, pending a review of the specific color and samples of the brick-veneer facade. Census 2021 workers claim a 'fault in the system' has seen them repeatedly sent to houses to threaten residents with 1,000 fines for not completing the survey despite them having already completed the form - but bosses insist 'there's no IT issue'. Have you been wrongly chased to complete the census? Email luke.may@mailonline.co.uk Advertisement Yesterday it was revealed how scores of Brits who had already completed the census were being chased by workers and had received numerous letters threatening them with a 1,000 fine. Many of those affected were elderly people who sent their forms back via the post, but others who completed the form online were also wrongly chased. In some cases, forms had been repeatedly sent to addresses where the resident had died as long ago as October last year. Despite 'thousands' of letters being sent out by mistake, the Office for National Statistic has doubled-down and insisted there was no IT error with the 1bn scheme. But one worker who has been sent to people's homes believes there must have been. Speaking on condition of anonymity, they told MailOnline: '(We) are still being sent on a daily basis to properties who have completed the census by phone with someone at one of our call centres, or to households that report they've confirmed their completion with our contact centre. 'We've passed these addresses up through management and reported that we've been asked not to return, but they're still consistently being reallocated to our workload. 'I think the only reasonable explanation is that there is in fact a system fault, though whether people running the show here are aware of it and just trying to save face or the situation isn't being correctly communicated to them, I couldn't say.' The Office for National Statistics has told people who have received the letter to ignore it, if they have already submitted their census, but maintains that there have been no IT issues. Speaking on condition of anonymity, a Census 2021 worker blamed a 'fault in the system' as the reason many Britons had been repeatedly chased to complete the form they had in fact submitted weeks ago People who have completed the census are still being threatened with 1,000 fines, but the Office for National Statistics insists there has been 'no IT error', while also telling Brits to ignore the letters should they receive one An ONS spokesperson said: 'There are no issues with our IT systems. We have made Census 2021 the easiest ever to complete and had a fantastic response so far. 'Our census field officers are knocking on doors where records show we have had no response. We are aware of some people who have started their census but not yet clicked submit. We encourage anyone who has not yet responded to do so as soon as possible.' The spokesperson also stated there was no human error involved either. Paul Bainbridge told MailOnline his 91-year-old mother received a visit from a census official on March 21 - Census Day. He said: 'Who sends people out chasing the day of deadline and frightening to death, clearly old people on their own. Census 2021 workers have been knocking on doors demanding people return surveys that they have already completed 'This is so wrong and needs addressing although now its too late.' Completion of the nationwide survey, which is thought to cost close to 1billion, helps inform the development of Britain's infrastructure, including housing, transport and education, is mandatory. The original day set aside to complete the survey was March 21, those who do not complete it could face a 1,000 fine. From May the ONS will begin the next stage of pursuing people who have not completed the form - which could see some people referred to the Crown Prosecution Service. Wayne Phillips was one of dozens of people to write to MailOnline, claiming they had been repeatedly chased despite completing the census. Mr Phillips said: 'I completed the online census and sent it in and got a confirmation two weeks later I got the letter saying I hadn't completed it or had completed it incorrectly and saying that's an offence with a 1000 fine. 'I am not elderly, not easily intimidated by official letters, but I did feel the need to call the helpline. Census 2021 timeline March 21: Census Day. Britons were expected to respond to the 10-year survey that helps inform how infrastructure is developed. March 22: Since then, Census 2021 workers have been chasing for replies by knocking on doors and sending letters. Workers are expected to continue working until the end of April, but the ONS says the 'online questionnaire will remain open into next month'. May 1: The ONS expected to begin 'non-compliance field activity' at the start of next month. According to the ONS' website: 'the main aim of the non-compliance operation is to support householders complete a census return. It adds: 'If the householder is adamant that they do not wish to do so, the non-compliance team will complete several forms including witness statements and Interview under caution forms which will be submitted to the Crown Prosecution Service.' Advertisement 'I did so and a really nice chap told me that those letters have been issued in error and without specific reference to knowing whether it's been completed or not. 'He also said that "thousands had been sent that week".' Peter Thornley added: 'I filled out my census form on the 21st March, as requested and was therefore very surprised to get a knock on my door a week later asking me to fill out my census. I said I had and the man took note. A few days later another person turned up stating the same thing. 'Again I said that I had but agreed to do it again. I did the census again, not a major effort, and got a confirmation email. 'I was very irritated therefore when I received what I felt was a threatening reminder leaflet saying that if I did not complete the census I might be fined 1000.' The letter - said to be have been sent to thousands of people - encourages people to take the survey online to 'save paper and taxpayers' money'. Text in bold then warns: 'You must complete the census by law or you could be fined up to 1,000.' Rachel, a distraught granddaughter, said: 'My Nanna died in October 2020 and the house has been vacant and is now sold. 'You have sent 3 forms to the house so far but no one is there to answer the questions.' Speaking on Wednesday, Gareth Clayton told MailOnline: 'My dad passed away on the 6th September 2020 and my mum of 82 years old has received 3 letters with my dads name on chasing him up to complete the Census or he will get a fine of 1000. 'On all three occasions I've contact them and advised them that my dad has passed away. I've also provide them with a death certificate twice to provide them with a official documentation. 'This morning my mum called me to say that she's had a fourth letter in this morning's post and she's very worried about getting a fine.' 'Apart from the inconvenience, it's not very nice for my mum to keep getting quite a threatening letters when she's living on her own and especially during the current climate of the global pandemic when she's been very lonely and a little scared for the last year or so.' Michelle Gregg, from Manchester, wrote: 'My 89 year old Mother has no online access so completed a form which I posted on 20/3. 'Now received 2nd chase letter threatening 1k fine -she is very upset. How can I check whether you have it?' Andrew Hargreaves said: 'The operational delivery of the @Census2021 is diabolical. I've now done it twice. 'Stop writing to me. Stop sending ppl to my door. I did it. I chased you for a code. I've done it & I'm not doing it again.' Sheila Bailey told MailOnline on Wednesday: 'I received a letter telling me that I had not submitted and could face a fine and to please call a stated number, which I did. That recorded message offered the advice that if you had indeed completed your Census then just disregard the letter. 'To me, that clearly indicates that the ONS knew it was sending out letter to people who had completed their form. 'This is a huge waste of tax payers money and demonstrates a complete inability to organise the proverbial in a brewery. 'I am still annoyed about it. It's not rocket science.' Keeley O'Flaherty said: 'My parents who are dealing with cancer! Filled in form sent it off to you. 'You've now sent 2 people to her door to demand the form and now sent her an abusive letter saying you will find her 1000 this is not acceptable.' Some elderly people have received letters threatening them with 1,000 fines, while in one case, letters have been repeatedly sent to a grandmother who died last October Paul Brooks added: 'Why during a pandemic you are sending someone to my 86-year-old mum's to say she hasn't completed the census. 'She has told you twice on the phone she posted it prior to the deadline.' A statement on the ONS website explains the content of the letters being sent to people who have not replied. It reads: 'The warning letters clearly indicate that failing to complete a census questionnaire is a criminal offence under the Census Act 1920 (as amended) which is punishable by up to 1,000 fine and a criminal record but the main aim of the non-compliance operation is to support householders complete a census return. 'If the householder is adamant that they do not wish to do so, the non-compliance team will complete several forms including witness statements and Interview under caution forms which will be submitted to the Crown Prosecution Service.' An ONS spokesperson said: 'There is no IT issue. We have made Census 2021 the easiest ever to complete and more than nine out of 10 households have already submitted their form to help shape services like school places and GP surgeries. 'But we want to make sure everyone counts and we encourage everyone to respond as soon as possible. 'This is a major operation across England and Wales and our census field officers will be knocking on doors where records show we have had no response. 'We are aware of a small number of cases where people have been contacted after responding. 'This could be because the questionnaire was not submitted correctly online or forms have only recently been posted back. 'Anyone who has already completed, should tell a field officer who visits and ignore a reminder letter.' HB 673 is named Gail's Law in honor of the dedicated advocacy of Ms. Gail Gardner, an Orlando woman who survived a vicious sexual assault in 1988 by an armed man who broke into her home and raped her at knifepoint. Despite courageously consenting to an invasive physical exam where investigators collected forensic evidence, Gail waited over 30 years before her kit was tested. Police recently identified Gail's attacker as a serial rapist who was already serving a life sentence in prison for another sexual assault. Sadly, evidence that could have led to his conviction sat on a shelf for 33 years. Representative Slosberg, the Co-Chair of the Florida Women's Legislative Caucus, said, "I am thrilled to see Gail's Law passed by the Florida House with such broad support, especially during National Sexual Assault Awareness Month. There is no reason why we should be able to track a pizza more efficiently than we can track critical evidence in a sexual assault case. By passing Gail's Law, we are addressing the historical lack of accountability surrounding sexual assault investigations, reducing the potential for evidence to go untested, and empowering survivors of sexual assault." "I am proud to have this bill named after me and to know that it will bring information and answers to sexual assault survivors, like me," said Ms. Gail Gardner, the namesake of Gail's Law. "I waited 32 fear and anxiety-filled years to hear anything about my kit and my case, and I know others are experiencing that tragedy right now. My heart aches for them. Gail's law will help fix the problem and bring some healing to survivors who deserve no less." CONTACT: Jack Anderson Legislative Assistant to Representative Slosberg (850) 717-5091 [email protected] SOURCE Representative Emily Slosberg, Florida House of Representatives, District 91 India is concerned about a vacuum developing in Afghanistan following the proposed withdrawal of United States and NATO forces from the country, the chief of the defence staff said on Thursday. General Bipin Rawat told a security conference that the worry was "disruptors" would step into the space created by the withdrawal of foreign troops from Afghanistan. He declined to name the countries that could act as spoilers. President Joe Biden said on Wednesday that U.S. troops would withdrawn from Afghanistan starting on May 1 to end America's longest war, rejecting calls for them to stay to ensure a peaceful resolution to that nation's grinding internal conflict. "Our concern is that the vacuum that will be created by the withdrawal of the United States and NATO should not create space for disruptors," Rawat said. India's big worry is that instability in Afghanistan could spill over into its Muslim-majority territory of Kashmir where it has been fighting militants for three decades. It is also concerned that arch rival Pakistan will gain a bigger hand in Afghanistan because of its long-standing ties with the hardline Taliban, who are expected to play a dominant role once the United States leaves. "There are many people looking for an opportunity to walk into the space being created," Rawat said. India invested $3 billion in Afghanistan on roads, power stations and even built its parliament following the ousting of the Taliban in 2001. Rawat said India would be happy to provide more support to Afghanistan so long as peace can return. Biden said that U.S. objectives in Afghanistan had become "increasingly unclear" over the past decade. Also Read: Worse than US! India's daily Covid-19 cases increased from 1 lakh to 2 lakh in 10 days Earlier this month, the US Navy courted controversy by announcing that one of its warships had conducted a freedom of navigation operation (FONOP) inside Indias exclusive economic zone without informing the country. This raised many eyebrows. Mint explores. What is the US Navy controversy all about? On 7 April, the US Navys 7th Fleet issued a release to say one of its warships, guided missile destroyer USS John Paul Jones, had asserted navigational rights and freedoms around 130 nautical miles west of Lakshadweep. This is inside an area India considers its exclusive economic zone (EEZ). The EEZ of a coastal country extends up to 200 nautical miles (370km) from its shores. The country in question has exclusive rights to all resources within its EEZ. The US Navy said it had not asked India for permission for the innocent passage" through its EEZ. India on its part contended that it should have been informed given that the ship was armed. Was the US move unusual? The US move is not unusual. The US department of defence reports annually document the number of FONOPS, meant to assert that the oceans are global commons and hence there should be no restriction on the presence of warship of any country. Indian officials say US ships pass through Indian waters several times a year and without permission. But what is unusual is that the 7th Fleet issued a statement on the FONOP. Analysts say the tenor of the US statement implied that India had made unlawful maritime claims. India responded with a statement of its ownseen as measured and to the point. View Full Image Power display What lies at the core of the problem? Differing interpretations of the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) is the problem. India believes the convention does not authorize states to carry out military exercises in the EEZ without the consent of the coastal state, especially if vessels are carrying arms. Analysts say UNCLOS allows innocent passage even through territorial waters. Will the controversy affect ties? Both sides have indicated that they would like to dial down tensions. Representatives of both regimes have made it clear that this would not be allowed to affect ties. John Kirby, the Pentagon press secretary, said the USS John Paul Jones conducted innocent passage" through waters off the Maldives, indicating that no military manoeuvres had been carried out in Indian waters. There is a great relationship between the two countries," said a person familiar with the developments on the Indian side. What implications will it have on US-China? There is speculation the US move is part of a broader plan to challenge Chinas claims not only in the South China Sea, but also in the Pacific and the Taiwan Straits. This is expected to heighten tensions between the two countries. The most high-profile of US FONOPS has been in the South China Sea, which accounts for about 10% of the worlds fisheries market output. It is also the worlds second-busiest shipping route. Estimates put the value of oil in the region at 7 billion barrels. Subscribe to Mint Newsletters * Enter a valid email * Thank you for subscribing to our newsletter. Never miss a story! Stay connected and informed with Mint. Download our App Now!! BEIRUT (AP) The Lebanese judge leading the investigation into last years massive blast at Beiruts port on Thursday ordered the release of six people, including security officers, who had been detained for months, state news agency reported. It was not immediately clear what triggered the release of the men, who include an officer who had written a detailed warning to top officials prior to the explosion about the dangers of the material stored at the port. Nearly 3,000 tons of ammonium nitrates, a highly explosive material used in fertilizers that had been improperly stored in the port for years, exploded on Aug. 4, killing 211 people, wounding more than 6,000 and damaging nearby neighborhoods. Judge Tarek Bitar was named to lead the investigation in February after his predecessor was removed following legal challenges by two former Cabinet ministers he had accused of negligence. State-run National News Agency said Bitar ordered the release of the six including Maj. Joseph Naddaf of the State Security department and Maj. Charbel Fawaz of the General Security Directorate. The four others are customs and port employees. The six will be banned from traveling outside Lebanon, according to a judicial official, speaking on condition of anonymity to follow regulations. The official added that 19 people are still being held in the case. Among those who are still held are the head of the customs department and his predecessor as well as the ports director general. In a July 20 report, State Security warned that one of the doors of the warehouse where the material had been stored was separated from the wall enough to allow anyone to enter and steal the ammonium nitrate. The report that was sent to President Michel Aoun and then-Prime Minister Hassan Diab warned that thieves could steal the material to make explosives. Or, it said, the mass of material could cause an explosion that would practically destroy the port. Holding Naddaf for months had angered some in Lebanon especially that his report two weeks before the blast was a clear warning of the dangers. The Beirut port explosion has been one of the most traumatic national experiences the Lebanese have faced and families of those killed are skeptical that any investigation into the explosion can be transparent and independent in a country where a culture of impunity has prevailed for decades. We're always interested in hearing about news in our community. Let us know what's going on! Go to form by Fady Noun Cardinal speaks with French diplomatic press, reiterating his appeal to neutrality and a UN sponsored international conference. Diverging visions of the Elysee and the White House on Hezbollah. The issue of Syrian refugees and the demographic element as an essential factor in a delicate balance. Beirut (AsiaNews) - The Maronite patriarch, Card. Beshara Rai yesterday held a Zoom press conference with a dozen transalpine journalists belonging to the French Diplomatic Press Association (APDF). In the course of the conference he returned to his request for a statute of neutrality for Lebanon and an international conference under the aegis of the UN, focused on the Lebanese problem. Although added nothing new to the issues under discussion, the patriarch provided some clarifications in the answers to the questions posed that allowed for a better understanding of the scope of his campaign. In particular, he said he wanted the United States to align their positions with those of France on a possible solution to the Lebanon question. On the domestic front, questioned about the responsibility that rests with the head of state in blocking the process for the formation of the government, the patriarch said that it is exclusively attributable to the president but the latter, due to his responsibilities, must "take charge of all the power afforded him by his office". On the external level he said an international conference is desirable to the extent that a concertation between regional and international sponsors of local political forces can be imposed. Some of these want a settling of scores, while others, like Iran, want to maintain a status quo. However, the head of the Maronite Church spoke out for the request to "internationalize" the crisis. We never spoke about internationalization - he specified - but about an international conference. Hezbollah's role in the bloc "Everyone knows that it plays a leading role in the bloc," he said in response to a question about Hezbollah, while assuring that the Patriarchal See "does not want to create a problem" with this party. Referring to the Taef agreement, especially as regards the disarmament of the militias, as indicated by the international resolutions 1559 and 1701, the patriarch confirmed that there is an international component to the Lebanese crisis, adding in this regard: "The Taef agreement has not been applied on paper and in spirit. The head of the Maronite Church has revealed that he has repeatedly invited Hezbollah to frank and open discussions in Bkerke, but that at the moment the pro-Iranian party has not taken up the invitation. And with reference to the bipartite committee for dialogue between Bkerke and Hezbollah, composed of a lay person and a bishop (NDLR), respectively Hares Chehab and Msgr. Samir Mazloum, the patriarch specified that these meetings with Hezbollah representatives "are friendly meetings not intended to go into depth on the issues". Aware of the diversity of views and positions between France and the United States regarding Hezbollah, the head of the Maronite Church nevertheless hoped that these two countries could unite their wills with regard to Lebanon. "I will be meeting David Hale tomorrow (April 15)," he said, hoping that "these positions can come together and unite for the good of Lebanon." On the presence in Lebanon of Syrian and Palestinian refugees and on a possible impact on the naturalization of some of the latter, Card. Beshara Rai was direct: "The political system of Lebanon rests on demography - he added - and the demographic balance between Christians and Muslims is important to the extent that Lebanon was created by a culture of encounter of Christian inspiration". It is not a question of numbers - he clarified - but of culture. By losing it, we lose everything. And as regards, specifically, Syrian refugees, he did not hide his fear of "a repetition of the Palestinian model", adding in conclusion that their return to Syria must not be strictly linked to a political resolution of the Syrian crisis. Jaipur: Foreign tourists try their hands on kite flying during the Kite festival at City Palace in Jaipur, on Jan 13, 2016. (Photo: Ravi Shankar Vyas/IANS) Image Source: IANS News Jaipur, April 15 : Rajasthan, known as a tourist destination, has registered a -71.50 YoY dip in tourist numbers in the year 2020 as compared to the year 2019. After registering this negative record, the Rajasthan travel trade is busy searching for solutions for the ongoing year at a time when the state fights the highest ever COVID surge with the second wave hitting harder and stronger. As per Rajasthan tourism officials, "The state registered a total of 16,05,560 tourists in 2019 which were reduced to 4,46,457 numbers in 2020, a steep fall of -72.19%. Similarly, in terms of domestic tourists, 522,20,431 visited the desert state which were reduced to 151,17,239 recording -71.05% dip in 2020 as compared to last year figures. Overall, the Rajasthan tourism industry witnessed a steep fall of -71.50% in tourist numbers in 2020 compared to the corresponding year." Now, while the industry was planning to make up last year's blues with Rs 500 crore announced by the state government in the budget, there came the second wave of Covid forcing the industry to think anew and afresh. "The Covid-19 pandemic has caused a major setback to the tourism sector. All the stakeholders of the tourism industry should work in tandem to overcome these challenging times," said minister of state for tourism Govind Singh Dotasra. He opined that the recently announced Rs 500 crore budget under the Tourism Development Fund will indeed go a long way in reviving tourism in the state by building infrastructure and development of new tourism spots. Rs 200 crore of this budget has been set aside for marketing and promotion, he added. Highlighting the urgent need for the vaccination of the workers in the hospitality industry, Dr Jyotsna Suri, CMD, The Lalit Suri Hospitality Group and chairperson, FICCI Travel, Tourism and Hospitality Committee, said that the recent surge in Covid-19 has again weakened the tourism sector and domestic tourism will be the area of focus for the next two years. She appealed to the Minister that the hotel and restaurant staff should be treated as frontline workers and their vaccination should be an immediate concern. Randhir Vikram Singh, President, IHHA and co-chairman, FICCI Rajasthan State Council, said that domestic tourism holds the key and Rajasthan has all the required ingredients to unleash the vast potential of the sector. For the next two years, few foreign travellers will be coming to India. UK has already barred foreign travel. In such a scenario, we have big hopes from experiential tourism which can be best experienced in rural Rajasthan, he told IANS. Nishant Jain, Director - Tourism, Government of Rajasthan, in his address shared that Rural Tourism is a priority segment in tourism policy and hence has been given due importance. President, HRAR & RATO, Kuldeep Singh Chandela demanded that industry status should be given to the tourism sector. Latest updates on Coronavirus (COVID-19) Her Excellency First Lady Margaret Kenyattas Beyond Zero initiative has been recognized for supporting the training of enrolled community health nurses to boost the delivery of primary healthcare services among vulnerable and marginalized communities. Kenya Medical Training College (KMTC) Chairman Prof. Philip Kaloki and the colleges CEO Prof. Michael Kiptoo appreciated the Beyond Zero Scholarship Programme for facilitating the sponsorship of enrolled community health nurses through the World Bank. Prof. Kaloki and Prof. Kiptoo spoke on Tuesday during the 89th KMTC graduation held virtually where 406 enrolled community health nurses who benefitted from the Beyond Zero Scholarship Programme graduated. Our partners included Beyond Zero headed by Her Excellency the First Lady Madam Margaret Kenyatta and the World Bank which has been very supportive to us. Actually, we have been able to realize from the World Bank itself Kshs 1.2 billion to support learning for our students and we are very appreciative of this, Prof. Kaloki said. On his part, Prof. Kiptoo said: Among the graduands today are 406 enrolled community health nurses drawn from vulnerable marginalized arid and semi-arid communities who were fully sponsored by the World Bank through the Beyond Zero Programme to undertake the training, and this is spearheaded by Her Excellency First Lady Margaret Kenyatta. The enrolled community health nurses are expected to improve the utilization and quality of primary healthcare with a focus on reproductive, maternal, newborn, child, and adolescent health services in line with the objectives of the Beyond Zero initiative. An anti-Asian American Hate Crime Bill passed the first Senate hurdle on Wednesday. This is while leadership attempts to clinch a negotiation that could let the chamber pass the legislation as early as this week. Senators voted 92-6 to set forth starting debate on the legislation from Senator Mazie Hirono (D-Hawaii). Republican Senators Josh Hawley (Mo.), Tom Cotton (Ark.), Roger Marshall (Kansas), Ted Cruz (Texas), Rand Paul (Ky.), and Tommy Tuberville (Ala.) voted against the advancement of the bill against hate crimes. Anti-Asian Hate Crimes Bill According to Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) following the vote, "I'm so glad that our Republican colleagues have voted with us to proceed with this legislation. This was never intended as gotcha legislation. It was always intended as bipartisan legislation," reported The Hill. The Senate voted on Wednesday to advance with consideration of hate crimes legislation. The bill aims to combat violence targetting Asian Americans. Lawmakers are currently seeking bipartisan consensus in a divided chamber. The COVID-19 Hate Crimes Act cleared a motion to proceed and opens up debate on a provision that will necessitate Attorney General Merrick Garland to appoint a Department of Justice official to promptly execute a review of reported hate crimes during the COVID-19 pandemic, reported US News. The bill is reportedly limited and is slated to signal the federal government's role in protecting Asian American citizens. Such citizens have faced growing racist violence in the course of the previous year. A vote on it could also have more extensive effects: If Republicans obstruct it, that will offer more fodder to Democrats aiming to build a case for eradicating the filibuster and suggest the GOP is not supportive of condemning anti-Asian racism. Democrats Push for Republican Support on Bill Seeking Protection From Asian American Hate Crimes The COVID-19 Hate Crimes Act, sponsored by Democrats, could swiftly face a filibuster. The GOP prefers a different approach. Imposed by the Senate leaders' agreement struck at the beginning of the year, Democrats and Republicans vowed to attempt to debate bills to see if they could reach an agreement through the legislative proceedings, reported WFMJ. Senators took a procedural vote on Wednesday whether to restrict debate on the overall bill. In accordance with the chamber's filibuster rule, at least 60 senators must consent to make that move, requiring bipartisan support since the chamber is divided 50-50. The bill necessitated the Justice Department to assign an official to review novel coronavirus-related hate crimes, beef up state and local resources, and prompt the administration to oversee the adequate practices to mitigate racially discriminatory language describing the pandemic. Debate over the bill without a negotiation could easily be prolonged into next week. The bill would also direct Garland to provide advisory for state and local law enforcement agencies for initiating online reporting, data collection, and culturally adequate public education campaigns. This narrow bill first encountered Republican skepticism over what it would accomplish. However, most Republicans eventually agreed to at least allow for debate since there will be a bipartisan amendment procedure. Woman Raises Over $100k to Provide Scared Asians Free Taxi Rides in New York @ 2021 HNGN, All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. GRAND RAPIDS, MI -- A father arrested after his son brought a homemade bomb to Newaygo High School will stay jailed pending trial, a federal magistrate judge ruled Thursday, April 15. David Robert Daniel Saylor, 34, was in a federal courtroom in Grand Rapids on Thursday for a detention hearing to determine if he should be released on bond. Saylor is accused of making homemade explosives with his son in what prosecutors said was a hobby for the two. This was their hobby and how they spent time together, Assistant U.S. Attorney Kristin Pinkston alleged in a statement during the hearing. She based her comments on police reports and police interviews with both the father and son, she said. Saylor was arrested after his 16-year-old son brought a homemade bomb to Newaygo High School on March 8 and it exploded in his hands. According to relatives, he lost the tips of his thumbs and the school was evacuated. Saylor initially was charged in state court, but federal prosecutors on April 12 announced he was being indicted in U.S. District Court with two charges of possessing an improvised-explosive device and a single charge of possessing a stolen firearm. Newaygo County Prosecutor Worth Stay also announced Thursday that the 16-year-old was charged in Family Court with manufacture/possession of a Molotov cocktail or similar device and possession of a weapon in a weapon-free school zone. The charges are juvenile charges. Related: Father faces federal charges after sons homemade bomb exploded in class In court documents, prosecutors said Saylor possessed a pipe bomb as well as an improvised explosive consisting of a brass fitting wrapped in tape that contained an explosive material. He also is accused of possessing a stolen .22-caliber Beretta rifle. During Thursdays hearing, Pinkston said a state police bomb squad confiscated more than 30 items of explosive concern at Saylors home while executing a search warrant. He lived there with his parents, two teen sons and an 11-year-old niece. She listed the items in court Thursday. Among them were various powders and liquids, a booby trap device meant to explode when someone steps on it and a cylinder wrapped in tape. Pinkston said police also found 17 unsecured guns in the house. Authorities allege Saylor converted an airsoft gun into a .22-cailber pistol. Related: Teen charged after homemade bomb explodes in classroom Pinkston said that even if Saylor had no ill intent, he was creating a dangerous situation. He had detonated items in the past, she alleged. Hes making things that could kill people and he stores them in such a way that they could be accidentally detonated, she said. Defense attorney James Scozzari said Saylors teen son made admissions that the items found at the house were his. He also said that many of the items found are not illegal as a single component. He suggested the items were not owned by Saylor. Berens, in determining whether Saylor could be released without danger to the community, said he has no structured place to go because he is barred from living with his parents because of a Child Protective Services ruling. Another relative has teens in the home, she said. And while he might live at a residential re-entry center, she didnt believe there would be sufficient supervision for Saylor. She ordered him held in U.S. Marshals Service custody pending trial. Related stories Screaming and hollering after Newaygo High explosion, 911 caller says Teen whose homemade bomb exploded inside school knows he messed up, grandmother says Hilton Northwood School principal Kirk Ashton, 51, has been slapped with 20 charges related to the abuse of young students A New York state elementary school principal has been arrested for sexually abusing at least nine young boys. Kirk Ashton, 51, who is the head of the Hilton Northwood School, located 80 miles northeast of Buffalo, was taken into custody on Wednesday evening before being slapped with 20 different charges. According to The Democrat and Chronicle, Ashton has been charged with six counts of first-degree sexual abuse, five counts of second-degree course of sexual conduct, and nine counts of endangering the welfare of a child. Prosecutors say his victims were all boys aged between eight and 12 years old. The offences are alleged to have all taken places within the past four years. Police say nine boys had come forward alleging that they had been sexually abused. Investigators say there may be more victims who had been abused prior to 2017. Ashton has served as principal of the Hilton Northwood School since 2004. Ashton is pictured after his arrest on Wednesday evening Ashton has served as principal of the Hilton Northwood School since 2004 Ashton was placed on administrative leave last week, before his arrest on Wednesday. After he was taken into custody, School District Superintendent Casey Kosiorek wrote to parents informing them of the charges . 'I want to assure you that the District has been cooperating fully with the State Police. Our primary concern is for our students,' he stated. A crisis team, which includes counselors, has been made available to stunned students and staff. Ashton first became certified to teach pre-K through grade six in 1996. He received a permanent certificate as a school district administrator five years later. Ashton first became certified to teach pre-K through grade six in 1996. He received a permanent certificate as a school district administrator five years later Some parents have been left outraged at news Ashton was able to obtain and maintain his teaching credentials despite having a criminal record. He has a misdemeanor DWI charge dating from 1998 and a felony DWI charge stemming from an incident in 2007. While all people applying to teach in New York state public schools must undergo a background check, a felony DWI is not a charge that precludes a teacher from employment. Ashton is being held on a $500,000 cash bond. The federal government is looking to states and territories to set up mass vaccination centres and may need to use state hospital hubs to help vaccinate aged care and disability workers as it goes back to the drawing board to work out how to complete its COVID-19 vaccination program. Many of the 318,000 workers in the aged care and disability sector who were in line to get the AstraZeneca vaccine would now need to get the Pfizer vaccine after the Australian Technical Group on Immunisation recommended it should become the preferred vaccine for people aged under 50. Health Minister Greg Hunt and Prime Minister Scott Morrison are going back to the drawing board to work out how complete its COVID-19 vaccination program. Credit:Alex Ellinghausen The sector said state hospital hubs should be used to ensure those workers could receive a Pfizer vaccine. The approach raises urgent questions about costs because the states carry the burden of the mass vaccination sites, while the federal government pays for doses given by general practitioners, and Labor has accused the government of passing the buck after bungling its rollout. This is the Thursday, April 15, 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. The Russian Direct Investment Fund marketing the Sputnik V vaccine did not ask the government to return the vaccines delivered to Slovakia because the laboratory that tested the samples lacked certification, said President Zuzana Caputova. She has requested access to the contract between Slovakia and Russia concerning the purchase of the vaccine, which has not been made public. She has also seen a letter that Russia sent to Slovakia on April 6. Finance Minister Igor Matovic claimed earlier that the Russian side wanted the Sputnik V vaccines back because Slovakia tested them in a laboratory which did not hold OMCL certification, which violated the contract. Matovic specified on April 15 that the RDIF stated in their letter from April 6 that the reason they were requesting the return of the vaccines was that Slovakia failed to pay for them. Matovic emphasised that it was not the actual reason. The actual reason according to him was that it was a matter of honour. He also admitted that he has not read the contract for the purchase of the Sputnik V vaccine between Slovakia and Russia. One reason the Russians are demanding Sputnik V back is that Slovakia did not pay Read more Slovak PM Eduard Heger has taken his first foreign working trip observing tradition by travelling to the Czech Republic. Heger met with his Czech counterpart Andrej Babis and Czech President Milos Zeman. Heger stressed the good relationship between the countries, the proximity of their languages and the ties between family and friends. Heger also announced that Slovakia will donate 10,000 Moderna vaccines to the Czech Republic. Czech PM Andrej Babis noted that Slovakia should have priority once the regime at the borders is lifted. They expect to evaluate the situation next week, but Babis gave no further details. Masks outside will not be obligatory as long as people are more than five metres apart or they live together in one household. Teachers and pupils do not have to wear a respirator, only a mask. The Public Health Authority has revised the rules and their ordinance will be valid from April 19. The new rules will also apply to people who have a chronic disease of the airways or a facial skin disease. In addition, respirators do not have to be worn by employees who cannot do so due to their way of working or working conditions - but only after agreement between the employer and the employees' representatives. Until now, this was only possible on the basis of a statement from the occupational health service. Coronavirus and vaccination news: A number of Slovaks have submitted a motion to the International Criminal Court in the Hague citing the performance of disallowed medical experiments linked with mass testing. (TASR) to the International Criminal Court in the Hague citing the linked with mass testing. (TASR) Slovakia could start vaccination with Sputnik V at the beginning of May if Hungary confirms its suitability, PM Eduard Heger said at a press conference in the Czech Republic. if Hungary confirms its suitability, PM Eduard Heger said at a press conference in the Czech Republic. The pandemic committee has proposed that vaccinated people should not have to undergo testing anymore. This would apply 14 days after people have received their second dose of the Pfizer or Moderna vaccines or four weeks after vaccination with AstraZeneca. This proposal has yet to be approved by the government. Feature story for today Three adjoining squares in the heart of Bratislava will receive a facelift. They will be merged into a unified public space without cars and will be planted with greenery to meet climatic requirements, the Bratislava authorities announced as they introduced the winning design by a German team of architects. German architects design the new look of Bratislava's three central squares Read more Other news The assisted part of the census will start on May 3 in the first towns and villages. It will last for six weeks in every town and village. It should be over by October 31. in the first towns and villages. It will last for six weeks in every town and village. It should be over by October 31. NATO is to withdraw troops from Afganistan after 20 years. Defence Minister Jaroslav Nad stated that Slovak troops will be withdrawn from the country between May 1 and September 11, 2021 . after 20 years. Defence Minister Jaroslav Nad stated that Slovak troops will be withdrawn from the country . The Parliamentary Peoples Party Our Slovakia (LSNS) has had yet another member rightfully condemned for crimes of extremism . The Supreme Court found Anton Grno guilty of the offence of sympathy for a group, movement or ideology that is and has in the past led to the suppression of fundamental rights and freedoms. . The Supreme Court found guilty of the offence of sympathy for a group, movement or ideology that is and has in the past led to the suppression of fundamental rights and freedoms. Slovakia has borrowed 1.5 billion on the financial market. On Wednesday, the state managed to realize the first syndicated bond issue in 2021 . These were securities with a maturity of 15 years. Investors will get them with a coupon of 0.375 percent p. a., which represents the lowest level for Slovak government bonds with a maturity of over 10 years. The issue price of the bonds was 99.131 percent and the yield to maturity reached 0.435 percent p.a. on the financial market. On Wednesday, the state managed to realize . These were securities with a maturity of 15 years. Investors will get them with a coupon of 0.375 percent p. a., which represents the lowest level for Slovak government bonds with a maturity of over 10 years. The issue price of the bonds was 99.131 percent and the yield to maturity reached 0.435 percent p.a. The Profesia job-search website noted a record number of IT offers . "Employers published 3,513 job advertisements in March this year. For the first time, the number of IT offers exceeded 3,000," spokesperson Nikola Richterova said. . "Employers published 3,513 job advertisements in March this year. For the first time, the number of IT offers exceeded 3,000," spokesperson Nikola Richterova said. Bratislava-based plant Volkswagen Slovakia will hire 400 new employees soon. It is seeking workers in production for the assembly of vehicles. Nitra-based Jaguar Land Rover will also hire 600 new employees. (Dennik N) Do not miss on Spectator.sk today Slovakia will receive additional Pfizer vaccines Read more Slovaks more of bear huggers Read more Some hairdressers are fully booked. They are planning to reopen despite lack of clarity in rules Read more If you have suggestions on how this news overview can be improved, you can reach us at editorial@spectator.sk. Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co., the world's biggest contract manufacturer of processor chips, said Thursday quarterly profit rose 16.7% over a year ago as global demand strengthened. Profit after tax rose to 139.6 billion New Taiwan dollars ($4.9 billion) for the three months ending in March, the Taipei-based company announced. Total revenue rose 16.7% over a year ago to 362.4 New Taiwan dollars ($12.8 billion). TSMC makes chips for major brands including Apple Inc. and Qualcomm Inc. The pandemic boosted demand for electronic equipment as more people worked from home. The revival of the global economy also has helped to rebuild demand for autos and other consumer goods that depend on processor chips. TSMC this month announced plans to invest $100 billion in the next three years to expand manufacturing and in research and development. Most semiconductors used in smartphones, medical equipment, computers and other products are made in Taiwan, South Korea and China. That has prompted concern in the United States that possible excessive reliance on foreign sources. TSMC previously announced plans to invest $3.5 billion in a manufacturing site in North Phoenix, Arizona. TSMC also operates a semiconductor wafer fabrication facility in Camas, Washington, and design centers in San Jose, California, and Austin, Texas. Explore further Chipmaker TSMC says revenue up 16.7% as demand surges 2021 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission. She is known for her sensational sense of style and Queen Letizia yet again stunned in a sophisticated ensemble as she greeted laureates in Madrid on Thursday. The royal, 48, looked radiant in a chic plum long-sleeved jumper paired with tailored black trousers as she spoke with laureates of The Princess of Girona Foundation International (FPdGi) Awards at the Palace of Zarzuela. She paired her business casual look with an elegant pair of black stiletto heels and wore her brunette tresses in a straight fashion across her shoulders for the outing. Queen Letizia of Spain, 48, looked radiant as she spoke with laureates of The Princess of Girona Foundation International (FPdGi) Awards at the Palace of Zarzuela Letizia, whose husband King Felipe was not present at the meeting, kept herself protected by wearing a white face covering over her nose and mouth and observed social distancing. The mother-of-two was engaged in an animated conversation with a selection of laureates in the 'Social' category of the FPdGi Awards, which recognise the personal and professional careers of young people internationally. She accessorised her smart attire with a simple pair of hoop earrings and wore a light dusting of make-up along with a brush of bronzed eyeshadow. Letizia has been keeping herself extremely busy amid the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic as she has been seen at a host of official functions in recent weeks. The mother-of-two was engaged in an animated conversation with a selection of laureates in the 'Social' category of the FPdGi Awards (pictured) Earlier this week, she joined her husband King Felipe, 53, to chair the presentation of the new corporative strategy and brand of IFEMA convention and exhibition centre. Meanwhile, she also attended the placing of the desk of late MP Clara Campoamor at the Lower Chamber, outside the Congress of Deputies, which commemorated the 90th anniversary of the female vote in Spain. Her jam-packed week comes after she and King Felipe penned a telegram addressed to 'Dear Aunt Lilibet' to mourn the passing of 'Dear Uncle Philip', who died at Windsor Castle at the age of 99 on Friday. The familiarity between the British and Spanish royal households are thanks to Felipe's maternal great-grandfather, King Constantine I of Greece (1868-1923), also being uncle to the Duke of Edinburgh. Queen Elizabeth II announced her husband's death at midday on Friday as the Union Flag was lowered to half-mast outside Buckingham Palace. It comes after she and King Felipe penned a telegram addressed to 'Dear Aunt Lilibet' to mourn the passing of 'Dear Uncle Philip', who died at Windsor Castle at the age of 99 on Friday European royals were quick to offer their condolences, with Felipe sharing a touching and personal message to his 'Dear Aunt Lilibet', expressing 'all our love and affection'. It read: 'We were deeply saddened to hear of the passing of our dear Uncle Philip. 'At this painful time, we would like to convey to you our deepest condolences on behalf of the Spanish Government and the people and all our closeness and support. 'We will never forget the occasions we were able to share with him and the legacy of service and dedicated to the Crown and the United Kingdom that he always carried out at your side. 'Our thoughts and prayers are with Your Majesty and the whole family. With all our love and affection.' There are several lessons to be learned from the governments abysmal handling of Christine Holgate, the former chief executive officer of Australia Post. Perhaps the most important is that we have a Prime Minister who acts as if his government is not bound by laws and conventions. What is worse, the wider government increasingly acts as if the Prime Minister really is presidential. Former Australia Post boss Christine Holgate says shed love an apology from Prime Minister Scott Morrison. Credit:Alex Ellinghausen The Cartier watch affair erupted on October 22 last year when Morrison told Parliament he was appalled and shocked to learn of the disgraceful awarding of four watches to executives of Australia Post. He advised that there was to be an independent investigation and the chief executive has been instructed to stand aside and, if she doesnt wish to do that, she can go. As it turns out, the Prime Minister misled Parliament. Evidence provided this week to the Senate Estimates Committee both by the chairman of Australia Post, Lucio Di Bartolomeo, and by Holgate agreed on one matter: she was never stood aside. And the Prime Minister was wrong to think that a mere ministerial instruction was sufficient to effect this. Yes, the Minister for Communications, Paul Fletcher, may issue instructions or directions to the Australian Post Board that are necessary in the public interest, but they have to be in writing, and they have to be tabled in each chamber of Parliament. Fletcher was never going to issue such a direction, especially because it might run afoul of employment laws. Ice cream truck vendors whose musical rounds punctuate the spring and summer in cities and towns alike would be forced to retrofit a variety of new safety equipment under legislation unanimously approved Wednesday in the state Senate after a brief debate. Safety arms, new flashing lights of up to five inches in diameter, and convex mirrors for dessert truck drivers to see in front of their vehicles would be included in the new equipment requirements. Truck operators would be prohibited from stopping in neighborhoods where the speed limit exceeds 25 miles per hour and 35 in more-rural areas. They would have until May, 2022 to comply with the new equipment rules. Passing motorists would be required to stop within 10 feet of dessert trucks, then proceed cautiously at no more than five miles per hour, yielding to any pedestrians. Sen. Will Haskell, co-chairman of the legislative Transportation Committee, said that the legislation culminates decades of incidents, throughout the state, dating back to at least 1999, of children killed or seriously injured while getting frozen treats. But in particular, it is the June, 2020 death of 10-year-old Tristan Barhorst of Wallingford - killed on both the last day of school and his fathers birthday, who inspired lawmakers to pursue the legislation. Haskell credited Tristans parents, Christi Carrano and Tyler Barhorst, with helping gain momentum for the bill through their passionate advocacy for the proposal. Their pain is something that they do not want anybody to feel in the entire state or in the world if possible, said Sen. Saud Anwar, D-South Windsor, co-chairman of the Childrens Committee. But at least in the state of Connecticut, we have an opportunity to try to have a protection and prevention for them. Carrano, contacted after the 33-0 vote, said her son was an amazing person and she hopes the General Assembly can follow through. He was a force and I was so blessed that I am able to continue his name and have him present, Carrano said, recalling the backyard party at the home of some close friends, in a party aimed at celebrating the end of school within the social limits of he pandemic. We had a ton of desserts, but the kids heard the jingle of the truck and our lives...changed, Carrano said in a phone interview. Sadly, the kids had been socially distanced for so long and that was part of the excitement. We wanted to have some some semblance of normalcy. She said that not only ice cream trucks, but delivery vehicles of all kinds can be hazardous to drivers and pedestrians. Its very scary for anyone who is passing, she said. And nobody has any sense of caution because everyone is in a hurry these day. This bill is coming too late for people like Tristan, but hopefully we can prevent further loss, Haskell said in the 15-minute Senate debate. State Sen. Paul Cicarella, R-North Haven, whose district includes Wallingford, said it has been a bipartisan effort to protect children through what has become known as Tristans Law. When I spoke to senators and House members, on both sides, the support was overwhelming and the quick response of the Transportation Committee and leadership to move this forward in such a bipartisan way and working so well together to honor Tristan was great to see, Cicarella said. It was great to see the process unfold and see the good that it could do, not only in Tristans name, but possibly save other children in the process. There are injuries every year but we dont hear about them. California, New Jersey and New York have safety laws for dessert trucks, along with 21 localities in 17 states. Connecticut needs to take the lead and set an example, Carrano said. kdixon@ctpost.com Twitter: @KenDixonCT Bengaluru, April 15 : In the wake of massive spike in Covid cases in Bengaluru, the civic body on Thursday decided to designate seven of the total 12 crematoria exclusively for those who succumbed to the disease. The circular was issued by Bengaluru civic body's Chief Commissioner Gaurav Gupta as complaints over delays in cremations and lengthening queues beamed across news channels. According to this circular, the crematoriums at Medi Agrahara in Yelahanka, Kudlu near Bommanahalli, Kengeri (RR Nagar-Yeshwantpur Road), Panathuru in Mahadevpura, Sumanhalli in Kengeri, Peenya in Dasarahalli, and Banashanakri in south divisions will function from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. Each crematorium has two furnaces and both will be dedicated for Covid related cases, the circular stated. According to crematorium workers, a dead body takes at least 45 to 60 minutes to be cremated completely. Apart from this, the Bengaluru civic body has also decided to use Bengaluru Electricity Supply Company's (Bescom) helpline number (1912) to assist Covid related queries. "Residents of Bengaluru can call 1912 to contact the helpline, if they have any queries related to testing, vaccination or medical advice," the statement said. The number can also be contacted for direct assistance with blocking hospital beds or admission, obtaining beds in Covid Care Centres, besides availing the ambulance service or support in case of home isolation. This new helpline number is in addition to the Karnataka government's state-wide Aptamithra helpline, which is also dedicated to Covid-19 assistance and can be accessed by calling 14410. Apart from these, the helpline for obtaining ambulance services can also be called at 108. On Wednesday, Bengaluru reported its highest single-day Covid-19 cases at 8,155. This is the highest number of cases reported since the onset of the pandemic in March last year. Owing to the surge in cases over the past few weeks, a night curfew is in place in eight cities - Bengaluru, Mysuru, Mangaluru, Kalaburgi, Bidar, Tumakuru, Udupi and Manipal - from 10 p.m. to 5 a.m. till April 20. Latest updates on Coronavirus (COVID-19) Jefferson Parish Clerk of Court Jon Gegenheimer's letter was well written and expressed the actual sad truth that HR1 is not a voting rights l US ambassador in Moscow John Sullivan on Thursday visited the Russian Foreign Ministry where he was summoned because of Washington's new sanctions, a Sputnik correspondent reported MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 15th April, 2021) US ambassador in Moscow John Sullivan on Thursday visited the Russian Foreign Ministry where he was summoned because of Washington's new sanctions, a Sputnik correspondent reported. The car of the American Embassy left from the side of the new building of the Russian Foreign Ministry, where briefings are taking place. Last year, Joshua Wessel, a man in Kalamazoo, Michigan, was arrested for the June 2017 murder of Ronald French. Using data stored in Mr. Frenchs car, investigators identified Mr. Wessel as the person who gave voice instructions to the cars infotainment systema recording made within 90 minutes of Frenchs death. This data helped investigators dismiss Wessels original claim that he had merely stolen the car. Digital vehicle forensics has recently become a favorite data source for police. Modern cars collect and store massive amounts of information, from telematics (i.e., information navigation, location, speed, and acceleration) to the infotainment system that records interactions, destinations, and voice commands. These data are very revealing, and are therefore highly sought after by police and prosecutors conducting criminal investigations. In recent years, including in Mr. Wessels case, law enforcement agencies generally needed physical access to a car in order to obtain data from our cars. But this requirement has effectively become a thing of the past. Now, much of our car-related information, including our location, is accessible online to the highest bidderno keys required. AN ACCELERATING INDUSTRY Recent reporting from Vice News shows that a surveillance company and U.S. military contractor, the Ulysses Group, is openly advertising a product the company claims can pinpoint the real-time locations of specific cars in nearly any country on earth. Documents released by Senator Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) show that the company promises to deliver a dramatic enhancement of military intelligence and operational capabilities, offering 15 billion vehicle locations worldwide every month. Where does this military intelligence company get all this information? Theres only one conceivable answer: Our car location data is being bought and sold. Heres how it works. First, automakers and original equipment manufacturers collect data for themselves. Then, they share the data with third parties, with little or no oversight, and few, if any, safeguards against abuse. Finally, those third parties repackage that data, aggregate it with other data, and sell it to the highest bidder. As a result, private companies and governments are in a position to know where we and our cars are at any given moment, both in real time and historically. It goes without saying that this is a powerful surveillance tool. And while law enforcement agencies must now obtain a warrant to access cell phone location information showing where we were last week, month, or year after years and years of state and federal litigation that ended up in a landmark Supreme Court decision in Carpenter v. U.S. the Supreme Court has not specifically ruled on the question of whether police can skirt Fourth Amendment requirements by buying vehicle location data. As the Supreme Court observed in Carpenter, location records are very sensitive personal information. The collection, processing, and dissemination of our location information profoundly impacts and affects both our information and decisional privacy. Unlimited access to information revealing where we are, or have been, interferes with the rights of individuals to make intimate decisions and to keep these decisions private from the government. Our location privacy also implicates other rights, like our First Amendment rights to associate, speak, and practice our religion without government interference. Given its ruling in Carpenter, the Supreme Court may ultimately rule that the government cant skirt the warrant requirement by buying our location records from private entities. But we cannot wait for courts to rule on this issue. After all, the Supreme Court only required police to get a warrant to access cell phone location records in 2018, decades after cell phones were introduced on the consumer market. And we have more than government surveillance to worry about, as well. People can also be grievously harmed by non-government use of these sensitive records. Just think of what an abuser could do with timely records showing where his ex-wife has been going, and when. For these reasons, legislatures must take action now to prevent corporations from buying, selling, and making available our location information, before this industry grows beyond our control, and before millions of peoples rights are violated. THE MASSACHUSETTS INFORMATION PRIVACY ACT PROTECTS OUR LOCATION PRIVACY Here in Massachusetts, lawmakers have filed comprehensive consumer privacy legislation that would protect this information, and much more. The Massachusetts Information Privacy Act, introduced this session by Representatives Rogers and Vargas in the House and by Senator Creem in the Senate, provides one of the countrys most privacy-protective statutory frameworks for data protection and digital consumer rights. Among other things, the legislation imposes on companies duties of care, loyalty, and confidentiality with respect to the information they collect about people. To users and consumers, the bill provides for rights of access, correction, data portability, and deletion. It also grants the right to demand that companies stop collecting and processing our personal information. Importantly, the bill also establishes crucial protections for location and biometric information. First, it provides for especially strict rules to control how this information can be collected and processed. The general consent typically given to process personal information does not suffice, given the unique sensitivity of these records. Therefore the legislation requires specific, opt-in consent given by individuals before companies can collect location and biometric information. Second, the bill imposes strict requirements on companies before they may share location information with the government. Following Carpenter, it imposes a warrant requirement for government access to location records. It also requires notice to individuals when this information is routinely shared under state or federal law, for example to comply with any law requiring companies like Uber and Lyft to share ride data with public planners. Third, it bans companies from monetizing and profiting from the sale or other transaction involving our location and biometric data. Under this bill, companies are authorized to process an individuals biometric or location information only if the company discloses the reasons for and nature of such use. Finally, to ensure compliance, the bill provides for punishments against companies that engage in abusive trade practices, granting individuals a private right of action to enforce all the provisions of the legislation. In other words, if companies violate the law and collect your biometric or location records without your consent, you can sue them for monetary damages. In these ways, the bill targets the supply chain behind the industry of buying and selling of sensitive personal material like car location information. If car companies or other data processors that collect location information cannot sell it, companies like the Ulysses Group will have no data to collect and aggregate, and thus no product to offer up to buyersbe they cops, feds, or creepy ex-husbands. For far too long, we have tolerated corporations using or misusing and abusing our personal information to gorge on profits without any regulation or oversight. As we have seen, privacy cannot protect itself. We need strong laws to establish when and how companies can collect, process, and share our personal information. Here in the Commonwealth, that legislation is the Massachusetts Information Privacy Act. If youre interested in helping the ACLU pass strong consumer data protection and digital rights law in Massachusetts, sign up to get involved in our fight for a free and fair future for all. This blog post was written by Technology for Liberty Policy Counsel Emiliano Falcon-Morano. Photo taken on April 14, 2021 shows Bouyei ethnic women display colorful rice used for sacrifice. A cultural festival of Bouyei people was held in Wangmo County, Qianxinan Bouyei and Miao Autonomous Prefecture, southwest China's Guizhou Province on 'San Yue San', the third day of the third month in the Chinese lunar calendar. The cultural festival shows the traditional culture of the Bouyei ethnic group from the social, ethnic, cultural, folk customs and other aspects, which allow tourists to feel the charm of Bouyei culture. (Photo: China News Service/He Junyi) Photo taken on April 14, 2021 shows a Bouyei young woman giving red eggs to guests as an expression of blessing. (Photo: China News Service/He Junyi) Photo taken on April 14, 2021 shows Bouyei ethnic women display colorful rice used for sacrifice.(Photo: China News Service/He Junyi) Photo taken on April 14, 2021 shows Bouyei people in full dress on the ridge of the field display the traditional dress, celebrating the traditional festival "San Yue San". (Photo: China News Service/He Junyi) [ Editor: WPY ] One of my daughters likes to be frightened; the other cannot stand to worry. The one who craves fear is 12: She swallows police procedurals whole, lobbies to watch Stephen King movies and takes refuge in Harry Potter audiobooks. Her sister, who is 7, is happiest with Baby Boss and a French cartoon called Miraculous, about Marinette, a superhero ladybug. She likes things that tie up nicely. So even before our strange pandemic year of isolation, finding common television fare was near impossible. We avoided conflict, mostly, because huge chunks of time were and remain unnaturally divided. Orli, the 12-year-old, has spent many days in the hospital over the past 15 months, receiving chemotherapy, or suffering its aftereffects, or recovering from surgeries, of which there have been seven, of varying complexity. In the hospital, Orli watched 9 to 5 and Working Girl with me and binged on terror with my partner, her father, Ian. Back at home her sister, Hana, watched Sing! (on repeat) and The InBESTigators, an Australian Netflix series about a crew of mystery-solving kids. Still, fortunately, we are together enough that I am often in search of something for us all to watch as a family, a refuge from Zoom school and pathogens, hospitals and worry, and treatments worse than illnesses, not to mention the regular, frustrating encroachments of never-ending video games the girls play for hours on end. We all need means of staving off continued Covid-induced boredom. I wanted us to engage with some of it together. But three-quarters of the way through the pandemic, we had run dry. Then I remembered Gilmore Girls. The decision by the Japanese government to release contaminated water -- left over from the Fukushima nuclear disaster -- into the ocean, is being met with skepticism and worry by many of those people dependent on the sea for their livelihoods. Masao Takahagi is one of them. Fishing communities like his in Iwaki, Japan had only recently resumed their full operations. The region was devastated by the earthquake, tsunami, and nuclear power plant disaster 10 years ago. "I think in the end, there's only the sea where the treated water can be released. But as a fisherman, if they do that, even if they say the fish will be fine, the thing I'm most afraid of is the damaging rumours that may be caused." Over a million tons of water is being released. It's been treated and diluted to within regulatory limits, and will be pushed out in stages starting in about two years. Catches from the waters near the plant are also routinely tested for radiation, even though most fishing restrictions have been lifted. Tokyo Electric Power, owner of the power plant said they would compensate those suffering from reputational harm. Fishing communities in Japan aren't the only ones worrying. In Seoul, South Korea's largest fish market, Noryangjin market, some workers are conducting daily checks on radiation levels of seafood imported from Japan. This is fish shop owner Yoon In-ja: "It is not like I know the scientific grounds for the damage and I still haven't felt any direct impact regarding Japan's decision to release radioactive water. However, as I am running a business at a seafood market, it can never be a good news." Both South Korea and China are objecting to Tokyo's decision, and South Korea is considering legal action. Japan has argued the water release is necessary to press ahead with the complex decommissioning of the plant. For Takahagi and Yoon, they'll be watching very closely. Video Transcript - The decision by the Japanese government to release contaminated water left over from the Fukushima nuclear disaster into the ocean is being met with skepticism and worry by many of those people dependent on the sea for their livelihoods. Masao Takahagi is one of them. Fishing communities like his in Iwaki, Japan had only recently resumed their full operations. The region was devastated by the earthquake, tsunami, and nuclear plant disaster 10 years ago. Story continues MASAO TAKAHAGI: (THROUGH INTERPRETER) I think in the end, there's only the sea where the treated water can be released. But as a fisherman, if they do that, even if they say the fish will be fine, the thing I'm most afraid of is the damaging rumors that may be caused. - Over a million tons of water is being released. It's been treated and diluted to within regulatory limits and will be pushed out in stages, starting in about two years. Catches from the waters near the plant are also routinely tested for radiation, even though most fishing restrictions have been lifted. Tokyo Electric Power, owner of the power plant, said they would compensate those suffering from reputational harm. Fishing communities in Japan aren't the only ones worrying. In Seoul, South Korea's largest fish market, Noryangjin Market, some workers are conducting daily checks on radiation levels of seafood imported from Japan. This is fish shop owner Yoon In-ja. YOON IN-JA: (THROUGH INTERPRETER) It's not like I know the scientific grounds for the damage. And I still haven't felt any direct impact regarding Japan's decision to release radioactive water. However, as I am running a business at a seafood market, it can never be good news. - Both South Korea and China are objecting to Tokyo's decision. And South Korea is considering legal action. Japan has argued the water release is necessary to press ahead with the complex decommissioning of the plant. For Takahagi and Yoon, they'll be watching very closely. In the case of state Sen. Sandra Cunningham, the wheels of justice are turning ever so slowly. The first court appearance for Cunningham, who was charged with driving while intoxicated after crashing into parked cars near her Jersey City home March 4, has been scheduled for June 3 in the Municipal Division of Bergen County Superior Court. The case was moved out of Hudson County last month to avoid any conflicts of interest. Cunningham, a Democrat, represents the 31st District, which includes a portion of Jersey City and all of Bayonne. Cunningham and her attorney, Michael Rubas of Jersey City, could not be reached for comment Thursday. The 70-year-old widow of former Jersey City Mayor Glenn Cunningham was arrested on Culver Avenue near Route 440 after the 9:30 a.m. crash on March 4, authorities have said. According to the crash report, Cunningham told police that she crashed into a snow bank when in fact she struck two parked cars. Former Gov. Jim McGreevey, a friend of Cunningham, said at the time that she had a reaction to prescription medication. She was clearly impacted if not traumatized by the accident, said McGreevey, the founder and chairman of the New Jersey Reentry Corp. She has seen her physician and he is evaluating her prescriptions. Cunningham, who has been a state lawmaker since 2007, is the deputy majority leader, chairwoman of the Senate Higher Education Committee and vice chairwoman of the Budget and Appropriations Committee. Before being elected, Cunningham was charged with DWI in 2005. She told The Jersey Journal at the time that she had failed a Breathalyzer test after being stopped in Liberty State Park by a police officer. This is a very difficult time of the year for me and Im just so sorry that it happened, and it will never happen again, said Cunningham in 2005, a year and a half after her husband died suddenly. Its embarrassing and I made a lapse in judgment, perhaps because of the time of year. Credit: Unsplash/CC0 Public Domain The results of the first clinical trial of a new vaccine for a neglected tropical disease have demonstrated that it is safe and induces immune responses in patients with the infection. There are currently no vaccines to prevent leishmaniasis which is spread by the bite of sand flies and existing drugs have many side effects and are difficult to administer. The potential new vaccine was developed by researchers at the Hull York Medical School, which is the joint medical school of the Universities of Hull and York. Professor Paul Kaye from the Hull York Medical School was the principal investigator on the Wellcome Trust Translation Award that funded the development of the vaccine. Professor Kaye said: "We have always thought that vaccines should be our greatest weapon against the different forms of leishmaniasis, but it has been a long journey to develop vaccines for testing in the clinic. "These results are very encouraging, showing that the vaccine we have developed is safe and immunogenic in patients. It is now important to test this vaccine as a therapy in different forms of leishmaniasis where drugs are poorly effective, and to see if it can prevent the spread of the disease." The new vaccine, called ChAd63-KH, uses a non-replicating virus to introduce genes that code for Leishmania proteins into the human body. The design of the vaccine is very similar to the Oxford/Astra Zeneca vaccine being used to prevent COVID-19. In the current clinical trials, ChAd63-KH is being tested to see if it can be used to treat rather than prevent disease. The vaccine was given to patients with a chronic skin form of leishmaniasis and was shown to be safe and to stimulate immune responses associated with a cure. A second trial of the vaccine is currently underway that will determine whether vaccination helps patients to recover from their disease without the need for drugs. The research team is also planning to test the vaccine in healthy volunteers to determine whether it can protect them from getting the disease after exposure to infected sand flies. Leishmaniasis results in up to one million new cases each year across 98 countries. Infection can lead to different forms of disease, ranging from persistent and disfiguring skin ulcers to death. Explore further Scientists reach new milestone in vaccine development for leishmaniasis Chantelle Otten and Abbie Chatfield were the definition of style as they arrived at The Body Shop's Museum of Self-Love launch in Bondi Beach, Sydney, on Thursday. The celebrity sexologist, 30, and former Bachelor star, 25, looked sensational as they stepped out for the opening of the museum - the first of its kind in the world. The pop-up exhibition features a collection of 'special objects' owned by actors, musicians, artists and influencers, which have played a significant role in their journey to self-love. Chic: Celebrity sexologist Chantelle Otten was the definition of style as she arrived at The Body Shop's Museum of Self-Love launch in Bondi Beach, Sydney, on Thursday Chantelle, who is the girlfriend of Paralympian Dylan Alcott, oozed sex appeal in a whimsical black number with white polka dots and a plunging neckline. She accessorised with a silver pendant necklace, and slicked back her signature wet-look blue hair. Her makeup look comprised minimal foundation, subtle eyeshadow, blush lipstick and mascara. Too hot to handle! Chantelle, 30, who is the girlfriend of Paralympian Dylan Alcott, oozed sex appeal in a whimsical black number with white polka dots and a plunging neckline Details: She accessorised with a pendant necklace and slicked back her wet-look blue hair. Her makeup look comprised minimal foundation, subtle eyeshadow, blush lipstick and mascara Meanwhile, Abbie wore a low-cut shirt dress, which was cinched in at the waist. The former I'm a Celebrity... Get Me Out of Here! star completed her outfit with a lacy bralette and leather knee-high boots. She added a pop of colour with bright yellow nail polish, and styled her blonde tresses in a chic high ponytail. Chic and simple: Abbie Chatfield wore a low-cut shirt dress, which was cinched in at the waist Stylish: The former I'm a Celebrity... Get Me Out of Here! star, 25, completed her outfit with a lacy bralette and leather knee-high boots Other guests included Deni Todorovic, the non-binary activist and stylist. Deni turned heads in a blue tiger-print number and matching heels. 'My special object is the heavenly robe you saw within the campaign,' they wrote on Instagram on Thursday. Making a statement: Other guests included Deni Todorovic, the non-binary activist and stylist 'During lockdown, I became obsessed with Ryan Murphy's beautifully exuberant and queer [mini series] Hollywood. 'I instantly spotted an incredibly feminine display of robes, and in that moment thought it was time to express my femininity from the inside out! 'One delivery later and I've never felt more beautiful in another piece of clothing it'll forever punctuate my self-love journey.' Ram Kapoor's Father And Business Tycoon Anil Kapoor Passes Away; Actor And His Wife Share Heartfelt Notes Ram Kapoor's father, business tycoon Anil Kapoor, who was lovingly known as Billy, is no more. He passed away at the age of 73 years on April 12th. The actor and his family have revealed the news today. Ran Kapoor's wife Gautami posted a memorial of her father-in-law by his company, FCB Ulka. Captioning the photo that tags the Late Anil Kapoor as 'The Genius, The Giant, The Gentleman', the actress wrote, "Dad ... you live in our hearts forever ....... RIP ... to the strongest, toughest man I ever knew.. love you " See her post here: View this post on Instagram A post shared by Gautami Kapoor (@gautamikapoor) Ram Kapoor had taken to his social media to post a tribute for his father by Amul. Calling his father 'a true legend', he wrote, "Truly speechless at the tribute that Amul has made for my father You were a true legend dad. I miss you so much. Rest in peace".See the post here: View this post on Instagram A post shared by Ram Kapoor (@iamramkapoor) For the unversed, Anil Kapoor was the man who had given Amul the tagline 'Amul: The Taste Of India' which became iconic and is fresh in the memory of all Indians! He changed the face of ads forever. Anil 'Billy' Kapoor was the CEO of FCB Ulka till 2016, after which he handed it over to Rohit Ohri saying 'main tumhe apni beti de raha hoon' (I am giving you my daughter). May he rest in peace and may his family get the strength to deal with this loss. NEW YORK, April 15, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- The American National Standards Institute (ANSI) announced today the recipients of its 2020-2021 Leadership and Service Awards. Recipients have been recognized for their significant contributions to national and international standardization activities, as well as ongoing commitment to their industry, their nation, and the enhancement of the global voluntary consensus standards system. In light of the unique circumstances imposed by COVID-19 and the postponement of the 2020 ceremony to 2021, the ANSI Awards Committee has recognized multiple recipients in three award categories typically presented to only one recipient in a given year: the Finegan Standards Medal, Edward Lohse Information Technology Medal, and George S. Wham Medal. Additionally, a greater number of Meritorious Service and Next Generation awards were bestowed this year in order to recognize additional candidates over the course of 2020-2021. Awardees will be recognized at the ANSI Leadership and Service Awards Ceremony in conjunction with World Standards Week, on October 27, 2021. Due to ongoing uncertainties surrounding COVID-19, ANSI is currently evaluating whether the celebration will be held virtually, or in-person at the Fairmont Hotel in Washington, DC. Additional details will be posted on ANSI's World Standards Week webpage, as soon as they become available. ANSI congratulates the following distinguished recipients: Astin-Polk International Standards Medal Sylvia Mohr, standards liaison to Europe (retired July 2020), ASME, will receive the Astin-Polk International Standards Medal, which honors distinguished service in promoting trade and understanding among nations through the advancement, development, or administration of international standardization, measurements, or certification. Edward Lohse Information Technology Medal Two recipients will receive the Edward Lohse Information Technology Medal, which recognizes outstanding efforts to foster cooperation among bodies involved in global IT standardization. Brian Celella, principal electrical engineer, The Siemon Company Wo Chang, computer scientist, Information Technology Laboratory, National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) Elihu Thomson Electrotechnology Medal Timothy Duffy, senior manager, conformity assessment, Rockwell Automation, will receive the Elihu Thomson Electrotechnology Medal, which honors an individual who has contributed in an exceptional, dedicated way to the field of electrotechnology standardization, conformity assessment, and related activities at the national and international levels. Finegan Standards Medal Two recipients will receive the Finegan Standards Medal, which honors individuals who have shown extraordinary leadership in the actual development and application of voluntary standards. Michael Carano, vice president, technology and business development, RBP Chemical Technology David Osborn, manager, international standards, Philips Medical Systems George S. Wham Leadership Medal Two recipients will receive the George S. Wham Leadership Medal, which honors individuals who have made outstanding contributions to the voluntary standardization community and provided long-term direction and visionary qualities in support of the ANSI Federation. Ajit Jillavenkatesa, Ph.D., senior standards policy legal advisor, Apple Inc., former senior policy advisor, standards and digitalization, NIST Paris Stavrianidis, chief executive officer, FM Approvals Gerald H. Ritterbusch Conformity Assessment Medal Warren Merkel, chief, standards services, NIST, will receive the Gerald H. Ritterbusch Conformity Assessment Medal, which honors distinguished service in promoting the understanding and application of conformity assessment methods as a means of providing confidence in standards compliance for the marketplace. Howard Coonley Medal Sonya Bird, director, international standards, UL, will receive the Howard Coonley Medal, which recognizes an executive who has benefitted the national economy through voluntary standardization and conformity assessment and has given outstanding support to standardization as a management tool. President's Award for Journalism Elaina Finger, global standards process coordinator, Corning Inc., will receive the President's Award for Journalism, which honors a journalist(s) whose work helps to illuminate the role that standardization and conformity assessment activities play in the global marketplace. Meritorious Service Award The following individuals will receive the Meritorious Service Award in recognition of their outstanding contributions to the U.S. voluntary standardization system. Each has demonstrated outstanding service in enabling ANSI to attain the objectives for which it was founded. The 12 awardees are: Todd Arnold, senior technical staff member, IBM Ethan Biery, technical leader, system sales engineering team, Lutron Electronics Co. Julie Cairns, senior project manager, CSA Group Bob Czarnecki, chairman, standards committee, (retired), International Institute of Ammonia Refrigeration Mary Jo DiBernardo, program manager, standards coordination office, NIST Ritesh Ghimire, engineer, AUS-420 technical support branch custodian of ANSI UASSC Roadmap, Federal Aviation Administration, (FAA) Bruce Hopkins, vice president, standards, (retired), Recreation Vehicle Industry Association Sharon Lappalainen, deputy director, standards and conformity assessment program, U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Center for Devices and Radiological Health Stephen Oksala, president, Oksala Consulting Bob Sherwin, chief executive officer/president and founder of Vermont Windpower International, LLC, and managing partner of EAPC Wind Energy Services, LLC Paula Watkins, manager, midstream standards, American Petroleum Institute (API) John Weritz, vice president, standards and technology, The Aluminum Association Next Generation Award Several individuals will receive the Next Generation Award, presented to professionals who have been engaged in standardization or conformity assessment activities for less than eight years and who have, during this time, demonstrated vision, leadership, dedication, and significant contributions to their chosen field of activity. The four awardees are: Carolyn Hull, manager, global regulatory standards, Medical Imaging and Technology Alliance (MITA) Greg Knott, vice president, standards and regulatory affairs, Outdoor Power Equipment Institute (OPEI) Nathan Tom, Ph.D., researcher III, mechanical engineering, National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) Judy Zakreski, vice president, global services, International Code Council (ICC) Workforce Development and Innovation Award Marya Ryan, Ph.D., program director, Board of Certified Safety Professionals, will receive the ANSI Workforce Development and Innovation Award, which recognizes accredited credentialing bodies that significantly impact workforce development in the United States. For more information, visit www.ansi.org/awards and www.ansi.org/wsweek. About ANSI The American National Standards Institute (ANSI) is a private non-profit organization whose mission is to enhance both the global competitiveness U.S. business and the U.S. quality of life by promoting and facilitating voluntary consensus standards and conformity assessment systems, and safeguarding their integrity. Its membership is comprised of businesses, professional societies and trade associations, standards developers, government agencies, and consumer and labor organizations. The Institute represents and serves the diverse interests of more than 270,000 companies and organizations and 30 million professionals worldwide. ANSI is the official U.S. representative to the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) and, via the U.S. National Committee, the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC). For more information, visit www.ansi.org . SOURCE American National Standards Institute Related Links www.ansi.org One of the countrys largest for-profit, privately run immigration jails would be shut down by 2025 under a bill signed Wednesday by Washington state Gov. Jay Inslee. The measure approved by the Washington Legislature bans for-profit detention centers in the state. The only facility in the state that meets that definition is the Northwest Detention Center in Tacoma, a 1,575-bed immigration jail operated by the GEO Group under a contract with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. "Washington has not supported use of private prisons, and this bill continues that policy by prohibiting private detention facilities from operating in the state, Inslee said before signing the bill. Washington joins several states, including California, Nevada, New York and Illinois, that have passed legislation aiming to reduce, limit or ban private prison companies from operating. But Washington is only the third - following Illinois and California - to include immigration facilities as part of that ban. Widespread civil immigration detention is one of the greatest miscarriages of justice that currently exists in our political system, Matt Adams, legal director at the Northwest Immigrant Rights Project, said in an email. The enactment of this bill is an important step towards rejecting the privatization and profiteering model of immigration detention centers that has pushed the massive expansion of immigration detention. The new law in Washington state, which is likely to face a legal challenge, would allow GEO to continue operating the jail until its contract with ICE expires in 2025. GEO sued over a similar 2019 measure in California, and that lawsuit was later consolidated with a Trump administration lawsuit that followed. A federal judge there largely sided with the state, but the case was appealed. It is now before the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals and is set for oral arguments in June. Last month, the Biden administration filed a brief with the court adopting the arguments of the previous administration, challenging California's law on constitutional grounds. In an emailed statement, Alexandra Wilkes, a spokeswoman for the Day 1 Alliance, a trade association of GEO and other private detention companies, wrote that the legislation is a misguided, politically-motivated effort to Abolish ICE by targeting longtime government contractors who have zero role in deciding federal immigration policy. She wrote that the consequences of the center closing could result in migrants being transferred to local jails or moved far from family and friends. The Tacoma immigration lockup has long been a target of immigrant rights activists. Washington Attorney General Bob Ferguson is suing to force GEO to pay the state minimum wage to detainees who perform janitorial and other tasks at the jail. The Northwest Detention Center currently houses fewer than 200 detainees because of pandemic-related precautions. Supporters of the new law argued that the severe drop in immigration detention during the pandemic proved its not necessary to keep so many immigrants locked up, and they criticized minimum-bed quotas that are written into contracts with private detention facilities. President Joe Biden has instructed the Justice Department not to renew contracts with private prisons, but that order doesnt apply to the immigration detention system under the Department of Homeland Security. (Disclaimer: This story is auto-generated from a syndicated feed; only the image & headline may have been reworked by www.republicworld.com) JACKSON COUNTY, MI -- A late March sewer leak released about 400 gallons of diluted raw sewage in Napoleon Township, officials said. Residents on the private portion of Napoleon Townships Portage Road notified the village of Brooklyn, which operates the sewer system, of some sewage discovered on the gravel portion of the road on Thursday, March 25, according to a notification required by Michigan law. Officials determined a 1.5-inch service line cracked at the connection to the 3-inch main line because of a residents pressure grinder can, a part in the sewage pump system, the notification states. The discharge occurred about six hours during the day. A small amount of the diluted sewage seeped into a nearby storm catch basin connected to Big Olcott Lake, according to the report. Excavation crews vacuumed out the catch basin, jetted and cleaned the storm main line, Director of Public Works Keith Kotsch said. MORE JACKSON NEWS: As Michigan restores restaurant jobs, industry is back to 84% of pre-pandemic levels Process to create neighborhood associations being considered by Jackson officials Virtual career fair hopes to fill teacher shortage in Jackson County Yoyojin's "Yoyo Shape 1" and "Yoyo Shape 7" are part of the series that have been showcased both at the physical exhibition "Sound, Drawing" at Gongjang Gallery in Seongsu-dong, Seoul, and on OpenSea, the biggest NFT marketplace. Courtesy of Yoyojin Artist Yoyojin holds Korea's first ever physical exhibition incorporating NFTs By Park Han-sol In February, "Nyan Cat," an iconic animated GIF of a flying, Pop-Tart-shaped cat that became an internet sensation a decade ago, sold for nearly $600,000. Less than a month later, celebrated graffiti artist Banksy's original, "Morons," was purposefully burnt up by its buyer and has subsequently been sold as digital art for $380,000. Just when people started grasping the idea of buying and selling a digital image for a hefty sum, news emerged of Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey selling the first-ever tweet he made back in 2006 for a whopping $2.9 million. What do these seemingly inconceivable cases have in common? They were all sold as NFTs (non-fungible tokens), the latest blockchain phenomenon. NFTs are one-of-a-kind tokens that can represent any unique digital asset from artworks, memes to even tweets. These tokens cannot be interchanged or replaced with something else, similar to a unique collectible card or a painting like "Starry Night" one can take a photo of it or buy a reproduction, but there will only ever be one original. In this case, the mere difference is that the original version is digital. Typically, within cyberspace, every file can be easily duplicated, and much of the attempt to differentiate the original from the replication is proven meaningless. But with NFTs, each image can be "tokenized" to create a unique digital certificate of ownership. Although it can still be copied, downloaded and shared, NFT proves that only the buyer possesses the original. But how do we know that such certificates are not forged? Every time a digital image is traded or sold in online marketplaces like OpenSea, Rarible, SuperRare and Foundation, information about such transactions is tracked and recorded in the Ethereum blockchain. The blockchain is a public, shared ledger that is, in theory, tamper-proof since every bit of information is maintained by thousands of computers around the world. "It all boils down to an idea of ownership of a digital asset," artist Im Ho-jin, who goes by the alias Yoyojin, told The Korea Times in Gongjang Gallery in Seongsu-dong, Seoul, where he is currently holding an exhibition called "Sound, Drawing." This is in fact the first ever attempt made in Korea to incorporate NFTs into a physical exhibition. Artist Im Ho-jin, who goes by Yoyojin / Courtesy of Yoyojin His "Yoyo Shape" series (2021), consisting of 15 animated drawings of shapeshifting characters, has not only been showcased at the gallery's physical space since April 1, but has also been uploaded, or "minted," on OpenSea, known as the biggest NFT marketplace. Naturally then, the interesting feature of this exhibit is the comparison made between the tangible art and the NFT art. Yoyojin is actively toying with such an idea by releasing the changes in sales status of both types of artworks on his Twitter account every day. His most recent post made on April 13 reads, "NFT art vs Physical art at my exhibition. Which could (be) value(d) more? NFT: $7,839.11 (-$22.64) bid. Physical: $7,463.75 (-$16.22) sold." "I think that taking a look at how the same artwork is being appreciated differently depending on the platform creates a fascinating narrative," he said. The artist first took interest in NFT three years ago when his friend introduced him to CryptoKitties, a blockchain game centering on purchasing, collecting and selling unique virtual cats. "I couldn't believe at first that a mere digital image of a tiny cat was being sold for 3,000 dollars, let alone 5,000. Like many others, I was joking around, saying 'Oh, so if I just doodle something and put it up on the net, would I strike gold?'" But a chance to study the blockchain technology, whose stored information, in essence, cannot be forged or manipulated, made it a fascinating subject for him. When Mr. Misang became one of the first Korean creators to successfully sell his NFT art this year, Yoyojin could witness the growing demand for NFT and began to look for ways to incorporate it into his own exhibition. Yoyojin's "Sound, Drawing" held at Gongjang Gallery in Seongsu-dong, Seoul, is the first ever physical exhibition in Korea to incorporate NFTs. Courtesy of Yoyojin He said the NFT can bring a new paradigm for both crypto collectors and artists. For buyers, NFTs can be both an emerging investment opportunity and a new form of virtual art collecting. For creators, it can unlock a whole new market and revenue streams for their works. "In the traditional world of fine arts collecting, the physical works were given much more value. But in the crypto market, we begin to see collectors who place higher value on the digital work," he explained. "What this means for creators is that there is a whole new market and cultural demand of a significant size for virtual works that they can target." To Yoyojin and many other artists, NFTs, although at an extremely early stage, are a necessary concept for future digital advances. "Even outside the context of art, the fact that an individual can own a tradable digital asset opens up infinitely new possibilities. The value of a digital asset, which has long been unrecognized since the content was easily replicated and shared without consequences, is finally coming under the spotlight." In March, just a month ago before his exhibition opened, Yoyojin uploaded one of his previous artworks, "Freedom from Everything" (2017), on OpenSea to test out the system and see for himself whether it will actually lead to a concrete sale. It was his first attempt to make his name known in the NFT market. "Freedom from Everything" (2017) / Courtesy of Yoyojin "Honestly speaking, it went unnoticed," he said. But it was an opportunity for him to realize something crucial when it comes to self-branding and marketing, NFT is no exception. Contrary to popular assumptions usually made after witnessing some of the most extreme, sensational million-dollar sales just because a work becomes NFT, it does not guarantee that one would immediately strike gold. The conversation about the appeal of its content, its message and the artist as a person needs to be generated first to make an impact on the buyers, just like in the real art world. "'Freedom from Everything' is a massive piece made up of hundreds of characters and objects, and therefore, requires the viewer on the platform to actually download the image and enlarge it to fully appreciate its details. But in the NFT market, I'm a newbie with no solid fan base and largely unknown works, so naturally, there weren't that many people who took such efforts." He learned that in order for the crypto artist to successfully build presence, activities in online communities, especially on Twitter, Reddit and most recently, Clubhouse, are a must. "Twitter and Reddit are the platforms favored by those who have been intimate parts of gaming culture, which later helped pave the way for cryptocurrency. Through these communities, artists can communicate with the interested audience members as well as share and introduce each other's works," he explained. "And in Clubhouse, there are a number of rooms dedicated to NFTs that one can enter to present their works to other artists, collectors and moderators." Yoyojin at his studio / Courtesy of Yoyojin A taste of nostalgia is coming to the Easton Public Market when Rods Hot Dogs opens this summer. The vendor will be serving up hamburgers, hot dogs and shakes in a space previously housed by Full of Crepe. The crepe eaterys owners Mike and Rebecca Pichetto, of Nazareth, closed up the shop last year. Mike Pichetto is now the behind the hamburger and hot dog joint concept in the market. Full of Crepe was terrific and we genuinely enjoyed doing it, but it wasnt my passion, he said. The Pichettos have since donated their crepe pans to Khanisas, a gourmet pudding shop in Easton. Owners Khanisa and Sean Darby plan to launch a crepe menu at their dessert shop, market representatives said. Rods is being named after Pichettos late grandfather, Frank Rod Pichetto, who operated a hot dog cart in Rutherford, New Jersey, after World War II. Mike Pichetto wants to bring back what that cart was known for -- rippers -- which are Northern Jersey-style hot dogs fried until plump and crisp and then, split either at the ends or down the middle. Patrons, however, will have a choice in how their dog is prepared during the frying process. Aside from the rippers, theres sinkers, which are warmed through but not split or browned; and ripper-crisp, which are cooked two to three minutes longer than regular rippers so the dog becomes very crisp and brown. Also on the menu will be bratwurst, chicken dogs, and vegan hot dogs. Burgers will be crafted from fresh ground beef delivered by Hellertown-based Saylors & Co. Scratch-made toppings will run the gamut from chili and onions to relish and cheese sauce. There also will be waffle fries and onion rings. Birch beer will be available to wash it all down, as well as milkshakes made from various ice cream flavors delivered by Bank Street Creamery in Easton. Specialty shakes are expected to include a black-and-white and a malted version. Prices will be line with major fast-casual hamburger chains, such as Five Guys and Wayback Burgers, Pichetto said. I am keeping the menu very small to focus on putting out an excellent consistent product, Pichetto told lehighvalleylive.com. We are not trying to reinvent the wheel with Rods, just sticking to the basics. Megan McBride, Easton Public Market district director, said the market is thrilled to have the culinary talents of the Pichettos once again. The couple has been involved with the market since its doors opened in April 2016. A North Jersey native, Mike Pichetto began his culinary background out of high school in what he describes as the hard knocks, meaning through the guidance of mentors. He worked at various mom-and-pop restaurants, moving up from washing dishes to bussing tables to eventually learning side-by-side by experienced chefs in the kitchen. By 1993, Pichetto was working the kitchens of the Marriott Hotels & Resorts chain, where he was employed for more than a decade. Rebecca Pichetto, is a Belvidere, Warren County native, who earned a bachelors degree in business from Penn State University. She worked for various restaurants and country clubs across New Jersey. The couple met when Rebecca worked in event sales and Mike Pichetto served as banquet chef at the Bridgewater Marriott in Somerset County, New Jersey. The couple moved to Easton in 2004 to open Vintage Restaurant in the Club at Morgan Hill in Williams Township. The Pichettos tried their luck with a few other restaurant projects after that before eventually opening 3rd & Ferry Fish Market, 56 S. Third St., in Downtown Easton, in 2013. Asked if there are any plans for a fourth restaurant, Pichetto said hes tapped out from operating eateries but not opposed to a retail concept. The retail project could happen in late 2021 or early 2022, he said. The couples three children remain young but their time working for the family businesses could happen in the near future. Their time in the dish room is fast coming, Pichetto added. Rods Hot Dogs will be open at the Easton Public Market, 325 Northampton St., from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. Wednesday to Saturday and 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sunday. The public market is now full with the addition of Rods. Green Vida Co. Downtown held a soft opening last month in space that previously housed Olive With a Twist, which shuttered its market location this past summer. Green Vidas market neighbors, ThreeBirds Nest, opened by fall 2020, replacing Fieldstone Coffee Roasters + Tea. Saylors & Co., a Hellertown butcher, opened in summer 2020, replacing Dundore & Heister. Dundore & Heister closed in January 2020. Easton Public Market also currently includes Chocodiem, Highmark Farmstand, Mercantile Outpost, Mister Lees Noodles, Modern Crumb Bakeshop, More Than Q Barbecue, Scratch, Silvershell Counter + Kitchen, Taylor Taco Shop and Tolino Vineyards. Please subscribe now and support the local journalism YOU rely on and trust. Pamela Sroka-Holzmann may be reached at pholzmann@lehighvalleylive.com. 2020 Field Sampling Highlights Include[1]: 14.85 g/t Au and 98.2 g/t Ag chip sample over 0.5 metres at Charleston 40.2 g/t Au and 134 g/t Ag, grab sample at southeast Skukum Creek 48.3 g/t Au and 174 g/t Ag, grab sample at Lake Zone (Mt. Skukum Deposit) 39 g/t Au and 48.1 g/t Ag, grab sample on Brandy Vein (Mt. Skukum Deposit) Vancouver, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - April 15, 2021) - Whitehorse Gold Corp. (TSXV: WHG) ("Whitehorse Gold" or the "Company") reports final results from its 2020 surface sampling and mapping program, and ongoing data compilation at its Skukum Gold Project (the "Project"), southern Yukon. In addition to the 3 main gold deposits on the Company's wholly-owned 170 sq-km land package, there are numerous underexplored precious metal occurrences identified at the Project (see Figures 1 and 2). Whitehorse Gold completed field sampling and mapping programs in 2020 as part of its initial property scale review (the "2020 Program"), results of which are discussed below in the context of compiled historic data. "Outside of our currently delineated gold deposits, the Project hosts a wealth of high-grade, precious metal occurrences that emphasize the significant exploration potential and sets us apart from many junior exploration companies," stated Kevin Weston, CEO of Whitehorse Gold. "Along with our Skukum Creek, Goddell and Mt. Skukum deposits, these other showings provide us with additional opportunity to grow the Skukum Gold Project in the years to come." KEY OCCURRENCES: Charleston The most significant mineralization is found in the Charleston vein (Figure 3) where 2020 Program sampling results returned 14.85 g/t Au and 98.2 g/t Ag over 0.5 metres, and 8.79 g/t Au and 297 g/t Ag over 0.5 metres, and validated historic samples on the out-cropping high-grade, gold mineralized structure. The vein was discovered in the early 1900's and a short adit (Figure 4) was advanced along the structure in 1921. The vein has been sampled by the various historic owners but has never been the subject of a concerted or sustained exploration program. Southeast Skukum Creek Surface grab samples1 of a mineralized occurrence situated 500 metres south-southeast of the Skukum Creek Deposit returned 40.2 g/t Au and 134 g/t Ag over 0.1 metres, and 30.9 g/t Au and 149 g/t Ag over 0.1 metres. These samples highlight the potential for sub-parallel structures in the hanging wall and footwall of the Skukum Creek deposit. Lake Zone & Brandy Veins In the vicinity of the past-producing Mt. Skukum deposit, surface grab sampling1 of the Lake Zone returned 48.3 g/t Au and 174 g/t Ag, and 22.9 g/t Au and 47.3 g/t Ag, and the Brandy Vein returned grades of 39 g/t Au and 48.1 g/t Ag. Mt Skukum West The Wanda, Marmot, Wolverine, Pika and Fox gold-mineralized vein structures occur west of the Mt. Skukum deposit (Figure 1). Data review of the past programs on this area has compiled surface chip sampling data, highlights of which include: Selected Historical Surface Chip Sampling Highlights Vein Au (g/t) Ag (g/t) Width (m) Discovery Wanda Vein 5.8 20.6 0.5 1988 Marmot Vein 328.7 377.1 0.2 1988 Wolverine Vein 11.8 8.2 0.2 1988 Pika vein 92.9 220.1 0.9 1981 Fox veins 24.3 17.8 0.4 1981 Most of these veins were discovered in 1988 as the Mt. Skukum mine was shutting down and the area was identified for follow-up work in the cancelled 1990 exploration field season. No significant exploration work has been completed on the occurrences since. The Wanda, Marmot and Wolverine veins have not been drill tested and historic drilling completed on the Fox and Pika veins (approximately 14 holes) is of limited vertical and horizontal extent. Figure 1: Western portion of the Project with multiple identified gold mineralized occurrences (historical samples and 2020 Program samples). To view an enhanced version of Figure 1, please visit: https://orders.newsfilecorp.com/files/7553/80524_e698403ef4ed0933_004full.jpg Figure 2: Eastern portion of the Project with multiple identified gold mineralized occurrences (historical samples). To view an enhanced version of Figure 2, please visit: https://orders.newsfilecorp.com/files/7553/80524_e698403ef4ed0933_005full.jpg Figure 3: Charleston Vein sampling results (historical samples and 2020 Program samples) To view an enhanced version of Figure 3, please visit: https://orders.newsfilecorp.com/files/7553/80524_e698403ef4ed0933_006full.jpg Figure 4: Outcrop of the Charleston Vein with a historic (early-1920s) portal, refurbished in 1989. To view an enhanced version of Figure 4, please visit: https://orders.newsfilecorp.com/files/7553/80524_wh2.jpg Although the Company believes the source of the historical information to be generally reliable, such information is subject to interpretation and cannot be verified with complete certainty due to limits on the availability and reliability of raw data and other inherent limitations and uncertainties. FUTURE WORK As part of the upcoming 2021 field season, detailed mapping and sampling is planned for the majority of these targets. Geologic, geochemical and TerraSpec Halo alteration data, are expected to be combined with an airborne magnetic/radiometric survey to develop a ranked pipeline of targets. Results of the 2021 field work will guide work programs for 2022 and beyond. Qualified Persons The technical information contained in this news release has been reviewed and approved by Tim Kingsley, Vice President of Exploration of Whitehorse Gold and Certified Professional Geologist (CPG-11538) with the American Institute of Professional Geologists, a Qualified Person for the purposes of National Instrument 43-101 - Standards of Disclosure of Mineral Projects ("NI 43-101"). The qualified person has verified the scientific information disclosed herein, including the sampling, preparation, security and analytical procedures underlying the 2020 Program, and is not aware of any significant risks and uncertainties that could be expected to affect the reliability or confidence in the information discussed herein. Quality Assurance and Quality Control Drill core from the Company's 2020 Program was logged and sampled in a secure core storage facility located at the Project site. Core samples from the 2020 Program were cut in half, using a diamond cutting saw. Drill core and surface samples were sent to ALS Laboratories, which is independent of the Company. Sample preparation was performed at the ALS Laboratory in Whitehorse, YT, followed by analysis at the ALS Laboratory in North Vancouver. ALS is an accredited mineral analysis laboratory. All samples were analysed for gold using standard Fire Assay-AA techniques. Samples returning over 10.0 g/t gold were analysed utilizing standard Fire Assay-Gravimetric methods. Samples were also analyzed for a 48 multi-element geochemical suite by ICP-MS with a four-acid digestion. Certified gold reference standards, blanks, field duplicates and coarse reject duplicates were routinely inserted into the sample stream, as part of Whitehorse Gold's quality control/quality assurance program ("QA/QC"). Certain historic QA/QC data and methodology were reviewed and are summarized in the Technical Report entitled "Skukum Gold-Silver Project, NI 43-101 Technical Report, Whitehorse Mining District, Yukon Territory, Canada" dated effective October 1, 2020 and authored by Ronald G. Simpson, P.Geo. from GeoSim Services, Inc. filed on the Company's SEDAR profile (the "Technical Report"). The author of the Technical Report considered historical sample preparation, analysis, and security to have been generally performed in accordance with exploration best practices at the time of collection. INVESTOR RELATIONS AND ADVERTISING AGREEMENTS The Company announces that it has entered into two separate investor relations agreements. The Company entered into an agreement with Red Cloud Securities Inc. and Red Cloud Financial Services Inc. (together "Red Cloud") to provide the Company with a range of corporate advisory services. Such services include organizing and administering "roadshows", drafting traditional marketing materials, managing the Company's social media and providing traditional media support and assistance in the creating of video content for exclusive use on "Red Cloud TV" and other services as required by the Company. As consideration, Red Cloud will be paid a fee of $10,000 (plus tax) per month for an initial six-month period. The agreement may be renewed on a month-to-month basis thereafter at the option of the Company. Red Cloud is a Toronto-based financial services company that provides assistance to mineral exploration and mining companies in accessing capital markets and enhancing their corporate profile. Red Cloud Securities Inc. is registered as an Investment Dealer in Ontario, Quebec. Alberta and British Columbia and is a member of the Investment Industry Organization of Canada (IIROC). To the Company's knowledge, Red Cloud does not have any direct interest in the Company or its securities. The engagement of Red Cloud is subject to TSX Venture Approval. The Company has also entered into an agreement with Dig Media Inc. (dba Investing News Network) ("INN") pursuant to which INN provides certain advertising services to the Company. Such services include the creation of a profile for the Company, which will include publicly available interviews, videos and articles related to the Company. INN will provide such services until December 22, 2021. As consideration, the Company has agreed to pay INN a fee of $50,000 (plus tax). Based out of Vancouver, British Columbia, with officers around the globe, INN is an independent firm, which is dedicated to providing independent news and education to investors. To the Company's knowledge, INN does not have any direct interest in the Company or its securities. ABOUT WHITEHORSE GOLD CORP. Whitehorse Gold is a responsible mineral exploration and development company focused on its 170-square-km Skukum Gold Project located in southern Yukon, approximately 55 km south-southwest of Whitehorse. The Project hosts the advanced-stage Skukum Creek and Goddell deposits, and the formerly producing Mt. Skukum high-grade gold mine, all of which remain open for expansion, plus additional untested mineralized occurrences. Project infrastructure includes an all-weather access road, a 50-person camp, approximately 4.8 kms of underground development, and a previously operating 300-tpd mill and associated support facilities. Underground operations by a previous operator at Mt. Skukum from 1986 to 1988 saw 233,400 tons of ore mined and processed to recover approximately 79,750 ounces of gold. On Behalf of Whitehorse Gold Corp. signed "Kevin Weston" Kevin Weston, CEO & Director For further information please contact: Steve Stakiw, Vice President - Corporate Affairs Phone: 1-604-336-5919 Email: info@whitehorsegold.ca www.whitehorsegold.ca Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this news release. 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 Canadian and U.S. securities legislation. All statements, other than statements of historical fact included in this news release, including, without limitation, future plans with respect to the Project, including the 2021 work program and resource expansion; and other future plans, objectives or expectations of the Company are forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are often, but not always, identified by words or phrases such as "expects", "is expected", "anticipates", "believes", "plans", "projects", "estimates", "assumes", "intends", "strategies", "targets", "goals", "forecasts", "objectives", "budgets", "schedules", "potential" or variations thereof or stating that certain actions, events or results "may", "could", "would", "might" or "will" be taken, occur or be achieved, or the negative of any of these terms and similar expressions. Forward-looking statements are based on the opinions, assumptions, factors and estimates of management considered reasonable at the date the statements are made. The opinions, assumptions, factors and estimates which may prove to be incorrect, include, but are not limited to: that market fundamentals will result in sustained precious metals demand and prices; that there are no significant disruptions affecting operations, including labour disruptions, supply disruptions, power disruptions, security disruptions, damage to or loss of equipment, whether due to flooding, political changes, title issues, intervention by local landowners, environmental concerns, pandemics (including COVID-19) or otherwise; that the Company will be able to obtain and maintain governmental and regulatory approvals, permits and licenses in connection with its current and planned operations, development and exploration activities, including at the Project; that the Company will be able to complete the required upgrading and retrofitting of the Project infrastructure to be fit for the Company's planned mining activities; that the Company will be able to meet its current and future obligations; that the Company will be able to comply with environmental, health and safety laws; that the Company will be able to secure financing on suitable terms; and the assumptions underlying mineral resource estimates and the realization of such estimates. Forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors which may cause the actual results, performance or achievements of the Company to differ materially from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements. Such risks and other factors include, among others: social and economic impacts of COVID-19; actual exploration results; changes in project parameters as plans continue to be refined; results of future exploration activities and resource estimates; future metal prices; availability of capital and financing on acceptable terms; general economic, market or business conditions; uninsured risks; regulatory changes; defects in title; availability of personnel, materials and equipment on a timely basis; accidents or equipment breakdowns; delays in receiving government and regulatory approvals; unanticipated environmental impacts on operations and costs to remedy same; and other exploration risks or other risks detailed herein and from time to time in the filings made by the Company with securities regulators. 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 Report. Although the Company has attempted to identify important factors that could cause actual actions, events or results to differ from those described in forward-looking statements, there may be other factors that cause such actions, events or results to differ materially from those anticipated. There can be no assurance that forward-looking statements will prove to be accurate and accordingly readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on forward-looking statements. The Company undertakes no obligation to update any of the forward-looking statements in this news release or incorporated by reference herein, except as otherwise required by law. Cautionary Note to US Investors This news release has been prepared in accordance with the requirements of NI 43-101 and the Canadian Institute of Mining, Metallurgy and Petroleum Definition Standards, which differ from the requirements of U.S. Securities laws. NI 43-101 is a rule developed by the Canadian Securities Administrators that establishes standards for all public disclosure an issuer makes of scientific and technical information concerning mineral projects. [1] Readers are cautioned that the above-mentioned grab samples are selective and likely biased by nature and therefore are not necessarily representative of the overall grade and extent of any mineralization that could occur on the subject areas of the Project. To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/80524 By Xu Qiqi In recent years, Chinas human rights concepts have been widely recognized in the international community. The vision of the community with a shared future for mankind has been written into UN resolutions several times, and the resolution titled Promoting the International Human Rights Cause through Win-Win Cooperation initiated and advanced by China was adopted by the UN Human Rights Council. Chinas concepts and positions on human rights have been endorsed and affirmed by more and more countries. Furthermore, China is playing a bigger role and exerting greater influence in the UN human rights system. In 2018, China, speaking on behalf of nearly 140 countries, made a joint statement titled People-centered Approach inPromoting and Protecting Human Rights duringthe 38th session of the UN Human Rights Council . In 2019, 37 countries sent a joint letter to the UN toshow their support for China on itsremarkable achievements in the field of human rights in Xinjiang in response to certain western countries accusations of human rights abuses there. In 2020, Jiang Duan, minister of the Chinese mission to the United Nations in Geneva , was appointed to a seat on the Consultative Group of the United Nations Human Rights Council , and China was again elected as a UNHRC member in an election held at the 75th UN General Assembly. Yet western public opinions have been wary about and vexed by Chinas rising international influence on human rights, as according to them, only western countries have the orthodox say on human rights issues, while other countries like China are in no position to talk about human rights. Such a perception well reflects the Wests coherent arrogance and prejudice. Human rightsare not a fixed notion created out of imagination but is evolving with social development and reflecting the changing realities. Under the leadership of the CPC, China has adopted a concept of human rights with Chinese characteristics and blazed out a path of human rights development suitedto its national conditions. It combines the principle of universality of human rights with currentrealities, adopts a people-centered approach to human rights development, and takes the rights to subsistence and development as the primary human rights. It coordinates the all-round development of economic, political, social, cultural, and environmentalrights for everyone in an endeavor to maintain social equity and justice and advance all-round human development. The Chinese government has made unprecedented efforts to win the tough battle against poverty and spared no effort in saving COVID-19 patients these are Chinas concrete actions to practice its concept of human rights. The Chinese concept of human rights and Chinas human rights development path are different from that of the West, something that has to be realized and taken seriously by the West. China has always supportedmore exchange and cooperation on human rights in the principle of mutual respect. But we oppose using double standards to make slanderous attacks on other countries, and we also oppose using human rights as an excuse to interfere in other countries internal affairs. China is a contributor to the international human rights system. A growing number of countries approved of Chinasguiding principles on human rights and affirmedChinas role in international human rights institutions. If the West insists on posing as a human rights lecturer and is unwilling to look squarely at the new changes in the international human rights system and rationally view Chinas influence on human rights, it will only find itself more marginalized in this respect, with its voice less heeded and its reputation more tarnished. (The author is an assistant researcher of theAcademy of Contemporary China and World Studies.) Retail construction could be ready for a rebound as demand from a growing number of suburban Houston households increases and the economy gains momentum. Developers of grocery-anchored shopping centers are taking notice of the thousands of homes being built across Houstons suburbs. That growth comes as consumers are spending big on groceries both in-store and online. During the COVID era, grocery sales zoomed as people chose to eat at home over going to restaurants. Grocery spending surpassed restaurant spending last year as shoppers filled their pantries instead of filling tables at restaurants, according to JLLs Grocery Tracker report. That uptick comes as retail construction across the greater Houston area fell by more than 50 percent over the year to a low of 700,000 square feet in 2020, according to Weitzman, a Dallas-based real estate services firm that tracks centers of at least 25,000 square feet. While retail construction has been shrinking since 2018 following a surge in grocery-anchored centers along the Grand Parkway, projects are picking back up. For example, H-E-B plans to break ground on a new store in Manvel in mid-2021, according to Weitzman. On HoustonChronicle.com: Redesigned former post office wants to put new stamp on Houston Retail occupancy, which fell to 93 percent in 2020 from 95 percent in 2019, is projected to increase this year, helped by the strong residential market, according to Weitzman. Demand is picking up, including from restaurants seeking retail spaces exited by other tenants during the pandemic. The growth in occupancy follows a surging residential market. People are out in full force shopping for houses, which frequently serve double duty as offices, and are willing to be farther out to gain more space and outdoor amenities as commute times become a lesser factor in the wake of the pandemic and the rise of work-from-home. Builders started construction on nearly 37,000 houses in the Houston region in 2020, a jump of more than 20 percent from the previous year, according to Zonda, a housing information firm. Shopping centers that provide for the daily needs of surrounding residents have been more reliable about paying rent during the pandemic than some other kinds of stores. Retail centers with higher exposure to retailers that sell essentials, such as grocers, reported the strongest rent collection rates in 2020, said Lindsay Dutch, an analyst with Bloomberg Intelligence. Those factors are at play as projects get underway across the Houston region. Among them, Costco is building a business-oriented store in the Grid development in Stafford, Fidelis Realty Partners bought land in the Willis area for a grocery-anchored development near The Woodlands Hills master-planned community and H-E-B broke ground on a store that will anchor the new Eastfield at Baybrook shopping center at the Gulf Freeway and El Dorado Boulevard in the Clear Lake area. A project of Regency Centers and CDC Houston, Eastfield at Baybrook will bring 30,000 square feet of retail space alongside the H-E-B, plus spots for six smaller buildings. The project is projected to break ground in the third quarter after securing commitments for 50 percent of the space. Regency is designing the center with an eye to the future, incorporating features that have gained in popularity during the pandemic such as drive-thrus and outdoor gathering areas and seating. About half of the space could be devoted to restaurants, up from 30 percent in traditional projects. Boucher Design Group is the architect. We designed it with a lot of breezeways, 36-foot sidewalks and lot of shade so people will want to hang out outside in the summertime in Houston, said Abe Pacetti, vice president, investments at Regency. Regency is in talks with potential tenants including a high-end wine bar, a Mexican restaurant and fast-casual chicken restaurant. Were kind of feeling the thaw of COVID on the leasing front, he said. katherine.feser@chron.com twitter.com/kfeser Windsor mayor Dominic Foppoli faced the furious public for the first time Wednesday since at least six women stepped forward with accusations of sexual assault and rape. The women told the San Francisco Chronicle that Foppoli, 38, assaulted them. The alleged incidents took place from 2002 to 2019 and include claims of forced oral copulation and rape, prompting the Sonoma County Sheriff's Office to open an investigation. (SFGATE and the San Francisco Chronicle are both owned by Hearst but operate independently of one another.) Along with being a local politician, Foppoli is also a well-known winery figure. His family has been prominent in Wine Country for decades, and Foppoli is the co-owner of Christopher Creek Winery, Foppoli Wines, Benevolo Wines and the Old Redwood Brewing Company. He is the youngest mayor in Windsor history. Foppoli has remained consistently defiant. In a statement issued Saturday he wrote, "If I have done anything wrong, I would accept responsibility and I would resign. But I have not." These comments elicited rage among his constituents, who berated him for hours during the public comment portion of the Windsor Town Council meeting Wednesday night. As he sat silently, occasionally speaking to ask someone to unmute their mic, Windsor residents called him a "rapist," "disgusting" and swore at him. A number of individuals spoke tearfully of their own experiences with rape and sexual assault, telling Foppoli that their trauma has been renewed by the allegations. Many demanded he resign. One woman, who identified herself as "H," spoke of her own sexual assault. "I am begging you, sir, to step down. When you put out statements like the ones you did to defend yourself against these abhorrent, horrible things, you make every survivor in this county relive the horrible things that have happened to us," she said. "You do not have the right to be a mayor in this county. It is not a right to be a politician. But I have live with the fact, with the things that happened to me, every single day. And you have created an atmosphere where I have no safe place in this county. None of us do. All of you should be ashamed. All of you need to step down." "Please step down," she finished. "And if you don't, I hope to god you hear my voice in my head every single day that you don't step down." At one point, Foppoli's fellow councilmember Debora Fudge said, "I will just say this. I hate Dominic Foppoli." Windsor Town Council/Handout At 9:30 p.m., Foppoli announced he was leaving the meeting, claiming it was due to speakers expressed discomfort with his presence. This caused the other councilmembers to scramble to call a vote calling for his resignation before they lost the necessary quorum. It passed, with Foppoli voting against it, but is largely a symbolic gesture. Calls for Foppoli's resignation have been near-unanimous in Bay Area political circles. All Sonoma County supervisors have expressed support for his removal, and eight county mayors signed a joint statement "demand[ing] Dominic Foppoli resign immediately from the Windsor Town Council and all other elected and appointed positions and roles held with special districts and regional boards." The two California state representatives of the North Bay also issued a joint statement demanding Foppoli step down. "These multiple, corroborated accounts suggest a pattern of predatory sexual misconduct that is deplorable and totally unacceptable. It is not possible for Mr. Foppoli to credibly or effectively continue serving on the Windsor Council. We call on him to resign immediately," Rep. Jared Huffman and Rep. Mike Thompson wrote in the statement. Foppoli's term is set to expire in December 2022, although he will now potentially face a recall effort. During the war, generals often brought visiting dignitaries to his village to show the progress being made, he said, but small victories there were often followed by bloody losses. Friends were killed, Mr. Burke said, and he once had to pick up the pieces of village children who were dismembered by a rocket-propelled grenade. Eventually the American troops pulled out. The village is in Taliban hands now. Was it worth it? I could answer both ways, he said. Good people devoted their lives to this project, and a lot of them were destroyed. There has been so much suffering by the Afghan people. In that sense, its not worth it. But for individuals, there are experiences and realizations from Afghanistan that will always shape their lives, he continued. We think about them every day. They are who we are. And I cant say that doesnt have real value. There are experiences I treasure, people I love who I met there. If nothing else, he said, it is worth it to have an end. It is important to have ceremony and rituals, times when we mark and remember things, Mr. Burke said. Thats what this is: We need an end. An end is how you grieve. We havent had a chance to do that yet. The U.S. Department of State has offered a $5 million reward for the arrest and conviction of a Mexican drug lord who operates meth labs and secret airstrips for the Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG). Audias Flores-Silva, , who is also known as 'El Jardinero' (The Gardner), is one of the leaders of the notorious CJNG cartel, and a close ally of the cartel's boss Nemesio 'El Mencho' Oseguera, according to the Drug Enforcement Administration and Homeland Security Investigations. He has long been considered a potential successor to El Mencho, and is also known as 'Mata Jefes', which means chief killer, and 'Comandante'. Authorities say the 40-year-old is charge of the laboratories that the cartel set up in the western state of Jalisco and southern state of Zacatecas to produce methamphetamine, as well as tractor-trailer trucks that used to ship cocaine from Central America across to Mexico. Flores-Silva reportedly also coordinates the transportation of other drugs from Mexico to California, Texas, Illinois, Georgia, Washington and Virginia - all states where the Jalisco New Generation Cartel employs distribution cells. The Department of the Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control sanctioned Flores-Silva under the Foreign Narcotics Kingpin Designation Act (Kingpin Act). Audias Flores-Silva (left) is one of the leaders of the notorious CJNG cartel, and a close ally of boss Nemesio Ruben Oseguera-Cervantes (right), according to the Drug Enforcement Administration and Homeland Security Investigations. According to an indictment unsealed Tuesday by the Department of Justice, the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia charged Flores-Silva in August 2020 with conspiring to distribute more than five kilos of cocaine and to ship more than a kilo of heroin to the U.S. The court also charged him with possession of a weapon in relation to a drug offense. 'These actions are yet another demonstration of the outstanding coordination with our Federal partners to protect our communities from the deadly surge of drugs coming from these violent cartels,' said DEA Los Angeles Special Agent in Charge Bill Bodner. 'These efforts illustrate our ongoing commitment to bring (the Jalisco New Generation Cartel) and drug traffickers like (Flores-Silva), who pose a threat to the American people, to justice.' The Jalisco New Generation Cartel is spread out across 23 of the Mexico's 32 states and currently finds itself at war with at least ten cartels. Pictured are two alleged members of the notorious criminal organization Jalisco New Generation Cartel The Jalisco New Generation Cartel was once allied to the Sinaloa Cartel as El Chapo depended on its firepower to combat Los Zetas. Commandeered by Nemesio 'El Mencho' Oseguera, the group set itself apart from other cartels in the country butchering its enemies and today is considered by the Mexican government as the most dangerous group in the country. The Jalisco New Generation Cartel is spread out across 23 of the Mexico's 32 states and currently finds itself at war with at least ten cartels. The group has been known to have increased the power that its members have by purchasing military weapons and parts from the United States. The Jalisco New Generation Cartel, according to the DEA, specializes 'in manufacturing and distributing large amounts of fentanyl, heroin, methamphetamine, and cocaine.' How they get drugs into the US: 'The CJNG smuggles illicit drugs into the United States by accessing various trafficking corridors in northern Mexico along the SWB including Tijuana, Juarez, and Nuevo Laredo. The CJNG also has influence over the busiest port in Mexico, the Port of Manzanillo, and utilizes that influence for the distribution of large quantities of drugs.' Advertisement Flores-Silva was indicted by the U.S. District Court for the Western District of North Carolina in 2002 and sentenced to five years in prison before he was deported to Mexico. In 2016, Mexican authorities apprehended him for plotting the April 2015 ambush of cops in the Jalisco city of San Luis Soyatlan. Flores-Silva was released from jail after disputing the charges in court. The DEA and HSI consider Flores-Silva to be 'closely aligned' with Jalisco New Generation Cartel leader, Nemesio 'El Mencho' Oseguera. The DEA is offering a $10 million reward for information for the arrest and conviction of El Mencho, who came up under the tutelage of Joaquin 'El Chapo' Guzman, the jailed co-founder of the Sinaloa Cartel. DEA released its 2020 National Drug Threat Assessment in March and acknowledged that the Jalisco New Generation Cartel and its rival, the Sinaloa Cartel, headed a list of nine criminal organizations from Mexico who were responsible for importing drugs to the United States last year. The cartel is considered the most violent criminal faction in Mexico and 'has the highest cocaine, heroin, and methamphetamine trafficking capacity.' 'The (Jalisco New Generation Cartel) smuggles illicit drugs into the United States by accessing various trafficking corridors in northern Mexico along the southwest border including Tijuana, Juarez, and Nuevo Laredo,' the report found. 'The (Jalisco New Generation Cartel) also has influence over the busiest port in Mexico, the Port of Manzanillo, and utilizes that influence for the distribution of large quantities of drugs.' It operates in 23 of Mexico's 32 states and its capital, Mexico City, and also has expanded its drug trade operations into 11 states in the U.S., Washington, D.C., and Puerto Rico. A recent study indicates that a U.S. ban on the use of tanning beds among minors would prevent thousands of cases of melanoma in adolescents and would save millions of dollars in healthcare costs. The findings are published early online in CANCER, a peer-reviewed journal of the American Cancer Society. Indoor tanning has been linked to an increased risk of melanoma, with the highest risk in those who start using tanning beds at a young age. Unfortunately, the use of tanning beds is a common practice among U.S. adolescents. Despite the risk of indoor tanning, only a handful of countries have implemented policies to ban tanning beds. Such bans have the potential to save lives and treatment-related costs but come with costs of policy implementation and enforcement, as well as lost revenue to the tanning industry. To consider both the benefits and costs of a ban, investigators modeled the life course of the U.S. population aged between 14 and 17 years and compared two situations: ban versus no ban. The teams simulations revealed that fully adhering to a ban would prevent 15,101 melanoma cases and 3,299 melanoma recurrences among 17.1 million minors, saving $61 in direct and indirect healthcare costs per minor. When including intervention costs and economic losses to the tanning bed industry, banning still saved $12 per minor and a total of $205.4 million over the lifetimes of 17.1 million minors. A ban on tanning bed use in minors is not universal in Canada and the U.S. In Brazil and Australia there is a total ban not just in minors, while in Austria, Belgium, France, Germany, Portugal, Spain, and the United Kingdom, national bans exist for those under the age of 18." Antoine Eskander, MD, ScM, FRCSC, Lead author, University of Toronto and Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre Thais and Ismael Akiyama had big plans for 2020. It was the year they would expand Akiyama, their Brazil-based biometric identification authentication business, to new markets. Their two spin-off companies, Neoyama, an industrial automation supplier, and Natosafe, which specializes in biometric identification of newborn infants, were poised for explosive growth. Massive projects were lined up, and profits were expected to hit record highs. By the end of 2019, the gym that physiotherapist Brandi Binkley started in the garage of her Nashville home had grown into a thriving operation. Physiofit was housed in an 8,300 square-foot training studio and employed seven exercise physiologists. Business was booming. The earliest days of 2020 saw restaurateur Craig B. Welburn riding high. He owned and operated five McDonalds franchises in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and Delaware. And if the market predictions and trends were to be believed, this was to be a record year for the food and beverage industry. Do you salvage what you can and run from the storm or risk everything and lead head-on into uncertainty? Yet, as King Solomon warns in Proverbs, Do not boast about tomorrow, for you do not know what a day may bring forth. An invisible storm was swiftly approaching that would plunge the world into crisis and force business owners in every industry to confront a threat to their very survival. When the coronavirus hit, no sector was safe. As 2020 spiraled and business leaders were forced to constantly pivot, making hard decisions and navigating unforeseen challenges, the Akiyamas saw everything they had built start to crumble. The Brazilian government, one of their largest clients, slashed its biometric budget, payments for Neoyama parts only trickled in, and hospitals delayed adapting Natosafe technology as they struggled with an overwhelming influx of COVID-19 patients. Binkley faced the closure of her gym due to pandemic restrictions. Welburn watched with great concern as the virus took another devastating toll, closing the doors of many restaurants. As business leaders, each had a critical choice to make: salvage what you can and run from the storm or risk everything and lead head-on into uncertainty. All chose the latter. Looking back on the last year, these companies havent just survived in the midst of turmoil and upheaval, theyve thrived. Akiyama picked up new clients and profits exceeded expectations. Binkley pivoted her business from physical fitness training to a focus on a software platform that multiplied her potential market. Welburns restaurants grew, outperforming his regional peers. The common thread? All attribute their success to missions rooted in faith and the strength of their peer communities. While they each realized that facing the storm was the only way forward, no one dared to try this alone. All four are members of C12, a global network of Christian business owners and executives who meet regularly to encourage, equip, and hold each other accountable to build businesses for a greater purpose. C12s mantra of no margin, no mission compels mission-driven leaders toward resiliency and innovation to advance business as a ministry. The motivation and ability to weather a pandemic are much greater when a business exists for more than turning a profit. Thais Akiyama says that her peers, missional mindset, and faith in Jesus grounded her in the midst of chaos. We are inspired in every meeting and go back to the office full of ideas, she says. Weve learned how to make the company a real instrument for mission. Stronger Together Managing three different companies with three distinct missions was a juggling act even before the pandemic. Once it hit, things looked bleak, but the Akiyamas didnt falter. They digitally gathered their team of administrators and employees across all three companies and made a commitment to the whole group summed up in the hashtag #strongertogether. Image: Thais and Ismael Akiyama photo by Marco Godinho The storm came for all of our companies, and we understood that we couldnt find a way out by ourselves, says Thais Akiyama. We needed to join together, building a community and identity as a group. The Akiyamas consolidated the disparate companies under one umbrella and mission, and it served as a catalyst for transformation. They took the crisis as an opportunity to be intentional about their faith and to make Christian principles the foundation for how they do business. Anchored in the hope of the gospel, the Akiyamas made 2020 a year of revival in their company. Clients noticed how the Akiyamas presented themselves: their actions were not swayed or influenced by the system of bribery so pervasive in the Brazilian business world. Employees across the three companies started collaborating on community projects. Conversions about God became more commonplace. The outcome of this year was great for business, says Thais. But when it comes to Gods mission, I would say that we had an even greater outcome. Spiritual Support Brandi Binkley is no stranger to adversity. She joined the Navy after feeling called by God to active duty during a Campus Crusade for Christ summer project and served aboard the aircraft carrier USS Nimitz in Operation Iraqi Freedom. When she left the service, she felt guided to make an impact on peoples lives through exercise. Image: Brandi Binkley photo courtesy of Physiofit I heard God calling me to help people feel better in their own skin and understand that they have so much more to give to the rest of the world when they themselves are in the process of healing and listening, says Binkley. Binkleys training program, grounded in exercise science and spirituality, proved popular with the community, and the gym soon upgraded to a larger facility to accommodate everyone. Year after year the company grew. Then came 2020. The gym was empty due to pandemic restrictions, and most of the trainers work had to be done via Zoom. The storm was bearing down, but Binkley, encouraged by how her C12 peers werent backing away from their own challenges, chose to charge ahead with them at her side. Gods always called me into the fire pit, says Binkley. Everyone in C12 was fighting the same battle, doing everything they could to help one another. I knew I wasnt going to get lost out in the storm by myself. Instead of trying to convince new customers to join Physiofit in the middle of a pandemic, Binkley told her team to intentionally focus on those they already served. She and her trainers dropped off care kits with immunity products, chocolates, and written encouragements, loving each person so hard that they didn't see Physiofit as a place to come work outthey saw it as their family. Then, one day, Binkley heard Gods call again, this time to grow the business so she could help keep the fitness industry afloat. She pivoted Physiofit by investing in Physio, a software platform that helps gyms manage their facilities through social engagement, financial optimization, and customer care, allowing them to better serve their customers. Now Binkley feels she is making a bigger impact than ever before for peoples well-being and the kingdom. Changing Perspective Ive had ketchup in my veins for a long time, says Welburn, whose first job was cleaning up tables at McDonalds. Welburn now owns several McDonalds restaurants. His parents and siblings operate McDonalds franchises of their own. Thanksgiving and Christmas, he jokes, can turn into a meeting. Image: Craig Welburn photo by Scott Suchman The road of entrepreneurship seldom runs smooth, and when mistakes piled up, Welburn prayed that God would guide him through. His answer came in the form of an invitation from a neighbor to join the C12 Group, where he found the accountability and counsel he needed to weather the waves of COVID-19. When the pandemic exacerbated food insecurity and made it difficult and dangerous for customers to come to his restaurants, Welburns team came to them instead, donating and delivering meals from food pantries set up in each of Welburns franchise locations. He also set up a Hardship Relief Fund to set aside money for team members struggling to pay rent and bills during the pandemic. At the end of a year that saw many dining establishments close their doors forever, profits from Welburns locations were ten percent higher than the national average. He chalks this up to God's provision, a faith-driven mission, and his peers' support. It's lonely being at the top, says Welburn. Being a CEO of a business can make you think you have all the answers. It's been humbling to realize that I don't, but I can pick up the telephone and call my C12 peers, and they'll help me get those answers. The end of the pandemic is not yet here, but it is in sight. These three successful businesses made it through by confronting the challenge head-on with help on all sidesand from above. Looking back on the year, Welburn pointed to Matthew 6 as a source of strength and a reminder that God looks out for his people amid the storms of life. That includes pandemics, and Welburn emphasizes that the steadfastness and support of the Lord and fellow Christian business leaders makes no challenge too great to overcome. Its eye opening when you realize that there are other Christian leaders who are in the same situation and want to help you, he says. Gods provided that and more for us during this time. We havent had to worry. Its been covered. Thats the perfect place to be. To join or learn more about C12 peer advisory groups, visit joinc12.com. Landry Harlan is a freelance journalist based in Cambridge, Massachusetts, who hails from northwest Arkansas. His words have appeared in the Boston Globe, Martha's Vineyard Magazine, and his arts and culture newsletter, Noteworthy. Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, April 15) The national government will look into hospitals that do not comply with the order to test health workers periodically for COVID-19, Malacanang warned on Thursday. Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque said in a briefing that hospitals may be held liable for violating the government order. "Ang mandatory testing ng workers na regular is provided in a DOH (Department of Health) issuance. So kung merong paglabag diyan ipagbigay-alam lang po natin sa DOH at papaimbestigahan natin kung sino ang mga health facilities ang hindi nagbibigay ng mandated na regular testing for health workers," he said. [Translation: The mandatory testing for regular health workers is provided in a DOH issuance. So if there is a violation, just inform the DOH and we can investigate health facilities that fail to provide the mandated regular testing for health workers.] Roque referred to the DOH's Department Memorandum 2020-0546 which orders all public and private hospitals and health facilities to ensure the availability of testing services for all their healthcare workers exposed to persons classified as suspect, probable, and confirmed COVID-19 cases. Priority must be given to healthcare workers who are suspect cases. "Iyan po ay benepisyo na binigay na ng gobyerno sa ating mga health workers. Actionable po yan, ibig sabihin pwedeng magkaroon po ng pananagutan ang ospital na hindi po nagpapatupad niyan," Roque added. [Translation: That is a benefit that the government provided to our health workers. That is actionable, meaning, hospitals can be held liable for not following the order.] Health Undersecretary Rosario Vergeire told CNN Philipipnes' The Source on Wednesday that health workers catering to COVID-19 patients must be tested every two weeks. However, hospitals with limited resources can still conduct at least monthly tests to reduce transmission. Healthcare workers are urged to report hospitals which do not provide mandatory testing. They may reach the DOH through their Hotline 1555, or the DOH Complaints Handling Unit at dohpau.chu@gmail.com. Chase & Co. set a goal to finance $2.5 trillion in initiatives that combat and advance sustainable development over the next 10 years, while Citigroup Inc. said it would back $1 trillion of similar efforts by 2030. Combined with previous announcements by Bank of America Corp., the three largest U.S. lenders have all committed to backing more projects that advance a low-carbon economy amid calls by the White House for businesses to do more to curb pollution. JPMorgans commitment includes $1 trillion for projects that bolster cleaner energy sources, it said Thursday in a statement. The bank will also support developing countries as well as initiatives that advance economic inclusion. Citigroup said half its pledge will go toward environmental projects, including renewable energy, water conservation and sustainable agriculture. Much of the rest is aimed at education, affordable housing, gender equality and racial and ethnic diversity. Eliminating emissions has become a major talking point for bank executives this year as the finance industry attracted greater scrutiny for funding the worlds biggest emitters. Goldman Sachs Group Inc., Citigroup and Bank of America have all set net-zero greenhouse-gas emissions targets in their financing activities. and inequality are two of the critical issues of our time, and these new efforts will help create sustainable economic development that leads to a greener planet and critical investments in underserved communities, Jamie Dimon, JPMorgans chief executive officer, said in the statement. Still, remains the biggest funder of fossil-fuel globally, financing about $189 billion since the 2015 Paris climate agreement, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Dimon wrote in his annual shareholder letter last week that the solution is not as simple as walking away from fossil fuels. said its commitment will also enable it to provide clients in the corporate and investment bank and commercial-banking businesses with centralized access to sustainability-focused financing, research and advisory services. The $1 trillion for green initiatives will include renewable energy and clean technologies. Low-Carbon Transition It is important to set expectations around where we want to see our clients emissions head over the next 10 years, but its also really important that we support them in their low-carbon transition, Marisa Buchanan, JPMorgans global head of sustainability, said in an interview. That means coming to the table with capital.In 2020, JPMorgan facilitated $220 billion of financing to drive action on and sustainable development, including more than $55 billion toward green initiatives, according to the statement. Citigroups effort is part of the New York-based companys existing push to align with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, which are meant to help measure, reduce and communicate their impact on society and the environment. The banks latest goal builds on a previous commitment to finance $250 billion of sustainable activities by 2025. On her first day as CEO last month, Jane Fraser announced that Citigroup would achieve net-zero greenhouse-gas emissions in its financing activities by 2050. The bank has said it will produce an initial plan for reaching the goal in the coming year. As the pandemic has made clear, our economic and physical health, our environment and our social stability are all inextricably linked, Ed Skyler, head of global public affairs at Citigroup, said in a blog post. In this moment as we look towards emerging and rebuilding from the Covid-19 pandemic, its more crucial than ever that we address these priorities together. Lucknow, April 15 : Even as the pandemic situation worsens in Uttar Pradesh, the state has launched one of the biggest polling exercises -- the Panchayat elections. The four-phased elections that began on Thursday morning will elect around eight lakh rural representatives. The districts that are going to polls on Thursday are Ayodhya, Agra, Kanpur, Ghaziabad, Gorakhpur, Jaunpur, Jhansi, Prayagraj, Bareilly, Bhadohi, Mahoba, Rampur, Rae Bareli, Shravasti, Sant Kabir Nagar, Saharanpur, Hardoi and Hathras. For the post of Zila Panchayat members, 11,442 candidates are in the fray from 779 wards, while as many as 81,747 candidates are contesting in 19,313 wards of Kshetra Panchayats. For the Gram Panchayat, there are 1,14,142 candidates for 14,789 posts. Though these polls are not fought on party symbols, the Panchayat election will have political parties throwing their weight behind contesting candidates to ramp up their preparedness and consolidate their position in the run-up to the Assembly polls next year. The BJP has fielded its party functionaries in Zila Panchayat elections. Data shows Prayagraj has the maximum number of 84 Zila Panchayat wards, followed by 83 in Jaunpur. The home turf of Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath has 68 wards, while Ghaziabad and Mahoba have only 14 wards each. In terms of Gram Panchayat, Jaunpur tops the chart with 1,740 Gram Panchayats, followed by Prayagraj which has 1,540. Additional chief secretary, panchayati raj and rural development department, Manoj Kumar Singh told reporters that Rs 4.5 crore has been released for purchase of masks, gloves and sanitizers at the rural local bodies' level. Former state election commissioner, Satish Kumar Agarwal, meanwhile, said that the Panchayat elections have been deferred in the past in normal times. "Therefore, in these extraordinary times, there was no reason to hold them in the middle of the pandemic. The entire machinery involved in combating the pandemic will now be totally preoccupied with their responsibility of holding free and fair elections," he said. Special guidelines have been issued for the employees on election duty. The guidelines envisage meticulous sanitization of 80,762 polling booths and it will be mandatory for poll officials to wear face masks and download Aarogya Setu application in their mobiles. Consumption of tobacco and spitting at public places will invite penal action. Polling officials, with help of police, home guards and gram chowkidars, will ensure voters follow social distancing norms while queuing up to exercise their franchise. Polling officials may, however, ask voters to remove masks in case of suspicion. All entry points to polling centres will have thermal scanners. In case body temperature of voters are found to be beyond the standard set by the health department, they would be given a token and asked to come in the final hour of polling. These voters will, however, be able to vote only after screening. NEW DELHI: In view of rising COVID-19 cases in the national capital, the Arvind Kejriwal-led AAP government on Thursday announced a weekend curfew in order to prevent the deadly infection from spreading further. This weekend curfew in Delhi will come into force from 10 PM Friday night till 6 AM on Monday. "To control the spread of COVID-19, it has been decided to impose a weekend curfew in Delhi", Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal said while addressing a press conference. To control the spread of COVID19, it has been decided to impose weekend curfew in Delhi: Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal pic.twitter.com/4oc4kFMBLG ANI (@ANI) April 15, 2021 The AAP chief said that the restrictions announced today are necessary to curb the spread of coronavirus in Delhi. The Chief Minister also announced sweeping restrictions, including the closure of malls, gyms, spas and auditoriums, in a bid to break the chain of COVID infections in the city. He warned that enforcement of COVID-19 norms will be strictly implemented in public places. COVID-19 cases, he said, are rising every day in Delhi and restrictions were needed to check the spread of the virus. The Chief Minister added that one weekly market per day per municipal zone will operate to arrest the spread of coronavirus in Delhi. The CM also assured that "there is no shortage of beds in hospitals in Delhi. According to the latest data, more than 5000 beds are available.'' There is no shortage of beds in hospitals in Delhi. According to the latest data, more than 5000 beds are available: Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal on COVID19 situation pic.twitter.com/mmXG446Yke ANI (@ANI) April 15, 2021 Kejriwal further added that curfew passes will be issued to those rendering essential services. "Malls, gyms, spas and auditoriums will be closed. Cinemas halls to operate at 30% capacity only. People will not be allowed to dine-in restaurants, only home deliveries permitted," CM Arvind Kejriwal said. The Delhi CM made this announcement after holding a crucial meet with Lt Governor Anil Baijal regarding the coronavirus situation in the UT. It was earlier reported that CM Arvind Kejriwal may announce a weekend curfew in Delhi. The development comes as the national capital on Wednesday recorded the biggest single-day jump in its COVID-19 tally with 17,282 new cases, while over 100 people died. Additionally, the national capital reported over 104 deaths, whereas the country reported 1,033 deaths due to COVID-19 infections on Wednesday, which was the highest since October 2020. In Delhi, the number of cremations at its biggest crematorium, Nigambodh Ghat has gone up by at least 30 percent. Delhi Health Minister Satyendar Jain had earlier said that COVID-19 cases are rising very rapidly in the national capital but there is no slowdown. The minister, however, had also reiterated that lockdown was not a solution to the situation, and advised people to step out only if urgent, avoid gatherings, wear masks and follow COVID-19-appropriate behaviour. A massive spike of 2 lakh new COVID-19 cases took India's total coronavirus count to 1.40 crore, as per the Union Health Ministry on Thursday (April 15, 2021). India reported 2,00,739 new COVID-19 cases alongside 93,528 recoveries and 1,038 deaths in the last 24 hours. The unprecedented surge in infections has taken the country's active count to 14,71,877. Ten states namely Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Delhi, Madhya Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Gujarat and Rajasthan have shown a rise in the COVID-19 daily new cases. 82.04% of the new cases are reported from these 10 states only. Live TV Recreation / Socials Springfest: Kona Ice Free Shaved Ice during Thursday and Friday of Springfest! The Kona Ice Truck will be right here on campus Thursday, April 15 and Friday, April 16 of Springfest from 12 pm - 4 pm. They will be handing out free sno-cones for any student! Activists hold a portrait of Myanmar's de facto leader Aung San Suu Kyi while standing on portraits of the country's military general Min Aung Hlaing during a protest outside the United Nations University building in Tokyo on Feb. 1, 2021, The charges that Myanmars junta has piled on leader Aung San Suu Kyi since deposing and arresting her in February ranging from possession of unlicensed walkie-talkie radios, to taking bribes, to sedition lack legal merit but appear designed to end her political career, lawyers and analysts said Thursday. The 75-year-old Nobel laureate has a 3-0 record of landslide election victories against military proxy parties in 1990, 2015 and 2020, and was overthrown hours before lawmakers from her National League for Democracy (NLD) were to convene the parliament elected in November with a huge majority. Aung San Suu Kyi, under house arrest in the capital Naypyidaw, faces charges under the Official Secrets Act, incitement and sedition, violation of telecommunication laws, possession of unlicensed walkie-talkie radios, and violation of the Natural Disaster Management Law for breaching COVID-19 pandemic restrictions during the 2020 election campaign. The junta recently added charges that she has taken millions of dollars in bribes from Pyo Min Thein, a former Yangon chief minister and Maung Weik, a wealthy businessman. Sithu Aung Myint, a journalist and political commentator, told RFA that General Min Aung Hlaing, the leader of the coup and military commander-in-chief, appears set on killing off Aung San Su Kyis political career. "At first, the military leader said he had to stage the coup because of fraudulent election results. Then later he said there was corruption. He accused Daw Aung San Suu Kyi of using money from people like George Soros in the U.S. to make the country a puppet of the West, to undermine our religion with a view to getting support for himself from the military, he said. "Sr. Gen. Min Aung Hlaing seems to have the intention of permanently defeating the NLD party, especially Daw Aung San Suu Kyi. She has the most popular support in the country and he seems to be worried that she might have as many supporters in the army. So all these baseless charges have to be made to get rid of that support for her, added Sithu Aung Myint. With six charges against her in courts packed with military-appointed judges, "it's going to come to about 20 years of jail sentences if she is found guilty of all charges, said High Court lawyer Kyee Myint. The Official Secrets Act alone can bring up to 14 years in prison. They could say they're going to show leniency and release her because she is General Aung San's daughter, but she won't be able to get involved in politics anymore, he said, referring to the revered independence leader, who was assassinated in 1947 when Aung San Suu Kyi was two years old. "The chief justice is a military general and the attorney general is also a military appointee. There's no real law in Myanmar anymore, added Kyee Mint. Another High Court lawyer. Khin Maung Zaw, told RFA: "We may have a lot of differences on certain things, but I believe in Aung San Suu Kyis moral character and self-sacrifice. I don't believe in people who have made these charges based on unfounded accusations, and I don't believe these people." Of her defense team of eight lawyers, only two junior lawyers were allowed to appear in the earlier rounds of court sessions, done by online video under coronavirus restrictions. But at the last court hearing on Monday, four additional lawyers were allowed to attend the hearing. Min Min Soe, who has met Aung San Suu Kyi three times during online hearings, quoted her as saying: "We shall defend ourselves against all the charges in accordance with the law." Reported by RFAs Myanmar Service. Translated by Khin Maung Nyane and Kyaw Min Htun. Written in English by Paul Eckert. Copenhagen, April 15 : Denmark has decided to entirely cease administering the AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccine, the country's health authority confirmed. "Based on the scientific findings, our overall assessment is there is a real risk of severe side effects associated with using the Covid-19 vaccine from AstraZeneca. We have, therefore, decided to remove the vaccine from our vaccination program," Xinhua news agency quoted Soren Brostrom, director general of the Danish Health Authority, as saying to the media on Wednesday. In a statement, the authority also claimed that the pandemic was "currently under control" in Denmark, adding that this had contributed to the decision. Denmark first suspended the use of the AstraZeneca vaccine on March 11, citing "very rare but severe side effects" discovered during the jab's safety monitoring. Denmark's decision on Wednesday came in the wake of the European Medical Agency's (EMA) recent verdict that "the benefits of using the Covid-19 vaccine from AstraZeneca continue to outweigh the risks for people who receive it". The Danish Health Authority agrees with the EMA's general findings, Brostrom said, adding that "in the midst of an epidemic, it has been a difficult decision to continue our vaccination program without an effective and readily available vaccine against Covid-19". However, the authority referred to further comments by the EMA that the "use of the vaccine during vaccination campaigns at the national level should also consider the pandemic situation and vaccine availability in each individual country". "We are basically in agreement with the EMA's assessment regarding the AstraZeneca vaccine. That is why it is important to emphasize that it is still an approved vaccine," said Brostrom. "But if Denmark were in a completely different situation and in the midst of a violent third outbreak and if we had not reached such an advanced point in our rollout of the vaccines, then I would not hesitate to use the vaccine, even if there were rare but severe complications associated with using it." According to the Statens Serum Institut's (SSI) updated overview, 149,884 people in Denmark have received at least one shot and 596 both shots of AstraZeneca's Covid-19 vaccine. "Those who have received the first injection with AstraZeneca will later receive an invitation to vaccination with another vaccine," the health authority said. Meanwhile, Denmark continues to administer the vaccines produced by Pfizer/BioNTech and Moderna. In total, 995,672 Danes have received at least one shot of a vaccine, which corresponds to 17 per cent of the population, the SSI said on Wednesday. Latest updates on Coronavirus (COVID-19) Prince Philip passed away on Apr 9 at the age of 99. There are many preparations for Operation Forth Bridge just ahead of his funeral scheduled to take place on Saturday, Apr 17. All royal family members are expected to wear their honorary military titles as part of the tradition; however, Queen Elizabeth II has decided to shake things up to avoid attracting more drama to her husband's special day. In a Daily Mail report, Her Majesty made a last-minute decision that instead of their military uniforms, senior royals will have to wear mourning clothes to present a united family front. Men will wear mourning coats and black ties, while women will wear simple black outfits. It is believed that this is the second time the royal family members will be wearing their uniforms to the funeral in more than a century. READ ALSO: Prince Philip Funeral: The One Non-Royal Member Invited To The Ceremony Revealed Prince Harry and Prince Andrew at Prince Philip's Funeral Queen Elizabeth II decided and approved the decision because she wants to show family unity and spare her grandson and son from public humiliation. An insider revealed to the Daily Mail, "There was the risk of real embarrassment." Now, the Royal Household is worried that if Prince Andrew were denied to wear his military uniform to his father's funeral, he and Prince Harry would have been the only people wearing civilian outfits who offered their services to the military. Royal aides and advisors are racked by concern that Prince Harry, who was forced to give up his honorary militarytitles after quitting his senior royal roles and moving to the US with his wife Meghan Markle, will be the only senior royal who is not going to wear his military uniform. It is expected that the 36-year-old dad of Archie Harrison would have worn his Blues and Royals dress uniform on Prince Philip's funeral, similar to what he wore on his wedding day in May 2018. However, he is a former captain with the Household Cavalry, so the Duke of Sussex is still entitled to only wear a suit and the medals awarded to him during his service or awarded by the Queen. The issue was also intensified when Prince Andrew demanded to wear the admiral's uniform, a position that he gave up after stepping back from public duties following his ties and connection to Jeffrey Epstein. However, the Duke of York has not been stripped of his honorary military titles and continues to be the vice-admiral in the Royal Navy. Meanwhile, Prince Charles, Prince William, Prince Edward, and Princess Anne would have been, by convention for a royal ceremonial funeral, wear their full military uniform. READ MORE: Prince Philip Last Days: 'Lucid But Joyous' Final Moments with Queen Elizabeth Revealed See Now: Famous Actors Who Turned Down Iconic Movie Roles Kolkata, April 15 : A day before the all-party meeting convened by state Chief Electoral Officer Ariz Aftab on maintaining the Covid protocols during the ongoing Assembly elections in West Bengal, the Trinamool Congress on Thursday proposed to club the last three phases of polls scheduled on April 22, 26 and 29. The ruling Trinamool Congress proposed to conduct the last three phases in one or two phases, considering the upward trend of Covid cases in the state for the last one month. Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee said in a tweet, "Amid the ongoing pandemic, we firmly opposed @ECISVEEP's decision to conduct WB polls in 8 phases. Now, in view of the huge surge in #COVID19 cases, I urge the ECI to consider holding the remaining phases in ONE go. This will protect the people from further exposure to #COVID19." The Trinamool supremo had earlier said in an interview, "It is upon the (Election) Commission to decide whether the last three phases of polls will be clubbed in one or two phases in the backdrop of the rise in Covid cases. We have no objection if the phases are clubbed. "If the polls are on, we are bound to campaign. People from states like Bihar, UP, Jharkhand are coming to the state during BJP's campaign. I do not know why the Election Commission did not consider the Covid factor earlier." Though senior officials in the Commission said that the proposal to integrate the three phases of polling into one or two phases is technically and logistically impossible, the alarming rate at which Covid cases are mounting in the state is also a cause of worry, both for the political parties and the poll panel. According to the data released by the state government, the number of new cases in Bengal touched 5,892 on Wednesday, which is the highest single-day spike recorded in the state so far. Capital city Kolkata alone added 1,601 cases to the state's tally. On Thursday morning, Congress candidate Rezaul Haque, who was scheduled to contest from the Samsherganj Assembly constituency in Murshidabad district, succumbed to Covid-19 at a private hospital in Kolkata. Murshidabad is set to go to the polls on April 26 in the seventh phase. The Commission is likely to postpone the polls in Samsherganj owing to the unfortunate demise of the Congress nominee. Not only that, Trinamool candidate from Goalpokhor in North Dinajpur district, Golam Rabbani, and RSP candidate from Jangipur, Pradip Nandi, have also tested positive for Covid-19. BJP MP Roopa Ganguly had earlier tested positive. When asked about the developments, an Election Commission official said, "In the next phases, at least 70 per cent to 80 per cent booths are marked as sensitive and, in this condition, we need an adequate deployment of Central forces. "Presently the number of forces we have in hand is not adequate to be deployed in all the booths of the remaining 114 Assembly constituencies. The force requirement will be around 2,471 companies, but we have only 1,071 companies in hand. We cannot use the entire force for polling only. Though we are not waiving out the concerns of the political parties, but the security factor is also important and we cannot ignore that." Latest updates on Coronavirus (COVID-19) Samsung Electro-Mechanics' multi-layer ceramic capacitors / Courtesy of Samsung Electro-Mechanics By Baek Byung-yeul Samsung Electro-Mechanics has developed a new multi-layer ceramic capacitor (MLCC) that is ultra-small and has high capacity, targeting the high-priced IT device market, the IT component arm of Samsung Group said Thursday. An MLCC is a core component of electronic devices, controlling the stable flow of current within electric circuits in smartphones and home appliances. With more cars adopting electronics equipment, MLCCs are also increasingly used in cars. Samsung Electro-Mechanics said it developed the industry's first 0402-size MLCC 0.4 millimeters in length and 0.2 millimeters in width with 1.9 microfarad capacity and 6.3 voltage. As each IT gadget requires more than 1,000 MLCCs, how small a MLCC can be made shows competitiveness. "The 0402 size is an ultra-small product that is dramatically increasing in demand within the market recently. With more phones using 5G networks and other various features such as multi-camera, ultra-small MLCCs that can withstand high capacity and voltage are essential. However, existing 0402 products are only 4-voltage grade, which means they are limited in terms of application to IT devices," the company elaborated. The company further mentioned the new product's enhanced stability in terms of its lifespan and operation that boast leading industry standards in terms of DC BIAS characteristics. Given that smaller is better in the MLCC industry as each IT gadget requires more than 1,000 MLCCs, Samsung Electro-Mechanics said the new product proved its competitiveness in the industry. Japan's Murata Manufacturing took around a 30 percent share in the global market last year, followed by Samsung with about 23 percent. During a meeting with shareholders last month, the Korean manufacturer's CEO Kyung Kye-hyun said the company will take the largest share in MLCCs for IT devices within five years. Internet brings prosperity to fishing village in E China 09:06, April 15, 2021 By He Cong, Yao Xueqing ( People's Daily Female villagers of Yanhu village, Yangzhou, east China's Jiangsu Province make environment-friendly bags with local characteristics in a maker classroom, Feb. 25, 2021. (People's Daily Online/Zhuang Wenbin) Liu Liu raised her mobile phone and put on a headset, trying to present local sceneries and customs with a long take. "Welcome to my livestream show. This is Yanhu village, Fangxiang Township, Hanjiang District of Yangzhou, Jiangsu Province. On the west bank of Shaobo Lake, our village has three famous local specialties: dried shrimps, prickly waterlilies and water chestnuts. The two-hour livestream show received over 1,000 views and sold 1,850 yuan ($283) of farm produce. Liu Liu graduated from Yangzhou University last year and returned to her hometown to start her own business - a livestream marketing group consisting of a dozen of her fellow villagers. The business earned them over 800,000 yuan in 2020. Liu Liu's story is just an epitome of the efforts made by hundreds of millions of Chinese people to build their country and a moderately prosperous society in all respects. Yanhu is a fishing village that was once in a debt of 200,000 yuan. In 2007, the village initiated a project to encourage its residents to live onshore. Ten years later, it kicked off another project of "aquafarms for lake." As of the end of 2019, the last fisherman moved onshore. Thanks to a rural tourism campaign launched in Yangzhou two years ago, Yanhu village became a hot tourist destination for its splendid lakeside sceneries and delicious food. However, the COVID-19 epidemic that broke out earlier last year threw the villagers, who had just tasted the joy of success, in dark clouds. To relieve the predicament, Liu Debao, Party head of the village resorted to online marketing, and invited experts to teach the villagers who were totally inexperienced. "The older generations abandoned their fishnets and moved onshore from the lake, and the young generation is going further, moving from the shore to the internet," said the Party head, explaining what inspired him to do so. Assisted by teachers from Yangzhou Institute of Technology, the village opened social media accounts and online stores, and established a culture and tourism company. It also has a livestream marketing team that teaches how to cook local dishes and sells local specialties. Liu Liu and her partners made full preparation before starting their first ever livestream show. However, the show didn't meet expectations. "We were simply repeating our scripts all the time, and only attracted 15 followers and sold 100 yuan of commodities," Liu Liu told the People's Daily. To improve the situation, the 24-year-old and her partners decided to tell the stories of local fishermen, who come from various parts of China, and introduce their unique ways of production and life on the show. The strategy was proved to be successful soon, and led to hot sales of the local specialties of Yanhu village. For instance, villager Liu Deyu, whose duck eggs were once unsalable, sold over 100,000 eggs on a livestream show. Seeing the performance, local farmers are rushing to send their farm produce to Liu Liu and her team. "We once purchased products from over 100 households, and raised the purchasing price of dried shrimps from 200 yuan to 120 yuan per kilogram, to offer more dividends of e-commerce to the villagers," Liu Liu said. There are also fishermen who sent handmade sachets and bamboo crafts to her for consignment sales. Through internet, the tourism of Yanhu village once again prospered. The B&B rooms of Liu Liu's family were all booked half a month before the 3-day Qingming Festival holiday at the beginning of this month. "We have received 50,000 visits this year, and the annual tourism revenue is expected to reach 16 million yuan," Liu Debao. Establishing tea houses, book stores, B&Bs, and maker classrooms, the village now offers services related to team building, education tourism, and meetings. The village is now engaged in multiple businesses of rural tourism and bringing a prosperous life to its residents. (Web editor: Hongyu, Liang Jun) STATEMENT SEEKING RESIGNATION OF SHRI NITISH KUMARS GOVERNMENT 1. Following upon the unprecedented police transgressions in the Bihar Assembly on 23 March 2021 the Socialist Party (India) issued the statement dated 24 March 2021 set out in the Appendix below, condemning the incidents and stating inter alia: "In the circumstances, the Socialist Party (India) makes it clear that if no adequate remedial and punitive action is immediately taken, the Party will be constrained to demand the resignation of the state government as it had done in cases of police excesses in respect of other state governments in the past." 2. More than a fortnight has passed since these disgraceful events. There appears to have been no introspection and no expression of remorse by ruling circles in respect of these incidents. On the contrary, the Bihar Chief Minister, Shri Nitish Kumar, who had sought to justify the action of the police and the assaults made on elected representatives of the people, has since made no amends. Nor has there been any remedial action sought or taken by the state government or the party to which the Chief Minister belongs. It is now sufficiently and adequately evident that the events of 23 March 2021 in which legislators, including women legislators, were dragged and assaulted, occurred with the active connivance of the State Government and the Assembly Secretariat and in fact at their behest. 3. The Socialist position on police excesses has been well-defined historically in the 1950s and especially in 1954 when police excesses by the then Socialist-led Government in Travancore-Cochin were severely condemned by Socialists and the resignation of the Chief Minister of that state sought. While in Travancore-Cochin there had been deaths by firing, the present case in Bihar is no less serious a police transgression even in the absence of some of the Travancore-Cochin features. As the Bihar transgressions occurred within the precincts of the Legislature, a dangerous precedent has been set which would open the door for worse in the future not only in Bihar but also in India as a whole. These need therefore to be stoutly resisted and stoutly resisted now. 4. There can now be no manner of doubt that Shri Nitish Kumar and his Government have cut themselves adrift from their initial Socialist moorings. They have for sometime made an ideological and constitutional surrender to the policies and ideology of the Bharatiya Janata Party and the current Government led by that Party at the Centre. This fact has been evident also for some time in the recent legislative initiatives of the Bihar Government and its silences on matters of grave concern to Indias peasantry and to the future of its democracy. The recently introduced state legislation seeking to confer sweeping powers on the police goes against the grain of the highest principles of Indias Constitution and is contrary also to the Indian Socialist ethos. 5. Bearing in mind all these facts the Socialist Party (India) considers the Nitish Kumar Government to be a blot upon the Socialist movement in India. The Socialist Party (India) has therefore concluded that it must demand the resignation of the Nitish Kumar Government. Consequently, it directs its cadres in Bihar and elsewhere to mobilise public opinion to reinforce and effectuate this demand. Pannalal Surana, Anil Nauriya Socialist Party (India) Appendix : [Earlier Statement dated 24 March 2021 issued by the Socialist Party (India)] The Socialist Party (India) condemns the entry of police forces into the premises of the Bihar Legislature on 23 March 2021 & the assaults by these forces on legislators including women legislators. Such transgressions are unprecedented and did not occur within parliamentary institutions even during the Emergency of 1975-77. The Socialist Party (India) calls to attention of the Bihar Government that Socialist attitude towards police excesses has been well defined in the 1950s in controversies relating to events in Travancore-Cochin in August 1954. The Socialist defence of Parliamentary democracy in India is also well known and countless Socialists have over the years courted imprisonment in assertion of democratic rights. Such rights cannot be upheld if elected representatives in parliamentary institutions are permitted to be assaulted and intimidated by police forces and that too in Assembly premises under the watch of, if not actually at the behest of, the Bihar Government and Assembly Secretariat. This is a disgraceful event in Indias parliamentary history. It is ironic and particularly shameful that it has occurred during the incumbency in Government of persons who claim to be affiliated to the political traditions of Loknayak Jayaprakah Narayan and Dr Ram Manohar Lohia. In the circumstances, the Socialist Party (India) makes it clear that if no adequate remedial and punitive action is immediately taken, the Party will be constrained to demand the resignation of the state government as it had done in cases of police excesses in respect of other state governments in the past. Copyright 2021 Socialist Party (India), All rights reserved. Our mailing address is: Socialist Party (India) Socialist Party (India), Lohia Bhawan, Narhi Lucknow 226001 The son of a man charged with being inside the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6 who claimed he urinated in House Speaker Nancy Pelosis office also faces charges he participated in the attack, federal authorities say. James Douglas Rahm III, of Atlantic City, traveled with his father, James Douglas Rahm Jr., to Washington, D.C. on Jan. 5, for a Trump rally the next day. Both men then made their way to the Capitol and pushed their way inside, at times overpowering police trying to hold them back, authorities allege. The younger Rahm recorded it on a GoPro camera, and his footage shows his father inside the building, authorities say. Rahm Jr., 61, who has addresses in Philadelphia and Atlantic City, was arrested in early February and has since been indicted on five crimes related to the Jan. 6 attack. He appeared virtually Wednesday in federal court in Washington, where he was formally arraigned and pleaded not guilty. At the hearing was procedural, his lawyer, Leigh Skipper said he asked the judge, Thomas F. Hogan, if he could be allowed to communicate with his son, so long as they do not talk about their cases. Hogan, who said he was unaware his son was also charged, said that was fine. Rahm III was arrested on March 18 in Northfield, a town outside Atlantic City. His age is unavailable, and hes yet to appear in court in Washington, following an initial appearance in federal court in Camden late last month on five crimes. Rahm III is referred to in court papers and a text between his parents as JD Rahm. Both father and son are free on bond. The FBI said in court papers that Rahm Jr., the father, said he was with his son on Jan. 6. Another tipster told the FBI about the sons Snapchat, which described being at the attack and having footage on a GoPro camera, court papers said. During a search of a Rahm family home in Atlantic City on Feb. 5, which targeted the elder Rahm, the sons mother asked the FBI, is this because of that trip they took? When an agent asked what trip she was referring, the mother declined to comment further, the FBI says. The mother said her son, who lived at the home, was on a ski trip, court papers said. (Rahm Jr. later told the Press of Atlantic City the house is where his ex-wife and children live but his name was still on the deed and hes been living in Philadelphia for years.) At the early February search, the mother gave her phone to the FBI, who found a text exchange on Jan. 9 between her and Rahm Jr. with a selfie of the father and son with the Capitol in the background. Thats so GREAT!!! Dont post JDs pic plz, she texted. Rahm Jr. responded, No I just deleted it because I want it off my phone. Im deleting my Facebook also. After Rahm Jr. was arrested, though, the FBI later learned a lot of information about Rahm III from him. James Rahm III at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C. on Jan. 6, 2021, in a photo from the FBI. Court filings in the case against Rahm III show he was candid with the FBI about being at the Capitol on Jan. 6. In an early February interview, he said he traveled with his father to Washington, D.C. on Jan. 5 and once at the Capitol after the rally, they split up so he could see some friends and record footage on his GoPro. Rahm III confirmed for the FBI a photo they found in his fathers cell phone was him at the Capitol, described the clothing he wore, and described for agents his movements inside the building, including being inside Pelosis office, and capturing footage of violence against officers, the FBI says. Father and son reunited outside and talked of being inside, the FBI says. The FBI says Rahm III also handed over the footage he recorded, as well as his cell phone. Rahm IIIs own footage shows the group he was in, overpowering U.S. Capitol Hill Police officers, to force the U.S. Capitol doors open from the inside. [JD Rahm III] is among the individuals at the front of this crowd, the FBI wrote in a criminal complaint. The sons footage also shows, about two minutes after the Capitol doors were forced open, he recorded his father entering the Capitol although its unclear if he knew it at the time, since theyd split up beforehand. And just before that, the FBI says Rahm III posted a video to Snapchat in which he is heard shouting expletives, and saying, we just stormed the Capitol, followed by another expletive and screams. No lawyer is listed for the younger Rahm. Our journalism needs your support. Please subscribe today to NJ.com. Kevin Shea may be reached at kshea@njadvancemedia.com. Two girls were injured on Wednesday in a rocket attack that targeted a Turkish base in Iraq's Nineveh Governorate. The wounded civilians were sisters aged 12 and 14 and were both injured when one of the missiles hit their house in Gudad village, near the military base. Following the attack, they received medical treatment at Sheikhan Hospital. It happened on the same day, a drone attack targeted US-led coalition forces which were based near Irbil international airport in northern Iraq. The Kurdish region's Interior Ministry said there were no casualties. (Disclaimer: This story is auto-generated from a syndicated feed; only the image & headline may have been reworked by www.republicworld.com) In January 2020, just weeks after the first Covid-19 cases emerged in China, the full genome of the new coronavirus was published online. Using this genomic sequence, scientists scrambled to design a large assortment of diagnostic tests for the virus. But the virus has mutated since then. And as the coronavirus has evolved, so has the landscape of testing. The emergence of new variants has sparked a flurry of interest in developing tests for specific viral mutations and prompted concerns about the accuracy of some existing tests. With these Covid diagnostics, we were on a time crunch, we had to get something out there, said Lorraine Lillis, scientific program officer at PATH, a global health nonprofit that has been tracking coronavirus tests. Normally, diagnostics take a long, long time, and wed normally challenge them with multiple variants. And were doing that, but were doing it in real time. Read | After AstraZeneca, Johnson & Johnson Covid-19 vaccine has blood clot concerns The Food and Drug Administration has warned that new mutations in the coronavirus could render some tests less effective. And last week, PATH launched two online dashboards to monitor how certain variants might affect the performance of existing diagnostic tests. So far, scientists have agreed, there is no evidence that the known variants of concern are causing tests to fail completely. The tests today work very, very well, said Mara Aspinall, an expert in biomedical diagnostics at Arizona State University. But manufacturers and regulators will need to remain vigilant to ensure they keep pace with a constantly changing virus, scientists say. If variants begin to evade detection, that could be consequential not only for individual patients, who may not receive the treatment they need, but also for public health. If a test misses someone who is infected by a variant, then that person may not realise they need to isolate. And that person is allowed then to be unquarantined, to circulate in the community and possibly spread that variant to others, said Gary Schoolnik, a physician and infectious disease expert at Stanford University and the chief medical officer of Visby Medical, a diagnostics company that makes a Covid test. And thats how a diagnostic test, if its missing variants, can actually promote the spread of that variant. The Risk of False Negatives Molecular tests, like the widely used polymerase chain reaction, or PCR, test, are designed to detect specific sequences of the coronavirus genome. If mutations appear in these target sequences, the tests may no longer be able to detect the virus, yielding false negatives. You could run into a situation where you just got unlucky with where you chose to target your test, and something popped up there that then made your test less effective, said Nathan Grubaugh, a virus expert at Yale University. Read | WTO chief lays out global action to increase vaccine access The gene for the viruss characteristic spike protein, known as the S gene, has been particularly prone to mutation, and tests that target this gene may miss certain variants. For instance, Thermo Fishers TaqPath test fails to detect the mutated S gene of the B.1.1.7 variant, which was first identified in Britain and is now spreading rapidly through the United States. But the test does not rely on the S gene alone; it has three targets and can still return accurate results by detecting two other stretches of the coronavirus genome. Just 1.3% of molecular tests rely solely on an S gene target, according to calculations performed by Rachel West, a postdoctoral associate at the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security. The rest either target more stable regions of the genome, which are less likely to mutate, or have multiple target sequences, which makes them less susceptible to failure. Its very unlikely that youre going to get mutations in all of them, Lillis said. The FDA has listed four different molecular tests whose performance could be impacted by the variants, but it notes that the tests should still work. Three of the tests have multiple targets; a fourth may be slightly less sensitive when the virus has one particular mutation and is present at very low levels. (The four tests are the TaqPath Covid-19 Combo Kit; Linea Covid-19 Assay Kit; Xpert Xpress and Xpert Omni SARS-CoV-2; and Accula SARS-CoV-2 Test.) We dont think that those four assays are significantly impacted, said Dr. Tim Stenzel, who directs the FDAs office of in vitro diagnostics and radiological health. It was more out of an abundance of caution and transparency that we made that information public. Antigen tests are less sensitive than molecular tests, but they are typically cheaper and faster, and they are being deployed widely in coronavirus-screening programs. These tests detect specific proteins on the outside of the virus. Some genetic mutations could change the structure of these proteins, allowing them to escape detection. Most antigen tests target the nucleocapsid protein. The gene that codes for this protein, known as the N gene, is more stable and less likely to mutate than the S gene, and the FDA has not listed any antigen tests as being of concern. We havent found one that raises a red flag, nor have we had any reports of such, Stenzel said. Still, experts note, not every test manufacturer discloses the specific sequences that their tests target, and the virus will continue to mutate. There hasnt been any evidence to show that a particular molecular assay or even an antigen test completely misses the boat in terms of detection, said Neha Agarwal, associate director of diagnostics at PATH. But things are going to change. The FDA is continuing to monitor the situation, checking coronavirus sequence databases weekly to see if the virus is evolving in ways that may help it evade diagnostic tests. Were being very vigilant, Stenzel said. And we will stay vigilant. Screening for Specific Variants As the variants spread, researchers are also working to develop and improve tests to detect them. At the moment, identifying a variant is typically a two-step process. First, a standard coronavirus test, like a PCR test, is used to determine whether the virus is present. If the test comes back positive, a sample is sent for genomic sequencing. These two tasks are currently done in two separate workflows, said Juan Carlos Izpisua Belmonte, a developmental biologist at the Salk Institute in La Jolla, California. This means more time, labor and resources. Many researchers are now working to create integrated solutions tests that can determine both whether someone is infected with the virus and whether they might have a particular variant. For instance, in a recent paper, Izpisua Belmonte and colleague Mo Li, a stem-cell biologist at King Abdullah University of Science and Technology in Saudi Arabia, described a new testing method that can identify mutations in up to five different regions of the coronavirus genome. And Grubaugh and his colleagues have developed a PCR test that can detect specific combinations of mutations that characterise three variants of concern: B.1.1.7; B.1.351, first detected in South Africa; and P.1, first found in Brazil. (The work has not yet been published in a scientific journal.) Grubaugh said researchers in Brazil, South Africa and elsewhere are already using the tests to sift through a mountain of coronavirus samples, identifying those that should be prioritised for full genomic sequencing. Our groups primary interest is enhancing genomic surveillance through sequencing, especially in resource-limited areas, Grubaugh said. If you want to know if theres variants that are circulating, you need a way to triage. A number of companies are also beginning to release coronavirus tests that they say can differentiate between certain variants, although these are intended for research purposes only. Creating a test that can definitively diagnose someone with a particular variant is infinitely harder, Grubaugh said. Similar mutations are springing up in different variants, which makes distinguishing among them more difficult. The mutations of interest will change as the virus does, and sequencing remains the best way to get a complete picture of the virus. But tests that can screen for certain mutations could be an important public health tool, Agarwal said: These newer diagnostics that are looking across the variants, I think, will be really key in understanding the epidemiology of the virus and planning our next generation of efforts against it. Melissa Gorga posted a cuddly set of images to her Instagram account on Wednesday. The reality television personality was seen cozying up to her husband Joe as they posed for photos in front of a set of stairs and a bookcase. The images come not long after the couple engaged in an on-screen argument on a recent episode of The Real Housewives Of New Jersey that was also discussed on the RHONJ After Show. All better now: Melissa Gorga proved that she had made up with her husband Joe after the two engaged in an on-screen argument by posting a set of photos to her Instagram account on Wednesday In the photos, Melissa was dressed in a draping red dress that featured a long slit that ran up the side of her leg. The 42-year-old reality television personality paired her outfit with a set of beige high-heeled shoes and accessorized with a Gucci purse and a gold watch. Her eye-catching brunette hair cascaded onto her left shoulder during the photoshoot. Joe kept it much more casual while spending time with his wife, as he paired a black polo top with a set of matching jeans. Happy pair: The two were seen getting close and cuddly while posing in front of a set of stairs and a bookcase Better with friends: Melissa also shared an image of her standing with several of her pals, including her sister-in-law Teresa Giudice The 41-year-old contrasted his dark attire with beige Chelsea-style boots and wore a necklace with a single dog tag. The final photo in the set showed Melissa standing next to a group of her friends, with her sister-in-law and fellow RHONJ castmate Teresa Giudice being seen in the middle of the shot. During an episode of RHONJ that aired earlier this month, the Gorgas were involved in an on-screen argument that delved into a yelling match between them. The friction between the two was caused when Melissa walked in front of Joe after an outing, which he reacted to emotionally. Contentious couple: The Gorgas were recently involved in an on-screen argument that aired during a recent episode of RHONJ However, the two later appeared on an episode of the hit Bravo series' After Show to clear the air between them and to explain to their fans that the match was an isolated incident. During the episode, Joe clarified that what the viewers saw during their fight was 'normally not Melissa. Normally, were always tied at the hip.' He clarified, 'Its no big deal that she walked in front of me. It was more about, "Listen, I want to hold your hand and I want to walk outside with you."' Clearing the air: The couple later appeared on RHONJ's After Show to make their feelings about the altercation known and to express that they still loved each other Very close: During his time on the After Show, Joe pointed out that he was very close to his wife and that they were practically 'tied at the hip' Melissa also gave her opinion on the matter and expressed that even though she meant what she said to her husband, she did not feel good about the incident after it occurred. 'I was just done at that point, and it came out, and it's real, it's true, my friends were there and I was embarrassed,' she noted. The Gorgas have been married since 2004 and currently share a daughter named Antonia, aged 15, and two sons named Gino and Joey, aged 13 and 10, respectively. All episodes of The Real Housewives of New Jersey are available to stream and download in the UK on hayu Indian American author Neera Kuckreja Sohoni writes here: While moving women away from health and family welfare positions is highly welcome, it is shameful that America only now is catching up with countries like India that long before have placed cabinet women members in charge of the finance, foreign affairs, and defense portfolios. Seen above Indian External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj (left) and West Bengal Chief Minister Mamta Banerjee gesturing at an agreement signing ceremony with visiting Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi in New Delhi on April 8, 2017. (Prakash Singh/AFP via Getty Images) All 10million cats in the UK must be microchipped by law with owners facing a 500 fine for not registering their pet in a bid to combat rising thefts during the Covid pandemic. Growing prices for cats has seen thefts soar over the past 12 months, particularly as lockdown saw a spike in the number of people buying pets, prompting warns of a 'thriving black market' for animals. Police figures show cat thefts rose by 12.3 per cent during the pandemic, while dog thefts rose by a fifth. Campaigners are now suggesting that all 10million cats are microchipped, while a ban on buying cats for cash could also be introduced. Fears over a 'thriving black market' for stolen cats and dogs have led to plans to force all cats to be microchipped across the UK. It became compulsory to microchip dogs in 2016 A senior Government source warned The Telegraph: 'There is a thriving black market in cash sales of animals, no questions asked. 'A cash ban is appealing because we know it crippled the stolen scrap metal industry and microchipping is absolutely central to the way in which animals' welfare is maintained.' According to Pet Theft Awareness, Bengal, Siamese, British shorthair and Maine Coon are the most frequently stolen breeds of cat. Bengals can fetch up to 2,000 on the black market, while pedigree kittens can sell for 500. Stolen dog breeds, such as bulldogs, can cost as much 4,000 for one. Microchips the size of a grain of rice are planted into pets and contain a unique reference number, which can be used to access an owner's contact details on a secure database should the animal be recovered after it is lost or stolen. The Government is already looking at increasing penalties for those who steal pets and sell them on for commercial gain and changes are expected to be announced shortly. Home Secretary Priti Patel has launched a task force to clampdown on the crime. In 2016 it became compulsory for dog owners to microchip their canine companions. According to the RSPCA, it costs around 15 to microchip a dog, though some organisations offer it for free. Microchips the size of a grain of rice are planted into pets and contain a unique reference number, which can be used to access an owner's contact details on a secure database should the animal be recovered after it is lost or stolen. Around three quarters of cats are already microchipped, but 2.6million still need the devices. Sentencing guidelines often mean thieves are punished based on the financial value of a dog or cat, with campaigners warning that often leads to fines of less than 300. Conservative MP Sir Iain Duncan-Smith is campaigning for a change in the law. He told The Telegraph: 'The thieves can make a lot of money with little penalty. They will gamble that if they can make 15,000 in a day, a 250 fine is not a problem. Miss Patel met Environment Secretary George Eustice and the Justice Secretary Robert Buckland last month to agree a cross-government approach. The beginning of the school year when you got to show off your new duds, new cars, new looks! Sports! Playing, cheering, watching high school athletics. The arts: Dramatic arts, musical groups and shows, graphic arts groups, debate, etc. The prom! No dancing the night away or punch bowl antics. The daily interactions. Just being with the group, hanging with friends and classmates. Access to college recruiters and advisors its harder to line up higher education. Walking onstage to get a diploma while all the family is watching with everyone elses family. Vote View Results MANITOBA pharmacies and clinics that administer AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccines have to take matters into their own hands to make sure no doses spoil. MANITOBA pharmacies and clinics that administer AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccines have to take matters into their own hands to make sure no doses spoil. "Its a logistical nightmare to prevent (wastage)," said Ryan Chan, owner of Exchange District Pharmacy on McDermot Avenue. The pharmacist prevented precious doses from going down the drain by developing a list of standby patients the day before the province sent its vaccine allotment. "Basically, once you open up a vaccine, theres 10 doses and you have 48 hours to use the doses. It comes down to being proactive: planning ahead, trying to schedule everyone specifically for that day, having designated days to do the vaccines and making sure they come within that time frame," said Chan. "The vaccines are available on this day. We dont give them a choice if you want the vaccine, these are the days were giving out the vaccines." If there are extra shots the AstraZeneca vaccine vials hold either eight or 10 one-millilitre doses but occasionally contain slightly more the standby patients are called. "In order to prevent (waste), it requires good planning, a bunch of phone calls and having a list of people to call on standby," Chan said. "Being proactive, anticipating, estimating usage and whatnot if you have all that down pat, you can prevent wastage." Out of his first 100-dose allotment, Chan managed to administer shots to 104 people. Pharmacist Jason Hoeppner, who owns Osborne Street Medicine Shoppe, had no concern about wastage related to the first 50 doses that arrived last month. "Those doses were all spoken for before we started our two days that we gave them over," said Hoeppner. "We had a few extra doses, because we had overfill in the vials, so we ended up giving more than 50 doses out of the 50 doses that we received." The pharmacy had an online waiting list. "Theres some screening questions when people are putting themselves in the wait-list that help us to identify the high-risk individuals. One of the questions on there is Are you available on one-hour or short notice to come to the pharmacy if we call you? We can filter and find those people pretty easily," he said. National pharmacy chain Rexall has online waiting lists for its 17 pharmacies in Manitoba. The province confirmed Wednesday its up to clinics and pharmacies to figure out how best to hand out the shots. "Its been communicated to our distributed model channel partners (pharmacies/medical clinics) they will oversee/administrate how they allocate doses as per eligible patients," a provincial spokesperson wrote in an email to the Free Press. As of Wednesday, "a total of 299,821 doses have been administered. Of that total, 2,348 doses (0.78 per cent) have been wasted. The manufacturer recommends planning for five per cent waste/lost vaccine." People between the ages of 55 and 64 with select health conditions, and those 65 and older, are currently eligible for the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine from a pharmacist or medical clinic. Health Canada said Wednesday there are no population restrictions for the product, but Manitoba public health officials said theyre waiting for the National Advisory Committee on Immunization to update its guidance on how to use it. with files from Danielle Da Silva erik.pindera@freepress.mb.ca OLDSMAR, Fla., April 14, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Cryo-Cell International, Inc. (OTC:QB Markets Group Symbol: CCEL) (the Company), the worlds first private cord blood bank to separate and store stem cells in 1992, announced results for the fiscal first quarter ended February 28, 2021. Financial Results Revenue The revenues for the first quarter of fiscal 2021 were $6.86 million compared to $7.62 million for the first quarter of fiscal 2020. The revenues for the first quarter of fiscal 2021 consisted of $6.74 million in processing and storage fee revenue, $38,000 in product revenue and approximately $84,000 in public banking revenue compared to $7.41 million in processing and storage fees, approximately $60,000 in product revenue and approximately $154,000 in public banking revenue for the first quarter of fiscal 2020. Net Income The Company reported net income of approximately $694,000 or $0.09 per basic common share and $0.08 per diluted common share for the three months ended February 28, 2021 compared to net income of approximately $687,000, or $0.09 per basic common share and $0.08 per diluted common share for the same period in 2020. Net income for the three months ended February 28, 2021 resulted from a 10% decrease in revenue, a 20% decrease in cost of sales and an 11% decrease in selling, general and administrative expenses. Also, for the three months ended February 28, 2021, the Company recorded an increase of approximately $152,000 to the fair value of the contingent consideration. The change in the fair value of the contingent consideration for the three months ended February 28, 2021 was approximately $152,000 compared to ($51,000) for the three months ended February 29, 2020. The contingent consideration is the current valuation of the potential earnout that Cord:Use Cord Blood Bank, Inc. is entitled to from the Companys sale of the public cord blood inventory from and after closing of the acquisition of substantially all of Cord:Uses assets. David Portnoy, Chairman of the Board and Co-CEO, commented, We are pleased to be able to report these results in light of the worldwide COVID-19 pandemic that dramatically affected consumer confidence. The uncertain health impact of the virus on a pregnancy has clearly lowered the number of births in the last year. Mr. Portnoy continued, We are actively working on our plans for the future, which include many new opportunities related to our licensing agreement with Duke University and look forward to sharing more details in the near future. About Cryo-Cell International, Inc. Founded in 1989, Cryo-Cell International, Inc. is the worlds first private cord blood bank. More than 500,000 parents from 87 countries have entrusted Cryo-Cell International with their babys cord blood and cord tissue stem cells. In addition to its family bank, Cryo-Cell International has a public banking program in partnership with Duke University. Cryo-Cells public bank has provided cord blood for more than 600 transplantations and operates cord blood donation sites across the U.S in prominent hospitals such as CedarsSinai Hospital in Los Angeles and Baptist Hospital in Miami. Cryo-Cells mission is to provide clients with state-of-the-art cord blood and cord tissue cryopreservation services, raise awareness of the opportunity for expectant parents to bank or donate their babys cord blood and support the advancement of regenerative medicine. Cryo-Cell operates in a facility that is FDA registered, cGMP-/cGTP-compliant and licensed in all states requiring licensure. Besides being AABB accredited as a cord blood facility, Cryo-Cell was also the first U.S. (for private use only) cord blood bank to receive FACT accreditation for adhering to the most stringent cord blood quality standards set by any internationally recognized, independent accrediting organization. Cryo-Cell is a publicly traded company, OTCQB:CCEL. For more information, please visit www.cryo-cell.com. Forward-Looking Statement Statements herein the terms believes, intends, projects, anticipates, expects, and similar expressions as used are intended to reflect forward-looking statements of the Company. The information contained herein is subject to various risks, uncertainties and other factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from the results anticipated in such forward-looking statements or paragraphs, many of which are outside the control of the Company. These uncertainties and other factors include the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on our sales, operations and supply chain, the success of the Companys global expansion initiatives and product diversification, the Companys actual future ownership stake in future therapies emerging from its collaborative research partnerships, the success related to its IP portfolio, the Companys future competitive position in stem cell innovation, future success of its core business and the competitive impact of public cord blood banking on the Companys business, the success of the Companys initiative to expand its core business units to include biopharmaceutical manufacturing and operating clinics, the uncertainty of profitability from its biopharmaceutical manufacturing and operating clinics, the Companys ability to minimize future costs to the Company related to R&D initiatives and collaborations and the success of such initiatives and collaborations, the success and enforceability of the Companys umbilical cord blood and cord tissue license agreements, together with the associated intellectual property and their ability to provide the Company with royalty fees, and those risks and uncertainties contained in risk factors described in documents the Company files from time to time with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including the most recent Annual Report on Form 10-K, Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q and any Current Reports on Form 8-K filed by the Company. The Company disclaims any obligations to subsequently revise any forward-looking statements to reflect events or circumstances after the date of such statements. Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Thursday announced sweeping restrictions, including a weekend curfew and the closure of malls, gyms, spas and auditoriums, in a bid to break the chain of COVID infections in the city. There will be no in-house dining in restaurants and cinema halls will be allowed to operate with only 30 per cent capacity, the chief minister said at an online press conference a day after the city recorded the biggest single-day jump 17,282 new COVID-19 cases. Kejrwal said essential services and weddings will not be affected during the weekend curfew and passes will be provided to those attending weddings. The chief minister also said there was no shortage of hospital beds and over 5,000 were still available for COVID patients. Efforts to increase beds on a large scale will also be made, he assured. Restaurants in the national capital will be allowed to do home deliveries, Kejriwal announced, adding that only one weekly market in a zone will be allowed to open per day and steps will be taken to control crowds in those permitted to function. COVID-19 cases, he said, are rising every day in Delhi and the restrictions were needed to check the spread of the virus. The government will also ensure strict enforcement of COVID appropriate behaviour such as wearing masks, Kejriwal said, noting that many people were still not following it. New Zealand Explains Recent Tax Law Changes by Mary Swire, Tax-News.com, Hong Kong 15 April 2021 The New Zealand Inland Revenue Department has released a new "special report" to provide guidance on changes to real property tax rules and other tax rules that were included in the Taxation (Annual Rates for 202021, Feasibility Expenditure, and Remedial Matters) Act 2021. The Act contained changes codifying when businesses can deduct expenditure related to completing, creating, or acquiring property (business assets) that is later unsuccessful or abandoned over five years. Further, the Act extended the bright-line test for residential properties from five to ten years. Under New Zealand law, the bright-line test centers on whether a person sells a residential property (other than a newly built home) within a set period after acquiring it. If the test is satisfied, the taxpayer will be required to pay income tax on any profit made through the property increasing in value. The extended bright-line test applies if a person has acquired an estate or interest in the land on or after March 27, 2021. The paper includes in-depth guidance on how to determine whether a property sale is caught by the bright-line test. Further, the special report discusses new purchase price allocation rules in sections GC 20 and GC 21 of the Income Tax Act 2007 (the Act). These are intended to reinforce and extend existing provisions requiring parties to a sale of business assets with different tax treatments to adopt the same allocation of the total purchase price to the various classes of assets for tax purposes. Other changes discussed in the guidance include an amendment to the Income Tax Act on what expenditure is eligible for the research and development tax credit, in particular to clarify that the expenditure must be closely connected with conducting an research and development activity to be eligible for the research and development tax credit. Finally, the report discusses new provisions in the Income Tax Act to introduce temporary loss carry-back rules. The rules allow a company with net losses in the 201920 or 202021 income years to carry losses back to offset taxable income in the immediately preceding income year, in order to receive a tax refund. We want the best possible results for the young people who are detained at the Juvenile Temporary Detention Center while awaiting the outcome of their cases, Evans said in a statement Wednesday. We want juveniles at the facility to have an opportunity to become better educated, better adjusted, and better able to become healthy and productive members of society once they leave the facility. Heald, a globally renowned innovator in the field of perimeter security technology and the manufacturer of quality security equipment in the United Kingdom, has announced a partnership with Sweden-based access control solutions firm, Intergate, following a recent installation of their Matador products in Stockholm, Sweden. Intergate is the renowned distributor in Sweden for access control solutions. The firm, which celebrated its 25th anniversary in 2020, is a subsidiary of Indutrade, which has a turnover of 1.6 billion and strength of 7,000 employees. Heald Intergate distributor agreement Following the distributor agreement, the City of Stockholm ordered a number of Heald products through the new distribution partnership with Intergate, including the Matador, the first installation project of Heald products in the city. The purpose of the installation was to stop unauthorised vehicles from accessing a shopping centre area The purpose of the installation was to stop unauthorised vehicles from accessing a shopping centre area, located in the suburb of Skarholmen in Stockholm, but still, allow access to delivery and emergency response vehicles. The challenge facing the installation was the need for an effective and accessible solution that addressed the need for an ultra-shallow excavation, due to a parking garage located underneath. Matador sliding bollard The Matador bollard was chosen due to its unique design and its ability to be installed on the surface or with very minimal excavation, therefore, not interfering with underground infrastructure. The project included the fitting of six electro-mechanical sliding bollards and 26 fixed bollards. All of them were shallow mounted. The Matador is the worlds only sliding bollard that was developed specifically to address issues around underground infrastructure, while still providing access for permitted vehicles. Available in a range of operations, the patent-protected product is available as both shallow mount and surface mount and can be used as either a permanent or temporary security solution. Patent-protected access control products Intergates Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Fredrik Vedin said The support from Heald has been outstanding through the whole installation process. Since this was our first time with this kind of product (sliding bollards), we needed extra attention and support from the technicians, sales support agents and engineers of Heald and we received everything we needed from them. He adds, We feel very confident with Heald as our supplier and we look forward to our next project together. With innovation at the core of Heald, the company continues to offer unique, patent-protected products, including bollards and road blockers, to the market. Shallow or surface mount solutions Heald Ltd's bespoke designs are made to fit individual site requirements Heald Ltd's bespoke designs are made to fit individual site requirements and meet the increasingly demanding needs of organisations, which require high-security solutions against the threat of vehicular attacks, in particular locations that require shallow or surface mount solutions. Debbie Heald MBE, Managing Director at Heald Ltd, commented We chose Intergate as our Swedish distribution partners, as they are leaders in their field with bollard installations, so the partnership seemed the perfect fit for our unique products. High-security products and services Debbie adds, Intergate has the same attention to detail, care for the customer and share the same values regarding providing and installing only the best in high-security products and services. There simply was no other choice for Heald in this region. The partnership with Intergate follows on from recent announcements that Heald has partnered with Germany-based security firm, truckBlok and Singapore-based company, ESCO Pte Ltd to bring Heald products to the major cities around the world. A Slidell-area couple was arrested and their children turned over to the state Department of Children and Family Services after narcotics and weapons were found during a search of their home by St. Tammany Parish Sheriff's Office detectives. Detectives with the Narcotics Division, responding to reports of illegal drug use and firearms, executed a search warrant on the house in the 100 block of Marina Lane on Wednesday. Christy Moree, 31, was arrested after detectives seized about 2.5 grams of suspected methamphetamine, 36.7 grams of marijuana, 12 grams of suspected heroin, 39 alprazolam tablets, 15 suboxone tablets, two vials of Trenbalone Enanthate and 400 mg of testosterone. Deputies also seized a AR-15 semi-automatic rifle, a semi-automatic handgun and paraphernalia associated with the use, packaging and distribution of illegal drugs. Top stories in New Orleans in your inbox Twice daily we'll send you the day's biggest headlines. Sign up today. e-mail address * Sign Up The couple's two young children were at the house when the search took place and were taken by the Louisiana Department of Child and Family Services. Connor Lee Upchurch, 32, was not home when detectives arrived. He was arrested Thursday after deputies located him. He attempted to flee in his vehicle, swallowed drugs while deputies were taking him into custody and was taken to a hospital. He will be booked after he is released. Moree was booked on the following charges: possession of heroin, possession of methamphetamine, illegal carrying of weapons, possession of marijuana, drug paraphernalia and illegal use of drugs in the presence of children under 17. Upchurch will be booked on possession with intent to distribute marijuana, possession with intent to distribute heroin, possession of methamphetamine, possession of suboxone, possession of steroids, possession of testosterone, possession with intent to distribute Alprazolam, illegal carrying of weapons, possession of a firearm by a convicted felon, drug paraphernalia, illegal use of drugs in the presence of children under 17, possession of heroin, obstruction and flight from an officer. GoFundMe/COPA CHICAGOResidents of the West Side neighborhood where 13-year-old Adam Toledo was fatally shot last month were visibly shaken on Thursday after police released a huge trove of videos, including body-camera footage, showing an officer fatally shooting the boy with his hands in the air. It felt like someone ripped my childhood from my heart. And that is what they did to Adam, they took away his childhood, said Kristian Armendariz, 23, a painter and lifelong Little Village resident. I have no words to describe how I feel. Jonathan Ballew Armendariz had joined with other activists gathered at 26th St. and Central Park Ave late Thursday to hold up banners demanding justice for Toledo. There was no need to shoot a 13 year-old, said Monica Sanchez, 21. He was just a little kid. He still had a life to live. Its devastating to see how the cops here treat Hispanic people. She said she had to fight back tears after watching the gut-wrenching video of Toledos death. We should do better with our children, not just the individual parents, but as an entire community. Protesters took to the streets on Thursday night to keep the pressure on over Toledos death. Several dozen demonstrators marched from Union Park to a Fraternal Order of Police Lodge #7, where they were met by a line of police officers on bikes. Why did you kill a child? the crowd chanted amid the ensuing standoff. Riot police in helmets showed up about fifteen minutes later, and the line of officers on bikes moved to the side as protesters continued to chant. Jonathan Ballew Toledo was shot dead on March 29 in what police described at the time as an armed confrontation. Videos released Thursday afternoon by Chicagos Civilian Office of Police Accountability (COPA) include 17 body-cam videos, four third-party videos, and a slowed-down version of the events. Two 911 calls, the case incident report, and the tactical response reports were also released. One video, taken from the body-cam of the officer who shot Toledo identified in the incident report as Officer Eric Stillmanshows the teen with both hands up at the moment he is shot once in the chest. Story continues Body-cam footage taken from the moment Adam Toledo is shot. Screenshot/COPA Police! Stop! Police, stop right fucking now, Stillman is heard saying as he chases Toledo down an alley. Toledo then stops, turns around, and puts both hands up as the cop yells, Show me your fucking hands, drop it. A split second later, Toledo is shotand falls backward. It does not appear from the footage that the teenager had anything in his hands when he was shotdespite claims from police and prosecutors that he was armed at the time. About two minutes later, the body-camera footage shows another officer shining a flashlight on a gun located a few feet ahead of Toledo. Its not clear if the gun is Toledos, or if he was holding it at any time during the chase or shooting. Body-cam footage shows a gun found a few few from where Adam Toledo was shot. Screenshot/COPA Tensions have already been at a boiling point across the country following the police shooting of 20-year-old Daunte Wright in a Minneapolis suburb. Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot became emotional in a Thursday press conference as she said the videos were incredibly difficult to watch. She noted that theres no evidence whatsoever that Adam Toledo shot at the police. I want to ask again that everyone tuning in right now to think first and foremost about Adam Toledo...that each of us give [his family] space to breathe, Lightfoot said, choking up at times. She urged people to wait until we hear all the facts and railed against the the citys gun problem. We failed Adam, she said. We cannot afford to fail one more young person in our city. Authorities say a chaotic chain of events led to the March 29 shooting on the citys West Side. Several gunshots were detected at around 2:30 a.m and when officers arrived Toledo was there with 21-year-old Ruben Roman. Both of them took off running, police say. Roman was tackled and arrested, while Toledo kept running and was pursued down the alley by Officer Stillman. (Roman was later charged with child endangerment, aggravated unlawful use of a weapon, and reckless discharge of a firearm for his role in that nights fateful events.) In their initial statement, Chicago Police said an armed person ran from the scene, prompting officers to start a foot pursuit that ended with an armed confrontation. The statement said a gun was recovered from the scene. 13-Year-Old Boy Who Wanted to Become a Cop Is Killed by Chicago Police During a hearing for Roman over the weekend, Cook County Assistant States Attorney James Murphy said the footage showed that Toledo did stop but refused to show his hands and turned towards the officer with a gun. He said the gun landed a few feet away after Toledo was shot in the chest. On Thursday, however, a spokesperson told The Daily Beast that the prosecutors account was inaccurate, and the prosecutor was not fully informed. An attorney who works in this office failed to fully inform himself before speaking in court, the spokesperson said. Errors like that cannot happen and this has been addressed with the individual involved. The video speaks for itself. The body-camera footage also shows Toledo with both hands raised as hes shot. Stillman approaches Toledo afterwards to ask if he is all right before repeating, Stay with me. Stay with me. A slew of officers arrive on the scene and perform CPR until an ambulance arrives. Adam, during his last second of life, did not have a gun in his hand. The officer screamed at him, Show me your hands. Adam complied, turned around, his hands were empty when he was shot in the chest at the hands of the officer. He did not have a gun in his hand, Adeena Weiss Ortiz, an attorney representing the Toledo family, said during a Thursday news conference after the video was released. She said she didnt know if Toledo had a gun at some point during the incident but, even if he did, it is not relevant, because he tossed the gun and complied. Prosecutors say footage and shell casings show the 9 mm Ruger found at the scene was being fired by Roman on a street corner earlier in the night. Tim Grace, a lawyer for Stillman, said his client believed Toledo was armed during the fast-moving incident. There is irrefutable evidence that the shell casings recovered from [the corner where Toledo and Roman were standing] match the handgun that was in the hands of the juvenile when he was tragically shot by the officer, he said in a statement to The Daily Beast. He said the officer was faced with a life threatening and deadly force situation and was left with no other option but to use his firearm after Toledo stopped in the alley and began to turn to face the officer attempting to swing the gun in his direction. The officer had no place to take cover or concealment, the gun was being (orientated) in his direction and he was left with no other option, he said. According to updated data from the Citizens Police Data Project, a non-profit that documents police misconduct information about the Chicago Police Department, Stillman received three complaints and four use-of-force reports from 2017 to 2020. The shooting has shaken the community and sparked a spate of protests, but the Toledo family has called for calm. Adams memory can best be honored by refraining from violence and working constructively for reform, attorneys for the family said Tuesday. After watching the body-cam footage late Tuesday, the family vowed to seek justice by carrying out their own independent investigation. Lightfoot said Thursday that the videos of the incident make two things clear: that in the middle of the night Toledo was in contact with an adult who had a gun and that too many young people in our city... have been left vulnerable by system failures that we simply must fix. She also blamed the citys systemic issues of generational poverty, disinvestment, and racism as having a role in the boys death. Cook County prosecutors have so far sought to place blame for the seventh-graders death on Roman. If the defendant does not bring the 13-year-old with him, if he doesnt bring his gun with him while on gun offender probation, if he doesnt shoot that gun seven to eight times on a city street with (Toledo) standing in arms length of him while hes firing those shots none of it would have happened, Assistant States Attorney James Murphy argued in court. Roman was initially released from custody on a misdemeanor charge but was taken back in after ditching a court hearing in a separate case. He reportedly told police he didnt know who Toledo was and claimed hed been waiting in the alley for a train. Its not clear how Roman and Toledo knew each other. Toledos mother, Elizabeth, told The Chicago Sun-Times she just wants answers about what really happened. He wanted to be a cop when he grew up. And next thing you know, a cop took his life, she said. Read more at The Daily Beast. Got a tip? Send it to The Daily Beast here Get our top stories in your inbox every day. Sign up now! Daily Beast Membership: Beast Inside goes deeper on the stories that matter to you. Learn more. ATLANTA, April 15, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Letters From the Sphinx (Covenant Books, Inc.) tells the story of the settling of Southern California's San Gabriel Valley, through the lives and labor of one of its most prominent early families. The new book by Paul C. Rollins is available now through Amazon and other popular booksellers. Letters From the Sphinx - Book Cover Paul C. Rollins, author of family histories and domestic architectural histories. Spanning one hundred years and three continents, Letters From the Sphinx tells the story of the William Allens, an Old World family swept up in a New World sea of change. Incorporating sources from the United Kingdom, Egypt and the U.S.; previously unpublished diaries, photographs, and letters held in private collections; and journals housed at the Huntington Library, the biography describes one man's desperate pursuit of self that takes him from England to Egypt and back again before he sets sail, sick and alone, for Southern California. William Allen's story and that of his wife and children and other eminent families of the era and area unfolds in unexpected ways against the backdrop of the San Gabriel Valley at a time when the foothills were a riot of golden poppies and the earth was untilled and bursting with opportunity. Author Rollins writer of family and domestic architectural histories happened onto this rich bit of history when he literally moved into it. A 1995 move took then-HR executive Rollins from Atlanta to Southern California, where he purchased a 1929 Spanish Colonial Revival bungalow overlooking Pasadena's Eaton Canyon. "I eventually learned my half-acre of paradise was once part of an enormous tract belonging to the Mission San Gabriel Arcangel, built in 1771, but more recently had been part of the Allens' 500-acre Sphinx Ranch," he says. "Being a former academic prior to my corporate life and a 'research nerd,' I had to know more. Little did I know I would personally come to know and hold close many of the Allen descendants." The 350-page tome is remarkably sourced, most notably from letters, memorabilia and other never-before-shared items and memories from Allen's descendants. Letters From the Sphinx is available through your favorite local or online bookseller (ISBN: 978-1-64468-719-2), trade paperback. "Rollins captures what it was like to live here in the 1800s, using a personal story that paints a much bigger picture," says Jane Brackman, Altadena Historical Society. "His colorful writing brings liveliness to a story that might otherwise be a scholarly thesis." A limited number of review copies are available. Video promo of Letters From the Sphinx. #LettersFromTheSphinx #Book #FamilyHistory #ArchitecturalHistoryAuthor #domesticarchitecturalhistory #SanGabrielValley #WilliamAllenFamily #HuntingtonLibrary #PaulCRollins #Altadena #Pasadena #California #ArroyoSeco #EatonCanyon #RanchoSanPascual Media inquiries B. Andrew (Drew) Plant [email protected] 678-637-5532 SOURCE Paul C. Rollins - Author MERIDEN Police arrested a 31-year-old man they said cut off his monitoring bracelet before barricading himself in a home early Thursday with a woman with six protective orders against him. Colin McBriarty faces charges of home invasion, six counts violation of a protective order and interfering with a police officer. The incident began around 2:30 a.m. when Meriden police were contacted by Berlin police, who asked officers to do a welfare check on the womans home. Berlin police told Meriden authorities McBriarty had cut off his monitoring bracelet that he was required to wear, said Meriden police spokesman Sgt. Darrin McKay. This monitoring bracelet stemmed from numerous violent domestic incidents involving a female who resides in Meriden and at the time of the incident, there were in fact six protective court orders in place protecting this female, McKay said. The identity of the female victim and the address were not disclosed by police. When police arrived at the home, they found a light on in the basement as well as a screen missing from a window. They knocked loudly on the door, and a man officers believed to be McBriarty stuck his head out the window. He refused to come out. Police said they heard several loud bangs inside the home like furniture being moved or throwing around inside the home. The department then received a call from the female victim who indicated she feared for her life. Once this information was provided to the officers outside of the home, they immediately forced entry into the home and rushed up to the second floor where McBriarty was last observed, McKay said. Police found him barricaded inside the homes laundry room with the dryer blocking the door. The officers were able to coax him into coming out, and he was arrested. Afterwards it was discovered that McBriarty had actually gained entry by kicking in one of the homes doors which had a swinging pet door built into it, McKay said. He was taken to a hospital before being released to police. McBriarty also was charged with breach of peace, failure to submit to fingerprints and second-degree criminal mischief. McKay said the female victim was not injured and credited Berlin with contacting the department, coupled with the fact that the members of our agency responded so quickly and took immediate and decisive action when it was required. Space agencies of India and on Thursday signed an agreement for cooperation for the former's first human space mission, Gaganyaan, a move that will enable Indian flight physicians to train at French facilities. French space agency CNES said under the agreement, equipment developed by it, tested and still operating aboard the International Space Station (ISS) will be made available to Indian crews. The CNES will also be supplying fireproof carry bags made in to shield equipment from shocks and radiation, it said. The agreement was announced during French Foreign Affairs Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian's visit to the Indian Space Research Organisation's (ISRO) headquarters in Bengaluru. ISRO has asked CNES to help prepare for the and to serve as its single European contact in this domain, the French space agency said. "Under the terms of the agreement, CNES will train India's flight physicians and CAPCOM mission control teams in at the CADMOS centre for the development of microgravity applications and space operations at CNES in Toulouse and at the European Astronaut Centre (EAC) in Cologne, Germany," the CNES said. The training of astronauts is a critical aspect of the human space mission project. Flight physicians or surgeons are responsible for astronaut's health before, during and after the flight. Currently, all space physicians are from the Indian Air Force. France has a well-established mechanism for space medicine. It also has the MEDES space clinic, a subsidiary of CNES, where space surgeons undergo training. The agreement provides for CNES to support the implementation of a scientific experiment plan on validation missions, exchange information on food packaging and the nutrition programme, and above all, the use of French equipment, consumables and medical instruments by Indian astronauts. "This cooperation could be extended in the future to parabolic flights operated by Novespace to test instruments and for astronaut training, as well as technical support for the construction of an astronaut training centre in Bangalore," the CNES said. The Gaganyaan orbital spacecraft project was kicked off in August 2018. It originally intended to send astronauts from India to mark the 75th anniversary of the country's independence in 2022. However, the mission has been delayed due to the restrictions imposed in view of the coronavirus pandemic. ISRO is targeting the first unmanned mission under the Gaganyaan project in December. This launch was to take place in December last year. This mission will be followed by another unmanned mission. The third leg is the main module. France and India share robust ties in the area of space cooperation. The first space agreement between France and India dates back to 1964. Existing partnerships between the two nations cover almost all areas of space activity. ISRO will also be launching the joint Oceansat 3-Argos mission this year. In March 2018, India and France had unveiled a joint vision for space cooperation. The two nations have also agreed to work on inter-planetary missions to Mars and Venus. India has already signed an agreement with Russia for the training of four astronauts who have been shortlisted for the Additionally, it is also in talks with Australia to have a ground station at the Cocos Islands for the South Africa: Sisulu welcomes progress at Rooiwal Wastewater Treatment Works Water and Sanitation Minister Lindiwe Sisulu, has welcomed progress made to upgrade the Rooiwal Wastewater Treatment Works. Sisulu visited the facility on Wednesday to see first-hand what progress has been made to have the facility operate optimally. The Minister was accompanied by City of Tshwane Executive Mayor, Councillor Randall Williams and his delegation, as well as department officials, led by Gauteng Provincial Head Sibusiso Mthembu. During its oversight visits to the facility in 2019 and 2020, the Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Human Settlements, Water and Sanitation instructed the City of Tshwane to promptly deal with water and wastewater challenges which continue to pose serious health risks to communities. On 26 February 2021, the South African Human Rights Commission (SAHRC) held an inquiry into the state of rivers in the City of Tshwane, subsequent to which communities and the various water users reported a case to the Chapter 9 institution. Sisulu said it was vital for her to visit the facility in order to properly understand the concerns that were raised by the SAHRC after the community lodged a complaint. The Minister said she understands the reasoning behind President Cyril Ramaphosa merging the Ministry of the two Departments of Human Settlements and of Water and Sanitation, as they are interlinked. She also commited to reprioritise the Urban Settlements Development Grant (USDG) for further renovation and upgrading of the facility. There are a number of informal settlements that need to be serviced and upgraded to formal settlements. This is one continuum of the cycle of human life. So, it makes it easier for me to say I do have the money and will give it to you in the form of the USDG. Sisulu is confident that the upgrade carried out at the treatment works is bearing fruits. The Minister heard that the City of Tshwane has managed to restore some level of normalcy at the works, and this includes the completion of all excavations to the design levels, fully installing two X belt presses and dredging of the maturation dam, as well as supplying chlorine on an ongoing basis. SAnews.gov.za This story has been published on: 2021-04-15. To contact the author, please use the contact details within the article. Irish Water is to be asked to include parts of south Kilkenny in upgrade plans, following a series of disruptive leaks. Cllr Pat Dunphy said ongoing leaks in the areas of Clogga and Grange Clonmore, in Piltown, are totally unacceptable. There have been about 18 in one area in the past year alone, Cllr Dunphy said. I have been speaking to Irish Water and Im getting nowhere, Clr Dunphy said, calling on Kilkenny County Council to write to Irish Water to take action. The local councillor said where there are leaks of this magnitude, that are going to continue, it is a huge cost to Irish Water but they dont seem to be making any attempt to replace lines. Cllr Dunphy said it is disruptive. District chairman, Cllr Eamon Aylward, supported the call. Cllr Ger Frisby agreed the leaks were frustrating for people. A major upgrade of our lines needs to be done. Director of Services Sean McKeown said the council will write to Irish Water. at funeral home2.JPG The hearse carrying the late William "Billy" Evans arrives Wednesday night at the Paciorek Funeral Home on Hoosac Street in Adams. The motorcade reached its destination in Adams well after dark, having made a long, slow pass along Main Street in North Adams, the home town of the late William "Billy" Evans. In North Adams, hundreds of people crowded along Main Street, taking photos. A hush came over the street as the motorcade made its right-hand turn onto Main, after its long trip west on Route 2. "People seemed really affected," said Eagle staff member Francesca Paris, who reported from the scene, along with visual journalist Gillian Jones. "But they also seemed happy to be around each other." The long procession included representatives from police departments in Adams, Cheshire, Chicopee, Clarksburg, Dalton, Lee, Otis, Pittsfield and others, including police from the Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts, the sheriff's department and state police. EVANS MOTORCADE - 4 Hundreds of people stand in downtown North Adams Wednesday night along the motorcade route to pay their respects to the late William Billy E Aubrey Floriani, 9, of North Adams EVANS MOTORCADE - 3 Aubrey Floriani, 9, of North Adams stands along the motorcade route in downtown North Adams on Wednesday evening with a poster she made. The procession turned south on Route 8 on its final leg toward Adams. And here, still more people stood lined up along the highway. Why did people came out on this spring night? Don and Carol Graves of Adams offered a clear and simple answer: Were here to support the family, Carol Graves said. That sort of empathy was on peoples lips Wednesday night. Tragedies can make everyone feel related. When we heard the news, we didn't believe it, Don Graves said. I feel so sorry for him and his family. Carol Graves was thinking about family in another way, too. She was reflecting on the fact that Evans will be buried beside his father in Bellevue Cemetery in Adams. He seemed like a real family guy, she said. I think the world is just sad right now and we don't have many happy things, but hopefully that'll change. Motorcade arrives in North Adams hearse at hairpint Left: The motorcade approaches the hairpin turn on Route 2 as it draws near North Adams. The hearse carrying Evans can be seen at the front le Ahead of the procession, a line of state police vehicles came west on Route 2, clearing a path for the motorcade. It proceeded slowly down the steep hill into North Adams, lights from the vehicles carving out a path and illuminating those whod gathered to say goodbye to William Billy Evans. In North Adams, Mayor Tom Bernard waited for the procession to arrive. He said the moment carries deep significance. I just saw an old friend and we were talking about how North Adams knocks us out, he said. It's the way of the city. We show up, we fold the arms around people when they're in need, we come together when it counts. This is a night that counts," Bernard said. He said of Evans: This is someone who deserves respect. Larry Lake of North Adams, a hospice chaplain, came out, though he does not know the Evans family. "It brought people together. It's unfortunate it had to happen this way but it brought people together, he said. Death brings people together. Just the fact that he was brought up in North Adams. I bet a majority of the people here didn't know him, but that doesn't matter." Lake was asked what hed say, what consoling words he might choose. "There are no magic words. But focus on the memories that keep him alive. What do you remember that makes you smile? What do you remember that makes you cry? The grief will go on for years. This is the immediate mourning. He added: I think for many here. it takes their mind off of what they're mourning. Jobs, relationships, loved ones, whatever Covid has taken from them. We hold everything in common here. As dusk comes on, North Adams waits hairpin turn wait.jpg Lynn Riordan and Michael Riordan wait at the Hairpin Turn for the motorcade with officer Bill Evans. The motorcade is making its way west on Route 2. People have gathered at the infamous hairpin turn overlooking the city of North Adams, to be among the first to greet the procession carrying the body of the late William "Billy" Evans. They include Lynn Riordan and Michael Riordan. Carolyn Rousseau came from Pittsfield to North Adams to pay her respects, joined by her husband, Ron. "We didn't know Billy him but we feel like we knew him," Carolyn Rousseau said. She was emotional watching C-SPAN on Tuesday. "I've just been reading everything about him, how he cheered everybody up." Her friend, Catherine Dellea, and her husband, Paul, of North Adams turned out. Catherine Dellea said she lived near Billy Evan's mother as a kid and remembered Billy's father selling lamb tongues for $3 a jar. "She probably doesn't remember me, but I remember her, and I think people should come out to support a patriot. I've been thinking about it a lot these days. You know that person ... And as a mother, you feel for her. Especially when you have grandkids, you think, that could be you." Public safety crews turn out to honor Evans all along I-91 longmeadow flag.JPG Firefighters and police officers offer salutes to the late William Billy Evans as the motorcade passes through Longmeadow, Mass., on I-91. As the motorcade arrived in Massachusetts on I-91 from Bradley International Airport, it passed under a bridge on Bark Haul Road in Longmeadow. Atop that overpass, nearly two dozen firefighters and police officers offered salutes, as two ladder trucks held a draped American flag. A few minutes further north, the motorcade passed beneath a crew from the Springfield Fire Department, including seven members who stood atop a ladder truck. Some vehicles in the motorcade departed after the procession left Connecticut. More than a dozen vehicles are continuing on toward Berkshire County as of 7 p.m. The motorcade includes state police cruisers and motorcycles and vehicles representing North Adams police, Pittsfield police and the Berkshire County sheriff's department. At least one helicopter overhead has been tracking the route as well. Police can be seen on the highway median, pausing to salute Evans and the entourage. Word is clearly out. People are standing at overpasses all along I-91. springfield crews.JPG Members of the Springfield Fire Department stand on a Route 20A overpass, including seven firefighters on a ladder truck. Airport departure swift after plane arrives with casket about to leave.jpg A hearse carrying the casket of the late William "Billy" Evans, the U.S. Capitol Police officer killed on duty April 2, prepares to head Wedn The jet carrying the body of the late William "Billy" Evans, the U.S. Capitol Police officer killed in the line of duty April 2, has arrived at Bradley International Airport. A motorcade this evening will escort a hearse carrying Evans on the journey back to his home town of North Adams, and then to a funeral home in Adams. The Eagle will provide updates of the motorcade's trip to Berkshire County, where people plan to gather to honor the late police officer. Onto tarmac.JPG Vehicles head Wednesday out onto the tarmac at Bradley International Airport, part of the motorcade that will bring the body of the late Willi waiting for jet.jpg A hearse bearing the emblem of the United States Capitol Police waits at Bradley International Airport for the aircraft bearing the body of th People gathered along the motorcade's route from Bradley to I-91. Eagle staffer Stephanie Zollshan is following the procession. She reports: "Tons of people lining the streets, saluting, waving, flags as we go." Where to go to witness Thursday's funeral procession On Thursday, people can pay their respects to Evans by gathering on Park Street in Adams at 1 p.m. to witness his funeral procession. The funeral and burial are private, but the public can watch the procession go by on Park Street from St. Stanislaus Kostka Church to Bellevue Cemetery, where Evans will be buried beside his father, Howard. Adams officials said Wednesday that people who gather are asked to wear masks and practice social distancing. The cemetery will be closed to the public from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Russia confirmed 8,944 COVID-19 cases over the past day, bringing the total caseload to 4,675,153, the anti-coronavirus crisis center told reporters on Thursday. The growth rate stands at 0.19% in relative terms. The lowest growth rates were registered over the past day in the Nenets Autonomous Region and the Chukotka Autonomous Region (0%), the Republic of Tuva (0.01%), the Magadan Region and the Jewish Autonomous Region (0.02%). Some 2,455 COVID-19 cases were confirmed in Moscow, 719 in St. Petersburg, 565 in the Moscow Region, 240 in the Rostov Region, 211 in the Nizhny Novgorod Region and 196 in the Samara Region. Currently, 269,307 people are undergoing treatment in Russia, TASS reported. Russias coronavirus recoveries grew by 10,225 in the past 24 hours. In total, 4,301,448 people have recovered by now. According to the crisis center, recoveries have surpassed 92% of the total number of infected people. As many as 1,944 patients recovered in Moscow, 1,456 in St. Petersburg, 489 in the Moscow Region, 266 in the Nizhny Novgorod Region, 219 in the Samara Region and 215 in the Voronezh Region. Russia recorded 398 coronavirus deaths in the past 24 hours, down from 399 the day before, the anti-coronavirus crisis center said on Thursday. The total death toll has climbed to 104,398. According to data from the crisis center, the country's provisional lethality remains at 2.23%. In particular, 59 fatalities were reported in Moscow in the past day, 28 in the Rostov Region and 27 in St. Petersburg. The Nizhny Novgorod and Samara regions confirmed 15 coronavirus deaths each while the Arkhangelsk, Sverdlovsk and Krasnoyarsk regions recorded 14 fatalities each. The city of Asheville, North Carolina approved a measure giving its black residents certain benefits as reparations for slavery. Councilman Keith Young, who is black, referred to the hundreds of years of black blood that built the city. The mayor of Providence, Rhode Island issued an executive order to explore reparations for slavery. Governor Newsom of California has pledged to create a commission to consider reparations. And the Democrats bill in the House, H.R. 40, would establish a commission to study reparations, including compensation for slavery for living African-Americans. Indeed, many politicians are urging serious consideration of reparations for slavery. But really serious consideration would reveal both the flaws in its premise and the harm that it would produce. A Flawed Premise First, the flawed premise. The basic model for reparations is A wrongfully harms B, so A must compensate B and restore B to where B would have been had the wrong not been committed. So if Al recklessly crashes his car into Bobs car and damages it, Al should have to pay what it costs to restore Bobs car to the condition it was in before the accident. There are some tricky issues whenever we must ask counterfactuals, such as what would the condition of Bobs car be had Al not crashed into it. Would another car have wrecked Bobs if Als hadnt done so? But we deal the best we can with answering these counterfactuals in ordinary cases in which A wrongfully harms B. If this is our basic model of reparations, then we should ask, with respect to slavery, who are the As and Bs today? After all, both the slaveholders -- the As -- and their slaves -- the Bs -- are long dead. So the As and Bs today must be those who stand in the shoes of the slaveholders and slaves and inherit their obligations and rights. So who, then, are the As today who owe the reparations for slavery? Do they include the millions of whites who emigrated to the U.S. in the last 150 years? The descendants of whites who opposed slavery? The descendants of blacks who owned slaves (there were many who did)? The descendants of Native Americans who owned slaves (ditto)? The descendants of those who fought and often died to end slavery? The assumption of H. R. 40 seems to be that the U. S. government is the A for purposes of reparations for slavery. But the U.S. government did not itself legalize slavery, which was a matter left to the states. It is true that the U.S. Constitution did not outlaw slavery. Had it attempted to do so, however, there would have been no United States, as the states that endorsed slavery would not have joined the union. And it was the U.S. government, in the Civil War, that finally put an end to slavery, and at great cost in blood and treasure. But let us put aside the problem of the As and assume the U.S. government, and thus all taxpayers (black and white), will pay the reparations. The question then is, who are the recipients of these payments, the Bs? Do they include blacks who have emigrated to the U.S. from Africa and the West Indies? Blacks whose ancestors owned slaves, which include not only black slaveholders, but also white slaveholders with black descendants.? Wealthy blacks? There are more basic problems on the B side of the model. Had there been no slavery, the ancestors of todays U.S. blacks would have remained in Africa, most often as the slaves of other African tribes. And even more basically, in the absence of slavery, todays individual blacks would not exist. That is, although blacks might exist in the U.S., the ones who actually exist here would not exist at all. For each of us is the product of a particular sperm and egg. Change the circumstances of conception ever so slightly, and a different individual is created. And slavery caused more than slight changes in the circumstances of conception that would have existed in its absence. Each of us in reality owes our very existence to past horrendous events, and that is as true of todays blacks as it is of the rest of us. So none today can say, but for slavery, I would have been better off. People might be better off today had there been no slavery, but none of us, blacks included, would be. So, the premise on which reparations is modeled is flawed. Reparations to victims descendants make sense only if those descendants existed at the time the wrong was committed, such as the reparations paid by Germany after World War II, or those paid by the U.S. government for the internment of the Japanese during that war. An Unwise Policy Not only is reparations for slavery based on an erroneous assumption that todays blacks have been harmed by slavery, it is also unwise as a policy prescription. For one thing, it might spawn other demands for reparations. After all, if one looks far enough into the past, and casts a wide enough geographical net, we are probably all descendants of persons who suffered grave injustices in the past. And more important, reparations are definitely not a cure for problems faced by blacks today. In general, blacks as a group are doing better than ever before materially. And for those who are not doing well, the cause is not the effects of slavery. Nor is the cause racist bigotry, which, though some undoubtedly exists, is not a significant obstacle in blacks lives. Nor is it the vague culprit of structural racism, which refers, not to the acts of bigots but rather to societal institutions that supposedly harm blacks and retard their progress. But which institutions are they? Private property? Free exchange of goods and services? The welfare state? Policing, prosecution, and punishment of crimes? Whenever the claim of structural racism is made, the claimants inevitably fail to specify which structures are the culprits, why they are, and which structures should replace them. Racism, whether individual or structural, is not the cause of black poverty to the extent it exists. (If it were, African and West Indian blacks would not be doing as well as they are, or emigrating to the U.S. in great numbers.) Although racism, unlike slavery, could be a problem for blacks today, the reality, thankfully, is that it isnt. The real impediments to the advancement of poor blacks -- and everyone knows this, regardless whether they admit it -- are the cultural factors that have produced family disintegration, which in turn portends poor educational achievement, crime, and poverty. And this problem will only be worsened by reparations, which sends the message that the predicament of poor blacks is others fault, that blacks are victims, and that they have no control over their fate. That is precisely the wrong message to send, a message that denies blacks agency. Reparations will not atone for chattel slavery but will instead foster the insidious psychological slavery of victimhood. Larry Alexander is the Warren Distinguished Professor of Law at the University of San Diego. He is the author or co-author of a dozen books and 250 articles, essays, and book chapters on legal and philosophical topics. Image: New York Public Library To comment, you can find the MeWe post for this article here. We applaud Peter for continuing to raise the bar in our industry and demonstrate the value of the independent model in creating meaningful and long-lasting investor-advisor relationships. According to Forbes, the annual list spotlights the nations top-performing advisors, evaluated based on a methodology developed by SHOOK Research. Advisors are also evaluated based on personal interviews, industry experience and revenue trends, among other criteria. On behalf of LPL Financial, we congratulate Peter Tedstrom for being recognized on this years Forbes Best-in-State Wealth Advisors list. This past year has demonstrated that strong financial advice cannot be underestimated, and that personalized financial advice is critical in helping clients work toward achieving their short and long-term financial goals, said Angela Xavier, LPL executive vice president, Independent Advisor Services. We applaud Peter for continuing to raise the bar in our industry and demonstrate the value of the independent model in creating meaningful and long-lasting investor-advisor relationships. Peter Tedstrom is based in Denver and provides a full range of services, including financial planning, knowledgeable investment advice, diversification strategies, liquidity or retirement planning and more. Peter Tedstrom is an independent advisor affiliated with LPL Financial, the nations largest independent broker-dealer* and a leader in the retail financial advice market, providing resources, tools and technology that support advisors in their work to enrich their clients financial lives. About Tedstrom Wealth Advisors Tedstrom Wealth Advisors is a team of independent, fee-only investment advisors with more than 30 years of financial leadership. Clients are guided through a proprietary Wealth Empowerment Process that is both performance-based and personal. 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The Forbes Best-In-State Wealth Advisor ranking, developed by SHOOK Research, is based on in-person and telephone due diligence meetings and a ranking algorithm that includes: client retention, industry experience, review of compliance records, firm nominations; and quantitative criteria, including: assets under management and revenue generated for their firms. Portfolio performance is not a criterion due to varying client objectives and lack of audited data. Neither Forbes nor SHOOK Research receives a fee in exchange for rankings. Securities offered through LPL Financial, Member FINRA/SIPC. Financial planning offered through Tedstrom Wealth Advisors, a registered investment advisor and separate entity from LPL Financial. New Delhi, April 15 : Eight Pakistan nationals were apprehended from the mid-sea off Gujarat coast for drug trafficking on Thursday. The law enforcement agencies seized 30 kilograms of heroin from them. Indian Coast Guard, a maritime law enforcement and search and rescue agency, spotted the Pakistani boat PFB NUH with eight of its nationals near the international maritime boundary line. They were searched and 30 kilogram of heroin was recovered from their boat. All the eight Pakistan nationals were apprehended immediately. The law enforcement agencies are trying to identify the mafia behind the drug traffickers.. A team from a forensic science laboratory has been called in to examine the contraband and ascertain its type. The coast guard official said that it was a joint operation with Gujarat Police's Anti-terrorism squad. It said that ATS had information about the illegal consignment being smuggled in the state through the coastline. The last one year has proved to be a big setback for drug traffickers at seas as Indian Coast Guard has successfully seized about 1.6 tonnes of narcotics worth approximately Rs 4,900 crore. Last year in January, Gujarat police's Anti-terrorism squad (ATS) had arrested five Pakistan nationals and had seized 35 kg heroin from their possession. Their boat named JamJam was spotted on the International maritime board at Jakhau in Kutch. Following their search, 35 packets of contraband heroin were recovered from them. The Pakistani nationals were identified as Anees Isa Bhatti, 30, Ismail Mohammed Kachchi, 50, Ashhraf Usman Kutchhi, 42, Kareem Abdulla Kutchhi, 37, and Abubaqar Ashraf Sumra, 55, all residents of different parts of Karachi, Pakistan. The drug mafias are trying to push contraband in Indian territory through land border and seas. In 2019, again Gujarat Police had arrested 11 foreigners, including nine Iranians with 100 kg heroin worth Rs 500 crore in a similar operation. The probe revealed that a Mumbai-based trader identified as Badruddin S. Shaikh, who had gone to Tehran (Iran's capital) to purchase dry fruits specially dates, was contacted by a drug dealer identified as Ali alias Haji who lured the trader to receive the narcotics consignment at Porbandar coast in Gujarat in lieu of Rs 10 lakh. Below is a recap of all the witnesses who testified at Derek Chauvin's trial through April 16, in order of appearance. PROSECUTION 911 dispatcher Jenna Scurry The prosecution's first witness on March 29 was Jenna Scurry, a 911 dispatcher who watched live video of police kneeling on Floyd and testified that she called the officers' supervisor with concerns about their use of force. It was Scurry who sent officers to the Cup Foods at 38th and Chicago Avenue on May 25, 2020, after receiving a call about a man using a counterfeit bill. Scurry told how she had seen surveillance footage of the incident from one of the city's pole mounted cameras and been struck by a 'gut instinct' that 'something wasn't right'. The video, which had not previously been released publicly, showed Chauvin and fellow officers Lane and Kueng perched atop Floyd next to a squad car while officer Thao looked on. Scurry noted that she wasn't watching the stream the entire time because she was fielding other calls. But she said that as she glanced away and back again, she was struck that the officers hadn't moved and asked a colleague if the screen had frozen. 'I first asked if the screens had frozen because it hadn't changed. I thought something might be wrong,' she said. She said that she hadn't wanted to be a 'snitch' but she recognized what appeared to be use of force and stated: 'I took that instinct and I called the sergeant.' Assistant Attorney General Matthew Frank played audio from the call, in which Scurry said: 'I don't know if they had to use force or not. They got something out of the back of the squad and all of them sat on this man. So I don't know if they needed to or not but they haven't said anything to me yet.' 'You can call me a snitch if you want to,' she added. She said she made the call to 'voice my concerns' and noted that she had never made one like it to a police sergeant before. Cross examining Scurry, Chauvin's attorney Eric Nelson was at pains to underscore gaps in what she saw and the facts that she had no police training, little knowledge of what the calls to which she sent officers actually looked like and pointed out that her attention was not trained on the screen at all times. Bystander Alisha Oyler Alisha Oyler, a cashier at the Speedway gas station opposite Cup Foods who recorded video of Floyd's arrest was the state's second witness. 'Trying not to cuss' and frequently failing to recall events Oyler explained that she had first noticed police 'messing with someone' outside the Dragon Wok restaurant opposite Cup Foods. She said she had watched officers handcuff Floyd and take him across to the now infamous site of squad car 320 in front of the store's entrance and continued to record events on her cell phone as she stepped out to have a cigarette. She said she had done so because the police were 'always messing with people and it's not right'. MMA fighter and bystander Donald Williams Donald Winn Williams II, a mixed martial arts fighter and the prosecution's third witness who had yelled at Chauvin to check for a pulse and accused him of placing Floyd in what he called a 'kill choke', testified first on March 29 before continuing on March 30. Williams became emotional as he spoke about how he called 911 after Floyd was placed in an ambulance because: 'I believed I had just witnessed a murder. I felt the need to call the police on the police.' He began to cry as jurors were played audio of the call, in which he named officer 987 and said: 'He just pretty much killed this guy. He wasn't resisting arrest. He had his knee on his neck. He wasn't resisting arrest or nothing, he was handcuffed.' Williams said he witnessed Chauvin 'shimmying', or adjusting his position on Floyd's neck, in a recognized martial art maneuver designed to double-down on and tighten a choke hold. He told how he watched Chauvin squeeze the life out of Floyd, who he said was in 'tremendous pain' and 'faded away like a fish in a bag'. He said that when he called Chauvin out for using a blood choke the officer looked him straight in the eye and did not stop. Williams also told how Officer Tou Thao put his hands on his chest and pushed him back to the curb when he tried to intervene. At the end of his 911 call Williams was heard shouting at Thao: 'Y'all murderers man, y'all murderers.' On cross-examination, Chauvin's attorney Eric Nelson attempted to undercut William's presentation of himself as a controlled and professional observer of events who remained schooled by his training and experience in sports and security. Nelson appeared to be trying to provoke Williams into a display of anger as he repeatedly tried to discredit his claims to having remained calm. 'You started calling [Chauvin] names didn't you?' Nelson asked. 'You called him, 'a tough guy.' You called him 'such a man,' 'bogus.' You called him a 'bum' 13 times. You called him a 'bitch.'' But while Williams agreed to all of these assertions he would not be persuaded to agree to Nelson's characterization of him as 'angry' or threatening. Asked if he had told Officer Tou Thao that he hoped he would shoot himself he said: 'No..I said you will shoot yourself in two years because of what you did.' Bystander Darnella Frazier, 18 Darnella Frazier, who was 17 years old when she recorded the most famous viral video of Floyd's arrest last spring, took the stand on March 30 and told how she felt helpless as she watched him lose consciousness. 'There's been nights I've stayed up apologizing to George Floyd for not doing more and not physically interacting, not saving his life,' Darnella, now 18, said. 'But it's not what I should have done - it's what [Chauvin] should have done.' Darnella - who was not shown on camera in court because of her age - asserted that Chauvin pressed his knee into Floyd's neck even harder as the growing crowd begged him to stop - and that he didn't remove his knee even when paramedics were searching for a pulse. 'I heard George Floyd saying: "I can't breathe, please get off of me." He cried for his mom and he was in pain,' Darnella said. 'It seemed like he knew it was over for him. He was terrified, he was suffering. This was a cry for help.' When an ambulance arrived, Darnella said paramedics had to tell Chauvin to remove his knee from Floyd's neck. Darnella said that she felt 'threatened' by both Chauvin and Thao who she said 'were quick to put their hands on their mace' when a woman who identified herself as a firefighter asked Chauvin to check for a pulse and she and Darnella made to move towards Floyd where he lay. Asked if, at any point, Chauvin had 'got up or let up' she said: 'If anything he actually was kneeling harder. It looked like he was shoving his knee in his neck.' At the close of her testimony Darnella broke down as she told jurors how witnessing and filming Floyd's death affected her life. 'When I look at George Floyd I look at my dad, I look my brothers, I look at my cousins, my uncles because they are all black,' she said. 'I have a black father, black brother, black friends and I look at that and I think how that could have been them.' Bystander Judeah, nine Nine-year-old witness Judeah, took the witness stand on March 29 and described how she and her cousin Darnella, who testified earlier, had gone to Cup Foods for snacks on May 25 when they found Floyd pinned to the ground by Chauvin and two other police officers. The girl, who was not shown on camera due to her age, gave gut-wrenching testimony about how Chauvin refused to remove his knee from Floyd's neck even after paramedics arrived and 'asked him nicely to get off of him'. 'He [Chauvin] still stayed on him [Floyd],' Judeah said. She said the medics eventually 'just had to put him off, get him off of him.' 'I was sad and kind of mad. If felt like he was stopping his breathing and kind of hurting him,' Judeah said of Floyd. Judeah is pictured second from the right in a green shirt in video from Floyd's fatal confrontation with police that was shown in court Bystander Alyssa, 18 The prosecution's fourth witness on March 30 was an 18-year-old named Alyssa, who told how she had walked towards the incident and started recording on her friend's cell phone because she felt 'something was wrong'. Alyssa broke down in tears as she described what of Floyd, saying: 'It's difficult [to talk about] because I felt like there wasn't anything I could doand I felt like I was failing him, failing to do anything.' Alyssa said that Chauvin did not move his knee even on the arrival of paramedics and in fact she saw him put more weight on Floyd's neck as the minutes ticked by. 'He [Chauvin] didn't really take his eyes off him [Floyd] for the most part. At one point I saw him put more and more weight onto him. I saw his back foot lift off the ground and his hands go in his pocket.' 'I saw him move his knee down more, make little movements,' she added. The prosecution played the video recorded by Alyssa, in which she could be heard shouting: 'He's not moving. Check his pulse. Tell me his pulse right now. It's been over a minute [since he moved].' She told the jury: 'I knew that time was running out. He was going to die.' Finally she said, there came a point when 'I kind of knew that he was dead and not breathing, no longer fighting, no longer resisting.' Bystander Kaylynn, 17 Alyssa's friend, 17-year-old Kaylynn, was the last minor to testify on March 30. She said that it was the police officers who were 'hostile' not the crowd recalling how Chauvin was 'digging his knee into George Floyd's neck' and 'grabbed his mace and started shaking it at us' when onlookers shouted at him to check for a pulse. 'I was scared because I didn't know what was going to happen,' she said. Asked directly what she was scared of, she replied: 'I was scared of Chauvin.' Off-duty firefighter Genevieve Hansen Off-duty Minneapolis firefighter and paramedic Genevieve Hansen, 27, caused a stir in the courtroom on March 30 when she was admonished by Judge Cahill for repeatedly interrupting and talking back to Chauvin's attorney Nelson during cross examination. Hansen had wiped away tears as she recalled how she had identified herself as a first responder and begged to help Floyd when she believed he was dying outside the Cup Foods store on May 25, 2020. But soon after her demeanor changed as she was questioned by Nelson, who asked if she would describe bystanders at the scene of Floyd's arrest as upset or angry. Hansen replied: 'I don't know if you've seen anybody be killed, but it's upsetting.' At this point Judge Cahill stepped in and cautioned Hansen for being argumentative, telling her to 'just answer his questions'. Minutes later Cahill sent the jury out for the day before turning to an increasingly combative Hansen and telling her in no uncertain terms: 'You will not argue with the court, you will not argue with counsel.' Under direct examination, Hansen explained how her desperate pleas to be allowed to provide Floyd with life-saving medical assistance were ignored by the officers who pinned him down and blocked by officer Thao. 'I tried calm and reasoning, I pleaded and was desperate. I was desperate to help,' Hansen said. Her calls fell on deaf ears as Chauvin remained unmoved and Officer Thao told her to remain on the curb, at one point saying: 'If you really are a Minneapolis firefighter you would know better than to get involved.' In court Hansen said: 'That's exactly what I should have done. There was no medical assistance on the scene and I could have given [it].' 'The officers were leaning over his body with what appeared to be the majority of their weight on him,' she said. 'He wasn't moving, he was cuffed and three grown men putting all their weight on somebody that's too much. 'Chauvin seemed very comfortable with the majority of his weight balanced on top of Mr Floyd's neck. In my memory he had his hand in his pocket. He wasn't distributing the weight on the car, on the pavement.' Hansen said that she had assessed that Floyd had a 'altered level of consciousness,' that concerned her greatly. She said that his face was 'smooshed' into the pavement and said: 'I was really concerned. I thought his face looked puffy and swollen which would happen if you were putting a grown man's weight [on him]. 'I noticed some fluid coming from what looked like George Floyd's body and a lot of time we see a patient release their bladder when they die - that's where my mind went. He was restrained but he wasn't moving.' Hansen said she recognized that Floyd was unconscious because he was not responding to the 'painful stimulae' of Chauvin's knee on his neck. 'What I needed to know was whether or not he had a pulse anymore,' she said. But she said she was not permitted access to the scene and the officers ignored her offers to talk them through CPR. She said she felt 'helpless.' 'There's a man being killed,' she said, 'and had I had access I would have [helped]. This human was denied that right.' Before she took the stand jury saw video she had recorded on the scene and heard audio of the 911 call she placed immediately after. Her voice trembling with shock and emotion she could be heard telling the operator: 'I literally just watched police officers not take a pulse and not to do anything to save a man and I am a first responder myself and I literally have it on video.' In an uncomfortable cross-examination, Hansen refused to be drawn into an admission that she would be distracted from her job if a threatening crowd were gathered telling her she was 'doing it wrong'. Time after time Nelson attempted to get an admission out of her until she said: 'I think a burning structure where there are buildings and homes and people living on either side is much more concerning than 20 people. 'I'll repeat myself, I know my job, I'm confident in doing my job and there's nothing anybody can do to disturb me.' When he asked if she had grown angry, she said she had been 'desperate' before admitting: 'I got quite angry after Mr Floyd was loaded into the ambulance and there was no point in trying to reason with them anymore because they had just killed somebody.' Cup Foods employee Christopher Martin Cup Foods clerk Christopher Martin testified on March 31 about how his coworker called the cops on Floyd because he believed he used a counterfeit $20 bill on May 25. Looking back, Martin said he wished he'd never raised alarm about the bill because he believes Floyd might still be alive if he hadn't, telling the court: 'This could have been avoided.' Martin told the court that he became suspicious of the bill because it had an unusual 'blue pigment so I assumed it was fake'. 'The policy was if you took a counterfeit bill you had to pay for it out of your pay-check,' Martin explained. 'I took it anyways and was planning to just put it on my tab - until I second guessed myself and eventually told my manager.' The manager then instructed Martin to go outside and bring Floyd back, he said. When Floyd refused, a co-worker called police. One of the responding officers was Chauvin. Martin said that the two things he noticed about Floyd were his 'size' and he appeared to be 'high'. However he said that he did not find Floyd's demeanor to be threatening, saying: 'He seemed very friendly, approachable, talkative, he seemed just to be having an average Memorial Day living his life. But he did seem high.' Martin said he went back to manning the cash register when police arrived but soon after noticed a commotion at the front of Cup Foods and went outside, where he saw Floyd pinned to the ground. 'I saw people yelling and screaming I saw Derek [Chauvin] with his knee on George's neck on the ground,' he said. 'George was motionless, limp and Chauvin seemed veryhe was in a resting state, meaning like he just rested his knee on his neck.' Martin, who lived above the store, said: 'I pulled my phone out first and called my mom and told her not to come downstairs. Then I started recording. 'Later on that night I deleted it because when they picked George up off the ground the ambulance went straight down 38th and the quickest way to get to the hospital is straight down Chicago Avenue.' Martin said he assumed from this that Floyd was already dead and deleted his recording as he didn't want to have to show it to anybody or answer questions about it in the aftermath. Asked how he had felt as he absorbed what he had just witnessed, Martin said 'disbelief and guilt'. Martin, who had earlier told jurors that he had almost not reported the fake bill and only done so after second-guessing himself, said: 'If I would have just not taken the bill this could have been avoided.' Asked if he still worked at Cup Foods, Martin's voice cracked as he said: 'No. I didn't feel safe.' Bystander Christopher Belfrey, 45 Christopher Belfrey testified on March 31 about video he recorded when he drove past Cup Foods and say officers Lane and Kueng approaching Floyd in his car. Belfrey, 45, said he started recording when parked directly behind Floyd's SUV because he was 'startled' to see Lane draw his handgun. He explained that he pulled to the other side of the street, not wanting to 'get in the middle' of whatever was occurring and continued recording. The court watched the footage in which Floyd can be seen, apparently cuffed and compliant, seated against a wall having been removed from his vehicle. According to Belfrey, Lane and Kueng then walked Floyd across to their squad car and put him in it. Belfrey said that he had simply gone home at that point because 'I thought he was detained. I thought it was over.' Bystander Charles McMillian, 61 Charles McMillian, who was the first person to confront police about their treatment of Floyd on the day of his fatal arrest, broke down in tears as the prosecution played footage of cops wrestling with the handcuffed black man. McMillian, 61, said he was driving by the Cup Foods convenience store when he noticed officers struggling with Floyd and pulled over simply because he was 'being nosy'. In footage from Lane's body camera McMillian was heard calling out as cops grappled with Floyd in their squad car. McMillian said he 'tried to make the situation easy,' by telling Floyd: 'You can't win.' Floyd could be heard telling McMillian: 'I'm not trying to win. Don't do me like that, I'm claustrophobic.' As he described how Floyd began to cry out for his mother minutes later while pinned to the ground by the officers, McMillian wept as he revealed that he understood how Floyd felt after losing his own mom. 'I couldn't help but feel helpless. I don't have a mama either, but I understand him. My mom died June 25th,' the witness said through tears. He revealed that he had experience of being handcuffed himself and as Floyd became more agitated, having been apparently calm as he was walked towards officers Lane and Kueng's squad car, McMillian said he tried to help. The court played footage of the events as McMillian described them. One clip of McMillian on the sidewalk was spliced with body camera footage of Floyd in the squad car. 'I'm watching, you know, Mr Floyd,' McMillian said. 'He collapsed onto the back seat and I'm trying to get him to understand when you make a mistake, once they get you in cuffs you got to wait there. Once they get you in cuffs you can't win.' McMillian then described how he continued to try to help Floyd after officers Lane, Kueng and Chauvin had pinned him to the ground. '[Floyd] kept saying: 'I can't breathe. Mama they're killing me, they're killing me.' He started saying: 'My body's shutting down.'' As more of the video was played McMillian's voice could be heard urging Floyd: 'Get up and get into the car. Get up and get into the car man.' Floyd responded: 'I can't.' Later McMillian could be heard telling Chauvin: 'Your knee on his neck, that's wrong man.' Of his own part in the scene, McMillian said: 'I was trying to help him. He appeared to be in and out [of consciousness], with foam around his mouth. I said: 'Man he said he can't breathe,' and they said: 'Well if he keeps talking he can breathe.'' The jury was shown body-cam footage in which McMillian told Chauvin: 'I don't respect what you did.' The officer replied: 'Well that's one person's opinion. We got to control this guy because he's a sizeable guy and looks like he's probably on something.' Minneapolis Police Lt Jeff Rugel Lt Jeff Rugel, who runs the Minneapolis Police Department's Business Technology Unit, testified on March 31 to authenticate officers' body camera footage and other video evidence from the scene. Brief footage from Chauvin's camera was played, revealing his perspective as he approached Floyd for the first time. Chauvin was seen with his hands around Floyd's neck as he and Officer Thomas Lane struggled with to get him into a squad car. After a chaotic, blurred portion of footage, Chauvin's camera fell to the tarmac and there was no more footage from his perspective. In footage recorded by Lane's body camera, Chauvin's camera could be seen lying beneath the squad car. It's unclear exactly how the camera came to be on the ground during the confrontation. Rugel told the jury how that Minneapolis police policy demands that officers wear their cameras at all times and to activate them during any activity or public interaction. Asked if Chauvin wore a body camera and if that was 'the box on the floor [beneath squad car 320]', Rugel said: 'Yes.' George Floyd's girlfriend Courteney Ross Courteney Ross broke down in tears within minutes of taking the stand on Thursday as she described how she and Floyd first met in 2017 at the Salvation Army's Harbor Light Center, a shelter where he was working as a security guard and she was visiting her son's father. The married mother-of-two said she was touched when Floyd asked to pray with her because she was going through a hard time in her own life - and they kissed in the lobby that same day. Ross - who wore a gold necklace with her late boyfriend's name - began crying even harder when Frank pulled up a photo of Floyd. Then she laughed as she called the photo a 'dad selfie', before telling how hard it was for Floyd to be so far away from his two daughters, who lived in Texas. She described the man who had called out for his mother in his dying moments as 'a mama's boy' who was 'devastated' and 'broken' by her death in May 2018. 'He seemed like a shell of himself like he was broken, he seemed so sad,' she said. 'He didn't have the same kind of bounce that he had.' Ross was then asked to tackle head on the issue of drug abuse with which, she admitted, both she and Floyd struggled. She said that they were both addicted to opioids having been prescribed them for chronic pain - including oxycodone, which he took in pill form, obtaining it through other people's prescriptions to make sure the pills were safe. 'Both Floyd and I, our story it's a classic story of how many people get addicted to opioids. We both suffered from chronic pain. Mine was in my neck and his was in his back. 'We both have prescriptions. But after prescriptions that were filled, and we got addicted, and tried really hard to break that addiction many times.' Though he tried to get clean, she said it was something that he struggled with 'every day'. In March 2020, she said, she noticed 'behavioral changes' that made her suspect that Floyd was using again, or more, and that she too fell into heavier use at that time. On cross examination by Chauvin's attorney Eric Nelson, Ross revealed that that she and Floyd both purchased opioids from Morries Lester Hall, a friend who was in the passenger seat of Floyd's car on the day he died. Jurors heard that Hall sold controlled substances to both her and Floyd and that she 'did not like Morries at all'. Ross told the court how, in March 2020, just two months before Floyd's death, he purchased pills that she did not recognize as the opioids to which both she and Floyd were addicted. She said the pills, which she believes landed Floyd in the hospital due to an accidental overdose, appeared 'thick' and were not uniform, and that when she took them they did not have the same effect as opioids. 'The pill seemed like it was a really strong stimulant. I couldn't sleep all night. I felt very jittery,' Hall said. Ross also revealed that Floyd had been hospitalized twice in March on one occasion due to a drug overdose that saw him hospitalized for five days. Paramedics Seth Bravinder and Derek Smith Paramedics Seth Bravinder and Derek Smith testified on Thursday as the jury was shown shocking new images of EMTs loading Floyd into an ambulance and attempting to resuscitate him. Bravinder and Smith were asked by the prosecution to explain what was happening in graphic video and stills of Floyd being placed on a stretcher and treated in the ambulance. Some of the images came from video recorded by witnesses on the scene, while others came from the body camera of officer Thomas Lane, who rode with Floyd to the hospital. Asked to describe Floyd's condition, Smith said: 'In lay terms, I thought he was dead,' as the prosecution showed a screengrab of him checking for Floyd's pulse. Video showed Smith gesturing to Chauvin to remove his knee from Floyd's neck so they could put his limp body on a stretcher. In images shown during Smith's testimony, Floyd was seen slumped, and with his mouth bloodied as Smith said he did not have an obvious physical injury that would explain his dire condition. Smith told the court that Floyd's pupils were 'large and dilated'. Bravinder was asked during his testimony what a medic would expect to see in the eyes of a patient who had suffered an opioid overdose. 'We look to see if their pupils are really small, constricted, pinpoint,' he said. But when Nelson countered, asking what methamphetamine one of the substances found in Floyd's blood - does to the pupils, Bravinder said: 'It dilates them.' Smith told the court that he detected a flicker of electrical activity in Floyd's heart as they sped to the Hennepin County Medical Center and administered a shock in hopes of restarting a pulse. But, he said, Floyd remained 'in his dead state'. Both Bravinder and Smith testified that they wanted to get Floyd into the ambulance quickly because he was in cardiac arrest. Bravinder added: 'On top of that there was also a crowd of people who were yelling and in my mind we had to get away from that because running a cardiac arrest takes lot of mental power, can be taxing and we want to do that in the optimum environment to be in a controlled space.' Bravinder said he stopped the ambulance en route to the hospital and went into the back to assist his partner when Floyd's cardiac monitor was showing 'asystole' - the medical term for 'flat-lined'. 'It's not a good sign,' Bravinder said. 'Basically just because your heart isn't doing anything at that moment. There's not it's not pumping blood. So it's not it's not a good sign for a good outcome.' Asked if it was important to start resuscitation efforts as soon as a pulse was lost, Bravinder said: 'Yes, as soon as possible.' 'The longer a patient goes without receiving resuscitation the less likely it is that resuscitation will be successful.' Cross-examined by Nelson, Bravinder confirmed he had personally been called out to emergencies involving drug overdoses and that police were called to such cases as a matter of course. Nelson asked: 'Is that because sometimes when people are treated for an overdose and they come round they become aggressive and violent?' Bravinder responded: 'Yes.' Minneapolis Fire Department Captain Jeremy Norton Minneapolis Fire Department Captain Jeremy Norton testified on April 1 about the initial confusion that saw their fire rig arrive at Cup Foods to assist paramedics only to find that the ambulance had pulled off the scene and was treating Floyd a few blocks away. He explained that they had received very little information beyond receiving a call out to Cup Foods which was elevated from code 2 (non-emergent), to code 3, (lights and sirens en route). According to Norton the only information he had was that the patient had sustained 'a mouth injury'. On arrival at the store Norton found 'people upset' and searched for a patient. Norton said: 'I was looking for a patient. The call was confusing because I didn't have a lot of information so was essentially looking on the floor for someone.' The fire rig ultimately joined the ambulance crew at 36th and Park Avenue, two blocks away. By the time he saw Floyd he was, he said: 'Face up on the stretcher. He had an advance airway in an he had the Lucas compression device in place and working.' Norton cleared Lane out of the ambulance and took over attempts to resuscitate Floyd who was, he said, 'to all intents and purposes dead'. Minneapolis Police Department Sergeant David Pleoger David Pleoger, who recently retired as a sergeant with the Minneapolis Police Department and was Chauvin's supervisor, testified on April 1. The jury heard new audio of Chauvin speaking with Pleoger moments after Floyd's death, saying: 'I was just going to call you come out to our scene we had to hold a guy down he was going crazy, wouldn't go in the back of the squad.' Pleoger said that Chauvin did not tell him that he had applied his knee to Floyd's neck or that he had held him down for any length of time. 'I believe he told me he'd become combative he mentioned he'd injured either his nose of his mouth and eventually having struggled with him,' Pleoger recalled. 'He said he'd suffered a medical emergency and an ambulance was called.' As supervising shift sergeant, Pleoger was tasked with investigating any use of force incidents that occurred during his shift 3pm to 1am. Describing the call he'd received from 911 dispatcher Jenna Scurry, Pleoger said: 'She called to say she didn't want to be a snitch but she had seen something while viewing a camera that she thought was concerning.' Pleoger had not received a call from Chauvin at that time and initially told Scurry that what she saw 'might not count'. According to Minneapolis Police Department policy officers are required to report use of force incidents under certain circumstances but not if it is a 'take down', which Pleoger who had not been called by any of the officers on the scene - initially assumed was the case. The jury was shown footage from Pleoger's body camera in which officers Chauvin, Thao, Kueng and Lane could be standing near the site of where they took down Floyd. Pleoger instructed Chauvin to identify and speak with witnesses, to which the officer replied: 'We can try but they're pretty hostile.' Additional video showed Pleoger arriving at the hospital where Floyd was pronounced dead, in which Chauvin appeared to be wringing his hands. Asked if he had an opinion as to when Chauvin's restraint should have ended, Pleoger responded: 'Yes [it should have ended] when Mr Floyd was no longer offering up any resistance.' MPD Sergeant Jon Edwards Sgt. Jon Edwards, who was called to secure the scene in the aftermath, testified that two of the officers involved were still at the site when he arrived and that he was ordered to remove the crime scene tape just hours after his death was confirmed. Edwards said he encountered Lane and Kueng at the scene when he arrived and he instructed them to turn on their body cameras. Edwards said: 'I asked them to chill out because I knew from Sergeant Pleoger that he had a couple of escort sergeants coming down to transport them to interview room 100.' Edwards told jurors that at approximately 10.13pm news came through that Floyd had died and the situation was confirmed as a critical incident. By then homicide was on the scene and Lane and Kueng were transported to City Hall to be interviewed. Edwards testified that he was then ordered to remove the crime scene tape he had earlier put up at about 3.30am. MPD Lt Richard Zimmerman Richard Zimmerman, the head of the Minneapolis Police Department's homicide division, told jurors that Chauvin's use of force in arresting Floyd was 'totally unnecessary' because a handcuffed person doesn't pose a threat and kneeling on someone's neck can 'kill them'. Zimmerman, who responded to the crime scene after Floyd's deadly arrest, testified that he had watched multiple videos showing the moment the officer knelt on the black man's neck after handcuffing him. Having watched the videos, Zimmerman was clear: 'Pulling him down to the ground face down and putting your knee on his neck for that amount of time is just uncalled for.' He added that once Floyd was handcuffed, he saw 'no reason why the officers felt they were in danger and that's what they would have to feel to use that level of force.' Zimmerman told jurors that kneeling on the neck of someone who is handcuffed and in the prone position is 'top-tier, deadly' force and should not be used. 'If your knee is on a person's neck, that can kill him,' he said. Asked by prosecutors whether a handcuffed person was a reduced threat, Zimmerman said: 'Once a person is cuffed, the threat level goes down all the way. They are cuffed, how can they really hurt you. 'You getting injured is way down. You could have some guy try to kick you or something, but you can move out of the way. That person is handcuffed, you know, so the threat level is just not there.' Zimmerman, who is trained every year in the use of force, told jurors he had never been trained to 'kneel on the neck of somebody who's cuffed and in the prone position'. 'Once you secure or handcuff a person you need to get them out of the prone position as soon as possible because it restricts their breathing,' he said, adding that having your hands cuffed behind your back 'stretches the muscles back through your chest and makes it more difficult to breathe'. Dr Bradford Langenfeld Dr Bradford Langenfeld, the medic at the Hennepin County Medical Center who pronounced Floyd dead, told jurors on April 5 that he believed the cause of death last May 25 was asphyxia. He told the court, 'Any amount of time that a patient spends in cardiac arrest without CPR markedly decreases the chances of survival' before explaining that those chances dropped by 10 to 15 percent with each passing minute. There was nothing in the paramedics' reports, he said, to suggest that they were concerned that Floyd had either suffered a heart attack or drug overdose. Dr Langenfeld also told how paramedics had fought to revive Floyd for 30 minutes by the time he arrived in his ward but that despite their efforts he was in cardiac arrest and save for occasional Pulseless Electrical Activity (PEA) activity in the heart not strong enough to establish a pulse he flat-lined. The medic could not recall whether or not Floyd was still cuffed on arrival but he did remember seeing indentations from the handcuffs on his wrists. Dr Langenfeld said he had considered a host of possible causes for Floyd's cardiac arrest and concluded that hypoxia oxygen deficiency or asphyxia was most likely, he said 'based on the information that I had.' He declared Floyd dead after 30 minutes in the hospital, by which time he had been without a pulse for close to an hour. Speaking softly and soberly he recalled, 'In the absence of any apparent reversable cause, [I felt that] the likelihood of any meaningful outcome was far below 1 percent and we would not be able to resuscitate Mr Floyd, so I then pronounced him dead.' The court also heard from Dr. Bradford Langenfeld Monday, pictured, the medic at the Hennepin County Medical Center who pronounced Floyd dead Minneapolis Police Chief Medaria Arradondo Minneapolis Police Chief Medaria Arradondo told jurors that Chauvin 'absolutely did not' follow police policy on de-escalation or use of force when he pressed his knee into Floyd's neck for 9 minutes and 29 seconds. In explosive testimony on April 5, Arradondo said Chauvin's use of force 'absolutely' violated the department's policy and belief in 'the sanctity of life,' and that the pressure he used was contrary to all departmental teachings. He said: 'Once Mr Floyd had stopped resisting and certainly once he was in distress and trying to verbalize that, that should have stopped. 'Once there was no longer any resistance and clearly when Mr Floyd was no longer responsive and even motionless to continue to apply that level of force to a person proned out, handcuffed behind their back that in no way shape or form is by policy, part of our training, certainly not part of our ethics or values.' Shown a still image taken from the bystander video Arradondo said: 'When I look at the facial expression of Mr Floyd that does not appear in any way shape or form that that is ight to moderate pressure [as per policy]. 'That action is not de-escalation and when we talk about the framework of our sanctity of life and principals and values that we have that action goes contrary.' Arradondo, Minneapolis's first black police chief, also told the court that he agreed the Chauvin had violated policy by failing to provide any medical aid to the clearly suffering Floyd. He fired Chauvin and three other officers the day after Mr Floyd's death on May 25 last year and in June called it 'murder'. As well as his clear condemnation of the actions he described as violating policy, Arradondo told the court that Floyd's alleged crime - passing a fake $20 bill at Cup Foods store - did not rise to the level of violent crime that demanded use of force or a custodial arrest. Inspector Katie Blackwell Inspector Katie Blackwell, former commander of the Minneapolis police department's training division, took the stand on April 5. She said that she has known Chauvin for close to twenty years having first served as a community officer with him. And she herself appointed Chauvin, who was by far the most senior officer on the scene May 25, to the role of Field Training Officer, responsible for training and mentoring new recruits. But when shown an image of Chauvin, with his knee on Floyd's neck, Blackwell was damning. She said, 'I don't know what kind of improvised position that is.' According to Blackwell officers are taught to use one or two arms, not knees, for neck restraints and to constantly reassess the situation. She also said that 'positional asphyxia' was a concept known to her for as long as she had been an officer roughly the same period of time that Chauvin has served. She echoed testimony already heard by the jury regarding the dangers of keeping a person in the prone position one in which they are not able to adequately breath. For that reason, she said, officers are taught to put suspects on their side, in the side-recovery position or sitting upright 'as soon as is possible.' MPD Inspector Katie Blackwell also gave evidence Monday. She told jurors about the training officers recieve Ker Wang, Crisis Training Coordinator On April 6 the court heard from Sergeant Ker Wang, 49, Crisis Training Coordinator with the MPD and the man who wrote significant portions of that training. He said that he recognized Chauvin's name, not because he knew him personally, but from training. The court heard that Chauvin took part in a 40-hour crisis training course in 2018 though this was not a course in which Wang had personally instructed him. Wang described a 'crisis' as anything that took an individual 'beyond their coping mechanisms' and said that the primary goal of any intervention was to 'de-escalate' and restore the situation to a pre-crisis level. Steve Schleicher asked Wang to talk the jury through the Critical Decision Making Model a graphic of five spheres around a central sphere. Wang, who introduced the model to MPD training in 2018, explained how the outer spheres which contained the topic headings: Information Gathering, Threat/Risk Assessment, Authority to Act, Goals and Actions, Review & Re-Assess linked to the 'key pillars of procedural justice' expressed in the centre 'Voice Neutrality Respect Trust.' The model could be read and enacted in any direction, as officers respond to crisis in a state of flux and constant reassessment. He said that every officer could apply this model, 'like memory' and in doing so 'can slow down time,' in a crisis situation. He said, 'I believe in this model because it works.' When Nelson cross-examined the witness he sought to widen the focus from Chauvin's assessment of and actions towards Floyd to take in the context of the crowd the part that they played in events and the extent to which their understanding of them was limited. He pointed out that an officer had to consider 'the totality of the circumstances,' which 'is more than just how you react to the person being arrested.' Wang agreed with Nelson's statement that this included, 'citizen bystanders, what to do when a citizen bystander starts filming you, how to identify when a citizen constitutes a risk.' The model was, Nelson asserted, 'a very dynamic, ever-changing thing based on the information that comes to the officers in real time.' Much of that may be invisible to the onlookers, he said such as tactical thinking, knowing that medical help is on the way, considering officer safety. Nelson then steered toward a presentation of Chauvin's conduct and appearance as textbook. Referencing training he said, 'An officer should appear confident, they should be able to try to stay calm, they should try speak slowly and softly, they should avoid staring or eye-contact' Wang agreed. They should, he said, in all respects attempt to 'create time and distance.,' acting only when it was 'safe and feasible' to do so. Lieutenant Johnny Mercil Minneapolis Police Department's use of force expert and the man in charge of officer training told jurors on April 6 that Chauvin's knee on Floyd's neck is not, and never has been, an MPD trained neck restraint. Asked by prosecutor Steve Schleicher if such a level of restraint would be authorized when a subject is handcuffed Lieutenant Johnny Mercil replied, 'I would say no.' Mercil also told the court that officers were taught to use the minimum amount of force needed to detain someone. Asked about leg neck restraints Mercil explained that, while not taught to officers, they were something that might be shown to young cadets. But they would not look like the restraint carried out by Chauvin on May 25. As Schleicher walked him through the training and concepts in MPD's Use of Force Mercil told the court that officers are not taught to use leg neck restraints and never have been. Mercil was responding to a picture of Chauvin with his knee pressed into Floyd's neck shown to him in court. According to Mercil officers are taught how to deliver conscious and unconscious neck restraints with their arms and only under very limited circumstances when the level of resistance and threat would make such a measure proportional. MPD medical support coordinator Nicole MacKenzie Nicole MacKenzie, Minneapolis police medical support coordinator, testified that it is 'very difficult to focus on a patient if you don't feel safe', arguing a noisy crowd could have made it hard for officers to hear Floyd struggling to breathe. She told jurors on April 6 that treating a person under the eyes of a noisy crowd was 'incredibly difficult.' MacKenzie said: 'It might sound wrong but bystanders do sometimes attack EMS crews so sometimes just getting out of the situation is the best way to diffuse it.' 'It's incredibly difficult [to treat under those circumstances] because you're trying to be heads down on a patient [but] it's very difficult to focus on the patient if you don't feel safe around you.' MacKenzie also said Floyd could have displayed 'super-human strength' due do 'Excited Delirium' brought on by the consumption of the illicit drug speedball. Explaining this potential side-effect of taking the illicit drug MacKenzie said, 'The person might be experiencing elevated body temperature, the heart rate might be extremely elevated and insensitive to pain. Because you don't really have that pain/compliance edge that would normally control somebody's behavior. 'Somebody experiencing this might have what we would call super-human strength, lifting things they wouldn't normally be able to lift, breaking things.' One of other officers at the scene, Thomas Lane, said he was 'worried about excited delirium' and suggesting rolling Floyd on his side. The prosecution established that Chauvin had undergone training in CPR and AED as well as other first aid before MacKenzie told the jury that trained officers must provide medical aid when necessary. It was not enough, she said, for an officer to simply call for an ambulance and wait when in a 'critical situation'. She talked the jury through the basic steps in which officers are trained to establish responsiveness and if no response is forthcoming to check for breathing and a pulse before commencing chest compressions. Asked if it was true to say that if a person can talk they can breathe, MacKenzie said, 'No sir, somebody can be in respiratory distress and still be able to verbalize it.' But under cross-examination MacKenzie agreed that the policies on rendering emergency medical aid were 'somewhat qualified or contingent on what was going on at the scene at the time.' Put simply the scene had to be safe, she accepted, before an officer should turn their attentions to first aid or CPR. Nelson focused again on the scene. Painting the picture of a busy road and volatile, vocal crowd he asked if it would be possible for an officer to confuse the gasps of 'agonal' ineffective 'breathing' with effective breathing and if this mistake would be more likely, 'when there's a lot of noise and commotion.' MacKenzie agreed on both points. Use-of-force expert Jody Stiger Derek Chauvin's use of force was 'excessive', according to Jody Stiger, a Los Angeles police sergeant who gave testimony as the state's use-of-force expert on April 6. Stiger told the court that he has served in some of the most dangerous places and some of the most dangerous beats Skid Row, gangs, narcotics both in uniform and undercover and on LAPD's Use of Force Board, as a peer reviewer of high profile uses of force. Stiger was also a tactics instructor of six years and has travelled nationally in his capacity as an aid to the Inspector General an independent oversight entity in LAPD consulting with police forces across the country to establish consistent standards and training nationwide. He has conducted 2500 use of force reviews including use of deadly force. Stiger told the jury that he had reviewed all of the state's materials body-worn cameras, cell and pole-camera video footage, reports and MPD manuals and training materials. He told the court that he also took into consideration legal standards, the level of the offense and the person's actions. Asked about Floyd's crime attempting to pass a fake $20 bill he said, 'Typically you wouldn't even expect to use any force.' He said officers were initially justified in their use of force because Floyd was 'actively resisting' but said 'once he was placed in the prone position on the ground he slowly ceased his resistance and at that point the ex-officers should have slowed down or backed off their force as well.' Instead, he noted, 'They continued the force that they were utilizing from the time when they put him on the ground.' Stiger told the court that the officers could have continued trying to talk to Floyd and noted that Kueng had already established some sort of rapport. But despite this he said that they had not behaved unreasonably in their efforts to get a struggling Floyd into the back of the squad car. He recalled, 'Mr Floyd was actively resisting moving around clearly, trying to get out. He didn't want to be there and the officers were initially trying to place him in the back seat, grabbing the seat belt and things of that nature and eventually the decision was made to remove him from the vehicle.' He said, 'They were pulling him from the driver side, passenger door the street side pulling on his legs and his arms and once they got him out he kind of went on his knees. 'He was saying he couldn't breathe, saying he was claustrophobic. Numerous times he stated he was afraid, he had had covid and couldn't breathe and he had anxiety and was claustrophobic.' Jody Stiger, 50, who gave testimony as the state's Use of Force expert, said Chauvin's use of force was 'excessive' Senior Special Agent James Reyerson, the Bureau of Criminal Apprehension officer James Reyerson, the lead investigator in Derek Chauvin's murder case on April 7 reversed his testimony regarding George Floyd's declaration, 'I ate too many drugs', later clarifying he heard: 'I ain't doing no drugs'. Defense attorney Eric Nelson had played the clip to the court from one of the officer's body-worn cameras at the scene last May 25. Asked if he recalled hearing that Reyerson said no he did not. After the segment was played in court, when asked again if he had heard it he said, 'Yes I did.' But in a stunning about face, when recalled by the prosecution and played a longer portion of the bodycam footage, Reyerson said that he now believed Floyd to be saying, 'I ain't doing no drugs.' Reyerson told the jury both the patrol car Floyd was pulled out of and the car he was in were processed on May 27, two days after Floyd's death, then again in December 2020 when the prosecution requested a search of the Blue Mercedes SUV before the defense asked to see squad 320 in January. It was at that time a half- chewed speedball pill was found bearing Floyd's DNA and saliva. BCA forensic scientist and Lead Crime Scene Investigator McKenzie Anderson BCA forensic scientist and Lead Crime Scene Investigator McKenzie Anderson told the jury on April 7 how she had found a crumpled and open packet of Suboxone a medication given to adults with an opioid addiction in the driver's seat footwell of the Mercedes Floyd had arrived in, as well as an unopened packet on the seat. She also told them about two round white pills found in the center console of the car. Jurors were shown pictures of all of these findings. Anderson and her colleagues had not found the pills or containers on an initial search of the Mercedes on May 27 when she photographed the interior and searched with little sense of what she might be looking for. The car was searched again on the request of the Attorney General's office December 9 when the pills and $20 bills stuffed between the passenger seat and center consol. Anderson told jurors that she 'didn't give any forensic significance' to the small white pill clearly visible on the floor on the passenger side of the vehicle's back seat in the first set of pictures. She explained that she had been looking for blood or something to do with fake bills. The potential significance was immediately spotted by the defense who requested a second search of the car having seen the half-chewed pill in pictures. On a second search Anderson found the white pill as well as several other small irregular shaped white objects that could, she said, have been parts of a pill. There were no visible markings on either the pill or the fragments, all of which, she said had a rough texture and irregular shape. There was one fragment, stuck to the back seat and reddish-brown in color, that, she said, seemed 'consistent with the other pieces,' except for the color difference. Forensic testing found Floyd's DNA in saliva left on the half-chewed pill which was found to be a 'speedball' or compound of methamphetamine and fentanyl when sent to drug chemistry division. Forensic scientist Breahna Giles BCA's Breahna Giles was the forensic scientist tasked with analyzing the glass pipe and pills found in the Mercedes. On April 7 she testified that she found traces of THC the psychoactive component found in marijuana in residue scraped from the pipe and determined the pills, which had pharmaceutical markings, to be a compound of Oxycodone and Acetaminophen. She also tested the tablet and fragments found in the back of squad 320 and found the partial white pill to be methamphetamine as well as identifying methamphetamine in the fragments found. Under cross-examination Giles said that there was the presence of other substances but not enough to make a positive determination of its nature. Asked by Nelson, 'But that was fentanyl?' she said she could neither confirm nor deny its presence. Eleven nanograms of Fentanyl was found in Floyd's bloodstream. BCA's Breahna Giles was the forensic scientist tasked with analyzing the glass pipe and pills found in the Mercedes. She found traces of THC the psychoactive component found in marijuana in residue scraped from the pipe and determined the pills, which had pharmaceutical markings, to be a compound of Oxycodone and Acetamenophin Forensic chemist Susan Neith Forensic chemist Susan Neith was the last witness on April 7. She also tested the pills from both vehicles and told the jury that she found trace levels of fentanyl and methamphetamine in the pills taken from the back of the squad car. She put the levels of fentanyl at less than 1 percent the amount she said she would expect to find in street fentanyl. But put the levels of methamphetamine at between 1 and 2.9percent which she said was much lower in her experience than that found in street drugs which she would expect to come in at 80 to 90 percent. Forensic chemist Susan Neith was the last witness of the day. She also tested the pills from both vehicles and told the jury that she found trace levels of fentanyl and methamphetamine in the pills taken from the back of the squad car Pulmonology expert Dr Martin Tobin Dr Martin Tobin, a specialist at the Edward Hines, Jr. VA Hospital and Loyola University's medical school in Chicago, testified he believed Floyd's cause of death was due to a lack of oxygen that damaged his brain and caused his heart to stop. During his hours-long testimony on April 8, he said there were several factors that he said made it difficult for Floyd to breathe, beyond Chauvin's knee on his neck: Officers lifting up on his handcuffs, the hard street, lying face down, his turned head and a knee on his back. 'A healthy person subjected to what Mr. Floyd was subjected to would have died as a result of what he was subjected to,' Dr Tobin said. Tobin, analyzing a graphic presentation of the three officers holding down Floyd for what prosecutors say was almost 9 1/2 minutes, testified that Chauvin's knee was 'virtually on the neck' for more than 90% of the time by his estimate. Chauvin also kept his knee on Floyd's neck for 3.02 minutes after Floyd had 'reached the point where there was not one ounce of oxygen left in the body,' Tobin said. When asked if Dr Tobin, based on his medical expertise, had determined a cause of death for Floyd after viewing videos from the scene, he said: 'Mr Floyd died from a low level of oxygen... The cause of low level of oxygen was shallow breathing. Small breaths that weren't able to carry the air through his lungs. 'He was being squashed between the two sides,' Dr Tobin said as he described the position Floyd was in lying face down on the ground with the officers pinning him down. Dr Tobin told the court that the impact of the pressure of the officers and handcuffs rendered movement so impossible that Floyd's left lung was greatly affected. 'When you breathe you use your diaphragm, next thing you recruit is the big muscles in the neck, when those are wasted up then you're relying on these kinds of muscles to get air into the right side.' Elsewhere in his testimony, Dr Tobin said he'd calculated that Floyd's lung capacity was reduced by 43 percent when Chauvin was pinning him down. Forensic toxicologist Dr Daniel Isenschmid Dr Daniel Isenschmid took the stand on April 8 and told how he found traces of fentanyl and methamphetamine when he tested blood drawn from Floyd at the hospital and urine from his autopsy. He told the court that even though there was a high level of fentanyl in Floyd's bloodstream 11ng ml where a 3ng ml could be lethal individual tolerance had to be taken into account. The toxicology expert suggested Floyd's tolerance have been high as a regular user. He also pointed to the presence of norfentanyl a metabolic of fentanyl. Isenschmid said that he wouldn't expect to see this in a case where death had occurred as a result of fentanyl overdose because the body wouldn't have had a chance to metabolize the drug. He described the level of meth in Floyd's bloodstream 19ng ml - as no more than he would expect to find in the blood of a patient who had consumed a single legally prescribed dose and his amphetamine was below reportable levels. Forensic expert Dr William Smock Dr William Smock took the stand on April 8 and testified that Floyd died from positional asphyxia, which he said was 'a fancy way of saying he died because he had no oxygen left in his body'. 'When the body is deprived of oxygen, in this case from pressure on this chest and back, he gradually succumbed to lower and lower levels of oxygen until he succumbed and he died,' he said. Smock said that he had considered and dismissed other causes including the defense's causes of choice fentanyl overdose and excited delirium. One by one he explained the symptoms of excited delirium including excessive sweat, being unaffected by pain and super-human strength and dismissed them pointing out that Floyd was cold to the touch, complaining of pain from the moment he was on the ground and unable to throw the police officers from his back. Asked by prosecutors how many of the 10 recognized symptoms he observed, Smock answered: 'Zip.' He discarded fentanyl overdose as a possible cause of death because he said, Floyd was not falling into a coma, snoring, or slowing down in breathing. He was, instead, fighting for his life and demonstrating 'air hunger' as he struggled to breathe. He pointed to Floyd's weakening voice as evidence that the life was draining from him and recognized Floyd's dying moments in his altering facial expressions and anoxic seizure when his legs kicked out straight behind him. Smock explained that since Floyd was a chronic drug users the levels of narcotics and their metabolites found in his blood stream really meant very little. 'You don't rely on the level, you look at the patient,' he said. The defense has pointed to the fact that there was no bruising on Floyd's neck and throat post mortem as proof that Chauvin's knee did not dig into him until the life was squeezed out of him. But Smock, who is also a specialist in strangulation, said: 'You can be fatally strangled and died of asphyxia and have no bruising.' Dr William Smock, a forensic medicine expert, told the jury in Derek Chauvin's murder trial on Thursday April 8 that when George Floyd cried out 'I can't breathe' he was exhibiting the desperation of 'air hunger' Forensic pathologist Dr Lindsey Thomas Forensic pathologist Dr Lindsey Thomas, who works as a medical examiner in Reno and Salt Lake City, testified on April 9 that Floyd died as as result of 'low oxygen' or 'asphyxia.' Thomas said that in this case the autopsy itself did not tell her the cause of death in her investigation but the 'unique' amount of documentation in terms of videos and records was vital in establishing 'mechanism' of death. She agreed with Hennepin County Medical Examiner Dr Andrew Baker's finding that the cause of death was 'cardiopulmonary arrest, complicating law enforcement subdual restraint and neck compression'. Thomas told the court that there are no physical findings in autopsy that show low oxygen but there are sometimes findings consistent with a cause of death that may result in low oxygen. She gave as an example a partial hanging in which a person may have petechiae, tiny burst blood vessels in the eye. She said that she had found such supporting signs in Floyd's autopsy. According to Thomas, 'Mr Floyd had superficial injuries on his face, shoulders and wrists. What that does is it supports what I saw in the videos which is that he's being forcibly restrained and subdued and trying to move into a position by rubbing his face against the ground, pulling against his handcuffs and by pushing with his shoulder. 'And he also had some scrapes on his knuckles on his right hand and again that was from him pushing trying to get into a position where he could breathe.' She explained: 'There are really two parts; cardiopulmonary arrest which doesn't really provide much additional information because essentially we all die when our heart and lungs stop, but as a forensic pathologist I would use it to differentiate from cardiac arrest. This is not a sudden cardiac arrest. 'This is a death where both the heart and lungs stopped working and the point is that it is due to subdual restraint and compression.' Thomas concluded: 'The activities of the law enforcement officers led to Mr Floyd's death.' And by that she meant placing him in the prone position, handcuffing him and kneeling on his back and, specifically, neck. Hennepin County Chief Medical Examiner Dr Andrew Baker Hennepin County Chief Medical Examiner Dr Andrew Baker, who performed Floyd's autopsy, took the stand on April 9 and said that he did not find the cause of death to be asphyxia or low oxygen levels and that he did not believe that Chauvin's knee was on Floyd's neck for 'the majority' of the time. In a massive departure from the prosecution's contention, Baker said: 'In my impression from the video it would appear that Mr Chauvin's knee was primarily on the back, on the side or the area in between Mr Floyd's neck (and back).' Under cross examination, Baker told the court that asphyxia was 'a very common cause' of the deaths that he had seen across 2,900 to 3,000 autopsies but it was not the conclusion that he came to before, or after, having seen the videos of the incident on May 25, 2020. In a startlingly brief direct questioning by Jerry Blackwell, Baker told the court that Floyd died because being pinned down on the ground with his neck compressed was, 'just more than he could take,' given his severe underlying heart disease. Asked if, in his opinion, the positioning of Chauvin's knee would cut off Floyd's oxygen supply, Baker said: 'In my opinion it would not.' In his view, he said: 'It was the stress of that interaction that tipped him over the edge given his underlying heart disease and his toxicological status.' The doctor told the court that he had deliberately avoided all video footage until after he conducted the autopsy because he did not want to introduce any 'bias' that might, 'lead [his] examination down any particular path'. In his conclusion Floyd's death occurred 'in the context' of law enforcement subdual, restraint and neck compression but he did not give the cause of death as set out by others. Cardiologist Dr Jonathan Rich Dr Jonathan Rich, a cardiologist at Northwestern Memorial Hospital in Chicago, took the stand on April 12 and said Floyd would still be alive if it weren't for Chauvin's restraint as he asserted that the black man did not have heart disease and his tolerance for fentanyl was so high that the drug played no role in his death. 'In this case Mr George Floyd died from a cardiopulmonary arrest,' Rich told the jury. 'It was caused by low oxygen and those low oxygen levels were produced by the prone restraint and positional asphyxia that he was subjected to.' Rich refuted key arguments from the defense when he said he had considered and discounted Floyd's cause of death as having originated from the heart itself or being the result of an overdose. 'After reviewing all of the facts I can state with a high degree of medical certainty that George Floyd did not die from a primary cardiac event and he did not die from a drug overdose,' he said. Instead, he said Floyd 'was just unable using all of his muscles, his accessory muscles, he was unable [to breathe] because of the position he was subjected to'. 'The heart thus didn't have enough oxygen either which means the entire body didn't have enough oxygen,' he said. Asked whether he thought Floyd would be alive today were it not for 'Mr Chauvins subdual and restraint of nine minutes and 29 seconds on the ground', Rich said: 'To a high degree of medical certainty, he would have lived.' Rich told the court that, in his view: 'Mr George Floyd's death was absolutely preventable.' He said the first thing that could've been done to prevent Floyd's death would have been to simply not place him in the prone position at all. After that happened, Rich said Floyd should have been moved into the side recovery position when his complaints of not being able to breathe became audibly weaker. While Floyd had high blood pressure which could, Rich said, become a problem over time if not treated, he told the jury: 'Every indicator is that Mr Floyd had an exceptionally strong heart because he could generate pressures at some points upwards of 200.' Rich explained that a problem with some of the patients he sees who are suffering heart failure is that they cannot generate pressures of even 80 as a top number. Normal blood pressure is around 120/80. As doctors Martin Tobin, William Smock and Lindsey Thomas had before him, Rich asserted that the deterioration he observed in Floyd was not the sudden loss of consciousness of a primary cardiac event, but the slow seeping way of one deprived of oxygen for a prolonged period of time. 'In the course of the restraint I was looking to see if his deterioration occurred rapidly,' Rich said. 'A primary cardiac event, the most common arrhythmia is ventricular fibrillation, when that happens the individual will look relatively okay and then they will immediately become unconscious. 'On the other hand if the cause is from something else for example low oxygen levels you will typically see that happening more gradually and slowly. 'I could see his speech starting to become less forceful, his muscle movements becoming weaker until eventually his speech and muscle movements were absent. And then of course he was in a PEA (Pulseless Electrical Activity) cardiopulmonary arrest.' Turning to the autopsy report, Rich said that he had found no evidence of the sort of tell-tale damage to the heart that a heart attack would have left behind. And while he called Floyd's arterial disease 'notable', he said it was not something that surprised him because it is so common. What was most significant, he said, was that Floyd's arteries were only partially blocked, not completely occluded a sign of that a heart attack had occurred. Rich discounted a fentanyl or methamphetamine overdose saying that he felt the latter 'played no substantive role at all'. He said from what he had seen, Floyd's behavior his talkativeness, alertness, ability to walk was the opposite of what a person would witness in an opiate overdose. On cross examination, Nelson tried to take the sting out of Rich's testimony that Floyd would be alive today were it not for Chauvins actions. Flipping the outcome back on Floyd, Nelson asked: 'If Mr Floyd had just got into the seat of the squad car do you think he would have survived?' Rich tip-toed into his answer, denying Nelson the straight yes or no that he sought. 'Had he not been restrained in the way in which he was, I think he would have survived that day. I think he would have gone home had he not been subjected to the prone position that he was,' he said. 'So in other words,' Nelson summed up for the court. 'If he had just gotten into the squad car.' Philonise Floyd, George Floyd's younger brother Floyd's younger brother Philonise Floyd broke down in tears at trial on April 12 as the court was shown pictures of his slain sibling - as a young boy, sleeping in his smiling mothers arms, as a teenager studying, pen in hand and as a young athlete who got a basketball scholarship to South Florida before transferring to Gainesville, Texas, where he played football, and smiling with his seven-year-old daughter Gianna in his arms. Philonise, 39, recalled his oldest brother as a 'leader,' who organized his younger siblings and made sure they had their school uniform each morning and a snack before school. He said that people in their community would go to church just because they saw that Floyd was there. He said that his older brother always wanted to be taller and to be the best, measuring himself as he grew and throwing hundreds of hoops in a bid to be the 'best' at basketball. Philonise recalled playing video games and catch with Floyd growing up before telling the court with a smile that his brother 'couldn't boil water' but would make the best 'banana and mayonnaise and syrup sandwiches'. Toward the end of his brief testimony, he told how broken Floyd was by his mother's death, saying that at the funeral, 'George just sat there at the casket saying: "Mamma" over and over again. 'He was just kissing her. He didn't want to leave the casket.' George Floyd's brother Philonise Floyd testified at Derek Chauvin's murder trial on Monday afternoon (pictured) Use-of-force expert Seth Stoughton The prosecution's final witness, use-of-force expert Seth Stoughton, testified on April 12 that Floyd did not pose a threat during his fatal arrest and said officers should have relented after the handcuffed black man pleaded: 'I can't breathe' 27 times. Stoughton, a former cop turned law professor, was asked to provide his analysis of body camera video of Floyd pinned to the ground by Chauvin and two other officers on May 25 in Minneapolis. In a damning sequence prosecutor Steve Schleicher asked: 'Did Mr Floyd present any threat of escape? Did he present any threat to physical property? Did he present any threat to the physical safety of officers or anyone else?' Again and again Stoughton answered: 'No he did not.' Asked: 'Did he present any sort of threat at all?' Stoughton again said: 'No he did not.' Stoughton concluded: 'No reasonable officers would have believed that was an appropriate, acceptable or reasonable use of force.' Stoughton said it was 'never' necessary or reasonable to place Floyd in a prone position, adding: 'It's clear from the number of officers the fact that he's handcuffed and has been searched he doesn't present any threat of harm, his actions don't suggest he's any threat of escape.' 'Given the range of alternatives available to officers its just not appropriate to prone someone when theyre already compliant,' Stoughton said. Stoughton went on to draw a distinction between 'threat' and 'risk'. He explained: 'Threat is not some abstract notion. It's specific; threat "of" something. Threat exists when the individual has the physical ability, the opportunity and apparent intention to cause whatever harm we're envisaging. 'That's how we identify threat. Risk you can think of as a potential threat. Risk is something officers can use tactics and communications to address. The goal is to prevent risk becoming threat and that threat to turn into whatever the apparent harm intended is.' He added: 'While threat can justify use of force, risk can't.' Stoughton said that he considered a use of force review as 'kind of a balancing of harms. The idea is an officer cannot use more force than the situation justifies. 'The foreseeable effects can't be disproportionate to the perceived threat.' That is exactly what he concluded they had been on May 25, 2020. Stoughton told the court: 'Before he fell silent Mr Floyd said: "I can't breathe" by my count at least 27 times. If somebody is describing that they're in distress then officers have to take that into account.' 'The officers are maintaining Mr Floyd in that prone position but there are some indicators that the foreseeable effects are occurring and that hes experiencing positional asphyxia. 'Not only does he indicate it with the words he's using but [as the restraint continues] his voice is slower and thicker.' According to Stoughton a 'reasonable officer' would 'absolutely' have been aware of Floyd's complaints and in fact Chauvin can be heard acknowledging both them and, later, Officer J Alexander Kueng telling him that he could not find a pulse. Returning to his threat assessment as a vital part of establishing the reasonableness of force used Stoughton said: 'Somebody who does not have a pulse does not present a threat in any way.' Stoughton also dismissed the notion that the crowd posed any credible threat or could be perceived as such by a 'reasonable officer'. He pointed out that the first negative comment from the crowd came more than three minutes into the restraint and he noted Officer Tou Thao's flippant comment: 'This is why you don't do drugs, kids' as an indication that the officers were not truly afraid of trouble. 'That's relevant because if you are concerned about a crowd you don't say things that are likely to exacerbate that situation,' he explained. 'A comment like: "This is why you don't do drugs, kids," is not rapport building.' After Floyd had been removed by paramedics Chauvin returned to his squad car and could be heard in a interaction with a bystander. Paraphrasing what he could recall, Stoughton said that Chauvin attempted to justify his actions by saying, 'something akin to describing Mr Floyd as a pretty big guy, possibly intoxicated possibly on drugs and that officers needed to keep control over him'. According to Stoughton: 'All of those individual statements are true; Mr Floyd was a larger individual and there was ample reason to think he may have been impaired by alcohol or drugs. 'But a reasonable officer in this situation would have perceived that they could have maintained control over him without putting a knee on his neck or keeping him in that position. 'The sanctity of human life is the absolute priority in policing. On cross examination, Nelson pressed Stoughton: 'Does the reasonable officer decide whether they should be put in the squad car or does the suspect decide whether they should be put in the squad car...the suspect does not get to dictate I get to sit on the ground or in the front of the squad car?' Stoughton agreed they did not. Nelson re-iterated Stoughton's view that the use of the prone position was never reasonable suggesting that 'reasonable minds' can disagree. 'On this particular point? No,' Stoughton countered. Stoughton agreed that the use of force is often not very pretty but that that did not necessarily mean that it was unlawful. But he added: 'I don't think that's the case here.' DEFENSE Retired Minneapolis police officer Scott Creighton Retired Minneapolis police officer Scott Creighton was the first witness to take the stand for the defense on Tuesday April 13 as the court watched body-camera footage of Floyd's arrest on May 6, 2019. In a remarkably brief direct examination Nelson asked Creighton what he had observed of Floyd as he approached his vehicle. Creighton told the jury that Floyd was not responsive and that he had to 'physically reach in [to the car] because I wanted to see his hands.' In the video Floyd can be heard saying: 'I don't want to be shot' before Creighton pulled him out of the car. Under cross examination by Erin Eldridge, Creighton observed that the situation had 'escalated really quick' once Floyd refused to show his hands and that he was compelled to pull his gun. He described Floyd as 'incoherent' but able to walk and talk. Nelson had hoped to show the jury that, under similar circumstances, when approached in a car by an officer with his gun drawn, Floyd rapidly ingested drugs and pretended to have a medical emergency. On re-direct Nelson asked if Creighton had heard his partner instructing Floyd to 'spit it out'. Creighton said, he may have done. Retired Minneapolis Police Officer Scott Creighton (pictured) testified about what he witnessed of Floyd during an arrest on May 6, 2019 Retired paramedic Michelle Moseng Retired paramedic Michelle Moseng was the prosecution's second witness on Tuesday April 13 as Nelson drew out the parallels between May 6, 2019 and what he contests took place on May 25, 2020. Moseng was called to Floyd's arrest during which he had required medical care. According to Moseng, Floyd was agitated and upset and told her that he had been taking seven to nine opioids oxy and Percocet every twenty minutes throughout the day and another just before the officer had approached the car. When asked for details of her physical assessment of Floyd she revealed that she recorded a blood pressure of 216 over 160 so high that she recommended he be taken immediately to hospital. Floyd told her, she said, that he had not been taking his blood pressure medication, 'for months'. In an aggressive cross-examination, Eldridge peppered the witness with questions demanding her acknowledgement that Floyds blood oxygen, pulse, respiration, heart rhythm and EKG were all normal. 'And you took him to the hospital and he was monitored for two hours and he was released,' Eldridge said, to which Moseng answered: 'Yes.' Michelle Moseng (pictured) was the paramedic called to administer medical aid during Floyd's arrest on May 6, 2019 George Floyd's friend Shawanda Hill The third witness called by the defense was Shawanda Hill, the woman who was in the car with Floyd and his friend Morries Hall, on May 25, 2020, after having bumped into Floyd in Cup Foods where he offered to give her a ride home. At times hard to hear and irritable, Hill told Nelson that Floyd was 'happy, normal' and 'alert' when she spoke to him in the store. But back in the car after she had been on a call with her daughter Hill said she saw that Floyd had suddenly fallen asleep before Cup Foods clerks came out to confront him about using a counterfeit $20 bill. By then, she said: 'He was already sleeping. When they came to the car and when they came try to wake him up, I tried to wake him up over and over, he kept, he'd wake up, then say something, then nodded back off. He did that a couple of times.' Hill went onto relate how she had struggled to get Floyd to focus when the police arrived, telling him: 'Baby that's the police, open the door, roll down the window.' Hill said Floyd was 'startled' when Officer Thomas Lane pulled his gun, prompting him to grab at the steering wheel and plead: 'Please don't shoot me, please don't shoot me.' Judge Cahill spoke to Hill, who had been named in earlier testimony as a heroin dealer, ahead of the jury being seated after a brief morning break. He explained to her that the attorneys might ask her whether or not she was under the influence of drugs or alcohol and that, though he did not think the questions would incriminate her and he had instructed the limit of their scope, she had the right to consult and attorney regarding invoking her Fifth Amendment right. She said she did not need one and that she was 'ready to go'. In his brief cross-examination Assistant Attorney General Frank Matthew established that, despite his sleepiness, Floyd was not short of breath or complaining of chest pains at any point. Minneapolis Park Police Officer Peter Chang The fourth witness for the defense was Minneapolis Park Police Officer Peter Chang, who arrived at Cup Foods after officers Thomas Lane and J Alexander Kueng had already confronted Floyd. The jury was shown video from Chang's body-camera, which revealed Floyd's friends reactions to his arrest for the first time. Chang described a relatively calm scene on his arrival at Cup Foods where he saw Kueng next to Floyd who was seated on the ground, handcuffed and leaning against the wall outside Dragon Wok restaurant. Chang told the court that he had been 'concerned for the officers' safety' due to the 'very aggressive crowd' that gathered outside Cup Foods on 38th and Chicago as police struggled with and subdued Floyd. As the scene in front of Cup Foods clearly becomes more heated, Chang can be seen pacing to and fro - movement he explained to Nelson as due to checking on his fellow officers safety - and repeatedly telling Hill and Hall to stay put as they agitate to see whats going on. He informs them: 'Right now they're grabbing an ambulance for your buddy. He might have heart himself.' Cautioning both to stay away from the car and the scene, he tells Hill: 'Shawanda you're not helping.' In a very brief cross-examination Frank established that there had never been a 'code 3' or emergent call out to the scene at Cup Foods and undercut Changs concern for his fellow officers by pointing out that he knew there were four officers on scene and that none ever radioed for help. MPD Medical Support Coordinator Nicole MacKenzie Minneapolis Police Department Medical Support Coordinator Nicole MacKenzie made her second appearance on the stand directly before the court broke for lunch on Tuesday. When appearing as a state witness last week, MacKenzie gave her opinion that treating a person under the eyes of a crowd, hostile or otherwise, 'is incredibly difficult'. She also told the court about 'excited delirium', saying that it could give a person, 'super-human' strength. Today Nelson focused on the symptoms of the condition and recent training materials that, he established, of which Chauvin as a veteran would not have had knowledge. In contrast, rookie Lane did and in body-worn camera footage he can be heard expressing concern that Floyd may be suffering from excited delirium. MacKenzie explained that Lane would have received training that included the acronym NOTACRIME of signs and actions cadets were trained to note and take. She talked the jury through each letter. She said that a person may be Naked, exhibit violence towards Objects, by Tough and unstoppable. The onset could be Acute, the person Confused and Resistant as well as Incoherent, the condition could be due to Mental health issues and always required an EMS to be called early as it could lead to a sudden cardiac arrest. In another brief cross Frank established from MacKenzie that as a medical support coordinator it was not her job to diagnose conditions. She agreed she would always defer to a paramedic. Minneapolis Police Department Medical Support Coordinator Nicole MacKenzie made her second appearance on the stand directly before the court broke for lunch on Tuesday Use-of-force expert Barry Brodd Barry Brodd, a former cop and use-of-force expert who specializes in police and civilian defense cases, testified for Chauvin's defense on Tuesday April 13 and said the defendant did not use deadly force against Floyd. In fact, Brodd argued that Chauvin's placing the handcuffed black man in the prone position and kneeling on his neck for nine minutes and 29 seconds did not constitute use of force at all. 'It's a control technique. It doesn't hurt,' Brodd said. 'It's safe for the officer, safe for the suspect and you're using minimal effort to keep them on the ground.' During direct examination by Nelson, Brodd said Chauvin was 'justified' and acting 'with objective reasonableness' in his interactions with Floyd. He told the jury that police officers 'don't have to fight fair', explaining that they can use a level of force that is 'one up' from the level of any resistance. He noted that when dealing with suspects who are under the influence of drugs, officers can 'find themselves in a fight for their life in a heartbeat'. Brodd also leaned in to the defense narrative that Chauvin and his fellow officers felt 'threatened' by the gathering crowd. Brodd's confident testimony took a turn when prosecutor Steve Schleicher stepped up to cross examine him, wasting no time in tackling the assertion that keeping Floyd in the prone position did not constitute a use of force and did not hurt. He asked Brodd if he truly believed that it is unlikely that 'orienting yourself on top of a person on the pavement with both legs [on top of them] is unlikely to produce pain?' Brodd conceded that it could. Schleicher countered that if that position could produce pain, by Brodd's logic, it could also constitute a use of force. Looking at the all-too-familiar image of Chauvin kneeling on Floyd's neck, Brodd was forced to concede: 'Shown in this picture, that could be use of force' - but argued that Floyd had grown increasingly non-compliant. Schleicher then showed a screengrab of Floyd pinned to the ground and asked: 'What part of this is not compliant?' Refusing to deviate from his narrative Brodd insisted: 'I see his arm position. A compliant person would have both their hands in the small of their back and be resting comfortably.' The disbelief clear in his voice, Schleicher asked: 'Did you say resting comfortably?' 'At this time when he's attempting to breathe by shoving his shoulder into the pavement,' Brodd replied. Pathologist Dr David Fowler Dr David Fowler, the former chief medical examiner of Maryland, took the stand on April 14 to share his conclusion that Floyd's death should have never been ruled a homicide because there were too many competing potential causes of death. One of the potential causes Fowler presented was Floyd's exposure to exhaust from the squad car he was pinned next to, which the witness said could have caused some degree of carbon monoxide poisoning. But on cross examination by trial attorney Jerry Blackwell, Fowler was forced to admit that he had no concrete evidence to support the carbon monoxide poisoning theory. Blackwell seized on the fact that Fowler had never set eyes on the squad car or attempted to simulate the conditions to sample possible levels of carbon monoxide in Floyd's vicinity. The prosecutor bluntly challenged: 'For that matter cutting even more to the chase how do you even know the car was on?' Fowler said that it was a question he had specifically asked and that he had observed water dripping from what appears to be a tail pipe. Blackwell pressed: 'You just assumed based on observing something dripping from a tail pipe that the car was on?' 'It's not an assumption,' Fowler bit back. 'It's an evaluation based on an indicator that the car was running.' The carbon monoxide point was one of many on which Fowler contradicted the opinions of medical experts who testified before him. Blackwell drilled down on those contradictions while attempting to chip away at Fowler's credibility, at one point telling him: 'You're not a toxicologist..a pulmonologist.. a cardiologist, a physiologistYou don't treat patients.' Fowler's earliest contradiction across more than five hours of testimony came when he shared his conclusion that Floyd died from a 'sudden cardiac arrhythmia' due to his underlying heart disease during his restraint by police. That conclusion was refuted by Dr Andrew Baker, the Hennepin County chief medical examiner who performed Floyd's autopsy. Among the 'significant contributing conditions' that he listed was the presence of fentanyl and methamphetamine, paraganglioma - the adrenalin secreting-tumor that Floyd had - and his exposure to the squad car exhaust. Fowler also said that Floyd had an enlarged heart, which meant he needed more oxygen to function, and that methamphetamine use heightened his risk of cardiac arrhythmia. Later in his lengthy and technical testimony, Fowler cited multiple studies which challenged the notion that the prone position - in which Floyd was held for nine minutes and 29 seconds - is inherently dangerous. He also referenced studies which concluded that it doesn't matter how much a person weighs if they are applying a single knee to another person - and a double knee restraint makes only a modest difference. According to those studies a person transfers just 23 percent of their bodyweight during a double knee restraint. So, Dr Fowler said, Chauvin who he viewed as applying a single knee restraint for most of the restraint would have been applying less than 30 to 35 pounds of weight to Floyd. Asked if any of that weight compromised Floyd's neck structures, Fowler said: 'None of the vital structures.' 'There was absolutely no evidence of any injury to the skin or deeper structures of the back or neck,' he said, citing photos from Floyd's autopsy. In fact, he said the pressure applied to Floyd was less than the amount necessary to even bruise him. PROSECUTION - REBUTTAL Pulmonology expert Dr Martin Tobin The state recalled its star medical witness, pulmonologist Dr Martin Tobin, to the stand for its rebuttal on April 15. Tobin told the jury that the defense expert who testified at length yesterday, Dr David Fowler, was 'simply wrong' in his conclusions that carbon monoxide played any role in Floyd's death. Addressing Fowler's claim that the levels of carbon monoxide in Floyd's blood could have been between 10 and 18 percent, Tobin said: 'I believe it is not reliable.' Tobin started to tell jurors that his view was based on arterial blood gas obtained from Floyd in Hennepin County Medical Center when Nelson objected. Before the witness stepped up, Judge Cahill warned the state that he would declare a mistrial if Tobin sought to introduce any new evidence during his rebuttal to Fowler's testimony. Instead Tobin walked the fine line and explained: '[Floyd] had an arterial blood gas obtained, so that's sticking a needle into the artery and you measure a number of different items like the pressure of oxygen, carbon dioxide, acid, and the oxygen saturation and that is how much of the hemoglobin the protein in the blood that carries the oxygen.' Asked for Floyd's oxygen saturation levels, Tobin told the court: 'It was 98 percent saturated with oxygen when they measured it at Hennepin County Medical Center and that was 9.16pm.' As for what, if anything, that tells about Floyd's carbon monoxide levels, Tobin said: 'If hemoglobin is saturated at 98 percent, all there was for everything else was two percent. 'The maximum amount [of carbon monoxide] was two percent, it could be something else but two percent is within the normal range.' Pressing that point he told the jury: 'You and I have somewhere between zero and three.' He said Fowler's statement that Floyd's carbon monoxide could have increased to between ten and 18 percent was 'simply wrong'. Tobin also cast doubt on Fowler's testimony with respect to the hypopharynx the area of the throat that, he said, would not have been narrowed by Chauvin's knee on his neck. Fowler said he could find no research to support the notion that it would have. Today Tobin said: 'There's at least a dozen maybe 20 studies that show the relationship between how if you lower the size of the lungs you must get a decrease in the hypopharynx.' But he said there was no specific research into how pressure on the neck narrows it because 'we try to do research and studies that might be puzzling'. Tobin explained: 'If you think about sticking your fingers into your neck you know it's going to narrow the hypopharynx. It's common sense.' In a brief cross-examination, Nelson pointed out that Tobin had not produced for the courts review any of the dozens of articles which he cited. Chinas position on the coup in Myanmar is consistent with its long-established non-interference principle in foreign policy. by Anwar A. Khan As Myanmars security forces detain democratic politicians and clash with thousands of protesters crowding the streets to decry this months military coup, questions are swirling about whether the regimes chief foreign backer China bore a hand in the overthrow of the fragile democracy. Demonstrators display placards accusing China of supporting of Myanmars military during a protest against the recent coup outside the Chinese Embassy of Yangoon. Large crowds again defied a ban of protest despite officers use of force Chinas staunch, decades long support for Myanmars often brutal military rulers, coupled with Beijings immense economic sway in Myanmar, sometimes dubbed Chinas west coast, has led some observers to conclude Naypyitaws generals must have acted with at least tacit approval from Beijing. This probably would not have happened without Beijings wink-wink nod-nod. On 1 February 2021, the military coup abruptly ended a decade-long democratic process in Myanmar under the pretext of electoral fraud in the 2020 elections startled people in the country and the international community. In response to the coup in the neighbouring - China, the Chinese Foreign Ministry urged all parties in Myanmar to properly handle their differences under the constitutional and legal framework and maintain political and social stability. While calling the parties to resolve the crisis through the constitutional framework, Beijing disregards the fact that the state of emergency declared by the military was unconstitutional as only the President has the authority to do so under the military crafted 2008 Constitution. On the second day of the coup, Beijing blocked the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) to pass a joint statement condemning the Myanmar military. It also refused to characterise the militarys seizure of power as a coup (Ministry of the Foreign Affairs of the Peoples Republic of China, 2021). Chinas position on the coup in Myanmar is consistent with its long-established non-interference principle in foreign policy. In the aftermath of the 1989 Tiananmen Incident, Beijing has faced intense international opprobrium for its human rights violation records. These also make Beijing firmly uphold the principle to defend its sovereignty from foreign interference. Beijings reluctance to condemn the military coup reignites the debate about who holds the sovereignty. The government or the people? Following a series of humanitarian catastrophes in the 1990s, the-then United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan (1999) introduced the concept of individual sovereignty, which is rooted in the fundamental freedom of individuals, in addition to the traditional state sovereignty. He pinpointed that the United Nations Charter aims to protect the people, not those who abuse them. Annans advocacy gave rise to the discussion about sovereignty as a responsibility, rather than a right. China has lots of stake in Myanmar. Since Chinese President Xi Jinping embarked on the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), that aims at constructing a China-centric international order by increasing connectivity between China and Eurasia, in 2013, Myanmar has been a staunch supporter of Beijings grand strategy. The Aung San Suu Kyi-led government was keen to develop the China-Myanmar Economic Corridor. A number of BRI projects, including the New Yangon City Project and the China-Myanmar border economic cooperation zones, were signed after the National League for Democracy (NLD) won the 2015 election. This eased Beijings worry that a more democratic Myanmar would balance against China. After Xis visit to Myanmar in January 2020, more BRI projects, including the strategic Kunming-Kyaukphyu high-speed railway that serves as Chinas shortcut to the Indian Ocean, are under negotiation. After a five-decade of military dictatorship, the democratic transition began in 2011 in Myanmar. Domestic actors and international observers did not foresee that there would be genuine reform in the countrys political system. China also assumed that the transitional government led by Thein Sein, the former prime minister in the military regime, would run the business as usual. The unilateral suspension of the Myitsone hydropower dam due to social opposition in 2011 became a wakeup call for Beijing. The disruption to the Letpadaung copper mine in 2012 further affirmed the influence of societal actors in BRI cooperation. Economic setbacks made China concede that societal actors could influence the stability of Chinese investment projects in Myanmar. Since then, China has been stepping up its public diplomacy in the host country alongside cultivating state-to-state relations (Transnational Institute, 2016). Hundreds, or maybe thousands, of politicians, journalists, ethnic leaders, activists have been invited to China from 2013 onwards. Meetings with Chinese investors that involved in current and prospective BRI projects have always been part of the programmes to persuade Myanmar political and social elites to support Chinese investments. Invitees have generally appropriated these engagement opportunities. To them, regardless of Chinas foreign policy intention, Myanmar must work with its giant neighbour. Apparently, Beijing seeks to nurture a more conducive investment environment for BRIs advancement. The coup appears to bring more uncertainties to BRI projects. First, it could delay the implementation of the BRI projects. Even though the former director-general of the Office of the Union Investment and Foreign Economic Relations Aung Naing Oo is now appointed as the Minster, economic co-operation with China is unlikely to be the military governments priority. Secondly, it could invite more peoples distrust of China. Opposition to BRI projects could emerge if people have political space to voice their discontent. Chinese foreign policy pundits argue that the coup does not serve Beijings interests. A stable political environment in Myanmar for BRI projects to thrive. To them, Chinese leaders would prefer to work with the Aung San Suu Kyi, the State Counsellor and de facto leader of Myanmar, rather than the military junta. Nevertheless, several protests were staged in front of the Chinese embassy. Protesters demanded Beijing stand with the people, not the dictators. Some even accused Beijing of backing the junta. Following the protests, the Chinese ambassador to Myanmar Chen Hai claimed that Both the National League for Democracy and the Tatmadaw maintain friendly relations with China. The current development in Myanmar is absolutely not what China wants to see. The Chinese foreign ministry also reiterated that it was a good neighbour to Myanmar and would play a constructive role to de-escalate the crisis. Courageous protesters across Myanmar are risking their lives to bring their elected government back. More importantly, they strive for making military dictatorship history. The public opinion in Myanmar is crystal clear. More protesters are calling on the United Nations to invoke responsibility to protect (R2P) principle in the face of the rise of casualties in the military crackdown on the anti-coup movement. To make it happen, there must be consensus among the United Nations Security Council members, including China. At the time of writing, China shows no sign of relaxing its long-standing principle of non-interference. But, research finds that Beijing has rendered some flexibility in its principle of non-intervention in some cases, e.g. in humanitarian crises in Sudan and Libya. China may not overtly join Western democracies to pressure the military junta. It could, however, persuade the military government to put the democratic process back to track. Even though Beijing may not act due to an alignment of values with people in Myanmar, it may need to consider its long-term interests in the country. Myanmar people are looking forward to China playing a constructive role in the countrys political turmoil as promised by it. -The End The writer is an independent political analyst who writes on politics, political and human-centred figures, current and international affairs. DANBURY By the age of 21, Danburys Ian Bick had defrauded investors of nearly $500,000, according to the U.S. Department of Justice. Hed become accustomed to first-class travel, expensive nights out at the casinos and his personal watercraft. In my mind I was the next young millionaire entrepreneur, so I start[ed] spending it as if I already had it, Bick said in an interview. Bick, who became the owner and operator of the Tuxedo Junction nightclub in Danbury at the age of 19, is sharing his story in a new HBO Max series entitled Generation Hustle, which begins airing April 22. The 10-episode series takes viewers behind a number of entrepreneurial ventures created by young minds that did not always end well. Bicks story is examined in the series second episode, titled The Partys Over, chronicling how his ambition led him to build a concert promoting business on the backs of borrowed dollars, which were later used to splurge on a lavish lifestyle without much return. The series director, George Plamondon, said they tried to bring a balanced approach with perspectives from investors who lost their money, the case prosecutor and Bicks thoughts because he did impact a lot of lives through his actions. Yet, the question of whether Bick was running a Ponzi scheme, intentionally misleading people and lying to people, is at the center of the episode. And that is where I think the story gets fascinating, because in Ians mind, theres a gray area of Oh, I was just trying to buy myself enough time so that i could make back my investors money, but the means by which he did that are what got him in trouble because he wasnt honest with them, Plamondon said. In the HBO trailer, audiences get a glimpse of Bicks perception. Propped center stage in an empty nightclub dimly lit by party lights, he said, I dont think I was a con artist, to the camera. After a quick shot of Bick pulling stacks of cash toward him, he gestured a slight nod and shoulder shrug stating, I guess its a Ponzi scheme depending on how you look at it. Bick told Hearst Connecticut Media he didnt even know who Bernie Madoff was, much less what a doesnt consider himself a run of the mill con artist. I wouldnt label myself as a con artist because I did not set out to defraud anyone, its unfortunate that it happened and we strayed away, but its a learning lesson, he said. Instead, he chalked it up to being a cocky, overconfident young man who had a ton of unguided ambition, and counted his chickens before they hatched. Angie Day, a showrunner for the series, said Ian was an attractive subject because of his natural hustler persona. He had so much initiative and so much ability well beyond his years and all of those things should have led to a success story, but I think he took that a little too far, she said. With Ian, you get the sense that if he had just made a few decisions differently, he could have been the kind of wunderkind success that people said he was, she added. Now, seven years later, Bick has completed his prison sentence and is working to pay back the $480,635 he was ordered by the court to return and wrapping up a three-year stint of federal probation. Back in 2019, when Bick was first released, he told Hearst Connecticut Media he was looking to get back into the nightclub business, however, he couldnt be further from there now. My mentality [back in 2019] was still a lot different than what it is now. I hadnt fully matured or grown up or reached a level I needed to be at. I was still in that same mentality I was in before prison, granted I had learned some lessons, Bick said. A federal judge was not entirely sold as Bick has filed for early termination of his probation. In a November order, Judge Jeffrey A. Meyer wrote the Court is not yet convinced that Mr. Bick has changed his inclinations to cheat other people and to skimp or cut corners on his obligations to pay restitution. In the time hes been released from jail, Bick has moved out of a halfway house, secure his own apartment and car, and assembled a career at a local Whole Foods as an assistant manager of the prepared foods department. He estimates hes working 80- to 90-hour weeks, slowly making restitution, and in his free time, helping his friends with marketing at the Brookfield Peachwave frozen yogurt shop. In a court filing opposing his request for early termination of probation, federal prosecutors if he is working 80 hours in a week he should have had no difficulty making the original court-ordered $1,000 a month restitution, let alone the $200 per month that he failed to make. At the time, he was still living with his parents. Bick said he always knew his story could be highlighted somewhere, such as a movie or television series. So, even after being prosecuted, Bick chased fame or a deal that he hoped would resolve his issues. After hearing repeated nos, in 2019 he gave up his dream of being in the limelight. But, he received a Facebook message from an HBO intern in early 2020 asking him about his story. Despite his skepticism, Bick spoke to the intern, which led to several other conversations and a text message months later where he was told HBO was moving forward with his story and hed be featured in an episode of Generation Hustle. Plamondon said Bicks attitude made him easy to work with. He was forthcoming, he wanted his story to be told. Part of that is he thinks its a good story that deserves to be told. Part of it is that, and this happened in the series too, is that subjects that do dramatic things like these, like attention and Ian, by his own admission, has always liked attention, he said. Ashley Cain was seen sweetly kissing his baby daughter Azaylia's head as the strong family soaked up time together at home on Thursday. In an adorable clip shared to Instagram, the eight-month-old is cradled by her doting mum Safiyya Vorajee, 34, while her proud dad stands nearby. The little girl was rushed to hospital on Tuesday after her heart rate climbed to over 200 and she received a platelet transfusion. Doting dad: Ashley Cain was seen sweetly kissing his baby daughter Azaylia's head as the family soaked up time together at home on Thursday Updating fans on Azaylia's condition on Thursday, Safiyya showed that the youngster was being treated to lots of cuddles from family members. Safiyya held her daughter, who was clutching a colourful toy, in a quick video posted on stories while Ashley planted a sweet kiss on his only child's forehead. Another clip showed Azaylia dancing with her aunty and Safiyaa saying that the lady was their 'family nurse' and had been 'amazing'. Meanwhile, Ashley later took to his Instagram stories to thank his mum and sister for helping to care for their home whilst he and Safiyya have been at the hospital with Azaylia. Family: The eight-month-old was cradled by her doting mum Safiyya Vorajee, 34, and holding onto a colourful toy in the short clip Sharing a snap of them holding Azalyia with crown emojis on their heads, Ashley penned: 'These two people have been here right from the start. Cooking food and washing clothes while we were in hospital, standing outside for hours everyday doing window visits while we were at home. He went on to praise them for being a 'rock' for him and Safiyya, praising his 'incredible' relatives for their selflessness throughout Azaylia's illness. The update comes after it was revealed that Azaylia has been put on oxygen to help her sleep 'comfortably' after returning home from hospital. Taking to Instagram on Wednesday evening, Ashley's partner and Azaylia's mother Safiyya gave an update on their daughter after returning home. Daddy and daughter: The Ex On The Beach star soaked up the quality time with his baby girl 'My family, so proud': Ashley was also seen cradling his daughter while Safiyya kissed her head Sharing a sweet video of herself holding a sleeping Azaylia in her arms, Safiyya admitted they had experienced an 'exhausting' night. She said: 'Really really exhausting night last night. We didn't get much sleep at all, probably haven't had much sleep in the last few weeks. 'As you can see, Azaylia is on oxygen at the moment. Her breathing is a little bit more intense. She is struggling a little bit so we're giving her oxygen just to help her sleep more comfortably. Making memories: Safiyya also shared a short video of Azaylia dancing with her aunty and Safiyaa saying that the lady was their 'family nurse' and had been 'amazing' Thank you: Meanwhile, Ashley later took to his Instagram stories to thank his mum and sister for helping to care for their home whilst he and Safiyya have been at the hospital with Azaylia 'She's not had an uncomfortable day today, she's been very comfortable and quite sleepy. Hopefully later on she wakes up and we can have some playtime.' Safiyya went on to share another sweet video of a sleeping Azaylia in her arms and added the caption: 'Quality time' followed by a heart emoji. It comes after Azaylia was nominated for a Pride Of Britain Award by thousands of supporters around the world. The little girl has been battling acute myeloid leukaemia since she was just two months and has garnered thousands of votes. Update: It comes after Safiyya revealed on Wednesday that Azaylia has been put on oxygen to help her sleep 'comfortably' after returning home from hospital amid her leukaemia battle The Azaylia Diamond Cain Journey To Fight Acute Myeloid Leukaemia Facebook page, which has 136.9K member, saw traction rising to get the tot nominated for one of the prestigious awards to recognise her fight. Ashley and Safiyya have been chronicling her leukaemia battle on social media and after their Pride Of Britain votes began the couple revealed she had been discharged from hospital again. On the Facebook page for the tot, one of her followers penned: 'Get this little champ nominated!!', leading to masses of comments confirming fans had voted. The page has followed Azalyia's journey with huge support from many close to the family as well as strangers who have been helping the family. In what will no doubt be happy news for the family, on Wednesday Safiyya shared a video of Azalyia as they made their way home after another platelet transfusion. The video showed Azaylia on a stretcher while playing with a teddy bear which had been gifted to her by a paramedic. Sweet: Safiyya later shared another photo with Azaylia and said: 'Thank you for today, and blessing me with my beautiful family' Before she was admitted to hospital on Tuesday night, the aesthetic practitioner wrote alongside the video: 'Back in hospital tonight, Azaylia's heart rate was over 200. 'Currently waiting for her blood results to see if we can get her some antibiotics to treat any infections... 'You are amazing baby. Mummy and daddy promised to give you our 100% from day 1 & we will keep to our word what ever you need we will do for you baby.' Clearly heartbroken, the couple took to Instagram to give the update alongside the videos showing paramedics tending to the tot in her third urgent hospital trip in the brief time she has been allowed to return home. Earlier in the evening, a special clap was held for Azaylia, with celebrities like Abbey Clancy, Marnie Simpson and Mrs Hinch leading the stars in taking part in the clap, which celebrated eight-month-old daughter amid her leukaemia battle. Vote for Azaylia: The baby girl has been nominated for a Pride Of Britain Award by thousands of supporters around the world (Azaylia pictured in a digital portrait by Roe-Parkin Creative) Let's go champ: On the Facebook page for the tot, one of her followers penned: 'Get this little champ nominated!!', leading to masses of comments confirming fans had voted The couple were moved as strangers and celebrities showed their support for their little tot in the same way the public have done for the NHS during the Covid crisis. Safiyya took to Instagram to share a video after the clap, showing how many people had come out to clap for Azaylia. She told her followers: 'We've just done our 7 O'clock clap and wow our street was so loud wasn't it? You were singing really loud weren't ya? Wow! Everyone's come out, yea they have all for you baby girl, I love you.' After they returned home, Safiyya went on: 'Wow here's the champ, everyone's still been singing for you, yea. Let's go champ, let's go!' Ashley also shared a post shortly before the clap was set to take place, as he gushed over being able to take his daughter for a walk outside for the first time. In a touching post, he wrote: 'Today was the first time in the 8 months of fatherhood that I've had the chance to walk down the street with my baby in my arms. Home: In what will no doubt be happy news for the family, on Wednesday Safiyya shared a video of Azalyia as they made their way home after another platelet transfusion 'No hospital, no isolation, no pram with a protective cover... Just me, and my baby, doing what a daddy and daughter should be able to do. 'When I say this to you all I really mean it... Appreciate what you have, cherish every single moment and always be the best you that you can be for the ones you love.' He added: 'I have been told today, there is an official doorstep clap that's been organised for Azaylia tonight at 7pm. 'To this day, I am still amazed and overwhelmed at the amount of love and support for my beautiful daughter, and I am grateful for everyone who has arranged and will be taking part in tonight's clap, to show support for Azaylia and her journey. 'Despite what's going on, I truly feel blessed that I get to spend these days with the best thing that ever happened to me. They will stay with me in my heart forever!' Earlier in the day, Ashley revealed Azaylia had been rushed back to hospital after she began crying blood and in urgent need of a transfusion. Heartbreak: Azaylia was rushed to hospital on Tuesday night, just hours after celebrities and fans held a clap in her honour Support: Abbey was joined by her husband Peter Crouch alongside three of their children, and in her video Abbey wrote '#GoChamp' Touching: Stacey Solomon was unable to get home in time to take part, but she shared a picture of Ashley with Azaylia, and wrote: 'It's just the most unimaginable, heartbreaking thing' Taking to Instagram, her mum Safiyya shared a video from within the hospital during which Ashley cradled the eight-month-old while she slept. Proving herself to be incredibly strong, Safiyya said to the camera: 'We've just gone back into hospital to get Azaylia another platelet transfusion because last night the tears started having blood in them, so we needed more platelets'. She also shared an image of Azaylia's leg with a deep purple bruise as a result of the disruption of the body's platelet production, which causes bleeding under the skin. People with leukaemia are more likely to bruise due to the fact their bodies don't create enough platelets to plug bleeding blood vessels. Leukaemia bruises look like any other kind of bruise, but there are usually more of them than normal. Additionally, they may show up on unusual areas of the body. Ashley cradled Azaylia in the heartbreaking clip, while they stood in the brightly-coloured hospital room and Safiyya held the camera and spoke. Staying positive: Ashley also shared a post shortly before the clap was set to take place, as he gushed over being able to take his daughter for a walk outside for the first time Heartache: Earlier in the day, Ashley revealed Azaylia had been rushed back to hospital after she began crying blood and in urgent need of a transfusion Bleeding: Safiyya also shared an image of Azaylia's leg with a deep purple bruise as a result of the disruption of the body's platelet production, which causes bleeding under the skin It comes after Safiyya revealed she has planned a tattoo tribute to her daughter Azaylia, as the tot continues her fight against leukaemia. Taking to Instagram on Monday evening, she shared heartbreaking videos chronicling the family's tough evening before, after they demanded doctors carry out a platelet transfusion on the tot. After having casts made of their daughter's feet over the weekend, Safiyya revealed they had another cast-making session, during which she was given the imprints of Azaylia's feet in preparation for a tattoo tribute to the tot. Ashley later shared another post showing his daughter sleeping and wrote alongside: 'We fight and we pray for another day #letsgochamp'. The couple have been chronicling Azalyia's health woes on social media since she was diagnosed with leukaemia at just two months and has garnered worldwide support, including from Dwayne Johnson. In the same video in which she discussed her tattoo, Safiyya branded her daughter's pain 'torture' to look upon and then posted a video while singing Mariah Carey and Whitney Houston's 1998 hit When You Believe. Heartbreak: It comes after Safiyya revealed she has planned a tattoo tribute to her daughter Azaylia, as the tot continues her fight against leukaemia On her tattoo, she said: 'We did more castings yesterday to get some necklaces and some hand prints and foot prints... 'I started stressing in case I dropped it but the lady was so good and gave me a print that I can get as a tattoo so she'll always be with me and so close. So I decided to get the prints done and a tattoo of her hands and feet.' On their trip to hospital and her transfusion the previous day, she said: 'Azaylia was experiencing loads of nosebleeds due to the platelets in the body not being able to clot the blood so we went to hospital... 'Unfortunately over the night she's still experiencing the bleeding. Just spoken to the community nurse and they're coming to check. Anything you're experiencing with your child, you know your child best. We thought it was right to get the transfusion... 'The NHS and the service they provide is amazing. Every morning I wake up is a blessing and I just feel so lucky to hold her there and for her to smile and to sing to and all our Jungle Book themed tunes... 'She's so beautiful': After having casts made of their daughter's feet over the weekend, Safiyya revealed they had another cast-making session, during which she was given the imprints of Azaylia's feet in preparation for a tattoo tribute to the tot 'The amount of times we sing you wouldn't even know. You don't know how much I love her and it's absolutely heartbreaking and this feels like torture it's so hard and the support you've given us is amazing... 'It's so hard and painful but I'm gonna make every day as special and fun as possible for her. Make the most of everyday because tomorrow isn't promised to anyone.' She then shared a video of Ashley's sister Alissia dancing with Azaylia and another showing them snapping selfies together. Last week, doctors revealed there was no further treatment available amid her leukaemia battle following the discovery of multiple tumours in her body. The couple recently raised more than 1.5m to fund a trip to Singapore for life-saving transplant, but she was being treated in the UK during the interim. Sweetheart: Ashley said he has spent the first eight months of fatherhood under Covid-19 restrictions in hospital as his daughter fought the cancer He later revealed that Azaylia can no longer fly to Singapore for treatment after discovering the tumours, and vowed to make her final days 'as fun as they can'. Ashley penned a detailed account of Azaylia's health battle on his GoFundMe page and said that any extra funds the couple receive will be donated to other families in a similar situation to them. According to the NHS, it is a 'highly complex and potentially risky treatment' but has been shown in trials to cure some patients when other treatments have failed. Ashley said he has spent the first eight months of fatherhood under Covid-19 restrictions in hospital as his daughter fought the cancer. Doctors told the TV star and his partner Safiyya that chemotherapy would not be enough to cure Azaylia. Last week, Ashley shared a heartbreaking video revealing he and Safiyya were bringing their little girl home to make her comfortable after learning doctors had found tumours throughout her body. And as he faces up to the harrowing prognosis that his adorable child has just days to live, Ashley paid tribute to the brave youngster as he admitted: 'I don't know what I will do without you.' In the video, the doting dad was seen gently splashing the water around Azaylia as she looked up at her dad adoringly while sitting in a small tub on the hospital ward. Captioning the footage, he wrote: Azaylia's last bath in hospital, before we take her home where she belongs. '9 days ago consultants told us my daughter had 1-2 days to live, but thought she may pass that evening. Even with a barbaric disease consuming her blood, tumours in her brain and organs and amounts of pain I cannot imagine... 'She is still battling through 9 days later, with parts of the day with nothing but smiles despite her discomfort. 'This is a testament of this little girls strength and the fight she has possessed all of the way through. She has fought a battle that not many, if any, of us could have endured and she's earned the love and respect of many on the way... 'The truth is though, I hope and pray that I have earned hers! Even through the hardest and saddest time of my life, she has found a way to make it better... 'She has shined light on the darkest of days and she has opened my heart to amounts of love I couldn't believe possible. 'The truth is, I don't know what I will do without you. But for now, I find strength in giving you the best of me, and the only me that you deserve. 'You are in my arms, my thoughts, my prayers and my heart everyday my princess. YOU'RE MY HERO! DADDY LOVES YOU!' For help and support caring for children with life-limiting and life-threatening conditions, please contact Together for Short Lives on 0808 8088 100 or visit www.togetherforshortlives.org.uk (Bloomberg) -- Tommy Beaudreau, a veteran of the Interior Department who charted new restrictions for Arctic oil drilling under former President Barack Obama, is being tapped to return to the agency as its No. 2 official. President Joe Biden is slated to nominate Beaudreau to be the deputy Interior secretary, according to two people familiar with the matter who asked not to be named before a formal announcement expected later this week. Beaudreau, a lawyer, rose to prominence for his role amid the disastrous Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico in 2010, when he was responsible for helping to turn around the Interior Departments oversight of offshore oil development. As the first director of Interiors then-newly created Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, he spearheaded reforms in offshore oil and gas leasing and propelled efforts to advance the development of wind farms along the nations coastlines. He also led a review of Shell Oil Co.s mishap-plagued 2012 Arctic drilling program after its rig ran aground off the Alaska coast. In other roles at the Interior Department, Beaudreau served as chief of staff and as the acting assistant secretary for land and minerals management. If confirmed, he would join a number of Obama-administration Interior veterans in leadership roles at the department. Interior Department representatives declined to comment on the matter. The planned appointment was reported earlier by E&E News. Beaudreau has deep ties to energy and to Alaska, where he lived as a child. His father worked on the Trans-Alaska Pipeline before shifting to the defense sector. Beaudreau has emphasized how his experience fishing, hunting and growing up against the backdrop of Alaskas Chugach Mountains shaped his commitment to land preservation. Beaudreau has most recently been a partner in the Washington office of the law firm Latham & Watkins, focusing on environmental policy, natural resources and renewable energy. Some environmental activists have warned against Beaudreaus appointment, casting him as an enabler of offshore oil drilling in the wake of the Deepwater Horizon disaster, which killed 11 workers and sent oil gushing into the Gulf of Mexico for 87 days. After the worst offshore spill in history, Beaudreau looked the other way as offshore fracking ramped up rather than working to prevent the next oil disaster, said Brett Hartl, government affairs director of the Center for Biological Diversity. The administration had planned to nominate Elizabeth Klein to be deputy secretary but did not formally submit her nomination to the Senate after concerns were raised by several Republicans, including Senator Lisa Murkowski of Alaska. Klein, who previously supported efforts to challenge Trump-era environmental rules at New York Universitys State Energy and Environmental Impact Center, is now a senior adviser at Interior. 2021 Bloomberg L.P. OTTAWA, Ontario (AP) Mathieu Perreault and Trevor Lewis scored third-period goals and the Winnipeg Jets rallied for a 3-2 win over the Ottawa Senators on Wednesday night. Mark Scheifele also scored for Winnipeg (26-14-3), which earned its fourth win in five games and avenged a 4-2 loss to Ottawa on Monday night. I think it starts with leadership, those guys get everyone going, Lewis said. We have a tight group in there, we know how to win. We know we just had to stick with it there and came out and had a good third. Laurent Brossoit was in goal for Winnipeg after Connor Hellebuyck had made seven straight starts. Brossoit finished with 27 saves. The Jets moved to within five points of North Division-leading Toronto (28-11-4), which was idle. Josh Norris and Nick Paul scored for Ottawa (14-26-4), which fell to 9-10-4 at home this season. Matt Murray finished with 32 saves. After a scoreless second period, Perreault put Winnipeg ahead 2-1 at 2:07 of the third. Perreault fired a high shot past Murray on a power play for his ninth goal of the season. Lewis scored short-handed at 9:39 to put Winnipeg ahead 3-1. It was Lewis' third of the year. It was a tight game throughout the whole thing, Lewis said. We knew they were going to come hard and we needed to keep it simple. In the third, we got a big power-play goal from (Perreault), that was an awesome shot. Obviously, with the short-handed goal it was a big win for us. Norris scored a power-play goal with 10 seconds left to pull Ottawa to within 3-2. Norris has 12 goals this season. Murray was making his first start in goal for Ottawa since March 10. He suffered an upper-body injury in warmups before a game against the Toronto Maple Leafs on March 14. I felt pretty good all things considered, Murray said. It has been quite some time so (my) timing felt a little bit off. Traffic is hard to duplicate in practice. In a game, theres just so many layers. Thats always the biggest adjustment when you havent played in a while. They did a good job of getting traffic to the net but all things considered I felt pretty good. Story continues Ottawa went 5-6-3 without Murray, using four goalies -- Joey Daccord, Filip Gustavsson, Anton Forsberg and Marcus Hogberg -- in his absence. Ottawas Connor Brown had his club-record goal-scoring streak halted at eight games. He was looking to become the first player since Teemu Selanne in 1997-98 to score in nine straight. Ottawa opened the scoring with Pauls fourth goal of the season just 1:19 in. But Scheifele countered at 3:24, converting Nikolaj Ehlers backhand pass for his 16th of the year as Winnipeg outshot the Senators 11-9. UP NEXT Jets: At Toronto on Thursday night to wrap up a five-game trip. Senators: At Montreal on Saturday to open a four-game trip. ___ More AP NHL: https://apnews.com/hub/NHL and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports Coronavirus Explosion in India: 2Lakh cases reported in 24 hours New Delhi, Thu, 15 Apr 2021 NI Wire India reported 2,00,739 new cases of Covid-19 infection in past 24 hours which is clear signal of Coronavirus explosion in the country. Over 1 Lakh cases were reported in India on April 5 and in just in 1 days the per day Coronavirus cases rose to 2 Lakh mark. The 2 Lakh Coronavirus cases per day is the biggest ever one day spike in the country. Thursday increase in the Coronavirus cases is the seventh consecutive day in the increase in the coronavirus cases in the country. Most affected places are Maharashtra, Mumbai, Pune, Lucknow and Delhi. Due to surge in the new Covid-19 cases health infrastructure are facing stress and many hospitals are reporting shortages of ICU beds and the medical oxygen supply. The new cases data has been reported by health ministry shows that 2,00,739 new cases came in past 24 hours across the country. Many hospital treating Covid-19 patients reported severe shortage of medical oxygen and beds. This is putting a huge pressure on the medical infrastructures treating Coronavirus patients. In the past 24 hours 1,038 patients lost their lives due to Covid-19 infection. With 1,038 deaths total death count due to Covid-19 rose of 1,73,123 in the country. Delhi reported highest of new cases so far, in 24 hours 17,282 new cases of Coronavirus infection have been reported in Delhi. Delhi is another worst hit city in the country with huge surge in the cases. According to the health department data, Delhi reported over 104 deaths in past 24 hours. With 104 deaths in past 24 hours, Delhi death count due to Covid-19 rose to 11,540. According to the data 1.08 lakhs tests were conducted previous and the positivity rate increased to 15.92 percent, which is a huge number. The Uttar Pradesh government already extended the timings of the corona curfew between 8pm to 7am in the districts with more than 2,000 active cases and these includes Lucknow, Prayagraj, Varanasi, Kanpur Nagar, Gautam Budh Nagar, Ghaziabad, Meerut and Gorakhpur. In Delhi weekend full lockdown is announced by the Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal due to surge in the Covid-19 cases in the city. In Delhi only essential services are allowed and offices, shops etc. will remain closed. What is allowed and not allowed in Delhi during weekend curfew: In Delhi only essential services are allowed during weekend curfew Curfew passes will be arranged for marriages and other personal activities in Delhi Offices, Gyms, pools, malls and auditoriums will remain closed during weekend curfew Cinema halls will be allowed with 30 per cent capacity In Delhi 1 weekly market will be allowed per day per zone In the restaurants only take-aways are allowed Maharashtra is worst affected state and now state is enforcing tough restrictions for the next 15 days to stop the spread of virus. People all across the globe have been through so much due to COVID-19 and once again the numbers in India have started rising dismally. However, people are not staying indoors. We see new instances every day where social distancing norms are going for a toss. Now, a similar scary incident took place in Andhra Pradesh's Kurnool district where thousands of people were seen celebrating New Year- Ugadi. Bringing an end to the five-day-long festival they were seen ending it with 'Pidakala Samaram' in Kairuppala village. The crowds were seen without masks on top of each other flouting social distancing norms. ANI shared the video of the same saying, #WATCH Social distancing norms violated at 'Pidakal war', during which cow dung cakes are hurled by two sides at each other on the next day of Ugadi, in Kairuppala village, Kurnool district yesterday. Check out the video here- #WATCH Social distancing norms violated at 'Pidakal war', during which cow dung cakes are hurled by two sides at each other on the next day of Ugadi, in Kairuppala village, Kurnool district yesterday#AndhraPradesh pic.twitter.com/4GGHpyyXn3 ANI (@ANI) April 15, 2021 During the celebrations, thousands of villagers split into two groups who are devotees representing families of Veerabhadra Swamy and Kalikadevi to beat each other. They throw cow-dung cakes as part of the Ugadi celebrations on each other in connection with the mythology behind the marriage. Heres what people on the internet have to say about this- Ab aur kya dekhna reh gaya hai yahan Shameela (@shaikhshameela) April 15, 2021 Hn karne do...Gadhon ko corona nahi hota CSR_Tweeting (@Chandra51626266) April 15, 2021 Tomatina festival chl rha kya ye Ka (@ImKarteekey) April 15, 2021 La gobarino Rio Efendi (@RedRanger3000) April 15, 2021 Oh God, cowdung cakes!!let them switch to pizza or burger. Sponsorship from brands quite possible Vallabhan (@SelfDoubtist) April 15, 2021 Lolz Stupid Gujju boy (@imkpbhatt) April 15, 2021 According to reports, Temple Executive Officer (EO) KS Rama Rao stated, the five days Ugadi Utsavams have come to an end on Wednesday. The villagers of Kairuppala celebrate the Pidakal Samara on the next day of the Ugadi festival every year on the occasion of the marriage between Veerabhadra Swamy and Kalikadevi. The 'Pidakal Samara' has been celebrated for generations as a part of our traditions. According to Kurnool SP, a notice was sent to the organizers ahead of the festival to follow all COVID-19 guidelines during the celebrations. The crowd was asked to wear a mask and maintain social distancing and also gathering should not be more than 100 people as mentioned in the state's COVID Unlock 5.0 guidelines. Now, action will be taken against people who flouted the rules. What do you think? Let us know in the comments section below! A former Recology vice president has been charged with money laundering and bribery as part of an alleged attempt to increase San Franciscos dumping fees to the waste management company, becoming the business second executive to be netted in the still-expanding City Hall corruption scandal. The case against John Francis Porter, former vice president and group manager of Recologys San Francisco Group, comes to light as the company prepares to pay back nearly $100 million to San Francisco customers who were overcharged, and months after Paul Giusti, one of Porters subordinates, was charged with similar conduct. Federal prosecutors have accused Porter of bribing former San Francisco Public Works Director Mohammed Nuru with $20,000 in an effort to get Nurus sign-off on hiking Recologys tipping fees funds that cover the citys use of the companys crushing facility. Prosecutors say Porter worked in concert with Giusti, who had a close relationship with Nuru. After Porter allegedly signed off on a $20,000 bribe, Giusti funneled the money through Lefty ODouls Foundation for Kids to ostensibly help underprivileged San Francisco children, court records state. Instead, prosecutors said, the money footed the bill for Nurus elaborate holiday party for the Public Works Department. In total, prosecutors allege that Porter helped direct more than $1 million in benefits to Nuru, who played a key role in Recologys rate-setting process with the city. Once again a person employed by a company contracting with San Francisco has been charged with bribing a San Francisco City Hall official with more than $1 million of funds and benefits, Acting U.S. Attorney Stephanie M. Hinds said in a statement. A person who pays a bribe is as criminally liable as the public official who takes it. Hinds said the City Hall corruption probe is ongoing. In a separate but related investigation, officials with the San Francisco City Attorneys Office found that Recology had overcharged city ratepayers $94.5 million over the past four years by failing to account for revenue it would already receive. A settlement announced last month will require the waste company to reimburse its customers and pay a $7 million penalty to the city. Emails obtained by The Chronicle and other news outlets show Public Works officials were made aware of the error in January 2019, nearly two years before it was disclosed to the City Attorneys Office following a subpoena. Nuru was arrested and charged by federal officials last year for an alleged attempt to bribe a San Francisco airport commissioner, in a probe that lifted the curtain on the citys sprawling pay-to-play and corruption scheme. Eleven defendants have been charged to date, including multiple department heads, contractors and business executives. Nick Bovis, the owner of Lefty ODouls who also oversaw the ODoul foundation, was charged alongside Nuru for the attempted airport commissioner bribe, and later pleaded guilty to fraud. Porter is charged with one count of bribery and one count of money laundering, charges that carry a combined maximum of 30 years in prison and a $750,000 fine if convicted. The Giusti and Nuru cases are pending in federal court. Megan Cassidy is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: megan.cassidy@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @meganrcassidy For more stories like this, check out The Chronicles weekly Travel newsletter! Sign up here. Snagging a campsite at the popular Gerstle Cove in Salt Point State Park on the Sonoma coast can seem impossible. Reservations for the 28 campsites there, set on a wooded terrace near an ocean bluff, often book up every day of summer when they become available on ReserveCalifornia.com six months in advance. But a new partnership could make it easier to navigate the booking process. Starting this week, the California State Parks are sharing their reservation data with San Francisco online campsite booking service Hipcamp, allowing prospective campers to see reservation cancellations in real time. Using the new tool means that, for example, you could have landed a site at the elusive Gerstle Cove this week for a stay next weekend. A late cancellation opened reservations for Friday and Saturday nights. Its the first partnership of its kind for the state parks. Hipcamp is a private campsite booking service featuring thousands of spots at privately owned farms, ranches and vineyards around the country. The new service launched this week at Hipcamp.com. A list of the parks in the program includes high-demand campgrounds at Angel Island, Mount Diablo and Mount Tamalpais. Some national parks are covered as well, including Yosemite, Sequoia-Kings Canyon and Joshua Tree. I grew up camping with my family, and I loved it so much that when we came home, Id sleep in my sleeping bag with all the windows open, said Hipcamp founder Alyssa Ravasio of Corte Madera. The difference now is that many of the state parks are booked six months in advance. Reservations for state park campsites are available by the date six months ahead. The most popular spots go quickly, such as the Steep Ravine Environmental Cabins on the Marin County coast, which can get booked full less than 15 minutes after becoming available. To solve the issue, Hipcamp now shows campground status with site availability by color-coded icons on interactive maps. You can see, for instance, how many sites are available, for any day in the next six months, at any park. Real-time availability is a huge step forward, Ravasio said. The coronavirus pandemic has brought an explosive popularity of camping, according to a new report from Kampgrounds of America, which has seen a 112% uptick in online reservations from 2020 already this year. With the increase in COVID vaccinations, KOA President Toby ORourke said she expects another major jump this summer. KOAs research shows that 40% of campers say the COVID-19 vaccine will allow them to camp more often in 2021, ORourke said. According to the latest iteration of KOAs annual North American Camping Report, set for release next week, this sentiment was highest among Millennial and Gen X campers, with most travelers ranking camping as the safest form of travel. The report also found a surge of interest among new campers. In 2020, the proportion of first-time campers was 5 times greater than what was observed in 2019. Sixty percent of those first-time campers are represented by nonwhite groups, the highest rate since the inception of the research report seven years ago. At state parks, public demand for the systems roughly 15,000 campsites has been crushing for years. While the states population has grown to nearly 40 million, virtually no new campgrounds have been created recently mainly because California Environmental Quality Act documents are required to install water systems, toilets and showers. The restrictions make building new campgrounds cost-prohibitive, State Parks has said. The Hipcamp partnership could be a solution for many campers who find all the marquee sites available by reservations long booked at state parks. Tom Stienstra is The San Francisco Chronicles outdoor writer emeritus. Email: tomstienstra2021@gmail.com Twitter: @StienstraTom China in Focus (April 14): White House Sends Ex-Officials to Visit Taiwan A U.S. intelligence report lists the Chinese communist regime as the top threat to America. President Joe Biden sends an unofficial delegation to Taiwan. Its being called a personal signal of his commitment to the islands freedom. At the same time, a U.S. climate envoy has gone to China, seeking cooperation with Beijing on climate change. Chinese people voiced excitement as the first batch of vaccines made outside China arrived in the country. But the news was soon blocked by authoritiesraising questions about whether the foreign vaccines were only intended for the privileged few. A new mandate from Beijing is forcing dozens of tech companies to align with the Chinese regimes policy, following an unprecedented penalty slapped on shopping giant Alibaba. An 85-year-old father is begging people across China to help him seek justice for his late son. His son was a prisoner of conscience before passing away. Subscribe to our YouTube channel for more first-hand news from China. For more news and videos, please visit our website and Twitter. By Prossy Kisakye The United States Mission in Uganda has launched a $12.8 million project dubbed Civil Society Strengthening Activity (CSSA) to support the activities of civil society organization in the country. The five-year project, administered through the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), aims to strengthen the capacity of civil society to contribute to national and local development in areas of health, education, youth, child development and promote good governance. While launching the project in Kampala, the US ambassador to Uganda, Natalie Brown, said the project will help Ugandans be more civically engaged and equip CSOs with the knowledge, skills, systems, and tools needed to fulfill their critical role in society. CSSA project will provide grants and technical support to CSOs and government institutions to expand alliances among multiple stakeholders and promote an enabling environment in which civil society in Uganda may thrive. Paxton, IL (60957) Today A mix of clouds and sun. High 87F. Winds SW at 10 to 15 mph.. Tonight Clear to partly cloudy. Low 64F. Winds SSW at 5 to 10 mph. Its become a part of my family lore, said Malcolm, a documentarian and special effects artist who worked on Peter Jacksons Lord of the Rings movies and Avatar, among others. Richard Wright fled America for Europe and now the Wrights live there, too. When my mother was born, he just decided that he didnt want to raise a child in the U.S. I knew about all of that. But reading The Man Who Lived Underground, I suddenly had an inkling that he felt his personal freedom was at stake, too. His character breaks with the world, and explores novel ideas. And not everything goes well, of course. But the act itself is liberating. He recognizes the world for what it is. I never knew my grandfather but Im grateful he did this. He saw broader horizons. Highlights Google has added five new features to its Google Assistant. Google Assistant will help users find their phones including iPhone. Google will also make it easier for people to order food online. Google has added five new features to its Google Assistant. The search giant said in a blog that the new features would let Google Assistant find phones for users, make ordering food easier, set a new routine for your Google home devices, and more. The most interesting bit is that Google will also find your iPhone if you lose it. Google Assistant will simply help you find your phone irrespective of its operating system. You can simply ask your Nest Home speaker to locate your phone. "Hey Google, find my phone," for all devices. However, for iPhone you will have to you can opt in to receive notifications and critical alerts from the Google Home app, you will get notifications about your phone and hear a custom ringing sound even if the phone is on silent or if Do Not Disturb is enabled. Google will also make it easier for people to order food online. Due to the COVID-19, people are ordering food more instead of eating out. So Google Assistant can now help quicken the ordering process. "To get started, you'll need to first search for a restaurant near you from the Google App on Android and select "Order Online" or "Order Pickup." When you finish your online takeout order from a restaurant we partner with and click "check out," Assistant will automatically navigate the site and fill out your contact and payment details saved in Google Pay and synced to Chrome Autofill. At launch, we're partnering with select restaurant chains and will be adding more across the U.S. later this year," the blog said. You can also set up sunset and sunrise routines for your smart devices using Google Assistant. For instance, you can ask the smart devices to have your living room lights turn on when the sun goes down. You can find the sunset/ sunrise option in the Google Home app. "We've included a dedicated section in Ready-Made Routines to highlight popular "suggested actions" to inspire you, such as "Tell me if my battery is low" or "Tell me what happened today in history." You can also add a "shortcut" icon to your Android home screen for your favorite Routines. Head to the overview screen for Routines in the Google Home app or Assistant Settings and click the "Add to Home Screen" icon in the top app bar," Google said in a blog. Google Assistant can also provide you exclusive news about the upcoming Oscars award. One of Sweden's most populous regions has asked residents to enter a "personal lockdown" in order to curb soaring COVID-19 cases, Euronews reported Wednesday. Why it matters: Sweden's more relaxed approach to the pandemic prompted libertarians and conservatives, including Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.), to argue the U.S. should've adopted a similar strategy. But the country this week reported the highest infection rate in the European Union. Get market news worthy of your time with Axios Markets. Subscribe for free. By the numbers: Sweden reported a seven-day average of 625 new infections per million people, statistics published Tuesday by the scientific online publication OurWorldInData show. What's happening: Mikael Kohler, health chief of the Swedish region of Uppsala, told Euronews regional health officials were asking each resident "to act like they are in a personal lockdown." "If they have to meet other people ... everyone has to suspect that everyone they are meeting could be infected," he added. The big picture: Patient numbers in Sweden's intensive care units have surged "past the peak of the second wave around the turn of the year," Reuters reports. Sweden's chief epidemiologist Anders Tegnell said Tuesday there were "no signs of a decrease" in the spread officials were seeing, per Reuters. While the country has never imposed a strict lockdown like other nations, it has introduced measures including international travel restrictions and limits on public gatherings to eight and restaurant tables to four. For the record: Uppsala is one of 13 of the 21 regions in Sweden to have implemented stricter pandemic measures this spring, according to The Local. "While this is a noticeably sharper tone, the actual recommendations in place in Uppsala remain the same, The Local notes. This guidance includes staying 2 meters (6.5 feet) from others, wearing a face mask if you need to use public transport, don't meet up with people you don't live with and work from home "if you can," per The Local. Flashback: Coronavirus helps drive Sweden death tally to highest in 151 years More from Axios: Sign up to get the latest market trends with Axios Markets. Subscribe for free We must know who is responsible for leaking nonconsensual images from a private video feed, he said in a statement. Mr. Amos made an unintentional error; his screen was on while in the middle of getting dressed, Mr. Holland added. It could have happened to any of us. Mr. Amos said on Thursday that it was most unfortunate that someone shared, without my consent, a photo in which I was changing my clothes. This photo came from a video feed that only MPs or a very small number of staff had access to, he said in a statement. No person deserves to suffer such harm. I expect the Speaker of the House of Commons to conduct a thorough investigation. Mr. Rota said he would consider the request and report back to the House, if necessary. Canadian law forbids publishing, distributing or making available an intimate image of a person knowing that the person depicted in the image did not give their consent to that conduct. The law was passed in 2014 to combat revenge porn, said Andrea Slane, a professor of legal studies at Ontario Tech University. Ms. Slane said she did not believe the photo of Mr. Amos that circulated widely on social media would violate the law, however, because his genitals were obscured. If there is a more revealing picture out there, that would get people into some hot water because, clearly, he didnt want the picture to be taken in the first place, Ms. Slane said in an interview. He made the mistake, sure. So its not like voyeurism in the classic sense. But its still something he had no intention of consenting to be distributed. Islamabad, April 15 : Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan exchanged views on bilateral, regional and international issues during a virtual summit with Uzbek President Shavkat Mirziyoyev, according to the Foreign Ministry in Islamabad. During the wide-ranging talks on Wednesday, Khan underlined the importance of enhancing political and diplomatic linkages; fast tracking trade and economic cooperation; increasing security and defence cooperation; and taking steps to deepen mutual collaboration in the fields of education, culture and tourism, Xinhua news agency quoted the Ministry as saying. The Prime Minister also underscored the importance of rail, road and air connectivity and highlighted the enormous potential that exists in diverse fields to build an expanded mutually-beneficial partnership. The two leaders reviewed the level of progress on the trans-Afghan railway project, agreed between Pakistan, Uzbekistan and Afghanistan earlier this year. The project would be a first step in linking the Central Asian transport network with Pakistani seaports of Gwadar, Karachi and Qasim, according to the Ministry. The two leaders also discussed important global and regional matters of mutual interest, and reaffirmed the commitment to supporting each other at all international and regional fora, it added. Liam Tunney talks to historian Nigel Henderson about how a Shantallow housing development became the unintended target of German bombers in 1941. April 15, 1941. German bombers swarmed the skies. Belfast bore the brunt of a 200-strong Luftwaffe squadron, with 900 dead and 1,500 injured as a result. Seventy miles up the road, Derry was hit only once. It was not the Germans planned target. Thirteen lives were lost when a German bomb overshot its proposed target and hit Messines Park in Shantallow, home to a colony of ex-servicemen who had served in the Great War. Messines Park was named after the 1917 Battle of Messines, in which the 16th (Irish) Division and 36th (Ulster) Division had fought side by side. The colony was one of several built under the terms of the 1919 Irish Land (Provision for Sailors and Soldiers) Act to cater for ex-servicemen returning from the First World War. Fifty-seven cottages were erected on a 10.32-acre patch of land in the Shantallow area, which had been purchased from Sir John McFarland of Aberfoyle on the Strand Road. The land was bought for 3,206-04-03 - 185,640 in todays money - and featured a mixture of semi-detached cottages, blocks of four cottages and one detached cottage. A memorial plaque erected by Derry City Council in 2006. Nigel Henderson, a researcher with History Hub Ulster, has been documenting the locations of the 1,252 ex-servicemens cottages built in Northern Ireland. The largest colony or collection of cottages in County Londonderry are the ones at Messines Park, he said. Ive been going through the records trying to get details of the styles of the houses, how many rooms they had, whether they had toilets and bathrooms and things like that. Once a family was installed in them, they tended to stay there for life, but there were some issues with evictions due to non-payment of rent. A lot of the guys coming back from the war werent able to keep up employment so they may not have been able to pay the rents. The rents werent exorbitant for their time or the standard of the houses, but the ISSLT (Irish Sailors and Soldiers Land Trust), were strict at taking people to court for non-payment of rent. You had guys who were evicted in the early 1930s and then another ex-serviceman might have moved in again. In Belfast, there were guys on the waiting list as far on as the 1960s. Early plans show the layout of the ex-servicemen's three-bedroom cottages at Messines Park. Initial rent for the houses, designed by Roland Ingolby Smith, chief architect for the NI Ministry of Finance from 1922 to 1942, was nine shillings per week, around 26 per week today. On the night the Luftwaffe bombed the city, all 13 fatalities occurred in a row of houses facing onto the Buncrana Road. Nigel Henderson said the attack on Messines Park was unlikely to have been in the Germans plan. Instead, it is thought the nearby docks were their intended target. What I understand is that they were aiming for the docks. During the Second World War in Derry, there was a naval base there, he said. It was a base for the Royal Navy going out on patrols in the North Atlantic, but they overshot and Shantallow was not that far from where the docks would have been. Ten members from the Richmond and Murray families died in the attack, along with 60-year-old James Collins, his 21-year-old daughter Ellen and William Alexander McFarland. The youngest victim was 10-month-old Sheila Murray. Their loss was keenly felt within Messines Park, where a strong community spirit had grown since the houses were erected in June 1925. A map showing the location of the cottages at Messines Park. Residents established a local British Legion branch and an accompanying hall was built just outside the development in 1927. A colony of ex-servicemen being settled in Derry has the potential to be controversial when looked at through a contemporary eye, but an atmosphere of co-operation prevailed in the aftermath of the First World War. I dont think there was any sectarian sentiment against the houses, because for the guys who had moved in, religious affiliation was not a factor, explained Nigel. What was taken into account was how big a family they had, whether they had employment, whether they were wounded or gassed in the war, or the standard of housing they had. Some of those who died were Protestants and some were Roman Catholics and because it was on the edge of the city, they formed almost a small community of their own. The attitude was that it didnt matter if you were a Catholic or a Protestant, a unionist or a nationalist, the guys served together. Both communities had been up for participating. When those guys came home, the religious affiliation of their ex-servicemen neighbours would not have been a major factor or a cause for concern. They had served together through a nightmare and living close to other ex-servicemen provided an opportunity for them to talk about their shared experiences. This was something the veterans seldom did inside their homes or with their families. While not their intended target, the German bombers would no doubt have felt a sense of schadenfreude at how things panned out. Nigel Henderson is struck by the tragic irony of the ex-servicemens demise. Its the only part of Derry that was hit in the German air raids, but it just happened to be men who had fought in the First World War who were the principal victims, he said. That is the irony of it. They survived the Germans in the trenches of the First World War to then die during the Second World War from aerial bombing. The victims James and Ellen Collins Father and daughter, James and Ellen Collins, lived at 55 Messines Park. Sixty-year old James was the oldest victim of the bombing and was originally from Eglinton. He was stationed at Finner Camp in County Donegal when he met and married Elizabeth Doherty in 1916 at Glendermott Parish Church. Their daughter Ellen was born in 1920 and was just 21 when she died. Both were buried in Glendermott Parish Church. William McFarland Born at Fountain Street in Derry City, William Alexander McFarland had been working as a fitter before he enlisted with the Royal Engineers in 1916. He served with Fortress Company at Salonica for over three years and was living at Hawkin Street in the city before he was transferred to Class Z Army Reserve in 1919. William married Elizabeth Reid in 1921 at St Augustines Church of Ireland and worked after the war in the Employment Exchange. A member of the Messines Park branch of the British Legion, he was serving as a sergeant with the Local Defence Force when he died, aged 44, in the bombing raid. The Murray Family Six members of the Murray family, who lived at 59 Messines Park, lost their lives in the bombing. William (50), was born on Donegal Street and married Omagh woman Molly Gorman (39) in 1922 at St Columbs Catholic Church. William had served with the Guards during World War One and was serving as a sergeant with the Local Defence Volunteers when he died. Four of their children; Ita (13), Kathleen (11), Philomena (10) and Sheila (10 months) died during the attack. Sheila was the youngest victim. The Richmond Family The 1941 German bomb claimed the lives of four members of the Richmond family. John Richmond was born in 1888 in the Waterside and had been right at the thick of the war. Stationed in China with the Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers, he landed on Y Beach, Cape Helles, at the start of the Gallipoli land campaign. After being taken prisoner at Bertencourt, he was held in prisoner of war camps in Le Quesnoy Limburg and Dulman, before being discharged as no longer physically fit for war service in 1919. John (53) and his wife Winifred (44), along with their children Owen (18) and Bridget (18 months) died during the Messines Park attack and were buried in Derry City Cemetery. What if we had a commuter train between Athens and Atlanta? Gone would be students wasted Friday afternoons sitting in Atlanta traffic en route to visit their parents. Gone would be the parking nightmare of gameday. The environmental benefits from traffic reduction would be immediately felt, too. With communities and campuses connected, those 72 miles would never feel shorter. The so-called Brain Train project was approved by the Georgia Department of Transportation 17 years ago. The problem: They didnt build it. Linking metro Atlanta to Athens by rail would be a logistical godsend for parking scarcity on gamedays, when Athens population can triple or quadruple. More people could support local bars, shops and restaurants. The frequency of drunk driving would likely fall as well. We have a fight song about our team coming down the track. Why cant we transport fans with one? 2020 saw an early dip in car commutes as a result of the pandemic, but as of late March 2021, the amount of daily passenger vehicle trips has resumed to normal levels. Fossil fuels burned by cars will never continuously decrease until we invest in alternative transit. GDOT approved a commuter rail system in 2004, connecting Athens to Atlanta with nine stops. The proposal was nicknamed the Brain Train for linking many of Atlantas universities as well as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta to the University of Georgia. Travel by passenger rail would connect smaller communities to education and business resources throughout northeast Georgia. Rail projects often run into environment issues when laying new lines. But according to the Federal Transit Administrations Environmental Assessment in 2004, building a commuter rail from Atlanta to Athens with 11 stations would have no significant impacts on the environment. Though the project fizzled, surveyors found building the commuter rail along the existing freight line in 2007-2008 would have saved Georgia nearly a million gallons of burned fossil fuels per year by 2025. The plan also avoided adversely impacting low-income neighborhoods and communities of color, a step in the right direction in Georgias fight for environmental justice. There has been strong opposition to MARTAs expansion into the metro Atlanta suburbs. Racist and classist prejudices of voters in counties such as Cobb and Gwinnett are reflected in their history of repeatedly voting down MARTA expansions. Car and airline corporations lobby Georgia politicians to avoid other transit investments. The question of cost also remains open. Most passenger railways, especially the longest hauls, never profit. Acela (Americas only high-speed system) is Amtraks sole moneymaker. Entrepreneur Wes Edens Brightline, a high-speed, eco-friendly passenger rail, launched in 2018 in Florida. He has pricey plans for Miami-Orlando and Las Vegas-Southern California lines. Awaiting approval for government-backed bonds as well as waiting out COVID-19, Brightline is currently suspended. Yet Edens vision to connect frequently-visited cities via a safer, faster and greener mode of travel can be applied to Atlanta and Athens. At a fraction of the distance as Edens plans, the cost wont reach Brightlines $9 billion price tag. If proponents of commuter rail can make a case to the people most directly affected by such a plan taxpaying metro Atlanta residents who frequent Athens for school and Atlanta for work then maybe the trains can get back on track. The Hut Group drew in 11million new customers last year, as demand for beauty and 'self care' products rocketed during lockdown. The company's revenue soared 41.5 per cent to 1.6billion in 2020, and underlying profits climbed 35 per cent to 151million, although it made an operating loss of 482million as claimed one-off costs - including 332million paid out in shares - proved a drag on its results. THG said the 332million worth of equity to staff was dished out 'in the years running up the IPO', with the shares vesting, or being fully owned by workers, in the final quarter of last year. THG's beauty box subscriber numbers grew 39 per cent year-on-year, and the number of orders from the nutrition and beauty arms of the business swelled by 41 and 58 per cent respectively. Matthew Moulding, the company's founder and boss, has pledged to donate 100million worth of shares in the company and his entire annual salary to charity. Donation: Matthew Moulding, pictured with Boris Johnson, has pledged to donate 100m worth of shares in the The Hut Group and his entire annual salary to charity Mr Moulding will give the mammoth stake to the Moulding Foundation, set up by the entrepreneur and his family last year. THG said it had already donated 300,000 to charities since last September's initial public offering, instead of paying Mr Moulding and co-director John Gallemore their base salaries. THG's charitable donation comes after controversy over Mr Moulding's position as landlord to the public company's premises. The company said the handout is equivalent to 100 per cent of the profit that his Moulding Capital property firm could make over the next 100 years. Mr Moulding, a major Conservative Party donor who created online retailing giant THG in 2004, received a massive shares fortune on the firm's flotation, raking in at least 830million in stock after its shares hit targets in the IPO. He and his wife own 319million shares and have a 25 per cent stake worth 2.2billion in the group. They will have around 305million shares or 24 per cent of the firm after the charity transfers, the Press Association said. The Moulding Foundation recently pledged 5million to support the construction of a new campus at The Seashell Trust, a residential school for seriously disabled children based in the North West. Founder: The Hut Group Founder and Chief Executive Matthew Moulding poses in Manchester, United Kingdom in 2019 Online-only players like THG have saw a surge in sales during repeated lockdowns across the UK, as customers shopped for everything from groceries and essentials to fashion and footwear via the internet. THG, which operates brands like My Protein, Espa and Lookfantastic, recorded a statutory loss before tax of 482million for 2020, which it said was largely driven by non-reoccurring costs like September's stock market float and Covid-19-related costs. Shares in London-listed THG are down 1.92 per cent or 13.50p to 690.50p at present. The stock is still trading over 35 per cent higher than its initial 500p a share. The tech-focused platform said solid trading had continued into 2021, with sales up 58.2 per cent in the first quarter. THG's boss Matthew Moulding, said: 'We approach FY21 with confidence having navigated successfully through a milestone year in the Group's history. I am particularly proud of how our people have responded to the changing environment, displaying determination to make a difference across all aspects of our operations from new product development, to digital marketing, M&A, fulfilment and THG (eco).' He added: 'Management's purpose for the IPO was to step change THG's access to funding in order to capitalise on Covid-19 accelerated market changes. As we progressed through 2020, those changes became more apparent in terms of the volume and scale of opportunities available to the Group, as evidenced by the c. 400m committed to acquisitions since IPO, most notably the acquisition of Dermstore in the US. 'We have delivered exceptionally well on our commitments at IPO and we move forward with purpose, to advance our strategy with investment in talent, infrastructure, THG (eco) and targeted M&A, and to continue to deliver growth on a global scale.' Wed: The Hut Group's boss Matthew Moulding and his wife, Jodie SAN FRANCISCO, April 15, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Sequoia Consulting Group, a tech-enabled consulting and services company, today announced key updates to its Return to Work Center, giving companies even more tools to successfully manage the transition back to a healthy, productive workplace, while protecting their business at a time of complex regulation. The software, launched last summer on Sequoia's People Platform, is a comprehensive solution that helps companies manage the transition back to the office and adapt to changing conditions, with more flexibility and enhanced capabilities such as: Vaccine Management Track vaccinated employees and store employee vaccination records to aid decision-making about reopening and scheduling. Conduct clinical reviews of employee vaccination records with Sequoia's partner Rightway Healthcare. Enhanced Flexibility in Scheduling Access to a central hub for managing cohorts, office reservations, employee self-screening, and QR code check-ins to ensure a safe workplace. Trace potential location exposure should an employee test positive for COVID-19, and leverage insights from a streamlined dashboard on Sequoia HRX. Dynamic Policy Generation Create customized return to the office policies powered by Wilson Sonsini's SixFifty that factors in all legal considerations, including state and federal legislation. that factors in all legal considerations, including state and federal legislation. Communication about this policy and acknowledgments area easily shared with employees via Sequoia's top-rated PX mobile app. Support for Testing and Screening Access to quality testing and care when and where employees need it through a partnership with One Medical . . Receive alerted when there are positive or missing COVID-19 tests. Should an outbreak occur, easy-to-use online templates help companies meet reporting requirements and stay compliant. What's more, the experience is fully customizable, from self-screening questions to the messaging employees see when they open the app, to ensure it's the right fit for your company. "With the complex web of new legislation, expanded access to vaccines, and a greater appetite for flexible remote work, much has changed for companies transitioning back to the workplace," says Greg Golub, founder and CEO of Sequoia Consulting Group. "These new features in Sequoia's Return to Work Center provide companies with even more flexibility and essential tools for creating and executing the playbook they need to safely and efficiently return employees to the office." Golub added, "We're happy to be able to provide the framework, support, and guidance our clients need to adapt to changing conditions and confidently navigate this challenging new world of work." The RTW Center is just one offering on Sequoia's People Platform that provides a range of services and solutions to take care of companies' healthcare, wellbeing, risk management, and HR & payroll outsourcing. About Sequoia Consulting Group Sequoia Consulting Group is a tech-enabled consulting and services company that provides benefits, HR, payroll, and risk management solutions for people-centric employers with 20 to 20,000 people. The Sequoia People Platform centralizes workforce data and helps companies navigate complex issues so they can maximize their investment in people whether they are in office, distributed, or global. For two decades, Sequoia has been working with companies to balance the needs of their business with the needs of their people. Sequoia Consulting Group has offices in the San Francisco Bay Area, New York, Tempe, and Bangalore. Visit Sequoia.com or follow us on LinkedIn and Twitter to learn more. SOURCE Sequoia Consulting Group Related Links www.sequoia.com New Delhi: The Women and Child Development Department (WCD) of the Delhi government has cracked the whip on latecomer staff and issued a strict warning to them. Those reporting after 09:45 am will be considered late and on every three latecomings, one casual leave will be deducted automatically, the department issued an order. The officials will have to submit an explanation to the director of the department detailing the reason for coming late, the order said. In the order issued by WCD Director Shilpa Shinde last week, she stated The official reporting time is 9.30 am. Appropriate action will be taken as per rules against officers/officials, who are habitual latecomers. ALSO READ: Doctor tries to molest 19-year-old nursing student in Delhi on pretext of getting admission, arrested An attendance sheet of all staff working in different branches of the department would be prepared and submitted to the director on the first working day of every month, the order further stated. Last year, Chief Secretary M M Kutty had warned latecomers at the Delhi Secretariat, which houses several departments, including transport, PWD, finance, power, offices of all ministers including Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwals. Kutty directed Secretary (General Administration Department) to keep a watch on the attendance of officials and ensure that they mark themselves present in the biometric attendance system. (With PTI inputs) ALSO READ | Delhi: 5 people including 4 women of a family found dead in Shahdara home At an extraordinary joint meeting of NATO ministers of foreign affairs and defence on Wednesday, head of the Romanian diplomacy Bogdan Aurescu, expressed Romania's concern over the deployment of Russian troops and equipment in Crimea, at the eastern border of Ukraine and in the Black Sea in general. According to Romania's Foreign Ministry (MAE), the meeting took place in the context of concluding the analysis of the new US administration on the future of the US and NATO military presence in Afghanistan and outlining decisions on this issue, as well as worrying security developments in the Eastern Neighbourhood. "The Romanian side appreciated the way the US tackles the whole Afghan issue, both in terms of dialogue and coordination with the allies, and in terms of intra-Afghan peace negotiations. At the same time, he highlighted Romania's long-standing commitment so far to the stability and security of Afghanistan and underlined the need to take into account the security interests of the NATO and Afghanistan, as well as the importance of maintaining solidarity and NATO unity," reads the MAE release.Against this background, following NATO talks, the NATO ministers of foreign affairs and defence adopted a joint declaration of the North Atlantic Council deciding to end the Resolute Support Mission and to withdraw the NATO troops from May 1, 2021.Part of the talks was also the recently created security situation in the Eastern Neighbourhood. The attending NATO ministers expressed concern over recent developments and a significant increase in the presence of Russian troops in illegally occupied Crimea and on Ukraine's eastern border."The Minister of Foreign Affairs, Bogdan Aurescu, highlighted Romania's main position on supporting the territorial integrity and sovereignty of Ukraine. At the same time, he expressed Romania's concern over the deployment of Russian troops and equipment in Crimea, at the eastern border of Ukraine and the Black Sea in general. He also underscored the need for NATO to carefully assess the security situation and, in particular, its implications for Euro-Atlantic security, as well as for continued measures to ensure deterrence and defence in the Black Sea region," according to MAE. BOSTON, April 15, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Chilmark Research's latest report, Integration Infrastructure: Building 21st Century Health Information Technology, captures a market transitioning to new approaches to development and integration, enabling more effective access to data across organizations and applications. This market for integration technology and services will amount to $2.09 billion by 2026, representing a 14% CAGR. However, non-traditional sectors, including Life Sciences, will grow far faster (3-4 times the rate of traditional buyers) and will amount to the largest single market for this technology by 2026. Providers and Payers Want Alternatives While much attention has been focused on how the 21st Century Cures Act will expand data availability across healthcare, the new rules are just one of the reasons that the industry is looking to leverage data across applications and organizations in new ways. Faster and less costly alternatives to existing integration techniques and approaches have also emerged in response to several factors: the maturation of FHIR, broader acceptance of API-based development and integration, changing payment models, new pressures to deliver quality care at lower cost, and the long-term effects of the pandemic. Traditional EHR integrations, built as one-off interfaces that require ongoing and expensive maintenance, are giving way to API-based access to data and transactions for new projects. This approach to implementing integrations is gaining acceptance as a more effective method than event-driven and messaging-based approaches. These new integrations can be built by organizations and/or their vendors; alternatively, an organization can subscribe to integrations delivered as a service. While the usage of APIs is still in its infancy, many vendors are significantly enhancing their API-related services and tools in addition to expanding their API catalogs. Organizations need to blend data from many internal and outside sources and provide them on demand rather than on a schedule. Data aggregation, until now mostly a precursor for analytics and reporting applications, is important for a more diverse set of applications and range of access requirements. Building the data stores behind APIs, creating cohort-level data on demand, and supporting analytics on demand are examples of growing market needs. Finally, integrating data and functionality directly into clinical and administrative workflows is the most promising way to address clinician burden. Organizations and vendors need ways to experiment and iterate to have a realistic chance of delivering improved workflows. Future Use Cases and Future Vendors New integration technologies are also being adapted to a range of novel use cases. For example, for many products and services that will support prior authorization interactions between payers and providers, FHIR-standard APIs will be the technological centerpiece. The building of new price transparency tools for members and patients will be greatly aided by the products and services described in this report. These offerings will take full advantage of the more expansive data disclosures from providers and payers planned for the coming years. In addition, many providers and payers will use the data aggregation capabilities highlighted in this report to harness the new data, contributing to a better understanding of their pricing position compared to similar local organizations. This report also looks closely at some of the offerings of the public cloud vendors. These companies are already well established in healthcare as providers of hosted computer and storage services. Their general-purpose development and integration capabilities are also used in healthcare. Increasingly, they are touting their healthcare-specific development and integration capabilities, a leading indicator of their larger ambitions to contribute to healthcare. Integration in Healthcare Set to Expand Dramatically The report includes a forecast of total spending by healthcare enterprises (providers, payers, and healthcare-oriented ISVs) on integration products and services over the next five years. It has a separate forecast of potential spending by non-traditional users of these tools such as life sciences, clinical research, and digital health vendors. This report is available to select subscribers of the Chilmark Advisory Service or can be purchased separately. To learn more, please view the report page. Direct inquiries for purchase, and all other inquiries about the report should be addressed to John Moore III at [email protected]. The report has detailed profiles of the relevant offerings from these vendors: Allscripts, AWS, CareEvolution, Cerner, Epic, Google Cloud, Health Catalyst, InterSystems, Lyniate, Microsoft Azure, NextGen (Mirth), Orion Health, Philips, and Redox. Media Contact: John Moore III [email protected] SOURCE Chilmark Research Related Links http://www.chilmarkresearch.com "We are honored to welcome Rima to our Board and know that she will bring tremendous value to our organization. Rima is an inspiration to me each day, and I know that she will inspire others to support our mission," said Barron Segar, President and CEO, World Food Program USA. "The COVID-19 pandemic has pushed nearly 272 million people into severe hunger, and they urgently need our help. We look forward to working with Rima to bring attention and funding to our mission so that we can save as many lives as possible." Mrs. Slaiby said she is honored to join World Food Program USA's Board of Directors. She added: "The number of people struck by hunger across the world is horrifying and intolerable! It's a duty upon the privileged to use their fame to prevent their fellow humans from starving. I myself was born in a war-torn country; I know what it's like to worry about putting food on the table. I am truly honored to have been selected to collaborate with the WFP in its mission to defeat global hunger." Born in Lebanon, Mrs. Slaiby and her family fled Lebanon's civil war when she was seven years old and immigrated to the United States for a better life. Profoundly influenced by the hardship and hunger her family experienced during the war, she dedicated her life to advocacy and helping others in need. As a Board member, she will bring awareness and understanding to the issues faced by vulnerable communities, particularly in Lebanon and the Middle East. Mrs. Slaiby, who was raised in Dearborn, Michigan, rose to national prominence in 2010 when she became the first and only immigrant, Arab woman to be crowned Miss USA. In addition to serving on our Board, she is an Ambassador of the Children's Cancer Center Lebanon, Ambassador of School On Wheels Foundation, and a Board Member with Best Buddies International Foundation. Mrs. Slaiby resides in Los Angeles with her husband and three children. Mrs. Slaiby and her husband, Wassim "SAL" Slaiby Founder and CEO, SALXCO/XO Records are passionate supporters and champions of the U.N. World Food Programme's mission. Mr. Slaiby manages an impressive roster of 45 plus artists, producers and songwriters, (including The Weeknd, Doja Cat, Swedish House Mafia, French Montana, Bebe Rexha, and many more). In May 2020, they started a GoFundMe to raise funds for U.N. World Food Programme efforts in Lebanon, resulting in $120,000 in 24 hours. Following the August 2020 explosion at the port of Beirut, the pair launched the Global Aid for Lebanon campaignin collaboration with World Food Program USA, Global Citizen, Red Cross Lebanon, and Children's Cancer Center Lebanonto raise funds for blast victims. The campaign raised more than a $1 million. About the United Nations World Food Programme/World Food Program USA The United Nations World Food Programme is the 2020 Nobel Peace Prize Laureate and the world's largest humanitarian organization, saving lives in emergencies and using food assistance to build a pathway to peace, stability and prosperity for people recovering from conflict, disasters and the impact of climate change. World Food Program USA, a 501(c)(3) organization based in Washington, DC, proudly supports the mission of the United Nations World Food Programme by mobilizing American policymakers, businesses and individuals to advance the global movement to end hunger. Our leadership and support help to bolster an enduring American legacy of feeding families in need around the world. To learn more about World Food Program USA's mission, please visit wfpusa.org/about-us. SOURCE World Food Program USA Related Links https://www.wfpusa.org London: Prince William and Prince Harry will be kept apart during Prince Philips funeral, in a fresh display of the deep rift between the brothers. Buckingham Palace on Thursday released more details about the Duke of Edinburghs farewell, including confirmation the Queen will have to wear a face mask during the 50-minute service and sit two metres apart from other mourners. However, a list of who will walk behind Philips coffin as it is driven from Windsor Castle to St Georges Chapel has focused fresh attention on the distant relationship between William and Harry. The two have not seen each other since Harry and Meghan, the Duchess of Sussex, recorded a bombshell interview with Oprah Winfrey last month. Henderson Pointe is anchored by high-volume Food Lion We know these types of centers are essential to their surrounding communities, and we know the value Broad Reach can bring by restoring them and filling retail voids to support the needs of their local residents. Broad Reach Retail Partners, LLC, a value-add owner and operator of retail shopping centers, completed its acquisition of Henderson Pointe in Henderson, North Carolina this week. This is the second acquisition for Broad Reach Retail this year, and the third Food Lion anchored asset in the past six months. Previous purchases include Warsaw Village in Warsaw, VA (September 2020) and Avent Ferry in Raleigh, NC (January 2021). Recently, we are finding great success in acquiring high-volume Food Lions, said Nate McKay, Broad Reach Retails Acquisition Officer. They have outstanding tenant credit and are an excellent draw to the centers they anchor. The purchase of Henderson Pointe is also the first acquisition under Broad Reach Retails Shopping Center Fund III, the companys latest investment vehicle that closed last month. With equity to deploy, Broad Reach remains an active buyer of grocery-anchored shopping centers, said Nate Tower, CEO. We know these types of centers are essential to their surrounding communities, and we know the value Broad Reach can bring by restoring them and filling retail voids to support the needs of their local residents. Nate McKay added, There continues to be strong investment demand as convenience-oriented retail, particularly strong grocery-anchored retail, has weathered the pandemic well. Broad Reach remains focused on acquiring grocery-anchored retail where the company can leverage its talented leasing and management teams to revitalize these shopping centers. Since we are opportunity oriented and not geographically focused, we look forward to finding new opportunities throughout the country, said McKay in closing. Henderson Pointe, a 188,647 square-foot neighborhood center, was 72% occupied at the time of purchase. Anchor tenants include Food Lion, Harbor Freight, Badcock Furniture, and Roses Discount Stores. The center is located in the Dabney Drive Retail Corridor, the main shopping location for the Henderson community, which provides significant traffic to the center. For Henderson Pointe leasing information, please contact Ashley Allen, Partner & VP of Leasing, at 443.890.1538 or aallen@broadreachretail.com. ### About Broad Reach Retail Partners Founded in 2006, Broad Reach Retail Partners, LLC is a privately held, fully integrated owner and operator of shopping centers. Since its beginning, Broad Reach has owned, lease or managed 48 centers, representing 4.7 million square feet. Our mission is to create value for our partners, properties, and people. We do this by maximizing the full potential of underutilized shopping centers through focused leasing, disciplined buying, and meticulous management. For more information, visit http://www.BroadReachRetail.com. It was an emotional homecoming for the Mumbai-based couple, Mohammad Shareeq and Oniba Qureshi, who were held in a drugs case in Qatar around two years ago. For the parents of Oniba and Shareeq, it was a moment of joy as they also welcomed Aayat, their grand-daughter, who was born in jail in a foreign land. I cannot forget these two years, said Shareeq. "We were trapped and entangled in a case with which we had no connection even remotely," he said. Life was difficultI was expecting.emotionally we had broken down, said Oniba, however, adding that the jail authorities took care of her well during the pregnancy. The couple was arrested at the Hamad International Airport in Doha, in July, 2019 after Qatar authorities recovered 4.1 kg of hashish in their bag. It later came to light that Sharique's aunt, Tabassum Qureshi, had used them to transport the drugs on the pretext of sending the couple to the Persian Gulf country for a second honeymoon. They asked them to get a bag delivered to a contact in Qatar saying that it had gutka and zarda in it as these items are costly in the Arabian nation. We were initially reluctant for a second honeymoon but accepted it laterand we never realized that we would be in mess, the couple said. Shareeq and Oniba faced the in Qatar - and the Supreme Judiciary Council of Qatar had sentenced both of them to serve 10 years in jail and a fine of 3,00,000 Riyal individually. The couples family back in Mumbai made all efforts to approach the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) to look into the matter after which the federal agency busted the module involved in the said drug trafficking case and raised the issue with Qatar authorities through diplomatic channels. In December, 2019, Nagpada police seized 13 grams of cocaine from Nizam Kara and Tabassum and arrested them. Simultaneously, in February, 2020, an NCB team intercepted a consignment of the 1.474 kilograms of charas belonging to the same syndicate in Chandigarh and arrested four persons - Ved Ram, Maheshwar, Shahnawaz Gulam Choratwala and Shabana. These details were presented before the prosecution agencies and judiciary in Qatar and the evidence sent there was appreciated by court, which ordered their release. We hoisted Indias flag in Qatar by getting the innocent couple to meet justice. I am indebted to the support provided by Mumbai media. This was one of the most satisfying investigations of my career and I owe a lot to your support, NCPs deputy director of operations, KPS Malhotra said. Two women self-administer a COVID-19 test at a mobile CCP virus testing center on Clapham Common in south London, on Apr. 13, 2021. (Daniel Leal-Olivas/AFP via Getty Images) UK Local COVID-19 Restrictions May Return If South African Variant Isnt Curbed: Expert The UK may need to reimpose local COVID-19 restrictions if the ongoing mass testing operation fails to put the South African variant under control, a medical expert has warned. I think there is a significant risk of a wave occurring in the summer, professor John Edmunds, an expert on infectious diseases at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, told ITVs Peston Podcast. But there is huge uncertainty about how serious it will be in terms of hospitalisations and deaths, said Edmunds, who is a member of the UK governments Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (SAGE). Talking about the different variants of the CCP (Chinese Communist Party) virus, he said, Of the ones that are known at the moment, the South African variant is probably the most worrying, and so I think its right that we do everything we can to try and keep the cases of that down. UK health authorities are carrying out surge testing operations in several London boroughs in an attempt to identify and isolate cases of the South African variant. What we are looking at in South London is an example of what well see now in the coming months, as we try our best to keep that variant out or at as low a level as we possibly can, Edmunds said. If the mass testing fails to curb the spread, he said, then its possible that we will have to impose some sort of local restrictions back in place even though nobody wants to do it. The Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) said on Wednesday that additional testing and genomic sequencing are being provided in a targeted area within the N3 postcode area in the North London borough of Barnet, where a confirmed case of the South African variant had been found. This case is not linked to the cluster identified earlier in South London, according to genomic sequencing results cited by the DHSC. Surge testing was already ongoing in the South London boroughs of Southwark, Lambeth, and Wandsworth, where at least 44 confirmed cases and 30 probable cases have been found. Medical experts have warned that the South African variant is more resistant to antibodies than the original variant and may reduce the effectiveness of vaccines. A study published in February showed that the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine didnt seem to offer protection against mild and moderate cases of COVID-19 resulting from the South African variant. Health Secretary Matt Hancock said in February that UK authorities would come down hard on the mutant virus to curb its spread in communities. Source: Xinhua| 2021-04-16 04:58:38|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close BUCHAREST, April 15 (Xinhua) -- Moldova's Constitutional Court ruled on Thursday that the parliament could be dissolved over its inability to approve a government within the constitutional deadline. The decision was made after examining the relevant request of President Maia Sandu, according to news reports reaching here from Chisinau, capital of Moldova. "The impossibility of forming the government ... is ascertained as a circumstance that justifies the dissolution of Parliament of the tenth legislature," said President of the Constitutional Court Domnica Manole. "The decision of the Constitutional Court is reasonable. The parliament did not vote for a government for three months, and the two attempts to vote a prime minister failed," Sandu told a press conference after the ruling of the top court. Sandu announced that she will soon sign a decree to dissolve the parliament. Thus, Moldova will have snap parliamentary elections. However, no one knows when the voting will be held, as it depends on the two-month-long state of emergency, which started on April 1. Under the Constitution, the parliament could not be dissolved during a state of emergency. According to a survey conducted late last year, if an early election is held in the near future, the Party of Action and Solidarity (PAS), which Sandu led before winning the presidency, may win and become the largest party in the new parliament. Currently, the PAS has 15 seats, while the Party of Socialists, led by former President Igor Dodon, is the largest party in parliament with 37 seats. Enditem COLLEGE PARK, Md., April 15, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Large majorities of American voters support reforms that would limit or remove barriers to economic opportunities, housing, and voting for people with criminal records, according to a new survey released today by the Program for Public Consultation (PPC) at the University of Maryland. A representative sample of 2,487 American voters were given a detailed presentation of numerous proposed Congressional reforms that would restrict employers, licensing boards and public housing authorities from disqualifying people based on their criminal records. All of the proposed reforms received support from large bipartisan majorities. A proposal for automatically restoring the right to vote for people who have served a felony sentence also received majority support, though Republicans were divided. Additionally, bipartisan majorities favored both making it easier for those who were arrested but never convicted to have their record sealed, as well as automatically sealing records for people with non-violent drug offenses after a short period of time. The proposals were drawn from several prominent pieces of criminal justice reform legislation in Congress the Next Step Act, the Fair Chance at Housing Act, the Democracy Restoration Act, and the For the People Act. In the innovative survey, respondents were given relevant background information for each proposal. They then evaluated a series of strongly stated arguments for and against each proposal before making their final recommendation. The briefing material and arguments were reviewed by experts representing the range of opinions on the issue to assure that the briefings were accurate and balanced and that the arguments were the strongest ones being made. Around one in three adults in the United States currently have a criminal record, many for being arrested but never charged, or charged but never convicted, and many for minor and non-violent offenses. The federal and most state governments have laws that allow or even require employers and licensing boards to disqualify people from jobs, licenses, or other opportunities based on such criminal records. Respondents favored four proposals from the Next Step Act that would prohibit employers and licensing boards from rejecting an applicant or firing an employee solely because they had been: arrested but never charged with a crime, or charged with a crime but never convicted (81%, Republicans 72%, Democrats 90%) convicted of a petty, non-violent offense, such as loitering or failing to pay a ticket (79%, Republicans 68%, Democrats 89%) convicted of a misdemeanor and finished their sentence one year ago, or convicted of a felony and finished their sentence five years ago, and have since remained crime-free (74%, Republicans 64%, Democrats 83%) convicted of an offense unrelated to their ability to responsibly perform the duties of the job (76%, Republicans 65%, Democrats 87%) A common objection to these proposals by employers is that if they knowingly hire a job applicant with a criminal record, they can be held liable in the event the employee commits a crime while on the job. A large bipartisan majority of respondents (78%) favored a proposal that would provide employers immunity from such liability, including three quarters of Republicans and 82% of Democrats. A large bipartisan majority (79%) also favored a proposal from the Fair Chance at Housing Act, which would prohibit public housing authorities from rejecting applicants or evicting tenants because they had been arrested but never convicted, or convicted of a minor non-violent crime. In the event that a person had been convicted of a felony, they still could not immediately disqualify them, but would instead have to convene a review board consisting of tenants and housing authorities to determine if they pose a risk to the safety of other tenants. This proposal had support from seven in ten Republicans as well as nearly nine in ten Democrats (88%). In most states, people convicted of a felony lose their right to vote while in prison, but only in some states do they regain that right once they finish their sentence. Currently around six million such people have not regained their right to vote. A large majority of nearly seven in ten (69%) favored a proposal, from the Democracy Restoration Act and the For the People Act, that would automatically reinstate the right to vote in federal elections for people convicted of felonies who have completed their prison sentence. Eighty seven percent of Democrats were in favor, as were two thirds of independents. Republicans were divided, with 48% in favor and 51% opposed. However, a majority of 55% found it at least "tolerable". Large bipartisan majorities favored two proposals, from the Next Step Act, related to sealing criminal records. Seventy seven percent favored allowing anyone who has been arrested but never convicted to have such information sealed from the public, for a minor cost (Republicans 70%, Democrats 85%). Three in four favored automatically sealing the record of a non-violent drug offense, five years after the offender has completed their sentence (Republicans 68%, Democrats 84%). Sealed records give people with such criminal records the right to not disclose that information to potential employers or landlords. The survey was conducted online from February 12-22, 2021 with a national probability-based sample provided by Nielsen Scarborough from Nielsen Scarborough's larger sample of respondents, who were recruited by mail and telephone using a random sample of households. The sample of 2,487 respondents had a margin of error of +/- 2.0%. Executive Summary of Findings (PDF): https://vop.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/CriminalRecords_ExecSum_0421.pdf Questionnaire with Frequencies (PDF): http://publicconsultation.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/Criminal_Records_Quaire_0221.pdf Contact: Steven Kull, 301-254-7500 SOURCE Program for Public Consultation Related Links https://publicconsultation.org An undercover TV researcher accused of murdering a cannabis dealer fled the UK to start a new life as a businessman in Malta, even holding negotiations with the Moroccan royal family, a court has heard. Christopher Guest More Jr, 43, flew to Spain following the torture and killing of Brian Waters, 44, at a Cheshire farmhouse in June 2003, a trial at Chester Crown Court was told today. The court heard that More used a fake UK passport under the name Andrew Lamb, who he claimed to be when he was arrested in Malta in 2019. More confirmed to the court that he carried out a number of business negotiations in Malta, including sending surveyors to Morocco after being invited by the country's royal family to work on Tangier port. He agreed there had also been discussions about an investment of 400,000 Swiss francs in a Libyan state-owned oil company and a roll-on, roll-off vessel to transport cranes from Germany to Libya. Nigel Power QC, prosecuting, suggested More had been deceiving people with 'quite some style'. Christopher Guest More Jr, 43 (left), flew to Spain following the torture and murder of Brian Waters (right), 44, at a Cheshire farmhouse in June 2003, a trial at Chester Crown Court was told today. More denies the murder of Mr Waters and conspiracy to cause grievous bodily harm to Mr Waters and Suleman Razak, who worked on the cannabis farm and was also tortured More said: 'I used the name Andrew Lamb to stay away from the UK and tried to get on with my life.' The court heard that in 2003 More had done undercover work for TV companies, including working with journalist Donal MacIntyre. He said he had befriended 'gangster' John Wilson after learning he was a police informant, because he thought it would be a 'brilliant story' to sell to the media. Wilson was later convicted of Mr Waters' murder. More said he had also believed he might be able to find a cannabis farm through Wilson which he could film for a Dispatches documentary on the drug, the court heard. He said Wilson, who he bought cocaine from as part of his 'media research', asked him to carry out surveillance on Mr Waters and he discovered Mr Waters was growing cannabis at Burnt House Farm in Tabley, near Knutsford. The jury was told Wilson, who was 53 when he was convicted, planned to steal the cannabis farm and More had suggested a potential new site, with the idea of installing hidden cameras inside. More said that on the morning of June 19 2003 he went to steal the cannabis and equipment from the farm with three other men, including James Raven, who he worked undercover with. But at the farm Raven revealed he was now working for Wilson and had told him More was undercover, he said. More told the court Raven passed him a phone with Wilson on the other end. The scene at the farm in Cheshire where Brian Waters was murdered back in 2003 'He said basically 'you need to f*** off from the farm' and that he would deal with me later,' he told the court. More said he drove away from the farm 'in panic mode' and only later learned someone had died there after he left. He told the court he left the country because he was scared of Wilson. He said: 'He is a serious criminal that now knew I was doing an undercover job on him so that was the main reason.' Wilson, Raven and a third man, Otis Matthews, were convicted of Mr Waters' murder following trials between 2004 and 2007. More denies the murder of Mr Waters and conspiracy to cause grievous bodily harm to Mr Waters and Suleman Razak, who worked on the cannabis farm and was also tortured. The trial will continue on Monday. A Florida man who posed as an immigration lawyer, filing hundreds of fraudulent asylum applications and collecting more than $411,000 from unwitting clients, has been sentenced to more than 20 years in prison, federal prosecutors said. The man, Elvis Harold Reyes, 56, of Brandon, Fla., pleaded guilty in December to charges of mail fraud and aggravated identity theft, and was sentenced on Monday to serve 20 years and nine months, the U.S. Attorneys Office for the Middle District of Florida said in a statement. From 2016 to 2019, Mr. Reyes, who owned and operated a Christian nonprofit group called EHR Ministries Inc., portrayed himself as an immigration lawyer even though he was not licensed as one, according to court documents. A website for the ministry says it helps prepare immigration documents and applications, provides wedding ceremony services and caters to those that are away from any home church. Prosecutors said Mr. Reyes sought out undocumented immigrants in the Tampa area who were originally from Spanish-speaking countries and were seeking Florida drivers licenses and work authorization. Clients retained and paid Mr. Reyes to represent them on immigration-related matters before U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services and other agencies, prosecutors said. NEW YORK New York City prosecutors will seek to overturn scores of additional drug convictions that relied on the work of an indicted former NYPD detective who has been accused of framing innocent people in some cases. Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance Jr.s office said Thursday that, in the coming weeks, it will move to vacate and dismiss about 100 cases in which ex-Detective Joseph Franco served as an key witness. Vances office previously dismissed about 40 open cases involving Franco, Vance spokesperson Danny Frost said. Brooklyn prosecutors l ast week tossed out 90 convictions because of concerns about Francos integrity. Bronx District Attorney Darcel Clarks office is reviewing about 150 drug cases involving Franco and will seek dismissal of all in which Franco played an essential role. Most of the charges resulted in a guilty plea, the office said. A Clark spokesperson said that the office found Franco to be key to most of the 116 cases it has scrutinized thus far. In the vast majority of those cases, the spokesperson said, Franco acted as an undercover buyer who provided information leading to an arrest. Gothamist was first to report on new round of dismissals. Manhattan prosecutors indicted Franco on perjury charges in 2019, accusing him of lying in testimony and paperwork about witnessing drug transactions that security camera footage showed never took place. The police department fired him in April 2020. A coalition of advocacy groups, including The Exoneration Project and the Legal Aid Society, send letters to Vance and Clark this week encouraging them to vacate cases that hinged on Francos work. In a statement Thursday, the organizations praised the prosecutors for taking this necessary step to right many of the injustices created by Det. Francos documented misdeeds. A message seeking comment was left with Francos lawyer, Howard Tanner. Tanner said last week that the move by prosecutors to dismiss cases involving Franco was baseless and irresponsible and could harm the former detectives right to a fair trial. Brooklyn District Attorney Eric Gonzalez, in securing the dismissal of mostly low-level drug convictions that relied on Francos testimony, said last week that he had lost confidence in the former detectives work. Gonzalezs office, however, said it had found no evidence of the kind of misconduct alleged in the indictment. Public health officials also say its very possible that booster shots will be needed to protect people against more contagious variants of COVID-19 that have already surfaced around the world and other strains that will almost certainly appear in the future. Click here to read the full article. Neeraj Khemlani and Wendy McMahon have been named to lead a new unit that combines CBS News and CBS local stations, one of the first big recalibrations of company assets by George Cheeks, the executive charged with oversight of ViacomCBS CBS operations. Khemlani, a senior executive at Hearst Newspapers, and McMahon, who had been overseeing ABC stations, will be charged with both raising the competitive level of a news organization that has faced challenges in the modern era when it comes to vying with rivals like ABC News and NBC New,s and pushing forward a station group that has often lagged its competitive set. The unified division will bring together the power of CBS News, our 28 owned stations in 17 major U.S. markets, CBSN, our growing CBSN Local platforms, local websites and cbsnews.com under one roof, opening new opportunities and valuable paths to growth in the future, Cheeks said Thursday in a memo to staffers. It will maximize the power of our newsgathering and production operations to serve audiences across all national, digital, local and global platform. The pair will take the reins of CBS News from Susan Zirinsky, a veteran CBS News producer who led the unit during a fraught time, tried to stabilize morale and revamped many of the networks flagship programs. Zirinsky is expected to enter into a new production deal with parent company ViacomCBS that will allow her to create non-fiction programming for CBS News, CBSN and the companys new Paramount Plus streaming hub under a deal with an entity called the CBS News Content Studio. She is expected to remain at the helm of CBS News until the new executives start. And they take oversight of CBS stations from Peter Dunn, a veteran executive who supervised CBS stations for years, but departed recently amid a probe into allegations about his behavior toward female employees and people of color. Dunn has denied the claims through his attorney. CBS has in recent years created a live-streaming service, CBSN, that relies on the newsgathering of not only CBS News, but journalists in its local markets. The company has supplemented its national live-stream with individual feeds from its various stations in cities including New York, Los Angeles, Philadelphia and Atlanta. All of us are experiencing a business and content landscape where the wants and habits of our consumers evolve by the day, said Cheeks. We need to transform with them to ensure every part of the organization and our talented colleagues are set up to succeed. Both executives have prior experience working at CBS. Khemlani as a producer at 60 Minutes and 60 Minutes II for eight years while McMahon worked seven years at Boston station WBZ and Minneapolis WCCO. McMahon was named president of ABCs stations in 2017. Prior to that, she was senior vice president of ABC Digital, where she helped launch some of the divisions connected TV apps. Khemlani was most recently executive vice president and deputy group head at Hearst Newspapers. He has also supervised the Hearst division that oversees the companys partnerships with ESPN and A+E Networks. As a producer, he has worked with Peter Jennings, Dan Rather and Bob Simon. Sign up for Varietys Newsletter. For the latest news, follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. Credit: CC0 Public Domain COVID-19 saw global maritime trade collapse by as much as 10% in the first eight months of 2020leading to losses of up to $412 billion, reveals recently published Oxford research, which used sophisticated algorithms and tracking data to follow 100,000 vessels. The research was also able to quantify the impacts of virus containment measures on economic activity across countriesin particular, the closures of schools and public transport led to drops in economic activity. But the study reveals, oil and manufacturing supply chains collapsed as the pandemic went global, leading to a widespread slump in port-level trade. The Oxford team, led by Jasper Verschuur a graduate student in the Environmental Change Institute, shows the largest absolute losses were in ports in China, the Middle East and Western Europewhich experienced both supply and demand shocks during the first few months. Using cutting-edge methodology, in which the daily movements of more than 100,000 maritime vessels were tracked, the team found manufacturing sectors were hardest hit, with losses of 11.8%. Many sectors were not as badly affected, "Some supply-chains have been more resilient than others. The most resilient sectors are found to be the textiles (-4.1%), food and beverages (-5.8%) and wood and paper manufacturing (-6.3%) sectors." The ECI's Professor Jim Hall says, "Looking at this satellite ship-tracking data during the COVID-19 pandemic is fascinating and alarming. You can see how national lockdowns have had impacts far beyond many countries' borders, through big shifts in the patterns of shipping trade. Never before have we been able to see, so precisely and so quickly, how an economic shock ripples through supply chains around the world." Some small and developing nations were particularly hard-hit, "The largest percentage change in imports are associated with small economies such as Turks and Caicos Islands, Bahrain, Anguilla, Federated States of Micronesia and Madagascar." For many, the trade disruptions were reinforced by the drop in tourism. This study is one of the first sources of information on the impacts of small islands and low-income countries. When combined with information about lockdown measures from the Blavatnik School's "COVID-19 Government Response Tracker," the study reveals the impact of individual lockdown measures on economic activity. According to the report, "We find a clear negative impact of COVID-19 related school and public transport closures on country-wide exports. Every day that a country had a full school closure led to a 4-7% drop in economic activity." The information can help decision-makers in weighting the costs and benefits of introducing new lockdown measures. But, the researchers say, "Stay at home requirements and international travel bans had little effect on economic activity." Jasper Verschuur says, "We can measure the economic impacts of the COVID-19 on a global scale in almost real time. Going further, we can use a similar approach to monitor how countries recover from the pandemic as they rebuild their economies, and identify where additional financial support is needed." With support from the UN's Statistical Division, the team tracked the daily movements of more than 100,000 maritime vessels as they moved in and out of ports, and estimated whether they were loading or unloading goods. This allowed them to estimate maritime trade flows, a good proxy of the status of the economy, in all maritime countries on a daily time scale and compare it to the previous year. Published in PloS One, the research was conducted using a new method to estimate the economic losses in near real-time on a global-scale, providing empirical evidence of the evolution of economic impacts as the pandemic unfolded and how the economic response differs between countries Explore further Slow easing of lockdowns may be better for global economy: study More information: Jasper Verschuur et al. Global economic impacts of COVID-19 lockdown measures stand out in high-frequency shipping data, PLOS ONE (2021). Journal information: PLoS ONE Jasper Verschuur et al. Global economic impacts of COVID-19 lockdown measures stand out in high-frequency shipping data,(2021). DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0248818 Ireland is on track to ease restrictions on May 4 and meet its vaccine targets despite "twists and turns," the Tanaiste has said. In a video posted on Twitter, Leo Varadkar said he wanted to reassure the public that there are lots of things to be positive about" despite concerns arising from the pausing of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine and restrictions to the rollout of the AstraZeneca vaccine. Of course theres going to be twists and turns. That was always going to be the case but just wanted to reassure you about those things," he said. Under the Governments reopening plan, hairdressers and other personal services, religious services, as well as museums, galleries, and libraries are set to reopen on May 4. Non-essential retail is also set to be given the green light on that date, though it is expected to be a phased re-opening, beginning with click-and-collect services and outdoor stores and garden centres. Heres the latest on Covid-19 following todays Cabinet and Vaccine Task Force meetings, in the week that schools went back and the 5k restriction was lifted: pic.twitter.com/GILFQvFqEz Leo Varadkar (@LeoVaradkar) April 14, 2021 Towards the end of May, the Government has also signalled it will look at the reopening of hotels, B&Bs and guesthouses for June. Mr Varadkar said the country is still very much on track to meet the Governments targets of between 3.5m and 4.5m vaccines being administered in the second quarter of this year. We shouldnt "lose sight of the bigger picture," he said. For the first time this year, there is less than 200 people in hospital with Covid, less than 50 people in ICU, cases are falling, the R-number is below one. This week, all the schools went back, the 5km rule ended and we started building homes again, so lots of things to be positive about, he added. ADAMS, Mass. U.S. Capitol Police Officer William "Billy" Evans was brought to his final resting place Thursday afternoon after the Northern Berkshire community paid their final respects. Evans' funeral Mass was held at noon at St. Stanislaus Kostka Church and officiated by Bishop William D. Byrne of the Springfield Diocese. Byrne had previously been pastor at St. Peter's Church on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C. The funeral was private with family and friends, and a long list of public officials including Gov. Charlie Baker, Lt. Gov. Karyn Polito, U.S. Rep. Richie Neal, state Sen. Adam Hinds, state Reps. John Barrett III and William "Smitty" Pignatelli, North Adams Mayor Thomas Bernard and City Councilors Lisa Blackmer and Jason Laforest and Adams officials. A contingent from the Capitol Police were also in attendance along with local, state, and regional law enforcement, including Adams Police Chief Scott Kelley, North Adams Police Chief Jason Wood, and Pittsfield Police Chief Michael Wynn. The town of Adams closed off portions of Hoosac Street and Summer Street to accommodate the funeral. The town stressed that the day's proceedings were private, but did invite community members to gather on Park Stret to pay their respects as the motorcade made its way to Bellevue Cemetery to bury Evans. Evans' father, the late Howard Evans, is buried in Bellevue Cemetery. Bellevue Cemetery was locked down once the motorcade entered. Evans, a member of the U.S. Capitol Police, was killed on Friday, April 2, when a driver slammed his car into a checkpoint he was guarding at the Capitol. Evans was raised in North Adams and Clarksburg and was a graduate of Drury High School. He served with the U.S. Capitol Police since 2003 and was a member of the Capitol Division's First Responder's unit. His mother, Janice Evans, still lives in Clarksburg. He also leaves his wife, Shannon, and two young children Logan and Abigail; his sister and brother-in-law, Julie and Andrew Kucyn, and a nephew, Timothy. He lay in honor Tuesday in the Capitol Rotunda, where President Biden, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Majority Leader Charles Schumer spoke. His remains were returned Wednesday and escorted by dozens of police vehicles -- local and regional -- from Bradley International Airport in Connecticut to Adams. The procession was meet along the way with salutes and flags and greeted in North Adams by residents who tood along the streets with flags and signs. As the hearse and escort turned down Main Street, the large crowd that had been waiting for more than an hour fell silent in respect. North Adams and Clarksburg fire trucks lined one side of the street with firefighters at attention, along with Northern Berkshire EMS. The weather was drastically different on Thursday as a cold rain fell. Still, Park Street was lined with people holding flags as the procession made its way to Evans final resting place in Bellevue. April 15, 2021 Open Thread 2021-028 News & views ... Posted by b on April 15, 2021 at 14:01 UTC | Permalink Comments next page Engel & Volkers Florida Reports Successful First Quarter in 2021 In less than two decades, we have become a formidable competitor in the premium segment of the real estate industry. Engel & Volkers Florida today announced its first quarter of 2021 report. The company has seen significant year-over-year increases, a steady stream of transactions at all price points, increased its sales volume, grown advisor count through talent attraction, and is continuing with major franchise expansion. What is required to rapidly grow an agent's real estate business has dramatically changed over the past year, said Peter Giese, Chief Growth Officer at Engel & Volkers Florida. Were seeing a zealous movement of top agents and teams leaving their current brokerage to join Engel & Volkers, demonstrating the power of our collaborative global network and marketing platform that gives them access to a new set of luxury clientele. We project this level of growth to continue, as we have doubled our sales volume in the past 12 months to now exceed $3-billion annually in the state of Florida. In the first quarter of 2021, Engel & Volkers Florida reported 1,424 transactions across its 37 shops; a 68-percent increase from deals seen in quarter one of 2020. The sales totaled a volume of $742,868,687; an 112-percent year-over-year increase. A 93-percent increase in advisor growth was observed, with 111 professionals changing their brokerage affiliation to join Engel & Volkers shops throughout the state of Florida. Engel & Volkers Florida now accounts for 5-percent of the company's global network of 13,733 advisors. Engel & Volkers Florida expanded their reach to include five new shops in premium first and second home markets throughout the state. The new shops will be located in Hollywood Beach, Neptune Beach, Orlando, Sarasota and Venice Downtown. Engel & Volkers Neptune Beach was a result of License Partner, Corey Hasting expanding his regional territory in northeast Florida. Engel & Volkers Orlando was secured by Ahmed Elbatrawy, a former top producing agent with Coldwell Banker; together with Managing Broker, Eric Bolves, they will soon open their doors at 2049 W Central Blvd. in Orlando. Details about Engel & Volkers Hollywood, Engel & Volkers Sarasota and Engel & Volkers Venice will be forthcoming. Im proud of what we have accomplished at Engel & Volkers Florida over the past 17 years, Timo Khammash, Managing Partner of Engel & Volkers Florida. In less than two decades, we have become a formidable competitor in the premium segment of the real estate industry. We have ambitious goals that require a two fold strategy: supporting our existing franchises to capture additional market share to penetrate the communities were already serving, and expanding our footprint into new markets with competent professionals throughout the state of Florida. Engel & Volkers Florida is continuing its franchise expansion efforts in premium first and second home markets throughout Florida including Bay County, Charlotte County, Escambia County, Flagler County, Hernando County, Marion County, St. Lucie County, Sumter County and Volusia County. The Master License Partner is also working closely with its existing brokerage shops to gain additional market share in areas such as Broward County, Hillsborough County, Miami-Dade County, Monroe County and Pinellas County. ### Press contact: Linzee Werkmeister, Junior Vice President, Marketing & Franchise Support Email: Linzee.Werkmeister(at)evrealestate.com Tel: (239) 348-9000 About Engel & Volkers: Engel & Volkers is a global luxury real estate brand. Founded in Hamburg, Germany in 1977, Engel & Volkers draws on its rich European history to deliver a fresh approach to luxury real estate in the Americas with a focus on creating a personalized client experience at every stage of the home buying or selling process for today's savvy homeowner. Engel & Volkers currently operates approximately 225 shop locations with 4,500 real estate advisors in the Americas, contributing to the brand's global network of over 13,500 real estate professionals in more than 30 countries, offering both private and institutional clients a professionally tailored range of luxury services, including real estate, yachting and aviation. Committed to exceptional service, Engel & Volkers supports its advisors with an array of premium quality business services; marketing programs and platforms; as well as access to its global network of real estate professionals, property listings and market data. Each brokerage is independently owned and operated. For more information, visit http://www.evrealestate.com. About Engel & Volkers Florida: Engel & Volkers Florida is the Master License Partner of the global luxury real estate brand Engel & Volkers in the state of Florida. Recognized for uniquely recruiting, training and equipping some of the top professionals in the real estate industry, Engel & Volkers Floridas exclusive franchise model positions its license partners at the top of the premium market to gain market share and support their bottom line. The company represents franchise locations in: 30A Beaches, Amelia Island, Belleair, Boca Raton, Bonita Springs-Estero, Cape Coral, Clermont, Delray Beach, Destin, Fort Lauderdale, Fort Myers Downtown, Gainesville, Hollywood Beach, Islamorada, Jacksonville, Jacksonville Beach, Jupiter, Madeira Beach, Marco Island, Melbourne Beachside, Melbourne Central, Melbourne Downtown, Miami Coconut Grove, Neptune Beach, Olde Naples, Orlando, Orlando Downtown, Orlando-Winter Park, Palm Beach, Palm Coast, Sarasota, South Tampa, St. Augustine, St. Pete, St. Pete Beach, Stuart, Venice Downtown, Wellington, and Windermere. Engel & Volkers Florida is continuing to strategically strengthen and expand its presence in premium real estate markets across the state of Florida. If you would like to know more about the Engel & Volkers brand or how to join its global networkwhich is known for demonstrating competence, exclusivity and passion, feel free to call our corporate office, located at 633 Tamiami Trl N, Suite 201, Naples, FL 34102 USA. Tel: +1 239-348-9000. For more information about Engel & Volkers Florida, please visit http://www.florida.evrealestate.com TIPPECANOE COUNTY, Ind. (WLFI) U.S. Representative Jim Baird (R-District 4) is opposed to President Joe Biden's recently proposed federal infrastructure program. Biden recently unveiled his $2 trillion American Jobs Plan, which outlines billion dollar investments in traditional infrastructure in Indiana and across the nation. But it also includes investments in child care, health care and other areas some people might not consider infrastructure. That's been a big sticking point for Republicans like Baird, who says the plan is too expensive and too wide-ranging. He'd like to see a more targeted approach to government spending. "We're to the point of changing the definition of what infrastructure is," Baird says. "I mean, we're throwing everything in except the kitchen table and the kitchen sink and calling it infrastructure, and I think that's irrational and irresponsible." But Baird agrees the nation's roads, bridges, water and sewer systems and broadband internet are in need of improvements. Biden has said he's willing to negotiate on the extent of the plan and how to pay for it. "Let's have the debates, let's have the discussions rather than just throw these kinds of dollars out there without any focus or targeting what we want to do with that money," Baird says. Baird also recently toured the district and visited cities like Logansport and Kokomo. He says he was impressed by the innovation and creativity of his constituents. Made For Love I Want to Feel Normal Season 1 Episode 7 Editors Rating 3 stars * * * Previous Next Photo: Elizabeth Morris/HBO Max Does Hazel miss the squeaky-clean cell of the Hub as she scrubs urinals at the Shangri-Lanes? Apparently not! She lives to troll Byron, who she (mistakenly) believes is still watching her every move. As long as hes seeing the world through her eyes, she may as well put some disgusting stuff in her sights. Very weird all around, but what IS a normal way to react to your body being turned into a panopticon run by your psychotic billionaire husband? As Hazel hisses, Thats right, you sick fuck, into a urinal cake, her co-worker Jay walks in to be like, Who are you talking to? and more importantly, to just introduce himself to us as a character we will be seeing more of later. Hazels not the only one working hard today: Her dad is at Judiffs house. Judiff has gotten awfully cute for a work meeting. She bugged Herbs house, knows that Diane is a doll, and has some useful legal information: California is a two-party consent state, meaning that what Byron is doing to Hazel is illegal (I mean duh!?! Thats not the only reason forcibly implanting a surveillance chip into your unconscious wifes brain isnt allowed!) but that in accordance with the Well, He Started It provision, with which of course we are all familiar, Hazel could now legally surveil him. So they need to lure Byron out of the Hub to get him to admit his crimes on tape. Ive gotta say, this is all very optimistic: not the luring him outside part hes already outside, as we know but the get him to confess and its game over thing. But maybe what this world needs is a little bit of Judiffs can-do spirit. Judiff tells Herb they cant have secrets between them, and while at first he thinks shes talking about Diane being a synthetic partner, it turns out shes actually talking about the opioids she found in his medicine cabinet. Herb was diagnosed with cancer two years ago; he says chemo is not for him. Oooof, imagine him getting that news eight years after his daughter falls off the face of the earth and hes just in that house all by himself! Judiff wants to know if thats why he left her to spare her from what he went through when his wife got sick. Judiff says she couldve handled it, and I believe in her, but Herb is not sold. She leans in for a kiss and he skedaddles. Rachel Lindsay appears on TV to report that Byron is outside the Hub for the first time in forever. Byron complains to Bennett that he cant possibly prove hes a normal guy when he is being watched all the time. GEE, BYRON, THAT SOUNDS LIKE A REAL DRAG. Byron has given Bennett the Hazelcam and Bennett is not supposed to give it back, no matter how much Byron begs or threatens. So Byron gives Bennett the task of watching it and telling Byron everything Hazel is doing. And what is Hazel doing? What are any of us doing most of the time? She is staring forlornly at the underwhelming contents of her refrigerator. She spots a cancer community support-group mailing and I wonder if she pieces together its purpose we learn later on that Herb has cancer, but maybe Hazel thinks its for people whove lost loved ones, that Herb is in a support group of widowed people? Unclear. Herb has left Hazel a note saying she needs to make herself scarce because its Dianes and his anniversary. As I expected and perhaps you did too, Hazel is relating to Diane re: what its like to basically be a sex doll with no autonomy. Byron never took me anywhere, either. Hazel recalls one of her worst anniversaries: Back when shes still in that slick-straight hair and white clothes and tortoiseshell shades at the pool life, Byron offers her anything her heart desires and she says she wants to go see Warpaint play in L.A. She gets so excited when he says yes and surely you know where this is going: Hazel actually wears black (!) and squeals with glee at the prospect of getting into a car (!!) only to find that Byron spent his day and who knows how much money to build a new cube. And coerce Warpaint into rescheduling their L.A. show so they could play this pathetic concert for two. I cant believe I actually thought that he was capable of doing something normal, Hazel says quietly as she fixes Diane up, and then my worst fears are realized when she says literally these exact words! Out loud! Because why be subtext when you can be dialogue? I was you. I was Byrons doll. Thats why I get you. THATS why Im going to make Dad take you out tonight! Im sorry, but I mean, come ON. I just feel insulted. Does the show not think we are smart enough to connect those dots? We are seven episodes in. I am wounded by this, truly. Back at Byrons headquarters, Herringbone shows up in a ski mask with a (unloaded, essentially decorative) gun. He wants to talk to Byron. He makes the same mistake Fiffany did and thinks Byron can be reasoned with and will not oust him forever for his acts of violent insubordination. I just feel like Herringbone couldve made a pit stop at an urgent care and gotten his fingers reattached before staging this hostage situation? Like, Im not here to tell anybody else how to live their life, but personally my priorities would be more along the lines of (1) get a medical doctor to salvage fingers from travel cooler; (2) reattach the aforementioned fingers; (3) maybe just chill out for a little while, reflect on the choices that brought me to this place; (4) never see Byron again because DO YOU REALLY THINK HE WILL BE FORGIVING?! Did nobody use their time in quar to watch The Sopranos except for me? I mean, yes, this scene was almost worth it just for the back-and-forth of Byron asking, What did Hazel say? and Bennett replying, Im being held hostage, to which Byron goes, God, shes so dramatic, because he doesnt realize Bennett is the hostage in question. But still. Herringbone thinks selling out Fiffany will get him back in Byrons good graces, when obviously all it proves is that he is a self-serving snitch who cannot be trusted. Though he begs for Byrons forgiveness Im nobody out there! Well, I wiped your identity he is, predictably, sent to the pasture cube, which feels like an amateur move on Byrons part, because doesnt he realize it is dangerous for Fiff and Lyle to be reunited so they can scheme together? Wouldnt it be smarter to build a separate pasture cube? Am I the only one thinking things through around here?? Herb returns home to find his dolled-up doll and his daughter adamant that Diane be brought out to dinner. Hazel will lurk at the bar to intervene and/or provide moral support in the event Herb and Diane are harassed by their fellow patrons. Hazel also does some advance work, whispering to the hostess, Pretend shes real and tell the staff, before letting Herb and Diane settle in for their date. Who shows up at the bar but Jay from the Shangri-Lanes? Hazel and Jay have good chemistry. Also, in this particular instance, I find Hazel very relatable because in our post-quar lives we will all probably struggle with basic social skills. Jay invites her to talk shit with your new co-worker, which is a perfect opener. I love his questions for her, and his enthusiasm: Were you in a cult? You just came out of nowhere If you were, thats fine. I would join one! While this goes on, Shane you may remember him from earlier this season, hes the guy who owns the plane now pulls up a backward chair like some kind of A.C. Slater and crashes Herbs date. He asks a bunch of questions as if he is genuinely interested in the answers re: Whered you get Diane? Only to, inevitably, escalate to being a dick. We find out that Herb got the $6,000 he needed to buy Diane by selling the plot to his wifes grave, which sounds intense. Hazel is about to step in, but then she catches sight of the TV: Byron is giving an interview. My wife has brought something to my attention, he says. Ive become a bit of a stranger to the world. In the Hub, his life was just screens, screens, screens. He looks knowingly at the camera and announces, Ive put the screen down. He is ready to connect on a PERSONAL level. Youre going to start seeing a lot more of me soon! Not at all frightening information, that. Hazel freaks out and goes over to Shane. Just in case Byron is not watching, she needs to feel free. For 20 minutes. With Diane offered up as collateral quite the sign of trust from Dad! Shane lets Hazel borrow his plane. It makes her so happy. She scream-laughs. The clouds up here are seamless! When she lands, this little electronic skygram thing hovers above her, like those drones that delivered prizes in The Hunger Games. Its a Manila envelope that is universal television shorthand for divorce papers. (In real life, anything can come in those 8.5 x 11 envelopes. But if you get one on TV, it can only mean one of two things: Someone is divorcing you or youre getting a court summons. Either way, somebody gets to chuck the envelope at you and say, Youve been served.) Hazel opens the envelope to find yes, duh divorce papers. Is this the most dramatic delivery of divorce papers since my personal favorite, Surprise, theres an airplane here to see you? And, more importantly: Has Byron even signed these papers yet? VULTURE NEWSLETTER Keep up with all the drama of your favorite shows! Email This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply. Terms & Privacy Notice By submitting your email, you agree to our Terms and Privacy Notice and to receive email correspondence from us. China-bashing on Capitol Hill inspires Asian-American bashing in streets: Media Xinhua) 15:10, April 15, 2021 BEIJING, April 15 (Xinhua) -- Demonizing China might feed U.S. nationalistic impulses, but unhelpful to finding common ground or building the required trust to ensure the peaceful coexistence between the two countries, said a recent opinion piece in the South China Morning Post. "China-bashing in any form on Capitol Hill inspires actual Asian-American bashing in our streets," said the article published Wednesday. Multiple rallies have been held recently across the United States against the troubling surge of anti-Asian racism and violence in the country. Although anti-Asian bias has been around in the United States since its foundation, there has been a surge of hate crimes against Asians nationwide since 2020, particularly after former U.S. President Donald Trump's racist depictions of COVID-19 as the "China virus" and labelling China as aggressive, the article said. "China is clearly not an aggressor," the article argued, explaining that historically China has been "the victim of aggression by Japanese and Western forces." Washington has been pushing a narrative that Beijing is aggressive, and has been encouraging other countries to jump on the anti-China bandwagon, it noted. "By presenting China as an aggressor, the United States gives itself cover for taking unilateral actions to try to stem China's rise." "To criticize China for building up in the South China Sea is like criticising a kid who has been bullied for years for taking some self-defence classes," said the opinion piece. "Showing tolerance and respect towards China will inspire tolerance and respect towards Asian-Americans, and this will make our cities safer," it said. (Web editor: Shi Xi, Liang Jun) New Delhi, April 15 : India is concerned about the vacuum that will be created after withdrawal of the US and NATO troops from war-torn Afghanistan, Chief of Defence Staff, General Bipin Rawat said on Thursday. He said that the main concern should not create "space for other disruptors" and therefore, see violence continue in Afghanistan. India wants to see peace and tranquility returning to the region, he added. "We would be very happy to provide whatever support we can in the development of Afghanistan and making sure peace returns to that nation. People have got tired and are looking at peace," General Rawat said speaking in a virtual discussion at the ongoing Raisina Dialogue 2021. Asked whether it was Iran and Pakistan that could exploit the situation, the Chief of Defence Staff said there are many nations that would like to step into Afghanistan. "Many people are looking at the opportunity to exploit the vacuum that is being created. Afghanistan is a nation which is rich in resources," he said. Noting there are nations "that tend to exploit resources for their own benefit without the benefit going to the community of that nation", he said: "The international community must step in to ensure Afghanistan is for the Afghans." President Joe Biden announced in Washington on Wednesday that he will withdraw remaining US troops from the "forever war" in Afghanistan. His plan is to pull out all US forces -- numbering 2,500 now -- by this September 11, the 20th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks. The UN, together with Turkey, and Qatar, announced on Tuesday that a high-level conference aimed at ending decades of conflict in Afghanistan will go ahead beginning on April 24. There would be representatives from both the Afghan government and the Taliban. (Natural News) The European Medicines Agency (EMA) on Friday, April 9, said that one person died after having received Johnson & Johnsons Wuhan coronavirus (COVID-19) vaccine, also known as the Janssen vaccine. The person was one of four patients who had developed unusual blood clots after receiving the vaccine. Four serious cases of unusual blood clots with low blood platelets have been reported post-vaccination with COVID-19 vaccine Janssen. One case occurred in a clinical trial and three cases occurred during the vaccine rollout in the United States. One of them was fatal, the agency said in a statement. Janssen is a subsidiary of Johnson & Johnson. Janssen COVID-19 vaccine rollout in EU faces further delay This development could further delay the rollout of the Janssen COVID-19 vaccine in the European Union. It was authorized in the EU on March 11 but the rollout of the shots has not started yet. The U.S. authorized the Janssen shot in late February and has administered nearly 5 million doses as of Thursday morning, April 8. According to the EMA, it is still not clear yet whether there is a causal association between the vaccine and the blood clots. The EUs top drug regulator will probe the cases and decide whether or not regulatory action is necessary. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) documents detailing why it decided to authorize the Janssen shot include notes on a small number of patients developing blood clots after vaccination in a late-stage clinical trial. (Related: Johnson & Johnsons aborted baby Covid-19 vaccine harms trial participant.) The FDA said the causal relationship with the vaccine could not be determined because the assessment of causality was confounded by the presence of underlying medical conditions that may have predisposed individuals to these events. Johnson & Johnson told the Epoch Times via email that it prioritizes the safety and well-being of people who use its products and that the company shares with health authorities all adverse event reports post-vaccination, along with its own assessment of each report. We are aware that thromboembolic events including those with thrombocytopenia have been reported with all COVID-19 vaccines. Our close tracking of side effects has revealed a small number of very rare events following vaccination. At present, no clear causal relationship has been established between these rare events and the Janssen COVID-19 vaccine, Johnson & Johnson said. The New Jersey-based pharmaceutical company added: We continue to work closely with experts and regulators to assess the data and support the open communication of this information to healthcare professionals and the public to help ensure that, in the event of a very rare illness, appropriate steps can be taken for quick diagnosis and treatment. Johnson & Johnson said anyone who would experience symptoms such as swelling, shortness of breath and neurological difficulties after vaccination should immediately seek medical assistance. EMA being cautious with Janssen following blood clot issues with AstraZeneca jab The EMA is being cautious with the Janssen COVID-19 vaccine after more than a dozen European countries halted their AstraZeneca vaccine rollouts because of clotting issues last month. The drug regulator investigated 44 reports of an extremely rare brain clotting ailment known as cerebral venous sinus thrombosis (CVST) on people who received the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine. On Wednesday, April 7, the EMA issued a statement saying that there is a possible link between the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine and rare blood clots. (Related: New research points to link between AstraZeneca vaccine and blood clots.) In the statement, the EMA reminded healthcare professionals and people receiving the vaccine to remain aware of the possibility of very rare cases of blood clots combined with low levels of blood platelets occurring within two weeks of vaccination. So far, most of the cases reported have occurred in women under 60 years of age within two weeks of vaccination. Based on the currently available evidence, specific risk factors have not been confirmed, the EMAs statement said. The EMAs safety committee has since recommended listing blood clots as a very rare side effect of the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine. The reported cases of unusual blood clotting following vaccination with the AstraZeneca vaccine should be listed as possible side effects of the vaccine, said Emer Cooke, the EMAs executive director Following the EMAs statement, the United Kingdoms Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunization said that people under 30 should be offered a choice of either the Pfizer or Moderna vaccines instead of giving them the AstraZeneca shots. We are not advising a stop to any vaccination for any individual in any age group. We are advising a preference for one vaccine over another vaccine for a particular age group, really out of the utmost caution rather than because we have any serious safety concerns, said Wei Shen Lim, COVID-19 chair for the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunization. Some countries, including France, Germany and the Netherlands, have suspended the use of the AstraZeneca vaccine in younger people while the investigations continue. Officials in Spains Castilla y Leon region also suspended the use of the vaccine. On Tuesday, April 6, AstraZeneca and Oxford University paused a study of the shot in children while the UK regulator evaluates the link between the shot and rare blood clots in adults. Follow Immunization.news for more news and information related to coronavirus vaccines. Sources include: TheEpochTimes.com 1 TheEpochTimes.com 2 USNews.com The Alabama House of Representatives last week narrowly rejected a proposal to fine people for using a smartphone while driving. The bill by Republican Rep. K.L. Brown of Jacksonville would have prohibited a driver from holding a phone with their hands or shoulders, or watching or recording with a phone while driving. The bill failed on a narrow 47-48 vote after a lengthy debate that drew criticism from members of both parties. Some lawmakers questioned if the measure would be enforceable. Some Democrats also expressed concern that the driving law would be used to target minorities for traffic stops. Distracted driving is a deadly threat to roadway safety and Alabama should follow states that have passed hands free legislation, Brown argued. I think we could probably poll everybody in here and they could probably tell you within the last week of cases where they have been driving behind someone and they are weaving, Brown said. Instead of driving intoxicated. They are driving in-texticated. Rep. Tashina Morris, D-Montgomery, told Brown she understood his intent, but she pointed to the death of Philando Castile, a Black Minnesota school cafeteria worker, who was shot during a traffic stop seconds after informing an officer he was carrying a gun. She said she fears for her own son driving home from work at night. These are the types of fears we have inside our community, Morris said. Republican Rep. Will Dismukes of Prattville said he thought many lawmakers would be hypocritical if they voted for the bill. When I left on Thursday, I passed three legislators driving north on 65 and each one of them was on their cell phone, Dismukes said. Copyright 2021 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. Topics Personal Auto Alabama Jeff Goldblum spent time with his mini-me son, Charlie, on Wednesday morning. The 68-year-old actor was spotted taking a walk with his eldest child before breaking into a full sprint and racing him up the street. The performer's shared outing comes just after he returned from Australia after finishing his work on the much-anticipated Marvel film Thor: Love And Thunder. Quality time: Jeff Goldblum was spotted spending time with his eldest son Charlie in Los Angeles on Wednesday after recently finishing up his work on the upcoming superhero film Thor: Love And Thunder Goldblum was dressed in a stylish multi-pocket leather jacket that he kept buttoned up for the length of his time outside. He paired his outer layer with a black t-shirt and a matching set of slim-fitting pants. The Jurassic Park actor added an element of contrast to his clothing ensemble with a pair of white-and-green running shoes that stood out from his dark outfit. The performer wore a sizable light blue facial covering to keep himself safe while spending time in public. Off they go! The actor quickly broke into a sprint and began racing his eldest child up an empty sidewalk Goldblum shares Charlie, aged five, with his wife Emilie Livingston, whom he became engaged to in 2014 and married that same year. The Independence Day actor and his spouse, aged 38, also share a second son named River, aged four. Prior to becoming romantically involved with the Olympic gymnast, the actor was married to Patricia Gaul from 1980 until 1985. His second union was with Geena Davis, with whom he appeared in films such as The Fly and Earth Girls Are Easy, although they eventually divorced in 1991. Happy family: Goldblum shares Charlie and his younger son, River with his wife Emilie Livingston, whom he married in 2014 Former flames: Before he became involved with the Olympic gymnast, the actor was married to Patricia Gaul and Geena Davis; he is seen with his third wife in 2020 Goldblum's outing comes not long after he returned home from the set of the upcoming Taika Waititi-directed superhero film Thor: Love And Thunder. The forthcoming feature will serve as a direct sequel to the 2017 movie Thor: Ragnarok, which the Jojo Rabbit star also helmed. Goldblum is set to reprise his role as Grandmaster, one of the Elders of the Universe who ruled the planet Sakaar. He first appeared as the character in the 2017 film Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2. Chris Hemsworth and Tessa Thompson will lead the cast as Thor and Valkyrie, respectively. Back at it: Goldblum is set to reprise his role as Grandmaster in the upcoming superhero film Thor: Love And Thunder; he is seen alongside Chris Hemsworth, Tom Hiddleston and Rachel House in 2017's Thor: Ragnarok Rounding out the list of performers are Natalie Portman as Jane Foster and Christian Bale as Gorr the God Butcher. The film's 45-year-old director previously announced that the forthcoming feature would include various elements of romance films while retaining an eye for action and adventure. Waititi is also set to appear in the upcoming movie as the former Gladiator Korg, who was also seen in Thor: Ragnarok and Avengers: Endgame. Thor: Love And Thunder is set to be released on May 6th, 2022. Source: Xinhua| 2021-04-15 03:40:15|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close TEHRAN, April 14 (Xinhua) -- Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on Wednesday reiterated Tehran's position that U.S. sanctions must be lifted before Iran returns to its compliance with the 2015 deal, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA). "The officials' assessment is to go and negotiate in order to implement that policy, and we have no objection in this regard," Khamenei said in a public event, as quoted by his official website. Talking through videoconference in a religious ceremony broadcasted to celebrate the first day of the holy month of Ramadan, Iran's supreme leader stated that the U.S. officials' expressions of readiness to negotiate do not mean that Washington is ready to "listen and accept what is fair," but are rather a sign of their determination to "impose their unjust position." The United States "has not kept its promises on dozens of occasions," he said. The JCPOA resumed talks in Austria's capital Vienna on April 6. The U.S. government has sent representatives to take part in the process, but Tehran has until now refused to meet them, since Washington abandoned the JCPOA in May 2018 and unilaterally reimposed sanctions on Iran. This week, voices were clearly heard in Iran asking the government to halt the Vienna talks after the Iranian uranium enrichment plant in Natanz suffered an attack on April 11, which Iran has accused Israel of the "sabotage." Enditem When the United States went to war there in 2001, the American public agreed almost unanimously with President George W. Bushs decision. That November, still shaken by the attacks of Sept. 11, nine in 10 Americans said they thought sending troops into Afghanistan was the right thing to do, according to a Gallup poll. Over the past 20 years, the publics views on the United States presence in Afghanistan have shifted, but they havent totally flipped. The percentage of Americans saying it was a mistake to send troops to Afghanistan ticked up steadily in the 2000s, but plateaued in the mid-40s, where it remained in 2019, the last time Gallup asked the question. That differs significantly from the countrys feelings about the war in Iraq: By 2007, 62 percent of Americans said sending troops there had been a mistake, according to Gallup. That number has not fallen below 50 percent since then. Similarly, by the time American troops headed home from Vietnam in the mid-1970s, six in 10 Americans were telling Gallup pollsters that the war there hadnt been worthwhile. No such public outcry emerged around Afghanistan. Shortly after President Donald Trump announced his intention in 2019 to bring home most of the American troops stationed there, an NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll found that just one in three Americans thought the United States should have a rapid and orderly withdrawal of all troops from Afghanistan. Fifty-eight percent opposed it. Still, the issue has a relatively low salience for voters, as the number of U.S. casualties has remained low and the war has garnered scant attention in the American press even as the political instability in Afghanistan has grown only more severe in recent years. PHOTOS: Gov. Whitmer Reviews Progress of I-196 Rebuilding Michigan Project in Allegan County PHOTOS: Gov. Whitmer Reviews Progress of I-196 Rebuilding Michigan Project in Allegan County FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE April 13, 2021 Contact: Press@Michigan.gov PHOTOS: Gov. Whitmer Reviews Progress of I-196 Rebuilding Michigan Project in Allegan County LANSING, Mich. -- Today, Governor Gretchen Whitmer traveled the I-196 construction project in Allegan County to discuss her Rebuilding Michigan plan to rebuild state highways and bridges that are critical to the state's economy and carry the most traffic. "We are rebuilding Michigan's roads and bridges to keep our families safe, support the movement of goods to our small businesses, and strengthen our economy overall," said Governor Whitmer. "The Rebuilding Michigan plan fixes our state's most critical roads without an increase at the gas pump. By investing in Michigan's infrastructure, we will support thousands of good-paying jobs, and put Michigan on the right track toward becoming a leader in infrastructure." The I-169 project is part of a $34 million Rebuilding Michigan investment that would rebuild and improve approximately 12 miles of southbound I-169 from M-40 in Holland to 130th Avenue in the Saugatuck/Douglas area, and support 430 jobs. This project will include rebuilding and resurfacing, culvert replacements, bridge improvements, and replacing the Saugatuck Rest Area with a new facility. In January 2020, the State Transportation Commission (STC) authorized MDOT to issue $3.5 billion in bonds over four years to finance infrastructure improvements, under authority granted by the Michigan Constitution and Public Act 51 of 1951. Funding raised through bond sales will finance new projects throughout the state, and frees up funding already dedicated to those project for other projects, expanding the scope of that work or advancing project schedules. ### Ultium Cells, a US-based joint venture between South Koreas LG Energy Solution and General Motors (GM), plans to build a second electric vehicle (EV) battery in Tennessee to meet anticipated strong demand growth in North America. According to reports in South Korea, Ultium Cells plans to spend US$2.3bn on the new plant which will be similar in scope to the EV battery factory it is currently building in Ohio. This is scheduled to be completed next year and will mainly supply batteries for GM EVs. The two companies were scheduled to make an official announcement on the new investment plan on Friday, according to the report citing company sources. LG Energy Solution, one of the worlds largest EV battery manufacturers, was spun off from South Korean chemicals giant LG Chem at the end of last year. Last month it said it planned to spend KRW5trn (US$4.4bn) to expand battery production capacity in the US by 2025, including projects to build at least two new plants. The company already operates its own lithium-ion battery factory in Michigan. Earlier this month LG Energy Solution settled a long-standing technology infringement dispute with rival South Korean EV battery manufacturer SK Innovation when it was awarded US$2bn in compensation. There are two questions that come to mind: Why should airlines carry the responsibility for these certificates if the State of arrival or departure requires them and why not responsibility devolve upon the State in which the passenger is a national? and what information should these health certificates contain? by Dr. Ruwantissa Abeyratne in Montreal The purpose for a Global Strategy on Digital Health is to promote healthy lives and wellbeing for everyone, everywhere, at all ages. ~ World Health Organization It is heartening to note that we are making progress in trying to resuscitate air travel which took a serious hit from the pandemic. The International air Transport Association IATA the ever proactive association of airlines - has announced : Following the successful trials by Singapore Airlines, the Singapore health and border control authorities will accept the IATA Travel Pass as a valid form of presentation of COVID-19 pre-departure test results for entry into Singapore. The information presented on the IATA Travel Pass will be in a format that satisfies Singapores prevailing COVID-19 pre-departure test requirements for entry into Singapore. Lexology in an article titled Digital Health Passes: Ready for Take-off? By McCarthy Tetrault LLP reports that Several countries have already implemented varying degrees of digital health passes, with many others contemplating their use. Israel introduced a digital health pass, known as the Green Pass this February. Vaccinated people and certain recovered COVID-19 patients can download an app (or print a certificate with a QR code) which certifies their health status to gain entry into various facilities and venues throughout the country. On March 17th, 2021, the European Commission proposed a Digital Green Certificate, similar to Israels to facilitate movement throughout the European Union. China recently launched its version of a digital health pass for its citizens traveling across borders. Canadas Prime Minister acknowledged on March 12th that Canada is one of many countries exploring COVID-19 vaccination requirements for international travelers, but is reluctant to introduce digital health passes within Canada. Canada has not made any commitments. Other countries including Denmark, Sweden, Greece, Malaysia and Bahrain have signaled their intention to introduce digital health passes. There are two questions that come to mind: Why should airlines carry the responsibility for these certificates if the State of arrival or departure requires them and why not responsibility devolve upon the State in which the passenger is a national? and what information should these health certificates contain? The first question can be answered with some ease as it is a regulatory issue but the second, being reposed in science, leads to deterministic definition. The answer to the first question lies in international treaty law, or to be specific, the Chicago Convention (the long title being Convention on International Civil Aviation) which was adopted in 1944. Article 13 of this treaty says that the laws and regulations of a State as to the admission to or departure from its territory of passengers, crew or cargo of aircraft, such as regulations relating to entry, clearance, immigration, passports, customs, and quarantine shall be complied with by or on behalf of such passengers, crew or cargo upon entrance into or departure from, or while within the territory of that State. This provision is ambivalent as it does not specify who should be responsible for furnishing the information required. However, the reference to passengers and crew leads one to the conclusion which can be reached with some logical reasoning that seemingly, it has to be the airline carrying such persons. This leads to the ineluctable issue raised by the second question as to what information should be carried in the digital health certificate. Since the prerogative of accepting a passenger into its territory lies with the State concerned, a State has the right to prescribe its own internal laws with regard to passenger clearance and leaves room for a State to enact laws, rules, and regulations to ensure the security of that State and its people at the airport. However, this absolute right is qualified so as to preclude unfettered and arbitrary power of a State, by Article 22 of the Convention which makes each Contracting State agree to adopt all practicable measures , through the issuance of special regulations or otherwise, to facilitate and expedite navigation of aircraft between the countries. Supplementing the basic requirement of Article 13 is Annex 9 (Facilitation) to the Chicago Convention which contains various Standards and Recommended Practices calculated to reduce paperwork, standardize internationally the documents that were to accompany traffic between States, and simplify the procedures required to clear aircraft, passengers and cargo. It wasas it still isrecognized that delays due to cumbersome formalities must be reduced, not just because they are unpleasant but, in practical terms, because they are costly to all of the customer groups in the community and because they interfere with the success of everyone. The above notwithstanding, there are three rights of privacy relating to the display and storage and use of personal data: The right of an individual to determine what information about oneself to share with others, and to control the disclosure of personal data; the right of an individual to know what data is disclosed, and what data is collected and where such is stored when the data in question pertains to that individual; the right to dispute incomplete or inaccurate data; and the right of people who have a legitimate right to know in order to maintain the health and safety of society and to monitor and evaluate the activities of government. It is incontrovertible that the data subject has a right to decide what information about oneself to share with others and more importantly, to know what data is collected about him. This right is balanced by the right of a society to collect data about individuals that belong to it so that the orderly running of government is ensured. As for the second question: what information should be contained in the digital health certificate? The IATA certificate or travel pass as it is sometimes called, is deemed to cover four aspects: a global registry of health requirements for entry into different countries; a global registry of testing and vaccination centers; an app that enables authorized labs and test centers to securely share results with passengers; and, a contactless travel app that passengers can use to share their health results and verify that they meet the necessary health requirements for entry to their destination. One view is that such a health certificate should contain one of three facts: that the holder has been vaccinated; has tested negative for the virus or has recovered from it. IATA has stated that in this process, passengers need to have access to accurate information on test requirements, where they can get tested or vaccinated, and the means to securely convey test information to airlines and border authorities and that airlines need to have the ability to provide accurate information to their passengers on test requirements and verify that a passenger meets the requirements for travel. Furthermore, governments need to be able to verify the authenticity of tests and the identity of those presenting the test certificates, and laboratories need to be able to issue certificates that will be recognized by governments. The last aspect, of international recognition of health certificates, particularly in the COVID-19 context, has been stressed by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) the United Nations specialized agency addressing international civil aviation which has strongly supported the use of a health certificate to be carried by international air travelers. There is only one issue that remains: after all the above requirements are satisfied, the implementation must be globally carried out without the infringement of privacy rights of the certificate holder and without clogging the air transport system with another bureaucratic obstacle. If this were not to happen, the entire purpose of the lofty ideals of Annex 9 to the Chicago Convention on facilitation of air transport would be rendered nugatory. Dr. Abeyratne is former Coordinator, Air Transport Programs and Senior Legal Officer at ICAO. Currently a Senior Associate at Aviation Strategies International, he teaches aviation law and policy at McGill University. Dr. Abeyratne is the author of 35 books on aviation and aerospace law as well as over 440 journal articles published over a 40 year career in air transport. His latest book is Aviation in the Digital Age. PARIS (Reuters) -France's COVID-19 death toll rose on Thursday to more than 100,000, according to the latest hospital figures from the health ministry, a bleak statistic for President Emmanuel Macron's government. Data from the health ministry's GEODES website said French hospitals registered 300 COVID-19 deaths in the last 24 hours, which, pushing the overall tally to more than 100,000. "As all our energy is now focused on exiting this ordeal, we will not forget any face or any name," Macron said on Twitter. France has the world's eighth-highest COVID-19 death toll. The United States is the worst-hit country in terms of COVID deaths, at 564,759, followed by Brazil, Russia and Mexico, according to a Reuters tally. Worldwide, the death toll stands at over three million. Coronavirus deaths in France have now nearly doubled from just over 52,000 at the end of its second lockdown at the end of November. In the past 30 days, France has registered on average just over 300 new COVID-19 deaths per day, or 9,000 per month, compared to nearly 16,000 per month during the second lockdown. Health ministry data also showed that 5,924 people were in intensive care units on Thursday, up from 5,902 a day earlier. There were 38,045 new coronavirus cases on Thursday against 43,505 on Wednesday, bringing the total tally to 5.18 million. Still, with France's vaccination campaign focused on retirement care homes, the death toll among senior citizens has dropped sharply from more than 1,500 per week in mid-November and 800 per week in the first half of January to just 48 last week. (Reporting by Dominique Vidalon, Geert De Clercq and Matthieu Protard;Editing by Sudip Kar-Gupta, Bernadette Baum and Nick Macfie) 3rd Pfizer COVID-19 Vaccine Dose Likely Needed Within a Year, CEO Says People who have received the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine are likely to need a third dose sometime within a year after being fully vaccinated. A likely scenario is that there will be likely a need for a third dose, somewhere between six and 12 months and then from there, there will be an annual revaccination, CEO Albert Bourla said during an online event on April 15. But all of that needs to be confirmed. And again, the variants will play a key role, he said. We need to see what would be the sequence, and for how often we need to do that, that remains to be seen. Bourla also said it is extremely important to suppress the pool of people that can be susceptible to the virus. Both the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines require two shots, while the Johnson & Johnson vaccine requires one. U.S. health agencies this week recommended a pause in administering the J&J vaccine after several reports of blood clots out of millions of vaccinations. J&J CEO Alex Gorsky several weeks ago suggested that people will have to get COVID-19 shots annually, similar to seasonal flu shots. COVID-19 is the disease caused by the CCP (Chinese Communist Party) virus. Pfizer and BioNTech, meanwhile, said earlier this month that their vaccine is 91 percent effective through at least six months. These data also provide the first clinical results that a vaccine can effectively protect against currently circulating variants, a critical factor to reach herd immunity and end this pandemic for the global population, BioNTech co-founder and CEO Ugur Sahin said in a statement at the time. Moderna CEO Stephane Bancel said in an interview on April 14 that the firm is aiming to have a booster shot, or a third dose, available in the fall. The United States is tracking infections in people who have been fully vaccinated, Dr. Rochelle Walensky, director of the U.S. Centers of Disease Control and Prevention, told a House subcommittee hearing on April 15. Of 77 million people vaccinated in the United States, there have been 5,800 such breakthrough infections, Walensky said, including 396 people who required hospitalization and 74 who died. Walensky said some of these infections have occurred because the vaccinated person didnt mount a strong immune response. But the concern is that in some cases, theyre occurring in people infected by more contagious virus variants. Reuters contributed to this report. Should Christians and persons of the cloth have tattoos? That has been the raging debate on social media after netizens spotted a tattoo on Kenyan celebrity preacher, Reverend Lucy Natasha. The founder of the Oracle of God ministries had taken to social media to share photos and videos as she took the Covid-19 vaccine on Monday at the RFH Healthcare. The photos showed the flamboyant preacher receiving her jab on her upper left arm which bears a tattoo emblazoned with the word Oracle. The tattoo divided opinion among both believers and nonbelievers, with some even quoting the Bible in condemnation. Leviticus 19:28Ye shall not make any cuttings in your flesh for the dead, nor print any marks upon youso as to prohibit tattoos, and perhaps even makeup. This verse will judge you, the word of God is a two-edged sword, one Twitter user noted. Others defended Rev Natasha, among them the infamous moral cop, KFCB Boss Ezekiel Mutua. Rev. Lucy Natasha, preach on and turn your back to the critics, sceptics and nay sayers. People will always talk tattoo or no tattoo. Shine on for the Lord and reach out to souls. Theres nothing you can do to please everyone! tweeted Mutua. Rev Natasha later told off her critics in an indirect post on social media putting the debate to rest. One of the hardest struggles youll encounter in life is finding the strength and courage to do what God is calling you to do. Dont let the critics, naysayers, or negative people discourage you from obedience. As much as we would love the complete approval, acceptance, and support of others, we may not always get it. Nevertheless, we must continue to be obedient. People ONLY affect your life when you allow them to. No one else is suppose to understand your calling like you. It wasnt a conference call! #WisdomOfLife. She wrote. Kabul, April 15 : In a sympathetic admission of an earlier mistake, Abdullah Abdullah, Chairman of Afghanistan's High Council of National Reconciliation, on Thursday congratulated a journalist on a question posed 11 years ago. The local reporter Ismael Mashaal had asked Abdullah whether he did not believe that NATO would end the war in Afghanistan at the same point where they started, reports dpa news agency. "Only now did I understand what he meant at the time," admitted Abdullah. "Wherever you are, I send you my regards: You asked a really good question back then." In 2009, Abdullah belittled the journalist for his question, asking if his TV station did not have any other reporter. He deemed the question nonsense. Eleven years on, Abdullah said: "He has actually asked a really good question, only the timing wasn't right." On Wednesday, US President Joe Biden has announced that all American troops will be withdrawn from Afghanistan before September 11, a move to end the longest war in the country's history. "The US will begin our final withdrawal, begin it on May 1 of this year. US troops, as well as forces deployed by our NATO allies and operational partners, will be out of Afghanistan before we mark the 20th anniversary of that heinous attack on September 11." September 11 is the 20th anniversary of the terrorist attacks that drew the US into war in Afghanistan. Biden said that 2,488 US military personnel were killed, and 20,722 have been wounded in this longest war in American history. NATO also announced on Wednesday a collective withdrawal from Afghanistan. In Afghanistan however, the news of the US-initiated withdrawal of international troops was received with shock and to some extent disappointment. According to a poll launched by local broadcaster TOLOnews on Thursday, two-thirds of around 20,000 who took part believed that the unconditional withdrawal would not lead to peace but drag the country into another civil war. And while traditional carmakers say they arent worried about the expansion of tech companies in their own world, few are actually willing to work with them for the manufacturing of their ambitious EVs.Another important player is getting ready to step into the car business with its own dedicated division specifically created with this goal in mind. DJI, one of the top drone makers right now, plans to use its existing technologies to build systems that would eventually make their way to EVs and autonomous cars.In theory, DJI through its new unit DJI Automotive doesnt want to build an entire car from scratch, as its the case of Apple , for example. It only plans to use its know-how and other resources to develop the necessary systems to power self-driving cars built by other companies.News about DJIs new strategy emerged on Chinese social media , and as it turns out, the company wants to share full details on its car ambitions at the upcoming Shanghai Auto Show later this month.Its not clear, however, if DJI has already found partners willing to use its technology on self-driving cars, but given the advanced systems it has already built, such a thing is probably just a matter of time.DJIs drones are among the most advanced consumer products in this category, coming with new-generation technology like obstacle avoidance systems and LiDAR sensors, all of which would fit an autonomous car like a glove.For the time being, however, the company has remained tight-lipped on its automotive strategy, but we should receive confirmation in just a few days at the car show. Many guidance counselors will tell their students not to pick a college just because thats where their best friend is going. But for one pair of New Jersey best friends that would be great advice, after the girls were accepted to five of the eight Ivy League colleges. Ashley Hernandez and Mariam Mufleh, seniors at Clifton High School, set their sights high with their college applications. Both girls were accepted to Harvard, University of Pennsylvania and Dartmouth, while Hernandez was also accepted into Yale and Brown. Neither has committed to a college yet, but neither is worried going to different schools will impact their friendship. Around nine hours of my day are spent Face-Timing Ash, and I am sure the same will be the case even if we are miles apart from each other. Unfortunately, Ashley Hernandez is not getting rid of me anytime soon, said Mufleh. The duo met at Christopher Columbus Middle Schools honors program seven years ago and excelled in school together. Their activities included Key Club, orchestra, and forming a Diversity and Inclusion Committee. From their loyal friendship and their combined commitment to making our community a better place to their individual academic achievements, these two outstanding young women have discovered that a strong work ethic and compassion are the keys to success. I am confident that they will make a positive imprint in the world no matter what they choose for their futures, Superintendent of Clifton Public Schools Danny Robertozzi said. Both girls are first-generation college students, making their achievements that much sweeter. My parents have always taught me to value my education and aim for success. After witnessing their daughter rise above significant challenges to eventually attend one of Americas top-ranked universities, my parents feel extremely proud and overjoyed at this new milestone in my life, Hernandez said. Being able to attend a higher-level institution and make my immigrant parents proud has been one of the biggest accomplishments of my life. I owe everything I have now to their sacrifices and support, Mufleh said. In addition to the Ivies, Hernandez was accepted at Johns Hopkins, Northeastern Honors College, Vanderbilt, Williams, Swarthmore, Middlebury, Case Western Reserve, Rutgers New-Brunswick Honors College, Rutgers Newark, and Montclair State University. Mufleh was also accepted to Vanderbilt University, Wesleyan University, Williams College, Rutgers University, and Montclair State University. Thank you for relying on us to provide the journalism you can trust. Please consider supporting NJ.com with a subscription. Katie Kausch may be reached at kkausch@njadvancemedia.com. Tell us your coronavirus story or send a tip here. A jailed Vietnamese blogger serving an 11-year prison term for writing articles criticizing Vietnams government has been moved to a new prison following reports of harsh conditions in the jail where he was previously held, his wife said Thursday. Nguyen Tuong Thuy, an independent journalist and former RFA Vietnamese Service blogger, was moved April 15 from the Bo La detention center in Binh Duong province to the An Phuoc detention center in the same province. Thuy, 71, was older than many of the other inmates held at Bo La, was often last in line when the prison canteen opened for purchases of food, and was hindered in performing daily tasks by an injury to his hand suffered when police wrenched his phone away from him at the time of his arrest. Speaking to RFAs Vietnamese Service, Thuys wife Nguyen Thi Lan said she learned her husband had been transferred when she called a receptionist at Bo La whose phone number she was given on a previous visit. I called the receptionist every day, and today she told me that my husband had been transferred to the An Phuoc detention center at 10:00 a.m., Lan said, adding, He hasnt called home yet, however. Lan said she was relieved to hear that Thuy had been transferred. Im very happy, as many inmates who have returned from An Phuoc have said that the food and accommodations there are very good. Lan said she would prepare food to bring to her husband, and then take a flight from Hanoi to Ho Chi Minh City and a bus to Binh Duong to visit Thuy on Friday. Thuy, who had blogged on civil rights and freedom of speech issues for RFAs Vietnamese Service for six years, was sentenced on Jan. 5 with two other bloggerslike Thuy members of the Vietnam Independent Journalists Associationwho were handed lengthy jail terms at the same time. 'Anti-state writings' Arrested in May 2020, Thuy was indicted along with Pham Chi Dung and Le Huu Minh Tuan on Nov. 10 for making, storing, and disseminating documents and materials for anti-state purposes" under Article 117 of Vietnams Penal Code. Sentenced with Thuy, Pham Chi Dung was given a 15-year prison term, while Le Huu Minh Tuan was jailed for 11 years. Dung was transferred from Bo La to An Phuoc on March 29. Thuy later refused to appeal his sentence, tearing up a petition form given to him after prison guards told him what to write on it, Thuys lawyer told RFA in an earlier report. Reporters Without Borders (RSF) ranked Vietnam 175 out of 180 in its 2020 World Press Freedom Index. About 25 journalists and bloggers are being held in Vietnams jails, where mistreatment is common, the Paris-based watchdog group said. Vietnams already low tolerance of dissent deteriorated sharply last year with a spate of arrests of independent journalists, publishers, and Facebook personalities as authorities continued to stifle critics in the run-up to the ruling Communist Party Congress in January. But arrests continue in 2021. Reported by RFAs Vietnamese Service. Translated by Chau Vu. Written in English by Richard Finney. Denton, TX (76205) Today Cloudy with a few showers. High 76F. Winds ESE at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 40%.. Tonight Scattered thunderstorms early, then cloudy skies after midnight. Low 67F. Winds SE at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 50%. With ROOMDEX, you can capture the guests attention pre-arrival, during the excitement phase of the journey. Not only are you offering them something they want, your conversion rates skyrocket. Says Daniel Tennant, Area General Manager at Aries Living. ROOMDEX, the leader in hotel upselling automation, is happy to announce that Aries Living has activated ROOMDEXs Upgrade Optimizer software in four hotels: Ithaca of South Beach Hotel, (Miami, FL), Villa Paradiso Apartment Hotel (Miami, FL), Treehouse Apartment Hotel (Miami, FL) and Apple Tree Inn (Lennox, MA). Upgrade Optimizer is an automated hotel upsell tool that generates revenue directly to a hotels bottom line. ROOMDEX intelligently calculates the best upgrade offer price and ensures that only available rooms will be offered. Along with the upgrade, guests have the chance to purchase early check-in or late check-out. Late check out is offered automatically pre-arrival and during stay. At Aries Living, we are strong believers in providing what we call a luxury digital experience, said Daniel Tennant, General Manager at Aries Living, Guests have an expectation of control over their stay, whether it be choosing room types based on features, checking in remotely, etc. So, we are very focused on seeking out customer facing technologies that offer our guests a choice in how they want to manage their stay. ROOMDEX upsell automation fits the description perfectly. Upselling can be cumbersome for a front desk staff, Daniel continued, Its almost like a have to do rather than a want to do. And if you think about the guest journey arrival at the hotel comes after taxis and flights, encumbered with luggage the last thing they want is to be sold to when they finally reach their destination. With ROOMDEX, you can capture their attention pre-arrival, during the excitement phase of the journey. Not only are you offering them something they want, your conversion rates skyrocket. Despite operating in the throes of the COVID-19 pandemic, Aries Living hotels have reported a nearly 40-to-1 ROI (return on investment) since using the ROOMDEX hotel upsell tool. Upgrade Optimizer room revenue is improving RevPar and boosting ADR when hotels need it most even during low occupancy. The Aries Living hotels have shown us that you can still drive ancillary guest revenue despite the market conditions all hotels are currently experiencing, said Jos Schaap, CEO and Co-Founder of ROOMDEX, The commitment Daniels team has to digital innovation for guests is impressive and has made them great partners. About ROOMDEX ROOMDEXs hotel upsell software, Upgrade Optimizer, automates, monetizes and ultimately simplifies the hotel room upgrade process by putting the power of choice in the hotel guests hands. Automation is the cornerstone of our pioneering hotel optimization platform. ROOMDEX uses hotel reservation, guest data and its proprietary persona and price algorithms to deliver personalized digital offers, greatly enhancing the guest experience. The hotel upsell tool relieves hoteliers of the labor time required by other upselling solutions while delivering high margin revenue and a substantial ROI. The company was founded by Jos Schaap, Pierre Boettner and Denis Bajet, three industry veterans (Ex. MICROS-OPERA (now Oracle Hospitality), StayNTouch, Shiji and Nor1) who together bring over 90 years of hotel software innovation experience in PMS, integrations, revenue management, BI, mobile, self-service and upgrade optimization software. Since founding in spring of 2020, ROOMDEX has signed on more than 65 hotels with 6,500 rooms across the U.S., U.K. Europe and APAC Web: https://www.roomdex.io Twitter: @ROOMDEX Facebook Linkedin Youtube: click here About Aries Living Where Modern Convenience Meets Timeless Comfort. Were after a new vision of hospitality that delivers unique, top-of-the-line hotel experiences with the modern convenience that guests expect in todays world. Aries Living is a family-run company born out of the idea that guests deserve ease and control during their travels. Our mission is to create spaces that give visitors the freedom to relax, indulge, and truly escape into a haven of comfort. On top of unparalleled customer service and accommodations, our organization prides itself on a cutting-edge suite of technologies that handles end-to-end logistics for guest-facing operations and internal systems. With all the magic behind the scenes, guests can appreciate every luscious detail of the hand-curated atmospheres that makes Aries Living destinations world-class. Hospitality, Effortlessly. Follow us on our LinkedIn page to keep updated on our latest news and job openings. More about Aries Living: http://www.ariesliving.com Contact us: hello@ariesliving.com or 1.813.575.4532 (AFP via Getty Images) A Russian intelligence agent accused of attempting to undermine US election integrity and sow disinformation was among Kremlin-linked figures targeted in Russian sanctions announced on Thursday. Federal authorities alleged that Konstantin Kilimnik "provided the Russian Intelligence Services with sensitive information on polling and campaign strategy" for former president Donald Trump in 2016. The allegations connect to findings from Robert Mueller's investigation and congressional investigations that assessed Mr Kilimnik was fed information by former Trump campaign manager Paul Manafort. Following a 2018 indictment, the FBI has offered a reward of up to $250,000 for information leading to the arrest on charges of "obstruction of justice and engaging in a conspiracy to obstruct justice" related to unregistered lobbying work as a foreign agent in the US. A recent report from US intelligence officials also assessed that Kremlin-backed figures associated with Mr Trump's attorney Rudy Giuliani met with and provided materials" to Trump officials to pursue formal investigations into then-candidate Joe Biden, hired a firm to petition US officials, and attempted to make contact with several senior US officials and established media figures, according to the report. The men helped produce a documentary that aired on a US television network in late January 2020, according to the report. More follows... Read More Greensill: All decisions taken by the bank were made independently, minister says Russia reacts to hostile Biden sanctions live Pelosi shoots down Democratic bill to expand Supreme Court Latvian Foreign Minister Edgars Rinkevics has said he believes that the European Union should be prepared for the introduction of sectoral sanctions against Russia in the event of a military attack on Ukraine. He said this at a joint briefing with the foreign ministers of Ukraine, Estonia and Lithuania following their talks in Kyiv on Thursday, April 15, according to an Ukrinform correspondent. Rinkevics said he was confident that Russia's military aggression against Ukraine could not be tolerated by the international community and that the violation of the Ukrainian border was absolutely unacceptable in accordance with international law and the principles of the UN and other international organizations. He expressed hope that efforts being made by the leaders of many countries to deter Russia from aggressive actions against Ukraine would be effective and expressed support for the actions of partners in this area. "But if that doesn't work, then we need to use the strongest tools in the EU's arsenal, such as sectoral sanctions. [] I think that's what the EU needs to be prepared for," Rinkevics said. He also stressed that Russia was fully responsible for the current escalation. "I want to emphasize that we are not calling on both sides to de-escalate. [] At the moment, there is only one side that should de-escalate its actions it's the Russian Federation," he said. The foreign ministers of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania are on a joint working visit to Ukraine on April 15 at the invitation of Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba to demonstrate their solidarity with Ukraine in the face of Russia's destabilizing actions. Russia continues to deploy its strike units near Ukraine's borders, with the Russian media launching an information campaign of lies and provocations to discredit Ukraine and justify Russia's military intervention. op Tyrannosaurus rex. Their name means 'tyrant lizard king' and as far as popular culture goes, they certainly ruled the dinosaurs. But just how many were there? According to experts from California, the answer is a whopping 2.5 billion of the beasts over the 2.5 million years they roamed North America in the Late Cretaceous. Around 20,000 adult T. rexes were probably alive at any given point during the species' existence give or take a factor of ten, the researchers have estimated. T. rex along with the rest of the dinosaurs went extinct in the wake of a devastating asteroid strike on the Earth some 66 million years ago. Tyrannosaurus rex. Their name means 'tyrant lizard king' and as far as popular culture goes, they certainly ruled the dinosaurs. But just how many were there? According to experts from California, the answer is a whopping 2.5 billion of the beasts over the 2.5 million years they roamed North America in the Late Cretaceous. Pictured: an artist's impression of T. rexes WHAT WAS T. REX? Tyrannosaurs rex was a species of bird-like, meat-eating dinosaur. It lived between 6866 million years ago in what is now the western side of North America. They could reach up to 40 feet (12 metres) long and 12 feet (4 metres) tall. More than 50 fossilised specimens of T.Rex have been collected to date. The monstrous animal had one of the strongest bites in the animal kingdom. An artist's impression of T.Rex Advertisement 'The project just started off as a lark, in a way,' paper author and palaeontologist Charles Marshall of the University of California, Berkeley explained. 'When I hold a fossil in my hand, I can't help wondering at the improbability that this very beast was alive millions of years ago, and here I am holding part of its skeleton.' 'The question just kept popping into my head, "Just how improbable is it? Is it one in a thousand, one in a million, one in a billion?" ' 'And then I began to realize that maybe we can actually estimate how many were alive, and thus, that I could answer that question.' Given the incomplete nature of the fossil record, the notion of being able to reliably estimate the population numbers of long-extinct species has long been dismissed as an impossibility most notably by the US palaeontologist George Gaylord Simpson. 'As Simpson observed, it is very hard to make quantitative estimates with the fossil record,' Professor Marshall conceded. 'We focused in developing robust constraints on the variables we needed to make our calculations, rather than on focusing on making best estimates.' The team's calculation raises questions such as why, if the species was so numerous, fewer than 100 individual T. rex have been found, many of which are known from single bones only. 'There are about 32 relatively well-preserved, post-juvenile T. rexes in public museums today,' Professor Marshall explained. 'Of all the post-juvenile adults that ever lived, this means we have about one in 80 million of them.' 'If we restrict our analysis of the fossil recovery rate to where T. rex fossils are most common, a portion of the famous Hell Creek Formation in Montana,' he continued. 'We estimate we have recovered about one in 16,000 of the T. rexes that lived in that region over that time interval that the rocks were deposited.' 'We were surprised by this number this fossil record has a much higher representation of the living than I first guessed.' 'It could be as good as one in a 1,000, if hardly any lived there, or it could be as low as one in a quarter million, given the uncertainties in the estimated population densities of the beast.' HOW THE TEAM CALCULATED THE TOTAL NUMBER OF T. REXES In their study, Professor Marshall and colleagues consulted both the existing scientific literature and the expertise of peers. They calculated that T. rex likely reached sexual maturity at 15.5 years and it probably lived into its late 20s. The average body mass of adults of the species was likely 819 stone (5,200 kilograms) but they could grow to as heavy as 1102 stone (7,000 kilograms). These estimates (combined with Damuth's Law, discussed further below, which links body mass to population density) allowed them to calculated that each generation lasted for around 19 years and that the average population density was about one dinosaur for every 39 square miles (100 sq. km). After estimating that the geographic range of T. rex was about 0.9 million square miles (2.3 million sq. km) and factoring in their temporal range of around 2.5 million years, the team arrived at a standing population size of 20,000 individual dinosaurs. Over the total of some 127,000 generations the species would have lived, that equates to some 2.5 billion individuals overall, the researchers concluded. Advertisement 'It's surprising how much we actually know about these dinosaurs and, from that, how much more we can compute,' said Professor Marshall. 'Our knowledge of T. rex has expanded so greatly in the past few decades thanks to more fossils, more ways of analysing them and better ways of integrating information over the multiple fossils known.' Pictured: a mounted cast of T. rex skeleton on display outside the University of California Museum of Paleontology The team's estimate certainty come with large uncertainties. For example, while there was most likely around 20,000 adult T. rexes at any given time, the so-called '95 per cent confidence interval' in which there is a 95 per cent chance of finding the real number ranges from 1,300 to 328,000 individuals. Given this, the total number of T. rexes across time could have been anywhere from 140 million to 42 billion, the researchers explained. The team used so-called 'Monte Carlo' computer simulations to determine how the uncertainties in their data led to uncertainties in their final result. According to Professor Marshall, the greatest uncertainty stemmed from outstanding questions about the exact nature of T. rex's ecology including how warm-blooded the creature was. The calculations relied on data published by ecologist John Damuth of the University of California Santa Barbara which associates body mass to population density in living animals a relationship dubbed 'Damuth's Law'. While the relationship is strong, Professor Marshall explained, ecological difference can result in large variations in population densities for animals that otherwise have similar physiologies. For example, hyenas and jaguars are around the same size but the latter can be found with populations densities some 50 times greater than the big cats. 'Our calculations depend on this relationship for living animals between their body mass and their population density, but the uncertainty in the relationship spans about two orders of magnitude,' Professor Marshall said. 'Surprisingly, then, the uncertainty in our estimates is dominated by this ecological variability and not from the uncertainty in the palaeontological data we used.' For their calculations, the team elected to regard T. rex as a predator whose energy requirements lay halfway between those of a lion and a Komodo dragon which is the largest lizard alive on the Earth. The team also chose to ignore juvenile T. rexes, which are both underrepresented in the fossil record and recent research has suggested may have lived apart from adults, pursued different prey and behaved almost like a different predator species. The team chose to ignore juvenile T. rexes (one of which is depicted above), which are both underrepresented in the fossil record and recent research has suggested may have lived apart from adults, pursued different prey and behaved almost like a different predator species 'In some ways, this has been a paleontological exercise in how much we can know, and how we go about knowing it,' said Professor Marshall. 'It's surprising how much we actually know about these dinosaurs and, from that, how much more we can compute.' 'Our knowledge of T. rex has expanded so greatly in the past few decades thanks to more fossils, more ways of analysing them and better ways of integrating information over the multiple fossils known.' Professor Marshall said that he expects his peers to quibble with many, if not most of the numbers involved in his team's estimate. The researchers have made the computer code they used to estimate T. rex numbers available to other researchers saying that it could lay a foundation for estimating how many species might be missing from our understanding. 'With these numbers, we can start to estimate how many short-lived, geographically specialized species we might be missing in the fossil record,' Professor Marshall said. 'This may be a way of beginning to quantify what we don't know.' The full findings of the study were published in the journal Science. Credit: CC0 Public Domain Almost half a century ago the creators of Star Wars imagined a life-sustaining planet, Tatooine, orbiting a pair of stars. Now, 44 years later, scientists have found new evidence that that five known systems with multiple stars, Kepler-34, -35, -38, -64 and -413, are possible candidates for supporting life. A newly developed mathematical framework allowed researchers at New York University Abu Dhabi and the University of Washington to show that those systemsbetween 2764 and 5933 light years from Earth, in the constellations Lyra and Cygnussupport a permanent "Habitable Zone", a region around stars in which liquid water could persist on the surface of any as yet undiscovered Earth-like planets. Of these systems, Kepler-64 is known to have at least four stars orbiting one another at its center, while the others have two stars. All are known to have at least one giant planet the size of Neptune or greater. This study, published in Frontiers in Astronomy and Space Sciences, is proof-of-principle that the presence of giant planets in binary systems does not preclude the existence of potentially life-supporting worlds. "Life is far most likely to evolve on planets located within their system's Habitable Zone, just like Earth. Here we investigate whether a Habitable Zone exists within nine known systems with two or more stars orbited by giant planets. We show for the first time that Kepler-34, -35, -64, -413 and especially Kepler-38 are suitable for hosting Earth-like worlds with oceans," says corresponding author Dr. Nikolaos Georgakarakos, a research associate from the Division of Science at New York University Abu Dhabi. The scientific consensus is that the majority of stars host planets. Ever since 1992, exoplanets have been discovered at an accelerating pace: 4375 have been confirmed so far, of which 2662 were first detected by NASA's Kepler space telescope during its 2009-2018 mission to survey the Milky Way. Further exoplanets have been found by NASA's TESS telescope and missions from other agencies, while the European Space Agency is due to launch its PLATO space craft to search for exoplanets by 2026. Twelve of the exoplanets discovered by Kepler are "circumbinary", that is, orbiting a close pair of stars. Binary systems are common, estimated to represent between half and three quarters of all star systems. So far, only giant exoplanets have been discovered in binary systems, but it is likely that smaller Earth-like planets and moons have simply escaped detection. Gravitational interactions within multi-star systems, especially if they contain other large bodies such as giant planets, are expected to make conditions more hostile to the origin and survival of life: for example, planets might crash into the stars or escape from orbit, while those Earth-like exoplanets that survive will develop elliptical orbits, experiencing strong cyclical changes in the intensity and spectrum of radiation. "We've known for a while that binary star systems without giant planets have the potential to harbor habitable worlds. What we have shown here is that in a large fraction of those systems Earth-like planets can remain habitable even in the presence of giant planets," says coauthor Prof Ian Dobbs-Dixon, likewise at New York University Abu Dhabi. Georgakarakos et al. here build on previous research to predict the existence, location, and extent of the permanent Habitable Zone in binary systems with giant planets. They first derive equations that take into account the class, mass, luminosity, and spectral energy distribution of the stars; the added gravitational effect of the giant planet; the eccentricity (i.e. degree of ellipticity of the orbit), semi-major axis, and period of the hypothetical Earth-like planet's orbit; the dynamics of the intensity and spectrum of the stellar radiation that falls upon its atmosphere; and its "climate inertia", that is, the speed at which the atmosphere responds to changes in irradiation. They then look at nine known binary star systems with giant planets, all discovered by the Kepler telescope, to determine whether Habitable Zones exist in them and are "quiet enough" to harbor potentially life-sustaining worlds. The authors show for the first time that permanent Habitable Zones exist in Kepler-34, -35, -38, -64, and -413. Those zones are between 0.4-1.5 Astronomical Units (au) wide beginning at distances between 0.6-2 au from the center of mass of the binary stars. "In contrast the extent of the Habitable Zones in two further binary systems, Kepler-453 and -1661, is roughly half the expected size, because the giant planets in those systems would destabilize the orbits of additional habitable worlds. For the same reason Kepler-16 and -1647 cannot host additional habitable planets at all. Of course, there is the possibility that life exists outside the habitable zone or on moons orbiting the giant planets themselves, but that may be less desirable real-estate for us," says coauthor Dr. Siegfried Eggl at the University of Washington. "Our best candidate for hosting a world that is potentially habitable is the binary system Kepler-38, approximately 3970 light years from Earth, and known to contain a Neptune-sized planet," says Georgakarakos. "Our study confirms that even binary star systems with giant planets are hot targets in the search for Earth 2.0. Watch out Tatooine, we are coming!" More information: Nikolaos Georgakarakos et al. Circumbinary Habitable Zones in the Presence of a Giant Planet. Front. Astron. Space Sci. 15 April 2021 Nikolaos Georgakarakos et al. Circumbinary Habitable Zones in the Presence of a Giant Planet.15 April 2021 doi.org/10.3389/fspas.2021.640830 Source: Xinhua| 2021-04-15 16:46:57|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close People wearing protective gear walk on a street in Manila, the Philippines, on April 15, 2021. The Philippines' Department of Health (DOH) reported on Thursday 11,429 new COVID-19 infections, bringing the total number of confirmed cases in the Southeast Asian country to 904,285. (Xinhua/Rouelle Umali) MANILA, April 15 (Xinhua) -- The Philippines' Department of Health (DOH) reported on Thursday 11,429 new COVID-19 infections, bringing the total number of confirmed cases in the Southeast Asian country to 904,285. The death toll climbed to 15,594 after 148 more patients died from the viral disease, the DOH said. The Philippines continues to battle a surge in COVID-19 cases amid stringent lockdown measures to curb community transmission. The infection rate started to increase in late February, forcing the government to reintroduce curfew hours to limit the movement of people in Metro Manila and its four adjacent provinces. The DOH said virus clusters are traced in the workplaces, non-essential gatherings, households, and transport systems. The Philippines continues to strengthen the capacity of hospitals in Metro Manila, the epicenter of the outbreak, to cope with the exponential spike in cases. The Philippines, with a population of about 110 million, has tested over 10 million people since the outbreak in January 2020. Enditem Accused war criminal and Seven executive Ben Roberts-Smith has apologised to staff and thanked the media company for its support after his disdain for colleagues and the business was revealed in a series of audio recordings. Mr Roberts-Smith told employees in an email on Wednesday that he had a lot of respect for the executives leading Seven West Media and that he was privileged to be in his role, despite comments revealed on the recordings where he described the company as dysfunctional. Ben Roberts-Smith, who has been employed by Seven West Media since 2014, has apologised for comments made about his colleagues on a series of audio recordings. Credit:Fairfax Media While born out of frustration, that is no excuse and I take full responsibility for my comments, which I deeply regret, Mr Roberts-Smith said in the email, obtained by The Age and The Sydney Morning Herald. Over the past few years, the [Seven West Media] staff and executive team have worked incredibly hard through extremely challenging circumstances to transform the business and enact a robust sustainable strategy, he said. I have the utmost respects for the executives and staff at SWM and feel privileged to be able to lead our Queensland operations. VACAVILLE, CA / ACCESSWIRE / April 15, 2021 / Athena Gold Corp. (OTCQB:AHNR) has been informed by FINRA that it has completed their processing of the Company's name change from Athena Silver Corp. to Athena Gold Corp. The name change will be on the Daily List Announcement on April 15, 2021 and will have a Market Effective Date of April 16, 2021. The ticker symbol for the Company's common stock, AHNR, will remain unchanged. About Athena Gold Corporation Athena is focused on the exploration and development of precious metals in the Western United States. The Company's flagship Excelsior Springs Project is located in Esmeralda County, Nevada in the prolific Walker-Lane tectonic zone, an area that has seen a recent resurgence with several important gold discoveries, new mines going into production and hosts a number of large historic gold mines. Total gold production from the Walker-Lane tectonic zone has exceeded 20 million ounces (Moz) including notable deposits by Goldfields (5 Moz), Bullfrog (2 Moz), Tonopah (2 Moz), Mineral Ridge (1.5 Moz) and Comstock (8 Moz Au, 200 Moz Ag). Readers are cautioned that the Company has no interest in or right to acquire any interest in any of the above mentioned properties, other than the Excelsior Springs Project, and that the mineral deposits, and the results of any mining thereof, on adjacent or similar properties are not indicative of mineral deposits on Excelsior Springs Project or any potential exploitation thereof. From the mid-1980s through 2011, a number of exploration companies conducted drilling programs, primarily on the patented claims, that began to define the near-surface Buster Mine gold zone. Gold mineralization at the Property occurs within an east-west trending zone that is 200 to 400m wide and at least 3 km long. Gold mineralization discovered at Excelsior Springs to date occurs in quartz vein stock-works and silicified zones in hornfels and calc-silicate altered country rock and is generally close to porphyry dykes. The best mineralization (grade and thickness) is found in altered sediments immediately above porphyry dykes that have intruded along existing east- and east-northeast trending faults. The mineralized stock-work vein zones are shallow and have a relatively flat plunge, making them amenable to open pit mining methods. Most historical exploration at Excelsior Springs has focused on a 2.5 km long section in the central part of the Buster zone where mineralization is at or near the surface. Surface mapping and an Induced Polarization (IP) geophysical survey conducted by Zonge International Inc identified multiple zones of silicification that correlate well with the known mineralization. Many of the silicified zones defined by the IP (resistivity highs) surveys have not been tested by drilling and remain targets for future exploration. An NI 43-101 Technical Report dated September 28, 2010 entitled "Technical Report for the Excelsior Springs Property Esmeralda County, Nevada, U.S.A." prepared by Ken Brook, RPG, QP, was filed on SEDAR by Nubian for Excelsior Springs in 2010. Athena's agreement with Nubian includes 100% of the 140 unpatented claims at Excelsior Springs with two additional patented claims held under a lease option that are subject to a 2% net smelter returns royalty on gold production. Under the terms of the Option Agreement, Nubian will retain a 1% net smelter returns royalty ("NSR Royalty") on the Excelsior Springs Project if Athena fully exercises the option. Athena will have the right to purchase 0.5% (being one half) of the NSR Royalty for CAD $500,000 and the remaining 0.5% of the NSR Royalty at fair market value. For more information contact: John Power, President, 707-291-6198 Cautionary Statement to U.S. Investors This press release references NI 43-101, which differs from the requirements of U.S. securities laws. NI 43-101 is a rule developed by the Canadian Securities Administrators that establishes standards for all public disclosure an issuer makes of scientific and technical information concerning mineral projects. The United States Securities and Exchange Commission ("SEC") permits mining companies, in their filings with the SEC, to disclose only those mineral deposits that a company can legally extract or produce. Pursuant to SEC Industry Guide 7 under the United States Securities Act of 1933, as amended, a "final" or "bankable" feasibility study is required to report reserves. Currently Athena has not delineated "reserves" on any of its properties. Athena cannot be certain that any deposits at its properties will ever be confirmed or converted into SEC Industry Guide 7 or any successor rule or regulation compliant "reserves". Investors are cautioned not to assume that any part or all of the historic Buster Mine gold zone will ever be confirmed or converted into reserves or that it can be economically or legally extracted. The SEC has adopted amendments to its disclosure rules to modernize the mineral property disclosure requirements for issuers whose securities are registered with the SEC under the United States Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended. These amendments became effective February 25, 2019 and, on January 1, 2021, will replace the historical property disclosure requirements for mining registrants that were included in SEC Industry Guide 7, which will be rescinded from and after such date. Forward-Looking Statements This press release contains forward-looking statements and forward-looking information (collectively, "forward-looking statements") within the meaning of applicable Canadian and U.S. securities laws. All statements, other than statements of historical fact, included herein including, without limitation, statements regarding the exercise of the option to acquire the Excelsior Springs Project, the receipt of a new CUSIP number in connection with the Name Change, the approval of FINRA and OTC for the Shares to trade under the new name, the preparation of a technical report for the Excelsior Springs Project, the application to list the Shares on the CSE, anticipated business plans and timing of future activities of the Company, are forward-looking statements. Although the Company believes that such statements are reasonable, it can give no assurance that such expectations will prove to be correct. Forward-looking statements are typically identified by words such as: "believes", "will", "expects", "anticipates", "intends", "estimates", "plans", "may", "should", "potential", "scheduled", or variations of such words and phrases and similar expressions, which, by their nature, refer to future events or results that may, could, would, might or will occur or be taken or achieved. In making the forward-looking statements in this press release, the Company has applied several material assumptions, including without limitation, that there will be investor interest in future financings, market fundamentals will result in sustained precious metals demand and prices, the receipt of any necessary permits, licenses and regulatory approvals in connection with the future exploration and development of the Company's projects in a timely manner, the availability of financing on suitable terms for the exploration and development of the Company's projects and the Company's ability to comply with environmental, health and safety laws. The Company cautions investors that any forward-looking statements by the Company are not guarantees of future results or performance, and that actual results may differ materially from those in forward-looking statements as a result of various factors, including, operating and technical difficulties in connection with mineral exploration and development activities, actual results of exploration activities, the estimation or realization of mineral reserves and mineral resources, the inability of the Company to obtain the necessary financing required to conduct its business and affairs, as currently contemplated, the timing and amount of estimated future production, the costs of production, capital expenditures, the costs and timing of the development of new deposits, requirements for additional capital, future prices of precious metals, changes in general economic conditions, changes in the financial markets and in the demand and market price for commodities, lack of investor interest in future financings, accidents, labour disputes and other risks of the mining industry, delays in obtaining governmental approvals, permits or financing or in the completion of development or construction activities, risks relating to epidemics or pandemics such as COVID-19, including the impact of COVID-19 on the Company's business, financial condition and results of operations, changes in laws, regulations and policies affecting mining operations, title disputes, the inability of the Company to obtain any necessary permits, consents, approvals or authorizations, including stock exchange approvals and approval for a new CUSIP number in connection with the Name Change, the timing and possible outcome of any pending litigation, environmental issues and liabilities, and other factors that are discussed in the Company's periodic filings with the SEC. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on forward-looking statements. The Company undertakes no obligation to update any of the forward-looking statements in this press release or incorporated by reference herein, except as otherwise required by law. SOURCE: Athena Gold Corporation View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/640501/Athena-Gold-Corporation-Announces-Finalization-of-Name-Change Source: locpg.gov.cn| 2021-04-15 17:45:30|Editor: zh Video Player Close Reinforce foundations of national security Safeguard peace and prosperity of Hong Kong Speech at the Hong Kong "National Security Education Day" 2021 Opening Ceremony April 15, 2021 Director of the Liaison Office of the Central People's Government in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region National Security Adviser to the Committee for Safeguarding National Security of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Luo Huining Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor, distinguished guests: Good morning! Today marks China's sixth National Security Education Day. This is the first such event to be staged in the special administrative region (SAR) since the promulgation of the National Security Law for Hong Kong. It also marks the first time for the Committee for Safeguarding National Security of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region to organize National Security Education Day activities. This event represents a significant effort made by the SAR to fulfil its constitutional obligation of safeguarding national security, which will inevitably serve as an example for the whole of society to follow. On behalf of the Liaison Office of the Central People's Government in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, I wish the event every success. The promulgation of the National Security Law for Hong Kong in June last year has put an end to the history of Hong Kong having no national security safeguards. Last month the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress took action to improve the SAR's electoral system, plugging systemic loopholes that have been exploited by anti-China, destabilizing activists to infiltrate into the SAR's governing structures. Netizens have likened the two strategic moves by the Central Authorities to the "sword" and "shield" that serve to safeguard the social stability and the future of Hong Kong. I express my full agreement with the netizens. When putting forward his holistic view of national security, President Xi Jinping pointed out that security and development are complementary and mutually reinforcing, and that security is the foremost prerequisite for development. This has been the winning formula for China's miraculous economic growth and lasting social stability since the reform and opening-up of the country. The effectiveness of the strategy has also been validated by the major shift from chaos to stability in Hong Kong. Instead of the massive capital flight as predicted by some doomsayers, Hong Kong's aggregate balance has risen to a four-year high for the past year. Some foreign media outlets also acknowledged the fact that the National Security Law further stabilized Hong Kong's markets and investment environment. Facts speak louder than words. Now l would like to share with you three points of view on national security. I.National security is a matter of strategic importance for the country. The Central Authorities will remain committed to the paramount responsibility of safeguarding national security. The concept of "One Country, Two Systems" was advanced, first and foremost, to realize and uphold national unity. In 2017, President Xi Jinping pointed out that "One Country" is like the roots of a tree. For a tree to grow tall and luxuriant, its roots must run deep and strong. The President also marked out "three red lines" that must not be trespassed. The Central Authorities have always kept its word. Any act endangering national security as well as Hong Kong's prosperity and stability will be dealt with swiftly and effectively. Any attempt by foreign countries and external forces to flagrantly interfere in the affairs of Hong Kong, and to exploit Hong Kong as a pawn will be met with impactful countermeasures. The Central Authorities will, as always, lend full support to the SAR's institutions of power for its lawful crackdown on criminal activities endangering national security, and to those individuals and institutions that have been subjected to threat and sanctions for safeguarding national security. II.Development is predicated on national security. It is imperative for the SAR to earnestly discharge its constitutional obligation for safeguarding national security. Over the past year, especially since the promulgation of the National Security Law for Hong Kong, the SAR Government has performed its duties with diligence. Now with the laws, mechanisms and manpower in place, the rest comes down to enforcement and implementation. All "criminal acts" undermining national security must be brought to justice, while "non-criminal acts" must be regulated. It is the collective responsibility of the SAR's executive authorities, legislature and the judiciary to safeguard national security. In order to safeguard national security, it is imperative to fully and faithfully implement the "March 11" Decision made by the National People Congress and the "March 30" amendments adopted by the NPC Standing Committee; to resolutely implement the comprehensive jurisdiction of the Central Authorities; and to resolutely safeguard the SAR's political security. When it comes to matters of principle such as national sovereignty and security as well as the fundamental well-being of Hong Kong residents, true patriots should step up to the plate to meet the challenge in the administration of Hong Kong. III.The livelihoods of people are predicated on national security. It is imperative for all Hong Kong compatriots to fulfill their legal obligations of safeguarding national security. Hong Kong has paid a hefty price for the "painful lesson of security", which has been experienced first-hand by local residents. Last month, 2.38 million people signed up in support of the reform to improve the SAR's electoral system, which represented a powerful display of mainstream public opinion. It is safe to assume that with the "sword" and "shield" in place, the SAR now has acquired the necessary prerequisites for addressing deep-seated economic and livelihood issues. Neither the Central Authorities nor local residents will tolerate anyone who ventures to challenge the bottom line of national security and public order. Further efforts are imperative for all sectors of society to proactively participate in the National Security Education Day events; to forge the consensus that acts endangering national security jeopardize Hong Kong's prosperity, development and the well-being of local residents; and to build a fortified "steel wall" that safeguards national security. Dear friends. Many people are recently engaged in the debate about the future of Hong Kong. A Hong Kong friend has rightly put it, "the small boat of Hong Kong sails confidently when it is fastened to a giant one". This small family of Hong Kong cannot be separated from the big family of motherland. This year marks the centenary of the Communist Party of China, and the start of a new journey to build a fully modernized socialist country. The march toward the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation is inexorable, which constitutes the strongest source of support and confidence for Hong Kong. With the further enforcement of the National Security Law, an improved electoral system, the implementation of the country's 14th Five-Year Plan and better integration of Hong Kong into the country's overall development, I am confident that Hong Kong will enjoy unprecedented level of security and stability, and will be promised with a bright future! Thank you. (Source: Liaison Office of the Central People's Government in the Hong Kong S.A.R.) STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- With recreational marijuana use being legalized in more and more states, including New York, theres growing concern in the traffic safety community about how the drug could make Americas roadways more dangerous. Marijuana usage, on its own, can prompt motorists to partake in more dangerous driving behaviors, but when paired with alcohol consumption, the effects can be even more devastating, according to a new AAA survey. These data show the alarming impact of alcohol and marijuana use on the choices drivers make when they get behind the wheel, said Jake Nelson, AAAs director of traffic safety advocacy and research. From choosing to drive while impaired, and speeding, to driving distracted or running red lights, using these two drugs leads to poor decision-making with potentially fatal consequences. The survey compared the likelihood of engaging in dangerous driving activity across four groups: those who dont use marijuana or consume alcohol; those who only use marijuana; those who only consume alcohol; those who both use marijuana and consume alcohol. Unsurprisingly, researchers found that those who dont partake in either drug are the least likely to engage in dangerous driving behavior. Those who only consume alcohol were the second-least likely to engage in these behaviors, followed by those who only use marijuana. Drivers who admitted to using both were the most likely to participate in these dangerous actions, like speeding, texting while driving and running red lights. Just 24% of drivers who consume neither drug reported reading texts while driving, while 30% of alcohol users and 31% of marijuana users admitted to checking their texts, the survey showed. Meanwhile, 53% of drivers who use both alcohol and marijuana admitted to the same behavior, according to the data. In regard to typing and sending texts, 16% of straight-edge drivers admitted to doing so, compared to 21% of alcohol users, 24% of marijuana users and 40% of drivers who used both, according to the survey. Speeding, one of the leading causes of traffic deaths, was also found to be more prevalent among users of both drugs. According to the survey, 34% of non-drug users admitted to speeding on the highway, while 43% of alcohol users, 46% of marijuana users and 55% of dual users admitted to the same. The trend continued for speeding on residential roads, with 28% of non-users admitting to such, compared to 35% of alcohol users, 46% of marijuana users and 55% of those who used both. In terms of intentionally running red lights, 28% of sober drivers admitted to doing so, while 32% of alcohol users, 38% marijuana users and 48% of alcohol and marijuana users said the same. In light of the new survey, coupled with previous research, AAA has publicly stated its opposition to the legalization of recreational marijuana usage due to the inherent risks posed to public safety. With 4/20 approaching, its worth noting that marijuana use can inhibit concentration, slow reaction times, and cloud judgment. Its effects vary by individual, but several studies, including one that AAA released in 2020, have concluded that marijuana use impairs the ability to drive safely, said Nelson. Questo comunicato e stato pubblicato piu di 30 giorni fa. Le informazioni su questa pagina potrebbero non essere attendibili. San Francisco, 15 April 2021: The Report Flow Meter Market Size, Share & Trends Analysis Report By Product, By Application (Water & Wastewater, Oil & Gas, Chemicals, Power Generation, Pulp & Paper, Food & Beverage), By Region, And Segment Forecasts, 2021 - 2028 The global flow meter market size is estimated to reach USD 12.99 billion by 2028, according to the new report conducted by Grand View Research, Inc. It is projected to register a CAGR of 5.70% during the forecast period. The penetration of IoT has helped the evolution of smart flow rate measurement solutions, leading to an increased demand for intelligent flow meters. The adoption of flow meters is expected to increase as rapid urbanization triggers the need for better water and wastewater management. The advancements in technology have made ultrasonic and Coriolis flow meters more reliable and accurate than their counterparts. The integration of IoT in flow rate measurement solutions has helped transform Coriolis meters into intelligent flow meters. Hence, the adoption of these meters is expected to grow significantly over the forecast period. Besides, extensive adoption of Coriolis flow meters by the oil and gas, chemical, and refinery sectors is projected to drive the growth of the overall product segment over the forecast period. The water and wastewater segment is expected to witness robust growth over the forecast period owing to rapid urbanization in various parts of the world, particularly in Asia Pacific, South America, and Africa. These regions have aggressively started to adopt efficient solutions for the treatment, control, monitoring, and regulation of water supplies and management of wastewater, thereby driving the demand for flow rate measurement solutions and instruments. Europe dominated the global market in 2020 as the region is home to several manufacturers and product innovators of flow rate measurement solutions and services, including flow meters. However, Asia Pacific (APAC) is expected to witness the highest growth rate over the forecast period owing to the rapid urbanization underway in APAC countries, which would subsequently trigger the need for adequate power generation and efficient water and wastewater management. The market in India is likely to witness a significant boost over the forecast period on account of the growing need for expanding fuel refining capacity in the country. With emerging economies in the Asia Pacific such as China, India, and other Southeast Asian nations witnessing rapid industrialization, regional manufacturers and providers of flow rate measurement solutions are forming collaborations and partnerships with global players to cash in on opportunities prevailing in the regional as well as global markets. Regional players are also improving their customer engagement activities and enhancing their portfolio of products and services. Moreover, General Electric (U.S.), ABB Ltd. (Switzerland), Emerson Electric Corporation (U.S.), Yokogawa Electric Corporation (Japan), and Hitachi High-Tech Corporation (Japan) are some of the major providers and vendors of flow rate measurement solutions. Market players are constantly emphasizing product innovation and enhancing their products and solutions. With the lucrative opportunities, the oil and gas, petroleum, chemicals, and water and wastewater management sectors offer, manufacturers focus on meeting the various requirements of these sectors in particular. Access Research Report of Flow Meter Market @ https://www.grandviewresearch.com/industry-analysis/flow-meters-market Flow Meter Market Report Highlights The market for flow meter is anticipated to witness substantial growth during the forecast period due to the integration of IoT in flow meters, which has led to the introduction of smart flow rate measurement solutions Custody transfer application in the oil and gas sector is one of the key applications creating lucrative opportunities for ultrasonic and Coriolis flow meters The water and wastewater segment is anticipated to witness substantial growth during the forecast period owing to the increasing initiatives taken by several governments for water and wastewater management The Asia Pacific is expected to grow at the fastest rate over the forecast period owing to substantial demand and adoption of flow meters in various application sectors, particularly in China, India, and Southeast Asian countries Businesses in Middle Eastern countries such as Iran, Iraq, and Syria are highly vulnerable to political instability. Businesses in other Middle Eastern countries such as UAE, Saudi Arabia, Oman, and Qatar focus on expanding their presence by establishing friendly relations with eminent manufacturers in Western countries Flow meter market key participants are ABB Ltd., Emerson Electric Corporation, General Electric, Krohne Messtechnik Gmbh, HONTZSCH GMBH & CO. KG, Hitachi High-Tech Corporation, Yokogawa Electric Corporation, and Siemens. List of Key Players of Flow Meter Market ABB Ltd. Emerson Electric Corporation em-tec GmbH Endress+Hausar AG General Electric Hitachi High-Tech Corporation Honeywell International Inc. HONTZSCH GMBH & CO. KG Krohne Messtechnik Gmbh Siemens Yokogawa Electric Corporation Access Press Release of Flow Meter Market @ https://www.grandviewresearch.com/press-release/global-flow-meters-market On Thursday, Myanmar's military opened fire on protesting healthcare staff, killing at least one bystander as protesters ran to a nearby mosque for cover. The nation has been in turmoil since the military took over from civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi on February 1, sparking a huge insurgency that the junta has attempted to put down with deadly force. Myanmar opens fire on protesting health workers However, the uprising has not been stifled, and demonstrators have retaken the streets this week, refusing to celebrate Myanmar's Thingyan New Year. A protest by medical workers in Mandalay, Myanmar's second-largest district, turned violent on Thursday when soldiers opened fire at them, sending them fleeing to the mosque. "They were firing everywhere... they were attacking the Sule mosque compound because demonstrators were hiding there," an eyewitness stated. A doctor who treated the injured said that a 30-year-old man who lived in the compound was shot dead, and at least two others were wounded. Miss Myanmar Allegedly Receives Arrest Warrant Following Miss Grand International Speech According to a medic who took part in the rally during the crackdown, six nurses and physicians were arrested. "We have lost touch with several members of the medical staff," he told AFP. Healthcare employees in Myanmar have been at the frontline of a national civil disobedience movement, refusing to return to work under a military government that has left the country's hospitals understaffed amid a pandemic. Civil servants from other industries have followed suit, effectively shutting down the country's banks, schools, highways, and businesses. The junta has attempted to compel civilians to return to work. State-run media announced on Thursday that at least 20 doctors involved in the campaign would be charged with trying to "weaken peace and security." A local monitoring group said more than 700 people were killed, and more than 3,000 have been arrested due to the anti-coup protests. A well-known protest leader was arrested Thursday in central Monywa district, where he was riding his motorcycle and leading a demonstration when he was hit by a car. Since the coup, the leader has risen to prominence, shepherding the movement in the isolated Sagaing area amid several lethal crackdowns by authorities. North Korea Leader Kim Jong-Un Admits Nation Faces 'Worst-Ever Situation' Myanmar charges doctors over civil disobedience According to a state-run newspaper, Myanmar's governing junta has charged at least 19 medical doctors in civil disobedience demonstrations against the military's February 1 coup. Doctors, nurses, and medical students also marched and joined strikes in protest of Myanmar's military takeover, which deposed Aung San Suu Kyi's newly elected government and halted the country's move toward democratization following five decades of military rule. Myanmar's Global New Light newspaper said the doctors are suspected of endorsing and engaging in civil disobedience "with the aim of deteriorating the state administrative machinery." On charges of sharing knowledge that threatens the country's security and the rule of law, the military government has also released arrest warrants for 100 people working in the fields of literature, film, theater arts, music, and journalism. It is not the first time that doctors have been called out, Khaosod English reported. Security forces used stun grenades and fired weapons to break up a march by medical staff protesting the army's takeover earlier this month in Mandalay. Thingyan, Myanmar's annual New Year festival, takes place this week. Instead of celebrating, many people are continuing to protest against the military takeover, claiming that Mandalay's security forces have opened fire at opposing medical personnel, as per DW.com. Myanmar Post-Coup Protests Records Over 700 Fatalities @ 2021 HNGN, All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. [April 15, 2021] Mixed Tocopherol Market Procurement Intelligence Report With COVID-19 Impact Update| SpendEdge NEW YORK, April 15, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- The Mixed Tocopherol market will register an incremental spend of about USD 1.30 Billion, growing at a CAGR of 4.37% during the five-year forecast period. A targeted strategic approach to Mixed Tocopherol 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 report Key Highlights Offered in the Report: Information on how to identify strategic and tactical negotiation levels that will help achieve the best prices. Gain information on relevant pricing levels, detailed explanation on pros and cons of prevalent pricing models. Methods to help engage with the right suppliers and discover KPI's to evaluate incumbent suppliers. Request a free sample report for more information 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 the Mixed Tocopherol market. The report also aids buyers with relevant Mixed Tocopherol 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 fulfill their category objectives. Insights on buyer strategies and tactical negotiation levers. Key Drivers and Trends Fueling Market Growth: The pressure from substitutes and a moderate level of threat from new entrants has resulted in the low bargaining power of suppliers. Price forecasts are beneficial in purchase planning, especially when supplemented by the constant monitoring of pric influencing factors. During the forecast period, the market expects a change of 2.00%-3.00%. Identify favorable opportunities in Mixed Tocopherol TCO (total cost of ownership). Expected changes in price forecast and factors driving the current and future price changes. Identify pricing models that offer the most rewarding opportunities. Some of the top Mixed Tocopherol suppliers listed in this report: This Mixed Tocopherol procurement intelligence report has enlisted the top suppliers and their cost structures, SLA terms, best selection criteria, and negotiation strategies. BASF SE DuPont de Nemours Inc. Archer Daniels Midland Company (ADM) Merck KGaA Koninklijke DSM NV BTSA COFCO Tech Bioengineering ( Tianjin ) Co. Ltd. ) Co. Ltd. KLK OLEO Vitae Caps SA Advanced Organic Materials SA Jiangyin Healthway International Trade Co. Ltd. OQEMA AG Avantor Performance Materials LLC Related Report on Materials Include: To get instant access to over 1000 market-ready procurement intelligence reports without any additional costs or commitment, Subscribe Now for Free. 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 Get access to regular sourcing and procurement insights to our digital procurement platform- Contact Us. About SpendEdge: 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 Contacts SpendEdge Anirban Choudhury Marketing Manager Ph No: +1 (872) 206-9340 https://www.spendedge.com/contact-us View original content to download multimedia:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/mixed-tocopherol-market-procurement-intelligence-report-with-covid-19-impact-update-spendedge-301268438.html SOURCE SpendEdge Chinas state-owned Ansteel Group is planning a strategic consolidation with regional rival Benxi Steel Group, known as Bengang, a move that could form Chinas second-largest steelmaker, Bengangs Shenzhen-listed unit said Thursday. The restructuring, which may result in a change of control of the company, is still in the planning stage, subject to the approval of related government departments, Bengang Steel Plates Co. Ltd. (000761.SZ) said in a statement. This would be the second attempt for the two steelmakers to consolidate in 16 years. The two companies announced a merger in 2005 but were unable to complete it. As Ansteel is owned by the national state-assets regulator and Bengang is owned by the local regulator, they couldnt agree on an asset-reorganization plan, and the merger was limited to consolidation of financial statement, without an actual integration. Ansteel, Chinas No.4 steelmaker, and Bengang, which ranks No.9, are both based in the northeast province of Liaoning. In 2020, Ansteels crude steel output was 38.2 million tons, while Bengang produced 17.4 million tons. After a merger, the two companies will have a combined steel output of more than 55 million tons, exceeding the current second- and third-largest steelmakers Hesteel Group (000709.SZ) in Hebei province and Shagang Group (002075.SZ) in Jiangsu province, becoming the second- largest steel maker only after Shanghai-headquartered China Baowu Steel Group (600019.SH). As of the end of September 2020, Ansteel had total assets of 348 billion yuan ($53 billion) and debt of 227.4 billion yuan. Bengang had total assets of 164.4 billion yuan and debt of 121.4 billion yuan. The combined company will have total assets of more than 500 billion yuan. In a five-year economic blueprint published earlier this month, the Liaoning government vowed to push forward the restructuring of the two companies to make a world-class steel enterprise. During Chinas annual legislative and political meetings known as the Two Sessions in early March, Ansteel Chairman Tan Chengxu said in an interview that the group will step up merger and restructuring in the next five years, aiming to boost its crude steel output to 70 million tons, revenue to 300 billion yuan and profit to 10 billion yuan. China, the worlds largest steel producer, has been pushing steel companies to consolidate and compete with global giants. The campaign is also being driven by local governments that want to unload responsibility for overseeing inefficient local steelmakers. Much of Chinas steel output is sold at home for use in the countrys huge buildup of new infrastructure like roads, real estate and electrical grids. But the industry has remained highly fragmented due to geographically scattered manufacturing. The nation had about 300 companies capable of steel production at the end of 2019, according to the China Metallurgical Information and Standardization Institute. But its top 10 producers accounted for just 36.8% of the nations total output, which was far below levels seen in mature economies like the U.S., Europe and South Korea. In 2016, the State-Owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission (SASAC), which oversees government enterprises, the National Development and Reform Commission and the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology jointly submitted to the State Council a draft plan to use mergers and acquisitions to form two or three steel industry leaders by 2025. Each would have more than 80 million tons of annual capacity. Regulators seek to consolidate more than 60% of the countrys steel capacity in the hands of its top 10 steelmakers. The biggest steelmaker Baowu Steel was created by the merger of Baosteel Group with Wuhan Iron & Steel Group (WISCO) in 2016. Since then Baowu continued four years of breakneck merger-fueled growth that has created the worlds largest steelmaker. Shagang Group and Hesteel also went through a series of mergers and acquisitions. Besides the state-owned steel enterprises, private-sector steelmakers are also stepping up mergers and reorganization. In January, Beijing-based private steel conglomerate Beijing Jianlong Heavy Industry Group Co., Ltd., Chinas No.4 steelmaker, took over the management of Hebei steel firm Xingtai Iron and Steel Co. Ltd., boosting its capacity to 40 million tons. Contact reporter Denise Jia (huijuanjia@caixin.com) Download our app to receive breaking news alerts and read the news on the go. Follow the Chinese markets in real time with Caixin Globals new stock database. Two Arrested on Burglary Charges By West Kentucky Star Staff MCCRACKEN COUNTY - A trespassing complaint Thursday led to the arrest of two Paducah residents on burglary and other charges.The owner of a vacant home on Pool Road told authorities he arrived at the house to find two men trespassing.When authorities arrived, they found the property owner holding one of the men at gunpoint. The other man was allegedly found inside the home.Deputies say it was determined that 48-year-old Christopher Young and 35-year-old Justin Campbell were squatting at the home.A search of Young's backpack allegedly uncovered some of the homeowner's belongings. Additionally, authorities say many items inside the home were either damaged or moved toward a door in preparation to steal them. Campbell was reportedly in possession of a long pry bar.They were both arrested and lodged in the McCracken County Jail.Young is charged with third-degree burglary and theft by unlawful taking under $500.Campbell is charged with third-degree burglary and possession of burglary tools. GRAND RAPIDS, MI Perrigo hosted a ceremonial groundbreaking Wednesday for its new North American corporate headquarters along the Medical Mile in downtown Grand Rapids. The generic pharmaceutical and self care company is leasing the top three floors at a new building under construction adjacent to Michigan State Universitys Grand Rapids Research Center at the corner of Michigan Street NW and Monroe Avenue NW. The 125,000 square foot building is being built by Health Innovation Partners, a joint venture between Grand Rapids-based Rockford Construction, MB Real Estate, Walsh Construction/Walsh Investors. The structure, which is expected to be complete next year, is slated to house 170 Perrigo employees. Our new North American Corporate Headquarters location allows us to build upon the legacy weve established in West Michigan while collaborating with our new neighbors along this world-renowned corridor, Perrigo President and CEO Murray Kessler said in a statement. We believe this hub will serve as a catalyst for continued advancements in the self-care space, and we look forward to being part of the impactful work that will occur in MSUs Innovation Park for generations to come. Perrigo says it has more than 4,000 employees in West Michigan and over 11,000 globally. Perrigos new headquarters is rising alongside the Doug Meijer Medical Innovation Building, which is located on the northeast corner of Michigan Street and Monroe Avenue. Read more: Monkeys & Birds For Sale business claiming Michigan address is scam, BBB says Michigan reports 6,303 coronavirus cases, slight decline in average cases Thursday, April 15 Police investigate alleged drink tampering at bar near Western Michigan University That positive sentiment extends to low-cost players that dont bank on corporate or international travel and whose balance sheets arent weighed down by debt. According to the lobbying group Airlines for America, U.S. carriers collectively added $58 billion in debt last year. New entrants can take advantage of hundreds of aircraft that were pulled from fleets and employees who left during a rush to slash spending after travel demand collapsed. More than 150,000 workers voluntarily left the four largest U.S. carriers or took temporary leave. Fairbanks, AK (99707) Today Sunshine and a few afternoon clouds. High 73F. Winds NW at 5 to 10 mph.. Tonight A few clouds. Low around 50F. Winds WNW at 5 to 10 mph. Mansfield University President Charles Patterson will take on a second role in the Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education this summer by serving as interim president at Shippensburg University. Patterson is being tapped to fill the presidency being vacated by Laurie Carter, who has served in that position for nearly four years. She is leaving to become president of Lawrence University in Wisconsin, effective July 1. The State System of Higher Educations governing board on Thursday approved Pattersons appointment. His salary for serving in a dual role has yet to be determined, said system spokesman Dave Pidgeon. At Mansfield, he earns $261,500. System board Chairwoman Cynthia Shapira said Shippensburg trustees, along with system Chancellor Dan Greenstein, support the move. This comes at a time when Mansfield University is being considered to be consolidated with Bloomsburg and Lock Haven universities. If that goes through, the three campuses would only have one president. As a result, Shapira said Patterson has been heavily recruited by presidential search firms and is very much in demand. She also described him as a strong supporter of the system redesign work underway. Its critically important that while we work to transform the State System that we also do whatever we can to retain talented faculty and staff who are committed to making this student more student centered and Charles really embodies that mission, Shapira said. Patterson said he sees this additional role as an opportunity to stay in system and in public higher education. Our 14 State System universities and their administrations share a common mission that extends beyond just its campus footprint, he said. That is we must continue to be working in a sustainable manner and also continue to be an unapologetic advocate as I say for Mansfield, Shippensburg and what our state of public higher education provides to the commonwealth. So thank you for allowing me to continue to serve in this role. Pattersons background includes serving in administrative roles at Baylor University and Georgia Southern University, where he was eventually tapped to serve as interim president. He held that position for more than two years before joining the U.S. Department of Education, coming to Mansfield in July 2019. In a related action, the system board approved some updates to its presidential search policy to allow for interim presidents to be considered for permanent appointments to that position, which previously had not been allowed. The board also approved a resolution honoring Carter for her service to Shippensburg University. Shapira said Carters work has been transformational and I know you are leaving it better than you found it. The State System of Higher Education's governing board honored Shippensburg University President Laurie Carter for her work at the university and State System of Higher Education as a whole on Thursday at its meeting. Carter is leaving to take over as president at Lawrence University in Wisconsin on July 1. Photo provided by Pa. State System of Higher Education Indiana University of Pennsylvania President Michael Driscoll praised his departing colleague for her strong advocacy for diversity, equity and inclusion especially for students. Greenstein commended her for her work on student success at university and also for being someone who is unafraid to speak truth to colleagues ... and she does it in a very empathetic way, which is incredibly effective. Carter accepted the accolades by thanking her colleagues and university community for their support. The Clarion University alumnae called it a tremendous honor to serve in the system in which I received my undergraduate education. And she made one final request of the system: adding diversity to university councils of trustees. Few of the councils of trustees are truly diverse, Carter said. Trustees play a critical role in the life of our campuses. I ask you to work so that they reflect our campus demographics and ensure that trustees are trained in [diversity, equity and inclusiveness] so that they can be supportive of these important efforts. To that, Shapira responded: Were inspired by your words and were going to get it all done. Earlier in the meeting, the board voted unanimously to approve a statement committing to diversity, equity and inclusion throughout the system as well as a strategy for making all students and employee, regardless of background, feel welcomed and supported on its campuses. Jan Murphy may be reached at jmurphy@pennlive.com. Follow her on Twitter at @JanMurphy. MIAMI, April 15, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- The 2021 Potamkin Prize for Research in Pick's, Alzheimer's and Related Diseases has been awarded to Kenneth S. Kosik, MA, MD, University of California Neuroscience Research Institute, Santa Barbara, CA, and Giovanna Mallucci, MD, PhD, University of Cambridge, UK. The Potamkin Prize is given in partnership with the American Academy of Neurology and the American Brain Foundation. Potamkin Philanthropies Co-Chair Andi Potamkin presented the award to Kenneth S. Kosik, MA, MD, and Giovanna Mallucci, MD, PhD, at the Foundation's 2021 Commitment to Cures virtual gala, hosted by CNBC personality Jim Cramer. First established in 1988, the Potamkin Prize was created to honor Luba Potamkin, wife of famed entrepreneur Victor Potamkin. Luba Potamkin was diagnosed with Pick's disease in 1978. The Potamkin Prize is often called the Nobel Prize of Alzheimer's research. Dr. Ken Kosik is the Harriman Distinguished Professor of Neuroscience at the University of California, Santa Barbara. His contributions to the Alzheimer's field are diverse and pioneering. His research has greatly impacted understanding of the tau protein, its relationship to the neuropathological features of Alzheimer's Disease, the role of tau in fundamental cell biology, and the potential role of tau-modifying agents in the treatment and prevention of Alzheimer's Disease. Dr. Giovanna Mallucci is the van Geest Professor of Clinical Neurosciences at the University of Cambridge, UK and the Center Director of the UK Dementia Research Institute at Cambridge. Her scientific accomplishments have been extraordinary and field-changing. Mallucci has been one of the leaders in the growing research area of protein-misfolding disorders and modulation of proteostasis. She was the first to describe the role of PERK signaling over-activation in driving synapse loss and neuronal loss through repression of global protein synthesis rates. Her work has shown how neuronal death can be prevented by blocking this process with drugs in mouse models of frontotemporal dementia and prion disease. The Potamkin Prize selection committee said that they chose to award the Prize to two recipients based on their equally compelling research and accomplishments: "Kosik, a neurologist, is well known for his many contributions to neurodegenerative disease research and leadership in the field. His career includes contributions to seminal biochemical discoveries such as the role of tau in neurofibrillary tangles as well as his current extraordinary work highlighting the efforts of the team in Colombia to characterize and learn from the PS1 kindred of patients the largest genetically defined group of Alzheimer patients in the world." "Mallucci, a practicing neurologist, is a leader in the field. She has championed the idea that neurodegeneration processes span varied neurodegenerative diseases, seeing analogies across prion disease, Alzheimer's disease, and other neurodegenerations. Her work has focused on stress response pathways and protein degradation pathways as toxic insults, and she has highlighted the possibility that repurposing of drugs may prove useful in treatment of neurodegenerative diseases." "No greater honor can be bestowed on one's research than recognition by colleagues. So, my gratitude goes to the Potamkin family for establishing an award through which our field can mark steady progress toward lighting a path, the only path--research--that will lead to a cure." (Kenneth S. Kosik, MA, MD) "I am delighted and deeply honored to receive the 2021 Potamkin Prize. It is a tremendous endorsement of my lab's mission to discover ways to treat these currently incurable diseases that touch so many of our lives by targeting common dysregulated pathways. My sincere thanks to the Potamkin family." (Giovanna Mallucci, MD, PhD) Over the years, The Potamkin Prize has awarded more than $3 million to 68 scientists conducting innovative research in the field. The $100,000 annual award is given for achievements in emerging areas of research in Alzheimer's, Pick's, and other neurodegenerative disorders. "It is my pleasure to award these two dedicated doctors with this year's Potamkin Prize. My family and I are inspired by their innovative contributions in the fight to understand and treat brain degenerative diseases," said Andi Potamkin. About the American Academy of Neurology The American Academy of Neurology is the world's largest association of neurologists and neuroscience professionals, with over 36,000 members. The AAN is dedicated to promoting the highest quality patient-centered neurologic care. A neurologist is a doctor with specialized training in diagnosing, treating and managing disorders of the brain and nervous system such as Alzheimer's disease, stroke, migraine, multiple sclerosis, concussion, Parkinson's disease, and epilepsy. For more information about the American Academy of Neurology, visit www.AAN.com . About the American Brain Foundation The American Brain Foundation was founded by the American Academy of Neurology as the premier foundation that promotes and invests in research across the whole spectrum of brain disease. We believe that when we cure one of these diseases, we will cure many. Learn more at www.AmericanBrainFoundation.org . Media Contact: [email protected] SOURCE Potamkin Philanthropies Related Links http://www.potamkinprize.org Schapelle Corby was sent packing on Tuesday's episode of Channel Seven's reboot of Dancing with the Stars. But a leading TV commentator has now suggested the convicted drug smuggler, 43, was 'unfairly' voted off the show by the judges. Aaron Ryan of TV Blackbox said in an opinion piece that Schapelle, who previously appeared on Seven's SAS: Australia, had three out of the four judges in her corner. Unfair exit? A TV commentator has suggested convicted drug smuggler Schapelle Corby (pictured with dance partner Shae Mountain) was 'unfairly' voted off Dancing with the Stars On the night, Schapelle and former Bachelor Matty Johnson were the bottom two contestants who had to battle it out in a dance-off. Mr Ryan explained that DWTS co-host Sonia Kruger had told viewers the judges - Mark Wilson, Paul Mercurio, Todd McKenney and Helen Richey - would be making their final decision 'based on that dance alone'. Mark was the only one of the judges to vote for Matty without any hesitation. Face-off: On Tuesday, Schapelle and former Bachelor Matty Johnson (pictured with dance partner Ruby Gherbaz) were the bottom two contestants who had to battle it out in a dance-off Disclaimer: DWTS co-host Sonia Kruger (right, with Daryl Somers) said the judges - Mark Wilson, Paul Mercurio, Todd McKenney and Helen Richey - would be making their final decision 'based on that dance alone' Tellingly, Todd pointed out that Schapelle had 'danced so much better' - an assessment both Paul and Helen agreed with. But in the end, their favourable opinions of Schapelle's performance didn't count for much and she and dance partner Shae Mountain were sent packing. Paul and Helen voted for Matty, overruling Todd and thus eliminating Schapelle. He's a firm fan: Mark was the only one of the four judges to vote for Matty without hesitation Mystery: Tellingly, Todd (left) pointed out that Schapelle had 'danced so much better' - an assessment both Paul (right) and Helen (centre) agreed with. This begs the question: why did Schapelle leave? Afterwards, several viewers commented on the DWTS Instagram page to say the judges made a 'good choice' to vote her off. Others said they were glad to see Schapelle gone, arguing that a 'convicted criminal' shouldn't be classed as a celebrity. One critic wrote: 'What was she doing on this show?! Or any show for that matter. Heads up - she most definitely is NOT a star.' The last dance! In the end, the judges' favourable opinions of Schapelle's performance didn't count for much and she and dance partner Shae Mountain were sent packing 'What was she doing on this show?!' Several viewers commented on the DWTS Instagram page to say the judges made a 'good choice' to vote Schapelle off Fortunately, there were fans who praised Schapelle for her 'cracking effort'. 'She was so gracious and lovely, I wish her well,' one supporter commented. Schapelle competed as a 'wildcard' contestant on Dancing with the Stars, alongside Matty, Jessica Gomes and Renee Bargh. The other participants have all appeared on the reality show before. Well-wishes: Fortunately, there were fans who praised Schapelle for her 'cracking effort' TV debut: Schapelle made a brief appearance on the first season of SAS Australia last year In October 2004, Schapelle became a household name when she was arrested at Bali airport with 4.2kg of cannabis wrapped in plastic inside her boogie board bag. The world watched in May 2005 as she broke down in the Denpasar courtroom after being sentenced to 20 years' imprisonment in Kerobokan Prison. Following a series of sentence reductions, Schapelle was released on parole in February 2014, having served nine years behind bars. New Delhi, April 15 : Attorney General K.K. Venugopal on Thursday informed the Supreme Court that the Centre, within a period of three months, will consider 10 names sent for appointment as high court judges, which were recommended as far back as July 2019. The top court recorded the AG's submission during the hearing of a matter in connection with the delay in the appointment of judges. After recording the submissions, a bench headed by Chief Justice S.A. Bobde said the government will take a decision on the 10 names sent to it vide letters dated July 25, 2019, October 17, 2019 and August 18, 2020, which are pending for more than six months, within a period of three months. In 25 high courts across the country, the sanctioned strength is 1,080 judges. Out of the 416 vacant positions of high court judges, 196 proposals are under the consideration of the Centre and the Supreme Court Collegium. However, for the remaining 220 posts, recommendations have not been received so far. The AG had submitted the details, on the vacancy positions as on April 13, through a note in the top court. According to the AG's note, out of the 196 names, a total of 80 proposals have been submitted to the top court collegium for advice. Two names have been referred to the Supreme Court Collegium for reconsideration. The collegium had deferred 12 names. Of the 196 proposals, 11 names which were not considered by the top court collegium have been remitted to the high court. In the context of the Supreme Court, there are 34 posts of judges, and currently there are five vacancies, for which the SC Collegium is yet to make its recommendations. On March 26, the top court had expressed its dissatisfaction with the Centre for the delay in the appointment of judges. The top court had said the government has been sitting on some recommendations for more than 19 months despite the final nod of the collegium. The government is examining 33 recommendations by the High Court Collegium for submission to the Supreme Court Collegium. In 10 cases, the Centre is waiting for the views of the state governments. The Supreme Court Collegium has reiterated its decision on five proposals, yet they are under the Centre's consideration. There are 39 fresh proposals recommended by the top court collegium, which are under consideration of the Centre. A taxi driver was killed in southern Brazil on Tuesday after a truck driver slammed into his car and dragged it straight into a bus which then exploded in flames. The frightening incident was captured by a surveillance camera located near the intersection of highway PR-423 in Curitiba, Parana. The male victim, who has not been named by authorities and local media outlets, appeared not to have yielded to traffic as he approached the intersecting lane when the tanker truck barreled into his car. A surveillance camera posted near a highway intersection in the southern Brazilian city of Curitiba captured the moment a tanker truck smashed into a taxi and killed its driver Tuesday. The car was dragged down the road and hit the side of a bus before it exploded in flames. The truck and bus drivers were not harmed A bus, which was not carrying any passengers, bursts in flames after it was struck on the left side by a car that was being dragged down the road following an accident with a truck The taxi was subsequently dragged down the road and struck the side of a bus which was traveling in the opposite lane. The bus, which was not carrying any passengers, immediately caught fire and came to a full stop in the middle of the highway. The local fire department told local media that the driver of the bus was able to escape unharmed before it completely burned down. The driver of the truck, which was carrying an unknown flammable material, did not suffer any injuries. Last week, Delhi announced that it was shutting schools until further notice, and that classes would resume only through the online mode. Delhi, however, was not the only state to order a shutdown or suspension of classes. Maharashtra, Punjab, Chhattisgarh, UP have all shut schools, given the rise in coronavirus infections as India battles a second wave. Although one would expect Indian education to have become resilient to Covid-19 concerns, there are many lacunae that the government needs to address. Data from the final ASER report, released in February this year, highlights that ... Officials in Worcester are confident the pause on the Johnson & Johnson vaccine wont impact the citys vaccination efforts. City Manager Edward Augustus Jr. said the clinics run by the city pivoted to Pfizers vaccine to ensure it didnt have to cancel any appointments due to the pause related to the Johnson & Johnson doses. Augustus said the city received the Pfizer doses from the large-scale vaccination site at Worcester State University, which is operated by Saint Vincent Hospital. The doses, Augustus said, wouldnt affect the WSU site as more shipments of Pfizer are on their way. Theres a lot of borrowing and trading if somebodys got a bigger clinic or needs some, Augustus said. Theyve been great partners when weve needed to borrow or fill in a gap. The city manager discussed the vaccines during the Thursday COVID-19 briefing where he announced cases in Worcester continued to plateau. There were 364 new cases this week, up five cases from last week. UMass Memorial Health Care and Saint Vincent Hospital have a combined total of 87 COVID-positive in-patients up 40 from last week with and 23 total ICU patients, an increase of three. I have a better feeling this week than I had the last several, Worcester Medical Director Dr. Michael Hirsh said. I think that the new cases numbers that we were seeing really trending radically upward immediately after spring break and going a little past Easter have started to come down and really plateau. In March, Hirsh predicted that case totals could spike again during the second week of April because of potential super-spreader events like spring break, Passover and Easter. Instead of a surge, the setback discussed on Thursday involved the pause of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine. The Johnson & Johnson situation this week was a setback, Hirsh said. Not so much because we needed that number of vacations but its hurtful because it alarmed the public so much. I dont want the results of that alarm to make people concerned about all the vaccines or even the Johnson & Johnson vaccine. Augustus, Hirsh and Mayor Joseph Petty expressed confidence in the Johnson & Johnson vaccine despite the pause, although each reminded folks who received it to be aware of severe leg pain, abdomen pain or a severe headache. I dont think people should worry, Hirsh said. The city still has 755 unused doses of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine sitting in refrigeration, Augustus said. Hirsh said the doses can retain their effectiveness in the refrigerator for at least six months. The Johnson & Johnson vaccine had been the citys choice in administering doses to underserved populations. For now, the clinics will likely receive Pfizer. That single-dose vaccination was an important tool in the arsenal of trying to get to some of the tougher to reach populations, Augustus said. Despite the pause, Augustus said about one-third of the citys population has received at least one dose and about 18% of the population is fully vaccinated. Ahead of April 19, when anyone over the age of 16 is eligible to receive the vaccine in Massachusetts, August said more than 52,000 doses have been administered at Worcester State University. This week along saw 8,000 doses, up 1,000 from last week. Augustus said the facility can ramp up even more as everyone 16 and older will become eligible. My understanding is they can do 2,000 a day, Augustus said. So there is still plenty of capacity there. Related Content: Coronavirus Coverage Because of health and safety concerns, the Herald-Republic is allowing unlimited access to our COVID-19 stories and resources. If you are able to support local news by subscribing, support our journalism. Click here to begin your subscription and access all of our local coverage. Sigrid Jakob showed up to Green-Wood Cemetery hot on the heels of a recent victory: The deer dung she was cultivating in her apartment had just yielded a particularly exciting specimen of fungi. Shed gathered the dung in a park in the Bronx, she said, and was currently storing it in Tupperware that once housed takeout. She guessed she had eight Tupperwares worth of dung collected at the time; she was observing them for fungal growth. This is par for the course for Ms. Jakob, 55, who is the president of the New York Mycological Society and a founder of the newly formed Green-Wood Fungi Phenology Project although she said shes careful not to collect anything malodorous so as not to exceed the patience of her family. She started the project, which is a crowdsourcing identification initiative focused on mushrooms and other proof of fungi in the storied Brooklyn cemetery, with Potter Palmer, 63, an amateur naturalist who contributed to a 2017 study where he noted the changing state of leaves, blooms and fruit in two groves of trees in the cemetery. Both live nearby. Toronto, Ontario--(Newsfile Corp. - April 15, 2021) - American Aires Inc. (CSE: WIFI) (the "Company") is pleased to announce that it has established an Advisory Board and that Dr. Arturas Jukna, Dr. Gennadi Lukyanov and Dr. Nataliya Dyuzhikova have been appointed as its initial members to assist the Company in furthering its product development initiatives. Arturas Jukna - Ph.D., professor - Arturas is a professor in the Department of Physics and the Head of Photovoltaic Technologies Laboratory of Vilnius Gediminas Technical University Lithuania, EU. Professor Jukna's research interests are in the area of experimental condensed matter physics and applied physics. He has over 30 years of experience in condensed matter physics with a focus on applied superconductivity, ultrafast electronics, and optoelectronics. His current research interests include nanoscience, the physics of high-temperature superconductivity, time-resolved electro-optic and terahertz imaging, and characterization of materials/devices. The professor received his Ph.D. and Habilitation (procedure) in Physics from the Vilnius University and Vilnius Gediminas Technical University, Vilnius, Lithuania, in 1992 and 2008, respectively. Between 1996 and 2018 he worked as a Postdoc and visiting scientist in the Department of Materials Physics of the Royal Institute of Technology, Stockholm, Sweden, the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering of University of Rochester, Rochester NY, USA, and the department of Materials Physics of the Ben Gurion University of the Negev, Beer Sheba, Israel. He was a Fulbright scholar in 2002-2003 and BAFF scholar in 2016-2017 working at the University of Rochester's Laboratory for Laser Energetics, Rochester NY, USA in the research group of the Ultrafast Quantum Phenomena Laboratory. Dr. Nataliya Dyuzhikova - Doctor of Sciences in Biology. Nataliya graduated from St. Petersburg State University, Department of Genetics and Biotechnology. Dr. Dyuzhikova is a specialist in the field of physiology and genetics of higher nervous activity, neurogenetics and neuroepigenetics. She is the author of more than 70 scientific articles and several patents. Nataliya's main scientific interests are the research of genetic and epigenetic mechanisms of long-term stress effects, neuropathology, learning and memory. N. Dyuzhikova is a member of the editorial board of the Journal "Integrative Physiology". She conducts scientific collaborations with a number of Russian and foreign laboratories, participates in the education programs of students and postgraduate students. Gennadi Lukyanov - Professor, Doctor of Sciences in Technology. Gennadi's main activity is in the fields of sensorics, electronics, heat and mass transfer. Together with medical scientists and biologists, he performs research on the interactions of various systems of a living organism. Gennadi has special scientific interest in the study of oscillatory, chaotic processes in nature and technology and living organisms, for the fields of health care, energy saving and environmental protection. He has a diploma in electrical engineering from the St. Petersburg Electrotechnical University, a PhD in Engineering from ITMO University, St. Petersburg and a Doctor of Sciences in Technology from ITMO University, St. Petersburg and a professor's certificate in the Department of Electronics. He is the author of several patents, about 200 scientific publications and a number of textbooks. Co-chairman of the program committee of the annual international scientific conference "Sensorica" (the last one, "Sensorica-2020", was held in Germany, in Muellheim-an-der-Ruhr within the framework of the IEEE Workshop). The Company's board of directors also approved the grant of incentive stock options to Mr. Jukna to purchase up to an aggregate of 100,000 common shares of the Company at an exercise price of $0.50 per share expiring on March 31, 2024. About American Aires Inc. American Aires Inc. ("Aires") is Canadian-based 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. Aires' Lifetune products specifically target EMR emitted by consumer electronic devices such as cellphones, computers, baby monitors, Wi-Fi radiation, including the rapidly expanding next-generation high-speed 5G networks. Aires is listed on the CSE under ticker 'WIFI'. Learn more at 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. 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/80123 Lucknow: The Yogi Adityanath-led Uttar Pradesh government on Wednesday (April 14) procured 25,000 vials of Remdesivir injection, which is used in the treatment of COVID-19, from Gujarat. These vials were brought in from Gujarats Ahmedabad on the request of UP CM Yogi Adityanath on Wednesday evening by a state aircraft. As per the state official, to curb the rising COVID-19 cases and to provide assistance to those suffering from the infection, the government has also been keeping a close watch on the availability of eight other medicines which are commonly prescribed for COVID-19 patients, other than Remdesivir. ALSO READ: Uttar Pradesh CM Yogi Adityanath tests COVID-19 positive, goes into self-isolation These include Ivermectin, Paracetamol, Doxycycline, Azithromycin, Vitamin C, Zinc tables, Vitamin B Complex and Vitamin D3. Dr. A.K. Jain from UP drug control department revealed that the "health department officials have been asked to ensure that there is no shortage of these drugs in any district. For that, the chief minister has also asked the health department to coordinate with all districts to find out how much stock they have and when they will need replenishments. "The department has spoken to drug manufacturing companies to ensure a steady supply of these medicines and to distributors of medicines to make sure that they are readily available in the market," he said. ALSO READ: Ensure no shortage of beds, ventilators in hospitals: UP CM Yogi Adityanath to district officials as COVID-19 cases spike Dr. A.K. Jain also added that over seven Indian pharmaceutical companies in the country are producing Remdesivir injections. The companies have assured the government that they would provide more doses as per the need of the state at the earliest. At present, there is a sufficient amount of Remdesivir available and it is being administered to serious patients, he said. Live TV CHICAGO, April 15, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Wyzant, the largest tutoring marketplace in the U.S., today announced that it is hosting more than 30 free, live virtual workshops in preparation for the Advanced Placement exams in April and May. The workshops will help students gain insight into the testing experience and learn the strategies and skills needed to maximize scores. Led by expert tutors on Wyzant, the workshops will run from April 19 through May 6. Students can select from a wide variety of courses that align with content found on the Advanced Placement exams, ranging from subjects such as Calculus AB to United States History and Psychology. "For many high school students, school closures and remote learning over the past year have disrupted their preparation for standardized exams," said John Barth, head of digital marketing at Wyzant. "Wyzant is committed to providing students with resources that support their academic success. With these free, live workshops, learners will get the information they need to reach their goals on these important assessments." Each virtual workshop will be taught live by expert tutors from Wyzant. Throughout the sessions, students will learn critical thinking skills and test-taking strategies to prepare them for their AP exams. Students will have the opportunity to take practice tests, review major concepts, participate in discussions and ask questions during the workshop. There is no limit to the number of workshops students can sign up for. Students this past year have struggled with remote learning and the resulting learning loss. In fact, Wyzant's recent survey of 1,020 independent tutors listed on its platform found that 43 percent of tutors reported students are experiencing learning loss. Wyzant's free virtual workshops will pinpoint students' strengths and weaknesses on AP content and skills, and help build students' confidence so they feel ready to take the exams. Enrollment is now open for Wyzant's free workshops, covering topics including English Literature & Composition, Chemistry, and Computer Science. See the full list of subjects and sign up for the workshops here. 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. Wyzant is now part of IXL Learning, developer of personalized learning products used by more than 12 million students. Media contact: Inkhouse for Wyzant [email protected] SOURCE Wyzant WASHINGTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF) today called on U.S. President Joseph R. Biden to support the temporary waiver of patent rights for COVID-19 vaccines as currently proposed at the World Trade Organization (WTO). The Indian and South African governments, along with 175 former heads of state and governments, WTO member states, and Nobel laureates are calling on Biden to support the waiver that would relax patent rules in order to boost vaccine supplies for the world. We are repeating the tragic errors that happened with HIV when the world delayed for ten years the distribution of safe and effective HIV treatment to low- and middle-income countries while people living with HIV in developed countries enjoyed the benefits of life-saving treatment. Millions of people with HIV died needlessly, said Terri Ford, Chief of Global Policy & Advocacy for AHF. Every day that the United States, the European Union, the United Kingdom, Canada and other high-income countries block this temporary waiver is another victory for the virus. Lethal mutations and variants of this deadly virus will take hold and spread like wildfire across the globe to unvaccinated populations. Granting the waiver will accelerate vaccine production and distribution. Many governments have pleaded with the drug industry to grant waivers for local production and have been told no. In blocking this temporary patent waiver, the pharmaceutical industrys hired guns have their foot on the necks of billions of people around the globe who are at risk for infection. Mr. President, approve the patent waiver now! said Ford. Relying on the current geographically concentrated drug industry controlled global production and supply system will guarantee a devastating result for billions of people and will result in a never-ending pandemic. According to the advocacy group Progressive International: By a greater than 2-to-1 margin, Americans want President Biden to support an emergency suspension of WTO rules that would enable a global scale-up in COVID-19 vaccine and treatment production. Arcane rules at the WTO that put "intellectual property" for the drug industry ahead of public health are getting in the way of efforts to increase global production of COVID-19 vaccines, test kits and medications. Most of the world's governments already support this "TRIPS waiver." It's also supported by over 170 former heads of state and government and Nobel laureates. About AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF), the largest global AIDS organization, currently provides medical care and/or services to over 1.5 million people in 45 countries worldwide in the US, Africa, Latin America/Caribbean, the Asia/Pacific Region and Eastern Europe. To learn more about AHF, please visit our website: www.aidshealth.org, find us on Facebook: www.facebook.com/aidshealth and follow us on Twitter: @aidshealthcare and Instagram: @aidshealthcare. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210415006084/en/ John Hassell, Director of National Advocacy, AHF +1.202.774.4854 john.hassell@aidshealth.org Ged Kenslea, Senior Director, Communications for AHF, +1.323.791.5526, gedk@aidshealth.org Source: AIDS Healthcare Foundation (CNN) - Researchers at Oxford University have found the risk of a rare type of blood clot is low overall, but higher for people who have been infected with COVID-19 than among people whove had the three vaccines authorized in the UK those made by AstraZeneca, Moderna and Pfizer. The study, made available in pre-print on Thursday on the Oxford website ahead of publication in a scientific journal, says the risk of cerebral venous thrombosis or CVT also known as cerebral venous sinus thrombosis or CVST following COVID-19 infection is around 100 times greater than normal and several times higher than it is post vaccination or following influenza, across all age groups. COVID-19 markedly increases the risk of CVT, adding to the list of blood clotting problems this infection causes, Paul Harrison, professor of psychiatry and head of the Translational Neurobiology Group at the University of Oxford said. Oxford University, which developed the AstraZeneca vaccine, said the research is from a separate part of the university and is not connected to the vaccine team. The data used was obtained from external sources, specifically the European Medicines Agency. When compared to the risk of clots from the three vaccines, the risk from infection is between 8-10 times higher, and compared to the baseline, approximately 100 times higher for infection, Oxford said in a news release. According to the research, when compared with the mRNA vaccines Pfizer and Moderna the risk of CVT from COVID-19 infection is about 10 times greater. When compared with AstraZeneca, the risk of a CVT from COVID-19 is about eight times greater. The Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccine was not included in the analysis. Using an electronic health records network of over 500,000 Covid-19 positive cases, 489,871 vaccinated cases and 172,724 cases of influenza, the study found 30% of CVT cases occurred in the under-30 age group, the most at-risk for blood clots. Considering the balances between risks and COVID-19 risk is higher than see with the current vaccines, even for those under 30; something that should be taken into account when considering the balances between risks and benefits for vaccination, Harrison added. Dr. Maxime Taquet from Oxfords Translational Neurobiology Group and a co-author of the study cautioned that data is still accruing. Researchers also are still to determine if COVID-19 and vaccines lead to CVT in the same way, she said. Experts noted that CVT is so rare, there is limited data even from before the pandemic, and the data and data sources around the COVID-19 vaccines are inconsistent and limited. Overall the main finding is that these CVT events are very rare a few in every million people involved in COVID-19 patients and in people who had one of the vaccines but they were very much rarer in the people who had a vaccine than in people who had COVID-19, said Kevin McConway, emeritus professor of applied statistics at the Open University, in a comment to the Science Media Centre in the UK. The researchers are not claiming that vaccines do not increase the risk at all compared to the risk in people who have not been vaccinated and have also not had COVID-19 but they say the CVT risk in people who have had COVID-19 is about 100 times the risk in the general population. Some background: European and British medicines regulators last week announced a possible link between the AstraZeneca vaccine and rare cases of blood clots, with the UK announcing it would offer people under 30 an alternative vaccine. Other countries have followed suit and are either only offering to people above a certain age or are like Denmark and Norway, scrapping the vaccine entirely. While advising the public to look out for the signs of clots, the regulators said the benefits of the shot were still worth the risk. The AstraZeneca vaccine has not been authorized for use in the United States. Six reports of similar clotting events following vaccination with the single-dose Johnson & Johnson vaccine prompted the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the US Food and Drug Administration to recommend a pause on administering the vaccine to allow for further investigation. Six women between the ages of 18 and 48 had developed a cerebral venous sinus thrombosis, a clot in the area of the brain that collects and drains oxygen-depleted blood. Blood thinners, the typical treatment for clots, should not be used in such cases. The six reported cases were among more than 6.8 million doses of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine administered in the United States. The EU, which is heavily relying on the J&J vaccine to bolster its lagging vaccination rollout, has also paused use of the shot. The European Medicines Agency is expected to announce a decision on administering the Johnson & Johnson vaccine next week. The WHO on Thursday said "for now the risk of suffering blood clots, is much higher for someone with COVID-19 than for someone who has taken the AstraZeneca vaccine." WHO Regional Director for Europe Hans Kluge reiterated its recommendation of the AstraZeneca vaccine for all eligible adults, calling it "effective in reducing COVID-19 hospitalization and preventing deaths. This story was first published on CNN.com, "Risk of rare blood clots is higher after COVID-19 infection than after vaccination, UK study says" ANKARA, Turkey (AP) A meeting aimed to improve fraught ties between NATO allies Greece and Turkey quickly descended into a tense exchange of accusations between the two countries' foreign ministers on Thursday. Greek Foreign Minister Nikos Dendias traveled to Ankara to discuss ties with his Turkish counterpart Mevlut Cavusoglu, following a slight easing of tensions. Appearing before the cameras to deliver their press statements, the two men initially spoke about keeping the channels of dialogue open and increasing economic cooperation in an effort to improve relations. But their meeting soon turned sour after Dendias accused Turkey of violating Greece's sovereign rights in the eastern Mediterranean and warned that Ankara would face European Union sanctions if the violations continue. Cavusoglu retorted back calling Dendias' words as unacceptable. The two ministers then proceeded to list their grievances. The visit was the first by a Greek minister following a tumultuous year. Angered by what it perceived to be a lack of support for its policies in Syria, Turkey announced last year that it was opening its western borders, prompting thousands of migrants to gather at entry points to Greece, which promptly closed them down. This led to chaotic scenes at the frontier. Tension flared again in the summer over maritime boundaries and energy exploration rights in the eastern Mediterranean, leading to a military buildup that featured warships from the two countries facing off. The dispute strained Ankaras relations with the whole European Union. Tensions eased after Turkey pulled back its energy research vessel and adopted a more conciliatory tone toward Greece and other EU nations. The potential for taking measures is always on the table of the (European) Council, Dendias said. " If there are delinquent and illegal actions against sovereignty and our sovereign rights, there is always the possibility for measures to be taken. Of course we hope with all our hearts there will not be illegal actions. Story continues Cavuoslug responded: "Nikos Dendias unfortunately made some extremely unacceptable accusations against my country ... He said Turkey violated Greeces sovereign rights. It is not possible for us to accept this. Turkey is obliged to protect its own rights, especially in the Eastern Mediterranean, and those of Cypriot Turks; all the steps we take are aimed at protecting our rights, Cavusoglu said. Dendias' visit was also meant to pave the way for a meeting between Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis. In an indication of the meeting's importance, Dendias met with Erdogan as well as Cavusoglu. His visit follows talks between Turkish and Greek diplomats who have met in Istanbul and Athens, resuming a series of meetings designed to build trust between the historic regional rivals. The two have been at odds over decades-old issues including the extent of air and maritime boundaries in the Aegean Sea and the future of ethnically split Cyprus. They have come to the brink of war three times since the 1970s. Turkey and Greece have also traded accusations over unauthorized migration. The Turkish coast guard, as well as numerous refugee rights organizations, have accused the Greek coast guard of conducting pushbacks illegal summary deportations by returning their boats to Turkey without allowing them to apply for asylum in Greece. Greece denies it carries out pushbacks and accuses Turkey of failing to crack down on migrant smugglers operating from its shores. __ Associated Press writer Elena Becatoros contributed from Athens. Credit: Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation (ANSTO) The mining industry is set to benefit from a new Australian capability that uses a nuclear scanning technique to detect the presence of precious metals and strategic minerals in a core sample. The approach, which involved enhancements to the neutron tomography instrument Dingo at ANSTO's Australian Centre for Neutron Scattering, is expected to be available to industry later in the year. A neutron tomography scan is similar to an X-ray CT scan but uses neutrons, neutral subatomic particles, produced by the OPAL multipurpose reactor. Neutrons provide an alternative and complementary contrast to X-rays, in essence, a 'fresh set of eyes' on the same material. "Traditionally, neutron CT scans take much longer than X-ray CT scans. With this new development, it has become a fast, cost-effective and non-destructive way to map the concentration and distribution of minerals in a rock core," explained instrument scientist Dr. Joseph Bevitt, who worked with a team at ANSTO and Macquarie University to add the capability to the instrument. The concept was tested successfully with the support of Aurelia Metals Ltd. who provided cores for testing from the Hera Mine, a gold-lead-zinc-silver deposit located 100km south-east of Cobar, NSW, and in collaboration with Dr. Timothy Murphy from Macquarie University's Geoanalytical laboratory. The ANSTO team comprising engineering and technical staff, developed a four-row rig, to hold the cores for parallel scanning. The instrument produces a three-dimensional image reconstruction of the drillcore, which is achieved by rotating the cores in the neutron beam while acquiring thousands of shadow radiographs. Using high-powered computing facilities, these are converted into 3D visualizations of the drillcores. This data can be used to extend 2D surface mineral maps achieved using X-ray fluorescence to more accurately report mineral content within entire drillcores. Our collaborators at Macquarie University were satisfied that the images were viable for mineralogical assessments and are developing new methods to explore and integrate these datasets into geological and geochemical analyses. Depending on the desired scan resolution, non-destructive neutron CT scanning of one-meter drillcore lengths can be completed in an hour. Credit: Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation (ANSTO) At present, industry and research institutions use X-ray techniques for high throughput drillcore inspection and analysis. However, X-rays cannot penetrate samples that contain abundant heavy metals, such as lead, without losing image contrast. "Neutrons overcome this limitation as lead, and a number of other commonly occurring minerals that are problematic for X-rays are more transparent to neutrons," said Bevitt. The cartridges in the scanning rig can hold four cores up to 1.5 meters in length, with a maximum diameter of 80 mm each. The team intends to make further improvements upon the prototype apparatus, including increased parallelisation to increase output by 50% and robotic changeover of sample cartridges for automated bulk scanning studies. Most importantly, planning is underway for the installation of an X-ray source to enable bi-modal neutron and X-ray tomographic imaging of drillcores. "Bi-modal imaging opens up the opportunity for holistic 3D mineral mapping, based on the combination of independent X-ray and neutron contrasts." "This is a new application, as our instrument is used primarily for the analysis of cultural heritage materials, palaeontological specimens, and engineering materials," said Bevitt. "Given the importance of the mining industry in Australia, we think this new technique will enhance exploration activity, and better inform environment sustainability." ANSTO operates a suite of instruments at The Australian Centre for Neutron Scattering, the Australian Synchrotron and the Centre for Accelerator Science that can be used for minerals research. ANSTO's Minerals business unit offers a range of consultancy, process development and research services to the mining industry. Explore further New cathode material for high-performing sodium ion batteries could benefit large scale energy storage Former police officer to face charge over fatal shooting of Daunte Wright in U.S. Minnesota Xinhua) 14:58, April 15, 2021 Protesters gather outside the Brooklyn Center Police Department in Brooklyn Center, Minnesota, the United States, April 13, 2021.(Photo by Matthew McIntosh/Xinhua) Washington County Attorney Pete Orput said he is filing a second-degree manslaughter charge against former police officer Kim Potter, who resigned and was arrested by agents. WASHINGTON, April 14 (Xinhua) -- Former police officer Kim Potter, who shot 20-year-old black man Daunte Wright dead in Brooklyn Center, in the U.S. state Minnesota, will be charged with second-degree manslaughter for the killing, a prosecutor said on Wednesday. Washington County Attorney Pete Orput said he is filing a second-degree manslaughter charge against Potter, a 48-year-old veteran female police officer who resigned on Tuesday and was arrested by agents with the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension (BCA) on Wednesday morning. The BCA, which is investigating the fatal shooting, said Potter will be booked into the Hennepin County Jail. The second-degree manslaughter charge carries a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison, according to local media reports. Protesters clashed with police for a third night on Tuesday night in the city following the police killing of Daunte Wright in a traffic stop on Sunday. At a midnight news briefing, the State Patrol said there were more than 60 arrests. One day before stepping down on Tuesday, the city's then police chief Tim Gannon said that Potter mistakenly used her gun instead of her taser in the fatal shooting, which he described as an "accidental discharge." The Hennepin County Medical Examiner said Wright died by a single shot to the chest and ruled the death a homicide. "No conclusions should be made until the investigation is complete," the Minnesota Police and Peace Officers Association said in a statement on Tuesday, calling for protests to be peaceful. Wright's family is not "prepared to say that that was an accident," their attorney Jeffrey Storms told CNN on Tuesday. Brooklyn Center, a city of about 31,000, is just a few miles away from Minneapolis, where the murder trial of former police officer Derek Chauvin over black man George Floyd's death in May 2020 is underway. "We will fight for justice for this family, just like we're fighting for our brother," Philonise Floyd said on Tuesday, extending his family's condolences to the family of Wright. (Web editor: Shi Xi, Liang Jun) [April 15, 2021] Axis Communications Joins Convergint Technologies in Major Initiative to Boost Visitor Safety at the National Mall in Washington, DC The National Mall is America's most-visited national park, playing host to historic events, celebrations, demonstrations, and everyday gatherings each year. In efforts to boost public safety and situational awareness for the National Mall and surrounding monuments and memorials, Axis Communications (News - Alert) , the global leader in network video, joins Convergint Technologies, a global leader in service-based systems integration, to deploy a state-of-the-art security system for the National Park Service. Axis Communications, along with eleven industry partners, combined their technology, services and expertise to design and deploy the technology infrastructure necessary to improve safety at the National Mall and surrounding historical monuments, which experiences more than 35 million visitors annually. Convergint Technologies initiated the project with the National Park Service and United States Park Police in early 2019. "Axis Communications is proud to collaborate with Convergint Technologies and other industry leaders to deliver innovative technology solutions for the National Park Service, the National Mall and its surrounding monuments," said Mark McCormack, Senior National Sales Manager, Global & National Accounts, Axis Communications. "Working together with partners, sharing our collective expertise, and providing a greater level of safety and security for the public truly aligns with what the National Mall represents. We're honored to help protect such an iconic place." The initiative enhances and expands security coverage, upgrades technology from legacy systems, and allows the National Park Service to use real-time information and comunication technologies to respond to issues quickly. Phase one of the project included the enhancement of a centralized monitoring hub, intercom stations, public address capabilities and upgrading from analog to IP-based cameras. Phase two will further extend situational awareness at various monuments by adding additional IP-based cameras that connect back to their headquarters. "We are incredibly grateful for our technology partners that worked should-to-shoulder with us to give back to one of our country's busiest and most iconic sites," said Tony Varco, Vice President at Convergint Technologies. "It is an honor to support the mission of the National Park Service, which is to preserve our natural and culture resources for the enjoyment, education and inspiration of this and future generations. This effort is a true partnership and collaboration to enhance the current technology and enable real-time information and communications when needed." "The National Park Service and the United States Park Police greatly appreciate the comprehensive security system for the National Mall developed by Convergint Technologies and its partners," said Major Mark Adamcik, Commander of the National Mall's Icon Protection Unit for the United States Park Police. For more information on the National Park Service, please visit www.nps.gov and the National Mall Project. About Axis Communications Axis enables a smarter and safer world by creating network solutions that provide insights for improving security and new ways of doing business. As the industry leader in network video, Axis offers products and services for video surveillance and analytics, access control, intercom, and audio systems. Axis has more than 3,8?00 dedicated employees in over 50 countries and collaborates with partners worldwide to deliver customer solutions. Axis was founded in 1984 and has its headquarters in Lund, Sweden. For more information about Axis, please visit our website www.axis.com. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210415005303/en/ [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] The head of the government's business appointments watchdog today dismissed Labour criticism over having a lobbying firm boss on its advisory board. Lord Pickles insisted Andrew Cumpsty's experience had been 'very useful' in the work of the body. He said the former Tory councillor was among a range of names put forward to ministers for a post on the Advisory Committee on Business Appointments, and praised the 'brave' decision to select him. According to the Cumpsty Communications website, the firm aims to deliver the 'very best communications, stakeholder engagement, and government relations advice and support'. It is registered with the Office of the Registrar of Consultant Lobbyists, and the Acoba website spells out the interests of its board member. Lord Pickles insisted Andrew Cumpsty's (pictured) experience had been 'very useful' in the work of the Advisory Committee on Business Appointments Giving evidence to the Public Administration and Constitutional Affairs Committee today, Lord Pickles said Mr Cumpsty was on a shortlist of six candidates for the board put forward to ministers However, shadow Cabinet Office minister Rachel Reeves told the i newspaper: 'This doesn't just show that Tories can't be trusted to reform lobbying - they don't even know where the line of integrity lies. 'We need a proper inquiry and to clean up sleaze and cronyism. Instead, the Conservatives voted for another crony cover-up.' The i said Mr Cumpsty refused to comment when contacted. Giving evidence to the Public Administration and Constitutional Affairs Committee today, Lord Pickles said Mr Cumpsty was on a shortlist of six candidates for the board put forward to ministers. 'I wanted to give the minister the option of having someone on who had the experience of lobbying,' he said. 'We put the six names up without making a recommendation and the minister chose to put Andrew Cumpsty into that position. 'I think that he was brave to do it because I felt sooner or later a newspaper would turn him over. 'I think I would support the minister's decision. I think it was sensible to get someone with experience. He has proved very useful on these issues.' A Cabinet Office spokesman said: 'Mr Cumpsty was appointed to the Committee following an open competition, and chosen precisely because of his experience in local government and in public affairs. 'The Committee needed insight on how the public affairs industry works to help regulate the business appointment process, alongside other members with their own skill sets. His interests are transparently declared on the gov.uk website. 'All board members act in accordance with the prevailing Codes of Conduct and would excuse themselves from any conflicting interest if ever necessary.' Source: Xinhua| 2021-04-15 15:30:06|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close JAKARTA, April 15 (Xinhua) -- Indonesia posted an export value of 18.35 billion U.S. dollars in March, up 20.31 percent month-to-month and a jump of 30.47 percent from a year earlier, according to Statistics Indonesia on Thursday. "This is a very encouraging growth of up to double digits due to increasing demands and rising prices for a number of commodities," the agency's head Kecuk Suhariyanto said. Non-oil and non-gas exports in March 2021 were recorded at 17.45 billion dollars, up 21.21 percent month-to-month, while oil and gas exports totaled 906.0 million dollars, an increase of 5.28 percent from February. Cumulatively, the value of Indonesia's exports during the period from January to March stood at 48.90 billion dollars, an increase of 17.11 percent year-on-year. The largest non-oil and non-gas export destination country in March was China with a value of 3.73 billion dollars, followed by the United States with 2.07 billion dollars and Japan with 1.38 billion dollars. Meanwhile, non-oil and non-gas exports to other Southeast Asian countries totaled 3.46 billion dollars, and those to European Union countries totaled 1.44 billion dollars. Enditem Grieving pastor, wife call on witnesses to help catch daughters killer Email Print Img No-img Menu Whatsapp Google Reddit Digg Stumbleupon Linkedin Comment A grieving Alabama pastor and his wife called on residents who witnessed the fatal shooting of their daughter in a public Birmingham park on Easter Sunday to come forward and help the police catch her killer. Areyelle Yarbrough, the 32-year-old daughter of the Rev. Michael Yarbrough of Shady Grove Missionary Baptist Church and his wife, Sonya, was shot in the head at Patton Park at about 7 p.m. on Easter. Five other victims, ages 21, 17, 16, 15, and 4, were also wounded. The 16-year-old boy was shot in the right hip while another female was shot in the chest. "I would like for them to give the information if they have it. But I know if they do have information, most of them are fearful to tell because of retaliation," said Sonya Yarbrough in an interview with ABC 3340 News. "In their mind, their [conscience] will whoop them more so than anything that I could do for them, so I pray for them and ask the Lord to guide them." One eyewitness told authorities that some 1,000 people were at the park when the shooting happened, with many grilling and eating with their families. Areyelle Yarbrough and another woman were sitting on top of a blue Dodge Charger when someone opened fire, striking the women and the vehicle. Birmingham Police Sgt. Rod Mauldin told AL.com that the shooting erupted from a fight between a group of males and the victims were innocent bystanders. No one has come forward with information leading to the killer's arrest, despite appeals from public officials and the offering of a reward by radio personality and comedian Rickey Smiley. "I just pray that they find that person or the people that are doing these killings because it's senseless. The guns need to be put away because it doesn't change anything, the grieving mother continued in her interview with ABC 3340. "I miss my child, I miss my friend, I miss my daughter, but none of that will bring her back." Sonya Yarbrough and her husband have set up a quiet memorial for their daughter in their home and both are struggling to process that she's no longer with them. "I just feel like I'm in a daze or a trance," Sonya Yarbrough said. "I know she's passed, but it doesn't seem real; I'm expecting a call. I picked up the phone to call her one day last week, so it's not real to me yet." Michael Yarbrough said his daughters death is still surreal to him. "I'm still disembodied, surreal, numb, in disbelief. Reality is slowly seeping in cause we've had no contact with her," he told the news outlet. The couple recalled how just before their daughter went to the park, she shared an Easter meal with them. While they're hoping to get some earthly justice for their daughters death, they still believe that ultimate justice will come from God. "Whether they catch him or not, it will not bring my daughter back. So there's no justice there still for me," the pastor added. "Just hope that this death can change some lives and minds and hearts to know that you can't bring somebody back, you can't go to Walmart and buy their life back," his wife added. PHILADELPHIA-- A new study from researchers at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania found significant disparities in the use of sodium-glucose cotransporter 2 (SGLT2) inhibitors, a class of drugs proven to treat type 2 diabetes, with usage remaining low with Black, Asian, and lower-income groups despite an increase in overall usage for patients with type 2 diabetes. The study is published in JAMA Network Open. "Study after study, including large randomized trials, have demonstrated a cardio-protective and kidney-protective effect of this class of medications" said the study's lead author, Lauren Eberly, MD, MPH, a cardiology fellow at the University of Pennsylvania. "We know there are already higher rates of heart failure and kidney disease among Black patients. What is concerning is that this is a therapy we know prevents death from those conditions and prevents progression from those conditions, and yet, we found that Black patients are less likely to get this therapy, as well as female patients and those with lower socioeconomic status." SGLT2 inhibitors are a group of medications that work to lower the glucose levels in the blood by blocking the protein that reabsorbs sugar back into the body from urine. They lower the risk of hospitalization for heart failure, decrease risk of death from cardiovascular causes, slow progression of kidney disease, reduce complications among patients with chronic kidney disease, and are now recommended for all diabetic patients who are at high risk for these diseases. In this study, researchers examined data from October 2015 to June 2019 from more than 900,000 diverse, commercially insured patients with type 2 diabetes and found that the cumulative percentage of patients treated with SGLT2 inhibitors increased from 3.8 percent to 11.9 percent. However, the analyses showed that Black, Asian, and female patients had lower rates of SGLT2 inhibitor use, as well as patients whose median household income was less than $50,000. The study also found that usage rates remained low for patients with heart failure, cardiovascular disease, and chronic kidney disease. "These results are consistent with prior studies that have shown decreased use of novel therapies among Black patients. Implementation strategies that prioritize not only delivery of guideline-directed care but also equitable guideline-directed care are critical in ensuring all patients have access to evidence-based therapies" said the study's senior author, Srinath Adusumalli, MD, MSHP an Assistant Professor of Clinical Medicine in the Division of Cardiovascular Medicine. The study found that having a visit with an endocrinologist in the last 12 months was one of the strongest factors associated with SGLT2 inhibitor use, acknowledging that the demonstrated clinical benefit may not be common knowledge yet for many non-specialist providers treating patients with diabetes. Additionally, marginalized patient groups likely have barriers to accessing specialty care. Eberly and her fellow researchers encourage the development of strategies to increase the comfort of all providers, especially primary care and cardiology providers, with prescribing this class of drugs. "If left unaddressed, these inequities in utilization will continue to widen well-documented disparities in cardiovascular and kidney outcomes in the U.S." Eberly said. ### Penn Medicine is one of the world's leading academic medical centers, dedicated to the related missions of medical education, biomedical research, and excellence in patient care. Penn Medicine consists of the Raymond and Ruth Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania (founded in 1765 as the nation's first medical school) and the University of Pennsylvania Health System, which together form a $8.9 billion enterprise. The Perelman School of Medicine has been ranked among the top medical schools in the United States for more than 20 years, according to U.S. News & World Report's survey of research-oriented medical schools. The School is consistently among the nation's top recipients of funding from the National Institutes of Health, with $496 million awarded in the 2020 fiscal year. The University of Pennsylvania Health System's patient care facilities include: the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania and Penn Presbyterian Medical Center--which are recognized as one of the nation's top "Honor Roll" hospitals by U.S. News & World Report--Chester County Hospital; Lancaster General Health; Penn Medicine Princeton Health; and Pennsylvania Hospital, the nation's first hospital, founded in 1751. Additional facilities and enterprises include Good Shepherd Penn Partners, Penn Medicine at Home, Lancaster Behavioral Health Hospital, and Princeton House Behavioral Health, among others. Penn Medicine is powered by a talented and dedicated workforce of more than 44,000 people. The organization also has alliances with top community health systems across both Southeastern Pennsylvania and Southern New Jersey, creating more options for patients no matter where they live. Penn Medicine is committed to improving lives and health through a variety of community-based programs and activities. In fiscal year 2020, Penn Medicine provided more than $563 million to benefit our community. Legislators in Texas are discussing the proposed Senate Bill 1646, a yet untitled bill that is "relating to the protection of children, including the definition of child abuse and the prosecution of the criminal offense of abandoning or endangering a child." The proposed bill aims to criminalize parents who consent to their children to undergo sex change. According to Faithwire, Texas' new bill was introduced by Republican Senator Charles Perry of Lubbock. If passed into law, S.B. 1646 will prohibit parents from "administering or supplying, or consenting to or assisting in the administering or supplying of puberty suppression prescription drug or cross-sex hormone to a child, other than an intersex child, for the purpose of gender transitioning or gender reassignment." The proposed S.B. 1646 also prohibits "performing or consenting to the performance of surgery or another medical procedure on a child, other than an intersex child, for the purpose of gender transitioning or gender reassignment." Those who violate S.B. 1646 once it is passed into law will face charges in violation of Texas' Family Code and will be subjected to an investigation by child protective services, during which the child could be taken into their custody, away from his or her parents. In addition, doctors and medical practitioners who perform gender-reassignment treatments to the child will also be charged with child abuse and will be subjected to an investigation by the Texas Medical Board. According to WLTX News 19, Texas' new bill that will criminally charge parents who allow kids to undergo sex change will have an exception for children who are born intersex to be given medical treatment. At Monday's Senate Committee on State Affairs hearing, several testified for the proposed S.B. 1646, including Texas GOP Republican Executive Committee Member Jill Glover, who believes that sex change is merely a "fad that is amplified by social media." "Children are unable to give informed consent," Glover argued. "This bill gives children a chance to get to adulthood with intact bodies." Jeff Younger, a distraught father whose young son named James was in the midst of a custody battle after his mother claimed that he identified as a girl, also testified. Younger accused the current Texas legal system of "facilitating" gender transitions for minors. "Without my consent, my ex-wife just transitioned my son to a girl," Younger said during the recent hearing. "It's very easy under these current protocols for children to fall into this." Texas' new bill will hopefully erase the possibilities of this happening again to another family. If passed, the bill will take effect on September 1 this year. S.B. 1646 is just one of four LGBT-related bills that are being considered at Texas State Capitol this week. Also discussed were Senate Bill 1311, which targets professional liability insurance coverage for doctors who provide gender transitioning or gender reassignment medical procedures and treatments to children. Meanwhile, the House Public Health Committee discussed on Wednesday the House Bill 1399 that aims to change the liability insurance of medical professionals who provide transition-related care and House Bill 1424 that gives medical professionals the right to refrain from providing medical procedures that do not align with their "ethical, oral, or religious beliefs." Maros Sefcovic and Lord Frost - STEPHANIE LECOCQ/POOL/Aaron Chown/PA Wire This was first published in The Telegraph's Beyond Brexit Bulletin. For an essential guide to the decisions facing Britain, post Brexit, sign up to our subscriber-exclusive newsletter here straight to your inbox every Tuesday and Thursday. Lord Frost is back in Brussels for the first time since he struck the Brexit trade deal at the end of last year. The former chief negotiator and now Cabinet Minister is in town for talks with his opposite number, European Commission Vice President Maros Sefcovic. The main course for the dinner discussions at the commission headquarters is the Northern Ireland Protocol. Brussels has begun legal action against the UK for its unilateral extension of grace periods on customs checks for parcels and food entering Northern Ireland from Britain. The commission says this is a violation of an international treaty, while the UK says it is not only lawful but a move made in good faith. Differences between the EU and UK over the implementation of the Protocol are too deep to be solved over a three-course dinner in the Berlaymont building. Instead the two men will take stock of technical work between officials over the past couple of weeks. There are also hopes that the meeting will provide a political steer for future talks. Both sides have stressed that significant differences remain between the two camps but there are some positive signs. The commission agreed to a British request for a month-long extension of a deadline to respond to the letter from Brussels triggering the EU lawsuit. EU officials accepted British arguments that more time was needed to properly answer all the charges laid at the UK door. Sources in Brussels have suggested that there has been agreement on some of the issues to do with the Protocol. Officials have identified 27 different issues on the new customs arrangements, which draw a border in the Irish Sea to prevent one on the island of Ireland. They may not have solved the issues but they are at least doing the same homework. Story continues Both the UK and EU have promised Northern Ireland the best of both worlds. Whether that goes so far as to ensure that Northern Irish supermarkets can still stock British bangers is up for debate. Arlene Foster op ed A more pragmatic, rather than rigidly theological interpretation, of the EU rules in Northern Ireland is needed, despite the British provocation of the unilateral action. The small risk posed to the integrity of the EUs huge single market by the relatively tiny figures of GB-NI trade should be taken into consideration. Unfortunately, there has been little sign of such pragmatism from Brussels recently. The commission this week advised EU member states to oppose the UK joining the Lugano Convention, which would speed up cross-border commercial disputes. This is clearly in the interest of EU companies as well as UK ones but officials said their decision reflected a Brexit that opted for a distant relationship with the EU. Brexit is perhaps still too recent and the wounds of the vaccine wars are still too raw for a common sense solution to the Northern Ireland dispute in the near future. France Asks Citizens to Leave Pakistan Amid Violent Protests LAHORE, PakistanThe French embassy in Pakistan on Thursday advised all of its nationals and companies to temporarily leave the country after anti-France violence erupted in the Islamic nation over the arrest of a radical leader. Saad Rizvi was arrested Monday for threatening the government with mass protests if it did not expel French envoy Marc Barety over the publication depictions of Islams Prophet Muhammad. French Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Agnes Von Der Muhll said about 400 to 500 French nationals live in Pakistan and they will be able to leave via commercial flights. There was no immediate comment by Pakistans foreign ministry. But, interior minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmad said French citizens living in Pakistan were safe and security had been provided to them. At a news conference Wednesday, he the operation against Rizvi supporters was launched when they refused to end their sit-in peacefully. He said a government order was being formally issued to outlaw Rizvis party so that it never creates such a situation in the future. A car drives past the French Embassy, in Islamabad, Pakistan, on April 15, 2021. (Anjum Naveed/AP Photo) The latest development comes a day after the government announced to ban the Tehreek-e-Labiak Pakistan party, which is headed by Rizvi. The arrest sparked violent protests by Rizvis followers, who disrupted traffic by staging sit-ins on highways and later blocked roads in major cities, including the southern port city of Karachi and the garrison city of Rawalpindi. They also staged a sit-in in the capital, Islamabad, and blocked a key road from Monday to Wednesday when police launched a nationwide crackdown, triggering clashes that killed two policemen and wounded 580 others. Three demonstrators also died in the clashes with police. Thousands of Rizvis followers were still rallying in Lahore, the capital of eastern Punjab province where they have a strong presence. According to Ahmed, the countrys interior minister, the Cabinet had approved his proposal for outlawing Rizvis party. He said Rizvis demand could not be accepted as the expulsion of the French ambassador and ban on French products could harm the countrys national interest. He said the supporters of Rizvi who were still rallying will be sternly dealt with by security forces. Rizvi emerged as the leader of the Tehreek-e-Labiak Pakistan party in November after the sudden death of his father, Khadim Hussein Rizvi. His party wants the government to boycott French products and expel the French ambassador before April 20 under an agreement signed by it. Rizvis Tehreek-e-Labiak and other Islamist parties have denounced French President Emmanuel Macron since October last year, saying he tried to defend caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad as freedom of expression. Macrons comments came after a young Muslim beheaded a French school teacher who had shown caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad in class. The images had been republished by the satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo to mark the opening of the trial over the deadly 2015 attack against the publication for the original caricatures. That enraged many Muslims in Pakistan and elsewhere who believe those depictions were blasphemous. By Babar Dogar Georgia will coordinate the pullout of its forces from Afghanistan in line with its allies in NATO, Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili said. "According to the schedule agreed with NATO, Georgian troops will also leave Afghanistan. We are holding intensive consultations with our strategic partner - the United States. The Georgian contingent will leave Afghanistan in coordination with them," Garibashvili wrote on Facebook. He stressed that his country was proud to have contributed to the fight against terrorism in Afghanistan, and expressed hope that the Islamist threat would not rise again in the country. On Tuesday, the United States announced its decision to complete the withdrawal of American troops from the country before the 20th anniversary of the September 11 terror attacks. The beginning of the pullout is scheduled for May 1, U.S. President Joe Biden stated earlier in the day. Reuters | Kuwait The Daily Tribune www.newsofbahrain.com Kuwaits ministerial court ordered the pre-trial detention of former prime minister Sheikh Jaber Al Mubarak Al Sabah in a case over the alleged mishandling of military funds, three Kuwaiti newspapers said on Tuesday. Al Rai and Al Jarida newspapers said Sheikh Jaber and former defence and interior minister Sheikh Khalid Al Jarrah Al Sabah rejected the charges directed against them. The court denied a request to release Sheikh Khalid, according to Al Jarida and Al Qabas newspapers. The newspapers said the court also ordered a ban on publishing information about the case based on a request from the defence team. It set the next hearing for April 27. A government spokesman was not available for comment on the court order. Mumbai, April 15 : A prominent Maharashtra legal luminary on Thursday petitioned the Centre to declare the Remdesivir medicine - currently in huge demand owing to the Covid-19 pandemic - as a 'life-saving' medicine with controlled pricing to prevent blackmarketing and corruption. Remdesivir is manufactured by a handful of companies under brand names like Cipremi (Cipla), Covifar (Hetero), Desrem (Mylon), Remdac (Zydus), Redyx (Dr. Reddy's). In a plea to the Central Government which controls the National Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority (NPPA), a statutory authority under the Drugs Price Control Order (DPCO), Mumbai Barrister Vinod Tiwari has demanded a high-level investigation into the artificial scarcity, hoarding, blackmarketing and misuse of the drug which could run into a racket of over Rs 25,000-crore under the nose of the NPPA, in the past ten months since the drug was launched after the pandemic was declared. Despite efforts by certain states like Maharashtra to bring Remdesivir under the ambit of DPCO, he accused the NPPA of ignoring the grave situation which led to massive irregularities and corruption, besides desperation among Covid-19 patients across India. Tiwari pointed out that under the DPCO, 1995, amended in 2013, issued under the Essential Commodities Act, the Centre is empowered to include any item of medical importance, like Remdesivir currently, within the DPCO list to control its manufacture, stocking, distribution, sale, etc. and make it easily available at a reasonable price to the patients. "It was the duty of the NPPA under DPCO to follow its statutory functions and responsibilities by taking immediate steps to bring Remdesivir under the DPCO regime soon after the biggest pandemic afflicting mankind was witnessed last year. Why did it wait for so long? Who's responsible and what were the ulterior motives behind the delays?" Tiwari told IANS. Citing various documents and RTI replies, Tiwari said the NPPA took no initiative to bring Remdesivir under the DPCO regime and in the process crores of patients and people were looted of more than Rs 25,000 crore. "The country is witnessing a tsunami-like second wave of Covid-19 but the NPPA has failed to rein in the prices of Remdesivir and the needy patients are left at the sheer mercy of the pharma companies and the medical mafia since over 13 months now," rued Tiwari. Addressed to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the petition copies have been sent to Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray, Union Ministers D. V. Sadananda Gowda, Harsh Vardhan and Mansukh Mandaviya, besides the NPPA and the Central Chief Vigilance Commissioner for an immediate hearing and reply. Justifying his contentions, he pointed out that Cipremi is sold for Rs 4000 though it is given to the distributor for barely Rs 1,080+GST, Covifar is sold at Rs 5,400 by the stockist who gets it for Rs 935+GST. Ditto is the case with Desrem bought for Rs 935+GST but sold at Rs 4,800, Redyx bought for Rs 900+GST but sold to the patient at Rs 5,400, he pointed out. "Each patient needs 6 doses (injections) of Remdesivir. In the past ten months or so, the country has witnessed crores of cases. It must be probed how many injections were actually sold and how much the pharma companies, the medical mafia and the officialdom earned 'blood money' from it," Tiwari said. He said it was "short-sightedness" on the part of the Centre and the powerful NPPA that when the pharma companies were given the advantage of compulsory export obligations, they could have easily offset the costs domestically and Remdesivir could have been provided either free of cost or at a nominal price to Indian patients, but this was deliberately not done. "The Maharashtra government had raised this matter officially with the Centre in Feb-March 2021. However, despite the gravity and urgency of the situation, the state's plea was not heeded and the open market dacoity in the name of Remdesivir continues daily," Tiwari said. He has prayed that the Centre through NPPA take top priority steps to include Remdesivir in the DPCO list by the weekend. The Centre should order the Central CVC, the CBI or ED to conduct a nationwide probe to expose the unholy nexus between the pharma companies, medical mafias and the government officials who must be prosecuted, punished and dismissed as per the provisions of the NDMA and EDA. (Quaid Najmi can be contacted at q.najmi@ians.in) [April 15, 2021] Dodge Data & Analytics Announces Merger with The Blue Book Building & Construction Network Dodge Data & Analytics ("Dodge") and The Blue Book Building & Construction Network ("The Blue Book") today announced that they are combining their businesses in a merger. Dodge's owner, Symphony Technology Group (STG) - a leading private equity firm focused exclusively on business-to-business data, software and analytics companies - facilitated the transaction. This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210415005559/en/ Dodge Data & Analytics and The Blue Book Building & Construction Network merge (Graphic: Business Wire) Dodge and The Blue Book have each successfully served the construction industry for more than 100 years, and their combined expertise and capabilities will give current and prospective customers access to the industry's leading platform for data insight, market intelligence, firm discovery and networking. The combination will result in the Dodge | Blue Book Construction Industry Database, containing more than 10 billion data elements and comprising the most complete, up-to-date and accurate information about projects, people, firms and products in the industry. "The Blue Book is one of the most respected brands in the construction industry, providing an indispensable resource for construction professionals to find one another to facilitate the connections necessary to deliver commercial construction projects," said William Chisholm, Managing Partner at STG. "Combining The Blue Book with our existing portfolio company Dodge, the market leader in construction project information, allows us to create an indispensable resource for every firm on a local, regional or national level seeking information, connections and unique insights to create new relationships and to grow their business." Dodge CEO Daniel McCarthy will lead the combined company and The Blue Book President and Generl Manager Brian Tonry will continue in his current role. Former Blue Book CEO Richard Johnson will be integral in the combination of the two companies and will serve as a member of the combined company's Board of Directors. "The construction industry is undergoing a major digital transformation across the entire business lifecycle, and uniting Dodge and The Blue Book will provide construction business leaders the data and digital connections that help fuel their growth," said McCarthy. "We're confident that our combined offering will be unmatched and will help our customers improve their planning, win more new business and cultivate stronger relationships with the decision-makers that are involved in specifying products and awarding contracts for billions of dollars of construction projects every year." The Dodge and The Blue Book combination will offer a unified approach for new business generation, business planning, research and marketing services users can leverage to find the best partners to complete projects, and to engage with customers and prospects to promote projects, products and services. The combined entity, powered by more than 1,200 team members, will annually serve: 10+ billion data elements, unique for their timeliness and accuracy data elements, unique for their timeliness and accuracy 14+ million project and document searches project and document searches 60+ million annual messages centered around bidding opportunities annual messages centered around bidding opportunities 1.2 million+ commercial construction professionals a month seeking growth opportunities commercial construction professionals a month seeking growth opportunities 40,000+ customers "The Blue Book and Dodge have enjoyed a decades-long partnership of working together, so officially merging our businesses is a natural evolution, not only for the two companies, but for the construction industry overall," said Johnson. "Bringing together these two market leaders will allow us to innovate faster, develop even more advanced solutions and scale our operations to keep up with the changing demands of our customers and the industry." Following the merger, the company headquarters will remain at the Dodge campus in Hamilton, New Jersey, and The Blue Book headquarters in Jefferson Valley, New York, will become a primary office for the company. Owl Rock served as administrative agent and sole lead arranger for the debt financing. Paul Hastings (News - Alert) and Shearman & Sterling acted as legal advisors to STG. About Dodge Data & Analytics Dodge Data & Analytics, founded in 1891, is North America's leading provider of analytics and software-based workflow integration solutions for the construction industry. Building product manufacturers, architects, engineers, contractors, and service providers leverage Dodge to identify and pursue unseen growth opportunities. Whether on a local, regional or national level, Dodge empowers its clients to better understand their markets, uncover key relationships, seize growth opportunities and successfully pursue sales opportunities. The company's construction project information is the most comprehensive and verified in the industry. Dodge is leveraging its more than 125-year legacy of continuous innovation to help the industry meet the building challenges of the future. To learn more, visit www.construction.com. About The Blue Book Building & Construction Network: The Blue Book Building & Construction Network, founded in 1913, is an employee-owned company and the largest, most active network in the U.S. commercial construction industry. Today, The Blue Book Network defines and delivers the industry through three unparalleled databases of: companies, projects and people. By integrating and understanding the relationships shared by these groups, The Blue Book Network provides an indispensable resource to connect with the industry every day. To learn more, visit www.thebluebook.com. About STG Symphony Technology Group (STG) is the private equity partner to market leading companies in data, software, and analytics. The firm brings expertise, flexibility, and resources to build strategic value and unlock the potential of innovative companies. Partnering to build customer-centric, market winning portfolio companies, STG creates sustainable foundations for growth that bring value to all existing and future stakeholders. The firm is dedicated to transforming and building outstanding technology companies in partnership with world class management teams. STG's expansive portfolio has consisted of more than 35 global companies. For more information, please visit www.stgpartners.com. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210415005559/en/ [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] Three top federal health officials appeared on Capitol Hill on Thursday and implored Americans to get vaccinated against the coronavirus, but said little about the investigation into whether the Johnson & Johnson vaccine may be linked to a small number of cases of rare blood clots, or when that vaccine might be put back into use. Hopefully well get a decision quite soon, as to whether or not we can get back on track with this very effective vaccine, Dr. Anthony S. Fauci, President Bidens top medical adviser for the coronavirus, told a House panel. Dr. Faucis comments came as the future of the Johnson & Johnson one-shot vaccine hung in the balance. Earlier this week, the Food and Drug Administration and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention called for a pause in the use of the vaccine in the wake of reports of a small number of rare blood clots in recipients. Though it is unclear whether the vaccine was responsible for the clots, injections came to a sudden halt across the country. On Wednesday, a C.D.C. advisory panel suggested that it would be a week to 10 days before they had enough information to assess the vaccines risks and could make a decision about its future. TICKERS: ARU; AUIAF Source: Streetwise Reports (4/15/21) Noble Capital Markets noted in a research update that "Aurania Resources' exploration program has yielded a plethora of drilling targets for a variety of metals and the potential to make multiple discoveries in its large concession package." In an April 12 research note, Noble Capital Markets Inc. senior research analyst Mark Reichman stated that junior mining exploration company Aurania Resources Ltd. (ARU:TSX.V; AUIAF:OTCQB) is fully funded for the remainder of 2021 after recently completing two separate financings. The analyst advised that Aurania Resources raised gross proceeds of CA$7,771,700 from a brokered equity issuance of 2,507,000 common shares along with additional gross proceeds of CA$1,250,000 from a private placement. Noble Capital Markets estimated that following the close of these transactions Aurania had a total of 46,843,388 shares outstanding. The report noted that Aurania Resources is focused primarily on identifying, evaluating acquiring and exploring precious metals and copper property interests. The firm's flagship asset is The Lost Cities - Cutucu Project in Ecuador, which is composed of 42 mineral exploration concessions covering around 2,080 square kilometers. The analyst noted that diamond drilling work is currently being conducted at the Kuri-Yawi target with the objective of testing an epithermal target and a deeper porphyry target down to depths of as much as 1,000 meters. "Porphyry deposits, while low in grade, are the largest source of copper ore and can be important sources of gold," the analyst added. So far, the company has drilled three targets and is presently working on the Tsenken N1 copper-silver target and the Kuri-Yawi epithermal gold-silver and copper porphyry target. The company's next plans are to carryout drill work at the Tsenken West copper-silver and Tiria-Shimpia silver-zinc targets. "We think the company could deploy an additional drill to accelerate progress," the analyst wrote. Reichman commented, "Aurania's exploration program has yielded a plethora of drilling targets for a variety of metals and the potential to make multiple discoveries in its large concession package." "In our view, the company has reached a stage where the outcomes of its efforts may start to become more readily apparent to the market," Reichman added. Noble Capital Markets currently has an "Outperform" rating for Aurania Resources with a target price of US$3.50/share. The company's shares trade under the ticker symbol AUIAF on the US-OTCB market and is trading at around US$2.07/share. [NLINSERT] Disclosure: 1) Stephen Hytha compiled this article for Streetwise Reports LLC and provides services to Streetwise Reports as an independent contractor. He or members of his household own securities of the following companies mentioned in the article: None. He or members of his household are paid by the following companies mentioned in this article: None. 2) The following companies mentioned in this article are billboard sponsors of Streetwise Reports: Aurania Resources. Click here for important disclosures about sponsor fees. 3) Comments and opinions expressed are those of the specific experts and not of Streetwise Reports or its officers. The information provided above is for informational purposes only and is not a recommendation to buy or sell any security. 4) The article does not constitute investment advice. Each reader is encouraged to consult with his or her individual financial professional and any action a reader takes as a result of information presented here is his or her own responsibility. By opening this page, each reader accepts and agrees to Streetwise Reports' terms of use and full legal disclaimer. This article is not a solicitation for investment. Streetwise Reports does not render general or specific investment advice and the information on Streetwise Reports should not be considered a recommendation to buy or sell any security. Streetwise Reports does not endorse or recommend the business, products, services or securities of any company mentioned on Streetwise Reports. 5) From time to time, Streetwise Reports LLC and its directors, officers, employees or members of their families, as well as persons interviewed for articles and interviews on the site, may have a long or short position in securities mentioned. Directors, officers, employees or members of their immediate families are prohibited from making purchases and/or sales of those securities in the open market or otherwise from the time of the decision to publish an article until three business days after the publication of the article. The foregoing prohibition does not apply to articles that in substance only restate previously published company releases. Disclosures for Noble Capital Markets, Aurania Resources, April 12, 2021 Company Specific Disclosures The following disclosures relate to relationships between Noble and the company (the "Company") covered by the Noble Research Division and referred to in this research report. The Company in this report is a participant in the Company Sponsored Research Program ("CSRP"); Noble receives compensation from the Company for such participation. No part of the CSRP compensation was, is, or will be directly or indirectly related to any specific recommendations or views expressed by the analyst in this research report. Noble has arranged non-deal roadshow(s) with investors in the last 12 months. The Company has attended Noble investor conference(s) in the last 12 months. Noble intends to seek compensation for investment banking services and non-investment banking services (securities and non-securities related) within the next 3 months. Noble is not a market maker in the Company. ANALYST CREDENTIALS, PROFESSIONAL DESIGNATIONS, AND EXPERIENCE Senior Equity Analyst focusing on Basic Materials & Mining. 20 years of experience in equity research. BA in Business Administration from Westminster College. MBA with a Finance concentration from the University of Missouri. MA in International Affairs from Washington University in St. Louis. Named WSJ 'Best on the Street' Analyst and Forbes/StarMine's "Best Brokerage Analyst." FINRA licenses 7, 24, 63, 87. Burma Myanmar Junta Forces Shoot Man Dead in Mandalay Mosque Compound Ko Ko Htet, 20, suffered a fatal gunshot to the chest at the hands of junta forces on Apr. 15. A man was shot dead and four others were wounded in a mosque compound when regime troops raided a Muslim neighborhood in Mandalay on Thursday morning. Ko Ko Htet, 20, was struck in the chest when five soldiers randomly opened fire in the compound of Sule Mosque in Maha Aung Myay Township. His disabled brother-in-law Ko Min Min Latt was shot in the hand. The shooting comes during both Myanmars Thingyan traditional New Year holiday and the Muslim holy month of Ramadan. He was just outside and was hit and died on the spot, a witness said. The raid occurred at around 10 a.m., following a crackdown on an anti-regime protest nearby. At least 26 people were arrested when junta forces cracked down on an anti-regime protest led by members of the medical community in Mandalay early on Thursday morning. Myanmar regime forces arrested six protesters as they were planning to stage a protest at the corner of Mandalays 76th Street and 34th Street. The other at least 20 people who were arrested were residents of a ward nearby housing the compound of Sule Mosque, according to a Mandalay resident who is close to the protest movement. We have been able to confirm that six members from the medical family protest column were arrested and more than 20 civilians in the neighborhood were also arrested They [junta forces] opened fire and destroyed motorbikes and vehicles, said the Mandalay resident. On Apr. 6, two pediatricians, Dr. Kyaw Htin Win and Dr. Lin Su Nay Win, were arrested as regime forces hunted down a dawn protest column of healthcare workers in Mandalay. Despite daily arrests and deadly crackdowns since February, Mandalay residents continue to take to the streets from dawn to dusk every day in defiance of the junta. You may also like these stories: Myanmar Military Launches Airstrikes Against Ethnic Armed Group in Kachin State Thai Govt Considers Partial Lockdown in Bangkok, Surrounds Myanmar Students to Hold Fundraiser for CDM in Bangkok (@FahadShabbir) China on Thursday called on the US to withdraw its troops in a responsible and orderly manner to ensure smooth transition in Afghanistan and to prevent further violence following US President Biden's announcement of American troops withdrawal before September 11 BEIJING, (APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 15th Apr, 2021 ) ::China on Thursday called on the US to withdraw its troops in a responsible and orderly manner to ensure smooth transition in Afghanistan and to prevent further violence following US President Biden's announcement of American troops withdrawal before September 11. The current security situation in Afghanistan is still complex and grim and the problem of terrorism is far from being solved,Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Zhao Lijian said during his briefing held here at International Press Center (IPC). He remarked that China's position over Afghanistan issue is consistent and clear, adding, Foreign troops stationed in Afghanistan should withdraw in a responsible and orderly manner to ensure a smooth transition in Afghanistan and to avoid terrorist forces from taking advantage of chaos,he added. Terming the US as the biggest external factor affecting the issue of Afghanistan, he said, The relevant decisions and actions of the US should fully respect the sovereignty, independence of and the territorial integrity of Afghanistan. He said, It must take full responsibility for preserving the outcomes of Afghanistan peaceful construction and reconstruction and accommodate legitimate security concerns of the countries in the region. On President Biden statement that he wants to withdraw troops from Afghanistan to focus on the threats posed by China, he said, the US side links its withdrawal from Afghanistan to China challenge which is detrimental to mutual trust between the two countries and it is not conducive to cooperation and coordination between the two countries on international and regional issues. We have to emphasise that the political solution to Afghanistan and early realisation of peace and stability in the country and fight against terrorism are in the common interest of all parties concerned including China and the US and are also common aspiration of the international community,he added. Zhao Lijian said, the Chinese side will continue to make communication and cooperation with relevant parties in this regard and play constructive role in realising long term stability in Afghanistan. Responding to a question on China taking part in Afghan peace conference to be held in Istanbul from April 24 to May 4, he said, China has indeed received the invitation to solve the Afghan issue. He said the Afghan peace conference will require international community's help and support and added, China supports any efforts to promote the process of peaceful reconciliation and we are working with the relevant parties and keeping communication with relevant parties on this meeting. On April 14 US President Joe Biden had announced that the US will withdraw American troops from Afghanistan before the 20th anniversary of September, 11. There are several places in the gospel of Matthew, as well as in the rest of the New Testament, where Jesus is said to have authority. For Matthew, this seems to be an important point that he is trying to convey to his readers. This article will try to define just what that authority is and what its implication is for believers today. Authority Defined The word translated into English as authority is the Greek word exousia. Exousia means authority, power, or right. We might say that a person who has authority has the ability to give direction to other people. Generally, that authority is limited to specific areas, but sometimes it is more comprehensive. When my children were very young, I had the authority to control much of their lives. That authority lessened as they grew and is now essentially gone. At the end of my working life, I managed a project, and with that I had the authority to give direction to a group of people. My authority here was limited. I could tell them what to work on and how I wanted it done. But I had no ability to give any other direction to them. I also have been under authority. At work, I was always under the authority of my boss. Their authority was limited to workplace issues, but within that arena I was responsible to them. While I was in the Navy I was under a more comprehensive authority. It was not absolute, but it reached into most areas of my life. And I remain under the authority of the civil authorities of my country. I am responsible to follow the duly established law, and if I fail in that responsibility, I suffer the consequences. A Biblical Example of Authority In Matthew 8:5-13 we find a good example of authority. In this account, a Roman centurion came to Jesus, asking for the healing of a servant. When Jesus asked about going to the centurions home to heal the servant, the centurion responded with a statement on authority. He was a man who was himself under authority and had others under his own authority. When he gave orders to those under him, they were carried out. And, implicit in his comments, when he received orders from those over him, he carried them out. The centurion knew that with authority comes the right to command, and the power to see that the commands are carried out. But the centurion did not say this just to brag about his own authority. Rather it was an acknowledgement that he recognized the authority of Jesus. He knew that Jesus had both the right and the power to give healing to his servant. And that he could exercise that power wherever he was. Photo credit: Unsplash/Juan Pablo Rodriguez Authority as a Teacher Chapters 5-7 of the gospel of Matthew contain what we commonly call the Sermon on the Mount. And at the end of this extended section of Jesus teachings, Matthew says that the crowds were amazed at his teaching, because he taught as one who had authority, and not as their teachers of the law (Matt. 7:28-29). Most teachers in Jesus day would generally reference other teachers from the past. Someone said this, or someone else said that. Seldom would you hear one express their own interpretation of the Scripture. But Jesus did not do that. Much of his teaching, especially early on, was in the form of you have heard that it was said, but I say unto you. . . And that was what the crowds found so amazing. His teaching was not based on the authority of some other noted teacher. Rather he taught as one who was an authority on the Scripture. And indeed, as the author of the Scripture, he would be the ultimate authority on interpreting the intent of the Scripture. Authority to Forgive Sins In Matthew 9:1-8 we find the story of a paralyzed man brought to Jesus by his friends. Jesus told him that his sins were forgiven. And when challenged by the religious elite of his day, who equated sin and sickness, he healed the man to demonstrate to them his authority to also forgive sins. The crowds are amazed that God has given this kind of authority to a man. The authority to forgive sins was rightly observed to belong only to God. But God had given that authority to Jesus. Authority to Heal the Sick and Cast out Demons In Matthew 10:1 Jesus commissioned his disciples and sent them out to the surrounding towns. And as a part of that commissioning, he gave them authority to drive out impure spirits and to heal every disease and sickness. In order to be able to give that authority to his disciples, Jesus must also have had that authority. And he demonstrated that repeatedly in all the gospel accounts. Wherever Jesus went, he healed the sick and cast out evil spirits. This was what the centurion, mentioned above, had come to believe. That Jesus had this authority over sickness and evil spirits. Authority Over the Creation In Matthew 8:23-27 we find Jesus and his disciples in a boat, crossing the Sea of Galilee. During the crossing, a severe storm blew in and the boat was in danger of sinking. The disciples, in fear, woke up the sleeping Jesus. And he responded by rebuking the wind and waves. In response, they become still. The wind quit blowing and the sea became calm, and his disciples were amazed that the wind and waves had obeyed his orders. While the word authority is not used in this account, it is very obviously implied. Jesus issued a command to the wind and waves, and it was obeyed instantly. You might also see this authority over the creation in his ability to walk on water and in using just a few fish and loaves to feed a multitude of people. Photo credit: Pexels/Johannes Plenio His Teaching About Authority Jesus demonstrated his authority in many ways: over the Scripture; in forgiving sin; in healing and casting out demons; and over the creation. We might be led to believe that the exercise of authority is all about the use of power. But, in the kingdom Jesus is establishing, there is a twist. The power to rule within the kingdom is not what we would expect. In Matthew 20:20-28 we find James and John, along with their mother, coming to Jesus and asking for the places of honor and authority when he comes into his kingdom. This did not go over well with the other disciples, and so Jesus had a talk with them about authority in the kingdom. In this world, those who are thought to be great exercise authority over other people. The more authority you have over others, the greater you are thought to be. But it is not to be so in the kingdom. Rather, it is those who serve who are greatest. And Jesus, the one who had all authority, demonstrated this by washing the disciples feet, and by dying on the cross on behalf of a lost and dying world. The Source of Authority During Jesus final week before his crucifixion, he spent every day in Jerusalem, frequently in the temple courts. And on one of these occasions, he was challenged by the Jewish religious leaders about his authority to do what he was doing (Matt. 21:23-27). They considered themselves to have authority over the temple complex and all that took place within it. And it was clear to them that Jesus was acting under an authority other than theirs. Jesus declined to answer their request for the source of his authority, likely knowing that it would only result in even more controversy. But clearly Jesus knew that he drew his authority from the Father above (John 14:9-10). All Authority At the end of Matthew, Jesus appeared to his disciples and gave them what we today call the Great Commission. And he preceded this commission with the statement that All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me (Matt. 28:18). And that authority included the ability, and right, to commission his followers to continue the work that he started. Based on the authority of Jesus, the church has the authority to go out into the world, making and teaching disciples. Our authority to act in this world is a delegated authority, given to us by the one who has all authority. Authority Delegated to His Followers The commission Jesus gave to his disciples in Matthew 28:19-20 was not to them alone. This commission was given to his church as a whole. That commission also grants us the authority to carry it out. We have the authority to take the gospel out into the world around us. And we have the authority to make disciples, leading the lost to know their creator and redeemer. And we have the authority to help disciples grow in maturity and faithfulness to our Lord. But with that authority comes responsibility. We are responsible to the one who has granted that authority to us. We need to be faithful to the task he has given us. With faithfulness comes reward. But unfaithfulness leads to disaster (Matt. 25:14-30). So, let us be faithful to the responsibility we have been given, acting under the authority of our Lord Jesus Christ. Related articles 6 Powerful "I WILL" Promises of Jesus 5 Powerful Ways Jesus Still Heals Today How Is Jesus Both the Lion and the Lamb? Photo credit: Getty Images/Twomeows_IS Ed Jarrett is a long-time follower of Jesus and a member of Sylvan Way Baptist Church. He has been a Bible teacher for over 40 years and regularly blogs at A Clay Jar. You can also follow him on Twitter or Facebook. Ed is married, the father of two, and grandfather of three. He is retired and currently enjoys his gardens and backpacking. The well-known ethnic food brand just announced that Shilpa Shetty Kundra will be the face for all brand communications for Laxmi with special focus on promoting popular products such as basmati rice, wheat flour, spices and lentils. The pandemic brought out the chef in all of us. Trying new food and focusing on reducing stress and boosting our immunity. Commenting on this exciting new alliance, House of Spices company executives, Neil Soni (CEO) and Amrapali Soni (COO) said, "Shilpa with Laxmi was an easy decision. Her evolution into health and wellness, in addition to her culinary curiosity fits well with the evolution of Laxmi brand." Speaking of category challenges in the marketplace, Chief Sales and Marketing officer Sundeep Lamba mentioned that "With the explosion of brand options at the store, for a consumer it is a difficult choice to make especially not knowing how these products are sourced and handled. Laxmi has always stood for quality, trust and value and with our new association with Shilpa Shetty Kundra, our brand promise will come to life". Furthermore, commenting on the campaign inspiration, Suhasinee Patil, VP Marketing shared some thoughts on what makes this campaign so special. According to her, "This past year with all its challenges has proven to us that nothing matters more than family and one way we all stayed positive and connected was through cooking. It induced us to try new foods, focusing on reducing stress and boosting our immunity. It inspired us to change our lifestyle and prioritize health and family." With this campaign, House of Spices message to their consumers is simple: It's time to bring home foods that stand for quality and purity; it's time to bring home a brand you have trusted for over 50 years; It's time to bring LAXMI home! Website: https://hosindia.com/ FOR MORE INFORMATION Neeta Bhasin: [email protected] SOURCE House of Spices Gujarat Cooperative Milk Marketing Federation (GCMMF), which markets the Amul range of dairy products, was in a fix when the Centre announced the lockdown last year. While demand for dairy products surged, there were no takers for its frozen products. That's when GCMMF decided to use the frozen products supply chain for transporting dairy products. "We have over 3.6 million farmers, 18,700 societies, 5,000 milk tankers going to 200 chilling stations, apart from 62 branches, 10,000 distributors and one million retailers. I knew what was happening at every point, where were tankers being stopped, in which village milk had not been collected and in which market our tankers could not go," says R.S. Sodhi, Managing Director, GCMMF. Sodhi could accomplish this seemingly impossible feat with the help of Location Based Technology or Geographic Information Systems (GIS). This refers to any technology that uses real-time location mapping to function. Most commonly understood as a medium for driving directions, governments decided to use location-based services to map land ownership and track implementation of schemes on the ground. Insurers, too, stepped in and started using it to assess damage to property or crops due to natural calamity. The rest of the corporate sector caught up and started using live location tracking for logistics planning, proximity-based marketing, workforce management and even fraud prevention (by linking a credit card transaction to a specific location for example). The rising demand means location-based services are expected to generate revenues worth Rs 1 lakh crore by 2029, says a report by Department of Science and Technology. "For the past five years, the sector has grown at a healthy 30 per cent CAGR on the back of increased automotive sales and adoption by ecommerce players and ride-hailing/food delivery apps," says Rohan Verma, CEO & Executive Director, MapmyIndia. In order to help the industry realise its potential, the Centre recently issued guidelines for acquiring geospatial data and using it in geospatial data services, including maps. The guidelines aim to create a regime which encourages open access and collaboration for such data while drawing a clear distinction between activities of Indian and foreign entities in relation to geospatial data and technologies used to collect such data. "The policy guidelines will make mapping a more viable business than earlier," says Verma. Government As A Customer Government departments are turning out to be heavy users of GIS services, be it cadastral management (showing extent, value and ownership of land, especially for taxation), providing a framework for smart cities, mapping of households for utility services or exploring natural resources. For instance, in 2020, Goa-headquartered Transerve worked with the Delhi government to create socio-economic profiles of residents of Delhi. The information is being used in policy making. The Centre's plan to build smart cities, which will involve emergency response system and smart waste management and utility services, also hinges on use of location technology for automating operations. "With enhanced awareness about geospatial data, governments and enterprises are relying on location-based information more than ever to support strategic priorities, make decisions and monitor outcomes," says Suneel Wasan, Chief Operating Officer at EGIS Geoplan Private Ltd. EGIS offers solutions such as analysis and dissemination of geospatial data, producing cartographic products and designing customised web and mobile applications for varied areas, including highways, water, telecom, mining, agriculture and disaster management. Location technology is also helping the world deal with the pandemic as health agencies use maps and spatial dashboards to get information from the ground. It is also being applied in vaccine management and distribution, with location embedded mobile apps allowing citizens to register for a vaccine and search for the nearest vaccine centre as authorities map out cold storage facilities for seamless delivery to healthcare centres. Even the National Digital Health Mission, launched in 2020, will use location-based services to build a database of health facilities in a city or a district. GIS Goes Private Geospatial data and technologies have become an integral part of private companies too. First and foremost, they have paved the way for smart supply chain fleets. "Integration of Covid-19 datasets centred around virus hotspots with existing business data on supply chains, warehouse management, storage, etc, has picked up pace, transforming fleet operations across transport & logistics, supply chain and e-commerce industries," says Abhijit Sengupta, Director and Head of Business, India, SAARC & Southeast Asia at HERE Technologies, a Netherlands-based company that provides mapping and location data and related services. Insurance is another area where location technologies are playing a big role. For instance, GIS technology is helping insurance companies identify damage to crops from a natural calamity. "They can do a drone survey to assess the damage to the crops and look at the area where the damage has occurred and find out the value of the crop depending on its growth level at the time of the damage," says Agendra Kumar, President Esri India, a GIS solutions provider. In logistics, businesses are leveraging route planning GPS software for planning and monitoring delivery routes to save time and fuel costs. Bike taxi service provider Rapido is mapping geospatial spaces to improve its service. "This includes identifying the distance between two points, identifying a location based on the name of the place and identifying the best possible route between two points. For all these cases, we use a combination of OpenStreet Maps and Google Maps depending on the need and the specific use case," says Srivatsa Katta, Head of Engineering, Rapido. The company's geocoding API converts real addresses into geographic reference positions to be placed on a map. The automobile industry is also not far behind in using location based services. MapmyIndia's hyperlocal map and geo-demographic data and analytics solutions are helping charging station developers select sites for charging points so they can be used optimally. Also, MapmyIndia offers solutions that account for the destination of the vehicle, traffic, weather and terrain to predict the distance that can be covered with the remaining charge. These solutions will be the key to the success of autonomous vehicles as well. Interestingly, companies providing geo-location technology have also deployed these solutions. EGIS is using them to track performance of employees. "The clients are charged on billable hours and so the time spent on each activity is important. The technology helps us capture the productive time of employees. It is a tool with multiple functions that users can access through a web interface, a desktop or a laptop," says Suneel Wasan of EGIS. The most notable feature of this technology is "desktop time", a record of all the work that happens on an employee's device. Others include a location feature to collate information for outside meetings; it tracks where employees are spending their time. The other use cases vary from marking distributor territories and analysing reach and servicing (FMCG, consumer durables and other product marketing companies) to site selection for BTS towers based on population density and demographics (telecom). RoI and New Regulations "Companies find location as a great unifier for their datasets and use location intelligence to predict patterns over a geography. The return on investment (RoI) varies based on the scale of operation and use cases. Increase in operational efficiency helps companies grow top and bottom line up to 20 per cent in most cases," says Amarsh Chaturvedi, Co-Founder & Director, Transerve. The company offers geospatial analysis to visualise and process data for insights. GIS is a technology where investment is recovered in a few months. In case of entities such as utilities, telecommunication companies and property tax collection agencies where direct investment or recovery is involved, measuring the RoI is easy. "However, there are areas such as healthcare where RoI is not calculated in terms of rupees. It's the same with disaster management. These technologies are used to save precious human lives. It's very hard to put a value there, but in this technology, the investment is a fraction of the benefits," says Kumar of Esri India. The service providers have started integrating GIS with new technologies like artificial intelligence, machine learning and cloud data. This will expedite the reach of the geospatial industry. The new regulations will also help considering that the one thing that was pulling down the industry was the inordinate delay in getting permissions for surveying and publishing data. There have also been instances where surveyors have been being hauled by law enforcement agencies, putting them and the organisation at legal risk. However, the new regulatory changes for GIS will liberalise acquisition and production of geospatial data and geospatial data services, including maps. This will significantly benefit diverse sectors of the economy and, more importantly, boost efforts for effective governance, decision making, development planning and emergency response. "Whatever regulatory impediments, red tape and grey areas that were hindering us have been done away with. With broad limits and no-go areas been defined, we can now freely collect data, self-certify its veracity and publish it with unprecedented alacrity," says Rohan Verma of MapmyIndia. @nidhisingal For the most dedicated denizens of the discourse, once again, we share pop culture, community news and top headlines. Working Toward Comeback KC metro picks up 8,600 jobs, narrows gap to pre-pandemic level - Kansas City Business Journal The Kansas City metro picked up 8,600 jobs from February to March, but still counts fewer jobs than it did before the pandemic. The Missouri Economic Research and Information Center, part of Missouri Gov. Discount Ambo Debuts KCFD Community Paramedic Program The Kansas City, Mo. Fire Department (KCFD) is working to improve quality of life for residents while also reducing costs with its new Community Medical Response Team (CMRT). Tech On Nice Side Of Bridge Kansas City committee approves plan to build new multi-billion dollar tech center in Northland KANSAS CITY, Mo. - A multi-billion dollar tech center could be coming to the metro. Kansas City's Transportation, Infrastructure and Operations Committee approved a plan Wednesday to build the Golden Plains Technology Park in Clay and Platte counties. Hottie Hangout Celebrated Ashley Alexiss All About 'Buns' As She Sprawls Out In Thong Swimsuit Ashley's online admirers were all over the "bootylicious" post, showing their appreciation in the huge number of likes and messages. More than 45,700 people double-tapped the photo, while 574 others took the time to compliment her in the comments section. Fans raved about her beauty and sensational curves. Lady Po-Po Charged Ex-Minnesota police officer arrested in connection with shooting of Daunte Wright Former Brooklyn Center, Minn., Police Officer Kimberly Potter was arrested and will be charged with second-degree manslaughter in the shooting death of Daunte Wright. The Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension announced it had arrested Potter at approximately 11:30 a.m. and that charges would be filed later in the day. End Of An Era Biden draws on long history with the war in Afghanistan as he prepares to announce troop withdrawal It's an image President Joe Biden kept returning to: the sight of helicopters evacuating Americans from Saigon during the last major battle of the Vietnam War. MAGA Starts Attack Mode Matt Gaetz makes six-figure ad buy targeting CNN amid sex trafficking allegations Embattled Florida Rep. Talker Pushes Back Tucker responds to Fauci's calling his vaccine questions a 'conspiracy theory': What are you telling us? On Wednesday's 'Tucker Carlson Tonight,' the Fox News host once again asked why those who have received the COVID-19 vaccine must remain under restrictions and responds to Dr. Anthony Fauci's claims that Carlson's questioning vaccine efficacy is 'typical, crazy conspiracy theory' Pix Provide Reality Check Why So Many Women Needed To See That Unedited Khloe Kardashian Bikini Pic Earlier this month, an unedited, unauthorized photo of reality star Khloe Kardashian standing poolside in an itsy-bitsy, very Kardashianesque bikini was posted on the internet. Kardashian and her team scrambled to get the photo off the web, threatening legal action against pretty much any social media users who'd reposted the pic on Twitter, Instagram or Reddit. Local Drama Debuts Powerful documentary about metro's Bobbi Jo Reed showcased at KC Film Fest KANSAS CITY, Mo. - Bobbi Jo Reed's inspiring work rescuing people from addiction at her non-profit 'Healing House' is well-known to many in the metro. Now her crusade to help others is getting a star turn at this year's virtual KC Film Fest International. "I knew that my story could benefit people but to see [...] Salvy Saves Series Perez delivers with bat to finish big series, KC tops Angels Salvador Perez homered and doubled to cap off an impressive series, leading Brad Keller and the Kansas City Royals over the Los Angeles Angels 6-1 on Wednesday.A day after picking off David Fletcher at third base to end a 3-2 win, Perez drove in two runs. Kansas City Chills Tonight Frost Advisory in effect for Kansas City metro tonight I had talked about the chances for more frosty mornings this week yesterday and on the Noon show today. And tonight, we need to prepare for more cold. Mostly clear skies are expected once again, allowing the mid 30s to move a little farther south to overtake the entire area. And this is the OPEN THREAD for tonight . . . 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Trace begun at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Exceptions.pm line 129 HTML::Mason::Exceptions::rethrow_exception('Can\'t call method "get_id" on an undefined value at /usr/local/bricolage/data/burn/stage/oc_1027/smetimes/dhandler.html line 25.^J') called at /usr/local/bricolage/data/burn/stage/oc_1027/smetimes/dhandler.html line 25 HTML::Mason::Commands::__ANON__ at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Component.pm line 160 HTML::Mason::Component::run_dynamic_sub('HTML::Mason::Component::FileBased=HASH(0x7fbfefe9e8b0)', 'main') called at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 951 HTML::Mason::Request::call_dynamic('HTML::Mason::Request::ApacheHandler=HASH(0x7fbff00d8968)', 'main') called at /var/cache/mason/obj/1784076917/main/smetimes/dhandler.html.obj line 17 HTML::Mason::Commands::__ANON__ at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Component.pm line 138 HTML::Mason::Component::run('HTML::Mason::Component::FileBased=HASH(0x7fbfefe9e8b0)') called at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 1305 eval {...} at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 1295 HTML::Mason::Request::comp(undef, undef, undef) called at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 958 HTML::Mason::Request::call_next('HTML::Mason::Request::ApacheHandler=HASH(0x7fbff00d8968)') called at /usr/local/bricolage/data/burn/stage/oc_1027/smetimes/autohandler_template.html line 149 HTML::Mason::Commands::__ANON__ at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Component.pm line 138 HTML::Mason::Component::run('HTML::Mason::Component::FileBased=HASH(0x7fbfeff73a28)') called at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 1303 eval {...} at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 1295 HTML::Mason::Request::comp(undef, undef, undef) called at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 484 eval {...} at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 484 eval {...} at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 436 HTML::Mason::Request::exec('HTML::Mason::Request::ApacheHandler=HASH(0x7fbff00d8968)') called at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/ApacheHandler.pm line 165 HTML::Mason::Request::ApacheHandler::exec('HTML::Mason::Request::ApacheHandler=HASH(0x7fbff00d8968)') called at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/ApacheHandler.pm line 831 HTML::Mason::ApacheHandler::handle_request('HTML::Mason::ApacheHandler=HASH(0x7fbfef64ba78)', 'Apache2::RequestRec=SCALAR(0x7fbfeffbe130)') called at (eval 487) line 8 HTML::Mason::ApacheHandler::handler('HTML::Mason::ApacheHandler', 'Apache2::RequestRec=SCALAR(0x7fbfeffbe130)') called at -e line 0 eval {...} at -e line 0 FILE PHOTO: French Economy and Finance Minister Le Maire meets US Special Presidential Envoy for Climate Kerry in Paris By Jeff Mason and Valerie Volcovici WASHINGTON (Reuters) -U.S. climate envoy John Kerry will travel to China this week to discuss international efforts to tackle global warming, seeking to press his counterparts to make ambitious emissions reduction targets despite tension in the U.S.-China relationship. The U.S. State Department said Kerry would travel to Shanghai and Seoul, South Korea, for talks on April 14-17, ahead of President Joe Biden's virtual summit with world leaders on climate change next week. Kerry will "discuss raising global climate ambition," during his visits, the State Department said. A source familiar with the plans said Kerry was due to arrive in Shanghai late on Wednesday and hold meetings on Thursday and Friday. Kerry's trip comes after an earlier summit in Alaska between U.S. and Chinese officials led to fiery interactions that illustrated the depth of tension between the world's two largest economies at the beginning of Biden's tenure in office. "He'll be focused on discussing climate and how we can work with leaders around the region to get control of ... the climate crisis," White House spokeswoman Jen Psaki said on Monday about Kerry. The former secretary of state, who Biden selected to represent the United States in international climate talks, will seek to find common ground on climate change with China's Xie Zhenhua. Kerry referred to his Chinese counterpart as a "leader" and capable advocate in an interview with Reuters https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-climate-kerry/u-s-climate-envoy-kerry-calls-new-chinese-counterpart-leader-and-believer-idUSKBN2A42ZZ earlier this year. Kerry has been urging countries around the world to set ambitious targets for cutting their greenhouse gas emissions. The United States is set to announce its own new target for emissions cuts by 2030 in the coming week. Biden's Earth Day summit, scheduled for April 22-23, will be a chance for the White House to reassert U.S. leadership on climate change. Biden, a Democrat, brought the United States back into the Paris climate accord after his predecessor, Republican President Donald Trump, withdrew in 2017. (Reporting by Jeff Mason and Valerie Volcivici; Editing by Heather Timmons, Nick Macfie and Marguerita Choy) Listen to the music of a spider's web. Tell me what do you hear? Dewdrops gather on a spider as it rests on its web in the early morning in Lalitpur, Nepal (Photo : REUTERS/Navesh Chitrakar/File Photo) It is an eerie, foreboding, reverberating tune, enough to send a tingle down your spine. This is what a spiderweb sounds like. From communication to construction, spiderwebs may offer an orchestra of information, says Markus Buehler, engineering professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, who has been using artificial intelligence to study them. Advertisement "Spiders utilize vibrations as a way to communicate with the environment, with other spiders," he said. "We have recorded these vibrations from spiders and used artificial intelligence to learn these vibrational patterns and associate them with certain actions, basically learning the spider's language." Buehler and his team of researchers created 3D models of spiderwebs when the arachnids were doing different things - such as construction, repair, hunting and feeding. They then listened for patterns in the spider signals and recreated the sounds using computers and mathematical algorithms. "Spiders are a whole different animal," said Buehler. "What they see or sense isn't actually audible or visible to the human eye or the human ear. And so by transposing it, we begin to experience that." Buehler hopes his team's work could enable humans to understand the language of a spider and one day communicate with them. "The melodies are really the kind of relationships that the spider would also experience. And so we can begin to feel a little bit like a spider in that way," Buehler said. There are more than 47,000 species of spiders, and all spin silk webs to provide housing and catch food. Scientists say the silk from a spiderweb is five times stronger than steel. The living structure of a spiderweb could lead to innovations in construction, maintenance and repair, Buehler said. "We can imagine creating a synthetic system that would mimic what the spider does in sensing the web, repairing the web," he said. An elderly woman waits to receive the Sputnik V coronavirus vaccine at Centenario Stadium in Quilmes, Argentina on April 1, 2021 Mexico and Argentina on Wednesday called for international debt relief for middle-income countries home to many of the people pushed into extreme poverty by the coronavirus pandemic. The appeal came on the same day that G20 finance ministers and central bankers agreed to extend a moratorium on debt interest payments for the world's poorest nations. Mexico and Argentina, both G20 members, said in a joint statement that middle-income countries were "forgotten" despite representing 75 percent of the world's population and 62 percent of those living in poverty. While they have access to capital markets, such nations are not able to borrow at low interest rates, they said. The statement called for middle-income nations to be able to take advantage of the International Monetary Fund's plan to increase its allocation of special drawing rights (SDR), a type of international reserve asset, by $650 billion. Mexico and Argentina also proposed creating an international fund to facilitate the restructuring of middle-income countries' debts. "This will prevent the health and economic crisis from turning into a debt crisis in the medium term," the statement said. It cited the World Bank's estimate that the pandemic increased the number of people living in extreme poverty in 2020 by 120 million, mostly in middle-income nations. Argentine President Alberto Fernandez has called his country's multibillion-dollar debt to the IMF "unpayable" in its original form. nc/dr/bfm Two sisters were arrested for the smuggling attempt of a child via the Juarez-Lincoln International Bridge, according to an arrest affidavit. Josaid Lee Dimas, 26, and Judith Ann Dimas, 23, were charged with transport, attempt to transport and conspire to transport an immigrant illegally present in the country. At about 1:07 p.m. Monday, Judith Ann Dimas arrived at the Juarez-Lincoln International Bridge in her private vehicle. She was accompanied by her sister, Josaid Lee Dimas, and a child. A Texas birth certificate was presented on behalf of the child. A CBP officer at primary allowed them to go through. But CBP officers conducting random stops for X-ray inspection selected the defendant's car for inspection, according to court documents. Josaid Lee Dimas identified once again the child as her own and presented the Texas birth certificate. All occupants were referred to secondary inspection. At secondary, (a CBP officer) asked Josaid if the child was hers to which she initially stated she was, but shortly thereafter stated she was not her child. Under sworn statement, Josaid stated she was not aware of the child's name or date of birth but stated the child is a Mexican citizen with no relationship to them, states the affidavit. Josaid Lee Dimas stated that her sister, Judith Ann Dimas, had asked her to lend her true daughter's birth certificate. Josaid Lee Dimas stated she crossed into Mexico with her sister to pick up the child at a hotel. Moments later, Judith Ann Dimas came out with a child in her arms, states the affidavit. Patricia Arquette joined in on a popular Twitter prompt about bad dates on Wednesday, only to reveal that her date became an infamous murderer years later. The 53-year-old actress initially shared what sounded like a run-of-the-mill bad date with a 'pro skateboarder' who turned out to be a bad kisser. But she later revealed that her disastrous second date was with former professional skateboarder Mark 'Gator' Rogowski, who would later confess to brutally raping and murdering his acquaintance Jessica Bergsten in 1991 when she was only 22 years old. Chilling: Patricia Arquette, 53, revealed Wednesday on Twitter that she once dated the professional skateboarder Mark Rogowski, 54, who would later be convicted of rape and murder; Arquette seen in January 2020 Patricia shared her horrifying date in response to the prompt: 'Whats the most awkward date yall ever been on?' She specified that it was a 'second date,' writing, 'Pro skateboarder. Really cute. Friends with my friends. 'We made out but something about how he kissed me freaked me out,' she continued, adding that she 'gave him a fake number' at the conclusion of the date. 'Years later he killed his girlfriend,' she concluded starkly. Behind bars: Rogowski pleaded guilty to raping and murdering 22-year-old Jessica Bergsten in 1991. She was a close friend of his ex Brandi McClain Making a run for it: Arquette said it was his aggressive kissing that 'freaked' her out, and she gave him a fake number to get out of a third date Be safe: She urged fans to 'trust your instincts' when they had a bad feeling about someone 'Moral to the story Trust your instincts,' she wrote in a follow-up tweet, before adding, 'And my daughter thinks Im overprotective.' Naturally, other users were fascinated by her eerie story and pressed her for more details, with one person guessing that she was referring to Rogowski. 'Yes right,' replied Arquette. 'He raped and killed. His girl friend who was best friends with his x girlfriend.' One user suggested that the influence of religion on Rogowski had led to his confession. 'I think without religion it never would have been solved. He told his priest,' the actress replied, though Rogowski's eventual confession was instead to a born-again Christian friend. Years later: She later joked that her daughter 'thinks i'm overprotective'; seen in Time Out in 1987 Giving himself up: The actress referenced Rogowski's eventual confession to a born-again Christian friend Taking a stand: She recalled fighting back at another date who bit her while kissing too hard Another person mentioned having a similarly bad experience with a scarily aggressive kisser. Arquette wrote back: 'Another guy was like that one other time he bot [sic] me hard while kissing and I started choking him and told him don't ever f***ing do that to a woman again.' The same person then queried her about how Rogowski kissed her before scaring her away, which she described as 'aggressive.' 'Like pushing me back hard with his jaw and it felt like it was angry,' she clarified. Creepy: She said Rogowski scared her away with his 'aggressive' kissing. 'Like pushing me back hard with his jaw and it felt like it was angry Downhill: Rogowski was a popular skateboard throughout the 1980s, but his career suffered as the 1990s rolled along due to his worsening addiction to alcohol and the sport's diminishing commercial prospects; still from Mark Rogowski: The Rise And Fall Of Gator Rogowski is currently in prison on a 31-year to life sentence for raping and murdering Jessica Bergsten in 1991. Bergsten was a good friend of his ex Brandi McClain, though the two aren't thought to have been in a relationship, contrary to what Arquette said. Rogowski was a popular skateboarder throughout the 1980s, but his career suffered as the 1990s rolled along due to his worsening addiction to alcohol and the sport's diminishing commercial prospects. After the athlete ended his relationship with McClain whom he had subjected to domestic violence throughout their relationship he began to threaten her and her boyfriend and even broke into her home when she was out. In 1991, McClain's friend Bergsten asked Rogowski to give her a tour of San Diego, after which she was reported missing. Horrific: In 1991, he took his ex Brandi McClain's friend Jessica Bergsten on a tour of San Diego, before bashing her over the head at his apartment, brutally raping her and killing her; still from Mark Rogowski: The Rise And Fall Of Gator The skater later confessed that he hit Bergsten in the back of the head with a metal car steering wheel lock and tied her to his bed before raping her. He said he covered her mouth out of fear that the neighbors would hear her until she stopped breathing. Afterward, he buried her body in the desert, where it was discovered in an advanced state of decay that initially made it impossible to identify. Rogowski then confessed his crime to a born-again Christian friend, who urged him to confess to the police, which he did. The convicted murderer initially faced the death penalty on a charge of murdering Bergsten while raping her, though he was eventually convicted of separate murder and rape charges. He was sentenced to life in prison with the chance of parole after 31 years. In 2019, the parole board reportedly recommended that Rogowski be paroled, but California Governor Gavin Newsom overruled the decision. He will next be eligible for parole in 2023. Appointment 15 April 2021 BENCHMARK, a global hospitality company, has formally announced the appointment of Andy Blair to the position of director of finance for Snow King Resort, a Benchmark Resorts & Hotels property located in Jackson, Wyoming. Gregg Fracassa, Benchmark's general manager at the resort, made the announcement. Andy Blair previously held the position of director of finance at Cheyenne Mountain Resort of Colorado Springs, Colorado, a property Benchmark operated at the time. Prior to this, he served as director of finance for Hammock Beach Resort and as regional controller for Destination Hotels and Resorts. Mr. Blair is a graduate of the University of Houston. He resides in the Jackson area. beLAB2122 LEVERAGES ACADEMIC INNOVATION FROM THE RHINE-MAIN-NECKAR REGION OF GERMANY EVOTEC PROVIDES ITS ALL-MODALITY PLATFORM TO VALIDATE FIRST-IN-CLASS THERAPEUTIC PROJECTS FROM THE UNIVERSITIES OF FRANKFURT, HEIDELBERG AND TBINGEN AS WELL AS FROM THE EMBL AND THE DKFZ BRISTOL MYERS SQUIBB TO PROVIDE FUNDING AND COMMERCIAL PERSPECTIVES FOR ACADEMIC ASSETS DEVELOPED BY beLAB2122 HAMBURG, GERMANY / ACCESSWIRE / April 13, 2021 / Evotec SE (Frankfurt Stock Exchange: EVT, MDAX/TecDAX, ISIN: DE0005664809) announced today that the Company has launched beLAB2122, a translational $ 20 million BRIDGE in collaboration with Bristol-Myers Squibb Company (NYSE: BMY). beLAB2122 brings together leading academic institutions from the Rhine-Main-Neckar region of Germany with the goal of efficiently advancing first-in-class therapeutic options across all therapeutic areas and formats into investable drug discovery and early development projects. Mediated and supported by BioRN, the Life Science Cluster Rhein Neckar, beLAB2122 for the first time brings together the European Molecular Biology Laboratory ("EMBL"), the German Cancer Research Center ("DKFZ"), the Goethe University Frankfurt, Heidelberg University and the University of Tubingen in one collaboration with industry partners. Evotec's BRIDGE (Biomedical Research, Innovation & Development Generation Efficiency) collaborations provide an integrated fund and award framework to validate exciting academic projects in collaborations with pharma and funders which may lead to the formation of jointly owned new companies. Since 2016, Evotec has established several BRIDGE collaborations with a variety of academic, pharma, and venture capital partners across Europe and North America. Evotec launches beLAB2122 in cooperation with Bristol Myers Squibb, Evotec's long-standing collaborator in drug discovery across several therapeutic areas. Together the sponsors intend to tap into Europe's foremost academic clusters of excellence in the life sciences, both validating and advancing innovative research in therapeutics and related technologies from academia to enable the formation of new, collectively owned spin-out companies. Dr Werner Lanthaler, Chief Executive Officer of Evotec, said: "We are very excited about the launch of beLAB2122, a truly transformative framework that leverages first-class science from one of Europe's leading life science cluster regions with lots of potential to generate medical progress. We look forward to unlocking this potential by using our 'data-driven R&D Autobahn to Cures' to further validate and develop these approaches to translate the promising early-stage research into the medicines of the future." Dr Thomas Hanke, Head of Academic Partnerships at Evotec, added: "We are delighted to see the first BRIDGE in Germany becoming reality and look forward to working closely with our academic partners in the Rhine-Main-Neckar area and our colleagues at Bristol Myers Squibb to identify and accelerate the next generation of first-in-class therapeutics across all modalities and therapeutic areas. We would also like to particularly thank BioRN for continuously supporting beLAB2122." Dr Rupert Vessey, Executive Vice President and President, Research and Early Development at Bristol Myers Squibb commented: "We are excited by the opportunity to support beLAB2122 in the translation of novel scientific research from these leading German academic institutions. Given their past experience with successful BRIDGEs, we believe Evotec is well-equipped to interpret the many lines of scientific inquiry resulting from this collaboration and use its proprietary platforms to deliver quality data that may one day lead to potentially novel therapies for patients." Prof. Matthias Hentze, EMBL Director, said: "This collaboration has been established at a time of increasing awareness that the efficient and rapid translation of research outcomes is essential. beLAB2122 is a transformative collaboration to accelerate the validation of therapeutic concepts for the benefit of society. EMBL, as Europe's leading molecular biology research institute, is delighted to be part of this initiative along with some of the most renowned institutes in the region and beyond. With Evotec and Bristol Myers Squibb this collaboration has world-renowned industrial sponsors to help bring successful ideas into the market and to foster cutting-edge research and innovation." Dr Rainer Wessel, Chief Innovation Officer, German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ), added: "For DKFZ, a major goal is to foster transfer of our excellent research into highly innovative applications that benefit cancer patients world wide. The beLAB2122 collaboration is a major step in gaining critical mass and speed together with other scientific and commercial leaders to achieve that goal." Prof. Dr Manfred Schubert-Zsilavecz, Vice President of Goethe University Frankfurt responsible for the Third Mission and Professor for Medicinal Chemistry, pointed out: "Pharmaceutical and translational medical research are two of the key strengths of Goethe University Frankfurt, and numerous of our research projects aim to contribute to closing the innovation gap in drug development. We are extremely happy to be part of the beLAB2122 research network in order to boost cooperation between academic and industrial research, for the sake of suffering patients." Prof. Dr Matthias Weidemuller, Vice-Rector Innovation and Transfer, Heidelberg University, affirmed: "Heidelberg University is excited to be part of the Evotec BRIDGE collaboration beLAB2122. It is of fundamental importance that our cutting-edge research be translated into applications on a broader scale. This collaboration brings together leading institutions in the Rhine-Main-Neckar region that conduct research at the forefront of life science. I am positive that - within the BRIDGE framework - we can generate added momentum for converting scientific achievements into future therapeutics." Prof. Dr Peter Grathwohl, Vice-President of Research and Innovation of the University of Tubingen, joined: "The University of Tubingen is delighted to be part of beLAB2122. The transfer of research results to application is very important to us: In the future, we want to provide excellent opportunities for our researchers to contribute their expertise to concrete collaboration projects with sponsors in economy and industry." The name beLAB2122 refers to the Rhine, Main, and Neckar rivers which connect the member institutions with one another and which total 2,122 kilometres in length. For further information on beLAB2122, please visit www.belab2122.org. About Evotec's BRIDGE model: Collaborating to accelerate innovation Evotec has created a new paradigm to translate early-stage academic research to drug discovery and development called "BRIDGE" (Biomedical Research, Innovation & Development Generation Efficiency), an integrated fund and award framework to tap into exciting academic science to accelerate the formation of spin-out companies and generate collaborations with Pharma and biotech. Through these efforts, Evotec has defined a new formula for fast-track early-stage drug discovery. Since the launch of the BRIDGE model in 2016, Evotec has formed and funded a number of different collaborations, e.g. LAB282, LAB150, LAB031, LAB10x, and Autobahn Labs. For more information about Evotec's BRIDGE initiatives, please go to www.evotec.com/en/innovate/bridges. ABOUT BRISTOL-MYERS SQUIBB COMPANY Bristol Myers Squibb is a global biopharmaceutical company whose mission is to discover, develop and deliver innovative medicines that help patients prevail over serious diseases. For more information about Bristol Myers Squibb, visit us at BMS.com or follow us on LinkedIn, Twitter, YouTube, Facebook and Instagram. ABOUT EVOTEC SE Evotec is a drug discovery alliance and development partnership company focused on rapidly progressing innovative product approaches with leading pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies, academics, patient advocacy groups and venture capitalists. We operate worldwide and our more than 3,500 employees provide the highest quality stand-alone and integrated drug discovery and development solutions. We cover all activities from target-to-clinic to meet the industry's need for innovation and efficiency in drug discovery and development (EVT Execute). The Company has established a unique position by assembling top-class scientific experts and integrating state-of-the-art technologies as well as substantial experience and expertise in key therapeutic areas including neuronal diseases, diabetes and complications of diabetes, pain and inflammation, oncology, infectious diseases, respiratory diseases, fibrosis, rare diseases and women's health. On this basis, Evotec has built a broad and deep pipeline of more than 100 co-owned product opportunities at clinical, pre-clinical and discovery stages (EVT Innovate). Evotec has established multiple long-term alliances with partners including Bayer, Boehringer Ingelheim, Bristol Myers Squibb, CHDI, Novartis, Novo Nordisk, Pfizer, Sanofi, Takeda, UCB and others. For additional information please go to www.evotec.com and follow us on Twitter @Evotec. FORWARD LOOKING STATEMENTS Information set forth in this press release contains forward-looking statements, which involve a number of risks and uncertainties. The forward-looking statements contained herein represent the judgement of Evotec as of the date of this press release. Such forward-looking statements are neither promises nor guarantees, but are subject to a variety of risks and uncertainties, many of which are beyond our control, and which could cause actual results to differ materially from those contemplated in these forward-looking statements. We expressly disclaim any obligation or undertaking to release publicly any updates or revisions to any such statements to reflect any change in our expectations or any change in events, conditions or circumstances on which any such statement is based. Media Contact Evotec SE: Gabriele Hansen, SVP Head of Global Corporate Communications & Marketing, Phone: +49.(0)40.56081-255, gabriele.hansen@evotec.com IR Contact Evotec SE: Volker Braun, SVP Head of Global Investor Relations & ESG, Phone: +49.(0)40.56081-775, volker.braun@evotec.com SOURCE: Evotec AG View source version on accesswire.com: Loading the player... Air India looking to hire CEOs for its subsidiaries National carrier Air India has sought applications for the post of chief executive officer (CEO) for its subsidiaries Air India Engineering Services Ltd (AIESL), Air India Airport Services Ltd (AIASL) and Alliance Air Aviation Ltd (AAAL). The selected candidates will be hired for a contract period of three years, extendable by two years based on performance. Flipkart to take over Cleartrip in distress sale Flipkart will acquire embattled travel and booking platform Cleartrip, one of the oldest Indian players in the segment. This will be the latest addition to the list of acquisitions by the Walmart-owned Indian e-commerce major in various sectors. The deal is likely to be a mix of cash and equity and will see Cleartrip valued at $40 million. Pandemic no bar, top execs to see 6% pay hike in 2021: Aon India Inc's top honchos are likely to get a 6 per cent salary hike in 2021, with the pandemic affecting executive salaries less significantly than the global financial crisis of 2008-09, according to a study by global professional services firm Aon. The study further states that the median CEO compensation, excluding long-term incentives (LTI), for owner-promoter CEOs is Rs 15 crore. COVID-19 vaccination: Kejriwal urges Centre to treat journalists as frontline workers Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Wednesday urged the central government to treat journalists as frontline workers and vaccinate them against COVID-19. He said the Delhi government will write to Centre on the issue. Russia offers free transfer of Covid-19 vaccine tech to India, other manufacturing partners Russia has announced that the country is already enabling free technology transfer and financial support for capital expenditure to its Covid-19 vaccine manufacturing partners in other countries, including India. Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF), the agency that is spearheading Sputnik V vaccine manufacturing and supply partnerships globally, said India has become the 60th country to approve Sputnik V. 9 in 10 firms to hire internally: LinkedIn As many as 93% companies in India are looking to hire internally for vacancies, according to a study by professional networking and job search firm LinkedIn, with an almost equal number merging roles to reduce talent acquisition costs. The findings come at a time when companies are looking to optimise costs but keep businesses functioning after a year of wreckage across sectors due to the coronavirus pandemic that has left the workforce burned out. IAEA chief urges transparency as Japan's decision on nuclear wastewater sparks int'l backlash 08:55, April 15, 2021 By huaxia ( Xinhua People rally to protest against the Japanese government's decision to discharge contaminated radioactive wastewater in Fukushima Prefecture into the sea, in Tokyo, capital of Japan, April 13, 2021. (Xinhua/Du Xiaoyi) IAEA chief called for "transparency" in dealing with global concerns over Japan's nuclear wastewater disposal plan. "What we need to do is to make sure that when this starts to be released, there will be no harm to the environment, no harm whatsoever," he said. VIENNA, April 14 (Xinhua) -- As Japan's decision to discharge nuclear wastewater into the Pacific Ocean sparked an international backlash, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) chief said Wednesday that he took these concerns "seriously" and called for "transparency." "The way to deal with these concerns, for me ... it's very simple. It has one name: transparency," Rafael Mariano Grossi, director general of the IAEA, told Xinhua in an interview here on Wednesday. Grossi stressed that when the wastewater is released, it should cause no harm to the environment. Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga said on Tuesday that his government has decided to discharge contaminated radioactive wastewater in Fukushima Prefecture into the Pacific Ocean amid domestic and international opposition. On Wednesday, China strongly urged Japan to reconsider its decision on the disposal of nuclear waste. The international community including the Republic of Korea (ROK), Russia and the European Commission had expressed deep concerns over the issue. Rafael Mariano Grossi, director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), speaks at the board of governors meeting in Vienna, Austria, March 9, 2020. (Xinhua/Photo Credit: Dean Calma / IAEA) Grossi noted that not only Japan's neighboring countries but also local people in Japan, such as fishermen, were "all very concerned." "The issue at hand is very well known. We all know what is there. We all know the amount of the water. What we need to do is to make sure that when this starts to be released, there will be no harm to the environment, no harm whatsoever," he said. Grossi noted that the IAEA would cooperate with Japan, with professional work organized "before, during and after the controlled release of treated water into the ocean. " "So the work will start now and we will have to make sure that every step of the way ... we observe this cooperation, that this cooperation is unhindered, that we have access to everything we need to have access (to)," he said. File photo taken on Oct. 12, 2017 shows huge tanks that store contaminated radioactive wastewater in Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant, in Fukushima Prefecture, Japan. (Xinhua) (Web editor: Guo Wenrui, Liang Jun) 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 District Court of The Hague on Thursday resumes preliminary hearings in the case of the MH17 Malaysian Airlines flight, which was shot down on July 17, 2014. The hearing is still at the stage of assessing the readiness of the case for examination of the merits, which is scheduled for June 7. It is expected that the subject of discussion of this block, which is scheduled for two days April 15 and 16, will be the course of the investigation entrusted to the investigating judge after the requests of the defense of one of the accused, Oleg Pulatov, were partially sustained. He is the only one represented by the attorneys. The hearings are being held in the absence of all the accused: three Russians and one Ukrainian Pulatov, Igor Girkin (Strelkov), Serhiy Dubinsky and Leonid Kharchenko. They are charged with the murder and crash of 298 passengers. The previous block of court hearings took place on February 1 and 8, during which Pulatov's defense announced motions, to which the prosecution then reacted, followed by a court decision. In particular, the court rejected the request to provide an expert of the Russian manufacturer of the Buk Almaz-Antey system with the opportunity to visit and investigate the wreckage of the downed MH17, but considered it appropriate "to leave open opportunities for the investigating judge to provide an opportunity for experts to visit the reconstruction to properly understand the report" of the nature of the damage to the aircraft. The court also rejected a request to provide a photo of all the wreckage of the plane, including those that were not transported to the Netherlands and remained in Ukraine. At the same time, the investigation was instructed to check if there are more photos that can be provided to Pulatov's defense. The court also ruled on the linguistic examination of the intercepted telephone conversations, instructing Pulatov himself, by February 22, to inform the investigating judge in which of the conversations he took part, with the subsequent use of these fragments for linguistic research and comparative voice analysis. The court did not make any decision to conduct a special inspection during a visit to the reconstruction of the downed aircraft, as it considered that this decision could be made only after, based on the interview of the investigating judge with experts, a clear understanding of the difference in opinions about the possible launch site was obtained. At the same time, the court has already instructed the prosecutor's office, if a decision on such a visit is made, to start organizing in advance. The suggested date for such a visit is between May 17 and May 28. In addition, the court did not sustain the request of Pulatov's defense about the radar database, about an interview with a separatist named Leon from the illegal formation in Konstantynivka. The trial has been going on for over a year, starting on March 9, 2020. At the same time, the investigation of this crime continues. New Delhi: A study report by Israel has revealed that the coronavirus is attacking more and more of those who have vaccinated it. This is the South African variant of Corona, which has become more deadly. According to this report, people who have taken vaccine supplements may have an eight-fold increased risk of infection from the South African variant of the coronavirus compared to those who have not taken the vaccine. This claim has stirred up the whole world. However, Indian doctors say that Israeli research included the same people who got the vaccine. Then compared to infected people who had not taken the vaccine. Most of the infected individuals in the study were caught in the UK variant B.1.1.7 of the coronavirus, while the number of people vulnerable to the South African variant B1.351 was small. Those who had less than two weeks of the first dose or who had taken less than a week for the second dose showed less effect of the UK variant. However, for those who had been a week for the second dose, the effect of the South African variant showed more than those who did not take the vaccine. According to this study, 8 people who had been vaccinated with the South African variant were found to be infected, so only one person who did not vaccinate was caught in this variant. From this, it can be concluded that the vaccine is not affecting the South African variant B1.351, but the truth is that no infection was detected in anyone taking the second dose of the vaccine 14 days ago. Also Read: Ambedkar Jayanti: Vice-President remembers Ambedkar on 130th birth anniversary Netflix buys Kartik Aaryan's film, find out how many crores of deals were made Maharashtra: Statewide strict ban, orders issued to shut down theaters and shooting RMI is excited to use Carbon Mapper to help certify low-methane natural gas, improve industry practices, and make emissions visible to accelerate global action. The State of California, NASAs Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Planet, the University of Arizona, Arizona State University, High Tide Foundation and RMI are partnering with Carbon Mapper, a new non-profit organization, to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Carbon Mapper is focused on accelerating the reduction of global methane and carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions through the use of hyperspectral satellite constellations that will pinpoint and measure emissions at the scale of individual facilities with verifiable high accuracy. The new organization will also create a public portal to make open-source data available for use by a diverse group of stakeholders. Before Carbon Mapper, measuring methane and CO2 with sufficient coverage across the globe has been challenging, costly, and almost impossible to scale, said RMI Senior Fellow Deborah Gordon. RMI is excited to use Carbon Mapper to help certify low-methane natural gas, improve industry practices, and make emissions visible to accelerate global action. Carbon Mapper instruments will ultimately offer daily sampling for high priority areas, making emissions sources publicly visible at a level of detail not yet seen to date. The organizations constellation of satellites will generate accurate and timely methane and CO2 measurements, in addition to over 25 other environmental indicators. "Carbon Mappers mission is to help fill gaps in the emerging global ecosystem of methane and CO2 monitoring systems by delivering data thats timely, actionable and accessible for science-based decision making, said Riley Duren, Carbon Mapper Chief Executive Officer. This requires confronting some persistent institutional challenges that weve addressed by bringing together a coalition of public and private sector entities and philanthropy, all aligned with a common purpose." High Tide led the funding effort to catalyze low-cost mitigation of greenhouse gases through an innovative partnership model. Carbon Mapper is uniquely positioned to maximize the impact of philanthropic dollars, said Richard Lawrence, Founder and Director of High Tide Foundation. RMIs participation in Carbon Mapper is part of its Oil & Gas Solutions initiative, which focuses on driving immediate reductions in oil and gas sector greenhouse gas emissions. The Climate Action Engine, a multi-layered data, analytics, and insights system co-developed by RMI, will be one of a myriad use cases for Carbon Mapper data. RMI is also piloting a differentiated natural gas standard, MiQ, to establish an independent certification system for low-methane gas. Prototyped Carbon Mapper data collected by aircraft already contribute to both of these climate mitigation efforts. Bringing visibility to emissions is critical, especially in a traditionally opaque sector like oil and gas, said RMI Oil & Gas Solutions team member Fran Reuland, who supports the Carbon Mapper initiative. But this mission is larger than any one organization; not only must every new effort be additive, but it must give turbocharge to existing ones, just as Carbon Mapper does. Carbon Mapper will help sow the seed for developing climate intelligence across anthropogenic emitting sectors. Beyond oil and gas, the data streams will support a new foundation-backed, collaborative effort to tackle landfill methane. Learn more about Carbon Mapper: http://www.carbonmapper.org Media Inquiries please contact: Alexandra Chin, Media Relations Lead: achin@rmi.org About RMI RMI is an independent nonprofit founded in 1982 that transforms global energy systems through market-driven solutions to align with a 1.5C future and secure a clean, prosperous, zero-carbon future for all. We work in the worlds most critical geographies and engage businesses, policymakers, communities, and NGOs to identify and scale energy system interventions that will cut greenhouse gas emissions at least 50 percent by 2030. RMI has offices in Basalt and Boulder, Colorado; New York City; Oakland, California; Washington, D.C.; and Beijing. http://www.rmi.org Protests against anti-Asian hate crimes in Michigan (AFP) A man identified as a Black Lives Matter activist has been charged for anti-Asian hate crime, according to reports. Christopher Hamner, of Seatac, Washington, appeared in court on 9 April facing hate crime charges for chasing Asian-American women in Seattle. In one of the incidents, the 51-year-old allegedly called a woman an Asian b**** while she was driving with her children, who were in the vehicle. The moment he made eye contact with me he stopped, opens his door and hes screaming, the woman, Pamela Cole, told KIRO 7, F*** you, you Asian b****. F**** you! Hammer allegedly charged on foot from a black sedan bringing his fists together before Ms Cole could drive away. Thank God the light finally changed and I was able to drive off, she wrote on Facebook following the incident on 16 March, with pictures of Hammer. Police were able to arrested him on 27 March after a family friend recognised Hammer from the images, KIRO 7 reported. It followed another incident on 19 March, in which two Asian-American women were allegedly targeted by Hammer by blocking them from driving off, and shouting F*** you, Asian! Both incidents were within days of the spa shooting in Atlanta, in which six women of Asian descent were killed Hammer himself wrote on Facebook about the citys mayor demanding for an end to hate crimes. A report by the Post Millennial identified him as an activist and supporter of Black Lives Matter and the Democratic Party, following the charges. Hammer allegedly took part in Black Lives Matter protests in downtown Seattle last summer, which he videoed for Facebook, and often wrote anti-Trump and anti-Republican tweets. A judge set Hammers bail at $10,000 (7,252) on Friday, while his attorney said the 51-year-old was was a veteran of the US Navy and suffered from mental illness, KATU 2 reported. It is just one of a number of recent alleged crimes against the USs Asian community. Read More Greensill: All decisions taken by the bank were made independently, minister says Jim Jordan yells at Dr Fauci over Covid restrictions Video of police shooting shows childs hands were up when he was shot UNITED NATIONS (AP) The U.N. Security Council is voting on a draft resolution that urges all foreign forces and mercenaries to leave Libya and authorizes a small U.N. team to monitor last Octobers cease-fire agreement that ordered their departure. The British-drafted resolution would approve Secretary-General Antonio Guterres proposals on the composition and operational aspects of the cease-fire monitoring laid out in a letter to the council. In the April 7 letter, obtained by The Associated Press, the U.N. chief proposed an initial maximum number of 60 monitors for a phased deployment of the cease-fire monitoring component which would be part of the U.N. political mission in Libya known as UNSMIL. The monitors would be deployed to the strategic city of Sirte, the gateway to the countrys major oil fields and export terminals, once all requirements for a permanent United Nations presence have been met, including security, logistical, medical and operational aspects, the letter said. In the meantime, it said, a forward presence would be established in the capital Tripoli as soon as conditions permit. Guterres said the proposed number of UNSMIL cease-fire monitors takes into account the Libyan request, as well as measures to allow regular rotation of personnel in and out of Libya, while ensuring flexibility in the geographic coverage in the monitoring area. The results of the email voting on the proposed resolution -- because of COVID-19 -- are expected to be announced on Friday. Oil-rich Libya was plunged into chaos after a 2011 NATO-backed uprising toppled longtime dictator Moammar Gadhafi and split the country between a U.N.-supported government in Tripoli and rival authorities based in the countrys east. Each side was backed by an array of local militias as well as regional and foreign powers. In April 2019, Hifter and his forces, backed by Egypt and the United Arab Emirates, launched an offensive to try and capture Tripoli. His campaign collapsed after Turkey stepped up its military support of the U.N.-supported government with hundreds of troops and thousands of Syrian mercenaries. An October cease-fire agreement has led to an agreement on a transitional government and elections scheduled for Dec. 24. Story continues A recently released report by U.N. experts accused several foreign governments of turning the oil-rich country into a stage to play out rivalries and ignoring U.N. sanctions and a decade-long U.N. arms embargo, which it said has remained totally ineffective. The experts identified Turkey and Qatar as the backers of forces loyal to the U.N.-supported administration in Tripoli, to the west, while the United Arab Emirates, Russia, and Egypt have supported Khalifa Hifter, the military commander controlling eastern and southern parts of Libya. .The proposed resolution strongly urges all member states to respect and support the full implementation of the cease-fire agreement, including through the withdrawal of all foreign forces and mercenaries from Libya without delay. It would also demand full compliance with an arms embargo on Libya. Americas CEOs may believe that election integrity is unimportant, but voters across the political spectrum disagree. Rasmussen finds that 51% of voters believe that voter fraud impacted the 2020 presidential election: A majority (51%) of voters believe it is likely that cheating affected the outcome of the 2020 presidential election, including 35% who say its Very Likely cheating affected the election. Seventy-four percent (74%) of Republicans believe it is likely last years presidential election was affected by cheating, a view shared by 30% of Democrats and 51% of voters not affiliated with either major party. The question asked was: How likely is it that cheating affected the outcome of the 2020 presidential election? Voters want election integrity and dont buy the Democrats claim that it is somehow too hard to vote: Asked which is more important, making it easier for everybody to vote, or making sure there is no cheating in elections, 60% of Likely Voters say its more important to prevent cheating, while 37% said its more important to make it easier to vote. Only 22% of voters say it is currently too hard to vote, while 34% said its too easy to vote, and 41% say the level of difficulty in voting is about right. Majorities of all racial groups 59% of whites, 56% of Blacks and 63% of other minority voters say it is more important to make sure there is no cheating in elections than to make it easier to vote. Likewise, majorities of all racial groups 64% of whites, 59% of Blacks and 58% of other minority voters reject the claim that voter ID laws discriminate against some voters. Here in Minnesota, my organization found that 69% of registered voters want voter ID laws. Americas left-wing CEOs are badly out of step with mainstream Americans. Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga / AP-Yonhap Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga on Thursday departed for the United States to meet President Joe Biden for talks amid the Covid-19 pandemic and tension with China. Suga is scheduled to hold a summit meeting with Biden at the White House on Friday, becoming the first foreign leader to meet in person with the new US president, who was inaugurated in January. Suga vowed to foster the Japan-US alliance, he told reporters before flying to Washington. "I would like to build a trusted relationship [with Biden]," the premier said. The two leaders want to show the strong ties of the alliance and their commitment to the Indo-Pacific region, Tokyo said. Suga and Biden are expected to discuss climate change, the pandemic, issues related to China and North Korea and cooperation over the Indo-Pacific region, the Japanese government said. "Japan will strategically advance initiatives that protect the free and open Indo-Pacific through collaboration with like-minded countries," Suga said in an opinion article in the Wall Street Journal ahead of his departure. "A strong Japan is a prerequisite for a well-functioning alliance with the US and the foundation for Indo-Pacific peace and prosperity," he said. Suga and Biden are also likely to discuss the importance of peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait. Analysts say Japan is wary of supporting full Taiwanese independence - which China strongly opposes, seeing Taiwan as its territory. China is Japan's largest trading partner, and Japanese exports to Asia's largest economy accounted for 22 per cent of its total shipments last year. Tensions in the South China Sea could be another issue on the agenda. Last month, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin made their first overseas trip to Japan to hold talks with their Japanese counterparts - Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi and Defence Minister Nobuo Kishi. The four ministers reiterated their objections to China's "unlawful maritime claims and activities" in the South China Sea and shared their concerns about the human rights situation in Hong Kong and China's western region of Xinjiang, which is home to the Uighur ethnic minority. Tokyo has expressed concerns about a new Chinese law which allows Beijing's coastguard to use weapons on foreign ships. Chinese coastguard vessels were spotted near a group of uninhabited islets in the East China Sea every day for the past two months. The Japanese-administered Senkaku Islands are also claimed by China and Taiwan, where they are known as Diaoyu and Tiaoyutai, respectively. (dpa) Sophia Antipolis - 15 April 2021: An observational study in nearly 20,000 individuals has found that greater intake of red and processed meat is associated with worse heart function. The research is presented at ESC Preventive Cardiology 2021, an online scientific congress of the European Society of Cardiology (ESC).1 "Previous studies have shown links between greater red meat consumption and increased risk of heart attacks or dying from heart disease," said study author Dr. Zahra Raisi-Estabragh of Queen Mary University of London, UK.2,3 "For the first time, we examined the relationships between meat consumption and imaging measures of heart health. This may help us to understand the mechanisms underlying the previously observed connections with cardiovascular disease." The study included 19,408 participants of the UK Biobank.4 The researchers examined associations of self-reported intake of red and processed meat with heart anatomy and function. Three types of heart measures were analysed. First, cardiovascular magnetic resonance (CMR) assessments of heart function used in clinical practice such as volume of the ventricles and measures of the pumping function of the ventricles. Second, novel CMR radiomics used in research to extract detailed information from heart images such as shape and texture (which indicates health of the heart muscle). Third, elasticity of the blood vessels (stretchy arteries are healthier). The analysis was adjusted for other factors that might influence the relationship including age, sex, deprivation, education, smoking, alcohol, exercise, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, diabetes, and body mass index (BMI) as a measure of obesity. The researchers found that greater intake of red and processed meat was associated with worse imaging measures of heart health, across all measures studied. Specifically, individuals with higher meat intake had smaller ventricles, poorer heart function, and stiffer arteries - all markers of worse cardiovascular health. As a comparison, the researchers also tested the relationships between heart imaging measures and intake of oily fish, which has previously been linked with better heart health. They found that as the amount of oily fish consumption rose, heart function improved, and arteries were stretchier. Dr. Raisi-Estabragh said: "The findings support prior observations linking red and processed meat consumption with heart disease and provide unique insights into links with heart and vascular structure and function." The associations between imaging measures of heart health and meat intake were only partially explained by high blood pressure, high cholesterol, diabetes, and obesity. "It has been suggested that these factors could be the reason for the observed relationship between meat and heart disease," said Dr. Raisi-Estabragh. "For example, it is possible that greater red meat intake leads to raised blood cholesterol and this in turn causes heart disease. Our study suggests that these four factors do play a role in the links between meat intake and heart health, but they are not the full story." She noted that the study did not look into alternative mechanisms. But she said: "There is some evidence that red meat alters the gut microbiome, leading to higher levels of certain metabolites in the blood, which have in turn been linked to greater risk of heart disease." Dr. Raisi-Estabragh said: "This was an observational study and causation cannot be assumed. But in general, it seems sensible to limit intake of red and processed meat for heart health reasons." ### Authors: ESC Press Office Tel: +33 (0)4 89 87 20 85 Mobile: +33 (0)7 8531 2036 Email: press@escardio.org Follow us on Twitter @ESCardioNews Notes to editor Funding: Zahra Raisi-Estabragh is funded by the British Heart Foundation. The University of Barcelona receives funding from euCanSHare (EU Horizon 2020 Programme grant agreement No 825903). Disclosures: None. References and notes 1Abstract title: Higher consumption of red and processed meat is associated with adverse cardiovascular magnetic resonance morpho-functional phenotypes: A study of 19,408 UK Biobank participants. 2Sinha R, Cross AJ, Graubard BI, et al. Meat intake and mortality: a prospective study of over half a million people. Arch Intern Med. 2009;169:562-571. 3Kontogianni MD, Panagiotakos DB, Pitsavos C, et al. Relationship between meat intake and the development of acute coronary syndromes: The CARDIO2000 case-control study. Eur J Clin Nutr. 2008;62:171-177. 4The study was a collaboration between Queen Mary University of London, UK, the University of Barcelona, Spain, and the MRC Lifecourse Epidemiology Unit in Southampton, UK. The UK Biobank is a large-scale biomedical database and research resource, containing in-depth genetic and health information from half a million UK participants. About the European Association of Preventive Cardiology The European Association of Preventive Cardiology (EAPC) is a branch of the ESC. Its mission is to promote excellence in research, practice, education and policy in cardiovascular health, primary and secondary prevention. About ESC Preventive Cardiology 2021 #ESCPrev2021 ESC Preventive Cardiology 2021, formerly EuroPrevent, is the leading international congress on preventive cardiology and the online annual congress of the European Association of Preventive Cardiology (EAPC) of the European Society of Cardiology (ESC). About the European Society of Cardiology The European Society of Cardiology brings together health care professionals from more than 150 countries, working to advance cardiovascular medicine and help people lead longer, healthier lives. Information for journalists about registration for ESC Preventive Cardiology 2021 ESC Preventive Cardiology 2021 takes place 15 to 17 April online. Explore the scientific programme. * Free registration applies only to accredited press. * Credentials: A valid press card or appropriate letter of assignment with proof of three recent published articles (cardiology or health-related or referring to a previous ESC event). Read the ESC media and embargo policy. * The ESC Press Office will verify the documents and confirm by email that your press accreditation is valid. * The ESC Press Office decision is final regarding all press registration requests. London: Prime Minister Scott Morrison says there would be at least 1000 coronavirus cases in Australia every week if the international borders were to open, even when vulnerable people are vaccinated. Mr Morrison was asked by Perth radio 6PR to clarify Health Minister Greg Hunts comments earlier this week that international travel could remain off limits even if the entire population is vaccinated. Prime Minister Scott Morrison at a roundtable discussion on vaccines with GPs and AMA president Dr Omar Khorshid in Perth. Credit:Peter de Kruijff The Prime Minister also laid out future plans to allow Australians to travel overseas for business and funerals and potentially quarantine at home, before allowing mass travel again. But he said the nation had become used to dealing with no cases and opening the borders would end the national cabinets stated goal of zero community transmission of COVID-19. If we were to lift the borders and people were to come, then you would see those cases increase and Australians would have to become used to dealing with a thousand cases a week or more, Mr Morrison said. Our long-term vision is to expand our organizations endeavors in other African nations, especially in sub-Saharan Africa. We are helping people believe in a better society. -Orlyana Tantchou Led by their oldest sister, Orlyana Tantchou, four African American girls formed a nonprofit organization, No Limit International, to fight COVID-19 both in the U.S. and in Cameroon, West Africa, and then to pursue initiatives addressing gender inequality, youth development, hunger and poverty in sub-Saharan Africa. The Tantchou family found itself in shock along with the rest of the world a year ago when the COVID-19 pandemic forced countries globally to impose public-health lockdowns. It didnt take long before the Tantchou sisters Orlyana (17), Orlyanka (15), Orlyola (12) and Orlybella (8) decided they had to find ways to help people at home and abroad stay healthy. At first, Orlyana and her sisters all four are Girl Scouts learned to make face masks and batches of hand sanitizer. They created a logo for their effort, which they then put on t-shirts and caps to help rally others to take strong measures against the coronavirus. Next, they enlisted their familys help to incorporate No Limit International as a 501(c)(3) nonprofit in the United States, then initiated a fundraising campaign with family and friends who welcomed the initiative and helped raise money for the endeavor. Expanded Scope As the girls realized how poverty, hunger and other factors contributed to the impact of COVID-19, they expanded No Limit Internationals scope to focus on three priority initiatives in sub-Saharan Africa: gender equality, youth development, and fighting hunger and poverty. Gender Equality: No Limit International will organize workshops for young girls with specific themes and topics that emphasize their uniqueness and sense of self-worth. Some African cultures are gender biased and prevent girls from going to school, aspiring to equal opportunities or even dreaming of a future that includes more than marriage and making babies. Orlyana and her sisters want to provide education and campaign awareness platforms to give young girls in sub-Saharan Africa their own voice. Youth Development Programs: No Limit International will organize after-school programs for youth and enable them to acquire lifelong skills that enhance their overall fitness, social, emotional and intellectual abilities. Fighting Hunger and Poverty: No Limit International will organize seminars for rural populations that teach proper farming techniques to maximize crop production. They will also advocate for land-to-farm opportunities for underserved communities. Reducing poverty will improve public health by addressing malnourishment and related factors. No Limit International has helped more than 10,000 people so far in the U.S. and Cameroon, West Africa. The sisters hope to raise US$250,000 by the end of the year to help fund their global initiatives. The organization is approved as a tax-exempt nonprofit organization. Our long-term vision is to expand our organizations endeavors in other African nations, especially in sub-Saharan Africa, explained Orlyana Tantchou. We are helping people believe in a better society. The Tantchou sisters have created a website and blog for No Limit International that includes COVID-19 statistics, trends, expert advice, and frequent updates of their community engagement efforts: http://www.nolimitinternational.org. Highlights of Accomplishments: Made donations and provided face masks to homeless shelters, undocumented immigrants shelters, domestic violence and pregnant women shelters, and food pantries/distribution centers, as well as to Ronald McDonald House Charities of El Paso, which provides a home away from home to families of seriously ill children receiving medical care in El Paso, Texas. Donated face masks and sometimes hand sanitizers to the U.S. consulates of El Salvador, Peru, Guatemala, Costa Rica, Nicaragua, Honduras, Bolivia, Barbados, Paraguay, Belize and Panama. Visited the Navajo nation and donated face masks (including KN95s) for healthcare professionals. Donated face masks to the New Mexico Indian Affairs Department to help mitigate the spread of the virus in New Mexicos Native American communities. Designed and distributed a special and inspiring t-shirt and Teddy Bear to healthcare heroes and COVID-19 survivors. Recruited volunteers in Cameroon, West Africa, who understood the sisters vision and executed tasks locally. Initiated a campaign for a COVID-free school zone in Cameroon to promote a safe learning environment for students who had to go back to school despite the severity of the pandemic. Also donated masks, hand sanitizer, buckets and cartons of soap for hand washing, disinfectants, gloves, ThermoFlash thermometers. Additionally, more than 10,000 students were given educational fliers to learn about the virus and preventative measures. Built a well to serve as a handwashing station in a Cameroon community of 4,000 people that did not have easy access to water. The station is staffed daily by No Limit International volunteers. Collaborated with public health experts to deliver information sessions in prisons as well as to disabled and needy communities in Cameroon, on the dangers of the virus and the preventive measures required to reduce its spread; also donated face masks, hand sanitizer, disinfectants, and ThermoFlash thermometers during those sessions. Orlyana, who graduates from high school this year, has received the Girl Scouts highest level of recognition the Gold Award. She also received a Prudential Spirit of Community Awards Certificate of Excellence as a top-10% volunteer in the state of Texas, and is under consideration for the Presidents Volunteer Award. Additionally, she has attracted $4 million in full-ride scholarship opportunities from a number of colleges/universities that have already accepted her, although she has not yet decided which one to choose. About No Limit International No Limit International as a 501(c)(3) nonprofit based in El Paso, Texas, and Cameroon, West Africa, working to address public health and related issues in underserved communities both in the United States and in sub-Saharan Africa. New York, US (PANA) - Prevention is the best and only cure to stem the multiple, devastating and enduring consequences faced by survivors of sexual violence in conflict, especially as a brutal tactic of war, a senior UN official told the Security Council on Wednesday Download free sample report Key Highlights Offered in the Report: Information on how to identify strategic and tactical negotiation levels that will help achieve the best prices. Gain information on relevant pricing levels, detailed explanation on pros and cons of prevalent pricing models. Methods to help engage with the right suppliers and discover KPI's to evaluate incumbent suppliers. Request a free sample report for more information 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 the Acetone market. The report also aids buyers with relevant Acetone 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 fulfill their category objectives. Insights on buyer strategies and tactical negotiation levers. Key Drivers and Trends Fueling Market Growth: The pressure from substitutes and a moderate level of threat from new entrants has resulted in the low bargaining power of suppliers. Price forecasts are beneficial in purchase planning, especially when supplemented by the constant monitoring of price influencing factors. During the forecast period, the market expects a change of 2.00%-4.00%. Identify favorable opportunities in Acetone TCO (total cost of ownership). Expected changes in price forecast and factors driving the current and future price changes. Identify pricing models that offer the most rewarding opportunities. Some of the top Acetone suppliers listed in this report: This Acetone procurement intelligence report has enlisted the top suppliers and their cost structures, SLA terms, best selection criteria, and negotiation strategies. INEOS Group Holdings SA Mitsui & Co. Ltd. Royal Dutch Shell Plc Compania Espanola de Petroleos S.A.U Altivia Versalis S.p.A KUMHO P&B CHEMICALS INC. Honeywell International Inc. Saudi Basic Industries Corp. PTT Public Co. Ltd. Related Report on Materials Include: To get instant access to over 1000 market-ready procurement intelligence reports without any additional costs or commitment, Subscribe Now for Free. 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To know more: https://www.spendedge.com/request-for-demo Contacts SpendEdge Anirban Choudhury Marketing Manager Ph No: +1 (872) 206-9340 https://www.spendedge.com/contact-us SOURCE SpendEdge A thin blue line flag displayed at an Upstate New York school has sparked complaints. The Democrat & Chronicle reports the flag, a black-and-white version of the American flag with a blue stripe in the middle, stirred up controversy as it hung within a security office exterior window for several months at the Greece Central School Districts Odyssey Academy. Some critics argue its a racist symbol, while others say it shows support for police officers and other law enforcement. School Principal Jeff Henley acknowledged the display made some uncomfortable in a letter sent to the school community last week. The flag was removed last month, before spring break. We understand that this situation caused harm and we are committed to doing the work to repair that harm, Henley wrote. According to WROC, supporters and opponents of the flag debated the issue at a Greece school board meeting Tuesday. Several Black students spoke at the meeting, saying the flag made them feel unsafe. Corrinne Milne, a freshman at Greece Odyssey, called the flag nothing but a symbol for racism, hate and a counter movement toward Black Lives Matter. School is not the place for politics, added senior Faith Herd. Greece Central and Odyssey Academy needs to do more to make our Black and Brown students feel safe. Since when did we start condemning the police officers, and turn them into villains? one parent responded. What kind of example is that setting for students who have family members in law enforcement? According to the D&C, the controversy began last year when school security guards displayed paper versions of the thin blue line flag. Steve Chatterton, a retired Greece police captain and the districts security director, said they were taken down when students expressed concerns, but the guards then purchased a flag to display in their office. The thin blue line flags are not visible outside the school building, which only displays American and New York flags. WROC reports similar issues were raised in the fall when SUNY Brockport students complained about campus police using the thin blue line image on social media. SUNY Brockport University Police Chief Daniel Vasile said in October the school would no longer use the symbol because it had been recently appropriated by white supremacists and hate groups. WALLINGFORD A 38-year-old armed felon was taken into custody Wednesday after a standoff with authorities while holding a person hostage, police said. Chris Poach was arrested Wednesday and is being held on $1 million bond, police said. Police said they responded to the Wallingford home after receiving a complaint that Poach threatened to kill the victim and sparked a taser at the person. He also assaulted and restrained the victim from leaving, police said. When police arrived, Poach refused to leave and stated he had a gun, Wallingford police Sgt. Stephen Jaques said. At one point, officers on scene witnessed Poach point a long gun out of a window in the home, Jaques said. Poach eventually fled out the back door of the residence, carrying the weapon, according to police. After a foot pursuit, he was taken into custody. Police said they later found a live round in the chamber of the weapon. Poach accessed the firearm from a safe that was kept in the home by using a chainsaw to force it open. Jacques said. He was also found in possession of ammunition and body armor, police said. As a felon, police said Poach was not allowed to be in possession of these items. Poach was charged with first-degree reckless endangerment, second-degree threatening, third-degree assault, stealing a firearm, two counts of criminal possession of body armor, criminal possession of a firearm or electric defense weapon, and criminal possession of ammunition by a felon. He also faces charges of criminal mischief and breach of peace. Poach is scheduled to appear Thursday in state Superior Court in Meriden. According to Amnesty International, Eritrean soldiers opened fire on civilians in Ethiopias Tigray region, killing three people and wounding at least 19. By Nathan Morley According to Amnesty International, Eritrean soldiers opened fire on civilians in Ethiopias Tigray region, killing three people and wounding at least 19. Amnesty says the attack took place in Adwa on Monday, more than a fortnight after Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed said Eritrea had agreed to withdraw the forces. Eritrea sent soldiers to the northern Ethiopian region during the conflict that broke out there late last year. Eritrea has not commented on latest incident, but has previously denied reports Eritreans have committed mass killings and rapes. Thousands displaced In a separate development, the UN refugee agency says ethnic and tribal clashes in Sudans West Darfur region have forced nearly 2,000 people to into neighboring Chad. Renewed violence at the start of this month between Masalit and Arab tribes over land and water resources has killed scores of people, injured hundreds and displaced thousands. According to the UN, the clashes in the capital of West Darfur, have forced over 1,500 people mostly women, children and the elderly - to flee to Chad in the seven days. The latest arrivals join 145,000 existing refugees from Darfur. Conditions on the ground are dire, as people lack shelter and have to sleep in the open air. "Refugees arriving in Chad speak of houses and properties being destroyed, and of sites hosting displaced people being targeted. Some of the new arrivals had already been displaced by earlier clashes last year and in January this year as well," U.N. refugee spokesman Babar Baloch said. As it stands, U.N. aid agencies are urging the Sudanese government to deploy security forces to keep the peace in Darfur. Speaking to the media, Balloch says it is unclear from where the money to support the refugees will come as UNHCR has received just 16 percent of its appeal for humanitarian operations in Chad. She moved out of her parent's house in Sussex last month after becoming a first-time homeowner. And Amy Hart looked every inch the city girl as she strutted to a business meeting in London on Thursday. The Love Island star, 28, turned heads as she strolled along the street in a thigh-skimming floral dress from her amy&me clothes line and long black boots. These boots were made for walking: Amy Hart looked every inch the city girl as she walked to a business meeting in London on Thursday She accessorised with a collection of designer items, including a black belt with the iconic cross-G Gucci logo at the front. And the reality star toted an enviable Christian Dior saddle bag that has also been worn by a whole host of A-list celebrities, including Beyonce and Rihanna. Amy wore her blonde tresses down and clipped in a set of caramel extensions for the outing. She kept off the chill with a brown pink trench coat that featured stylish double-zipped pockets on the side. Business woman: The Love Island star, 28, turned heads as she strolled along the street in a thigh-skimming floral dress and long black boots Amy looked gorgeous in the thigh-skimming dress, which featured an abstract pink and black floral pattern. And she matched her makeup to her jacket as she sported a slick of pink brown lipstick. It was clear the former air hostess had already made it to the salon after lockdown restrictions eased on Monday as her nails were neatly manicured into sharp points. Belted up: She accessorised with a collection of designer items, including a black belt with the iconic cross-G Gucci logo at the front The outing comes after Amy revealed last month that she'd bought her first place. She shared an Instagram post dangling her keys that she captioned: 'Homeowner Now the fun begins! Tag some home inspo accounts I need to look at please!' It was a busy month for Amy, who also had her eggs frozen after doctors warned her she was heading towards an 'early menopause'. The Love Island star - who has never had a boyfriend - admitted that one of the key factors in her decision was because she didn't want to 'miss out' on having children when the 'right person' does eventually come along. The former air hostess was left devastated after previously spending 5,000 on two rounds of unsuccessful egg-freezing. Amy was left wondering if she should attempt IVF should her third attempt fail. Speaking to The Sun after her third attempt luckily proved a success, Amy discussed her desire to be a mum as she said: 'I have always wanted kids and cant see myself ever not having them. A-list accessory: The reality star toted an enviable Christian Dior saddle bag that has also been worn by a whole host of A-list celebrities, including Beyonce and Rihanna She continued: 'That is why I wanted to freeze my eggs now, while they are still young and healthy. 'When my first two attempts failed, it sent me into a panic about whether to do IVF and have a baby immediately, because the freezing was not working. 'I felt uncertain about what was going to happen if I went for the third round and it didnt work.' Luscious locks: Amy wore her blonde tresses down and clipped in a set of caramel extensions for the outing Chic: She kept off the chill with a brown pink trench coat that featured stylish double-zipped pockets on the side Meanwhile, the single star discussed her future and noted that although she's in 'no rush' for a romance, her frozen eggs means that she'll have have the option of starting a family when Mr Right does eventually come along. She explained: 'I would love to meet someone but I am in no rush. I have never had a relationship and there is no boy currently on the horizon. But if and when I do meet someone, I would never want to be in the position where I missed out on having children because I didnt meet the right person in time.' Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, April 15) The national government has the option to use its constitutionally mandated police power to take over hotels and use them as additional facilities to house COVID-19 patients, President Rodrigo Duterte said on Thursday. "I can even use the police power of the State. I can order authorities to take over operations of hotels kung wala na talagang mga kama (if there are no available beds)," Duterte stated in his national address. The police power of the State is provided under Article 12, Section 17 of the 1987 Philippine Constitution, allowing it to temporarily takeover an operation of any "privately owned public utility or business affected with public interest" in times of national emergency and when the public interest requires. "I am not without power. When we are pushed to the wall, I can always order the military and police to go there and confiscate the operation of hotels... but that is not really a remedy desired in a democratic state," Duterte said. The President promised to "clean" the hotels once the government is done using them as quarantine facilities for people infected with COVID-19. "After that, I will clean it up. I will decontaminate everything, like to its former glory," he said. In his national address last Monday, Duterte also floated the idea of ordering the police and military to take over hotels as he invoked the government's power to expropriate private businesses for public interest. "Government can expropriate 'yung mga hotels, motels, whatever kung kulang ang... ang mga halfway houses natin 'yong naghihintay (if we are lacking [in quarantine facilities]... and our halfway houses are waiting). So we kind of have the power. The government has the power to just expropriate. Puntahan na lang at sabihin gagamitin (We just go there and tell them we will use those)," the President said. Health Sec. Francisco Duque III told the President on Monday he has ordered hospitals to reserve hotel rooms that can house doctors and nurses who'll test positive for COVID-19. In an interview with CNN Philippines last April 5, Philippine College of Physicians Vice President Dr. Maricar Limpin appealed to Duterte to convert hotels into temporary hospital facilities amid the surge in COVID-19 cases in the country. Limpin explained this would help accommodate more COVID-19 patients with mild to moderate cases while lessening the burden of hospitals already admitting severe cases. Meanwhile, Philippine Hotel Owners Association president Arthur Lopez said all hotels in Metro Manila are already "fully booked" as the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration tapped them as quarantine facilities for returning overseas Filipino workers. He added hotel owners saw at least an 80% drop in revenues since the COVID-19 pandemic began. RELATED: Hotels in NCR Plus already exhausted, group rejects temporary hospital proposal The country's total COVID-19 cases rose to over 900,000 on Thursday with an additional 11,429 patients. The Health Department said 20% of the total 904,285 confirmed infections are currently sick or considered as active cases. The country has been listing over 100,000 ill patients daily since March 26. At least 96% of the active cases have mild symptoms, 2.8% have no symptoms, 0.5% are severe infections, 0.4% are in critical condition, and 0.30% are in moderate condition. Imperial Valley News Center Pawsitive Reinforcement: How Red Cross Animals Comfort Military Families Washington, DC - Driving down the highway, Linda Waterman spotted in the distance a hound dog meandering down the side of the road. Confused and concerned, she stopped and managed to coax the large animal into her car. After a lengthy visit to the veterinarian, the doctor gave her some insight into her new furry friends past. He shared that the dog would make it through, but his physical wounds would be permanent. He could tell that this dog had been used by someone to hunt bears in the Colorado mountains. Shaken but not discouraged, Waterman decided, war wounds and all, that this passerby would become a new member of her family. And thats when Jasper the hound dogs journey of helping others began. NEW LEASH ON LIFE Years and many therapy certification courses later, Jasper the Hound Dog became a staple at his local Army hospital. As part of the American Red Cross animal visitation program, he and his team visit wounded or ill military members and their families. Where theres an opportunity to lift spirits and warm hearts, they make sure to show up. ANIMAL VISITATION TEAMS Red Cross animal visitation teams, just like Jaspers, are active all over the world. The American Red Cross has animal visitation teams set up to support deployed military families stationed in the United States and overseas. From Walter Reed to VA facilities, furry Red Crossers are on the scene helping in a variety of ways. COVID-19 SUPPORT Over the last year, medical and military communities have been on the frontlines of the COVID-19 pandemic. Red Cross animal visitation teams have been by their side. When guidance changed, not allowing the teams inside access, they shifted gears. They switched to standing outside as a group with a round of smiles, tail wags and more to share their support. They made sure to be the first welcome and the last farewell of the day for rotating medical staff and patients in those grueling first few months. When the COVID-19 vaccines became available, they leapt into action. Today, donning their Red Cross vests and hospital badges, animal teams show up to lend courage and a welcome distraction to all of those in line or drive-thru waiting to get a vaccine. Medical staff are equally excited to have their favorite fur partners work alongside them. So much, in fact, that some hospital staff now have Red Cross dog standups inside their departments. These cardboard cutouts always bring a smile. A HEALING TOUCH Red Cross Dogs, just like Jasper, use their training and calming presence to help and heal. Waterman shares, I continue to be amazed by the number of persons who call out to Jasper- How are you doing big guy? Nearly all passersby smile down at him. Children squeal with glee and hug Jaspers neck. And frequently patients or medical staff will say, Jasper! How did you know I needed to see you today? Wherever they go, the Red Cross dogs turn heads, and people cant help but smile. Many people dont even realize the impact that animal therapy can make on their staff or patients but the effect is immense. And just like Jasper and his military patients have discovered, their outward wounds may be permanent but their road to recovery is helped along the way by those who care. About the American Red Cross: The American Red Cross shelters, feeds and provides emotional support to victims of disasters; supplies about 40 percent of the nation's blood; teaches skills that save lives; provides international humanitarian aid; and supports military members and their families. The Red Cross is a not-for-profit organization that depends on volunteers and the generosity of the American public to perform its mission. Ongoing protests over Daunte Wright's death have renewed debate over the tactics police use to control crowds and respond to civil unrest. Driving the news: Hundreds of demonstrators gathered for a fourth straight night in Brooklyn Center Wednesday. Law enforcement used flash-bang grenades and pepper balls to disperse the crowd as a 10 p.m. curfew set in. Unlike in recent nights, however, tear gas was not used, The Star Tribune reports. The state of play: Law enforcement officials say the tactics are necessary to restore order and protect residents and property when peaceful protests begin to devolve, but activists in Minnesota and beyond say the "militarized" response is overly aggressive, dangerous and actually risks inciting more violence. Context: Brooklyn Center City Council passed a resolution Monday banning the use of rubber bullets and tear gas by local police. Brooklyn Center Mayor Mike Elliott, who now directs the department, is also opposed. "We have to approach policing in a different way, in a more humane way," he said. But Elliott said operations in question were led by the Hennepin County Sheriff's office as part of Operation Safety Net, a "unified command" of state and local law enforcement units activated for Derek Chauvin trial security. What they're saying: State Patrol Colonel Matt Langer said earlier this week that the efforts to force the crowd to disperse were a response to "activities that lead toward a riot," such as setting off fireworks and throwing objects. "The behaviors we continue to see are unacceptable and we are not going to tolerate them," Langer added. Gov. Tim Walz also defended the response, calling the use of less-lethal force "thoughtful" and noting impacted protesters were "given the opportunity to peacefully disperse and chose not to." He's faced backlash from some fellow Democrats over the comments. Flashback: A study published in the New England Journal of Medicine tallied dozens of injuries caused by "less-lethal" weapons used for crowd control during the protests that followed George Floyd's killing. Several injured demonstrators have sued the Minneapolis Police Department over the use of force. The bottom line: The clashes are further raising tensions between protesters and police as Chauvin trial nears a close. The verdict has the potential to ignite even bigger protests and security responses across the Twin Cities. This story has been updated with additional details from Wednesday's protests. PRINCETON, N.J., April 15, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Miami International Holdings (MIH), the parent holding company of MIAX, today announced expanded roles for two key members of company senior management and the addition of two new vice presidents in MIAX Futures. The appointments will play a key role in MIH's futures and proprietary product expansion efforts. MIH is pleased to announce the following expanded roles for members of senior management: Mark G. Bagan has been named Executive Vice President, U.S. Futures Strategy of MIH. In this capacity, he will oversee the company's overall futures strategy. Bagan will also continue in his current role as President and Chief Executive Officer of the Minneapolis Grain Exchange (MGEX), an MIH exchange subsidiary. Joseph W. Ferraro III has been named President of MIAX Futures, LLC (MIAX Futures), an MIH subsidiary. In this role, he will participate in the management of the company's futures business, focusing primarily on the development, launch and marketing of new products, including financial, crypto and agricultural derivatives products. Ferraro will also continue in his current role as Senior Vice President, Deputy General Counsel of MIH. "MGEX and MIAX Futures occupy an increasingly important position within the MIH organization and will be key drivers to maximizing MIH enterprise value," said Thomas P. Gallagher, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of MIH. "We are focused on assembling the right leadership team to provide organizational direction and oversight of this exciting growth opportunity. Mark and Joe are proven senior executives and strong strategic thinkers, and will both play an integral role to ensure our success in this sector." Bagan and Ferraro join Mark Wetjen to oversee the company's futures expansion efforts. Wetjen was previously named Chief Executive Officer of MIAX Futures in 2020, in addition to being Executive Vice President, Futures and Innovative Products of MIH, and Executive Regulatory Liaison Officer. MIH is also pleased to welcome two new vice presidents to MIAX Futures: Thomas Jarck has been hired as Vice President, Proprietary Product Development of MIAX Futures. He will assist with propriety product development, marketing and education, focusing primarily on volatility products that will include options and futures on the SPIKES Volatility Index (SPIKES; Ticker: SPIKE), listed on MIAX and MGEX, respectively. Prior to his hiring, Jarck most recently served as a volatility products consultant to MIAX. He has over 25 years of equity derivatives trading and business development experience, working on several of the largest Wall Street bank equity index volatility trading desks in director and managing director roles, including Citigroup, Deutsche Bank, and Nomura. Matthew McFarland has been hired as Vice President, Derivatives Products and Business Development of MIAX Futures. He will assist with derivatives product development and marketing and business development. McFarland has over 20 years of financial markets and business development experience. Prior to joining MIAX Futures, McFarland worked at Cboe Global Markets for 13 years in various roles, including most recently as Vice President, Head of Futures. Commented Gallagher, "Tom and Matt are two key hires for us and their industry experience makes them excellent additions to the MIAX Futures team at a pivotal time in MIH's history. They will provide considerable support and resources to our futures and proprietary product development efforts, including assisting with the launch of derivative products on the SPIKES Volatility Index, and other products such as BRIXX Commercial Real Estate (CRE) Indexes and Corporate Tax Futures." For further information regarding MIAX, please visit www.MIAXOptions.com or contact MIAX Trading Operations at TradingOperations@MIAXOptions.com. Corporate Communications Contacts: Andy Nybo, SVP, Chief Communications Officer 609-955-2091 anybo@miami-holdings.com Natalie Kay, Karma Agency 215-790-7806 nkay@karmaagency.com About MIAX MIAX's parent holding company, Miami International Holdings (MIH), operates and manages Miami International Securities Exchange, LLC (MIAX), MIAX Pearl, LLC (MIAX Pearl) and MIAX Emerald, LLC (MIAX Emerald and together with MIAX and MIAX Pearl, the MIAX Exchange Group), the Minneapolis Grain Exchange, LLC, a Designated Contract Market (DCM) and Derivatives Clearing Organization (DCO), and the Bermuda Stock Exchange. The MIAX, MIAX Pearl and MIAX Emerald options exchanges leverage MIAX's industry-leading technology and infrastructure to provide their member firms with traditional pricing and pro rata allocation (MIAX), maker-taker pricing and price-time allocation (MIAX Pearl) market structures, and a hybrid market structure with maker-taker pricing and pro rata allocation (MIAX Emerald). MIAX serves as the exclusive exchange venue for cash-settled options on the SPIKES Volatility Index (Ticker: SPIKE), a measure of the expected 30-day volatility in the SPDR S&P 500 ETF (SPY). Under MIAX Pearl's exchange license, MIAX Pearl Equities provides its members with best-in-class performance through a combination of high determinism, low latency and high throughput. MIAX Pearl Equities has maker-taker pricing and a price-time allocation model. MIAX's executive offices and National Operations Center are located in Princeton, NJ, with additional offices located in Miami, FL. To learn more visit www.MIAXOptions.com. Disclaimer and Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements The press release shall not constitute an offer to sell or a solicitation of an offer to purchase any securities of Miami International Holdings, Inc. (together with its subsidiaries, the Company), and shall not constitute an offer, solicitation or sale in any state or jurisdiction in which such offer; solicitation or sale would be unlawful. This press release may contain forward-looking statements, including forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward-looking statements describe future expectations, plans, results, or strategies and are generally preceded by words such as "may", "future", "plan" or "planned", "will" or "should", "expected," "anticipates", "draft", "eventually" or "projected". You are cautioned that such statements are subject to a multitude of risks and uncertainties that could cause future circumstances, events, or results to differ materially from those projected in the forward-looking statements, including the risks that actual results may differ materially from those projected in the forward-looking statements. All third-party trademarks (including logos and icons) referenced by the Company remain the property of their respective owners. Unless specifically identified as such, the Company's use of third-party trademarks does not indicate any relationship, sponsorship, or endorsement between the owners of these trademarks and the Company. Any references by the Company to third-party trademarks is to identify the corresponding third-party goods and/or services and shall be considered nominative fair use under the trademark law. Logo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1396492/MIAX_Logo.jpg After all that my parents had both been through with health issues and having to spend time in a hospital doctors, nurses and health professionals cannot all be white, the woman said. I was sure they had experiences over the years that would have made them realize the color of somebodys skin, or the country they were born, had nothing to do with their humanity. [April 15, 2021] $125M Growth Round Fuels Keyfactor and PrimeKey Merger to Bring Machine Identity Management to the Mainstream CLEVELAND and STOCKHOLM, Sweden, April 15, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Keyfactor and PrimeKey today announced their intent to merge under the Keyfactor brand while committing to increased investments across all product lines. Keyfactor is the pioneer of PKI as-a-Service, and the recognized leader in certificate lifecycle automation and crypto-agility solutions. PrimeKeys EJBCA software offers the most powerful and flexible certificate authority (CA) supporting DevOps, IoT, manufacturing and enterprise use cases. The merger forms an industry-first machine identity management platform, combining Keyfactors certificate lifecycle automation with PrimeKeys EJBCA. The new platform will provide end-to-end machine identity management with flexible and highly scalable certificate issuance and automated deployment of machine identities across complex enterprise and emerging IoT and OT use cases. Now more than ever, enterprises must operate in a zero trust world, and machine identity management can no longer be ignored as part of an identity and access management (IAM) strategy, explained Jordan Rackie, CEO at Keyfactor. Keyfactors 50% year-over-year growth is a testament to the industrys imperative to secure every machine identity before it leads to loss of brand reputation, business outages or fines. The merger with PrimeKey amplifies the performance of the combined businesses across product offerings, distribution channels, expertise for our customers and large open source communities. Machine identity management was introduced by Gartner in its Hype Cycle for Identity and Access Management Technologies, 2020 report and recognized as a high benefit in IAM. Even though machine identities, such as keys, certificates and secrets continue to outnumber human identities (e.g., usernames and passwords), they are often left out of an IAM strategy. Keyfactor customers recognize that cryptography is the critical infrastructure to ensure digital trust and help CISOs achieve crypto-agility for their digital business. Our combined solutions now give customers unparalleled deployment choices including PKI as-a-Service, SaaS PKI (Azure, AWS, GCP), software appliance or FIPS 140-certified hardware, explained Magnus Svenningson, CEO at PrimeKey. These flexible deployment options give our customers the control to operate a single pane of glass across all their machine identities in hybrid and multi-cloud environments. Our EJBCA, SignServer and Bouncy Castle solutions are widely adopted by the developer community to integrate security in DevSecOps workflows and will remain pen source as we continue to bring cutting-edge innovations to our enterprise customers. PrimeKeys employees will join Keyfactor, creating an unprecedented mashup of talent in the identity management space. Jordan Rackie will continue leading the organization as CEO and Magnus Svenningson will assume the role of chief strategy officer (CSO) and executive vice president (EVP) of business development. The combined company will have a global presence with offices in the U.S., EMEA and Asia-Pacific. The transaction is expected to close within the next 90 days, pending approval by the Swedish authorities. The market is recognizing that securing machine identities is a fundamental pillar of a modern identity governance program, said Thomas Krane, principal at Insight Partners. The IAM market is shifting its focus from human to machine identities, and this merger positions Keyfactor to stay on the leading edge of this evolution. Independently, Keyfactor and PrimeKey offer a forward-thinking approach to conventional IAM. Combined, the companies deliver a future-proof management solution for every machine identity. This $125 million growth infusion, led by Insight Partners, adds to its initial $77 million investment in Keyfactor in 2019. About Keyfactor Keyfactor is the leader in cloud-first PKI-as-a-Service and crypto-agility solutions. Its Crypto-Agility Platform empowers security teams to seamlessly orchestrate every key and certificate across their entire enterprise. The company helps its customers apply cryptography in the right way from modern, multi-cloud enterprises to complex IoT supply chains. With decades of cybersecurity experience, Keyfactor is trusted by more than 500 enterprises across the globe. Built on a foundation of trust and security, Keyfactor is a proud equal opportunity employer, supporter and advocate of growing a trusted, secure, diverse and inclusive workplace. For more information, visit www.keyfactor.com or follow Keyfactor on LinkedIn, Twitter and Facebook. About PrimeKey PrimeKey is one of the worlds leading PKI and signing solutions providers and has developed several innovative products, including EJBCA Enterprise, SignServer Enterprise, PKI Appliance, PrimeKey SEE and Identity Authority Manager. As a pioneer in open-source security software, PrimeKey provides global businesses and organizations the ability to implement vital security solutions, such as e-ID, e-Passports, authentication, digital signatures, unified digital identities and validation. PrimeKey products are Common Criteria and FIPS-certified, the companys internal processes are ISO 9001, 14001 and 27001 certified and it has numerous Webtrust/ETSI and eIDAS-audited customers. PrimeKey has offices in Stockholm, Sweden; Aachen, Germany; San Mateo, USA; and Melbourne, Australia. With a global network of technology and reselling partners, PrimeKey supports a customer roster that includes industry-leading companies and institutions across the IT, telecommunications, industry, finance and public sectors. For more information, please visit www.primekey.com or follow on LinkedIn and Twitter. Media Contacts Keyfactor Jamie Walker Jamie.Walker@keyfactor.com 802.338.0817 MRB Public Relations (for Keyfactor) Angela Tuzzo atuzzo@mrb-pr.com 732.758.1100 PrimeKey Magnus Svenningson, CEO Magnus.Svenningson@primekey.com +46739639700 Tomas Gustavsson, CTO Tomas.Gustavsson@primekey.com +46707421096 Akima Media (for PrimeKey) Simon A. Lofflad simon.loefflad@akima.de +49 89 1795918-0 [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] Current Time has visited the intensive-care unit of a COVID-19 hospital in Kyiv, where a recent surge in infections means every single bed is full. Many patients arrive in critical condition and require mechanical ventilation of their lungs. Medical staff say they're battling difficult conditions and fatigue, while surviving patients speak of the trauma they have experienced. Democrat Donna Perdue, who ran unsuccessfully for Center District on the Board of Commissioners in 2018 and has since moved to Florida and Republican Jeff Larson, who served one term as an at-large member of the County Council and lost in a primary bid last year for North District commissioner, are the only two former candidates who have not filed the forms, officials said during an April 15 meeting. HELSINKI (dpa-AFX) - Finland's economic output declined for a third consecutive month in February, but at a softer pace, data from Statistics Finland showed on Thursday. Output of the national economy fell a working-day adjusted 0.6 percent year-on-year in February, after a 1.3 percent decline in January, which was revised from a 3.7 percent fall. On a seasonally adjusted basis, output rose 0.3 percent monthly in February. Data showed that the primary production grew about 5.0 percent annually in February. Secondary production rose by about 1.0 percent and services production declined by around 1.0 percent from a year ago. Separate data from the statistical office showed that the industrial turnover grew a working-day adjusted 6.2 percent year-on-year in February, after remaining unchanged in January. On a seasonally adjusted basis, industrial turnover gained 2.6 percent monthly in February. 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. A juvenile Brookesia micra standing on a human finger tip Credit: Frank Glaw, Jorn Kohler, Ted M. Townsend, Miguel Vences, CC BY 2.5, via Wikimedia Commons It is an old-standing theory in evolutionary ecology: animal species on islands have the tendency to become either giants or dwarfs in comparison to mainland relatives. Since its formulation in the 1960s, however, the 'island rule' has been severely debated by scientists. In a new publication in Nature Ecology and Evolution on April 15, researchers solved this debate by analyzing thousands of vertebrate species. They show that the island rule effects are widespread in mammals, birds and reptiles, but less evident in amphibians. Dwarf hippos and elephants in the Mediterranean islands are examples of large species who exhibited dwarfism. On the other hand, small mainland species may have evolved into giants after colonizing islands, giving rise to such oddities as the St Kilda field mouse (twice the size of its mainland ancestor), the infamous dodo of Mauritius (a giant pigeon), and the Komodo dragon. In 1973, Leigh van Valen was the first to formulate the theory, based on the study by mammologist J. Bristol Foster in 1964, that animal species follow an evolutionary pattern when it comes to their body sizes. Species on islands have the tendency to become either giants or dwarfs in comparison to mainland relatives. "Species are limited to the environment on an island. The level of threat from predatory animals is much lower or non-existent," says Ana Benitez-Lopez, who carried out the research at Radboud University, now researcher at Donana Biological Station (EBD-CSIC, Spain). "But also limited resources are available." However, until now, many studies showed conflicting results which led to severe debate about this theory: is it really a pattern, or just an evolutionary coincidence? Island rule confirmed The team of scientists at Radboud University, Donana Biological Station, National Museum of Natural Sciences and Imperial College London has revisited the island rule, aiming to solve this debate by performing a meta-analysis of over a thousand vertebrate species. They show that island rule effects are widespread in mammals, birds and reptiles, but less evident in amphibians, which mostly tend towards gigantism. The study also indicates that the magnitude of insular dwarfism and gigantism is more pronounced in smaller, more remote islands for mammals and reptiles. Size is context-dependent They also found an effect of climate and seasonality on the island rule. Small mammal and bird species grew larger and large species stayed the same size to conserve heat in colder, harsher insular environments. Furthermore, when seasons are present, availability of resources become less predictable for reptiles, leading smaller reptile species to become larger. Benitez-Lopez concludes, "Using a wealth of data from museum and live specimens, we were able to rigorously demonstrate for the first time that insular gigantism and dwarfism across vertebrates is a generalized pattern and not just an evolutionary coincidence." Explore further Miniature guttural toads on Mauritius and Reunion stun researchers More information: The island rule explains consistent patterns of body size evolution in terrestrial vertebrates, Nature Ecology and Evolution (2021). Journal information: Nature Ecology & Evolution The island rule explains consistent patterns of body size evolution in terrestrial vertebrates,(2021). DOI: 10.1038/s41559-021-01426-y Last Friday evening, Darrin Reay left his home in southwest Colorado to meet friends at a remote camping spot he loved surrounded by sandstone cliffs in the desert beyond Moab, Utah. When he arrived, he was alarmed to hear the suggestion of climbing a bolted route. Reay knew of no drilling on this certain slab, no anchors to hold climbers' clips. And that was for the good of ancient art on the rock above, left by Indigenous people more than 1,000 years ago. "I started climbing," Reay recalled, "and I look up, and all of a sudden I'm standing before a giant petroglyph with a line of bolts going right through the middle of it." He was "horrified and angry." He called his old mentor, Stewart Green, the Colorado Springs-based writer and historian who is something of an authority in American climbing, an advocate born from the sport's 1970s emersion in the West. Green couldn't believe it. "What the hell?" he remarked. Thus sparked an online storm of outrage that swirled with fears of lost privileges for climbers in the legendary desert, where long before them Ancestral Puebloans and Fremont people left their marks sacred places for descendants today, reminders of the culture that came first in the region. Bolts have since been removed from the outcrop known as Sunshine Wall north of Arches National Park. But damage to the petroglyphs is forever, said Elizabeth Hora, archaeologist for the Utah State Historic Preservation Office. Hora called damage "shockingly common" around the state. "And it's heartbreaking, and it's a little different every year," she said. "People are very creative in the way they damage things, which just means we don't have a very good understanding of what it is driving behaviors. "But we firmly believe here in our office that shaming and blaming is not the way to make change." She considered herself and colleagues "horrified" by what they read across social media: comments threatening to kill the perpetrator. Richard Gilbert, 36, of Colorado Springs has confessed guilt. Along with death threats, he told The Gazette someone proposed his hands be cut off. "I deserve it," he said of the scorn. "I'll take it." Late last month, Gilbert said, he posted a description of his bolted route that he called Peaches, rated a gentle 5.3. This description came with his mention of "graffiti." Upon reading comments to the post, Gilbert said he became convinced late Sunday that he mistook the images. Soon after, he said, he left the Springs to report to a ranger at Moab's Bureau of Land Management field office. Under the Archaeological Resources Protection Act, first-time violators could be fined up to $20,000 and imprisoned for up to one year. In a statement to The Gazette on Thursday, the BLM declined to provide details "as the placement of the climbing bolts is an active, ongoing investigation." The statement added: "We ask the public to let the appropriate authorities determine next steps. The BLM does not endorse harassment or threatening behavior." On Thursday, Gilbert said he had yet to hear from authorities. He said he was getting rid of his outdoor gear. "Kinda crazy," he said. "You're out there making some routes for some disabled guys and young kids, and then you're sitting in prison." Gilbert said he was medically retired from the military and had been climbing since 2006, traveling to crags around the country after becoming inspired through Wounded Warrior Project. In recent years, he had been bolting routes "so that there's better access for people not just with disabilities," he said, "but also for people learning to climb." While not illegal on all public land, bolting for the sake of low-grade routes is frowned upon in climbing circles. "Mistakes are made, and that doesn't make it any better I know," Gilbert said. "It's not. I made a mistake." They're happening more in Utah's archaeologically-rich landscape, Hora said. She said there was "an explosion" in 2020, the pandemic year marked by unprecedented outdoor crowds, which coincided with reports of spray paint and degradation also to sensitive geology around the Pikes Peak region. Malicious intent was rare in Utah's famed canyonlands and deserts, Hora said. "We make mistakes," she said. "And to be totally honest, my hands are not clean in this either. As an archaeologist here and someone who loves the outdoors and does care about archaeology and prehistoric rock art, I see I'm the one who didn't equip people with the information and knowledge to make good choices." That's the goal of the new, multi-agency Stop Archaeology Vandalism initiative. And it should be the goal among climbers, Green said. "Especially now with the increased number of use, we really need to adopt a Leave No Trace ethic," he said. "A lot of people nowadays are coming out of gyms, and they're having a lot of fun and not really thinking about all we have to do to be a responsible user group." In a joint statement condemning the bolts at Sunshine Wall, some of the nation's lead climbing organizations called archaeological education "essential," saying "the cultural and spiritual value of these places cannot be measured." Land managers have closed climbing areas for past infractions. Reay worried this one would represent another crack at the sport's existential core. "The history of rock climbing is someone did something crazy no one else had done before and risked their life doing it. I don't want us to have to ask for permission to do that," he said. "But at the same time, if people can't do it responsibly, we're gonna be regulated and not allowed to do it again." Born and raised on the Wind River Reservation in Wyoming, Reay considered Gilbert's act "sacrilegious." Reay called it "arrogant and ignorant." "My main reason for sharing the story is to try to educate other climbers and the public not to repeat these mistakes," Reay said. Gilbert said that was his aim, too. He said he has connected with advocacy groups to help spread the message. "There's no reason for this to have ever happened," he said, "and it definitely never needs to happen again." For all of his disorganization in other policy areas, Donald Trump had a pretty clear vision for Mideast policy: The U.S. would become closer to its allies and more hostile toward its longtime adversary, Iran. The Trump administration embraced Israel and Saudi Arabia, avoiding almost any criticism of their governments. That part of that strategy seemed to work. The new diplomatic closeness helped lead to the Abraham Accords, in which the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain became the first Arab governments in a quarter-century to recognize Israel. Trumps ambitions with Iran were also grand. He scrapped Barack Obamas nuclear deal, claiming that it was too weak and wouldnt keep Iran from developing nuclear weapons. In its place, Trump imposed harsh sanctions, predicting they would weaken Irans leaders, strengthen their domestic opposition and eventually cause Iran to come begging for a new (tougher) deal. Virtually none of that has happened. Iran never once came begging for a deal. They never even came to talk to the U.S., as the Timess David Sanger, whos been covering Iran policy since the 1990s, told me. Instead, Iran ramped up its nuclear program during Trumps presidency, potentially bringing it closer to having a weapon. Attorney General Merrick Garland, who was denied a SCOTUS nomination hearing in 2016. Photo: Bloomberg via Getty Images Congressional Democrats will unveil a bill to expand the number of justices on the Supreme Court from nine to 13 on Thursday. While the hopes for the bill to become law are dead on arrival, the effort could revive Democratic conversations to reform the court that gained momentum after Justice Amy Coney Barrett was rushed through the nomination process just before the election. The bill is sponsored by Vermont senator Ed Markey and House Judiciary Chairman Jerry Nadler of New York, and according to a press release, it will be announced outside the Supreme Court building among progressive activists from groups that advocate for SCOTUS expansion, including Take Back the Court, Demand Justice, and Indivisible. Speaking with NBC News, Brian Fallon, a former Senate leadership aide who co-founded Demand Justice, gave some perspective for the goal of the effort which will fail in a Senate in which two Democrats and 50 Republicans have already rejected the idea of court expansion. Our task now is to build a grassroots movement that puts pressure on every Democrat in Congress to support this legislation because it is the only way to restore balance to the court and protect our democracy, Fallon said. While a 13-member Court would be the largest in its history, the number of justices fluctuated over its first 80 years; since 1869, the number has held steady at nine. Republicans in recent years have also proposed a change to the number: In 2016, Ted Cruz proposed that the GOP-controlled Senate continue to block a Democratic nominee if Hillary Clinton were elected that November. Republicans blocked Merrick Garlands nomination in 2016 justifying the act because it was an election year then ignored that standard by rushing through confirmation of Amy Coney Barrett ahead of the 2020 election. The power balance on the court shifted to a 6-3 conservative majority under Donald Trump. Last week, President Biden announced a bipartisan, 36-member commission to appraise the merits and legality of particular reform proposals, including an expansion of the court or retiring the standard of lifetime appointments. The report is scheduled to be completed 180 days after its first public meeting. YEREVAN, 15 APRIL, ARMENPRESS. The Central Bank of Armenia informs Armenpress that today, 15 April, USD exchange rate up by 1.86 drams to 521.20 drams. EUR exchange rate up by 3.37 drams to 624.29 drams. Russian Ruble exchange rate down by 0.07 drams to 6.79 drams. GBP exchange rate up by 3.55 drams to 718.58 drams. The Central Bank has set the following prices for precious metals. Gold price down by 103.26 drams to 29082.55 drams. Silver price up by 7.86 drams to 424.45 drams. Platinum price up by 287.63 drams to 19773.22 drams. A rail crew has been left shaken after a goods train derailed in the early hours of the morning on the Sydney to Melbourne track. Emergency services were called to the scene at Bomen, near Wagga Wagga in the NSW Riverina, about 2:50am on Thursday. Train services between Sydney and Melbourne have been cancelled as a result, with passengers to travel the entire journey by bus instead. Images posted to social media show the track lifted up and twisted after a locomotive carrying five carriages derailed. A picture posted to Twitter of a goods train that derailed in the NSW Riverina on Thursday morning Emergency services were called to the scene at Bomen, near Wagga Wagga, about 2:50am There were two crew members on board the locomotive at the time of the derailment, with one treated for a minor cut. 'The train's crew are shaken but OK,' Fire and Rescue NSW posted on Twitter. 'The cargo is not hazardous and the train will be righted this morning.' A small diesel spill was cleaned-up by firefights as they were worked to clear the scene. An investigation will be carried out by the Australian Rail Track Corporation. Woodside Petroleum chairman Richard Goyder has assured investors the board is following a rigorous process in the search for the companys next CEO and is speaking with quality candidates both in Australia and overseas. Australias top oil and gas producer stunned the market earlier this week when the board said CEO Peter Coleman would step down at least two months sooner than planned. It appointed internal candidate Meg ONeill as acting chief executive, while the search for Mr Colemans replacement continued. Richard Goyder is chairman of Woodside Petroleum, Qantas and the AFL. Credit:Wayne Tyalor Industry analysts and insiders described the situation as messy and said the timing raised suggestions there may have been a falling out between Mr Coleman and the board that had triggered the earlier-than-expected departure. It was also speculated the changes could have been linked to an announcement by Santos managing director Kevin Gallagher considered to have been a candidate for the Woodside top job that he had decided to remain at Santos after being offered a $6 million incentive scheme. Other suggested potential candidates include ex-Shell Australia boss Zoe Yujnovich and BHP head of petroleum Geraldine Slattery. After more than a year of distanced learning, students of Cottonwood School of Civics and Science in South Portland returned to campus for the first time Monday. One thing, besides their face masks, was different: The schools play yard was closed, too contaminated with toxic chemical munitions to be used. Chemical weapons are serious, and the risk of exposure is immense, both immediate and potential long-term health consequences for those chemicals being in the air, in our soil, on the grass, in the environment around the school, said Multnomah County Commissioner Sharon Meieran during a news conference outside the school Monday afternoon. It is so troubling to me that chemical weapons have become a routine response to protest, and rather than an extraordinary measure taken only in the gravest of circumstances, said Meieran, who is also an emergency room doctor. For months, Cottonwood staff, parents, neighborhood residents and public officials have been pleading with federal agents to stop using chemical weapons to disperse protesters outside the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility next door. In addition to tear gas seeping into nearby apartment buildings, empty gas canisters and impact munitions have been collected from the streets and sidewalks around the building. Remnants of chemical munitions such as pepper balls are also routinely found littering the outdoor play area at Cottonwood. The potential risks of a child ingesting, inhaling or being exposed to one of these munitions led to the play areas closure. I can tell you as a parent I would be extremely worried, and as an emergency physician, if that child was brought into the emergency department, I would be extremely concerned, Meieran said. Meieran experienced the effects of tear gas firsthand when she attended a racial justice protest in July outside the federal courthouse in downtown Portland. It was excruciating, she said during a phone call Wednesday with The Oregonian/OregonLive. I was blinded for quite a while until some good Samaritans came up and doused my eyes with water. According to Meieran, tear gas attacks the mucous membrane of the eyes, nose, throat and lung and can cause severe pain and irritation, along with blindness, bleeding, crying and coughing. Exposure to tear gas can also exacerbate underlying conditions such as asthma and emphysema, and emerging evidence shows it can lead to miscarriage. The longer-term impacts of chemical munition exposure, particularly on children, have not been studied. We know this is a dangerous chemical weapon, particularly dangerous to people who are vulnerable, who are kids, and we dont know the long-term impacts, Meieran said. If we dont know that, we should be erring on the side of caution and protect those most at risk. For some Cottonwood parents like Kate Sharaf, the risk of chemical munition exposure has made them worry about bringing their children back onto school property. Its really, really scary to see the videos of all of the munitions being used and know that thats not just the visible things that we can see and pick up on the playground not just the pepper balls and the exploded and unexploded munitions but all of the chemicals that we see that are being gassed out [and] that are soaking into the school, Sharaf said during Mondays news conference. Its really heartbreaking to me to think of the contamination thats in that soil and just wonder when well be able to get that back. Coupled with the coronavirus pandemic, concerns about chemical munition contamination has added an extra layer of stress around reopening the school. In February, the schools executive director, Amanda McAdoo, sent a letter to the Department of Homeland Security and Immigration and Customs Enforcement, both of which work out of the building and respond to protests. In her letter, McAdoo asked federal agents to stop using chemical weapons in the neighborhood and assist with cleaning contaminated soil, surfaces, foliage and the building to ensure the students safety when they return for in-person learning. Dealing with this issue and the learning curve to address it has been overwhelming and has made reopening school harder than it should be, McAdoo said Monday. Local and state public officials have also raised concerns about the impact of chemical weapons used by federal agents in Portland. That includes the Multnomah County Board of Commissioners, which sent a letter in March to Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas asking for chemical weapons use to be prohibited in close proximity to schools and residential neighborhoods. State lawmakers including U.S. Sen. Ron Wyden, state Sen. Ginny Burdick and state Rep. Lisa Reynolds have written their own letters to officials at the Department of Homeland Security and U.S. Department of Justice. In a letter sent Aug. 5, 2020, to Justice Department and Homeland Security officials, Wyden questioned the use of chemical weapons. A week earlier, an investigation by Oregon Public Broadcasting revealed some Oregonians experienced irregularities in their menstrual cycles after being tear gassed, along with blurred vision, burning skin, choking and difficulty breathing. These reports are deeply disturbing and raise serious questions about the federal governments sustained use of tear gas during the occupation of Portland and during a global respiratory pandemic, Wyden wrote. Officials at the Justice Department and Department of Homeland Security have not responded to these letters and did not respond to requests for comment from The Oregonian/OregonLive. Concerned parents have organized as Cottonwood School Parents for a Chemical Weapon Free Neighborhood to pressure both federal agencies to end their use of chemical weapons both at the ICE facility and elsewhere in Portland. The group is collaborating with REACH Community Development, a nonprofit that provides affordable housing and manages Greys Landing, a residential building across the street from Cottonwood. In a letter sent March 8 to Justice Department and Homeland Security officials, REACH Community Development CEO chief executive Dan Valliere urged the federal agencies to stop using chemical weapons, citing the physical and mental health impacts theyve had on both neighborhood residents and REACH staff. At Greys Landing, we are experiencing unreasonable threats to safety of residents and severe disruption to the livability of the community, Valliere wrote, adding that REACH staff routinely clean up chemical materials and make repairs caused by chemical weapons without assistance from ICE. As recently as last weekend, federal agents used chemical weapons on protesters gathered outside the agencys South Portland facility. The next Monday, Cottonwood students and parents returned to school for the first time in person since last year, balancing both the immediate risks of coronavirus and the unknown possible side effects of being exposed to chemical munitions. It makes me really sad to know that in a year when our kids have been so resilient and theyve been through so much, Shafer said, from having to adapt to distanced learning to learning to wear masks and all of that, that theres one more thing thats being taken away from them. -- Catalina Gaitan; @catalinagaitan_ This article appears in the April 16, 2021 issue of Executive Intelligence Review. IV. Bidens Pre-War Crisis DEFENDER-EUROPE 21 EXERCISES An Explosive Mix Amidst a Ukrainian-Russian Confrontation [Print version of this article] View full size Left: cc/Vadim Chuprina; right: cc/Brookings Institution April 8The Biden Administration is playing with fire by stoking tensions between Ukraine and nuclear-armed Russia. The team that Biden has brought on board to deal with Russia and Ukraine is virtually the same team that was behind the coup in Kiev in 2014, about which then-Assistant Secretary of State for European Affairs, Victoria Nuland, chosen by Biden to be Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs, famously bragged that the United States had spent $5 billion to replace a pro-Russian administration with one that was more amenable to British-hatched nuclear chicken-game geopolitical schemes. That coup had the effect of elevating neo-Nazi groups in the tradition of Hitler collaborator Stepan Bandera into positions of dominance both in and out of the government. That reality has changed little since then, even with the 2019 change of administration from Petro Poroshenko to Volodymyr Zelensky. During her April 7 webcast, Schiller Institute founder Helga Zepp-LaRouche stressed that the context for the drive to contain both Russia and China is the onrushing collapse of the global financial system and the rise of the alternative economic possibilities with Chinas Belt and Road Initiative. She called the war danger amazing and noted that the escalation of tensions in the Donbas region comes as NATO forces are on the move all across Eastern Europe, including Ukraine, under the guise of the U.S. led military exercise, DEFENDER-Europe 21. Zepp-LaRouche told her audience: So, while Ukraine is not yet formally a NATO member, they practically push it in this direction, and President Zelensky just made an urgent call to join NATO more quickly, which brings it really to a threshold, because, if you remember the situation in 2014, when the Maidan coup happened, it was clear that Ukraine joining NATO is a red line for Russia, for obvious reasons. If NATO has access to the Black Sea, that makes Russia very difficult to defend. And naturally, the border is not very far from Moscow. This is extremely dangerous. The DEFENDER-Europe 21 maneuver is now in preparationlast years Defender 20 was planned to be the largest maneuver since the end of the Second World War; this years exercise is supposed to bein the middle of a lockdown! Here you have a pandemic and many countries in Europe are locked down, and clearly the infection rate is not under control, but they think they have to have a maneuver, very rapidly transporting large numbers of troops. This is creating all kinds of problems. There was just an interview in the German Lausitzer Rundschau newspaper, in which one of the generals said the bridges and the roads and railways are not prepared, many of these bridges cannot take a 50- or 60-ton tank, or a whole train of such tanks. So, they are now repairing these bridges and the railway lines with EU money! This is really an incredible situation, and I think we need to alarm the population. Most people are sleepwalking into something whose consequences can only end up in a catastrophe. View full size cc/Mstyslav Chernov U.S. Escalation The current escalation could be said to have been triggered by a February 26 White House statement attributed to Biden on the occasion of the seventh anniversary of the return of Crimea to Russia. The statement provocatively declared: On this somber anniversary, we reaffirm a simple truth: Crimea is Ukraine. The United States does not and will never recognize Russias purported annexation of the peninsula, and we will stand with Ukraine against Russias aggressive acts. We will continue to work to hold Russia accountable for its abuses and aggression in Ukraine. The United States still believes in the promise of Ukraine and we support all those working towards a peaceful, democratic, and prosperous future for their country. On April 2, President Biden spoke with Ukrainian President Zelensky by phone and affirmed the United States unwavering support for Ukraines sovereignty and territorial integrity in the face of Russias ongoing aggression in the Donbas and Crimea. The DEFENDER-Europe 21 exercise was kicked off on March 15 and it will be the largest exercise of its kind in Europe since the days of the annual Reforger exercises during the Cold War. Its 2020 predecessor was scaled back considerably because of the COVID 19 pandemic. This years iteration of the exercise will involve more than 28,000 troops from 26 nations which will conduct nearly simultaneous operations across more than 30 training areas in a dozen countries between May and June. According to the U.S. Army Europe and Africa press release, equipment and personnel were to begin moving from the United States in March, and participating units were to begin drawing Army prepositioned stock from sites in Germany, Italy, and the Netherlands. It will include four sub-exercises and two other training events, one of whichcalled African Lionwhich will take 5,000 troops from 24 nations to Morocco for training on medical readiness, large-scale live-fire exercises and air, maritime and forward command post training exercises. View full size cc/Voices of Ukraine A Hoped-for War? The Army release says that exercise demonstrates our ability to serve as a strategic security partner in the western Balkans and Black Sea regions while sustaining our abilities in northern Europe, the Caucasus, Ukraine and Africa. The explosive hot-war potential of this can be seen in the April 4th words of the representative of Ukraine in the Trilateral Contact Group on Donbas, Alexey Arestovich, who claimed that the purpose of the exercise is to plan out a military confrontation with Russia. He said: A large-scale NATO exercise called Defender Europe 2021 has begun, which means protect Europe. The scenario is that from the Baltic sea to the Black Sea, we are practicing for, well, lets put it directly, the war with Russia, the scenario of armed confrontation with Russia. The active phase of these exercises is May-June, and now the preparation has begundeployment of forces, logistics, transfer of equipment, which is also an element of the exercise. U.S. and allied military deployments into Russias environs outside of the DEFENDER-Europe 21 events also continue. American, British, and other NATO intelligence gathering aircraft are regularly seen over the Barents Sea north of the Kola Peninsula near the complex of military bases in the Murmansk region and over the Black Sea off the coast of Crimea, as well as other areas, at the rate of 30-50 per week according to the Russian Defense Ministry. U.S. Navy exercises in the Black Sea also continue at a high rate. CNN, citing an unnamed U.S. defense official, reported that the U.S. is considering sending warships into the Black Sea in the next few weeks in a show of support for Ukraine amid Russias increased military presence on Ukraines eastern border. The U.S. Navy routinely operates in the Black Sea, but a deployment of warships now sends a specific message to Moscow that the U.S. is closely watching, the defense official is reported to have said. One day later, TASS reported that the Turkish Foreign Ministry had notified member states, under the 1936 Montreux Convention, that two U.S. warships planned to enter the Black Sea through the Bosporus on April 14-15 and stay until May 4-5. Zelenskys Flight Forward Towards NATO At the same time, the level of violence along the line of contact between the Ukrainian army and the militias of the two breakaway republics, the Donetsk, and Luhansk Peoples Republics, has been escalating. On March 26, the Ukrainian government in Kiev claimed that four of its armys soldiers had been killed and two others wounded by shelling from the Donetsk Peoples Republic in Shumy, a village on the line of contact about 40 km north of Donetsk city, seizing the attention of senior American officials in Europe and Washington, the New York Times reported. It was reported that U.S. European Command raised its watch level from possible crisis to potential imminent crisis, its highest level, in response to the deployment of Russian troops, a move which Pentagon spokesman John Kirby refused to confirm or deny. Interestingly, the daily reports of the OSCE Special Monitoring Mission in Ukraine make no mention of the kind of engagement claimed by the Ukrainian side. Its report for March 26 notes a ceasefire violation, characterized as a burst of machine gun fire, about 8.5 km west northwest of Horlivka, the town immediately to the east of Shumy, but thats it. There appears to be no evidence, beyond the assertions of the government in Kiev that the incident even happened. Based on these events, real or imagined, Zelensky went into a flight forward mode in demanding the early entry of Ukraine into NATO. On April 6, he called both NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau as part of this effort and British Prime Minister Boris Johnson the day before. In recent weeks, we have seen a very dangerous tendency to increase the number of ceasefire violations by the Russian occupation forces and the number of Ukrainian defenders killed, Zelensky told Stoltenberg, the Ukrainian readout of the phone call reported. Zelensky thanked the Secretary General for the Alliances attention to the security situation around Ukraine and called on NATO members to pay more attention to security issues in the Black Sea and to strengthen their military presence in the Black Sea region, stating: Such a permanent presence should be a powerful deterrent to Russia, which continues the large-scale militarization of the region and hinders merchant shipping. Zelensky stressed that the most urgent issue in relations with NATO for Ukraine was the possibility of obtaining the NATO Membership Action Plan (MAP), saying: We are committed to reforming our army and defense sector, but reforms alone will not stop Russia. NATO is the only way to end the war in Donbas [emphasis added]. Ukraines MAP will be a real signal for Russia. In Washington, when the various administration spokespeople at the White House, State Department and Pentagon were asked about Zelenskys lobbying effort, they all expressed support for Ukraines aspirations but in effect all said, no comment. Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova, in the most recent of several Russian statements on the situation in the Donbas and Zelenskys drive for NATO membership, warned on April 9 that Ukraines accession to NATO will lead to disaster. She said: We have taken note of a statement by Ukrainian President Zelensky, who visited Donbas yesterday and said that the countrys accession to NATO would supposedly help end the conflict in the region. However, contrary to Kievs expectations, potential NATO accession will not only fail to bring peace to Ukraine but will, by contrast, lead to a large-scale rise in tensions in the southeast, possibly causing irreversible consequences for Ukraines statehood. We once again call on the Kiev authorities to adopt a responsible approach and finally start implementing their obligations under the Minsk Package of Measures. the bellicose intentions of Kiev, [are] still guided by the illusion that the there can be a military solution to the conflict in the countrys southeast. Troops and military equipment are being deployed to the region and mobilization plans are being updated. Ukrainian media outlets are whipping up hysteria based on the myth of the Russian threat, claiming that Moscow has plans to attack Ukraine in the near future. Kievs Western sponsors openly support most of the developments. "Structuring a board of directors or board of advisors is a must for every company no matter the size or success," said Author Martin Rowinski. "I wrote this book hoping I can help businesses succeed by giving them tips, strategies and case studies that prove why it is vital that every company has a diverse board." Martin Rowinski is renowned for being the global corporate matchmaker. As Co-Founder and CEO of boardsi, Martin is an expert at connecting executives to paid board positions and finding the perfect match for his clients. This book explains why companies need a board of directors or board of advisors and dives into strategies you can use to grow your business. No matter your profession, you need this book to help guide you through important steps in your career. ABOUT THE AUTHOR Martin Rowinski is a technology executive with more than 25 years of leadership experience. His career has focused on developing and implementing strategic processes, deploying new products to streamline services, and improving growth in lead generation and sales in the fields of recruiting, finance, technology, marketing, and mortgage lending. He has served as a CTO and is currently CEO of the executive recruitment firm, boardsi, which leads the way for executives to connect with companies assembling boards of directors and boards of advisors. ABOUT BOARDSI Boardsi is a modern recruiting company providing executives with board/advisory positions and companies with top talent. Through advanced technology, human connection and an extensive private network, we help revolutionize businesses and grow careers. Contact: Alex Lauderdale 925.813.2093 [email protected] SOURCE boardsi Related Links boardsi.com Questions over the recent, temporary moratorium on Johnson & Johnsons single-shot vaccine dominated the last few days. The Houston Chronicles COVID-19 Help Desk is here to answer your questions. Every week, a Chronicle reporter answers readers coronavirus questions about how the virus works. This week, we tackle the Johnson & Johnson pause, as well as questions on Ramadan, allergies and Gov. Greg Abbotts recent, false claims about herd immunity. I had an appointment for a Johnson & Johnson shot. What do I do now? On Tuesday, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention advised health agencies to pause use of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine after six people suffered serious blood clots within a few weeks of receiving it. Texas Department of Health Services issued similar guidance, and Houston and Harris County public health agencies said theyll hold off on distributing doses until further notice. The areas major hospitals have largely been unaffected, however, as most either were rarely if at all using that vaccine or have enough Pfizer or Moderna doses to hold them over for the near future. Neither Methodist Hospital or UT Healthy used the vaccine; Memorial Hermann said it has only given out 200 doses to date, and so will be unaffected. With rare exceptions, major hospitals in the area have not been allocated the Johnson & Johnson vaccine, said Dana Benson, director of communications for Baylor College of Medicine. It has been allocated mainly to FEMA, retail pharmacies and the Harris County Health Department. The pause, Benson continued, has had virtually no impact on the hospitals operations. On HoustonChronicle.com: Texas has fully vaccinated 20 percent of residents. St. Joseph Medical Center, which had more of the one-shot option than most major hospitals in the region, said Tuesday it will continue administering Pfizer or Moderna doses. St. Lukes Health, meanwhile, said it has canceled all upcoming appointments for the Johnson & Johnson vaccine. Patients who were scheduled to receive their vaccine at St. Lukes Health-Brazosport Hospital are advised to contact vaccineclinic@brhstx.org to reschedule their appointment. Patients who were scheduled to receive their vaccine at St. Lukes Health-The Vintage Hospital are asked to contact Grace.Wendel@Commonspirit.org. St. Joseph Medical Center, which had among the highest number of the vaccine, said Tuesday it will continue administering Pfizer or Moderna doses. Hospital officials and other health experts continue to stress that theres no need to panic. They note that the six reported cases account for a tiny fraction of the roughly 6.8 million doses that have been doled out nationwide. Youre much more likely to die in a car crash than you are to have a bad reaction, said Dr. H. Dirk Sostman, president of the Academic Institute at Houston Methodist. Does wearing a mask help with seasonal allergies? Yes which is especially good news in Houston right now. The recent ice storm killed much of the regions vegetation, thus pushing the start of tree pollen season into April, when grass pollen typically spikes. That gives all the more reason to wear a mask. On HoustonChronicle.com: Having a bad allergy season? Blame the ice storm. Anything that reduces your exposure to airborne allergens, such as masks, will reduce your allergy symptoms by blocking exposure to the agent you are allergic to, said Dr. David Corry, professor of medicine in the section of immunology, allergy and rheumatology at Baylor. He said masks have been recommended to combat allergies long before COVID-19. Of course, masks will do little to protect from eye allergies. For that, the best bet is standard allergy medicine or shots. Is it OK to get a vaccine during Ramadan? Yes. Muslim leaders have routinely said that a vaccination does not count as breaking the daytime fasts that Muslims undergo throughout the holy month, which began on Monday. Preservation of life is paramount in the faith, and therefore, getting the vaccine is acceptable, one Muslim leader told the Los Angeles Times.. Its not providing you with any form of nutrition, its not remedying a sort of an immediate malady or sickness or whatever, and its doing something to help preserve your life. So the majority of scholars that Ive read have said ... you can go ahead and get the vaccine. How close are we to reaching herd immunity? While Gov. Greg Abbott said this week that Texas is very close to reaching herd immunity, that doesnt track with an overwhelming consensus among experts. They say more than 70 percent of a population needs to be vaccinated to reach herd immunity. In Texas, were at about 20 percent, as of this week. Meanwhile, there are still large disparities in vaccination rates between many rural and urban counties in Texas, as the Chronicle reported last week. Experts continue to warn that, absent more outreach and efforts to communities that are either skeptical of or dont have the means to get a vaccine, it will be a long time until we hit that threshold. robert.downen@chron.com Source: Xinhua| 2021-04-15 16:22:57|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close LOS ANGELES, April 14 (Xinhua) -- A research project led by the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) found that neighborhoods in Los Angeles County with poor air quality had the highest death rates from the coronavirus. The paper, titled "Spatial Analysis of COVID-19 and Traffic-Related Air Pollution in Los Angeles" from the Fielding School of Public Health, was scheduled to be published in the August edition of the peer-reviewed journal Environment International, and is now available online. Michael Jerrett, a professor of environmental health sciences at the school and the project's leader, was quoted by the local NBC4 news channel as saying that the findings implied a potentially large association between exposure to air pollution and population-level rates of COVID-19 cases and deaths. "These findings are especially important for targeting interventions aimed at limiting the impact of COVID-19 in polluted communities," he said. The research said recent evidence from China, Italy, England, and the United States suggested that exposure to air pollution may play a role in COVID-19 incidence and deaths, and such phenomenon could be explained by two factors. On one hand, "air pollution, including traffic-related air pollution (TRAP), is associated with many respiratory morbidities," the paper read. "Nitrogen dioxide (NO2), a tracer of TRAP generated from tailpipe emissions, has been found to impair the function of alveolar macrophages and epithelial cells, thereby increasing the risk of lung infections." On the other hand, age, race or ethnicity, and other sociodemographic characteristics appeared to impact COVID-19 infection rates, severity, and associated deaths as well, the paper emphasized, noting one example of the findings: Los Angeles County neighborhoods with the worst air quality saw a 60 percent increase in COVID-19 fatalities, compared with communities with the best air quality. "Compared to non-Hispanic whites, cumulative COVID-19 hospitalization rates for Black and Latinx populations are approximately 4.7 and 4.6 times higher in the U.S., respectively." it said, adding black and Latinx populations are disproportionately exposed to the fatal disease because they are more likely to serve as essential workers, have a higher prevalence of metabolic disorders and are more likely to live in areas where there is greater air pollution. "In the U.S., more polluted communities often have lower incomes and higher proportions of Black and Latinx people," co-author Jonah M. Lipsitt, a researcher with the Fielding School's UCLA Center for Healthy Climate Solutions, told NBC4. Enditem A man walks beside the statue of Confucius at the Confucius Temple in Beijing, China, on Sept. 28, 2010. (Liu Jin/AFP/Getty Images) Germanys University of Trier to Suspend Its Confucius Institute The German University of Trier will suspend all activities of the Beijing-controlled Confucius Institute (CI) on its campus, coming after the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) sanctioned European agencies and individuals who expressed support for oppressed Uyghurs in Chinas Xinjiang Province. The university in a recent statement expressed concern over recent steps taken by the Chinese regime to restrict freedom by imposing sanctions on numerous scholars throughout Europe and also on the Mercator Institute for China Studies (MERICS). The freedom of research and teaching is an invaluable asset, the statement read. The Basic Law of the Federal Republic of Germany explicitly emphasizes this freedom in Article 5. The university described its decision to suspend the operation of its partnering CI as a sign of protest and solidarity towards colleagues at home and abroad who are affected by the sanctions. In March, the Chinese regime proclaimed retaliatory measures against 10 Europeans and four European entities immediately following the European Unions decision to impose sanctions on CCP officials and entities responsible for the worsening human rights situation in Xinjiang. The four organizations targeted by the CCP are the Political and Security Committee of the Council of the European Union, the Subcommittee on Human Rights of the European Parliament, the Mercator Institute for China Studies (MERICS) in Germany, and the Alliance of Democracies Foundation (AoD) in Denmark. We will never give in to bullying by authoritarian states, said AoD Founder Anders Fogh Rasmussen in a March 22 response to the sanctions. Our work to promote freedom, democracy and human rights around the world will continue. He added that Chinas recent move has once again highlighted the urgent need for democracies to join hands in stemming the tide of autocracy in the world. A gate of what is officially known as a vocational skills education centre is photographed in Dabancheng, in Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, China, on Sept. 4, 2018. (Thomas Peter/Reuters) Controversy remains around the network of CIs because they are overseen by the CCPs Ministry of Education. The institutes are accused of restricting freedom of speech and research by excluding sensitive topics like human rights and religious beliefs. They are also committing discrimination in recruitment policies, according to Doris Liu, an independent filmmaker and journalist. Therefore, they have been met with growing resistance in many democratic countries. In June 2014, the American Association of University Professors (AAUP) issued a statement urging American universities to cease their collaboration with the CI unless the universities can have unilateral control of the academic affairs, that the teachers in CIs can have the same academic freedom enjoyed by other university faculty members, and that the agreements between universities and CIs are available to the community. The AAUP statement was widely picked up by U.S. media and prompted extensive debate in the United States. As of late March, 74 CIs in the United States have been closed or were in the process of closing, according to a report by the U.S. National Association of Scholars (NAS). Of the 50 remaining CIs in the country, eight were scheduled to close, the report said. Liu told The Epoch Times on April 12 that the move marks a trend of the world scrapping Confucius Institutes. She noted that the CCPs CIs are far more than language or culture teaching agencies. Though we cant say all faculty working for them are CCP spies, they are indeed a tool of the United Front and are working in the CCPs interests via social networking in the West. Liu also revealed that intelligence agencies in multiple countries have reported CI faculty members to their governments for their suspected activities. Lius documentary, In the Name of Confucius, focuses on the CCPs influence seeping into Western colleges and universities. The film has been published in 12 languages and released in around 20 countries. Liu also warned that given the current influence of the CCP on foreign campuses, democracies should guard against its infiltration through other channels, even if CIs are officially cancelled. New Delhi: When plotted on a graph, the curve of Bhutans COVID-19 vaccination drive shoots upwards from the very first day, crossing Israel, the United States, Bahrain and other countries known for vaccinating people rapidly. Those countries took months to reach where they are, painstakingly strengthening their vaccination campaigns in the face of rising coronavirus cases. But the story of Bhutan's vaccination campaign is nearly finished just 16 days after it began. The tiny Himalayan kingdom wedged between India and China has vaccinated nearly 93% of its adult population since March 27. Overall, the country has vaccinated 62% of its 800,000 people. ALSO READ: Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal announces weekend curfew to curb COVID-19 spike The rapid rollout of the vaccine puts the tiny nation just behind Seychelles, which has given jabs to 66% of its population of nearly 100,000 people. Its small population helped Bhutan move fast, but its success has also been attributed to its dedicated citizen volunteers, known as desuups, and established cold chain storage used during earlier vaccination drives. Bhutan received its first 150,000 doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine from neighboring India in January, but the shots were distributed beginning in late March to coincide with auspicious dates in Buddhist astrology. The first dose was administered by and given to a woman born in the Year of the Monkey, accompanied by chants of Buddhist prayers. ALSO READ: Here's what to do when you feel feverish or get swelling after taking COVID-19 vaccine Let this small step of mine today help us all prevail through this illness, the recipient, 30-year-old Ninda Dema, was quoted by the country's Kuensel newspaper as saying. Dr. Pandup Tshering, secretary to the Ministry of Health, said jabs were still being provided to those who could not get vaccinated during the campaign period and that the country had enough doses to cover its entire population. Bhutan has recorded 910 coronavirus infections and one death since the pandemic began. Bhutan has a mandatory 21-day quarantine for all people arriving in the country. All schools and educational institutions are open and are monitored for compliance with COVID-19 protocols, Tshering said. Bhutan is the last remaining Buddhist kingdom in the Himalayas. But the country has transitioned from an absolute monarchy to a democratic, constitutional monarchy. Live TV They could actually be going into a series of exercises starting anytime, or they could, if they chose to, perhaps do a limited objective attack, said Lt. Gen. Scott D. Berrier, the director of the Defense Intelligence Agency. We dont know what the intent is, right now. Both Russia and China have been blamed for conducting cyberoperations that compromised broad sections of the software supply chain. Lawmakers asked Ms. Haines and Gen. Paul M. Nakasone, the director of the National Security Agency, about the Russian hacking, which penetrated nine federal agencies, and another by China that compromised Microsoft Exchange servers. The Biden administration is expected to respond to the Russian hacking soon, most likely with sanctions and other measures. Ms. Haines said Russia used hackings to sow discord and threaten the United States and its allies. Russia is becoming increasingly adept at leveraging its technological prowess to develop asymmetric options in both the military and cyberspheres in order to give itself the ability to push back and force the United States to accommodate its interests, she said. Lawmakers also raised the issue of a series of mysterious episodes that have injured diplomats and C.I.A. officers overseas. Some former officials believe Russia is behind the episodes, which they have called attacks. Mr. Burns said he was working with his colleagues to ensure better medical care for C.I.A. officers. He also said he was working to get to the bottom of the question of what caused these incidents and who might have been responsible. Questions on China dominated the earlier Senate confirmation hearings for Ms. Haines and Mr. Burns, and lawmakers again pressed on Wednesday for assessments on China and its efforts to steal American technology. Ms. Haines outlined how China uses technological might, economic influence and other levers of power to intimidate its neighbors. China is employing a comprehensive approach to demonstrate its growing strength and compel regional neighbors to acquiesce to Beijings preferences, she told senators. A Pornhub logo is displayed at the company's booth during an expo in Las Vegas on Jan. 24, 2018. (Ethan Miller/Getty Images) Advocates Want Action Against Montreal-Based Pornography Giant With increased concern of online exploitation during the pandemic, womens advocates are demanding government action against Pornhub, a Montreal-based pornographic video-sharing platform owned by MindGeek. Controversy has arisen around the company in recent months amid allegations of sharing images without consent, including child sexual abuse images, which the company denies. The London Abused Womens Centre (LAWC) in southwestern Ontario helps women and teenage girls who have been abused by their intimate partner or a sex purchaser. Executive director Megan Walker told The Epoch Times that exploited sex workers have shifted to computer screens during the pandemic. We have seen an increase in the number of women who used to be trafficked into hotels and motels along the 400 series highways but are now being trafficked to pornography, she said. Walker said that young teens are also being exploited. During the first six weeks of COVID, we had six parents call us, Walker said. Some of their daughters were on the internet and were lured by men who identified as boys who were interested in them to take off their clothes and do sexual things. On Feb. 19, Walker testified before the House of Commons standing committee on access to information, privacy, and ethics that 143 women told LAWC last year that technology was used in their assault and another 64 reported that pornography was prevalent in their relationship and oftentimes they were forced to play out the scenes in pornography. She also described for the committee the harm that the women helped by her organization have experienced in relation to Pornhub. One of the women we served, who was involved with Pornhub, wrote that it was soul destroying to find videos of me on Pornhub. Discovering how readily available they were broke me. Being hit with the reality that anyone could see the darkest points of my life nearly killed me, Walker said. One of the common themes that we hear from victims of pornography who are not able to have their pictures or images removed is that they feel incredible shame and are oftentimes suicidal, she noted. It took The New York Times article for Pornhub to remove millions of videos after an investigation showed a large number of them featured underage girls and non-consenting and trafficked women and girls. Pornhub is complicit in the trafficking of women and girls. The New York Times had published an in-depth opinion piece by Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Nicholas Kristof in December 2020 titled The Children of Pornhub: Why does Canada allow this company to profit off videos of exploitation and assault? Trauma In an earlier session on Feb. 1, Serena Fleites a young woman from California, testified that a nude video of herself that she had made in Grade 7 and sent to her boyfriend, following his constant urging, was later uploaded to Pornhub. Fleites said it took weeks for Pornhub to remove the video after she requested it, and it kept being uploaded over and over and over again. At the end of the day, they really dont want to remove the videos. In reality, their whole process should have been, from the beginning, having people verify their age and identity before the video can even be uploaded, she said. In the same session, Michael Bowe, a lawyer based in New York, said his firm has been investigating hundreds of cases similar to that of Fleites. Included in their investigations, he said, are cases of adult women who were raped and the rape was videotaped and put on Pornhub, of trafficked women who have had their videos put on Pornhub, and all sorts of other non-consensual content that has been put on Pornhub. MindGeek CEO Feras Antoon told the committee in a Feb. 5 session that child abuse material has no place on our platform. He also said the company has removed a large portion of unverified user-uploaded content, and that they have content today only from verified uploaders. Walker told The Epoch Times that the experience is traumatic for the women whose images end up online without their consent. We have women in our office who identify as being suicidal as a result. Theyve felt ashamed. Many of them wont leave their home. Some men will post it with the womans phone number and address, so it places them in a significant amount of danger. I could go on and on. Seeking Justice and Prevention On April 12, RCMP Commissioner Brenda Lucki, Justice Minister David Lametti, and Public Safety Minister Bill Blair testified before the ethics committee as part of its hearings into PornHub and MindGeek. In February, more than 100 survivors and their supporters signed a letter to the ethics committee requesting a full criminal investigation by the RCMP into MindGeek, describing it as a predatory and unethical corporation. This was followed by an open letter to Lucki issued by over 70 senators and MPs demanding that the RCMP investigate the allegations against the company. A petition titled Shut Down Pornhub and Hold Its Executives Accountable for Aiding Trafficking, launched by California resident Laila Mickelwait, founder of Traffickinghub, has been signed by over 2.2 million people from 192 countries as of April 14. Its a matter of will, and hopefully these hearings will put the necessary pressure on the government, on Justice Minister David Lametti, on Miss Lucki, on Bill Blair to actually do what needs to be done, Mickelwait, who testified before the committee on Feb. 19, said in an interview. We need to see not only reparations for victims through civil litigation, but we need to see justice for victims in the form of criminal prosecutions. And then we need to see legislation put in place that would help prevent this from happening again in the future, she added. The Epoch Times contacted MindGeeks media department for comment. Someone identifying themselves as Ian Andrews replied, saying It is our policy to remove a piece of content flagged as underage or non-consensual immediately for review. On Feb. 5, MindGeek executive Corey Urman testified before the ethics committee that Ian Andrews is a pseudonym for one of the companys communications staff. Editors note: A previous version of this story misidentified the MindGeek executive who spoke about the identity of Ian Andrews. The Epoch Times regrets the error. Source: Xinhua| 2021-04-15 12:57:15|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close Aerial photo shows a China-Europe freight train bound for Helsinki, Finland waiting for departure at Putian Station of Zhengzhou, central China's Henan Province, Nov. 20, 2020. (Xinhua/Hao Yuan) Finland welcomes more freight train connections with China, and hopes to become a leading hub between China and Europe with its existing advantages in transportation and logistics, said Ville Skinnari, Finnish minister for development cooperation and foreign trade. HELSINKI, April 15 (Xinhua) -- The China-Europe freight train has a series of significant advantages, and there is huge potential for trade between China and Finland by rail, a Finnish minister has said. Finland welcomes more freight train connections with China, and hopes to become a leading hub between China and Europe with its existing advantages in transportation and logistics, said Ville Skinnari, Finnish minister for development cooperation and foreign trade, in a recent interview with Xinhua. Initiated in 2011, the China-Europe cargo rail transport service is considered a significant component of the Belt and Road Initiative, boosting trade between China and other countries along the Belt and Road. The first China-Europe freight train route between China and Finland opened in 2017, connecting Xi'an in northwestern China with Kouvola in southeastern Finland. At present, there are several China-Europe freight train routes from or via Finland, connecting Chinese cities such as Xi'an, Chongqing, and Suzhou. Skinnari listed speed as one of the advantages of the freight train. "The freight train ride between Finland and China takes about two weeks, compared to the sea freight which usually takes at least 1.5 months," he said. The railway freight has a clear sustainability advantage compared to other means of transport due to much lower carbon emissions, Skinnari added. A China-Europe freight train unloads cargoes at the Chengdu International Railway Port in Chengdu, southwest China's Sichuan Province, on Feb. 1, 2021. (Xinhua/Jiang Hongjing) "For companies, it is important to be able to diversify their logistical chains, add value with speed and have alternative means of transport," he said. The China-Europe freight train has facilitated trade between China and Finland as well as other Nordic countries, as industries from Sweden and Norway are also finding new railway routes, he said. Finland-based company Nurminen Logistics is cooperating with China to operate several China-Europe freight train routes. According to a press release issued earlier by the company, the volume of its container trains to and from China have tripled in 2020 compared to the previous year. "We have indeed seen a significant increase in the railway freight volume between Finland and China. And there is a lot of potential for the trade between the two countries by rail," said Skinnari, hoping Finnish exports to China will grow. "Finnish food is safe and of excellent quality. There is a growing demand in China for top-quality food products, such as Finnish meat, and our exports have grown significantly in this sector," he said. "The logistical chain risk is definitely something that many companies are more aware of now after the COVID-19 pandemic," noted the minister, adding that it can be seen from the expansion of the freight volume that the China-Europe freight train has a competitive advantage. Skinnari added that Finland wants to be a leading hub between Europe and China. "I believe that Finland has its advantages in this sector, for example, well-functioning import or export procedures, reliable transport network, proximity to major hubs in Nordics and Europe and even further to North America, as well as well-functioning transit between different means of transport," he said. "Our government is happy to see increased cooperation between Finnish and Chinese companies through the freight trains," he said. "Increased connectivity between the two countries is very welcome." A man charged in connection with an alleged stabbing incident is unaware that the victim has passed away. Danut Scurtu, 35, whose address was given as Rosebud Cottage, Old Connell, Newbridge, appeared before a special sitting of Naas District Court on Thursday night last on allegations of assault causing harm on Jan Prochazka and possession of a knife contrary to the Firearms and Offensive Weapons Act at Patrick Street, Newbridge, on April 7. Read more County Kildare news He was remanded in custody by Judge Desmond Zaidan, pending a second appearance which took place by video link from Cloverhill Prison at Naas District Court this morning, Thursday, April 15. Refusing bail last Thursday, Judge Zaidan had noted that the defendant enjoys the presumption of innocence and he was not trying the allegations. Solicitor Tim Kennelly told todays brief hearing that he doesn't think the defendant knows of the death. I was going to tell him in private. I tried to call him but he is in another building and I will talk to him tomorrow, said Mr Kennelly. The proceedings were relayed to the defendant through a Romanian translator. Mr Kennelly indicated that a bail application will be made next Tuesday at the High Court and he has had consultations with family relatives who are prepared to provide a surety. Judge Zaidan asked that his views about the original bail application be relayed during any subsequent bail hearing. The case was adjourned to April 28. Guatemalan President: White Houses Confusing Messages Exploited by Smugglers Guatemalan President Alejandro Giammattei says that drug cartel-backed human smugglers have exploited messaging from Biden administration officials and have ramped up their operations in sending people to the U.S.Mexico border. Im nobody to make a judgment here, but I believe in the first weeks in the Biden administration, messages were confusing, Giammattei said in an interview with MSNBC. They were compassionate messages that were understood by people in our country, especially to coyotes [border smugglers] to tell families, Well take the children, the children can go in, and once theyre there, the children can call their parents. Giammattei said that White House officials messages were confusing, not because of the way they were communicated but because of the way they were translated here. The Central American leader said that hes particularly concerned about unaccompanied children trying to travel to the U.S.Mexico border, adding that some may end up in prostitution networks and in other organized crime activities. He noted that there have been instances of inhumane activity or violence at the border itself, including an incident in which human smugglers dropped two young children over a 14-foot-tall border ball and another when a 6-month-old girl was thrown by smugglers from a raft along the Rio Grande River. So a huge wave of migrant unaccompanied children starts, thats a matter of concern because as soon as they cross the border between Mexico and the U.S., they fall into the hands of cartels for prostitution networks and so on, Giammattei said. Honduras President Juan Orlando Hernandez arrives for the swearing-in ceremony for Guatemalas new President Alejandro Giammattei at the National Theater in Guatemala City, Guatemala, on Jan. 14, 2020. (Moises Castillo/AP Photo, File) Vice President Kamala Harris, who has been tapped by President Joe Biden to lead the administrations immigration efforts, will travel to Mexico and Central American countries in the near future, she confirmed. The president has asked [Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro] Mayorkas to address what is going on at the border, and he has been working very hard and is showing some progress, Harris told reporters on April 14. I have been asked to lead the issue of addressing the root causes, similar to what the then-vice president did many years ago. I will tell you that these are not issues that are going to be addressed overnight. It isnt clear when she will visit the U.S.Mexico border after Republicans have implored her to do so. In March, Border Patrol agents apprehended 172,000 illegal aliens, according to data released on April 8 by the U.S. Customs and Border Protection. An additional 1,000 illegal immigrants per day are evading capture, officials added. In February, border agents apprehended around 101,000 people, the data show. The Security Council of Armenia today disclosed excerpts from the minutes of the extraordinary session of the Security Council, violating a number of major laws at once. According to point 14 of Article 4 of the Law on Formation and Operation of the Security Council, the agenda for sessions of the Security Council, the content of the issues discussed during sessions, as well as the results of votes shall not be subject to disclosure. The special session was held on September 30, 2020, the third day of the war. The operative situation in the Karabakh-Azerbaijan border zone and the future actions of the Armenian Armed Forces were discussed; therefore, the record of the session of the Security Council was confidential. Even Prime Minister of Armenia Nikol Pashinyan made a statement on the confidentiality of the record during yesterdays parliamentary session, stating that they will consider disclosing the part of the confidential record of the Security Council concerning Onik Gasparyan. This means that the confidential record of the session of the Security Council was disclosed by the order of Nikol Pashinyan. According to the Law of Armenia on State and Official Secret, information constituting state and official secret and is confidential shall be kept as a secret for up to 10 years starting from the moment that it is encrypted. According to the same law, information can be decrypted in the case of two grounds: international commitments of Armenia to openly exchanging information constituting state and official secret, change of objective circumstances as a result of which further maintenance and protection of information constituting state and official secret becomes inappropriate. Until this moment, there is no datum showing that Armenia has any international commitment to decrypt the record of a session of the Security Council linked to the war, and as far as change of objective circumstances is concerned, perhaps throwing the blame for not stopping the war and for the defeat on the former command of the army has become an objective issue for the authorities ahead of the elections. Perhaps it is in this context that Pashinyan thought it is no longer appropriate to keep information constituting state and official secret, or the Prime Minister simply has never read and doesnt have command of any one of these laws. According to Article 306 of the Criminal Code, disclosing information constituting state secret intentionally by the person who had the right to become familiar with the state secret and who was trusted with the information or who knew about it after being in service, shall be punished with arrest for a term of two to three months, or with imprisonment for a term of maximum four years, with deprivation of the right to hold certain positions or be involved in certain activities for a term of maximum three years. Boris Johnson assures that conversion therapy ban won't criminalize pastoral counseling Email Print Img No-img Menu Whatsapp Google Reddit Digg Stumbleupon Linkedin Comment U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson has assured that pastors will not face criminal charges for counseling individuals seeking help with unwanted same-sex attraction as Parliament seeks to ban so-called "conversion therapy." In a March 27 letter responding to concerns raised by the Evangelical Alliance and its 3,500 member churches that clergy might potentially face criminal prosecution, the prime minister said: "As the Government made clear in 2018, when we first made our commitment to end conversion therapy, we will continue to allow adults to receive appropriate pastoral support (including prayer), in churches and other religious settings, in the exploration of their sexual orientation or gender identity." Along with several other religious groups, the Evangelical Alliance has offered its support of the plans to prohibit the practice of conversion therapy that the government is seeking to ban, provided that freedoms remain for individuals who adhere to biblically-based Christian teachings on marriage and sexual ethics. Johnson added in his letter, "Like you, I do not want to see clergy and church members criminalized for normal non-coercive activity." In the Evangelical Alliances letter to Johnson dated March 15, its Director, Peter Lynas, asked the government to clarify what it means by conversion therapy and said that a blanket prohibition would violate the individual rights of same-sex attracted people and would threaten the everyday practices of churches, church leaders, and Christians across the U.K. A bill banning conversion therapy is expected to make its way through Parliament later this year. The Telegraph reported Tuesday that the governments LGBT advisory panel, which was first set up under former Prime Minister Theresa Mays leadership, was being disbanded. Although panelists' terms were set to expire on March 31, some advisers quit ahead of time amid accusations that they were not acting quickly enough for the LGBT community. Last month, three advisers resigned from the panel over the government's handling of LGBT rights and amid claims it was dragging its feet on a pledge to ban conversion therapy. In a letter to the panel, Equalities Minister Liz Truss said: "I am pressing ahead with our commitment to ban conversion therapy in order to protect LGBT people from these abhorrent practices. I look forward to announcing these measures shortly." Some LGBT activists are calling for a complete ban on any practice that seeks to help individuals overcome unwanted sexual attractions or gender identity issues. Such a ban would also prohibit prayer and pastoral support. Jayne Ozanne, a gay Anglican and founder of the Ozanne Foundation, an organization whose stated mission is to work with religious organizations around the world to eliminate discrimination based on sexuality or gender in order to embrace and celebrate the equality and diversity of all, and one of the three people to resign from the governments LGBT advisory panel, told Premier Christian News in a previous interview that a ban is urgently needed. "People are being traumatized, people are being hurt right now, often in churches, and other religious settings, and indeed, in medical and mental health practices. We have to bring in legislation to stop this trauma," she said. At a March 8 Westminster Hall debate titled "LGBT Conversion Therapy," members of the Petitions Committee discussed a petition demanding that the government criminalize the practice of conversion therapy and criminalize the act of sending people abroad to attend conversion therapy. Conversion therapy is defined as any effort to change one's sexual orientation or gender identity. During the debate, pastoral support was also branded as a form of conversion therapy and described as torture. Eliot Colburn, a Conservative member of Parliament and a member of the Petitions Committee, led the debate and said the practice shows up in several ways, from pseudo-psychological treatments and aversion therapies to practices that are religiously based, such as purification or fasting, according to the Christian Institute. "With every day that passes, there is another person at risk of being subject to this degrading treatment and we risk losing even more lives of people who feel there is no other way out, he said. Angela Eagle, a Parliament member who served as a government minister during the tenure of former Labour Prime Minister Gordon Brown, derided the use of prayer for people with unwanted same-sex attraction as harmful. Eagle said it was akin to being told by faith leaders or your family that you are sinful. Being told to pray harder to change and to question your innermost feelings and thoughts, none of that should be legal, she asserted. In February, Conservative MP Alicia Kearns wrote in The House magazine that the existing laws do not enable prosecution where no physical harm has been caused. She further argued that any attempt to stop someone from expressing their adopted gender identity or sexual orientation is conversion therapy and ought to be banned. In her description of what constitutes conversion therapy, she listed "prayer sessions" alongside things like electroshock therapy and "'corrective' rape." By contrast, opponents of a therapy ban argue that the term conversion therapy belies what is actually occurring, particularly in Christian churches and ministries, as electroshock and other forms of aversion treatments have been against the law for many years. What is practiced in some therapeutic environments often though not always religious is talk therapy, where individuals who present with conflicting feelings or distress regarding their sexual attractions or gender confusion speak with a counselor. Christian Institute Deputy Director for Communications Ciaran Kelly said in a statement that it is deeply worrying to see the level of ignorance of the beliefs and practices of mainstream Christianity on display from some of these MPs. Of course we believe people should be protected from quack therapists and charlatan preachers. Most of these practices are already illegal and we would urge the government to ensure the law is applied properly, he said, adding that there must also be room for the preaching of Gods Word and for believers to receive prayer and pastoral support, whatever temptations they are facing. A pastor or church should not face prosecution if a gay man or woman attends church, comes to faith and seeks help in following Christs teaching on sexual ethics. Plans to reconstruct a long-term care facility for veterans in Holyoke are finally coming together. Massachusetts House lawmakers approved a $400 million bond bill to finance the reconstruction. The Baker administration filed its financial aid request to the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, meeting Thursdays application deadline. The House unanimously approved the bond bill. The bill would authorize the state Department of Capital Asset Management and Maintenance to design and construct a new seven-story, 192-bed facility to replace the current Soldiers Home. If the construction moves according to plan, veteran residents should expect to move into the new building in fall 2026. The current facility would be demolished in spring 2028. A COVID-19 outbreak that killed at least 77 residents at the Soldiers Home shed light on the cramped rooms that - coupled with staffing shortages and other flaws - fueled a deadly surge within the long-term care facility. I still have a hard time putting it into words: the impact on families, the impact on veterans, said Second Assistant Majority Leader Joe Wagner, a Chicopee Democrat, in an interview. I think the tragedy exposed a number of fault lines, and one of them obviously was with respect to the facility itself. Its antiquated and its in need of modernization, and the determination has been made that the best remedy is to build a new facility. The proposal moved quickly through the House with no amendments, despite pushback from some construction business owners about using union labor for the project and the size of the new facility. Now the bill moves to the Senate for consideration. This past year has been so terrible that I think its vital that we are learning these lessons, said Rep. Patricia Duffy, a Holyoke Democrat first elected in November, in her maiden speech Thursday. A former union representative and a Holyoke resident who lives near the facility, Duffy said the bond bill powers a project that was far overdue. The pandemic and the deadline COVID-19 outbreak made that impossible to ignore. This is one small tribute that we can pay to those veterans who lost their lives, Duffy told MassLive and the Springfield Republican after the vote. Its the very least that we owe their families to show that we hear them. The House bills passage comes as the Baker administration faces a deadline Thursday to apply for up to $260 million in federal aid. While the Baker administration initially pushed for a timeline for the bill to pass before the deadline, the state does not need to wait for legislative approval to submit the initial application. An Executive Office of Health and Human Services spokesperson confirmed Massachusetts submitted this week its initial grant application to the Veteran Affairs State Home Construction Grant Program. The office said the application must be processed and validated by the VA before it can be shared publicly. Lawmakers expect the bill to be enacted and signed into law by Gov. Charlie Baker before the Aug. 1 deadline, which requires plans from DCAMM. The Baker administration has pushed to get a bill on the governors desk, noting that the sooner the proposal becomes law, the more time DCAMM has to complete the design development phase that the state says typically takes at least nine months. Rep. Danielle Gregoire, a Marlborough Democrat, said urged lawmakers to swiftly pass the bill to give DCAMM as much time as possible before the Aug. 1 deadline. Given that a typical project of this nature could take between nine and nine-and-a-half months to design, any delay moving forward could be detrimental to DCAMMs ability to complete design by the 8-1 deadline, Gregoire said on the House floor. Unanimous approval of bills in the House are uncommon, as Democratic leadership tends to face pushback from Republicans and some progressive Democrats. Thursdays vote reflects the attention paid to the Soldiers Home since the outbreak and the impact on veterans statewide, said Rep. Jake Oliveira. It goes to benefit our entire state, and I think thats why you saw the unanimous vote today, the Ludlow Democrat said after the vote. Minority-owned business owners urged lawmakers to remove language requiring union contractors, calling the directive discriminatory. But no lawmaker filed amendments seeking to remove the language. Wagner said hes not concerned with the labor directive, but with the possibility that supply shortages could drive up construction costs, citing a MassLive report showing the price of building materials jumped in the last year. Its legitimate. There are global supply chain issues that impact almost every industry at this point, Wagner said. You see it in retail, you see it in food and beverage and you see it in construction. It is unclear when the Senate will take up the bill. Senate President Karen Spilka and House Speaker Ron Mariano issued a joint statement earlier this month saying they would act on the bond bill in the coming weeks. Related Content: Toddlers as young as 2 years old are being immunized as part of a vaccine trial out of Stanford. The trial, part of a larger nationwide analysis on the efficacy of the Pfizer vaccines on infants, toddlers and young children, began Wednesday on a small group of 2- to 5-year olds in the Bay Area. Stanford is the only site on the West Coast to work with children; there are five sites across the country. Video shared by KTVU of the trial shows young children getting swabbed and being injected without too much discomfort. Dr. Yvonne Maldonado, who is spearheading this specific study, told the San Francisco Chronicle that the goal is to ensure the safety of children and those who take care of them. (SFGATE and the Chronicle are both owned by Hearst but operate independently of one another.) [W]eve seen an impact in children and we want to make sure theyre protected, she told the Chronicle. And they can transmit to others so we want to make sure they can protect the community as well. Per a report by the American Academy of Pediatrics, more than 3.5 million children have tested positive for COVID as of last Thursday representing 13.5% of all COVID-19 cases. While severe cases for children are rare, according to the AAP, the B.1.1.7 variant is reported to affect children more intensely than other strains of the virus. It also spreads more easily, especially among children. The group also notes that there may be long-term physical consequences for those who test positive for COVID-19. A few dozen children will be part of Stanfords study. One of them is Eloise LaCour, a 3-year-old from Alameda. Her parents, Angelica and Chris, wanted to sign their daughter up in the hopes that she can help increase access to the vaccines for other young children. We know there are a lot of other parents who arent as lucky and are waiting for this to be a reality for their kids, Angelica told KRON. Per KRON, the study will broaden to older children between the ages of 5 to 12 later this spring. But for now, the study is in its early stages to determine the vaccine dose level that is best for children. Parents interested in signing up their children can register on the Stanford website. Representatives from Stanford did not immediately respond to a request for comment from SFGATE. Chandigarh, April 15 : Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar on Thursday appealed to thousands of farmers, who have been protesting against the Centre's three new farm laws for nearly five months at the Delhi borders, to postpone the protest due to the sudden rise in coronavirus cases. Expressing concern about their health and well-being, he said due to increasing number of cases in the country and the state, we have to take strict precautions. "Last year, economic activity had stalled due to the lockdown, which took about six months to get back on track. Therefore, we have to keep in mind that the economic cycle should continue in the state and that no one is adversely affected as well." Presiding over a meeting to review Covid-19 cases and its vaccination, the Chief Minister said it was the constitutional right of every person to protest. "We have no problem with those who protest. However, at this time due to Covid-19 life may be put in danger. This is not the right time to protest." The Chief Minister appealed to the farmers that they should withdraw their movement on humanitarian grounds. "If they have to hold a protest for any of their demands, they can do it when the situation improves." He directed the Deputy Commissioners to contact the agitating farmers and try to persuade them. Singh said this time the spread of virus has started from educational institutions. "There is a need to be more vigilant, especially in educational institutes. We also need to reduce crowding in public gatherings. Therefore, it has been decided that from now not more than 200 people can gather in open spaces during public functions and not more than 50 in indoor functions. Similarly, no more than 20 people will be able to attend funerals." Home and Health Minister Anil Vij said there are two ways to contain the virus. "The first method is lockdown and the second is strictness. We want the situation to be dealt with strictness instead of imposing lockdown in the state." "This time about 5,500 cases are reported on a single day. So we have to create containment and micro-containment zones," he said. Latest updates on Coronavirus (COVID-19) All testimony is officially finished in the murder trial of Derek Chauvin, the white former Minneapolis police officer charged with murdering George Floyd, an unarmed Black man, after both sides rested their case on Thursday. And despite being at the centre of the closely watched civil rights case, Mr Chauvin himself wont testify, after he invoked the 5th Amendment in court in Minneapolis. He was not expected to take the stand. A verdict could come as early as next Monday after closing statements, but its unlikely any decision will put long-simmering tensions in Minneapolis between communities and police to rest. Protests continue following the recent shooting of Daunte Wright, an unarmed, 20-year-old Black man, during a traffic stop in the nearby suburb of Brooklyn Center. Mr Chauvin has been in court every day, but hasnt said anything during his trial, even as numerous witnesses have shared their side of the story. There has also been hours of video from bystanders, police body cameras, and a Minneapolis surveillance post, revealing numerous angles on what happened on 25 May 2020, when Mr Chauvin fatally arrested Mr Floyd over a counterfeit $20 bill. Jurors will be instructed not to regard this lack of testimony as an indication of guilt or innocence. Lacking any direct testimony, jurors will only have a few brief video clips to inform their opinion about what Mr Chauvin was thinking. Understanding an officers mindset is central to the legal standards around determining whether they used reasonable amounts of force, and whether they did enough to provide for a suspect in their custodys medical care. Both of these factors will ultimately help jurors decide whether to convict Mr Chauvin on the charges of murder and manslaughter he is facing. In video of the incident, the former officer seemed to justify his use of potentially deadly force because he believed Mr Floyd was a large man who was on drugs. Weve got to control this guy because hes a sizeable guy, Mr Chauvin tells a bystander , Charles MacMillian , after Mr Floyd was carried away by paramedics. It looks like he was probably on something. During the arrest itself, Mr Chauvin downplayed Mr Floyds repeated pleas that he couldnt breathe. Youre going to kill me, man, Mr Floyd says at one point, according to body camera footage. Then stop talking, stop yelling. It takes a heck of a lot of oxygen to talk, Mr Chauvin replies. Multiple medical experts have testified during the trial that someone can be in medical and respiratory distress even if they can speak or breathe. There is a possibility that somebody could be in respiratory distress and still be able to verbalise it, Nicole Mackenzie, a former EMT and the medical support coordinator for the Minneapolis Police Department, testified last week. Just because theyre speaking doesnt mean theyre breathing adequately. Officers are both trained and legally required to treat people for medical crises in custody. That person is yours, Minneapolis police lieutenant Richard Zimmerman, the longest serving officer on the force, said in his testimony. Hes your responsibility. His safety is your responsibility. His well being is your responsibility. As it became evident Mr Floyd was in clear distress, another officer, Thomas Lane, who goes on trial later this summer, can be heard on body camera footage asking Mr Chauvin if officers should roll Mr Floyd onto his side in the so-called recovery position. Should we roll him on his side? Mr Lane asks him. No, hes staying put where we got him, Mr Chauvin responds, keeping Mr Floyd pressed chest-first against the ground with his knee on Mr Floyds neck. Officer Lane then says hes worried about Mr Floyd going into excited delirium, a medically unrecognised condition some police describe as a combination of psychosis and other factors. Well thats why we have the ambulance coming, Mr Chauvin responds. Police called an ambulance early into their detention of Mr Floyd, but remained on top of him for minutes, including after officers could no longer find a pulse and Mr Floyd went unconscious, only letting him off the ground to load his motionless body onto a stretcher. Thats essentially the entire extent of Mr Chauvins remarks on what happened. The rest of the trial has been dominated by medical experts probing how Mr Floyd died, police use of force experts condemning Mr Chauvins conduct, and bystanders describing the traumatic moments when Mr Floyd died in front of them as they pleaded with officers to let him up or check his vital signs. As the Chauvin trial concludes, the case against former officer Kim Potter, accused of manslaughter in the shooting of Daunte Wright, is just getting started. Ms Potter, who served on the police force in Brooklyn Center, is charged with manslaughter after shooting Mr Wright, with authorities saying she thought she was wielding her non-lethal Taser stun gun, rather than her pistol. She appeared in court for the first time on Thursday, after nightly protests at the Brooklyn Center police station calling for justice, which have been met with heavy use of force by police with riot control weapons. The military branch is currently on the lookout for machines that can replace the present-day Small Unit Support Vehicles (SUSVs) used in cold-weather regions. At the beginning of April, the National Advanced Mobility Consortium (NAMC) announced it selected two possible machines for this program.The first comes from Oshkosh Defense and is based on partner ST Engineerings Bronco . The second is BAE Systems Beowulf.The BAE machine is already deployed in the service of five countries, after the UK Royal Marines fielded it for the first time in 2005. Made in Sweden with key parts (engine, transmission, and hydraulic system) coming from the U.S., it sure looks like a monster.The Beowulf is not armored but is highly configurable and can be used for a variety of missions, from logistical support to search and rescue. It can seat up to 14 people and carry a maximum of 8 metric tons (17,600 lbs) of weight at speeds of up to 65 kph (40 mph). It can tread over rough terrain but is also amphibious and needs no extra preparation to go into the water.Beowulf is an optimal and mature solution for the CATV program and we look forward to submitting our prototypes with the goal of meeting the Army and Army National Guards mission, said in a statement Mark Signorelli, vice president of business development at BAE Systems.Beowulf, and its armored sister vehicle, the BvS10, represent the most advanced vehicles in the world when it comes to operating anywhere, whether its snow, ice, rock, sand, mud, swamp, or steep mountainous environments.The Army will have BAE deliver two prototypes for evaluation before choosing the winner. Lipid research may help solve COVID-19 vaccine challenges New research by University of Texas at Dallas scientists could help solve a major challenge in the deployment of certain COVID-19 vaccines worldwide -- the need for the vaccines to be kept at below-freezing temperatures during transport and storage. In a study published online April 13 in Nature Communications, the researchers demonstrate a new, inexpensive technique that generates crystalline exoskeletons around delicate liposomes and other lipid nanoparticles and stabilizes them at room temperature for an extended period -- up to two months -- in their proof-of-concept experiments. The Moderna and Pfizer/BioNTech COVID-19 vaccines use lipid nanoparticles -- basically spheres of fat molecules -- to protect and deliver the messenger RNA that generates a vaccine recipient's immune response to the SARS-CoV-2 virus. "The expense of keeping these vaccines very cold from the time they're made to the time they're delivered is a challenge that needs to be addressed, especially because many countries don't have sufficient infrastructure to maintain this kind of cold chain," said Dr. Jeremiah Gassensmith, associate professor of chemistry and biochemistry and of bioengineering at UT Dallas and a corresponding author of the study. "Although we did not include in this work the specific lipid nanoparticles used in current COVID-19 vaccines, our findings are a step toward stabilizing a lipid nanoparticle in a way that's never been done before, so far as we know." The idea for the research project began during a coffee-break discussion between Gassensmith and Dr. Gabriele Meloni, a corresponding co-author of the study and assistant professor of chemistry and biochemistry in the School of Natural Sciences and Mathematics at UT Dallas. Gassensmith's area of expertise is biomaterials and metal-organic frameworks, while Meloni's research focus is transmembrane transporter proteins. These proteins reside within cell membranes and are crucial for moving a variety of small molecules, including ions and trace metals, in and out of cells for several purposes. "Membrane proteins sit in a cell membrane, which is a lipid bilayer," Meloni said. "To study their structure and biophysical and biochemical properties, we must extract these proteins from the membrane using detergents and then reconstitute them back into an artificial membrane -- a proteoliposome -- that mimics the proteins' natural environment." Shell Creation Lipid nanoparticles and liposomes are similar in structure, and neither are thermodynamically stable at room temperature, Gassensmith said. The lipid structures can fuse or aggregate, exposing any embedded membrane proteins or cargo to degradation. "One of the challenges in my field of research is that both membrane proteins and lipid bilayers are very delicate and intrinsically metastable, and we're trying to combine them in order to understand how these proteins function," Meloni said. "We have to handle them carefully and prepare them fresh each time. They cannot be stored for long periods and are not easily shipped to colleagues in other labs." The researchers joined forces to develop a methodology to stabilize this kind of lipid system and demonstrated their results using transmembrane proteins from Meloni's lab as a case study. They mixed liposomes -- some with embedded proteins, some without -- with a combination of two inexpensive chemicals, zinc acetate and methylimidazole, in a buffer solution. In about a minute, a crystal matrix began to form around individual liposomes. "We think that the lipids interact with the zinc just strongly enough to form an initial zinc-methylimidazole structure that then grows around the lipid sphere and completely envelops it, like an exoskeleton," Gassensmith said. "It's analogous to biomineralization, which is how certain animals form shells. We sort of co-opted nature in creating this totally fake shell, where the biomacromolecules -- the lipids and proteins -- catalyze the growth of this exoskeleton." The ability of biomimetic shells to form around biological molecules is not new, Gassensmith said, but the process hasn't worked well with lipids or liposomes because the metal salts that comprise the shell material suck water out of the liposomes by osmosis and cause them to explode. "One of the keys to this research was identifying the buffer solution in which everything resides," Gassensmith said. Building a Buffer Three graduate students collaborated on the project to develop the unique buffer medium that allows the reaction to occur. "The buffer medium maintains the ionic strength of the solution and keeps the pH stable so that when you add a huge amount of metal salts, it doesn't osmotically shock the system," said Fabian Castro BS'18, a chemistry doctoral student in Gassensmith's lab and a lead author of the study. Castro and co-lead authors Sameera Abeyrathna and Nisansala Abeyrathna, chemistry doctoral students (and siblings) in Meloni's lab, worked together to develop the buffer formulation. Once the biomolecules have grown a shell, they are locked in, and the lipids remain stable. While the exoskeleton is very stable, it has a fortuitous Achilles' heel. "The shell will dissolve if it encounters something that is attracted to zinc," Gassensmith said. "So, to release and reconstitute the liposomes, we used a zinc chelating factor called EDTA (ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid), which is a common, inexpensive food additive and medicine used to treat lead poisoning." In addition to the laboratory experiments, in another proof-of concept exercise, Gassensmith mailed through the U.S. Postal Service a sample of the stabilized lipid particles to his mother in Rhode Island. She shipped them back to Texas, but because the COVID-19 pandemic forced the shutdown of most UT Dallas research labs in 2020, the samples sat untouched for about two months until the graduate students returned to campus to examine them. Although the informal experiment lasted much longer than the researchers had expected, the samples survived and functioned "just fine," Gassensmith said. "This project required two different types of expertise -- my group's expertise in membrane transport proteins and Dr. Gassensmith's long track record working with metal-organic frameworks," Meloni said. "Our success clearly demonstrates how such collaborative research can bring about novel and useful results." ### Other UT Dallas authors of the study in the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry include Dr. Ron Smaldone, associate professor; doctoral students Yalini Wijesundara, Olivia Brohlin, Alejandra Durand Silva and Shashini Diwakara; and Michael Luzuriaga PhD'20. Researchers from Graz University of Technology in Austria also contributed to the work. The research was funded in part by the National Science Foundation, National Institute of General Medical Sciences of the National Institutes of Health (R35GM128704), The Welch Foundation, the U.S. Army Combat Capabilities Development Command Army Research Laboratory, the UT Dallas Office of Research's Seed Program for Interdisciplinary Research, the Mexican National Council of Science and Technology, the European Union's Horizon 2020 Program, and the Central European Research Infrastructure Consortium. This story has been published on: 2021-04-15. To contact the author, please use the contact details within the article. Dauphin County jurors on Wednesday voted to convict a Swatara Township man for third-degree murder after a three-day trial related to the 2017 death of Zach Myers, 24. Prosecutors said Andrew Shirk, 44, purchased fentanyl in North Philadelphia that he, Myers and a woman ingested together in a room at the Super 8 Motel parking lot, 4131 Executive Park Drive. Shirk had been living at the motel. When Myers started showing signs of an overdose, prosecutors say, the pair dragged Myers outside using a blanket and put him in his SUV, where they abandoned him to go to a convenience store and back into the motel room. The pair called police at about 8:15 a.m. Oct 1, 2017, more than four hours after he was left in the vehicle and after the pair got rid of evidence from the room. If the pair had instead called 911, prosecutors argued at trial, the overdose-reversal drug Narcan could have been used to save Myers life. Chief Deputy Steve Zawisky and Deputy District Attorney Erin Varley asked the jury to convict Shirk of third degree murder due to the extreme indifference to the value of human life that was displayed by Shirk during the incident. Shirk is expected to be sentenced on June 1. Earlier this year, a co-defendant, Kara Hartmoyer, 24, of Mechanicsburg, also was convicted of third-degree murder by a jury. She is scheduled to be sentenced next week. Both defendants face up to 40 years in prison. At trial, prosecutors played video from the hotel parking lot showing two people dragging the almost lifeless body of Myers out of the motel and placing him in the back of his SUV. The video showed Myers struggling to breathe as Shirk and Hartmoyer watched, prosecutors argued. Commonwealth expert Dr. Wayne Ross testified that Myers was survivable as the pair struggled to carry him from the hotel room to his SUV in the parking lot. Myers lived in New Cumberland. His obituary noted he died from the disease of addiction. Please do not let him losing his battle with this disease define him, his obituary said. Many only knew Zach through the lens of the addiction. That was not the real Zach and those fortunate enough to truly know him recognized that there was more to him than just that. Myers left behind a daughter. His family explained that they wanted to be frank in his obituary to shed some light on this devastating and overwhelming epidemic in our community. In life, one bad decision can make a huge impact on not just you, but also those who love and care for you. If you have any loved ones who are fighting with addiction, Zachs family ask that you do everything possible to be as supportive as possible and guide them to the resources that are available before it is too late. READ: Harrisburg man shot to death on a quiet night at home remembered as someone born to help people Homo erectus was the first species to have a similar body structure and behavior as modern humans, but just how old our ancient ancestor is has eluded scientists for centuries until now. A skull fragment belonging to a Homo erectus found in the 1970s dates back two million years, making it the oldest specimen on record - the previous was dated 1.78 million years old. Paleoanthropologists at Arizona State University determined the age by radiometrically dating rocks where it was first discovered in Kenya. While investigating the scene in Africa, the team also uncovered fossilized teeth from other vertebrates, mostly mammals, which allowed them take a look at the ancient environment in which the Home erectus once lived. Maryse Bierna, with Arizona State University said: Our analysis shows that the environment included a lot of grazing herbivores that preferred to live in open environments like grasslands. Thats the type of environment we think could have stimulated the evolution of some of the familiar humanlike features we see in Homo erectus. A skull fragment belonging to a Homo erectus found in the 1970s dates back two million years, deeming it the oldest specimen on record - the previous was dated 1.78 million years old The skull bone, dubbed KNM-ER 2598, was discovered near Lake Turkana in East Turkana, Kenya in 1974. However, this was decades before location systems were invented, so researchers put a pin in aerial photos of the excavation sites, according to SYFY WIRE. When KNM-ER 2598 was first analyzed, some experts speculated it may have derived from a younger Homo erectus. The bone is a thick hominin cranial fragment preserving much of the central occipital bone, including portions of the lambdoidal suture and a distinctive Homo erectus-like occipital torus, reads the study published in Nature. The skull bone, dubbed KNM-ER 2598, was discovered near Lake Turkana in East Turkana, Kenya in 1974. However, this was decades before location systems were invented, so researchers put a pin in aerial photos of the excavation sites When KNM-ER 2598 was first analyzed, some experts speculated it may have derived from a younger Homo erectus. The bone is a thick hominin cranial fragment preserving much of the central occipital bone There are a number of well-known Homo erectus discoveries throughout history. The DNH 134 neurocranium from Drimolen, Georgia was deemed the oldest known Homo erectus specimen, dating to 1.78 million years ago. Although the 1970s researchers marked where the bone was found, the Arizona University-led team used Google Earth imager to find its exact location, as East Turkana is similar to the size of New Jersey in the US and much of the land had changed over time. Using satellite data and aerial imagery, the team was able to recreate the location of the original site and place it in a larger context for determining the age of the fossils. Since any DNA of these ancient hominins is long gone from the Earth, researchers analyzed the next best thing rocks and ancient volcanic ash. The skull specimen was found in a location that had no evidence of a younger fossil outcrop that may have washed there, but radiometrically dating shows debris is nearly two million years old. Within just 164 feet (50m), the team discovered two new specimens, one of which is a foot bone The other bone is a partial pelvis. If these bones belong to the same Homo erectus, then thy would b the oldest postcranial fossils from the hominid found on record Within just 164 feet (50m), the team discovered two new specimens: a partial pelvis and a foot bone. If these bones belong to the same Homo erectus, then they would be the oldest postcranial fossils from the hominid found on record. Paleoanthropologist Ashley Hammond with ASU told SYFY WIRE: Homo erectus was around for almost 2 million years and lived alongside several other hominid species at different periods of time. East Turkana is one place where we find multiple hominid species overlapping, so this field location has the potential to provide more information about how these species coexisted sympatrically' (in overlapping geographical areas). Bangkok Airways temporarily closes Phuket ticketing office due to outbreak PHUKET: Bangkok Airways has announced the temporary closure of its ticketing offices in Bangkok, Chiang Mai and Phuket, effective from tomorrow (Apr 16) through to Apr 25. tourismCOVID-19transport By The Phuket News Thursday 15 April 2021, 11:55AM Photo: Bangkok Airways The news was announced through a statement issued today (Apr 15). Due to the current outbreak of COVID-19 and the fact that it is expected to intensify further, Bangkok Airways Public Company Limited would like to announce the temporarily closure of its ticketing offices in Bangkok (headquarter), including ticketing offices in Chiang Mai and Phuket from 16-25 April 2021, the statement read. However, passengers can still reach Bangkok Airways by calling the Call Center 1771 and 02-270-6699 (8am-8pm), by email at reservation@bangkokair.com and by PG Live Chat at https://bit.ly/PGLiveChatEN, the statement added. Moreover, office-based employees will be, for the time being, under a Work-from-home policy, except for front-line employees such as ground passenger services, in-flight passenger services, aircraft maintenance engineers as well as those whose tasks are required in our operating systems, will strictly follow the companys precautionary and prevention protocols, the airline announced. Those employees will be required to wear surgical face masks, gloves, face shields and are requested to wash their hands frequently as well as limit their travels to high risk areas, it added. The airline is committed to prioritize the health and safety of our passengers and staff. The company will continue to strictly follow precautionary measures against the COVID-19 as guided by the Civil Aviation Authority of Thailand (CAAT), the statement concluded. Patna, April 15 : Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on Thursday received the second dose of vaccine against coronavirus at Patna's Indira Gandhi Institute of Medical Sciences (IGIMS) amid growing cases of Covid-19 infections in the state. Along with him, several ministers and officials including Deputy Chief Ministers Tarkishore Prasad and Renu Devi also received the corona vaccine. After taking the vaccine, the Chief Minister once again reiterated that people should not avoid vaccines. Describing the vaccine as very important, Nitish Kumar said that whoever is eligible should take the vaccine. Deputy Chief Minister Tarkishore Prasad also reached IGIMS on Thursday and took his second dose of the vaccine. Apart from the Chief Minister, Deputy Chief Minister Renu Devi, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Vijay Kumar Chaudhary also took their second dose of vaccination. After taking the second jab, Deputy Chief Minister Prasad said that this vaccine is completely safe. He appealed to the people of the state to get vaccinated one by one. He asked the people to be vigilant against the virus as infections have started rising again, and to use masks to prevent the spread of Covid-19. Lori Van Buren/Albany Times Union The most prominent and respected symbol of American freedom and democracy is probably the American flag. It represents American identity and national unity but has been profoundly damaged by Republican support of all things former President Donald Trump. After Trumps electoral defeat, many of his supporters took to the streets in caravans of vehicles displaying large American flags and stop the steal banners in support of Trump. It appears that many people are displaying that flag at their homes in continued support. (CNN) Japan will start releasing more than 1 million metric tons of treated radioactive water from its destroyed Fukushima nuclear plant into the ocean in two years, the government said Tuesday a plan that faces opposition at home and has raised "grave concern" in neighboring countries. The decision to release the wastewater comes more than a decade after the nuclear disaster at the Fukushima Daiichi plant in 2011, having been repeatedly delayed due to safety concerns and strong opposition from local fishermen still reeling from the fallout of the crisis. Work to release the water into the Pacific Ocean will begin in about two years, and the whole process is expected to take decades, according to the Japanese government. Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga said dealing with the treated water is "an unavoidable issue" in order to decommission the nuclear plant. "We have decided that guaranteeing safety far above the accepted standard, and ensuring the entire government's best efforts to prevent reputational damage, means releasing it to the ocean is a realistic option," he said. In 2011, a powerful earthquake and tsunami cut off power supply and cooling systems for the Fukushima plant. To prevent its three damaged reactor cores from melting, cooling water was pumped in continuously, and was thus contaminated by uranium fuel rods. The water then leaked into damaged basements and tunnels, and mixed with groundwater. The plant's operator, Tokyo Electric Power Co., has built massive tanks on the site to store the accumulating water after treatment. The tanks have a storage capacity of 1.37 million metric tons, and are expected to be filled up late next year, according to the company. Treated water Amid safety concerns, the Japanese government has stressed that "water stored in tanks will not be discharged as it is." Instead, it will have been treated through a system that removes most of the radioactive material except for tritium, an isotope of hydrogen not harmful to humans in small amounts. "Before the discharge, the water in tanks will also be sufficiently diluted so that the concentration of tritium will be much lower than Japan's national regulatory standards, which is compliant with international standards," the Prime Minister's office said in a statement. Tritium only "emits weak radiation" and its impact on health is "very low," the statement said, adding that operators of nuclear reactors around the world routinely discharge tritium into the sea and air. Japan's Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry said on its website that the previously contaminated water will only be released once any chemicals are diluted to levels much lower than national and international standards. It added that the diluting and discharging process will be monitored by third parties, including the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). IAEA Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi told CNN there is "no harm" in releasing treated water into the sea. "It is not like you are going to see the sea glowing in purple or green, and all fish will be dead, and the Pacific Ocean will be killed. Of course not," Grossi said. "This has been done ... in the North Atlantic and the Mediterranean, in many parts of the world, and there is no adverse environmental impact whatsoever. "There wouldn't be any authorization or any endorsement, if I can put it like this, from the IAEA to an operation that is causing harm or that is not environmentally neutral." Neighbors' concerns Japan's safety assurances have failed to assuage the fears of its neighbors South Korea and China. On Tuesday, South Korea voiced "grave concerns" at Japan's water release plan, saying the decision could "directly or indirectly affect the safety of the Korean people and the surrounding environment in the future." "The government has been emphasizing that the decision needs to be made through transparent disclosure of information and consultations with neighboring countries. If the Japanese government decides to discharge contaminated water from the Fukushima nuclear power plant without sufficient consultation, it is difficult for us to accept this," South Korean Foreign Affairs Ministry spokesman Choi Young-sam said at a news briefing. In response, he said the South Korean government plans to double down on radioactivity monitoring and strengthen cooperation with the IAEA and international community. China has also expressed "grave concern," calling on Japan to handle the wastewater release "in a responsible manner." In a statement Tuesday, the Chinese Foreign Ministry said Japan had not exhausted safe disposal methods and did not conduct full consultation with neighboring countries and the international community. "Japan has ... unilaterally decided to discharge nuclear wastewater from the Fukushima nuclear power plant accident into the sea, which is extremely irresponsible and will seriously damage international public health and safety and the vital interests of people in neighboring countries," the statement said, calling for Japan to "re-examine the issue." The United States, meanwhile, showed support for its ally's decision. "In this unique and challenging situation, Japan has weighed the options and effects, has been transparent about its decision, and appears to have adopted an approach in accordance with globally accepted nuclear safety standards," the US State Department said in a statement. "We look forward to the (Japanese government's) continued coordination and communication as it monitors the effectiveness of this approach." This story was first published on CNN.com Japan to start releasing treated Fukushima water into sea in 2 years Delhi government is likely announce a weekend curfew to curb rising Covid-19 cases. Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal will address a presser at 1:00 pm today. He is expected to announce strict curfew guidelines for weekends, during which all kinds of movement, except essentials services, will remain suspended. The government will also decide on shutting down weekly open markets. Delhi has recorded 17,282 fresh cases of COVID-19 on Wednesday, which is the highest single-day surge in the national capital since the onset of the pandemic. Delhi also saw over 100 deaths, pushing the toll to 11,540, the health department data shows. The national capital conducted record 1.08 lakh tests on Wednesday, the health bulletin said, adding, the positivity rate mounted to 15.92 per cent. The highest single-day spike of 8,593 cases till the third wave of the pandemic in Delhi was reported on November 11 in 2020, while on November 18, the city recorded 131 COVID-19 deaths, the highest single-day fatality count till date. The positivity rate mid-November last year had stood above 15 per cent. Reeling under the fourth wave of COVID-19, the national capital on Tuesday recorded 13,468 cases and 81 deaths due to the infection, giving it the dubious distinction of being the worst-affected city in the county. The Delhi government had imposed night curfew from 10 pm to 5 am from April 6 in the wake of deteriorating COVID-19 situation. Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal had recently expressed concerns over the rising Covid tally, saying Delhi was going through the fourth wave. He, however, said a complete lockdown was not an option for the country. Also read: Delhi govt issues night curfew guidelines; see what's exempt Also read: Delhi imposes night curfew from 10pm to 5am as Covid-19 cases rise Amazon is expected to open seven delivery stations this year in the Philadelphia area as well as one in Lancaster County. Amazon Logistics plans to open the delivery station in Lancaster County in a vacant warehouse in Rapho Township near Mount Joy. The new facility will be located at 1156 Four Star Drive and will power Amazons last-mile delivery capabilities to increase efficiency of deliveries to customers in Lancaster County, the company said in a press release. The new facility will employ about 100 full- and part-time employees. Independent contractors will also be able to deliver packages from the facility through the Amazon Flex program. Were excited to continue our investment in the state of Pennsylvania with a new delivery station that will create good jobs by providing at least $15 per hour and comprehensive benefits to Amazon employees from their first day on the job, Andre Woodson, an Amazon spokesperson said in the press release. This isnt the first delivery station for Amazon in Lancaster County. In 2019, Amazon opened a delivery hub near Elizabethtown at the Conewago Industrial Park at 10 Industrial Road in West Donegal Township. Amazon has more than 250 delivery stations in the United States including seven in Pennsylvania. Amazon opened two delivery stations in Philadelphia last year. This year, Amazon has opened three delivery stations in the Philadelphia area so far. Those facilities are located at 3750 State Road, Bensalem; 6300 Bristol Pike, Levittown and 3025 Meeting House Road, Philadelphia. And Amazon has announced that four more delivery stations will open in the Philadelphia area this year. Those facilities are located at 1103-1113 Ridge Park, Conshohocken; 53 West Germantown Pike, East Norriton; 2900 Grant Ave, Philadelphia and 700 Ramona Ave, Philadelphia. Delivery stations power the last mile of Amazons order fulfillment process, the company said. Packages are transported to delivery stations from Amazon fulfillment and sortation centers, and then loaded into vehicles for delivery to customers. --Business Buzz You can follow Daniel Urie on twitter @DanielUrie2018 and you can like him on Facebook. 3 1 of 3 Jordan Strauss /Invision /AP Show More Show Less 2 of 3 Evan Agostini /Invision /AP Show More Show Less 3 of 3 STAMFORD Filming for Stamfords latest foray into the movie biz is officially here, but not in one of the citys hot spots. Instead, crews for Netflixs The Good Nurse will post up in some of Stamfords less noisy enclaves just outside of downtown, namely on Morgan Street and Beal Street. Source: Xinhua| 2021-04-15 19:31:29|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close HELSINKI, April 15 (Xinhua) -- Facing changes and rising to them, the 100-year-old Communist Party of China (CPC) has been constantly revitalized by its enthusiasm and motivation, said Juha-Pekka Vaisanen, chairperson of the Communist Party of Finland (SKP), in a recent interview with Xinhua, before the centenary of the founding of the CPC. Vaisanen, who has visited China several times and has been following the country's development, commended China's fast economic growth, victory in eliminating absolute poverty and success in fighting the COVID-19 pandemic. "All the achievements are inseparable from the strong leadership, scientific planning and active efforts of the CPC," he said. Under the CPC leadership, China has established a socialist market economic system and made outstanding achievements, he said, adding that this signifies a great deepening and exploration of Marxism. Hailing China's elimination of absolute poverty as a remarkable feat, Vaisanen praised the CPC's fundamental purpose of "serving the people wholeheartedly" and the "people-centered" development philosophy. On the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, Vaisanen said China has, under the leadership of the CPC, contained the virus successfully, and provided help and experience to other countries. During the fight against the pandemic, the socialist system with Chinese characteristics has shown great advantages, and the CPC, as well as the Chinese people, has shown a strong sense of mission and proactivity, he said. Vaisanen met with Chinese President Xi Jinping in 2017 at the CPC in Dialogue with World Political Parties High-level Meeting held in Beijing. He said Xi has brought great encouragement and inspiration to representatives from many political parties. On behalf of the SKP, Vaisanen congratulated the 100-year-old CPC on its inspiring achievements. (Video reporters: Zhu Haochen, Chen Jing; Video editor: Hong Ling) Hubei presses ahead with drive to bring about faster development People's Daily Online) 09:51, April 15, 2021 Central Chinas Hubei province, once hit hard by COVID-19, achieved a speedy and comprehensive economic recovery in the first quarter of 2021, and has been striving to make up for the time lost and the damage incurred due to the epidemic to bring about faster development. Aerial photo taken on Aug. 7, 2020 shows the Yellow Crane Tower in Wuhan, central China's Hubei Province. (Xinhua/Xiao Yijiu) In March 2020, Wuhan, the provincial capital, rolled out 12 policies on lowering or exempting taxes and fees for market entities and helped 739,000 self-employed individuals get through the challenging time. The city also raised 60 billion yuan (about $9.15 billion) and introduced 21 policies to help enterprises resume production. Apart from Wuhan, the whole province unveiled a slew of policies to assist enterprises impacted by COVID-19, reducing the cost burden on enterprises, and stabilizing employment. The province has been working faster to implement a series of key infrastructure projects to ensure that they can benefit people at the earliest possible time. In 2021, Hubei aims to launch 4,274 new major projects and continue the construction of 4,881 projects, all with an average investment of over 100 million yuan. Moreover, the province has made unremitting efforts to improve the business environment and create favorable conditions for enterprises to set up branches and ensure long-term sound development. U.S. industrial conglomerate Honeywell opened its emerging market headquarters and innovation center in Wuhan East Lake High-tech Development Zone, also known as the Optics Valley of China, on May 19, 2020. It is the first project by a Fortune 500 company launched in Hubei since the COVID-19 outbreak. Hubei also aims to take the lead in promoting the transformation of the economic growth model. We pursue development driven by science, technology and innovation, said Ying Yong, secretary of the CPC Hubei Provincial Committee, explaining that the province will make steady efforts to build Hubei into a science and technology powerhouse, with innovation as the core. Over the next five years, the province will foster clusters of emerging industries such as integrated circuits, next-generation information networks, the latest display technologies, biomedicine, and comprehensive health care services. In February 2021, the province announced it would build a sci-tech innovation corridor based in the Wuhan East Lake High-tech Development Zone. Home to dozens of universities, 70 academicians of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and the Chinese Academy of Engineering, and nearly 60 percent of high-tech companies of the province, the development zone is an ideal location for innovation. Hubei will build the Optics Valley into a cluster of scientific innovation and emerging industries to contribute to the coordinated development of cities in the province. Drawing lessons from the epidemic, the province has improved its public health system. It has made efforts to strengthen disease prevention and control, medical treatment, capacity for prevention and control at the community level, first aid and the building of a public health emergency management platform. In the early stages of the epidemic, Hubei wasted no time in vaccine research and development. On April 12, 2020, the worlds first inactivated vaccine, which was developed by the Wuhan Institute of Biological Products affiliated with Sinopharm, was given approval to enter clinical trials. On Feb. 25, 2021, the inactivated vaccine developed by the institute was granted conditional market approval. According to Duan Kai, director of the institute, the production of the vaccine is now in full swing. It is able to produce 2 million doses of the vaccine every week and 100 million doses annually. As of 0:00 April 7, 2021, more than 9.7 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines had been administered across the province. (Web editor: Hongyu, Liang Jun) Younger Its the End of the World Season 7 Episode 2 Editors Rating 2 stars * * Previous Next Photo: Nicole Rivelli/TV LAND Oh boy, could what Laurens doing in this episode be any more cringey? Laurens always been an extreme sort of person, but her going full throttle over Lizas possible engagement doesnt exactly feel like her. In the previous episode, when she showed Liza that she had video of Charles proposing to her, Liza asked that this stay between them. It was a circle of trust. She would let her know when a decision was made. Here, a bouquet of flowers shows up at the office for Liza and Lauren assumes Liza must have said yes and these are a romantic gesture from her now betrothed. There are 300 other things you could assume. Also, flowers come with a card, if shes so bent on butting in she would be reading that card. But she cant read that card because if she did, she wouldve learned they were simply from a charity organization and she wouldnt go ahead and make a slideshow announcing Charles and Lizas engagement to the whole company that leads to a big, public blowup between the estranged couple. Can you tell Im frustrated? Everything is just feeling a tad too contrived at the moment. But it is true: Lauren queues up this big Liza and Charles slideshow set to Take My Breath Away (how dare she!) and doesnt listen as both Charles and Liza try to stop her until finally Charles has to yell at her and inform everyone that yes, he proposed, and no, they are not engaged. The awkward staff meeting devolves into Liza and Charles rehashing their difference of opinion for all to see: Liza loves Charles and doesnt think they need a piece of paper in order to spend the rest of their lives together, and Charles loves Liza but thinks marriage is much more than a piece of paper. Theres no middle ground here. Its quite the tragedy. Kelsey is super-surprised by this news since Liza had yet to fill her in she was waiting for a better time since Kelsey was dealing with both the loss of Zane and Millennial. When in doubt, Younger should always lean on the Liza and Kelsey friendship to ground the story, as it does here. Kelsey wants to be there for her friend and so advises her to focus on her work. And anyway, all Kelsey heard in that fight is that Charles said he loved her in front of everyone. Aw, Kels. Unfortunately for us, the work theyre talking about in this episode is just as frustrating as how that staff meeting played out. Liza and Kelsey are looking to sign Fupa (oh, Younger) Grunhof as an author. She is Youngers bizarro-world Greta Thunberg and the parody is so over the top that any charm it might have had wears off quickly. Fupa is a 16-year-old Austrian environmental activist and up until now has refused to sign with any publishing house. After Liza and Kelsey attend one of her composting rallies and Liza sticks her hands in a big-ass box full of worms, Fupa agrees to meet with them. Shes basically yelling the entire time and for some reason like so, so mean to her mom? The ladies persuade her to sign with Empirical and wouldnt ya know, the next day she had planned to be on the same national morning show that another Empirical author is appearing on the author of their latest hit, Arabian Sea, a book shepherded in by Zane (this angers Kelsey to no end, and her whole deal of pretending to be happy about the success of this crappy novel is an episode highlight). On New Day USA the next morning, Fupa arrives in time to see the author of Arabian Sea be an absolute dick on air as Kelsey notes he is manspreading and mansplaining at the same time and by the time he starts going off on how climate change isnt real, well, Fupa is all over him, live on television screaming at the camera to not buy this mans book. She also tells Liza and Kelsey that if they publish that guys work, they arent publishing hers. Lizas lost a lot in the past few days, so shes not letting this one go. She finds Fupa down on her boat shes setting sail for Davos and pleads with her to stick with Empirical. Her book will be right there next to that guys, like a stealth bomb available for the people who actually need to read it, the people who need to hear her message. And it works. Fupa says shell bend to have [her] voice heard. And then she turns it all around on Liza. In her experience, a lot of the advice adults give her is exactly what they need to hear. Does Liza maybe need to bend in some way, too? Lizas obviously heartbroken that Charles is treating this like the end of them. Maggie assures her itll blow over, especially because they see each other all day at work. How could he not be reminded of his feelings for her? Liza takes that to heart and tries to flirt and make nice. Charles isnt cruel to her, but he doesnt seem interested in reconciling, either. After their big blowup, they talk it out, agreeing that they would never say terrible things about the other. They love each other, they just want different things. Charles seems like hes already moved on and that makes Liza even more upset. I mean, the dude doesnt even look at her as she walks out of his office in a gorgeous dress. No last look is not a good sign, Liza. Liza decides to make a stand for Charless heart at the Childrens Literacy Fund (its called C-Lit for short because Youngers gonna Younger) benefit theyre both attending. She tells Kelsey that shes an editor and she knows endings and this doesnt feel like the end to their story, not like this. Go turn the page and find out, Kelsey says, pushing her toward Charles. Its cheesy as hell but also gave me chills, I guess its just that time of year. Liza asks Charles if they could maybe compromise here. I mean, this is literally something you cannot compromise on because youre either married or youre not, but okay. Liza thinks that maybe in time one of them will change their mind and that they owe it to each other to give themselves that time. Maybe each of them could bend a little. Charles is not mean, even though Lizas idea is terrible. But he is firm: He bent when he gave up Empirical for her. He bent when he had to change his custody agreement because Pauline was so angry about Lizas lie. If I bend anymore, Im going to break, he says. It is a devastating line! Charles is very calm about the whole thing. He tells her that this is hard but its for the best. There are no villains here. Lizas still not convinced this is the right thing to do if they still love each other, but Charles is done with this conversation. His daughters, who are the reason he even showed up to this benefit, walk over and he wants to leave. Liza gives the girls a long hug good-bye and tells them to visit her the next time theyre at the office. It feels like Liza acknowledging for the first time that she might have to move on, too. Footnotes Problems with Laurens slideshow aside, I loved that Younger referenced the Empiriconda, because we should never, ever forget. Okay, also Lauren introducing Liza as a housewife from New Jersey who moved to New York to impersonate young people and learn about memes and Snapchat lenses made me giggle. Shes like one of the Von Trapp children but hangry. Maggies description of Charles a man-shaped building with a good haircut makes me laugh every time I think about it. Former politician Julie Bishop paid homage to her late friend Carla Zampatti on Thursday, as she attended the designer's star-studded state funeral in Sydney. Ms Bishop, 64, looked nothing short of incredible as she wore one of Carla's designs to pay her respects at the service, which was held at St Mary's Cathedral. The erstwhile foreign minister turned heads in a $929 black velvet and feather dress, which she teamed with a stylish pair of stiletto heels. Paying her respects: Julie Bishop wore an off-the-shoulder Carla Zampatti dress and Meghan Markle's favourite heels at the fashion designer's star-studded funeral in Sydney on Thursday Ms Bishop's frock featured an off-the-shoulder design, long sleeves and finished just above the knee. She added height to her frame in tottering $755 heels from Aquazzura, which have been seen on the likes of Meghan Markle. The retired lawmaker, who recently grew out her short blonde hair, pulled her long locks away from her face and opted for a glamorous makeup palette. Stylish: Ms Bishop's frock featured an off-the-shoulder design, long sleeves and finished just above the knee Polished: The retired lawmaker, who recently grew out her short blonde hair, pulled her long locks away from her face and opted for a glamorous makeup palette Support: Ms Bishop was joined by her boyfriend David Panton, who looked dapper in a suit Ms Bishop attended the service with her boyfriend David Panton, who looked dapper in a suit. The pair joined the likes of Melissa Doyle, Sam Armytage, Sonia Kruger, former prime minister Malcolm Turnbull and designer Camilla Franks at the funeral. On April 3, Ms Bishop paid tribute to Carla as her death sent shockwaves around Australia. Star-studded: The pair joined the likes of Melissa Doyle, Sam Armytage, Sonia Kruger, former prime minister Malcolm Turnbull and designer Camilla Franks at the funeral Paying their respects: Mel and Sonia are pictured arriving at the service, which was held at Sydney's St Mary's Cathedral 'It was a privilege to call her a friend': On April 3, Ms Bishop paid tribute to Carla as her death sent shockwaves around Australia She shared a series of pictures of herself with the late fashion designer on Instagram and said it was a 'privilege to call her a friend.' 'Carla Zampatti was a truly great Australian who inspired generations of women with her style, grace and determination. She was in a class of her own,' she wrote. 'It was a privilege to call her a friend. Vale Carla.' Saying goodbye: Julie and her partner joined other guests to wait outside the church as funeral cars pulled up 'Carla Zampatti was a truly great Australian who inspired generations of women with her style, grace and determination. She was in a class of her own,' Julie wrote in her tribute Carla, 78, died on April 3, days after a fall at an outdoor opera performance. The mother of three and grandmother of nine had spent a week in hospital after the accident. Born in Italy in 1942, Zampatti migrated to Australia with her parents in 1950 at age nine, and set up her fashion famous label at 24. Her designs have been worn by some of Australia's most influential women, including Princess Mary of Denmark, Australia's first female prime minister Julia Gillard and Oscar-winning actress Nicole Kidman. Officials have revealed the identity of a teenage student who was shot dead by police in the bathroom of a Knoxville high school in Tennessee on Monday. Anthony J. Thompson Jr., 17, was killed after police responded to a report of a person with a gun at Austin-East Magnet High School. His identity was made public as authorities released that a police officer who was seriously wounded during a 'struggle' with the student inside the high school bathroom was not shot by the student's hand gun, as was first thought. The new report on the incident, released by the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation, appears to indicate that the officer was, instead, shot by police during the confrontation. The Tennessee Bureau of Investigation released updated details of a shooting at Austin-East Magnet High School in Knoxville on Monday that left the student dead. Victim Anthony J. Thompson Jr. is pictured above A Tennessee police officer who was wounded during the confrontation with the student inside the high school bathroom was not shot by the student's gun, authorities said Wednesday. The incident took place at Austin-East Magnet High School The Tennessee Bureau of Investigation released updated details of the Monday school shooting that left the student dead and a school resource officer wounded. The student was identified Wednesday as Thompson. TBI Director David Rausch had said Monday that police responded to a report of a possible gunman about 15 minutes before 3:30 p.m. dismissal at the east Knoxville school. Police found the teen, since identified as Thompson, in a bathroom, the TBI said. Multiple agencies, including the Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, converged on the site after the Knoxville Police Department tweeted about the shooting shortly before 4pm. Police ordered the student, who is black, to leave the bathroom but he would not comply, Rausch said. 'As officers entered the restroom, the subject reportedly fired shots, striking an officer,' said a TBI statement about the shooting released Monday. Police fired twice, and Thompson was shot and killed, the TBI said. On Wednesday, the TBI revised its account in a second statement on the shooting, saying the student's gun was fired during a struggle with an officer. Anthony J. Thompson Jr., 17, (pictured) was killed after police responded to a report of a person with a gun and were fired upon by the boy Large number of police officers and first responders arrived on the scene after 3pm 'Preliminary examinations indicate the bullet that struck the KPD officer was not fired from the student's handgun,' the TBI statement released Wednesday said. The only other gunshots cited in the report were fired by officers. The TBI declined to answer a follow-up question about whether the officer was struck by an officer's bullet. In its statement Wednesday, the TBI said investigating agents 'discover facts that may clarify initial reports.' 'This is why our agency uses terms in our releases such as `preliminary,' `possibly,' and `reportedly,'' the TBI's statement said. 'This update provides clarification to the initial information released on this case.' Police fired twice, and Thompson, pictured above, was shot and killed, the TBI said Police respond to a shooting at Austin-East Magnet High School in Knoxville, Tennessee Officer Adam Willson, who is white, was struck in the upper leg and he underwent surgery. The TBI will hand over results of its investigation to the district attorney when complete. The shooting comes as the community reels from off-campus gun violence that has left three other Austin-East students dead this year. Classes at the high school have been canceled through Monday. It also comes as more classrooms are reopening to students after months of remote learning during the coronavirus pandemic, which cut down the number of mass killings in the U.S. The nation has seen a series of mass shootings in recent weeks, including eight people killed at three Atlanta-area massage businesses on March 16 and 10 people killed at a Colorado supermarket on March 22. Mathura: Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav on Sunday said that his partys coalition with the Congress would continue in Uttar Pradesh and they would contest the 2019 Lok Sabha election together. The alliance with the Congress will continue and we will contest the next election unitedly, he told reporters at Vrindavan. Asked about Prime Minister Narendra Modis statement that this year, Diwali was advanced by a fortnight after the relaxations announced in the Goods and Services Tax (GST), the former Uttar Pradesh chief minister said, Ask the trader and he would counter the claim. Replying to another question, he said the current BJP government in the state could not match up to the previous SP regime headed by him in terms of development. Yadav alleged that in spite of visiting Mathura thrice after becoming the chief minister, Yogi Adityanath had done nothing for Brijbhumi. Even the dream project announced by the Yogi government for the development of Vrindavan had remained a dream, he said. The SP leader further alleged that the Yogi government had taken no efforts to clean the Yamuna river. Regarding offering a respectable position to senior leader Shiv Pal Yadav in the party, he said it was a family matter which would be settled amicably. For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. A European Parliament discussion on the need for the immediate release and return of Armenian prisoners from Azerbaijan was held, during which a special report was delivered by the Human Rights Defender (Ombudsman) of Armenia, Arman Tatoyan, the ombudsmans office informed Armenian News-NEWS.am. Tatoyan stressed the importance of international pressure on Azerbaijan, which will enable avoiding further new crimes. The Human Rights Defender of Armenia informed that on April 9 he petitioned to the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe for the immediate return of all Armenian captives illegally detained in Azerbaijan. He once again drew special attention to the fact that all these Armenian servicemen and civilians were captured by the Azerbaijani armed forces in the current and ongoing armed conflict, and therefore, they are all considered captives and should be released and returned immediately to their homeland without any preconditions. The Human Rights Defender stated that the absolute urgency of the release of these captives should be viewed also in the context of the propaganda of Armenophobia and enmity being carried out in Azerbaijan at highest level of state. Tatoyan expressed a belief that the EU should express its respective position in an institutional way to eliminate these violations and prevent their consequences. During the discussion, the ombudsman of Armenia presented in detail the international humanitarian and human rights rules which require the immediate release and safe return of captives. J.D. Vance, venture capitalist and author of "Hillbilly Elegy," has told friends and colleagues that he plans to run for the U.S. Senate seat being vacated by Rob Portman (R-Ohio), Axios has learned from multiple sources. Why it matters: He'll need to reconcile his growing antagonism to Big Tech with a career that's been facilitated by it. Stay on top of the latest market trends and economic insights with Axios Markets. Subscribe for free State of play: Vance, who's been both celebrated and criticized for his "pull yourself up by your bootstraps" ethos, would be entering a crowded GOP primary field. His goal, according to one source, is to present himself as a bridge between Trump and establishment Republicans, particularly because it may be tough to out-Trump former Ohio Treasurer Josh Mandel. That said, he's sought Trump's counsel. Vance recently met privately with the former president at Mar-a-Lago, with Peter Thiel in tow, per multiple sources. Resume: Vance began his VC career with Mithril Capital, a Silicon Valley firm founded by Thiel. In 2017 he joined Revolution, the Washington, D.C.-based firm co-founded by Steve Case, to work on a Rise of the Rest initiative that sought to fund startups outside of traditional VC ecosystems. Then, two years later, he and Rise of the Rest colleague Colin Greenspon left to co-found Cincinnati-based Narya, which raised over $90 million for a debut fund from investors like Thiel, Marc Andreessen, Eric Schmidt and Scott Dorsey. Both Rise of the Rest and Narya fit into Vance's personal narrative of helping seed success in left-behind geographies. For example, the firms were early investors in AppHarvest, a Moorehead, Ky.-based indoor tomato-grower that later went public via SPAC. AppHarvest yesterday announced Vance's departure from its board. One media report suggested the decision was tied to Vance's recent tweets about the Georgia voting law, but Axios has learned that Vance informed AppHarvest of his intentions just before a board meeting during the week of March 22. He told fellow directors that he was likely to run, and didn't want AppHarvest to become politicized. Candidate Vance would need to at least take a leave of absence from Narya, which hasn't finished investing its fund. Story continues Expectations are that Narya's two other partners Greenspon and former VentureOhio CEO Falon Donohue would hold down the fort, with Thiel's blessing. Vance declined comment, and has not publicly discussed his electoral plans, while neither Greenspon nor Thiel responded to Axios' inquiries. Delicate dance: Vance made his name as an author, but he's made his career as a venture capitalist, backed by many of the coastal billionaires he now plans to rhetorically run against. Earlier this week Vance tweeted: "Establishment Republican apologies for our oligarchy should always come with the following disclaimer: 'Big Tech pays my salary.'" Yet Vance's salary, as a partner with Narya, has literally been paid, at least in part, by two directors at Facebook and the former CEO of Google. The bottom line: Expect campaign rivals to pounce on the contradictions, while the eloquent Vance will try talk his way around it banking on the fact that Ohio twice went for a populist billionaire. More from Axios: Sign up to get the latest market trends with Axios Markets. Subscribe for free A Derry Girl has been confirmed as an ambassador of a well-known local charity. The voluntary position with Children in Crossfrie will see Saoirse-Monica Jackson, who plays Erin Quinn in the hugely-popular comedy television series, engage with children and young people across Ireland and further afield to promote the charitys international education and healthcare programmes' Speaking about her appointment, she said she was 'delighted' to be joining the Children in Crossfire charity team. She said: Ive been aware of Children in Crossfires support for impoverished children in African countries since I was a child myself. Its inspiring to follow the positive impact a charity based in my hometown is making for so many vulnerable children in Tanzania and Ethiopia. Whether it is through their healthcare or education projects, we can all be proud of Children in Crossfires work giving children the start in life every child deserves. It is especially encouraging to see the partnership approach that focuses on empowering communities thats what can really deliver change in the long term. I was delighted to be asked and excited to say yes to Richard Moores request that I support Children in Crossfires work in schools. Im very much looking forward to bringing the message of global citizenship and solidarity to local children and young people, not least because I know so many of them believe in the ideal of a fairer, more just world. Richard Moore, Children in Crossfire founder and executive director, said the popular actress would help the charity connect with a 'new generation.' We are absolutely thrilled that Saoirse-Monica Jackson has agreed to become our Schools Ambassador. As well as offering celebrity profile in this role, it is clear to me she will also bring great compassion and a strong commitment to giving vulnerable children their best start in life. Saoirse-Monica will help Children in Crossfire connect with a new generation, ensuring we can keep making a positive difference for many years to come. We very much look forward to working with her in the months ahead and we thank her for the enthusiasm and energy that has brought to our discussions to date. Mr Moore concluded: This promises to be a very exciting time for Children in Crossfire. Email Whatsapp Menu Whatsapp Google Reddit Digg Stumbleupon Linkedin Comment In the 1992 dystopian novel, The Children of Men, P. D. James tells the story of a world where no child has been born in 26 years. Its a world without hope or purpose. Mass suicide by the elderly is common, and the not-yet-elderly are urged to watch pornography in vain hopes of stimulating libidos and reproduction. Mind you, the story is set in our very own year of 2021. In the book, male sperm counts collapsed in 1994 called Year Omega in the novel with the last children being born in 1995. While James story is fiction, in the real 2021, life may be imitating art. Male sperm counts around the world are in decline and, by one estimate, a real Year Omega could arrive in 2045. According to a new book by Shanna Swan, an epidemiologist at Mt. Sinai School of Medicine, between 1973 and 2011 sperm counts in Western males dropped by 59%. In the 10 years since then, things have gotten worse. As Swan writes, If you look at the curve on sperm count and project it forward which is always risky it reaches zero in 2045 . . . Thats a little concerning, to say the least. The decline in male sperm counts coincides with a precipitous decline in fertility rates, not only in the West but increasingly in the developing world too. Half of the worlds countries have fertility rates below replacement level as of now, and by 2050 this is expected to rise to two-thirds. The obvious questions are, one, what role do declining sperm counts play in this fertility drop? And two, whats behind the declining sperm counts? Swan acknowledges that nonbiological factors, such as contraception, cultural shifts and the cost of having children are likely to have contributed to declining birth rates. But she insists that there is ample evidence for biological reasons, as well. Besides the decline in birth rates, she points to things such as increasing miscarriage rates, more genital abnormalities among boys and earlier puberty for girls. As for the cause in declining sperm counts, Swan and others single out endocrine-disrupting chemicals in the environment, including phthalates and bisphenol-A better known as BPA. These chemicals are found in plastics, pesticides, cosmetics and even ATM receipts. In addition to the environmental factors, there are lifestyle factors, such as tobacco and marijuana use, and obesity that might also be affecting sperm counts. Regardless of whats causing lower sperm counts, the drop is real. Throw in cultural attitudes toward marriage and childrearing, and the trend is indeed concerning. While its difficult to imagine a Children of Men-like scenario, we are already seeing the effects of the decline in fertility around the world: aging populations, a shortage of working-age adults, and 70 million men in China and India without a reasonable prospect of getting married. Between our treatment of the environment and our cultural attitudes and practices, it is almost as if we are following the recommendations of an extinction consultant. If we asked this consultant the best way to disregard and even rebel against Gods command to be fruitful and multiply, his answer would likely have resembled what we are currently doing. We can do something, of course, about the chemicals which Swan and others point to as being factors in the declining sperm rate. That, at best, would only slow the trajectory of our demographic demise. There are cultural factors, however, that are far more important and would remain untouched. Not to mention, for many people, especially in the West, the answer to every environmental and social problem from climate change to poverty is fewer people. That makes the Guardians headline about Swans book so ironic: Falling sperm counts threaten human survival, expert warns. Given the Guardians track record, and that of similar publications, you would expect them be cheering for our possible extinction, or at the very least to look on the bright side: At least the polar bears will be OK. The only way forward is somehow reversing the anti-human and anti-natalist worldview that is driving us toward a demographic crisis. In James 1992 novel, hope takes the form of a miraculous birth and a baptism. Thats a pretty good summary of what hope could look like for us in 2021. Certainly, it will require a lot more than banning chemicals from water bottles. It will require from us, including those of us in the Church, what the New Testament calls metanoia, a change of mind that results in a transformed way of life. Originally published at BreakPoint All 35 adults on one of the UK's most remote islands have now been vaccinated. Fair Isle lies between Orkney and Shetland and is renowned for its knitwear and migratory birds. NHS Shetland said all adults on the island were given their second dose on Monday after a small plane flew in vials of the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine in a cool box. There have been no reported cases on the island, which is three miles long and around 1.5 miles wide. Fair Isle (pictured) lies between Orkney and Shetland and is renowned for its knitwear and migratory birds Edna Mary Watson, NHS Shetland's chief community nurse, said travelling to some remote islands by air could be challenging with unpredictable weather. But she added: 'This is all part of the challenge of providing health and care in remote and rural communities and we are very grateful and proud of our team of nurses.' More than two-thirds of the adult population of Shetland have received their first dose of vaccine, and more than a quarter (27%) have had both, said Dr Susan Laidlaw, NHS Shetland public health consultant. Once we have received further supply of vaccine that we can use for first doses, we will be calling the remaining age groups which covers those aged 18-44 who have not yet been vaccinated - approximately 6,000 people, she said. Shetland had an estimated population of 22,920 in mid-2019, according to the National Records of Scotland. NHS Shetland said all adults on the island were given their second dose on Monday after a small plane flew in vials of the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine in a cool box Fetlar, one of the north isles of Shetland, saw vaccinations completed last Wednesday when 48 people were inoculated, NHS Shetland also said. Some 14 vaccinations are due to take place on the island of Foula next Monday. Fair Isle is an important breeding ground for seabirds and stopover for migrating species and is well-known for a distinctive style of knitted garments. Its renowned bird observatory burned down in 2019 and islanders are currently fundraising for a new site. Meanwhile in Orkney, adults on the nine most remote islands have been vaccinated in the same priority group order used on the Orkney mainland. Orkneys biggest remote island is Westray with a population of 600 people and the smallest is North Ronaldsay with 42 people. Maureen Firth, NHS Orkney head of primary care services, said: Across Orkney we have vaccinated down to age 34 and we are now busy with second vaccinations. On Monday this week we had administered a total of 16,891 vaccinations - some of these include second doses. This is about two-thirds of Orkneys adult population. SAN FRANCISCO, April 15, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Harness , the leading platform for software delivery, today announced end-to-end integrations with Amazon (AWS) GovCloud, Microsoft Azure, and Google Cloud Platform (GCP) to help DevOps and engineering teams perform multi-cloud software deployments. Harness was initially developed to deploy pipelines and provide cost management for applications hosted in Kubernetes environments; they are now expanding on that vision with the first CI/CD and cloud cost management platform fully available across the three major public cloud platforms. This is extremely important for companies like GoSpotCheck . GoSpotCheck hosts its applications in multiple clouds including AWS and GCP. Consequently, GoSpotCheck had to build and maintain individual pipelines for each cloud, a time-consuming process requiring expertise in the API's of both providers. These pipelines weren't agnostic or portable across clouds, stacks, and platforms. "Our deployment pipelines were complex and not cloud agnostic." - Nick Wilson | DevOps Lead Today with Harness, GoSpotCheck is able to easily move microservices between clouds with zero downtime. Harness abstracts the interaction with each cloud provider so the deployment is easily switched between clouds providers without requiring knowledge of the underlying API's. Software Delivery pipelines are agnostic, portable, and dynamic - requiring minimal maintenance by engineers or the DevOps team. According to Gartner, more than 81% of organizations running in the cloud use two or more public cloud providers. To compound this, each cloud provider requires dedicated engineering expertise and tools to manage specific cloud provider nuances. This slows down engineering teams that are already burdened with too many tools. Today's enterprises need a full-stack CI/CD platform that permits them to move seamlessly between the big three public cloud providers (AWS, Azure and GCP), while allowing them to lower cloud costs. Harness enables customers to consolidate their build, deploy, verify, and cost management processes into a single, streamlined platform without worrying about the complexity of a multi-cloud environment. "We're noticing a direct correlation between containerized software deployments and the move toward cloud-native architectures," said Jyoti Bansal, CEO and co-founder, Harness. "As more enterprises look to do more with their software and reduce infrastructure costs, they're turning to multi-cloud architectures to improve uptime, avoid vendor lock-in and gain price leverage. With these integrations, Harness is answering that call, providing an abstraction layer between cloud deployment complexity and developers, so every company can deliver next-generation software faster than ever." By granting customers access to all the major public clouds directly, Harness provides the same profound deployment and cost management experiences expected when managing applications hosted on Kubernetes. Harness' latest integrations with each of the major public cloud providers include: Amazon AWS GovCloud Developers working in the public sector need to work with tools that fit into their air-gapped regulatory environment. This often means building their own software delivery tools or using the few tools available on the market. Harness already supported AWS ECS, AWS AMI, AWS CodeDeploy, AWS Lambda, and more. Now, developers can use Harness to deploy new software to applications hosted in secure government environments, giving customers and their partners the flexibility to architect secure cloud solutions that comply with government regulations and compliance regimes such as: FedRAMP High baseline Department of Justice (DoJ) Criminal Justice Information Systems (CJIS) Security Policy U.S. International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR) Export Administration Regulations (EAR) Department of Defense (DoD) Cloud Computing Security Requirements Guide (SRG) for Impact Levels 2, 4 and 5 This integration also allows cloud operations and financial management teams to have complete visibility across all of their public cloud resources. Microsoft Azure Harness already supported Azure Virtual Machine Scale Sets (VMSS), Azure Web App, and Azure Gov Cloud type workloads. With today's news, they also support Azure native deployments and cloud bill analysis, providing critical additional capabilities for customers running Harness CI/CD on Azure Cloud. Harness now assists with Azure Serverless technologies and ARM support with blueprints, management, and resource groups. Customers also gain deep visibility into their Azure costs within Harness Cloud Cost Management. Google Cloud Platform Harness already supported some GCP deployments such as Google Kubernetes Engine, Google Cloud Run Workloads and Google Cloud Functions in the Deployment Templates feature but lacked critical integrations to bring it to feature parity with its AWS offerings. Now, Harness supports the deployment of native GCP applications, and integrates with Google Secrets Manager, Google Key Management Service, Google Cloud Storage, Google Container Registry, Stackdriver, GCP Workload Identity, and Google Cloud Build. For more information about how companies can deliver next-generation software on AWS, GCP and Azure, visit harness.io . To join the Harness community of industry-leading partners, apply here . About Harness Based in San Francisco, Harness is the only end-to-end platform for complete software delivery designed to provide a simple, safe and secure way for engineering and DevOps teams to release applications into production. Harness uses machine learning to detect the quality of deployments and automatically roll back failed ones, saving time and reducing the need for custom scripting and manual oversight. Harness customers include NCR, Kohl's, Discover Financial, Nationwide Insurance and McAfee. Follow Harness on Twitter or try Harness for free at harness.io . SOURCE Harness Related Links harness.io Facebook has signed a deal to buy renewable energy in India from a local firm's wind power project, the social media giant's first such deal in the South Asian nation, the companies said on Thursday. The 32 megawatt wind power project, located in southern Karnataka state, is part of a larger portfolio of wind and solar projects that Facebook and Mumbai-based CleanMax are working together on for supplying renewable power into India's electrical grid, they said in a joint statement. CleanMax will own and operate the projects, while Facebook will buy the power off the grid using environmental attribute certificates, or carbon credits, the companies said. Facebook's head of renewable energy, Urvi Parekh, told Reuters the company typically doesn't own the power plants but instead signs "long-term" electricity purchasing agreements with the renewable power company. "That enables the project to seek out the financing that it would need," she said. India is Facebook's biggest market by users. In Singapore, Facebook has announced similar partnerships with energy providers Sunseap Group, Terrenus Energy and Sembcorp Industries on projects that can produce 160 MW of solar power, Parekh said. The electricity generated from these plants will power the tech giant's first Asian data centre that is set to start operations next year, she added. Data centres driving tech companies like Facebook use up as much as 1% of the world's total energy, the International Energy Agency said last year. Tech companies like Amazon, Alphabet Inc and Microsoft have pledged to operate carbon-free and achieve net-zero emissions, as demand for data and digital services is expected to see a sustained rise. Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced separately on Thursday that the company's global operations are now supported wholly by renewable energy and that it has reached net-zero emissions. Also read: 9 out of 10 companies look to fill roles internally amid Covid-19: LinkedIn Secretary of State Antony Blinken has made an unannounced visit to Kabul to brief officials on Washington's plans to withdraw all U.S. troops by September 11 -- the 20th anniversary of the attacks that triggered the American and NATO intervention in Afghanistan. Blinken's visit came hours after President Joe Biden's announcement on April 14 that he was ending America's longest conflict, dubbed "the forever war," by bringing home the remaining 2,500 U.S. troops. Blinken met with Afghan President Ashraf Ghani as well as senior U.S. officials in Kabul and briefed them on Biden's plan. "I wanted to demonstrate with my visit the ongoing commitment of the United States to the Islamic Republic and the people of Afghanistan," Blinken said after meeting with Ghani. The partnership is changing, but the partnership itself is enduring, he added. Blinken, who also met with Chief Executive Abdullah Abdullah and Afghan civic leaders, arrived from Brussels where NATO on April 14 announced that its roughly 7,000 non-U.S. forces in Afghanistan would be departing within a few months, as well. The September 11 date announced by Biden marks a four-month delay to the May 1 deadline agreed between the administration of former President Donald Trump and the Taliban in February 2020 and comes despite a deadlock in peace negotiations between the militant group and the Afghan government. We respect the decision and are adjusting our priorities, Ghani told Blinken, voicing gratitude for the sacrifices of U.S. troops. More than 2,300 U.S. military personnel have lost their lives in Afghanistan since 2001. "We cannot continue the cycle of extending or expanding our military presence in Afghanistan hoping to create the ideal conditions for our withdrawal, expecting a different result," Biden said on April 14. After a phone call with Biden on April 14, Ghani said Afghan forces are "fully capable" of controlling the country. Both the United States and NATO have sought to paint the unconditional pullout as a victory, maintaining that they had achieved their goal of destroying the Al-Qaeda network that launched the 9/11 attacks and clearing the country of terrorist elements that could use Afghan soil to plot similar strikes. But the announcement of the unconditional pullout has caused widespread concern in Afghanistan, where people live in fear of daily bombings and targeted assassinations by the Taliban. Some U.S, lawmakers and human rights advocates also warned that the withdrawal will result in the loss of freedoms that Afghans enjoyed after the Taliban was ousted from power in late 2001. During his talks with Abdullah, Blinken pledged full U.S. support for such freedoms, including hard-fought gains in women's rights. "Secretary Blinken reiterated the U.S. commitment to the peace process and that we will use our full diplomatic, economic, and humanitarian toolkit to support the future the Afghan people want, including the gains made by Afghan women," a State Department statement said. Meanwhile, the Taliban has expressed anger over the announcement of the delayed withdrawal, even threatening to resume hostilities against U.S. troops. "If the agreement is breached and foreign forces fail to exit our country on the specified date, problems will certainly be compounded and those who failed to comply with the agreement will be held liable," spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said on Twitter on April 14. U.S. forces have not engaged in direct combat with the insurgents since the February 29, 2020, agreement, but they provide vital air support to Afghan forces engaged in daily warfare. But fighting between Afghan government forces and militants continues unabated on the ground despite months of talks in Qatar between the two sides. A separate international peace conference on Afghanistan is due to take place in Turkey from April 24, but the Taliban have said it will not attend. Washington has pressed for a conference in Turkey later this month to get the Afghan government and Taliban to agree to some form of unity interim administration and map a future for the country by consensus. But the militants have announced they will boycott the April 24 meeting in Istanbul. With reporting by AP and AFP Even before new COVID-19 restrictions are announced by the province, Manitobas business recovery is already stalling. Even before new COVID-19 restrictions are announced by the province, Manitobas business recovery is already stalling. Data released Wednesday by the Canadian Federation of Independent Business suggest, while Manitoba has fared better than the national average and some other provinces, only 36 per cent of small- and medium-sized businesses are now making normal sales. On top of that, 49 per cent of businesses across the province are fully staffed and 69 per cent are fully open, as of mid-April. While those figures are a few percentage points higher than March, commerce stakeholders and advocates worry numbers will further stall and could even begin diminishing as a result of yet-to-be-announced pandemic protocols. "Of course, any new restrictions will be completely detrimental for businesses," said Jonathan Alward, Manitoba director for CFIB. "Lets be clear though, so many of them are already under restrictions that are affecting everything its why these numbers look the way they do." So far, the province has remained silent about exactly what kind of restrictions businesses can expect, despite hinting at them earlier this week. Manitobas top doctor warned Monday that outdoor mask requirements and smaller gathering sizes could be on the way to curb the spread of the highly infectious B.1.1.7 coronavirus variant. Across the country, the third wave of the pandemic has been straining hospitals and causing increased restrictions in most provinces outside the Atlantic region. Ontario, Alberta, Saskatchewan and British Columbia have borne the brunt of those lockdowns, closures and other pandemic-related measures which Manitoba has narrowly escaped because of lower case counts. Alward said its distressing that despite fewer restrictions in Manitoba, businesses arent doing much better than other provinces. "For a lot of people, before this new rise in cases, its been seemingly much more normal than the past year," he said. "But even if it feels that way for someone whos not a business owner, things arent looking as well for our local economy as it needs to be at this point... particularly when you consider how its been since January that Manitobans were allowed to somewhat ease restrictions." According to CFIBs national estimates, 56 per cent of small businesses are fully open in Canada (down from 62 per cent in March); 40 per cent are fully staffed (down from 44 per cent) and only 29 per cent are making normal sales (down from 31 per cent). "But when you compare Quebecs or Saskatchewans numbers to Manitobas, for example, and keep their restrictions in mind, its startling to see the little difference in business recovery," said Alward, citing Quebecs 32 per cent of fully open businesses and Saskatchewans 34 per cent, compared to Manitoba at 36 per cent. "Theres a clear reminder here about trending in the wrong direction, which the (Manitoba) government should note when making decisions about further restrictions." John Graham, the Prairie region director for the Retail Council of Canada, said much of this stalled business recovery can be attributed to a back and forth with pandemic measures in Manitoba. "These numbers arent surprising to me at all," he said. "I mean, small retailers and any business that could make a profit during peak seasons werent able to. We also lost many of them as a result of that trouble in making any profits during, say, Christmas." Lacking consumer confidence and differing provincial protocols towards businesses have also played a part in creating roadblocks, said Graham. "But above all," he added, "the Manitoba government needs to step up." "At the end of the day, vaccinations need to be accelerated with greater urgency thats the key to resolving all of this, instead of closing things down once again, causing further impediments to any success with recovery that weve had." temur.durrani@freepress.mb.ca Twitter: @temurdur Desperate Queensland strawberry growers are offering a $100,000 prize to attract locals to pick this winter's crop as COVID-19 restrictions rob the industry of backpackers and other seasonal workers. The prize is announced as part of a new Queensland Government campaign to attract Australians to the states food bowls to pick the winter harvest. As part of the #pickqld campaign, the government will provide up to $1500 to help a would-be farm worker relocate. There is also $6000 on offer from the Federal government's relocation assistance scheme for those who move to take up short-term agricultural work, including harvest work. The #pickqld campaign seeks to lure city workers to the regions to pick the winter harvest Joanne, a casual picker of plums in Stanthorpe, is one of the faces of #pickqld 'You can be eligible for both amounts,' a Queensland government spokesperson told Daily Mail Australia. Queensland produce growers have borne the brunt of a critical labour shortage due to the pandemic, with only a quarter of the usual number of backpackers employed to pick fruit and other produce expected in Australia this year. Bowen Chamber of Commerce president Bruce Hedditch even suggested farmers in his region may not plant crops in 2021, while suggesting tomatoes might rise in price at supermarkets by 900 per cent. 'We are supporting our food providers by encouraging people from all walks of life and age groups, who are looking for something different and are in the position to relocate for short-term work, to give a farm job a go,' said Mark Furner, Queensland Minister for Agricultural Industry Development and Fisheries and Minister for Rural Communities, at the launch of the #pickqld Winter Harvest 2021 campaign. Queensland Strawberries is running a competition to win $100,000 for picking the fruit Queensland farmers had been hard-hit by the lack of backpackers caused by the pandemic To be eligible for the $100,000 prize, a worker is awarded 100 points awarded for every Average Working Week they complete at a participating farm. Once they have accumulated 1000 points they receive 1000 entries into the draw for the prize. There are also bonus points on offer for working consecutive weeks at a participating farm. 'We won't deny that you will need to work hard, but the rewards are certainly there for people who are prepared to put the effort in,' said Adrian Schultz, president of the Queensland Strawberry Growers Association. He said the strawberry industry was facing the most challenging growing season in its history. 'Growers have made a significant investment in buying and planting strawberry runners, and without the right number of workers available to harvest the crop across the winter our farms face serious financial consequences.' [April 15, 2021] Government of Canada announces support for new accessible technology projects Innovative projects will make it easier for Canadians living with disabilities to participate in the digital economy OTTAWA, ON, April 15, 2021 /CNW/ - The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted the importance of communicating in accessible formats to help all Canadians maintain their health, safety and prosperity. That's why the Government of Canada is taking action to make sure that people living with disabilities are not left behind, and why it continues to push the envelope to find new and innovative ways of helping remove barriers to accessibility and inclusion. By investing in the Accessible Technology Program, the government is empowering all Canadians to fully participate in their communities, workplaces and the economy as we recover from the impacts of the pandemic. Today, the Honourable Francois-Philippe Champagne, Minister for Innovation, Science and Industry, announced five projects to be funded under the federal Accessible Technology Program. These projects will support the development of assistive and adaptive digital devices and technologies. The funded projects announced today are: $212,500 for AbleDocs Inc. to develop an assistive reader that reads PDF content for persons living with visual and cognitive impairments, providing better access to information on the Internet on both Android and iOS devices. for AbleDocs Inc. to develop an assistive reader that reads PDF content for persons living with visual and cognitive impairments, providing better access to information on the Internet on both Android and iOS devices. $429,675 for AdHawk Microsystems Inc. to develop and deliver mobile augmented reality glasses with integrated displays and eye tracking to interact with desktop applications. The eye tracking technology will be able to work from various head positions, allowing the user greater mobility. for AdHawk Microsystems Inc. to develop and deliver mobile augmented reality glasses with integrated displays and eye tracking to interact with desktop applications. The eye tracking technology will be able to work from various head positions, allowing the user greater mobility. $247,814 for Compusult Limited to enhance and extend a combined joystick and mouse switch technology to create controllers that enable someone with physical disabilities to seamlessly switch between and manage multiple devices. for Compusult Limited to enhance and extend a combined joystick and mouse switch technology to create controllers that enable someone with physical disabilities to seamlessly switch between and manage multiple devices. $125,750 for Emily Carr University of Art & Design to create the a new adaptable font that to address the needs of people with low vision. The Infinite Font will allow users to tailor shapes to individual needs. $608,594 for McGill University to develop three strategies based on audio, tactile and multimodal feedback that will allow users who are blind, deaf-blind or visually impaired to interpret graphical content on the Internet more independently, quickly and effortlessly. This project will particularly help the vast majority of blind individuals who are not Braille-literate. Quote "Being connected is so important to maintain professional, social, economic and cultural networks but many Canadians are still facing barriers that prevent them from fully participating. This is why the Government is investing in the Accessible Technology Program - to help empower Canadians' ability to use and enjoy digital technologies. By working with innovative and caring organizations across the country, we are helping Canadians with disabilities access high-quality, assistive, and essential equipment so that nobody is left behind." The Honourable Francois-Philippe Champagne, Minister for Innovation, Science and Industry "We know that Canadians with disabilities have been disproportionately affected by COVID-19, and it has highlighted the importance of communication and access to information in a format that is accessible. This investment through the Accessible Technology Program will help us build back better in an inclusive way, where every Canadian has a fair and equal chance at success." The Honourable Carla Qualtrough, Minister of Employment, Workforce Development and Disability Inclusion Quick facts The Accessible Technology Program is part of the Government of Canada's Innovation and Skills Plan, a multi-year strategy to create well-paying jobs for the middle class. Innovation and Skills Plan, a multi-year strategy to create well-paying jobs for the middle class. Bill C-81, the Accessible Canada Act, was tabled in Parliament on June 20, 2018 . It received Royal Assent on June 21, 2019 , and came into force on July 11, 2019 . . It received Royal Assent on , and came into force on . In total, 25 projects from across Canada , including the five projects announced today, have received investments from the Accessible Technology Program. Associated links Accessible Technology Program Announced Accessible Technology Program projects Follow Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada on Twitter: @ISED_CA SOURCE Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] 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 The ominous looming deadline for filing 2020 federal income tax returns has been extended from April 15 to Monday, May 17, 2021. If your paperwork is still in the "pulling it all together phase," our conversation with a tax expert might provide you with a few tips to save money, especially if you are an entrepreneur working in research and development. This year's revised federal tax code plus new Covid-19 initiatives provide additional incentives for startup companies, as well as small and medium-sized businesses. If you received a Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loan, you may qualify to have that indebtedness forgiven; and other tax incentives this year provide new deductions to lower your tax bill. Gig workers and those who are self-employed need to keep up on the latest money-saving incentives in this year's tax filing process. Be sure not to overlook any tax breaks to which you may be entitled when making calculations this season. Please consult your tax advisor about your specific tax situation. Your situation might qualify you for PPP, R&D tax credits, and other credits that many people are not aware of but could use. Even better is the expectation over the next few months of more tax-saving benefits for certain businesses that will pass down to employees. "It can be pretty significant in helping businesses claim employee retention tax credits that were as big or bigger for certain industries," Brent Johnson, cofounder and CEO of Clarus R+D, told the E-Commerce Times. Federal Tax Overview Historically, incentive programs are part of an overall tax plan, but in the past, they have only been really available to very large corporate taxpayers. That situation has been gradually changing. Fairly significant rule changes took place, and over the last year with Covid-19, numerous programs came out of Congress that squarely are in that realm of these tax help programs. Clarus R+D helps businesses understand how to participate in these programs to get as much out of them as they can, according to Johnson. For instance, one of the lesser-known programs in conjunction with the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act and the Coronavirus Response and Relief Supplemental Appropriations Act (CRRSA) of 2021 provide assistance to workers and their families. But, as part of the Consolidated Appropriations Act, the benefits came out at the end of the year. The PPP program is an employee retention tax credit program. It offers employers this year an opportunity to look back into 2020 to get tax credits for some of their employees. Johnson sees that as a significant development at the end of the year in the last round of stimulus legislation. The key provision is an enhancement to the employee retention tax credit program called Recovery Startup Business (RSB) provision. It qualifies business owners with revenue under an average of $1 million in gross receipts for the previous three years who started a new trade or business to tap into an additional tax break. "It effectively means the new product or service offering can become eligible for the employee retention tax credit, simply by starting that new trade or business," he said. It can be as much as $50,000 per quarter, the last few quarters of 2021. You will likely hear more about that. But to clarify, that is a program at the company level. It is not something that the individual employee is able to claim, he explained. How the R&D Credit Program Works The R&D Credit Program expanded farily significantly about five years ago. It is most relevant to the tech startup space, and legislators are getting ready to potentially enhance that as part of the infrastructure bill that was being debated in Congress, noted Johnson. "What happened about five years ago, the government targeted early-stage businesses which, in large part, are in the tech space," he said. Qualified tech companies could start to utilize that credit against the payroll tax obligations. Before they did that, it was only creditable against the income tax. All others who do not have an income tax application could not claim that credit. So the change allowed businesses for the first five years to claim up to $250,000 tax credit for payroll tax obligation. As part of the infrastructure bill, there was a proposal to expand that to an eight-year period and double the amount of credit that can be claimed against federal tax filing from $250,000 to $500,000, explained Johnson. Something for Mom-and-Pop Tech Shops Too Credit programs generally are employment, innovation, or infrastructure-related. As part of the employee retention tax credit, legislators lowered the eligibility threshold requirements, explained Johnson. The latest change reduces the threshold for how badly your business has to be hurt. The 50 percent threshold dropped to 20 percent. "A lot more businesses will be eligible for it in the first quarter of 2020," said Johnson. Another change to consider is the Work Opportunity Tax Credit (WOTC). It will affect employers who hire workers who are difficult to hire. You can get a tax credit for participating. Something else out there in the taxosphere from the infrastructure perspective is green energy credits. These are likely to also be part of the infrastructure bill. "So if you are deploying energy-efficient equipment in your business and relying on green energy, there are credits that are available to you," Johnson suggested. 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. When Rob Santos ran for president of the American Statistical Association last year, he pitched himself to colleagues as just a kid (albeit much older) from a San Antonio barrio with two career passions statistics and helping people. His next job pitch will likely be to a roomful of U.S. senators as President Joe Bidens pick to lead the U.S. Census Bureau. Santos, who is Mexican American, was selected by Biden on Tuesday. If confirmed, he would be the first person of color to lead the federal governments largest statistical agency full time. Thanks to everyone for their support in reaction to the White House intent to nominate me for director of the U.S. Census Bureau, an institution whose mission and staff I have always admired, and whose work I greatly value, Santos, who was unavailable for an interview, tweeted Wednesday morning. I find myself both humbled and honored as the nominations process unfolds. Santos nomination will come at a critical moment, as federal officials work through the 2020 Census data that will inform state and federal redistricting processes across the nation. The agency is expected to deliver the data to all states by Sept. 30. He would also lead an agency re-evaluating the terms, check-boxes and methods it uses to accurately gather and report information about communities of color a subject that Santos cares deeply about. When I fill out the census form, I check the Latino-Hispanic-Mexican American box, Santos told KERA in 2019. And when it comes to race, I mark other and insert mestizo because thats how I feel about race and ethnicity. TEXAS TAKE: Get the latest news on Texas politics sent directly to your inbox every weekday In his personal and professional life, Santos has made a point to prioritize diversity, equity and inclusion, colleagues said. He currently serves as the vice president and chief methodologist at the Washington, D.C.-based Urban Institute, a think tank that conducts economic and social policy research. Also, he got the job with the American Statistical Association and is serving a one-year term as its president. Diversity was a pillar of his campaign and a key component of the Urban Institutes research on the fairness and accuracy of the 2020 Census. It is unfair to over-count one sector of society while undercounting another to achieve overall accuracy, Santos testified before a U.S. House of Representatives committee in December, noting that the 2010 Census overrepresented white people and undercounted Black, Hispanic and Native American residents. Doing so only reinforces inequities in political representation, federal funding to local communities, and economic and public health opportunities. And these inaccuracies are baked in for the 10-year period between censuses. Matthew Busch /Contributor In work settings, he ensures that diversity is part of almost every conversation, said Steve Pierson, the American Statistical Associations director of science policy, who has known and worked with Santos for more than a decade. When I go to him and I say, You know, this committee is looking at this sort of nomination for this panel, he is making sure that we are keeping in mind those values and those goals in all the things that ASA does, he said. I just feel like he lives and breathes equity, diversity, inclusion, justice. The Census Bureau has been enmeshed in those issues for the past two years, most notably during the Trump administrations failed but contentious quest to add a citizenship question to the 2020 Census. Critics blasted the effort as a thinly veiled attempt to undercount communities of color. Santos told the Miami Herald in 2019 that a citizenship question could hurt census participation in underrepresented communities cutting funding and representation in those areas. There is a real threat of meaningful undercounts in a way that will affect peoples lives, he said. Santos, soft-spoken but straightforward, has said those values stem from years of parochial education, though he doesnt consider himself particularly religious. He grew up just south of Woodlawn Lake, attending Little Flower Catholic School and then Holy Cross High School in the early 1970s. His parents both worked at Kelly Air Force Base. He attended San Antonio Community College and later earned an undergraduate degree in mathematics at Trinity University in 1976. He went on to get a masters degree in statistics at the University of Michigan in 1977, launching a more than 40-year career in research, math and leadership. His resume is 13 pages long. Pierson compared him to a chess player, always anticipating where a project is going and looking toward next steps. Katherine Wallman, who served as the chief statistician of the United States from 1992 to 2017 and has known Santos for three decades, described him as a clear communicator with a signature smile. Santos takes note of everyone in a room, she said, and seeks out their opinions, carefully considering other views before drawing conclusions. Those skills have earned him the respect of his colleagues, many of whom poured on praise as they heard news of the impending nomination. When Wallman got word, she messaged her friends in all caps: BEST NEWS EVER!!!!! Weve reached a time when the trust in government and the trust in data ... is fragile at best, and were at a time when transparency of the government is legitimately, in my view, questioned, Wallman said. I think that Rob is the exact right person who can and will bring greater transparency into what happens at the Census Bureau. Outside of his numbers work, Santos is known for his love of grilling, fishing and hunting. He has a side gig as a SXSW photocrew chief, where he helps manage about 100 photographers each year at the SXSW Festival in Austin. (He takes photos of musicians, too a hobby he picked up in 2009.) Its weird, but my interest in live music photography was spontaneous, he said in a 2018 ASA magazine interview. Once it occurred, I listened to and acted upon that sudden interest and it quickly grew into a passion. He has been married for 47 years to his wife, Adella, and has two grown children, Emilio and Clarisa. He also has two granddaughters, Renee and Layla. My career and devotion to the statistic community is one thing, he wrote last year. But all that pales when it comes to family. We lead better lives when putting family before work. cayla.harris@express-news.net A white former police officer is being charged with second-degree manslaughter in the killing of 20-year-old Daunte Wright, just three days after the Black man was shot during a traffic stop in a Minneapolis suburb. The swift probe and announcement of a charge against Kim Potter, a 26-year veteran and training officer, was handled by a prosecutor from outside Brooklyn Center, Minnesota, where Potter shot Wright. The decision to hand over the case was made almost immediately by Hennepin County Attorney Mike Freeman, who said county attorneys in the Minneapolis area last year adopted the practice of referring police shootings to other jurisdictions in order to avoid any appearance of a conflict of interest. The Hennepin County attorneys office has also taken the back seat in the case against Derek Chauvin, the former Minneapolis officer on trial in the death of George Floyd. At the request of Democratic Gov. Tim Walz, Keith Ellison, the states first Black attorney general, took over the Chauvin prosecution. Bringing in outside prosecutors to review police shootings is a practice that has gained steam across the U.S. in recent years in an effort to eliminate the appearance of bias. Heres a look at the practice and the reason behind it: Why use an outside prosecutor? Local prosecutors and police officers work alongside each other every day to build cases, and prosecutors rely on officers testimony and evidence theyve gathered to try to convict defendants at trial. That cozy relationship has long led to complaints that prosecutors cant possibly be objective when deciding whether to bring charges against officers in departments with whom they work closely. Where do outside investigations happen? In some places, the state attorney generals office is empowered with reviewing shootings by police. California Gov. Gavin Newsom signed a bill in September requiring the state attorney generals office to investigate fatal police shootings of unarmed civilians. New York, meanwhile, created a special unit within the state attorney generals office to investigate deaths at the hands of police. In Connecticut, killings by police are investigated by states attorneys from other judicial districts. A new wide-ranging police accountability law there created the position of an inspector general to investigate police officers use of deadly force. but a committee failed to agree on a candidate to serve in the role. In Boston and surrounding communities, the top prosecutor in 2019 created a special panel called the Discharge Integrity Team to review all police shootings. Suffolk County District Attorney Rachael Rollins office keeps jurisdiction over the case, but the outside team meets with her to review the direction of the probe and examine investigators work. Rollins, the first woman of color to serve as district attorney in Massachusetts, has said that even before recent killings of Black people by police, poor, Black and brown communities were rightfully skeptical of a DAs office investigating the very police officers they partner with every day. Are more places considering changes? Since January, at least eight states have introduced legislation that would change how fatal police shootings are investigated. Those changes overwhelmingly require state attorneys general to become the lead investigator or create a division within their office that would take over any investigation and prosecution. The most sweeping proposal was introduced by lawmakers in the GOP-controlled legislature in Texas, where there is currently no law dictating the process of such investigations. The bill introduced in January would create a constitutional amendment that would require the state attorney general to appoint a special prosecutor in fatal use-of-force cases. In Minnesota, a legislative proposal would require such cases to be investigated by a special prosecutor. The bill would also prohibit the use of grand juries in certain use-of-force cases. Do outside prosecutors get different results? Its hard to say. In New York, for example, few of the probes overseen by New Yorks attorney general have led to charges against officers. In February, they declined to bring charges in the death of Daniel Prude, who died in custody after officers put a spit hood over him. It was the third time there were no charges in a case handled by the Special Investigations and Prosecutions Unit, created in 2015 amid an outcry over police skirting punishment in the deaths of unarmed Black people. The unit has yet to win a conviction. Johnson Controls, the pioneer for smart, healthy and sustainable buildings, announces that it has been awarded a $91 million project with the U.S. General Services Administration (GSA) to improve facilities and energy efficiencies of landmark buildings. As part of the National Deep Energy Retrofit (NDER) program, the GSA is upgrading building technologies in the pursuit of net zero energy consumption while achieving energy goals prescribed in various federal Energy Acts. Support systemic management Johnson Controls portfolio of smart building systems provides the physical components for the upgrades as well as OpenBlue software solutions that support systemic management of building operations, providing memory, intelligence and unique identity to spaces. This infusion of physical systems with award-winning artificial intelligence that helps systems learn over time automates changes that drive maximum energy and resource efficiency. Johnson Controls Federal Systems team will perform much of the work Buildings receiving facility improvements over the next three years include the Ronald Reagan Building and International Trade Centre (RRBITC), the New Executive Office Building (NEOB), the Eisenhower Executive Office Building (EEOB), Jackson Place, the Winder Building and the Civil Service Building. Johnson Controls Federal Systems team will perform much of the work associated with the project. Execution of these projects is anticipated to begin on May 1, 2021. Creating healthier places Sustainability, energy efficiency and working toward the goal of net zero are top of mind for government leaders across the United States. This is reflected in the Biden-Harris Administrations recent infrastructure bill as well as our nations re-joining of the Paris Agreement, said George Oliver, chairman and CEO at Johnson Controls. Partnering with the GSA to make these historic buildings more environmentally friendly and energy efficient is an honour and we look forward to upgrading more buildings around the U.S. in the coming years to create healthier places and do our part to support a healthier planet. Overall project objectives include: Reducing energy and water consumption Improving efficiency of lighting, water and HVAC systems Transforming building automation systems Implementing cost-effective retrofits with paybacks of 25 years or less Completing construction with minimal disruption to tenants A comprehensive and integrated whole-building approach to the various energy conservation measures Achieving energy resilience It is a privilege to work with General Services Administration on infrastructure projects" We are proud to help the GSA achieve energy resilience in the Nations Capital through Johnson Controls legacy of building expertise and our intimate understanding of the agencys technology and security needs, said Nate Manning, President of Building Solutions North America at Johnson Controls. It is a privilege to work with GSA on infrastructure projects that deliver transformational sustainability solutions for iconic landmarks. These buildings are critical locations for the federal government and include parts of the White House Complex and a National Historic Landmark used by the Executive Office of the President including the Office of the Vice President, Office of Management and Budget, and the National Security Council. Energy conservation measures The NDER program demonstrates GSAs commitment to driving energy savings beyond that of an ordinary energy savings project without a detrimental effect on occupant comfort and agency mission. GSAs NDER program is achieving greater than 34 percent energy savings over its portfolio of buildings included in the program. The cornerstone of success in NDER projects is the holistic and interactive consideration of energy conservation measures. The GSA was able to more quickly finalise the contract and award the work to Johnson Controls For the RRBITC and the NEOB projects alone, energy conservation measures are projected to reduce combined energy consumption by 42% and water consumption by 50%. This initiative leveraged the Department of Energys Indefinite Delivery/Indefinite Quantity (IDIQ) Energy Savings Performance Contract (ESPC) in conjunction with GSAs innovative NDER program to achieve transformative infrastructure outcomes. By following an ESPC approach, the GSA was able to more quickly finalise the contract and award the work to Johnson Controls with minimal up-front capital costs or special appropriations from Congress. Accelerated sustainability commitments This approach to contracting simplified finalisation of agreements, paving the way for facility improvements to begin and energy savings to be realised as soon as possible. Sustainability is an integral part of Johnson Controls vision and values. Since signing the United Nations Global Compact in 2004, the company has remained fully committed to aligning its operations and strategies with the U.N. Global Compact's Ten Principles. In January 2021 the company announced ambitious and accelerated sustainability commitments. Further, in March, the science-based targets initiative approved Johnson Controls ambitious emissions reduction targets. These commitments not only reflect internal action being taken across the company, but also the way that Johnson Controls works with and supports customers, partners, vendors and supply chain participants. Questo comunicato e stato pubblicato piu di 30 giorni fa. Le informazioni su questa pagina potrebbero non essere attendibili. COVID-19 imapct & Outbreak: on new Castor Oil Market Report, offering growth, trends, and forecast for each segment along with regional and country analysis. The study has done with respect to market share, size, trends, growth, outlook, estimation and forecast period 2021-2027. This section of the castor oil market report provides detailed data on the segments by analyzing them at country and regional level, thereby assisting the strategist in identifying the target demographics for the respective product or services with the upcoming opportunities. Request a FREE Sample Copy of Global Castor Oil Market Report with Full TOC At: https://www.valuemarketresearch.com/contact/castor-oil-market/download-sample By End Use Industry Pharmaceuticals Lubricants Paints Soaps Others Browse Full Global Castor Oil Market Research Report With TOC At: https://www.valuemarketresearch.com/report/castor-oil-market The research report also covers the comprehensive profiles of the key players in the market and an in-depth view of the competitive landscape worldwide. The major players in the castor oil market include Adani Wilmar, Kandla Agro & Chemicals, HOKOKU Co.,Ltd, Jayant Agro-Organics Limited, Gokul Overseas, Thai Castor Oil Industries Co.,Ltd. , NK Proteins, RPK Agrotech, Gokul Overseas, Kanak, Adya Oil. This section consists of a holistic view of the competitive landscape that includes various strategic developments such as key mergers & acquisitions, future capacities, partnerships, financial overviews, collaborations, new product developments, new product launches, and other developments. This section covers the regional outlook, which accentuates current and future demand for the Castor Oil market across North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific, Latin America, and Middle East & Africa. Further, the report focuses on demand, estimation, and forecast for individual application segments across all the prominent regions. Purchase complete Global Castor Oil Market Research Report At: https://www.valuemarketresearch.com/contact/castor-oil-market/buy-now About Us: Value Market Research was established with the vision to ease decision making and empower the strategists by providing them with holistic market information. We facilitate clients with syndicate research reports and customized research reports on 25+ industries with global as well as regional coverage. Contact: Value Market Research 401/402, TFM, Nagras Road, Aundh, Pune-7. Maharashtra, INDIA. Tel: +1-888-294-1147 Email: sales@valuemarketresearch.com Website: https://www.valuemarketresearch.com U.S. President Joe Biden announced on Wednesday, "It is time to end the forever war" in Afghanistan. The president indicated that the United States had long ago accomplished its primary mission of denying terrorists a dwelling place in the country. He also stated that leaving American forces there was no longer worth all the money and blood. Biden: It is Time to End the Forever War in Afghanistan Biden spoke from the same White House spot where former President George W. Bush greenlighted the start of the war following the September 11 attacks almost two decades ago. But the current president made a case that there was no longer justification -- or there was none ever since -- to believe that the military presence could transform Afghanistan into a stable democracy. The United States will continue to support Afghanistan following the withdrawal of all U.S. troops, but not "militarily," according to Biden's vow. He stated, "It is time to end America's longest war," reported BBC. Biden's plan is to pull out all American forces, currently standing at 2,500, by September 11, the anniversary of the attacks coordinated from Afghanistan. Soon following Biden's announcement, NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg in Brussels remarked the alliance had agreed to withdraw its estimated 7,000 forces from Afghanistan. This matched the U.S. president's decision to begin a final pullout by May 1, reported AP. According to Biden, "We went to Afghanistan because of a horrific attack that happened 20 years ago. That cannot explain why we should remain there in 2021," reported NPR. He added, "We were attacked, we went to war with clear goals. We achieved those objectives. Bin Laden is dead, and al-Qaida is degraded in Afghanistan, and it's time to end this forever war." Joe Biden's Infrastructure Plan Tops Congress Priorities Biden is currently the fourth U.S. president to preside over an American troop presence in Afghanistan. He oversaw them after two Democrats and two Republicans. He concluded he would not pass the responsibility to a fifth. Biden then added that the American mission would be solely committed to providing assistance to Afghanistan and carrying out diplomacy. U.S. presidents have pledged to withdraw troops from Afghanistan since Bush initially deployed them in the advent of the September 11, 2001 attacks. The deployments were executed to overthrow the Taliban government that concealed Osama bin Laden and his al-Qaeda Islamists. Biden took out a card from his suit jacket that he indicated he had kept with him for 12 years to record war casualties. He said in the two decades of war against Afghanistan, and foreign militants, 2,488 fatalities of U.S. citizens have been recorded, and 20,722 have been wounded. According to him, the United States "cannot continue the cycle of extending or expanding our military presence in Afghanistan hoping to create the ideal conditions for our withdrawal, and expecting a different result." He said it is the right timing for American troops to return home. Over 38,500 Afghanistan civilians have died, and at least 72,300 were wounded since 2009, which was the first year the U.N. began counting Afghan civilian casualties. Although Afghan military fatalities have been shielded or classified, according to Afghan President Ashraf Ghani, at least 48,000 Afghan security personnel were killed from 2014 to 2020. Joe Biden Announces New Gun Control EOs That Are Reportedly Limited @ 2021 HNGN, All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. SVMC Announces Winners Of Its DAISY Awards Top, left to right: Bridget Bromirski, PNP; Amanda Millette, RN; and Dylan Mulvey, RN. Bottom, left to right: Michelle Noble, RN-C, and Amanda Vivori, RN BENNINGTON, Vt. Southwestern Vermont Medical Center (SVMC), part of Southwestern Vermont Health Care (SVHC), announces the winners of the DAISY Award for Extraordinary Nurses. Patients nominate nurses, and a committee presents one award each month. "This is an exceptional group of highly skilled and compassionate professionals," said Pamela Duchene, vice president of Patient Care Services and chief nursing officer. "The DAISY Award is a really special way for us to communicate our appreciation and our patients' appreciation for their important work." President and CEO Tom Dee, Duchene, and others visited each recipient on their units and by surprise to present them with the award. Often the nurses' close family members or nominating patients join, as well. Bridget Bromirski, PNP, of Cambridge, N.Y., was nominated for providing support to a new mother who was struggling to breastfeed. She is the clinical supervisor and a pediatric nurse practitioner on the Women's and Children's Unit. She has both an associate's and a bachelor's in nursing from Pace University in New York. She received her master's in nursing from Russell Sage College and completed post master's study at Stony Brook University, both in New York. She is certified by the International Board of Lactation Consultant Examiners and has been employed at SVMC for 28 years. "It's just so near and dear to me to be recognized for something I love to do," Bromirski said. "I was honored to care for this mom and her son and humbled to receive the award." Amanda Millette, RN, of Bennington, has worked in the Emergency Department since July 2020. She received her associate's degree in nursing from Great Bay Community College, and she is working towards a bachelor's in nursing from Granite State College, both in New Hampshire. "When I first started here, I was nervous. I had only been a nurse for a year," Millette said. "Receiving this award really helped increase my confidence. It means a lot that patients are saying I am a good nurse." Dylan Mulvey, RN, works in the Emergency Department. Not long after starting his job at SVMC, he was nominated by a young woman who had just received a scary diagnosis. "To me, it's about doing the work but also making the connection," Mulvey said. "I tried to relate and spend as much time as I could. Knowing when to be a listener, that's one of the most important things we do." Mulvey received his bachelor's in nursing as a member of the final Southern Vermont College class in 2019. His mother was an emergency nurse, and he was attracted to the unique and intense cases emergency nurses see. Michelle Noble, RN-C, of Bennington, has been with SVHC since for nearly 35 years and has worked as a nurse in the Cancer Center for the last 17. She administers chemotherapy, draws blood, provides IV fluids, and helps manage symptoms for cancer patients. Throughout the course of their treatment, Noble often develops close relationships with patients. "Especially during the pandemic, when patients are coming in alone, I am their nurse, their support person, their liaison." Noble said. "...Our patients are like our family. It makes you want to do good for them." Noble is a diploma graduate of St. Vincent's School of Nursing in Worchester, MA, and she is certified in oncology nursing. Amanda Vivori, RN, of Clarksburg, works in the Medical Infusion Center at SVMC. She earned her associates in nursing from Berkshire Community College. She has worked at SVMC since 2012. She likes working for a small patient-centered hospital, because it allows her the time to get to know her patients. "This award was unexpected but very much appreciated," Vivori said. "We become nurses, because we want to help people. And when patients nominate you for helping them, it's so amazing." The DAISY Award is part of a national merit-based recognition program established by the DAISY Foundation. It celebrates nurses' education, training, and skill. Nominations can be submitted by patients, families, physicians, and colleagues. All nominations are blinded, so that they are anonymous before being reviewed by a selection committee. One nurse is then chosen as the DAISY Award winner. DAISY Awards are presented on a regular basis, usually bi-monthly or quarterly. NEW YORK, April 14, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Pomerantz LLP announces that a class action lawsuit has been filed against SOS Limited (SOS or the Company) (NYSE: SOS), and certain of its officers. The class action, filed in the United States (U.S.) District Court for the District of New Jersey, and docketed under 21-cv-07454, is on behalf of a class consisting of all persons and entities other than Defendants that purchased or otherwise acquired SOS American depository shares (ADSs) between July 22, 2020 and February 25, 2021, both dates inclusive (the Class Period), seeking to recover damages caused by Defendants violations of the federal securities laws and to pursue remedies under Sections 10(b) and 20(a) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (the Exchange Act) and Rule 10b-5 promulgated thereunder by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), against the Company and certain of its top officials. If you are a shareholder who purchased SOS ADSs during the Class Period, you have until May 31, 2021 to ask the Court to appoint you as Lead Plaintiff for the class. A copy of the Complaint can be obtained at www.pomerantzlaw.com . To discuss this action, contact Robert S. Willoughby at newaction@pomlaw.com or 888.476.6529 (or 888.4-POMLAW), toll-free, Ext. 7980. Those who inquire by e-mail are encouraged to include their mailing address, telephone number, and the number of shares purchased. [Click here for information about joining the class action] SOS is a technology company that purportedly provides marketing data, technology, and solutions for emergency rescue services. When the Company went public in April 2017, it was known as China Rapid Finance Limited and claimed to focus on a peer-to-peer, micro-lending business. The Company later changed its name to SOS Limited in July 2020 and sold its peer-to-peer, micro-lending business in August 2020, rebranding itself into an emergency services business. In January 2021, the Company again shifted its business focus, this time to cryptocurrency mining. Critical to SOSs purportedly successful transition into a cryptocurrency mining business were the Companys claims to have entered into an agreement with HY International Group New York Inc. (HY), which calls itself the worlds largest mining machine matchmaker, to acquire 15,645 mining rigsi.e., personal computing machines built specifically for cryptocurrency miningfor $20 million, and the Companys plans to purchase FXK Technology Corporation (FXK), a purported Canadian cryptocurrency technology firm. In addition to rapidly changing its business focus, SOS has also rapidly changed the location of its headquarters. According to the Companys SEC filings, the address of the Companys principal executive offices has changed no less than five times since the Company went public in April 2017. The complaint alleges that, throughout the Class Period, Defendants made materially false and misleading statements regarding the Companys business, operations, and compliance policies. Specifically, Defendants made false and/or misleading statements and/or failed to disclose that: (i) SOS had misrepresented the true nature, location, and/or existence of at least one of the principal executive offices listed in its SEC filings; (ii) HY and FXK were either undisclosed related parties and/or entities fabricated by the Company; (iii) the Company had misrepresented the type and/or existence of the mining rigs that it claimed to have purchased; and (iv) as a result, the Companys public statements were materially false and misleading at all relevant times. On February 26, 2021, Hindenburg Research (Hindenburg) and Culper Research (Culper) released commentary on SOS, claiming that the Company was an intricate pump and dump scheme that used fake addresses and doctored photos of crypto mining rigs to create an illusion of success. The analysts noted, for example, that SOSs SEC filings listed a hotel room as the Companys headquarters. The analysts also questioned whether SOS had actually purchased mining rigs that it claimed to own, as the entity from which SOS purportedly bought the mining rigs appeared to be a fake shell company. The analysts further alleged that the photos SOS had published of their purported mining rigs were phony. Culper noted that photographs of SOSs miners did not depict the A10 Pro machines that the Company claimed to own and instead appeared to show different devices altogether. Hindenburg, for its part, found that the original images from SOSs website actually belonged to another company. On this news, SOSs American depositary share (ADS) price fell $1.27 per share, or 21.03%, to close at $4.77 per ADS on February 26, 2021. After the end of the Class Period, between February 27 and March 3, 2021, Hindenburg subsequently provided additional information on SOS that further supported its earlier allegations, including pictures, highlighting, inter alia, how SOS had allegedly taken steps to hide the misconduct noted in the February 26, 2021 corrective disclosures. The Pomerantz Firm, with offices in New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, and Paris is acknowledged as one of the premier firms in the areas of corporate, securities, and antitrust class litigation. Founded by the late Abraham L. Pomerantz, known as the dean of the class action bar, the Pomerantz Firm pioneered the field of securities class actions. Today, more than 80 years later, the Pomerantz Firm continues in the tradition he established, fighting for the rights of the victims of securities fraud, breaches of fiduciary duty, and corporate misconduct. The Firm has recovered numerous multimillion-dollar damages awards on behalf of class members. See www.pomerantzlaw.com CONTACT: Robert S. Willoughby Pomerantz LLP rswilloughby@pomlaw.com 888-476-6529 ext. 7980 James Corden was spotted shopping for a new Ferrari in Beverly Hills on Wednesday. The host of The Late Late Show appeared to be taking it easy as he strolled around the dealership's showroom while looking for a new ride to bring home. The 42-year-old media personality's solo outing comes not long before the wide release of two major film projects that he was involved with. Need for speed: James Corden cut a very casual figure while shopping for a new Ferrari in Beverly Hills on Wednesday Corden was seen wearing a black button-up jacket on top of a matching t-shirt while shopping around for a new Ferrari. The television host contrasted his tops with a pair of slightly loose-fitting dark blue jeans and a set of stark white sneakers. The comedian wore a sizable black facial covering to keep himself protected while perusing the dealership's offerings. Although he appeared to be enjoying his trip, Corden is currently prepping for the release of two major films that he had previously been working on. Taking it easy: The Late Late Show's host wore a black button-up jacket above a pair of slightly loose-fitting dark blue jeans during his trip to the dealership The comedian was heavily involved in the production of the family film Peter Rabbit 2: The Runaway, where he voiced the titular character. The feature serves as a sequel to the 2018 Peter Rabbit movie and is based on the Beatrix Potter creation of the same name. Rose Byrne and Domhnall Gleeson, who both appeared in the original film, will lead the live-action cast of the second entry in the series along with newcomer David Oyelowo. Keeping it going: Corden previously worked on the family comedy film Peter Rabbit 2: The Runaway, where he voiced the titular character; he is pictured at the 2019 premiere of Cats Other performers who have lent their voices to the production include Margot Robbie, Elizabeth Debicki and Sam Neill, among several others. The feature was originally supposed to arrive in February of last year, although its release was delayed by the onset of the global pandemic. Peter Rabbit 2: The Runaway premiered in Australia late last month, and it is set to make its debut in the United Kingdom and the United States on May 21st and June 18th, respectively. All over the place: Although Peter Rabbit 2: The Runaway debuted last month in Australia, it is not set to premiere in the United Kingdom or the United States until later this year Corden is also involved with the upcoming musical fantasy film Cinderella, which is based on the classic fairy tale of the same name. In addition to lending his voice to the feature, the comedian also serves as a producer on the project and given credit for the movie's story. The star-studded cast will be led by songstress Camila Cabello, who will portray the titular character. Other cast members include Idina Menzel, Billy Porter and Pierce Brosnan, among several others. Staying busy: Corden also served in several different capacities during the production of the upcoming musical fantasy film Cinderella; he is seen in 2019 Production on the Kay Cannon-directed film began in February of 2020, although it was later postponed at the beginning of the global pandemic. Principal photography on Cinderella eventually resumed in August of last year and wrapped the following month, and the project is currently receiving its final touch-ups. Both Cabello and Menzel will contribute original songs to the upcoming feature. Although Cinderella was supposed to premiere in February of last year, it is currently set to make its debut on July 16th. EUGENE, Ore. -- As the days get warmer and vegetation starts to dry out, wildfires are back on Western Oregon's mind. To help prevent a large-scale inferno like what Oregon saw in 2020, state lawmakers awarded the Oregon Department of Forestry nearly $5 million for fuel reduction across the state. Nearly $600,00 of that money will be going to Lane County. MORE: ODF LAUNCHES EFFORT TO REDUCE WILDFIRE RISK IN LANE COUNTY Alex Rahmlow works with the Oregon Department of Forestry as a policy analyst and in the partnership and planning program. He said this money will help create public and private partnerships in the state to tackle the growing threat of severe wildfires. "We all have been continually learning with increasing severity and cost of our wildfires here in Oregon," Rahmlow said. "This has been a trend going on for the last 30 years now -- the problem is too big for one agency or one program to tackle." The money will be used to reduce fuel on 7,000 acres of land in Oregon. In Lane County, the focus of fuel reduction will be in the western part of the county near places like Crow, Veneta, Noti, and also in the South Hills of Eugene. The plan is to use prescribed burns and other tools to remove potential fuel that could add to the severity of a fire. BLUE EARTH COUNTY, Minn. - Daunte Wright's deadly encounter with police on Sunday began with officers pulling him over for expired license plate tabs. It's one reason a Southern Minnesota lawmaker is propsing a change that would stop law enforcement from making traffic stops for that reason. Representative Jeremy Munson of Lake Crystal drafted a bill that would remove expired tabs as a primary offense, with the goal of reducing the number of traffic stops. He tells KIMT what happened to Wright is an indicator of the need to prevent a confrontation between police and the public, especially when a driver is otherwise following all traffic laws. Munson argues that valid tabs on people's vehicles don't make the road any more safe, it just proves you've paid the tax. He also says law enforcement shouldn't serve as tax collectors for the state. Munson acknowledges a criticism of the bill, that pulling over people with expired tabs sometimes leads to the discovery of warrants for people's arrest or unpaid parking tickets. "The same could be true if we only pulled over cars with large rust holes or damage to the body of the car because people with less money would tend not to pay their tickets. So I don't think we should be profiling based on expired tabs. That's a good reason why we should be removing this as a primary offense," he says. The bill is going to be introduced in the House, but we are past the legislative deadline. So in order to be passed, it either needs to be ammended onto the transportation bill, or wait until next year. "I'm not trying to say that we should be letting people off on crimes. I'm saying we should be finding people in right manner and not profiling people who may have less money to pay for their tabs," Rep. Munson explains. The DMV would still pursue people to get the tax paid. Rep. Munson is also working on a bill that would create permanent tabs for older vehicles, which would pass from owner to owner when the vehicle is sold. ROCHESTER, Minn. - Lots of people showed up at Silver Lake on Wednesday, voicing their opposition of goose egg addling. That's where the eggs are tested to see how old they are and the younger ones get coated in an oil to prevent them from hatching. The Parks and Rec Department started this process at several parks in town to help mitigate the goose population. Experts say this is the most humane way to control it, but others say they're not thinking about the history of Rochester. "This was a man made lake and they're trying to destroy that," said Rochester resident, Mike. "And at one time they were thought to be extinct. And here they are, some people probably not even from this town destroying habitat." Goose specialist, with Canada Goose Management, Tom Keefe, said he oils 600 goose eggs each year to help control the goose population. "It's just an ongoing management to reduce the number of geese to a level that's socially acceptable." And while it's causing an uproar with the public, he said egg addling is what's needed to get the job done. Ahead of the goose addling that took place, the director of the Parks and Rec Department, Paul Widman, told KIMT News 3 he was concerned for the safety of the volunteers because of some of the comments they received from the public. Some people in the public feel it's inhumane and would prefer hunting the geese. Others think the city needs to focus on other issues, like the trash in parks. The Parks and Rec Department along with Canada Goose Management will go back out to the nests in a couple weeks to properly dispose of the addled eggs. on Thursday said that the withdrawal of the US troops from should be linked with the progress in the peace process in the war-torn neighbouring country. The Foreign Office said that supports the principle of a responsible troop withdrawal in coordination with Afghan stake-holders, a day after US President Joe Biden announced that the withdrawal of American troops from will start on May 1 and will be completed by September 11 this year, the 20th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks in New York. In our view, it is important that the withdrawal of foreign troops from coincides with the progress in the peace process, the FO said. It hoped that the forthcoming meeting of Afghan leadership in Turkey would be an important opportunity for Afghans to make progress towards a negotiated political settlement. The United Nations, Turkey and Qatar are co-convening a high level and "inclusive conference" this month between representatives of Afghanistan and the Taliban, aimed at accelerating the ongoing intra-Afghan negotiations on achieving a just and durable political settlement. Turkey will host the Istanbul Conference on the Afghanistan Peace Process in Istanbul from April 24 to May 4 between representatives of Afghanistan and the Taliban. India is among the over 20 nations that have been invited for the talks. According to the FO, hopes that the US will continue to urge the Afghan leaders to seize this historic opportunity for achieving a political settlement in Afghanistan. Pakistan believes there is no military solution to the conflict in Afghanistan and a negotiated political solution through an Afghan-led and Afghan-owned process is important for a lasting peace and stability in the country, it said. The US-Taliban agreement of February 29, 2020 laid the foundation for a comprehensive intra-Afghan peace agreement including a permanent ceasefire for bringing an end to violence in Afghanistan, it said. A meaningful engagement of the community for promoting reconstruction and economic development in post-conflict Afghanistan is important for ensuring a sustainable peace and stability, the FO said. Pakistan believes that another key feature in the efforts for lasting peace and stability in Afghanistan should be a time-bound and well-resourced plan for return of Afghan refugees to their homeland and their reintegration in Afghanistan, it said. White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki has said that the US "will begin an orderly drawdown of the remaining forces before May 1 and plan to have all US troops out of the country before the 20th anniversary of 9/11." Later US President Biden said, "It is time to end America's longest war. It is time for American troops to come home." Biden has said that India, Pakistan, Russia, China, and Turkey have a significant stake in the stable future of Afghanistan and these regional stakeholders should do more to bring peace in this war-torn country. (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.) Chennai, April 15 : The government of Tamil Nadu informed the Madras High Court on Thursday that no student will be promoted without taking an online exam. The government had earlier taken the position that exams will be cancelled in view of the Covid 19 pandemic and has now taken a diametrically opposite stand before the High Court. The government has responded to a PIL filed by Advocate Ramkumar Adityan and another one filed by former Vice Chancellor of Anna University, E. Balaguruswamy. When the case came up for hearing, the state informed the court that it had decided to conduct online examinations as the court had clearly stated that it is not acceptable that the government cancel examinations. Advocate General Vijay Narayanan deposed before the court that the government has decided to abide by the UGC guidelines and that it will be mandatory for all students with arrears to appear for online exams. The first bench of the Madras High Court of Chief Justice Sanjib Banerjee and Justice Senthilkumar Ramamoorthy directed the state government to conduct online exams preferably within eight weeks. The court had on April 7 observed, "It is inconceivable that a whole mass of students will be certified to have qualified in a system without having basic knowledge in respect of key aspects." The bench of Chief Justice Sanjib Banerjee and Senthilkumar Ramamoorthy also observed, "There is no doubt that lakhs of students who had thought that they had cleared the particular course after writing their final semester may have to be held back as they have not cleared the previous papers. However at the same time unqualified persons cannot be certified to have qualified to pursue professional courses or even higher studies." Source: Xinhua| 2021-04-15 08:24:23|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close Photo taken on April 13, 2021 shows the White House in Washington, D.C., the United States. (Photo by Shen Ting/Xinhua) In his remarks, Biden made clear that the withdrawal is not subject to any changes of conditions on the ground. WASHINGTON, April 14 (Xinhua) -- President Joe Biden announced on Wednesday that all U.S. troops will be withdrawn from Afghanistan before Sept. 11, a decision to end the longest war in American history. "The United States will begin our final withdrawal, begin it on May 1 of this year," Biden said in his remarks at the White House. "U.S. troops, as well as forces deployed by our NATO allies and operational partners, will be out of Afghanistan before we mark the 20th anniversary of that heinous attack on September 11th." Biden delivered the address at the Treaty Room, the same place where then President George W. Bush informed the nation that the U.S. military had begun airstrikes against terrorists in Afghanistan nearly two decades ago. "It is time to end America's longest war. It is time for American troops to come home," he said, noting that the United States has achieved counterterrorism objectives in this war. In his remarks, Biden made clear that the withdrawal is not subject to any changes of conditions on the ground. "We cannot continue the cycle of extending or expanding our military presence in Afghanistan, hoping to create the ideal conditions for our withdrawal, expecting a different result." The upcoming Sept. 11 is the 20th anniversary of the terrorist attacks that drew the United States into war in Afghanistan. Biden said that 2,488 U.S. military personnel were killed, and 20,722 have been wounded in the prolonged war. This latest decision extends the deadline negotiated between the previous administration and the Afghan Taliban last year to pull U.S. troops out of the country on May 1. The United States and the Taliban signed an agreement in late February 2020, which called for a full withdrawal of foreign forces from Afghanistan by May 2021 if the Taliban meets the conditions of the deal, including severing ties with terrorist groups. U.S. soldiers inspect the site of suicide car bombing in Kabul, Afghanistan, May 17, 2015. Four people were killed and several others wounded when a suicide car bomb exploded near the airport of the Afghan capital Kabul on Sunday, sources and witnesses said. (Xinhua/Ahmad Massoud) Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid tweeted earlier Wednesday that "if the agreement is breached and foreign forces fail to exit our country on the specified date, problems will certainly be compounded and those whom failed to comply with the agreement will be held liable." "The Taliban should know that if they attack us as we draw down, we will defend ourselves and our partners with all the tools at our disposal," Biden warned. Since February last year, the Taliban has held off on attacking U.S. troops in Afghanistan but increasing attacks against Afghan forces. The Biden administration concluded that the Taliban had not met its commitment under the U.S.-Taliban deal for keeping up ties with al-Qaida. The Biden administration previously suggested that it would be tough to pull a large number of troops and equipment in weeks' time due to logistics reasons. The Pentagon said that there are roughly 2,500 U.S. troops in Afghanistan, but U.S. media recently said the number did not include 1,000 more U.S. special forces in the country. Besides, about 7,000 NATO troops in Afghanistan rely on U.S. logistics and security support. In the meantime, Biden highlighted that the United States would continue to support the Afghan government and provide assistance to the Afghan military after the withdrawal. "While we will not stay involved in Afghanistan militarily, our diplomatic and humanitarian work will continue." He also voiced U.S. support for the peace talks between the Afghan government and the Taliban facilitated by the United Nations. Biden spoke with Afghan President Mohammad Ashraf Ghani earlier in the day. They discussed continued commitment to a strong bilateral partnership following the departure of U.S. troops from Afghanistan, according to a readout issued by the White House. U.S. soldiers stand guard at the site of car bombing in Nangarhar Province, east Afghanistan, Jan. 5, 2015. (Xinhua/Tahir Safi) The latest decision has drawn criticism from analysts and lawmakers. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell on Tuesday said in a statement that "Precipitously withdrawing U.S. forces from Afghanistan is a grave mistake. It is retreat in the face of an enemy that has not yet been vanquished and abdication of American leadership." "Disappointing that Biden admin opted for calendar- rather than conditions-based withdrawal from Afghanistan," Richard Haass, president of the Council on Foreign Relations, tweeted Tuesday. The expert noted that the withdrawal would come with high costs, including possible terrorism revival, a spike in repression by the Taliban, and damage to U.S. reputation. "I think that the critics make some valid points," David Gordon, a senior adviser at International Institute for Strategic Studies, told Xinhua. "But the fact of the matter is that the U.S. has been in Afghanistan for 20 years, the Ghani government has basically refused to compromise with the Taliban, public support for the war in the U.S. was lost quite a while ago, I see the President's move as the least-bad option," he said. A recent threat assessment report released by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence offered some grim predictions: "The Taliban is likely to make gains on the battlefield, and the Afghan Government will struggle to hold the Taliban at bay if the collation withdraws support." Gordon, who served as vice-chair of the U.S. National Intelligence Council under the George W. Bush administration, agreed that the balance of forces in a continuing conflict will shift to favor the Taliban due to the U.S. withdrawal. "But we will also see Russia, Iran, India, and Pakistan - as neighboring states - each become more actively engaged. While they have differing interests, none will favor a rapid Taliban victory," he said. Kingstree, SC (29556) Today Sunshine and clouds mixed. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. High 83F. Winds SSE at 5 to 10 mph.. Tonight Overcast. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. Low 67F. Winds light and variable. Thank you for Reading. As a community service, our obituaries are always free to view. In order to better know our audience, we ask that you register to continuing viewing. The United States has alleged that the Russian security agency known as the Foreign Intelligence Service was responsible for the attack on the supply chain of SolarWinds Orion network management software. In a statement issued on Thursday US time, the White House said American intelligence agencies had "high confidence" in this assessment. To date, no cyber security company, including FireEye, the firm that first made the SolarWinds compromise public, has attributed the attack to any country. FireEye publicised the SolarWinds compromise in December last year, five days after having revealed that its own Red Team tools had been stolen. The US Government used its allegations as the basis foron a number of Russian companies, all of which are claimed to have supported Russian intelligence services. The companies are: ERA Technopolis; Pasit, AO (Pasit); Federal State Autonomous Scientific Establishment Scientific Research Institute Specialised Security Computing Devices and Automation (SVA); Neobit, OOO (Neobit); Advanced System Technology, AO (AST); and Pozitiv Teknolodzhiz, AO (Positive Technologies. The following description of what the companies do was provided: "ERA Technopolis is a research centre and technology park funded and operated by the Russian Ministry of Defence. It houses and supports units of Russias Main Intelligence Directorate responsible for offensive cyber and information operations and leverages the personnel and expertise of the Russian technology sector to develop military and dual-use technologies. "Pasit is a Russia-based IT company that conducted research and development in support of Russias Foreign Intelligence Services malicious cyber operations. "SVA is a Russian state-owned research institute specialising in advanced systems for information security located in Russia. SVA conducted research and development in support of the SVRs malicious cyber operations. "Neobit is a Saint Petersburg, Russia-based IT security firm whose clients include the Russian Ministry of Defence, SVR, and Russias Federal Security Service. Neobit conducted research and development in support of the cyber operations conducted by the FSB, GRU, and SVR. "AST is a Russian IT security firm whose clients include the Russian Ministry of Defence, SVR, and FSB. AST provided technical support to cyber operations conducted by the FSB, GRU, and SVR. "Positive Technologies is a Russian IT security firm that supports Russian Government clients, including the FSB. Positive Technologies provides computer network security solutions to Russian businesses, foreign governments, and international companies and hosts large-scale conventions that are used as recruiting events for the FSB and GRU." The UK later said it backed the US announcement. Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab said: "We see what Russia is doing to undermine our democracies. The UK and US are calling out Russias malicious behaviour, to enable our international partners and businesses at home to better defend and prepare themselves against this kind of action. "The UK will continue to work with allies to call out Russias malign behaviour where we see it." Sitryx further strengthens leadership team with the appointment of Iain Kilty, Ph.D., as Chief Scientific Officer Oxford, UK 15 April 2021 Sitryx (the Company), a biopharmaceutical company focused on regulating cell metabolism to develop disease-modifying therapeutics in immuno-oncology and immuno-inflammation, today announces the appointment of Iain Kilty, Ph.D., as its Chief Scientific Officer. Iain will lead the development and execution of the Companys research strategy and advancement of the Companys pipeline of disease-modifying therapeutics in immuno-oncology and immuno-inflammation. Neil Weir, Chief Executive Officer of Sitryx, said: We are delighted to welcome Iain to the Sitryx team. His breadth of experience in leading drug discovery programmes from idea through to clinical development, particularly in the fields of inflammation and immunology, will be critical as we continue to build and progress our pipeline of immunometabolism targeted therapeutic programmes. Iain said: Sitryxs high quality science has the potential to transform how we treat severe diseases, such as cancer and autoimmune conditions. I am thrilled to join the Sitryx team, to help drive the science forward and build out the Companys immunometabolism pipeline of disease-modifying therapies for patients. Iain has more than 20 years of global biopharmaceutical industry experience and has led multiple programmes from idea through to clinical development across a range of indications and therapeutic modalities. He joins Sitryx from Quench Bio where, as Chief Scientific Officer, he was responsible for the companys scientific strategy and execution. Prior to joining Quench, Iain served as Vice President Preclinical Sciences in the Inflammation and Immunology Research Unit at Pfizer, where he was responsible for a portfolio of both small and large molecule programmes targeted across rheumatology, dermatology and gastroenterology. Iain had a 22-year tenure at Pfizer, starting as an internal industrial postdoc and taking on roles of increasing responsibility working across the drug discovery paradigm from target identification to leading the early clinical cluster in Rheumatology and Dermatology. Iain is an Entrepreneur in Residence at Atlas Venture and acts as an industry impact assessor for the UK Governments Research Excellence Framework 2021. He graduated with a BA and MA Cantab in Biochemistry from Jesus College, University of Cambridge, UK, before completing his Ph.D. in the Breast Cancer Research Laboratories at the University of Liverpool, UK. Ends For more information about Sitryx please contact: Consilium Strategic Communications Mary-Jane Elliott, David Daley, Melissa Gardiner +44 (0)20 3709 5700 sitryx@consilium-comms.com About Sitryx Sitryx is a biopharmaceutical company focused on regulating cell metabolism to develop disease-modifying therapeutics in immuno-oncology and immuno-inflammation. Sitryxs proprietary science is led by a highly experienced management team and supported by world class academic founders. Sitryx was founded by six world-leading researchers in the field of immunology and metabolism; Houman Ashrafian, Luke ONeill, Jonathan Powell, Jeff Rathmell, Michael Rosenblum and Paul Peter Tak. Together they have published more than 1,000 papers in the field, making multiple key breakthroughs in our understanding of how critical energetic status is to the behavior of immune cells and in the broader field of immunology. In 2018, Sitryx raised $30 million Series A funding from an international syndicate of specialist investors including SV Health Investors, Sofinnova Partners, Longwood Fund and GSK. In 2020, Sitryx formed an exclusive global licensing and research collaboration with Eli Lilly and Company. Lilly also became an investor in the Company. The Company has a pipeline of projects at multiple stages of drug discovery. Sitryx is headquartered in Oxford, UK. For more information, please visit www.sitryx.com. Russia should understand that consequences in event of military adventures on its part to be very painful - Kuleba Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba called on the foreign ministers of Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia to speak with other members of these organizations with other members of these organizations about the need for practical support for Ukraine. "Of course (and I spoke about this openly on Monday in Brussels in the North Atlantic Alliance and remembered this today in communication with my colleagues) that words of support are not enough. I have no doubt that Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania are always ready to support Ukraine not only with words, but also with concrete deeds. But I will also appeal to my colleagues with a request that they, as members of the EU and NATO, talk to other members of these organizations about the need for practical support for Ukraine. It is important to make it clear for Russia that the consequences in case of military adventures on its part will be very painful," Kuleba said at a joint press conference with the foreign ministers of Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia in Kyiv on Thursday. The minister indicated that all four ministers condemn Russia's aggravation of the security situation, Moscow's actions and statements aimed at escalating military tensions and undermining diplomatic efforts to resolve the Russian-Ukrainian conflict. "The Baltic countries know as well as Ukraine what it means to be the object of toxic Russian propaganda, but even my guests today are impressed by the level of dehumanization of Ukrainians and Russian disinformation that has been observed recently not only on Russian talk shows, but also in statements by Russian officials," Kuleba said. According to him, they openly threaten Ukraine with war and intimidate with the destruction of Ukrainian statehood. "Today I want to answer this very simply in two phrases. First: you will get nothing here. Second: we are not afraid. Ukraine itself is strong enough and has reliable friends in order to defend its statehood," he said. Kuleba also said that the Baltic partners confirmed their readiness for joint actions in the UN, OSCE and other international organizations in order to consolidate effective international support for Ukraine in resisting Russian aggression. "The world is on the side of Ukraine and international law, this is one of the elements of restraining Russia from reckless actions," the head of the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry said. The kidnapped mother of a 10-year-old boy who was found crying and pleading for help by a Border Patrol officer in Texas has been released by her captors. Meylin Obregon was released by her captors in a remote area in northern Mexico, her brother Misael Obregon announced Wednesday. Meylin's son Wilton made headlines after he was seen on video begging a U.S. Border Patrol officer for help after he had been abandoned in Texas. In late March, Meylin Obregon and Wilton Obregon illegally crossed the Mexico-United States border and were intercepted by U.S. Border Patrol and forced to return back to Mexico. But within an hour of returning to Mexico, the mother and her son were reportedly kidnapped and held for $10,000 ransom. Meylin's family had only enough money to pay for Wilton to be released. Meylin Obregon was freed by her kidnappers Wednesday in northern Mexico. Her release comes two weeks after her son, Wilton Obregon, was found wandering in Texas near the United-States border. The Nicaraguan 10-year-old boy appeared in a video crying and asking a U.S. Border Patrol agent for help Still image of Wilton Obregon pleading to a U.S. Border Patrol agent for help After Wilton was released from his captors, he was able to again cross into the United States with more than 100 people - and was found on April 1 by CBP agents when he was abandoned by the group. On Wednesday, Meylin's brother revealed that she had finally been released by her captors. 'I have the best news in the world. Thanks to my beautiful God, my sister has been freed, oh my holy God,' Misael Obregon said on a YouTube video posted Wednesday. Meylin Obregon told Univision that group who kidnapped her decided to release her because it wasn't in their best interests to keep her captive. 'They told me that it was not convenient for them to have me there, that they would leave me somewhere else,' the 30-year-old mother-of-two said. 'They left me in an abandoned area alone.' Misael Obregon posted a video on his YouTube channel Wednesday to reveal that his sister, Meylin Obregon, had been released by her captors. He paid $5,000 to the abductors to secure the freedom of his kidnapped nephew, Wilton Obregon Obregon said she sought help from authorities on the Mexican side of the border and asked asylum. She said her plans include presenting herself before U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents and turning herself in to begin the process and hopefully be reunited with her son in Miami. The family's initial attempt to seek asylum from the United States went awry after they departed from Nicaragua on February 8. According to Misael Obregon, only he and his sister were aware of the trip that he funded so that she, her son, Wilton Obregon, and Misael's 15-year-old twin sons could migrate to America. Nicaraguan newspaper LA PRENSA reported that mother and son sought to distance themselves from alleged abuse she had suffered at the hands of her partner and the boy's father, Lazaro Gutierrez. The former couple are parents to another son, Devin Gutierrez, who lives in Nicaragua. Meylin Obregon told Univision that she plans to turn herself over to U.S. immigration officials at the Mexico-United border and seek asylum Meylin Obregon and the children crossed the border in late March, but were intercepted by immigration agents in Texas. She and her son were expelled to Mexico. However, the twin boys were allowed to remain in the United States because they were considered unaccompanied children and eventually reunited with their dad April 6. Upon returning to northern Mexico, Meylin Obregon and Wilton Obregon were kidnapped by a local gang. The kidnappers then contacted the Misael Obregon, who was able to borrow enough money from friend in Miami to pay the $5,000 ransom for his nephew. Meylin Obregon remained in custody of the abductors because her brother was unable to come up with the additional $5,000 that the gang had requested to allow her to walk. The family's heartbreaking saga was highlighted by a video recorded by a U.S. Border Patrol agent April 1 that showed a sobbing Wilton Obregon approached him and asked to be rescued after he had been left behind in the Texas desert by a group of migrants he has crossed the border with. 'I was coming with a group and they abandoned me and I do not know where they are at,' the child told the officer in Spanish. The border agent, who asked CBP not to publicly identify him, asked the Obregon if he had been instructed 'to come ask for help,' but the Obregon replied, 'no, I am coming because if I did not, where am I going to go? Somebody could abduct me, kidnap me. I am scared.' As an unaccompanied minor, Obregon was immediately placed in custody of CBP and taken to a local holding facility. He is currently being held at Casa Padre, a shelter operated by the U.S. Office of Refugee Resettlement, a division of Health & Human Services, in Brownsville, Texas. Obregon's legal status could possibly set a series of court battles. Wilton Obregon and his mother Meylin Obregon Meylin Obregon expects to reunite with her son as soon as U.S. immigration authorities permit her to enter the country and placed the boy in the custody of her brother or her. On Tuesday, the Nicaraguan government filed a formal request, signed by his father, Lazaro Gutierrez, so that his son could be repatriated. Nonetheless, Gutierrez told Nicaraguan newspaper LA PRENSA that he would not stand in the way of Wilton Obregon's desire to stay in the U.S. He added that the government preferred that the child be reunited with him because they considered him to be his living parent. That all changed Wednesday when Meylin Obregon was released. 'I told him not to worry, that everything would be fine,' Obregon said. Julian Castro took to Twitter to advocate for better representation for Latinos, but some users think maybe he should sit this one out. On Tuesday, April 14, Castro retweeted an NBC Latino article about Latino congressional members, including Rep. Joaquin Castro, calling for an army base to be named after a Latino military hero. It was their way of pushing for more recognition of Hispanics in the military. The former San Antonio mayor and HUD secretary echoed that push, questioning why the U.S. has military bases named after Confederates and not after Latinos. That must change, his tweet concluded. Many Twitter users werent exactly having it. [T]he democrat vs republican bomb meme was supposed to be PARODY, noted @planet_please. Of all the things happening in the US and Latin America, this is what you're advocating for? asked user @raphrodisiac. This country has been such an oppressive force in Latin America, will naming military assets after Latinos make the exploitation feel any better? Imperialism, [b]ut make it Inclusive, commented user @alicia_dl_1, complete with the sparkling star emoji. Sir, Woke Imperialism is NOT where it's at, user @teoami informed Castro. I refuse to believe this isnt an Onion article, shared @saltytrashwitch. He said why drop bombs when we can drop bombas, said @AdrianXpression. Literally why on earth would you want to be associated with such a dubious honor when many of the places the [military] is used to destabilize are Latino countries, argued user @lavieap. This aint it. I just know you have something better to do than perpetuate this insult to injury. [I] wanted healthcare but this is way better, @skyscrapersoup sadly joked. While some questioned why Castro didnt take the tweet down, others imagined the Latino-focused building names. [W]hat we really need is a [C]esar [C]havez military base in [I]raq, pointed out @m0ntythepython. Selena Quintanilla Youth Migrant Humanitarian Welcome Center (Donna, TX), imagined @cesarmvm. [I can't] wait for the Cesar Chavez Black Hawk to terrorize people crossing the border, cracked @dani_l0l. USS George Lopez, suggested @tankbearclaw, while @aguaardientes recommended Fort Walter Mercado. Imagine dropping a b*mb named Cesar Chavez on a brown country, speculated user @Totoltetl. I wonder if this is gonna be a Dolores Huerta Army Detention Center level of bad or a Augusto Pinochet Air Force Base level of bad, questioned user @RafaPtolemy. Category Select Category Apparel/Garments Textiles Fashion Technical Textiles Information Technology E-commerce Retail Corporate Association Press Release SubCategory Select Sub-Category If you are looking to jump start your career or maybe switch to something different, you can get that help. This is the first Career Preparedness Week hosted by Calhoun Community College. On Thursday, there will be an essential workers and first responders hiring fair. It will be from 9 a.m. to 12 p.m. at Calhoun Community College's Decatur campus. It's open to students, alumni and community members! To register, click here. Over 20s can now register for vaccine People over the age of 20 can now register to recieve the coronavirus vaccine. The Manx Government says letters have been sent to those aged over 30 inviting them to be immunised. Health bosses now say the Island has enough capacity to for those aged between 20-30 to register via the COVID website or by calling 111. Panaji, April 15 : Even as the ongoing taxi strike has dragged for more than a week, office bearers of the taxi associations in Goa have demanded that the lobby's negotiations with Goa government ministers would be held if they are broadcast live on social media. Speaking to reporters in Panaji, where hundreds of taxi drivers have been staging a protest since last week, Bappa Korgaonkar, a spokesperson for the striking drivers said that the demand for live broadcast of the negotiations was made to overcome fears among a section of the public transporter lobby about a secret deal being struck between taxi union leaders and the government. "Any negotiation with our delegation should be broadcast live on social media," Korgaonkar said. Women and children of striking taxi drivers have now joined the protest in a bid to leverage pressure on the state government to agree to their demands. Transport Minister Mauvin Godinho has said that the government was willing to talk with the protesters, but only on April 20. "We do not know why the government wants to wait for five more days to talk to us, but we are willing to carry on our strike for five months if need be," Korgaonkar said. Taxi operators in Goa have gone on strike, demanding an immediate end to GoaMiles, a cab aggregator service backed by the state tourism development corporation, claiming it was impacting the livelihood of nearly 30,000 private tourist taxi operators in the state. A large section of Goa's 30,000 odd tourist taxis and the drivers who man them, have often been accused of overcharging, intimidating and operating in an unregulated environment. Following a slew of complaints, the state Tourism Ministry in 2018 started an outsourced private app-based taxi service GoaMiles, which has been opposed by local taxi unions. Prince Philip knew he wanted to marry the Queen from the age of 18 and used to frequently flirt with her and make her giggle, a royal expert has claimed. The Duke of Edinburgh, who died aged 99 at Windsor Castle on Friday, met Princess Elizabeth when she was just 13 years old at the wedding of his cousin, Princess Marina of Greece, and wrote to him throughout her teens. They became secretly engaged in 1946, and her father King George VI gave them permission to wed in April 1947. Looking back at footage of the couple together on the day they publicly announced their intention to marry on July 9 of that year, royal author Robert Jobson observed how Philip always made his wife laugh. Prince Philip knew he wanted to marry the Queen from the age of 18 and used to frequently flirt with her and make her giggle, a royal expert has claimed (pictured together in July 1947) Looking back at footage of the couple together on the day they publicly announced their intention to marry on July 9 of that year, royal author Robert Jobson observed how Philip always made his wife laugh 'All the time he is saying things that are clearly inappropriate and she giggles,' he tells True Royalty TV's The Royal Beat. 'She is trying to behave herself and be all formal and then he says something, and her shoulders go up. And she is just laughing. He makes her giggle all the time, he is flirting with her all the time.' Explaining how Prince Philip had always thought he would marry the future Queen, Jobson told the programme: 'When Philip got onto his first [Royal Navy] ship, he told the captain then that he was going to marry Princess Elizabeth, when he was 18. 'That is the weird thing, he wasn't in love with her then, but he was pretty clear about it. When did he fall in love with her? When he told Mountbatten to stop interfering.' Explaining how Prince Philip had always thought he would marry the future Queen, Jobson told the programme: 'When Philip got onto his first [Royal Navy] ship, he told the captain then that he was going to marry Princess Elizabeth, when he was 18' (pictured together in July 1947) He claimed there was a 'clear attraction' between the pair when they went up to Balmoral, and Philip proposed 'in secret' during a walk around the grounds. 'I dont think he even sought permission from the King,' Jobson added. 'I think he asked him afterwards.' Ingrid Seward, biographer and Editor-in-Chief of Majesty Magazine said: 'One day we will know but none of us know that now. 'The King said, "That is fine, but she is too young, and we will keep the engagement secret until we are ready".' The couple married at Westminster Abbey on November 20, 1947 and their wedding - the first royal festivity since the end of the Second World War - was celebrated across the country. Jobson claimed there was a 'clear attraction' between the pair when they went up to Balmoral, and Philip proposed 'in secret' during a walk around the grounds (pictured: the Queen and Philip more recently) Yesterday it was reported that all senior members of the Royal Family will wear mourning dress at Prince Philip's funeral on Saturday, an unprecedented about-turn and last minute decision approved by the Queen. No royals will wear military uniform in order to present a united family front, after courtiers were racked by concern that Prince Harry, who was forced to give up his honorary military titles after he acrimoniously quit royal duties and moved to the US, would be the only senior royal not in uniform. It is believed to be only the second time in more than a century that members of the Royal Family have not worn uniform to the funeral of a monarch or their spouse. It will, however, be seen as a significant public olive branch to Harry in the wake of his and Meghan's devastating interview with Oprah Winfrey last month, in which they criticised members of his immediate family and accused the institution of racism. Buckingham Palace last night declined to comment, but the Mail understands the decision will be officially announced today. The latest episode of the Royal Beat is available to watch now on True Royalty TV. Here are the No Bills and True Bills from the Hamilton County Grand Jury: No Bills: 1 ATKINS, TRACY DEWAYNE DOMESTIC ASSAULT 04/14/2021 1 ATKINS, TRACY DEWAYNE AGGRAVATED ASSAULT 04/14/2021 1 CONYERS, MITCHELL LAMAR POSS.A FIREARM DURING COMMISSIION OR ATTEMPT TO CO 04/14/2021 2 CONYERS, MITCHELL LAMAR DRUGS GENERAL CATEGORY FOR RESALE 04/14/2021 1 COTTER, SARA ABIGALE POSS. HEROIN FOR RESALE 04/14/2021 2 COTTER, SARA ABIGALE POSS. OF HEROIN FOR RESALE 04/14/2021 3 COTTER, SARA ABIGALE POSS. HEROIN FOR RESALE 04/14/2021 1 ERVIN, EZRA SHAWN DRIVING ON REVOKED, SUSPENDED OR CANCELLED LICENSE 04/14/2021 1 GARNER, DWIGHT VIOLATION OF ORDER TO VACATE STRUCTURE 04/14/2021 1 HENSLEY, DAVID AURICE AGGRAVATED ASSAULT 04/14/2021 1 MOSES, ALVIN LEE POSSESSION OF CONTROLLED SUBSTANCE 04/14/2021 2 MOSES, ALVIN LEE POSSESSION OF DRUG PARAPHERNALIA 04/14/2021 1 OAKLEY, TADARREL LEBRON DRUGS GENERAL CATEGORY FOR RESALE 04/14/2021 1 WIGFALL, TERRANCE DANIEL DRUGS GENERAL CATEGORY FOR RESALE 04/14/2021 1 OLIVER, BRANDON DEWAYNE DRIVING ON REVOKED, SUSPENDED OR CANCELLED LICENSE 04/14/2021 2 OLIVER, BRANDON DEWAYNE SURRENDER OF LICENSE OR REGISTRATION UPON REVOCATI 04/14/2021 3 OLIVER, BRANDON DEWAYNE REGISTRATION, EXPIRED 04/14/2021 4 OLIVER, BRANDON DEWAYNE FINANCIAL RESPONSIBILITY 04/14/2021 5 OLIVER, BRANDON DEWAYNE FAILURE TO APPEAR 04/14/2021 True Bills: 311335 1 BALLARD, JAMES EDWARD DISORDERLY CONDUCT 04/14/2021 311336 1 BOYD, TRAVIS JUSTIN ESPECIALLY AGGRAVATED ROBBERY 04/14/2021 311337 1 KELLEY, JAMES TYLER ESPECIALLY AGGRAVATED ROBBERY 04/14/2021 311338 1 BRYANT JR, MEL MAURICE DOMESTIC ASSAULT 04/14/2021 311339 1 CONNORS, JONATHAN CORY POSSESSION OF COCAINE 04/14/2021 311339 2 CONNORS, JONATHAN CORY POSSESSION OF DRUG PARAPHERNALIA 04/14/2021 311340 1 CONNORS, JONATHAN CORY POSSESSION OF COCAINE FOR RESALE 04/14/2021 311340 2 CONNORS, JONATHAN CORY POSSESSION OF DRUG PARAPHERNALIA 04/14/2021 311341 1 CONYERS, MITCHELL LAMAR CONTRIBUTING TO DELINQUENCY OF A MINOR 04/14/2021 311341 2 CONYERS, MITCHELL LAMAR POSSESSION OF FIREARM WITH PRIOR FELONY DRUG CONVICTION 04/14/2021 311341 3 CONYERS, MITCHELL LAMAR POSSESSION OF DRUG PARAPHERNALIA 04/14/2021 311341 4 CONYERS, MITCHELL LAMAR DRIVERS TO EXERCISE DUE CARE 04/14/2021 311342 1 COOK, JERICK T RECKLESS DRIVING 04/14/2021 311342 2 COOK, JERICK T DRINKING UNDER AGE 04/14/2021 311342 3 COOK, JERICK T DRIVING UNDER THE INFLUENCE 04/14/2021 311343 1 COTHRAN, JASON AARON VIOLATION OF SEX OFFENDER REGISTRY 04/14/2021 311344 1 COWAN, BESS J DRIVING UNDER THE INFLUENCE 04/14/2021 311345 1 GARRETT, MICHAEL ANTONIO ASSAULT 04/14/2021 311345 2 GARRETT, MICHAEL ANTONIO RESISTING ARREST 04/14/2021 311345 3 GARRETT, MICHAEL ANTONIO EVADING ARREST 04/14/2021 311345 4 GARRETT, MICHAEL ANTONIO DISORDERLY CONDUCT 04/14/2021 311345 5 GARRETT, MICHAEL ANTONIO AGGRAVATED ASSAULT 04/14/2021 311346 1 GEARING, DESMOND JERQUAN CRIMINAL SIMULATION 04/14/2021 311347 1 GEARING, DESMOND JERQUAN CRIMINAL SIMULATION 04/14/2021 311348 1 GONZALEZ CUELLAR, AUGUSTO CHILD ABUSE 04/14/2021 311349 1 JONES, KENNETH C AGGRAVATED ASSAULT 04/14/2021 311349 2 JONES, KENNETH C RECKLESS ENDANGERMENT 04/14/2021 311349 3 JONES, KENNETH C VANDALISM 04/14/2021 311350 1 LANDRY JR, SYDE JAMES BURGLARY OF AN AUTO 04/14/2021 311350 2 LANDRY JR, SYDE JAMES BURGLARY OF AN AUTO 04/14/2021 311350 3 LANDRY JR, SYDE JAMES DISORDERLY CONDUCT 04/14/2021 311350 4 LANDRY JR, SYDE JAMES PUBLIC INTOXICATION 04/14/2021 311351 1 LAWSON, MAX NICKALUS CRIMINAL TRESPASSING 04/14/2021 311352 1 LEKO, KEVIN J POSS. OF HANDGUN WHILE UNDER THE INFLUENCE 04/14/2021 311353 1 LOPEZ, VICTOR ARIR AGGRAVATED DOMESTIC ASSAULT 04/14/2021 311354 1 LOWRY, JEREMY MICHAEL AGGRAVATED ASSAULT 04/14/2021 311355 1 MATTHEWS, KAMEL WILLIAM THEFT OF PROPERTY 04/14/2021 311355 2 MATTHEWS, KAMEL WILLIAM AGGRAVATED CRIMINAL TRESPASSING 04/14/2021 311355 3 MATTHEWS, KAMEL WILLIAM EVADING ARREST 04/14/2021 311356 1 NORMAN, ALEXIS MARIE THEFT OF PROPERTY 04/14/2021 311357 1 OAKLEY, TADARREL LEBRON UNLAWFUL POSSESSION OF A FIREARM 04/14/2021 311357 2 OAKLEY, TADARREL LEBRON DRIVING LEFT OF CENTER 04/14/2021 311357 3 OAKLEY, TADARREL LEBRON SPEEDING 04/14/2021 311357 4 OAKLEY, TADARREL LEBRON RECKLESS DRIVING 04/14/2021 311357 5 OAKLEY, TADARREL LEBRON FINANCIAL RESPONSIBILITY 04/14/2021 311357 6 OAKLEY, TADARREL LEBRON DRIVERS TO EXERCISE DUE CARE 04/14/2021 311357 7 OAKLEY, TADARREL LEBRON FAILURE TO APPEAR 04/14/2021 311358 1 ODOM, COURTNEY L DRIVING ON REVOKED LICENSE 04/14/2021 311358 2 ODOM, COURTNEY L DRIVING UNDER THE INFLUENCE 04/14/2021 311359 1 PANTAGES, MICHAEL DAMIAN FELON IN POSSESSION OF FIREARM 04/14/2021 311359 2 PANTAGES, MICHAEL DAMIAN PUBLIC INTOXICATION 04/14/2021 311360 1 PARSLEY, CHARLES A AGGRAVATED BURGLARY 04/14/2021 311360 2 PARSLEY, CHARLES A THEFT OF PROPERTY 04/14/2021 311361 1 PICKETT JR, TONY ERIC DOMESTIC ASSAULT 04/14/2021 311361 2 PICKETT JR, TONY ERIC DOMESTIC ASSAULT 04/14/2021 311361 3 PICKETT JR, TONY ERIC DOMESTIC ASSAULT 04/14/2021 311361 4 PICKETT JR, TONY ERIC AGGRAVATED BURGLARY 04/14/2021 311361 5 PICKETT JR, TONY ERIC AGGRAVATED BURGLARY 04/14/2021 311361 6 PICKETT JR, TONY ERIC THEFT OF PROPERTY 04/14/2021 311361 7 PICKETT JR, TONY ERIC THEFT OF PROPERTY 04/14/2021 311361 8 PICKETT JR, TONY ERIC FAILURE TO APPEAR 04/14/2021 311362 1 STERLING JR, SHERWIN LAMAR AGGRAVATED ASSAULT 04/14/2021 311363 1 SUTTON, BRUCE WAYNE AGGRAVATED ASSAULT 04/14/2021 311363 2 SUTTON, BRUCE WAYNE AGGRAVATED ASSAULT 04/14/2021 311363 3 SUTTON, BRUCE WAYNE POSSESSION OF HEROIN 04/14/2021 311363 4 SUTTON, BRUCE WAYNE POSSESSION OF DRUG PARAPHERNALIA 04/14/2021 311364 1 THOMPSON, WILLIE JAMES VIOLATION OF SEX OFFENDER REGISTRY 04/14/2021 311365 1 TREW, KEVIN DENTFORD POSSESSION OF FENTANYL 04/14/2021 311365 2 TREW, KEVIN DENTFORD POSSESSION OF DRUG PARAPHERNALIA 04/14/2021 311365 3 TREW, KEVIN DENTFORD DRIVING UNDER THE INFLUENCE 04/14/2021 311366 1 WALKER, DUSTIN TRAVONNE ASSAULT 04/14/2021 311367 1 WIGFALL, TERRANCE DANIEL POSSESSION OF HANDGUN WITH PRIOR FELONY CONVICTION 04/14/2021 311368 1 WIRICK, BRANDON MICHAEL POSSESSION OF HANDGUN UNDER THE INFLUENCE 04/14/2021 311368 2 WIRICK, BRANDON MICHAEL VIOLATION OF LIGHT LAW 04/14/2021 311368 3 WIRICK, BRANDON MICHAEL VIOLATION OF IMPLIED CONSENT LAW 04/14/2021 311368 4 WIRICK, BRANDON MICHAEL DRIVING UNDER THE INFLUENCE 04/14/2021 311369 1 WORKS, JAMES ALEXANDER POSSESSION OF CONTRABAND IN PENAL INSTITUTION 04/14/2021 This is one of those David and Goliath stories, except, in this case, Goliath won. Lacombe resident Dennis Perry sued the H.J. Heinz Co. in 2018 because he believed it had violated his trademark for a pinkish blend of ketchup and mayonnaise that he called Metchup. Perry said Heinz offered him something like $45,000 to settle, but he held out for more. Perry said he thought he should get at least $100,000. In the end, a federal court decided Heinz didnt owe Perry anything. In fact, Perry said Heinz wants him to pay $15,000 in court costs. Boy, did I get screwed, man, Perry said in a recent interview. Perry, 60, said he had the idea for a convenient condiment that blended the tart sweetness of ketchup with the mellowness of mayo way back in, like, 2000. In 2007 he applied for a trademark on the possible future product that, in Perrys vision, might someday put him on the path to easy street. Im an entrepreneur, Perry said, I come up with ideas left and right. Perry didnt have a background in food product development or any such thing, but he didnt think he needed it. In about 2010, he began mixing up store-bought ketchup and mayo in his kitchen and funneling it into squeeze bottles, as he dreamt of a future assembly line in a food-packing factory. Perry sold Metchup for $5 per bottle from the office of the motel he owns in Lacombe. According to court documents, he never sold much of the concoction, just 34 bottles in all. But that didnt mean it was a bad idea. In 2016, the venerable Heinz condiment company, which was established in 1869, began selling something similar to Metchup in the Middle East. When the corporation decided to market their flavor mashup of ketchup and mayonnaise in the U.S., they began their marketing campaign with some customer engagement, asking the public to suggest a name for the product. Heinz eventually christened their new sauce with the simple contraction Mayochup. Perrys son-in-law alerted him that Heinz had brought their own mayo-ketchup mixture to market. Hed spotted something called Mayochup on the shelf in Walmart. But to his surprise, Perry discovered that during its promotional naming contest, the corporation used images of a bottle labeled Metchup, the name of his homemade product. The high-profile condiment giant had obviously violated his trademark, or so Perry thought. Perry said he was born in New Orleans to an American father and Peruvian mother. When he was 4, the family moved to Lima for a while, then back to Louisiana when he was 11. Perry said he had to perfect his English in the third grade. Welding was his trade until the early '90s when he spotted an Alfa Romeo Spider sports car for sale for the astonishingly low price of $350. It needed a little work, but Perry made it roadworthy and swiftly resold it for $2,800. He used the money to buy two more choice fixer-uppers and thus a career in selling used cars was born. In 1995, he founded the Deals on Wheels used car lot in Marrero. In 2003, he moved to Lacombe to reopen a shuttered motel and relocate his car business to the paved parcel next door. But Perry said that money was sometimes tight. In the years after Katrina, he said, he invested in gutted properties. But the 2008 economic crisis ruined the market and left him in debt. Currently, he said, hes in Chapter 11 bankruptcy, trying to stay afloat. +3 Brad Pitts Make It Right is back in court, suing its former director over faulty homes project It was supposed to be a utopia in the Lower 9th Ward, a shining example of philanthropists making up for the myriad failures of government. In New Orleans attorney Brad Harrigan specializes in intellectual property. In 2018, Perry plopped the Metchup/Mayochup mess on his desk. To Harrigan, the situation seemed pretty straight forward. You had Heinz using an identical trademark for an identical product, he said. Not to mention that if Perry ever scaled up his condiment business, everyone would think that his Metchup was a Mayochup knockoff. So Harrigan sued Heinz for trademark infringement and counterfeiting, asking for a dollop of the corporations Mayochup profits. He wont say how much he hoped to get for Perry, but considering Heinz was selling its sauce from coast to coast, it could have been a fortune by Lacombe standards. Harrigan said that Heinz offered to settle for a nominal sum, as if Perrys suit was a mere nuisance. He thinks the offer was never nearly as high as the $45,000 Perry remembers. Whatever the amount, Perry declined it. Heinz counter sued to have Perrys trademark dissolved, and the battle lines were drawn. Top stories in New Orleans in your inbox Twice daily we'll send you the day's biggest headlines. Sign up today. e-mail address * Sign Up In June 2020, in the U.S. District Court, Eastern District of Louisiana, Perry and Harrigan got crushed like ripe tomatoes. Heinzs attorneys successfully argued that Perry never seriously entered the condiment business and therefore didnt sufficiently protect his trademark. They convinced the court that there was no confusion caused by Heinzs use of the term Metchup in an advertising campaign and no likelihood of mixing up the products Mayochup and Metchup either. Judge Greg Guidry of Covington, who'd been nominated to the bench by President Donald Trump, denied Perry any compensation and canceled his trademark to boot. Harrigan was bewildered by the decision. It makes you wonder whats the use of a trademark, if it doesnt prevent a competitor from using an identical trademark in connection with identical goods, he said in a recent interview. Perry and Harrigan appealed the court ruling, but once again Heinzs lawyers mostly came out on top. The April 12 appeals court judgment agrees with the earlier decision that Heinz doesnt owe Perry anything. But the three judges who signed the decision Priscilla Owen of Austin, Texas, who'd been nominated by President George W. Bush; Barack Obama nominee James Graves Jr. of Jackson, Mississippi; and Trump nominee James Ho of Dallas felt that Perry's trademark for Metchup shouldnt have been taken away. The decision to return Perrys trademark is somewhat surprising. Because the judges seem to suspect that, from the beginning, Perry wasnt interested in selling condiments at all. Instead, the ruling suggests he may have been hoping a deep-pocketed corporation would come along and buy the title Metchup. The ruling states that A reasonable jury could infer that Mr. Perrys registration and use of the trademark was something other than a sincere, good-faith business effort and something more like a trap that Heinz unwittingly fell into. After all, in the past, Perry purchased 1,400 internet domain names and then offered them for sale, a practice the court called domain squatting. In a recent interview, Perry said he had indeed attempted to profit by buying up dot-com addresses for a few bucks each and selling them to companies who wanted them later. He said he succeeded in selling three or four of them for about $3000 each. But that was different from his plans for someday marketing Metchup. Harrigan points out that Metchup was Perrys one and only trademark, which makes it clear that he genuinely hoped to produce a nest egg with condiment sales. He viewed it as his retirement plan, Harrigan said. he thought he had a great idea. Asked what he might do, now that the court has returned his trademark, Perry said he hopes to get out of his current financial mess, pay off his creditors and maybe do something with Metchup. Legally speaking, Harrigan said that he and Perry are exploring their options. According to a spokesman, the Heinz corporation was pleased with the appellate courts decision affirming the dismissal of the plaintiffs complaint in its entirety. Customized programs are tailored to individual practice characteristics, personal requirements, and professional objectives SANTA MONICA, CA / ACCESSWIRE / April 15, 2021 / SignatureMD, one of the nation's largest firms providing conversion and ongoing support services to concierge physicians, has added another 11 physicians to its growing national network. More physicians are opting to incorporate a concierge care model into their practices than ever before, citing frustration with the current healthcare system and a growing inability to practice medicine the way it was meant to be practiced. Concierge medicine is an appealing alternative that enables physicians to enhance the value of their practice, spend more time with their patients, and improve their work-life balance. SignatureMD is the leading concierge medicine partner offering both full and segmented concierge models. Many physicians opt for the full conversion model, while others choose the segmented conversion model designed for flexibility. With SignatureMD's segmented model, physicians can focus their time and attention on a few hundred member patients while overseeing a physician extender's care of those patients who choose not to enroll. The segmented model gives the physician the flexibility to evolve the practice to a full conversion model over time. SignatureMD is excited to welcome the newest physicians to join its network in the first quarter of 2021: David Baskin, MD, New York, New York Martin Baskin, MD, New York, New York Esther Costel, MD, Louisville, Kentucky Darryl Hein, MD, Los Gatos, California Kurt Kastendieck, MD, Santa Fe, New Mexico Kadie Leach, MD, Lanham, Maryland Philip O'Donnell, MD, Falls Church, Virginia Sue Sanchez, MD, Minden, Nevada Louis Torres Jr., MD, Plano, Texas Melissa Wu, MD, Los Gatos, California Sagar Verma, MD, Warrenton, Virginia "Concierge care is a game-changer and working with SignatureMD is the perfect solution for my practice," says Dr. Martin Baskin. "Their concierge medicine platform made it easy to select the conversion model that worked best for me, enabling me to add more revenue and build better patient relationships while reducing my workload at the same time. It's a brilliant system with so many benefits." Of course, physicians are not the only ones who benefit from concierge care. Physicians today are seeing more patients but spending far less time with them. By providing a concierge care model, physicians can finally practice medicine the way it was meant to be practiced by spending more time with their patients and getting to know their health goals on a more personal level. According to the AARP and Concierge Medicine Today, 90 percent of concierge patients are satisfied with their care. "My patients tell me they feel like they're my only patient because I'm always available and have the time to listen," said Dr. Melissa Wu. "We help them become the healthiest they can be, which is a truly rewarding experience for everyone." About SignatureMD: SignatureMD is one of the nation's largest providers of initial conversion and ongoing support services to concierge medicine physicians, with an expanding network of over 200 affiliated primary care physicians and specialists across 35 states. To learn more about SignatureMD's flexible models for concierge care, visit www.signaturemd.com. Media Contact: Matthew Jacobson 310-299-7797 SOURCE: Signature MD View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/640557/More-Physicians-Across-the-Nation-Are-Taking-Advantage-of-SignatureMDs-Concierge-Medicine-Platform The presentation of evidence in the trial of Derek Chauvin, the former Minneapolis police officer charged with murder in the death of George Floyd, concluded on Thursday without testimony from Mr. Chauvin himself. Lawyers will give their concluding arguments on Monday, and then the jury will begin its own deliberations. Whether Mr. Chauvin would testify was a major question in this trial, one of the most-viewed in decades. Though the death of Mr. Floyd sparked a national reckoning around the intersection of race and policing and ignited a wave of protests that rocked big cities and small towns across America the public has heard very little from the former officer. Throughout the trial, Mr. Chauvin displayed little, if any, emotion. (With a face mask, it can be more difficult to see a persons expressions.) He listened and took notes as people who watched the arrest in person broke down in tears on the stand, and as numerous expert witnesses from the prosecution placed the blame of Mr. Floyds death squarely on his shoulders. Mr. Chauvins defense team called two expert witnesses to the stand this week, along with a handful of other witnesses, most of whom spoke only briefly. A use-of-force expert testified that he acted within the bounds of normal policing when he knelt on Mr. Floyd for nine minutes and 29 seconds, and a medical expert said the restraint was not a contributing factor in Mr. Floyds death. When it comes to getting a coronavirus vaccine, Mississippi residents have an abundance of options. On Thursday, there were more than 73,000 slots to be had on the states scheduling website, up from 68,000 on Tuesday. In some ways, that growing availability of appointments is something to celebrate: It reflects the mounting supplies that have prompted states across the country to open up eligibility to anyone over 16. But public health experts say it also exposes something more worrisome: the large number of people who are reluctant to be inoculated. Its time to do the heavy lifting needed to overcome the hesitancy were encountering, said Dr. Obie McNair, an internal medicine practitioner in Jackson, the state capital. Although access remains a problem in rural Mississippi, experts say that the state which three weeks ago became one of the first to open eligibility to all adults may be a harbinger of what much of the country will confront in the coming weeks as increasing supplies enable most Americans who want the vaccine to easily make appointments. WATERLOO, ON and BOSTON, April 15, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Today, Hi Marley is proud to announce its partnership with Heartland Farm Mutual to offer Heartland customers advanced communications options for their claims and more. Hi Marley's innovative texting platform is helping Heartland modernize the way they communicate with their customers. The insurance industry has used traditional, and now antiquated communications methods to resolve both complicated and simple customer issues and questions. Claims representatives spent excessive time attempting to connect with customers resulting in endless phone tag, long customer hold times and piles of voicemail messages. With Hi Marley, Heartland Farm now conveniently engages customers via text message, which increases time to settlement, provides clear insight into how claims are settled, and substantially increases overall customer satisfaction. "Being in the insurance industry for many years, I have seen first-hand how difficult communication between insurance providers and policy holders can get," said Rocco Neglia, Vice President, Claims & Loss Prevention at Heartland Farm Mutual. "Our goal is to communicate seamlessly with our customers and real time two-way texting is the solution." Hi Marley's platform is currently being rolled out to all of Heartland's customer-facing claims representatives across its claims organization, with plans for further deployment in subsequent phases. Heartland Farm is also using Marley Mobile, the mobile app specifically designed for field staff. The mobile app brings the field team into the conversation faster; the communication is done through the app and conversations, documents and photos are automatically uploaded into the customer's file. It's better for the customers and makes reps' jobs easier, too. "Hi Marley is solely focused on the insurance industry," said Neglia, "That's important. They are knowledgeable of the problems unique to insurance and are dedicated to solving them." Hi Marley's platform will support Heartland's team in providing a superior customer experience through fast contact, improved settlement time and increased visibility into the details around settlements." "We've enjoyed getting to know the Heartland Farms team," said Mitesh Suchak, COO of Hi Marley. "We admire their commitment to innovation, challenging norms in the insurance industry, and to providing their customers with an experience that makes them love their insurance relationship. We're excited to see how Hi Marley will help Heartland exceed their customers' expectations." Being Canadian himself, and with Hi Marley having roots in Canada, Mitesh was also thrilled to be adding another Canadian partner! About Heartland Farm Mutual Inc. Heartland was established on January 1, 2016 as a result of the amalgamation between North Waterloo Farmers Mutual Insurance Company (established 1874) and Oxford Mutual Insurance Company (established 1878). The company offers home, farm, automobile and business insurance through brokers and agents in Ontario. Heartland is the second largest insurer in the group of companies known as farm mutuals in the province of Ontario. In 2019, the company had premium revenue of $130 million. Its head office is in Waterloo, Ontario. For more information visit www.heartlandfarmmutual.com About Hi Marley Hi Marley is the intelligent communication platform for the insurance industry. Built by people who know and love insurance, the platform enables hassle-free texting across the entire ecosystem, empowering insurance professionals and delighting policyholders. Hi Marley's industry leading analytics deliver novel insights that fuel continuous improvement. The solution is built for the enterprise - fast to deploy, easy to use and seamlessly integrates with other core systems. Hi Marley is empowering the world's leading insurance carriers to reinvent the customer and employee experience. Learn more at www.himarley.com . Contact: Heartland Farm Mutual Rocco Neglia, BA (Hons.), CIP, LL.M Vice President, Claims, Loss Prevention & Marketing [email protected] 519-886-4530 ext 6248 Hi Marley Escalate PR for Hi Marley [email protected] 617-312-4942 SOURCE Hi Marley, Inc. Related Links https://himarley.com/ New York, April 16 : The body of a "brilliant" Indian origin cryptocurrency expert has been found floating in the Hudson River in this city, according to media reports. Shuvro Biswas, 31, was a mathematician working with cryptocurrency security and artificial intelligence, the New York Post reported on Wednesday quoting his family. His body was found on Monday near a tourist area where a decommissioned aircraft carrier, USS Intrepid, that is now a museum is moored and there are piers for sightseeing boats. The Post reported that the medical examiner has yet to determine the cause of death but there were no obvious signs of foul play. The newspaper quoted his brother as saying that he been showing signs of mental illness and the family had urged him to seek help. "He's a really good guy. He's brilliant," his brother told the paper. "We're still not sure where things went wrong." Biswas went to an elite high school with a highly competitive entrance exam and later went on to study applied mathematics, according to his brother. Filings with the New York State Supreme Court made in February said that his landlord had tried to evict him from his flat located near where his body was found alleging erratic behaviour like setting fires in the building, scattering bullets around the premises and installing illegal surveillance cameras. The judge refused to order his eviction but enjoined him not to indulge in disruptive behaviour. Biswas's brother told the Post that the fire was only a cooking accident. By Janis Laizans TALLINN (Reuters) - A busy road in the Estonian capital Tallinn has been closed for April nights to keep thousands of frogs and toads travelling to their breeding grounds safe from cars. Volunteers usually help carry frogs and toads over roads in the spring and say they have saved 97,000 of them in previous years, including 2,000 last year on the Tallinn road. But with the coronavirus pandemic making such help impossible this year, road closures are the only lifeline for the amphibians. "The frogs were here before the road," said Kristel Saarm, an Estonian National Fund volunteer. "Now the ponds where they breed are on one side of the road and their wintering place is on the other. So they are forced to cross." As the warm surface of the road makes the amphibians sleepy and slow, up to 300 can get stuck at a time, leaving them vulnerable to cars. Tallinn is considering building a tunnel under the road for the frogs and toads to cross or providing a pond on the side where they overwinter, said deputy head of Haabersti district Oleg Siljanov. (Writing By Andrius Sytas; Editing by Janet Lawrence) Chicago's independent police review board on Thursday released the body camera footage of an officer's fatal shooting of 13-year-old Adam Toledo on March 29. The big picture: Tension continues to rise nationwide in response to police misconduct and racism. Thursday's footage release comes days after officer Kim Potter fatally shot Daunte Wright in a traffic stop near Minneapolis, where the trial of Derek Chauvin, a former police officer accused of murdering George Floyd, is ongoing. Stay on top of the latest market trends and economic insights with Axios Markets. Subscribe for free Details: The video released by the Civilian Office of Police Accountability shows an officer chasing Toledo, who was Latino, on foot down an alley in Little Village, a predominantly Latino and Black neighborhood on the citys West Side. After several seconds, the officer yells, Police! Stop! Stop right (expletive) now! As Toledo slows down, the officer shouts, Hands! Hands! Show me your (expletive) hands! After the officer catches up to the teenager, Toledo turns toward the camera and the officer yells: Drop it! The shaky and grainy footage shows Toledo had his arms at least partially raised when the officer, identified in a police report as Eric Stillman, fired a single round. It's unclear whether Toledo was holding anything at the exact moment the officer fired his weapon. A lawyer for the Toledo family said Thursday that if the teen "had a gun, he tossed it." "The officer said, Show me your hands. He complied. He turned around," the attorney added. Police, who were responding to reports of shots fired in the neighborhood, said Toledo had a handgun on him prior to the shooting. The video later shows the officer who fired his weapon shining a light on a handgun on the ground near Toledo after he was shot. After being shot, Toledo immediately fell to the ground, holding his chest. In the footage, the officer calls for medical assistance and begins to perform chest compressions. What they're saying: "We acknowledge that the release of this video is the first step in the process toward the healing of the family, the community and our city," Toledo family lawyers, Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot and Chicago Corporation counsel said in a joint statement prior to the video's release. Story continues "We understand that the release of this video will be incredibly painful and elicit an emotional response to all who view it, and we ask that people express themselves peacefully," they added. Lightfoot added in a news conference that No family should ever have a video broadcast widely of their childs last moments, much less be placed in the terrible situation of losing their child in the first place," according to AP. The mayor declined to say whether the video showed the teen holding a firearm when he was shot, but she called a prosecutors recent assertion that Toledo had a gun when he was shot "correct." "I see no evidence whatsoever that Adam Toledo shot at police," Lightfoot added. Zoom out: "Chicago, like other American cities, has struggled to stem a surge in shootings during the coronavirus pandemic. In the first quarter of 2021, there were 131 homicides, the most violent start to a year since 2017," the New York Times writes. Editor's note: This story has been updated with additional details from the video. Like this article? Get more from Axios and subscribe to Axios Markets for free. LOS ANGELES When white nationalists failed to turn out in threatening numbers Sunday at a Huntington Beach rally, many counterprotesters viewed it as a victory. Weve won the day, Los Angeles activist Najee Ali said several hours into the protest. Theyre not going to show up. Theyre vastly outnumbered. The community of Huntington Beach won. Yet those who track extremist movements say that the truth is more complex and troubling. Infighting, disorganization and other factors could have prevented neo-Nazis and other extremists from showing up in the kind of force seen during the deadly Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, in 2017. But they also warned that white nationalists appear to be exploiting the so-called White Lives Matter events small turnout and the fact that they were overwhelmed by counterprotesters to bolster their recruiting under the narrative that white people are under attack. It feeds into the agenda that white men no longer have constitutional rights, said Peter Levi, regional director of the Anti-Defamation League in Orange County and Long Beach. They try to assemble, and they cant assemble. They try to have free speech, and they cant. The weekend fiasco in Huntington Beach, repeated in more than a dozen U.S. cities where similar rallies were planned, may not only play to an aggrieved base of white-centered groups but also could help them bond with other right-wing ideologies, extremist experts said. Far from signaling a breakdown of white supremacist activity, Sunday may be a curtain raiser for things to come, when issues such as immigration, border security and police reform will continue to roil politics. A man wearing a Proud Boys T-shirt takes a video during Sundays protest in Huntington Beach, CA on April 11, 2021. Experts who track extremist movement say they expect more white nationalist activity in coming months, which could include lone-wolf violence. (Brian van der Brug/Los Angeles Times/TNS)TNS It was a cynical publicity stunt, said Eric Ward, an extremism expert with the Southern Poverty Law Center and Western States Center. It fires up the base. It makes those individuals [who attend] automatic heroes. Over the last few years, counterdemonstrators have increasingly confronted far-right protesters as passions have grown on both sides. During Sundays event, opponents swarmed apparent supporters of white supremacy and like-minded demonstrators often charging them away from the Huntington Beach Pier amid chants of Nazis, go home. Several groups, including Black Lives Matter and the NAACP, made it clear prior to the rally that they didnt support the counterprotest. Some said the low turnout could have been a strategy and believe white nationalist groups have used similar events in the past to bait them into confrontations. They use this for lawsuits. They use this for PR. They use this for media attention and its hugely problematic, said Melina Abdullah, co-founder of Black Lives Matter Los Angeles and professor of Pan-African Studies at Cal State L.A. We dont want to buy into their narrative, we dont want to feed their narrative. I dont think they generally take up public space if they cant get attention. But Sundays flop wasnt just about being outnumbered. Far-right groups behind the event were hamstrung by paranoia, distrust, lack of clear organization and a desire by participants to remain anonymous problems that became increasingly apparent in the days leading up to the rally, which was promoted on the messaging site Telegram beginning in March. The push for White Lives Matter rallies on April 11 prompted nearly 50 city-specific groups to organize events in several states, according to the Anti-Defamation League. Yet despite what appeared to be a vigorous and targeted promotional campaign including Ku Klux Klan fliers in Huntington Beach, Long Beach and Newport Beach turnout was light nationwide. There is no central organizer, wrote one administrator of Proud Boys offshoot group the Western Chauvinist, which has more than 46,000 followers on Telegram. YOU are the organizer. If your local march doesnt happen, its because YOU didnt arrange one. Counterprotesters at a White Lives Matter rally in Huntington Beach, California, on Sunday, April 11, outnumbered white supremacists and their supporters. (Brian van der Brug/Los Angeles Times/TNS)TNS In the days leading up to the rally, the Huntington Beach Police Department said it was attempting to reach organizers to avoid surprises and remind them of municipal codes and laws. But on Sunday, police spokesman Lt. Brian Smith said they had been unable to identify or contact the people behind the event. Even William Quigg, who is known as the state leader of the Loyal White Knights faction of the Ku Klux Klan in California, did not appear to be in command Sunday, Levi said. It doesnt seem like there was any real organization on the ground around these protests, he said. We maybe saw 10 White Lives Matter marchers, but they didnt seem to be coordinated with each other at all, and there was no one that seemed to be in charge. Several planned rallies in other states and counties failed to manifest at all. In Sacramento, a sole White Lives Matter supporter showed up at McKinley Park and quickly left, officials said. In Fresno, a contingent of Proud Boys turned out for a weekly protest that has roiled its arts district over the sale of a landmark theater to a conservative church, a police spokesperson said. White Lives Matter organizing was also infiltrated by leftist activists who sowed confusion in its online channels on Telegram. By Sunday morning, prospective WLM demonstrators were posting their uncertainty about protest locations and other information. On April 9, White Lives Matter organizers tried to reassure supporters about the postings, writing 90% of these have been made by good-willed patriots, while 10% have been set-up by antifa maggots now removed. And while some people at the pier Sunday were overt about their ideological positions, others supported varying causes. One person waved a large Trump 2020 flag while another waved a flag emblazoned with All Lives Matter. Diane Cruzen, 65, said that she and others were there to show support for the police. Were here, but were not here with flags, signs, things on our sweatshirts, said Cruzen, who estimated a large portion of the crowd was opposed to the counterprotesters. I dont see why Black Lives Matter should be more important than All Lives Matter, she said. A wide mix of people show up at events such as Sundays rally, said experts. Some are toying with the idea of joining radical groups, some want to see what its about and a third type want their views to be heard about a changing world they dont understand or are not comfortable with, said Brian Levin, director of the Center for the Study of Hate and Extremism at Cal State San Bernardino. There are some people who show up knowing exactly whats going to be in the cereal box and there are others who are teetering and still others who are Nazi-adjacent. All these people want to be heard, but the direction and depth of their prejudices are not homogenous, Levin said. Generating publicity is the main goal of these rallies, he said. The groups also want to demonstrate their relevance and recruit new members. With these kinds of rallies, even when they fizzle, they offer a high degree of publicity, which is part of the oxygen these groups need, Levin said. He added that it also shows how impotent and irrelevant they are, not only with people on the mainstream, but also people on the extreme who think theyre doing it wrong. And although Sundays thin attendance may suggest people are increasingly unwilling to be publicly associated with white supremacy, some experts are more guarded. Several said they expect more white nationalist activity in coming months, which could include lone-wolf violence or organized marches. On Monday, one of the white nationalist channels on Telegram promised more actions and better security and announced another event in May that would be extremely vetted this time. Dont think the extremists are out of commission theyve just realigned in ways that are disturbing, Levin said. Now were seeing a leaner, meaner and less publicly brazen type of extremism taking place. Lowell Smith, chair of the criminal justice program at La Sierra University and a former Orange County law enforcement officer who specialized in far-right movements, said the groups he is monitoring hope to exploit fears about the Biden administrations immigration policies and other current politics. Extremist groups claim Democrats are plotting to change the demographics of voters through illegal immigration. As the border crisis unfolds, he said racist groups will probably capitalize on it and also seize upon issues such as equity in policing. One potential flashpoint will be the jurys decision in the trial of white Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin for the killing of George Floyd. This week, the killing of another Black man, Daunte Wright, by a Minnesota police officer has sparked both civic unrest and blowback from conservative groups. Underground movements, said Smith, are going to be watching the political environments in the U.S. and they will pick and choose issues they can push. A paedophile who sexually abused a boy in Victoria along with a group of other men has been jailed for at least three-and-a-half years. Peter Webb, now 71, was convicted of seven charges of indecent assault on a male and one count of buggery of a child in and around Maryborough in 1977. In one instance, Webb asked his victim, who was about eight or nine-years-old, if he wanted to earn some money. Webb took the boy to a secluded area, exposed himself and molested the child. Peter Webb was sentenced to a maximum of six and a half years in prison at the County Court of Victoria Afterwards, Webb gave him some loose change. The paedophile also took the boy to a pub with other men before raping him on the way back while he screamed in pain. Separately, the boy was taken to Webb's home and abused by the paedophile as well as other men. Webb was sentenced in Victoria's County Court on Thursday to a maximum and six-and-a-half years jail, after being found guilty by a jury in November. Judge Scott Johns said Webb's vile and degrading abuse had left the boy with lifelong trauma. Webb had an extremely deprived upbringing himself. The child was about eight or nine-years-old when Mr Webb sexually abused him on a number of occasions (stock image) He went on to abuse alcohol and solvents and develop severe mental health issues including borderline and antisocial personality disorders. He was last jailed in 1991 for raping and abusing children. 'You have little or no remorse for your shocking history of sexual offending against children. You have little empathy, it seems,' Judge Johns said. Webb has already spend 139 days in pre-sentence detention, which will count towards his jail term. Lifeline 13 11 14 beyondblue 1300 22 4636 Advertisement Bernie and Ruth Madoff in Palm Beach, Florida, before his 2008 arrest. Madoff died aged 82 in prison on Wednesday A journalist who became prison pen pals with Bernie Madoff and befriended his wife Ruth, regularly taking her out for lunch over the course of several years, has revealed some of the disgraced family's secrets including how Ruth was spending $57,000-a-month on the company credit card. Bernie died in prison on Wednesday at the age of 82. He had been fighting renal kidney failure and was in a wheelchair. It's unclear who will now claim his body. The Bureau of Prisons declined to comment on whether or not an autopsy has been ordered, or how and when Madoff's body will be taken out of the prison if it hasn't already. 'It is the responsibility of the inmate themselves to specify in writing to the BOP, who their next of kin is and who the BOP should contact in the event of their serious illness or death. 'In the event no next of kin is listed, the BOP will, very extensively, exhaust all means to contact any known relatives,' a spokesman said. He added that if no one claims an inmate's remain, the 'BOP will respectfully bury the remains at a local cemetery, and in accordance with local laws and guidance.' Ruth is living is Connecticut but has been seen recently in Palm Beach, Florida, where Bernie's younger brother Peter also lives with his wife Marion. Until last year, when he was applying for compassionate release, Bernie was writing to journalist Jim Campbell, a radio host from Connecticut, who gained access to the family through Madoff's youngest son Andrew before he died from cancer in 2014. Campbell and Bernie exchanged hundreds of letters over the 12 years he was incarcerated. He reveals them in his new book, Madoff Talks: Uncovering the Untold Story Behind the Most Notorious Ponzi Scheme in History, which will be published on April 27. In an interview with DailyMail.com on Thursday morning, Campbell revealed that Bernie was unrepentant and only expressed remorse in their letters because his lawyers told him to. He said he thought of his victims as 'greedy' and resented them. He also shared a startling American Express statement from the family office in March 2008, nine months before Bernie's arrest. In that month alone, Ruth spent $57,910 - nearly double the average US annual salary. It's unclear what she was buying. Her role was to do the books. Peter, Bernie's younger brother, spent $19,990. Andrew, Bernie's youngest son, spent $7,800 and Mark, the oldest son, spent over $10,000. Bernie spent nothing. Together, they had a joint credit line of $200,000. Ruth previously claimed not to have spoken to him since their son Mark killed himself in 2010 because he could no longer bear the weight of the shame his father heaped on to their family. The Madoff company credit card in March 2008, nine months before Bernie's arrest. He spent nothing but Ruth, who was meant to be running the books, spent nearly $57,000 One of the letters Bernie sent to Jim Campbell while he was locked up in federal custody in North Carolina. He tried to 'restore his legacy' through Jim, he says But she cut off contact with Campbell at the same time as Bernie did, when he was applying for compassionate release from prison last year because he was dying of kidney disease. 'I don't think Ruth would ever be able to completely decouple from him,' Campbell said on Thursday morning. On the day of his arrest, Ruth also withdrew $10million out of Cohmad Securities, another business Bernie ran, after visiting the office to give out Christmas gifts, Campbell said. Campbell told DailyMail.com he cannot be certain if it was to help Bernie with bail, but he said he is 'certain' she will have done it under Bernie's direction. The book also reveals how Ruth was devastated by Bernie's infidelity; he had multiple affairs, including one with a woman that lasted 16 years. Campbell claims Bernie also seduced the wife of an investor because he hated the investor. Bernie denied it to him. He didn't name the woman or her investor husband. Campbell also claims to have learned for a fact that Bernie was running a $3billion legitimate trading fund alongside his Ponzi scheme. It's unclear where that money is now. In their correspondence, Bernie still considered himself a Wall Street wizard. Ruth now has to log any purchase she makes over $100 with the Madoff Victim Fund. It's unclear how much money she has left. Jim Campbell interviewed Bernie via letters from prison and Ruth over lunch for several years. His new book comes out in two weeks Bernie had multiple affairs, including with Sheryl Weinstein - the former CFO of the Jewish organization Hadassah, who he had a relationship with for 16 years Before he was jailed, she made a deal with prosecutors to that she'd be allowed $2.5million to pay for his legal fees. She has since reached a settlement with a small group of some of his tens of thousands of victims to pay them $600,000. It's a tiny fraction of what he stole - $65billion. Bernie also told Campbell how he convinced clients they were making money when they weren't. He had a file he referred to as 'schtup', a Yiddish word which means 'sex' or 'push up', where he'd calculate how much each client needed to think they were making every year, then he'd give them that number at year-end. He insisted to Campbell that he could have made all of the trades he thought about but never did. 'Jim I do realize none of these trades actually happened,' he said. The trades Bernie claimed to be making were larger than the entire market but somehow, the SEC failed to detect it. They didn't even know he had a hedge fund, Campbell writes. 'Over 40 years, the SEC missed what could have been uncovered in a well-placed 5-minute phone call to a Wall Street trade validating entity to see such returns werent even possible,' he said. Bernie's coziness with the regulators was a crucial component of the case. 'He killed Mark quickly, he is killing me slowly': How Bernie's son Andrew blamed him for his cancer diagnosis and his brother's suicide Bernie's crimes not only drove some of his victims to suicide: his oldest son Mark killed himself in 2010 and his youngest son Andrew also blamed him for his cancer coming back before he died in 2014. Andrew was first diagnosed with lymphoma in the early 2000s but he beat it. The disease returned in 2011, after his father's crimes became public. Andrew blamed the stress of the scandal for his deteriorating health. He told Campbell: 'He killed Mark quickly, he is killing me slowly.' Andrew told Campbell of their disgraced father: 'He killed Mark quickly, he is killing me slowly'Mark Madoff with his wife Stephanie, right, before his father's crimes were revealed. Mark killed himself on the second anniversary of his father's arrest in December 2010. Andrew Madoff, right, on the Today show in 2011. He died from lymphoma in 2014. The two brothers said they never spoke to their father again after learning what he'd done He was referring to his brother Mark's suicide in December 2010. Mark hanged himself in his apartment in Manhattan, while his toddler son was in the home. He had texted his wife, Stephanie, who was away with their daughter, and told her to arrange for someone to come to the apartment to look after Nicholas. Stephanie's father rushed to the home but by the time he got there, Mark had died. He used the the family dog's leash. Shortly beforehand, Mark had tried to kill himself with a vacuum cleaner chord, but it snapped under his weight. He did not leave a suicide note. However, after his failed suicide attempt in 2009 - when he swallowed 'handfuls' of Ambien - he left a note for his father saying: 'Now you know how you have destroyed the lives of your sons by your life of deceit. F*** you.' When Bernie learned of his son's suicide, he looked like he had been 'shot'. Ruth claimed in an interview in 2011 that she stopped speaking to Bernie after Mark's death. She, Andrew and Andrew's fiancee Catherine Hooper worked together to tell their side of the story before Andrew died. Since then, it's unclear how much contact Ruth has had with Bernie. Campbell said that he knows for a fact Bernie was writing to her. Whether or not she replied is not clear. 'The whole thing is very sad, obviously. He decimated his family,' Campbell told DailyMail.com on Thursday morning. Researchers at the University of Zurich show that increased sensitivity in a specific region of the brain contributes to the development of anxiety and depression in response to real-life stress. Their study establishes an objective neurobiological measure for stress resilience in humans. Some people don't seem to be too bothered when it comes to handling stress. For others, however, prolonged exposure to stress can lead to symptoms of anxiety and depression. While stress resilience is a widely discussed concept, it is still very challenging to predict people's individual response to increased levels of stress. Lab experiments can only go so far in replicating the chronic stress many people experience in their day-to-day lives, as stress simulated in the lab is always limited in exposure time and intensity. It is possible, however, to observe a group of medical students who are all about to face real-life stress for an extended period - during their six-month internship in the emergency room. This is precisely the real-life situation on which a team of researchers involving Marcus Grueschow and Christian Ruff from the UZH Zurich Center for Neuroeconomics and Birgit Kleim from the Department of Psychology and the University Hospital of Psychiatry Zurich based their study. Stress as a response to cognitive conflict and loss of control Before starting their internship, the subjects were given a task that required them to process conflicting information. This conflict task activates the locus coeruleus-norepinephrine (LC-NE) system, a region of the brain associated with regulating our response to stress and resolving conflict. However, the intensity of LC-NE activation - often referred to as the "firing rate" - varies from one person to the next. Subjects with a higher LC-NE responsivity showed more symptoms of anxiety and depression following their emergency room internships. "The more responsive the LC-NE system, the more likely a person will develop symptoms of anxiety and depression when they're exposed to prolonged stress," Marcus Grueschow summarizes their findings. Objective measure predicting stress resilience With their study, the scientists have identified an objective neurobiological measure that can predict a person's stress response. This is the first demonstration that in humans, differences in LC-NE responsivity can be used as an indicator for stress resilience. "Having an objective measure of a person's ability to cope with stress can be very helpful, for example when it comes to choosing a profession. Or it could be applied in stress resilience training with neuro-feedback," Marcus Grueschow explains. This does not mean that aspiring doctors or future police officers will all have to have their brain scanned. "There might be an even more accessible indicator for stress resilience," Christian Ruff says. Research with animals suggests that stimulation of the LC-NE system correlates with pupil dilation. "If we could establish the same causal link between pupil dilation and the LC-NE system in humans, it would open up another avenue," he adds. ### TORONTO, ON / ACCESSWIRE / April 14, 2021 / Plant-Based Investment Corp. ("PBIC", or the "Company") (CSE:PBIC), announced today that the Company has reached an agreement with Core One Labs Inc. ("Core One") to rescind the share exchange transaction previously completed between the parties (the "Share Exchange"). Effective March 16, 2020, the Company subscribed for and acquired 5,333,333 common shares of Core One (or 2,666,667 common shares of Core One after giving effect to Core One's share consolidation completed on July 8, 2020), and in consideration issued 3,149,606 common shares of PBIC to Core One. The Company and Core One have agreed to rescind the Share Exchange and return to treasury and cancel all securities of the Company and Core One issued in connection with the transaction. About Plant-Based Investment Corp. Plant-Based Investment Corp. (formerly, Cannabis Growth Opportunity Corporation) ("PBIC") is an investment corporation that offers unique exposure to the global cannabis sector. PBIC's main objective is to provide shareholders with long-term total returns through its portfolio of securities, both public and private, operating in, or that derive a portion of their revenue or earnings from products, services and technologies related to the cannabis plant family, its various compounds and other combinatory ingredients and products. Forward-looking Statements This press release contains certain forward-looking statements with respect to the Company. These forward-looking statements, by their nature, involve risks and uncertainties that could 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 Company's business plan and matters relating thereto, and risks associated with the Company's investments and financial objectives, as well as other risks and uncertainties, including but not limited to those detailed from time to time in the Company's public filings on SEDAR. Forward-looking statements are made based on management's beliefs, estimates and opinions on the date that statements are made and the Company undertakes no obligation to update forward-looking statements if these beliefs, estimates and opinions or other circumstances should change. Investors are cautioned against attributing undue certainty to forward-looking statements. For further information, please contact: Plant-Based Investment Corp. Paul Crath Chief Executive Officer (647) 660-0566 CONTACT: Plant-Based Investment Corp. View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/640438/PBIC-To-Rescind-Share-Exchange-With-Core-One-Labs A crumbling retaining wall in a busy Union County NJ Transit rail station that raised the concern of riders and advocates after pieces fell on trains in 2017 is on its way to being reconstructed. NJ Transits board Wednesday approved a $1.59 million contact with Gannett-Fleming Inc. of Newark for rehabilitation designs for the south retaining wall on the Morris & Essex line between the Morristown Line and the Gladstone Branch split in Summit. Train tracks in that location are in a trench surrounded by concrete retaining walls. The work, which will lead to construction, covers three-quarters of a mile of wall that is more than 100-years old. The walls are the original ones built by the Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad in 1905. In addition to crumbling concrete, the tracks are prone to flooding during rain storms, which causes signal and track problems, officials said. The contract also calls for designing drainage improvement to handle the flooding issue. Some advocates questions why the work has taken so long, since the problem surfaced in 2017. Why is there such a delay? said Joseph Clift, a transit advocate and former Long Island Rail Road planning director. Why not do it in house? Its a simple design and drainage (project). But the project is more involved than it appears because the retaining was built entirely of concrete and hard-to-dig-through bedrock is present, said James Sincaglia, NJ Transits acting rail operations general manager. What may seem simple is actually is a complex project. It is concrete with no steel in it (to reinforce the wall), he said. The drainage improvement, which would seem relatively simple in that area...bedrock is close to the surface so you dig down a couple of feet and you hit bedrock so the drainage is complex and thats why were seeking design assistance. In September 2017, part of the Gladstone Branch was shut down for emergency repairs after pieces of a concrete wall near Summit station hit two commuter trains. Debris hit a train again and service was suspended again between Oct. 3 and Oct. 4 for emergency repairs. That incident resulted in the inspection of concrete retaining walls every 30 days in Summit and other locations where walls are in close proximately to trains, said then executive director Steven Santoro. Id argue it was a problem 24 years ago, said Kevin Corbett, NJ Transit CEO and a regular Morris & Essex line commuter through Summit. Like most of the infrastructure that is decades and centuries old...we were aware of the problem, there was no capital plan and funding for it. Now there is a plan, which the wall is part of, after officials did an assessment of the priorities, risk and other factors, he said. The wall also figures into another project to expand train yard capacity at the west end of Summit, where the Gladstone Branch splits from the M&E, Corbett said. Its part of the comprehensive plan to build up Summits operating capacity. Doing the wall is the first part of that, Corbett said. The next phase is the yard and switch work. In 2017, Santoro talked about long-term plans to reconfigure tracks to and from the Gladstone line in Summit. Our journalism needs your support. Please subscribe today to NJ.com. Larry Higgs may be reached at lhiggs@njadvancemedia.com. April 15 marks Mandira Bedi's birthday and the actor turns 49 years old. As wishes were pouring in for the star, Mouni Roy took to her Instagram handle and shared a special post, wishing her best friend. Showering wishes on the latter, Mouni shared a video, wherein she compiled all her pics with Mandira Bedi and put them together in Bruno Mars' song Just The Way You Are. Mouni Roy also penned a lengthy heartfelt note dedicated to the birthday girl. Mouni pens heartfelt note on Mandira Bedi's birthday As seen in Mouni Roy's Instagram post, the actor added pictures from their trip to Europe, Maldives, and many similar destinations. One can also see Mandira Bedi's video from Mouni's birthday party. Mouni also added a hilarious cartoon edit, featuring Mandira and herself. The Naagin fame seemed excited for Mandira Bedi's birthday, as she said, "Cannot contain my jumping jack head heart body coz its your birthdayyyy". Coz youre Ahh-mae-zinggg!!! Just the way you are!!!! Cannot contain my jumping jack head heart body coz- its your birthdayyyy *insert* suffocating her with cuddles & kisses & food @mandirabedi Hey you Phoebe to my Rachel, Hansel to my Gretel, Elinor to my Marianne, Biscof icecream to my nolen gurer sondesh I adamantly believe; always give more than you take but its almost impossible with you, the love, attention, the care, your spirit, energy and zest for life Is, and shall always be unmatched. Im so lucky to grow with you in love, thoughtfulness wisdom (in the lanes less travelled in Bandra, Europe, Maldives & other places we are yet to visit) my dearest M. I miss you a bit much today, sending you Extraaaaa extra l o v e today. Also waiting for one full day of a make belief birthday so we can celebrate it tog morn till the dusk light x Happy happy birthday Sister P.S do save me a few dances on the window sill, floor, pools, sofa tops, in the ocean & under moonlit skies. I Wuvvvvvv Youuu P.p.s shamelessly stole the 3rd one, coz my thoughts exactly Fans' reactions Several fans and followers commented on Mouni Roy's photos. More than 122k people have liked Mouni Roy's Instagram post. Take a look at some fans' reactions below. 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. Ukraine does not rule out that Russia may use its forces, now concentrated in the occupied Crimea and near Ukraine's eastern borders, for a large-scale provocation against Ukraine this year, Ukrainian Defense Minister Andrii Taran has said. He said this during an online meeting of the European Parliament's Subcommittee on Security and Defense (SEDE) on Wednesday, April 14, according to an Ukrinform correspondent. "Given all the available data, we cannot rule out that Russian occupation forces in Crimea and/or those near our borders may carry out significant military provocations this year," Taran said. He noted that the analysis of current events unfolding in the occupied territories of Ukraine and around it "allows us to conclude about the probable intentions of the aggressor country." "First of all, it is a projection of Russia's power to increase pressure on our country in order to offset the progress of reforms, positive domestic political development, and completely curtail our Euro-Atlantic aspirations. Secondly, we are concerned about preparations for offensive operations using regular Russian troops from Crimea in order to ensure water supply to the peninsula, which is the responsibility of the occupying country. There is a high probability that Russia will try to repeat the provocation according to the 'Georgian' scenario in order to accuse Ukraine of violating the ceasefire and expand by force the occupied territories of Donetsk and Luhansk regions," Taran said. At the same time, according to him, Russia intends to create conditions for large-scale strategic exercises Zapad 2021. Taran said that all these probable scenarios were reflected in drastic changes in the behavior of the Russian delegation within the Trilateral Contact Group. As a result of Russia's counterproductive approach, the TCG's diplomatic work has been blocked, he said. The Russian side demands that Ukraine comply with the political provisions of the Minsk agreements without fulfilling much-needed security commitments. Under this pretext, he said, the Russian delegation does not even want to mention the complete ceasefire and rejects any peace initiatives by Ukraine. "Ukraine supports the resolution of the conflict through political and diplomatic means. At the same time, the Ukrainian Armed Forces, like all other state institutions, understand the price of peace, which is already measured in thousands of lives. This year alone, Ukraine has lost 28 soldiers killed in the fighting and another 68 have been wounded," he said. He appealed to international partners and all European countries to redouble their vigilance and step up measures to deter Russia in order to persuade it to comply with international law. The entire international community should be aware of what is happening around Ukraine's borders and the escalation that Russia is resorting to, Taran said. For its part, he said, the Ukrainian side continues to develop the combat capabilities of the Armed Forces and improve the system of command and control of troops in accordance with key principles of NATO and the EU. op ATLANTA, April 15, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- TerraCap Management LLC, a privately held investment firm with its headquarters in Naples, Florida, announced today the sale of Bailey Park for $21,150,000. TerraCap Management TerraCap Management Bailey Park is a five-building office park located in the northwestern Atlanta suburb of Kennesaw, GA. The office park is located in the 1,000-acre Barrett Park and consists of four single-story office buildings and one two-story office building. The property was developed in 1988 and totals 197,549 square feet. TerraCap acquired the property in January 2016 and, over a 5-year hold period, executed its value-add business plan to increase the property's occupancy, rental rates, and net operating income. Albert Livingston, TerraCap Partner and National Director of Asset Management said, "Bailey Park was acquired in transition with below market occupancy rates. The property was rebranded with new signage, landscape and site upgrades, and a new paint scheme. This allowed our leasing team with Lincoln Property Company to push occupancy, rental rate, lease term, and tenant quality. We are confident this will provide the buyer with a solid asset for years to come." Bailey Park is located within the Kennesaw submarket, which has consistently seen vacancies below the metro average. "The demand for single-story office and flex space in Kennesaw has been strong over the past few years. Our value-add investment strategy transformed Bailey Park into a creative office environment. We were fortunate to execute twelve new leases totaling over 85,000 square feet during our hold period while increasing in-place rents over 15%. We are very grateful to Lincoln and CBRE for their help executing our second full-circle office investment in Kennesaw," said Matt Stewart, TerraCap Partner and Director of Asset Management. Tom Shafer and John Hinson of CBRE in Atlanta represented TerraCap on the sale. Lincoln Property Company represented TerraCap on both leasing and management. About TerraCap Management LLC TerraCap Management LLC considers thematic factors such as business formation, employment growth and population growth on a market-by-market basis, as most metros and submarkets have different economic-based industries and therefore move through their economic cycles differently. TerraCap makes moderate strategic overweighting or underweighting to markets, depending on the specific economic drivers influencing supply and demand. The Investment Manager has been in operation since 2008 with its headquarters located in Naples, FL, the firm also has offices in Tampa, FL, Atlanta, GA, and Denver, CO. As operators, TerraCap believes it can make decisions more efficiently while leveraging expertise from property to property. The firm has over seven million square feet of commercial assets within its portfolio, with over one billion dollars of assets under management. More information can be found at terracapmgmt.com. For More Information, Contact: Steve Good 239.898.4454 TerraCap Management LLC SOURCE TerraCap Management Two-time Golden Globe nominee January Jones was sheer perfection in a $795 Jonathan Simkhai 'Emeri Chunky Knit' dress in the bathroom of her $1.7M four-bedroom home in LA on Thursday. The 43-year-old Mad Men alum's yoga-toned 5ft6in figure could be seen in silhouette in the white translucent fringed frock. January - who boasts 1.1M Instagram followers - captioned her Instagram post: 'Post shower photo op.' 'Post shower photo op': Two-time Golden Globe nominee January Jones was sheer perfection in a $795 Jonathan Simkhai 'Emeri Chunky Knit' dress in the bathroom of her $1.7M four-bedroom home in LA on Thursday On Wednesday, Jones shared a photograph of herself cuddling her dog Joey in bed, which was taken by her son Xander Dane. 'I just love when people post a cute pic of themselves and give photo cred to their kid,' the South Dakota-born blonde explained. 'I want that. [Photo] by XDJ!' January rarely shares images of her nine-year-old only child, whose father's identity has never been revealed. Last Friday, Jones was 'forced to bludgeon yet ANOTHER rattlesnake' after one bit her other dog Vinny in her gated community. Backlit: The 43-year-old Mad Men alum's yoga-toned 5ft6in figure could be seen in silhouette in the white translucent fringed frock 'Photo cred to the kid!' On Wednesday, Jones shared a photograph of herself cuddling her dog Joey in bed, which was taken by her son Xander Dane 'Dab': The South Dakota-born blonde rarely shares snaps of her nine-year-old only child, whose father's identity has never been revealed (pictured in 2018) 'I almost cried. I'm sorry snake family, this house is taken,' The Politician guest star explained via Instastory. 'Lemme know if anyone needs a snake wrangler!' Starting May 24, January will head to Mexico to begin shooting her role as Maureen Bacon in the big-screen adaptation of anonymous author Boston Teran's 1999 book, God Is A Bullet. Director Nick Cassavetes has already started pre-production - scouting locations like Tequisquiapan and heading meetings about stunts and special effects. 'I am excited to get God Is A Bullet into production with my friend and producer/financer, Michael Mendelsohn,' the 61-year-old Daytine Emmy winner said in a statement to Deadline last month. 'Big news!' Starting May 24, January will head to Mexico to begin shooting her role as Maureen Bacon in the big-screen adaptation of Boston Teran's 1999 book, God Is A Bullet 'If you build it, they will come... #GIAB 2021': Director Nick Cassavetes (pictured Tuesday) has already started pre-production - scouting locations like Tequisquiapan and heading meetings about stunts and special effects 'It's a magnificent, ultra-dark work that is somehow both intensely frightening and literate, inspired by true events, with the most amazing cast of actors.' The satanic cult revenge thriller also features Jamie Foxx, Maika Monroe, Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, and Andrew Dice Clay. Jones hasn't worked since her role as ice skater Kat Baker's (Kaya Scodelario) bipolar mother Carol in the drama Spinning Out, which streamed a year ago on Netflix. Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, April 15) The head of the Armed Forces Western Command is appealing for more air and naval assets to boost patrols in the West Philippine Sea amid the swarming of Chinese vessels. In an interview with CNN Philippines on Thursday, Rear Admiral Ramil Roberto Enriquez, WESCOM commander, said aerial patrols are supposed to be done daily, but this is not possible at this time since the Air Forces planes are focused on transporting COVID-19 vaccines to different parts of the country. The area is something [like] 70,000 square nautical miles (around 240,000 square kilometers), Enriquez said. He noted that a five-hour flight could only cover a tenth of the West Philippine Sea. It will take a ship 15 days to patrol the waters, theoretically speaking, na hindi niya kailangan magrefuel at may adequate food and water (without having to refuel and with adequate food and water), he said. There are currently five Philippine Navy vessels in the area, augmented by ships from Coast Guard and Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources. We cannot cover the entire West Philippine Sea in a single patrol, 'yun ang challenge sa amin ngayon (that's the challenge we face now), how we can see them all at the same time, Enriquez said. We are appealing to higher authorities to provide us with better alternatives or more assets, he added. The government is relying on the surveillance patrols for its policy responses to the lingering presence of Chinese vessels in the West Philippine Sea. On March 20, the National Task Force for the West Philippine Sea reported spotting around 200 suspected Chinese militia vessels at Julian Felipe Reef or Whitsun Reef, located 175 nautical miles from Bataraza, Palawan, well within the countrys exclusive economic zone. After a number of diplomatic protests and repeated demands that China withdraw its vessels, only six ships remained moored at Julian Felipe Reef as of Tuesday evening, Enriquez said. This does not mean the Chinese vessels have left, they only appear to have dispersed to other areas in the countrys EEZ. As of April 11, China had 240 militia vessels, four navy warships, and two China Coast Guard vessels in areas it claims in the West Philippine Sea. China insists on owning parts of the Philippines EEZ as part supposedly of its historic nine-dash line claim which an arbitral ruling had already invalidated. Contrary to Chinas claims that these are fishing boats, not militia, Enriquez said they do not appear to be fishing. Karamihan sa kanila naka angkla pero (Most of them are anchored but) not doing any fishing activity, he said. Nearly a month since China increased its presence in the West Philippine Sea, the Department of Foreign Affairs has sent diplomatic protests and summoned Chinese Ambassador to the Philippines Huang Xilian. Former DFA Undersecretary and Permanent Representative to the United Nations Lauro Baja said summoning an envoy is considered more serious than a diplomatic protest. Summoning an ambassador is an accepted diplomatic practice usually resorted to by the host government to express concern/disappointment/displeasure over an issue which seriously affects relations between the two countries, Baja told CNN Philippines. During a meeting with Huang, the two countries affirmed the use of peaceful settlement of disputes in addressing their differences, the DFA said. However, days after the meeting, the government task force announced Wednesday a still huge number of Chinese vessels in Philippine waters, resulting in two more diplomatic protests. CNN Philippines' Tristan Nodalo and Eimor Santos contributed to this report. MOSCOW -- Since his return to Russia and subsequent jailing in January, opposition politician Aleksei Navalny has been the subject of heated debates amid a wave of criminal cases and harassment against those who publicly endorse him. Students have been expelled and supporters of all stripes subjected to punitive measures for speaking out in favor of the Kremlin critic and his yearslong campaign against authoritarian President Vladimir Putin. But throughout the clampdown, one institution has largely maintained a guarded silence: the Russian Orthodox Church. So when Aleksei Uminsky, the head of a parish in east-central Moscow, urged Christian mercy for Navalny in a two-minute video posted online, his words prompted a spate of accusations and an unusual public apology that forced the institution to break its silence and exposed a division within it over political issues and proximity to the state. For me as a priest, its not so important what an inmates name is or what crime he was convicted of, Uminsky says in the video, without specifically endorsing Navalny or his politics. But what is hugely important for me are the words of Christ, who urges the same attitude toward every person who finds themselves behind bars as toward Christ himself. Navalnys deteriorating health since he was sentenced to 2 1/2 years in prison on February 2 has been a cause celebre for Russian civil society and many public figures concerned about the scale and severity of the states campaign to root out opposition ahead of parliamentary elections expected in September. Its also the latest dark turn in Navalnys monthslong ordeal, which began with his poisoning with a military-grade nerve agent in August, continued with his jailing upon his return from treatment in Germany, and now, his relatives and supporters allege, could reach a grim denouement with a hunger strike that he commenced in early April over inadequate medical care at a notorious prison 100 kilometers east of Moscow. Church leaders, who hold sway over millions of faithful in Russia, have been tight-lipped over the Navalny saga. So heads turned when, within two days of Uminskys public plea on April 7, the Russian Orthodox Churchs Spas TV channel aired a lengthy tirade against the priest. During a one-sided, 90-minute program titled Who Is Dragging The Church Into Politics And Making Martyrs Of Criminals?, Sergei Karnaukhov, a lecturer in politics at a Moscow university, described Uminsky as a criminal in a cassock and suggested the priest should be arrested before he plunges our church into an abyss. Karnaukhov called for a broader, concerted campaign to discipline priests who undermine Russias constitution. Uminsky, a well-regarded priest who has published extensively on the topic of church teaching and served as a television host in his own right, has long cultivated a reputation as one of the few Russian clergymen who openly sympathizes with the opposition. He has visited Russian prisons to speak with inmates and chaplains and has added his name to initiatives in support of jailed Russian protesters. In 2019, amid a crackdown following rallies in Moscow that led to prison sentences for participants, Uminsky was one of more than 180 priests who signed an open letter urging the authorities to show leniency and free arrested activists. It was an intervention in politics that church scholars said was unprecedented in Russia since the 1991 Soviet collapse, and it prompted a move by church authorities to discipline some clergymen who endorsed it. Karnaukhovs denunciation of Uminskys statement was in line with the Kremlins long-standing conspiratorial narrative about protests and those who back them. But despite its close ties to the state, the Orthodox Church has often been riven by conflicting views over whether and how to respond to opposition protests and the authorities often violent tactics to suppress them. And the stance of Uminsky, a respected clergyman, has only deepened that ambivalence. Uminsky has long irritated the most conservative members of the church, church expert Roman Lunkin told RFE/RL. But disciplining him would risk alienating other church members, especially young believers who may feel sympathy for Navalny. Against this backdrop, Karnaukhovs public condemnation of Uminskys stance -- and especially his calls for criminal charges -- elicited a spat among bodies tied to the Russian Orthodox Church, a generally ultraconservative faith whose head, Patriarch Kirill, has aligned himself publicly with Putin and been accused of, and vehemently denied, engaging in large-scale corruption. Orthodoxy And The World, a popular news website focused on church issues, announced it was severing ties with Spas TV until the channel apologizes to Uminsky. Karnaukhovs words represented the mockery of a respected priest, the outlet said. After several other church figures and religious experts criticized the Spas TV program, the channel promised to issue an apology to Uminsky. The apology, or something close to it, came at the end of a studio discussion on April 12. Golovanov, the Spas TV presenter, stopped short of defending Uminsky, but acknowledged that airing Karnaukhovs accusations was a mistake. He said the churchs role was to rise above social conflicts and mediate peace between warring parties. He promised his program would return to its original primary focus: church teaching and questions of faith. "Spas TV, like the church, unites people of all stripes, Golovanov said. "Sorry to all those who were offended. The GoFundMe page set up to support the devastated family of the three-year-old girl who died tragically in an accident involving a bus in Carrick-on-Suir on Tuesday, had raised more than 50,000 less than 24 hours after it was opened. There has been an overwhelming response by the people of Carrick-on-Suir and further afield to the fundraising campaign set up for the Ukrainian family grieving the death of their beautiful daughter, named locally as Sophia Melnychuk. Tragedy struck the family shortly after 4pm on Tuesday when the young girl died after she was struck by a bus near her home at Castle Heights, Carrickbeg. The GoFundMe page Sophia's Farewell was set up by Lee Murphy yesterday (Wednesday) to support Sophia's family with funeral and other costs and by 12.30am today it had received donations of 50,090. Many of the 1,825 contributors to the fund accompanied their donations with heartfelt messages of sympathy to Sophia's family. In his introduction to the Sophia's Farewell GoFundMe pages, Mr Murphy said Sophia's family were devastated and cannot believe their little girl is gone forever. We have been close friends with this family along time and want to support them any way we can and as best we can, he said. Mr Murphy said the tragedy had shocked all the people of Carrick-on-Suir and he hoped everyone would support this beautiful family through this heartbreaking time. Meanwhile, Fr Tom Flynn PP of Carrickbeg/Windgap parish said the local community would do everything they possibly could to support the family through the shocking tragedy that had befallen them. They are a family that are very much part of the community, a very well liked family and anybody who knows them speaks very highly of them,' said Father Flynn. Carrick-on-Suir Cllr David Dunne said he had been in the family home the day before the accident helping the mother of the child on council matters. 'The family are heartbroken and the community is devastated for them.Her parents are both from Ukraine and the girl had two older brothers. The family are living in Carrick for a good few years. They are part of a sizeable and hard working eastern European community in the town. The little girl herself would have been born in South Tipperary General Hospital in Clonmel' said Cllr Dunne. The link for Sophias Farewell GoFundme page is: https://ie.gofundme.com/f/sophias-farewell What to Make of Vaccine Pauses A cautious, transparent response reveals a process committed to vaccine safety. Q&A with Daniel Salmon | APRIL 15, 2021 Public Health On Call This conversation is an updated excerpt from the March 22 episode of Public Health On Call, in which Salmon spoke with Stephanie Desmon about the AstraZeneca situation in particular. Subscribe to Podcast The U.S. on April 13 paused use of the Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccine because, of the nearly 7 million people who received the vaccine, six women under 50 developed a rare form of blood clots called cerebral venous sinus thrombosis, or CVST. This follows a similar move in Europe where several countries suspended use of the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine because, of 17 million people in the EU and the UK who received the vaccine, 37 had CVST. Daniel Salmon, PhD 03, MPH, a professor in International Health and director of the Institute for Vaccine Safety, shares his take on what to make of such pauses. How should we view these situations generally? Bad things happen to people every day from a health perspective. People have heart attacks, people have strokes, people get infectious diseases, and chronic diseases, and cancer. People get hit by cars and shot by guns. And if you vaccinate people, these things will happen after people got the vaccine, by chance alone. How frequently these things happen depends on the population. So, if we vaccinate a lot of people in a short amount of time, we have to anticipate that bad things will happen to them, hopefully at the same rate that would have happened anyway (except for the disease youre vaccinating against, in this case COVID, which hopefully that happens less). The question is, is it because of the vaccine, and specifically [is it happening] more frequently after getting the vaccine? If, after you look at the data, you find that it still persists, usually you want to do a chart review and look for standardized case definitions and really do a more formal study. The Johnson & Johnson and AstraZeneca vaccines were paused for the same reason. What are your thoughts on how these two situations have played out so far? The situation with the J & J vaccine really requires more data. Ultimately, vaccine decisions are about weighing risks and benefits of the vaccine. Fortunately in the U.S. we have two other highly effective vaccines to use that have not raised similar safety concerns. What do you make of the pauses in administering these vaccines? Stopping the vaccine comes at a risk as well because those are people that arent getting vaccinated in the midst of a pandemic. But with that said, they want to be careful with safety and thats a good thing. The availability of other vaccines makes this decision easier. If this is in fact a pattern, you need to look at the risk of these blood clots among women in this age group and how much risk it is, and then compare it to the benefit of the vaccine. Because at the end of the day, its all about risk versus benefits. For example, flu vaccine causes Guillain-Barre syndrome in one to three per million people vaccinated. Guillain-Barre is a pretty serious neurological condition. However, its a one to three per million chance, and the benefits of the flu vaccine are far, far greater than that. What does this say about the systems in place to find, report, and investigate any adverse events? The systems are working because they identified something that looked unusual and theyre assessing it rapidly and making decisions from there. The decision to suspend it is a difficult judgment call. You dont want to suspend something absent that reason, because it just confuses people, and potentially youre not vaccinating people when you could. Is this likely to hurt vaccine confidence and increase vaccine hesitancy? You have to think about short term versus long term. In the short term this might cause some issues that may result in some people not getting vaccinated who would otherwise get vaccinated. But were not in it for the short term. Were not going to eradicate COVID any time soon, if ever. Were really fortunate to have multiple vaccines that look extremely good so quickly. Its really a tremendous success. This is about long-term trust and confidence in the system. And you can ask yourself, do you want a system that looks really hard for unusual, unexpected things; and, when it sees something weird, has really good science and scientists to investigate it to determine whether it just appears a little bit weird, or if it actually is weird; and if it is a problem, among whom and how frequently, so that when you and your doctor decide whether or not to get a vaccine, you have the best available information? Or would you rather they just not look and pretend its not there, and tell everybody its OK, and provide reassurance absent science, because if they did the science and told you about it, you might question it for a moment? I think the answer is clearly that people want the former. Yes, there may be a short-term hit. And that has to be considered and words have to be chosen carefully. But we need a robust process. It needs to be objective, it needs to be driven by science, and it needs to be reasonably transparent. It doesnt mean that every conversation should be put on the web, but the public needs to know that there are independent, credible, very competent people looking at issues carefully, and theyre taking a cautious approach. I know thats what I want, and I think thats what most people want. MINNEAPOLIS, April 15, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Traction Capital has closed Focus Fund I at a final fund size of $16,605,000. Traction Capital is a Minnesota based hybrid private equity and venture capital firm with a mission of helping entrepreneurs in the Midwest get what they want for the greater good. The fund closed on March 5th, 2021 with 76 total investors including over 50 Minnesotan Entrepreneurs. Shane Erickson, the Founder and Managing Partner of Traction Capital, first had the vision for the fund while acting as an Angel Investor and mentor of several Minnesota-based companies that had significant exits. In each successful exit, Erickson assisted the company with key hires and implementation of processes that helped the stimulate growth. "Minnesota and the Upper Midwest are areas of huge opportunity but can be overlooked by the coastal investment firms. We can't wait to unlock the massive potential that we believe entrepreneurs in our region possess," says Erickson. Erickson sees the hybrid model as offering significant upside to Traction Capital's investors while mitigating some of the downside risk typically associated with traditional venture capital funds. The acquisition component allows Focus Fund I to construct a portfolio that includes a mix of early-stage investments with high potential for growth along with more mature acquisitions. "Raising a fund during a pandemic came with its fair share of challenges. I think this economic uncertainty led to many investors pivoting and seeking opportunities within Focus Fund I. It's encouraging to see the investor base we were able to gather because I think it speaks volumes to our belief in Minnesota and its early-stage businesses and the opportunity for a great return in the long-term," says Erickson. Erickson is joined at Traction Capital by President Brian Cox, Joe Morris (VP of Investments and Acquisitions), and Peyton Green (Lead Analyst). Traction Capital is further supported by its Advisory Committee including Barb Stinnett, Matt Meents, Wade Burgess, Andrew Duneman and Jeff Fritz. Focus Fund I will look to complete 3 to 4 investments and 1 acquisition in 2021. Investment opportunities that are early-stage, post-revenue, and have market-leadership potential are considered. Acquisitions include established businesses with a key employee in place to run the company post-transaction. The team has identified several potential investments and has an existing pipeline of deals in various stages of review. Learn more about Traction Capital and its investment thesis at www.tractioncapital.com, or by contacting Peyton Green at [email protected]. About Traction Capital Traction Capital is a Minnesota-based hybrid private-equity and venture-capital firm dedicated to investing in and acquiring early-stage and lower-middle-market companies that are stuck in the "capital gap". Its Focus Funds target high potential businesses with a focus on companies based in Minnesota. Learn more about Traction Capital at www.tractioncapital.com. Peyton Green 651-271-3803 [email protected] SOURCE Traction Capital Related Links https://www.tractioncapital.com Rocky Mountain Regional VA Medical Center investigational pharmacy technician Sara Berech is reflected in the glass of a fume hood as she prepares a dose of the Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccine for a clinical trial in Aurora, Colo., on Dec. 15, 2020. (Michael Ciaglo/Getty Images) CDC Vaccine Advisory Committee Says J&J COVID-19 Vaccine to Remain on Pause The Johnson & Johnson (J&J) COVID-19 vaccine will remain on pause after an advisory committee to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said it needed more data to be able to vote on a recommendation, which may come in a week to 10 days. Federal health officials halted the use of the J&J vaccine after reports of rare and severe blood clots in the brain with reduced blood platelet levels (thrombocytopenia) occurred after some people were inoculated. The Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP), tasked with developing recommendations on the use of vaccines, held an emergency meeting Wednesday afternoon to discuss the incidence of blood clots with low platelets in seven people following the J&J vaccine. But data was available for only six of the seven individuals. More than 7.2 million doses of the J&J COVID-19 vaccine have been administered as of April 14. The clotting disorder in the brain is called cerebral venous sinus thrombosis (CVST), which normally does not occur with low blood platelets, doctors say. All six cases of cerebral venous sinus thrombosis with low platelet levels occurred in white females aged 18 to 48 with no obvious patterns of risk factors detected, said Dr. Tom Shimabukuro of the CDCs COVID-19 Vaccine Task Force. Most peoples symptoms occurred around eight days after inoculation. Shimabukuro said that one of the women died in March and three remain hospitalized, with two in intensive care. The J&J vaccine was granted an emergency use authorization in February 2021 and is a one-dose shot for individuals aged 18 and older. It has been authorized for use in the European Union but the vaccine has not been delivered or administered yet. Eloina Galvez receives a one-shot dose of the Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccine at a clinic geared toward agriculture workers in Riverside, Calif., on April 5, 2021. (Mario Tama/Getty Images) According to Shimabukuro, the observed clotting disorders appear to exceed expected [cases] based on background rates of CVST among women aged 20-50 years (three-fold or greater). Blood clots with low levels of platelets were not observed in people who received the messenger RNA vaccines by Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna. But there were three reports of cerebral venous sinus thrombosis following the administration of 84.7 million doses of the Moderna vaccine as of April 12. The cases, however, differ from the J&J ones, since all three had normal platelet counts. Platelets are blood cells that help the blood clot to stop bleeding. A normal platelet count is anywhere from 150,000-450,000 per microliter. Dangerous internal bleeding can occur when your platelet count falls below 10,000 platelets per microliter, Shimabukuro said. Johnson & Johnson released a statement (pdf) regarding the decision taken at the emergency meeting. We continue to believe in the positive benefit-risk profile of our vaccine, said Paul Stoffels, vice chairman of the Executive Committee and chief scientific officer at Johnson & Johnson. We value the consideration of the Advisory Committee, and we will continue to collaborate with medical experts and global health authorities, including the CDC, U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), European Medicines Agency, and the World Health Organization, as we work toward continuing vaccinations to end the global pandemic. The drug manufacturer also said that it has made the decision to proactively delay the rollout of our vaccine in Europe and pause vaccinations in all Janssen COVID-19 vaccine clinical trials. Health officials still do not know the cause of the clots or the true incidence rate, although they expect more cases to be identified in the next two weeks. Right now we believe these events to be extremely rare, but we are also not yet certain we have heard about all possible cases, as this syndrome may not be easily recognized as one associated with the vaccine, CDC Director Rochelle P. Walensky said at a press briefing on Wednesday. White House COVID-19 response coordinator Jeff Zients said that the pause would not have an impact on the countrys vaccination campaign. I want to be clear that this announcement will not have a significant impact on our vaccination program, Zients said. The J&J vaccine makes up less than five percent of the more than 190 million recorded shots in the arms in the U.S. to date. We are working now with our state and federal partners to get anyone currently scheduled for a J&J vaccine quickly rescheduled for a Pfizer or Moderna vaccine, he added. The CDC and FDA in a joint press release said individuals who received the J&J vaccine and experienced severe headache, leg pain, abdominal pain, or shortness of breath within three weeks after vaccination should contact their health care provider. Iraqi Cardinal Sako meets the Middle East Council of Churches to discuss the outcome of the Popes Apostolic Visit to Iraq. By Lisa Zengarini Following the recent visit of Pope Francis to Iraq, Patriarch of Babylon for the Chaldeans, Cardinal Mar Louis Raphael Sako, held an on line meeting this week with the leadership of Middle East Council of Churches (MECC). Attending the event were General Secretary, Dr. Michel Abs and Assistant Secretary General, Father Dr. Nicolas Bustros, as well as departments directors. The focus of the meeting According to the MECCs website, the main focus of the meeting were the role of the Middle East Council of Churches in achieving the goals of this historic visit and its impact on the Christian presence in the East, interfaith dialogue and the role of Iraq and its Churches in spreading a culture of peace and citizenship. The positive impact of Pope Francis's visit Introducing the discussions, Cardinal Sako, who is president of the Catholic family within the MECC, recounted the highlights of the apostolic journey and their impact. He explained how the Popes presence broke the barrier of fear in the Christian community and gave them courage: All Iraqi people were there to meet the Pope who teared up many times during the visit, especially in Hosh Al-Baya in Mosul, where ISIS had bombarded 4 churches (Syriac, Chaldean, Syriac Catholic and Armenian Orthodox), he said. New MECC's projects in Iraq Participants then discussed ways to focus the Councils efforts to enhance ecumenical collaboration and the role of young people, while supporting inter-religious dialogue initiatives in a society which has been torn apart by religious intolerance, extremism and violence. On his part Dr. Abs said that, following the visit and in line with its mission , the Mecc intends to engage in new projects to support the Iraqi people and Christian community so that it can consolidate its presence in Mesopotamia, crossroads of religions and civilizations. Mecc member Churches The Middle East Council of Churches was founded in 1974 in Nicosia, Cyprus, and is based in Beirut, Lebanon. The guiding principles of the Council, which is a member of the World Council of Churches (WCC), are: strengthening the friendship of its member Churches, encouraging their mutual support, promoting understanding and respect between Christians and people of other faiths, promoting a spirit of service and connecting Christians and Churches of the Middle East to their brothers and sisters in Christ in the world. From the outset, the MECC adopted the model of "Families of Churches". The Eastern Orthodox, the Oriental Orthodox and the Protestants were the three founding families. In 1990 the Catholic churches (Latin and Oriental rite) joined the council, constituting the Catholic family within the MECC. Each family is equally represented in the governing bodies and the general assembly, and decides on its own representation. Sports Mole provides score predictions for both of Wednesday's Champions League quarter-final second legs - Borussia Dortmund vs. Man City and Liverpool vs. Real Madrid. Reuters Manchester City will be aiming to book their spot in the semi-finals of the Champions League when they travel to the Westfalenstadion to take on Borussia Dortmund in the second leg of their quarter-final bout. The Black and Yellow were minutes away from claiming a 1-1 draw from the first leg at the Etihad, but a late Phil Foden strike saw City win the tie 2-1 ahead of Wednesday's meeting. We say: Borussia Dortmund 1-2 Manchester City With Haaland desperate to end his surprising goal drought in a tournament where he continues to shatter records, City's rearguard is there to be breached by Dortmund this week. However, Guardiola will be demanding an immediate reaction from his much-changed side upon his return to Germany, and while this should be another close affair, we expect an identical scoreline to the first leg as City march on to the semi-finals. Our tipster partners are predicting over 2.5 goals. > Click here to read our full preview for this match > How Man City could line up against Borussia Dortmund > How Borussia Dortmund could line up against Man City > Man City injury, suspension list vs. Dortmund Reuters The Liverpool faithful will be praying that lightning strikes twice against Spanish opposition at Anfield this week when Real Madrid pay a visit for the second leg of their Champions League quarter-final clash on Wednesday. Los Blancos travel to Merseyside boasting a 3-1 lead from the first leg in Madrid, where Vinicius Junior bagged a brace and Marco Asensio capitalised on a defensive error to put the visitors firmly in control. Both sides also claimed vital league wins by the slenderest of margins at the weekend, as Liverpool ended their wretched home run with a 2-1 win over Aston Villa while Real Madrid came out on top in El Clasico by the same scoreline. We say: Liverpool 2-2 Real Madrid Both Liverpool and Real Madrid have defensive weaknesses ready to be exploited by the other, as Klopp and Zidane continue to work around the absences of their first-choice centre-backs at the worst possible time. Another historic Champions League comeback on the Anfield turf is not beyond the realm of possibility, and Klopp's side would have received a much-needed injection of confidence after pulling themselves out of their home rut against Aston Villa. We can envisage another goal-fest in the second leg, but an in-form Real Madrid have the upper hand and will surely possess too much quality for an inconsistent and wounded Liverpool, so we are backing Los Blancos to book a place in the final four after a high-scoring draw. Our tipster partners are predicting a double chance bet on a home win or draw. > Click here to read our full preview for this match > How Real Madrid could line up against Liverpool > How Liverpool could line up against Real Madrid > Real Madrid injury, suspension list vs. Liverpool > Liverpool injury, suspension list vs. Real Madrid Calvin was a pioneer in the credit union industry and led Dallas Postal Credit Union to many major milestones. On April 9, 2021, former CEO of Dallas Postal Credit Union, Calvin C. Phillips, died at 92. He led the Texas credit union for 30 years, from 1958 to 1988. Mr. Phillips first began his credit union career in 1948 as a part-time employee at Cotton Belt Credit Union. In the same year, he moved to Dallas Postal Credit Union (renamed Neighborhood Credit Union in 2001). After working at the credit union for 10 years, Phillips was elected as President and CEO in 1958. In the early 1970s, Phillips was elected to the Texas Credit Union League Board of Directors, where he served for 18 years. He was among the League Board of Officers who negotiated the purchase of Town North National Bank on behalf of Texas credit unions. He was selected to serve as League chairman in 1976 and 1977 and also served on the Credit Union National Board for 12 years. In 1979, Governor Bill Clements appointed Phillips to the Texas Credit Union Commission, where he served as chairman from 1983 to 1985. Phillips retired from his position as president and CEO of Dallas Postal Credit Union in 1988. In his 30 years as leader of the credit union, membership grew from a little over 2,000 members to over 18,000. After retirement, Phillips remained an active member of the Neighborhood Credit Union Board of Directors until 2013. Calvin was a pioneer in the credit union industry and led Dallas Postal Credit Union to many major milestones, says Chet Kimmell, President and CEO of Neighborhood Credit Union. Personally, he was a friend and mentor to me and will be greatly missed. About Neighborhood Credit Union: As an active part of the community for 91 years, Neighborhood Credit Union is a not-for-profit financial organization serving the state of Texas with branch locations in Collin, Dallas, Denton, and Ellis counties, as well as the city of Arlington. With assets topping $1 billion, Neighborhood Credit Union has a continuously growing membership of 56,000. For more information, call (214) 748-9393 or visit myncu.com. Huntsville Hospital announced a new nursing scholarship in honor of former ICU nurse manager Daisy Swinton. "She lived a life of service and giving," her daughter, Dawna Swinton, said. Daisy P. Swinton Daisy P. Swinton April 14 would have marked Daisy's 83rd birthday. She passed away last August from COVID-19 in the same ICU she helped run. "The work that she did as a nurse in the ICU, if you think about it, it planted the seeds and set the stage for our response to COVID," Huntsville Hospital Foundation President Sarah Savage-Jones said. Swinton knew she wanted to be a nurse at the age of nine. "Being the second of 11 children, she had to take care of her brothers and sisters," her daughter explained. In 1956, she accepted a scholarship to attend Alabama A&M. She went on to earn her nurses certification from Calhoun Community College, all while raising five children. "She was available to her family both emotionally and physically," Dawna said. Swinton started at Huntsville Hospital as a housekeeper. Over the course of 40 years, she worked her way up to become the hospital's first African American ICU nurse manager. "She is a trailblazer and has set the stage for all of us today," Savage-Jones said. Her daughter says she is proud of her mother's legacy, and hopes the Daisy Swinton Memorial Scholarship will help future generations of nurses. "My mother's career was in nursing, but her passion was in loving. To provide this scholarship in her memory allows that legacy to live on through the lives of nurses in this generation and generations to come," Dawna said. Applications for the Daisy Swinton Memorial Scholarship open Thursday, Apr. 15. It is available to any Huntsville Hospital employee, as well as high school or college students who have been accepted into a nursing school program. You can apply here. The application window closes July 1. The first recipient will be announced on Aug. 6. Only one person will be selected to receive the scholarship this year. The family hopes to expand the scholarship to more people in the future. You can make a donation to the scholarship fund here. Priti Patel has stepped up the Government's crackdown on mandatory quarantine for overseas arrivals by hiring a firm to carry out up to 10,000 house checks per day. Private contractor Mitie has been tasked by the Home Office to catch flouters failing to undergo their required period of isolation. Their extra manpower will dramatically increase the capacity for daily home visits, which at present number about 1,000 and are done by police. The new contract awarded to outsourcing giant Mitie allows a total spend of up to 90million. Priti Patel has stepped up the Government's crackdown on mandatory quarantine for overseas arrivals by hiring a private firm to do up to 10,000 house checks per day Mitie has been tasked by the Home Office to catch flouters failing to undergo their required period of isolation Under tight border rules to insulate from worrying variants and infection spikes in Europe, all overseas arrivals must go into self-isolation for 10 days, which can be shortened by testing negative. For people arriving from countries on the Department for Transport's red list, this self-isolation must be done in Government-approved hotels. Fines start at 1,000 and jump to 10,000 for repeated rule-breaking. Mitie enforcers will conduct checks on travellers who are required to self-isolate at home, but will not do hotel visits. A Government source said: 'The number of operatives will vary depending on the number of visits needed, and the locations of the visits. 'If appropriate, Mitie staff may visit certain travellers more than once, if they are suspected of breaching their requirement to self-isolate.' Under tight border rules to insulate from worrying variants and infection spikes in Europe, all overseas arrivals must go into self-isolation for 10 days, which can be shortened by testing negative (Heathrow pictured) Mitie, a London-based professional services firm, does work across Whitehall and has been handed multiple Covid contracts. The firm currently supplies testing staff, security and cleaners at testing sites across the UK, as well as mobile units. Flying out of the UK is currently banned except for exceptional circumstances and rule-breakers face a 5,000 fine. The earliest foreign holidays could return is May 17 when the Government will use a 'traffic light' system to designate countries according to their risk level. But the appetite for travelling abroad could fade after officials warned passengers face queues of up to six hours at the border. Chris Garton, chief solutions officer at Heathrow Airport, told MPs that delays are being caused by huge amounts of paperwork and were 'well in excess of two hours and up to six'. California County Instructed Teachers to Hide Marxist Teaching Materials From Parents Teachers in Californias Santa Clara county were reportedly instructed last year to hide from students parents their ethnic studies teaching materials, which describe the United States as a settler colonialist regime responsible for genocide and white supremacy. In November 2020, Santa Clara Countys Office of Education held a training for teachers to get a hold of the districts Ethnic Studies Initiative. According to slides obtained and posted to Twitter by City Journal reporter Christopher Rufo, the training session began with a land acknowledgment claiming that the county and its public schools are all built on land illegitimately taken away from Native American occupants. We acknowledge that Santa Clara county and our schools occupy the unceded territory of the Muwekma Ohlone Nation, the sovereign nation and original people of the skies, land, and waters where we work and learn, the slide reads. The training session then features a presentation by Jorge Pacheco, the president of the California Latino School Board Association and an adviser for the states controversial Ethnic Studies Model Curriculum. Pacheco, according to Rufos transcript, explained that what the teachers were being prepared to teach was based on the work of Paulo Freire, a Brazilian Marxist known for inventing the term, pedagogy of the oppressed. In his presentation, Pacheco examined the concept of settler colonialism, which he described as a system of oppression introduced into the Americas by Christopher Columbus. Pacheco told his audience that they must awaken students to the alleged oppression and lead them to decodify the system into component parts, including white supremacy, patriarchy, classism, genocide, private property, and God, Rufo reported. The kids become a subject and you are intending to awaken them to the oppression that they arent aware of but that they are actively participating in, a part of the presentation reads. Then how do we destroy, dismantle those systems? Pacheco also claimed that the districts guidelines and expectations were considered barriers to the teaching initiative. He suggested teachers should be extra careful when they teach remotely, since students parents at home may hear what they say in online classrooms. [We] have to be extra careful about what is being said, since we cant just say something controversial now that were in peoples homes [because of remote learning]. Parents can take out of context or see what materials are being used so need to be careful of what they see, Pachecos presentation reads. Much of the presentation used terms and concepts of the Marxist critical theory, which views society through a lens of a power struggle between oppressors and the oppressed. As a result, almost anything, including the foundations of Western civilizationsuch as rationalism, the rule of law, and private ownership of propertycan be considered tools of oppression, according to the theory. The county office of education did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Musician is 3rd Vietnamese to be recognized by Google as machine learning expert An AI researcher and pop musician has become the third Vietnamese to be recognized as a Google Developer Expert in Machine Learning. Nguyen Hoang Bao Dai, 27, a scientist based in HCMC, "is a musician who is quite keen on applying machine learning techniques to enhance his own pieces," reads a Google Developers Experts (GDE) Program expert directory entry. "He is the author of the music generation model which can generate Vietnamese pop songs." "Besides composing, he is also an AI Research Scientist majored in Natural Language Processing and Computer Vision. In March 2021 Bao Dai became the 3rd ML (Machine Learning) Google Developers Expert in Vietnam." The other two Vietnamese machine learning experts are Ba Ngoc, the founder of AI education organizations ProtonX and VietAI Hanoi, and Binh Nguyen, a machine learning engineer working for the Vingroup Big Data Institute. To join the GDE program, one needs to be referred by either a Google employee or a Google Developers authorized partner. For many, this could be a challenge, but Dai received help from Luong Minh Thang, an AI researcher for Google in the U.S. and the CEO of VietAI. The most important factor in becoming a GDE is one's contribution to the community, Dai said. It could be in the form of blogs and videos one has shared or events and talks one has attended as a speaker, he said. Following a profile review, a GDE candidate is interviewed to see if they have enough expertise to join the program. As Vietnam's latest GDE, Dai hoped he could exchange and learn more from the global GDE network, collaborate with his peers in Vietnam to develop novel technologies and himself become a bridge between talented Vietnamese engineers and the GDE program. The Coast Guard will give an update Wednesday morning on its rescue mission for the crew of the Seacor Power, a 129-foot lift boat that capsized in the Gulf of Mexico on Tuesday. As of late Tuesday, at least six of the 18 people aboard the boat had been rescued, according to officials. The Coast Guard's news conference updating the rescue mission will start at 11 a.m. You can follow live updates below. Can't see live updates below? Click here. The Minnesota cop who 'accidentally' shot Daunte Wright was seen for the first time since she was released from jail on $100,000 bond in exclusive photos taken by DailyMail.com. Former Brooklyn Center Police officer Kimberley Potter, 48, appeared tired and strained Thursday as she was spotted being driven away from her lawyer Earl Gray's office in St Paul, Minnesota by husband Jeffrey, 54, on Thursday. Potter was at the legal office in downtown St Paul for her first court appearance at Hennepin County District Court after being charged a day earlier with second-degree manslaughter over Wright's death. The 10-minute hearing took place over Zoom with Potter only speaking to confirm her name and address. She did not enter a plea to the charge, which carries a maximum 10-year sentence. Former Brooklyn Center Police officer Kimberley Potter, 48, was seen on Thursday for the first time since she was released from Hennepin County Jail on $100,000 bond The mother-of-two appeared strained as she left her lawyer's office in St Paul, Minnesota, with her husband Jeff, following her first court hearing at Hennepin County District Court Potter, a 26-year veteran of the force, is charged with second-degree manslaughter after 'accidentally' shooting 20-year-old black man Daunte Wright Earlier, Gray had filed a motion to stop the proceedings, which saw disheveled Potter seated at a table wearing a plaid shirt, from being broadcast or livestreamed. The court agreed with his motion and he waived the right to have the charges against his client read out. Along with Potter, Gray also represents former cop Thomas Lane who is facing charges of aiding and abetting murder in the George Floyd case. Potter is believed to be staying at an address in East St Paul and has been keeping a low profile there since fleeing her Champlin home on Monday night. She has been joined by her two sons Nicholas and Samuel and was driven to and from today's brief hearing by husband Jeff - himself a former cop. Her five-bedroom home remains barricaded and the quiet suburban street it sits in closed off. The married mom-of-two was taken into custody around 11.30am local time Wednesday by Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension (BCA) agents in St. Paul and booked into Hennepin County jail just after midday. Potter was driven to and from today's brief hearing by husband Jeff, 54 - himself a former cop She is believed to be staying at an address in East St Paul and has been keeping a low profile there since fleeing her Champlin home on Monday night The married mother-of-two left her home in Minneapolis Monday with her 54-year-old husband Jeffrey and their sons Sam and Nick after her address was posted on social media Potter, a white veteran police officer, shot dead 20-year-old Daunte Wright (pictured with his son), during a traffic stop in Minneapolis on Sunday after allegedly confusing her gun for a taser She was released just over five hours later after posting a $100,000 bond. Her next court date was set for May 17 for her preliminary hearing. Moments before her first court appearance, Wright's family held an emotional press conference with their attorney Ben Crump where they held up pictures of a bright yellow taser and a Glock handgun and questioned how the veteran cop could have confused the two devices. Potter shot and killed Wright Sunday during a traffic stop just 10 miles from the courthouse where another white cop Derek Chauvin is currently being tried for the murder of black man Floyd. The veteran officer, who has worked for the department for 26 years but allegedly confused her gun for a taser, resigned from the force Tuesday as protests erupted in the city demanding justice for Wright. Demonstrations entered their fourth night Wednesday with one protester branding Potter's actions 'an act of war' while others brandished a pig's head in a police hat, as law enforcement declared the rally unlawful. Before her first court appearance, Wright's family held an emotional press conference with attorney Ben Crump (above) where he held up pictures of a bright yellow taser and a Glock handgun and questioned how the veteran cop could have confused the two devices Wright's mother Katie (pictured with his father Arbery) said she wants her son's killer to face '100 percent accountability' for her actions but said 'justice' can never be achieved for her Crump, who is also representing the family of Floyd, said they were 'heartened' by the charges against Wright's killer but cast doubt on Potter's alleged 'accidental discharge' of her handgun instead of her taser. 'You see - a gun, a taser, a Glock 17 and a taser,' said Crump as he held aloft images of the two devices, similar to those Potter was armed with when she shot Wright. 'It is very difficult for this family to accept that this was an accident when you have a veteran on the police force for 26 years,' he said. Crump said Wright's mother was 'joining a sorority that no mother wants to be a part of' that includes the mothers of Eric Garner, Michael Brown and other black people killed by cops. He said neither of their families 'got their day in court' with 'no accountability for the police who killed them'. 'The only question that we have before us today is will Daunte Wright's name join that list of black people in America who have been unjustly killed by the police who did not have the police held accountable?' he asked. Crump said the charges against the cop are a sign that 'we are starting to see a change in America'. Minneapolis is 'ground zero for that change', he added, as he demanded 'accountability to the highest level' for Wright's family. Wright's mother Katie said she wants her son's killer to face '100 percent accountability' for her actions but said 'justice' can never be achieved for her. 'The last few days everyone has asked me what we want what we want to happen and everyone says justice,' she said. 'But unfortunately there's never going to be justice for us. Justice would be to bring our son home to us, knocking on the door with his big smile coming in the house, sitting down eating dinner with us, going out to lunch, playing with his one-year-old, almost-two-year-old son, giving them a kiss before he walks out the door.' She added: 'So justice isn't even a word to me.' Katie, who broke down in tears during the briefing, told reporters it 'was so sad' to hear of her son's connection to Floyd - as Floyd's girlfriend revealed this week she had been a teacher of Wright's. Wright's aunt Naisha Wright choked back tears as she also waved the images of a taser and firearm and asked: 'Y'all see the difference? This is a taser, this is a taser. Potter's house is blocked by security barricades in Champlin, Minnesota, Wednesday Potter's home guarded by law enforcement and fencing as protesters demand justice for Wright and his family 'But no my nephew was killed with this - a Glock.' She urged people remember her nephew and keep attention on his case. 'Our family is hurting, our blood has been spilled and all we ask for is just to keep getting his name out there and to help us get something done - a conviction,' she said. Naisha questioned whether the same level of justice would be afforded if it was a child of the white cop's that had been killed. 'If someone killed her child we wouldn't even be having this press conference as whoever that would be would be in the jail - can we get that same thing?' she said. 'I don't care what is said what my nephew may have done he was ours. He was a good boy, he was ours. 'We want the same conviction that anyone of our race or any minority not in our race would get [if they had been the killer].' Wright's aunt also drew parallels between Wrights' arrest and the arrest of Dylann Roof, a white supremacist who shot and killed nine black people in a Charleston church in 2015. Roof was taken into custody alive and then taken by cops to Burger King for food following the mass shooting. 'Unfortunately my nephew didn't get to go to Burger King,' she said. Wright's little sister Destiny, 14, also paid tribute to her brother as the 'most delightful person I ever met', while his father Arbery called him a 'a young man in the making' who was 'very loved.' Police guarded the property Tuesday night and fencing was erected around it that day 'These young black men being killed can you blame my son for being scared in front of the police,' he asked. They were joined at the press conference by Wright's uncles and Stevante Clark - the brother of Stephon Clark, a 22-year-old black man who was shot dead by two California cops in 2018. Crump said the incident was a matter of 'over policing', something he said disproportionately impacts people of color in America. 'We still believe that it was over policing. It was an excessive use of force as we have a propensity in America to over police minorities especially black men.' He compared the treatment of white and black people by law enforcement, pointing to videos online of 'white men not only resisting police but assaulting and battering police' and 'yet the police still don't shoot those young white men.' 'Why don't they deescalate when there's so many black people who are unarmed?' Crump compared Wright's death to the death of Floyd, and said he was 'outraged' that another black man was killed by cops amid 'one of the most important consequential cases in the history of America.' Crump also drew parallels with the 2017 case of black former Minneapolis police officer Mohamed Noor who fatally shot a white woman Justine Ruszczyk Damond in the alley behind her home after she called 911 to report what she thought was another woman being assaulted. Noor was convicted of third-degree murder in addition to second-degree manslaughter and sentenced to 12-and-a-half years in prison. Crump questioned the severity of charges in the case against Noor and the case against Potter who so far only faces one count of second-degree manslaughter. 'Officer Potter, a white police officer killed an unarmed black man and she is charged with second-degree manslaughter... all this family is asking for is to get equal justice,' he said. Washington County Attorney Peter Orput announced the charges against Potter Wednesday afternoon. Imran Ali, Washington County assistant criminal division chief and director of the Major Crime Unit, said in a statement announcing the charges that the state will 'vigorously prosecute this case' against the veteran cop. 'Certain occupations carry an immense responsibility and none more so than a sworn police officer,' said Ali. Naisha Wright (Wright's aunt) questioned whether the same level of justice would be afforded if it was a child of the white cop's that had been killed Crump said Wright's mother was 'joining a sorority that no mother wants to be a part of' that includes the mothers of Eric Garner, Michael Brown and other black people killed by cops Wright's little sister Destiny, 14, (center) also paid tribute to her brother as the 'most delightful person I ever met' 'With that responsibility comes a great deal of discretion and accountability. We will vigorously prosecute this case and intend to prove that Officer Potter abrogated her responsibility to protect the public when she used her firearm rather than her taser. 'Her action caused the unlawful killing of Mr. Wright and she must be held accountable.' Ali and Orput had met with Wright's family prior to announcing the charges, assuring them 'we would spare no resources in seeking justice for Mr. Wright,' said Ali. Under Minnesota law, a second-degree-murder charge is filed when a person is accused of causing another person's death through negligence that created an unreasonable risk, and of consciously taking the chance of causing severe injury or death. If convicted, Potter faces up to 10 years in prison and a $20,000 fine. However, sentencing guidelines for someone without a criminal record call for no more than four years behind bars. Potter's attorney Gray also represents Thomas Lane, one of the three other cops charged over Floyd's death whose trial will begin in August. Gray also worked on the legal team for Jeronimo Yanez, the former cop who was charged over the shooting death of black man Philando Castile during a traffic stop in Falcon Heights, Minnesota, in 2016. Yanez was found not guilty of second-degree manslaughter and two counts of dangerous discharge of a firearm by a jury in 2017. New details about the fatal shooting were also released by the attorney's office Wednesday. Potter had been training a rookie cop, named in the criminal complaint as Brooklyn Center Police Officer Anthony Luckey, Sunday afternoon when she shot Wright dead. According to the criminal complaint, Luckey and Potter pulled over Wright in his white Buick at 63rd and Orchard Avenues North in Brooklyn Center at 1:53 pm Sunday. Police previously said Wright, who has a toddler son, was first pulled over for expired license plate tags when he was driving with his girlfriend. Demonstrators hold signs as they gather near the Brooklyn Center police station on Wednesday A protester carrying a pigs head on a stake during a fourth night of unrest in Minnesota Wednesday Demonstrators face off with sheriff deputies during a protest at the Brooklyn Center police station on Wednesday Luckey ran Wright's identification and found he had a warrant out for his arrest for a gross misdemeanor weapons charge, the complaint states. Four minutes later at 2:01:31, Luckey and Potter approached the driver's side of the car and asked Wright to get out and place his hands behind his back, according to the report. Wright did as the officers asked and Luckey told him he was being arrested for his outstanding warrant. Both Wright and Luckey were standing just outside of the open driver's side door, while Potter was standing behind and to the right of the other officer, the report says. Seconds later at 2:01:49, Wright reportedly pulled away from the officers and got back into the car, with Luckey trying to maintain physical control of him, according to the complaint. At 2:01:55, Potter then said she would taser Wright. Instead, she pulled her Glock 9mm handgun with her right hand and pointed it at Wright, saying again that she would tase him. Potter shouted 'Taser, taser, taser,' as she pulled the trigger on her handgun at 2:02:01, firing one round into the left side of the victim, the complaint states. Wright immediately said 'ah, he shot me,' and drove away in his car before crashing and coming to a stop. Meanwhile, Potter said 'S**t, I just shot him!' after firing her gun. The entire incident from the traffic stop to the shooting took place within nine minutes. Wright was pronounced dead at the scene. Potter (above) was taken into custody around 11:30am local time Wednesday by Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension (BCA) agents in St. Paul Investigators learned, after examining Potter's duty belt, that her handgun was holstered on the right side of her belt and her taser on her left side. Her taser was yellow with a black grip and was set in a straight-draw position, meaning Potter would have to use her left hand to pull it out of its holster, according to the complaint. The complaint says she used her right hand to draw her firearm. Officers are trained to always carry their handgun on their dominant side and taser on their weak side. It is not yet clear which sides Potter regards as her dominant and weak or whether she had the taser and firearm holstered in the right places. Crump welcomed the news of Potter's arrest Wednesday but said 'no conviction' could bring back the 20-year-old father-of-one after he was 'executed' by the cop. The attorney , who also represents the family of Floyd and helped them win a $27 million legal settlement against the city, said in a statement that 'while we appreciate that the district attorney is pursuing justice for Daunte, no conviction can give the Wright family their loved one back.' He doubled down on the doubts that Wright's death was an accident calling the black man's killing 'intentional, deliberate, and unlawful.' 'This was no accident. This was intentional, deliberate, and unlawful use of force. Driving while Black continues to result in a death sentence,' said Crump. 'A 26-year veteran of the force knows the difference between a taser and a firearm. Kim Potter executed Daunte for what amounts to no more than a minor traffic infraction and a misdemeanor warrant. Crump compared Wright's death to the death of Floyd, which took place on Memorial Day just miles from Sunday's shooting, as well as the deaths of several other black people at the hands of law enforcement in America. 'Daunte's life, like George Floyd's life, like Eric Garner's, like Breonna Taylor's, like David Smith's meant something. But Kim Potter say him as expendable,' he said. 'It's past time for meaningful change in our country. We will keep fighting for justice for Daunte, for his family, and for marginalized minorities. 'And we will not stop until there is meaningful policing and justice reform and until we reach our goal of true equality.' The case had been referred to Orput by Hennepin County Attorney Mike Freeman due to a rule adopted last year that deadly police shootings should be handled by either another county or the state Attorney General's Office in order to prevent conflict of interest. Potter was placed on administrative leave immediately after Sunday's shooting and calls mounted for her to be fired, including by Mayor Elliott. She then resigned Tuesday, issuing a short resignation letter where she made no mention of the deadly shooting. 'I have loved every minute of being a police officer and serving this community to the best of my ability, but I believe it is in the best interest of the community, the department and my fellow officers if I resign immediately,' Potter said. Mayor Elliott said he had not accepted her resignation and was making sure 'we are being accountable to the steps that we need to take'. The married mother-of-two left her home in Minneapolis Monday with her 54-year-old husband Jeffrey and their sons Sam and Nick after her address was posted on social media. Police guarded the property Tuesday night and fencing was erected around it as protesters took to the streets for a third night in outrage at the killing of another black man at the hands of law enforcement. Police body cam footage of the fatal incident showed three officers approaching Daunte Wright's car in Brooklyn Center on Sunday after he had been pulled over for the traffic stop Potter could be heard shouting 'Taser!' several times in the moments before she fired her gun Police Chief Tim Gannon also resigned on Tuesday, one day after he said during a tense press conference that Wright's death was the result of 'accidental discharge' after Potter mistook her taser for a gun. 'This was an accidental discharge that resulted in a tragic death of Mr Wright,' Gannon said. 'As I watch the video and listen to the officer's commands, it is my belief that the officer had the intention to deploy their taser, but instead shot Mr Wright with a single bullet.' The police chief's departure is the latest shake-up of the department in the days following Wright's death. City Manager Curt Boganey, who was in charge of the police department, was fired Monday after he said he wanted due process to play out before passing judgment on the officer's actions. Elliott now oversees the department. Wright's family have said they cannot accept Gannon's theory that his death was an accident. Wright's father Aubrey Wright told ABC's Good Morning America Tuesday: 'I cannot accept that. I lost my son, he's never coming back. I can't accept a mistake, that doesn't even sound right. 'This officer has been on the force for 26 years.' Wright's mother Katie Wright said she wanted to see Potter be 'held accountable for everything that she's taken from us.' They called for charges to be brought against Potter. Wright's mother Katie said her son called her from the vehicle after he was stopped by the officers to ask her for insurance information. She said she then heard the officers telling Wright to get out of the car before she heard a struggle break out. 'Then the police officer asked him to hang up the phone,' said Katie. 'Three or four seconds went by. I tried calling back to back to back because I didn't know what was going on.' She said she later called back and his girlfriend, who was in the car with him, answered crying and screaming that he had been shot. Wright, a 20-year-old with a toddler son, was shot and killed during a traffic stop Tuesday Body camera footage released Monday showed Potter and the two other officers at the scene approaching Wright's car after pulling him over. The footage showed one officer trying to handcuff Wright as a second officer told him he was being arrested on a warrant. Wright jumped back into his car in an apparent attempt to flee. A struggle then broke out between the officers and Wright, who was still sitting inside his car. 'I'll Tase you! I'll Tase you! Taser! Taser! Taser!' Potter could be heard shouting in her bodycam video. Instead, Potter fired her handgun at Wright. Immediately after, Potter can be heard saying: 'Holy sh*t. I shot him'. Wright managed to drive several blocks before coming to a stop when he hit another car. He was pronounced dead at the scene and his girlfriend sustained non-life-threatening injuries. The Hennepin County medical examiner ruled Wright's death as a homicide and said the cause was a gunshot wound to the chest. Potter is a married mother of two, who was first licensed as a police officer in Minnesota in 1995 at age 22, according to state records obtained by the Star Tribune. She has served on the city's negotiation team, and was among the first to arrive at the scene of another officer-involved shooting, in August 2019. In that case, Kobe Dimock-Heisler died after he allegedly rushed at officers with a knife in a home. Daunte Wright's parents Katie and Aubrey said they could not accept their son's death was a mistake after police revealed Brooklyn Center Police Officer Kimberly Potter accidentally fired her gun instead of her taser Katie Wright, the mother of Daunte Wright, speaks as other family and friends and family attorney Ben Crump, listen during a press conference at the Hennepin County Government Center in Minneapolis, Minnesota on April 13 Potter instructed the two officers involved in the 2019 incident 'to exit the residence, get into separate squad cars, turn off their body worn cameras, and to not talk to each other,' according to an investigative report from the Hennepin County Attorney's Office, obtained by the paper. Both officers' actions were found to be justified and no charges were filed. Potter has been a union president for her department's officers, the paper reported, and was a longtime member of the Law Enforcement Memorial Association. Potter lives with her husband Jeffrey, a 26-year police veteran who retired from the Fridley Police Department in 2017 and now works as a corporate investigator at Allina Health. Potter had an annual salary of $86,190, according to public records from 2018. Wright's shooting death has fueled protests and unrest in the city that is already on edge because of the trial of Chauvin. Chauvin is also charged with second-degree murder, as well as second-degree manslaughter and third-degree manslaughter over the death of Floyd, who died when the cop knelt on his neck for more than nine minutes. Protests continued into their fourth night Wednesday. [April 15, 2021] SOMA Global Welcomes Former Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi to its Board of Advisors SOMA Global, the leading provider of cloud-native, Public Safety as a Service (PSAAS), today announced Pam Bondi's appointment as the first member on their Board of Advisors. Bondi brings more than 30 years of experience as an American attorney, career prosecutor and the first female Florida Attorney General (2011 - 2019). This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210415005075/en/ SOMA Global, the leading provider of cloud-native, Public Safety as a Service (PSAAS), today announced Pam Bondi's appointment as the first member on their Board of Advisors. Bondi brings more than 30 years of experience as an American attorney, career prosecutor and the first female Florida Attorney General (2011 - 2019). (Photo: Business Wire) "Pam's unwavering commitment to supporting law enforcement, officer safety, and technology advancements in public safety will be the perfect addition to our Board of Advisors," said Peter Quintas, co-founder and CEO of SOMA Global. "She has spent her career protecting the great state of Florida (SOMA's headquarters) and as a prosecutor, protecting our communities which will lend real-world expertise as we expand SOMA's cloud-native solutions. Pam's support will help position the company for long-term growth and influential impact within the public safety sector." "SOMA's leadership positon in the market and the opportunity to advance the public safety technology industry together makes me proud," said Bondi. "Enabling law enforcement to operate in innovative ways so that everyone gets home safe is critically important in today's world. It's an exciting time to join the company, and I look forward to working alongside this dedicated team to build on their positive momentum." Pam Bondi is well respected by law enforcement agencies nationwide. Upon graduating from the University of Florida, she knew she wanted to impact people positively. While serving as Attorney General, she was appointed to the President's Opioid and Drug Abuse Commission, served as Chair of Florida's Statewide Human Trafficking Council, and established her Medicaid Fraud Control Unit. She holds many accreditations, including the 2019 Stetson University College of Law's Highest Honor - the Ben C. Willard Award for Humanitarian Achievement in addition to serving on numerous committees including the University of Florida Alumni Board, President's Commission on Combating Drug Addiction and the Opioid Crisis, the Board of the Special Olympics, and the National Association of Attorneys General. She currently is on the Board of Trustees for the Kennedy Center. Bondi's deep-rooted dedication to serving the people is why she is the ultimate addition to the organization. With the appointment of Bondi, SOMA's Board now includes her on their Board of Advisors and Will Weatherford (Managing Partner) and David Seider (Principal) of Weatherford Capital on their Global Board of Directors. "The combined experiences from SOMA's 50 employees, Pam Bondi, and Weatherford Capital will help propel our next stage of growth. On behalf of my co-founder, Nick Stohlman, and I, we are thrilled to have Bondi join our team, and we are encouraged as we embark on our most ambitious year yet," said Peter Quintas. About SOMA Global SOMA Global was founded in 2017 to redefine and deliver modern, best-of-breed public safety solutions with a primary focus on saving lives and protecting first responders. SOMA Global is a team of public safety and technology veterans that understands and respects the value of a partnership with an agency. Their Public Safety as a Service (PSAAS) platform offers the best Computer-Aided Dispatch, Mobile Dispatch, Records Management and Jail solutions on the market. Find more information about SOMA on Twitter, Facebook (News - Alert) , LinkedIn or at www.somaglobal.com. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210415005075/en/ [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] Source: Xinhua| 2021-04-15 20:28:04|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close LHASA, April 15 (Xinhua) -- Southwest China's Tibet Autonomous Region saw its first third-party clinical-testing institution open for business on Thursday. The Tibet KingMed Laboratory, based in the regional capital Lhasa, enables people in Tibet to enjoy the same high-quality medical-testing services found in more developed areas. The new laboratory is subordinated to the Guangzhou KingMed Diagnostics Group Co., Ltd. (KingMed Diagnostics) and is part of Guangdong Province's effort to support the development of health services in Tibet. The laboratory is equipped with a Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) laboratory and a pathological diagnosis laboratory, focusing on screening, testing, pathological diagnosis services, and public-health services for diseases such as the COVID-19 epidemic and viral hepatitis. Currently, KingMed Diagnostics is providing clinical testing services to more than 100 medical institutions and nearly 200,000 people in Tibet. Enditem We use cookies to ensure that we give you the best experience on our website. If you continue to use this site we will assume that you are happy with it. FLORENCE - A digital 'twin' of Michelangelo's sculpture 'David' has been completed in a laboratory in Florence and it will leave the city on Thursday. In the coming days it will be flown to Dubai, where it will represent Italy at the Dubai Expo. The reproduction of the famous work of art held in Florence's Accademia di Firenze museum was made through sophisticated digitalisation and then 3D printing in 14 pieces. The lengthy process began in December and finished on Thursday. The 'twin' is the same size as the original sculpture but weighs 400 kilograms plus 150 for its base while the original weighs 5 tons. It was made of acrylic resin covered in marble powder. The digital David will arrive in Dubai next week by plane and will be officially presented on April 26. A York-area man died on Wednesday after he lost control of his vehicle and crashed into a utility pole, according to officials. Springettsbury Township police said officers responded to the 1500 block of North Sherman Street at 11:23 a.m. for a vehicle crash into a pole. Tim Snyder, 74, of Springettsbury Township, was the driver of the car, York County Coroner Pam Gay said. Gay cited police as saying it appeared Snyder lost control of his vehicle before crashing. Snyder was transported to WellSpan York Hospital where he died from his injuries, Gay said. Gay said Snyder suffered from a probable choking incident and died of multiple blunt force trauma. She ruled his death accidental. There will be no autopsy. Anyone with information on the crash is asked to contact the crash investigator, Cpl. Landis at 717-757-3525 or . Read more on PennLive: The number of new coronavirus cases in India hit a record daily high with over two lakh infections in a day, while the active cases surpassed the 14-lakh mark, according to the Union Health Ministry data updated on Thursday. Amid such a scenario, K VijayRaghavan, the principal scientific adviser of the Government of India has said in an interview with Hindustan Times that the so-called double mutation coronavirus found in India can be considered a variant of concern (VOC) because of its significant spread and how some of the mutations are known to behave. VijayRaghavan said, "Its reasonable to say that the variant (the double mutation variant) is of concern because it has been found in a significant number of people. And its not just because its been found in a certain number of people but we know that these particular mutations have (also) got physiological effects on our context. Also read | What the coronavirus variants mean for testing As per epidemiologists, "double mutant" refers to an entirely new variant that has the characteristics of two already identified variants. Scientists have warned that delays in testing samples of Covid-19 variants could damage everything from vaccine efficacy to effective hospital treatments in India. On March 4, the Union Health Ministry said that the new "double mutant" variant of the SARS-CoV-2 was detected in Delhi, Maharashtra and some other places in addition to the three variants of concern (VOC) -- first noticed in the UK, South Africa and Brazil -- that have been found in at least 18 states and Union Territories. Also read | Variants may be driving India's Covid-19 surge; can't know without tests VijayRaghavan is the first government official who has said that the variant has become a cause for concern. Last month, Ramanan Laxminarayan, founder of the Center for Disease Dynamics, Economics & Policy in New Delhi told Reuters that so far there wasn't enough evidence about this new variant. We have no evidence (as yet) that these variants are more transmissible or more lethal than what we already have," he added. Even the Union Health Ministry said last month that though VOCs and a new double mutant variant were found in India, they were not detected in numbers sufficient to either establish a direct relationship or explain the rapid increase in cases in some states. But one month down the line, the Covid-19 scenario in India has changed drastically. Also read | In mutant variants, has the coronavirus shown its best tricks? He added that vaccines may still offer protection from variants of concern. The vaccines at hand sometimes offer reduced protection to mild and moderate disease but they still afford protection to severe disease, he said. Also, he believes that the Covid-19 surge in India will begin to slow down in a week or two because of the strict curbs implemented in various states. The tally of Covid-19 cases in the country stands at 1,40,74,564 while the death toll is at 1,73,123. BAT-Connect Panel Compatibility Guide The popularity of the BAT-Connect communicator with our Pro Partners affirms the industrys need for a solution that allows dealers an efficient and effective way to takeover or upgrade any residential smart home system, explained Dave Mayne, vice president of product management at Alula. Alula, the leader in smart security and automation systems for professional installers, today announced their award-winning BAT-Connect communicator now offers full interactive support for the Interlogix Concord 4 panel. This breakthrough will allow Professional Concord 4 installers to salvage their existing installs from the upcoming 3G sunset and upgrade those customers to video and a modern touchscreen experience. Alula is able to add this new compatibility to BAT-Connect units already in market using an automatic remote firmware update, so the BAT-Connect you buy at the distributor today will take over Concord 4. The popularity of the BAT-Connect communicator with our Pro Partners affirms the industrys need for a solution that allows dealers an efficient and effective way to take over or upgrade any residential smart home system, explained Dave Mayne, vice president of product management at Alula. Over the next year, our dealer partners will need to rapidly upgrade 3G/CDMA panels to transition to 4G and become 5G-ready. The BAT-Connect is the perfect cost-effective solution. This adds Concord 4 to the long list of panels that BAT-Connect is able to take over with full interactive support. BAT-Connect offers bus support for DSC, Honeywell, and networX panels, as well as universal compatibility with all tip and ring connections. Currently, Alula is offering Pro Partners a $99 interactive service credit for every BAT-Connect that replaces a sunsetting communicator. Considering the MSDP of the BAT-Connect, that makes BAT-Connect virtually free. Alulas BAT-Connect is the ultimate communicator. BAT-Connect speeds both takeovers and new installs (when paired with a hardwired security panel) using automatic panel detection and configuration to recognize and harvest existing sensors. Much more than a basic communicator, this intuitive device smartly bridges intrusion security, video and automation with the Alula iOS or Android Apps. Fueled by the encrypted, lightning-fast Alula network, system control is delivered instantly to their phone as well as the sleek new Slimline Touchpad. In late 2019, Interlogix announced it will close its businesses in the U.S. and Canada, creating a void in support for dealers who previously relied on those panels as a core part of their business. The BAT-Connect allows dealers to service and upgrade those Concord 4 panels so they dont have to rip and replace. For Interlogixs popular Simon panels, Alula offers the Connect-XT, with the same 5G-ready sunset-beating technology. We are running out of time and the deadline for the sunset is coming up quick, says Alula EVP and Founder Russell Vail. We know the professional installer is up against a hard deadline so we are working day and night to give them the tools they need to do the job, including adding Concord 4 to the universe of panels that Alula can rescue with BAT-Connect. A complete BAT-Connect communicator alarm panel compatibility guide, listing those systems that are compatible with Alulas BAT-Connect can be found here. About Alula Alula is the only all-in-one security and home automation platform purpose-built for todays independent security and installation professionals. From sensors to hub to network, Alula offers a complete, end-to-end solution and one accountable partner. Today, thousands of partners across North America have over 300,000 active locations secured and connected with Alula. Designed for professionals, the Alula platform provides a complete security, automation and video solution for renters, homeowners and commercial installations. Alula is a business-driven platform designed to reduce truck rolls, increase RMR, simplify inventory and put todays professional providers in control of their business, their customers and their revenue. The Alula platform is available nationwide through distributors that cater to the alarm and integrator industry. For more information about the BAT-Connect Communicator, visit https://alula.com/communicators/bat-connect/. For more information about Alula, visit http://www.alula.com. A Thai woman orchestrated a sick campaign of abuse against a married Australian man she met on a dating website after he failed to divorce his wife and get her a visa. Thanyaras Siriphanuruk, 40, threatened, stalked and extorted her online lover - and even sent vile pictures of his daughter's face edited onto pornographic images to the little girl's school. In a sustained campaign of harassment after the man failed to start a new life for her in Australia, Siriphanuruk sent hundreds of bizarre and often violent emails. The sinister emails, one of which alluded to the 'kidnap and rape' of his wife and two children, were concocted to look like one of the man's ex-lovers - a Filipino prostitute called Lori - had sent them. She was found guilty of extortion, stalking and producing and distributing child porn, the West Australian reported. Thanyaras Siriphanuruk, 40, (pictured) committed a litany of bizarre offences against her lover, his ex-wife and their child after meeting the Australian man on a dating site The two met on the matchmaking site 'Thai Cupid' towards the end of 2016, but the jilted lover's disturbing pattern of behaviour didn't begin until two years later, the District Court of Western Australia heard. Siriphanuruk and the Padbury man were soon involved in a long-distance relationship and often met up between Perth and Singapore. But she had been under the impression her online fling would soon become more official, hoping he would finalise his divorce and make a fresh start with her. As time went on the court heard Siriphanuruk became increasingly irate when he did not follow through on leaving his wife. The man and his wife started to receive hundreds of disturbing emails in July 2018, some threatening sexual violence and death. It was revealed during the trial that the wave of emails were sent by Siriphanuruk using a series of fake email addresses impersonating another of the man's previous girlfriends - Lori the Filipino prostitute. The unhinged stalker continued the ruse by offering to help the man stop the flood of threats levelled at his family. Siriphanuruk (pictured) had been under the impression her online fling would soon result in happiness - believing he would finalise his divorce and make a fresh start with her Siriphanuruk claimed to know a powerful contact within the Thai military that might be able track down where the emails were coming from. Shortly after the dad received texts from a person identifying themselves as a member of the Thai Defence Force called 'Angus C'. The court heard this was actually Siriphanuruk continuing to toy with him. His wife was so fed up with the online abuse she left Australia and moved to Europe in September 2018. At around the same time a text from 'Angus C' said that Lori had been arrested and then the abusive messages stopped. The Thai woman who met a married man on a dating website has been found guilty of stalking, extortion and producing child porn by editing photos of his daughter and cropping them onto X-rated images The man then ended the affair with Siriphanuruk and told her he would no longer facilitate a partner visa for her. Soon after, his young daughter became the target - with images showing her face edited onto pornographic photographs sent to the her school, its principal and even the canteen. The court heard messages then came through demanding $10,000 or else similar pictures would be released again. Siriphanuruk's lawyer Jonathan Davies had argued his client's computer was hacked and that the emails could have been sent anyone. She will be sentenced on May 20. It wont be cheap, though. Bringing aides hourly pay to $20 still short of the countrys median wage would more than consume the eight-year outlay of $400 billion. That would leave little money for other priorities, like addressing the demand for care 820,000 people were on states waiting lists in 2018, with an average wait of more than three years or providing more comprehensive services. The battle over resources is likely to strain the coalition of unions and groups that promote the interests of older and disabled Americans, which have been pushing together for Mr. Bidens plan. And thats even before nursing homes complain about being left out. The president must figure out the right balance between reducing the waiting list and increasing wages, said Paul Osterman, a professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technologys Sloan School of Management who has written about the nations care structures. Theres tension there. Elder care has long been at the center of political battles over social insurance. President Lyndon B. Johnson considered providing the benefit as part of the creation of Medicare in the 1960s, said Howard Gleckman, an expert on long-term care at the Urban Institute. But the chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, Wilbur Mills, warned how expensive that approach would become when baby boomers started retiring. Better, he argued, to make it part of Medicaid and let the states bear a large chunk of the burden. This compromise produced a patchwork of services that has left millions of seniors and their families in the lurch while still consuming roughly a third of Medicaid spending about $197 billion in 2018, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation. By Kaisers calculations, Medicaid pays for roughly half of long-term care services; out-of-pocket payments and private insurance together pay a little over a quarter of the tab. (Other sources, like programs for veterans, cover the rest.) Unlike institutional care, which state Medicaid programs are required to cover, home and community-based care services are optional. That explains the waiting lists. It also means there is a wide divergence in the quality of services and the rules governing who gets them. Vancouver, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - April 15, 2021) - Peekaboo Beans Inc. (CSE: BEAN) (OTC Pink: PBBSF) ("PK Beans" or the "Company") is pleased to share that they have joined Faire, an online wholesale retail marketplace. Fast Magazine names Faire among "The 10 most innovative retail companies of 2020". Faire allows PK Beans to expand their omni-channel business model and have greater exposure and access to 150,000 retailers across North America. Faire marketplace allows for PK Beans to continue to support and maintain all current wholesale relationships, while being able to offer these customers the net terms provided by Faire; providing customers greater breathing room and more incentive to purchase PK Beans; during an otherwise difficult time in retail due to the ever growing and changing impacts of the COVID-19 Pandemic. "We are excited reach new retailers and support more grassroots retail brands in communities across North America. Faire makes it easy and accessible to reach these business to business customers, and this adds another arm to our omni channel sales model," states Traci Costa, PK Beans CEO and Founder. PK Beans also wishes to announce the closing of its previously disclosed private placement of convertible debenture units for total gross proceeds of $110,000 (the "Offering"). The Company raised $110,000 through the issuance of 110 convertible debenture units at a price of $1,000 per convertible debenture unit. Each convertible debenture unit was comprised of one unsecured convertible debenture with a principal amount of $1,000 each and 5,000 common share purchase warrants. Each warrant entitles the holder thereof to acquire on common share of the Company at a price of $0.15 per share until April 9, 2023. The debentures will mature and be repayable on April 9, 2023 and bear interest at a rate of 12% per annum until maturity. The net proceeds of the Offering will be used for general working capital purposes. The terms of the Offering are further described in the Company's news release dated April 8, 2021. All securities issued in connection with the Offering are subject to a statutory hold period expiring on August 10, 2021 in accordance with applicable securities legislation. About Peekaboo Beans Inc. PK Beans is an integrated and innovative children's wellness brand. From sustainable clothing options that kids love to wear, to healthy foods that fuel children's play, our mission is to provide the ingredients for a playful life. Together with our monthly adventure subscription box, consisting of interactive and engaging activities that educate and entertain, developed by an Emmy award-winning child psychologist and devoted kid-experts, our goal is to enrich, empower and nourish children through quality nutrition, clothing and play - every day. The company maximizes revenue by reaching sellers and online retailers through an omnichannel approach. To learn more about PK Beans, visit: www.pkbeans.com On behalf of the Board of Directors, Peekaboo Beans Inc. Ms. Traci Costa, President and CEO (604) 279-2326 For more information, please contact the Company at: IR@pkbeans.com 1-604-279-2326 Reader Advisory This news release may include forward-looking information that is subject to risks and uncertainties. All statements within, other than statements of historical fact, are to be considered forward-looking. Although the Company believes the expectations expressed in such forward-looking information are based on reasonable assumptions, such information is not a guarantee of future performance and actual results or developments may differ materially from those contained in forward-looking information. Factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those in forward-looking information include, but are not limited to, fluctuations in market prices, successes of the operations of the Company, continued availability of capital and financing and general economic, market or business conditions. There can be no assurances that such information will prove accurate and, therefore, readers are advised to rely on their own evaluation of such uncertainties. The Company does not assume any obligation to update any forward-looking information except as required under the applicable securities laws. Neither the Canadian Securities Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the Canadian Securities Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/80479 LA JOLLA--(April 15, 2021) The ability to grow the cells of one species within an organism of a different species offers scientists a powerful tool for research and medicine. It's an approach that could advance our understanding of early human development, disease onset and progression and aging; provide innovative platforms for drug evaluation; and address the critical need for transplantable organs. Yet developing such capabilities has been a formidable challenge. Researchers led by Salk Professor Juan Carlos Izpisua Belmonte have now come one step closer toward this goal by demonstrating a new integration of human cells into animal tissue. Published in the journal Cell on April 15, 2021, the new study builds upon previous work by the Izpisua Belmonte lab to take the next step in chimeric organisms--organisms that contain cells from two or more species--to understand a host of diseases and address the severe shortage in donor organs. "These chimeric approaches could be really very useful for advancing biomedical research not just at the very earliest stage of life, but also the latest stage of life," says Izpisua Belmonte. The World Health Organization estimates that the 130,000 organ transplants performed every year represent only 10 percent of the need, which is exacerbated by a shortage of available organs. Researchers hoped that growing human cells in pig tissue--whose organ size, physiology and anatomy are similar to humans'--could alleviate this problem. Previously, in a 2017 Cell study, Izpisua Belmonte's group reported groundbreaking work in which they incorporated human cells into early-stage pig tissue, marking the first step toward producing transplantable human organs using large animals. But the contribution of human cells was fairly low, which could be due to the large evolutionary distance (90 million years) between the two species. So Izpisua Belmonte set out to investigate chimera formation in a more closely related species, macaques. While these types of chimeras with macaques wouldn't be used for human organ transplants, they nevertheless reveal invaluable information about how human cells develop and integrate, and how cells of different species communicate with one another. Izpisua Belmonte likens the process of two types of cells integrating to communicating with different languages: human cells in pig tissue was akin to the cells trying to find common ground between Chinese and French for example, whereas human cells in macaques operated more like two closely related languages, like Spanish and French. By better understanding molecular pathways involved in this interspecies communication, researchers could ultimately improve the integration of human cells into more suitable hosts, such as pigs, that could be used in regenerative medicine, as well as better understanding the aging process. In the present study, the team tagged human pluripotent stem cells (cells that are capable of developing into all the cell types in the body) with a fluorescent protein and inserted these labeled stem cells into macaque embryos in petri dishes. The current study was made possible by technology published last year by the collaborating team led by Prof. Weizhi Ji of Kunming University of Science and Technology in Yunnan, China, that allowed monkey embryos to stay alive and grow outside the body for an extended period of time. In the case of this work, all experiments were terminated 19 days after stem cell injection. Through immunofluorescent studies, in which antibodies bind to the fluorescently tagged stem cells, the scientists observed that human stem cells survived and integrated with better relative efficiency than in the previous experiments in pig tissue. To identify the molecular communication pathways between the two species' cells in the current study, Izpisua Belmonte's lab analyzed the chimeric transcriptome, a readout of which genes and molecules are active. They observed that cells from chimeric tissue had distinct transcriptomic profiles from controls and detected several communications pathways that were strengthened or novel in the chimeric cells. Once this molecular communication is further understood, chimeric organisms could allow researchers an unprecedented glimpse into the earliest stages of human development. Chimeric organisms containing human cells could be used to generate cells and organs for transplantations in host species more evolutionarily distant to humans, like pigs, that might be more appropriate for various reasons (social, economic and ethical, among others). Additionally, these studies constitute a new platform to study how specific diseases arise. For instance, a particular gene that may be associated with a certain cancer could be engineered in a human cell. Then, observing the course of disease progression using those engineered cells in a chimeric model might reveal more applicable results than a typical animal model in which the disease might take a different course. Chimeric models of disease could also be used to test the efficacy of drug compounds and obtain results that could similarly better reflect the response in humans. Another research avenue where chimerism could offer unique insights is aging. Izpisua Belmonte says researchers don't know if organs age at the same rate or if perhaps one organ drives the aging of all the other organs and acts as a master switch for the aging process. Using chimerism to grow, for example, the organ of a common rat in a much longer-lived species like the naked mole rat, scientists could begin to probe which organs may be key to aging and what signals are involved in their survival. As a leading expert in the field of chimera research, Izpisua Belmonte consulted all the appropriate regulatory bodies as well as independent bioethicists to ensure their work met current ethical and legal guidelines. "As important for health and research as we think these results are, the way we conducted this work, with utmost attention to ethical considerations and by coordinating closely with regulatory agencies, is equally important," says Izpisua Belmonte. "Ultimately, we conduct these studies to understand and improve human health." Next, Izpisua Belmonte plans to take a closer look at the molecular pathways the team identified as involved in interspecies communication and determine which ones are critical to the success of this process. ### Other authors included: Reyna Hernandez-Benitez, W. Travis Berggren, May Schwarz and Concepcion Rodriguez Esteban of the Salk Institute; Llanos Martinez Martinez and Estrella Nunez Delicado of the Universidad Catolica San Antonio de Murcia; Jun Wu now at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center; Tao Tan, Chenyang Si, Shaoxing Dai, Youyue Zhang, Nianqin Sun, E. Zhang, Honglian Shao, Wei Si, Pengpeng Yang, Hong Wang, Zhenzhen Chen, Ran Zhu, Yu Kang, Zongyong Ai, Tianqing Li, Weizhi Ji and Yuyu Niu of the Kunming University of Science and Technology. About the Salk Institute for Biological Studies: Every cure has a starting point. The Salk Institute embodies Jonas Salk's mission to dare to make dreams into reality. Its internationally renowned and award-winning scientists explore the very foundations of life, seeking new understandings in neuroscience, genetics, immunology, plant biology and more. The Institute is an independent nonprofit organization and architectural landmark: small by choice, intimate by nature and fearless in the face of any challenge. Be it cancer or Alzheimer's, aging or diabetes, Salk is where cures begin. Learn more at: salk.edu. Pennsylvania is extending its pause of the use of the single-dose Johnson & Johnson coronavirus vaccine until April 24 or until there is updated federal guidance. Federal health officials on Tuesday recommended the pause as they review the cases of six women, including a Pennsylvania woman, between the ages of 18 and 48, who had potentially serious blood clots 6 to 13 days after receiving the vaccine. This is a rare event as 6.8 million Americans have already received the Johnson & Johnson vaccine. Pennsylvania initially recommended a pause until April 20 to give the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Food and Drug Administration time to review the incidents of rare blood clots. The health department is now pushing that to April 24 or when the federal government issues new guidance. On Wednesday, the CDCs Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices held an emergency meeting to discuss the issue, but did not take a vote to change or end the pause. Another meeting is expected within 10 days. Only 247,063 of the more than 6.6 million vaccine doses given in Pennsylvania have been the Johnson & Johnson vaccines. But during the Wednesday meeting the CDC acknowledged one of the cases under study involves a 26-year-old Pennsylvania woman who recovered after treatment at a New Jersey hospital, the health department said in a news release. One committee member, Dr. Grace Lee, was among those who advocated tabling a vote. She echoed concerns about getting more data to better understand the size of the risk and whether it was greater for any particular group of people. I continue to feel like were in a race against time and the variants, but we need to (move forward) in the safest possible way, said Lee, of Stanford University. The clots under investigation are highly unusual. They occurred in strange places, in veins that drain blood from the brain, and in people with abnormally low levels of clot-forming platelets. The six cases raised an alarm bell because that number is at least three times more than experts would have expected to see even of more typical brain-drainage clots, said CDCs Dr. Tom Shimabukuro. What we have here is a picture of clots forming in large vessels where we have low platelets, Shimabukuro explained. This usually doesnt happen, but its similar to European reports with the AstraZeneca vaccine. The clot concerns could undermine public confidence in a vaccine many hoped would help some of the hardest-to-reach populations in poor countries or in places like homeless shelters in the U.S. We know we are fighting a war against COVID-19, Dr. Peter Marks, the Food and Drug Administrations vaccine chief, said Tuesday. But when it comes to side effects, we dont, in the United States, have a lot of tolerance for friendly fire. Health officials recommended the J&J timeout in part to make sure doctors know how to recognize and treat the unusual condition. On Wednesday, the CDC said four of the six women with the unusual clots were treated with a blood thinner named heparin a treatment the government is warning doctors to avoid. Anyone who received the Johnson & Johnson vaccine within the last three weeks and develops a severe headache, abdominal pain, leg pain or shortness of breath should contact their health care provider. Pennsylvania largely used its allocation to vaccinate educators and other essential workers. The U.S. set up intensive systems to track the safety of COVID-19 vaccines, knowing that side effects too rare to have occurred in studies of thousands of people could pop up once millions rolled up their sleeves. Shimabukuro said spotting such a rare potential risk amid the nations huge vaccine rollout is an example of a success story for vaccine safety. State health officials also emphasized that the pause shows that the federal oversight process of vaccine safety is working. The safety procedures built into the vaccination process are working and should instill confidence in the safety and effectiveness of the available COVID-19 vaccines, Acting Secretary of Health Alison Beam said. I urge individuals who have appointments scheduled to receive a Pfizer or Moderna vaccination to keep those appointments. Locally, St. Lukes University Health Network is temporarily transitioning all future appointments to Moderna or Pfizer doses and contacting anyone who did receive a Johnson & Johnson shot. Lehigh Valley Health Network has never received or administered Johnson and Johnson doses. The Associated Press contributed to this report. Our journalism needs your support. Please subscribe today to lehighvalleylive.com. Sara K. Satullo may be reached at ssatullo@lehighvalleylive.com. Republican Rep Dan Crenshaw (TX) received devastating news: A retinal detachment in his only seeing eye. Crenshaw is a former Navy SEAL who lost his right eye due to an IED explosion in Afghanistan, hence his signature black eye patch. According to Politico, he began seeing dark, blurry spots in his remaining good eye a few days ago. He was told his retina was detaching and needed emergency eye surgery to repair his detachment. YouTube screengrab What does this all mean? As a practicing retina surgeon, I want to explain some of what he may be going through. The standard doctor caveat applies, which is that Rep Crenshaw is not my patient and I have not examined him or his records. I am instead piecing things together based on a good summary in Politico. His spots are floaters, due to pigment or blood, common with a retinal tear or detachment, and an early warning of trouble. Reportedly his better, left eye was also damaged in the IED explosion, but obviously not as bad as his right eye, which is blind, covered with an eye patch. He may have had retinal bruising or contusion in his good eye, increasing his risk of a late retinal detachment. He may also be predisposed by myopia, or nearsightedness, quite common and where the eye is more egg-shaped than round, putting the retina on stretch, increasing the risk of retinal tears or detachment. His surgery was reportedly performed at the Houston VA hospital. Although VA hospitals often have a bad reputation, they are typically affiliated with and staffed by faculty from a local medical school and Rep Crenshaws surgery would have most likely been performed by, or closely overseen by, a member of the retina faculty. The article states that, after the surgery, he would have a gas bubble in the eye serving as a bandage to hold the retina in place. This suggests he had a vitrectomy; that is, surgical removal of the vitreous gel inside the eye, which due to contracting and pulling on the retina, tore and detached the retina. During surgery, laser is used to tack down the retina, especially around where it tore, much like spot welding. A gas bubble is placed in the eye to hold the retina in place until the laser scars mature, forming a good adhesion to the back of the eye, after about a week. Such surgery usually takes less than an hour, is performed under either general anesthesia or local anesthesia with sedation, and is done on an outpatient basis without overnight hospitalization. The gas bubble seals the retinal tear and, during recovery, patients may have to keep a specific position to float the bubble to the location of the tear. Bubbles float upward but by positioning the patients head, and by necessity the rest of their body, the bubble can be positioned against any portion of the retina. A retinal tear at the bottom portion of the eye is the most challenging as the gas bubble floats in the opposite direction. To counter the immutable laws of physics, the patient can be positioned on their side or face down so the retinal tear is then a higher point in the eye where the gas bubble will float and cover it. Rep Crenshaw will be face down for a week for this purpose per the Politico story. Its not 24/7 in that position but most of the time. I instruct my patients to be 45 min per hour in whatever position is needed for one week. One cannot see through a gas bubble due to refractive indices and focusing issues. Like looking underwater, one has vision but extremely blurry. Once the bubble fills less than half the eye, one can see under the edge of the bubble, with central vision returning. That typically takes a week to ten days, depending on the type of gas. My best guess as to the gas used is sulfur hexafluoride, an inert gas that takes longer to absorb than room air, but that the eye completely reabsorbs within three weeks. Longer-acting gasses can be used but that might leave Rep Crenshaw with poor vision for at least a month, which is not a good option in a one-eyed patient. Patients with gas in their eye cannot fly or go to high elevation as the bubble expands under lower atmospheric pressure, raising the pressure inside the eye, potentially damaging the optic nerve again, a very bad idea for someone with only one eye. Rep Crenshaw would miss any important House votes, unless he travels from Houston to Washington, DC by car or train, at least until the gas bubble is gone. Even while positioning, face down or on his side, he can still speak to staff, colleagues, or constituents, meaning the wheels of government can roll on. Reading or television will not be feasible with the extremely poor vision looking through the bubble. Most retinal detachments can be fixed with a single operation 80 to 90 percent of the time. If further surgery is needed, there are many options, and the ultimate success rate is in the mid to high 90 percent range. Final vision, however, can vary from normal to some loss, depending on the extent of the original detachment. Cataract development is expected as a side effect of this type of surgery, often within a year or two. While Rep Crenshaw appropriately found the news of his retinal detachment terrifying, he wasnt the only one terrified. I can assure you that his surgeon was also terrified, as I would be, operating on a one-eyed member of Congress, knowing that failure would doom this Congressman to a second black eye patch. But such terror is part of being a surgeon and focuses us like nothing else to do what we are trained for and at our best. Im sure Captain Sully faced similar terror as he safely landed his airplane in the Hudson River saving hundreds of lives. I wish Rep Crenshaw the best after his surgery and am far more confident that he will have a good recovery than I am that his Congress will ever balance the budget. Brian C Joondeph, MD, is a Denver-based retina surgeon and writer. To comment, you can find the MeWe post for this article here. Advertisement British Pound Outlook: After blue skies through the start of the year, its been nothing short of April showers for the British Pound That said, April tends to be a bullish month for the British Pound from a seasonal perspective, so losses may be stemmed as several GBP-crosses approach significant support. Recent changes in r etail trader positioning suggest a mostly mixed bias for the British Pound. Sterling Slides Towards Support At the onset of the quarter, it was noted that even as some concerns arise about vaccination supplies due to shifts in EU export policy, the UK economy appears to remain on track to return to its pre-pandemic output faster than most other developed economies. It appears that this concern was underappreciated. As UK vaccination rates have slowed thanks in part to supply issues the British Pounds appeal has worn off. Despite global equity markets pushing record highs, the Sterling has been unable to post further gains versus the safe haven currencies, and even the once-beleaguered Euro has staged an impressive comeback. Now, the British Pound finds itself hurtling towards key support among each off the major GBP-crosses, suggesting that critical technical tests lie ahead. GBP/JPY RATE TECHNICAL ANALYSIS: DAILY CHART (February 2020 to April 2021) (CHART 1) In the prior GBP/JPY rates forecast update, it was noted that GBP/JPY rates remain in a relative ascending channel dating back to late-Februarydespite little progress made over the past two weeks, the pair remains well-positioned for more gains, with the charts having digested some of the extreme bullish momentum readings seen earlier in the month. After touching channel resistance, the pair has fallen back quickly in the past two weeks back to channel support, where GBP/JPY finds itself today. Momentum has shifted to a nearly complete bearish posture, underscoring the acute change in circumstances over the past two weeks. GBP/JPY rates are below their daily 5-, 8-, 13-, and 21-EMA envelope, which is in bearish sequential order. Daily MACD continues to pullback and is on course to move below its signal line, while daily Slow Stochastics have already dropped into bearish territory. GBP/JPY is enduring a critical test of its uptrend, and a break below the confluence of the late-March swing low and the 76.4% Fibonacci retracement of the 2020 high/low range around 148.53/91 would suggest that the uptrend has officially ended; bulls need support to hold around current price action. IG Client Sentiment Index: GBP/JPY Rate Forecast (April 15, 2021) (Chart 2) GBP/JPY: Retail trader data shows 48.83% of traders are net-long with the ratio of traders short to long at 1.05 to 1. The number of traders net-long is 6.73% lower than yesterday and 15.79% higher from last week, while the number of traders net-short is 2.89% higher than yesterday and 2.97% lower 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 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/JPY trading bias. GBP/USD RATE TECHNICAL ANALYSIS: DAILY CHART (FEBRUARY 2020 TO APRIL 2021) (CHART 3) The last time we checked in, it was noted that GBP/USD has recently lost the uptrend from the March and November 2020 lows, with price action the past three days resolving itself in a bearish manner an evening star candle cluster, treating the pandemic trendline as resistance. The key test is arriving at the 76.4% Fibonacci retracement of the 2018 high/2020 low range at 1.3677, which has thus far contained the pullback. A drop below said level would also constitute a break of the March lows, suggesting that a deeper setback is due. More context is needed to highlight the importance of the current support region. GBP/USD rates are also contending with the 38.2% retracement of the July 2014 high/March 2020 low range at 1.3614 and the 23.6% retracement of the November 2007 high (all-time high)/March 2020 low range at 1.3711. In effect, the near-100-pip area between 1.3614/711 can be defined as the make or break level for GBP/USD bulls. The upshot for GBP/USD bulls is that the pair has been climbing away from this support in recent days, buttressed by broader US Dollar weakness. But its still too soon to think the worst may be over. After all, the pair remains within the downtrend from the February and March swing highs, as well as the pandemic uptrend. As the saying goes, more wood needs to be chopped before any sort of clarity is achieved. IG Client Sentiment Index: GBP/USD Rate Forecast (April 15, 2021) (Chart 4) GBP/USD: Retail trader data shows 61.63% of traders are net-long with the ratio of traders long to short at 1.61 to 1. The number of traders net-long is 3.39% higher than yesterday and 2.31% lower from last week, while the number of traders net-short is 0.64% lower than yesterday and 10.25% lower from last week. We typically take a contrarian view to crowd sentiment, and the fact traders are net-long suggests GBP/USD prices may continue to fall. Traders are further net-long than yesterday and last week, and the combination of current sentiment and recent changes gives us a stronger GBP/USD-bearish contrarian trading bias. EUR/GBP RATE TECHNICAL ANALYSIS: DAILY CHART (February 2020 to April 2021) (CHART 5) A false bearish breakout emerged during the inter-update period. The last time we reviewed the charts, it was suggested that the breakout has failed and reversed course; EUR/GBP is back above descending trendline resistance, suggesting that a return back to consolidation resistance is possible at 0.8731. Consistent with the ethos that failed breakouts that return to their prior consolidations often seeing the other side of the consolidation tested, EUR/GBP rates have been climbing towards the late-February swing high at 0.8731, as well as the 61.8% Fibonacci retracement of the 2020 low/high range at 0.8747. With bullish momentum firm daily Stochastics are nestled in overbought territory, daily MACD is trending higher through its signal line, and the daily EMA envelope is in bullish sequential order more gains may be ahead towards the resistance zone around 0.8731/47. IG Client Sentiment Index: EUR/GBP Rate Forecast (April 15, 2021) (Chart 6) EUR/GBP: Retail trader data shows 48.17% of traders are net-long with the ratio of traders short to long at 1.08 to 1. The number of traders net-long is 4.55% lower than yesterday and 11.91% lower from last week, while the number of traders net-short is 0.18% higher than yesterday and 13.45% higher from last week. We typically take a contrarian view to crowd sentiment, and the fact traders are net-short suggests EUR/GBP prices may continue to rise. Traders are further net-short than yesterday and last week, and the combination of current sentiment and recent changes gives us a stronger EUR/GBP-bullish contrarian trading bias. --- Written by Christopher Vecchio, CFA, Senior Currency Strategist Caitlyn Carolans resume includes a host of achievements that qualify her to inherit her familys restaurants in Worcester. Her mother, Madeleine Ahlquist, though, knew her qualifications years before she graduated from Bancroft High School and earned business and interior design degrees from Syracuse University. Decades before Carolan worked as a designer in Worcester and Boston and moved to New York City to head customer service for a $500 million apparel manufacturer, her mother remembered the youngster unofficially managing the childrens menu at Sole Proprietor. She was very little. In fact, she went so far as to write a menu for us because she didnt think the kids menu was very well put together, Madeleine Ahlquist said with a chuckle. We took her suggestions from day one. As soon as she was able to talk about her experience she was pretty much in charge. Carolan has not known a world without Sole Proprietor, which served some of the freshest seafood in the city since Robb and Madeleine Ahlquist opened the doors to the restaurant in 1979. Building on success at Sole Proprietor they opened One Eleven Chop House, on Shrewsbury Street in 1999 and, VIA Italian Table, next door in 2007. The three restaurants make up the Worcester Restaurant Group. The Ahlquists last week handed that legacy to Carolan as the new president of the company. With the new role, she will direct and oversee operations, marketing and financial aspects of the three restaurants. Im excited and proud and want to make sure that I can do it justice, Carolan said. Thats a fear of mine and a goal all at the same time. Its a little daunting. I feel like I have what I need to operate, but theres obviously so much that my husband and I are learning. In many ways, the latest promotion for Carolan represents a dream job. Growing up in Shrewsbury, Carolan begged her parents to move to Worcester so she could be closer to friends. When her friends came to Shrewsbury, the after-school snacks rose above the pre-packaged chips or cookies. Carolan remembers her babysitters dropping her off at Sole Proprietor after school and setting tables before guests arrive. Even as a toddler, Carolan demanded guests received not only bread as they sat down but warm rolls. My whole life growing up was really all about the restaurants and still is, obviously, Carolan said. I have great memories. The Worcester Restaurant Group announced this week that Caitlyn Carolan will take the role of the company's president. Carolan and her husband Keith joined Worcester Restaurant Group in 2007. Keith Carolan is the general manager of VIA and the beverage director for Worcester Restaurant Group. Before being named president, Caitlyn Carolan served as the chief operating officer. It was always the plan. I think COVID gave us an opportunity to really spend some time thinking about it, Madeleine Ahlquist said. Caitlyn was really the force behind keeping the restaurant together during COVID. During the pandemic, Carolan managed all COVID testing for all employees and has now transitioned to vaccinations. Madeleine Ahlquist credits her daughter with keeping the staff at the three restaurants safe and organized during the last year. The conversation we had when all of this started was this is not in the management 101 playbook, Robb Ahlquist said. Nobody really understood what the future was going to be like and every time we thought we had some kind of an idea of what it was going to look like, of course, it would change, which I think has been the most consistent thing of the last year is the everyday change. When Madeleine and Robb Ahlquist opened Sole Proprietors in 1979, a mentor, Frank Foley of Foley Fish in New Bedford, provided them words they tried to live up to each day: Go to work every day like its your first day in business. Through much of the pandemic, the words sometimes rang as true as any time during the last 41 years. But the family carries a sense of hope as vaccines continue to be administered and patrons start to fill their restaurants. Theres a sense of normalcy starting to come back to the restaurants and the marketplace, Robb Ahlquist said. Via Italian Table on Shrewsbury Street in Worcester in 2007 as the third establishment in the Worcester Restaurant Group. Through four decades, Robb and Madeleine Ahlquist took a single seafood restaurant on Highland Street and built it into the Worcester Restaurant Group. As Carolan takes the reins, they will remain in the background. They plan to be available to help whenever the need arises. For three of Worcesters most well-known eateries, the idea of new leadership only means more of the same. Its one day at a time, Carolan said. It always has been. Related Content: Mayor LaToya Cantrell laid out broad priorities Thursday for a team that will guide the spending of $375 million in coronavirus relief funds coming to New Orleans. The 28-member stimulus task force the mayor convened plans to focus on five key areas, Cantrell and its members said: case management, community services, the workforce, economic recovery investments and public health. Members of five working groups will come up with specific spending recommendations in the coming months, after the federal government provides specific rules for how cities can use the cash. The groups will weigh the long and short-term needs of the city's businesses and residents, Cantrell said. +3 $375M in relief aid is headed to New Orleans, an 'extraordinary' step in stabilizing finances New Orleans is set to receive a whopping $375 million from the federal coronavirus relief legislation passed last week, an infusion equal to m Two co-chairs of the working groups are Trivia Frazier, president and CEO of Obatala Sciences, a biotech startup, and Joe Exnicios, president of Hancock Whitney Bank. Both joined Cantrell to announce the news Thursday. "The sausage gets made in the working groups," Cantrell said. Their organization "speaks to lessons learned" from past crises, and shows "that the city of New Orleans is ready, we're prepared, and we're excited about the opportunities we have before us." New Orleans expects to receive around $375 million in federal relief funds under the $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan, which was passed by Congress earlier this year to help ease the economic toll the coronavirus and related restrictions has taken on individuals, governments, and businesses across the country. The funds are expected to arrive over the next two years. +2 Furloughs for New Orleans city employees to end as federal aid helps fill budget hole With an estimated $375 million in federal coronavirus relief slated for New Orleans, Mayor LaToya Cantrell announced on Thursday that her admi The allocation is among the largest in the U.S. for a city of New Orleans' size, and is far larger than what other cities have received in Louisiana. The first payout to counties and parishes is expected within 60 days of the law's enactment, while the second installment will come a year after the first. The city's deadline to spend the money is Dec. 31, 2024. In earlier comments on the funding, city officials have said it may need to be stretched out over several years depending on how long it takes for tourism and tax revenue to rebound from the pandemic. They have said the purpose of the task force is to provide advice on just how New Orleans should spend its haul, and to investigate what other money is available under the Rescue Plan. 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 Thursday was the first time the administration has laid out any general topics of focus for the group. Case management services, or focusing on helping to connect individual residents to services that will help them financially or otherwise, will be critical, as one of the biggest lessons learned from Hurricane Katrina and other past crises is that residents often didn't know where to turn to receive help that was available, said Liana Elliott, Cantrell's deputy chief of staff and the senior project manager for the task force. "That meant desperately needed resources didn't make it into the hands of those who needed it the most," she said. Cantrell announces return of overtime for New Orleans police, fire departments Mayor LaToya Cantrell's administration has reinstated paid overtime for public safety departments, the latest sign of recovery for a municipal The case management working group's goal will be to stand up a team of people who can inform residents of the help that is available to them under the relief bill. That group will operate like the city's "neighborhood navigators," teams that who have worked throughout the pandemic to tell people how they can sign up for unemployment or get help paying for housing. A separate community services working group will focus specifically on resources that can help families and children, said Office of Youth and Families Director and task force member Emily Wolff. The group is currently focusing on getting the word out to parents about the up to $3,600 child tax credit that will be paid out in monthly installments beginning this summer under the relief bill, she said. The task force also plans to convene a subgroup that can expand children and adults' access to Wi-Fi and broadband in the city, as the Rescue Plan provides support for that purpose. Key in the task force discussions has been how the city can diversify its workforce to better withstand any future event that requires shutdowns of public-facing businesses or the cancellation of major events, added Frazier. "What we see is an opportunity to not only support our brothers and sisters who are struggling and who have been impacted so devastatingly on the side of the hospitality industry, but also to support people like myself, in biotechnology," she said. Exnicios called the funding "the greatest opportunity of our lifetime to rebuild our local economy, and to truly take advantage of all the wonderful assets we possess as a city, in a fashion that is both inclusive and equitable." The city expects to receive guidance from the U.S. Treasury Department on how it may spend the funds within three weeks, Cantrell said. Thiruvananthapuram, April 15 : Top former ISRO space scientist S. Nambi Narayanan on Thursday welcomed the Supreme Court's decision that ordered a fresh probe into the 27-year-old ISRO spy case, in which he was falsely implicated. "All what I know is I was subjected to all sorts of harassment for no fault of mine. I welcome the new directive of the Supreme Court asking the CBI to come out with all the facts including if there was a conspiracy in the ISRO spy case," said Narayanan. This new order came after the apex court had in 2018 appointed a three member committee headed by retired SC judge D.K. Jain to probe if there was a conspiracy among then police officials to falsely implicate Narayanan. On Thursday, the apex court which went through the report ordered the CBI to conduct a new probe and it can treat the Jan panel's report as the preliminary document. The Supreme Court asked the CBI to submit its report in three months. The ISRO spy case surfaced in 1994 when Narayanan was arrested on charges of espionage along with another senior official of ISRO, two Maldivian women and a businessman. The CBI cleared him in 1995 and since then he has been fighting a legal battle against then top police official Siby Mathews and the other officials which include S. Vijayan and K.K. Joshua who probed the case and implicated Narayanan. Sibi Mathews later got the rank of the director general of police and took VRS, months before he was to have superannuated and became the Chief Information Officer of the state and has since retired from that post, and is now settled in Thiruvananthapuram. Incidentally this case took place when the factional feud in the Congress party between K. Karunakaran and the A.K. Antony faction led by Oommen Chandy was at its zenith and Karunakaran had to quit office in 1995 after it was found that he was shielding his close aide and senior police officer Raman Srivastava who later became the state police chief and after retirement, he till recently was the advisor to Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan. It now remains to be seen, if the CBI will call up journalists who then had written juicy tales of this case and the highlight of one such report was that consequent to the spy case, it would be doubtful if the ISRO unit here will be able to even function properly, as many space secrets were leaked. Narayanan added that it was because of this irrelevant case that the cryogenic programme of the country got delayed. "What would have been ready by 1999, was delayed till 2014. I have full faith in the efforts of the Centre and only when this new probe is complete and the verdict is implemented, will I be fully happy," added Narayanan. Incidentally, Narayanan by now has received a compensation of Rs 1.90 crore from various agencies including the Kerala government which last year handed him Rs 1.30 crore and then came an award of Rs 50 lakh as directed by the Supreme Court in 2018 and another Rs 10 lakh that came as directed by the National Human Rights Commission. The compensation was because he had to suffer wrongful imprisonment, malicious prosecution and humiliation. In 2019, the country awarded him the Padma Bhushan and Prime Minister Narendra Modi, whenever he visits the state and takes part in political rallies often refers to the travails faced by Narayanan and how the BJP treated him with respect and consideration. -- The story has been published from a wire feed without any modifications to the text New images of the first black hole ever photographed may finally shed light the origins of mysterious cosmic rays that shoot through space at the speed of light. A series of new images the black hole - named M78 - show it shooting jets that produce light spanning the entire electromagnetic spectrum, from invisible radio waves, to visible light, to super-powered radioactive gamma rays. These findings suggest each black hole has a unique pattern based on the intensity of light it produces, and identifying this pattern could help reveal what exactly is powering the jets of particles shooting out of M87's core. Scientists suspect that such jets, or beams of radiation, could be responsible for the high-energy cosmic particles that travel millions of miles through space and smack into the Milky Way. Some also end up slamming into the Earth's atmosphere. Scroll down for video Scientists released the first image taken of a black hole April 2019 and now, new data reveals 'unprecedented' insights into the famed M87 galaxy's monster Sera Markoff, from the University of Amsterdam, told National Geographic: 'One of the primary questions we're trying to investigate is where are the high-energy particles coming from. 'How are these jets launched, what's inside of them, and how are high-energy cosmic rays - which seem to be come from black hole jets - accelerated.' The center of Messier 87 (M87), where the supermassive black hole sits, is about 55 million light-years from Earth. On April 10, 2019, the team behind the Event Horizon Telescope (EHT) revealed the findings from their first run of observations that produced the first image of a black hole. A series of new images show M78's supermassive black hole shoots jets that produce light spanning the entire electromagnetic spectrum, from radio waves to visible light to gamma rays While black holes are invisible by nature, the ultra-hot material swirling in their midst forms a ring of light around the perimeter that reveals the mouth of the object itself based on its silhouette. This boundary is known as the event horizon - and that is what was captured in the image. 'We have seen what we thought was unseeable,' said EHT Director Sheperd Doeleman as he introduced the glowing orange ring that is the object at the center of Messier 87 (M87) and our first direct look at a black hole. The breakthrough added major support for Einstein's theory of General Relativity and provided more information to answer longstanding questions on the nature of black holes. Now new images of the black hole could hold these answers, it is hoped. Kazuhiro Hada of the National Astronomical Observatory of Japan said: 'We knew that the first direct image of a black hole would be groundbreaking.' 'But to get the most out of this remarkable image, we need to know everything we can about the black hole's behavior at that time by observing over the entire electromagnetic spectrum.' These findings suggest each black hole has a unique pattern based on the intensity of light it produces, and identifying this pattern could reveal the properties that are powering the giant get of particles erupting from M87's core The center of Messier 87 (M87), where the supermassive black hole sits, is about 55 million light-years from Earth. On April 10, 2019, the team behind the Event Horizon Telescope (EHT) revealed the findings from their first run of observations that produced the first image of a black hole This is the largest simultaneous observing campaign ever undertaken on a supermassive black hole with jets, according to the American space agency. The NASA telescopes involved included the Chandra X-ray Observatory, Hubble Space Telescope, Neil Gehrels Swift Observatory, the Nuclear Spectroscopic Telescope Array (NuSTAR), and the Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope. Combining data from these telescopes from 2017 and current EHT observations, scientists found the intensity of electromagnetic radiation produced by material around M87's supermassive black hole was the lowest that had ever been witnessed. Although scientists are looking to uncover the black holes behavior, they hope it could reveal the origin of the energetic particles called cosmic rays, which continually bombard Earth from outer space. Scientists suspect that such jets could be responsible for the high-energy cosmic particles that travel millions of miles through space and smack into the Milky Way - some event slam into Earth's atmosphere (stock) The massive jets that shoot out from black holes produce energies that can be a million times higher than what can be produced in the most powerful accelerator on Earth, the Large Hadron Collider. And they fall inline with the energy observed in the highest-energy cosmic rays. However, researchers note that more work is needed to answer a number of questions such as precise locations where the particles get accelerated. The data captured in 2017 does rule out the idea of gamma rays being produced near the event horizon - if in fact black holes are the true source. A key to settling this debate will be comparison to the observations from 2018 and the new data being collected this week. 'Understanding the particle acceleration is really central to our understanding of both the EHT image as well as the jets, in all their 'colors,'' said Markoff. Using a number of telescopes, the giant team was able to observe M87's black hole with different techniques. One telescope detected the cosmic giant in visible light, another ultraviolet light and the final shows it shot in gamma rays(pictured) The images show M78's black hole through other radio telescope arrays from around the world, which was done in a collaboration of 19 observations, both on and around Earth, and the work of more than 750 scientists. Together they hope to better understand how magnetic fields, particles, gravity and radiation interact within close proximity of a black hole. Using a number of telescopes, the giant team was able to observe M87's black hole with different techniques. One telescope detected the cosmic giant in visible light, another ultraviolet light and the final shows the black hole through gamma rays. The combination of data from these telescopes and current (and future) EHT observations will allow scientists to conduct important lines of investigation into some of astrophysics most significant and challenging fields of study. For example, scientists plan to use these data to improve tests of Einsteins Theory of General Relativity. Currently, the main hurdles for these tests are uncertainties about the material rotating around the black hole and being blasted away in jets, in particular the properties that determine the emitted light COLUMBIA A bill requiring South Carolina college students to take a course on American history passed April 15 after legislators added instruction on the Black "freedom struggle" to the reading list. The House voted 91-12 on the amended measure, a day after the chamber halted debate over whether to add the Reconstruction era following the Civil War to the list of what the course must include. Rep. Gilda Cobb-Hunter, D-Orangeburg, proposed adding five essays on Reconstruction and John Hope Franklins 1947 From Slavery to Freedom what she called the "premier historical document" on the era to the courses required reading. Republicans countered specifying what book must be used in a class could be seen by accreditors as legislative meddling, or at least rekindle colleges' opposition to the years-long effort. "We can't throw a lot into it because if we do, its going to kill it," Rep. Tim McGinnis, R-Myrtle Beach, said April 14 before putting the debate on hold. The compromise hashed out between a group of Democrats and Republicans added a single line to the bill, which requires the reading of at least one document considered "foundational to the African American freedom struggle." The bill already required reading in their entirety the U.S. Constitution, the Declaration of Independence, and the Emancipation Proclamation, as well as at least five essays from the Federalist Papers. Cobb-Hunter still has concerns with the bill, saying "it is still too loose for my taste of who defines whats foundational." "The people who were part of the Constitution and originally included in the Constitution didnt include people who looked like me," she said, adding the document also didn't acknowledge women of any color or non-landowners when the Founding Fathers wrote it. But she opted not to oppose the bill further and, instead, did not vote on it. Rep. Garry Smith, who's led the effort in the House, said the ideals laid out 245-plus years ago are what Americans should keep trying to achieve. "This is our promissory note. This is what we've been tasked with, to seek out and try to achieve that promise that's in the Declaration of Independence and Constitution. If you don't know it or know anything about it and what those ideals are that each generation has been working to achieve, then how are you going to achieve it?" said the Simpsonville Republican, who teaches a political science class at North Greenville University in the off-session and has been stunned by how little his students know about the basics of government. Sign up for updates! Get the latest political news from The Post and Courier in your inbox. Email Sign Up! "It's one of the reasons I think we have such division today. We've lost sight of those ideals and the dream of when all God's children are judged by the content of their character and not the color of their skin," he said, borrowing from Martin Luther King Jr.'s 1963 "I Have A Dream" speech. But Rep. Wendy Brawley, D-Hopkins, said the bill's wording should have specified instruction on Reconstruction, when newly freed slaves "enjoyed fully the rights of their citizenship" and ran South Carolina's government, to include writing a state constitution creating the public school system. "The amendment talks about the African American struggles, and God knows there are many. We have generations of struggles, but our history also includes pretty significant successes," with the Reconstruction era being one of particular pride, said Brawley, who voted against the bill. The measure updates a 1924 state law requiring public college students to take a year-long course on America's founding. Beyond reducing that mandate to a semester, the bill also removes reference to the course's final test serving as a loyalty oath to the United States for students who are American citizens. While the mandate's been law for nearly a century, most of South Carolina's public colleges stopped following it years ago. The April 15 vote means the legislation is on the verge of becoming law, eight years after Sen. Larry Grooms wrote a letter to University of South Carolina officials asking why the law wasn't being followed. Civil unrest around the nation over the past year, coupled with colleges no longer opposing a renewed mandate, "propelled the bill further than its gone before," said the Berkeley County Republican. "I believe there are folks on the left and right who do not understand the inner workings of our government and there are some Republicans and Democrats who now understand its vitally important that an educated society understand our Constitution, how it works and why we have it," Grooms told The Post and Courier after the House vote. The Senate passed a similar version unanimously last month. Grooms is hopeful the Senate will simply agree to the House's changes, which would send the measure to Gov. Henry McMaster's desk. "I'm all for that," Grooms said about adding Reconstruction. "That is part of American history. That's something that should be taught." In this courtroom sketch, former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin rises to greet jury members during his trial in Minneapolis, on April 13, 2021. (Jane Rosenberg/Reuters) Former Minneapolis Police Officer Chauvin Declines to Testify at His Trial Former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin on April 15 invoked his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination and declined to testify in his trial in the death of George Floyd. Chauvin took a microphone and was asked by his lawyer, Eric Nelson, if he understood that he had a right not to take the stand. Yes, Chauvin said. The former officer also said he knew that he could waive that right and answer questions, but that if he did, he would be subject to cross-examination by prosecutors. Weve had this conversation repeatedly, correct? Nelson said. Correct, Chauvin said. Nelson advised the former officer that it was up to him whether to testify. I will invoke my Fifth Amendment privilege today, Chauvin said in the Hennepin County court. County Judge Peter Cahill emphasized to the defendant that he had to make the decision himself and that he shouldnt be influenced by Nelson. Chauvin told the judge it was his choice and he was not under any threats or promises to testify or not. Im convinced then that this is your personal decision and you are aware of your rights, the judge said. The judge offered to read a set of sentences to the jury in regards to Chauvins decision, which would explain to jurors that Chauvin had no obligation to prove innocence, that he had the right not to testify, and advise them not to make any inference about the decision. Chauvin said he would like the script to be read. Chauvin is on trial for second-degree murder, second-degree manslaughter, and third-degree murder in the May 25, 2020, death of Floyd. Chauvin was one of four officers to respond to a 911 call regarding the use of counterfeit money at Cup Foods in Minneapolis. After Floyd resisted being placed into a patrol car, he was restrained on the ground by Chauvin and two other officers. Chauvin knelt on his back and neck. Floyd eventually stopped breathing and was declared dead. The county medical examiner ruled the death a homicide caused by law enforcement restraint, with drugs and Floyds history of heart conditions contributing factors. The three other officers will go on trial on lesser charges later this year. Prosecutors wrapped their defense earlier this week. Nelson has been calling witnesses. On April 14, one testified that Floyds death should be classified as undetermined. In my opinion, Mr. Floyd had a sudden cardiac arrhythmia due to his atherosclerosis and hypertensive heart disease during his restraint and subdual by the police, Dr. David Fowler, who previously headed a medical examiners office in Maryland, told the court. A man in Floyds vehicle when officers first located them also invoked his Fifth Amendment right this week. Morries Hall told the judge that he was fearful of criminal charges going forward. Portland and Multnomah County officials on Wednesday decried the vandalism seen over the previous two nights, when crowds gathered for raucous demonstrations over the fatal police shooting of a Black man in Minnesota. The demonstrations, held in response to the death of Daunte Wright, drew crowds that resemble those seen last year, when Portland experienced more than 100 consecutive nights of protests over the police killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis. One person has been arrested in the recent pair of protests: Alma Raven-Guido, a 19-year-old college student who was identified by an informant within Tuesdays crowd at the Portland Police Association. Portland police declared riots during both Monday and Tuesdays demonstrations. And Mayor Ted Wheeler condemned the protesters actions, referring to them as self-described anarchists and singling out Raven-Guido, whos accused of pouring fuel on a fire at the police union office. The building was unoccupied at the time, according to Portland police. Arson is a serious felony and it can lead to sentences of many years in prison, Wheeler said before a Portland City Council meeting. I support nonviolent demonstrations. I support the calls for racial justice and equity and common sense police reforms. But the minute that one crosses a line and engages in criminal destruction, acts of arson, acts of violence that is no longer peaceful protest. That is criminal activity. The four city commissioners JoAnn Hardesty, Mingus Mapps, Dan Ryan and Carmen Rubio also released a written statement. We must condemn racial profiling and police violence just as strongly as indiscriminate property damage and the normalization of arson, the commissioners said. Multnomah County Chair Deborah Kafoury and Commissioner Jessica Vega Pederson also spoke out against the protesters actions. They said the public wants to see real change, but that vandalism and property destruction dont further that cause. But many protesters have said over the last few months that they feel elected officials have ignored continued calls for police reform, focusing on property damage instead of police brutality inflicted by Portland officers, both on protesters and Portlands Black community. About 200 people, most dressed in black clothing, gathered in Laurelhurst Park on Monday evening for a vigil for Wright, a Black man fatally shot during a Sunday traffic stop in Minnesota by police officer Kim Potter. Afterward, the crowd marched to the Penumbra Kelly Building, which houses some Portland police and Multnomah County Sheriffs Office operations. Some in the crowd lit a fire inside a dumpster, broke windows and tore down a light fixture attached to the East Burnside Street building. Portland police officers responded by pushing demonstrators into the street, shooting munitions and deploying flash bang grenades before declaring an unlawful assembly and eventually a riot. On Tuesday, a crowd of about 100 marched from North Portlands Kenton Park to the Portland Police Association building. Protesters threw fireworks and set a fire at the union building, and officers quickly declared a riot. The blaze caused an estimated $25,000 in damages to the building, police said. The informant who identified Raven-Guido told police they saw Raven-Guido pour a flammable liquid on the building, which caused the fire to grow, according to a probable cause affidavit filed in Multnomah County Circuit Court. Raven-Guido was one of several people who was present when the fire started, according to the affidavit. The informant was not identified in the affidavit, which noted that the person had supplied information to police in multiple prior investigations. Arson or burning charges are relatively rare in protest cases dating to last spring, according to Multnomah County District Attorneys Office data. Prosecutors issued 10 such protest-related charges between late May of last year and early April. Jayati Ramakrishnan; 503-221-4320; jramakrishnan@oregonian.com; @JRamakrishnanOR Reservists of the 130th battalion of the Ukrainian Territorial Defence Forces attend military exercises on outskirts of Kyiv, Ukraine (Photo : REUTERS/Valentyn Ogirenko) At the outbreak of the war in eastern Ukraine in 2014, the Ukrainian army was so poorly equipped that ordinary citizens were knitting socks, donating scrap metal and even crowdfunding a tank for soldiers at the front line. The government that took over after the Maidan street protests said it had only 5,000 combat-ready ground troops and did not put up a fight when Russian forces seized and annexed the Crimea peninsula in March that year. Advertisement But the Crimea annexation and seven years of fighting Russian-backed forces in the eastern Donbass region drove Ukraine to overhaul its military, combining a huge increase in defence spending with aid and training from Western allies. Rising tensions over a Russian troop build-up on Ukraine's eastern border have prompted President Volodymyr Zelenskiy's administration to lobby Western governments to speed up the ex-Soviet state's entry into the NATO military alliance. While Ukraine's army is still outgunned by Russia, the cost of Russia launching an offensive into Ukrainian territory could be significantly higher now. "Russia will not get a quick victorious 'war,' but the losses on both sides in the event of escalation of aggression will be huge," said Mykola Sunhurovskyi, a defence analyst at the Razumkov Centre think tank. State spending on security and defence has climbed to nearly 6% of gross domestic product this year and averaged more than 5% in the past three years, according to finance ministry data, compared to 2% in 2014. The military has nearly 250,000 troops, compared to 168,000 in 2013. The government has acquired new hardware to gradually replace the Soviet-era arsenal that the army relied on in 2014. It acquired Javelin anti-tank missiles from the United States and Turkish combat drones that helped Azerbaijan defeat ethnic Armenian forces in and around Nagorno-Karabakh last year. Though Ukraine's military was dogged by corruption scandals in the past, the government has also implemented reforms backed by NATO to improve its eligibility for membership, such as passing a draft law to reform its security services in January. Shoppers have voted for their favourite toaster brands of 2021, with a $7.50 model named as one of the best on the market. Australian consumer review website Canstar Blue has rounded up the top eight after putting popular brands - including Kambrook, Sunbeam, Kmart and De'Longhi - to the test. More than 750 customers were asked to rate the kitchen appliances based on performance, functions and features, ease or use, value for money, design and overall satisfaction. Breville took the lead in the toaster ratings, with a perfect score for toasting performance, functions and features, design and overall satisfaction. Shoppers have voted for their favourite toaster brands of 2021 in Australia Top eight toasters 1. Breville 2. Russell Hobbs 3. Kambrook 4. De'Longhi 5. Target 6. Kmart 7. Big W Basics 8. Sunbeam Advertisement The Australian-owned brand received four stars for value for money and ease of use. The label offers many options when it comes to toasters, including a two-slice and a four-slice, with prices ranging from $69 to $249. Russell Hobbs came second after earning a stellar five-star rating for toasting performance and design. It scored four stars for overall satisfaction, functions and features, and ease of use - and three stars for value for money. Toasters from the Russell Hobbs range cost between $50 and $150. In third place, Kambrook landed on five stars for value for money. It received four stars for performance, ease of use, design and overall satisfaction and three stars in the value for money category. The brand's toasters range between $39.95 to $79.95. Italian manufacturer De'Longhi finished fourth after scoring five stars for functions and features, ease of use and design. It achieved four stars for performance and overall satisfaction, plus three stars for value for money. With a wide range of toasters to choose from, prices go from $79 to $199. Aussie-owned Breville (left of a $69 stainless steel two-slice) took the lead in the toaster ratings, followed by Russell Hobbs (right $49.95 white two-slice) Kambrook came third (left of a $34.95 two-slice), followed by De'Longhi (right $79 two-slice) Department chain Target was also named in the top eight (left of a $29 toaster) while Kmart impressed shoppers with its budget-friendly toaster (right of a $15 two slice) Big W Brilliant Basics was the cheapest brand, costing just $7.50 - but proved to be popular among shoppers Department chain Target was also named in the top eight, coming in fifth after its cheap range of toasters received four stars across functions and features, ease of use, value, design and overall satisfaction. It got three stars for performance. The retailer's toasters all sell for less than $30 - with prices ranging from $25 to $29. Kmart impressed shoppers with its budget-friendly toasters after earning five stars for value for money and four stars for ease of use. However, the retailer's range fell short in overall satisfaction, performance, functions and features and design with just three stars. The toasters range from as little as $15 to $45. Big W Brilliant Basics received four stars for value for money but ended on three stars for overall satisfaction, performance, functions and features, ease of use and design. For just $7.50, the affordable toaster comes with adjustable browning controls, defrost, reheat and cancel functions and a slide-out crumb tray for easy cleaning. Rounding out the top eight is Sunbeam, which received four-star reviews for functions and features, ease of use and design. It ended on three stars for overall satisfaction, performance and value for money. Prices range from $34.95 to $169. A fourth New Jersey man admitted Wednesday he helped steal $250,000 from banks using credit cards and checks swiped from two postal facilities in the state. Allen Varice, 24, of East Orange, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit bank fraud and will be sentenced Aug. 18, the U.S. Attorneys Office said in a statement Wednesday. In a scheme that lasted from August 2018 through January 2020, the men used the stolen credit cards and blank checks to make fraudulent purchases and pilfer money from two banks, according to court documents. The credit cards were shipped by a bank from Virginia to New Jersey, and stolen from a third-party sorting facility used by the Postal Service in the Pine Brook section of Montville as well as a post office in Warren, court documents state. After activating the intercepted cards, the scammers made purchases at retail stores and withdrew cash from ATMs. Prosecutors said the scam also involved personal and cashiers checks stolen from various New Jersey post offices. The conspirators altered the payee, dates and amounts to fraudulently withdraw money from banks. In an example provided in charging documents, Varice and one of the other men deposited an altered $16,367.11 cashiers check at a bank ATM in Fort Lee on March 6, 2019. The men then spent the next three days withdrawing the money at various ATMs around the area. Three other Essex County men in their 20s pleaded guilty to the same charge last month and await sentencing. Our journalism needs your support. Please subscribe today to NJ.com. NJ Advance Media staff writer Noah Cohen contributed to this report. Jeff Goldman may be reached at jeff_goldman@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @JGoldmanNJ. On a consolidated basis, Infosys reported 2.3% decline in net profit to Rs 5,076 crore on 1.5% increase in revenues to Rs 26,311 crore in Q4 March 2021 over Q3 December 2020. The company's consolidated net profit rose 17.5% and revenues rose 13.1% in Q4 March 2021 over Q4 March 2020. It reported 16.6% rise in consolidated net profit to Rs 19,351 crore on 10.7% jump in revenues to Rs 100,472 crore in the year ended on 31 March 2021 over the year ended on 31 March 2020. In its outlook for FY22, Infosys has guided for 12% to 14% sales growth in constant currency terms in 2021-22 and an operating margin band of 22% to 24%. Further, the company's board approved a proposal to buyback equity shares worth upto Rs 9,200 crore for a price not exceeding Rs 1,750 per equity share. The total buyback size is less than 15% of the aggregate of the total paid-up share capital and free reserves of the company. As on 31 March 2021, promoters held 12.95% in Infosys. Meanwhile, Infosys announced a final dividend of Rs 15 per share. Bharti Airtel announced a new corporate structure. This is expected to sharpen the focus of the company in driving the rapidly unfolding digital opportunity in India while enabling it to unlock value. The new structure envisages Airtel Digital folding into the listed entity, Bharti Airtel. This will now house all of the digital assets spanning Wynk Music, Airtel X stream, Airtel Thanks, Mitra Payments platform used by a million retailers, Airtel Ads, Airtel IQ, Airtel Secure, Airtel Cloud and all future digital products and services. Tata Motors said that Tata Motors Group global wholesales in Q4 FY21, including Jaguar Land Rover, were at 3,30,125 units, higher by 43%, as compared to Q4 FY20. Future Retail said that it has received communication from Amazon.com that it has filed special leave petition before Supreme Court of India. Happiest Minds Technologies and BeatRoute have entered into a strategic partnership to solve typical revenue realization problems faced presently by the consumer packaged goods (CPG) industry. JSW Steel Italy S.r.l on 13 April 2021 completed the acquisition of 30.73% equity share capital of GSI Lucchini S.p.A ("GSI") for a cash consideration of 1 million euros. Openreach has chosen Sterlite Technologies (STL) as a key partner to provide optical cable solutions for its new, ultra-fast, ultra-reliable 'Full Fibre' broadband network. Adani Road Transport (ARTL), a wholly-owned subsidiary (WOS) of Adani Enterprises, has incorporated a WOS namely, Badakumari Karki Road, on 12 April 2021. Moody's Investors Service has revised the company's rating outlook to 'Stable' from 'Negative' while affirming the Ba1 corporate family rating to Motherson Sumi Systems. NBCC (India) on Tuesday (13 April) said it secured total business of Rs 518.20 crore in March 2021. Powered by Capital Market - Live News (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) In alleys criss-crossing the Libyan capital's Old City, construction crews are hard at work restoring former glory to architectural treasures neglected under ex-dictator Moamer Kadhafi and in the decade since. Pushing wheelbarrows, a clutch of workers ferry sand, dismembered concrete or gravel, and others dig or hammer away, bent double or down on one knee. The din of pick axes stops suddenly, however, as calls to prayer echo around the ancient buildings. Workers down tools in silence, while cafes empty, as everyone heads to their place of worship. The substantial restoration underway seeks to "preserve the heritage of the Old City" in Tripoli, said Mahmoud al-Naas, head of the management committee overseeing the project. Covering around 50 hectares (123 acres), the Old City is an "architectural joy" -- but this makes the "enormous" work required a "heavy responsibility", he said. The project, funded largely by the state, comes as Libya is undergoing a tentative political renewal. A new prime minister, Abdulhamid Dbeibah, was selected earlier this year through a UN-backed inter-Libyan dialogue to steer the North African country to December elections, bringing hope that unrelenting chaos since Kadhafi was ousted and killed in 2011 might finally end. - 'Revive the soul' - Unlike past restoration work -- including largely unsupervised and sometimes botched attempts in the mid-1990s and about a decade later -- latest efforts ban cement and concrete, wherever possible. Lime-based mixtures are used to generate an authentic look during plastering, while basalt cobblestones replace asphalt streets. Built by the Phoenicians in the 7th century BC, Tripoli's Old City has passed from civilisation to civilisation, notably the ancient Greeks, Romans and the Ottoman empire. When Kadhafi decided to ban private sector-led development in the late 1970s, workshops and speciality stores alike lowered their curtains for good. Story continues In an instant, know-how that had been passed down from generation to generation was painfully rendered obsolete. Long-resident families gradually drifted away, despite fleeting attempts to stop the rot in the 1990s. "So many trades just vanished," lamented Hajj Mokhtar, a white-bearded trader who sells mens' wear and reserves particular distaste for cheap imports. But others look to a brighter future. Mohamad al-Ghariani, 76, an artist and painter who owns a gallery in the sector, said the ongoing "improvements... revive the soul of the city that we knew as children". "The restoration is progressing from district to district," he said, pointing with enthusiasm to the restoration of a cultural centre for children, known as Dar Krista. Built in 1977, it is named after renowned Tripolitan artist Abdallah Krista, who produced songs and cartoons for children, and sits within a group of buildings originally erected in 1664 by Osman Pasha Karamalli, descendant of the Ottoman dynasty that ruled Tripoli for centuries. Exemplifying the cultural diversity of the Mediterranean city, another part of the complex still houses the Greek Orthodox St. George, the oldest Orthodox church in North Africa, alongside a so-called Turkish prison, built in 1664 by Osman Pasha to hold Christians captured by the Ottomans. A few parts of the Old City's east side have withstood the ravages of time. The gold and silk markets still attract custom to their covered alleyways and arcades, while its citadel serves as a museum. Then there is the famed Arch of Marcus Aurelius, its date palms and the minaret of the Gurgi Mosque -- the perfect backdrop for a souvenir snap. - 'Everyone counts' - Forsaken corners that up until lately served as open dumps have morphed into huge construction sites overseen by architects, historians, specialist tradesmen and artists. "The opinion and expertise of everyone counts," said one resident, Al-Mahdi Abdallah. Squatters who for many years occupied numerous abandoned buildings have been moved on, often leaving their own haphazard building work or ruins in their wake. In some places, the walls of old buildings awaiting facelifts are bolstered by wooden beams that extend across alleyways like bridges. Defying the dangers of a dugout street, children dart around at full pelt, as an adult scolds them. But "all the elders are keeping an eye on them", so they are safe, noted Abdallah. "That's the benefit of living in this community, which, little by little, is putting itself together again." The already refurbished waterfront at the northern edge now boasts pavements and a completed road. Gone are the potholes that turned the street into a muddy alley on rainy days. The facelift mirrors signs of political progress in the conflict-wracked country. Dbeibah's new government replaced two rival administrations based in Tripoli and the country's east, the latter loyal to military strongman Khalifa Haftar whose forces tried but failed to seize the capital in a 2019-20 offensive. "The Old City is coming back to us," rejoiced Mohamad Nasser, whose seafront shop selling fishing and diving gear is a prime beneficiary of the restoration work. "It was about time!" rb/dwo/hc Garment factory workers and staff wait to receive China's Sinovac coronavirus disease (COVID-19) vaccine at an industrial park in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, April 7. Reuters Spiraling Covid-19 cases have put Cambodia "on the brink of death", its strongman premier Hun Sen has warned, as the country imposed lockdowns in the capital Phnom Penh and a nearby city. The Southeast Asian kingdom has seen Covid-19 cases surge since February, when an outbreak was first detected among its Chinese expatriate community. Authorities said last week that hospitals in Phnom Penh were running out of beds and that they had transformed schools and wedding party halls into treatment centres, while Hun Sen threatened quarantine-breakers with jail time. Phnom Penh and adjacent city Ta Khmau were Wednesday night placed under lockdown for two weeks to curb the spread, effectively halting the movement of more than two million people. "Please my people join your efforts to end this dangerous event," pled premier Hun Sen in a recorded address aired on state-run television late Wednesday night. "We are on the brink of death already," he said. "If we don't join hands together, we will head to real death." Cambodia's latest announced figures exceeded 4,800, but the premier said Wednesday that an additional 300 cases had been detected. Phnom Penh and Ta Khmau residents are now barred from leaving their homes for two weeks except to go to the hospital or to buy medicine, while only two household members will be allowed out to buy food. On Thursday morning, police blocked motorists from passing a checkpoint set up at the border between the two cities, with residents showing their ID cards hoping to pass through. Blockades were also erected around the major Norodom Boulevard around the iconic Independence Monument to prevent people from travelling. While the kingdom has seen improvements in its healthcare in the past decade, its infrastructure especially in rural areas is still poor, with a lack of services and qualified doctors. Inequality also plagues the system, with reports of lower income families being turned away from hospitals. Before the community outbreak was detected in February, Cambodia's Covid-19 toll was comparatively lower than its regional neighbours but experts had chalked it up to the lack of widespread testing. (AFP) The Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) has recently arrested a woman who allegedly attacked a 70-year-old Mexican American grandmother on a bus after thinking she was Asian. The attack: The grandmother, solely identified as Becky, was about to get off the 81 Metro bus at La Loma Road and Figueroa Street on April 9, The East Sider reported. According to Becky's son, Pete, a Black woman aged 25 to 30 hurled anti-Asian slurs at his mother before attacking her and dragging her to the front of the bus. None of the other passengers not even the driver helped Becky, Pete claimed. The assault stopped once one of the passengers called 911. Becky and her family are of Hispanic descent but are often mistaken for Asian. They are longtime residents of Highland Park, one of the first subdivisions of Los Angeles. This content is not available due to your privacy preferences. Update your settings here to see it. The aftermath: Photos taken after the attack show her broken nose as well as deep bruises on her face and neck. Some of her hair and skin were ripped from her scalp. Becky, who was taken to the hospital and released after 24 hours, suffers from preexisting conditions such as lupus arthritis. The bruises on her legs and her other injuries make it difficult for her to walk, according to Pete. LAPD officers found and arrested Yasmine Beasley, 23, for battery around 1:30 p.m. soon after, according to KTLA 5. The incident is under investigation and her bail was set at $50,000. NextShark has reached out to the LAPD for comments regarding the incident. Featured Image via @asianswithattitudes) (left), KTLA 5 (right) Enjoy this content? Read more from NextShark! Chinese Restaurant Sparks Outrage For Weighing Customers Before They Can Order Sri Lankan Students Protest After Memorial for 100K Tamil People Killed in Civil War is Destroyed Chinese Immigrant Who Came to the U.S. With Just $100 Donates MILLIONS of PPE for Front Line Workers Man Arrested for Stabbing Burmese Man and His Son in Texas Sam's Club [April 15, 2021] eXcentral Upgrades Customer Services, Now Offers 24/7 Support LIMASSOL, Cyprus, April 15, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- In response to the growing demand for the brand's services, leading online trading firm eXcentral has announced that its support team will be operating on a 24/7 basis, effective immediately. With this measure, the company continues its strategy of being a pioneer in the industry, on many different levels. The support will be granted through eXcentral's many communication channels: onsite chat, call center, email reply and direct messaging service. "As a company, we know that we must spare no effort in order to always give our clients the edge they can't find anywhere else," remarked Michalis Efthymiou, eXcentral's Chief Market Analyst. "Today's trading environment requires non-stop availability on providers' side. Only that way, can traders buy and ell with an assurance that there's always someone watching their backs. "Sadly, lately several trading brands are falsely claiming to provide 24/7 support, but when you really need them, they're not there for you. That's not the case with us. We guarantee availability at all times, and our clients are welcome to approach us whenever they need to." A history of being groundbreaking 2021 has seen a bloom in the online trading industry so far, mainly due to the failure of the traditional economy to overcome the crisis caused by the Coronavirus pandemic. As a result, hundreds if not thousands of new online brokers have gone on air in the past few months. However, most are not structured well enough to provide decent trading services, let alone be capable of granting traders with exclusive benefits. That's why eXcentral takes great pride in hiring only the top specialists in this industry, thus managing to always stay one step ahead of its competition. The company has an impressive track record of introducing new features and services, later imitated by other brands, and this 24/7 support pledge isn't the first time eXcentral has proved to be a pioneer in what it does. About eXcentral Founded in 2019 and owned by the renowned investment firm Mount Nico Corp Ltd., eXcentral has managed in a short period of time to become a leading name, trusted by traders from all around the globe. The brand is licensed to operate by the Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission (CySEC), ensuring safety of funds on multiple levels. [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] Police in southern Vietnams Binh Thuan province have freed a Facebook user after holding him for five days of questioning over social media posts opposing authorities, the blogger said on Wednesday. Nguyen Van Son Trung was detained April 9 following the arrest of ethnic Cham poet Dong Chuong Tu, who was released on April 10 after being held and questioned for three days. A third friend, Tran Duc Tin, was arrested on April 10 but was also freed after several days of questioning. All three had discussed on Facebook the procedure for nominating independent candidates for election to Vietnams National Assembly and local Peoples Councils, a political process tightly controlled by the countrys ruling Communist Party, which carefully vets named candidates for Party approval. Trung was handcuffed by police on his arrest and was questioned for five days before his release, Trung told RFAs Vietnamese Service. During those five days, they asked me to verify the posts I had put up on my Facebook account, Trung said. They also wanted me to explain the discussions my friends and I had held on our group chat, including how to self-nominate candidates for Peoples Councils at different levels, he said, adding that they had understood that citizens age 21 and older could self-nominate as council members. Trung said that police also questioned him about other Facebook groups and whether he was connected to the U.S.-based Viet Tan opposition party, a group designated by Vietnamese authorities as a terrorist organization, or Vietnamese rights lawyer Nguyen Van Dai, now living in exile in Germany. Physically attacked A police officer slapped Trung on his head on his arrival at the police station, and another slapped him three times on his ears during questioning, Trung said, adding that his interrogators came from three separate security departments and refused his request to see a lawyer. Speaking to RFA, Trung said that the five days of questioning had left him anxious and scared, and that he had been asked at the end to sign a document written by his interrogators testifying that he had worked with them voluntarily and had not been physically or mentally harmed. I also had to promise to work with them again if they asked me to, and I had to promise to write my stories in future in an honest and objective manner, Trung said. Those five days were so stressful that I decided just to sign all those papers so that I could return home, he said. Trungs five days of detention violated Vietnamese law, which stipulates that police cannot temporarily detain anyone without a temporary detention warrant unless they provide in writing a specific reason to the person in detention and their family. Temporary detention should also not last more than 12 hours unless absolutely necessary and must not last longer than 24 hours, Vietnamese law says. During the past three months, police have arrested two other self-nominated assembly candidates, Tran Quoc Khanh and Le Trong Hung, both from Hanoi, for disseminating anti-State materials, even though the central government has openly discussed an initiative to open doors wider for self-nominated candidates. Reported by RFAs Vietnamese Service. Translated by Chau Vu. Written in English by Richard Finney. Photo: The Canadian Press A vial of AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine dose is shown at a facility in Milton, Ont., on March 3, 2021. Ontario blamed a vaccine shortage in some areas on a delayed shipment Wednesday as Ottawa pledged to keep pumping out Oxford-AstraZeneca shots following a safety review that found the product's benefits far outweigh its rare risks. Some immunization clinics in Ontario were forced to close their doors or cancel appointments due to what Premier Doug Ford said was a thrice-delayed shipment of the Moderna shot. "We were expecting the shipments to come in, but unfortunately we never ended up getting them," Ford said. "You can't plan properly if you don't know the flow of the product coming in through your production lines." The Scarborough Health Network in Toronto closed two immunization clinics, which had been vaccinating area residents over the age of 50, all Indigenous adults and health-care workers. It said it plans to reopen the clinics when a new shipment of vaccines arrives Monday. Toronto's University Health Network, meanwhile, said it paused registration for appointments for residents over age 18 who qualify for vaccination based on certain hot-spot postal codes, noting that more than 21,000 people had signed up for a shot. Two other Toronto hospitals North York General and Michael Garron Hospital said they were also temporarily closing clinics because of supply issues. Ontario has received a total of 4,506,495 doses of COVID-19 vaccine so far, and administered 3,310,157 doses or 73.45 per cent of the supply. Officials in Toronto insisted the city was not stockpiling vaccines, saying the only shots sitting in freezers are ones that are scheduled to be administered. "Fundamentally what we have here is an issue of supply," said Dr. Eileen de Villa, the city's medical officer of health. "We are all suffering as a result of a delay in arrival of vaccine." Public health officials said city-run mass immunization clinics don't have the same supply issues, because they are getting vaccines distributed by the city primarily Pfizer-BioNTech shots whereas the hospital networks get their product mostly Moderna directly from the province. The federal government, meanwhile, said it will continue offering the AstraZeneca shot following a review of safety data. The agency said the benefits of the shots far outweigh the risks posed by a new and extremely rare blood-clotting condition that may be linked to the product. Canada reported its first-ever case of a blood clot in a patient who received the AstraZeneca vaccine on Tuesday. The National Advisory Committee on Immunization is reviewing the latest information and will decide if it needs to change its recommendation that the vaccine not be used on anyone under the age of 55. Contagious variants of COVID-19 have lent more urgency to the vaccine rollout, with numerous provinces managing major outbreaks. Ontario logged 4,156 new infections Wednesday, along with 28 more deaths linked to the virus. The numbers pushed the province's seven-day rolling average to just above 4,000 daily cases. The pandemic is also continuing to put immense pressure on Ontario's hospitals, with the province's health minister saying there are 642 COVID-19 patients in intensive care units. Quebec's hospital system is also being strained due to the novel coronavirus, with 660 COVID-19 patients hospitalized. Of those, 152 are in intensive care, said Health Minister Christian Dube. The pressure on the system has forced some hospitals to delay medical procedures, he said. That makes it even more critical for people to follow public-health measures, Dube said. Quebec counted 1,559 new cases of COVID-19 and seven more deaths Wednesday. Alberta, the province with the highest active case rate in Canada, reported 1,412 new infections and eight additional deaths. It had 420 people in hospital, with 92 in intensive care. Education officials also approved requests from school boards in Calgary to move students in grades 7 through 12 to online learning at home. British Columbia reported a record high hospitalization rate on Wednesday at 397 people, including 120 in intensive care. The province also confirmed 1,168 new infections and six more deaths. Manitoba, with 86 new cases and three added deaths, expanded its vaccine eligibility by dropping the minimum age by one year to 39 for First Nations people and 59 for others. Saskatchewan recorded 193 new infections and one more death. The province said 203 people were hospitalized with the virus, including 41 in intensive care. Farther east, New Brunswick added 16 new cases, mostly in the hard-hit Edmundston area, which was placed in full lockdown last weekend. The province had 141 active cases of the virus the most in Atlantic Canada. Newfoundland and Labrador recorded three more infections, all of which the province said are related to travel. Nova Scotia reported two new infections for a total of 42 active cases. In the North, Yukon diagnosed one new case of COVID-19 the second this week, and 76th since the start of the pandemic. The territory also confirmed its first cases of the COVID-19 variant of concern that first emerged in Brazil. The P. 1 variant's arrival in Yukon is particularly worrying, the territory's chief medical officer said, because there's little information about how the strain responds to the Moderna vaccine, which has been administered to about 70 per cent of Yukon residents. Realme 8 5G is scheduled to launch on April 21 in Thailand. The smartphone is expected to arrive in India as well according to the companys latest teaser. Realme has teased the launch of the first MediaTek Dimensity 700 5G-powered phone in India. It hasnt revealed the phones name but Realme 8 5G will reportedly feature this chipset. A teaser page on Flipkart of the upcoming Realme 5G phone highlights the MediaTek chipset which is built on the 7nm process and is said to be 28% more power efficient than 8nm. The chipset can be clocked up to 2.2GHz and is paired with ARM Mali-G57 GPU. Realme is yet to reveal more specifications of the phone. But we do have an idea on what to expect based on its Geekbench listing. Realme 8 5G has been listed with 8GB of RAM and a full HD+ display. The smartphone will also run Android 11 out-of-the-box. Realme 8 5G is also expected to be a rebranded version of the Realme V13 5G that launched in China. Going by this speculation, Realme 8 5G will come with a 6.5-inch display with full HD+ resolution and a 90Hz refresh rate. The smartphone features an 8-megapixel camera, and a triple rear camera setup that consists of a 48-megapixel primary sensor, a 2-megapixel macro sensor, and a 2-megapixel depth sensor. Realme V13 5G also on a MediaTek Dimensity 700 processor. The phone is available in 8GB+128GB and 8GB+256GB RAM and storage combinations. On the software front, it has Android 11 with Realme UI 2.0 on top. It packs a 5,000mAh battery with 18W fast charging support. The Paycheck Fairness Act, which aims to close loopholes used by employers to pay women less than men for doing the same work, passed the House in a vote of 217-210 on Thursday. Why it matters: The pandemic has widened disparities for women's employment and economic equity. The World Economic Forum projects it will take women in North America roughly 61.5 years to have economic parity with men. Get market news worthy of your time with Axios Markets. Subscribe for free. The big picture: This is the fourth time Democrats have attempted to pass the legislation. The act passed the House in 2008, 2009, and 2019. The bill, reintroduced in late January, has only three Republican co-sponsors in the House Reps. Brian Fitzpatrick (R-Pa.), Jefferson Van Drew (D-N.J.), and Christopher Smith (D-N.J.). Republicans say the act would open businesses to lawsuits and point to condemnations from the Chamber of Commerce as evidence that Democrats' bill would erode protections for employers and discourage hiring. Most Republicans counter that the Wage Equity Act is a better way to address pay disparities. The bill, introduced by Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-N.Y.), would encourage companies to voluntarily analyze employee pay and direct GAO, an independent government agency, to study impacts of women leaving the workforce for family reasons. Like this article? Get more from Axios and subscribe to Axios Markets for free. McCrory announces campaign for U.S. Senate Former Gov. Pat McCrory announced his campaign for U.S. Senate on Wednesday. RALEIGH In a video attacking the Biden-Harris administration for open borders and proposed tax increases, on Wednesday morning former N.C. Governor Pat McCrory made it official and became the second high-profile Republican candidate to enter the 2022 U.S. Senate race. The candidates compete to replace three-term Republican U.S. Senator Richard Burr who is retiring from Congress. Harris and Biden are opening our borders before they are opening our schools, McCrory stated in his announcement video. They are raising your taxes and even the price of gas. In a nod to Trump supporters McCrory proclaimed: Lets put America first, and bring conservative North Carolina common sense to Washington. Carolina Journal first reported in February that McCrory was likely to enter the U.S. Senate race. Former Greensboro-area Congressman Mark Walker announced his U.S. Senate bid in December of last year, and until this week had the race for the GOP primary to himself. Walker did not wait for McCrory to enter the race before taking a jab at the former governors Senate candidacy. With taking back the Senate majority hinging on our success in North Carolina, why would we gamble on Pat McCrory a career politician who has lost more statewide races than hes won. McCrory has routinely attacked conservatives, including President Trump, Walker tweeted on Tuesday. Carolina Journal also reported recently that U.S. Rep. Ted Budd will follow suit and vie for the Republican nomination. On Tuesday, CJ reported that Lt. Governor Mark Robinson is also thinking seriously about a run for U.S. Senate in 2022 and plans to announce his decision within days. According to a memo obtained by Politico, McCrory would enter the race with a large lead over Walker and Budd. The data was collected by Glen Bolger of Public Opinion Strategies, who is expected to handle polling duties for the McCrory for Senate campaign. In the survey McCrory was viewed favorably by 58% of likely primary voters and unfavorably by 13%; Walker was viewed favorably by 20 percent of GOP voters and unfavorably by 4 percent; Budd was viewed favorably by 16% and unfavorably by 5%. In a hypothetical three-way matchup, McCrory led with nearly half the vote: 48%, compared to 13% for Walker and 9% for Budd. He also led both in one-on-one matchups. The polling memo did not include Lara Trump, or Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson. Despite public pronouncements that she is still considering the race, sources continue to tell CJ that Lara Trump will not enter the U.S. Senate race for 2022. South Korean President Moon Jae-in speaks during a ministerial meeting at Cheong Wa Dae on April 15. Yonhap South Korean President Moon Jae-in will visit Washington next month for his first in-person summit with U.S. President Joe Biden, White House spokeswoman Jen Psaki said Thursday. "President Biden looks forward to welcoming President Moon of the Republic of Korea to the White House in the second half of May," Psaki said in a daily press briefing, referring to South Korea by its official name. The spokeswoman said the summit will highlight the "iron-clad" U.S.-South Korea alliance, as it follows a recent visit by Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin to Seoul. "We are still finalizing the date for that, but this visit, following the recent two-plus-two visit to Seoul by secretaries Blinken and Austin, and the national security advisers' trilateral meeting in Annapolis, will highlight the iron-clad U.S.-South Korea alliance and the longstanding ties and friendships between the people of our two countries," she said. National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan hosted his South Korea and Japanese counterparts in Maryland earlier this month for three-way discussions on a wide range of issues, including how best to approach North Korea. The Moon-Biden summit will follow the U.S.-Japan summit, set to be held here Friday. Psaki noted the denuclearization of North Korea will be an important topic for both of the summit meetings. U.S. President Joe Biden delivers remarks on Russia at the White House in Washington, D.C., on April 15, 2021. AFP-Yonhap Source: Xinhua| 2021-04-15 16:42:29|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close MANILA, April 15 (Xinhua) -- Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte has lifted the nine-year moratorium on new mining agreements to maximize the country's benefit from the industry, the presidential office said on Thursday. "The Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) may continue to grant and issue exploration permits under existing laws, rules, and guidelines," according to an executive order (EO) signed by Duterte on Wednesday. The EO added that those who will get permits "shall be given the right of (the) first option to develop and utilize the minerals in their exploration area upon the approval of the declaration of mining project feasibility." "The DENR shall formulate the terms and conditions in the new mineral agreements that will maximize government revenues and share from production, including the possibility of declaring these areas as mineral reservations to obtain appropriate royalties, in accordance with existing laws, rules, and regulations," the EO said. In 2012, then Philippine President Benigno Aquino III barred the signing of new mineral agreements. "The Philippines has tapped less than 5 percent of its mineral resources endowment to date," the EO said, adding it will usher in "significant economic benefit to the country." "The mining industry can support various government projects, provide raw materials to other construction and development of other industries, and increase employment opportunities in remote rural areas thereby stimulating countryside development," the EO said. Enditem India's two biggest cities have been shutdown amid spiralling Covid infections which saw a record 200,000 new cases on Thursday. Patients have been packed two to a bed at one hospital in Delhi, where, along with Mumbai, stringent new lockdown rules have been imposed to curb the spread. The soaring deaths and cases come just months after India thought it had seen the worst of the pandemic - and have forced the country to delay exports of vaccines abroad. Despite the perilous situation, footage has emerged of villagers in Andhra Pradesh hurling cow dung at each other as part of religious celebrations. Similar recent mass gatherings, including hundreds of thousands bathing in the Ganges, have been blamed for being 'super-spreader' events. At Lok Nayak Jai Prakash Narayan Hospital (LNJP) in Delhi, one of India's largest COVID-only facilities with more than 1,500 beds, a stream of ambulances ferried patients to the overflowing casualty ward on Thursday. Thousands of villagers gathered in Kairuppala, a village in southern India, on Wednesday to take part in an annual festival where participants pelt each-other with cow dung (pictured) The festival, which is supposed to guarantee peace, good health and prosperity, was allowed to go ahead despite India's soaring Covid second wave India reported 200,739 new cases of Covid on Thursday amid a rapidly-spreading second wave of Covid that doctors fear is being driven by a new mutation Deaths are also beginning to spike and have remained above 1,000 for two days in a row, with medics fearful that they are fighting a more-deadly version of the disease Some also arrived in buses and three-wheeled autorickshaws. The youngest patient was a new-born baby. 'We are definitely over-burdened. We are already working at full capacity,' said the hospital's medical director, Suresh Kumar. From an initial 54 beds, the hospital now has over 300 for COVID-19 patients in critical condition. Even that is not enough. Unrelated patients share beds, while bodies of the recently deceased lie outside the ward before being taken to the mortuary. 'Today we have 158 admissions in Lok Nayak alone,' Kumar said. Almost all were severe cases. Delhi announced stay-at-home orders for the weekend, though essential workers will be able to move about if they have a pass from local authorities. Restaurants, malls, gyms and spas will be shut down. Movie theaters will close on weekends, but can operate on weekdays at a third of their capacity. Arvind Kejriwal, Delhi's top elected official, said that despite rise in infections, 5,000 hospital beds are still available in the capital and more capacity is being added. But still, more than a dozen hotels and wedding banquet halls were ordered to be converted into COVID-19 centres where doctors from nearby hospitals will treat the moderately ill. 'The surge is alarming,' said S.K. Sarin, a government health expert in New Delhi. The moves in the capital came after similar measures were imposed in the worst-hit state of Maharashtra, home to financial capital, Mumbai. The bustle of India's biggest city ebbed after authorities closed most industries, businesses and public places Wednesday night and put limits on the movement of people for 15 days. Train and plane travel was still allowed, however. In recent days, the city has seen an exodus of panic-stricken day laborers, hauling backpacks and flocking to overcrowded trains. Dozens of other towns and cities have also imposed nighttime curfews. The surge in cases was weighing on hospitals in Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat and several other states, where many reported a shortage of oxygen tanks. Imran Sheikh, a resident of the city of Pune in Maharashtra, said he was asked to supply his own oxygen tank for a relative undergoing COVID-19 treatment. Cremation and burial grounds in the worst-hit areas were finding it difficult to cope with the increasing number of bodies arriving for last rites, according to Indian media reports. Shahid Jamil, a virologist, said the recent local and state elections with massive political rallies and a major Hindu festival during which hundreds of thousands of devotees bathed in the Ganges river were super-spreader events. Today new footage emerged of the dung-throwing event - known as pidakala samara - taking place in the village of Kairuppala, in Andhra Pradesh - the day after lunar new year celebrations. It marks a mythological marriage dispute between two deities which was resolved by village elders, according to legend, and villagers believe that re-enacting the dispute and its peaceful conclusion each year will bring peace, health and prosperity. The packed event was allowed to go ahead despite India's soaring Covid infection rate. The 200,739 new infections recorded Thursday are about twice the number of daily cases that were recorded during the last peak, in September. The Health Ministry also reported 1,038 deaths from COVID-19 in the past 24 hours, pushing the toll over 173,000. Participants in the festival are split into 'teams' along caste and religious lines - representing two side in a mythical marriage dispute - before battling with dung Police said 100 people were injured during the fight (pictured, men with bruised faces) though none of them was seriously hurt Dr Shashank Joshi, who is leading India's Covid response in hardest-hit city of Mumbai, described the soaring infections as a 'tsunami' that has caught the government completely unawares. The health system is already close to be overwhelmed, he said, with hospitals pleading for supplies of key medicines including oxygen to keep patients alive. Dr Joshi told The Guardian that the second wave is affecting both young and old, with even children - previously spared the worst affects of Covid - now being brought into hospital with severe infections. It comes just two months after the government was toasting its own success in fighting Covid as cases and deaths appeared to be in decline - though medics warned at the time that patchy testing meant many were being missed. While the new surge has not been fully explained, medics theorise that it could be down to a new variant of the disease which is both more infectious and more deadly. Similar virus mutations in the UK, Brazil and South Africa sent cases and deaths soaring in those countries and forced governments to take tougher measures to combat the infections. India has been slow to respond to the spike, with Maharashtra state - the worst-hit - the only one so-far ordered into lockdown, which began yesterday. For the next 15 days only essential services will be allowed to operate, Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray said, while gatherings have been limited to four people and non-essential use of public transport outlawed. Indian medical workers in the city of Mumbai, which has been hardest-hit by the Covid second wave, prepare a body for cremation on Tuesday Health authorities in Mumbai say hospitals are running short of key supplies including oxygen as the city is overwhelmed by a wave of Covid But mass gatherings have continued elsewhere unabated, with thousands of Hindu devotees gathering to pray on the banks of the Ganges earlier this week during the festival of Kumbh Mela. And in Andhra Pradesh, New Year celebrations such as pidakala samara have been allowed to go ahead with no sign of social distancing or mask wearing. The festival traces its origins back to a mythological marriage between two deities of different castes who wished to marry, sparking a war between people of the village. Village elders eventually resolved the dispute and the marriage was solemnised, restoring peace to Kairuppa. Each year, the village is divided along religious and caste lines and each side lines up to hurl cow dung cakes - which are made a month ahead of time - at the other. After the fight is over, processions are led out and village elders ritually bless the marriage of Lord Veerabhadra Swamy and Kalika Devi which is thought to bring peace, health and prosperity to the village. Police said 100 people were injured in this year's celebrations, though none were seriously hurt. Other traditional New Year celebrations in Andhra Pradesh state include leading donkeys through a pond of sludge that is poured around a temple, before washing and adorning the animals, which are then worshipped. In total, India has reported more than 14million cases of Covid - the world's second-highest total after the US. The country has also recorded 173,000 deaths, the fourth highest total in the world, though experts warn that is almost certainly a gross underestimate. It is thought that just 20 per cent of deaths in India are medically registered with an official cause of death given, with experts saying the true death toll could be two or three times the official figure. BAY CITY, MI - The Bay County Board of Commissioners received an update on the COVID-19 situation throughout the county that contained a mix of both good and bad news, as Bay County Health Department Health Officer Joel Strasz updated the board during its regular meeting on Tuesday, April 13 about the state of the pandemic in Bay County. The surge continues and it looks like its continuing to be unabated, Strasz said. According to data provided by the state, Bay County has seen 730 new confirmed cases of the virus from April 1-14. In comparison, the county saw 790 new cases for the entire month of March. Bay County has seen a total of 9,489 cases with 312 total deaths during the pandemic, according to the state. Strasz said that the countys test positivity rate was at approximately 21% Tuesday, compared to the states rate of 18%. Bay County however is trending lower than the region. Were on par with the state and just a little bit below the entire region. The entire Thumb area is well over 30%, said Strasz. Whats leading the surge in cases in the area? Strasz pointed to the variants of the virus that have been making their rounds. SO far, the P.1 and the B.1.1.7 variants have been found in Bay County, as of April 13. All these types of variants are much more highly transmissible, Strasz told the board. In the case of the Brazilian variants, 250x more likely to be transmitted than the original wild-type of virus that was prevalent most of 2020. Strasz cautioned that a majority of the spread was taking place in young adults and those under 18. So were seeing much more spread overall in the general community, especially amongst younger people, Strasz said. About 20% of all cases now occur in persons below the age of 18 and more than half of all cases is occurring right now below the age of 35. On the flipside, Strasz said that there was good news to be had thanks to the countywide vaccination efforts targeted towards older members of the population. Strasz told the Board of Commissioners that approximately 75% of the senior population in Bay County was covered with at least one shot as of Tuesday. Strasz noted that the case rate among seniors is trending lower. The number of seniors that are new confirmed positive cases is relatively low, about 6% for overall, he said. What we also need in the meantime is to make sure that were all masking properly and were still distancing and using good hygiene, being aware of the risks that we face ourselves and we may present to others. On the vaccination front, Strasz discussed the issues surrounding Johnson & Johnsons vaccine. Michigan temporarily halted its use of Johnson & Johnsons COVID-19 vaccine due to reports of adverse reactions. Because of this, Strasz said that Bay County has temporarily paused some of its Johnson & Johnson vaccine clinics while also moving ahead with others but while using the Pfizer vaccine instead. MLive previously reported that the Johnson & Johnson vaccine has shown a small amount of instances of a type of blood clotting in the brain known as cerebral venous sinus thrombosis, combined with thrombocytopenia (low blood platelet count). The clotting was found in six women, ages 18 to 48, who had received the Johnson & Johnson vaccine between six and 13 days earlier, as previously reported by MLive. One woman died, while another was in critical condition as of Tuesday morning, April 13. Theres one fatality thats been known, but with all that being said, that is a very, very minute amount and its extremely, extremely rare that a situation like this would occur, said Strasz. Strasz told commissioners that since the Johnson & Johnson vaccine is administered in a single dose that it is distributed to certain vulnerable populations often. Its great to use in circumstances where its difficult to get two doses to people, so for like high rises with shut-ins or the homeless populations or places like that, he said. The CDC is currently consulting with the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices to further review the vaccine. Strasz said that he expected that the vaccine will be approved for use once again after the meeting. Im fairly confident that as a result and review of the data that theyre going to reallow that the Johnson & Johnson vaccine be used, he said. The temporary halt on the Johnson & Johnson vaccine meant that health departments like Bay County will need to hit the ground running by educating the public once it becomes available again. Strasz said, We know that were probably going to have quite a job to do with outreach and education with folks, I know some people will be extremely hesitant with the Johnson & Johnson vaccine. More from MLive Bay County extends state of emergency through July so local boards can continue virtual meetings Over 40% of Bay Countys population has received the COVID-19 vaccine, but cases are spiking in young adults Saginaw City Council approves resolution supporting nondiscrimination policies for the LGBTQ community STARS reducing service hours in Saginaw as COVID-19 spike impacts staffing levels E-commerce firm has announced its proposed acquisition of Cleartrip, a leading online travel technology company. Walmart-owned will acquire 100 per cent of Cleartrips shareholding, as the company further enhances its investments to strengthen its digital commerce offerings for customers. Under the terms of the agreement, operations will be acquired by will continue to operate as a separate brand. It would retain all employees while working closely with Flipkart to further develop technology solutions to make travel simple for customers. Flipkart didnt reveal the transaction's financial details, but the deal value is reportedly about $40 million. The Flipkart Group is committed to transforming customer experiences through digital commerce. is synonymous with travel for many customers, and as we diversify and look at new areas of growth, this investment will help strengthen our wide range of offerings for customers, said Kalyan Krishnamurthy, CEO, Flipkart Group. We welcome the Cleartrip team with their deep industry knowledge and technology capabilities to the Flipkart Group and look forward to providing deeper value and travel experiences for customers together. Stuart Crighton, CEO and co-founder of Cleartrip, said Cleartrip has been a pioneer in capitalising on technology to simplify the travel experience for customers. This product-driven focus has enabled it to become the preferred travel partner of choice for consumers in a wide range of markets in the region. We are delighted to be part of the Flipkart family and are excited about the positive impact this collaboration can have for our customers and the travel industry in general, said Crighton. The deal closing will be subject to applicable regulatory approvals. According to industry sources, the move will enable Flipkart to take on travel such as MakeMyTrip, Yatra, Booking.com, and EaseMyTrip. Flipkart expects a boom in travel and tourism as the economy recovers from the pandemic-induced slowdown. Apart from air travel, Flipkart would also be able to offer train bookings through Cleartrip, which has a partnership with IRCTC. In 2018, Flipkart formed a strategic partnership with MakeMyTrip in the travel services segment. The aim was for MakeMyTrips multiple brands including MakeMyTrip, Goibibo and redBus to leverage Flipkarts large customer base to drive online bookings in travel services. In 2019, Flipkart strengthened its travel offering by introducing an enhanced native experience in partnership with Ixigo, a mobile travel platform. Last year, Flipkarts rival Amazon India partnered IRCTC. Incidentally, last year, Amazon also partnered Cleartrip to add a flight-booking option to Amazon Pay. Cleartrip reported loss of Rs 14 crore in FY20, a 53 per cent decrease compared with the previous year, and revenues of Rs 319 crore, according to Tofler. If you have an event you'd like to list on the site, submit it now! Submit [April 14, 2021] CADENCE BANCORPORATION INVESTOR ALERT by the Former Attorney General of Louisiana: Kahn Swick & Foti, LLC Investigates Adequacy of Price and Process in Proposed Sale of Cadence Bancorporation - CADE Former Attorney General of Louisiana Charles C. Foti, Jr., Esq. and the law firm of Kahn Swick & Foti, LLC ("KSF") are investigating the proposed sale of Cadence Bancorporation (NYSE: CADE) to BancorpSouth Bank (NYSE: BXS). Under the terms of the proposed transaction, shareholders of Cadence will receive only 0.70 shares of BancorpSouth and a dividend of $1.25 for each share of Cadence that they own. KSF is seeking to determine whether this consideration and the process that led to it are adequate, or whether the consideration undervalues the Company. If you believe that this transaction undervalues the Company and/or if you would like to discuss your legal rights regarding the proposed sale, you may, without obligation or cost t you, e-mail or call KSF Managing Partner Lewis S. Kahn (lewis.kahn@ksfcounsel.com) toll free at any time at 855-768-1857, or visit https://www.ksfcounsel.com/cases/nyse-cade/ to learn more. To learn more about KSF, whose partners include the Former Louisiana Attorney General, visit www.ksfcounsel.com. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210414005969/en/ [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] New Delhi, April 15 : The Delhi government has informed the Supreme Court that the presence of pollutants in the Yamuna between Palla and Wazirabad is principally attributable to the discharge of untreated pollutants into the river upstream in Haryana. In a rejoinder affidavit in the top court in response to the reply of Haryana and its Department of Irrigation and Water Resources, the Delhi government said: "It is further submitted that there are no entry points for pollutants into the River Yamuna between Palla and Wazirabad in the NCT of Delhi." It said the continued actions/inaction of the Haryana government and its Water Resources Department have led to large scale reductions of up to 30 per cent in water supply in many areas supplied by the Wazirabad, Chandrawal and Okhla Water Treatment Plants, and has a direct and potentially devastating impact on the right of residents of the NCT of Delhi to clean and adequate drinking water. "Even as of 9 a.m. on April 11, 2021, the ammonia level in the River Yamuna at the point it enters the Wazirabad reservoir is 4.4 ppm, which is much higher than the ammonia level that the plants of the Petitioner Board can process for purification," Delhi said in the affidavit. It claimed this has resulted in the Wazirabad water treatment plant functioning at 71 per cent of its capacity, the Chandrawal water treatment plant at 84 per cent, and the Okhla water treatment plant at 86 percent of its capacity as on April 11, causing large scale water shortage. On March 26, a bench headed by Chief Justice S.A. Bobde, had directed the Haryana government and others to continue with status quo on supply of Yamuna water to Delhi. The bench had clarified the water supply to the national capital which is facing a shortage should not be reduced. The Delhi government, which moved the top court in January this year through the Delhi Jal Board (DJB), had sought directions to Haryana to cease the discharge of untreated pollutants into the Yamuna and also release sufficient water to the national capital. The rejoinder affidavit, filed through DJB's Chief Engineer M.K. Hans, contended "the entire reply is an exercise in obfuscation, wherein the Respondents No 1 and 2 (Haryana and its department concerned) have effectively sought to assert a 'right to pollute' the Yamuna, taking advantage of their geographical location as an upper riparian state". The affidavit said the Delhi government moved the top court to avert a water crisis, as it also noted that the SC, on multiple occasions, held that the "right to clean and adequate drinking water forms part of the right to life under Article 21 of the Constitution". A more contagious variant of the coronavirus is now dominant in the U.S. Variants are complicating the fight to subdue the pandemic and raising calls for continued vigilanceand mask-wearing. Credit: Alison Booth/Northeastern University The fight to end the pandemic has become a race against formidable opponents: variants. Variants of SARS-CoV-2, the coronavirus that causes COVID-19, are already proliferating around the world, complicating the fight to subdue the pandemic. In the U.S., a highly contagious variant of the coronavirus is now the dominant strain, and it's helping drive a surge in cases of COVID-19 across the nation. Other, more transmissible variants are also spreading in the U.S., and public health experts have warned that more variants may still yet emerge. Although the vaccines being administered offer hope, it's not yet time to stop and celebrate, says Neil Maniar, associate chair of the Department of Health Sciences at Northeastern. "We're not at the finish line yet." The goal, he says, is to prevent the spread of those variants when they pop up, because failure to do so could lead to the emergence of more variants, perhaps even strains that can dodge the protection of current vaccines. "Viruses are constantly replicating, and as they're replicating, it's highly likely that mutations will develop," Maniar says. And that's one of the big reasons why public health officials have been working to vaccinate the population to a level that will achieve herd immunity to stop that process in its tracks. The more contagious variant of the virus first identified in the U.Kthe B.1.1.7 varianthas become the dominant source of new COVID-19 cases in the U.S, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. As of Monday, scientists had determined that the B.1.1.7 variant was the cause of more than 20,000 cases in the country. And it's not alone. Variants first identified in South Africa and Brazil, dubbed B.1.351, and P.1. respectively, also seem to be more contagious and have been identified in most states across the U.S. Additional new variants have also been identified in New York and California recently. And the B.1.1.7 strain already may be mutating into a new strain in Oregon, too. The vaccines currently approved in the U.S. seem to be very effective against the B.1.1.7 variant, says Brandon Dionne, assistant clinical professor of pharmacy and health systems sciences at Northeastern. But there's a lot less data about the efficacy of the vaccines against the other known variants. It's likely that the vaccines are less effectivethough not entirely ineffectiveat preventing infection in the face of the B.1.351 and P.1 variants, Dionne says. And that isn't necessarily cause for concern. That's because these vaccinations are probably very effective at keeping people out of the hospital and effective enough at preventing symptomatic disease, which makes someone much more likely to transmit the virus. "The good thing about the vaccine is that even if it is not as effective against those variants, in theory, it should prime your immune system so that at least the severity of the disease will cause less hospitalizations and deaths," says Jared Auclair, who runs Northeastern's COVID-19 testing facility, the Life Sciences Testing Center. The information that we already have seems to support that. For example, the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine has also been tested in South Africa, and the companies reported that their vaccine is 91 percent effective there, compared to 95 percent in its original trial. An independent study in Israel publicized over the weekend found evidence that corroborates the idea that the vaccine provides less protection against that B.1.351 variant. Although the Johnson & Johnson vaccine is currently mired in controversy and its shots have largely been suspended across the U.S., it also was studied in South Africa and its efficacy there was 57 percent, compared to 72 percent in the United States. Reduced efficacy could mean that the threshold for herd immunity, considered by most epidemiologists to be about 80 percent of the population, will need to be higher. That adds to the urgency around getting people vaccinated, Dionne says. Because the longer the virus is spreading throughout the world, the more variants will emerge. "If you have reduced efficacy, you have more symptomatic cases, likely more transmission, and more opportunities for the virus to mutate and create new variants that then can further escape the immune response to the vaccine," Dionne says. "That is, I think, the ultimate concern." The threat of a new variant that evades the protection of existing vaccines may evoke a nightmare scenario that could set us back to March 2020or earlier. But drug companies wouldn't actually have to start at square one if that were to come to pass. "Some of these technologies, like the mRNA vaccine technologies, can be updated very quickly and changed," Dionne says. "So as long as they have the RNA code for the mutated spike proteins in these new variants, then they could develop a new vaccine fairly quickly as well." Moderna, and Pfizer and BioNTech are currently conducting research on the potential for such booster shots. To keep tabs on the variants, researchers like Auclair are fully sequencing the viral samples from positive tests that pass through their laboratories. The work is painstaking, but it could help reveal vital clues about emerging variants. If someone who is vaccinated tests positive, for example, that could help public health officials stop another epidemic. As a result, it's likely that governments and institutions will continue to do some level of surveillance testing, even as vaccination rates rise, Maniar says. This will also help public health officials monitor the safety of reopening measures. "This is one of the things where it's really important that we continue to keep our finger on the pulse of what's going on." Even people who have been fully vaccinated should continue wearing masks, social distancing, and practicing good hygiene, Maniar says. Although CDC guidelines permit people who are fully vaccinated to take their masks off around other people who are fully vaccinated, he explains, they need to be aware that they could be asymptomatically carrying the virus or one of these variants and could transmit it to someone who is not fully vaccinated. (Someone is considered fully vaccinated two weeks after their second shot of the two-shot vaccines or two weeks after the single-shot vaccine.) The presence of variants underscores the continued need for vigilance, Maniar says. "We need to continue to practice safe behaviors. We need to wear masks, socially distance when we're around others, wash our hands," he says. "We can't let our guard down." Explore further Follow the latest news on the coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak BIOTECanada and Cognit.ca Launch Initiative to Help Biotechnology Industry Mobilize University and Hospital Research To help accelerate innovation in Canada's biotechnology industry, BIOTECanada and Cognit.ca are partnering to launch the Biotechnology R&D Portal and the Biotechnology R&D Showcase webinar series. The goal of this initiative is to help Canada's biotechnology industry more quickly mobilize university and hospital research into products and services that benefit Canadians. This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210415005647/en/ The Biotechnology R&D Portal will give industry leaders unprecedented visibility into world-class expertise, research, facilities and intellectual property that exist at post-secondary institutions across Canada. The Biotechnology R&D Showcases will connect industry executives and researchers with cutting-edge discoveries. "Academic research is a critical raw ingredient for innovation and company growth. In a knowledge intensive industry like biotechnology, getting quick and efficient access to that raw ingredient is a significant competitive advantage," said Andrew Casey, President and CEO of BIOTECanada. "This partnership with Cognit.ca will help give our members that edge and help Canadians benefit from these discoveries more quickly." "Cognit.ca was designed to help businesses access expertise, research, facilities and intellectual property at post-secondary institutions across the country," said Mike Matheson, managing director of Cognit.ca. "This partnership with BIOTECanada will help fuel Canada's biotechnology industry with the world-class research being undertaken in Canada's post-secondary institutions." The Biotechnology R&D Portal leverages Cognit.ca's extensive database of research activities undertaken by Canada's post-secondary education institutions. The portal will give industry leaders a window into the latest research and discoveries as well as the ability to search Cognit.ca's database of more than 22,000 research grants, more than 100,000 experts, thousands of pieces of intellectual property, thousands of pieces of research infrastructure and hundreds of research facilities from the Canada Foundation for Innovation's Research Facilities Navigator. The portal can be accessed at http://www.biotech.ca/rd-portal/ About BIOTECanada BIOTECanada is the national industry association with over 200 members located nation wide, reflecting the diverse nature of Canada's health, industrial and agricultural biotechnology sectors. In addition to providing significant health benefits for Canadians, the biotechnology industry has quickly become an essential part of the transformation of many traditional cornerstones of the Canadian economy including manufacturing, automotive, energy, aerospace and forestry industries. About Cognit.ca Cognit.ca is a tool for businesses, non-profits, governments and others who want to access the experts, facilities and/or intellectual property that exist on campuses across Canada. Originally created by The U15 Group of Canadian Research Universities as part of a larger set of initiatives to increase the impact of Canadian university research Cognit.ca is now being developed in partnership with Universities Canada, in collaboration with Canada Foundation for Innovation (CFI), and with the support of Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR), the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council (NSERC), the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC), and Mitacs. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210415005647/en/ Patna, April 15 : The mounting number of Covid cases has resulted in a shortage of oxygen supplies at several hospitals in Patna. The city's major facilities including Patna Medical College and Hospitals (PMCH), Nalanda Medical College and Hospital (NMCH) and AIIMS are full with Covid patients as a result the smaller hospitals and nursing homes are treating the non-Covid patients. But they have been facing the challenges in obtaining the oxygen cylinders from the companies. A Medical Superintendent of a private nursing home at Raja Bazar said that his hospital has referred many patients to bigger hospitals of the city due to irregular oxygen supplies by the companies. "We have urged the company to supply oxygen cylinders to my hospital on Tuesday and reminded it on Wednesday as well. If the company does not supply us the oxygen cylinders on a regular basis, we may terminate our contract with it," the Medical Superintendent said on the condition of anonymity. Another doctor of a private hospital located at Saguna Mor in Danapur said: "As the beds in major hospitals are occupied at the moment, a large number of patients are in home-isolation. There is a possibility of oxygen cylinders reaching at the individual patient, the hospitals are unable to obtain cylinders and the black marketing of cylinders cannot be ruled out." Alok Kumar, MD of Jagdish Memorial hospital in Patna had written to Patna DM Chandrashekher Singh, Civil Surgeon Vibha Kumari, Principal Secretary (Health) Pratyay Amrit and Health Minister Mangal Pandey to ensure regular supplies of oxygen cylinder in private hospitals. Following the complaint, the DM has directed all oxygen cylinder provider companies to supply cylinders in hospitals first. "The companies will be severely penalized if they are involved in black marketing of oxygen cylinders," the DM said. Latest updates on Coronavirus (COVID-19) Ballia (UP): Union Minister Giriraj Singh today targeted Rahul Gandhi claiming the Congress Vice President did not have knowledge of the history or geography of the country and was only fond of reading scripts. The UP state Congress reacted sharply to his comments alleging that since no development was visible during the BJP rule, its leaders were making "absurd" statements. "Like film actors, Rahul is fond of reading written scripts. He does not have knowledge of history and geography of India," Singh, the minister of state for micro, small and medium enterprises, told reporters here. The BJP leader, known for making controversial remarks, also claimed that a Ram Temple will be constructed in Ayodhya. "It will be constructed 200 per cent. Hindus and Muslims will jointly build it. The ancestors of both are the same though religion has changed," he said responding to a question. Singh claimed that the opposition did not have any issues left and accused Rahul Gandhi of falsely claiming in foreign countries that job opportunities had decreased in the country. "The reality is that under the PM Mudra scheme, 9 crore persons have got jobs," he said. Attacking the Congress, he said if the partys policies had been good, its base would not have shrunk. "If the policies of Congress, which ruled the country for over 60 years, had been good, why would it have got reduced to 20 per cent of the area when the BJP has spread in 75 per cent of the area," he said. Singh referred to Prime Minister Narendra Modis "Na khaunga na khane dunga" (Wont indulge in corruption nor will I allow anyone) remark and claimed that the past three years had proved this. When asked about the ministers comments on Rahul Gandhi, Congress leader and spokesman Devendra Pratap Singh said that the "tall claims" of BJP stand exposed as there was no development palpable anywhere due to which its leaders were making absurd statements. "People are fast losing trust in the BJP. It will be visible in the next elections when people will give them a befitting reply for their misdeeds," the Congress leader said. For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. Season six of Line Of Duty has left fans with more questions than answers, with viewers flocking to Twitter to question what exactly is DCI Jo Davidson is up to, whether Kate Fleming has really left AC-12 and who is H? Here, MailOnline examines some of the most prominent fan theories Kate Fleming HASN'T left AC-12 and is working undercover One of the most shocking discoveries was AC-12's Kate is now working with a new team- with some fans suggesting she could even be the infamous H. While chatting to her new gaffer DCI Davidson, Kate said: 'I got fed upon nicking coppers, I'd rather go after the psycho who murdered Gail [Vella].' But despite seeming confident in her new role, some viewers were left wondering if all was at it seems and theorised that Kate could still be undercover for AC-12. Even after she tipped off Davidson and incurred the wrath of Ted Hastings, fans have continued to speculate that she is so deep undercover that even Hastings is having to keep her true agenda secret. Kate Fleming HASN'T left AC-12 and is working undercover: Is it true? The jury is still out on this one DCI Jo Davidson is being blackmailed by an Organised Crime Group Jo has already survived a grilling from AC-12's top team and appeared to clear her name when it was ex-girlfriend PS Farida Jatri who seemed to have taken part in corruption. However, Jo was seen hitching a ride with known bent copper Ryan Pilkington and taken to collect a burner phone, making her look suspicious once more. Fans, however, are convinced the DCI is being blackmailed by an OCG, following her emotional outburst when she was summoned to pick up a new burner. DCI Jo Davidson is being blackmailed by an Organised Crime Group: Is it true? After her car park outburst it seems increasingly likely DCI Jo Davidson's mother is Anne-Marie McGillis Fans speculated over who Jo's mother could be after she was seen in a photograph in the first episode. Many theorised her mother has something to do with season five character John Corbett's [Stephen Graham] mother Anne-Marie McGillis, who was killed by an Irish Republican paramilitary group sometime after 1989. DCI Jo Davidson's mother is Anne-Marie McGillis: Is it true? There simply isn't enough evidence yet to determine on way or the other Gail Vella is still alive Although season six has centered around the murder of journalist Gail Vella, one obscure theory is that she is in fact still alive. Craig Parkinson, who played Matthew 'Dot' Cottan in the show, said on BBC Sounds podcast Obsessed with Line of Duty: 'Somebody is in that flat and theres some connection with Gail Vella, the investigative journalist. 'You dont cast someone like Andi Osho and then just have her as little magazine prints and stick them up on a kitchen wall.' Sarah Millican - who also appeared on the podcast - went on to suggest Vella may have been a former lover of DCI Davidson's. Gail Vella is still alive: Is it true? It seems unlikely that the scale of police corruption is so huge that they could fake a murder victim DC Chloe Bishop is Tony Gates' daughter Bishop is one of AC-12's newest recruits, and as Gates and his wife Jools had two daughters, Natalie and Chloe, viewers have suggested their shared first name 'can't be a coincidence'. Gates' daughter was last seen in season one in 2012, which means she'd be roughly the same age as Bishop is now. Fans have suggested that Bishop either took her mother's maiden name or the name of a step-father, so that her true identity remains a secret - for now. Gates died at the end of the first season when he walked into a busy road after getting a confession from gang leader Tommy Hunter, who had been blackmailing the police officer into covering up their criminal activity. DC Chloe Bishop is Tony Gates' daughter: Is it true? The dates and facts line up, but there still isn't enough to write it off as a coincidence just yet DCI Jo Davidson's mystery blood relative is...? After it was revealed that Jo's DNA matched someone on the Police National Computer, fans theorized who that could be. The overriding theories suggested that Davidson's relative was either Tommy Hunter, of series one and two, Mike Dryden of series two, John Corbett of series five, or Derek Hilton, killed off in series four. Tommy Hunter was the leader of the OCG in earlier series of the show, and a paedophile. His character is dead. Mike Dryden, the former Deputy Chief Constable, was last seen resigning from his post for perverting the course of justice in series two. His Scottish links also suggest he could be related to Davidson. John Corbett was an undercover cop in series five who had his throat slit, leaving behind a wife, two daughters, and a mysterious link to a woman, Anne-Marie, whom fans claim could also be Davidson's mother. Derek Hilton was a Chief Superintendent and later the Assistant Chief Constable of Central Police. He was also secretly affiliated with organised crime. He was shot in the mouth in a staged suicide in season four. Other suggestions were Gill Biggeloe, Jackie Laverty, Lindsay Denton or Terry Boyle. Source: Xinhua| 2021-04-15 19:55:21|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close A ceremony is held to mark the first National Security Education Day in Hong Kong, south China on April 15, 2021. (Xinhua/Lui Siu Wai) China's Hong Kong Special Administrative Region marked its first National Security Education Day with various activities under the theme "Uphold National Security, Safeguard Our Home -- Improve Electoral System, Ensure Patriots Administering Hong Kong." HONG KONG, April 15 (Xinhua) -- Hong Kong on Thursday embraced its first National Security Education Day after the law on safeguarding national security in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) came into force in mid-2020. Various activities, including lectures, exhibitions, mosaic walls and doors open days of disciplined services, were held to boost the public awareness of safeguarding national security in the global financial hub. The events, under the theme "Uphold National Security, Safeguard Our Home -- Improve Electoral System, Ensure Patriots Administering Hong Kong," were organized by the Committee for Safeguarding National Security of the HKSAR, which was established by the HKSAR government in July 2020. At a ceremony on Thursday, Carrie Lam, HKSAR chief executive and chair of the Committee for Safeguarding National Security of the HKSAR, said Hong Kong residents, like all compatriots in the country, also share the obligation to safeguard national sovereignty, unification and territorial integrity. When Hong Kong was faced with unprecedented crises, the central authorities made resolute responses and passed the law on safeguarding national security in the HKSAR, which effectively restored stability in Hong Kong and helped the Hong Kong society get out of the shadow of violence, Lam said. To ensure national security, Hong Kong's administration must be firmly held in the hands of patriots, according to Lam, who added that the HKSAR government has introduced the bill on improving the local electoral system to the legislature. The moves by the central authorities of national security legislation and improvement to electoral system have worked to stabilize the overall situation in Hong Kong and laid an important and solid foundation for implementation of the principles of "one country, two systems," "Hong Kong people administering Hong Kong" and a high degree of autonomy in Hong Kong, Lam said. The Hong Kong police force performs Chinese-style marching on the occasion of the National Security Education Day on April 15, 2021, Hong Kong, south China. (Xinhua/Li Gang) Also speaking at the ceremony, Luo Huining, director of the Liaison Office of the Central People's Government in the HKSAR and national security adviser to the Committee for Safeguarding National Security of the HKSAR, said the central authorities will remain committed to the responsibility of safeguarding national security and will, as always, lend full support to the HKSAR for its lawful crackdown on criminal activities endangering national security. Any act endangering national security as well as Hong Kong's prosperity and stability will be dealt with swiftly and effectively and any attempt by foreign countries and external forces to flagrantly interfere in the affairs of Hong Kong, and to exploit Hong Kong as a pawn will be met with impactful countermeasures, Luo said. Luo urged the HKSAR to earnestly discharge its constitutional obligation for safeguarding national security and all Hong Kong compatriots to fulfill their legal obligations of safeguarding national security. Zheng Yanxiong, director of the Office for Safeguarding National Security of the Central People's Government in the HKSAR, said the law on safeguarding national security in the HKSAR provides the legal guarantee for Hong Kong to safeguard national security, and that complying with the law is a basic standard of patriots. Improving the electoral system is a fundamental solution for safeguarding Hong Kong's political stability and security and will serve to terminate the chaotic situations that challenge Hong Kong's constitutional order and build an environment based on the rule of law for protecting national security, Zheng said. Residents mark the first National Security Education Day in Hong Kong, south China on April 15, 2021. (Xinhua/Li Gang) Yang Yirui, acting commissioner of the Chinese Foreign Ministry in the HKSAR, said Hong Kong is a crucial link for safeguarding national security. The enactment of the law on safeguarding national security in the HKSAR and improvement to the electoral system will effectively prevent external forces from meddling in Hong Kong affairs by colluding with local anti-China disruptors, and protect Hong Kong's political stability and security, Yang said. Chen Daoxiang, Commander of the Chinese People's Liberation Army Garrison in the HKSAR, said the garrison firmly supports the policies of the central authorities and is determined and confident in safeguarding national sovereignty, security and development interests as well as Hong Kong's long-term prosperity and stability. Tung Chee-hwa, vice chairman of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, also attended the ceremony. Thursday marks China's sixth National Security Education Day. April 15 of each year is designated as the day for raising the public awareness of national security after the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress passed a new national security law in 2015. NEW YORK, April 15, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- CurePSP has awarded Venture Grants to three researchers studying tau protein pathology and genetic factors in progressive supranuclear palsy (PSP) and corticobasal degeneration (CBD). Each grant is for $100,000. Dr. Rohan de Silva of UCL Queen Square Institute of Neurology in London has received a grant for his study of the propagation of toxic tau protein in the brain. The aim of this project is to understand how healthy tau is converted to toxic strains related to PSP and CBD and to identify their imprinted defects that enable the strain-specific progression. As Dr. de Silva explains, "Tau protein is essential for healthy nerve cells, but tau gone bad drives the devastating damage and progression of PSP, CBD, and other diseases involving the tau protein. Understanding why tau goes 'off the rails' and also the structural differences of its toxic forms could provide leads for better-tailored therapies and biomarkers for differential diagnosis." CurePSP made a grant to Dr. Chao Peng, Department of Neurology, UCLA David Geffen School of Medicine, Los Angeles, to study the modulation of normal tau protein in the brain to slow the spread of toxic tau. Dr. Peng will employ the autopsied brains of patients with PSP to study this phenomenon with the goal of developing a novel therapy to slow or stop disease progression. Dr. Peng said, "The transmission and amplification of pathological tau in the brain is a key process for the progression of PSP. This study aims to explore a new strategy to slow this process." Dr. Franziska Hopfner, Department of Neurology, Hannover Medical School, Hannover, Germany, has been awarded a Venture Grant for her study of epigenetic changes in the brain that may lead to the spread of toxic tau protein in the brain. Epigenetics involves genetic changes that are caused by environmental factors. Dr. Hopfner's study will focus on microRNA, which is double-stranded RNA that regulates most protein-coding genes in the brain. The study may discover previously unknown molecular targets and pathways that can be used to develop new therapies. Dr. Hopfner said, "I am very grateful for the funding from CurePSP. My team and I will use it for the sake of patients with PSP, to shed further light on the molecular mechanisms of this disease." CurePSP's Venture Grants are awarded twice a year. Applications are reviewed and recommended to the CurePSP Board of Directors by an independent scientific advisory board. The next application deadline is May 1, 2021. About CurePSP CurePSP is the nonprofit advocacy organization focused on progressive supranuclear palsy (PSP), corticobasal degeneration (CBD), multiple system atrophy (MSA), and other prime of life neurodegenerative diseases, a spectrum of fatal brain disorders that often strike during a person's most productive and rewarding years. Currently, there is no effective treatment or cure for these diseases, which affect more than 150,000 people in the U.S. alone. Since it was founded in 1990, CurePSP has funded nearly 200 research studies and is the leading source of information and support for patients and their families, other caregivers, researchers and doctors, and allied healthcare professionals. CurePSP is based in New York City. Please visit www.curepsp.org for more information. Contact: David Kemp 802-734-1185 [email protected] SOURCE CurePSP, Inc. Related Links www.curepsp.org Hyderabad, April 15 : Y.S. Sharmila, who plans to launch a new political party in Telangana in July this year, undertook a day-long fast here on Thursday to demand issuance of job notifications by the state government for the unemployed youth of Telangana. Sharmila, the sister of Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy, sat on the fast at the Dharna Chowk in Indira Park here. Speaking on the occasion, she questioned the silence of Telangana Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao over the suicides by the unemployed youth, saying the CM should respond to the burning problem. Sharmila, the daughter of former Chief Minister of undivided Andhra Pradesh, Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy, said that she would stand with the unemployed youth who are seeking jobs. "Whether other opposition parties speak for you or not, I will stand by you," she told the youth. She said fasts and protests will continue across the state till the state government issues job notifications to fill the vacancies in various government departments. She also alleged that dejected over the delay in job notifications, unemployed youth are ending their lives but the Chief Minister is neglecting the issue. Recalling that the youth were in the forefront of the movement for statehood to Telangana, she demanded that the Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) government should fulfil their aspirations by providing them jobs. "There are 1.91 lakh vacancies in the state and the government should fill them first," Sharmila said, as she appealed to the youth not to resort to suicides, assuring them that she would lead the fight to put pressure on the government to issue job notifications. Sharmila had sought permission for a three-day fast, but the Hyderabad police granted only a day's permission. Unemployed youth, students and leaders of various groups met her during the fast and expressed their solidarity. Sharmila undertook the fast a week after addressing a public meeting at Khammam, where she announced that she will launch a political party on July 8, the birth anniversary of her father. She said she would unveil the flag of the new party, its name and ideology on July 8. The public meeting at Khammam was also addressed by Sharmila's mother Y.S. Vijayamma, who appealed to the people to bless her daughter with their support. Vijayamma also shared the dais with Sharmila at Thursday's fast. An interesting incident at the fast venue caught the attention of all and triggered speculation. While asking a video camerapersons to move aside, Sharmila remarked that Sakshi (the media house owned by her brother) will not give her coverage. Vijayamma, who was sitting next to her, was apparently taken aback. She immediately pat her with her hand in an obvious signal to stop. Sharmila has been holding meetings with loyalists of her late father in Telangana for more than a month now as part of the preparations to float her political party in Telangana. Andhra Pradesh's ruling YSR Congress Party (YSRCP) has already made it clear that its leader Jagan Mohan Reddy has difference of opinion with his sister's plan to enter Telangana politics and launch a new party. DALLAS, April 15, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Jimmy James, Founder & Designer of MyCause Brand, has announced the launch of his new Awareness shoe company on April 15 on Indiegogo. The three-cancer survivor developed his line of awareness shoes in an effort to support others battling diseases and medical conditions and draw more attention to the wide range of causes. This video tells The MyCause Brand story: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GSAh3PM9i8M&t=3s MyCause Awareness Shoes feature strength clouds on shoes' sides, back, and sole. The MyCause line of shoes features a three-ribbon design on each side and are available in fifteen colors to represent the many different causes. Purchasers can order their MyCause shoes with a different set of colored ribbons on each side of the shoe should they have two causes to support. MyCause shoes feature a "strength cloud" on the shoe's back and side and a raised strength cloud design on the shoe's sole, which leaves an imprint on soft surfaces like dirt or wet sand. The strength cloud words include love, power, strength, believe, family, cure, and numerous others. The MyCause Brand's intent, through their Awareness Footwear, is to give a voice to fighters, survivors, and caregivers. Founder Jimmy James explains, "As a three-time cancer survivor, I know what it takes to fight back and battle a disease every day. I know the strength it requires and the love and much-needed support given by our loved ones. I wanted to give people a fun, obvious way to show their support of the causes and the people closest to their hearts. The Awareness shoes are made from EVA-recyclable, eco-friendly material and are super comfortable, too." "The response thus far from people interested in our Awareness shoes has been touching and overwhelming. I am answering upwards of 100 emails a day from our Facebook page alone." Indiegogo backing for the shoes feature several MyCause Brand peripheral items as incentive bonuses at different levels. Bonus items include MyCause Paracord Ribbon Keychains, MyCause Strength Cloud Blankets, and MyCause 30 oz. Stainless Tumblers. All purchases include a 20% donation of the purchase price to the cause of the buyer's choosing. Interested parties can go directly to the MyCause Brand campaign on Indiegogo at https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/mycause-brand-shoes-with-a-soul-purpose#/ For more information on the MyCause brand and Awareness shoes, go to http://www.mycausebrand.com, or visit their Facebook group at https://www.facebook.com/groups/mycausebrand. COMPANY INFO MyCause Brand is located in Dallas, Texas. Founded by a three-time cancer survivor, it is an Awareness and Cause brand with a purpose: to give back to causes near and dear to our hearts, through making a beautiful awareness shoe product to showcase the cause, research, and charity organizations individuals choose to support. 20% of all company profits are donated to charities individually chosen by purchasers of their product. For more information, please visit www.mycausebrand.com, call 214-980-9811, or email [email protected]. Contact: Jimmy Stephens - Founder & Designer MyCause Brand 214-980-9811 [email protected] www.mycausemyshoes.com SOURCE MyCause Brand In Northampton, it should be the lowest priority of police to investigate, or arrest any person for planting, purchasing, possessing or in other ways interacting with entheogenic plants, the City Council declared two weeks ago. In Cambridge, no city official should use public resources to enforce laws banning entheogens, or natural psychedelics, the City Council there said in early February, following a similar resolution in Somerville two weeks prior. But interviews with police officials in Northampton and Cambridge indicate that, regardless of intent, the resolutions generally had no significant effect on law enforcement operations. In both cases, police said they already didnt prioritize enforcing bans on hallucinogens by making arrests or investigating low-level drug possession. The Somerville Police Department did not respond to repeated requests for comment. This has not had a tremendous impact on what we do, Jeremy Warnick, director of communications and media relations for the Cambridge Police Department, said. Our focus has been elsewhere in terms of drug offenses. Between 2017 and 2019, the department logged only seven incidents involving hallucinogens, Warnick said. (2020 data was not yet available.) Jody Kasper, chief of the Northampton Police Department, offered a similar response. Only four people were arrested in 2020 for possession of a controlled substance without an additional offense, she said in an email statement. Those four people represented one percent of arrests in Northampton last year, according to department data. I think in this case, [the city councils] hope that this gets classified as a low priority for the Northampton Police Department is consistent with our current practices, Kasper said in an interview. This is already a low priority offense for the Northampton Police Department and it has been for years. For all three cities, the key phrase in the resolutions is should. Between the city councils, not one had the power to decriminalize psychedelics. Only the state can do that. Rather than holding the weight of law, these resolutions were all expressions of intent. Essentially, a resolution is an aspirational document, a declaration of the councils sense of a particular issue, Northampton councilor William Dwight explained before meeting to vote on the matter on April 1. In this case, itd be a call for decriminalization, or deprioritizing hallucinogens specifically. The resolutions were meant to express the sentiment of the city councils, both to law enforcement and to state leadership, that psychedelics have potential medical benefits and should be studied rather than banned. It is very rare for our officers and in particular our special investigations unit they focus on drugs, narcotics and sex and human trafficking to be proactively seeking to charge people with that type of offense, Warnick said. Theyre putting their resources into things that cause the most harm. In Cambridge, as in Northampton and other parts of the state, that means investigating the sources of harder drugs like heroin, fentanyl and cocaine. Whether the resolutions have any effect on prosecution remains to be seen. David Sullivan, the Northwest District Attorney, declined multiple requests to comment on the resolution and its effects. Hes not going to weigh in, a spokesperson from his office said. The Middlesex District Attorneys office did not offer comment. Beyond reiterating enforcement priorities police already had in place, the resolutions passed by the city councils called for drug use to be treated as an issue of public health. This request also echoed community outreach strategies both the Northampton and Cambridge police departments used before the resolutions. When faced with individuals struggling with drug addiction, Northampton police officers are encouraged to connect them with local resources and discuss safe drug use. It is part of a larger department effort to treat drug abuse as a disease. I have seen over two decades of us treating drug use as a crime, and I have not seen any changes in the rate of drug use, Kasper said. And I havent seen a lot of positive outcomes for people who are struggling with addiction. When she first entered law enforcement in the 1990s, Kasper said police arrested people for possession of a needle. Those policies are far removed from Northamptons current approach to drug use, an evidently more progressive program in which the nonprofit Tapestry runs a needle exchange, and in which police are allowed to distribute naloxone. Sometimes known by its brand name, Narcan, the chemical can reverse the effects of an opioid overdose. Five years ago, the department noticed a significant gap in its public safety services, Kasper said. After people overdosed, they were at significant risk of doing so again. But often, they would simply return to their homes or the community without receiving help or direction to social workers. One particular case stood out to Kasper. I came in and read the log in the morning and saw we had an overdose the night before, she said. While I was reading that, I heard ambulances and officers get sent out for a call to the same home for the same person overdosing again. We knew that this person was at risk. What could we have done to better prevent the second overdose? It was situations like these that spurred the Northampton polices public health approach to drug use well before the city councils resolution two weeks ago. The department created the Drug Addiction Response Team, or DART. A select group of specially trained officers, in addition to their normal duties, follow up with people who have overdosed or broken a law to fuel an addiction. [The officers] discuss local treatment options, provide resources and may even transport people to a local treatment facility, the departments webpage says. In Cambridge, Warnick said officers focus more heavily on investigating drug distributors than on arresting users. We are seeing an increase of overdoses in the city this year, he said. That is having an impact in terms of social harm in the community, so that is a priority for us to identify where the quantities are coming from and whos responsible for the distribution. But alongside that work, officers seek medical attention and help for drug users they encounter, as opposed to simply arresting them, Warnick said. Cambridge Police also have a dedicated social worker on staff who assists people suffering from drug addiction and connects them with local resources. The city council resolutions may not have had any direct effects on police operations, and they may have only reiterated public health ideals already practiced by the departments, but Warnick said they still reinforce a culture that the police and social services have cultivated. It really does underscore the approach and the philosophy that weve had for a number of years, he said. This is something thats already part of the fabric and nature of what we do. So, its not something that we wanted to get in the way of. BOSTON, April 15, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- A software company, In Force Technology, Inc., joined forces with the Burrillville, RI, School District and the Burrillville, RI, Police Department to protect students and staff during an active threat. Faculty will have the ability to notify law enforcement and first responders of a crisis event and be able to communicate directly to provide critical details needed to end the threat as soon as possible. PROBLEM WITH LEGACY 9-1-1 In Force Technology, Inc. Traditionally placed 9-1-1 calls can take an average of five minutes to be routed from the centralized public safety answering point (PSAP) to the closest responding agency, lengthening the time for first responders to get on scene. The second problem of at-risk facilities is the inability to effectively communicate to one another from inside the same building as well as to collectively provide details of an active threat to law enforcement, causing additional time delays and leading to confusion when law enforcement arrives. ABOUT IN FORCE TECHNOLOGY IN FORCE911's software enables an alert to reach all internal staff and responding agencies in less than four seconds, which provides a two-way communication window between faculty inside the school who can share information (protocols and procedures) with one another and responding police officers in real time, increasing clearer communications. School staff and administrators will have the ability to launch an alert from any device in seconds. IN FORCE911 sends alerts and messages directly to the dispatch consoles, in-vehicle terminals and mobile devices of police officers simultaneously -- avoiding the call routing process. First responders will have access to the digital building schematics, aerial photos and emergency operational plans and internet protocol (IP) based camera feeds from the school integrated through IN FORCE911. The partnership starts April 2021, as schools begin their transition to in-person learning. All parties feel confident in the partnership, as it enhances aid response to all five schools within the Burrillville district. Dr. Michael J Sollitto, Superintendent at Burrillville School Department, says, "The Burrillville School Department has a long history of working collaboratively with the Burrillville Police Department (and first responders) to ensure that student and staff safety is our highest priority. Our partnership with In Force Technology, Inc. represents a continuation of this collaboration. We are looking forward to working with In Force in the coming months as we implement the real-time notification and alert system." Stephen J. Lynch, Chief of Police at Burrillville, RI says, "We have a very solid, active team approach to keeping our schools as safe as possible. We work with EMS, the School department and busing vendor, in being proactive and aggressive with school safety initiatives. We are really looking forward to building IN FORCE911 into our school safety protocols, operations, communications and plans. I feel their product has the ability for greatly increasing police response times and clarity when it is needed most for Burrillville students and school staff." Media Contact | Curtis Rogers | [email protected] Related Files IF911 Burrillville RI Press Release 04.12.2021 (1).docx Related Images image1.png SOURCE In Force Technology Inc. Shanghais Epic has become the first mainland China bar to be named Campari One To Watch by Asias 50 Best Bars. The Campari One To Watch award is given to a rising-star bar that has the potential to break into the main 50 Best list in the coming years and Epic has been building a reputation since its inception in 2014. Epic has become best known for its disco playlists and signature Espresso Martini and founder Cross Yu believes flexibility is key to the menu. The menu showcases the kinds of things that represent us, but in truth, 50% of guests ask for the bartenders choice, said Yu. We often write down bespoke recipes on the back of napkins with the guests name, signature and the date, and then they take a photo. If theyre traveling and miss their own drink, they can show the bartender the recipe and recreate a taste of home. Yu also believes this most recent success is a sign of things to come from Shanghai in the coming years. It shows that people around the globe are beginning to know who we are and watch what we do. It also means a lot of responsibility for the team in the future we have to be better and better, added Yu. Chinas cocktail culture is growing so fast, and Shanghai has advanced to a level where you can experience something quite special while at the same time enjoying the benefits of an international city where everything is easy, accessible and ultra-modern thats the whole countrys focus at the moment. There are a lot of bars that really hit these marks with their playlists, drinks, service and design. The announcement of Epics success as Campari One To Watch comes ahead of this years Asias 50 Best virtual ceremony, which will take place on 6 May, streamed on The World's 50 Best Bars Facebook and 50 Best Bars TV YouTube channel. Samsung and Realme had both released the latest entry-level smartphone offering and these phones sure have what it takes to redefine the market. The Realme C25 was released on Mar. 23 and the Samsung Galaxy F12, which was released on Apr. 12, may seem almost identical but both have something different to offer. Samsung Galaxy F12 vs. Realme C25: A Quick Glance For starters, the Samsung Galaxy F12 and Realme C25 are loaded with the latest Android 11 along with their individual UIs, namely the Samsung One UI 3.1 and the Realme UI 2.0. Both also carry a 4GB RAM and 64GB storage, but the RealMe C25 can offer a 128GB Storage option that can be supplemented by a 256 GB microSD card, while the Samsung Galaxy F12 can support up to 1TB micro SD. The huge difference is apparent when looking at the processor. Realme's official page states that the C25 comes with a Mediatek Helio G70 processor, the gaming-oriented chipset made specifically for entry-level phones, matched with ARM G52 MC2 GPU. Meanwhile, the Samsung Galaxy F12 comes with its in-house Exynos 850 and Mali-G52, giving the smartphone energy efficiency with its smaller size, according to its product page. Read Also: Realme 8 5G's Confirmed Release Date: First Look- 48MP Camera and More Samsung Galaxy F12 vs. Realme C25: Camera, Multimedia, and Others Another huge difference worth noting is the smartphone's rear camera, despite both having a similar 8 MP front camera. The RealMe C25 comes with a Triple Array camera with a 48 MP main camera, a 2 MP macro, and a 2 MP B&W lens, but the Samsung Galaxy F12 takes it a step further for adding a fourth, which is a 5 MP ultra-wide camera. The Samsung Galaxy F12 one-ups RealMe C25 on the video department, as the former can shoot videos at 1080p compared to the C25's 720p. However, RealMe C25 compensates by adding features such as 20 Continuous Shooting and other photography functions. Samsung's entry-level phone also gave an extra kick by adding support for FM Radio and Dolby Atmos surround sound. Other notable features of the RealMe C25 include a Heat Dissipation Technology and an 18W Quick Charge perfect for its massive 6000mAH battery. Alternately, the Samsung Galaxy F12 supports more music formats and comes with a 15W Quick Charge for its 6000mAH battery-larger than the flagship's 4500mAH battery. While both smartphones come with a 6.5-inch IPS LCD and a screen resolution of 720 x 1600 pixels, Samsung Galaxy F12 stands superior with its 90 Hz refresh rate compared to RealMe C25's 60 Hz, with the former lacing its display with Corning Gorilla Glass for protection. Samsung Galaxy F12 vs. Realme C25: In A Nutshell At a glance, the Samsung Galaxy F12 stands superior among the two, with its energy-efficient processor and Quad Camera, which is the entry-level phone's answer to Samsung's photography focus on its flagship. However, it is worth noting that the specs of the Realme C25 make it clear that the smartphone is made for elite mobile gamers on a budget. What it lacks in camera and audio support is pumped into its gaming-centric processor, larger internal storage, and Heat Dissipation Technology. Related Article: Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra New Challenger, Realme GT 5G, Unveiled! Find Out the Release, Specs, & Price This article is owned by Tech Times Written by Lee Mercado 2021 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. SELBYVILLE, Del., April 15, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- According to the latest report "Fireproof Insulation Market by Material (Fiberglass, Mineral Wool, Cellulose, Polystyrene, Polyurethane), Application (Residential, Non-residential), Regional Outlook, Price Trends, Competitive Market Share & Forecast 2027", by Global Market Insights Inc., the market valuation of fireproof insulation will cross $30 billion by 2027. The rising adoption of thermal insulative materials in energy-efficient buildings, stringent building regulations, and the expanding construction sector will propel the market growth. Polystyrene material segment will account for more than 30% of the fireproof insulation market share by 2027. Polystyrene material segment is anticipated to hold more than 30% of the market share by 2027. It is a widely used material for heat insulation as it has small air bubbles trapped inside the material, restricting the heat flow through the material. Polystyrene foam is combustible like other organic materials, however, when it is installed with additional flame retardant material does not present any fire hazard. The material is also governed by the Canadian Materials Construction Centre (CMCC) and the International Code Council (ICC) to ensure that consumers adhere to proper safety practices. Request a sample of this research report @ https://www.gminsights.com/request-sample/detail/1295 The non-residential sector contributed major revenue to the fireproof insulation market in 2020. The sector is estimated to flourish, especially through infrastructure developments in developing countries such as China and India. Increasing direct foreign investments and a rise of new commercial districts in the service sector in these nations provided a meteoric rise to commercial construction, driving the demand for fireproof insulations. Europe fireproof insulation market will hold more than 30% of revenue share by 2027. The stringent building and construction codes that mandate the use of fireproof insulation materials in many buildings are augmenting the market value in the region. Additionally, Europe is a leading participant in global carbon footprint reduction initiatives and is significantly investing in the development of sustainable and energy-efficient structures. Hence, the demand for energy efficiency has already pushed the market expansion. Moreover, the rising consumer awareness in the region regarding the profitable advantages of fireproofing materials is further catalyzing product acceptance. The European region is also witnessing substantial developments in the hospitality sector, which is fueling the construction of new hotels and resorts, thereby contributing to the fireproof insulation material demand. However, the current COVID-19 health crisis and another wave of coronavirus-affected cases are likely to hinder the market progression in some countries such as France, the UK, and Italy. Request customization of this research report @ https://www.gminsights.com/roc/1295 Prominent fireproof insulation market participants are BASF SE, Knauf Insulation, Rockwool International A/S, Saint-Gobain SA, Owens Corning Corporation, Kingspan Group PLC, GAF, Johns Manville, Sipla Solutions, and Beijing New Building Material Co., Ltd. Table of Contents (ToC) of the report: Chapter 3 Fireproof Insulation Market Insights 3.1 Industry segmentation 3.2 Impact of COVID-19 on industry landscape 3.3 Industry ecosystem analysis 3.3.1 Profit margins 3.3.2 Value addition 3.3.3 Distribution channel analysis 3.3.4 Vendor matrix 3.4 Raw material trends 3.5 Innovation & sustainability 3.5.1 Patent analysis 3.5.2 Production process 3.5.3 Future trends 3.6 Industry impact forces 3.6.1 Growth drivers 3.6.2 Industry pitfalls & challenges 3.7 Regulatory trends 3.8 Growth potential analysis 3.9 Regional price trends 3.9.1 Cost structure analysis 3.9.2 Price by material 3.10 Competitive landscape 3.11 Porter's analysis 3.12 PESTEL analysis 3.13 Impact of COVID-19 on the market, by application Browse Complete Table of Contents (ToC) @ https://www.gminsights.com/toc/detail/fireproof-insulation-market About Global Market Insights Inc. Global Market Insights Inc., headquartered in Delaware, U.S., is a global market research and consulting service provider, offering syndicated and custom research reports along with growth consulting services. Our business intelligence and industry research reports offer clients with penetrative insights and actionable market data specially designed and presented to aid strategic decision making. These exhaustive reports are designed via a proprietary research methodology and are available for key industries such as chemicals, advanced materials, technology, renewable energy, and biotechnology. Contact Us: Arun Hegde Corporate Sales, USA Global Market Insights Inc. Phone: 1-302-846-7766 Toll Free: 1-888-689-0688 Email: [email protected] Related Images fireproof-insulation-market-growth.png Fireproof Insulation Market Growth Predicted at 4% Through 2027: GMI Polystyrene material segment will account for more than 30% of the fireproof insulation market share by 2027. SOURCE Global Market Insights Inc. Related Links https://www.gminsights.com Contributed / Getty Images HARTFORD Police said they have arrested a 21-year-old man following a bank robbery that drew a large law enforcement response in the Parkville neighborhood Thursday morning. Police were notified of a hold-up alarm at the Key Bank on Park Street near Sisson Avenue around 11:20 a.m., according to Hartford police Lt. Aaron Boisvert. (Newser) On Wednesday, Brian Armstrong skyrocketed into billionaire landway into billionaire land. The 38-year-old founder and CEO of Coinbase added about $16 billion to his worth when the company went public at a valuation of around $100 billion, CNN reports. Armstrong owns roughly 40 million shares, a 21% stake. (Per Celebrity Net Worth, he's now No. 73 on the world's richest list.) Coinbase assists its more than 35 million users with buying, selling, and storing cryptocurrency, and the IPO came as interest in such currencies has soared amid the COVID-19 pandemic. In a 25-tweet-long thread Wednesday, Armstrong, who is active on the social media platform but is not known for speaking publicly, hailed cryptocurrency's history and his own desire, via Coinbase, to "increase economic freedom in the world." story continues below He also recalls "how bad of an idea everyone thought Coinbase was," with even friends in the tech industry doubting it, and then tracks the company's history from its early days of working from a small loft in San Francisco through the massive growth it's seen since. "Crypto can provide the basics of economic freedom to anyone: property rights, sound money, free trade, and the ability to work how and where they want," he writes. "As the first major crypto company to publicly list, today is a big day for Coinbase and the cryptoeconomy that were a part of." The BBC notes that Coinbase's valuation is beyond that of some well-known stock exchanges and the oil company BP. Fortune has a list of early investors and board members that made out big in the IPO. (Read more cryptocurrency stories.) The cost: A tragic loss of human life and a duffel bag of your cash they called ghost money. Because spending $2 trillion with no clear definition of victory is pretty spooky. STEPHEN COLBERT Biden is getting criticism from people who say if America leaves Afghanistan then it will become a failed state, and that is a real danger. But on the other hand, America has been there for 20 years is it supposed to stay there forever? Because if that is going to be the case, then I mean, America should at least make Afghanistan a U.S. state. And the good news with that is it would eliminate Afghanistans terrorism problem completely, because we all know that once terrorists are American, theyre not terrorists anymore they are just frustrated citizens who are having a bad day. TREVOR NOAH New Delhi: Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis on Saturday directed the officials to restore acute shortage of coal supply to the power plants in some parts of the state within a week. Several parts of the state are facing load shedding as thermal power plants have run short of coal. Fadnavis met officials from the Coal Ministry, Coal India Ltd, Railways, various coal companies and Maharashtra Energy Department on Saturday, the chief ministers office issued a statement. CM Devendra Fadnavis instructed to restore coal supply and use even roads for coal transportation to bring relief to people as soon as possible, the CM offices said. ALSO READ | Maharashtra: Devendra Fadnavis accepts Centre's suggestion of reducing VAT on petrol, diesel The CM specifically asked to bring back the situation to normal within seven days, it added. The shortage of coal didnt come about suddenly and the BJP-led state government was responsible for the mess, Congress spokesperson Sachin Sawant said. We will be keenly watching coal purchase and electricity supply by private companies, he said. (With PTI inputs) ALSO READ: Narayan Rane says Maharashtra CM Fadnavis invited him to join NDA For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) The suspect charged with fatally shooting Iowa State Patrol officer Jim Smith during a violent standoff had been a candidate for county sheriff last year. Michael Lang was the Democratic candidate for Grundy County sheriff in the November election even though he had no law enforcement experience and a long history of alcohol-related crimes. Residents and investigators say they are struggling to understand how the suspect in an officer's death that has devastated Iowa could have been a recent sheriff's candidate. The man who defeated him says he believes Lang was motivated by his general dislike for law enforcement. But at least one neighbor saw his candidacy as a sign that Lang had turned his life around. NOT FOR DISTRIBUTION TO U.S. NEWSWIRE SERVICES OR DISSEMINATION IN THE UNITED STATES TORONTO, March 18, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Water Ways Technologies Inc. (TSXV: WWT) ("Water Ways" or the "Company"), is pleased to announce that it had signed an agreement to deliver a strawberry irrigation project in Ethiopia with a value of CAD $330,000 subject to receipt from the client of an irrevocable letter of credit. The strawberry irrigation project covers an area of 20 hectare of greenhouses, using Israeli drip irrigation technology. Water Ways expects to recognize revenue from the project in the second and third quarter of 2021. Water Ways signed the agreement with a wholly owned subsidiary of Midroc Ethiopia Investment Group (the "Group"), one of the largest investment companies operating in Ethiopia. Previously, Water Ways successfully implemented projects with the Group in 2020 (see press release dated September 9, 2020). Ohad Haber, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, commented: "Our business in Ethiopia is having a strong start in 2021. This is also the first irrigation project in Ethiopia implemented by Water Ways for higher value crops such as strawberries, blueberries and Cannabis." A photo accompanying this announcement is available at https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/313d748a-1ec3-42da-8752-a421e25fba45 About Water Ways Technologies Water Ways Technologies Inc., through its subsidiaries, is a global provider of Israeli-based agriculture technology, providing water irrigation solutions to agricultural producers. Water Ways Technologies competes in the global irrigation water systems market with a focus on developing solutions with commercial applications in the micro and precision irrigation segments of the overall market. At present, Water Ways Technologies' main revenue streams are derived from the following business units: (i) Projects Business Unit; and (ii) Component and Equipment Sales Unit. Water Ways Technologies is capitalizing on the opportunities presented by micro and smart irrigation, while also making a positive mark on society by making these technologies more widely available, especially in developing markets such as Africa and Latin America and developed markets such as China and Canada. Water Ways Technologies irrigation projects include vineyards, Cotton fields, Apple and Orange orchards, Blueberries, Medical Cannabis, fresh produce cooling rooms and more, in over 15 countries. For more information, please contact Ronnie Jaegermann Guy Nathanzon Director CFO T: +972-54-4202054 T: +972-52-6007221 E: ronnie@waterwt.com E: guyn@waterwt.com https://www.water-ways-technologies.com/ Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. Forward-Looking Statements Certain statements contained in this press release constitute "forward-looking information" as such term is defined in applicable Canadian securities legislation. The words "may", "would", "could", "should", "potential", "will", "seek", "intend", "plan", "anticipate", "believe", "estimate", "expect" and similar expressions as they relate to Water Ways. All statements other than statements of historical fact may be forward-looking information. Such statements reflect Water Ways' current views and intentions with respect to future events, and current information available to Water Ways, and are subject to certain risks, uncertainties and assumptions. Material factors or assumptions were applied in providing forward-looking information. Many factors could cause the actual results, performance or achievements that may be expressed or implied by such forward-looking information to vary from those described herein should one or more of these risks or uncertainties materialize. Should any factor affect Water Ways in an unexpected manner, or should assumptions underlying the forward-looking information prove incorrect, the actual results or events may differ materially from the results or events predicted. Any such forward-looking information is expressly qualified in its entirety by this cautionary statement. Moreover, Water Ways does not assume responsibility for the accuracy or completeness of such forward-looking information. The forward-looking information included in this press release is made as of the date of this press release and Water Ways undertakes no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking information, other than as required by applicable law. Water Ways' results and forward-looking information and calculations may be affected by fluctuations in exchange rates. All figures are in Canadian dollars unless otherwise indicated. New Delhi: The Indian Air Force on Sunday is proudly celebrating its 85th anniversary or Raising Day. October 8 is celebrated as Air Force Day in India. It commemorates the anniversary of the official foundation of the Indian Air Force in 1932. The Indian Air Force, the air arm of the Indian armed forces, is entrusted with the prime responsibility of safeguarding the Indian airspace as well as to carry out aerial warfare on enemy aircrafts and destroy strategic installations during war time. The Indian Air Force is not only the fourth largest Air Force in the world but also one of the most potent strike forces with the state of art fighter aircrafts and cutting edge weaponry it has at its disposal. Besides actively taking part in four major operations in the Indo-Pak wars, the 1962 Indo-China War and the 1999 Kargil War, the Air Force has also played a pivotal role in providing rescue and relief operations to citizens of the country at time of natural disasters and calamities. The IAF has kept the Indian Flag high with an impeccable record in US peace keeping missions. So on the 85th anniversary of the IAF, here are ten interesting facts about the Guardians of the Sky which makes you feel proud as an Indian #The Indian Air Force is the fourth largest air force in the world with approximately 170,000 personnel and 1,500 aircrafts. #Flying Officer Nirmal Jit Singh Sekhon is the only IAF officer to have been honoured with the Param Vir Chakra. #The honourary rank of Marshal of the Indian Air Force is the highest achievable rank, and is equivalent to the rank of Field Marshal of the Indian Army. Air Marshal Arjan Singh had the distinction of being the only officer to be conferred with the rank #The IAF got its first woman Air Marshal in the form of Padmavathy Bandopadhyay. #The motto of the IAF 'Nabha Sparsham Deeptam' meaning Touch the Sky with Glory has been taken from the Geetopdesh. #With 16 air bases, the Western Air Command is the largest Air Command. The Air Force has over 60 air bases spread all over India. #IAF has a base located in Farkhor, Tajikistan. It is Indian Air Force's only base outside India. #At 22,000 ft (or 6,706 m), Siachen Glacier AFS is the highest Air Force Station of the IAF. #The IAF created a world record by performing the highest landing of a C-130J at the Daulat Beg Oldi airstrip in Ladakh at the height of 16614 feet (5065 meters). #The IAF is the only air force that operates C-17 Globemaster III, C-130J Super Hercules, and Il-76 the three largest transport aircrafts. For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. Australian property price growth is expected to slow later this year with city apartments and houses in the far outer suburbs most at risk. National property prices surged by 2.8 per cent in March - the fastest monthly pace since October 1988. Sydney did even better with median house prices surging by 4.3 per cent in little more than four weeks to an even more unaffordable $1.112million, CoreLogic data showed. While house prices are growing, apartment values aren't going up at quite the same pace, with national unit values last month edging up by 1.9 per cent. Scroll down for video Australian property price growth is expected to slow later this year with city apartments and houses in the far outer suburbs most at risk. Pictured are houses at Cecil Hills in south-west Sydney Commonwealth Bank chief executive Matt Comyn said unit values had not performed as well during the real estate boom, especially near the city. 'Apartments in particular, have performed more poorly over the last 12 months, particularly in CBD areas,' he told a parliamentary hearing on Thursday. 'Whereas, freestanding, detached housing has performed much better.' Property price records in March were set in 61 of Australia's 88 sub markets. But Mr Comyn rejected a suggestion housing affordability across capital cities could be improved by boosting supply in far outer suburban areas during an exchange with Liberal MP Tim Wilson. 'Supply and demand in individual markets are quite different,' he said. 'There's very different performance across those sub-markets and there will continue to be so.' Stuart Wemyss, the founder of ProSolutions Private Clients mortgage broking firm, predicted house price growth will slow in late 2021, with homes in the outer ring suburbs most at risk. Commonwealth Bank chief executive Matt Comyn said unit values had not performed as well during the real estate boom, especially near the city. He is pictured in Canberra on Thursday 'Locations that are dominated by lower income earners will probably under-perform compared to blue-chip locations,' he said. 'The reason is the lowest 40 per cent of income earners have been impacted by Covid the most.' Mr Wemyss said established, blue-chip suburbs near the city were only likely to experience single-digit growth in 2021, well below the more optimistic forecasts of the big banks. 'These will continue to perform well but, I would not be surprised if price growth between now and the end of the year is less than 10 per cent per annum,' he said. 'That is, price growth will level out.' The big banks are still generally optimistic about the housing market with ANZ forecasting a 19 per cent surge in Sydney house prices in 2021 as capital city values climbed by 17 per cent. Apartment prices aren't rising at the same pace. Pictured are Mascot Towers in south Sydney The big banks are still generally optimistic about the housing market with ANZ forecasting a 19 per cent surge in Sydney house prices in 2021 as capital city values climbed by 17 per cent. Westpac is a little more subdued, forecasting 10 per cent gains nationally in both 2021 and 2022 - or 20 per cent over two years. The Commonwealth Bank, Australia's biggest home lender, is a little less upbeat in with head of economics Gareth Aird in February predicting 9 per cent house price growth in 2021 followed by 7 per cent in 2022 - equating to 16 per cent over two years. Nonetheless Mr Comyn was a little more optimistic, telling the House of Representatives Economics Committee on Thursday he expected 10 per cent growth this year. But several housing market watchers are already predicting a decline, with Digital Finance Analytics principal Martin North forecasting a 5 to 8 per cent drop in 2022 if a slow Covid vaccine rollout stalled Australia's economic recovery. AMP Capital chief economist Shane Oliver predicted house prices would start falling by 5 to 10 per cent in 2023 if immigration remained turned off to prevent the spread of Covid. Local organisations encouraged to apply for latest round of Tesco Community Grants Organisations across Wrexham are being invited to apply for the latest round of Tesco Community Grants. Groundwork North Wales works as an enabler for the Tesco Community Grants programme across North Wales and is looking for applications from North Wales based registered charities and not-for-profit organisations. Tesco Community Grants will fund local good causes whose focus is on supporting Children and Families and this years theme is a Stronger Start. Tesco customers and colleagues can nominate a cause that they would like to see supported and they will be contacted by our enabler and encourage to apply. Geraint Hughes, Tesco Grant Enabler Officer at Groundwork North Wales, said: We would love to hear from any local registered charities and not-for-profit organisations who would be interested in applying for a Tesco Community Grant. Im here to help throughout the process so please get in touch as the grants are a great opportunity for funding. Tesco Community Grants will select three projects / good causes from the applications that need a little extra help in your local area. When a customer is given a blue token, in any Tesco store at checkout, they can vote for their favourite of the selected three project / good causes to receive a grant by putting the blue token in the Tesco Community Grants box. Voting takes place in store throughout July, August and September 2021 with 1st place receiving 1500, 2nd place 1000 and 3rd place 500. You can contact Geraint for more information and an informal discussion on 01978 757 524 or email geraint.hughes@groundworknorthwales.org.uk and enabler@groundworknorthwales.org.uk New Delhi, Apr 15 (UNI) The BRICS nations have asserted that mutual co-operation and seamless information can prevent the misuse of internet by terrorists. In a two-day virtual seminar organised by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) ) on Misuse of Internet for Terrorist Purposes and Role of Digital Forensics in Terrorist Investigations on April 13 -14, the representatives of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa (BRICS) acknowledged that the current milieu of breakneck technological innovations and ever evolving digital landscape, the challenges pertaining to prevention, control and prosecution of the terrorist misuse of internet are immense hence, the sharing of information on real time basis and strict vigilance can stop this misuse and can create a safer and secure environment for the citizens of BRICS member states as well as the whole world, the NIA said here on Thursday. During the meet, 40 experts from the five member countries deliberated upon technical sessions including Exploitation of Social Media as an Arsenal , Dark web and Anonymizers, Emerging Technologies and Artificial Intelligence, Cryptocurrency and Virtual Assets: Vulnerability of Privacy and Online Stealth, Equipping Law Enforcement Agencies: CT Investigations and Digital Forensics to deal with such challenges, it added. In addition, two panel discussions on engaging multiple stakeholders from both public and private sectors to tackle the misuse of internet and enhancing international co-operation to effectively tackle the exploitation of the Internet by terrorists for their nefarious activities were also held. BRICS member states in the 3rd Counter Terrorism Working Group(CTWG) at White River in South Africa had agreed to establish five sub working groups dedicated to enhance debates over specific challenges on counter-terrorism front and during the 4th CTWG meeting at Brasilia, India was given the Presidency of the sub-working group on Misuse of Internet for Terrorist Purposes for one year. The summit was organised by the National Investigation Agency and was inaugurated by the Union Home Secretary on April 13. UNI AKS SB 1213 April 15, 2021: The continuing trade war with the United States has had growing impact on both countries. Over the last year there were many months where China dropped into second place as the largest trading partner of the U.S., replaced by Mexico. China and the U.S. have been reducing or halting exports of key items to each other. This is disrupting production in both countries. The American response has been to resume production of items it allowed China to create market dominance or a monopoly in. China is less able to do this and the trade war is exposing how China is more vulnerable than the United States. Some aspects of this vulnerability are sensitive issues China refuses to recognize. For example, China is a communist police state and the current communist government regards that as an advantage, not an impediment to survival. With its market economy run by a dictatorship, China has become the classic definition of a fascist state, and none of those have lasted long. China does recognize that it has an innovation problem and refuses to admit that its immigration policies have any part in it. Western democracies benefit from migration, at least the legal variety. China strictly limits both legal and illegal immigration and considers ethnic Chinese who are citizens other nations to still be more Chinese than foreigner and subject to Chinese law, especially if they visit China after doing anything the government does not approve of. Chinese espionage efforts often rely on this Chinese are always Chinese principle when recruiting or coercing overseas Chinese to spy for China. That usually fails but it succeeds often enough to continue using the technique. One damaging side effect of this policy is that it encourages more Chinese to migrate or not even visit China to visit relatives. More overseas Chinese are reporting recruitment attempts to local governments, even though China has a policy of retaliating if they find out. This ethnic nationalism is common in most of the world, but much less so in nations that grew largely through migration and democratic rule. The granting of citizenship to legal migrants is not an accepted practice in most of the world and is especially unacceptable in East Asian nations. Americans are often surprise to discover this attitude still exists in many European countries. Fascist countries tend to take this ethnic nationalism to extremes, as did Germany and Japan during World War II. Germany largely abandoned the strict blood requirements for who could become a German citizen after World War II. Not so much in Japan and the rest of East Asia. Combine ethnic nationalism with a police state and you put yourself at a disadvantage when it comes to innovation and adaptability in general. This can be seen in democratic East Asian nations. South Korea is the best example. While still practicing ethnic nationalism, where it is taken for granted as an ancient component of what makes a Korean a Korean, South Korea prospered the more it became democratic and more accepting of outside ideas. On a per-capita basis South Korea has been more of an economic and innovations success than China. Same story with Taiwan, post-World War II Japan and Singapore. China does not wish to dwell on such issues. April 14, 2021: With reports coming in from round the world about the ineffectiveness of the Chinese covid19 vaccine, China admitted that their locally developed vaccines have an effectiveness rate of only 50 percent. This is the threshold for a vaccine to be used widely and Chinese vaccines barely made it because China did not use the new tech Western vaccines used, based on the mRNA technology recently developed in the United States. That happened because one researcher was able to keep her work going for three decades until it was recognized as a success. Covid19 vaccines could be developed more quickly using mRNA tech and have demonstrated effectiveness rates as high as 90 percent. China played down when it realized the shortcomings of their vaccines and quietly started developing an mRNA-based vaccine. China did admit they had at least one mRNA-based vaccine nearly ready for trials. Left unsaid was the fact that Chinese and North Korean hackers have been particularly active trying to steal tech secrets from Western firms that developed mRNA vaccines in less than a year. China has sold millions of doses of vaccines to several countries and is now facing a backlash because the Chinese vaccines performed so poorly compared to Western vaccines. This is also an issue in China where over 35 million Chinese have received both doses of Chinese vaccines and noticed the low effectiveness rate. There were public protests but China does not report these because they are illegal. April 12, 2021: In the south (over the Taiwan Straits) China sent 25 warplanes to briefly violate Taiwanese airspace. This was the largest incursion yet and a pointed reminder that China could use force to make Taiwan a part of China. Such incursions are not the only tactic used. China has increasingly been sending warships, which remain in international waters, to surround Taiwan. One of these recent surround exercises involved of Chinas new aircraft carriers, which launched some warplanes to fly towards Taiwan. China has been threatening to take Taiwan back by force since the 1950s and demonstrations like this tend to increase when there is a new government in the United States that appears more vulnerable to intimidation. American assurances that they will actively join in the defense of Taiwan during a Chinese invasion has been the primary deterrent to such an attack since the 1950s. April 10, 2021: In the southwest China has a very short border with Afghanistan and some very large investments in Afghanistan itself. The investments and the border are threatened the Afghan Taliban trying drag China into Taliban efforts to play Iran and Pakistan against each other. This Taliban tactic is difficult to make work because Iran considers the Taliban a Pakistan controlled operation. Similar situations exist on the Central Asian borders. China has a miniscule border with Afghanistan that is virtually impossible for any smugglers to use. China is also the major supplier of weapons to Pakistan and provides billions of dollars worth of construction projects, especially new road, rail and pipeline links from China to a new port near the Iranian border. China and Iran recently signed a 25-year military-economic cooperation deal that will make Iran as dependent on China as Pakistan already is. Iran has an alternative to China in India, which Iran maintains good diplomatic and economic relations with. China and India are locked in a bitter and increasingly violent border dispute. In this case geography and history matter as Iran and India have been trading and interacting for thousands of years while China was a distant mystery on the other side of the worlds highest mountains. One of the India-Iran historical interactions was joint control of Afghanistan when the ancient Silk Road caravan route between China and the rest of Eurasia was a valuable economic link between strangers. China is decidedly anti-drug and anti-Islamic terrorism. China has leverage, but not control, over Pakistan and Iran. If China opposes another Taliban attempt to take control of the entire country, chances of Taliban success decline to miniscule levels. April 9, 2021: The Philippines has invoked its mutual defense treaty with the United States. That treaty, signed right after World War II, considered any assault on Filipino territory an assault on American territory. So far, the U.S. has not gone to war over this because the Chinese have been careful to not fire on any Filipinos. Meanwhile in the South China Sea an American ARP (Amphibious Ready Group) task force that is centered on a smaller (40,000-ton) amphibious LHD (Landing Helicopter Dock) carrier joined with a larger carrier task force that is centered on the larger 104,000-ton Nimitz class carrier. The combined force will undertake nearly a week of joint training. The larger nuclear carrier carries 90 aircraft, most of them warplanes while the LHD normally carries 25 helicopters plus six F-35B fighters that can take off and land like a helicopter. A larger number of F-35Cs are on the carrier, which take off with a boost from a catapult and can land on the carrier. The LHD can be equipped with up to twenty F-35Bs and a few helicopters. The Americans have experimented with this and found that it works quite well. April 8, 2021: The Chinese navy has a worsening problem attracting qualified recruits for its growing fleet of new warships. The larger new ships, like carriers and amphibious assault ships require large crews and operate as part of task forces containing many additional smaller ships. Not enough Chinese are willing to serve on these ships. The recruiting problem is caused by several factors. The longer voyages are essential to train sailors to Western standards and this sort of thing is particularly unpopular with young Chinese. Then there is the growing labor shortage in China that provides too many more better paying jobs that dont involve months at sea on a warship. The labor shortage is turning into a crisis that was caused by a 1980s policy of one-child per couple. This limited population growth, as intended, but the introduction of a market economy helped create the first large (several hundred million strong) Chinese middle class of well-educated engineers and other professionals. These are the people who were key to China quickly creating the second largest GDP in the world. But there is a catch. Affluent, talented women everywhere, and throughout history, dont have a lot of children. Even though the one-child rule was revoked several years ago, the population is not growing, especially with educated couples. Worse the children of middle-class families are not eager to join the military, which needs their skills to operate all this new gear. China has conscription but it is not enforced because it is unpopular, especially among the educated. Those carriers, and all their support ships, need lots of capable officers and sailors. Someone did the math and realized the ships could be built faster than competent crews could be found. One carrier task force, with a carrier, five warship escorts and four or five resupply ships, requires over 5,000 sailors. Thats as many as an army combat brigade or an air force aircraft division. The military, in general, has had a hard time getting capable young men to do all the tech jobs the army and air force, as well as what the navy now requires. Given the shrinking workforce, because of the one-child rule, that situation is not going to improve for a decade or more. The army and air force are more attractive options for Chinese seeking a military career. China has no tradition of a high-seas fleet, something the West invented and have been using for over 500 years. The only other East Asian nation to develop a high-seas fleet was Japan, which starved its economy in the 1920s and 30s to do so and saw that impressive fleet largely destroyed by the American fleet after two years of heavy combat. April 7, 2021: In the south, across the border in India (Ladakh State) Chinese forces have slowed their agreed withdrawal from disputed territory in Ladakh. Both nations had concentrated thousands of troops along the shore of Pangong Lake. In September 2020 both agreed to halt their operations on the Indian border and continue negotiations. Both sides declared victory but China was the actual winner because now a thousand square kilometers of additional Indian territory along Panglong Lake is under Chinese control. By the end of 2020 the two sides had agreed to pull most of their forces back because of the frigid weather in the high mountains surrounding Pangong Lake. China has been slow to carry out all those withdrawals. This is was not unexpected and was another example of the Chinese SSSN (Shove, Stop, Stands Fast) tactics, which have once again prevailed, as they have many times in the recent past. China initially expressed no interest in retreating but was willing to negotiate. With the cold weather approaching last September India was in no position to refuse the Chinese offer. China believes they will prevail by repeating their SSSN and push Indian forces out of all the disputed areas along their common border. SSSN is slow and it would take decades to grab all the Indian territory claimed by China. As long as China maintains a stronger military than India and can keep more troops near the disputed border areas, India will not feel confident to defend forcefully and risking a large-scale battle on the border. India feels more capable in opposing China because of growing Indian economic power. Indian GDP nearly doubled in the last decade; from $1.7 trillion to the current $2.9 trillion. This made India the fifth largest economy, recently surpassing Britain and France. The rest of the top five are the U.S., China, Germany and Japan. Chinese GDP growth is slowing although in the last decade it more than doubled from $6.1 trillion to $14 trillion. Over three decades of spectacular economic growth in China resulted in the Chinese GDP becoming over fourteen times larger than it was in 1989. In that same period the U.S. GDP doubled. After World War II India had a larger GDP than China and never felt the same urgency as China to modernize and expand the economy. Actions have consequences and, in this case, it means China can push India around on their mutual border. Another reason for this is that India is still haunted by the last battle between Indian and Chinese forces back in 1962. In a month of fighting that began on 20 October 1962, India lost 7,000 troops (57 percent prisoners, the rest dead or missing) compared to 722 Chinese dead. China declared a ceasefire that India accepted. China actually advanced in two areas, a thousand kilometers apart and ended up taking 43,000 square kilometers of Indian territory. The source of the 1962 war and current border disputes are a century old and heated up again when China resumed control over Tibet in the 1950s. From the end of the Chinese empire in 1912 up until 1949 Tibet had been independent. But when the communists took over China in 1949, they sought to reassert control over their "lost province" of Tibet. This began slowly, but once all of Tibet was under Chinese control in 1959, China had a border with India and there was immediately a disagreement about exactly where the border should be. Thats because, in 1914, the newly independent Tibet government worked out a border (the McMahon line) with the British who then controlled India. China considers this border agreement illegal and wants 90,000 square kilometers back. India refused, especially since this would mean losing much of the state of Arunachal Pradesh in northeastern India and some bits elsewhere there and all along the new northern border. India, as a democracy with a free press, has a public discussion of Chinese tactics and possible Indian responses. China also tries to take advantage of the Indian media freedom by buying favorable coverage in the Indian press. This is done via bribes, offers of investments or loans as well as economic concessions within China. Military strategy in China, since ancient times, has placed emphasis on having a powerful military but using it mainly as a threat and giving enemies an incentive to accept bribes and allow China to get what they want. Yet India has rarely been seen as an enemy of China. There is nothing valuable on their mutual border which for thousands of years has been along high mountains and thinly populated lowland jungles. Neither India nor China had any incentive to raise large armies to threaten each other. Because of this background, the border disputes since the 1960s are seen by Indians as inexplicable and by Chinese as overdue restitution for centuries of humiliations inflicted by Western invaders. India, ever since it emerged from centuries of British colonial rule in 1947, insisted that India and China shared a background of oppression by the West. China sees India as trying to perpetuate Western crimes against China. To most Chinese, Indians look and sound like Westerners therefore India must be an enemy of China. India has come to accept that the Chinese are obsessed with making India pay for real or imagined wrongs inflicted by Western imperialists and see nothing wrong with using ancient Chinese imperialist methods to get their way. Suddenly British imperialism is not the worst thing that could ever happen to India. China is seeking to provide something much worse and much closer. April 6, 2021: In the south the Filipino president announced he would seek a peaceful solution to the dispute with China over Whitsun Reef. President Duterte deliberately used the international name for the reef, which is known in the Philippines as Julian Felipe Reef because that is what Filipinos call it and until China came along the Philippines had the strongest claim on the, until recently underwater, reef. Such a reef is valuable because it is prime fishing grounds and does provide some shelter from large waves during bad weather. Duterte has tried playing nice with the Chinese but so far has been burned more often than benefitted from this approach. April 5, 2021: In North Africa ambitious Chinese foreign policy is running into trouble. Both China, the West and oil-rich Arab states are willing to provide aid and loans to Libya, but only if certain conditions are met. China has few demands but wants economic and military access as well pro-China foreign policy. China is willing to take its losses in places like Libya, as well as exploiting the local corruption to get what China wants. The West wants reduced corruption (including illegal migrants) and the removal of foreign troops, especially the Turks. The Arab oil states want more power for Islam in the new government and help with controlling Iranian and Turkish efforts to gain more control over Moslem states in the region. Israel wants peace, economic ties and cooperation in dealing with Islamic terrorism. Most Libyans agree the Western, Arab and Israeli conditions. China is a maybe because of the Chinese reputation for doing whatever it takes. Most Libyans also want the foreign troops out and less corruption. On a personal level most Libyans want some other Libyan to go first when it comes to abandoning the many corrupt practices that have long been generally acceptable, or at least tolerated in Libya. All of these foreign powers are willing to reopen their embassies and such. That will clarify the local situation for foreigners, which wont help if all the foreigners see is corruption and mismanagement. April 4, 2021: In the South China Sea an American carrier group arrives, soon to be joined by an amphibious ARP task force. The two task forces will train together but the carrier task for is there mainly to carry out another FONOP (freedom of navigation operations) near areas China is trying to take from other nations that have long owned them. This is the second FONOP for this carrier group in the South China Sea this year. In 2020 the U.S. carried a record 13 FONOPS in the South China Sea. This was up from nine in 2019. Even more FONOPS were carried out in the South China Sea by other nations opposing the Chinese claims. In addition to more FONOPS, in mid-2020 the Americans took a stronger stand against Chinese aggression by declaring Chinese claims to offshore resources across most of the South China Sea as completely unlawful. This included the Chinese campaign of bullying other nations to gain exclusive control of these resources. In 2016 an international court ruled against China and stated that occupying uninhabitable rocks and building artificial islands did not confer an EEZ (Exclusive Economic Zone). Ownership of rocks gets you, at best 22 kilometers of territorial waters from the edge of each rock rather than 360 kilometers for EEZ rights. Before this change the U.S. merely called for China to comply with the court ruling, something China said it would not do even before the court completed its deliberations. The Americans did continue to carry out aerial and naval FONOP with warships to assert the right of innocent passage. This annoyed the Chinese, who claimed most of the South China Sea was under Chinese control and no foreign ship or aircraft could enter without permission. China has been claiming areas long recognized as belonging to Vietnam, Indonesia, Malaysia, Taiwan and the Philippines. That has caused all these nations, plus the United States, Japan and South Korea to form an alliance to halt Chinese aggression. In response to all this opposition, China has become more aggressive in word and deed. This includes a January 2021 announcement that a new Chinese law authorized their navy and coast guard to use lethal force to protect Chinese coastal waters, including those that are disputed by other nations. In other words, Chinese coast guard and navy vessel commanders have the authority to open fire on trespassers, even when international courts have declared China the outlaw and trespasser in the South China Sea. Until this new permission to open fire law, Chinese armed coast guard and navy vessels had only been used to intimidate trespassers and had never opened fire. There has been violence in the form of bumping or even ramming trespassers. This has led to the other countries threatening to send warships to defend their territory. Until now this would usually cause the Chinese warships to back off. But the new law allows Chinese captains to order crews to prepare for combat and use the fire control radars to concentrate on possible targets. In the Chinese playbook this means the Chinese want to goad someone else to open fire first, which would make China the designated victim (according to Chinese media) and justified in unleashing violent and probably overwhelming retaliation. The latest Chinese escalation is the use of large (over 200) numbers of fishing boats inside the V shaped Julian Felipe Reef, which is 324 kilometers west of Palawan, one the Filipino main islands. The reef is part of the Spratly Islands. The nearest undisputed Chinese territory is 1,148 kilometers away from the reef. China is using illegal claims on other South China Sea islands or reefs to justify its claim Julian Felipe Reef. In this case there is another problem. Julian Felipe Reef was not legally land that could be claimed until about five years ago. As happens often in the South China Sea, reefs grow and shrink because of the natural movement of sand. Parts of Julian Felipe Reef had long emerged from the water only during low tide. According to international law, that did not qualify as land. There are suspicions that China covertly did some dredging at Julian Felipe Reef to get the permanent sand to show. This is unlikely because commercial satellite coverage of the South China Sea has been nearly constant for over a decade. This satellite coverage and the growing number of visits by Filipino air force and coast guard patrols plus fishermen operating there has provided an accurate record of increased Chinese activity there. The has shown Chinese fishing boats and naval militia (fishing boats not currently equipped for fishing) showing up at Julian Felipe Reef since November 2020. By mid-March 2021 there were over 200 Chinese naval militia fishing boats inside the reef. Most of them were lashed together in groups of five to twenty boats that formed pattern preventing real fishing boats from operating inside the reef. Most fishing boats in the South China Sea are trawler type boats. These boats deploy their nets and then move through an area containing a lot of fish and haul their catch on board and into a refrigerated compartment. Many of the Chinese militia boats are formally called "freezer trawlers." These ships are up to 100 meters (320 feet) long and have facilities onboard to store hundreds of tons of frozen fish. These ships normally stay at sea months at a time and have crews of 14-30. The number of Chinese trawlers has expanded enormously since 1985 when there were only 13. Now there are over 2,400 of them operating worldwide. China helped with this expansion by subsidizing ocean-going fishing boats. Those subsidies have since been withdrawn but meanwhile, the number of larger (than 100 meter) freezer trawlers has grown and these are meant for use in far distant waters. China claimed all those Chinese fishing boats were taking shelter from bad weather. This is often the case with reefs in the South China Sea, but there was no correlation between the presence of Chinese boats inside the reef and the actual weather in the area. The Chinese claims dont stand up to close scrutiny. With so many cellphone videos and high-res images from aircraft and warships available, all China can do is keep lying and do it aggressively and with assurance that no one will do much about it. The Chinese naval militia has been a major factor in Chinese intimidation operations in the South China Sea. This militia has been around since the 1950s but never used this aggressively. For example, during the first three months of 2019 China deployed 900 navy, coast guard and naval militia ships around Pagasa Island to block access to fishing areas that Filipinos have been using for centuries. International law makes it clear that these are Filipino waters but the Chinese naval effort, and base constructed on Pagasa, challenge Filipino ownership blatantly and often physically. Since 2015 China has hired several hundred Chinese fishing boats and their crews as a part-time naval militia to conduct a blockage of bits of land in the South China Sea that the Philippines physically occupies, hoping to block supplies and force the Filipinos to evacuate these outposts so that China can take possession. The Chinese fishermen dont mind the militia work, seeing it as something of a paid vacation with overtones of patriotic service to the state. The militia boats are not true volunteers. When the government requests a Chinese fishing boat work for the militia the boat owner complies. Sometimes boat owners grumble when they are called up during a prime fishing season, but refusal is not an option and they make the best of it. The Philippines appears to get most of the unwanted Chinese attention in the South China Sea because the Philippines has the most to lose. In terms of land area, the 7,600 islands that comprise the Philippines amount to only 300,000 square kilometers (120,000 square miles) of land area. Compare this to China, with 9.6 million square kilometers of land. According to international law, the Philippines controls (via its EEZ or Exclusive Economic Zone) water areas covering 2.26 million square kilometers. By the same standards the Chinese EEZ waters comprises 877,000 square kilometers. The Philippines is also the weakest (in military terms) nation China is seizing territory from and their mutual defense treaty with the United States is not always adequate to deal with the Chinese tactics. Moreover, the American government can change readily every four years because of presidential elections. The current U.S. president is seen as less steadfast in dealing with China. So far that has not been the case, but the new American government has only been in power since January 2021. April 3, 2021: The Filipino Defense Secretary demanded that Chinese vessels leave Julian Felipe Reef. China quickly responded that the reef belonged to China, the Chinese ships were seeking shelter from bad weather and the Philippines had no right to make demands. There were still 44 Chinese vessels inside the reef and the weather had been calm for over a week. This is typical Chinese behavior towards the Philippines. April 2, 2021: In the south, neighboring Myanmar (Burma) has a new military government seeking to maintain its close ties with China while it struggles to establish control of the country after a February 1st coup. China promptly used their veto powers in the UN to block UN actions against the new military rulers of Burma. Within two weeks Russia also proclaimed support for the military government. The response of the military was not unexpected, because the civilian government knew that the Burmese generals maintained their connections in China and was the main reason China has sold $1.4 billion worth of military equipment to Burma since 2010. Russia sold $800 million worth. Together China and Russia accounted for over 90 percent Burmese spending on imports of military gear. The coup has not worked out as planned because the country is now sliding towards economic crisis and civil war. Anti-government demonstrations continue despite troops and police being ordered to open fire. So far over 600 demonstrators have been killed by the security forces and ten times that number wounded or arrested so far. The Burmese military is comfortable with a cozy relationship with China and Russia but most Burmese are not. This has led to Chinese businesses being attacked and some have been set on fire. The alliance of separatist northern tribes, which reached a peace agree with the elected government in 2016 refused to recognize or cooperate with the military government. Burmese military leaders were surprised at the extent and duration of mass protests during the last two months. By popular agreement the economy is shut down and the generals have to worry about the morale and loyalty of their troops because of the weeks of popular protests and being ordered to open fire on fellow Burmese. The military still has income because during their decades of rule (from 1962 to 2010) they came to control many businesses and some of those were joint ventures with China. A lot of Chinese firms pay the Burmese military directly for joint ventures. This provides the military with at least a billion dollars a year, assuming the Chinese operations can keep functioning. Burmese army officers made a lot of money allowing China to do business in the tribal north, often at the expense of local civilians, most of them tribal people. After the return of democracy in 2011, China no longer had as much freedom in the north. Russia is of little help economically bit is one of the few nations supporting the military government. March 28, 2021: In Africa, over a third of Zambias national debt is owed to China, which has provided loans and investments in virtually every sector of Zambias economy agriculture, industry and, of course mining. This week Angola thanked China for donating the Sinopharm COVID-19 vaccine. An Angola government official noted that China is the first country to provide Covid-19 vaccine aid to Angola. The official did not mention that China is likely the source of the epidemic outbreak because of a low effectiveness. March 27, 2021: In Iran, Chinese and Iranian officials signed a 25-year economic/political/military agreement. The basic terms are that China will buy most of Iranian oil exports at an unspecified discount and invest over $400 billion to build infrastructure in support of the BRI (Belt and Road Initiative) that is creating a new Silk Road via land and sea from China to the rest of Eurasia and Africa. There will also be military cooperation and intelligence sharing. Most other details of the agreement were not revealed. Negotiations on terms for the 25-year deal have been under negotiation since early 2020. The draft documents indicated Iran was willing to make a lot of concessions to become a close economic partner of China. That would mean China would have an incentive to protect Iran diplomatically, economically and militarily. The document makes Iran the major supplier of petroleum to China and China the major source of foreign investment as well as becoming Irans largest trading partner. China has long been helpful to Iran. For example, in mid-2019 China sided with Iran in the Iranian effort to evade the renewed American sanctions. China made this public during an emergency meeting of the JCPOA (Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action). This is the group of six nations (China, France, Russia, the Britain, the U.S. and Germany) that negotiated and signed the 2015 treaty with Iran to lift economic sanctions in return for Iran halting its nuclear weapons program (which Iran insisted it did not have). Inside Iran this treaty was considered a great victory that would cost Iran nothing and provide much benefit. The nuclear program would be halted for a while but not dismantled. This angle was documented in early 2018 when an Israeli intelligence operation in Iran got away with tons of documents from an Iranian storage facility. This was a major embarrassment for Iran, which declared all the evidence fakes. Western intel agencies, especially American and Israeli ones, already knew what Iran was doing with its nuclear weapons program but did not have such explicit documentary evidence. The Americans left the 2015 treaty in 2017, citing the clause that allowed for this if Iran was in violation. That did not persuade any other JCPOA members to do the same. The Americans were seen as a special case as they were the only JCPOA member that Iran has openly been at war with since the 1980s. Iran still holds anti-American demonstrations several times a year in which everyone repeatedly shouts death to America. Iran perpetuates that attitude mainly because of the support the U.S. has long provided to Israel, which Iran also wants to destroy. The other JCPOA members believe they can avoid any trouble with Iran by supporting Iranian efforts to evade the American sanctions China is now violating the Iranian sanctions in a big way. This is done using the techniques long practiced by North Korea and Iran to evade sanctions that limited oil exports and imports. It involves using deception at sea, as in illegally turning off tanker ship location devices, and then rendezvousing with another tanker and transferring oil cargoes at sea where it is usually not detected. There are incidents that are detected but if nations like China wont punish their shipping companies to this sort of thing, the sanctions dont work. China still refuses to blatantly violate the sanctions by sending its tankers to Iran and then take the oil to China. This would allow the Americans to legally seize the offending Chinese tanker. Using some deception provides enough deniability to keep the illegal trade going without risking Chinese tankers being seized. March 25, 2021: North Korea launched two short range missiles from its east coast into the Sea of Japan. One missile went 420 kilometers while the other went 430 kilometers into the Sea of Japan. Japan protested to North Korea. These launches were the first since the new American government took power in January. North Korea and the United States are about to resume negotiations and the North Koreans have noted that the Chinese are treating the new American government with contempt and expecting he Americans to back down. Japan is another matter. Japan is going ahead with the delayed 2020 Olympic Games that are going to be staged in a few months. Foreign spectators will not be allowed in, just the athletes and their support personnel. The Japanese apparently told North Korea that they were not going to be intimidated by more missile tests or anything else and would retaliate if they had to. The North Koreans were hoping for some free food. March 22, 2021: China wont admit defeat in its trade war with Australia but the stark reality is that they have lost. Australia has found other markets for the coal exports that long were monopolized by China. The major advantage Australia has as a supplier of raw materials is that the Australians are more efficient and reliable than the alternatives. For example, China gets about 60 percent of its iron ore from Australia. Another potential major supplier, Brazil, has proved much less reliable, as well as much farther way. Even more risky are African suppliers. China has spent billion investing in the West African state of Guinea to develop the iron ore deposits found there. These will not replace all of the Australian imports but will give China some ammunition in its campaign to force Australia to adopt pro-China policies and attitudes. So far, this effort has not turned out well for China. For example, a late 2020 effort to increase the economic pressure on Australia by refusing to accept coal they had ordered because of quality problems. There are no quality problems but there is over half a billion dollars worth of Australian coal stuck on 57 ships waiting for either side to back down. When other buyers for the stranded Australian coal showed up, and China was unable to scare them off, the Chinese knew they were beat. They would not admit it but at least lowered their media animosity towards Australia and increased the tonnage of iron ore they have to keep buying from Australia because there is no other supplier so close and so capable of providing what the Chinese cannot afford to lose. China is also angry at Australia for cracking down on Chinese espionage and influence operations inside Australia as well as criticism of, and active opposition to Chinese claims in the South China Sea. China is still Australias largest trading partner, accounting for over 30 percent of imports and exports. Australia still has a favorable trade balance with China as China bought far more (mainly raw materials) from Australia than the other way around. China accounted for 85 percent of the positive Australian trade balance and that has been going on for decades. This has made Australia immune to all the global economic recessions since the 1990s and given the Australian GDP and standard-of-living an unprecedented period of growth. Australia has found that this favorable situation came at a price. China expected Australia to do whatever China wanted. When Australia stuck with the United States over illegal Chinese trade practices China decided to teach Australia a lesson about who was in charge in the West Pacific. As a result, Australia and China engaged in a major power dispute. China tried using trade restrictions (reducing purchases from Australia) to coerce Australia. Even though China is the largest customer for Australian exports, this coercion was not well received in Australia. One response from Australia was to repeat its accusations that Chinese claims in the South China Sea are illegal. At the same time Australia acknowledges that China has militarized its bases in the South China Sea and that makes it riskier for foreign warships that carry out FONOPS (Freedom Of Navigation Operations) there. Australia has increased its military spending because of the growing threat of attack by China. Australia is not alone when it comes to Chinese economic pressure. Most of Chinas neighbors have had a taste of this and that played a role in the formation of a local coalition opposed to the Chinese efforts at domination. This is a problem for China because this coalition does have the military capability to block Chinese forces. That coalition includes the United States, Australia, Japan and South Korea and several other local nations. For the moment it is a war of words and economic attacks and its up to China to escalate that to open warfare. March 18, 2021: More problems with Chinese investments in southwest Pakistan (Baluchistan) where there has been some open defiance by the military because of the CPEC (China-Pakistan Economic Corridor) project. The Navy and Coast Guard refuse to give up 47 hectares (116 hectares) at the site of the new Gwadar port project. The commanders of the Navy and Coast Guard are making a public protest against the policy of being so economically and militarily dependent on China. This opposition has been growing within the military leadership, who see this dependence on China as a surrender of independence and putting Pakistan at risk of becoming collateral damage if China decides to fight Indian and its Western and East Asian allies for control of the Indian Ocean. The Pakistani naval officers have done the math and believe China has little chance of prevailing against that kind of coalition. Worse is the fact that Pakistan is becoming so economically and diplomatically dependent on their northern neighbor. This public protest, which the Chinese are demanding be resolved quickly, began in late 2020 and surfaced now because the Chinese are visibly upset at this insubordination. The growing opposition within Pakistan, and the Pakistani military towards the increasing brutality of the military against elected officials, critical media and anyone who opposes the military getting its way, also exists in the military. Not just among junior members but among senior commanders. The military decided over a decade ago that Pakistan should be willing to pay a high price to get CPEC done because it means Pakistan has an ally against Iran and even Western powers that might have some violent disagreement with Pakistan. China addressed that by pointing out that China does not have allies, just powerful trading partners (the West in general) and client states (like Pakistan). That has always been the Chinese outlook and it hasnt changed. While China is picking up most of the $60 billion cost of CPEC, it means that China owns many of those new economic assets, especially the new port of Gwadar. In early 2017 China and Pakistan finally signed the agreement that granted China a 40-year lease on new Chinese built facilities China at Gwadar. The lease grants China most (over 80 percent) of the revenue brought in by port and free trade zone operations. China usually imports its own workers from China to do most of the work on projects like this. By 2022 China expects to have about half a million Chinese in Pakistan, some of them with their families. The easiest way to provide protection is to have most of them live in a heavily guarded and restricted access area. Gwadar is a key part of CPEC and it has the misfortune of being in a province (Baluchistan) that does not want to be part of Pakistan. China and the Pakistanis try to ignore this by not reporting on non-Islamic terror attacks on CPEC construction projects. The government has long been accused of suppressing news of tribal separatists in Baluchistan attacking government targets and especially those related to CPEC. The separatists claim they regularly carry out attacks on CPEC construction projects, but most of their attacks are still directed at Pakistani security forces and government facilities. Because of the security threat to Gwadar, China demanded that Pakistan build 30 kilometers of three-meter-high security fencing near the two main entrances to Gwadar. In addition, the Chinese are installing 500 security cameras within the perimeter of the port. Pakistanis fear the entire port area will eventually be fenced off to protect what is described by locals as a Chinese naval base guarded by Chinese and Pakistani troops. Since early 2019 Pakistan has been responding to Chinese complaints that about lack of security, and agreed to add more troops to the security forces already assigned to guard over 300 Chinese projects in Pakistan and the 15,000 foreigners (mainly Chinese) who work on them. The existing force has over 15,000 personnel with 9,000 being soldiers and the rest local para-military forces. This will be in addition to the special naval force that protects navy facilities in Gwadar and the waters off Pakistan. In mid-2017 Pakistan also agreed to build a walled and restricted residential area near the port of Gwadar to house up to half a million Chinese that will eventually be working in Pakistan. The Chinese construction work on Gwadar port facilities is visible to anyone on the ground or flying by and it was noticed that some features of the new port and airport facilities are clearly intended for military use. India has long claimed China (despite denials) was planning to use Gwadar as a base for Chinese warships and naval aircraft. Pakistan never had a problem with Chinese military using Gwadar as it helps keep local troublemakers out. Pakistan has assured China that there would be no terrorist violence against Chinese working on upgrading the port of Gwadar and land links north to China. The military now has to assure their Chinese overlords that dissent with the Pakistani military will be suppressed as well. March 17, 2021: Russia is recalling its ambassador to the United States for unspecified reason. Russia and China are united in calling the new (since January) American government weak and vulnerable. Both are demanding that the U.S. lift its sanctions and treat Russia and China with more respect. Trey Falwell has been ousted from role as vice president at Christian conservative college Liberty University eight months after his dad Jerry Falwell Jr was forced to resign as president over a sex scandal. Politico revealed that Trey Falwell is out of his $234,310-a-year job in the operations department of college, which has been rocked by a string of recent scandals involving the Falwell family. It is unclear why Trey left, and whether he did so voluntarily. The university in Lynchburg, Virginia, is now said to be keen to be seen to purge of the influence of its founding family, and is reportedly keen to 'weed out' people who were close to Falwell Jr during his time as president. Trey Falwell has left Liberty University, the Christian conservative college founded by his grandfather, 8 months after his parents Jerry and Becki were caught up in a series of scandals Last August, Falwell Jr and his wife Becki were humiliated after Miami pool boy Giancarlo Granda told Reuters that he and Becky had enjoyed a years-long affair. Granda also claimed to have had sex with Becki while Falwell Jr watched them. Falwell Jr - once one of the US's most influential Evangelical Christian conservatives - stepped down as president of the university shortly afterwards, with a probe into his behavior launched. He has since returned to watch a campus game of lacrosse, and even claimed workers and former colleagues had been 'supportive.' Falwell Jr shared photos of his visit on social medial, also told Politico that the college 'still embraced him.' That assertion prompted acting Liberty President Jerry Prevo to ban staff from communicating with Falwell Jr or Becki, and to immediately alert them if they are contacted by the couple. Falwell Jr's other son Wesley, and his daughters-in-law work in lower profile roles at Liberty, and it remains unclear if they will remain in their roles. Shortly after Falwell Jr's departure, Liberty announced it was opening an independent investigation into his tenure as president, a wide-ranging inquiry that would look into financial, real estate and legal matters. In December, it emerged Jerry Falwell Jr spent millions in Liberty University money to promote Donald Trump, hiring his allies and paying for political adverts. Liberty University President Jerry Falwell Jr posted this photo to his Instagram page in August last year - before quickly deleting it - with his pants unbuttoned and his arm around a woman. His caption read: 'More vacation shots. Lots of good friends visited us on the yacht. I promise that's just black water in my glass. It was a prop only.' Jerry Jr, right, was president of Liberty University until stepping down last year after admitting his wife Becki, left, had an affair with their former pool boy Giancarlo Granda Giancarlo Granda, circled left, with Becki and Jerry Falwell Jr, circled right, and family on trip to Washington DC in 2018 In a statement emailed to staff after Falwell Jr's recent visits, Prevo said the university was engaged in a 'forensic investigation' of university operations during Falwell Jr's time in charge. 'This notice is sent to preserve the integrity of the investigation and ensure that Jerry Falwell Jr is not having any influence on the investigation or the university's operations, directly or indirectly,' Prevo told staff at the university. Giancarlo Granda befriended the Falwells in 2012 and then began a years-long affair with Becki. He claimed Jerry Jr would watch as they had sex in hotel rooms Jerry Falwell Jr was an early supporter of Donald Trump, and spent millions on causes to support the former President Students at Liberty University in Virginia are not allowed to drink alcohol and are banned from engaging with media that contains lewd lyrics, sexual content and nudity Jerry Falwell Jr had already been on an indefinite leave of absence after an uproar over a photo he posted on social media of him and his wife's pregnant assistant, both with their pants unzipped in August 2020. Weeks later he stepped down from the role after news of his wife's affair with Granda became public. The Falwells met Granda in Miami in 2012 when he was aged 20 and were said to be so impressed with him that they invested in a gay hostel that he and their son ran as managers. He had sex with Falwell's wife Becki several times a year in hotel rooms, sometimes while Falwell Jr watched, until 2018, he claimed. 'Becki and I developed an intimate relationship and Jerry enjoyed watching from the corner of the room,' Granda said in a statement. Falwell Jr acknowledged the affair but said that he was 'not involved.' 'Becki had an inappropriate personal relationship with this person, something in which I was not involved... it was nonetheless very upsetting to learn about.' Falwell Jr alleged he Granda had blackmailed he and Becki, and claimed that the 'threatening behavior' left him with 'trauma' and had greatly affected him as he tried to run Liberty University. Weeks after that affair was exposed, a former Liberty University student came forward to tell Politico how Becki had performed oral sex on him in 2008. The unnamed student, a 22 year-old friend of the Falwells' son at the time of the alleged encounter, said Becki pounced on him after he went to their house for band practice. He alleges that Becki came on to him, then jumped into bed with him and gave him oral sex while he was staying over. The student said of the incident: 'She was the aggressor.' Falwell Jr attempted to sue Liberty for defamation last year, but abandoned the lawsuit in December. DailyMail.com requested comment from Liberty University, but they had not responded by the time of publication. For full access, please log in, register your subscription or subscribe. Try for 99 a month for two months, cancel or pause anytime. Third grade students at Greylock Elementary School are shifting to remote learning after a new COVID-19 case was identified in the school community. Prime Minister Florin Citu said today that no extra regulations can be enacted, other than what the Constitution already provides, for setting in place guarantees for the USR PLUS partners that no other ministers of the ruling alliance will be sacked without prior notice. "I won't comment on scenarios. At the same time, I don't think we can regulate more than what the Constitution regulates," Citu told a press conference at the Victoria Palace of Government. As regards the request of the leaders of the USR PLUS political alliance for the coalition leaders to meet as soon as possible, the Prime Minister replied that such a meeting will take place on Monday, as every week, agerpres.ro confirms. "The Chairmen of both the Hungarian Democratic Union of Romania and of the National Liberal Party have very clearly explained in public the reason why. The coalition meetings usually take place on Monday, they stay like that. At this moment I see no other reason to meet," Florin Citu said. He also denied that there would have been tensions or run-ins with USR PLUS ministers during today's government meeting. "No, we never have arguments. We are all there, at the government meeting, to approve important regulatory acts for the Romanians. As a Prime Minister I tell you that there are no arguments or disputes during government meetings. We are there to approve regulatory acts for the Romanians," the Prime Minister underscored. Asked if he would agree with Liberal Chairman Ludovic Orban taking over as Prime Minister in order to keep the governing coalition together, Citu replied that the coalition is currently working, as proves today's full attendance government meeting that passed important regulatory acts for the people. [April 15, 2021] The MICHELIN Guide Presents "Still Serving" Virtual Series in Washington, D.C., Chicago and New York GREENVILLE, S.C., April 15, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- The MICHELIN Guide announced a three-week "Still Serving" virtual series for the newest editions of its restaurant selections in the United States. Listings for the new restaurant selections will be published on the MICHELIN Guide Instagram channel . City Date Washington, D.C., Bib Gourmands Tuesday, April 20 Washington, D.C., Star selections Thursday, April 22 Chicago Bib Gourmands Tuesday, April 27 Chicago Star selections Thursday, April 29 New York City Bib Gourmands Tuesday, May 4 New York City Star selections Thursday, May 6 "A monumental shift has taken place throughout the restaurant community, requiring everyone to pivot in their own unique way The MICHELIN Guide, included," said Gwendal Poullennec, international director of The MICHELIN Guides. "We look forward to highlighting the accomplishments of the industry's most resilient restaurants, who, despite the toughest year, are still serving." The "Still Serving" series is presented by Capital One. In addition to the highly anticipated Bib Gourmand and Star awards, the Guide will announce restaurants in the Plate category, the MICHELIN Green Star and special awards, including Sommelier and Young Chef. "As the presenting sponsor of the 'Still Serving' series, Capital One is proud to celebrate the award recipients and their accomplishments during this challenging time," said Monica Bauder, head of branded card partnerships and experiences at Capital One. "Our customers are passionate about dining experiences, and we remain committed to supporting this vital industry." The new selections will be available on the MICHELIN Guide iOS app. Download the app to explore all the Michelin-rated restaurants across the globe and book the world's most unique and exciting hotels. App users can also create and share their own restaurant and hotel wish lists. Through integrations with our official booking partners, including OpenTable and Resy, app users can make reservations directly within the app. About Michelin Michelin, the leading mobility company, is dedicated to enhancing its customers' mobility, and sustainably; designing and distributing the most innovative tires, services and solutions for its customers' needs; providing digital services, maps and guides to help enrich trips and travels and make them unique experiences; and developing high-technology materials that serve a variety of industries. Headquartered in Greenville, South Carolina, Michelin North America has approximately 23,000 employees and operates 34 production facilities in the United States and Canada. (michelinman.com) About Capital One At Capital One we're on a mission for our customers bringing them great products, rewards, service, and access to unique and unforgettable experiences they are passionate about. Capital One is a diversified bank that offers products and services to individuals, small businesses and commercial clients. We use technology, innovation and interaction to provide consumers with products and services to meet their needs. Learn more at capitalone.com/access. View original content to download multimedia:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/the-michelin-guide-presents-still-serving-virtual-series-in-washington-dc-chicago-and-new-york-301269925.html SOURCE Michelin North America [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] NASHVILLE, Tenn., April 15, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Qualifacts + Credible, a leading provider of electronic health records (EHR) for behavioral health and human service organizations, has entered an agreement to partner with Kings View Professional Services, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Kings View, to provide a best-in-class comprehensive technology and managed services offering to the California county mental health community. Under this agreement, Kings View, a long-established and leading behavioral health corporation in California, will be supplying, installing, operating, upgrading, maintaining and otherwise providing full support for the Credible EHR platform. This industry-leading offering will not only be available to Kings Views current county partners, but will be made available to new county customers as well. The Kings View-Credible partnership provides the California county mental health community with the benefit of proven in-state behavioral health expertise combined with a highly configurable next-generation EHR platform. The benefits to the county agencies will be numerous. They will have access to an advanced Business Intelligence analytics and reporting platform that provides an immediate window into their operations. This will allow for nimble and accurate reporting and reconciliation and also let them tap into an up-to-date and expanded array of California-specific capabilities which include: integrated care functions; a CCBHC module, eRx services that include EPCS; intuitive form-development capabilities support California's unique reporting requirements; a fully disconnected mobile solution; a client portal providing seamless connectivity to consumers; and inpatient/residential functions. All of these technological advantages are backed by Kings View's unparalleled expertise and support. "Kings View has the unique experience of being both a provider of services and a technology partner to more than 20 California counties," said Bill Dollar, Chief Information Officer. "Kings View selected Credible to offer California counties a premium, inclusive service featuring a comprehensive behavioral health EHR platform that's supported by the professional services our counties rely on to ensure compliance and maximize revenue. Our combined expertise makes the Credible and Kings View partnership the safest option available in the marketplace to provide the software and hardware infrastructure to meet California's requirements today and into the future." "California county agencies benefit from our unique ability to support them as both a technology partner and fellow behavioral health provider," added Amanda Nugent-Divine, MS, LMFT, Chief Executive Officer. "When we consider their EHR needs, we bring an inside knowledge of working with county mental health entities and facilitating their data evolution with effective solutions. We recognize the trust they place in us, and as such, closely evaluated multiple EHR vendors from around the country to ensure we were choosing the best technology provider. Qualifacts + Credible, and the Credible EHR platform, far exceeded our high expectations, and we believe our county partners will benefit on multiple levels from all the new capabilities we are bringing to them." Based in Fresno, Kings View has a 70-year history of providing Californians with groundbreaking behavioral health services and support. More recently, Kings View's facilitation of cutting-edge EHR and health information analytics access to its fellow behavioral health agencies has allowed it to forge an essential and trusted relationship within the California provider community. This new partnership between Kings View Professional Services and Qualifacts + Credible will continue that history of innovative and forward-thinking service, said Amanda Nugent-Divine, MS, LMFT, Chief Executive Officer. "California county agencies' need for high-quality, innovative and flexible EHR support has never been more crucial," said Jeff Silverman, Chief Sales & Marketing Officer of Qualifacts + Credible. "This partnership will position them for success on a proven platform that is configurable and provides multiple tiers of data access to further drive value-based care and reimbursement, while continuing Kings View's legacy of county partner support." ABOUT QUALIFACTS+CREDIBLE Qualifacts + Credible, two leading providers of Electronic Health Records (EHR) and related technology to behavioral health and human services agencies, merged in August 2020. The new entity combines and brings to market the decades of experience each company achieved individually and is laser-focused on helping agency partners improve clinical outcomes, enhance operations and create healthier communities. The company is offering, enhancing and fully supporting both EHR platforms CareLogic and Credible while collaborating to build an even brighter future for partner agencies and their clients. Qualifacts + Credible supports the evolution of interoperability standards as required by state and federal law, recommended by Health and Human Services (HHS) and as necessary to help achieve its mission. By executing an omni-channel approach to interoperability, Qualifacts + Credible provides customers with flexible options and ensures that their systems, users and clients will achieve interoperability goals through a consistent user experience now and into the future. ABOUT KINGS VIEW Kings View was founded in Reedley, California in 1951 by the Mennonites to address the need for treatment of mental health. In the 1960s and early 1970s, the scope of services was expanded to include drug and alcohol treatment through several community programs. In 1975, a day facility providing activity and work experience for developmentally disabled adults was established in Merced County. A drug and alcohol prevention and restoration program were created in Fresno in the 1980s. In 1998 a TelePsychiatry program was launched to bring much needed psychiatric care to patients in more rural areas who may not have local access to such facilities. Currently Kings View offers the following service lines: Mental Health, Drug and Alcohol, MIS for Electronic Health Records, Intellectually Challenged Adult Services, Youth Empowerment Programs, TelePsychiatry, Central Valley Suicide Prevention Hotline and Health Information Analytics and cost reporting. Media Contacts: Joe Morris (615) 243-0440 [email protected] Beverly Raine (559) 256-7605 [email protected] Related Images qualifacts-credible-color-logo.jpg Qualifacts + Credible Color Logo Qualifacts + Credible Color Logo SOURCE Qualifacts + Credible OXFORD, Miss. (WTVA) - Mississippi Veterans Affairs (MSVA) is wrapping up Operation "Family Reunion" this week in Kosciusko and Oxford. Residents were allowed to physically meet their family members for the first time since the COVID-19 pandemic began in March 2020. Brad and Shamari Wilbanks visiting their loved one. Photo Date: April 15, 2021 Kathy Ramsey visiting her stepfather. Photo Date: April 15, 2021 Kathy Ramsey visiting her stepfather. Photo Date: April 15, 2021 Brad and Shamari Wilbanks visiting their loved one. Photo Date: April 15, 2021 This is possible because of vaccinated residents and staff. According to MSVA, more than 90 percent of the approximately 430 residents at the four State Veterans Homes in Collins, Jackson, Kosciusko and Oxford received a COVID-19 vaccine. "On the drive over here I just bawled, like a baby, Kathy Ramsey said about visiting her stepfather. Just to be able to spend time, more than just a few minutes." She had previously been allowed to talk with him through a wall or on the phone. Brad and Shamari Wilbanks visited from Memphis, Tennessee. Like Ramsey, the only contact the Wilbanks family had with their loved one was through a window. Spokesman Ray Coleman said the Kosciusko and Oxford homes reopened this week. The Collins home reopened two weeks ago and the Jackson home reopened a week ago. Kosciusko and Oxford end their family reunion three-day event on Friday. The two locations will then begin a one-week shutdown. The locations can resume full-time visitation in two weeks if there are no positive cases during the shutdown. Open this link to make appointments and more. POLICE broke up a large fight outside the Catherine Wheel pub in Henley. Several dozen youths were seen shouting abuse at one another while brawling on the pavement and in the road outside at about 10pm on Monday. Videos circulating on social media show plastic bottles being thrown and pub security guards in high-viz jackets separating pairs of young men as they tussled and rolled on the ground throwing punches. One was seen falling against the side of a car which was parked on the opposite site of Hart Street. Bystanders called 999 and at least seven police cars were summoned to the scene. Officers formed a line across the street near the towns central crossroads, between the Marc Antoni hair salon and the Harris + Hoole coffee shop, and arrested three people while escorting others from the scene. A witness who shared the footage with the Henley Standard described the scene as chaos. Henley Mayor Ken Arlett said: Its good that they managed to get some police out to that night because there were similar issues at the end of the previous lockdown and very few police were available. I just hope they made a few arrests rather than sending people home with a warning as I dont think anyone learns that way. Two 19-year-old men, one from Hambleden and one from Princes Risborough, were arrested on suspicion of using threatening, abusive or insulting words or behaviour with intent to cause fear or provoke unlawful violence. They were both released under investigation. An 18-year-old Maidenhead man arrested on the same grounds and being drunk and disorderly was released without charge. In California the Department of Real Estate as well as the Attorney General's office are consumer protection agencies created for the purpose of protecting consumers from salespersons such as Amber Chisolm, who convinced Woodward and Joann Drake that the timeshare interest they'd be purchasing from Wyndham Resort Development would appreciate in value could be easily traded or sold. Working for Wyndham, Chisolm, a Real Estate Agent, also convinced the Drakes that they would be given priority over non-timeshare owners in booking at one of Wyndham's resorts. According to the Drakes nothing could have been further from the truth. "The Drakes came to me very upset that an agent working for Wyndham would claim things she knew to be false," says real estate attorney Mitchell Reed Sussman, who has specialized in procuring releases for tens of thousands of timeshare owners over the last fifteen years. Unlike many attorneys, however, Sussman is not afraid to take these mammoth corporations to court. "Wyndham's response was that the contract the Drakes signed supersedes any regulation by either the CalDRE or Attorney General" Attorney Sussman explains. "However, no one, not even Wyndham is above the law." Though Wyndham's Worldmark and Club Wyndham timeshares are points and credits rather than 'real estate' per se, according to Sussman they still subject to regulation by California Department of Real Estate. Wyndham, however, disputed this and it took a ruling by a California judge to resolve the case. "If you are a resident of California you are protected by these laws regardless where you purchase your timeshare," says Sussman. "And if you're not a resident of California, but you've purchased a timeshare here, you're still protected by our Real Estate laws. To the extent that timeshare contracts attempt to circumvent the law, they are not worth the paper they're printed on." The case alleged that the Drake's contract was induced by fraud and its provisions could not be enforced. Literally the day after the judge made his ruling, and to the surprise of no one, the case settled. At the request of Wyndham the terms of settlement are confidential. About Attorney Sussman Mitchell Reed Sussman has been practicing Real Estate and Bankruptcy Law for over 40 years. Top rated by the BBB, he is considered the pre-eminent Timeshare Cancellation Attorney. His website www.timesharelegalaction.com educates the public about the pitfalls and hidden dangers prevalent in the timeshare industry. SOURCE Law Offices of Mitchell Reed Sussman Related Links https://www.timesharelegalaction.com A model who posed for pictures without a hijab has been snatched off the street by Iran-backed Houthi rebels who are planning to prosecute her in a kangaroo court for being a bad influence. The young Yemeni model and actress kidnapped by Iran-backed Houthi rebels is set to be 'tried' by her abductors who see her as a corrupting influence, according to reports. Entesar Al-Hammadi, 20, and two of her colleagues were snatched from a street in the rebel-controlled Yemeni capital, Sanaa, on February 20. Entesar Al-Hammadi, 20, (pictured) has been snatched off the street by Iran-backed Houthi rebels who are planning to prosecute her in a kangaroo court for being a bad influence The kidnapping is believed to be part of a series of crackdowns on objectors and liberals in areas of the country controlled by the rebels. A Houthi 'prosecutor' will question the young model on Sunday, according to her lawyer, Khaled Mohammed Al-Kamal, who said that she was arrested unlawfully. 'My client was arrested without a warrant,' Al-Kamal told Arab News. Entesar and her colleagues were on their way to film a drama TV series when their vehicle was stopped by rebels, who abducted the women, taking them to a secret location in February. A Houthi 'prosecutor' will question the young model on Sunday, according to her lawyer, Khaled Mohammed Al-Kamal, who said that she was arrested unlawfully. Entesar Al-Hammadi is pictured above They were ostensibly arrested for violating Islamic dress norms, according to reports. Crackdowns against Yemeni women have reportedly become commonplace in Houthi-controlled areas. Yemeni Minister of Information Moammar Al-Eryani wrote on Twitter: 'They must stop the extortion of women and release all disappeared women from their secret prisons unconditionally.' Entesar had told a Yemeni TV channel that she dreamed of travelling abroad to escape Yemen's conservative society last year. Entesar, whose mother is Ethiopian, said at the time: 'It would be great if I was given an opportunity outside Yemen.' Crackdowns against Yemeni women have reportedly become commonplace in Houthi-controlled areas According to a report in Arab News, as a child, Al-Hammadi dreamed of being a model, wore her mother's clothes around the house and imitated famous models she watched on TV. Her parents told her that her aspiration to become a model was a 'pie in the sky', Al-Hammadi said in a TV interview last year. She gained popularity after her friend, who was a professional photographer, published photos of her on social media wearing traditional Yemeni outfits. The 20-year-old has appeared in two local TV drama series and had planned to attend college next year. The Yemeni Civil War began in 2014 and is ongoing. The main players are the Iran-backed Houthis, the Saudi-backed Hadi-led government, and terrorist groups such as al-Qaeda and ISIL. Human Rights Watch puts the civilian death toll at over 18,400. A more recent publication of this set of statistics is available. Latest publication: Turnover of trade 2021, April Published: 15 April 2021 Turnover in trade grew by 3.9 per cent in February, wholesale trade also increased According to Statistics Finland, turnover in total trade adjusted for working days grew by 3.9 per cent in February from February 2020. Over the same period, the working day adjusted volume of sales in total trade, from which the impact of prices has been eliminated, increased by 2.9 per cent. Turnover and sales volume increased in all main sectors of trade in February. In this year's January, turnover went up by 1.8 per cent, while sales volume rose correspondingly by 2.3 per cent. Annual change in working day adjusted turnover and sales volume in total trade (G), % The over one-year-long pessimistic development of turnover in the biggest industry of trade, wholesale trade, made an upturn of 2.5 per cent in February. The working day adjusted sales volume of wholesale trade also increased in February by exactly one per cent year-on-year. Turnover in motor vehicle trade rose by 4.2 per cent and sales volume by 2.4 per cent. In retail trade, working day adjusted turnover grew in February in total by 4.8 per cent and sales volume by 4.7 per cent. Among retail trade industries, daily consumer goods trade grew clearly fastest, as turnover went up by 7.6 per cent and sales volume by 6.2 per cent. The turnover and sales volume of department store trade went up by over two per cent from February 2020. Among retail trade industries, the development was weakest in specialised store trade, where turnover fell by 3.1 per cent and sales volume by 1.5 per cent from a year ago. Annual change in working day adjusted turnover and sales volume in industries of trade, February 2021, % (TOL 2008) Both turnover and sales volume increased compared to January Seasonally adjusted turnover in total trade grew by 1.2 per cent in February compared to January. Seasonally adjusted sales volume grew by 0.5 per cent during the same period. In January, turnover rose by 2.4 per cent and sales volume by 1.6 per cent from the month before. Change in seasonally adjusted turnover and sales volume in total trade (G) from the previous month, % Trend of turnover and sales volume in total trade The calculation of indices of turnover of trade is based on the Tax Administrations data on self-assessed taxes, which are supplemented with Statistics Finlands sales inquiry. The volume index of sales is calculated by removing the effect of price changes from the value index series. The factors caused by the variation in the number of weekdays are taken into account in adjustment for working days. This means taking into consideration the lengths of months, different weekdays and holidays. In addition, seasonal variation is eliminated from seasonally adjusted series, on account of which it makes sense to compare observations of two successive months as well. The data for the latest month are preliminary and they may become significantly revised particularly on more detailed industry levels in coming months. Source: Turnover of trade, Statistics Finland Inquiries: Suvi Kiema 029 551 3509, Mauri Niiniaho 029 551 3409, palvelut.suhdanne@stat.fi Head of Department in charge: Katri Kaaja Publication in pdf-format (292.9 kB) Updated 15.04.2021 Referencing instructions: Official Statistics of Finland (OSF): Turnover of trade [e-publication]. ISSN=1799-0939. February 2021. Helsinki: Statistics Finland [referred: 5.6.2021]. Access method: http://www.stat.fi/til/klv/2021/02/klv_2021_02_2021-04-15_tie_002_en.html I had only seen cherry blossoms in Japanese and Korean movies and heard of their symbolism in poetry. I found them precious, beautiful and foreign. As a botanist, I try to steer away from comparing the beauty of flowers. Cherry blossoms, however, made me helplessly fall for them back in 2018, when I witnessed them for the first time. No, I didnt make an overseas trip to Korea or Japan; I found my very own cherry blossom paradise in the small Himalayan state of Sikkim. In the first week of November 2018, as I was travelling from Gangtok to Mangan in North Sikkim, I saw lines of cherry blossoms; their luscious pink petals were a stark contrast to the clear blue skies, turning the landscape into Japanese fairy-tale. My nine companions were half asleep inside the cramped jeep during this early morning journey, and I had no one to pinch me back to reality! The curious thing was, I had taken the same road just a week ago and there had been no pink blossoms in sight, nor had anyone told me that cherry blossoms bloom in Northeast India. A fragrant history If we peruse the available literature, cherry blossoms have been a documented botanical jewel of Sikkim since the early 1900s. Their native range lies in Khangchendzonga National Park in North Sikkim. Scientifically, cherry blossoms belong to the genus Prunus in the Rosaceae family. The Japanese Sakura is Prunus serrulata, which is different from the species widely found in Sikkim, Prunus carmesina. The cherry blossom species that flowers in April, commonly known as the Geyzing cherry, is a different species of Prunus campanulata. The white cherry that I spotted is Centenary Cherry. The Japanese Sakura also finds its place in Sikkimese history as Sakura, and was first introduced during the coronation of Sikkims last king Chogyal Palden Thondup Namgyal. I was pleasantly and thoroughly surprised to learn about the rich history behind this unexpected floral finding. Aesthetic pleasure In the following months in Sikkim, my encounters with cherry blossoms became more frequent. I saw them adorning the courtyards of local villagers, tucked in the most remote villages, and every house had cherry blossoms and Rhododendron placed like precious jewels at the entrance. Rhododendron finds utility in its medicinal properties and makes a fine wine as well, which is largely famous in Sikkim. Cherry blossoms, called Paiyun in Nepali, on the other hand, are mostly for aesthetic pleasure, as the fruits are edible but bitter. The blooming season in 2018 lasted for two weeks. I was greeted once again by the cherry blossoms in early January and in early March, but only in high elevations of North Sikkim. In March 2020, I found two lonely cherry blossom trees in the Darjeeling district of West Bengal, another surprising discovery. Recently, an early bloom of Sakura in Japan and the United states has left a bittersweet feeling among its admirers. I wonder, how our own cherry blossoms are doing in their abode beneath the snow-capped mountains. The state of Sikkim has witnessed warmer temperatures and increased precipitation in recent years. Cherry blossoms are sensitive to any seasonal and temperature shifts in their habitat, and hence are important indicators of the same. This florist and cultural commonality with Japan, China and Korea speaks much about our intertwined history with East Asia, as well as the importance of Himalayan biodiversity for a better understanding of culture, history, climate change and, of course, aesthetics! The boys mother, Carolyn, said she was woken on the night of the party by one of Jasons friends who had driven her son home. She said Jason was sort of just looking at me, he looked a bit dazed. So I thought he was tired and he needed to go to bed. But that wasnt the case. He was in shock. He was coming in and out of consciousness. They quickly realised he needed to be taken to hospital and called an ambulance. I never got the chance to say goodbye. Im devastated. My heart is broken. There is no other way I can explain, Carolyn said. I dont know how a human being could ever do something like that to another human being. Its cowardice. Its just horrifying. Jason had just signed up for an apprenticeship with a plumbing company and had recently bought a four-wheel-drive. Jason Langhans (pictured left). He was planning on getting his drivers licence when he turned 18 in July so that he and his friends could go driving in Dargo. Thats all gone now, its all been taken away, said his mother. Loading Its been horrible, every day at The Alfred [hospital], just wishing that he would open his eyes and talk to us, and just nothing. Which is heartbreaking. We are lost. There is a big hole in our hearts. Homicide squad detectives are appealing for information as they work to identify the three gatecrashers. Detective Inspector Andrew Stamper said the trio first arrived as the party was wrapping up. There was something about them that they just seemed like they were there for trouble, arriving at the party at 1.30am, 2am, in the morning, said Detective Inspector Stamper. Jason, from what we understand, saw this trouble brewing and stepped in as peacemaker ... tried to take the heat out of the situation, [saying] everyone, come on, lets go home, or words to that effect. And at that moment, without any provocation ... one of the males has slapped Jason to the head twice. We now know that that male had a sharp implement in his hand when he did that. The attack was very swift. Homicide squad Detective Inspector Stamper said it was every parents worst nightmare. Credit:Scott McNaughton The three men involved in the confrontation were chased from the property by about 15 guests. Police believe another altercation occurred on the grounds of a nearby rural property. The trio is believed to be from the other side of Melbourne and is thought to have driven to the party. Police described them as 170 centimetres tall, between 17 and 18 years of age and of Middle Eastern appearance. CCTV obtained by police shows one of the trio with visible injuries to the left side of his face. Detective Inspector Andrew Stamper said it was every parents worst nightmare. Jason Langhans sister and mother Carolyn on Thursday. Credit:Scott McNaughton This is just a typical good kid from the suburbs who has gone to a party and been the victim of a brutal attack. Police and SES spent Thursday scouring private properties near where the party was held, looking for the weapon, but said they were not planning to continue the search on Friday. They are appealing for anyone who was at the party who has not yet spoken to police to do so, and for anyone with information about the identities of the three gatecrashers to come forward. Jasons sisters, Emma and Stacey, joined their mother at the appeal on Thursday, however, his father, Paul, was too distraught to attend. A childhood photo of Jason Langhans. Carolyn said there had been an enormous outpouring of grief since her sons death. I just thought he had a couple of school friends and footy mates, but with all the social media, on Facebook, I was just shocked. The UAE Cabinet has adopted a resolution to reconstitute the Council of the United Arab Emirates University for a period of three years. Its Chair is Zaki Anwar Nusseibeh, Cultural Adviser to His Highness The President of the UAE and Chancellor of the United Arab Emirates University. This resolution is set in the context of the University's endeavour to advance its pioneering role as the national flagship university, its vision to serve the requirements of the Fourth Industrial Revolution, and its commitment to developing an educational process that meets the demands of this strategy. The University Council members are: *Mariam bint Mohammed Al Mheiri: Minister of State for Food and Water Security *Saeed Al Bahri Salem Al Ameri: Director General of the Abu Dhabi Agriculture and Food Safety Authority *Tariq Abdul Qadir bin Hindi: Director General of the Abu Dhabi Investment Office *Mona Ghanem Al Marri: Director General of the Dubai Government Media Office *Dr Abdulla Al Karam: Director General of the Knowledge and Human Development Authority *Saeed Rashid Al Yateem: Assistant Undersecretary for Resources and Budget Affairs at the Ministry of Finance *Faisal Abdulaziz Al-Bannai: CEO/Managing Director, EDGE Group *Tayba Abdul Rahim Al Hashemi: CEO of ADNOC Sour Gas *The Rt Hon The Lord Ajay Kakkar: Chairman, UCL Partners and Professor of Surgery, University College London *Dr Mohammed Ali Al Sheryani: representative from the National Supreme Security Council *Amna Al Shamri Al Ajmi: Training and development specialist at AMRC Military Company, as a representative of the youth group The United Arab Emirates University is the nations flagship university. It was founded in 1976 by the late Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan. The UAEU aspires to be a research-intensive university. The university currently enrolls 13,000 Emirati and international students. As the nations leading university, it offers a comprehensive range of high-quality, accredited undergraduate and graduate programmes through the College of Business and Economics, the College of Education, the College of Engineering, the College of Food and Agriculture, the College of Humanities and Social sciences, the College of Information Technology, the College of Law, the College of Medicine and Health Sciences, and the College of Science. The UAEU takes pride in its distinguished and Emarati and multinational faculty, its state-of-the-art campus, and the range of services that it provides to students in support of their development and success. -- Tradearabia News Service You are the owner of this article. Tesco profits have fallen by a fifth despite 'exceptional' sales of more than 1billion per week in the pandemic. The closure of pubs and restaurants boosted Britain's largest supermarket but it was unable to capitalise because of 892million of costs related to the virus. Revenues rose 7 per cent from 49.9billion to 53.4billion in the year to February 27, helped by a 77 per cent increase in online sales to 6.3billion. Revenues at Tesco rose 7 per cent from 49.9bn to 53.4bn in the year to February 27, helped by a 77 per cent increase in online sales to 6.3bn But the supermarket giant's profits fell 19.7 per cent to 825million as it was forced to spend enormous sums to keep staff safe and expand capacity online. Thousands of vulnerable staff were paid to self-isolate at home, costing the supermarket 79million. Tesco spent 58million on PPE, screens and signs for stores, and 173million on 'thank-you' bonuses to its 450,000 staff. Challenges: Chief executive Ken Murphy took over from Dave Lewis in October It also hired 49,600 temporary and permanent staff to cover for workers who were off sick or self-isolating, at a cost of 290million. The results were also hit by Tesco's widely-lauded decision to pay back 585million of business rates relief. The dividend was held at 9.15p per share, equivalent to 707million. Shares fell 2 per cent, or 4.7p, to 227.4p yesterday. Chief executive Ken Murphy, who took over from Dave Lewis in October, said: 'Everything about this last year has been exceptional. 'While challenges have been significant our business has demonstrated incredible strength and agility. 'We expect a strong recovery in profitability as the majority of our additional Covid costs won't be repeated.' The company said operating profits will return to pre-pandemic levels this year, despite sales returning to normal when hospitality reopens. This is because virus-related costs will fall to around 223million, and a 'strong recovery' is expected for Tesco's wholesale business, Booker, when hospitality reopens. Tesco Bank will also return to profit after making a 175million loss last year, it hopes. Independent retail analyst Richard Hyman said yesterday: 'I think Tesco is being very sensible with the guidance, but I'm pretty positive. The numbers were good and there's a safe pair of hands at the helm.' Nicholas Hyett, an analyst at financial services firm Hargreaves Lansdown, said: 'The stage is set for a strong earnings recovery once the pandemic passes.' Investment bank Jefferies said that the profit guidance was 'conservative', as it gave a 'buy' recommendation with a 310p target price. In recent weeks, the company's stock has been trading at its lowest levels since November 2017. Investors are concerned that food delivery is not as profitable as sales in-store, meaning the shift to online could hit its bottom line in the long-term. Tesco said its online division is profitable, and that it is cutting costs with new warehouses, which will make it cheaper to pick online orders. Its first unit, in West Bromwich, is already servicing 500 orders per day, about the same as a large store, and it plans to open a further five this year. Murphy also highlighted the success of the Clubcard Plus, saying that 80 per cent of shoppers in its larger stores are using it and discounts have been extended to 3,000 products. The scheme is encouraging greater loyalty, he claimed, and the data that Tesco collects will help the retailer target promotions at its shoppers. All NATO members are concerned about the buildup of the Russian military presence along the borders of Ukraine and demand de-escalation, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said. "We also spent some time today talking about the deep concern that Allies share about Russia and its actions on the borders of Ukraine, the largest concentration of forces there since 2014. And what was striking to me was, in the North Atlantic Council meeting, listening to every single ally, all 30 of us, express those concerns and a determination to see Russia take steps to de-escalate the tensions that it is creating," Blinken said at a press conference in Brussels on Wednesday, following the North Atlantic Council videoconference with NATO foreign and defense ministers. The secretary of state also drew attention to the continued attacks by Russian-led forces at the line of contact in eastern Ukraine. "Meanwhile, Ukraine has demonstrated, I think, real restraint in the face excuse me of Russian provocations. So that is why we are focused on this. That is why the alliance is concerned and we are united in that concern," Blinken said. At the same time, he said the United States would prefer a stable and predictable relationship with Russia, and that, in turn, requires open lines of communication to be very clear about our views, about our policies, about our objections to Russia's actions. A police officer has been suspended after arresting a 73-year-old woman with dementia, pushing her to the ground and leaving her with a fractured arm, after she forgot to pay for items at Walmart. Karen Garner was arrested by Loveland Police on June 26, 2020 after Walmart employees noted that she left the store with a candy bar, a can of Pepsi and a t-shirt totaling $13.38. Store employees had stopped her at the exit and retrieved the items after refusing to let her pay, the Greeley Tribune reports. But as she later walked home, cops caught up with Garner, who appears visibly confused in police bodycam footage that captured the encounter. A Colorado attorney has since filed a federal lawsuit on behalf Garner. On Thursday the department placed arresting officer Austin Hopp on administrative leave pending the outcome of an investigation. Assisting officer Daria Jalali and the on-scene supervising sergeant Phil Metzler have been reassigned to administrative duties, the Loveland Police Department said. 'LPD takes very seriously the allegations concerning the arrest of resident Karen Garner, and shares with the community the concerns about video images that became public on Wednesday,' the department said in a statement. Karen Garner, 73, was arrested by Loveland Police on June 26, 2020 after Walmart employees noted that she left the store with a candy bar, a can of Pepsi and a t-shirt totaling $13.38 Garner (pictured in a photograph taken several years ago) suffers from dementia and was confused about what was going on In the footage, Officer Hopp is seen dragging Garner - who is five feet tall and weighs 80 pounds - to the ground as she screams 'I'm going home'. Garner is subsequently seen being pushed up against the officers' police car as she continues to wail 'I'm going home!' 'Quit it!' Officer Jalali can be heard commanding as she pulls Garner's arm behind her back. At that point, a snapping sound can be heard on the bodycam footage and Garner cries out in pain. Attorney Sarah Schielke from the Life and Liberty Law Office submitted the suit Wednesday, alleging Garner suffered 'a fractured arm and a dislocated shoulder' due to officers' use of 'excessive force'. In another portion of the video, a driver can be seen stopping to inquire about the arrest. 'Do you have to use that much aggression?' the passerby asks the cops. 'Get out of here! This is not your business!' Officer Hopp replies. Officer Daria Jalali is pictured during the arrest of Karen Garner Garner was subsequently placed up against the officers' police car as she continued to wail 'I'm going home!' 'A little muddy, a little bloody, that's how it works!' Garner appeared terrified during the arrest Soon after, a third officer arrives at the scene and asks 'Are you guys all good?' 'A little muddy, a little bloody, that's how it works!' Officer Jalali before confirming the blood was from Garner. Garner was taken into custody where she was reportedly held for hours without medical attention, despite insisting she was in pain. Photos taken in the aftermath of the arrest show the elderly Garner with a severely bruised and swollen arm. She also sustained a bloody nose. 'It is a hard-to-watch video,' Schielke told the Reporter-Herald. 'It is the opposite of community policing. I thought a lot about this case as I have prepared to file it, and on paper and in the legal pleading it is an excessive-force case. In reality when you watch the video, you see this is a torture case.' The specific amount of damages Schielke is seeking on behalf of Garner is unclear. A judge is expected to set a court date in the coming days. The police department said it had not received a complaint about Garner's arrest before the lawsuit was filed. Photos taken in the aftermath of the arrest show the elderly Garner with a severely bruised and swollen arm. She also sustained a bloody nose A photograph of Garner's severely bruised arm is seen above However, the body camera footage shows a man who stopped to film the arrest talking to the arresting officer and later to the sergeant to express concern about what he saw. The sergeant, talking to the man in the background, tells him: 'Just because you didn't see it doesn't mean it didn't happen.' Schielke said the man was 'gaslit' and questioned why anyone in Garner's family would want to file a complaint given that reaction. To her, the sergeant's response shows that the culture of the department, along with a lack of training, are the root problems that led to the arrest. According to the lawsuit, Walmart employees asked Garner to return to the store when they saw her leave without paying and took the items back - a soda, a candy bar, a T-shirt, and wipe refills - denying her request to pay for the items. Someone from Walmart then called police to report Garner and the direction she walking but said the store had not suffered a loss, the lawsuit said. The lawsuit, which seeks unspecified damages, claims that no one sought medical help for Garner until about six hours after she was arrested, when a deputy in the jail noticed she needed help. The lawsuit claims the arrest violated her constitutional protections against excessive force and to have due process and also violated the Americans with Disabilities Act. According to the lawsuit, forgetting to pay for items in stores is common among those with dementia. It also said Garner suffers from sensory aphasia, which impairs her ability to communicate and understand what other people are saying. In addition to her physical injuries, the lawsuit claims Garner now experiences fear, trauma and anxiety whenever she leaves her home. 'What little freedom and happiness Ms. Garner enjoyed in her life as an elderly adult with declining mental health was, on June 26, 2020, recklessly and deliberately obliterated by the Loveland Police Department,' it said. Although Derek Chauvin has opted not to testify in his defense against charges that he murdered George Floyd, police officers have taken the stand in their own defense. The results have been mixed. Here are a few examples: Jason Van Dyke, on trial in Chicago in 2018 for the murder of Laquan McDonald, gave testimony that some said dehumanized the victim. His face had no expression, Mr. Van Dyke said of Mr. McDonald. His eyes were just bugging out of his head. He had these huge white eyes just staring right through me. His account contradicted the video. The video doesnt show my perspective, he told the jury. Outcome: Convicted of murder, sentenced to nearly 7 years. Mohamed Noor, on trial in Minneapolis in 2019 for the murder of Justine Ruszczyk, who had called 911 to report hearing a potential sexual assault, described his anguish after learning that he had shot an unarmed resident. It felt like my whole world came crashing down, he said. On cross-examination, he was forced to admit that he had never seen Ms. Ruszczyks hands. I had to make a split-second decision, he said. The Gujarat Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) with help of the Indian Coast Guard on Thursday apprehended a boat near the Jakhau coast with 8 Pakistani nationals and 30 kg of narcotics. The boat coming from Pakistan carried heroin worth 150 crores. According to the Coast Guard, the Pakistani boat was intercepted close to the International Maritime Boundary Line (IMBL) in the Indian waters after receiving a tip-off from the incoming shipment. The Coast Guard said the joint operation was carried out in coordination with the Gujarat ATS. A Coast Guard official said the boat will be brought to the shore for a joint investigation by various security agencies and will be thoroughly checked for any more hidden items. Army, BSF bust drug nexus along LoC In another incident of drug seizure, the Indian Army and Border Security Force (BSF) busted Pakistan sponsored narcotics being smuggled across the LoC in Karnah forests of Jammu and Kashmir. Ten kg of narcotics, estimated to be approximately Rs 50 crore was recovered by the forces amid Indias strong anti-infiltration drills to curb the menace of Pakistan's 'Narco Terror Model'. According to an official statement, this catch is said to be the second in a week's span. Accompanied by terrorists, smugglers carrying the consignment along the LoC were unable to cross the fence and were forced to flee by abandoning the consignment. The statement added that there is a high likelihood of arrests of certain kingpins in the upcoming days. The official also claimed that Pakistan Army is a key stakeholder in this narco-terror nexus which involves using civilians on both sides of the LoC as cannon fodder to destroy the social fabric on the border areas of Kashmir and Punjab. The Biden administration is preparing to announce sanctions in response to a massive Russian hacking campaign that breached vital federal agencies, as well as for election interference, a senior administration official said. The sanctions, foreshadowed for weeks by the administration, would represent the first retaliatory action announced against the Kremlin for last year's hack, familiarly known as the SolarWinds breach. In that intrusion, Russian hackers are believed to have infected widely used software with malicious code, enabling them to access the networks of at least nine agencies in what US officials believe was an intelligence gathering operation aimed at mining government secrets. Besides that hack, US officials last month alleged that Russian President Vladimir Putin authorized influence operations to help Donald Trump in his unsuccessful bid for reelection as president, though there's no evidence or anyone else changed votes or manipulated the outcome. The measures are to be announced Thursday, according to the official, who was not authorized to discuss the matter by name and spoke on condition of anonymity. It was not immediately clear what, if any, other actions might be planned. Officials had previously said they expected to take actions both seen and unseen. The sanctions, presumably intended to send a clear retributive message to and to deter similar acts in the future, come amid an already tense relationship between the US and President told Putin this week in their second call to de-escalate tensions following a Russian military buildup on Ukraine's border, and said the US would act firmly in defense of its national interests regarding Russian intrusions and election interference. In a television interview last month, Biden replied I do when asked if he thought Putin was a killer. He said the days of the U.S. rolling over to Putin were done. Putin later recalled his ambassador to the US and pointed at the US history of slavery and slaughtering Native Americans and the atomic bombing of Japan in World War II. It remained unclear whether the US actions would actually result in changed behavior, especially since past measures by the US have failed to bring an end to Russian hacking. The Obama administration expelled diplomats from the US in 2016 in response to interference in that year's presidential election. And though Trump was often reluctant to criticize Putin, his administration also expelled diplomats in 2018 for Russia's alleged poisoning of an ex-intelligence officer in Britain. U.S. officials are still grappling with the aftereffects of the SolarWinds intrusion, which affected agencies including the Treasury, Justice, Energy and Homeland Security departments, and are still assessing what information may have been stolen. The breach exposed vulnerabilities in the supply chain as well as weaknesses in the federal government's own cyber defences. The actions would represent the second major round of sanctions imposed by the Biden administration against Russia. Last month, the U.S. sanctioned seven mid-level and senior Russian officials, along with more than a dozen government entities, over a nearly fatal nerve-agent attack on opposition leader Alexei Navalny and his subsequent jailing. (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.) Image showing the area covered by the Viabundus digital map. Researchers have built a digital platform revealing long-distance trade routes in Northern Europe between 1350 and 1650. Credit: viabundus.eu The Hanseatic League was a confederation of merchant guilds and market towns in Northwestern and Central Europe, which came to dominate trade in the region for 300 years. A digital platform has now been built which reveals the long-distance trade routes in Northern Europe between 1350 and 1650. The Research Center for Hanse and Baltic History, the Universities of Magdeburg, Aarhus and Nijmegen, and a team from the University of Gottingen worked together to make this possible. The map features historical road routes as well as a location database with more than 10,000 entries. It is published on http://www.viabundus.eu. The map enables the researchers to calculate routes and travel times for the Hanseatic economic area, to have an overview of market dates and to analyze the accessibility of places as if they were using the historical transport network. In combination with other data, a wide range of questions about economic and transport history can be researched. The team was able to draw on preliminary work from Hanseatic research and maps compiled at the Institute for Regional History at the University of Gottingen. "The result is like an Open Street Map for the Hanseatic period," explains historian Dr. Bart Holterman from the Institute for Historical Research at the University of Gottingen, who was instrumental in designing the database. The major transport hubs and links were based on regional routes. The routes for trade also provided routes for pilgrims, the military and those who wanted to travel from villages the nearest town. The map makes it possible for anyonewhether researcher, historian or someone who is just curiousto take a peek at the actual historical routes from long ago and discover places of interest along the way. Trade was characterised by traffic on the river and on the land. Credit: Detail of the view of Oppenheim on the Rhine, Matthaus Merian, Topographia Palatinatus Rheni, Frankfurt/M. 1645, public domain The researchers have thus created a scientifically reliable basis for the analysis of pre-modern trade. "Then as now, lucrative trade meant bridging great distances. Transport routes played a central role in this," says project coordinator Dr. Niels Petersen from the University of Gottingen. "Many people are surprised when they learn that the majority of the Hanseatic cities were inland. These cities depended on transport by carts or canals and rivers to bring their goods long-distance to market. For example, a total of 575 freight wagons loaded with Swedish herring passed through the Eilenburg customs post near Leipzig in 1525. This clearly shows how goods were traded across the continent, how efficient the transport network was and how high the traffic density was on some routes." Customs posts, markets, river and sea ports, bridges and ferries formed stops on the wagons' journeys and are recorded in the database. The team has made all the data freely available under the Commons license CC BY-SA. The transport network in what is now Lower Saxony and Saxony-Anhalt is currently the most developed. "International connections are the cornerstone of a European map. We are therefore pleased that in a few months our project partners in Denmark and the Netherlands will have completed their work and add another significant piece to the jigsaw puzzle," adds Holterman. Explore further Google Maps to show more eco-friendly routes More information: The project results will be presented in English via Zoom on Monday 19 April 2021 at 16:00; registration at launch@viabundus.eu. [April 15, 2021] A new patent that puts marketing departments in power again TORONTO, April 15, 2021 /CNW/ - 6 years ago, a few folks from the creative sector of advertising joined hands with a group of mad scientists who had never worked in marketing with one goal in mind: to make marketing a go-to department for growth again. After 6 years of being in business and self-funding the $4 million investment into the technology, MASS MINORITY earned its first major patent. US Patent #10,977,670 is not just a cool t-shirt, it is a technology that helps dramatically improve marketing's dwindling performance since the bust of television and dominance of clicks. MASS MINORITY earned its first major patent, US Patent #10,977,670. 20 years ago, the ethos was to disrupt television, stand out, and be noticed - thus being less dependent on television GRPs. Then came the digital age, and hot on the heels of that came the era of social media dominance and lower funnel efficiencies. Seemingly without notice, clicks were more important than stories and marketing lost its footing on a ship others were abandoning. The Brand Advantage Monitor (BAM) is the first technology that monitors all the paid, earned, and owned marketing investments to determine brand performance against real-time consumer behavior. And does it in comparison to your key competitors. The Brand Advantage Monitor collects billions of data points from mainstream mass media, paid digital and social media, web, search, and consumer sentiment to give marketers everything they need to know in one simple, comparable, and actionable score. That's right, marketers can take charge again by quantitatively seeing where they need to focus and where they can eliminate waste. BAM! Suddenly marketing departments have what they need to become profit centers again. "We founded Mass Minority with the sole intention of creating technologies and methodologies that would make more out of marketing then the next click," said Mass Minority CEO and Founder, Brett Channer. "We had to leave the old methodologies of marketing behind in order to see what was required and open things up with a new set of minds who brought a different lens on things." Mass Minority, founded in 2015, was built from the ground up as a hybrid science and creative think tank, driven to create tangible solutions for driving marketing effectiveness. It started with a simple fact: it is not about a click or about a brand narrative individually. It's about both at the right time and place, and we had to create a technology to measure and inform both. That fact led to a simple math equation that, in turn, led to a dynamic, substantive, and complex algorithm, now a patented technology already in market and already making a difference for leading edge marketers. In the immediate future Mass Minority will also be releasing the BAM app in May. The free app measures the top ten brands in the top ten categories in the USA and reports on the performance monthly. A report on Canadian brands will be coming on the app later this year. This app is for anyone in marketing or investing that wants a holistic view of their brand's performance, or for anybody who has a particular interest in a brand or category. Later in the year Mass Minority will also be releasing the BAM Index. Like the S&P index does for investing, it will track marketing performance for benchmarks and major brand performance comparison. About Mass Minority: Mass Minority is a marketing technology company that combines data mining, data brokerage, and analytics to create unique patented data products. Mass Minority operates as a hybrid of creative and science, offering a suite of services that include media technology, data analytics, and content creation. Mass Minority was recognized by Adweek as one of the fastest growing agencies in the world. Mass Minority was founded by CEO Brett Channer in June 2015 with limited private shares ownership. View original content to download multimedia:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/a-new-patent-that-puts-marketing-departments-in-power-again-301269976.html SOURCE Mass Minority Inc. [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] AMSTERDAM (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 15th April, 2021) All the 15 crew members of Dutch company De Poli Shipmanagement's vessel who were kidnapped by pirates in the Gulf of Guinea in March were eventually released and are now safe, they are now being repatriated to their home countries, spokesman Cor Radings told Sputnik on Thursday. "De Poli Tankers are delighted to report that all fifteen of its officers and crew abducted from its vessel Davide B in the Gulf of Guinea on March 11 have been released and are now safe. The seafarers have meanwhile been in contact with their families. All crewmembers are in a relatively good condition given the difficult circumstances they have been under in the last weeks. They have been receiving medical checks and are being repatriated to their home countries," Radings said. According to the spokesman, De Poli Tankers CEO Chiara de Poli "is relieved and delighted the seafarers are safe and can return to their families in Eastern Europe and The Philippines." De Poli highly appreciates the courage of the seafarers and thanks their families " for their patience and resilience," Radings continued. "De Poli Tankers also are grateful to the professional advisors, our staff, authorities and all those who have helped to resolve this situation for their support throughout this difficult time," the spokesman concluded. A millionaire couple have lost a 100,000 court fight after accusing their US business tycoon tenants of ruining their soft furnishings with the smell of his cigars. PR boss Nick Boakes, 65, and his husband Harald Denker faced off in court with Jonathan Hagmaier and his wife, Mary, after accusing them of polluting the luxury London flat with smoke and leaving his 10,000 rug 'infested with moths and snails'. Mr Boakes had rented the 50,000-a-year basement flat of his Grade-II listed Victorian house in Warwick Avenue, Little Venice, to the US power couple in 2018. Mr and Mrs Hagmaier, who themselves own over 100 properties as part of an investment scheme, were based in the UK for two years and were charmed by the elegant 'Italianate' building in a street where properties sell for up to 10m. PR boss Nick Boakes (left), 65, and his husband Harald Denker (right) sued Jonathan Hagmaier and his wife, Mary, after accusing them of polluting the luxury London flat with smoke The row erupted after Mrs Hagmaier complained that former fashion model husband Mr Denker, 58, insisted on decorating their flat with 'armfuls' of his own things. But Mr Boakes and Mr Denker, who live in the apartment above but together own the whole building, claimed Mr Hagmaier's cigar habit had caused them to suffer 'coughing attacks, headaches and nightmares'. After moving out, the Hagmaiers asked for the return of their 6,270 deposit but it was not received, prompting the couple to sue for their money back, with Mrs Hagmaier telling a judge that 'living underneath Mr Denker and Mr Boakes was one of the most unpleasant experiences I could imagine.' Mr Boakes, who is non-executive chairman at PR consultancy MRM, 'counter-sued' as landlord for 81,538 in compensation, saying they had left a trail of damage, caused by annoyances such as the reek of Mr Hagmaier's cigar. After five days in court, Judge David Mayall awarded Mr Boakes just 2,952 in damages and left him to pay the hefty legal costs of the trial, which lawyers said would be at least 100,000. He also ruled that Mr and Mrs Hagmaier - who accepted that they should pay towards a deep clean of the apartment - are entitled to their 6,270 deposit back. Former school principal Mr Hagmaier, who denied smoking in the flat, runs a thriving business selling education technology, which he set up with his realtor wife Mary, and is normally based in Roanoke, Virginia. Central London County Court heard the couple say they ended up quitting their rented flat in January 2019, just before the end of their first year's lease because Mrs Hagmaier's life had become 'miserable'. 'Living underneath Mr Denker and Mr Boakes was one of the most unpleasant experiences I could imagine,' Mrs Hagmaier told the judge. 'The relationship with Mr Denker was really difficult from the time we moved in as he would come into our flat with armfuls of things and just set them down saying 'this goes with the flat'. Mr Boakes had rented the 50,000-a-year basement flat of his Grade-II listed Victorian house (pictured) in Warwick Avenue, Little Venice, to the US power couple in 2018 'They were items that in your wildest imagination didn't go with the flat, he was simply using our place as a storage room,' she said. 'It was stunning because he came in and out every day and would leave something. 'One day it was a small porcelain dog and he came down to us and put it on the shelf saying that it goes with the flat. So I realised that anything he couldn't fit in his own apartment was coming down to ours. 'We filled up wardrobes and cupboards with his things, it was quite a challenge.' But Mr Boakes and Mr Denker claimed the Hagmaiers neglected the 'upmarket' apartment and left behind 'significant damage' when they moved out - including to 'a number of very valuable antiques'. Heavy cigar smoking in and around the flat had caused 'significant damage to the soft furnishings and decorations,' while the couple had also allowed others to smoke there with the same effect, claimed Mr Boakes' barrister, James Tipler. The flat had been let fully furnished, which included 'furnishings and decorations' of 'especially high value and quality' which the tenants were under a duty to ensure were not damaged, he said. But the Hagmeiers denied failing to keep the flat clean, pointing out that they had even spent 335 having the windows cleaned with distilled water. Although the accepted they should pay for a deep clean of the flat, the Hagmaiers' lawyers branded Mr Boakes' 81,538 claim an 'outrageous' figure. The Hagmeiers (pictured) denied failing to keep the flat clean, pointing out that they had even spent 335 having the windows cleaned with distilled water. Judge Mayall, giving his ruling, allocated Mr Boakes 2,952 for the costs of cleaning the flat, windows and curtains - partly due to the effects of cigar smoke. But he rebuffed claims that Mr Boakes and Mr Denker had to reupholster furniture and replace curtains and 'soft furnishings' due to lingering traces of 'foul-smelling cigar smoke'. Also rejected were claims over damage to the landlord's prize 9,500 green rug, which Mr Boakes said 'became infested with snails and moths' after being taken to a damp storage area outside. The judge said Mrs Hagmaier had grown increasingly 'upset' because she claimed Mr Denker 'kept on just bringing stuff down', adding: 'I am satisfied that they did not behave unreasonably'. He also ruled out Mr Boakes' 3,602 claim in relation to a bed which Mr Boakes and Mr Denker claimed the Hagmaiers removed without their landlord's permission. In fact, the Hagmaiers had got rid of the bed with the agreement of Mr Boakes - although this was denied by Mr Denker - after Mrs Hagmaier complained that it was in a 'shocking' state. The judge rapped Mr Boakes' husband, Mr Denker, for exaggerating the state the flat was left in, and told the court: 'I have to say that I regard Mr Denker as being an extremely unsatisfactory witness indeed. 'My overall impression was that he was a man who was not trying to tell the truth and whose evidence I cannot rely on. 'Any admission had to be dragged out of him during the course of the four-day trial,' he added, although commenting about Mr Boakes: 'his evidence was overall not that significant in the claim but certainly not anywhere near as unsatisfactory as Mr Denker's'. Mr Boakes had taken a 'back seat' when organising the flat rental, the court heard, and the Hagmaiers' barrister, Mr Thomas, said Mr Denker - although not a party to the case - 'appeared to be the guiding mind behind this action'. Despite their right to 'peaceful enjoyment' Mr Denker 'was in the habit of entering the apartment to bring in or remove items from his own apartment,' said the barrister. The judge directed that Mr Boakes should pay the Hagmaiers' legal bill and the couple's lawyers later estimated his total court costs will run 'well into six figures'. The mother of Stephen Lawrence said today that reliving his murder through the new ITV drama will be 'very difficult', but the next generation need to learn about the impact his death made on Britain. Baroness Doreen Lawrence, 71, was discussing the upcoming ITV drama Stephen, which stars Steve Coogan as DCI Clive Driscoll, joined by Sharlene Whyte and Hugh Quarshie. Her son Stephen was stabbed to death aged 18 on April 22, 1993, in a racist attack in south-east London for which charges against the killers were initially dropped. DCI Driscoll later put together an investigation that secured the convictions of two members of the gang who committed the murder. Stephen Lawrence (pictured above) was stabbed to death aged 18 on April 22, 1993, in a racist attack in south-east London for which charges against the killers were initially dropped Good Morning Britain host Ben Shephard asked: 'How do you feel about the ITV drama?' Baroness Lawrence replied: 'I felt it is mainly about the senior officer, which in the end got two convictions for Stephen's murder so that is the positive. 'The next generation have no idea about Stephen but that is a positive way for them to learn. But for me, constantly reliving the whole thing around Stephen, that is very difficult for me.' The series has previously been endorsed by Stephen's parents Doreen and Neville, played in the 1999 original by Marianne Jean-Baptiste and Hugh respectively. While Hugh, 66, will reprise his role as Neville, We Hunt Together star Sharlene will take on the role of Doreen in the new drama. Richie Campbell, Jordan Myrie, Sian Brooke and Adil Ray will also take roles in the production. Even though the Lawrence family knew the identity of their son's killers, the original investigation failed to convict those responsible. Their extraordinary campaign for justice led to a public inquiry which branded the Metropolitan Police institutionally racist and brought about sweeping changes in the law and police practices, transforming thinking and understanding of racial inequality in the UK. Baroness Lawrence told Good Morning Britain: 'The next generation have no idea about Stephen but that is a positive way for them to learn. But for me, constantly reliving the whole thing around Stephen, that is very difficult for me' Steve Coogan seen recording a scene with one of his co-stars in Northolt after ITV commissioned the sequel to their acclaimed 1999 drama on Lawrence's murder How did policing change after Stephen Lawrences murder? Baroness Doreen Lawrence and her husband Neville fought for justice after charges against her son's killers were at first dropped, with Nelson Mandela even meeting Doreen in London following the murder. Stephen's death, and the controversial police investigation, led to radical changes in modern policing after a public inquiry found the Met Police was institutionally racist. Then Home Secretary Jack Straw announced an inquiry into his death in July 1997, chaired by Sir William Macpherson. Public hearings began the following year. The Macpherson report was published in February 1999, and found original Metropolitan Police investigation was incompetent and officers committed fundamental errors. It also found the Metropolitan Police institutionally racist. The inquiry made 70 recommendations - including dedicated family liaison officers and first-aid training - 67 of which had been partly or fully enforced after a decade, according to the Home Office. Sir William also formulated a set of performance indicators for police, aimed towards ensuring racist crime was recorded and handled effectively. The number of 'racially aggravated' offences recorded by police in England and Wales increased from 21,750 to 55,557 in 2018, reports the BBC. At the time of the inquiry, Straw said he hoped the inquiry would be 'a watershed in attitudes towards racism.' He added: 'I want it to act as a catalyst for permanent and irrevocable change, not just across our public services, but across the whole of society... We must make equality a reality.' Advertisement Executive producer Mark Redhead previously said: 'It's a privilege to be working with Doreen and Neville Lawrence to tell this chapter of the story of their campaign for justice for Stephen. 'It's a story that moves and inspires and is ever more resonant and relevant today.' Producer Madonna Baptiste added: 'The Lawrences' campaign for justice totally transformed attitudes to race and equality in the UK and it's an honour to be able to help tell what is an untold chapter in their story. 'Current events only highlight how relevant and important Stephen's case remains and it is such a privilege to work with Hattrick, Frank and Joe Cottrell-Boyce, Alrick Riley and our amazing cast to bring this important story to screen.' Paul Greengrass, award winning screenwriter and director, who wrote and directed The Murder Of Stephen Lawrence in 1999, will also serve as an Executive Producer, as will Line Of Duty's Jed Mercurio. Baroness Lawrence's comments follow Stephen's brother, Stuart Lawrence, criticising police in the wake of the controversial race report and the response to the Sarah Everard vigil. In the Big Issue magazine, Mr Lawrence said: 'I do a bit of consultancy work for the Met Police. 'I am trying to help them, but things keep happening that make me go, why should I? Why should I try to help? 'I've been to police training headquarters and heard them being sworn in. It does say to serve and protect the public. That's what they swear an oath to. 'And then you see the scenes like that coming out of Clapham [at the Sarah Everard vigil], and you think, how are you serving and protecting us?' He added: 'When Sir William Macpherson delivered his report, Sir Paul Condon [then Commissioner of the Met Police] never accepted that the Met Police was institutionally racist. 'I tell my son all the time: if you do something wrong, or make a mistake, don't lie. Tell the truth. We can deal with it and then we can move on. 'Condon didn't own up to it. So, when Cressida Dick comes out and says "we are no longer institutionally racist", I start scratching my head. 'When did you say that you were institutionally racist? When was that point, so that we could draw the line in the sand and say, 'that's where it was and now we're moving forward from this point'? Coogan is playing the role of DCI Clive Driscoll (pictured), who secured the convictions of two members of the gang who committed the murder in 1993 'That's what needed to happen. It hasn't happened yet.' Baroness Lawrence also said the authors of the race report are 'not in touch with reality'. Speaking at a public event organised by De Montfort University Leicester's Stephen Lawrence Research Centre last month, she said: 'When I first heard about the report my first thought was it has pushed [the fight against] racism back 20 years or more. 'I think if you were to speak to somebody whose employer speaks to them in a certain way, where do you go with that now? The Murder Of Stephen Lawrence won a BAFTA for Best Single Drama (Hugh Quarshie as Neville Lawrence and Marianne Jean-Baptiste as Doreen Lawrence in the 1999 drama) 'If a person is up for promotion and has been denied that, where does he go with that now?' Stephen, an A-level student, was murdered in Eltham as he ran to catch a bus with his friend Duwayne Brooks. For the past five years, the NCA has been investigating whether the Lawrence murder suspects which also included brothers Neil and Jamie Acourt and Luke Knight were shielded as a result of corruption and who, if anyone, in Scotland Yard was involved. In 2019 ex-detective sergeant John Davidson was cleared by the IOPC of any corruption, having faced claims that he was in the pay of Clifford Norris. Baroness Doreen Lawrence (pictured with Met Police Commissioner Cressida Dick) and her husband Neville fought for justice after charges against her son's killers were initially dropped The IOPC directed a spin-off investigation into the handling of the early stages of the investigation, and it was carried out by the National Crime Agency (NCA). One issue under consideration was the two-week delay in making any arrests after Stephen's death, despite suspects being named by anonymous informants the day after he died. Scotland Yard has spent more than 50 million over 25 years trying to convict the suspects. A series of forensic breakthroughs led an Old Bailey jury to convict two of the five suspects Gary Dobson and David Norris in 2012. Despite the convictions of Dobson and Norris, three other members of the gang that stabbed Stephen to death have faced no charges. The vessel has been cleared by AMSA and it should now depart, I suspect it will go back to Manila where we would expect the conditions be that should the ships owner and agent want to bring the vessel back, it would have to be deep cleaned and have a clean, uninfected crew, he said. A spokesman for Rio Tinto said the Aquagenie had remained offshore in Commonwealth waters at all times and the response to the positive case was being handled by the federal government. The health and safety of our people, the community and the ships crew remains our priority and we are continuing to engage with relevant authorities as well as the ships owners, he said. Resource companies like Rio Tinto have been left to chart a course forward alone and ensure seafarers on board charted bulk carriers met stringent quarantine protocols. Teresa Lloyd, chief executive of peak industry body Maritime Industry Australia, said there were no government guidelines regulating quarantine and testing requirements for seafarers in the Philippines, leaving it up to individual shipping companies to create their own protocols. This meant some adhered to very strict criteria aligned with the response of countries like Australia, while others had a more haphazard approach. The industry has set up dedicated quarantine hotels in Manila and the seafarers go into a period of quarantine before they join the ship but not everybody uses that system, she said. We have to understand the Philippines is a different place and the standards are different. Its quite challenging in many regards to hold them to the same standards as what we would expect in Australia and COVID is far more prevalent. If we can have leakage here, imagine over there. It is not yet clear how or when the Aquagenie crewman contracted the disease. Rio Tinto has stringent protocols for Manila crews travelling to Australia on board iron ore carriers and claims it only engages with providers that meet those standards. If you do have some positive COVID case then you end up stuck out there for days, weeks, maybe months, costing a lot of money. We have to understand what that then does down the line. Teresa Lloyd, Maritime Industry Australia chief executive These include ensuring crew members monitor their health and temperature twice a day 16 days before joining operations and 14 days after, spend two weeks quarantining in a facility approved by the Filipino government, and get three negative COVID-19 tests before boarding. Ms Lloyd said the positive case didnt mean Rio Tinto hadnt followed protocol but there was always scope for people to slip through the cracks. She said a single COVID-19 case wasnt enough cause for panic but the state government should rethink its approach to shipping restrictions, which had been nonsensical. Banning seafarers from the Philippines was impractical and Mr Cooks repeated calls for the ship to turn around and sail back to Manila sent the wrong message to the industry, Ms Lloyd said. The signal that sends to the market is if you do a crew change in the Philippines you basically become toxic for the Australian market, she said. The industry had pushed for a quarantine facility to be set up in the North West to allow companies to fly in staff to change over crews but the government had stomped it and killed it off. In Western Australia they make it seem impossible [to change over crews] because the crew that is coming off the ship has to take a charter flight from Port Hedland or Karratha back to Perth with only people from that ship on the flight. So you can imagine how costly that would be, she said. Loading WA Chamber of Minerals and Energy chief executive Paul Everingham acknowledged crew changes were complex as there was a limited number of jurisdictions in which they could take place. New Delhi: In view of rising COVID-19 cases in the national capital, the Arvind Kejriwal-led AAP government is mulling to impose a weekend lockdown in order to prevent the infection from spreading further. Sources also said that the AAP government is also exploring options for imposing 2-3 weeks of strict lockdown to deter people from going outside and thus breaking the chain of deadly COVID-19 infection. It has also been reported that CM Arvind Kejriwal may announce a weekend curfew in Delhi. Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal is holding a crucial meet with Lt Governor Anil Baijal regarding the coronavirus situation in the UT and is expected to announce what decision has been taken to curb the COVID-19 surge in the national capital. The meeting is being attended by the Delhi Health Minister, Chief Secretary and senior officials. The development comes as the national capital on Wednesday recorded the biggest single-day jump in its COVID-19 tally with 17,282 new cases, while over 100 people died. Additionally, the national capital reported over 104 deaths, whereas the country reported 1,033 deaths due to COVID-19 infections on Wednesday, which was the highest since October 2020. In Delhi, the number of cremations at its biggest crematorium, Nigambodh Ghat have gone up by at least 30 percent. Delhi Health Minister Satyendar Jain had earlier said that COVID-19 cases are rising very rapidly in the national capital but there is no slowdown. The minister, however, had also reiterated that lockdown was not a solution to the situation, and advised people to step out only if urgent, avoid gatherings, wear masks and follow COVID-19-appropriate behaviour. A massive spike of 2 lakh new COVID-19 cases took India's total coronavirus count to 1.40 crore, as per the Union Health Ministry on Thursday (April 15, 2021). India reported 2,00,739 new COVID-19 cases alongside 93,528 recoveries and 1,038 deaths in the last 24 hours. The unprecedented surge in infections has taken the country's active count to 14,71,877. Ten states namely Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Delhi, Madhya Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Gujarat and Rajasthan have shown a rise in the COVID-19 daily new cases. 82.04% of the new cases are reported from these 10 states only. Live TV [April 15, 2021] Supply Chain Insurance Market Procurement Intelligence Report With COVID-19 Impact Update| SpendEdge NEW YORK, April 15, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- The Supply Chain Insurance market will register an incremental spend of about USD 2.45 Billion, growing at a CAGR of 3.83% during the five-year forecast period. A targeted strategic approach to Supply Chain Insurance 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 report Key Highlights Offered in the Report: Information on how to identify strategic and tactical negotiation levels that will help achieve the best prices. Gain information on relevant pricing levels, detailed explanation on pros and cons of prevalent pricing models. Methods to help engage with the right suppliers and discover KPI's to evaluate incumbent suppliers. Request a free sample report for more information 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 the Supply Chain Insurance market. The report also aids buyers with relevant Supply Chain Insurance 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 fulfill their category objectives. Insights on buyer strategies and tactical negotiation levers. Key Drivers and Trends Fueling Market Growth: The pressure from substitutes and a moderate level of threat from new entrants has resulted in the low bargaining power of suppliers. Price forecasts are beneficial in purchase planning, especially when supplemented by the onstant monitoring of price influencing factors. During the forecast period, the market expects a change of 3.00%-5.00%. Identify favorable opportunities in Supply Chain Insurance TCO (total cost of ownership). Expected changes in price forecast and factors driving the current and future price changes. Identify pricing models that offer the most rewarding opportunities. Some of the top Supply Chain Insurance suppliers listed in this report: This Supply Chain Insurance procurement intelligence report has enlisted the top suppliers and their cost structures, SLA terms, best selection criteria, and negotiation strategies. Zurich Insurance Group Ltd. American International Group Inc. Berkshire Hathaway Inc. Munich RE Allianz SE Marsh LLC If P&C Insurance Ltd Swiss Re Morris & Reynolds Insurance Kaercher Insurance Related Report on Financial Services Include: To get instant access to over 1000 market-ready procurement intelligence reports without any additional costs or commitment, Subscribe Now for Free. 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 Get access to regular sourcing and procurement insights to our digital procurement platform- Contact Us. About SpendEdge: 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 Contacts SpendEdge Anirban Choudhury Marketing Manager Ph No: +1 (872) 206-9340 https://www.spendedge.com/contact-us View original content to download multimedia:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/supply-chain-insurance-market-procurement-intelligence-report-with-covid-19-impact-update-spendedge-301268445.html SOURCE SpendEdge Mumbai, April 15 : Bollywood actress Vidya Balan shared a monochrome picture on Thursday on social media, saying she does not believe in a black and white world except for a picture. Vidya posted the picture on Instagram, where she is seen sitting on a chair dressed in a black outfit. She completed her look by leaving her long hair open with a middle parting. "I don't believe in a black and white world, except for a picture maybe," she wrote as the caption. The actress had recently reminded her fans to wear masks amid the ongoing second wave of the Covid-19 pandemic, which has badly affected Maharashtra. Vidya will next be seen in "Sherni", for which she has been shooting in Madhya Pradesh. The film, directed by Amit Masurkar, casts her as a forest officer. -- The story has been published from a wire feed without any modifications to the text The 2021 list is likely to look at least somewhat different. Some restaurants previously starred have closed for good, including Band of Bohemia, Blackbird and Everest. Others have been closed for long periods of the pandemic, but plan to reopen, including Oriole, Elske and Spiaggia. Still others have been closed and have not announced plans to reopen, including Entente and Acadia (whose chef and owner, Ryan McCaskey, has been criticized by former employees in recent months and also has been involved in an ongoing lawsuit with a former employee). Chinese villagers explore Internet-based channels to sell agricultural products People's Daily Online) 10:15, April 15, 2021 E-commerce pioneers in the rural areas of China have innovated Internet-based sales channels for agricultural products in accordance with the needs of the times, such as opening online stores, filming short videos and hosting live broadcasts. 1. Tian Jianghai handles online orders. (People's Daily/Chen Jufeng) 2. Luo Dong records videos at a mango orchard. (People's Daily/Li Zong) 3. Hai Yan hosts a live broadcast to promote agricultural products. (File photo) Data Source: China's Ministry of Commerce In 2016, Tian Jianghai, a resident in Tianheping village, Changyang Tujia autonomous county, in central China's Hubei province, quit his job at an Internet company in Hangzhou, in east China's Zhejiang province, and returned to his hometown to start a business. He was already well aware of the difficulties associated with the sale and marketing of local agricultural products, and so he went about opening an online store to sell farm produce grown in the county, such as ponkan mandarins and navel oranges. In 2016 alone, the total sales for his online store exceeded 2 million yuan ($310,000). To better ensure the quality of products, Tian raised funds adding up to over 5 million yuan and built a production base that covers an area of more than 6,000 square meters in Dayan town in the county, which could process a variety of agricultural products like ear mushrooms starting from 2017. Since 2019, he has invested about 300,000 yuan to build live-streaming studios for promoting local products, but initially saw only limited results due to a lack of viewers. With the help of the local government, his company sought to cooperate with influential webcast hosts and even established a special live-streaming operations team. Within three months, the company sold products worth over 6 million yuan via live broadcasts. Inspired by his years of experience in the sales sector, Luo Dong, a 38-year-old resident in Santong village, Naman town, Baise, in south China's Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region, started to sell local mangoes via online platforms together with several fellow villagers in 2018. They sold over 6,000 boxes of mangoes and registered a sales revenue of more than 500,000 yuan that year. "In recent years, my hometown has improved the roads, facilitated logistics channels, and established express delivery stations," Luo noted. In 2019, Luo registered a mango brand and began cooperating with the mango planting cooperatives in his village. "I have begun running an express delivery station to cut the costs of logistics, ensuring high-quality products and uniform packaging to improve the brand," he said. At the beginning of 2020, Luo took part in a rural e-commerce training course held by the local government and started to realize that short-form videos and live broadcasts were some of the rising trends in the future of e-commerce. He soon learned to promote products via short-form videos and live-streaming, and his short-form videos have already been viewed more than 6 million times. A poverty alleviation factory in Yuanlong village, Minning town, Yinchuan, in northwest China's Ningxia Hui autonomous region, has set up a live-streaming team and established a studio to sell products produced in the factory. To better prepare the live-streaming team, which is mostly made up of hardworking villagers with poor educational backgrounds , the factory provided training to the members on how to use computers and helped them memorize the most often used words in broadcasts. Only three months after live-streaming activities were first launched, the broadcasting team was already achieving a monthly sales revenue of over 100,000 yuan. "I'm now on a steadier income, and can also learn new skills from others," said Hai Yan, one of the members, who feels that her life is now richer and more varied. China's online retail industry in its countryside has grown rapidly in recent years, becoming a new driver for rural development. Data from China's Ministry of Commerce suggest that the value of online retail sales in rural areas of the country rose to 1.79 trillion yuan in 2020, and that in the country's previous 832 national-level poverty-stricken counties this number exceeded 301.4 billion yuan. (Web editor: Hongyu, Liang Jun) Welcome Guest! You Are Here: A medical worker administrates a dose of a Comirnaty Pfizer-BioNTech Covid-19 coronavirus vaccine to a woman at a new vaccination hub in Lingotto Fiere Torino Pavilion in Turin, on April 14, 2021. (MARCO BERTORELLO / AFP) Rival drugmaker AstraZeneca faced a similar setback after Denmark banned its use, also over blood clot links. Concerns over using the J&J and AstraZeneca vaccines have dampen hopes that mass immunizations will lead to a swift exit from the global pandemic that has killed nearly three million people and ravaged the global economy. Nevertheless there was some good news as BioNTech/Pfizer announced that 50 million doses that were due to arrive in Europe in late 2021 will instead start arriving as early as this month. More than 820 million Covid-19 vaccine doses have now been administered globally. Demand continues to outstrip supply, and countries are scrambling to secure the much-needed jabs for their people. The race to secure vaccines has sparked diplomatic rows, notably between Britain and the EU after the bloc accused London of hoarding jabs. Australia has also accused the EU of falling short on promised doses. - Fear of blood clots - A panel of US health experts ruled that the pause on using the J&J vaccines would continue for at least another week so they have time to assess the risk of blood clots. Another case of the clotting disorder was reported Wednesday, bringing the total of US cases to seven -- including one death -- among the 7.2 million J&J doses administered in the country. "I don't want to send the message that there is something fundamentally wrong with this vaccine," said Beth Bell, chair of the expert group convened by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). "But I want to be able to understand and defend the decision that I've made (to continue using the vaccine or not) based on a reasonable amount of data," she added. Johnson & Johnson said it would delay its European rollout, again over blood clot fears -- a major hit for the continent's beleaguered immunization campaign. The European Medicines Agency (EMA) said it would make a recommendation on the safety of the J&J jab next week after evaluating clot links. AstraZeneca has faced similar setbacks, with many countries now limiting its use to older people following isolated cases blood clots among younger populations, some fatal. Denmark said Wednesday it would stop using it altogether -- a European first -- despite assurances from the EMA and the World Health Organization that the benefits far outweigh possible risks. Russia's state-run Gamaleya research institute meanwhile said there was no risk of blood clots from its Sputnik V vaccine. Several countries, from Germany to India to Argentina, are battling a worrying spike in cases. - River Ganges infections - In India, more than 1,000 people tested positive for the virus after bathing in the River Ganges for the world's biggest religious festival. A huge crowd of worshippers packed the river banks to take a dip as part of a bathing ritual, despite India's soaring virus cases. "Our faith is the biggest thing for us," Siddharth Chakrapani, a member of one of the Kumbh Mela organizing committees, told AFP, explaining why so many people entered the river. The WHO is concerned that the pandemic could worsen in the Middle East and North Africa during the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan. Confirmed cases in the region last week rose 22 percent and deaths by 17 percent, said Ahmed al-Mandhari, WHO's chief for the eastern Mediterranean. In Turkey officials imposed new restrictions including a tougher overnight curfew, while in Bangladesh police patrolled the capital as a strict nationwide lockdown was rolled out. Most European countries still face virus restrictions due to stubbornly high caseloads, but cafes and restaurants in Belgium were allowed to open their terraces starting May 8, and bars and restaurants in Switzerland can reopen starting Monday. In Argentina however Covid-19 cases have risen fivefold compared to one month ago. President Alberto Fernandez announced that clampdown measures that include closing schools in the greater Buenos Aires area, limiting business hours, and an 8 pm to 6 am curfew. In hard-hit Brazil, where the vaccine rollout has been chaotic and the virus is out of control, authorities said that some 1.5 million vaccinated people vaccinated have not shown up for their second jab. Covid deaths averaged 3,000 a day in Brazil over the past week, forcing cities and states to reimpose lockdown measures. In Japan, a spike in Covid cases forced a section of the Tokyo Olympics torch relay to be pulled from public roads. But with just 100 days to go before the scheduled opening, International Olympic Committee vice president John Coates said that cancellation was "certainly not" on the table. Cebu (CNN Philippines, April 15) A reenactment of the first Christian baptism in the country was held in Cebu City on Wednesday, with a street play performed near the historic Magellan's Cross shrine. The presentation witnessed by a limited number of spectators due to the pandemic included the baptism of Raja Humabon and Hara Humamay, who then ruled Cebu. Humamay was renamed Juana in honor of the mother of Spanish King Charles and was given the image of the Santo Nino as baptismal gift. The entire play lasted for about an hour and was performed by local artists and dancers from the Sinulog-famed Sandiego Dancers. READ: Pope Francis hails Filipinos on 500th year of Christianity in PH Earlier this month, the quincentennial of the first mass in the country was celebrated in Limasawa Island, with the event marked by a fluvial procession of the pilgrim image of Santo Nino De Cebu from Maasin to Barangay Magallanes in Limasawa. Credit: CC0 Public Domain Being constantly hungry, no matter how much you eat, is the daily struggle of people with genetic defects in the brain's appetite controls, and it often ends in severe obesity. In a study published in Science on April 15, researchers at the Weizmann Institute of Science, together with colleagues from the Queen Mary University of London and the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, have revealed the mechanism of action of the master switch for hunger in the brain: the melanocortin receptor 4, or MC4 receptor for short. They have also clarified how this switch is activated by setmelanotide (Imcivree), a drug recently approved for the treatment of severe obesity caused by certain genetic changes. These findings shed new light on the way hunger is regulated and may help develop improved anti-obesity medications. The MC4 receptor is present in a brain region called the hypothalamuswithin a cluster of neurons that compute the body's energy balance by processing a variety of energy-related metabolic signals. When the MC4 is activated, or "on"as it normally isit sends out commands that cause us to feel full, which means that from the brain's perspective, our default state is satiety. When our energy levels drop, the hypothalamic cluster produces a "time to eat" hormone that inactivates, or turns off the MC4 receptor, sending out a "become hungry" signal. After we eat, a second, "I'm full" hormone is released. It binds to the same active site on the MC4, replacing the hunger hormone and turning the receptor back onbringing us back to the satiety default. Mutations that inactivate the MC4 cause people to feel constantly hungry. MC4 is a prime target for anti-obesity drugs, such as setmelanotide, precisely because it's a master switch: turning it on can control hunger while bypassing all other energy-related signals. But until now it was unknown how exactly this hunger switch works. The new study began with the predicament of one family, in which at least eight members, plagued by persistent hunger, were severely obesemost of them with a body mass index of over 70, that is, about triple the norm. Their medical history came to the attention of Hadar Israeli, a medical student pursuing Ph.D. studies into the mechanisms of obesity under the guidance of Dr. Danny Ben-Zvi at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. Israeli was struck by the fact that the family's plight was due to a single mutation that ran in the family: one affecting the MC4 receptor. She turned to Dr. Moran Shalev-Benami of Weizmann's Chemical and Structural Biology Department, asking whether new advances in electron microscopy could help explain how this particular mutation could produce such a devastating effect. Shalev-Benami launched a study into the structure of MC4, inviting Israeli to join her lab as a visiting scientist. Together with Dr. Oksana Degtjarik, a postdoctoral fellow in the lab, Israeli isolated large quantities of pure MC4 receptor from cell membranes, let it bind with setmelanotide and determined its 3D structure using cryogenic electron microscopy. The study was conducted in collaboration with the teams of Dr. Peter J. McCormick from the Queen Mary University of London and of Prof. Masha Y. Niv from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. The 3D structure revealed that setmelanotide activates the MC4 receptor by entering its binding pocketthat is, by directly hitting the molecular switch that signals satiety, even more potently than the natural satiety hormone. It also turned out that the drug has a surprising helper: an ion of calcium that enters the pocket, enhancing the drug's binding to the receptor. In biochemical and computational experiments, the scientists found that similarly to the drug, calcium also assists the natural satiety hormone. McCormick: "Calcium helped the satiety hormone activate the MC4 receptor while interfering with the hunger hormone and reducing its activity." "This was a truly unexpected finding," Shalev-Benami says. "Apparently, the satiety signal can successfully compete with the hunger signal because it benefits from the assistance of calcium, which helps the brain restore the "I'm full' sensation after we eat." MC4's structure also revealed that the drug's entry causes structural changes in the receptor; these changes appear to initiate the signals within the neurons that lead to the sensation of fullness. The study has explained how mutations in the MC4 receptor can interfere with this signaling, leading to never-ending hunger and ultimately obesity. Moreover, the scientists have identified hotspots that crucially distinguish MC4 from similar receptors in the same family. This should make it possible to design drugs that will bind only to MC4, avoiding side effects that may be caused by interactions with other receptors. "Our findings can help develop improved and safer anti-obesity drugs that will target MC4R with greater precision," Shalev-Benami says. Explore further A new drug to help young patients with genetic obesity More information: "Structure Reveals the Activation Mechanism of the MC4 Receptor to Initiate Satiation Signaling" Science (2021). Journal information: Science "Structure Reveals the Activation Mechanism of the MC4 Receptor to Initiate Satiation Signaling"(2021). science.sciencemag.org/lookup/ 1126/science.abf7958 Toronto, Ontario--(Newsfile Corp. - April 15, 2021) - Drilling continues to return significant PGE grades and widths including 47 meters at 2.3 g/t Palladium equivalent ("Pd_Eq"), (Hole LK21-061) at Kaukua South on the Lantinen Koillismaa ("LK") PGE-Ni-Cu project in Finland, said Palladium One Mining Inc. (TSXV: PDM) (FSE: 7N11) (OTCQB: NKORF) ("Palladium One" or the "Company") today. Thus far, 46 holes have been drilled as part of the 17,500-meter Phase II Resource Definition drill program at Kaukua South, including today's results, 29 have been released, while results for 17 holes are pending. The program's goal has been to define the mineralization from surface to a depth of only 200 metres over the known 4-kilometer strike length of Kaukua South. In total 9,220 meters have been drilled to date as part of the Phase II program. Drilling is currently in hiatus for the spring thaw and is schedule to resume in mid-May. Derrick Weyrauch, President and CEO of Palladium One, said, "Drilling at Kaukua South continues to intersect impressive grades and widths, and as evidenced by hole LK21-061 these results also extend to depth. Induced Polarization (IP) surveys along the east and west extensions of Kaukua South have now been completed and we expect preliminary results shortly. The current hiatus in drilling will be used for modelling and target generation on these new extensions" Highlights Drilling continues to demonstrate significant continuity of open pit grades and widths at Kaukua South 46.9 meters grading 2.32 g/t Pd_Eq in hole LK21-061 in hole LK21-061 52.7 meters grading 1.50 g/t Pd_Eq in hole LK21-059 in hole LK21-059 45.4 meters grading 1.58 g/t Pd_Eq in hole LK21-054 in hole LK21-054 44.0 meters grading 1.46 g/t Pd_Eq in hole LK21-060 in hole LK21-060 Kaukua South's Upper Mineralized Zone delineation could have significant positive implications in a mining scenario by significantly reducing the strip ratio, thereby improving project economics. IP surveys on Kaukua South's western and eastern extensions have been completed. Kaukua South Infill Drilling Kaukua South infill drilling continues to demonstrate consistent open pit grades and widths. A total of 29 holes from the Phase II infill drill program on Kaukua South have now been released with intersections such as 47 meters at 2.6 g.t Pd_Eq in hole LK21-045 (see press release March 18, 2021) and 53 meters at 2.1 g/t Pd_Eq*, in hole LK20-028 (see press release January 18, 2021). These 29 holes cover approximately 2 kilometers of the Kaukua South Zone and have returned similar widths and grades to those in the Kaukua NI43-101 Open Pit resource estimate. (Figure 1 and 2). Kaukua South Upper Mineralized Zone As the Phase II infill drill program progresses the importance of the Upper Mineralized Zone at Kaukua South is taking shape. Kaukua South consists of two subparallel mineralized zones, the very continuous "Lower Zone" near the base of the Intrusion which is very similar to the Kaukua deposit with high PGE tenors and is the main focus of the current drill program. The "Upper Mineralized Zone" occurs in the hanging wall to the Lower Zone and is characterised by higher Cu-Ni values and lower PGEs (Table 1). The Upper Zone is typically lower grade and more sporadic than the Lower Zone but can exhibit greater widths (Figure 3). It's position in the hanging wall relative to the Lower Zone is key, its presence has significant positive implications for the open pit potential of Kaukua South as it could reduce the strip ratio and allow an open pit to extend to greater depths than originally contemplated and thereby improve overall project economics. As such, the Company has revisited and is planning to increase the average drilling depth at Kaukua South in areas with strong Upper Zone mineralization. The revised plan now targets the Lower Zone down to a 300-meter depth compared to the original 200-meter depth target. IP Survey The current IP surveys to the west and east of the existing 4-km Kaukua South zone have been completed and preliminary results are anticipated in the coming weeks. The hiatus in the drilling due to the spring thaw will be used to analyse this new data and generate targets to expand the Kaukua South zone. IP has proven to be highly successful at outlining palladium-rich disseminated copper-nickel sulphide mineralization on the LK Project. The discovery of Kaukua South in an overburden covered area with no previous drilling was a direct result of the Company's 2020 IP survey. The Company believes there is potential to extend the currently Kaukua South IP chargeability anomaly from the currently defined four to over seven kilometres of strike length (Figure 1). Figure 1. Greater Kaukua area plan map, showing current NI 43-101 Kaukua Deposit conceptual pit outline (dashed yellow), Kaukua South and Murtolampi IP chargeability anomalies, and Palladium One drill hole locations. Holes labels in red form part of this release. To view an enhanced version of Figure 1, please visit: https://orders.newsfilecorp.com/files/6502/80493_c51608283462dbab_001full.jpg Figure 2. Kaukua South Long section looking north, holes labelled in red form part of this release To view an enhanced version of Figure 2, please visit: https://orders.newsfilecorp.com/files/6502/80493_c51608283462dbab_002full.jpg Figure 3. Cross Section showing Kaukua South infill holes LK20-027, 028, 045, and 061 looking west. To view an enhanced version of Figure 3, please visit: https://orders.newsfilecorp.com/files/6502/80493_c51608283462dbab_003full.jpg Table 1: Phase II infill drill results to date on Kaukua South Hole Zone From (m) To (m) Width (m) Pd_Eq g/t* PGE g/t (Pd+Pt+Au) Pd g/t Pt g/t Au g/t Cu % Ni % LK20-027 Lower Zone 103.4 155.0 51.6 1.98 1.07 0.72 0.27 0.08 0.17 0.15 Inc. 105.6 113.0 7.4 2.58 1.34 0.90 0.31 0.13 0.26 0.18 And 149.5 155.0 5.5 3.12 1.96 1.34 0.52 0.10 0.27 0.17 Inc. 153.5 155.0 1.5 6.14 4.09 2.79 1.15 0.15 0.56 0.28 LK20-028 Lower Zone 42.6 95.5 52.9 2.06 1.44 1.00 0.36 0.08 0.11 0.11 Inc. 46.9 72.0 25.1 2.92 2.08 1.44 0.52 0.12 0.17 0.14 Inc. 50.5 60.0 9.5 3.56 2.52 1.75 0.61 0.16 0.23 0.16 LK20-029 Lower Zone 37.5 62.9 25.4 2.57 1.87 1.30 0.46 0.11 0.15 0.11 Inc. 47.0 62.0 15.0 3.16 2.36 1.65 0.58 0.13 0.17 0.13 Inc. 56.5 62.0 5.5 4.34 3.36 2.36 0.82 0.18 0.20 0.16 Inc 56.5 57.7 1.2 6.15 4.97 3.54 1.26 0.17 0.25 0.21 LK20-030 Lower Zone 26.4 86.5 60.1 1.88 1.00 0.68 0.24 0.07 0.17 0.14 Inc. 47.0 68.0 21.0 2.44 1.43 0.98 0.35 0.10 0.21 0.16 Inc. 53.0 54.5 1.5 3.94 2.69 1.78 0.78 0.12 0.28 0.20 LK20-031 Lower Zone 17.9 61.5 43.6 1.94 1.12 0.76 0.27 0.09 0.16 0.13 Inc. 17.9 55.5 37.6 2.17 1.25 0.85 0.30 0.10 0.19 0.14 Inc. 24.5 35.0 10.5 2.81 1.60 1.09 0.39 0.11 0.27 0.18 LK20-032 Lower Zone 60.3 108.3 48.0 1.81 0.84 0.57 0.21 0.06 0.16 0.16 Inc. 61.4 75.0 13.7 2.12 0.90 0.58 0.23 0.09 0.22 0.20 LK20-033 Lower Zone 41.3 85.0 43.7 1.76 0.87 0.58 0.21 0.07 0.18 0.14 Inc. 42.7 56.3 13.7 2.33 1.21 0.83 0.28 0.10 0.21 0.18 LK20-034 Lower Zone 86.9 119.5 32.7 2.05 1.16 0.81 0.26 0.09 0.16 0.15 Inc. 88.5 97.5 9.0 3.06 1.98 1.41 0.45 0.12 0.20 0.17 Inc. 94.5 96.0 1.5 4.20 2.94 2.15 0.66 0.14 0.25 0.20 LK20-035 Lower Zone 66.0 118.0 52.0 1.32 0.63 0.44 0.15 0.04 0.11 0.11 Inc 67.5 69.0 1.5 3.49 2.44 2.10 0.27 0.07 0.23 0.15 And 95.5 104.7 9.2 2.04 1.23 0.80 0.32 0.11 0.17 0.13 LK20-036 Lower Zone 245.3 280.0 34.6 1.05 0.39 0.25 0.11 0.03 0.10 0.11 Inc. 259.0 260.5 1.5 1.72 0.86 0.62 0.16 0.07 0.15 0.14 LK20-042 Lower Zone 115.5 158.9 43.4 1.41 0.77 0.53 0.19 0.05 0.09 0.12 Inc. 118.5 123.0 4.5 2.29 1.23 0.82 0.32 0.09 0.14 0.19 LK20-043 Lower Zone 131.5 162.3 30.8 1.24 0.55 0.36 0.15 0.04 0.11 0.12 Inc. 133.0 136.0 3.0 2.05 1.16 0.82 0.32 0.02 0.05 0.20 LK20-044 Lower Zone 156.8 173.8 17.0 1.38 0.62 0.41 0.14 0.06 0.14 0.12 Inc. 166.0 169.5 3.4 2.10 1.07 0.73 0.25 0.08 0.20 0.16 LK20-045 Upper Zone 23.0 86.5 63.5 0.72 0.15 0.09 0.02 0.04 0.07 0.10 Inc. 23.0 42.1 19.1 0.94 0.22 0.12 0.04 0.06 0.10 0.12 Lower Zone 122.8 170.2 47.4 2.59 1.74 1.20 0.42 0.11 0.17 0.14 Inc. 155.0 166.6 11.6 4.21 2.92 2.03 0.72 0.18 0.27 0.20 Inc. 156.0 160.6 4.6 5.09 3.67 2.57 0.89 0.21 0.33 0.21 LK20-046 Lower Zone 65.9 118.6 52.7 1.53 1.05 0.73 0.26 0.06 0.09 0.08 Inc. 73.0 89.5 16.5 2.52 1.79 1.23 0.44 0.12 0.13 0.13 Inc. 73.0 79.0 6.0 3.31 2.42 1.69 0.60 0.12 0.18 0.15 LK20-047 Lower Zone 36.0 58.0 22.0 1.77 1.11 0.75 0.29 0.07 0.12 0.11 Inc. 40.5 43.5 3.0 3.15 1.85 1.23 0.49 0.13 0.27 0.20 LK20-048 Lower Zone 80.0 93.0 13.0 1.08 0.55 0.35 0.15 0.05 0.09 0.09 Inc. 89.0 91.3 2.3 1.91 1.13 0.73 0.31 0.09 0.18 0.12 LK20-049 Lower Zone 16.2 27.0 10.8 1.18 0.52 0.33 0.13 0.06 0.13 0.10 Inc. 23.5 27.0 3.5 1.53 0.87 0.57 0.21 0.09 0.16 0.09 LK21-051 Lower Zone 118.8 145.0 26.2 1.46 0.55 0.36 0.13 0.06 0.16 0.15 Inc. 133.2 145.0 11.8 1.87 0.77 0.49 0.18 0.10 0.21 0.17 LK21-052 Upper Zone 53.0 62.7 9.7 1.04 0.36 0.22 0.10 0.04 0.09 0.12 Lower Zone 147.5 172.0 24.5 1.67 0.79 0.55 0.17 0.07 0.18 0.13 Inc. 147.5 152.0 4.5 2.17 0.91 0.65 0.20 0.06 0.38 0.14 LK21-053 Upper Zone 60.0 63.0 3.0 1.20 0.51 0.33 0.13 0.06 0.11 0.11 Lower Zone 93.9 101.4 7.5 0.77 0.25 0.15 0.07 0.03 0.05 0.10 LK21-054 Upper Zone 30.0 32.5 2.6 1.82 0.58 0.34 0.08 0.16 0.22 0.19 Lower Zone 117.7 163.0 45.4 1.58 0.80 0.53 0.19 0.07 0.15 0.12 Inc. 149.0 158.8 9.8 2.00 1.16 0.78 0.27 0.11 0.20 0.12 Inc. 157.3 158.8 1.4 4.04 2.41 1.58 0.53 0.31 0.41 0.21 LK21-055 Upper Zone 31.0 45.0 14.0 1.04 0.26 0.15 0.04 0.07 0.13 0.13 Lower Zone 69.0 81.0 12.0 1.26 0.38 0.23 0.10 0.05 0.14 0.14 Inc. 76.2 80.0 3.8 1.59 0.55 0.33 0.16 0.06 0.20 0.16 LK21-056 Lower Zone 10.6 14.5 3.9 1.00 0.26 0.17 0.05 0.04 0.14 0.11 LK21-057 no significant values, dyked out LK21-058 Lower Zone 87.0 101.0 14.0 1.01 0.53 0.32 0.15 0.06 0.09 0.07 Inc. 90.0 95.0 5.0 1.57 0.88 0.52 0.26 0.10 0.14 0.11 Inc. 90.0 90.7 0.7 3.10 2.10 1.33 0.64 0.14 0.22 0.16 LK21-059 Upper Zone 29.0 41.7 12.7 1.08 0.27 0.15 0.05 0.08 0.13 0.13 Inc. 39.5 41.7 2.2 1.74 0.50 0.33 0.07 0.11 0.21 0.20 Lower Zone 135.3 188.0 52.7 1.50 0.74 0.49 0.18 0.07 0.13 0.12 Inc. 135.3 169.2 33.9 1.72 0.84 0.55 0.20 0.08 0.17 0.14 Inc. 165.3 169.2 3.9 1.90 1.17 0.82 0.28 0.07 0.14 0.12 LK21-060 LK21-060 59.0 71.5 12.5 1.27 0.33 0.19 0.05 0.08 0.15 0.16 Inc. 69.1 70.3 1.2 2.90 1.01 0.75 0.14 0.12 0.24 0.34 Lower Zone 171.0 215.0 44.0 1.46 0.53 0.35 0.14 0.05 0.15 0.16 Inc. 203.5 213.5 10.0 1.80 0.68 0.46 0.16 0.06 0.20 0.18 Inc. 203.5 209.0 5.5 2.04 0.81 0.55 0.20 0.07 0.21 0.20 LK21-061 Upper Zone 92.5 155.5 63.0 0.62 0.14 0.08 0.02 0.03 0.06 0.08 Inc. 92.5 108.8 16.3 0.77 0.21 0.12 0.05 0.04 0.07 0.10 Lower Zone 203.2 250.0 46.9 2.32 1.43 0.97 0.34 0.13 0.17 0.14 Inc. 215.0 221.0 6.0 3.28 1.95 1.33 0.48 0.15 0.24 0.22 And 227.5 231.4 3.9 3.31 2.39 1.68 0.55 0.16 0.22 0.13 Inc. 230.7 231.4 0.7 6.02 4.61 3.35 1.10 0.16 0.32 0.22 And 237.0 239.7 2.7 3.65 2.52 1.76 0.64 0.12 0.25 0.17 * Reported widths are "drilled widths" not true widths. ** Orange shaded values previously released (see press release January 18, 2021, March 11, 2021, March 18, 2021 ) *Palladium Equivalent Palladium equivalent is calculated using US$1,100 per ounce for palladium, US$950 per ounce for platinum, US$1,300 per ounce for gold, US$6,614 per tonne for copper, and US$15,432 per tonne for nickel. This calculation is consistent with the calculation in the Company's September 2019 NI 43-101 Kaukua resource estimate. The palladium price used approximates the US$1,156 per ounce for palladium reported by UBS in its February 2021 commodity consensus price forecast report, while the current price of palladium is approximately US$2,600 per ounce. QA/QC The Phase I drilling program was carried out under the supervision of Neil Pettigrew, M.Sc., P. Geo., Vice President of Exploration and a director of the Company. Drill core samples were split using a rock saw by Company staff, with half retained in the core box and stored indoors in a secure facility, in Taivalkoski, Finland. The drill core samples were transported by courier from the Company's core handling facility in Taivalkoski, Finland, to ALS Global ("ALS") laboratory in Outokumpu, Finland. ALS, is an accredited lab and are ISO compliant (ISO 9001:2008, ISO/IEC 17025:2005). PGE analysis was performed using a 30 grams fire assay with an ICP-MS or ICP-AES finish. Multi-element analyses, including copper and nickel were analysed by four acid digestion using 0.25 grams with an ICP-AES finish. Certified standards, blanks and crushed duplicates are placed in the sample stream at a rate of one QA/QC sample per 10 core samples. Results are analyzed for acceptance at the time of import. All standards associated with the results in this press release were determined to be acceptable within the defined limits of the standard used Qualified Person The technical information in this release has been reviewed and verified by Neil Pettigrew, M.Sc., P. Geo., Vice President of Exploration and a director of the Company and the Qualified Person as defined by National Instrument 43-101. About Palladium One Palladium One Mining Inc. is an exploration company targeting district scale, platinum-group-element (PGE)-copper nickel deposits in Finland and Canada. Its flagship project is the Lantinen Koillismaa or LK Project, a palladium dominant platinum group element-copper-nickel project in north-central Finland, ranked by the Fraser Institute as one of the world's top countries for mineral exploration and development. Exploration at LK is focused on targeting disseminated sulfides along 38 kilometers of favorable basal contact and building on an established NI 43-101 open pit resource. ON BEHALF OF THE BOARD "Derrick Weyrauch" President & CEO, Director For further information contact: Derrick Weyrauch, President & CEO Email: info@palladiumoneinc.com Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Market Regulator (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. This press release includes "forward-looking information" that is subject to a few assumptions, risks and uncertainties, many of which are beyond the control of the Company. Statements regarding listing of the Company's common shares on the TSXV 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. Factors that could cause the actual results to differ materially from those in forward-looking statements include regulatory actions and general business conditions. Such forward-looking information reflects the Company's views with respect to future events and is subject to risks, uncertainties and assumptions, including those set out in the Company's annual information form dated April 29, 2020 and filed under the Company's profile on SEDAR at www.sedar.com. The Company does not undertake to update forward-looking statements or forward-looking information, except as required by law. Investors are cautioned that any such statements are not guarantees of future performance and actual results or developments may differ materially from those projected in the forward-looking statements. To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/80493 Political conferences often adopt motions to draw attention to an issue and to publicly signal, whether sincerely or otherwise, that they will take action to address it. A motion referencing WikiLeaks publisher Julian Assange, passed at the Australian Labor Partys special platform conference late last month, served a very different purpose. Its function was to formalise Labors refusal to take any concrete action in defence of the persecuted Australian citizen and journalist, while providing a sop to his supporters based on a few weasel-words of concern. WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange [Credit: AP Photo/Matt Dunham] Far from publicising Assanges plight, everything was done to keep the motion a secret. It was passed as part of a package of resolutions, and so was not discussed or even mentioned at any point during the two-day conference. Since then it has not been publicly listed anywhere as being among the resolutions passed by the conference, placed on any Labor website, referenced by a single prominent Labor parliamentarian or reported by any corporate media outlet. The existence of the motion was only revealed when federal Labor backbencher Julian Hill made reference to it during an interview with Consortium News published on April 12, either twelve or thirteen days after it had been adopted. Hill absurdly touted the fact that the motion had been passed unanimously, even though many people attending the conference knew nothing about it. As the alternative government of the country, Hill said, Labor has made our position clear now. The policy position of the leader of the opposition, the alternative Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, was for the prosecution of Assange to be dropped. After Hills comments, the motion was hailed by a number of Assange supporters as an important step forward in the fight for his freedom. The WSWS contacted the Labor backbenchers office, to ask for a copy. Its contents indicate that Hills claims for the motion were exceedingly generous. To be blunt, Hill is carrying water for Albanese and a Labor leadership that has not the slightest intention of defending Assange. In full, the motion states: Labor believes that the Australian government should be doing everything necessary to ensure that Mr Julian Assange is treated fairly and humanely, and welcomes the priority given to the health and welfare of Mr Assange in the UK Courts decision. This includes ensuring that under no circumstances should Mr Assangeor any Australianface the death penalty. The UK Court has found that Mr Assange should not be extradited to the USA given his ill-health, and Labor believes it is now time for this long drawn out case against Julian Assange to be brought to an end. In other words, Labors policy position is to take no position on the US attempt to prosecute Assange under the Espionage Act for publishing evidence of American war crimes, human rights violations and diplomatic conspiracies. Civil liberties organisations, United Nations (UN) officials, corporate publications and a number of political leaders have gone on record to state their opposition to such a prosecution. But even a pro forma condemnation of the unprecedented bid to convict a journalist for publishing true information about government illegality was a bridge too far for Labor. The motion does not demand anything of anybody, from the Biden administration, which has signalled that it will proceed with the attempt to prosecute Assange, to the British authorities, who are keeping him imprisoned to facilitate the American extradition request, or the Australian government, which has done nothing to defend a persecuted citizen. Nor does the motion condemn any of the participants in the decade-long campaign against Assange. The only party referenced is the British judiciary. It is presented in the most glowing of terms, as having shown a great commitment to Assanges health and welfare. This description is the stuff of George Orwells novel, 1984. At every step, the British judiciary, acting in collaboration with US and British governments and the intelligence agencies, has been the direct instrument of Assanges persecution. It spearheaded opposition to his political asylum, including after it had been upheld by the UN; sanctioned his illegal April 2019 arrest in Ecuadors London embassy, and has since kept him confined to Belmarsh Prison, a maximum-security facility dubbed Britains Guantanamo Bay. For the past two years, the Australian government and Labor have insisted that they cannot intervene to assist Assange, aside from providing worthless consular support, because of their respect for the British legal system. The government and Labor have ignored or blithely dismissed the findings of UN Rapporteur Nils Melzer that Assanges ongoing confinement constitutes torture, as well as warnings from hundreds of doctors that he could die if he is not immediately released. Only now that a British court has handed down a ruling on the US extradition has Labor come out with a motion, and one that still upholds the authority of the British courts. In her January verdict Judge Vanessa Baraitser blocked Assanges dispatch to his American persecutors on the narrow grounds that his poor health, and the draconian conditions in US prisons, meant he would likely commit suicide if extradited. Baraitser upheld all of the anti-democratic arguments of the US, including their right to prosecute journalists, which Labor also does not challenge. The narrow ruling means that Assanges plight remains highly precarious, and sets a precedent for sweeping attacks on press freedom. And far from the touching concern for the WikiLeaks founders health and welfare claimed by Labor, Baraitser, several days after the extradition judgement, rejected a bail application for Assange. This means that he is indefinitely confined to a COVID-infested maximum-security prison, without having been convicted of any crime, and solely on the basis of an extradition request that was rejected by the first court in which it was heard. Meanwhile, the US prosecutors prepare their appeal. Anyone who thinks that the motion represents a commitment by Labor to fight for Assanges freedom is deluding themselves. While Labor treated its mealy-mouthed reference to Assange as a state secret, it trumpeted other resolutions passed by the conference. The two key policy planks of the conference were that Labor would be better placed than the Liberal-Nationals to implement sweeping austerity measures demanded by big business, and to collaborate with the Biden administration as it steps up preparations for war, including against China. No fewer than six motions repeated Bidens hypocritical human rights condemnations of Beijing, aimed at legitimising US military aggression, while there was no mention at all of American imperialisms continuous wars of the past 30 years, backed by successive Australian governments. Union speakers called for a boost to Australian military manufacturing to prepare for conflict and Labor leaders hailed their record as the party that had overseen Australian involvement in the world wars of the twentieth century. To imagine that a party of imperialism and the banks is about to defend a journalist who exposed war crimes, at the very point it is making a pro-war pitch to Washington and the Australian ruling elite, is absurd on its face. The very fact that Labor has kept its motion secret, demonstrates that it has no intention of taking action. Instead, tepid statements of concern will be wheeled out to placate the widespread support for Assange among workers and young people The attitude that a Labor government would take to Assange is, moreover, not a hypothetical matter. As the WSWS has previously noted: In 2009, WikiLeaks published the then Labor governments secret blacklist of banned websites. This refuted claims that only criminal sites were blocked, and exposed significant internet censorship. Labor communications minister Stephen Conroy threatened to refer the publication to the Australian Federal Police (AFP). Assange later stated he was fearful that Labor was preparing police raids against him. In 2010, WikiLeaks released US army war logs from Iraq and Afghanistan documenting historic war crimes and exposing the neo-colonial character of the occupations. Towards the end of the year, it published 250,000 US diplomatic cables, revealing the daily intrigues of American imperialism, from coup plots, to interference operations and illegal spying on heads of state and United Nations officials. As senior US politicians responded by calling for Assange to be jailed, or even assassinated, Labor Prime Minister Julia Gillard joined the chorus. She slanderously declared that the foundation stone of the WikiLeaks organisation is an illegal act. This assertion, subsequently contradicted by the AFP, prefigured the US attempts to prosecute Assange for the 2010 publications. Gillard considered stripping Assange of his Australian passport, in violation of domestic law, and pledged to help the US intelligence agencies in their campaign to destroy WikiLeaks. This stance set the pattern for every government since, which has continued to deny Assanges rights as an Australian citizen and journalist. Gillards stance was inextricably tied to her Greens-backed governments support for US militarism, including a troop surge in Afghanistan and the initiation of a major military-build up in the Asia-Pacific targeting China. A decade on, and with the war plans even more advanced, a Labor government would be no less hostile to the exposures of militarism that Assange personifies. Defenders of Assange and WikiLeaks should turn to the working class, the social force that is being propelled into struggle by the crisis of capitalism, and that opposes war and defends democratic rights. Those who promote Labors weasel-words are boosting a party that has, and will continue to play, a central role in the persecution of Assange. Hillary Rodham Clinton to Address Students at Fordham Law School's 114th Graduation on May 23 Hillary Rodham Clinton will serve as the graduation speaker at Fordham Law School's 114th diploma ceremony on Sunday, May 23. The virtual ceremony will begin at 10:30 am. It will be livestreamed and available for public viewing at law.fordham.edu/DiplomaCeremony. Dean Matthew Diller and Fordham University President Joseph M. McShane will confer degrees on 568 graduates - 408 of whom will receive J.D. degrees, 69 of whom will receive M.S.L. degrees and 87 of whom will receive LL.M. degrees and fur of whom will receive S.J.D. degrees. Ms. Clinton, a graduate of Yale Law School, served as First Lady of the United States from 1993 to 2001, as a U.S. senator from New York from 2001 to 2009, as the 67th U.S. secretary of state from 2009 to 2013, and became the first woman nominated for president of the United States by a major political party when she won the Democratic Party nomination in 2016. Event: Fordham Law School's 114th Diploma Ceremony, Hillary Clinton addresses students Date: Sunday, May 23 Time: 10:30 am Location: Virtual ceremony livestreamed at law.fordham.edu/DiplomaCeremony In addition to the virtual diploma ceremony, the law school will host an optional in-person event at Fordham's Rose Hill campus on Monday, May 24, where students will be able to gather together with their classmates. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210415005651/en/ By Francois Murphy, Parisa Hafezi and John Irish VIENNA (Reuters) -Iran and global powers resumed talks on Thursday to rescue the 2015 nuclear deal in an effort potentially complicated by Tehran's decision to ramp up uranium enrichment and what it called Israeli sabotage at a nuclear site. Casting a shadow over the Vienna talks, Tehran on Tuesday announced its decision to enrich uranium at 60% purity, a big step closer to the 90% that is weapons-grade material, in response to an explosion at its key Natanz facility on Sunday. Calling the move "provocative", the United States and the European parties to the deal warned that Tehran's enrichment move was contrary to efforts to revive the accord abandoned by Washington three years ago. The 2015 agreement sought to make it harder for Iran to develop an atomic bomb in return for lifting sanctions. Tehran's refusal to hold direct talks with the United States forced European intermediaries to shuttle between separate hotels in Vienna last week when Iran and the other signatories - Britain, China, France, Germany and Russia - held what they described as a first round of constructive negotiations. Senior diplomats, excluding the United States, initially met to set the tone on Thursday in what diplomats anticipated would be a tougher round of talks to salvage the pact. Two expert-level groups, seeking to marry lists of sanctions that the United States could lift with nuclear obligations Iran should meet, have now resumed their discussions. "Currently I think the nuclear working group is more advanced, much more advanced, than (the) sanctions-lifting working group," Wang Qun, China's ambassador to the U.N. atomic watchdog, told reporters after the Joint Commission meeting of senior officials. "So currently we should do away with all disruptive factors, moving forward as swiftly as we can on the work of negotiation, especially by zeroing in on sanctions-lifting." Story continues Iran's foreign ministry said its negotiators had defended their decisions and expressed their disappointment at "the weak reaction" from European powers to the attack on Natanz. SANCTIONS Highlighting Western concerns, a senior diplomat said that while the desire was to make progress, Iran's latest violation could not be ignored and made efforts to achieve a breakthrough before the June 18 Iranian presidential election harder. "The seriousness of Iran's latest decisions has hurt this process and raised tensions," said the senior Western diplomat. "We will have to see how in the coming days we address these violations with the will to press ahead in the talks." Tehran has repeatedly said that all sanctions must be rescinded first, warning that it may stop negotiations if the measures are not lifted. Washington wants Iran to reverse the breaches of the deal that it made in retaliation for tough sanctions imposed by former U.S. President Donald Trump. "Irans seriousness of purpose in pursuing diplomacy was tested in the three years since Trump withdrew from the nuclear accord," Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said on Twitter. "Iran - by remaining in the deal - passed with flying colors. The Biden administration, however, has only shown a commitment to Trumps maximum pressure." Enrique Mora, EU chief coordinator for the talks, said in a tweet it was good to see participants resume the talks "despite very challenging events and announcements over the past days." Israel, which Tehran refuses to recognise, opposes the deal, an accord that Iran and U.S. President Joe Biden are trying to revive after Trump quit it in 2018 and reinstated sanctions. Israel has not formally commented on Sunday's Natanz incident. The United Arab Emirates, which also supported the decision to quit the 2015 accord and reimpose sanctions on Tehran, urged Washington to push for a better accord and a Gulf diplomatic source said the Riyadh-based Gulf Cooperation Council had sent letters to global powers stressing the need for Gulf involvement in ongoing negotiations. (Additional reporting by Ghaida Ghantous in Dubai; Writing by Parisa Hafezi and John Irish, Editing by William Maclean) Gideon Del Rio grew up in a home that was Catholic, homophobic and transphobic. So he understands where youre coming from if youre shocked that transgender youth seek hormone therapy or horrified to know that trans adults want sex-reassignment surgery. Del Rio felt the same way when saw comedian Eddie Izzard do stand-up in high heels and womens makeup. Some Texas Republicans have taken those feelings to the extreme. Theyd be more comfortable if fellow Texans like Del Rio or Brits like Izzard werent so verbal, so out, about helping others understand themselves and their bodies. They prefer trans residents in closets, shamed into conformity, unacceptable even to themselves. Rather than working on problems such as preventing the states energy grid from failing again, Texas legislators and colleagues in more than 30 other statehouses are considering more than 100 anti-trans bills. The bills in one way or another discriminate against transgender people for being who they are incompatible with the gender assigned at birth. Starting at birth, the world saw Del Rio as a girl. He says he was mistakenly assigned that gender. Language matters greatly to trans people. Del Rio identifies as trans-masculine and non-binary-leaning. He prefers the gender pronouns he and him as well as neo-pronouns, such as ae, aer and aers, which some consider more gender-neutral and inclusive. Del Rio, now 26, has been trying out pronouns and first names since he was a teen, when videos games such as The Legend of Zelda, Tomb Raider and Kingdom Hearts provided the only safe space where he could explore his gender. Today, he is president of the San Antonio Gender Association and a youth facilitator for Fiesta Youth, an LGBTQ+ support group for teens and young adults. Hes also a patient advocate for people like himself at Planned Parenthood, which provides healthcare services to trans patients, including hormone therapy. Born in Mexico City, he came to this country at age 2, and his family moved around before landing in San Antonio. He recognized his identity early on, but he had no vocabulary for it. The little he did know about trans life, he said, was associated with tragic, dangerous characters such as the serial killer Buffalo Bill in The Silence of the Lambs or with dialogue from The Simpsons that made trans people the butt of jokes. For a long time, he was in the closet and miserable. I couldnt survive if I kept on pretending, he said. It was difficult for his family to cope with his emerging gender identity. There are few parenting scripts, he said. His family had seen him as a girl who would marry and bear children, and they grieved that loss. He speaks of them with empathy. He came out when he was 16. He found the name Gideon while studying the Bible in a literature class. He keeps private the name he was given at birth, but he kept his surname when he legally changed his first name. Hes married now and says his partner, who has Native American roots, has embraced a pan-indigenous, gender-diverse identity called Two-spirit. Del Rio has become outspoken on trans issues, including standards of medical care for transgender patients. He joked that if he was a woman, he wouldnt have faced as many obstacles getting breast augmentation surgery as he did in arranging for a double bilateral mastectomy. (Such procedures have been described as sex-reassignment surgery. Gideon says the term is outdated and that gender-confirmation surgery, the parlance adopted by many medical providers, is more accurate.) He went on testosterone, and when he saw the changes he wanted to see, he stopped. He doesnt know whether hell have further surgery. He turns to Planned Parenthood for other medical services, including pap smears, and he counsels trans people about seeking help there. The many bills filed across the country are aimed at people like him. In Texas, Senate Bill 1646 would prohibit parents from administrating or supplying, or consenting to or assisting in the administering or supplying, of puberty suppression prescription drugs or cross-sex hormone to a child, other than an intersex-child, for the purpose of gender transitioning or gender reassignment. It would turn gender-affirming protection and care by parents into child abuse. Texas Senate Bill 29, scheduled for a final vote Thursday, would bar transgender girls from participating in girls interscholastic sports. Bills throughout the country go further they seek to ban trans kids from restrooms, limit or bar their access to healthcare, and criminalize support from parents, doctors and others. Theyre beyond transphobic. Theyre sick and cruel. Del Rio focuses on the other side of the debate. On that side, the NCAA has warned states it might pull lucrative sporting events from states that pass such measures. He sounded empathetic when he said, Thank you, NCAA. eayala@express-news.net Utrecht, 15 April 2021 Aalberts N.V. has reached an agreement to acquire 100% of the shares of Sentinel Performance Solutions Group Limited (Sentinel) based in Daresbury (UK), generating an annual revenue of approximately GBP 20 million with 60 FTE. Sentinel is specialised in the cleaning, protecting and maintenance of heating and cooling systems in eco-friendly buildings through the optimisation of water quality. The Sentinel portfolio of additives, filters, and scale protection ensures optimum temperature transfer to all applicable parts in heating and cooling systems. This contributes significantly to energy savings, improves the system performance and extends the lifetime. The Sentinel product range will further strengthen the existing portfolio of Aalberts hydronic flow control, offering integrated solutions to increase the energy efficiency of heating and cooling systems in eco-friendly buildings from source to emitter. The strong sales organisation of Aalberts hydronic flow control will drive the growth of Sentinel's product range in regions and segments where Sentinel is not yet active. Utilising the combined strength and knowledge of our teams will result in a long-term innovation roadmap, aimed at driving significant future growth in improving the energy efficiency of heating and cooling systems for our end users. The digital services developed by Aalberts in recent years, will be part of this roadmap. The experienced management team of Sentinel, led by David Barrett, will continue to manage the company. Sentinel will become the competence centre of water quality within Aalberts hydronic flow control, including the existing water quality activities of Aalberts hydronic flow control in France. Sentinel's base location in Daresbury (UK) will utilise the resources of Aalberts hydronic flow control in St Helens (UK) to facilitate future growth. The results of Sentinel will be consolidated as of 1 May 2021. The acquisition will directly contribute to the earnings per share and will be financed from existing credit facilities. Please visit www.sentinelprotects.comfor additional information. contact +31 (0)30 3079 301 (from 8:00 am CEST) investors@aalberts.com Attachment A few years ago, my hometown of Westport was abuzz about a proposed multi-family residential development on the Post Road. The comments on social media were harsh and overwhelmingly negative. This is what East German housing would likely look like if it were built today, one person lamented. Another suggested that, since renters dont pay property taxes, they wouldnt be as committed to the community as their home-owning neighbors. It will be one giant traffic jam, one person warned. I live in that building now. There isnt much traffic, and it certainly hasnt turned Westport into East Berlin. I contribute to property taxes through my rent, and for the record, Im very committed to our community. More than that, I live next to some great neighbors, whether they are educators who enjoy living in the same town in which they work or seniors who want to downsize while staying close to family. Many are under age 30 and working at local businesses that are desperate to recruit the next generation of employees. This year in Hartford, the Planning and Development Committee has considered a host of zoning reforms to promote housing diversity. Some of these proposals are better than others, but sadly all of them have elicited an unwavering no from many of my colleagues. Theres a dangerous idea that suburban towns suffer when more housing opportunities are built, but just the opposite is true. As the youngest member of the legislature, I spend a lot of time worrying about our states brain drain. Connecticut is one of only three states that saw a population decline in each of the last six years, and too often, the young people who earn their degrees in Connecticut leave to become taxpayers elsewhere. While the reasons for that departure are multifaceted, housing is a major part of the equation. Connecticut ranks 49th in the country when it comes to building new housing units. Can we seriously expect young people to stick around in Connecticut if they cant afford to live here? Each zoning bill is still a work in progress, but its important that the debate in the weeks ahead focuses more on fact and less on fear-mongering. Establishing model zoning regulations would save towns money, should local authorities voluntarily choose to adopt them. Accessory dwelling units will increase housing opportunities without changing the look of any community. Why shouldnt a homeowner be permitted to rent out their garage apartment or pool cottage? Replacing the word character with physical characteristics, defined by local officials, will ensure that zoning regulations are applied equitably and begin to rectify a long history of racial discrimination. A few hours of training for local planning and zoning commissioners shouldnt be controversial given the complexity and importance of their work. Nearly every day, I receive an email or a call from a constituent who believes that legislators in Hartford are trying to undermine everything that makes their town special. I can only think about the building where I live, and the controversy that it once inspired. I think about the school bus that stops outside in the morning and the next generation of children who have a chance to grow up in Westport. What makes our town special isnt the dominance of single-family homes, but instead the humanity of our neighbors and the closeness of our community. Building more diverse housing stock will only make that community better and provide more children with the opportunities that I enjoyed. Democratic state Sen. Will Haskells District 26 includes Redding, Ridgefield, Wilton, and parts of Bethel, Weston, Westport, and New Canaan. [April 15, 2021] Reliance Standard Agrees to Acquire Top-Tier New York Statutory Insurer Reliance Standard Life Insurance Company (Reliance Standard), a member of the Tokio Marine Group, announced it has agreed to acquire Standard Security Life Insurance Company of New York (SSL), a subsidiary of Independence Holding Company (NYSE:IHC), subject to customary closing conditions including regulatory approvals. Once the acquisition is completed, Reliance Standard will be the third largest provider of New York Disability Benefit Law (DBL) insurance, with roughly 10% of the market.1 Founded in 1907, Reliance Standard is a leader in absence and employee benefits solutions including financial protection, absence management and supplemental health, with a portfolio of insurance products that include group disability, life, accident, critical illness, hospital indemnity, dental, vision, medical stop loss and limited benefit medical. Reliance Standard also operates in the fixed annuity market space, including indexed annuities. The group benefits segment wrote approximately $1.39 billion in gross premium in 2020. Reliance Standard is rated A++ (Superior) by A.M. Best and A+ (Strong) by Standard & Poor's. Founded in 1957, Standard Security Life is a leading provider of New York DBL and statutory paid family leave (PFL) insurance and a member of the Independence Holding Company Group. With $122 million in gross written premium in 2020, SSL insures approximately one million employees across 60,000 employer groups. Standard Security Life is rated A- (Excellent) by A.M. Best. Under the terms of the proposed acquisition, SSL will operate as a wholly-owned subsidiary of Reliance Standard with SSL President Gary Balzofiore reporting to Chris Fazzini, president and CEO, group benefits, of Reliance Standard. "We are excited about adding the scale and expertise we found at Standard Security Life to the Reliance Standard family," Fazzini said. "In an era of unprecedented growth and dynamism in the statutoy disability and paid leave space, we are fully committed to expanding our service to employers in New York and beyond." Together with Matrix Absence Management, one of the leading absence management TPAs in the U.S., Reliance Standard markets leave management solutions nationwide, regardless of jurisdiction and funding mechanism. "Looking at SSL's leadership and effectiveness in the New York statutory market and Reliance's long-term, holistic approach to disability and leave, it really does seem like an ideal match," said David Kettig, president and COO of Independence Holding Company. "I believe this combination will yield benefits for SSL's agents, brokers and clients." According to results1 for the year ending December 31, 2020, Standard Security Life is the sixth largest provider of New York DBL insurance. Reliance Standard finished the year as the 11th largest provider. When combined, Reliance Standard will expand its book of business to approximately $44.4 million, making it the third largest provider of NY DBL insurance. The parties are seeking to complete the transaction during the third quarter of 2021, subject to obtaining regulatory approvals and other closing conditions. Waller Helms Advisors acted as financial advisor to Reliance Standard and Sullivan & Cromwell LLP provided external legal counsel in connection with this transaction. Smith Group 2020 DBL Market Share Survey About Reliance Standard Reliance Standard is a leader in absence and employee benefits solutions including financial protection, absence management and supplemental health, with a portfolio of insurance products that include disability, life, accident, critical illness, hospital indemnity, dental, vision, medical stop loss and limited benefit medical. Reliance Standard markets these solutions nationwide through independent brokers and agents to employers of all sizes. With sister company Matrix Absence Management, Reliance Standard provides comprehensive absence solutions including management of federal and state leave of absence and paid leave of absence programs, ADA and employer-specific leave programs. Reliance Standard was founded in 1907 in Chicago, IL and is rated A++ (Superior) by A.M. Best. About Tokio Marine Group Reliance Standard and Matrix Absence Management are both members of the Tokio Marine Group. Tokio Marine Holdings, Inc., the ultimate holding company of the Tokio Marine Group, operates in the property and casualty insurance, reinsurance and life insurance sectors globally. The Group's main operating subsidiary, Tokio Marine & Nichido Fire (TMNF), was founded in 1879 and is the oldest and leading property and casualty insurer in Japan. About The IHC Group Formed in 1980, Independence Holding Company (NYSE: IHC) is a holding company that is principally engaged in underwriting, administering and/or distributing group and individual specialty benefit products, including disability, supplemental health, pet, and group life insurance through its subsidiaries (Independence Holding Company and its subsidiaries collectively referred to as "The IHC Group"). The IHC Group consists of three insurance companies (Standard Security Life Insurance Company of New York, Madison National Life Insurance Company, Inc. and Independence American Insurance Company). View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210415005070/en/ [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] The Endocrine Society opposes legislative efforts that do not conform to medical evidence and clinical practice to prevent transgender and gender diverse adolescents from accessing gender-affirming medical care. Arkansas passed a law April 6 prohibiting gender-affirming care for minors, the first law of its kind in the United States. Seventeen other states have introduced or are considering similar legislation. The proposals reflect widespread misinformation about the nature of gender-affirming medical care. These policies criminalize physicians' efforts to provide needed medical care and disregard widely accepted medical evidence and clinical practice guidelines. The treatment of transgender and gender diverse youth should be governed by the best available medical evidence, not politics. When caring for transgender and gender diverse youth, physicians and mental health professionals must be able to freely practice and choose the best available treatment options in consultation with the patients and their parents, as they would when treating any other condition." Joshua D. Safer, M.D., F.A.C.P., F.A.C.E., Co-Author of Society's Clinical Practice Guideline and Position Statement on Transgender Medicine Scientific evidence shows that there is a durable biological underpinning to our gender identity, and external forces have little impact on that identity. When young children experience feelings that their gender identity does not match the sex recorded at birth, the first course of action is to support the child in living in their affirmed gender identity and to provide mental health support, as needed. After transgender and gender diverse minors start puberty, prescribing treatment to suppress puberty is the recommended strategy if desired and if diagnostic and treatment criteria are met. Pubertal suppression is commonly used in children who experience early puberty. This treatment, which is reversible, gives adolescents more time to explore their options. Pubertal suppression helps transgender adolescents avoid distressing and even traumatic experiences in life, and may help some avoid undergoing surgical procedures later in life. Eliminating access to medical care will harm transgender and gender diverse individuals, who already face a disproportionately high rate of suicide. A study published in the journal Pediatrics last year found transgender and gender diverse youth who wanted access to pubertal suppression and could not access the treatment had higher rates of suicidal thoughts over their lifetimes than those who wanted the treatment and received it. "Legislation should not interfere with physicians' efforts to provide their patients evidence-based medical care in line with the recommendations of the Endocrine Society and other respected international medical organizations," Safer said. While the Society focuses its advocacy efforts at the federal level, it offers a toolkit for members and other advocates who are calling for evidence-based legislation at the state level. Truck makers and environmentalists have joined forces to push for the deployment of 11,000 charging points for electric trucks across the EU by 2025, rising to 42,000 by 2030. The European Automobile Manufacturers Association (ACEA) and Transport & Environment (T&E) made this call to the European Commission in a joint letter. Given that there are currently close to zero truck-specific charging stations in operation, these targets are ambitious, but necessary to achieve the goals of the European Green Deal, the associations say. In addition, some 300 hydrogen re-fuelling stations suitable for heavy-duty vehicles should be rolled out no later than 2025, increasing to around 1,000 no later than 2030. The common industry/NGO request comes ahead of the expected review of Europes Alternative Fuels Infrastructure Directive (AFID) this year. In their letter, ACEA and T&E urge the Commission to make AFID fit for zero-emission trucks and buses, with binding targets for infrastructure in all EU member states to ensure seamless cross-border operations. This is urgent and crucial to encourage professional transport operators to make a swift transition to zero-emission vehicles, they said. Electric and hydrogen-powered trucks require specific charging and re-fuelling infrastructure because of their high power and energy demand, as well as space, parking and access requirements. The European Commission must address these specific needs in the AFID review, ensuring charging and re-fueling is possible at truck depots, at logistics hubs (when loading and unloading), at public sites in urban areas and along highway corridors. Our industry is fully committed to the Green Deal and therefore carbon-neutral road freight transport by 2050 at the latest. To that end, we are investing massively in CO 2 -neutral trucks. However, our customers will not invest in these vehicles unless they can charge and re-fuel them easily as they deliver goods from one country to another. The upcoming AFID review is a golden opportunity to make sure that infrastructure roll-out and the deployment of zero-emission vehicles go hand-in-hand. Martin Daum, ACEA Commercial Vehicle Board Chair and CEO of Daimler Truck AG he future is electric, even for trucks. The transition to zero-emission trucks is happening and it is time for the European Commission to wake up. We need to build 10,000 truck charging points in the next four years, in truck depots, logistics hub and along every main highway in Europe. William Todts, executive director at Transport & Environment The target for charging infrastructure for trucks includes both public and destinationor semi-publiccharging (e.gg charging at logistic hubs, distribution centers, etc) but excludes overnight public charging. Long-haul battery electric trucks, when traveling long distances, will not always come back to the depot overnight. The revised AFID should set targets for the deployment of lower power (100 kW) public overnight chargers at truck parking areas along the highways, with at least 40,000 overnight public chargers in 2030. The European Automobile Manufacturers Association (ACEA) is the Brussels-based trade association of the 15 major car, van, truck and bus manufacturers in the EU. The ACEA commercial vehicle members are DAF Trucks, Daimler Trucks, Ford Trucks, IVECO, MAN Truck & Bus, Scania and Volvo Group. Among CEOs, Bill Bynum has carved out a reputation of staying true to the credit union mission. He began his career helping to establish North Carolina-based Self Help Credit Union, a pioneer in programs targeting low-income rural communities. He moved to Mississippi in 1994 and founded Enterprise Corporation of the Delta. A year later, he organized Hope Credit Union ($367.6M, Jackson, MS). As part of its core mission, the credit union focuses on economically distressed parts of Alabama, Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Tennessee and is a fast-growing credit union in terms of membership and assets. HOPE which consists of Hope Enterprise Corporation, Hope Credit Union, and the Hope Policy Institute has generated more than $2 billion in financing benefiting 1 million people in impoverished areas. Bynum, 61, actively works for economic empowerment and serves on the boards of the Aspen Institute, NAACP Legal Defense Fund, Prosperity Now, and the William Winter Institute for Racial Reconciliation. He also is a member of the U.S. Partnership on Mobility from Poverty. Bynum has received numerous awards from Distinguished Alumnus of the University of North Carolina to National Entrepreneur of the Year (Ernst & Young/Kauffman Foundation), although he admits he has a soft spot for the Man of the Year Award from Morehead, a small Mississippi Delta town and home to one of HOPEs 24 branches that serve as a lifeline to rural communities. County of Imperial Awards Contract to Registered Nurse Mentorship Program for Nursing Students El Centro, California - On Tuesday, at their regular meeting, the Imperial County Board of Supervisors approved a contract award to the Registered Nurse Mentorship Program in the amount not to exceed $360,000. The program and contract between the Imperial County Workforce and Economic Development Office (ICWED) and the Imperial Valley Regional Occupational Program (IVROP) is intended for nursing students in their 4th semester completing their Registered Nursing certification and in need of supportive services. As one of ICWEDs most successful training programs, the scope of this program will serve approximately 30-37 nursing students with mentoring services to ensure each student can successfully complete their final semester. Services include assistance with the purchase of medical instruments, books, and the National Council Licensure Examination (NCLEX). Students will also receive preparation for entering the workforce, job search, training for interviews, other soft skills guidance, and follow-up services for up to 12 months. The Imperial County Board of Supervisors is proud in continuing our support of this program as it shows our Countys commitment towards helping develop and support a workforce that this pandemic has shown a true need for, said Supervisor Mike Kelley, Chairman of the Board. The RN Mentorship program has been our most successful training program to date with a successful completion and placement rate of 98 to 100%. The nursing program is greatly demanding, and by the final year, students are struggling to get over the finish line, said Priscilla Lopez, ICWED Director, This program helps ease the financial burden by helping to alleviate expenses for books, tools, and other necessities, as well as providing tutoring and funding for the NCLEX. The RN Mentorship program addresses the need that the health industry has for qualified professionals as well as translates to economically sustainable careers for the graduates. The Registered Nurse Mentorship Program is funded by the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA) fund with no impact to the Imperial County general fund. A Long March 3B rocket carrying the Beidou-3GEO3 satellite lifts off from the Xichang Satellite Launch Center in Xichang in China's southwestern Sichuan province on June 23, 2020. (STR/AFP via Getty Images) Irans Enhanced Combat Power Via CCPs BeiDou Navigation System Threatens US Commentary Right before the United States and Iran were to hold indirect talks on April 6, the Chinese and Iranian foreign ministers signed a 25-year Comprehensive Strategic Cooperation Agreement (CSCA) in Tehran on March 27. According to China expert Gu Feng, this could be very concerning to the United States. As part of the agreement, China offered to provide Iran access to its BeiDou Navigation Satellite System (BDS) to enhance Irans combat capabilities. Iran said it will install the BDS for its missiles. The CSCA also included two other actions; that the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) will invest $400 billion in Iran for energy and infrastructure construction, and oil and trade transactions between China and Iran will be settled in Chinese yuan. The direct settlement in yuan and the use of the BDS are of most concern. Settlement in Yuan Bypasses US Sanctions on Iran Under U.S. sanctions, countries are prohibited from conducting oil transactions with Iran, and if the U.S. dollar is used in such transactions, the relevant banks will be subject to U.S. secondary sanctions, leading them to have all their financial ties with the United States severed, and all businesses and assets frozen. In addition, the United States has pressured the Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication (SWIFT) to cut telecommunication ties with Iran. However, if the yuan is used to settle oil trade between the CCP and Iran, the CCP will enable Iran to get around the restrictions tied to using U.S. dollars, thus largely circumventing U.S. sanctions. Currently, South Korea is still holding $7 billion in Iranian oil money under U.S. sanctions over its nuclear program. This has put great pressure on Irans economy, to the point that Iran is even unable to pay for COVID-19 vaccines, leaving it reliant on aid and China. China is the worlds largest importer of crude oil. From the CCPs perspective, if oil purchases must be settled in U.S. dollars, it must pay huge fees in order to convert yuan into U.S. dollars. According to statistics, Chinas daily settlement volume through SWIFT is between $200 billion and $300 billion, and the handling fee alone costs the CCP $7.3 billion to $10.9 billion per year. Therefore, using yuan for settlement saves the CCP a lot of fees. BDS Will Enhance Irans Combat PowerA Nightmare for the World From a military point of view, an advanced navigation system is a starting point to ensure that missiles hit their target accurately. It is believed that although Iran lacks an effective navigation system, it has never dared to use the United States or the EU navigation systems because the signal may be cut off in the event of a Western-led military conflict. However, installation of the BDS for Iranian missiles will improve targeting accuracy to a certain extent, and pose a threat to the U.S. aircraft carrier fleet in the Persian Gulf. BDS is one of the four core providers of global satellite navigation systems recognized by the International Committee on Global Navigation Satellite Systems (ICG), established in 2005 under the umbrella of the United Nations. The other three suppliers are the U.S. Global Positioning System (GPS), the Russian Global Navigation System (GLONASS), and the European Unions Global Satellite Navigation System Galileo. Gu, a Chinese current affairs commentator, said that Irans gaining use of the BDS could become a nightmare for the world. He said that the BDS was developed by the CCP with the purpose of eliminating U.S. GPS military restrictions. The CCP took 26 years to build it, invested more than $12 billion, and launched 55 satellites to get BDS into operation. The CCP is now actively promoting BDS via its One Belt, One Road initiative. Among 137 signatory countries, more than 100 frequently use the BDSmost of them in Southeast Asia and Africa. More than 30 countries in the Middle East, Africa, and other regions also use BDS. Gu said that BDS is a huge and complex aerospace project, and has 31 more satellites than the U.S. GPS system. The operation of its space and Earth network involves the coordinated scheduling and monitoring management of dozens of systems and tens of thousands of pieces of equipment. Through BDS, the CCP will be able to put in place a vast system that can monitor the entire globe. Gu said that once Iran introduces BDS, the power of the regimes missile force will multiply. After Iran has the BDS online, the nightmare of the United States will begin, he said. With increased navigation accuracy, Iran could use ballistic missiles to strike U.S. aircraft carriers, and the situation in the Middle East is likely to change. Iran has developed and equipped a number of ballistic missiles. As recently as January this year, it tested missiles of various ranges. The missiles are capable of carrying a 650 kilogram (1,400 pound) warhead and have a range of approximately 2,000 kilometers (1,200 miles). With a range of 1,200 miles, the missiles can reach most countries in the Middle East, as well as U.S. military bases in Iraq, Saudi Arabia, and other places. North Korea Received BDS Training From the CCP South Korean media Donga.com reported back in 2014 that 19 experts from eight Asia-Pacific countries, including North Korea, had received training in China on the technology and applications of BDS. The report said North Korea had learned satellite navigation technology in China and was likely to use it exclusively for military purposes, which was a cause for concern in South Korea. The report said that in the first half of 2014, North Korean drones used the most basic GPS technology when they took pictures of Cheong Wa Dae, the official residence of the President of South Korea, and Baengnyeong Island in South Korea. Gu said North Korea is now likely to use the satellite navigation technology it learned from the CCP for military purposes. This could be a nightmare for the world if the technology is used for its long-range missiles or drones. Changes in US Policy Toward Iran In July 2015, the five permanent members of the United Nations, including the United States and China, as well as Germany signed the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (also known as the Iran nuclear deal or Iran deal). In May 2018, former U.S. President Trump withdrew from the deal after announcing that it was defective at its core. Trump said, If we do nothing, we know exactly what will happen. In just a short period of time, the worlds leading state sponsor of terror will be on the cusp of acquiring the worlds most dangerous weapon. The Trump administration then imposed more than 1,600 sanctions on Iran, including an oil embargo and comprehensive economic sanctions. On April 6, the new U.S. administration and Iran held indirect talks through European representatives in a show of shuttle diplomacy signaling the United States return to engagement on the Iran nuclear deal. Although the United States, Iran, and Europe all called the talks constructive, the U.S. side said it did not expect an immediate breakthrough. The Iranian side, on the other hand, has taken a hard-line stance in the talks. U.S.-based current affairs commentator Li Yanming said to The Epoch Times that the CCP could have played a role in Irans tough stance. He said the 25-year CSCA between the CCP and Iran is a major blow to the Biden administration. The public alliance between the CCP and Iran is a sign that the CCP will further contain U.S. military deployments in the Middle East through Iran, distracting U.S. control over the Indo-Pacific region, and paving the way for its military expansion in the Taiwan Strait, the South China Sea, and the world, Li said. Views expressed in this article are the opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times. Thanks for visiting ! The use of software that blocks ads hinders our ability to serve you the content you came here to enjoy. We ask that you consider turning off your ad blocker so we can deliver you the best experience possible while you are here. Thank you for your support! Armenian President Armen Sarkisyan will pay an official visit to Georgia on April 15 at the invitation of Georgian counterpart Salome Zurabishvili, Sarkisyan's press office said. The key topics of the talks between Armenian and Georgian presidents will be bilateral relations and the possibilities of expanding mutually beneficial cooperation. The parties will also touch upon regional problems and developments. During the visit, Sarkissian is also scheduled to meet with Catholicos-Patriarch of All Georgia Ilia II and Chairman of the Georgian Parliament Archil Talakvadze, ARKA reported. Elderly residents aged 75 and older wait at a COVID-19 vaccination center in Gwangju, Thursday, to see if they show abnormal reactions after receiving the Pfizer vaccine shot. Yonhap By Jun Ji-hye New daily COVID-19 cases have stayed at around 700 for two days in a row here, while medical experts warn that the daily figure could exceed 1,000 in the coming weeks. Experts noted that it will be difficult for the nation to stave off a stronger wave of infections as it suffers from a series of unfavorable factors, including an unstable supply of vaccines and the continued spread of COVID-19 variants that are more transmissible than the original strain. According to the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA), 698 more COVID-19 cases were reported, Wednesday, including 670 local infections, raising the cumulative number of cases to 112,117. On Tuesday, 731 cases were identified, which was the highest since early January. Diverse indicators are showing that the COVID-19 situation is likely to become more critical. The daily average cases per week have continued to the increase from 438.6 between March 21 and 27 to 639.5 this week. Farmers in the Midlands have until Sunday to apply for funding to improve biodiversity on-farm under Severn Trent's Environmental Protection Scheme. The funding is exclusively for farmers in priority catchments who have plans to apply for, or have previously received funding from, Severn Trents main STEPS scheme. The scheme aids on-farm improvements that protect and enhance water quality and natural habitats. Dr Adam Freer, senior catchment scientist at Severn Trent, is urging farmers to sign up: Spring STEPS provides funding for a range of biodiversity improvement options. "I would encourage farmers to look into whats available by going online, or contacting their local Severn Trent agricultural adviser. There are options to suit all farm types and systems, from enhancing biodiversity in existing grassland, planting diverse herbal leys, or developing wildflower margins." Farmers can put forward their own creative ideas for improving wildlife habitats through an innovation option. STEPS is part of the Farming for Water initiative, a catchment management programme which protects water quality and biodiversity, while also supporting farms. Last year, a total of 1,700 hectares of new wildlife habitats were created by Farming for Water farmers. Dr Freer said: Biodiversity is a growing area of importance for UK farmers, particularly considering the governments impending Environmental Land Management scheme. "We want to continue to support them on their journey to farming in a more environmentally sustainable way. Once the application is accepted, projects must be completed by 1 March 2022. PITTSBURGH, April 15, 2021 - Oncologists faced with treating older women with breast cancer often must decide if the treatment may be more detrimental than the cancer. A study published today in JAMA Network Open by researchers at UPMC Hillman Cancer Center and the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine sheds new light on this choice and suggests the rate of cancer recurrence or survival may be no different in treated vs. untreated elderly patients diagnosed in the early stages of the cancer diagnosed most commonly in women. "As a breast surgeon, I want to give my patients the best chance of survival with the best quality of life," said senior author Priscilla McAuliffe, M.D., Ph.D., surgical oncologist at UPMC Hillman Cancer Center and attending surgeon in the Department of Surgery at Pitt. "However, we have found that overtreatment of early-stage breast cancer in older patients may actually cause harm while not improving recurrence or survival rates." Despite guidelines recommending the de-escalation of treatment among older women with early-stage cancer, there has been no definitive study of this patient cohort, who often are excluded in clinical trials because of their age. To determine whether patients were being overtreated, the researchers analyzed deidentified data from more than 3,000 women over the age of 70 who were diagnosed with ER-positive, HER2-negative breast cancer from 2010 to 2018. Age 70 was used because clinical trials in breast cancer don't often include women in this age category. The data, collected at 15 UPMC Hillman Cancer Center community and academic sites, were evaluated with the UPMC Network Cancer Registry, which tracks cancer patients using UPMC's electronic health record system. The study looked at two procedures: sentinel lymph node biopsy (SLNB), which is a surgical procedure to remove the lymph nodes from the underarm to determine if the cancer has spread beyond the breast, and radiotherapy (RT), which is standard treatment after breast-conserving surgery, given in multiple doses to control or kill any residual tumor. Side effects including nerve pain, lymphedema and skin irritation can sometimes occur after these procedures, which may be more difficult for the older patient to overcome. The researchers found that the number of SLNB and RT procedures among patients over age 70 remained high at 65.3% and 54.4% respectively. The rates of SLNB also steadily increased by 1% per year, while rates of RT declined by 3.4% per year over the study period. Most importantly, they found that the rates of disease recurrence or survival remained the same, whether the carefully selected patients received SLNB or RT, or not--no matter their comorbidities or tumor grade. "This study is an example of how we can use big data to deliver on the promise of precision medicine--getting the right treatment to the right patient at the right time," said Adrian Lee, Ph.D., investigator at the Women's Cancer Research Center at UPMC Hillman Cancer Center and Magee Womens Research Institute, and director of the UPMC/Pitt Institute of Precision Medicine. "Sometimes--as it happens to be in this case--that could mean deciding not to provide a certain treatment to ensure better care for the patient." The American Society of Breast Surgeons has released its second list of specific tests or procedures that clinicians and patients should question as part of Choosing Wisely, an initiative of the ABIM Foundation. Lee hopes this study will further validate that a de-escalation of treatment for certain breast cancers will not affect the quality of life or outcome for patients and that SLNB and RT can safely be omitted. "Our study is unique in that we were able to look at very granular patient data, thanks to the size of our health system and the availability of electronic medical records, which makes the findings more robust than any other such study to date," said Neil Carleton, lead author and an M.D./Ph.D. student at the Pitt. "This is the result of an incredible collaborative of researchers, oncologists and clinical analytics experts." This video features the investigators discussing their study. ### Additional authors on the study are Jian Zou, Yusi Fang, Steve Koscumb, Osama Shah, Fangyuan Chen, Sushil Beriwal, M.D., Emilia J. Diego, M.D., Adam M. Brufsky, M.D., Ph.D., Steffi Oesterreich, Ph.D., Steve D. Shapiro, M.D., Robert Ferris, M.D., Ph.D., Leisha A. Emens, M.D., Ph.D., George Tseng, Ph.D., and Oscar C. Marroquin, M.D., all of Pitt, UPMC Hillman Cancer Center, Women's Cancer Research Center or Magee-Womens Research Institute. Funding for this study was provided by the UPMC Health Services Division and the Shear Family Foundation. To read this release online or share it, visit http://www. upmc. com/ media/ news/ 041521-Breast-Ca-Over-70-JAMA-Open . Contact: Cyndy Patton Mobile: 412-415-6085 E-mail: PattonC4@upmc.edu Contact: Allison Hydzik Office: 412-647-9975 Mobile: 412-559-2431 E-mail: HydzikAM@upmc.edu About UPMC A $23 billion health care provider and insurer, Pittsburgh-based UPMC is inventing new models of patient-centered, cost-effective, accountable care. The largest nongovernmental employer in Pennsylvania, UPMC integrates 92,000 employees, 40 hospitals, 700 doctors' offices and outpatient sites, and a 4-million-member Insurance Services Division, the largest medical insurer in western Pennsylvania. In the most recent fiscal year, UPMC contributed $1.4 billion in benefits to its communities, including more care to the region's most vulnerable citizens than any other health care institution, and paid more than $800 million in federal, state, and local taxes. Working in close collaboration with the University of Pittsburgh Schools of the Health Sciences, UPMC shares its clinical, managerial, and technological skills worldwide through its innovation and commercialization arm, UPMC Enterprises, and through UPMC International. U.S. News & World Report consistently ranks UPMC Presbyterian Shadyside among the nation's best hospitals in many specialties and ranks UPMC Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh on its Honor Roll of America's Best Children's Hospitals. For more information, go to UPMC.com. 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 70 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 . House Speaker Nancy Pelosi dramatically ripped up President Donald Trump's State of the Union speech last year because she had been promised a big announcement on healthcare or opioids. Instead, Trump gave Rush Limbaugh the Presidential Medal of Freedom. The process began when Pelosi realized she didn't have a pen, and so started making small tears in the pages of her copy of the speech for each 'lie' Trump said, according to excerpts DailyMail.com obtained from Susan Page's new biography, 'Madam Speaker: Nancy Pelosi and the Lessons of Power.' House Speaker Nancy Pelosi tore up President Donald Trump's State of the Union speech after she had been promised an announcement on healthcare or opioids - and instead had to watch Rush Limbaugh receive the Presidential Medal of Freedom House Speaker Nancy Pelosi told her biographer Susan Page that she put 'just a little nidge' in the pages of President Donald Trump's State of the Union for every time she heard a lie. 'This page is so full of lies, I want to be able to come back to it,' she remembered thinking First lady Melania Trump (right) puts the Presidential Medal of Freedom around the neck of the now late radio talk show host Rush Limbaugh (left) at President Donald Trump's final State of the Union address on February 4, 2020 In Susan Page's forthcoming biography, 'Madam Speaker: Nancy Pelosi and the Lessons of Power' the journalist finds out what motivated Pelosi to shred President Donald Trump State of the Union speech Pelosi had originally been primed for the Trump White House to make an announcement on opioids or healthcare when he spoke to the joint session of Congress on February 4, 2020. When she brought up healthcare to Vice President Mike Pence before Trump's address, he replied, 'Oh, you're going to be very happy about what he says tonight.' Instead, it was the one moment of Trump's presidency where Pelosi was rattled by the president publicly, according to Page. Trump knocked progressive Medicare-for-all proposals at 'socialist' and took credit for curbing opioid use, but there was no grand announcement. Instead he pointed out 'a special man' in the chamber's gallery - Limbaugh, who died earlier this year - and presented the right-wing talk radio show host with the nation's highest civilian honor, with first lady Melania Trump putting the ornate medal around his neck. 'She felt her temperature rising,' Page described. As Pelosi scanned Trump's remarks, about one-third of the way through she wanted to mark the page. 'I thought, "This page is so full of lies, I want to be able to come back to it,"' the House speaker told Page. The speaker, however, didn't have a pen up on the rostrum. 'I should have probably had a pen in the drawer, but I didnt have a pen right there,' Pelosi recalled. Instead she tore the paper, making 'just a little nidge,' to mark the spot. 'She made a little tear in the next page to mark another assertion she saw as untrue. And the next. By the time he was halfway through the speech, it occurred to her that she might just as well tear the whole thing in half, but she wasnt ready to decide that yet,' Page wrote. Pelosi told the USA Today journalist, 'Then, as it went forward, it was so full of lies, so full of misrepresentations, untruths. It was like "What?"' 'My members were furious,' Pelosi continued. 'You could see steam coming out of the caucus. I'm not talking about the left wing; I'm tlaking about all of the members. They were so offended.' 'He used the Congress, the House chamber, as a reality-show set,' she added. 'And then he had no reality in his speech. People were just furious.' As Trump concluded his remarks and was applauded by the Republican side of the room, Pelosi divided her speech pages into four sections and ripped them apart. Pence, Page wrote, pretended not to notice. 'It would be the most public display of disrespect in modern times from the leader of one branch of government to another, delivered almost face-to-face,' Page recalled. Pelosi told the biographer she had no regrets - and felt 'liberated.' 'I'm ever gracious and respectful of the office, if not the person,' Pelosi said of the presidency. 'I'm not beyond that in partisanship or something, but not telling the truth, that was just beyond.' 'So I can't really tell you, but it was well past halfway through that I thought, "Should I consider doing this?"' Pelosi said. And she did. Afterward, Pence accused her of planning out the stunt in advance. 'Pelosi, in the final moments, tried to make it about her. And I think the American people see through it. I think they see through the pettiness, they see through the politics of all of it,' Pence said on 'Fox & Friends.' Pence had answered 'it felt like it' when asked if the shredding the speech had been pre-planned. Pelosi's spokesperson Drew Hammill told DailyMail.com at the time that this wasn't the case. 'The vice president's complicity in last night's reality show is disgusting. He is in no position to lecture anyone about the Constitution, decorum or respect as he cheerleads the mistruths of his master,' Hammill shot back. 'Madam Speaker: Nancy Pelosi and the Lessons of Power,' will be released on Tuesday, April 20. STOCKHOLM, April 15, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- The shareholders in SciBase Holding AB (publ), reg. no. 556773-4768 (the "Company"), are hereby given notice to attend the annual general meeting at 2:00 p.m. on Tuesday 18 May 2021. The meeting will be held through postal voting only (see below). Special arrangements due to the risk for spread of the virus COVID-19 (coronavirus) The board of directors has, in light of continued spread of the coronavirus and in accordance with the Swedish Act (2020:198) on temporary exceptions to facilitate the execution of general meetings in companies and other associations, decided that the annual general meeting shall be held without physical presence of shareholders, proxies and/or external parties and that the shareholders shall have only the opportunity to vote by mail prior to the annual general meeting. The Company welcomes all shareholders to exercise their voting rights at the annual general meeting through postal voting as described below. Information on the resolutions passed at the annual general meeting will be published on Tuesday 18 May 2021, as soon as the result of the postal voting has been finally confirmed. Notice Shareholders wishing to participate at the annual general meeting must be entered in the shareholders' register, kept by Euroclear Sweden AB (the Swedish Central Securities Depository & Clearing Organisation), on the record day which is Friday 7 May 2021 and no later than on Monday 17 May 2021 notify the Company of their attendance by casting their postal vote in accordance with the instructions under the heading "Postal voting" below so that the postal voting form is received by Setterwalls Advokatbyra AB no later than that day. Please note that a notification to attend the general meeting can only be done by a postal vote. A shareholder represented by proxy shall (as always) issue a power of attorney. Further instructions regarding this are available below under the heading "Proxy voting". Nominee registered shares Shareholders who have their shares registered in the name of a nominee must request temporary entry in the transcription of the share register kept by Euroclear Sweden AB (so-called voting rights registration) in order to be entitled to participate and vote for their shares at the meeting through postal voting. The shareholder must inform the nominee well in advance of Friday 7 May 2021, at which time the register entry must have been made. Voting rights registration that have been requested by the shareholder at such time that the registration has been completed by the nominee no later than Tuesday 11 May 2021, will, however, be taken into account in the preparation of the share register. Postal voting The shareholders may exercise their voting rights at the annual general meeting only by voting in advance, so-called postal voting, in accordance with Section 22 of the Swedish Act (2020:198) on temporary exceptions to facilitate the execution of general meetings in companies and other associations. A special form shall be used for postal voting. The form will be available on the Company's website, http://investors.scibase.se/en/annual-general-meeting-2021.The postal voting form is considered as the notification of participation at the annual general meeting. The completed voting form must be received by Setterwalls Advokatbyra AB no later than Monday 17 May 2021. The form may be submitted by post to Setterwalls Advokatbyra AB, Attn: Johan Tonnesen, Box 1050, 101 39 Stockholm or via e-mail to johan.tonnesen@setterwalls.se. The shareholder may not provide special instructions or conditions in the voting form. If so, the vote (i.e. the postal vote in its entirety) is invalid. Further instructions and conditions are included in the form for postal voting. The shareholders may request in the postal voting form that a resolution on one or several of the matters on the proposed agenda below should be deferred to a so-called continued general meeting, which cannot be conducted solely by way of postal voting. Such general meeting shall take place if the annual general meeting so resolves or if shareholders with at least one tenth of all shares in the Company so requests. Proxy voting A shareholder represented by proxy shall issue a power of attorney which shall be dated and signed by the shareholder. If the shareholder postal votes by proxy, the power of attorney shall be enclosed to the form. If issued by a legal entity, the power of attorney shall also be accompanied by registration certificate or, if not applicable, equivalent documents of authority. Power of attorney forms for those shareholders wishing to postal vote by proxy will be available on the Company's website http://investors.scibase.se/en/annual-general-meeting-2021. Processing of personal data For information regarding how your personal data is processed in connection with the annual general meeting, please refer to the privacy policy on Euroclear Sweden AB's website, https://www.euroclear.com/dam/ESw/Legal/Privacy-notice-bolagsstammor-engelska.pdf. Proposed agenda 1. Opening of the meeting and election of chairman of the meeting. 2. Preparation and approval of the voting list. 3. Approval of the agenda. 4. Election of one person who shall approve the minutes of the meeting. 5. Determination of whether the meeting has been duly convened. 6. Submission of the annual report and the auditor's report as well as of the consolidated financial statements and the auditor's report on the group. 7. Resolution in respect of: i.adoption of the profit and loss statement and the balance sheet as well as of the consolidated profit and loss statement and the consolidated balance sheet; ii.allocation of the Company's results according to the adopted balance sheet; and iii.the members of the board of directors' and the CEO's discharge from liability. 8. Resolution regarding the number of members and, where applicable, deputies of the board of directors and number of auditors and, where applicable, deputy auditors. 9. Determination of the fees payable to the members of the board of directors and the auditors. 10.Election of members of the board of directors and auditor. 11.Resolution on principles for the appointment of a nomination committee. 12.Resolution on an authorisation for the board of directors to resolve upon issues of shares, warrants and convertibles. 13.Closing of the meeting. The nomination committee's proposed resolutions The nomination committee is composed of the chairman of the board of directors of the Company (i.e. Tord Lendau), Christer Jonsson (appointed by Fouriertransform), Iraj Arastoupour and Peter Elmvik. The nomination committee has presented the following proposed resolutions in relation to items 1 and 8-11 in the proposed agenda. Item 1 - Election of chairman Olof Reinholdsson (lawyer at Setterwalls Advokatbyra) is proposed as chairman of the meeting, or if he is unable to attend the meeting, any other person proposed by the board of directors. Items 8-10 - Election of and remuneration to the board of directors and auditors The board of directors today consists of the following four (4) ordinary members without deputy members: Tord Lendau (chairman), Diana Ferro, Barbro Friden and Thomas Taapken. Barbro Friden has declined re-election since she has received assignments abroad. In the light of the aforementioned, the nomination committee proposes that the board of directors, until the end of the next annual general meeting, shall consist of three (3) ordinary members without deputy members. Furthermore, it is proposed that a registered accounting firm shall be elected as auditor. The nomination committee furthermore proposes that the fees payable to the board of directors for the period until the end of the next annual general meeting shall be SEK 200,000 for the chairman of the board and SEK 150,000 to each of the other ordinary board members (who are not employed by a larger shareholder in the Company). It is proposed that the Company's auditor shall be paid in accordance with approved invoices. With the exception of Barbro Friden, who has declined re-election as above, all current board members are proposed to be re-elected until the end of the next annual general meeting. Furthermore, Tord Lendau is proposed to be re-elected as chairman of the board of directors. The nomination committee reserves the right to propose election of an additional board member during the time period after issuance of this notice until the annual general meeting why the nomination committee's proposal under items 8-10 in the agenda may be changed. The registered accounting firm PricewaterhouseCoopers AB (PwC) is proposed to be re-elected as auditor. The accounting firm has informed that Magnus Lagerberg will remain as principally responsible auditor. Item 11 - Resolution on principles for the appointment of a nomination committee The nomination committee proposes the following decision for election of a nomination committee for the annual general meeting 2022 (same principles as the previous year). The nomination committee for the annual general meeting 2022, which shall comprise of four members, shall be appointed by way of that the chairman of the board of directors will consult with the three largest shareholders of the Company at the end of the third quarter of 2021. These shareholders will be requested to each appoint one member who, together with the chairman of the board of directors, will form the nomination committee. The composition of the nomination committee shall be publicly announced no later than six months prior to the annual general meeting. The nomination committee, whose mandate period applies until the time a new nomination committee has constituted itself, shall appoint a chairman among its members. The nomination committee shall prior to the annual general meeting 2022 prepare and submit proposals regarding the election of the chairman of the annual general meeting, the number of board members and, where applicable, deputy members, the number of auditors and, where applicable, deputy auditors, the election of board members, chairman and, where applicable, deputy members, auditor and, where applicable, deputy auditors, remuneration for the board of directors and the auditor, as well as guidelines for the appointment of the nomination committee for the following annual general meeting. The nomination committee's proposals shall be presented in the notice to a general meeting where election of board members and auditor shall take place and on the Company's website. Should a member of the nomination committee resign from its assignment, a replacement shall be sought from the shareholder that appointed the departing member. Should a shareholder that has appointed a member of the nomination committee substantially decrease its ownership in the Company, the next shareholder in size order shall, if the nomination committee so resolves, be requested to appoint a member to the nomination committee. The board of directors' proposed resolutions The board of directors of the Company has presented the following proposed resolutions in relation to items 2, 4, 7(ii) and 12 in the proposed agenda. Item 2. - Preparation and approval of the voting list The voting list that is proposed for approval is the voting list to be prepared chairman of the general meeting, based on the shareholders' register for the general meeting kept by Euroclear Sweden AB, and postal votes received, and approved by the person appointed by the meeting to approve the minutes. Item 4. - Election of one person who shall approve the minutes of the meeting The board of directors' proposes that Christer Jonsson (Fouriertransform) is to be appointed as the person verifying the minutes together with the chairman of the general meeting, or in the event that he or she is prevented from doing so, the person the board of directors appoints instead. The person appointed to verify the minutes shall, apart from approving the minutes of the general meeting together with the chairman of the general meeting, check the voting list and that the result of received votes are correctly reflected in the minutes of the general meeting. Item 7 (ii) - Allocation of the Company's results according to the adopted balance sheet The board of directors proposes that SEK 175,081,224 shall be carried forward in new account. Accordingly, no dividend is proposed. Item 12 - Resolution regarding authorisation for the board of directors to resolve upon issues of shares, warrants and convertibles The board of directors proposes that the annual general meeting resolves to authorise the board of directors to, until the next annual general meeting, on one or more occasions, decide upon issuances of new shares, issuance of warrants and/or convertibles. New issues of shares and issues of warrants and/or convertibles may occur with or without preferential rights for shareholders of the Company, and may be made either in cash and/or by way of set-off or contribution in kind or otherwise be conditional. The number of shares issued, or number of shares created in connection with exercise of warrants or conversion of convertibles, shall correspond to not more than a 20 per cent dilution of the share capital and the number of shares and votes in the Company after such issue(s). The chairman of the board of directors, the managing director or a person appointed by the board of directors shall be authorised to make any minor adjustments required to register the resolution with the Swedish Companies Registration Office. Shareholders' right to request information The board of directors and the CEO shall, if any shareholder so requests and the board of directors believe that it can be done without material damage to the Company, provide information regarding circumstances that may affect the assessment of an item on the agenda or of the Company's, or a subsidiary's economic situation. Such duty to provide information also comprises the Company's relation to the other group companies. A request for such information shall be made to the Company in writing no later than on Saturday 8 May 2021. The information will be made available at the Company's office from Thursday 13 May 2021, at the latest. The information will, from the same date, also be available on the Company's website www.scibase.com. The information will also be sent, within the same period of time, to the shareholder who has requested it and stated its address. Majority requirements Resolution in accordance with the board of director's proposal in accordance with item 12 on the agenda requires that the general meeting's resolution is supported by shareholders representing at least two thirds of the shares represented at the general meeting as well as of the votes cast. Number of shares and votes in the Company The total number of shares in the Company at the time of issuance of this notice is 54,780,086. The Company does not hold any of its own shares. Documentation The financial accounts and auditor's report will be kept available at the Company's office and on the Company's website www.scibase.com. Copies of such documents will be sent free of charge to shareholders who so request and state their postal address. The proposals of the board of directors and the nomination committee are set out in full in the notice. Stockholm, April 2021 SciBase Holding AB (publ) The board of directors For more information, please contact: Simon Grant, CEO SciBase Tel: +46 72 887 43 99 Email: simon.grant@scibase.com Certified Adviser: Avanza Tel: +46 8 409 421 20 Email: corp@avanza.se The information was submitted, through the agency of the contact person set out above, for publication at the time stated by Scibase's news distributor Cision upon publication of this press release About SciBase and Nevisense SciBase AB is a Swedish medical technology company, headquartered in Stockholm that has developed and sells a unique point-of-care device for evaluation of skin disorders such as skin cancer and atopic dermatitis. Its first product, Nevisense, helps doctors to detect malignant melanoma, the most dangerous type of skin cancer. Further development has led to Nevisense also being used as a tool to assess the skin barrier and inflammation. SciBase was founded by Stig Ollmar, Associate Professor at The Karolinska Institute in Stockholm, Sweden. Nevisense is based on substantial research and has achieved excellent results in the largest clinical study ever conducted on the detection of malignant melanoma. Nevisense is CE marked in Europe, has TGA approval in Australia and an FDA approval (PMA) in the United States. Nevisense is based on a method called Electrical Impedance Spectroscopy (EIS), which uses the varying electrical properties of human tissue to categorize cellular structures and thereby detect malignancies and abnormalities. SciBase is listed on First North Growth Market ("SCIB"). Further information is available at www.scibase.com. This information was brought to you by Cision http://news.cision.com https://news.cision.com/scibase/r/notice-to-attend-the-annual-general-meeting-in-scibase-holding-ab--publ-,c3326006 The following files are available for download: SOURCE SciBase Marcelo Bielsa has dismissed reports in Argentina that he is close to signing a new two-year deal at Leeds. Argentinian daily newspaper La Nacion claimed last weekend that the club and Bielsa were very close to reaching agreement and the news has since been circulated by other outlets. That information is not real, Bielsa said. I ignore the origin. Those things, either the club can say or I can say it, we are the ones who possess the information. In all cases, if there was any information to give, then I would give it. Bielsa, in his third year as Leeds head coach, recently reiterated his preference for discussing his future with the club at the end of the season. The 65-year-old signed his current 12-month contract one week before this season began after he had steered them back to the Premier League for the first time in 16 years. Bielsas side climbed back into the top half of the table following last weeks 2-1 win at champions-elect Manchester City. Leeds play Liverpool at Elland Road on Monday when they will bid for a fourth straight win in the top flight for the first time in 20 years. I have always said that the dimension of the institution at Leeds is very big, Bielsa said. The sporting past of Leeds is full of very high points. To win four games in a row in the Premier League compared to all the things that Leeds have achieved, of course it will give us great happiness, but if you compare it to all the things Leeds have achieved in their sporting history, its not so big. To be able to be at the height of some of their past successes, some extraordinary things need to be done and we are quite far away from being there. Leeds will be without suspended captain Liam Cooper against Liverpool as he starts a three-game ban following his dismissal at the Etihad Stadium. Bielsa also confirmed that both Raphinha and Rodrigo would be assessed. Story continues Raphinha sustained a dead leg in the closing stages against City, while Rodrigo missed the game after a setback in his recovery from a muscle strain. Midfielder Adam Forshaw, who has been sidelined with a chronic hip injury for 18 months, is scheduled to play his second game for the under-23s on Friday. Bielsa added: In the game on Saturday he played more than one half and tomorrow the idea is he can play more than he did. Not to complete the 90, but to add more minutes. Export-Import Bank of Korea (Eximbank) CEO Bang Moon-kyu, left, talks with an official from DSTECHNO, a local semiconductor materials firm, during his visit to the company located in Icheon, Gyeonggi Province, Wednesday. Bang promised that the state-run bank would continue to offer financial support for domestic semiconductor businesses. / Courtesy of Korea Eximbank Chinese President Xi Jinping has called for efforts to speed up the development of the modern vocational education system and cultivate more high-quality technical professionals. Xi, also general secretary of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee and chairman of the Central Military Commission, made the remarks in an instruction on improving the country's vocational education. Vocational education has a promising future and great potential as China journeys toward socialist modernization, Xi said. Xi stressed the need to reform training and schooling modes as well as management and support mechanisms related to vocational education. He called for promoting bachelor-level vocational education and bringing about a number of quality vocational education institutions and programs. Party committees and government departments at various levels are urged to further innovate relevant institutions and enhance policy support and investment to see that fine workmanship is promoted and that the social status of technical professionals improves. In doing so, strong talent and skill support can be provided for the building of a modern socialist China and the realization of the Chinese Dream of national rejuvenation, Xi said. The building of the high-level technical professional training system should focus on the country's modernization drive and high-quality development, Premier Li Keqiang, a member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee, said in another instruction on vocational education. Aiming at the forefront of technological change and industrial upgrading, more efforts are needed to promote integration between industry and education and cooperation between schools and enterprises, and attract more young people to receive vocational education, Li said. A national conference on vocational education was held in Beijing from Monday to Tuesday, during which the instructions of Xi and Li were delivered. Vice Premier Sun Chunlan, a member of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee, attended the conference. She called for an integrated vocational education system covering different levels, better treatment and promotion opportunities for skilled professionals. Rural leaders are putting the Nationals on notice in the lead up to international climate talks that farmers are still furious over the Kyoto climate accord, warning the bush wont pay the bill for climate action again. Former prime minister John Howard won out against international opposition during Kyoto negotiations and inserted the infamous Australia clause into the terms of the 1998 agreement. It allowed emissions created by cutting down trees, which reduces the amount of carbon stored in forests, to count towards Australias target. Farmers are warning the federal government they will not bear the burden of future climate policy. Credit:David Gray/Getty Images The Australia clause paved the way for new laws restricting land clearing, which delivered emissions reduction that enabled other polluting industries to carry on with business as usual. NSW Farmers Federation president James Jackson said the new restrictions were morally reprehensible and would not be tolerated again. "We are thrilled to welcome Nathan to our premier Mergers & Acquisitions and Private Equity Practices," said Charles Ruck, Global Chair of Latham's Corporate Department. "The world of corporate transactions continues to see heavy activity, and we remain committed to further growing in line with our clients' needs. Nathan's work representing some of the world's leading private equity firms, combined with his public M&A experience, is a perfect complement to our global platform." Cathy Birkeland, Office Managing Partner of Latham & Watkins in Chicago, added: "Nathan is a fantastic addition to our strong Mergers & Acquisitions and Private Equity Practices in Chicago, which function as key drivers of the firm's global M&A and PE Practices. He has an excellent reputation in the market for his high caliber of work, and we are excited to welcome him to the team in Chicago to serve our Midwestern, national, and international clients on their most sophisticated deals." Paul Sheridan, Global Chair of the Private Equity Practice at Latham, added: "Nathan has worked on some of the most complex transactions in the market across a variety of industries and geographies. His experience, commercial approach, and collegial spirit will be of tremendous benefit to our clients." "Latham is an international leader in both M&A and private equity with an unmatched integrated global platform," said Davis. "I am equally drawn to Latham for its entrepreneurial spirit and culture of collaboration and teamwork. I very much look forward to being a part of this tremendous firm." Davis joins Latham from Kirkland & Ellis in Chicago. He received his JD, magna cum laude and Order of the Coif, from the University of Minnesota Law School. About Latham & Watkins (lw.com) Latham & Watkins delivers innovative solutions to complex legal and business challenges around the world. From a global platform, our lawyers advise clients on market-shaping transactions, high-stakes litigation and trials, and sophisticated regulatory matters. Latham is one of the world's largest providers of pro bono services, steadfastly supports initiatives designed to advance diversity within the firm and the legal profession, and is committed to exploring and promoting environmental sustainability. Notes to Editors 1 Latham & Watkins operates worldwide as a limited liability partnership organized under the laws of the State of Delaware (USA) with affiliated limited liability partnerships conducting the practice in France, Hong Kong, Italy, Singapore, and the United Kingdom and as an affiliated partnership conducting the practice in Japan. Latham & Watkins operates in South Korea as a Foreign Legal Consultant Office. Latham & Watkins works in cooperation with the Law Office of Salman M. Al-Sudairi in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Contacts Charles Ruck, Global Chair, Corporate Department, +1.212.418.7625 Cathy Birkeland, Chicago Office Managing Partner, +1.312.876.7681 Paul Sheridan, Global Chair, Private Equity Practice, +1.202.637.2287 SOURCE Latham & Watkins Related Links http://www.lw.com ANZ Bank continues to provide key transactional services for Airwallex, despite the heavily hyped payments unicorn being turned down by two major banks over money laundering compliance concerns and onboarding clients that violate the big four giants internal policies. The Age and The Sydney Morning Herald this week revealed that NAB terminated key banking services from $3 billion-valued Airwallex - one of the nations most hyped fintech startups, in 2018. Multiple sources said the services were pulled due to red flags around Airwallexs customers and suspicious transaction patterns. Airwallex subsequently approached Citigroup, but was unsuccessful. ANZ provides transactional banking services for Airwallexs customers, despite the fintech being turned away by NAB and Citi. Credit:Pat Scala Airwallex has strongly defended its approach to compliance and denies any wrongdoing. This masthead has confirmed that major bank ANZ has provided transactional services to the company since 2017. Its venture capital arm ANZi Ventures has also made two widely reported investments into the company. By Casey Lartigue Jr. If your mother says she loves you, check it out. That's an old adage in journalism advising reporters to be skeptical. But should you "check it out" if a broker rescuing you from the crocodiles of the North Korean regime warns there are alligators or crocodiles in a river you are about to cross? Okay, so most people in this world are never in that kind of situation. Many North Korean refugees, however, are warned about crocodiles in the last leg of their escape to freedom across Thailand's Mekong River. North Korean refugees talk about the terror they felt as they got closer to freedom knowing they could end up in the mouth of a crocodile. But is it true? Are there crocodiles in the Mekong River? I have never been to Thailand, so I don't know. I don't recall ever being near a crocodile or alligator, although I did enjoy eating a plate of alligator during a trip to Florida years ago (the alligator tasted like chicken). Looking through the internet, there seems to be a tiny population of Siamese crocodiles throughout Southeast Asia, including Thailand. Whatever the reality may be, the refugee-eating crocodiles don't seem to be swarming in the Mekong River as North Koreans escaping Kim Jong-un's country have been warned. A few years ago, a reporter asked me if it was true that there were alligators or crocodiles in the Mekong River. I dismissed the question at the time as the usual probing at the margins by an always skeptical reporter seeking a fresh news angle. I guessed that a North Korean refugee speaker would eventually address the topic with more expertise and interest than I have. That has now happened. At the 13th English Speech Contest, hosted by Freedom Speakers International on March 20, North Korean refugee Pak Yu-seong questioned if there were alligators or crocodiles in the Mekong River. And he did it the old journalistic way: He checked it out. Pak has been a public speaker, in Korean, talking about his escape from North Korea. When he talked about alligators or crocodiles in the Mekong River, he was challenged by two South Korean women. Tired of them mocking him, he challenged them to go to Thailand to retrace the last leg of his escape from North Korea through Thailand. The trio interviewed locals who said there were no alligators or crocodiles there. When I tell North Korean refugees that some say there aren't crocodiles in the Mekong River, they are incredulous. If the crocodile story isn't true as Pak and others have said, how has it come to be believed by so many North Korean refugees? Pak blamed unscrupulous brokers for spreading the story about crocodiles to drive up their fees and to make themselves look like heroes. I would like to add the context. Imagine what it would be like if you had to travel 1,000 miles across different countries or states, relying on others who may not have your best interest at heart, while you are on the run from agents and police. Many people born in freedom, if they couldn't use an app, get lost if they get dropped off a few blocks from their homes. North Korean escapees are understandably on edge after typically enduring many life-and-death situations escaping from the crocodiles of North Korea and accomplices in China, getting hounded by North Korean agents and Chinese police, evading kidnappers, human traffickers and government agents across multiple countries, typically not showering or eating much through the escape, and knowing that one wrong move or a baby crying out could get them all sent back to North Korea. There are reportedly many fights among refugees during that time and some of them escaping together end up hating each other after they make it to freedom. They have come out of the darkness of North Korea, having escaped the crocodiles of Pyongyang, and are being warned by rescuers about actual crocodiles at the end of their perilous journeys. It might seem appropriate and ironic to many that there would be real crocodiles waiting for them as a final threat. After hearing conflicting views, I still don't know if there are crocodiles in the Mekong River, I won't be checking it out, and I am not sure how important it is. Chasing every fallen sparrow that may interest reporters or researchers gets us away from the issue of the human crocodiles of the Kim dictatorship feasting on North Koreans. When North Koreans are granted or seize freedom, they will be able to travel like most normal people in the world during normal times by booking flights and do not need to check out if there are crocodiles in a river in a foreign country. As tourists, they may even be able to eat a plate of crocodile or alligator to see if either tastes like chicken. Casey Lartigue, Jr., (CJL@alumni.harvard.edu), co-founder along with Eunkoo Lee of Freedom Speakers International (FSI), is the 2017 winner of the "Social Contribution" prize from the Hansarang Rural Cultural Foundation and the 2019 winner of the "Challenge Maker" award from Challenge Korea. Portugal lifts its ban on flights from Britain tomorrow, but holidaymakers hoping for a trip to the Algarve will still have to wait until May 17, when the UK's own restrictions are lifted. Under Boris Johnson's roadmap out of lockdown, it is still illegal for Britons to travel abroad on holiday, but that measure could be lifted next month if the number of Covid cases and deaths continues to drop, as it has done consistently since the start of the year. When international travel does resume, a 'traffic light system' will be used to determine where in the world is safest for tourists to jet off to. Portugal, along with a number of other popular destinations, is expected to be among those on the 'green' list next month, where the level of risk is deemed to be low. Despite the ban, however, British Airways is resuming flights from London to Faro as early as next Saturday, April 24. It comes as Portugal's tourism secretary said last night the country will do its best to avoid visitors having to quarantine on arrival, with much of the continent moving towards adopting Covid passports to try and kick-start the travel industry. People enjoy the beach in Loule, Algarve last May, when lockdown restrictions were first lifted A man sits on a bench at a quiet Faro marina last month amid the ongoing Covid lockdown Under the plans, fully-vaccinated tourists can enter countries without any restrictions, but those who haven't had both jabs will need a negative test before arriving, and may face other curbs. Rita Marques told an online conference the country would try 'at all costs to avoid quarantines and additional Covid-19 tests' if the travel pass plan goes ahead. Tourism-dependent Portugal holds the rotating EU presidency and is responsible for negotiating the new pass with member states. It would allow a freeing up of international travel, despite the bloc's sluggish vaccination campaign and the risks posed by new coronavirus variants. Marques said that, while this summer would not be 'completely normal,' Portugal would 'certainly bet on maintaining the basic principles of free movement of people and goods.' The country's once-booming tourism sector suffered its worst year since the mid-1980s in 2020 as the coronavirus pandemic and subsequent lockdowns worldwide grounded flights and kept visitors away. Meanwhile, Brexit is seen by Portuguese hotels as another tough obstacle as Britain is one of the country's main markets. 'Portugal is still identifying many issues that need special care due to Brexit but the Portugal brand is strong, particularly among the British,' Marques said. 'The UK will remain...the leading outbound country.' Between the beginning of the pandemic in March 2020 and February this year, Portuguese hotel revenues fell 74% to 1.1 billion euros as numbers of domestic and foreign tourists slumped 71%, according to official data. It comes as travel bosses yesterday slammed the Government's approach to resuming international flights as they claimed it is 'too cautious' and warned many holiday firms are 'teetering on the brink'. Senior industry figures told MPs on the Transport Select Committee that the proposed traffic light system is 'too complex' while the overall strategy set out by ministers is 'very vague in many areas'. They also warned border control at airports is already 'unable to cope' with Covid checks despite passenger numbers being massively reduced due to the lockdown ban on non-essential international travel. It was said there will need to be a 'dramatic improvement in border performance if we are to increase passenger numbers' when flights do resume. Despite the criticism of the Government's approach, airline bosses have delivered a boost to millions of Brits hoping for a summer break abroad as they said most of Europe and the US could be on the 'green list'. Johan Lundgren, easyJet's chief executive, said he expects 'most European countries' to be included in the Government's quarantine-free category when international travel returns from May 17. Asked if he expects destinations such as France, Spain, Portugal, Italy, Greece, Croatia, Cyprus and Turkey to be on the Government 'green list', Mr Lundgren replied: 'Yes, by the time we open up for travel on May 17 and if the Government continues to have the plan in place on the two-test system.' Meanwhile, British Airways boss Sean Doyle said the continued success of the vaccine rollout in the UK and the US could allow for a transatlantic travel corridor to be put in place. Last month, experts said London and Washington were already discussing piloting a bilateral safe travel scheme between the two countries. Mr Doyle, who was speaking at an online industry event, also said the firm would be offering 60 PCR tests to its customers amid concerns the bill charged by some testing firms of approximately 120 could price many families out of a trip abroad. His comments reflect the announcement made by testing firm Randox who said earlier this week it would be offering 60 tests through partnering airlines in a bid to aid the sector's recovery. The Government has yet to say which countries will make it onto the 'green list' for low risk travel but the Department for Transport has pledged to categorise countries 'in early May'. Assessments will be based on a range of factors, including the proportion of a country's population that has been vaccinated, rates of infection, emerging new variants, and the country's access to reliable scientific data and genomic sequencing. A City Plagued By Investigative Stops & Shootings Does Not Need A Menthol Cigarette Ban ADVERTIORIAL I know were tired of the same headlines, the same unjust shootings, the same discriminatory practices within our criminal justice system, and the same war fought in our Black and Brown communities regarding the choices we make as adults. Even when enough is enough, we must never grow tired of speaking out and letting our voices ring louder than the time before. The race is never over, especially when new issues, bad policies, police harassment, and shootings make headlines daily. The Baptist Ministers Conference, Neighborhood Forward, and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference are leading voices on social justice issues that disproportionately affect the African American community. Lean on us when your voice grows weary. Today, I am called to ask our Los Angeles legislators, many fair and just men and women, a simple question. In a city plagued by investigative stops and an increase in shootings, is a ban on menthol cigarettes and the resulting increases in cigarette smuggling and police interactions the reform measure the choice you want to stand by? ADVERTISEMENT We must all take responsibility for our adult choices smokers and non-smokers, lawmakers and police, clergy and patrons we must all answer for our choices. And a choice to support a ban on menthol cigarette ban tells us that you understand and stand by the resulting enforcement mandates of removing all flavored tobacco and menthol cigarettes. You understand that the African American community will bear the brunt of this ban and the accompanying unintended consequences because Black smokers choice to utilize menthol products more than our White brothers and sisters. We saw Eric Garner die at polices hands for the alleged selling of single cigarettes a fatal, unintended consequence of enforcement. We saw a 14-year-old young man in Rancho Cordova attacked in 2020 by a police officer for alleged possession of a tobacco product a brutal, unintended consequence of enforcement. Using extreme force due to tobacco possession is outrageous. Yet, these are just a few of the unintended consequences that continue a vicious cycle of police violence against African-Americans, all for the sake of enforcement. The sensible solution of education is lessened in the name of putting more minorities in handcuffs. Must I remind you of the statistics, the deaths, the unfair and even fatal treatment of Blacks by police right here in our city, not to mention what were watching, again, happen in Minneapolis! According to the Los Angeles crime data, shootings increased substantially in 2020, despite the stay-at-home order. Almost all of the rise in homicides took place in Los Angeles Black or Hispanic neighborhoods. This is on top of the loss of jobs and income that impacted communities of color at higher rates. Were losing more businesses, more jobs, and were losing more innocent life. Yet, our legislators are deliberating yet another losing strategy: to get rid of the menthol cigarettes that Blacks and Hispanic adults prefer to smoke but leaving the non-mentholated cigarettes that Whites prefer to smoke. ADVERTISEMENT To make matters worse, what happens if our elected officials choose to ban menthol cigarettes in a city where investigative stops are still legal? More, not less, police interaction will be the result, and this, my people of Los Angeles, is a game-changer. Data proves that investigative stops to curtail crime are ineffective, discriminatory, and even weakens police reform measures. Yet, the LAPD continues to rely on them. They are a legal form of harassment that gives police officers the freedom to harass, abuse, and murder more Black and Brown people in communities like Los Angeles. To our Los Angeles legislators, see beyond your desire to control a vice held by a particular community and instead choose the most comprehensive, long-term solution to any public health crisis: education, treatment, and counseling. I urge you to remove the consideration of a menthol cigarette ban from any further discussion about regulating tobacco products in our city. Statewide, California voters will decide on this issue when the referendum appears on the November ballot in 2022. Allow the voters in your community to let their voices be heard during the referendum. Make the right choice to restore our community resources, jobs, minority-owned businesses, and community policing models. These are the real issues that need more care and attention, not choosing to control Black peoples adult choices and thus opening the door to more crime in our communities. CHICAGO, April 15, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- With a seemingly infinite supply of crises, 2020 made an indelible mark on newsrooms around the world with a host of challenges that continue to influence the media today from editorial strategies and work behaviors to what they want and expect from PR professionals. To provide deeper insight into the current media landscape and how PR teams can be better partners to journalists going forward, Cision released its much-anticipated 2021 Global State of the Media Report, chock full of emerging trends you can't afford to ignore, best practices for an evolving normal and "aha" moments you can act on quickly. Cision releases 12th annual study of the media industry Cisions summit to feature top news outlets and corporate brands Cisions 2021 Global State of the Media Report -- data snapshot Experience the interactive Multichannel News Release here: https://www.multivu.com/players/English/8882651-cision-2021-state-of-the-media-report/ View the full report. This is Cision's 12th annual study and is based on a survey of more than 2,700 journalists in 15 countries around the world from February 1 to March 1, 2021. The report features: Top challenges impacting the media today Technology's influence on the way journalists evaluate stories The types of stories journalists are looking for this year Best and worst days and times to pitch and follow up Fastest ways to get on a journalist's "block/don't call" list Inside tips to build and maintain successful partnerships with journalists Key Findings: Journalists' views on public trust in the media have steadily improved over the last five years, but the challenge continues. More than half (53%) of journalists feel the public lost trust in the media over the last year, down from 59% in Cision's 2020 survey.* Looking specifically at the U.S., where contentious relationships between the White House and certain media outlets were aired publicly over the last four years, 36% of journalists feel the new Presidential administration will help the public gain trust in the media going forward. More than half (53%) of journalists feel the public lost trust in the media over the last year, down from 59% in Cision's 2020 survey.* Looking specifically at the U.S., where contentious relationships between the White House and certain media outlets were aired publicly over the last four years, 36% of journalists feel the new Presidential administration will help the public gain trust in the media going forward. Censorship remains a significant concern. Nearly half (46%) of journalists worldwide predict a continued deterioration of freedom of the press over the next three years.* Nearly half (46%) of journalists worldwide predict a continued deterioration of freedom of the press over the next three years.* Journalists are both overwhelmed and underwhelmed by pitches. PR pros need to build highly targeted media lists. More than 1 in 4 journalists (28%) receive over 100 pitches per week with most ending up in the virtual trash due to irrelevance. And, contrary to popular belief, a sizeable percentage say they like receiving pitches on Friday, Saturday and Sunday. PR pros need to build highly targeted media lists. More than 1 in 4 journalists (28%) receive over 100 pitches per week with most ending up in the virtual trash due to irrelevance. And, contrary to popular belief, a sizeable percentage say they like receiving pitches on Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Journalists want PR pros to help make their jobs easier. Nearly half of journalists cover 5+ beats and file 7+ stories per week. They're looking for press releases (according to 78%) and original research (68%) along with multimedia elements (photos, videos, etc) and invites to interview experts or attend events. Nearly half of journalists cover 5+ beats and file 7+ stories per week. They're looking for press releases (according to 78%) and original research (68%) along with multimedia elements (photos, videos, etc) and invites to interview experts or attend events. PR pros need to anticipate, monitor and quickly act on trending stories. With increased competition for eyeballs, journalists are closely assessing whether a story idea has the "it factor" that will translate into traffic and social shares (and ultimately ad revenue). With increased competition for eyeballs, journalists are closely assessing whether a story idea has the "it factor" that will translate into traffic and social shares (and ultimately ad revenue). PR pros should avoid pushing journalists' biggest buttons. Spam, pitches that sound like marketing brochures, lack of transparency and following up repeatedly are among the top pet peeves for journalists. "The global media landscape is evolving in the face of highly fragmented, 24/7 news consumption, shrinking newsrooms and the influx of non-traditional influencers," said Maggie Lower, Chief Marketing Officer for Cision. "After a year like no other, the partnership between the media and PR pros and the technologies they use to develop and distribute content are becoming even more critical. PR teams who are not actively using data intelligence and newswires to guide and promote their campaigns are at risk of falling behind as they compete to have their stories heard." Cision is hosting its first-ever State of the Media Summit on May 11th and 12th, featuring a who's who lineup of speakers from leading news organizations and brands. The agenda is jam-packed with actionable insights, best practices and tech tips for PR pros. Register for the webinar. Methodology Cision conducted its 2021 State of the Media Survey between February 1 and March 1, 2021. Surveys were emailed to Cision Media Database members, which are vetted by the company's media research team to verify their positions as media professionals, influencers and bloggers. The survey was also available to media professionals in the PR Newswire for Journalists database. This year's survey collected responses from 2,746 respondents in 15 countries across the globe: US, Canada, UK, France, Germany, Finland, Sweden, Italy, Spain, Portugal, Brazil, Mexico, Korea, Vietnam and Malaysia. *Certain data points, identified in the report, didn't include APAC markets due to variations in questions asked. About Cision As a global leader in PR, marketing and social media management technology and intelligence, Cision helps brands and organizations to identify, connect and engage with customers and stakeholders to drive business results. PR Newswire, a network of over 1.1 billion influencers, in-depth monitoring, analytics and its Falcon.io social media platform headline a premier suite of solutions. In addition, Cision has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Brandwatch. Cision has offices in 24 countries throughout the Americas, EMEA and APAC. For more information about Cision's award-winning solutions, including its next-gen Cision Communications Cloud, visit www.cision.com and follow @Cision on Twitter. Press Contact: Mary Lorenz Communications and Content Lead [email protected] SOURCE Cision Ltd. Related Links http://www.cision.com In the immediate aftermath of Walcha grazier Mathew Dunbars death, his live-in partner Natasha Darcy told paramedics and police that he had received bad news about an injury to his leg earlier that day, sending him into a mental health spiral. But the orthopaedic surgeon who saw Mr Dunbar on August 1, 2017 with Ms Darcy present has told the NSW Supreme Court most of Mr Dunbars symptoms had resolved and he was extremely happy with his progress. Walcha sheep grazier Mathew Dunbar with partner Natasha Beth Darcy, who has been charged with murdering him. Ms Darcy, 46, is on trial for the murder of Mr Dunbar, accused of administering a cocktail of sedatives on the evening of August 1, 2017, before wrapping his head in a plastic bag and filling it with helium. Ms Darcy has pleaded not guilty to murder, but admits to assisting Mr Dunbar to commit suicide. The court has heard Ms Darcy called an ambulance about 2am, but when paramedics arrived who included her estranged husband, Colin Crossman they were unable to revive him. Apr. 14Warped Wing Brewing Company and The Pizza Bandit have collaborated to create a pizza and beer inspired by the Panama Red strain of cannabis. And, as you might have already guessed, the Panama Red collaboration will be launched on Tuesday, April 20 (or 4/20) at 4:20 p.m. John Haggerty, the brewmaster and managing partner at Warped Wing Brewing Company, worked with the founding members of The Pizza Bandit to create the "Panama Red" pizza and beer. Haggerty was inspired by the brewery's new smokery in Springboro and the menu at Pizza Bandit when he crafted the Panama Red Smoked Red Lager. The lager has a mild caramel sweetness with a smoky aroma and crisp finish. "The beer idea really came from eating pizza with James, Brian and Erin and trying to figure out what flavors we could do with the Pizza Bandit in regard to food and then what that might mean for the beer," said Haggerty. "So, the pizza really came first and was inspired by our new Smokery out in Springboro. Of course, I love smoked beer as well, so it was sort of a no-brainer for me to do a smoked beer for this project. As far as brewing with Pizza Bandit was concerned, James (Burton) came down and we spent two days working together. It was a very enjoyable experience and I look forward to pairing the pie and the beer together." For their part of the collaboration, Pizza Bandit's James Burton and Brian Johnson worked with Warped Wing's "resident culinary dude," Erin O'Neill, to create the Panama Red pizza, which consists of the Pizza Bandit red sauce and cheese, brisket, smoked pulled pork, deep-fried smoked pork belly, Peppadew peppers and diced spicy pickles. Then, just for extra measure, the Panama Red pizza is topped with Warped Wing's housemade root beer barbecue sauce. "I'm really excited," said Burton. "It was something that I'd always dreamed of to at least learn the basics of brewing." Story continues Apart from indulging in the beer, customers might also get a kick out of the creative label on the exclusive Pizza Bandit bottle. The label reads: "Hops and cannabis. Cousins. Buds. And Panama Red? Well, that's an old school cannabis classic. Settle into da couch with a DO YOU KNOW WHERE YOUR PIZZA IS? Panama Red Smoked Red Lager. Toke the smoke and pair this burnout of a beer with a fresh slice of 'za. Say man, you got a Panama Red? It'd be a lot cooler if you did." The Panama Red Smoked Red Lager will be officially released to the public on Tuesday, April 20 at 4:20 p.m. in both Warped Wing taproom locations in Dayton (26 Wyandot St.) and Springboro (25 Wright Station Way) along with Yellow Cab Tavern (700 E. Fourth St., Dayton). The Pizza Bandit will be giving away a complimentary slice of their Panama Red pizza to go with the first 24 pours of Panama Red Smoked Red Lager at the breweries. Bottles of Panama Red will be available for purchase beginning on Tuesday, April 20 exclusively at Yellow Cab Tavern. Now Open 15 April 2021 Rooms Story Hotel Signalfabriken features 83 individual guestrooms, all chic and contemporary in their design. With copper plating, brick walls and rainfall showers, the hotel is perfect for those who prefer a modern industrial vibe. Food and drink Guests can grab a delicious burger at the in-house restaurant, Phil's Burger, or enjoy a drink as the bustling bar which hosts DJ sets throughout the week. Location Located inside the listed Signalfabriken building, formerly a fire station and town hall, the industrial-chic hotel serves as the perfect home base for both business guests attending meetings in the surrounding areas of Solna Business Park, and leisure guests who want quick access to Stockholm's city center. The hotel is ideal for those interested in exploring the Friends Arena and Mall, Scandinavia's biggest shopping center, which also has an IMAX theatre, and can be reached by car in about 10 minutes. Uyghurs participate in a demonstration demanding news of their relatives and to voice opposition to the ratification of an extradition treaty between China and Turkey, near China's consulate in Istanbul, Feb. 22, 2021. Authorities in Chinas Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region (XUAR) have upheld a 15-year jail term for an ethnic Uyghur Turkish national convicted of terrorist activities following a secret prison retrial, according to sources, who say little is known about his well-being despite repeated inquiries from Ankara. A person who claimed familiarity with the situation recently told RFAs Uyghur Service that Mamatali Kashgarli, a Turkish citizen and father of four, was confirmed guilty, along with an acquaintance named Abdujelil Abduhelil, in a March 17 retrial at the Qalghach Binam prison in Kashgar (in Chinese, Kashi) prefectures Peyziwat (Jiashi) county. Both Mamatali and Abdujelil were reportedly accused at least in part on the basis of Mamatalis links to his brother Ahmet Kashgarli, who lives in Turkey, and who was referred to as a terrorist by court authorities. The source, who spoke on condition of anonymity out of fear of reprisal, told RFA that Mamatali appeared very emotionally and physically weak, and even unable to understand the questions being posed to him during the proceedings, which were held after an earlier conviction for the same alleged offense was ruled improper in a rare reversal by a higher court. Mamatali had relocated to Turkey from Kashgar in 1989 but returned to the XUAR in 2001 to open a clothing shop in the regional capital Urumqi after obtaining Turkish citizenship. He was detained on April 24, 2017 and sentenced to 15 years in prison by the Intermediate Court of Kashgar prefecture on July 31 that same year, according to a copy of the ruling obtained by RFA. Mamatali was also fined 74 million yuan (U.S. $11.3 million) and forced to turn over property in order to pay it. However, in January 2018, the XUAR High Court issued a rare overturning of Mamatalis verdict, citing irregularities in the judicial process, including the harassment of his lawyers, and set in motion the events that led to last months retrial. RFA spoke with a representative from the Intermediate Court of Kashgar Prefecture who said the person responsible for Mamatalis case was out of the office and that he was unable to comment. That person is not intheyre out on a business trip, the representative said, without rejecting the claim that Mamatali had been tried in court. When asked whether the Turkish Embassy in Beijing had received any information about Mamatalis trial in recent days, a staffer said she was aware of the case but that the responsible person was not in the office at the time and could not comment. Mamatali Kashgarli in an undated photo. RFA Seeking information Ahmet Kashgarli, also a Turkish citizen, told RFA that he first received the news of his older brothers disappearance three days after he was detained, and that he reported the situation to representatives of the Turkish Embassy in Beijing on the same day. One week later, staff from the embassy informed Ahmet by phone that his brother had been detained on suspicions of aiding terrorism. The staff member who spoke to Ahmet told him that embassy representatives planned to attend Mamatalis July 2017 trial and to monitor the proceedings closely, in accordance with formal agreements between the governments of China and Turkey. They tried to reassure him at the time that there was little chance of an unjust trial. However, the situation did not go as embassy representatives expected. After that, in 2019, [the Chinese government] said my brother had been sentenced to 15 years [but] they still havent given me a court judgment, Ahmet said, adding that his brother appears not to have received one either. As of now, we still dont know whether there is even such a [document] [The Turkish Embassy] said that [the authorities in the XUAR] had to show them the evidence and proof they were using in the case They wouldnt accept the idea that someone could be sentenced without any sort of proof or evidence, and without notifying the Turkish Embassy. Ahmet said embassy staff told him that in the past, when Turkish citizens were detained in China, Beijing always notified them about it within a week. But then they said that Chinas attitude toward the XUAR was now not good, and that theyd made a phone call about my brother, he said. They said they submitted a letter and were waiting for a letter in response to it, that the Chinese side wasnt responding and it was just sitting without a response. Ahmet, an Istanbul-based tourism shop owner, told RFA that since his brothers detention, he has written 23 different letters about his case to different Turkish government offices, including to the Turkish Foreign Ministry and the Turkish Embassy in Beijing. He said he has also submitted requests for help to Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan on two occasions. Representatives from the appeals department of Turkeys Grand National Assembly, or parliament, claim they have submitted at least nine separate notes to Chinas Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ministry of Justice, and the XUAR Procuratorate regarding Mamatalis caseall of which, they told Ahmet in a February 2019 letter, have gone unanswered. The Turkish Embassy said it finally received a response from Beijing in December 2020, which claimed that the prisoner was in a good health and that the court would soon notify the embassy when he was retried, but ultimately received no advance warning of the March 17 proceedings in Peyziwat county. Allegations of terrorism Ahmet told RFA he was unsurprised by the accusation by the Chinese court that he is a terrorist, despite never having been part of any organization or involved in any activities other than those connected to his business endeavors. He noted that in the 33 years he has lived in Turkey, he has never once been accused of criminal activity or called in for questioning by authorities. In the view of China, all of us living outside [the homeland] right now are terrorists, he said. He suggested that the Chinese government is accusing him of terrorism merely as a pretense for punishing his older brother Mamatali and Abdujelil Abduhelil. Theyre calling us terrorists in order to take revenge on us, to take revenge on Uyghurs living on the outside, so theyve implicated my brother on the grounds that hes connected to [a terrorist] and are detaining him for that reason, he said. Ahmet said that over the past four years of his brothers imprisonment, he has tried unsuccessfully to advocate quietly for his release by meeting with relevant government offices in Turkey, fearing that speaking publicly to the media about the case would complicate the situation. I kept thinking that because my brother is innocent, because hes committed no crime, they would definitely let him go, and so I never formally spoke to any media agencies, he said. Now, looking at the fact that on March 17 they suddenly tried my brother in a closed courtroom for a crime he didnt commit, for things he has no relationship to, Im angry. Starting now, I will really be part of the cause. I am determined to fight for my brother, to take his case all the way to the foreign minister and the leader of the country. Chinas efforts to brand as terrorists Uyghurs with grievances about widespread and worsening repression of the ethnic has suffered major blows in the past six months. Last October, the U.S. State Department dropped the East Turkestan Islamic Movement (ETIM) from its list of terrorist organizations, because, it said, "for more than a decade, there has been no credible evidence that ETIM continues to exist." And last week in Istanbul, a Turkish judge dismissed a request by Beijing to extradite Uyghur religious teacher Abduqadir Yapchan to China to face "terrorism" charges, citing the lack of credible evidence, his lawyer said. Yapchan has been living in Istanbul for 18 years and spent the last five in detention while the extradition case played out. Uyghurs and independent analysts say the terrorism charges represent a deflection by China in the face of growing international awareness of the incarceration of some 1.8 million Turkic Muslims in internment camps since 2017. The detention camps, forced sterilization of women and other policies have prompted the U.S. government and several Western parliaments to designate the abuses as part of a state-backed genocide. Reported by Shohret Hoshur for RFAs Uyghur Service. Translated by the Uyghur Service. Written in English by Joshua Lipes. BERLIN: German Chancellor Angela Merkel and US President Joe Biden called on Russia to pull back troops from the Ukrainian border to de-escalate the situation in the region, a German government spokesman said on Wednesday. The United States and NATO allies have been alarmed by the large buildup of Russian troops near Ukraine and in Crimea, the peninsula that Moscow annexed from Kyiv in 2014. Russia and Ukraine held simultaneous military drills on Wednesday as NATO foreign and defense ministers began emergency discussions on the massing of Russian troops near the Ukrainian border. In their phone call, Merkel and Biden discussed the latest developments in eastern Ukraine and called on Russia to avoid any further escalation. "The chancellor and the president agreed that Russia should reduce the latest troop reinforcements in order to de-escalate the situation," government spokesman Steffen Seibert said. The White House said in a statement that Biden and Merkel "expressed concern about the buildup of Russian troops on Ukraine`s borders and in occupied Crimea, and reaffirmed their support for Ukraine`s sovereignty and territorial integrity." White House press secretary Jen Psaki said Biden had spoken to Russian President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday to stress the consequences of Russia`s activities. Turkish diplomatic sources said on Wednesday the United States had canceled the deployment of two warships to the Black Sea. Live TV EDITOR'S NOTE: This story discusses suicide. If you or someone you know is experiencing suicidal thoughts, you can call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline 24 hours a day, seven days a week, at 800-273-8255. If you feel like you need someone to talk to but do not feel like talking on the phone, try texting Hello to the Crisis Text Line at 741741, or visit suicidepreventionlifeline.org/talk-to-someone-now. Someone dies by suicide every six hours in Michigan. The Michigan Suicide Prevention Commission is working to change that. The commission was formed in March 2020 and is charged with working with state departments, nonprofits and universities to research the causes and possible underlying factors of suicide in Michigan. It released its first report with recommendations for reducing the suicide rate on Monday. Suicide is preventable, and Michigans current suicide rates are unacceptable, Joneigh Khaldun, chief medical executive of the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services, said in a press release Monday. However, through our plans and intentional actions, we can provide the help and resources necessary to save lives. Together, we can make Michigan a model state for suicide prevention, and a place where everyone gets the help they need, when they need it. The commission gathered data for this report through surveys, virtual sessions with people across the state and by working with experts with the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention, the University of Michigan, Henry Ford Health System and John D. Dingell VA Medical Center. The report acknowledges that suicide is a complex issue with biological, psychological, social and cultural factors. Prevention is difficult because of stigma, misconceptions about suicidal behavior and evolving risk factors, according to the commission. Researchers are still looking into the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on behavioral health and suicide. In August 2020, the Centers for Disease Control and Preventions Morbidity released a report that examined national survey responses about Americans mental health from June 24-30, 2020. It found that 11% of adults over the age of 18 reported having seriously considered suicide within the last 30 days. This is estimated to be twice as many as in 2018. DEMOGRAPHICS AND CAUSES IN MICHIGAN Data gathered before the pandemic shows that suicide is the 10th leading cause of death in Michigan. Between 2009 and 2019, the rate of suicide among Michigan residents increased 28%. The average annual suicide rate has remained relatively flat for more than a decade but has been slowly on the rise since 2010, according to the report. The commission found that, overall, working adults ages 30-59 have the highest suicide rates. Suicide attempts are more common among women than men, but men are more likely to die by suicide than women because they use more lethal means. The white population has the highest suicide rates of all racial groups, according to the report. The suicide death rate for Black residents recently increased in 2018, driven primarily by an increase in the suicide rate for Black men from 9.4 people dying by suicide per 100,00 people to 16.2. The commission found that while the number of suicides is greater in urban areas, suicide rates are generally higher in more rural areas. The northeastern half of the Lower Peninsula and eastern portion of the Upper Peninsula have the highest suicide rates in Michigan. The highest number of suicides statewide are women ages 19-64 working in medical and healthcare related professions or as homemakers, according to the report. Other high risk populations include active members of the military, children and teenagers, correction officers, people involved in criminal justice system, young adults (aged 18-25), first responders, homeless people, LGBTQ+ youth, grieving people, middle age men and veterans. Causes for the increase in rates include access to means like guns or medicines, alcohol and drug use, chronic medical conditions and mental illness and the economic climate. Christine Moutier, a doctor with the AFSP, has said that there is never a single cause of suicide at the individual level. There are always multiple risk factors, she said. RECOMMENDATIONS FOR PREVENTION The commission has five priorities to prevent suicide: 1. Minimize risk for suicidal behavior by promoting safe environments, resiliency and connectedness. 2. Increase and expand access to care to support those at risk. 3. Improve suicide prevention training and education. 4. Implement best practices in suicide prevention for health care systems. 5. Enhance suicide specific data collection and systems. Practically, these priorities can mean initiatives from limiting access to lethal means to creating a statewide suicide prevention office. Research shows when access to a highly lethal and leading suicide method is reduced, the overall suicide rate drops. Putting time, distance and other barriers between a person with thoughts of suicide and the most lethal means can make the difference between life and death, the report said. The report includes recommendations for laypeople, educators, healthcare workers and state agencies for each priority. For example, the recommendations for everyone to minimize suicidal behaviors include increasing community programming that promotes social connectedness, working with employers to include healthy living and mental health education and suicide prevention programming in their training and promoting and distribute resources linkages where alcohol is sold. The commission will develop an annual progress report on these recommendations going forward and will work on new and innovative recommendations in the future, the report said. New Delhi: The world was slowly getting back to its feet after the shock of the COVID-19 pandemic which washed out almost all the economic activities last year, but the crisis struck again. The second wave of the pandemic seems to be every bit as dangerous if not more. Zee News Editor-in-Chief Sudhir Chaudhary on Thursday (April 15) discussed the worrying situation in the country due to the alarming increase in the number of COVID-19 cases which has brought the healthcare system on its knees. About 14 crore people have been infected with this virus worldwide so far and about 30 lakhs of them have lost lives. Out of these, 1 lakh 70 thousand deaths have occurred in India alone. And the toll keeps on rising. For the first time in India, the number of new cases in one day has breached the two-lakh mark. Though the Delhi government is not calling it a lockdown but the restrictions it has placed are the same as lockdown. Apart from Delhi, Maharashtra has also started a campaign called Break The Chain from Wednesday, under which curfew has been imposed in the entire state. The NEET PG examination has also been postponed due to the threat of Corona. The Archaeological Survey of India has closed all the protected monuments, including the Taj Mahal and the Red Fort, to people till May 15. The Uttar Pradesh government has also imposed a night curfew from 8 am to 7 am in 10 districts including Lucknow, Kanpur and Prayagraj from today. Corona curfew has been imposed in 6 districts of Karnataka till April 20. There are restrictions like night curfew in Dehradun in Uttarakhand and Raipur and Durg in Chhattisgarh. Gujarat, Haryana, Bihar, Jammu Kashmir, Odisha, Chandigarh and Kerala have also imposed a number of restrictions. There are many restrictions in different parts of the country such as night curfew, mini lockdown and corona curfew, which is almost the same as lockdown. But no government wants to call it a lockdown. It is because the term lockdown has become quite infamous. The governments are afraid of calling it a lockdown as it reminds people of the hardships they had to go through not long ago. Last year, when the country was under lockdown, the GDP growth rate of the country reached close to negative 24. It broke the backbone of the industries in the country. About 12 crore people lost their jobs in April during the lockdown. The entire world suffered a loss of 16 Trillion US Dollar i.e. 1197 lakh crore rupees. It is not, therefore, difficult to understand why governments are fearing lockdown. The way the cases are growing in India, the healthcare system is having a tough time dealing with it. The total number of government hospitals in our country is 25,778. The number of private hospitals is 43,487. That is, the total number of hospitals in India stands at 69,265 for a population of over 135 crores. This means there is just one hospital for about 20 thousand people in the country. Simply put, the healthcare sector in India is not very good and this is the reason that this crisis has put the systems under pressure. Live TV By Fabian Cambero and Reuters TV SANTIAGO (Reuters) - Chile's health authorities said on Thursday they believed a dip in the record case numbers the Andean nation has seen over the past week represents a "stabilization" of a second COVID-19 wave thanks to strict lockdowns and a rapid vaccination program that has fully innoculated a third of the population. Health minister Enrique Paris told reporters he hoped the 9,000 record daily cases reached last week represented the peak of the latest outbreak. "Once we reach that peak, we expect not a reduction but a stabilization and then a return to smaller numbers of positive patients," he said. Chile has now vaccinated 50% of its 15 million-strong target population with at least one dose of the Pfizer or Sinovac-developed drugs, and given 32.7% two doses, Paris said. He said stricter lockdowns now covering more than 80% of the country, coupled with public awareness campaigns, should allow Chile to hold elections on May 15 to pick constituents to draft a new constitution as well as local government officials. The election was postponed from April. Chile's experience of the pandemic is being watched anxiously by many beyond its borders to see how much its vaccination campaign - one of the world's fastest and most extensive to date - will mitigate successive waves of the virus. On Friday, it will become one of the first countries in the world to release "real world" data showing how effective the vaccines have been in reducing contagion, serious illness and death. Health experts remain divided on whether the lockdowns and vaccines will be enough to curb the second wave imminently or whether fresh strains of the virus, limited vaccine efficiency and citizen defiance of sanitary measures will continue to drive the numbers higher. Paula Daza, the country's top public health official, said the vaccines were already reducing contagion rates and hospital admissions of older groups who were innoculated first. Story continues "People under 50 represent 65% of confirmed (COVID-19) cases and 41% of those being hospitalized," she said. Claudia Reyes, a 38-year-old ICU nurse at Santiago's Workers' Hospital, said they had seen an "exponential" increase in cases of largely younger patients. She said fatigue or indifference to the lockdowns was evident among the general population, despite daily broadcasts about the severity of the second wave. "There are so many people on the streets, on public transport," she said. "It feels like last year the population was better contained but this time, regardless of the COVID situation, that there are fewer or no hospital beds left, people's awareness is not in keeping with the reality." (Reporting by Aislinn Laing; Editing by Alistair Bell) New Delhi: Marking the birth anniversary of BR Ambedkar, Congress has released the vision document for its digital media platform 'Inc TV' that will formally be launched on April 24 to help spread its message directly to people. Addressing a joint press conference, Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha Mallikarjun Kharge and party chief spokesperson Randeep Surjewala said the platform will be formally launched on 'Panchayati Raj Day' and will help raise the voice of the downtrodden and oppressed sections of the society. Surjewala said the digital platform will air eight hours of live programming from April 24, but will not be on the Satellite or OTT. Initially, the language used will only be Hindi and English but may be expanded in regional languages too. He clarified that the same would be headed by a journalist and would help put forth the views of all sections of the society that are currently not being shown. Kharge said the Constitution of India is good but Prime Minister Narendra Modi is trying to spread his own ideology. He said Babasaheb Ambedkar, a key architect of India's constitution, fought for the rights of oppressed sections of the society and wanted every thought to be taken care of and heard, but what is happening today is just the opposite. "Modi Ji is trying to scare journalists and leaders. Every minute there is a crime committed against the Dalits and oppressed sections in the country," he alleged. Kharge stated Ambedkar had said that one has to be knowledgeable and not remain ignorant and that is even more relevant today when Prime Minister Modi is attacking the Constitution and constitutional institutions as part of a predetermined conspiracy. Surjewala said the move will help break the shackles of slavery in the media and put an end to the worshipping of one individual. Congress has been accusing the mainstream media of not showing their views, alleging that the media sector is only showing the government picture. "Today, when there is darkness all around and there is an environment of mental slavery, where an individual arrogant ruler is worshipped, there is a need to attain freedom from individual worship and the mind has to be free of shackles," he told reporters. "The INC TV digital media is a small beginning to break the shackles of slavery, which is against the thinking of Mahatma Gandhi," Surjewala told reporters. He added that there is the subjugation of thoughts and dissent in the media space, where the difference of opinion is not recognised. Surjewala said the NaMo Tv is an example symbolising individual worship. He said the whole idea behind the digital TV concept is to have the dissemination of views and opinions of different sections of the society, especially that of the poor and oppressed classes. "The idea is that different shades of opinion must be placed on the table, as 'one size fits all' does not suit everyone and works in a diverse country like ours. This is not for eulogising or celebrating one person or ideology," he said. The platform is an attempt to help the party convey its message to the people directly and raise issues of importance, he said. Mahila Congress chief Sushmita Dev claimed that the Modi government has consistently worked against the interests of Dalits and oppressed sections. NSUI chief Neeraj Kundan alleged that the government does not want children of Dalits to get good education and that is why the Scheduled Caste sub-plan has been done away with and scholarships to Dalits are on the decline. He said there are still 14,336 vacancies under reserved category in various government departments to be filled with SCs/STs. Live TV CANBERRA, Australia (AP) Australia would complete its troop withdrawal from Afghanistan in September in line with the United States and other allies, the prime minister said Thursday. Australias contribution to the NATO-led mission had once exceeded 15,000 personnel, but only 80 remain. In line with the United States and other allies and partners, the last remaining Australian troops will depart Afghanistan in September, Prime Minister Scott Morrison said, without nominating a day. The decision represents a significant milestone in Australias military history, he added. President Joe Biden plans to withdraw the last 2,500 U.S. troops from Afghanistan before the 20th anniversary of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks on the United States that triggered the campaign. More than 39,000 Australian military personnel have served in Afghanistan since 2001, and 41 have been killed there. Morrison became emotional when reading the names of the Australian soldiers who had died between 2002 and 2014. He said the Afghanistan campaign was worth the sacrifice. Freedoms always worth it. Australians have always believed that. Thats why Australians who have serviced in our defense forces have always pulled on that uniform, Morrison said. Pulling on that uniform and serving under that flag, defending our values and standing up for them is what Australians do and those 41 brave men have exhibited that more than any other Australian can ever hope to, he added. NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said the alliances full withdrawal would be completed in months, but did not mention the Sept. 11 anniversary. Australias military legacy in Afghanistan has been tarnished in recent years with allegations of war crimes. Australia last year established an investigative agency to build criminal cases against Australian special forces suspected of committing crimes from 2005 until 2016. A military report released in November found evidence that elite Australian troops unlawfully killed 39 Afghan prisoner, farmers and civilians. The report recommended 19 current and former soldiers face criminal investigation. Benjamin Roberts-Smith, Australias most highly decorated member of the armed services when he left the Special Air Service in 2013, has been accused by former colleagues of unlawful treatment of prisoners including illegal killings. The former corporal, who was awarded the Victoria Cross and the Medal for Gallantry for his service in Afghanistan, has denied any misconduct. Australia became a staunch ally in the U.S.-led war on terror. In 2003, President George W. Bush described then Prime Minister John Howard as a man of steel after Howard committed Australian combat troops to back U.S. and British forces in the Iraq invasion. Lucknow: The first round of the four-phased Uttar Pradesh panchayat elections on Thursday (April 15) till 5 pm, with an hour of polling, still remaining, witnessed over 60 per cent of polling. According to the State Election Commission, four people suffered minor injuries in a clash between two groups at a booth in Agra, but the polling was largely peaceful in the state. "Till 5 pm, 61 per cent votes were cast. While the maximum 69.75 per cent votes were cast in Jhansi, Shravasti witnessed 53 per cent polling. All those who come to vote till 6 pm will be allowed to vote," the State Election Commission (SEC) told PTI. In the first phase of polls, more than 3.33 lakh candidates were in the fray in over 2.21 lakh seats for the posts of Zila panchayat (district council) members, kshetra (block) panchayat members, village panchayat heads, and wards. The polling, which was done with ballot papers, was held in the 18 districts of Ayodhya, Agra, Kanpur, Ghaziabad, Gorakhpur, Jaunpur, Jhansi, Allahabad, Bareilly, Bhadohi, Mahoba, Rampur, Raebareli, Shravasti, Sant Kabir Nagar, Saharanpur, Hardoi and Hathras. A total of 11,442 candidates are in the fray from 779 wards for the post of Zila panchayat members in the first phase, while 81,747 candidates are contesting in 19,313 wards of kshetra panchayats. For the gram panchayat, there are 1,14,142 candidates for 14,789 posts. For gram panchayat wards, there are 1,26,613 candidates for 1,86,583 seats. Meanwhile, four people were injured and two ballot boxes were snatched in the clash between two groups in Rihawali village of Agra Rural constituency, SP (East) Ashok Venkat told PTI. He said the clash broke out between supporters of candidates fighting for the gram pradhan post following which the two ballot boxes were snatched away. SSP (Agra) Muniraj told reporters that eight people have been arrested so far and further probe is on. District Magistrate Prabhu Narayan Singh, however, said that he would request for repolling at the affected booth. In Jhansi, polling officer Nirmala Sahu, posted at Jauri Bujurg, a polling center in Badagaon block, died after she complained of uneasiness, Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP), City, Vivek Tripathi reportedly said. The woman died before she could be rushed to hospital, the ASP said, adding that the exact cause of her death could be ascertained after post-mortem. Notably, the panchayat polls are also seen as a semi-final to the 2022 state assembly election. Apart from parties like the BJP, Bahujan Samaj Party, Samajwadi Party, and the Congress, among those in the race are the AIMIM, Aam Aadmi Party, and Bhim Army chief Chandra Shekhar Aazad's Azad Samaj Party, which are making their debut in the state. The AIMIM is contesting the polls with the Suheldev Bhartiya Samaj Party. The voting for the second phase will be on April 19, the third on April 26, and the fourth phase on April 29, while the votes will be counted on May 2 along with the assembly election results of five states. The voting percentage in all 18 districts till 5 pm is given below. Jhansi district witnessed the highest polling (69.75%) and the lowest was at Shravasti (53.80%). 1. AYODHYA -61 2. AGRA - 63.72 3. KANPUR CITY-59 4. GHAZIABAD-65.76 5. GORAKHPUR -57.22 6. JAUNPUR - 57.45 7. JHANSI - 69.75 8. PRAYAGRAJ- 57.24 9. BAREILLY- 65.15 10. BHADOHI-57.38 11. MAHOBA- 68 12. RAMPUR - 61.85 13. RAEBARELI - 59.06 14. SHRAVASTI- 53.80 15. SANT KABIR NAGAR- 60.05 16. SAHARANPUR - 64.27 17. HARDOI - 60.84 18. HATHRAS - 64.60 Live TV European Union countries will receive 50 million more coronavirus vaccines produced by Pfizer and BioNTech in the second quarter, the head of the EU Commission said on Wednesday, as deliveries expected at the end of the year will be brought forward. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said the earlier deliveries, which will start this month instead of in October, will take total supplies to the EU from Pfizer to 250 million doses in the second quarter in a move meant to compensate for lower supplies from AstraZeneca and possible problems with Johnson & Johnson. "I am pleased to announce that we have reached an agreement with BioNTech-Pfizer to once again speed up the delivery of vaccines," she said. "This will substantially help consolidate the roll-out of our vaccination campaigns." Von der Leyen confirmed the Commission was in talks with Pfizer and BioNTech for a new contract for 1.8 billion doses to be delivered in 2022 and 2023, confirming a Reuters report last week. The EU has already signed two contracts with the two companies for 600 million doses to be delivered this year. About 70 million shots were shipped in the first quarter. Under the new contract "delivery schedules will be laid out on a monthly instead of quarterly basis," von der Leyen said, adding that production of the vaccines and their essential components will take place in the EU. She also said on Wednesday that 100 million doses of vaccine had been so far administered in the 27-nation bloc, which has a population of nearly 450 million, since the beginning of the rollout in late December. YEREVAN, APRIL 15, ARMENPRESS. Moscow salutes the initiative of establishing normal relations between Yerevan and Baku, ARMENPRESS reports official representative of the Russian MFA Maria Zakharova announced, answering the question if Russia is ready to act as a mediator for signing a peace treaty between Armenia and Azerbaijan. ''The agreements reached by the leaders of Armenia, Azerbaijan and Russia on November 9, 2020 and January 11, 2021 are a solid basis. We are ready to assist that process in the future. Many hardships and obstacles still need to be overcome. We put the emphasis on stability and sustainable economic development. We hope we will move in the direction of normalizing relations and creation of atmosphere of trust'', she said. (moderndiplomacy.eu) - The state of the environment in the border areas is the main topic of the Pasvikseminaret 2021, organized by the public administrator in Troms county and Finnmark in cooperation with the municipality of Sr-Varanger municipality. The purpose of the annual Pasvik seminar is to provide the local population and local politicians all information about the environmental situation in the border area Norway Russia. Program focused on pollution from the Nickel Plant and monitoring of the environment in the border area. The activities of Norilsk Nickel have been the main focus of the workshop for many years. For the first time in many years, Norwegian scientists have found only positive news from Russia. UPDATE: Box truck thief admits he took it, swerved at pursuing police to mess with them, cops say A 23-year-old Allentown man just before 9:30 a.m. Thursday stole a Hospital Central Services box truck from St. Lukes Hospital in the 1700 block of Hamilton Street in the Queen City and drove it until he was forced to stop by authorities in Hereford Township, Berks County, Pennsylvania State Police report. Troopers located the vehicle driving on Route 100 in Lower Macungie Township and pursued it until they were able to make a controlled stop at Kriebel Road in Hereford, Trooper Nathan Branosky said in a news release. The truck at one point struck a parked vehicle at Route 100 and Buckeye Road in Lower Macungie, Branosky said. No injuries were reported, Branosky said. Troopers from the Fogelsville barracks were assisted by troopers from the Skippack barracks, Emmaus police, Upper Mauncgie Township police, Macungie police and Bally Community Ambulance, the news release said. While police labeled the incident as a stolen vehicle and fleeing and eluding, specific charges werent listed and the news release did not name the 23-year-old. 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. [April 15, 2021] WELL Health to Participate in Upcoming Planet MicroCap Showcase Virtual Event, Bloom Burton & Co. Healthcare Investor Conference and the Stifel GMP Canada CSI Conference VANCOUVER, BC, April 15, 2021 /PRNewswire/ - WELL Health Technologies Corp. (TSX: WELL) ("WELL" or the "Company"), a company focused on consolidating and modernizing clinical and digital assets within the healthcare sector, today announced that Hamed Shahbazi, Chairman and CEO, will be participating in the following upcoming conferences: Planet MicroCap Showcase Virtual Event Tuesday April 20, 2021 Keynote Speaker at 12:00pm EST (9:00am PST). Thursday April 22, 2021 Investor Presentation at 11:30am EST (8:30am PST) Mr. Shahbazi is a Keynote Speaker at this year's Planet MicroCap Showcase Virtual Event, where he'll be joining host, Robert Kraft, as part of his popular "MicroCap Graduation Series" on Tuesday April 20, 2021 at 12:00pm EST. Mr. Shahbazi will also be giving an investor presentation on Thursday April 22, 2021 at 11:30am EST. The Planet MicroCap Showcase Virtual Event brings together promising companies and investors for a three day event. Register on the event website to listen to the keynote address or attend the investor presentation: https://planetmicrocapshowcase.com/ Bloom Burton & Co. Healthcare Investor Conference Tuesday April 20, 2021 at 1:30pm EST (10:30am PST) Track 2. Mr. Shahbazi willbe providing a virtual investor update presentation at this year's Bloom Burton & Co. Healthcare Investor Conference which features approximately 60 premier publicly traded and venture-backed private healthcare companies. A live webcast will of Mr. Shahbazi's presentation can be accessed on Tuesday April 20, 2021 at 1:30pm EST at this link: https://wsw.com/webcast/bloomburton6/well.to/3336333 Stifel GMP 2021 Virtual Canada Cross Sector Insight (CSI) Conference Wednesday April 21, 2021 Mr. Shahbazi will be doing 1on1 meetings with investors on Wednesday April 21, 2021 at the Stifel GMP 2021 Virtual Canada CSI Conference. Interested investors should contact their Stifel GMP representative for more information and to schedule meetings with management. About WELL Health Technologies Corp. WELL is an omni-channel digital health company whose overarching objective is to empower doctors to provide the best and most advanced care possible while leveraging the latest trends in digital health. As such, WELL owns and operates 27 primary healthcare clinics, is Canada's third largest digital Electronic Medical Records (EMR) supplier serving over 2,200 medical clinics, operates a leading national telehealth service in Canada and the United States, and is a provider of digital health, billing and cybersecurity related technology solutions. WELL is an acquisitive company that follows a disciplined and accretive capital allocation strategy. WELL is publicly traded on the Toronto Stock Exchange under the symbol "WELL". To access the Company's telehealth service, visit: tiahealth.com and for corporate information, visit: www.WELL.company. Neither the TSX Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in policies of the TSX Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. View original content to download multimedia:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/well-health-to-participate-in-upcoming-planet-microcap-showcase-virtual-event-bloom-burton--co-healthcare-investor-conference-and-the-stifel-gmp-canada-csi--conference-301269758.html SOURCE WELL Health Technologies Corp. [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] Bible teacher Priscilla Shirer has urged believers to join her in prayer after a teenage member Oak Cliff Bible Fellowship, led by her father, Pastor Tony Evans, was fatally shot. In a tweet that was later shared by Evans, Shirer, head of Going Beyond Ministries, revealed that 17-year-old Tony Evans Jr. who she clarified was not related to her was killed on Sunday. Family, would you please pray for the family of @TonyEvansJr1 a talented 17-year-old athlete who was a member of our church. He was killed this past Sunday. He had a promising future at the University of Wyoming this fall. I can only imagine this devastation for his parents. Jesus, mercy, she wrote. AfriAg Global Plc - Notice of GM for Apollon Acquisition 19 March 2021 AfriAg Global plc ("AfriAg" or the "Company") Posting of Admission Document Confirmation of 2.5m Fundraising Application to AQSE Growth Market (subject to AQSE approval) Proposed Appointments and Resignations Proposed Change of Name to Apollon Formularies General Meeting to Approve the Acquisition of Apollon Formularies Ltd Posting Admission Document and Notice of General Meeting Further to previous announcement regarding the proposed reverse take-over of medicinal cannabis company Apollon Formularies Ltd ("Apollon") (the "RTO" or the "Proposed Acquisition") on 23 February 2021, AfriAg is pleased to announce today the posting of its admission document and notice of general meeting to be held at 7-9 Swallow Street, London, United Kingdom, W1B 4DE at 10 a.m. (London Time) on 12 April 2021. As a consequence of COVID-19, the General Meeting will be run as a closed meeting and Shareholders will not be able to attend. Application to AQSE Growth Market, subject to AQSE regulatory approval Proposed re-admission of the Enlarged Share Capital of 748,376,677 Ordinary Shares to the AQSE Growth Market and to trading ("Admission"). The Company has published an Admission Document and has made application for Admission to the AQSE Growth Market, as the transaction constitutes a reverse takeover under the AQSE Growth Market Rules Placing and Subscription undertaken by Peterhouse Capital, to raise 2,500,000 at 5 pence per share, conditional on Admission The terms of the Proposed Acquisition, pursuant to which the consideration will be satisfied by the issue and allotment of 666,666,666 Ordinary Shares of no par value ("Ordinary Shares") to the shareholders of Apollon at a deemed price of 6 pence per share The proposed appointment of existing directors of Apollon as directors of the Company; Dr Stephen Barnhill as Chief Executive Officer and Chairman and Nicholas Barnhill as a Non-Executive Director. The Company will also welcome Kevin Sheil and Nicholas Ingrassia as Non-Executive Directors and will accept the resignation of David Lenigas, Hamish Harris , and Donald Strang as Directors of the Company with effect from Admission (which is subject to, and conditional upon, inter alia, completion of the Proposed Acquisition and Admission) On Admission and subject to Shareholder and regulatory approval, the Company proposes to change its name to Apollon Formularies PLC Apollon Formularies, Chief Executive Officer, Dr. Stephen Barnhill, said: "We are delighted to be coming to market at such an important time for medical cannabis across the UK. The reaction to newly listed cannabis-related businesses has been remarkable, and we look forward to bringing Apollon, with its full suite of licences and THC inclusive formulations, to the London market. "Apollon's strong research and development ability will make us one of the few listed cannabis companies in Europe that is able to treat patients with formulas inclusive of THC, and the licences held in Jamaica mean that all our formulas are backed by medically supervised treatments. Our conditional fundraise of 2,500,000, as announced on 23 February, has shown a strong appetite for our company and we are pleased that we are able to provide the market with a truly unique investment opportunity." Availability of the Admission Document The Admission Document will be made available shortly online at www.afriagglobal.com. A copy of the Notice of General Meeting is set out in full below in this announcement without material amendment or adjustment. The Directors of the Company accept responsibility for the contents of this announcement. -ENDS- For additional information please contact: AfriAg Global PLC David Lenigas lenigas@monaco-capital.com Apollon Formularies Tel: +44 207 907 9314 Kevin Sheil kevin@apollon.org.uk Stene Jacobs stene@apollon.org.uk Peterhouse Capital Limited (Corporate Adviser) Tel: +44 207 220 9795 Guy Miller gm@peterhousecapital.com Blytheweigh (Financial PR/IR-London) Tel: +44 207 138 3204 Tim Blythe tim.blythe@blytheweigh.com Megan Ray megan.ray@blytheweigh.com AFRIAG GLOBAL PLC (a company incorporated and registered in the Isle of Man under the Isle of Man Companies Act 2006 with registered number 002845V) NOTICE OF GENERAL MEETING NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN that a general meeting of the shareholders of AfriAg Global Plc (the Company) will be held at 10 a.m. (London Time) on 12 April 2021 (London time) to consider and, if thought fit, pass resolution 1 and resolution 2 which will be proposed as ordinary resolutions and resolution 3 and resolution 4 which will be proposed as special resolutions. It should be noted that only the Independent Shareholders will be allowed to vote the waiver Resolution 2. The physical meeting will be held at 7-9 Swallow Street, London, United Kingdom, W1B 4DE, but please note the instructions set out in this document with respect to the arrangements in place for this meeting. No Shareholder will be allowed entry into to the physical meeting . THAT, subject to passing of resolutions 2 and 3, the offer by the Company to acquire the entire issued share capital of Apollon Formularies Ltd (Apollon) from the existing shareholders of Apollon not already owned by the Company (Offer) on the terms and subject to the conditions contained in the offer document to be posted to the shareholders of Apollon be and is hereby approved and that the Directors of the Company be and are hereby authorised to take all steps necessary or, in the opinion of the Directors of the Company, desirable, to complete and give effect to the Offer. THAT the waiver to be granted by the Panel on Takeovers and Mergers of any obligation under Rule 9 of the City Code on Takeovers and Mergers on any or all of the Concert Party (as defined in the Company's Admission Document dated 17 March 2021 (the "Admission Document")) to make a general offer to Shareholders of the Company which obligation might otherwise have arisen as a result of the issue to the members of the Concert Party of, in aggregate of 484,573,459 Ordinary Shares of no par value as consideration under the agreement entered into by the Company in relation to the Offer, as a result of which the Concert Party will own in aggregate up to 64.75% of the enlarged share capital of the Company, be and is hereby approved. This resolution 2 can only be voted on by the Independent Shareholders. THAT the Directors of the Company be authorised and empowered to allot and issue ordinary shares of no par value in the Company (Ordinary Shares) and rights to subscribe for Ordinary Shares (together equity securities) for cash or other consideration in accordance with Article 5.1 of the Company's articles of association in respect of 816,666,666 new equity securities as if the restrictions on the allotment and issue of equity securities in Article 5.2 of the Company's articles of association did not apply to any such allotment and issue, such power to expire on the date occurring 15 months from the date of this special resolution or (if earlier) the conclusion of the annual general meeting of the Company to be held in 2021, provided that the Company may, before the expiry of this power, make an offer or agreement which would or might require equity securities to be allotted and issued after the expiry of this power and the Directors may allot and issue equity securities in pursuance of such an offer or agreement as if the power had not expired. The allotments in respect of 816,666,666 Ordinary Shares shall be limited to: the allotment of 666,666,666 new Ordinary Shares pursuant to the Offer; the allotment of 50,000,000 new Ordinary Shares in the capital of the Company in connection with the Placing and Subscription; and the allotment (other than under paragraphs (a) to (b) above) of additional equity securities up to an aggregate amount of 100,000,000. 4. THAT, conditional upon Admission, the name of the Company be changed to "Apollon Formularies Plc" and that the Company's memorandum and articles of association be amended to reflect such change of name. Registered Office 34 North Quay David Lenigas Douglas by Order of the Company's Board Isle of Man17 March 2021 IM1 4LB HILTON, N.Y. (AP) - A Rochester-area school principal has been charged with sexually abusing nine students in a case that prosecutors said goes back at least four years. Kirk Ashton, the principal of Northwood Elementary School in Hilton for the last 17 years, was arraigned Wednesday night on multiple counts of first-degree sexual abuse, second-degree course of sexual conduct and endangering the welfare of a child. Prosecutors said Thursday the victims were boys between 8 and 12 years old. Ashton pleaded not guilty, and bail was set at $500,000 cash or $1 million bond. Defense attorney Robert King argued against bail. He said Ashton was not a flight risk. Hyderabad, April 15 : Elections to two Municipal Corporations and five municipalities in Telangana will be held on April 30, the State Election Commission (SEC) announced on Thursday. SEC issued notification for elections to the seven Urban Legislative Bodies (ULBs) of Greater Warangal Municipal Corporation, Khammam Municipal Corporation, Atchampet, Siddipet, Nakrekaral, Jadcherla and Kothur municipalities. According to State Election Commissioner C. Partha Sarathi, a total of 11,26,221 voters are eligible to cast their votes in 248 wards of these urban local bodies. Greater Warangal Municipal Corporation has 66 wards while Khammam Municipal Corporation has 60 wards. Among five municipalities, Siddipet is the largest with 43 wards while Kothur is smallest with only 12 wards. By election to nine divisions of various local bodies will be held on the same day. They include one division of Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC). Lingojiguda division vacancy arose following death of BJP corporator a few days after his election in December last year. He said a total of 1,532 polling stations will be set up. The polling process will be monitored by videography, webcasting or micro observers. The SEC will use 2,479 ballot boxes for the polls. About 9,000 polling personnel will be deployed for the elections. As per the notification, nominations can be field from April 16 to April 18. Scrutiny of nominations will be taken up on April 19. Last date for withdrawal of candidature is April 20. The SEC made it clear that Covid-19 guidelines will be followed during the campaigning. Only a group of five persons including candidate excluding security personnel will be allowed for door-to-door campaign. The convoy of vehicles should be broken after every two vehicles, excluding the security vehicles, if any. The SEC said there should be at least half an hour gap between road shows of two different political parties/candidates in the same route. Public gatherings/rallies may be conducted subject to adherence to Covid-19 guidelines. Polling will be held with Covid guidelines on April 30 between 7 am and 5 pm. Counting of votes will take place on May 3. 1,500 Rabbis Defend Tucker Carlson From Anti-Semitic Accusation A coalition of 1,500 Orthodox Jewish rabbis on Tuesday called out the Anti-Defamation League (ADL), saying the organization has grossly misplaced charges of anti-Semitism on Fox News host Tucker Carlson. The ADL, which focuses on fighting anti-Semitism, had called on Fox News to fire Carlson for suggesting that illegal immigrants are being admitted into the United States by Democrats to replace legal voters. The government shows preference to people who have shown absolute contempt for our customs, our laws, our system itself, and they are being treated better than American citizens, Carlson said April 8 as a guest on Fox News Primetime. Now, I know that the left and all the little gatekeepers on Twitter become literally hysterical if you use the term replacement, if you suggest that the Democratic Party is trying to replace the current electorate, the voters now casting ballots, with new people, more obedient voters from the Third World. The ADL took issue with the comment, connecting it to a conspiracy theory that the Jews are the mastermind behind a great replacement of white Americans with nonwhite immigrants. This is not legitimate political discourse, ADL director Jonathan Greenblatt wrote in a complaint to Fox News CEO Suzanne Scott. It is dangerous race-baiting, extreme rhetoric. The Coalition for Jewish Values (CJV), backed by 1,500 rabbis, rejected Greenblatts accusation, saying in a letter (pdf) that he has been misusing his organizations credibility to attack the political right while ignoring the hatred toward the Jewish community by the political left. The ADL has become markedly partisan under your leadership, the letter states, claiming that the organization has tirelessly endeavored to hide the truth that anti-Semitic acts mostly took place in cities run by Democrats and on college campuses dominated by the progressive left. The letter also criticized the ADL for lending credibility to Al Sharpton, a long-time left-wing activist and Baptist minister who used incendiary rhetoric at the funeral of a black boy accidentally killed by a Jewish driver in Crown Heights, Brooklyn in 1991. Sharptons eulogy was seen by many as what contributed to the ensuing Crown Heights riot, which greatly set back the relationship between Brooklyns Jewish and black communities. We are eager for the ADL to discard its partisan preoccupations and undertake an urgently needed course correction, the CJV wrote. Lachlan Murdoch, CEO of the Fox Corporation, also wrote ADL that Fox News will not fire Carlson for allegedly promoting the Great Replacement conspiracy theory. A full review of the guest interview indicates that Carlson decried and rejected replacement theory, Murdoch wrote in the letter to Greenblatt. As Mr. Carlson himself stated during the guest interview: White replacement theory? No, no, this is a voting rights question.' It was Australias longest war and after World War II its most financially costly. And for what? As Australia prepares to walk away, trailing the United States - having followed the US over there in 2001 - Afghanistan is hopelessly divided, from its ruling elite down, and one fifth of its districts are controlled by a Taliban considered stronger than at any time since it was toppled in 2001. It is all but impossible to see, after the withdrawal of the US and Australias small remaining contingent, a future for Afghanistan that does not involve the collapse of its current and any future interim administration, and an effective takeover by the Taliban. It is fanciful to imagine the Taliban sharing power. Amelia Hamlin sent tongues wagging on Wednesday, when she was pictured out with a noticeably strange bruise around her plump lips. The 19-year-old daughter of RHOBH star Lisa Rinna, was seen with boyfriend Scott Disick, 37, in Miami, showing off what appeared to be swelling and discoloration around the top of her lip outline. It is not clear if the blemish is the result of a procedure, but DailyMail.com has reached out to representatives for the influencer model, who have so far been unavailable for comment. Amelia's mother Lisa, 57, is no stranger to plastic surgery and has openly admitted to having had lip fillers in her twenties, quipping to DailyMail.com last year that her lips have 'had their own career.' What's happened to Amelia Hamlin's lips? Scott Disick's girlfriend is pictured with a VERY puffed-up pout and bruising around her mouth while out in Miami on Wednesday Lip filler injections - that give the lips a more plump and full appearance - have become extremely popular and commonplace among many celebrities. The injections are composed mainly of hyaluronic acid and can be performed in just a few minutes and are minimally invasive - though sometimes can cause bruising. Other popular tweaks include having lip Botox which is not considered to be a dermal filler, but can have a similar effect. Amelia has not commented publicly on whether she has undergone any cosmetic surgery in the past, but has revealed that she was once underwent breast reduction surgery after her nipple piercing went septic. Now and then: Amelia Hamlin pictured in 2015 in LA sporting a noticeably smaller looking pout (pictured right in Miami on Wednesday) What's happened? The 19-year-old daughter of RHOBH star Lisa Rinna showed off what appeared to be swelling and discoloration around the top of her lip outline In a podcast interview, Amelia revealed that she had the surgery at age 16, saying it was 'the worst thing' she had ever been through. 'The nipple piercing [was] being pulled [and] caused a small abrasion in my body,' the model said. 'I already had the strep living in my system and then it went to that part of my body because it was an open wound. When I tell you... my boobs were this big. It's a real thing. And I didn't just get those down naturally... I had to fully get surgery.' The model also spoke about her battle with body acne which she said has made her feel depressed. Contrast: Amelia (pictured left in 2017) appears to have plumped up her pout over the years (pictured right on Wednesday) Lip service: The 19-year-old daughter of RHOBH star Lisa Rinna, was seen with boyfriend Scott Disick, 37, in Miami on Wednesday along with his daughter Penelope 'I was so self conscious. I would literally cry myself to sleep. Like when I say bumps, I literally mean like, thousands of bumps down my back, down my chest,' she said. 'And I thought it was the end of the world. Like I thought I was gonna die like this, and I was so depressed. I had never really, truly grasped how acne can make you depressed, 'cause I never have got it.' Meanwhile, Amelia's sister Delilah has previously hit back at trolls who have commented on the size of her lips, after she posted a puffed-up selfie in October last year. 'You should get your upper lip checked out. It doesn't look right,' one user commented, with Delilah angrily hitting back: 'I can make my lips look big if I want to KAREN. It's a 'lip pose' and overlining Karen.' Their mother Lisa - who has come out with her very own lip line called Rinna Beauty - told DailyMail.com this year that getting lip injections at age 24 paved the path for her brand. 'I always say, jokingly, that my lips have a career of their own,' the brunette bombshell said. 'The feedback on them was not always positive. There was a time when people were negative. But I think they became accepted when I said, "These are my lips! This is the way they are."' Lisa had permanent silicone filler injected into her top lip in her 20s, but after about 10 years, the silicone started seeping throughout her lip and creating scar tissue that was bumpy. Beverly Hills plastic surgeon Garth Fisher reconstructed her upper lip by removing some of the damaged tissue in 2010, and she is said to have been happy ever since. Meanwhile, Amelia has been hitting headlines recently after her mother's reaction to her dating boyfriend Scott was revealed on an upcoming episode teaser for The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills. Changing faces: The young star was seen showing off her glossy pout in 2017 On Monday, an explosive new RHOBH trailer was released, where Lisa finally addressed her true feelings about her teen daughter's relationship to Disick, who has three children - Mason, 11, Reign, 6, and Penelope - with Kourtney Kardashian, 41. In a teaser for season 11, Lisa is seen taking a FaceTime call from Amelia who tells her she is spending time with her 'friend' Scott. 'He's too damn old... and he's got three kids,' bellowed pal Kyle Richards, as mother Lisa shouted back in agreement with her: 'I know!' It looks as though Lisa is concerned about the relationship, as she leaned on her Housewives co-stars to talk about the romance in an upcoming scene from the show. Since scenes from RHOBH were filmed, the relationship between Scott and Amelia has been growing from strength to strength with reports flying they're even considering moving in together in Miami, Florida. Mother daughter duo: Amelia's mother Lisa, 57, is no stranger to plastic surgery and has openly admitted to having had lip fillers in her twenties (pictured above in 2016) Scott and Amelia were first linked last October when they were seen together at Kendall Jenner's Halloween party. Lisa recently denied that she is one of two rumored 'Housewives' that are apparently upset with Andy Cohen for not having their children featured in the upcoming family-friendly version of his show Watch What Happens Live. Cohen, 52, revealed earlier this month that two members of the franchise called him up asking why their children were not included in WWHL Kids Special, but did not reveal who the angry mothers were. Taking to her Instagram Stories shortly afterwards, Lisa ruled herself out by confirming that her two daughters - Amelia and Delilah - 'were asked' to be part of the special broadcast. 'My kids were asked to do it. It wasn't me Calling Big Daddy,' Rinna hilariously wrote on her IG Stories, before stirring the pot further by adding: 'But now I want to know called.' Home to over 1.3 billion people across 300 million households, Indias television viewing universe continues to grow. BARC India, along with the BARC Technical Committee (TechComm), has released the TV Universe Estimates 2020 (TV UEs) report. The last update of TV UEs was done in 2018 after the establishment study, known as Broadcast India (BI) 2018. While there were plans to conduct BI 2019 and BI 2020 surveys, at the advice of the industry, BI 2019 was not conducted due to NTO, and subsequently, due to COVID-19 nationwide lockdowns, fieldwork could not be conducted for BI 2020. Also read: IPL-13 viewership up 23% compared to IPL-12; total viewing minutes at 400 bn: BARC In the absence of field work, BARC India team, along with the BARC Technical Committee (TechComm), has evaluated multiple options and identified the best and the most suitable method for updating TV UEs. Based on the recommendations, it was decided to keep projection date as March 1, 2020 for TV HH and individuals. According to BARC Indias TV UEs 2020, 210 million Indian households now own a TV set, an increase of 6.9% from 197 million in 2018. Simultaneously, TV viewing individuals also witnessed an increase of 6.7%, reaching 892 million from 836 million in 2018, an increase of 57 million individuals in 2020. TV Owning Female population grew by 7%, while male population grew by 6%. In terms of age-groups, the highest growth was witnessed in the kids category (age 2 to 14) at 9%. Markets TV households in Urban markets grew by 4% from 87.8 million in 2018 to 91 million, while Rural markets have grown by 9%, up from 108.9 million to 119.2 million in 2020. While TV households across India grew by 6.9%, HSM grew by 8%, outpacing All India as well as the South states, which grew by 5%. NCCS As the Indian population continues to move up the socio-economic pyramid, changes are also observed in the NCCS profile of TV households. As per the TV UE-2020, the proportion of NCCS A and B has increased to 27% and 31%, respectively, while NCCS DE has further contracted to 9% of TV households in the country. Genres When comparing the viewership with old UEs, Genres operating at National and HSM level have shown a higher growth with few genres, such as Hindi News, Sports, English Movies and Devotional/ Spiritual, showing a double-digit growth. On presenting the updated TV Universe Estimates for broadcasters, advertisers, agencies and other industry stakeholders, Sunil Lulla, Chief Executive Officer, BARC India, said, As a body that is deeply rooted in data science, BARC India is committed to providing its stakeholders with a true representation of the television universe. We are happy we have been able to ascertain that television continues to be the screen of choice for Indians. With an additional 13 million TV households and an opportunity for another 90 million households that are yet to own a TV set, Indias broadcast ecosystem continues to have a significant potential for growth in the years to come. Adding to this, Dr Derrick Gray, Chief of Measurement Science & Business Analytics, BARC India, said, At BARC India, we are deeply invested in providing data that is statistically accurate by factoring in changes in the various control and weighting variables that are shown to be highly associated with television viewing. The updated Universe Estimates, UE 2020 aptly sums up Indias linear TV ecosystem and highlights that TV owning households continue to grow. Given the global pandemic scenario, the updated estimate is robust and is developed with the help of data and findings based from various previously validated field studies. We are certain that these estimates will help the industry to a great extent. We will continue to provide the industry with a currency that is reliable and of global standards. I would like to thank the TechComm on behalf of all of us for all their support and contributions in formalising the UE 2020. TV UE 2020 has been developed by computing the linear growth of TV Households and TV Individuals from Broadcast India (BI) Studies conducted in 2016 and 2018 at geographic and demographic levels. The distribution of the TV population by NCCS was taken from the most recent Indian Readership Survey (IRS). BARC India will implement the findings from the TV Universe Estimates 2020 for its data starting Week 14, 2021, which will release on April 16, 2021. The updated estimates will reflect for BARC India subscribers in the YUMI Analytics platform with immediate effect. Sorry! This content is not available in your region On today's episode of which episode of Black Mirror are we living in today, Brooklyn-based news outlet, Vice Media has found itself in hot water after publishing a series of altered images depicting victims of the Cambodian Genocide donning big, photoshopped grins before their deaths as a part of a recent interview. The article, which first hit the outlet's site on Friday, centered around photo restorer, Matt Loughrey, who recently colorized and smile-ized several pictures of some of the genocide's victims before they were tortured and killed under the Khmer Rouge regime. The individuals photographed represent only a handful of the approximately 1.7 million Cambodians put to death between 1975 and 1979, the New York Times reported. Continue Reading Below Advertisement Instead of merely colorizing the photos, taken at the infamous Tuol Sleng Prison where roughly 14,000 Cambodians were killed, Loughrey apparently thought it'd be a great idea to take his retouching a step further, superimposing big smiles on the victims' faces, in an attempt to "humanize the tragedy. However the artist's shot at fostering an empathetic audience quickly and spectacularly backfired among some Cambodians -- shortly after the article's publication, the nation's Ministry of Culture and Fine Arts called for the images to be taken down, saying they have the potential to to seriously affect the dignity of the victims with survivors decrying the retouched photos. An 8-year-old boy from HCM City diagnosed with an autism spectrum disorder is now able to communicate with friends, family and teachers after receiving four years of multidisciplinary treatment. An autistic boy receives an intervention at the Speech Therapy Unit at the Medical General Clinic-Pham Ngoc Thach University of Medicine in HCM City. VNS Photos Gia Loc The multidisciplinary "interventions" from psychiatrists, neurologists, primary and special education specialists, speech therapists and his parents occurred at his home and at the Medical General Clinic - Pham Ngoc Thach University of Medicine. Cao Phuong Anh at the clinics Speech Therapy Unit said the boy took part in the unit's Preschool and Speech Therapy classroom. According to Hoang Van Quyen, a counsellor for the unit, three intervention models in the unit exist: one for early intervention for autistic children under five years old; another for nonverbal autistic children aged five to 10, and another for verbal autistic children aged five to 10 years. Autistic children face difficulties developing communication skills and other skills as well, so multidisciplinary intervention from psychiatrists, neurologists, paediatricians, ear, nose and throat doctors, nurses, primary and special education specialists, speech therapists and parents is very necessary, he said. The units intervention models highlight the important role of autistic childrens parents. At the unit, parents watch psychiatrists, neurologists, primary and special education specialists, speech therapists and others, and are trained in these intervention ways. The experts explain intervention strategies for their children at each stage, he said. They provide different strategies for each autistic child, he added. Anh said that many parents with autistic children wanted them to speak and integrate into society rapidly. But they should understand that intervention progress takes time and should be carried out in steps. Parents should be patient and follow guidance from specialists during the intervention. Autistic children need intervention in their pre-language skills to set up a base for communication and language and for social and emotional development. They also need an intervention to develop their playing skills and behaviour, Anh said. Quyen said the units multidisciplinary intervention models would be expanded to other provinces and cities. According to the General Statistics Office, the country had nearly 6.2 million people with disabilities aged more than 2 years, accounting for 6.5 per cent of the population in 2019. Among these, nearly one million people have an autism spectrum disorder. Cao Phuong Anh of the clinics Speech Therapy Unit plays with an autistic boy at the Speech Therapy Unit at the Medical General Clinic-Pham Ngoc Thach University of Medicine in HCM City. Challenges Compared to the past, many parents now have better awareness about these disorders and will bring their children to hospitals when they show signs related to the disorders. Pham Thi Kim Tam, chairwoman of the Vietnam Autism Network, said: However, many autistic children have to wait three to six months for an intervention because childrens hospitals do not have sufficient doctors and facilities. Moreover, interventions for autism spectrum disorders at hospitals are not covered by health insurance. Many parents with financial resources can hire teachers to teach their children individually or in teams, or the children can study at special schools. In the first year of life, most babies in Vietnam are taken to health centres in districts or hospitals for periodic health exams and vaccinations, but developmental milestones are not assessed. Evaluation programmes for childrens developmental milestones at health facilities in the first year after birth would provide screening for autistic children and timely interventions if needed, according to Tam. A woman from HCM City, who has a 17-year-old autistic child, said: I think that the government should have a centre where autistic young people can be taken care of and raised. The part of the costs for this centres operation could be from the parents. The nearly 15-year intervention journey for her child had been very stressful, she said. "He now is studying at a rehabilitation centre for people with disabilities in the city. According to the US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention, autism spectrum disorder is a developmental disability caused by differences in the brain. Scientists do not know exactly what causes these differences for most people with ASD. However, some people with ASD have a known difference, such as a genetic condition. There are multiple causes of ASD, although most are not yet known. VNS Teacher helps students with autism integrate Thanks to the love of her job and her sympathy for disadvantaged children, Nguyen Ngoc Hanh has helped many students with autism learn to read, write, and spell their name. Zomato CEO Deepinder Goyal on Wednesday called out rival Swiggy for continuing to deliver orders after 8:00 pm in Mumbai. He thought Swiggy was in violation of the orders issued by the Mumbai Police and Maharashtra government to curb the spread of the coronavirus, and urged Mumbai Police to clarify the rules. In a tweet, Goyal said Zomato is ready to operate post 8:00 pm, but is not doing so and following the "letter of the law". Goyal wrote, "Zomato is prepared to provide the essential food delivery service post 8 pm in Mumbai, but we are not doing so because we are abiding by the letter of the law,". He stated that Swiggy continued to operate after 8:00 pm, and also provided a screenshot of Swiggy app to prove his claim. Goyal requested Mumbai Police to "clarify the way forward". Zomato is prepared to provide the essential food delivery service post 8pm in Mumbai, but we are not doing so because we are abiding by the letter of the law. I see our competition is continuing to operate post 8pm. I urge @MumbaiPolice to please clarify the way forward here. pic.twitter.com/LFd9qZUmED - Deepinder Goyal (@deepigoyal) April 14, 2021 Responding to Goyal's tweet, Mumbai Police asked him to read the government notification on the issue. "It says that Home Delivery is allowed but there is no time limit specified," Mumbai Police clarified. Kindly read the Govt Notification. It says that Home Delivery is allowed but there is no time limit specified. - Mumbai Police (@MumbaiPolice) April 14, 2021 Goyal thanked Mumbai Police for the clarification. "Thank you @MumbaiPolice for the quick clarification at 954pm. You are the best," he wrote. Thank you @MumbaiPolice for the quick clarification at 954pm. You are the best. - Deepinder Goyal (@deepigoyal) April 14, 2021 Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray on April 13 announced a curfew in the state from 8 pm on April 14 to curb the spread of coronavirus infections. However, essential services were allowed to operate. According to an order issued by the Municipal Corporation of Greater Mumbai on Thursday, "All online home deliveries of food and essential supplies (e-commerce) through all online service providers like Zomato, Swiggie (Swiggy) etc are allowed 24 hours on all days of the week". Also Read: COVID-19 lockdown in Maharashtra: Check out Zomato, Swiggy delivery timings after new coronavirus restrictions WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - Oil prices fell on Thursday after rising sharply the previous day amid an upward revision in the global oil demand forecast by the International Energy Agency (IEA) and data showing a sharp drop in U.S. crude inventories. Brent crude for June settlement dipped half a percent to $66.22 per barrel, while West Texas Intermediate crude oil futures were down 0.7 percent at $62.73. The IEA has sharply raised its world oil demand estimate for 2021, pointing to further signs that the global economy is recovering faster than previously expected, particularly in the U.S. and China. Data released by Energy Information Administration (EIA) showed crude oil inventories in the U.S. dropped by 5.9 million barrels last week compared with an expected draw of about 3.5 million barrels. Investors monitored the latest news on the vaccine front, with Denmark becoming the first country in the European Union to drop AstraZeneca Plc's vaccine amid concerns over serious side effects. A U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention panel on Wednesday postponed making a recommendation about the continued use of the Johnson & Johnson's Covid-19 vaccine, saying that panel members want more information about the people who may be most at risk for blood clots. 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. Tata Motors will take a leap further and introduce factory-fitted CNG models this financial year. Although the details of the models are not known at the moment, there have been various sightings of the Tiago and Tigor test mules at the CNG filling stations. Both the prototypes were based on the current generation of the models. In recent years, factory-fitted CNG-powered vehicles have become preferred alternative fuels due to their economic cost of running and the rising prices of petrol and diesel. Carmakers like Maruti Suzuki and Hyundai already offer a wide range of models that are extremely successful and contribute significantly to the sales volume. Tata Motors holds a comfortable third position in the sales charts and the introduction of CNG-powered vehicles will only help the brand climb upwards. The Tiago and Tigor make for a viable choice to be fitted with factory-fitted CNG kits. Both the models are powered by a 1.2-litre petrol engine with an output of 84bhp and 113Nm of torque. The available transmission options are a five-speed manual and a five-speed AMT unit that are likely to be carried forward for the CNG-spec model. Tata Tiago 4.99 Lakh Onwards Tata | Tiago | Tata Tiago Editor's Note: This is the fourth in a series of reports on the lasting impact of the global COVID-19 pandemic on the U.S. military. More than a year after COVID-19 effectively shut down the U.S., the Defense Department still has 6,235 active-duty troops and 31,500 National Guard members across 54 states and U.S. territories administering vaccines, conducting testing, storing goods and more. The military is no stranger to homefront assistance: from hurricane and wildfire relief to food bank distribution, uniformed personnel have been called on for decades to provide domestic support during crises. But in a time when Americans seem more divided than ever, experts say the military is caught in a difficult balancing act: to lend civil support where needed without detracting from core strategic missions so it can remain ready for the next fight. Pandemic response and other domestic crises over the last year have made that task even more complicated. And changing American expectations regarding the military may heighten the tension. Read Next: Soldiers Involved in Flying Helicopter Low Over DC Protesters Have Been Disciplined, Army Says "I think we're heading in sort of a dangerous direction where people are becoming increasingly willing to turn to the military for things that they probably shouldn't be turning to the military for, without thinking through the longer-term consequences of what that means for their government," said Jim Golby, a senior fellow at Clements Center for National Security at the University of Texas at Austin who specializes in civil-military relations and military strategy. Kathleen McInnis, a national security expert who testified before Congress in January on civil-military issues, added that repeatedly turning to the military to provide civilian functions may erode trust in local governments and other civilian institutions. "The fact that the military has gotten the lion's share of national security resources over multiple decades, the fact that we've talked about the necessity for interagency reform and bolstering up civilian institutions, yet we keep sending tasks over to the military to perform," she said. "We seem to be sliding into these broad roles and missions for the military without really having a national conversation to determine whether this is appropriate." Providing Response In some ways, it's not surprising that the U.S. military has been the resource of choice to support COVID-19 response and other domestic missions. The Defense Department not only has substantial resources, it also has speed, logistics and capacity that "other organizations just don't have," Golby said. "Another reason why there's sort of an interactive effect right now: We are seeing the wars draw down, and there is a reduced public appetite or public desire to remain as engaged overseas," he said. The number of military members on pandemic duty in the U.S. far surpasses troop levels in Iraq and Afghanistan; there are now fewer than 2,500 U.S. service members each in Iraq and Afghanistan, the lowest number since operations began there, according to the Pentagon. So far, Golby said, American response to the military's domestic missions, particularly virus response, has been a "net positive." Kori Schake, another civ-mil expert and director of foreign and defense policy studies at the American Enterprise Institute, agreed. "That the military is helping at vaccine sites is great because it's not a threat to civilian control of the military, but it is a reminder that our soldiers, sailors, airmen, Marines, Guardians are actually part of our broader community and want to be helpful," said Schake, a former national security official in the George W. Bush administration. Positive Reaction Amid Decline in Trust However, some of that goodwill has been undermined by events in 2020 that called the military's political neutrality into question. In response to Black Lives Matter protests, Schake said, then-President Donald Trump "wanted to send a message about warfighting in a domestic civil contact" by using troops as police forces and, in some cases, "looking to override the will of local elected officials in [certain] states," she explained. In Washington, D.C., military helicopters flew low over a June 1, 2020, protest in support of law enforcement. It was seen as an "aggressive response" to crowd control. On the same day as the aggressive helicopter maneuvers, Joint Chiefs Chairman Army Gen. Mark Milley came under scrutiny for participating in uniform in a politically loaded photo op alongside Trump in Lafayette Square after protesters were forcibly cleared out. By the end of June, Trump warned he'd increase the Guard presence in places like Portland, Oregon, to quell weekslong protests. "We are telling them right now that we are coming in very soon," Trump said at a press conference at the time. "The National Guard. A lot of very tough people. These are not people that just have to guard the courthouse and save it. These are people who are allowed to go forward and do what they have to do." Earlier that month, Oregon Gov. Kate Brown said state leaders had been hesitant to use Guard members in the first place. "You dont reduce violence by putting soldiers on our streets," Brown told reporters. "Its actually what President Trump wants.'' The incidents damaged civil-military relations, Schake said. After that, the military wanted to be "less visible" domestically, she said. "That's part of the self-correction that was probably overcorrected in advance of [the Jan. 6 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol]," she added. After the Capitol riot, military leaders were questioned over the Pentagon's slow response in sending National Guard troops to reinforce the struggling police presence. A Ronald Reagan Institute survey conducted in February found trust and confidence in the military had declined. Only 56% of Americans said they had a "great deal" of trust in the institution, compared to 70% in 2018. Finding Balance The approach the military must take to future domestic missions to maintain and rebuild trust is complex, the experts said. Like McInnis, Golby said Guard or active-duty personnel can and should help in short-term events when local, civilian organizations are overtaxed by the responsibility. But when "short-term Band-Aids turn into long-term solutions, it creates new problems for the military and normalizes military involvement in civilian tasks," he said. Regardless of mission duration, the DoD needs to communicate clearly and consistently with the public on the domestic issues its involved in, the experts said. If the military is asked to intervene in times of crisis, troops should be easily identifiable, wearing unit patches or insignia that clarify their status, Schake said. Some mistook law enforcement dressed in paramilitary uniforms during the D.C. protests for soldiers, and "that felt incredibly ominous to Americans not to have that kind of accountability." "I think DoD very quickly understood that the American military always wants to be on the side of accountability in domestic support operations," she said. Another good-faith gesture to preserve public trust is limiting military gear given to local law enforcement. Schake said better training and policing will keep the military from "being harassed into circumstances that are damaging to the relationship between our broader society and our military." But trust in the military "is going to decline no matter what," predicted Golby. With drawdowns overseas and the concurrent decline in troops being put in harm's way, "I think there's going to be a natural reset, where people will be more willing to criticize the military," he said. At home, despite the demand for the military to support the COVID-19 response, discomfort with heavy domestic use of the military has been obvious. "I think if we had COVID without Lafayette Square, it would probably be a very positive story, and there'd be a lot more pressure to draw the military into fixing all our domestic problems," Golby said. "But the fact that we did draw the military into some domestic problems, and a lot of people think it didn't go very well, it probably cuts against some of that broader positive impact from the COVID response." Even with "ethical, competent, clear leadership" among senior ranks in the military, deciding how and where troops should be involved in meeting a broad swath of expectations is going to be "incredibly difficult," he said. "It's hard to get the balance right," Schake agreed. "It's a constantly evolving 'right' answer." -- Oriana Pawlyk can be reached at oriana.pawlyk@military.com. Follow her on Twitter at @oriana0214. Related: Veterans, Military Families Could Lead the Way in Making America Civil Again, Groups Say zoe chace From Serial Productions in The New York Times, this is The Improvement Association. Chapter 4. Let Them Pull the Red Wagon. Here we are, August 2019, the eve of a congressional election, the special election, the do-over after the cheating scandal, the one where McCrae Dowless allegedly pulled his illegal absentee ballot shenanigans. After which even the Republicans had agreed, OK, throw out the results, lets try this again, so new congressional election. The candidates this time around are Dan McCready, hes the same Democrat as last time, and then another Dan, Dan Bishop. Hes the new Republican candidate. archived recording Two of the candidates vying to represent the states 9th congressional district. zoe chace Its a televised debate between the two Dans, the one and only debate of the race. And at the end, they do that gimmick where both candidates are allowed to ask each other a question. [background conversation] If youve ever watched a political debate, you know those questions arent really questions. Theyre little speeches, setups to try to stick it to the other guy, make him look bad. To that end you might think Republican Dan Bishop would do his level best to avoid any talk of McCrae Dowless and the rollicking national embarrassment through which his party, the Republican Party, had just dragged the voters of North Carolina, which caused the special election to happen. But no. He goes right there to allegations of election fraud. He says to the Democrat, Dan McCready, never mind McCrae Dowless. I want to talk about someone else. archived recording (dan bishop) McCrae Dowless. But tonight, I want to ask you about Lola Wooten. zoe chace Lola Wooten, shes a campaign worker in Bladen. Key fact here, unlike McCrae, who has 13 indictments, she has zero. You can forget her name, in fact, as soon as were done here. But Republican Dan Bishop is trying some cynical rhetorical gymnastics right now at the 11th hour of the 11th hour with early voting already underway. Check it out. archived recording (dan bishop) She turned in excess of 200 applications for absentee ballots. zoe chace That was perfectly legal at the time, by the way. archived recording (dan bishop) She signed as a witness on the ballot envelopes for many, many people. zoe chace Also legal. archived recording (dan bishop) She was paid by the Bladen County Improvement Association. zoe chace Also legal. But no matter, there it is. The PAC, on TV, associated, baselessly, with election fraud. Dan Bishop keeps going. archived recording (dan bishop) The Bladen County Improvement Association, in turn, was paid by the federal account of the North Carolina Democratic Party. zoe chace Legal. archived recording (dan bishop) And the federal account of the North Carolina Democratic Party was funded by your campaign. zoe chace Also legal. All of it. Yet Dan Bishop wants to know, all gotcha like, what did you do about that, Dan McCready? archived recording (dan bishop) Can you explain what steps you took to ensure that Lola Wooten wasnt harvesting ballots or influencing elderly and infirm people in the completion of their ballot? zoe chace And Democrat Dan McCready gives your basic, Im not going to dignify that with a response response. archived recording (dan mccready) Let me answer this question by sharing my horror that after the largest case of election fraud in recent American history, a fraud that took place in our towns in North Carolina, where zoe chace To me, his answer is notable for what he doesnt go on to say. He doesnt say the Bladen Improvement Association, a Black, get out the vote group, hasnt done anything wrong. And your using their name to attack me over election fraud is not only profoundly ironic, its race baiting. He says nothing like that. This pungent exchange during the debate, for one thing, it perfectly illustrated Horaces constant complaint that unfounded accusations and insinuations about the PAC have been turned into weapons by Republicans. To the point that, out of all the things that a congressional candidate could choose to talk about in his closing argument to voters, the Bladen Improvement Association was the Republicans parting shot. And the Democrat, Dan McCready, well, this wasnt the first time he dodged talking about the PAC. Throughout the race, local reporters who covered the cheating story had been asking McCready, are you working with the Bladen Improvement Association now, or did you ever? And Dan McCready was, like, mm mm, nope. archived recording (dan mccready) Ive not worked with them. archived recording While campaign finance records show he has not donated to them before, we asked Dan McCready if he planned on working with the group for the next election. archived recording (dan mccready) Its not something Ive thought about. I have not really worked with them. zoe chace It sounded like McCready considered the PAC a liability. And it also sounded like he was saying hed never even met those guys, which made Horace really mad, Horace and Cogdell, actually. During the first congressional race, the one that ultimately got thrown out, the PACs relationship to the McCready campaign was the normal stuff. Hes a Democrat. They support Democratic candidates. They endorsed McCready on their sample ballot, mobilized their get out the vote machine for him and for everyone else. But once the allegations of fraud by McCrae Dowless started to get out, members of the PAC started getting calls from Black voters who were upset, who said they thought their votes have been tampered with by McCraes workers. So the PAC members who received those calls, motivated in part to bring down Republican operative McCrae Dowless, they went to some of those voters homes. Told them, hey, this is wrong what happened to you. Its important to speak up. Do you want to write up an affidavit? Some of those signed affidavits ended up central to the state hearings in Raleigh. It was Democrats around the county who did this, not just PAC members. But those affidavits gotten by Bladen County Improvement members, they were key, a big reason why a new election was called, the special election, in which Democrat Dan McCready was given a second shot to win the district. But as the special election approached, McCready ignored the PAC. And I started to hear about it from Horace. A Democrat, trying to run in Bladen County who not only didnt seek an endorsement from the PAC, seemed to be actively avoiding it, like it was toxic. McCready didnt send money to the PAC for get out the vote. He hired his own people from outside to temporarily live and work in Bladen County. And Horace was offended. This wasnt how he was used to being treated. archived recording (horace munn) Once McCready was granted a new election, all of a sudden, he dont want to talk to me. He didnt want to be close to Cogdell. zoe chace Horace says Cogdell told him about this one thing that happened a few months back. This big Democratic gathering of local politicos from across the 9th district to support the McCready campaign archived recording (horace munn) They were getting ready to take a picture of him with Cogdell. He stepped away. zoe chace McCready stepped away and avoided taking a picture with Cogdell, which can be a big deal at local campaign events. And then, according to Horace, McCready wouldnt talk to Cogdell when Cogdell approached him. archived recording (horace munn) Cogdell, he had a conversation about how he could win election in Bladen County. He said, hey, you deal with my campaign person, who was a kid that didnt know anything about Bladen County. All right? When I found out he had treated Cogdell and I found out that he didnt want to put resources here so we can run his campaign here in Bladen County, he didnt want to deal with us, I called him. zoe chace Horace says he spoke to McCready on the phone. archived recording (horace munn) And I told him how appalled I was at what he had done. I said, but I notice how you act as if we are inferior now. But when you wanted a new election, you came to us. And were the reason you have a new election. I said, from this point forward, dont ever deal with me again. [music] zoe chace Horace takes tremendous pride in the voting block the PAC has built. He genuinely believes its hard for Democrats to get elected in this county without it. And now this Democrat, who Horace and the PAC had supported, was helping to stoke allegations against them by deliberately distancing himself from the group, acting like Bladen Improvement was beneath him. So Horace has decided, if Dan McCready doesnt have our back in public, we wont have his in this election. And in this way, without Horace seeing it, the cheating allegations hes been fending off from the outside would worm their way inside the PAC and start causing havoc. From Serial Productions, its The Improvement Association, a true story about election fraud. Im Zoe Chace. archived recording (prentis benston) Good afternoon to everyone. Were going to go ahead and get started. zoe chace Prentis Benston, the former sheriff of Bladen County, calls the Bladen Improvement Associations monthly meeting to order. Were about a week out from the special election and pretty quickly, the agenda turns to elections-related business. Walking in, I feel a wary side-eyedness in the room, like in any group or office where theres been some behind the scenes drama lately, but you havent all been in a room together for a while. And now youre all meeting and looking at each other, like, are we going to talk about whats been going on, or what? [side conversation] The televised debate between the Dans, the congressional candidates, aired last night. So with that hovering over the meeting, Horace takes over. archived recording (horace munn) This special election has turned out to be one of the most unique elections Ive been a part of. zoe chace He has news. The special election is considered tight. And apparently, in these last few weeks, someone from McCreadys campaign has started calling members of the PAC to ask them to help out with the election. archived recording (horace munn) But evidently, whoever is calling, theyre working their way around me. So with that said, Im not sure where we stand right now with this election. I dont know why things are happening the way they happen. Its a situation there, like I say, Ive never experienced before. zoe chace Meaning, Ive never seen a Democrat politician blow us off like this and think they can win in Bladen County. Horace says, speaking just for me personally, as Horace, not as head of the organization, the way I feel archived recording (horace munn) If the individuals out here supporting in this campaign or the one running dont want our support, me personally, I think let them pull the red wagon. zoe chace Let them pull the red wagon. Means, you made your bed. Now lie in it. If someone wants our support, but wont approach us directly because theyre ashamed or embarrassed or whatever, screw them. archived recording (horace munn) I think that this organization has been disrespected. Thats how I feel. zoe chace And with that, Horace hands it over to Cogdell, the storyteller of the two of them. archived recording (michael cogdell) The only thing that I want zoe chace Cogdell starts by saying he wishes the Democrat Dan McCready well and doesnt have a vendetta against anybody. But and it goes from quiet to quiet. As Cogdell picks up speed, his story turns into a one man play, with him acting out the increasingly frantic phone calls hes been getting from the Democrats about getting out the vote for Dan McCready. archived recording (michael cogdell) Im sitting in the house, 11, 12 oclock at night. And somebody called me, Mike, hey, I need your help. I said, what are you talking about? We got to get the vote out. zoe chace This guy is calling Cogdell, like, you know, do your get out the vote program that you guys do for Dan McCready. archived recording (michael cogdell) We got plenty of money for gas and all kind of stuff. I said, what are you talking about? Well, we got some money. You can do some work, if you want to haul people to the polls and do what you need to do. I say, you calling mighty late on this. zoe chace Cogdells, like, uh, no. The election is in about a week. And we havent mobilized at all to help McCready, because you guys didnt want us to do that. If youd given us money for gas stipends and food, wed have people knocking on doors and working the polls. Its a whole machine. We know how to crank up our machine. But the machines not cranked. And were not inclined to crank it for you now. archived recording (michael cogdell) Then I get another phone call. We got plenty of money, man. Dont worry about the money. We can get you gas. We can come out and feed them, do a meal for them. We can do a party for them. We got plenty money. zoe chace Cogdell says he reminded this guy that McCready had chosen to hire other people to get out the vote in Bladen, outsiders. So the Bladen Improvement PAC was, yeah, sitting this one out. archived recording (michael cogdell) So he said, well, what are we going to do? I said, well, the people he gave the money for need to be trying to figure that out. Thats not for me to think out. Because Im not going to lose my sleep and time running at him, starting the next couple of days. But I will encourage people to go vote and tell them to go vote. But as far as me running around, chasing somebody, talking about lining up some gas, and doing this, and doing that they told me they had that all figured out. And I left it just that way. zoe chace Prentis and Horace are nodding their heads. Cogdells wife Barbara is nodding next to them. The purpose of this whole part of the meeting seems to be to rally this room behind him and Horace, to get everyone to sign off on Horace and Cogdells grudge against McCready, and their decision to have the PAC sit on its hands rather than help them. But not everyone here is with Cogdell. Minnie Price, the treasurer of the PAC, breaks in. archived recording (minnie price) Are we, as Democrats in here, are we supporting McCready? archived recording (michael cogdell) I support him. zoe chace The three guys who basically run this meeting, Horace, Cogdell and Prentis, all jump at once to answer the question and, it seems, try to keep her from putting out a whole new perspective on this. But Minnie pushes through that. archived recording (minnie price) Well, I volunteered. I made phone calls. Ive been down there four different times. I made phone calls. And I plan to go back again. archived recording (michael cogdell) Minnie, please archived recording (minnie price) Im not looking for any money. archived recording (michael cogdell) Minnie, please, let me understand this. archived recording (minnie price) Well, we need a Democrat in Washington, D.C., not a Republican. archived recording (horace munn) When the guy talked to me, I said he missed he made a misperception of what he was doing. We know how to get the vote out. And we can get people to go to the polls. archived recording (minnie price) Yeah, but if archived recording (michael cogdell) But wait a minute. Wait a minute. Maam, let me hear let me tell you for a minute. I understand, maam. Go ahead. archived recording (minnie price) Well, I was talking and then he interrupted me. archived recording (michael cogdell) You finish. You finish. archived recording (minnie price) I was talking. He interrupted me. archived recording (michael cogdell) You finish. You finish. archived recording (minnie price) OK. What Im saying is this. Im making phone calls to people to support Dan McCready. And I am not working for any money. Im volunteering. This is my fifth time or being down there making phone calls to people that have not been out to vote. And if Dan McCready said that he does not want to be associated with the Bladen County Improvement, I dont blame him. Because our name is out there. Its in Raleigh. If Im trying to win an election, I dont want to be associated with somebody thats been accused of doing something while Im trying to win a campaign. And we need to, as Democrats, we need to support the Democratic archived recording Hold on. Now archived recording (minnie price) let me finish talking. archived recording Let her finish. archived recording (minnie price) Let me finish talking. zoe chace Theres more interrupting. But Minnie says she wants to make this clear. Were damaged goods right now because of our association with that whole fraud hearing up in Raleigh. Take yourselves out of this. Put your egos aside. Look at the bigger fight. archived recording (minnie price) And I just think that we as an organization, whether we get any money or not from him, that as Democrats that we need to support him. zoe chace Horace responds in a way I think he was hoping not to at the beginning, like, mad. archived recording (horace munn) I solicit funding for this organization to operate. I cannot it takes a budget of about $9,000 to hire workers to do early voting and to hire workers to work the polls every day during elections. This organization cannot fund zoe chace Horace is shouting this budget information at Minnie, the treasurer of the PAC. His leadership is being questioned here. archived recording (horace munn) So zoe chace You think we should help McCready, he says, even though his campaign didnt give us any money for get out the vote operation? Didnt think that was important to shore up that vote here? You think people in this poor county should work for free for Dan McCready, just because this dude is a Democrat? archived recording (minnie price) Im not talking about that, Horace. Im the treasurer. So I know what you do. Im the treasurer. I handle the money. When you get it in, it comes to me. I know. Like I stated before, if he does not want to be associated with Bladen County Improvement, dont worry about it. archived recording (horace munn) So you think its OK for him to not want to be associated with the organization, then come get the members and say, I want you to work with me, but not explain whats the issue? archived recording I think what Miss Minnie is trying to say is that we should vote Democrat. That hes the Democrat candidate. And that we should vote for him. zoe chace Another woman jumps in to try to calm things down. Like, hey, were all Democrats here, right? Were on the same side. But then, that makes Cogdell explode. archived recording (michael cogdell) Yo. Yo. Yo. Wait a minute. Now wait a minute. Youre saying something here that aint making no sense at all. Just because youre a Democrat and you cant deal with what my perspective is, doesnt mean I have to vote for you. archived recording Amen. [interposing voices] zoe chace People who agree with Cogdell start laughing, and yes anding, and it gets kind of chaotic. Someone else says, arent we all Democrats? Cogdells saying, you could be a Democrat and be in the Ku Klux Klan. Doesnt mean I have to vote for you. Thats how Hillary Clinton lost her race in 2016, he says, by just assuming that all the Black people would turn out and vote for her. You cant just support Democrats. Democrats dont necessarily have Black voters best interests in mind. They need to work for our vote, respect us, and deliver on our issues. And thats what the PAC is for, to hold people accountable to the Black voters here. [background conversation] [music] Up until this meeting, I thought the cheating allegations were a problem for the PAC outside this room. I hadnt realized how they could pit everyone inside it against each other, even though the allegations werent true. None of them were indicted or even under investigation. Not long after this, someone abruptly moves to adjourn. And the meeting ends. People leave in a hurry. Theres not some big decision reached, no vote by the group on whether to support McCready, just people storming off to their cars. The one PAC person left after everyones fled to the parking lot is Minnie Price. Shes still fuming about Horace and Cogdell. Shes, like, while these guys are posturing about how the Democratic candidate is ignoring Black people, this Republican candidate, Dan Bishop, is going to get in there and be another vote for Trump. Which, in Minnies view, is, like, really not good for Black people. archived recording (minnie price) We dont need that. And I listened to that debate last night, mm mm. No. And when he brings up something to Dan McCready about Bladen County Improvement Association, no. Hes doing exactly what Trumps want him to do. And hes going to support Trumps agenda. We dont need that. Were going to be back in slavery again. No. Were just celebrating 400 years? Were going to be back there. Were going to be back there with Trump in Washington, D.C. zoe chace She sees Horace and Cogdells whole thing with not supporting McCready as just petty revenge for Cogdells hurt feelings from that picture McCready supposedly wouldnt take. She doesnt buy at all the principled argument that standing back is going to teach Democrats a lesson about taking the Black vote for granted. And she totally gets McCreadys calculation about the PAC, that the PAC is damaged goods. archived recording (minnie price) I cant blame him. I dont blame him at all. If I was running to try to win an election, I wouldnt want to be associated with Bladen County Improvement Association, either. Because our name, the Bladen County Improvement PAC name is in Raleigh. It is out there. And people got that in their mind, that we did something wrong. Even though we did not do anything, they didnt find anything wrong that we did, our name is out there. zoe chace It turns out Minnie has much bigger issues with Horace and Cogdell than the McCready thing. Which should worry Horace and Cogdell, because Minnie, with her big leather briefcase and her ever present notebook, is a political force in Bladen County, all on her own, separate from the PAC. Shes 77-years-old, secretary of the local NAACP chapter, and shes a very busy person. She goes to every town meeting, every county commission meeting, every board of education meeting. She runs this nonprofit. And she founded this intense charter school, the one and only public military charter school in the state. Thats where were meeting, actually, in that school building. Occasionally, a bugle blurts out, telling cadets to change classes. Minnie knows people in Bladen. She has influence. And Minnie will say how she feels about something or someone. And shes been mad at Horace, she tells me. We talked about it a little later. This is what she said to him not long before that meeting. archived recording (minnie price) I told him, you are a dictator. zoe chace Well, the group of them, Horace, Cogdell, Prentis and their buddy, Arthur Bullock, another county commissioner. archived recording (minnie price) They have this controlling thing, Horace and Cogdell. They want to control everything. When you in a meeting, you dont want to be the one that people think you always causing a problem about something. But it just got to the point where we just got fed up with sitting here with stuff being shoved down our throats. zoe chace The McCready thing is just the latest in a string of decisions that Minnie felt the members had no real say in. It was her breaking point. Her view for the last few years is that the four of those guys have been treating the PAC like their fiefdom. The members are basically foot soldiers that the guys expect will do as theyre told. Minnie says it seems to her that the four of them get together before Bladen Improvement meetings and decide what the Bladen Improvement will do, whom it will support, whom it will never support, who needs to wait their turn. The strategy stuff, like, were not doing absentee ballots this year, or we are. The way Minnie describes it, when she joined the organization, it felt more connected to the community, more about uplift. She says the PAC would educate voters. It would do outreach to inform Black people in Bladen County who the candidates were, who might have their best interests at heart. Horace and Cogdell, she thinks, have curved inward, just talk to each other about whats in the best interests of Black voters and then try to steamroll everyone else into going along. zoe chace In the beginning, 15 years ago, you liked the idea of the PAC. minnie price It was great. zoe chace Tell me. Tell me about that part. minnie price It was a different set of people. Horace was not the president. His daddy used to be involved. And there are people who are saying that if his daddy only knew what he was doing back here now, hed be turning over in his grave. He wouldnt like it at all. Because he was different. He was not like Horace. zoe chace Different how? minnie price Nicer. He was, you know, help people. zoe chace I ran Minnies complaints past Horace. He wasnt that bothered by them. Said she was just blowing off steam. I will say, Horace does help people. Hell do unasked for favors. Hes a generous neighbor. But anyway, Minnies fed up. Shes gotten to the point where shes questioning the PACs core goal of a unified Black vote if unity is just code for do whatever Horace says. zoe chace Do you think that its possible that the PAC, the PACs power is in how many people vote along the same lines. The PACs powers that sample ballot. minnie price Yeah. zoe chace Do you think that, with this kind of division, that the PAC could lose its power. minnie price I think so. And I think its losing its power. I think so. And its really because of Horace. I think it is because of Horace and the way that he does things. I think so. Yeah. zoe chace Do you think there will be some kind of a loss to this county if this PAC falls apart? minnie price No. I dont. zoe chace Why not? [bugle playing] minnie price Because a lot of people dont understand it, anyway. A lot of people dont understand what the PAC is anyway and what they are doing. zoe chace But you do. minnie price I understand. Yeah, I do. zoe chace I wanted to know if Minnie minded, basically, that by criticizing the PAC or not supporting the PAC, shed actually be helping the white political interests around here, too. zoe chace I think some white people are scared of the PAC because of Black political power. minnie price Yeah. They are. Thats why they tried to make that report, to try to find something against the PAC. Thats what they did it for. But they didnt find anything wrong. zoe chace She means the accusations against the PAC at the state hearing. zoe chace Well, if the PAC falls apart, though, I mean, those white people will be happy. minnie price They will be. They will be. Because they want it they want it to fall apart. zoe chace Well, how does that make you feel? minnie price You know, it doesnt make me feel bad. It really doesnt. It doesnt make me feel bad. Because maybe itll make the people thats involved in it think about what they did, think about what they are doing, to do things different. zoe chace Minnie, after years of frustration, thinks that if the Bladen Improvement PAC loses some power, well, so be it. Might be good. Maybe thatll teach Horace and those guys a lesson. The actual day of the do over election, the special election to elect a new Congressman in Bladens district, it was pretty quiet, sunny, breezy, slow. The results were in early. And it wasnt close. archived recording (tanya rivera) Hello, everyone. Im Tanya Rivera. Thank you for joining us. Republican Dan Bishop has won North Carolinas special election. Bishop will now represent the states 9th congressional district. This red district will remain in GOP hands. zoe chace Democrat Dan McCready lost to the Republican, Dan Bishop. And there were no signs of election fraud this time. archived recording (tanya rivera) President Trump held a rally for Bishop the night before the election. Bishop linked horace munn You know what? zoe chace Hang on. Let me get my phone ready. zoe chace Horace called me after results were in. I was driving. zoe chace Tell the truth. Are you a little bit excited that Dan McCready lost? horace munn Well, I dont want to say Im not going to say Im excited. I cant use that word. zoe chace OK. horace munn Theres another word I could use. I feel vindicated. zoe chace Yeah. zoe chace Vindicated. Horace has a pretty clear analysis for why McCready lost. horace munn What he did was he distanced himself from the Blacks, he was willing to take a chance on losing a few Black votes to get a few white votes. But they always think the Blacks, well, they gonna go along. zoe chace Theyll just take you for granted? zoe chace Its not like Horace wanted a Republican to win the seat. But then, again, it is kind of what Horace wanted. He says to me, am I gloating? horace munn Am I gloating? zoe chace Yeah, are you? horace munn Hm. I dont know. But am I upset about the election? No. [laughs] No. Im not. And the next person from Bladen County that want to disrespect people, the same thing will happen. Theyre not going to get the vote. [turn signal clicking] I would rather lose the battle and win the war. zoe chace The battle is just a congressional seat. The war is whether those politicians are listening to and accountable to Black voters. And the way that happens in Bladen County, thats through the Bladen Improvement PAC and its voting bloc. Thats the lesson Horace thinks McCready learned this election. The hard way, hed say. horace munn We refuse to be compromised by anyone. We refuse. Yeah. Yeah. Im fully satisfied with the election. And hey, you know, sometimes you win. Sometimes you lose. But sometimes, youre made a fool. [laughter] zoe chace Many months later, I spoke to Dan McCready. He admitted, yes, he distanced himself from the PAC. I had to, he said. It didnt look good because of all these public accusations. I was advised, even by people in Bladen, not to work with the Bladen Improvement PAC. McCready said he didnt remember an angry call with Horace, when Horace told him never to reach out to him again. He was upset to hear, now, that members of the PAC were mad at him. Did the PACs lack of support cost him the election, though? McCready didnt think so. In the special election, McCready lost by 4,000 votes. Its very hard to imagine the PAC, who only operate in Bladen County, conquering that margin. But the math doesnt really matter, not here, in terms of how the results of this election still exploded things in Bladen County. There were Black Democrats who were really mad about how Horace and Cogdell handled the Dan McCready race. Minnie and a group of seven or eight others, mainly women, quit the PAC after that meeting where they got in a fight. But Horace and Cogdell werent chagrined by that at all, the opposite. For them, if the feeling was out there that because they stayed out of the race, McCready lost, good. That proves their point that McCready shouldnt take the Black vote for granted. They felt the McCready result confirmed how well they knew their county and knew the voters they were trying to lead, that they were on the right track, basically. And so they turned their attention to their next political fight, to try something theyd never tried before, a pretty major power shift if they could pull it off. If anyone could pull it off, it would be these two. That was their attitude. After proclaiming that McCready had taken the Black vote for granted, Horace and Cogdell walked right into that same trap. Thats after the break. Now Minnie Prices position on Horace and Cogdell is theyre bullies and theyre out of touch. Horace and Cogdell, of course, feel like, no. They are the ones who get it, in a place where some people, like Minnie, do not understand how to build Black political power. Theyre putting their skills to the test in this little petri dish of an election that hits just two months after the McCready race was over and done. Horace and Cogdell are working to change the leadership of the county seat, Elizabethtown. Three seats on the Elizabethtown council are up for grabs. This isnt about the county, just one town inside the county. And I only understood why Cogdell in particular would choose to invest in whats actually a very tiny local race when he decided to drive me around Elizabethtown one day. michael cogdell Let me see what time it is. I got come on. Im going to ride you around. Get in the car. Im going to ride you around. zoe chace Yeah. Are you sure? michael cogdell Im going to show you what Im talking about right quick. zoe chace OK. zoe chace Bladens little towns are mostly a highway runs through, alongside is a gas station, a Hardees, maybe a peanut plant, a dollar store, and then youre out of town America, basically. But Elizabethtown is the county seat thats got the most going on. Around 3,800 people live here. Its downtown is a big T, not just the one road running through. I can sum up Cogdells tour of Elizabethtown pretty quickly. Its about who owns what. horace munn All right. Here we go. zoe chace Four white families own the major commercial plats in Elizabethtown, the Greens, the Crosses, the Clarks and the Campbells. horace munn All of this stuff you see right here, the Campbells own all that, that building, that building, that block right there. zoe chace The Campbells own this block? horace munn All these businesses that you see right here. zoe chace We head down Poplar Street, one of the two main streets. A handful of older businesses, then KFC, Taco Bell, Bojangles, McDonalds and then Giorgios, the only real restaurant to speak of where you can actually get a drink. michael cogdell This right here is owned by the Clarks, everything on both sides of the street. zoe chace Its only five square miles, Elizabethtown, and it takes less than five minutes for Cogdell to sweep his hand over it. You go down and around, out towards the bypass, which is actually named after a Campbell and were at the other Main Street, Broad Street. michael cogdell Now you look at this all this stuff inside this here, where Walmart at, and all we cross over there, and the restaurants in over there, that belong to the Greens. zoe chace Cogdell says the four families, theyve owned the land for years. Which is his main point. By owning much of the commercial property in Elizabethtown, these four white families have a lot of control over the commercial economy, what businesses get to come downtown, what kind of jobs are available. Meanwhile, in the Black part of town, a neighborhood called Newtown, almost none of the land is zoned commercial, so people cant open businesses. Theres not much investment, generally. Cogdells, like, take a look at these messed up roads. Thats how you know Black people live over here. Horace and Cogdells vision for the election is simple. Get Black people to vote, a lot more than usual. And then, change the zoning ordinances in Elizabethtown Black-owned, thriving businesses, serving Black customers in the Black part of town. Cogdell believes its possible because of how many Black people could be voting here. michael cogdell All this is Black district. Everything through heres Black. zoe chace How many whats the ratio of Black to white people in Elizabethtown? michael cogdell Theres more Black registered voters in Elizabethtown than there is white. Its not much, but its more Black than white. zoe chace I just didnt know it was a majority Black town. michael cogdell Yeah. Majority of the registered voters, theres more registered voters Black than there is white. zoe chace But the local, like, the mayor and stuff, are they white? michael cogdell All white. And its a seven member board, six members and the mayor. Five of them are white and two are Black. I mean, it should be the very reverse, if you voted along demographics. zoe chace Its just not enough people are voting? michael cogdell They just wont vote. They dont deal with a municipal election. Now you get most of the times you move people in the areas during general election, presidential elections. They dont usually move on municipal election. zoe chace So this is their big plan. Flip the town council. There are two Black members on the town council already. And three Black women have declared their candidacy, running against three white incumbents. The women are all new to politics. So Horace and Cogdell are very involved in their campaigns. The PAC, the organization, isnt even working on this as a group, just Horace and Cogdell on their own. If the women win, Black people will finally have the majority power somewhere in Bladen County. And five days before the Elizabethtown council election michael cogdell Zoe! zoe chace How are you doing? zoe chace During early voting, I meet up with Cogdell and Horace at a small campaign event. Theyve set up a table and a tent. And some of the candidates are sitting around. Its a barbecue. Cogdells enormous smoker is here. Its on wheels and attaches to the back of Cogdells truck. You can smoke the meat when youre driving which, of course, he has. I drove up in a truck, a rental. And Cogdell teases me when I walk over. Calls me a redneck. Says all I need is a gun rack on the back. Cogdells a wisecracker. He likes to poke. And with me, its usually related to being the only white person around, which always manages to tongue tie me. He launches right into a joke about lynching. michael cogdell You get Horace, and you can get killed going back down East Arcadia. Every time you see him, hes standing here, talking to a white woman. They going to have him hanging up in the tree. Youre going to be doing the story, Black Man Lynched at East Arcadia. horace munn And Zoes going to say, I told you you need to watch yourself. [laughter] michael cogdell Got a modern day lynching. Donald Trump will say, you got to lynch. zoe chace This is some Southern jokes. [laughter] But I dont like it. zoe chace Hes doing it for Horace, to make him laugh. Horace can be stiff, withdrawn. But now with Cogdell, hes easily delighted. Hes energized. I can see how maybe they didnt even mean to start making decisions outside the PAC together. They just talk so much and big each other up so much. horace munn Lord. zoe chace Theyre excited about this election plan. Cogdell tells me, when he first talked to Horace about backing these women for town council, he pitched it like, look at Ferguson, Missouri, where Michael Brown was shot. Horace and Cogdell describe to me how, after that happened, the Black citizens of Ferguson looked around. Like, were the majority here. But michael cogdell All the elected officials were white. And they would run the court system, legal system, police system, the county system. And they was out it was two to one Blacks to every white. So what Ferguson has done now, they got a Black mayor, they got a Black chief of police, a Black attorney everything. They found out the power was in the vote. horace munn They did the same thing were doing right now. Basically, educate people on the importance of their vote. michael cogdell Its important to go vote. zoe chace These two are trying to pull what they see as a Ferguson in Elizabethtown. Turn out Black voters, and flip the leadership from white to Black. This is the early voting period. And this whole campaign event is basically a place to eat and hang out while keeping track of turnout. Horace and Cogdells assumption is Black voters will vote for the Black candidates and white voters will vote for the white incumbents. Increase the number of Black voters by even a bit over the last election, and the women can win. So all day, Horace and Cogdell are taking calls and doing math. How many votes for us and how many votes for them? michael cogdell Do you think you can give us a rough scenario? zoe chace Their friend Arthur, whos been over at the Board of Elections, comes back to the barbecue with the latest round of numbers, public information. Reports on whos voted early already. arthur I got three more pages to go through. zoe chace Arthur sits and goes over the list of voters, trying to estimate how many Black people versus how many white people have voted so far. Sort of crowdsourcing it, with people sitting around a table under a tent, chatting about who on the list is probably Black, whos probably white, based on who lives where. arthur What white people live at 800 Peanut Road? speaker You got the Johnsons on Peanut Road. arthur Peanut Road, not Peanut Plant Road, Peanut Road. speaker Whats the difference? arthur Peanut Plant and Peanuts different. speaker Whats the difference? arthur Peanut Road in town. Peanut Plant Road in the county. speaker Theyre on the Peanut Plant Road. arthur Theyre on Plant Peanut Road. speaker Havent seen you in a while. How you been? [chatter] zoe chace If this election was a test of their skills, election night did not look good. Horace, Prentis, Arthur and the three women who are running for town council are sitting in the Board of Elections building watching a big computer screen at the front of the room. The numbers keep going in the wrong direction. The women lose by a lot. Dwight Sheppard, Democratic poll watcher, guy who makes everything thats going on in elections in Bladen his business, hes in the back of the room watching the returns. So I ask him what hes seeing. He whispers. He doesnt want to be overheard. dwight shepard I can tell you that some of the people they thought were going to vote for those three ladies didnt vote for them. zoe chace Some of the people they thought were going to vote for those three ladies didnt vote for them, hes saying. When I ask him why, he says I really should go talk to Miss Minnie, meaning Minnie Price, the former PAC treasurer who argued with Horace and Cogdell and then quit. dwight sheppard Miss Minnie could answer that question better than I can. zoe chace OK. Ill ask her. dwight sheppard Shell help you. zoe chace Uh huh. zoe chace Minnie is sitting in the very front row by herself, her own little island. Shes taking notes on the results in a little notebook. zoe chace So you have a theory about what happened here? minnie price Hm? zoe chace Do you have a theory about what happened here? minnie price Do I have a theory? zoe chace Yeah. [laughs] minnie price No. Im just glad it happened this way. zoe chace Why? minnie price Because. People that was running was running for the wrong reasons. And take that off. zoe chace She motions for me to stop recording. Minnie has a few thoughts she doesnt want to say tonight, but shes told them to me on the record since. First, she thinks Cogdells redevelopment vision is a pipe dream. Theres never going to be a thriving Black downtown like there was when we grew up, she said to me. What we need to do is give Black children here the skills and education they need to leave this place. It makes her mad the way he talks, like hes selling the voters a bill of goods. But also, he just makes her really mad. Her main critique of what happened here, though, she just didnt think the three women were qualified to run. They werent involved in stuff, she says. They almost never went to town council meetings or anything. Minnie goes to almost all of them. They had no clear agenda. They didnt campaign much. Probably because they were new to it. But I would say, most importantly, she thought they were being used by Cogdell and Horace as just Black faces on the town council who they could control. Minnies take makes sense to me. I interviewed two of the women running. They were really nice and known in the community. One of them hosts a great gospel show on local radio. And they all definitely wanted change in Etown. But they seemed really green. And it really did seem to me like it was Cogdells vision that was driving this whole thing forward, way more than the candidates. Some people in Etown felt like something off was going on, like Horace and Cogdell were interlopers, bigfooting into an election where they didnt belong. Horace, for example, lives half an hour away from Etown. Cogdell lives just outside the city limits. Why were they so deep in the mix? archived recording (michael cogdell) of people that look like us that were minorities looking like you guys. You can do the zoe chace I stopped by Cogdells office a few blocks away. He and Horace and the candidates and some others are there. Horace and Cogdell seemed legit taken aback. Cogdell is seated on a stool in front of the group, addressing everybody like a professor and a lecturer. As he puts it to the room, we didnt lose because of white voters. It was people that look like us that took us out. archived recording (michael cogdell) And it wasnt them. It was us. Because I was standing there. It wasnt dont get mad with them. It was us. [chatter] zoe chace Wait, Horace. Can I tape this? horace munn You can tape it. zoe chace OK. zoe chace I called Horace the next day on my ride home from the airport to see how he explained this loss to himself. More Black voters did vote in the municipal election this time. But the Black candidates hed backed still lost. Horace had a few explanations for this. Partly, he thought, this loss was a backlash over Dan McCreadys loss. Black voters who are mad at him and Cogdell for not helping a Democrat beat a Republican. They voted for the white candidates. Horace also blames the results on class divisions among Black people. He says there are upper class Black people, sometimes he calls them the elites, who are fine working with the white political establishment in town, who gain from it, and who voted accordingly. And Horace suggested one other reason for what happened, a reason that quite frankly struck me as pretty wild. In light of all the accusations of vote buying that have been aimed at the PAC, he thinks some voters were getting free stuff from one of the white candidates. Essentially, they were bought off. horace munn to win. And I dont know for sure, but Im willing to bet you that some of them Black people getting free stuff that you can never imagine. zoe chace You think? horace munn Yeah. Give me your vote. Get what you want. I cant prove it. zoe chace OK. horace munn^ But zoe chace Of course, Horace cant prove any such thing. Just like in myriad elections before it, theres no proof anyone was buying votes in the municipal election. I also had a theory for why Black voters in Bladen may not have voted the way Horace expected them to vote. I broached it with him, gingerly. zoe chace I just think, like, maybe the Black voters its, like, you know, its like weve talked about before. You know, everybodys not the same. They dont see it all the same way. You know, they dont just have to be bought off to see it different from you. They might just actually see it different. horace munn Well, you dont have to be bought off to see it. Some are bought off. Others are reaping the benefit. If you can reap the benefit of something for yourself and not care about the community, then same thing. Youve sold your soul. zoe chace He doubled down. I did, too. zoe chace But isnt it possible they could have just wanted something different from what you wanted? horace munn I dont think so. How can you how can you live in a community thats destitute, nothings coming in, all your buildings and your community are dilapidated, no fund is coming to the community. Theyre all spent in the white area, nothing in the Black area. So how can it be? What is it? Do you think the Blacks just vote to say I want to be poor and live in a poor area without any development and I want to support the whites because they are right? Thats bullshit. Its not true. Its unfounded. Its something else. Think about it. Open your mind up and look at the whole picture. zoe chace Its always zero sum with Horace when it comes to politics. Ive learned that. If youre not with him, youre against him. And if youre against him, youre wrong. But this is more than that. What Horace is trying to get me to see, the whole picture, as he says, its his understanding of not just this one election, but everything that goes on in Bladen. Whether its white politicians benefiting from Black people divided by class, or white people trading goods for Black votes, theres a grand, unifying explanation for all of it. And Horace believes hes the one who sees it all, like Neo in The Matrix. But what if you dont see things the way Horace does? And youre just as determined as he is? And youre influential and have a lot of connections and think its time for new leadership in Bladen? Well, then youd be Minnie Price. archived recording (minnie price) If its going to help, I dont care if I triple split the Black vote. Why does he think that he could be the only Black running for something? zoe chace MINNEAPOLIS (AP) A friend of George Floyd who was with him the night he died won't testify at the trial of the former Minneapolis police officer charged in his death, the judge overseeing the case ruled Wednesday. Derek Chauvin's defense attorney wanted to call Morries Hall to testify in an effort to shift blame for the death to Floyd himself, for his use of illicit drugs and other health problems. But Hall said Wednesday he would refuse to answer any questions, invoking his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination. I'm fearful of criminal charges going forward, he told the judge. His attorney, Adrienne Cousins, said there was no way Hall could answer even a narrowly tailored set of questions without risking exposure to third-degree murder and drug charges. Hennepin County Judge Peter Cahill agreed. He said during earlier proceedings that he thought Hall might be able to answer limited questions about Floyd's behavior that night without incriminating himself. But he said he found Cousins' arguments persuasive and quashed the subpoena. Heres a look at Hall's significance in the case. HOW WAS HALL TIED TO FLOYD? Just before the fatal confrontation on May 25, video and other evidence presented in Chauvins case establishes that Hall was a passenger in an SUV parked outside Cup Foods with Floyd at the wheel. After Floyd was removed from the SUV and handcuffed, officers questioned Hall and a woman who was also with them. The defense has said the officers werent able to fully question Hall at the scene because they were focused on arresting Floyd, but Hall did speak with investigators later. WHAT WAS THE AIM OF THE DEFENSE? Its common at murder trials for defense attorneys to offer alternative theories about how victims died, and attorney Eric Nelson clearly thought Hall could help them raise reasonable doubt in the jurors' minds. Nelson mentioned Hall in his opening statement as someone who could provide testimony to show that illegal drugs and underlying health conditions caused Floyds death. Defense filings said Hall told investigators he suspected Floyd was under the influence of drugs that day because he suddenly fell asleep in the drivers seat before officers approached. WHAT WAS THE POSITION OF PROSECUTORS ON HALL TESTIFYING? Prosecutors refused to grant Hall immunity from future charges, which effectively blocked the defense from calling a witness who presumably wouldn't have helped their case. And they questioned the value of Hall testifying if he was going to invoke his right against self-incrimination to every substantive question. What prosecutors didn't want was the defense asking Hall whether he gave Floyd drugs. The state doesnt want Hall up on the stand with the defense having a field day asking questions he wont answer, and jurors assuming he is not answering because the answer is yes, said Mike Brandt, a Minnesota defense attorney who has been closely following the trial. WHAT DID HALL'S LAWYER SAY? Cousins told Cahill that Hall couldnt answer any of the defenses proposed questions because he couldn't afford to place himself in the SUV that night and risk exposing himself to constructive possession charges. She pointed out that the vehicle was searched twice and that drugs were recovered both times. The state also could potentially charge him with third-degree murder under a provision that applies for drug overdoses, she said. Lets say Mr. Chauvin is then acquitted. He (Hall) has now given the state, on a silver platter, testimony to use against him in a third-degree murder charge, Cousins said. WAS HALLS TESTIMONY THAT IMPORTANT? Probably not. The jurors already knew Floyd had fentanyl and methamphetamine in his system when he died and that he had a history of drug use. But Nelson has rarely passed up chances to remind them. Floyds girlfriend, Courteney Ross, testified that she and Floyd struggled with addiction. She said she didn't like Hall and that she believed he had provided drugs to Floyd in the past. WASHINGTON, April 15, 2021 -- Some snake species slither across the ground, while others climb trees, dive through sand or glide across water. Today, scientists report that the surface chemistry of snake scales varies among species that negotiate these different terrains. The findings could have implications for designing durable materials, as well as robots that mimic snake locomotion to cross surfaces that would otherwise be impassable. The researchers will present their results today at the spring meeting of the American Chemical Society (ACS). ACS Spring 2021 is being held online April 5-30. Live sessions will be hosted April 5-16, and on-demand and networking content will continue through April 30. The meeting features nearly 9,000 presentations on a wide range of science topics. The research began as a collaboration with Woodland Park Zoo in Seattle, explains Tobias Weidner, Ph.D., the project's principal investigator. One of the zoo's biologists told Weidner that not much was known about the chemistry of snake surfaces. "Biologists typically don't have techniques that can identify molecules on the outermost layer of a surface such as a snake scale," he says. "But I'm a chemist -- a surface scientist -- so I felt I could add something to the picture with my lab's methods." In that initial project, the researchers discovered that land snakes are covered with a lipid layer. This oily layer is so thin -- a mere one or two nanometers -- that no one had noticed it before. The team also found that the molecules in this layer are disorganized on the snake's back scales but highly organized and densely packed on belly scales, an arrangement that provides lubrication and protection against wear. "Some people are afraid of snakes because they think they're slimy, but biologists tell them snakes aren't slimy; they're dry to the touch," Weidner says. "That's true, but it's also not true because at the nanoscale we found they actually are greasy and slimy, though you can't feel it. They're 'nanoslimy.'" In the new study, the team wanted to find out if this nanoslimy surface chemistry differs in species adapted to various habitats, says Mette H. Rasmussen, a graduate student who is presenting the latest findings at the meeting. Both Weidner and Rasmussen are at Aarhus University in Denmark. Working with recently shed skins, Rasmussen compared the surface chemistry of ground, tree and sand snakes. She used laser spectroscopy and an electron microscopy technique that probes the chemistry of the surface by knocking electrons out of it with X-rays. The project was a collaboration with Joe Baio, Ph.D., at Oregon State University; Stanislav Gorb, Ph.D., at Kiel University and researchers at the U.S. National Institute of Standards and Technology. Rasmussen found that the tree snake has a layer of ordered lipid molecules on its belly, just like the ground snake. But the sand snake, which dives through sand, has an ordered lipid layer on both its front and back. "From a snake's point of view, it makes sense," she says. "You would like to have this friction reduction and wear resistance on both sides if you're surrounded by your environment instead of only moving across it." Next, the researchers want to find out where the lipids come from and to look at variations across other snake species, including those that live in water. They would also like to identify the lipids, though Weidner suspects the chemical makeup of the lipid layer is less important than the organization and density of the lipid molecules it contains. The work could have broad applications. "A snake's slithering locomotion requires constant contact with the surface it's crossing, which poses stringent requirements for friction, wear and mechanical stability," Rasmussen says. Learning how snakes maintain the integrity of their skin when encountering sharp rocks, hot sand and other challenges could help in the design of more durable materials. In addition, the researchers say, multiple groups are developing robots that mimic a snake's slithering or sidewinding locomotion and -- unlike robots with wheels -- can therefore negotiate difficult terrain such as steep, sandy slopes. These groups have recently begun taking into account the microstructure of snake scales, Rasmussen notes, but scales' surface chemistry is also critical to their performance. Bringing these fields together could one day lead to snakelike robots capable of helping in rescue operations or freeing a Mars rover stuck in sand, she says. ### A press conference on this topic will be held Thursday, April 15, at 11 a.m. Eastern time online at http://www. acs. org/ acsspring2021conferences . The researchers acknowledge support and funding from the Independent Research Fund Denmark and the National Science Foundation. The American Chemical Society (ACS) is a nonprofit organization chartered by the U.S. Congress. ACS' mission is to advance the broader chemistry enterprise and its practitioners for the benefit of Earth and its people. The Society is a global leader in providing access to chemistry-related information and research through its multiple research solutions, peer-reviewed journals, scientific conferences, eBooks and weekly news periodical Chemical & Engineering News. ACS journals are among the most cited, most trusted and most read within the scientific literature; however, ACS itself does not conduct chemical research. As a specialist in scientific information solutions (including SciFinder and STN), its CAS division powers global research, discovery and innovation. ACS' main offices are in Washington, D.C., and Columbus, Ohio. To automatically receive news releases from the American Chemical Society, contact newsroom@acs.org. Note to journalists: Please report that this research was presented at a meeting of the American Chemical Society. Follow us: Twitter | Facebook Title The surface chemistry of snake slithering locomotion Abstract Snake slithering locomotion across different environments and terrains requires constant contact to the surface which poses stringent requirements for friction, wear and mechanical stability. Recent attempts at developing robots mimicking the different gaits of snake to negotiate challenging terrain have been taking into account the microstructure of snake scales. However, the chemistry of snake scale surfaces, which can have tremendous implications for the mechanical properties when in contact with the terrain surfaces, is severely understudied. This information can be provide valuable input for material scientists designing new materials. We have recently reported that a nanometer thin ordered lipid layer is covering the ventral scales of the land snake Lampropeltis californiae, reducing friction and giving protection against mechanical wear (doi.org/10.1098/rsif.2015.0817). To study in how far the surface chemistry of snake scales is adapted to different habitats, we investigate how and if the surface chemistry of snake scales varies across different species. Here we studied the surface chemistry of the different snakes adapted to different habitats: Epicrates cenchria, Gongylophis colubrinus, and Lampropeltis californiae. Utilizing vibrational sum frequency generation (SFG) spectroscopy and near edge X-ray absorption fine structure (NEXAFS) imaging we specifically studied the surface molecular structure and the order on the outermost nanometers of the scale tissue. SFG and NEXAFS data together showed the outermost scale surfaces were defined by lipids and proteins. Both similarities and variations across habitats were observed, thus indicating that the habitat of the snake directly influences the surface chemistry of the scales. (Natural News) Michigans efforts to vaccinate its way out of another Wuhan coronavirus (Covid-19) spike are failing miserably as a spate of new cases is being reported throughout the state. Despite widespread mask-wearing and Chinese virus vaccination, Michigan is seeing some of the worst numbers since last spring, prompting Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) head Rochelle Walensky to call on Gov. Gretchen Whitmer to close things down once again. Even though lockdowns never worked in the first place and are unenforceable, Walensky wants Michiganders to remain imprisoned forever as a final solution to the problem of the Kung Flu. According to left-wing media outlets, Michigans average daily case count has skyrocketed 700 percent since February, which is probably due to the states mass vaccination efforts though the fake news will never report this. When you have an acute situation, an extraordinary number of cases like we have in Michigan, the answer is not necessarily to give vaccines in fact, we know the vaccine will have a delayed response, Walensky is quoted as saying. The answer to that is to really close things down, to go back to our basics, to go back to where we were last spring, last summer to flatten the curve, to decrease contact with one another, to test to the extent that we have available, to contact trace. In other words, forced cultural, societal and economic suicide is Walenskys final solution to the Chinese Virus, which will apparently never go away until Americans go away. If we tried to vaccinate our way out of what is happening in Michigan, we would be disappointed that it took so long for the vaccine to work, to actually have the impact, Walensky added. Michigan wants more Chinese needles to mass inject into residents Health officials in Michigan, however, are taking the vaccine approach by calling on Resident Biden to increase the injection supply to the state. By plunging more needles into Michiganders arms, the government hopes to eliminate all infections. On Monday, the White House indicated plans to send additional therapeutic treatments to Michigan. White House coronavirus adviser Andy Slavitt told reporters that the Biden regime will work hard to deliver even more than the full amount of the injections to Michigan to eradicate the plague, also known as the states vaccine-compliant population. We have to remember the fact that in the next two to six weeks, the variants that weve seen in Michigan, those variants are also present in other states, Slavitt is quoted as saying. So our ability to vaccinate people quickly (in) each of those states rather than taking vaccines and shifting it to playing Whack-a-Mole isnt the strategy that public health leaders and scientists have laid out. Whitmer is desperately trying to obtain more Chinese Virus injections for her state, reports claim, but to no avail. Hunters dad and his team of traitors want a total lockdown for Michigan in order to cure the disease. Slavitt says 24 million doses of Johnson & Johnsons (J&J) injection are on track to be delivered to Michigan in April, despite mounting cases of the jab causing deadly blood clots in recipients. If all goes as planned, J&J will manufacture the experimental drugs at a Baltimore vaccine production plant owned by contract manufacturer Emergent BioSciences Inc. J&J has faced delays on vaccine shipments because of challenges at its Emergent plant, which ruined 15 million doses in recent weeks due to manufacturing error, reported Reuters. To keep up with the latest news about the never-ending scourge of government tyranny with regards to the Wuhan coronavirus (Covid-19), visit Pandemic.news. Sources for this article include: Axios.com NaturalNews.com Reuters.com It said that the deadly encounter had begun on Monday afternoon when Knoxville police officers received a report that a student was possibly armed with a gun. When officers confronted Anthony in a restroom, a struggle ensued and his gun was fired, according to the bureau, which said that two bullets had been fired at him. It was not immediately clear which of the officers had fired the shots at the teenager or how many bullets had struck him. Efforts to reach his family on Wednesday night were not immediately successful. A spokeswoman for the bureau referred further questions to the Office of the District Attorney General for Knox County, which did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Wednesday night. Charme P. Allen, the district attorney general, has faced pressure, from people including Indya Kincannon, the Knoxville mayor, to release body camera footage from the officers who were involved in the encounter. I hear and feel the frustration, pain and anguish as we grapple with the tragic shooting inside Austin-East High School, Ms. Kincannon said Wednesday on Twitter. I support releasing any incident videos to the media & public as soon as it is legally allowed. Ms. Kincannon said there were complications over the release of the body camera footage because it had been taken inside a school and involved a minor. She said that Ms. Allen had declined requests to make the footage public. General Allen explained that she made this decision in order to maintain the integrity of the on-going investigation and to protect the constitutional rights of anyone who might be charged as a result of this investigation, she said. I will continue to push for transparency and communication as this investigation continues. The Biden administration's surprise announcement of an unconditional troop withdrawal from by September 11 appears to strip the Taliban and the Afghan government of considerable leverage and could ramp up pressure on them to reach a peace deal. The Taliban and Afghan government can no longer hold the US hostage - the Taliban with escalating violence and the Afghan president with dragging his feet on a power-sharing deal with the insurgents that doesn't include him as president - because Washington made it clear that US troops are leaving, no matter what. Still, there are growing fears that will collapse into worsening chaos, brutal civil war, or even a takeover by the Taliban once the Americans are gone - opening a new chapter in the constant war that has lasted for decades. Already, violence and seemingly random attacks on civilians have surged since the Trump administration reached a deal with the Taliban in February 2020 that had committed Washington to withdraw by May 1. More than 1,700 civilians were killed or wounded in attacks the first three months of this year, up 23 per cent from the same period last year, according to the UN Assistance Mission in On Wednesday, the Biden administration set a new timetable. It said it would begin pulling out its remaining 3,500 troops on May 1 and complete the pullout at the latest by September 11 - the 20th anniversary of the al-Qaida terror attack on the US that had triggered the US-led invasion of Afghanistan. NATO announced it would follow the same timetable for withdrawing nearly 10,000 troops. In leaving, Washington has calculated that it can manage its chief security interest - ensuring Afghanistan doesn't become a base for terror attacks on the - from a distance. Still, it is hoping to leave a country with a chance at peace. The US is pressing the Taliban and the Afghan government to reach a peace agreement during an April 24-May 4 conference in Turkey. At the moment, it's not even sure the Taliban will attend. In response to the new withdrawal timeline, the Taliban said they won't attend any conference on Afghanistan's future while foreign forces are still in the country. A spokesman, Zabihullah Mujahed, said that if the original May 1 deadline is not met, problems will be compounded." Still, he did not explicitly threaten a resumption of Taliban attacks on US troops. US Secretary of State Antony Blinken upped the pressure with a phone call Wednesday to Pakistan's powerful Army Chief of Staff Javed Qamar Bajwa, presumably seeking help in getting the Taliban to the Turkey conference. With their leadership headquartered in Pakistan, the Taliban ignore Islamabad at their own peril. Until now Pakistan has been key to getting the insurgent militia to earlier rounds of talks. The Pakistani army said afterwards that Pakistan was behind an Afghan-owned and Afghan-led peace process, a seeming nod to the upcoming Turkey conference. It also said the two discussed further enhanced relations between their countries - perhaps a sign Blinken tied future US-Pakistani relations on Islamabad's help. The Taliban control around half of Afghanistan. But they also have much to lose if they walk away from the peace process, particularly a chance at recognition. The group has been courting world powers since 2013 when they set up their political office in the Qatari capital Doha. The US has warned that the Taliban won't get that recognition if they are not part of a new government. The Turkey conference, jointly convened by the United Nations, lends support to that warning. The bet is that the Taliban won't want to rule as a pariah, as they did from 1996 until their overthrow by the US-led coalition in 2001. They had no money to feed their people, unemployment was rampant and drought and poverty devastated farmers. Their only source of income in the final years was from al-Qaida and its wealthy Saudi leader at the time, Osama bin Laden. If the Taliban wants recognition, if they want support ... that can't happen if they press war further, Blinken said on Meet The Press on Sunday. We'll see how the parties calculate their interest. Torek Farhadi, a former Afghan government adviser, said he doesn't expect the insurgents to attend in Turkey. Instead, he said, they are likely to negotiate with local leaders around Afghanistan and wait for the Americans to leave, further weakening and isolating President Ashraf Ghani. The Taliban have refused to even sit across the table from him. Responding to the US strategy shift, Ghani pledged to pursue peace, without elaborating. He tweeted late Wednesday that he had spoken with President Biden and we will work with our US partners to ensure a smooth transition. Previously, Ghani had floated an alternative peace plan that calls for him to head an interim government until fresh elections can be held. Rejected by the Taliban, it's seen by his political opponents as an attempt to cling to power. Ghani's government has been denounced for runaway corruption and divisive politics. He has embraced warlords he once shunned, like Uzbek powerhouse Rashid Dostum, accused of war crimes. On June 21, 1890, the Engineering and Building Record ran an illustrated article about the James Street bridge in Syracuse over the Oswego Canal. In Syracuse one of the principal streets is carried over the Oswego Canal in the heart of the city by an old bridge, the article said. Despite the structures age and antiquated design, the article reported, it was allowed to remain in responsible service in a conspicuous place. An illustration of the structure was titled simply, A Poor Type of Highway Bridge. Headlines from the front page of the April 7, 1901 Post-Standard following the James Street bridge collapse. Courtesy of World ArchivesCourtesy of World Archives So, it was not a surprise when the inevitable happened, 11 years later, when the now 45-year-old bridge collapsed on April 6, 1901. Such an accident had been feared by many cautious people because of the extreme age of the bridge, the Post-Standard would report. (About the only surprise was that many assumed the bridge over the canal on Warren Street, about 100 feet away, would have been the first to collapse.) It was late on a busy Saturday afternoon when it happened. The next day was Easter and many were finishing off the last of their holiday preparations. At 5:49 p.m., a crowded trolley, Car No. 70 of the Sedgwick-Elmwood line, stopped at the Bastable building, where the State Tower building is today, then proceeded towards the James Street bridge. A minute later, the car was on the bridge, joining a lumber wagon and several pedestrians on the sidewalks, when suddenly there was a crash. Without warning, the bridge had given way and fallen into the canal bed which, thankfully, had been emptied earlier in the week. A young boy, Benjamin Rounds, saw the disaster from the window of a James Street barber shop where he was getting a haircut. It happened quick as a flash. There was an awful crash and in an instant, everything was in the bottom of the canal. It was awful to see the people as they were dragged out, bruised, bleeding and groaning. A Post-Standard artist sketched this drawing of the destruction immediately following the bridge collapse. Courtesy of World ArchivesCourtesy of World Archives Charles Derby, the 22-year-old motorman on the trolley, told the Post-Standard about the helpless feeling of falling. Looking above him as he fell Derby says he saw the beams and girders falling all around him, the paper said. He closed his eyes and waited for the beam which should crush him to death. He was struck, but not too badly. He suffered internal injuries and an injured back and wrist. The crash could be heard for many city blocks. In an instant thousands of onlookers were on the scene. For the most part, they stood horror stricken on the bank, the Sunday Herald reported the next morning. But a few of them dared to venture below where they expected to find death in all its horrors. Someone had the presence of mind to pull the alarm on a fire box, and in a marvelously quick time the rescue had begun. An awful scene began as people began crawling out of the trolley. They emerged from the upper front window, one by one, with bleeding faces and dripping with foul mud, the Post-Standard wrote. Some of them screamed, while others bore their pain stoically. A little girl, one of the first out, was senseless. A man arose from the ruins and then fell back, helpless, on a pile of debris. Then a woman appeared, her face bloody and her clothing torn. She helped herself to a place of safety and was then carried to the street above. For fifteen minutes the ghastly procession continued. Nearly every one on the banks of the canal expected there to be fatalities, but somehow there was not a single death. A list of 37 injured people from the James Street bridge collapse appeared on the front page of the April 7, 1901 Post-Standard. Most suffered from cuts and bruises. Many were surprised that no one had died after the disaster. Courtesy of World ArchivesCourtesy of World Archives Every store in the neighborhood was turned into a temporary hospital and 37 people had their injuries treated by a dozen doctors who arrived after the first alarm. All city ambulances and wagons were pressed into service. An investigation into the disaster was started almost immediately. It seemed everyone had a theory. Every part of the bridge seemed to have been rotten, reported Division Superintendent Thomas Wheeler, and while the collapse of the bridge was unexpected, looking at the debris it is small wonder that it went down. Howard Soule, then one of the best-known civil engineers in New York State, theorized that when the bridge was constructed in 1856 it was not expected to handle such a load as was seen in 1901 Syracuse. Traffic since then has largely increased and trolley cars are much heavier than the old horse cars. It has been used by them for several years, and by such use considerably more strain has come upon the iron work than formerly. On April 8, a latent defect in the cast iron trusses caused the accident. Then, a controversy started over what was to happen next and who should pay for a new bridge. State officials wanted to replace the bridge with remnants of the old Catherine Street bridge, but North Side residents and business owners were outraged. They wanted a new bridge as soon as possible. (A Post-Standard editorial called the states plan to replace a collapsed bridge with pieces of another a foolish makeshift.) For some time to come the main thing for all Syracusans, whether from the north, east, south or west side, is not only to secure safe and sightly bridges in James and Warren Streets, but wherever antiquated structures now exist, read a statement from the North Side Citizens Association. New York State finally agreed to spend $2,500 for a new bridge, with the Rapid Transit Company chipping in another $500. New trusses arrived on April 20 and worked proceeded night and day until the new span was ready for traffic. On April 25, just 19 days after the original collapsed, a trolley car passed over the Oswego Canal from James Street. We now have a bridge which nobody need fear, said E.G. Connette of the Rapid Transit Company said. It was built for carrying loads of many more tons than it will ever have to bear where it is. The structure is an eminently satisfactory one, and I hope it will prove more acceptable to the people who have to cross it. Read more 1921: Syracuses city veterinarian gets taken for a ride while playing first buffalo hazard in golf history 1921: Marcellus gripped with feelings of sorrow and relief after a train hits truck filled with kids 1931: SU student builds and rides (briefly) a rocket sled on Oneida Lake Check out our true-crime podcast An invention from Upstate NY soon became the preferred method of execution across the United States -- the electric chair. In The Condemned, we trace the history of the chair through the stories of five men who were sentenced to death for their crimes. Explore our series here. This feature is a part of CNY Nostalgia, a section on syracuse.com. Send your ideas and curiosities to Johnathan Croyle at jcroyle@syracuse.com or call 315-427-3958. The US is following through on promises of retaliation against Russia for its alleged involvement in the SolarWinds cyberattack. The AP reports that President Biden has expelled 10 Russian diplomats from Washington, DC, including members of intelligence services, in response to actions that include the SolarWinds hack. The White House also imposed sanctions on 32 "entities and individuals" as an answer to reported 2020 election interference attempts. Biden formally blamed the Russia-backed cyberattack group Cozy Bear (aka APT29) as the culprit behind the SolarWinds breach. The FBI, NSA and CISA also issued a joint cybersecurity advisory warning of vulnerabilities Russian intelligence used to compromise networks. The Treasury Department, meanwhile, declared that six Russian technology companies were involved in creating the tools to enable "malicious cyber activities." The American government was looking at further steps to protect the technology supply chain against "further exploitation" by Russia, the White House added. The actions also encompass a number of non-technology concerns, such as bounties on US soldiers in Afghanistan, Russia's ongoing actions in Crimea and the attempts to silence Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny. Russia has historically denied accusations of hacking and election interference regardless of evidence. It's not certain how the country will react to these latest US measures apart from denials, but it's safe to say President Putin is unlikely to simply drop any hacking or interference campaigns when past sanctions haven't changed his stance. Questo comunicato e stato pubblicato piu di 30 giorni fa. Le informazioni su questa pagina potrebbero non essere attendibili. The global market size of Bromacil is $XX million in 2018 with XX CAGR from 2014 to 2018, and it is expected to reach $XX million by the end of 2024 with a CAGR of XX% from 2019 to 2024. Global Bromacil Market Report 2019 - Market Size, Share, Price, Trend and Forecast is a professional and in-depth study on the current state of the global Bromacil industry. The key insights of the report: 1.The report provides key statistics on the market status of the Bromacil manufacturers and is a valuable source of guidance and direction for companies and individuals interested in the industry. 2.The report provides a basic overview of the industry including its definition, applications and manufacturing technology. 3.The report presents the company profile, product specifications, capacity, production value, and 2013-2018 market shares for key vendors. 4.The total market is further divided by company, by country, and by application/type for the competitive landscape analysis. 5.The report estimates 2019-2024 market development trends of Bromacil industry. 6.Analysis of upstream raw materials, downstream demand, and current market dynamics is also carried out 7.The report makes some important proposals for a new project of Bromacil Industry before evaluating its feasibility. Click Here to Get Sample Premium Report @ https://www.trendsmarketresearch.com/report/sample/8418 There are 4 key segments covered in this report: competitor segment, product type segment, end use/application segment and geography segment. For competitor segment, the report includes global key players of Bromacil as well as some small players. At least 8 companies are included: * AMVAC * DuPont * Alligare * Bayer * Arysta LifeScience * Xian Wenyuan For complete companies list, please ask for sample pages. 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We also can offer customized report to fulfill special requirements of our clients. Regional and Countries report can be provided as well. Two years ago, Pioneer Natural Resources was reversing course and retrenching after Wall Street soured on the Irving-based oil and gas company. The market clearly isnt paying for your business model, one analyst said while another complained that Pioneers stock price hadnt moved much in three years. A week later, the CEO abruptly retired after two decades at Pioneer, and chairman Scott Sheffield returned to his former role as top executive. Pioneer, whose oil and gas production had been growing rapidly in the Permian Basin, dropped its audacious goal of trying to produce the equivalent of a million barrels of oil a day by 2026. Soon after, Pioneer was restructuring, laying off hundreds of workers and buying out others spending $159 million on employee-related charges in 2019. That wasnt enough cutting. Amid the pandemic and low oil prices, Pioneer laid off about 50 in its well services business last June. In the third quarter, it laid off 300 more. Pioneer ended last year with 1,853 employees, almost 2,000 fewer than in 2017, according to its annual public filings. Yet on April 1, Pioneer announced a $6.4 billion acquisition, including debt, to add DoublePoint Energy and its 97,000 acres in the Permian. That followed the purchase of another Permian player, Parsley Energy, in January; when the Parsley deal was announced in October, it was valued at $7.6 billion. How does such a spending spree fit with Pioneers professed strategy of austerity? In a way, its consistent, said Peter McNally, global sector lead at research firm Third Bridge. The stock market has decided you cant ramp up rig count in response to commodity prices, but you can engineer growth by doing acquisitions. Its more about financial engineering than petroleum engineering. As the shale business has matured, it more resembles a manufacturing operation than a wildcatter enterprise. Thats led to more consolidation amid a push for ever-greater efficiencies. Pioneer has relatively low leverage and the lowest costs in the Permian, and now its become the biggest player there. Theyre probably in a situation where its acquire or be acquired, said Bruce Bullock, director of the Maguire Energy Institute at Southern Methodist University. Shale wells decline so quickly that companies must keep replacing their drilled assets in a kind of perpetual motion machine, he said. The good news for Pioneer: Wall Streets beginning to open up again for oil and gas companies, Bullock said. But its still a very narrow window. The shale and fracking revolution has been a great success in producing oil and gas, but investors have often been disappointed as cash kept flowing into drilling and production. At one point, Pioneer was putting all its excess cash into capital spending, the CEO told analysts in February. Now that contribution has been cut roughly in half a big change, Sheffield said. Hes pledged to grow production just 5% a year, a far cry from the 16% average annual increases from 2016-18. Seeing three downturns in 11 years, I just think its better to have the best balance sheet in the business, Sheffield said in the call to discuss 2020 results. The latest purchases will add to cash flow, Pioneer said, and allow the company to return more money to shareholders a top priority. Pioneer has adopted a variable dividend policy so it can pay out more if oil prices are high. It bought Parsley in an all-stock transaction, issuing 52 million shares, along with the assumption of debt. The DoublePoint deal includes $1 billion in cash and some debt, but the biggest chunk will come from issuing over 27 million shares of Pioneer stock. While this means some dilution for shareholders, Pioneers stock price has been climbing since the fall and is up over 30% this year. Over the same time, oil prices have rebounded, too. The DoublePoint deal is consistent with what Pioneer has been telling shareholders about potential acquisitions, President Richard Dealy said in a recording that accompanied the April 1 announcement. It adds to cash flow, earnings and returns. It adds high-quality acreage next to Pioneers holdings, which provides significant synergies. And the deal structure maintains Pioneers strong balance sheet. This acquisition checks all those boxes, Dealy said in the recording. Pioneer plans to slow DoublePoints drilling activity from a 30% annual growth rate to 5% by next year. It will reduce the number of rigs from seven to about five. Pioneer expects to save about $1 billion over 10 years through operating efficiencies and reductions in overhead and interest expense. With Parsley, Pioneer projected cost savings of over $2 billion in a 10-year period. This is a case of assets being worth more in the hands of a different operator (with a substantial scale advantage), David Meats, director of research, energy and utilities for Morningstar, wrote in an email. The purchase wont damage Pioneers balance sheet because so much is being paid with stock. The variable dividend makes sense to us as well, Meats wrote. Exploration and production companies have reached an inflection point where they are cash generators, rather than cash users. That also shifts the investment case: Income generation is the reason to own these stocks, he said. Another energy analyst, Stewart Glickman of CFRA, said Pioneer was being opportunistic. It struck a deal for Parsley while the pandemic was getting worse, which resulted in paying a small premium. And Pioneer could absorb the targets debt load. With DoublePoint, Pioneer took advantage of its rising stock price, which was tracking the price of oil. Now the test is whether the company can stick to its austerity goals. Since last fall, oil prices have increased about 50%, and Pioneer is still harping on keeping production growth low. A lot of these companies, including Pioneer, have been surprisingly good at being disciplined, Glickman said. Theyve really held the line. A Texas dad has drowned while saving two sons from a riptide in Texas. Josh Graham, 42, had rushed to save his two sons Bruno, 13, and Sawyer, 10, after they became caught in a riptide 50 feet offshore in waters off Surfside Beach in Brazoria County, but became caught in the strong currents himself. Graham was on a family outing with the boys and his wife, Angela, to celebrate his eldest son's thirteenth birthday when the tragedy unfolded on Saturday. Josh Graham, pictured above, had rushed to save his two sons Bruno, 13, and Sawyer, 10, after they became caught in a riptide The tragedy happened in waters off Surfside Beach in Brazoria County, pictured above Two witnesses trained in military survival swimming noticed Graham and the boys struggling in the water, on a wave 50 to 60 yards offshore. Mike Lampson, of Richmond, and Rodney Sanders, of Spring, both ran into the water to help him. 'I knew something was wrong,' Sanders told KHOU-TV. 'I turned around, took my glasses off, chucked them at (my wife), and I took off running.' According to Graham's wife, Angela, he instructed the men to save the boys first. It took Lampson and Sanders 10-15 minutes to reach Graham due to the strong currents. They found him unresponsive. 'Somebody brought a surfboard up and we got him onto the surfboard,' Lampson told the news outlet. 'I tried my best to start compressions right away, but the current was really strong and pretty much impossible, so we all made the decision to ... link up arms and get him into the shore.' Graham had been on a family outing with the boys and his wife, Angela, when the incident took place on Saturday. The family is pictured above Sanders added: 'I've been going since I was 8, 9 years old, and that's the roughest I've seen (the water).' An ambulance met them on the beach where resuscitation efforts resumed, but paramedics were unable to save him. Sanders paid tribute to Graham as a hero. 'Josh is the hero,' he said. 'He went out there. He paid the ultimate sacrifice. He gave his life for his kids.' Heartbroken wife Angela Graham took to Facebook to pay tribute to her husband. 'Yesterday, April 10th we lost the love of my life, my soul mate, the best father to my son and stepsons, a loving son and brother, grandson, nephew, cousin and dear friend to so many,' she wrote. 'He died a hero saving our two oldest boys from drowning in a riptide in Surfside Beach, TX. I thank everyone who prayed feverishly for us and continue to do so. We need all the prayers we can get, Heartbroken wife Angela Graham took to Facebook to pay tribute to her husband. The couple are pictured together above 'I just don't know how I will find the strength to go on without you my love.' She added that the 'immeasurable love and sympathy of loved ones and strangers' had been apparent over the past few days. 'Countless strangers diving in the ocean to try to save my love. Countless more praying with me and holding me up when my knees buckled as I watched so helplessly my sons and husband struggle in the water, as I saw my boys come to safety and my love still out there, getting consumed by the riptide,' she wrote. 'It feels as if this happened to someone else, like a horror movie, my worst nightmare. Perhaps that is why I am able to find the strength to write this. 'I am torn to pieces and my soul has been ripped from my body. Please continue to pray for us all.' The couple had recently celebrated their one-year wedding anniversary on March 15. A GoFundMe page has been set up to help support the family with funeral expenses. Photo: The Canadian Press Annie Storey, centre, holds a cross with a photo of her late son Alex Storey, who died in January just days before his 29th birthday, leaving behind an eight-year-old daughter, before a march to mark the five-year anniversary of British Columbia declaring a public health emergency in the overdose crisis, in Vancouver, on Wednesday, April 14, 2021. Calls for bold, courageous and compassionate actions were made Wednesday by top health officials and advocates as British Columbia marked the fifth anniversary of its deadly overdose crisis. Chief coroner Lisa Lapointe and provincial health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry said moves to decriminalize possession of drugs, increase safe drug supplies and provide recovery programs are important steps, but more must be done. The B.C. Coroners Service reports 7,024 illicit drug overdose deaths since the public health emergency was declared in April 2016. "Death to illicit drug toxicity is now the fourth highest cause of death in B.C.," Lapointe said at a news conference. "The average age of those dying is 43. Fentanyl or fentanyl analogues are now detected in 80 per cent of all deaths." Dr. Shannon McDonald, acting chief medical officer at the First Nations Health Authority, said toxic drugs continue to take a deadly toll on Indigenous people, with overdose deaths much higher than provincial averages. The Coroners Service, which warned of the social and economic toll of the overdose crisis in reports dating back to the early 1990s, has repeatedly called for more evidence-based addiction treatments, expanded drug use safety options and more support for physicians to link patients to recovery programs, said Lapointe. "We cannot continue with the current state," she said. "We must resolve to do much better." Henry, who was part of the decision to declare the health emergency five years ago, said progress has been "painfully slow." "Too many families have lost too many people for us to do anything less," she said. "Much has been done, but more, of course, remains to be done." The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in an increasingly toxic illicit drug supply and heightened anxiety and loneliness for many people with addiction issues, Henry said. "We need to put as much time and effort and compassion into caring for people who use drugs as we have been to responding to this pandemic," she said. "This is how we will put an end to this crisis in time." Henry said decriminalization of drug possession and increased access to safer supplies are important initiatives, but people with addiction issues also require help and supports. "I have said many times that I have learned the opposite of addiction is connection," said Henry. "Now, more than ever, we need to find ways to connect with people who are using drugs to support them with compassion and love. We also need to be bold and courageous with the measures we need to take to address the many, many complexities of this problem together." The ability to offer more recovery options to people beyond decriminalization and safe supply of drugs must be expanded in B.C., said Nirmala Raniga, a mental health and addictions expert who operates five drop-in drug treatment facilities in the Vancouver area. "That in-person connection for the person suffering from mental health and addiction is crucial," she said. "We need to have this second thing in place, recovery. We need to have a wellness approach to this. People need to be persuaded they have options for improving." B.C. is working with the federal government on an agreement outlining how the province will apply for an exemption to decriminalize simple drug possession, said Sheila Malcolmson, the province's mental health and addictions minister. She also said B.C. will invest $45 million over three years to expand overdose prevention services, including more safe consumption sites, increases in life-saving naloxone and specialized teams to connect people with care. Malcolmson said Wednesday criminalizing drug use increases stigma and pushes people to use alone. The City of Vancouver recently submitted an application to Health Canada outlining that people should be allowed to carry a three-day supply of various drugs as it seeks to get a federal exemption to decriminalize the possession of small amounts of drugs. Former provincial health officer Dr. Perry Kendall credited both the former Liberal and current NDP provincial governments for moving addiction issues forward, but said the spike in toxic drug deaths has become overshadowed by COVID-19. "We aren't treating the overdose crisis with the attention we ought to be giving it," he said. Kendall, who was B.C.'s public health officer from 1999 to 2018, said the crisis is being felt in every town and village in the province. "They're not all people who are homeless ... we have people who are employed, or unemployed, who have families and children. They are us," he said. A B.C. woman who lost her son to an overdose and co-founded an advocacy group because of his death said the province should be doing more to provide help for people with addiction issues. "Here we are, five years later with more deaths, no real, fulsome, safe supply of drugs for people who need them and still, the government seems to be doing research and writing up plans we never see," said Leslie McBain of Moms Stop the Harm. "I'm disappointed." A nurse practitioner specializing in Botox and filler injections in South Florida has been arrested for allegedly running a phone scam that conned the elderly into wiring or mailing tens of thousands of dollars. Paulette Padilla, 31, who works at the Nu You Wellness Center in Coral Gables, is suspected of swindling at least two senior citizens out of more than $40,000 after allegedly lying to them that their relatives had been involved in accidents. Padilla was arrested earlier this week on charges of organized scheme to defraud, as well as counts of trafficking cannabis and possession of substances with the purpose of trafficking. Miami Botox nurse Paulette Padilla, 31 (pictured left in her mugshot and right), has been charged with felony fraud, trafficking cannabis and possession of substances with the purpose of trafficking She was arrested during an ATF raid on her apartment on Tuesday, which uncovered a cache of 170lbs of marijuana Agents with the Bureau of of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives raided Padilla's apartment in Southwest Miami-Dade on Tuesday and seized 170lbs of marijuana, reported WSVN. Padilla was released from jail after posting $7,500 bond. She is due back in court on May 13. According to investigators, an 86-year-old Chicago woman wired $20,000 after a caller frantically told her that a family member had been in a traffic accident. Her family later reported the incident to Bank of America, which investigated the case, reported Miami Herald. An arrest report said the money was wired to Padillas bank account. A bank investigator called Padilla, who described the woman as a friend who sent the money as 'payment for a Super Bowl party that Padilla was organizing.' Investigators traced Padilla sending thousands of dollars to her mother and an associate. She also withdrew money from an ATM, the report said. Padilla, who is a nurse at Nu You Wellness Center in Coral Gables, is accused of swindling more than $40,000 from two elderly women, one of them aged 86, as part of a phone scam On Padillas phone, investigators found evidence that an elderly woman from New York sent $22,000 in the mail to Padilla and her alleged accomplices. The victim was told that a 'family member had been involved in an accident,' police said. According to her biography on the Botox clinic's website, Padilla is a Board-certified nurse practitioner who earned her nursing degree from Barry University and specialized in aesthetics and anti-aging medicine. 'She is best known for her gentle touch and precision when it comes to Botox and Fillers,' the page reads. 'Her organic and kind personality carries over to her natural approach to her work.' House Committee Approves Another Attempt to Grant DC Statehood in Party-Line Vote Democrats in the House Oversight Committee have voted along party lines to pass a bill seeking to make the District of Columbia the 51st state, sending their bill to a full House vote. The panel voted 25-19 to advance H.R. 51, also known as the Washington, D.C. Admission Act, to grant statehood to residents in the district after a lengthy debate over the constitutionality of the effort. The Democrat-led House passed a similar bill in 2020 but the Democrat effort was effectively shot down by the then-Republican-led Senate. If successful, the bill would see D.C. residents be able to elect two more Senators to represent the Democrat-leaning state. The federal district, to be controlled by Congress, would be limited to two square miles surrounding the White House, Capitol, Supreme Court, and National Mall to be named the Capital. The issue has garnered intense debate, with Democrats arguing that tax-paying D.C. residents should be afforded the same congressional representation as those in other states. The Constitution grants Congress the exclusive jurisdiction over the district in all cases whatsoever. But in 1973, Congress passed the District of Columbia Home Rule Act that established the Council of the District of Columbia as an effort to afford a form of autonomy to the district and allowed for an elected mayor. Congress retained its authority to review all laws passed by the district and to block and restrict the types of laws enacted. Meanwhile, the district is also only represented by a delegate in the House of Representatives, who has limited voting privileges, and no senators. The current D.C. delegate is Congresswoman Eleanor Norton (D), who introduced the bill. Congress can no longer exclude D.C. residents from the democratic process, forcing residents to watch from the sidelines as Congress votes on laws that affect the nation or votes even on the laws of the duly elected D.C. government, Norton said on Wednesday. The bill is also backed by D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser. D.C. residents demand much more. D.C. residents deserve full voting representation in the Senate and the House and complete control over their local affairs. They deserve statehood, Norton said. The Democrats efforts have been opposed by Republicans, who argue that the efforts are unconstitutional and characterized the push as a power grab that would tip the scales in the Senate in the Democrats favor. From a South Carolina point of view. This is not a good deal for us. Being two of 50 is better than being two out of 52. This would dilute South Carolinas say in the United States Senate and it would empower the most radical agenda in modern American politics, Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) told reporters at a press conference in January. This is not about enfranchising people, this is about expanding the Senate map to accommodate the most radical agenda that Ive ever seen since Ive been up here, getting more radical by the day. Similarly, 22 Republican attorneys general vowed to challenge any attempt to make D.C. the 51st state. If this Congress passes and President Biden signs this Act into law, we will use every legal tool at our disposal to defend the United States Constitution and the rights of our states from this unlawful effort to provide statehood to the District of Columbia, the attorneys general wrote in an April 13 letter (pdf) to President Joe Biden and congressional leaders. They argue that Congress lacks the authority to create a new state out of the district and alter its size. Accordingly, not only does Congress lack the authority to create an entirely new state out of the District, but it also does not have the authority to reduce the size of the District to the equivalent of a few federal buildings and surrounding parks, they wrote in the letter. Their letter moved on to warn that D.C. statehood would undermine the design of the Founding Fathers, who decided not to place the capital of the United States within any state, so that no state would be able to exercise excessive influence over the federal government. They also claimed that admitting D.C. as a state would unfairly benefit the citys residents. Lee A. Casey, a partner in the Washington office of Baker Hostetler, argued in a 2007 piece for the conservative think tank the Heritage Foundation that the Founding Fathers did not provide the districts residents the right to elect federal representations because they believed that the residents received the multifarious benefits of the national capital. Casey cited Supreme Court Associate Justice Joseph Story, who believed the residents at the time would be represented in the capital. There can be little doubt that the inhabitants composing [the District] would receive with thankfulness such a blessing, since their own importance would be thereby increased, their interests be subserved, and their rights be under the immediate protection of the representatives of the whole Union, Story wrote in the Commentaries on the Constitution of the United States. Republicans attempted to address the issue of Senate representation by presenting an amendment to allow DC residents to vote in Maryland congressional and Senate elections but Democrats voted against the compromise, with chair of the House Oversight Committee Rep. Carolyn Maloney, D-N.Y. saying it was an unfair request for Washingtonians to give up their identity in order to gain the right to vote in another state. Statehood is not only about voting and congressional representation, its also about giving D.C. residents full, local self-government [and] political equality, she said. The previous administration was also strongly opposed to the House passage of the 2020 version of the bill. This bill is unconstitutional because the retrocession of portions of the District of Columbia into a separate state would violate the 23rd Amendment, the Office of Management and Budget under the Trump administration wrote in response to the bill. H.R. 51 would create an opportunity for a new State of Washington, D.C., to dominate the capital and render those who meet there beholden to its interests, rather than the interests of the Nation as a whole. The House is scheduled to vote on the bill on April 19. The bill is currently backed by 215 members of Congress, all of them Democrats. GQ Pan and Masooma Haq contributed to this report. A quiet and empty Cinerama Dome of the ArcLight Cinemas (Photo by Jay L. Clendenin/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images) Photo: Jay L. Clendenin/LA Times via Getty Images On Monday, Deadline reported that ArcLight Cinemas and Pacific Theaters would close down permanently. Quickly, filmmakers, fans, and former employees took to Twitter to publicly mourn the loss, with reactions ranging from stand-alone expletives to sorrow to denial and also some priceless remembrances. While Pacific and ArcLight theaters were far from the first or most tragic casualties of the coronavirus pandemic, the closings still delivered an unexpected blow to movie fans. ArcLight Hollywood employees who had been laid off when the theater shut down last March had, as recently as a month ago, been told by management that the theater planned to reopen when doing so became profitable once more. So when employees learned of the closure from Mondays Deadline article, some, like crew member Sarah Gwen, described feeling blindsided. We were all Snapchatting in a group, Is this real? added former host Nick Earl. As much as it hurts to abruptly find out that youll be unemployed (now more than ever), what these employees were losing wasnt just a job it was a Los Angeles institution and a thriving film community. Opened in 2002, the ArcLight was renowned as a place that brought independent sensibilities to a commercial format, where filmmakers and fans often mingled, and which, with its Cinerama Dome, even contained a bit of history. Within sprawling Los Angeles, the ArcLight Hollywood was centrally located and as such acted as a de facto hub for cinephiles throughout the city. How ArcLight Became a Temple of Cinema Now its easy to take some of the ArcLights signature policies for granted assigned seating, no ads, a proactive approach to curbing disturbances but when the theater first opened, these features were far from widespread. They were all instituted with the intention of giving moviegoers a premium theatergoing experience one that justified the $14 price of admission. The theaters many devotees will tell you it delivered: I remember the first time going there and trying to figure out what was worth paying those extra bucks for a ticket, Honey Boy director Alma Harel wrote in an L.A. Times tribute. It took one visit to understand its a temple of cinema. The palpable passion and attention to detail extended from the seats up to the screen. The theater prided itself in mastering the technical aspects of film presentation. There are standards that the studios want the theaters to keep up with, and we made sure to go above and beyond them, with regards to light levels coming out of the projectors and the shape of the image, said Mike Celestino, a projectionist who worked at ArcLight from 2007 to 2015 (and who now hosts the Star Wars podcast Whos the Bossk). And it was this meticulousness that helped make ArcLight a destination for filmmakers themselves. According to Celestino, filmmakers would often come to ArcLight on their films opening nights to make sure the theater was playing it right. Not because they didnt have faith in us, Celestino said. But because they knew everyone was going there and they knew we were capable of playing it right. Whether a movie was big or small, the theater made openings feel special, with festive (sometimes inebriated) talent Q&As, enthusiastic movie introductions, and the occasional showcasing of costumes from the films. Ill always remember there were a bunch of Coming Soon posters upstairs, and when we hosted the premiere for Dear White People season one, theyd all been replaced by the Dear White People season one posters, recalls Dear White People showrunner Jaclyn Moore, an ArcLight regular. The whole place had a pomp and circumstance to it, and it made you feel like going to a movie was an event. In many ways, the theaters signature innovation, though, was putting employees favorite movies on their name tags. Doing so advertised that the staff was made up entirely of film buffs, and it invited moviegoers to strike up conversations with employees. [At ArcLight,] they were real advocates of hiring movie lovers, said Gariana Abeyta, a longtime projectionist at the Hollywood location during the theaters early days. It was the kind of person you found working at a video-rental place. When they hired me, they made sure I knew about movies. Summer Camp for Young Creatives Former employees say the common thread of loving movies helped forge a vibrant film community. One thing that I loved about working at ArcLight was: Everyone I worked with was a young creative like me, said Nick Earl, an up-and-coming actor. Earl would go on to collaborate with former ArcLight colleagues on a short film, and was actually attending a play reading hosted by another former ArcLight colleague the day Vulture spoke with him. Working there was like going to summer camp with all these amazing young artists who want to do the same thing I do. Celestino recalled getting hired at ArcLight on the heels of going to film school and thinking, ArcLight was my church and I was becoming a priest. Employees were able to immerse themselves in film by watching blockbusters, indies, and classics there, and discussing them with fellow fans. But working at ArcLight also had the benefit of putting employees in close proximity to the stars. You never knew who you were going to run into, said Abeyta. It was the place [where] the people who made movies and were in movies liked to see movies. The employees Vulture spoke to all had stories of times Hollywoods A-listers stopped by the theater, but these werent the typical celebrity-ogling experiences. At ArcLight, filmmakers and actors whether there professionally or recreationally were often eager to geek out about cinema with staff and guests. When we were showing The Master, Paul Thomas Anderson came in the booth for the testing of the entire thing so he could see, recalled Abeyta. And he was just the most gentle, unassuming guy. He knocked on the door and was like, Hi, Im Paul. And he sat there all night and talked movies with us. For Hollywood aspirants, these sorts of experiences made breaking into the industry feel more accessible. I learned a lot from all the premieres that happened there and the Q&As. You get an inside look at how it works behind the curtain, said cafe server Sydney Gabel. Like Earl, Gabel made a short film with some of her ArcLight colleagues and was even able to premiere it at the theater. I got to sign the Green Room [wall], and it was just so special to see it on an actual ArcLight screen with all my co-workers who helped make it. Does This Mean We Cant Have Nice Theaters? At this point in the pandemic, no loss is entirely unexpected least of all movie theaters, which were already in a precarious pre-COVID position thanks to the rise of streaming. But because ArcLight was so widely beloved and had carved out such a unique niche, it felt to many that, if any theater would be immune to the twin toll of streaming and COVID, it would be ArcLight. I know this sadly does happen to the small indie theaters all the time, but I didnt expect this to be a possibility for us, said crew member Sarah Gwen. So that makes me worried for the future of film exhibition. While plenty of other theaters remain standing, the loss of unique, beloved ones like ArcLight leaves a significant hole for the community. I feel that other theaters have been homogenized for a very long time, and thats why ArcLight was so special, said Abeyta. This is a hard blow. People in L.A., theyre kind of winded by this. I know it sounds silly, but it was a special place and L.A. is kind of in mourning. Other former employees expressed similar doubts about the future of theatrical moviegoing. But many were encouraged by the swift outcry of love and support for the theater so much so that they quickly began to fantasize that a buyer would swoop in and, at the very least, save ArcLight Hollywood. I have high hopes that maybe another movie theater chain will come, said Gabel. And if we can preserve building new movie theaters and keeping that alive, maybe itll last I hope. Caryn Coleman, the director of programming and special projects at Nitehawk Theaters in Brooklyn, said she was gutted by the news of ArcLights closing, but that shes not reading too much into it so far as the future of the industry at large is concerned. It doesnt feel like an overwhelming ominous sign to me as so many of our film spaces are still standing, she wrote to Vulture in an email. I guess what Ill be watching out for is what happens six months to a year from now to see the pandemics impact on physical spaces. Im a bit of an optimist, though. I see all of the challenges the film industry is facing as presenting more of an opportunity for evolution rather than our death rattle. Still, hope for the future of the industry does little to lessen the sting of this specific loss and, in particular, of this loss now. With vaccinations becoming widely available, ArcLights closing comes just as a return to theaters was within view. [Before the pandemic] I was expecting to leave ArcLight and enter a new part of my career, said Gabel. But I wasnt expecting it to leave me. I was really hoping to get a drink and go see Cruella soon. That was the one thing about L.A. I was looking forward to after the pandemic to see all my friends and be there again. So Im really sad about that. But Im just trying to remember the fond memories. VANCOUVER, BC, April 15, 2021 /PRNewswire/ - Ritchie Bros. (NYSE: RBA) (TSX: RBA) the world's largest industrial auctioneer and a leading equipment distributor, invites interested parties to participate in its first quarter 2021 earnings conference call, occurring on Tuesday, May 11, 2021 at 11:00 a.m. Eastern time / 8:00 a.m. Pacific time / 4:00 p.m. BST. During the call, company executives will discuss Ritchie Bros.' earning results and answer questions from analysts and institutional investors. The Company's first quarter 2021 earnings results will be released after NYSE and TSX markets close the day prior, on May 10, 2021. Analysts and institutional investors may participate via conference call, using the following dial-in information: 1-888-231-8191 (toll-free North America) 2039662922 (toll-free UK) 1-647-427-7450 (Toronto & overseas long-distance) Please ask to participate in Ritchie Bros.' first quarter 2021 earnings call, and quote conference ID 6068647 if prompted. Media and other interested parties may listen to the conference call via webcast, by selecting the first quarter 2021 earnings call webcast link at https://investor.ritchiebros.com. Please note that there will be presentation slides accompanying the earnings call. The slides will be displayed live on the webcast, and will be available to download via the webcast player or at https://investor.ritchiebros.com/events-and-presentations the morning of the call. A replay of the conference call can be accessed after 2:00 pm Eastern time / 11:00 am Pacific time / 7:00 pm BST until June 11, 2021 at 416-849-0833 or 1-855-859-2056 (using passcode 6068647). About Ritchie Bros.: Established in 1958, Ritchie Bros. (NYSE and TSX: RBA) is a global asset management and disposition company, offering customers end-to-end solutions for buying and selling used heavy equipment, trucks and other assets. Operating in a number of sectors, including construction, transportation, agriculture, energy, oil and gas, mining, and forestry, the company's selling channels include: Ritchie Bros. Auctioneers, the world's largest industrial auctioneer offers live auction events with online bidding; IronPlanet, an online marketplace with featured weekly auctions and providing the exclusive IronClad Assurance equipment condition certification; Marketplace-E , a controlled marketplace offering multiple price and timing options; Mascus, a leading European online equipment listing service; and Ritchie Bros. Private Treaty, offering privately negotiated sales. The Company's suite of solutions also include Ritchie Bros. Asset Solutions and Rouse Services LLC, which together provide a complete end-to-end asset management, data-driven intelligence and performance benchmarking system. Ritchie Bros. also offers sector-specific solutions including GovPlanet, TruckPlanet, and Kruse Energy , plus equipment financing and leasing through Ritchie Bros. Financial Services. For more information about Ritchie Bros., visit RitchieBros.com. SOURCE Ritchie Bros. 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In addition to sculpting the designs, Sir Daniel Winn will also be presenting the Humanitarian Award to the winner at this years awards ceremony. AWFF is one of the most prestigious festivals in the world and is unique in that it predominantly screens films from the Asian Continent which have been submitted to the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences and the Golden Globes for Best International Feature Film and Best Picture - Foreign Language, respectively. During the past six years, the festival has screened over 100 Oscar-submitted films and 70 Golden Globe submissions. As a supporter of the Asian World Film Festival and the cinematic art this organization champions, it is an honor to have the opportunity to commission these prestigious awards for the 2021 ceremony, said Sir Daniel Winn. I have even more gratitude for the fact that it includes the Humanitarian award. My hope is that through the festival we can bring more awareness to Asian talent and global connectivity through the arts. "As we approach the 7th Edition of the Asian World Film Festival this November 2021, we are thrilled that we have finally found the perfect partner in Sir Daniel Winn, an Artist whose talent has reached the four corners of the World, but most of all a Man of great humanity with a big heart," said Georges Chamchoum, Executive and Program Director of the festival. "Who could possibly be better than Him to create our Snow Leopard Sculptures, which will be awarded to nine individuals (or films) every year, the Red Cross Tiffany Circle Courage to Dream Award and the AWFF Humanitarian Award. I passionately believe that the Spirit of AWFF will guide Sir Daniel's hands to create the ultimate inspirational Trophy!" This year Sir Daniel Winn opened a second gallery in Beverly Hills on the famed Rodeo Drive. He is also shooting new episodes of his television show "Art Confidential" (which can be viewed on Roku, Apple TV, and Amazon Fire by downloading the A-List TV app) and just published the debut issue of his magazine of the same name. And he recently won gold medals in the categories of Contemporary Painting and Sculpture from the prestigious Mondial Art Academy, as granted by 45 renowned international judges. This years AWFF will take place in November, 2021 in Culver City, CA. ### About Sir Daniel Winn: Sir Daniel K. Winn is an internationally recognized blue-chip museum artist, fine-art curator, awarded entrepreneur, and highly respected philanthropist. In recognition of his direct support to humanitarian causes, having directly assisted in raising millions of dollars for non-profit aid in the United States and Asia, Winn was honored the prestigious title of Sir when knighted in 2018 under the Princely House of Schaumburg-Lippe-Nachod. Winns work has since been featured at esteemed exhibitions worldwide. Among many other distinctions, he is the Board Chairman of The Academy of Fine Art Foundation, CEO and curator of Masterpiece Publishing, Inc., and Founder of Winn Slavin Fine Art, one of the most prestigious art galleries in Beverly Hills. In 2019, the NEST Foundation in Hollywood also awarded Daniel Winn the Philanthropic Artist of the Year. For more information on Sir Daniel K. Winn, please visit: sirdanielwinn.com. About Asian World Film Festival: The Asian World Film Festival brings the best of a broad selection of Asian World cinema to Los Angeles in order to draw greater recognition to the region's wealth of filmmakers, strengthening ties between the Asian and Hollywood film industries. Uniting through cross-cultural collaboration, the festival champions films from over 50 countries across Asia spanning from Turkey to Japan and Russia to India. The Festival is unique in that it predominantly screens Oscar and Golden Globe submitted films from Asia for the Best Foreign Language Film. Since the Festival began, it has proudly screened over 100 Oscar and 70 Golden Globe submissions. All films that participate in the Festival have a unique chance to be guided through the challenging awards season, showcasing their foreign films to the Academy, the Hollywood Foreign Press Association, and all Guilds for enhanced exposure, media attention, and awards consideration. The Asian World Film Festival is organized under Aitysh USA, a 501(c)(3) charitable non-profit organization, and operates according to the organization's guidelines. For more information on AWFF, please visit: asianworldfilmfest.org or email info@asianworldfilmfest.org. MEDIA CONTACTS: Rick Krusky, MWPR for Sir Daniel Winn, rick@mw-pr.com. Weissman/Markovitz Communications for AWFF, rick@publicity4all.com. Cybersecurity White House sanctions Russia over SolarWinds campaign, election interference The White House on Thursday announced a range of sanctions against Russia to punish the Kremlin for its involvement in the hacking campaign against SolarWinds and its efforts to influence the presidential election. The sanctions, the first formal retaliation the United States has announced since discovering nine federal networks were breached by Russian foreign intelligence agents, targets six technology companies that support the countrys spy services. The sanctions also prohibit U.S. financial institutions from doing business with the Central Bank of the Russian Federation, the National Wealth Fund of the Russian Federation or the Ministry of Finance of the Russian Federation. The administration is also expelling 10 Russian intelligence officers working in Washington. Today the United States is formally naming the Russian Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR) as the perpetrator of the broad-scope cyber espionage campaign that exploited the SolarWinds Orion platform and other information technology infrastructures, according to a White House statement. The U.S. Intelligence Community has high confidence in its assessment of attribution to the SVR. The White House seemed to signal the coming sanctions earlier this week when, during a phone call with President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday, Biden told the Russian president the U.S. would act firmly in defense of its national interests in response to Russias actions, such as cyber intrusions and election interference, according to a read out from the White House. A Kremlin spokesman told the Washington Post on Thursday Russia views the sanctions as illegal and would retaliate. We condemn any sanction aspirations. We believe they are illegal. In any case, the principle of reciprocity applies in this case. Reciprocity will meet our interests in the best possible way, said Dmitry Peskov. A handful of U.S. allies on Thursday voiced support of the White Houses announcement through a NATO statement. NATO Allies support and stand in solidarity with the United States, following its 15 April announcement of actions to respond to Russias destabilising activities, according to the statement. All available evidence points to Russias responsibility for the #SolarWinds hack. #Russia continues to demonstrate a pattern of destabilising behaviour, and all #NATO Allies stand in solidarity with the U.S. following its announcement today, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg tweeted. "This is a positive, welcome step towards adding more friction to Russian operations, FireEye CEO Kevin Mandia said in a statement on Thursday. Simply naming the SVR, as well as the corporations that support it will inform our defense. Unfortunately, we are unlikely to fully deter cyber espionage and we will have to take serious action to better defend ourselves from inevitable future intrusions. FireEye is credited with initially discovering the breach into SolarWinds. Today is huge, precedent-setting day for attributing Russian intelligence operations, both cyber operations narrowly defined, but also influence operations and active measures," Thomas Rid, a professor of strategic studies at John Hopkins University, commented on Twitter. Around the same time the White House made the announcement, the National Security Agency, the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency and the FBI published a joint advisory warning of five vulnerabilities in different software that Russian intelligence services are actively exploiting. This advisory is being released alongside the U.S. Governments formal attribution of the SolarWinds supply chain compromise and related cyber espionage campaign, the agencies said. NSA, CISA, and FBI strongly encourage all cybersecurity stakeholders to check their networks for indicators of compromise related to all five vulnerabilities and the techniques detailed in the advisory and to urgently implement associated mitigations. The sanctions come the same week that the administrations top intelligence chiefs are testifying on Capitol Hill about their newly released worldwide threat assessment. The report takes note of Russias campaign against SolarWinds and warns that the United States primary adversaries are all increasing their activities in cyberspace. The intelligence chiefs testified to the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence Wednesday and are scheduled to talk to House lawmakers on Thursday. Note: This article was updated on April 15 to add comments from Mandia and Rid. University of Texas at Dallas scientists developed a method to stabilize liposomes in a crystalline exoskeleton, which allows the biomolecules to remain stable at room temperature. This illustration depicts a proteoliposome -- a spherical bilayer of fat molecules (white and blue) -- stabilized in a structure called a zeolitic-imidazole framework composed of zinc acetate and methylimidazole. Inserted into the lipid bilayer -- which mimics a cell membrane -- are modeled structures of CopA proteins, with a section (in pink) that resides inside the lipid and sections above the lipid surface (brown) and slightly inside the liposome (also brown, but inside). Credit: University of Texas at Dallas New research by University of Texas at Dallas scientists could help solve a major challenge in the deployment of certain COVID-19 vaccines worldwidethe need for the vaccines to be kept at below-freezing temperatures during transport and storage. In a study published online April 13 in Nature Communications, the researchers demonstrate a new, inexpensive technique that generates crystalline exoskeletons around delicate liposomes and other lipid nanoparticles and stabilizes them at room temperature for an extended periodup to two monthsin their proof-of-concept experiments. The Moderna and Pfizer/BioNTech COVID-19 vaccines use lipid nanoparticlesbasically spheres of fat moleculesto protect and deliver the messenger RNA that generates a vaccine recipient's immune response to the SARS-CoV-2 virus. "The expense of keeping these vaccines very cold from the time they're made to the time they're delivered is a challenge that needs to be addressed, especially because many countries don't have sufficient infrastructure to maintain this kind of cold chain," said Dr. Jeremiah Gassensmith, associate professor of chemistry and biochemistry and of bioengineering at UT Dallas and a corresponding author of the study. "Although we did not include in this work the specific lipid nanoparticles used in current COVID-19 vaccines, our findings are a step toward stabilizing a lipid nanoparticle in a way that's never been done before, so far as we know." The idea for the research project began during a coffee-break discussion between Gassensmith and Dr. Gabriele Meloni, a corresponding co-author of the study and assistant professor of chemistry and biochemistry in the School of Natural Sciences and Mathematics at UT Dallas. Gassensmith's area of expertise is biomaterials and metal-organic frameworks, while Meloni's research focus is transmembrane transporter proteins. These proteins reside within cell membranes and are crucial for moving a variety of small molecules, including ions and trace metals, in and out of cells for several purposes. "Membrane proteins sit in a cell membrane, which is a lipid bilayer," Meloni said. "To study their structure and biophysical and biochemical properties, we must extract these proteins from the membrane using detergents and then reconstitute them back into an artificial membranea proteoliposomethat mimics the proteins' natural environment." Shell Creation Lipid nanoparticles and liposomes are similar in structure, and neither are thermodynamically stable at room temperature, Gassensmith said. The lipid structures can fuse or aggregate, exposing any embedded membrane proteins or cargo to degradation. "One of the challenges in my field of research is that both membrane proteins and lipid bilayers are very delicate and intrinsically metastable, and we're trying to combine them in order to understand how these proteins function," Meloni said. "We have to handle them carefully and prepare them fresh each time. They cannot be stored for long periods and are not easily shipped to colleagues in other labs." The researchers joined forces to develop a methodology to stabilize this kind of lipid system and demonstrated their results using transmembrane proteins from Meloni's lab as a case study. They mixed liposomessome with embedded proteins, some withoutwith a combination of two inexpensive chemicals, zinc acetate and methylimidazole, in a buffer solution. In about a minute, a crystal matrix began to form around individual liposomes. "We think that the lipids interact with the zinc just strongly enough to form an initial zinc-methylimidazole structure that then grows around the lipid sphere and completely envelops it, like an exoskeleton," Gassensmith said. "It's analogous to biomineralization, which is how certain animals form shells. We sort of co-opted nature in creating this totally fake shell, where the biomacromoleculesthe lipids and proteinscatalyze the growth of this exoskeleton." The ability of biomimetic shells to form around biological molecules is not new, Gassensmith said, but the process hasn't worked well with lipids or liposomes because the metal salts that comprise the shell material suck water out of the liposomes by osmosis and cause them to explode. "One of the keys to this research was identifying the buffer solution in which everything resides," Gassensmith said. Building a Buffer Three graduate students collaborated on the project to develop the unique buffer medium that allows the reaction to occur. "The buffer medium maintains the ionic strength of the solution and keeps the pH stable so that when you add a huge amount of metal salts, it doesn't osmotically shock the system," said Fabian Castro BS'18, a chemistry doctoral student in Gassensmith's lab and a lead author of the study. Castro and co-lead authors Sameera Abeyrathna and Nisansala Abeyrathna, chemistry doctoral students (and siblings) in Meloni's lab, worked together to develop the buffer formulation. Once the biomolecules have grown a shell, they are locked in, and the lipids remain stable. While the exoskeleton is very stable, it has a fortuitous Achilles' heel. "The shell will dissolve if it encounters something that is attracted to zinc," Gassensmith said. "So, to release and reconstitute the liposomes, we used a zinc chelating factor called EDTA (ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid), which is a common, inexpensive food additive and medicine used to treat lead poisoning." In addition to the laboratory experiments, in another proof-of concept exercise, Gassensmith mailed through the U.S. Postal Service a sample of the stabilized lipid particles to his mother in Rhode Island. She shipped them back to Texas, but because the COVID-19 pandemic forced the shutdown of most UT Dallas research labs in 2020, the samples sat untouched for about two months until the graduate students returned to campus to examine them. Although the informal experiment lasted much longer than the researchers had expected, the samples survived and functioned "just fine," Gassensmith said. "This project required two different types of expertisemy group's expertise in membrane transport proteins and Dr. Gassensmith's long track record working with metal-organic frameworks," Meloni said. "Our success clearly demonstrates how such collaborative research can bring about novel and useful results." Explore further Researchers brighten path for creating new type of MRI contrast agent More information: Fabian C. Herbert et al, Stabilization of supramolecular membrane proteinlipid bilayer assemblies through immobilization in a crystalline exoskeleton, Nature Communications (2021). Journal information: Nature Communications Fabian C. Herbert et al, Stabilization of supramolecular membrane proteinlipid bilayer assemblies through immobilization in a crystalline exoskeleton,(2021). DOI: 10.1038/s41467-021-22285-y As the state of Maine witnessed the closure of Scarborough Downs last year, a massive void was left for the harness racing community. Enter First Track Investments LLC. Reports indicate that First Track Investments plans to schedule 56 days of racing at the Cumberland Fairgrounds -- now rebranded as First Tracks Cumberland. The 2021 harness racing season will kick off on Saturday, May 8 with the Spring/Summer cards set for a post time of 4:15 p.m. A full calendar can be found here on the track's new website. Live harness racing will be held Tuesdays and Saturdays through July 31. First Tracks Cumberland collaborated with Bangor in the North and Plainridge in the South to ensure that horsemen had seamless racing opportunities with no overlap. The Cumberland County Fair, the traditional setting for harness racing at the grounds, is scheduled to be held this year from Sept. 26 through Oct. 2. According to the fair's website, harness racing is still slated for these dates. Racing then resumes again in November for the Winter Festival, post time 11 a.m. for three, and sometimes four days per week, through December 31. (with files from First Track Cumberland) The Senate opened debate Wednesday on legislation confronting the rise of potential hate crimes against Asian Americans, a growing problem during the coronavirus crisis that will also test whether the chamber can push past partisanship on an issue important to many constituents. Typically, the Democratic-sponsored COVID-19 Hate Crimes Act might quickly face a filibuster, opposed by Republicans who prefer a different approach. But under the Senate leaders agreement struck at the start of the year, Republicans and Democrats pledged to try to at least try to debate bills to see if they could reach agreement through the legislative process. Senators voted overwhelmingly, 92-6, to proceed Wednesday to consideration of the bill. Sen. Tommy Tuberville voted against consideration of the bill along with Republican Sens. Tom Cotton, Ted Cruz, Josh Hawley, Roger Marshall, and Rand Paul. In a statement to AL.com, a Tuberville spokesman said the senator voted against advancing the bill because he was concerned that it bypasses the committee process and emphasizes creating a political narrative rather than careful consideration of real issues facing our country. In fact, the bill doesnt create any new criminal provisions, since current law provides tools to prosecute all forms of hate crimes, the spokesperson continued. Most disturbing, the bill would facilitate creation of a database where anyone could report a citizen for hate incidents with no fear of punishment if they do so out of spite. Republicans have offered numerous amendments to the bill, so hopefully Democrats will allow a legitimate floor debate and amendment process. Cotton and Sen. Chuck Grassley ,R-Iowa, released a statement before the vote saying they believe the Senate should have the benefit of hearing from the Department of Justice before blindly acting on this issue, according to news reports. Ahead of the vote, several leaders of the Asian American and Pacific Islander community in Congress gave personal and heart-wrenching stories of the racism they and their constituents have faced, incidents on the rise during the virus outbreak. For more than a year, the Asian American community has been fighting two crises the COVID-19 pandemic and the anti-Asian hate, Rep. Grace Meng, D-N.Y., a co-author of the bill, said Tuesday at the Capitol. Meng described well-documented but horrifying images of people being shoved and beaten in public attacks, and of her own conversations with survivors, including the families of the victims of deadly shootings last month in Atlanta. Six of those killed were women of Asian descent. Combating hate should not be a partisan issue. Its about the safety of all Americans, Meng said. The bill is the most substantive congressional response to what has been an alarming rise in racist sentiment against Asian Americans, fueled in part by derogatory language about the virus origins in China. Donald Trump, while president, played into that narrative with derisive nicknames for the virus. The moment harks back to earlier eras of racism against Chinese Americans, Japanese Americans and others of Asian heritage in this country. The White House on Wednesday issued a statement of administrative policy that strongly supports the bills passage. Elected leaders must act to prevent anti-Asian violence and advance inclusion and belonging for all Asian American communities, it said. Senate Republicans have panned the legislation for various shortcomings, but most were reluctant to exercise the filibuster to block it. Opposing it could expose senators to claims they are being racially insensitive. Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell said as the proud husband of an Asian American woman, I think this discrimination against Asian Americans is a real problem. McConnell is married to Elaine Chao, the former transportation secretary, and he said Tuesday he was hoping to work out an agreement with Democrats to at least debate the bill and consider potential amendments. Final passage, however, remains uncertain. Any one senator can halt the process, and it takes 60 votes in the Senate, which is evenly split 50-50 between Democrats and Republicans, to overcome a filibuster. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said he was open to considering changes to the bill. He is in conversations with McConnell on a package of amendments that could be considered, according to aides. We cannot and must not remain silent, Schumer said Tuesday. There is no reason, no reason, this shouldnt be a bipartisan bill that passes the Senate. A robust floor debate is rare for the Senate, which has ground to a halt due to pervasive partisanship. The gridlock has intensified calls from Democrats to change the filibuster rules to push past the opposition. Shy of taking that step, Schumer and McConnell had reached a tentative accord earlier this year to try to push past stalemates and allow senators to discuss and amend bills. Leaving a caucus luncheon Tuesday, several GOP senators said they were still looking at the legislation and proposed amendments to figure out what they would support. I dont believe we should be allowing these types of hate crimes out there, whether its women or Asian Americans, so were going to take a look at the text, said Sen. Joni Ernst, R-Iowa. She said she wasnt aware of any major objections from Republicans. Though timely, the legislation is also modest, what supporters see as a first step in a federal response to the rise of Asian American hate crimes. It would assign a point person within the Justice Department to expedite the review of COVID-19-related hate crimes and provide support for local law enforcement to respond to such incidents. The department would also work to limit discriminatory language used to describe the pandemic. One bipartisan amendment would beef up support to law enforcement, and others are expected. Sen. Mazie Hirono, D-Hawaii, the bills co-author, told of her own experience. She said she is no longer comfortable taking a walk with her headphones listening to audio books because of the attacks on Asian American and Pacific Islanders in the U.S. She said she hopes Republicans join in supporting the bill. An attack on one group in our country is truly an attack on all of us, she said. Updated at 3:44 p.m. to include a statement from Tuberville A smuggler helping illegal immigrants cross into the United States from Mexico dropped a two-year-old Ghanaian child from atop an 18ft wall into the arms of the father who was waiting below. Dramatic video footage taken by the US Border Patrol shows a group of people climbing over the wall along the boundary near Imperial Beach, California, just outside of San Diego, after midnight on Sunday. Surveillance footage shows several individuals scaling the wall. At one point, a two-year-old child was dangled from atop the barrier. The child was then dropped into the arms of the father below. There were no injuries. A short time later, Border Patrol agents arrested the group. The agency did not specify how many people were involved. A smuggler helping illegal immigrants cross into the United States from Mexico dropped a two-year-old child from atop an 18ft wall into the arms of the father who was waiting below just after midnight on Sunday, according to the United States Border Patrol Dramatic video footage taken by the US Border Patrol shows a group of people climbing over the wall along the boundary near Imperial Beach, California, just outside of San Diego The child was dropped into the arms of a waiting father. Border Patrol agents said the father and child are citizens of Ghana The above file photo shows the border fence that runs along the US-Mexico frontier near San Diego where the incident took place This event could have been catastrophic, Border Patrol Agent Aaron M. Heitke told KGTV-TV. It is not only unlawful, but inherently dangerous to cross the border anywhere outside of a designated port of entry. It was later learned that the child and the father are citizens of Ghana. In 2019, American and Mexican officials reported a record number of African migrants arriving at the US border. In all of fiscal year 2018, a total of 211 African migrants who were detained by the US Border Patrol along the entire 2,000-mile frontier with Mexico. The image above shows African migrants waiting to be processed at a facility in Tapachula, Mexico in June 2019. Thousands of African asylum seekers have traveled to Mexico in recent years in hopes of one day crossing into the United States The next year, US border authorities arrested more than double that number in one week alone. In 2019, Mexican authorities reported that they had detained more than 7,000 migrants from Africa who were seeking to eventually cross into the US. A large number of these migrants were from war-torn countries including Cameroon, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and Somalia. They are coming to America after flying across the Atlantic Ocean to South America and then embarking on an often harrowing overland journey. The explosion in immigration to the US from sub-Saharan Africa coincides with a steep drop in the migration flow across the Mediterranean to Europe after European countries and two main embarkation points - Turkey and Libya - decided to crack down. From January 1 to June 12, 2019, only 24,600 migrants arrived in Europe by sea, compared to 99,600 over the same period in 2017, according to the International Organization for Migration. Most of these migrants were stranded in Mexico after then-President Donald Trump threatened to impose tariffs on America's southern neighbor if it did not stem the flow of people seeking asylum. A day after the incident at Imperial Beach, Texas border agents discovered 20 undocumented immigrants, including two children, attempting to enter the US while hiding under the boards of a trailer. On Wednesday, Vice President Kamala Harris announced she will travel to Mexico and Guatemala as the migrant crisis at the border deepens. Chief Patrol Agent Austin Skero shared images of the smuggling attempt that showed 18 adults and two children lying on top of one another under the boards. Skero confirmed that the children's ages are 10 and 15. It's unclear if they were traveling alone, with their parents or with other relatives. The incident comes as Vice President Kamala Harris announced that she will be taking trips to Guatemala and Mexico to address the migrant crisis, but won't go to the US border. She held a virtual meeting with experts about the migrant crisis on Wednesday The GOP trolled Kamala Harris Wednesday for not yet visiting the border by brining a 'Missing at the border' milk carton with the vice president's face on it to a press briefing CBP data shows migrant crossings at the US-Mexico border is vastly higher in 2021 compared to 2020, which saw a decrease. Illegal crossing have reached an all-time high under President Joe Biden Another image shows massive bags and other items that were placed on top of the boards to conceal the migrants. Skero said they made the discovery after a Del Rio Sector K9 alerted agents to the trailer at one of their checkpoints. 'With temperatures on the rise, smuggling attempts like these have a high potential to turn deadly,' Skero said. It's also unclear where exactly they were traveling from. A DailyMail.com request for comment and more information to US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) was not immediately returned Wednesday morning. Harris said she'll visit Mexico and Guatemala but won't go to the southern border and the overcrowded child migrant camps because Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas is in charge of that aspect of the crisis. She defended her move in a Zoom meeting with northern triangle country experts, 21 days after the White House named her the border 'czar'. 'The President has asked Secretary Mayorkas to address what is going on at the border,' she clarified to the press before kicking off the closed-door meeting. 'I have been asked to address the root causes.' There were nearly 170,000 encounters with migrants on the US-Mexico border in March, a 20-year high. The total, announced Thursday, includes nearly 19,000 children traveling alone, the highest monthly number on record. About four in 10 border encounters last month were with families and unaccompanied children - many from Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador - at a time when policies in the US and Mexico favor them staying in the United States while they seek asylum. Wilton Obregon (pictured), of Nicaragua, drew headlines earlier this month when he appeared in a video crying in front of a US Border Patrol agent and asking for help after he had been abandoned by the group of migrants with which he had crossed the Mexico-United States border It marks the third sharp jump in Central American asylum-seekers in seven years. One child who made national headlines is Wilton Obregon. Wilton was captured on video tearfully asking a CBP agent for help earlier this month. His family left Nicaragua for the US on February 8. Wilton and his mother, Meylin, illegally crossed the Mexico-US border in late March and were intercepted by border agents before they were forced to return back to Mexico. Wilton and his mother were then kidnapped an hour after arriving in Mexico. Their abductors then contacted her brother Misael Obregon in Miami requesting ransom, but he was only able to gather enough money to secure his nephew Wilton's freedom. After Wilton was released from his captors, he was able to again cross into the United States with more than 100 people. But he was left behind in the middle of the night while napping in the Texas desert area. On April 1, a CBP officer who was on his way home after concluding his work shift encountered Wilton in the middle of a dirt road in the Texas border city of La Grulla. A video recorded by the agent captured the moment Wilton went up to him crying and asking for help. 'It's that I was coming with a group and they abandoned me and I do not know where they are at,' the child told the officer in Spanish. Later the border agent asked the boy if he had been instructed 'to come ask for help,' but the the child replied, 'no, I am coming because if I did not, where am I going to go? Somebody could abduct me, kidnap me. I am scared.' In another incident, two Ecuadorean girls were abruptly dumped over a steel barrier at the Mexico-United States border on March 30. El Paso Sector Chief Patrol Agent Gloria Chavez provides snacks to the two girls from Ecuador who were abandoned by smugglers These encounters have been occurring more often as the US tries to grapple with the border crisis. In another incident, two Ecuadorean girls were abruptly dumped over a steel barrier at the Mexico-United States border on March 30. Surveillance video footage released by Border Patrol showed the moment a smuggler dropped Yareli, three, and her five-year-old sister Yasmina over the 14-foot high border wall in New Mexico. Another smuggler was waiting on the American side to catch the girls, who were then tossed to the ground. Both smugglers then fled, abandoning the children. The surveillance camera operator immediately alerted Santa Teresa Border Patrol Station agents and directed them to the remote location. The girls' mother, Yolanda Macas Tene, and father, Diego Vacacela Aguilar, had left their Ecuadorean home not long before, relatives said, and were awaiting their daughters in New York City. An official with the Consulate of Ecuador told DailyMail.com that the girls could soon be reunited with their parents in New York City. The latest jump in border crossings follows ferocious storms in Central America and President Joe Biden ending former president Donald Trump's hardline immigration policies, though many changes attributed to Biden are rumors or have been fabricated by smugglers to generate business. CBP agents register immigrants before bussing them to processing centers near the La Joya, Texas, border with Mexico on April 13 Thousands of migrants continue to arrive at the US-Mexico border. Here Romanian immigrants were taken into Border Patrol custody at the La Joya, Texas, border after crossing the Rio Grande River from Mexico on April 13 More than 21,000 unaccompanied migrant children are in federal government custody. Republicans who visited these centers last week shared images during a press conference Wednesday, April 14 of the massively overcrowded facilities The 'root causes' prompting Central Americans to leave haven't changed, said Sister Norma Pimentel, executive director of Catholic Charities of the Rio Grande Valley in Texas, whose temporary shelter has been hosting 400 to 500 people nightly, compared with a peak of about 1,000 in 2019. 'I think that it's simply that the traffickers use whatever is happening in the United States to extort the families, to lure them, to create a narrative that says, 'Come right now. The president is going to let you in,'' she said. Migrants, in dozens of interviews over the last two weeks, generally said circumstances in Central America led them to the US. When asked about Biden, nearly all said his relatively pro-immigration positions influenced their thinking. Smuggling fees vary widely, with some paying up to $10,000 a person in the Rio Grande Valley, the busiest corridor for illegal crossings. There is often a discount for additional relatives. The trip can take weeks in cars, buses and trucks, ending when an inflatable raft reaches the banks of the Rio Grande and families and children turn themselves in to Border Patrol agents. Biden has exempted unaccompanied children from expulsion, allowing them to stay in the US while pursuing asylum claims and live with 'sponsors,' usually parents or close relatives. Harris and Biden both have been hammered by GOP lawmakers for not visiting the border, even as jarring photos of minors held in overcrowded detention centers drew fresh attention to the issue. Biden has dispatched a number of top aides to evaluate the situation at the border instead. Republican lawmakers returning from a border trip blamed the Biden administration for the problems, arguing for a return to Trump-era policies. They said the president and vice president need to go to the border to see firsthand the migrant surge. Migrants seeking asylum from Cuba walk across a dirt road after crossing into the US from Mexico through the Rio Grande River in Del Rio, Texas A drone photo reveals two migrants along a dirt road in Del Rio, Texas after crossing from Mexico Migrant families are massed outside the Val Verde Border Humanitarian Coalition after being released from border patrol custody in Del Rio, Texas last month 'He can stop this today,' said Rep. Steve Scalise, R-La., the GOP whip. 'Vice President Harris needs to go down to the border and see this for herself.' Harris faces her own set of challenges in taking on a problem that has long eluded any easy solutions. She's been tasked with overseeing diplomatic efforts to deal with issues spurring migration in the Northern Triangle countries of El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras, which includes pressing them to strengthen enforcement on their borders, while also developing and implementing a long-term strategy that gets at the root causes of migration from those countries. On Wednesday, Harris was led a briefing with a handful of experts focused on those very issues, and she acknowledged in remarks to reporters that solving the region's problems would take time. 'We have to figure out how to assess our impact,' she said, but added, 'it will not be obvious overnight'. 'The work we have to do is going to require a commitment that is continuous, that we institutionalize with our partners,' and that includes a long-term strategy in the region, Harris said. She added: 'It will take some time to see the benefits of that work, but it will be worth it.' [April 15, 2021] Cubic and MTC Launch Clipper on iPhone and Apple Watch Cubic Corporation (NYSE:CUB) today announced that its Cubic Transportation Systems ( CTS (News - Alert) ) business division and the Metropolitan Transportation Commission (MTC) have introduced Clipper on iPhone and Apple Watch, giving transit riders a contactless way to pay for their trips on trains, buses and ferries in the San Francisco Bay Area. Cubic and MTC have launched their first mobile app for the region, the Clipper app, a helpful tool for card and account management. Riders now have the convenience of a contactless fare payment option on their iPhone, eliminating multiple touchpoints throughout the transit riding experience and simplifying commutes. With Clipper on iPhone and Apple (News - Alert) Watch, riders can add their Clipper card to Apple Wallet and easily use their iPhone and Apple Watch to tap at gates and fareboxes at Clipper's 24 partner transit agencies. Clipper on iPhone (News - Alert) and Apple Watch offers the ability to instantly view balances and top-up cash value with Apple Pay through the Apple Wallet app, eliminating physical contact and standing in line at tickt vending machines. "Contactless transit payment and the Clipper mobile app are changing the way Bay Area transit riders move around their city, giving users more control and making public transit safer and more convenient," said Jeff Lowinger, president of Cubic Transportation Systems. "The expansion of digital payments to transit is a testament to technology companies and agencies working together to deliver customer-focused mobility solutions to the public." "With COVID-19 safety procedures still in place, Clipper on iPhone and Apple Watch offers convenient solutions for essential workers by honoring social distancing with no physical interaction needed by the rider," said Andrew B. Fremier, MTC deputy executive director for operations. "Plus, we think transit riders will enjoy the ease of managing their Clipper accounts from the new Clipper mobile app." The Clipper app streamlines the benefits of the reloadable contactless smartcard used for transit fare payment in the San Francisco Bay Area into a user-friendly mobile app. Riders can download the Clipper app, add cash value or purchase their transit passes. All available retail tickets and pass types can be purchased via the Clipper mobile app. The Clipper app will also be available on Google Pay in May, allowing Android (News - Alert) users to pay fares, add value to their virtual cards and seamlessly board. 24 Bay Area transit services, including bus, BART, train, light rail and ferry, use the Clipper card system to deliver contactless fare payments and other benefits. Cubic launched the Clipper card system in partnership with the Metropolitan Transportation Commission in 2009. About Cubic Corporation Cubic is a technology-driven, market-leading provider of integrated solutions that increase situational understanding for transportation, defense C4ISR, and training customers worldwide to decrease urban congestion and improve the militaries' effectiveness and operational readiness. Our teams innovate to make a positive difference in people's lives. We simplify their daily journeys. We promote mission success and safety for those who serve their nation. For more information about Cubic, please visit www.cubic.com or on Twitter (News - Alert) @CubicCorp. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210415005864/en/ [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] Mam | Media and Advertising Bhima Jewellers breaks stereotypes with its 'Pure as Love' campaign What is it like to be trapped in a body that you feel does not belong to you? To have your own inner and outer selves conflict with each other? And if that were not enough, to have the society look at you as a queer. These are emotions and thought processes that transgender persons and LGBTQAI+ individuals go through in India. Read More... Mam | Media and Advertising Puneet Das elevated to Tata packaged beverages president India & south Asia Tata Consumer Products (TCP) has elevated Puneet Das as president - packaged beverages, India and south Asia. Das, who has been associated with Tata Consumer Products since 2017, was earlier senior vice president- marketing for the India beverages business. Read More... Mam | Marketing Ayushmann Khurrana is new face of Tecno Mobile Smartphone maker Tecno has roped in actor Ayushmann Khurrana as its brand ambassador for the current calendar. With this partnership, Tecno hopes to drive visibility for its brand philosophy 'Stop at Nothing' and bolster its position among smartphone users. Read More... Mam | Marketing How Nestle Milkybar is bringing 'Wonders of Ocean' to kids in their homes For kids, the last year was pretty desultory - stuck at home, no school to attend, no exciting outdoor activities to partake of. Things had been looking up, only for Covid to come knocking again - once again depriving the little ones of the endless possibilities and adventures that the world offers. Read More... Mam | Marketing Dentsu's content creation engine now leverages the power of GPT-3 model Dentsu Asia Pacific's Data Sciences division has unveiled a GPT-3 powered content generation engine. The engine is designed to produce several iterations of creative copy tied to historic and predictive performances of content and is embedded in dentsu Marketing Cloud (DMC) - the media-marketing giant's proprietary consumer insight and intelligence platform for creative and performance marketers. Read More... Mam | Media and Advertising MPL says 'Hai Akal, Khelo MPL' in IPL 2021 campaign Cashing in on the IPL fever, skill-gaming platform, Mobile Premier League (MPL) has launched its latest campaign on TV and digital media platforms. Revolving around the theme 'Hai Akal, Khelo MPL', the adverts feature a humanoid brain as the protagonist, driving in the message that anyone with 'akal' (brains) can play the game. Read More... He has variously been a pop icon, broadcaster, vicar and most recently a bereft widower following the death, 15 months ago, of his beloved civil partner and fellow clergyman David, after the latter's protracted battle with alcohol. But I can disclose that the Rev Richard Coles, one-time multi-instrumentalist in 1980s duo The Communards, is now preparing for arguably the most improbable development in his extraordinary life sharing his life with a woman. Lorna Gradden was once manager of The Communards but is now living on the South Coast, where 59-year-old Coles plans to join her when he retires. Currently vicar of Finedon in Northamptonshire, he describes Lorna as one of his 'oldest friends', and has a characteristically acute vision of their prospective new life in Sussex. Rev Richard Coles and his late partner David, who died 15 months ago Rev. Reverend Richard Coles where he is the parish priest of St. Mary's Church in Finedon, Northamptonshire 'It sounds exactly like Mapp and Lucia, and I'm sure it will be,' he says, alluding to the classic novels by E. F. Benson. It was to Lorna that Coles turned in the days after David's death, aged only 42, in December 2019, driving down to see her. And it was Lorna who accompanied him home to the vicarage in Finedon after David's funeral when, in his words, grief flowed up from within him 'like lava'. Coles recalled: 'I had this conversation with David's mum where she said, 'Don't write yourself off. Go out there, meet someone, have a new life. It's what David would have wanted.' I thought, 'Actually, David would have much rather I was sitting at home in a black shawl, stirring a pot of polenta.'' Lorna is, he says, the closest to another partner anyone can currently be. But, ultimately, he plans to return to Northamptonshire, to be buried next to David. 'Though the date of my occupancy is still a matter of speculation at the moment . . . I know I will rejoin him. He was a flawed person, like I am, but I deeply, deeply loved him.' Rod's girl Ruby and a split in The Sisterhood Sir Rod Stewart was so proud of his daughter Ruby's country music band, The Sisterhood, that he performed with them several times on stage. Sadly, he will never do so again as Ruby, 33, reveals she and her bandmate, Alyssa Bonagura (above right with Ruby), are parting ways. 'It's been a magical run and I'm beyond grateful to have had five transformative years in the band,' says Ruby, daughter of former model Kelly Emberg and Rod (inset with his daughter). Ruby explains that time apart over the past year made them realise they were ready to embark on solo careers. 'With Covid changing the world as a whole, it has also brought many to changes to our band,' she reflects. Ruby Stewart and Alyssa Bonagura of The Sisterhood attend the 2019 TrevorLive Los Angeles Gala at The Beverly Hilton Hotel on November 17, 2019 in Beverly Hills, California Life is no longer a cabaret for Nicky Chain-smoking interior designer Nicky Haslam has called time on his cabaret career. Despite claiming that puffing on Vogue cigarettes improved his voice, Nicky, 81, will no more reprise Manhattan's 'supper club' music songbook before celebrity audiences in London hotspots. 'A year of not singing and no practice my voice has gone,' he laments. 'And I am not sure I have the nerve to start it all up again.' Nicky doesn't even have a piano any more. However, he does have a souvenir of his pre-Covid crooning days a plaudit from Bob Geldof. The Live Aid rocker congratulated Nicky on his CD, Midnight Matinee, on which he performs with Bryan Ferry, Helena Bonham Carter and the late Cilla Black among others. 'Nicky has shown us all how it should be done,' pronounced Geldof. Nicky Haslam attends the Amanda Wakeley show during London Fashion Week Spring/Summer 2016 on September 22, 2015 in London Oops! I forgot my skirt, says daring Sadie Reformed party girl Sadie Frost was so excited to go out again this week that she forgot how to dress in an appropriate manner. The 55-year-old actress and former wife of film star Jude Law strutted out of her house in London's Primrose Hill wearing a 195 navy jumper with the word 'Defiant' across it and not much else, except for a pair of tights. 'Going out, have I forgotten anything? My skirt!' joked the mother-of-four as she headed to a bar with her boyfriend, film director Darren Strowger, and their pet dog Cherry. The 55-year-old actress and former wife of film star Jude Law strutted out of her house in London's Primrose Hill wearing a 195 navy jumper with the word 'Defiant' across it and not much else, except for a pair of tights Motherhood throws Ellie a curveball Pop star Ellie Goulding is due to give birth any day now, but she couldn't wait to introduce her unborn child to the art world as galleries re-opened this week. The 34-year-old, who sang at the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge's wedding reception, went with art dealer husband Caspar Jopling to the Gilbert & George exhibition at The White Cube in London the gallery founded by Caspar's uncle, Jay. Ellie says of her pregnancy: 'I want a better word than womanly I have curves I've never had before. I'm enjoying it. My husband's enjoying it.' Pop star Ellie Goulding is due to give birth any day now, but she couldn't wait to introduce her unborn child to the art world as galleries re-opened this week Oscar-winner Olivia Colman reveals she owns the Margaret Thatcher pearls worn by Meryl Streep when the latter depicted the former Prime Minister on screen. 'I did Iron Lady with Meryl I played her daughter and I have the pearls that Meryl wore in the film,' says Colman. 'The producers sent me them and said, 'We were just going through things. They belong to your mummy [as in Meryl Streep] and we think you should have them.' Which was so sweet because it was sort of passing down, although imaginary mummy and daughter.' Hollywood star Naomi Watts has failed to light up West London with her 'clean' cosmetics company, Onda. 'Sadly, we had to close the store in Notting Hill, which is devastating,' says Naomi, 52. 'It was in its infancy, then Covid hit. So we have one in Sydney and one in New York. We stock 80 brands and it's about removing harmful ingredients.' The daughter of Welsh set designer, Myfanwy, added that it 'is a shame' the British store had to close as 'my mum decorated the one in London'. A poignant tribute to the late racing driver John Crichton-Stuart, 7th Marquess of Bute. After attending his funeral in West London this week, his 21-year-old model daughter Lady Lola reveals she has acquired a chocolate labrador puppy, whom she has named Jaguar after the car driven by her father when he won Le Mans in 1988. She affectionately refers to her new canine pal as 'Baby Bute'. KALAMAZOO COUNTY, MI The Better Business Bureau (BBB) is saying a business claiming a Michigan address to peddle exotic monkeys and birds online is nothing more than pure monkey business. Monkeysandbirdsforsale.com claims to sell small monkeys for between $1,200 and $1,500 and parrots for $1,000 on its website; however, the BBB has uncovered a vast amount of evidence that leads the bureau to believe the site is a scam, a news release from the bureau states. Along with a Kalamazoo County address in Ross Township which belongs to a residential property owner who says he has no affiliation with the website BBB investigators said they discovered a phone number with a California area code that is being used by the company. The number is also being used by a separate puppy scam website with a New York address, as well as a cannabis delivery site, Cannabis Plug Universe, in California, BBB investigators say. MLive attempted to contact the business prior to publication by email and phone and was unsuccessful. There was no greeting affiliated with the voicemail. It is not uncommon for bad actors to list a fake address in an effort to make themselves appear legitimate, says Phil Catlett, President of the Better Business Bureau Serving Western Michigan. A physical address can give a customer a sense of security. BBB reports it has seen an increase in inquiries about the website over the past month. One review of the website submitted to BBB comes from a man from Austin, Texas, who said he tried to purchase a monkey from the company and after attempts to pay through PayPal and Venmo failed, the seller asked him to buy gift cards to make a payment. The buyer reported that the company also wanted an additional $1,500 in travel insurance and $100 for shipping, prompting him to not complete his transaction. Payment options on the website include Western Union, Bitcoin and Money Gram. Each year pet scams are among the riskiest scams we see at the BBB, Catlett said. Most people think of puppy scams. But they work for all types of animals. Dogs, cats, even monkeys and birds. In the About Us section of the website, the organization claims to have been working with monkeys for sale for the past 17 years and only keep the highest quality of avian companions. On the page it also states the public is welcome to watch our highly trained staff feed and care for our adorable baby monkeys for sale and birds for sale. Investigators were unable to locate an address for the store/nursery despite requesting a visit. Also on MLive: Body of man swept from pier found in Lake Michigan Police seek robber in 2 Kent County bank holdups 7-year-old Michigan girl shot during argument between parents An anonymous donor and CPDs Crime Stoppers are offering a combined $14,100 to people who provide information leading to the arrest and conviction of the person(s) responsible for the murder of Gloria Hill and Russell Paris. The district attorneys office released the following details in a press release. On December 1, 2020, two senior citizens were murdered in the Oak Grove community in Chattanooga. Russell Paris was shot and killed at his home in the 1700 block of South Kelly Street. Russell was outside his residence with his dog when he was shot. He was 61-years old. Eyewitnesses saw the assailant(s) leave the scene in a gray Dodge Charger. "Later the same day, at approximately 6:00 p.m., Gloria Hill, age 66, was shot to death at her home in the 1700 block of S. Willow Street. Due to the timeframe, location and nature of the incident, investigators believe someone within the community may have information regarding the suspect or possess other information that is pertinent to the case. Both murders remain unsolved. Police Chief David Roddy and DA Neal Pinkston held a press conference at the intersection of S. Willow Street and 18th Street, near where the two were shot. Chief Roddy said he did not know if the two murders were connected, but both occurred on the same day within hours of one another, but he said that is not something to be counted out either. DA Pinkston said, Chief Roddy, myself, and investigators on the case feel that people in this neighborhood have information that can lead to the arrest and conviction of the individuals responsible for these awful acts. Chief Roddy said he believes that the community and neighborhood are ready to come forward to help CPD solve the case and find the individuals who killed those two older citizens. We know this community wants to do the right thing and help these families find closure and justice, Chief Roddy said. The investigative team stands ready to take action on any information the community can provide to us. He said some of the circumstances of the case are still being worked through but also added that he believes members of the community have knowledge of details yet unknown to CPD. He asked anyone with information to call the tip line at 423-643-5100, and DA Pinkston said they can email at coldcases@hcdatn.org . To my understanding, the families still carry this with them and still look for the police department and communitys support, Chief Roddy said. We need individuals to come forward. No matter how minute that detail, or how small the fact that people may rationalize away as unimportant, I promise that it is important. Good morning, North State. Here's what you need to know to start your day on Thursday, April 15. Californians 16 and older can now get the COVID-19 vaccine Eligibility for the COVID-19 vaccine is expanding in California. Starting April 15, any Californian over the age of 16 can sign up to get vaccinated, regardless of county. Click here to sign up for an appointment. CA Public Advocates Office identifies 'serious' flaws in PG&E wildfire safety plan In a meeting scheduled for Thursday, Californias Public Utility Commission, a watchdog group, is set to recommend that regulators reject PG&E's current wildfire prevention plan. The public advocate's office released a report Wednesday blasting the utility for "systematic weak management". The process could ultimately cause PG&E to lose its utility license under its bankruptcy deal with regulators. PG&E mobile customer service center in Oroville A PG&E mobile customer service help center in Oroville is available Thursday. Those who have questions about their service or tree removals in the area can get help. PG&E representatives will be at Lakeside Market & Gas on Olive Highway from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Just look for the table next to the blue PG&E van. Eaglet naming contest narrows down to Top 10 The Friends of the Redding Eagles received nearly 3,000 submissions for its contest to name the three new Redding eaglets. The team worked to narrow that list down to 10. Now its your chance to vote on your favorite. Click here to vote. Tax Day: April 15 key date for some despite extension The IRS has delayed the federal tax filing deadline until May 17. There are two exceptions: those who pay estimated taxes, like small business owners, then April 15 is still your deadline. Victims of Februarys winter storms living in Texas, Oklahoma, or Louisiana won't have to pay until June 15th. CDC vaccine advisers put off decision on Johnson & Johnson Covid-19 vaccine The Johnson and Johnson coronavirus vaccine will be on hold for another week, according to CDC experts. Every state hit the pause button after six women who got the shot developed serious blood clots, and one died. A CDC panel took no action saying they want more information. The Biden Administration's top health experts testify before a House panel Thursday. With ever-increasing cyber threats, it's essential we protect our online identities but a password isnt enough. If you thought SMS-based two-factor authentication was the solution, think again. For the greatest protection, you need FIDO2 security, and FEITIAN Technologies has just the device for you - and are giving iTWire readers a discount too. With malicious actors continually breaching websites and dumping login details it is essential your personal security regime goes beyond a username and password combination. Even if your password is highly complex, if your email account is compromised its a simple feat to use a websites forgot password feature to reset it. So, that's where two- and multi-factor authentication comes in; now your login involves two pieces of fixed information (username and password), and one variable piece of information (a one-time code). Sending a text message to your mobile phone is convenient, yet much as your email can be breached, so too attackers using SIM swapping exploit social engineering to transfer your mobile service to a new SIM card, and thus receive all your one-time codes themselves. This is covered in the Reply All podcast episode, The Snapchat Thief where the very attack is used by hacking groups who steal social media accounts with valuable usernames. What can a mere mortal do? You simply want to browse the Internet and do your job and your organisations password policies are likely already hard to manage as-is. Then youre told to have a different password for every application, to remember it, but you cant be sure your email or mobile phone is secure anyhow. This is where FIDO2 comes in; a joint effort between the FIDO ("Fast Identity Online) alliance and the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C), with the goal of creating strong authentication for the web. FIDO supports a full range of authentication technologies, including biometrics like fingerprints, iris scanners, voice, and facial recognition, as well as existing standards and solutions such as USB security tokens, smart cards, Near Field Communication (NFC), Trusted Platform Modules (TPM), and others. The FIDO2 specifications emphasise a device-centric model, meaning a simple hardware device you carry performs the authentication and dramatically simplifies your access to online services while enhancing your security. The user's device is registered with a public key, while the device holds a private key. The key is unlocked by the users gesture such as a biometric or pressing a button. So, that's FIDO2, and if you're not using it, you should. If your organisation doesnt support it, then it should. In fact, Google lists FIDO compliance as a factor in giving yourself the most advanced protection. They go so far as to say you ought to have two FIDO2 security keys; one as your master, and one as a backup. This is Google's advice for journalists, whistle-blowers, and people living in oppressive regimes, and it's solid advice for anybody who wishes to protect their online identity. FEITIAN Technologies began in 1998 in China and is now the world's leading provider of digital authentication hardware with customers in over 100 countries. Their products are used to support and strengthen industries such as financial, healthcare, government, enterprise, and payment. FEITIAN provided iTWire samples of three of its products - the BioPass FIDO2 security key, iePass FIDO security key, and the AllinPass FIDO2 security key. The company has also made a generous 20% discount available to iTWire readers. They all provide hardware-based security, but with different connectivity options ranging from USB, biometrics, NFC, and Bluetooth, to suit your needs whether tethered to a desk or on the go. The company has other products, and can also brand any of its products with your organisations logo, helping you roll out an aesthetic fleet of secure authenticators to protect your companys data and reputation. Each device comes in a durable and compact design and gives you a single authenticator for multiple applications. They protect your online accounts against unauthorised access such as phishing, man-in-the-middle attacks, and hijacking. BioPass FIDO2 security key The BioPass FIDO2 security key comes with either a USB-A or USB-C interface and uses your fingerprint to securely sign you into websites and applications. It supports the FIDO U2F, FIDO2 and HOTP protocols. It carries an RRP of $USD 60. iePassFIDO security key The iePassFIDO security key includes USB-C and Lightning interfaces together, one on either end. This makes it a great fit for your iOS devices, and your Android devices, PCs and laptops, MacBooks and more. A USB-C to USB-A adapter is included. It supports U2F, FIDO2, HOTP and PIV protocols. It carries an RRP of $USD 78. AllinPass FIDO2 security key The AllinPass FIDO2 security key provides embedded fingerprint verification, and supports USB-C, NFC and Bluetooth, allowing you to share the one key across all the devices you own. It supports FIDO2 and carries an RRP of $US 130. Which one is right for you? Whichever security key you opt for, the setup is simple and straightforward. They work with all FIDO-compliant applications and services on Windows, macOS or Linux such as Google Chrome, Gmail, Facebook, and Dropbox. Computer users have long been told of the importance of having complicated passwords that are unique for every site and service we work with, but managing such a mass of credentials is a huge mental endeavour. With a security key like those in the FEITIAN range, your mind can rest; you can make up any random password at any time and once its registered with your security key you can dismiss the password from your mind. Let the hardware do the work and protect your data, your finances, your precious memories, and your intellectual property. For IT departments, deploying hardware-based FIDO2 security keys can be the difference stopping your company's name from being on the front page of the newspaper due to a data breach. It's certainly a lot better to contain reputational data and restore customer confidence when you don't have a breach at all because your users are employing the best security they can. Ultimately, the choice you have to make is simple. it's not a matter of whether you ought to be using a hardware authenticator, but which model suits your situation best. Get your own FEITIAN security key at a special price FEITIAN has kindly made a special offer for iTWire readers; buy one or more security keys from the following link and enter promo code David-20 for 20% off. You can also contact FEITIAN Technologies for any product enquiries, including personalisation and bulk orders. Media Watch FEITIAN Technologies' BioPass FIDO2 security key in use with Windows Hello, on Windows 10. Listen to "The Snapchat Thief" here, for the devastating effects of SIM swapping. GENEVA, April 15, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- The World Stroke Organization is calling for increased awareness of the symptoms of a rare type of stroke that has been linked to a Johnson & Johnson and AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccines. The call follows the suspension of administration of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine in the US and recent changes to clinical guidance on the use of the AstraZeneca in Europe, due to the rare occurrence of cerebral venous sinus thrombosis (CVST) in patients who have received these vaccines. CVST is a type of blood clot that forms in the venous sinuses of your brain and can cause blood cells to break and leak into brain tissue. It is a rare disorder that currently accounts for 1-2% of stroke worldwide. CVST is more common in women, as it was in the reported cases following J&J and AstraZeneca vaccination. While the population risks from COVID vaccination, are outweighed by the benefits of vaccination, including the reduced risk of COVID-related stroke, the World Stroke Organization (WSO) is calling on the public and healthcare professionals to be aware of the risk factors and symptoms of CVST and appropriate diagnosis of the disorder. It is vital that anyone with suspected CVST receives timely and appropriate neurological assessment and treatment to reduce the risk of severe disability and death. Individuals who are predisposed to CVST include people with blood clotting disorders; women who are taking oral contraceptives, pregnant or post-partum; and people with pre-existing malignant disease. The symptoms of CVST include headache, blurred vision, loss of control of movement in parts of the body, seizures, fainting, speech difficulties and confusion. Many patients present with nonspecific headaches, so any new headaches, or a change in the character of an existing headache, should not ignored where an individual has received the J&J or AstraZeneca vaccine. Diagnosis of CVST requires specialist neurological examination of suspected patients. Brain imaging can be used to confirm the presence of a blood clot or hemorrhage, both of which can occur with CVST. Once a diagnosis has been made, treatment with a blood thinning medication is usually started. WSO is monitoring emerging evidence and will provide further guidance as details about the CVST cases associated with COVID-19 vaccination emerge. www.world-stroke.org Logo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1488968/World_Stroke_Organization_Logo.jpg For more information, please contact the WSO Secretariat: [email protected]. SOURCE World Stroke Organization Related Links https://www.world-stroke.org Hong Kong's legislature started Wednesday deliberating a bill on improving the electoral system of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR). The draft laws, in a package named the Improving Electoral System (Consolidated Amendments) Bill 2021, were brought to the Legislative Council (LegCo) for the first and second reading at a meeting that began Wednesday noon. The local amendment came about two weeks after electoral revisions were passed by China's top legislature. The Standing Committee of the National People's Congress adopted on March 30 the amended Annex I and Annex II to the HKSAR Basic Law, which concerns methods for the selection of the HKSAR chief executive and the formation of the LegCo. The bill mainly comprises six areas, including reconstituting the Election Committee, providing for the method for selecting the chief executive, updating the composition and formation of the LegCo, and the candidate eligibility, among others. HKSAR Chief Executive Carrie Lam said she hopes that the draft will be passed by lawmakers by the end of May. Official languages in Saskatchewan get funding increases under the Action Plan for Official Languages REGINA, SK, April 15, 2021 /CNW Telbec/ - Official-language minority communities in Canada are in a constant struggle to hold onto their language, uphold their rights and maintain their ability to live in the language of their choice. The Government of Canada supports Canadians living in linguistic minority communities by investing in community partners that are providing the tools and opportunities to help their members learn and retain the language. Marie-France Lalonde, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Economic Development and Official Languages (FedDev Ontario and Official Languages), confirmed that the Government of Canada has invested $2.89 million in 20202021 program funding to 23 organizations in Saskatchewan, a funding increase of 35 percent since 2018, with two additional organizations receiving funding. She made this announcement on behalf of the Honourable Melanie Joly, Minister of Economic Development and Official Languages. Under the Action Plan for Official Languages 20182023, the Communaute des africains francophones de la Saskatchewan and the Federation des aines Fransaskois were eligible to receive program funding for the first time, providing financial stability for these organizations and helping them plan multi-year activities. The increase also allowed programming funding for the Journees du patrimoine initiative of the Societe historique de la Saskatchewan. Quotes "Official-language communities in Canada are part of the very fabric of our country, made up of many small, passionate community organizations that work tirelessly to ensure sustainability and vitality of our Francophone populations. The Government of Canada is proud to support their ongoing efforts and commitment to our bilingual future." The Honourable Melanie Joly, Minister of Economic Development and Official Languages "In every part of Canada, official-language minority communities are working to keep their language and culture relevant, strong and thriving. Community organizations play a vital role in Canada's bilingual future by providing leadership and direction, and ensuring access to services, resources, and cultural and language activities." Marie-France Lalonde, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Economic Development and Official Languages (FedDev Ontario and Official Languages) "The federal government's Action Plan for Official Languages 20182023 has had a very noticeable impact on the level of retention in human resources across our network of Francophone organizations. Since the Action Plan has been put in place, a palpable strengthening has been felt across the majority of Fransaskois organizations. The new programming has made it possible to set up initiatives that were previously impossible. The Action Plan has allowed us to broaden our sources of funding in order to expand our offer of services in French in many sectors. It also offers substantial support for Francophone immigration." Denis Simard, Chair, Assemblee communautaire fransaskoise Quick Facts The Action Plan for Official Languages 20182023: Investing in Our Future proposes an unprecedented investment of $2.7 billion over five years, including $500 million in new funding, to support official-language minority communities and promote bilingualism across the country. On February 19, in the document English and French: Towards a substantive equality of official languages in Canada, Minister Joly unveiled the Government of Canada's intentions to modernize and strengthen the Official Languages Act and related instruments. This document proposes a range of changes and new measures to achieve a new linguistic balance in the country. Associated Links Action Plan for Official Languages 20182023: Investing in Our Future English and French: Towards a substantive equality of official languages in Canada BACKGROUNDER CLIENT NAME 20182019 FUNDING (BEFORE ACTION PLAN) TOTAL ALLOCATION IN 20202021 ASSEMBLEE COMMUNAUTAIRE FRANSASKOISE (A.C.F.) INC. $506,000 $607,200 ASSOCIATION CANADIENNE-FRANCAISE DE REGINA INC. $65,000 $78,000 ASSOCIATION COMMUNAUTAIRE FRANCOPHONE DE BELLEGARDE INC. $67,600 $85,000 ASSOCIATION COMMUNAUTAIRE FRANSASKOISE DE GRAVELBOURG INC. $52,000 $80,000 ASSOCIATION COMMUNAUTAIRE FRANSASKOISE DE LA TRINITE INC. $50,000 $60,000 ASSOCIATION COMMUNAUTAIRE FRANSASKOISE DE MOOSE JAW INC. $67,600 $81,120 ASSOCIATION DES PARENTS FRANSASKOIS INC. $135,000 $180,000 ASSOCIATION FRANSASKOISE DE ZENON PARK INC. $67,000 $80,400 ASSOCIATION JEUNESSE FRANSASKOISE INC. $100,000 $150,000 CANADIAN PARENTS FOR FRENCH - SASKATCHEWAN INC. $149,330 $179,196 CENTRE FRANCOPHONE BDS INC. $90,000 $105,680 CENTRE FRANCOPHONE DES BATTLEFORD INC. $50,000 $60,000 COMITE CULTUREL FRANSASKOIS DE DEBDEN INC. $50,000 $60,000 COMMUNAUTE DES AFRICAINS FRANCOPHONES DE LA SASKATCHEWAN N/A $70,000 CONSEIL CULTUREL FRANSASKOIS INCORPORE $140,000 $168,000 FEDERATION DES AINES FRANSASKOIS N/A $80,000 LA COOPERATIVE DES PUBLICATIONS FRANSASKOISES LIMITEE $100,000 $120,000 LA FEDERATION DES FRANCOPHONES DE SASKATOON INC. $117,000 $140,400 LA SOCIETE CANADIENNE-FRANCAISE DE PRINCE ALBERT INC. $115,000 $138,000 LA SOCIETE HISTORIQUE DE LA SASKATCHEWAN INC. $40,000 $135,000 LES AUVERGNOIS DE PONTEIX, INC. $52,000 $62,400 LES EDITIONS DE LA NOUVELLE PLUME, COOPERATIVE LIMITEE $55,000 $75,000 TROUPE DU JOUR INC. $80,000 $96,000 TOTAL $2,148,530 $2,891,396 Note: Organizations with N/A in the 20182019 column did not receive programming funding in that period. SOURCE Canadian Heritage For further information: For more information (media only), please contact: Catherine Mounier-Desrochers, Press Secretary, Office of the Minister of Economic Development and Official Languages, [email protected]; Media Relations, Canadian Heritage, 819-994-9101, 1-866-569-6155, [email protected] Related Links www.pch.gc.ca New Delhi, April 15 : Diamonds have an unmatched beauty, their enigmatic energy or simply a legacy thats billions of years old captivates people all over the world. April being the month of diamonds, Forevermark shares are a few fascinating facts about the creation, discovery, and history of a diamond. April-born ladies here's an extra reason to put sparkling diamond jewelry on your birthday wish list. A Miracle of nature: As pure and as old as the Earth itself; a diamond is a natural miracle over a 3 billion years in the making. Formed long before dinosaurs roamed the earth, some say that diamonds are even older than the stars, maybe that's why the sparkle of your diamond often rivals that of the stars twinkling in the sky and why the light of the diamond on your finger, forever reflects the beautiful memories of a lifetime. The strength of a diamond: Although they look delicate and beautiful, but diamonds are the most hardest natural substance on the planet, 58 times harder than the next mineral on Earth! A diamond is indestructible: The word diamond derives from the Greek word 'adamas', which in turn means indestructible - a fitting name for this everlasting precious stone, that is an eternal symbol of a lifelong commitment. It is no wonder then that diamonds are regarded as the ultimate symbol of love and strength. History proves many ancient cultures believed that diamonds gave the wearer strength and courage during battle, and some kings wore diamonds on their armor as they rode into battle. Diamonds are rare: Diamonds are one of the world's most precious, beautiful and rare possessions in the world. If you were to gather together all the diamonds ever polished since the beginning of time, they fit in a London double-decker bus, with room to spare. That is probably why when you are gifted/ or gift yourself a diamond you truly feel special to be wearing one of the rarest and most precious diamonds that has been created by Mother Nature. The biggest diamond: Did you know, a diamond over one carat in weight is one in a million and the biggest known diamond in the universe weighs 2.27 thousand trillion tonnes, or 10 billion trillion carats. This is the equivalent of 179 trillion double decker buses. The largest diamond: Cullinan - The Cullinan, weighing in at 530.20 carats, is the largest cut diamond in the world which originated from the De Beers Premier mine. It was cut from a huge 3,106 carat rough diamond, discovered in the Premier mine in Transvaal, South Africa in 1905. The Cullinan was eventually yielded nine major, and 107 smaller brilliant cut diamonds and the two largest diamonds can be found in the British Crown Jewels. Not all diamonds are white in colour: D-to-Z color diamonds are the most widely used in jewelry, but did you know diamonds come in all colors of the rainbow? Natural-colored diamonds, blue, green, orange and red are the rarest; while yellow and brown are the most common ones used worldwide. The 1 per cent club: If diamonds are rare then Forevermark diamonds are the rarest of the rare. Less than 1 per cent of the world's diamonds are eligible to become Forevermark. If all the worlds diamonds fit in a double decker bus, then Forevermark inscribed diamonds, would fill just over two tires of the bus. Outshining every other diamond in the world, is it eligible to be inscribed with the Forevermark inscription! Invisible to the naked eye, this inscription includes the Forevermark icon and the diamond's own, unique number at the heart of the diamond that identifies it as exclusively yours and unlike any other diamond in the world. The most expensive diamond: The Pink Star - Did you know the most expensive and beautiful pink diamond, known as the Pink Star was sold in Hong Kong for more than $71,000,000 and weighs 59.60 carats. A unique story: Each rough diamond has a natural pattern telling a unique story. No diamonds two are alike, each is as unique as a snowflake: precious and rare. How are diamonds formed: Diamonds are formed under 45-60 Kbar of pressure. This corresponds to a depth of 125-200 kilometers below the Earth's surface- around fifty thousand times atmospheric pressure. The pressure is equivalent to putting the point of the Eiffel Tower upside down on your hand. (Puja Gupta can be contacted at puja.g@ians.in) CHICOPEE A 23-year-old Air Force reservist killed in Kuwait last fall was a passenger on an ATV that was being driven without authorization and speeding when it flipped on its side in the sand, a military investigation concluded. Staff Sgt. Ronald J. Ouellette, 23, of Merrimack, New Hampshire, was a member of Westover Air Reserve Bases 24th Aerial Port Squadron but assigned to the 386th Expeditionary Logistics Readiness Squadron at Ali Al Salem Air Base in Kuwait. He died Sept. 14. The Ground Accident Investigation Board of the U.S. Air Force released a report this week on the investigation of the crash that killed Ouellette. The report did not identify the driver or say if any disciplinary action was recommended against him. The crash involved Polaris Ranger all-terrain vehicle that was being delivered to another base. When it arrived, the operator said the vehicle was sputtering and he wanted to take it for a drive to troubleshoot the problem. But after the crash he told arriving security forces that the two were just out joy riding, the report said. The driver lost control of the ATV while making a 180-degree turn on the sand at the base. The vehicle rolled over onto the passenger side, pinning Ouellette under the protective roll cage, the report said. Ouellette died at the scene. The driver was treated for minor injuries, the report said. Although the driver said he was trying to troubleshoot a mechanical problem, investigators said making repairs to the ATV would not be his responsibility, and the problem should have been reported to Vehicle Maintenance. The vehicle was a piece of cargo and not something the two should have been operating as part of their job, the report said. Leadership demonstrated knowledge of the events that took place during the mishap, including that the (driver) and (passenger) were messing around with the (vehicle) and that they were likely traveling at a high rate of speed, the report said. Investigators determined the ATV was being driven between 25 and 35 mph, although the speed limit at the base is 12 mph and the owners manual said the maximum speed limit for an ATV of that type should be 25 mph and should be driven slower if there is a passenger or the driver is inexperienced, the report said. Neither the (driver) nor the (passenger) were wearing seatbelts, helmets, eye protection or long-sleeved shirts, which are all violations of Air Force regulations, the report said. After Ouellette died, now-retired Col. Craig Peters, commander of the 439th Airlift Wing at Westover, released a statement expressing his sympathy to his family and his friends at the base. Ronald was a valued member of the Patriot Wing and there are no words that can heal the pain his loss brings, Peters said at the time. We consider every Airman, civilian and dependent part of the team that makes all we do in the defense of our nation possible. The loss of our own, or any service member, is never easy. During this difficult time, our priority is to do all we can to lift and support his family, friends, fellow Airmen in his squadron and loved ones who are struggling. Related content: Batavia, NY (14020) Today Sun and clouds mixed. High 84F. Winds WSW at 15 to 25 mph.. Tonight Some clouds this evening will give way to mainly clear skies overnight. Low 68F. Winds WSW at 15 to 25 mph. Ossiam and Barclays are celebrating the third anniversary of the creation of the Ossiam ESG Low Carbon Shiller Barclays CAPE US Sector UCITS ETF. Ossiam launched the exchange-traded fund in April 2018 as a low carbon and ESG version of the existing Ossiam Shiller Barclays CAPE US Sector Value ETF for investors looking to improve their climate impact and ESG-related exposure, followed by listing on stock exchanges in June. It is listed on Borsa Italiana, Euronext Paris, London Stock Exchange, Swiss SIX and Xetra. Since inception the fund's assets under management have increased to reach USD 417.6m. The strategy's adaptability as fundamentally value-driven, but with the ability to rotate in and out of sectors, has enhanced its performance where the value factor has underperformed over the same time period (see table below). The combination of the strategy's sector rotation and stock picking determined by ESG and carbon criteria delivered strong results specifically in 2020, a year in which sector dispersion has been particularly high, with 7.1% outperformance versus S&P500 (see table below). In 2019, the fund was one of four Ossiam ETFs granted the official French government SRI label ("Label ISR" in French). It complies with article 8 of the Sustainable Finance Directive Regulation. Professor Robert Shiller said, "I am pleased with the performance of the fund on the three-year anniversary. ESG is becoming a major narrative that I believe is important for the world. That said, I think investors need to be cognisant of valuations amidst the growing demand for ESG products and I believe our product helps them with its focus on still under-valued sectors." Bruno Poulin, CEO of Ossiam said, "We are delighted that the fund has passed this milestone and delivered solid performance. The three-year mark is a key stage in a new fund's existence, as proof-of-concept and in demonstrating its relevance to investors. This fund has demonstrated that making a contribution to sustainability goals with a well-designed ESG policy can go hand-in-hand with the financial objectives of the strategy." Ben Redmond, Head of QIS Structuring EMEA at Barclays, said, "Adding the ESG feature to the fund has proven beneficial, not only for performance reasons, but also in helping clients adopt a more ESG-focused approach to their investments. We are optimistic for further asset growth given many investors require a three-year track record." Notes to Editors: Investment Process The Shiller Barclays CAPE US Sector Value Net TR index reflects the performance of dynamic long exposure to four US equity sectors which are selected every month according to their Relative CAPE ratio and price variations over the prior 12 months. The Barclays Shiller CAPEindices, developed jointly by Barclays and Professor Robert Shiller, use the Cyclically Adjusted Price-to-Earnings ratio as a valuation driver in a sector rotational strategy. The ESG Low Carbon Shiller Barclays CAPE US Sector strategy aims to deliver a risk/return profile similar to the Shiller Barclays CAPE US Sector Value index, but with a significantly reduced carbon footprint and improved ESG profile. The ESG stage of the strategy starts by removing companies in specific industries, such as controversial weapons, tobacco and thermal coal, companies that are undergoing severe controversies and those in breach with one of the Ten Principles of the UN Global Compact. The strategy also incorporates publicly available exclusion lists offered by major, highly regarded Scandinavian institutional investors. All of these filters improve the strategy's ESG profile. With the remaining stocks, the strategy selects the portfolio that mimics the financial behaviour of the Barclays Shiller CAPE US Sector Value Net TR Index by minimizing the expected tracking error, while reducing the total carbon footprint and maintaining the same sector exposure of the original index. The carbon footprint reduction is measured across three dimensions: a 40% reduction in Scope 1+2+3 total greenhouse gas emissions (GHG); a 40% reduction in the total potential GHG emissions from reserves (i. e. GHG emissions linked to proven fossil reserves that are not yet burned but could be in the future when extracted from the ground); and a 40% reduction in the carbon intensity of the strategy compared to the original index. Data illustrating the funds' performance from April 6th 2018 to April 6th 2021 Data from 06/04/2018 to 06/04/2021 S&P 500 Net total return Ossiam Shiller Barclays CAPE US Sector Value TR UCITS ETF Ossiam ESG Low Carbon Shiller Barclays CAPE US Sector ETF S&P 500 Value Net total return S&P 500 Growth Net total return Performance 62.8% 65.9% 74.7% 40.2% 82.3% Annualized Performance 17.6% 18.4% 20.4% 11.9% 22.1% Annualized Volatility 22.5% 23.1% 22.9% 22.8% 23.8% Perf/Vol Ratio 0.78 0.79 0.89 0.52 0.93 Maximum DrawDown -33.8% -34.7% -33.0% -37.1% -31.4% Tracking Error 7.0% 6.8% 6.8% 5.3% Beta 1.00 0.99 0.96 1.03 Alpha 0.7% 3.0% -5.8% 9.9% Correlation vs S&P500 95.4% 95.5% 95.5% 97.5% Source: Bloomberg Calculation by Ossiam as of 07/04/2021 (USD) Additional information about the fund Main Risks: Investment in a Fund carries a substantial degree of risk such as Risk of capital loss Underlying risk Volatility Risk. Before any investment, please read the detailed descriptions of the main risks in the KIID and prospectus. The ETF is an ICAV (Irish Collective Asset Management Vehicle), regulated by the Central Bank of Ireland and uses physical replication. It has a total expense ratio (TER) of 0.75%. The ETF is available under an accumulating share class denominated in USD (ISIN code: IE00BF92LR56). This document and information included herein about the Ossiam ETF funds is intended solely for journalists and media professionals, provided solely to enable them to have an overview of these funds, exclusively for their own independent editorial. Ossiam assumes no liability, whether direct or indirect, that may result from using any information contained in this document. In no circumstances may Ossiam be held liable for any decision taken on the basis of this information. About Ossiam Ossiam is a specialist asset management company that develops and manages investment funds, including exchange-traded funds (ETFs), based on systematic investment processes. Ossiam funds use alternatively weighted indexes also known as alternative beta or smart beta applied to a range of financial asset classes. Our ETFs have been listed on major European stock exchanges, including Deutsche Borse, Borsa Italiana, London Stock Exchange, NYSE Euronext and the SIX Swiss Exchange since 2011. The team behind Ossiam has extensive experience in quantitative research and financial product design, fund management, trading and risk management. Ossiam was the first asset manager to launch an ETF based on a minimum variance strategy and the first asset manager to launch a risk-weighted smart beta commodity ETF. Ossiam is headquartered in Paris, France, and is an affiliate of Natixis Investment Managers. The investment company is regulated by the Autorite des marches financiers (AMF) of France. Ossiam's total assets under management were 3.9bn as of end of 2020. Ossiam is a signatory to the United Nations Principles for Responsible Investment. About Natixis Investment Managers Natixis Investment Managers serves financial professionals with more insightful ways to construct portfolios. Powered by the expertise of more than 20 specialized investment managers globally, we apply Active Thinking to deliver proactive solutions that help clients pursue better outcomes in all markets. Natixis Investment Managers ranks among the world's largest asset management firms1 with more than $1 trillion assets under management2 (934.1 billion). Headquartered in Paris and Boston, Natixis Investment Managers is a subsidiary of Natixis. Listed on the Paris Stock Exchange, Natixis is a subsidiary of BPCE, the second-largest banking group in France. Natixis Investment Managers' affiliated investment management firms include AEW; Alliance Entreprendre; AlphaSimplex Group; Darius Capital Partners; DNCA Investments;3 Dorval Asset Management; Flexstone Partners; Gateway Investment Advisers; H2O Asset Management; Harris Associates; Investors Mutual Limited; Loomis, Sayles Company; Mirova; MV Credit; Naxicap Partners; Ossiam; Ostrum Asset Management; Seeyond; Seventure Partners; Thematics Asset Management; Vauban Infrastructure Partners;4 Vaughan Nelson Investment Management; Vega Investment Managers;5 and WCM Investment Management. Investment solutions are also offered through Natixis Advisors and Natixis Investment Managers Solutions.6 Not all offerings available in all jurisdictions. For additional information, please visit Natixis Investment Managers' website at im.natixis.com LinkedIn: linkedin.com/company/natixis-investment-managers. Natixis Investment Managers' distribution and service groups include Natixis Distribution, L.P., a limited purpose broker-dealer and the distributor of various registered investment companies for which advisory services are provided by affiliated firms of Natixis Investment Managers, Natixis Investment Managers S.A. (Luxembourg), Natixis Investment Managers International and its global affiliated distribution and investment management entities. 1 Cerulli Quantitative Update: Global Markets 2019 ranked Natixis Investment Managers as the 17th largest asset manager in the world based on assets under management as of December 31, 2018. 2 Net asset value as of December 31, 2019 is $1,048.4 billion. Assets under management ("AUM"), as reported, may include notional assets, assets serviced, gross assets, assets of minority-owned affiliated entities and other types of non-regulatory AUM managed or serviced by firms affiliated with Natixis Investment Managers. 3 A brand of DNCA Finance. 4 Not yet licensed currently pending authorization process as a portfolio management company with the French Autorite des marches financiers (the "AMF"). 5 A wholly owned subsidiary of Natixis Wealth Management. 6 Natixis Investment Managers Solutions teams, based in several locations (Paris, London, Geneva), gather the asset allocation, portfolio construction, multi-asset portfolio management and structuring expertise of Natixis Investment Managers. Only the entity based in Paris has the portfolio management company certification. About Barclays Barclays is a British universal bank. We are diversified by business, by different types of customers and clients, and by geography. Our businesses include consumer banking and payments operations around the world, as well as a top-tier, full service, global corporate and investment bank, all of which are supported by our service company which provides technology, operations and functional services across the Group. Disclaimer S&P500 refers to S&P500 Net Total Return. It is each investor's responsibility to ascertain that it is authorised to subscribe or invest into the product detailed in this press release. Prior to investing in the product, investors should seek independent financial, tax, accounting and legal advice. Ossiam UCITS ETFs are Luxembourg or Irish open ended mutual investment funds respectively approved by the Luxembourg Commission de Surveillance du Secteur Financier or by the Central Bank of Ireland, and authorized for marketing of their units or shares in various European countries (the Marketing Countries) pursuant to the article 93 of the 2009/65/EC Directive. Ossiam recommends that investors read carefully the "risk factors" section of the Ossiam UCITS ETFs prospectus and the "Risk and reward" section of the Key Investor Information Document (KIID). The prospectus and the KIID in the local languages of the Marketing Countries are available free of charge on www.ossiam.com. Updated composition of the Ossiam UCITS ETFs investment portfolio is available on www.ossiam.com. Indicative net asset value is published on the Reuters and Bloomberg pages of the products, and might also be mentioned on the websites of the stock exchanges where the product is listed. The products are the object of market-making contracts, the purpose of which is to ensure the liquidity of the products on the exchange, assuming normal market conditions and normally functioning computer systems. Units of a specific Ossiam UCITS ETF managed by an asset manager and purchased on the secondary market cannot usually be sold directly back to the asset manager itself. Investors must buy and sell units on a secondary market with the assistance of an intermediary (e.g. a stockbroker) and may incur fees for doing so. In addition, investors may pay more than the current net asset value when buying units and may receive less than the current net asset value when selling them. The Ossiam UCITS ETF including the one detailed in this press release include a risk of capital loss. The redemption value of these Ossiam UCITS ETF may be less than the amount initially invested. In a worst case scenario, investors could sustain the loss of their entire investment. There is no guarantee that the objective of any Ossiam UCITS ETF will be met. The trademarks used in this document are the intellectual property of their licensors. The accuracy, completeness or relevance of the information which has been drawn from external sources is not guaranteed although it is drawn from sources reasonably believed to be reliable. Subject to any applicable law, Ossiam shall not assume any liability in this respect. This press release together with the prospectus and/or more generally any information or documents with respect to or in connection with the Ossiam UCITS ETF detailed herein does not constitute an offer for sale or solicitation of an offer for sale in any jurisdiction (i) in which such offer or solicitation is not authorized, (ii) in which the person making such offer or solicitation is not qualified to do so, or (iii) to any person to whom it is unlawful to make such offer or solicitation. 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View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210415005264/en/ Contacts: For media enquiries, please contact: Evan de Barra T: +44 7807 954 263 /+44 (0)20 8638 0711 E: Edb@debarracomms.com Skype: Evan.deBarra DeBarra Communications Ltd. Theologian Al Mohler drops caution to either "giving too much or too little" focus to the "occultic, the demonic, the satanic." Covering the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary President's Monday talk in The Briefing podcast, Christian Post noted Mohler's commentary on society's fear of the unseen evil forces, and the growing presence of occult groups and their sects. He mentioned the "Moonies" of the Unification Church and "Harry Krishnas" as examples. "The danger is giving too much attention to the occultic, the demonic, the satanic, or too little," he said. For Christians, the theologian said that they are "always looking at a dual danger." "When you look at the victory of the devil, that victory comes by either being made too important or by being ignored," weighed Mohler. "The Bible doesn't ignore and the Bible certainly does not make the demonic, does not make Satan himself, does not make demons, does not make the occultic anything larger than that over which Jesus has triumphed," he said as balance. CP features the Vox article which they reported as the premise for Mohler's examination of the supernatural as it relates to the Christian faith. The article documented events which gave rise to what is dubbed "Satanic Panic." Mohler comments that what was truly behind the misplaced fear was a "sense of America going out of spiritual control." He also draws attention to what he calls as the "simultaneously secularizing" in America where the believers are "becoming more and more theologically confused." "If nothing else," counsels the Bible scholar, "this reminds Christians of a great opportunity and indeed a profound responsibility ... to look at the world, including the United States, the nations of the West, the entire world as a mission field that calls us, a mission field in which the reality everywhere is spiritual confusion, confusion that must be confronted with the clarity of the [G]ospel of Jesus Christ everywhere to everyone until Jesus comes." CP observed that the recent controversy involving Lil Nas X for his music video "Montero (Call Me by Your Name)" in collaboration with MSCHF's "Satan shoes" has sparked more fear of the occult. Both the timing of the launch of the shoes and the release of Lil Nas' music video were intentionally bent to provoke massive media attention and response from the masses. Pitching his take on the issue, theologian Michael Brown cautions Christians to not underestimate Lil Nas X's influence on children in general." As for the sneakers, he called it "a momentary (yet demented) publicity grab." Brown's advice is to "concentrate on the real satanic evil in the world." He cited the sexual trafficking of children, rape, murder, hatred, violence, injustices, abortion and the destruction of families, as well as deception and spiritual delusion as among his examples. "So while it is understandable that the sneaker announcement has garnered attention, we should keep our focus where it belongs, namely, on combating the real work of the devil in our society," he wrote in his op-ed. On possible more headlines and sensational stories about the demonic realm, Brown advised to just "let them be a reminder of the devil's real presence in society rather than a distraction from his evil agenda." At the end of April, I'm stepping down as Administrator of the U.S. Digital Service. It's such an incredible group of people, and I'm grateful for my time working alongside them. More info: https://t.co/xJ7VCfuxDW Matt Cutts (@mattcutts) April 14, 2021 Maryland Lawmakers Establish Statewide Digital Equity Office Colorado Smart Cities Alliance Launches Revive! Challenge for Pandemic Recovery UServeUtah Grants Target Community Engagement Initiatives Matt Cutts, the current administrator for the United States Digital Service (USDS), announced via Twitter this week that he will step down from his position in April.Cutts elaborated on his decision as well as his time with the USDS in a subsequent Medium post , noting that the group started in 2014 with a dozen or so technologists and has now grown to be a team of 180, with more than 500 associated alumni. Cutts himself joined the group in late 2016, transitioning to government service after a long and prominent stint with Google, most famously heading the search engines webspam team that protects the quality of its results.In his farewell post, Cutts cites a list of accomplishments during his time at USDS, specifically mentioning deploying tools to help veterans, digitizing the naturalization process, reimagining federal government hiring and supporting tech work at the state level.When technologists join USDS, they sign up for a limited tour of duty, Cutts wrote in his post. I am no different, and it is my time to step down. Im so grateful to have been a part of this team. And I am enormously proud of everything our team has accomplished across two administrations.Cutts also noted that when he came to USDS, he expected that aforementioned tour of duty to last three to six months, and he is now writing this more than four years later.While work at both the USDS and the federal tech consultancy 18F continued during the Trump presidency, many in the space say that having Biden in the White House is sparking a surge of interest from the tech community in working directly with and for the federal government. The Biden transition team, experts say, was unprecedented in the way it incorporated experienced technologists and data scientists into its work, going on to also entrench them within the new administration.This heavy prioritization in public interest technology comes during a moment of great need as the nation continues to weather the COVID-19 pandemic. In short, there has never been a greater understanding of why the government must modernize and take its services online as private-sector talent shows an increased willingness to spend time doing public-sector work.As such, Cutts ended his USDS goodbye post by imploring others to consider government tech work, writing, As this new administration takes off, we need the help of even more folks who are passionate about how technology can make government more equitable and accessible. If youre an engineer, designer, product manager, acquisition strategist or policy expert who cares about making government work better for real people, please consider applying to join us , or reach out.Lawmakers in Maryland have passed the Digital Connectivity Act of 2021 , which calls in part for establishing the Office of Statewide Broadband.The office is aimed at not only supporting broadband within the state, but also at fostering digital inclusion and digital equity, with a stated goal of getting all residents of Maryland connected to high-speed Internet that they can afford by 2026. Now that its been approved, part of the offices early work will be helping to distribute the $300 million from the American Rescue Plan that Maryland has tabbed for getting its residents connected.The new office will be housed within the existing Maryland Department of Housing and Community Development, and with it, Maryland joins a number of other states dedicating full staff positions, agencies or other resources within the government to broadband and digital equity.While this work has been sparse at the state level for some time, lessons learned during COVID-19 have created new societal awareness of its importance, paving the way for Maryland and other states from Colorado to New Jersey to direct new resources toward digital equity.The Colorado Smart Cities Alliance (Alliance) announced the launch of the Revive! Challenge on April 9. The Revive! Challenge is a way for the Alliance to seek solutions to help communities recover from the impacts of the pandemic while furthering resiliency and equity.Solutions could address challenges related to active transportation, economic data, public spaces, the digital divide or housing stability. Solution providers can apply by May 5 to implement their solutions in Colorado communities.The Revive! Challenge is focused on no- and low-cost solutions, as the Alliance acknowledges the fiscal limitations many governments are facing in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.There will be two information sessions held April 16 and April 28 addressing benefits, timeline and evaluation. More details on the challenge can be found on the Alliances website UServeUtah, the states central coordinating body for service and volunteerism, has recently opened the application process for Community Engagement Grant funding.The target of this grant, as described on UServeUtahs website , is to increase Utah residents awareness and participation involving community and civic engagement initiatives.The award amounts for organizations will be between $5,000 and $25,000. Available funding will play a factor in the amount awarded.Assessment criteria includes measurable impact, need, feasibility and innovation. Eligible applicants include nonprofit organizations, higher education institutions, state agencies, government entities within the state, community- or faith-based organizations and partnerships with any of the aforementioned.Applications for the grant are due on May 3. A Queensland woman who lied about visiting Melbourne while it was a coronavirus hotspot, tested positive for COVID-19 and triggered a Brisbane lockdown has been sentenced to 40 hours of community service. Olivia Muranga, 20, requested her case for allegedly breaching border declarations be heard separately from that of her two co-accused. Olivia Muranga (left) outside Brisbane Magistrates Court with lawyer Dominic Brunello. Credit:Cloe Read Ms Muranga pleaded guilty to failing to comply with a coronavirus health direction after not declaring she had been in a COVID-19 hotspot when applying for a G-type border pass upon entering Brisbane Airport from Victoria on July 21 last year. Her co-accused, Haja Umu Timbo and Diana Lasu, both 21, pleaded guilty in the Brisbane Magistrates Court for failing to comply with a public health direction and were each sentenced to 80 hours of unpaid community service on March 26 this year. OTTAWA, Ontario (AP) A Canadian Parliament member was caught stark naked in a virtual meeting of the House of Commons. William Amos, who has represented the Quebec district of Pontiac since 2015, appeared on the screens of his fellow lawmakers completely naked Wednesday. The pandemic has meant many Canadian lawmakers participate in sessions via video conference instead of in person. A screenshot obtained by The Canadian Press shows Amos standing behind a desk between the Quebec and Canadian flags, his private parts hidden by what appears to be a mobile phone in one hand. This was an unfortunate error, Amos said in a statement sent by email. My video was accidentally turned on as I was changing into my work clothes after going for a jog. I sincerely apologize to my colleagues in the House of Commons for this unintentional distraction. Obviously, it was an honest mistake and it wont happen again. I made a really unfortunate mistake today & obviously Im embarrassed by it. My camera was accidentally left on as I changed into work clothes after going for a jog. I sincerely apologize to all my colleagues in the House. It was an honest mistake + it wont happen again. Will Amos (@WillAAmos) April 14, 2021 Claude DeBellefeuille, a legislator for the opposition Bloc Quebecois party, raised the incident in a point of order after question period, suggesting that parliamentary decorum requires male Parliament members to wear a jacket and tie and a shirt, underwear and trousers. Speaker Anthony Rota later thanked DeBellefeuille for her observations and clarified that while he had not seen anything, he checked with technicians and confirmed they saw something. He reminded lawmakers to always be vigilant when they are near a camera and microphone. Amos, the parliamentary secretary to Industry Minister Francois-Philippe Champagne, was visible only to Parliament members and staffers on an internal video conference feed. Because he was not speaking, his image did not show up on the public feed. Liberal Party colleague Mark Holland said Amos was utterly mortified. Holland said he was satisfied with the explanation from his colleague. I dont think there was any ill intent. Its certainly an unfortunate circumstance, Holland said. This is a warning to everybody, Holland added. Youve got to really always assume that camera is on and be very careful any time you wander anywhere near that camera that youre dressed appropriately. Asked if he will be issuing a warning to all Liberal lawmakers to that effect, Holland said: Oh, big time. More: US expels Russian diplomats, imposes new round of sanctions Arizona bill revamps sex-education laws, gives parents more clout as to what is taught in schools A moratorium had been in place since 2012. A third of the Philippines land mass has high mining potential. The order will lead to more revenue and investment for the country, but environmentalists fear more ecological disasters. Manila (AsiaNews) Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte signed an executive order lifting a moratorium on new mines put in place in 2012 under then President Benigno Aquino III. The freeze was designed to stop environmental disasters caused by reckless exploitation. Dutertes order now allows new contracts and the revision of existing ones, and is expected to bring significant economic benefits. A few years ago, the government also increased the excise tax on minerals to 4 per cent. The Philippines is rich in precious minerals (nickel, gold, copper, etc.); at least a third of the countrys land mass has high mining potential, this according to the Mines and Geoscience Bureau (MGB). It is estimated that just over 4 per cent of its mineral reserves have been extracted so far. In the past, local communities have had to endure oppression and experience several environmental disasters. This led to alliances between environmental groups, human rights organisations and the Catholic Church. Despite this, MGB director Wilfredo Moncano now believes that many unfinished projects can restart and new mining activities begin. Under the order, the Department of Environment and Natural Resources will formulate terms and conditions in new mineral agreements and will strictly implement mines safety and environmental policies. Unconvinced environmentalists fear the presidents decree will lead to more disasters. In the middle of a climate crisis and this pandemic, corporate interests and profit have won again over the welfare and benefits of the many, reads a statement by the Alyansa Tigil Mina (Stop Mining Alliance). Trent Spry has been integral in implementing the companys current helium strategy as executive director and the company looks forward to him stepping up the new role to drive the world-class portfolio. The company has thanked departing MD Joanne Kendrick for her substantial contribution. ( ) ( ) has appointed Trent Spry, who is recognised as one of the few highly skilled helium explorationists in the world, as managing director and CEO, effective from April 14, 2021. Spry, who has been an executive director of Blue Star since April 2019, is a qualified geoscientist with more than 25 years of practical experience in the oil, gas and helium resources industries covering exploration, appraisal, operations and new ventures. He possesses considerable business development and corporate experience, undertaking capital raisings and strategy formulation and implementation, including divestments and acquisitions. This includes taking numerous projects from concept or acquisition through to discovery, appraisal, and successful development or divestment, across the US onshore and Gulf of Mexico, Australia and South-East Asia. Driving world-class helium portfolio Blue Star executive chairman Ross Warner said: We are pleased to appoint a resource professional with the specific experience and expertise of Trent to the role of managing director and CEO. To have already had such a leading candidate working within our business is an excellent position from which to make such an appointment. We look forward to him driving our world-class helium portfolio through exploration towards targeted development and cash flow. Substantial contribution This appointment follows the departure of Blue Stars previous managing director Joanne Kendrick, from the Blue Star business. Kendrick leaves the company having overseen the acquisition of its extensive existing helium acreage and delineation of resources across the Las Animas portfolio. Warner said: I would also like to take this opportunity to thank Joanne, on behalf of all shareholders, for her hard work and substantial contribution over this transformational period for Blue Star. Sprys experience Spry is a highly skilled helium explorationist who was invited to be a founding member of the American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG) EMD Critical Minerals Sub-Committee on Helium. He has been integral in implementing the companys current helium strategy, which includes a comprehensive screening of the United States before recommending Las Animas County as the focus area. His management of Blue Stars subsequent ground-up prospect generation and leasing strategy has resulted in the definition of a current total net P50 prospective helium resource of 9.6 billion cubic feet across five assessed prospects in the Las Animas portfolio. This has demonstrated the world-class nature of Blue Stars tenure and repositioned the business as a leading proponent in the helium development space. Spry will continue to work closely with Blue Stars US-based team of consulting personnel, which includes a team of Denver-based landmen, permitting and environmental specialists, operations and drilling engineer, and leading Colorado resource law firm Welborn Sullivan Meck & Tooley. New non-executive director Blue Star has also appointed Neil Rinaldi, an executive leader and finance professional with more than 20 years of experience, as a non-executive director. He has considerable expertise in capital raising, asset acquisition and disposals, company structuring and positioning companies for growth. Rinaldi is the chief executive officer of International Graphite, an unlisted downstream graphite processing business with pending operations in Collie, Western Australia. Before this, he was a non-executive director of Brainchip Holdings Limited ( ), an artificial intelligence business, and an executive director of ( ), a multi-commodity exploration business with assets in Madagascar and Louisiana. He was also previously the managing director of Truestone , a London-based corporate advisory firm focused on delivering results for companies in the Australian resources sector. Highly relevant expertise" Warner said: I would like to warmly welcome Neil to the Blue Star team. We are pleased to have attracted a non-executive director of Neils considerable and highly relevant expertise. His experience complements the existing board skills matrix nicely and we look forward to his valuable contributions going forward. The company expects to submit its first permit application, under the COGCCs newly implemented rules, for the Enterprise prospect in the coming days. BRASILIA, Brazil, April 15, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- This week, Apex-Brasil, the Brazilian Trade and Investment Promotion Agency, is hosting its first virtual "StartOut Brasil" program in North America, to present Brazil's most promising startups to the New York market. The event will feature a comprehensive agenda of sessions to ultimately promote U.S. investment in 17 Brazilian startups that generated a combined revenue of USD $23.9 million last year. "Brazil's government-led StartOut program focused on the internationalization of its most innovative startups is a unique opportunity to immerse Brazilian startups in the U.S market," said Isabel Fontoura, Apex-Brasil's Internalization Coordinator. "Together with our partners the National Association of Entities Promoting Innovative Enterprises (Anprotec), Sebrae, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and the Special Secretariat for Productivity, Employment, and Competitiveness for the Ministry of Economy we are inspired and excited by the opportunity to bring together Brazilian startups and U.S. investors from the New York market for an entire week of virtual experiences highlighting Brazil as a startup ecosystem to watch. Each of the 17 participating companies represent some of the best and brightest innovators that Brazil has to offer. I look forward to watching as they demonstrate their ability to learn, network, and expand into new international markets." Before participating in StartOut Brasil, interested startups first undergo a rigorous selection process by a board of market experts, investors, mentors, entrepreneurs, and consultants. Of the total applicant pool, the jury ultimately chooses up to 20 candidates for each immersion cycle. After being thoroughly vetted, the selected startups then receive two-months of internationalization training, mentorship, and rehearsals with experienced professionals in order to prepare them to pitch to U.S. investors on "DemoDay" (April 15). This year, StartOut New York features a wide variety of game-changing Brazilian startups that specialize in some of the newest areas of technology today, from artificial intelligence to enterprise tech to cybersecurity and more. Throughout the week, the startups in the StartOut NY cycle will participate in diverse daily activities, organized based on the following categories: Learning: Sessions that prepare startups for requirements of international investment. Sessions that prepare startups for requirements of international investment. Mentoring: Personal mentoring opportunities with executives from the host market ( New York ). Personal mentoring opportunities with executives from the host market ( ). Pitching: Pitch training with industry specialists. Pitch training with industry specialists. Investment: Access to investors and investment funds. Access to investors and investment funds. Business assistance: Curated agenda of business meetings with the support of a local matchmaker. Curated agenda of business meetings with the support of a local matchmaker. Counseling: Counseling regarding the internationalization process. After completing the StartOut program, each startup will receive personalized follow-ups from program sponsors in order to maximize New York-based business opportunities and improve their international expansion strategy. With support from Apex-Brasil's international offices, the National Association of Entities Promoting Innovative Enterprises (Anprotec), Sebrae, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and the Special Secretariat for Productivity, Employment, and Competitiveness for the Ministry of Economy, StartOut strives to go beyond the "immersion week" and give Brazilian startups all the tools necessary to start a global operation and facilitate exports with interested global consumers. Through efforts like StartOut New York, Apex-Brasil is focused on underscoring on a global stage the critical role the country of Brazil plays as a burgeoning innovation hub. Just consider that 50% of Fast Company's "Most Innovative Latin American Companies of 2021" are currently based in Brazil. What's more, as Apex-Brasil recently announced, the country has maintained its overall rank on the 2021 Bloomberg Innovation Index and jumped four places on the 2020 Global Innovation Index, which is underscored further by a stark increase in the number of startup unicorns in the country from only seven unicorns less than two years ago to 19 today, a 156% increase. Please visit: https://www.startoutbrasil.com.br/english/. Here, you can learn more about how StartOut Brasil has expanded since the program's launch in 2017 to introduce Brazilian startups to 11 international markets, including London, Shanghai, and Toronto. By 2021, an estimated 270 startups will have participated in the program. To learn more about Apex-Brasil, please visit: http://www.apexbrasil.com.br/en/home. About Apex-Brasil The Brazilian Trade and Investment Promotion Agency (Apex-Brasil) works to promote Brazilian products and services abroad, and to attract foreign investment to strategic sectors of the Brazilian economy. Apex-Brasil organizes several initiatives aiming to promote Brazilian exports abroad. The Agencys efforts comprise trade and prospective missions, business rounds, support for the participation of Brazilian companies in major international trade fairs, arrangement of technical visits of foreign buyers and opinion makers to learn about the Brazilian productive structure, and other select activities designed to strengthen the country's branding abroad. Apex-Brasil also plays a leading role in attracting foreign direct investment (FDI) to Brazil, by working to identify business opportunities, promoting strategic events and lending support to foreign investors willing to allocate resources in Brazil. Media Contacts Andre Castro Apex-Brasil [email protected] +55 (61) 2 0270574 McKenzie Naylor Ruder Finn PR on behalf of Apex-Brasil in the U.S. [email protected] +1 (212) 593-6434 SOURCE Apex-Brasil India govt allies pressure USCIRF to reverse effort to label nation a CPC for tolerating religious persecution Email Print Img No-img Menu Whatsapp Google Reddit Digg Stumbleupon Linkedin Comment Allies of the Indian government are working to pressure the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom to reverse its recommendation that the State Department label India as a country of particular concern for religious freedom violations, an activist warns. John Prabhudoss, the chairman of the Washington, D.C.-based Federation of Indian American Christian Organizations, spoke at a panel event Wednesday to discuss Indias Designation as CPC hosted by International Christian Concern. The panel discussed the state of religious freedom in India and the need for the State Department to designate the worlds second-largest nation as a country of particular concern for engaging in or tolerating religious freedom violations. In recent years, Christians in India have faced escalating persecution that has seemingly coincided with the rise to power of the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party. The country is ranked by Open Doors USA as the 10th-worst in the world regarding the severity of Christian persecution. Countries subject to the State Departments CPC designation face negative consequences, including the possibility of crippling sanctions. While USCIRF, a congressionally mandated body of independent experts tasked with advising the federal government on religious freedom issues, included India on its list of countries of particular concern in its 2020 annual report, the U.S. State Department never acted on that recommendation. USCIRF cited the implementation of national-level policies violating religious freedom across India as a cause for particular concern. However, the Indian government rejected the report's findings as "biased." ICCs Wednesday panel discussion comes as USCIRFs 2021 annual report is scheduled for release later this month. Indian American Christians are deeply concerned about a campaign run by a foreign Hindu nationalist government through its proxies in Washington to reverse the USCIRF recommendation on India, Prabhudoss said. He urged the organization to maintain its designation for India and not bow to political pressure. The United States Commission on International Religious is mandated by the Congress with a task. The task is to observe, study and simply report to the Congress the following: severe violations of religious freedom in the country, identification of prisoners in the country, action taken by governments to censor religious content, communications or worship activities online, [and] persecution of human rights advocates seeking to defend their rights, he added. Nowhere [does] it asks the commission to consider how the report would make the political leaders of a country feel or react. The mandate of the commission is to study and report based on the facts. Prabhudoss warned of the consequences of not taking a tough stance against India now. He shared the types of arguments heard from the Hindu nationalist government in India: India is a democracy that holds elections. India is a strategic partner for the U.S. India is needed for our strategic interest in Asia, especially given the China factor. India has ... a superb constitution and internal mechanism to deal with some of these concerns raised by the USCIRF board. But, Prabhudoss recalled that Pakistan and China were once seen as strategic allies of the U.S. as well. He said that government officials faced pressure not to do anything to antagonize those governments even though those countries were rife with religious freedom violations and engaged in actions that were hostile to religious freedom and democracy. The United States propped up two important allies in Asia and neither has anything to show for, the activist said. The policy wonks were monumentally wrong in both cases. Prabhudoss said that it is essential for the U.S. actors to ask: what kind of India we want to have as an ally 10, 15 years from now? Do we like to have a democratic plural nation that cherishes and values the ideals of a democracy like we do and be a trusted, reliable partner or an intolerant state run by religious nationalists to the exclusion of Christians and other religious minorities of their population? he asked. If we dont make the right decision now, it will be 10, 15 or 20 years too late to do anything about it. He argued that even if Washington doesnt care for the 100 million-plus people who follow the Christian faith in India, they should ask if they at least care for Americas own national security interest in South Asia. Are we doomed to repeat our mistakes that we have committed in Pakistan and China once again in India and left with no allies that America could depend on 20, 30, 40 years from now? he asked. According to Prabhudoss, the Hindu nationalism has proven to be as dangerous as other forms of religious extremism, attacks on Christian institutions and churches every single day ever since the [BJP] came to power is indeed a troubling development. And no, the government of India does not prosecute, [but] the political party in power does persecute, he argued. A report from the legal organization ADF India found that from the time the Hindu nationalist BJP rose to power in 2014 through 2019, more than 1,400 incidents of religious persecutions against Christians took place. Incidents of religious persecution can include assaults on church pastors or members, damage or desecration of places of worship, disruptions of religious gatherings, accusations of forced or fraudulent conversions, forced conversions to Hinduism and refusal to allow religious minorities to build houses of worship. The Christian Post reached out to the USCIRF for comment but did not receive a response by press time. In addition to the persecution of Christians, there are also religious freedom concerns for Muslims in India. Last year, USCIRF held a hearing as Muslims protested against a proposal for a nationwide National Register of Citizens and the Citizenship Amendment Act. USCIRF commissioners heard testimonies about the fears that the legislation could result in some Muslims in the northern region of Assam losing their citizenship. Last year, the Indian government denied entry visas to USCIRF representatives who planned to investigate reports of religious persecution following the release of its 2020 annual report. KOLKATA: A Congress candidate contesting the West Bengal assembly election 2021 from the Samsherganj constituency, Rezaul Haque died of the COVID-19 infection, said reports on Thursday. He was under treatment at a hospital in Kolkata after being tested positive for coronavirus. The deceased Congress nominee was contesting the assembly polls from the Samsherganj assembly constituency in Murshidabad. Recently, there was a face-off between Left Front and Congress after both the parties declared candidates from the Samsherganj seat. The Left Front had declared Modassar Hossain as its candidate from the Samsherganj seat, while Congress had fielded Mohammad Rezaul Haque from there. Campaigning for the fifth of the eight-phase West Bengal assembly elections, in which 45 seats will go to polls on April 17, ended on Wednesday. The Election Commission has increased the silence period from 48 to 72 hours in view of the Cooch Behar killings in the fourth phase. A total of 1.13 crore voters are eligible to cast their votes to decide the fate of 342 candidates, including Siliguri Mayor and Left Front leader Ashok Bhattacharya, state minister Bratya Basu and BJPs Samik Bhattacharya. Polling will be held from 7 am to 6.30 pm at 15,789 polling stations in 16 assembly seats in North 24 Parganas, eight each in Purba Bardhaman and Nadia, seven in Jalpaiguri, five Darjeeling and one in Kalimpong district. Live TV A quick peek at local clips worth a look for the insomniac and early bird denizens of our blog community . . . Crafting Kansas City This movie "perfectly illustrates passion and vision for work training, the trade of sewing, and the future of American apparel manufacturing." Kansas City Late Night Spin This clip tours "some of our favorite rides from World of Wheels 2021 in Kansas City, Missouri." Thoughtful Local Head Check "Psychiatric nurse and assistant professor at Research College of Nursing shares 5 Steps from the Mental Health First Aid Kit. These steps are tools for anyone to use when helping a loved one who may be struggling from mental illness or suicidal thoughts." And so . . . Hopefully, we'll have more for the morning update . . . STAY TUNED!!! As the debate over the idea of universal basic income continues across the country, the city of Cambridge is set to launch a program providing $500 a month to more than 100 residents. The citys Guaranteed Income Pilot Initiative will administer the recurring payments to 120 of the communitys most vulnerable residents for more than 18 months, WHDH reported. The checks will go out to single caretaker households with children under the age of 18. The pilot program will look at the guaranteed income programs long-term impact on local and national economic policy as well. Calls for providing people with a guaranteed income have ramped up over the course of the coronavirus pandemic, which has taken a monumental economic toll on so many Americans and created unemployment levels unmatched since the Great Depression. While some have argued against Congress issuing more stimulus checks to Americans, others in the federal government, including U.S. Senators Ed Markey and Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, have fought for more regular direct payments. The two Democratic lawmakers have pushed President Joe Biden for $2,000 monthly checks to be sent out to citizens to help get them through the crisis. This crisis is far from over, and families deserve certainty that they can put food on the table and keep a roof over their heads, the senators and 19 other lawmakers wrote in a letter to the Democratic president in March. On Dec. 14, the Cambridge City Council adopted an order supporting the efforts of Mayor Sumbul Siddiqui for a guaranteed income and ongoing, direct cash payments throughout the COVID-19 public health crisis until the economy recovers. The ongoing COVID-19 crisis has impacted every Americans life in one way or another, leading to a historic loss of jobs while also exposing pre-existing issues in local, state and federal economic systems, the order stated. Prior to the pandemic, nearly 40% of Americans could not afford a single $400 emergency. Rising income inequality is also compounded by an ever-growing racial wealth divide, the city councils resolution noted. The council cited research from the Institute for Policy Studies showing a growing racial wealth gap, with the median white worker making 28% more on average than the median Black worker and 35% more than the median Latino worker in the last quarter of 2019. The median wealth of white families is more than $100,000, while the median wealth of black families is approximately $10,000. The COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated these wealth gaps across race and gender, disproportionally affecting people of color, the council wrote in its resolution. In order to address these inequalities, a coalition of mayors throughout the country, from Oakland, California to Gainseville, Florida, committed to advocating in favor of cash-based guaranteed income policies. Siddiqui and former Holyoke Mayor Alex Morse were two of the chief city executives around the nation that launched the Mayors for a Guaranteed Income in July 2020. The coalition was funded in part through $3 million in seed money from Jack Dorsey, the founder and CEO of Twitter. We are in the middle of the greatest economic and technological transformation in the history of our country, yet millions of families continue to be left behind by an antiquated and unjust economic system, Morse said at the time. Regular payments, the Cambridge City Council asserted, have shown to be more effective than unemployment benefits for families of color. Providing an income floor that would support families during this economic and public health crisis will benefit those individuals receiving ongoing cash assistance and the community at large, the council added. Related Content: Holyoke Mayor Alex Morse joins nationwide fight for Guaranteed Income YEREVAN, APRIL 15, ARMENPRESS. Supreme Judicial Council President Ruben Vardazaryan is under criminal investigation, the general prosecution said on April 15. The authorities refused to provide other details citing the judicial codes regulations concerning confidentiality and the protection of the reputation and independence of a judge who is suspected in wrongdoing. However, the prosecution noted that the criminal case is launched on an alleged matter not concerning Vardazaryans duties in office, which in turn doesnt require authorities to request the Supreme Judicial Councils approval for launching criminal proceedings against one of its judges. Editing and Translating by Stepan Kocharyan News Desk Editor Jack is the news editor at the Emerald. He is a journalism and political science major at the University of Oregon who enjoys reading alone, drinking coffee alone and eating in parks...alone. Send tips or food recs to jforrest@dailyemerald.com YEREVAN. - Armenian Foreign Minister Ara Aivazian on Thursday received a delegation led by Toivo Klaar, the European Union (EU) Special Representative for the South Caucasus and the crisis in Georgia, the Foreign Ministry informed Armenian News-NEWS.am. The interlocutors touched upon a wide range of regional security and stability issues. Minister Aivazian briefed EU Special Representative Klaar on the steps being taken to address the humanitarian situation in Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh), underscoring the direct involvement of international partners. In the context of the implementation of the provisions of the November 9, 2020 trilateral statement and the humanitarian issues that need to be addressed urgently, the Armenian Foreign Minister drew the EU Special Representative's attention to Azerbaijan's non-fulfillment of its respective obligations by continuing to hold Armenian POWs and civilians captive. Both sides highlighted the protection of religious and cultural heritage sites in the conflict zone, including with appropriate international engagement. Minister Aivazian stressed that the policy of Armenophobia promoted by the top leadership of Azerbaijan, and which is reflected also in the targeting of Armenian Christian heritage and the "demonstrations" glorifying Azerbaijans war crimes, is a direct challenge to international efforts for regional peace and stability. EU Special Representative Klaar, in turn, presented his impressions from his visit to the border provinces of Armenia. In this connection, both sides stressed the importance of full protection of the rights of the population of the border areas. [April 15, 2021] Children's Hospital Los Angeles Receives $6.1 Million in Research Funding to Study Treatment of Anxiety in Children and Adolescents Anxiety disorders affect one in five youth. Generally, a child is treated with either cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) or medication. But despite the high prevalence of anxiety, there is no study-based evidence to compare the success rate of medication versus CBT. Some success has been demonstrated with each treatment type but not all patients respond sufficiently to a given therapy. If a child does not go into remission, medical professionals are left with the question of whether to continue with an intensified version of the current treatment or add the other treatment. "This is a clinical question for every single child who is treated for anxiety across the world," says Bradley Peterson, MD, Chief in the Division of Child Psychiatry at CHLA. "Many factors go into the decision of whether to begin with CBT or medication." When determining the course of care, clinicians and families must weigh considerations like cost of co-pays and the time commitment versus exposure to medicines. Funding for the study comes from the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute, an independent, nonprofit organization authorized by Congress in 2010 to fund research that will provide patients, their caregivers and clinicians with the evidence-based information needed to make better-informed health care decisions. In collaboration with some of the nation's leading experts in youth anxiety, Dr. Peterson will compare treatment strategies. "There hasn't yet been a head-to-head comparison for treatment strategies in real-world settings," says Dr. Peterson. "We are excited to be able to lay this foundation and finally answer these questions." The multi-center study will recruit 404 youth, predominantly from underserved communities across the greater Los Angeles area. In the first stage of the study, participants will be randomized to either receive CBT or medication. Participants will be assessed at 12 weeks. Those who do not go into remission will be reassigned either an increased level of treatment or switchedto the other treatment method for another 12 weeks. Study results will provide medical professionals and families with evidence-based guidance on how to proceed in treating anxiety. With this participant pool, Dr. Peterson and his team hope to answer deeper questions, too. Factors like severity of anxiety, age or socioeconomic status of the patient, might affect the success rate of each treatment. "If a child has more severe anxiety, for example, is it better to start with CBT or medication?" asks Dr. Peterson. "Then, if the first treatment doesn't work, is it better to intensify current treatment or add the other treatment modality? The answers to these very important questions are unknown. Learning how each strategy affects treatment success could allow us to personalize our approach and treat each child more effectively." In addition to Dr. Peterson, CHLA investigators include: Amy West, PhD, Glenn Takata, MD, Michele Kipke, PhD, Ravi Bansal, PhD, Bhavana Arora, MD, Brad Hudson, PhD, Stephanie Marcy, PhD, and Marie Poulson, PhD. In addition to CHLA, sub-awardees include: The Department of Psychiatry at the Keck School of Medicine of USC, Kaiser Permanente, Virginia Commonwealth University, Harvard University, University of California San Diego, Los Angeles County Hospital, Hathaway-Sycamores Children and Family Services, Children's Bureau, Pacific Coast Psychiatric Associates, AltaMed, and the Children's Hospital Los Angeles Care Network. About Children's Hospital Los Angeles Founded in 1901, Children's Hospital Los Angeles is the highest-ranked children's hospital in California and fifth in the nation on the prestigious U.S. News & World Report Honor Roll of Best Children's Hospitals. U.S. News ranks Children's Hospital Los Angeles in all 10 specialty categories. Clinical care at the hospital is led by physicians who are faculty members of the Keck School of Medicine of USC through an affiliation dating from 1932. The hospital also operates the largest pediatric residency training program at a freestanding children's hospital in the Western United States. The Saban Research Institute of Children's Hospital Los Angeles is home to all basic, translational, clinical and community research conducted at the hospital, allowing proven discoveries to quickly reach patients. Our mission: to create hope and build healthier futures. To learn more, follow us on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, YouTube and Twitter, and visit our blog at CHLA.org/blog. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210415006114/en/ [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] Duke Parker 23, a McCallie day student from Chattanooga, has published a childrens book and plans to donate the proceeds to Chambliss Center for Children where he has been a frequent volunteer for several years. The book, Dylan, a Dragon and a Bad Dream, tells the story of a young man who loves playing games more than cleaning his messy room. Dylan visits a comic book store one day and purchases a box that contains a magic dragon. Dylan attempts to teach the dragon to clean his room and chaos and fun ensue. The book includes coloring pages and space for readers to write about their own reactions and thoughts. It is intended for 3rd-grade-level readers. Duke says he has always been interested in writing, even during his elementary school years. The first iteration of his book was written when Duke was just a 4th grader. He entered his original book into the Young Southern Student Writers competition where he won an award for his efforts. The Young Southern Student Writers contest, run through UTC, promotes writing among K-12 students in Hamilton County students in public, private and homeschool programs. It includes approximately 5,000 participants each year. Duke made a few updates to the book before self-publishing on Amazon. The book is also for sale in the McCallie Bookstore. I think one really encouraging sign that weve seen is that weve absolutely seen an influx of new riders, Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi said at a March 1 investor conference. And that influx looks like its coming from other modes of transportation, whether its mass transit or taxi. Like, pretty consistently across markets, we see Uber come back faster than taxi, faster than other forms of transport. Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Lithuania Gabrielius Landsbergis, on behalf of his Latvian and Estonian counterparts, has assured that Ukraine will never be alone against the background of Russia's aggravated security situation. He said this at a briefing following the talks between the foreign ministers of Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia and Ukraine in Kyiv on Thursday, April 15, according to an Ukrinform correspondent. "The main message of the Baltic states is that Ukraine will never be alone, and this should be clearly understood," the Lithuanian foreign minister said. He also stressed the consequences for Russia if it crosses the "red lines". "We want to send a clear message to Russia that it must de-escalate the situation, cease its actions and return to the only path that we see as effective the political path, negotiations in the Minsk format and the Normandy format. Because after crossing the "red lines", political paths will be less realistic, and I completely agree with those who say that the consequences cannot be avoided, Landsbergis noted. The minister separately expressed support for Ukraine's reforms and Euro-Atlantic course. "We support the reforms. We support Ukraine's rapprochement with the European Union and NATO. We stand with you. We stand in solidarity with you and are ready to provide everything you need in the future and move you forward in your aspirations," he said. As Ukrinform reported, the foreign ministers of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania are on a joint working visit to Ukraine on April 15 at the invitation of Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba to demonstrate their solidarity with Ukraine amid Russia's destabilizing actions. Russia continues to build up its striking military units near Ukraine's borders, with the Russian media outlets launching an information campaign of lies and provocations to discredit Ukraine and justify Russia's military intervention. ish Colton Underwood has extended an apology to his ex-girlfriend Cassie Randolph over the way their relationship ended amid accusations he stalked his former flame and placed a tracking device on her car. Randolph, 25, filed a restraining order against Underwood, 29, following their break-up last year, and accused him of stalking, harassing, sending her 'unsettling text messages' and repeatedly calling her. In an interview with Robin Roberts in which he came out as gay, Underwood acknowledged the mistakes he made in their split and admitted he had not yet spoken with Randolph about his sexuality. 'I'm extremely, extremely sorry': Colton Underwood has extended an apology to his ex-girlfriend Cassie Randolph over the way their relationship ended amid accusations he stalked his former flame and placed a tracking device on her car 'I don't know if I ever will get the chance to sit down and talk with her,' he told Roberts when asked if he had discussed his sexuality with her. 'I would like to. I would like to say sorry for how things ended.' Underwood said he was 'extremely' sorry over the role he played in their break-up. 'I made mistakes at the end of that relationship, and I ruined the good memories we had by my actions and what I did to hold on to being straight because I didn't want to look myself in the mirror,' he said. 'So for that, I'm extremely, extremely sorry.' Randolph was ultimately granted a temporary restraining order against her ex, which forced him to stay at least 100 yards away from her, in addition to her car, home, workplace, and school. Happier times: The couple dated for over a year after meeting on The Bachelor Sealed with a kiss: Underwood won Randolph over, despite her initial reluctance over the relationship However, she later dismissed the restraining order and requested to drop the police investigation. Underwood and Randolph met on The Bachelor, where he famously jumped over a fence when the Orange County native was unable to reciprocate his feelings for her. Despite her initial reluctance, he won her over, and the two dated for over a year. Underwood made headlines Wednesday when he came out as gay during an interview with Roberts on Good Morning America. Will you accept this rose? Underwood famously jumped a fence on The Bachelor after Randolph was unable to reciprocate his feelings Lights, camera, action! Underwood, his father Scott, and Gus Kenworthy were spotted filming the Netflix docuseries in New York City on Monday New show: Kenworthy will be serving as a 'guide' for Underwood in his journey, according to Variety The athlete - who was known as the 'virgin Bachelor - admitted he attempted suicide as he grappled with his identity, and viewed being chosen as The Bachelor as a sign God was making him straight. After keeping his struggles private for most of his entire life, Colton will now be inviting viewers into his journey to coming out in a new Netflix reality show, according to TMZ. Underwood has reportedly had film crews 'following him for the past few weeks' prior to his interview with Roberts. The former Bachelor enlisted the help of a few friends and prominent members of the LBGTQ+ community for the show, including his buddy Olympian Gus Kenworthy, who will be serving as a 'guide' for Underwood in his journey, according to Variety. Colton, his father Scott, and Gus Kenworthy were spotted filming the upcoming Netflix series prior to his interview with Roberts on Monday. The trio were spotted strolling around New York City's West Village, as a cameraman followed their every move. Filming: The trio were spotted strolling around New York City's West Village, as a cameraman followed their every move BRUSSELS/FRANKFURT/PARIS (dpa-AFX) - NATO Allies have decided to end the two-decade-old U.S.-led military mission in Afghanistan. The decision was announced at a joint press conference by NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and US Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin in Brussels on Wednesday. On the same day, U.S. President Joe Biden officially announced the drawdown of all 2,500 U.S. troops in the war-ravaged country. The U.S. troop withdrawal will begin on May 1, and conclude by September 11, the day 20 years ago the United States started its military operations in Afghanistan. It also marks the 20th anniversary of the Al-Qaeda terrorist attacks on American soil. In 2001, NATO allies had invoked Article 5 of the Washington Treaty for the only time in the alliance's history and started the Resolute Support Mission in Afghanistan. Around 9600 forces from the allied nations were deployed to the south-west Asian country with the objectives of confronting al-Qaeda and those who attacked the United States on 9/11, and to prevent terrorists from using Afghanistan as a safe haven to attack western countries. 'In the ensuing decades through the investment of blood and treasure, and in partnership with the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan and its security forces, we have worked together to achieve these goals,' the North Atlantic Council Ministerial said in a statement issued after a virtual meeting of NATO foreign and defense ministers. Allies have agreed to start the withdrawal of forces by May 1 and complete it within a few months. This drawdown will be 'orderly, coordinated, and deliberate'. NATO, the world's strongest military alliance, made it clear that any Taliban attacks on its troops during the withdrawal will be met with 'a forceful response'. Stoltenberg called the move 'the start of a new chapter' in NATO's relationship with Afghanistan, saying 'Allies and partners will continue to stand with the Afghan people, but it is now for the Afghan people to build a sustainable peace'. Speaking from the White House room where U.S. airstrikes in Afghanistan were first declared in 2001, Joe Biden said, 'It is time to end America's longest war. It's time for American troops to come home'. Laying the path for the way forward in Afghanistan in an address to the nation, the President noted that only the citizens of Afghanistan have the right and responsibility to lead their country. Biden said the war in Afghanistan was never meant to be multi-generational. The United States met its objective 10 years ago with the assassination of Taliban leader Osama bin Laden, according to him. 'Our reasons for staying have become increasingly unclear' since then, he added. 'With the terror threat now in many places, keeping thousands of troops grounded and concentrated in just one country and across the billions (of dollars spent) each year makes little sense to me and to our leaders,' Biden said. 'We cannot continue the cycle of extending or expanding our military presence in Afghanistan - hoping to create ideal conditions for the withdrawal and expecting a different result.' As the fourth U.S. president with the Afghanistan war on his watch, Biden said he would not pass the longest war in American history on to another president. He noted that he inherited the draw-down deadline of this year and he intends to keep the U.S. agreement with the Taliban, which was formulated during the former administration. The challenges the United States must focus on are in front of us, Biden said. 'We have to track and disrupt terrorist networks and operations that spread far beyond Afghanistan since 9/11. We have to shore up American competitiveness to meet the stiff competition we're facing, including from an increasingly assertive China', Biden added. The longest war by United States abroad has cost it trillions of dollars and the lives of more than 2,000 soldiers. Negotiations between the U.S. and the Taliban are ongoing, while the Afghan government often left on the sidelines, with no breakthrough achieved on any peace deal. Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX Kostenloser Wertpapierhandel auf Smartbroker.de France asks citizens to leave Pakistan amid violent protests View Photo LAHORE, Pakistan (AP) The French embassy in Pakistan on Thursday advised all of its nationals and companies to temporarily leave the country after anti-France violence erupted in the Islamic nation over the arrest of a radical leader. Saad Rizvi was arrested Monday for threatening the government with mass protests if it did not expel French envoy Marc Barety over the publication depictions of Islams Prophet Muhammad. French Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Agnes Von Der Muhll said about 400 to 500 French nationals live in Pakistan and they will be able to leave via commercial flights. There was no immediate comment by Pakistans foreign ministry, but Islamabad formally issued a notification Thursday evening to outlaw the radical Tehreek-e-Labiak Pakistan party, which has held anti-France rallies since last year. Rizvis group in recent years became known for opposing any change by the government in the countrys harsh blasphemy laws under which anyone accused of insulting Islam or other religious figures can be sentenced to death if found guilty. While authorities have yet to carry out a death sentence for blasphemy, just the accusation of blasphemy can cause riots in Pakistan. Earlier, interior minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmad told a news conference that French citizens living in Pakistan were safe and security had been provided to them. He said the operation against supporters of Rizvi was launched Wednesday when they refused to end their sit-in peacefully. He said a government order was being formally issued to outlaw Rizvis party so that it never creates such a situation in the future. The latest development comes a day after the government announced to ban the Tehreek-e-Labiak Pakistan party, which is headed by Rizvi. The arrest sparked violent protests by Rizvis followers, who disrupted traffic by staging sit-ins on highways and later blocked roads in major cities, including the southern port city of Karachi and the garrison city of Rawalpindi. They also staged a sit-in in the capital, Islamabad, and blocked a key road from Monday to Wednesday when police launched a nationwide crackdown, triggering clashes that killed two policemen and wounded 580 others. Three demonstrators also died in the clashes with police. According to Ahmed, the countrys interior minister, Rizvis demand could not be accepted as the expulsion of the French ambassador and ban on French products could harm the countrys national interest. He said the supporters of Rizvi will be sternly dealt with by security forces. Thousands of Rizvis followers were still rallying in Lahore, the capital of eastern Punjab province where they have a strong presence. According to police, they cleared several sit-ins of Rizvis supporters and security forces were preparing for the operation in the citys that area where thousands of Islamists had been rallying since Monday, vowing they will die to protect the honor of Islams Prophet. Rizvi emerged as the leader of the Tehreek-e-Labiak Pakistan party in November after the sudden death of his father, Khadim Hussein Rizvi. His party wants the government to boycott French products and expel the French ambassador before April 20. Rizvis Tehreek-e-Labiak and other Islamist parties have denounced French President Emmanuel Macron since October last year, saying he tried to defend caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad as freedom of expression. Macrons comments came after a young Muslim beheaded a French school teacher who had shown caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad in class. The images had been republished by the satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo to mark the opening of the trial over the deadly 2015 attack against the publication for the original caricatures. That enraged many Muslims in Pakistan and elsewhere who believe those depictions were blasphemous. ___ Ahmed reported from Islamabad; Associated Press Writer Sylvie Corbet contributed from Paris. By BABAR DOGAR ABD MUNIR AHMED Associated Press [April 15, 2021] AltruBio Raises $63 Million Series A Round To Continue Its Company Transformation REDWOOD CITY, Calif., April 15, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- AltruBio Inc. (AltruBio or the Company), a clinical stage biotech company, has announced the completion of a $63 million Series A financing round. The round was led by aMoon with new investors including BVF Partners L.P. (BVF), CAM Capital, and other new and existing investors joining the syndicate. AltruBios President & CEO, Dr. Judy Chou stated: We are honored to have this strong group of investors join us, marking our steady growth and transformation into a truly promising biotech company with great chances of creating value for patients and all our stakeholders. The investors experience and support will enable the Company to leverage our PSGL-1 immune checkpoint regulator program across multiple indications, realizing our pipeline in a product vision, and accelerating our ability to bring solutions to patients in need. The strength of this financing validates the renewal and rebuilding of the Company and further validates our science within the biotech industry. The Company has successfully executed on a strategic shift over the past year, recruiting a new Board of Directors comprised of internationally recognized biotech industry luminaries with experience across the board in drug development and transitioning the leadership to a new President & CEO, in industry veteran Dr. Judy Chou, who joined the company after leaving Bayer where she was the global head of biotech. Under her leadership, AltruBio has implemented a new focus on its novel PSGL-1 program for immunological diseases, and the Company has now secured the funds to continue advancing the program. Recently, the company has received Fast Track Designation from the FDA for the lead asset neihulizumab (AbGn-168H) in steroid refractory acute graft-versus-host disease (SR-GVHD). Dr. Gur Roshwalb, MD, MBA, aMoons partner leading the investment added, We view this as a great opportunity to invest in experienced leadership and unique and proven science. With the backing of an all-star board of directors, Dr. Chou has been taking all the right steps to refocus and lead the company towards a new strategic direction. The PSGL-1 program has the potential to serve as a platform to treat many different T-cell mediated, immunological diseases, offering a new solution to patients without adequate options. ABOUT ALTRUBIO INC. AltruBio is a privately held biotechnology company headquartered in the San Francisco Bay Area that is focused on developing novel therapeutics for the treatment of immunological diseases with high unmet medical needs. The company has leveraged its deep understanding of the role PSGL-1 plays as an immune checkpoint regulator protein to develop a platform for T-cell mediated immunological diseases. Its lead molecule, neihulizumab (AbGn-168H), an immune checkpoint agonist antibody targeting PSGL-1/CD162, is developed for intravenous administration and has achieved proof of mechanism in four autoimmune and inflammatory diseases. Neihulizumab is currently prioritized for further clinical development in steroid refractory acute graft-versus-host disease (SR-aGVHD) where it has been granted FDA Fast Track and Orphan Drug Designation. The company also has a number of next generation PSGL-1 antibodies at the preclinical stage. Its lead preclinical candidate, leiolizumab (AbGn-268), has demonstrated higher potency than AbGn-168H and is advancing toward IND for autoimmune and inflammatory disorders. ABOUT AMOON FUND aMoon is a leading global HealthTech and Life Sciences venture capital fund based in Israel. As Israels largest HealthTech VC fund with over $1.1B AUM, aMoon partners with outstanding entrepreneurs who harness groundbreaking science and technology to transform healthcare and accelerate cure. Note on Forward-Looking Statements Statements made in this news release that are not historical facts are forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Words such as expects, believes, intends, and similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements. Actual results may differ materially from those projected in any forward-looking statement. Specifically, there are a number of important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those anticipated, such as the Company's ability to raise additional capital, and risks related to the Company's ability to initiate, and enroll patients in, planned clinical trials. You should not place undue reliance on any forward-looking statements. The Company assumes no obligation to update any forward-looking statements as a result of new information, future events or developments, except as required by law. Contacts AltruBio Inc: +1-650-832-1752 +886-2-2627-2707 info@altrubio.com Media Contact: Darren Opland, PhD LifeSci Communications +1-646-627-8387 darren@lifescicomms.com [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] These elections will mark the end of the elections in Telangana from village-level to national-level and there will, in normal course, be no other election in Telangana until the December 2023 assembly polls. Representational image/AFP Hyderabad: The Telangana State Election Commission (TSEC) issued notification on Thursday for polls to two municipal corporations and five municipalities. The polling will be held on April 30 and the counting on May 3. Up for polls are the municipal corporations of Greater Warangal and Khammam as also the municipalities of Atchampet, Siddipet, Nakrekal, Jadcherla and Kothur. This apart, the election for the Lingojiguda division under GHMC limits will also be held. The seat fell vacant due to the death of BJP corporator soon after the GHMC polls in December 2020. The nomination process will start on Friday and the last day of nominations is April 18. The scrutiny of nominations will take place on April 19 and the last date of withdrawal is April 22. The notification came as a surprise, just like the GHMC election notification in November 2020. While the opposition parties were expecting these polls in May after Nagarjunasagar assembly bypoll result on May 2, the ruling TRS has sprung a surprise by recommending the holding of the elections even before the result of Nagarjunasagar bypoll is out. These elections will mark the end of the elections in Telangana from village-level to national-level and there will, in normal course, be no other election in Telangana until the December 2023 assembly polls. Hence, these elections will help all parties to gauge the pulse of the voters. Elections will be held for 248 divisions and wards in the above corporations and municipalities. While GWMC has 66 divisions, KMC has 60 divisions. There are 20 wards in Atchampet, 43 in Siddipet, 20 in Nakrekal, 27 in Jadcherla and 12 in Kothur municipalities. The elections will be held through ballot papers. As many as 11,26,221 voters -- including 5,53,862 male and 5,72,121 female -- will be entitled to exercise their franchise. Papua New Guinea will vaccinate its frontline health workforce in coming weeks in the first attempts to stamp down its raging COVID-19 epidemic. Small teams will drive doses to remote villages while stadiums in larger cities and towns could be used as mass vaccination centres as UNICEF and the PNG government prepare to widen the vaccine rollout to every province of the country. Papua New Guinea has received 132,000 doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine through COVAX this week. Credit:UNICEF On Tuesday morning 132,000 doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine arrived in Port Moresby, the first delivery to arrive through the COVID-19 Vaccines Global Access, or COVAX, facility. They were officially handed over to the PNG government on Thursday. PNGs Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Soroi Eoe said the vaccines will help prevent the spread of COVID-19 in the country where the official death toll is 71, with 8984 confirmed cases, but experts believe case numbers are hugely underestimated due to a lack of testing resources. Lucknow, April 15 : UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath has directed officials to set up quarantine centres in all those districts of the state that are receiving migrant workers. With Covid cases rising at an alarming rate in the state, the Chief Minister has directed concerned authorities to ensure all the facilities to the migrant labourers, returning to the state. According to the government spokesman, the Chief Minister has directed officials to make proper arrangements for corona testing and quarantining of migrant workers, as well as their food. Nodal officers and local committees belonging to different districts have been directed to coordinate with their respective district magistrates in this regard and ensure all facilities to the returnees. It may be recalled that last year, the UP government had ensured the basic needs of the workers, especially street vendors and hawkers, during the pandemic induced lockdown. The state government had provided maintenance allowance for the construction workers and also arranged public transport buses to bring back four million migrant workers from different parts of the country and take them to their home districts in UP. The government provided them medical facilities and also employment. KING OF PRUSSIA, PA / ACCESSWIRE / April 15, 2021 / Wearable Health Solutions Inc. ("WHSI", or the "Company") (OTC PINK:WHSI), a manufacturer and developer of personal monitoring technology focused on mobile alert and tracking devices for emergency medical and occupational safety markets worldwide, concentrating on the North American markets recently announced share cancelation from its 3a10 program by canceling 48,989,000 million shares issued several months ago to Trillium, Partners LLC. for purchase of debt claims. The Company plans to reduce its debt claims and further restructure its balance sheet through it's SEC qualified Regulation A offering that was qualified in November 2020. About Wearable Health Solutions Inc. Wearable Health Solutions is a manufacturer of personal security, personal emergency response systems (PERS) and medical alarm devices. Our products are designed and marketed to individuals hospitals, home healthcare scenarios, home security, as well as for lone worker initiatives so employees that work alone or in isolation can summon assistance if their health or safety is threatened. The Company is implementing a new product called the iHelp MAX. This device is a cellular medical alert system that operates on a 4G network. The iHelp MAX device showcases features and functionalities such as fall detection and geo-fencing (the ability to pre-set an area and alert loved ones if the device user enters or leaves a pre-determined area). The iHelp Max 4G will be telehealth ready and will be ablet o join and speak to multiple devices to enable remote monitoring and data collection of essential vital signs in real-time and with historical values via Bluetooth, NFC, and WiFi technology. WHSI has currently sold approximately 15k medical alarm units to date and is excited to be able implementing its latest medical alert system the iHelp MAX. WHSI is always looking to the future and is researching several wearable technologies (body mounted sensors that monitor and transmit biological data for healthcare purposes) to partner with on this endeavor. Our Management Team has over 30 years total experience in the business. With our experience in the industry and our innovative technology, WHSI is positioned to become a leader in wearable health devices and health data transmission. For further information please visit our website at www.wearablehealthsolutions.com. This press release includes statements that are not historical in nature and may be characterized as "forward-looking statements," including those related to future financial and operating results, benefits, and synergies of the combined companies, statements concerning the Company's outlook, pricing trends, and forces within the industry, the completion dates of capital projects, expected sales growth, cost reduction strategies, and their results, long-term goals of the Company and other statements of expectations, beliefs, future plans and strategies, anticipated events or trends, and similar expressions concerning matters that are not historical facts. All predictions as to future results contain a measure of uncertainty and, accordingly, actual results could differ materially. Among the factors which could cause a difference are: changes in the general economy; changes in demand for the Company's products or in the cost and availability of its raw materials; the actions of its competitors; the success of our customers; technological change; changes in employee relations; government regulations; litigation, including its inherent uncertainty; difficulties in plant operations and materials; transportation, environmental matters; and other unforeseen circumstances. A number of these factors are discussed in the Company's previous filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. The Company disclaims any intention or obligation to update any forward-looking statements as a result of developments occurring after the date of this press release. The safe harbor for forward-looking statements contained in the Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 (the "Act") protects companies from liability for their forward-looking statements if they comply with the requirements of the Act. Contact: Wearable Health Solutions Inc. 2300 Yonge St. Sutie 1600 Toronto, ONT M4P1E4 Canada www.WearableHealthSolutions.com 855-226-4827 info@wearablehealthsolutions.com SOURCE: Wearable Health Solutions Inc. View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/640044/Wearable-Health-Solutions-Inc-Cancels-48989000-Million-Shares-of-its-Float-Reducing-Outstanding-Shares-by-Almost-10-from-a-3a10-Transaction Joe Biden thinks Georgias new voting integrity law is Jim Crow on steroids. Stacey Abrams says the voting law changes are a redux of Jim Crow in a suit and tie." And now House Majority Whip Jim Clyburn has added his partisan hyperbole to the fight, telling Jake Tapper at CNN that yes, he sees Georgias new law as the new Jim Crow. With all due respect, Clyburn needs glasses as badly as Biden needs a history book. As for the ambitious Abrams, shes said to be testing whether the new Jim Crow claim is a campaign theme she can exploit to become governor of Georgia. But sorry. What the Republicans running the Peach State are allegedly doing to suppress has little in common with the old Jim Crow. Requiring an ID for absentee voters is not voter repression or intimidation. Neither is preventing campaign operatives from giving water or other snacks to voters waiting in line at polling places or asking early voters to get their votes in earlier so they can be counted by Election Day. No one should pretend that the Republican politicians in Georgia and other red states who are tightening and securing their voting laws have put aside their own interests. But by calling it Jim Crow 2.0 Georgia Democrats and the woke liberal media are committing a gross and misleading exaggeration for their own partisan purposes and showing their ignorance of history. They are also diminishing the oppressive and dehumanizing awfulness of the old Jim Crow, Americas 70-year regional experiment in apartheid. The racist white Democrats in charge of 17 Jim Crow states used local and state laws to create and perpetuate a separate, unequal and parallel society that prohibited blacks from interacting with whites in public and private spaces. When it came to elections, they didnt mess around. They openly used violence, intimidation and any devious government means necessary to systematically prevent millions of blacks in the South from voting or even registering. President Biden, Abrams, Clyburn -- and the liberal journalists who dont challenge their serial sightings of the new Jim Crow -- need to remember what obstacles to voting millions of blacks actually faced from 1890 to 1965. For the record, the American Black Holocaust Museum in Milwaukee lists eight ways they were kept from voting in the Jim Crow South: 1) Violence: Blacks who tried to vote were threatened, beaten, and killed. Their families were also harmed. Sometimes their homes were burned down. Often, they lost their jobs or were thrown off their farms. Whites used violence to intimidate blacks and prevent them from even thinking about voting. Still, some blacks passed the requirements to vote and took the risk. Some whites used violence to punish those uppity ones and show other blacks what would happen to them if they followed suit. 2) Literacy tests: Today almost all adults can read. One hundred years ago, however, many people black and white were illiterate. Most illiterate people were not allowed to vote. A few were allowed if they could understand what was read to them. White officials usually claimed that whites could understand what was read. They said blacks could not, even when they clearly could. 3) Property tests: In the South 100 years ago, many states allowed only property owners to vote. Many blacks and whites had no property and thus were prohibited. 4) Grandfather clause: People who could not read and owned no property were allowed to vote if their fathers or grandfathers had voted before 1867. Of course, practically no blacks could vote before 1867, so the grandfather clause worked only for whites. 5) All-white primary elections: In the United States, there are usually two rounds of elections: first the primary, then the general. In the South from about 1900 to about 1960, the Democratic primary winner was almost always elected. (See the exhibit Political Parties in Black and White to learn the reason for this.) This means that the Democratic primary election was usually the only one that mattered. African Americans were not allowed to vote in Democratic primaries. White Democrats said their party was a club and did not allow black members. So blacks could not vote in the only contests that mattered. 6) Purges: From time to time, white officials took peoples names off the official lists of voters. Some voters would arrive at the polls and find that they were not registered to vote. Often they could not register again until after the election. Purges more often affected more blacks than whites. 7) Former prisoners: People who had gone to prison were often not allowed to vote. Blacks were very often arrested on trumped-up charges or for minor offenses. Sometimes, white owners of mines, farms, and factories simply needed cheap labor, and prisons provided it. This law kept many more blacks from voting than whites. 8) Poll taxes: In Southern states, people had to pay a tax to cast a ballot. The taxes were about $25 to $50 in todays money. Many people had extremely low incomes and could not afford this amount. The poll tax applied to all people who wanted to vote black and white. There were ways for whites to get around other laws, but not around the poll tax. The old Jim Crow era of legalized segregation is said to have ended in 1965 when the Voting Rights Act was passed and blacks in the South could vote without fear. The American Black Holocaust Museum does a fine job of showing how shamefully unjust, unequal and demeaning the Jim Crow system was for blacks. But it also argues that todays laws and customs make it difficult or impossible for many black citizens and other minorities to vote. It thinks felons should be able to cast ballots and complains that black and Latino voters are often still unfairly purged from voter rolls. It also has a convoluted explanation for why the bureaucratic process of getting government-issued IDs is like a poll tax that discriminates against poor, black, brown and old people. The museum makes a mistake to agree so closely with liberal black activists and the Democrat Party on these voting integrity issues, but it has the good sense not to call Georgia's new voting law Jim Crow on steroids. Besides enabling more potent smartphones and higher download speeds while riding the subway, cutting-edge technologies like artificial intelligence, robotics, and wireless communications are on the verge of revolutionizing well-established industrial fields. A remarkable example is "smart agriculture," which has seen a tremendous increase in the use of drones for various tasks, especially in Japan. Drones, or "unmanned aerial vehicles" (UAVs), have been the focus of extensive research for agricultural applications. For example, they can take aerial images of a field and, through subsequent image processing, identify problems in specific areas of the crop fields. Another notable use case for UAVs that has been quickly gaining traction is the spraying of pesticides. In Japan, the number of hectares sprayed by drones saw a stunning 45-fold increase from 2016 to 2018. Similarly, the number of registered UAVs for agricultural spraying increased from a mere 227 to 1552 between those years. While UAVs could be used to either replace or complement traditional pesticide spraying methods, it remains to be proven whether UAVs are superior to conventional methods in many regards. "Following recent technological demonstrations and verifications at field sites, there is an increasing need for farm management research of smart agricultural technology including cost and efficiency analyses; this is essential for its implementation in farms," explains Yuna Seo, who is Junior Associate Professor at Tokyo University of Science, Japan. In an effort to address this knowledge gap, Seo led a recent study published in MDPI's Sustainability in which she, with her student Shotaro Umeda, compared different pesticide spraying technologies using realistic data. More specifically, the researchers evaluated and compared the costs, working capacity, and management efficiency of drones versus remote-controlled (RC) helicopters and tractor-mounted boom sprayers for preventively spraying pesticides over rice paddies. They made these comparisons for seven different paddy field areas to take into account differences in scale for each method. In terms of pest-control costs, the UAVs were only slightly less expensive per unit area than the boom sprayers, mainly due to the low price of drones and savings in fuel. In this regard, the RC helicopters were much more expensive. "Although the purchase cost of boom sprayers is almost double that of UAVs, the fixed costs of both end up being similar because of the high operation, maintenance and repair costs of drones, which are notorious obstacles in UAV introduction and adoption," remarks Seo. As for the working capacity, RC helicopters could cover much more area per hour than both drones and boom sprayers. Still, drones had a slight advantage in daily area coverage over boom sprayers. Finally, to explore the management efficiency of each method, the researchers used a technique called "data envelopment analysis," which is widely used in economy and operations management to benchmark the performance of manufacturing and service operations. The results indicated that both boom sprayers and UAVs reached maximum or near-maximum efficiency for most paddy areas, while RC helicopters were much less efficient. Overall, this study showcased the benefits of drones as tools for rice production and compared them to other well-established technologies. But, the use of drones in agriculture is not without limitations, which should be addressed in the future, such as the modification of aviation laws that forbid higher pesticide payloads on drones, as well as maintenance costs. "The total costs and efficiency of UAVs would be comparable to that of boom sprayers, which is not a hindrance for farmers wanting to switch to drones. Therefore, technological advances and deregulation are necessary to expand the use of UAVs while meeting safety measures and ensuring applicability," explains Seo. In conclusion, this study highlights both the advantages and limitations of using drones as agricultural tools. Still, there is no doubt that smart agriculture as a whole could greatly alleviate the labor shortage problems in countries with a rapidly aging population, of which Japan is a prime example. Given the potential upsides, let us hope UAVs quickly earn their spot in agriculture so that farmers can work smarter, not harder! ### 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 Yuna Seo from Tokyo University of Science Yuna Seo, lead author of this study, completed a doctoral course on environmental studies at The University of Tokyo in 2009. She then joined the Department of Industrial Administration at Tokyo University of Science as a Junior Associate Professor. She currently has over 40 papers published to her credit. Her research interests include finding ways to promote sustainable regional development through smart agriculture. Two men died Thursday afternoon in Houston's Glenbrook Valley neighborhood when a group of people opened fire into a vehicle the men were in, police said. Officers responding to the shooting on the 8500 block of Broadway Street, just north of Hobby Airport, found the two individuals, believed to be in their 20s and 30s, dead inside of a maroon Buick sedan, Houston Police Department Assistant Chief Ben Tien told reporters. The shooters started firing after jumping out of other vehicles used to box in the sedan. The daily toll tops 200,000 cases a day. The pandemic is spreading rapidly even outside Maharashtra, the most affected state. A curfew will come into force in the capital on the weekend. Russias Sputnik V vaccine gets the green light. Local production of AstraZeneca is far below three 3 million doses a day. AsiaNews/Agencies) There is no sign that the pandemic surge in India is slowing down. The latest toll broke the umpteenth psychological barrier with more than 200,000 cases and 1,038 deaths in 24 hours. What worries many Indians is that the rapid spread of the virus is not only affecting Maharashtra, but also other parts of the country. Following the imposition of restrictions in Mumbai, a curfew is set to come into force over the weekend in the Indian capital of Delhi, which reported 13,500 new cases and 104 deaths yesterday alone. Similar measures are being envisaged in other Indian states. The pressure on hospitals is very high. To relieve it, two five-star hotels have been requisitioned in Mumbai to isolate patients with mild symptoms. However, health facilities are warning that they are running of oxygen tanks in intensive care units, this despite government reassurances that they have enough supplies. Meanwhile, long queues of people have formed outside emergency departments, while cremation sites cannot keep up with demand. Shortages are being reported for remdesivir, an antiviral drug used to treat coronavirus, even though it is manufactured in India. The government of Prime Minister Narendra Modi is throwing everything in its vaccination campaign, which is progressing at a rate of over three million per day; so far, about 114 million people have been vaccinated. Yet, despite a sharp drop in vaccine exports in recent weeks, India is still unable to cope with demand. It is currently estimated that the Serum Institute in Pune (which makes the AstraZeneca vaccine) and Bharat Biotech can produce only 2.4 million doses per day. For this reason, Indias Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation has given the green light to the use of Russias Sputnik V vaccine, to be combined with the two Indian-made. But the first Russian shipment is not expected before mid-May, while local production should kick in in July. The controversy caused by the presence of hundreds of thousands of people in Haridwar, on the Ganges, for the Kumbh Mela festival continues unabated. At least, 1,701 people have tested positive for the SARS-CoV-2 virus in connection with the Hindu pilgrimage. In light of this, in Karnataka local authorities have decided to test and quarantine people returning from the Kumbh Mela. After the controversy over unequal treatment of religions, the Delhi High Court ruled in favour of the reopening of the Nizamuddin mosque for prayer for up to 50 worshippers five times a day. The "Situation is getting grim[er] day by day. But since all religious places are open, this (mosque) also had to be opened," the Court said. (Natural News) Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates finally revealed the reasons behind his massive purchase of farmland: seed science and biofuel development. The agriculture sector is important. With more productive seeds we can avoid deforestation and help Africa deal with the climate difficulty they already face. It is unclear how cheap biofuels can be but if they are cheap it can solve the aviation and truck emissions, Gates wrote, responding to a question in Ask Me Anything (AMA) session on social media platform Reddit in March. Bill and Melinda Gates own largest private farmland portfolio in U.S. The Land Report magazine reported in January that Bill and Melinda Gates have amassed the largest portfolio of private farmland in the U.S. A $171 million purchase of 14,500 acres of prime eastern Washington farmland in 2018 gave the power couple an estimated 242,000 acres of farmland, which is nearly the size of Hong Kong. This is part of a broader 269,000-acre land portfolio belonging to the couple and associated entities across 19 states, with the largest holdings in Louisiana (69,071 acres), Arkansas (47,927 acres) and Arizona (25,750 acres). The couples acquired farmland is owned through a private investment company Cascade Investment. This company also owns shares in plant-based protein companies Beyond Meat and Impossible Foods, as well as agricultural equipment maker John Deere. (Related: Why is Bill Gates buying up farmland across America?) The investment companys single largest acquisition of farmland came in 2017 when it paid $520 million to purchase 61 properties from the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (CPPIB). This parcel apparently makes up the bulk of the billionaire couples farmland holdings. It was previously owned by Agriculture Company of America, a real estate investment trust acquired by CPPIB in 2013. In January, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation announced that it would create a nonprofit entity called Gates Ag One that will speed up efforts to provide smallholder farmers in developing countries with access to the affordable tools and innovations they need to sustainably improve crop productivity and adapt to the effects of climate change. Farmland for GMO food and biofuel The farmland acquired by Gates appeared to be earmarked for genetically engineered corn and soy crops the base foods for what will become synthetic ultra-processed products like synthetic meat. In 2019, it was reported that Impossible Burger was facing a shortage of soy because it relied on farms that didnt use genetically modified seeds. Impossible Foods had seen a huge surge in demand for its Impossible Burger product that year. It has become a marquee brand in one of the hottest sectors of the food business. Impossible Foods makes plant-based protein that can be fashioned into burgers. Its goal is to help eliminate the need for animals from the meat supply by 2035, but its products rely on GMOs and heavy use of herbicides and pesticides. One other use for the farmland Gates has acquired is to grow crops for biofuels. Gates is not new to the biofuel industry. In 2016, he joined French oil giant Total in investing $14 million in biofuel specialist Renmatix. Renmatix has developed a process that converts plant waste and biomass into sugars that can be converted into biofuels and bio versions of chemicals. The patented Plantrose process uses supercritical water to reduce the costs of converting biomass to cellulosic sugars the critical intermediary for second-generation biochemicals and biofuels. To effectively address climate change, we need to develop an energy infrastructure that doesnt emit greenhouse gas and is cost competitive. A critical component in this effort must be to decarbonize the industrial sector, Gates said at the time. Another is the possibility of cost competitive biofuels. Renmatix provides an innovative process that is an exciting pathway to pursue. He has not elaborated on his plans yet, but Gates will apparently use plant waste and biomass from his farmland to develop biofuels. This means biosludge from human waste will be spread on farms to grow more GMOs all to save the planet. Follow Technocrats.news for more news and information related to Bill Gates and other big tech personalities. Sources include: AgFunderNews.com NaturalHealth365.com Biofuels-News.com Syria on April 14 rejected the results of an investigation by the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW). OPCW has released the second report of Identification on April 12.. In the investigation, the team found reasonable grounds to believe that a Syrian air force helicopter dropped a chlorine cylinder on a Syrian town in 2018. Syrian Foreign Ministry has denied these claims and condemned the report. Syria condemns OPCW report OPCW has released the findings of the second report by the OPCW Investigation and Identification Team (IIT) on April 12. OPCWs Investigation and Identification Team has concluded that Syrian government armed forces were responsible for a gas attack in 2018. The OPCW investigation team in the latest report said that they found evidence that a military helicopter belonging to the Tiger Forces of Syrian Arab Air Force dropped at least one chlorine cylinder on eastern Saraqeb town in northern Syria on 4 February 2018. The cylinder ruptured and released chlorine over a large area, affecting 12 named individuals. The cylinder ruptured and released chlorine over a large area, affecting 12 named individuals. Those affected all survived, said the statement. #OPCW releases second report by Investigation and Identification Team IIT concludes that units of the Syrian Arab Air Force used chemical weapons in Saraqib, #Syria in February 2018https://t.co/xSdAUmOcoH OPCW (@OPCW) April 12, 2021 Last year, the OPCW investigation team said that the Syrian Arab Air Force was responsible for attacks using chlorine and the nerve agent sarin in March 2017 in the town of Latamneh. The Syrian Foreign Ministry has denied the use of toxic gases in Saraqeb "or any other city or village in Syria". The Syrian government has denied the claims of the report. The investigation team was established after Russia blocked the extension of a joint investigation mechanism set up by the UN and OPCW in 2015. That team has accused Syria of using chlorine in at least two attacks in 2014 and 2015. They have also said that Syria dropped sarin in an aerial attack on Khan Sheikhoun in April 2017 that killed about 100 people. (Image Credit: The Associated Press) Line Of Duty has received 323 complaints about Down's Syndrome character Terry Boyle being branded the 'local oddball'. The term was used during the first episode of series six, with many viewers taking to Twitter to say its inclusion was 'disappointing' - and made worse by the show airing on World Down Syndrome Day. More than 300 people have now contacted the BBC to say they were 'unhappy' with the use of the phrase which was said by Adrian Dunbar's character Superintendent Ted Hastings. Oh dear: Line of Duty has reportedly received 323 complaints about Down's Syndrome character Terry Boyle [played by Tommy Jessop] being branded the 'local oddball' MailOnline has contacted the BBC for a comment. Towards the end of the episode, Hastings suggested another suspect was 'more likely to be the gunman than the local oddball, that's for sure' while talking about suspect Carl Banks, sparking a furore on Twitter. However, following the episode airing on March 21 the Down's Syndrome Association (DSA) said it was 'fantastic' to see an actor with the condition in the show - and this was 'the most important part' about it. Writer Jed Mercurio insisted the term 'oddball' referred to what Barry George had thought the police perceived him as after being cleared of killing Jill Dando in 2008. Unimpressed: The term was used by Adrian Dunbar's character Superintendent Ted Hastings (right, with Martin Compston as Steve Arnott) during the first episode of series six, with many viewers taking to Twitter to say its inclusion was 'disappointing' The 55-year-old also pointed out Hastings had not met Terry, played by actor Tommy Jessop, when he used the term, and the show was intended to 'portray policing with some of its failings'. Elliott Rosen played Mr Boyle in series one, but Jessop took it over in series five and became the first actor with Down's syndrome to appear in a BBC primetime drama. A DSA spokesman told MailOnline: 'The most important part about Line of Duty last night was that one of the main characters in the drama has Down's syndrome. 'Tommy Jessop, who played the part of Terry Boyle, has a very impressive CV and has been recognised by Bafta for his skills as an actor. 'To have a main character who has Down's syndrome in such a primetime programme is fantastic to see. Some people have contacted us who were concerned about the language used by another character in the drama. Interview: Terry Boyle, played by Tommy Jessop, was labelled an 'oddball' during the episode Reaction: The labelling of Terry (right) was described by viewers as 'uncomfortable' and 'poor form' on Twitter 'The reality is that people who have Down's syndrome sometimes do experience hurtful language and we all have a responsibility to speak up when we witness this. It's important that we all continue our efforts for greater inclusion and acceptance.' Despite this, the reference sparked an immediate surge of outrage on Twitter, with Barnardos assistant director of children's services Michelle Dougan among those criticising it. She tweeted: 'I love Line of Duty, but found the term 'local oddball' used to define the suspect with Down's really uncomfortable. Yes, I know it's drama, but come on, let's be respectful and change how everyone is viewed and identified in our world.' Jim Gamble, boss of Ineqe safeguarding group, added: 'Especially on the day that it is, but also on any day, the script writer of Line of Duty needs to reflect on the line referring to a suspect with special needs being referred to as the 'local oddball'.' Staffordshire Police Chief Inspector John Owen said: ''Local oddball'. C'mon! We talk about stigma, changing the language and equality. This applies to all, including those with #DownSyndrome. Very poor. #BBC #LineofDuty #DownSyndromeDay.' And Mick Finnegan, a Royal College of Psychiatrists adviser and campaigner for people with disabilities, tweeted: 'It's great that Line of Duty is back. Defence: Line of Duty writer Jed Mercurio defended the line in the script for series six 'However, calling a character with Down's Syndrome 'the local oddball' on World Down Syndrome Day doesn't sit well with me. Great the actor was given the opportunity but language is key to acceptance and understanding.' However, creator Mr Mercurio hit back at the criticism in a series of tweets, pointing out it was actually a reference to the case of TV presenter Jill Dando, who was murdered in 1999. After Barry George was acquitted of her murder in August 2008 following a retrial, he said: 'I was the easiest target on the case. They (police) could just say, 'We've got the local oddball'.' Mr Mercurio referred to this quote and told Mr Gamble: ''Oddball' has no connotation for learning difficulties. It describes a loner, an eccentric. It's an equally fitting description for someone like Christopher Jefferies. 'The drama is using the term to refer to the Dando case, not to learning difficulties. We work with numerous police advisers. 'Line of Duty portrays policing with some of its failings. The officer in question doesn't work with vulnerable people and hadn't met the suspect. The ones dealing with the suspect used different, more appropriate language.' He continued: 'I'm not sure if you're saying no police officer would use that term (some would - and way, way worse, tbh) or that TV drama can't use a term that, for the reasons I've explained, just doesn't have the intended connotation you've subjectively attributed, the main reason being a reference to a real case of police mishandling of a vulnerable suspect.' A BBC spokesman told MailOnline at the time: 'Ted Hastings has never met Terry Boyle. In the scene, he is reviewing the evidence against the character. 'The word used in dialogue refers to an eccentric or loner, which fits the stalker/obsessed fan theory of Gail Vella's murder. Reference: Mr Mercurio posted a series of tweets defending the use of the word in last night's episode, saying it was a term used in the Jill Dando case 'The dialogue has no meaning or connotation that relates to the character's disability.' Nearly 10million people watched the first episode of series six on BBC One last night, with the average audience being 9.57million and the peak at 9.69million. This beat the finale of series five which got a 9.1million average in May 2019, while it was also higher than the first episode of series five which had 7.8million in March 2019. Inc, the world's largest asset manager, reported a 16% jump in first-quarter profit on Thursday as investors poured more money into its diverse funds and fee revenue jumped. The company's net income rose to $1.2 billion, or $7.77 per share, in the three months ended March 31, from $1.03 billion, or $6.60 per share, a year earlier. Analysts on average had expected earnings per share of $7.64, according to Refinitiv IBES data. The firm attracted $172 billion net inflows in the first three months of the year to its various funds such as exchange-traded and active funds that aim to beat the market. Capital markets had benefited through the quarter from improving sentiment over a U.S. economic recovery. BlackRock's assets under management grew to a record $9 trillion in the quarter, compared with $6.47 trillion a year earlier. (Reporting by Ambar Warrick in Bengaluru; Editing by Sriraj Kalluvila) Poland has ordered three Russian diplomats to leave the embassy in Warsaw in what it said was an act of solidarity with the United States. The Polish Foreign Ministry said April 15 that three staff members at the Russian Embassy were declared personae non gratae for violating their diplomatic status and conducting activities harmful to Poland. Earlier on April 15, the United States announced broad sanctions on Russia in retaliation for election interference, cyberattacks, and what Washington described as Moscows other "harmful" foreign activities. As part of a raft of actions against Moscow, the United States said 10 Russian diplomats, including representatives of Russian intelligence services using diplomatic cover, would be expelled from the country. The White House also formally blamed the Russian Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR) for being behind a massive hack known as SolarWinds that hit large swaths of the U.S. public and private sectors last year, including at least nine U.S. federal agencies. Russia has denied the accusations. Polands Foreign Ministry said the impact of the SolarWinds hack extends beyond the United States and affects European countries. Poland stands in solidarity with the United States, it said in a statement. We strongly advocate that states, the private sector, and individuals adhere to the principles of responsible behavior in cyberspace. Russia is likely to respond with a tit-for-tat move by expelling Polish diplomats. Russian State Duma Foreign Affairs Committee head Leonid Slutsky accused Poland of being Russophobic and behaving like a true vassal of the United States, according to comments run by Interfax. With reporting by Interfax Bouyei people in Guizhou celebrate traditional festival 'San Yue San' Ecns.cn) 14:27, April 15, 2021 Photo taken on April 14, 2021 shows Bouyei ethnic women display colorful rice used for sacrifice. A cultural festival of Bouyei people was held in Wangmo County, Qianxinan Bouyei and Miao Autonomous Prefecture, southwest China's Guizhou Province on 'San Yue San', the third day of the third month in the Chinese lunar calendar. The cultural festival shows the traditional culture of the Bouyei ethnic group from the social, ethnic, cultural, folk customs and other aspects, which allow tourists to feel the charm of Bouyei culture. (Photo: China News Service/He Junyi) (Web editor: Shi Xi, Liang Jun) New Delhi: The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) on Thursday (April 15) announced that now the Mumbai hospitals will collaborate with five-star hotels to treat COVID-19 patients with milder infection. The administration also added that two of the hotels will start functioning from today as extensions of private hospitals. This initiative will add over 250 more COVID beds, including 40 ICU beds, in Jaslok Hospital as well. The citizens will be able to book these facilities online from the bmc dashboard by Saturday morning. Here are the highlights of the order: 1) MCGM and private hospitals will jointly look for close by 4-5 star hotels. 2) These linked hotels should have approx 20 rooms for the COVID-19 patients. 3) Hotel and hospital should work hand in hand. 4) Patients who do not need an emergency will be kept there after a mandatory physician approval. 5) Hospitals will provide round the clock facilities to the hotel like nursing, online consultation, medicines, biomedical waste management and ambulances. 6) Inclusive taxes and meals, hotel can charge Rs 4000. Amount will be paid by the hospital to the hotel. Medical expenses like doctors fees will be under extra charges. 7) For twin sharing rooms the hotel can charge Rs 6000. 8) Walk-ins can be welcomed by the hotels like patients with no symptoms but the hospital has to approve. This order by the authorities comes a day after Mumbai recorded 9,931 new cases and 54 deaths. Currently, Mumbai and other cities in Maharashtra face a massive number of COVID-19 cases. Live TV Washington, April 15, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Howard University proudly announces graduating senior David Edgerton III has been named a 2021 Truman Scholar by the Harry S. Truman Scholarship Foundation. Edgerton was selected from a pool of 845 applications from 328 institutions a record number of applicants. As a Truman Scholar, Edgerton will receive funding to pursue graduate studies, leadership training, career counseling, and special internship and fellowship opportunities within the federal government. Howard University is now the top HBCU producer of Truman Scholars with 12 recipients. The Howard University community is very pleased that David Edgerton III has been selected to receive the prestigious Truman Award, making him the 12th Truman scholar in Howards illustrious history and making Howard the top HBCU producer of Truman Scholars, said President Wayne A. I. Frederick, M.D., MBA. David exemplifies our University motto of truth and service through his volunteerism and community involvement, both on and off campus. We are excited that he has chosen to continue his education at the Howard University School of Law. Edgerton is a political science major, legal communications minor from St. Paul, Minnesota. He serves as the civic engagement coordinator for the Howard University Student Association and president of the Howard University Speech and Debate team. He also serves as the director of forensics and teaches at Paul R. Brown Leadership Academy. He is currently interning for the Executive Office of the National League of Cities and plans to attend the Howard University School of Law and pursue a career in civil rights law and young adult ministry. I feel incredibly humbled to receive this award acknowledging the hard work I put into making my community a better place, said Edgerton. I thank Howard University for inspiring me to be a change agent and to always have a passion to serve. I will use this award to further my skills at Howard University School of Law and continue the legacy of Black excellence that Bison before me have started. Edgerton has dedicated his life to service and community action. An aspiring multi-vocational change agent, he believes that it is our duty as a nation to build up every child from every background. His other awards and appointments include being named a Global Scholar and elected student council representative for the Council on International Education Exchange during his time abroad in Spain, Italy and England. Recipients of the Truman Scholarship receive a $30,000 scholarship toward graduate school and the opportunity to participate in professional development programming to help prepare them for careers in public service leadership. Recipients must be U.S. citizens, have outstanding leadership potential and communication skills, be in the top quarter of their class, and be committed to careers in government or the nonprofit sector. # # # About the Truman Scholarship Foundation The Truman Scholarship Foundation was established by Congress in 1975 as the federal memorial to our 33rd president. The foundation awards scholarships for college students to attend graduate school in preparation for careers in government or elsewhere in public service. The activities of the foundation are supported by a special trust fund in the U.S. Treasury. There have been 2,906 Truman Scholars selected since the first awards were made in 1977. About Howard University Founded in 1867, Howard University is a private, research university that is comprised of 13 schools and colleges. Students pursue more than 140 programs of study leading to undergraduate, graduate and professional degrees. The University operates with a commitment to Excellence in Truth and Service and has produced one Schwarzman Scholar, three Marshall Scholars, four Rhodes Scholars, 12 Truman Scholars, 25 Pickering Fellows and more than 165 Fulbright recipients. Howard also produces more on-campus African-American Ph.D. recipients than any other university in the United States. For more information on Howard University, visit www.howard.edu. Attachment State-owned Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd (BPCL) on Thursday said it will supply medical to Kerala from its Kochi to meet shortage of the same for critical patients of COVID-19. "The company will be supplying around 1.5 tonnes per day of to government hospitals from this facility," said in a statement. Last year, the company had supplied around 25 tonnes of medical when the average daily cases had risen in October-November. The build-own-operate unit of Kochi has a provision to produce and store liquid oxygen of 99.7 per cent purity. Currently, the company has around 20 tonne of storage of oxygen from which the government hospitals will be supplied. "This supply shall be free of cost to government hospitals," it said. With average daily cases of COVID-19 rising again since last one month, the demand for oxygen has significantly risen. In most parts of the country, the cases are hitting new peak, thereby disrupting the demand-supply scenario for medical oxygen. (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.) michael barbaro From The New York Times, Im Michael Barbaro. This is The Daily. [music] Today, the decision-making process that led the U.S. government to suspend the use of Johnson & Johnsons COVID-19 vaccine, how long it may last and the impact it could have. I spoke with my colleague, science reporter Carl Zimmer. Its Thursday, April 15th. Carl, walk us through how this very big decision was reached to pause vaccinations with Johnson & Johnsons vaccine in the U.S. Where does that story start? carl zimmer The story starts in Europe with another vaccine, one thats made by AstraZeneca. AstraZeneca is going into widespread use in Europe. Its not yet authorized in the United States. And after a while, the European regulators notice a few rare cases of blood clots, which start to get them concerned. And so they begin to investigate whether that has anything to do with the vaccine. michael barbaro With the AstraZeneca vaccine. Got it. carl zimmer So blood clots are a surprisingly common thing. Thousands of people get blood clots every day. So just because people who get vaccinated get a blood clot, that doesnt really tell you anything in particular about whether the vaccine is dangerous. You have to take a closer look. And when European regulators took a closer look at people getting vaccinated, they noticed that there was a small amount of people who were all getting the same unusual kind of blood clot. They were taking place in the brain, and they were associated with very low levels of something called platelets. michael barbaro And what are platelets? carl zimmer Platelets are a component of the clotting process in our bloodstream. So when we get little wounds in our blood vessels, platelets jump into the wound and basically create a little patch. And that allows us to heal. So thats good. Whats bad is when the platelets start to form a big clot, which can then break loose and go around in our bloodstream and end up in dangerous places, like in our brains. michael barbaro Got it. carl zimmer And so what puzzled and concerned European regulators is that you had this very strange condition where you had a combination of these particular kinds of clots with low platelets. So they thought, maybe were looking at a rare but distinct and serious condition. Now, its not clear why, in these people, theyre getting brain clots along with low platelets. One idea is that all the platelets in the blood are going into these clots, and so their level of platelets is going down. This is a hypothesis thats coming out of the first studies of people who have gotten vaccinated with AstraZeneca and have developed these peculiar blood clots with the low platelets. michael barbaro OK, so how do we get to Johnson & Johnson? carl zimmer European regulators start to wonder if they could get some clues to whats happening with AstraZeneca by looking at the Johnson & Johnson vaccine because its similar, in some ways, to AstraZeneca. They use the same basic technology, unlike Moderna and Pfizer. So last week, they start to look at data from the United States. Now, at first, there isnt a lot of data that really points to something similar happening with Johnson & Johnson, but over the weekend, that changed. By the weekend, the C.D.C. and the F.D.A. have gotten six reports that are very similar to what European regulators were seeing with AstraZeneca, people who have suffered from this distinctive brain clot combined with low platelets. Six people out of seven million or so who have gotten the Johnson & Johnson vaccine, thats tiny. But its a pretty unusual combination. Also, all of those six people were women, and one of those women actually died of her blood clot. And so that started to set off alarms in the government that maybe we need to stop and take a close look at whats happening. michael barbaro OK, and so how do U.S. regulators, who have been watching, Im sure, what was happening in Europe with AstraZeneca, how do they start to think about how to respond to this very small six number of cases of blood clots in people who have gotten the Johnson & Johnson vaccine? carl zimmer Once these six cases had come to light, government officials got together and talked about what their options were. And basically, it came down to two. On the one hand, they could issue a warning. In other words, they could let doctors know that they had seen this incredibly rare but very serious condition, and just have doctors be aware that this is an issue, and maybe keep an eye out for it. Or they could recommend a pause on vaccination. In other words, they would recommend that doctors and vaccination centers and so on stop for now giving out the Johnson & Johnson vaccine while they investigated it further. michael barbaro Wow. Those are very different options. I mean, one is essentially send the medical world a memo saying heads up. The other is far more significant. Its stopping temporarily the use of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine, which of course would be very disruptive. So what factors are influencing how they are considering these two options? carl zimmer One important factor is that they were wondering how many more cases out there ar ethere. So they knew of six, but maybe there were more that people just hadnt reported yet. michael barbaro Right. carl zimmer And so if they just give a quiet little warning, people might not pay attention to it. But if they say, hey folks, were taking this seriously, that might spur doctors and patients and so on to get in touch and say, hey, guess what, Ive seen the same thing, or Ive experienced the same thing. Its also of concern because theres some indication that some of the standard way to treat a blood clot, with a drug called heparin, might actually be bad for this particular condition. So you really want to make sure that people are aware that there is a potential risk of just treating a blood clot like any other blood clot. michael barbaro Thats interesting. So these regulators are not just worried about the danger of these blood clots, but also about the danger of potentially mistreating them. carl zimmer Theyre concerned that this might be a risk. You know, again, they have to figure out whats going on. You know, they really have to figure out if this is even a cause and effect that theyre looking at. But these kinds of concerns shifts the government officials away from just sending out a warning to actually going for a pause. michael barbaro Right. And of course, a pause is what the regulators decide on. So how do they describe that decision to the American public? archived recording Thank you. And thank you all for joining us. carl zimmer Tuesday morning, there is a press conference. archived recording This morning, the F.D.A. and C.D.C. announced that, out of an abundance of caution, were recommending a pause in the use of the Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccine. With the acting director of the Food and Drug Administration, Janet Woodcock, and other officials. These events appear to be extremely rare. carl zimmer And they present the data. archived recording One case was fatal, and one patient is in critical condition. Right now, these events appear to be extremely rare. That said, COVID-19 vaccine safety is a top priority for the federal government. carl zimmer Said that this is very, very rare, but on the other hand, its serious enough that they have to investigate it. archived recording We are committed to an expeditious review of the available information. carl zimmer And expected that this investigation might take only a few days. archived recording The time frame will depend, obviously, on what we learn in the next few days. carl zimmer And during those few days, they recommended that the Johnson & Johnson vaccine be paused. archived recording This concludes todays media briefing. michael barbaro And Carl, you just used an important word, recommended. This is federal guidance. It is not a mandate. So what is the immediate response to U.S. health regulators giving the recommendation that the Johnson & Johnson vaccinations be paused? carl zimmer The effect is really swift. archived recording The F.D.A. and the C.D.C. has announced that they are now recommending a pause. Walgreens, CVS and Kroger among the national pharmacies that also will pause using J&J as well. carl zimmer Walgreens and CVS both quickly say that theyre going to pause using Johnson & Johnson vaccines. archived recording You might as well view it as a pause nationwide. carl zimmer A number of states do the same thing. archived recording Signs now flash this message outside the federally supported vaccine site no J&J here. carl zimmer Theres a huge wave of cancelations of appointments to get vaccinated. archived recording Its so rare, the side effects, that I really wasnt worried about it. carl zimmer There are mobile vaccination clinics that are just canceled in different cities. archived recording Im just disappointed theres no shot at all. So Im definitely disappointed. carl zimmer So this has gigantic effects immediately. And by the end of Tuesday, Johnson & Johnson vaccination across the United States has pretty much ground to a halt. michael barbaro Right. And in a sense, what that tells us is that the pause worked. Right? I mean, pharmacies and states do exactly what the C.D.C. and the F.D.A. have guided them to do. carl zimmer Yes. So the pause is happening in exactly the way that government officials had hoped for, but that doesnt mean that there arent some concerns about what the long-term effects could be of this pause. [music] michael barbaro Well be right back. Carl, once this pause is in effect, it raises tons of questions. So lets spin through those questions. The first is, what will be the consequence of the pause on the U.S. vaccination campaign, on the deadlines and the schedule for returning to normalcy? carl zimmer Johnson & Johnson has been a crucial component of the Biden administrations plans for getting the United States back to normal. They were supposed to be delivering 100 million doses by the end of May. michael barbaro Wow. carl zimmer And theyve already been having some problems with manufacturing their vaccines, and had to essentially throw out 50 million doses. So now, even pausing for a few days can throw that plan into even further uncertainty. michael barbaro Right. So on a logistical, scheduling level, this is a meaningfully big deal. carl zimmer Its a big deal, especially in parts of the country where the other two vaccines, by Moderna and Pfizer, are not so easy to give out. michael barbaro And what kinds of places would those be? carl zimmer Well, Moderna and Pfizers vaccines both need to be frozen. michael barbaro Right. carl zimmer Johnson & Johnsons is a lot easier to use. You just throw it in the fridge. And so you can have these mobile clinics driving around with them. You can bring them to rural areas, where they dont have the facilities for keeping frozen vaccines. I mean, you can do things with the Johnson & Johnson vaccine that you just couldnt do with the other vaccines. So for example, there are people who cant get to a clinic. Theyre homebound. And so if youre going to send out public health workers to get to them with the vaccine, you dont want them to have to be lugging around big freezers. Its really easy, relatively speaking, to send them out with the Johnson & Johnson vaccine, going to peoples homes and vaccinate them. And do it once, and then youre done. And it also had the advantage of just being one shot. And so a lot of people just really liked the prospect of getting just one dose, as opposed to two with Moderna and Pfizer. So there were going to be a sizable number of people who were going to really benefit from having this option of Johnson & Johnson. And now, for the next few days at least, thats not an option. michael barbaro Carl, what about hesitancy? What might this pause do to and for a U.S. public that already showed signs in some demographics, in particular, of being skeptical of COVID vaccines, despite data, as weve talked to you about many times, that shows how historically safe and effective all three of these vaccines are? carl zimmer Well, if people just hear a few words, they might get concerned. They might hear vaccine, blood clot, oh my gosh, thats bad. michael barbaro Right. carl zimmer So really, were going to have to see how well the U.S. government handles the messaging of what theyre doing in the days to follow, because whats crucial for people to understand is that, first of all, this is so far an incredibly rare condition. If you look at 7 million people who have gotten this vaccine so far in the United States, and we only know of six cases of this particular condition, you know, that means that 99.999999% of people who got the vaccine didnt get that condition. michael barbaro Right. carl zimmer So if youre thinking about your odds, well, your odds of getting COVID are way higher right now, and the risks you face from COVID of ending up in the ICU and potentially dying are also, by comparison, incredibly high. So this is going to be the kind of information that public health officials are going to have to get out, and get out clearly, in the days to follow. michael barbaro What youre describing is essentially a messaging battle for the government, how easily can it communicate safety and the rarity of these blood clots. Do you have any sense yet, based on your reporting, of how the government is thinking of approaching the question of communicating that? carl zimmer I think that the theme that the government is hammering on over and over again is that this is how government regulators keep us safe, that they are keeping a very careful eye on these new vaccines, and at even the slightest suggestion of a problem, theyre are going to take it very seriously and look very closely at it. Thats the message. michael barbaro Carl, so far we have been talking about the domestic impacts of this decision on Johnson & Johnsons vaccine, but every vaccine maker is attempting to put doses into arms across the world. So is the U.S. government. We all want as many people to be vaccinated as possible in every country. So how, if at all, does this pause impact people outside the U.S.? carl zimmer The ramifications of these findings are pretty big right now. Johnson & Johnson was in the process of seeking authorization in Europe for their vaccine. Theyre putting that on pause for now. There were such concerns in Australia that they decided that theyre not going to buy Johnson & Johnson vaccines at all. michael barbaro Wow. Thats a very big deal. carl zimmer It is. Johnson & Johnson had promised half a billion doses to an effort called COVAX to get vaccines to lots of countries that might not be able to afford to get them on their own. This development throws that into question. Its not clear what COVAX is going to do about this. South Africa had been planning on using AstraZeneca to treat their health care workers. Then it turned out that AstraZeneca might not be effective against their particular variant of COVID, and so they said thats OK, well use Johnson & Johnson. Well, theyre probably not going to use Johnson & Johnson for now. So this is having impacts across the world. michael barbaro So given just how high the stakes are, here and globally, for resuming J&J vaccinations, do you have any sense of how long this pause may last? carl zimmer If it follows the example of what happened in Europe with AstraZeneca, I think this will be resolved in a few days. I think whats happening now is that the F.D.A. and the C.D.C. are taking in new reports that might or might not represent more of these cases of these peculiar blood clots, and then theyre going to look at the data and figure out, well, what do we do next? Is this as significant a risk that we need to adjust how we give the vaccines out? One possibility is that they might restrict who gets the vaccine, simply to minimize risk. So far, the six cases are in women between 18 and 48. Does that mean that this vaccine represents a very small, but significant risk specifically for women? We dont know yet. It could be that a bunch of cases involving men might come in today and tomorrow and in the next few days. Well see. But you could imagine decisions based on age or on sex or other things that might come out in the next few days. michael barbaro Interesting. So this could result in an unpausing of the vaccine pretty quickly, but one where there are now restrictions and different guidelines about who can get the Johnson & Johnson vaccine in the U.S.. carl zimmer Yes. And what people have to recognize is that pauses happen all the time in the world of vaccines and drug development. Theres a huge amount of attention on this particular pause because were in a pandemic, right? But you just have to bear in mind that pauses happen, and they happen a lot. And then generally what happens is that the pause ends and things go forward. michael barbaro That said, Carl, if youve just gotten the J&J vaccine, this pause period is one where youre craving information. And I wonder what guidance, based on your reporting, should be given to people in that position. carl zimmer First off, if youve just gotten the Johnson & Johnson vaccine, take a deep breath and remember that this condition seems to be incredibly rare. It may or may not have anything to do with getting this vaccine in the first place. Then just monitor your health. The F.D.A. and the C.D.C. have given a list of symptoms, including severe headache, for example. So if, in the three weeks after you get your Johnson & Johnson vaccine, you experience a severe headache, maybe a pain in your leg, call your doctor. Let your doctor know that youre not feeling great, and tell them that you got the Johnson & Johnson vaccine. And then you and your doctor can take things from there. The chances are overwhelmingly likely that youre not going to have these problems, that youre not going to be calling your doctor about it, and youre going to come out of this protected from COVID. michael barbaro Which is a very good thing. carl zimmer Which is a very, very good thing. michael barbaro Well, Carl, thank you. We, as always, appreciate your wisdom. carl zimmer Thank you. [music] Well be right back. Heres what else you need to know today. archived recording (joe biden) Im now the fourth United States president to preside over American troop presence in Afghanistan. Two Republicans, two Democrats. I will not pass this responsibility on to a fifth. michael barbaro In a speech on Wednesday, President Biden explained his decision to withdraw all American troops from Afghanistan by September 11th, saying that the United States had achieved its goal of ensuring that Afghanistan would never again serve as a launching pad for a terrorist attack on the United States. archived recording (joe biden) Ive concluded that its time to end Americas longest war. Its time for American troops to come home. michael barbaro Biden said that the drawdown would begin on May 1st, the deadline for withdrawal set by his predecessor, Donald Trump. But in a pointed warning, Biden admonished the Taliban against seeking to attack U.S. forces as they left Afghanistan. archived recording (joe biden) And the Taliban should know that, if they attack us as we draw down, we will defend ourselves and our partners with all the tools at our disposal. michael barbaro And. archived recording (david fowler) So in my opinion, Mr. Floyd had a sudden cardiac arrhythmia, or cardiac arrhythmia due to his atherosclerotic and hypertensive heart disease, or michael barbaro On Wednesday, defense lawyers in the murder trial of Derek Chauvin sought to rebut claims that George Floyd died because Chauvin deprived him of oxygen, calling to the stand a former medical examiner for Maryland, Dr. David Fowler, who said that Floyds heart condition, drug use, and even carbon monoxide from the tailpipe of a nearby car contributed to his death. archived recording (david fowler) All of those combined to cause Mr. Floyds death. michael barbaro As medical examiner in Maryland, Fowler had previously ruled that the 2018 death of another Black man in police custody, Anton Black, was an accident, prompting a lawsuit from Blacks family. Finally, prosecutors in Minnesota said they would charge the white police officer who fatally shot Daunte Wright, a 20-year-old Black man, with second-degree manslaughter. Police officials have said that the officer, Kim Potter, appeared to have shot Wright by accident after mistaking her gun for her taser. Todays episode was produced by Rachel Quester, Jessica Cheung, and Leslye Davis, with help from Alexandra Leigh Young. It was edited by M.J. Davis Lin, and engineered by Chris Wood. [music] According to new studies, rapid developments in battery technology and cost could cause all new vehicles and trucks sold in the United States to be fueled by energy by 2035. This will save drivers trillions of dollars and providing a huge boost to the initiative to slow the climate crisis. Many American drivers have been turned off by versions that are frequently considerably more costly than gasoline or diesel cars, as well as questions over the affordability of plug-in recharge points. Electric vehicles actually account for just about 2% of all vehicles sold in the United States. According to a recent report from the University of California, Berkeley, this scenario will dramatically change this decade, with the upfront cost of electric cars expected to hit parity with gasoline vehicles in about five years. By 2050, accelerated electrification of transportation will save over $2.7 trillion in driver costs because electric cars are more powerful and need less expensive maintenance. The researchers claimed that with the falling cost of batteries, which is a major factor in the higher cost of electric vehicles and increases in their reliability, the US will be able to phase out new gasoline and diesel cars within 15 years. This will reduce transportation-related global-warming emissions, which are now the primary source of greenhouse gases in the United States. "The transportation system must be electrified to achieve some kind of emission goals," said Amol Phadke, a senior scientist at the University of California, Berkeley, and study co-author. "The upfront price of electric cars is quickly going down, which is very exciting," Phadke said. Most models today have a range of 250 miles, which is longer than most people's average travel distance, and come with pretty amazing fast-charging capability thanks to battery technology advancements." Related Article: Five-Minute Charging EVs: What Does that Mean for the Environment? Government Action US President Joe Biden has described the expansion of the electric vehicle industry as a core plank in his administration's plans to reduce US emissions to net-zero by 2050. Biden positions the problem as a boon to American manufacturing and unemployment. Over the next decade, Biden's administration plans to install 500,000 additional electric vehicle charging stations. Any states and countries have taken it a step further. California has pledged to sell only hybrid cars by 2035, the same year as the internal combustion engine will be phased out in the United Kingdom. Meanwhile, General Motors recently announced that it would have converted its entire fleet to electric vehicles by the end of the year. According to the University of California, Berkeley report, government action would be expected if the US meets its 2035 goal of all-electric purchases, with a business-as-usual strategy implying that less than half of all cars sold in the US will be electric by that time. "Government policy is critical, first with subsidies to purchase electric cars before market competitiveness is achieved, and then to quickly scale up fast-charging infrastructure," Phadke said. "Setting a deadline for the end of gasoline cars by the US government will send a very strong signal to the industry. If little is done, the process will occur, but not quickly enough to address climate change. It won't be convenient, but it'll be possible." Improving Battery Quality "The battery capacity is mostly there, and we are very close to market parity," said Melissa Lott, adding that "questions persist around applying recharging facilities to low-income residents and those in high-density housing." "It won't matter if the car is cheaper if I can't charge it," Lott said. "On chargers, what Biden has suggested is a drop in the bucket. Hundreds of thousands more are required." Improved battery production and lower costs have to lead to expectations that they will be a crucial tool in reducing pollution - the global demand for electric car batteries alone is predicted to reach nearly a trillion dollars by 2030. Renewable Future In a move to renewable technology, the Biden administration has announced proposals to electrify buses, while data centers and airlines will also begin to rely on batteries. An electricity grid powered by wind, solar, and other renewables will require some battery storage. However, the technology isn't yet able to retain power over long periods to account for seasonal power surges and troughs. Also Read: Low-Cost Rechargeable Batteries Opens New Avenues for Renewable Energy Storage For more news about making the environment sustainable, don't forget to follow Nature World News! FRISCO, Texas, April 15, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Lux Amber Corp. (OTC: LXAM) and its subsidiary, Worldwide Specialty Chemicals, Inc., announced its License and Distribution Agreement with SpectraShield Technologies, LLC in Scottsdale, Arizona. E. Thomas Layton, Chairman & Chief Executive Officer of Lux Amber Corp. stated, "We appreciate the SpectraShield team. We are in frequent communication, planning and trying to execute on our shared marketing and distribution strategy. Having a supportive and available supplier makes all the difference." Mr. Layton went on to say, "With the two companies marketing SpectraKill RTU, an EPA Registered, List N, one step cleaner disinfectant, Lux Amber Corp. has a great addition to offer as part of its green family of products." Lux Amber Corp., in cooperation with some of its Honolulu based shareholders, is planning a marketing initiative for the Hawaiian Islands currently anticipated to be in the second quarter. Thad Weist, President of SpectraShield Technologies, said, "Our teams operate well together, and supporting each other has shown that the idea to collaborate was a great decision for both companies." About Lux Amber Corp. Lux Amber Corp. is an international specialty chemical company. The Company has three wholly owned subsidiaries: Worldwide Specialty Chemicals, Inc., Industrial Chem Solutions, Inc., and Safeway Pest Elimination, LLC. Each of the three subsidiaries serves as both a producer and distributor of environmentally safe, specialty chemicals. The products sold by the Company and its subsidiaries utilize all-natural and renewable resources, contain no dangerous chemicals or additives, and offer "green" solutions to its customers. The Company's product line includes asphalt release agents, industrial cleaners, environmental remediation gels, odor control agents, and consumer friendly cleaners for a wide range of uses, including construction, environmental remediation, hazardous materials clean-up, nuclear decommissioning, industrial cleaning, odor control, and products that are designed for the elimination and control of pests. www.worldwidesc.com Forward-Looking Statements This press release contains "forward-looking statements" as that term is defined in the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Such forward-looking statements are based on current expectations and involve inherent risks and uncertainties, including factors that could delay, divert or change any of them, and could cause actual outcomes and results to differ materially from the current expectations. No forward-looking statement can be guaranteed. Forward-looking statements in this press release should be evaluated together with the many uncertainties that affect Lux Amber, Corp.'s business, and Lux Amber, Corp. undertakes no obligation to publicly update any forward-looking statement, whether as a result of new information, future events, or otherwise. Contact: Michael S. Preston [email protected] 469-863-9400 SOURCE Lux Amber Corp. Related Links https://www.worldwidesc.com/ U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin left Brussels on Thursday following meetings with U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and top NATO officials in the Belgian capital. U.S. President Joe Biden's top national security aides had been consulting allies over the planned pullout of American troops from Afghanistan. (Disclaimer: This story is auto-generated from a syndicated feed; only the image & headline may have been reworked by www.republicworld.com) COLLEGE PARK, Md., April 14, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- The University of Maryland announces today plans to celebrate 2021 spring graduates. Spring 2021 commencement exercises will be conducted in-person at Maryland Stadium, and live-streamed at commencement.umd.edu on Friday, May 21, 2021. In collaboration with Prince George's County, plans for commencement prioritize safety while celebrating the success of graduates. The ceremony will include remarks from Peter Chapman, President and CEO of IonQ, an industry leader in quantum computing, founded on UMD research among others, and headquartered in the University of Maryland Discovery District. "All of us at IonQ are very proud to call UMD home, just as I am very proud to share this important moment with the Class of 2021," said Chapman. "Now more than ever, these young people represent our shared faith in a better future, driven by bold thinking right here in Maryland. I hope only to inspire them, the next generation of builders, as they have already inspired me." Before coming to IonQ in 2019, Chapman spent nearly five years as a director of engineering for Amazon Prime, managing hundreds of engineers to ensure speedy delivery, including Amazon's two-days-or-less shipping option. Along his tech and entrepreneurial journey, he made software breakthroughs that protect mutual funds, support e-readers, and assist the blind in reading; he founded the video game company Level Systems Inc., and invented the first sheet music-reading synthesizer capable of recreating orchestral instruments. Chapman also helped create the world's first fully automated algorithmic trading system for the stock and commodity markets. The son of a NASA scientist-astronaut, Chapman began his career at age 16 in the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Artificial Intelligence Lab. "I share Peter's passion for the future of computing and technological advancements as we aim to solve many of the grand challenges of our time," said Darryll J. Pines, University of Maryland President. "I look forward to his compelling, insightful remarks as he addresses our graduates who have persevered through a challenging year, and I thank him for his continued commitment to excellence in College Park." Graduates plus two guests are invited to attend physically distanced commencement activities in person at Maryland Stadium. Based on the school or college of the graduate, they will be invited to attend one of two main commencement ceremonies on campus. Maryland will also invite Spring 2020 and Winter 2020 graduates back to campus to be celebrated in person on May 21. Individual colleges and schools will host their commencement ceremonies virtually on Thursday, May 20 featuring remarks from Deans and displaying the names of every graduate. Information about commencement, including tickets, regalia, and safety measures required to attend in person are available at commencement.umd.edu , and additional information will be added as it becomes available. All campus events are contingent on evolving COVID-19 conditions and guidelines from the Prince George's County health department. Hosting successful in-person commencement ceremonies will depend on everyone doing their part, and remaining diligent in following the university's 4 Maryland guidelines. About the University of Maryland The University of Maryland, College Park is the state's flagship university and one of the nation's preeminent public research universities. A global leader in research, entrepreneurship and innovation, the university is home to more than 40,000 students,10,000 faculty and staff, and 280 academic programs. As one of the nation's top producers of Fulbright scholars, its faculty includes two Nobel laureates, three Pulitzer Prize winners and 59 members of the national academies. The institution has a $2.1 billion operating budget and secures more than $1 billion annually in research funding together with the University of Maryland, Baltimore. For more information about the University of Maryland, College Park, visit www.umd.edu. SOURCE University of Maryland Related Links https://www.umd.edu Lineworker Scholarship to Help Increase Diversity in Skilled Trades When Terrance Bynum graduated from high school, he started working in printing. His brother, Albert, who is five years older, was working as a groundman at Southern California Edison and making a good living. It was not long afterwards that Terrance decided to follow in his big brothers footsteps. My older brother was my hero growing up, he said. ADVERTISEMENT Today, Albert, a former troubleman, is an SCE retiree after 32 years with the company. Terrance is currently a troubleman out of the utilitys Long Beach District with 25 years at SCE. Terrance still remembers his first day as an SCE apprentice. He had been called out on a Sunday night to help repair a bad transformer. His older brother, Albert, was the foreman on the job. Over the years, the siblings worked together on many assignments. And they are proud to be part of the lineworker legacy at SCE. I love keeping peoples lights on and when you love what you are doing, it is easy, said Terrance. We are the front line for Edison. Love of his job is something he regularly shares with students while visiting high schools as a board member of IBEW Local 47 to talk about a career as a lineworker. And he encourages young people to consider applying for Edison Internationals new Lineworker Scholarship program, in partnership with IBEW Local 47, particularly those in the Black community. IBEW Local 47 is providing $50,000 per year toward the Lineworker Scholarship. I tell kids, especially those who are not planning to go to college, to consider working as a lineman. You make a good salary, and you can raise your family, said Terrance, who notes that he has sometimes shown his paycheck to students at job fairs to get their attention. Anyone interested can visit edison.com/eixlineworkerscholarship and fill out the application. Scholarship winners will attend Los Angeles Trade-Technical Colleges six-month program to receive a Powerline Mechanic Certificate (additional classes may be needed for required prerequisites) and another program to obtain their Class A license. Tuition and needed tools will be covered by the scholarship. Applications will be accepted through May 17. ADVERTISEMENT In addition to tuition and tools, the Edison scholarship will cover support services as needed, such as transportation and childcare, through an agreement with Brotherhood Crusade, a charitable nonprofit. Program graduates also qualify for a job at SCE. Successful applicants who pass SCEs new employee assessments will be eligible to start as groundmen. Edison International is using $1 million shareholder funds for the four-year pilot to provide scholarships of up to $25,000 to expand diversity in its lineworker pipeline. The initial focus of the program is on attracting Black participants. We are proud to launch the new Lineworker Scholarship program as part of our continuing commitment to increase our workforce diversity, said Kevin Payne, SCE president and CEO. SCE serves one of the most diverse areas in the nation and having our workforce reflect the communities we serve is a priority for us. This scholarship is a great opportunity to work for a company that is committed to increasing diversity among its workforce, particularly among its craft lineworkers, said Bola Ayorinde, SCE director, Northwest Distribution Construction & Maintenance. Terrance emphasized the importance of safety when working as a lineworker, noting that safety equipment and detailed procedures are in place so the work can be done safely. We have a safety first mindset here at Edison, he said. We take the time to really own our safety so we can go home to our families. Like many lineworkers, Terrance enjoys being outdoors and cant imagine a job behind a desk. One of the most memorable jobs he recalled was responding to a red-tailed hawk with a 6-foot wingspan that had its talons stuck in a fuse holder on the pole and was trying to escape. While Animal Control watched, Terrance was able to free the hawk, which flew away immediately. Ive had an awesome career at Edison from the time I was a groundman, said Terrance. The people have been awesome. I got to learn from a great group of guys and every day has been fun. For more information about Edisons Lineworker Scholarship, visit edison.com/eixlineworkerscholarship As females age, their bodies typically undergo two significant changes that generally occur during adolescence and middle age. The first, known as menarche, is the time during puberty when a girl begins having monthly menstruation cycles, which often tends to range from 8-13 years of age. She enters the second change, known as menopause, 12 months following her last menstruation cycle when her ovarian function ceases, usually sometime in her 40s or 50s. The time after menarche and prior to menopause is known as a woman's reproduction life span and marks the years when she is most able to bear children. For many women, these events occur naturally. However, women can enter menopause earlier than expected due to other issues. Women that undergo radiation therapy for cancer typically stop menstruating, as do women who undergo surgical menopause procedures such as having their ovaries removed. Because each woman experiences these life stages at different times, one woman's reproductive life span is generally shorter or longer than that of another, sometimes significantly so. Duke Appiah, Ph.D., from the Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center (TTUHSC) Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences, said those differences can affect much more than a woman's reproductive health. For instance, Appiah said, researchers have known a link exists between the duration of a woman's reproductive life span and her overall metabolic health, but they haven't known why. Part of that link, he opined, could be caused by a woman being naturally exposed to estrogen and various estrogen compounds. Estrogens can be beneficial because they can help protect or delay the onset of certain health issues. However, they also have been associated with some diseases, and women that normally have less estrogen and remain that way through menopause are more likely to develop heart disease or osteoporosis. "If the reproductive life span is longer, then that means they still have exposure to the natural estrogens, which will also help delay some diseases like cardiovascular disease and osteoporosis, and to some extent, even cancer," Appiah said. But why do some women who have longer reproductive life spans, and therefore longer exposure to estrogens, still develop metabolic issues? It's a question Appiah and a group of collaborators set out to address in a research letter to the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA). The letter, "Trends in Age at Natural Menopause and Reproductive Life Span Among U.S. Women, 1959-2018," was published in JAMA's April 8 issue. Appiah's collaborators included Chike C. Nwabuo, M.D., MPH, from Johns Hopkins University; Imo A. Ebong, M.D., M.S., from the University of California, Davis; Melissa F. Wellons, M.D., MHS, from Vanderbilt University Medical Center; and Stephen J. Winters, M.D., from the University of Louisville. Appiah, an assistant professor of public health at the TTUHSC and director of the university's master's program in public health, said women who enter menopause at age 40-45 years have a higher risk of developing cardiovascular disease, whereas those who become menopausal after the age of 50 experience a higher risk of breast cancer. "These characteristics have clinical significance, but we wanted to see in the United States over the past 60 years, if there have been any changes in age at menopause, reproductive life span and to age at menarche," Appiah explained. "If it was changing, we wanted to find out what factors are possibly associated with these changes. Not many studies have been done in the U.S. to look at trends in age at menopause. If we can see some of the factors which are associated with or are driving having natural menopause at an earlier age, perhaps we can intervene." Appiah said many of the previous studies are outdated and used data from shorter time periods such as 1910-1950. None of these studies investigate the link between age at menopause and the development of metabolic health issues. They also failed to address factors that may cause a woman to enter menopause earlier in her life. To collect data for his study, Appiah used successive surveys spanning the 1959-1962 National Health Examination Survey I (NHES I) through the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) for 2017-2018. The NHANES is a biennial survey conducted by the Centers of Disease Control and Prevention to generally evaluate the health of children and adults in the U.S. In addition to providing a significantly larger sample size, the NHANES provides a cross-sectional sample of the non-institutionalized U.S. adult population. It includes a detailed demographic and behavioral questionnaire, a physical examination, laboratory testing and a list of all prescription medications used by the respondent. Using this data, Appiah was able to analyze 7,773 women aged 40 to 74 years at the time of the survey and who had reached natural menopause. From the 1959-1962 NHES I to the 2015-2018 NHANES, the mean age at which women reached natural menopause increased from 48.4 years to 49.9 years and the mean age at menarche fell from 13.5 years to 12.7 years. This resulted in an increase of the mean reproductive life span from 35.0 years to 37.1 years. In multivariable adjusted models Appiah saw that race and ethnicity (Black and Hispanic), poverty, current and former smoking status and hormone therapy use were associated with earlier age at natural menopause and a shorter reproductive life span. Factors such as more years of education and use of oral contraceptives were associated with women who reached natural menopause at a later age and had longer reproductive life span. Appiah said other factors not assessed in their study such as lifestyle and behavior factors, improved access to health care, nutrition, obesity and environmental factors may be related to the increasing trends in age at natural menopause and reproductive life span. In past research, Appiah has shown that menopause is associated with metabolic conditions, which also influence the development of certain diseases. More importantly, he said, his work has shown that researchers tend to be more concerned about the age at which women reach menopause when they actually need to identify factors that are causing women to reach menopause at an earlier age because those factors tend to be more important. "This study was to give some empirical evidence to some of my past studies, but then for future studies, I'm still looking at how age and menopause is associated with cardiac structure and function, for instance, how the heart beats, how the heart becomes bigger with age," Appiah said. "This paper has given perspective to some of my past work, and it's also given some direction to my future work, whereby I'll look at whether age at natural menopause and length of reproductive life span is a marker for overall health in women." ### The risk of developing blood clots after having COVID-19 is eight times higher than after being given AstraZeneca-Oxfords coronavirus vaccine, concluded a study by Oxford University. As per the research, cerebral venous thrombosis (CVT) occurred in 39 million patients of COVID-19 as compared to nearly five million people who have been administered with AstraZeneca jabs. The study determined the results after monitoring over 500,000 coronavirus patients and the risk was reported to be at least 100 times higher than normal after infection. Amid fears of blood clots in some of the people who received AstraZenecas COVID-19 vaccine, several nations have limited the use of shots to a certain age or temporarily halted its rollout with Denmark dropping the jab permanently from its national immunisation campaign. UKs medical regulator had previously declared the AstraZeneca-Oxfords vaccine safe and limited its use to people below the age of 30. Now Oxford study has suggested that around a third or 30% of CVT reports after COVID-19 infection were common in people under 30. Comparing the two, the study stated that the cases for CVT among COVID-19 positive people stands at 39 cases per one million people. Meanwhile, for a million who received AstraZeneca jab, there will be five cases of CVT over a period of two-week. However, the scientists also warned that all comparisons must be interpreted carefully since data is still being put together from various sources. The researchers also noted that they were not able to determine the relative risk of developing blood clots after AstraZeneca jabs since the baseline rate of the condition still remains uncertain. A new Oxford study shows the risk of rare blood clotting (CVT) is several times higher after contracting #COVID19 than it is post-vaccination. CVT is also 100x more likely to occur following COVID-19 than normal. Learn more https://t.co/bVUxemNpxQ University of Oxford (@UniofOxford) April 15, 2021 Rare Reaction Of Antibodies Due To AstraZeneca As reports of blood clots after receiving AstraZenecas COVID-19 vaccine has fueled vaccine hesitancy, scientists from Germany and Norway have found that people who developed the clots after administering the jabs had produced antibodies that activated their platelets, a blood component involved in clotting. As per New York Times, the fresh reports have added extensive details about what the researchers have already stated publicly about the blood disordered being flagged in some European nations. Even though the reason behind the occurring of the rare reaction is still not known, reportedly younger people appeared to be more susceptible than the older ones. However, the researchers have said that no preexisting health conditions are known yet to predispose people to the problem of clots and admitted that there is no way to determine which individuals are at greater risk. Image credits: AP/Unsplash In this frame from the new visualization, a supermassive black hole weighing 200 million solar masses lies in the foreground. Its gravity distorts light from the accretion disk of a smaller companion black hole almost directly behind it, creating this surreal view. Different colors for the accretion disks make it easier to track the contributions of each one. Credit: NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center/Jeremy Schnittman and Brian P. Powell A pair of orbiting black holes millions of times the Sun's mass perform a hypnotic pas de deux in a new NASA visualization. The movie traces how the black holes distort and redirect light emanating from the maelstrom of hot gascalled an accretion diskthat surrounds each one. Viewed from near the orbital plane, each accretion disk takes on a characteristic double-humped look. But as one passes in front of the other, the gravity of the foreground black hole transforms its partner into a rapidly changing sequence of arcs. These distortions play out as light from both disks navigates the tangled fabric of space and time near the black holes. "We're seeing two supermassive black holes, a larger one with 200 million solar masses and a smaller companion weighing half as much," said Jeremy Schnittman, an astrophysicist at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, who created the visualization. "These are the kinds of black hole binary systems where we think both members could maintain accretion disks lasting millions of years." The accretion disks have different colors, red and blue, to make it easier to track the light sources, but the choice also reflects reality. Hotter gas gives off light closer to the blue end of the spectrum, and material orbiting smaller black holes experiences stronger gravitational effects that produce higher temperatures. For these masses, both accretion disks would actually emit most of their light in the UV, with the blue disk reaching a slightly higher temperature. Visualizations like this help scientists picture the fascinating consequences of extreme gravity's funhouse mirror. The new video doubles down on an earlier one Schnittman produced showing a solitary black hole from various angles. Seen nearly edgewise, the accretion disks look noticeably brighter on one side. Gravitational distortion alters the paths of light coming from different parts of the disks, producing the warped image. The rapid motion of gas near the black hole modifies the disk's luminosity through a phenomenon called Doppler boostingan effect of Einstein's relativity theory that brightens the side rotating toward the viewer and dims the side spinning away. A face-on view of the system highlights the smaller black hole's distorted image (inset) of its bigger companion. To reach the camera, the smaller black hole must bend light from its red companion by 90 degrees. The accretion disk of this secondary image appears as a line, which means we're seeing an edge-on view of the red companion - while also simultaneously seeing it from above. A secondary image of the blue disk also forms just outside the bright ring of light nearest the larger black hole, too. Credit: NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center/Jeremy Schnittman and Brian P. Powell The visualization also shows a more subtle phenomenon called relativistic aberration. The black holes appear smaller as they approach the viewer and larger when moving away. These effects disappear when viewing the system from above, but new features emerge. Both black holes produce small images of their partners that circle around them each orbit. Looking closer, it's clear that these images are actually edge-on views. To produce them, light from the black holes must be redirected by 90 degrees, which means we're observing the black holes from two different perspectivesface on and edge onat the same time. "A striking aspect of this new visualization is the self-similar nature of the images produced by gravitational lensing," Schnittman explained. "Zooming into each black hole reveals multiple, increasingly distorted images of its partner." Schnittman created the visualization by computing the path taken by light rays from the accretion disks as they made their way through the warped space-time around the black holes. On a modern desktop computer, the calculations needed to make the movie frames would have taken about a decade. So Schnittman teamed up with Goddard data scientist Brian P. Powell to use the Discover supercomputer at the NASA Center for Climate Simulation. Using just 2% of Discover's 129,000 processors, these computations took about a day. Astronomers expect that, in the not-too-distant future, they'll be able to detect gravitational wavesripples in space-timeproduced when two supermassive black holes in a system much like the one Schnittman depicted spiral together and merge. Explore further Astrophysicist suggests light might be a problem for life on a planet orbiting a black hole "We truly value the support of our Canadian retailers; which is why we are so thrilled to partner with Ceratec." - Chris O'Connor Congoleum is pleased to announce that it has entered into a national distribution agreement with Ceratec Surfaces (http://www.ceratec.com), Ceratec Surfaces have distribution centers in Dartmouth NS, Quebec City PQ, Montreal PQ, Ottawa ON, Toronto ON, Winnipeg MAN, Calgary AL to service the Canadian marketplace, effective June 1, 2021. For more than a century, Congoleum (http://www.congoleum.com) has been committed to developing the most innovative flooring products in the industry. But the driving force behind the success of the Congoleum brand lies in the long-standing and mutually beneficial relationships the company maintains with their distribution partners. The success of the Congoleum brand is a direct result of the commitment and professionalism of our distributors and the retail professionals they serve. Ceratec is a world class, family-owned company that directly aligns with our commitment to design, quality, and innovation. We are very proud to announce this new partnership to our loyal Canadian customers, said Congoleum Senior Vice President of Sales, Keith Anderson. Paul Raiche, President of Ceratec added, We [Ceratec] choose our manufacturer partners very carefully. It is essential that our values are aligned and that new brand partners further enhance our ability to support our customers with an entrepreneurial spirit that is guided by uncompromising values. We look forward to a collaborative relationship that will serve our customers for many years to come. Congoleum Chief Executive Officer, Chris OConnor stated, We truly value the support of our Canadian retailers; which is why we are so thrilled to partner with Ceratec. I am confident that the combination of Congoleum products and Ceratecs reputation for exceptional service and support we will help our retailers grow their businesses profitably. OConnor added, We look forward to a long and prosperous relationship with Ceratec and to the immediate benefits theyll provide our customers in Canada. About Congoleum Congoleum has been a trusted leader in the flooring industry for more than 135 years. An unwavering commitment to design, quality and innovation has made Congoleum the brand of choice for generations of homeowners. Congoleum is proud to support North American jobs through domestic manufacturing and is committed to environmental stewardship. Congoleum floors are certified by FloorScore; a nationally renowned organization that ensures flooring products meet stringent indoor air-quality standards. New Delhi, April 15 : Two wheeler major Honda Motorcycle & Scooter India (HMSI) on Thursday said it has established an 'Overseas Business' expansion business vertical under the 'Making in India for the World' initiative. Accordingly, the new vertical of 'Overseas Business Expansion' is expected to spearhead HMSI's ambition to export two-wheelers to the most advanced markets of the world. "This major organisational restructuring within Honda 2-Wheelers India will harness the strength of over '100 Associates' across different functions coming together with one aim - Make Honda India the global hub for two-wheeler exports," the company said in a statement. "Located at Honda's Manesar facility, new Overseas Business Expansion vertical strategically integrates SEDBQ (Sales, Engineering, Development, Purchasing & Quality) functions under one roof to create a globally optimal operating system." According to the company, the new overseas business vertical shall unlock new synergy by integrating "Honda 2-Wheeler India's Export-Import sales function with Quality", purchase, development, homologations, manufacturing and logistics. "With this major organisational restructuring, the company is strengthening its business constitution and improving competitiveness to meet the high expectations from Global Honda," said Atsushi Ogata - Managing Director, President & CEO, Honda Motorcycle & Scooter India. As per the statement, Honda 2-Wheelers India started exports in 2001 with its debut model Activa. In 2015, Honda's cumulative exports crossed the historic 10 lakh mark in its 15th year of operations. Presently, Honda 2 wheelers India now exports to 35 diverse markets across Europe, Central and Latin America, Middle East, South-East Asia, Japan and SAARC nations. At the same time, Honda's portfolio of 19 two-wheeler export models fulfills country specific homologation and regulatory requirements including the most stringent Euro 5. -- The story has been published from a wire feed without any modifications to the text President Joe Biden at a press conference earlier this month in the White House. KEVIN LAMARQUE / Reuters Joe Biden is dealing with his first crisis. And the crisis is in Spanish. It has to do with Latin America. With that dimension of Latin America that is part of Americas domestic agenda like no other. It has to do with migration. Roberta S. Jacobson, the National Security Council (NSC)s coordinator in charge of ties with the Northern Triangle made up of Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador is leaving government. And she does so at a turbulent time. Migrant crossings through the US border with Mexico have reached record levels. And the way in which the Biden administration has addressed the problem has triggered the first signs of dissidence among Democrats. The White House has understandably tried to minimize the impact of Jacobsons departure, stating that her commitment was to serve only during the first 100 days of Bidens presidency. Jacobson has built a highly successful diplomatic career. Under former president Barack Obama she was the State Departments Assistant Secretary of State for Western Hemisphere Affairs, heading a bureau that handles relations with Latin America. She was an ambassador to Mexico. And she was in charge of nothing less than the effort to restore relations with Cuba. When the current president won the election, she was tasked with organizing the new administrations Latin America area. She is credited with having promoted Julie J. Chung to the position of Acting Assistant Secretary at the Bureau of Western Hemisphere Affairs, under the orders of Secretary Antony J. Blinken. Jacobson has for years exercised a personal leadership over colleagues specializing in Latin American issues. The exodus also creates conflict in the countries of origin Statistical figures on migration flows indicate that an estimated one million single adults, 820,000 families and over 200,000 unaccompanied minors will have reached the US by the month of September. These children embody the main tragedy of this immigration pattern. Over 18,000 of them crossed the border in March. That is nearly twice as many as the previous month, when 9,400 minors were apprehended by authorities. In response to this wave, a new refugee center with a capacity to hold 500 people was opened in Carrizo Springs, located 180 kilometers from San Antonio, Texas. These facilities have attracted a series of negative reactions. But one of them stands out. Democratic Party representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, one of the most caustic critics of former president Donald Trumps immigration policies, tweeted: This is not okay, never has been okay, never will be okay no matter the administration or party. It is a mystery whether Ocasio-Cortez was speaking for herself only, or whether she was giving a voice to other party leaders who champion the idea of a change in border policies. The question is all the more sensitive in the case of US Vice-President Kamala Harris, who two weeks ago was charged by Biden to lead the immigration strategy on the southern border. Harris quickly initiated talks with Mexico. On Wednesday of last week she had a talk with Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, whom Biden had accused of refusing to take back illegal immigrants deported by the US. Jacobson was not part of that discussion, leading observers to suspect that her departure was driven by the vice-president. This is not okay, never has been okay, never will be okay no matter the administration or party Democratic Party Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, speaking about a new detention center in Texas Harris is in an intersection of tensions. Biden has exposed her to one of the most delicate challenges of his administration, one under strict surveillance by the Democratic left. It is a key issue in the electoral dispute. Meanwhile, Republicans are asking the new government to bring some order into an issue that plays a determining role in the size of the gap dividing them from the Democrats. Texas Governor Greg Abbott, a Republican, wrote a letter to Harris demanding a solution to the humanitarian crisis on the border with Mexico, where criminal groups are operating and carrying out all kinds of outrages. And migrants themselves are turning to the vice-president for a solution. Last Friday, 50 families showed up outside her home bearing signs that read Kamala, escucha, estamos en la lucha (or, Kamala, listen, we are taking up the fight) The migratory flows are encouraged by several factors. One is the contraction of the economy. According to figures released by the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the Mexican economy shrank 8.5% in 2020 and will only recover five points this year. On top of economic hardship, Guatemala and Honduras were devastated by hurricanes in November, affecting an estimated 50% of Hondurans. And the Covid-19 pandemic only adds to the nightmare, especially since vaccination campaigns are very deficient. As of last Sunday, Mexico had immunized 7% of its population. That is less than Brazil (9.1%), Argentina (9%) and naturally Chile (37.4%). In Guatemala, only 0.7% of the population has received one dose. In Honduras the figure is 0.5% and in El Salvador it is 2.5%. The exodus also creates conflict in the countries of origin. The government of Alejandro Giammattei, in Guatemala, views its border with Honduras and El Salvador the same way that Americans view their border with Mexico. On March 29 Giammattei signed a controversial decree to militarize the region, increasing control over the area of Chimicula, a spot where routes from neighboring countries converge. To Biden, Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador are the advance zone of a region with several hotspots of instability. In Brazil, President Jair Bolsonaro is piloting a military storm despite or perhaps because of his decision to remove Armed Forces leaders who resisted being politicized. Not content with that problem, Bolsonaro is also involved in a confrontation with the Supreme Federal Court, which has greenlighted a congressional a probe into the federal governments response to the pandemic. In Venezuela, Nicolas Maduro turned to the United Nations to pacify the border with Colombia. Colombians are being accused of conducting an unusual strategy to destabilize the area with terrorist forces. And the presidential election in Peru last Sunday evidenced that the countrys political class is pulverized, undermining hopes that Peru will be able to resolve a crisis that has already dragged down several governments. The most-voted candidate, Pedro Castillo, managed no more than 15.8% of the votes. In Chile, President Sebastian Pinera has handled the pandemic rather efficiently, notwithstanding a relaxation of measures that triggered a surge in the death count. Before the health crisis hit, Pinera had been dealing with street unrest without any clear flags or leaders. As for Bolivia, it is split down the middle, with the governing Movement for Socialism (MAS) putting its rivals in prison. This is the background against which US officials Juan Gonzalez, Senior Director for the Western Hemisphere at the NSC, and Julie J. Chung, his counterpart at the State Department, embarked on a trip to Colombia, Argentina and Uruguay this past weekend. All three countries have varying degrees of affinity with Washington DC, and varying influence from China, a matter of concern for the US government. But all three countries also have something that is priceless: a modicum of stability. Gonzalez and Chung are headed south filled with satisfaction over the election results in Ecuador: at the Sunday runoff, the businessman Guillermo Lasso was the winner. In Argentina this could prove to be an uncomfortable reality. Lassos victory builds on the advisory work of Jaime Duran Barba, who was also the chief consultant to former Argentinean president Mauricio Macri the latter in turn being viewed as the devil by the current Kirchnerist government of Alberto Fernandez. English version by Susana Urra. Kiev, April 15 : Ukraine's tank units held exercises in the south near Crimea, the the Joint Forces Operation (JFO) Command said in a statement. "Artillery and tank reserves performing combat missions along the border with the temporarily occupied territory of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea, advanced to certain areas to counter the offensive of the supposed enemy," Xinhua news agency quoted the statement as saying on Wednesday According to the legend of the exercises, an enemy tank unit, supported by infantry, tried to break through the Ukrainian defence line. To counter this attack, Ukrainian anti-tank artillery and a tank reserve entered the battle. Since last month, tensions have been escalating on the border between Ukraine and Russia. The commander-in-chief of the Ukrainian army Ruslan Khomchak said that Russia was building up troops near the Ukrainian border in the northern, eastern and southern directions. Commenting on the recent movement of Russian troops near the border with Ukraine, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that Russia was taking necessary measures to ensure its border security and the measures posed no threat to others. According to the spokesman, Ukraine had not fulfilled its obligations under the Minsk agreements, leading to an escalation of tensions in Donbas. The ongoing conflict in eastern Ukraine, which began in April 2014, has claimed some 14,000 lives and left as many as 40,000 wounded. Police responded to a computer hacking/invasion at 4706 Montview Dr. The man said he has been playing a video game on his computer with a bunch of other people in a group. One of the players named "Mr. Ripper" started to hack the phone and computer. He said during one incident he was having a phone call with another guy from the group and the suspect was listening to everything they were saying. He said later on they found this out because the suspect was able to say in detail what they were saying. The man has been getting threats from the suspect but is unable to block him because he keeps hacking into the phone and computer. He said it's also happening to his friend. His friend had college scholarships and they got taken away because the suspect deleted them. The suspect confronted them saying he was the one who did it. All the evidence was provided on a USB. * * * A woman called police to report damage to her vehicle at 2314 N. Chamberlain Ave. She said she was traveling south on N. Chamberlain when the glass in her passenger side rear view mirror broke. The officer observed a small piece of glass on the passenger side window seal. There was no other damage that the officer could tell other than the broken glass and one small piece of chipped paint on the rear view mirror. There was other damage to the vehicle but it appeared to be older damage and she agreed that it was. * * * Police observed a man at 7036 Lee Hwy. lying in the grass who appeared to be taking a nap. He said he did not need medical help and just wanted to leave and walk to the bus stop. He had not committed any crime. * * * A man told police he was driving his rental car on I-24 going toward Hamilton Place on the Germantown Road exit when his driver side rear tire suddenly went flat. He said he's not sure how it happened and he guesses about $100 to replace the tire. * * * An officer confiscated two fake Canadian IDs at 6401 Hixson Pike due to a liquor violation. * * * A man called police at 3107 Alton Park where he said he started his vehicle and there were flames. The officer observed a charred vehicle, but flames were not present upon arrival. * * * A man at 1402 Stratman Circle told police he had some workers cleaning his property from the recent tornado when the neighbor came over and began harassing his wife, demanding everyone stay off his property. The neighbor was said to have been very aggressive and spit on the carport as he left. The workers did go and retrieve branches from the yard prior to the confrontation. The man said he went to speak with the neighbor regarding the incident and was immediately told to leave the property. Officers spoke with both neighbors and suggested they try to get along. * * * A woman who worked for a company called Sound Force called to report the company van's passenger rear window was broken. She said they were not sure when it happened. * * * An anonymous complainant located a shell casing in the parking lot at 1012 Executive Dr. The complainant left the scene, and left the casing with an employee of Tennessee Valley Pain Management. Police recovered the casing, and will take it to Chattanooga Property. The casing is a .40 caliber. * * * A man said that he last saw his vehicle at about 12:30 a.m. and it was parked in the lot at 7412 Allemande Way with the doors locked. The vehicle stayed there overnight and at around 11:45 a.m., he discovered that the vehicle had been entered and some items had been taken, including his work laptop. He said there's no damage or signs of forced entry, so he's not sure how someone got in the vehicle. He said his wifes car was broken into about two weeks ago. * * * A rental car staff member at 1800 W. Polymer Dr. told police a vehicle that had been recovered and returned to the rental company had several bags of marijuana and oil. It is unknown who the marijuana belonged to due to the vehicle being a stolen recovery. Police took possession and turned the marijuana into property. * * * A man told police he was traveling on Gunbarrel Road when a man threw an unknown object at his vehicle. The suspect left the scene very quickly after hitting the truck. The man said he is unable to roll up his window due to the damage to his back passenger door. A witness on scene said he saw a man throw an item at the man's vehicle and then left the scene. * * * A bus driver for CARTA told police that a man fell down and was asleep on the floor of the bus. The man told police that he stayed in a room at Intown Suites. Police took the man to his room. * * * A man at 4133 Watson Road told police someone damaged the left side of his front bumper. He said it was a scratch, dent and a hole on the bumper and is not sure when it occurred, potentially during a neighbors party, but no evidence of it. * * * A man at 860 Mountain Creek Road was asleep in a car in a gas station parking lot. He was sleeping off a drinking binge. He was sober when police talked to him. He was checked for warrants and then released. * * * A man heard an argument from his apartment at 5730 Lee Hwy. Police knocked on the door and window of the room with no response or answer. Police could not hear any noises or other indications of people in distress. The man said he will speak to management in the morning to see if the occupants can be removed. * * * Police saw a man speeding southbound on Market Street. The officer caught up and turned on his light and the man continued southbound on Market and finally took a left onto E. MLK Boulevard, in front of Miller Park. When asked why he took so long to stop his vehicle, he said he was extremely nervous and did not know where to pull over. He gave consent to search him and his vehicle, but nothing of interest was located. The officer didn't observe any signs of intoxication. Police counseled the man on how to handle future encounters with police. Due to technological malfunctions, the officer was unable to write the man any tickets. He was released with verbal warnings for speeding and a light law violation. * * * A woman at 1209 N Hickory St. told police that a man whom she lets drive her vehicle had not returned it. She said it had been a few hours since she let him drive off. She said she did not want to press charges, she just wanted her vehicle back. Police checked the area of N. Orchard Knob Avenue and Wilcox Boulevard where she thought it would be and also 900 N. Hickory St. where he lives, but couldn't find the car. The vehicle information was BOLO'd city and county wide. A few days later police conducted a traffic stop of a white Chrysler at 3441 Wilcox Blvd. and detained the driver and her passenger. Police discovered the driver of the vehicle was the owner of the Chrysler. She said she did not know she was supposed to contact police once she retrieved her vehicle. Police removed the vehicle from NCIC. * * * A woman told police at 1282 Greenbrook Lane that her grandfather caught a female with the right side door of his unlocked 2012 Ford Fusion open. He said she said her name was Sarah. He described a female, about five foot, thin build, with medium length hair. He said that it was dark and could give no further description. He said he told her that he was calling the police and she left. The woman told police that the only thing taken was her wallet, which had her state issued ID and her Social Security card. * * * Police say a woman walking south on Hixson Pike approaching the S-curves. Concerned for her safety in the hazardous S-curves, the officer turned around to offer her a ride. She was very happy to accept the assistance. She said that she was from Colorado and thought her condo was much closer. The officer transported her home to 328 Cherokee Blvd. at the Five Points Condos. World Art Day is marked on April 15, Thursday, and is an international celebration of fine arts. This day was declared by the International Association of Art (IAA/AIAP), a partner of UNESCO, in order to promote awareness of creative activity worldwide. World Art Day is celebrated on April 15, as this day also marks Leonardo da Vinci's birthday. Here's a look at World Art Day history and significance. Happy World Art Day 2021 World Art Day history World Art Day's yearly observation formerly commenced in April 2012. In the USA, World Art Day was officially held for the first time in the City of Los Angeles in 2015. World Art Day's proposal was put forward at the 17th General Assembly of the International Association of Art in Guadalajara. `It was sponsored by Bedri Baykam of Turkey and co-signed by Rosa Maria Burillo Velasco of Mexico, Anne Pourny of France, Liu Dawei of China, Christos Symeonides of Cyprus, Anders Liden of Sweden, Kan Irie of Japan, Pavel Kral of Slovakia, Dev Chooramun of Mauritius, and Hilde Rognskog of Norway. World Art Day's proposal was accepted unanimously by the General Assembly. World Art Day significance World Art Day is celebrated on Leonardo da Vinci's birthday in order to honour the artist. According to IAA, Da Vinci was chosen as a symbol of world peace, freedom of expression, tolerance, and brotherhood. Leonardo da Vinci is also a testament to the influence of the Fine Arts on other fields. World Art Day has also been supported online, especially by the Google Art Project. World Art Day theme World Art Day 2021's theme is set by IAA/USA (International Association of Art/USA). The 6th Annual World Art Day celebrations will include a special virtual exhibition centered on the theme of 'Youre Not Alone'. For the sixth consecutive year, the city of Los Angeles will lead the charge in hosting World Art Day festivities in the United States in a new virtual way. As mentioned on IAA/USA's official website, this year the art will be celebrated from homes by connecting with other artists on Facebook and Instagram creating unique ways of exhibiting and promoting the arts. Mikmaw fisherman has crab traps seized by Canada's DFO during food fishery by Angel Moore April 15,2021 | Source: aptn Robert Syliboy and his crew dropped ten traps into the deep waters of the Atlantic Ocean to harvest snow crab for a community feast. Crabs pretty expensive, how many people on the reserve do you think could actually go out and buy it and then it dawned on me, theres no way you can actually eat crab as a Mikmaw person unless you go to a store, Syliboy told APTN News. But I think thats absolutely wrong. He said the crab traps were seized before he reached the shore. Syliboy said he informed the Department of fisheries and Oceans (DFO), that he was harvesting snow crab under the Sparrow Decision. n 1984, Ronald Sparrow, a member of Musqueam band in British Columbia was arrested and charged with fishing with what was considered an illegal net for his bands food fishing license. The case went to the Supreme Court where it was argued that under Section 35 off the Constitution, Sparrow had the right to fish in his traditional territory according to the bands traditional practices. The high court upheld the Aboriginal right to fish for food purposes. This is very different from the Marshall Decision, this is not for profit, to feed our people, said Syliboy. We went out under the Sparrow decision we brought some traps for the community to bring some crab home for everyone and we were met with DFO harassing us, bully tactics, said Syliboy. Two traps were missing before they returned to shore. They are taking our traps so we cant fish and theyre stopping us from providing for ourselves, for our own food so we went out to challenge that and to show kind of what we are up against, he said. Chief Mike Sack wrote a letter in support of the food fishery. It said Syliboy will be fishing snow crab for food, social, ceremonies on behalf of Sipeknekatik First Nation. Because the two crab traps were seized, Sack is considering legal action. They completely overstepped now its very well documented in court that we have a right to food social and ceremonial on the land and the sea and I think DFO really messed up on this one, Sack said. Syliboys brother, Mike Willis has been fishing lobster for about six years. He said he loves fishing but not when the DFO is watching. Its in our right, were here doing what were supposed to be doing, theres nothing wrong with it, said Willis. The boat belongs to Syliboy, but Allan Corporon is aboard because he is a licensed captain. He has mentored Syliboy for the last three years, and supports the Mikmaw fishery. Corporon is Acadian, which sometimes makes him the target of ridicule from other non-Indigenous harvesters. Not as bad as the natives have. People call us names. But I just walk away and ignore it, said Corporon. Last fall, Sipeknekatik First Nation launched their moderate livelihood fishery in south western Nova Scotia. It was met with backlash from non-Indigenous fishermen who say the fishery is illegal. In 1999, the Supreme Court of Canada upheld the treaty right to hunt, fish, and gather to earn a moderate livelihood, known as the Marshall Decision. Syliboys traps came up empty, fishing under the constant watch of the feds is a distraction to a successful catch. I promised the community a feed so I am a man of my word, Im going back out, but I guess its back to the drawing board right now, said Syliboy. The trip out to sea took over 24 hours, and cost about $4,000. Syliboy said he called DFO and asked when could he would get his traps back. According to Syliboy, DFO wont give them back until the investigation is complete. APTN reached out to DFO to ask about the incident but a response was not received until after this article was published. According to DFO, Sipeknekatik First Nation does not hold a Food, social, and ceremonial (FSC) licence for snow crab. As a result of an inspection on Sunday, April 11th, snow crab traps were seized. We can also confirm that a fishery officer had a telephone conversation on April 6th, 2021 with the individual involved in this inspection, to make the individual aware that the Department would be enforcing compliance with the Fisheries Act and associated regulations. While Syliboys gear was seized, he was not charged by officials. He said he and his crew will continue to fish, because when he does, the community will have a feast. 2019 APTN. All Rights Reserved Theme(s): Communities and Organisations. Announcing his plans on Wednesday to unconditionally bring home the last of the US military before September 11 this year, Biden said: "We'll ask other countries, other countries in the region, to do more to support Afghanistan, especially Pakistan, as well as Russia, China, India, and Turkey. They all have a significant stake in the stable future for Afghanistan." The US and the NATO invaded Afghanistan after the September 11, 2001, attacks by the Al Qaeda using hijacked aircraft on New York and Washington. The terror group was sheltered by the Islamic fundamentalist Taliban, which ruled Afghanistan. The way out of Afghanistan was charted by Biden's predecessor, Donald Trump, who had set a deadline of May 1 for troops' withdrawal. Biden is following through, but has extended the deadline to September 11, a date seared in American minds. NATO also announced on Wednesday a collective withdrawal from Afghanistan. NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg told reporters that there are 10,000 troops in Afghanistan, a majority from countries other than the US, and they would begin to be withdrawn starting on May 1. The Kabul government of President Ashraf Ghani and the Taliban have been holding negotiations that began during Trump's administration for power-sharing and transition. The longest US war is estimated to have cost the nation more than $2 trillion, claimed the lives of 2,448 American personnel and left 20,722 troops wounded in action. In addition, several tens of thousands of Afghans, many of them civilians, have died in the war. Soon after his speech on his Afghan withdrawal plan, Biden went to the Arlington National Cemetery, the final resting place for military personnel, to pay tributes to those killed in Afghanistan. While Biden downplayed the terror threats from a Taliban-dominated Afghanistan, just a few hours before his speech, the head of the CIA issued a warning before a Senate panel that "there is a significant risk once the US military and the coalition militaries withdraw". CIA Director William Burns said: "When the time comes for the US military to withdraw, the US government's ability to collect and act on threats will diminish. That's simply a fact." Biden, however, was undeterred asserting: "We'll reorganise our counterterrorism capabilities and the substantial assets in the region to prevent re-emergence of terrorists, of the threat to our homeland from over the horizon. "We'll hold the Taliban accountable for its commitment not to allow any terrorists to threaten the US or its allies from Afghan soil." Explaining the rationale for leaving Afghanistan, Biden said that the nature of the terror threats that brought the US and NATO forces to Afghanistan in 2001 have changed and now terrorists were "more dispersed, metastasizing around the globe". He listed Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula; al-Nusra in Syria; the Islamic State in Syria and Iraq with affiliates in Africa and Asia. Therefore, he said, "keeping thousands of troops grounded and concentrated in just one country at a cost of billions each year makes little sense to me and to our leaders". At the same time, he tried to reject any notion of a defeat, instead asserting: "We went to war with clear goals. We achieved those objectives. (Al Qaeda leader Osama) Bin Laden is dead, and Al Qaeda is degraded in Iraq, in Afghanistan. And it's time to end the forever war." But the withdrawal would be unconditional. He asserted that if the US exit was tied to conditions, certain questions such as justification for the continued impact on troops and money would have to be answered. "And if you can't answer them, in my view, we should not stay," he said, making the retreat unconditional. The Afghan withdrawal plan underscores Washington's abandonment of nation-building and moulding societies to an image it imagines, and also a move away from the Middle East-Central Asia region towards what is perceived as the threat from China. The US has already scaled back its troop presence in Iraq to a nominal 2,500 and is now on its way to leaving Afghanistan. This will let Washington put more focus and resources into the Indo-Pacific for meeting threats from China. The Annual Threat Assessment report from the US intelligence agencies sent to Congress on Tuesday made China the top global danger to the country's security. Within the US, the two polar opposites, the left and the right, in politics have welcomed the Biden commitment to troop withdrawal, while the moderates of the Democratic and Republican parties have opposed it. In a sampling of reactions, Senator Ted Cruz on the Republican Party's right and Ro Khanna, a member of the House of Representatives belonging to the Democratic Party's left, welcomed Biden's decision. But Mitch McConnell, the Republican leader in the Senate who is a moderate, criticised Biden and asked: "Why he thinks abandoning our partners and retreating in the face of the Taliban will make America safer?" McConnell had also criticised Trump when he set the withdrawal deadline. Democrat Senator Jeanne Shaheen, a moderate, tweeted: "The US has sacrificed too much to bring stability to Afghanistan to leave without verifiable assurances of a secure future." Biden, who is trying to draw India closer on the strategic front in the Indo-Pacific also wants to increase its involvement in Afghanistan. It would be to India's advantage to be involved in that country, which could harbour anti-India terrorists under the Taliban. As Biden said, India has "a significant stake in the stable future for Afghanistan". India and the Taliban do not have a history of cordial relations, but that may be changing. Prior to 2001, India had opposed the Pakistan-backed Taliban and supported the Northern Alliance. With the US involvement imminent, New Delhi has tried to open a line to the Taliban. Last year India's External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar participated virtually in the start of the talks in Qatar between the Taliban and the Kabul government expressing New Delhi's support for an "Afghan-led, Afghan-owned" peace. The Taliban, in turn, has denied reports that it supports terrorists in Kashmir and asserted that it was against interfering in other countries. Biden said that he would hold the Taliban to its commitment to not allow any terrorists to threaten US allies from Afghan soil. The test will be if Taliban abides by the commitment and if the US can enforce it if it doesn't. New Delhi, which signed a Strategic Partnership Agreement with Kabul, has given Afghanistan economic assistance of over $3 billion since 2001 and also provided security assistance through training over 4,000 Afghan military and security personnel and supplying helicopters. India has built Afghanistan's parliament, a Taliban target for being a symbol of democracy, and is constructing a network of roads that would also provide a link for the landlocked country to a port it has constructed in Chabahar, Iran. (Arul Louis can be reached at arul.l@ians.in and followed on Twitter at @arulouis) --IANS al/ksk/ Email Whatsapp Menu Whatsapp Google Reddit Digg Stumbleupon Linkedin Comment A friend recently remarked, Why are prayer meetings dwindling? Granted, remnant groups are still pursuing God, but overall, our spiritual decline amid todays turmoil is disheartening. Sadly, very few realize that the Titanic has been struck. Most people havent been affected by America's unstable foundation at least not yet. In a recent article, Dr. Michael Brown sheds much-needed light on the jackhammers that are pounding away at this foundation: H.R. 1 would dramatically reshape our electoral system so as to cement Democratic rule for decades to come. H.R. 5 would effectively gut religious liberties across the nation and packing the Supreme Court would fundamentally restructure our legal system for good. He added that attacks on the Second Amendment would further cripple American rights, and that Big Tech censorship would silence all resistance. Whats It Going to Take? Will you have to lose your job, your retirement, your health, or your comfort before you finally wake up? From mass shootings and civil unrest to the promotion of perverted sexual sin and the indoctrination of children, we can all add to the list. So my question is: Whats it going to take to get us back on our knees? It seems that most Christians are bored with God. When everything is on the line, they still have no desire to seek Him. Gods call is not to Washington or Hollywood. He isnt asking agnostics and atheists to cry out to Him. He said that He would heal the land if His people would humble themselves, pray, seek, and turn from their wicked ways (2 Chronicles 7:14). Sadly, many are fearful but not repentant, anxious but not surrendered to God, worried but not worshipful, confused but not diligently seeking Him. Instead of repenting, we are repeating the same mistakes. We should be hearing of prayer meetings throughout our cities, pastors being baptized in the power of God, and parishioners worshiping like never before. But instead, there is silence dead silence. We must change course. God hears the prayers and pleas of His people. He desires to pour out His Spirit on a dry and thirsty land. Are you thirsty for more of God? Hunger for God leads to a spiritual awakening. Again, whats it going to take? That Which Cost Me Nothing Imagine heading to lunch in a crowded mall. Just before leaving, you notice that your three-year-old has disappeared panic sets in! You must find your child at any cost. Are you going to eat first? Not a chance. The passion to find your child is far greater than the desire to eat. Thats exactly what fasting is: The desire to seek God is greater than the desire to eat. During times of crisis, the power of prayer and fasting leads to wisdom, protection, insight, and guidance. For example, look at the cure for judgment that God gave the prophet Joel: Consecrate a fast, call a sacred assembly; gather the elders and all the inhabitants of the land into the house of the Lord your God, and cry out to the Lord (v. 14). Where is the fasting? Where are the daily prayer meetings? Where is the desperation for more of God? Again, it appears that many are bored with God. I'm startled at how many Christians dont consider fasting even though its taught throughout the Bible. Fasting doesnt twist Gods arm, but it does bend my knee. Fasting isnt a work; its exchanging one appetite for a greater one. Like David, we should say, I will not give God that which cost me nothing (see 2 Samuel 24:24). The Cold Hard Truth The cold hard truth is that many are not willing to pay the price to rebuild the foundation of prayer. Gone are the days of David Brainerd, who spent nights in agonizing prayer, as well as praying John Hyde, William Bramwell, and countless others who prayed fervently for our nation. Instead of carrying their baton and running the race, we are like well-fed, lusty stallions (Jeremiah 5:8). And we wonder why we arent experiencing a massive move of God in our nation. When awakenings spread across our landscape, Christians spent countless hours praying and fasting. They paid the price! As a result, pastors stood at the pulpit and preached boldly about the cross and repentance. They could say, Thus saith the Lord, because they were filled with the Holy Spirit, not Hollywood. They didnt work revival up; God brought it down because His Word was honored. Full Surrender Is Not Optional, Its Essential Never before has life seemed so chaotic, but even in the midst of chaos and confusion, you can have hope and direction. Trust fully in Christ today. Full surrender is not optional, it's essential. Will you pay the price to truly know Him? God is not boring He is our only hope. Special Note: I recently became so broken over what we are leaving the next generation that I began a lengthy water fast, not knowing that it would be one of the hardest things Ive ever done. Im planning to post my experience in May 2021. You can hear about the outcome and join me in fasting by subscribing to my YouTube channel here. Additionally, my new book, 40 Days to Reset Your Life, is scheduled to be released in June. This book demonstrates how prayer and fasting can reset your life and change your spiritual course as well as the course of the nation. You can find my last few articles on sparking a national awakening here. Chandigarh, April 15 : Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh on Thursday ordered strict enforcement of Covid safety protocols to prevent any super-spread events, along with an increase in daily vaccination doses to two lakh. He also directed to set up a special control room for effective in-person monitoring of home isolation cases. Citing figures on mortality and positivity, the Chief Minister said that the restrictions currently in place are showing results, and they needed to be implemented strictly, particularly in Mohali and other big cities which are showing high rates of transmission and positivity. Singh pointed out that the state's positivity rate stands at 8.1 per cent, even though positivity in the age group of less than 40 years had come down from 54 per cent (September 2020) to 50 per cent (March 2021). The curbs, coupled with strong efforts by all concerned, had helped reduce the percentage of mortality in the age group below 60 years from 50 per cent (September 2020) to 40 per cent (in March 2021), and should be strictly followed, he added. However, the CM reiterated his demand that the Centre should allow vaccination for under 45 in areas with more cases, since the UK variant was infecting younger people more. He directed Chief Secretary Vini Mahajan to pursue the matter with the central government, while medical expert K.K. Talwar stressed that patients of kidney and liver disease who are under 45 years should at least be allowed to be vaccinated. The Chief Minister was chairing a virtual meeting with several ministers, including Health Minister Balbir Sidhu, Education Minister Vijay Inder Singla and Medical Education Minister O.P. Soni, along with senior administrative and police officials. Making it clear that there was no scope for complacency, Singh said that the special control room with a dedicated team could utilise ANMs, ASHA workers, interns from medical colleges, to move beyond just telephonic to more in-person monitoring. On the vaccination front, the Chief Minister directed the Health Department to further scale up vaccination efforts to vaccinate the entire eligible population within this month, along with auditing of any deaths taking place after vaccination. "While vaccination has increased to 90,000 per day, we need to further take it up to 200,000 per day," he said, adding that Punjab currently has 300,090 Covishield and 100,000 Covaxin vaccines in stock. Sufficiency of doses must be ensured at all times and it must be ensured that the COWIN portal is updated so that the actual position is reflected, the Chief Minister said, adding that districts must not spread themselves too thin and execute vaccination strategies that ensure no wastage and adequate availability. Singh also ordered immediate overtime allowance and weekly offs for all vaccinators, to reduce the burden on them. Pointing to a Punjab Police case study, shared by DGP Dinkar Gupta, he pointed out that percentage increase in vaccination among police personnel had led to a clear downward trend and decline in active positive cases among the force. The empirical data clearly shows a positive effect of vaccination amongst the policemen, and not only the number of active positive cases has come down, but the number of policemen requiring critical medical care has also become negligible, the DGP informed the Chief Minister, citing the study findings. He said as against a peak of 1,700 daily cases last year, this surge had seen only 400 policemen getting infected on any given day at its peak. He also informed the meeting that after taking the second dose, there had been no death in the department due to Covid. Noting that even though there had been a decline in CFR, almost 30 per cent deaths are taking place within two days of hospitalisation. Singh said around 84 per cent patients presented themselves at the hospital for the first time with severe symptoms, indicating delayed reporting. Ninety per cent of the total deaths have been of persons with comorbid conditions, he observed, directing the department to ensure that those with Covid symptoms should immediately report to the nearest health facility to save precious lives. Health Secretary Hussan Lal informed the Chief Minister that there was currently no shortage of oxygen in the state, with three oxygen plants already operational and two more in the process. He said the department was grateful to the Rajasthan Chief Minister for providing it with 20,000 doses of Remdisivir, which have been given to both government (12,500) and well-functioning private hospitals (7,500 doses). Punjab still has about 7,000 doses in stock, after giving around 300 to the PGI, he added. Earlier in a presentation, the Health Secretary apprised the meeting that as against the 8.1 per cent overall positivity in Punjab, the district of Mohali was reporting 18 per cent. Latest updates on Coronavirus (COVID-19) -- The story has been published from a wire feed without any modifications to the text The Hong Kong government has started COVID-19 vaccination for priority groups including people over 60 years old on Feb. 26. The picture shows two local officials being vaccinated with Chinese-made Sinovac COVID-19 vaccine. (Song Bilong/The Epoch Times) Hong Kong: 14 Deaths and 13 Facial Paralysis Cases After Receiving Chinese COVID-19 Vaccine Hong Kong authorities confirmed on April 11 that another citizen died after receiving the China-made COVID-19 vaccine Sinovac. The government did not report the death until local media inquired about it. To date, 14 people in Hong Kong have died after receiving Sinovac and 13 have developed facial paralysis. 16 Deaths and 15 Cases of Facial Paralysis On April 11, the Hong Kong Drainage Services Department (DSD) confirmed that a 58-year-old male employee fell unconscious at work on April 8 and died after being sent to hospital. The man had been vaccinated with Sinovac on March 16. The government did not voluntarily announce the death and confirmed the case only after the media inquired on April 11, causing public suspicion of intentional concealment. To date, 16 Hong Kongers have died after being vaccinated in the past six weeks: 14 received the Sinovac vaccine and two received the BioNTech vaccine jointly developed by China and Germany. In addition, the Department of Health said that by April 4, it had received 15 reports of suspected facial paralysis after vaccination, of which 13 received the Sinovac vaccine and two received BioNtech vaccine. With so many serious anomalies and deaths, Hong Kong people have become reluctant to get the Sinovac vaccine. Only 2,500 people received a first dose of Sinovac vaccine on April 11, the lowest number since vaccinations began 45 days ago, the government reported on the night of April 11. Carrie Lam Threatens Consequences As of April 12, about 597,400 Hong Kong residents have received a first dose of vaccine, less than 10 percent of the population. However, when trying to boost the take-up rate, Chief Executive Carrie Lam did not appear to reflect on the safety of domestic vaccines. Instead, she proposed a series of incentives to encourage inoculation, such as relaxing restrictions for residents who have been fully vaccinated. For example, restaurant staff and customers need to be vaccinated before restrictions on those businesses can be lessened. Lam also stressed that citizens who do not get the vaccine will have consequences. Gordon Lam, the convenor of the Hong Kong Small and Middle Restaurant Federation, questioned in a Facebook post, Vaccination, which should be an individual choice, is now a privilege to enter a restaurant. How much does the government want to use vaccinations as leverage to get restaurants back in business so that it forces citizens to get vaccinations which have not yet been fully proven to work? Hong Kong resident Mr. Wong told The Epoch Times that he didnt get vaccinated because he didnt have confidence in the safety of the vaccine. He believes that the Hong Kong government is acting like a gangster, which makes the public even more disgusted. In March, Han Zheng, the CCP vice premier in charge of Hong Kong and Macao affairs, met with Lam and asked her to take epidemic prevention and control as the central task in addition to changing Hong Kongs electoral system. A politician told Apple Daily that what Lam has been doing is hand over her homework to the central government, by using intimidation and money to lure citizens into vaccination to boost the vaccination rate, in the hope of winning credits from Beijing and gaining an edge in her re-election campaign. Chinese Report Adverse Reactions through Unofficial Channels While Hong Kong has reported death cases and serious side effects from COVID-19 vaccination, in mainland China, where approximately 160 million people have received vaccines, the authorities have not disclosed any negative post-vaccination cases. Chinese social media and overseas Chinese media have become the only channels for Chinese citizens to share the side-effects they experience or witness. On April 14, a Chinese citizen spoke to Sound of Hope, a sister radio network of The Epoch Times, and exposed that two weeks ago, a man died on the same day he received COVID-19 vaccine, leaving behind three children. The victim, Wang Dajun, 43, lived in Lingxi Village, Zhuanghe City, Liaoning Province. According to the person who spoke to Sound of Hope, Wang received the first dose of COVID-19 vaccine in late March and died that evening. Local authorities have since strictly blocked the flow of such information. Sound of Hope was able to reach a female resident in Lingxi Village by phone, who verified the information. Wang was in his forties and was very healthy. He received the vaccination around 10 a.m. that day, and died in the evening, she said. He left behind three children, two teenage girls and a 4-year-old son who is a kindergartener. No one in our area dares to get vaccinated anymore. Ling Zhenbo, a resident of Yangzhou City, Jiangsu Province, revealed to Radio Free Asia that when he was at the vaccination site, he saw a person collapse to the ground after inoculation. Other people wanted to take pictures of the incident, but the authorities on-site forbade them to do so. I believe there must be other cases of inoculation side-effects in China, but the media are forbidden to report them. Liang Wei from Beijing (not his real name), revealed on Chinese social media that his wife collapsed 10 minutes after getting a shot. She was rushed to China-Japan Friendship Hospital for emergency treatment, and gradually regained consciousness. Liang complained that the vaccination staff acted as if injection was their only responsibility and they dont do anything if a recipient runs into problems. When my wife passed out, they did not even attempt to help, like arranging a fast-path hospital admission for her. I had to wait in line and go over the procedures at the hospital myself. And all the hospital costs were out of my own pocket. His post on Chinese social media was soon deleted by the Chinese authorities. Another Beijing resident who took notice of the post later shared the incident with Radio Free Asia. According to Internal documents obtained by The Epoch Times, even local officials and public servants do not trust Chinas domestic vaccines, and they use various excuses to avoid having the mandatory vaccination. For instance, in Xintai Town of Taian County, Liaoning Province, there are 65 officials and staff in the township government. Only three people were vaccinated and two others were waiting to receive the vaccine, all others used various excuses to dodge the mandatory vaccination, such as allergies, high blood pressure, heart disease, or planning to get pregnant this year. In Taian Countys Housing and Development Bureau, only one person took the vaccine, the other 55 refused to receive it by claiming that they have underlying health issues. Nearly a year after thousands took to the streets of New York City for weeks-long protests against police brutality in the wake of the police killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis, the issue remains front and center. During the murder trial of former police officer Derek Chauvin for Floyds death, Minnesota was rocked by yet another police killing of a Black man. During a traffic stop in the Minneapolis suburb Brooklyn Center, a police officer shot and killed 20-year-old Daunte Wright. The officer said she mistook her gun for her taser. Other instances of police brutality keep cropping up across the nation, such as the pepper-spraying of a black and Latino Army officer during a routine stop in Virginia earlier this week. Wrights death sparked fresh protests and outrage in New York City, as the race for the Democratic mayoral nomination heats up. Whoever wins the June primary will likely be the next mayor of the overwhelmingly Democratic city. Eight candidates have emerged as the top Democratic contenders and each has a vision for how to approach police reform. The city has already taken steps to change the New York City Police Department since last years protests. With the repeal of the state law shielding police disciplinary records, the city has begun making those public. The NYPD and the Civilian Complaint Review Board, the watchdog agency that provides police oversight, agreed to new guidelines meant to standardize police discipline. And the City Council partially repealed qualified immunity, allowing victims of police brutality to sue officers. For reform advocates, this just the beginning of whats needed to enact lasting, systemic change. Some advocates remain wary of empty promises after Mayor Bill de Blasio campaigned on a message of police reform only to leave many disappointed at the end of his eight-year tenure. We don't want someone to make a promise, and then we're sitting around for eight years, wondering if they'll do it in the 11th hour or in the first hour, Monifa Bandele, a board member of the Communities United for Police Reform Action Fund, told City & State. The coalition hasnt endorsed a candidate yet, but Bandele said that advocates like herself are looking for concrete metrics and timetables for when pledges would be met. Broadly, Bandele said that police reform advocates are looking for candidates to commit to significantly cutting the NYPD budget, reducing the number of uniformed officers, removing police officers from schools, shifting mental health calls away from the NYPD and generally investing in programs and services that would lead to safer neighborhoods with fewer police. Although nearly every candidate has expressed support for residency requirements and diversifying the ranks and some have made them key tenets to their reform plans Bandele called such commitments low-hanging fruit that isnt an advocacy priority. There has to be real measures of accountability in place, Bandele said. There needs to be the removal of police from so many unnecessary scopes currently in their work. Right now, Bandele said that no candidate is totally there yet, but she said the fact that these conversations are happening is encouraging. No candidate can avoid these issues or can not take a position on them, Bandele said. Heres what each of the leading mayoral candidates has suggested they would like to do to reform the NYPD as mayor. Eric Adams A former police officer and a former Republican, the Brooklyn borough president has been met with skepticism from many reformers looking for broad, systemic change. But Adams has a history of trying to reform the NYPD from the inside: he co-founded the group 100 Blacks in Law Enforcement Who Care, which frequently criticized the NYPD for failing both Black New Yorkers and Black officers. The plan detailed on his website includes his commitment to diversifying the departments ranks, creating a public list of cops with repeated complaints against them and giving the community power over who their precinct commanders are. He also has pledged to appoint the citys first female police commissioner. His plan doesnt make mention of some key priorities among reform advocates, including shifting mental health and homeslessness responses away from the NYPD or empowering the Civilian Complaint Review Board to engage in better oversight. Adams spokesperson also said that Adams opposes defunding the police, but is committed to find $1 billion in savings through civilianization of certain work, which would then get reinvested into policing initiatives like the Crisis Management System, a program that sends violence interpreters'' to mediate potentially violent situations and connect with people likely to involved with gun violence without police intervention. Online, Adams plan estimates $500 million savings. Shaun Donovan Donovan, a former commissioner of Housing, Preservation and Development, released a 200 page policy book with details on all his campaign plans, including proposals for police reform. A key part of that plan is a pledge to redirect $500 million from the NYPD and Department of Corrections budgets towards community-focused public safety and racial justice initiatives by the end of his second year, with a commitment to dedicate $3 billion 20% of the total public safety budget to those initiatives by the end of his first term. Donovan also wants to create a dedicated mental health crisis hotline to divert calls away from the NYPD and supports completely removing any police intervention from such calls. He set a goal that by the end of his first term, police would no longer be the default responders to mental health crises. Donovan is one of the few candidates who has offered a concrete timetable for any of his proposals. Like most other candidates, he has also shied away from the terminology of defunding the police, although has offered proposals for divestment and reinvestment. Kathryn Garcia Garcia, a former commissioner of Sanitation, has often pointed to her experience leading a uniformed agency as giving her the chops to deal with the NYPD and enacting reforms. A campaign spokesperson said she was the first among the mayoral candidates to propose a city residency requirement for new recruits, which would require approval from the state government. Garcia also has proposed raising the recruitment age from 21 to 25, improving training techniques and reworking CompStat to track positive improvements and interactions. She supports embedding mental health professionals and social workers with police on certain calls, but she does not support removing police from these interactions altogether. Garcia also does not support defunding the police and a spokesperson said she plans to keep the patrol strength at current levels, but that she will find savings from efficiencies across all city agencies. Ray McGuire Considered one of the moderates in the race, the former Citigroup executive has offered a series of slightly more modest police reform proposals than some of his opponents. At the top of his police reform plan online, he said he will appoint a deputy mayor for public safety to oversee the NYPD, which Yang also proposes. McGuire would also increase community policing efforts. He has publicly expressed opposition to defunding the police, but McGuire said he would perform a top-to-bottom review of the citys entire public safety budget to identify areas to save money. He additionally said he would require the NYPD to hand over body camera footage to the CCRB within 48 hours, but would still give the police commissioner final authority on disciplinary action with the potential of the mayor stepping in if the decision is deemed inappropriate. McGuire has also proposed creating a system of emergency social services that would respond to mental health and substance abuse 911 calls. At a March forum, he said they would respond either before or with police officers. Dianne Morales In what is likely the most radical of the proposed police reform plans, the nonprofit executive is the only candidate to specifically and explicitly support the movement to defund the police, with her plan entitled Defund the police; fund the people on her campaign website. She calls for cutting the NYPD budget in half by reducing it by $3 billion and she would analyze district attorneys budgets with the intent to reduce them significantly. She is the only candidate who has pledged any significant action regarding prosecutors. Morales also supports the creation of an elected Civilian Complaint Review Board, a major change to the police oversight agency that some advocates have been pushing for years. A campaign spokesperson said Morales proposal aligns with those advocates plan. She proposes the creation of a Community First Responders Department independent of the NYPD, that would send trained personnel to handle mental health and social services calls currently handled by the police. Morales would also ban the use of the NYPDs controversial gang database, and would eliminate the Vice Squad. Scott Stringer The New York City comptroller laid out his plan to reform the NYPD in a report released in his capacity as comptroller. He links to that report on his campaign website, which includes many of the main tenets of the report. Stringers supports shifting mental health, substance abuse and homelessness calls out of the hands of police and into the hands of people better-trained to deal with these situations. He also committed to giving the CCRB final authority to dole out police discipline, which currently sits with the police commissioner. Although he has shied away from the defund slogan during the campaign, Stringer has reiterated his support to cut $1 billion from the NYPD over four years, which he first proposed last year as comptroller. Maya Wiley A civil rights attorney and former CCRB chair, Wiley has made criminal justice and police reform a centerpiece of her campaign although her website contains scant details about the specifics of her plans. It does include a detailed proposal on how to tackle gun violence and her measures to achieve that would be funded by redirecting money from the NYPD budget. The anti-gun violence plan would expand community-based interventions programs to deescalate situations without arrests and increase social services in schools while creating a holistic approach to school safety. At a forum in March, Wiley was one of a handful of candidates who committed to removing police from schools entirely, and has said she supports completely diverting all mental health, substance abuse and homelessness intervention away from police. Like most other candidates, she has largely avoided using the terminology of defunding the police, but indicated to Gothamist that she supports reducing the NYPD budget by $1 billion. A campaign spokesperson said Wiley would audit the budget to make necessary cuts, including to the number of uniformed personnel, and would eliminate the Vice Squad. Andrew Yang The former business and nonprofit executives police reform plan includes appointing a civilian police commissioner, which would be a break from traditionally appointing former officers. Like every candidate other than Morales, Yang supports a residency requirement. He supports expanding the NYPDs mental health co-response teams in which social workers are sent on mental health calls with officers and a pilot program that sends just social and crisis workers. But at a March forum, he expressed reservations about removing police from mental health calls completely, saying that sometimes their presence is necessary. In response to the mass shooting in Georgia that left six Asian women dead, and a spike in anti-Asian hate crimes in New York, Yang proposed increasing funding for the NYPDs Asian Hate Crime Task Force, which was met with ire from police reform advocates and some Asian activists supportive of reducing the NYPD budget. Yang has not taken a hard position on the defund the police movement, and has not publicly committed to reducing the police budget by a specific dollar amount. BURBANK (dpa-AFX) - Disney's Launchpad, a new filmmaking program dedicated to a 'new generation of dynamic storytellers', has unveiled the trailer for six original short films. All six short films, each based on the theme 'discover,' will launch on Disney Plus on May 28. The program's inaugural season features stories by Ann Marie Pace, Aqsa Altaf, Hao Zheng, Jessica Mendez Siqueiros, Moxie Peng and Stefanie Abel Horowitz. 'This first group of shorts by these six gifted filmmakers took our breath away,' Mahin Ibrahim, director of Disney's Diversity & Inclusion, Market, who oversees the LAUNCHPAD program, said. 'They are moving, provocative and entertaining, and they each convey a unique perspective on living in America today and the things you learn about yourself and others when you follow your own path.' The six filmmakers were selected from more than 1,100 applicants. They began the program in early 2020 and were assigned executive mentors from the various divisions of The Walt Disney Company, including Disney+, Lucasfilm, Marvel Studios, Pixar, Walt Disney Animation Studios and Walt Disney Studios Motion Picture Production. Disney plans to continue its Launchpad program for a second season based on the theme 'connection'. It will begin accepting submissions on May 10. 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. Translators for the UK military in Afghanistan have warned 'we will pay with our blood' for the withdrawal of British troops from their homeland. Former and serving translators reacted with anger and alarm yesterday as the UK followed the US and other Nato allies such as Germany in a commitment to leave Afghanistan by September. Men who stood shoulder-to-shoulder with UK forces fear they will be 'left behind' to face a resurgent, emboldened Taliban. It has sworn to take revenge on interpreters they condemn as 'spies of the infidel' because of their work for the British. Translators for the UK military in Afghanistan have warned 'we will pay with our blood' for the withdrawal of British troops from their homeland Dozens of interpreters have contacted the Mail's award-winning Betrayal of the Brave campaign, which has highlighted the plight of translators, to tell of their fears that the pull-out of UK and US forces will mean they are 'hunted down and murdered'. Abdul, 34, who worked for more than three years on the frontline in Helmand, warned: 'This is a gift to the Taliban. The British, who we risked our lives for, are leaving us behind to an enemy they could not defeat. 'We have been repeatedly threatened and attacked because of our service and now we face being left on our own. This is a nightmare for all those who risked so much to make our country a better place and believed the promises we were told by the West. The Taliban is still here it is strong and wants us to pay with our blood.' Ex-frontline interpreter Faiz, 36, said the withdrawal was 'opening the door for the Taliban to put us in the grave. There is currently a degree of protection from the presence of Western forces but this will disappear... the Taliban has won and must be laughing.' An estimated 350 military interpreters have been killed by the Taliban in Afghanistan since 2014 nearly one a week and translators claim insurgent threats and attacks are on the rise. In recent months, more than 30 ex-British military interpreters have been told they will be relocated to the UK in recognition of their service and the Taliban's growing threat. But many have been warned they may have to remain in Afghanistan for up to 18 months while their cases are processed. They say this delay will leave them 'fatally exposed'. Retired colonel Simon Diggins, founding member of the Sulha Alliance, which helps translators, has written to Defence Secretary Ben Wallace calling for the process to be accelerated. Former and serving translators reacted with anger and alarm yesterday as the UK followed the US and other Nato allies such as Germany in a commitment to leave Afghanistan by September He warned: 'The inevitable consequence of withdrawal is that current and former interpreters will be left exposed and highly vulnerable. 'This is all happening against a background of a deteriorating security situation and, potentially, a partial Taliban takeover of ministries. 'You can imagine what could happen if the Taliban have access to the files containing details of those who worked for the British and others.' Mr Diggins also raised the concern of hundreds of ex-translators dismissed for disciplinary reasons from their jobs, which would normally exclude them from sanctuary in the UK. He said: 'The Taliban don't care that an individual was dismissed or not.' This month the Government implemented a new policy that will give relocation to hundreds of Afghans who helped the UK but many fear the offer of sanctuary will come too late. A father was killed and his 6-year-old son and another man were injured after police say a gunman opened fire on their car in West Philadelphia Wednesday evening. The shooting occurred around 7:15 p.m. when someone in another vehicle shot them on the 5300 block of Baltimore Avenue, NBC 10 is reporting. The car was struck by at least 12 bullets, Action News 6 ABC is reporting. The 29-year-old father shot twice in the chest, the boy was shot once in the stomach and once in the lower back and a 31-year-old passenger was shot once in the chest, reports indicate. The 31-year-old got out of the car and flagged down the police while the father drove off and crashed about two blocks away, according to reports. Reports indicate the father was pronounced dead at the scene while his son and the 31-year-old passenger were rushed to the hospital. Witness Darryl Paris told NBC 10 he heard the boy crying and asking for his mother. The boy was in critical condition, but he has undergone surgery and is expected to survive, 6 ABC reports. No arrests have been made, and the shooting is under investigation. In 2021, 55 children have been shot in Philadelphia, NBC 10 is reporting. It sickens me, it sickens all of us and were tired of seeing this, quite frankly, Philadelphia Police Commissioner Danielle Outlaw told NBC 10 about the gun violence. As of Tuesday, Philadelphia has seen 142 homicides in 2021 a 29 percent increase from this time last year and the second-highest in six decades. Denmark on Wednesday became the first country to stop using AstraZeneca's Covid-19 vaccine altogether over a potential link to a rare but serious form of a blood clot. The decision will push back the scheduled conclusion of Denmark's vaccination scheme to early August from July 25, health authorities said. But that new timeline assumes it will start using the Johnson & Johnson vaccine, whose rollout in Europe has been delayed over similar clotting concerns and the use of which Denmark has suspended. That shot comprises around a third of the country's total contracted supply. Results of investigations into the AstraZeneca-associated blood clots "showed real and serious side effects," Danish health agency head Soren Brostrom told a news briefing. "We have therefore chosen to continue the vaccination programme for all target groups without this vaccine," it added. AstraZeneca said it respected Denmark's choice and would continue to provide it with data to inform future decisions. "Implementation and rollout of the vaccine programme is a matter for each country to decide, based on local conditions," the Anglo-Swedish company said. The European Union's drug watchdog said last week it had found a possible link between the AstraZeneca vaccine and cerebral venous sinus thrombosis (CVST), a brain blood clot. It said the risk of dying from Covid-19 was much greater than the risk of mortality from rare side effects but left it to individual states to make their own risk assessments and decide how to administer the vaccine. Many countries in Europe and elsewhere have resumed using the shot, with some restricting it to certain age groups, mostly those aged above 50 or above 60. Soren Brostrom said joint studies based on Danish and Norwegian health data estimated that one in 40,000 people vaccinated with the AstraZeneca shot could expect to experience this serious complication, with nothing conclusive related to age or gender. He said Denmark had come far in inoculating the elderly population most at risk of contracting a serious form of the virus. Future target groups for vaccination had a lower risk of that. "This must be weighed against the fact that we now have a known risk of serious harmful effects ... with the Covid-19 vaccine from AstraZeneca, even though the risk in absolute numbers is small," he said. So Denmark's decision should solely be seen in a Danish context, and "I understand very well why other countries will use it," he said. Denmark was the first country to initially suspend all use of the AstraZeneca vaccine in March over safety concerns. Almost one million of the country's 5.8 million population have received their first shots, 77 per cent getting Pfizer-BioNTech's vaccine, 7.8 per cent Moderna's and 15.3 per cent AstraZeneca's. Denmark is in the process of easing restrictions after its daily Covid-19 infection rate slowed to 500-600 from several thousand in December. Also read: 'First they ignore you...then you win': Rahul Gandhi's on Centre fast-tracking approval for foreign vaccines Also read: Specialised studies needed to link blood clot with AstraZeneca vaccine, says WHO Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick stood before reporters during a Tuesday morning news conference in which he excoriated Democrats and many in the media for spreading "lies" about Senate Bill 7, a measure that would restrict voting access in the state. "The left, the Democrats, many in the media, some in this room, across the state, across the country, have changed the word sadly from voter security to voter suppression' or voter restriction," Patrick, a Republican, said angrily. "Senate Bill 7 is about voter security not about voter suppression, and Im tired of lies and the nest of liars who continue to repeat them." Before explaining how the bill would amend the state election code, Patrick said something that he would repeat during the 35-minute press conference. "Nothing has changed in the election code (under SB7) regarding early voting. Nothing has changed," he said. SB 7 was passed along party lines by the Texas Senate last week and is one of two voting bills being considered by the Legislature. Similar to voting bills in Georgia and other states, SB 7 is designed to diminish local control over elections. The bill would prohibit local election administrators from extending early voting hours and operating drive-thru voting centers. It also would bar election officials from sending out mail-in ballot applications without a voters request and, among other things, gives partisan poll watchers more access to polling locations during voting hours. Patrick said the measures are intended to restore peoples trust in American democracy following the 2020 presidential election. Patrick has perpetuated former President Donald Trumps false claims that the 2020 election was plagued by voter fraud. In November, the lieutenant governor offered $1 million in rewards to anyone who provided information leading to an arrest and conviction for voter fraud. (When asked by a reporter Tuesday if he would be rewarding Pennsylvania Lt. Governor John Fetterman, who says he provided Patrick with two cases of Trump voters casting ballots in the name of their deceased mothers, Patrick said, "I didnt come here to take stupid questions from the media.") "People in America have lost faith in their elections," he said. "We have to resolve that issue in this country and in this state. Thats why SB 7 is needed." For this fact-check we focus on Patricks first claim that SB 7 wouldn't change anything in the election code regarding early voting. Lets look at how the bill would affect early voting. Reviewing the bills text Patrick said during the news conference that many elements of the bill are targeted toward Harris County. Election officials in the states largest county opened eight 24-hour polling centers during a portion of the early voting period in areas with high numbers of overnight workers, near medical centers and the ship channel. The county also opened drive-thru voting locations during early voting to ease coronavirus concerns. Nearly 145,000 Texans availed themselves of these new voting options during the general election, which helped the county surpass its all-time record for number of votes cast before the early voting period was over. Patrick said that county officials had come up with these methods "out of thin air" and that they weren't explicitly allowed by state law. County officials counter that nothing in the law precluded 24-hour voting or drive-thru locations, and several GOP challenges last year to the expanded voting methods were unsuccessful. "24-hour early voting and drive-thru early voting were not included in the Election Code before Harris County decided to use them anyway. ... So, nothing has changed," said Patrick's spokesperson Steven Aranyi. If passed, SB 7 would codify Republicans' objections to drive-thru voting and 24-hour voting into the state election code. To Roxanne Werner, deputy director of communications for Harris County Elections, that's an appreciable change. "There are definitely a number of things that would change under SB7, particularly with early voting. Some of the more obvious things are the drive-thru locations and the lack of extended early voting hours," Werner said. "There are several things in SB 7 that relate to early voting, so I'm surprised to hear (Patricks) particular statement." For instance, the bills text would eliminate 24-hour voting by adding language to the election code that requires early voting to be conducted "for a period of at least nine hours, except that voting may not be conducted earlier than 6 a.m. or later than 9 p.m." And it would prohibit drive-thru voting during the early voting period or on election day by adding language that says "no voter may cast a vote from inside a motor vehicle." TEXAS TAKE: Sign up for Texas politics and policy news, curated by the Chronicle's Austin bureau Robert Stein, a Rice University political scientist who has worked with and studied Harris Countys election system, said the changes proposed in SB 7 are obvious. "What do you mean nothing changed?" Stein said, responding to Patricks claim. "Then why are you writing SB 7? You're changing the law so as to prevent someone from doing something they have been doing in the past." David Becker, executive director of the nonpartisan Center for Election Innovation and Research, agrees and notes that SB 7 would make Texas one of the most restrictive voting states in the nation. Becker said that SB 7 would "concentrate more voting to a single day" by disincentivizing early voting and mail-in voting. "I think it's really hard to characterize SB 7 as not severely limiting early voting given that early voting was allowed to proceed under Texas law in a way that was much more expansive," Becker said. All of the changes packaged in SB 7 taken together, the overall effect of the bill, as in bills in other states, is the removal of authority from local election officials, Becker said. "The fact is that the election code, as every election code does, leaves areas for local government to manage their elections, and there was nothing in the code before that said you couldn't do drive-thru voting, that said you couldn't do 24/7 voting, that said you couldn't do temporary buildings for early voting," he said. "That has absolutely changed." Our ruling Patrick said during a press conference that "nothing has changed in the election code (under SB 7) regarding early voting." SB 7 makes numerous changes to the states election code, many of which pertain to the means through which people can vote early. The major changes to early voting include limiting early voting hours and limiting the kinds of sites where people can vote early. We rate this claim Pants on Fire. [April 15, 2021] Moscow Cargo LLC Presents Solutions at the TransRussia 2021 Exhibition MOSCOW, April 15, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Moscow Cargo, the cargo operator at Sheremetyevo International Airport, gave a presentation on changes in the air transport market at the TransRussia International Exhibition of Transportation and Logistics Services, Warehouse Equipment and Technologies, which took place on April 12-14. The event gathers professionals in cargo shipping and freight forwarding, thermal handling in air and sea ports, integrated logistics services and customs clearance, and warehouse solutions. The significant changes in global logistics over the past year, and the need to discuss key issues and tasks of the industry in the format of live communication, explain the increased interest of the audience to the business program of the event. A representative of Moscow Cargo LLC was invited to make a presentation at the session titled "Post-Covid Transformation of the Air Cargo Transportation Market." The participants discussed some of the most pressing issues of the industry: the growth in demand for air cargo transportation at time of a continuing shortage of carrying capacity, the unique requirements of COVID vaccine transportation and handling of eCommerce cargo, including readiness to ensure compliance with additional FCS requirements forservicing eCommerce shipments. Special attention was paid to successful cooperation with express carriers. Thanks to the active development of the CBX Express project, the volume of cross-border shipments processed by the Moscow Cargo terminal in 2020 increased by more than 2.5 times. The participants were interested in Moscow Cargo's experience servicing the Sputnik V vaccine, given the high priority of arranging air transportation for COVID vaccines, and they discussed the specific requirements for processing vaccine shipments and the practical solutions Moscow Cargo had developed for regular handling of Sputnik V batches. In the first quarter of 2021, the terminal handled the shipment of more than 200 tons of the drug in Russia and abroad. Moscow Cargo LLC is the largest Russian cargo operator, with a share of the total cargo turnover of the Moscow aviation hub exceeding 45%. TransRussia is a major specialized exhibition in Russia for transportation and logistics services. More than 200 companies from 23 countries took part in the 25th anniversary exhibition in 2021. This year, the TransRussia Congress brought together participants from six industry conferences and two new content platforms. For the first time, the organizers singled out cargo transportation by air in a separate session, "Post-Covid Transformation of the Air Cargo Transportation Market." The session was devoted to the discussion of major trends and the joint search for solutions to complex challenges facing the market participants in the new realities. The speakers at the session were representatives of leading air cargo transportation companies: top managers of Russian Postal Services, AirBridgeCargo Airline, Moscow Cargo Aviation terminal, DHL Global Forwarding, logistics operator of express delivery service Boxberry and others. Moscow Cargo LLC is a modern high-tech aviation cargo terminal and the main cargo operator of Sheremetyevo International Airport. Today the Moscow Cargo terminal with a total area of 42,300 square meters, designed to handle 380 thousand tons of cargo per year, is the largest in Russia, the CIS and Eastern Europe and has no analogues in Russia in terms of equipment. High-tech equipment and production facilities for handling special categories of goods allow Moscow Cargo LLC to effectively handle all types of cargo without restrictions. www.svo.aero View original content to download multimedia:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/moscow-cargo-llc-presents-solutions-at-the-transrussia-2021-exhibition-301270163.html SOURCE Sheremetyevo International Airport [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] As was the intent of Senate President Wilton Simpson, the Republican majority in the Florida Senate on Wednesday blocked all attempts to amend a House anti-riot bill that Gov. Ron DeSantis has prioritized this year. Republicans rejected 16 Democrat-led amendments including ones that would have narrowed the scope of the bill, enhanced criminal penalties for police officers that beat up peaceful protesters and made it unlawful for people to picket or protest outside of someones home with the intent to harass and disturb. Republicans appear to have listened to Simpson, who last week said the goal was to make little to no changes to the House bill. He added that he believes the bill (HB 1), which would enhance criminal penalties for a host of crimes committed during protests that turn violent, has enough votes to pass the Senate and be sent to the governors desk. The Senate is poised to pass the measure as early as this week. Bill sponsor Sen. Danny Burgess, R-Zephyrhills, said the bill could become law in the next couple of weeks. The bill would take effect immediately after DeSantis signs it. Senate Criminal Justice Committee Chairman Jason Pizzo, D-Miami, worried that the timing could clash with a verdict in the trial of Derek Chauvin, a former Minneapolis police officer who is facing murder charges in the death of George Floyd. DeSantis first proposed the idea of an anti-riot bill after protests in South Florida and across the United States over Floyds death. The governor, who later pegged the idea to the violent riot in the U.S. Capitol in January, has made the issue a top priority as he positions himself for reelection in 2022. Enhanced criminal penalties The bill, among other things, would enhance penalties for burglaries and grand theft when the crimes are committed during a riot, which the bill defines as a violent disturbance involving an assembly of three or more persons acting with a common intent. Pizzo, a former prosecutor, raised questions about the broad definition and who would determine what is a riot. Burgess said it would be up to law enforcement officers on the scene to determine whether crimes should be enhanced as a result of being facilitated by a riot. Story continues It is a fact-specific circumstance on the scene, he said. But Pizzo said it is very, very possible and perhaps likely that people who commit the same crime during a so-called riot would face different charges simply for being in separate places and having a different officer respond to the scene. Sen. Shevrin Jones, D-West Park, said local municipalities have been concerned about a provision in the bill that takes aim at their police budget decisions. The bill says that state attorneys in each judicial circuit would have the authority to appeal any budget reduction. Burgess said the intention is to only allow meritorious appeals to move forward and said the process would weed out frivolous appeals, though there is no language in the bill that would guarantee such intent. Jones worried that a partisan body would end up making local budget decisions. The bill, for example, says state attorneys in each judicial circuit or a member of a city commission could challenge local police budget reductions, whether big or small. The appeal would be subject to review by the governors office, which ultimately would rule whether it should be reviewed by a separate commission for a final decision. The separate commission, which includes the governor and the Florida Cabinet, would have the final say on whether the local government should approve, amend or modify its original spending plan. Jones also tried to add language onto the bill that would have made it a third-degree felony for a police officer to beat up a peaceful protester. He said the amendment was in support of LaToya Ratlieff, who was shot in the face with a rubber bullet by a Fort Lauderdale police officer during a Black Lives Matter protest last May. I ask that we hold everyone accountable, not just one group of people, Jones said before the amendment was rejected. What about police conduct? Sen. Darryl Rouson, D-St. Petersburg, also expressed concern that the bill was silent on consequences for police officers who engage in disorderly or violent conduct during protests. Burgess said police misconduct will be addressed in other pieces of legislation this session, not HB 1. Burgess pointed to a Senate bill that would require police officers statewide to undergo de-escalation training, intervene if a fellow cop is using excessive force and also bar the use of choke holds except in deadly force situations. He said it was a great bill. Florida House leaders have also rolled out their own police reform bill, which would also set a minimum statewide standard for use-of-force tactics. The bill was the product of months-long negotiations with the Florida Legislative Black Caucus, which at the start of session proposed a host of police reforms in response to Floyds death and social justice protests last year. Huge spinning waterspout was seen rising up from Lake Ruhondo in Rwanda This is the moment stunned villagers watched as a giant waterspout formed on a lake in Rwanda. The tornadic weather phenomenon was seen extending from the blue waters of Lake Ruhondo, Burera district high up to the dark clouds above on Tuesday. The whirlwind started in the water as a small rotating gust before it slowly turned into a funnel-shaped column around 200 feet from the nearest houses. Teacher Schadrack Tuya had been relaxing on his balcony when he saw the waterspout rapidly forming and quickly warned his family members. Schadrack said: 'I did not want to panic but I still alerted my family members about it just to be sure. 'I watched the waterspout grow from the small rotating wind it was until it become a giant that reached the sky.' The waterspout grew bigger as it sucked in more water but fortunately stayed on the lake and did not move closer to the homes. After a few minutes, the waterspout started to lose force before completely dissipating. Rwanda's Meteorology Agency said in a statement that the waterspout was caused by shifting weather patterns in the local area. The tornadic weather phenomenon was seen extending from the blue waters of Lake Ruhondo, Burera district high up to the dark clouds above on Tuesday The organisation said: 'The weather phenomenon occurs when cold air moves across the lakes and results in large temperature differences between warm water and the overriding cold air.' Waterspouts are tornadoes that form over water. They are intense columns of swirling clouds that stretch from the surface high into the sky. They are most commonly found in subtropical areas and disappear shortly after they come into contact with land. Waterspouts are generally not dangerous but they can be a risk for aircraft flying through the area and for coral reefs and marine life in the water below them. The waterspout grew bigger as it sucked in more water but fortunately stayed on the lake. After a few minutes, the waterspout started to lose force before completely dissipating Sailors should also try to avoid waterspouts as the consequences of floating into one could be disastrous. The most common type of waterspout is a fair weather waterspout. They happen when winds merge from opposite directions near the waters surface, creating a small area of spin. Sudden warm air at the surface, usually from a thunderstorm, causes the spinning air to rotate faster and it starts to rise picking up water at the same time. Sometimes the air spins so fast that it stretches and a funnel appears from the water to the thunderstorm cloud above. Questo comunicato e stato pubblicato piu di 30 giorni fa. Le informazioni su questa pagina potrebbero non essere attendibili. Market Research Future Published a Half Cooked Research Report on Global Potash Ore Market. Market Overview: Potash ore is used in a wide range of applications that play an important role in developing fruits, plants, vegetables, and others. Owing to these factors, they are used in the heavy end industries such as agriculture, chemical, metallurgical, and others. The global potash ore market is spanned across five regions of the world namely Asia Pacific, Europe, North America, Latin America, and the Middle East & Africa. Among these, North America holds the major share of the global market and is projected to continue leading, owing to the increasing consumption of the product in agriculture, chemical, metallurgical, and others. It is estimated that the agriculture segment is set to observe the highest CAGR in the market due to growing use of the product in the production of fertilizers, and others. The increasing demand for the product in chemical and metallurgical sectors have propelled the market to witness a rapid growth during the forecast period. These factors led the U.S., Canada, and Mexico to be the leading players in this region. Get a Free Sample of This Report @ https://www.marketresearchfuture.com/sample_request/821 The Asia Pacific market is expected to grow at a higher CAGR due to extensive consumption of the product in end-use industries such as agriculture, chemical, metallurgical, and others. The growing demand for hygienic food and changing lifestyles is projected to fuel the market in the coming years. China, Japan, and India have achieved a significant stage in the market due to rising per capita income and high disposable income in the end-use industries. Therefore, the growing demand for the product in end-use sectors is estimated to drive the market during the forecast period. A notable development is achieved in Europe due to the growing demand for organic food, in hotels and restaurants. Potash ore is used for the production of fertilizers, and other chemical compounds. Moreover, the growing innovation and technological advancement have propelled the market to witness a higher growth. Owing to these factors, countries such as Germany, the U.K., and Italy are the major contributors to this market. A considerable development is predicted in the Latin American region such as in Brazil, Uruguay, and Argentina due to growing production capacity and demand for potash ore in agriculture industries. Moreover, a rapid development is estimated in the Middle East & African region such as Qatar, the U.A.E, and others due to extensive use of the product in major industries. Some Of The Well-Known Players Operating In The Global Potash Ore Market Are: EuroChem (Switzerland), Intrepid Potash, Inc. (U.S.), Uralkali (Russia), Mining Associates (India), Nutrien Ltd (Canada), JSC Belaruskali (Belarus), K+S KALI GmbH (Germany), ICL (Israel), Kore Potash Limited (Australia), and Encanto Potash Corp. (EPO) (Canada) among others. Access Report Details @ https://www.marketresearchfuture.com/reports/potash-ore-market-821 Segmentation: The global potash ore market is segmented into the source and application. On the basis of the source, the market is segregated into potassium chloride, sodium chloride, and others. On the basis of application, the market is bifurcated into agriculture, chemical, metallurgical, and others. Imperial Valley News Center NIH experts discuss post-acute COVID-19 Washington, DC - Many people who have COVID-19 make a full recovery and return to their baseline state of health; however, some people have symptoms or other sequelae weeks or months after initial SARS-CoV-2 infection. These heterogeneous symptoms were the subject of the virtual Workshop on Post-acute Sequelae of COVID-19 hosted on Dec. 2 and 4, 2020, by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), in collaboration with other institutes and centers of the National Institutes of Health. A paper published recently in Annals of Internal Medicine describes the workshop. Over 1,200 registered participants including researchers, clinicians, and affected community members discussed what is known about sequelae after COVID-19 and the knowledge gaps that need to be addressed in future research. The constellation of symptoms and other effects experienced by those who do not return to their baseline state of health after COVID-19 has been referred to by many names, including post-acute sequelae of COVID-19 (PASC), and long or long-haul COVID. Symptoms can be wide-ranging in severity and duration, and may affect numerous organ systems. Reported symptoms include severe fatigue, cognitive dysfunction, and shortness of breath, as well as psychological symptoms, such as anxiety and depression. Longer term effects of COVID-19 have been reported in all age groups and demographics and in persons with asymptomatic, mild, or severe initial COVID-19 illness. If only a small fraction of SARS-CoV-2 infections lead to longer term effects, the global burden of disease will be significant. In addition to reviewing existing data the workshop presenters identified important knowledge gaps. Notably, the epidemiology is not fully characterized, and it will need to be expanded in order to identify and help vulnerable groups of people. The full clinical spectrum of post-acute COVID-19 is not yet known, nor the reasons why the symptoms manifest so differently in individuals. Underlying pathophysiology is not determined and may be due to SARS-CoV-2 itself, or the immune response to infection. Since COVID-19 is a new disease, researchers are still documenting the spectrum of recovery and trying to understand the different outcomes patients may experience. People who do not return to their baseline state of health have diverse clinical conditions that will require individualized and multidisciplinary approaches to treatment. Workshop discussions highlighted that longitudinal studies, ideally including systematic assessments of different organ systems, and including diverse populations, will be needed in order to properly characterize post-acute COVID-19. Careful study of the virus and the immune response to infection may help researchers understand how manifestations of post-acute COVID-19 arise. These research efforts will need to involve a collaboration among clinicians, researchers, advocacy groups and patient communities. ALBANY As of this writing, it isn't clear why officers stopped Daunte Wright. Police say Wright, who was shot and killed Sunday when a veteran cop apparently mistook her gun for her Taser, had expired registration tags. But in a call before he died, Wright told his mother he was stopped because he had an air freshener hanging from his rearview mirror. While neither reason should have resulted in Wright losing his life, it would be especially absurd if something as simple and trivial as an air freshener contributed to the tragedy in a suburb of Minneapolis. Coming to an inbox near you Our writers share more about the topics they cover in our newsletters. Churchill's Corner: Chris Churchill goes in depth on his latest columns, and shares what readers are saying. Sign up here. Editor's Note (subscribers only): Editor Casey Seiler shares the story behind our biggest stories of the week. Sign up here. Click here for a complete list of newsletter offerings. Yet in many states, including New York, a dangling air freshener can be probable cause to pull somebody over if it is deemed an illegal obstruction of the drivers view. New Yorks Vehicle and Traffic Law, Section 375, spells it out: "It shall be unlawful for any person to operate a motor vehicle with any object placed or hung in or upon the vehicle, except required or permitted equipment of the vehicle, in such a manner as to obstruct or interfere with the view of the operator through the windshield, or to prevent him from having a clear and full view of the road and condition of traffic behind such vehicle." I confirmed that the law applies to air fresheners with the Department of Motor Vehicles. A Saratoga Springs defense attorney, Alan LeCours, told me he has represented clients ticketed for the offense. It is also illegal in New York, by the way, to have a sticker on your back windshield, which means half the SUV drivers in suburbia could be stopped at any moment for advertising their preferred Adirondack Lake or the college choices of their children. Most never will be. The judgment call rests with police. Problem is, those judgments are often discriminatory. "There are so many traffic laws on the books that its almost impossible not to violate one of them," said Barry Friedman, a New York University law professor who founded the schools Policing Project. "Police have the discretion to pull over anybody they want, and when theres discretion theres almost always racial profiling." In other words, Black motorists like Wright are pulled over far more often than white motorists, as studies have repeatedly shown. And small infractions, like a dangling air freshener, are often the excuse for so-called pretextual interactions. Friedman questions the validity of most traffic stops. While some are legitimate attempts at curbing speeding traffic, many more, he believes, are little more than excuses to snoop. "We just assume that traffic enforcement by armed officers makes sense," Friedman said. "But when you look at it, theres plenty of reason to wonder if thats true." It is indisputable that many of the controversial police confrontations with unarmed Black men in recent years came after stops for minor infractions rapidly escalated. Eric Garner died in New York City during an arrest for selling cigarettes. Walter Scott died in South Carolina after being stopped for a broken taillight. George Floyd was accused only of passing a counterfeit bill. The examples could go on and on. In Virginia recently, a uniformed Army medic who is Black, Lt. Caron Nazario, was hit with pepper spray after being stopped for not having a license plate - even though the temporary plate for his new truck was displayed in the window. None of those stops helped to protect public safety. None were particularly necessary. Some of you will say that many tragedies could be prevented if suspects didn't resist arrest. I wont argue, but I will maintain that "routine interactions" with police are far too routine, especially in poorer, diverse neighborhoods. "Weve created this system that just hoovers people in and gets them involved with the criminal justice system," Friedman said, adding that the fiscal and emotional costs of the system are significant. The life and death of Philando Castile is a perfectly tragic example. In 2016, he was killed by police during a traffic stop when he reached for his registration after telling police he had a weapon. (Castile had a concealed carry permit.) A subsequent NPR investigation found that the Black 32-year-old had been stopped at least 46 times by police, and only six of those stops were for moving violations or something else noticeable from outside the car. Castile, NPR said, had faced "a seemingly endless cycle of traffic stops, fines, court appearances, late fees, revocations and reinstatements." And then he was shot. Preventing such tragedies, Friedman believes, requires scaling back the number of reasons that police can stop motorists. Technological advances, he noted, mean that even expired registrations can be handled with a license-plate reader and a summons in the mail. New York lawmakers, meanwhile, can help by taking dumb laws off the books, including the one targeting air fresheners. cchurchill@timesunion.com 518-454-5442 @chris_churchill Jasper Polish (Force of Nature), Darren Mann (Fortunate Son), Kevin Csolak (Boardwalk Empire) and Stevie Lynn Jones (Nancy Drew) will join the Animal Kingdom cast in recurring roles for the TNT dramas sixth and final season.Polish will play Julia who is beautiful, intelligent, and edgy. Although shes an excellent student, shes also the type of chick who sells tabs of LSD because she thinks its cool. Shes torn between loving and hating her mother, Smurf.Mann will play Baz, a charismatic opportunist who will do whatever is necessary to ensure his own safety. Hes not above pitting the other kids against each other in his effort to ingratiate himself with Smurf, who sees him more as a partner (both personally and professionally) than as her adopted son.Csolak takes on Andrew. A young Shawn Hatosy, Andrew is intense and struggling with an undiagnosed mental illness. He possesses a simmering rage but also instinctively searches for redemption as he struggles with his darkest impulses. He is completely devoted to Smurf, to his best friend Baz and his twin sister Julia.Jones plays Penny, an intelligent, beautiful young woman in her early 20s. A rule breaker in her youth, shes trying to stay on the straight and narrow. Shes stuck in a loveless marriage to a Marine. She and J become close, dangerously close. U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin has said that Russia must respect Ukraine's territorial integrity and stop its provocative behavior. He made this statement in Brussels on Wednesday, April 14, at a joint press conference with U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg, according to an Ukrinform correspondent. "I call on Russia to respect Ukraine's territorial integrity," he said. He stressed that the United States was concerned about Russia's recent military activity, continued to closely monitor the activity and continued to consult with its partners. In this regard, Austin called upon Russia to cease its provocations and to be more transparent about this recent activity. "The territorial integrity of Ukraine must be respected," Austin said. He also recalled that the United States had provided some materiel support to the Ukrainian army. "We'll look to continue to do that," he said. At the same time, the minister noted that the entire team of the U.S. administration responsible for national security was preparing a number of options for President Joe Biden, "focused on employing all of the elements of national power that we are available to us." A meeting of the defense and foreign ministries of all 30 NATO member states was held online in Brussels on Wednesday, April 14. At the same time, Austin and Blinken arrived in Brussels in person. They held a series of meetings, including with the NATO leadership. op German Chancellor Angela Merkel arrives for a press conference in Berlin, Germany, Tuesday, April 13, 2021. The Chancellor spoke about the current situation in the Corona pandemic and the amendments to the Infection Protection Act that the Federal Government passed on Tuesday. (Annegret Hilse/AP via Pool) German officials said Thursday that the country has set a new record for the number of COVID-19 vaccinations in a single day, even as authorities warned that hospitals are seeing a "dramatic" rise in the number of coronavirus patients needing treatment. The Health Ministry said 738,501 people received a first or second dose of vaccine Wednesday, continuing a sharp upward trend that began last week with the start of vaccinations in GP practices. German daily Die Welt reported that Chancellor Angela Merkel is scheduled to get the shot Friday. But the head of the country's disease control agency noted that most Germans are still waiting for their first vaccination. "We are in the third wave (of infections) and the situation in some hospitals is becoming dramatic," said Lothar Wieler, who heads the Robert Koch Institute. "We can already see that some cities and conurbations have temporarily run out of free intensive care beds," he said. Wieler called for elective surgeries to be postponed, to free up ICU capacity that he said would soon be needed for COVID-19 patients. Some hospitals in the central state of Thuringia planned to start transferring a number of seriously ill patients to other regions, the dpa news agency reported. The Robert Koch Institute reported 29,425 newly confirmed coronavirus infections in the past day, and 293 deaths. An employee of the vaccination center of the Klinikum Stuttgart hospital puts a dish with Syringes of the Moderna vaccine against the coronavirus and the COVID-19 disease into a vaccination booth in Stuttgart, Germany, Thursday, April 15, 2021. (Marijan Murat/dpa via AP) Since the start of the outbreak, Germany has recorded almost 3.1 million COVID-19 infections and 79,381 deaths. The German government this week asked Parliament to approve a bill giving federal authorities greater powers to set uniform pandemic restrictions in regions with high infection rates. Germany's decentralized system has often resulted in a patchwork of different rules as state governors disagreed on what measures to impose. Lawmakers are due to debate the bill Friday. Berlin-based newspaper Die Welt reported that Chancellor Angela Merkel will receive her coronavirus vaccine Friday. Citing unnamed government sources, the newspaper reported that the 66-year-old leader will receive the shot made by British-Swedish company AstraZeneca. Merkel's office declined to confirm the report, referring instead to her spokesman's comments Monday that the chancellor would be vaccinated "soon and the public will be informed about it then." Medical personnel wearing protective equipment transfer a patient to a newly created intensive care ward for COVID-19 patients at the SRH Waldklinikum hospital in Gera, Germany, Thursday, April 15, 2021. Currently, 21 Covid-19 patients are receiving intensive care in the ICU unit at the hospital. (Bodo Schackow/dpa via AP) Medical personnel wearing protective equipment work in the intensive care ward for COVID-19 patients at the SRH Waldklinikum hospital in Gera, Germany, Thursday, April 15, 2021. Currently, 21 Covid-19 patients are receiving intensive care here in the ICU unit at the hospital. (Bodo Schackow/dpa via AP) People enter and leave the corona center in Duisburg, Germany, Thursday, April 15, 2021. The center offers COVID-19 tests as well as vaccinations against the coronavirus. (AP Photo/Martin Meissner) People enter the corona center in Duisburg, Germany, Thursday, April 15, 2021. The center offers COVID-19 tests as well as vaccinations against the coronavirus. (AP Photo/Martin Meissner) A man wearing a mouth-nose protection to protect against the coronavirus walks past a department store window with the words "BACK TO LIFE" in Schwerin, Germany, Thursday, April 15, 2021. ( Jens Buettner/dpa via AP) German authorities have restricted use of the AstraZeneca shot to people over 60 amid concerns over a small but significant number of unusual blood clots in vaccine recipients. The European Medicines Agency has said the benefits of the vaccine far outweigh the potential risk, especially for older people who are more likely to suffer a serious form of COVID-19. Merkel has previously said she would be willing to receive the AstraZeneca shot, and President Frank-Walter Steinmeier did so last month. 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. Russia has extended a ban on flights to and from Britain until June due to a variant of the coronavirus first detected there, Reuters reported citing TASS news agency TASS reffered to the statement by Russias Federal Air Transport Agency. Washington, April 15 : Leaders of advocacy groups and Congress members have urged minority communities in the US to unite in the fight against racism, xenophobia and other social injustices. All civil rights organisations have to join together to stamp out constantly and be vigilant against racism, discrimination and scapegoating, because it is a disease that, if allowed to spread, affects everybody, Gary Locke, chairman-elect of the Committee of 100 (C100), a non-profit organisation of prominent Chinese Americans, said. Speaking at a special virtual town hall organised by the Committee of 100, Locke said, "That's what we really need to focus on," Xinhua news agency reported. When it comes to addressing white supremacy dogma behaviours, "we recognised no matter what our backgrounds are, what country of origin is, what region of this country we come from, we must unite and not accept the concept of the caste system", said Derrick Johnson, president and CEO of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. Johnson said the "caste system that we have in this country is going to destroy us if we don't destroy it". He stressed the importance of "being a friend before you need a friend" which values solidarity among minority groups. "We must stand united across our communities to ensure the atmosphere for white supremacy extremist activity is no longer accepted, and we stand united to fight against it," said Johnson. "The Jews in America are only safe when all minorities are safe, and only when everyone has justice do we as a Jewish people have justice... An attack on a Chinese American is an attack on me as a Jewish American, we are all in this together," said Jonathan A. Greenblatt, CEO and national director of the Anti-Defamation League, the world's leading anti-hate organisation. Democratic Congresswoman Grace Meng also highlighted the importance of allyship and solidarity in fighting injustice against minorities. When hate incidents happen, it is important to encourage people to report them to authorities as best as it could be, according to Democratic senator Alex Padilla from California. "It's frankly a collective of standing up and speaking out that gives people the license to be able to come forward." Both individuals and the media have a responsibility to tell hate stories responsibly by contextualising the incidents appropriately, according to Greenblatt. "The best antidote to intolerance is education" on policymakers and children, he added. One would expect the commemoration of something as tragic and sacred as the Holocaust be done in a respectful manner and not be manipulated for political goals. Such was not the case this week with Nancy Pelosis statement sent out on Holocaust Remembrance Day; known in Israel as Yom HaShoah. Instead, she exploited the murder of six million Jews by Hitler and his regime into a manifesto of Democrat false talking points and the demonization of millions of Americans associated with conservatism and who voted for President Trump. It was sacrilege and shameful. The first principle regarding the Holocaust is as follows: It was a unique, once-in-history genocidal plan to exterminate an entire race of people, Jews, across the globe simply because of who they were at birth. Unlike conventional warfare where antagonists may wish to eliminate those they are fighting, Hitler planned the systematic murder of those not only at war with him but those beyond the confines of the battle lines, searching for Jews worldwide even though they were not in the way of his territorial ambitions. They were murdered not for what they did or their conduct, but for simply being born into a people. While he did kill others during the war, the grand plan of Final Solution was specific to eradicating the Jewish people, no other group, from the face of the earth, leaving no trace of their ever having existed. Holocaust Memorial Day was never established as a general memorial day for all those harmed during World War II, but as something specific to the once-in-history systematic implementation of that Final Solution plan to eradicate the Jewish people from existence and human history. The remedy for what happened is for the world to make sure, this time, that Never Again shall we stand by while adversaries, such as Iran, go about with plans to once again exterminate the Jewish people by destroying Israel, as is their announced plan, or by murdering all Jews worldwide who are Zionists, something every Jew is commanded to be. In her statement, Pelosi writes: Seventy-six years after the Holocaust, shadows of dark forces of hate are again emerging in our nation with disturbing displays even inside the United States Capitol on January 6. How dare she! Invoking the Holocaust and the hate of Jews by Hitler when describing the Jan.6 protest in D.C. is blatantly dishonest, disrespectful of those murdered by Hitler, and propaganda at its worst. This is low even for Nancy Pelosi, the godmother of todays political viciousness, a Deep State game plan of lies which politicizes everything, crushing the soul of those things noble for political gain, slashing and burning so as to achieve One Party rule. Those that gathered in D.C on Jan .6, and virtually all who slowly walked through the Capitol, were engaged not in an act of hate against Jews. In fact, most Trump voters are supporters of Israel, and Jews, in contrast to the growing numbers of 24/7 severe critics of Israel, and even Jews, among todays woke Democrat constituencies. Pelosi talks of Charlottesville, the oft used Democrat talking point condemning President Trump for siding with Nazi protestors. This is one of the great lies in American history, reminiscent of Goebbels, who taught: "If you repeat a lie often enough it becomes a fact. President Trump immediately condemned the neo-Nazis marching in Charlottesville, but he rightfully argued that in the streets that day were other groups, not neo-Nazis, with valid concern over the toppling of statues of heroes to many in the South. President Trump was correct, and courageous and honest, in differentiating between neo-Nazis (white supremacists) and those feeling warmth and devotion to their history below the Mason-Dixon Line. Loving your native history does not automatically make one a white supremacist. Pelosi, like so many of todays universalizers, points to attacks on black churches as part of the Holocaust phenomenon. Truth is, attacks on black churches are today, thank God, very rare. There are certainly no widespread, across-the-nation attacks on black churches as there was against synagogues in prewar Germany and during Kristallnacht. Nor has an attack on any black or Jew or white ever been government policy, whereas in Holocaust Germany attacks against Jews and synagogues were exactly government policy. One should never, in campaign-like style, exploit the Holocaust to advance theories about so-called systemic racism against blacks nor equate crime as something Holocaust-like. Though progressives refuse to admit this, the truth is that in America today, it is synagogues and Orthodox-looking Jews who are, statistics prove, the highest victims of hate crimes, hate crimes committed mostly by blacks, Muslims, and Hispanics, core constituencies of Pelosis party. Pelosi boasts of having led a delegation to visit Auschwitz. Normally that would be admirable, if done for pure reasons rather as a springboard for Democrat talking points blaming conservatives and Republicans for again creating the shadows of the same dark forces and hate. However, let it be known, when we urged Pelosi to ostracize or censure Ilhan Omar for Omars anti-Semitic remarks, Pelosi refused. We held a rally in D.C. asking that, as Speaker of the House, she pass a stand-alone resolution condemning anti-Semitism, an anti-Semitism swelling loudly among some of her caucuses. Pelosi refused. She may be good on symbolism, but she is AWOL in denouncing anti-Semitism by itself. Her Holocaust statement, likewise, condemns anti-Semitism only if tied to Democrat talking points. It sounds good but is often a verbal a cover for acting oppositely. I have the same objection to President Bidens use of Holocaust Memorial Day to push for the LTGB political agenda. The most obvious hypocrisy in all of their Holocaust P.R., is Pelosis and Bidens renewal of funds to the PLO, an organization committed to Israels destruction, and which uses these funds to support terrorism and murder against Jewish citizens in Israel. So too, Bidens jump start of talks and future funding for Iran, a state that proudly declares its intentions to wipe all Jews living in Israel off the face of the earth. Mr. Biden: Iran and the P.L.O. would love a genocidal Final Solution against Jews, similar to how their Grand Mufti was part of the planning with Hitler for the original one back in the '40s. Under Pelosis control of D.C., we now have troops throughout D.C. reminding us not to be too active in our public assembly; we have a loss of freedom of speech and religion, an attempt to remove the ability for self-defense, constant propaganda, the big-lie routine perfected by Goebbels, and remarks from Pelosi describing her opponents as enemies of the State. If anything, one of the true lessons of the Holocaust is to be wary of such conditions. We know where it can lead! Rabbi Spero is president of Caucus for America, caucusforamerica.com, and author of Push Back: The Battle to Save Americas Judeo-Christian Heritage. Image: Gage Skidmore To comment, you can find the MeWe post for this article here. [April 15, 2021] New Machine Tool Workforce Development Alliance FANUC America, a leading factory automation solutions provider, and Doosan Machine Tools America, a leading provider of CNC machine tools, are working together to build the next generation of machinists. The FANUC Certified CNC Training Program now offers manufacturing skills development using Doosan machine tools. This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210415005112/en/ The FANUC Certified CNC Training Program now offers manufacturing skills development using Doosan machine tools. (Photo: Business Wire) The new offering adds to the depth and breadth of FANUC's CNC training tools as well as allows operators a hands-on experience with Doosan's high performance CNC machines, which have been used in manufacturing for over 40 years. The agreement is in collaboration with the FANUC Education Authorized Reseller Network and the Doosan Machine Tools Distributor Network. Together, they will provide industry-recognized training and equipment to educational institutions. "Our collaboration will provide secondary and post-secondary schools with hands-on skill development, and industry-recognized certifications using world-class Doosan machine tools combined with FANUC's industry-leading CNC controls," said Paul Aiello (News - Alert) , Director of Education, FANUC America. "We look forward to seeing students and job seekers develop the skills that will help them obtain exciting and high-paying careers in manufacturing." The primary machines offered to education providers will be the DEM 4000 3-axis vertical machining center and the LEO 1600 turning center. Although both of these machines are ideally suited for existing FANUC CNC Milling and Turning curriculum, dditional Doosan machine tools will be offered through FANUC's exclusive Authorized Reseller Network in the future. "Doosan is forming an alliance with one of the most respected companies in machine tools," says Jim Shiner, VP of Sales & Marketing with Doosan. "The alliance with FANUC helps to strengthen Doosan's continued commitment to education." In the future, FANUC's Certified CNC Training Program will be adding digital twins of Doosan's DEM 4000 and the LEO 1600 machine tools to the CNC Simulators with Machining Simulation software. This virtualized offering will be an effective tool for those learning how to run and program the Doosan machine tools without any risk to physical machines. About Doosan Machine Tools Doosan Machine Tools is a leading provider of state-of-the-art CNC machine tools used to produce high precision parts. We offer the industry's broadest product line: more than 300 powerful, quick and reliable turning centers, machining centers, multifunction machines and automation solutions proven ideal for a breadth of applications. For more than 40 years, Doosan Machine Tools has brought to its many customers the latest in CNC machine tool technology, together with highly responsive applications, sales and service. For more information, visit www.doosanmachinetools.com or follow Doosan Machine Tools America on Instagram, Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn. About FANUC America Corporation FANUC America Corporation is a subsidiary of FANUC CORPORATION in Japan, and provides industry-leading robotics, CNC systems, and factory automation. FANUC's innovative technologies and proven expertise help manufacturers in the Americas maximize productivity, reliability and profitability. FANUC embraces a culture of "Service First" which means that customer service is our highest priority. We are committed to supplying our customers with parts and support for the life of their FANUC products. FANUC America is headquartered at 3900 W. Hamlin Road, Rochester Hills, MI 48309, and has facilities in: Auburn Hills, MI; Atlanta; Boston; Charlotte; Chicago; Cincinnati; Cleveland; Houston; Huntington Beach, CA (News - Alert) ; Los Angeles; Minneapolis; Montreal; Pine Brook, NJ; Pontiac, MI; Birmingham, AL; San Francisco; Seattle; Toronto; Buenos Aires, Argentina; Sao Paulo, and Manaus, Brazil; and Aguascalientes, Monterrey, and Queretaro, Mexico. For more information, please call: 888-FANUC-US (888-326-8287) or visit our website: www.fanucamerica.com . Also, connect with us on YouTube, Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and Instagram. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210415005112/en/ [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] Source: Xinhua| 2021-04-15 22:10:30|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close WASHINGTON, April 15 (Xinhua) -- The United States on Thursday imposed sanctions against Russia and expelled 10 diplomats in response to Moscow's alleged election interference and cyber activities. The White House said in a statement that President Joe Biden had signed a new sanctions executive order against Russia. According to the order, the U.S. Department of the Treasury issued a directive that prohibits U.S. financial institutions from participation in the primary market for ruble or non-ruble denominated bonds issued after June 14, 2021, by Russia's central bank, the national wealth fund, or finance ministry. The Treasury also designated six Russian technology companies that "provide support to the Russian Intelligence Services' cyber program," and 32 entities and individuals related to the 2020 U.S. presidential election interference, the statement said. In addition, the United States is expelling 10 personnel from the Russian diplomatic mission in Washington D.C. Kremlin repeatedly said that claims of Russia's alleged meddling in the 2020 U.S. elections were baseless and regretful, calling them a pretext for additional sanctions. Enditem STOCKHOLM, April 15, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Bactiguard expands its business in the wound care market by partnering with the Spanish company Farmaban S.A. The partnership enables Bactiguard to reach the Spanish market with its full range of products. "We have found a very good match in Farmaban - a partner with significant competence in wound care management and ambition to grow by providing value. By combining Bactiguard's wound care portfolio with a wide range of bandages, dressings, and post-operative products, Farmaban will be offering a complete wound management solution. With Farmaban we are well positioned in wound care, which will strengthen the Bactiguard brand in Spain," says Peter Radqvist, Global Head of Sales. "Our commitment is to offer the best solutions for patient healing, and ease of application ensuring efficiency and safety. By combining our local expertise with Bactiguard's wound care portfolio, I am convinced that we have a winning concept," says Mr. Antonio Coll Balart, CEO Farmaban S.A. Farmaban is a privately-owned company, founded in 1992, located in Sant Fruitos de Bages (Barcelona). The company started by producing adhesive elastic bandages and has progressively expanded into manufacturing a wide range of products in wound care management. Last year Bactiguard entered a partnership with Libera Medica for distribution in Spain of Bactiguard's infection prevention portfolio, with coated products for urinary tract, blood stream and respiratory tract. By distributing Bactiguard's wound care portfolio, Farmaban will enable Bactiguard to reach the Spanish market with its full range of products for infection prevention and wound care. About Bactiguard's wound care portfolio Bactiguard wound care is a biocompatible, pH-neutral and water-based product line that supports the natural wound healing and cleans the wound by reducing the microbial load. The products can be used for both acute and chronical wounds. Bactiguard wound care contains hypochlorous acid, the same substance as the body's immune cells use in their defence against infectious organisms. The products neither smell strongly or sting, but effectively kills most viruses, bacteria and fungi that cause infections, including the new coronavirus SARS-CoV-2.* The solution has no negative effect on human cells, that means it is not irritating to the body. Read more about Bactiguard wound care >>> For further information, please contact: Petra Kaur, Chief Marketing and Communication Officer, mobile +46 79 304 96 36 Reference: *In collaboration with the Swedish National Veterinary Institute (SVA), tests have been conducted with Hydrocyn on a viral culture of the new corona virus (SARS-CoV-2) that causes COVID-19. The result shows that 99.9% of the virus particles were inactivated - which means, they were no longer functional and thus not contagious. This information was brought to you by Cision http://news.cision.com https://news.cision.com/bactiguard-holding-ab--publ-/r/bactiguard-introduces-wound-care-in-spain,c3326273 The following files are available for download: She made a name for herself on last year's winter series of Love Island. And Jess Gale was showing off her incredible figure in a tiny leather dress in a new Instagram snap on Thursday. The reality star, 21, had her enviable curves on display in the tight black number which highlighted her ample assets. Flawless: Jess Gale was showing off her incredible figure and ample assets in a tiny leather dress in a new Instagram snap on Thursday The thigh-skimming dress featured a daring cut-out design at the front which she wore with sky-high nude heels. Jess was also showing off her toned and tanned legs in the snap as she posed on the street after heading out to a restaurant in London for the night. She wore her long blonde tresses in a poker straight style over her shoulders and opted for a typically glamorous makeup look. Reality star: Jess made a name for herself on last year's winter series of Love Island and regularly posts sexy snaps on her social media Earlier this month, her sister Eve told fans that she was pining for sunnier climes as she shared a throwback swimsuit snap, before slipping into tiny hotpants. The blonde beauty flaunted her ample cleavage and underboob in a skimpy orange swimsuit. She captioned the snap: 'Oh to be this tanned again #June2020. Jess and Eve recently returned to the UK following their 'work' trip to the United Arab Emirates. Stunning: Jess (pictured) and Eve recently returned to the UK following their 'work' trip to the United Arab Emirates The TV stars were just two of many celebrities who jetted to Dubai throughout the pandemic, joining many other Love Islanders including Joanna Chimonides, Hayley Hughes and Francesca Allen. After Dubai joined UK's travel ban list, celebrities then began flocking to Mexico's bars and beaches as it established itself as the next COVID getaway destination. The country appeared to be the new destination of choice for global jet-setters and could rocket in popularity at the time. Travel abroad is now banned from the UK without a legally permitted reason, Home Secretary Priti Patel announced, as she criticised influencers for 'showing off in sunny parts of the world'. Many stars insisted their trips are for 'work purposes', with several influencers forced to hit back at fans after they were criticised for jetting off on holiday during the global pandemic. Jess and Eve rose to fame on the first ever series of winter Love Island back in 2020. While Eve was booted off after less than a week, Jess made it to the final with Ched Uzor - with the pair going their separate ways shortly afterwards. WEST SPRINGFIELD Four classes at John Ashley Kindergarten are in quarantine this week after a one pupil in each room tested positive for COVID-19. At a public meeting on Tuesday, Mayor William Reichelt and School Committee member Kathy Alevras questioned whether it was overkill to send four whole classrooms home to learn remotely. School and health officials, however, said its hard for kindergartners to maintain social distancing during class, at recess and on the bus, and the states public health protocols mandate quarantines for any close contacts of an infected person. These kids arent sitting in their chairs for an entire class period, said Jeanne Galloway, the towns director of public health. Theyre spreading their germs to other people as they go about the classroom. Since the state-mandated return to five-day-a-week in-person classes on April 5, schools in West Springfield have been unable to keep students more than 6 feet apart, the limit for a close contact. Instead, students are spaced at least 3 feet apart while masked. Galloway said the quarantine rules apply to anyone within 6 feet of an infected person for more than 10 minutes, with or without masks. Reichelt questioned the use of quarantining an entire classroom because of one infection, noting that teachers have seating charts and infected pupils would also have close contacts with fellow school bus riders and recess playmates. He said he worried about the effect this policy would have on other schools. It seems like if we have one case, wed have to close down a whole school, he said. Galloway and Christine Beaumont, the schools health director, said kindergarten is a special case. Rather than staying at their desks, children move around their classroom throughout the day, visiting several themed centers, making it difficult to tell which pupils have been in close contact. Additionally, these children are still learning to follow directions and it is hard to keep them apart at recess time. School Committee member William Garvey said he fully supported the health officials. He said they were following protocols voted by the School Committee. If theres a case, we need to protect our students, he said. We have a duty to do that. We still need to be careful. The (virus) variants are out there. School Superintendent Timothy Connor said the quarantines show the need for continued vigilance. We really need the community, the parents, to make sure theyre really monitoring their children for coronavirus symptoms, he said. If theres any doubt at all, keep them out. Connor said the schools were informed about the COVID-19 cases at John Ashley by state public health agencies. Because of the number of close contacts identified, school officials notified the affected families as a group, rather than making personal calls. Galloway said students and staff must remain in quarantine at least seven days. Those who show some symptoms, or who refuse to take a COVID-19 test, may have to remain in quarantine for two weeks. According to data compiled by the state, Galloway said, most transmission of COVID-19 happens in the home, and theres no sign that any of the infected West Springfield pupils contracted the virus while at school. John Ashley is a townwide kindergarten building, with 13 classrooms all serving that grade. Pupils have spent most of the year learning remotely, with a hybrid model featuring two in-person days per week beginning in February, and the return of five-day in-person learning on April 5. In addition to kindergarten, grades 1-6, as well as grade 9, returned to a five-day in-person schedule on April 5. The remaining grades at West Springfield Middle School and West Springfield High School went back to the all-in schedule starting this week. Related content: Photo: Contributed Paper Excellence says it will permanently close its pulp mill in Mackenzie, B.C., due to an inability to access "economic fibre." The mill was temporarily shut down in 2020, partly in response to the COVID-19 pandemic and the high cost of fibre. But the company says the mill is no longer economic and will permanently close. "Since acquiring the Mackenzie mill in 2010, Paper Excellence has invested more than $360 million in the facility," the company says in a press release. "However, despite these investments and the committed team of employees in Mackenzie, the facilitys small production capacity and the ongoing lack of local economic fibre meant the mill could not be globally competitive." "Where possible, Mackenzie employees have been relocated to other Paper Excellence facilities across Canada," the company said. While it is permanently closing its mill in Mackenzie, the company plans to invest $13 million at its mill in Powell River to restart a paper machine. "Furthermore, Paper Excellence is working towards making a significant capital investment in its Crofton facility and restarting its facility in Prince Albert, Saskatchewan," the company added. The closure of pulp and paper mills in B.C. has been predicted. as a result of the permanent closure of sawmills. B.C.'s forest industry is highly integrated, with pulp and paper mills relying on wood waste from sawmills to make pulp. But a declining supply of timber in B.C. has resulted in the permanent closure of several sawmills in B.C. Mackenzie has been particularly hard hit by sawmill closures and curtailments. Kicking and grunting under the restraint of three men, the camel makes its displeasure known as Kenyan veterinarian Nelson Kipchirchir swirls a giant swab in the nostril of the grumpy dromedary. It turns out camels don't much like being tested for coronavirus either. But the research is critical to advance understanding of Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) -- a far deadlier cousin of Covid-19 that scientists fear could cause the next global pandemic. The fear is this virus -- which has circulated among camels, and to a lesser extent, their owners in Kenya for some time -- could mutate, and a new strain could spread beyond herding communities into the general population. So Kipchirchir has little choice but to risk the wrath of the cantankerous 300-kilogramme (660-pound), two-metre (6.5-foot) high camel to collect crucial nasal and blood samples. "Sampling every animal is difficult in the sense that you never know what's going to happen... if you are going to do the wrong thing then that is when it can get more difficult in the sense that it can kick you, it can bite you," said Kipchirchir at Kapiti plains in southern Kenya. On this foggy morning, one camel handler gets a violent kick from one of a dozen of the testy creatures who underwent the ordeal at the 13,000-acre Kapiti ranch. Kapiti belongs to the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI), headquartered in Nairobi, and its research station on the ranch where wildlife, cattle and sheep are studied by scientists. - New, deadlier viruses - ILRI began researching camels in Kenya in 2013, a year after the appearance in Saudi Arabia of MERS, a coronavirus which kills an estimated 35 percent of those it infects, with some 850 deaths recorded, according to the World Health Organization. MERS is a zoonotic virus, believed to have transmitted from bats to camels, which causes similar symptoms to Covid-19 in humans: fever, coughing and respiratory difficulties. Story continues The emergence of Covid-19, which has killed almost three million people worldwide in 16 months, has sharpened focus on the next virus which could jump from animals to humans, or in the case of MERS, mutate to become even more transmissible. WHO experts believe Covid-19 jumped from bats to humans via an intermediary animal which has not yet been identified. According to WHO, some 60 percent of infectious diseases in humans have a zoonotic origin. The UN's science advisory panel for biodiversity, called IPBES, warned in 2020 that pandemics will grow more frequent and deadly due to environmental destruction and climate change which are leading to increased contact between humans, livestock and wild animals. IPBES warned of up to 850,000 viruses which may be able to infect people, with five new diseases breaking out among humans every year -- any one of which has the potential to become a pandemic. "There is a renewed interest in anything to do with viruses, anything to do with zoonotic diseases because of the whole Covid issue," said Eric Fevre, a specialist in infectious diseases with ILRI and the University of Liverpool in Britain. - 46 percent positive - In Kenya, there are around three million camels, one of the biggest populations in the world, and their popularity is growing in arid areas as herders adapt to more frequent droughts, which wreak havoc on cattle and other livestock. Meanwhile, demand is growing for camel milk and meat. "A camel is very important," said Isaac Mohamed, one of the herders at Kapiti, who originates from Kenya's vast, arid north which borders Ethiopia and Somalia, both also home to massive camel populations. "First, it cannot die if (there is) drought. Second, a camel can stay up to 30 days without water. Third, when shifting places, you can use the camel to transport your belongings." At the ILRI laboratory in Nairobi, biologist Alice Kiyong'a gets a steady stream of samples taken from camels across Kenya, which she analyses for the presence of MERS. A study that she led in 2014 showed MERS antibodies in 46 percent of the camels studied, and in five percent of camel handlers and abattoir workers who were tested. "The MERS that we currently have in Kenya now is not easily transmittable to humans," compared to that in Saudi Arabia, she said. But researchers are obsessed with the likelihood of a variant emerging that could make Kenyan MERS more contagious to mankind. "It's exactly like with Covid... there are new variants that appeared... it is the same with MERS, the virus is changing all the time," said Fevre. "I wish I had a crystal ball and I could tell you it might be that it never becomes hugely dangerous to humans," he added. However, "it could be that with a few genetic mutations that it could become that way. So I think the important thing is to maintain an effort for doing surveillance... because then we will be ready when it happens." md/fb/mjs A New Jersey man was killed late Wednesday night in a single-vehicle crash on Interstate 22 in Jefferson County. Carl L. Browning, 68, was traveling eastbound on I -22 when, about 10:15 p.m., he was involved in a crash. Details about the initial crash werent immediately available.The crash occurred on I-22 near the 91 mile marker, less than one mile east of Adamsville. Alabama State Troopers told the Jefferson County Coroners Office that after the initial wreck, Browning is believed to have gotten out of his vehicle and was then struck by a 2006 Honda Odyssey. He was pronounced dead on the scene. Troopers are investigating. President Moon Jae-in speaks with company CEOs of electric vehicle, semiconductor and shipbuilding industries during their meeting at Cheong Wa Dae, Thursday. Yonhap By Nam Hyun-woo President Moon Jae-in is striving to guide Korean chipmakers that have been forced to play a balancing act in the escalating standoff between the U.S. and China. Experts said Korea's semiconductor industry should be viewed as a matter of national security, requiring a diplomatic approach to accompany the strategies of private businesses. Such an approach, according to experts, would ensure that the industry retains its edge amid attempts by the U.S. and China to include Korean chipmakers in their supply chains. President Moon presided over an economic ministers' meeting, Thursday, to discuss strategies for Korea's electric vehicle, semiconductor and shipbuilding industries. The CEOs of Samsung Electronics, SK hynix and other major companies in those industries also attended the meeting. "The semiconductor industry is undergoing the most noticeable change in the global supply chain," Moon said. "The semiconductor industry is of strategic importance and the country's current and future economic status hinges on it. We should continue leading the global supply chain, and the government will come up with multidimensional support plans for companies to ensure our country consolidates its No. 1 status in the world." The meeting came amid growing calls from businesses that the government should play a bigger role in helping Korean chipmakers that are facing pressure from the U.S. and China to side with them. U.S. President Joe Biden holds up a silicon wafer at the virtual CEO Summit on Semiconductor and Supply Chain Resilience in the Roosevelt Room of the White House, Monday. AP-Yonhap Boris Johnson has condemned an International Criminal Court investigation into alleged war crimes in the Palestinian territories as an attack on Israel, sparking criticism. The probe is set to cover the 2014 Gaza war and Israeli settlement-building in the West Bank but also rocket fire by Hamas and other Palestinian groups, in an impartial approach the court said. However, Mr Johnson despite describing the UK as a strong supporter of the ICC has strongly opposed the inquiry in a letter to the Conservative Friends of Israel. We not accept that the ICC has jurisdiction in this instance, given that Israel is not a party to the Statute of Rome and Palestine is not a sovereign state, the prime minister has written. This investigation gives the impression of being a partial and prejudicial attack on a friend and ally of the UKs. Nevertheless, Mr Johnson insisted the UK had an enduring commitment to strengthening the court in The Hague and in serving international justice Richard Burden, the former chair of the Britain-Palestine all-party parliamentary group, criticised the prime minister for thinking he knows the jurisdiction of the ICC better than the court itself. He tweeted: He says UK opposes this investigation of a friend and ally. The UK either supports independence of the court or it does not. We cant have it both ways. The ICC had made clear its investigation will be conducted independently, impartially and objectively, without fear or favour, Mr Burden pointed out. Mr Johnsons stance comes despite him sharply criticising, last year, Israels plans to illegally annex much of the West Bank, warning they would deny justice to Palestinians. The long-awaited inquiry announced last month followed an earlier ruling that the courts jurisdiction extends to territories occupied by Israel since the 1967 six-day war. Human rights groups were delighted, but, in a furious response, Israel branded the ICC morally and legally bankrupt. Mr Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister, said: The decision of the international court to open an investigation against Israel today for war crimes is absurd. Its undiluted antisemitism and the height of hypocrisy. Joe Bidens administration has also said it disagrees with the ICC taking the action, but the US unlike the UK is not a party to the court. The ICCs chief prosecutor, Fatou Bensouda, said it would look into crimes within the jurisdiction of the court that are alleged to have been committed since 13 June 2014. The investigation would be conducted independently, impartially and objectively, without fear or favour, the Gambian lawyer added. If it identifies suspects allegedly responsible for crimes, prosecutors can ask judges to issue international arrest warrants. Hazem Qassem, a Hamas spokesperson in Gaza, said: We welcome the ICC decision to investigate Israeli occupation war crimes against our people. It is a step forward on the path of achieving justice for the victims of our people. 's ( ) Subash Menon, MD, CEO & Co-founder, talks to Proactive London's Katie Pilbeam about their 2020 performance which he says ended with good visibility on revenues for the coming twelve months. Going forwards the business strategy is to target the mobile phone AD sector which he says will 'refine who we are' with vast opportunities for the telecoms marketing software specialist. [April 15, 2021] SPi Global rebrands as Straive; launches a new, bolder and younger brand identity SINGAPORE, April 15, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- SPi Global, the market leading content technology enterprise, today announced the launch of its new avatar as Straive (pronounced "strive"). Following many developments in recent years including major acquisitions, new revenue streams and further consolidation of key business divisions, the new brand restates the value proposition of the company. Over the years, the company has established itself as a leading e-learning solutions partner for online K-12 and higher-ed providers, as a specialized solutions provider for top business information and financial platforms, and as the leading content services provider to research and education publishers. With the acquisition of LearningMate in 2020, Straive today has a robust end-to-end portfolio encompassing content generation, technology platforms and delivery for the Ed-Tech space. Straive also recognizes the untappd potential of unstructured data across industries. In line with that, Ed-Tech, Data Solutions, Research and Education Content Services would form the core pillars of the company's long-term vision. The rebranding exercise is an amalgamation of several strategic and gradual changes to the visual identity of the company including a new brand color, logo, refreshed website and social channels. The name Straive encompasses the company's increased focus on AI-driven solutions and signifies the ongoing endeavor to continuously enhance the value that the company brings to its customers, employees and to the community. The new brand logo represents Straive's commitment to unravel the power of information by "Connecting the Dots''. The refreshed look with Orange as the new brand color represents the wave of innovation and excellence the company brings to its esteemed customers in Research, Education, Ed-Tech, Finance, Real Estate, ESG, Logistics, etc. Ratan Datta, President and CEO, Straive (earlier known as SPi Global), said, "We have been on a consistent path of growth, expansion and evolution through the years. As an extension of that, we are excited to launch our new brand and visual identity. The rebranding is our pledge to keep evolving in our quest to elevate knowledge to solve the critical problems of our time." The company also launched a new brand film and a microsite to mark the brand refresh. About Straive (erstwhile SPi Global) Straive (earlier known as SPi Global) is a market leading content technology enterprise that provides data services, subject matter expertise (SME) and technology solutions to multiple domains such as research content, e-Learning/EdTech and data/information providers. With a client-base scoping 30 countries worldwide, Straive's multi-geographical resource pool is strategically located in eight countries- Philippines, India, USA, China, Nicaragua, Vietnam, United Kingdom and the company headquarters in Singapore. In August 2017, Partners Group, the global private markets investment manager, invested in SPi Global on behalf of its clients. For media queries, reach out to Kshitiz Ahuja Lead- Brand and PR kshitiz.ahuja@spi-global.com SOURCE Straive [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] Austin Nashville Nashville Nashville Silicon Valley Redwood City, California Austin Central Texas Austin Chamber of Commerce Lady Bird Lake Southeast Austin Larry Ellison Austin Tennessee Nashville Nashville John Cooper Tennessee Bill Lee California Nashville Nashville Nashville Germantown Nashville Davidson County The Tennessee Department of Economic and Community Development Hawaii Austin Central Texas Nearly half of Oregons public school students have returned to the classroom, figures released Tuesday show. As of last week, more than 270,000 students, or 47% of those enrolled in public K-12 schools, were regularly getting in-person instruction, according to the new Oregon Department of Education data. Thats 40,000 more than the previous week and approximately 124,000 more than the week before spring break. And it comes as Portland-area middle and high schools prepare to open their doors for hybrid learning. Among the 18 largest Portland-area districts, nearly 69,000, of the 220,000 students enrolled attended classes in-person last week. That means the states most populous region still has fewer students attending classes in-person than Oregon as a whole fewer than 1 in 3 Portland-area students are regularly getting classroom instruction. And even within the metro area, there are wide disparities in how much classroom time students get from district to district, as The Oregonian/OregonLive reported earlier this month. In Lake Oswego, elementary students get a little more than 12 hours of face-to-face time with their teachers every week. The Parkrose district offers 4.5 and several others just five. And some districts dont plan on opening middle and high schools for hybrid learning until after Gov. Kate Browns April 19 target. The North Clackamas and Parkrose districts say they will open their secondary schools for in-person instruction April 26. Beaverton is launching its middle school hybrid programs Monday, as the governor requested, but high schools wont come online until three days later. Portland Public Schools, which recently announced it will return to full five-day weeks in the fall, also begins hybrid instruction at its middle and high schools next week. The states largest district had more than 15,000 students attending classes in-person last week, nearly 10 times as many as it did before spring break, according to state figures. Portland Public Schools enrolls about 47,000 students. Unlike some of its peers in the region, the Portland district will continue spacing students 6 feet apart in classrooms despite guidelines from both the Oregon Department of Education and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention that allow for 3 feet of spacing in such environments. --Eder Campuzano | 503-221-4344 | @edercampuzano | Eder on Facebook Eder is The Oregonians education reporter. Do you have a tip about Portland Public Schools? Email ecampuzano@oregonian.com. MENLO PARK, California, April 15, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- April 15, 2021 SRI International congratulates Nuance Communications on their acquisition by Microsoft for $19.7 billion, making it the second-largest Microsoft acquisition after LinkedIn. Nuance is a market leader in speech recognition and transcription for healthcare and other applications worldwide. Nuance was an early spinoff of SRIs Speech Technology and Research (STAR) Laboratory, a world leader in audio processing, speech and speaker analytics and spoken language research. The technology that served as the foundation of Nuances speech recognition solution started at the STAR Lab and helped launch Nuance more than 20 years ago. SRI is proud to have been a part of Nuances history and commends their achievements in the decades since. We want to wish them the best on the next stage of this journey as part of Microsoft, said Todd Stavish, Vice President and Managing Director of SRI Ventures. The technology driving more accurate conversational speech understanding continues to evolve as AI and machine learning are being applied in new and innovative ways. Those early lessons we learned working with the Nuance team continue to guide us today as STAR develops new technology that forms the core of new audio-and speech-related spinoffs backed by SRI Ventures. Building on the success of SRI spinoffs like Nuance and Siri, SRI Ventures continues to create technology startups that pioneer new applications in the space of audio and language understanding. Decoded Health has developed the worlds first Virtual Medical Resident, which uses AI and natural language processing to assist with patient intake, gathering information about symptoms and medical history to save physicians time in making a diagnosis. Curie AI uses technology developed by the SRI STAR Lab to recognize and analyze symptoms relating to respiratory disease. OTO Systems, another SRI spinoff, applies AI for spoken language processing to assess customer sentiment to improve customer service and reduce churn. About SRI International SRI International creates world-changing solutions making people safer, healthier and more productive. SRI, a research center headquartered in Menlo Park, California, works primarily in advanced technology and systems, biosciences, computing and education. SRI brings its innovations to the marketplace through technology licensing, spin-off ventures and new product solutions. Q&A with MD Sarder, chair of engineering technologies By Bob Cunningham 18 Bowling Green State University is launching two new engineering programs in Fall 2021. BGSU is offering a Master of Science in logistics systems engineering (MS-LSE) and a Bachelor of Science in systems engineering (SYE) the Universitys first engineering programs in the College of Technology, Architecture and Applied Engineering. MS-LSE is an interdisciplinary program that blends business and engineering skills to solve complex problems in logistics, systems engineering, production design and health care systems. It prepares BGSU students for a variety of positions by giving them the ability to design a system, component or process to meet desired needs within realistic constraints. It prepares students to combat issues that arise in logistics and systems engineering settings and to understand the impact of engineering solutions in global, economic, environmental and societal contexts. BS-SYE is a multidisciplinary engineering discipline that is highly demanding and compensated. Unlike traditional engineering, this program takes a holistic approach to designing and improving complex systems such as manufacturing, logistics, retail service and health care systems. This program emphasizes engineering design, systems integration, modeling, problem solving, teamwork and communication skills in order to prepare students for the tasks of their future professions in the field. The graduates from this program will be well versed in dealing with people, processes and technologies and have high potential to move up in their careers. Dr. MD Sarder is a professor and chair of engineering technologies at the University. Sarder has extensive teaching and research experiences in various areas of industrial and systems engineering, predominantly in logistics transportation and supply chain management. Q: What will the new Master of Science in logistics systems engineering entail? A: This is a joint program with the Allen W. and Carol M. Schmidthorst College of Business and the College of Technology, Architecture and Applied Engineering, launching in Fall 2021.This program requires only 10 courses or 30 credit hours. The program is offered in a hybrid form as well as 100% online. Q: What are the benefits of enrolling into the MS-LSE program at this time? A: There is a huge demand for logistics professionals within the region and even nationwide. This is a STEM degree program we think should be able to attract a lot of students, including international students. Our primary target is working professionals who are already working in different industries. Because the program is hybrid/online, students should be able to take this program while they're working because of its flexibility. This program offers a study abroad program to the Panama Canal to explore international aspects of logistics and systems design from the curriculum. Q: How do the business and engineering worlds mesh with this degree? A: Thats a great question. The most of the real-world jobs in logistics and systems engineering require engineering design and business skills. This program blends business and engineering skills to solve complex problems. If you look at the logistics, supply chain is also involved, and our College of Business has one of the top supply chain programs in the nation. The collaboration between the two colleges enhances the curriculum. If you look across the United States, you're going to find only a few universities that have a logistics systems engineering program. Ours is unique because of the collaborations between the two colleges. Q: What else makes this program attractive to prospective students? A: I can tell you that if you look at the need, the industry demand for this type of degree and the salary range for logistics managers, often in the six-figure range, are the attraction points. Here in northwest Ohio, alone, automotive companies and defense industries are in a great need for logistics professionals. Plus, logistics is not just shipping from the warehouse to the customer. It encompasses inbound logistics that happen within the plants, including the manufacturing and health care sectors. There are also reverse logistics that are needed to handle returns, repairs, value recoveries, warranty and other issues all those kinds of things that make logistics a trillion-dollar industry. More than 5 million people work in the U.S. logistics sector. Q: Could you switch gears and talk about the Bachelor of Science in systems engineering program? Yes, the systems engineering program is also the first engineering program in our college, and it focuses on three components: people, processes and technologies. That is why you will see that, like with the logistics systems engineering masters program, this program has that component as well, one with people skills. Todays jobs in the industry are significantly different due to the complexity of products, high level of automation in the process and ever-changing customer expectations. It is no longer adequate to have a singular set of skills to fulfill the employers needs. This program prepares graduates with a combination of these skill sets. Q: Can you talk about the programs versatility? Yes, systems engineering is really broad as it takes a holistic approach of problem solving. This program focuses on engineering design, systems integration, modeling, problem solving, teamwork and communication skills in order to prepare students for the tasks of their future professions in the field. Q: How do these programs help support the Universitys mission of being a public university for the public good? Todays industry requires specialized STEM graduates with the 21st century professional skills. Most of them are coming from engineering programs, so our primary mission is to fulfill the workforce need here with competent and readily deployable engineering graduates. We're also going to be helping regional industries solve some of their complex problems in logistics and systems engineering, and that is directly helping the public here. Were going to be looking for federal and state grants in this region to help solve those industries problems. OLYMPIA - With a bipartisan 46-2 vote, the state Legislature Wednesday took a final vote on a bill Attorney General Bob Ferguson requested to create a database of police use-of-force incidents so the public, policymakers, researchers and law enforcement can access the data. Currently in Washington state, there is no central repository for use-of-force data. Sen. Twina Nobles, D-Fircrest, sponsored the bill, Senate bill 5259. The legislation builds on a report to the Legislature that Ferguson released in June 2020 recommending that the state create a centralized, publicly accessible website with information about incidents. The bill passed the Senate in March on a 46-2 vote. It passed the House on April 6 on a 97-1 vote, but with amendments. The Senates vote Wednesday confirmed those amendments. The measure will now go to Gov. Jay Inslee for his signature. I appreciate the dedication of the broad coalition who helped get this bill through the legislature, Ferguson said. Legislators on both sides of the aisle collaborated with law enforcement and community groups to create this necessary legislation. This common sense, bipartisan reform is long overdue. The bill requires agencies to collect and report key data regarding the incident, including the demographic characteristics of the officers and the members of the public. The database of information the bill creates will contain clear, comprehensive and contextual information to help the public better visualize interactions using force between law enforcement and the public. A centralized, online and publicly accessible database will assist law enforcement, academics and policymakers. Ferguson's office says the database will help enact equitable policies, begin to build trust through transparency and measure the effectiveness of policing reform strategies. Law enforcement unions and groups, like the Fraternal Order of Police, Washington Council of Police and Sheriffs and Troopers Association, supported the bill throughout the legislative session along with community organizations like the Coalition for Police Accountability, Equal Rights Washington and the Latino Civic Alliance. If signed into law by Inslee, the bill will require: President Joe Biden has announced the unconditional withdrawal of all US troops from Afghanistan by September 11. DW analyzes implications for the war-torn country's future. Deutsche Welle reports that after almost two decades since the United States invaded Afghanistan and toppled the Taliban regime, Washington is set to exit the country. President Joe Biden has decided to withdraw all troops from Afghanistan by September 11. The military withdrawal will not depend on the situation on the ground despite fears that the Taliban could make major gains, many say. "The president has judged that a conditions-based approach, which has been the approach of the past two decades, is a recipe for staying in Afghanistan forever," an official told reporters on condition of anonymity on Tuesday. Germany will match US plans for the withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan, Defense Minister Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer said in an interview on Wednesday. "We have always said we are going in together, and we are going out together," Kramp-Karrenbauer told German public broadcaster ARD. "I stand for an orderly withdrawal, and I expect us to decide this today (at NATO)." Former US President Donald Trump's administration had set the pullout date for May 1, but Biden's decision will delay the end of withdrawal by another five months. Biden's complete and unconditional decision to withdraw comes as a surprise for many experts, who had hoped that his administration would reverse Trump's policies , which many believe have emboldened Islamist militants in Afghanistan. A victory for the Taliban? Violent attacks in Afghanistan have spiked since the signing of the US-Taliban agreement in Doha, Qatar, in February 2020 to end the protracted war. The Taliban deny involvement in these attacks, but their refusal to agree to a nationwide ceasefire has raised doubts about their intentions. The Islamist group, which feels more powerful than ever, also says it would not attend a planned summit in Turkey until all foreign troops leave the country. "The result of the upcoming Afghan conference in Turkey will determine how the withdrawal of US troops will impact the future of the country," Mohammad Shafiq Hamdam, a Kabul-based security expert, told DW. If the conference succeeds in forming a government that includes Taliban and other Afghans, then the damage of such a hurried exit from Afghanistan will be manageable, he continued. "But if the conference fails, and the Taliban continue to reject peace, I am afraid Afghanistan could face an all-out civil war." The US decision to pull out all troops from Afghanistan would also leave President Ashraf Ghani's elected government at the mercy of militants. US intelligence has released a report finding that Afghanistan's government would "struggle" to stand its ground against the "confident" Taliban. The US national intelligence report states that the Taliban "is confident it can achieve military victory." "Afghan forces continue to secure major cities and other government strongholds, but they remain tied down in defensive missions and have struggled to hold recaptured territory or reestablish a presence in areas abandoned in 2020," it said. Analyst Hamdam says that Afghan security forces "are financially and militarily dependent on the US, and without its support, they will be in a tough spot." The Taliban are not the only threat to Afghan forces; other militant groups, such as "Islamic State" (IS), have also gained a foothold in the war-ravaged country. "The Taliban are stronger than ever. IS and other terrorist groups have gained a foothold in Afghanistan. Therefore, the consequences of a hasty and irresponsible withdrawal from Afghanistan could be dangerous not only for Afghanistan but also for the region and the world," Raihana Azad, a member of the Afghan parliament, told DW. 'No excuse for war' Concerns is great that gains made over the past two decades, especially in the area of women's rights, could be lost as the Taliban unleash further violence. It is unclear whether the Taliban would agree to protecting human rights and freedom of speech in Afghanistan. "The US has made too many concessions to the Taliban. The Afghan people will pay the price for it. They are disheartened and feel abandoned by the international community," lawmaker Azad said. Some experts hold the view that the withdrawal announcement could also put the Taliban into a difficult position. "By announcing an unconditional pullout, the US has accepted Taliban's main demand. Now the international community expects the Taliban to join the political process. There is no excuse to continue the war," Assadullah Nadim, a Kabul-based military expert, told DW. Bigger role for Pakistan? Biden's decision to pull out troops from Afghanistan will also give an upper hand to regional players, which are vying for a bigger role in the country. Countries like Pakistan, India, China and Russia have their own strategic interests, which are better served without a US presence in Afghanistan. Pakistani Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi, who held talks with his German counterpart Heiko Maas in Berlin earlier this week, told DW that Islamabad will remain an important player in the Afghan peace process. "Pakistan will benefit from peace in Afghanistan. It will open the door to increased trade with Kabul, and many pending development projects can be completed," he said. Pakistan has been wary of an increased role of its regional rival India in Afghanistan since the US invaded Afghanistan in 2001. Experts say that the 2020 US-Taliban deal would not have been possible without Islamabad's backing. Pakistan has a considerable influence over the Taliban, and it played a key role in bringing the insurgents to the negotiating table. Yet Pakistan wants a strong role for the Taliban in future Afghan governance. Its regional interests are better served with a powerful Taliban presence in its western neighborhood. This, however, would not guarantee peace in Afghanistan. President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has served notice that he would sack any Minister or appointee in his government found to be involved in campaigning to become the 2024 presidential candidate of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), the partys General Secretary, John Boadu had disclosed. President Akufo-Addo, in his capacity as the President of the Republic of Ghana, has made it clear that anybody that he finds to be distracting his government as a result of his or her ambition, he would not hesitate in getting them out of his government, so that they can concentrate on their presidential ambition or whatever. Sometimes it is very difficult for me to talk about these things but it looks like that is what we are to do. So we are putting forward some proposals to the [NPP] National Steering Committee quickly by this month we would be at a National Executive Committee to fashion out some guidance in order to allow government work to go on." What it means is that it would get all and sundry to understand that there is no point in testing waters now whether by their assigns or by they themselves or whoever and there would be very punitive sanctions if one decides to disobey such a measure, Mr. John Boadu told The Big Bulletin on Asaase Radio in an interview monitored by The New Publisher. The NPP General Secretary described the ongoing subtle campaign by some government appointees mostly ministers of state as unnecessary distractions for the government of the day. He explained: It is an unnecessary distraction because if you read the constitution of our party, it reads that anytime we are in government, we elect our presidential candidates, not less than 11 months to general elections. What it means is that technically, the election of our presidential candidate can be done in January 2024. If that is so, if you start campaigning from now, the obvious thing that would happen is a distraction of government programmes and government activities. If we are not mindful of these things, what it means is that over the next three years, government activities and the presidents actions are going to be distracted by these needless water testers. John Boadu said even ahead of the NEC meeting to address the issue, the party has found a way of reducing the free-for-all rat race for the flag-bearer slot. About two weeks ago, it was very vibrant and all over the place but when we made the statement and cautioned them, it came down till the recent statement by the Majority Leader. I think that it is unnecessary, it is uncalled for and e just have to be guided by our own constitution. The danger involved is that if we do not put a stop to it now, we may have other people and organizations or political parties who do not wish us well also sowing seeds of discord among us. Source: the publisher 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 Biden administration imposed a series of new sanctions on Russia, including restrictions on buying new sovereign debt, in retaliation for alleged misconduct related to the SolarWinds hack and efforts to disrupt the US election. The new measures sanction 32 entities and individuals, including government and intelligence officials, Six companies will be subject to sanctions, and the US will expel ten personnel from the Russian diplomatic mission in Washington, DC. The Biden administration also is barring US financial institutions from participating in the primary market for new debt issued by the Russian central bank, Finance Ministry and sovereign wealth fund. Those limits would take effect from June 14. Russian bonds fell and the ruble dropped the most since December on the news. What President Biden is going to announce today, we believe, are proportionate measures to defend American interests in response to harmful Russian actions, including cyber intrusions and election interference, National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan told CNN early Thursday. His goal is to provide a significant and credible response but not to escalate the situation. The sanctions reflect an attempt by the US to balance the desire to punish the Kremlin for past misdeeds but also to limit the further worsening of the relationship, especially as tensions grow over a Russian military buildup near Ukraine. The latest moves come just two days after President Joe Biden warned Vladimir Putin the US would defend its interests but also offered the possibility of a summit meeting in the coming months, drawing a cautiously positive response from Moscow. Restrictions blocking US investors from buying ruble-denominated Russian government debt have long been seen as the nuclear option in financial markets, where the bonds, known as OFZs, have been a popular investment. Foreigners now hold about a fifth of that debt, worth roughly $37 billion. Russias 10-year local bonds fell the most since March 2020 in early trading in Moscow, before paring that decline, while the ruble, which had rallied on the news of the Biden-Putin phone call, was down 1.4 per cent as of 2:50 pm in Moscow. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said new sanctions wouldnt facilitate the planned summit but stopped short of saying they would derail it. He said would reciprocate for any new limits but declined to comment on whether Biden warned Putin about impending measures in the call Tuesday. Though they hit the market, debt restrictions arent expected to significantly hamper the Russian governments ability to finance itself, since state banks can take up much of the slack, analysts said. The Daily News-Miner encourages residents to make themselves heard through the Opinion pages. Readers' letters and columns also appear online at newsminer.com. Contact the editor with questions at letters@newsminer.com or call 459-7574. Community Perspective Send Community Perspective submissions by mail (P.O. Box 70710, Fairbanks AK 99707) or via email (letters@newsminer.com). Submissions must be 500 to 750 words. Columns are welcome on a wide range of issues and should be well-written and well-researched with attribution of sources. Include a full name, email address, daytime telephone number and headshot photograph suitable for publication (email jpg or tiff files at 150 dpi.) You may also schedule a photo to be taken at the News-Miner office. The News-Miner reserves the right to edit submissions or to reject those of poor quality or taste without consulting the writer. Letters to the editor Send letters to the editor by mail (P.O. Box 70710, Fairbanks AK 99707), by fax (907-452-7917) or via email (letters@newsminer.com). Writers are limited to one letter every two weeks (14 days.) All letters must contain no more than 350 words and include a full name (no abbreviation), daytime and evening phone numbers and physical address. (If no phone, then provide a mailing address or email address.) The Daily News-Miner reserves the right to edit or reject letters without consulting the writer. Haiti - Education : The Ministry condemns the attacks on schools The Ministry of National Education was amazed to learn that teachers and administrative staff in some schools and public entities have reportedly started a strike to demand a debit card. He regrets the method used by demonstrators who violently entered schools by forcing students and staff to leave their workplaces and breaking certain school materials. The Ministry condemns these attacks on schools, wherever they come from, under the pretext of protest, whatever the circumstances. "It is unacceptable and intolerable that this barbaric and retrograde practice continues to affect the functioning of Haitian schools and violates the right to education of our children." Regarding the request for the debit card, the Ministry specifies that the Haitian State "has made enormous efforts in spite of a difficult socio-economic context in order to offer this privilege and this advantage to the personnel of the Ministry in addition to the salary increase granted at the start of the fiscal year. The process is in its final phase before the card is delivered to the concerned parties, depending on the availability of the Treasury," adding "it is inconceivable that teachers could refuse to deliver the service for which they are regularly paid with taxes from the population, under the pretext of an expected debit card which is not a legal right, according to the Law on public service, but rather a privilege and a social advantage." The Ministry denounces this behavior and calls for the sense of responsibility of teachers and all members of the administrative staff for the resumption of public service for the supervision of students and the continuation of learning activities. He asks the departmental directors of education and the directors of high schools and fundamental national schools to take all measures for the normal resumption of classes in the affected areas and to adopt "the necessary measures against those who penalize children while they are duly paid for doing their work." HL/ HaitiLibre ADVERTISEMENT The Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC), Edo Command, says it foiled a jailbreak attempt by inmates at the Nigerian Correctional Service (NCoS) facility, Ubiaja, Esan South East Local Government Area. Richard Ogbebor, the Public Relations Officer (PRO) of the command in a statement in Benin disclosed that the attempted jailbreak occurred from 15:00 hours to 17:00 hours on Wednesday. Mr Ogbebor explained that the corps had received a distress call on the attempted jailbreak and subsequently mobilised its personnel led by Samuel Ogbeide, an Assistant Superintendent of Corps 1, to the facility. He said that on getting to the facility, it was discovered that the inmates had broken out from their cells and were already engaging the correctional officers in a fight. He disclosed that in a bid to bring the development under control some of the officers sustained different degrees of injury. He further said that, however, with assistance from the personnel from the Nigerian Army, 4th Brigade, and the Edo Command, Nigerian Police Force, the inmates were eventually overpowered and taken back to their cells. He added that security had been fully beefed up at the correctional facility by all security agencies. The announcement comes about two weeks after gunmen stormed a correctional facility in Owerri, Imo State, freeing over 1,800 inmates. (NAN) The original Immersive Van Gogh has risen to blockbuster status, becoming the hottest ticket to hold. Immersive Van Gogh sold out its run in Toronto, has sold out and extended its run in Chicago, and San Francisco opened in March, where its first month is sold-out. Following the Los Angeles, New York, and Denver ticket sales announcements, each market sold out rapidly and have since extended their runs with additional tickets now available. Immersive Van Gogh is the latest creation by the world-renowned master of digital art, Italy's Massimiliano Siccardi, who for 30 years has been pioneering immersive exhibitions in Europe. Over 2 million visitors have seen his magnificent installations. With the help of 60,600 frames of video, 90,000,000 pixels, and 500,000+ cubic feet of projections, this captivating digital art exhibit merges state-of-the-art technology, theatrical storytelling, and world-class animation. It gives guests the rare opportunity to "step inside" and experience the incredible post-Impressionist works of Van Gogh like never before. Immersive Van Gogh will be making its mark at a secret location to be determined. The original Immersive Van Gogh is a spectacular, vivid, and breathtaking digital art experience that invites audiences to enter the legendary works of post-Impressionist artist Vincent van Goghevoking his highly emotional and chaotic inner consciousness through art, light, music, movement, and imagination. Featuring stunning towering projections that illuminate the artistic genius's mind, the exhibition showcases a curated selection of images from Van Gogh's 2,000+ lifetime catalog of masterpieces, including Les Mangeurs de pommes de terre (The Potato Eaters, 1885), La Nuit etoilee (Starry Night, 1889), Les tournesols (Sunflowers, 1887), and La Chambre a coucher (The Bedroom, 1888). Paintings will be presented how the artist first saw the scenes, based on an active life and moving landscapes turned into sharp yet sweeping brush strokes. Creator and Italian film producer Massimiliano Siccardi has pioneered the art form with Immersive Van Gogh and taken it to an unmatched and unprecedented level. Van Gogh once said, "I dream my painting, and I paint my dreams." Siccardi and his award-winning creative team have made Van Gogh's dream come alive by creating unprecedented movements in the masterpieces. The exhibition also contains original, mood-setting music by Italian multimedia composer Luca Longobardi and Vittorio Guidotti as the Art Director. The hour-long, timed-entry, walk-through experience is designed with health and safety as a priority. Capacity will be limited in accordance with the City of Orlando's safety protocols. Additional safety precautions include touchless ticket-taking, temperature checks upon arrival, hand sanitizer stations, social distancing markers throughout the venue, and digitally projected social distancing circles on the gallery floors to ensure appropriate spacing. All guests must wear a face covering at all times during their visit. "We've created a unique and enthralling production that functions safely during this pandemic," says Co-Producer, Svetlana Dvoretsky. "Hundreds of thousands of guests have seen Immersive Van Gogh in small, socially-distanced safe groups. It is an honor to bring the arts back into peoples' lives during these times," adds Co-Producer, Corey Ross. "Despite being unknown throughout his life, Van Gogh's artwork has created a lasting impact through its emotional richness and simple beauty," said Massimiliano Siccardi, Immersive Van Gogh creator. "Both myself and Luca Longobardi are very excited to visit Orlando and once again bring Van Gogh's legacy to life in a way that embraces this city's one-of-a-kind energy." Immersive Van Gogh has received rave reviews from critics worldwide. The Chicago Tribune wrote, "entire rooms pulse with imagery and emotional resonance." While the Chicago Time Out described the exhibit as, "The future of experiential art." San Francisco Chronicle , "After a year without big, splashy art happenings, this is a huge, indulgent way to dive back in." The Toronto Sun declared, "the mind-blowing imagery, brings van Gogh's best work to life including Sunflower, Irises, and The Starry Night for a cathartic and liberating experience. Immersive Van Gogh ups the emotional ante." Debra Yeo of the Toronto Star stated, "I wondered: could projections of paintings on walls and floors be thrilling? The answer is 'yes.'" Called a "completely new way of encountering art" by CTV and a "blockbuster digital experience that has taken the art world by storm" by Artnet News, the exhibit "cleverly embraces creativity," according to Washington Post. For more information about Immersive Van Gogh, visit https://www.immersivevangogh.com/ . Follow the exhibition on social media on Instagram and Facebook . SOURCE Lighthouse Immersive By Christopher Bing (Reuters) -The White House said in a statement on Thursday that Russia's foreign intelligence service, known as the SVR, was responsible for the SolarWinds hack, which led to the compromise of nine federal agencies and hundreds of private sector companies. Senior U.S. government officials had already said the Russian government was responsible for the sprawling cyber attack, but Thursday's announcement offers the first formal statement pinning the operation on a specific agency. The White House statement was paired with a series of sanctions against five Russian cybersecurity firms, which the Treasury Department said had been involved in supporting Russian cyber operations. While some national security experts say the SolarWinds hacking operation could be viewed as a traditional espionage activity that is not uncommon between government hackers, the Treasury Department in its statement said the "scope and scale of this compromise combined with Russias history of carrying out reckless and disruptive cyber operations makes it a national security concern." The National Security Agency, FBI and Cybersecurity Infrastructure Security Agency also revealed on Thursday that the SVR was exploiting five known computer software vulnerabilities. The announcement came with links to a series of related software patches by the companies who make those products, including VMware and Fortinet. "The vulnerabilities in today's release are part of the SVR's toolkit to target networks across the government and private sectors. We need to make SVR's job harder by taking them away," Rob Joyce, NSA director of cybersecurity, said. (Reporting by Christopher BingEditing by Chizu Nomiyama, William Maclean) By Huang Xilian One of the most frequently-asked questions from my Filipino friends to me as the Chinese ambassador here is, which is your favorite tour destination in China? With footprints having covered almost every province of China, my answer to this question would be Xinjiang. The Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region is the largest provincial administrative region in China, the land area of which is approximately equivalent to seven that of United Kingdom. There is a saying that, you could never learn the true magnificence of China without visiting Xinjiang. Rich in natural landscape and resources, Xinjiang is the place for you to explore stunning snow mountains, pristine lakes, vast grasslands, and seemingly endless deserts all at the same time. In this land of flourishing historic and cultural heritage, all ethnic groups are closely united as family members, just like pomegranate seeds sticking together to each other. During my many travels to Xinjiang, I have not only enjoyed its scenic landscapes, but also made many local friends including Uyghurs and Kazakhs there, who are warm, optimistic and hospitable. I have learned from them that the COVID-19 pandemic in Xinjiang has been effectively contained, and their livelihood has been ever improving with more job opportunities and higher income. Even from this side of the phone, I can feel their sense of fulfillment and happiness. It is astonishing that a handful of western countries, led by the United States, made false accusations about so-called "ethnic genocide" and "forced labor" happening in Xinjiang. They even went so far as imposing unilateral sanctions on relevant Chinese individuals and entity under the pretext of human rights. Any Chinese, especially the people of Xinjiang would deem such accusations beyond absurd. People would wonder, where did these charges come about? To be candid, they are no more than disinformation fabricated by some so-called "experts on China studies" who are anti-China and fake testimony from trained "witnesses." Perhaps Lawrence Wilkerson, former chief of staff to former US Secretary of State Colin Powell and retired US Army Colonel, who participated in the instigation of the Iraq War, could tell best about the real intention behind those fabrication. Mr.Wilkerson once said undisguiedly that, "The CIA would want to destabilize China and that would be the best way to do it to foment unrest and to join with those Uyghurs in pushing the Han Chinese in Beijing from internal places rather than external". Such confession would shed light on the facts that some western countries have left no stone unturned in concocting issues to smear China, using topics including Taiwan, Tibet, Hong Kong and Xinjiang. What is the truth of Xinjiang? Xinjiang-related issues are actually not about human rights, ethnicity or religion at all, but about the fights against violence, terrorism and separatism. As humankind's shared enemy, terrorism has inflicted untold suffering on the international community including China and the Philippines. There was a time when Xinjiang was a target of thousands of violent terrorist attacks, causing serious casualties of innocent people of all ethnic groups there. In order to address the root causes of the terrorism, the Chinese government has taken unrelenting efforts in anti-terrorism and de-radicalization in Xinjiang, which garnered ardent support of local people and proved to be effective. The region has not seen a single violent terrorist incident for more than four consecutive years, bringing about peace and stability long cherished by local people of all ethnic groups. The experience of counter-terrorism and de-radicalization in Xinjiang has also been commended by the international community. The allegations of "ethnic genocide" and "forced labor" are preposterous. In the past 40 years, the Uyghur population in Xinjiang has doubled, with the growth rate higher than that of the whole population in Xinjiang. The average life expectancy of Xinjiang population increased from less than 30 years in 1949 to 72 years in 2018. Even under the influence of COVID-19 pandemic, Xinjiang's GDP has increased by 3.4% year-on-year, higher than the average growth of national GDP. Over 3 million people under the current poverty line have all been lifted out of poverty. While today's Xinjiang is beaming with hope and prosperity, truth itself prevails over disinformation and fabrication. In the past few years, more than 1200 diplomats, journalists, and religious groups from over 100 countries and regions, including the Philippines have visited Xinjiang, many of them from Muslim countries. They saw with their own eyes a region thriving with stability and prosperity, and then stood up and spoke out for justice and facts. China has also invited EU envoys to China to visit Xinjiang on many occasions. However, the EU and its member states' diplomats have delayed the visit using various excuses and even making unreasonable requests as preconditions. We couldn't help asking whether hearsay lies interest them more than witnessed truth . Truth is the Best Illustration. The Real Xinjiang in my eyes could be depicted in a picture I once posted on my Facebook. The picture shows beautiful scenery of boundless cotton fields with lines of advanced machinery harvesting in the sea of snow-white cotton, which is the world's best-quality cotton shipped to many countries. It has brought back my memories of Xinjiang in this beautiful season of spring, when the snow covering the Tianshan Mountain is melting, the wild apricot flowers of Ili blooming, and the cotton of Turpan about to be sown. I look forward to revisiting Xinjiang soon after the pandemic, and also welcome Filipino friends there, where you will definitely fall in love with this beautiful and promising land of China. (Huang Xilian is the Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the People's Republic of China to the Republic of the Philippines.) A circuitous legal attempt to block a Republican-supported ballot initiative aimed at repealing the governors emergency powers has resulted in a Court of Claims lawsuit being filed against Democratic Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson. While focused on negating ballot petition signatures collected by Unlock Michigan, opposition group Keep Michigan Safe claims Benson has failed to properly establish uniform standards for the verification of ballot question petition signatures as required by a Michigan election law that took effect in 2000. However, despite this clear statutory requirement, every single individual who has held the position of the Michigan Secretary of State since March 10, 2000 has failed to promulgate rules, the lawsuit argues. The lawsuit, filed Wednesday, April 14 by Christopher M. Trebilcock of the Clark Hill law firm and Mark Brewer of the Goodman Acker law firm on behalf of Keep Michigan Safe, is asking the Court of Claims to halt the Board of Canvassers review of petition signatures collected by Unlock Michigan until rules are established. The state Board of Canvassers is also named as a defendant in the lawsuit. Representatives for Benson declined to comment on the lawsuit, citing a policy not to discuss pending litigation. Fred Wszolek, a spokesman for Unlock Michigan, called the whole thing nuts and said the ballot initiative committee plans to get involved in the lawsuit as an intervening party to defend its own interests. Unlock Michigan submitted the nearly 500,000 signatures it collected in September and a final review of their validity was expected to be completed by the state Board of Canvassers next week, Wszolek said. This must convey that they dont have a lot of confidence in the challenges they issued against our signatures last week, Wszolek said. They pretended to challenge enough (signatures) to disqualify us, but its nonsense. More than two pages in the lawsuit focus on allegations of illegal and fraudulent conduct by Unlock Michigan in its signature-gathering process. Keep Michigan Safe accuses Unlock Michigan of illegally hiring a third-party consultant company, National Petition Management, to manage its petition drive. That company then hired another company, In the Field, to assist with signature collection, the lawsuit said. Secretly recorded video of a petition collection training session conducted by In the Field was leaked to the Detroit Free Press, revealing a trainer discussing illegal activity, including: deceiving voters about the intent of the initiative, collecting signatures on private property, leaving petitions with store clerks to collect signatures and committing perjury during depositions if questioned about signature validity, according to the lawsuit. Wszolek said the training session in question, which he believes was staged, included up to eight signature gatherers and any signatures they submitted were excluded from the final collection that was submitted. (He) suddenly just mouths off when there happens to be someone in the room with a camera and hes telling people how to violate the law and then lie about it when asked, Wszolek said, suggesting the trainer was a liberal operative. Attorney General Dana Nessels office in September launched an investigation into Unlock Michigan after receiving complaints of deceptive collection practices and the video came to public light. Residents said they were told the petitions were to support LGBTQ rights, for medical marijuana initiatives or to help small businesses, among other things, Nessel said in a statement released at the time. No criminal charges have been issued. Unlock Michigan seeks to repeal the 1945 law that Whitmer relied on when she first issued emergency orders in March 2020 and later repeatedly renewed a state of emergency in response to the coronavirus pandemic. Using her emergency powers, Whitmer established mask requirements, closed businesses and schools and limited social activity, among other restrictions. A 4-3 state Supreme Court ruling in October determined each of Whitmers emergency extensions after April 30 violated the state Constitution. After the court negated the pandemic orders, the state Department of Health and Human Services harnessed its own emergency powers to essentially replicate and reinstitute Whitmers initiatives. The Legislature passed another bill that would have limited orders issued by DHHS to manage a pandemic to 28 days unless extended by the Legislature, but it was vetoed by Whitmer. There are four pending lawsuits in the Court of Claims challenging emergency health orders. The fate of Johnson & Johnson's coronavirus vaccine hung in the balance on Thursday after a government advisory committee said it needed more time and evidence to determine whether unusual, but severe, blood clots seen in a handful of people were caused by the vaccine. So far, only six clotting cases have been officially reported out of more than 7 million shots given of the one-dose vaccine. But on Tuesday, U.S. health officials recommended a pause in J&J vaccinations. On Wednesday, advisers to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention held an emergency meeting to look at the evidence and decided they did not have enough information or time to recommend how to proceed and they would meet again within 10 days, the Associated Press reported. But some vaccine specialists who watched the deliberations said the public shouldn't have to wait for more advice. "What they did was they punted," Dr. Paul Offit, a vaccine expert at the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, told the AP. "I just don't think waiting is going to give you a critical amount of information that is going to help you make a decision." But the CDC advisors stressed they need to proceed carefully. "I continue to feel like we're in a race against time and the variants, but we need to [move forward] in the safest possible way," said CDC adviser Dr. Grace Lee, of Stanford University, who was among those seeking to postpone a vote on the vaccine, the AP reported. Authorities have studied the clots for only a few days and have little information to judge the shot, said fellow CDC adviser Dr. Beth Bell, from the University of Washington, the AP reported. "I don't want to send the message [that] there is something fundamentally wrong with this vaccine," Bell said. "It's a very rare event. Nothing in life is risk-free. But I want to be able to understand and defend the decision I've made based on a reasonable amount of data." One of the most worrying things about the clots is that they are not like typical clots, and they require different treatment. They occur in unusual places, such as in veins that drain blood from the brain, and in people with abnormally low levels of clot-forming platelets, the AP reported. The six cases raised an alarm bell because that number is at least three times more than experts would have expected to see of more typical clots, said the CDC's Dr. Tom Shimabukuro. "What we have here is a picture of clots forming in large vessels where we have low platelets," Shimabukuro explained to the AP. "This usually doesn't happen," but it is eerily similar to European reports of clotting with the AstraZeneca vaccine. Luckily, there are no signs of similar clots after vaccination with the Pfizer and Moderna shots, which are the main players in the U.S. COVID-19 vaccination campaign. The J&J clotting cases were all among women younger than 50. But the CDC advisory panel stressed that there's not enough information to tell if only certain groups would be at risk, the AP reported. In Europe, most but not all cases following AstraZeneca vaccinations have been among women under 60, leading different countries to deploy that vaccine in more limited ways. Also, a 25-year-old man experienced a similar clot during U.S. testing of J&J's vaccine, something the government scrutinized at the time but could not link to the shot. And on Wednesday, the company also brought to the CDC's attention a woman whose clot did not occur in the brain, the AP reported. So far, the clots have occurred between one and three weeks after people received the J&J vaccine, and officials cautioned that more reports could surface, the AP reported. The J&J vaccine pause was done in part to make sure doctors know how to recognize and treat the unusual condition. The CDC said Wednesday that four of the six women with the unusual clots were treated with a blood thinner named heparina treatment the government is warning doctors to avoid, the AP reported. So far, the J&J vaccine has been a minor player in U.S. vaccinations. Nearly 124 million Americans have received at least one vaccine dose, and nearly 23% are fully vaccinated, the AP said. When the clots were spotted after AstraZeneca vaccinations in Europe, scientists in Norway and Germany published studies that raised the possibility that some people are experiencing an abnormal immune response, forming antibodies that disable their platelets. Antibody cocktail offers protection People living with someone who has COVID-19 appear to get powerful protection against infection when they are given Regeneron's antibody cocktail, a new study shows. The findings suggest that beyond preventing the worst outcomes for coronavirus infection when given early enough, the cocktail could also prevent people from getting sick in the first place, the company said this week. "With more than 60,000 Americans continuing to be diagnosed with COVID-19 every day, the REGEN-COV antibody cocktail may help provide immediate protection to unvaccinated people who are exposed to the virus, and we are also working to understand its potential to provide ongoing protection for immunocompromised patients who may not respond well to vaccines," Dr. George Yancopoulos, president and chief scientific officer at Regeneron, said in a statement. There's "a very substantial number of people" in the United States and globally who could be a good fit to receive these drugs for preventive purposes, Dr. Myron Cohen, a University of North Carolina researcher told The New York Times. He leads monoclonal antibody efforts for the COVID Prevention Network, a U.S. National Institutes of Health-sponsored initiative that helped oversee the Regeneron trial. "Not everyone's going to take a vaccine, no matter what we do, and not everyone's going to respond to a vaccine," Cohen noted. The new data on Regeneron's antibody cocktail comes from a clinical trial that enrolled more than 1,500 people who lived in the same house as someone who had tested positive for the virus within the previous four days. Those who got an injection of Regeneron's drug were 81 percent less likely to get sick with COVID-19 compared to volunteers who got a placebo, the company said. Dr. Rajesh Gandhi, an infectious diseases physician at Massachusetts General Hospital who was not involved in the study, told the Times that the data were "promising" for people who have not been vaccinated. But he noted that the type of patients that would be needed to determine whether the drug should be used preventively for immunocompromised patients were not included in the trial. "I would say we don't yet know that," Gandhi said. The treatment received emergency authorization last November. Doctors are using it, as well as another antibody cocktail from Eli Lilly, for high-risk COVID-19 patients, to guard against severe disease and hospitalization. But many hospitals and clinics have not made the treatments a priority because they are time-consuming and difficult to administer, mostly because they must be given intravenously. Regeneron plans to ask the FDA to allow its drug to be given via an injection, as it was in the latest study, which would allow it to be given more quickly and easily. The U.S. coronavirus case count passed 31.4 million on Thursday, while the death toll neared 564,000, according to a Times tally. Worldwide, more than 138.3 million cases had been reported by Thursday, with nearly 3 million dead from COVID-19. 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 The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has more on the new coronavirus. Copyright 2021 HealthDay. All rights reserved. A former Manitoba RCMP officer, who was once connected to a puppet club of the Hells Angels, is headed back to prison after pleading guilty to a cocaine charge. A former Manitoba RCMP officer, who was once connected to a puppet club of the Hells Angels, is headed back to prison after pleading guilty to a cocaine charge. An emotional Wayne Shuttleworth, 50, told a Winnipeg court he wanted to "get (the hearing) over with" as he pleaded guilty Monday to one charge of illegal drug possession for the purpose of trafficking. Crown attorney Laura Perron said Shuttleworth was arrested after a four-month investigation in which RCMP officers had found more than 350 grams of cocaine in his Winnipeg home in 2018. "He was what we would deem a 'stash person.' He was being paid for his services of doing that," Perron told Justice Candace Grammond. Jonathan Pinx, the lawyer for Shuttleworth, told court "there were issues with the search warrant" when police entered the home, adding the Crown and defence teams had negotiated a plea bargain in which a second charge of trafficking illegal substances was stayed. Both the Crown and defence said Shuttleworth is expected to serve time in custody as part of the plea deal. Shuttleworth is scheduled to be sentenced on Sept. 28 to allow time for him to make arrangements for his two special needs children, and to see them through the first weeks of their school year. The ex-Mountie had been sentenced to three years in Stony Mountain Penitentiary for trafficking guns for the Zig Zag Crew a puppet club of the Hells Angels in 2010. He was one of 31 people arrested in Project Divide, a 13-month organized crime investigation that relied heavily on a gang associate who was an undercover informant. Shuttleworth served as an RCMP officer from 1991 to 1994, but left the force because of post-traumatic stress disorder. He had suffered an injury while driving a truck more than a decade ago and was on permanent disability, lawyers said during the 2010 trial. Lawyers told the courts at the time that Shuttleworth had been in financial distress after turning in his badge and had turned to the organized crime network as a way to find camaraderie and make money for his young son's birthday party. julia-simone.rutgers@freepress.mb.ca Twitter: @jsrutgers Dublin, April 15, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The "Digitization Powers the Indian Passenger Vehicle Industry, Outlook 2021" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering. Currently, the country's passenger vehicle (PV) sector accounts for nearly 7.5% of gross domestic product (GDP) and nearly 49.0% of manufacturing GDP. In the recent past, the Indian PV industry took a massive qualitative jump as vehicles became increasingly safer and environment-friendly, growth fuelled by a mix of policy changes and consumers' evolving demands. This high growth pattern occurred in a short time frame and attracted International automakers to invest in, enter, or expand existing operations in India. Meanwhile, domestic automakers raced toward perfecting a balance between price sensitivity and customers' expectations for in-car features. However, the COVID-19 pandemic forced India's PV industry to a near halt, with demand and sales hitting historic lows. From April to June 2020, PV sales performance plunged nearly 78%. As the global and local economies begin to recover, the Indian PV industry will start to regain momentum. In a post-COVID-19 environment, the entry-level hatchback segment, national scrappage policy, and new launches are expected to drive sales. Emission and safety regulations will also influence purchase criteria in the near term. In addition, the Indian electric vehicle (EV) market will see positive movement in 2021-2022. On the EV components side, cell-level manufacturing will commence, with technological collaborations and government support focusing on (lithium titanium oxide (LTO) battery chemistry. In this Outlook, the report highlights the Indian PV industry's current state, critical challenges, key growth metrics, digitization trends, and impact caused by the COVID-19 pandemic on each segment (passenger care, utility vehicle, van) and sub-segment. The study analyses key technological trends, growth opportunities, the scope of electric PVs in India, and the key areas of focus for new entrants. Key Topics Covered: 1. Strategic Imperatives Why is it Increasingly Difficult to Grow? The Strategic Imperative The Impact of the Top Three Strategic Imperatives on the Indian Passenger Vehicle (PV) Industry Growth Opportunities Fuel the Growth Pipeline Engine Research Scope and Objectives Indian PV Industry - Vehicle Segmentation Overview Passenger Vehicle Classification, Definitions, and Key Models 2. Executive Summary Key Findings Passenger Vehicle Industry Trends Challenges Mobility Industry Faced Due to COVID-19 Key Technological Shifts During FY20-25 Key Future Outlook 3. Impact of COVID-19 on the Indian Passenger Vehicle Industry Impact of COVID-19 on Passenger Vehicle Sales 4. Indian Passenger Vehicle Industry Overview FY20 - Monthly Sales Trend PV Segment Sales Trend PV - Strategic Sales by Segment PV Segment Trends Performance of PV Companies in FY20 PV Sales by State Top-selling PV Models OEM Offerings in India 5. Indian Passenger Vehicle Industry Overview Segment Analysis - Mini Segment Segment Analysis - Compact Segment Segment Analysis - Super Compact Segment Segment Analysis - Mid-size Segment Segment Analysis - Executive and Premium Segment Segment Analysis - Compact UV Segment Segment Analysis - UV2 Segment Segment Analysis - Other UVs (UV3 TO UV5) Segment Segment Analysis - Van Segment 6. Profiles of Top 3 OEMs Maruti Suzuki India Limited (MSIL) Hyundai Motors Mahindra and Mahindra Motors (M&M) Vehicle Segment-wise Analysis 7. Mega Trends Impacting Indian Automatic Industry Key Trends Impacting the Passenger Vehicle Industry Trend 1 - Race Toward Level 1 ADAS Solutions Trend 2 - Rise of Automatic Transmission (AT) in the Indian PV Industry Trend 3 - More Powertrain Options Attract More Sales Trend 4 - Connectivity Becomes USP for OEMs Trend 5 - Declining Petrol and Diesel Price Gap Boosts Shift to Petrol/CNG Vehicles Trend 6 - UV Segment will Hold Diesel Demand AFLOAT for Medium Term Trend 7 - Digitization of Retail - Omnichannel Strategy of Indian OEMs Trend 8 - Impact of Covid-19 on Shared Mobility Trend 9 - No Slowdown in Pre-Owned Car Market Trend 10 - New Business Models - Subscription / Leasing Trend 11 - Wave of In-car Air Purifiers 8. HMI Trends in the Indian Passenger Vehicle Industry HMI Trend HMI Input - Current and Future Focus Areas India's HMI Technology Roadmap HMI Features - OEM Adoption by 2025 Touch Screen Offerings by Top India OEMs Automotive HMI - Current Penetration & Relevance for Indian Market 9. ADAS Outlook for the Indian Passenger Vehicle Industry Global ADAS Technology Pyramid India's Advanced Drive Assistance System (ADAS) Timeline Key Legislation - ADAS Roadmap Global Supplier Sensor Suite Offerings ADAS Functionalities - OEM Adoption by 2025 ADAS Technology R&D in India ADAS Features - Global Popularity & Relevance for India 10. Health, Wellness, & Well-being (HWW) Trends in the Indian Passenger Vehicle Industry Evolution of HWW in the Automotive Industry HWW Features - Benchmarking by Region (2025) HWW Functionalities - Current Penetration & Relevance for India 5G Trends in the Indian Passenger Vehicle Industry 11. Global Heatmap of 4G & 5G Network Coverage Automotive 5G Use Cases Top 5G Use Cases - Growth Potential in Auto Industry Opportunities for 5G in Automotive Industry 12. EV Trends in the Indian Passenger Vehicle Industry Electric Vehicles in India Key OEMs' Product Portfolio and Launch Roadmap Current Lithium-based Cell Manufacturing Plans Public/Private Charging Infrastructure Standards and Implementation Future Charging Stations 13. Indian Passenger Vehicle Industry - Drivers and Restraints Growth Drivers for Passenger Vehicle Industry Growth Restraints for Passenger Vehicle Industry 14. Indian Passenger Vehicle Industry - Future Outlook Factors Impacting the Passenger Vehicle Industry in India Domestic Sales Forecast: Scenario Analysis Export Forecast - Scenario Analysis Production Forecast - Scenario Analysis Passenger Vehicle Industry - Sales Forecast by Segment 15. Growth Opportunity Universe - Indian Passenger Vehicle Industry Growth Opportunity 1: Increasing Preference for Compact UVs, 2021 Growth Opportunity 2: Connectivity as New USP for OEMs, 2021 16. Next Steps For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/r/aarx0e The bilateral trade in education services between India and the US could record exponential growth if Washington removes barriers like visa and entry restrictions on the free flow of students, according to a top American business advocacy group. The 2020 Open Doors report on International Educational Exchange highlights that during the 2019-20 academic year, India remained the second largest source of international students in the US, despite a four per cent decline to 193,124 students, making up 18 per cent of the total higher education international student community in the US, the US India Strategic and Partnership Forum (USISPF) said in a report. The Open Doors report was recently released by the US Department of State's Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs and the Institute of International Education (IIE). Removing trade barriers on the free flow of students and educational services can strengthen the competitiveness of the US economy by way of value addition and job creation, it said. In the report US-India Higher Education Partnership: A Win-Win Opportunity USISPF visualises tremendous opportunities for the two countries in the higher education segment from both trade and investment perspectives, which are crucial for the economic growth of both economies. There are mutual gains for both partners, as the US wants to improve its bilateral trade balance with India to save jobs through increased exports, and India's young STEM talent assesses the US as one of the best destinations for world-class higher education and professional training opportunities, it said. STEM stands for Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics. If visa barriers are addressed, the bilateral trade in education services could record exponential growth, the USISPF said. According to the 2019 Open Doors Report on International Educational Exchange, India is the second-highest country of origin for foreign students in the US and has been, consecutively, for ten years. In 2018-19, before the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, more than 200,000 Indian students came to the US to pursue undergraduate, graduate, non-degree, and optional practical training (OPT) programmes, a 2.9 per cent increase from 2017-18,. The OPT programme allows international students to work in the US after completion of their courses. The pre-pandemic trend was also evident in the bilateral trade statistics, which capture spending on educational travel between the two countries. From 2015 to 2019, the amount spent by Indian students on educational travel to the US rose by 45 per cent, to nearly USD7.7 billion, the USISPF said. Significantly, these trade data only include cross-border expenditures and do not reflect the additional economic activity generated by students through local spending on fees, housing, and living expenses, it said. The USISPF has recommended the US to make comprehensive immigration reforms that allow robust student mobility by reviewing and streamlining the student visa process, especially for countries that send the most students to the United States. It also urges the US to enable a framework for OPT, expand training opportunities for capable international students following graduation, create a coherent national framework for international education that aligns with the US diplomatic, economic and immigration goals and increase immigration numbers to the levels during the Obama administration. Also read: PM Modi calls for united efforts to defeat COVID-19 pandemic globally Also read: India, Pakistan held secret talks in attempts to break Kashmir military impasse Officers with the Metropolitan Police Department of the District of Columbia (MPD) requested backup at least 17 times over the span of 78 minutes, according to an analysis of the events that unfolded when MAGA fanatics descended on the Capitol on January 6. The mob of Trump supporters would eventually grow to at least 9,400 people, outnumbering officers by more than 58 to one. Police radio communications and footage from the insurrection were jointly analyzed by the Washington Post to understand the failures of police and how they were hindered by insufficient numbers. Cmdr. Robert Glover, who had just arrived with a team of D.C. police officers, shouted his first call over the radio at around 1.13pm from the west side of the U.S. Capitol as the mob stormed. Officers with the Metropolitan Police Department of the District of Columbia (MPD) requested backup at least 17 times over the span of 78 minutes when MAGA rioters stormed the U.S. Capitol 'Hard gear at the Capitol! Hard gear at the Capitol!' he shouted into the radio channel used to communicate with joint operations centers at D.C. police headquarters, calling for more officers in riot gear. At 1.18pm, he announced: 'Multiple Capitol injuries. Multiple Capitol injuries.' As more time went on and as more Trump supporters stormed the Capitol, Glover's calls for help became more desperate. 'I need those two other hard platoons up here now,' he said between 1.36 and 1.39pm. He was told one was 'coming' as the MPD platoon Unit 42 geared up on the north side of the National Mall. Capitol Police officers were pulled back, as the crowd grew more intense, according to recordings, leaving MPD officers to the masses 'They're gearing up, and they should be to you now,' Glover was informed. Capitol Police officers were pulled back between 1.50 and 1.59pm, as the crowd grew more intense, according to recordings. 'A decision was made by the United States Capitol Police to pull their personnel back inside the building at a point leaving one of my flanks pretty weak,' Glover said on January 12. Glover would go on to request guidance on a fallback position four times between 2.13pm and 2.25pm. 'I need a command official from Capitol so we can coordinate where they want us to pull back to,' he said. 'We cannot hold this without more munitions or manpower.' A rioter would soon break through police lines near the center of the inaugural platform, allowing the frenzied crowd to barge their way toward the entrances of the building. 'We lost the line! We've lost the line! All MPD fall back!' Glover screamed at 2.28 pm, shouting the code for an emergency. 'I repeat, 10-33, West Front of the Capitol. We've been flanked and we lost the line.' US Capitol police officers try to stop supporters of US President Donald Trump to enter the Capitol on January 6 The mob of Trump supporters would eventually grow to at least 9,400 people, outnumberings officers by more than 58 to one At 2.31pm, Glover called for backup for the 17th time as the MPD retreated up to an upper terrace. 'Cruiser 50 still going to need reinforcements upper deck West Front. Upper deck West Front; we cannot lose the upper deck,' he said. The MPD team would eventually lose the upper deck, some 10 minutes later. The analysis of the radio calls comes after a blistering internal report by the US Capitol Police described a multitude of missteps that left the force unprepared for the January 6 insurrection which saw hundreds of Donald Trump's supporters laying siege to the Capitol. The watchdog report, released internally last month, describes riot shields that shattered upon impact, expired weapons that could not be used, inadequate training and an intelligence division that had few set standards. The report, obtained by the Associated Press ahead of a congressional hearing on Thursday, adds to what is already known about broader security and intelligence failures that Congress has been investigating since the January 6 incident. In an extensive and detailed timeline of that day, the report describes conversations between officials as they disagreed on whether National Guard forces were necessary to back up the understaffed Capitol Police force. It quotes an Army official as telling then-Capitol police chief Steven Sund that 'we don't like the optics of the National Guard standing in a line at the Capitol' after the insurrectionists had already broken in. Inspector general Michael A Bolton found that the department's deficiencies were and remain widespread. A blistering internal report by the US Capitol Police describes a multitude of missteps that left the force unprepared for the January 6 insurrection which saw hundreds of Donald Trump's supporters laying siege to the Capitol The watchdog report, released internally last month, describes riot shields that shattered upon impact, expired weapons that could not be used, inadequate training and an intelligence division that had few set standards Equipment was old and stored badly, leaders had failed to act on previous recommendations to improve intelligence, and there was a broad lack of current policies or procedures for the Civil Disturbance Unit, a division that existed to ensure that legislative functions of Congress were not disrupted by civil unrest or protest activity. That was exactly what happened on January 6 as Trump's supporters sought to overturn the presidential election in his favor as Congress counted the Electoral College votes. The report comes as the Capitol Police force has plunging morale and has edged closer to crisis as many officers have been working extra shifts and forced overtime to protect the Capitol after the insurrection. Acting chief Yogananda Pittman received a vote of no confidence from the union in February, reflecting widespread distrust among the rank and file. The entire force is also grieving the deaths of two of their own officer Brian Sicknick, who collapsed and died after engaging with protesters on January 6, and officer William 'Billy' Evans, who was killed on April 2 when he was hit by a car that rammed into a barricade outside the Senate. Evans laid in honor in the Capitol Rotunda on Tuesday. The Capitol Police have so far refused to publicly release the report marked throughout as 'law enforcement sensitive' despite congressional pressure to do so. House Administration Committee chairwoman Zoe Lofgren (Democrat-California) issued a statement in March that she had been briefed on the report, along with another internal document, and that it contained 'detailed and disturbing findings and important recommendations'. Bolton was expected to give evidence before her panel on Thursday. The report focuses heavily on failure of equipment and training on January 6 as Capitol Police were quickly overwhelmed by around 800 of Trump's supporters who pushed past them, beat them and broke windows and doors to get into the building. It also looks at missed intelligence as the insurrectionists planned the attack openly online, and as various agencies sent warnings that were disseminated incorrectly. Bolton found that in many cases department equipment had expired but was not replaced and some of it was more than 20 years old. Riot shields that shattered upon impact as the officers fended off the violent mob had been improperly stored, Bolton found. Some weapons that could have fired tear gas were so old that officers did not feel comfortable using them. Other weapons that could have done more to disperse the crowd were never staged ahead of the rally, and those who were ordered to get back-up supplies to the officers on the front lines could not make it through the aggressive crowd. In other cases, weapons were not used because of 'orders from leadership', the report says. Those weapons called 'less lethal' because they are designed to disperse, not kill could have allowed the police to better push back the rioters as they moved towards the building, according to the report. The entire force is also grieving the deaths of two of their own officer Brian Sicknick (left), who collapsed and died after engaging with protesters on January 6, and officer William 'Billy' Evans (right), who was killed on April 2 when he was hit by a car that rammed into a barricade outside the Senate The report also quotes an Army official as telling then-Capitol police chief Steven Sund that 'we don't like the optics of the National Guard standing in a line at the Capitol' after the insurrectionists had already broken in The report focuses heavily on failure of equipment and training on January 6 as Capitol Police were quickly overwhelmed by around 800 of Trump's supporters who pushed past them, beat them and broke windows and doors to get into the building The report looks at a missed memo from the FBI in which online activists predicted a 'war' on January 6 Sund told Senate investigators last month he never saw it In terms of the Civil Disturbance Unit, the report said there was a total lack of policy and procedure, and many officers did not want to be a part of it. There were not enough guidelines for when to activate the unit, how to issue gear, what tactics to use or lay out the command structure. Some of the policies had not been updated in more than a decade and there was no firm roster of who was even in the division. The unit was at a 'decreased level of readiness and preparedness' because there were no standards for equipment, the report said. Bolton also laid out many of the missed intelligence signals including a report prepared by the Department of Homeland Security in December that forwarded messages posted on forums supportive of Mr Trump that appeared to be planning for January 6. One part of that document included a map of Capitol tunnels that someone had posted. 'Take note,' the message said. The report looks at a missed memo from the FBI in which online activists predicted a 'war' on January 6 Sund told Senate investigators last month he never saw it. Bolton also details the force's own internal reports, which he said were inconsistent. One Capitol Police report predicted that the protesters could become violent, but Sund testified before the Senate in February that internal assessments had said violence was 'improbable'. On intelligence, Bolton said, there was a lack of adequate training and guidance for dissemination within the department. There were no policies or procedures for open source data gathering such as gathering information from the online Trump forums and analysts 'may not be aware of the proper methods of conducting open source intelligence work'. William 'Billy' Evans was laid in honour in the Capitol Rotunda on Tuesday (pictured) A timeline attached to the report gives a more detailed look at Capitol Police movements, commands and conversations as the day unfolded and they scrambled to move staff and equipment to multiple fronts where people were breaking in. The timeline sheds new light on conversations in which Sund begged for National Guard support. Sund and others, including the head of the DC National Guard, have testified that Pentagon officials were concerned about the optics of sending help. The document gives the clearest proof of that concern yet, quoting Army Staff Secretary Walter Piatt telling Sund and others on a call that 'we don't like the optics' of the National Guard at the Capitol and he would recommend not sending them. That was at 2.26pm, as rioters had already broken through windows and as Sund desperately asked for the help. The Pentagon eventually approved the Guard's presence, and Guard members arrived after 5pm. While they were waiting, Sund also had a teleconference with vice president Mike Pence, the timeline shows. Pence was in a secure location in the Capitol because he had overseen the counting of the votes, and some of the rioters were calling for his hanging because he had indicated he would not try to overturn President Joe Biden's election win. The AP reported on Saturday that Pence also had a conversation that day with acting defense secretary Christopher Miller in which he directed that he 'clear the Capitol'. Geophysicist who 'dragged cop down Capitol steps into MAGA mob where he was beaten with American flag' is denied bail ahead of trial after trying to escape to Switzerland A Colorado geophysicist who stormed the Capitol and dragged an officer down the steps will remain in jail after his motion to be released on bail was denied by a federal judge, citing the man's attempt at fleeing the country to Switzerland and his attempt at suicide. U.S. District Judge Emmett Sullivan denied 51-year-old Jeffrey Sabol's request to be released pre-trial, citing his actions on January 6 and his efforts to escape accountability, according to 64-page ruling filed on Wednesday. 'To arm himself, he stripped a vulnerable police officer of his police baton,' Sullivan said in the decision. 'He then used that stolen police baton to force another officer away from his post and into a mob of rioters who proceeded to viciously attack him, leaving him bleeding from the head. 'Mr. Sabol himself has admitted much of this, and the weight of the evidence against him is strong. For these reasons, the Court is convinced that Mr. Sabol would pose a danger to his community and the broader community of American citizens if he were to be released pending trial.' Prosecutors say that after the Capitol attack Sabol booked a flight from Boston Logan International Airport to Zurich, Switzerland, where he believed he would not be extradited back to the United States. But he allegedly abandoned that plan after seeing police officers at the airport. He then hired a car, which was pulled over for erratic driving in Clarkstown, New York. Police found Sabol covered in blood with cuts on his arm and thighs. Sabol was arrested at the Westchester Medical Center on January 22. Federal authorities say that the man in the tan jacket and black helmet who was seen dragging a Washington, DC, police officer down the steps of the United States Capitol on January 6 before he was beaten with an American flag is Jeffrey Sabol, 51, a Colorado geophysicist The new court decision mentions that Sabol's motion included option to return to either to his home in Colorado or under house arrest in New York at a home owned by his girlfriend. But given the possibility of Sabol serving a 20 year maximum sentence for assaulting the police officer, Sullivan noted that 'he has an even more compelling incentive to flee.' 'Releasing Mr. Sabol from custody and allowing him to return to Colorado or move to New York with strict conditions of home incarceration, as Mr. Sabol proposes and as he says the Pretrial Services Agency in New York recommended, would be insufficient to mitigate Mr. Sabols danger to the community and the risk that he would flee or try to obstruct justice,' Sullivan said in his release. Although 22 years have passed, Rute Zuniga will never forget the morning of February 10, 1999. Zuniga had given birth the previous month to a baby girl, her fourth child. She was called to the local health clinic with the ruse that she and her child required a vaccine. But instead, she was given anesthesia and when she woke up at the clinic, she realized something else had happened. She had been sterilized without her consent. I had no idea what was going on at first. They told me that I had fainted, but that was a lie. I later understood that I had been given a tubal ligation, she said. Zuniga was not alone not by a long shot. Hundreds of thousands women and men were sterilized in Peru between 1996 and 2000 as part of a government family planning program. According to court records, approximately 300,000 women received tubal ligations, while 22,000 men were given vasectomies. Deliberate strategy targeting the poor The fate of former president Alberto Fujimori, already convicted of human rights violations and corruption, hangs on a judicial decision and the results of the presidential election. Marie Hippenmeyer / AFP Nearly a quarter century later, Perus judiciary is expected to decide this April if it will open a trial against the president at the time, Alberto Fujimori (1990-2000), who is already in prison on a different human rights case, and three of his health ministers because of the sterilization program. The states prosecutor wants Judge Rafael Martinez to order Fujimori to stand trial as the indirect perpetrator on two counts, serious injury leading to death and serious injury leading to human rights violations. The prosecutor, Pablo Espinoza, maintains that the Fujimori government inflicted bodily harm and death on women and men in rural areas and urban shantytowns in a deliberate strategy targeting the poor with sterilization. This is an historic moment. After decades in limbo, there will finally be a decision. We believe there will be justice and that the judge will agree a trial is warranted, said Maria Esther Mogollon, a professor and womens rights activist who has been an advocate for the victims since the 1990s. The defense argues that the family planning program did not coerce anyone and that if excesses were committed, which they say were few if any, they happened because of over-zealous health care workers wanting to please immediate supervisors, not ministers or the president. A Commitment to the Inter-American Commission The first legal action came in 1999, when the case of Maria Mamerita Mestanza was presented to the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights. Mestanza was pressured into a tubal ligation in late March 1998. She received no post-op medical attention and died of an infection a week later. An agreement in the Mestanza case was reached in 2001, but the Peruvian state failed to comply with its commitment, particularly the need to conduct an exhaustive investigation and bring criminal charges against the people responsible. Instead, a long, painful process started for the victims. The judiciary started and stopped investigation four times until 2011, when it was ruled a human rights case that could not be closed. Then it sat dormant until 2018, when prosecutors began preparing the ground to present the first of three cases to a judge. The first case, involving 1,306 people, made it before Judge Martinez in January. It includes five women who died from tubal ligations and 1,301 who were sterilized against their will. It has taken longer than expected because of the complexity, the coronavirus pandemic and, according to Mogollon, a few inexcusable mistakes. The hearings to decide on the fate of the case were postponed in January and again in March because of a lack of translators. A number of plaintiffs speak Quechua, Perus largest indigenous language. Most complex case in the countrys history It is the most complex case in the countrys history because of the number of plaintiffs and where they are located, and the conditions of the potential defendants, particularly Fujimori. This is an unprecedented case. We have never had a case with so many victims and in so many areas, said Sigfredo Florian, an attorney with the Legal Defense Institute who is representing some of the victims. The only other case of this magnitude involved the murder of students and professors by the security forces at the public Universidad Nacional del Centro in the highland city of Huancayo. The case involved 74 victims. The case took seven years and eight months from when it was opened to a not guilty verdict in 2010 for the police officers who stood trial. This trial would have infinitely more plaintiffs. There are victims from the northern department of Cajamarca, where Mestanza died, down to Cusco, in the south where Zuniga leads the Association of Peruvian Women Affected by Forced Sterilization (AMPAEF). The majority of the victims speak Spanish, but some speak Quechua and some speak Amazonian indigenous languages, such as Ashaninka and Shipibo. The court is in Lima, but the victims are all around the country. The judge will have to travel to investigate where the crimes occurred. This is complicated, but not even the most complicated part, said Florian. A complication: former President Fujimoris status If the judge agrees the case merits a trial, a major complication is former President Fujimoris status. Fujimori, 82, governed Peru with an iron hand for ten years, until the massive corruption in his government caught up with him and he fled for Japan, his familys home country, in November 2000. He tried to resign by fax, but Congress impeached him. Instead of staying in Japan, Fujimori attempted to secretly enter Peru from neighboring Chile in 2005, but was detained. Peru filed to have Fujimori sent home to stand trial in corruption and human rights cases and the Chileans agreed, extraditing him in 2007. He was found guilty in a human rights case in 2009 and sentenced to 25 years in prison. The tricky part could be the extradition from Chile. Based on international law, Fujimori can only be tried for the crimes for which he was extradited. Each new case requires Peru to file a request to expand the extradition that the Chilean Supreme Court must approve, even though he is already in Peru and already in prison. And a new extradition approval could be even more complicated because of Fujimoris age and his health. He has been hospitalized often for a host of illnesses, most only minor so far. Keiko Fujimori, daughter of former Peruvian autocrat Alberto Fujimori, is poised to win the presidential election in June. Luka Gonzales / AFP A new chance for a pardon for Fujimori? Politics could also get in the way. Former President Pedro Pablo Kuczynski (2016-2018) tried to hang on to power by making a deal with Fujimoris son, then-Congressman Kenji Fujimori. The congressman and several of his followers voted against impeaching Kuczynski in December 2017. Kuczynski then pardoned Alberto Fujimori, using health as a reason. But Kuczynski was forced to resign and the pardon, which was unlawful based on human rights treaties signed by Peru, was revoked. Fujimori went back to prison in January 2019. His case returned to the political debate this year, when his daughter, Keiko Fujimori, pledged to pardon him if elected. This month, she made her third run for the presidency. She lost in 2011 because of her ties to her fathers regime, and again in 2016, even though she moved away from him in that race. This time, she made his legacy, her legacy and promised a return to his policies. Despite her own legal troubles she has been imprisoned three times in pre-trial detention in an asset laundering case the strategy worked and she will take part in a June runoff and potentially become Perus first woman president on inauguration day July 28, 2021. Despite the delays and setbacks, and the political mess, the victims and their advocates remain hopeful. Zuniga, at home in Cusco awaiting for the judges decision, said she is hopeful that justice will be served. These people are always finding a way to stall, but I want to believe that justice will come. Weve been waiting so long, she said. FLINT, MI -- Egypt Otis was patiently awaiting her first opportunity to walk across the graduation stage. The non-traditional University of Michigan-Flint student had no idea that a pandemic wouldnt let that happen. Otis earned her GED after having a child at a young age. She was never able to walk across the graduation stage in high school, either. Now, instead of the typical graduation ceremonies, Otis is one of two models for a downtown mural commemorating the 2020 and 2021 UM-Flint graduates which is currently being put up on the Harrison Street Parking Structure. Its crazy to be honest. Im thinking -- this is going to be on there for a long time, Otis said. Im very honored and humbled because Flint means so much to me. My experience at the university was very important and pivotal to inspire me to open a business. Otis was approached to model the mural by Isiah Lattimore, a Flint Public Art Project artist and soon-to-be spring 2021 UM-Flint graduate. Otis and Lattimore have worked together previously, too, as Otis has commissioned some of his art for her downtown bookstore, Comma. The mural was a student-led initiative thatll honor the accomplishments of Class of 2020 and 2021 graduates in a different way, Associate Provost Shelby Newport said. In addition, the university is offering sessions to come and take photos in caps and gowns at prominent places around campus. Related: UM-Flint students craft plan to honor graduates individually amid COVID pandemic This boils down to being a gift, Newport said. We thought What could we give you to honor you and all that youve done at UM-Flint? The mural felt like a great way to do that. Georgina Brown graduated from UM-Flint in Spring 2020. Brown, from Jamaica, moved to Michigan to study at the university and live with her father when she was 20 years old. Brown was excited to walk across the stage too, but she feels that given the circumstances, she appreciates that the university is taking time to consider the experiences graduates lost -- even from the previous year. As a first-generation college student, I was really looking forward to walking across that stage, Brown said. I am happy they are doing this because, for a long time, we had no idea what was going to happen. First, they said we would have a graduation in August. So, now, it is exciting to see something to commemorate us and our hard work. Brown described her experience at UM-Flint as being on a small campus with lots of opportunity. She once saw a flier for Michigan Medicine while walking to class, now months later, she works there as a clinical researcher. Read more on MLive: UM-Flint, Kettering University intend to freeze tuition for 2021-22 academic year Some Genesee County schools staying open despite Gov. Whitmers virtual learning request New esports team at mid-Michigan high school gives students another opportunity for scholarships MSU announces Flint-exclusive Master of Public Health scholarship Kettering University announces $10K donation to emergency fund from Consumers Energy Foundation A more equitable approach to dealing with microaggressions would be to put the onus of addressing them onto the perpetrators. Credit: Shutterstock "Don't you go to school for free?", "You don't pay taxes!", "Do you live in a teepee?" are things Indigenous students have heard. In some cases, there is widespread agreement on what racism is. For example, most people would agree that restricting a racial group's right to vote in a federal election is racist. (Indigenous people were the last to gain full voting rights in Canada in 1960.) But in other cases, the agreement is scantthe quotes at the top of this page represent some of those cases. They are examples of racial microaggressions. Racial microaggressions are often considered "minor." What are racial microaggressions? Racial microaggressions are incessant, subtle forms of racism that can be verbal, behavioural or environmental. Racial microaggressions have been described as "racial indignities." As a mixed-race Haida woman, I've been routinely told I "don't look Indigenous" or I'm "not like other Indigenous people" because I was born with my mother's skin tone instead of my father's. This is an example of a racial microaggression. Microaggressions may seem small or "micro," but as incessant forms of racism, they can have big impacts on mental health, physical health and social life. One study of university students found that non-Indigenous university students regularly asked Indigenous university students if they lived in teepees. Another study found that Indigenous students were stereotyped by others as drunks, addicts or on welfare. Daily hassles One way of looking at the impact of racial microaggressions could be to look at daily hassles. Daily hassles are defined as "relatively minor, everyday problems such as commuting problems, family arguments or household repairs." The cumulative impact of daily hassles is linked to chronic health conditions like digestive problems, mental health conditions like depression and anxiety and even death. Some researchers have even found that daily hassles have a larger impact on health than major life events given their relentless nature. The concept of daily hassles show that small things can have big impacts. Racial microagressions and health Researchers have shown that racial microaggressions are associated with depression in Latino community members, in university students of Asian descent and create PTSD symptoms in Black participants. Microaggressions are also related to physical health outcomes. Experiencing racial microaggressions during the COVID-19 pandemic was related to physical health issues and sleep troubles for Asians and Asian Americans. They're also associated with a whole host of other negative outcomes like substance use, anxiety, stress and even suicidal thoughts in many racialized groups. Although there is little quantitative research on the impacts of microaggressions on Indigenous people, qualitative research has indicated that Indigenous people feel disrespected, degraded, uncomfortable or like they have to hide their Indigenous identity after experiencing microaggressions. Microaggressions aren't just based on race Microaggressions can be based on many factors. Researchers have identified microaggressions based on gender, LGBTQ identity and ability. Experiencing microaggressions based on these other factors can have similar effects as racial microaggressions: for example, experiences of disability-related microaggressions were related to higher levels of anxiety in Canadian university students. A person can experience multiple types of microaggressions, due to the intersectionality of their identities. For example, an Indigenous woman who identifies as bisexual might experience race, gender and sexual orientation-related microaggressions all in one day. Based on research on the impact of microaggressions and daily hassles, it is likely these combined experiences have negative impacts. What to do about them? What can people do about microaggressions? Freelance writer Hahna Yoon wrote a piece in the New York Times on how the targets of microaggressions might respond. These discussions are important because microaggressions exist and targets of them must have coping mechanisms. For example, people who experience microaggressions might share their experiences with others who have common experiences as a way to cope. However, focusing on the target's response misplaces the burden. A more equitable approach would be to put the onus of addressing microaggressions onto the perpetrators of the microaggressions. But there is relatively little research on this. One study found that white participants said they were less likely to engage in microaggressions after a day-long workshop on race, racism and racial microaggressions. The study provides hope to those who do this work, but more information is needed. Microaggressions cause harm. More research needs to be done to understand how best to prevent them. Thinking about how words matter might be a good place to start. Explore further Sexist, racial microaggressions prevalent among surgeons This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article. Acclaim offers a sample of recent honors for Emory faculty and staff. Listings may include awards and prizes; election to boards and societies; and similarly notable accomplishments in the wider community. Acclaim is published monthly in Emory Report. To suggest items for the May 2021 column, please email your submission by April 23. Emory faculty and staff are frequently recognized for their work locally, nationally and internationally. The following is a sampling of recent accolades, including awards for professional contributions and leadership appointments. Honors highlighted in this column: Bell to serve as coalition co-president The Georgia Coalition for Higher Education in Prison (GACHEP) announced that Stacy Bell, professor of pedagogy in English at Oxford College, will serve as co-president of the nonprofit organization's first board of directors. GACHEP is a coalition of higher education institutions providing college-level programs in Georgia prisons. The organization serves to build high-quality educational pathways, from pre-college coursework to accredited degree completion, for people who are in prison and people who have left prison in Georgia. Brown to join Georgia Writers Hall of Fame Pulitzer Prize-winning poet Jericho Brown will be celebrated as one of the newest members of the Georgia Writers Hall of Fame in November. The four 2021 inductees join a group of 69 acclaimed wordsmiths, including recipients of prestigious creative awards such as the Pulitzer Prize, the Academy Awards and even the Nobel Peace Prize. Browns third collection of poetry, The Tradition, won the 2020 Pulitzer Prize in Poetry and was a finalist for the 2019 National Book Award. He is Charles Howard Candler Professor of English and Creative Writing and director of Emorys acclaimed creative writing program. Distinguished Researcher Award goes to Bruner Deborah Watkins Bruner, senior vice president for research, was selected for the Claire M. Fagin Distinguished Researcher Award, which honors distinguished Penn Nursing faculty and alumni. The biennial award is given to a Penn Nursing faculty member or a graduate from the schools doctoral program who has made a distinguished contribution to nursing scholarship. Bruner delivered the lecture Inspiration, Innovation and Impact during the virtual award presentation. Bruner is also professor and Robert W. Woodruff Chair in Nursing, professor of radiation oncology and part of Winship Cancer Institute. She is an internationally-renowned researcher and clinical trialist. Dowes article wins publication prize Pearl K. Dowe, Asa Griggs Candler Professor of Political Science and African American Studies at Oxford College and Emory College of Arts and Sciences, received the 2021 Association for the Study of Black Women in Politics (ASBWP) Anna Julia Cooper Best Publication Prize. Her article "Resisting Marginalization: Black Women's Political Ambition and Agency" was nominated, considered and received unanimous votes. ASBWP serves as a vehicle for promoting research on Black women in politics in the U.S. and across the globe. The Anna Julia Cooper Best Publication Prize goes to a political scientist for the most outstanding article in a peer-reviewed journal or book, on Black women in politics. Summer stipend supports Kamaths research Harshita Mruthinti Kamath has received a summer fellowship from the National Endowment for the Humanities: the NEH Summer Stipend, which is part of $24 million that NEH has awarded to 225 humanities projects nationwide. The program aims to stimulate new research in the humanities and its publication. Awards can support projects at any stage of development, but especially early-stage research and late-stage writing in which small awards are most effective. The summer stipend supports full-time work by a scholar on a humanities project for two months. Kamath is Visweswara Rao and Sita Koppaka Assistant Professor in Telugu Culture, Literature and History in the Department of Middle Eastern and South Asian Studies. The summer stipend will support her research for a book on the South Asian poet Annamayya (14241503) and his role in the history of the Hindu temple at Tirumala in south India. Kragel named an APS Rising Star Assistant professor of psychology Philip Kragel has been named a Rising Star by the American Association for Psychological Science. The Rising Star designation is presented to outstanding APS members in the earliest stages of their research career post-PhD. This designation recognizes researchers whose innovative work has already advanced the field and signals great potential for their continued contributions. Individuals being considered for Rising Star designation are evaluated for their promise of excellence in research based on their publications; recognitions; discoveries, innovations or theoretical or empirical contributions; work with potentially broad impact; and demonstrated independence from mentors. Statistical contributions award recognizes Kutner Michael Kutner received the 2021 American Statistical Association Karl E. Peace Award for Outstanding Statistical Contributions for the Betterment of Society. The award recognizes statisticians who have made substantial contributions to the statistical profession and to society in general. Their contributions have led in direct ways to improving the human condition and recipients have demonstrated through their accomplishments their commitment to service for the greater good. Kutner is Endowed Rollins Professor of Biostatistics in the biostatistics and bioinformatics department of Rollins School of Public Health. He has received numerous professional awards over the years and served as department chair from 2004 2009. O'Banion recognized as rising star at Emory Jacquelyn A. O'Banion, director of Global Ophthalmology-Emory, was recognized by The Emory Alliance for Women in Medicine and Science (EAWiMS) as an exceptional rising star female faculty member. OBanion joined the Emory Eye Center in 2016 and serves as an assistant professor of ophthalmology. Her clinical work includes routine eye exams, cataract surgery and other comprehensive eye care services. Her research interests include pediatric vision screening and addressing health care disparities for underserved populations, both locally and abroad. She has participated in several studies in underserved populations such as in Peru and Swaziland. OBanion also works with local hospitals, clinics and ministries of health to establish national eye care plans. Patel included in The Ophthalmologists 2021 Power List Purnima Patel, associate professor of ophthalmology at Emory Eye Center, was named to The Ophthalmologists Power List 2021. The power list celebrates the 100 most influential women in ophthalmology. Patel joined the ophthalmology section of the Atlanta VA Medical Center in 2010. She is board certified in ophthalmology and specializes in medical retina and comprehensive ophthalmology. Her areas of clinical interest are diabetic retinopathy, inherited retinal diseases, macular degeneration, cataract surgery, and uveitis. Patel also served as chair of the American Academy of Ophthalmologys (AAO) Young Ophthalmologist Committee in 2014 and received the Secretariat Award from AAO. Read more about her recognition. Primo named to NEI eye health planning group Susan Primo, director of optometry services and low vision services at Emory Eye Center, was named to the National Eye Institutes (NEI) National Eye Health Education Program (NEHEP) Planning Group. NEI created NEHEP to educate professionals and the public about the importance of eye health. The NEHEP Planning Group is made up of experts in eye health, health education, health communications and community outreach. Primo is a well-known expert in low vision research and visual health disparities. She was named Optometrist of the Year by the National Optometric Association in 2005 and has received numerous awards and recognition for community service. Primo is a fellow in the American Academy of Optometry and has lectured extensively at various local and national meetings. Your Fantastic Mind accepted for nationwide distribution Your Fantastic Mind, the Georgia Public Broadcasting television series produced in partnership with the Emory Brain Health Center, has been accepted for nationwide distribution by the National Educational Telecommunications Association (NETA). Season 2 of Your Fantastic Mind will be made available to more than 200 PBS stations across the nation for possible inclusion in their programming schedules. NETA is one of the nation's leading service organizations strengthening and amplifying public media's education mission. Watch past episodes of Your Fantastic Mind. Three Emory faculty awarded 2021 Guggenheim Fellowships Three Emory professors Tayari Jones, Laura Otis and Katherine Young have been awarded 2021 Guggenheim Fellowships. They are three of 184 American and Canadian scientists, scholars in the social sciences and humanities, and writers and artists of all kinds, who were awarded fellowships this year by the Guggenheim Foundation. Fellowship amounts vary, but are designed to help fund writers, scholars and scientists in their work. Jones, Charles Howard Candler Professor of English and Creative Writing, Department of English, won a fellowship in the fiction category; Otis, Samuel Candler Dobbs Professor of English, Department of English, won in the field of English literature; and Young, assistant professor of composition in the Department of Music, won in the field of music composition. On Thursday, four Democratic lawmakers will stand on the steps of the Supreme Court to introduce legislation expanding the country's highest court from nine to 13 justices. The bill is being proposed by Sen. Edward Markey (D-Mass.), Rep. Jerrold Nadler (D-N.Y.), Rep. Hank Johnson (D-Ga.), and Rep. Mondaire Jones (D-N.Y.), The Washington Post reports. The Constitution does not state how many judges should sit on the Supreme Court, and it could be expanded by an act of Congress. There have been nine justices since 1869; now, there are six nominated by a Republican president and three by Democrats. Those in favor of expanding the Supreme Court say having more justices would help prevent major decisions coming down to one "swing" justice, while also serving as a stronger check on the presidency. Last week, President Biden signed an executive order creating an independent commission to examine the structure of the Supreme Court. More stories from theweek.com 5 colossally funny cartoons about Biden's infrastructure plan Marjorie Taylor Greene and Lauren Boebert are lone lawmakers to vote against National Marrow Donor Program How a music teacher falsely accused of pedophilia sparked the Matt Gaetz investigation LONDON, April 15, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Fastmarkets, the global commodity price reporting agency (PRA), is delighted to announce the successful completion of a second external assurance review of its Helsinki-based pulp and paper pricing unit Fastmarkets FOEX. The prices reviewed included those published by Fastmarkets and those administered by Fastmarkets Benchmark Administration Oy (FBA Oy). FBA Oy was incorporated in Finland in December 2020 and received its Benchmarks Regulation (BMR) authorization in February 2021 to administer all benchmarks that are in scope of the BMR. BDO carried out the independent assurance review of six of the business' key trademarked PIX indices in pulp and recovered paper. On March 31, 2021, BDO found that Fastmarkets' responses were in line with the IOSCO principles for PRAs. The review process is comprehensive, examining all relevant processes and documentation to ensure their quality, integrity and adherence to stated methodologies. As per guidance by the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA), this assurance review by an independent external auditor is sufficient to demonstrate compliance with the requirements of the BMR for commodity benchmarks (paragraph 18 of Annex II). Reviews must take place at least annually. ''Fastmarkets is delighted to announce that the FOEX PIX indices have successfully achieved another assurance review," Fastmarkets CEO Raju Daswani said. "The incorporation of FBA Oy and the completion of an external audit of our process demonstrates our commitment and compliance with the regulations to provide reliable, impartial, representative and transparent benchmarks for the market we serve to use in physical trading, risk management, analysis and planning purposes." This year's review covered six benchmarks, two of which were new prices that received the Type 1 IOSCO accreditation. The following indices were included in the scope of the assurance: PIX Pulp Indices (Europe)* PIX NBSK PIX BHKP PIX Recovered Paper Indices (Europe) PIX OCC 1.04 dd PIX ONP/OMG 1.11 dd PIX Pulp Indices (China) PIX NBSK PIX BHKP *denotes benchmark subject to BMR To obtain a copy of the independent assurance report, please click here. Fastmarkets has invested significantly in resources and technology to ensure its price-assessment process aligns with IOSCO principles. View details here. To view Fastmarkets FOEX price methodology/specifications, please click here. ABOUT FASTMARKETS Fastmarkets is the industry-leading Price Reporting Agency (PRA) for global commodities, providing price data, news, analytics, and events for the metals and mining, forest products, and agriculture markets. Fastmarkets' data is critical for customers seeking to understand and predict dynamic, sometimes opaque markets, enabling trading and risk management. Fastmarkets is a global business with a history exceeding 130 years built on trust and deep market knowledge. Its team of more than 430 people are located in global offices including London, Helsinki, Boston, New York, Shanghai, Beijing, Singapore, Brussels and Sao Paulo. Fastmarkets is part of Euromoney Institutional Investor PLC (LSE:ERM), a listed company on the London Stock Exchange. Euromoney is a leading international business-to-business information group focused primarily on the global commodities, banking and asset management markets. SOURCE Fastmarkets Related Links https://www.fastmarkets.com/ Ngarikoni and baby Noelle were the remaining out of nine giraffes to be Saved. How do you rescue a herd of giraffes that are trapped on a swiftly sinking island? Float them to the mainland on a custom-constructed barge - a "GiRaft." Save Giraffes Now (SGN) That is how a months-long rescue operation for giraffe in Kenya currently concluded on April 12, taking the last of nine giraffes that were stranded to safety, according to a statement by Save Giraffes Now (SGN), an American nonprofit organization that collaborated with conservationists in Kenya to transfer the giraffes. The threatened giraffes, subspecies that are highly endangered known as Rothschild's giraffes (Giraffa camelopardalis rothschildi), had been inhabiting Longicharo Island in Lake Baringo of Kenya since 2011. But increasing waters continuously flooded their habitat, and environmentalists, worried that the giraffes could not find enough food on the island anymore. Then they made a decision to evacuate the animals. Also Read: Road to Extinction: African Giraffes Added to IUCN Red List of Threatened Species Construction of the Giraffe-toting Barge "The level of water in Lake Baringo has been increasing for some time, but in 2020 the rate of the increase was boosted," flooding businesses and coastal homes, threatening the lives of the giraffes, representatives of Kenya's Northern Rangelands Trust (NRT) posted on Facebook on Dec. 2, 2020, when the evacuation of the giraffe started. To relocate the gangly giraffes from their homes that were disappearing to a new sanctuary on the mainland, SGN partnered with NRT and other local conservation agencies: Kenya Wildlife Service and Ruko Community Conservancy. People from the Pokot and Njemps communities designed and constructed a giraffe-toting barge with tall, reinforced sides, buoyed by 60 empty drums and pulled by boats. Rangers aided the giraffes to acclimatize to the GiRaft over time by stopping it on land and motivating the animals to investigate it by loading delicious treats on the barge, like seed pods, mangos, acacia leaves, and food pellets as stated by the SGN. Ngarikoni and Her Baby Noelle Once the giraffes acclimatize with the GiRaft, rescuers conveyed them one by one to higher ground in a sanctuary that was enclosed at the 178square-kilometer (44,000-acre) Ruko Conservancy, located about 1.6 kilometers (1 mile) across the lake from the island. The first passenger to enter the GiRaft was a female giraffe called Asiwa, as the rising waters had already separated her from the other herds, representatives of NRT wrote on Facebook. Over the following months, more giraffes was carried across the lake, and on April 12, the remaining giraffes - a female called Ngarikoni and her baby Noelle, delivered at the ending of December - summarized the journey, according to the statement. The populations of giraffe, in general, have reduced by about 40% over the past three decades, but the number of Rothschild's giraffe have decreased by approximately 80%, making it "controversially one of the most endangered subspecies of giraffe," according to a study released in 2019 in the African Journal Ecology. Related Article: Daring Rescue To Save Giraffes From Shrinking Island For more news, updates about giraffes and similar topics don't forget to follow Nature World News! Victorias Acting Premier James Merlino says it remains unclear whether Labor leader Daniel Andrews will return to work in 10 days, when his planned six-week break, as he recovers from a serious spine injury, comes to an end. Two spinal surgeons said when Mr Andrews did return to his duties, it would almost certainly be on a flexible basis that avoided prolonged periods of standing up and multiple public appearances. Daniel Andrews shared this photo in March when he was moved from ICU at The Alfred hospital. Credit: Supplied The Premier has been recovering at home since March 15 when he was discharged from The Alfred hospital with a fractured vertebra and at least five fractured ribs after slipping on stairs at a rental beach house on the Mornington Peninsula. He announced he would take a leave of absence for at least six weeks. Brandy Zadrozny, a reporter for NBC News who covers online extremism, was working on a story last fall about the right-wing websites that had promoted conspiracy theories about Hunter Biden. One of her queries was to Darren Beattie, a former Donald Trump speechwriter who allegedly wrote for one of those sites. But instead of answering her questions, Beattie lashed out at Zadrozny in a blog post calling her an "ideologically-motivated hit-man" with a practice of "targeting Trump supporters for doxing, censorship and harassment." It might have remained a small, nasty online grudge. But Beattie soon got an opportunity to bring his views to a much-larger platform: that night's episode of Tucker Carlson's prime-time Fox News show, which was watched by more than 5.3 million people. As a photo of Zadrozny took up a good chunk of the screen, Beattie described why he thought her reporting techniques were so malevolent. "She's up to no good," Beattie said. "She uses state-of-the-art, proprietary technical tools to dig up personal information about anonymous Trump supporters online. ... basically, so she can ruin their lives." This was a fundamental misinterpretation of Zadrozny's work, which has included reporting on individuals who discussed the Jan. 6 Capitol Hill insurrection in advance on fringe message boards, the origins of the baseless QAnon conspiracy theories, and a school shooter in New Mexico who participated in white supremacist internet communities. But Carlson expressed outrage. "Why would NBC News be doing something like this?" the most-watched man on cable news asked. "Why would they be going after anonymous Twitter users?" "It really is disgusting," Beattie replied, likening Zadrozny to a "neo-Stasi," a reference to the East German secret police. And then the threats against Zadrozny started pouring in. The threats got so bad, and so violent, and so specific, that Zadrozny required armed security for two weeks after the Carlson show segment. The next day, NBC News released a statement accusing Carlson of "dangerously and dishonestly" targeting Zadrozny, saying that his employer, the Fox News Channel, had "shamefully encouraged harassment and worse." Zadrozny, however, was hardly the only journalist to receive death threats after being called out by Carlson, a conservative pundit who recently dethroned Sean Hannity as the most-watched host on the most-watched cable news network. Carlson cut his teeth jousting with the nation's top elected officials and brand-name pundits on CNN's "Crossfire" 20 years ago. But as his influence within the conservative media ecosystem has grown, with some calling for him to run for president in 2024, he has increasingly found fodder in criticizing lesser-known media figures whom he presents to his audience as symbols of liberalism run amok. And a subset of viewers are inspired to personally harass those journalists with threatening messages. Los Angeles Times columnist Virginia Heffernan told The Washington Post that she contacted local police and filed a report with the Federal Bureau of Investigation - mentioning Carlson by name - after a Feb. 8 segment on his show took aim at a column she published three days earlier. Heffernan wrote a provocative - but "slightly satirical," she says - column sharing with readers her internal moral dilemma after her Trump-supporting next door neighbor plowed her driveway of snow. (It drew the ire of Jim Hoft of the far-right Gateway Pundit, who called her "hateful, humorless and intolerant.") Carlson highlighted Heffernan on his show, sharing her photo with a chyron on the screen describing her as a "loathsome L.A. Times columnist." "Have you noticed that the angriest people in America are the ones with absolutely no useful skills?" Carlson asked. "People like Virginia Heffernan. No useful skills. Does not do anything." Heffernan said she received waves of harassing and threatening messages, including letters mailed to her home address and a text message to her phone from a sender indicating a knowledge of where she lived. The text message in particular spooked her, and her local police department took it seriously. Officers drove past her house and around her neighborhood multiple times, she said. While accustomed to mean tweets and abrasive letters to the editor, Heffernan said she was so unmoored by the backlash and the threats to her privacy and safety that she even hesitated when asked for her address - as a formality - in the process of filing her FBI report. "It was like, 'How do I know this is secure?'" she recalled. In early March, New York Times technology and digital culture reporter Taylor Lorenz took note on Twitter of International Women's Day by urging her followers to support female journalists and raising concerns about the online harassment she and other women in the profession have experienced. Carlson decided to devote a segment of his show to Lorenz's complaint - in particular highlighting her claim that online harassment had "destroyed" her life, which he mocked. Days later, Lorenz shared on Twitter an email she had received in the aftermath of the show, repeatedly urging her to "kill yourself." "It's not just mean tweets," said Lorenz's friend, video producer Sara Pearl Kenigsberg. "It's death threats. It's people trying to dox her, or figuring out where she lives or her family situation, or contacting and harassing her family. It's very scary." (Lorenz was not made available for an interview.) The Times put out a statement defending Lorenz and accusing Carlson of engaging in a pattern of bad behavior toward journalists. "In a now familiar move, Tucker Carlson opened his show last night by attacking a journalist," the paper said. "It was a calculated and cruel tactic, which he regularly deploys to unleash a wave of harassment and vitriol at his intended target." At the time, Fox responded to the Lorenz segment backlash by saying in a statement that "no public figure or journalist is immune from legitimate criticism of their reporting, claims or journalistic tactics." Asked to comment for this story, a Fox spokesperson pointed to this previous statement but did not offer further comment. Carlson's allies, though, have countered such complaints by noting that the host, too, has been the subject of behavior he considers harassing, such as a boisterous protest outside his Washington home in November 2018 that he found threatening. A Metropolitan Police Department investigation into the behavior of the protesters remains open, and no arrests have been made, a spokesperson said recently. At the time, senior Fox executives decried the incident in a statement to The Washington Post. "The violent threats and intimidation tactics toward him and his family are completely unacceptable," they wrote, arguing that the nation has "become far too intolerant of different points of view" and calling for "the need for a more civil, respectful, and inclusive national conversation." Among journalists who say they have been harassed following segments on Carlson's show, there is a reluctance to speak publicly about what happened for fear of inciting a new round of negative attention and hostility. One female journalist expressed fear of a "Tucker wave" of harassment if she were to be featured in this story. Murray Carpenter and Tristan Spinski, two Maine-based journalists with relatively small online profiles, declined to comment for this story when asked about the harassment they received in July, after Carlson named them on his show and told his audience that they planned to reveal the location of his Maine home in a story for the Times. At the time, both Carpenter and Spinski told Post media critic Erik Wemple that they were forced to call law enforcement. Spinski, a freelance photographer, appeared to get the worst of it - there was an attempted break-in at his house following the segment. Beyond restating the publication's commitment to the safety of its employees, a Times spokesperson declined to comment for this article and said that "no one is available for an interview." Nearly a year later, no story based on their reporting on Carlson has yet appeared in the Times. Organizations that call out Carlson risk entering into a never-ending back-and-forth with the host, who often laments efforts to "silence" him and turns criticisms of his show into the night's A-block of programming. After Carlson mocked the Times' statement on his March 10 show, reading it in a dramatic, sarcastic tone, above an on-screen graphic that read "New York Times Knows All About Actual Harassment," the newspaper chose not to respond. Over time, those who have been criticized publicly by Carlson have attempted to make sense of why they ended up on his show. In addition to Zadrozny, Heffernan and Lorenz, Carlson has featured freelance journalists Talia Lavin and Kim Kelly in his programming. "They single out these people as avatars of power, when usually they are not," Lavin said, and then turn them into "the faces of the culture war." Kelly, who writes about labor issues, landed on Carlson's radar for a tweet of hers in 2019 expressing support for a 69-year-old activist who was killed by police when he launched an armed attack on a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention center in Washington state to protest Trump administration immigration policies. Kelly called the activist "heroic"; Carlson called her "sick," adding that "This country's laws cannot survive when powerful people endorse violence against those who enforce the laws. And a country can't survive when it's run by people who hate it." Far from being a member of the "decadent rich," as he called her, Kelly says she was at the time "an unemployed freelancer from a rural working-class union family," writing an occasional column for the online publication Teen Vogue. Carlson similarly portrayed Lorenz as a media power player, comparing her to Hillary Clinton, Michelle Obama and Meghan, Duchess of Sussex. Ridiculous, said her friend, Kenigsberg. "She doesn't manage people. She's not like this high-up, elitist person that they try to portray her to be." April Ryan, a White House correspondent for the Grio, an online publication aimed at a Black audience, believes that Carlson has used her as a symbol as well, to generate heat from his audience and keep viewers tuned in. During a segment in October 2018, Carlson called Ryan a "dumb" person who made "racist attacks" against Brett Kavanaugh during his Supreme Court confirmation process. In January of this year, Carlson accused Ryan of "(terrifying) American families, particularly American black families," about the prevalence of police brutality and violence after the shooting of Jacob Blake in August 2020. "I am just a target that he wants to use to gin up his base and the base of Donald Trump in 2024," she said. "I've never targeted Tucker Carlson. I've never targeted him. I never said, 'Oh, go after this person.' They make personal attacks because they can't handle the truth." Ryan said she confronted Carlson at the Politicon convention, where both spoke, a few years ago. She said she told him that "basically everything you do has put my life in jeopardy." "Tucker Carlson Tonight" has been the top-rated show on Fox News for the past six months, averaging 4.3 million total viewers per month during that period. In February, Fox News management tapped Carlson to create "flagship" content for the network's digital platform, including a new streaming show called "Tucker Carlson Today," which debuted recently. When the Anti-Defamation League urged Fox News to fire Carlson last Friday for saying in a segment that immigration serves to "dilute the political power" of Americans, the company refused. In a response letter to the organization, which works to combat antisemitism, Fox Corporation chief executive Lachlan Murdoch defended his host and argued that Carlson actually "decried and rejected replacement theory," despite what critics alleged. It's all a little much for Heffernan, who said she tried to ignore Carlson's show before the segment on her in February, opting out of the daily discussion that takes place on Twitter about his nightly broadsides. On March 26, Heffernan tweeted a photo of a letter that she received telling her to "get COVID and choke." The response was huge. "It turns out that most people online, maybe disproportionately men, don't know what this sounds like or feels like at all and they're completely shocked," she said. Meyersdale takes down Shade for fifth district title in six seasons Meyersdale took down Shade in the District 5 Class A softball championship on Friday, marking its fifth overall title win in the last six years. Former Brooklyn Center police officer Kimberly Potter was charged with second-degree manslaughter this afternoon. As you no doubt know, she tried to tase Daunte Wright as Wright was fighting with two other officers, and inadvertently pulled her Glock instead of her taser. This is the relevant statute: 609.205 MANSLAUGHTER IN THE SECOND DEGREE. A person who causes the death of another by any of the following means is guilty of manslaughter in the second degree and may be sentenced to imprisonment for not more than ten years or to payment of a fine of not more than $20,000, or both: (1) by the persons culpable negligence whereby the person creates an unreasonable risk, and consciously takes chances of causing death or great bodily harm to another; or (2) by shooting another with a firearm or other dangerous weapon as a result of negligently believing the other to be a deer or other animal; or (3) by setting a spring gun, pit fall, deadfall, snare, or other like dangerous weapon or device; or (4) by negligently or intentionally permitting any animal, known by the person to have vicious propensities or to have caused great or substantial bodily harm in the past, to run uncontrolled off the owners premises, or negligently failing to keep it properly confined; or (5) by committing or attempting to commit a violation of section 609.378 (neglect or endangerment of a child), and murder in the first, second, or third degree is not committed thereby. If proven by a preponderance of the evidence, it shall be an affirmative defense to criminal liability under clause (4) that the victim provoked the animal to cause the victims death. I have a hard time seeing how this statute applies to Officer Potters case. The only potentially applicable subpart is (1), but that provision requires that the defendant consciously takes chances of causing death or great bodily harm to another. I dont doubt that Potters shooting Wright with the wrong tool was negligent, but there is no reason to think that she consciously took a chance of causing death or great injury to Wright. The taser would not have done so. Maybe this is why the Wright family and its representatives have denied that Potters shooting of Wright was inadvertent, even though the body cam video clearly shows that it was. Meanwhile, lawlessness rages in Minnesota. There is every reason to believe that rioters would burn down Potters house if given the opportunity. Thus, Potters home has been placed under guard, even though her family reportedly has moved away: Law enforcement on Tuesday erected concrete barricades and tall metal fencing around the perimeter of Potters multilevel home in Champlin. Two police cars guarded the driveway behind fortified fences marked with signs reading Caution: Lasers in Use. Her street was lined with paper No Parking signs and blocked to nonresidential traffic. Motorists entering the area were greeted by a buzzing cellphone alert from local police to expect protest activity in your neighborhood over the next few days. Some have analogized officer Potters inadvertent shooting of Daunte Wright to Mohammed Noors shooting of Justine Damond, for which Noor is now serving a prison term. But the cases are very different. Noors shooting of Damond was intentional, if inexplicable. Moreover, Damond was entirely innocent, while Potter accidentally shot Wright in the context of a chaotic situation that Wright created by resisting arrest and attempting to flee the scene. Nevertheless, a criminal prosecution of Kimberley Potter will proceed, and if she is not jailed, riots and arson no doubt will ensue. I am not sure how police departments in places like Minneapolis and Brooklyn Center intend to find new police officers, as well as replacements for those who are quitting and retiring in droves. But I guess if you are in favor of defunding the police that isnt a problem. It is the rest of us who will suffer. TORONTO, April 15, 2021 /PRNewswire/ - April 15, 2021 Globally Local Technologies Inc. ("the company"), the parent company of Globally Local, one of the world's first vegan fast-food chains, announced it will begin publicly trading on the TSX Venture Exchange under the symbol GBLY tomorrow, April 16, 2021. Globally Local is a technology company that creates, manufactures and distributes a food service product line of proprietary plant-based proteins and dairy alternatives to corporate-owned and franchised restaurant locations. As vegan fast-food concept pioneers, founders James and Vasiliki McInnes opened the first location in 2016 in London, Ontario, with a goal of being superior to animal-based fast food in taste, nutrition, and affordability. The company scaled quickly by opening a food manufacturing facility in 2018, allowing it to control the key links in its supply chain, keep menu prices competitive with conventional fast food, as well as engage customers to validate product development. Globally Local restaurant locations operate as compact smart kitchens, which facilitate primarily takeout and delivery business. Their advanced restaurant design uses the most modern on-demand cooking technology for a consistent food experience, quick service, low costs and simplified employee training. With online ordering, self-checkout kiosks, cashless transactions, and an ideal setup for its delivery app partners, Globally Local is thriving during a global pandemic that has challenged many other businesses. "Our team has spent five years developing an advanced fast-food restaurant concept and vertically integrated supply chain which, combined together, will revolutionize the fast-food industry," said James McInnes, co-founder, CEO and one of the lead scientists at the company. "Our smart kitchens will soon be deploying proprietary automation technology that will not only enhance our efficiency but will also make us more affordable than traditional fast food, ultimately allowing us to create change through a better economic model." The company currently has one corporate location and one franchise location with six more corporate locations under development in Ontario, Canada. The company plans to open at least 20 locations across North America in the next twelve months. Click to tweet this: Congrats @GLFastFood for becoming the world's first vegan fast-food company to go public! https://globallylocal.ca @tsxv_tsxv #TSXV #globallylocal #plantbased #veganfastfood #disruptfastfood Globally Local boasts early investors including musician Tony Kanal of the band No Doubt. Rather than an IPO, Globally Local entered an agreement with Black Lion Capital Corp., a capital pool corporation listed on the TSXV to consolidate as Globally Local Technologies Inc. Those interested in details of this transaction may contact Globally Local investor relations at [email protected]. The TSX and its TSX Venture Exchange constitute the eighth largest stock market in the world based on market capitalization, and the third largest in North America. Interested investors in Canada may purchase shares of Globally Local by contacting their broker or placing an order via their electronic trading platform, and in the U.S. through reputable brokerage firms that allow purchase of Canadian stocks via their trading platforms. Follow Globally Local Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/globallylocal Twitter: https://twitter.com/GLFastFood Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/globallylocalfastfood LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/globallylocal About Globally Local Technologies Inc. Globally Local is a plant-based food technology company that manufactures and distributes industry-leading plant-based protein and dairy alternatives using locally sourced and sustainable ingredients. The company distributes its products through a proprietary food service line to company owned and franchised fast-food restaurant locations. Globally Local restaurant locations operate as smart kitchens, which use state-of-the art cooking technology and automation solutions to deliver a delicious food experience to customers craving healthier and more sustainable fast food. With small store footprints optimized for delivery and takeout, advanced cooking technology, competitive pricing, a vertically integrated supply chain along with healthier ingredients, Globally Local is revolutionizing the fast-food industry. The company currently operates a manufacturing facility and two restaurant locations in Canada, with plans to open 20 additional restaurant locations across North America in the next 12 months. The company is traded on the Toronto Stock Exchange under the symbol GBLY. For more information visit https://globallylocal.ca. Neither the TSX Venture 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 press release. 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 "plans", "will", "may", "should", "anticipate", "expects" and similar expressions. Events or circumstances may cause actual results to differ materially from those predicted, as a result of numerous known and unknown risks, uncertainties, and other factors, many of which are beyond the control of the company. Specifically, this press release contains forward-looking statements relating to but not limited to plans for growth in North America. Such forward-looking statements of information are based on a number of assumptions which may prove to be incorrect. Such information, although considered reasonable by management at the time of preparation, may prove to be incorrect and actual results may differ materially from those anticipated. Forward-looking statements contained in this news release are expressly qualified by this cautionary statement. The forward-looking statements contained in this news release are made as of the date of this news release and the Company will update or revise publicly any of the included forward-looking statements as expressly required by Canadian securities law. The reader is cautioned that assumptions used in the preparation of any forward-looking information may prove to be incorrect. Events or circumstances may cause actual results to differ materially from those predicted, as a result of numerous known and unknown risks, uncertainties, and other factors, many of which are beyond the control of the Company. The reader is cautioned not to place undue reliance on any forward-looking information. Such information, although considered reasonable by management at the time of preparation, may prove to be incorrect and actual results may differ materially from those anticipated. Forward-looking statements contained in this news release are expressly qualified by this cautionary statement. The forward-looking statements contained in this news release are made as of the date of this news release and the Company will update or revise publicly any of the included forward-looking statements only as expressly required by Canadian securities law. SOURCE Globally Local Technologies Inc. Related Links https://globallylocal.ca/ popular top story Wednesday's vaccination updates: 5,835 Champaign Co. seniors yet to be vaccinated; 45% of adults have received at least 1 dose; DACC offers free class to anyone with vaccination card Worm infestation in intestine has a remote effect on viral defenses Infection with parasitic intestinal worms (helminths) can apparently cause sexually transmitted viral in-fections to be much more severe elsewhere in the body. This is shown by a study led by the Universities of Cape Town and Bonn. According to the study, helminth-infected mice developed significantly more severe symptoms after infection with a genital herpes viruses (Herpes Simplex Virus). The researchers suspect that these results can also be transferred to humans. The results have now appeared in the journal Cell Host & Microbe. In sub-Saharan Africa, both worm infections and sexually transmitted viral diseases are extremely com-mon. These viral infections are also often particularly severe. It is possible that these findings are related. At least, this is the conclusion suggested by the current findings from mice. The scientists involved in the study investigated how an infestation with helminths affects the course of a herpes infection of the female genital tract in the animals. "The results themselves surprised us in their clarity," explains Prof. William Horsnell PhD., of the Institute of Infectious Diseases and Molecular Medi-cine at the University of Cape Town. "Genital herpes disease is often accompanied by scarring of the vagi-na, known as necrosis. In our study, this serious symptomatology occurred twice as often as normal after helminth infestation." The finding is also surprising because the worms themselves never infest the female genital tract. They are parasites that are ingested with food or through the skin and eventually migrate to the intestines. "So this is a remote effect of helminth infection that was not known before," explains Dr. Laura Layland of the Insti-tute of Medical Microbiology, Immunology and Parasitology at Bonn University Hospital. Misdirected immune response The researchers were able to show that a specific group of immune cells, the eosinophil granulocytes, is responsible for the necrotization. These are white blood cells that are specialized in fighting worms and other parasites. They are armed with cell-decomposing enzymes that they carry around inside them. However, these are not freely available - they are too dangerous for that. Instead, they are packed in so-called granules (hence the name "granulocytes"). Upon contact with a parasite, the cells channel these granules to the outside, where they release their deadly cargo. "In our case, however, the worm infestation in the intestine causes eosinophilic granulocytes to accumu-late in the vagina during a concurrent genital herpes infection," Horsnell points out. "They then secrete their cell-damaging enzymes there, even though no helminths are present. And it's this misdirected im-mune response that leads to the serious damage in the mucosa of the vagina that we've observed." A specific immune messenger, interleukin-33, appears to play an important role in this process, indirectly causing the accelerated maturation of granulocytes in the vagina. "We inhibited IL-33 with a specific com-pound," Horsnell explains. "The mice then developed significantly less tissue damage in the genital tract." The scientists are now looking for potential drugs that are also suitable for use in humans and that can be produced inexpensively. Successful cooperation program The fact that the study could be carried out successfully is also thanks to a cooperation program between Germany and Africa funded by the German Research Foundation (DFG). "The Institute of Medical Micro-biology, Immunology and Parasitology at the University of Bonn sees its role in this as being, among other things, the transfer of know-how," explains Dr. Laura Layland. "We train researchers in the countries on site, for example, in the use of analytical techniques and scientific methods, an offer that also benefits young scientists in particular." To this end, Layland and her colleagues are conducting workshops in African countries and in Bonn, among other places. The aim is to strengthen existing scientific expertise in the affected regions and thus significantly improve research into and control of parasitic worm infections in the medium term. ### Publication: Alisha Chetty et al: Il4ra -independent vaginal eosinophil accumulation following helminth infection exac-erbates epithelial ulcerative pathology following HSV-2 infection. Cell Host & Microbe, https:/ / doi. org/ 10. 1016/ j. chom. 2021. 02. 004 This story has been published on: 2021-04-15. To contact the author, please use the contact details within the article. Shortly after Prince Philip, the Duke of Edinburgh and husband of Queen Elizabeth II, died last Friday, the BBC cut away from its schedule to broadcast special coverage across its TV channels and radio stations for the entire afternoon and night. As popular shows were taken off the air including Fridays episode of EastEnders, a soap opera that has run since 1985, and the final episode of MasterChef, a cooking competition show the BBC was flooded with expressions of displeasure. To be exact: 109,741 complaints were received, the BBC said on Thursday, making it the most complained-about moment in the BBCs history. As Britains public broadcaster, the BBC has a pre-eminent position in British media, and its funding from the public via a license fee puts it in a difficult position. It is frequently attacked for being too liberal, and too conservative, while its access to public funding is controlled by the government, currently a Conservative administration. The BBC tries to reflect the mood of the nation, but recently a fierce debate about the role of the royal family bubbled up after Oprah Winfreys interview with Prince Harry and his wife, Meghan, the Duchess of Sussex. "Expanding our footprint to the West Coast was a natural next step for us." said Aaron Corbett, CEO. "Consumers are looking for humanely raised and organic meats and they want to buy from brands that value social responsibility. The West Coast leads the charge when it comes to actively seeking out better-for-you foods. Not only do they eat humanely raised and organic meat more frequently, but they also search out transparent brands they know they can trust." North Country Smokehouse has been proudly displayed on white linen restaurant menus nationwide for more than 3 decades. "We entered into the retail space about five years ago," says Corbett. "Prior to that, our small-batch, smoked meats were only available through discerning distributors in Eastern regions. Many West Coast chefs would source our products and bring them in as a specialty item." North Country Smokehouse's retail products display a bold claim that reads 'Some Things Simply Can't Be Compromised'. "Our products are one-of-a-kind," says Corbett. "We focus on patience and persistence, taking our time to handcraft every item. We do not rush for the sake of efficiency or yield like others do. We credit the low & slow smoking process with our flavor and high-quality. It's part of the recipe." The move towards the West Coast was set into motion four years ago, when Mike Kelly, Vice President of Business Development joined the team with the goal of expanding certified humane and organic bacon, sausage, deli meat, and ham into retail grocers. Mike's more than 30 years of CPG experience plays a large part in North Country's expansion. As part of the overarching strategy, he brought new hire, Kimberly Novkov, aboard as the West Coast Regional Sales Manager. Kimberly is an L.A. native and prior to her new role at the smokehouse, she worked for a competing smoked meat brand in the same geography. "We're excited to have Kimberly with us. Not only does she understand the market, but she also has existing relationships with many of the buyers and understands the trends towards humanely raised and organic meats. While many brands remain focused on commodity products, the move towards sustainably sourced meat cannot be denied. Kimberly is getting our products in front of customers who want better-for-you foods but are not willing to sacrifice flavor." The demand for certified humane and organic meats is growing rapidly and Western states are driving the demand. "North Country Smokehouse offers a unique value because of our relationship to the source," says Kelly. "We're a subsidiary of duBreton, a family-owned, agri-food company who leads North America in the supply of certified humane and organic pork. The vertically integrated system gives us more control of the farm to fork supply chain, so we can deliver premium products consistently and more cost effectively. We source our pork from our very own farm-network never off the market. It's an advantage for our customers because they can depend on us for consistent, quality products and they know we can meet their demand." duBreton has more than 400 family-farms in their network, all committed to certified humane and organic farming. "Their farms are audited year-round to ensure the animals are being raised with respect and have the ability to engage in natural behaviors," says Kelly. "They exceed federal regulations that define humanely raised and organic meat. They look at the standards, meet them, and then surpass them. It's about doing the right thing." duBreton places respect for the animal above all else, banning the use of electric prods and commonly used practices like tail-trimming. Today, North Country Smokehouse can be found in most upscale retailers along the East Coast like Hannaford, Stop & Shop, Shaw's, Market Basket, Big Y, Target, and more than 300 Whole Foods Market locations. In addition, their products can be found on the shelves of more than 500 independent retailers down the Eastern Coast. West Coast consumers can find their products in Gelson's Market and Bristol Farm's locations throughout California. They also have an ecommerce website that carries specialty products, gift baskets and offers a bacon of the month club membership. About North Country Smokehouse As one of America's few remaining, family-owned smokehouses, North Country's mission is to hand craft premium, artisanal smoked meats through culinary excellence, exceptional animal care standards, and respect for the land. Located in the heart of New England, their authentic charcuterie features only the best hand-selected, natural ingredients, and small batch smoking process over embers of local hardwoods. Available in traditional, all-natural certified humane, and organic varieties, the NCS product line features smoked bacon, ham, sausages, and deli meats, as well as unique offerings like smoked chicken, and Cajun Pork Tasso. Their recipes are crafted using old world, European techniques, resulting in the distinct flavor they are well-known for today. Recognized for an innovative approach to dining, North Country Smokehouse partners with respected chefs nationwide, to develop signature recipes that enhance menus with their on-trend approach to flavor. Voted America's Best Bacon by Men's Journal, New England's Best Meat by Yankee Magazine, and The Best Bacon in America by Food & Wine, North Country has been noted for balancing taste with time honored tradition and modern food trends. Available through upscale retailers, discerning distributors, and with custom crafted recipes in noted restaurants, hotels and resorts across the country, North Country has provided customers with better choices at the table for more than 100 years. Visit ncsmokehouse.com for more information. MEDIA CONTACT Alicia Baker North Country Smokehouse; Brand Manager 603.542.8323 ext. 214 [email protected] SOURCE North Country Smokehouse Related Links https://www.ncsmokehouse.com WASHINGTON Mitch McConnell may have figured out the smartest response to a tantrum by former President Donald Trump: Ignore it and allow increasing exhaustion with the former president to fester among Republicans who believe unity is imperative for climbing back into the congressional majority. McConnell and his team are bypassing a chance to hit back at Trump, after a series of attacks in which Trump called the Senate GOP leader a dumb son of a bitch, a stone-cold loser, and helpless to fight against what he sees as a Democratic Party drive to change the composition of the U.S. Supreme Court. After declining reporters overtures for a reaction to Trump on Monday, McConnell quickly pivoted away from a query at his weekly news conference Tuesday. What Im concerned about, he replied before transitioning to an attack on President Joe Bidens policy proposals, is the future. So are his colleagues, who have largely sided with McConnell over Trump in the aftermath of the latest broadside. While no one had the gall to outright condemn or rebuke Trump, GOP lawmakers, operatives and donors largely responded with a collective sigh of exasperation. I dont agree with the things the president said on Saturday night, Sen. Rick Scott of Florida, the chairman of the GOPs campaign arm, said during a Washington Post livestream Tuesday. I have a very good working relationship with Senator McConnell. GOP Sen. Mike Rounds of South Dakota said he was very disappointed with Trumps comments about McConnell. Other GOP senators simply conveyed their hopes for a truce while donors privately griped that Trumps Saturday night speech at Mar-a-Lago was horrible and negative, according to Politico. The arrows thrown at McConnell failed to land inside a room with GOP honchos. Trump remains the loudest voice in the party, commanding the largest and most loyal following. His endorsement is already being aggressively sought by a slew of candidates who want to join McConnells Senate chamber in 2023. But in the day-to-day combat against the Biden administration and Democratic legislative priorities, Trump is largely absent. When it comes to messaging against policies, choosing issue emphasis and deploying a long-term strategy with an eye trained on the midterms, its McConnell who holds the most sway. And getting in a tit-for-tat with Trump a name that barely comes out of McConnells mouth anymore does nothing but expend more time and attention on the 45th president. Given Trumps larger-than-life personality that thrives on conflict, Republican donors and operatives are perfectly content with a Senate lieutenant that gets accused of barely conveying emotion. If McConnell didnt choose deescalation, theres little belief that his tormentor-in-chief would. McConnells not focused on personalities, hes focused on winning. His strength is his laser-like focus on winning. And he doesnt let any of that noise get in the way, said Jack Oliver, a longtime Republican fundraiser. The Biden agenda has done more to unify Republicans than anything He doesnt take his eye off the ball and donors know he doesnt take his eye off the ball, and its good. Thats been his gift. Jeff Sadosky, a GOP consultant and former aide to Sen. Rob Portman, said few politicians are better than McConnell at remaining disciplined and keeping the GOP conference from getting lured into counterproductive fights. Without that discipline and savvy inside game, its fair to say much of what Republicans tout as policy wins over the past few years, from judges to taxes, wouldnt have happened, said Sadosky, and it will ensure hes at the table if and when theres room to make a deal, and willing to walk away when Bidens talk of bipartisanship isnt backed up by his staffs action. Few believe this will be the last time Trump picks a fight with McConnell, but those who have worked for the Kentuckian say they would be surprised if he chose to respond in any other way. -- David Catanese of McClatchy Washington Bureau wrote this story. 2021 McClatchy Washington Bureau. Visit at mcclatchydc.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC. In January, I wrote about how banks have been inflicting untold hardship on ordinary, law-abiding citizens by freezing bank accounts for not updating their KYC (know your customer) documents. This inflicts financial death on people by depriving them of access to their own savings. KYC documents are basic identification documents such as your PAN number/Aadhaar or some address proof to prove that your account is bona fide. We support the need for strict identification to prevent misuse of banking channels. But something is drastically wrong with the system when ordinary people are treated like criminals and tax-evaders and have their money frozen, while fraudsters, such as a closely regulated Dewan Housing Finance Ltd (DHFL) could create lakhs of fake accounts in a fictitious branch (Bandra Books) to siphon thousands of crores of rupees. Their cousins at Housing Development and Infrastructure Ltd (HDIL) opened 21,000 fake accounts that bypassed the core banking system and eventually led to the collapse of Punjab & Maharashtra Cooperative Bank (PMC Bank) without ever attracting RBIs (Reserve Bank of Indias) attention. In contrast, pensioners and senior citizens living on their savings are driven to panic by having their accounts frozen. How is this fair and reasonable? Moneylife Foundation, our not-for-profit associate, decided to study the issue by collating examples of harassment and submit a memorandum to RBI. Governor Shaktikanta Das has been supportive. He asked us to submit the memorandum and has agreed to have it examined. I would encourage you to read the detailed memorandum because the callous implementation of KYC rules can hit anyone, even those of us who are meticulous about ensuring compliance with the rules. Here are just some key points from our 20-page memorandum. 1. Indiscriminate Freezing of Accounts: Denying access to their own money is an extreme punishment which is imposed with impunity by bank officers, often without adequate notice, merely for a delay in compliance with KYC re-submission. Often, customers get no warning and learn of the draconian action when their cheques bounce or debit card is dishonoured, despite money in the bank. Sometimes, they suffer because banks have made horrible mistakes or failed to seek or update information in the core banking system. Banks neither apologise nor face any consequences when this happens. We have provided several examples of such indiscriminate freezing of accounts which have serious consequences, including default on loans and non-payment of salaries. We believe banks should be allowed to freeze accounts only in case of financial crime and that, too, on requests from revenue authorities, Central investigation agencies or the economic offences wing (EOW) of the police, ideally ratified by courts. 2. No Clarity on Risk Categorisation: RBI rules say low-risk customers are not required to update KYC more than once in 8-10 years, especially for running accounts for routine transactions. But we find that there is no clear definition or guideline for categorisation of customers into high-risk, medium-risk and low-risk categories; each bank has to evolve its own criteria for doing so and claim a certain number in each category. Since too many low-risk customers seem to be harassed, we suspect that banks are misclassifying customers to ensure perfunctory compliance with RBI requirements. 3. Technology and Centralised KYC: Banks must use latest available technologies, like digital ID or video-based customer identification process (V-CIP), to establish KYC. A centralised KYC already has all the facilities in place for smooth and easy online updation. But, instead of using it, banks have been forcing customers to visit the home branch with physical documents, even in the middle of the COVID pandemic. Although we are hopeful that governor Das will act on our memorandum, we need to prepare for a longer battle to assert our rights. I find that banks often seem to treat court orders with disdain. For instance, in 2012, the Gujarat High Court (HC) has already ruled that banks cannot freeze accounts or stop issuing cheque books/ATM facilities for want of KYC documents. Interestingly, this petition was filed by an under-trial, Ashwin Parmar (convicted in a gang rape case), who sought bail on the grounds that his personal presence was needed to submit KYC documents to State Bank of India (SBI), which had threatened to freeze his account for non-submission. Well, Mr Parmar was denied bail, because the Court ruled that personal presence of the accountholder is not a must. If such documents are submitted by duly authorised representative of the accountholder, the bank is required to accept the same. Isnt it astonishing that RBI has not bothered to update its rules, despite a nine-year old HC ruling? And isnt it ironical that a convicts account is now protected but law-abiding citizens are made to suffer? RBI is also aware that a government registry, called Central KYC (CKYC) was created under Central Registry of Securitisation Asset Reconstruction and Security Interest of India (CERSAI), precisely to eliminate the harassment over KYC. I wrote about it in my article earlier, so did Harsh Roongta, in his column in Business Standard. On 10 March 2021, the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) issued a circular telling all intermediaries not to seek fresh KYC documents from clients if they provide a CKYC identifier and consent to download these documents. This is not a new development. As far back as in 2017, online brokerage firms such as Zerodha, with over 5 million clients today, started using CKYC for opening accounts. In fact, brokers have been mandated to carry out CKYC since 2016, says Venu Madhav of Zerodha. KYC data is certified by an internal auditor every six months. Only last week, Zerodha asked me to update my CKYC a process that took a few minutes and was smooth and hassle-free, followed by a confirmatory mail from the registry the next day. According to Mr Madhav, We push files via SFTP and upload new KYCS to the CKYC system. 65-70% of the uploads happen successfully on first attempt, generating a valid CKYC number. If a person is already registered under CKYC and a new intermediary uploads the same information, the CKYC number is immediately shared. When there is data inconsistency (for instance, different identity documents being shared the second time) it throws out a probable match and a simple verification process to confirm that it is the same person. If this has been working for five years and is already used by millions of investors in the securities market, it is unclear why banks follow outdated systems where customers are asked to come in person and that, too, to the home branch, to re-submit documents. We have seen cases where KYC documents recently provided for some other service (loan or credit card) are not considered valid for KYC updation, despite a core banking systems and unique investor number (UIN) mandated across services. Clearly, RBI has been unwilling to change and adapt to new technology. But this is no surprise. It had to be pushed by SEBI to introduce NEFT (national electronic funds transfer) and RTGS (real-time gross settlement) transactions to permit quick transfer of funds, so that India could move to T+3 rolling settlements that put our capital market ahead of even some developed markets. At other times, changes came from lobbying by powerful banks, intermediaries or even the information technology (IT) industry. We, the depositors, have no lobbying power. In order to change draconian account-freezing rules that cause immense mental agony and hardship, we need collective action to make our voices heard. Our memorandum is a first step in this long battle. If you believe that banks simply cannot be empowered with such extreme powers, please sign and share this online petition KYODO NEWS - Apr 14, 2021 - 17:32 | All, World U.S. climate envoy John Kerry will travel to Shanghai and Seoul from Wednesday to Saturday for discussions on efforts to tackle climate change, the White House said, as tensions between the United States and China remain high. The Chinese Foreign Ministry said Wednesday that during his visit to Shanghai, Kerry is scheduled to hold talks with Xie Zhenhua, special representative on climate affairs for China, the world's largest carbon emitter. It will be the first trip to China by a senior official of the administration of U.S. President Joe Biden, who took office in January. Kerry will visit Shanghai as requested by the Chinese side, the ministry said. The United States, the second-biggest emitter of greenhouse gases, wants to work with China on combating the impacts of global warming despite their increasing rivalry for military and economic supremacy as well as ongoing bilateral confrontation, including in areas related to human rights, Hong Kong and Taiwan. The talks in Shanghai are aimed at "raising global climate ambition" ahead of a virtual climate summit Biden is planning to host next week and a U.N. climate change conference scheduled later this year, the White House said Tuesday. Kerry is expected to arrive in Shanghai later Wednesday. Attention is growing on whether the talks will lead to an easing of tensions after a meeting between the two countries' top diplomats in Alaska in March exposed deep divisions over each other's policies and visions for the international order. Biden, who has made climate change issues a priority in his foreign policy, has invited Chinese President Xi Jinping to join the two-day climate summit starting April 22. China has said it is "seriously considering" whether Xi will participate in the online gathering. White House press secretary Jen Psaki said the details of the summit are yet to be finalized, including whether there will be bilateral meetings, but the Biden administration is approaching its relationship with Beijing as one "not of conflict but of competition." Scientists at the University of Southampton have conducted a study that highlights the importance of studying a full range of organisms when measuring the impact of environmental change - from tiny bacteria, to mighty whales. Researchers at the University's School of Ocean and Earth Science, working with colleagues at the universities of Bangor, Sydney and Johannesburg and the UK's National Oceanography Centre, undertook a survey of marine animals, protists (single cellular organisms) and bacteria along the coastline of South Africa. Lead researcher and postgraduate student at the University of Southampton, Luke Holman explains: "Typically, biodiversity and biogeography studies focus on one group of species at a time, often animals. Studying animals, protist and bacteria together - organisms vastly different in size, separated by billions of years of evolution - gave us the opportunity to take a broader view of the marine ecosystem. We discovered remarkably consistent biogeographic groupings for the three across the coastline - consistent with previously studied patterns, driven by regional currents." Findings are published in the journal Nature Ecology and Evolution. The team took seawater samples in numerous locations along the length of the South African coast, from the warmer seas of the east, to the cooler waters of the west and the intermediate temperatures in the south. The samples were filtered, had environmental DNA extracted and underwent sophisticated lab analysis to indicate the diverse range of organisms found in particular locations. Results showed a broad range of animals living in the sea along the whole length of coast, but with differences in the exact species in warm, cold and intermediate regions. This same pattern of difference was also shown in bacteria and protists - demonstrating consistency in the biodiversity of life for each region. Furthermore, the scientists found that among the variables examined temperature had the greatest impact on determining the diversity of animals and bacteria, whereas protists were associated more with chlorophyll concentration in the water. The team also revealed that while all three groups were affected to some extent by human activity, such as shipping, fishing and building of marinas, this wasn't to the extent they'd expected. Commenting on the study, Luke said: "We hope our work encourages researchers to consider other groups of organisms, both in biogeographic assessments and marine protection and restoration projects. For example, a project aiming to restore a coral reef might also need to consider the bacterial communities, or the protection of a river system might also ensure the protists communities are monitored in addition to the fish." Moving forwards the team hope to learn more about the causes and consequences of global marine biodiversity change for all life, from microscopic bacteria and protists to macroscopic organisms like fish and marine mammals. ### Notes to Editors 1) For interviews with Luke Holman, please contact Peter Franklin, Media Relations, University of Southampton. Email: p.franklin@southampton.ac.uk Tel: 07748 321087 2) The paper Animals, protists and bacteria share marine biogeographic patterns is published in the journal Nature Ecology and Evolution (DOI: 10.1038/s41559-021-01439-7) and can be found at https:/ / dx. doi. org/ 10. 1038/ s41559-021-01439-7 after the embargo has lifted. 3) The University of Southampton drives original thinking, turns knowledge into action and impact, and creates solutions to the world's challenges. We are among the top 100 institutions globally (QS World University Rankings 2021). Our academics are leaders in their fields, forging links with high-profile international businesses and organisations, and inspiring a 22,000-strong community of exceptional students, from over 135 countries worldwide. Through our high-quality education, the University helps students on a journey of discovery to realise their potential and join our global network of over 200,000 alumni. http://www. southampton. ac. uk 4) For further information about the School of Ocean and Earth Science at the University of Southampton visit: https:/ / www. southampton. ac. uk/ oes/ index. page 5) For more on the universities of Bangor, Sydney and Johannesburg visit: MADRID, April 7, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- The telecommunication and posts regulatory authority (ARPT) of the Republic of Guinea and the company Global Voice Group (GVG) are proud to announce the establishment of a new partnership between the two organizations. Signed in Conakry on 1 April 2021 by the respective directors, Mr Yacouba Cisse and Mr James Gabriel Claude, the agreement provides for the deployment of a leading-edge mobile and digital ecosystem regulation platform in Guinea. The installation of this digital platform will begin on 1 June of this year. To this day, this is the most ambitious project for the digitization of the country's regulatory tools. It encompasses major aspects such as the regulatory management of mobile and digital identities, interconnectivity, data services and mobile money. The contract stipulates that GVG will be responsible for the deployment of the platform, as well as for the related technical operations, over a five-year period at the end of which the company will transfer the platform's ownership to the ARPT. The general purpose of the platform is ambitious: promote and sustain trust and inclusiveness in the mobile and digital ecosystem, for the benefit and fulfillment of all Guineans. To achieve this, the platform implements data-driven regulatory technologies that will guarantee regulatory compliance in this ecosystem, as well as the alignment of the latter with the State's digital development and inclusion guidelines. For GVG, which is honored to have Guineans within its team, this return to Guinea represents an opportunity to contribute to the flourishing of a rapidly developing digital society. As stated by James Claude, the company's CEO: "We enjoy a privileged relationship with Guinea, which was one of the first African nations to deploy our former platforms, ten years ago. We recognize ourselves in the visionary spirit of its leaders, especially those of the ARPT. Our visions truly are in alignment with one another. We are convinced that we can bring tangible answers to the regulator's new requirements in the current and future Guinean telecom environment through our new technologies, which have significantly evolved over time." For his part, the ARPT's Director General, Mr Yacouba Cisse, highlighted the advent of a digital approach to regulation. According to him, there exists a firm consensus in the African regulatory domain as regards the digitization of regulatory tools. "The ARPT proved to be a pioneer in this area", he recalled, "by digitizing the national and international interconnections as soon as 2009. The new digital tools we are implementing go much further. They cover all aspects of the mobile and digital ecosystem that are likely to affect the Guinean subscribers, who must be protected by an effective regulatory framework." About Global Voice Group Founded in 1998, GVG is a world-class provider of ICT and RegTech solutions whose main offices are situated in Spain and South Africa. Through Big Data analytics, GVG helps governments and authorities make a success of their digital transformation and efficiently promote compliance and true inclusiveness in the digital ecosystems. GVG monitors, collects and analyses the data originating from crucial economic sectors, and transforms them into actionable information, thus ensuring that the decision-making process is based on reliable data. Logo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/996162/GVG_Logo.jpg SOURCE Global Voice Group Students across Connecticut are embracing the COVID-19 vaccine. Individuals ages 16 through 24 became eligible to sign up for the shot at the beginning of the month, and almost a quarter or about 103,000 young adults have already gotten at least their first dose, according to state data. Thats almost double the 53,000 who had at least a first dose as of April 7. Connecticuts age-based vaccine rollout has meant that the student-aged population was among the last to qualify for the shot, despite or perhaps because of that current infections are concentrated among younger adults. Gov. Ned Lamont said at a press conference Thursday that the data is mostly in line with the states expectations. Its only been a couple of weeks, he said. I have a feeling were going to have to work harder with the younger demographic, just like we had to work harder to get them health insurance as well. Jacob Nuland is a 22-year-old student from Trumbull. Currently a junior at Southern Connecticut State University, Nuland is studying engineering and learning from home, though he had some labs in-person last fall. Nuland has a pre-existing condition that, he recalls learning from his pulmonologist, made him more susceptible to severe cases of COVID-19. So he said he was extra cautious about the virus. I would stay in my room and not leave my house, he said. Nuland, who noted his condition added more urgency to quickly getting the shot, signed up for the Pfizer vaccine in Stamford as soon as he could. I just wanted more protection, he said, to go out more and live my life again, not having constant worry going through my head. Jacobs 16-year-old sister, Lily, is a junior at Trumbull High School and got her first dose of the vaccine last week. Young adults ages 16 and 17 have to get the Pfizer vaccine the only shot currently approved for those ages by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. Lily said the vaccine will make it safer for her and her friends to socialize in and outside of school. I hope everybody gets vaccinated so school can become less restricted, she said, citing basic school activities like gathering in the cafeteria. You cant really eat with your friends. Every time I hang with people, I get really nervous. If I know were vaccinated, it makes me feel a lot better, she said. The vaccine rollout comes just in time for Lilys final year of high school. I hope everythings as close to normal as it could be next year, she said. My school got cut off sophomore year. Thats when everything was about to start, like dances. Its a big jump from nothing to prom! Nicole Somerstein, a senior at Boston University, returned to Connecticut to celebrate Easter and get her Pfizer vaccine in Stamford, where her family lives. When not at college, Somerstein lives with her parents and grandma, so she said she was nervous to go home during school vacations. I was just one more person who could potentially bring (COVID-19) home, she said. I want to be able to hug my friends and family again, to be around people and not be nervous. Somerstein will be fully vaccinated right before her college graduation, so she hopes her and her familys newfound protection against the virus will mean they get to celebrate together. I trust the people who make (the vaccines), she said. At the end of the day, if its going to give us a sort of back-to-normal, I will 100 percent take that chance. A Mayfield man who police say admitted visiting the Carbondale residence of homicide victim Suzanne Pauswinski around the time she was killed has been jailed on weapons charges. Jerry Koezeno, 55, of 616 Poplar St., Apt. 3, was held in Lackawanna County Prison on $100,000 bail after his arrest Wednesday by state police at Dunmore. He has not been charged with killing Pauswinski, 55, whose body was discovered March 29 in her basement apartment at 61 Farview St. An autopsy found she suffered multiple stab wounds. State police charged Koezeno with possessing a rifle after investigators found the weapon and ammunition during a search of his Mayfield apartment, according to the arrest affidavit. Because of a series of felony convictions in Florida, he is barred from possessing a firearm in Pennsylvania, police said. Asked whether Koezeno is considered a suspect in the homicide, District Attorney Mark Powell said in a text message it would be inappropriate to comment at this time because the case remains under investigation. But I do want to reassure the public that we do not believe theres any risk to their safety, he said. Troopers investigating Pauswinskis homicide interviewed Koezeno on April 2 after identifying him as the owner of a silver Jeep Liberty that was seen on surveillance video parked near the victims apartment around the time of her death, police said. During the interview, Koezeno admitted being at the victims residence, police said. State police conducted an initial search of Koezenos apartment, where he lives with two other people, and seized several items, the affidavit said. Investigators observed a rifle case in a closet, but it was not searched or seized. On April 7, a state game warden provided state police with a report detailing charges he filed against Koezeno in November 2019, for shooting at a bear from a vehicle on state game lands in Lake Twp., the affidavit said. State police then reviewed Koezenos criminal history and found six felony convictions in Florida between 1987 and 1992.Based on the new information, troopers obtained another search warrant for Koezenos apartment April 8 to look specifically for firearms and seized the rifle, police said. One of the individuals who lives with Koezeno told police she believes the weapon belonged to Koezenos former wife and said he had it at the apartment since they moved in last December.Koezeno was arraigned by Magisterial District Judge Joanne Corbett on one count of possession of a firearm prohibited. His preliminary hearing is scheduled for 10:30 a.m. Wednesday. Racing pigeons will be released in Windsor, Sandringham and 65 other cities and towns across the UK for Prince Phillip's funeral on Saturday. The Duke of Edinburgh, a fan of the sport, died on April 9 and a low-key funeral is set to be held at St Georges Chapel, Windsor, on April 17. The birds will be released from the Queen's lofts in Sandringham and at Windsor on the day of the funeral, with the Royal Pigeon Racing Association (RPRA) aiming to have ten pigeons - one for each decade of the prince's life - released across the UK at midday, reported The Times. The royal family has been associated with pigeon racing since 1886 when King Leopold II of the Belgians gifted them a breeding stock for the Sandringham estate. There are currently 170 birds in the Queen's royal loft in the Norfolk village of Wolferton, one mile away from Sandringham. The Duke of Edinburgh, a fan of pigeon racing, died on April 9 and a low-key funeral is set to be held at St Georges Chapel, Windsor, on April 17. Pictured, a Royal racing pigeon that had to be rescued by the RSPCA The birds will be released from the Queen's lofts in Sandringham and at Windsor on the day of the funeral. Pictured, Prince Philip in 2014 Richard Chambers, development officer for the RPRA, said the 'duke paid a particular interest' to the lofts. Mr Chambers, who will be releasing his own birds at the National Memorial Arboretum near Lichfield, Staffordshire, said the royal loft manager told him Prince Philip had lots of questions about the sport. 'The Queen has always paid an interest and visited the lofts and the duke himself paid particular interest, to the point that when it was time for the royal party to move on during a visit he would spend extra time asking questions,' he said. An outbreak of bird flu has prevented pigeon racing but they can still be released for training flights. Mr Chambers revealed 28 cities signed up to release pigeons in the first 48 hours after a call was put out. He hopes more will join ahead of the funeral in two days' time. Richard Chambers, development officer for the RPRA, said the 'duke paid a particular interest' to the lofts. Pictured, the Queen watching a pigeon being released from a basket in 1996 The Queen is pictured with her sister Princess Margaret in her role as patrol leader of the Girl Guides as she sent a message by carrier pigeon to Lady Baden-Powell at Guide Headquarters Royal loft manager Peter Farrow previously revealed e very time a Royal pigeon wins a race, he has the pleasure of informing the Queen. Winnings vary from about 10 to a few hundred pounds, with a handful of 1,000 top prizes. The Queen has been enthusiastic about pigeon racing throughout her reign and her birds have numbers not names, though each of their leg rings is specially marked with the insignia ER. Before the bird flu outbreak the Royal pigeons competed regularly during the April to September racing season and won national and regional competitions. In June 2015, one of them, number 1258, came first in a Kings Lynn club race, taking five hours 55 minutes to fly 254 miles from Carentan, near Cherbourg, France. Source: Xinhua| 2021-04-16 02:17:19|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close Photo taken on April 15, 2021 shows a meeting of the Joint Commission of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) in Vienna, Austria. Wang Qun, Chinese envoy to the United Nations and other international organizations in Vienna, said Thursday that all parties to the 2015 Iran nuclear deal, or the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, should remove all disturbances and speed up the negotiation process to hash out an arrangement for the U.S. and Iran to resume compliance with the deal. (EU Delegation Vienna/Handout via Xinhua) VIENNA, April 15 (Xinhua) -- A Chinese envoy said Thursday that all parties to the 2015 Iran nuclear deal, or the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), should remove all disturbances and speed up the negotiation process to hash out an arrangement for the U.S. and Iran to resume compliance with the deal. Wang Qun, Chinese envoy to the United Nations and other international organizations in Vienna, made the appeal at a meeting of the Joint Commission of the JCPOA in Vienna. The envoy also called on the United States to immediately and unconditionally return to the nuclear deal. He said Washington should lift all sanctions relating to the Iran nuclear issue -- be it sanctions on Iran or long-arm jurisdiction measures on third-party entities and individuals. Lifting the sanctions is not only the key to the success of the negotiations, but also what should be done for resuming JCPOA implementation and safeguarding the deal, the envoy said. The burning issue is that the United States should come up with a concrete plan to lift the sanctions, and based on this, Iran comprehensively resumes the implementation of the JCPOA, wang said. The Joint Commission of the JCPOA resumed its talks on Thursday in Vienna, after a blackout struck the Natanz enrichment facility in central Iran on Sunday morning. Iranian authorities have accused Israel of the "sabotage." Wang said that China has noticed the sabotage of Iran's Natanz nuclear facility, and "we strongly condemn it and firmly oppose it." China has also noticed that relevant countries on Wednesday issued a joint statement expressing concerns over Iran's announcement of installing additional centrifuges and increasing its uranium enrichment purity. "It is hoped that all parties will exercise restraint and not overreact," Wang said. Wang stressed that the above-mentioned developments have made China even more convinced that at the key juncture of the current Iranian nuclear situation, all parties concerned should strive to maintain the good momentum of the negotiations since last week. Wang said that the Joint Commission should continue to focus on specific plans for U.S. sanctions-lifting through two major processes -- the nuclear implementation and sanctions-lifting working groups' work, and the "proximity talks" with the United States. He said that China, as always, would continue to participate in the negotiations in an in-depth manner, with the aim of achieving outcomes at an early date. Thursday's talks were chaired by Enrique Mora, the deputy secretary general and political director of the European External Action Service (EEAS). Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Seyed Abbas Araghchi, corresponding officials from Russia, Britain, France, Germany and China attended the meeting. Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said on Wednesday during a cabinet meeting that Iran has no problem negotiating the return to the 2015 nuclear agreement, but will do so "according to its own logic." He said the United States must implement the very same conditions that were agreed in July 2015, and as soon as Iran verifies those conditions have been met, it will "immediately fulfill all (its) obligations." Under the JCPOA, Iran is allowed to enrich uranium only up to a 3.67-percent of purity and its stockpile should not be more than 300 kg. However, Iran has been scaling down its compliance to its JCPOA obligations since the United States withdrew from the deal in May 2018 and reimposed sanctions on the country. On Jan. 4, Iran started to produce uranium enrichment of 20-percent purity. On Tuesday, Iranian chief nuclear negotiator Abbas Araqchi said Iran has notified the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) that Iran plans to start uranium enrichment at 60-percent purity and add 1,000 advanced centrifuges to its enrichment devices in Natanz. Enditem Source: Xinhua| 2021-04-15 19:35:25|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close ISLAMABAD, April 15 (Xinhua) -- The French Embassy in Pakistan has advised its nationals and companies to temporarily leave the country over "threats by a religious group against France," an official at the embassy said Thursday. In a precautionary message, the embassy has recommended French nationals in Pakistan leave the country if possible and directed French companies to halt operations temporarily due to recent threats to French interests in Pakistan, the official told Xinhua. Enditem Indian Coast Guard, a maritime law enforcement and search and rescue agency, spotted the Pakistani boat PFB NUH with eight of its nationals near the international maritime boundary line. They were searched and 30 kilogram of heroin was recovered from their boat. New Delhi, April 15 (IANS) Eight Pakistan nationals were apprehended from the mid-sea off Gujarat coast for drug trafficking on Thursday. The law enforcement agencies seized 30 kilograms of heroin from them. All the eight Pakistan nationals were apprehended immediately. The law enforcement agencies are trying to identify the mafia behind the drug traffickers.. A team from a forensic science laboratory has been called in to examine the contraband and ascertain its type. The coast guard official said that it was a joint operation with Gujarat Police's Anti-terrorism squad. It said that ATS had information about the illegal consignment being smuggled in the state through the coastline. The last one year has proved to be a big setback for drug traffickers at seas as Indian Coast Guard has successfully seized about 1.6 tonnes of narcotics worth approximately Rs 4,900 crore. Last year in January, Gujarat police's Anti-terrorism squad (ATS) had arrested five Pakistan nationals and had seized 35 kg heroin from their possession. Their boat named JamJam was spotted on the International maritime board at Jakhau in Kutch. Following their search, 35 packets of contraband heroin were recovered from them. The Pakistani nationals were identified as Anees Isa Bhatti, 30, Ismail Mohammed Kachchi, 50, Ashhraf Usman Kutchhi, 42, Kareem Abdulla Kutchhi, 37, and Abubaqar Ashraf Sumra, 55, all residents of different parts of Karachi, Pakistan. The drug mafias are trying to push contraband in Indian territory through land border and seas. In 2019, again Gujarat Police had arrested 11 foreigners, including nine Iranians with 100 kg heroin worth Rs 500 crore in a similar operation. The probe revealed that a Mumbai-based trader identified as Badruddin S. Shaikh, who had gone to Tehran (Iran's capital) to purchase dry fruits specially dates, was contacted by a drug dealer identified as Ali alias Haji who lured the trader to receive the narcotics consignment at Porbandar coast in Gujarat in lieu of Rs 10 lakh. --IANS sk/dpb Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, April 15) After two straight months of annual decline, Filipinos sent more money home in February, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas said Thursday. Personal remittances stood at $2.76 billion in February, BSP reported. This is 5.3% higher than the $2.62 billion remitted to the Philippines during the same month a year ago. Despite the growth, Februarys figure is lower than the $2.89 billion overseas Filipinos sent back to the Philippines the month prior. The increase in personal remittances was attributed to the 7.8 percent growth in remittances from land-based workers with work contracts of one year or more, said the central bank, noting that they transferred $2.15 billion to their loved ones back home compared to the $1.997 billion in February 2020. However, remittances of seafarers and short-term overseas Filipino workers dropped to $540 million from $566 million, a 4.6% year-on-year-fall. The recent figure brings total remittances in the first two months of 2021 to $5.65 billion. The BSP noted this is up 1.6% from the $5.56 billion sent home during the same period in 2020. Most remittances for the two-month period came from the United States, the central bank said. Other sources of fund transfers from overseas Filipinos include Singapore, Saudi Arabia, Japan, the United Kingdom, the United Arab Emirates, Canada, Malaysia and Taiwan. The faster growth in remittances this February may reflect faster economic recovery/rebound in some major host countries for OFWs around the world that enabled more OFWs to work again, said RCBC chief economist Michael Ricafort in a market report. This holds true especially in countries with increased COVID-19 vaccine rollouts that helped reduce new COVID-19 cases and led to stronger economic recovery that entailed creation of new jobs, including for OFWs, he added. However, he also flagged the new, more contagious coronavirus variants and any resulting restrictions in major OFW host countries to curb the spread of infections as factors that could possibly hamper remittances along with any delays in the vaccine drives of these nations. Dhaka: Aacross the country Police have been instructed about the violance of the Islamice Fundamentalust gruop name Hefazote Islam. In addition to vigilance, posts with light machine guns (LMGs) and Chinese rifles are being set up at police stations and outposts. Police members are always kept ready at the check post made of sandbags. Initially, such posts were seen in Brahmanbaria, Sylhet, Faridpur and Narayanganj, but this week it has been increased. It was learned on Tuesday that LMG posts have been set up in 14 police stations in the southern part of Dhaka metropolis, Rangpur and Rajshahi metropolitan police stations. The police will set up posts in the police stations or establishments which are considered to be at risk. Due to this, the number of LMG posts may increase gradually. Strict instructions have been issued that police installations will not be allowed to be attacked in any way. Although LMG posts have not been set up, there are search posts in Chittagong, Coxs Bazar, Bogra, Satkhira, Dinajpur, Gaibandha, Barisal, Narsingdi and Comilla. Additional security measures have been taken in police stations across the country. The alert will continue until further notice. IGP said to strengthen the security of the police.IGP Benazir Ahmed told reporters, The security of Hefazat-e-Islam movement-centric police stations has been enhanced in different parts of the country, including Sylhet. This measure has been implemented to avoid untoward incidents and to ensure the safety of weapons. According to police sources, after the various destructive activities and violence of Hefazat-e-Islam in Brahmanbaria from March 26 to 27, the police took extensive security measures at various police stations, outposts and other police installations. 26 LMG checkposts were set up in all police station buildings, police outposts and camps including the police super office. Additional Superintendent of Police. Raich Uddin (Crime and Administration) said, Heavy weapons have been provided at these security checkposts. At the same time, the police have taken a cautious stance in the incident of spreading rumors in Saltha of Faridpur. LMG posts have been set up in all police stations. A check post has also been set up in Sylhet metropolis due to the sabotage of Hefazat. Additional Deputy Commissioner (DB and Media) of Sylhet Metropolitan Police BM Ashraf Ullah Taher said LMG posts have been set up in front of each installation by making bunkers with sandbags to deal with unwanted situations. Police have set up such posts in seven police stations in Narayanganj. Surveillance has also been intensified on the Dhaka-Chittagong highway due to widespread sabotage, said Superintendent of Police Zaidul Alam. LMG posts have been set up in all police stations of Rangpur metropolis since Sunday. Rajshahi Metropolitan Police spokesperson Deputy Commissioner Golam Ruhul Quddus said special posts have been set up for the security of the police station. Similar posts have been set up in seven police stations of Motijheel and Wari divisions of Dhaka metropolis since Sunday. Motijheel Division Deputy Commissioner (DC) Syed Nurul Islam said Motijheel Division Motijheel Police Station, Sabujbagh Police Station, Khilgaon Police Station, Paltan Model Police Station, Rampura Police Station, Mugda Police Station and Shahjahanpur Police Station were set up with sandbags. Has been kept. Due to the current situation and additional security of the police station, heavy weapons have been installed in the police stations a few days ago. Security has been beefed up with police personnel at various points. Police headquarters sources said that the police headquarters had given instructions to increase security last week. Attacks on police installations will not be allowed in any way. Initially, the program was flexible in sabotage, but now the police will be in a tough position. Assistant Inspector General of Police (AIG-Media) Sohail Rana said, We have witnessed barbaric attacks on peoples lives and property in different parts of the country in recent times. Destruction has also been carried out on government installations including police stations and outposts. Police are on high alert to prevent any recurrence of such violence. As part of this, the security of police installations including police stations has been enhanced. Andreas Seidl says he can only "smile" at all the talk about 'high rake' and 'low rake' aerodynamic philosophies early in 2021. According to the narrative, Formula 1's rule changes between 2020 and this season benefitted Red Bull-like 'high rake' cars whilst punishing the previously-dominant 'low rake' Mercedes concept. "I have to smile honestly because I also read the comments regarding the effects of high rake and low rake," McLaren boss Seidl told the German broadcaster n-tv. "I think it is actually difficult for any team to judge whether one philosophy or the other has been more influenced by the changes," he added. "Because over the winter we all had our concept from last year as the basis. "As far as I can see," Seidl continued, "it is not possible for a single competitor to compare a high rake concept with a low rake concept. Nobody can really say whether the effects would be greater or lesser with another concept." Nonetheless, he expects Mercedes to get on top of any issues with its low-rake concept in the next few races. "We'll have to wait and see how the balance of power will sort itself out, and where Mercedes and Aston Martin will be with the so-called low rake concept," said the German. "I am sure that after a race weekend like Bahrain, where Mercedes won in the end anyway, we will see them fight back mercilessly in the next races." As for McLaren, Seidl said the team is happy with its new engine collaboration with Mercedes, revealing that it has "worked really well" so far. "We believe that we now have the best available power unit in the rear of our car," he added. "It's a great reference for us. "We also have a top driver pairing so we know exactly where we still have to perform better in the coming years in order to fight at the very front." (GMM) (@ChaudhryMAli88) Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Mahmood Khan on Thursday said that under the Rehmatul-lil-Alameen Scholarship programme, a total of 5,478 students would be provided scholarships in higher, elementary and secondary education sectors in the province PESHAWAR, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 15th Apr, 2021 ) :Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Mahmood Khan on Thursday said that under the Rehmatul-lil-Alameen Scholarship programme, a total of 5,478 students would be provided scholarships in higher, elementary and secondary education sectors in the province. He said 878 scholarships in higher education sector would cost Rs 340 million while 4,600 scholarships in elementary and secondary education sector Rs 230 million respectively. About 50 percent scholarships would be given on merit base and 50 percent on need base, he added. The chief minister was addressing the ceremony of the launching of Rehmatul-lil- Alameen Scholarships Programme under Ehsass Initiative wherein Prime Minister formally launched the scholarship for talented and need students with an aim to provide financial assistance to students. Punjab Chief Minister Usman Buzdar also attended the meeting through video link. KP Minister for Elementary & Secondary Education Shahram Tarakai, Advisor to CM on Higher Education Kamran Bangash, Secretary Higher education Daud Khan, Secretary Elementary & Secondary Education Yahya Akhunzada also attended the ceremony. The chief minister termed the scholarship programme an education-friendly initiative of the incumbent government as it would prove to be another milestone achievement towards establishing an Islamic welfare state. He added the provincial government would extend all out support to make the scholarship programme a success. He said the promotion of quality education in the province was the top most priority of the KP government. It had already launched many scholarship programmes to provide financial assistance to talented and needy students of the province. Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen delivers a speech during National Day celebrations in front of the Presidential Building in Taipei on Oct. 10, 2020. (Chiang Ying-ying, File/AP Photo) Taiwanese President Ideal Fit for Prestigious John McCain Award, Parliament Unanimously Agrees Sajjan rejects claims that the government threatened to withold funding for Halifax security conference The House of Commons unanimously adopted a motion Wednesday in support of the statement of the vice president of the Halifax Security International Forum that the president of Taiwan is an ideal fit for the prestigious John McCain prize. The motion, introduced by Conservative foreign affairs critic Michael Chong and created in consultation with all political parties, called on MPs to express whether they agree with the statement of the Forums vice president Robin Shepherd that President Tsai Ing-wen deserves the John McCain Prize for Leadership in Public Service. President Tsai Ing-wen of Taiwan is a well-respected international leader, female president of Taiwan and a strong global advocate for democracy, Chong read from Shepherds statement as he introduced the motion. She would certainly be an ideal fit for this award. The Forum awards the the John McCain Prize for Leadership in Public Service annually to individuals from any country who have demonstrated uncommon leadership in the pursuit of human justice. Politico reported that the Forum plans to give the award to Tsai for standing strong against Chinas relentless pressure, although so far not a winner has not been announced. Chongs non-binding motion also called on the government, a major sponsor of the Forum, to maintain funding at current levels even if the organization decides to present the McCain award to Tsai. That call came after Politico reported on April 11 that Canadian officials threatened to pull funding from the Forum if the award is given to Tsai. The Forum received $3.1 million from the Department of National Defence for its 2019 international defence conference. Although the Forum is based in Washington, it holds its high-profile defence conference annually in Halifax, which is attended by senior-level politicians and military officials who discuss global security issues. Conservative MP Michael Chong rises during question period in the House of Commons on Oct. 5, 2018. (Justin Tang/The Canadian Press) On April 12, Defence Minister Harjit Sajjan rejected claims that the government threatened to withdraw the funding. Thats actually absolutely false, he told the parliamentary committee on Canada-China relations. During question period the following day, Sajjan was asked by Conservative defence critic James Bezan if the Forum will get to keep its funding, and will he support bestowing the John McCain award to the President of Taiwan? The Halifax International Security Forum is an independent organization, and it makes its own decisions on where the awards need to go, Sajjan replied. As for funding future events, the defence minister declined to commit but said once a request is made it will be considered. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, however, said funding would continue when Chong questioned him in the House on April 14. The governments attempt to silence those critical of China is shameful and it plays right into Chinas desire to silence its critics abroad, Chong said. Will the prime minister admit this was a mistake and commit to continuing to fund the Halifax International Security Forum even if it awards the John McCain Prize to Taiwans President Tsai Ing-wen? The government has supported and provided funding to the Halifax security forum throughout our time in office, and the minister has participated every year and will continue to, Trudeau replied. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau responds to a question in the House of Commons in Ottawa on April 14, 2021. (Adrian Wyld/The Canadian Press) Chong also asked Trudeau if the government will support Taiwans participation in the annual World Health Organization (WHO) meeting next month, given that it has not been invited but Foreign Affairs Minister Marc Garneau has referred to Taiwan as a country. As a government, we have always been consistent in supporting Taiwans meaningful participation in international forums, Trudeau said. Taiwans role as an observer in the World Health Assemblys meetings is in the interest of global health. We welcome the participation from the entire international community to work together to promote global health. Non-WHO member Taiwan had lobbied to take part in the meeting in May 2020 to share its successful experience in combating COVID-19 with the international community. At the time, it had only reported 440 cases and seven deaths. But Taiwans efforts came to a naught when Beijing strongly objected to its participation unless it is willing to acknowledge it is part of China. The WHO eventually did not invite Taiwan. The Chinese Communist Party claims Taiwan is a breakaway province that should be under its control. The regime has warned other countries against recognizing Taiwan as a sovereign state and has increased its military activities near the island in recent months. A Chinese defence ministry spokesperson in January reiterated that Taiwan is a part of China, and warned that independence means war. U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on April 11 that it would be a serious mistake for China to attack Taiwan, and said theres real concern about the communist regimes threats against the island. Tsai, who was re-elected in a landslide election in January 2020, has maintained that Taiwan is independent and that her government government will not give in to threats and intimidation from China. With files from Reuters Lady Dannatt attends Mass for Prince Philip Lady Dannatt attends Mass for Prince Philip Lady Dannatt, the Lord Lieutenant of Norfolk, joined a requiem Mass for Prince Philip which was celebrated by the Bishop of East Anglia, the Rt Rev Alan Hopes, at St Johns Cathedral. In his homily, Bishop Alan recalled the funeral ceremony in 2011 of Otto von Habsburg, the last Crown Prince of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Following a Mass at St Stephens Cathedral in Vienna, his cortege made its way to the Franciscan Capuchin church. The chamberlain knocked on the door with his staff and from within a friar asked: Who seeks entry? The chamberlain answered Otto Von Habsburg, followed by all his royal and noble titles. The friar responded: We do not know him. Again, the chamberlain struck the door, and this time announced Otto von Habsburgs great achievements. Once more the friar replied: We do not know him. Finally, the chamberlain knocked and announced: Otto von Habsburg, a mortal, sinful man. This time the friar answered: Thus you may enter. We remember Philip Mountbatten, said Bishop Alan, in the same way. He recalled the royal titles a grandson of Queen Victoria, a prince of Greece and Denmark then of the United Kingdom and also his diverse and extraordinary achievements, including the creation of the Duke of Edinburgh Awards, patronage of some 800 societies and promotion of important causes, notably the environment. Yet, said Bishop Alan, in the words of the psalmist, we are not to put our trust in princes, but to put our hope in the Lord our God, and so we stand before the Lord and we pray for Philip, a mortal, sinful man, just like each one of us. Bishop Alan recalled that Prince Philip had a Christian faith which was deeply held, as well as a love of family and a sense of duty, which were in themselves Christian qualities. And so, he concluded, we ask the Lord to have mercy on His servant Philip. Eternal rest grant to him, O Lord, and let perpetual light shine upon him. May he rest in peace. Lady Dannatt, who is the Queen's representative in Norfolk, was accompanied by her husband, General Lord Dannatt, who was head of the British Army from 2006 to 2009. The couple came forward during Communion to receive the Bishops blessing. Afterwards the cathedral choir sang the National Anthem. After the service Lord and Lady Dannatt took time to speak with the Bishop and with the Dean, Canon David Paul. You can view a Flickr gallery of the service on this link or below: flic.kr/s/aHsmVgCffk Pictured top is Lady Dannatt Eldred Willey, 15/04/2021 Tauranga Village Radio is celebrating 37 years on the air. The stations official birthday was on Tuesday and the occasion has been marked with a letter from Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern. Dear listeners and anyone involved with Tauranga Village Radio, the letter reads. I wanted to wish Tauranga Village Radio a very happy 37th birthday today. It takes a great deal of dedication to run a radio station seven days a week on a voluntary basis and I pay tribute to everyone who has been involved with the station since it first went to air in 1984. You provide a wonderful and unique service so happy birthday and heres to the stations next 37 years on the airwaves. Tauranga Village Radio chairperson Brian Williams says its gratifying to get a letter from Jacinda Ardern. During broadcasts we have been reading the PMs letter periodically, as well as playing an audio message from Kris Faafoi, Minister of Broadcasting, says Brian. The station, now 136AM, call sign station 1XT, first commenced broadcasting from the Historic Village on 17th Ave. George Stewart and Brian Williams outside Village Radio in March 2020. The launch of the station marked Tauranga Citys 21st birthday. The stations mission statement is to operate as a working museum, bringing enjoyable varied musical programmes from bygone days in accordance with its Radio License/Charter. To mark the stations 37 years on the air, an afternoon tea is being set up for people to attend this Sunday. There will be a birthday afternoon tea this Sunday for Friends of Village Radio, other listeners, and our enthusiastic team of volunteers, says Brian. This event will be from 2pm to 4pm, at Tauranga Coastguard at Sulphur Point Marina. Facebook Inc is currently facing an inquiry from Ireland's Data Protection Commission (DPC) over complaints of data leaks by "malicious actors". The DPC started an inspection after reports surfaced of personal data leaks of more than 500 million Facebook users across the world. Last week, in a blog post, Facebook said that hackers removed data from the site prior to 2019. Facebook has also claimed that the company made changes in its settings after they find out about the illegal activity. The social media platform further wrote that the practice of scrapping is 'common'. "Prior to September 2019, malicious actors scraped public information from more than 530 million Facebook users and put it in databases that are hosted off Facebook. Scraping is a common tactic that often relies on automated software to lift public information from the Internet that can end up being distributed in online forums," added Facebook. After Facebook provided the information it was found that one or more regulations of EU's General Data Protection Regulation's (GDPR) and/or Data Protection Act 2018 have been violated. The protocols are breached in relation to Facebook users' personal data. Facebook in its post further explained that a loophole in the application was used to operate the information. Facebook on-board with investigation It has been reported that Facebook officials are cooperating with the investigation and are expected to explain what features led to the exploitation. According to the social media application, the information which was "public" has been scrapped. The blog post further explains how to keep a check of settings in the application to know about what is getting shared publicly. Europian Union DPC The DPC is the regulator of the European Union that monitors technological giants including Facebook, Apple, Google, and others. The GDPR's EU headquarters are located in Ireland. Facebook had earlier reported large-scale wrapping cases between June 2017 and April 2018 by that time GDPR rules did not exist. The regulators have informed that the current data leak might be comprised with 2018 dataset and added more records. Last year, DPC had launched more than 27 inquiries to US technology firms that also included Facebook, Whatsapp, and Instagram subsidiaries. In this Nov. 23, 2003, photo provided by Ku'ulei Rodgers, muddy floodwater flows over a nearshore coral reef off the Hawaiian Island of Lanai after a heavy rainstorm. Flooding in March 2021, in Hawaii caused widespread and obvious damage. But extreme regional rain events that are predicted to become more common with global warming do not only wreak havoc on land, the runoff from these increasingly severe storms is also threatening Hawaii's coral reefs. (Ku'ulei Rodgers/University of Hawaii via AP) As muddy rainwater surged from Hawaii's steep seaside mountains and inundated residential communities last month, the damage caused by flooding was obvioushouses were destroyed and businesses swamped, landslides covered highways and raging rivers and streams were clogged with debris. But extreme rain events predicted to become more common with human-caused global warming not only wreak havoc on landthe runoff from these increasingly severe storms also threatens Hawaii's coral reefs. "These big events are the ones that have the greatest damage because they are the ones that put the most sediment and nutrients out onto the reef," said C. Mark Eakin, senior coral advisor to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the former director of the agency's Coral Reef Watch program. A warmer climate tends to amplify existing weather patterns, said Hawaii's state climatologist, Pao-Shin Chu, noting the islands have an overall wet climate and that powerful storms are expected to become more frequent. "Given this climate change or global warming, as we have seen over the last hundred years, the atmospheric water vapor pressure is increasing," said Chu. "We have some evidence showing that we already have some increasing, very intense rain." Coral reefs make up much of Hawaii's nearshore ocean ecosystem and are critical to the state's economy. In this 2020 satellite image provided by the Arizona State University's Center for Global Discovery and Conservation Science, Allen Coral Atlas, runoff from the island of Molokai in Hawaii flows into the ocean. Recent flooding in Hawaii caused widespread and obvious damage. But extreme regional rain events that are predicted to become more common with global warming do not only wreak havoc on land, the runoff from these increasingly severe storms is also threatening Hawaii's coral reefs. (Arizona State University's Center for Global Discovery and Conservation Science, Allen Coral Atlas via AP) Hawaii's reefs protect populated shorelines from massive ocean swells and storm surges from tropical stormsa benefit the U.S. Geological Survey valued at more than $860 million a year. Adding tourism, fishing, cultural value and other factors, the state's reefs are worth more than $33 billion, according to a NOAA-funded study. March's flooding was caused by a weather system that stalled over the islands and brought two weeks of rain, much extremely heavy. On Oahu's North Shore, "a very large flood wave" rushed down from the mountains and flooded the town of Haleiwa, said National Weather Service hydrologist Kevin Kodama. "That's a big challenge in Hawaii, where we have small, steep watersheds," Kodama said. "Most of the basins in the state will produce flash flooding." Last month had 11 flash flood events and was the wettest March in 15 years, he said. In this 2020 aerial photo provided by the Arizona State University's Global Airborne Observatory, runoff from the island of Molokai in Hawaii flows into the ocean. Recent flooding in Hawaii caused widespread and obvious damage. But extreme regional rain events that are predicted to become more common with global warming do not only wreak havoc on land, the runoff from these increasingly severe storms is also threatening Hawaii's coral reefs. (Global Airborne Observatory, Arizona State University via AP) The runoff problem is multifaceted. Deforestation and grading on construction sites and farms lead to increased runoff. Feral animals such as goats, pigs and deer clear vegetation, causing erosion and excessive sedimentation on reefs. And constant, low-level runoff carries gasoline and oil from roadways, household chemicals, trash and pesticides into the ocean. Any significant change in ocean conditions, such as an influx of fresh water alone, can harm coral health. Contaminants and soil from land accumulate on reefs and can smother and kill the coral. Scientists say suspension of material in the water can also block sunlight coral needs to survive. One of the biggest problems for Hawaii reefs is sewage. There are about 88,000 cesspools throughout the islands, many in coastal areas. "Cesspools are essentially a hole in the ground where there is no treatment prior to wastewater entering the environment," said Jamison Gove, a research oceanographer with NOAA who lives on Oahu's North Shore. In this 2020 aerial photo provided by the Arizona State University's Global Airborne Observatory, runoff from the island of Molokai in Hawaii flows into the ocean. Recent flooding in Hawaii caused widespread and obvious damage. But extreme regional rain events that are predicted to become more common with global warming do not only wreak havoc on land, the runoff from these increasingly severe storms is also threatening Hawaii's coral reefs. (Global Airborne Observatory, Arizona State University via AP) Cesspools leak into groundwaterand with heavy rains, they overflow and send pathogens and other harmful contaminants into the ocean. In the town of Pupukea, where professional surfers compete at the famed Banzai Pipeline reef break, more than 330 million gallons (1.25 billion liters) of wastewater enters the ocean each yearenough to fill hundreds of Olympic size swimming pools. On the North Shore during the recent flood, "brown, polluted water just blanketed the entire town," Gove said. "You could just smell it everywhere." More than half the state's cesspools are on the Big Island, home to some of the state's most expansive and pristine coral reefs. And Gove said some areas have shown a clear decrease in coral cover where sewage routinely enters the ocean. A reef off the town of Puakoan extensively monitored locationhas seen significant losses, he said. Coral cover there has declined by about 70% since 1975. In this Sept. 12, 2019, file photo, sea urchins and fish are seen on a coral reef in Kahala'u Bay in Kailua-Kona, Hawaii. Flooding in March 2021 in Hawaii caused widespread and obvious damage. But extreme regional rain events that are predicted to become more common with global warming do not only wreak havoc on land, the runoff from these increasingly severe storms is also threatening Hawaii's coral reefs. (AP Photo/Caleb Jones, File) "This is probably one of the more dramatic examples since coral cover is not this high in a lot of places," he said. "But since we don't have this type of data everywhere, we can't say for sure this isn't a more common story." NOAA is providing data on the issue to the state, and efforts to remove cesspools and change infrastructure to slow and distribute floodwater could help Hawaii's reefs. The state has banned cesspools in new construction and is attempting to remove the existing ones by 2050. Although coral reefs worldwide face threats from global warming, including marine heatwaves that bleach and kill coral, storm runoff could prove a more serious and immediate threat to reefs in Hawaii. "In Hawaii, I would rate runoff much higher than marine heatwaves in driving coral decline," said Greg Asner, director of the Center for Global Discovery and Conservation Science at Arizona State University. In this March 9, 2021, photo, a house in Haleiwa, Hawaii, is surrounded by flood water after heavy rains. Recent flooding in Hawaii caused widespread and obvious damage. But extreme regional rain events that are predicted to become more common with global warming do not only wreak havoc on land, the runoff from these increasingly severe storms is also threatening Hawaii's coral reefs. (Jamm Aquino/Honolulu Star-Advertiser via AP) In 2019, Asner and his team used imaging technology on aircraft coupled with satellite data to create new detailed maps of all living coral in the Hawaiian Islands. The data, now being used by federal and state scientists, shows a correlation between land-based pollutants from runoff and coral health. "More runoff impacts reefs, mostly by mobilizing more chemicals and sediment on land," Asner said. "Increased chemical pollution and sedimentation is a major driver of coral decline." March's floods were not the first of their kind. A 2018 rainstorm on Kauai caused widespread flooding that cut off a community for weeks. The storm set a new U.S. record for rainfall in a single day with nearly 50 inches (127 centimeters). Ku'ulei Rodgers, a coral reef ecologist at the University of Hawaii's Institute of Marine Biology, studied that 2018 flood as well as a 2002 flood in the same area. The 2002 rains swept earth from a construction site into the sea and "killed almost an entire reef," Rodgers said. In this Sept. 28, 2015, file photo, living coral is shown under a microscope at the University of Hawaii's Institute of Marine Biology in Kaneohe, Hawaii. Flooding in March 2021 in Hawaii caused widespread and obvious damage. But extreme regional rain events that are predicted to become more common with global warming do not only wreak havoc on land, the runoff from these increasingly severe storms is also threatening Hawaii's coral reefs. (AP Photo/Caleb Jones, File) This Sept. 12, 2019, file photo shows bleaching coral in Kahala'u Bay in Kailua-Kona, Hawaii. Recent flooding in Hawaii caused widespread and obvious damage. But extreme regional rain events that are predicted to become more common with global warming do not only wreak havoc on land, the runoff from these increasingly severe storms is also threatening Hawaii's coral reefs. (AP Photo/Caleb Jones, File) In this Aug. 15, 2015, file photo, people stand along an area of coral reef near Molokii Island in Hawaii's Kaneohe Bay. Flooding in March 2021 in Hawaii caused widespread and obvious damage. But extreme regional rain events that are predicted to become more common with global warming do not only wreak havoc on land, the runoff from these increasingly severe storms is also threatening Hawaii's coral reefs. (AP Photo/Caleb Jones, File) In this Thursday, Sept. 13, 2018, file photo, rainwater rushes through a spillway in Honolulu after heavy rains from a tropical storm. Flooding in March 2021 in Hawaii caused widespread and obvious damage. But extreme regional rain events that are predicted to become more common with global warming do not only wreak havoc on land, the runoff from these increasingly severe storms is also threatening Hawaii's coral reefs. (AP Photo/Caleb Jones, File) In this Nov. 23, 2003, photo provided by Ku'ulei Rodgers, sediment covers coral off of the Hawaiian Island of Lanai after a heavy rainstorm. Flooding in March 2021 in Hawaii caused widespread and obvious damage. But extreme regional rain events that are predicted to become more common with global warming do not only wreak havoc on land, the runoff from these increasingly severe storms is also threatening Hawaii's coral reefs. (Ku'ulei Rodgers/University of Hawaii via AP) In this Sept. 12, 2019, file photo, fish swim near coral in Kahala'u Bay in Kailua-Kona, Hawaii. Flooding in March 2021 in Hawaii caused widespread and obvious damage. But extreme regional rain events that are predicted to become more common with global warming do not only wreak havoc on land, the runoff from these increasingly severe storms is also threatening Hawaii's coral reefs. (AP Photo/Caleb Jones, File) In this Nov. 23, 2003, photo provided by Ku'ulei Rodgers, sediment covers coral off the Hawaiian Island of Lanai after a heavy rainstorm. Recent flooding in Hawaii caused widespread and obvious damage. But extreme regional rain events that are predicted to become more common with global warming do not only wreak havoc on land, the runoff from these increasingly severe storms is also threatening Hawaii's coral reefs. (Ku'ulei Rodgers/University of Hawaii via AP) In this Oct. 26, 2015, file photo, fish swim over coral reef in Hawaii's Kaneohe Bay off the island of Oahu. Flooding in March 2021 in Hawaii caused widespread and obvious damage. But extreme regional rain events that are predicted to become more common with global warming do not only wreak havoc on land, the runoff from these increasingly severe storms is also threatening Hawaii's coral reefs. (AP Photo/Caleb Jones, File) In this Sept. 16, 2019, file photo, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration research oceanographer Jamison Gove talks about coral at the NOAA regional office in Honolulu. Extreme regional rain events that are predicted to become more common with global warming do not only wreak havoc on land, the runoff from these increasingly severe storms is also threatening Hawaii's coral reefs. Gove said some areas have shown a clear decrease in coral cover where runoff routinely enters the ocean. (AP Photo/Caleb Jones, File) In this Sept. 13, 2019, file photo, Greg Asner, left, director of the Center for Global Discovery and Conservation Science at Arizona State University, prepares to dive on a coral reef off the Big Island near Captain Cook, Hawaii. Flooding in March 2021 in Hawaii caused widespread and obvious damage, and the runoff from these increasingly severe storms is also threatening Hawaii's coral reefs. Although coral reefs worldwide face threats from global warming, including marine heatwaves that bleach and kill coral, storm runoff could prove a more serious and immediate threat to reefs in the state. "In Hawaii, I would rate runoff much higher than marine heatwaves in driving coral decline," said Asner. (AP Photo/Caleb Jones, File) In this March 8, 2021, file photo, floodwaters sweep over Maui's Hana Highway in Haiku, Hawaii, after heavy rains caused a dam to overflow and nearby residents in the community were evacuated. Recent flooding in Hawaii caused widespread and obvious damage. But extreme regional rain events that are predicted to become more common with global warming do not only wreak havoc on land, the runoff from these increasingly severe storms is also threatening Hawaii's coral reefs. (Kehaulani Cerizo/The Maui News via AP, File) In this March 9, 2021, photo, people look at flooding near a gas station in Haleiwa, Hawaii after heavy rains. Recent flooding in Hawaii caused widespread and obvious damage. But extreme regional rain events that are predicted to become more common with global warming do not only wreak havoc on land, the runoff from these increasingly severe storms is also threatening Hawaii's coral reefs. The runoff problem is multifacetedconstant, low-level runoff carries gasoline and oil from roadways, household chemicals, trash and pesticides into the ocean. (Jamm Aquino/Honolulu Star-Advertiser via AP) After the 2018 flood, a review found fish abundance on a nearby reef had been reduced by 20% and urchins, which help clean reefs and keep coral healthy, were reduced by 40%. When making policy decisions about how to safeguard reefs, Rodgers said, it's important to understand that land and oceans are intertwined. "(Native) Hawaiians knew there was a connection between the two because whatever they did upland would affect their fishing downstream," she said. "The better the watershed, the better the reef and vice versa." Explore further Coral reefs prevent more than $5.3 billion in potential flood damage for US property owners 2021 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission. YEREVAN, APRIL 15, ARMENPRESS. Chairwoman of the Federation Council of Russia Valentina Matviyenko hopes that parliamentarians will soon be able to return to a normal cooperation with the Parliament of Armenia, which has suffered due to the coronavirus pandemic. The inter-parliamentary dialogue continues. Of course, the pandemic had an impact as not all from what has been planned was managed to be implemented completely. But I think that now, in line with the stabilization of the pandemic situation, we will be able to fill the gaps and return a normal cooperation between the parliaments, she said during a meeting with Speaker of Parliament of Armenia Ararat Mirzoyan in St. Petersburg on the sidelines of the CIS Interparliamentary Assembly session. Valentina Matviyenko stated that Russia and Armenia have actively cooperated during the pandemic and came out of it with very little losses, compared to other countries. Armenia was among the first countries to receive the Russian vaccines which have already guaranteed themselves, she said, reminding that over 60 countries have already purchased or registered the Russian vaccines against COVID-19. Valentina Matviyenko called Armenias upcoming early parliamentary elections as a very important political event. We hope that despite all the difficulties the elections will be open, democratic and will allow to stabilize the social situation in Armenia, she added. Editing and Translating by Aneta Harutyunyan [April 15, 2021] San Antonio Nonprofit Receives Funding for Affordable Housing Remix Wells Fargo (News - Alert) and the Federal Home Loan Bank of Dallas (FHLB Dallas) have awarded a $750,000 Affordable Housing Program (AHP) subsidy to Prospera Housing and Community Services to help fund the creation of a new apartment community in San Antonio, Texas. This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210415005870/en/ The San Antonio development, which received an AHP subsidy from Wells Fargo and FHLB Dallas, includes demolition of one apartment complex and rehabilitation of another to create an affordable housing complex to be called The Arbors at West Avenue. (Photo: Business Wire) The $41.1 million project includes demolition of one of two contiguous apartment complexes (Arbor Place Apartments) and rehabilitation of the other (West Avenue Apartments) to create a new cohesive complex that will be called The Arbors at West Avenue in the central part of the city. "Arbor Place is in serious disrepair and has become a magnet for serious crime, so demolition of it along with the reconstruction of the neighboring complex will help stabilize and improve theentire neighborhood and discourage criminal activity in the area," said Gilbert Piette, executive director of Prospera Housing Community Services. Prospera is the owner of West Avenue Apartments which will acquire Arbor Place and oversee the plan to create the new apartment community. "Prospera has extensive experience in developing, operating and preserving affordable housing," said Laura Cabanilla, senior vice president, community relations, Wells Fargo. "These types of collaborations allow us to expand our reach outside of our direct customers and make a greater impact across the Greater San Antonio community, especially in underserved areas where affordable housing is scarce. We are looking forward to seeing how The Arbors at West Avenue development will transform this neighborhood." 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. In 2020, FHLB Dallas awarded $19.4 million in subsidies to 38 affordable housing projects. The subsidies 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 the AHP General Fund and Homeownership Set-Aside Programs and has assisted more than 57,000 households. "We've had a great partnership with Wells Fargo over the years," said Greg Hettrick, first vice president and director of Community Investment at FHLB Dallas. "And this San Antonio development is yet another example of its thoughtful support of affordable housing initiatives." 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 $64.9 billion as of December 31, 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/20210415005870/en/ [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] David Cameron has suggested he will give evidence to inquiries into Greensill as the government reels from another wave of lobbying revelations. A spokesman for the former PM said he will 'respond positively' to any approaches from MPs or the official probe by lawyer Nigel Boardman. Mr Cameron has already denied breaching lobbying rules but acknowledged he should have communicated with ministers via formal channels, rather than texting senior figures like Rishi Sunak. Tory MPs lined up to criticise his 'unseemly' behaviour during a Commons debate yesterday, saying it had 'tarnished us all'. The spokesman said Mr Cameron 'will respond positively to all such requests when the terms of reference of each inquiry are made clear and any invitations to provide evidence are received'. 'While he was an adviser to the business and not a board director, he is keen to ensure that lessons from it going into administration are learned,' the spokesman said. The signal came as business appointments watchdog Lord Pickles vented his frustration at the system for monitoring the 'revolving door' between Whitehall and business. There was shock this week when it emerged procurement chief Bill Crothers was allowed to join Greensill as an adviser in September 2015 alongside his 149,000 role. The permission was given through an internal 'conflicts' process at the Cabinet Office - meaning he was never required to run it past the Advisory Committee on Business Appointments. David Cameron has suggested he will give evidence to a parliamentary inquiry into the Greensill lobbying storm The Treasury's probe will almost certainly examine how Lex Greensill enjoyed such access to the heart of government during the Cameron administration (pair pictured in Saudi Arabia in 2020) Bill Crothers (pictured left) spent several months as Government procurement head and a Greensill board adviser. The then Cabinet Office permanent secretary John Manzoni (pictured right) is thought to have approved the arrangement Lord Pickles, who heads Acoba, has demanded to know how many other civil servants were granted similar arrangements and will appear before the Public Adminstration and Constitutional Affairs Committee this morning. Cabinet Secretary Simon Case, the UK's most senior civil servant, last night ordered Whitehall's top mandarins to notify him of any second jobs. Yesterday the Commons Treasury Committee launched an inquiry into the financial firm's collapse, which threatens thousands of British jobs at Liberty Steel. It came after Tory MPs, whipped by the Government, blocked a Labour motion to create a committee to specifically drill down into the lobbying saga. But the Treasury's probe will almost certainly examine how Lex Greensill enjoyed such access to the heart of government during the Cameron administration. And how Mr Cameron, later an adviser and shareholder, used his influence and contacts to lobby ministers and officials on Greensill's behalf - including texting Rishi Sunak in an unsuccessful effort to secure coronavirus loans. Boris Johnson (pictured this morning with dog Dilyn) has also tasked City lawyer Nigel Boardman with heading an inquiry into Greensill and lobbying Lord Pickles, chair of the Advisory Committee on Business Appointments (Acoba) which oversees the 'revolving door' of business and government, is demanding an explanation. The morning he will appear before the Commons Public Administration and Constitutional Affairs Committee (PACAC), which has indicated it will launch its own wider investigation into the Greensill affair. In a letter to permanent secretaries, Simon Case said the disclosures were a cause of 'acute concern'. Sir David Normington, former permanent secretary of the Home Office, this morning said it was 'absolutely baffling' Mr Crothers was allowed to moonlight. He told BBC Radio 4's Today programme: 'I've never come across anything like it in my 40 years in Whitehall. I know Simon Case is checking whether there are any other similar cases, I'd be very surprised if there were. 'I'm absolutely amazed that Bill Crothers could be allowed to work for Greensill while still in the civil service. But worse this allowed him to evade scrutiny of his appointment after he left the civil service - it's completely unacceptable.' Sir Alistair Graham, former chair of the Committee on Standards in Public Life, said Mr Cameron remained silent about Greensill for so long out of 'pure embarrassment'. He told GMB: 'How else can you explain it. The story unfolded over a long period of time, and the more it unfolded, the worse it got for him. As we found he'd arranged for Greensill and key colleague in Greensill to have a quiet drink with the Health Secretary to try to, and succeed to some extent, sell one of Greensill's services.' Cabinet Secretary Simon Case has ordered the heads of all government departments to search their ranks for civil servants taking money for a second job that could pose a potential conflict of interest Yesterday the Prime Minister insisted he had not spoken to Mr Cameron about his role in the Greensill affair Mr Johnson has also tasked City lawyer Nigel Boardman with heading an inquiry into Greensill and lobbying. Yesterday the Prime Minister insisted he had not spoken to Mr Cameron about his role in the Greensill affair. Speaking at PMQs, he said: 'The honest truth: I cannot remember when I last spoke to Dave. 'But if she [Labour MP Ruth Cadbury] wants to know whether I've had any contact with him about any of the matters that have been in the press, the answer is no.' Greensill, a firm that specialised in supply-chain financing, cratered into administration in March this year. It was a key backer of Liberty Steel, which is now in jeopardy and jobs hang in the balance. Mr Greensill, an Australian venture capitalist, was brought into government by the late former Cabinet Secretary Lord Heywood under Mr Cameron. He was given a desk and had a Downing Street business card describing him as a 'senior adviser' to the prime minister. Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, April 15) The government can now enter into new mineral mining agreements as long as the deals comply with local laws, according to a directive signed by President Rodrigo Duterte on Wednesday. "The Government may enter into new mineral agreements, subject to compliance with the Philippine Mining Act of 1995 and other applicable laws, rules, and regulations," the newy-signed Executive Order No 130 stated. It amends section 4 of Executive Order No 79 of 2012. It said the Department of Environment and Natural Resources shall create terms and conditions that will maximize government revenues and share from production. "The DENR and the Department of Finance shall undertake appropriate measures to rationalize existing revenue sharing schemes and mechanisms," it added. The DENR is also tasked with the creation and the strict implementation of mine safety and environmental policies. In a statement on Thursday, Albay Rep. Joey Salceda said the lifting of the moratorium would be beneficial given the abundance of minerals in the country, adding it could pave the way for long-term economic recovery. "It can only mean well for our economic recovery, especially if we can set up the ground rules and the tax regime for mining well," said Salceda, chairman of the House Committee on Ways and Means. He has proposed several policies to maximize the benefits of the mining industry, among them securing energy supply and investing in research and development. EO 130 said that, to date, less than 5% of the country's mineral resources have been tapped, and the mining industry can support government projects such as the Build, Build, Build Program and increasing employment opportunities in areas where there are mining activities. Vietnam exports $4.8 billion into EU after the effect of EVFTA According to the Ministry of Industry and Trade (MoIT), between August 1, 2020 and April 4, 2021, authorities and organisations allowed to grant EUR.1 certificates of origin (C/O) have approved 127,296 such documents with a total value of $4.78 billion of exports to the 27 EU country members. Besides this, businesses that want to export to the EU have certified the origins of nearly 3,585 batches themselves, with a total value of $10.88 million, to enjoy the generalised system of preferences (GSP) in accordance with the EVFTA. Items receiving EUR.1 C/O are mainly footwear, seafood, textile and garment, agricultural products, cereal products, and electronics with major export markets being the ones having seaports such as Belgium, Germany, the Netherlands, and France. According to the MoIT, under the EVFTA, Vietnamese companies can either apply for EUR.1 C/O or certify the origin of their goals by themselves. In case the importing countries detect any irregularities or cannot confirm the origin (country or facility), the two sides will discuss solutions. If they cannot find common solutions, importing countries could suspend incentives for three months, with a potential extension of another three months. New-generation agreements like the EVFTA, the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP), or the UK-Vietnam FTA (UVFTA) will create more favourable conditions for Vietnamese goods to enter foreign markets with preferential tariffs and minimal barriers. Along with the export growth thanks to the EVFTA, Vietnam's export turnover to CPTPP members also rose in the first three months of 2021. Of this, exports to Canada rose by 13.7 per cent, to Australia by 17 per cent, to Chile by 25.6 per cent, to Mexico by 12.7 per cent, and to New Zealand by 35.1 per cent. Meanwhile, export value to the UK also surged by 22.1 per cent in the first quarter, thanks to the UVFTA. New Delhi: The COVID-19 cases have rapidly increased in the Ghaziabad district of Uttar Pradesh in the last few days which has forced the administration to identify more and more containment zones. In a span of just 24 hours from April 12 to 13, the district added 88 new containment zones, taking the tally from 233 to 321. Over 100 active cases have been registered in several areas with Indirapuram having the maximum standing at 157. It is followed by Kavinagar (143), Vijay Nagar (103) and Kaushambi (102 cases). Data suggests that clusters have formed and the number of cases per household is very high, an official from the health department was quoted as saying by Times of India. Of the 321 containment zones, 174 have one active case, the official added. The number of active cases in the containment zones on April 12 was 709, while the very next day it reached 938. Sihani Gate, Nandgram, Sahibabad and Muradnagar areas have more than 50 cases each. Based on the number of cases, we have sealed 174 houses. We have also de-sealed 36 places after patients in those areas recovered, said the official. Ghaziabad administration had earlier imposed a night curfew in the entire district. District magistrate Ajay Shankar Pandey has said that the authorities have ramped up testing in the containment zones. In the first 12 days of April, we conducted over 65,000 RT-PCR tests and on an average, more than 5,000 tests are being conducted daily. We will conduct more tests daily in the coming days, Pandey said. Live TV A Pennsylvania man inspired by Breaking Bad has admitted to lying about his attempts to buy powerful poisons, officials say. Ishtiaq Ali Saaem, a former research director at a biotech firm in Massachusetts, pleaded guilty this week to obstruction of justice during an FBI investigation into his attempts to acquire ricin and convallatoxin. Ricin is a poison from castor beans and covallatoxin is a poison found in lily of the valley plants. Walter White, the cancer-stricken chemistry teacher turned meth maker whos played by Bryan Cranston in Breaking Bad, uses these poisons on several rivals. After watching the popular series, officials say Saaem wanted to acquire castor beans and lily of the valley plants in 2015. He ordered six lily of the valley plants online and 100 packets of castor beans containing eight seeds each, officials say. About a week later, FBI agents met with Saaem in his office at the biotech firm. Saaem told the agents he purchased the castor beans to plant inside his Cambridge, Massachusetts, apartment, officials say. But that same day, and continuing through the summer 2015, Saaem researched other sources of deadly poison, a plea agreement says. Saaem visited a website about extracting cyanide from apple seeds the day he was visited by FBI agents, officials say. Other sites he visited included articles titled What is the most lethal poison? and The five deadly poisons that can be cooked up in a kitchen, as well as searches for tasteless poison household item, rat poison and extracting poison from tomato plants, according to the plea agreement. Authorities did not reveal whether Saaem intended to poison anyone nor a possible motive for obtaining the poisons. From as early as that fall through October 2016, Saaem was accused of embezzling $275,000 from his employer by submitting phony invoices and purchase orders, officials say. When the company discovered this, he paid back the money to avoid prosecution, officials say. Story continues In 2019, Saaem falsely denied embezzling the funds and told FBI agents false statements about the company payroll systems, officials say. Last year, he admitted to lying about embezzling to avoid being arrested, officials say. But Saaem made new false statements during the interview with agents about acquiring castor beans in 2015, his knowledge that they contained ricin, why he bought them and whether he sought out other poisons, officials say. Saaem is scheduled to be sentenced in August. He could go to prison up to 20 years. 1 Kudos Hi Dolly77, I was in your position 2 years ago but exactly the reverse situation. Oxford scholarship just over half of tuition and less for Cambridge. My desired school was Cambridge and I spent countless nights research and scouring the web for articles that would justify my decision. I chose Cambridge in the end and have no second thoughts about my decision. Most articles you read online about the difference between both cities and the universities are fairly on point. Oxford is a city with a university in it, Cambridge is a university with a city around it. Outcomes of both schools are very similar and rankings fluctuate year on year. Smaller cohort for Cambridge and larger for Oxford. Cambridge has a more tech/science feel compared to Oxford which is more political science and humanities. My decision may not have made the most logical sense, but I truly believe your gut tells you when a school is the right fit for you based on your experience and talking to current/ future students. The difference of 10,000+ is substantial but over the course of an entire career it is negligible. What may bother you are those moments in the future you wished you followed your instincts and chose the school you felt like you belonged to and not having regrets. If you have done your due diligence and your gut tells you its the right move and that you believe will have a good experience then go for Oxford. Congratulations again and I hope that helps! - Dleerium Posted from my mobile device DHELI, India, April 15, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- On April 9th international relations experts and diplomats have gathered online at the 4th Vision for Future Forum to discuss the cooperation opportunities of BRICS and Africa, celebrating the 15th anniversary of BRICS. One of the important initiatives was proposed by Minister of State Jal Shakti Shri Ratanlal Kataria (India), who elaborated on solutions for the drinking water supply problem relevant for many citizens of both - BRICS and African - countries. Referring to the current global relationships, Dr. Ghnaka Lagoke, lecturer from Linkoln University (PA) mentions that the system was shaped by the USA after WWII, when institutions were created in the name of peace and stability (UN, WTO, etc.). These institutions have set the framework for trade, economy, and politics, making African countries sell their resources at extremely low prices and bringing the money back in controlled aid through IMF and various foundations, thus making the continent lose around 100 billion US dollars annually. Yet, the world has been changing rapidly lately, shifting to a more polycentric model. This implies stepping away from neocolonial patterns ensuring the dominance of the EU, UK and USA in Africa. The Commonwealth, as another colonial institution, created to promote the interests of the UK in the ex-colonies and further, is losing some of its primacy now that countries are becoming more and more sovereign and independent. "BRICS countries won't impose paternalistic models on Africa," says Professor Akuhmbom Macanthony from Landmark University Cameroon, while Dr. Lagoke emphasizes that BRICS brings better negotiation positions to Africa, giving it the power of choice, which they didn't have during the "postcolonial" period. "Another beautiful thing about BRICS is that Russia and China have been 'on the right side of history,' supporting the struggles for independence from imperialism and against apartheid in Africa," he says. Professor Macanthony specifies that at the moment Russia and China play an important role in ensuring security on the continent, creating a balance of power in the most troubled areas, like CAR. Aside from traditional cooperation areas, such as security, weapons, and mineral resources, Russia is now taking its technologies to the continent: digital, agricultural, medical and educational solutions. African leaders have expressed enthusiasm about it at the Russia-Africa summit that took place in 2019, says Dr Eric Edi from Thomas Jefferson University (USA). "In terms of relations with Russia, China and India, and comparing to the EU, it has been more about technology transfer than resources extraction," says Dr Eric Edi. Possible cooperation areas, as experts say, are yet to be explored, but it's already clear that multilayer joint activities would be beneficial not only for their own sake, but also as a factor giving additional negotiation power in Africa-EU relations. About BRICS BRICS is the acronym coined to associate five major emerging economies: Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa. The BRICS members are known for their significant influence on regional affairs. Originally the first four were grouped as "BRIC" (or "the BRICs") before the induction of South Africa in 2010. The BRICS have a combined area of 39,746,220 km2 (15,346,101.0 sq mi) and an estimated total population of about 3.21 billion, or about 26.656% of the world land surface and 41.53% of the world population. Four out of five members are among the world's ten largest countries by population and by area, except for South Africa, the twenty-fourth in both. Members of G20, as of 2018, these five states had a combined nominal GDP of US$19.6 trillion, about 23.2% of the gross world product, a combined GDP (PPP) of around US$40.55 trillion (32% of world's GDP PPP), and an estimated US$4.46 trillion in combined foreign reserves. Photo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1487924/BRICS_4th_Vision_for_Future_Forum.jpg Subscriber content preview By GILLIAN FLACCUS Associated Press PORTLAND Hundreds of farmers who rely on a massive irrigation project that spans the Oregon-California border learned Wednesday they will get a tiny fraction of the water they need amid the worst drought in decades, as federal regulators attempt to balance the needs of agriculture against federally threatened and endangered fish species that are central to the heritage of several tribes. Oregon's governor said the prolonged drought in the region has the full attention of our offices, and she is working with congressional delegates, the White House and federal agencies to find relief for those affected. . . . New Delhi, April 15 : Over 150 world-class institutions from Australia, the UK, the US, Canada, New Zealand, and Ireland will come together at IDP's Virtual Education Fair to interact with Indian students and help them with their overseas education plan. IDP has undertaken steps towards organising a virtual education fair yet again to ease the decision-making process of students looking to study abroad. Participating students can connect with their preferred institutions over a 1-on-1 video call from the comfort of their home. The world's leading student placement service provider and co-owner of IELTS will be hosting the virtual education fair in India that can be accessed by students and institutions from the comfort of their home and locality. Spread over 8 weeks, this education fair will begin in April and will continue till May 29. Piyush Kumar, Regional Director (South Asia), IDP Education, said, "IDP is committed to providing Indian students with the right advice and top-quality assistance so that they can easily choose the right course and institution in top study abroad destinations like the US, the UK, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and Ireland to meet their career aspirations. Our world-class institution partners across the world enable us in offering students the course most suited to them. We offer an all-inclusive platform to facilitate the exchange of valuable information and get proper guidance from industry experts." "We understand that shortlisting an institution and working through the application process can be a strenuous task for students and parents. Our goal, therefore, is to assist and guide them through all the steps from the initial exploratory stage, application submission to safe arrival on campus," added Kumar. IDP is organising this fair through a virtual platform for all students to explore their prospects of studying in countries like the UK, the US, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and Ireland. Students can apply directly to the institutions of their choice and get detailed information on scholarships, ranking, visas, etc. by IDP's experienced and certified education experts over a 1-on-1 video call feature. This also allows them to interact face-to-face with institution representatives and get answers to their queries at the comfort of their homes. IDP's education fairs are aimed at helping students make their dream of education abroad come true. When some rewards are good and others are not There seems to be a double standard. Four Australia Post executives who clinched a multimillion-dollar deal to make hundreds of small post offices throughout Australia viable were given Cartier watches worth a total of $20,000 while NBN Co executives carved up about $75 million in bonuses in the second half of 2020 for what? Has the CEO of NBN Co been sacked or is he a male? Warren Thomas, Ivanhoe When leaving a job you love is the only option Christine Holgate was subjected to a campaign of constructive dismissal. This cowardly process makes a persons job so untenable that, under mental distress and duress, they quit a job they love. The chairman of Australia Post, the Prime Minister, the Opposition Leader and the media were all complicit in her demise. This mental harassment has long-term effects on the victims wellbeing. About 20 years ago I was the victim of this process. I know. Merilyn Grey, Malvern East Morrison fine standards should be applied to all Most Australians would share the Prime Ministers concern about how taxpayer funds are used in government-owned companies. His ill-informed diatribe against Christine Holgate was, he said, simply standing up for proper standards. But, disturbingly, there is little evidence of proper standards surrounding a growing list of Coalition scandals including purchase of water rights, extravagant travel expenses for politicians, purchase of airport land and rampant pork barrelling. It is no wonder he wants to gut the Auditor-Generals Department. And by the way, does he want us to believe that a privatised Australia Post will reduce executive perks? Norman Huon, Port Melbourne THE FORUM The JobKeeper rorters Christine Holgate rewarded executives with watches worth $20,000 (this was within her remit) for a job extremely well done. Scott Morrison is not doing anything about all the companies whose profits have gone up but which refuse to give back their JobKeeper money. He did not check his facts before his tirade against Christine Holgate. There is no question about who has to go. Rita Reid, Port Melbourne Choose advisers carefully Scott Morrisons refusal to apologise to Christine Holgate for his comments in Parliament shows the same lack of judgment in so many of his decisions for example, not attending the Womens March 4 Justice. It leaves me wondering who is advising him apart from his wife, Jen. John Wyatt, Armadale PMs very flexible rules The Prime Minister has been very critical of the way taxpayer funds were used by Christine Holgate when she was CEO of Australia Post. However, he vehemently defends, on the basis of being within the guidelines, any questions relating to what often appears to be the misuse of taxpayer funds by those in government. The most recent example being more than $17million spent on VIP flights for MPs (The Age, 12/4) who surely could have accessed commercial flights. One rule for some. Maire Mills, Glen Iris Evidence of misogyny I always felt that the four Cartier watches were insufficient reason for Scott Morrisons over-the-top performance in Parliament. However, Elizabeth Knight (Business, 14/4) points out, in relation to Christine Holgate, that, in the course of her evidence to yesterdays Senate committee inquiry, it became clear she did not agree with plans to privatise Australia Post. Standing in the way of the ideological imperative of this government to privatise government enterprises, especially if they are profitable, is asking for the proverbial steamroller to run right over you; that is exactly what Mr Morrison did to Christine Holgate. In the context of claims that the government is riddled with misogynistic, bullying behaviour, Christine Holgates treatment by Morrison could not have provided better evidence. Maurie Trewhella, Hoppers Crossing We are Australian Imagine you are a Chinese Australian. You may have a heritage of exploitation from the gold rush days when your family was tolerated as long as they were not too successful or too numerous, or you may be a more recent arrival, even a refugee from the oppression of the Chinese Communist Party. Now it is Australia in 2021 and you are regarded as part of an ethnic warehouse to supply the public service when Chinese speakers are needed (The Age, 12/4) but at the same time you are regarded as a potential security risk. We do not, of course, want to go to the trouble of training our own citizens in Chinese language and culture, which is even harder work than panning for gold, so we continue to rely on ready-made Chinese Australians for information about their alien culture while making it plain we distrust them. Dr Trevor Hay, Melbourne Graduate School of Education, University of Melbourne Please, say that again Colin Chapman Contemporary concerns (Letters, 14/4) let us hope maths students have highly developed language skills so that they can benefit from a program of educational opportunity that embeds technology-agnostic computation, stochastic and heuristic sensibilities as a platform from which pedagogical renewal in mathematics may emerge. Angela OConnor, Glen Iris For me, a risk worth taking According to the data, the blood clots associated with the AstraZeneca vaccine impact roughly one in 200,000 people. A quarter of those, one in 800,000, may die from the condition. As someone who wants to see a return to relatively normality, and who desperately wants to see family overseas, the potential deaths of around 30 Australians in 25million from this rare condition is something I am selfishly willing to accept, and risk myself by taking the shot. I will take it as soon as it is offered. This is far from our greatest threat. We stand to lose so much more by not steamrolling ahead, including another potential outbreak triggering large numbers of deaths in our vulnerable communities; not to mention years of separation from our loved ones outside the country and the billions of dollars in lost revenue from our hermetically sealed international border. James OKeefe, East Melbourne Protect aged care heroes Re Aged care, disability staff scramble for jabs (The Age, 14/4). During the lockdowns, personal care workers stepped up to provide the care and companionship to aged care residents when relatives were unable to visit. In my familys experience, they are the unsung heroes of the aged care system. They enable residents to retain a modicum of independence and ensure they feel part of a community. Without them, the wheels would truly fall off our struggling aged care system. My family is fortunate that our mother and all residents at her home have received both doses of the vaccine. However, it is essential that vaccinations for staff are the priority in this botched rollout. Greg Hunt and James Merlino, make it happen. Felicity Browne, Kooyong Lets try diplomacy first Assistant Defence Minister Andrew Hastie says: The ADFs core business will always be the application of lethal violence in the defence of our values, sovereignty and interests. Indeed. But surely one of our values is to use it as a last resort. In Iraq and Afghanistan, lethal violence was our action of first choice. In East Timor, our show of force was enough. When will we stop deploying our lethal violence in fruitless military engagements when diplomacy and engagement will be more productive of peace and prosperity? Dick Danckert, Armstrong Creek Futility and cost of war NATO, the US and Australia are withdrawing their troops from Afghanistan after the longest war in our history. How many lives have been destroyed, how much money has been wasted? No doubt on what will be proven to be just as futile as the Vietnam War. Reg Murray, Glen Iris Protecting workers jobs Branch closures (The Age, 13/4) are just the end stage of banks disregard for customer convenience. By providing fewer staff and less service in branches, they can then use the self-fulfilling argument that account holders do not want to bank in person. One branch in my area stations a staff member at the door to inquire why customers want to enter and then remind them of functions which may be performed at the ATM outside. I informed him that, having once been retrenched, I am trying to keep him and his colleagues in jobs. I doubt his bosses are listening. Elizabeth Morris, Elsternwick Truly a disgusting state... Peter Boone (Letters, 15/4) I am disgusted at the state of all our highways and freeways, not just the Eastern. The Ring Road and Tulla, not to mention the West Gate and Monash freeways piles of rubbish along the roadsides, long grass and dead weeds, graffiti on everything, broken signs and fences. Clearly VicRoads has cut its maintenance, and Melbourne looks like a disgraceful mess. Recently I met my local MP, Melissa Horne, to talk about this, so I am hoping someone in the Victorian government will do something. We pay enough in taxes, regos etc, and VicRoads needs to maintain our roads. Scott Young, Yarraville ... on roads and highways I am in total agreement with Peter Boone regarding the Eastern Freeway. It is the same all over Melbourne weeds growing metres high in median strips, broken branches left for months on the sides of roads. The beginning of Queens Road off St Kilda Road is so ugly. Melbourne is a disgrace. Not so in the country towns, which are well kept. Melburnians should be demanding better Margery Renwick, Brighton Phil, just one of the boys I knew Prince Philip when he was a plain lieutenant during the war at the South East Asia Command where his uncle, Lord Mountbatten, was the Supreme Allied Commander. He was one of us, very down to earth and fun loving. The rest is history. RIP Phil. Fred Menzies, North Dandenong Our warped priorities At least 474 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people have died in custody since the royal commission findings around deaths in custody was tabled in 1991. That is an average of nearly 16 a year over the 30 years since 1991. No outrage, no outpouring of grief, no apologies and crucially, no end to the deaths. One irrelevant (to me) 99-year-old, privileged Brit dies and that is all you can read, see or hear in the media. It seems to me we have our values all wrong. Jack Morris, Kennington Double plane standard? Why is it that the Morrison government had enough planes to offer an ex-minister, Mathias Cormann, a plane to fly around Europe looking for a job, while it now claims there are no planes available to transport a member of Parliament, Kristina Keneally, to Christmas Island to do her work? It looks like a vindictive action by our Defence Minister, Peter Dutton. Shaun Lawrence, Richmond Unfair attack on PMs wife How can women expect men to show respect to them if women cannot show respect to other women? I refer to the comment made by Magda Szubanski about the Prime Ministers wife. Quite deplorable and unnecessary. I have always believed that womans worst enemy is women. Remarks like this do nothing to make me change my mind. Trish Young, Hampton AND ANOTHER THING Credit:Illustration: Matt Golding COVID-19 The federal governments shifting vaccination plans offer one guarantee: herd anxiety. Matt Dunn, Leongatha Morrison may have to offer Cartier watches to the public servants who rustle up more vaccines. Graham Hackett, Hurstbridge Why are we worried about the rollouts tardiness? After all, the government is keeping us safe with its amazing COVIDSafe app. Jill Rosenberg, Caulfield South Could Holgate be in charge of the rollout? It will be done efficiently, fairly and might make a profit. Barb Roysland, Port Fairy Has the national cabinet become a playgroup for the PM? A favourite game is pass the buck. Ralph Tabor, Pakenham Christine Holgate Did Scott Morrison receive performance bonuses when he worked for Tourism Australia? Ian Jones, South Yarra The PM addressing Ms Holgate and Ms Higgins by their first names made me cringe. Condescending and patronising. Margaret Burbidge, Ararat The same media and Opposition castigating the PM for throwing Holgate under the wheels were, a few months ago, driving the Outrage Bus straight at her. Brian Davids, Balwyn North Id have thought treating an employee abysmally would warrant an apology. Not according to the chairman of Australia Post. Graeme Riviere, Warranwood Furthermore Congratulations to the Victorian government on increasing the bag limit for duck shooters. We definitely need to kill more wildlife. Jon ONeill, Waurn Ponds I found it very encouraging that there are signs that people are waking up from hibernation, buying new clothes and going out to restaurants, said Beth Ann Bovino, U.S. chief economist at S&P Global. I think people are feeling optimistic that the United States will win the war on the virus. And they have good reason to be hopeful. Many economists said the strong retail sales were likely to continue through the spring, even after the new stimulus payments are used up. The gradual return to normal activities as business restrictions ease has in turn prompted employers to recall workers and this time, to hold on to them. The Labor Department reported on Thursday that the number of first-time claims for state unemployment benefits fell sharply last week, to about 613,000, the lowest level since the start of the pandemic. That was a decline of 153,000, the largest week-over-week decrease since the summer. In addition, 132,000 new claims were filed for Pandemic Unemployment Assistance, a federal program that covers freelancers, part-timers and others who do not routinely qualify for state benefits. That was a decline of 20,000 from the previous week. Were gaining momentum here, which is just unquestionable, said Diane Swonk, chief economist at the accounting firm Grant Thornton. There are also broader signs of a comeback. After a devastating year, airlines are growing increasingly hopeful as travelers return. Over the past month, more than one million people were screened each day at federal airport checkpoints, according to the Transportation Security Administration, a signal that a sustained travel recovery is underway. Shares is the leading weekly publication for retail investors. It is packed with investment ideas, news and educational material to help build and run portfolios and get more from your money. Shares puts on free Investor Events throughout the year across the country. They provide an opportunity for investors to learn more about companies on the stock market and hear from a range of investment experts including fund managers and Shares journalists. The new model may have applications for studying and predicting a range of dynamical systems The dynamics of the neural activity of a mouse brain behave in a peculiar, unexpected way that can be theoretically modeled without any fine tuning, suggests a new paper by physicists at Emory University. Physical Review Letters published the research, which adds to the evidence that theoretical physics frameworks may aid in the understanding of large-scale brain activity. "Our theoretical model agrees with previous experimental work on the brains of mice to a few percent accuracy -- a degree which is highly unusual for living systems," says Ilya Nemenman, Emory professor of physics and biology and senior author of the paper. The first author is Mia Morrell, who did the research for her honors thesis as an Emory senior majoring in physics. She graduated from Emory last year and is now in a post-baccalaureate physics program at Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico. "One of the wonderful things about our model is that it's simple," says Morrell, who will start a Ph.D. program in physics at New York University in the fall. "A brain is really complex. So to distill neural activity to a simple model and find that the model can make predictions that so closely match experimental data is exciting." The new model may have applications for studying and predicting a range of dynamical systems that have many components and have varying inputs over time, from the neural activity of a brain to the trading activity of a stock market. Co-author of the paper is Audrey Sederberg, a former post-doctoral fellow in Nemenman's group, who is now on the faculty at the University of Minnesota. The work is based on a physics concept known as critical phenomena, used to explain phase transitions in physical systems, such as water changing from liquid to a gas. In liquid form, water molecules are strongly correlated to one another. In a solid, they are locked into a predictable pattern of identical crystals. In a gas phase, however, every molecule is moving about on its own. "At what is known as a critical point for a liquid, you cannot distinguish whether the material is liquid or vapor," Nemenman explains. "The material is neither perfectly ordered nor disordered. It's neither totally predictable nor totally unpredictable. A system at this 'just right' Goldilocks spot is said to be 'critical.'" Very high temperature and pressure generate this critical point for water. And the structure of critical points is the same in many seemingly unrelated systems. For example, water transitioning into a gas and a magnet losing its magnetism as it is heated up are described by the same critical point, so the properties of these two transitions are similar. In order to actually observe a material at a critical point to study its structure, physicists must tightly control experiments, adjusting the parameters to within an extraordinarily precise range, a process known as fine-tuning. In recent decades, some scientists began thinking about the human brain as a critical system. Experiments suggest that brain activity lies in a Goldilocks spot -- right at a critical transition point between perfect order and disorder. "The neurons of the brain don't function just as one big unit, like an army marching together, but they are also not behaving like a crowd of people running in all different directions," Nemenman says. "The hypothesis is that, as you increase the effective distance between neurons, the correlations between their activity are going to fall, but they will not fall to zero. The entire brain is coupled, acting like a big, interdependent machine, even while individual neurons vary in their activity." Researchers began searching for actual signals of critical phenomena within brains. They explored a key question: What fine tunes the brain to reach criticality? In 2019, a team at Princeton University recorded neurons in the brain of a mouse as it was running in a virtual maze. They applied theoretical physics tools developed for non-living systems to the neural activity data from the mouse brain. Their results suggested that the neural activity exhibits critical correlations, allowing predictions about how different parts of the brain will correlate with one another over time and over effective distances within the brain. For the current paper, the Emory researchers wanted to test whether fine-tuning of particular parameters were necessary for the observation of criticality in the mouse brain experiments, or whether the critical correlations in the brain could be achieved simply through the process of it receiving external stimuli. The idea came from previous work that Nemenman's group collaborated on, explaining how biological systems can exhibit Zipf's law -- a unique pattern of activity found in disparate systems. "We previously created a model that showed Zipf's law in a biological system, and that model did not require fine tuning," Nemenman says. "Zipf's law is a particular form of criticality. For this paper, we wanted to make that model a bit more complicated, to see if could predict the specific critical correlations observed in the mouse experiments." The model's key ingredient is a set of a few hidden variables that modulate how likely individual neurons are to be active. Morrell wrote the computer code to run simulations and test the model on her home desktop computer. "The biggest challenge was to write the code in a way that would allow it to run fast even when simulating a large system with limited computer memory without a huge server," she says. The model was able to closely reproduce the experimental results in the simulations. The model does not require the careful tuning of parameters, generating activity that is apparently critical by any measure over a wide range of parameter choices. "Our findings suggest that, if you do not view a brain as existing on its own, but you view it as a system receiving stimuli from the external world, then you can have critical behavior with no need for fine tuning," Nemenman says. "It raises the question of whether something similar could apply to non-living physical systems. It makes us re-think the very notion of criticality, which is a fundamental concept in physics." The computer code for the model is now available online, so that anyone with a laptop computer can access it and run the code to simulate a dynamic system with varying inputs over time. "The model we developed may apply beyond neuroscience, to any system in which widespread coupling to hidden variables is extant," Nemenman says. "Data from many biological or social systems are likely to appear critical via the same mechanism, without fine-tuning." ### The current paper was partially supported by grants from the National Institutes of Health and the National Science Foundation. The national automobile club wants two grands prix in Italy to become the annual norm once again. Earlier, Monza and Imola were both permanent F1 race hosts - and 2021 marks the second year in a row in which the latter circuit east of Bologna is back on the calendar. However, in both 2020 and again this weekend, Imola is only hosting a race because other events were cancelled or postponed due to covid. "Imola is a grand prix is hope - of recovery," said Italian automobile club (Aci) president Angelo Sticchi Damiani. "It is a great satisfaction to have two grands prix in Italy, so the Aci will do everything we can so that Italy can have them on a permanent basis. "We have broken the blockade of one grand prix per nation, and now we want this to continue. Italy deserves two grands prix, as extraordinary pages of this sport have been written in our country." Emilia-Romagna regional president Stefano Bonaccini said he hopes this weekend marks Imola's "last time without an audience, because that would mean there will be others". "We will work so that Imola becomes a certainty on the F1 calendar," he clarified. (GMM) .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... Copyright 2021 Albuquerque Journal SANTA FE New MexiCann Natural Medicine was fined $142,348 by the New Mexico Environment Department and could have its medical cannabis producer license revoked due to violations of the Occupational Health and Safety Act as a result of an October 2020 explosion that injured two workers. The company was cited for six violations, including failures to implement a respirator program, controls for flammable vapors and ignition sources, and handling of hazardous chemicals. ADVERTISEMENTSkip ................................................................ New MexiCann has 15 days to contact NMED or pay the fine. This is the second time the dispensary has been issued citations. In 2016, the Environment Department cited the company for a 2015 explosion that also injured two workers, and fined the company $13,500. The indifference shown to worker safety by this company is inexcusable, Environment Secretary James Kenney said in a news release. Willful violations of worker safety requirements must have consequences for employers every employee deserves to come home from work healthy. In addition to the citations, the hearing officer who heard the case recommended that New MexiCanns producers license be permanently revoked. He submitted his report to the Health Department on Friday. The final decision on the license will be issued by Health Secretary Tracie Collins within 30 days. John Day, attorney for New MexiCann, and its owner, Carlos Gonzales, declined to comment. Gonzales is also criminally charged with two counts of negligent arson for the October explosion. His case is in Santa Fe Magistrate Court. The hearing officer said in his report that there was a preponderance of evidence that New MexiCann failed to use a closed-loop extraction system and showed a willful or reckless disregard for health or safety. The hearing officer described New MexiCanns proposed remedies to the explosion and extraction system as too little, too late. He went on to state that New MexiCann should have addressed deficiencies after the 2015 explosion. NEW YORK, April 15, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Cohen & Steers, Inc. (NYSE: CNS), a leading global investment manager specializing in real assets and alternative income, is pleased to announce that the Cohen & Steers SICAV European Real Estate Securities Fund ("the Fund"), has received a 2021 Refinitiv Lipper Fund Award for the real estate category in Austria, France and Switzerland. The Fund was awarded for its strong risk-adjusted performance for the 5-year period ending December 31, 2020. Rogier Quirijns, Head of Europe Real Estate and Senior Portfolio Manager, said: "We are honored to again be recognized by Lipper for the Fund's continued strong performance providing attractive risk-adjusted returns for our investors, an achievement we believe is a result of the dedication and effort of our entire team in striving to deliver investment excellence. Just as the pandemic upended certain types of real estate in 2020, we believe progress in vaccine distribution and fiscal stimulus could directly benefit some of the most impacted REIT sectors, setting up potentially attractive entry points in 2021." Investors around the globe who are looking to diversify their direct property holdings or discover new sources of alpha are increasingly looking to REITs for their potential for strong risk-adjusted returns, income and diversification. In 2020, Cohen & Steers U.S. and Global Real Estate strategies achieved record net inflows. The Fund seeks current income and capital appreciation by investing in REITs and other publicly traded real estate companies domiciled in Europe and the U.K. that we believe offer attractive valuations and growth prospects. By investing across European markets, the Fund seeks to capitalize on variations in country-specific economic and property sector cycles and the diversity of business models. In our view, these markets offer attractive opportunities for well-resourced, disciplined, active managers to deliver consistent excess returns. The real estate category in Austria, France and Switzerland for the 5-year period includes 15, 34 and 21 funds, respectively. Please consider the investment objectives, risks, charges and expenses of any Cohen & Steers fund carefully before investing. A prospectus containing this and other information may be obtained, free of charge, by visiting cohenandsteers.com or by calling +44 207 460 6350. Please read the summary prospectus and prospectus carefully before investing. About Cohen & Steers. Cohen & Steers is a leading global investment manager specializing in real assets and alternative income, including real estate, infrastructure, resource equities, commodities, as well as preferred securities and multi-strategy solutions. Founded in 1986, the firm is headquartered in New York City, with offices in London, Dublin, Hong Kong and Tokyo. About Cohen & Steers SICAV Europe Real Estate Securities Fund. The Fund is a sub-fund of Cohen & Steers SICAV, a Luxembourg-domiciled undertaking for collective investment in transferrable securities (UCITS). Shares of the Fund are only offered pursuant to the current prospectus and the sales of shares of the fund may be restricted in certain jurisdictions. In particular, shares may not be offered or sold, directly or indirectly in the United States or to U.S. persons, as more fully described in the Fund's prospectus. See prospectus for additional information including important risk considerations, including potential loss of capital, and details about fees and expenses. Past performance is no guarantee of future results. About Lipper Fund Awards The Refinitiv Lipper Fund Awards, granted annually, highlight funds and fund companies that have excelled in delivering consistently strong risk-adjusted performance relative to their peers. The Refinitiv Lipper Fund Awards are based on the Lipper Leader for Consistent Return rating, which is a risk-adjusted performance measure calculated over 36, 60 and 120 months. The fund with the highest Lipper Leader for Consistent Return (Effective Return) value in each eligible classification wins the Refinitiv Lipper Fund Award. The real estate category in Austria, France and Switzerland for the 5-year period includes 15, 34 and 21 funds, respectively. For more information, see lipperfundawards.com. Although Refinitiv Lipper makes reasonable efforts to ensure the accuracy and reliability of the data contained herein, the accuracy is not guaranteed by Refinitiv Lipper. About Lipper Leader Ratings for Consistent Return. Ratings for consistent return reflect funds' historic returns, adjusted for volatility, relative to peers. Ratings are computed for all Lipper classifications with five or more distinct portfolios and span both equity and fixed-income funds. The ratings are subject to change every month and are calculated for the following time periods: 3-year, 5-year, 10-year, and overall. The highest 20% of funds in each classification are named Lipper Leaders for Consistent Return. The overall calculation is based on an equal-weighted average of percentile ranks for the Consistent Return metrics over 3-year, 5-year, and 10-year periods (if applicable). Lipper Leaders for Consistent Return may be the best fit for investors who value a fund's year-to-year consistency relative to other funds in a particular peer group. Investors are cautioned that some peer groups are inherently more volatile than others, and even Lipper Leaders for Consistent Return in the most volatile groups may not be well suited to shorter-term goals or less risk-tolerant investors. Related Links https://www.cohenandsteers.com SOURCE Cohen & Steers, Inc. PARIS The French Parliament passed a contentious security bill on Thursday that extends police powers, despite criticism from political opponents and civil rights activists who have vowed to challenge the legislation before Frances Constitutional Council. Among other measures, the bill broadens the powers of municipal police forces, expands the polices ability to use drones to monitor citizens in public and toughens sentences for people found guilty of assaulting officers. One of the most arduously debated measures criminalizes the act of helping identify officers with intent to harm them. President Emmanuel Macrons government has argued that the bill provides a necessary boost to embattled police forces and protects them from increasingly violent protesters and malicious attempts to identify them or their families, off and online. But critics including the French journalist unions, civil liberties groups and the authorities own human rights ombudsman say the legislation is too broad. The National Cannabis Industry Association (NCIA), the nations largest trade group for the legal cannabis industry, is pleased to announce they will host their second annual Northeast Cannabis Business Conference this December 7-8. For the first time ever, the event will take place in Baltimore, Maryland. NCIA is excited to reconvene in the Northeast as this emerging legal market continues to rapidly expand as adult-use legalization picks up across the region, most recently in New Jersey, New York, and Virginia. This December, cannabis professionals from across the eastern U.S. will come together to discuss what legalization means in this region, how to navigate state-specific regulations, emerging market trends, and much more. Professionals will also hear from regional thought leaders and have the opportunity to network with top operators and exhibitors in the Northeast. Its truly a sensational time for the East Coast cannabis market, said Aaron Smith, CEO and Co-founder of the National Cannabis Industry Association. The legal industry is experiencing exponential growth, and with our wins coming out of the 2020 election, and most recently, in New York, its clear that momentum for cannabis reform has passed the tipping point. Were looking forward to regrouping with the leading cannabis business community this December to continue helping them navigate challenges and thrive in this growing market. The announcement of the Northeast Cannabis Business Conference rounds out NCIAs 2021 tradeshow schedule. The Midwest Cannabis Business Conference will take place in Detroit from September 22-23, and the Seventh Annual Cannabis Business Summit & Expo will take place in San Francisco from December 15-17. All three events are projected to attract thousands of cannabis industry professionals that span across sectors, including cultivation, extraction, investment, law, manufacturing, retail, and more. Both attendees and exhibitors can find more information at http://www.nciacannabisevents.com. ABOUT NCIA The National Cannabis Industry Association (NCIA) is the largest cannabis trade association in the U.S. and the only organization broadly representing cannabis-related businesses at the national level. NCIA promotes the growth of a responsible and legitimate cannabis industry and works toward a favorable social, economic, and legal environment for that industry in the United States. New data provide the first clinical evidence that drug-resistant mutations in the malaria parasite Plasmodium falciparum may be gaining a foothold in Africa. The study, conducted in Rwanda, is published in The Lancet Infectious Diseases journal and finds for the first time that the mutations are associated with delayed parasite clearance, as was first shown in South-East Asia when artemisinin-resistance started to emerge. The study also finds that the mutations are more prevalent than previous studies have reported, indicating likely transmission of the mutations, and raising concern about further geographical spread of resistance. There are an estimated 229 million cases of malaria worldwide, and there were 409,000 deaths from malaria in 2019 - of which 274,000 (67%) were among children under 5 years. 94% of all malaria cases and deaths occur in Africa, and experts have long been concerned about the potential emergence of drug resistance across the continent. While the efficacy of current therapies remains high, the authors call for more intensive surveillance in Rwanda as well as neighbouring countries to help monitor the spread of mutations and inform public health actions. Mutations can emerge spontaneously, and previous studies have pointed to isolated cases of resistance. However, our new study shows that resistant isolates are starting to become more common and most importantly, are associated with clinical implications (delayed parasite clearance)." Dr Aline Uwimana, Study Lead Author, Rwanda Biomedical Centre, Kigali, Rwanda Co-author Dr Naomi Lucchi, CDC Resident Advisor for the U.S. President's Malaria Initiative adds: "our study showed that the treatment for malaria in Rwanda is still 94% effective, but new studies and ongoing monitoring are urgently needed." Artemisinin-based combination therapies (ACTs), introduced in the early 2000s, are currently the most effective and widely used treatments for malaria caused by Plasmodium falciparum. ACTs combine an artemisinin component that clears most of the parasites from the patient's body within three days, and a long-acting partner drug that clears the remaining parasites. Resistance to the artemisinin component of an ACT is suspected if the presence of the parasite remains after day three of treatment (called delayed parasite clearance). This drug resistance is associated with parasites carrying mutations in the Plasmodium falciparum kelch 13 gene (pfk13). Currently, ten mutations in pfk13 have been confirmed as markers of artemisinin partial resistance (including R561H, P574L and C580Y), and several other mutations (referred to as candidate markers) have been identified as potentially associated with resistance. Partial artemisinin resistance was first identified in Cambodia in 2008. It is now well-documented in many South East Asian countries, where the C580Y mutation is common. Evidence from the Mekong region has shown that once artemisinin resistance becomes prevalent, resistance to the partner drug often follows, resulting in ACT treatment failure. In 2006, Rwanda introduced artemether-lumefantrine (an ACT, and the most widely used antimalarial) as the first-line treatment for malaria. The World Health Organization recommends therapeutic efficacy studies at least every two years for monitoring the efficacy of ACTs and the tracking of resistance through molecular markers. When ACT efficacy is confirmed to be below 90%, replacement with an effective antimalarial is recommended. One such study was performed in Rwanda among children aged 1-14 years in 2013-2015 in Ruhuha and Masaka. The R561H mutation was observed in 7.4% of P. falciparum parasites collected in Masaka, and a low prevalence of the P574L mutation was reported in isolates collected in Masaka and Ruhuha in 2013-2015 and in Huye in 2015. However, the presence of these mutations was not found to be associated with delayed parasite clearance and the therapeutic efficacy of ACT was confirmed at over 97% in both sites. In 2018, another therapeutic efficacy study was conducted, the results of which are reported in this new article. The pfk13 R561H and P574L mutations were present in 12.8% (28/218) and 0.9% (2/218) of pre-treatment samples, respectively. For the first time, this study shows that the pfk13 R561H mutation was associated with delayed parasite clearance, although the efficacy of artemether-lumefantrine remained high. Genetic analysis of pfk13 R561H mutants indicated their common ancestry and local origin in Rwanda. The study was conducted across three sites in Rwanda (Masaka, Rukara, and Bugarama). 224 children aged between 6 months and 5 years who had a P. falciparum infection were treated with a three-day course of artemether-lumefantrine and monitored for 28 days, with weekly blood collections. 8/51 (15.7%) participants in Masaka and 12/82 (14.6%) in Rukara had detectable parasites three days post treatment, according to WHO criteria for partial resistance. The therapeutic efficacy was estimated at 94-97%. Writing in a linked Comment, Professor Philip Rosenthal, University of California, San Francisco, USA (who was not involved in the study), says: "Recent data suggest that we are on the verge of clinically meaningful artemisinin resistance in Africa, as emerged in Southeast Asia over a decade ago. With resistant genotypes emerging and continued heavy drug pressure, we may anticipate continued selection of resistance. Loss of artemisinin activity will in turn threaten ACT partner drugs. Loss of efficacy of key ACTs, in particular artemether-lumefantrine, the most widely used antimalarial, may have dire consequences, as occurred when chloroquine resistance led to enormous increases in malaria deaths in the late twentieth century. Although it is impossible to predict the pace of progression of drug resistance in Africa, close surveillance for genotypic and phenotypic evidence of artemisinin and partner drug resistance, with prompt replacement of failing regimens, may save many lives." After the bill did not get a vote in the House during the last Congress, Schneider said he intends to introduce it again. This time, he will not ask Gosar to be a co-sponsor because the Arizona congressman voted against certification of the presidential results and has not yet accepted the results. He has also asked the Constitutional Court to rule on the legality of the measure condemned by Armenian press freedom groups. The bill involving amendments to the Armenian Civil Code was drafted by a close associate of Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian, deputy parliament speaker Alen Simonian, and passed by the National Assembly late last month. It stipulates that media outlets and individuals convicted of slander could be fined as much as 6 million drams ($11,500) while those making offensive claims will face a maximum fine of up to 2 million drams. Later in March, Armenias leading media associations asked Sarkissian not to endorse the bill and to challenge it in the Constitutional Court instead, saying that it could be exploited by government officials and politicians to stifle press freedom. The president met with their representatives shortly afterwards. In a statement released on Thursday, the presidential press office said Sarkissian shares their concerns. It said that while Sarkissian regards defamation offenses as unacceptable and condemnable he believes that the much heavier fines could cause substantial damage to the freedom of speech and considerably limit journalists freedom and media outlets ability to objectively cover the activities of officials and public figures in an unconstrained manner. The bill also appears to be contentious in terms of its constitutionality, the statement said, adding that the head of state has appealed to the Constitutional Court for that reason. In what civics groups see as a related development, Armenian prosecutors drafted earlier this year legislation that would make defamation of state officials a crime punishable by up to two years in prison. All forms of libel and defamation were decriminalized in Armenia in 2010 during the rule of former President Serzh Sarkisian. The move was recommended by the Council of Europe. South Korean steel maker Posco continued to increase its exposure to the fast-growing electric vehicle (EV) segment after it announced plans to build a new lithium hydroxide extraction plant, according to local reports. Construction of the plant was scheduled to begin later this year in the South Korean city of Gwangyang and expected to be completed by 2023. The facility would have an annual production capacity of 43,000 tons of lithium hydroxide, a key material for electric vehicle (EV) batteries, enough to power around 1m EVs. The material would be extracted from spodumene imported from Australia. Posco was also scheduled to begin construction of a lithium processing plant in Argentina, near the Salar del Hombre Muerto salt lake, with capacity of 25,000 tons per year. This followed the acquisition in 2018 of mining rights in the country from Australias Galaxy Resources for US$280m. The South Korean company said the site had confirmed lithium reserves of 13.5m tons, enough to make batteries for around 370m EVs. Posco said it plans to increase its global lithium production capacity to 220,000 tons per year by 2030. The company has made significant inroads into the EV supply chain this year. Earlier this month it announced it would supply cathodes for the batteries to be fitted to General Motors electric vehicles (EVs) produced in the US. Last month Posco said it planned to expand capacity to produce bipolar plates used in hydrogen fuel cell systems. (Natural News) Scientific American the longtime publication that covers the intersection of science and society announced Monday that it will begin using the term climate emergency in its coverage of climate change. (Article by Dave Urbanski republished from TheBlaze.com) In publishing the op-ed We Are Living in a Climate Emergency, and Were Going to Say So, senior editor Mark Fischetti called attention to the magazines decision, which insists that this is a statement of science, not politics. A Scientific American tweet added that it agreed with major news outlets worldwide in enacting the climate emergency terminology: Scientific American has agreed with major news outlets worldwide to start using the term climate emergency in its coverage of climate change. Read our statement about this decision, and the impact we hope it can have throughout the media landscape. https://t.co/ccpALIvpxe Scientific American (@sciam) April 12, 2021 What else does Scientific American have to say? The magazine said that adopting the term climate emergency is not a journalistic fancy. We are on solid scientific ground. The op-ed went on to cite a January article from its pages that noted more than 11,000 scientists from 153 countries had signed a report to signify their agreement that the world is facing a climate emergency that requires bold action. As of April 9, another 2,100 had signed on. The magazine, further citing the article, said that as of January, 1,859 jurisdictions in 33 countries have issued climate emergency declarations covering more than 820 million people. Fischetti wrote that journalism should reflect what science says: the climate emergency is here. What does the magazines statement say? The op-ed included Scientific Americans formal statement: April 12, 2021 From Covering Climate Now, Scientific American, Columbia Journalism Review, the Nation, the Guardian, Noticias Telemundo, Al Jazeera, Asahi Shimbun and La Repubblica: The planet is heating up way too fast. Its time for journalism to recognize that the climate emergency is here. This is a statement of science, not politics. Thousands of scientistsincluding James Hansen, the NASA scientist who put the problem on the public agenda in 1988, and David King and Hans Schellnhuber, former science advisers to the British and German governments, respectivelyhave said humanity faces a climate emergency. Why emergency? Because words matter. To preserve a livable planet, humanity must take action immediately. Failure to slash the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere will make the extraordinary heat, storms, wildfires and ice melt of 2020 routine and could render a significant portion of the Earth uninhabitable, warned the January Scientific American article. The medias response to COVID-19 provides a useful model. Guided by science, journalists have described the pandemic as an emergency, chronicled its devasting [sic] impacts, called out disinformation and told audiences how to protect themselves (with masks and social distancing, for example). We need the same commitment to the climate story. As partners in Covering Climate Now, a global consortium of hundreds of news outlets, we will present coverage in the lead-up to Earth Day, April 22, 2021, around the theme Living Through the Climate Emergency. We invite journalists everywhere to join us. How did folks react? The response to Scientific Americans announcement on Twitter that it will begin using the term climate emergency was a mixed bag. Some commenters heartily agreed with the magazine, while others did not. One user wrote this is so scary; you can blame the Republicans for destroying our planet, while another commenter replied, Please do explain how that is? Also any peer reviewed papers youve written on the subject of how a political party is responsible for the climate of Earth. Another user quipped, Still waiting for Al Gores predictions to come true. Read more at: TheBlaze.com and ClimateAlarmism.news. Saving the planet, and ourselves 2020 began with Australia ablaze, forests from Brazil to Siberia have been devastated, with billions of human and non-human lives destroyed. The global pandemic has changed everyone's life, and other disasters both natural and man-made recur regularly. "... what I demand passionately of us all is a clear recognition of our problem and the will to solve it," says pioneering Australian activist of the '60s and '70s Brian Medlin in his seminal environmental essay 'Ecological Crisis and Social Order' which calls for revolutionary action and informed thought to save the planet and progress humanity towards a better future. Decades later, a new book of collected writings entitled The Level-headed Revolutionary, by the celebrated philosopher, environmentalist and Flinders University academic Brian Medlin (1927-2004), is as cogent as ever, providing sage insights for these tumultuous times. How to stay sane and constructive in the face of environmental crisis and the very meaning of life and death are covered in the book's chapters. Written more than 30 years ago, 'Ecological Crisis and Social Order' calls humans to recognise their place in the natural world, embracing all of nature - including cockroaches. "We shall never be safe in the world for as long as we think only of our own safety in it, that we shall never properly cherish our resources while we think of them only as resources," he writes. "Amongst the many bad features of this limited perception of the world, the worst is that it readily goes over into an adversarial attitude to non-human nature. "We are taught contempt so that we will buy Mortein: 'If you hate cockroaches as much as I do ...', begins the nice young man in the commercial. "Well, I for one don't hate cockroaches and I commend them to your interest and admiration. They have beautiful mouth-parts and their behaviour is engaging. "The non-human world is to be valued, but not simply because it may serve humankind. Nor is it to be valued as an extension of ourselves. Not even as a means of self-realisation. "It is to be valued for itself, because it has value in itself. Until we win our way back to a proper reverence for non-human nature, we shall remain lost in a world growing ever more hostile to us." Brian Herbert Medlin (1927 - 2004) was Foundation Professor of Philosophy at Flinders University from 1967 to 1988. He pioneered radical philosophy in Australian universities and played an active role in the campaign against the Vietnam War. He wrote Human Nature Human Survival Flinders University (1992) and his ideas feature in another anthology Never Mind about the Bourgeoisie: The Correspondence between Iris Murdoch and Brian Medlin 1976-1995. Edited by Gillian Dooley and Graham Nerlich (Cambridge Scholars Press, 2014). His writings say people have choices, and one is to confront daunting challenges and take positive actions. "Some may think it difficult. Of course it's bloody difficult. It's probably the hardest task that the human species has ever set itself. "Well, just our luck that it falls to us then. Those who despair will find it daunting. For us, however, it is challenging. And we are the ones who'll do the job." "The fact is that without passions and desires, reason is simply undirected, goal-less," Medlin also says in the essay 'Objective Despair'. "Thought needs motivation and this applies to scientific thought as well as to any other. In fact, given the daily tides of ideological sludge against which we must make way, it is so hard to be reasonable that only a passionate person can hope to bring it off." British author Dame Iris Murdoch, who forged a strong friendship with Medlin, says humane, witty and vigorous words are prophetic. "Brian Medlin is a poet as well as a philosopher. He is also a prophet crying out to his people. Prophets are needed," she writes in the book. The Level-headed Revolutionary editors, Flinders research fellow Dr Gillian Dooley, another student and close friend of Brian Medlin academic Wallace McKitrick, and 1970s Flinders graduate and philosopher Dr Susan Petrilli, selected the contents from a rich anthology. This includes stories of growing up in a working class family in South Australia's Mid North, and the nature of philosophy and the contemporary university. "(Medlin) is the best writer of all Anglophone philosophers since the second world war," UK Professor Roy Edgley also writes in the foreword. "His work reveals a strongly Australian character." As Brian Medlin himself writes: "As a level-headed revolutionary, a real conservative, what I demand passionately of us all is a clear recognition of our problem and the will to solve it." The book, The Level-headed Revolutionary (Essays, Stories and Poems by Brian Medlin), has been published by Wakefield Press (RRP $34.95). https:/ / www. dropbox. com/ sh/ pbwult4t8afr1hp/ AADDXHuSXeICJ0FBWEM19459a?dl= 0 ### This story has been published on: 2021-04-15. To contact the author, please use the contact details within the article. Questo comunicato e stato pubblicato piu di 30 giorni fa. Le informazioni su questa pagina potrebbero non essere attendibili. The global livestock monitoring market expected to reach USD 10.93 billion by 2027. according to a new study by Polaris Market Research. The report Livestock Monitoring Market Share, Size, Trends, Industry Analysis Report, By Animal Type (Cattle, Poultry, Swine, Equine); By Component (Hardware, Software, Services); By Application (Milk Harvesting, Breeding Management, Feeding Management, Animal Health Monitoring & Comfort, Heat Stress, Behavior Monitoring), By Regions; Segment Forecast, 2020 2027 The global livestock monitoring market is driven by the growing need to increase farm productivity, innovations in cattle feed rich in protein, reducing supply chain hiccups, and technological advancements in real-time cattle monitoring. Technology providers attempt to reduce the time-consuming task of cattle monitoring with automated systems at reasonable subscription-based charges. Corporatization of cattle farms across the developed economies also favoring the adoption of such services. The global livestock monitoring market is fragmented based on animal type, component, application, and region. In terms of animal type, the market is segmented into cattle, poultry, swine, equine, and others. The component segment is further divided into hardware, software, and services. The application segment is further divided into milk harvesting, breeding management, feeding management, animal health monitoring & comfort, heat stress, behavior monitoring, and others. Download Sample Copy @ https://www.polarismarketresearch.com/industry-analysis/livestock-monitoring-market/request-for-sample Segment Highlights The cattle market segment accounted for the largest revenue share in 2019 owing to the presence of a high proportion of cattle producers in the form of meat and milk. The segment held over 45% of the market share. Based on application, the feeding management segment is projected to constitute most of the market in 2027. Innovations in cattle feed to increase productivity, and the emergence of well-maintained cattle farms are primarily responsible for such growth. North American region is dominating the global livestock monitoring market, holding almost one-third of the market share throughout the forecast period. This high share is due to positive intention to increase farm productivity, rise in per capita consumption, and cost reductions in service offerings with continuously rising competitive rivalry. The players including Lely International N.V, GEA Farm Technologies, BouMatic, LLC together held a significant market share of the global market in the year 2019. Do You Have Any Query Or Specific Requirement? Ask to Our Industry Expert @ https://www.polarismarketresearch.com/industry-analysis/livestock-monitoring-market/speak-to-analyst List of Key Players of Livestock Monitoring Market Lely International NV GEA Farm Technologies BouMatic, LLC Antelliq Corporation Gallagher Group Limited DeLaval Afimilk Ltd. HID Global Corporation Dairymaster Ltd. Communications Group Lethbridge Ltd. Others Polaris Market Research has segmented the Livestock Monitoring Market report on the basis of animal type, component, application, and region: Livestock Monitoring Market, Animal Type Outlook (Revenue USD Million, 2016 2027) Cattle Poultry Swine Equine Others Livestock Monitoring Market, Component Outlook (Revenue USD Million, 2016 2027) Hardware Sensors GPS Others Software On-cloud On-premise Services Integration & development Maintenance & Support Others Livestock Monitoring Market, Application Outlook (Revenue USD Million, 2016 2027) Milk Harvesting Breeding Management Feeding Management Animal Health Monitoring & Comfort Heat stress Behavior monitoring Others Read More : https://www.medgadget.com/2021/02/livestock-monitoring-market-size-is-projected-to-reach-10-93-billion-by-2027-cagr-15-7-polaris-market-research.html Body mass index may be more helpful in predicting the risk of a common type of irregular heartbeat in women, while waist size may better predict that risk in men, new research suggests. The link between obesity and atrial fibrillation, or AFibwhen the heart beats irregularly and often too fastis well established. But researchers wanted to understand the extent to which body fat distribution might predict AFib risk among men and women. The researchers analyzed BMI, waist circumference and electrocardiogram data gathered between 2008 and 2013 from more than 2 million older adults in the U.S. and United Kingdom who didn't have cardiovascular conditions, including heart failure and stroke. The study's lead author, Dr. Michiel Poorthuis of University Medical Center Utrecht in the Netherlands, described it as "probably the largest study of its kind to date." About 12,000 participants0.6% had AFib. After adjusting for variables such as a history of high blood pressure, diabetes and smoking, the researchers found both higher BMI and a bigger waist were associated with an increased risk of AFib in men and women. But there was a stronger connection between BMI and AFib risk among women, while waistline seemed a greater predictor in men. For women, adding BMI to the calculation improved the ability to predict AFib by 23% compared to a 12% improvement using waist size. In men, however, waist size came out on top, with a 30% improvement in predicting AFib versus 23% using BMI. According to the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, normal BMI is defined as below 25, and women with a waist size greater than 35 inches and men with a waist larger than 40 inches are at higher risk for heart disease and Type 2 diabetes. Dr. Richard Bulbulia, co-senior author of the analysis published Thursday in the Journal of the American Heart Association, said the results bolster advice to maintain a healthy weightand point to the next research question. "What's really exciting is the question of, can weight loss decrease atrial fibrillation burden in people who have it, or prevent people from developing it?" said Bulbulia, a research fellow in the University of Oxford Nuffield Department of Population Health and a consultant vascular surgeon at Cheltenham General Hospital in the United Kingdom. The answer to that question could have broad repercussions: AFib, a major risk factor for stroke, is poised to affect an estimated 12.1 million Americans by 2030, according to American Heart Association statistics. Left untreated, AFib doubles the risk of heart-related death and is associated with a fivefold higher risk of stroke. Some people with AFib have no symptoms, but others experience a rapid heartbeat or skipped beats. Dr. Matthew Kalscheur, a clinical cardiologist and cardiac electrophysiologist at UW Health in Madison, Wisconsin, said the possible connection between waist circumference and AFib in men was important to consider. Kalscheur, who was not involved in the new research, said although BMIa standard measure of overweight and obesityis routinely recorded and considered by clinicians in the context of AFib risk, waist circumference typically is not. "The next step is, how do we present that to our patients, and how do we use this data to try to change behaviors that could impact that risk development," Kalscheur said. Like Bulbulia, Kalscheur wonders if, for instance, a person without AFib who is older, overweight and has high blood pressure can make behavioral changes to help prevent AFiband, ideally, prevent stroke. "We need to incorporate the results of studies like this one into the shared decision-making process that we have with our patients," Kalscheur said. "In this case, it would be the shared decision about the importance of losing weight to reduce AFib risk." Explore further A deeper understanding of AFib could lower risk Copyright 2021 HealthDay. All rights reserved. HELENA As part of an effort to encourage more young women to choose careers in technology, the National Center for Women & Information Technology (NCWIT), NorthWestern Energy, and Carroll College recognized 17 Montana high school women from 11 high schools for their accomplishments and aspirations in computing and technology. Avery Skibicki of Helena High School was also awarded a National Honorable Mention, which is a rare achievement for a Montana student. The NCWIT Award for Aspirations in Computing was created to promote the computing aspirations of young women, introduce them to leadership opportunities in the field, and generate visibility for womens participation in technology fields. Winners are acknowledged for their outstanding aptitude and interest in technology and computing, leadership ability, academic history, and plans for post-secondary education. National judges scored all the Montana applicants. The 2020-21 Montana winners are: 2021 National Honorable Mention: Avery Skibicki, senior, Helena High School (2020 Montana honorable mention) 2021 Montana Winners: Brianna Brost, senior, Sidney High School (2020 Montana honorable mention) Aspen Derry, junior, Seeley-Swan High School Sarah Heller, senior, Capital High School (2020 winner) Baylee Herman, sophomore, Simms High School Myah Lee, junior, Sentinel High School (2020 winner) Laurel Maronick, junior, Helena High School (2020 winner and 2019 Montana honorable mention) Sierrah Paul, junior, Helena High School Katherine Sanders, sophomore, Billings Senior High School Brynja Severtson, senior, Helena High School Aimee Wilkerson, senior, Helena High School (2020 national certificate of distinction) 2021 Montana Honorable Mention: Taya Dyer, senior, Conrad High School Tori Lapierre, junior, CM Russell High School Makenzi Lauver, freshman, CM Russell High School Monique Mondragon, sophomore, Absarokee High School (2020 national certificate of distinction) Anna Ries-Roncalli, junior, Helena High School Melanie Woodward, senior, Broadwater High School The 2020-21 Montana Educator of the Year is Absarokee High Schools Heidi Gunderson. Carroll College professors Steve Harper and Dr. Ted Wendt oversee the Montana contest, which is sponsored by NorthWestern Energy. NCWIT is the National Center for Women & Information Technology, a non-profit coalition of over 200 prominent corporations, academic institutions, government agencies, and nonprofits working to improve U.S. innovation, competitiveness, and workforce sustainability by increasing womens participation in IT. NCWITs work spans K-12 and higher education through industry and academic careers. Find out more at www.ncwit.org. NASHVILLE As part of Military Saves Month 2021 during April, the Tennessee Department of Commerce & Insurances Securities Division is sharing the message of saving successfully and encouraging Tennessees military community to save money, reduce debt and build wealth. Military Saves, an initiative of America Saves and the Consumer Federation of America, is the nonprofit organization behind Military Saves Month. The virtual savings movement is centered around themes of saving automatically, saving for the unexpected, saving to retire, saving by reducing debt and saving as a family. "The work of Military Saves is to encourage the entire military community, including military families and veterans, to save as we believe that financial readiness is mission readiness, says Angela Caban, Director of Military Saves. TDCI encourages Tennessees military community to take the Military Saves Pledge this month. By taking the pledge, participants will set a goal for their savings and create a plan for reaching that goal. At the conclusion of Military Saves Month, those who participate in the program will gain clarity on their current financial situation, set new savings goals and create a realistic plan on how to achieve those goals. The military is the backbone of our nation and Military Saves Month is a great opportunity to help service members and their families enhance their financial stability, said TDCI Assistant Commissioner for Securities Elizabeth Bowling We encourage Tennessee military members to use this month to set a savings goal, make a plan and start saving automatically. A new blog post from TDCI Director of Investor Education Rachel Carden focuses on the steps consumers can take during Military Saves Month to build wealth and create greater financial stability. ### About Military Saves: Military Saves, a component of America Saves, seeks to motivate, support, and encourage military families to save money, reduce debt, and build wealth. The research-based campaign coordinated by the non-profit Consumer Federation of America (CFA), uses the principles of behavioral economics and social marketing to change behavior. Military Saves encourages the entire military community to take the Military Saves Pledge and for organizations to promote savings year-round, and especially during Military Saves Month in April. Military Saves also works with government agencies, defense credit unions, military banks, and other non-profit organizations to promote savings and debt reduction. For more, please visit MilitarySaves.org. TRAVERSE CITY, MI A black bear that first showed up in Traverse City in October and has been making mischief ever since has been captured by the Michigan Department of Natural Resources, Interlochen Public Radio reports. The bear was lured into a trap using birdseed on Wednesday morning, April 14, the report said. That was after months of unfruitful attempts that used tasty treats like bacon, donuts and pies. The DNR will now tag and relocate the bear to an undisclosed location in the northern Lower Peninsula where he will hopefully steer clear of people. Black bears dont think of people as food, but they learn to associate people with food, DNR biologist Steve Griffith told reporters. The longer he was around Traverse City, the higher the chance was for something just to go wrong. The bears comfort level around people was becoming alarming, he said. The bear was first spotted in the Traverse City Meijer parking lot in October. This spring, its been seen about three dozen times, including walking down the road with cars behind it. RELATED: Bear spotted roaming Meijer parking lot in Traverse City If the bear shows up in neighborhoods again, the DNR may have to consider euthanasia, Griffith said. READ MORE: Saginaws iconic beans bunny sign coming down, making way for new school athletic complex Whitmer says Michigans COVID-19 surge is due to variants and non-compliance, not a policy problem Drought continues to spread into Michigan from west; could have impact on summer weather Woman arrested after stealing postal truck from worker delivering mail Georgia State University researchers have been awarded a five-year, $2.7 million grant from the National Institute of Mental Health to investigate how oxytocin and dopamine act in the reward circuits of the brain to make social interactions rewarding for males and females. The project is led by Elliott Albers, Regents' Professor in the Neuroscience Institute (NI) and Director of the university's Center for Behavioral Neuroscience (CBN). Kim Huhman, Distinguished University Professor of Neuroscience and associate director of the CBN, is co-principal investigator. The project could provide new mechanisms for understanding well-known sex differences in the incidence of neuropsychiatric and neurodevelopmental disorders for which dysfunctional social relationships or social avoidance are an important symptom, such as in autism spectrum disorder or depression. It also has the potential to spur the development of gender-specific treatments for these disorders. The rewarding properties of social interactions are critical to the expression of adaptive social behavior and for the formation of social relationships. Little is known, however, about the factors that determine the reward value of social interactions, the basic neural mechanisms that underlie social reward, particularly in females, or how an individual's status within a hierarchical social relationship influences social reward. Albers' lab was the first to demonstrate in male rodents that the activation of oxytocin receptors in the brain's reward circuitry is necessary for social interactions to be rewarding. Oxytocin is a hormone produced in the brain that plays a role in social bonding and social behavior. If you went to a party where people were enjoying themselves and oxytocin activity was suddenly blocked in the brain, everyone would lose interest in socially interacting and just want to go home." Elliott Albers, Regents' Professor in the Neuroscience Institute (NI) The team is studying the role of oxytocin and dopamine, a neurotransmitter that affects reward-motivated behavior, in regulating social reward in males and females. Based on their earlier work, the researchers have hypothesized there is an inverted U relationship between the dose of social interactions and social reward. As the intensity of interactions increases, so does the reward -- but only up to a point. The outcome of past social interactions also greatly influences interest in engaging in future interactions. "If social interactions are too intense, they start to become less rewarding and eventually become aversive," said Huhman. "In addition, past experience of being a winner or loser in a social hierarchy appear to change the brain to alter the rewarding properties of social interaction." The researchers have also hypothesized that females find smaller doses of social interaction more rewarding than do males and the aversive effects set in earlier for females than for males. Researchers will begin by documenting the relationship between the intensity of social interaction and the rewarding properties of those interactions in males and females using Syrian hamsters. The team will then use advanced approaches to manipulate chemical systems in the brain to investigate whether observed sex differences are mediated by differences in oxytocin and dopamine activity in the reward circuitry. * Username This is the name that will be displayed next to your photo for comments, blog posts, and more. Choose wisely! LOS ANGELES, CA / ACCESSWIRE / April 14, 2021 / Radiko Holdings Corp. (CSE:RDKO) (the "Company") would like to provide an update on the status of the filing of its annual financial statements, accompanying management's discussion and analysis and related CEO and CFO certifications for the year ended December 31, 2020 (collectively, the "Annual Filings"). Due to the continued impact of COVID-19, and the logistical complications for its Canadian auditor to conduct the audit of its U.S. operations, the Company anticipates the Annual Filings will be delayed beyond the required filing deadline: (i) under Parts 4 and 5 of National Instrument 51-102 - Continuous Disclosure Obligations and pursuant to National Instrument 52-109 - Certification of Disclosure in Issuer's Annual and Interim Filings, being April 30, 2021(the "Filing Deadline"). The Company intends to continue to work diligently and expeditiously with its auditors and expects to file the Annual Filings as soon as possible, and in any event no later than June 15, 2021. Other than as previously disclosed by the Company and herein with this press release, the Company confirms that there have been no material business developments since the date of its last financial statements that were filed. Management Cease Trade Order Application In light of the delay in filing of the Annual Filings prior to the Filing Deadline, the Company is providing this default announcement in accordance with National Policy 12-203 Management Cease Trade Orders ("NP 12-203"). The Company has made an application to the Alberta Securities Commission (the "ASC"), as principal regulator of the Company, for a management cease trade order ("MCTO") under NP 12-203 in respect of the anticipated default regarding the Annual Filings. The granting of the MCTO is at the discretion of the Alberta Securities Commission and there is no guarantee that this will be granted. The issuance of the MCTO will not affect the ability of persons who have not been directors, officers or insiders of the Company to trade in their securities. In the event that the MCTO is granted, it will be in effect until the default is remedied. The Company intends to follow the provisions of the Alternative Information Guidelines set out in NP 12-203, including the issuance of bi-weekly default status reports in the form of news releases, for as long as the Company remains in default. The Company confirms as of the date of this news release that there is no insolvency proceeding against it and there is no other material information concerning the affairs of the Company that has not been generally disclosed. About Radiko Holdings Radiko Holdings Corp. (RDKO) is a CBD and cannabis-focused brand portfolio, leveraging the potential of the plant by offering best of breed products that naturally complement today's consumer lifestyles. The Corporation's mission is to build and market a diversified portfolio of cannabis and CBD brands, with strategic manufacturing and distribution partnerships to support better EBITDA and margins. RDKO markets products with THC content where that practice has been legalized at the state level through either medicinal or recreational use. RDKO also markets products containing CBD in the US and internationally. The Corporation believes as the legal cannabis and CBD markets evolve, high-quality, unique products will increasingly capture market share and provide a valuable platform for growth. For further information: Steve Gormley Chief Executive Officer Radiko Holdings Corp. 12655 W Jefferson Blvd Los Angeles, CA, 90066 Ph: +1 (323) 828-4321 or steve.gormley@radikoholdings.com Media Inquiries: media@radikoholdings.com Forward Looking Statements Certain statements included herein constitute "forward-looking statements" relating to the operations of the Company and its business prospects within the meaning of applicable securities laws. Forward-looking statements are necessarily based upon a number of estimates and assumptions that, while considered reasonable by management at this time, are inherently subject to significant business, economic and competitive uncertainties and contingencies. Investors are cautioned not to put undue reliance on forward-looking statements. Additional risks and uncertainties regarding the Company are described in its publicly-available disclosure documents filed by the Company on SEDAR (www.sedar.com). The forward-looking statements contained in this news release represent the Company's expectations as of the date of this news release, or as of the date they are otherwise stated to be made, and subsequent events may cause these expectations to change. Except as required by law, the Company does not intend, and undertakes no obligation to update any forward-looking statements to reflect, in particular, new information or future events. NEITHER THE CANADIAN SECURITIES EXCHANGE NOR ITS REGULATION SERVICES PROVIDER HAS REVIEWED OR ACCEPT RESPONSIBILITY FOR THE ADEQUACY OR ACCURACY OF THIS RELEASE. SOURCE: Radiko Holdings Corp. View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/640507/Radiko-Announces-Delayed-Filing-of-Annual-Financials-and-MDA-and-Application-for-Management-Cease-Trade-Order "Grey Swan" report analyzes 40 years of incidents that include 300 reputation crises' impacts and recoveries The average impact reflects a total of USD $1.2 trillion in destroyed value In over 10% of reputation crises, more than 50% of shareholder value is destroyed CHICAGO, April 15, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Aon plc (NYSE: AON), a leading global professional services firm providing a broad range of risk, retirement and health solutions, and Pentland Analytics, a provider of advanced analytics and advisory services to the executive management of the world's leading companies, today released "Respecting the Grey Swan," a new report detailing the impact crises have on reputation and shareholder value, and emphasizing the need for organizations to recalibrate their approach to risk and crisis in a highly volatile world. "Today, clients are justifiably focused on the unprecedented socioeconomic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, but they are also increasingly aware of other challenges like climate change, supply chain disruption, reimagining and reconfiguring how and where work gets done and the growing health-wealth gap," said Greg Case, Chief Executive Officer of Aon. "If, and when, a reputation crisis occurs, this research reinforces the importance of promptly acknowledging the seriousness of the event itself and, most importantly, how to translate this understanding into decisive action." Like their better-known "Black Swan'' event cousins, "Grey Swan'' events can greatly impact firms; unlike Black Swans, which seem inconceivable before they happen, Grey Swans are known beforehand. Grey Swans are long-tail risks, known but thought highly unlikely and thus firms have often neglected to invest scarce resources to prepare for them. Many extreme events, such as the 9/11 attacks, the 2008 financial crisis and, most recently, the COVID-19 pandemic, are considered Grey Swan events because of the size of the impact and the many warning signs that were ignored. Other types of reputation Grey Swans come from within an organization, including, for example, governance crises or product failures. The report highlights how crises remain a major risk for organizations globally, analyzing data from 300 corporate crises from the last 40 years, examining Grey Swans' impact on shareholder value and identifying drivers of recovery. "Risk management awareness has heightened over the last year. This research provides us with an evidence-based picture of the many challenges we face, not only when managing Grey Swan events in the moment, but also in our preparation and need to invest in resilience," added Dr. Deborah Pretty, Founder of Pentland Analytics. For most organizations, the likelihood of a Grey Swan event occurring is greater than preparation for it. The report draws attention to cognitive biases and explains how ambiguous and uncomfortable data are easy to ignore, how the impact of Grey Swan events is substantial and enduring, and how value recovery is a function of critical pre- and post-loss decisions. It also highlights the financial value of reputation -- in over 10% of crises, more than 50% of shareholder value is destroyed and directors' and officers' increased risk exposure, especially following a Grey Swan event. On average, shareholders can expect to lose 26% of value at some point during the post-event year. Evidence from the research suggests three areas on which organizations should focus to build resilience: Reimagining the risk landscape through a broader risk assessment Acknowledging the seriousness of impact with a focused investment in risk preparedness and crisis management Translating understanding into action, fostering a responsive and agile culture Since 2017, Aon and Pentland Analytics have collaborated to produce independent, universal and industry-specific research focused on why some organizations succeed and emerge stronger after a crisis while others do not. To access the latest report, click here. In addition to the "Grey Swan" analysis this year, Aon and Pentland also published reports analyzing what makes businesses within given sectors more resilient. This industry analysis focused on: Food, Agribusiness & Beverage; Life Sciences; and Financial Institutions. About Aon Aon plc (NYSE: AON) is a leading global professional services firm providing a broad range of risk, retirement and health solutions. Our 50,000 colleagues in 120 countries empower results for clients by using proprietary data and analytics to deliver insights that reduce volatility and improve performance. Follow Aon on Twitter and LinkedIn Stay up to date by visiting the Aon Newsroom and hear from Aon's expert advisors in The One Brief . Sign up for News Alerts here About Pentland Analytics Pentland Analytics provides advanced analytics and advisory services to the executive management of the world's leading companies. The firm converts complex business issues into analytics solutions that yield clear insights and direction. The results inform strategic decisions and help to build clients' resilience, reputation and shareholder value. Media Contact [email protected] Toll-free (U.S., Canada and Puerto Rico): +1 833 751 8114 International: +1 312 381 3024 SOURCE Aon plc Related Links http://www.aon.com House Republicans complained to Dr. Anthony Fauci for not letting Americans eat at restaurants, while charging that COVID-positive migrants are being released into the country - and people's liberties are being lost. Fauci was chided by Reps. Steve Scalise and Jim Jordan as he testified alongside Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director Rochelle Walensky Thursday before the House Select subcommittee on the Coronavirus Crisis. 'We had 15 days to slow the spread turned into one year of lost liberty,' Jordan said. 'What metrics, what measures, what has to happen before Americans get their freedoms back?' Dr. Anthony Fauci was on the receiving end of complaints from House Republicans about cramped conditions at the southern border and Americans losing their 'freedoms' thanks to COVID-19 rules The House's No. 2 Republican, Rep. Steve Scalise (pictured), held up pictures of cramped border conditions and asked Dr. Anthony Fauci why migrants weren't following the rules Americans were forced to Then Rep. Jim Jordan tore into Dr. Anthony Fauci for Americans losing their 'First Amendment freedoms' during the pandemic and asked him when those freedoms might be restored amid increasing COVID cases Scalise held up pictures of packed border facilities and accused the U.S. government of operating with a double standard. 'COVID-positive migrants are released into the country, and that's allowed - but a vaccinated person can't go to a restaurant?' Scalise said. 'Kids packed in crowded, poory ventilated cells six inchse, not six feet, apart for 20 hour a day or more - but we can't open schools for in-person learning?' Fauci answered Scalise's questions more delicately, while pushing back on Jordan's assertions. 'No doubt it's a very difficult situation at the border,' Fauci told Scalise. 'I mean obviously everyone would like to see that situation fixed, I know that it's a very difficult situation,' he added after the Louisiana Republican asked if migrants in custody should be following COVID-19 social distancing protocols. To Jordan's question about when Americans would have their 'freedoms' restored, Fauci explained that the level of infection in the country would need to be much lower. 'You're indicating liberty and freedom I look at it as a public health measure to prevent people from dying and going to the hospital,' Fauci also said. 'I don't look at this as a liberty thing, Congressman Jordan, I look at this as a public health thing.' Fauci's response infuriated Jordan, who ticked off the First Amendment freedoms he thought Americans were losing due to COVID-19 rules. Jordan brought up the border too, pointing out how the Biden administration was violating the freedom of the press, by not letting journalists into the overcrowded facilities that Scalise had brought pictures of. 'Guess what! The press isn't allowed in those facilities,' Jordan said. Fauci deployed a different tactic, telling Jordan, 'I think you're making this a personal thing and it isn't.' 'You are, that is exactly what you're doing,' Fauci charged. 'My recommendations are not a personal recommendation, it's based on the CDC guidance, which is underscored ...' Fauci continued, before being interrupted by Jordan. Jordan demanded, again to know 'what measures have to be attained before Americans get their First Amendment liberties back.' 'I just told you that,' Fauci said. 'No, you haven't given anything specific,' Jordan shot back. 'Right now we have about 60,000 infections a day, which is a very large risk for a surge, we're not talking about liberties, we're talking about a pandemic that has killed 560,000 Americans, that's what we're talking about,' Fauci replied. Jordan pointed to businesses being closed and people not being able to go to church and continued to press Fauci for a number. 'When 90 per cent of the members of Congress get vaccinated,' inserted the chairman of the committee, Rep. Jim Clyburn, a South Carolina Democrat, hitting the gavel to tell Jordan his time was up. MILWAUKEE, April 15, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Author and living organ donor Brenda E. Cortez announced the upcoming release of a collection of organ-donation stories shared by transplant recipients, living donors, and donor families. April is National Donate Life Month. Currently, there are approximately 110,000 people on the organ transplant list, but there is hope. Because of organ donation, almost 40,000 lifesaving organ transplants were performed in 2020. "Because of Organ donation" preordering now available online. Front book cover Back cover Meet the chapter authors in a series of five Facebook Live events on the Because of Organ Donation book page, starting April 15. Each session will feature a few chapter authors sharing their story, followed by a Q&A. Thursday, April 15 , 7:00 pm CDT Friday, April 16 , 12:00 pm CDT Sunday, April 18 , 6:00 pm CDT Featuring Chapter Author and NASCAR Cup driver Joey Gase Tuesday, April 20 , 5:00 pm CDT Thursday, April 22 , 6:00 pm CDT Cortez has authored nine children's books, including "My Mom is Having Surgery: A Kidney Story," and the "Howl the Owl" children's book series. Howl is an acronym for "Help Others With Love" and his stories focus on kindness, helping others, and organ donation. Part of the proceeds from each of Cortez's books goes to support Donate Life America. "Because of Organ Donation" is published by organ recipient, Mike Nicloy, of Nico 11 Publishing & Design, with a cover photo (Lake Winnebago) by living donor and contributor, Paul Osterholm. The foreword was written by Bill Ryan, President and CEO of Transplant Life Foundation/Transplant Games of America. The chapter authors are from all over the country including Wisconsin, New Jersey, Connecticut, Nevada, Iowa, Florida, Ohio, Louisiana, Arizona, Texas, Maryland, South Dakota, Colorado and Indiana. Learn more about "Because of Organ Donation" and "Howl the Owl" here. Or follow Brenda E. Cortez on social media: Facebook, Instagram. Media Contact: Brenda Cortez 1-414-519-9463 [email protected] SOURCE Brenda E. Cortez CARY, N.C., April 15, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- While increasing global temperatures, catastrophic weather events and destruction of ecosystems are visible impacts of the climate crisis, the ripple effect it causes such as access to education can be less evident. To help shed a light on this issue during Climate Month and this year's education-themed World Creativity and Innovation Week, SAS built the Girls' Education and Climate Challenges Index with Malala Fund, a girls' education nonprofit co-founded by Nobel laureate Malala Yousafzai. The analysis identifies countries where girls are most at risk of experiencing educational interruptions and predicts lowering of completion rates of girls' primary and secondary education due to climate change. SAS and Malala Fund identify countries where girls are most at risk of experiencing educational interruptions due to climate change. When natural disasters occur, young female students are often more at risk of educational disruption than their male counterparts. When access to water is scarce, girls are most often responsible for traveling the long distances to collect water, keeping them away from the classroom. When temperatures rise and income-producing agriculture is lost, girls most often leave their schooling behind because families can no longer afford to pay educational fees. Incorporated as an extension of Malala Fund's annual Girls' Education Challenges Index, the Girls' Education and Climate Challenges Index predicts, by, year, which countries are at most risk of girls' education disruption. The index considers educational information like grade-level completion rates and environmental factors, including likelihood of flooding, tsunamis and earthquakes in each particular country. With this information, the nonprofit intends to engage in dialogue with the wider development sector about where to target technical and financial support both for climate adaptation and better girls' education outcomes. Based on the combined indices, the region most affected is sub-Saharan Africa, though this region contributes the least to climate change. Countries in other regions, including the Philippines, Mongolia and Kiribati, are also strongly affected. "We continue to witness the impact of climate change on our environment, whether in the form of drought, shifting ecosystems, severity of storms or the devastation caused by forest fires that are double or triple in size of those we've experienced in the past," said Susan Ellis, Brand Director at SAS. "Industries are also attempting to calculate the risks associated with climate change. Climate change will affect the most vulnerable populations first. We want to do everything we can to support organizations like Malala Fund to ensure that the education of girls remains a priority." The analysis includes breakdowns by education level primary, lower secondary and upper secondary as well as by specific country, focusing on low and lower middle-income countries. Unless progress is made, Malala Fund's report estimates that in 2021, climate-related events will prevent at least four million girls in low- and lower-middle-income countries from completing their education. If current trends continue, by 2025 climate change will play a part in preventing at least 12.5 million girls from completing their education each year. "Our new report confirms that girls' education is one of the most powerful strategies to mitigate the impact of climate change," said Naomi Nyamweya, Research Officer at Malala Fund. "But as this data project with SAS shows, climate-related events are keeping millions of girls from learning. To create a greener, fairer future for us all, we need leaders to take urgent climate action and support girls' education." Malala Fund plans to use these insights to encourage leaders at the 2021 UN Climate Change Conference and beyond to take action and bring education into the global climate change discussion. Learn more about the project partnership at https://curiosity.sas.com/en/articles/malala-girls-and-their-futures.html. To explore the findings about the impact of climate change on girls' education hands-on, take the data quiz from GatherIQ SAS' Data for Good application that engages a global community with the United Nations' 17 Global Goals for a more sustainable future. About Malala Fund Malala Fund is working for a world where all girls can learn and lead. Malala Fund advocates for resources and policy changes needed to give all girls a secondary education, invests in local education leaders and amplifies the voices of girls fighting for change. Learn more at malala.org. About SAS SAS is the leader in analytics. Through innovative software and services, SAS empowers and inspires customers around the world to transform data into intelligence. SAS gives you THE POWER TO KNOW. SAS and all other SAS Institute Inc. product or service names are registered trademarks or trademarks of SAS Institute Inc. in the USA and other countries. indicates USA registration. Other brand and product names are trademarks of their respective companies. Copyright 2021 SAS Institute Inc. All rights reserved. Editorial Contact: Kara Roberts [email protected] 919-531-5449 sas.com/news SOURCE SAS Related Links http://www.sas.com YEREVAN. At Thursday's Cabinet session, the government of Armenia made a decision to allocate over 7.5 billion drams from the reserve fund to the Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs to provide funding for April within the framework of the four-month program of assistance to the citizens of Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh). Minister of Labor and Social Affairs Mesrop Arakelyan noted that according to this decision, during March, April, May, and June, 68,000 drams are provided every month to each Artsakh citizen, except for men aged 18 to 63. According to him, so far the amount of this assistance being provided to the people of Artsakh is about 33 billion drams. "We already have a decision of assistance of another 22 billion drams, one of which is this allocation; that is, the total amount of allocations will make 55 billion drams. With this program, more than 101 thousand residents of Artsakh have received this assistance last month," the minister added. (Natural News) India is home to seven major river systems with more than 400 rivers. Some 80 percent of its population relies on those rivers for food and livelihood. But some of those rivers have been drying up rapidly, threatening water supplies in several regions. In Odisha states Gajapati district, farmers and residents are facing a water crisis as the Mahendratanaya River dries up. Parts of the river a major tributary river of the Vamsadhara River have already completely dried up in the Indian summer this April, signaling a drinking water crisis for people living along its banks. Farmers cultivating vegetables on thousands of hectares of farmlands in the towns of Gosani and Rayagada are now facing the brunt of the water shortage, according to local reports. Farmers in both towns rely on the Mahendratanaya River for irrigation water. India counts more dried up rivers In central Uttar Pradesh, 22 of the Gomti Rivers 26 tributaries have almost dried up, and theres no more flow left in the remaining four, according to a report published recently in the Indian Journal of Ecology. The report showed that the river reached its current state due to farmers excessive use of groundwater. Furthermore, the Gomti Rivers flow is also in danger due to reduced recharge from the underground water table, said report author Venkatesh Dutta, an associate professor of environmental sciences at Babasaheb Bhimrao Ambedkar Central University in Lucknow, India. Underground water and the Gomti River complement each other, explained Dutta. During the monsoon, Gomtis basin recharges the underground water table. Before and after the monsoon, the underground water table helps the river maintain its flow. The underground water table has reached below the riverbed of the Gomti River. However, the river is not able to get water from underground water sources, said Dutta. This has reduced the rivers flow by 60 percent. (Related: Low runoff from the Colorado River threatens water shortage across 7 western states.) It is unclear what is stopping the river from getting into underground water sources. Dutta suspects that a type of paddy usually cultivated in the Indian summer is consuming too much underground water. He suggests checking on the cultivation of that paddy. Dutta also proposes stopping the discharge of industrial waste into the Gomti. But for the Gomti River and its tributaries to be completely revived, Dutta said that around 2,000 water bodies in the Gomti River basin must be revived first. The Gomti River is an alluvial river that originates from the lower Himalayas in western Uttar Pradesh. Fed by rain and groundwater, it is a major source of water to several cities, towns and villages. It is also a major tributary of the Ganges River, to which it adds over seven billion cubic meters of water every year. Some towns dependent on tankers for water With major rivers and tributaries drying up, local officials have sought to address water shortages with tankers. In Gajapati, the Public Health Engineering Organization (PHEO) has been dredging the Mahendratanaya River for more water. Swagat Nayak, an engineer for the PHEO, said water will be supplied through tankers. In North Goa district, people have had to do with water from tankers as well. Many of the villages there used to be brimming with water. However, they have now become entirely dependent on government tankers for drinking and bathing water. Shashikant Gawade, a former supervisor at a mining company, told Mongabay-India that a big stream used to flow in the lower part of their village. We did not need these external agencies to provide us with water, Gawade recalled. Now everything is gone. CleanWater.news has more stories about the water crisis in India. Sources include: StrangeSounds.org OrissaPost.com HindustanTimes.com IndiaMongabay.com Credit: Pixabay/CC0 Public Domain The head of Pfizer said Thursday the company's COVID vaccine, among the priciest on the market, is no more expensive than the cost of a meal and will not be sold to poor countries for a profit. The head of the US-based company defended the cost of the jabs, which he said are saving lives and can help countries emerge from the pandemic. "Vaccines are very expensive," Albert Bourla said in an interview with several media. "They save human lives, they allow economies to reopen, but we sell them at the price of a meal," he said in the interview with Les Echos in France, Germany's Handelsblatt, Italy's Corriere Della Sera and El Mundo in Spain. Developed jointly with Germany-based BioNTech, the Pfizer vaccine is, along with Moderna, the vaccine that has cost the European Union the most, according to data released several months ago by a member of the Belgian government. And Bulgarian Prime Minister Boyko Borissov warned earlier this week that Brussels was facing a huge price hike as it negotiates nearly two billion additional doses of the vaccine for the coming years. "Pfizer was 12 euros ($14), then it became 15 euros. Contracts are now being signed... at a price of 19.50 euros," Borissov said on Sunday. The prices are in sharp contrast to the vaccine produced by British-Swedish drugmaker AstraZeneca, which vowed not to make a profit on its product during the pandemic and sold it to the EU for less than two euros a unit. Bourla did not confirm the price of the Pfizer vaccine but admitted that it was sold at a higher price to developed countries like those in the EU or the United States. "In middle-income countries, we sell it for half the price," he said. "In poorer countries, including in Africa, we sell it at cost." However, many observers doubted the Pfizer vaccine was being widely distributed in African countries because the product has to be stored in ultra-cold freezers of about minus 70 degrees Celsius (minus 94 Fahrenheit) or below. Bourla said the company was working on a new formula that would allow the vaccine to be stored for four to six months at a normal temperature. Explore further BioNTech/Pfizer say vaccine can stand warmer temperatures 2021 AFP Now Open 15 April 2021 April 15 marks the day when Scandic Grand Central Helsinki opens its doors after two years of a meticulous restoration process. Scandic Grand Central Helsinki offers a global, unique hotel experience in the stunning historic Art Nouveau building, formerly known as the head office of Finlands railway company, designed by Eliel Saarinen. The hotel interior has an old-fashioned charm which meets a modern style in an inspirational way and will be a unique event and meeting place in the heart of Helsinki. Urban oasis with a relaxed local twistEliel Saarinen's Art Nouveau office building has been transformed into a hotel, with 491 rooms together with meeting and banquet facilities. The restoration and transformation process has paid great respect to the protected, highly valued building and was done in co-operation with the Finnish Heritage Agency. The northern wings of the original building are now connected by a modern new building, that utilizes Saarinen's architecture and design language. As Aboriginal affairs minister in the Hawke government, I presented the report of the Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody to the national Parliament, 30 years ago this week. I said then that it stood as an indictment of how our legal and corrective services system operated in respect of the most disadvantaged group in Australian society, and as an indictment of our society itself in allowing this terrible situation to develop and persist. While the world has changed in many ways since 1991, it angers and pains me deeply that governments around the country have failed to progress the most fundamental recommendation of the royal commission that imprisonment should be a last resort. Thirty years after the royal commission, the proportion of Indigenous people in Australian jails has doubled from he Indigenous prison population has doubled from 14.4 to 29 per cent. Credit:James Brickwood This recommendation was adopted by every state and territory government from all political persuasions, in the face of incontestable evidence that jailing was failing Aboriginal people. They were and remain the most incarcerated people on Earth. Thirty years on, the proportion of Indigenous people in Australian prisons has doubled from 14.4 per cent to 29 per cent. And far from reducing the overall numbers of people in our prisons, governments on both sides of politics have continued with archaic policies which ignore the overwhelming evidence that jailing is failing our society. EU solidarity of over 110 million and that is not all Since the beginning of the pandemic, the European Union has helped Montenegro with 113 million, but it still stands firmly with our country in the fight against COVID-19, the EU Delegation told the RTCG Portal. The EU Delegation informed the RTCG Portal that the Union has acted quickly and decisively since the beginning of the pandemic, mobilizing a very significant package of non-refundable financial support worth 53 million and 60 million in macro-financial assistance to Montenegro. "We have donated 100 hospital medical ventilators, 10 modern digital X-ray devices and over two million pieces of personal protective equipment. In addition, the EU and its member states have donated hundreds of thousands of pieces of personal protective equipment through the Civil Protection Mechanism," the Delegation said. According to them, EU funds will also be used for the construction of two new hospital wings in Podgorica and the renovation of a dozen laboratories. The Ministry of Health informed us that they have assurances that, in the coming period, the EU will support the implementation of planned activities and innovative programs, which will be carried out at all healthcare levels, in order to fight the coronavirus as efficiently as possible. Montenegro received first vaccines from the Covax system on March 28 - 24,000 doses of AstraZeneca vaccine. Vladimir Bilcik Member of the European Parliament "I would like to recall that the EU granted 53 million to Montenegro for the procurement of urgent medical equipment and for assisting sectors most seriously affected by COVID-19. Further macro-financial assistance of up to 60 million is available to help Montenegro limit the negative socio-economic consequences of the pandemic. EUs solidarity is translated through support to the healthcare system and, in the recent week, in vaccine procurement via the COVAX system. Montenegro will receive a total of 248.800 doses of vaccines via COVAX." "Montenegro is an EU candidate country, so of course we are concerned with the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on Montenegros economy. We in the European Parliament encourage the authorities to make the best use of EU assistance in order to mitigate the impact of the crisis and stand ready to further support Montenegro in the upcoming months." Professor at the Faculty of Economics Danijela Jacimovic told the RTCG Portal that the coronavirus pandemic significantly affected the European economy, but thanks to the extremely strong and multiple response of economic policy to the crisis, as she states, more devastating economic effects on the EU were prevented. "Still, there has been a significant 7% drop in real GDP in 2020, its biggest decline since World War II, according to a report by the International Monetary Funds World Economic Outlook. The same report predicts that 2021 could be a year of recovery with a growth of 4.7% ", Jacimovic says in a statement for the RTCG Portal. Maja LALIC BURZANOVIC Junior Housing Minister Peter Burke has said until there are realistic alternatives for rural counties like Longford, turf cutting "must be here to stay." The Longford-Westmeath TD has written to Bord na Mona officials seeking assurances from them over an issue which is continuing to cause much consternation and unease in the wider midlands region. Mr Burke also insisted the Government were fully intent on continuing Ireland's long held association with turf, saying plans to carry out widespread retrofitting of homes was simply not viable for many households. Earlier this year, I outlined that this government has no plans to end the use of turf. I note Minister Eamon Ryan had a public consultation on the possible extension of the smoky coal ban, but the use of turf in the midlands and elsewhere is a totally separate issue to this," he said. In the midlands, we have no alternative to turf at present. My Department, in conjunction with Minister Ryan, are carrying out retrofitting, beginning with older social housing stock, but this is labour intensive and is not an option for most houses right now. Until there are viable alternatives, turf must be here to stay in places like Longford and the midlands. In relation to the Bord na Mona bogs, it makes sense that local communities use this turf to heat their homes once the peatlands are decommissioned. I fully support calls for the bogs nearing the end of their lifecycle be given to the local community to cut private turf for the remaining years of life in the bog bank, as we try to keep pace with alternatives coming on stream over the coming years Bord na Mona is referring to a High Court decision as rationale for not allowing this, but this is completely inaccurate as the High Court case relates to harvesting of peat by large-scale commercial operators, not private contractors and local communities." Mr Burke said the recent closures of power stations like those at Lough Ree made it all the more pertinent for assurances to be given to hard pressed homes over the use of turf for the immediate future. There have been significant changes to our communities with the closure of the Lough Ree Power Station and other Bord na Mona commercial decisions," he said. "This one step to allow the local communities to continue to cut turf for a short period makes sense and allows families to have some security in their fuel provision over the coming years. UK Summons Russian Ambassador Over Cyberattacks, Ukraine Britains Foreign Office on Thursday summoned the Russian ambassador over Russias cyberattacks against the West and its military build-up near its border with Ukraine. UK Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab said: We see what Russia is doing to undermine our democracies. The UK and U.S. are calling out Russias malicious behaviour, to enable our international partners and businesses at home to better defend and prepare themselves against this kind of action. The UK and US are today exposing Russia for carrying out the SolarWinds cyber-attack. We will continue to call out Russias malign and destabilising behaviour. https://t.co/lcafeGXOXn Dominic Raab (@DominicRaab) April 15, 2021 The UK will continue to work with allies to call out Russias malign behaviour where we see it. Earlier, the UK government said that Russias Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR) was behind a series of cyber intrusions, including the SolarWinds compromise. The National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC), a branch of the UKs GCHQ intelligence agency, concluded that it is highly likely the SVR was responsible for gaining unauthorised access to SolarWinds Orion software and committing subsequent intrusions. The UK Government is deeply concerned about a pattern of malign behaviour by the Russian State, said a spokesperson for the Foreign, Commonwealth, and Development Office (FCDO). FCDO Permanent Under-Secretary Sir Philip Barton made clear to the Russian ambassador that the UK supports the actions announced by the U.S. government, the spokesperson said. Earlier on Thursday, the Biden administration imposed sanctions on six Russian firms that support the countrys cyber activities, and 32 individuals were also hit with sanctions. The U.S. government also expelled 10 Russian diplomats, including representatives of Russian intelligence services. Sir Philip also expressed the UKs concern over the Russian military build-up near the Ukrainian border and illegally-annexed Crimea. Ukraine and the West have both expressed alarm about the concentration of troops along Russias western border, a buildup that the United States and NATO have described as the largest since 2014. These activities are threatening and destabilising, the spokesperson said. Russia needs to cease its provocations and de-escalate tensions in line with its international obligations. More than 14,000 people have died in seven years of fighting between Ukrainian forces and Russia-backed separatists that erupted after Russias 2014 annexation of Ukraines Crimean Peninsula. Efforts to reach a political settlement have stalled, and violations of a shaky truce have become increasingly frequent in recent weeks. Jack Philips and The Associated Press contributed to this report. European Innovation Council Fund, Sofimac Innovation and The Faktory Fund Back Nestwave Innovation and Vision PARIS, April 14, 2021 Nestwave, a provider of low-power geolocation IP and cloud services for Internet of Things (IoT) applications, today announced that it has secured a 2.4 million round of financing from the European Innovation Council, the European Commission's newly established venture capital fund, and from current investors Sofimac Innovation (Paris, France) and The Faktory Fund (Liege, Belgium). The new financing round will enable Nestwave to further accelerate the rollout of its hybrid-signal global navigation satellite system (GNSS) and cellular positioning technologies. We are grateful for the support from the European Innovation Council who, together with our current investors Sofimac and The Faktory Fund, believe in and continue to back our vision for making location accessible to low-power IoT devices, said Ambroise Popper, CEO of Nestwave. This new round of financing will enable us to accelerate the pace of our technology innovation, product development and commercial deployment of positioning solutions for IoT applications. Nestwaves geolocation solution enables IoT modem chip makers and DSP partners to implement low-power, cost-effective geolocation for asset tracking, personal trackers and a wide range of new IoT applications. Purpose-built for the IoT, the Nestwave solution reduces power consumption significantly compared to traditional GNSS offerings while eliminating the need for a dedicated positioning chipset. Nestwave is very well positioned to capitalize on the growing nexus of geolocation and IoT technologies, said Martin Bruncko, EIC Fund Investment Committee member. This new round of funding for Nestwave will support the momentum for its unique, low-energy and high precision technology targeting applications in areas such as asset tracking, logistics and transportation. Nestwave has developed a DSP software solution that enables modem providers in the IoT market (supporting LTE cat M1, NB-IoT, LoRa or Sigfox) to offer a cost-effective, accurate geolocation solution integrated within their platform. Based on more than 10 patents issued and pending, the Nestwave solution improves accuracy in urban canyon environments, increases indoor coverage, and reduces power consumption as compared to existing geolocation solutions Nestwave is opening new opportunities in the IoT and cloud services market by eliminating the need for dedicated positioning chipsets, improving accuracy and reducing power dissipation, said Simon Alexandre, general manager and partner, The Faktory Fund. Led by a team of successful entrepreneurs and geolocation experts, Nestwave has created innovative low-power positioning technology that helps chipset and product makers develop and bring to market new and innovative solutions for IoT geolocation, said Nicolas Boulay, senior partner, Sofimac Innovation. Nestwave is a gamechanger in the geolocation market and for larger IOT deployments. About Nestwave Nestwave SAS, based in Paris, France, is a provider of advanced geolocation engines purpose-built for IoT applications. IoT modem and wireless MCU chipmakers use Nestwave software to enable high-performance, low-power location capabilities, eliminating the need for a dedicated positioning chipset. To learn more, please visit us at www.nestwave.com. About the European Innovation Council Fund Established in June 2020, the European Innovation Council Fund (EIC Fund) is a breakthrough initiative of the European Commission to make direct equity and quasi-equity investments (between 500.000 and 15 million) in European high impact and deep tech start-ups and scale ups. The EIC Fund provides patient capital and invests in companies from any sector, across all EU countries and countries associated to Horizon 2020. The Fund pays particular attention to empower and support female founders as well as contributing to reduce the innovation divide among EU countries. The EIC Fund aims to fill a critical financing gap and its main purpose is not to maximise financial investment returns, but to have a high impact by accompanying companies with and disruptive technologies in their growth. Its objective is to crowd in market players, further sharing risks by building a large network of capital providers and strategic partners suitable for co-investments and follow on funding. To learn more about the EIC, visit https://eic.ec.europa.eu/index_en. About The Faktory Fund The Faktory Fund is a private Tech Startup Accelerator and Seed Investment Fund founded by Pierre LHoest, the Belgian entrepreneur known for his TV slow motion technology. The Faktory Fund is currently incubating and funding startups in the areas of Internet of Things and connected devices (B2B). www.thefaktory.com About Sofimac innovation Sofimac Innovation is an independent management company certified by the financial markets regulator (AMF) and dedicated to technological and innovative investment. We are present in Paris, Lyon, Rennes and Marseille, as close as possible to the major innovation centers in France. We support innovative start-ups in their growth projects with a wide range of investment vehicles. We invest in breakthrough technologies in the Engineering Sciences, digital, and Health & Nutrition sectors. Our funds, backed by renowned industrial corporates, ETI, banks, BPI, Universities and Schools, are offering a unique and innovative ecosystem to our portfolio companies. Sofimac Innovation currently manages nine funds comprising more than 90 active companies. www.sofimacinnovation.com Washington: The Biden administration is set to announce a string of long-awaited measures against Russia, including far-reaching financial sanctions, for the hacking of government and private networks and a range of other activities. The sanctions will be among what President Joe Bidens aides say are seen and unseen steps in response to several affronts: the hacking, known as SolarWinds; the CIAs assessment that Russia offered to pay bounties to militants in Afghanistan to kill American troops; and Russias years-long effort to interfere in United States elections, according to American officials and others who have been briefed on the actions but are not permitted to speak on the record. The moves will include the expulsion of a limited number of diplomats, much like the Obama administration did in response to the Russian efforts to influence the election five years ago. But it is unclear whether these actions will prove sufficient to deter Russia from further hacking, influence operations or efforts to threaten European countries. US President Joe Biden has rung Russian President Vladimir Putin to warn him he faced consequences for Russias aggression on Ukraine border. Credit:AP The sanctions are meant to cut deeper than previous efforts to punish Russia for interfering in elections, targeting the countrys sovereign debt, according to people briefed on the matter. Administration officials were determined to draft a response that would impose real costs on Moscow, as many previous rounds of sanctions have been shrugged off. New Delhi: The Indian Coast Guard in a joint operation with the Gujarat Anti-terrorism squad seized heroin worth Rs 300 crore from a Pakistani boat. The vessel had eight Pakistani nationals on board, who were held for questioning. The boat NUH was apprehended during the intervening night of Wednesday and Thursday (April 15) off Jakhau, Gujarat, within Indian waters. The operation was carried out based on inputs received on Tuesday about suspected narcotics trafficking by a Pakistani boat off the Indo-Pak International Maritime Boundary Line. The Coast Guard and ATS officials headed for intercepting the Pakistani boat on an ICG fast Interceptor and carried out search of the Pakistani boat. The ICG said that about 30 packets of heroin weighing approximately 1 kg each were recovered from the boat. The value of seized narcotics in the international market is estimated to be around Rs 300 crores, it added. Preliminary investigations revealed that the smuggled consignment was destined for Gujarat shore. The boat along with eight Pakistani crew was escorted to Jakhau for further investigation. On 18 Mar 21, ICG had apprehended Sri Lankan vessel Ravihansi with about 300 Kg of Heroin, 5 AK-47 Rifles and 1000 rounds of ammunition off Lakshadweep Island, which was suspected to have originated from Makran coast. Prior to this, ICG had successfully apprehended SLB Akarsha Duwa in Mar 21 which admitted of carrying 200 kg high grade Heroin and 60 kg Hashish and jettisoning it at sea, on sighting of ICG ships on patrol. In a similar operation in November 2020, ICG had apprehended Sri Lankan boat Shenaya Duwa off Kanyakumari, carrying 120 kgs narcotics worth approximately Rs 1000 crore and five weapons. In the past one year, ICG has successfully seized more than 1.6 tons of narcotics worth approximately Rs 5200 crore, whereas the total drug haul done by ICG since its inception amounts to Rs 11,252 crore. STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. After Gov. Andrew Cuomo this week announced updated guidance for schools, colleges and universities to hold graduations, St. Johns University said it is still planning to keep its ceremonies virtual but is considering holding an in-person commencement. In February, St. Johns announced its commencement exercises would be virtual for the Class of 2021 amid the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, including for students at its Staten Island campus on Grymes Hill. Shortly after that announcement, seniors Leanna Rivera and Evan Didia, began a Change.org petition urging St. Johns to host in-person commencement ceremonies for Staten Island students due to the small class size at the boroughs campus. As of this week, the petition has over 2,200 signatures. The Rev. Brian J. Shanley, president of St. Johns University, said at the time that the school made the decision reluctantly after considering various, modified options for an in-person ceremony, but ultimately concluded that constantly shifting health and safety guidelines, coupled with capacity restrictions on large gatherings, make a virtual ceremony the most prudent decision. Shanley added he hoped the school would be able to host an in-person ceremony later this year and now that could be a possibility following updated guidance from the state, allowing for small-, medium- and large-scale ceremonies with strict restrictions like limited capacity, face masks, social distancing and coronavirus testing. St. Johns said it would review the state guidelines to evaluate in-person alternatives, said Brian Browne, a spokesperson for St. Johns. The college will still host its school-specific virtual commencement ceremonies from May 17-23, but its possible an in-person commencement could be held at some point. As we indicated before, we are planning in-person celebrations in the future hopefully later this summer when we can gather in larger numbers, Browne said. The Virtual Commencement and Degree Conferral Ceremonies will fulfill the traditional academic protocols that upon completion of required academic coursework make individuals official college graduates. But seniors Didia and Rivera said they arent optimistic that the school will eventually host an in-person celebration. Were hopeful, but we honestly dont know if we believe them at this point, Didia said. Rivera said shes extremely disappointed in the efforts put together for the virtual ceremonies so far, but will still participate to allow her family to see her graduate. Didia said hes still unsure if he will participate in a virtual commencement, but noted he would attend an in-person ceremony should St. Johns plan for one. He said the universitys Queens campus would be able to accommodate graduates, staff, and possibly two guests per graduate, under the states updated guidance. Even if it was just graduates in person to actually receive the diploma in my hand, Id be more than content with that, he added. PLANS FOR WAGNER COLLEGE, CSI The new state guidance was released just one week after the Advance/SILive.com reported that Wagner College, also on Grymes Hill, could not allow guests at its in-person graduation ceremonies in accordance with the states old guidance from last June. According to the former guidance which was released last year to allow schools to celebrate the Class of 2020 outdoor in-person ceremonies could occur with several restrictions, including a maximum of 150 individuals during the program seated six feet apart and wearing a face mask. Due to those restrictions, Wagner College announced plans to hold multiple in-person ceremonies for the Class of 2021 without guests. Its currently the only university on Staten Island with plans to offer in-person, on-campus commencement ceremonies for its graduates this year. However, in a letter to the school community last month, the college said it could pivot should the states guidance change. If the state adjusts restrictions on commencement events to match those for weddings, Wagner College will be able to allow two guests per graduate to attend, using a ticketing system, Lee Manchester, a spokesperson for Wagner told the Advance/SILive.com last week. He said on Wednesday that the college is currently reviewing its commencement plans in light of the newly released guidance from the state. City University of New York (CUNY) campuses can request permission to have an in-person or hybrid ceremony, a spokesperson for the school system said. The campus can submit a plan indicating how it will comply with current COVID-19 health and safety protocols, including mask-wearing and social distancing. However, the College of Staten Island (CSI) in Willowbrook said it will continue to hold a virtual ceremony. While we are disappointed that we will be unable to have an in-person commencement this year, we are doing everything we can to have a meaningful experience for our graduates, said a CSI spokesperson on Wednesday. This year, the students chose the faculty speaker for the virtual commencement, and we are working out details to have one last in-person experience for our graduates on campus, although without an official program. Currently, the CSI virtual commencement is scheduled to launch Thursday, May 27, at 9:30 a.m. on the colleges website. The virtual program will include messages from the CSI president, special guests, speakers and the valedictorian and salutatorian. The program will conclude with the graduation candidates presentation, which can include a photo and a quote or a note of thanks. Additionally, CSI will recognize three Staten Islanders with honorary degrees -- Virginia Allen, Lucille Chazanoff (posthumously) and Jay Chazanoff, pending approval by the full CUNY board of trustees on May 24. Seniors at CSI have been calling on the campus to hold in-person ceremonies with safety measures like requiring masks, social distancing and limiting guests. Rather than having one large traditional outdoor commencement ceremony, the students said they are suggesting that the college hold separate ceremonies by each school or department on different dates and times to adhere to strict safety measures and capacity limits. School Zone: A new newsletter with the updates you need as our schools try to get back to normal. Enter your email address here and hit "subscribe" to receive this weekly newsletter: FOLLOW ANNALISE KNUDSON ON FACEBOOK AND TWITTER. WASHINGTON House Republicans sharply questioned intelligence officials on Thursday about their work on domestic violent extremism, expressing concerns about the fact that the agencies could be asked to spy on Americans. In a contentious hearing of the House Intelligence Committee, Republican lawmakers expressed doubts about intelligence agencies and said they were worried about how they had handled a range of matters, including the suspension of a former senior Trump administration official as the general counsel of the National Security Agency and the F.B.I.s view of the threat from the loose far-left movement known as antifa. The most enlightening exchange was between Representative Chris Stewart, Republican of Utah, and Avril D. Haines, the director of national intelligence. Mr. Stewart began by asking whether the intelligence community was spying on Americans by doing work on domestic violent extremism. House Republicans have taken issue with a March report on domestic violent extremism prepared by Ms. Hainess office. The short report said white extremists and racially motivated violent extremists presented the most lethal threats, and were most likely to have concerning transnational connections. It contained little that the F.B.I. director, Christopher A. Wray, had not previously disclosed in congressional testimony. WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - Vicarious Surgical Inc., a next-generation robotics technology company, announced Thursday that it has entered into a definitive business combination agreement with D8 Holdings Corp. (DEH), a special purpose acquisition company. Following the deal closure, the combined company will operate as Vicarious Surgical Inc. and will be listed on the New York Stock Exchange under the new ticker symbol 'RBOT'. The transaction values the combined company at an enterprise value of approximately $1.1 billion. The transaction is expected to deliver up to $460 million of gross proceeds, including up to $345 million of cash held in D8's trust account. The transaction is further supported by a $115 million private placement of common stock or PIPE, priced at $10.00 per share, including investment by medical technology company Becton, Dickinson and Company (BDX). The new institutional investors and existing investors include Bill Gates, Vinod Khosla's Khosla Ventures, Eric Schmidt's Innovation Endeavors, and Philip Liang's E15 VC. Assuming no redemptions, the company is projected to have more than $425 million in cash on the balance sheet after closing. and implies approximately 3.1x 2025 estimated revenue of $355 million. Current Vicarious Surgical Inc. equity holders will own approximately 64.7%, D8 Holdings Corp. equity holders will own approximately 22.3%, D8's sponsor will own approximately 5.6% and PIPE investors will own approximately 7.4% of the combined company. The transaction, which was unanimously approved by the boards of directors of both Vicarious Surgical and D8, is subject to approval by D8's shareholders and other customary closing conditions. The transaction is expected to close in the third quarter of 2021. Vicarious Surgical was founded in 2014 by roboticists Adam Sachs, Co-Founder & Chief Executive Officer, Sam Khalifa, Co-Founder & Chief Technology Officer, and Co-Founder & Chief Medical Officer, Barry Greene. Vicarious Surgical's management team will continue to lead the combined company following the transaction. Vicarious Surgical's Executive Chairman, David Styka, will serve as Chairman of the combined company's Board of Directors. Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX Kostenloser Wertpapierhandel auf Smartbroker.de Ahead of NAFCUs congressional testimony tomorrow on the risks of fintech chartering, NAFCU President and CEO Dan Berger joined Fox Business Reporter Charlie Gasparino to discuss the issue on The Claman Countdown. Gasparino asked Berger what NAFCUs message to Washington is. Its really simple, all we want is to make sure regulators create a fair and level playing field between fintechs and other financial institutions, Berger said. We want to ensure that any new banking models are held to the same high standards as credit unions and banks. Berger detailed how some fintech companies are taking advantage of regulatory loopholes that escape the oversight of federal financial regulators and do not clearly require certain fintech companies to follow the same capital requirements that apply to insured banks and credit unions. Berger said this situation is bad news for consumers and taxpayers and it can create systemic risk in the financial system. A crowd gathers outside of the West Kowloon Magistrates' Courts, where 47 dissidents charged under the Beijing-imposed national security law were about to appear in court, in Hong Kong on Mar. 1, 2021. (Adrian Yu/Epoch Times HK) Over 100 UK Lawmakers Urge PM to Impose Sanctions on China Over Hong Kong More than 100 UK lawmakers urged Prime Minister Boris Johnson to impose more sanctions on Chinese officials and entities, and to review the UKs China strategy. The Chinese regime on March 26 sanctioned nine British individuals and four British entities for being vocal on human rights abuses against the Uyghur people in Chinas Xinjiang region. The move was a tit-for-tat retaliation after the UK sanctioned four Chinese officials in coordination with its Western allies over the human rights abuses of Uyghur Muslims. In an open letter to Johnson on Tuesday, 48 MPs and 54 Peers, including former Governor of Hong Kong Chris Patten, Shadow Foreign Secretary Lisa Nandy, and former Conservative leader Sir Iain Duncan Smith, said Beijings sanctions on British lawmakers, academics, and lawyers reflect the increasingly authoritarian nature of the [Chinese regime]. Apart from UK individuals and entities, the Chinese regime also sanctioned lawmakers, other individuals, and entities from the EU, Canada, and the United States. This unprecedented attack on democratic representatives of the Western world deserves a robust and coordinated response, the letter reads. The time has come to expand the list of Chinese officials sanctioned for the gross human rights abuses taking place against the Uyghurs, including the architect of the detention camps Chen Quanguo, and to finally introduce Magnitsky sanctions against the officials and entities responsible for the crackdown on the pro-democracy movement in Hong Kong, lawmakers urged. It is clear that the so-called golden-era of relations between the UK and China is now over. We would urge the Government to immediately review, publish, and implement a cross-departmental strategy on how the UK can deal with the growing challenge the [Chinese regime] presents to the democratic world. The Beijing-imposed national security law in Hong Kong came into effect on June 30, 2020, a week before the UK sanctioned Russians and Saudis with its new independent sanction powers. Since then, MPs and peers have demanded the government to sanction Chinese officialsincluding Chinese Communist Partys top official in Xinjiang Chen Quanguo, Hong Kong Chief Executive Carrie Lam, and Chinese leader Xi Jinpingover the regimes suppression of the pro-democracy movement in Hong Kong, and human rights abuses against the Uyghur Muslims in Xinjiang. The democratic representation in Hong Kongs Legislative Council has been diminished after pro-democracy candidates were disqualified and charged, and new rules were imposed to change Hong Kongs electoral system. British Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab last month said the UK considers the Chinese regime to be in a state of ongoing non-compliance with the Joint Declaration. Speaking at a ceremony on Thursday to mark an education day for the national security law, Luo Huining, the director at Chinas Hong Kong Liaison Office, said: We will give a lesson to all foreign forces which intend to use Hong Kong as a pawn. No. 10 Downing Street and Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office didnt respond to The Epoch Times request for comment at the time of publishing. Alexander Zhang contributed to this report. New Delhi: Bhojpuri actress turned television star Monalisa loves dancing, at least her social media posts reveal the same. Recently, she grooved to Janhvi Kapoor's superhit track 'Nadiyon Paar' from horror-comedy 'Roohi' and must we say that Monalisa is rocking it. Monalisa shared her dance video where she can be seen grooving to the peppy number along with her partner. She captioned her post: Nadiyon Ka Paar with this cutie and brilliant performer #khushi ... @rolirolisingh #feelitreelit #dance #fun #passion #love #reels #instadaily #instagood Her dance moves have been liked by fans as the video has gone viral on social media. She a massive 4.3 million fan base on Instagram alone. The actress has had the opportunity of working with almost all the Bhojpuri big shots in her movie career. In 'Nazar', she played an evil force named Mohana. And received immense adulation for her work on TV. Monalisa was seen this year in 'Nazar 2' as Madhulika Chaudhary. She sure knows how to keep her social media fam happy and smiling. She is these days seen in popular daily soap 'Namak Issk Ka'. The sensational star was seen as a popular contestant in the reality show 'Bigg Boss 10' and in fact, got married to her then-boyfriend Vikrant Singh inside the BB 10 house. By Benjamin Jumbe Dokolo woman Member of Parliament Cecilia Ogwal has urged the government to offer support to children who were under the care of the late archbishop of Kampala Dr Cyprian Kizito Lwanga. The late was educating several children across the country and following his sudden death on 3rd April, their future is now at stake. Speaking during a session to pay tribute to the late, Ogwal asked government to release about Shs500 million to ensure these children continue with their education. Several legislators hailed the late for his outspokenness on issues relating to violation of peoples rights and injustices in society. Meanwhile, the Kalungu west Member of Parliament Joseph Ssewungu has challenged government to come up with a council of elders. Ssewungu argues that this country needs such a council which can help guide government on various matters and on solving various challenges citizens face The motion to pay tribute to the late Lwanga was moved by the Prime Minister Dr. Ruhakana Rugunda. Dr. Lwanga was found dead in his house on April 3rd. New Delhi, April 15 : A Supreme Court bench headed by Chief Justice of India S.A. Bobde on Thursday said the time has come for a woman Chief Justice of India, however when women lawyers are asked to come on the bench, they refuse citing family responsibilities. The observation from the Chief Justice came during the mentioning of an application filed by the Supreme Court Women Lawyers Association (SCWLA), through advocate Sneha Kalita, to consider elevating experienced women lawyers from the top court as High Court's judges, as a step to increase the number of women judges in the judiciary. SCWLA, in the application, said women's participation in the justice delivery system is an important factor for societal progress and gender equality. Chief Justice Bobde said, "We think the time has come for woman Chief Justice of India. Kalita submitted the memorandum of procedure (MoP), but does not have a whisper on women judges' appointment." The bench also comprising Justices Sanjay Kishan Kaul and Surya Kant replied: "Chief Justices of High Courts stated that when lawyers are asked to come on the bench, they deny saying that they have domestic responsibility or their children are in class 11 or 12." The bench clarified that this information has been communicated to the court, when women lawyers declined to accept judgeship. The bench said, "we have the interest of women in mind only and that, we need only capable candidates." Concluding the hearing in the matter, the Chief Justice said we will deliberate what to say in the matter, however the top court did not issue notice. The application filed by SCWLA highlighted the "abysmally low" 11.04 per cent share of women as judges in higher judiciary. The application also gave a chart on women judges presently posted in various High Courts across the country. "From the chart it is reflected that, from the 1,080 of sanctioned strength of judges (including both Permanent and Additional Judges) we have 661 number of judges out of which, only 73 are women judges which accounts for a 11.04 of women judges", said the plea. The women lawyer association sought from the top court to issue an appropriate order/direction to the Secretary, Department of Justice, Ministry of Law & Justice, government of India to expedite the process of inclusion and appointment of women judges on meritorious ground to the respective Supreme Court and High Court benches. The Biden administrations decision to withdraw the last 2500 US troops from Afghanistan is a blow to the prestige of the United States and its allies, but this is a case where it is better to admit failure and move on. The US and its allies invaded the Central Asian country in 2001 with the goal of overthrowing the Taliban regime and evicting the al-Qaeda terrorists who used Afghanistan as a haven from which to orchestrate the September 11 attacks. That was arguably a righteous goal, but it was achieved within weeks. In the two decades since, it has grown increasingly hard to understand what we were fighting for. American soldiers wait on the tarmac in Logar province, Afghanistan, in 2017. Credit:AP The mission crept from fighting terrorism into pacifying and then rebuilding an ethnically fragmented and impoverished country. At the peak of troop deployment, more than 130,000 US, NATO and Australian troops were sent to the country in an attempt to achieve the mammoth task of nation building. But despite that enormous effort, the Taliban still controls large sections of the countryside and Afghan democracy barely extends outside the capital, Kabul, and a few big cities. It is always hard to admit failure. Prime Minister Scott Morrison, who said Australia would withdraw its last 80 troops, defended the 20-year war on Thursday, saying, Freedom is always worth it. Yet many will question whether the heavy price paid for this failure of arms and foreign policy was really justified. At least 41 Australian soldiers have died and 261 have been wounded. Hundreds of thousands of Afghan civilians have been killed and the war displaced millions, sending some of them Australias way in leaky boats. Shonan iPark was launched in 2018 as the first mixed-model science park in Japan. Since, life science leaders have gathered on campus to access its state-of-the-art facilityenabling advances in areas such as rare disease, regenerative medicine, and neuroscience. Today, Shonan iPark houses over 110 companies and 2,000 pre-clinical researchers across pharma, next-generation technologies, AI, venture capital, and government-related organizations. New virtual membership plans have now been launched with two converging forces in mindongoing travel restrictions due to COVID, and the industry-wide desire by life science leaders to continue innovation, growth, and market expansion during this difficult time. Access to Japanese Market Insights Has Never Been Easier. The new membership plans offer life science companies a range of onsite and virtual membership optionsfrom a free membership to premium onsite campus and laboratory access, consulting services, and online collaboration. The new virtual membership is for overseas entities seeking to tap into Japanese expansion and business partnerships fasteroffering tailored business partnership matchmaking, access to regulatory support, mentoring consulting services, and a host of other benefits. New membership and pricing details can be found here: Shonan iPark Virtual Membership Comments by Dr. Toshio Fujimoto General Manager of Shonan iPark Established just three years ago, iPark has become both a premier virtual and physical collaborative innovation space, serving life science pioneers in Japan, Asia, and the world. We are proud to be driving key innovation initiatives and strategic partnerships to accelerate the building of life science ecosystems - all right here in Shonan, Japan. For life science pioneers, "speed to the market" is a critical success factor. With this new membership, we hope to offer a new pathway so that biotech companies can leverage local and regional dynamics to realize cross-border success. Comments from Shonan iPark Members Farzad Ehsani, CEO of Innsightful, a California-based company developing digital biomarkers for behavioral health monitoring and Member of iPark "We are very excited to be a part of the Shonan iPark community. The potent and collaborative nature of this innovation center is a perfect place to grow our company, to learn new ways of doing things, and to develop meaningful relationships in Japan." About Shonan Health Innovation Park (Shonan iPark) Shonan iPark is Japan's global hub for life science innovation and collaboration founded in April 2018. It convenes private and public sector organizations and academic institutions that range in business type and size, aiming to be a space where health innovation can be accelerated. As of March 2021, iPark has more than 2,000 individuals from more than 110 pharmaceutical, next-gen medicine, academia, AI, venture capital, and government-related organizations, which together form a collaborative life science innovation ecosystem. Visit Website Follow us on social media: LinkedIn /Twitter / YouTube / For further information, please contact: Shonan Health Innovation Park Communication Contact: Keiko Takizawa, Haruka Hibino Email: [email protected] Cosmo Public Relations Corporation Emi Yasukawa Email: [email protected] Tel: +1(240)-620-1694 SOURCE Shonan Health Innovation Park Brussels, April 15 : North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) allies on Wednesday agreed to pull out all of their armed forces from Afghanistan after the United States announced that all US troops would leave the country by September 11. The US invaded Afghanistan in 2001 following the 9/11 attacks, with other NATO members also deploying military forces to the country, in a bid "to confront Al-Qaeda and those who attacked the United States, and to prevent terrorists from using Afghanistan as a safe haven to attack us," according to a statement after a virtual NATO foreign and defence ministers' meeting on Wednesday, Xinhua reported. In light of this and recognizing that there is no military solution to the challenges Afghanistan faces, NATO allies have determined to start the military withdrawal by May 1 and will finish it within a few months, the statement said, adding that this drawdown will be "orderly, coordinated, and deliberate." "Any Taliban attacks on allied troops during this withdrawal will be met with a forceful response," it noted. Withdrawing troops does not mean ending NATO's relationship with Afghanistan. Rather, this will be "the start of a new chapter," said the statement. "We went into Afghanistan together, we have adjusted our posture together and we are united in leaving together," NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said at a joint press conference with U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Secretary of Defence Lloyd Austin. "Allies and partners will continue to stand with the Afghan people, but it is now for the Afghan people to build a sustainable peace," said Stoltenberg. There are currently about 10,000 NATO troops in Afghanistan. Spain on Wednesday received 146,000 doses of the Janssen vaccine, made by a subsidiary of Johnson & Johnson, but the Spanish Health Ministry said the vials will be kept in storage until the European Medicines Agency (EMA) makes an announcement next week regarding blood clotting concerns. The move comes after the United States federal health authorities recommended use of the Janssen vaccine be suspended while six cases of rare blood clots are investigated. Among those cases, one person died in the US and another is in critical condition, after a total of seven million people were given the inoculation. The decision will have a knock-on effect in Spain, which was due to start using the single-dose vaccine from today onward as part of its vaccination campaign. The pause comes in the wake of similar events in Europe with the use of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine. As a result of cases of blood clots after use of the latter, Spain has opted to change the target groups for the medication several times. If this is a stoppage of a few days, it wont be a problem. But if it drags out, the acceleration of the speed that we were expecting will not come to pass Jose Antonio Forcada, from the National Association of Nursing and Vaccines In a statement that was made public on Tuesday, Johnson & Johnson said: Out of an abundance of caution, the CDC and FDA have recommended a pause in the use of our vaccine, adding: In addition, we have been reviewing these cases with European health authorities. We have made the decision to proactively delay the rollout of our vaccine in Europe. The announcement deals a new blow to the already troubled vaccine campaign across the European Union (EU), which is being managed by its executive branch, the European Commission (EC). The EC was due to receive 55 million doses of the Janssen vaccine between April and June. Todays developments with the J&J vaccine in the US are under close monitoring by [the European Medicines Agency] and its pharmacovigilance bodies, with an open line to the [FDA] and other international regulators, wrote Stella Kyriakides, the European Commissioner for Health and Food Safety, via social media. EU rollout has been paused by the company. Vaccine safety is always paramount. For Spain, the suspension of the vaccines use is another spoke in the wheels of the campaign, which is aiming to inoculate 70% of the adult population by the end of the summer. While the doses that are due to arrive in the country of the other vaccines that have been authorized for use AstraZeneca, Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna, all two-dose vaccines are sufficient to reach this target, the fact that Janssen only requires a single injection for the full protection it offers against Covid-19 was going to be a key factor in speeding up the process. The first group that will be affected are the 70- to 79-year-olds in Spain, who until now had been receiving the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines but from today were due to also get the Janssen. It is, for now, unknown how long the suspension of the medication will last. The news came as a surprise for the Spanish authorities. The Health Ministry became aware of the development thanks to the press release issued by the manufacturer. The health minister, Carolina Darias, said on Tuesday that her department was expectant for news. The Spanish Medicines and Health Products Agency is in permanent contact with the European Medicines Agency, she said. We are ready to receive the vaccine. The initial impact of the suspension in Spain, however, will be relatively small. A total of 300,000 doses were due to arrive in the country in April this is a small number compared to the 2.7 million (including those delivered this week) that have been delivered by Pfizer. The majority of the countrys regions who are in charge of their own vaccination processes began vaccinating the 70-79 age group between this week and the last, and 21.4% of those 3.9 million people have already received at least one shot, according to data released on Tuesday. Vaccination drive in the Winzik center in Madrid. Andrea Comas Problems could arrive in the medium term should the suspension last. Over the current quarter, Spain was due to receive 5.5 million doses of the medication. This, combined with uncertainty over the use of AstraZeneca not only because it has caused the same side effects in a tiny number of recipients, but also because much fewer doses are being delivered than were promised is putting all hopes on Pfizer and Moderna meeting their commitments of delivering 63.6 million doses from here to the end of the summer. With these two vaccines, inoculating 70% of the adult population in summer is within reach: its a total of 27.4 million people, who will need fewer than 54 million doses, given that the under-65s who have been diagnosed with Covid-19 in the previous six months will only get one shot. Taking into account the AstraZeneca doses that have already been administered and that continue to arrive, the more ambitious target set out by Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez of immunizing 33 million people in the summer which represents 70% of the entire population and not just adults is also possible. The first group that will be affected by the suspension are the 70- to 79-year-olds in Spain, who were due to get the Janssen vaccine from today But these calculations are subject to many uncertain factors. Any new setback could derail the forecasts, and it would not be the first time that the objectives have not been met: no EU country managed to inoculate 80% of its over-80s, as had been set as a target. Now, in mid-April, Spain is close to achieving that objective, with more than half of the age group with the two doses needed for the full protection offered by the vaccine. All of the numbers now depend on what happens with Janssen. If this is a stoppage of a few days, it wont be a problem, said Jose Antonio Forcada, from the National Association of Nursing and Vaccines (Anevac). But if it drags out, the acceleration of the speed that we were expecting will not come to pass. As well as the over-70s, the majority of Spains regions began this week to vaccinate the 355,000 people with pre-existing conditions that make them vulnerable to Covid-19, such as transplant or cancer patients. This entire group will be receiving the Pfizer or the Moderna vaccines. English version by Simon Hunter. SHANGHAI, April 14, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Everest Medicines (HKEX 1952.HK), a biopharmaceutical company focused on developing and commercializing transformative pharmaceutical products that address critical unmet medical needs for patients in Greater China and other parts of Asia, announced today the appointment of Dr. Jennifer Yang as chief scientific officer. Dr. Yang has two decades of leadership experience in drug discovery and development at global pharmaceutical companies. "We are pleased to welcome Dr. Yang to Everest's leadership team. Jennifer's deep expertise in drug discovery and translational medicine combined with her extensive experience in global development will be invaluable to the Company. She will establish a strong discovery organization that contributes to the strategic expansion of our clinical development pipeline," said Kerry Blanchard, MD, PhD, chief executive officer of Everest Medicines. "I'm very excited to join Everest Medicines's top-tier team of global healthcare professionals to bring innovative medicines that address diseases with high unmet medical needs to patients in China and around the world," said Dr. Yang. "I look forward to building a robust discovery organization with deep scientific expertise with the mission to expand Everest Medicine's already impressive portfolio." Most recently, Dr. Yang served as vice president and head of China for Johnson & Johnson's Lung Cancer Initiative where she established and led a cross-sector research and development (R&D) organization for the creation of innovative solutions for lung cancer prevention, interception and cure. Jennifer transitioned into this role from Janssen (China) Research & Development Center, where she was the head of Discovery Center. Prior to joining Johnson and Johnson, Dr. Yang held global leadership positions at Eli Lilly and Company and Pfizer Inc Oncology Research Unit in the United States. Dr. Yang holds a Ph.D. in molecular biology and human genetics from the Eccles Institute of Human Genetics at the University of Utah, a Master's degree in immunology and microbiology from Southern Illinois University, and a Bachelor of Science degree in microbiology from Fudan University in China. About Everest Medicines Everest Medicines is a biopharmaceutical company focused on developing and commercializing transformative pharmaceutical products that address critical unmet medical needs for patients in Greater China and other Asian markets. The management team of Everest Medicines has deep expertise and an extensive track record of high-quality clinical development, regulatory affairs, CMC, business development and operations both in China and with leading global pharmaceutical companies. Everest Medicines has built a portfolio of eight potentially global first-in-class or best-in-class molecules, many of which are in late stage clinical development. The Company's therapeutic areas of interest include oncology, autoimmune disorders, cardio-renal diseases and infectious diseases. For more information, please visit its website at www.everestmedicines.com. SOURCE Everest Medicines Brazil's Senate has started an investigation into President Jair Bolsonaro's handling of the COVID-19 pandemic. Known locally by its Portuguese acronym CPI, the congressional investigation can lead to a number of actions, including a referral of possible wrongdoing to law enforcement, U.S. News reported. Senate leader Rodrigo Pacheco said the inquiry on handling the pandemic would also include an investigation into how the federal resources were distributed to the country. The probe came after Brazil's Supreme Court authorized the opening of the Senate inquiry on the government's handling of the pandemic. According to DW, Supreme Court Justice Luis Roberto Barroso issued the order after the whole court upheld local officials' authority to stop churches from opening. Jair Bolsonaro has been a frequent critic of the Supreme Court for supporting the decision of local authorities in imposing restrictions during the pandemic. The Brazilian president also attended protests against the country's highest court. READ NEXT: Last Living Man of Juma Tribe in Brazil Dies From COVID-19 Spread by Invading Loggers Brazil Amid the Pandemic Jair Bolsonaro has repeatedly downplayed the pandemic's threat while refusing to impose lockdowns as the economic impact would allegedly do more harm than the virus itself. Brazil has the second highest death toll worldwide from COVID-19. Experts cautioned that a current surge in cases might not peak for several weeks, BBC reported. Bolsonaro has reportedly called the deadly COVID-19 "just a little flu." He also called state governors and mayors who implemented lockdowns in their respective areas "tyrants." The president has also cast doubts on the vaccines' efficacy and safety, saying that he would not get vaccinated. Meanwhile, the health care system of Brazil is reportedly crumbling slowly. "The country is in a nationwide hospital collapse right now - it's the first time in history the public health system has collapsed," Dr. Miguel Nicolelis, a Brazilian professor of neuroscience at Duke University, told the BBC. The city's hospitals reportedly ran out of oxygen last January, which led the federal government to procure supplies from across the country. On top of that, a Brazil coronavirus variant that emerged in the Amazon late last year has become a concern because it is thought to be much more contagious, Aljazeera reported. Microbiologist Natalia Pasternak noted that fears over the said variant are justified because they are more contagious and spread rapidly across Brazil. Pasternak added that the pandemic is out of control in the country right now, AFP News reported. Last month, Brazil's death toll reached 66,500, double compared to the country's previous deadliest month in July 2020. In 2020, a group of unions representing Brazilian health workers called on the International Criminal Court to investigate Bolsonaro's government for crimes against humanity for its way of handling the pandemic. Some protesters had accused Jair Bolsonaro of genocide and asked him to resign. The office of Brazil's solicitor-general declined to comment regarding the matter. The said office is responsible for defending Jair Bolsonaro and the health ministry. READ NEXT: Parts of Amazon Rainforest in Brazil Are Being Illegally Offered for Sale on Facebook Marketplace WATCH: Brazil Senate Launches Jair Bolsonaro COVID-19 Probe - From Reuters By Richard Cowan WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Democrats in the U.S. House of Representatives have advanced a bill that could pave the way to reparations for Black Americans as part of a broader effort to address centuries of enslavement and institutional racism. The House Judiciary Committee late on Wednesday voted 25-17 to create a commission to draft reparation proposals, an idea first proposed in Congress three decades ago. No Republicans voted to support the measure, a committee spokeswoman said. "Slavery was this countrys original sin. Our Constitution protected it and we continue to grapple with its effects today," Democratic Representative Steve Cohen, a senior committee member, tweeted late on Wednesday. The partisan vote underscores the difficulties the legislation faces in a Congress where prominent Republicans oppose the measure and none have joined the 175 members of President Joe Biden's Democratic Party as co-sponsors. With Republicans expected to try to block the bill in the Senate, some Democrats already were weighing a new strategy. House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer on Wednesday told reporters that he hoped Biden would use his own powers to create the commission. Biden took office in January, having defeated Republican President Donald Trump in a November election. The House Democrats' bill would set up a commission to examine enslavement and discrimination from 1619 to the present and draft reparation proposals. It would be modeled on a commission Congress approved in the 1980s to document the World War Two incarceration of thousands of Japanese-Americans. "This is not a cry for a handout. It is a cry for an acknowledgement that there has never been a response to the unpaid labor that helped build this nation," Democratic Representative Sheila Jackson Lee told reporters this week. Story continues The idea is gaining traction in some parts of the United States. The Chicago suburb of Evanston, Illinois, last month became the first U.S. city to offer reparation money to Black residents. The action coincides with anti-racism protests in cities across the country and while a former Minnesota police officer is on trial, accused of murdering a Black man, George Floyd, in one of a long series of killings that have stirred outrage. Even if the bill passes the Democratic-controlled House, where it would need a simple majority, it would face a higher hurdle in the Senate, where at least 10 Republicans and all 50 Democrats would have to support the bill for it to pass. When the measure was last debated in Congress in 2019, Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell opposed it, saying at the time: "No one currently alive was responsible" for enslaving Black people brought to America during centuries of slave trade. Toward the end of the U.S. Civil War in 1865, freed slaves were promised "40 acres (of land) and a mule" but the pledge was annulled following President Abraham Lincoln's assassination. Thursday is the 156th anniversary of his death. Today African-Americans, who comprise around 13 percent of the U.S. population, suffer disparities in pay, housing and healthcare, including in distribution of the COVID-19 vaccine. (Reporting by Richard Cowan; Editing by Scott Malone and Howard Goller) Burma Myanmar Military Launches Airstrikes Against Ethnic Armed Group in Kachin State A house damaged by artillery strike in Momauk on April 12. / CJ Two jet fighters from Myanmars military carried out airstrikes on Kachin States Momauk Township on Wednesday afternoon, forcing local residents to hide in bomb shelters. The bombing attack came as fighting between the military regime and ethnic armed group the Kachin Independence Army (KIA) has intensified in recent days. Residents of a number of villages including Myohaung and Myothit villages in Konglaw village-tract had to take cover in bomb shelters after the military started bombing around 4.30 pm on Wednesday in Momauk Township. They [the military] are now firing with two fighters near the communications tower. It is the place the KIA raided a few days ago. The military will attack at night. We havent been able to sleep well for nights. I hope they dont open fire on villages, a resident of Myothit village told The Irrawaddy from inside a bomb shelter, on Wednesday. A resident of Sihike village said, They are attacking now. They have attacked with planes four times, dropping 12 bombs. We are still in the bomb shelters and we dont know about casualties. A bomb fell near the village monastery. Myanmars military and the KIA have been clashing since Sunday in Momauk, after the KIA raided and occupied a police station and a military outpost near Myohaung and Myothit villages. Three civilians were killed as artillery shells fired by Myanmars military landed in Myohaung, Myothit and Sihike villages. The military is also conducting airstrikes on Alaw Bum base near the Chinese border in Momauk Township, which the KIA captured from the military on March 25. Myanmars military suffered heavy casualties on Tuesday in its attempts to retake control of the base. You may also like these stories: Thai Govt Considers Partial Lockdown in Bangkok, Surrounds Myanmar Students to Hold Fundraiser for CDM in Bangkok UN Special Envoy on Myanmar in Bangkok to Discuss Crisis With Thai Officials London Iranian and U.S. negotiators resumed talks in Vienna on Thursday that could eventually resurrect the nuclear deal struck back in 2015. But that's a big could. This week, Iran ramped up its uranium enrichment program in yet another breach of the agreement, which, with the U.S. having quit and Iran breaking multiple rules, is now barely alive. President Joe Biden's administration wants to reverse his predecessor's unilateral withdrawal from the nuclear deal, but the process was always going to be delicate. Sunday's attack on Iran's nuclear facility in Natanz complicated things even further. Iran responded to what it called an act of "nuclear terrorism" by Israel with the announcment that it would start enriching uranium to 60% purity a big step up from its current maximum of 20%. While 60% enriched uranium still isn't technically weapons-grade (90% or above), having a stockpile of it could reduce the time Iran would need to make a bomb something Iran vehemently insists it doesn't want to do. This file photo released November 5, 2019 by the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran shows centrifuge machines in the Natanz uranium enrichment facility in central Iran. / Credit: Atomic Energy Organization of Iran via AP President Hassan Rouhani said bluntly that, "60% enrichment is an answer to your evilness," making it clear that the Iranian regime holds the U.S. and Israel both responsible for the current escalation in tension. Iran said on Friday that it had begun enriching uranium to the higher level. The country has said it intends to use the 60% enriched product for radio-pharmaceuticals, which can be used to treat diseases including cancer. But France, Germany and the U.K., three countries which are also party to the negotiations in Vienna, expressed "grave concern" at the move, and said Iran had "no credible civilian need for enrichment at this level." In fact, the extra-enriched uranium would be of less value to Iran as a medical tool than as a new bargaining chip in Vienna. Halting 60% enrichment is now one more thing that Iran can offer in exchange for a lifting of U.S. sanctions. Story continues The talks are cumbersome because Iran refused to meet American negotiators face to face. All proposals and counter-proposals have to be relayed back and forth by European diplomats. A senior U.S. State Department official, speaking to reporters last week, revealed the frustration that's causing. "You could imagine, for all these questions, how hard it is when the United States tells the EU, the EU tells the Iranians, the Iranians tell the EU, and then come back to us," the official said. "That just really makes it slower and more complicated." There's no question that both sides want a deal. Iran needs the U.S. sanctions lifted so it can start selling oil freely to shore up its crippled economy. The U.S. wants international cooperation and oversight to guarantee that Iran isn't secretly building nuclear weapons that would destabilize the Middle East. The first round of negotiations last week was about building an agenda laying out a list of the things that both the U.S. and Iran would need to do to return to the terms of the nuclear deal, formally known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA). "On a whole, the discussions were productive," said a State Department representative of last week's talks. "The atmosphere was very constructive." This week, if all goes well, Iran and the U.S. again via European intermediaries will start to hammer out in more detail who does what and when. They'll also tackle how each move can be verified. For example, if the U.S. commits to lifting sanctions on oil sales, how much oil will Iran want to trade before it is satisfied that there are no snags? Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei speaks during a televised address in Tehran, Iran on March 21, 2021. / Credit: Iranian Leader Press Office/Handout/Getty For the moment, Iran's Supreme Leader is sitting firmly on the fence about the negotiations. One the one hand, he said they're probably a waste of time. "The offers they provide are usually arrogant and humiliating not worth looking at," Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said in an address on Monday, the first day of Ramadan. On the other hand, he is letting the talks go ahead, even after Sunday's deeply damaging and humiliating attack on the Natanz nuclear facility. There's a chance, though, that if things don't go well this week in Vienna, Khamenei could decide to slow down or even pause the talks until after Iran's national election in June, when a new, hardline president will have taken office. With Iran taking significant steps away from the nuclear deal including Friday's claim of 60% uranium enrichment the looming shift in the presidency could put a return to the agreement completely out of reach. Day four of search and rescue operation for missing Seacor crew members as families remain hopeful Prince Philip, Queen Elizabeth's husband, to be buried at Windsor Castle in scaled-back ceremony Derek Chauvin opts not to take the stand, defense attorneys rest their case Gucci celebrates 100 years with Micheles Aria collection View Photo MILAN (AP) Gucci creative director Alessandro Michele is celebrating the fashion houses 100th anniversary this year, giving historic sweep to a collection unveiled virtually Thursday that embraced its equestrian heritage, borrowed references from the Tom Ford-era and outright stole from the French brand Balenciaga. Gucci was born under some kind of constellation, because the power it holds is nearly inexplicable, Michele told a video press conference. The celebration party was set in a film-set version of Londons Savoy Hotel, where fashion house founder Guccio Gucci got inspiration to return home to Florence and open his own leather goods shop, specializing in travel bags that he had admired working as a bellhop. The collection was titled Aria, a reference to another Italian creation, lyric opera. Models walked down long corridor runways outfitted with hundreds of flashing cameras nailed to the wall in the place of absent paparazzi. A medley of Gucci-themed pop songs proof, if needed, of the brands enduring relevance provided the soundtrack. The first look was a jag on Tom Fords 1996 red velvet suit, with a kinky leather harness over a powder blue shirt. Michele said in notes that he had plundered the sexual tension of Fords decade at Gucci from 1994-2004. Tom understood right from the beginning that Gucci had some kind of magnetism, this cult power, Michele said. Michele, who took over as creative direction of Gucci six years ago, put a fetishized spin on Guccis trademark equestrian references, including riding caps, fringed leather riding crops and spit-polished boots mixed with glamorous sequined evening wear, or subverted with erotic sheer dresses of logo-emblazoned netting. Models dangled long jewelry from their noses. In one of the collections most surprising turns, Michele borrowed, or hacked, looks directly from Balenciaga, the Paris fashion house owned by the same parent company, Kering. They included a version of the Balenciaga Jackie bag and a glittery silver suit emblazoned with both Gucci and Balenciaga. This was the first collection of 2021 for Gucci, which has left the fashion calendar and committed to only presenting two collections a year. The video presentation stuck strictly to the runway format during a pandemic year of experimentation that has all but shut down in-person shows. Reflecting on the century marker, Michele said Guccis magic is its ability to redefine itself over time, unbeholden to any strictly defined image. I am trying to renew for the millionth time this brand, this name, this myth, this saga, because Gucci is a complex container that holds many, many things, Michele said. By COLLEEN BARRY AP Fashion Writer France has decided to use Johnson and Johnson COVID-19 vaccine for people aged above 55 as planned. The government spokesman Gabriel Attal told reporters that government will continue to inoculate the AstraZeneca vaccine over the age of 55. The statement comes hours after Denmark had stopped the use of the AstraZeneca vaccine over rare blood clots reported after taking the vaccine. France to use Johnson and Johnson vaccine Attal said that the government has received the first delivery of 200,000 doses of vaccine. He said that these vaccines will be sent to Chemists and hospitals for vaccinating people. While reacting to the Danish health authorities decision, he said that the French government has confidence in the AstraZeneca vaccine that will help the population combat COVID-19. After the recommendations of the FDA and CDC, some European Union countries opted for caution but some have said that they will continue to vaccinate the people by Johnson and Johnson's vaccine. Poland said that it would go ahead and administer the first batch of 120,000 doses that had arrived. Denmark has stopped giving AstraZeneca vaccine to people amid concerns over rare side effects caused due to the virus. South Africa has also suspended the shot as a precautionary measure." Meanwhile, the European Medicines Agency on April 15 said that the benefits of the Johnson and Johnson vaccine in preventing the COVID-19 outweigh the risks of side effects. The agency further said that they are reviewing the safety of vaccines for the European Union. They also revealed that they are assessing the very rare cases of unusual blood clots with low platelets. More than 6.8 million doses of the Johnson and Johnson vaccine have been administered and six cases have been reported with blood clots. EMA is evaluating the cases rapidly and it hopes to issue a recommendation next week. (Inputs and Image from AP) Pakistan's Islamabad High Court on Thursday asked the Foreign Office to clear India's "misunderstanding" about the court's jurisdiction to hear the to implement the verdict of the International Court of Justice. Jadhav, the 50-year-old retired Indian Navy officer, was sentenced to death by a Pakistani military court on charges of espionage and terrorism in April 2017. India approached the International Court of Justice against for denial of consular access to Jadhav and challenging the death sentence. The Hague-based ICJ ruled in July 2019 that must undertake an "effective review and reconsideration" of the conviction and sentence of Jadhav and also to grant consular access to India without further delay. The ICJ, in its 2019 verdict, had asked to provide a proper forum for appeal against the sentence given to Jadhav by a military court. The Pakistani government issued a special ordinance last year and filed the case in the Islamabad High Court (IHC) which has repeatedly asked India to appoint a lawyer to represent Jadhav. A larger IHC bench comprising Justice Athar Minallah, Justice Aamer Farooq and Justice Miangul Hassan Aurangzeb is hearing the case. The Express Tribune reported that the Indian High Commission, through a lawyer, had challenged the IHC jurisdiction to appoint a defence counsel in the case and the court tried to clarify the objection. During the proceedings, Justice Minallah asked Barrister Shahnawaz Noon, the lawyer representing the Indian High Commission, whether or not he had informed New Delhi about the Jadhav case. The lawyer replied that the Indian government was of the view that the case did not fall in the IHC jurisdiction. It seems that the Indian government has a misunderstanding about this court's proceedings, IHC Chief Justice Athar Minallah observed. This matter involves the jurisdiction of not only this court, but that of the implementation of the verdict of the International Court of Justice (ICJ), he said and directed the Foreign Office to contact the Indian government to clear the air. Justice Minallah also said that the matter was not about jurisdiction but this court had taken up the Jadhav case for the implementation of the ICJ verdict. If India does not wish the implementation of the ICJ judgment, it should inform us, he said. India is no doubt an autonomous state and we respect its autonomy. We are not overstepping our jurisdiction and only seek the implementation of the ICJ verdict, he said. Additional Attorney General Tariq Khokhar said that the Indian government had appointed lawyers to represent eight of its citizens. But it has a misunderstanding about the Jadhav case, he said. The court clubbed the matter with the petition seeking the release of four Indian prisoners and adjourned the hearing till May 5. In 2019, the plea to annul the death sentence awarded to Jadhav was rejected by the ICJ. The court, however, asked Pakistan for an "effective review and reconsideration of the conviction and sentence of Jadhav so as to ensure that full weight was given to the effect of the violation of the rights of the Vienna Convention and guarantee that the violation and the possible prejudice caused by the violation were fully examined. (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.) 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. DUBLIN, April 15, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- The "Calibration Services Markets. Strategies and Trends with Forecasts by Type of Calibration, by Industry and by Country. Includes Custom Analysis and World Metropolitan Area Market Sizes. 2021 to 2025" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering. This 2021 edition of the industry-standard report provides valuable information and insight. A growing market. Key growth drivers. An industry protected from economic cycles. An industry-driven forward by increasing global regulations and security. The future of the calibration services industry is explored with detailed market forecasts and strategic analysis. Worldwide Metropolitan Market sizes are included with every report. The report doesn't just look at market size. It examines key operational principles and industry best practices provided by industry veterans. Look at acquisition and divestiture opportunities. Revise pricing and service terms. Develop new service packaging and offerings. Consider integrated marketing programs. This latest version of the report includes Major Metropolitan Market Size Table 2020. All the important facts are here. Industry growth rates. Geographic, instrumentation and industry breakdowns of market size. Explore the potential of the industry and gain an appreciation of the big picture for a relatively new industry that is expanding onto a global stage. "I recommend it as a planning tool for any organization that provides calibration services." - Dr. Malcolm Smith, Board Member NACLA, Committee Chair NCSLI Key Topics Covered: Calibration Services Market - Strategic Situation Analysis & COVID Impact Guide for Executives, Marketing, Sales and Business Development Staff Guide for Management Consultants and Investment Advisors 1. Introduction and Market Definition 1.1 Introduction 1.2 Market Definition 2. Market Overview 2.1 Manufacturer Practices 2.1.1 Difference Between Manufacturer and other Vendors 2.1.2 Difference Between Electronic and Mechanical Segments 2.3 Accreditation 2.3.1 Accreditation Recognition 2.3.2 Two Tiered Accreditation Standard 2.4 Segments and Capability 2.4.1 An Overview of Segmentation Practice 2.4.2 Segmentation by Company Size 2.4.3 On-site Service as a Segment 2.5 Industry Structure and Participants 2.5.1 The International System of Measurement - A Primer 2.5.2 Current Industry Participants 2.5.3 Industry Structure 2.6 Geographic Influences 2.6.1 Geographic Preference 2.6.2 Implications for Laboratory Management 2.6.3 Growing Demand for On Site Service 3. Market Trends 3.1 Factors Driving Growth 3.1.1 Impact of Climate Change 3.2 Factors Inhibiting Growth 3.2.1 Recalibrate Versus Replace 3.3 The Changing Role of the Manufacturer 3.3.1 The Position of Trust 3.3.2 Customers Have an Equipment Management Need 3.3.3 Effect on Repair Demand 3.3.4 Manufacturer's Rethink Service and Support 3.4 Services Packaging 3.4.1 Services Packaging Today and Tomorrow 3.4.2 Reduced Services Play a Role 3.4.3 Basic Calibration Changes 3.4.4 The Role of On Line Value Added Services 3.4.5 Change in Demand for Accreditation 3.4.6 Pricing for On Site to Change 3.4.7 Contract Agreements to Change 3.5 Technology Development 3.5.1 Three Important Technology Developments 3.5.2 Calibration Services Look to Installed Base 3.5.3 Calibration Intervals Change 3.5.4 Impact of Self Calibration 4. Pricing and Business Development 4.1 Calibration Service Pricing and Plans 4.1.1 Variable Factors in a Calibration Service 4.1.2 Fee Based Pricing 4.1.3 Approaches to Pricing 4.1.4 Pricing and Geography 4.1.5 Surcharges 4.1.6 Limited Calibration 4.1.7 Volume Discounts 4.1.8 Mobile Pricing 4.1.9 Service Plans 4.1.10 Asset Management 4.1.11 Customer Commitment 4.1.12 Personnel Rental 4.2 Promotion 4.2.1 Sales Promotion Practice 4.2.2 A Calibration Services Marketing System 4.2.3 Services Marketing Program Tools 4.2.4 Company Website and Marketing Strategy 4.3 Customer Service 4.3.1 Customer Service Measurement 4.3.2 Teamwork in Customer Service 4.3.3 The Role of Leadership 4.4 Merger and Acquisition 4.4.1 Economies of Scale 4.4.2 Caveats and Factors Unfavourable to Merger Activity 4.5 Competition 5. Industry Segmentation Analysis 5.1 Aerospace/Defense 5.2 Agriculture and Food Production 5.3 Automotive 5.4 Biomedical/Pharmaceutical 5.5 Communication 5.6 General Manufacturing 5.7 High Technology 5.8 Material Production 5.9 Other 6. Recent Market Activity Autel US Expands ADAS Calibration Coverage New Chairman of the Board at Transcat, Inc Transcat, Inc. Acquires Calibration Software Company Vision Engineering's Cal Lab Attains ISO 17025:2017 NMI Metrology is Expanding Calibration Services across Nigeria Mitutoyo America Corporation Introduces New Processor Package with Profile Projector Transcat Acquires TTE Laboratories, Inc Michigan State Police launch investigation of breathalyzer calibration State Police launch investigation of breathalyzer calibration Endress+Hauser builds new Calibration Laboratory Transcat acquires Infinite Integral Solutions Inc. Keysight opens new calibration facility Transcat Acquires Gauge Repair Service Trescal Announces 3 Aquisitions Newbow Aerospace Expands Calibration Laboratory Instron's Calibration Laboratory goes global Trescal Acquires QTI and QTI Validaciones Trescal Announces 2 Acquisitions Cross Company Acquires J. A. King Trescal Acquires Diamond Technical and Acteam Boonton Electronics and Noisecom Receive ISO 17025: Accreditation Transcat Acquires Angel's Instrumentation Inc. Trescal and Stahlwille UK sign partnership agreement Laboratory Testing Inc. Acquires TAC Technical Instrument Trescal Acquires Metriccontrol Keysight Technologies Acquires Thales Calibration Services Transcat Acquires NBS Calibrations 7. Key Players ABB Ametek Beamex Bruel & Kjaer Consumers Energy e2b calibration Emerson Endress & Hauser ESSCO Calibration Laboratory Fluke GE Kaye Innocal ( Cole Parmer ) ) Instron J. A. King Keysight Technologies Lockheed Martin Mettler-Toledo/Troemner Micro Precision Calibration Optical Test and Calibration Rhode & Schwarz SGS Siemens Simco Technical Maintenance Inc. Tektronix Teseq Tradinco Instruments Transcat Trescal 8. The Global Market for Calibration Services 8.1 Market Overview by Country 8.2 Global Market Overview by Type 8.3 Global Market Overview by Industry 9. Global Calibration Markets - By Type of Calibration 9.1 Electrical Calibration 9.2 Dimensional Calibration 9.3 Mechanical Calibration 9.4 Thermal Calibration 9.5 Other Calibration 10. Global Calibration Markets - By Industry 10.1 Calibration Market Aerospace & Defence 10.2 Calibration Market Agro & Biomedical 10.3 Calibration Market Electronic & Communications 10.4 Calibration Market Industry & Manufacturing 10.5 Calibration Market Other Industry 11. Market Sizes and Forecasts World Metropolitan Areas 11.1 World Metropolitan Areas Datatable. 2019 Market Size Forecasts For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/r/pioo4k Media Contact: Research and Markets Laura Wood, Senior Manager [email protected] For E.S.T Office Hours Call +1-917-300-0470 For U.S./CAN Toll Free Call +1-800-526-8630 For GMT Office Hours Call +353-1-416-8900 U.S. Fax: 646-607-1907 Fax (outside U.S.): +353-1-481-1716 SOURCE Research and Markets Related Links http://www.researchandmarkets.com Chair of the Chamber of Deputies' Foreign Policy Committee, Rozalia Biro of the Hungarian Democratic Union of Romania (UDMR) said today that the topics discussed during her recent talk with Austrian ambassador Isabel Rauscher included the situation of Romanian caregivers in Austria, benefits for non-resident children, Romanian exports and dual education experience exchanges, agerpres.ro confirms. "Romanians living in Austria are the second largest community of EU citizens, after the Germans. Therefore, Austria is an important partner for us not only because we celebrated in 2020 one hundred years of Romanian - Austrian diplomatic relations, and not just because we share a relatively similar system of values, but also because, officially, there were 131,788 Romanian citizens in Austria as of January 1, 2021, by 6 percent more than in the year before," Rozalia Biro told a press conference. According to the cited official, talks with ambassador Isabel Rauscher also tackled Romania's trade balance, which runs a deficit of 965 million euros, the areas where Romania can increase its exports to Austria, and particularly the subject of the about 33,000 Romanian caregivers who reside in Austria (most of whom are women). "We know that Austria has had some general restrictions on foreign workers. This is why the decision was taken at government level - and we'll also take relevant steps in Parliament - to set up a bilateral expert working group of the Foreign Policy Committees of the Romanian and Austrian Parliament, as well as a bilateral group of experts of the Labor Ministries of the two countries. These bodies will be tasked with finding a common denominator for ensuring the rights of Romanian caregivers, in particular, who work in Austria. I hope that by the end of May these groups will be up and running," Biro pointed out. She also mentioned several legislative measures taken recently by Austria, which have a negative impact on citizen and workforce mobility within the EU. "Let us not forget that the law adjusting benefits for non-resident children, which was introduced in Austria in 2018 and came in force in 2019 has practically meant halving child allowances. Whereas until then they were collecting between 140 and 190 euros, after the law came in force this amount was cut to half. We consider that round-the clock caregivers for elderly in Austria must receive all the necessary rights and security they need for carrying out their work properly, especially in the context of the pandemic that prevents them from coming home, and also makes their work more difficult," the deputy specified. Rozalia Biro also mentioned that 213 work accidents - of which 10 deadly - have been registered between January 2018 and December 2019 among the Romanian citizens who reside in Austria. Another important cooperation field that can be further developed is the exchange of experience in dual education, said the UDMR MP, who invited the Austrian ambassador to Oradea, to initiate a bilateral project in this respect. "Mrs. Ambassador promised to facilitate the creation of these joint cooperation groups between the Labor Ministries and at parliamentary level. (...) We hope to reach a consensus relatively quickly," concluded Rozalia Biro. PHILADELPHIA, April 15, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Exude, Inc., a consulting firm specializing in Employee Benefits, Human Resources, Diversity/Equity/Inclusion, and Training & Development, is excited to announce the acquisition of Benefits Strategies Consulting, Inc. in Pottstown, PA. Benefits Strategies Consulting, Inc., is an independent health broker with over 27 years of experience, representing mid-sized employers in the Delaware, Lehigh and Lancaster Valley areas. "We are excited to welcome our newest clients to the Exude family and look forward to providing 24/7 customer service and exceptional consulting to create the best possible benefits programs for their employees," said Marcos Lopez, Founder and CEO of Exude. Through this acquisition, Exude will expand its employee benefits reach and client base by bringing on all of Benefits Strategies Consulting's clients as well as their entire staff. This growth allows Exude to further fulfill its mission of changing lives for people who change the world. Exude's newly acquired clients will receive expanded services and offerings, access to a larger account team and additional resources. "When I met Marcos and the Exude team, I instantly knew they were the right match for my firm," said Coletta Robinson, CEO of Benefits Strategies Consulting. "Their commitment to doing right by every employer and employee closely aligned with what I believed in and what was best for my staff and my clients." About Exude: Exude, Inc., founded in 1996, is a consulting firm that focuses on all things people in the areas of Employee Benefits, HR, Diversity/Equity/Inclusion, and Training & Development. We have a firm belief that when we help your people be the best versions of themselves, your company will be its best. Our integrated approach leverages our team of experts to improve your employee and customer experiences while driving greater business results. Today, Exude has 450+ clients ranging from small startups to large businesses. We take pride in our Philly roots, we take pride in the 150+ nonprofits we partner with, and we take pride in being great at All Things People. For more information, please visit www.exudeinc.com or contact us at [email protected] CONTACT: Morgan Dumont, [email protected] SOURCE Exude, Inc. Related Links http://www.eXudeinc.com EMPOWUR extension study demonstrates favorable results in long-term treatment of overactive bladder with GEMTESA, including favorable tolerability and improvements in incontinence efficacy endpoints Urovant Sciences, a wholly owned subsidiary of Sumitovant, announced today that the Journal of Urology has published positive safety and efficacy data from the GEMTESA (vibegron) double-blind 40-week extension study with patient data over a total exposure of 52 weeks (NCT03583372) in the print version of the Journal of Urology. The peer-reviewed publication is currently available online and the print article is scheduled to be published in the May issue of the journal. The published analysis supports the safety and efficacy of GEMTESA for the treatment of overactive bladder (OAB) in patients with symptoms of urge urinary incontinence (UUI), urgency, and urinary frequency. GEMTESA, a once-daily, beta-3 adrenergic agonist, received U.S. Food and Drug Administration approval in December 2020 for the treatment of OAB. Over the total exposure of 52 weeks, starting with the 12-week placebo-controlled phase 3 EMPOWUR study and continuing with the 40-week extension study, 75 mg of GEMTESA continued to demonstrate efficacy and be well tolerated. These data were presented at the virtual American Urological Association (AUA) Annual Meeting in 2020, and are consistent with the results from the EMPOWUR study, where patients receiving treatment with 75 mg GEMTESA experienced reductions in daily micturitions (urination), UUI, urgency, and total urinary incontinence episodes over the 12-week period. GEMTESA also demonstrated a favorable safety profile over 12 weeks. Dr. David Staskin, the principal EMPOWUR study investigator and lead author of the Journal of Urology paper, said, "This peer-reviewed journal publication further highlights the results of the EMPOWUR study over the 52-week period, demonstrating the favorable long-term safety, tolerability and efficacy of GEMTESA in patients with overactive bladder, consistent with results of the 12-week EMPOWUR study. This is a potentially important and differentiated new oral treatment for patients suffering with OAB." Dr. Staskin is a leading urologist with St. Elizabeth's Medical Center, and an Associate Professor of Urology at Tufts University School of Medicine in Boston. A total of 12 patients (2.4%) discontinued owing to adverse events. The most common adverse events with vibegron/tolterodine (active control) that were seen in >5% of patients in either group were hypertension (8.8%/8.6%), urinary tract infection (6.6%/7.3%), headache (5.5%/3.9%), nasopharyngitis (4.8%/5.2%) and dry mouth (1.8%/5.2%). About the EMPOWUR Trial The EMPOWUR trial was an international, randomized, double-blind, placebo and active comparator-controlled phase 3 clinical trial evaluating the safety and efficacy of investigational vibegron in men and women with symptoms of overactive bladder, including frequent urination, sudden urge to urinate, and urge incontinence or leakage. A total of 1,518 patients were randomized across 215 study sites into one of three groups for a 12-week treatment period with a four-week safety follow-up period: vibegron 75 mg administered orally once daily; placebo administered orally once daily; or tolterodine ER 4 mg administered orally once daily. About the 40-Week EMPOWUR Extension The EMPOWUR 40-week extension trial was a phase 3, randomized, double blind, active controlled multicenter study to evaluate the long-term safety and efficacy of vibegron in patients with symptoms of overactive bladder. The extension study enrolled approximately 500 EMPOWUR completers. The primary endpoint was safety, measured by incidence of adverse events. Secondary endpoints were changes from EMPOWUR baseline at week 52 in average daily micturitions, UUI, urgency, and total urinary incontinence. About Urovant Sciences Urovant Sciences is a biopharmaceutical company focused on developing and commercializing innovative therapies for urologic conditions. The Company's lead product, GEMTESA (vibegron), is an oral, once-daily (75 mg) small molecule beta-3 agonist approved by the U.S. FDA in December 2020 for the treatment of adult patients with overactive bladder (OAB) with symptoms of urge urinary incontinence, urgency and urinary frequency. GEMTESA is also being evaluated for the treatment of OAB in men with benign prostatic hyperplasia (OAB+BPH). The Company's second product candidate, URO-902, is a novel gene therapy being developed for patients with OAB who have failed oral pharmacologic therapy. Urovant Sciences, a subsidiary of Sumitovant Biopharma Ltd., intends to develop novel treatments for additional urologic diseases. Learn more about us at www.urovant.com. About Sumitovant Biopharma Ltd. Sumitovant is a global biopharmaceutical company with offices in New York City and London. Sumitovant is a wholly owned subsidiary of Sumitomo Dainippon Pharma. Sumitovant is the majority shareholder of Myovant Sciences and wholly owns Urovant Sciences, Enzyvant Therapeutics, Spirovant Sciences, and Altavant Sciences. Sumitovant's promising pipeline is comprised of early-through late-stage investigational medicines across a range of disease areas targeting high unmet need. For further information about Sumitovant, please visit https://www.sumitovant.com. About Sumitomo Dainippon Pharma Co., Ltd. Sumitomo Dainippon Pharma is among the top-ten listed pharmaceutical companies in Japan, operating globally in major pharmaceutical markets, including Japan, the U.S., China, and the European Union. Sumitomo Dainippon Pharma is based on the 2005 merger between Dainippon Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd., and Sumitomo Pharmaceuticals Co., Ltd. Today, Sumitomo Dainippon Pharma has more than 6,000 employees worldwide. Additional information about Sumitomo Dainippon Pharma is available through its corporate website at https://www.ds-pharma.com. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210415005187/en/ Contacts: Urovant contact: Ryan Kubota 949.769.2706 ryan.kubota@urovant.com The Pottsville Shade Tree Commission planted trees at various locations throughout Pottsville on Wednesday. The bare root trees were ordered through a coalition of municipalities in northeast Pennsylvania coordinated by Vinnie Cotrone, Penn State Extension Urban Forestry. The Pottsville Streets and Parks Department along with a Shade Tree Commission volunteers picked up the trees from Schichtel's Nursery, Williamsport. Each year, Pottsville designates a tree in honor of Joe Orlowsky, a strong city tree advocate. This spring the planting will be at 320 W Market Street along the north side street. The tree will be a European Hornbeam, a shapely tree that is seen along Market Street at Baber Cemetery. Orwigsburg borough and Orwigsburg Business Association coordinated with the Schuylkill County Conservancy to plant London Planes on the Market Street islands and a Ruby Slippers Maple on the sidewalk next to a private residence Wednesday afternoon. On April 30 at noon, a dedication will be held for the newly planted trees. Close An 11-month-old baby has died after being discovered unresponsive in a car at Kingsway Christian College by her distraught mother. Emergency crews rushed to the school in Perths north around 5.40pm Wednesday after the girls mother ran inside the building desperately seeking help. Paramedics provided first aid to the baby but she was unable to be resuscitated. The girls 39-year-old mother had driven to the college to pick up another child from the centres after-school care when the tragedy unfolded in front of horrified staff. The team is excited to launch these new meters and to redeploy the first set into the community to bring together much-needed funds for local nonprofits. After one year in a more passive mode due to the pandemic, Power of Change Frederick is excited to announce a relaunch of the meter donation project on Thursday, April 22, 2021, at 3:30 PM. A small 'relaunching' ceremony will be held to debut the newest meters as part of the project at Federated Charities (20 S. Market Street). Power of Change currently has three meters in the community collecting change for local nonprofits. After the relaunch, numerous other meters will be placed in the community, hosted by local businesses. "During the pandemic, there wasn't much foot traffic, and with the national coin shortage, we thought it was best to pull back on the project a little bit. But behind the scenes, our work continued. We were able to secure a donation of a fleet of parking meters, work to improve the stability and security of the meters, and more," shared project founder Ashley Waters. "The team is excited to launch these new meters and to redeploy the first set into the community to bring together much-needed funds for local nonprofits." Power of Change Frederick debuted in Frederick in 2019 to showcase that the 'whole is often greater than the sum of its parts.' Designed to use recycled parking meters as donation stations, contributions of quarters, dimes, nickels, and pennies are collectively gathered to support the many nonprofit organizations in the Frederick community. This project epitomizes the power of change, both literally and figuratively, and is supported by Federated Charities. The way Scott Morrison spoke this week made it sound like he had finally realised that picking fights with the premiers never pays off in this pandemic. The Prime Minister was telling a business audience in Perth about federal spending on the economic recovery $267 billion, nothing to sneeze at when he assured everyone he was not trying to shame the states about their spending. I dont make that point in any criticism of the state governments at all, he said. He added the same assurance a few moments later. Why say it? Because the audience would naturally suspect another dig at the states after a year of backbiting over infection outbreaks, lockdowns, border controls and the vaccine rollout. Illustration: Simon Letch Credit:The Sydney Morning Herald So Morrison has to go out of his way to tell people he is not criticising the states, just in case too many assume he is. It is a giveaway that he has lost this fight with the premiers and chief ministers, who are riding high on personal popularity while the Prime Minister is stuck in a political rut on vaccines and the treatment of women. Morrison wants to give national cabinet a new lease of life when it starts meeting twice a week from Monday. This is in his own interest, of course. He needs the states to help fix the vaccine rollout. But it is in the national interest, too, because the peak group was not getting results when it was meeting only once a month. OTTAWA - WestJet CEO Ed Sims says the federal government's aid package for Air Canada could be "problematic" unless his company gets equitable treatment, as talks over pandemic relief continue between Ottawa and Canadian carriers. WestJet president and CEO Ed Sims addresses the airline's annual meeting in Calgary, Tuesday, May 7, 2019. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jeff McIntosh OTTAWA - WestJet CEO Ed Sims says the federal government's aid package for Air Canada could be "problematic" unless his company gets equitable treatment, as talks over pandemic relief continue between Ottawa and Canadian carriers. In a memo obtained by The Canadian Press, Sims told employees the government is now the fourth-largest shareholder in their biggest competitor, spurring him to insist on comparable terms at the negotiating table. "It was bittersweet to learn this week of the relief package for our largest competitor. Sweet that the government has finally recognized the vital role airlines play in our national economy. But bitter nonetheless that by total contrast to the U.S. or U.K., our government has not taken a sector-wide approach and has instead chosen to negotiate one by one," he said in the memo. Canada is the only G7 country to steer clear of a sector-specific bailout for the aviation industry. The pandemic relief deal announced Monday grants Air Canada up to $5.4 billion in loans plus a six per cent equity stake in the company for $500 million in exchange for pledges to restore regional routes, cap executive compensation at $1 million and maintain current job levels. Crucially, it also compels Air Canada to refund customers whose flights were cancelled due to COVID-19. The airline reported it held $2.3 billion in advance ticket sales during the fourth quarter of 2020 while thousands of would-be passengers who had already paid for tickets remained in the lurch. Travel restrictions introduced through the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic have been catastrophic for the airline sector, as passenger numbers and profits plummeted and tens of thousands of workers lost their jobs. Sims saidhe is asking the government for new aircraft financing, domestic tourism stimulus and supply-chain reform to avoid price hikes of the sort imposed on carriers last year by Nav Canada, the country's civil air navigation service. Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland said Monday that talks continue with Canadian airlines, including WestJet. Transat AT, which owns Air Transat, and Porter Airlines are also involved in discussions. Transat is requesting a $500-million loan from Ottawa, on top of cash to help cover refunds. It is hoping the two sides can reach an agreement in "the coming weeks," said spokesman Christophe Hennebelle. "We're at an advanced stage," he said, describing the Air Canada package as a "positive sign." Negotiations began in earnest after plans for Air Canada's $190-million acquisition of Transat began to falter in mid-February. Porter, whose planes have not taken off since March 2020, borrowed $135 million from Export Development Canada that same month. Since then it has hoped to receive a government loan rather than handing over a slice of the company to Ottawa via direct investment. "That's probably the main emphasis of those discussions, but we're not going to preclude anything and see what they're willing to offer," said spokesman Brad Cicero. "Air Canada may have provided a bit of a framework with what they agreed to, but not everybody will get a version of the same thing." Mike McNaney, president and chief executive officer of the National Airlines Council of Canada, an industry group, said his eye is on the federal budget, slated to drop on Monday. McNaney said he is hoping for a safe aviation restart strategy that takes advantage of testing and contract tracing while avoiding mandatory vaccine passports, to which he is "absolutely opposed." "It's going to be critical for that sustainment of jobs Canadian jobs and investment and service that we have a clear restart plan developed for both international as well as domestic. We can't lose sight of that," he said. On Thursday, Nav Canada announced it would not reduce service at seven air traffic control towers from Whitehorse to Windsor, Ont., a move it had been mulling amid low flight volumes. "Maintaining appropriate service in our local communities will allow Nav Canada to continue to provide air navigation services required to support industry today and throughout the recovery," Transport Minister Omar Alghabra said in a statement. This report by The Canadian Press was first published April 15, 2021. Companies in this story: (TSX:AC, TSX:TRZ) A police officer tries to control a crowd waiting to board trains at Lokmanya Tilak Terminus in Mumbai, India, Wednesday, April 14, 2021. India's worst-hit and richest state Maharashtra will impose stricter restrictions for 15 days on Wednesday in an effort to stem the surge of coronavirus infections that is threatening to overcome hospitals. (AP Photo/Rafiq Maqbool) India reported more than 200,000 new coronavirus cases Thursday, skyrocketing past 14 million overall as an intensifying outbreak puts a grim weight on its fragile health care system. In the capital, New Delhi, more than a dozen hotels and wedding banquet halls were ordered to be converted into COVID-19 centers attached to hospitals. "The surge is alarming," said S.K. Sarin, a government health expert in New Delhi. The bustle of India's biggest city and financial capital, Mumbai, ebbed under lockdown-like curbs to curb the spread of the virus. The action imposed by worst-hit Maharashtra state Wednesday night closed most industries, businesses and public places and limits the movement of people for 15 days, but didn't stop train and air services. In recent days, migrant workers hauling backpacks have swarmed overcrowded trains leaving Mumbai, an exodus among panic-stricken day laborers. In addition to the 200,739 new cases of infection, the Health Ministry also reported 1,038 fatalities from COVID-19 in the past 24 hours, taking deaths to 173,123 since the pandemic started last year. India's total cases are second behind the United States and its deaths are fourth behind the U.S., Brazil and Mexico. The actual numbers may be much higher with limited testing among India's nearly 1.4 billion people. A stray dogs rests at a deserted Marine Drive following restrictions in Mumbai, India, Wednesday April 14, 2021. The teeming metropolis of Mumbai and other parts of Maharashtra, the Indian state worst hit by the pandemic, face stricter restrictions for 15 days starting Wednesday in an effort to stem the surge of coronavirus infections. (AP Photo/Rajanish Kakade) Shahid Jamil, a virologist, said the recent local and state elections with massive political rallies and a major Hindu festival with hundreds of thousands of devotees bathing in the Ganges river in the northern city of Haridwar were super-spreader events. India is ramping up its vaccination drive. The Health Ministry said the total vaccinations crossed 114 million with more than 3 million doses administered on Wednesday. Hospitals in Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat and several others state were overwhelmed with patients with several hospitals reporting shortage of oxygen cylinders. Cremation and burial grounds in the worst-hit area also were finding it difficult to cope with the increasing number of bodies arriving for last rites, Indian media reports said. Imran Sheikh, a resident of the western city of Pune, said hospital authorities asked him to arrange for an oxygen gas cylinder for his relative undergoing COVID-19 treatment. Security personnel guard near Gateway of India monument in Mumbai, India, Wednesday April 14, 2021. The teeming metropolis of Mumbai and other parts of Maharashtra, the Indian state worst hit by the pandemic, face stricter restrictions for 15 days starting Wednesday in an effort to stem the surge of coronavirus infections. (AP Photo/Rajanish Kakade) A security person patrols at the Marine Drive in Mumbai, India, Wednesday April 14, 2021. The teeming metropolis of Mumbai and other parts of Maharashtra, the Indian state worst hit by the pandemic, face stricter restrictions for 15 days starting Wednesday in an effort to stem the surge of coronavirus infections. (AP Photo/Rajanish Kakade) Deserted road outside Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj train Terminus after restrictions were imposed in Mumbai, India, Wednesday April 14, 2021. The teeming metropolis of Mumbai and other parts of Maharashtra, the Indian state worst hit by the pandemic, face stricter restrictions for 15 days starting Wednesday in an effort to stem the surge of coronavirus infections. (AP Photo/Rajanish Kakade) Muslims offer prayers and break fast on the first day of the holy month of Ramadan at the Jama Mosque, in New Delhi, India, Wednesday, April 14, 2021. Due to the COVID-19 situation only a handful of people turned up. Muslims across the world are observing the holy fasting month of Ramadan, where they refrain from eating, drinking and smoking from dawn to dusk. (AP Photo/Manish Swarup) New Delhi and dozens of other cities and towns imposed night curfews as they battled an infection rate that almost doubled within 11 days. When infections began plummeting in India in September, many concluded the worst had passed. Masks and social distancing were abandoned. When cases began rising again in February, authorities were left scrambling. 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. New Year, Similar Challenges: What fundraising efforts look like in 2021 With 2021 underway, we reached out to Julia Bachelder, Events Manager from Maine Cancer Foundation, to learn about their goals for 2021, and what this year's fundraising events will look like: "Most of our events will again be held virtually this year. Rather than postpone or cancel our fundraisers, we continue to find ways to bring them to life virtually. This requires some creativity, but the show must go on! Cancer has not stopped during the COVID pandemic and the need is immediate. Many screenings have been delayed or cancelled over the past year and Maine Cancer Foundation is committed to ramping up screening grants and getting patients back on track so that cancers can be caught early when they are treatable and beatable." WASHINGTON, April 15, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- In honor of the Federal Employee Education and Assistance Fund's (FEEA) 35th Anniversary, federal employees and their families across the U.S. are joining the Feds in Motion Challenge taking place from May 2 to June 5, 2021. The Challenge kicks off Public Service Recognition Week (#PSRW) and is all about moving walking, running, biking, swimming and/or rolling to reach the goal of 35 miles (or more!) in 35 days. The event also includes a series of Wellness Wednesday workshops on yoga, meditation, stretching, mindful eating, and ergonomics while working at home. FEEA Proceeds benefit FEEA's scholarship, disaster relief, and emergency hardship programs for feds in need. FEEA is the national, independent, non-profit 501c3 organization for federal employees and by federal employees. The event is being supported by a number of businesses, unions, associations, and individuals, including the Blue Cross Blue Shield Federal Employee Program as the Platinum Sponsor and WAEPA and GEHA as Gold Sponsors. Learn more about the event and FEEA at feea.org/challenge. Over the last 35 years, FEEA has: Given 13,000 no-fee, no-interest hardship loans to help make ends meet during personal tragedies like illness, death of a loved one or house fires; Given nearly 14,000 families grants for wildfires, hurricanes, and other natural disasters, as well as for groceries, fuel, and diapers during the longest government shutdown in U.S. history; Provided over 11,000 merit-based scholarships to federal public servants and their children and spouses; and Distributed more than 5,000 cloth masks early in the pandemic to frontline federal employees and enrolled over 9,000 children in grades K-12 in FEEA's free, online tutoring program. For More Information, Contact: Joyce Warner, Executive Director, FEEA Tel: 202-554-0007, ext. 101 Email: [email protected] Related Images feds-in-motion-logo.jpg Feds in Motion Logo SOURCE FEEA Credit: CC0 Public Domain A new study estimates the years of employment loss experienced by working-aged adults with kidney failure. The study, which will appear in an upcoming issue of CJASN, notes that most of this lost time is due to patients' loss of life expectancy. Individuals with kidney failure who are undergoing long-term dialysis face many challenges that can negatively affect their employment and their ability to work. A team led by Chang-Ching Lin, Ph.D. (National Cheng Kung University) examined aspects of lost employment among dialysis patients until 65 years of age. The researchers analyzed information on patients initiating dialysis in Taiwan during 2000-2017. Among 83,358 patients with kidney failure under age 65 years, men had a higher rate of employment than women. The lifetime duration of lost employment for men with kidney failure was 11.8, 7.6, 5.7, 3.8, 2.3, 1.0, and 0.2 years for those in the age range of 25-34, 35-40, 41-45, 46-50, 51-55, 56-60, and 61-64 years, respectively, while that of women was 10.5, 10.1, 7.9, 5.6, 3.3, 1.5, and 0.3 years, respectively. Additional analyses revealed that the lower lifetime employment duration was mainly driven by patients' loss of life expectancy. "This highlights the phenomenon that many patients with kidney failure in Taiwan remain as productive as those without kidney failure throughout their lifetime, and their contributions should be appreciated from a societal perspective," said Dr. Lin. An accompanying Patient Voice provides a personal account of how kidney failure and its treatment have affected the employment and family dynamics of one particular patient. Explore further Study examines antibody response to COVID-19 vaccination in patients with kidney failure More information: Erich Ditschman, A Dialysis Patient's View on Dialysis Employment Loss, Clinical Journal of the American Society of Nephrology (2021). Erich Ditschman, A Dialysis Patient's View on Dialysis Employment Loss,(2021). DOI: 10.2215/CJN.03450321 Yu-Tzu Chang et al. Estimated Loss of Lifetime Employment Duration for Patients Undergoing Maintenance Dialysis in Taiwan, Clinical Journal of the American Society of Nephrology (2021). DOI: 10.2215/CJN.13480820 Journal information: Clinical Journal of the American Society of Nephrology Flash Chinese President Xi Jinping poses for a group photo with ambassadors at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, capital of China, April 14, 2021. [Photo/Xinhua] President Xi Jinping on Wednesday received the credentials of new ambassadors to China from 29 countries at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing. The ambassadors are: -- Javid Ahmad Qaem from Afghanistan. -- Georgios Iliopoulos from Greece. -- Tarik Bukvic from Bosnia and Herzegovina. -- Jean Louis Robinson from Madagascar. -- Luca Ferrari from Italy. -- Abrao Dos Santos from Timor-Leste. -- KS (Vincent) Sivas from the Federated States of Micronesia. -- Gafar Karar Ahmed K. from Sudan. -- Alain Wong Yen Cheong from Mauritius. -- Mahendra Bahadur Pandey from Nepal. -- Moin Ul Haque from Pakistan. -- Dumitru Braghis from Moldova. -- Thomas Oestrup Moeller from Denmark. -- Jan Hoogmartens from Belgium. -- Nasser Al Busaidi from Oman. -- Masanneh Nyuku Kinteh from Gambia. -- Saidzoda Zohir from Tajikistan. -- Caroline E. Wilson from the U.K. -- Felix Plasencia from Venezuela. -- Tarumi Hideo from Japan. -- Siyabonga C. Cwele from South Africa. -- Palitha Kohona from Sri Lanka. -- Senko Yury from Belarus. -- Ann Derwin from Ireland. -- Irit Ben Abba from Israel. -- Antonio Serifo Embalo from Guinea-Bissau. -- Ri Ryong Nam from the Democratic People's Republic of Korea. -- Shorsh Khalid Said from Iraq. -- Sabino Vaca Narvaja from Argentina. Siddharth Chatterjee, the new United Nations resident coordinator in China, submitted a letter of appointment. Xi took a group photo with the envoys and delivered a speech. He asked them to convey his good wishes to the leaders of their countries. He said that over the past year, the Chinese people and the people of other countries have worked together to fight the COVID-19 pandemic, writing a new chapter in the history of global friendly cooperation. This year marks the 100th anniversary of the founding of the Communist Party of China and it is also the first year for China to implement its 14th Five-Year Plan and embark on a new journey to fully building a modern socialist country, Xi said. He said China will firmly implement its new development philosophy and actively forge a new development paradigm so that its development will better benefit the peoples of all countries. This year also marks the 50th anniversary of the restoration of the lawful seat of the People's Republic of China in the United Nations, and the 20th anniversary of China's accession to the World Trade Organization. Xi said China stands ready to work with other countries to firmly support multilateralism, safeguard the international system with the United Nations as the core and the international order based on international laws, staunchly safeguard the multilateral trade system, firmly advance the construction of the global governance system, and promote the construction of a community with a shared future for mankind. The Beijing Winter Olympics will be held next year, Xi said. "We have confidence that with the active support and participation of all parties, we will overcome the impact of the pandemic and host the games in a simple, safe, and wonderful manner." Xi stressed that the Chinese people always cherish friendship and love peace, stand ready to deepen friendship, enhance mutual trust and expand cooperation with people from all countries on the basis of equality and mutual benefits, and jointly build the Belt and Road with high quality. He expressed the hope that the envoys will make active contributions to the promotion of bilateral relations as well as the cooperation between the United Nations and China. Wang Yi attended the event. FCC Commissioner: Close Loophole Allowing Chinese Telecoms to Access US Networks Americans have come to understand the national security threat posed by China-based telecom companies, but they might be surprised to learn that equipment from the telecom firms continues to be used in U.S. networks, according to Brendan Carr, Federal Communication Commission (FCC) commissioner. The FCC in 2020 banned carriers in the United States from using an $8.3 billion federal fund to purchase equipment from China-based telecom companies Huawei and ZTE after deeming them to be national security threats. However, carriers are allowed to buy and use the exact same equipment as long as they use private funds. To me, that is a glaring loophole that makes no sense, Carr said in a recent interview with The Epoch Times American Thought Leaders program. The commissioner highlighted the espionage risk posed by China-based technology firms. Under Chinese laws, these companies basically have to fork over any information or data that the communist party might be seeking. Carr said the FCC has evidence of an unnamed carrier controlled by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) taking internet traffic originating in California and destined for Washington, D.C., and rerouting the traffic through Guangzhou, China. You dont need to be a network engineer to understand that route is not the most efficient way to route traffic if what you cared about was simply delivering the data in an efficient manner, he said. China Telecom, a state-owned company, has previously attracted scrutiny for diverting overseas internet traffic through China in several instances, raising concerns about whether the data was accessed by the communist regime. China-based companies cant be trusted to comply with laws in the West, Carr said. Theres no world in which you can have a company like Huawei that engages in the race-based surveillance and other practices in China, and yet create a wall in which theyre going to respect Western values when they do business in America, he said. Just like how the concept of one country, two systems is failing in Hong Kong, the idea that China-based telecom companies can engage with the United States under the banner of one company, two systems is going to be equally untenable, Carr said. One country, two systems is the framework under which Chinas communist regime had promised to rule Hong Kong when sovereignty was transferred from Britain in 1997. Beijing had pledged to allow the city autonomy and freedoms not enjoyed in the mainland. But over the years, especially in the past 12 months, the regime has moved to drastically curtail freedoms and democracy in the city, effectively reneging on this promise. The FCC is engaging in a process called rip and replace in which they seek to replace network gear from Huawei and ZTE already installed in the United States. Congress approved $1.9 billion to fund the removal of such equipment in December 2020. In 2019, the FCC banned China Mobile, one of the largest cellular carriers in the world, from the U.S. market. It has also moved toward barring three other China-based telecom carriers due to national security concerns. Carr is also proposing that the FCC demand companies that import devices into the country prove there isnt slave labor involved in those products. The CCP has forced Uyghurs detained in Chinas Xinjiang region to work in factories and fields as part of an expansion campaign of repression. We cant let communist China profit from their forced labor practices, Carr said. Golden Bridge Awards by Globee All organizations operating anywhere in the world - large to small and startups, government, public and private, for-profit and non-profit are eligible to submit nominations to the 2021 Golden Bridge Awards in a wide range of categories honoring achievement in every aspect of business + work life. The Globee Awards organizer of worlds premier business awards programs and business ranking lists is now accepting nominations and entries for the 2021 Golden Bridge Business and Innovation Awards. To celebrate achievements Globee Awards has introduced new commemorative items. The Golden Bridge Awards are the worlds premier business awards program honoring achievements in every industry around the world. Everyone deserves commendation for job well done. Identify, recognize, and nominate talented executives, professionals, and employees for their achievements no matter how small or large. There are many categories in which your organization, products and services, and the people behind their success can be nominated. Categories are classified under the following groups: People | Innovator, Lifetime Achievement, Maverick, and Women Awards Categories Group People | Entrepreneur Awards Categories Group People | Executive, Management, and Professionals Awards Categories Group People | Professional and Staffer (non-executive) of the Year New Product & Service Innovation | AI, Information Technology & Cyber Security Awards Categories Group New Product & Service Innovation | Content Technologies and Information Management Awards Categories Group New Product & Service Innovation | Education Awards Categories Group New Product & Service Innovation | Energy/CleanTech Industry Awards Categories New Product & Service Innovation | Health Care Awards Categories Group New Product & Service Innovation | Industry and Vertical Markets Awards Categories Group New Product & Service Innovation | Best New Product or Service Awards Categories Group Product & Service Development | People Awards Categories Group Product & Service Development | Campaign, Outstanding Achievement, Project or Initiative, and Team-Department Awards Categories Group Company | Innovative Company of the Year Awards Categories Group Company | Best Company Awards Categories Group Company | Startup Awards Categories Group Corporate Communications and PR | People Awards Categories Group Corporate Communications and PR | Campaign, Outstanding Achievement, Project or Initiative, and Team-Department Awards Categories Group Creative | App & Mobile Website Awards Categories Creative | Live Events Awards Categories Creative | Publications and Print Awards Categories Creative | Digital and Online Campaign Awards Categories Creative | Video, Commercial, Advertising, and Film Awards Categories Creative | Web, Social Media, and Online Presence Awards Categories Creative | Campaign, Outstanding Achievement, Project or Initiative, and Team-Department Awards Categories Group Customer Service & Support | People Awards Categories Group Customer Service & Support | Campaign, Outstanding Achievement, Project or Initiative, and Team-Department Awards Categories Group Customer Success of the Year Awards Categories Group Human Resources | People Awards Categories Group Human Resources | Campaign, Outstanding Achievement, Project or Initiative, and Team-Department Awards Categories Group Information Technology Users | People Awards Categories Group Information Technology Users | Campaign, Outstanding Achievement, Project or Initiative, and Team-Department Awards Categories Group Marketing | People Awards Categories Group Marketing | Campaign, Outstanding Achievement, Project or Initiative, and Team-Department Awards Categories Group Milestone of the Year Awards Categories Group COVID-19 Business Response Awards Categories Group All new products and services nominated in the new product awards categories of this years Golden Bridge Awards will be eligible to participate in the Peoples Choice Globee Awards for Favorite Product-Service of the Year. Learn more about the 2021 Golden Bridge Awards and how to nominate here: https://globeeawards.com/golden-bridge-awards/ Winners of previous years are listed here: https://globeeawards.com/golden-bridge-awards/winners/ Stay posted and read success stories of organizations by subscribing to the Globee Newsletter: https://globeeawards.com/subscribe/ A worldwide judging panel of executives and professionals representing a wide-spectrum of industries will determine the winners. Winners will be presented and honored in a virtual ceremony attended by the finalists, winners, judges and industry peers from all over the world. Industry experts and end-users or consumers of product and services can participate in the judging process. More details to register as an industry expert and help as a judge are available at https://globeeawards.com/golden-bridge-awards/judges/ Some of the organizations that have won in the past include HatchWorks Technologies, Cloudbric, Poly, IBM, UniWill Ventures, Wolters Kluwers ELM Solutions, Federal Competitiveness and Statistics Authority, Rise Interactive, Marqeta, ManagedMethods, EZPack Water Ltd., Centene Corporation, Jaco Products, Applied Systems, PeopleReady, ZOME Energy Networks, Norhart, Nu Skin Enterprises, GROUNDFLOOR, ADP, IGEL, United Natural Foods, Inc., Spinnova, Community Policing, Reverd.com, Novatek Apps, Student Shelter In Computers, Jeunesse Global, Ultimate Software, Thermo Fisher Scientific, Steven Plochocki, Zyter, Houston Methodist Hospital, Cebuana Lhuillier, Brainshark, Altimetrik, Generation Amazing, GoCanvas, Chronicled, Cisco CX Managed Services, mnAI, Alcide, Medigate, Full Sail University, Mylo, AVer Information, iboss, 4Life Research, ZIRAATBANK, CSS Corp, The Audacious Agency, Cepheid, KERLINK & UNHCR, Verizon Connect, Humanitix, eSight, Bitglass, New Heights Educational Group, Epson America, Inc., Sage Intacct, Zero Networks, Centage Corporation, Chargebacks911, Spirion, Jumio, ModSquad, Tigerspike a Concentrix Company, Dell Technologies Education Services, Mentor Collective, PayMotion, Innover, Vyvo Corp, Stefanini Group, KEO Marketing Inc, Thechuppahs- Trend Rentals, Loom Solar Private Limited, Lenovo Technology SDN BHD (Lenovo Malaysia), Digital Air Strike, Point3 Security, Wolters Kluwers CT Corporation, Rimini Street, Inc, BillingPlatform, MorrisCookies Science & Development OU, Ingenious e-Brain Solutions, HomeServe USA, Samsung Electronics, Bensonhurst Center for Rehabilitation and Healthcare, MiraClick Affiliate Network, PJ Lhuillier, Inc., iTalent Digital, SYSPRO, beinc., Ordr, IPification, Platform Science, iPipeline, Verint Fraud & Security Solutions, Digital.ai, g2o, Legacy Events Group Ltd, Untangle, Inc., 7 Stage Advisors, 6sense, DeepCube, Great Eagle Holdings Limited, ARIIX, Philo, Rockwell Automation, Solv by Concentrix, TRIANZ, Semperis, Yottaa, 1touch.io, Chime Technologies, Impartner, Red Media Africa, Vivial, Inspired eLearning, LLC., Tech CU, The Insides Company, JazzHR, Updox, Envolve, Code42, ITC Infotech, Kannaway, Jack Henry & Associates, Withings, Waggl, Wolters Kluwer Legal & Regulatory U.S., FogHorn, TAC Security, SecurityMetrics, ZecOps, Pape Group, The State of Utah, LionOBytes, RevBits, ShipMonk, MindTickle, Greenway Health, VEMPOWERALL, Cardinal Group Companies, Dubai Electricity & Water Authority, IKIO LED LIGHTING, Wolters Kluwer, Spirion, Illinois College, Dubai Electricity and Water Authority, FM:Systems, Acceptto, BigID, Wolters Kluwer Lien Solutions, SaltStack, PRO Unlimited, Luminance Technologies Ltd, Spirion and TaxSlayer, Centene, PR WIRE, Cisco Systems, Inc., International Paper, Clean Energy Fuels Corp., Adversa, Avalance Global Solutions, Biz News Connect, American Psychological Association, HUYA Bioscience International (HUYABIO), Vertafore, Paypal, hc1, Board of Certification/Accreditation (BOC), Nextivity Inc., ROBOZE, Ness Digital Engineering, EXL Service Inc., Izaros Consulting, Florence, Verifi, A Visa Solution, ProfitSword, Intermedia, SmartBeings Inc., Adaptiva, CV19Dashboard.org, Cybera, Artificial Intelligence, Hinduja Global Solutions (HGS), Loop, The Crypsis Group, Rimini Street Foundation, Advantexe Learning Solutions, Luminance, Empire Today, LLC., Rohde & Schwarz, Makers Nutrition, Improovy, Inc., 1906, L&T Technology Services Limited, Jack Henry & Associates, Inc., MemVerge, Forward Networks, Emirates Central Cooling Systems Corporation (Empower), Darktrace, Botkeeper, Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality Public Relations Department, Sumsub, Enablon, Grokker, ASG Technologies, Silverfort, DivvyCloud, Lookout, Concentrix Solv, Tata Consultancy Services, LTD, NexxtGen, 70 Million Jobs, Hayes, SmartBeings, CT Corporation, a Wolters Kluwer company, Nexxt Gen Corporation, Orange Romania, RevBits Cyber Security Solutions, Jasco Products, Medical Marijuana, Inc., N2W Software, Senior Placement Services, IBM Quote to Cash Operations, 2Checkout, Solatube International, ROCSOLE, MUFG Americas, Wolters Kluwer Tax & Accounting, AppViewX Inc., Vonage, Napatech Inc., Concentrix, Indio, Branch Insurance, KnowBe4, UnitedHealth Group (UHG) Optum, and Young Living Essential Oils About the Golden Bridge Awards The coveted annual Golden Bridge Awards program recognizes and honors the worlds best in organizational performance, products and services, innovations, executives and management teams, women in business and the professions, case studies and successful deployments, public relations and marketing campaigns, product management, websites, blogs, white-papers, videos, advertisements, creativity, partner programs, and customer satisfaction programs from every major industry in the world. About the Globee Awards Globee Awards are conferred in eleven programs and competition: American Best in Business Awards, Business Excellence Awards (Best Employers), CEO World Awards, Communications Excellence Awards, Customer Sales & Service World Awards, Cyber Security Global Excellence Awards, Disruptor Awards, Golden Bridge Awards, International Best in Business Awards, IT World Awards for Information Technology and Cyber Security, and the Women World Awards. Honoring organizations of all types and sizes and the people behind their success, the Globee Awards recognize outstanding achievements and performances in businesses worldwide. Learn more about the Globee Awards at https://globeeawards.com All trademarks belong to their respective owners. Fresh CEO rush shakes up Vietnams banking arena, photo Le Toan In February, Shinhan Bank Vietnam named Lee Taekyung, former CEO of Shinhan Bank Cambodia, as new CEO of the local franchise. With 29 years of experience under his belt, Taekyung has been in charge of various positions of strategy, planning, risk management, and marketing, among others. He previously took the helm as head of the Global Business Division of Shinhan Bank Korea and gained working experience at Shinhan Bank America and Shinhan Bank Cambodia. In the latter, Taekyung doubled the size of the bank, including assets, profits, the number of branches, and employees in just two years. In the ever-evolving financial landscape, customers needs will change quickly. We must be a bank that keeps pace with customer changes with customer-oriented value as the top priority, he noted. Vietnam is the most important country globally for Shinhan Financial Group, and we sincerely appreciate all of the customers. Shinhan Bank Vietnam will continue to expand corporate social responsibility activities in Vietnam and contribute more to society. Standard Chartered Vietnam also appointed a new CEO in February. Michele Wee, a seasoned banker with over 25 years of industry experience, joined Standard Chartered in 2011 as global head of E-commerce Sales to build a business distribution channel for the banks Financial Markets (FM) clients. Prior to her appointment as CEO in this country, she was the head of FM for Singapore, Australia, and Brunei, in which she was responsible for the development and execution of these markets FM strategy. Vietnam is an important market for our global network with significant opportunities to develop our businesses with universal banking capabilities. My key focus will be on providing valuable support and benefits to our clients, regulators, and the communities, building on our unrivalled local knowledge and international expertise, Wee said. She takes over the reins from Nirukt Sapru who was appointed as CEO for Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia in 2013, and in 2015 took on the expanded role as the regional CEO for ASEAN and South Asia cluster markets including Australia, Brunei, Nepal, the Philippines, and Sri Lanka. Last year, the Vietnamese subsidiary of Deutsche Bank appointed Huynh Buu Quang, former CEO of Maritime Bank (MSB), as its acting CEO. Quang had served as the CEO of locally-invested bank MSB for four years. He has 25 years of experience in the banking and financial sector and had previously held senior positions at HSBC. Deutsche Banks Asia-Pacific CEO Alexander von zur Muehlen said, With Vietnam a key growth market for our bank in ASEAN, we are delighted to have an individual of Quangs calibre and experience leading the next phase in the expansion of the local franchise. In the region, Deutsche Bank AG has a long track record in providing corporate finance and advisory solutions to Vietnamese corporates, leading a number of notable capital market transactions. The banks expertise in loans and structured finance is also well known. Since 2017, Deutsche Bank has raised more than $1 billion in debt, loan and equity capital annually for Vietnamese corporates. The German lender confirmed its commitment in Vietnam to support higher trade flows from Europe, which are expected to increase following the recently ratified EU-Vietnam Free Trade Agreement. Specifically, major Thai bank Kasikornbank received approval from the State Bank of Vietnam to open its Ho Chi Minh City branch in February. Kasikornbank aims to serve Thai business customers and clients of all shapes and sizes who have invested in Vietnam, as well as local retail customers. It targets lending of 10 billion baht ($318 million) in its first year of operation while also investing in startups with the aim of scouting advanced digital technologies for increased business opportunities. Kasikornbank has used the knowledge gained from services offered at its two representative offices in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City in order to upgrade the representative office in Ho Chi Minh City to a bank branch. It will focus on offering services to Thai, Chinese, Japanese, and South Korean companies wishing to expand their businesses in Vietnam for international trade and investment, as well as local entrepreneurs, especially those conducting business with Thai corporate customers of Kasikornbank, the bank stated. Elsewhere, Mizuho Financial Group, one of Japans largest financial groups, appointed managing executive officer of its banking unit Masahiko Katoas the new CEO of the bank in February. City Editor Tom Roeder is the Gazette's City Editor. In Colorado Springs since 2003, Tom has covered the military at home and overseas and has cover statehouses in Denver and Olympia, Wash. His main job, though, is being dad to two great kids. WASHINGTON, April 15, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- The shortfin mako shark is a step closer to listing under the U.S. Endangered Species Act (ESA) as the Biden Administration prepares for international negotiations on protecting the exceptionally depleted North Atlantic population. The National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) today announced its "90-day finding" that a Defenders of Wildlife petition presents substantial information indicating ESA listing may be warranted. NMFS will commence a comprehensive status review at the same time that the agency considers its 2021 stance on a science-based international North Atlantic shortfin mako ban that has been stalled for years, due largely to U.S. opposition. "North Atlantic shortfin mako depletion is among the world's most pressing shark conservation crises, and the U.S. is critical to achieving the multilateral ban needed to stem the decline," said Sonja Fordham, President of Shark Advocates International. "While in recent years the U.S. has been an obstacle to international Atlantic mako protections, the Biden Administration's commitment to science and today's filing which highlights makos' exceptional susceptibility to overfishing -- give us hope that the government will change course and heed scientific advice in time to help save the beleaguered North Atlantic population from collapse." Scientists estimate that North Atlantic shortfin makos could take five decades to recover, even if fishing stops immediately. They began recommending a complete retention ban for this population in 2017. Canada and Senegal, with support from 15 other nations, have been leading an effort to secure the recommended ban under the International Commission for Conservation of Atlantic Tunas (ICCAT) since 2019. Competing proposals from the U.S. and European Union have prevented consensus. Makos are valued for meat, fins, and sport. They are fished by many nations yet not subject to international quotas. The U.S. has ranked fourth for North Atlantic shortfin mako landings in recent years. Makos are classified as Endangered on the IUCN Red List. ICCAT mako negotiations resume in May with an eye to reaching agreement in July. A final determination on ESA listing is due by January 2022. Shark Advocates International (SAI) is a project of The Ocean Foundation dedicated to securing science-based shark policies. SAI, Shark Trust, Ecology Action Centre, and Project AWARE, with support from the Shark Conservation Fund, formed the Shark League to improve ICCAT policies. SOURCE Shark Advocates International; The Ocean Foundation Related Links http://oceanfdn.org Vancouver, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - April 15, 2021) - Slave Lake Zinc (CSE: SLZ) ("Slave Lake" or "the Company") signed a Collaboration Agreement on September 30, 2020 with the Northwest Territory Metis Nation, including representatives from the communities of Fort Resolution, Fort Smith and Hay River. With this agreement, the company has the full support of the Northwest Territory Metis Nation to work together for the benefit of all parties and the environment. The Collaboration Agreement opens the door for Slave Lake to explore areas of historic interest in the region on which the Company will apply modern exploration technology for the first time in over fifty years. The Company's O'Connor Lake property has significant historical infrastructure from the 1950s, including a 45-kilometer winter access road, 62 drill holes totalling 4124 meters, a three-compartment shaft sunk to a depth of 55 meters (180 feet) and a drift station cut at 45 meters to access the vein system. A 26.3-ton bulk sample, sent to the Trail smelter, graded 55.0% Pb, 13.5% Zn and 2.7 OPT Ag. (These results are historical in nature and not compliant with current NI 43-101 reporting standards). Due to low metal prices at the time, further development was placed on hold. With today's current environment of short supply of the base metals necessary for upgrading North America's infrastructure and consequently rising prices, Slave Lake has determined that the current climate is favorable for advancing mineral exploration and potential development at O'Connor Lake. The Company has initiated the 2021 work program with a 880-line kilometer airborne survey to measure magnetic and electromagnetic response across the property. Upon completion of this program, the Company will design the appropriate follow up groundwork. Appointment of Steven Zadka as Director of the Company The Company is pleased to announce the appointment of Mr. Steven Zadka as director of the Company effective immediately. Mr. Zadka is a visionary entrepreneur and mining executive. Mr. Zadka started his career over 15 years ago with a simple task in mind of utilizing financial strength to realize commercial potential of an asset where value is understood. With his vision, he has come to the forefront of the natural resources and mining industries in his current executive chairman role at Cerro de Pasco Resources Inc. Mr. Zadka also has extensive experience in Investment banking, capital markets, M&A, and corporate finance, with focus on the metals and mining industry. Mr. Zadka previously held the title of Managing director at Sunrise Securities LLC / INTE Securities, a New York City based Investment Bank. Prior to that, Mr. Zadka was an investment banker at Adar Capital Advisors, associate at Casimir Capital LP, and senior consultant at Mine Management. Mr. Zadka holds a B.S. from Baruch College in New York City. Ritch Wigham, CEO of the Company, said: "We are most pleased to welcome Steven Zadka to the Board as he brings a wealth of experience and knowledge to our team." The technical information within this news release has been reviewed and approved by Gary Vivian, P.Geo., a qualified person under National Instrument 43-101. On Behalf of the Board of Directors, Slave Lake Zinc Corp. Per: Ritch Wigham CEO & Director Phone: 604-396-5762 Email: rwigham@zinccorp.ca Neither the Canadian Securities Exchange nor its regulation services provider has reviewed or accepted responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of the content of this news release Forward-Looking Statement Statements in this news release that are forward-looking statements are subject to various risks and uncertainties concerning the specific factors disclosed here and elsewhere in both Slave Lake Zinc's periodic filings with Canadian securities regulators. When used in this news release, words such as "will", "plan", "estimate", "expect", "intend", "potential", "should," and similar expressions, are forward-looking statements. Information provided in this document is necessarily summarized and may not contain all available material information. Forward-looking statements include, without limitation, statements regarding the progress of a definitive offtake agreement, potential development and production at the Company's O'Connor lake project, future oriented events and other statements that are not facts. Forward-looking statements are based on a few assumptions and estimates that, while considered reasonable by management based on the business and markets in which Slave Lake Zinc operates, are inherently subject to significant operational, economic and competitive uncertainties and contingencies. Such forward-looking statements should therefore be construed in light of such factors. Although Slave Lake Zinc has attempted to identify important factors that could cause actual results, performance or achievements to differ materially from those contained in the forward-looking statements, there can be other factors that cause results, performance or achievements not to be as anticipated, estimated or intended. There can be no assurance that such information will prove to be accurate or that management's expectations or estimates of future developments, circumstances or results will materialize. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements. The forward-looking statements in this news release are made as of the date of this news release, and Slave Lake Zinc disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise such information, except as required by applicable law, and Slave Lake Zinc does not assume any liability for disclosure relating to any other company herein. To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/80514 "When you look at all vaccines, most vaccines don't achieve that number," Thomas said. "So it's really incredible." Anderson highlighted the importance of the vaccines, especially as new variants emerge that can threaten the progress of the vaccination effort. In New York, nearly 40% of residents have received at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine. One-quarter of residents have been fully vaccinated. However, the variants could fuel a potential fourth wave of the virus. Anderson said one variant, B117, has been found in 44% of positive cases in the U.S., up from 4% in January. There has been increased transmission in certain parts of the country, particularly in the Northeast and Midwest. There are also more cases among young people. "We're really at a unique and critical point," Anderson said. "The vaccines do offer us a path to return to some normalcy." During the question-and-answer period, there was a range of queries from Katko's constituents. One caller from Auburn asked about the mRNA technology and the long-term effects of the vaccine. Anderson said they have heard those concerns. She described mRNA as a "temporary code that gets into your cell, and then that mRNA is destroyed." It doesn't get into your DNA, she added, and it doesn't remain in your body for a long period. ROCHESTER, Minn. - Health experts are concerned the current pause on administering the Johnson & Johnson vaccine will make more people hesitant to get vaccinated. The pause comes as six women were found to have rare blood clots possibly associated with J&J vaccines. FILE - In this Thursday, April 8, 2021 file photo, the Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccine sits on a table at a pop up vaccinations site the Albanian Islamic Cultural Center, in the Staten Island borough of New York. The U.S. is recommending a pause in a FILE - In this Thursday, April 8, 2021 file photo, the Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccine sits on a table at a pop up vaccinations site the Albanian Islamic Cultural Center, in the Staten Island borough of New York. The U.S. is recommending a pause in a Olmsted County Public Health says blood clots from the vaccine are extremely rare. So far only six out of around 7.5 million people who have received the J&J vaccine have been impacted. However, if you were vaccinated from three days to three weeks ago and are experiencing severe head, abdominal or leg pain or shortness of breath there may be cause for concern. So far the blood clots have only been found in women ages 18 to 48. Dr. Melanie Swift with Mayo Clinic does say catching the rare and unusual blood clots should actually inspire confidence in the vaccine process since the issue was pinpointed so early and so quickly. She explained, Thinking deeply about this should bolster vaccine confidence but inevitably there will be people who focus on the negative outcomes and so I just hope we can keep people aware of the message that this really does emphasize that there is a safety net and it does catch things early. If its been a month since youve received the J&J vaccine health officials dont believe youre at risk. There have been no cases confirmed in Minnesota at this point but public health and Mayo Clinic have been working to educate the community to prevent misinformation and vaccine hesitancy. Public health director Graham Briggs explained how staff have been working with the community for months, to hear back about concerns or hesitancy or confidence in vaccine or if there are issues that are coming up. I know we're not hearing back about individuals who have had symptoms or anything like that and we're providing this message about the pause on Johnson and Johnson as well as part of our education and outreach in the community too. For the time being Mayo Clinic says the health system has been able to switch out the J&J vaccine for the Pfizer or Moderna for specific scheduled events. The CDC has yet to make an announcement on when, or if, the Johnson and Johnson vaccine will resume. Prime Minister Florin Citu said on Thursday that the presence of Save Romania Union - Party of Liberty, Unity and Solidarity (USR PLUS) ministers at the Government meeting was an "important" step in unblocking the political situation in Romania. "In today's Government meeting, I thanked my colleagues that they found the strength to overcome the decision they made yesterday and that they understood that it is much more important to come, to solve important problems for Romania. It was my message to my colleagues, and I thank them again. They have taken an important step in unblocking the situation we are in today," the prime minister told a news conference at Victoria Palace of Government, agerpres.ro confirms. "Romania is going through a difficult period and it is important that we are all here for Romanians," he stressed. Asked how he responds to the reproach of USR PLUS that the representatives of the alliance were not announced in advance about the intention to remove Vlad Voiculescu from the position of Minister of Health, Florin Citu stated that he was surprised by such an approach, because the leaders of the governing coalition had announced that they wouldn't question the prime minister's duties. "In the coalition meeting on Monday it was very clear, from my point of view. The constitutional powers of the prime minister were discussed. These duties are to evaluate and to propose, when he decides, the revocation, the replacement of a minister. All I did was to exercise my constitutional powers, and at that meeting all party leaders agreed that these were the prime minister's duties and would never challenge or question the prime minister's constitutional powers. This was Monday's conclusion. That's were we left it that day," Citu specified. Spare a thought for NSW Parliamentary Secretary Gabrielle Upton who got caught up in a sizeable but relatable tech fail on Thursday when she clicked Reply All to an email invitation and released a serious number of heavyweight email addresses in the process. Gabrielle Upton is Parliamentary Secretary to the NSW Premier. Credit:Renee Nowytarger And it wasnt just any invitation. The Vaucluse MP accidentally circulated her response and the email address of every other invitee to the Business Council of Australias annual dinner to be held on Monday evening in Sydney. The dinner for the industry group led by Jennifer Westacott and chaired by former MYOB chief executive Tim Reed is a fixture in the corporate diary for attracting some of business heaviest hitters. The Prime Minister is a regular, as are a slew of ministers and industry top brass including department heads such as Prime Minister and Cabinet secretary Phil Gaetjens. According to the email response circulated, Telstra chief executive Andy Penn is on the invitation list, as is Transurban chief executive Scott Charlton, Mirvac boss Susan Lloyd-Hurwitz, former David Jones director Katie Lahey and Cochlear chief executive Dig Howitt. The war in Afghanistan was always a U.S.-led NATO operation, and on Wednesday, the 30-member alliance unanimously agreed to follow President Biden's lead and withdraw all its forces from the country by Sept. 11. As in the U.S., the European reaction to Biden's announcement was positively ambivalent. The decision was "unanimous," NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said in a press conference after Wednesday's closed-door meeting. "This is not an easy decision and it entails risks," he added, but "we've said for many months we face a dilemma, because the alternative to leaving in an orderly fashion is to be prepared for a long-term, open-ended military commitment with potentially more NATO troops." U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin both attended the meeting in Brussels. A European official told The Washington Post that Austin set the tone by strongly endorsing Biden's plan, referencing his military service and personal knowledge of the sacrifices NATO forces made in Afghanistan. The officials from the other member states broadly supported the plan, the official said, but there was some grumbling from the Czech Republic and Belgium. Blinken and Austin both said publicly that the U.S. and NATO achieved their main objective in Afghanistan, neutralizing the ability of Al Qaeda to use the country as a base for terrorism. After Al Qaeda launched an attack on the U.S. from Afghanistan, NATO invoked its Article 5 mutual-defense clause for the first time, and there are now more non-U.S. NATO troops in the country, about 7,000, than America's 2,500-strong force. "As long as the U.S. consults, gives at least a veneer of co-decision, and withdraws responsibly enough that it doesn't leave the Europeans high and dry, then the Europeans won't be hard to deal with on this issue," Jeremy Shapiro, research director at the European Council on Foreign Relations, told the Post. "In the end, the Europeans went into Afghanistan for America and NATO; they'll accept to leave for the same reasons." More stories from theweek.com Biden bungles the politics of refugees Marjorie Taylor Greene is leading an 'America First Caucus' that wants to uphold 'Anglo-Saxon political traditions' 5 colossally funny cartoons about Biden's infrastructure plan AM Best has affirmed the Financial Strength Rating of A (Excellent) and the Long-Term Issuer Credit Rating of "a" of Oman Insurance Company P.S.C. (OIC) (United Arab Emirates). The outlook of these Credit Ratings (ratings) is stable. The ratings reflect OICs balance sheet strength, which AM Best assesses as very strong, as well as its strong operating performance, neutral business profile and appropriate enterprise risk management. OICs balance sheet strength is underpinned by its strongest level of risk-adjusted capitalisation, as measured by Bests Capital Adequacy Ratio (BCAR). AM Best expects prospective BCAR scores to remain comfortably in excess of the minimum required for the strongest level assessment, as the company actively manages its capital position, ensuring its capital base supports its business plans. The companys balance sheet strength is supported by its conservative investment portfolio, excellent liquidity and prudent reserving practices. An offsetting factor is OICs high level of reinsurance dependence, albeit not as significant as other regional peers, with low retention across many lines of business. This is partially mitigated by a panel of reinsurers of high credit quality. OIC has a track-record of strong operating performance, demonstrated by a 10-year (2011-2020) weighted return-on-equity (ROE) ratio of 8.2%. The company reported a profit after tax of AED 196.5 million (USD 53.5 million) for 2020, an increase of 3% from the prior year, which translated to an ROE of 9.9%. Underwriting performance improved from 2019 with the company benefitting from the removal of certain loss making accounts and increased retention of profitable business in line with its risk appetite. The overall impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on OICs underwriting performance for 2020 was broadly neutral with favourable claims experience on the companys motor line of business offset by higher claims in its medical portfolio. OICs investment performance improved in 2020 with the company continuing to benefit from an increase in its free cash flows generated from the robust credit management strategy. AM Best expects operating performance to remain strong prospectively, supported by disciplined underwriting and stable investment results. Story continues OIC has a market leading position in the UAE, where it ranks as the third largest insurance company by gross written premium. In 2020, the companys gross premium revenues increased marginally to AED 3.6 billion (2019: AED 3.5 billion) despite challenging market conditions. Whilst OICs business continues to be concentrated in the UAE, it is well-diversified by line of business across the life and non-life segments. Geographic concentration in the UAE is expected to reduce slowly as the company prudently expands its international facultative business. This press release relates to Credit Ratings that have been published on AM Bests website. For all rating information relating to the release and pertinent disclosures, including details of the office responsible for issuing each of the individual ratings referenced in this release, please see AM Bests Recent Rating Activity web page. For additional information regarding the use and limitations of Credit Rating opinions, please view Guide to Bests Credit Ratings. For information on the proper media use of Bests Credit Ratings and AM Best press releases, please view Guide for Media - Proper Use of Bests Credit Ratings and AM Best Rating Action Press Releases. AM Best is a global credit rating agency, news publisher and data analytics provider specialising in the insurance industry. Headquartered in the United States, the company does business in over 100 countries with regional offices in London, Amsterdam, Dubai, Hong Kong, Singapore and Mexico City. For more information, visit www.ambest.com. Copyright 2021 by A.M. Best Rating Services, Inc. and/or its affiliates. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210415005667/en/ Contacts Barnaby Unwin Hoskins Financial Analyst +44 20 7397 0327 barnaby.unwinhoskins@ambest.com Christopher Sharkey Manager, Public Relations +1 908 439 2200, ext. 5159 christopher.sharkey@ambest.com Jessica Botelho-Young, CA Associate Director, Analytics +44 20 7397 0310 jessica.botelho@ambest.com Jim Peavy Director, Communications +1 908 439 2200, ext. 5644 james.peavy@ambest.com The Germany-based company will continue to focus on growth and global market leadership in delivering data acquisition systems and datalogging solutions Battery Ventures, a global, technology-focused investment firm, has reached an agreement to acquire imc Test Measurement ("imc"), a global provider of productive test and measurement hardware and software solutions. Joining Battery's group of companies in the test and measurement market, imc will operate alongside U.S.-based Audio Precision and Denmark-based GRAS Sound Vibration, which were acquired by Battery in 2018 and 2020, respectively. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed. Founded in 1988, imc is a well-known provider of state-of-the-art data acquisition systems and software. The company serves customers in markets such as automotive, energy, rail and aerospace, among others. In partnership with Battery, Audio Precision and GRAS, imc will continue its long-standing tradition of pursuing growth across the sectors it serves. Joining forces with Audio Precision and GRAS, imc will benefit from business synergies across the group of companies and drive its future growth through technology development, expansion of production capabilities and an increased global market reach. Operations for imc will continue to be based in Germany and the company's executive team will remain in place, working closely with the group CEO Mike Flaherty to manage the business. "We are excited to welcome imc to our platform of test and measurement companies. Its highly-engineered data acquisition systems are extremely complementary to our existing portfolio of sensors and analyzers from GRAS and Audio Precision, and will broaden the market exposure of our group, enabling us to serve our customers even more effectively in the future," said Flaherty. "We also look forward to working together to pursue additional complementary acquisitions for the group." "After thirty-three years of founder ownership and steady growth, this partnership brings imc many new benefits as we continue to accelerate growth globally," said imc CEO Kai Gilbert. "We anticipate many synergies and look forward to working with Audio Precision, GRAS and Battery as we continue to develop imc's business and deliver market-leading products to our customers." Battery is continuing to expand its investment activity in the industrial-technology markets and has completed more than 55 industrial-related transactions across the U.S. and Europe since 2003. For a full list of Battery portfolio companies, please click here. About Battery Battery partners with exceptional founders and management teams developing category-defining businesses in markets including software and services, enterprise infrastructure, online marketplaces, healthcare IT and industrial technology. Founded in 1983, the firm backs companies at all stages, ranging from seed and early to growth and buyout, and invests globally from six strategic locations: Boston; San Francisco and Menlo Park, Calif.; Tel Aviv; London; and New York. Follow the firm on Twitter @BatteryVentures, visit our website at www.battery.com and find a full list of Battery's portfolio companies here. About imc Test Measurement Founded in 1988, imc creates tools which empower engineers to efficiently deploy data acquisition systems and test strategies, thus, meeting the test and measurement challenges of development departments world-wide. Specializing in an integrated approach to physical test and measurement, imc solutions are well suited for mixed signal testing of complex mechanical and electromechanical systems. In these situations, test engineers demand flexibility and scalable capabilities especially when a company understands that productive testing is all about the efficient use of testing resources. Follow us on LinkedIn or visit our website: https://www.imc-tm.com/ View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210414005927/en/ Contacts: Rebecca Buckman VP of Marketing Communications, Battery Ventures becky@battery.com 650-292-2077 Don-Key, a Tortola, British Virgin Islands-based Defi social yield farming platform, raised $2.2m in funding. Backers included Black Edge Capital, AU21. Genesis Block Ventures, Spark Digital, Solidity Ventures, MoonWhale, and Morningstar Ventures. Led by Gil Shpirman, Co-Founder and CEO, Don-Key provides a Defi social yield farming platform that aims to reduce the barrier for entry for both yield farmers and liquidity providers, who either dont master the skills to create strategies or hold a low volume of funds in order to participate within the DEFI world. This will be achieved by bringing liquidity providers and yield farmers together on the Don-Key. finance platform, where gamified social trading strategies will incentivize participants to work together. Key features will include: Copy farming: Learn and auto-invest on the latest farming opportunities by following top farmers and browsing Don-Keys leaderboard. Strategy Builder: Drag-n-drop interface to plan and optimize different farming scenarios. Farmer reputation based on proven APY results and historical track record. Investor reputation will enable top participants to unlock extra levels and access the highest alpha opportunities. Tokenized rewards for top farmers and liquidity providers. Non-custodial pools to save substantial gas by pooling investments with other investors utilizing the same protocols. FinSMEs 15/04/2021 The banks are benefitting from the economic recovery and weak comparatives last year The Group, Inc. ( ) and . ( ) have bot blown estimates with their latest quarterly results. Goldman Sachs posted a 102% surge in record net revenues to US$17.7bn for the quarter to March 31, while pre-tax earnings rocketed 518% to US$8.3bn. The increase compared with the first quarter of 2020 reflected higher net revenues across all segments, including significant increases in Asset Management, Global Markets and Investment Banking, the bank said. Equity underwriting was buoyed by strong IPO activity while debt underwriting benefitted from higher net revenues from leveraged finance and asset-backed activity. JP Morgan Chase & Co. released its first-quarter earnings on Wednesday and Moody's analyst, Peter Nerby, weighed in on the results. pic.twitter.com/maIsHCM6MP Moody's Investors Service (@MoodysInvSvc) April 14, 2021 Financial advisory revenues were reflected a significant increase in completed mergers and acquisitions transactions. Earnings per share (EPS) jumped to US$18.60 from US$3.11 in 2020, beating forecasts of US$10.22, Reuters reported. Operating expenses, however, climbed 46% to US$9.4bn due to significantly higher compensation and benefits expenses following strong performance. Transaction-based and tech spend were also higher. On Wednesday, the board declared a dividend of US$1.25 per common share to be paid in June. Meanwhile, JP Morgan said net revenue was up 14% to US$33.1bn, driven by higher CIB Markets revenue, higher Investment Banking fees, and no markdowns or losses in Credit Adjustments. EPS came in at US$4.50 from US$0.78 in March 2020, compared to estimates of US$3.10. Net income zoomed up 399% to US$14.3bn, mostly thanks to credit reserve releases of US$5.2bn compared to credit reserve builds of US$6.8bn in the first quarter of 2020. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. reported its first-quarter earnings on Wednesday morning and Moody's analyst, David Fanger, weighed in on the results. pic.twitter.com/HPDkRj2peK Moody's Investors Service (@MoodysInvSvc) April 14, 2021 Chairman and chief executive Jamie Dimon said that the bank has benefitted from a rapidly improving economy, which has potential to have extremely robust, multi-year growth thanks to government measures and euphoria around the potential end of the pandemic. Goldman Sachs rose 3% to US$338.22 and JP Morgan dipped 1% to US$152.81 on Wednesday at open. This is the best Vitamin D / COVID presentation Ive found so far. Im astonished that this hasnt been removed from YouTube. If I had to guess: Google might have determined that censoring it would only draw more attention to it. In any event, Id suggest saving this locally. Via: Medcram: Professor Roger Seheult, MD explains the important role Vitamin D may have in the prevention and treatment of COVID-19. Dr. Seheult is the lead professor at https://www.medcram.com? Dr. Seheult illustrates how Vitamin D works, summarizes the best available data and clinical trials on vitamin D, and discusses vitamin D dosage recommendations. Roger Seheult, MD is Co-Founder of MedCram and an Associate Professor at the University of California, Riverside School of Medicine and Assistant Prof. at Loma Linda University School of Medicine. He is Quadruple Board Certified: Internal Medicine, Pulmonary Disease, Critical Care, & Sleep Medicine. Backup: Bengaluru: French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian, who is on a 3-day visit to India, will be in this tech hub on Thursday (April 15) for promoting bilateral relations in science and technology, an official said on Wednesday (April 14). "On his day-long visit to the city, Le Drian will announce the contribution of France to India`s human space flight programme `Gaganyaan` at the human space flight centre of the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) in the city," said a French consulate official in a statement here. Le Drian will also interact with the state-run ISRO`s chairman K. Sivan and human space flight centre director S. Unnikrishnan Nair on the occasion. "In the space cooperation over the decades, France and India worked on many missions, including the operational climate research satellites," said the official. The Indo-French Oceansat3-Argos mission will be launched soon, while a third joint satellite Trishna is in the development phase. "The thermal infrared orbiter will be the first to monitor the temperature of earth on a global and constant basis, with very high accuracy," said the statement. France is also keen to strengthen dialogue with India on emerging space security issues. Le Drian will also visit the Bangalore Life Sciences cluster, with the National Centre for Biological Sciences, the Centre for cellular and molecular platforms and the Institute of Stem cell science and regenerative medicine. "Besides highlighting the cooperation between the two countries on health, life sciences and biotechnology, Le Drian will hold talks with heads of National Centre for Biological Life Sciences and French companies in the city," added the official. Le Drian will meet investors and top executives of major business groups to showcase his country as an attractive business destination for Indian firms, which are choosing France as their gateway to the EU (European Union) market, especially in the context of Brexit. Live TV Labor activists had great hopes for the attempt to organize the Amazon warehouse in Bessemer, Ala., and the effort by the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union attracted national attention. President Biden released a video in support of the right of workers to join a union without company interference. As far as I know, no previous president not even Franklin Delano Roosevelt or Harry Truman made such a direct statement about a specific union campaign. Other high-profile supporters of the union from Senator Bernie Sanders to the Rev. Dr. William J. Barber II appeared at rallies in Bessemer. But the union lost the election and in a rout. Some critics claimed it did not do the proper legwork to gain worker support. The lack of a union culture in Alabama meant few workers had experience with one. (And only roughly half the eligible workers voted.) But the biggest barrier for the union as it is in nearly every private sector union campaign in the country is that the system of labor law and regulations created in the New Deal no longer functions effectively. Corporate manipulation of the labor law regime has so strongly tilted the playing field in favor of companies that winning a private sector union election has become nearly impossible. Mr. Biden has said he will pay for the bulk of his plan by partly reversing the corporate tax cuts passed by his predecessor, and most polls routinely show that the public favors raising taxes on large corporations. But there may be room for the Republicans tax argument to win over some independents. According to the SurveyMonkey findings, among independents who dont have a strong position on the infrastructure plan, 29 percent say the tax increases would make them less likely to support it. Just 16 percent of that group says the higher taxes would make them more likely to support the plan. A survey released Wednesday by Quinnipiac University found somewhat lower overall support for the infrastructure plan, but also found that the plan was more popular when it was funded by raising taxes on corporations. Bidens 2022 Budget A new year, a new budget: The 2022 fiscal year for the federal government begins on October 1, and President Biden has revealed what hed like to spend, starting then. But any spending requires approval from both chambers of Congress. Ambitious total spending: President Biden would like the federal government to spend $6 trillion in the 2022 fiscal year, and for total spending to rise to $8.2 trillion by 2031. That would take the United States to its highest sustained levels of federal spending since World War II, while running deficits above $1.3 trillion through the next decade. Infrastructure plan: The budget outlines the presidents desired first year of investment in his American Jobs Plan, which seeks to fund improvements to roads, bridges, public transit and more with a total of $2.3 billion over eight years. Families plan: The budget also addresses the other major spending proposal Biden has already rolled out, his American Families Plan, aimed at bolstering the United States social safety net by expanding access to education, reducing the cost of child care and supporting women in the work force. Mandatory programs: As usual, mandatory spending on programs like Social Security, Medicaid and Medicare make up a significant portion of the proposed budget. They are growing as Americas population ages. Discretionary spending: Funding for the individual budgets of the agencies and programs under the executive branch would reach around $1.5 trillion in 2022, a 16 percent increase from the previous budget. How Biden would pay for it: The president would largely fund his agenda by raising taxes on corporations and high earners, which would begin to shrink budget deficits in the 2030s. Administration officials have said tax increases would fully offset the jobs and families plans over the course of 15 years, which the budget request backs up. In the meantime, the budget deficit would remain above $1.3 trillion each year. Joel Slemrod, a University of Michigan economist who studies tax policy, said it wasnt clear whether other ways of paying for infrastructure spending including not paying for it and instead adding to the deficit would be more popular. A pretty good majority of people think that corporations and also rich people dont pay their fair share, he said. The polling helps to underscore the emerging political challenge for Republicans, who have roundly praised infrastructure spending in the abstract but opposed the scope of Mr. Bidens proposal and the tax increases that would fund it. Its how we define it, how we pay for it, that gets everybody all twisted sideways, said Senator Lisa Murkowski, Republican of Alaska. But I think we must present an alternative if you think this is too big. How would we pare it down? How would we define it? How will we pay for it? Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, April 16) The Department of Transportation touted it was able to complete projects under the Duterte administration's "Build, Build, Build" program even amid the swirling COVID-19 pandemic. Transportation Secretary Arthur Tugade reiterated to President Rodrigo Duterte on Thursday the importance of completing infrastructure projects, saying these are key in the country's road to economic recovery. "Labanan ang pandemya, puksain ang pandemya. Pero itutuloy at hindi natin pababayaan ang 'Build, Build, Build' projects because ito po ang magbabalanse at magti-trigger ng ating ekonomiya," said Tugade. [Translation: We should fight and beat this pandemic. But we must continue and not neglect the 'Build, Build, Build' projects because these will balance and trigger economic recovery.] To date, Tugade said around 400 port improvements and 120 airport projects have been finished by the agency. Tugade declared the Transportation Department is ready to inaugurate the newly-renovated Calbayog Airport in Samar province on April 22. The President expressed his willingness to grace the airport's inauguration, upon Tugade's invitation. The DOTr Secretary also said the improvements in earthquake-damaged ports in Bohol have been completed, particularly the ports of Tagbilaran City and Maribojoc. They are targeting to operate these ports by June this year. Tugade added the construction of the new Clark International Airport terminal and the Bicol International Airport will be done by mid-year and are scheduled to be operational within this year. The Transportation chief also reported the opening of the Light Railway Transit 2 East Extension Project, which is expected to be fully operational by April 27. It will have two new stations in Marikina City and Antipolo City, Rizal and can accommodate an additional 80,000 passengers daily in the whole rail line. RELATED: LRT-2 East extension to start operations in late April The Duterte administration currently has 104 flagship infrastructure projects, after overhauling its priority list for the third time in four years last August. An Ansonia man was sentenced Thursday to 18 months in federal prison after authorities claim he served as a money mule in lottery and romance rackets. Montrell Dobbs Jr., 28, also faces three years supervised release at the conclusion of his prison sentence, the Connecticut U.S. attorneys office said. Dobbs served as a middle man, picking up checks and cash sent by the schemes mostly elderly victims from the Ansonia Post Office, according to the U.S. attorneys office. Dobbs would take his cut and then pass the rest of the money to the others in the conspiracy, the U.S. attorneys office said. Dobbs appeared before U.S. District Judge Stefan R. Underhill via video conference, a press release said. In a lottery scam, scammers notify victims by telephone, through online communications, or by mail, that they have won the lottery, the release said. The victims are then told that in order to collect the prize, they must pay fees for things like taxes, shipping and processing. In romance scams, the victims are people looking for companionship, the U.S. attorneys office said. Scammers use fake dating profiles to lure victims in before asking for money, claiming to need it for medical or business emergencies, for travel to see the victim, or other purposes, the release said. Authorities estimate the scams swindled more than 200 people across the country out of more than $5 million. Many of the victims were elderly and vulnerable, and some victims lost their life savings. One Connecticut victim lost more than $1 million, the release said. Dobbs is believed to have been directly involved with at least 25 victims who lost upwards of $85,000, authorities said. He was ordered to pay full restitution. He was arrested March 12, 2020, and pleaded guilty to one count of money laundering on Dec. 21 last year. Dobbs is free on $100,000 bond and is due to report to prison June 2. Four others accused of being involved are also awaiting trial, the U.S. attorneys office said. To report cases of internet fraud, call 833-372-8311. A seven-year-old boy was sleeping inside his family's apartment in Florida when a gunman fired multiple rounds into the residence, killing the child and wounding his mother, in what has been described by the police as a targeted attack. The deadly incident took place on AC Evans Street in Riviera Beach shortly after midnight on Wednesday. More than 24 hours later, police are still searching for the shooter. Family members have identified the deceased victim as Dexter Fergusson Jr. His mother, 28-year-old Addiscia Ball, was injured but has since been released from the hospital. A boy identified by family as Dexter Fergusson Jr, 7 (left), was shot multiple times and killed while sleeping inside his family's apartment in Riviera Beach, Florida. His mother, Addiscia Ball, 28 (right), was wounded but survived The fatal shooting took place on AC Evans Street in Riviera Beach, Florida, after midnight on Wednesday Dexter's father and brother were inside the apartment but were not harmed. Riviera Beach Police Chief Nathan Osgood said during a press conference that the shooting was targeted, but it was unclear if the shooter knew there were children inside the apartment. Police said they were called to AC Evans Street just hours before the shooting for a report about a verbal dispute involving an upstairs neighbor. Investigators have not disclosed what the argument was about, but said there was no indication it would lead to violence. Then at 12.07am on Wednesday, officers responded to the apartment complex for reports of shots fired. They learned that a gunman had fired about 10 rounds into Ball's apartment through a bedroom window. Police say a gunman fired some 10 rounds into Ball's apartment through a bedroom window (pictured) while the family of four were sleeping Just a few hours earlier, police were called to the same apartment complex for a verbal dispute involving an upstairs neighbor Dexter was hit multiple times and rushed to a hospital, where he was pronounced dead. An eyewitness tearfully recalled hearing Ball scream: 'My baby! why didn't I die?! Why did he have to die!?' Dexter's aunt, Cayla Hunter-Lyons, described her nephew to CBS 12 as 'a special little boy.' She said he was known in the family as 'Peanut.' The seven-year-old attended Dr. Mary McLeod Bethune Elementary School. Hunter-Lyons said that prior to the shooting, 'threats were made,' but she did not go into further detail. The upstairs neighbor who had prompted the 911 call prior to the shooting was said to have moved out of the building just hours later. That person has not been named or charged with any crime, and police said they have not established a connection between the dispute and the shooting. Dexter's aunt described the child, known in his family as 'Peanut,' as 'a special little boy.' 'Theres people out there who know who did this,' Chief Osgood said. 'We have a kid who wouldve been a future governor, a future president, teacher, doctor, lawyer. We have to come together as a community to say we cant take this anymore. We will not take this anymore.' Meanwhile, Dexter's aunt appealed to the gunman directly, calling on that person to come forward. 'I know you may have been acting out of rage, or anger, and maybe not even thinking, but it is my prayer that you will just have a sense of compassion and just come forth,' she said. The government on April 14 cancelled the CBSE's class 10 board exams and postponed its class 12 exams following an exponential surge in COVID-19 cases. This is the first time that the Central Board of Secondary has completely cancelled the board exams conducted by it. Last year, the exams were partially cancelled in the wake of riots in northeast Delhi and Covid-19 cases. Schools across the country were closed in March last year to contain the spread of Covid-19 ahead of a nationwide lockdown. Several states started reopening the schools partially from October last year, but physical classes are again being suspended because of the rise in coronavirus cases. States including Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh and Punjab have already announced changes in plans for board exams. In this podcast, we are discussing what states are doing and whether they have postponed the dates. Listen in New Delhi: Delhi Chief Minister and AAP leader Arvind Kejriwal will hold a review meeting with 11 Lieutenant Governors on Thursday (April 15) to discuss the way forward as the COVID-19 infections are on rise in the city. The meeting, which is scheduled to be held at noon, will be attended by the Delhi Health Minister, Chief Secretary and senior officials. The national capital on Wednesday (April 14) recorded over 17,282 fresh infections, which is the highest ever COVID-19 infections in the city. The city on Wednesday broke its own previous daily spikes, while also pushing the cumulative tally to 767,438 cases. Earlier, the state government had named 14 private hospitals including Sir Ganga Ram Hospital, St Stephens Hospital and Tis Hazari in the national capital as COVID-19 care hospitals. On Wednesday, the authorities have also disclosed the list of hotels that are to be linked to these hospitals mentioned against their names for converting them into extended COVID hospitals. With 17,282 fresh infections, the capital witnessed the worst day of COVID-19 infections on Wednesday, which recorded the highest ever daily cases since the start of the pandemic. Additionally, the national capital reported over 104 deaths, whereas the country reported 1,033 deaths due to COVID-19 infections on Wednesday, which was the highest since October 2020. In Delhi, the number of cremations at its biggest crematorium, Nigambodh Ghat have gone up by at least 30 percent. Live TV With Eviction Cliff Extended, Heres How Millions Can Keep Their Homes More than 3 million renters said they were at risk of losing their homes with the federal eviction moratorium set to expire on Wednesday, but a new Zillow analysis shows the number of households ultimately evicted could be as low as 130,000, depending on government action, the pace of economic recovery, and how landlords respond. That range highlights the need for federal intervention both continuing the moratorium, which happened this morning, and additional assistance that will help not only struggling renters but also their landlords, such as the $45 billion in rental assistance in the recently passed federal stimulus bill. Job disruptions and economic hardships brought by the pandemic have hit renters particularly hard, and the number at risk for eviction is staggering. Although the path forward is uncertain, there are still ways for policymakers to keep the vast majority of renters in their homes, said Chris Glynn, senior managing economist at Zillow. We know two things for certain: the eviction moratorium is succeeding at keeping renters in their homes, and millions of renters believed that they will be evicted in coming months if the cliff came this week. How many actually are evicted depends on the economic recovery and individual landlord decisions. ADVERTISEMENT Forecasting the number of likely evictions According to Zillows analysis of the Census Bureaus Household Pulse Survey, some 3.4 million Americans said they are at risk of eviction with the moratorium set to expire on Wednesday. With that extended three more months, as few as 130,000 renter households ultimately could be evicted, depending on the economic recovery, and individual landlord decision-making. More than 8.3 million U.S. renters reported being behind on rent payments as of March 15, with 16.8% (1.41 million) of those respondents indicating they were very likely to be evicted in the next two months. While these numbers are sobering, it is expected that a small fraction of those fearing eviction will actually lose their homes not all landlords will choose to evict, and also, not all eviction filings result in actual eviction judgments in courts. However, with no historical precedent for this potential crisis, predicting how small the fraction might be once the moratorium expires is extremely difficult, especially with remaining uncertainty around federal policies and how landlords are able to respond. Landlords are facing difficult choices Every tenant-landlord relationship is unique, but evictions based strictly on owed rent arent always in the landlords best interest. The process of evicting a tenant is time-consuming, and in the end, landlords might find themselves struggling for several months to fill vacant units, which will ultimately cost them even more. ADVERTISEMENT Landlords are willing to work with tenants, and when the moratoria ends, we would much rather find a solution than evict, says Kellie Tollifson, owner and vice president of operations of T-Square Real Estate Services. Its all about maintaining a relationship and open communication to figure out the best path for your unique situation. Landlords can direct tenants where to find assistance or work out payment plans that support both parties. Keeping people housed is the right thing to do, and its also good for business, so landlords are highly motivated to work with renters to get through the pandemic together. One mutually beneficial solution is offering a repayment plan and amortizing the back rent into ongoing rent payments, with landlords effectively serving as private creditors as they recover back rent over time. In this scenario, the benefit to the renter is avoiding an eviction, and the landlord is made financially whole. However, that might not be feasible for landlords who need a steady cash flow to make mortgage payments and remain afloat. Last year, many young adults left their rentals to move back home, and one-third of rental listings were offering concessions this past fall as landlords tried to entice renters with benefits such as free parking or one-month free rent. And now with millions of U.S. renters at risk of eviction this summer coupled with increased rent growth across the U.S., finding new tenants without a record of evictions and with liquid funds to make security deposits may prove extremely challenging. An eviction crisis could be avoided with the right federal support While todays extension protects renters from eviction, the policy should be coupled with relief for landlords and rental assistance programs to support both and avoid an eviction crisis on the horizon. The recent federal stimulus bill was an invaluable lifeline in delivering direct economic relief, providing $45 billion in rental assistance to put money in the pockets of the most vulnerable renters, as well as landlords who have struggled to meet mortgage and utility obligations due to missed rent payments. However, the government has struggled to distribute that money fast enough to meet the needs of renters and landlords, as the March 31 moratorium deadline loomed. The ongoing challenge for policymakers is to keep renters in their homes without overburdening landlords, according to Glynn. Further extending the eviction moratorium achieves one goal but also prolongs the financial stress on individual landlords. Eventually the federal moratorium will end, back rents will come due, and landlords will be able to evict. Avoiding an eviction crisis will require that landlords, tenants, financial institutions, and policymakers work together to find constructive and creative ways to keep renters in their homes and make landlords financially whole. The alternative is millions of evictions, and the social and economic costs of that are unimaginable. The extended moratorium is a temporary bandage that has potentially damaging repercussions in the future, if not paired with other relief programs. Robust economic recovery and expedited distribution of fiscal support to renters and landlords is needed to prevent a potential eviction crisis and keep landlords and renters in their homes. YEREVAN, APRIL 15, ARMENPRESS. The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and World Health Organization (WHO) handed 150 oxygen concentrators to the Ministry of Health of the Republic of Armenia to support the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic and equip the frontline hospitals with essential medical equipment and supplies, ARMENPRESS was informed from the WHO Armenia office. Oxygen therapy is an essential step for the treatment of COVID-19 patients with low oxygen levels. Due to their mobility and high-efficiency oxygen concentrators are vitally needed in hospitals serving patients with severe cases of COVID-19. Lynne M. Tracy, U.S. Ambassador to Armenia, Lena Nanushyan, RA Deputy Minister of Health, Egor Zaitsev, the WHO Representative in Armenia and Shombi Sharp, the UN Resident Coordinator visited the National Center of Providing Drugs and Medical Supplies SNCO to hand over the equipment. We are grateful for the continuous assistance and highly value the cooperation within the framework of COVID-19 response. Every contribution in the organization of healthcare for COVID-19 patients is important, and at this stage activities, aimed at disease prevention, in particular vaccination, are more important. said Lena Nanushyan with the hope that the desired result will be reached through vaccination. Since the pandemic began, USAID and the broader U.S. government have supported Armenia in its COVID-19 response efforts. Seeing the equipment here today is an example of that collaboration. We are proud to join our efforts with the government and provide emergency funds to UNICEF, WHO, IFRC, and AUA to support Armenias response efforts. Over the past year, the U.S. government has provided more than $11 million in assistance to Armenia to combat COVID-19. This includes a recent additional $1 million in funding to provide targeted technical assistance to support and ensure effective implementation of COVID-19 vaccination efforts in Armenia, said Lynne M. Tracy, U.S. Ambassador to Armenia. Combining the efforts with our partners, we continue supporting Armenia with a multi-faceted approach to respond to the pandemic. Our activities are aimed at helping strengthen the healthcare system, assisting frontline hospitals to provide adequate care and supporting people who are bravely fighting the virus. added Egor Zaitsev, the WHO representative in Armenia. The delivery of the shipment is a part of a larger assistance package to help prevent the spread of COVID-19 in the country that was focused on strengthening 2 main pillars of COVID-19-response: timely and effective testing and management of COVID-19 patients. As a part of the joint project that is coming to its end, USAID and WHO have provided 3 digital portable x-ray units and 3 ultrasound machines, which were distributed to dedicated COVID-19 hospitals to help hundreds of patients. To increase the testing capacity in the country, lab supplies, sample collection and extraction kits for 40,000 PCR tests have been provided to national laboratories. Laboratory supplies included a total of 313,320 pieces of different items, needed for PCR testing such as disposable supplies, testing tubes, micropipettes, and others that were of quite a high deficit because of an extremely high global demand for the COVID-19 critical supplies. Besides procurement of a large number of critical items, the program was also focused on strengthening case management and laboratory capacities at the national level. Such activities included implementation of external quality evaluation program for all laboratories, carrying out PCR testing; assessment of national and subnational PCR laboratories, using WHO tools and development of a set of recommendations for further strengthening interventions; workshops and seminars for national lab experts on topics of interest, such as maintenance of biosafety cabinets, new SARS COV-2 variants of concern; reinfection and other topics of interest; national-level consultations to ensure rational use of antibiotics during the management of COVID-19 patients; timely translation and adaptation of national guidance on COVID-19 case management to include the latest evidence. Johnson & Johnsons COVID-19 vaccine will remain in limbo a while longer after U.S. health advisers told the government Wednesday that they need more evidence to decide if a handful of unusual blood clots were linked to the shot and, if so, how big the potential risk really is. The reports are exceedingly rare six cases out of more than 7 million U.S. inoculations with the one-dose vaccine. But the government recommended a pause in J&J vaccinations this week, not long after European regulators declared that such clots are a rare but possible risk with the AstraZeneca vaccine, a shot made in a similar way but not yet approved for use in the U.S. During an emergency meeting, advisers to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention wrestled with the fact that the U.S. has enough vaccine alternatives to do without the J&J vaccine for a while, but other countries anxiously awaiting the one-and-done shot may not. One committee member, Dr. Grace Lee, was among those who advocated tabling a vote. She echoed concerns about getting more data to better understand the size of the risk and whether it was greater for any particular group of people. I continue to feel like were in a race against time and the variants, but we need to (move forward) in the safest possible way, said Lee, of Stanford University. The clots under investigation are highly unusual. They occurred in strange places, in veins that drain blood from the brain, and in people with abnormally low levels of clot-forming platelets. The six cases raised an alarm bell because that number is at least three times more than experts would have expected to see even of more typical brain-drainage clots, CDCs Dr. Tom Shimabukuro said. What we have here is a picture of clots forming in large vessels where we have low platelets, Shimabukuro said. This usually doesnt happen, but its similar to European reports with the AstraZeneca vaccine. The clot concerns could undermine public confidence in a vaccine many hoped would help some of the hardest-to-reach populations in poor countries or in places like homeless shelters in the U.S. We know we are fighting a war against COVID-19, Dr. Peter Marks, the Food and Drug Administrations vaccine chief, said Tuesday. But when it comes to side effects, we dont, in the United States, have a lot of tolerance for friendly fire. Health officials recommended the J&J timeout in part to make sure doctors know how to recognize and treat the unusual condition. On Wednesday, the CDC said four of the six women with the unusual clots were treated with the blood thinner heparin a treatment the government is warning doctors to avoid. The U.S. set up intensive systems to track the safety of COVID-19 vaccines, knowing that side effects too rare to have occurred in studies of thousands of people could pop up once millions rolled up their sleeves. Shimabukuro said spotting such a rare potential risk amid the nations huge vaccine roll out is an example of a success story for vaccine safety. The setback for J&J comes as the worldwide death toll from COVID-19 approaches 3 million, including more than 560,000 who perished in the U.S., which continues to report tens of thousands of new infections every day and an average of almost 1,000 deaths. So far, the J&J vaccine has been a minor player in U.S. vaccinations. More than 122 million Americans have received at least one vaccine dose, the vast majority with shots made by Moderna or Pfizer, and nearly 23% are fully vaccinated. Both companies are on track to have delivered 300 million doses each by mid- to late July and federal health authorities stress that there are no signs of the unusual clots with the Moderna and Pfizer vaccines. Vaccinations are slower in Europe, where many countries have struggled for supply. J&J delayed some of its European deliveries amid the clot evaluation, but Poland said it would use the batch it already has in hand. European medical regulators plan to issue their own evaluation of the J&J clot issue next week. When those weird clots were spotted after AstraZeneca vaccinations, scientists in Norway and Germany raised the possibility that some people are experiencing an abnormal immune response, forming antibodies that disable their platelets. Thats the theory as the U.S. now investigates the J&J reports. . Total cases in west-central Illinois counties as of Wednesday, according to individual county health departments, and vaccination rates, according to the Illinois Department of Public Health, were: Brown County 684 total, 673 recovered, seven deaths Fully vaccinated: 19.04%; 65 or older: 68.24% Cass County 1,951 total, 1,907 recovered, 33 deaths Fully vaccinated: 29.83%; 65 or older: 70.06% Greene County 1,403 total, 1,337 recovered, 48 deaths Fully vaccinated: 22.26%; 65 or older: 55.78% Jersey County 2,402 total, 2,535 recovered, 48 deaths 17 new cases. Fully vaccinated: 26.87%; 65 or older: 74.88% Macoupin County 4,725 total, 4,399 recovered, 110 deaths Five new cases. Fully vaccinated: 25.65%; 65 or older: 73.5% Morgan County 3,826 total, 3,691 released from restrictions, 101 deaths Five new cases. Fully vaccinated: 26.97%; 65 or older: 73.07% Pike County 1,725 total, 1,670 recovered, 47 deaths Fully vaccinated: 23.02%; 65 or older: 62.40% Sangamon County 17,522 total, 228 deaths 43 new cases. Fully vaccinated: 31.55%; 65 or older: 80.15% Schuyler County 671 total, 650 recovered, 16 deaths Four new cases. Fully vaccinated: 27.71%; 65 or older: 65.82% Scott County 468 total, 460 recovered, one death Fully vaccinated: 22.07%; 65 or older: 60.98% Statewide, 3,536 new cases of coronavirus disease and 31 deaths were reported Wednesday, according to the Illinois Department of Public Health. There have been 1,288,934 cases and 21,570 deaths in Illinois. "Our posture's gonna be that we're posted outside of DC, awaiting the president's orders. We hope he will give us the orders. We want him to declare an insurrection, and to call us up as the militia." Oath Keepers founder Stewart Rhodes, in November, looking ahead to Jan. 6 Intelligent.com, a trusted resource for online degree rankings and higher education planning, has announced the top online programs for 2021. The comprehensive research guide is based on an assessment of 1,280 accredited colleges and universities in the nation. Each program is evaluated based on curriculum quality, graduation rate, reputation, and post-graduate employment. The methodology also uses an algorithm which collects and analyzes multiple rankings into one score to easily compare each school. Students who pursue any one of these programs can expect to gain employment much quicker in comparison to candidates without a degree. In addition to accessibility and cost, the steady job growth in this market is one of the many reasons Intelligent.com researched and ranked the Top Online Logistics Degree Programs. Intelligent.com analyzed 104 schools, on a scale of 0 to 100, with only 28 making it to the final list for Online Logistics Degree Programs. To access the complete ranking, please visit: https://www.intelligent.com/best-online-logistics-degree-programs/ 2021 Online Logistics Degree Programs featured on Intelligent.com (in alphabetical order): Alamo Colleges District Albany Technical College American Public University Arizona State University Arkansas Tech University Ashford University Baker College Ball State University Bellevue University Briar Cliff University California Baptist University, Online Colorado Christian University Colorado Technical University Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University Florida International University Franklin University Georgia College & State University Kennesaw State University Kentucky Community & Technical College System Northern Arizona University NorthWest Arkansas Community College Ohio Christian University Portland State University Rutgers University Saint Leo University Shoreline Community College Southern New Hampshire University Wake Technical Community College About Intelligent.com Intelligent.com provides unbiased research to help students make informed decisions about higher education programs. The website offers curated guides which include the best degree programs as well as information about financial aid, internships and even study strategies. With comprehensive, user-friendly guides and hundreds of program rankings, Intelligent.com is a trusted source among students and prospective students. To learn more, please visit https://www.intelligent.com/. Source: Xinhua| 2021-04-16 00:27:15|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close BEIJING, April 15 (Xinhua) -- China's Assistant Foreign Minister Wu Jianghao Thursday summoned the Japanese ambassador to China Tarumi Hideo. Wu lodged solemn representations against the Japanese government's decision to dump the wastewater from the Fukushima nuclear plant into the sea. Wu said Japan's relevant decision disregarded the global marine environment, the safety of international public health, and the security interests of people from the surrounding countries. He said such a decision is a violation of international law and rules and should not be a behavior of a modern civilized country. "China is strongly dissatisfied with and firmly opposes this decision," Wu said. China urges Japan to recognize the responsibilities it shoulders and fulfill its international obligations in a scientific manner, said Wu. He said that Japan should review the issue of disposing of the wastewater from the Fukushima nuclear plant and withdraw its decision to dump the wastewater into the sea. Wu said a joint technical working group, which includes Chinese experts, should be set up under the framework of the international institutions, to ensure that the disposal of nuclear wastewater is strictly under international evaluation, checks, and supervision. Before reaching a consensus with all relevant stakeholders and international institutions through consultations, Japan should not discharge the nuclear wastewater into the sea, said Wu. He added that China will, together with the international community, continue to closely watch the development of the matter and reserves the right to make further responses. Enditem Advertisement A sprawling ocean-front mansion in one of Australia's most exclusive coastal suburbs captures breathtaking views from all three storeys, and one very special outdoor bathtub. The 500sqm house in Safety Beach, a seaside town of 4,821 on the Mornington Peninsula, 83 kilometres south of Melbourne, has been described as 'incomparable' to other properties in the area. A facade dotted with zinc cladding, rendered concrete and floor-to-ceiling windows catch the eye at first glance, but the real show-stopping features are hidden behind the front door. Open-plan living spaces mirror a luxury resort that still manages to feel like a family home, with indoor and outdoor areas spanning all three levels connected by a lift. This 500sqm house in Safety Beach, a seaside town of 4,821 on the Mornington Peninsula, 83 kilometres south of Melbourne, has been described as 'incomparable' to other properties in the area A facade dotted with zinc cladding, rendered concrete and floor-to-ceiling windows catch the eye at first glance, but the real show-stopping features - like this luxury lap pool - are hidden behind the front door Five bedrooms, four bathrooms, three kitchens - two indoors, one outdoors - a spacious study and a wine cellar are dotted around the house. Views from the upstairs bedrooms stretch for miles, while the palatial master offers unrivalled luxury in the form of a drop-down TV, infrared sauna and an outdoor bathtub. Two covered terraces are separated by a solar and gas-heated pool-cum-spa, while the ground floor - currently used as a teenager's retreat - could be repurposed as a self-contained apartment to be rented on Airbnb. The palatial master bedroom offers unrivalled luxury in the form of a drop-down TV, sauna and an outdoor bathtub (pictured) Views from the upstairs bedrooms stretch for miles Sprawling open-plan living spaces mirror a luxury resort that still manages to feel like a family home The space features a living, dining and kitchen zone, two bedrooms with a bathroom between them and a private deck, detached from the rest of the house. The largest of the chef's kitchens, which is touted as commercial grade, has two ovens, two dishwashers and two fridges as well as a butler's pantry and breakfast bar. Listing agent Ian Ross, who is overseeing the sale of the house for Danckert Real Estate, said the freestanding tub was installed outside to capture a view overlooking Arthur's Seat and the bay below. Two covered terraces are separated by a solar and gas-heated pool-cum-spa The house has three kitchens - two indoor, one outdoor - with the largest featuring two ovens, two dishwashers and two fridges as well as a butler's pantry and breakfast bar There's also a spacious study, two-car garage and a wine cellar (pictured) Built in 2017, the four-year-old residence was meticulously designed by the current owner who has a background in commercial property. Mr Ross described it as 'incomparable' to others in the area. 'It's really unique, really special,' he told Daily Mail Australia. The house has four resort-style bathrooms fitted with waterfall showers and sleek fixtures The ground floor - currently used as a teenager's retreat - could be repurposed as a self-contained apartment to be rented on Airbnb 'The vendor designed it from start to finish and he managed to blend it all together seamlessly - you don't get find that with similar sized properties in Safety Beach.' A guide price of $2.3million to $2.5million (AUD) has been set for an April 15 auction, where Mr Ross expects it to fetch at least that. Interest has been keen, he said, chiefly from young professional families and retirees. Athens-Clarke Countys Clean and Renewable Energy Campaign hosted its third virtual town hall meeting on Monday, in which ACC representatives answered questions from Athens residents on how ACC will reach its 100% renewable electricity goal by 2035. Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador said he plans to visit Mexico's southern border next week to discuss the smuggling of child migrants with local officials. Unaccompanied children coming to the United States is still a growing concern for U.S. officials. With that, the U.S. asked Mexico and other countries in Central America to help them stop the surge of child migrants arriving at the U.S.-Mexico border, according to an Associated Press report. The Biden administration recently made agreements with Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras, and El Salvador to use troops to stop migrant smuggling. It was criticized by human rights and migrant advocates, saying it would make it more difficult for people seeking asylum. But in his daily news conference on Wednesday, Lopez Obrador noted that Mexico is going to reinforce the "surveillance, the protection, the care" on the southern border to protect children and defend human rights. The Mexican president has shown photographs of a tractor-trailer rig stopped in Tuxtla Gutierrez on Tuesday that carried 149 migrants, which includes 28 minors from Honduras and Guatemala. Vice President Kamala Harris earlier said that she would visit Mexico and Guatemala soon. President Joe Biden has tapped Kamala Harris to lead the administration's efforts to respond to the southern border's migration situation. The vice president has been receiving criticisms from Republicans for not having yet traveled to the U.S.-Mexico border, CBS News reported. White House press secretary Jen Psaki explained that Harris' responsibility is not the border per se, noting that it was the Northern Triangle countries and Mexico. Kamala Harris said that they need to deal with the root causes. "We need to deal with what's happening in the Northern Triangle and address it in a way that is about not only diplomacy but bringing our allies together," Harris said in a report. READ NEXT: New Report: Majority of Unaccompanied Migrant Children Now With Relatives in US Migrant Smugglers Earlier this month, smugglers were caught on camera dropping two young children at the border. The U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) released a video of two people bringing the children to the border barriers on the Mexico side on Tuesday night, ABC News Go reported. One Honduran mother handed herself and her son into border agents in Texas. She contracted a smuggler to ferry her son across the border after being expelled back to Mexico. The Honduran mother, Alicia Cruz, said that her son was with relatives in Texas. "The last thing he said was 'let me go to study, work so I can help you," Cruz said as reported by Reuters. Cruz and her son are among the many who reached out to smugglers to enter the United States. The increasing number of migrants crossing the border comes after Biden said it would not immediately expel unaccompanied minors, which is a policy shift from Trump's administration. Stories of unaccompanied migrant children differ from each other. Some come with their parents, while others cross with friends or relatives who are not their legal guardians. READ MORE: Biden Administration to Expedite Release of Migrant Children by Flying, Bussing to U.S. Homes WATCH: Exploring How And Why So Many Migrants Are Crossing the Southern Border - From PBS NewsHour Sharon Osbourne snubbed "The Talk" return by not turning on her TV to watch the show again. Following the three-week hiatus of "The Talk," the show offered a new episode to overshadow the previous on-air feud between Osbourne and Sheryl Underwood. While most fans tuned in again to see the big differences it would face without Osbourne, the former host refused to see the show once again. According to The Grio, the 68-year-old TV personality did not want to watch "The Talk" anymore. They also said that Osbourne and Underwood have not talked privately again since the heated argument occurred. It remains unknown whether the ex-host will try to reach out to her former colleague again. But it has been confirmed that Osbourne no longer plans to get involved with "The Talk" again. The Monday episode served as the first one without the original host on the seat. Despite her permanent absence, the remaining hosts keep the show alive, and they even gave their two cents about the issue recently. What Underwood Said During Her Return on "The Talk" During the Monday episode, the 57-year-old comedian revealed that the fight with Osbourne caused her emotional trauma and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). She said, as quoted by Page Six, "I feel like I've been in, like, PTSD because it was a trauma, and I feel like I want to get past this because I really wanted to get back to work with my friends and my colleagues and the crew ... but I also wanted to get back to the audience." Though she could have defended herself, even more, Underwood added that she composed herself to avoid getting called an "angry black woman." READ ALSO: Piers Morgan Breaks Silence on Cancel Culture in New Bombshell Article However, Osbourne continued to defend her close friend, Piers Morgan, who also exited his show "Good Morning Britain" for his comments about Meghan Markle. Meanwhile, Underwood's co-host Elaine Welteroth said that Osbourne "went off the rails into disrespect." This caused CBS to announced her departure on March 26 as she reportedly failed to follow the company's values in creating a respectful workplace. For Osbourne's part, she is scheduled to appear on Friday's "Real Time With Bill Maher" where she is expected to address the controversy. It will be her first appearance since she exited the CBS show. See Now: Famous Actors Who Turned Down Iconic Movie Roles A police union leader has slammed Brooklyn Center's mayor for 'letting political activists run the show' after a Black Lives Matter activist berated the newly appointed acting police chief as 'trash' during a news conference on Tuesday. In response to public outrage, Brooklyn Center Mayor Mike Elliott fired his chief of police in the aftermath of the fatal shooting of black man Daunte Wright by a white female cop during a traffic stop in the city. On Tuesday, Elliott held a news conference announcing that he was promoting Commander Tony Gruenig, a 19-year veteran of the force, to the position of acting police chief. Elliott praised Gruenig as 'someone who has spent a lot of time working with the community' and who 'knows Brooklyn Center well.' Brooklyn Center Mayor Mike Elliott held a news conference on Tuesday at city hall announcing that he was appointing a new acting police chief in the wake of Sunday's fatal police-involved shooting of 20-year-old Daunte Wright Elliott announced that he was elevating Commander Tony Gruenig (left) to the position of acting police chief. Garrett Flesland (right), the department's commander of its investigations division, will assist Gruenig, Elliott said A woman wearing a Black Lives Matter shirt (center) berated Gruenig and Flesland during the conference Gruenig then gave a short statement to the assembled media and several community activists, including a few who were wearing Black Lives Matter shirts. It's very chaotic right now, Gruenig told reporters. We were informed less than an hour ago [promotion], we're just trying to wrap our heads around the situation. We'd like some calm for the community as we try to wrap our heads around the entire situation. But the news conference grew tense as a woman standing toward the back of the room berated the newly appointed police chief. The woman, wearing a Black Lives Matter shirt, blasted the chief for not being able to wrap his head around...what went on with Daunte Wright. She demanded that Gruenig show empathy, sympathy, and compassion. You need to look yourself in the mirror and speak to your own core of your heart, the woman told Gruenig. If it was your kid, how would you feel? What would you do? 'You don't know what it feels like! I'm sick of you all!' the woman says. 'You can take the trash out but it recycles itself. It comes right back!' She then turned to Elliott and said: 'Get rid of the trash, mayor!' The spectacle led to criticism of Elliott as someone who was 'in over his head' by allowing 'activists' to take control. Brian Peters, the head of the Minnesota Police and Peace Officers Association, told WCCO-AM radio: 'If I were the mayor, I would not allow the political activists [to] run the show.' Peters claims Mike Elliott - mayor since January 2019 - is in 'way over his head'. Under pressure to swiftly fire the officer involved, Elliott and the city council voted to fire the city manager, and give control of the police department to the mayor. But Peters said of the mayor's meetings with the press earlier this week: 'If you watch that press conference, you can see the community activists ran that press conference.' He added: 'The decisions that this mayor is making is completely just nothing like I've ever seen.' Police union leader Brian Peters (left) slammed Elliott (right) for 'letting political activists run the show' in wake of the deadly police shooting of a black man Peters also said that fired City Manager Curt Boganey, right, and police Chief Tim Gannon, left, who resigned in wake of Sunday's shootings, were 'political pawns' Peters also suggested that victim Daunte Wright 'should have complied' during the arrest which lead to his death Sunday, adding: 'This is going to be an unpopular statement. 'Daunte Wright, if he would have just complied he was told he was under arrest, they were arresting him on a warrant for weapons he set off a chain of events that unfortunately led to his death. 'I'm not excusing it. But we're seeing in policing these days is that non-compliance by the public.' Former cop Kim Potter, 48, was on Wednesday charged with second-degree manslaughter - which carries a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison - for killing 20-year-old Wright. She posted $100,000 bond Wednesday evening and was released from the Hennepin County jail, online records showed. Peters also said that fired City Manager Curt Boganey and police Chief Tim Gannon, who resigned in wake of Sunday's shootings, were 'political pawns'. Mayor Mike Elliott, 37, a black man who had emigrated from Liberia as a child, has said: 'Its been very difficult for myself, for the community, to deal with the pain and the agony that comes from watching a young man be killed before our eyes.' Since the Sunday shooting, the mayor has become the face of this community's struggle, which comes as a former Minneapolis police officer is on trial in the Floyd case. Elliott has promised transparency and vowed accountability for Wright's death. The shooting of Wright by a white police officer has set off four days of protests in Brooklyn Center. A protester carrying a pigs head on a stake has said the only way things change is 'if people start throwing things' during a fourth night of unrest in Minnesota Wednesday following the police shooting of a black man there Shortly after 9 p.m., police announced over a loudspeaker that the protest was an unlawful assembly A protester is pictured on the floor during clashed with police Wednesday. A second demonstrator appears to be protecting her with an umbrella shield On Tuesday, Potter and the police chief resigned. Elliot made clear the city already had been moving toward firing Potter. He said he hoped her departure would 'bring some calm to the community.' But the mayor also has acknowledged systemic sources of the distrust between residents and police in his city. Of the roughly 50 sworn officers on the citys force, 'very few' are people of color and none live in Brooklyn Center, he said, acknowledging he saw the latter as a clear problem. 'There is a huge importance to having a significant number of your officers living in the community where they serve,' he said. Kimberly Potter, 48, left, was released from the Hennepin County jail at 5.38pm after posting a $100,000 bond after she was charged for the shooting death of Daunte Wright, right The former Brooklyn Center police chief has said that Potter, a 26-year veteran and training officer, intended to use her Taser on Wright but fired her handgun instead. Potter shouted 'Taser, Taser, Taser,' as she pulled the trigger on her handgun at 2:02:01, firing one round into the left side of the victim, the complaint states. Wright immediately said 'ah, he shot me,' and drove away in his car before crashing and coming to a stop. Meanwhile, Potter said 'S**t, I just shot him!' after firing her gun. Stream Marine Training and the University of Gibraltar form a collaborative partnership Stream Marine Training (SMT) and the University of Gibraltar have formed a collaborative partnership to provide MCA approved STCW courses and technical training for maritime students completing the new BSc (Hons) Maritime Science with Cadetship Programmes and seafarers. The University has established the Gibraltar Maritime Academy and has the local resources required to teach trainees key skills such as fire-fighting techniques, which form part of the MCA approved fire-fighting courses. SMT will offer its expertise in the form of its MCA approved online safety critical courses and advice from its trainers, many of whom are ex-mariners, who can relate the theory to real-life situations at sea. In addition, the University is keen to capitalise on the 10,000 commercial vessel calls at the port of Gibraltar each year by offering visiting seafarers the opportunity to take advantage of its refresher courses and basic safety training programmes. Similarly, as the cruise industry begins to open up again, the University is also able to provide the necessary mandatory training essential for the crews that make up the hundreds of Cruise Liner calls at the port of Gibraltar each year. 'Working with the University of Gibraltar is a key initiative for SMT as we expand our global reach to share our expertise and knowledge to ensure crews receive proper accredited levels of training so they can perform their duties safely and competently, said Colin McMurray, Group Managing Director of SMT. The University of Gibraltar is a highly respected educational institution providing degree level maritime courses to equip its students with the necessary qualifications for a successful career in the maritime industry. We are delighted to be able to assist the University in its ambitious plans to broaden its maritime training course portfolio to attract seafarers who want to refresh or upgrade their skill sets, he added. Commenting on the collaboration Aaron Lopez, Maritime Academy Manager (Ag) for maritime courses at the University of Gibraltar said, This collaborative partnership will benefit the maritime industry as it combines the facilities and resources of the University with the knowledge and expertise of Stream Marines personnel in delivering MCA approved training programmes. Seafarers and students will be able to benefit from both companies working together to provide best in class maritime training and education for talented individuals that want a structured career path in shipping. We are delighted to offer BSc (Hons) Maritime Science degrees, which are unique to the University of Gibraltar, as guaranteed, MCA-approved sea time placements with well-regulated and reputable shipping companies are included. This gives our graduates the opportunity to experience life at sea and gain the practical expertise required as a Merchant Navy Officer Cadet to qualify for a rewarding career in the maritime industry, he added. WINNIPEG, Manitoba/CHICAGO Fields across the Canadian Prairies and the U.S. Northern Plains are among the driest on record, raising production risks in one of the worlds key growing regions for canola and spring wheat. As planting season begins, the dusty soils generate fears that seeds will fail to germinate or yield smaller crops in a year when demand for canola already far outstrips supply. Unusually strong wheat exports to China for animal feed have also lowered global supplies of the main ingredient in bread and pasta. Prices of canola, which is processed into vegetable oil and animal feed, hit all-time highs in February and Canadian supplies look to dwindle by midsummer to an eight-year low. Spring wheat futures are trading near their highest levels since 2017, the last time significant drought gripped the northern U.S. Plains. I guess we seed in faith, hoping its going to rain, said Steven Donald, 41, a fourth-generation member of a family-owned grain and cattle farm near Moosomin, Saskatchewan. Its the driest that we can remember. Donalds fields are powder-dry. His pastures crunch under his boots and contain gaping cracks. In eastern Saskatchewan and Manitoba, a dry winter followed scant rainfall during the last growing season, said Bruce Burnett, director of markets and weather at Glacier FarmMedia. Much of western Manitoba had the driest or close to the driest winter in more than a century of records, according to Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada data. Most of arable Manitoba and southern Saskatchewan faces severe to extreme drought, the federal department said on Friday. Many farmers are adjusting by scaling back canola plantings, said Neil Townsend, FarmLink Marketing Solutions chief market analyst, citing surveys. Canola is especially vulnerable to drought that can prevent seeds from germinating. Record-Breaking Dryness In North Dakota Across the border in North Dakota, the top U.S. spring wheat producer, the last six months have been the driest in records dating to 1895, said Adnan Akyuz, the states official climatologist. The latest weekly U.S. Drought Monitor showed 70% of North Dakota in extreme drought, up from 47% the previous week. The Drought Monitor shows a better outlook for corn and soybeans, the main U.S. cash crops, mostly grown farther south. Rain and snow are expected in North Dakota this week, according to meteorologist Greg Gust with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. But it is unlikely to amount to much relief, although showers are possible in the 16-30-day period, said Joel Widenor, agriculture meteorologist with the Commodity Weather Group. Most of the states wheat crop is planted in late April and May. Statistics Canada will issue its first report on planting intentions on April 27. Farmers are likely to seed 4% more canola, mainly in northern areas with more soil moisture, Agriculture Canada said on March 18. The U.S. Department of Agriculture last month projected that North Dakota farmers would plant 7 million acres of soybeans, making it the states most-planted crop, while spring wheat acres would fall 2% to 5.6 million. Soil erosion is a concern as winds whip the region, said Jim Peterson of the North Dakota Wheat Commission. As a result, wheat may lose more acres to soybeans, which farmers can plant into June without stirring up fields to apply fertilizer, he said. Conditions are the driest that Minto, Manitoba, farmer Jake Ayre and his family have seen since emigrating to Canada from England in 2002. But most planting in the region, known for its volatile weather, occurs in May. Were not panicking, Ayre said. My dad said, Were always three weeks away from a drought, three weeks away from a flood.' A project at the University of Glasgow that is aiming to better understand the effects that COVID-19 infection has on blood vessels and blood pressure has received a grant of 250,000 from national charity Heart Research UK. Image Credit: Heart Research UK Research has shown that people who are older, obese, male or those who have other medical problems including high blood pressure, heart disease, diabetes, cancer, or chronic lung conditions, have a higher risk of developing severe COVID-19. High blood pressure is a major risk factor for cardiovascular disease and is very common with more than one quarter of adults in the UK affected. The virus causing COVID-19 enters the bodys cells through a receptor called ACE2 which is found in the lungs, heart, blood vessels, kidneys, liver, and bowel. ACE2 is very important for maintaining many of the bodys important processes including blood pressure, inflammation, and wound healing. COVID-19 can also cause damage to the walls of the blood vessels which makes the risk of blood clots higher and this has been seen more often in people with high blood pressure. The reasons for this are not yet known which is why we need to understand more about the links between COVID-19 and high blood pressure. This study, which will be led by Professor Sandosh Padmanabhan, Professor of Cardiovascular Genomics and Therapeutics, aims to answer whether: High blood pressure makes COVID-19 infection worse and if so, why. COVID-19 infection makes high blood pressure worse and if so, why. Monitoring and management of high blood pressure needs to be a greater priority during the pandemic. The study will look at routinely collected health records for people in the West of Scotland who attended hospital or had a positive test for COVID-19 between April 2020 and April 2021. This will be compared to the records of patients who attended hospital during 2019, for another reason. They will also look in detail at a group of people with high blood pressure. Prof Padmanabhans team will also study a group of people that have recovered from COVID-19 infection. They will undergo blood pressure monitoring, and tests of heart and blood vessel health. These tests will be repeated after 12 and 18 months to see if there have been any changes. They will be compared to a group of people who have not had COVID-19. Finally, the study will look at markers in the blood (biomarkers) with the aim of identifying any which are linked with high blood pressure, cardiovascular disease, or death in COVID-19. This study will give us a better understanding of the links between COVID-19 infection and high blood pressure, and help to improve the long-term outcomes for survivors of COVID-19. Also, the findings may lead to recommendations on the monitoring and management of blood pressure during the pandemic. The current COVID-19 pandemic, caused by the SARS-CoV-2 virus, has exposed unexpected cardiovascular vulnerabilities at all stages of the disease. The mechanism by which the SARS-CoV-2 virus causes infection is believed to directly and indirectly affect the cardiovascular system potentially resulting in new-onset hypertension, heart failure and stroke and represents an insidious feature of long-COVID. The burden of hypertension as a consequence of the COVID-19 pandemic is unknown, but given the scale of the infection especially among the young this will be a major concern for the future. In this project, we plan to generate valuable evidence that will inform hypertension management strategies and reduce cardiovascular risk for survivors of COVID-19. Sandosh Padmanabhan, Professor of Cardiovascular Genomics and Therapeutics, Heart Research UK A candidate to replace Len McCluskey has denounced the boss of union Unite for spending almost 100million of its money on a luxury hotel complex. Gerard Coyne blasted the current leadership over costs which rose from 7million to 98million for a 170-room four-star hotel, conference centre and Unite offices in Birmingham. Left-winger Mr McCluskey, 70, is to retire this year after 11 years heading Britain's second-biggest union. The hotel is called 'Red Len's Folly' by his critics. Mr Coyne, who was narrowly defeated in a bitter leadership contest in 2017, said spending such 'eye-watering amounts' showed 'wrong priorities'. It was not the union's job 'to be the backseat driver for the Labour Party' and he promised 'to empower our workplace reps and support our members through the troubled times to come not to play political games or waste their hard-earned money.' Len McCluskey General Secretary of Unite the Union, at BBC Broadcasting House for the Pienaar's Politics show on BBC 5 Live on December 15, 2019 in London He added: 'I'm sick and tired of Unite messing about with Westminster politics.' Launching his campaign, he said: 'Unite members and reps are crying out for change, not more of the same. 'Unite has spent nearly 100million building a hotel and conference centre in Birmingham. That's a clear example of the wrong priorities and the wrong approach. 'I will use the union's resources and energy to empower our workplace reps and support our members through the troubled times to come - not to play political games or waste their hard-earned money.' In a video posted on Twitter, Mr Coyne further criticised Mr McCluskey as he declared it is not the job of Unite 'to be the backseat driver for the Labour Party, trying to control and run everything'. Gerard Coyne (pictured in 2017) blasted the current leadership over costs which rose from 7million to 98million for a 170-room four-star hotel He added: 'The leadership has seemed more interested in what goes on in the Labour Party than what goes on inside your workplace. 'They've spent eye-watering amounts on building a luxury hotel and conference centre, instead of building a strong union.' Mr Coyne was narrowly defeated by Mr McCluskey in a bitter battle for the Unite leadership in 2017. Mr McCluskey, who has been general secretary since 2010, has announced he will retire later this year, with the contest to replace him expected to conclude by the end of August. The Birmingham hotel is widely seen as his legacy but is known as 'Red Len's Folly' by his critics. Unite says the initial estimate was too low and rose after it was decided to add an extra floor and upgrade the establishment from a three-star rating to four. It has also cited its determination to ensure employment practices on the site were up to its standards as another reason for the escalation in costs. Sorry, no valid subscriptions were found for this Publication. Please select from an option below to start a subscription. SUBSCRIBE TODAY! 24 Hour Access Vancouver, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - April 15, 2021) - EMX Royalty Corporation (NYSE American: EMX) (TSXV: EMX) (FSE: 6E9) (the "Company" or "EMX") is pleased to announce the execution of an option agreement (the "Agreement") for the Copper Warrior copper project (the "Project") in Utah with Warrior Metals Inc. ("Warrior Metals"), a Utah corporation and wholly-owned subsidiary of American West Metals Limited, a privately held Australian corporation. The Agreement provides EMX with cash and share payments, as well as work commitments during Warrior Metals' earn-in period. Upon earn-in, EMX will retain a 2% NSR royalty and receive increasing annual advance royalty payments. EMX recognized Copper Warrior's exploration potential after identifying disseminated sandstone-hosted copper mineralization hosted along normal faults and in receptive stratigraphic units within Lisbon Valley, part of the Paradox Basin of southeastern Utah and southwestern Colorado (see Figure 1). These are the same units being mined at the nearby Lisbon Valley Copper Mine. The Project was acquired in 2015 through the staking of open ground as part of EMX's royalty generation program to acquire sediment-hosted copper projects in the western U.S., an initiative led by deposit-type expert Dr. Jon P. Thorson. The outcropping stratiform copper occurrences, nature of the mineralization, and proximity to an analogous operating mine make the Copper Warrior Project an excellent exploration opportunity for Warrior Metals, with important upside potential for EMX as a royalty holder. Commercial Terms Overview. Pursuant to the Agreement, Warrior Metals can earn a 100% interest in the Project by (all dollar amounts in USD): making an execution payment of $50,000, making annual advance royalty ("AAR") payments of $5,000, completing $500,000 of exploration expenditures, completing an initial public offering ("IPO") before the third anniversary of the Agreement, and transferring the equivalent of C$500,000 of shares of the post-IPO public entity to EMX. Upon exercise of the option, EMX will retain a 2% NSR royalty on the Project. After exercise, EMX will receive AAR payments, of $10,000 on the first anniversary of the exercise of the option, escalating $5,000 per year thereafter. Project Overview. The Copper Warrior Project is comprised of 61 unpatented mining claims located in San Juan County, Utah. The Paradox Basin, along with Lisbon Valley, hosts multiple commercially developed deposits of copper, as well as uranium, potash and natural gas. The Project lies approximately 12 kilometers northwest of the Lisbon Valley mine (see Figure 2). Copper was first discovered in the area during the 1890's, with mining beginning in 1903 at the Big Indian mine, located approximately one kilometer northwest of the Project. The Lisbon Valley Mine, which started small scale production in the 1960's, was recapitalized between 1999 and 2004 with the first cathode copper being produced in 2006 from a new SX/EW plant. The mine has produced yearly cathode since that time, with a brief interruption due to the Covid pandemic. Mineralization at Lisbon Valley is hosted by reactive and chemically prepared sedimentary rocks within a doubly plunging, salt cored anticline that has been dissected by faults related to salt collapse during erosion. Copper-bearing, basin-related fluids ascended these structures and mineralized reactive units and earlier-formed sulfides, as well as the structures themselves. The Jurassic-Cretaceous age Burro Canyon and Dakota sandstone units, key mineralization host rocks at both the Lisbon Valley and Big Indian mines, outcrop across the property and are cut by the Lisbon-Valley fault, a major mineralization controlling structure on the west side of the property. Multiple copper-oxide occurrences are seen throughout the property and are interpreted to be post weathering residual evidence of copper mineralization, leached from the surface, but likely preserved at depth. These exposures represent potentially shallow mineralization that are the primary exploration targets. Secondary exploration targets exist beneath the Burro Canyon unit at Copper Warrior, with copper occurrences known throughout the stratigraphic section from Pennsylvanian to Cretaceous age rocks in the district. These rocks are present on the west side of the property in the footwall of the Lisbon Valley fault. All of the targets on the Project remain untested by drilling. EMX and Warrior Metals will commence an initial field program in the spring of 2021 consisting of geological mapping, geochemical sampling, and drill targeting. Comments on Nearby Mines. Reference to nearby or adjacent mines or analogous deposits provides geologic context for EMX's Project, but this is not necessarily indicative that EMX's Project hosts similar mineralization. Qualified Person. Michael P. Sheehan, CPG, a Qualified Person as defined by NI 43-101 and employee of the Company, has reviewed, verified and approved the above technical disclosure contained in this news release. About EMX. EMX is a precious and base metals royalty company. EMX's investors are provided with discovery, development, and commodity price optionality, while limiting exposure to risks inherent to operating companies. The Company's common shares are listed on the NYSE American Exchange and the TSX Venture Exchange under the symbol EMX. See www.EMXroyalty.com for more information. For further information contact: David M. Cole President and Chief Executive Officer Phone: (303) 979-6666 Dave@EMXroyalty.com Scott Close Director of Investor Relations Phone: (303) 973-8585 SClose@EMXroyalty.com Isabel Belger Investor Relations (Europe) Phone: +49 178 4909039 IBelger@EMXroyalty.com Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. Forward-Looking Statements This news release may contain "forward-looking statements" that reflect the Company's current expectations and projections about its future results. These forward-looking statements may include statements regarding perceived merit of properties, exploration results and budgets, mineral reserves and resource estimates, work programs, capital expenditures, timelines, strategic plans, market prices for precious and base metal, or other statements that are not statements of fact. When used in this news release, words such as "estimate," "intend," "expect," "anticipate," "will", "believe", "potential" and similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements, which, by their very nature, are not guarantees of the Company's future operational or financial performance, and are subject to risks and uncertainties and other factors that could cause the Company's actual results, performance, prospects or opportunities to differ materially from those expressed in, or implied by, these forward-looking statements. These risks, uncertainties and factors may include, but are not limited to: unavailability of financing, failure to identify commercially viable mineral reserves, fluctuations in the market valuation for commodities, difficulties in obtaining required approvals for the development of a mineral project, increased regulatory compliance costs, expectations of project funding by joint venture partners and other factors. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date of this news release or as of the date otherwise specifically indicated herein. Due to risks and uncertainties, including the risks and uncertainties identified in this news release, and other risk factors and forward-looking statements listed in the Company's MD&A for the year ended December 31, 2020 (the "MD&A"), and the most recently filed Annual Information Form ("AIF") for the year ended December 31, 2020, actual events may differ materially from current expectations. More information about the Company, including the MD&A, the AIF and financial statements of the Company, is available on SEDAR at www.sedar.com and on the SEC's EDGAR website at www.sec.gov. Figure 1. Location Map for the Copper Warrior Project. To view an enhanced version of Figure 1, please visit: https://orders.newsfilecorp.com/files/1508/80482_figure1enhanced.jpg Figure 2. Geologic Map of Copper Warrior Project Area. To view an enhanced version of Figure 2, please visit: https://orders.newsfilecorp.com/files/1508/80482_figure2enhanced.jpg To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/80482 BOSTON, April 15, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Liberty Mutual Insurance has appointed Virna Rhodes to lead its workers compensation claims organization, which managed more than 300,000 new claims in 2020, representing more than $3 billion in medical and indemnity payments. "Virna has the experience and vision needed to lead an organization that produces superior outcomes for the injured workers of our workers compensation policyholders and customers of Helmsman Management Services, our wholly-owned third-party administrator," said Global Risk Solutions Chief Claims Officer Steve Deane. "She has a proven track record of success, including most recently leading our Shared Services operation to outstanding results." Before joining Liberty Mutual in 2013, and subsequently transitioning to commercial insurance claims, Rhodes managed a range of claims teams at both Allstate Insurance and Farmers Insurance. Rhodes takes over leadership of the workers compensation claims organization from Wes Hyatt, who recently was appointed Chief Client Officer, Global Risk Solutions. About Liberty Mutual Insurance At Liberty Mutual, we believe progress happens when people feel secure. By providing protection for the unexpected and delivering it with care, we help people embrace today and confidently pursue tomorrow. In business since 1912, and headquartered in Boston, today we are the sixth largest global property and casualty insurer based on 2020 gross written premium. We also rank 77th on the Fortune 100 list of largest corporations in the U.S. based on 2019 revenue. As of December 31, 2020, we had $43.8 billion in annual consolidated revenue. We employ over 45,000 people in 29 countries and economies around the world. We offer a wide range of insurance products and services, including personal automobile, homeowners, specialty lines, reinsurance, commercial multiple-peril, workers compensation, commercial automobile, general liability, surety, and commercial property. For more information, visit www.libertymutualinsurance.com. SOURCE Liberty Mutual Insurance Northern Territorians have been urged to protect themselves from mosquito bites after two rare and dangerous viruses borne by the insects were detected. Murray Valley encephalitis (MVE) virus and Kunjin virus were found in the Top End and Barkly regions during routine screening, NT Health says. 'The results of recent testing indicate widespread MVE and Kunjin virus activity throughout the Territory, medical entomologist Bill Pettit said on Thursday. 'Although mosquito numbers are currently relatively low in Top End urban areas and Central Australia, they can still occur in relatively high numbers in rural areas, especially those close to swamps and wetlands.' Northern Territorians have been urged to protect themselves from mosquito bites after two rare and dangerous viruses borne by the insects were detected The announcement follows the recent death of a resident on the Tiwi Islands, north of Darwin, following a case of a mosquito-borne encephalitis, which is inflammation of the brain tissue. Health authorities said they are still investigating which virus the resident was infected with in March but the MVE or Kunjin virus are the most likely. Both viruses are transmitted by a bite from an infected mosquitoe, which mainly breed in vegetated freshwater habitats. MVE is a rare disease that can be fatal. Symptoms include severe headache, high fever, drowsiness, tremor, seizures and in some cases the disease can progress to delirium, coma, permanent brain damage or death. Kunjin virus is also rare but endemic in tropical parts of Australia, like the north of the NT, but rarely leads to encephalitis. People in the NT have been urged to cover up after sundown, use repellent and avoid outdoor exposure around mosquito-prone areas. Residents are also advised to avoid outdoor exposure within two kilometres of swamps, creeks, rivers, billabongs and other flooded or low-lying areas, NT health said. It comes five weeks after dengue mosquitoes were found in Tennant Creek, about 1000km south of Darwin. They were thought to have hitched a ride from tropical north Queensland, where Dengue fever often occurs during the wet season. No cases of dengue fever were diagnosed in the Territory following the discovery of the mosquito. DEDHAM, Mass., April 15, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Atlantic Power Corporation (NYSE: AT) (TSX: ATP) ("Atlantic Power" or the "Company") announced today that the parties to the previously announced proposed transaction among Atlantic Power, Atlantic Power Preferred Equity Ltd. ("APPEL"), Atlantic Power Limited Partnership ("APLP") and certain affiliates (collectively the "Purchasers") of infrastructure funds managed by I Squared Capital Advisors (US) LLC (the "Transaction") are continuing to work through the steps required to close the Transaction without the approval of holders of the Company's 6.00% Series E convertible unsecured subordinated debentures due January 31, 2025 (the "Convertible Debentures"). It is expected that these steps will still offer to the holders of Convertible Debentures the benefit of the "make whole premium" contemplated by the indenture governing the Convertible Debentures. Additional details will be provided once these steps are substantially finalized. As previously announced, the parties intend to close the Transaction without the approval of the holders of the Convertible Debentures unless a sufficient number of Convertible Debentures are voted in favor of the Transaction as currently structured. In the interim, the Company also announced that it is adjourning the meeting (the "Debentureholder Meeting") of holders of the Convertible Debentures currently scheduled to be held at 10:00 a.m. (Toronto time) on April 15, 2021 to consider the Transaction. The Debentureholder Meeting is being adjourned until 10:00 a.m. (Toronto time) on April 29, 2021. Holders of Convertible Debentures are urged to submit their proxies or voting instructions well in advance of the revised proxy cut-off time of 10:00 a.m. (Toronto time) on April 27, 2021. Unless a sufficient number of Convertible Debentures are voted in favor of the Transaction as currently structured, it is expected that the adjourned Debentureholder Meeting will be cancelled and the condition precedent to the Transaction that the holders of the Convertible Debentures approve the Transaction will be mutually waived. The Transaction remains subject to the satisfaction or waiver of certain conditions, including court approval of the Transaction, approval of the holders of Convertible Debentures, certain remaining regulatory approvals and third-party consents and other customary closing conditions. As previously disclosed, the Transaction has already received approval from the holders of common shares of the Company, preferred shares of APPEL and medium term notes of APLP, and the Transaction has also received certain required regulatory approvals, including an advance ruling certificate from the Canadian Commissioner of Competition under the Competition Act (Canada) on February 5, 2021, the expiration of the required waiting period under the Hart-Scott-Rodino Antitrust Improvements Act of 1976 on March 9, 2021, and the approval of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission on April 2, 2021. The parties currently expect to close the Transaction in the second quarter of 2021. About Atlantic Power Atlantic Power is an independent power producer that owns power generation assets in eleven states in the United States and two provinces in Canada. The Company's generation projects sell electricity and steam to investment-grade utilities and other creditworthy large customers predominantly under longterm PPAs that have expiration dates ranging from 2021 to 2043. The Company seeks to minimize its exposure to commodity prices through provisions in the contracts, fuel supply agreements and hedging arrangements. The projects are diversified by geography, fuel type, technology, dispatch profile and offtaker (customer). Approximately 75% of the projects in operation are 100% owned and directly operated and maintained by the Company. The Company has expertise in operating most fuel types, including gas, hydro, and biomass, and it owns a 40% interest in one coal project. Atlantic Power's shares trade on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol AT and on the Toronto Stock Exchange under the symbol ATP. For more information, please visit the Company's website at www.atlanticpower.com or contact: Atlantic Power Corporation Investor Relations (617) 977-2700 [email protected] Copies of the Company's financial data and other publicly filed documents are available on SEDAR at www.sedar.com or on EDGAR at www.sec.gov/edgar.shtml under "Atlantic Power Corporation" or on the Company's website. Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements Certain statements in this news release may constitute forward-looking information or forward-looking statements within the meaning of applicable securities laws (collectively, "forward-looking statements"), which reflect the expectations of management regarding the future growth, results of operations, performance and business prospects and opportunities of the Company and its projects. These statements, which are based on certain assumptions and describe the Company's future plans, strategies and expectations, can generally be identified by the use of the words "plans", "expects", "does not expect", "is expected", "budget", "estimates", "forecasts", "targets", "intends", "anticipates" or "does not anticipate", "believes", "outlook", "objective", or "continue", or equivalents or variations, including negative variations, of such words and phrases, or state that certain actions, events or results, "may", "could", "would", "should", "might" or "will" be taken, occur or be achieved. Examples of such statements in this news release include, but are not limited to, statements with respect to whether the Transaction will close, the anticipated timing of any such closing of the Transaction and the timing and outcome of any Debentureholder Meeting, and the parties' intentions with respect to the Convertible Debentures if the Transaction is not approved by the required percentage of holders of the Convertible Debentures. Forward-looking statements involve significant risks and uncertainties, should not be read as guarantees of future performance or results, and will not necessarily be accurate indications of whether or not or the times at or by which such performance or results will be achieved. Please refer to the factors discussed under "Risk Factors" and "Forward-Looking Information" in the Company's periodic reports as filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (the "SEC") from time to time for a detailed discussion of the risks and uncertainties affecting the Company. Although the forward-looking statements contained in this news release are based upon what are believed to be reasonable assumptions, investors cannot be assured that actual results will be consistent with these forward-looking statements, and the differences may be material. These forward-looking statements are made as of the date of this news release and, except as expressly required by applicable law, the Company assumes no obligation to update or revise them to reflect new events or circumstances. SOURCE Atlantic Power Corporation Source: Xinhua| 2021-04-15 22:30:18|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close Cotton farmer Dilshat Memet (1st R) and employees have a discussion on film mulching sower efficiency in a cotton field in Tungqeka Village of Xingping Township, Yuli County, Bayingolin Mongolian Autonomous Prefecture, northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, April 13, 2021. When he graduated from Xinjiang University of Finance and Economics in 2012, Dilshat Memet decided to invest in cotton planting in his hometown Yuli County. Although there was also a job offer as public servant in a nearby town, the prospects of cotton business sounded more appealing to Dilshat, who now owns a cotton farm with an area of about 66 hectares. Contrary to what some have pictured as a labor-intensive trade, modern cotton production in Xinjiang has largely been mechanized. In Dilshat's case, large cotton harvesters have been put to use since 2017, whereas film mulching seeders were already introduced on cotton fields run by his relatives more than a decade ago. "Now we have even started to use unmanned tractors," said Dilshat. "Technology has slashed a great deal of our cotton planting cost." Yuli County is home to over 66,000 hectares of cotton fields, making it a major production base of premium cotton in China. In recent years, local authorities have provided multiple incentives, including preferential policies and technical services, to encourage mechanized cultivation of cotton. Mechanization of cotton production freed cotton planters like Dilshat from compulsory field work, and allowed them more time for investment alternatives. In 2019, Dilshat and partners started an agricultural company that offers drone spraying and mechanized cotton picking services to other cotton farmers. Meanwhile, Dilshat is making profit from sheep raising at an animal husbandry cooperative in which he and others have invested. Every afternoon, Dilshat will leave the cotton farm on time to pick up his daughter from school. "See? Planting cotton here is nothing different from going to work in an office -- everything has a schedule. I don't regret being a cotton farmer," said Dilshat, taking his daughter by the hand as they headed for home in town. (Xinhua/Zhao Ge) WINDHOEK, Namibia and VANCOUVER, BC, April 15, 2021 /CNW/ - Ministry of Mines and Energy ("MME") and Reconnaissance Energy Africa Ltd. (the "Company" or "ReconAfrica") (TSXV: RECO) (OTCQX: RECAF) (Frankfurt: 0XD) are pleased to announce preliminary analysis of the data from the 6-2 well, the first of a three well drilling program, provides clear evidence of a working conventional petroleum system in the Kavango Basin. First Drill Site (6-2 well) The well sample log of the 6-2 provides over 200 meters (over 660 feet) of oil and natural gas indicators/shows over three discrete intervals in a stacked sequence of reservoir and source rock. Extraction of oil from these samples and subsequent fingerprinting for key characteristics of the liquids, supports an active petroleum system with multiple source intervals. Dan Jarvie, petroleum systems chemist and member of ReconAfrica's Advisory Board stated "These shows are indicative of migrated, thermogenic petroleum and occur over three different intervals in the 6-2 test well. The intervals penetrated include highly porous, permeable sediments and marine source rocks as predicted, and an extensive marine carbonate lithofacies. Mud gas results indicate a high BTU gas with the presence of light oil in numerous cutting samples. Based on these initial results, the components and processes for a working petroleum system are all present." Working closely with MME and ReconAfrica to provide further detailed analysis of all data are premier industry service companies including: Core Laboratories ("Core Lab") of Houston, Texas in the analysis of potential reservoir rocks,and GeoMark Research, Houston, Texas on geochemical analysis of source rocks and extracted liquids, including "fingerprinting" for key characteristics, and Netherland Sewell & Associates Inc, Dallas, Texas for petrophysical analysis (rock properties and associated liquids) and additional geologic analysis. Second Drill Site (6-1 Well) With drilling, coring and logging operations now complete on the 6-2 location, the Company owned rig is being mobilized to the 6-1 location, 16 kms (10 miles) north of 6-2 drill site. This second well is designed to evaluate the petroleum systems discovered in the first well (6-2) in an area of maximum thickness. Hon. Thomas Alweendo, Namibian Minister of Mines and Energy stated, "This is a great period for the people of Namibia, with the results of the well confirming a big potential for a very valuable energy resource for our country and therefore a significant development for Namibia onshore exploration efforts. The positive results of this well have provided us with the critical information required to unlock the country's petroleum prospectivity and is the first step in the process of locating significant accumulations, we can now confidently confirm Namibia is endowed with an active onshore petroleum basin." The Ministry of Mines and Energy of Namibia (MME) is the State's lead agency in attracting private investment in resources exploration and development through the provision of geo-scientific information on minerals and energy resources, and management of an equitable and secure titles systems for the mining, petroleum and geothermal industries. It also carries prime responsibility for regulating these extractive industries and ensuring that safety, health and environmental standards are consistent with the relevant State and Commonwealth legislation, regulations and policies. ReconAfrica is a junior, Canadian oil and gas company engaged in the opening of the newly discovered deep Kavango Sedimentary Basin, in the Kalahari Desert of northeastern Namibia and northwestern Botswana, where the Company holds petroleum licenses comprising approximately 8.5 million contiguous acres. In all aspects of its operations, ReconAfrica is committed to minimal disturbances in line with international best standards and will implement environmental and social best practices in all of its project areas. Neither the TSXV nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in policies of the TSXV) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. Abbreviations: bbl or bbls barrel or barrels Mcf thousand cubic feet bbls/d barrels per day Mcf/d thousand cubic feet per day boe barrels of oil equivalent MMcf million cubic feet boe/d rrels of oil equivalent per day BTU british thermal unit Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements: Certain statements contained in this press release constitute forward-looking information under applicable Canadian, United States and other applicable securities laws, rules and regulations, including, without limitation, statements with respect to data from the 6-2 well providing clear evidence of a working conventional petroleum system in the Kavango Basin, the mobilization of the Company owned rig to the 6-1 location and the Company's commitment to minimal disturbances in line with international best standards and its implementation of environmental and social best practices in all of its project areas. 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 ReconAfrica's current belief or assumptions as to the outcome and timing of such future events. There can be no assurance that such statements will prove to be accurate, as the Company's actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in these forward-looking statements as a result of the factors discussed in the "Risk Factors" section in the Company's annual information form dated July 27, 2020 available under the Company's profile at www.sedar.com. Actual future results may differ materially. 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 ReconAfrica. The forward-looking information contained in this release is made as of the date hereof and ReconAfrica undertakes no 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 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. SOURCE Reconnaissance Energy Africa Ltd. For further information: Ministry of Mines and Energy, Maggy Shino, Petroleum Commissioner, Tel: +264 812882182, Email: [email protected]; ReconAfrica, Scot Evans CEO | Tel: +1-877-631-1160; Carlos Escribano CFO I Tel: +1-877-631-1160, Media Inquiries Email: [email protected] Related Links https://reconafrica.com/ April may be Stress Awareness Month, but 2020 could be considered Stress Awareness Year. Gallup finds that 2020 was officially the most stressful year in recent history, with a record-high 40% of adults worldwide saying they experienced a lot of stress the previous day. This five-percentage-point jump from 35% in 2019 represents nearly 190 million more people globally who experienced a lot of stress. Line graph. Stress levels worldwide reached a record 40% in 2020. The jump from 35% in 2019 to 40% means that as many as 190 million more people experienced stress. The COVID-19 pandemic has elevated concerns about stress in a global context. And with a globally interconnected economy and the fact that the COVID-19 pandemic is likely not the last threat the world will face, understanding the effects of stress on people's lives and behavior has become even more important. This is why Lightkeeper and Gallup are working together to improve awareness and understanding of stress by conducting the first-ever comprehensive global study of stress experiences in 2021. Data from the study will be used to develop the World Stress Index. What Is Stress? The first phase of the World Stress Index project, which started during the pandemic, included guidance from top experts in the field of stress, extensive literature reviews, and findings from cognitive interviews with adults in seven countries and territories. Each was crucial to coming up with the right survey questions to understand not only the stress that people experience, but also the context for those experiences. Understanding what "stress" means to people was vital. Gallup asked people in Australia, Colombia, South Africa, Tunisia, Taiwan, Ukraine and the United Kingdom to say -- in their own words -- what stress means to them. Generally, they explained it as a negative emotion, using words such as "problems," "difficult," "anger," "bad" and "anxious." However, people also said words like "overthinking," "boredom," "powerlessness" and "aging." The World Stress Index The World Stress Index study measures potential stressors that range from everyday sources -- such as people's jobs, finances, personal relationships or current events -- to more acute stressors, such as a traumatic event. It also examines several possible outcomes of stress, including trouble sleeping, physical pain, altered eating habits, and arguing with friends and family. And it also explores possible coping mechanisms, including emotional support from friends and family, exercise, meditation, alcohol, medication and spiritual/religious practices. The World Stress Index study will also incorporate objective environmental data to further understand potential relationships between external factors and stress. For example, using geospatial analysis, Gallup will record the recent temperature at each interview's location, so we can better understand how environments affect people's stress levels and wellbeing. This makes the World Stress Index not just the largest study of stress, but also one of the largest studies on how weather may influence stress. Next Steps The second phase of this project is already underway, with data for the World Stress Index being gathered in 125 countries and areas as part of the 2021 Gallup World Poll. With the stress epidemic reaching new heights last year, it is more important than ever to be able to understand and manage stress. Analysis and insights from the World Stress Index will be used by Lightkeeper and its partners and customers to inform policy for governments and organizations, improve products and services for health and wellness providers, and empower educators and researchers. Lightkeeper and Gallup will share the findings from this research over the coming year. NSDC meeting to discuss situation in Donbas, expansion of sanctions against organizers, perpetrators of smuggling schemes on Thursday President's Office At a meeting of the National Security and Defense Council (NSDC), which will take place on Thursday, April 15, the situation in Donbas and the issue of expanding the package of sanctions against the organizers and perpetrators of smuggling schemes will be discussed, the President's Office of Ukraine said. "Today, on April 15, 2021, a meeting of the National Security and Defense Council will be held under the chairmanship of President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky. On the agenda is a detailed discussion of the security situation in the east of the country, as well as the situation in the national economy, taking into account the process of hacking long-term corruption schemes that has started by the government," the office said. It is noted that one of the key issues on the NSDC agenda will be considered in secret and will relate to the discussion of the situation in Donbas. In addition, members of the NSDC will consider a second expanded package of personal sanctions against organizers and perpetrators of smuggling schemes. "The smuggling, which has become alarming in a decade, significantly undermines our economic security and requires urgent solutions," the office said. The officials will also discuss broader issues related to the economic security of the state. Cybersecurity is also an important issue. Separately, in the "Miscellaneous" section, special issues from the head of state will be submitted for consideration by the members of the collegial agency. Earlier, a source told Interfax-Ukraine that the government was preparing a procedure for the deportation of three former citizens of Ukraine in accordance with the sanctions for smuggling approved by the NSDC. US urged not to escalate use of Taiwan card China Daily) 09:24, April 15, 2021 Tourists take photos with the Taipei 101 skyscraper in the background at Xiangshan Mountain in Taipei, southeast China's Taiwan, July 21, 2019. (Xinhua/Zhu Xiang) Ministry warns Washington against sending wrong signals to secessionists The United States has been escalating its move to play the Taiwan card and making the Taiwan question a hot spot as US President Joe Biden's first delegation of former US senior officials arrived in Taiwan on Wednesday, an expert said. The three-day visit is the latest diplomatic outreach made by the US after Washington issued a new guideline on Friday, enabling US officials to meet more freely with officials from Taiwan. China responded by warning the US "not to play with fire". Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian said on Wednesday that China has lodged stern representations over the visit, urging Washington to stop sending any wrong signals to "Taiwan independence" forces. Zhao said at a daily news conference that China urged the US to abide by the one-China principle and the three China-US joint communiques, and to stop all forms of official contacts with Taiwan. The US should prudently deal with Taiwan-related issues to avoid further damaging cross-Straits stability as well as China-US relations, he said. The three members of the visiting delegation are former US senator Chris Dodd and former US deputy secretaries of state Richard Armitage and James Steinberg. The delegation was set to meet with Taiwan leader Tsai Ing-wen. The delegation is visiting Taiwan on the 42nd anniversary of the so-called Taiwan Relations Act, which Biden backed when he was a senator. China has repeatedly expressed opposition to the act. Lyu Xiang, a China-US relations expert at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, said the US delegation's visit is testing China's limits on the Taiwan question. Although China's response to the meeting is cautious and calm, he said, the US should not underestimate Beijing's resolve to take countermeasures or the efficacy of the measures. The US has escalated and is making a more aggressive move on Taiwan because it is hiding "Sinophobia" and trying to contain China using Taiwan as a pawn, he said. On the other hand, Washington has begun to "raise its voice" on issues like Taiwan and the Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region to embolden itself, and to unite its allies in an attempt to form a so-called alliance of Western values to contain China, he added. Ma Xiaoguang, spokesman for the Taiwan Affairs Office of the State Council, said on Wednesday that the visit will not help improve cross-Straits relations, and will do little to stabilize the situation but will intensify tension in the Taiwan Straits. The visit will not change the fact that Taiwan is a part of China, Ma added. He urged the US to take concrete actions to honor its promise on the Taiwan question. The US must first figure out right and wrong, he said, adding that the root cause of the complex and severe situation in the Taiwan Straits rests with the Democratic Progressive Party authorities and "Taiwan independence" separatists' colluding with external forces. Ma said China is willing to make utmost efforts to achieve peaceful reunification, but will never leave room for any forms of separatist activities seeking "Taiwan independence". Ma said the People's Liberation Army's organizing of actual combat exercises in the Taiwan Straits is a necessary action to address the current security situation in the Taiwan Straits and to safeguard national sovereignty. The PLA's military exercises and training operations are sending a signal that China's determination to curb "Taiwan independence" and Taiwan-US collusion is not just talk, Ma said. China opposes the US hyping up the so-called Chinese military threat and playing the Taiwan card, he said. (Web editor: Shi Xi, Liang Jun) BERLIN, April 15, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Lingoda , the number one trusted online language school, today announced it has raised $68 million (57 million) in growth equity led by global growth investor Summit Partners , with participation from existing investor Conny Boersch, founder of Mountain Partners, which first invested in Lingoda in 2015. The new funding will support Lingoda's expansion in new markets; further enhance the company's live classroom experiences, and accelerate the company's already robust growth. Including this latest round of funding, Lingoda has raised more than $83 million (70 million) since 2013. Previous recent rounds were led by investor Grazia Equity, which has played a key role in the company's growth journey to date. Founded in 2013 by entrepreneurs Fabian and Felix Wunderlich, Lingoda is a leading online language school offering live small group and private classes available 24/7 in four languages - English, German, French and Spanish. Lingoda teaches more than 450,000 classes each year through a community of over 1,400 certified, native-speaking teaching professionals. The company's structured curriculum includes over 2,000 digital lessons produced in-house by linguistic experts. Courses are designed to empower language fluency, and 97% of Lingoda learners confirm that the platform is more effective than using language apps alone. "We are Europe's leading online language school. We aim to be the world's largest, offering our students and teachers more learning and teaching options than any other provider," said Michael Shangkuan, CEO of Lingoda. "To date, we have taught over 3 million hours of coursework to more than 70,000 students, and our community is growing daily as we continue to build our platform to serve more learners worldwide. We are grateful for the ongoing support of our trusted investors and partners, whose collaboration has been instrumental in our growth to date, and we are excited to embark on our new partnership with Summit. We look forward to working together to further scale our business and accelerate our growth." Lingoda has grown rapidly since its founding as the demand for language education continues to rise, driven by globalization and the increasing need for communication across borders. The global language learning market is estimated to represent more than $50 billion in annual revenues.[1] The increasing adoption of technology, which has been further accelerated by the COVID-19 crisis, has fueled this growth and brought about a secular shift to online learning.[2] In the past year alone, Lingoda has grown its customer base nearly 200% and has served students from almost 200 countries worldwide. "The language learning market is increasingly shifting to online offerings that provide consumers with a more convenient, flexible and cost-effective way to improve their foreign language skills," said Matthias Allgaier, a Managing Director at Summit Partners who will join the Lingoda Board of Directors. "We believe Lingoda has developed one of the most comprehensive and effective online language learning solutions globally and is positioned to benefit from the ongoing and accelerating trend of digitization in education. We are thrilled to partner with the entire Lingoda team, and we are excited about the future for this business." "We believe the push that COVID-19 has triggered in online education is irreversible; virtual learning is an easier, more convenient option for daily use, and the technical possibilities are significant," said Jochen Kluppel, Partner at Grazia Equity. "The course for digitization in language schools has long been set, and we believe it to Lingoda's strengths. We are proud to have been at Lingoda's side for the past several years, and we're happy to continue supporting them on this exciting journey." GP Bullhound is serving as financial advisor, and V14 is providing legal counsel to Lingoda. Sidley Austin is serving as legal counsel to Summit Partners. ABOUT LINGODA Lingoda is the number one trusted online language school. Founded in Berlin, Germany in 2013, we provide convenient and accessible online language courses in German, English, Business English, Spanish and French to over 70,000 students worldwide. Our private and small group classes are taught by over 1,400 qualified, native-speaking teachers. With over 450,000 classes available per year and accessible 24/7, our mission is to empower even the busiest people to master a language and unlock their potential at any time, from anywhere. We believe in a communicative approach to language learning: mastering a language means being able to speak it with confidence. Our CEFR-focused learning materials are designed by linguistic experts and focus on meaningful topics that are applicable to our students' interests, careers and everyday lives. Thanks to our extensive rotating roster of teachers and our small group classes, students are exposed to a variety of regional accents and expressions within the same language and have the time and space to practice speaking in every lesson. Our diverse team includes over 150 international professionals from 30 countries speaking 40 languages. In 2020, Crunchbase listed Lingoda among the 10 largest online language learning companies globally. We have a score of 4.5 on Trustpilot and 75% of our reviews are rated as 'excellent' because we offer a high-quality and authentic learning experience that helps students achieve their learning goals and transform their lives. Visit www.lingoda.com for additional information. ABOUT SUMMIT PARTNERS Founded in 1984, Summit Partners is a global alternative investment firm that is currently managing more than $23 billion in capital dedicated to growth equity, fixed income and public equity opportunities. Summit invests across growth sectors of the economy and has invested in more than 500 companies in technology, healthcare and other growth industries. Notable German companies backed by Summit Partners include 360 Treasury Systems, Elatec, Jamba!, Market Logic Software, ProGlove, Signavio and zahneins. Summit maintains offices in North America and Europe and invests in companies around the world. For more information, please see www.summitpartners.com or follow on LinkedIn . In the United States of America, Summit Partners operates as an SEC-registered investment advisor. In the United Kingdom, this document is issued by Summit Partners LLP, a firm authorized and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority. Summit Partners LLP is a limited liability partnership registered in England and Wales with registered number OC388179 and its registered office is at 11-12 Hanover Square, London, W1S 1JJ, UK. This document is intended solely to provide information regarding Summit Partners' potential financing capabilities for prospective portfolio companies. ABOUT GRAZIA EQUITY Grazia Equity is one of Germany's leading venture capital firms and invests in innovative and high-potential companies - mostly in the early stages -, supporting them throughout several phases of their life cycle. Grazia's success is based on partnering with outstanding and strong entrepreneurial teams in order to turn them into international market leaders. Unlike other venture capital firms, Grazia has its own capital and thus a permanently solid capital structure ("evergreen"). The company is a hybrid: Grazia combines the flexibility and speed of an angel investor with the financial strength and the professionalism of a venture capital firm - the best of both worlds. Portfolio companies benefit from the entrepreneurial background and business-building expertise of Grazia's management team, as well as from its extensive international network. A particular focus is placed on impact investments. Grazia invested early in companies that would later become category leaders, such as Statista, Mister Spex, Conergy, Immatics and Quantenna - and now Gitti and Lingoda. For more information, please see www.grazia.com. Media Inquiries Benedetta Bellini International PR Manager [email protected] [email protected] +49 (0)152 58744631 Niveen Saleh 5W Public Relations [email protected] 872-237-2345 - Cross reference: Picture is available at AP Images (http://www.apimages.com) - [1] Education Technology Market Size Report, 2020-2027. [2] UNICEF, August 2020. SOURCE Lingoda GmbH Researchers in South Korea developed a plasmonic isothermal recombinase polymerase amplification (RPA) array chip, the world's first plasmoinc isothermal PCR technology which can detect 8 types of pathogens (4 bacteria and 4 viruses) that cause acute respiratory infectious diseases in 30 minutes, led by Dr. Sung-Gyu Park and Dr. Ho Sang Jung of the Korea Institute of Materials Science (KIMS, President Jung-Hwan Lee) and by Dr. Min-Young Lee and Dr. Ayoung Woo of Samsung Medical Center. KIMS is a government-funded research institute under the Ministry of Science and ICT. * PCR(Polymerase Chain Reaction): A test method to amplify and detect nucleic acids target The current detection technology for COVID-19 is impossible to analyze on-site as it takes about 4 hours or more to be confirmed after specimen collection, making it difficult to isolate the infectee as soon as possible. To solve this problem, the researchers combined isothermal PCR technology with 3D Au nanostructured substrate which can amplify the fluorescence signal of RPA products with DNA amplicons and sucessfully detected bacterial DNA and viral RNA within 30 minutes. In addition, the research team also developed a 3D plasmonic array chip for multiplex molecular detections: a chip that can simultaneously analyze 8 pathogens(4 bacteria and 4 viruses). * 4 bacteria: Streptococcus pneumoniae, Haemophilus influenzae, Chlamydia pneumoniae, Mycoplasma pneumoniae * 4 viruses: Coronavirus 229E, OC42, NL63(Coronavirus 229E, OC43, NL63), Human metapneumovirus The "multiplex diagnosis technology for acute respiratory infections" was also confirmed to be valid for clinical specimens collected by nasopharyngeal swabs. The team is planning to perform the reliability test of medical devices through large-scale clinical trials on COVID-19 infectees and applying for approval from the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety. The "3D plasmonic nanomaterials technology for enhancing optical signal" of KIMS has already been patented in Korea, the US, and China, and the "on-site rapid pathogen detection technology" has been applied for a domestic patent jointly with Samsung Medical Center. "We developed a medical device that can detect pathogens in half an hour on-site, by developing core plasmonic nanomaterials which enable ultra-sensitive pathogene diagnosis of more than 10 types of respiratory viral pathogens. The on-site molecular diagnostic devices can be prevalent rapidly as we actively research with Samsung Medical Center and domestic diagnostic device companies." said Dr. Sung-Gyu Park, a principal research scientist of KIMS. Jung-hwan Lee, the president of KIMS said, "KIMS consistently supports to commercialize the on-site molecular diagnosis technology for respiratory infectious disease and ultrasensitive drug detection sensor technology which are based on the 3D highly sensitive plasmonic nanomaterials. We will do our utmost so that our research outcomes contribute to the quality of life and safe society." ### This research was supported by the Fundamental Research Program of the Korea Institute of Materials Science (KIMS) and funded by Nano Plasmonic In Vitro Diagnostic Research Center of the Ministry of Science and ICT, and the alchemist project of the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy. Also, the technology was published in Biosensors and Bioelectronics (IF:10.257), the principal international journal in the field of analytical chemistry. * Research paper title: Rapid and sensitive multiplex molecular diagnosis of respiratory pathogens using plasmonic isothermal RPA array chip The research team was selected as a national R&D excellence in 2020 by developing an ultra-sensitive detection sensor for sepsis through a 3D nano-biosensor chip. About Korea Institute of Materials Science (KIMS) KIMS is a non-profit government-funded research institute under the Ministry of Science and ICT (MSIT) of the Republic of Korea. As the only institute specializing in comprehensive materials technologies in Korea, KIMS has contributed to Korean industry by carrying out a wide range of activities related to materials science including R&D, inspection, testing&evaluation, and technology support. The audacious ambush by Naxals in the Bijapur badlands of the Chhattisgarh state, killing 22 Special Forces policemen and injuring 30 others on April 3, 2021, brought forth the discomforting reality of Indias inadequate preparedness in dealing with its most serious internal security affliction, namely, the Naxal-Maoist challenge. That these avoidable casualties are attributed to an operation which was mounted by our own forces to nab the charismatic young Naxal leader, Madvi Hidma, in the Tekulguda region of Bastar a hotbed of Naxal activities since decades makes this tragic incident all the more embarrassing for those who conceived and mounted it. The video released by the Naxals, of the release ceremony of police commando, Rakeshwar Singh Minhas, captured by them in this botched-up police operation with a large turnout of cheering local villagers should warn the Indian state to streamline its strategy to combat Left Wing Extremism (LWE) the generic and official name for the Naxal-Maoist insurgency. Though some in the security establishment have felt that over the years the Maoist-Naxal threat has reduced considerably with the Red Corridor shrinking gradually, the official statistics of Indias ministry of home affairs do not convey the same improvement in the internal security operations to counter LWE. MHA figures reveal that only 46 districts are now seriously affected by LWE while 90 districts over 11 states are covered under the special security-related expenditure scheme of the government. The official MHA website also conveys that between 2004 and 2019, 8,197 civilians have been killed by the Naxals, mostly tribals, after brutal tortures as they were branded as police informers. In addition, between 2018 and November 2020, 460 Naxals were eliminated whilst 161 security forces personnel lost their lives in the same period. During the past 15 years or so, the deadly dimensions of Naxal-related violence have manifested many times, surprising our security forces dealing with the Naxal insurgency, primarily in states like Andhra Pradesh, Chattisgarh, West Bengal, Odisha, Telangana, Madhya Pradesh, Jharkand and Bihar. It cannot be ever forgotten how in one of the largest Naxal attacks on security forces personnel, Maoists had killed 75 CRPF personnel in Dantewada district on April 6, 2010. Similarly, on May 25, 2013, 25 senior Congress leaders including former Union Minister Vidya Charan Shukla were massacred in Darbha Valley in Chhatisgarh. The Naxals have successfully snatched weapons from security personnel after killing them, continue employing high-intensity IEDs at will in various innovative ambushes and even managed to hijack a train! The list of Naxal successes is, unfortunately, rather exhaustive. It will be prudent for Indias security establishment to factor in the reality that the burgeoning Maoist-Naxal threat has a distinct external dimension with the wily Chinese supplying arms and ammunition to the Naxals through the Red Corridor via our North-East and the Nepal border. These insurgents derive their inspiration from the late Chinese Communist supremo, Mao Zedong, who had once declared that revolutionary warfare is never confined within the bounds of military action because the purpose is to destroy an existing society and its institutions and replace them with a completely new structure. It is not surprising thus that the Naxal movement, which emerged from the cauldron of agrarian unrest in an unknown West Bengal village of Naxalbari has, over the years, acquired a separatist and a grave violent orientation. Though, unquestionably, governments at the Centre and the concerned states have brought in some improvements in the fight to counter LWE, yet the recurrence of deadly incidents, occurring off and on, should propel the Centre to conceive and implement a National Strategy. Basic factors, including shameful economic and social disparities that exist in our nation, may give rise to rural and urban unrest but remain largely unaddressed in most of the states. Some well-meaning people have argued that a major root cause of growing Naxalism has been the willful reluctance of the states and the Centre to not promulgate the Ninth and Fifth Schedules of the Constitution which enforces relevant land laws and which will benefit the tribals and the poor inhabiting the forests. However, to merely attribute the spread of LWE to poverty and lack of development will be a rather simplistic formulation. As the Centre and state governments reach out to the poor and hapless to alleviate their sufferings, Naxal leadership must be contacted to give up their armed struggles, embrace the amnesty announced by the governments and join the national mainstream. In the past, unfortunately, it has been experienced that the LWE leadership has not only refused the administrations peace and rehabilitation efforts, but also deliberately targeted developmental activities of the government in the remote areas. Schools, hospitals, post offices and even the labour force engaged in some construction works have been violently attacked. With alacrity, the Centre will have to re-energise its security strategies to combat the Naxals. Better training, modern light equipment and weaponry for the police and the central forces earmarked for these operations have to ensured. Above all, ground-level intelligence structure using locals needs to be re-invigorated. High-tech gadgetry including sophisticated communication and monitoring equipment, helicopters and drones need to be extensively fielded. The Indian Army must train police and paramilitary commandos in special operations and leadership skills at the combat levels. Finally, synergy between the Centre and states machinery to effectively combat the highly motivated Naxals is paramount. A Houston man was arrested on Wednesday, accused of abducting a teenage girl and assaulting her over several days in late March. Joel Micah Arnold, 34, allegedly kidnapped his 17-year-old female victim on March 27, according to the Precinct One Harris County Constable's Office. Arnold allegedly forced her to a storage facility in Cypress, where the girl was locked up for five days. During that time, Arnold allegedly threatened her with a gun, injected undisclosed drugs into the victim, and sexually assaulted her. Joel Micah Arnold (pictured above) has been arrested and charged with aggravated kidnapping, sexual assault, and trafficking a child, all felony offenses The storage unit is located in the 19100 block of FM 529 in Cypress. Police did not specify which storage unit in the area the victim was held at. After five days being held captive, Arnold let his victim go, police said. A week later, the teen reported her ordeal to the Precinct One Human Trafficking Unit. It's not clear why the suspect chose to let the victim go or if there was any connection between them prior to the alleged kidnapping. Arnold has been charged with aggravated kidnapping, sexual assault, and trafficking a child, all felony offenses. Arnold, 34, allegedly locked his victim in a storage unit, injected her with drugs, and sexually assaulted her before letting her go after five days Six days passed between the teen reporting the incident on April 8 and an arrest being made on April 14. The Texas Department of Public Safety Criminal Investigative Unit helped assist with Arnold's arrest. Investigators believe that there may be other victims besides the 17-year-old, whose name has not been released. The Houston police has not released crime data for the month of March yet, but there were 31 reported kidnappings in the city through the end of February. Border police at the Varsand and Nadlac II Border Checkpoints - Arad County, found on Wednesday 23 citizens from Afghanistan, Pakistan and Ethiopia who tried to cross the border illegally to Hungary, hidden in trucks. On April 14, at the Varsand Border Checkpoint, following the detailed control of a means of transport carrying, according to the documents accompanying the goods, cable reels, on the route Bulgaria - the Netherlands, five foreign nationals were found hidden in the cargo compartment, shows a Thursday's press release of the Border Police. According to the quoted source, the persons were taken to the headquarters of the sector for investigations where, following the verifications, the border police established that the persons in question are citizens of Afghanistan, aged between 17 and 30, asylum seekers in Romania.Eighteen other foreigners were found at the Nadlac II Border Crossing Point, following a thorough check at four trucks driven by two Bulgarian citizens, a Turkish citizen and a Romanian, who were transporting various goods to Italian companies.In all cases, the border police officers carry out investigations in order to establish the entire criminal activity, and the necessary legal measures will be ordered. New Delhi: Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman visited Nathu La area on the Sino-India border on Saturday. Further, during her visit she interacted with the Army and Indo-Tibetan Border Police officials. However, her scheduled aerial survey of Dokalam and forward posts in the border areas of Sikkim was cancelled due to inclement weather. Earlier in the day, state government officials had said the defence minister made an aerial survey of the Doklam-Nathu La area. Sitharaman, on a days visit to Sikkim, travelled by road to Nathu La, 52 km from Gangtok, and interacted with Army and ITBP officials posted there. The Union Minister who was scheduled to make her aerial survey of Doklam and forward posts along the Indo-Sino border in Sikkim was cancelled due to inclement weather. However, she made her aerial survey of Gangtok and surrounding areas from the new Greenfield Pakyong Airport in east Sikkim after her return from the Nathu-la Border during the afternoon, the statement said. Sitharaman was accorded a guard of honor on her arrival at Nathu La. She was also briefed about the security preparedness along the China-India border in the Sikkim sector by the Chief of Eastern Command Lt Gen Abhay Krishna. Vice-Chief of Army Lt Gen Sarath Chandra was also present there. The defence ministers visit to the border area comes more than a month since Indian and Chinese troops disengaged after nearly a 70-day standoff at Dokalam. On her twitter handle, she said Chinese soldiers from across the border took her pictures when she reached Nathu La. Acknowledged a row of Chinese soldiers from across the fence who were taking pictures on my reaching Nathu La, she tweeted. She later met Sikkim Chief Minister Pawan Chamling at his official residence and sought the state governments intervention in sorting out land-related issues, between the Army and the states forest department. Chamling assured all intervention from the government, the release said. The chief minister apprised Sitharaman of the hardships being faced by Sikkim due to the ongoing agitation in the neighbouring Darjeeling hills of West Bengal. He said that due to blockades on NH-10, the only national highway that connects the landlocked mountain state, Sikkim has incurred huge economic losses. He reiterated his request to the Centre for speeding up the construction of a new highway to Sikkim. With PTI inputs For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. Advertisement A passenger collapsed at Heathrow Airport following a 'seven-hour wait' as travellers are forced to queue up due to coronavirus checks at the border, it has been claimed. Around 800 border staff are working at Heathrow and that all are currently in work subject to the normal reasons for absence, according to the Immigration Services Union (ISU). Spokeswoman Lucy Moreton earlier told MailOnline the queues are taking so long because travellers cannot use eGates due to the government requirement to check 100 per cent compliance with Covid-19 border restrictions. Footage posted online on Monday afternoon shows a woman lying on the floor of Heathrow Airport being tended to by staff - as many more passengers wait to be cleared through the border. The video's uploader claims the woman had collapsed following a seven-hour wait for entry clearance. Travellers often arrived at the airport without the right documentation and that pre-pandemic a non-contentious entry for someone with the right of residence would have been two minutes if they did not use the eGates. Post-pandemic with the right paperwork, that transaction time is five minutes, the ISU representative alleged - and that without the right paperwork that time shoots up to at least 30 minutes. Ms Moreton said: 'The Government can choose two routes. Either remove the requirement for 100 per cent checks, with all the attendant risk to national Covid security. Or compel carriers to ensure that no one arrives in the UK without having complied with the relevant requirements.' Chris Garton, the chief solutions officer for the London airport, has told MPs 'the situation is becoming untenable', with wait times in recent days being 'well in excess of two hours and up to six hours'. Giving evidence to the Commons Transport Select Committee, he warned: 'We're starting to see disruption in some of the arriving passengers. If you're made to queue for two or three hours, it's not something you want to do, and we're even having to involve the police service to help us.' Mr Garton went on: 'What's happened is a whole host of new checks - 100 per cent checking of everybody - has been introduced, and that obviously has put a tremendous burden on the officers who work at the border. The Home Office has not provided them with additional officers.' When asked to respond to the ISU's claims, a Home Office spokesperson told MailOnline: 'We are in a global health pandemic - people should not be travelling unless absolutely necessary. Footage posted online on Monday afternoon shows a woman lying on the floor of Heathrow Airport being tended to by staff - as many more passengers wait to be cleared through the border Passengers have expressed their anger over the long delays in the arrivals hall of Heathrow. Some passengers have had to wait for up to six hours to clear the border due to a shortage of Border Force staff Passengers approaching the UK border at Heathrow Airport are facing waits of up to six hours for Border Force officials to check their documentation about their Covid-19 status 'Border Force has ensured it has the right level of resources to check that passengers are compliant with our border health measures. 'Queues and wait times will currently be longer, as it is vital that we undertake thorough checks at the border and due to the fact that some passengers have not completed the necessary requirements to enter the UK, such as purchasing covid testing packages or booking their hotel quarantine in advance.' He told the committee the amount of resources for processing passengers at the border 'always was a problem', but the coronavirus pandemic 'has just made that so much worse than it was before'. He continued: 'We want to see that bottleneck removed as quickly as possible. It's a problem today, it will become a much bigger problem after May 17 (when foreign leisure travel from England could resume).' Mr Garton said the 'solution' is to enable passengers to ensure their entry to the UK is 'assured' before they begin their journey. Errors on passenger locator forms should be spotted and corrected in advance, and eGates should be able to check the documents automatically, he told MPs. This would allow arriving travellers to 'flow as you would normally through the eGates rather than having to line up and present your paperwork to a rather overstretched border official', Mr Garton added. The Prime Minister's official spokesman defended the queues, saying Border Force is 'completing thorough checks of every arriving passenger' which is 'the approach the public would expect'. He added that the Government will ensure there are 'sufficient measures there and resources available' when international leisure travel resumes. Downing Street insisted that resources would be put in place to ensure airports can cope with increased passenger numbers when international travel resumes. The Prime Minister's official spokesman said: 'Whatever measures we set out from May 17 at the earliest, we'll ensure that there are sufficient measures there and resources available.' According to Heathrow Airport, many of the delays relate to the inspection of Passenger Locator Forms which are necessary for all travellers arriving in the UK Heathrow chief solutions officer Chris Garton said the situation was 'untenable' Meanwhile, Edinburgh Airport has called on the Scottish government for support claiming that passengers would be forced to fly in and out of England if nothing is done to help the airline industry Meanwhile, in Scotland, Edinburgh Airport bosses warned of a reduction in the number of direct flights to Scotland without a covid recovery plan - leaving people reliant on airports in England. Gordon Dewar, chief executive at Edinburgh Airport, called for immediate action from the Scottish Government to engage with airports and airlines for a recovery plan. Mr Dewar said uncertainty around Scottish airports could lead to a reduction in the number of direct flights and leave people reliant on airports in other parts of the UK. He highlighted the industry supports thousands of jobs and generates billions of pounds for the Scottish economy every year. In 2019, Edinburgh Airport generated 1.4billion Gross Value Added and 28,000 jobs in the Scottish economy. In February Heathrow experienced huge delays at the border caused by 'rigid and inflexible' social bubbles created to apparently prevent the spread of new variants. MailOnline revealed that Emma Moore, the chief operating officer of Border Force, had been responsible for organising the workforce into 12-person bubbles. She was subsequently appointed to the role of Trace Divisional Director with NHS Test and Trace, the Government's virus tracker. The bubble policy first came into force on December 31 and was blamed for the mayhem seen at the border as thousands of passengers tried to clear passport checks ahead of the quarantine hotel system. The ISU accused Ms Moore of ignoring their concerns that the scheme was 'arbitrary' and would overwhelm Border Force officials doing customs checks. An ISU spokeswoman also called the bubbles 'needless', because Heathrow had already received its three-star Covid-secure certification. The Department of Health said: 'Emma Moore has been appointed to the role of Trace Divisional Director. She joins us from her current role as Chief Operating Officer of Border Force, following a competitive hiring process. Emma has a wealth of experience across the public and private sectors to bring to this role.' Amid concerns over shortage of medical oxygen as coronavirus wreaks havoc in the country, the Centre on Thursday directed the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW) to identify 100 more hospitals in far flung locations for sanctioning money from PM-CARES Fund for installation of their own oxygen plants. Besides, medical oxygen sources have been mapped for 12 high-burden states and 50,000 MT of medical oxygen would be imported to deal with the increased demand. A meeting of inter-ministerial Empowered Group (EG2), consisting of senior officers from various ministries, was held on Thursday to review the availability of essential medical equipment and oxygen, the Health Ministry said in a release. The EG2 directed Health Ministry to identify 100 hospitals in far flung locations for consideration of sanction under PM-CARES Fund for installation of Pressure Swing Adsorption (PSA) plants, which manufacture oxygen and help hospitals become self-sufficient in their requirement for medical oxygen while also reducing the burden on the national grid for supply of oxygen. Also read: COVID-19: Mukesh Ambani's Reliance comes to rescue! Supplies oxygen to Maharashtra from Jamnagar refinery The Prime Minister's Citizen Assistance and Relief in Emergency Situations Fund (PM-CARES Fund) was set up on March 27, 2020 after the outbreak of COVID-19 pandemic with the primary objective of dealing with any kind of emergency or distress situation and to provide relief to the affected. The ministry said 162 PSA plants have already been sanctioned under the fund and are being closely reviewed for early completion of 100 per cent of the plants to enhance self-generation of oxygen. To further improve the supply, sources of medical oxygen and their production capacity have been mapped to match the requirement of 12 high-burden states, which have seen an increase in demand for oxygen, and an indicative framework has been developed to guide the states on the sources of medical oxygen. While the demand in Maharashtra is expected to increase beyond available production capacity of the state, states like Madhya Pradesh do not have any production capacity to meet their demand for medical oxygen. Besides, there is a trend of increasing demand in other oxygen producing states such as Gujarat, Karnataka, Rajasthan, among others. Also read: Oxygen crunch: Centre assures stock available as Covid-19 cases rise "Accordingly, 4,880 MT, 5,619 MT and 6,593 MT have been indicated to these 12 states for meeting their projected demand as on 20th April, 25th April and 30th April, respectively. MoHFW is issuing orders in this regard and the same would be notified by the Ministry of Home Affairs," the release said. In order to further ease the availability, the government will import 50,000 MT of medical oxygen. "...EG2 decided to float a tender for import of 50,000 MT of medical oxygen. MoHFW has been directed to finalise the tender for the same and also explore possible sources for import identified by the missions of Ministry of External Affairs," the ministry said. The EG2 is continuously monitoring the demand and supply of medical oxygen to ensure that all necessary steps are taken to support uninterrupted supply of medical oxygen. Also read: Why is Citibank exiting consumer business in India? Florida Gov. Ron Desantis primary ballot was rejected for not having a matching signature when he was a congressman in 2016, NBCLX reports. Why it matters: DeSantis is now at the forefront of the "voter integrity" fight surrounding how voters can get and drop off mail-in ballots, who can collect ballots and ID requirements for voter registration changes. Noah Pransky, who reported the story for NBCLX, told Axios: "Because [DeSantis] refuses to talk about the episode, its still a mystery what happened, and why his ballot signature showed 'no similarities' to any other signature they had on file for him." The Tampa Bay Times, in a great look at how DeSantis' signature changed over time, said he ultimately fixed the issue to get his vote to count. DeSantis is advocating that elections officials use only a voter's most recent signature to determine authenticity a change that could weaken Florida's ballot safeguards and would contradict a court mandate that ordered Florida officials to consider more than one signature from a voter. Between the lines: Even some in DeSantis' own party are perplexed, given the state's recent successes with secure elections. Pasco Countys supervisor of elections Brian Corley, a Republican, told LX he was confused as to why the changes were proposed: "Florida was held up as the model of (election) success. State leaders took victory laps after the election." "Im not really sure the 'why' of these measures. ... Nobody can really address the legitimate reason why were doing this. ... There are so many safeguards in place." The other side: Nikki Fried, the state's Democratic agriculture commissioner, said that DeSantis' signature episode showed "we have over-regulated the right to vote." By the numbers: LX cites a St Pete Polls/Florida Politics survey that found only 42% of Floridians said DeSantis proposed dropbox restrictions and vote-by-mail barriers were a good idea. Florida had one of the countrys highest rates of confidence in the 2020 election. Exit polls showed 86% of voters including 86% of Trump voters believed the state would count their ballots accurately. This story first appeared in the Axios Tampa Bay newsletter, designed to help readers get smarter, faster on the most consequential news unfolding in their own backyard. SALEM, Ore. Eugene-based CAHOOTS is speaking out in support of a new bill that could bring an end to homeless sweeps statewide. House Bill 2367, called the Right to Rest Act, is sponsored by Rep. Wlnsvey Campos (D-Aloha). If passed, it would be illegal for homeless people to face civil or criminal penalties for their use of public spaces, as long as theyre not being disruptive. Ahead of public testimony on the bill earlier this week, Campos said current laws discriminate against homeless people who sit, lie down or eat in public. The American Civil Liberties Union of Oregon found cities and counties in the state had more than 200 laws that criminalize those types of basic activities. Eating food and drinking liquids, getting sufficient rest, having adequate clothing and shelter, using a restroom, access to basic sanitation and health and safety - these are basic human needs and fundamental human rights for all Oregonians, said Sandy Chung of the ACLU of Oregon. A crisis counselor for CAHOOTS testified that such restrictions can interfere with their crisis response work. A client who was managing in the face of already enormous obstacles is often thrown into acute crisis and is at even higher risk for mental health crisis, overdose, hypothermia and even death, said Berkley Carnine, CAHOOTS crisis counselor. The vast majority of public comments were supportive of the legislation, but those who opposed it said the bill does nothing to address the real issue of a lack of housing options for the homeless. Others said it would make public spaces less accessible for the general population. More public hearings on the bill are expected in the future. A man who allegedly assaulted and tortured another man with a hammer, gas burner and knife on the Gold Coast has been charged. Police charged a 38-year-old Eagleby man following the alleged assault and torture of a 30-year-old man on the Easter long weekend. The alleged victim had gone to a residence in Upper Coomera on Sunday, April 4, about 6.30pm where police said he was assaulted in the front yard. Police investigations are ongoing into the alleged assault and torture of the man. Credit:Queensland Police Service He was then forced to an address at Eagleby, where police alleged he was tortured with a hammer, gas burner and knife. Pastors and Christian leaders took to social media this week to share their thoughts following the fatal police shooting of 20-year-old Daunte Wright in Minnesota. Wright, the father of a 1-year-old toddler, was shot during a traffic stop by veteran police officer Kim Potter, 48. Police say the killing was accidental since the officer involved claimed to have fired her handgun when she meant to deploy a stun gun as Wright resisted arrest on Sunday. Body-camera footage of the incident released Monday shows Potter shouted "Taser" before firing, then expressed surprise upon realizing she had shot Wright. Potter subsequently resigned from the police force, her union said in a statement on Tuesday. Police Chief Tim Gannon also resigned Tuesday. Gannon previously said officers stopped Wright around 2 p.m. Sunday because the car had an expired registration. When officers went back to their vehicle and looked up Wright's information, they saw an outstanding warrant, which prompted the arrest, Gannon said. Source:The Christian Post Catholic bishops in Louisiana they include Most Rev. Douglas Deshotel of Lafayette who have not lifted the dispensation for the faithful for Sunday Mass attendance may meet soon to discuss when that will happen. Diocese of Lafayette spokesperson Blue Rolfes said she thought the matter was under discussion among bishops, although there was no meeting scheduled on Deshotels calendar by Wednesday. Its all up to the bishops, she said. They like to be on the same page. Dispensation from Catholics requirement to attend Mass on Sundays and on Holy Days of Obligation was initiated March 13 in response to the coronavirus pandemic. The diocese said there are 323,568 Catholics in the Lafayette diocese, many of them members of some 120 church parishes in eight civil parishes, who were initially advised to attend Mass on weekdays when attendance was lighter than Sunday or to watch televised or livestreamed Masses or pray the Rosary in lieu of attending public Masses. +10 A year ago, coronavirus brought Louisiana churches to a halt. Here's how the faithful responded. More than one year ago, religious services in Louisiana and across the nation came to a grinding halt. Holiday celebrations were muted, holy r Top stories in Acadiana in your inbox Twice daily we'll send you the day's biggest headlines. Sign up today. e-mail address * Sign Up The diocese has followed state and federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidelines to protect the health of church members and the public. Currently, the state is in Phase 3 of the COVID order, with no restrictions on Mass attendance, although the governor has urged people to adhere to wearing masks and socially distancing. In Louisiana, the Diocese of Lake Charles lifted the dispensation before Christmas except for those at special risk of illness. The Diocese of Shreveport lifted the dispensation under the same exceptions during Holy Week. Dioceses in Alexandria, Lafayette, Houma-Thibodaux, Baton Rouge and the Archdiocese of New Orleans have continued with the dispensation, at least through Wednesday. [April 15, 2021] AB INTL GROUP Reports of Financial Results for the Quarterly Period Ended February 28, 2021 NEW YORK, April 15, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- AB International Group Corp. (OTCQB: ABQQ), an intellectual property (IP) and movie investment and licensing firm, announces its unaudited financial results for the three months ended February 28, 2021. The financial results have been filed in a 10-Q with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (the "SEC"). Key Financial Highlights: Revenues for the three months ended February 28, 2021, increased 460% to $774,509, as compared to $138,338 for the three months ended February 29, 2020. The increase in revenue for the three months ended February 28, 2021 over the three months ended February 29, 2020 is attributable to the movie box-office revenue of $697,709 from the movie Love Over the World ( Ai Bian Quan Qiu). Gross Profit for the three months ended February 28, 2021 increased 399% to $475,668, as compared with gross profit of $95,359 for the same period ended February 29, 2020. The increase in gross profit margin is due to the movie box-office revenue from the movie Love Over the World. As of February 28, 2021, ABQQ had total shareholders equity is $5,189,995, as compared of August 31, 2020 had total shareholders equity were $3,956,097. We launched the video streaming service at the end of 2020 and the service now feature Chinese movies, television shows and drama series with unique content and exclusive to the company. As of February 28, 2021, the Company acquired 45 movie broadcast rights. We will continue marketing and promoting the ABQQ.tv website through GoogleAds and acquire additional broadcast rights for movies and TV series. The Company plans to charge subscription fees to generate revenue once ABQQ.tv has at least 200 broadcast rights for movies and TV series. At that time, it will have a channel on YouTube and apply broadcast on Netflix as well. Starting in January 2021, the Company started generating movie box-office revenue from the movie Ai Bian Quan Qiu, that continuing screening on cinemas in China now. We had 3 more completed Chinese films currently proceeding on procedure of screening license to be screened oncinemas in China. About AB International Group Corp. AB International Group Corp. is an intellectual property (IP) and movie investment and licensing firm, focused on acquisitions and development of various intellectual property. We are engaged to acquisition and distribution of movies. The Company has a Patent License to a video synthesis and release system for mobile communications equipment, in which the technology is the subject of a utility model patent in the People's Republic of China. The Company engages highly anticipated video streaming service targeting global multi-billion dollar and growing video streaming industry. The online service will be marketed and distributed in the world under the brand name ABQQ.tv. ABQQ.tv is expected to generate a new and profitable revenue stream immediately following its launch derived from its hybrid subscription and advertising business model. For additional information visit www.abqqs.com and www.ABQQ.tv Forward-Looking Statements This press release contains "forward-looking statements" that are made pursuant to the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, including statements relating to changes to the Company's management team and statements relating to the Company's transformation, financial and operational performance including the acceleration of revenue and margins, and the Company's overall strategy. Because forward-looking statements inherently involve risks and uncertainties, actual future results may differ materially from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. These risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to, the possibility of business disruption, competitive uncertainties, and general economic and business conditions in AB International Groups markets as well as the other risks detailed in company filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. AB International Group undertakes no obligation to update any statements in this press release for changes that happen after the date of this release. Investor Relations Contact: Jeff Deng (212) 918-4519 corp@abqqs.com [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] To reach me for collaborations, sponsorships, and event invitations, I am contactable at the-ice-angel@hotmail.com The Oregon Board of Rabbis on Thursday called for the resignation of Linfield University President Miles K. Davis and board chair David Baca for their mishandling of serious allegations of sexual harassment and a stream of comments insinuating religious bias. Rabbi Eve Posen, the president of the states Board of Rabbis, and 22 other rabbis from synagogues and congregations throughout the state and in Vancouver sent a letter to the universitys board of trustees, conveying their unanimous urgency in seeking immediate action. The letter comes three days after The Oregonian/Oregonian reported two psychology professors had alleged Davis had made a remark about the Holocausts gas chambers during an on-campus, academic meeting in October 2018 with faculty from their department. The two psychology professors spoke out days after Davis denied making an anti-Semitic statement about the lengths of Jewish noses to a colleague, English Professor Daniel Pollack-Pelzner, the faculty trustee member on the universitys board of trustees, and sought to discredit Pollack-Pelzner. It is a grave cause of concern that not only has the President failed to foster a climate of accountability, but that he has used this moment to levy antisemitic innuendos and disapprobations against a distinguished Jewish faculty member who, as Faculty Trustee, has attempted to restore trust on the campus at large, the letter said. We are disturbed that someone whose job is to lead has instead resorted to disparaging language about people of the Jewish faith. These old tropes of blame and misdirection have no place in a review of the matters at hand. Davis has denied the allegations and accused Pollack-Pelzner of a smear campaign. He said he didnt recall making a reference to the Holocaust as alleged during the psychology faculty meeting. He also apologized if any of his remarks have made people uncomfortable. Linfield would be very happy eager, even to have a discussion with the Oregon Board of Rabbis, said Scott Nelson, Linfield University spokesman. Their call is, by their own acknowledgement, based only on press accounts. The university would welcome a full and deep conversation about all the issues and concerns they raise, where the facts could be discussed as well as larger issues of campus climate. According to Pollack-Pelzner, Davis remarked upon the length of Jewish noses in their first one-on-one meeting in early October 2018. Then last year after Pollack-Pelzner brought sexual harassment complaints from students and faculty to the board of trustees, he said Davis suggested divisive people could show loyalty to the private university with a Baptist heritage only by accepting the teachings of Jesus Christ in the New Testament. Davis, who is not of the Christian faith, firmly denied Pollack-Pelzners allegations. An outside lawyer hired to investigate Pollack-Pelzners allegations could not substantiate the Jewish noses, remark as no other witness was present. Psychology professors Jennifer Linder and Tanya Tompkins then independently recalled to The Oregonian/OregonLive a disturbing comment they said Davis made about Jews and the Holocaust in a meeting with department staff in late October 2018 shortly after he arrived on campus. Davis was telling faculty they wouldnt be surprised by potential staff cuts or other changes at the school and promised to be transparent. Then Davis, according to Tompkins, shared that a former professor of his once said: You dont give Jews soap when you send them to the showers. Linder remembers the remark slightly different, quoting Davis saying: You dont send Jews to the showers with soap. Davis said he didnt recall making such a comment and that no one had complained about it until now. He said, though, he had heard a business professor use a comparable phrase during his doctorate program at the George Washington University. I am familiar with a similar quotation from Dr. Jerry Harvey, a noted business professor and consultant, Davis said. Professor Harvey, who I took courses from in a Ph.D. program at The George Washington University, said some actions by HR professionals, when helping companies fire people, was like giving soap to Jews as they entered into the gas chamber. I dont remember sharing that quotation, but if I did I would certainly have attributed it to Professor Harvey and explained that he used the startling imagery to drive home the moral dimension of organizational work, Davis said. The statement cites a form of inhumanity that can take root in corporate structures where functionality supersedes morality. The Oregon Board of Rabbis made four requests: that Davis and Baca step down; the university adopt guidelines regarding sexual harassment, a process for investigating and sanctioning sexual harassment, and prohibitions on retaliation for reporting such allegations; training for the trustees board on implicit bias, anti-Semitism and micro-aggressions; and transparency and reporting on these steps. The rabbis who signed the letter are from congregations and synagogues in Portland, Salem, Eugene, Ashland and Vancouver. They represent all denominations of Judaism, including Orthodox, Conservative, Reform, Reconstructionist, Renewal and non-denominational. The letter follows one sent to the university last week by the Anti-Defamation League, which urged another investigation of the allegations and training for the universitys leaders on anti-Semitism and bias. Linfield faculty and students have repeatedly in the last two years called the administration and trustees to account for how they have addressed sexual abuse and harassment complaints. Former board trustee David Jubb, who has resigned from the board, was indicted last May, accused of abusing a student trustee after a faculty-trustee dinner in February 2019 and abusing three other students in 2017. He has pleaded not guilty to the charges. In the same month as Jubbs indictment, an overwhelming majority of faculty members issued a vote of no confidence in the board chair, Baca, finding he knowingly failed to protect students. Separately, another Linfield professor filed complaints last year alleging that Davis and another board trustee had touched her inappropriately at school events. Another outside investigator substantiated the claims but said they didnt violate the universitys sexual harassment policies. Davis denied the allegation but issued a public apology for causing the professor discomfort. On Monday, the three deans at the university issued a memo to faculty, requesting campus-wide mediation by an outside professional agency. The letter was signed by College of Arts & Sciences Dean Joseph M. Wilferth, School of Business Dean Jennifer Madden and School of Nursing Dean Kim Jones. The goal of this mediation is to facilitate a culture of understanding and mutual respect that leads to university-wide cooperation and collaboration, the letter said. Beyond this broad goal, desired outcomes include the articulation of standards related to professional responsibilities and an institutional code of conduct. Some faculty were disturbed by the letters tone. Reshmi Dutt-Ballerstadt, an English and creative writing professor, emailed other faculty in response, writing that she found the deans memo as a coded way to institutionalize policing us and our language, intimidating us, restricting our academic freedom to speak up about abuses of power. Furthermore, I find it extremely troubling that this kind of call for action is emerging now (by the Deans) at a time when we want to address some very serious issues of harm and injury that members of our community have endured. After the rabbis letter reached the universitys board of trustees Thursday, one board member responded by phone to the Oregon Board of Rabbis and talked to an administrator. Steve Bils, the executive minister at the American Baptist Churches of Oregon who is a Linfield board trustee, called Pollack-Pelzner a liar, on the call, said he had no idea Pollack-Pelzner was Jewish until about six months ago and accused the English professor of using this affiliation to give his cause leverage, the administrator of the rabbis board wrote in an email to its members. Bils also called it irresponsible for the Oregon Board of Rabbis to send its letter to the media, and said he wished the rabbis would have reached out directly to the universitys trustees, according to the email from the Oregon Board of Rabbis administrator. Bils did not immediately respond to a message seeking further comment. -- Maxine Bernstein Email mbernstein@oregonian.com; 503-221-8212 Follow on Twitter @maxoregonian Washington: A spokesman for Chinas Foreign Ministry challenged Japans deputy prime minister Wednesday to drink treated water, contaminated from contact with reactors, from the wrecked Fukushima nuclear power plant, after the Japanese official suggested the water released would be safe to drink. Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian, infamous for trolling Australia over the Afghanistan war crimes cases, said during a press briefing: A Japanese official said, its okay if you drink this water. Then please drink it. Chinas Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian had previously compared Australias refugee detention centres to concentration camps. Credit:AP The ocean is not Japans trash can, Zhao also said. The Chinese official also tweeted a similar message in English. This is the terrifying moment a gunman tries to shoot a reveller outside a Soho nightclub - before he is jailed for 15 and a half years. Tristan Samuels was blasted twice in the back as he tried to run off with a friend who had been stabbed in a brawl at the Opium club in west London. Richard Palmer, 39, can be seen running after the stab victim and pulling a Beretta handgun from his bag at around 3am on August 25, 2019. Onlookers screamed as Palmer turns his attention to Mr Samuels, shooting repeatedly at the victim before jumping into silver Jaguar parked nearby and roaring off. Mr Samuels, in his 20s, took himself to hospital with gunshot wounds and was lucky to survive. His friend was also taken to hospital with stab wounds. Police found the Jaguar parked outside an address in Ruislip, west London, with Palmer's fingerprints on the rear doors. Palmer, of Ealing, was sentenced to 15 years and six months for attempted murder and firearm offences. Tristan Samuels was blasted twice in the back as he tried to run off with a friend who had been stabbed in a brawl at the Opium club in west London. Richard Palmer, 39, can be seen running after the stab victim and pulling a Beretta handgun from his bag He had met with armourer Bolanle Roberts, 43, the day after the confrontation to get rid of the gun. When Roberts was arrested on August 27 in Acton, police recovered 48,132 in cash and 27,000 worth of heroin and crack cocaine. Officers also found keys to a flat in Ruislip. In an airing cupboard of that property, a cache of guns and ammunition were hidden in a rucksack. Palmer, of Ealing, was sentenced to 15 years and six months for attempted murder and firearm offences Police found the fully loaded Beretta used in the shooting, fitted with a silencer and 95,000 of worth of heroin. Woolwich Crown Court heard Roberts acted a 'quartermaster' for criminals who needed quick access to firearms. Following Robert's arrest Palmer went into hiding at a hotel in Hanwell with the help of Robert Dolan, 34. Following Dolan's arrest in Teddington, detectives seized a shoebox containing 6,840 and a mobile phone. Roberts, of Ealing, received 15 years for possessing firearms and supplying Class A drugs. Dolan, of Hounslow, admitted assisting an offender, conspiracy to supply Class A drugs and possession of criminal property. He was jailed for 12-and-a-half years. Detective Sergeant Chris Ladmore, the investigating officer from the Met's Specialist Crime Command, said: 'This operation started off as an attempted murder investigation, but led to us discovering a cache of loaded firearms and a wealth of ammunition that we were able to remove from the streets of London. Every bullet seized is a potential life saved. Bolanle Roberts, left, and Robert Dolan, right. Roberts, of Ealing, received 15 years for possessing firearms and supplying Class A drugs. Dolan, of Hounslow, admitted assisting an offender, conspiracy to supply Class A drugs and possession of criminal property. He was jailed for 12-and-a-half years Pictured: The Beretta that was used in the shooting. Onlookers screamed as Palmer turns his attention to Mr Samuels, shooting repeatedly at the victim before jumping into silver Jaguar parked nearby and roaring off 'The victim who was shot on Rupert Street was lucky to survive - it easily could have had a different ending. The shooting is a stark reminder of the selfish disregard for human life and brazen use of firearms that people like Palmer and Roberts hold.' Detective Chief Inspector Sean Stewart, the senior investigating officer who was attached to the Specialist Crime Command at the time of the investigation, said: 'Palmer, showed no regard for his actions in what was a crowded area. 'I want to thank the members of public for reporting the incident to police on the night, and for the witnesses that demonstrated real courage coming forward to testify.' Public complains Cat Linh-Ha Dong metro tickets are too expensive Some Hanoi residents have complained that the prices charged for the first metro line in the city, Cat Linh-Ha Dong, claiming it is too high because it doesn't connect to any other lines. Cat Linh-Ha Dong metro line will be opened in May Infrastructure Leasing and Financial Services (IL&FS) has upped its estimates on the aggregate debt that will be addressed to Rs 61,000 crore from Rs 56,000 crore earlier, in its quarterly update on the resolution process of the assets of the conglomerate. This will help the firm, which created a major disruption in the shadow banking sector after it went bust in 2018, resolve 62 per cent of the total overall fund based and non-fund based group debt of around Rs 99,000 crore. The upgrade in potentially addressable debt by Rs 5,000 crore has been largely on account of improved valuations, better operating performance, and enhanced recoveries from non-group exposures, the board said. So far, the board of has addressed Rs 43,100 crore, which represents more than 70 per cent of the overall revised targeted recovery value of Rs 61,000 crore and 44 per cent of the overall debt of over Rs 99,000 crore. The board led by Uday Kotak, Chairman said by September of the current fiscal year (FY22) more than Rs 51,000 crore would be addressed. Hence, essentially, an additional debt of Rs 7,950 crore would be addressed in these six months. And, post-September, the board is expecting to recover an additional Rs 9,950 crore. Of the Rs 43,100 crore debt addressed by the board so far, Rs 26,800 crore is based on completed entity monetisation initiatives and accrued cash balance. And, the rest of the amount (around Rs 14,350 crore) is expected from resolution and restructuring applications filed with and awaiting approval of the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) and National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT). Also, it includes the award by the Supreme Court which has asked the government of Haryana to pay Rs 1,926 crore in the Rapid Metro Gurgaon case. Currently, out of 347 entities that the IL&FS group had under its umbrella at the beginning of the resolution process, 186 entities stand resolved, liquidated, or closed and the resolution of the rest 161 entities is going on. Post-September, the board is of the view that the number of entities would come down below 100 and the process of achieving this would be: liquidation of entities that are not operational currently closure of many of these entities, and sale of many of these entities. Among the challenges in the debt recovery process, the board said, the layered structure of the group and the endeavor to ensure that ultimate creditors begin to see their money coming back have been major ones. The distribution to creditors has not taken place yet. It would take place at a later stage because we are building up the cash and this cash will slowly upstream up to the Holdco level. After settling the creditors at the SPV level, surpluses will upscale to the holding company level and when the resolution of holding take place, at that stage, distribution to the creditors of the holding will take place. This is the last and final stage of the resolution, said CS Rajan, MD, IL&FS. We have tried to look at the possibility of interim distribution. So, we have asked our resolution advisers to look into this, Rajan said. Last July, the board of IL&FS had said debt worth Rs 50,500 crore would be pared by the end of the financial year 2020-2. However, they managed to address debt to the tune of Rs 43,100 crore. The key reason cited by the management for its inability to meet the deadline is the disruption caused by the pandemic. Among other reasons, the management pointed out that, delays in receipt of annuities from some certain state governments, challenges in securing consent from other stakeholders including shareholders/joint venture partners, and ongoing legal proceedings, litigation, and arbitrations by different lender groups, sub-contractors, and authorities have been major hindrances to achieving the deadline. We have to keep in mind what activities we as the management of the group can do and thereafter we are dependent on external functionaries. Therefore, once, we have submitted our resolution plan to the NCLT/NCLAT thereafter it is not in our control, Kotak said on the implication of the second wave Covid on the resolution process. Process going forward Since January 2021, the board has addressed Rs 11,200 crore of debt, which includes the sale of Chongqing Yuhe Expressway, sale of environment business, receipt of settlement claims from the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) for three projects, and receipt of proceeds from the resolution of Dighi Port. Also, during this period, phase 1 of the groups Infrastructure Investment Trust (InvIT) with a resolution value of over Rs 9,300 crore across 6 road SPVs was filed in the Going forward, the board is looking to sell its stake in ONGC Tripura, Warora Chandrapur, and Karyavattom Stadium, which may reduce the debt by Rs 3,750 crore. Among other things, there will also be the second phase of InvIT with a resolution value of Rs 2,920 crore across 5 road SPVs. Beyond September, the board is looking to recover around Rs 10,000 crore, which will include stake sale in major entities such as Paradip Refinery, Mangalore SEZ, Tamil Nadu Water, ILFS Prime Terminals Fujairah, Hill County Properties, etc. The third phase of the InvIT will take place during this period which is expected to ramp the recovery amount by Rs 2,350 crore. The board is also looking to monetise its real estate holdings such as the iconic BKC office of the IL&FS group and Sabarmati buildings in GIFT city, which may fetch Rs 1,350 crore or more. Also, recoveries from the finance arm of the group -- IL&FS Financial Services (IFIN) -- through the sale of non-performing assets, recoveries from non-group investments, the release of non-fund-based limits, etc is expected to fetch the group around Rs 2,250 crore. The group's four holding IL&FS, IFIN, IL&FS Transportation Networks (ITNL), IL&FS Energy Development Company (IEDCL) have a consolidated debt of Rs 48,000 crore, which is 51 per cent of the total debt pile. CLEVELAND, Ohio -- A 24-year-old man who shot one man dead, wounded another and pistol-whipped a woman at July 4 cookout in Cleveland received a 28-year prison sentence on Thursday. Sean Corrigan, of Cleveland, pleaded guilty to involuntary manslaughter, attempted murder and felonious assault charges in the attack that left 56-year-old Francis DAmico dead, a 59-year-old man with a bullet in his back and a 57-year-old woman pistol-whipped. Cuyahoga County prosecutors originally charged Corrigan with aggravated murder, which would have put him behind bars for life had he been convicted. Prosecutors allowed him to plead guilty to the reduced charge in exchange for his plea. Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Court Judge Joseph Russo imposed the sentence during a hearing Thursday. Prosecutors said DAmico, Corrigan and the others all went to a home on West 152nd Street near Schuyler Avenue for a neighborhood cookout to celebrate the Fourth of July. Corrigan got drunk and started acting aggressively, and DAmico told him to calm down. The two got into an argument, and Corrigan pulled a pistol and opened fire. He shot DAmico several times in the chest and hand, prosecutors said. Party-goers called 911. Paramedics rushed all three victims to a hospital, where DAmico died of his injuries and the others were treated and released. Police arrested Corrigan at the scene, and recovered a gun, a magazine and several bullet casings at the scene. DNA pulled from the gun and magazine matched Corrigans, and several eyewitnesses identified him as the shooter, prosecutors said. Read more stories Officials identify Cleveland police officer, man he killed in Thursday-morning shooting Former Ohio police officer convicted of sexual assault was HIV positive, prosecutors say Man is found dead outside of an store in East Cleveland, police releases photos of a possible suspect Undercover DEA agent shoots 20-year-old man police say was armed on Clevelands East Side Lakewood mayor, police chief promise increased police presence at city parks following second shooting in a month The owner of Ladbrokes has also unveiled a plan to allow over 22,500 employees to invest in the business ( ) said its online operation performed strongly in the first quarter of 2021, however, the segment failed to completely offset collapsing revenues from its retail division during lockdown. In a trading update for the three months to March 31, the owner of Ladbrokes reported that its online net gaming revenues (NGR) had expanded by 33%, in line with expectations and the 21st consecutive quarter of double-digit growth for the segment. However, total group NGR for the period fell 13% as the strength in online failed to overcome a 99% fall in retail NGR as COVID-19 lockdown restrictions forced the group to shutter its betting shops. Despite this, Entain said it saw excellent growth across its major markets in the quarter with the exception of Germany, which was impacted by regulatory changes. It added that its BetMGM business was also showing outstanding momentum with impressive market share growth in the US. The companys chief executive Jette Nygaard-Andersen also said the company looked forward to a return to normal trading across the business following the partial re-opening of UK shops on April 12. "This has been another very successful and productive quarter with Entain making excellent progress across a number of our strategic priorities. This is testament to the hard work and dedication of our people across all aspects of our business. In line with our expectations, the momentum from the end of 2020 has carried into 2021. Although Covid creates some near-term uncertainty, by maintaining our focus on the customer, providing them with great products and services, we remain confident and excited in our long-term prospects", the CEO added. Employee share plan announced In a separate announcement, Entain said it has launched a group-wide employee share ownership plan that it said will give over 22,500 of its workers the chance to share in the growth of the business. Under the ShareSave programme, employees can choose to save a monthly sum from 5 to 100 over three years, and at the end of the period will have the opportunity to buy shares in Entain for 20% less than their market value at the start of the invitation period, which they can sell for a potential profit. Alternatively, they can retain the stock as shareholders in the company or take their savings back. "Entain has been one of the highest performing companies in the FTSE-100 over the past year, which is the result of hard work and efforts from teams across our international business. Building a strong customer-centric culture where everyone contributes and shares in our continuing success is really important, so this plan is designed to be attractive and accessible to all, Nygaard-Andersen said. Women bosses are still a minority in the technology industry, where men hold more than 80 per cent of directorships. But that has not stopped a string of talented female founders and chief executives being in line for huge windfalls as their companies list on the stock market, from tickets app Trainline to cyber-security firm Darktrace. Here, we look at some of the most high-profile female founders and executives to make their fortunes in tech: Legacy: Darktrace chief Poppy Gustafsson shares a 97m stake with her co-founders PENSIONBEE Value: 346m-384m Founder: Romi Savova, 35 Stake: up to 140m Romi Savova, the boss and co-founder of PensionBee could see her stake valued at more than 100m when it floats this month. The smartphone app business has revealed a price range that could see it valued at up to 384m. It means Savova's 36 per cent holding could be worth as much as 140m when it goes public. Born in Bulgaria and raised in South Africa, the former Morgan Stanley investment banker had the idea for her business after struggling to move a pension pot when switching jobs. 'I discovered it is actually a really tricky nightmare, if you are just a normal human being and want to do something with your retirement savings,' she said. 'So we decided to build a platform that would let people view their pension from the palm of their hand.' The Harvard-educated entrepreneur went on to found PensionBee with friend Jonathan Parsons in 2014 and the business now manages 1.5billion worth of assets. While running the company, she has given birth to two children and has written about the difficulties female entrepreneurs face when trying to balance family life with work. DARKTRACE Value: 3billion Founders: Poppy Gustafsson, Nicole Eagan, Emily Orton Stake: 97m After co-founding Darktrace with fellow mathematicians and a collection of spooks, Poppy Gustafsson rose to become the cyber security firm's finance chief, operating chief and finally chief executive. The 38-year-old is set to lead the company through its listing on the London Stock Exchange, where it could fetch a valuation of as much as 3billion. That would put Gustafsson's 0.6 per cent holding at a cool 19m. Among the other four co-founders, marketing chief Emily Orton could also receive 7m and strategy chief Nicole Eagan could make almost 71m. There were two male co-founders, Dave Palmer and Jack Stockdale. Gustafsson has been chief executive since 2016. The married mother-of-two grew up in Huntingdon, Cambridgeshire, going on to read mathematics at Sheffield University. She later joined investment bank Deloitte as an accountant and then went to work at venture fund Amadeus Capital, before serving as an executive at Autonomy. This was followed by a spell at Autonomy founder Mike Lynch's investment fund Invoke Capital, before she co-founded Darktrace in 2013. Gustafsson has previously spoken about attending industry events where she was confronted on stage with a 'sea of men staring back at me'. Asked about her experience, she said: 'Being a women has never presented challenges for me at Darktrace. But if the legacy that myself and others leave is a whole new generation of businesses headed by women, then I am proud to be a part of that.' In charge: Clare Gilmartin led the digital rail ticketing company to its float in 2019 TRAINLINE Value: 2.3billion Former boss: Clare Gilmartin Stake: 36m Clare Gilmartin led the digital rail ticketing company to its float in 2019 and she still owns 1.6 per cent of shares. She sold 16m worth of stock when it went public and another 3m worth last September. On top of this she still owns another 7.6m shares worth another 36m currently, after shares closed at 490p yesterday. That is up from around 27m when they listed at 350p each. Gilmartin, who is married and has three children, stepped down as Trainline's boss last year to spend more time with her family after seven years in charge. However, she remains a senior adviser to the company. Irish-born, she studied international commerce and German at University College Dublin, and had previously worked at Dove soap maker Unilever and US-based Boston Consulting Group. But she made her name at internet shopping and auction giant Ebay, running its European business for four years. In 2014 she was poached by Trainline and oversaw its transformation into a darling of Britain's technology industry. VACCITECH Value: 327m Founder: Professor Sarah Gilbert Stake: 17m The woman behind Oxford's coronavirus jab is in line for a multi-million pound windfall when her company floats on the stock market. Professor Sarah Gilbert stands to make more than 17m when Vaccitech, the firm she co-founded, debuts on Wall Street. The mother-of-three owns just over five per cent of the company. It was recently valued at $450million (327m) although reports suggest that figure could rise. The 59-year-old founded the firm with university colleague Professor Adrian Hill, in 2016. Vaccitech's signature technology which uses a harmless version of a respiratory virus found in chimpanzees is the cornerstone of the coronavirus jab now being administered to millions of Britons. Professor Gilbert grew up in Kettering, Northamptonshire. Her father worked in the office of a shoe factory and her mother was a teacher. She studied biological sciences at the University of East Anglia and went on to do a PhD at Hull University before getting a job at Oxford in 1994. The scientist whose triplets took part in trials of the Covid-19 jab has insisted that she never meant to become an expert in vaccines originally but became interested after coming to Oxford University to work on a human genetics project. Since then, she has pioneered the use of genetically altered viruses to make vaccines for diseases includent influenza, Mers, Zika and Ebola. Astrazeneca has been leading distribution of the Oxford vaccine but after the pandemic Vaccitech is expected to share in any revenues from continued sales. It is also developing booster jabs for variants of the virus. STARLING BANK Value: 1.1billion Founder: Anne Boden Stake: 200m+ Starling Bank's Anne Boden started the fledgling lender after falling out with Monzo founder Tom Blomfield. Her plan had been to build a digital bank with him, The drama was later chronicled by 61-year-old Boden in a book, but she has since gone on to establish a highly successful business in her own right. Starling Bank now has more than 1.7m accounts, with 4bn of deposits and lending of 1.5billion. It was recently valued at 1.1billion in a fundraising and the bank is now thought to have its sights fixed on a possible float next year. Boden is no longer the biggest shareholder, controlling less than 25 per cent of the firm after Zurich-born billionaire backer Harald McPike tightened his grip. But even then her holding is likely to be valued well in excess of 200m. She has spoken up in the past about the lack of women in high-level banking jobs and is the only woman in the UK to have ever founded a bank. Commenting on the appointments of women at the top of Natwest and TSB, however, she said: 'The women getting these jobs are very, very good. They have to be. 'They read what's going on in the world through a different lens. Women are not arrogant, thinking we know everything.' Vietnam Airlines to open six new routes in peak season. -Illustrative image (Photo: VNA) Hanoi - Vietnam Airlines is set to expand its domestic flight network between April 24 and August 31 to meet the higher demand during the summers peak travel season. The national flag carrier will open six new routes: Da Nang - Vinh, Phu Quoc - Can Tho, Phu Quoc - Nha Trang, Phu Quoc - Buon Me Thuot, Phu Quoc - Hue, and Phu Quoc - Thanh Hoa. Da Nang - Thanh Hoa and Can Tho - Buon Me Thuot flights will be resumed. The Da Nang - Thanh Hoa, Phu Quoc - Can Tho, Phu Quoc - Nha Trang, and Phu Quoc - Hue routes will have four round-trip flights a week, on Monday, Wednesday, Friday, and Sunday. Three round-trip flights a week will be conducted on Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday on the Da Nang - Vinh, Can Tho - Buon Me Thuot, Phu Quoc - Buon Me Thuot, and Phu Quoc - Thanh Hoa routes. Since May, the carrier has opened 28 new routes, most of which fly to famous tourist destinations, raising its domestic flight network to 67 routes. The move aims to stimulate domestic travel after the recent resurgence of COVID-19 was brought under control. [April 15, 2021] My Intelligent Machines Inc. Secures $5 Million in Seed Financing to Support International Sales and Growing Capabilities My Intelligent Machines Inc. ("MIMs"), a leader in artificial intelligence and systems biology, today announced that it has completed an equity financing of $5 million. Capital raised will support the company's expansion into Canadian, European and U.S. markets, as well as hiring talent to deliver key projects to top pharmaceutical companies and hospitals. The financing was led by MEDTEQ+ and StandUp Ventures, with participation from Desjardins Capital, Anges Quebec, Anges Quebec Capital and Real Ventures. "Our AI-based systems biology approach injects precision medicine very early into the drug discovery process. We can provide a better understanding of patient heterogeneity with respect to both disease and response to treatment. Our platform enables the identification of targets for drugs with increased efficacy, prioritization of indications at pre-clinical stages and reduction of clinical trial failure rate," said Sarah Jenna, Ph.D., co-founder and CEO of My Intelligent Machines. "Our suite represents a real paradigm shift in how discovery and pre-clinical studies are conducted, and it could save up to $500 million in the development of a given drug, considering a lower drug development failure rate, faster market approval and fewer and less exhaustive clinical trials. In this context, we are privileged to count on a solidbase of committed investors who acknowledge the potential of our technology and the relevance of our business model with their involvement in our capital expansion," completed Dr. Jenna. "MIMs team is currently firing on all cylinders, being especially well-positioned to serve a wide market with a product that addresses a huge unmet need. Now that their anchor and internationally-respected customer's product has been delivered, we already witness a growing appetite from many players in Pharma for MIMs' AI-based solution," said Robert Ritlop, Director of Investments at MEDTEQ+. "Identifying subsets within a population is critical for the enablement of personalized medicine, but to do this effectively and at scale requires advanced artificial intelligence techniques - something life scientists often don't have expertise in. MIMs removes this barrier to entry, paving the way for better and faster drug development," stated Michelle McBane, Managing Director at StandUp Ventures. Proceeds of this round will allow MIMs to triple in size and to fulfill contracts worth tens of million dollars over a 24-month period. With capabilities steadily ramping up, MIMs will be in a favourable position to scale up its operations and focus on high-value opportunities in oncology, immunology and COVID-19, in Canada, the United States and Europe. About MIMs Montreal-based My Intelligent Machines (MIMs) is a leader in artificial intelligence and systems biology. MIMs provides Biopharma & Agtech companies of all sizes with easy-to-implement and interactive augmented intelligence systems, allowing for accurate biological simulations at early drug development stage, to assist life scientists in the development of precisely targeted and personalized therapies. In late 2020, MIMs received the Red Herring's (News - Alert) Top 100 North America Award, one of the most prestigious prizes granted each year to the most promising private tech companies. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210415005755/en/ [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] Missouri senator Josh Hawley has been criticised for a bizarre and shameless photoshoot praising his states National Guard members who are currently supporting police officers guarding the US Capitol. On his Twitter account on Wednesday, Mr Hawley posted a picture of him posing in solidarity with members of the Missouri National Guard, who are helping protect the Capitol following the riots on 6 January. Honored to meet with the @Missouri_NG 220th Engineer Construction Company whove been proudly supporting Capitol Police, the senator tweeted on Wednesday alongside a photo of him standing in solidarity with the officers. Special thanks to Specialist Ben Laws and Sergeant Trey Lawrence for their outstanding service during the units deployment. You make Missouri proud, he added. Mr Hawley, a Republican senator elected in 2019, faced controversy earlier this year after he led efforts in Congress to block the certification of votes to confirm Joe Biden as US president on 6 January. Mr Hawley, an ally of Mr Trump, was the first senator to announce that he would challenge Mr Bidens victory at the certification of votes in Congress, but was quickly joined by other Republicans including Texas senator Ted Cruz in what was later dubbed the Sedition Caucus. After a mob of pro-Trump rioters stormed the US Capitol during the certification of votes, causing House representatives to barricade themselves inside offices, Mr Hawley and Mr Cruz continued their challenge. Seven Democratic senators called for an ethics probe into Mr Hawley and Mr Cruz in the wake of the riots, claiming that their efforts and false claims of voter fraud in favour of the Democrats helped lead to the insurrection, in which five people died and several more injured. Following his photoshoot on Wednesday, several social media users criticised Mr Hawley, pointing out that the Missouri National Guard troops are only stationed at the Capitol because of the riots on 6 January. Responding to Mr Hawleys post on Wednesday, writer Jason Bailey asked: Hey Josh quick q, why are they there, as user @Halcyon270 wrote: He thinks well forget; well never forget. Army veteran Adrien Fontes described the post as bizarre and shameless as Iraq War veteran Ruben Gallago claimed: This is like Jefferson Davis standing with the Union Army. User @DjRodgers1231 simply claimed that Mr Hawley is the most shameless person in congress, while @AmoneyResists added that the senator needs to do less photo ops & more resigning. Mr Hawley was also among six Republicans who voted against a bill on Wednesday that would strengthen federal efforts to end rampant anti-Asian hate crimes in America. An overwhelming majority of senators voted to advance the legislation directing the Justice Department to facilitate the expedited review of hate crimes against Asian communities. However, six Republicans Texas senator Mr Cruz, Tom Cotton of Arkansas, Mr Hawley from Missouri, Rand Paul from Kentucky, Tommy Tuberville from Alabama, and Roger Marshall from Kansas voted against it. Lawmakers voted with a majority of 92 against 6 in the Senate for the Covid-19 Hate Crimes Act, bringing it a step closer to being passed, as a step forward in denouncing the sharp increase in discrimination and violence against Asians in the US amid coronavirus. The Independent has contacted Mr Hawleys office for comment. The United States Department of State released on March 30th its annual report on the global state of Human Rights for the year 2020. The report were releasing shows that the trend lines on human rights continue to move in the wrong direction, said Secretary of State Antony Blinken. We see evidence that in every region of the world this is happening: We see it in the genocide being committed against the predominantly Muslim Uyghurs and other ethnic and religious minority groups in Xinjiang; the attacks on and the imprisonment of opposition politicians, anti-corruption activists, and independent journalists in places like Russia, Uganda, Venezuela. We see it in the arbitrary arrests, beatings, and other violence against protestors in Belarus, and in the violations and abuses inflicted on the people of Yemen by the parties in that countrys conflict. We see it in the killings, sexual assaults, and other atrocities credibly reported in Ethiopias Tigray region, and in the executions, forced disappearances, and tortures committed by the Syrian regime, as well as its ongoing attacks on schools, on markets, on hospitals. The Biden-Harris Administration strongly emphasizes its commitment to putting human rights back at the center of U.S. foreign policy. Standing up for human rights everywhere is in Americas interests, said Secretary Blinken: Countries where dissent is welcomed, where corrupt and abusive officials are punished, where labor laws are respected, where people of all backgrounds have equal access and opportunities those countries are more likely to be peaceful, prosperous, stable.And governments that respect human rights are more likely to support the rules-based international order that the United States and our allies have built and invested in for decades and decades. However, that is not the case with countries that run roughshod over their people, said Secretary Blinken: Theyre almost always the same countries that flout internationally accepted rules beyond their borders whether thats by lopping off the territory of other countries, launching cyberattacks, harassing dissidents, spreading disinformation, or breaking trade rules. The United States is committed to working with its allies and partners to hold the perpetrators of human rights abuses accountable, said Secretary Blinken. Standing for peoples freedom and dignity honors Americas most sacred values. At our best, we stand for freedom and justice for all. Not just here at home, but around the world. That includes the metabolism. Dinosaurs are no longer thought to be coldblooded like modern-day lizards, but they were probably not as warm-blooded as mammals. So Dr. Marshalls team assumed a physiology in between that of meat-eating mammals and Komodo dragons. They also had to account for some uncertainty about where the dinosaurs lived in North America. Paleontologists dont know whether the range of T. rex was limited to where fossils have been found in the western United States and Canada, or if it stretched to other places with similar climates back then, from Alaska to the East Coast. Because so much is unknown about dinosaurs, the scientists were not looking to come up with a single definitive answer, but to provide limits on what they thought a plausible number might have been. For most of the paleontological data, I dont know how to guess a number, Dr. Marshall said. But I can tell you what a good minimum is, and what a good maximum is. The calculations yielded a most likely standing population of 20,000 Tyrannosaurus rex adults. That would indicate a sparse distribution equivalent to two adults in an area the size of Washington, D.C. But the uncertainty around that estimate was very broad. The same computer simulations indicated, with 97.5 percent probability, that there were at least 1,300 adults but not more than 328,000. Dr. Damuth described the new paper as a fine contribution. He added: In spite of the uncertainties associated with most of the model parameters the paper comes up with a solid qualitative result. If the 20,000 number is correct, over the 2.4 million years that T. rex walked the Earth, there would have been a total of some 2.5 billion adults that ever lived. But even Dr. Marshall thinks the 20,000 number is likely low. It just seems inconceivable you can last a couple of million years with those few individuals, he said. You just need some horrible plague or something and youre gone. Email Whatsapp Menu Whatsapp Google Reddit Digg Stumbleupon Linkedin Comment April 15 is Purple Up! For Military Kids Day, when Americans are encouraged to wear purple to show support for Military children and thank them for their strength and sacrifices. But its important to remember that our Christian mission can last far longer than a single day. More than two million children in the U.S. today have had a parent deployed to Iraq or Afghanistan. At least 19,000 of them have had a parent wounded in action. More than 2,000 have lost a parent to war, and an untold number live with parents with post-traumatic stress disorder. Years of research have found that the families of active-duty Service members experience higher stress, anxiety, depression, and financial struggles than civilian families and this has worsened during the pandemic. For example, more than 84% of enlisted families worry about personal finances; 34% say they dont pay their bills on time. In addition, 17% of Military spouses reported having lost their job as a result of the pandemic, increasing their already higher rates of unemployment. And 23% of Military family respondents without a depressive disorder or anxiety diagnosis before COVID-19 now report having symptoms. This month, First Lady of the United States Dr. Jill Biden announced new plans to aid Military families. Although government action is important, our country also needs people of faith to lead initiatives that support struggling Military families. Here are three ways you and your church can support Military spouses and children: 1. Understand their struggles and offer practical aid. Military families struggle in different ways, but the most typical areas are: Unemployment Mental health Lack of family support Financial stress Loneliness and Isolation Lack of childcare Frequent moves Deployment separation If you know a Military family, see if you can determine which kind of help would be most beneficial to them. Alternatively, if you have experience in a certain area, reach out to your nearest base (specifically their Family Support Center) and offer your services. For example, if you are a realtor, you could offer to help newly relocated families find housing at a discounted commission. If you own a business, you could advertise open positions on base. Offer discounts for Military kids at play spaces, toy stores, and more. Many bases have a welcome packet with resources for new families where you can advertise free or discounted services. 2. Proactively be their community. Often, Military families are hesitant to join a church community, because they dont know how long they will be in an area and may not know any church members. Churches need to be proactive in reaching out to these families. Connect with a nearby base or find an organization that supports Military families and is looking for volunteers, donations, or supplies. The Navy-Marine Corps Relief Society collects hand-knitted blankets to give new mothers on base. Operation: Love Reunited connects photographers with families who want to capture their Service members homecoming; these photographers typically offer their services for free in exchange for being able to use the photos in their portfolio. For spiritual strength, American Bible Societys Armed Services Ministry provides free Military-specific Scripture resources for Service members, Veterans, and their families; you can help connect Military families in your area to these free resources.* When service members are deployed, Military spouses often struggle with childcare and managing household duties. Offer to shovel snow, mow their lawn, or do house repairs; offer to babysit on a weekend so they can have time to themselves. If youre near a larger military base or VA hospital, Fisher House offers Military families a free place to stay while supporting their loved ones in the hospital (many who are recovering from significant injuries and illnesses or other combat injuries). Most are looking for volunteers to babysit, bring in meals, or collect supplies. 3. Pray for them. Prayer is powerful. Surround these families with prayer as often as you can. Make them a part of your weekly prayer list at church. Pray for deployed service members, their families, and those who are adjusting after returning home. Perhaps most importantly, encourage and love these families year-round not just on patriotic holidays. We can be the hands and feet of Jesus for those who have experienced trauma we may never see. Hanging a purple ribbon outside your house this month, or posting on social media, is a wonderful way to bring awareness to the struggles of Military families. But as Christians, we have the opportunity to look beyond the short-term. We can walk alongside, serving those whose loved ones are defending our freedom. *American Bible Societys Armed Services Ministry (ASM) launched a program in December 2020 to show children of the Military the support of a grateful nation. Through donor commitments, the program provides four annual gift packages containing Bible-based resources to children with a parent serving in the Military. Due to overwhelming demand, ASM had to begin waitlisting children in March. You can help share the hope of Gods Word with waiting children by donating at myherosquad.org TYSONS, Va., April 15, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- In honor of Second Chance Month, PenFed Credit Union president and CEO James Schenck and The Honorable Rodney E. Hood, National Credit Union Administration board member, visited Bungee Obleceni headquarters in Philadelphia to meet with founder and lead designer Darrell Alston. The purpose of the meeting was to recognize and discuss the ongoing challenges that convicted felons face in finding careers after finishing their sentences. The White House named April Second Chance Month to raise awareness about the need for opportunities for convicted felons who wish to safely reintegrate into society. According to the proclamation, 600,000 individuals leave prison and re-enter their communities every year. PenFed, the nation's second-largest federal credit union, and NCUA, the independent federal agency created by the U.S. Congress to regulate, charter and supervise federal credit unions, aim to carry out the credit union mission of "people helping people." "I don't think any of us would want to be judged for the rest of our lives by the worst mistake we ever made," said James Schenck, president and CEO of PenFed Credit Union and CEO of PenFed Foundation. "The credit union industry is committed to serving communities, and this includes formerly-incarcerated individuals for low level, non-violent crimes, who have served their sentences. We can help support those who are determined to better their lives rather than withholding opportunities, a mistake which could perpetuate a life of crime." Alston, who spent more than six years in prison for dealing drugs, is one of 19 million Americans with a felony conviction. He now faces costly car and life insurance, difficulty finding housing, getting approved for loans, or finding jobs in the fast-food industry, as a first responder, or in the military, among other industries. "I'll never be able to do any of that stuff simply because of what I did years ago. I'm not saying every single person deserves the opportunity of a second chance, but I've met a lot of people that do," explained Alston. "Part of our national identity is grounded in the idea that America is a place where people can start anew," said Rodney E Hood. "Darrell's story is an example of how individuals, their families, their communities, and our society benefit when we practice forgiveness and extend redemption to those who sincerely repent past mistakes. The dividends are both spiritual and tangible. But far too often, hiring practices lack that quality of mercy. Otherwise qualified applicants are rejected, based on long-ago convictions for low-level criminal activity. Society has begun rethinking these punitive hiring practices, and I say it is about time." The NCUA board, under Hood's leadership, streamlined the process so credit unions can now more easily offer jobs to people with nonviolent criminal records. In 2019, the NCUA board at Hood's prompting moved to reduce barriers to employment for returned citizens whose low-level, nonviolent offenses had occurred far in the past. "I can't save everybody, but if I can save one or two, and 5,200 other credit union CEOs can do the same, we can give livelihood to 10,000 individuals who deserve a second chance," said Schenck. "There are thousands hundreds of thousands of individuals like Darrell across this country. And it's up to each of us to do our part to try to make a difference." To learn more about Second Chance Month, a highlight video from the meeting can be found on LinkedIn and YouTube. To support Bungee Obleceni, please visit: www.bungeebrand.com . About PenFed Credit UnionEstablished in 1935, Pentagon Federal Credit Union (PenFed) is America's second-largest federal credit union, serving over 2.2 million members worldwide with over $27 billion in assets. PenFed Credit Union offers market-leading certificates, checking, credit cards, personal loans, mortgages, auto loans, student loans, and a wide range of other financial services. Our mission is to empower members of our community to achieve their financial well-being. PenFed Credit Union is federally insured by the NCUA and is an Equal Housing Lender. To learn more about PenFed Credit Union, visit PenFed.org, like us on Facebook and follow us @PenFed on Twitter. Interested in working for PenFed? Check us out on LinkedIn. We are proud to be an Equal Employment Opportunity Employer. SOURCE PenFed Credit Union Related Links http://www.PenFed.org (ANSA) - ROME, APR 15 - US Charge d'Affaires Thomas Smitham told an ANSA Forum Thursday that "the Biden administration and the Draghi government see eye to eye. We can work together on many important issues". He stressed there was also harmony between US and EU views. "Relations with Italy are very important for us and the new administration wants to strengthen and renew ties. In this context Di Maio's visit to Washington was very important, it was an honour to welcome him as first foreign minister. And then we appreciate Mattarella's words on the occasion of the 160th anniversary of our relations". US Charge d'Affaires Thomas Smitham told an ANSA Forum Thursday that "Libya is extremely important for Italy and Blinken and Di Maio spoke at their meeting in Washington about the need to collaborate more on this issue. Our position, shared by Rome, is that foreign forces must leave the country." The current number one at the embassy also stressed "in a few weeks our ambassador in Libya will arrive here to have a discussion with Italy on this so important issue". (ANSA). Mother Nature remains undefeated. Rain forced the postponement of Thursdays matinee at Citi Field between the Philadelphia Phillies and New York Mets. It was the second rainout of the series. The first game on Monday was scrubbed, necessitating a doubleheader on Tuesday. The Mets swept the twinbill and took Wednesdays game as well. This is the Mets third rainout in five days. New York had its game Sunday against the Miami Marlins suspended after nine pitches. The Mets had ace Jacob deGrom lined up to take the mound Thursday to go for the four-game sweep of the Phillies. DeGrom now will face the Colorado Rockies Friday when the Mets open a six-game road trip. Hes given up just one run in 14 innings of work this season with 21 strikeouts. The Phillies return to Citizens Bank Park Friday for a three-game series with the St. Louis Cardinals. FLUSHING, N.Y., April 15, 2021 The New York Mets have announced that todays game against the Philadelphia Phillies has been postponed due to inclement weather. It will be rescheduled as the first game of a single admission doubleheader on Friday, June 25 at 4:10 p.m. The second game of the doubleheader will start approximately 30 minutes after the conclusion of the first game. Both games will be seven-inning contests. Tickets for todays game will NOT be valid for admission to the June 25, 2021 doubleheader. Thank you for relying on us to provide the journalism you can trust. Please consider supporting NJ.com with a subscription. Mike Rosenstein may be reached at mrosenstein@njadvancemedia.com. Tell us your coronavirus story or send a tip here. Local News, Health & Wellness, Press Releases By Chris Boyle Published: April 15 2021 New York's vast distribution network and large population of eligible individuals still far exceed the supply coming from the federal government. Governor Andrew M. Cuomo has announced that more than 11.5 million doses of the COVID-19 vaccine have been administered in New York State. 282,305 doses have been administered across the state's vast distribution network in the last 24 hours, and more than 1.4 million doses have been administered over the past seven days. "We are now close to having one out of every four New Yorkers fully vaccinated, but we cannot afford to slow down and get comfortable," Governor Cuomo said. "The way to celebrate our progress is to double down on our safety guidelines and continue getting shots into people's arms, so we can build on this progress. The virus is still out there, and we remain laser-focused on expanding our capacity across the state and making sure the vaccine distribution is fair and equitable. If we stay disciplined, we will win this war." New York's vast distribution network and large population of eligible individuals still far exceed the supply coming from the federal government. Due to limited supply, New Yorkers are encouraged to remain patient and are advised not to show up at vaccination sites without an appointment. The 'Am I Eligible' screening tool has been updated for individuals with comorbidities and underlying conditions with new appointments released on a rolling basis over the next weeks. New Yorkers can use the following to show they are eligible: Doctor's letter, or Medical information evidencing comorbidity, or Signed certification Vaccination program numbers below are for doses distributed and delivered to New York for the state's vaccination program, and do not include those reserved for the federal government's Long Term Care Facility program. A breakdown of the data based on numbers reported to New York State as of 11 AM today is as follows. STATEWIDE BREAKDOWN Total doses administered - 11,669,171 Total doses administered over past 24 hours - 282,305 Total doses administered over past 7 days - 1,494,398 Percent of New Yorkers with at least one vaccine dose - 36.9% Percent of New Yorkers with completed vaccine series - 23.9% New Yorkers seeking to determine eligibility and schedule an appointment at a state-run mass vaccination site, can visit the 'Am I Eligible' website. New Yorkers may also call their local health department, pharmacy, doctor, or hospital for additional information and to schedule appointments where vaccines are available. The COVID-19 Vaccine Tracker Dashboard is available to update New Yorkers on the distribution of the COVID-19 vaccine. The New York State Department of Health requires vaccinating facilities to report all COVID-19 vaccine administration data within 24 hours; the vaccine administration data on the dashboard is updated daily to reflect the most up-to-date metrics in the state's vaccination effort. April 15 : Amidst the second wave of coronavirus pandemic, Abhishek Bachchan continues to shoot for his forthcoming film Dasvi in Lucknow. The actor, who was once infected with the virus last year, never forgets to mask him up even while at the shooting site. On Thursday, the The Big Bull actor took to his Instagram handle and shared a picture of himself with a loud and clear message for all as he urged them to wear masks all times. In the selfie that he clicked from the Dasvi shoot site in Lucknow, the actor can be seen fully covered with a blue mask, teamed with a big pair of statement sunglasses. Going by the attire worn by the actor, it seems that he is in the avatar of his character in the film. Please, please, PLEASE KEEP YOUR MASK ON!!! If not for yourself, think about your family, elders, friends and loved ones. #maskup #maskon, the actor captioned the picture. As soon as the Manmarziyan actor dropped the post, actor Rohit Bose Roy commented on his post as he wrote, I promise to keep my mask on if u promise to send me the glasses, followed with several laughing emojis. Last year, when COVID-19 pandemic was at its peak, four members of the Bachchan family were infected with the virus and were hospitalised. They included Amitabh Bachchan, Abhishek Bachchan, Aishwarya Rai Bachchan and Aishwaryas daughter Aradhya Bachchan. All four of them were hospitalised at Mumbai's Nanavati Hospital and recovered from the virus. Meanwhile, earlier this month, Abhishek had wrapped up the Agra schedule of his film Dasvi and headed to Lucknow for the next schedule of the film. Directed by Tushar Jalota, the film also stars Nimrat Kaur and Yami Gautam in pivotal roles. The script of the social comedy is penned by Ritesh Shah, Suresh Nair and Sandeep Leyzell. Earlier, Yami Gautam had wrapped up the shoot of Dasvi. The actress plays the role of Jyoti Deswal, a Haryanvi IPS officer, in the film. Meanwhile, Abhisheks film The Big Bull received mixed response. The actor will also be seen in Bob Biswas and Dasvi Oregons Department of Education must do more to provide comprehensive, LGBT-inclusive sex education in schools. It is common for queer and trans youth to go through their emotional puberty in their early 20s due to a lack of educational resources. The departments Guidance for Creating Safe Environments for Transgender Students, says it is committed to affirming LGBT students are treated with respect and dignity and given an equal education on their bodies and their form of safe sex. This stance is cemented by Oregons Equality Act. Despite these words, my experiences, and the experiences of my transgender and queer counterparts in the Oregon public school systems sex education classes, have been far from inclusive. No genuine effort has been made to include comprehensive sex education for LGBT students, and when subjects are discussed, it is often negatively. During units where we discussed STDs and STIs, HIV/AIDS was portrayed as a disease only gay men could get. This not only breeds discrimination, but it also is false. A 2014 study by the Gay, Lesbian & Straight Education Network found that only 5% of middle and high school students said their health classes included positive discussions of LGBT-related topics. Studies like these only further prove that more comprehensive and more LGBT- friendly laws are needed. This includes more rigid rules about what is acceptable in sex ed classes and updating curriculums (such as explaining safe sex for every body type) to guarantee LGBT students receive equal access to education and resources. Grayson Carroll, Forest Grove AGAWAM Internet users in town may soon have a choice of high-speed providers, a municipal task force recently announced. The alternative wont be a publicly owned network, however. Mayor William Sapelli announced last week that OTELCO, an internet company based in Maine, is planning to build its own fiber-optic system in Agawam. Trevor Jones, OTELCOs vice president of marketing, sales and customer service, confirmed this week that the company hopes to offer high-speed internet and telephone service in town by late 2022. Were very excited to be working with Agawam and bringing service to the community, Jones said on Thursday. Were looking forward to getting the project underway. OTELCO operates broadband, cable television and telephone networks in several states. The company runs the telephone and DSL network in Granby, and is the service provider for broadband networks in Leverett and four towns in the northern Berkshires. Agawam would be its first fiber-optic installation in Massachusetts. Jones said the company is investigating building networks in other Pioneer Valley towns, though he did not specify which ones. Sapelli said he welcomed OTELCOs interest in Agawam. Earlier this year, he established a Municipal Fiber Task Force to examine the feasibility of constructing a town-owned fiber-optic network. The task force was a response to plans by Comcast to charge additional fees of up to $100 per month for subscribers who use more than 1.2 terabytes of data. Comcast later placed those plans on hold, but the Agawam task force continued to meet. We want competition, said Sapelli. Thats whats good about OTELCO coming in. Jones said OTELCO plans to offer three tiers of broadband internet service, as well as telephone service over its fiber-optic lines. Internet speeds would range from 150 megabits per second at the lowest tier to 1 gigabit per second, with no metering or data cap. The company may also offer television service, Jones said. OTELCO has not determined what rates it would charge in Agawam, he said. In Leverett, according to the company website, OTELCO charges $23.40 per month for its 1 gigabit per second broadband service, in addition to a $51 per month network fee. The company charges $38.40 per month for internet plus telephone. To build the network, OTELCO will have to string its own fiber-optic lines along the existing utility poles in Agawam. Those poles are owned by Eversource, the electric utility. OTELCO would also have to coordinate with Comcast and Verizon to move their fiber and telephone lines to make way for OTELCO cables. Jones said that process will begin in a couple months, and could last until the end of the year. Jones said his company would likely build its Agawam network around six neighborhood nodes, with service rolled out gradually as each node is constructed. OTELCOs current plans would deliver service to about 80% of homes in Agawam and Feeding Hills, though Jones said hed like to serve the entire town. Most of whats not included in that plan is (streets served by) underground utilities, and thats mostly because it takes longer, costs a little more and involves different resources to get it done, Jones said. That doesnt mean those people wont get services. In a statement, Les Tingley, chairman of the Agawam Municipal Fiber Task Force, said the cost of installing a town-owned fiber-optic network in town would likely be $10 million to $15 million, and it would take more than three years to design and build. A town-owned fiber network would require budgeting and setting up a new utility department. Referring to OTELCO, he said, their plan is privately financed at no cost to the taxpayer in town, and will provide competition in the market faster than any other proposal. OTELCOs network does not require any town permits, Sapelli said. Unlike cable television, broadband internet companies do not need to sign a contract with the town government and are not subject to any oversight by a town committee. Sapelli said the Municipal Fiber Task Force will continue to meet. The task force was charged with examining both town-owned and -operated systems, including a potential partnership with Whip City Fiber, the broadband utility owned and operated by the city of Westfield. He said the task force will make a report sometime this year. Related content: A temporary restraining order is all that currently allows 22 Indonesian Christians, who overstayed their visas after fleeing violence in their native country, to remain in the Central Jersey communities theyve lived in for more than two decades. U.S. District Judge Esther Salas eventually will rule on whether to extend the order and whether those immigrants can remain in the U.S. while they petition to be allowed to stay in the country permanently. Briefs from both sides are due Thursday. If order is lifted, the federal government will be able to deport them at any time before their cases are heard. The immigrants had missed the original one-year deadline for seeking asylum, but rising anti-Christian violence in Indonesia has provided them new evidence in asking to remain in the U.S. On Palm Sunday, suicide bombers targeted a Christian church in Indonesia. If the judge lifts this, people who almost surely will win their case will have to go through the trauma of facing deportation, said Pastor Seth Kaper-Dale of the Reformed Church of Highland Park, a long-time advocate for the Indonesian community in New Jersey. In addition, President Joe Bidens acting director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Tae Johnson, said in a Feb. 18, 2021, memo that the agencys priorities for deportation now would be unauthorized immigrants who threaten national security, who were apprehended trying to cross the border illegally after Nov. 1, 2020, or who have convicted of certain felonies or convicted of a crime as part of a street gang. Farrin Anello, senior staff attorney for the American Civil Liberties Union of New Jersey, who is representing the 22 people, said they clearly do not meet the new priority categories for deportation. Im hopeful ICE will do the right thing and say, We have decided not to seek enforcement action against people who are not priorities for removal, Anello said. Deporting our clients while they are waiting waiting review of their asylum cases would be both unconstitutional and inconsistent with the Biden administrations immigrant enforcement policies. But an agency official said that its officers can still deport others in the country illegally. While ICE will focus its civil immigration enforcement on the priorities of national security, border security and public safety, DHS does not prohibit ICE from apprehending or detaining individuals who are unlawfully in the United States and fall outside of these specific priorities, said the official, who would only speak on the condition of anonymity. Any civil immigration enforcement actions by ICE conducted outside of federal, state, or local prisons or jails must be approved by the director. Members of New Jerseys congressional delegation on Wednesday asked Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas to prevent the deportations. The letter was signed Rep. Frank Pallone Jr., D-6th Dist., who has sponsored legislation to give the refugees another chance to apply for asylum if their initial request was rejected solely because they missed the deadline; U.S. Sens. Cory Booker and Robert Menendez, and six other House Democrats, Andy Kim, Tom Malinowski, Bill Pascrell Jr., Mikie Sherrill, Albio Sires and Bonnie Watson Coleman. The lawmakers noted an increase in attacks against Asian-Americans during the coronavirus pandemic. As our nation rallies to stop the wave of hate crimes against members of the Asian American community, we are deeply troubled to see that ICE has not disclaimed the senseless and xenophobic actions taken against the Indonesian Christians living in our communities, they wrote. From D.C. to Trenton to your town, the N.J. Politics newsletter brings the news right to your inbox. Sign up with your email here: The Indonesians, some of whom are ethnic Chinese, first escaped the anti-Christian violence and settled in New Jersey in the 1990s. About 2,200 Indonesians live in the state, according to the Migration Policy Institute, an immigration research group. The 22 are all that remain from an original group of around 80 who had missed the original deadline for seeking asylum but since 2009 had been allowed to remain the U.S. as long as they regularly checked in with immigration officials. Several did eventually did have their cases reopened. Others, including several long-time New Jersey residents, were deported under former President Donald Trumps administration, breaking up families. Some of them were arrested and deported when they periodically checked in as required, and others after dropping their children off at school. Our journalism needs your support. Please subscribe today to NJ.com. Jonathan D. Salant may be reached at jsalant@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @JDSalant. Start your day with the latest from Trenton, D.C. and your town. Get the N.J. Politics newsletter now. The government of informed the on Thursday that no student will be promoted without taking an online exam. The government had earlier taken the position that exams will be cancelled in view of the Covid 19 pandemic and has now taken a diametrically opposite stand before the High Court. The government has responded to a PIL filed by Advocate Ramkumar Adityan and another one filed by former Vice Chancellor of Anna University, E. Balaguruswamy. When the case came up for hearing, the state informed the court that it had decided to conduct online examinations as the court had clearly stated that it is not acceptable that the government cancel examinations. Advocate General Vijay Narayanan deposed before the court that the government has decided to abide by the UGC guidelines and that it will be mandatory for all students with arrears to appear for online exams. The first bench of the of Chief Justice Sanjib Banerjee and Justice Senthilkumar Ramamoorthy directed the state government to conduct online exams preferably within eight weeks. The court had on April 7 observed, "It is inconceivable that a whole mass of students will be certified to have qualified in a system without having basic knowledge in respect of key aspects." The bench of Chief Justice Sanjib Banerjee and Senthilkumar Ramamoorthy also observed, "There is no doubt that lakhs of students who had thought that they had cleared the particular course after writing their final semester may have to be held back as they have not cleared the previous papers. However at the same time unqualified persons cannot be certified to have qualified to pursue professional courses or even higher studies." --IANS aal/rs/bg (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.) Intelligent.com, a trusted resource for online degree rankings and higher education planning, has announced the top online programs for 2021. The comprehensive research guide is based on an assessment of 1,280 accredited colleges and universities in the nation. Each program is evaluated based on curriculum quality, graduation rate, reputation, and post-graduate employment. The methodology also uses an algorithm which collects and analyzes multiple rankings into one score to easily compare each school. Students who pursue any one of these programs can expect to gain employment much quicker in comparison to candidates without a degree. In addition to accessibility and cost, the steady job growth in this market is one of the many reasons Intelligent.com researched and ranked the Top Online Masters In Criminal Justice Degree Programs. Intelligent.com analyzed 156 schools, on a scale of 0 to 100, with only 55 making it to the final list for Online Masters In Criminal Justice Degree Programs. To access the complete ranking, please visit: https://www.intelligent.com/best-online-masters-in-criminal-justice-degree-programs/ 2021 Online Masters In Criminal Justice Degree Programs featured on Intelligent.com (in alphabetical order): Albany State University Angelo State University Arizona State University Bethune-Cookman University Boston University Bowling Green State University California State University, Long Beach California State University, San Bernardino Colorado State University Global East Carolina University Excelsior College Florida Atlantic University Florida International University Florida State University Fort Hays State University Indiana State University Indiana University of Pennsylvania John Jay College of Criminal Justice Johnson & Wales University Kent State University Lamar University Lewis University Liberty University Lincoln Memorial University Loyola University New Orleans Michigan State University Missouri State University Northeastern University Nova Southeastern University Rowan University Saint Joseph's University Sam Houston State University Slippery Rock University Tarleton State University Texas Christian University Texas State University University of Arkansas at Little Rock University of California, Irvine University of Central Florida University of Central Missouri University of Cincinnati University of Colorado Denver University of Louisville University of Massachusetts Lowell University of New Haven University of North Texas University of Oklahoma University of the Cumberlands University of West Florida University of Wisconsin-Platteville Wayne State University Webster University William Carey University Xavier University Youngstown State University About Intelligent.com Intelligent.com provides unbiased research to help students make informed decisions about higher education programs. The website offers curated guides which include the best degree programs as well as information about financial aid, internships and even study strategies. With comprehensive, user-friendly guides and hundreds of program rankings, Intelligent.com is a trusted source among students and prospective students. To learn more, please visit https://www.intelligent.com/. Hilton, N.Y. A Monroe County elementary school principal was arrested Wednesday for sexually abusing several of his students, according to New York State police. Kirk Ashton, the principal at Northwood Elementary School in Hilton since 2004, has been accused of sexually abusing nine male students between the ages of 9 and 12, according to The Democrat & Chronicle. Ashton was charged with six counts of first-degree sexual abuse and five counts of second-degree course of sexual conduct, each felonies, and nine counts of endangering the welfare of a child, a misdemeanor, according to the state police and the newspaper. Ashton was arraigned at the Greece Town Court, police said. He was held on $500,000 cash or $1 million bond, the paper reported. His preliminary hearing is scheduled for April 20. Ashton was paid $161,000 in 2020, according to an online database of public employees salaries. The school has 850 students in grades kindergarten through sixth grade. Hilton is a village of fewer than 6,000 people about 20 miles northwest of Rochester. Staff writer James McClendon covers breaking news, crime and public safety. Have a tip, a story idea, a question or a comment? Reach him at 914-204-2815 or jmcclendon@syracuse.com. The federal government says states still havent fulfilled requirements to bring back international students despite efforts with universities to combat the multibillion-dollar disruption to the sector. A proposal by the Victorian government to offer 120 of an allocated 1120 hotel quarantine places each week to people who could contribute to the states economy, including international students, was rejected by the federal government, which wants student places to be in addition to the cap. Federal education minister Alan Tudge says he has not seen a plan for the return of international students that meets government criteria. Credit:Alex Ellinghausen Federal Education Minister Alan Tudge said in Melbourne on Thursday he had not received a plan to return international students from any state or territory that met the necessary criteria. One being that they must have quarantine beds above and beyond the quarantine beds available for returning Australians, he said. Businesses in North Alabama are struggling to find employees willing to work. Whats happening is we dont have enough employees, because were having to compete with free money. Thats what it boils down to, said Travis Smith, the owner of Bentleys at The Outhouse. The Hartselle restaurant isnt alone. Many other local businesses are running their shops with little to no staff. I could see myself having to cut down in hours, or only being open a few days a week or just taking orders and doing special orders, said Shannon King, owner of Fathead Fanny. King operates her keto bakery all on her own. Ill have something baking and the buzzer will go off, and Ill have to tell them to hold on a minute, and I run back there, said King. I havent burnt anything yet, so I havent been too overwhelmed, but most of the time what Ill have to do is close earlier and bake." Her employees left the business. King believes she doesnt have workers because of the stimulus check, unemployment benefits and the pandemic. One of Kings past employees told her shed make more money off unemployment. Smith said Bentleys at The Outhouse is facing the same problem. We cant get people who want to do the job or that have any type of training to do the job, said Smith. Before the pandemic, Smith said he had no problem hiring workers. Now, he posts advertisement after advertisement. He said he gets one or two applications a month. Theres another problem Smith is having. Hell hire workers and theyll just stop showing up. When the restaurant has little to no workers, theyve had to close early. There are lots of people right here in our town that are fighting the same battle that were fighting, and theyre just doing the same thing were doing, said Smith. What businesses are doing is pushing through. Smith and King said giving up is not an option. You either push forward or you have to quit, and Im not going to quit, said Smith. Both businesses are actively looking for employees who want to work. You can walk in to get applications at both establishments. NAIROBI, Kenya Eritrean troops continue to commit atrocities in the northern Ethiopian region of Tigray, despite assurances by Ethiopias prime minister, Abiy Ahmed, that they were leaving, a senior United Nations official said Thursday. Mr. Abiy has come under pressure over reports of massacres, looting and sexual assaults by Eritrean troops. Last month, he flew to the Eritrean capital, Asmara, and announced that his ally, the autocratic Eritrean leader Isaias Afwerki, had agreed to bring his soldiers home. But the U.N. and its humanitarian partners have seen no evidence that such a withdrawal has taken place, Mark Lowcock, the top U.N. humanitarian official, told the Security Council. In fact, Mr. Lowcock said, Eritrean soldiers had begun to disguise their identities by wearing Ethiopian military uniforms, and some had killed civilians during indiscriminate attacks as recently as Monday. The Times obtained a transcript of Mr. Lowcocks remarks, which were made in a private briefing. They paint a grim picture of the violence in Tigray, where a clash between Mr. Abiy and regional leaders in November has degenerated into a chaotic and pitiless conflict that threatens to destabilize the entire Horn of Africa region. NEW YORK, April 15, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- K2 Integrity today announced the launch of a new investigative podcast series, Digging Deeper, which gives a behind-the-scenes look at the investigations industry. Guests will explore real-world cases and share what they uncovered along the way to crack the code for clients. In a recent episode, Jules Kroll, founder of the modern corporate investigations industry, discusses some of the most intriguing cases of his career and how the industry has changed over time. "Investigative and true crime podcasts have exploded in recent years. With such strong interest in how investigations are conducted, it is our hope Digging Deeper helps shine a light on the industry as few can: via the real-world, exceptional practitioners who, day in and day out, conduct this work for clients across sectors and around the globe," said Robert Brenner, Global Co-Managing Partner, K2 Integrity. Digging Deeper is hosted by Chris Morgan Jones, a corporate investigator with over 20 years of experience based out of K2 Integrity's London office. The podcast features practitioners sharing insights on cases they workedhighlighting both well-known and documented cases as well as anonymized, never-before-heard talesincluding: To learn more about or listen to K2 Integrity's Digging Deeper, please visit K2 Integrity's website, or subscribe on Apple Podcasts, SoundCloud, Spotify, or Stitcher. About K2 Integrity K2 Integrity is the preeminent risk, compliance, investigations, and monitoring firmbuilt by industry leaders, driven by interdisciplinary teams, and supported by cutting-edge technology to safeguard our clients' operations, reputations, and economic security. K2 Integrity represents the merger of K2 Intelligence, an industry-leading investigative, compliance, and cyber defense services firm founded in 2009 by Jeremy M. Kroll and Jules B. Kroll, the originator of the modern corporate investigations industry, and Financial Integrity Network (FIN), a premier strategic advisory firm founded by Juan Zarate and Chip Poncy dedicated to helping clients achieve their financial integrity goals. K2 Integrity leverages unmatched multidisciplinary experience to develop cutting-edge solutions, stimulate business opportunities, and shape global economic security in a complex world. Whether it's protecting clients' assets or navigating the complex financial regulatory landscape to help clients identify, manage, and mitigate risk, K2 Integrity is an advisor trusted to meet and exceed clients' goals in a rapidly changing world. To learn more about how K2 Integrity is revolutionizing the management of risk, visit our website, www.k2integrity.com, or follow us on Twitter or LinkedIn. CONTACT: Paula Zirinsky Global Chief Marketing Officer [email protected] Lindsay Sweeney Senior Manager, Communications [email protected] SOURCE K2 Integrity Related Links https://www.k2integrity.com A scene from the musical "Four Minutes" / Courtesy of National Jeongdong Theater By Park Ji-won The musical, "Four Minutes," an adaptation of a 2006 German existentialist drama film by the National Jeongdong Theater, follows the relationship between a piano teacher named Kruger and an inmate called Jenny, aiming to deliver hope and provoke questions in finding the meaning of life through professional piano performances. Directed by actor-artistic director Yang Joon-mo, written by Gangnam and music composed by Maeng Sung-yeon, "Four Minutes" was made from the award-winning film with the same title which was based on real stories of individuals during the second world war. The movie, "Four Minutes" (2006), which was inspired from a single photograph of Kruger, an 80-year-old woman who devoted her life to giving piano lessons to female inmates in Germany, shows the journey of the two people, the 80-year-old and the 18-year-old Jenny, who isolated themselves from society after being hurt by negative incidents, getting over their past and finding hope through each other via the piano. Kruger ended up helping Jenny's prison escape so that she can perform in a piano competition, which is the highlight of the show. The musical tries its best to follow the original narrative and characters' emotions with songs, while aiming to show skilled performers and music during the last four minutes. "I was impressed by the fact that the film is based on a true story. The last four minutes of Jenny's performance was the most powerful scene. We tried our best to show the emotions of the characters in the musical, because it is different from the film which can show it through a close-up on the screen. So, we made the characters' emotions into songs, but we tried our best not to interrupt the drama with the songs," Yang said during a press conference, Tuesday. Yang said he directly contacted the copyright owners of the film and came up with the production. Performers stressed that the play may help audiences think about the meaning of life. Actress Kim Sun-kyung, who plays Kruger, said, "I may have become a better person if I was able to meet a teacher like Kruger. But after participating in the musical and learning about the characters, I realized that if you cherish your talent, it might give you a reason to live and also reward you. I think you don't have to have a big reason to live. I hope audiences can find out that the meaning of life is near me and inside me." Actress Kim Hwan-hee, who plays Jenny, said, "I keep asking myself about the meaning of life. I hope audiences also ask themselves that question." To add realism to the musical, actresses who play Jenny, had to learn how to play piano for six months before the show. Professional pianists, Oh Eun-chul and Cho Jae-chul actually play the piano during the highlights of the show. The musical is being performed at the National Jeongdong Theater until May 23. Researchers conducted the first large-scale survey of the microbiota present in the seamount's ferromanganese crusts, describing bacteria and archaea involved in the nutrient cycle and formation of metals The abundant biological and mineral diversity of the Rio Grande Rise, a seamount in the depths of the Atlantic Ocean about 1,500 km from the coast of Brazil, is probably due to a great extent to little-known microscopic creatures. Researchers affiliated with the University of Sao Paulo's Oceanographic Institute (IO-USP), collaborating with colleagues at the UK's National Oceanography Center, investigated the microorganisms inhabiting the seamount's ferromanganese crusts and concluded that bacteria and archaea are probably responsible for maintaining the abundant local life, besides being involved in the process of biomineralization that forms the metals present in the crusts. An article published in the journal Microbial Ecology describes the study, which was funded by FAPESP and the UK's Natural Environment Research Council (NERC). In 2014, the International Seabed Authority (ISA) awarded Brazil a 15-year grant of mineral exploitation rights to the Rio Grande Rise. Comprising 167 member states plus the European Union, the ISA is mandated under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea to organize, regulate and control all mineral-related activities in the international seabed area, which corresponds to some 50% of the total area of the world's oceans. "Very little is known about the area's biodiversity or about the impact of mining on its ecosystems," said Vivian Pellizari, a professor at IO-USP and principal investigator for the study. The study was part of a Thematic Project supported by FAPESP. The article is one of the results of the PhD research of Natascha Menezes Bergo, currently a postdoctoral research intern at IO-USP. "Although the process known as microbial biomineralization is well-known, oxidation and precipitation of manganese hadn't been proved, and we had no idea how it occurred in ocean areas. In July 2020, however, an article by US researchers was published in Nature showing for the first time that bacteria use manganese to convert carbon dioxide into biomass via a process called chemosynthesis," said Bergo, who participated in sample collection in 2018 on the UK research vessel RRS Discovery (read more at: agencia.fapesp.br/29617/). "One of these bacteria, which belongs to the group Nitrospirae, was present in the DNA sequences we extracted from crust samples collected at the Rio Grande Rise. This is strong evidence that the metals there are formed not just by a geological process but also by a biological process in which microorganisms play an important part," she noted. Besides iron and manganese, the crusts are rich in cobalt, nickel, molybdenum, niobium, platinum, titanium and tellurium, among other elements. Cobalt is essential to the production of rechargeable batteries, for example, and tellurium is a key input for the production of high-efficiency solar cells. In late 2018, Brazil applied to the ISA for an extension of its continental shelf to include the Rio Grande Rise. In other parts of the world, similar areas that have been studied for longer with the same objectives include the Clarion-Clipperton Zone and the Takuyo-Daigo Seamount, both in the North Pacific, as well as the Tropic Seamount in the North Atlantic. Formation The Rio Grande Rise has an area of some 150,000 km2, three times the size of Rio de Janeiro state, and depths ranging from 800 m to 3,000 m. Formed when present-day Africa and South America separated from the supercontinent Gondwana between 146 million years ago (mya) and 100 mya, the Rise was an island that sank some 40 mya, probably owing to the weight of a volcano and its lava and the movement of tectonic plates (read more at: revistapesquisa.fapesp.br/en/revelations-from-a-submerged-archipelago-2/). On one of their 2018 expeditions, the researchers collected from a part of the Rise samples of the ferromanganese crusts and of the coral skeletons that live on them, as well as calcarenite rock and biofilms on the crusts' surfaces. These biofilms are structured microbial communities enveloped in substances they secrete to protect themselves from threats such as lack of nutrients or potential toxins. "Finding biofilm was an interesting surprise, as it's an indicator of an incipient biomineralization process," Bergo said. "We found the same microorganisms in our biofilm, coral, calcarenite and crust samples. The only difference was the age of the surfaces. The coral is more recent than the crusts, and the biofilm is even younger." A total of 666,782 DNA sequences were recovered from the samples. The bacteria and archaea found by the scientists belong to groups known to be involved in the nitrogen cycle whereby ammonia is converted into nitrite and nitrate, and hence to serve as a source of energy for other microorganisms. Besides Nitrospirae, they found other prokaryotes such as the archaeon class Nitrososphaeria. Sequencing of the samples also revealed groups involved in the methane cycle such as Methylomirabilales and Deltaproteobacteria. The results amplify scientists' understanding of the microbial diversity and potential ecological processes found on the ferromanganese crusts of the South Atlantic seabed. They will also contribute to future regulation of possible mining activities in the area of the Rio Grande Rise. "As the crusts are removed, local circulation will probably change and this, in turn, will change the available supply of organic matter and nutrients, and hence the local microbiome and all the life associated with it," Bergo said. "Besides, the crusts grow 1 mm every 1 million years on average, so there won't be time for recolonization. It's no accident that so many studies have been published recently on how to assess and mitigate the impact of deep-sea mining." ### About Sao Paulo Research Foundation (FAPESP) New Delhi: At least 3 villagers including a woman were killed and several others injured after lightning struck them in Korba district, Chhattisgarh, the police said on Sunday. Station house officer (SHO), Katghora, SS Rajput said that the victims were returning home after working at paddy fields in Dongri village when heavy rains started on Saturday evening. In order to protect themselves from the heavy rains, they took shelter in an under-construction building when lightning struck them, Rajput added. The deceased were identified as Chandrapal Singh Kanwar (47), Budhwar Singh Kanwar (50) and Sumitra Bai (55), the SHO said. ALSO READ | Chhattisgarh: Security personnel injured in a gunbattle with Maoists in Dhantewada, encounter underway Those who got serious and minor injuries were admitted to a local community health centre. However, one among the injured ones was later shifted to to Chhattisgarh Institute of Medical Sciences at Bilaspur, Rajput said. The local administration assured the victims of providing necessary assistance, as per the rules, he added. Katghora is located around 30 kms from Korba, which is is at distance of about 220 kms from the state capital Raipur. (With PTI inputs) ALSO READ | Chhattisgarh: Ward Councillor injured in Naxal-planted IED explosion For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. Junior doctors in Sierra Leone have gone on strike over an alleged assault on one of their colleagues working at the countrys main referral hospital. It follows a strike by cleaners that left filth strewn all over the hospital for more than a week. The doctors' association said one of their female members had been physically assaulted by senior government officials during an incident at Connaught Hospital on Tuesday. "The event is frustrating and shows the continuous disrespect by the officials at the [health ministry] towards the medical practitioners across the country," it said in a statement. The association has asked for the immediate resignation of the concerned officials, saying their members "don't feel safe and confident working with authorities who violate the fundamental human rights of its people". The doctors say they will stay off work until appropriate action is taken. Source: BBC Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority. Featured Video DETROIT -- Toyota says it is recalling an estimated 280,000 Venza SUVs from the 2009 through 2015 model years due to an issue with the wiring of the air bags. According to the Associated Press, the Japanese automaker says it has received 31 field reports and 56 warranty claims regarding the problem. Documents posted by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration indicated the problem is caused by damaged wires to the air bag sensor in the drivers side door which is can be caused over time with regular use. If damage occurs, it can stop the side and curtain air bags from deploying when needed, according to the AP. Toyota will inspect the wires and replace them if necessary at no cost to drivers. The recall is expected to begin on May 31. READ MORE: Estimated 750K GM vehicles being investigated over air bags possibly not inflating GM recalling 10K Chevy, GMC vans over fire risk, suggests parking vehicle outside Faulty fuel pumps lead to Honda recalling 628K vehicles in the U.S. 2021 Ram truck owners encouraged to park vehicle outside due to fire risk, recall announced Nissan recalls 854K vehicles as brake lights may not turn on properly Ford recalls over 100K trucks over windshields that may not stay in place, payload misinformation Ford cant find deadly airbags that may have been installed, recalls more than 154K vehicles Tesla to recall 135K vehicles over concerns of touch screens possibly going dark Brake light issue leads to Nissan recall of 354K Pathfinder SUVs Regulators investigating Ford recall that customers say didnt fix tailgate problems Hyundai recalls another 471K SUVs over possible electrical short that can lead to fire GM recalling 840K vehicles over possible seat belt, suspension failures Volkswagen recalling 105K vehicles for Takata air bag issue GM ordered to recall millions of vehicles over Takata air bag issue GM recalls 69K Bolt models over batteries catching fire, owners urged to park car outside GM announces recall over oil leak that can cause cars to stop, 217K vehicles involved Over 375K Ford Explorer models recalled for suspension issues Toyota, VW announce recalls involving faulty fuel pumps, fuel leaks respectively Metal air bag fragments kill Volvo driver, touching off recall (Alliance News) - Evraz PLC on Thursday announced that its board has given the green light to move forward in its preparations for the potential demerger of its coal assets. The blue-chip Russian steelmaker urged, however, that there can be no assurance that the demerger will take place. All the company's coal assets sit under its subsidiary, PJSC Raspadskaya PAO, listed on the Moscow Exchange. "Evraz is committed to maximising value for its shareholders and the board believes the potential demerger of Raspadskaya could create significant long-term value by allowing each business to pursue dedicated strategic, capital allocation and environmental, social & corporate governance objectives," Evraz said. Evraz shares closed 2.2% lower at 610.80 pence each in London on Thursday. By Greg Roxburgh; gregroxburgh@alliancenews.com Copyright 2021 Alliance News Limited. All Rights Reserved. [April 15, 2021] Code Fellows Partners with Memphis-based CodeCrew MEMPHIS, Tenn., April 15, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Seattle-based Code Fellows partners with Memphis-based CodeCrew School to help underrepresented minorities obtain skills in software development, ops and cybersecurity. Individuals from all skill levels and backgrounds will be provided industry-relevant vocational training with the objective to gain meaningful and financially rewarding employment, strengthening the local economy in Memphis. "As part of the CodeCrew Code School mission, we seek to increase diversity in the tech ecosystem. The Code Fellows and CodeCrew partnership will allow us to provide a flexible coding curriculum and increase course offerings to our community. This will give more individuals exposure and knowledge to be confident we have the skills to gain employment in the tech industry." Erin Johnson, CodeCrew Code School Program Director CodeCrew educates and mentors those most underrepresented in tech o be tech innovators and leaders through practical, hands-on computer science training. Beyond helping adult learners find rewarding new careers in tech, they passionately pursue working with K-12 students, school teachers, and districts in the Mid-South to ensure they are helping ignite the desire to learn tech skills at an early age. Their recent efforts around policy and advocacy are helping to ensure all of the one million students in Tennessee have a chance to succeed. Code Fellows has been crafting technical curriculum since 2013. They build, refine, and adapt curriculum to ensure they are keeping up with the demands of the industry and preparing graduates for the rigorous expectations of a career in tech. Code Fellows tailors curriculum to fit learning styles, meet employer expectations and meet industry standards to the extent that they now have thousands of graduates working in new careers in over 800 companies around the world. Through Powered by Code Fellows , partner schools are provided the same industry-leading curriculum, operational support, and instructional training, to ensure their graduates are just as able to meet the demands of employers in the market. CONTACT Mitchell Robertson 307559@email4pr.com 206-681-9318 View original content:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/code-fellows-partners-with-memphis-based-codecrew-301269637.html SOURCE Code Fellows [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] (Newser) Former VP Mike Pence is recovering from a Wednesday surgery in which he had a pacemaker installed, reports the Indianapolis Star. The 61-year-old's office says Pence had been experiencing "symptoms associated with a slow heart rate" over the past two weeks, necessitating the procedure at Inova Fairfax Medical Campus in Falls Church, Virginia. "The routine surgery was successful, and he is expected to fully recover and return to normal activity in the coming days," says the statement, per CNN. story continues below Before becoming vice president, Pence disclosed a heart issue, one known as "asymptomatic left bundle branch block." He did not not have any known health problems while in office. The Hill notes that Pence launched a conservative advocacy group called Advancing American Freedom earlier this month, and he was scheduled give his first major speech since leaving office later this month in South Carolina. It's not clear if that will still take place. (Pence also has struck a deal to write two books.) After appearing on milk carton memes from Republicans mocking her as AWOL in being Joe Biden's border crisis czar, Kamala Harris has dropped her crocheting, snacking, and home decor battles to bring herself out of the woodwork. Wednesday, she held a press conference and Zoom-like roundtable on just what she plans to do about the migrant surge at the border, looking for all those "root causes." Here are some choice bits from the White House transcript. The first reporter's question got right to the point: Q Madam Vice President, will you visit the southern border. Do you have a trip planned? Will you plan one in the future if the situation with migration doesn't resolve itself? THE VICE PRESIDENT: So, as I mentioned to the experts, the President has asked Secretary Mayorkas to address what is going on at the border. And he has been working very hard at that, and it's showing some progress because of his hard work. I have been asked to lead the issue of dealing with root causes in the Northern Triangle, similar to what then-Vice President did many years ago. But I will tell you that these are issues that are not going to be addressed overnight, in terms of the root causes issue. A large part of our focus is diplomatic, in terms of what we can do, in a way that is about working with these countries. So, for example: I have talked with the President of Mexico, the President of Guatemala. We have well, I'm probably saying too much we have plans in the work to go to Guatemala as soon as possible, given all of the restrictions in terms of COVID and things of that nature. But these are areas of focus for a very important and good reason. We must address the symptoms, and that is what is happening with the team of folks who are working on the border, led by Ali Mayorkas. But we also have to deal with the root causes, otherwise we are just in a perpetual system of only dealing with the symptoms. So, our focus is to deal with the root causes, and I'm looking forward to traveling, hopefully, as my first trip, to the Northern Triangle stopping in Mexico and then going to Guatemala sometime soon. No border visit too politically hazardous to be associated with it, for sure. Let Mayorkas do that unpopular job exposing the administration's incompetence. But Harris's claim that there's nothing to learn at the border about the "root causes" of illegal migration is nonsense. On the contrary, there's a hell of a lot to learn firsthand at the border from the actual participants about the root causes of why, exactly, they are entering the U.S. illegally in surges. In a report published yesterday, a Politico correspondent went to Tijuana; interviewed actual wannabe illegal aliens; and, sure enough, found out a lot. Here's Politico correspondent Jack Herrera's nut graf and what immediately followed: Critics on the right blame the president's welcoming rhetoric, saying that after Donald Trump's hard-line tack toward the border, it's no wonder migrants are rushing in under supposedly softer leadership. But migrants themselves have a very different view: The issue isn't Biden extending a hand; it's that he hasn't figured out what he wants to do and has kept the legal pathway closed in the meantime. Despite promising a new approach, Biden has left the effective asylum ban in place, with few exceptions. Realizing they have no prospect for legal entry into the U.S. anytime soon, many migrants like the ones here, stuck in Tijuana without a safe home to return to, are making the painful decision to try to cross the border outside the proper channels. "We want to do this the right way," insists Rosemeri. Or else. Freelance Politico correspondent Jack Herrera is no right-winger; he's a leftist, publishing some of his other items at The Nation and the even loonier TruthOut, according to his personal website. His analysis is a stretch, but his reporting is very good. He interviewed would-be illegal border crossers and from it argued that Joe Biden didn't invite them in; he just failed to give them the convenient want-it-now entry to the U.S. they expected. Therefore, they were crossing illegally, whether we like it or not, because, well, they are entitled. Where does that sense of entitlement to live in the U.S. come from in these surging illegal migrants? Who gives it to them? Maybe it comes from radicals in Joe's own party? It would explain why Kamala doesn't want to find out what she should find out of the root causes of the border surge straight from the illegals themselves. She wouldn't be publicly comfortable with the answer. Because yes, that's a root cause an amazing sense of entitlement to live in the U.S. without waiting in line, let alone contributing, a "right" to partake in the life of the U.S. and all proffered benefits. No, the border is dirty and dusty and full of political hazards with cameras as migrant surgers come in at the unguarded border under some of the most inhuman conditions. Remember the slave ships? Here's a migrant smuggling operation posted yesterday by the Border Patrol that looks just like one. Don't expect Kamala to get involved with learning about the root causes of why that happened. Or the child-dumping over the fence in New Mexico. Or the abandoned Nicaraguan kid left crying in the Texas desert. Or the big migrant car crashes... Nope, she's claiming to be Miss Diplomacy now, in something of a shift. First, she mangles her geography, which is never a good sign in a wannabe diplomat: she declares that she's visiting the northern triangle and specifies that as Mexico and Guatemala. Mexico isn't a part of the northern triangle, not at all. Guatemala, meanwhile, is just one member, one of three. The other two weren't mentioned, so no, it wasn't the triangle. And how's that going to go? Well, just yesterday, Guatemala's president joined Mexico's in laying the blame for the surge at the feet of Joe Biden. That's some pair of meetings she's got ahead of her. Here's the other thing: the president of El Salvador, another northern triangle member, isn't taking White House phone calls, having been insultingly snubbed in February on his trip to Washington by these same Bidenites. Good luck with that one, Kams. Meanwhile, the leader of the third northern triangle member, the president of Honduras, is hopelessly compromised with drug entanglements, though he has his hand out. As I wrote here a couple of days ago: Or how's Kamala handling this bunch, from Honduras, which already has its hand out for U.S. aid to eliminate all those the "root causes" of why Hondurans can't stand living in Honduras? They're claiming that showering the Honduran government, (whose president has been accused by prosecutors in New York of taking big bucks from a drug dealer), will end all the "root causes" of why Hondurans want to get the hell out of Honduras. Will giving these particular foreign bureaucrats cash end all the root causes? Don't count on Kamala to figure out any of the potential problems with showering likely corrupt governments with big U.S. bucks. Notice that nobody from Honduras, based on the reporting seen, has bothered with contacting Kamala in any case. They go where they might actually get some money, correctly reading that she's AWOL. So Mexico and Guatemala it is, though only one is a member of the three-nation northern triangle, but both states are on record as blaming Biden for the crisis. Let's go one step farther: who's advising her, who are these experts she cites? The New York Post did some digging and provided some names and they are doozies: In addition to Harris and her national security advisor, Ambassador Nancy McEldowney, the White House said attendees included Dan Restrepo, a senior fellow at the Neera Tanden-run Center for American Progress; Vicki Gass, a top policy adviser for Central America at Oxfam; Andrew Selee, president of the Migration Policy Institute, a liberal think tank; Lisa Haugaard, co-director of the Latin America Working Group; Geoff Thale, president of the Washington Office on Latin America; Carolina Herrera, a Natural Resources Defense Council manager; and Jason Marczak, director of the Atlantic Council's Adrienne Arsht Latin America Center. Who's Selee? Why, a leftist recently featured in Politico. What are his thoughts? Basically, that the U.S. needs to legally admit more indigent, uneducated Central American migrants: But there's no way you can "enforce" your way out of a recurring migration crisis. We should have learned this by now: Every time we beef up enforcement, or do something slightly more draconian, it works for a while, and then, sooner or later, people find a way around it. Enforcement works if it pushes people into real legal [immigration] channels. But if there are no legal channels, then people will just keep finding their way around enforcement. Who is Restrepo? The architect of one Latin American failure after another in past Democratic administrations. Here is what I wrote as an editorial writer several years ago at Investor's Business Daily about the guy: Restrepo is a political operative whose interests are more domestic than Latin American. As a result, he's botched every Latin American operation he's had his hand in, appeasing enemies and blaming the U.S.: Honduras: In 2009, Restrepo was behind a U.S. bid to swiftly declare Honduras' constitutional ouster of its president "a coup" and sanctioned the country, playing into the hands of Venezuela's Hugo Chavez, who had attempted to make Honduras a colony. Cuba: Restrepo was behind loosening sanctions on Castro's Cuba, which has emboldened the regime to act against Americans. While Castro imprisoned Alan Gross, a U.S. contractor who was distributing satellite phones to dissidents, the Obama administration said nothing. Colombia: Its troops captured drug "kingpin of kingpins" Walid Makled, who had extensive knowledge of Venezuelan official involvement in trafficking. U.S. attorneys wanted him extradited, but Colombia's President Juan Manuel Santos said President Obama never asked. When IBD asked Restrepo whether he advised Obama to ask, Restrepo defensively said he did. But that's at odds with what Santos said. Venezuela: Treasury Department officials complained Restrepo kept names of high-ranking Venezuelan officials with ties to drug dealers off its "Kingpin List," in a naive effort to keep pressure off Chavez. Now Restrepo tries to pin Mexico's drug war not on Hugo Chavez's trafficker allies, but on gun dealers from the U.S. It underlines that the Bidenites with Harris at the helm are not about results. Kamala herself emphasizes as if to weasel out of this that there are no short-term answers, with the subtext that we shouldn't expect results. Look at her babble here about that toward the end of her no-public-video transcript: Q Madam Vice President, how do you evaluate success? How do you evaluate success? This has been an intractable problem for years. THE VICE PRESIDENT: There are many metrics, and I'm happy to follow up with you as we after I talk to the experts also. But I agree with you: We have to figure out how we're going to assess our impact. But let me be clear and everyone who's been working on this, you know, for decades will tell you: It will not be obvious overnight. The work we have to do is going to require a commitment that is continuous, that we institutionalize with our partners. And and that's the work that I'm prepared to do, which is to begin that process of meaningful work, knowing that we're going to have to have a long-term strategy. And it will take some time to see the benefits of that work, but it will be worth it. She noted earlier that she was given the job same as Joe Biden got from President Obama earlier. A Los Angeles Times reporter noted here that Joe was ineffective at that task Kamala now has basically a miserable failure. Kamala notes that she has the job and same approach as Old Joe, and guess what: I'll wager she's going to fail, too, given that doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result is lunacy. It likely doesn't matter to her; she was just put into the job to take pressure off Old Joe and, as Newt Gingrich noted on Twitter, mainly because Biden knows she'll do nothing. She likely just hopes to bore the reporters long enough to ensure that when she does fail at it same as Joe, the cameras are going to be off. Image: U.S. Customs and Border Protection via Flickr, United States Government Work. To comment, you can find the MeWe post for this article here. Workers' compensation insurer takes step forward in its digital transformation with investment in Duck Creek Distribution Management Boston, April 15, 2021solution to update the ways it manages its large producer base and offer modern, seamless experiences. One-size-fits-all approaches to managing relationships with producers and time-consuming manual processes are obsolete, and a new standard has emerged. To help carriers ensure that relationships remain productive, Distribution Management empowers sales managers and field representatives to create differentiated onboarding experiences, build targeted performance and incentive plans, and nurture producers with timely and valuable information. As a trusted provider of workers' compensation insurance for 30 years, market-leading functionality and the ability to integrate with its current core systems were key factors in Texas Mutual's decision. "Our competitive premiums, health care network, and dividend history help our policyholder owners protect workers, control costs, and boost their bottom lines," said Lisa Evans, Vice President of Distribution & Customer Engagement at Texas Mutual. "With so many businesses putting their trust in us as their provider of workers' compensation insurance, we knew we needed to give our agents the tools, support, and experiences they need to best serve our customers. This is a decision we know will serve us well into the future as we grow our business and help build a stronger, safer Texas." Duck Creek Distribution Managementis a modern producer relationship management system that enables insurers to tailor all aspects of the producer lifecycle to attract, retain, increase productivity, and build trust with agents, brokers, MGAs, and other intermediaries. As a modern SaaS application, Distribution Management digitally transforms workflows to increase business agility, streamline operations, and ensure continuous compliance. "Distribution Management enables insurers to offload labor-intensive administrative work and focus on value-added activities like onsite visits, strategic planning, and sharing of performance insights," said Prasad Boppana, VP of Product Management for Distribution Management at Duck Creek Technologies. "The solution will let Texas Mutual focus on the right challenges while our team handles day-to-day IT operations and application upgrades for them behind the scenes. We are thrilled to see them making this critical business decision and welcome them to the Duck Creek family." About Texas Mutual: Texas Mutual Insurance Company, a policyholder-owned company, is the state's leading provider of workers' compensation insurance. Texas Mutual provides coverage to 44% of the market, representing over 70,000 companies, many of which are small businesses. Since 1991, the company has provided a stable, competitively priced source of workers' comp insurance for Texas employers. Helping employers prevent workplace accidents is an important part of Texas Mutual's mission. Learn more at www.texasmutual.com. About Duck Creek Technologies: Duck Creek Technologies, the company's enterprise Software-as-a-Service solution, insurance carriers are able to navigate uncertainty and capture market opportunities faster than their competitors. Duck Creek's functionally rich solutions are available on a stand-alone basis or as a full suite, and all are available via Duck Creek OnDemand. For more information, visit www.duckcreek.com. Media Contact: Paul Rechichi Racepoint Global 617-624-3295 prechichi@racepointglobal.com By Scott Murdoch HONG KONG (Reuters) - Chinese internet and social media giant Holdings Ltd plans to raise up to $4 billion in a bond launched on Thursday, two sources with direct knowledge of the matter said. The deal has been launched with 10-, 20-, 30- and 40-year tranches, according to a term sheet reviewed by Reuters. The deal sheet did not specify an exact figure but sources said the company was targeting to raise $4 billion from the issue, which would be its second major fundraising deal in a year. did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The company has approval from the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) to raise up to $4.15 billion, one of the sources added. The sources could not be named as the information has not yet been made public. raised $6 billion in May last year and issued 40-year debt for the first time. The company intends to use proceeds from capital raisings for general corporate purposes. Price guidance for the 10-year tranche is around U.S. 10-year Treasuries plus 165 basis points and the 20-year at U.S. 20-year Treasuries plus 175 basis points, according to the term sheet. Price guidance for the 30- and 40-year tranches has been set at 185 basis points and 195 basis points, respectively, against the long term benchmark rate, the sheet showed. Final terms and pricing are due to be set for the Hong Kong listed Tencent later on Thursday during U.S. trading hours, the two sources said. (Editing by Jacqueline Wong) (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.) H John Voorhees III / Hearst Connecticut Media DANBURY A local man allegedly disputed with a contractor at a construction site on Tuesday, smashed a window and threatened to shoot people, according to police. Tod Sparks, 39, of Starr Road, was charged with criminal mischief, breach of peace, disorderly conduct and threatening. More than a month has passed since Gov. Greg Abbott ended virtually all statewide restrictions related to the coronavirus pandemic. Nationwide, new coronavirus cases are on the rise as new variants of the virus spread. And about four-fifths of Texans are not yet fully vaccinated. But at least for now, the most dire predictions of a new major wave of cases in Texas have not come true, prompting a mix of theories from public health experts. Those experts caution that a major increase in cases could still come and it may still be too early to tell whether Abbotts decisions to lift the statewide mask mandate and allow businesses to fully reopen could prompt a new wave of infections. Still, daily new cases and the positivity rate have leveled off over the past month, while deaths and hospitalization have gone down substantially. Experts point out that vaccination is ramping up, many businesses are still requiring masks and there are unique factors impacting individual metrics like a drop in demand for testing that is driving down raw case numbers. They also emphasize that, especially at this point in the pandemic, a stabilization of such metrics, or even a modest decline, is not exactly cause for celebration. I think we couldve been even lower at this point in time, if not for Abbotts latest decisions, said Dr. Luis Ostrosky, an infectious disease specialist at UTHealths McGovern Medical School in Houston. The fact that were sort of stable is not necessarily good news because were stable at a very high level. Its like everybody saying youre at a stable cruising speed but at 100 miles per hour. Abbotts decision to end most statewide restrictions went into effect 35 days ago, on March 10. The seven-day average for daily new confirmed cases was 3,020 on that day; it was 2,456 on Tuesday. The seven-day average of the states positivity rate the ratio of cases to tests was 6.24% on March 10; it was 5.89% on Monday. (The latest positivity-rate figures are considered preliminary and subject to recalculation as more test results come in from the date in question.) Deaths and hospitalizations, which lag new cases, have seen steeper drops since March 10. The seven-day average of new daily deaths was 187 on March 10; it was 64 on Tuesday. There were 4,556 Texans hospitalized with the virus on March 10; there were 3,002 on Tuesday. The four key metrics are way down from peaks earlier in the year, when the state was seeing daily new caseloads approaching 20,000, a positivity rate that went above 20%, hospitalizations that topped 14,000 and weeks of more than 300 deaths per day. At the same time, vaccinations have climbed steadily as the state has expanded eligibility, opening up to everyone age 16 and older on March 29. The percentage of fully vaccinated Texans more than doubled from March 10 to Monday, when it was 1 in 5 Texans. Overall, its great news, said state Rep. Chris Turner, the House Democratic Caucus chairman who has been critical of Abbotts decisions throughout the pandemic. Im very glad that so far the governors decisions have not resulted in an increase in cases. Clearly the massive investment in vaccines and the improved distribution of vaccines across the country since President Biden came into office is having a tremendously positive impact on protecting people from COVID-19, Turner added. Despite the numbers in Texas, it has been an open question as to how long it takes after the lifting of restrictions to see a spike in the data. The incubation period for the virus the time between when someone is exposed to it and when they start showing symptoms is believed to be two to 14 days, and not everyone immediately stopped wearing masks and visiting fully reopened businesses on March 10. Meanwhile, the rise of more transmissible variants across the country has added another threat. Average daily infections rose by almost 7% nationwide over the past week as officials race to vaccinate people as quickly as possible. Those efforts might be hampered in the short term after Texas paused the use of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine so federal health authorities could review six reports of blood clotting among 6.8 million doses nationwide. The nations top infectious disease expert, Dr. Anthony Fauci, was asked in a TV interview last week about Texas numbers and gave an uncertain response about what was driving them at the moment. Speaking with MSNBC, he said it can be confusing because you may see a lag and a delay because often you have to wait a few weeks before you see the effect of what youre doing right now. Weve been fooled before by situations where people begin to open up, nothing happens and then all of a sudden, several weeks later, things start exploding on you, Fauci said. So weve got to be careful we dont prematurely judge that. Until recently, Abbott has been restrained in openly touting the Texas trend lines, instead focusing much of his celebratory public messaging on vaccination progress. We absolutely are not declaring victory at this time, Abbott told Fox News on Sunday. We remain very vigilant and guarded and proactive in our response, but theres simple math behind the reason why we continue to have success, he added, citing the combination of increasing vaccinations and the acquired immunity among Texans who have already had the virus and recovered from it. However, Abbott went on to make a dubious claim: that the state is very close to herd immunity, or the point at which enough people have been vaccinated or have already become infected and recovered to protect the rest of the population. Abbott said that despite acknowledging in the same response that he does not know what the herd immunity threshold is for the virus, an uncertainty echoed by the public health community. Fauci has said herd immunity against the coronavirus could require as much as 90% of the population to be vaccinated. Ostrosky said classically in epidemiology, we talk about herd immunity in the 60 to 80% range. In any case, experts agree that Texas is not anywhere near herd immunity. As of Monday, just 20.1% of Texans had been fully vaccinated and 9.72% had tested positive for the virus. There could be overlap between the two groups the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends that people who had the disease get a vaccine. In the meantime, though, public health officials are keeping a close eye on the core metrics and whether they creep up as more Texans take advantage of the end of the mask mandate and businesses reopening at full capacity. Ostrosky acknowledged that so far, the numbers are not what we were expecting. The question is how come and the answer in my mind is vaccines, Ostrosky said. I think were making really good headway with the vaccination program. We were sort of aggressive moving through the stages [of eligibility]. I think our saving grace was the vaccines despite the not-so-good choices that some of our fellow Texans are making with regard to practices like masking, Ostrosky added. Jaquelin Dudley, the associate director of the LaMontagne Center for Infectious Disease at the University of Texas at Austin, said the underreporting of previous cases could be masking the extent to which the states population is already immune. Combined with the vaccination effort, were definitely impairing the ability of the virus to spread at this juncture in the pandemic, she said. IN TEXAS: Houston teacher disciplined after using racial slur for class activity She and other experts also cited anecdotal evidence that most businesses, especially in the states major metropolitan centers, are still requiring masks despite the lack of statewide mandate. I think its too early to drop mask mandates, and thats really been left up to the individual businesses, Dudley said. Certainly the places that I know of are still requiring masks, and Im sure thats helping. One of the strongest arguments to keep wearing masks is the rise of variants, Dudley said. There are currently five "variants of concern" in the United States, according to the CDC, which is studying how effectively current vaccines address them. When it comes to steeper drops in deaths, Dudley said she thinks the state has just got a lot better about treating the infection after confronting the pandemic for over a year. Ben King, a clinical assistant professor and epidemiologist at the University of Houston College of Medicine, said the downward trend in both deaths and hospitalizations could reflect Texas prioritization of the highest-risk population the elderly for immunization. Both Texas and Florida made national headlines late last year for bucking CDC guidance and prioritizing older people over essential workers in their vaccine rollouts. And Abbott further prioritized older Texans with his Save Our Seniors initiative, which has deployed National Guard troops to help vaccinate homebound seniors. Over 100 counties have taken part in the the program, which has been underway for six weeks. There are also simple statistical truths behind the latest numbers. Since earlier this year, the number of tests administered has dropped, and with it, the number of cases identified. The falloff in testing is not for a lack of supply, according to experts, but due to an apparent lack of demand as Texans fatigued by the virus see less of a need to get tested in the pandemics final stages. READ ALSO: Texas is among the most stressed out states in America, but are you surprised? While the positivity rate has remained stable, experts said the end of the pandemic is especially not the time to let up on testing. King said Texas plan to provide state-licensed summer camps with COVID-19 rapid antigen tests is exactly the way we need to be thinking. We want to see testing go way up, but we also want to see cases go way down, said King, who agreed with Ostrosky that any flatlining of metrics at this point is "not what we need." We have to be crushing [the curve] at this point, King said. Abbott's latest decisions "could be just stretching out the flatness of the curve, which just makes it harder to get to zero, which is obviously what we all want. Experts also point out that the changing of seasons could be keeping the numbers relatively low. As the weather gets warmer, people are gathering more outside and not inside, where the virus is more likely to spread. The experts, though, are pleading with the public to still take the pandemic seriously, even as the numbers look good and the statewide restrictions fall further in to the rearview. If we dont focus and all were asking for is two more months were really gonna lose all that ground we gained, Ostrosky said. Disclosure: UTHealth and University of Texas at Austin have been financial supporters of The Texas Tribune, a nonprofit, nonpartisan news organization that is funded in part by donations from members, foundations and corporate sponsors. Financial supporters play no role in the Tribune's journalism. Find a complete list of them here. The Texas Tribune is a nonpartisan, nonprofit media organization that informs Texans and engages with them about public policy, politics, government and statewide issues. Tongatapu Island Masa, JA0RQV, will once again be active as A35JP from Tongatapu Island in Tonga (OC-049) between May 30th and June 30th. Schedule might be changed due to Covid-19. He states, "This time, I will be stationed there as a resident supervisor of the international corporation project." Activity will be on 80-6 meters using CW, SSB and FT8. Equipment is an IC-7300 w/100W into a Vertical antenna. QSL via LoTW and ClubLog, or direct w/2 USDs or by the Bureau via his home callsign JA0RQV. He states, "If you need paper QSL, please be patient to receive it because I will be able to issue paper QSL after I return to Japan in November 2021. Please do not send SASE to my home address." He also mentions, "During the period, if possible, I will try to activate some outer islands again such as Niuatoputapu (OC-191), Niuafo'ou (OC-123), Vava'u (OC-064) and Ha'apai (OC-169). Details will be announced once decided." For more details and updates, visit his Blog page at: http://blog.goo.ne.jp/rqv OPDX Spain-based Vicky Foods is aiming to grow its business in France through the construction of its first production facility in the country. The company, which makes pastry and baked goods as well as smoothies, salads, spreadables, soups and baby food, said it will invest EUR45m (US$53.9m) in a new 21,100 square-meter facility that is expected to be operational during the last quarter of 2022. Some 100 jobs will be created from the project. The company, trading as Grupo Dulcesol until 2019, said it hopes to strengthen its presence in the French market, which in 2020 accounted for 36% of its international business volume. The facility will be used for the production of pastry and baked goods. Vicky Foods said it expects to manufacture more than 14,000 tons of produce there and generate site-linked sales of EUR25m in its first year of operation. Alchemer is a professional survey software tool with extensive question types and countless other features. Please take my survey now Located in Fragnes-La Loyere in the Burgundy-Franche-Comte region, Vicky suggests the new facility will allow it to supply to the French market as well as other neighbouring countries such as Germany, Switzerland and northern Italy. It will be Vicky Foods' second international production facility - it also has a factory in Algeria, launched in 2014. It has three plants in its domestic market. The family-owned business, which employs more than 2,400 people, owns brands such as Dulcesol, Horno Hermanos Juan and Be Plus. In 2020, its turnover amounted to EUR376m. Some EUR78m of that came from exports, with France, Portugal, Algeria, the UK and Italy being key markets. [April 15, 2021] New Valley Ventures Invests in PropTech Company, Humming Homes Vector Group Ltd. (NYSE: VGR) announced today that New Valley Ventures, its investment vehicle seeking opportunities in next-generation technologies in the property technology (PropTech) space, has made an investment in another PropTech company, Humming Homes, a New York-based tech-enabled home management service. Humming Homes, founded by Adeel Mallick, CEO, Kyle Carnes, Head of Operations and serial technology entrepreneur Kevin Ryan (News - Alert) , Chairman of the Board, is a tech-enabled home management service on a mission to make homeownership easier and more enjoyable. Poised to become one of the world's most trusted home operators, the company is creating a new category of end-to-end home management. It has built a tech-enabled solution for single family homeowners with a digital-first experience, offering a dedicated in-person home management team with a single point of contact, 24/7 support, and employs data and insights to avoid reactive and expensive home maintenance issues. "New Valley Ventures is dedicated to investing in new tech-enabled services that will benefit real estate agents and their clients and customers," said Dan Sachar, Managing Director of New Valley Ventures and Vice President of Enterprise Innovation for Vector Group. "We are in the midst of a rapid demographic shift in home buying as well as unprecedented demand in second home purchases across vacation markets and primary homes in dense suburban neighborhoods. As more home buyers, especially millennials, reach their peak home buying years and are increasingly interested in purchasing single-family homes, the home management market will need to rapidly evolve. Not only does Humming Homes meet the needs of this demographic with a service centered on a best in class mobile consumer experience, but it provides our agents another tool in their toolkit to share with their clients that ultimately eases the burden of managing a home." For many would-be homeowners, the idea of owning a home can be overwhelming. While a valuable investment, homeownership comes with great responsibility, including annual home maintenance and improvement costs that are often unaccounted for. Unfortunately, there are limited resources today to help first-time homeowners through the transition of renting to singe-family home ownership. "We are incredibly excited to partner with New Valley Ventures and the Douglas Elliman team. Their belief in our product and service validates our mission to transform the lives of new homeowners and power agents with a key offering in a competitive selling processes," said Adeel Mallick, Co-Founder and CEO of Humming Homes. "We're excited to begin this partnership and get to work." "We are thrilled about New Valley Ventures' latest investment in Humming Homes as it provides another essential partnership that leverages technology for the Douglas Elliman agent toolbox," said Scott Durkin, President and COO of Douglas Elliman. "While Humming Homes has made a successful debut in their first New York market -- the Hamptons -- we plan to roll it out to several of our other home markets, so whether someone is buying a house in Greenwich, Miami, Palm Beach, LA or Aspen, Humming Homes will set them up and take care of everything from helping you move in, getting your HVAC system fixed or installing a new roof." Humming Homes will be working with Douglas Elliman to launch in additional adjacent New York cities including Greenwich, CT, Westchester and parts of Long Island in the coming months as well as the South Florida Region which includes Miami, Palm Beach, Fort Lauderdale, later in 2021. About Vector Group Vector Group is a holding company for Liggett Group LLC, Vector Tobacco Inc., New Valley LLC and Douglas Elliman Realty, LLC. Additional information concerning the company is available on the Company's website, www.vectorgroupltd.com. About Douglas Elliman Real Estate Established in 1911, Douglas Elliman Real Estate is the largest brokerage in the New York Metropolitan area and the sixth-largest in the U.S. With more than 7,000 agents, the Company operates approximately 105 offices in New York City, Long Island, The Hamptons, Westchester, Connecticut, New Jersey, Florida, California, Colorado, Massachusetts and Texas. Moreover, Douglas Elliman has a strategic global alliance with London-based Knight Frank Residential for business in the worldwide luxury markets spanning 61 countries and six continents. The company also controls a portfolio of real estate services, including Douglas Elliman Development Marketing, Douglas Elliman Property Management and Douglas Elliman Commercial. For more information on Douglas Elliman, as well as expert commentary on emerging trends in the real estate industry, please visit www.elliman.com. About Humming Homes Humming Homes is reimagining home management for the modern homeowner. Poised to become one of the world's most trusted home professionals, the company is creating a new category of end-to-end home solutions. Humming Homes has built a tech-enabled offering for single family homeowners that pairs a dedicated in-person home management team with a seamless digital-first experience. Humming Homes acts as a single point of contact, offering 24/7 support, and employing data and insights to avoid reactive & expensive home maintenance issues. For more information on Humming Homes, please visit www.humminghomes.com View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210415005941/en/ [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] A machete-waving man who yelled 'I'm not going back to jail' at police has taken a woman hostage in a Sydney home. Police surrounded the home on Denison Street in Carramar, in the city's west, at about 1pm following reports of a disturbance. Witnesses said they saw the armed 35-year-old in a confrontation with police on the front veranda, before he retreated inside. The pair were still hauled up inside the home five hours after officers arrived. Police surrounded the home on Denniston Street in Carramar, in the city's west, at about 1pm (pictured) Pictured: Police at the scene of a home in Sydney's west where a man is holding a woman hostage Neighbours said the man was recently released from prison and wears an ankle bracelet as part of his parole, according to 9 News. They also said the man could be heard yelling: 'I am not coming out, I am not going back to jail.' It is understood that the woman was not injured, but paramedics were on the scene. Police put the street in lockdown and have urged residents to stay away. Some officers appeared to be carrying what appeared to be circular saws. Britains exit from the European Union has hit Spanish imports from Britain in the first two months of the year as new EU trade rules disrupt trade flows across the Channel. Spains imports from the UK decreased 49% in the first two months of the year compared with the same period a year ago. By contrast, intra-EU trade data showed Spanish imports fell only 7%, the Spanish industry ministry said on Thursday. During the same period, Spanish exports to Britain decreased 15%, much more than the 5.1% drop of Spains sales to other EU partners. The ministry hasnt provided trade balance data with individual countries. Britain ended its transition out of the European Union on the Jan. 1 following a referendum in 2016, effectively erecting barriers to the trade of all sorts of goods and services. Overall, data from the Spanish industry ministry showed the countrys trade deficit narrowed 49% in the first two months of the year compared with a year earlier to 2.85 billion euros ($3.41 billion). Total imports fell 11% to 46.89 billion euros, while exports decreased 6.6% to 44.04 billion euros as a result of coronavirus business restrictions. The ministry did not provide a breakdown of the type of goods by country, but pointed that the sectors with the greatest weight in exports were capital goods and also food, beverages and tobacco each accounting for about 20% of the total. Managers at the Lehigh Valleys main post office facility failed to process mail following procedures and received mail from other facilities late, according to an investigation of delayed mail by the U.S. Postal Services independent watchdog. The audit, triggered by data indicating more than 32% of the mail handled at the Lehigh Valley Processing and Distribution Center was delayed, failed to conclusively identify all of the causes for late delivery but resulted in recommendations for improvement at the Bethlehem Twp. facility. Lehigh Valley residents complained of late packages and missed deliveries last summer as millions of Pennsylvania residents turned to the Postal Service to vote in the presidential election during the COVID-19 pandemic. The delays, including dozens of large containers of parcels bound for the Lehigh Valley stored at a facility in Scranton, caught the attention of federal lawmakers. U.S. Rep. Susan Wild, D-7, and U.S. Sen. Bob Casey joined lawmakers across the country in August calling for Postmaster General Louis DeJoy to suspend operational changes that some blamed for the delays ahead of the election. Wild said Wednesday that improving delivery times must be a priority for the Lehigh Valley facility because delays preventing the timely delivery of prescriptions, bill payments, tax refunds and stimulus checks are unacceptable. She said she would continue to work for accountability and answers on why delays persist. Casey pinned blame for the delays on the Trump administration and DeJoy, who was nominated and confirmed for the postmaster job last year. He called for the inspector generals office to continue investigating and get to the root of the problems. Congress needs to take up and pass an overhaul of our postal system. We cannot tolerate delays and dysfunction. What this report and others like it make obvious is that Postmaster DeJoy must go, Casey said. Andy Kubat, president of the American Postal Workers Union local that represents about 600 post office employees in the Lehigh Valley, said he was disappointed the report was not more specific about causes for delays but pleased it did not attribute blame to rank and file workers. He noted the report on the Lehigh Valley facility came a few days after the inspector generals office released another report showing positive perceptions of the Postal Service increased among customers during the pandemic. Kubat said a change in management at the Lehigh Valley plant already resulted in changes that allowed workers to dig out from a backlog that accumulated over the holiday season. He said the Postal Service is also installing a package sorting machine at the Allentown post offices airport branch that should help priority mail packages move more quickly to destinations in the Lehigh Valley. The Postal Service is collaborating with its unions to form a task force to root out the causes of delays and implement solutions that will be shared throughout the system. The Lehigh Valley facility is one of the plants that has been selected for the task force. The U.S. Postal Service Office of Inspector General selected the Lehigh Valley facility for an audit because data from the Postal Services mail barcode scanning system reported about 605 million pieces of delayed mail at the facility from January 2019 to August. The audit said the inspector generals office was unable to determine all of the causes of delays because detailed information from the scanning system is only available to download for one day. It also determined the data available was inaccurate because the facility was not processing mail according to the postal services designed workflow and critical scans were missed, causing the tracking system to improperly report delayed mail. This also resulted in mail being sent to local post offices for delivery without complete processing. Kubat said incomplete sorting was a possible cause of mail deliveries that came as late as 8 p.m. in some parts of the Lehigh Valley over the summer because letter carriers would be required to sort mail for their route by hand. The inspector generals office recommended training managers and processing mail according to the post offices guidance so that it is accurately recorded by the tracking system.The audit also found that the Lehigh Valley facility received mail from other facilities after noon, which is the latest that mail can be received to be processed and dispatched on time to meet the post offices standards. Out of 30 late arrivals, auditors selected six trips and determined they arrived 5 to 10 hours late. Managers at the Lehigh Valley facility were aware of the late deliveries and communicated with the facilities where they originated but were unable to determine a cause. It was unclear whether the mail delivered late to the Lehigh Valley facility was included in the data on delayed deliveries, but it was at risk of not being delivered on time. This can adversely affect Postal Service customers, harm the brand, send mailers to competitors or cause the Postal Service to lose revenue, the audit says. The inspector generals office also found the Lehigh Valley plant was using an outdated operating plan, but auditors did not see that it contributed to delayed mail. The audit recommended training all mail processing managers to follow workflow guidelines so mail is accurately recorded by the tracking system. It also recommended that the directors and managers identify and address the causes of mail arriving late at the Lehigh Valley facility. Finally, the audit recommended updating the Lehigh Valley facilitys operating plan and distributing it to staff at the facility. The audit also addressed a large number of priority mail packages that could not be sorted by machine that inspectors saw on an inbound loading dock when they visited the facility in October. Managers said they were sending the packages to the Scranton Processing and Distribution Center for sorting because of a staff shortage at the Lehigh Valley facility. On Oct. 6, Caseys office issued a news release about the backlog of Lehigh Valley-bound parcels in Scranton, some dating to Sept. 17. As a result of the release, Lehigh Valley facility managers decided to stop sending the packages to Scranton, and instead scheduled additional employees and allowed overtime to process them there, the audit says. The inspector generals office said it considered managers responses to the recommendations to be appropriate but added that it will continue tracking its recommendations until it receives confirmation they have been completed. The United Nations Security Council is set to meet Thursday to discuss the crisis in Ethiopias northern Tigray region following a US request, diplomatic sources said Wednesday. The 15 Security Council members will hear from UN humanitarian chief Mark Lowcock, who will talk about the continued difficulties in getting aid to refugees, according to the UN. In early March Lowcock called for Eritrea to withdraw its troops from Tigray, in the first recognition by a UN official of Eritreas involvement in the fighting there. UN officials in Geneva have accused the Eritrean army of committing war crimes and crimes against humanity in Tigray. Asmara rejects the accusations. Thursdays meeting will be a closed-door session similar to the March 4 meeting on Tigray. At that time China and Russia opposed adopting a unanimous statement calling for an end to violence in the region as both countries consider the matter an internal Ethiopian affair. Ethiopia is a longstanding US ally, but Washington has been increasingly alarmed since Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed launched a military offensive in Tigray in November. US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has spoken of ethnic cleansing in Tigray, where Eritrean troops also intervened to fight the local ruling party. Lexington, KY, April 15, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- NX Development Corp. (NXDC), a life-sciences company wholly owned by photonamic GmbH & Co. KG., today announced that Tracy Jerome T.J. Stalvey has been named Vice President of Clinical Operations. Mr. Stalvey brings over 20 years of clinical operations and medical affairs experience to NXDC. Prior to joining NXDC, he consulted with pharmaceutical, biotechnology, and device companies and had multiple successful regulatory filing experiences, including NDA and 505(b)(2) development. His experience spans the start-up, small and large pharma environments, working on location in Africa, Asia, Australia, Europe, North and South America. In his new role, Mr. Stalvey will have direct responsibility and oversight for Phase I-III clinical trial planning and initiating new development programs. Mr. Stalvey will oversee Medical Affairs at NXDC, including field education and medical information for of NXDCs flagship product, Gleolan (aminolevulinic acid HCl). Gleolan is currently indicated in the United States for patients with glioma [suspected World Health Organization (WHO) Grades III or IV on preoperative imaging] as an adjunct for the visualization of malignant tissue during surgery. With his wealth of experience in start-up, small and large pharma environments, T.J. will be an integral asset in building the supplemental indications of Gleolan at NXDC, said Alan M. Ezrin, Ph.D., co-founder and CEO of NXDC. We welcome him to the team at a very exciting period of growth as we continue to invest in our future by bringing top talent into the organization. For more information on NX Development Corp., please visit www.nxdevcorp.com. For more information on Gleolan, please visit www.gleolan.com or email customersupport@nxdevcorp.com. Please refer to Full Prescribing Information here. ### About NX Development Corp. (NXDC) NXDC is a privately held life science company dedicated to the commercialization of Gleolan in the U.S. The company was acquired in 2018 by photonamic (PHN) GmbH & Co. KG. (Pinneberg, Germany). PHN is wholly owned by SBI ALApharma (Hong Kong) a subsidiary of SBI Holdings, Inc. (Tokyo , Japan) About Gleolan US INDICATION AND IMPORTANT SAFETY INFORMATION Gleolan is an FDA-approved optical imaging agent indicated in patients with glioma [suspected World Health Organization (WHO) Grades III or IV on preoperative imaging] as an adjunct for the visualization of malignant tissue during surgery. Gleolan helps neurosurgeons see malignant tissue in real time during surgery and is provided orally 20mg/kg, 2-4 hours prior to glioma surgery. During operation, the surgeon utilizes a modified surgical microscope with a specific blue light filter for the visualization of red-violet fluorescence. Important Safety Information Contraindications: Do not use Gleolan in patients with: Hypersensitivity to the active substance Acute or chronic types of porphyria Warnings and Precautions: Due to the risk of phototoxic reactions, do not administer phototoxic drugs for 24 hours during the perioperative period. Reduce exposure to sunlight or room lights for 48 hours after administration of Gleolan. Errors may occur with the use of Gleolan for intraoperative visualization of malignant glioma, including false negatives and false positives. Non-fluorescing tissue in the surgical field does not rule out the presence of tumor in patients with glioma. Fluorescence may be seen in areas of inflammation or metastases from other tumor types. Hypersensitivity reactions, including serious hypersensitivity reactions have occurred; these reactions include anaphylactic shock, swelling, and urticaria. Always have cardiopulmonary resuscitation personnel and equipment readily available and monitor all patients for hypersensitivity reactions. Adverse Reactions: Adverse reactions occurring in >1% of patients in the week following surgery were pyrexia, hypotension, nausea, and vomiting. Nervous system disorders occurred in 29% of patients within the first week after surgery and events occurring in >1% of patients included: aphasia (8%), hemiparesis (7.8%), hemianopsia (3.2%), headache (2.7%), seizure (1.9%), hemiplegia (1.9%), monoparesis (1.3%) and hypoesthesia (1.1%). Brain edema occurred in <1% of patients in the first 6 weeks after surgery. In a randomized clinical trial, the numbers of serious neurologic adverse events in the post operative period were higher in patients randomized to the ALA fluorescence arm compared to the control arm. An imbalance was notable for the adverse events aphasia, ataxia, convulsion and hemianopsia and is likely related to the higher amount of brain resection performed in the ALA arm. At longer follow up periods, the numbers between the two arms appeared similar. Worsening of >= 2 Common Toxicity Criteria grades in alanine aminotransferase and gamma-glutamyl transferase occurred in 15.8% and 11.6% of patients, respectively, within the first week after surgery. Absolute levels ranged from 2 times to greater than 10 times the upper limit of normal for each parameter. At 6 weeks, these measurements remained elevated in 2.9% and 7.5% of patients, respectively. There were no cases of liver failure. Drug-Drug Interactions: See information under Warnings and Precautions regarding phototoxic reactions. Please see Full Prescribing Information Attachment Amole Logo Yemriu Chanyalew, CEO of Moneta Technologies s(Moneta) said, We are delighted to partner with Dashen and Visa CyberSource to launch this product that supports Dashens customers and over 8000 Amole merchants to accept digital payments from anywhere in the world. This partnership and technology pl At todays event, Dashen Bank (Dashen) today announced the immediate availability and launch of Amole eCommerce Gateway using Visa CyberSource infrastructure to acquire Visa, Mastercard and American Express. The Amole eCommerce gateway is the first eCommerce gateway in Ethiopia to accept all three major international cards. Dashen will expand its acquiring relationship with additional digital payment methods in the near future. The Amole eCommerce Gateway has been available to select merchants since March of this year. Yemriu Chanyalew, CEO of Moneta Technologies (Moneta) said, We are delighted to partner with Dashen and Visa CyberSource to launch this product that supports Dashens customers and over 8000 Amole merchants to accept digital payments from anywhere in the world. This partnership and technology play a pivotal role in delivering more value to merchants by linking them to more global eCommerce marketplace opportunities. In the near future, we will be offering the Amole eCommerce Gateway to other Ethiopian Banks that currently have international card acquiring licenses from international card associations. To date, Ethiopian businesses do not have the ability to accept digital payments on their digital channels like websites and mobile apps. As a result, hotels, tour and travel agencies and retail businesses cannot sell their product and services online to international customers. Local hotels chains were at a disadvantage because they cannot accept international cards online to guarantee a reservation which means the customer cannot get a confirmed reservation and peace of mind, when traveling to Ethiopia. Now, as of today, local hotels in Ethiopia can accept online payment and secure reservation to customers, thanks to Amole. With the Visa CyberSource payments infrastructure, businesses will accept online payments seamlessly. Consumers, tourists and visitors coming to Ethiopia will have access to a secured payment service. Moreover, the diaspora community can shop for their families and friends living in Ethiopia. All this will be carried out on a secured and risk-free online environment, said Abebe Girmay, Visas Country Manager for Ethiopia. We are very excited to work with Moneta and Visa CyberSource to bring this product to the Ethiopian market, leveraging our combined assets to broaden our offering to a larger number of Dashen merchants. We believe this product will help the National Bank of Ethiopias goal to increase the formal forex inflows and reduce the forex cash being brought into the country which potentially ends up in the informal market. said Asfaw Alemu, CEO of Dashen. About Moneta Technologies Moneta Technologies S.C. is a Fintech company, fully-owned subsidiary of Fettan Holdings, Limited of Kenya, the company is headquartered in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Moneta Payment solution is a secure and efficient payment platform that links consumers, banks, merchants, mobile content aggregators and service providers into an electronic payment ecosystem. Moneta aims to deliver a collusive financial service to the unbanked and under-banked people of Ethiopia; enabling them access, aggregated financial services from their banks, service providers, agents and merchants at a single point of service. Our mission is to deliver an effective, efficient, reliable, accessible and secure payment system that is relevant to Ethiopias environment and fully supports the customer and the countrys needs. For additional information: You may also contact Mr. Samson Getu- Vice President Sales and Marketing Mobile: +251 929903278 Email: SamsonG@MyAmole.com About Visa Visa (NYSE: V) is the worlds leader in digital payments. Our mission is to connect the world through the most innovative, reliable and secure payment network enabling individuals, businesses and economies to strive. Our advanced global processing network, VisaNet, provides secure and reliable payments around the world, and is capable of handling more than 65,000 transaction messages a second. The companys relentless focus on innovation is a catalyst for the rapid growth of digital commerce on any device for everyone, everywhere. As the world moves from analog to digital, Visa is applying our brand, products, people, network and scale to reshape the future of commerce. For more information, visit http://www.Visa.com About Dashen Bank Dashen Bank S.C. established on September 20, 1995 is the largest private bank and leading digital bank in Ethiopia, pioneered electronic banking in Ethiopia and is the only bank accepting the four payment card schemes (Amex, VISA, MasterCard, and UnionPay). For more information on Dashen, visit their website http://www.DashenbankSC.com. For additional information: You may also contact Mr. Kasaye Eshetu Director for Alternate Channel Department at Dashen Bank Mobile: +251 937776535 Email: Kasaye.e@DashenBankSC.com Elnora E. Lewis receives a Johnson & Johnson vaccine at Shiloh Baptist Church in Washington, D.C.s Shaw neighborhood on April 2. Photo: Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Imag Almost as soon as scientists began working on vaccines against COVID-19, public-health experts began to worry about vaccine hesitancy, the refusal or reluctance of people to get a shot. While the U.S. vaccination program is a roaring success judging by the more than 3 million shots administered each day, hesitancy has been considered a threat to the goal of inoculating enough people to achieve herd immunity and tame the coronavirus once and for all. Those fears about the problem of hesitancy have been heightened following reports of rare but serious blood clots in at least six women who received the Johnson & Johnson shot out of a total of 7 million people. Federal regulators paused the shot out of an abundance of caution on Tuesday and convened an emergency meeting of experts on Wednesday to study the phenomenon. We believe these events to be extremely rare, CDC director Dr. Rochelle Walensky said in a White House press briefing before the meeting. But we are also not yet certain we have heard about all possible cases, as this syndrome may not be easily recognized as one associated with the vaccine. Early data from an Economist/YouGov poll suggests the news of the clots and the decision to pause may have dented public perception on the vaccine. Before the announcement, 52 percent of those surveyed thought the shot was safe; after, that dropped by 15 percentage points to 37 percent. A similar response was seen in Europe after several nations paused the AstraZeneca vaccine over the same fear of clots in the brain of people who got that shot. The two may be linked: AstraZeneca and Johnson & Johnsons shots use the same type of harmless virus, unlike Pfizer and Modernas shots. AstraZenecas vaccine has not yet been approved for use in the U.S. In mid-March, after France paused the AstraZeneca shot, a poll suggested that only 20 percent of those surveyed said they trusted that vaccine, compared to 52 percent who expressed confidence in Pfizers shot. Similar wariness was found across the Continent. Michael Bang Peterson, a political scientist at Aarhus University in Denmark, one of the first countries to suspend the AstraZeneca shot, surveyed a representative sample of people in eight European Union countries and found confidence in any vaccine dropped by about 11 percentage points in Denmark immediately after the shot was suspended in mid-March. (In a world first, Denmark ditched the AstraZeneca shot altogether on Wednesday.) In other countries, such as Sweden and Italy, Petersons study found vaccine confidence also slipped but by about 5 points following reports about the vaccine and clots. Confidence decreased further when those countries themselves suspended the shot, Peterson and researchers found. (Petersons study has not yet been published in a scientific journal or peer-reviewed.) We have only seen very small changes, perhaps a few percentage points as a consequence of the Astra-Zeneca turmoil, Peterson told Intelligencer. It seems the pause introduces uncertainty but doesnt necessarily lead people to have a strong rejection of the vaccination program overall. Peterson said he is currently doing research on how best to communicate negative information about vaccines, like low efficacy and side effects. What the research is suggesting is that its crucial that health authorities communicate as transparently as possible, even about things that may be a cause of concern and anxiety for the public. One of the things that undergirds vaccine acceptance is public trust in health authorities. While you can induce people to be worried about the shot, you can increase trust in the communicator, he said. You may lose the short-term battle, because you are inducing uncertainty toward the vaccine. But then you are in a position to win the long-term war against the virus. On this side of the Atlantic, polling suggests vaccine hesitancy had declined before the Johnson & Johnson pause, following public-health efforts to reassure people about the vaccines safety. In a March survey by the Kaiser Family Foundation, 55 percent of Black respondents said they wanted the vaccine as soon as possible or were already vaccinated. Twenty-four percent were still holding back to wait and see about the vaccines effects, down from 52 percent in December. Hesitancy to get a vaccine remains high among Republicans and white Evangelical Christians: In an Economist-YouGov poll released last week, 40 percent of Republican voters and 38 percent of former Donald Trump supporters said they would not get a vaccine even when offered one. Stefanie Friedhoff, faculty member at Brown Universitys School of Public Health, cautioned there are limits to polling the phenomenon of vaccine hesitancy. They can be confusing because they dont tell us anything about peoples realities on the ground, and it distracts from some important underlying reasons for why people arent getting it. Friedhoff, who is also a health-care journalist, is skeptical of how useful the concept is for explaining low uptake of vaccines. We sometimes rush into a narrative of immediately interpreting everything through the lens of vaccine hesitancy, she said. Its become a catchall term that describes sort of a whole subset of issues, such as lack of access and misinformation, not individual choices. So far, its unclear when the Johnson & Johnson pause may end. After four hours of questions and presentations on Wednesday, the CDCs Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices said it needs more time to study reports of clots to consider whether to recommend the shots continued use, effectively extending the pause. LUCKNOW: Amid a massive rise in the COVID-19 cases across Uttar Pradesh, negative RT-PCR test report has been made mandatory for people coming to three prominent temples in Varanasi. Varanasi district administration has made it mandatory for devotees to produce negative RT-PCR test report not older than 3 days to enter Vishwanath temple, Sankatmochan temple, & Annapurna temple, Divisional Commissioner Deepak Agrawal said. He added that this rule will be implemented in local hotels in Varanasi too. Varanasi district administration has made it mandatory for devotees to produce negative RT-PCR test report not older than 3 days to enter Vishwanath temple, Sankatmochan temple, & Annapurna temple. We'll implement it for hotels also: Divisional Commissioner Deepak Agrawal (14.04) pic.twitter.com/o8GOdf73pW ANI UP (@ANINewsUP) April 15, 2021 The decision was taken in the backdrop of rising COVID cases in UP. Uttar Pradesh on Wednesday reported 68 coronavirus deaths as it witnessed 20,510 fresh cases, it's highest single-day numbers that pushed the state's infection count to 7,44,021, according to a health bulletin. So far, 9,376 people have died from the infection in the state, Additional Chief Secretary (Health) Amit Mohan Prasad told reporters. "In the past 24 hours, 20,510 fresh cases were reported while 4,517 people were discharged," he said, adding that the state currently has 1,11,835 active cases. A maximum 5,433 cases were reported from Lucknow, followed by 1,702 in Allahabad, 1,585 in Varanasi and 591 in Gorakhpur, the bulletin said. Lucknow also witnessed the maximum of 14 deaths followed by 10 in Allahabad, four in Moradabad, three each in Varanasi, Kannauj and Kanpur, it said. As many as 6,22,810 people have recovered from the infection since last year, Prasad added. On Tuesday, the state had recorded 18,021 cases. Over 83 lakh persons have been administered the COVID-19 vaccine in the state so far. On Tuesday, 2.10 lakh samples were tested, pushing the total number of samples tested so far to over 3.73 crore, Prasad said. Live TV More efforts needed to contain COVID-19 pandemic South Korea is likely to suffer setbacks in its vaccination drive against COVID-19 with concerns growing that the country may not secure a sufficient supply due to reported side effects in vaccines produced by AstraZeneca and Johnson & Johnson. More worrisome is that Korea appears to be facing a new wave of infections this spring. As things currently stand, the Moon Jae-in administration will find it difficult, if not impossible, to complete its planned vaccination program to attain herd immunity by November. Health officials continue to argue that there has been no change in the program, despite emerging concerns of side effects and a feared delay in the production and distribution of vaccines. They need to see the stark reality as it is in order to take timely and appropriate measures. The public's worries are running high after the U.S. health authorities recommended a pause in the use of Johnson & Johnson's coronavirus vaccine, citing the risk of rare blood clots. Six women developed the clots after having the vaccine shot there, and one has died. The U.S. has yet to make a final decision on whether to halt the use of the single-dose vaccine. The pause came after a similar blood clotting side effect occurred in Europe and other parts of the world with the vaccine manufactured by AstraZeneca. A growing number of European and other countries have banned or restricted the use of this vaccine. Here in Korea, the health authorities have prohibited those aged below 30 from getting the vaccine after clots were found in three recipients, with two of them in their 20s. The country had earlier allowed the use of the vaccine for people under 60. It is inevitable to see a delay in inoculation because of the lack of a vaccine supply. South Korea plans to secure vaccines for 79 million people this year, far more than the country's 51 million population. It has already signed contracts with global pharmaceutical firms to purchase vaccines for 9 million people in the first half of the year. Fifty-nine percent of the purchases are supposed to come from AstraZeneca. However, it is uncertain if the company will be able to supply the vaccines to Korea as scheduled due to the side-effect problem. The same might go for the Johnson & Johnson vaccine. The Moon administration has pre-orderred the company's vaccine for 6 million people in the second quarter. But the blood clotting problem could delay the purchase. Some experts are also skeptical about the government's plan to secure vaccines for 20 million people each from Moderna and Novavax. Moderna said that it will supply its vaccines to the U.S. government first 100 million doses in May and another 100 million doses in July. Other countries such as Korea could get the Moderna vaccine three months after this. Novavax has yet to get approval for emergency use from any country. Against this backdrop, Korea should make all-out efforts to avoid any delay in the procurement of vaccines. If it cannot do that, the government must work out bolder measures to prevent the further spread of the coronavirus. Most of all, the authorities must strive to keep a coherent policy and maintain public trust in the fight against COVID-19. (Newser) The Biden administration on Thursday announced the expulsion of 10 Russian diplomats and sanctions against nearly three dozen people and companies as it moved to hold the Kremlin accountable for interference in last year's presidential election and the hacking of federal agencies. The actions, foreshadowed for weeks by the administration, represent the first retaliatory measures announced against the Kremlin for the hack, familiarly known as the SolarWinds breach, per the AP. In that intrusion, Russian hackers are believed to have infected widely used software with malicious code, enabling them to access the networks of at least nine agencies in what US officials believe was an intelligence-gathering operation aimed at mining government secrets. story continues below Besides that hack, US officials last month alleged that Russian President Vladimir Putin authorized influence operations to help Donald Trump in his unsuccessful bid for reelection as president, though there's no evidence Russia manipulated the outcome. The measures announced Thursday include sanctions on six Russian companies that support the country's cyber activities, in addition to sanctions on 32 individuals and entities accused of attempting to interfere in last year's presidential election, including by spreading disinformation. The 10 diplomats being expelled include representatives of Russian intelligence services, the White House said. The White House also said Biden was using diplomatic, military, and intelligence channels to respond to reports that Russia encouraged the Taliban to attack US and allied troops in Afghanistan. (Read more Russia stories.) In honor of President of Armenia Armen Sarkissian and his wife, Mrs. Nouneh Sarkissian, who are on an official visit to Georgia, an official dinner was served on behalf of President of Georgia Salome Zourabichvili this evening at the presidential residence, as reported the Staff of the President of Armenia. Presidents Sarkissian and Zourabichvili made toasts during which they touched upon the centuries-old friendship of the Armenians and Georgians, the Armenian-Georgian interstate relations hinged on respect and mutual trust, as well as the prospects for the strengthening of ties. In his speech, the President of Armenia particularly stated that the centuries-old relations between Armenia and Georgia are conditioned by the commonalities in terms of the creative spirit, religion and culture and the need of both Christian nations to preserve their national identities and resist the regional and global challenges together. He added that when there are talks about the Armenian-Georgian relations, its impossible to overlook the Armenian community of Georgia, which is a component of Georgian society and makes its contributions to Georgias development, while serving as a strong bridge between Armenia and Georgia. Today, maintaining, enhancing and deepening the achievements in our bilateral ties imply consistent work and efforts in all directions, and we, as Presidents of Armenia and Georgia, need to be consistent and make our modest contributions to this, he said. News Vietnam FLC Group plans Bamboo Airways IPO in the US The Fauquier Times is honored to serve as your community companion. To say thank you, we are excited to offer 4 weeks FREE Digital & Print access to all subscribers new and returning alike. We are dedicated to continuing providing reliable, high quality journalism. This is possible with the trust and support of our subscribers in the community we are proud to serve. Thiruvananthapuram, April 15 : With May 2, the day of judgement for the political parties in Kerala fast approaching and a week after the crucial voting for the 140-member Assembly, sparks have started to fly between them on what could be the possible final results. Incidentally, this is perhaps the first Assembly election in which the ruling government came out with a hashtag that they will become the first government to retain office in the state. The campaign was led by none other than Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan himself. Hence, contrary to the public perception about the maze of allegations flying thick and fast against the Vijayan government, the hashtag soon became the most talked about thing as many including the Congress-led Opposition leaders felt that electoral history might be re-written. Though the Left appeared to have the initial edge, as the campaign peaked, the Congress-led UDF also was able to catch up. On the election day, the Sabarimala issue became the most talked about and when the polling ended, but the Left riding on a few pre-poll surveys expressed absolute confidence that they will rewrite electoral history in the state. However, after the initial analysis, the Left which was riding high on presumptions now appears to be jittery, when the first sparks flew from Alappuzha district, which has always been a strong bastion of the CPI-M. State PWD Minister G.Sudhakaran, who failed to get renominated, attacked his own party men and a section of the vernacular media in his hometown. He said that he has always been a loyal party man and has held many posts in his very long political career. Soon a war of words was witnessed in the CPI -- the second biggest ally in the ruling Left, when one of the candidates -- G.R Anil, who replaced sitting party legislator C.Divakaran at the Nedumangad Assembly constituency in the capital district, accused the latter for failing to be in the forefront of the campaign. The war of words took place during a party meeting when both, Anil and Divakaran, came face to face, and it was only after the seniors intervened, things cooled down. In the Congress party, known for mudslinging and washing dirty linen in the public, the first shot has been fired by Kannur Lok Sabha member K. Sudhakaran demanding that there should be an overhaul in the party's organisational structure. Likewise in the faction ridden BJP also, things are getting hotter as the present state leadership led by state president K. Surendran with the blessings of the Union Minister of State for External Affairs V.Muraleedharan can come under duress, if they fail to retain the only seat which they won in the 2016 Assembly polls. Moreover, these two will be put on the hot seat, when the votes at the Kazahkootam Assembly constituency are counted as their arch rival Sobha Surendran's fate will be known on May 2. A media critic on condition of anonymity said from the responses that have come so far it appears the ruling Left has got a feel of what's in store and that's why one heard that people like Sudhakaran and the otherwise reticent CPI are feeling restless. "Definitely the pre poll surveys predicting the Left to retain power did a world of good for them and it also worked wonders for the Congress-led UDF because they were able to put more efforts in their campaign. The situation is fluid as there are a lot of undercurrents, much more than in the past. The clincher would be which front gets more votes from the minority communities. Irrespective of which front wins, one thing is certain, it's going to be a free for all on May 2nd, as the stakes are quite high. Should the Left loose, it could well be never before scenes, one will have to see," said the critic. -- The story has been published from a wire feed without any modifications to the text Source: Xinhua| 2021-04-16 00:13:02|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close YAOUNDE, April 15 (Xinhua) -- Some 2.7 million people in Cameroon face food insecurity due to conflicts and poor production, according to a report published by the country's Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development on Thursday. Out of Cameroon's 58 administrative divisions, 14 are facing food insecurity, 11 are in a minimal situation, and 31 are under pressure, said Maina Ahmadou, coordinator of the national food security monitoring and strengthening program. "This is due to the problem of accessibility and availibity of production. Crises in certain localities in Cameroon have caused the displacement of population which has also aggravated the problem," Ahmadou told journalists in the capital, Yaounde during a ceremony to officially present the report. The government will adopt new policies and programs to alleviate the problem, officials said. Enditem THE HAGUE (dpa-AFX) - Royal Dutch Shell plc's board has requested support for energy sector's first shareholder advisory vote on an energy transition strategy. The AGM is scheduled to be held at Shell headquarters, at Carel van Bylandtlaan 16, 2596 HR, The Hague, The Netherlands on May 18, 2021. The company noted that it will submit its energy transition strategy to shareholders for an advisory vote and will publish an update every three years until 2050. Every year, starting in 2022, the company will also seek an advisory vote on progress towards its plans and targets. The vote is purely advisory and will not be binding on shareholders. 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. US Recommends Pause for J&J Shots in Blow to Vaccine Drive The U.S. on Tuesday recommended a pause in use of the single-dose Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccine to investigate reports of rare but potentially dangerous blood clots, setting off a chain reaction worldwide and dealing a setback to the global vaccination campaign. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Food and Drug Administration announced that they were looking into unusual clots in six women between the ages of 18 and 48. One person died. The acting FDA commissioner expected the pause to last only a matter of days. But the decision triggered swift action in Europe and elsewhere as the drugmaker, regulators and providers moved to halt the use of the J&J vaccine, at least for now. ADVERTISEMENT J&J said in a statement that it was aware of the reports of blood clots, but that no link to its vaccine had been established. However, the company said late Tuesday it would delay the rollout of its vaccine in Europe and pause new vaccinations in its trials that are still underway until it can update its guidance on how to proceed. Hundreds of thousands of doses were due to arrive in European countries, where vaccinations have been plagued by supply shortages, logistical problems and concerns over blood clots in a small number of people who received the AstraZeneca vaccine, which is not yet cleared for use in the U.S Any slowdown in the dissemination of the shots could have broad implications for the global vaccination effort. The J&J vaccine held immense promise because its single-dose regimen and relatively simple storage requirements would make it easier to use, especially in less affluent countries. The clots, which happened six to 13 days after vaccination in veins that drain blood from the brain, occurred together with low platelets, the fragments in blood that normally form clots. More than 6.8 million doses of the J&J vaccine have been given in the U.S., the vast majority with no or mild side effects. We know there are plenty of critics who say, Why? Its just a couple of cases. Why dont we just move along? said Dr. Peter Marks, director of the FDAs vaccine center. He noted past episodes when health problems surfaced in people who got new vaccines, such as the debut of the polio vaccine in 1955 and a vaccination campaign against a new form of flu in 1976. ADVERTISEMENT When medical countermeasures injure people in the United States, we dont have a lot of tolerance for that, and that tends to undermine vaccine confidence, Marks said. So we simply have to do whatever we can to minimize or eliminate issues that might be considered friendly fire. The decision immediately upended some vaccine programs around the U.S.: In Atlanta, a mass vaccination event for public school teachers that was to have used the J&J vaccine was scrapped. St. Louis health officials said they would reach out to 1,800 people who got the shots to warn them of potential health issues. And in Montana, two colleges that had hoped to vaccinate students with J&J doses before they head home for the summer canceled clinics. Authorities stressed they have found no sign of clot problems with the most widely used COVID-19 vaccines in the U.S. from Moderna and Pfizer. Seth Shockley of Indianapolis received the J&J vaccine Sunday and was initially worried when he heard about the potential side effects Tuesday. His concerns faded when he learned there were only six confirmed cases of blood clots. I would much rather take the risk with the vaccine a much smaller risk than to risk it with COVID, he said. Now hes more worried that the reports could result in more people refusing to get vaccinated. The FDA said the cases under investigation appear similar to the clots that are possibly linked to the AstraZeneca vaccine. European regulators have stressed that the AstraZeneca risk appears to be far lower than the possibility of developing clots from birth control pills, which typically cause clots in about 4 of every 10,000 women who use them for a year. Speaking at the White House, Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nations top expert on infectious disease, said the pause would allow the FDA and the CDC to investigate the clotting cases and to make physicians more aware of this. A CDC committee will meet Wednesday to discuss the cases, and the FDA has launched an investigation into the cause of the clots and low platelet counts. FDA officials emphasized that Tuesdays action was not a mandate. Doctors and patients could still use J&Js vaccine if they decide its benefits outweigh its risks for individual cases, Marks said. The agencies recommend that people who were given the J&J vaccine should contact their doctor if they experience severe headache, abdominal or leg pain or shortness of breath within three weeks. U.S. health authorities cautioned doctors against using a typical clot treatment, the blood-thinner heparin. European authorities investigating the AstraZeneca cases have concluded that the clots appear to be similar to a very rare abnormal immune response that sometimes strikes people treated with heparin, leading to a temporary clotting disorder. While its not clear yet if the reports among J&J recipients are related, doctors would treat these kinds of unusual clots like they treat people who have the heparin reaction with different kinds of blood thinners and sometimes an antibody infusion, said Dr. Geoffrey Barnes, a clot expert at the University of Michigan. Even without J&Js vaccine, White House officials said they remain on track to have enough supplies to vaccinate most American adults by the summer. We believe theres enough vaccine in the system Moderna and Pfizer for all Americans who want to get vaccinated by May 31 to do so, said Jeff Zients, the White Houses COVID-19 response coordinator. A 69-year-old York man has been sentenced to state prison for his role in selling heroin to a woman who overdosed and died from the drug in 2018. Peter Kenneth Lucas pleaded guilty in York County on Tuesday the first-degree felony of drug delivery resulting in death, court records state. As part of a negotiated plea agreement, he was sentenced to five to 15 years in prison and given credit for the 740 days he spent locked up awaiting the resolution of his criminal case, records state. Presiding Common Pleas Judge Harry M. Ness ordered Lucas to undergo a drug and alcohol evaluation and to comply with recommended counseling. Lucas actions contributed to the overdose death of Carmen Vega, 38, of the York area, Northern York County Regional Police have said. He feels terrible about it, his defense attorney, Heather Reiner, told The York Dispatch. Lucas was given a plea agreement in exchange for him testifying against codefendant Bilal Justice, according to Reiner. No prior record: Prior to this, (Lucas) had no criminal record his whole life. He always had a job. He always had a supportive family, she said. Hes lost everything. Justice, 41, of York City, was sentenced in June to 21 to 42 years in state prison for his role in Vegas death. A jury found Justice guilty on March 6, 2019, of criminal conspiracy to commit drug delivery resulting in death, plus five counts of drug possession with intent to deliver, one count of conspiracy to commit drug possession with intent to deliver and being a felon in illegal firearm possession, according to court records. All the charges are felonies. Harlem Nights: Justice possessed and sold hundreds of bags of heroin marked Harlem Nights that was coming from Philadelphia and sold some to Lucas, who then sold some of the bags to Vega, according to documents. Vega, 38, of the York area, fatally overdosed, Northern York County Regional Police said. Officers found her dead in a room at the Super 8 motel along Arsenal Road ( Route 30) in Manchester Township on Dec. 29, 2018, according to court documents. Toxicology tests determined she died of mixed drug toxicity and that there was the powerful synthetic opioid fentanyl and other drugs in the heroin she used, documents state. Near her body were three empty bags of Harlem Nights, according to documents. Reach senior crime reporter Liz Evans Scolforo at levans@yorkdispatch.com or on Twitter at @LizScolforoYD. Liz Evans Scolforo of The York Dispatch, Pa., wrote this story. (c)2021 The York Dispatch (York, Pa.) Visit The York Dispatch (York, Pa.) at www.yorkdispatch.com Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC. People wearing protective face masks rush to buy groceries at a fresh market amid rumors of a citywide lockdown during the latest Covid-19 outbreak at a temple in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, April 14, 2021. Photo by Reuters/Cindy Liu. Cambodia brought in a coronavirus lockdown in Phnom Penh on Thursday in a bid to contain a spike in cases while Thailand continued to record over 1,000 new cases daily. Under the Cambodia lockdown, which is also imposed on a satellite district of the capital, most people are banned from leaving home except for going to work, to buy food, or for medical treatment. Police manning checkpoints on Thursday in Phnom Penh asked motorists to show work documents and identity cards in order to pass, television footage on local media showed. In a voice message posted on his official Facebook page, Hun Sen warned Cambodia was on the brink of "death valley" and urged people to work together to avoid calamity. "The purpose of the lockdown is to combat the spread of Covid-19 and this closure is not a way to make people die or suffer," he said. The Southeast Asian country still has one of the world's smallest coronavirus caseloads, but an outbreak that started in late February saw cases spike almost ten-fold to 4,874 within two months and the first deaths recorded with 36 fatalities. Hours before the lockdown, Hun Sen's message was leaked on social media, prompted panic buying of food and other goods in shops by residents in Phnom Penh and the nearby Takhmau area, where a lockdown has also been imposed. Tran Dac Phu, senior advisor of the Vietnamese Health Ministry's public health emergency operations center, has warned on Tuesday that the infection risk across the Cambodia-Vietnam border is high. "The border between Vietnam and Cambodia is really long, not to mention the sea and air routes. It should be noted that controlling travel by sea is truly difficult." Many Vietnamese people stay and do business in Cambodia and the number of people traveling back and forth, both legally and illegally, is high, he said. There have also been concerns among the public in Vietnam about the situation in Thailand, another Southeast Asian neighbor. Thailand reported 1,543 new coronavirus cases on Thursday, the sharpest increase since the start of the pandemic and the fourth record rise this week, amid a third wave of infections in the country. It reported 1,335 new Covid-19 cases on Wednesday. The spike in cases comes as Thais celebrate the Songkran new year holidays and authorities have urged people to avoid unnecessary travel and reduce gatherings to help limit the outbreak, which includes the highly transmissible B.1.1.7 variant first identified in Britain. Citing concerns for the safety of its members and their students, CTU pushed for months to bargain over the terms of reopening and for more protections against the transmission of COVID-19 in school buildings. Union efforts have also resulted in multiple delays in the resumption of in-person classes in Chicagos public elementary schools and brought CTU to the brink of what would have been its second strike in less than a year and a half. MetTel to modernize National Archives networks The National Archives and Records Administration has tapped MetTel to build a new software-define wide area network for the agency under a $65 million EIS task order. NARA sought greater network flexibility and more security with embedded encryption, the company said. The SD-WAN also adds firewall protection. NARA operates 44 locations nationwide including federal records centers, regional archives, presidential libraries and museums and the Federal Register. The current network infrastructure is based on a legacy hub-and-spoke architecture, which MetTel will replace with the SD-WAN infrastructure, said Robert Dapkiewicz, MetTels general manager and senior vice president for federal programs. NARA requires a modern network to enable staff to communicate from any location, including office, home and while traveling, which the MetTel SD-WAN enabled network provides, he said. MetTel will provide manage network services, toll free service and web conferencing to NARA. The NARA win is the latest in a string of awards in the last 18 months with over a dozen agencies. MetTel says those contracts have a total value of $2 billion when options are included. Agencies include Social Security Administration, Homeland Security Department, State Department, Veterans Administration and the General Services Administration. The NARA award is a task order under GSA's $50 billion Enterprise Infrastructure Services contract. ATLANTA, April 15, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Chicken Salad Chick, the nation's only Southern inspired, fast casual chicken salad restaurant concept, announced today it will be expanding in Alabama with its newest restaurant in Saraland. Located at 860 Industrial Parkway, the Saraland restaurant marks the brands 28th location in the state and sixth in the Mobile Bay area. The Saraland location, which features a drive-thru, will celebrate its grand opening on April 28 by offering free chicken salad for a year to first 100 guests. Those awarded will be properly distanced and will receive a designated return time upon arrival to spread out the number of guests at the restaurant throughout the day. Chicken Salad Chick is closely following Alabama's state and local guidelines for COVID-19 procedures and will open the Saraland restaurant with social distancing measures in place. All employees will be wearing masks, as well as practicing proper handwashing and food safety protocol. During grand opening week, guests will experience the Southern hospitality that Chicken Salad Chick is known for, with giveaways and specials that include: Wednesday, April 28 Free Chicken Salad for a Year The first 100 guests will receive one large Quick Chick of chicken salad per month for an entire year, with one of those lucky guests randomly selected to win one large Quick Chick of chicken salad per week.* Guests can arrive starting at 7am for grand opening day only. Free Chicken Salad for a Year The first 100 guests will receive one large Quick Chick of chicken salad per month for an entire year, with one of those lucky guests randomly selected to win one large Quick Chick of chicken salad per week.* Guests can arrive starting at for grand opening day only. Thursday, April 29 The first 100 guests to purchase a Chick Special will receive a free scoop redeemable on their next visit. The first 100 guests to purchase a Chick Special will receive a free scoop redeemable on their next visit. Friday, April 30 The first 50 guests to purchase a Chick Trio will receive a free Chick tumbler. The first 50 guests to purchase a Chick Trio will receive a free Chick tumbler. Saturday, May 1 The first 50 guests to purchase a Chick Trio will receive a free Chick tote. Behind the Mobile Bay area expansion is multi-unit franchise owner Misty Whitehead and her husband, and co-owner, Peter, of Big Bayou, LLC. Whitehead opened her first Chicken Salad Chick location in Mobile Hillcrest in 2013, shortly followed by a string of Mobile Bay area developments across the University of South Alabama, Daphne, and a branded location downtown in Government Plaza. Last August, Whitehead continued her expansion in Gulf Shores, which marked her first Chicken Salad Chick restaurant owned with Peter. In their latest Saraland venture, the couple has added a new partner, Ali Hughes. Under Misty's leadership, Hughes, who originally began as a team member at Whitehead's Hillcrest location on her last day of high school and later became the area manager of Whitehead's Mobile and Baldwin County restaurants, is embarking on her first experience as a franchise partner. "Over the past eight years, I've developed a deep appreciation for the Mobile Bay area and have loved serving our neighbors," said Misty Whitehead. "It is humbling to think we are now ready to debut our sixth restaurant in just a few short years and couldn't think of a better spot to do so than in Saraland alongside Ali, who has grown up within our team and is now a partner. This community has been eagerly awaiting their very own Chick and we're thrilled to share our fresh and flavorful menu items and hospitable atmosphere with them." Chicken Salad Chick in Saraland will be open Monday Saturday from 10:00 a.m. 7 p.m. For more information, visit www.chickensaladchick.com. Follow Chicken Salad Chick on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram for the latest news and trends. *Guests should arrive between 7-10am to get checked in, while maintaining social distancing. The first 100 guests will be assigned a number and designated return time between 9:45-11:15am. Upon return, guests will make a purchase of a "Chick Special" or anything of greater value and enter a code on the CravingCredits app to officially secure your spot. If you are late, or miss return time, your spot will be awarded to next in-line. Guests must be 16 years or older, redemption begins 5/3/21. For more information on giveaways and specials, visit https://www.facebook.com/ChickenSaladChickSaraland/ About Chicken Salad Chick Chicken Salad Chick serves full-flavored, Southern-style chicken salad made from scratch and served from the heart. With more than a dozen original chicken salad flavors as well as fresh side salads, gourmet soups, signature sandwiches and delicious desserts, Chicken Salad Chick's robust menu is a perfect fit for any guest. Founded in Auburn, Alabama by Stacy and Kevin Brown, in 2008, Chicken Salad Chick has grown to more than 185 restaurants in 17 states. Today, under the leadership of Scott Deviney and the Chicken Salad Chick team, the brand is continuing its rapid expansion with both franchise and company locations. Chicken Salad Chick has received numerous accolades including rankings in Franchise Times' Fast & Serious for the second consecutive year, Fast Casual.com's top Movers and Shakers from 2018 to 2020, QSR's Best Franchise Deals in 2019 and 2020, and Franchise Business Review's Top Food Franchises in 2020. See www.chickensaladchick.com for additional information. Contact: Shana Rosenthal Fish Consulting 954-893-9150 [email protected] SOURCE Chicken Salad Chick Related Links http://www.chickensaladchick.com In April 2019, scientists released the first image of a black hole in the galaxy M87 using the Event Horizon Telescope (EHT). However, that remarkable achievement was just the beginning of the science story to be told. Data from 19 observatories are being released that promise to give unparalleled insight into this black hole and the system it powers, and to improve tests of Einstein's General Theory of Relativity. "We knew that the first direct image of a black hole would be groundbreaking," said Kazuhiro Hada of the National Astronomical Observatory of Japan, a co-author of a new study being published in The Astrophysical Journal Letters to describe the large set of data. "But to get the most out of this remarkable image, we need to know everything we can about the black hole's behavior at that time by observing over the entire electromagnetic spectrum." The immense gravitational pull of a supermassive black hole can power jets of particles that travel at almost the speed of light across vast distances. M87's jets produce light spanning the entire electromagnetic spectrum, from radio waves to visible light to gamma rays. The intensity of light across this spectrum gives a different pattern for each black hole. Identifying this pattern gives crucial insight into a black hole's properties (for example, its spin and energy output), but this is a challenge because the pattern changes with time. Scientists compensated for this variability by coordinating observations with many of the world's most powerful telescopes on the ground and in space, collecting light from across the spectrum. This is the largest simultaneous observing campaign ever undertaken on a supermassive black hole with jets. The NASA telescopes involved in this observing campaign included the Chandra X-ray Observatory, Hubble Space Telescope, Neil Gehrels Swift Observatory, the Nuclear Spectroscopic Telescope Array (NuSTAR), and the Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope. Beginning with the EHT's now iconic image of M87, a new video takes viewers on a journey through the data from each telescope. The video shows data across many factors of ten in scale, both of wavelengths of light and physical size. The sequence begins with the EHT image of the black hole in M87 released in April 2019 (the data was obtained in April 2017). It then moves through images from other radio telescope arrays from around the globe, moving outward in the field of view during each step. (The scale for the width of squares is given in light years in the bottom right hand corner). Next, the view changes to telescopes that detect visible light (Hubble and Swift), ultraviolet light (Swift), and X-rays (Chandra and NuSTAR). The screen splits to show how these images, which cover the same amount of the sky at the same time, compare to one another. The sequence finishes by showing what gamma ray telescopes on the ground, and Fermi in space, detect from this black hole and its jet. Each telescope delivers different information about the behavior and impact of the 6.5-billion-solar-mass black hole at the center of M87, which is located about 55 million light-years from Earth. "There are multiple groups revving up to see if their models are a match for these rich observations, and we're excited to see the whole community use this public data set to help us better understand the deep links between black holes and their jets," said co-author Daryl Haggard of McGill University in Montreal, Canada. The data were collected by a team of 760 scientists and engineers from nearly 200 institutions, 32 countries or regions, using observatories funded by agencies and institutions around the globe. The observations were concentrated from the end of March to the middle of April 2017. "This incredible set of observations includes many of the world's best telescopes," said co-author Juan Carlos Algaba of the University of Malaya in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. "This is a wonderful example of astronomers around the world working together in the pursuit of science." The first results show that the intensity of electromagnetic radiation produced by material around M87's supermassive black hole was the lowest that had ever been seen. This produced ideal conditions for studying the black hole, from regions close to the event horizon out to tens of thousands of light-years. The combination of data from these telescopes, and current (and future) EHT observations, will allow scientists to conduct important lines of investigation into some of astrophysics' most significant and challenging fields of study. For example, scientists plan to use these data to improve tests of Einstein's Theory of General Relativity. Currently, the main hurdles for these tests are uncertainties about the material rotating around the black hole and being blasted away in jets, in particular the properties that determine the emitted light. A related question that is addressed by today's study concerns the origin of energetic particles called "cosmic rays," which continually bombard the Earth from outer space. Their energies can be a million times higher than what can be produced in the most powerful accelerator on Earth, the Large Hadron Collider. The huge jets launched from black holes, like the ones shown in today's images, are thought to be the most likely source of the highest energy cosmic rays, but there are many questions about the details, including the precise locations where the particles get accelerated. Because cosmic rays produce light via their collisions, the highest-energy gamma rays can pinpoint this location, and the new study indicates that these gamma-rays are likely not produced near the event horizon--at least not in 2017. A key to settling this debate will be comparison to the observations from 2018, and the new data being collected this week. "Understanding the particle acceleration is really central to our understanding of both the EHT image as well as the jets, in all their 'colors'," said co-author Sera Markoff, from the University of Amsterdam. "These jets manage to transport energy released by the black hole out to scales larger than the host galaxy, like a huge power cord. Our results will help us calculate the amount of power carried, and the effect the black hole's jets have on its environment." The release of this new treasure trove of data coincides with the EHT's 2021 observing run, which leverages a worldwide array of radio dishes, the first since 2018. Last year's campaign was canceled because of the COVID-19 pandemic, and the previous year was suspended because of unforeseen technical problems. This very week, EHT astronomers are targeting the supermassive black hole in M87 again, the one in our Galaxy (called Sagittarius A*), together with several more distant black holes for six nights. Compared to 2017 the array has been improved by adding three more radio telescopes: the Greenland Telescope, the Kitt Peak 12-meter Telescope in Arizona, and the NOrthern Extended Millimeter Array (NOEMA) in France. "With the release of these data, combined with the resumption of observing and an improved EHT, we know many exciting new results are on the horizon," said co-author Mislav Balokovic of Yale University. The Astrophysical Journal Letter describing these results is at Broadband Multi-wavelength Properties of M87 during the 2017 Event Horizon Telescope Campaign Other materials about the findings are available at: http://chandra.si.edu Please follow SpaceRef on Twitter and Like us on Facebook. Texas Ranchers Dealing With Armed Smugglers on Land McALLEN, TexasTwo heavily armed suspected smugglers drive down a dirt road to hand their cargo of illegal aliens over to the next vehicle. One, the front passenger, is filming the bumpy drive with one hand, while pointing an AR-15 with a drum magazine out the windshield. Theyre speaking Spanish, talking about how much farther to go. At one stage, the driver communicates over a radio to say, Im there, Im there, hold on. Suddenly the vehicle arrives at a gate, where a pickup truck is waiting on the other side, and the driver and passenger yell to their cargo, All of you, all, all, all, run, run, along with a lot of cursing. The backseat passengers jump out and run to the waiting vehicle. The incident occurred in Jim Hogg County, Texas, about 70 miles north of the U.S.Mexico border. Landowners and ranchers dozens of miles north of the border have long dealt with illegal aliens traversing their land as they try to evade Border Patrol highway checkpoints and law enforcement. They commonly leave gates open, which mixes stock; destroy fences and gates; light fires; break into properties; and steal property. But todays human smugglers and illegal aliens evading capture are different, said Susan Kibbe, executive director of the South Texas Property Rights Association. The smugglers are armed, and the illegal aliens are often convicted criminals. Its very disturbing when you have smugglers that have a connection with the cartels, on U.S. soil carrying high-powered, semi-automatic rifles, Kibbe told The Epoch Times. She obtained the video from law enforcement after the smugglers posted it on Tik Tok. Federal and local law enforcement are advising landowners to carry firearms on their own property, she said. These [smugglers] have become a lot more militant, said Scott Frazier, Texas Farm Bureau board member, during a roundtable with GOP congress members on April 7. Youre kind of scared of them. Youre kind of scared to be out on these ranches by yourself nowadays. Definitely scared to have your family here. The Rio Grande Valley Border Patrol sector in south Texas is the busiest in the country for illegal crossings. Since Oct. 1, 2020, agents in the sector have arrested 1,625 criminal aliensalmost four times the number during the same time period in the previous year. These criminal aliens were convicted here in the United States for crimes other than immigration, ranging from murder, sexual crimes, assault, and narcotics trafficking, according to a statement from the Rio Grande border sector. Currently, more than 1,000 illegal aliens are evading capture by Border Patrol each day along the border, and many will end up traversing private ranchlands to get further into the interior of the United States. Kibbe said the South Texas Property Rights Association was formed in 2006 in response to border security issues. The group advocates for property owners to be able to enjoy and profit off their land. She said problems with illegal aliens and smuggling have always existed, but not to this extent. Theres areas of Texas that have never experienced this beforelike in the Del Rio Border Patrol sector. Theyre getting overrun, and they dont have the infrastructure that the Rio Grande Valley sector has, she said. Its a massive increase, and it pretty much aligns with the election and then the inauguration. Kibbes association is advocating for a return to Trump-era policies such as Remain in Mexico, which held illegal immigrants in Mexico while their case was adjudicated. President Joe Biden halted the policy and reverted to catch-and-release, which allows illegal immigrants to live and work in the United States until their immigration case is heard, often years in the future. Warning to Parents The small town of Cotulla, 70 miles north of Laredo on I-35 toward San Antonio, is being affected so much by illegal alien smuggling that the local school district sent a letter to warn parents. The letter warns parents and guardians, Please be watchful of your children as they are playing outside, walking home from school, or generally out of the house. The April 1 letter is signed by Cotulla Independent School District superintendent Jack Seals and La Salle County Sheriff Anthony Zertuche. Both our communities and the rural areas of the county have experienced a great increase in law enforcement chases and bailouts,' the letter reads. Bailouts happen when law enforcement attempts to stop a vehicle that is transporting illegal aliens, but the driver stops and the passengers scatter before they can be detained. Zertuche said his deputies have been responding to eight to 10 car chases per day in the county, a big increase over the past. These chases sometimes end in bailouts inside the city limits, the letter reads. The Sheriffs office has been on top of these and are apprehending all of those trying to flee after bailing out. The letter says the sheriffs office has increased patrols around the schools, but advises parents to lock vehicles and property. MATSAPHA Salesian High School Head teacher Petros Horton pulled out of the EPA NEC race and as a result, four members of the newly- elected executive committee won uncontested. The four newly-elected Eswatini Principals Association (EPA) national executive committee (NEC) members, who won the elections unopposed, include the President-elect, Welcome Mhlanga. EPA held its elective conference at Esibayeni Lodge yesterday. Initially, there were three candidates who were nominated uncontested and they were Mhlanga, who was vying for the position of president, Mduduzi Masilela, who was contesting for being the General Secretary and Gugu Dlamini, who was contending for the Deputy General Secretary position. It is worth noting that the three aforementioned candidates held the same positions in the outgoing NEC. Withdrew However, the associations outgoing Vice President, Horton, who is the Head teacher at Salesian High School, withdrew from the elections at the 11th hour. Horton was nominated for the same position together with Phindile Makhanya, who was the Publication Editor in the outgoing NEC. The withdrawal of Horton, who cited personal reasons, left Makhanya as the only candidate vying for the vice president position. Thereafter, the conference delegates agreed that they would accept the candidates who were unopposed in the positions which they were nominated for, without casting their votes for them. As a result, the delegates cast their votes for the remaining three NEC positions, which are; treasurer, organising secretary and publication editor. for the treasurer position, there were two contestants and they were; Jerome Dlamini from the Hhohho Region and Timilili Mamba from Manzini Region. Dlamini became the Treasurer-elect after beating Mamba by 46 votes to 31 votes. On the other hand, three candidates were nominated for the position of Organising Secretary and they were; Amos Vilakati, Thembi Mokoena and Thembekile Mndzebele. Vilakati was holding the same position in the outgoing NEC, but he lost the post to Mokoena, who got 39 votes, while the outgoing organising secretary and Mndzebele obtained seven and 31 votes respectively. Tough Meanwhile, the race was tough for the position of publication editor, where there were two nominees; Armstrong Dlamini from the Lubombo Region and Lungelo Nhlengetfwa from Hhohho Region. Dlamini recorded a victory over Nhlengetfwa with 40 votes over 38 votes. It is worth noting that the president-elect first led the association in 2015 on an acting basis and this was before he was elected into the position in 2017 and now he has retained his position. However, this term is, according to the EPA Constitution, the last one. Leitrim County Council is looking at taking legal action against a bond company after their failure to engage with the local authority. There is growing frustration at the continued failure of the bonds company for Dun Na Bo Estate, Ballinamore to respond to communications from the Council. Cllr Caillian Ellis highlighted the plight of those living in Dun Na Bo at the recent Municipal District meeting, calling on the Council for an update on efforts by the local authority to take in charge this estate. In a written response, Director of Service, Joseph Gilhooly said that The Council has sought to engage with the relevant Bonds Company in settlement negotiations regarding its claim in respect of the Bond attaching to this estate. Unfortunately, to date, the Bonds Company has not reciprocated and has failed to acknowledge or respond to correspondence from the Council or its legal representative. Mr Gilhooly noted that in light of the continued failure by the Bonds Company to engage with the Council in respect of this bond claim the Council has instructed its legal representative to refer this matter to the Financial Services Regulator, ie the Central Bank of Ireland and the matter may ultimately have to be taken before the courts. Mr Gilhooly said that until the Councils claim in relation to the bond on this estate is finalised the estate cannot be taken in charge. Whilst it is regrettable that this matter remains unresolved, unfortunately, the scope and cost of works required to complete this estate means that the Council is reliant on the Bond monies to fund the works and so cannot do anything that may prejudice its claim, he admitted. Cllr Ellis asked for clarity on whether the bonds company behind this estate is based in Ireland or the UK, noting if they are English this could go on for years before it is resolved. Cllr Paddy O'Rourke agreed noting it was his understanding that an English company owned the bond on Dun Na Bo estate, "Brexit has further complicated this as this company is no longer government by EU rules, he said. He also queried whether the bonds company's initial acceptance of some correspondence from Leitrim County Council on this estate in 2020 "was a cynical exercise to delay proceedings until Brexit happened." "One thing is certain and that is that this is probably going to end up in the courts." Cllr Brendan Barry said it would be important to determine if the bonds company at the heart of this is involved in any other estates in Leitrim while Cathaoirleach of Ballinamore MD, Cllr Ita Reynolds Flynn said that the situation "is a disgrace" and "very disappointing to residents of course". Head of Finance, Vincent Dwyer acknowledged the situation was very frustrating. He said Leitrim County Council had dealt with some very good bond company's over the years. He said: Hopefully when we take further action against them (the bond company for Dun Na Bo) it may precipitate action . A police officer is in a serious condition after being hit by a trail bike rider on foot during a pursuit on Wednesday night. The male cop, 36, was left with a broken wrist, arm laceration and possible broken nose following the incident in Maitland, north of Sydney, around 7pm. The officer, who is based at the Port Stephens-Hunter Police District, was chasing a trail bike rider along the New England Highway when he was struck on foot at a roundabout. A police officer remains in a serious condition after being hit by a trail bike - on foot - during a pursuit on Wednesday night in the Hunter Valley, north of Sydney (stock image) The trail bike rider, believed to be aged in his 20s, was arrested and remains under police guard in hospital (stock image) Daily Mail Australia understands the officer attempted to stop the trail bike rider at the scene, who was allegedly speeding away from police. The senior constable was rushed to the nearby John Hunter Hospital by air ambulance, where his condition is said to be serious but stable. The rider, 19, is being treated for head, leg and pelvis injuries after he was ejected from the trail bike. He was also taken to hospital for non-life threatening injuries and remains under police guard. Inquiries have since revealed the trail bike was unregistered. The Crash Investigation Unit are conducting inquiries into the exact circumstances around the incident. Anyone with information about this incident is urged to contact Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000. A North Texas school district said this week that it had disciplined a group of students at a predominantly white school who had assigned prices to students of color in a Snapchat group message called Slave Trade. Messages sent by students at the high school in Aledo, Texas, about 20 miles west of Fort Worth, said one student was worth 100 bucks while another was worth a dollar a price that would be better if his hair wasnt so bad, according to a photo of the group chat seen by The New York Times. The group message was called Slave Trade, with emojis of a police officer aiming a gun at a Black farmer. Its name was changed at least twice after that to include a racial slur, first followed by farm, and later by auction. A note sent to parents last week by Carolyn Ansley, the principal of the Daniel Ninth Grade Campus of the Aledo Independent School District, described the messages as an incident of cyberbullying and harassment, adding that the racially charged language violated the districts policies and code of conduct. A look at the major movers on the London market on Thursday Investors have taken a shine to Exploration Group PLC ( ) after news of what it called a transformational deal. In what is effectively a reverse takeover the company is buying the Karaberd gold mine in northern Armenia, including the operating licence and an ore-crushing production facility. The deal is structured so it is buying MVI Ireland from Mineral Ventures Invest. MVI Ireland in turn owns Assat LLC which owns the operating licence for the mine. IMC is issuing new shares as payment, giving the seller 51% of the enlarged business. This could rise to 59.17% if certain milestones are reached. Hence the reverse takeover classification. The deal will expand IMC's geographical scope, as well as adding production to its exploration activities. The successful production of crushed ore from the mine would give the company a source of cash flow and enhance its growth prospects. Mineral Ventures is also paying 20,000 a month over 24 months to help working capital requirements. IMC's shares have surged 59.76% or 0.51p to 1.35p on news of the deal. 2.35pm: Fertliser company sees share price growth Where there's muck there's brass, and Harvest Minerals Limited ( ) is proving it. The natural fertiliser company's shares have jumped 16. 07% or 0.45p to 3.25p after it revealed a strong sales performance in the first quarter from its Arapua Fertiliser Project in Brazil. It sold 8,872 tonnes of its KP Fertil organic remineraliser, which can be applied directly to crops without complex processing or chemical alteration, compared to expectations of 8,000 tonnes. It plans a marketing campaign for use of the product for coffee, sugarcane, and other crops, which will be launched in May. Chairman Brian McMaster said: "We are very pleased with our sales performance over the first quarter of the year, especially during these challenging times as the pandemic continues to impact the lives and overall economic activity within the regions in which we operate. "Thankfully, Brazil's agribusiness continues to show why it is considered by many as the 'Breadbasket of the World' and the prospects are remaining very favourable. The 8,872 tonnes sold in the period represents a significant increase compared to the first quarter of 2020 and an increase on current budget. We have built a solid platform over the past two years from which to deliver increased growth." 11.47am: Industrial group on the rise The PLC ( ) may be in the rather old fashioned area of industrial engineering but its shares are in demand after a positive trading statement. The Yorkshire business, whose products include machine tools, engineered components and laser systems, said revenues for the year were expected to drop 20% to $53mln, thanks to the impact of COVID-19. But it forecast earnings of around $2.5mln due to cost savings and government assistance programmes. The performance is better than the company expected, and a strong increase in activity in March means the order book is up 70% on the previous year to $14mln. Another $4mln worth of orders have been received so far in April. It said the improvement in the order book was helped by a good performance from the custom laser side of the business, which has higher margins. Chairman Paul Dupee said: ""The particularly strong order activity over the last two months, supported by a level of government assistance, has enabled the business to maintain its skilled workforce during the pandemic. This has allowed us to respond quickly to recent demand and significantly improve the size and quality of the group's orderbook, leaving the business well placed as markets improve." Its shares are up 22.86% or 2p to 10.75p. 10.48am: Gold group fails to shine Limited ( ) has lost its lustre. The West Africa gold exploration and development company has announced a rescheduling of plans for its Akrokeri-Homase gold project. In February it said mining and construction operations at the project - set to be the first mine in its licence area - would "commence imminently, with an estimated timeline for the first gold pour being within two months." Now it has updated the schedule: "For operational reasons [the company] is focusing on ramping up mining and production, which has necessitated a temporary rescheduling to the initially planned gold pour, in order to optimize profitability. "The company is working with the new mining contractor to complete a revised mine plan and production schedule, for the coming months and will be in a position to update the market shortly." The uncertainty has seen its shars fall 11.13% or 1.43p to 11.38p. 9.10am: Cybersecurity specialist in demand And we're back with cryptocurrency, or more to the point, fraud associated with it. BrandShield Systems PLC (LON:BRSD), a cybersecurity specialist, has climbed 12.86% or 2.7p to 23.7p after it extended its existing contract with "a leading, global financial institution specialising in cryptocurrency and blockchain." BrandShield provides the business with anti-phishing and online threat hunting services, as well as protecting it against fraudulent online activity including "the impersonation of the financial institution, rogue websites, impersonation on social media, executive impersonation, phishing attempts and trademark infringements." Chief executive Yoav Keren said : "The financial sector continues to suffer from an unprecedented increase in the prevalence of fraudulent activity and BrandShield has continued to develop a broad and growing range of clients within it. "The cryptocurrency and blockchain industry has always been a prominent target for online fraud and phishing activities. The latest rapid growth in the cryptocurrency space is a catalyst for fraudulent activities affecting companies and users active in the field." Other areas where BrandShield is seeing growth include pharmaceuticals, fashion, entertainment, consumer goods and sports and leisure. Analyst Martin OSullivan at the company's joint broker Shore Capital said: "Companies are buying into brand protection and online threat hunting as must have capabilities and there is a long runway of growth ahead in our opinion." 8.44am: Cleaning company cleans up If ever there was a time when hygiene services are most needed it is in the middle of a pandemic, as proved by the latest update from ( ). The company said revenues grew by 19% to 2.5mln in the six months to the end of March, not including any contribution from recent acquisition Fidelis Contract Services. It expects earnings (before exceptional items relating to the acquisition of Fidelis and some restructuring) to be more than 350,000, well ahead of last year's figure of 85,000. Apart from growth in its core business, there was also demand for COVID-19 decontaminations. As well as servicing the healthcare, rail and facilities management sectors, the company also won business in other areas such as education and residential care homes. Chief executive Shaun Doak said: "The immediate outlook is positive, although we are mindful the seemingly ever-changing environment in which we work can bring with it both opportunities and challenges. As a management team we continue to review tactics almost daily to ensure React remains an effective solution for our customers, our colleagues remain safe, and the business profitable. "The acquisition of Fidelis at the tail end of the period represents an exciting step forwards for the Group; marrying two strong management teams with well-matched values to provide incremental scale, resilience and capability, underpinning our ambition to rapidly become the leading provider of specialist cleaning, decontamination and hygiene services in the country." The company's shares are up 7.04% or 0.17% to 2.57p. ( ) is also sparkling after it announced positive news on its Thorny River diamond prospect in the Limpopo Province of South Africa and a further drilling programme starting on Monday. It said: "Following the discovery of the River kimberlite pipe including 11 diamonds, the company upgraded the potential of the property. An area with a similar geological and geophysical footprint immediately to the east of the River Pipe was identified. Analysis suggests potential for a larger kimberlite body than already identified." The shares have jumped 9.09% or 0.08p to 0.9p. DNA ligase proteins, which facilitate the formation of bonds between separate strands of DNA, play critical roles in the replication and maintenance of DNA. The human genome encodes three different DNA ligase proteins, but only one of those proteins--DNA ligase III (LIG3)--is expressed in mitochondria. LIG3 is therefore crucial for mitochondrial health, and inactivation of the homologous protein in mice causes profound mitochondrial dysfunction and early embryonic mortality. In an article recently published in the peer-reviewed journal Brain, a team of European and Japanese scientists, led by Dr. Mariko Taniguchi-Ikeda from Fujita Health University Hospital, describes a set of seven patients with a novel mitochondrial disorder caused by biallelic variants in the gene that encodes the LIG3 protein, called the "LIG3" gene. Their report provides a description of the patients' symptoms and a mechanistic exploration of the mutations' effects. For Dr. Taniguchi-Ikeda, the investigation began with her desire to help a young patient. "I wanted to make a distinct clinical and genetic diagnosis for the affected patient," she explains, "because his elder brother had passed away and the surviving boy was referred to my outpatient ward for detailed genetic tests." By performing whole-exome sequencing of DNA from the surviving patient, Dr. Taniguchi-Ikeda discovered that he had inherited a p.P609L LIG3 variant from his father and a p.R811Ter LIG3 variant from his mother. The parents had kept the deceased brother's dried umbilical cord, and by analyzing DNA extracted from that source, Dr. Taniguchi-Ikeda confirmed that the brother had carried the same LIG3 variants. Having detected a novel genetic mitochondrial disorder, Dr. Taniguchi-Ikeda wished to conduct further research by identifying other patients with pathogenic LIG3 variants. She could find no other such cases in Japan, but through a collaboration with Dr. Makiko Tsutsumi from Fujita Health University and researchers in Europe, including Professor Elena Bonora from the University of Bologna and Professor Roberto De Giorgio from the University of Ferrara, she learned of two European families also affected by such variants. One was an Italian family in which three brothers had all inherited a p.K537N variant from their father and a p.G964R variant from their mother, and the other was a Dutch family in which two daughters had inherited a p.R267Ter variant from their father and a p.C999Y variant from their mother. These patients experienced a complex syndrome involving severe gut dysmotility and neurologic abnormalities as the most consistently observed clinical signs. The neurologic abnormalities included leukoencephalopathy, epilepsy, migraine, stroke-like episodes, and neurogenic bladder. The prominent changes in the gut were decreased myenteric neuron counts and elevated fibrosis and elastin levels. Muscle pathology assessments revealed decreased staining intensities for cytochrome C oxidase. To better characterize how the patients' LIG3 mutations could lead to such phenotypes, the researchers conducted experiments both in vitro and on zebrafish. The in vitro experiments with patient-derived fibroblasts showed that the mutations resulted in reduced LIG3 protein levels and diminished ligase activity. The consequent deficits in mitochondrial DNA maintenance would do much to explain the patients' presentations. Experiments with zebrafish showed that disrupting the lig3 gene produced brain alterations and gut transit impairments analogous to those observed in the patients. The study brings to light a novel disorder resulting from disruption of a gene that plays a critical role in the maintenance of mitochondrial DNA. In describing the importance of these findings, Dr. Taniguchi-Ikeda concludes, "Our study may facilitate efforts to diagnose patients with mitochondrial diseases. Our findings will also be beneficial to future investigations into the mitochondrial DNA repair system." ### About Fujita Health University Fujita Health University is a private university situated in Toyoake, Aichi, Japan. It was founded in 1964 and houses one of the largest teaching university hospitals in Japan in terms of the number of beds. With over 900 faculty members, the university is committed to providing various academic opportunities to students internationally. Fujita Health University has been ranked eighth among all universities and second among all private universities in Japan in the 2020 Times Higher Education (THE) World University Rankings. THE University Impact Rankings 2019 visualized university initiatives for sustainable development goals (SDGs). For the "good health and well-being" SDG, Fujita Health University was ranked second among all universities and number one among private universities in Japan. The university will also be the first Japanese university to host the "THE Asia Universities Summit" in June 2021. The university's founding philosophy is "Our creativity for the people (DOKUSOU-ICHIRI)," which reflects the belief that, as with the university's alumni and alumnae, current students also unlock their future by leveraging their creativity. Website: https:/ / www. fujita-hu. ac. jp/ en/ index. html About Dr. Mariko Taniguchi-Ikeda from Fujita Health University Dr. Mariko Taniguchi-Ikeda, MD, PhD, is a pediatric physician and researcher who is affiliated with the Department of Clinical Genetics at Fujita Health University Hospital as an Associate Professor. She is also affiliated with the Institute for Comprehensive Medical Science at Fujita Health University and the Department of Pediatrics at the Kobe University Graduate School of Medicine. Her research interests include molecular genetics, congenital muscular dystrophy, and pediatrics. Funding information This study was funded by a Telethon Grant, the city of Kobe, the Dutch Cancer Foundation, the Italian Ministry of Health, and the University of Ferrara. MixComm is the first company with a focus on mmW technology to join OpenRF. Leveraging their sub-system and unique software expertise, we look forward to the contributions MixComm will bring to the organization. - Kevin Schoenrock, President of OpenRF. MixComm, the mmWave Antennas to Algorithms pioneer, today announced it has joined the Open RF Association (OpenRF), an open industry consortium dedicated to creating a 5G ecosystem of functionally interoperable hardware and software across RFFE (RF Front End) and chipset platforms. As the organizations newest associate member, MixComm will work with founding members, Qorvo, Samsung Electronics, MediaTek and more to drive adoption of 5G technology. As a 5G mmWave RF Front End IC and subsystem provider, we see the need and importance of an open and interoperable ecosystem, said Mike Noonen, CEO of MixComm. Our Antennas to Algorithm product strategy fits perfectly with OpenRF. Were thrilled to join this association and support its mission to improve time to market, performance and cost while allowing for product differentiation. MixComm is the first company with a focus on mmW technology to join OpenRF. Leveraging their sub-system and unique software expertise, we look forward to the contributions MixComm will bring to the organization, said Kevin Schoenrock, President of OpenRF. As use cases for mmW technology expand in conjunction with 5G cellular applications, evolving the capabilities of an open and interoperable eco-system is important for the industry. With a rich background in mmWave and RFSOI innovations, MixComm brings unique expertise to OpenRF. The companys products, such as the SUMMIT 2629 5G 28GHz Beamforming Front End IC, address fundamental challenges that come with 5G mmWave links. By working with other association members, MixComm believes best-in-class mmWave configurable solutions can be driven to market faster to deliver an optimum 5G experience. To learn more about MixComm and its commitment to making widespread mmWave 5G a reality, visit http://www.mixcomm.com. To learn more about the Open RF Association, please visit https://openrf.com/. About MixComm MixComm, based in Chatham, N.J., is the leading mmWave Antennas to Algorithms company developing transformative solutions for emerging wireless applications and markets. In 2020, MixComm introduced its first of a portfolio of millimeter wave products that deliver breakthrough levels of performance and integration for 5G infrastructure and Satellite Communication. The companys technology is based on breakthroughs from Dr. Krishnaswamys CoSMIC lab at Columbia University and is funded by Kairos Ventures. For more information, visit http://www.mixcomm.com. Intestinal worm infections can leave women in sub-Saharan Africa more vulnerable to sexually-transmitted viral infections, a new study reveals. The rate and severity of sexually-transmitted viral infections (STI) in the region are very high, as are those of worm infections, which when caught in the intestine can change immunity in other parts of the body. Researchers at the Universities of Birmingham and Cape Town led an international team which discovered that intestinal worm infection can change vaginal immunity and increase the likelihood of Herpes simplex virus type 2 (HSV-2) infection - the main cause of genital herpes. Publishing their findings today in Cell Host and Microbe, the research team also notes that worm infections significantly increase the death of tissue in the vagina (necrosis), which can result in gangrene. However, the researchers found that they could prevent this worm-induced changes in HSV2 pathology by targeting a particular type of immune cell called eosinophils - suggesting that this pathology could be prevented or reduced by using existing drugs. Our work identifies for the first time how a worm infection can influence a very important viral STI. This is important for health workers and may help them to explain why STIs are more virulent in areas where worm infections are common. We show that worm infections that never colonize the vagina cause a strong change in vaginal immunity." Dr. William Horsnell, Study Co-Author, Institute of Microbiology & Infection, University of Birmingham, Institute of Infectious Disease and Molecular Medicine, University of Cape town "Following a viral vaginal sexually transmitted infection the pathology caused by the virus is hugely increased. Research into STIs has, until now, largely neglected the role of worm infections in influencing the severity of these important diseases." Rates and severity of sexually transmitted viral infections in sub-Saharan Africa are very high and are one of the world's leading causes of pathological disease. Worm infection rates are also very high in this region, but do not colonize the female reproductive tract. "Our research shows that eosinophils can have a very important role to play in vaginal immunity - we hope that this discovery will boost efforts to understand how parasitic worm infection indirectly influence control of sexually transmitted infections," added Dr Horsnell. Every day for nearly two decades, a 47-year-old woman has pulled cart containing up to 60kg of vegetables each for charity kitchens in Ho Chi Minh City. People call her 'the quiet veggie lady.' She quickly pulls her cart, heading to a kiosk inside Thu Duc Wholesale Market in Ho Chi Minh City as on the other end of the line, someone told Phuong that they saved her some bunches of leafy greens. The markets traders have generously given 'Mommy Phuong' tonnes of veggies. 19 years collecting vegetables 'Mommy Phuong' is the way traders call Huynh Thi Thanh Phuong, a woman who has spent 19 years collecting vegetables for local charity kitchens. In the early days, she saw people throw vegetables, including those still edible, away. She sorted them out, for herself and for nearby pagodas which offered hot, free and vegan meals to the poor. Seeing what she did, sellers in Thu Duc Wholesale Market eventually started giving Phuong vegetables instead of throwing them all away. She always holds a mobile phone in her hand, waiting for a call from a seller. In her late 40s, Phuong can still run so rapidly that even some youngsters who give her a hand could not compete. She had to sort through and select vegetables that were still good at first; now, traders set aside bunches of good greens for her. There is even a seller lending Phuong her kiosk to gather vegetables which will later be donated to poor people, pagodas, churches, and child protection centers. The more vegetables the woman receives, the broader area she can help. On her productive day, vegetables can even be shipped to a pagoda in Dong Nai Province, about 30km away. Huynh Thi Thanh Phuong receives a bouquet of flowers from Scottish volunteer Mat Donald on International Womens Day (March 8). Photo: Kim Ut / Tuoi Tre Giving hands As people get to know Phuong and her good deeds, she is gifted more agricultural products. Some days, the total amount reaches up to 18 tonnes. Phuong and her helpers pulled their carts to carry those vegetables continuously. At the end of one day, she even passed out for a while. Years of pulling heavy carts makes Phuong suffer from spinal pain. However, it could not stop her from doing what she wants. Im here, from dusk to dawn, regardless of the weather or my own physical conditions," said Phuong. "Im here all year round, 356 days and repeat. "Only this lunar years first day [February 12], I could not go to the market as I was busy loading vegetables for a pagoda." The woman said she did not know how she is motivated to do such a laborious job. I find joy in it," she said. "Compared to what other people have done to help others, I see my things as nothing." Phuong is not afraid of heavy work but baseless rumor and suspicion. There was a time when she wanted to stop to live a normal life, just like others. A vicar encouraged me to continue," she recounted. "His words pushed me out of the dark time to keep believing in my path." Last year, after Giang Kim Cuc, a well-known philanthropist, shared the story of Phuong on her Facebook, more and more young people have come to lend her a hand on weekends, public holidays or simply their days-off. Huynh Thi Thanh Phuong, wearing a violet jacket, poses with volunteers who come to assist her with loading and sorting veggies. Photo: Kim Ut / Tuoi Tre 'Phuong can do it...' All I know is pulling carts and loading things, I do not know how to communicate with people properly," Phuong admitted. "As an orphan, I was not educated by parents. "Thats why I cannot cleverly convey my thoughts." She was adopted by a family. However, at the age of 12, Phuong left home and started supporting herself by moving to Ho Chi Minh City. She learned acupuncture at a pagoda and practiced it at Thu Duc Wholesale Market. A typical day for Phuong begins at 5:00 am. She goes to the market to collect veggies until dawn then collects scrap metal and offers acupuncture services in the evening to earn a living. I can make ends meet by cooking for myself. If there is no rice, I will eat instant noodles or vermicelli and fried tofu, said Phuong. When people ask to donate some money to her, Phuong always turn them down. I can do it, just like Ive always done it before," she explained. "I know how hard it is to make money, as I appreciate them, I cannot accept their offer. "It is better that they use the money to help others who live in much more difficult situations than mine." Several groups are also collecting vegetables for charity kitchens at Thu Duc Wholesale Market yet 'Mommy Phuong' is the pioneer, according to Dam Minh Hoa, deputy head of the markets security team. Almost all traders know the woman and contact her whenever they have vegetables to give away. Several trucks come to and from the market daily to transport vegetables gathered by Phuong to local charity organizations. Like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter to get the latest news about Vietnam! New 3-year unsecured sustainability linked revolving credit facility of EUR 80 million Euronav NV (Euronav or the Company) announces that it recently signed an EUR 80 million unsecured revolving credit facility. This new facility, which was significantly oversubscribed has been concluded with a range of commercial banks and the support of Gigarant, with sustainability and emission reductions as a component of the margin pricing. The flexible financing allows the company to strengthen its financial buffers for daily cash management. The conclusion of this funding brings facilities with an integrated sustainability component to 31.5% of Euronavs total financing. Sustainability is at the core of what we do at Euronav, with the financing of our operations being a critical part of this approach, says Lieve Logghe, CFO of Euronav. Diversifying our funding sources whilst at the same time providing challenging and quantifiable targets for our sustainability progress are dual objectives for Euronav. This transaction with multiple banks achieves this strategic and operational objective. The facility will have a duration of minimum 3 years, with two 1-year extension options. A range of measurable sustainability features such as year-on-year reduction in carbon emissions starting from 2021 will be supported by compliance with the Poseidon principles. The following banks form the lending consortium, KBC, ABN Amro, Belfius, ING, Societe Generale, BNP Paribas and SEB, supported by Gigarant. New guidance on maritime security from The International Chamber of Shipping As recent news reports highlight, the shipping industry continues to face threats such as piracy, kidnapping and terrorism. Ship operators need to stay alert to security risks and recognise that threats are continually evolving and demand constant vigilance. To assist the shipping community in preparing for these challenges the International Chamber of Shipping has launched the first edition of Maritime Security: A Comprehensive Guide for Shipowners, Seafarers and Administrations. Providing a comprehensive guide to maritime security, the publication draws on over twenty years experience of the growing security threats faced by shipping. It sets out the security threats faced by the shipping industry today, the statutory requirements that ships, shipping companies and port facilities must meet, and provides guidance on how to conduct a thorough threat assessment for a voyage. A model ship security plan is also provided along with guidance on how to complete it in accordance with statutory requirements. Secretary General of the International Chamber of Shipping, Guy Platten says: Maritime security is a continual concern for the shipping industry, and security threats present real challenges to the entire global supply chain. In the years since SOLAS and the ISPS Code set out the dedicated statutory framework for the issue, we have witnessed the emergence of a security culture in the industry with a growing awareness of security threats , and an understanding of the importance of following best practices to mitigate risks to seafarers and the global trade they sustain.This new guide provides invaluable information to help keep ahead of the situation. Maritime Security: A Comprehensive Guide for Shipowners, Seafarers and Administrations has been written for ship and terminal operators, seafarers and administrations, but will also provide a useful entry point to the subject for anyone with an interest in maintaining the security of global trade. Trial Date Set for Former Trigg County Sheriff By West Kentucky Star Staff TRIGG COUNTY - A trial date has been set in the case against former Trigg County Sheriff Jason Barnes.According to News Edge, Trigg Circuit Judge Woody Woodall scheduled a one-day jury trial for December 27. A pretrial conference is set for October 13.Barnes resigned in August, shortly before being indicted by a Trigg County grand jury on charges of unlawful transaction with a minor and tampering with physical evidence. He was arrested and released on a $2,500 bond.An investigation between the Kentucky State Police, FBI, and the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Western District of Kentucky reportedly revealed that Barnes provided alcohol to a person under the age of 21 and "practiced deceit with the intent to affect the testimony of a potential witness."On the Net: Taiga Landscape in Quebec, Canada, dominated by Black Spruce Picea mariana. Credit: Wikipedia/CC BY-SA 2.0 More severe and frequent fires in the Alaskan boreal forest are releasing vast stores of carbon and nitrogen from burned trees and soil into the atmosphere, a trend that could accelerate climate warming. But new research published this week in the journal Science shows that the deciduous trees replacing burned spruce forests more than make up for that loss, storing more carbon and accumulating it four times faster over a 100-year fire interval. The study, led by a team of researchers at the Center for Ecosystem Science and Society at Northern Arizona University, suggests that these faster-growing, less flammable deciduous forests may act as a stabilizing 'firebreak' against escalating fire patterns and nutrient loss in the region. The study began in the wake of the dramatic 2004 fire season in Alaska when an area seven times the long-term average burned. Historically, more than half of this forested terrain has been dominated by black spruce, but after fire, faster-growing aspen and birch are replacing some of these stands. The team, made up of researchers from Northern Arizona University, the University of Alaska Fairbanks, Auburn University, and University of Saskatchewan surveyed 75 black spruce stands that burned in 2004 and followed their recovery over the next 13 years. They also collected a range of data from trees and soils of different ages and burn severities to construct a chronosequence, a kind of scientific time-lapse that lets researchers fast-forward through a 100-year fire cycle to see how forests recover and change. "In 2005, I thought that there was no way these forests could recover the carbon they lost in this fire," said Michelle Mack, a professor of biology at Northern Arizona University and the lead author of the study. "The literature is full of papers suggesting deeper, more severe fires burn more carbon than can be replaced before the next fire. But not only did we see these deciduous trees make up for those losses, they did so rapidly." The team found that the new aspen and birch trees where the black spruce burned accumulated carbon and nitrogen more quickly than the spruce, storing most of it in their wood and leaves as opposed to the soil organic layer. And at the end of a projected 100-year cycle, the deciduous stands had recovered as much nitrogen as was lost to fire, and more carbon than was lost, resulting in an increase in the net ecosystem carbon balance. Calculating this balance is critical as scientists work to understand the way these northern forests are changing, and the effects of those changes on the global carbon picture. "I was surprised that deciduous trees could replenish lost carbon so effectively and efficiently," said Heather Alexander, an assistant professor of forest ecology at Auburn and one of the paper's co-authors. "Even though considerable carbon is combusted and emitted into the atmosphere when black spruce forests burn severely, the deciduous trees that often replace them have an amazing ability to recapture and store carbon in their aboveground leaves and wood." "In a region with only five common tree species, this study shows how changes in tree composition can dramatically alter patterns of carbon storage in boreal forests," said Jill Johnstone, a northern researcher at University of Alaska-Fairbanks and co-author of the study. "Carbon is just one piece of the puzzle," said Mack, who said deciduous forests have other important feedbacks, or interconnected effects, on climate. "We know these forests help cool regional climate, and we know that they are less ignitable, so fires are less likely to spread. Taken together, these effects create a relatively strong set of stabilizing climate feedbacks in the boreal forest." But there is a lot that researchers don't know about the fate of deciduous boreal forests in a warmer world. "As mature deciduous trees die, will they be replaced with trees with the same structure, composition, and carbon storage abilities?" Alexander asked. "And will they recover from fire with the same carbon storage capacities?" "Shifts from slow-growing black spruce to fast-growing deciduous species could balance out the impacts of the intensifying fire regime in the boreal forest," said Isla Myers-Smith, a global change ecologist at University of Edinburgh who was not involved in the study. "But it remains to be seen how carbon gains balance losses in future with accelerated warming at high latitudes." Mack said continued climate warming may undo the carbon-sequestering gains these trees represent. "The carbon should reside longer on the landscape because deciduous forests are less flammable. But flammability isn't a constant. The climate will pass a threshold where things get so hot and dry, even deciduous forests will burn. So, one question we need to ask is, how strong will the mitigating effect of low flammability be, and how long will it last?" Permafrost carbon also complicates the picture. Though many of the sites in this study did not have permafrost near the soil surface, the permanently frozen ground is found across the boreal biome. As it thaws, permafrost releases stores of carbon and methane, potentially offsetting the storage gains by deciduous trees, Mack said. "We will eventually pass a temperature threshold where negative feedbacks aren't enough." Explore further Wildfires are changing forest communities in interior Alaska More information: M.C. Mack el al., "Carbon loss from boreal forest wildfires offset by increased dominance of deciduous trees," Science (2021). Journal information: Science M.C. Mack el al., "Carbon loss from boreal forest wildfires offset by increased dominance of deciduous trees,"(2021). science.sciencemag.org/cgi/doi 1126/science.abf3903 PORTLAND, Ore., April 15, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- The Pathfinder Network (TPN) is thrilled to announce the appointment of Leticia Longoria-Navarro to the position of Executive Director. Longoria-Navarro has been serving as the organization's Interim Executive Director since July, throughout which she has demonstrated a clear dedication to TPN's people and mission, and a commitment to inclusive and empathetic leadership. As Executive Director, Longoria-Navarro will oversee the administration, programs, and strategic plan of the organization, as well as fundraising, marketing, and community outreach. She is the first executive leader of color in TPN's history and the first with lived experience of parental and family criminal justice system-involvement. Leticia Longoria-Navarro, Executive Director at The Pathfinder Network "Leticia has a wonderful combination of heart, smarts, and skills to lead TPN," shared Dr. Mauri Matsuda, Interim President of TPN's Board of Directors. "Not only is her breadth of knowledge about the programs and services we deliver unmatched, but her compassionate, strengths-based orientation is the future we need for our organization, staff, and the individuals and communities we serve. In her interim role, she has navigated through unprecedented challenges; I cannot imagine a better leader to guide us through 2021 and beyond." Longoria-Navarro began her tenure at TPN in 2010 as a group facilitator working in various Oregon Department of Corrections facilities. She went on to work as a Parole and Probation Officer and Lead Parole and Probation Officer with Multnomah County for five years where she was awarded the honor of Line Officer of the Year by the American Parole and Probation Association and Parole and Probation Officer of the Year by the state of Oregon in 2015. Longoria-Navarro re-joined TPN in 2016 as Director of Training and Programs. She was promoted to Associate Executive Director in 2017, where she successfully conceptualized, developed and implemented numerous innovative programs, curriculums and training responsive to the emergent needs in the field. Her professional accomplishments and experience exemplify her skills as a practitioner, developer, trainer and evaluator of programs and practices. "She is a role-model that inspires others to dream more, learn more, do more and to become more," shared Lara Krumm, Senior Programs Manager at TPN. "I believe that this agency will grow and thrive under Leticia's leadership." Longoria-Navarro's success in many leadership roles has proven her ability to lead in inspiring, inclusive and transformational ways. She is known for her enthusiastic and engaging leadership style, as well as her vision for lifelong learning and guiding individuals and organizations through change. She is a driving force in the agency's diversity, equity, inclusion and justice efforts, and was a founding member of TPN's staff of color affinity group. "I am proud and excited to be leading and walking alongside an amazing team of passionate and thoughtful professionals who are committed to co-creating a future that empowers us to reach our wildest dreams and beyond," said Longoria-Navarro. "My goal is to ensure TPN and our staff are fully supported and resourced to consistently deliver responsive and holistic, high quality and high impact support, programming and services to justice-system impacted individuals and their families." In her role as Executive Director, Longoria-Navarro will continue to partner with agency team members to provide leadership, vision, community and support to the organization to ensure the greatest impact with the communities we serve. "Leticia is extremely dedicated to TPN's mission," added Caroline Sundbaum, secretary of TPN's Board of Directors, "and I am excited for the organization to start a new chapter with her as our Executive Director." For more information, please visit https://www.thepathfindernetwork.org. The Pathfinder Network is a 501 (c) (3) social service agency founded in 1993 with a mission to provide justice system-impacted individuals and families the tools and support they need to be safe and thrive in their communities. The Pathfinder Network provides cognitive-behavioral programs, parenting programs and support services for adults in the Oregon Department of Corrections system and to children and families in the community. Media Contact: Rachel Namson [email protected] 818-903-0432 SOURCE The Pathfinder Network Custodian of the Crown of Romania, Princess Margareta, said on Thursday in western Arad that she has fond memories of Prince Philip of the United Kingdom, noting that he was a role model for her in terms of involvement in charitable or social activities, such as the Romanian Red Cross. "He and my grandmother are relatives. They also inspired me for this type of work, from the Red Cross. He was a beautiful mentor. I have fond memories, from childhood and since I was a little younger. (...) I have very beautiful memories in all my life," said Her Majesty, agerpres.ro confirms. For his part, Prince Radu pointed out that the social and charitable activity of the Royal Family is inspired by Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip. "Both are champions: he had 900 royal patronages granted, and the Queen, 800. When they started, there was no such thing in the world. He gave his whole life to those in society with fewer possibilities, either elderly people, or children, or the poor or students in need. They are a great source of inspiration. Much of their life was dedicated to issues related to people less fortunate than them," said Prince Radu. Her Majesty Margareta and Prince Radu were on a public visit to Arad on Thursday, where they visited the headquarters of the Romanian Red Cross branch in Arad, and met with representatives of the branch's management and volunteers. The Crown Custodian and Prince Radu visited the Pediatrics Section 2 of the Arad County Emergency Clinical Hospital, recently renovated. Her Majesty Margareta is the president of the Romanian Red Cross. HANOI -- Vietnams Bamboo Airways plans to raise up to $200 million in an initial public offering in the United States, potentially securing a market capitalisation of up to $4 billion, its chairman Trinh Van Quyet said on Wednesday. Bamboo Airways, owned by property and leisure company FLC Group, plans to offer a 5%-7% stake in the IPO, which it expects in the third quarter of this year, Quyet told Reuters in an interview. The IPO will be part of our efforts to expand our services globally, Quyet said, adding that Bamboo Airways has been working with an international auditing firm for the potential offering on the New York Stock Exchange. The company said last month it planned to list its shares on a local stock exchange in the third quarter, but Quyet said on Wednesday that was now a backup plan, depending on market conditions. Quyet said the airline will increase its fleet to 40 aircraft by the end of this year, from the current 30, adding two Boeing 787-9 Dreamliners would be among the new planes. He said the airline wanted to launch flights to new destinations including the U.S., Australia, Germany, Japan and the United Kingdom this year if the COVID-19 pandemic situation improved. We will start conducting chartered flights to the U.S. in July and target the launch of non-stop commercial flights between Ho Chi Minh City and San Francisco in September, with an initial frequency of three flights per week, Quyet said. Bamboo Airways, which made its maiden flight in January 2019, is targeting a 25% rise in pretax profit to 500 billion dong this year he added. VANCOUVER, British Columbia, April 15, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Almaden Minerals Ltd. (Almaden or the Company; TSX: AMM; NYSE American: AAU) is pleased to announce that it is conducting a surface induced polarisation geophysical (IP) program at the Ixtaca deposit, Mexico. The work is designed to help define drill targets beneath the area of hydrothermal alteration called the Southeast Alteration (SE) zone and at depth beneath the Ixtaca deposit (Ixtaca Deeps). It is hoped that this geophysical survey, along with past survey results, will identify potential zones of veining like those in the Ixtaca deposit. The discovery drill hole in the original Ixtaca deposit area was planned in part based on high resistivity and chargeability results obtained in an earlier IP geophysical survey. The Company looks forward to updating shareholders once the results have been processed and interpreted and drilling plans are defined. Background to the SE Alteration Zone The SE Alteration Zone comprises white argillic (clay-altered) volcanics and, most interestingly, clusters of anomalies identified from a hyperspectral survey that include the spectral signatures of important epithermal alteration minerals such as kaolinite, alunite and buddingtonite. The SE Alteration Zone lies well outside of the current Ixtaca deposit resource area (see Figure 1, Ixtaca Alteration Map). In November, 2020, the Company announced the discovery of several areas of veining cropping out within the SE Alteration Zone, and seventeen samples of the veining were collected and submitted for analysis to ALS Global in Zacatecas, Mexico. All but one sample returned below detection gold and silver, with the exception returning a value of 62 ppb gold. However, even though the outcrops are leached and weathered, many of the samples also returned elevated values for epithermal pathfinder elements which are commonly found in the higher parts of epithermal alteration zones. The presence of pathfinder elements in these samples is very encouraging as it corroborates the Company view that the SE Alteration Zone could represent the higher levels of a potential underlying epithermal system. It is quite typical that the higher parts of these systems contain negligible precious metals values. Background to the Ixtaca Deeps Target The Main Ixtaca Zone of the Ixtaca deposit is hosted by limestone where the veins form a wide zone of veining referred to as a vein swarm. This vein swarm in limestone has been the primary focus of the Companys exploration efforts to date and the Feasibility Study level technical examination of the Ixtaca deposit (for further information, see Ixtaca Gold-Silver Project, Puebla State, Mexico NI 43-101 Technical Report on the Feasibility Study, which was prepared in accordance with NI 43-101, and is available under the Companys profile on SEDAR and on the Companys website). Adjacent to the Main Ixtaca Zone, shaley carbonate rocks host the more discrete focussed gold-silver vein related mineralisation of the Northeast Extension Zone, which also has higher associated zinc and lead values. Based on structural interpretation, the Main Ixtaca Zone gold-silver vein swarm could be the upper part of a vein system which transitions at depth to structurally controlled silver-lead-zinc dominated mineralisation where the Northeast Extension Zone would project down dip underneath the Main Ixtaca Zone (see Figure 2, Longitudinal Section of Main Ixtaca Zone and Cross Section of Northeast Extension Zone). This potential for metal zonation from upper gold-silver to deep silver-lead-zinc mineralisation is supported by geologic interpretation, geologic models for epithermal precious metal deposits and observations made in other epithermal vein deposits in Mexico. Norm Dircks, P.Geo., is a Qualified Person as defined by National Instrument 43-101 ("NI 43-101") and has reviewed and approved the scientific and technical contents of this news release. About Almaden Almaden Minerals Ltd. owns 100% of the Ixtaca project in Puebla State, Mexico, subject to a 2.0% NSR royalty held by Almadex Minerals Ltd. The Ixtaca deposit hosts a proven and probable reserve containing 1.38 million ounces of gold and 85.1 million ounces of silver (73.1 million tonnes grading 0.59 g/t Au and 36.3 g/t Ag). A report titled Ixtaca Gold-Silver Project, Puebla State, Mexico NI 43-101 Technical Report on the Feasibility Study, which was prepared in accordance with NI 43-101, is available under the Companys profile on SEDAR and on the Companys website. The Ixtaca Gold-Silver Deposit was discovered by Almaden in 2010. On Behalf of the Board of Directors, J. Duane Poliquin J. Duane PoliquinChairmanAlmaden Minerals Ltd. Safe Harbor Statement Certain of the statements and information in this news release constitute forward-looking statements within the meaning of the United States Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 and forward-looking information within the meaning of applicable Canadian provincial securities laws. All statements, other than statements of historical fact, are forward-looking statements or information. Forward-looking statements or information in this news release relate to, among other things: the likelihood of any discovery of merit at the SE Alteration Zone or Ixtaca Deeps, and the likelihood of success of the geophysical program and its contribution to drilling plans. These forward-looking statements and information reflect the Companys current views with respect to future events and are necessarily based upon a number of assumptions, including assumptions in respect of Almadens financial position, that, while considered reasonable by the Company, are inherently subject to significant legal, regulatory, business, operational and economic uncertainties and contingencies, and such uncertainty generally increases with longer-term forecasts and outlook. These assumptions include: stability and predictability in Mexicos mineral tenure, mining, environmental and agrarian laws and regulations, as well as their application and judicial decisions thereon; continued respect for the rule of law in Mexico; prices for gold, silver and base metals remaining as estimated; currency exchange rates remaining as estimated; availability of funds; capital, decommissioning and reclamation estimates; mineral reserve and resource estimates; prices for energy inputs, labour, materials, supplies and services (including transportation); no labour-related disruptions; all necessary permits, licenses and regulatory approvals being received in a timely manner; the ability to secure and maintain title and ownership to properties and the surface rights necessary for operations; community support in the Ixtaca Project; and the ability to comply with environmental, health and safety laws. The foregoing list of assumptions is not exhaustive. The Company cautions the reader that forward-looking statements and information involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause actual results and developments to differ materially from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements or information contained in this news release. Such risks and other factors include, among others, risks related to: political risk in Mexico; crime and violence in Mexico; corruption; environmental risks, including environmental matters under Mexican laws and regulations; impact of environmental impact assessment requirements on the Companys planned exploration and development activities on the Ixtaca Project; certainty of mineral title and the outcome of litigation; community relations; governmental regulations and the ability to obtain necessary licences and permits; risks related to mineral properties being subject to prior unregistered agreements, transfers or claims and other defects in title; changes in mining, environmental or agrarian laws and regulations and changes in the application of standards pursuant to existing laws and regulations which may increase costs of doing business and restrict operations; as well as those factors discussed the section entitled "Risk Factors" in Almaden's Annual Information Form and Almaden's latest Form 20-F on file with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission in Washington, D.C. Although the Company has attempted to identify important factors that could affect the Company and may cause actual actions, events or results to differ materially from those described in forward-looking statements or information, there may be other factors that cause actions, events or results not to be as anticipated, estimated or intended. There can be no assurance that our forward-looking statements or information will prove to be accurate. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements or information. Except as required by law, the Company does not assume any obligation to release publicly any revisions to on forward-looking statements or information contained in this news release to reflect events or circumstances after the date hereof or to reflect the occurrence of unanticipated events. Contact Information: Almaden Minerals Ltd.Tel. 604.689.7644Email: info@almadenminerals.comhttp://www.almadenminerals.com/ Photos accompanying this announcement are available at: https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/c7d0412a-192c-452b-9006-152731de6b67 https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/3329619b-814f-4bf4-a1e8-c4e686856e5b Ixtaca Alteration Map SE Alteration Zone Ixtaca Deeps Target Long Section Source: Almaden Minerals Ltd. The following is a statement by Texas teacher Michael Hull, founder of the Facebook group Teachers Against Dying and a member of the Texas Educators Rank-and-File Safety Committee. It is a response to American Federation of Teachers (AFT) President Randi Weingartens surrender to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) over their unsafe three-foot distancing guidelines in schools. *** On March 16, 2021, I spoke to AFT President Randi Weingarten at a Bad Ass Teachers town hall event, voicing safety concerns including the denial of medical accommodations, the impracticality of effectively implementing certain CDC guidelines, and the emergence of new strains of COVID-19. I explained that a doctor advised me not to return to in-person instruction and wrote a note to my district. Like thousands of others in this situation, I was still forced to choose between following medical advice and continued employment. AFT and NEA were contacted, and both said there was nothing they could do to intervene. Michael Hull Although I cited several recent studies that contradicted the safe reopening position of the major political parties and teacher unions, her retort was that a growing body of evidence was the consensus in the United States, citing nothing specific. Further, she stated, What may happen with the variant may happen, then we are going to close the way in which things have gotten closed. Regarding accommodations, she told me, What we can try to do if you want, is try to get you the accommodation you need. On March 27, 2021, having heard no follow up regarding the offer to fight for my accommodation, I contacted AFT, asking them how I claim this benefit, and how thousands of other dues-paying AFT members in a similar situation can do the same? I also tweeted at her and AFT about the matter. It has been nearly a month since my original exchange with Weingarten, and I have still heard nothing back from her or any other representative of AFT regarding accommodations. Moreover, several districts in several states have lifted mask requirements, rendering the CDC guidelines upon which she said schools could reopen safely impossible to implement. In addition, new strains are leading to massive surges across the United States and yet the unions are not moving to close the way in which things have gotten closed. Instead, she has only further capitulated to the establishment regarding the CDC social distancing guidelines she previously claimed to be against. Even if one accepts the spurious notion that these guidelines are done in good faith and without political motivation, the fact they have changed so frequently should indicate that we do not know enough about this virus or its long-term impacts to safely reopen schools. But, instead of erring on the side of caution, Weingarten, the AFT, along with other major teacher unions and the political establishment, would prefer to err on the side of the stock exchanges. I gave Weingarten evidence that schools are not safe, particularly in places like Texas where mask mandates have been lifted. I told her about the deaths, disabilities, and financial hardships educators, parents and students have endured. I gave her the benefit of the doubt and asked her to pivot away from the disastrous safe reopening strategy. I gave her and AFT the chance to fight for us. What I have discovered is that the trade unions are not colluding with the establishment; they are the establishment. 2021 is shaping up to be an active year for mergers and acquisitions in the cybersecurity industry. March alone saw more than 40 firms being acquired. The level of activity is driven by growth in sectors such as identity management, zero trust, managed security services, DevSecOps and cloud security. In many cases, the acquiring company sought to strengthen its position in its marketOktas purchase of Auth0, for example. In others, the acquisition was an entry into a new market; Lookout is now a player in the secure access service edge (SASE) market with the acquisition of CipherCloud. Some used the newly acquired company to expand product capabilities, like Palo Alto Networks boosting its Prisma Cloud platform with cloud security technology from Bridgecrew. Below are the deals that CSO has selected as the most significant of the year. (This list is updated periodically as new deals are announced.) Sumo Logic finalizes acquisition of SOAR provider DFLabs May 25: SIEM and cloud monitoring vendor Sumo Logic adds security orchestration, automation and response (SOAR) capabilities with its purchase of DFLabs. Sumo Logic will extend its cloud-native SIEM solution with DFLabs technology. Customers are looking for a new approach to help them overcome the pain and complexity around an increasingly perimeter-less world, said Greg Martin, vice president and general manager of Sumo Logic Security Business Unit, in a press release. The DFLabs team are experts in helping customers navigate this new world. By aligning our cybersecurity expertise, customer validated and leading security portfolios, we believe we will be able to address the critical challenges our customers face as they navigate this changing threat landscape. Terms of the deal were not announced. Florida is moving to permanently close the leaky Piney Point wastewater reservoir that poured millions of gallons of water into Tampa Bay while threatening to burst open and flood nearby homes and businesses, Gov. Ron DeSantis said Tuesday. The Republican governor said at a news conference at the site that the chronic challenges of containing polluted water at the long-closed phosphate plant must end. We want this to be the last chapter of the Piney Point story, DeSantis said. The reservoir is located just south of Tampa in Manatee County, near waterways that flow into Tampa Bay. The governor said he has directed the Department of Environmental Protection to develop a closure plan, and that $15.4 million in existing agency funds would be used to treat the wastewater to reduce the nutrients that can cause algae blooms and fish kills. When a leak developed at the site this month, in a reservoir that once held 480 million gallons (1.9 million liters), experts fearing a collapse triggered the evacuation of more than 300 homes, businesses and farms in the area. The worst was avoided as engineers rushed in vacuum trucks and other equipment to furiously pump out wastewater, relieving the pressure. Crews also installed a steel plate at the leak site to prevent additional flooding from a seam in the reservoirs plastic liner. The reservoir contains what are called phosphogypsum stacks, a leftover from the phosphate mined for fertilizer. Officials say the water contains nitrogen, phosphorus, ammonia, and small amounts of radium and uranium, but is not radioactive. There are about two dozen other similar phosphate waster reservoirs in Florida, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. They hold about 1 billion tons of phosphogypsum stacks similar to those at Piney Point. The EPA also says about 90% of the nations phosphate is mined in Florida, North Carolina and Tennessee. Noah Valenstein, the Florida DEP secretary, said the state also plans to sue HRK Holdings, which bought the property in 2006 and promised a cleanup. Instead, the company filed for bankruptcy following a 2011 spill of 170 million gallons. Stay tuned for litigation, Valenstein said. This is it. The site has to be closed. Wilton Simpson, the Republican president of the Florida Senate, said lawmakers would work to fully fund the cleanup and closure of Piney Point. The Legislature is currently in session. By the end of session, well have a closure plan, Simpson said. Copyright 2021 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. Topics Florida NEW YORK, April 14, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Pomerantz LLP is investigating claims on behalf of investors of Emergent BioSolutions Inc. (Emergent or the Company) (NYSE: EBS). Such investors are advised to contact Robert S. Willoughby at newaction@pomlaw.com or 888-476-6529, ext. 7980. The investigation concerns whether Emergent and certain of its officers and/or directors have engaged in securities fraud or other unlawful business practices. [Click here for information about joining the class action] On March 31, 2021, the New York Times published an article reporting on the accidental contamination at an Emergent manufacturing plant in Baltimore of coronavirus vaccines developed by Johnson & Johnson and AstraZeneca PLC. According to reporting by the Associated Press, the Emergent factory where the contamination occurred had a series of lapses observed by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in April 2020. On this news, Emergents stock price fell $12.45 per share, or 13.4%, to close at $80.46 per share on April 1, 2021. The Pomerantz Firm, with offices in New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, and Paris is acknowledged as one of the premier firms in the areas of corporate, securities, and antitrust class litigation. Founded by the late Abraham L. Pomerantz, known as the dean of the class action bar, the Pomerantz Firm pioneered the field of securities class actions. Today, more than 80 years later, the Pomerantz Firm continues in the tradition he established, fighting for the rights of the victims of securities fraud, breaches of fiduciary duty, and corporate misconduct. The Firm has recovered numerous multimillion-dollar damages awards on behalf of class members. See www.pomerantzlaw.com CONTACT: Robert S. Willoughby Pomerantz LLP rswilloughby@pomlaw.com 888-476-6529 ext. 7980 [April 15, 2021] Smiths Detection awarded U.S. Customs and Border Protection contract for drive-through X-ray inspection portals Smiths Detection, a global leader in threat detection and security screening technologies, today announces it has been awarded an indefinite-delivery-indefinite-quantity (IDIQ) contract with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, Customs and Border Protection (CBP). The award includes an initial order for a HCVPZ60 drive-through X-ray inspection system which will be installed at a Laredo, Texas Border Patrol checkpoint by September 2022. The HCVPZ60 is a Multi-Energy Portal (MEP) consisting of transmission X-ray and backscatter systems for the fast and effective inspection of trucks, containers and other vehicles at land ports of entry for dangerous and illicit goods, including explosives, weapons and drugs. The system also validates the shipping manifest, further reducing the need for time intensive manual checks. Equipped with a high-energy linear accelerator, the HCVPZ60 provides advanced imaging performance and reliable detection of objects, even those hidden or concealed behind dense or heavy materials, with greater than 12 inches of steel penetration. A single scan can provide rapid results, allowing for a high throughput of over 100 vehicles per hour. This contract builds on the extensive deployment of this technology by Smiths Detecion, with the successful installation of 80 HCVP Z60 units to date globally. Shan Hood, President of Smiths Detection Inc., said: "Our HCVP Z60 is designed to meet the demands of the most complex security environments. With the deployment of this system at Laredo in Texas, U.S. Customs and Border Protection will have the capabilities to efficiently identify and intercept threats and contraband without inhibiting the flow of goods." As with Smiths Detection's IDIQ contract with CBP for rail cargo inspection solutions, this agreement allows for additional orders of the HCVPZ60 under a single contract over five years. ### About HCVP Z60 For more information, please visit: https://www.smithsdetection.com/products/hcvp/ About Smiths Detection Smiths Detection, part of Smiths Group, is a global leader in threat detection and screening technologies for aviation, ports and borders, defence and urban security markets. Our experience and history across more than 40 years at the frontline enables us to deliver the solutions needed to protect society from the threat and illegal passage of explosives, prohibited weapons, contraband, toxic chemicals and narcotics. Our goal is simple - to provide security, peace of mind and freedom of movement upon which the world depends. For more information visit http://www.smithsdetection.com/ View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210415005088/en/ [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] TORONTO, April 15, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Filogix, a Finastra company, announced that Filogix Expert Pro now offers enhanced NOA functionality through an exclusive partnership with MrTaxes.ca Inc. The new functionality provides an unparalleled level of service to the Expert Pro user, all accomplished within the Expert Pro platform, with a turnaround time of as little as 30 minutes (within business hours), once customer consent is received. Filogix Expert Pro has streamlined the process of retrieving necessary NOA documentation, including two years of Notices of Assessment and taxpayer's statements, with all processes completed within the Filogix Expert Pro platform. The broker no longer needs to establish its own business relationship or process documents outside the platform to fulfill NOA requests for its borrower. And because the borrower completes the request for NOA documentation directly, without broker intermediation, the borrower's data is protected as standard. "Filogix is committed to leading the digital enablement of the Canadian mortgage industry," said Siobhan Byron, Senior Vice President and Head of Finastra's Technology Enabled Managed Services. "By partnering with MrTaxes.ca to enhance NOA capabilities within the Filogix Expert Pro platform, we are providing the industry with the most modern, fastest, seamless solution for assisting borrowers in obtaining important Canada Revenue Agency documents required by the lender." "MrTaxes.ca's partnership with Filogix removes a significant hurdle for both brokers and clients," added Robert Stone, Founder, President and CEO, MrTaxes.ca Inc. "Working together, we can better serve the mortgage community through the most comprehensive tax documentation service for mortgage brokers throughout Canada." Filogix Expert Pro's enhanced NOA functionality follows the launch of Filogix Expert Pro and Filogix Expert Plus solutions that digitize the full end-to-end mortgage process. Both Filogix Expert Pro and Filogix Expert Plus are built on the cloud-based point-of-sale mortgage capabilities obtained through the acquisition of Doorr to give Canadian mortgage professionals a dynamic platform to run their businesses, their way anytime, anywhere. finastra.com About Finastra Finastra is building an open platform that accelerates collaboration and innovation in financial services, creating better experiences for people, businesses and communities. Supported by the broadest and deepest portfolio of financial services software, Finastra delivers this vitally important technology to financial institutions of all sizes across the globe, including 90 of the world's top 100 banks. Our open architecture approach brings together a number of partners and innovators. Together we are leading the way in which applications are written, deployed and consumed in financial services to evolve with the changing needs of customers. Learn more at finastra.com LinkedIn Twitter YouTube Corporate headquarters 4 Kingdom Street Paddington London W2 6BD United Kingdom T: +44 20 3320 5000 North American headquarters 744 Primera Boulevard Suite 2000 Lake Mary, FL 32746 United States T: +1 800 989 9009 Logo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/967510/Finastra_Logo.jpg SOURCE Finastra Arts & Culture By Ls Cohen Published: April 15 2021 Kellogg is said to have died from the 1918 flu epidemic. A marker now stands on a street in Huntoington to honor Fay Kellogg, a woman who broke glass ceilings for women professionally and socially as an architect and suffering in the early 20th century. Kellogg, who probably died in the 1918 flu epidemic, summered in Greenlawn. The marker stands at the site of a residence and former post office she designed at 22 Boulevard Avenue in Greenlawn and pays homage to her historical accomplishments. Fay Kellogg designed and built steel construction projects while simultaneously breaking glass ceilings, said Huntington Town Supervisor Chad A. Lupinacci. Lupinacci described Kellogg as a pioneer in the field of architecture. Officials from the Town of Huntington and the Greenlawn-Centerport Historical Association were on hand on April 6 to unveil the new sign. It is thought that Kellogg died at 47-years-old in July 1918 from the so-called Spanish Flu. Fay was a trailblazer, ahead of her time, and should be remembered for her many accomplishments, said Deanne Rathke, Director, Greenlawn-Centerport Historical Association. One of her greatest loves was the summer home that she designed and built here in Greenlawn where she took great pride in putting on a pair of Khaki pants and farming the 15 acres herself." Rathke quoted Kellogg as saying I dont approve of a well-equipped woman creeping along; let her leap ahead as men do. All she needs is courage. "As an advocate for womens rights her words can still serve as an inspiration to women today, she added. The historical marker was funded by a grant, secured by the Greenlawn-Centerport Historical Association, from the William G. Pomeroy Foundation. A press release on the Town of Huntington website outlined Kelloggs biography: Fay Kellogg (1871-1918), a summer resident of Greenlawn, was considered the leading woman architect of her day and an advocate of womens rights, including the right to vote. Kellogg was born in Pennsylvania and studied in Washington, D.C. and at Pratt Institute in Brooklyn. She continued her studies in Paris. Through her efforts the prestigious Ecole des Beaux Arts was opened to women, but only after she had completed her studies elsewhere. She joined the practice of New York architect John R. Thomas, where she helped design the Hall of Records on Chambers Street in Manhattan. After Thomass death, she set up her own architectural practice in 1903. She designed numerous buildings in New York and also a skyscraper in San Francisco as well as hostess houses on military bases in South Carolina, North Carolina, and Tennessee during World War I. She was the lead architect for all building projects nationwide for the American News Company. She usually supervised the construction of her designs. In 1907 and 1909, Kellogg purchased land in Greenlawn totaling 15 acres. She spent six months a year in Greenlawn, raising chickens and commuting into the city. In 1911, Kellogg was commissioned to design a new home and post office for Greenlawns postmaster Elizabeth A. Hilton near the entrance to the new train station on Boulevard across from the firehouse. The bungalow provided living quarters for Hilton as well as space for the post office. Following Hiltons death in 1919, the building was sold to her sister Sarah Hilton. The building continued to be used as the post office until as late as 1929. The building is now a residence. Fay Kellogg died at the age of 47 in her Brooklyn home in July 1918, after falling ill in the spring of 1918, when the Spanish Flu was first identified in U.S. military camps; army personnel were among the first U.S. casualties of the pandemic. While her obituary states that she had a breakdown working on the construction of hostess houses at Camp Gordon in Atlanta, it has been speculated that Kellogg was a victim of the deadly flu of 1918. In partnership with the Embassy of the Netherlands, the University of Kwazulu-Natal's (UKZN) Centre for Creative Arts will present the inaugural Artfluence Human Rights Arts Festival from Wednesday, 5 May to Saturday, 8 May 2021. The festival will be held online and focus on arts, constitution and democracy. Strengthening the link between arts and civil society, active citizenship and politics We want to strengthen the link with the arts and civil society, active citizenship and politics through a series of arts events and arts-based webinars, featuring South African and international artists by creating a dedicated virtual space to share, celebrate, remember, explore, provoke and promote how the arts contribute to a culture of human rights, said Ismail Mahomed, the director of the Centre for Creative Arts The Covid-19 Pandemic has forced a reset on our global society in all its facets. Apart from enormous challenges, it also provided us with the opportunity to correct shortcomings in our society; and to actually start to live and breathe the values as enshrined in our respective constitutions, said Jan Huesken, the deputy ambassador at the Embassy of the Netherlands. Voices of Hope, Courage and Resilience will be the theme for the inaugural festival. It will mark the 25th anniversary of the Centre for Creative Arts as a creative enabler and advocate for social justice and democracy, as well as the 25th anniversary of the adoption of the South African Constitution.The Artfluence Festival will also highlight the solidarity between South African and Dutch artists - past and present - whose contributions have been vital to advancing South African democracy.Mahomed is a multi-award winning arts administrator and former artistic director of the National Arts Festival and board member of the KKNK Festival and Aardklop Festivals. His experience in festival design and management combined with his track record for social justice, which includes invoking the Protective Disclosures Act to win a case in which he exposed corruption in a public-funded institution, makes him ideally suited to conceptualise, direct and oversee the inaugural festival.As the Netherlands we are extremely thankful for the opportunity provided to us by the Centre for Creative Arts at the University of Kwazulu-Natal, to support and promote a festival that uses Arts and Culture as the medium to question, discuss and explore issues of human rights.We cannot meet in person for this festival, but online presentation offers the possibility for an extended participation in our two countries and beyond. This festival will hopefully embed itself in the challenging bouquet of annual festivals already provided by the Centre for Creative Arts at the University of Kwazulu-Natal and create a permanent impact on our societies, he added.One of the more significant clauses in the South African Constitution pertaining to the cultural and creative communities is Section 16 of the Constitution, i.e. Freedom of Expression and Freedom of Creativity. The inaugural ACD Festival will be a valuable opportunity to reflect on these freedoms critically and to engage meaningfully with issues of censorship and the infringement of expressions through a violation of human rights and discriminatory practices, said Mahomed.Mahomed will co-curate the inaugural festival with cultural and gender activist Yusrah Bardien. Her experience includes working on the 30th anniversary of the Culture In Another South Africa Festival that reflected on Dutch solidarity with the South African cultural sector. Bardien also worked as the coordinator of the EU-funded Festival Atelier presented on the African continent for the first time in 2017. Her other credits include working on the cultural programme for Nelson Mandelas funeral.Each day at the festival will be catalysed by an arts event and will be supported by a moderated discussion with informed activists for human rights composed of South African, a Dutch speaker and participants from other states on the African continent. We will invite artists and organisations whose artistic reputations are anchored on advocating for human rights to participate in the inaugural Artfluence Festival, explained Bardien.Due to the ongoing lockdowns resulting from the Covid-19 pandemic, the inaugural festival shall be presented as an online event. Each of the events and panel discussions shall be livestreamed on the festivals social media pages and the CCA YouTube channel . Programme coming soon. Follow @artfluencefest on Twitter for further details. NEW YORK, April 15, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Alleghany Corporation (NYSE:Y) today announced that it will host an Alleghany Capital Corporation ("Alleghany Capital") virtual investor meeting on Friday, May 14, 2021 beginning at 9:00 a.m. Eastern Time and concluding at approximately 11:00 a.m. Eastern Time. The event will include an in-depth presentation by Alleghany Capital executives on its strategy and performance and will also include presentations by leaders of certain of Alleghany Capital's portfolio companies. Presentations by management will be followed by question-and-answer sessions. The meeting will be webcast live and all interested parties are invited to join by registering in advance at http://www.alleghany.com in the Events and Presentation section of the website. A replay of the webcast will be available for 90 days after the event. About Alleghany Corporation Alleghany Corporation (NYSE:Y) creates value by owning and supporting its operating subsidiaries and managing investments, anchored by a core position in property and casualty reinsurance and insurance. Alleghany's property and casualty subsidiaries include: Transatlantic Holdings, Inc., a leading global reinsurer; RSUI Group, Inc., which underwrites wholesale specialty insurance coverages including property, casualty, professional liability and directors' and officers' liability; and CapSpecialty, Inc., an underwriter of commercial property, casualty and surety insurance coverages. Alleghany Capital Corporation owns and supports a diverse portfolio of non-financial businesses for its parent company, Alleghany Corporation (NYSE:Y). Alleghany Capital's industrial businesses include: (i) Precision Cutting Technologies, Inc., a holding company focused on the machine tool and consumable cutting tools sectors through Bourn & Koch, Inc., Diamond Technology Innovations, Inc., CID Performance Tooling, and Supermill LLC; (ii) R.C. Tway Company, LLC (dba Kentucky Trailer), a manufacturer of custom trailers and truck bodies for several niche end markets; (iii) WWSC Holdings, LLC, a structural steel fabricator and erector for commercial, industrial, and transportation infrastructure projects; and (iv) Wilbert Funeral Services, Inc., a provider of products and services for the funeral and cemetery industries and precast concrete markets. Alleghany Capital's non-industrial businesses include: (i) Concord Hospitality Enterprises Company, a hotel management and development company; (ii) IPS-Integrated Project Services, LLC, a provider of design, engineering, procurement, construction management, and validation services for the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries; and (iii) Jazwares, LLC, a global toy and musical instrument company. For additional information about Alleghany Capital Corporation, please visit www.alleghanycc.com. Story continues Cision View original content:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/alleghany-corporation-to-host-alleghany-capital-corporation-virtual-investor-meeting-on-may-14-2021-301270205.html SOURCE Alleghany Corporation TusharK Senior - BHPian Join Date: Jul 2017 Location: Pune Posts: 3,315 Thanked: 29,427 Times Scoop! BYD e6 electric car caught in Chennai; launch in 2021 The BYD e6 looks like a typical MPV with a large greenhouse. This particular car is the second generation model. It has a perforated front fascia with projector headlamps on either side, while the rear gets sleek wraparound LED taillights. On the inside, the BYD e6 gets a dashboard with a floating 10.1-inch touchscreen infotainment system in the centre. A unique feature of this head-unit is that the screen can be rotated by 90-degrees to switch between landscape and portrait modes. The car also gets 6-way adjustable front seats, an electronic parking brake, 4 airbags, traction control, ABS, hill-start assist and a tyre pressure monitoring system. The BYD e6 is powered by a 71.1 kWh battery pack which is said to offer a range of 450-500 km on a single charge. It comes with a 40 kW AC on-board charger which has DC charging capability. The company claims that it can recharge the battery to 100% in just 1.5 hours. We have been told that the BYD e6 could be priced around Rs. 20-25 lakh. It is one of the three EVs including a 7-seater that the company plans to launch in the Indian market. Thanks to the Team-BHP fan (he prefers to remain anonymous) who sent these images in. Heartfelt gratitude for sharing them with other enthusiasts via Link to Team-BHP News The BYD e6 electric MPV has been spotted in Chennai. The car is expected to be launched in India in the final quarter of 2021. Initially, it will be imported as a completely built unit (CBU) under the rule which allows for the import of 2,500 units without the need for homologation.The BYD e6 looks like a typical MPV with a large greenhouse. This particular car is the second generation model. It has a perforated front fascia with projector headlamps on either side, while the rear gets sleek wraparound LED taillights.On the inside, the BYD e6 gets a dashboard with a floating 10.1-inch touchscreen infotainment system in the centre. A unique feature of this head-unit is that the screen can be rotated by 90-degrees to switch between landscape and portrait modes. The car also gets 6-way adjustable front seats, an electronic parking brake, 4 airbags, traction control, ABS, hill-start assist and a tyre pressure monitoring system.The BYD e6 is powered by a 71.1 kWh battery pack which is said to offer a range of 450-500 km on a single charge. It comes with a 40 kW AC on-board charger which has DC charging capability. The company claims that it can recharge the battery to 100% in just 1.5 hours.We have been told that the BYD e6 could be priced around Rs. 20-25 lakh. It is one of the three EVs including a 7-seater that the company plans to launch in the Indian market.Thanks to the Team-BHP fan (he prefers to remain anonymous) who sent these images in. Heartfelt gratitude for sharing them with other enthusiasts via this Team-BHP share page Last edited by GTO : 14th April 2021 at 08:32 . Reason: Correcting battery pack rating to 71.1 kWh The report will lay out what steps the companies have taken toward racial parity, and track whether and where promised donations have been made. It will also examine the number of Black executives at the leading music companies and the power they hold, and how many Black people sit on their boards. Future reports will take deeper looks at questions like how equitably the industry itself operates, Binta Niambi Brown and Willie Stiggers, a.k.a. Prophet, the coalitions co-chairmen, said in an interview this week. Our fight is much bigger than just whether or not you wrote a check, said Prophet, an artist manager who works with Asian Doll, Layton Greene and other acts. But the fact that you said you were going to write a check, we want to make sure that money was actually given and that it went to a place that actually hit the veins of the Black community. The report, to be written by Naima Cochrane, a journalist and former label executive, will be modeled on the annual media studies by the advocacy group GLAAD, which track the representation of L.G.B.T.Q. characters in film and television and assign ratings to the various companies behind them. It is expected to be issued by June 19 Juneteenth, the annual holiday commemorating the end of slavery in the United States. The coalitions public statements have made it clear that it sees itself as a strict and unflinching judge of the music industry, which has a dark history of exploitation of Black artists even as Black music has long been and remains its most essential product. Last summer, an online campaign called #BlackoutTuesday brought out painful commentary that, even today, many Black executives feel marginalized, subject to white supervisors who hold greater powers and earn more money. Brown, a label executive and artist manager, said the goal of the report is not punishment but encouragement. From 30 March to 9 April 2021, the World Customs Organization (WCO) Environment Programme organized a series of four workshops in selected regions on the topic of wildlife seizure data collection. In total, 105 Customs officers from 44 Member administrations and four Regional Intelligence Liaison Offices (RILOs) attended the workshops in the form of webinars. These were mainly nCEN officials, national CEN coordinators, and Customs officials responsible for entering data into CEN from countries in Asia / Pacific, West, Central, East and Southern Africa and South America. The workshops provided an opportunity to present the fauna and flora commodity section in the updated version of the Customs Enforcement Network (CEN), covering both species protected under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) and species not listed in the Convention. Collecting large amounts of accurate data is crucial to enable Customs administrations, RILOs and the WCO to develop up-to-date and relevant strategies, as well as to provide informed and accurate guidance to shape effective policies. This data collection also facilitates the production of the Illicit Trade Report, published annually by the WCO. Unfortunately, despite affecting every corner of the world, illegal wildlife trade (IWT) is rarely considered as a Customs priority area. Collecting data thoroughly will not only offer a better picture of the extent of this type of crime but will also highlight current trends and patterns, both in terms of criminal modi operandi and market demand. The results of this data analysis can, in turn, lead to adjustments in policy and enforcement efforts aimed at offering greater protection to the most vulnerable species. Accordingly, the WCO has updated its CEN platform to reflect the latest CITES list of species and make the seizure reporting template more precise and user-friendly, thus simplifying and encouraging seizure reporting by Customs officers. This will benefit Customs administrations in their day-to-day seizure data input into the CEN, as well as during more intensive reporting periods such as IWT-targeted enforcement operations, notably the Operation THUNDER series. This updated CEN platform will provide WCO Member administrations with access to quality data at all times. The webinars were organized under the auspices of the International Consortium on Combating Wildlife Crime (ICCWC) and generously funded by the European Commissions Directorate General for International Development and Cooperation (DG DEVCO). ICCWC is the result of a collaborative effort between the CITES Secretariat, INTERPOL, the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), the World Bank, and the WCO. The Consortium aims to give coordinated support to the national wildlife law enforcement agencies and to the networks that, on a daily basis, act in defence of natural resources by tackling wildlife crime holistically and throughout the supply chain, from detection to arrest, investigation and prosecution. By utilizing EPXs technologies, this next generation of ePNs contactless solutions helps our merchants process chip, tap, or swipe payments, which will help to differentiate them from the competition. eProcessing Network (ePN), a leading independent payment gateway and software development company in the Electronic Payment Processing Industry, today announced its certification by Electronic Payment Exchange (EPX) to accept and process NFC, PIN Debit, EMV, and eCommerce transactions. EPX is an international leader in providing cost-effective solutions to the payments industry and has certified with ePN to offer true end-to-end, secure, and PCI-compliant payment processing. With the newest certification, ePN merchants have several options when it comes to payment devices to process secure and seamless transactions through the EPX platform. Certification includes mobile, retail and QuickBooks transactions, allowing the contact and contactless acceptance of all major card brands, as well as UnionPay, GooglePay, and ApplePay to be faster, easier, and more cost-effective for the merchant. ePNs Premier Verify SCN supporting MSR, EMV-chip, and NFC/contactless payments allows merchants to process tapngo payments easily and affordably and helps improve transaction speed at the point of sale. The WisePad 3 and the MP200L both support EMV Chip & PIN and NFC/contactless, which works well with ePNs Cash Discount offerings. We are excited for the certification of eProcessing Network to the EPX processing platform, said Jim Parkinson, Chief Experience Officer at Electronic Payment Exchange. This allows ePN to offer true end-to-end payment options to their customers, increasing the quality of the overall consumer experience, while providing advanced security features to guard against card fraud. eProcessing Network is committed to partnering with leading processors like EPX to help provide our ISO/MSP partners with the secure solutions that can further minimize the risk of fraud for their merchants, said Steve Sotis, President of eProcessing Network. By utilizing EPXs technologies, this next generation of ePNs contactless solutions helps our merchants process chip, tap, or swipe payments, which will help to differentiate them from the competition. About eProcessing Network, LLC eProcessing Network (ePN) is a software development company specializing in secure, real-time transaction processing services, solutions, and support for all small to mid-sized merchants. Headquartered in Houston, Texas, ePN is certified to process a comprehensive suite of electronic payment transactions through all major credit & debit card, check/ACH and gift card/loyalty processors, and sells its services and products exclusively through Resellers and ISO sales channels. eProcessing Network is a registered Visa USA and Mastercard Third-Party Service Provider and is compliant with PCI and PA-DSS Data Security Standards. For more information, visit http://www.eProcessingNetwork.com or contact Melanie Cabello at mcabello@eprocessingnetwork.com. Follow us on social media: LinkedIn, Facebook, and Instagram. About Electronic Payment Exchange (EPX) Founded in 1979, EPX is a full-service credit card, debit card, stored value, and electronic check (ACH) payment transaction processor with over $18 billion in annual processing volume. Leveraging its unmatched expertise in processing security allows EPX to offer merchants the most secure and cost-effective payment processing services. As a wholly owned subsidiary of North American Bancard, a leader in the electronic payment processing industry, EPX continues its cutting-edge research and to build, implement, and support industry-leading payment processing solutions that facilitate PCI compliance, merchant protection, and drive consumer confidence. For more information, please visit http://www.epx.com or contact Samantha Shattuck at sshattuck@nabancard.com. KANSAS CITY, Mo., April 15, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- StorageMart officially opened one of its newest self storage facilities at 417 Grand Blvd in downtown Kansas City, Missouri on April 09, 2021. The building adds a variety of storage unit sizes in the heart of the River Market neighborhood near downtown Kansas City. Notable upgrades to the property include more powerful lighting, 24-hour video surveillance cameras, and electronic gated facility access. This location is also notable for offering touch-free gate access via a free, downloadable app for Apple and Android devices called "StorageUnlocked." With the app installed on a smartphone, the gate automatically opens as the customer approaches - no need to punch in a key code or physically touch an access panel. "The Kansas City market plays an important role in our strategic growth plan. That's why we're excited to expand our presence in this vibrant community and bring new innovations to the self storage experience." Weyen Burnam, Managing Director of Construction. Now celebrating its grand opening, StorageMart at 417 Grand Blvd in downtown Kansas City, MO joins 11 other locations in KCMO and the surrounding areas. About StorageMart: Dedicated to providing clean, well-lit storage units, and friendly customer service, StorageMart is the largest family operated self storage company in the world, and is led by the Burnam family, which has been in the storage industry for four generations. Through the "Store it Forward'' charitable giving program, StorageMart gives back to the many communities it calls home. In recent years, the company donated more than half a million dollars to charities, in addition to donating storage space to charitable organizations throughout the US, UK, and Canada. Find out more at https://www.storage-mart.com. Contact: Sarah Little 573.449.0091 [email protected] SOURCE StorageMart Related Links http://www.storage-mart.com Fans of comic Pete Davidson and Bridgerton star Phoebe Dynevor have noticed the pair wearing identical initial necklaces amid rumours of a romance. Pete, 27, appeared on a chat show in the US this week sporting a silver 'PD' chain around his neck. Meanwhile, Phoebe, 25, was seen taking part in a YouTube Q&A sporting the same necklace. Spotted: Fans of comic Pete Davidson and Bridgerton star Phoebe Dynevor have noticed the pair wearing identical initial necklaces amid rumours of a romance A source has since told The Sun: 'Pete is wearing it as a romantic gesture to Phoebe. He wanted to show just how much she means to him and just how serious he is about them. 'Shes in London and hes in America. So they wanted to feel like theyre together when theyre not. Matching: The couple wore necklaces with their P and D initials 'Any time theyre feeling a bit lonely and missing each other they look down at the PD!' Pete seemingly confirmed the rumoured dalliance during a virtual conversation with Marquette University students on Sunday. When asked to reveal the identity of his celebrity crush during the Q&A, the Saturday Night Live star told the student body he was off the market. 'Im with my celebrity crush,' he teased with a cheeky grin, without specifically using Dynevors name, months after sparking romance rumors with the actress. He added: 'That is all I can speak on.' Dropping hints: Pete seemingly confirmed he is dating Bridgerton's Phoebe during a virtual conversation with Marquette University students on Sunday night Pete is the ex-fiance of superstar Ariana, 27, who he was engaged to for four months until October 2018 when they ended their whirlwind romance. Ariana later referenced Pete in her song Thank U, Next with the lyric: 'Even almost got married, and for Pete, I'm so thankful.' Phoebe is the daughter of Coronation Street actress Sally Dynevor, 57, who plays Sally Webster, and she first appeared on TV aged 14 with roles in Snatch and later Waterloo Road. She recently rose to prominence in Netflix's Bridgerton, shooting raunchy love scenes with onscreen husband Rege-Jean Page, 31. The show has already been renewed for a second series, but the cast are yet to start filming. The first became Netflix's most-watched original series ever after debuting in December with 82million households watching in its first 28 days. Going strong: When asked to reveal the identity of his celebrity crush during the Q&A,Pete said he was off the market in a nod to a romance with Phoebe In 2019, Pete had a relationship with British actress Kate Beckinsale, who is 20 years older than him. Pete also romanced Once Upon A Time In Hollywood actress Margaret Qualley, 26, daughter of Four Weddings and a Funeral's Andie MacDowell, and last year he dated Cindy Crawford's daughter Kaia Gerber, 19. Phoebe's last relationship is thought to have been with Skins actor Sean Teale, 28, in 2017. NORTHBROOK, Ill., April 15, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Hilco Real Estate LLC announces the bid deadline of Thursday, May 27 for four condominium units that have been combined into a well-maintained office/warehouse flex space totaling 9,030 square feet. Built within the Bentley Park Condominiums office complex in 1997, the versatile property sits just off the intersection of U.S. Route 422 and Ohio Route 91, offering easy access to the greater Cleveland area. Located at 29500 Aurora Road in Solon, Ohio, the property is situated on a 5.31 acre lot with access from both Aurora Road and Cochran Road. With convenient access to I-480, downtown Cleveland is less than a 25-minute drive away. The property is zoned I-2 for industrial manufacturing and features two drive-in doors with sizeable rear storage areas, making it ideal for a variety of service-related business. The area immediately surrounding the property plays host to a diverse mix of industrial and commercial companies, which include both single tenant and multi-tenant light industrial and warehouse facilities. This strong industrial base provides excellent employment opportunities within the city of Solon. As a suburb of Cleveland, Solon has a population of approximately 23,000 people. The city has received numerous awards and recognitions throughout recent years. For example, it was highly ranked on multiple "Best in the Cleveland Area" lists such as the Best Place to Buy a House, Best Public Schools, Best Places to Live, and even received the top spot for the Best Place to Raise a Family in 2021 alone. Other sources that have placed Solon on their "best" lists include Cleveland Magazine, Bloomberg Businessweek and Money Magazine, to name a few. Money Magazine mentioned that the city receives high honors year after year for reasons such as its low unemployment rate, great schools and access to health care. The city is also home to numerous major employers including L'Oreal, Nestle and the international industrial equipment maker, Swagelok. Steve Madura, senior vice president at Hilco Real Estate said, "This well-maintained flex office space is a versatile property with potential to accommodate a variety of uses." He continued, "The location couldn't be better as Solon offers a dynamic, business-friendly environment and strong economy. With more noteworthy accolades than you can count, the city truly offers a promising future of continued growth and success, which in turn will be a direct benefit to the successful buyer and ultimate business that get to call this property home." The bid deadline is scheduled for Thursday, May 27, 2021 at 5:00 p.m. (CT). On-site inspections will be held on Tuesday, May 4 and Tuesday, May 18 at 1:00 p.m. (ET). Please call to schedule an appointment. For further information on the property, an explanation of the sale process and Terms of Sale, and to obtain access to the Virtual Data Room containing all the property due diligence, please visit HilcoRealEstate.com or contact Kiefer Price at (847) 504-3221 or [email protected]. For more information about this or other properties available for sale, please visit HilcoRealEstate.com. About Hilco Real Estate Hilco Real Estate ("HRE"), a Hilco Global company (HilcoGlobal.com), is headquartered in Northbrook, Illinois (USA). HRE is a national provider of strategic real estate disposition services. Acting as an agent or principal, HRE uses its experience to advise and execute strategies to assist clients in deriving the maximum value from their real estate assets. By leveraging multi-faceted sales strategies & techniques, aggressive repositioning and restructuring experience, a vast and motivated network of buyers and sellers, and substantial access to capital, HRE exceeds expectations even in the most complex transactions. SOURCE Hilco Real Estate Related Links https://www.hilcorealestate.com By Julie Carle A Bowling Green State University alumna was named the Outstanding Researcher of the Year by a global health care company for her role in the successful launch of a COVID-19 rapid antigen test. Tao Xin, a 1994 Master of Science in biological sciences graduate, led the Abbott team in Carlsbad, California, that developed the antibodies used in the companys BinaxNOWTM COVID-19 test the test BGSU is using for for its COVID-19 testing. The rapid test identifies antigens or proteins of the virus, that can be detected when a person is infected with the COVID-19 virus. The BinaxNOW Self Test was recently approved for over-the counter use by both symptomatic and asymptomatic people. My team was the major contributor in some of the materials that were used in the final product, she said. That was no small task. In less than four months, Xin's team developed an important component of the antigen test, which provides results in 15 minutes or less and requires no specialized instrumentation. She and her five-member team worked weekends and long days to get the project moving, Xin said. They then had to produce massive quantities to be shipped to Maine, where many of the test kits are produced. The production system we use makes it easy to do mass production, Xin said, even as the company looks at ramping production to as many a 50 million tests per month. Buy some sunscreen and break out the champagne Malta will pay you to visit its shores this summer (if you can get there). The European island nation, sitting pretty in the Mediterranean Sea, is looking to jolt its tourism economy into action by helping cover the cost of hotels for travellers arriving from June. The scheme was unveiled last Friday, and is the brainchild of the Malta Tourism Authority. Visitors who book a three-night stay in select hotels will receive compensation on a scaled basis and the amounts will be matched by hotels, Yahoo! News reports. For example, those who book into one of the select five star hotels will receive 100 [AUD $156] from Malta Tourism Authority and 100 [AUD $156] from the hotel for a total of 200 [AUD $312] per person, per booking. Meanwhile, those at the four-star hotels included in the program will get 150 (AUD $234) per person, per booking and those at three-star hotels included in the program will get 100 (AUD $156) per person, per booking. Those who stay on Maltas smaller island of Gozo will also receive an additional 10% on top of their compensation, (Yahoo! News). RELATED: Portugal Lures Travellers With Little Known Amalfi Coast Alternative Malta has always held an allure, but in recent years has been gently elbowed out of the limelight as an on-trend holiday destination by the likes of Positano, The Amalfi Coast, Mykonos, Santorini, Ibiza, Sardinia, etc. In an age where tourists are reportedly sick of other tourists, perhaps this adds to Maltas mysterious (and subsidized) new pull? View this post on Instagram A post shared by Visual Creators from Malta (@lovemalta) From windy streets to clifftop views reminiscent of Capri or Alicudi, Malta has more attractions than you can throw a scuba mask or architectural site map at. RELATED: At Alicudi We Bite: Italian Island Locals Dont Want You To Visit According to the OECD, Tourism is an important contributor to Maltas economy, directly supporting 33 180 jobs and 14.9% of total employment in 2018. The contribution of tourism to Maltas GDP in 2018 was 12.8%, making tourism one of the top five contributors to the economy. Malta Tourism Minister Clayton Bartolo said in a statement: The scheme is aimed at putting Maltas hotels in a very competitive position as international tourism restarts. View this post on Instagram A post shared by Aoibhe Devlin (@aoibhedevlin) Malta Today reported on the 13th of April that Malta has 59 new cases, 50 recoveries, 561 active cases and 1,758 Swab tests in the past 24 hours. With Europes vaccine passport system continuing to be debated, the only question now is who will be heading to Malta first young people or their grandparents? Read Next Tokyo, April 15 : Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga is set to depart for the US on Thursday for talks with President Joe Biden amid the Covid-19 pandemic and tension with China. Suga is scheduled to hold a summit meeting with Biden at the White House on Friday, becoming the first foreign leader to meet in person with the new president, who was inaugurated in January, DPA news agency reported. Suga wants the talks to be "productive", he told reporters on Wednesday. The two leaders want to show the strong ties of the Japan-US alliance and their commitment to the Indo-Pacific region, Tokyo said. Suga and Biden are expected to discuss climate change, the Covid-19 pandemic, issues related to China and North Korea and cooperation toward a free and open Indo-Pacific region, the Japanese government said. Tokyo has expressed concerns about a new Chinese law which allows Beijing's coastguard to use weapons on foreign ships. Chinese coastguard vessels were spotted near a group of uninhabited islets in the East China Sea every day in the past two months. The Japanese-administered Senkaku Islands are also claimed by China and Taiwan, where they are known as Diaoyu and Tiaoyutai, respectively. BISHKEK -- Raimbek Matraimov, the controversial former deputy chief of the Kyrgyz Customs Service who was placed on the U.S. Magnitsky sanctions list for his involvement in the illegal funneling of hundreds of millions of dollars abroad, has been released from custody and the investigation has been closed. The State Committee for National Security (UKMK) said on April 15 that the money-laundering probe against Matraimov was stopped after investigators had not found any cash or real estate belonging to Matraimov or members of his family abroad. When Matraimov was rearrested in February, the UKMK said he was held as a suspect for laundering money through the purchase of property in China, Russia, Turkey, Ukraine, and the United Arab Emirates. A Bishkek court in February ordered pretrial custody for Matraimov in connection with the corruption charges after hundreds of Kyrgyz protested a previous ruling mitigating a sentence after a guilty plea to no jail time and fines of just a few thousand dollars. The court had justified the mitigated sentence by saying that Matraimov had paid back around $24 million that disappeared through schemes that he oversaw. That decision was based on an economic-amnesty law passed in December 2020 that allows individuals who obtained financial assets through illegal means to avoid prosecution by turning the assets over to the State Treasury. The idea of an economic amnesty was announced in October by Sadyr Japarov, then-acting Kyrgyz president, just a day after Matraimov was detained and placed under house arrest. Japarov has since been elected president on a pledge to stamp out graft and enact reforms. Japarov also championed a new constitution -- approved by voters earlier this month -- that expands the power of the president. Critics say the amnesty legislation was proposed and hastily prepared by lawmakers to allow Matraimov and others to avoid conviction for corruption, while the constitutional changes create an authoritarian system and concentrate too much power in the hands of the president.. In June 2019 an investigation by RFE/RL, the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project, and Kloop implicated Matraimov in a corruption scheme involving the transfer of hundreds of millions of dollars out of Kyrgyzstan by Chinese-born Uyghur businessman Aierken Saimaiti, who was subsequently assassinated in Istanbul in November 2019. According to the U.S. Treasury Department, the estimated $700 million scheme involved a company controlled by Matraimov bribing officials to skirt customs fees and regulations, as well as engaging in money laundering, "allowing for maximum profits." A U.S. report on human rights around the world, released in March, spotlighted threats to freedom of expression and a free press in Kyrgyzstan. In a section on respect for civil liberties, including freedom of the press, the State Department noted threats to journalists involved in that report, which implicated Matraimov. In January, the 49-year-old Matraimov changed his last name to Ismailov, while his wife, Uulkan Turgunova, changed her family name to Sulaimanova. The changed names, confirmed to RFE/RL by a spokesperson for Kyrgyzstan's state registration service, were seen as an attempt to evade the U.S.- imposed sanctions. There have been no official statements from lawyers for Matraimov's family to explain the name change. Press Release April 15, 2021 Dispatch from Crame No. 1057: Sen. Leila M. de Lima on the AFP and the latest developments in WPS 4/15/21 The recent occupation of Julian Felipe reef by China's naval militia's fake fishing boats has revealed the confusion within the Duterte administration whether to treat it as such or to simply ignore it altogether. The former is the position of the officials that matter when it comes to foreign affairs and national defense, i.e., Sec. Teddyboy Locsin and Delfin Lorenzana. Their apparent strong opposition to the Chinese occupation coincides with five other major incidents transpiring in the region: The entry of the Theodore Roosevelt carrier group into the South China Sea; the second breakout from the first island chain of the Liaoning carrier group from the East China Sea into the Pacific; the increased intrusion of the PLA Air Force into Taiwanese airspace; the declaration of US Secretary of State Blinken reiterating the trigger factors of the US-PH Mutual Defense Treaty; and the start of the annual Balikatan exercises of the AFP with American forces in the Pacific. On the other hand, the latter position is held by, among others, the commander of the WesCom itself, Vice Admiral Ramil Roberto Enriquez, and probably the other AFP branch commanders under the WesCom. This latter position reflects Duterte's policy of subservience to China, instead of defending the Philippine entitlements in the West Philippine Sea against a Chinese invasion. Instead of following the lead of Lorenzana, the WesCom commander would rather speak and make excuses for the Chinese Navy missile boats that chased down ABS-CBN reporter Chiara Zambrano and her crew. Later, as if realizing the cowardly and shameless statement uttered by its WesCom commander, the AFP awarded Zambrano with a token recognition. This is how confused this government and its AFP is when it comes to China. Not even the presence of an American carrier force right at China's doorstep sending signals for China to stand down has consolidated the AFP's resolve to defend the country and for once, just for once, have the balls to stand up to China. Even with Blinken's declaration, US aircraft carriers with the US Navy's latest F35B stealth fighters in the WPS, and the Balikatan on our own shores, apparently the AFP cannot yet shake off its terror over China that it has imbibed and inherited from Duterte. While everyone in the world, including China's own generals, are warning Xi Jinping that he is overstretching in confronting the US and the Philippines in the WPS, Taiwan in the Straits, and Japan in the East China Sea, all at the same time and without any ally or friend whatsoever (except Duterte), the AFP still thinks it is worth it to continue to support Duterte's policy of grovelling before China. For some reason, the AFP has completely accepted the story being sold by local pro-China opportunists that the future of the country and the region lies with China as the sun supposedly sets on the American empire in the Pacific. Regardless of the accuracy of this story, the fact is China remains alone in the world, as every western ally, from India to Europe and Australia, Japan and South Korea are sending ships to the South China Sea to send a message to China. And that message is simply this: they will not allow China to invade Taiwan or take control of the South China Sea. That simply will never happen. For all their education and training at the premier military institution of the country, our PMAers in the AFP seem to have lost all lessons on strategic thinking, and are now bitterly confined to a parochial world-view limited by the dictates of the hand that feeds them. Hopefully, with the end of Duterte next year, the AFP can immediately regain its shaky loyalty to the Republic, and that the damage Duterte has wreaked on the institution has not yet become irreversible. That might be wishful thinking, but we have no option but to rehabilitate this present general staff of the AFP because our country has only one AFP who will defend us against China. Either that, or we start accepting our fate in this region as just another one of China's satellites after Laos and Cambodia. ### (Access the handwritten copy of Dispatch from Crame No. 1057 here: https://issuu.com/senatorleilam.delima/docs/dispatchno1057) United Nations, United States, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 15th Apr, 2021 ) :The United Nations Security Council is set to meet Thursday to discuss the crisis in Ethiopia's northern Tigray region following a US request, diplomatic sources said Wednesday. The 15 Security Council members will hear from UN humanitarian chief Mark Lowcock, who will talk about the continued difficulties in getting aid to refugees, according to the UN. In early March Lowcock called for Eritrea to withdraw its troops from Tigray, in the first recognition by a UN official of Eritrea's involvement in the fighting there. UN officials in Geneva have accused the Eritrean army of committing war crimes and crimes against humanity in Tigray. Asmara rejects the accusations. Thursday's meeting will be a closed-door session similar to the March 4 meeting on Tigray. At that time China and Russia opposed adopting a unanimous statement calling for an end to violence in the region as both countries consider the matter an internal Ethiopian affair. Ethiopia is a longstanding US ally, but Washington has been increasingly alarmed since Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed launched a military offensive in Tigray in November. US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has spoken of "ethnic cleansing" in Tigray, where Eritrean troops also intervened to fight the local ruling party. C3 AI and Yokogawa Electric Corporation have announced that Yokogawa has selected the C3 AI Suite as a platform to enhance enterprise AI applications and complement its digital transformation solutions and services for industrial customers. Yokogawa signed a multi-year agreement enabling the company and its wholly owned subsidiary, KBC, to deploy the C3 AI Suite with its advanced AI capabilities to their software portfolio. Yokogawa and KBC implement leading technology and best practices, turning strategy to results through technical and commercial excellence, underpinned by engineering simulation and analytics, and systematised through operational technology and digital services. Yokogawa expects C3 AI to play a critical role in its AI-enabled offerings that deliver optimised productivity for clients, greater levels of industrial autonomy, and creation of new business opportunities across vertical industries, including power generation, renewables, mining and metals, chemicals, and oil and gas. The C3 AI Suite brings new opportunities to seamlessly integrate state-of-the-art AI into our software portfolio at enterprise scale, said Yu Dai, a Yokogawa director and senior vice president of the companys Digital Solutions Headquarters. Our initial work with C3 AI will drive digital transformation through more accurate simulations for our customers, leading to improvements in their operational efficiency and margins. With the C3 AI Suite powering Yokogawas market-leading offerings across industries, customers can look forward to faster, more accurate, and scalable tools for streamlining operations and adding to the bottom line, said Tom Siebel, chairman and CEO of C3 AI. Combining Yokogawas unique strengths in measurement, control, and simulation with C3 AIs leading enterprise AI software will result in improved operations across industry verticals. The agreement also enables C3 AI to establish a direct presence in Japan through its work with Yokogawa. -- Tradearabia News Service Reuters will begin charging for access to its website as it tries to capture a slice of the digital subscription business. The company, one of the largest news organizations in the world, announced the new paywall on Thursday, as well as a redesigned website aimed at a professional audience wanting business, financial and general news. After registration and a free preview period, a subscription to Reuters.com will cost $34.99 a month, the same as Bloombergs digital subscription. The Wall Street Journals digital subscription costs $38.99 a month, while The New York Times costs $18.42 monthly. Reuters.com attracts 41 million unique visitors a month. Months of audience research showed that those readers were divided in two separate groups: those wanting breaking news and professionals looking for context and analysis about how news affected their industry, Josh London, chief marketing officer at Reuters, said in an interview. Newly-appointed Foreign Minister (FM) Bui Thanh Son on April 14 held separate online conversations with Australian FM Marise Payne, Malaysian FM Hishammuddin Hussein and Philippine FM Teodoro Locsin Jr.. Vietnamese Foreign Minister Bui Thanh Son During the conversations, Son affirmed that Australia, Malaysia, the Philippines are important and reliable partners that share many strategic interests with Vietnam. He expressed his satisfaction with positive development steps in Vietnams Strategic Partnerships with Australia, Malaysia and the Philippines in the recent past, with political trust enhanced and trade and investment maintained despite challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic. The Australian, Malaysian and Philippine ministers congratulated Son on his appointment as Vietnams FM, and congratulated Vietnam on its achievements in pandemic control and socio-economic development as well as its successes in external affairs when it was the ASEAN Chair in 2020 and is a non-permanent member of the UN Security Council in the 2020-2021 tenure. They agreed to closely coordinate to promote relations with Vietnam in all aspects, with focus on promoting delegation exchanges, speeding up high-level and all-level meetings in flexible forms, effectively implementing bilateral cooperation mechanisms and agreements, strengthening and deepening security - defence collaboration, and continuing to support each other in agricultural - aquatic product exports, trade, investment and ODA cooperation. Son thanked the Australian, Malaysian and Philippine governments for creating favourable conditions for Vietnamese citizens living, studying and working in the host countries, effectively coordinating in joint efforts to respond to the pandemic, especially in arranging repatriation flights for Vietnamese citizens and cooperation in safe and effective access to vaccine sources. He showed his hope that Malaysia and the Philippines continue providing humanitarian treatment to arrested Vietnamese fishermen and handle the cases in a goodwill and cooperative manner. Payne agreed to maintain the effective implementation of the Action Programme to implement the Vietnam - Australia Strategic Partnership for 2020 - 2023, to soon complete a strategy for strengthening bilateral economic cooperation. Hishammuddin affirmed to work towards the early completion of the Action Programme to implement the Vietnam - Malaysia Strategic Partnership for 2021 - 2025 and organise the sixth meeting of the Inter-Governmental Committee for Economic, Scientific and Technological Cooperation in Malaysia when conditions permit. Meanwhile, Locsin affirmed to coordinate with Vietnam in carrying out activities to celebrate the 45th founding anniversary of diplomatic relations in 2021, holding the 10th meeting of the Joint Committee on Bilateral Cooperation at the foreign ministerial level, as well as effectively implementing the Action Programme to implement the Strategic Partnership between the two countries during 2019 - 2024. Son thanked Australia, Malaysia and the Philippines for their cooperation with and support to Vietnam when it took over its role as the ASEAN Chair 2020 and a non-permanent member of the UN Security Council for 2020 - 2021. They also reached consensus on continue coordinating closely at multilateral forms and in regional and international issues of mutual concern. Son took this occasion to invite the three ministers to visit Vietnam when conditions permit and at an appropriate time. The Australia, Malaysia and the Philippine ministers accepted the invitations with pleasure./. VNA Source: Xinhua| 2021-04-15 16:41:07|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close Indonesian police officers carry the body of a suspect terrorist at Bhayangkara hospital in Makssar, South Sulawesi, Indonesia, April 15, 2021. A terrorist suspect in the Indonesian city of Makassar in South Sulawesi province was killed by the National Police counterterrorism squad Densus 88 after allegedly trying to attack officers with machetes during a raid, police said on Thursday. (Photo by Niaz Sharief/Xinhua) JAKARTA, April 15 (Xinhua) -- A terrorist suspect in the Indonesian city of Makassar in South Sulawesi province was killed by the National Police counterterrorism squad Densus 88 after allegedly trying to attack officers with machetes during a raid, police said on Thursday. "When (the suspect) was going to be arrested, (the suspect) resisted and attacked officers who then took measurable firm actions," South Sulawesi police's spokesman E. Zulpan told reporters in Makassar, as reported by local media. The suspected terrorist, identified as MT, was allegedly linked to the suicide bombers who attacked a cathedral in the city late in March. MT was shot to death in Biringkanaya sub-district. To date, at least 31 suspected terrorists have been arrested by Densus 88 following the suicide bombing in Makassar. Those suspects are allegedly affiliated with the Jamaah Ansharut Daulah (JAD), an IS-inspired organization suspected of suicide attacks on churches in the city of Surabaya, East Java, in 2018. Enditem WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - 75267 new coronavirus cases were reported in the United States on Tuesday, taking the national total to 31421367. This is higher than the 7-day average of 71511. 932 new deaths were reported in the country on the day. With this, the COVID death toll in the U.S. increased to 564402, according to the latest data from Johns Hopkins University. The 7-day average of COVID deaths is 764. California, the worst-affected state, reported the highest number of deaths - 174. Nearly 10000 new cases were reported in Michigan, one of the worst hot zones of the nation. New York was the second worst state in both the pandemic metrics, reporting 94 new deaths and 6000 additional cases. CDC's most recent data show the seven-day average of new cases has continued to increase, now 6 percent over the last seven-days. Hospital admissions also continue to increase. The most recent seven-day average - a little over 5,400 admissions per day - is also up 6.8 percent from the previous seven-day period. Giving an update on the Biden administration's vaccination program, White House COVID-19 Response Coordinator Jeff Zients said more than 122 million Americans have already received at least one shot, and more than 75 million people are fully vaccinated. The current seven-day national average is 3.3 million vaccinations per day. According to Zients, there is plenty of supply in the system of Moderna and Pfizer, including to replace J&J appointments with their vaccine. At a White House routine briefing on the fight against the pandemic, COVID CDC director Dr. Rochelle Walensky shed more light on cases of blood clots in people who received the Johnson & Johnson vaccine. CDC and FDA were alerted to six cases of rare types of blood clots, called cerebral venous sinus thrombosis, that occurred in combination with low levels of platelets - or a condition known as thrombocytopenia. Two individuals with these blood clots also had clots in their abdominal cavity or the veins of their gastrointestinal tract. All six individuals were women between the ages of 18 and 48, and their symptoms presented 6 to 13 days after they were vaccinated. Dr. Walensky said that these types of reactions - blood clots in combination with low platelets - are not noticed in people who received the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines. 'Our latest data shows that we have administered more than 7.2 million doses of Johnson & Johnson vaccine and have yet observed only six of these cases,' she told reporters. She called on people who received the J&J vaccine within the last few weeks to be aware of their symptoms and immediately seek medical assistance with any symptoms of concern. CDC and FDA are working rapidly to investigate each case and understand whether there is a causal relationship between these blood clots and vaccine administration. In alarming COVID-related developments outside the United States, new coronavirus cases in India crossed 200,000 for the first time. New record numbers are being reported every day as the second wave sweeps the country. Total cases in India surpassed 14 million on Thursday. A team of public health experts warned that unless the government took immediate action, Brazil is heading toward 'unimaginable loss of lives.' Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX Kostenloser Wertpapierhandel auf Smartbroker.de Queenslands environment and heritage protection minister has privately written to a residents group, conceding legislative changes were needed to protect the states character homes. In a recent letter, Meaghan Scanlon informed Toowong residents she had asked the Queensland Heritage Council to set up a new heritage advisory panel to better inform the council. Environment Minister Meaghan Scanlon (left) at her swearing in by Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk after the 2020 election. Credit:Matt Dennien The letter was in response to complaints about the legal demolition of the Tudor-style home Linden Lea at Toowong, which was the home of the Websters - the family who gave Brisbane the famous Shingle Inn tea houses and founded Websters biscuits. Ms Scanlon wrote to Toowong Residents Group member and barrister Mark Robertson, urging proactive steps to prevent a similar situation. The antennas of the radar are situated at the rear end of the sleigh. They send impulses into the ice, which are reflected by different properties in the ice and return the impulse signals to the antennae. Data can be plotted as a radio-echogram, from which you can read out thickness of the ice, the rock under the ice and different layers of ice in the ice sheet. Radar measurements from flyovers work in much the same way as the sleigh radar. Each radar can be adapted to focus on different properties, such as the shift from ice to bedrock, ice layer, melt layer etc. Credit: Christian Panton New, detailed study of the Renland Ice Cap offers the possibility of modeling other smaller ice caps and glaciers with significantly greater accuracy than hitherto. The study combined airborne radar data to determine the thickness of the ice cap with on-site measurements of the thickness of the ice cap and satellite data. Researchers from the Niels Bohr InstituteUniversity of Copenhagen gathered the data from the ice cap in 2015, and this work has now come to fruition in the form of more exact predictions of local climate conditions. The accuracy of the study allows for the construction of models for other smaller ice caps and glaciers, affording significantly improved local projections of the condition of glaciers locally, around the globe. The results have recently been published in Journal of Glaciology. A combination of approaches results in greater accuracy The initial, principal aim of the study, was to assess the thickness and volume of the Renland Ice Cap, and in the process, validate computer-modeled data against real data. Airborne radar, which measured the thickness of the ice, was compared with measurement results that were known in advance. In addition, researchers availed of satellite-based measurements of the ice velocity on the surface of the ice cap, again juxtaposed with various parameters entered into the computer model, e.g. "basal slide"in other words, the velocity of movement at the bottom of the ice cap. The combined results provided researchers with an extremely detailed basis material for constructing a computer model that can be applied in other situations. From Renland to the rest of the world Iben Koldtoft, Ph.D. student at the Physics of Ice, Climate and Earth section at the Niels Bohr Institute, and first author of the scientific article, explains: "We now have the most optimal parameters for this ice flow model, the Parallet Ice Sheet Model, for the Renland Ice Cap. But despite these being specific local measurements for Renland, we can use these modeling parameters to simulate the ice cap over an entire ice age cycle, for example, and compare the results with the Renland ice core we drilled in 2015. We can examine to what extent the ice cap has changed over time, or how quickly the ice will melt if the temperature rises by a few degrees in the future. Or put more concisely: We now know how the model can be "tuned" to match different climate scenarios. This ensures greater accuracy and a method that is also transferable to other smaller ice caps and glaciers". "In fact, we can see that our scientific article initially received many views from Japan and Argentina. At first this was a bit surprisingwhy there, exactly? But it makes absolute sense. These are countries with smaller local ice sheets and glaciers, who are now excited to be able to project the future evolution of these", comments Iben Koldtoft. Smaller scale provides greater visibility The larger ice sheets in Greenland and Antarctica are of course the most important, when assessing temperature changes and the effects of melting on global climate. However, the smaller ice caps react faster and can be considered as "mini- environments", where it is possible to follow developments across a shorter timescale. In addition, it is easier to model the smaller scenarios more precisely, points out Iben Koldtoft. "If we look at Svalbard, an archipelago that lies very far north, they experience climate change as having a far greater local effect than one sees in Greenland, for example. Over time, of course, all these changes will eventually affect the entire climate system, but we can observe it more clearly on a smaller scale". The Renland ice core reveals more secrets In 2015 a core was drilled on the Renland Ice Cap. In the intervening years, scientists have extracted data from the recovered ice core in the form of water isotopes, gases and chemical measurements. These are all proxies for temperature, precipitation accumulation, altitude changes and other climate conditions of east Greenland, where the Renland Ice Cap is located. This data can now be compared with the detailed study and with data from other locations in Greenland. As a result, the study contributes to the increasingly detailed picture of how the climate is changing. Iben Koldtoft emphasizes the importance of combining the observational data with computer modeling, and that climate research in general is at a stage where the use of advanced computer simulations and the ability to "tune" them correctly, is now a vital competence. Although glaciers across the globe can be monitored with incredible accuracy by satellites today, there is a need to develop strong computer-based models, combining physics and mathematics, in order to calculate how glaciers will change in the climate of the future, and their effect on future increases in sea levels. Explore further Sea level likely to rise faster than previously thought More information: Iben Koldtoft et al. Ice thickness and volume of the Renland Ice Cap, East Greenland, Journal of Glaciology (2021). Journal information: Journal of Glaciology Iben Koldtoft et al. Ice thickness and volume of the Renland Ice Cap, East Greenland,(2021). DOI: 10.1017/jog.2021.11 Steve Silberman had a difficult time finding a coronavirus vaccine for his 86-year-old mother, Leslie, who is homebound and had not left her apartment since the start of the pandemic. He called several agencies, including the San Francisco Department of Public Health, to look for any in-home vaccination resources for homebound seniors. I quickly discovered that the agencies I was calling knew even less about the situation than I did, said Silberman, best-selling author of NeuroTribes: The Legacy of Autism and the Future of Neurodiversity. Silberman turned to local Facebook groups, like Bay Area Vaccine Hunters, where he learned of the drive-through vaccination site at City College of San Francisco. Two volunteers from a neighborhood Facebook group helped Silbermans mother down the stairs from her apartment into the car. I was proud of her for making it to her first shot, said Silberman. But our elders should not be in this tense position when theyre so vulnerable to COVID-19. Homebound individuals have been overlooked and underserved across the country in the vaccine rollout. About 4 million adults in the U.S. are homebound and have been a relatively invisible patient population from a quality and care delivery standpoint, according to a 2015 study published in the journal Health Affairs. Adding to the challenge, Californias expansion Thursday of vaccine eligibility to everyone 16 and older is expected to greatly increase demand. Some Bay Area counties have launched mobile clinics to vaccinate homebound individuals, while others are working with community organizations to reach this population. Some health systems, like UCSF, also are administering in-home vaccinations to their patients. The process of transporting vaccines to homebound individuals is complicated given the specific temperature requirements for the Pfizer and Moderna vaccine, experts said. Its a slower process, said San Francisco Department of Public Health spokesperson Kate Patterson, adding that large health care providers receive 70% of the vaccine allocation, while the city only receives about 30%. UCSFs homebound primary care program has vaccinated 130 patients since March. The program is available only to UCSF patients, but several people across the Bay Area have reached out for help, said Dr. Carla Perissinotto, associate chief for geriatrics clinical programs at UCSF. Perissinotto said the county isnt doing enough to reach this population and is leaving it up to health systems to do the work. This is an incredibly underserved and overlooked population and its leading to a lot of distress, said Perissinotto. Perissinotto urges people to contact public health department and health system officials to express their concerns. Its only in making the issue more known that this is going to change, she said. San Franciscos deputy director of health, Dr. Naveena Bobba, said county and city officials have been actively working with community organizations to vaccinate the homebound population for about a month. The San Francisco Health Network, the health care delivery arm of the citys public health department, has vaccinated about 200 homebound patients, according to the citys COVID command center. If somebody is homebound and theres just no way for them to leave their home, we have resources dedicated to that, said Bobba, including a call center set up to help older adults and people with disabilities. Officials said they have immunized 80 patients through their mobile vaccination operation. Courtesy of Mountain View Fire Department The state also plans to launch an initiative with local public health departments to vaccinate homebound individuals in mid-April, said Erika Conner, a spokesperson for Blue Shield of California, which is now running the states vaccine distribution. Some Bay Area counties, like Santa Clara, already have launched their programs. In Alameda County, the plan is in the works. Until then, patients should contact their local public health department as well as their current health care provider, Conner said. Heres how to find and schedule COVID-19 vaccinations for homebound residents in your Bay Area county. We will continue to update this story. (Email jessica.flores@sfchronicle.com for additional resources to add to the list): County resources Alameda County The countys public health department will partner with fire departments to begin in-home vaccinations later this week, spokesperson Neetu Balram said on Monday. To receive a notification when appointments become available, sign up for the countys appointment/wait list notification system here or by calling 510-208-4829. Contra Costa County The countys public health department is currently administering in-home vaccinations for individuals referred by the countys In-Home Supportive Services program community health care providers. County officials will soon launch instructions for homebound individuals throughout the county to request this service, spokesman Karl Fischer said on Wednesday. Marin County Residents can call 1-833-641-1988 for help arranging transportation to a vaccine site. Napa County A county representative did not immediately respond to requests for information. San Francisco Call 628-652-2700 for assistance. San Mateo County Individuals should contact their primary health care provider, said San Mateo County Health spokesperson Preston Merchant. Residents can also register with the public health departments notification system here for help on how to get vaccinated. Email covidvax@smcgov.org if you have additional questions. Santa Clara County Santa Clara Countys public health department launched an in-home vaccination program with the countys fire departments. Vaccines are administered by a nurse or a fire department official. To qualify, patients must meet these requirements: Patients require supportive devices crutches, canes, wheelchairs, walkers or special transportation or help from someone else to leave their home due to an illness or condition that makes it medically inadvisable to leave their residences. Patients must have a normal inability to leave home and leaving home must require a considerable and taxing efforts, a spokesperson said. Apply for the program by calling 408-970-2818 or by emailing covidvaxhome@phd.sccgov.org. Solano County Call 707-784-8655 for assistance. Sonoma County Sonoma County in late March launched a mobile vaccine clinic to immunize residents who are homebound. The initiative is in partnership with Fox Home Health, a home health care agency. Fox Home Health will screen individuals for eligibility, according to a news release. Call 707-565-4667 or email stompcovid@foxandassociates.org for more information. Health systems UCSF: Patients anyone who has been seen at UCSF in the past three years must ask their physicians for a referral to be placed on the list for an in-home COVID-19 vaccine. The deadline is April 16. John Muir Health: The network is vaccinating its homebound patients who are part of the hospitals Home Health and Home Visit programs. Jessica Flores is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: jessica.flores@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @jesssmflores A city councillor wants to speed up Winnipegs plan to buy zero-emission buses. A city councillor wants to speed up Winnipegs plan to buy zero-emission buses. Coun. Matt Allard, councils public works chairman, will raise a motion to add about 20 to 24 zero-emission buses, plus supporting infrastructure to house and operate them, to a Winnipeg Transit master plan funding request. "Both the provincial and the federal government have expressed interest in zero-emission buses and theyre also popular with the public," said Allard (St. Boniface). "And this... would be good for our climate goals." The motion aims to add about $49.8 million for the green buses and supporting infrastructure, within a broader $539-million funding request through the Investing in Canada Infrastructure Program. If approved, an agreement would provide funding from the city, province and feds. If given final approval by council, Allards change would raise the green bus funding portion of the request from $280.4 million to $330.2 million. Allard is calling for the city to remove four projects from its federal infrastructure application to make room for more green buses. He suggested the city seek 2022 budget funds to pay for: a bus radio and intelligent transportation system replacement; a rapid transit downtown corridors preliminary design; a primary transit network infrastructure project; and a wheelchair securements retro-fit. Those projects have a combined cost of $58.4 million, of which $49.8 million was eligible for federal infrastructure funds. The city previously announced a goal to replace 100 to 110 diesel buses with zero-emission models by the end of 2027, which the original $280.4-million request would fund. Transit aims to replace the entire 700-bus fleet by 2047. Allard says the city should speed that up now to reduce greenhouse-gas emissions at the lowest potential cost for Winnipeg. "Both the province and the federal government have indicated their desire to move on zero-emission buses and this is a way that I think we can capitalize on (federal) funding and get our application in as quickly as possible," he said. Allards motion will be debated at Fridays public works committee meeting. joyanne.pursaga@freepress.mb.ca Twitter: @joyanne_pursaga ROME, APR 15 - For the first time in the world a post-COVID patient has received a total transplant of the trachea, at Rome's Sant'Andrea Hospital, a press conference was told in the capital Thursday. The March 3 operation was on a 50-year-old man whose trachea had been destroyed by cancer and years of treatment, doctors said. It was a complete success, said thoracic surgeon Cecilia Menna, who led the operation. "The patient was able to speak, breathe and swallow on his own immediately afterwards," she said. The trachea was replaced by a piece of the aorta, kept open by a silicone cylinder, she said. (ANSA). Source: Xinhua| 2021-04-15 21:50:38|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close LISBON, April 15 (Xinhua) -- Portugal announced on Thursday its intention to withdraw its troops deployed in Afghanistan under the command of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) as of May 1. "With this withdrawal, an important and prolonged Portuguese contribution to the fight against terrorism will be concluded," which had lasted 19 years and mobilized 4,500 military personnel, said the Portuguese Ministries of Foreign Affairs and Defense in a joint statement. According to the Portuguese government, "there has been important progress in Afghanistan in terms of stability and security, as well as in terms of social development, including in particular women's rights and access to education." Portugal explained that the withdrawal of its 174 military personnel will be carried out jointly with NATO allies, mirroring the United States' plans to start removing troops after two decades of war. "Portugal maintains its commitment to the efforts of the international community to combat terrorism in all its forms and manifestations," the statement said. NATO sent troops to Afghanistan in 2001 after the attacks carried out by Al-Qaeda on Sept. 11 of that year in the United States. Enditem It was probably the most traumatic year for the company, because we had grown in size," Kris Gopalakrishnan, Chairman, Itihaasa Research and Digital and Co-founder, Infosys, spoke about the global financial crisis that broke out soon after he took over as Infosys' CEO in 2007, in a video posted on Itihaasa. "Everything was going fine and that year we grew by about 35 per cent. Then, suddenly the world around us collapsed. In the following two fiscals, Infosys grew at 11 per cent (FY09) and 3 per cent (FY10). After three years of slow growth, the company recovered in FY11 with 26 per cent annual revenue growth." Little did Gopalakrishnan or anyone think that almost a decade later, another crisis would emerge, of a completely different nature and magnitude. While the global financial crisis of 2008/09 was faced with a demand challenge, the 2020 pandemic posed both demand and supply side hiccups. Only, this time IT services companies successfully converted the crisis into an opportunity. Then And Now The 2008/09 financial crisis had its roots in the US, but ramifications were felt across the globe. India's largest IT services companies saw their discretionary spends go down. Recalls Krishnakumar Natarajan, former Chairman and Co-founder of Mindtree, "Technology then was more a discretionary expense, so people immediately reduced spending in the area." And when customers panicked, companies did too. Budgets were trimmed, teams were laid off and cost control became a necessity. "If you just look at Indian technology companies, trying to keep costs under control was never a factor during the dotcom boom. But after the global financial crisis, it became important," adds Natarajan. Companies went frugal post the 2008 crisis. In fact, India's largest IT services company Tata Consultancy Services managed costs through offshoring and headcount management to protect margins. In 2009, IT industry body NASSCOM revised the software and services exports growth to 16-17 per cent for 2008/09 to $47 billion, lower than the estimated $50 billion, due to the global economic slowdown and lower demand. It took 8-10 quarters for companies to recover with most getting back to pre-crisis levels only by FY11. The Covid uncertainty, on the other hand, has been transient. For instance, at the beginning of FY21 TCS had indicated that the impact of Covid on revenues would be comparable to the global financial crisis. However, since then, in the company's Q3 earnings call, Rajesh Gopinathan, Managing Director and CEO, said, "We are now confident about the year ahead, we are very confident we should be able to get back to double-digit growth." Reskilling Takes Centrestage Taking the Covid crisis head on, IT firms set up 'War Rooms' to coordinate between clients, employees and local authorities, while shifting to the work-from -home (WFH) mode early on and showing flexibility in addressing sensitive clients by being open and empathetic, a NASSCOM study has said. According to industry estimates, consolidated revenues of top-listed technology companies grew 5.3 per cent in H2 2020 over H1, while revenue per employee increased 5.5 per cent. Companies such as Infosys, TCS and Wipro, among others, embarked on a massive reskilling drive to equip their workforce for a post-pandemic world. TCS, for instance, trained 366,000 employees in new technologies, and over 444,000 in Agile methodologies (software development methodologies centered round the idea of requirements and solutions evolving through collaboration between cross-functional teams) by January 2021. The company conducted around 11,000 courses in nearly 2,400 competencies, with 1,600-plus courses in areas such as Artificial Intelligence (AI), cyber security and Blockchain. It recorded four million-plus learning days in FY20 at an average of 9.4 per employee. As many as 365,000 employees added 3 million-plus learning hours with the company's #Learn in Lockdown initiative. Companies did not hit the panic button this time, instead, "They invested in online training to reskill employees on digital skills to prepare for expansion once the crisis ends," says Sharath Srinivasamurthy, Research Director, Enterprise Solutions and ICT Practices, IDC India. The industry is expected to add over 138,000 net hires in 2020/21, taking the total employee base to 4.47 million, with digital talent pool expected to cross 1.17 million, growing at 32 per cent year-on-year. Mergers And Acquisitions Alongside investing in large-scale reskilling of existing employees on digital technologies and hiring new talent from market, companies developed solutions/IPs, set up innovation labs and executed multiple acquisitions. In September 2020, HCL technologies acquired Australian consulting firm DWS for $158 million to bolster its digital capabilities in Australia and New Zealand. Next month, Infosys completed the acquisition of Kaleidoscope, a product design, development and insights firm for $42 million and Czech-based GuideVision for nearly 30 million euros. Its $1.5-billion deal for digital transformation of US investment firm Vanguard's direct contribution (DC) business and BPO work in July, has been one of its biggest so far. In November, TCS inked over half-a-billion deal with Postbank Systems AG to consolidate IT platforms and drive transformation for Deutsche Bank. Wipro went firing on all cylinders under new CEO Thierry Delaporte, acquiring Encore Theme Technologies, Eximius Design and 4C last year. Increased Offshoring Digital revenues at $50-53 billion form nearly a third of IT companies' revenues, growing at five times the overall services growth rate. According to IDC, despite a global pandemic, direct digital transformation investment is growing at a CAGR of 15.5 per cent since 2020 and is expected to approach $6.8 trillion by 2023 as companies build on existing strategies and investments, becoming digital-at-scale future enterprises. An analyst with a leading brokerage in Mumbai points out that with technology moving out of the discretionary bucket to a necessary spend and being a part of Boardroom discussions, the recovery has been far quicker than global financial crisis. "With scale, agility and ability to adapt to situations have given clients higher confidence than ever before," he adds. At the country's second-largest IT firm Infosys, digital contributed 50 per cent to the company's overall revenues in Q3 FY21, against 47.3 per cent in Q2 and 44.5 per cent in Q1. Last year saw a greater shift (10 per cent) to outcome-based pricing, compared to 2019, while offshoring also increased 4 per cent. "Irrespective of location, we have been able to deliver during the pandemic without a drop in productivity or compromising on quality, which has given confidence to clients," Infosys' Chief Operating Officer and NASSCOM Chairman U.B. Pravin Rao said at briefing of NASSCOM's strategic review report held in February . Deals And Renewals IT companies ensured that communication channels with clients were always open. The result: 2020 not just brought in new large deals, but also a healthy renewal rate for most companies. With early negotiations on deal terms, "Indian IT companies demonstrated empathy and flexibility and kept the contract in the drawer. Certain IT companies also provided time-critical services and advisory as goodwill, in turn strengthening client relationships," says IDC's Srinivasamurthy. For the past three quarters, Infosys' total contract value has been about $12 billion, with the net new portion at $8 billion. "From that perspective, in the past nine months we have seen a significant percentage of our revenues coming from net new, which gave us good comfort on growth momentum in the coming few quarters," Infosys' Rao had said during the company's earnings call . A significant portion of Wipro's 12 large and small deals with more than a total contract value or TCV (the worth of a contract after it has been executed) of $30 million each in Q3 FY21 came from new deals; the combined TCV of these deals was over $1.2 billion, the company said in its third-quarter results statement. Even in traditional services like infrastructure management for instance, companies such as HCL Technologies have seen good renewals. "Last quarter, many mega deals that we have with big large accounts were renewed exceptionally well. I wouldn't say that competition in renewals is moderating. I see, not only global players, but even Indian players getting quite aggressive," said C. Vijayakumar, President and CEO, HCL Tech, during the companys last earnings call. The company crossed $10 billion in annualised revenue run rate last quarter. "Indian IT providers managed to navigate through many different types of crises in the past, but this time I see many providers leverage the challenge and trying to convert it into an opportunity," says D.D. Mishra, Senior Research Director at Gartner. With many of them managing to grow Cloud adoption and digitalisation, enabling remote working and benefits of vendor consolidation clearly helped the scale tip in their favour, turning the Covid crisis into an opportunity. @rukminirao $4 million investment in Clean Slate Pilot program launched to assist returning citizens with setting aside a conviction $4 million investment in Clean Slate Pilot program launched to assist returning citizens with setting aside a conviction FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: April 14, 2021 MEDIA CONTACT: Mike Murray, 517-275-1820 $4 million investment in Clean Slate Pilot program launched to assist returning citizens with setting aside a conviction Michigan Department of Labor and Economic Opportunity awards funds to Michigan Works! Agencies to support local expungement efforts LANSING, Mich. - Over the coming months, returning citizens can get help with expunging eligible convictions from their criminal record to aid them in their pursuit of full-time, self-sufficient employment thanks to a $4M investment in the Clean Slate Pilot program from the Michigan Department of Labor and Economic Opportunity (LEO). "My goal since day one of taking office has been to build fundamental reforms to make our communities safer and improve the people's outcomes going through our criminal justice system. The bipartisan Clean Slate legislation fundamentally changed Michigan's criminal history expungement laws, for the better," said Lt. Governor Garlin Gilchrist II. "The Clean Slate Pilot program offers a stop-gap for expungement services until automatic expungements go into effect. We're excited to get to work. Soon Michiganders will be able to feel the real changes that will come about from this program." Setting aside a conviction, sometimes called expungement of criminal records, will remove a specific conviction from a public criminal record. If returning citizens get an order setting aside their conviction, they can legally state on any job or school application that they have never been convicted of or arrested for that crime. They will also be able to state that they have not been convicted of that crime on applications for public benefits, housing or employment. "Before this legislation and this pilot program, there were many barriers in place for returning citizens," Susan Corbin, LEO Director said. "These barriers to seeking criminal record expungement include a lack of information, time constraints, cost of retaining a private attorney and fear of the criminal justice system. With the Clean Slate Pilot program, Michigan Works! Agencies will help these citizens overcome many of these barriers and guide them on a path to success." The Clean Slate Pilot Program funding will be awarded to all 16 Michigan Works! Agencies (MWAs) throughout the state with each of the agencies providing localized efforts. "Before this legislation, just under 7% of eligible individuals pursued an expungement," said Shamar Herron, Executive Director, Michigan Works! Southeast. "We know how important equitable access to expungements are for job seekers. According to a University of Michigan Study, after having a record expunged, job seekers obtained employment at an increase of 11% and their income rose by 25% in two years. Michigan Works! Agencies and the Clean Slate Pilot program will help job seekers overcome many barriers and guide them on a path to success, while providing support to area businesses by increasing the number of available workers, adding to the talent pool." Some of the components of the current expungement law include: A person who is convicted of one or more criminal offenses may file an application with the convicting court for the entry of an order setting aside one or more convictions as follows: A person convicted of one or more criminal offenses, but not more than a total of three felony offenses, in Michigan, may apply to have their convictions from the State set aside. Up to three felonies can be expunged. If there are multiple convictions for the same offense (with a max sentence of 10 years) only one can be expunged. Unlimited misdemeanors may be expunged. Only two convictions for assaultive crimes may be expunged (this is true for misdemeanors and felonies). "One Bad Night" counts multiple convictions that occurred as part of the same transaction within 24 hours as one conviction. Convictions NOT eligible for this are: Assaultive crimes. Crimes involving the use or possession of a dangerous weapon. Crime with a maximum penalty for 10 or more years' imprisonment. eligible for this are: An applicant may not have more than a total of two convictions for an assaultive crime set aside under the Act during his or her lifetime. An applicant may not have more than one felony conviction for the same offense set aside if the offense is punishable by more than 10 years' imprisonment. All MWAs will have localized Clean Slate Pilot Program processes in place. For more information, visit MichiganWorks.org or call 800-285-9675. ### With 7.9 billion people living on the planet, change becomes critically important to ensure its future; for if current lifestyles and methods are maintained, the equivalent of three planets could be required to provide the natural resources for an increasing population by 2050. However, as the leading businesses around the world are aware, future-proofing cannot occur without an understanding of the pressures that will arise after the fact. The challenges facing forward-thinking companies around the world are significant and varied: Agriculture must be optimised in a sustainable fashion to ensure the world of tomorrow does not go hungry, even as the planet itself remains protected. Economies around the world must become future proof in a manner that ensures environmental and social sustainability across communities and regions. Similarly, in the undertaking to reduce or eliminate carbon emissions, it becomes important that solutions do not cause further negative impact. The 50 Sustainability and Climate Leaders campaign explores such difficulties and the companies engaged in developing the solutions that will shape our society going forward. This campaign uses inspiring and original documentary-style films to identify and celebrate the leading organisations around the globe who are recognising the sustainable challenges currently posed, along with the potential presented by concepts like digitalisation, the circular economy and technological innovation when pursuing positive change that will have an irrefutable effect on the future of societies and industries alike. TBD Media Group CEO, Paolo Zanini comments, "The world is undergoing a transition into a more sustainable and climate-conscious future, but it's the businesses of today that will help to shape this tomorrow. It is therefore only right that the leaders and pioneers working to overcome the challenges we are all facing are given a platform to communicate the trials and successes of their endeavours." Companies featured in this launch: HypoVereinsbank Unicredit Bank AG , Toyota Motor North America , Fackelmann Brands, Viega Group, Osfriesiche Tee Gesellschaft GmbH & Co. KG (OTG) , MULTIVAC Group , BayWa AG , KCB Group, BWT Best Water Technology Group , SM Investments Corporation , DKV Mobility , Schaeffler AG , My Green Lab working with Thermo Fisher Scientific, LafargeHolcim , EOS GmbH Electro Optical Systems , KLM Royal Dutch Airlines , ABB , Darling Ingredients. >About 50 Sustainability and Climate Leaders: The 50 Sustainability and Climate Leaders project is the response from the International Business Community which demonstrates the desire, the leadership, and the will to take effective action in the fight against Climate Change. Businesses that wish to get involved should contact [email protected] . About TBD Media Group: TBD Media Group is an international, purpose-driven, media developer that helps companies, organisations and governments tell their brand stories in a human and direct way. Learn more at https://www.tbdmediagroup.com/ . Media Contact: Jenna-Leigh Soobramoney Head of Marketing TBD Media Group [email protected] SOURCE TBD Media Group Lucknow: With 17 out of 19 officials responsible for conducting the UP Education Board examination, testing positive for Covid, the fate of over 56 lakh UP students, slated to undertake the state education board examinations for classes 10 and 12 from May 8, now hangs in balance. UP Deputy Chief Minister Dinesh Sharma, who also holds the portfolio of the secondary education minister, said, "Every year about 56 to 57 lakh students appear in UP Board examinations for classes 10 and 12. The board exams were to be held initially from April 24. But they were postponed to May 8 following the steep rise in the Covid infection." About the possibility of postponing the examinations, the minister said that the situation is being monitored every day and consultations will be held with concerned official and Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath will take the final call on this. "For the conduct of board examinations, there are 19 officials, of which 17 are infected with COVID, and are in hospital. As soon as they recover from the illness, we will hold consultations, and also speak to the chief minister. Then we will be able to say anything in the context of exams beginning on May 8," Sharma said. Sharma`s statement came a day after the centre cancelled the CBSE class 10 board exams and postponed its class 12 exams following a surge in Covid-19 cases. The decision will affect over 21 lakh students across the country. It may be noted that nearly half a dozen states have put off the board exams and several others are reviewing the situation amid the COVID surge. CBSE After the CBSE cancelled its exams for class 10 and deferred those for class 12, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Himachal Pradesh and Maharashtra have also postponed their state board exams for these classes due to an alarming surge in coronavirus cases. States like West Bengal and Uttar Pradesh said they were monitoring the situation and are yet to decide whether to go ahead with the board exams. Karnataka said it will conduct the exams as scheduled. Meghalaya too said it is ready to hold the state board exams for class 12 but will take a decision on class 10 exams after a review of the situation is completed. The developments came as the central government announced the cancellation of class 10 exams and the postponement of class 12 exams conducted by the Central Board of Secondary Education, following a high-level meeting chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. This is the first time that the CBSE has completely cancelled the board exams and it will affect over 21 lakh students across the country. The Council for the Indian School Certificate Examinations (CISCE), the other prominent national board besides the CBSE, said it will soon decide on conducting class 10 and 12 board exams. "We are reviewing the situation and will soon take a decision in this regard," CICSE Chief Executive and Secretary Gerry Arathoon said. Its class 10 exams are scheduled to begin from May 5 while class 12 exams have already begun from April 8. The board exams last year had been cancelled because of the coronavirus pandemic. Students were evaluated based on internal assessment. Himachal Pradesh The Himachal Pradesh government postponed the ongoing state board exams for classes 10 and 12 in the wake of the rising COVID-19 cases, state education secretary Rajeev Sharma said. The situation will be reviewed at the government level on May 1 and further directions will be issued accordingly, he said. Maharashtra The Maharashtra government had on Monday postponed the state board exams of Classes 10 and 12, which were scheduled to be held later this month. The state government would study and discuss the CBSE's move of cancelling its Class 10 exam before taking any such decision for the state education board exams, minister Varsha Gaikwad said on Wednesday. Madhya Pradesh The Madhya Pradesh Board of Secondary Education announced the postponement of the examinations of classes 10 and 12. The exams of the high school, higher secondary and diploma in pre-school education (vocational course) were scheduled to begin from April 30 and May 1. The exams are likely to be conducted from the first week of June and the board will soon issue a new amended schedule, a spokesperson of the state board said. Rajasthan The Rajasthan government also decided to postpone the state education board examinations for classes 10 and 12. The decision was taken by Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot after discussions with Education Minister Govind Singh Dotasra because of the second wave of coronavirus infection, the state government said in a statement. Chhattisgarh Chhattisgarh government had earlier put off class 10 exams which were scheduled to begin on April 15. Tamil Nadu Tamil Nadu too had in February cancelled class 10 exams. Meghalaya Meghalaya Deputy Chief Minister Prestone Tynsong said the state board will hold class 12 examinations as per schedule with utmost precaution to prevent the spread of COVID-19. The state government has urged parents not to panic and to allow students to appear for the examinations scheduled to begin on April 16, he said. He said the state government is waiting for an update of the review conducted by Additional Chief Secretary D P Wahlang, in charge of education, for holding class 10 examinations. West Bengal West Bengal Education Minister Partha Chatterjee said an appropriate decision will be taken giving priority to the health of students. Karnataka Karnataka State Primary and Secondary Education Minister S Suresh Kumar said the state government has not taken any decision on cancelling the state board class 10 exams. In a statement, he said no decision like the CBSE has been taken. However, keeping in view the situation in the future, an an appropriate decision would be taken, the Minister was quoted as saying in the statement. Karnataka Karnataka was among the few states, which had last year successfully conducted the 10th class and second-year pre-university exams even when the coronavirus cases were at their peak. The CBSE said it will review the situation on June 1 for holding class 12 exams, while the result for class 10 will be declared on basis of objective criteria to be decided by the board. The exams were scheduled to begin from May 4. Live TV New Delhi, April 15: The damage caused to the village mosque at Hadipora in southern Kashmirs Shopian district during an encounter between the security forces and the militants on 9 -10 April has outraged the local population but, in contrast to some previous incidents, the public anger this time around is unmistakably against the militants. Three militants, including a 14-year-old child guerrilla recruit Faisal Ganai, were killed in the encounter that happened around the place of worship in which the militants were hiding and firing out on the troops. The gunfight left some of the mosque's windows ripped and the interiors damaged, even as the troops avoided using rockets and improvised explosive devices that quite often destroy a targeted structure. Minutes after the spot was sanitised and the security forces withdrew from the village, 20-odd militant sympathisers made unsuccessful attempts to stage a massive demonstration against the troops for the damage caused to the mosque. Just a few gathered as most of the residents began implicitly and explicitly blaming the militants. Some of them, not willing to be named, said that they had been deprived of the place of worship at the very beginning of the holy month of Ramadan. "Had they not been hiding in the mosque, there wouldn't have been any damage to it", said a middle-aged orchardist. Partly for the damage caused to the mosque and partly for the fact that a young boy and the only brother of his four sisters became a casualty in the encounter, even the militants disowned their slain associates. Videos of Faisal Ganai's parents, grandparents and four young sisters beseeching the militants to release the teenage recruit went viral in the social media and generated a palpable public anger. Reacting to some media reports, Albadar Mujahideen issued a rare statement, claiming that the militants killed in the Shopian gunbattle were not their cadre. The statement claimed that they had been recruited by an Afghanistan-based radical outfit Ansar Ghazwatul Hind. The statement called them as martyrs' but insisted that recruitment of child guerrillas was not permitted in Albadar. Even as a robust ecosystem of the valley's separatists and militants chose to remain mum, there were unsuccessful attempts to raise the religious passions and put the blame as usual on the Police and the security forces. According to senior Police officers, a photojournalist posted an image of a blood-soaked Quran on her Twitter handle and claimed that the Holy Scripture was splashed with the blood of a slain militant inside a mosque in Shopian. "It prima facie suggested that someone was provoking the masses for violence with fake and false news. During a quick fact checking exercise, we found that it was actually the image of a Quran damaged during a suicide strike on the religious preacher Al-Bouti inside the Al-Iman mosque in Mazraa district of Damascus in Syria some years back. 42 persons had been killed and 84 left injured in that attack", said a senior Police official. "The photojournalist has deleted the objectionable tweet but we are initiating necessary legal action", he added. The Jammu and Kashmir Police sought peoples' condemnation to the militants' trail of misusing the mosques in Kashmir as their shelters and hiding places during the counterinsurgency operations in recent times. "#Terrorists have misused #mosques for terror attacks i.e, Pampore on 19/6/20, Sopore on 1/7/20 & Shopian on 9/4/21. General public, Masjid Intizamia , Civil Societies & Media should condemn such acts: IGP Kashmir", Zonal Headquarters of the J&K Police in Kashmir tweeted. Apart from the three major incidents in 2020-21, scores of the mosques, shrines and other religious places have been damaged or fully destroyed in different encounters in Kashmir in the last 30 years of militancy. In the very beginning of the insurgency, militants of a group active in downtown Srinagar were found hiding in the domes of a major mosque in Srinagar in 1989. Quite a number of them were seized alive from the mosques. An Islamic library gutted in a mysterious blaze near the revered Hazratbal shrine in 1992. Later in October 1993 and March 1996, the JKLF militants occupied the shrine. In 1993, they were given a safe passage but in 1996 they gunned down four Police personnel, resulting in the killing of around 30 militants. In 1994-95, one of the heavily armed groups of the militants, led by Major' Mast Gul of Pakistan, occupied the second most revered shrine of the valley at Chrar-e-Sharief in Budgam district. The standoff culminated into a fierce encounter on 11 May 1995 when Mast Gul and his militants set the shrine of the 14th century Rishi saint Sheikhul Aalam Sheikh Nooruddin Noorani along with a historic monastery and a mosque and a major portion of the town on fire. Some of the militants got killed but Mast Gul managed to escape with many of his associates. Militants also attacked and looted the weapons of the Police guards at a number of the protected shrines. On several occasions, they entered and shot dead their soft targets inside the mosques. At one mosque in Sogam, Kupwara, they grabbed a civilian during the congregational prayers and left him beheaded at the entrance. (This content is being carried under an arrangement with indianarrative.com) --indianarrative/ Advertisement Minnesota police have arrested 24 people amid clashes with Black Lives Matter protesters brandishing a pig's head on a stake on a fourth night of chaos on Wednesday following the police shooting of a black man there days earlier. One anonymous demonstrator said former officer Kim Potter 'committed an act of war' when she shot dead Daunte Wright in Brooklyn Center on Sunday. Police had on Wednesday declared a protest in the city unlawful well before the 10pm curfew following clashes. One protester - pictured holding a pig's head in cop's hat - told Sean Hannity Wednesday: 'We don't use tear gas. We don't use gas.' After it was pointed out that projectiles are 'harmful', the protester added: 'Of course, but that's the only way they're going to learn anything. 'That's the only way that things could ever change is if people start throwing things. The institution of policing is bad. There's probably some really good folks...but they just have terrible jobs.' Potter, 48, was on Wednesday charged with second-degree manslaughter - which carries a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison - for killing 20-year-old Wright. She posted $100,000 bond Wednesday evening and was released from the Hennepin County jail, online records showed. She is scheduled to make her initial court appearance Thursday afternoon, after quit quitting her job on the Brooklyn Center police force two days after Wright's death. The demonstrator said of Potter making bond: 'To me, that's pretty much an outrage. I think that this lady essentially works for a occupying force here and she committed an act of war on somebody. I consider that an act of war. And she should not be out on bond. And it is not manslaughter. It is an act of war.' Potter's police chief said appeared to be a case of confusing her Taser with her handgun. But many protesters and Wright's family members have rejected that, saying either that they don't believe it or that the incident reflects bias in policing, with Wright stopped for an expired car registration and ending up dead. Wright's death came as the broader Minneapolis area nervously awaits the outcome of the trial for Derek Chauvin, the first of four officers charged in George Floyd's death. The shooting death has ignited days of unrest and clashes between protesters and police. In cities around the country - including New York City, Georgia and Philadelphia - protesters have taken to the streets. A riot was declared in Portland on Tuesday after a police union building was set on fire. In Washington DC protesters chanted 'burn the precinct to the ground'. A protester carrying a pigs head on a stake has said the only way things change is 'if people start throwing things' during a fourth night of unrest in Minnesota Wednesday following the police shooting of a black man there Protesters hold up a pig's head wearing a police cap on a stick outside the Brooklyn Center Police Department Wednesday Shortly after 9 p.m., police announced over a loudspeaker that the protest was an unlawful assembly An injured demonstrator is assisted by medics during a protest over Sunday's fatal shooting of Daunte Wright during a traffic stop, outside the Brooklyn Center Police Department on Wednesday, April 14, 2021 A protester is helped following clashes with police Wednesday, the fourth night in a row demonstrators have taken to the streets A person has their eyes flushed after being pepper sprayed outside the Brooklyn Center police headquarters on April 14, 2021 in Brooklyn Center, Minnesota A protester is pictured on the floor during clashed with police Wednesday. A second demonstrator appears to be protecting her with an umbrella shield Demonstrators gather outside of the Brooklyn Center police station on Wednesday. This is the fourth day of protests in the suburban Minneapolis city following the fatal shooting of 20-year-old Daunte Wright by police officer Kimberly Potter Some officers could be seen spraying a chemical on protesters who formed a wall with umbrellas. Potter, 48, was on Wednesday charged with second-degree manslaughter - which carries a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison - for killing 20-year-old Wright. She posted $100,000 bond Wednesday evening and was released from the Hennepin County jail The shooting death has ignited days of unrest and clashes between protesters and police. Demonstrators face off with sheriff deputies during a protest at the Brooklyn Center police station on Wednesday The well-before-curfew dispersal order came after state officials said people were throwing things at police and trying to dismantle the fence the same reason cited for Tuesday's early order Shortly before the dispersal order, some protesters threw objects at police, who responded with gas canisters Sheriff's deputies and guardsmen stand guard behind the fenced up perimeters of the Brooklyn Center Police Department Wednesday, as protests continue days after former police officer Kim Potter fatally shot Daunte Wright Brooklyn Center announced a curfew of 10 p.m. Wednesday the fourth night in a row that the city has taken that action Pepper spray is used from behind the fenced up perimeters of the Brooklyn Center Police Department Wednesday The charge against former Brooklyn Center police Officer Kim Potter was filed three days after Wright was killed during a traffic stop and as the nearby murder trial progresses for the ex-officer charged with killing George Floyd last May Potter, 48, and Police Chief Tim Gannon both resigned Tuesday, a day after the City Council voted to fire the city manager, who controls the police force. Protesters are pictured Wednesday Police say Wright was pulled over for expired tags on Sunday, but they sought to arrest him after discovering he had an outstanding warrant. The warrant was for his failure to appear in court on charges that he fled from officers and possessed a gun without a permit during an encounter with Minneapolis police in June. Protesters carry a pigs head Wednesday Pictured: A demonstrator has a seizure during a standoff with police at a protest about Sunday's fatal shooting of Daunte Wright during a traffic stop, outside the Brooklyn Center Police Department, Wednesday, April 14, 2021, in Brooklyn Center Pictured CNN reporter Miguel Marquez gets pelted with a water belt and is quickly ushered away from the scene by his security detail after the crowd turned on the CNN news crew Pictured: A CNN security guard recovers from a punch to the face after the crowd turned on the CNN news station Large crowds gathered at the Brooklyn Center Police Department for a fourth night of unrest. Pictured a CNN security guard recovers from a punch to the face after the crowd turned on the CNN news station, April 14, 2021 Brooklyn Center announced a curfew of 10 p.m. Wednesday the fourth night in a row that the city has taken that action. Mike Elliott, the mayor, urged people to protest without violence, saying 'your voices have been heard.' As night fell, several hundred demonstrators had gathered outside the police headquarters. Video showed several protesters carrying Black Lives Matter banners as well as the demonstrator with a fake pig's head hoisted on a pole. Police monitored the growing crowd from the structure's rooftop. 'Say his name! Daunte Wright!' demonstrators chanted under a mix of snow and rain. Groups of demonstrators persisted in taunting sheriff's deputies barricaded behind concrete blocks and a chain-link fence in front of the building, throwing objects over the barrier. The officers in turn periodically approached the fence to douse those on the other side with pepper spray. Similar activity on Tuesday night ended with deputies abruptly advancing on protesters with volleys of tear-gas, non-lethal rounds and flash-bang devices to disperse the crowd, two hours before a 10 p.m. curfew went into effect. Responding to criticism that officers used heavy-handed tactics unnecessarily, Mayor Mike Elliott said on Wednesday that the county sheriff's office, rather than city police, was handling crowd control. 'Gassing, in my opinion, is not a humane way of policing,' Elliott told reporters. He also urged demonstrators to remain peaceful, saying: 'The eyes of the world are on Brooklyn Center.' As a curfew took effect on Wednesday night, law enforcement backed by National Guard troops moved again to break up the crowds with pepper spray and flash-bangs, though no tear gas appeared to have been immediately used. Potter shot and killed Wright Sunday during a traffic stop just 10 miles from the courthouse where another white cop Derek Chauvin is currently being tried for the murder of black man George Floyd. A total of 79 people had been arrested during protests Tuesday night. Kimberly Potter, 48, left, was released from the Hennepin County jail at 5.38pm after posting a $100,000 bond after she was charged for the shooting death of Daunte Wright, right Police guarded Potter's home on Tuesday night and fencing was erected around it. After George Floyd's death last year, protesters demonstrated several times at the home of Derek Chauvin, the former Minneapolis officer now on trial in his death Family members of the slain motorist, Daunte Wright, 20, have rejected the notion that a mere accident was to blame for Sunday's shooting in Brooklyn Center, Minnesota, with Wright's grieving brother denouncing the police as 'trigger happy' Sunday's shooting roiled a region already on edge, as last year's killing of George Floyd was being recounted in graphic detail in the trial of former officer Derek Chauvin, charged with his murder Sunday's shooting immediately ignited a night of street skirmishes between police and protesters in Brooklyn Center, with local news reporting looting and burglaries of about 20 businesses at a shopping center. The city is pictured Wednesday Disturbances had flared on Wednesday, as hundreds of protesters defied a curfew and clashed with law enforcement as darkness fell outside police headquarters in Brooklyn Center Some in crowd have hurled bottles and other projectiles and lighting off fireworks. Brooklyn Center Police Station is pictured Wednesday During a memorial vigil Monday evening at the spot where Wright was killed, relatives remembered him as a good-natured father who worked multiple jobs to support his 2-year-old son and voiced anguish over his death at the hands of police An injured demonstrator is assisted by medics during a protest over Sunday's shooting death of Daunte Wright, outside the Brooklyn Center Police Department, Wednesday, April 14, 2021 Pictured: A woman holds up a sign that reads 'Justice for Wright' as large crowds gathered at the Brooklyn Center Police Department for a fourth night of unrest Demonstrators use umbrellas for protection as police fire pepper spray and rubber bullets during a protest outside of the Brooklyn Center police station on April 14, 2021 in Brooklyn Center, Minnesota A demonstrator holding a poster of George Floyd and sign reading 'Justice for Wright' in front of a line of police officers outside the Brooklyn Center police station while protesting the death of Daunte Wright who was shot and killed by a police officer in Brooklyn Center, Minnesota on April 14, 2021 A demonstrator holds a sign during a protest over Sunday's fatal shooting of Daunte Wright during a traffic stop, outside the Brooklyn Center Police Department on Wednesday, April 14, 2021 A person has their eyes washed out after getting hit with pepper spray outside the Brooklyn Center police headquarters on April 14, 2021 in Brooklyn Center, Minnesota Shortly after 9 p.m., police announced over a loudspeaker that the protest was an unlawful assembly and ordered people to disperse. The well-before-curfew dispersal order came after state officials said people were throwing things at police and trying to dismantle the fence the same reason cited for Tuesday's early order. Shortly before the dispersal order, some protesters threw objects at police, who responded with occasional gas canisters. Some officers could be seen spraying a chemical on protesters who came near the fence surrounding the heavily guarded station, and officers fired sporadic projectiles. Protesters near the fence formed a wall with umbrellas. Outside Potter's home in Champlin, north of Brooklyn Center, concrete barricades and tall metal fencing had been set up and police cars were in the driveway. After Floyd's death last year, protesters demonstrated several times at the home of Derek Chauvin, the former Minneapolis officer now on trial in Floyd's death. Businesses in downtown Minneapolis were pictured being boarded up and fenced in on Wednesday while National Guard troops deployed ahead of the outcome of the Chauvin trial were seen. Large crowds gathered at the Brooklyn Center Police Department for a fourth night of unrest. Pictured CNN reporter Miguel Marquez and his security being pelted with eggs and fleeing from the scene Wednesday ictured CNN reporter Miguel Marquez gets pelted with a water belt and is quickly ushered away from the scene by his security detail after the crowd turned on the CNN news crew Mike Elliott, the mayor, urged people to protest without violence, saying 'your voices have been heard' Video showed several protesters carrying Black Lives Matter banners as well as the demonstrator with a fake pig's head hoisted on a pole Police monitored the growing crowd from the structure's rooftop. 'Say his name! Daunte Wright!' demonstrators chanted under a mix of snow and rain A sheriff's deputy is seen inside an armored vehicle in the fenced up perimeter of the Brooklyn Center Police Department Wednesday Medics tend to Casey Clements, who was hit with a chemical irritant round outside the Brooklyn Center Police Department A shopping mall that had it's store front windows broken and was looted during the previous night's unrest is boarded up near the Brooklyn Center police station in Brooklyn Center, Minnesota on April 14, 2021 Fireworks explode behind a demonstrator as she holds a sign while gathering near the Brooklyn Center police station on Wednesday Sheriff deputies in riot gear form a line during a protest Wednesday. This is the fourth day of protests in the suburban Minneapolis city following the fatal shooting of 20-year-old Daunte Wright by Brooklyn Center police officer Kimberly Potter, who has since resigned from the force and today was charged with second-degree manslaughter Law enforcement officers look on from behind fences as protesters rally Wednesday Demonstrators face off with sheriff deputies during a protest Wednesday A cloud of smoke hangs over demonstrators during the protest Wednesday The shooting death has ignited days of unrest and clashes between protesters and police. In cities around the country - including New York City, Georgia and Philadelphia - protesters have taken to the streets. A riot was declared in Portland on Tuesday after a police union building was set on fire. In Washington DC protesters chanted 'burn the precinct to the ground' Wright's death came as the broader Minneapolis area nervously awaits the outcome of the trial for Derek Chauvin, the first of four officers charged in George Floyd's death. Pictured: A protester holds a picture with the words 'Justice for George Floyd' Police officers stand of the roof of the Brooklyn Center Police Station, April 14 2021. Brooklyn Center Police Officer Kimberly Potter fatally shot Duante Wright during a traffic stop Hennepin County Sheriff Officers aim tear gas aerosol cans through a chain link fence as demonstrators rally outside the Brooklyn Center police station to protest the death of Daunte Wright who was shot and killed by a police officer in Brooklyn Center, Minnesota on April 14, 2021 Pictured: A protester confronts police through a chain link fence with Daunte Wight's name written on her face as demonstrators rally outside the Brooklyn Center police station to protest the death of Daunte Wright who was shot and killed by a police officer in Brooklyn Center, Minnesota on April 14, 2021 A protester shouts outside the Brooklyn Center police station while protesting the death of Daunte Wright who was shot and killed by a police officer in Brooklyn Center, Minnesota on April 14, 2021 The former Brooklyn Center police chief has said that Potter, a 26-year veteran and training officer, intended to use her Taser on Wright but fired her handgun instead. 'Certain occupations carry an immense responsibility and none more so than a sworn police officer,' Imran Ali, Washington County assistant criminal division chief, said in a statement announcing the charge against Potter. '(Potter's) action caused the unlawful killing of Mr. Wright and she must be held accountable.' Police say Wright was pulled over for expired tags on Sunday, but they sought to arrest him after discovering he had an outstanding warrant. The warrant was for his failure to appear in court on charges that he fled from officers and possessed a gun without a permit during an encounter with Minneapolis police in June. According to the criminal complaint, Luckey and Potter pulled Wright over while he was driving his white Buick at 63rd and Orchard Avenues North in Brooklyn Center at 1.53pm Sunday. Four minutes later at 2:01:31, Luckey and Potter approached the driver's side of the car and asked Wright to get out and place his hands behind his back, according to the report. Wright did as the officers asked and Luckey told him he was being arrested for his outstanding warrant. Both Wright and Luckey stood just outside of the open driver's side door, while Potter stood behind and to the right of the other officer, the report says. New York City: People attend a vigil for police shooting victims Daunte Wright and Dominique Lucious at Washington Square Park in New York City Wednesday Atlanta, Georgia: Demonstrators march to the National Center for Civil and Human Rights while protesting the shooting death of Daunte Wright Wednesday Demonstrators march to the National Center for Civil and Human Rights while protesting the shooting death of Daunte Wright on April 14, 2021 in Atlanta, Georgia Demonstrators march to the National Center for Civil and Human Rights while protesting the shooting death of Daunte Wright on April 14, 2021 in Atlanta, Georgia Chicago: A protester lies on the ground as others follow to take a knee during a peaceful protest on Wednesday, April 14, 2021 along South Michigan Ave. in Chicago ahead of the video release of fatal police shooting of 13-year-old Adam Toledo Seconds later at 2:01:49, Wright reportedly pulled away from the officers and got back into the car, with Luckey trying to maintain physical control of him, according to the complaint. At 2:01:55, Potter then said she would us the Taser on Wright. Instead, she pulled her Glock 9mm handgun with her right hand and pointed it at Wright, saying again that she would use the Taser on him. Potter shouted 'Taser, Taser, Taser,' as she pulled the trigger on her handgun at 2:02:01, firing one round into the left side of the victim, the complaint states. Wright immediately said 'ah, he shot me,' and drove away in his car before crashing and coming to a stop. Meanwhile, Potter said 'S**t, I just shot him!' after firing her gun. The entire incident from the traffic stop to the shooting took place within nine minutes and Wright was pronounced dead at the scene. The criminal complaint noted that Potter holstered her handgun on the right side and her Taser on the left. To remove the Taser - which is yellow and has a black grip - Potter would have to use her left hand, the complaint said. Wright family attorney Ben Crump said the family appreciates the criminal case, but he again disputed that the shooting was accidental, arguing that an experienced officer knows the difference between a Taser and a handgun. 'Kim Potter executed Daunte for what amounts to no more than a minor traffic infraction and a misdemeanor warrant,' he said in a statement. 'This was no accident. This was an intentional, deliberate, and unlawful use of force. Driving while Black continues to result in a death sentence.' Potter could be heard shouting 'Taser!' several times in the moments before she fired her gun Police body cam footage of the fatal incident showed three officers approaching Daunte Wright's car in Brooklyn Center on Sunday after he had been pulled over for the traffic stop Potter left her home in Minneapolis on Monday with her 54-year-old husband Jeffrey and their sons Sam and Nick after her address was posted on social media. Police guarded the property Tuesday night and fencing was erected around it. It was not immediately clear if Potter would be returning to the home after posting her bail. The Hennepin County Medical Examiner's office on Monday ruled Wright's death a homicide, noting that he 'died of a gunshot wound of the chest.' Experts say cases of officers mistakenly firing their gun instead of a Taser are rare, usually less than once a year nationwide, and Potter is at least the third U.S. law enforcement officer to face charges after claiming they mistakenly killed someone with a gun when they meant to use a Taser, Reuters reported. Transit officer Johannes Mehserle was convicted of involuntary manslaughter and sentenced to two years in prison after responding to a fight at a train station in Oakland, California, killing 22-year-old Oscar Grant in 2009. Mehserle testified at trial that he mistakenly pulled his .40-caliber handgun instead of his stun gun. In Oklahoma, a white volunteer sheriff's deputy for Tulsa County, Robert Bates, was convicted of second-degree manslaughter after accidentally firing his handgun when he meant to deploy his stun gun on Eric Harris, a Black man who was being held down by other officers in 2015. Potter was an instructor with Brooklyn Center police, according to the Minnesota Police and Peace Officers Association. Brooklyn Center, a suburb just north of Minneapolis, has seen its racial demographics shift dramatically in recent years. In 2000, more than 70 percent of the city was white. Today, a majority of residents are Black, Asian or Hispanic. However, Elliott has acknowledged that the police force has 'very few people of color.' Cargo ships offshore Singapore (Photo: VNA/Reuters) Hanoi - The Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) sends a very powerful message of the region's commitment to open and liberal trade, an official of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has said. Addressing an online press conference on April 13, acting director of the IMF's Asia and Pacific Department Jonathan D. Ostry said this is a "very welcome step." According to the official, the global environment has been extremely challenging, and yet Asia was able to conclude this agreement in this challenging environment, sending a very powerful signal. Trade has been a powerful driver of growth and poverty alleviation in Asia for decades, Ostry noted, adding that even as there were global trade tensions, Asia sought to invigorate regional trade liberalisation. RCEP, signed in November 2020, groups the 10 members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) as well as China, Japan, the Republic of Korea, Australia and New Zealand. RCEP brings together many countries, including three regional giants -- China, Japan, and the Republic of Korea - for the first time in a common regional agreement, Ostry said. The newly-signed agreement could provide a powerful impetus for greater trade in the Asia and Pacific region, he went on. According to the IMF's recent projections, Asia-Pacific is expected to grow by 7.6 percent this year and by 5.4 percent next year, thanks to the recovery of regional countries. Ostry underlined the need to further efforts in order to advance the green agenda and push forward the promising shift toward a greener energy mix emerging amid the pandemic. Blinken in Afghanistan to sell Biden troop withdrawal View Photo KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken made an unannounced visit to Afghanistan on Thursday to sell Afghan leaders and a wary public on President Joe Bidens decision to withdraw all American troops from the country and end Americas longest war. Blinken sought to assure senior Afghan politicians that the United States remains committed to the country despite Bidens announcement a day earlier that the 2,500 U.S. soldiers remaining in the country would be coming home by the 20th anniversary of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks that led to the U.S. invasion in 2001. I wanted to demonstrate with my visit the ongoing commitment of the United States to the Islamic Republic and the people of Afghanistan, Blinken told Afghan President Ashraf Ghani as they met at the presidential palace in Kabul. The partnership is changing, but the partnership itself is enduring. We respect the decision and are adjusting our priorities, Ghani told Blinken, expressing gratitude for the sacrifices of US troops. Later, in a meeting with Abdullah Abdullah, who heads the National Reconciliation Council, Blinken repeated his message, saying that we have a new chapter, but it is a new chapter that were writing together. We are grateful to your people, your country, your administration, Abdullah said. NATO immediately followed Bidens lead on Wednesday, saying its roughly 7,000 non-American forces in Afghanistan would be departing within a few months, ending the foreign military presence that had been a fact of life for a generation of Afghans already reeling from more than 40 years of conflict. Blinken arrived in the Afghan capital from Brussels, where he and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin briefed NATO officials on the U.S. decision and won quick approval from the allies to end their Resolute Support mission in Afghanistan. Biden, Blinken, Austin have all tried to put a brave face on the pullout, maintaining that the U.S.- and NATO-led missions to Afghanistan had achieved their goal of decimating Osama bin Ladens al-Qaida network that launched the 9/11 attacks and clearing the country of terrorist elements that could use Afghan soil to plot similar strikes. However, that argument has faced pushback from some U.S. lawmakers and human rights advocates, who say the withdrawal will result in the loss of freedoms that Afghans enjoyed after the Taliban was ousted from power in late 2001. My views are very pessimistic, Naheed Farid, a member of parliament, told reporters when asked her thoughts about the future of her country. Farid was one of a half-dozen, mostly women, civic leaders who met with Blinken at the U.S. Embassy in Kabul. She did not elaborate. Despite billions of U.S. dollars in aid, 20 years after the invasion, more than half of Afghanistans 36 million people live on less than $1.90 a day, according to World Bank figures. Afghanistan is also considered one of the worst countries in the world for womens rights and wellbeing, according to the Georgetown Institute for Women Peace and Security. For many Afghans the past two decades have been disappointing, as corruption has overtaken successive governments and powerful warlords have amassed wealth and loyal militias who are well armed. Many Afghans fear the chaos will worsen even more once America leaves. At a news conference in the capital before leaving, Blinken said while America is drawing down its military force, it is stepping up its engagement with the Afghan government and people and would continue financial support for the Afghan National Security Forces. Washington pays a $4 billion-a-year bill to maintain Afghanistans security forces. Our partnership with Afghanistan is enduring. We will remain side by side going forward, Blinken promised. Peace talks between the Taliban and the Afghan government are at a stalemate but are supposed to resume later this month in Istanbul, though the Taliban have not said if they will participate. Blinken had stern warnings for the religious militia, saying it would never gain the international recognition it wants if it drives Afghanistan toward a civil war rather than embracing the peace talks. Its important for the Taliban to recognize that it will never be legitimate and it will never be durable if it rejects the political process and tries to take the country by force, he said. Under an agreement signed between the Trump administration and the Taliban last year, the U.S. was to have completed its military withdrawal by May 1. Although Biden is blowing through that deadline, angering the Taliban leadership, his plan calls for the pullout to begin on May 1. The NATO withdrawal will commence the same day. The Talibans spokesman Zabihullah Mujahed warned Wednesday that problems will be compounded, if the U.S. misses the May 1 withdrawal deadline. The insurgent movement has yet to respond to Bidens surprise announcement that the pullout would only start on that date. In a meeting with staff at the U.S. Embassy in Kabul, Blinken said he understood this was a time of real transition for the entire U.S. mission in Afghanistan and that it was particularly stressful because of the uncertainties raised by Bidens announcement on top of the challenges they have already been facing, including the impact of the coronavirus pandemic. Blinken also assured the missions Afghan staff that a special U.S. visa program would be safeguarded. The program allows easier visa access for Afghans who have worked for the U.S. and as a result may have put themselves in danger. In his announcement in Washington on Tuesday, Biden said it was time to end Americas longest war. But he added that the U.S. will not conduct a hasty rush to the exit. Biden, along with Blinken and Austin in Brussels, also vowed that the U.S. would remain committed to Afghanistans people and development. Austin said that the U.S. military, after withdrawing from Afghanistan, will keep counterterrorism capabilities in the region to keep pressure on extremist groups operating within Afghanistan. Asked for details, he declined to elaborate on where those U.S. forces would be positioned or in what numbers. ___ Associated Press writer Kathy Gannon in Islamabad contributed to this report. By MATTHEW LEE AP Diplomatic Writer Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Zhao Lijian's Regular Press Conference on April 15, 2021 2021/04/15 CCTV: On April 14, President Biden said that the US has achieved its strategic objectives in Afghanistan and will begin withdrawing its 2,500 remaining troops on May 1, with the process to be completed by September 11. Biden also spoke on the phone with Afghan President Ashraf Ghani, who said he respects the US decision. According to the US side, to focus energy and resources on dealing with threats and challenges including competition from China is part of the consideration behind the withdrawal. Does China have any comment? Zhao Lijian: Currently the security situation in Afghanistan remains complicated and grave. Terrorism is far from being eradicated. China's position is consistent and clear. We hold that foreign troops in Afghanistan should withdraw in a responsible and orderly manner to ensure a stable transition and prevent terrorist forces from taking advantage of potential chaos to fester. The US is the single largest external factor in the Afghanistan issue. When making decisions and taking actions, the US should respect Afghanistan's sovereignty, independence and territorial integrity, safeguard progress made in peaceful reconstruction, and fully accommodate regional countries' legitimate security concerns. The remarks by the US side linking the withdrawal with dealing with challenges posed by China reflect a sinister and deep-seated Cold-War mentality, which is detrimental to China-US mutual trust and won't help with bilateral coordination and cooperation on regional and international issues. I would like to stress that resolving the Afghanistan issue through political means to achieve peace and stability at an early date and fighting terrorism serves the common interests of all sides including China and the US and is the shared aspiration of the international community. China stands ready to maintain communication and cooperation with all parties concerned on this to play a constructive role in realizing lasting peace and stability in Afghanistan at an early date. RIA Novosti:I've got another question on Afghanistan Earlier the United Nations announced that the Afghan peace conference would be held in Istanbul from 24 April to 4 May. I wonder if China has received an invitation and if China will take part in the upcoming conference? Zhao Lijian: China has received the invitation. It won't be possible to resolve the Afghanistan issue without the support and assistance from the international community. China supports all international efforts conducive to promoting peace and reconciliation in Afghanistan. With regard to the meeting, we are in communication with relevant sides. Kyodo News: Has the meeting between US Special Presidential Envoy for Climate John Kerry and China's special envoy on climate change Xie Zhenhua begun already? Can you give us some information about their meeting? Will Kerry meet other Chinese officials? Zhao Lijian: With regard to the visit of US Special Presidential Envoy for Climate John Kerry, I'd like to refer you to the Ministry of Ecology and Environment. I don't have any information to offer. Phoenix TV: We noticed that before and after the Japanese government made the decision on discharging nuclear wastewater from the Fukushima nuclear power plant accident into the sea, China and the ROK have spoken up frequently to express concern and dissatisfaction. However, Japan doesn't seem to accept it, claiming that criticism from China and the ROK are not based on science, but rather an out-pour of sentiments mixed with other thoughts. Do you have any comment? Zhao Lijian: Yesterday, the first meeting of the China-ROK dialogue and cooperation mechanism of maritime affairs was convened. The two countries urged Japan to fully consult with international institutions and neighboring countries, and prudently handle the issue on the basis of substantive participation by relevant countries and international institutions. This is the common position of the two sides. It is extremely selfish that Japan wantonly and unilaterally decided to release the nuclear wastewater into the sea and shift the burden and risks onto others in disregard of the safety and interests of the international community, its Asian neighbors in particular. To protect the health of their own people and international marine environment, China and the ROK, as Japan's close neighbors and stakeholders, expressed grave concerns and strong dissatisfaction. This is perfectly natural and justified. Japan claims that the nuclear wastewater is safe merely by citing data in its own possession. This is not convincing at all. There are so many revelations, testimony and reports on how Tokyo Electric Power Company, which runs the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, manipulated data and covered up truth. With its poor record, is Japan's data that is lacking in substantive third party participation, assessment and oversight by international agencies and others really reliable? A German marine scientific research institute pointed out long ago that with the world's strongest currents along the coast of Fukushima, radioactive materials could spread to most of the Pacific Ocean within 57 days from the date of discharge, and reach all oceans of the globe in a decade. What gives Japan the confidence and makes it feel it's in a position to accuse other countries of failing to obtain "scientific proof"? Some Japanese politicians spared no effort to prove that the nuclear wastewater is harmless, then they should use the water for drinking, cooking, laundry and irrigation; guarantee that sea food won't be contaminated; and accept the advice of the International Atomic Energy Agency and set up a technical working group with relevant countries including China and the ROK to make assessment. Japan should not rest assured just because the US has "thanked" it. The US has been quite honest in actions. While giving thumbs-up to Japan on the one hand, it is banning Japanese rice and fish imports on the other. The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) stressed that due to the public health concerns that are associated with radiation and nuclear contamination, FDA has increased surveillance of regulated products from Japan. How would Japan explain this policy of the US? Beijing Media Network: At the Bloomberg New Energy Finance Summit on April 14, Japanese Environment Minister Shinjiro Koizumi urged China to accelerate GHG reduction actions and said that China's air pollution could directly affect Japanese people's health and have social ramifications. He called on China to meet its 2060 carbon neutrality target ahead of schedule and peak carbon emissions as soon as possible. What's your comment? Zhao Lijian: Last year, China announced the aims to peak carbon dioxide emissions before 2030 and strive to achieve carbon neutrality before 2060. This is a major strategic decision based on the intrinsic need for China to realize sustainable development at home, and a responsibility it has undertaken for the building of a community with a shared future for mankind. China will make the stride from carbon peaking to carbon neutrality within just 30 years, which usually takes 50 to 60 years in developed countries. This won't be easy. It calls for a broad, profound and systemic socioeconomic reform. China has included carbon peaking and carbon neutrality in its overall plan for ecological conservation. We will honor our commitment with ironlike determination and perseverance. We suggest that Japan do what it urges others to do. The Kyoto Protocol on climate change is named after a Japanese city, yet Japan refused to accept the second commitment period of the deal and refused to make due contribution to global emission reduction efforts. Japan, a developed country, peaked carbon emission long before China, but announced its carbon neutrality commitment after China. Speaking of releasing pollutants, what came to my mind is a case that attracted world attention recently: the Japanese government's decision to release nuclear wastewater from the Fukushima nuclear power plant accident into the sea. This is a highly irresponsible move. Japan always talks about international responsibility and now is the time to honor words with deeds. I urge Japan to manage its own business, respond to the grave concern of the international community as soon as possible and properly handle the issue in a responsible manner. This would be conducive to improving its image in the world. Bloomberg: Adrian Zenz, in an interview with Bloomberg TV, described what's happening in Xinjiang as a huge state-sponsored system of "forced labor" that US has designated as "genocide". He called on countries to take actions. Does the foreign ministry have a comment on his perspective? Zhao Lijian: We can all see what kind of person Adrian Zenz is. His lies are not worth refuting. As I mentioned the other day, the Intermediate People's Court of Kashgar Prefecture accepted the case of Shache Xiongying Textile Co., Ltd. suing Adrian Zenz over damaged reputation. Relevant judicial organs are handling the case in accordance with laws, regulations and due procedures. As the case progresses, we believe the Chinese people and the international community will get to know more about the contemptible moves by Zenz to concoct rumors, and the attempt of Zenz and the malicious anti-China forces behind him to disrupt Xinjiang's security and stability and impede China's development will fall apart even faster. HRTN: The Australian Alert Service, a weekly publication of the Australian Citizens Party, published an eight-article series "Xinjiang: China's Western Frontier in the Heart of Eurasia", disclosing with details how some Western countries, including the US, have supported Xinjiang separatist and terrorist activities for geopolitical purposes. Do you have any comment? Zhao Lijian: I also noted this series. The articles are very well-written. They point out that since the end of the Cold War, Western countries, including the US, have been playing the "Xinjiang card" and supporting separatist and terrorist forces to disrupt Xinjiang. In 2003, the CIA concluded that "It would be unrealistic to rule out categorically American willingness to play the 'Uyghur card' as a means of exerting pressure on China in the event of some future crisis or confrontation." The NED has funneled US$8.76 million since 2004 to East Turkestan forces including the "World Uyghur Congress". These factors lead to rapid spread of extremist ideologies in Xinjiang and the inflow of terrorists. The East Turkestan forces then frequently plotted and carried out terrorist attacks in the region, causing heavy casualties of innocent civilians, severely jeopardizing stability in Xinjiang. The series also reveals that the US and the West have manipulated and taken advantage of overseas Uyghur groups through intelligence agencies and anti-China forces to cook up outrageous lies and disinformation like "detention camp", "forced labor" and "genocide", and arrange so-called think-tanks, scholars and mainstream media to fabricate and spread fake news. This is a complete rumor-mongering chain. They created the false impression that Muslims in Xinjiang support "independence", that East Turkestan forces pursue "peace", and that there are human rights violations in Xinjiang, in an attempt to disrupt Xinjiang and contain China. The truth will come to light. The US and the West want to destroy China with rumors, but these rumors have destroyed their image in the eyes of Chinese people. These rumors only make the Chinese more united and clear-eyed about the true face of the US and the West. Today is the sixth National Security Education Day in China. We believe that with extensive publicity and in-depth implementation of the holistic approach to national security, each and every Chinese citizen will have sharp eyes to spot the lies of the US and the West, thus forming an impregnable fortress for our national security. Their conspiracy to disrupt Xinjiang's stability and development will by no means succeed. CGTN: The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet in a recent statement expressed concerns over the Overseas Operations (Service Personnel and Veterans) Bill currently being reviewed by the UK Parliament. The Bill "could lead to shielding military personnel operating abroad from due accountability for acts of torture or other serious international crimes"; "would make it substantially less likely that UK service members on overseas operations would be held accountable for serious human rights violations amounting to international crimes", and is "potentially in violation of the UK's obligations, including under the Convention against Torture and other international treaties", Bachelet said. I wonder if China has a comment? Zhao Lijian: China has stated many times its position on serious human rights abuses by some Western powers in countries including Afghanistan and Iraq, where soldiers and even innocent civilians were mistreated and killed. Such actions in violation of international treaties and human conscience, must be investigated thoroughly to bring those accountable to the court of law and justice. Crimes that mutilate innocent lives and trample on human conscience, no matter who or which country committed them, must be rejected and condemned by the international community. This is upholding human rights, equity and justice. Regrettably, some Western countries including the UK, are in the habit of politicizing human rights issues and applying double standard. Styling themselves as lecturers, they interfere and pressure other countries while turning a blind eye to their own grave human rights conditions. We urge the UK to conduct thorough investigations into its atrocities including abusing and hurting innocent civilians during the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, hold those guilty of international crimes accountable, assume its due international obligations, and give a responsible response to the international community. The Globe and Mail: The Canadian Parliament has declared Tsai Ing-wen an ideal candidate for the John McCain Prize for Leadership in Public Service. Does the Chinese government believe that Ms. Tsai is an ideal candidate for this prize? Zhao Lijian: China deplores and rejects the wrong motion related to Taiwan passed by the Canadian House of Commons. The one-China principle is the political foundation of China-Canada relations and a solemn commitment by the Canadian government. Canada should recognize that the Taiwan question is highly sensitive, prudently and properly handle Taiwan-related issues and avoid further undermining bilateral relations. NHK: When meeting with an unofficial US delegation in Taiwan today, Tsai Ing-wen thanked the Biden administration for the emphasis it places on peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait. Do you have a comment? Zhao Lijian: I already stated China's solemn position on the visit to Taiwan by the US delegation yesterday. The Taiwan question bears on China's sovereignty, territorial integrity and core interests. We are firmly determined to safeguard sovereignty, security and development interests. The US should fully grasp the highly sensitive nature of the Taiwan question, earnestly abide by the one-China principle and the three China-US joint communiques, prudently handle Taiwan-related issues, and refrain from sending any wrong signals to "Taiwan independence" separatist forces to avoid serious damage to peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait as well as China-US coordination and cooperation in key areas. People's Daily: Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines warned at a Senate Intelligence Committee hearing of the "unparalleled threat" posed by China, saying that "China increasingly is a near-peer competitor challenging the United States in multiple arenas, while pushing to revise global norms in ways that favor the authoritarian Chinese system". Do you have a comment? Zhao Lijian: China is committed to the path of peaceful development. Never have we started a war or taken a single inch of another country's territory. We pose no threat to any country. As facts have proven time and again, China always works to safeguard world peace, contribute to global development and uphold international order. China's development means opportunities for the world. There is a British saying: To a man with a hammer, everything looks like a nail. The US intends to maintain its global hegemony forever and to dominate international rules, so it sees challenges and threats everywhere. This is a typical example of a petty mind making conjectures about an upright man. I would like to ask the US: Which country on earth has the world's top military expenditure and runs the most overseas military bases? Which country has been war-free for only 16 years in its over 240 years of history? Which country frequently sends military aircraft and vessels beyond its shores to flex muscles? Which country engages in infiltration and instigates color revolution and regime change all over the world under the cover of democracy and human rights? Which country resorts to ganging up on others without scruples? I'd like to stress that China's development means growth in the force for peace in the world. It brings opportunities instead of challenges to the international community. China always upholds the UN-centered international system, and the international order we firmly safeguard is the one founded on international law, not the one defined by a certain country for the purpose of maintaining its hegemony. In the era of globalization, forming ideology-based cliques to target others will undermine international order, get no support and lead to nowhere. The Globe and Mail: You mentioned earlier the National Security Education Day. There are a number of references in some reporting on that to people who are accused of anti-China activities or anti-China speeches over the years. Can you give us a better understanding of what constitutes "anti-China" in the national security context? Zhao Lijian: As to what are "anti-China activities" and what constitutes behavior "undermining China's national security", I refer you to relevant Chinese laws where you will find very specific provisions. SAN FRANCISCO, April 15, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Four organizations addressing workforce development today announced Bay Area Opportunity Onramps , a new collaborative that aims to place 5,000 workers from the Bay Area in full-time, middle-wage jobs over the next three years. The initiative seeks to engage employers and training providers across the Bay Area as partners to help people recovering from the past year's economic fallout. Led by JFF , [email protected] , and the SkillUp Coalition , with seed support from the Workday Foundation, and on-the-ground support from JVS , Bay Area Opportunity Onramps offers a new approach for jointly addressing the needs of employers, jobseekers, and training providers. The unique initiative aims to create new pathways to economic mobility for workers who are Skilled Through Alternative Routes, known as "STARs ," rather than through a four-year college degree. The Bay Area is home to 1.1 million STARs, among whom are the majority of Black and Hispanic workers, essential workers, and veterans. Many have been displaced during the COVID-19 crisis. STARs have developed valuable, in-demand skills through community college, workforce training, bootcamps, certificate programs, military service, or on-the-job learning, but are often screened out when employers require a four-year degree. Employers that join Bay Area Opportunity Onramps will gain access to Stellarworx, [email protected]'s online talent platform , which leverages Workday's skill cloud. Stellarworx helps employers find, vet, and hire local STARs who meet their need for skilled talent and whose employment is essential to achieving an equitable economic recovery. Bay Area Opportunity Onramps is modeled after a similar program at Workday, a leader in enterprise cloud applications for finance and human resources. "Providing economic mobility for all, particularly people from under-resourced communities, is more important than ever in today's changing world of work," said Carrie Varoquiers, vice president of Global Impact & Employee Life at Workday, and president of the Workday Foundation. "At Workday, Opportunity Onramps has catalyzed a movement, and to keep this momentum going, we're calling on employers from across the Bay Area to join forces to help change the way we as organizations hire. Together, we can work to close the opportunity gap." Bay Area Opportunity Onramps offers an equitable solution to meet today's hiring demand in the region. "As Bay Area companies seek to diversify their talent, they will find a solution in the 1.1 million Bay Area STARs. STARs represent a massive and diverse talent pool, which is why we created the Stellarworx platform to connect them to companies," said Byron Auguste, the CEO of [email protected] "According to our research, 23,000 Bay Area STARs in retail sales roles have transferable skills for tech sales positions. Low-wage work is often falsely equated with 'low skill,' and the lack of a degree is wrongly presumed to reflect a lack of skills." "What really sets this Bay Area collaboration apart from other job training and placement programs is the coalition's unique partnerships," said Maria Flynn, president and CEO of JFF and a SkillUp Coalition board member. "The coalition's diverse partners, innovative tech platforms, training providers, and community leaders like JVS, with deep connections throughout the region, provide workers with a unique, end-to-end experience where they can connect to quality training and prepare them for quality roles and careers." Today SkillUp also launched a website where STARs can explore vetted, trusted upskilling programs to help them secure a foothold in high-growth industries such as technology, health care, business, and the skilled trades. "Few areas in the country better exemplify the so-called 'K-shaped recovery' than the Bay Area. While most knowledge economy workers have remained employed, that hasn't been the case for far too many workers without college degrees," said Steven Lee, executive director of the SkillUp Coalition. "SkillUp was founded to help the latter grab on to and achieve the same prosperity those on the upward slope have been experiencing. We're so grateful to all of our partners, especially the Workday Foundation for their meaningful financial support, for joining in a collective effort to help workers in the Bay Area upskill and access a brighter future." Employers interested in joining our efforts can learn more at www.opportunityatwork.org/bayarea . STARs interested in exploring available upskilling programs are invited to visit www.skillup.org/bay-area . About JFF JFF is a national nonprofit that drives transformation in the American workforce and education systems. For more than 35 years, JFF has led the way in designing innovative and scalable solutions that create access to economic advancement for all. www.jff.org About [email protected] [email protected] is a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization whose mission is to increase career opportunities for the more than 70 million adults in the United States who do not have a four-year college degree but are Skilled Through Alternative Routesor "STARs." We build products, tools, and solutions that enable companies to hire STARs based on in-demand skillsnot pedigree. Together with employers, educators, workforce leaders, and philanthropists, [email protected] and its partners are rewiring the labor market for STARs to unlock their full earning potential. For more information, visit www.opportunityatwork.org/bayarea . About the SkillUp Coalition SkillUp, a new 501(c)(3) nonprofit coalition, is devoted to helping workers impacted by COVID-19 get rehired for in-demand jobs in high-growth industries. The Coalition also enables partners to share best practices, collaborate on shared challenges, and participate in public engagement campaigns that help COVID-affected workers begin a prosperous new stage in their careers. Consisting of leading training and education providers, employers, technology developers, and job readiness nonprofits, SkillUp provides career navigation, training programs, and job opportunities to help frontline workers secure their place in the economy of tomorrow. For more information, please visit www.skillup.org/bay-area . About Workday Workday is a leading provider of enterprise cloud applications for finance and human resources , helping customers adapt and thrive in a changing world. Workday applications for financial management, human resources, planning, spend management, and analytics have been adopted by thousands of organizations around the world and across industriesfrom medium-sized businesses to more than 45 percent of the Fortune 500. For more information about Workday, visit workday.com . SOURCE SkillUp Coalition; [email protected] Related Links www.skillup.org PHOENIX, April 15, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Unity Rd., the cannabis dispensary franchise of Item 9 Labs Corp. (OTCQX: INLB), has rolled out its highly anticipated Local Alliance Program. Existing cannabis dispensary owners and dispensary license holders now have the opportunity to partner with Unity Rd. to gain direct access to the tools, expertise and ongoing support necessary to compliantly and successfully operate a dispensary all while maintaining full ownership of their cannabis business and license. Unity Rd. offers the safest route for cannabis entrepreneurs looking to claim their stake in the fast-growing, complex industry. Through the Local Alliance Program, existing owners with a dispensary in operation or dispensary license now have access to the buying power, resources and supportive network normally reserved for multi-unit operators. Additionally, the dispensary franchisor's time-tested Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) and veteran team guide franchise partners through every operational function of the business, whether it be assisting with cash flow, product selection or changing regulations. "We're keeping dispensary ownership local and thriving with the backing of a franchise system," said Unity Rd.'s VP of Franchise Development Justin Livingston. "The Local Alliance Program allows us to help existing dispensary operators learn from the experiences and best practices we've developed throughout our collective 120 years in cannabis. We're offering the supportive network and tools they need to reach new heights and achieve their business goals." Currently, the marijuana franchise has signed multiple agreements with more than 10 entrepreneurial groups across the country. Unity Rd. is initially seeking Local Alliance partners in Colorado and Oklahoma, among other existing new and mature U.S. cannabis markets. "As part of the Unity Rd. network, our Local Alliance partners can operate their dispensaries more efficiently resulting in more time to focus on growing the business rather than managing it," added Livingston. "It's all part of our overarching goal to inspire confidence in the benefits of cannabis for all. We truly believe franchising will be the vehicle to help drive the cannabis industry forward all while arming entrepreneurs across the country with the tools they need to be successful so that ownership and revenues stay local." Unity Rd. franchise partners receive even more resources and supply chain connections as the brand was recently acquired by Item 9 Labs Corp., an award-winning cannabis operator. The combination of the Unity Rd. cannabis retail franchise and premium Item 9 Labs products makes Item 9 Labs Corp. one of the first vertically integrated cannabis franchise companies in the nation. Known for its impressive catalogue of products, Item 9 Labs currently offers 75 active cannabis strains and 150-plus differentiated cannabis vape products as well as premium concentrates. As Unity Rd. grows its franchise network, Item 9 Labs plans to develop or partner with cultivation facilities in states where Unity Rd. franchise partners open cannabis retail shops. This move will give Unity Rd. operators front-of-the-line access to a reliable product supply chain. Despite economic challenges brought on by the pandemic, the demand for cannabis products surged to unprecedented levels with nearly every state experiencing record sales throughout 2020. The year ahead is poised to be big for cannabis law reform on both the state and federal levels opening opportunities for the industry to explode, with projections to top $24 billion by year-end. To learn more about the Unity Rd. Local Alliance Program, contact [email protected] or 480-542-9420, or visit unityrd.com. ABOUT UNITY RD. : Unity Rd. is bridging the two previously disconnected worlds of cannabis and franchising. The industry trailblazer is the first to bring the cannabis dispensary franchise model to the United Stateswith duality of prowess in both industries to back it up. Built up from a collective 200 years in the legal cannabis industry and franchising, the company helps eager operators enter the complex industry with ease. The marijuana franchise pioneer offers its partners the knowledge, resources, and ongoing support needed to compliantly and successfully operate a dispensary. Launched in 2018, Unity Rd. has signed multiple agreements with more than 10 entrepreneurial groups across the country. Recently, it was named one of the top cannabis retail leaders in the nation by MJBizDaily magazine and one of the "Best Cannabis Companies to Work For" in both the dispensary and cultivation categories in Cannabis Business Times' elite 2020 list. The company is also the first cannabis business to earn a Franchise Times Dealmakers award. For more information, visit unityrd.com. ABOUT ITEM 9 LABS CORP. : Item 9 Labs Corp. (OTCQX: INLB) is a vertically integrated cannabis operator and dispensary franchisor, delivering premium products from its large-scale cultivation and production facilities in the United States. The award-winning Item 9 Labs brand specializes in best-in-class products and user experience across several cannabis categories. The company also offers a unique dispensary franchise model through the national Unity Rd. retail brand. Easing barriers to entry, the franchise provides an opportunity for both new and existing dispensary owners to leverage the knowledge, resources, and ongoing support needed to thrive in their state compliantly and successfully. Item 9 Labs brings the best industry practices to markets nationwide through distinctive retail experience, cultivation capabilities, and product innovation. The veteran management team combines a diverse skill set with deep experience in the cannabis sector, franchising, and the capital markets to lead a new generation of public cannabis companies that provide transparency, consistency, and well-being. Headquartered in Arizona, the company is currently expanding its operations space by 650,000+ square feet on its 50-acre site, one of the largest properties in Arizona zoned to grow and cultivate flower. For additional information, visit item9labscorp.com. Media Contact: Liz Robinson, Fishman PR Phone: 847-945-1300 Email: [email protected] Investor Contact: Item 9 Labs Corp. Phone: 800-403-1140 Email: [email protected] SOURCE Unity Rd. Related Links https://www.unityrd.com HOLLAND, MI When Holland Public Schools identified $140 million of school renovations in the districts 2009 master plan, Superintendent Brian Davis couldnt imagine asking taxpayers to pay for it all amid the ongoing recession. So the district cut that amount in half, instead only asking taxpayers for $73 million to fund the most immediate needs, which was paid for through a bond proposal approved by voters in the May 2010 election. More than a decade later, Davis is coming back to the Holland community to ask voters to consider a second bond that will fund the remaining unfinished projects from the 2009 master plan. Holland Public Schools is asking for $74.65 million in the May 4, 2021 election which would be used to complete several construction projects, make health and safety improvements and upgrade instructional technology. The district would pay for the project by levying an average of 3.22 mills annually over 24 years. The bond would levy 1.58 mills, or $1.58 on each $1,000 of taxable valuation, in its first year of 2021. It would be raised to 2.26 mills in 2027, and 3.50 in 2035, based on the issuance of the bond series. Although the proposed bond millage would increase over the years, the districts overall debt millage rate is expected to decline through 2044 as previous bonds expire. The bond proposal would not increase tax rates from last year to this year because prior school debt will fall off the tax rolls this summer, Davis said. If the bond were approved, the districts debt millage rate would drop from 4.98 mills in 2020 to 4.73 mills in 2021. If the bond proposal is denied by voters, the current debt millage would reduce starting this tax year and would run through 2034, according to figures on the district website. A millage calculator is available at the bottom of the districts Build 2021 webpage. Holland will host three virtual information sessions this month, which are open to all community members and voters. Zoom links will be provided to participants when they register. The sessions dates and links to register are below: Thursday, April 15, from 8-9 a.m. Register here Thursday, April 22, from noon to 1 p.m. Register here Wednesday, April 28, from 4-5 p.m. Register here The funds would be spent over several years in three series, with the final series of projects available by July 2025. The districts three elementary schools Holland Heights, Jefferson and West will be the primary focus of the bond. Every building in the district will receive some level of improvement, but the biggest portion of this is our elementary schools, Davis said. Each of the three bond series will feature some elementary school improvements, but the largest will take place in series two, a $41 million project that will fund the partial reconstruction of Holland Heights and West Elementary schools. It will be available July 2023. All of the elementary school playgrounds would be improved during series one of the bond, available July 2021, and Jefferson Elementary School would be remodeled during series three. Holland High School and Middle School are also slated for renovation under the plan. Around $9 million would be spent renovating the high school and $8 million would be spent on the middle school. Roughly $3.5 million would be spent on districtwide technology improvements. Davis said the coronavirus pandemic has shown how important technology is in education. Weve certainly seen in the past year the way in which we had to rely upon robust systems to be able to provide learning not only in the classroom, but also learning at home, he said. There will be a significant component of that every building in the district will receive some level of improvement. Davis said hes tried to be as fiscally responsible as possible with both this bond proposal and the 2010 bond. When Ive done this work, Ive always tried to bring forward a request that was respectable, and what we thought was most reasonable to be able to accomplish and deliver the best education that we can, he said. There are several other requests from other school districts on the May 4 ballot for voters in Ottawa County. Those include: Grand Haven Area Public Schools is proposing to renew the operating millage required to receive revenue per pupil. The renewal is a rate not to exceed 18 mills, which equates to $18 for each $1,000 worth of taxable value. The millage would capture $15.65 million in 2021. Hudsonville Public Schools is seeking to renew its millage of 18 mills for operations. The millage equates to $18 for each $1,000 of taxable value. The district would collect about $5.6 million from the millage in 2021. Ravenna Public Schools has two bonding measures on the ballot for some Ottawa County voters. The first seeks $10.89 million for no tax increase and the second seeks $5.3 million in bonds with a 0.9 mill property tax increase. West Ottawa Public Schools is seeking to renew the operating millage required to receive revenue per pupil. The renewal is a rate not to exceed 18 mills, which equates to $18 for each $1,000 worth of taxable value. It would generate about $13.93 million in 2021. Zeeland Public Schools has a $75 million bond proposal on the ballot that would help the growing school district keep up with rising student enrollment and upgrade its aging facilities. The bond would not increase current taxes. The district is also asking for a renewal of the operating millage, which would capture $9.24 million in 2021. More on MLive: School, local government proposals on May 4 election ballot in the Grand Rapids area Zeeland schools proposing $75M bond in May 4 election to help district keep up with rising enrollment Holland culinary students bake 10,000 pastries for food pantries thanks to companys donation (Attaches urgent to corrected snaps, no change in text) TAIPEI, April 15 (Reuters) - Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen told a visiting delegation of former senior U.S. officials on Thursday the Chinese military's activities have threatened regional peace and stability. Tsai also told the delegation that Taiwan looks forward to resuming trade talks with the United States as soon as possible. (Reporting by Yimou Lee; Writing by Se Young Lee; Editing by Christian Schmollinger) BRIDGEPORT With the citys ex-police chief and former personnel director heading to federal prison, Mayor Joe Ganim is under mounting pressure to permanently fill those crucial positions. There are divisions, though, over which should be replaced first. Its urgent we get a police chief, said Councilwoman Jeanette Herron, who sits on the legislative bodys public safety committee. We need to get morale back and correct the departments inefficiencies and bring it up to standard. Herron and Councilman Matthew McCarthy have for months been calling on Ganim to quickly find a successor to Armando Perez, the former top cop arrested last September for cheating in 2018 to get that job. He and ex-Civil Service Director David Dunn, who in that role helped oversee the chief search and conspired to ensure Perez was a finalist, were sentenced this week to, respectively, one year-and-a day and four months in federal prison. The (chief) search needs to be started yesterday, McCarthy said Wednesday. But Council President Aidee Nieves wants Ganim to prioritize hiring a personnel head an opinion she first voiced in January. Now that the Dunn/Perez case has been closed, it is imperative for the city to move on with a search for a new, permanent personnel director, Nieves said Wednesday. She has had informal conversations with the mayor and his chief of staff, Dan Shamas, and said it is my hope that is his (Ganims) intention now that both cases have been adjudicated. Ned Gerard / Hearst Connecticut Media Neither Ganim, nor Shamas nor the mayors spokesperson replied to requests this week for comment about the administrations intentions. Ganim has been mum for months on the topic. The proposed 2021-22 municipal budget the mayor submitted last week to the council does specify as a civil service priority conducting police chief and personnel director examinations within one year or less. Christian Abraham / Hearst Connecticut Media On Monday Eric Amado, the citys head of labor relations who Ganim temporarily put in charge of civil service after Dunns arrest, told the councils budget committee: If Im in the councils shoes and this is with all complete respect the first goal and priority is to give the personnel director exam. ... The City of Bridgeport needs, desires, wants a permanent personnel director. Amado argued that office has mainly had provisional or acting heads for six decades, including Dunn, hired in 2009. He acknowledged, The argument can be made that the last four police chief exams were conducted by a provisional personnel director. So you can make the argument that a permanent personnel director isnt needed. I can see that. Nieves insisted Wednesday the community will have more faith in the outcome of a competitive process for a new police force head if a professional, independent search by a consultant is first conducted for a new personnel boss. Gemeem Davis, a leader of Bridgeport Generation Now, a civic group that all along argued Perez was unqualified, said she wants the mayor to focus on finding a new top cop. Davis did not think Dunns acting role running civil service had anything to do with his crimes: We shouldnt hold up the police chief search based on that. If Eric is acting personnel director there should be enough confidence in him to run the chief search, Davis said. Davis also has a seat on a special task force co-chaired by Nieves of elected officials, activists and city employees drafting proposals to address what critics say is rampant racism and militarism within Bridgeports department and a fractured relationship between police and residents. Davis argued that while Ganim promoted Assistant Chief Rebeca Garca to acting chief following Perezs arrest, a permanent police department head with a contract has more authority to implement lasting change. Garcias authority is also being challenged both in court some police captains filed a lawsuit alleging her appointment to assistant chief in December 2019 was unlawful and invalid and by the union, which last month voted no confidence in Garcias leadership. Advocates that Ganim immediately launch a hunt for a police chief are also hopeful of luring a new face to the job. Rebeca is doing the best she can, Herron said. But fresh eyes coming into this police department would be a great thing. McCarthy said Bridgeport needs someone from the outside. Someone fresh. Not the same old, same old. Perez and Dunn conspired in 2018 to ensure the former was among three finalists presented to Ganim, who had a long-standing friendship with Perez and has denied any involvement in the criminal scheme. The other two finalists were another member of the Bridgeport force Captain Roderick Porter, one of the captains suing over Garcia being made assistant chief and who filed a separate federal discrimination lawsuit against the city and outsider Luiz Casanova. Casanova in 2018 was assistant chief in New Haven and now oversees security at the Capitol building in Hartford. Marriott International has appointed Sandeep Walia as Chief Operating Officer, Middle East and Jerome Briet as Chief Development Officer for Europe, Middle East & Africa. Walia will step into the role on July 1, following the retirement of current COO, Guido De Wilde, announced last month. Briet will take on the role from Carlton Ervin, who was recently appointed as Marriotts Global Development Officer, International. Walia will be responsible for Marriott Internationals 146 operating hotels across the Middle East, as well as Egypt and Turkey, representing 21 hotel brands across 10 countries, while Briet will be responsible for driving Marriotts growth trajectory and market position across EMEA, while supporting the companys global-wide development vision. In his new position, Walia will work to drive the companys recovery across the Middle East and grow its presence across the region, while supporting the companys vision to become EMEAs favourite travel company. Satya Anand, President EMEA, Marriott International, said: It gives me great pleasure to announce that Sandeep has taken up this new role. With a career spanning several operational and leadership roles across multiple regions around the world, Sandeep brings extensive hospitality experience, strong relationships with the regions ownership community, and comprehensive knowledge of hospitality. Prior to this role, Walia was Area Vice President for the UAE and played a critical role in support the companys hotels, guests and associates during the Covid-19 pandemic. Walia started in hospitality in 1996 before joining Marriott in 2005 as EAM Food & Beverage at The Ritz-Carlton, Sharm El Sheikh in Egypt before taking up his first General Manager role at The Ritz-Carlton, Moscow. During his tenure in Egypt, he travelled to several hotels in Asia, Europe and the Middle East as a pre-opening hotel trainer for The Ritz-Carlton, driving brand awareness and service culture. In 2012, Walia was appointed as Area Vice President Europe for The Ritz-Carlton, Bulgari and EDITION hotels. In 2017, he took on the role of Area Vice President for Luxury Brands in Western Europe, overseeing 32 operational hotels before moving to UAE in April 2019 as the Area Vice President, Luxury Hotels. As Chief Development Officer, EMEA, Briet will work to identify new opportunities for the business, owners and franchisees, and be responsible for shaping the strategic growth plan and leadership of the EMEA development team. I am delighted that Jerome has stepped into the role to lead Marriotts development strategy across EMEA, continued Anand. With his extensive knowledge of hotel development and acquisitions, and his remarkable track record of growth for Marriott International, I know Jerome will drive great success for the company in the region. Prior to this role, Briet was Chief Development Officer, Middle East and Africa, and brings a wealth of experience and achievements from the region. Since joining Marriott in 2012, he has overseen tremendous growth in the Middle East and Africa, including some of the most renowned properties in the UAE such as Bulgari Resort & Residences Dubai, Marriott Hotel & Resort Palm Jumeirah, and The Ritz-Carlton properties in Ras Al Khaimah (Al Wadi Desert and Al Hamra Beach Resort). Briet has more than 15 years of hospitality experience, starting as a night auditor for Marriott Vacation Club in 2003. He then left Marriott, to work at Jones Lang LaSalle, a global commercial real estate services company. Following this, he took up a role with Millennium & Copthorne, where he oversaw Development & Acquisitions for the Middle East, Africa and India. He rejoined Marriott in 2012 as Senior Director of Development Middle East and Africa, working his way up through different leadership positions within the Development team. - TradeArabia News Service The Apple AR/VR headset--another much-anticipated device from the tech giant apart from the rumored iPhone 13--is hyping up once again after KGI Securities analyst Ming-Chi Kuo said that it will carry several cameras (up to 15!) According to a 9to5mac report, Kuo said that the Apple headset will start shipping next year with an estimated price tag of $1,000. This is much more affordable than the $3,000 quote mentioned by The Information in a previous report. While Kuo's revelation is something to be excited about, it should be noted that his specialization is more focused on the supply chain and not on the actual market prices. Augmented reality (AR) glasses are said to be in the pipeline of the tech giant, but these are not yet ready for commercial production at the moment. Kuo predicted that the Apple AR glasses will appear in 2025, followed by AR contact lenses during the 2030-2040 timeframe. Apple has yet to start producing the prototype of AR glasses. AR contact lenses, meanwhile, anchor on the premise of invisible computing, though they might not have independent power and storage technology. Moreover, according to reports, the Cupertino-based company is set to unveil a virtual reality (VR) headset similar to the HTC Vive Pro and the Valve Index. Described by Kuo as a head-mounted display (HMD), the new product is anticipated to pique the interest of developers working on Apple's AR ecosystem. Apple AR/VR Headset Rumors: Why Will It Be Full of Camera? The million-dollar question is: why up to 15 cameras? As AR technology relies on gathering data from the real world, the new Apple headset must have the capability to accurately the user's eye movement, per 9to5mac. Read Also: Apple CEO Tim Cook: Augmented Reality Is A 'Core Technology' Equipped with several cameras, the rumored Apple AR/VR headset can achieve foveated rendering wherein data collection is more focused on the object a user is looking at and not on the entire field of view. The mixed reality headset can also determine if the user is blinking and use iris recognition or "Face ID for headsets" for security purposes. Apple AR/VR Headset to Feature 8K Displays? As reported by The Information, the Apple headset is also said to come with two 8K displays, one for each eye. Weighing about 200-300 grams, Apple's AR/VR headset will come with Sony micro-OLED displays, each equipped with a dedicated computing chip and storage. Apple has not yet revealed anything official about its mixed reality headset. But if it becomes a reality next year, the Apple AR/VR headset will be an addition to the expanding array of wearable devices the tech giant has, such as the Apple AirPods and the Apple Watch. Apple currently leads the wearable market. The tech giant had 33.1 percent market share during the third quarter of 2020, a trend spurred by the popularity of wearable devices such as Apple AirPods and Apple Watches during the COVID-19 pandemic, according to the data revealed by the marketing intelligence firm International Data Corporation (IDC). The company also revealed that 125 million units of wearable devices were shipped during the period. Apple was followed by Chinese wearable manufacturers Xiaomi and Huawei, and Korean technology giant Samsung on IDC's market report. Related Article: Apple's Rumored VR Headset in Development: Speculated Specs, Price, and Everything We Know So Far US intelligence has now pulled back on claims Russia placed 'bounties' on US soldiers in Afghanistan - after Joe Biden repeatedly used the story to attack Donald Trump during the 2020 presidential race. The assessment, revealed Thursday as America announced a host of new sanctions on the Russian government, undermines one of the sharpest attacks Democrats leveled against the former president during the 2020 White House race. Trump had tweeted last July: 'The Russia Bounty story is just another made up by Fake News tale that is told only to damage me and the Republican Party.' He added: The secret source probably does not even exist, just like the story itself. Just another HOAX!' But Biden used the story to repeatedly attack Trump on the campaign trail. He accused the Republican of not standing up to Russian President Vladimir Putin despite his administration being aware of intelligence suggesting Russian agents were offering bounties to the Taliban. Then on Thursday, White House press secretary Jen Psaki said that after a review of those classified reports, the intelligence community determined it had only 'low to moderate confidence' in their authenticity. She said that was due in part to the ways in which the intelligence was obtained, including from interrogations of Afghan detainees. The intelligence assessments were first reported by The New York Times and prompted then presidential candidate Biden to repeatedly charge that Trump had abandoned U.S. troops by not forcefully responding to the intelligence assessments. US intelligence has now rowed back on claim Russia placed 'bounties' on US soldiers in Afghanistan - after Joe Biden repeatedly used the story to attack Donald Trump, pictured, during the 2020 presidential race President Joe Biden speaks about Russia Thursday. The intelligence assessments were first reported by The New York Times and prompted then presidential candidate Biden to repeatedly charge that Trump had abandoned U.S. troops by not forcefully responding to the intelligence assessments 'His entire presidency has been a gift to Putin, but this is beyond the pale,' Biden said of Trump last June, days after the reports first appeared. 'Its a betrayal of the most sacred duty we bear as a nation to protect and equip our troops when we send them into harms way. Its a betrayal of every single American family with a loved one serving in Afghanistan or anywhere overseas.' In June, The Associated Press reported that Trump White House officials were briefed on intelligence about potential bounties in 2019 and again in 2020. Then-national security adviser Robert OBrien said Trump himself had not been briefed on the matter because the intelligence reports 'have not been verified.' U.S. military commanders at the time also said the raw intelligence did not lead them to change their force protection posture in Afghanistan. Biden, right, repeatedly attacked Trump, left, on the campaign trail for not standing up to Russian President Vladimir Putin despite his administration being aware of intelligence suggesting Russian agents were offering bounties to the Taliban Defense officials and military commanders repeatedly said that the reports of bounties had not been corroborated by defense intelligence agencies and that they were not convinced the reports were credible Biden raised the subject of the reported bounties on U.S. troops during his first call with Putin on January 26, the White House said at the time. No mention of the topic was revealed by the White House after their latest call on Tuesday. Defense officials and military commanders repeatedly said that the reports of bounties had not been corroborated by defense intelligence agencies and that they were not convinced the reports were credible. They also said they didnt believe any bounties resulted in U.S. military deaths. The White House said Thursdays sanctions were in response to Russias interference in U.S. elections, crackdown on dissidents, cyberintrusions and its occupation of Crimea - but not the reported 'bounties' placed on American troops. White House press secretary Jen Psaki speaks during a press briefing at the White House 'The reason that they have low to moderate confidence in this judgment is in part because it relies on detainee reporting, and due to the challenging environment and also due to the challenging operating environment in Afghanistan,' Psaki said. ' So its challenging to gather this intelligence and this data.' Psaki added that U.S. intelligence has evidence that Russian military intelligence, known as the GRU, interacts with individuals in Afghan criminal networks. 'This information really puts the burden on Russia and the Russian government to explain their engagement here,' she said. Adults with periodontitis transmit bacteria that can cause the disease in future to their children, and the bacteria remain in the oral cavity even when the children undergo treatment of various kinds, reinforcing the need for preventive care in the first year of a baby's life. This is the main conclusion of a study conducted at the University of Campinas (UNICAMP) in the state of Sao Paulo, Brazil. An article on the study is published in Scientific Reports. Periodontitis is an inflammation of the periodontium, the tissue that supports the teeth and maintains them in the maxillary and mandibular bones. The disease is triggered by bacterial infection. Symptoms include bleeding of the gums and halitosis. In severe cases, it leads to bone and tooth loss. If the bacteria or other microorganisms that cause the disease enter the bloodstream, they may trigger other kinds of inflammation in the body. Treatment includes cleaning of the pockets around teeth by a dentist or hygienist and administration of anti-inflammatory drugs or antibiotics. "The parents' oral microbiome is a determinant of the subgingival microbial colonization of their children," the article's authors state in their conclusions, adding that "dysbiotic microbiota acquired by children of periodontitis patients at an early age are resilient to shift and the community structure is maintained even after controlling the hygiene status". According to dental surgeon Mabelle de Freitas Monteiro, first author of the article, she and her group have been researching periodontitis for ten years, observing parents with the disease and its impact on their children's health. "If the findings are applied to day-to-day dental practice, the study can be said to help design more direct approaches. Knowing that periodontal disease may affect the patient's family is an incentive to use preventive treatment, seek early diagnosis and mitigate complications," said Monteiro, who was supported by FAPESP via two projects. The principal investigator for both projects was Renato Correa Viana Casarin, a professor at UNICAMP's Piracicaba Dental School (FOP) and last author of the article. For Casarin, parents should start caring for the health of their children's gums when they are infants. This pioneering study compares parents with and without periodontitis. In children of the former, we found subgingival bacterial colonization at a very early age. However, 'inheriting' the problem doesn't mean a child is fated to develop the disease in adulthood. Hence the importance of keeping an eye open for the smallest signs and seeking specialized help." Renato Correa Viana Casarin, Study Last Author and Professor, Piracicaba Dental School, University of Campinas Data on the Brazilian population's oral health is scarce. According to the last national dental epidemiological survey, conducted by the Ministry of Health in 2010, 18% of children aged 12 had never been to the dentist and 11.7% had experienced bleeding of the gums. In the 15-19 age group, 13.6% had never visited a dental clinic. Another survey was scheduled for 2020 but had to be postponed because of the COVID-19 pandemic. The Sao Paulo State Department of Health published the findings of its latest oral health survey in 2019, showing among other things that 50.5% of adults aged 35-44 complained of toothache, bleeding gums and periodontitis Bacteria In the FOP-UNICAMP study led by Casarin and Monteiro, samples of subgingival biofilm and plaque were collected from 18 adults with a history of generalized aggressive (grade C) periodontitis, their children aged 6-12, and 18 orally healthy adults. In addition to a clinical analysis, the samples were also subjected to a microbiological analysis and genetic sequencing by researchers at Ohio State University in the United States under the supervision of Professor Purnima Kumar. "Children of periodontitis parents were preferentially colonized by Filifactor alocis, Porphyromonas gingivalis, Aggregatibacter actinomycetemcomitans, Streptococcus parasanguinis, Fusobacterium nucleatum and several species belonging to the genus Selenomonas even in the absence of periodontitis," the article states. "These pathogens also emerged as robust discriminators of the microbial signatures of children of parents with periodontitis." Casarin told Agencia FAPESP that despite bacterial plaque control and vigorous brushing the children of people with the disease still had the bacteria in their mouths, whereas the effects of dental hygiene and prophylaxis were more significant in the children of healthy subjects. "Because the parents had periodontitis, their children assumed this community with disease characteristics. They carried the bacterial information into their adult lives," he said, adding that the analysis of bacterial colonization pointed to a greater likelihood of transmission by the mother. The research group will now work with pregnant women in an effort to "break the cycle" by preventing bacterial colonization of their children's mouths. "We'll treat the mothers during pregnancy, before the babies are born, and try to find out if it's possible to prevent bacterial colonization from occurring," Casarin said, noting that studies with patients will proceed only when control of the pandemic permits. Recognition The periodontitis research group led by Casarin has won prizes at home and abroad. In 2019, Monteiro topped the clinical research category of the IADR's Hatton Competition. The IADR (International Association for Dental Research) hosts the world's leading conference on dentistry, and the competition is designed to provide an opportunity for the best junior investigators to present their research. Credit: CC0 Public Domain As the world's energy demands grow, so too does growing concern over the environmental impact of power production. The need for a safe, clean, and reliable energy source has never been clearer. Fusion power could fulfil such a need. A review paper published in The European Physical Journal H examines the 6-decade history of neutral particle analysis (NPA), developed in Ioffe Institute, Saint Petersburg, Russia, a vital diagnostic tool used in magnetic plasma confinement devices such as tokamaks that will house the nuclear fusion process and generate the clean energy of the future. As the review's corresponding author Dr. Pavel Goncharov, laboratory head at the Advanced Plasma Research Laboratory, Saint Petersburg Polytechnic University, Russia, explains, fusion power requires bringing processes that occur within the cores of stars down to earth. "Plasma is the dominant state of the visible matter in the present Universe and nuclear fusion powers the stars," says the physicist. "The ability to burn deuterium formed at the beginning of the Universe and generate energy represents a new height for mankind." The key to this is creating and constraining plasma with powerful magnetic fields. But, understanding the fusion processes with plasma and how this is best harnessed also requires powerful diagnostic techniques, and NPA is such a method. The concept of NPA originates in the 1951 work of Andrei D. Sakharov, a Nobel Peace Prize laureate who realised that within a plasma fast-moving hydrogen ions would collide with slow-moving neutral hydrogen atoms transferring their charge. Thus, measuring the flux of these fast neutral atoms as they are ejected from the plasma is a good way of diagnosing its ion distributions. The birth and history of NPA is not only closely related to the history of controlled fusion physics but will play a key role in its future. The technique will be one of the key diagnostic methods employed by ITERcurrently the world's largest fusion experiment, which hopes to bridge the gap between smaller scale experiments and a functioning nuclear fusion power plant. "Three factors played a role in our interest in fusion science," remark the authors. "First, it involves multiple branches of fundamental science. Second, this field is of great practical importance. Third, a new clean and abundant energy source is the basis for a better future for mankind. This is an impressive combination." Explore further Isotope movement holds key to the power of fusion reactions More information: M. P. Petrov et al, 60 Years of neutral particle analysis: from early tokamaks to ITER, The European Physical Journal H (2021). M. P. Petrov et al, 60 Years of neutral particle analysis: from early tokamaks to ITER,(2021). DOI: 10.1140/epjh/s13129-021-00009-6 Bharti Airtel (Airtel), Indias premier communication solutions provider, today announced a new corporate structure. This is expected to sharpen the focus of the company in driving the rapidly unfolding digital opportunity in India while enabling it to unlock value. The new structure envisages Airtel Digital Limited folding into the listed entity, Bharti Airtel. This will now house all of the digital assets spanning Wynk Music, Airtel X stream, Airtel Thanks, Mitra Payments platform used by a million retailers, Airtel Ads, Airtel IQ, Airtel Secure, Airtel Cloud and all future digital products and services. Also read: Bharti Airtel invests in Editorji Technologies Pvt The digital ambition of Bharti Airtel Limited is closely intertwined with the spine that connectivity provides across the country. It is therefore intended to house all the telecom businesses in a newly created entity, Airtel Limited a wholly owned subsidiary of Bharti Airtel Limited. Bharti Telemedia, the 100% arm operating DTH services will sit alongside Airtel Limited for now. It is intended to eventually fold the DTH business into Airtel Limited to move towards the NDCP vision of converged services to customers. The company has moved the government to seek clarity on licensing policy given that carriage i.e. telecom and DTH is currently being regulated and managed under two separate ministries of Communications and I&B respectively. Airtel Payments Bank will remain a separate entity under Bharti Airtel and work closely with the growing customer base to play a pivotal role in realising the digital opportunity that payments and financial services provides. All of the companys infrastructure businesses such as Nxtra and Indus Towers will continue to remain in separate entities as they are currently. So will International subsidiaries and affiliates. The Board in its meeting held today approved the scheme enabling the company to file for all statutory approvals to give effect to the proposed rearrangement. Sunil Bharti Mittal, Chairman, Bharti Airtel said: The new structure sets the exciting future course for Bharti Airtel and provides focus on the four distinct businesses Digital, India, International and Infrastructure, each, in a razor sharp way. We believe this will provide agility, expertise and operational rigour to serve our customers brilliantly while providing flexibility to unlock value for our shareholders. This structure will serve us well over the coming years and is a win-win for all stakeholders. The Biden administration on Thursday rolled out a sweeping set of sanctions on Russia over its election interference, hacking efforts and other malign activity. A look at those sanctions: ELECTION-RELATED SANCTIONS The Treasury Department sanctioned 16 people and 16 entities related to Russias election interference efforts. They include SouthFront, NewsFront and the Strategic Culture Foundation, described by the department as disinformation sites with ties to Russian intelligence. Additionally, the department took new action to sanction Yevgeniy Prigozhin, a backer of the Internet Research Agency which carried out Russias election interference campaign in 2016, and Konstantin Kilimnik a Russian intelligence agent who falsely claimed Ukraine was behind the 2016 interference effort. ___ CYBER-RELATED SANCTIONS President Joe Biden signed an executive order granting the Treasury Department new authorities to sanction Russian government hackers and the information technology companies supporting them. The department used the new powers to sanction a half-dozen Russian companies that conduct research and development and technical support to Russian intelligence relating to a number of hacks, including the massive SolarWinds breach. ___ UKRAINE-RELATED SANCTIONS Acting in partnership with the European Union, the United Kingdom, Canada and Australia, the U.S. sanctioned Russian people and entities that have supported Russias claimed annexation of the Crimean Peninsula, which is not recognized by the international community. Russian companies that helped build a bridge linking Crimea to Russia and Russian officials serving in leadership positions in Crimea were sanctioned jointly by the U.S. and its allies. ___ GENERAL SANCTIONS The U.S. targeted Russias ability to borrow money by prohibiting U.S. financial institutions from buying Russian bonds directly from the Russian Central Bank, the Russian National Wealth Fund and the Ministry of Finance. ___ OTHER ACTIONS The U.S. expelled 10 Russian diplomats, including some the Biden administration said were representatives of Russian intelligence services. The White House also said Biden was using diplomatic, military and intelligence channels to respond to reports that Russia encouraged the Taliban to attack U.S. and allied troops in Afghanistan based on the best assessments of the intelligence community. A ribbon-cutting for the portion of the trail that runs through Hebron was held in June. Once fully in place, the parkway, according to its website, www.vetparkway.com, will begin with a Revolutionary War memorial in St. John and end at the Hebron memorial. All of the memorials will be along Ind. 231 or nearby. This technology is not just for prototyping. You can actually print parts and put them out in the field. Automation Alley, Michigans Industry 4.0 knowledge center and a World Economic Forum Advanced Manufacturing Hub (AMHUB) for North America, is pleased to announce that Project DIAMOnD (Digital, Independent, Agile, Manufacturing on Demand), an initiative to create the countrys largest 3D printer network on a blockchain technology platform, has achieved its first milestone goal: 300 3D printers have been distributed to small and medium-sized Oakland and Macomb County manufacturers. Project DIAMOnD was established in October 2020 through CARES ACT funding grants of $10 million from Oakland County and $2 million from Macomb County, given to Automation Alley in June 2020 to accelerate digital transformation among Michigan manufacturers and strengthen supply chains for developing PPE during the pandemic. Simultaneously, Project DIAMOnD participating manufacturers are able to use the Markforged 3D printers they receive to expand their production of a variety of industrial parts and products, ultimately enhancing Industry 4.0 manufacturing capabilities in Michigan and throughout the United States. Automation Alley Executive Director and CEO Tom Kelly said it was important to commemorate the 300 3D printer milestone. Automation Alley shepherded this funding to maximize its value to the states pandemic response and to advance our mission to accelerate the digital transformation of Michigans small and medium-sized manufacturers, Kelly said. We again thank Oakland and Macomb Counties for their support and salute all of the area manufacturers who stepped up to participate in Project DIAMOnD and elevate Michigans 4.0 readiness and lessen the countrys dependence on foreign products while being prepared to help fight this pandemic. Initial grant eligibility for Project DIAMOnD was limited to 250 manufacturers from Oakland County and 50 from Macomb County with less than 500 employees. While the 300 3D printer target has been met, the long-term objective of Project DIAMOnD is to facilitate the creation of a self-governing, open, and scalable marketplace implemented using the decentralized principles of blockchain technology. To learn more about Project DIAMOnD, or to inquire about joining the network, visit the projectdiamond.org. Project DIAMOnD success stories Zero Tolerance LLC, a plastic mold injection machine shop in Clinton Township, is using its 3D printer to improve efficiency with a molding project that has increased volume. Previously, the company had plans to make an aluminum version, but opted instead to design a hand-held, multi-part insert tool they call The Claw for the shop floor. I did not believe that we could print real tools that would work on the shop floor like this does, Steve Michon, president of Zero Tolerance said. 2020 changed our plans and budget for this end-of-arm tooling and robot. The robot was no longer an investment that could be justified as volumes dropped in 2020. Now, we have a solution that will give us the ability to increase our capacity with very little cost and the option to build a version that will work with a robot when the time comes. Jim Miller, CEO of Rochester Hills-based Air & Liquid Systems, shared that his company is using its 3D printer to print a part that was previously made of stainless steel and cost $100; it now costs them only $1 to make it out of carbon fiber. Their printer is placed in their engineering area to make the engineers more curious about what else they can create, shifting the way they think about production and their business. For Miller, it was exciting to see the culture change of integrating new technology into manufacturing that positions the organization for gains on its journey to Industry 4.0. Shelby Township-based Tucker Induction System was also highlighted, with Josh Tucker noting he was surprised by how quickly his company was able to produce 3D-printed parts that proved to withstand tension, heat, and other forces seen in real-world scenarios. The company is now not only 3D printing some parts that were previously produced using subtractive manufacturing methods, but also using 3D printing to develop completely new solutions. This technology is not just for prototyping. You can actually print parts and put them out in the field, Tucker said. About Automation Alley Automation Alley is a World Economic Forum's Advanced Manufacturing Hub (AMHUB) for North America and a nonprofit Industry 4.0 knowledge center with a global outlook and a regional focus. We facilitate public-private partnerships by connecting industry, education and government to fuel Michigan's economy and accelerate innovation. Our programs give businesses a competitive advantage by helping them along every step of their digital transformation journey. We obsess over disruptive technologies like AI, the Internet of Things and automation, and work hard to make these complex concepts easier for companies to understand and implement. Visit automationalley.com. The mission of Automation Alley is to help businesses stay in business by equipping them with the necessary knowledge to leverage the intersections of advanced technologies, systems and people to jumpstart or accelerate a digital path to strategic success. ### New St. Louis Mayor-elect Enjoys California Connection Tishaura Jones, cheered by California relatives, elected as citys first Black woman mayor The election of Tishaura Jones as the first Black woman mayor of St. Louis drew loud cheers from people in California. Thats because Jones boasts deep ties throughout the Golden State despite her impressive career in Missouri. A dynamic and determined professional, Jones was voted in on April 7, by an overwhelming majority of the St. Louis populace. Her swearing-in ceremony takes place on April 20, and as the city eagerly awaits her tenure, Jones West Coast family expressed delight over her accomplishment. Tishaura has made us proud, beamed her cousin, Ed Harris, a longtime Southern Californian. We are from a large family and weve all watched her climb [in her career] with the utmost of respect and honor for her to be one of us. ADVERTISEMENT Jones mother, Laura Whitfield Jones, and Harris mother, Dorothy Whitfield Harris, were sisters, so the cousins and all of their many relatives were well acquainted with one another and quite supportive of each family members aspirations, said Ed Harris. In his opinion, Mayor Jones achievement represents our aunts and uncles, which was comprised of 12 siblings. The political career of Tishaura Jones was already inspiring before she became mayor. A native of St. Louis, she was first appointed in 2002 to the Democratic Party Central Committee to represent the citys Eighth Ward. Six years later, Jones successfully ran for a seat in the Missouri House of Representatives. She made history in her second term in 2010 by becoming the first African American and the first woman to be named assistant minority floor leader. While serving in the legislature, Jones also worked for 15 months as vice president of finance for Blaylock Robert Van, a minority-owned investment firm in Oakland, California. In 2012, Jones achieved another milestone as the first woman elected as St. Louis treasurer. Jones earned accolades for expanding the role of the treasurers office and implementing innovative programs. For instance, she united with Operation HOPE, a nonprofit financial literary group, and five local banks to create a HOPE chapter in City Hall. According to John Hope Bryant, the organizations founder, the city incurred no direct cost for the program thanks to Tishauras brilliant thinking. First running for mayor in 2017, Jones narrowly lost the Democratic primary, but she didnt give up her dream. Although reelected to a third term as treasurer in November 2020, she mounted another campaign and emerged victorious in 2021 as first Black woman mayor in the history of St. Louis. Recalling her trajectory, Harris noted, Tishauras passion and leadership qualities were prevalent at an early age. Her goal was always to speak for the forgotten and invest in the left-behind in the Black and Brown communities. Jones echoed that feeling in her thank you message to the St. Louis community where she stated that she was done avoiding tough conversations. With firmness, she insisted, We are done ignoring the racism that has held our city and our region back. I made the same case four years ago and came up short. But I made peace with the fact that I would rather lose another election than stop having tough conversations in every corner of St. Louis. As part of her mission to eliminate historical racial barriers and racial divides, Jones wrote that she will focus on rebuilding and redeveloping our neighborhoods with communities and not to them, addressing the inequities in the delivery of our city services, and reforming our broken city government to be transparent, accessible, and open to you the taxpayers and residents of the city of Saint Louis. ADVERTISEMENT Her concluding remarks stressed that her administrations intent is to propel the city forward by preparing for the realities we are facing in the 21st century, and to restore peace, security, and prosperity to every neighborhood in our city. Photo credit: STEFAN ROUSSEAU - Getty Images What Is Country-Wide Insurance? An independent brokerage agency, Country-Wide represents a variety of insurance carriers located in the downstate New York area. The company specializes in auto insurance policies for commercial businesses. The company began in New York City in 1963. This family-owned and -operated business typically issues policies with smaller limits. How Do You File Claims With Country-Wide Insurance? If you're a customer of Country-Wide Insurance and are involved in an accident or if your vehicle has damage from an incident other than a collision, you can file a claim online. Another option is to call the company's claims hotline directly at 212-344-8700. The hotline is operational from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. EST Monday through Friday. A third option is to use your smartphone and download the company's app. You can directly upload photos from the accident scene when you file the claim. The company's website has a location of frequently asked questions if you're unsure what you need to do. You can find answers to how the claims process works as well as how you can secure the police report from the incident. After the accident, make sure you gather as much information as you can, especially when it involves the other driver. Ask for the following information from the driver: Name Address Insurance company's name Insurance company's address Car insurance policy number Vehicle's license plate number Make, model, and year of the vehicle You should also try to take photos of the damage done to the vehicle. After you gather the information and photos, make sure you contact the police. You will need the police report to help speed up the claims process. You can track the progress of the claims on the company's website directly. Why Should You Choose Country-Wide Insurance? Since Country-Wide began more than 20 years ago, it has grown from 35 employees to more than 300. The family-owned company remains committed to the community as well as its highly trained staff. The company employs a diverse staff to better assist its customers, as they can speak many different languages. Story continues Country-Wide strives to provide face-to-face service to its customers through its 500 broker offices scattered throughout the New York City metropolitan area and its suburbs. The company incorporated cutting-edge technology as part of its business practice. Its easy-to-use website makes it easy for customers to navigate. However, the website lacks an online quote system. Other perks of using Country-Wide give you access to the following: Online bill pay. If you would rather pay your monthly bills online instead of mailing or calling in your payments, you can use online bill pay. You can easily make electronic payments online via its Make a Payment tab. If you need further assistance, the website has detailed instructions to help ease your concerns about making payments online. Mobile app. You can log into the mobile app if you get into an accident. You can find access to other helpful programs, including roadside assistance, tow trucks, glass repair service, or repair shops. Another benefit is that you can call 911 directly via the app, and the operator will gather your location. What Types of Auto Coverage Does Country-Wide Offer? If you own and operate a vehicle in New York, you are legally required to carry the following types of insurance: Property damage liability. This type of coverage pays for damage that you cause to someone else's property or vehicle. Bodily injury liability. If you're the at-fault driver in an accident, this type of coverage pays for medical bills if another person is injured. Uninsured motorist bodily injury . Also known as UMBI, this type of coverage pays for medical bills, lost income, and funeral expenses after a crash when an at-fault driver doesn't have any type of insurance. Uninsured motorist property damage. Also known as UMPD, this type of coverage is similar to UMBI, except the at-fault driver has insurance but not enough to cover all the costs. Personal injury protection (PIP). This type of coverage covers medical costs no matter who is at fault. Certain states require drivers to carry this coverage, and New York is one such state. Medical payments. This type of coverage helps to pay for medical costs resulting in an accident. It pays for expenses for you, your family, and everyone in the vehicle at the time. Collision. This type of coverage helps to pay for repairs if your vehicle sustains damage from an accident, regardless of who the at-fault driver was. Comprehensive. This type of coverage pays for replacement or repairs to your vehicle if it's damaged in an incident that's not related to an accident. How Does Country-Wide Rank on Customer Service? Since Country-Wide only offers insurance out of the New York City area, it doesn't receive a ranking by J.D. Power. Instead, it focuses on insurers who have a national footprint, so it doesn't rank Country-Wide. The Better Business Bureau (BBB) gave Country-Wide a B- grade, although this grade wasn't issued due to customer satisfaction. The reviews posted on the site stated that the company had delayed timelines and poor communication. The National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC) issues an annual report that focuses on complaints issued by customers. This allows you to make an informed decision when shopping for insurance. The national median for all complaints is 1, while Country-Wide has a complaint score of 2.89. That means they received more complaints compared to others. Another business, AM Best, issues ratings for financial strength. This allows you to determine how stable a company is, which can come in handy if you believe you might need to make a claim sometime in the future. Country-Wide receives a C+ rating, which is about average. If you're in the New York City area, you should consider Country-Wide Insurance for your auto insurance needs. Its user-friendly website and helpful employees can help you navigate the entire insurance process. However, be wary as the company has received some negative ratings. Check this out if you need additional information, resources, or guidance on car insurance. Sources: https://www.caranddriver.com/car-insurance/ https://www.bbb.org/us/ny/new-york/profile/insurance-companies/countrywide-insurance-company-0121-1488 https://www.jdpower.com/business/insurance https://ratings.ambest.com/SearchResults.aspx?URatingId=3000141&bl=0&AltSrc=1&PPP=&AltNum=0&Ext_User=&Ext_Misc=&Portal=0&Site= https://www.caranddriver.com/car-insurance/a32501776/how-much-is-car-insurance-in-ny/ https://www.caranddriver.com/car-insurance/a35291950/car-insurance-explained/ You Might Also Like Mumbai, Apr 15 (PTI) Mumbai-based couple Oniba and Sharique Qureshi, who was sentenced to 10 years in jail in a drug case in Qatar in 2019, returned to the city on Thursday with their minor daughter after they were cleared of charges against them. A Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) official said the couple landed at the Mumbai airport at 2.30 am. The couple had been cleared of all charges after it came to light that a relative planted narcotics in their bag without their knowledge. The couple was arrested at the Hamad International Airport in July 2019 after Qatari authorities recovered 4.1 kg of hashish in their bag. It later came to light that Shariques aunt, Tabassum Qureshi, had used them to transport the drugs. The trip had been sponsored by Tabassum, the official said. At that time, while Sharique was employed with a Japanese company, Oniba had just learnt that she was pregnant. She delivered a girl, Aayat, in jail last February. The couples family members approached the Indian government, asking it to intervene in the matter. Following this, the NCB got in touch with the authorities in Qatar and the family challenged the lower court order convicting the couple. Eventually, the couple was cleared of all charges. Shareeq Qureshi (30) and his wife Oniba expressed happiness on returning home and narrated their ordeal follwing the arrest and the time spent in prison. Speaking to PTI over the phone, Shareeq Qureshi said it feels good to be among family members in Mumbai. "It is celebration time at our residence and guests are coming there since morning," he said. Shareeq Qureshi expressed his gratitude towards the government, the NCB and the Mumbai Police for their efforts to bring them back. He said days spent in Qatar were tough. I was shocked when drugs were recovered from our luggage by the customs at the Qatar airport. In the next few minutes, we both were crying and thought everything has finished," he said. "I was working in an MNC and my promotion was due. My wife was pregnant and we both were feeling helpless at the situation in which we had landed," said Shareeq Qureshi. We are at home only because of the efforts of our family members, the support and cooperation received from the government, NCB, police and the media, he said. Oniba Qureshi said her daughter suffered a lot in those days and demanded stern action against the persons who had placed drugs in their luggage. "No jail is good wherever it is located," she said, adding her husband saw his daughter after eight months as they were kept in separate cells. There are some more innocent people in Qatar prisons who were trapped in such incidents and the government should make efforts for their release, Oniba Qureshi said. Sharique Qureshi's father Sharif said this was the happiest day in his life. This is a new life for my children, he said adding there is immense joy and happiness in house at the beginning of the holy month of Ramzan. Sharif Qureshi had visited Qatar to fight legal battle for the release of his son and the daugther-in-law. The couples parents and other relative had gathered at the Mumbai airport hours before their arrival. I am very much happy as I am meeting my granddaughter for the first time. She is one year and two months old, said Onibas mother. We had been very worried for our children, a relative said. We had submitted applications to the Prime Ministers Office, the Home Ministers Office, the Ministry of External Affairs, DG NCB Rakesh Asthana and also to the Mumbai police with a request to bring the couple as they were innocent, the relative said. PTI DC VT RSY (Disclaimer: This story is auto-generated from a syndicated feed; only the image & headline may have been reworked by www.republicworld.com) Margaret Spellings is Texas 2036s president and CEO and former U.S. Secretary of Education. Brett Perlman, former commissioner of the Texas Public Utility Commission, is chief executive of Center for Houstons Future. Open season for COVID-19 vaccines in California is finally here. The Golden State swung open the doors Wednesday night, allowing people 16 and older to make appointments. Some counties including Alameda, Contra Costa, San Francisco and Santa Clara have already taken this big step, broadening eligibility in recent days and weeks. While statewide expansion in eligibility doesn't technically go into effect until April 15, the state's online hub for making appointments, MyTurn, updated its system Wednesday about 8 p.m. to welcome individuals 16 and over. "The COVID-19 vaccine is here," the state's updated site read. "And everyone in California will get a turn. Safe, free and effective COVID-19 vaccines are now available to everyone age 16 and up." State of California The myriad other entities providing appointments for shots including health care providers, county health departments, pharmacies, grocery stores and more have already updated their systems to reflect the eligibility changes or will do so in coming days. You may log onto a site to book an appointment and find it isn't yet permitting teenagers to book times slots. The process is gradual. You can find a list of every website you can use to book an appointment here. If you're newly eligible and searching for an appointment for the first time, it's important to know that there is more demand than supply in other words, when you check most of these sites, it's unlikely you'll immediately find an appointments. SFGATE has heard from dozens of readers throughout the vaccine rollout and they've shared stories of refreshing multiple websites for days, even weeks. Public health officials are asking people to be patient with the process. If you find yourself struggling to be patient as you look for an appointment and don't find one, it helps to understand the supply-and-demand numbers. There are about 18.7 million people ages 16 to 49 living in California, according to the state. This marks the largest age group to become eligible for the vaccine, with 6.5 million Californians in the 65-and-over age group, and 7.2 million Californians ages 50 to 64. While some of the people in the 16-to-49 age group have already been vaccinated because they're health care workers or fell into another category that made them eligible earlier in the rollout, there will still be millions and millions of individuals who can get inoculated for the first time beginning Thursday. SOPA Images/LightRocket via Gett Last week, the state received 2.4 million doses from the federal government, and of those, 1.5 million doses were allocated for first shots (Pfizer or Moderna) or the one-dose Johnson & Johnson shot. This week, the projection for the state allocation is 2 million doses, with 1 million of those for first-time vaccine recipients. Next week, the state is expecting to receive 1.9 million doses, and only 956,000 doses will be available for people wanting to get their first shot. (Note: This data was current on April 12 and the numbers could be reduced because of the United States pausing use of the J&J vaccine to study severe illness that developed in six women out of the 6.8 million people who received doses across the country.) "While we generally receive more than 2 million vaccine doses per week, we expect it will still take several months to vaccinate everybody who wants a vaccine," said Darrel Ng, a spokesperson for the state's COVID-19 Vaccine Task Force. The state is encouraging people with health insurance to check in with their providers. Kaiser sent a message to members on Wednesday, alerting them of the expanding eligibility and limited supply. "While we have capacity in California to deliver 720,000 vaccine doses per week, our current vaccine supply allows us to deliver just 500,000 doses or 69% of our capacity each week," the message read. "As a result, we want you to know that not everyone will be able to make an appointment right away." Kaiser added, "The increase in eligibility will also increase demand for the vaccine to an all-time high. At the same time, the vaccine supply is decreasing significantly because of reductions in vaccine availability and federal allocations to the state. California will get approximately 20% fewer vaccine doses in the coming weeks." "Long Road to Nowhere: How Southern States Struggle with Long-Term Incarceration" | Main | Lots and lots more good reads from The Appeal The question in the title of this post is prompted by this lengthy new Marshall Project piece fully titled "Can The Death Penalty Be Fixed? These Republicans Think So: A growing number of conservative lawmakers want to overhaul capital punishment, or end it." Here are excerpts: As Oklahoma officials seek to resume putting prisoners to death later this year, [state Rep. Kevin] McDugle has pursued bills in the state legislature to help those on death row prove their innocence ... in a deep-red state at a time when Republicans across the country are increasingly split on the future of capital punishment. Support for the death penalty used to be popular in both parties, but over the last three decades, Democrats have turned away from the punishment, leaving Republican legislators, governors, prosecutors and judges to fight for its continued use. At the same time, a small conservative movement including groups like Conservatives Concerned About the Death Penalty has been openly questioning capital punishment. Its now clear their efforts are paying off. Earlier this year, Virginia became the first Southern state to repeal the death penalty after three Republicans voted with the state legislatures Democratic majority. A Marshall Project review found that in roughly half the states with an active death penalty system, Republican lawmakers have recently sponsored or written bills to ban or constrain the punishment, or to help potentially innocent prisoners avoid it. Although many of these bills are unlikely to pass, their sheer volume suggests a significant shift in conservative views. Some of these Republican legislators see their bills as incremental steps toward ending the punishment. But others, like McDugle, dont want to end the death penalty they just want to fix it. I want to make darn sure that if we as Oklahoma are putting someone to death, they deserve to be there, McDugle said. I know there is human error all the way through. Conservatives have been slowly turning away from the death penalty for years, as high-profile innocence cases have helped frame capital punishment as a problem of out-of-control big government. In 2000, after a series of exonerations of people who had been sentenced to death, the Republican governor of Illinois, George Ryan, declared a moratorium on executions. At the time, Texas Gov. George W. Bush was running for president, and the national press questioned whether an innocent person had faced execution under his watch; soon after, his fellow Republicans in the state legislature voted to make DNA testing more available for prisoners. From 2014 to 2019, Republican support for the death penalty, as opposed to life sentences, dropped from 68% to 58%, according to Gallup Polls. Republican legislators in Nebraska voted to repeal the punishment in 2015, although the states residents then voted to bring the punishment back. Some lawmakers have been motivated by anti-abortion arguments about the sanctity of human life and stories of Christian redemption on death row. Others talk about the cost to taxpayers. South Dakota state Sen. Arthur Rusch previously served as a judge in a capital case. My case cost at least $1 million if not more, he said, noting that the court paid for counseling for some jurors who suffered from post-traumatic stress after the lengthy trial. He was elected to the senate in 2015, and has filed numerous bills to abolish or restrict the punishment; none have succeeded, he said, but each time he brings along a few more peers. Changing your mind on an emotional subject like this can be difficult, said Hannah Cox, who writes columns for Newsmax, a conservative web outlet, and serves as national manager of Conservatives Concerned About the Death Penalty. Shes found that efforts to fix the system can serve as baby steps, as she tries to show her fellow conservatives that the system cant be saved. If you fix one of 13 problems with the death penalty, there are still another 12.... Many conservatives focus on the moral calculation of who deserves the ultimate punishment. Ohio recently passed a bill, sponsored by a Republican legislator, to ban the execution of anyone with a serious mental illness. Republicans are pushing similar bills in Florida, Kentucky and Missouri. In Texas, state Rep. Jeff Leach has filed a bill that would ban the death penalty for people who were technically accomplices to murders but played a minor role, including getaway drivers. Much like the Oklahomans, he was motivated by a single case that of Jeff Wood, who was sentenced to die after his friend killed a store clerk while Wood waited outside in the car, after what they thought would be an easy robbery. TOKYO: Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga is set to visit Washington for talks with President Joe Biden on Friday, April 16, the government announced. Notably, Suga will be the first foreign leader to meet Biden in person since he took office in January. He wants the talks to be "productive", he told. The two leaders want to show the strong ties of the Japan-US alliance and their commitment to the Indo-Pacific region, Tokyo said. Suga and Biden are expected to discuss climate change, the Covid-19 pandemic, issues related to China and North Korea and cooperation toward a free and open Indo-Pacific region, the Japanese government said. Tokyo has expressed concerns about a new Chinese law which allows Beijing's coastguard to use weapons on foreign ships. Japan is eager to develop close relations with the new U.S. administration and was hoping to schedule Suga's visit earlier in April, or even sooner. Japanese media, including the Nikkei business newspaper, said Suga's trip was delayed because of a request from Washington. Chinese coastguard vessels were spotted near a group of uninhabited islets in the East China Sea every day in the past two months. The Japanese-administered Senkaku Islands are also claimed by China and Taiwan, where they are known as Diaoyu and Tiaoyutai, respectively. Special Drawing Rights: IMF chief ' to distribute new SDR to member countries by August Germany logs higher Covid-19 cases, infections per appear 100,000 over 7 days Anti-terrorism law: Pak govt decides to ban radical Islamist party Tehreek-i-Labaik Karen Carter Peterson is seeking to tie Troy Carter to former President Donald Trump in the final 10 days of a special election that will send one of the two Democratic Louisiana state senators from New Orleans to Congress. In two negative mailers sent to voters over the past week, Peterson has pasted a photo of Trump - a Republican who in 2020 won only 23% of the votes in the heavily Democratic 2nd Congressional district -- next to one of Carter. Carter is outraged. Theres nothing you will find in anything Ive ever done to support any of the foolishness that my opponent is desperately trying to spread, he said in an interview. Im chairman of the Senate Democratic Caucus. Carter, meanwhile, is painting Peterson as an opportunist who claims to be a progressive now, even though she has supported more moderate candidates and policies. Carters mailer, which arrived at homes in the district on Wednesday, references a 2016 article that reported Peterson, then the chair of the Louisiana Democratic Party, favored Hillary Clinton to be the Democratic Party nominee that year over her more liberal challenger, U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders. Peterson was too busy with legislative work to discuss her attacks on Carter or to respond to his, a campaign spokesperson said Thursday. But Peterson issued a statement saying: Its a fact that Troy Carter has been endorsed by Trump Republicans and wont denounce their support. This raises important questions, and the people of the 2nd Congressional District deserve to know where he stands. Behind the claims and counter-claims about who is a real Democrat is simple math: Democrats will likely account for about 70% of the voters in the Black-majority district after all the votes are counted on April 24. Seven days of early voting end Saturday. Figures from the first four days of the early voting period have John Couvillon, a Baton Rouge pollster and demographer, projecting an overall turnout of 11% to 12%, or about 60,000 votes, in a district that includes most of New Orleans and the West Bank of Jefferson Parish and extends up the Mississippi River to north Baton Rouge. Turnout in the March 20 primary was almost 18%. The winner will succeed Cedric Richmond, who resigned in January after a decade in the seat to become a senior adviser to President Joe Biden. Peterson and Carter will meet Friday at noon in the first of three debates during the final eight days of the campaign. The 30-minute debate will air on WWNO radio in New Orleans and WRKF radio in Baton Rouge, and in a livestream on the NOLA.com Facebook page. Carter and Peterson have served together in the Louisiana Senate since 2016, and during that time both have generally voted the Democratic line in the face of a Republican legislative majority. Both, for example, have sought and failed to raise the state minimum wage. Now, both Peterson and Carter are calling for a $15 per hour federal minimum wage. Top stories in New Orleans in your inbox Twice daily we'll send you the day's biggest headlines. Sign up today. e-mail address * Sign Up Both favor abortion rights. In broad terms, Peterson has sought to align herself during the congressional campaign with the Democratic Party's progressive wing, embodied by Sanders during his 2016 and 2020 presidential campaigns. She is calling for the adoption of a Green New Deal and the Medicare for All universal health care plan. Besides the support of New Orleans Mayor LaToya Cantrell, Peterson has the endorsement of important out-of-state pro-Democratic groups, including the EMILYs List PAC, the Congressional Progressive Caucus PAC, the Black Lives Matter PAC and the End Citizens United/Let Americans Vote PAC, which is touting Petersons decision not to take corporate PAC contributions during this race. Carter is aligned with the Biden wing of the Democratic Party. He has the endorsement of Richmond, Baton Rouge Mayor-President Sharon Weston Broome and all eight of the Black state senators not running in this race. He says he supports the concept of the Green New Deal, but it needs tweaking. He favors allowing everyone the opportunity to enroll in government health care plans, the so-called public option that Biden supports. Both Peterson and Carter have said during the campaign that Trump incited the Jan. 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol, that they would have voted to impeach him and that they would reverse the 2017 massive corporate tax cut that Trump and congressional Republicans approved. Nonetheless, Peterson wants Democratic voters to believe that Carter is not on their side. Troy Carter & his Trump supporters. Not for Us! reads one mailer. Im by no means a Trumper, Carter said. But will I work with members of both parties to advance things that are important for my district? You betcha. Carter has the endorsement of Jefferson Parish President Cynthia Lee Sheng, a Republican; former state Senate President John Alario, R-Westwego; and the GNOR PAC, which usually supports Republican candidates in metro New Orleans but has no Republican in this race. Couvillon estimates 10% to 15% of the runoff voters will be Republican. CORRECTION: An earlier version of this story said there were no Democratic candidates in the 2nd Congressional District race. Limavady councillor for Causeway Coast and Glens Borough Council Ashleen Schenning talks to Liam Tunney about the role complementing her community work, Limavady play park and the challenging environment of the current council chamber. Liam Tunney: Why did you get into politics in the first place? Ashleen Schenning: In 1984 I was in P7 and we went on a school trip to London. I was lucky enough to be in Mo Hume's class, and John [Hume] organised a trip to Parliament buildings for us. That was the beginning of being fascinated by what was going on from a very young age. I was later a member of the Bogside branch in, the founding branch of the SDLP, and was an activist for years. The party approached me and asked me to run, and I thought it was going to be more of an extension to what I was doing on a daily basis, because I was very proactive in the community. LT: You've been in post since 2019. What has been your biggest achievement? AS: Everything I do is a big thing, no matter how small it seems. Getting Margaret's bins collected from her back yard because she can't breathe very well is a big achievement. If anything big is achieved, that's as a result of team work, whether it's the SDLP team or as a working group. LT: What is the biggest challenge you have faced? AS: The biggest challenge for me is being in the chamber and combating the feeling of wanting to walk out or close down the laptop. Party politics doesn't play a role for me. I'm in the SDLP and I have my passions, but I don't understand if someone from the perceived green side brings a proposal, it's put down by the other side, and visa versa. The mindset seems to be if you want it, then obviously we don't. It doesn't matter that it's going to benefit the entire community. LT: Have the relationships got worse since the beginning? AS: I think if we'd done this interview two weeks ago, the answer could have been different. There's a lack of respect, misogyny and it feels quite toxic at times. Often, conversations go on for no apparent reason other than for you to hear it and it go in the paper. I'm not rushing out of the chamber to get a press release ready though. I'm on the ground doing work with my constituents and I would be doing it whether or not I was an elected representative. Ashleen and fellow Causeway SDLP councillors Orla Beattie and Helena Dallat O'Driscoll with Infrastructure Minister Nichola Mallon. LT: Some councillors have criticised the SDLP for bringing motions they say are not relevant to council business. How important are these motions? AS: It was a disgrace that a child poverty motion was rejected. We have motions coming all the time from other parties, and from ourselves, that were about writing letters to ministers and there was no issue. I was just shocked that night. It was nasty too and there was no need for it at all, but we are four strong women, we stand up and keep going. We brought another motion the next week and it flew through. LT: You are rooted in the community through your work. Has that clashed with or complemented your role as a councillor? AS: When I first stood, that had to be a board decision, because we [Limavady Community Development Initiative] are a shared space. There is quite a lot of overlap. There are days I'm attending meetings and I have to think which cap I have on, but generally daytime meetings are LCDI meetings. If I get a phone call during the day, I have to say I'm at work and I'll phone them after five. There is a lot of juggling. It has become easier, second nature almost. I'll hopefully always have my job, but I may not always be a councillor, so I have to be mindful of that. LT: In Limavady a few months ago there were some signs of tension the attack on St Mary's, leaflets being distributed is there a tension there, particularly in light of recent events in Derry and Belfast? AS: I have brought issues about people feeling unsafe to the PCSP on two occasions now, particualrly older people. Drug dealing is almost a given now, but for older people, they see these things happening on street corners and they are afraid to open their doors past a certain time of night. There is just an overhanging dread in relation to safety within their communities. That feeling has come to the Town Team [a cohort of residents in Limavady] recently and we'll be trying to work with the PSNI and community groups to instil a feeling of safety within the community. Cllr Schenning working through her Policing & Community Safety Partnership (PCSP) role. LT: You are involved in various community groups, could you tell us about some of them? AS: One group I am involved with is called REACH (Roe Valley Equal Ability Community Hub), which is out adults with learning disabilities. If you ever want to brighten up your Friday night, this is the way to do it. When we come off that meeting, your jaw is sore from smiling. The reason it came about is because we in LCDI had a lot of adults with disabilities and we wanted to provide something for them to do on Friday nights. We haven't much funding, but we are lobbying so you are going to hear a lot more from them. LT: Then as a final question, is there anything you want to see completed in the remainder of this council term? AS: Limavady-wise, I can't not talk about the play park. I was part of the consultation before being a councillor and I'm so glad it's going where it is. We are breaking sod and getting there, so it will be fantastic to see the completion of the play park that is so, so needed. Some of the guys that come to our club were youngsters when this all began four or five years ago, but they will still be able to make use of it. There is so much growth that can come from it. LONDON Toward the end of the carefully choreographed, 50-minute planned funeral service for Prince Philip, scheduled for Saturday, the Last Post will be played by musicians from Britains Royal Marines. But the military buglers will then have one further duty requested specifically by Prince Philip: sounding so-called Action Stations a call used on naval warships to summon crew to battle readiness. Announcing the funeral plans, Buckingham Palace said on Thursday that the ceremony will reflect the personal wishes of Prince Philip, who had a distinguished naval career, serving in the Second World War, before becoming consort to Queen Elizabeth. But at a time when many families have lost relatives to Covid-19 and pandemic restrictions remain in place the arrangements reflected the reduced scale of an occasion trimmed to comply with government rules. The funeral is scheduled for Saturday at 3 p.m. and will be televised but will take place behind the formidable walls of Windsor Castle. With Covid-19 concerns in mind, Buckingham Palace has urged people to stay away, saying there will be nothing for the public to see. Infosys declined 3.20% to Rs 1,353.90 after the IT major reported a 2.3% decline in consolidated net profit to Rs 5,076 crore on 1.5% increase in revenues to Rs 26,311 crore in Q4 March 2021 over Q3 December 2020. The company's consolidated net profit rose 17.5% and revenues rose 13.1% in Q4 March 2021 over Q4 March 2020. Operating profit fell 2.3% quarter-on-quarter (Q-o-Q) and it jumped 30.7% year-on-year (Y-o-Y) to Rs 6,440 crore in Q4 March 2021. Operating margin stood at 24.5% in Q4 March 2021, lower than 25.4% in Q3 December 2020 and higher than 21.2% in Q4 March 2020. For the full financial year, Infosys delivered a 5% constant currency (CC) growth. Large deal TCV (total contract value) for FY21 peaked to an all-time high of $14.1 billion with 66% being net new. It reported 16.6% rise in consolidated net profit to Rs 19,351 crore on 10.7% jump in revenues to Rs 1,00,472 crore in the year ended on 31 March 2021 over the year ended on 31 March 2020. Operating profit improved by 27.1% year-on-year (Y-o-Y) to Rs 24,622 crore and operating margin expanded 320 bps Y-o-Y to 24.5% in FY21 over FY20. In its outlook for FY22, Infosys has guided for 12% to 14% sales growth in constant currency terms in 2021-22 and an operating margin band of 22% to 24%. "A strong momentum exiting FY21, alongside a focused strategy to accelerate client digital journeys, gives us confidence for a stronger FY22, Salil Parekh, CEO and MD said. "Despite the disruptions, we continue to execute seamlessly with broad-based momentum across verticals. This has led to healthy volume growth and record utilization in a seasonally soft quarter, said Pravin Rao, COO. Further, the company's board approved a proposal to buyback equity shares worth upto Rs 9,200 crore for a price not exceeding Rs 1,750 per equity share. The total buyback size is less than 15% of the aggregate of the total paid-up share capital and free reserves of the company. As on 31 March 2021, promoters held 12.95% in Infosys. The buyback price of Rs 1,750 is at a premium of 25.13% compared with the scrip's closing price of Rs 1,398.60 on Tuesday (13 April 2021). Meanwhile, Infosys announced a final dividend of Rs 15 per share. Infosys reported 15.2% voluntary attrition rate for the quarter ended 31 March. It was 10% during the October-December quarter, Infosys said in the regulatory filing. The total number of employees at Bengaluru-based company stood at over 2.59 lakh as on 31 March, 2021. Infosys is a global leader in next-generation digital services and consulting. Powered by Capital Market - Live News (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) To continue, please log in, or sign up for a new account. We offer one free story view per month. If you register for an account, you will get two additional story views. After those three total views, we ask that you support us with a subscription. A subscription to our digital content is so much more than just access to our valuable content. It means youre helping to support a local community institution that has, from its very start, supported the betterment of our society. Thank you very much! Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines speaks during a Senate Select Committee on Intelligence hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington, on April 14, 2021. (Graeme Jennings-Pool/Getty Images) Spy Chiefs Say They Dont Know How Virus Started, But That China Has Not Been Fully Transparent American spy officials said Wednesday that the intelligence community is still unsure how the coronavirus first spread to human populations, though they are confident that the Chinese government has not been transparent about the matter. The intelligence community does not know exactly where, when or how COVID-19 virus was transmitted initially, Avril Haines, the director for national intelligence, told the Senate Intelligence Committee during a hearing on global national security threats. She had been asked by Florida Sen. Marco Rubio, the vice-chairman of the Senate panel, about the possibility that the virus emerged from a leak in a laboratory at the Wuhan Institute of Virology. Haines said that the intelligence committee has focused on two theories about the origins of the virus. These scenarios are it emerged naturally from human contact with infected animals, or it was a lab accident, Haines said. William Burns, the director of the Central Intelligence Agency, said that the spy agency is using all of its source capabilities to try to get to the bottom of the viruss origin story. He also added that the Chinese government has withheld information from the World Health Organization and other researchers that could shed light on how the virus first jumped to humans. The one thing thats clear to us and to our analysts is that the Chinese leadership has not been fully forthcoming or fully transparent in working with the WHO or in providing the kind of original complete data that would help answer those questions, Burns testified. A team of scientists visited China in February as part of a WHO mission to investigate the origins of the coronavirus. The health agency released a report last month that said that the virus most likely infected humans after jumping from an animal species. WHO said that the least likely explanation was that the virus resulted from a leak in the Wuhan lab. The WHO investigation has come under intense scrutiny, with its critics saying that it operated under the tight control of Chinese government officials. Peter Daszak, who was the lone American scientist on the WHO team, acknowledged in an interview with 60 Minutes that officials from Chinas foreign ministry took part in meetings they had with scientists from the Wuhan lab. Jake Sullivan, the national security adviser, said on Feb. 13 that the Biden administration had deep concerns that China had not provided raw data to the WHO team for its investigation. By Chuck Ross From The Daily Caller News s Foundation Content created by The Daily Caller News Foundation is available without charge to any eligible news publisher that can provide a large audience. For licensing opportunities of our original content, please contact licensing@dailycallernewsfoundation.org. [April 15, 2021] World Insurance Associates Acquires Dacey Insurance Agency, Inc. World Insurance Associates LLC ("WIA"), a Top 100 Insurance Brokerage, announced today that it acquired Dacey Insurance Agency Inc. ("Dacey Insurance") of East Greenwich, RI on April 1, 2021. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed. Dacey Insurance is a 2nd generation agency. Michael Dacey grew up in the business, under the guidance of his father. In 2004, he joined his father's agency, and bought the business in 2007. Dacey Insurance has a commercial focus, with a niche in contractor insurance and bonding. They also offer home, business, life and auto coverage. "Dacey Insurance is built on family values, and always strives for the highest level of industry expertise and customer care," says Mike Dacey, President and Owner of Dacey Insurance. "We have been in growth mode for the last several years, and we have made a strong push for new business. As part of WIA, we will continue growing." "We are pleased that Dacey Insurance is joining the WIA family, says Rich Eknoian, CEO and Co-Founder of WIA. "Dacey Insurance is well respected in the industry, and we look forward to expanding our business in Rhode Island, and Southern Massachusetts." Giordano, Halleran & Ciesla provided legal counsel to WIA. Partridge Snow & Hahn provided legal counsel to Dacey Insurance. No other advisors, diligence firms or legal counsel were disclosed. About World Insurance Associates LLC World Insurance Associates LLC (World) is headquartered in Tinton Falls, N.J., and is a full-service insurance organization providing individuals and businesses with top products and services across personal and commercial insurance lines, employee benefits, retirement and financial services and human capital management solutions. Since its founding in 2012, World has completed 101 acquisitions and serves its customers from more than 138 offices in the U.S. World is ranked #2 on Business Insurance's Fastest Growing Brokers list, #62 on Business Insurance's 100 Largest Brokers of U.S. Business list, #41 on Insurance Journal's Top 100 Independent P&C Agencies list, and #38 on Insurance Journal's Top 50 Personal Lines Agencies list. For more information, please visit www.worldinsurance.com. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210415005957/en/ [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] Seoul Bankruptcy Court has put Korean auto company under court receivership after its Indian parent Mahindra & Mahindra failed to find a suitable buyer for the beleaguered firm. SsangYong had defaulted on a loan payment worth 165 billion won (US$148 million) on December 21, 2020, following which it applied for court receivership. However, the company was given three months to secure funds after saying it was in talks with US-based HAAH. It has also applied for an autonomous restructuring support (ARS) programme, a court-designed process. The Mumbai-based Mahindra & Mahindra holds a 75 per cent stake in the South Korean SUV manufacturer. "We plan to promote the early termination of the rehabilitation process through the completion of the M&A, such as selecting an advisor in the shortest possible time in consultation with the Seoul Bankruptcy Court," SsangYong said in a statement. The debt-rescheduling process for SsangYong was approved after US-based auto company HAAH Automotive Holdings Inc fails to submit a letter of intent to buy SsangYong. M&M was earlier in talks with HAAH to buy its stake in SsangYong, though the company didn't send the documents about the letter of intent. Before this, SsangYong, which focuses on making SUVs, had gone into court receivership a decade ago when M&M acquired it in 2010. Accounting firm EY Hanyoung will conduct the due diligence to assess the carmaker's financial status, including debt obligation, Korean News agency Yonhap quoted court spokeswoman Kim Joo-mi as saying. EY Hanyong will submit the report by June 10. In December 2020, M&M had informed the bourses that SsangYong Motor Company missed repayments of loans aggregating to 60 billion Korean wons (around Rs 408 crore). The Korean automaker has outstanding loans aggregating to 100 billion Korean wons (around Rs 680 crore) from Seoul-based branches of JP Morgan Chase Bank, BNP Paribas and Bank of America. Already, JP Morgan has sought repayment of loan worth 40 billion Korean wons from SYMC and the South Korean automaker has expressed its inability to pay the amount now. Considering its financial position and performance, the M&M board had rejected a proposal to inject any fresh equity into SYMC in April 2020. Also Read: Mahindra's latest SUV to be called Mahindra XUV700; to be launched in October A NASA Earth Observatory satellite image of the volcano eruption of the La Soufriere Volcano on the Caribbean island of St. Vincent The humanitarian and economic crisis unleashed by the eruption of the La Soufriere volcano on the Caribbean island of Saint Vincent will last months and could extend to nearby islands, a UN official warned Wednesday. "It is a crisis that will require a humanitarian response but also a response in terms of rehabilitation" which could last for several months, said Didier Trebucq, the United Nations coordinator for Barbados and the Eastern Caribbean. Trebucq, speaking to reporters in New York via videoconference from Barbados, said that the volcanowhich had not erupted since 1979remains active and every day belches up clouds of ash and smoke after erupting on April 9. The islands of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines have around 110,000 inhabitants, 20,000 of whom had to be evacuated from their homes. About 4,000 people have been moved to shelters but "this number is growing," Trebucq said. On Wednesday a French navy ship, Le Ventose, reached Saint Vincent with water and 75 tonnes of humanitarian aid. Trebucq said that it was hard to know how long the crisis will last. "Everything will depend on the duration of the volcanic eruptions," he said. "It is possible that it will last a few weeks, it is also possible that it lasts several months." Map locating Saint Vincent's La Soufriere volcano The eruption will have a medium and long term impact on Saint Vincent as well as nearby islands including Barbados, Antigua and Barbuda, and others. The French islands of Martinique and Guadeloupe may also be impacted "depending on the direction of the winds and where the volcanic ash is deposited," he said. In calling for more robust international aid Trebucq noted that hurricane season in the Caribbean is set to begin in two months, and that tourism, the main source of income for the islands, has been severely curtailed by the COVID-19 pandemic. Saint Vincent and the Grenadines is currently a non-permanent member of the UN Security Council. 2021 AFP SPRINGFIELD A coalition of Puerto Ricans in Massachusetts is hosting a virtual event Thursday to explain why non-islanders should be invested in the process of self-determination. The livestream will be held at 10 a.m. on the Boricua Solidarity Movement Facebook page. Puerto Rico is a U.S. territory whose residents elect a nonvoting member of Congress and who cannot vote for president. Self-determination legislation before Congress would create a transparent process for Puerto Ricans to explore and choose between options including statehood and independence. City councils in Springfield, Holyoke, Easthampton, Boston and Worcester have approved resolutions in favor of self-determination for the island. Im encouraged by how much traction this proposal is getting, said state Rep. Orlando Ramos, D-Springfield. A number of municipalities across the North East have gone on record in support; and its a movement that began right here in the city of Springfield. I am hoping Congress will realize that its time to give the Puerto Rican people a true voice. The legislation has support from the Massachusetts congressional delegation including U.S. Reps. Ayanna Pressley, James McGovern and Richard Neal, as well as U.S. Sens. Edward Markey and Elizabeth Warren, organizers said. Gladys Franco, co-founder of the Boricua Solidarity Movement, said the local resolutions are part of a nationwide effort. There are groups in New York, in Chicago, in Philadelphia and Florida and leaders from Puerto Rico who have come together to discuss this issue, she said. We are still connected to the island, we care about what happens to the island and its people. Franco said Massachusetts has 340,000 Puerto Ricans, with 115,000 living in the 1st Congressional District, including in Springfield, Holyoke, Chicopee and Westfield. The Self-Determination Act of 2021 presents a unique opportunity for the diaspora to show solidarity with the people of Puerto Rico in decolonizing it and resolving its status once and for all, she said. Franco said six nonbinding referendums have been held over the years to decide the issue of Puerto Ricos status to no avail. The people of Puerto Rico need to be part of the process and not have that status imposed on them and thats what the act does, she said. It provides a process for a status convention to be held that includes the different factions within the Puerto Rican political system regular community leaders, organizations and people to ensure that the process is inclusive and all the options are on the table. Related content: Introducing The Zero Trust Edge Model For Security And Network Services To support the digitalization of a company using cloud and IoT, many networking teams turned to SD-WAN. However, SD-WAN doesnt address many new security requirements. In this Forrest report, gain a better understanding of Zero Trust edge, an emerging Zero Trust solution that will help unify both the networking and security infrastructure to support the business-wide networking fabric. Key takeaways include: Security use cases will lead companies into Zero Trust edge (ZTE) The internet-edge hosted security stack is the holy grail, but its still early days Dont overlook the intelligent on-premises edge for efficiency In another episode of relatives are equal to pareshaani, a couple from Mumbai was given a sponsored honeymoon trip by a relative and they were later arrested at Hamad International Airport in July 2019 after Qatari authorities recovered 4.1kg hashish from their bag. The couple Mohommad Shareeq and his wife Oniba Kauser Shakeel Ahmed had gone for their honeymoon. Also, their honeymoon was sponsored by their relatives. However, they were unaware that the relative, Shareeqs paternal aunt Tabassum Riyaz Quereshi was using them as drug carriers. BCCL Qureshi who sponsored the trip had hidden around 4.1 Kg of hashish in their bags, claiming that it was tobacco that they should hand over to a friend in Doha. Not only this, the couple was also arrested by the authorities and despite their pleas, they were sentenced to 10 years in jail. Oniba also found out that she was pregnant and delivered a baby girl in jail last year. After the couple was sent to jail, Onibas father Shakeel Ahmed had written to NCB Director General Rakesh Asthana in September 27,2019. Only after this, the probe was started and the agency started looking into the case. BCCL He wrote, "In his letter, Qureshi had said his daughter and son in law were deceived in the garb of a honeymoon package by a woman named Tabassum Riyaz Qureshi and her associate Nizam Kara. An NCB probe found the couple was trapped by a drug-running network infamous as the Kasargod syndicate. Then, the Narcotics Control Bureau (/NCB) had then approached authorities in Qatar through diplomatic channels, and the couple was brought back, said KPS Malhotra, the agency's deputy director. However, the efforts made by the family finally paid off in January this year and the 10-year jail sentence was overturned by Qatars highest court. They returned to India and reached Mumbai with their daughter on Wednesday morning. South Africa has joined the US in suspending its rollout of the Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccine, following reports that six women who received the immunisation doses had developed unusual blood clots with low platelet count. After this advisory came to my attention, I held urgent consultations with our scientists, who have advised that we cannot take the decision made by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) lightly. Based on their advice, we have determined to voluntarily suspend our rollout until the causal relationship between the development of clots and the Johnson and Johnson vaccine is sufficiently interrogated, Health Minister Zweli Mkhize said in a statement on Tuesday evening. Mkhize emphasised that there had not been any reports of clots that have formed after vaccinations in South Africa, despite 289,787 health care workers already having received the vaccine. All the cases of blood colt-related complications have arisen from the US. The South African Health Products Regulatory Authority will collate information from Johnson & Johnson, the FDA and other regulatory bodies to make a thorough assessment of the situation and advise us as a regulatory body that has exercised its authoritative powers on the approval of the vaccine in their own right, Mkhize said. The minister called for patience, saying that the discussion around the suspension might only take a few days. We hope that the deliberations will only take a few days. Given the preliminary literature on hand, our scientists are confident that the FDA's decision is on a precautionary basis and we expect that this will not result in the complete withdrawal of the Johnson and Johnson vaccine from the vaccination armament, he said. We are confident that the rollout of Johnson & Johnson will resume and so, with 30 million doses of Johnson & Johnson and 30 million doses of Pfizer secured we now have enough doses to exceed the 40 million we were targeting this year. This is in line with our commitment to vaccinate as many people as possible in this financial year- in the ideal scenario we would vaccinate every single adult found in South Africa, the minister said. The minister added that the additional Pfizer vaccines would also not impede the government's vaccine roll-out plan. This also reassures us that, in the extremely unlikely event that the Johnson and Johnson rollout is completely halted, we will not have any impediment to proceed with phase two of the rollout with Pfizer, he said. South Africa has so far lost 53,498 lives to COVID-19, along with 1,561,559 confirmed cases, according to Johns Hopkins University. Also read: Stopping J&J COVID-19 shots shows govt putting safety first: Joe Biden Also read: US calls for pause on Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccine over blood clotting reports It is 2 p.m. in Sagbo Kodji, a coastal community overlooking the Lagos Apapa seaports and high-rise buildings of Lagos Island, the commercial district of the city. Close to a littered jetty, where dozens of wooden boats park ashore with disembarking passengers, stands Bolanle Taiwos wooden house. Under the scorching sun, the single mother hunches over a bucket of water, preparing to wash a pile of clothes before sundown. She adds a handful of detergent into the water but it does not lather because it is hard water water with a high concentration of dissolved minerals. The water dries the soap, Ms Taiwo says. But you apply the soap again till the cloth comes to your taste [of cleanliness]. It takes a lot of soap. Ms Taiwo, who sells jewellery from her home, has been using hard water for her laundry, cooking and other chores since she moved into the community in 1999. Like many of the 30,000 residents of Sagbo Kodji Island, she struggles to access clean water, free of high mineral concentrations or contamination. The island has no pipe-borne water or boreholes. This issue is not unique to Sabgo Kodji. With a population of over 200 million, access to clean water which the UN General Assembly recognises as a human right is limited in Nigeria. In fact, according to 2020 water data, less than 10 per cent of Nigerians can access clean water from pipes in their homes. The main source of water for about 65 per cent of the population are boreholes and tube wells, a type of well that requires a long pipe and a pumping machine to fetch water from. However, what makes the plight of Sagbo Kodji residents particularly dire is the confluence of private greed and government indifference. Since the island has no tap water, the residents depend on local vendors, or waterpreneurs, who use boats to bring in tap water from private boreholes on the mainland. Some of these waterpreneurs are exploitative, making their fellow community members pay through the nose for small quantities of water. But with the Nigerian government not addressing the islands water crisis, Ms Taiwo and her neighbours are at the mercy of the water vendors or dirty wells. Residents who rely on these wells contract water-borne illnesses such as typhoid and diarrhoea. But the residents face an even bigger problem: the government has sanctioned their eviction by estate developers. Thats injustice and denial of peoples right to a place they have lived for years, says Joseph Amosu, a resident. Painful toll of inadequate water access Ms Taiwo arrived on the island in 1999 with her mother and sister. They lived in a house made from reeds, straw and palm fronds before moving to a wooden one-room apartment with a corrugated iron roof. Ms Taiwo shares the wooden house with her daughter, her mother and her niece, Mariam Azeez, a trained nurse. Her sister, who also lived with her, died long ago. Since she cannot afford potable water in sachet packs from local grocery stores, Ms Taiwo buys 25-litre water every day from the water vendors. To use the water for cooking and drinking, she first needs to boil it. Mrs Taiwo spends about N1600 a month on daily water purchases. That is almost as much as some Sagbo Kodji residents pay as rent for a wooden house and about 15 per cent of the daily expenditures of the more than 80 million Nigerians who live in poverty, according to a 2020 report. Most of the residents of Sagbo Kodji are traders, artisans, vendors and boat drivers. They are part of the heavily-taxed Lagos informal economy of about 5.58 million people. According to the Nigerian Labour Statistic Collaborative Survey, in 2016, the informal sector in Nigeria contributed N9.87 trillion (approximately $25.8 billion). However, paying so much in controversial levies leaves them with little profit to live on. ADVERTISEMENT To make matters worse, the residents say the water they buy from the vendors is not pure. Ocean water often seeps into the enormous tanks transporting the water in elongated motor-driven canoes across the lagoon. And when the salty ocean water mixes with the tap water, the locals have no way to treat it. The waterpreneurs of Sagbo Kodji Fifteen years ago, a group of traditional Egun residents gathered at the home of one of their chiefs to discuss the islands water crisis. These water vendors supply water to Sagbo Kodji using double-ended timber and fibreglass boats with motors. Every week, they make the long trip across the Lagos lagoon, braving strong ocean winds to buy water from private boreholes in the Lagos mainland areas of Apapa, Kirikiri, Ebute Metta and Bariga. Peter Akojenu is a leader of the business venture. We used to go with our boats to Kirikiri to buy water in huge tanks, said Mr Akojenu. In the beginning, we sold 25 litres for N30, but this has doubled because the cost of buying water and fuel to run our boats has increased, Mr Akojenu explains. He says he spends N50,000 on fuel for every trip because of bad engines and old boats. But another waterpreneur named John, who withheld his last name for fear of retribution, said he only spends N13,000 on fuel. Residents lament exploitation by waterprenuers The early joy of the waterpreneurs has turned to hostility from community members like Joy Aderoju, who calls them selfish people protecting their business interests. A lot of people are suffering here, she says. Water is expensive. She points to a brown bowl holding about 25 litres, explaining that it costs N60. Oluwatosin Austin, who lives with her husband and two children in Sagbo Kodji, shares Ms Aderojus sentiment: N60 per bucket is expensive, she says. There is no money anywhere. I feel they are really exploiting us and they dont care. A resident, who also spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of retribution, said the waterpreneurs always oppose water intervention projects in the community. He recalled them preventing a private individual from building three boreholes for charity. There was someone who came from Alausa (in Lagos) sometime ago, says the resident. They wanted to fix boreholes, but there were quarrels by the water (sellers) union. They simply dont want it. They claim it would ruin their business. Mr Akojenu does not deny the allegation. He says the government should support the water vendors rather than take their business away from them. If you build boreholes in the community for residents to drink for free, how do you expect us to feed our families and keep the business afloat? If the government wants to help, they should give us better boats and engines instead. Kotin, the new chairman of the association who only provides his first name, explains the one requirement for sinking a borehole in the community: If you want to help us, you will dig water for us and it will be under our control. If you dont do this, and you do it for the general Sagbo Kodji, we will lose our business and it will cause more trouble. Two Sagbo Kodji mothers head home after an early morning trip to collect water from a communal well. [PHOTO CREDIT: Nengi Nelson] The well water hustle It is 6 a.m. on a Sunday and Francis Anwasu is among the first to arrive at a local well. He sits in the queue, braving the cold, dry and dusty early morning harmattan wind blowing over the island. Three women carrying big water bowls soon join him in the queue, exchanging greetings in their native Egun. Like many on the island, Mr Anwasu wakes up at 5 a.m. to begin the daily quest for clean water. I arrive here before other people, Mr Anwasu tells me in pidgin, an adulterated English that is widely spoken across West and Central Africa. I do this every day because this is the cleanest water in the community. This well is maintained by a small group of women, including Susan Abali, who contribute money every quarter to drill and renovate it. They also regularly treat the water with WaterGuard, a chemical point-of-use treatment for household drinking water, and with chlorine and aluminium sulphate. The well opens at 6:30 a.m., noon and 6 p.m. and remains open until it is empty. It is then locked to allow it to replenish with fresh water until the next scheduled opening. On this day, Mr Abali unlocks the well, allowing the early arrivals to collect water before it turns muddy. People come as early as 3 a.m. to drop their water bowls to fetch water, says Mr Abali, whose house is close to the well. The crowd is always massive, pushing here and there, but because today is Sunday, thats why you dont see them here much. By 6:30 a.m., more people arrive at the well with plastic jugs and large water bowls. Mr Anwasu finishes his first round of fetching after about 10 minutes, filling two buckets before staggering back to his home about three minutes away with a bucket in each hand. Mr Anwasus neighbour, Deborah Faton, depends on water from the well to make cornmeal porridge, a fermented cereal pudding known locally as pap, that she sells to island residents. If I fetch the water, I will wait for some hours to allow possible dirt and particles to settle, she says. Any day I dont see colourless water, or theres no water at all [at this well], I end up spending N600 on water that day. For Mrs Faton, buying water reduces her profit by 30 per cent. So, to avoid that, she wakes up by 3 a.m. to secure a good position at the well before anyone else arrives. If you get to the well quickly, she says, you will get clean water to fetch. If you dont get there on time, you will get dirty water and, for me, I need clean water to survive and earn decent profits in my business. Well water comes with great risk But relying on the wells also exposes the residents to waterborne diseases like typhoid, cholera and diarrhoea. A 2020 survey conducted in Sagbo Kodji by Mitsio Motu, a consultancy working with underserved communities in Nigeria, found that 16 per cent of the people they surveyed said their sources of drinking water caused them to fall ill at least once a month. Respondents between the ages of 0 and 20 were found to be more vulnerable to diseases like body itching, diarrhoea, rashes and typhoid. And 26 per cent of the entire survey group said their sources of cooking, bathing and washing water pose health challenges, including body itching, dysentery and rashes. The water sources responsible for these problems are water vendors and shallow wells, according to the survey. The survey results agree with the findings of the World Health Organisation (WHO), which reports that cholera, diarrhoea, hepatitis A, typhoid, dysentery and polio are linked to poor sanitation and contaminated water sources. On her part, Ms Taiwo says she spends at least N5,000 treating typhoid every three months, which is how frequently she contracts the illness. Fortunately, her niece, Ms Azeez, the de facto family nurse, treats the family. I give drips [of intravenous fluids] to wash the system once and for all. I also write drugs to treat water-related issues such as typhoid I do the service for free, Ms Azeez explains. Treating the sick Sagbo Kodji has only one health centre with limited quantity of drugs and health workers. On the day a doctor visits, usually once a week, a large number of people converge and wait in line for hours to be seen. As such, community nurses like Ms Azeez play a critical role. In addition to treating her aunt and grandmother, she spends her time treating other residents for a small fee. Ms Azeez starts every diagnosis with taking the patients blood samples to be sent to a laboratory off the island for testing. Once the results are in, she prescribes drugs for ailments from cholera to typhoid, following up with phone calls or home visits to check progress. Blessing Osagie is one of her patients. The mother of five spends N600 every three days buying water in sachet packs from the groceries stores in the community and another N640 every three days on tap water from vendors for cleaning and cooking. Mrs Osagie changed her water source after contracting skin rashes from drinking well water. But she still gets sick from time to time including from malaria, a mosquito-borne illness which is also prevalent in the community. The water situation here is very bad, that is why there are mosquitoes everywhere, says Mrs Osagie. The mosquitoes are mostly from rivers and drainage, and malaria has been my normal sickness. Evicting the poor to make way for the rich Sagbo Kodjis water crisis is as old as the community, but it has not been the governments concern. In its quest to remodel Lagos and its many islands into a megacity, the state government appears to consider Sagbo Kodji a real estate development opportunity with a chance for urban renewal. In the last five years, coastal communities with problems that mirror Sagbo Kodjis reality have been uprooted. Residents of at least two dozen slums, waterfront communities and islands like Sagbo Kodji have been evicted by the state government, according to Justice and Empowerment Initiatives (JEI), an organisation working with informal communities. The latest eviction targeted Sagbo Kodjis neighbour, Tarkwa Bay, known for its beautiful beaches that attract large numbers of visitors. Like residents of Sagbo Kodji, many of the residents of Tarkwa Bay are low-income earners who cannot afford the housing rent on the mainland. When Tarkwa Bay dwellers and other coastal communities got wind of their impending eviction, they filed a suit at the Federal High Court in Lagos and the court temporarily restrained the government from carrying out evictions in the community. Despite the court orders, on January 21, 2020, gun-wielding naval officers stormed Tarkwa Bay to evict the residents. Abali, one of the water guardians in Sagbo Kodji, was one of the 4,500 people evicted from Tarkwa Bay last year. And like every other resident here, she says her fear of eviction is stronger than the pains over lack of potable water. The state government says the evictions are aimed at tackling oil theft operations along pipelines that run through the slum. The government has also denied any wrongdoing. However, other than its statement alleging oil theft and mentioning the existence of a report, the government has shown little evidence of oil theft. Kabir Ahmed, the commissioner of water front development in Lagos State, whose ministry is responsible for the development of waterfront communities in the state, such as Sagbo Kodji, did not return calls or reply messages sent to him for this story. However, civil rights groups and analysts, such as JEI and Nigerian Informal Settlement Federation, say the governments claim is a cover-up for its real intention to turn the island into luxury real estate properties, as it has done on neighbouring islands. Meanwhile, the Nigeria Navy, which evicted the islanders of Tarkwa Bay, said they had received an order from the government to tackle insecurity on the islands through the eviction of the residents. The evicted and threatened communities, with the help of JEI, are currently in court to challenge the violation of their fundamental human rights, but the suspension of court sittings due to the COVID-19 pandemic has stalled proceedings. Back in Sagbo Kodji, an unshakable premonition of eviction pervades the community. Islanders like Ms Azeez, the community nurse, express disappointment over the governments failure to provide basic social amenities like running water and electricity and its effort to displace them from the community. The water vendors desire to extract all they can from community members while blocking access to free water does not surprise her. I dont blame them because they are copying the same government who are oppressors and believe they own the lands and can chase us out anytime, Ms Azeez says. Although she can stay at her aunts mainland home should Sagbo Kodji be evicted, she worries about the islanders who do not have a similar option: My only concern is with people who are most vulnerable and cannot afford a house on the mainland. If the government chases us away, where would they go to? This report was produced in collaboration with the Center for Collaborative Investigative Journalism (CCIJ), supported by Wits Journalism and Civicus. Amaravati, April 15 : Andhra Pradesh Governor Biswa Bhushan Harichandan participated in the video conference convened by Prime Minister Narendra Modi to review the coronavirus pandemic situation, in which all the Governors have been asked to supplement the efforts of their respective states to tackle the virus. "Governors can play an important role with the involvement of Red Cross volunteers, ex-servicemen, NCC, NSS, NGOs, youth associations in creating awareness among the people on Covid appropriate behaviour such as maintaining social distance, wearing mask, vaccination, etc. and curb the spread of the virus," said Modi. The Prime Minister, who chaired the meeting, said the fight against coronavirus was at a crucial stage and the country was facing a serious situation. "Testing and treatment capacities have been increased many times more than the previous year and the country developed manufacturing capabilities in RT-PCR testing kits, PPE kits, ventilators, etc. through Atmanirbhar programme and these can be now procured through the GEM portal," said Modi. He called for raising RT-PCR testing percentage and decreasing positivity rate to less than 5 per cent while at the same time speeding up vaccination programme on a mission mode. According to the Prime Minister, 11.1 crore people have been vaccinated in the country so far and a new vaccine has also been given emergency use approval. Modi also prompted the Governors to encourage the use of AYUSH and traditional medicine in the treatment of coronavirus as much as possible. Meanwhile, Vice President Venkaiah Naidu, who also addressed the Governors, said India succeeded in the fight against coronavirus in 2020 and emphasized that the same experience will be useful now. "Governors should supplement the efforts of state governments by involving leaders of all political parties, religious leaders and build consensus and involve them in guiding the people in observing Covid appropriate behaviour and following all Covid protocols as per the guidelines," said Naidu. Along with all the Governors, Lieutenant Governors of union territories also joined the meeting. Latest updates on Coronavirus (COVID-19) -- The story has been published from a wire feed without any modifications to the text Chinese home appliance firms expand global market with great vigor People's Daily Online) 14:57, April 15, 2021 By upgrading their products and increasing outbound investments, Chinese home appliance companies have sped up their market entrance plans for foreign markets in recent years. A Chinese TV manufacturer, Konka Group Co., Ltd., is one such company. In 2019, the company established a joint venture in Egypt with HOHO Electronical & Furniture Co., a local brand founded in 2009. Photo taken on Aug. 1, 2019 shows a view of the opening ceremony of Konka's factory in Cairo, Egypt. (Xinhua/Wu Huiwo) According to Liu Liangwu, deputy general manager of Konkas overseas marketing center, the industrial production qualification and sales network of HOHO could provide a boost to Konkas overseas expansion in the African market. Salman, a local employee of the joint venture, who works at a factory located some 120 km south of the Egyptian capital Cairo, said there were about 600 workers who had received rigorous technical training before they officially started working there. Its not easy for us to get a job, so we cherish it very much, said Salman. The total demand for TV sets in Egypt and its surrounding markets is anticipated to exceed 20 million sets annually, meaning that there is a huge room for growth yet to be tapped by the joint venture, said Khalid Mustafa, secretary-general of the Cairo Chamber of Commerce. Konkas TV products have been well-received by Egyptian households because they are very cost-effective, said Mounir, a quality inspector at the joint venture, who added that he himself had bought two Konka TV sets for his family. Home appliance companies in China have embraced a new profitable growth orientation by going global, while delivering a lot of benefits to local communities, including creating jobs, boosting the level of industrialization, and enriching the cultural life of local residents, as described in an article published in Egypt's Al-Akhbar newspaper. In India, Chinese home appliance enterprise Haier has become a very competitive player by sticking to a localized strategy. Since establishing Haier Appliances India in 2004, the Chinese home appliance giant has amassed 17-years of experience in penetrating the Indian market. Haier has paid a great deal of attention to customizing and localizing its products to meet Indian customers needs. One such attempt was the introduction of an upside-down concept for the vegetable crisper box installed in their fridges. After conducting proper research, we decided to install the veggies box at the top section of the fridge to ensure that people didnt have to bend down while moving food in and out, said Eric Braganza, president of Haier Appliances India. Traditionally, this kind of vegetable box is placed at the bottom of a fridge. The company has also rolled out efficient washing machines that can work at a minimal or low level of water pressure and air conditioners with Haiers self-clean technology and a built-in air purifier. These customized products have been well-received by Indian consumers, and the localization of products is the key to Haiers success, Braganza noted, further revealing that Haiers industrial park in Pune city has hired a large number of local R&D personnel, with more than 95 percent of its sales team comprising local employees. The company has achieved an annual sales volume of $680 million and now commands a market share of 7 percent in India. According to Huang Decheng, general manager of Haier Appliances India, the company has established 25 technical support centers, one 24/7 contact center, 251 high-quality service centers, and 570 authorized service stations throughout India. The company was granted the award of best service provider in 2020 and 2021 in New Delhi. Haier was also the only home appliance company in India to guarantee its ability to continue providing customer service amid the COVID-19 pandemic. (Web editor: Hongyu, Liang Jun) Her Instagram is a hot bed of sexy snaps. And Demi Rose was once putting on a stunning display as she took to Instagram on Thursday to share her latest sizzling post. The social media sensation, 26, looked jaw-dropping a tight black top with spaghetti straps while also donning a pair of cat-eye sunglasses. Hot stuff: Demi Rose was once putting on a stunning display as she took to Instagram on Thursday to share her latest sizzling post Demi was looking nothing short of sensational as she posed for the camera in her latest promo snap for PrettyLittleThing. The image looked as though it could have been taken out of the 1950s, as she piled a towel high on her head and sported the retro-inspired specs. She ensured her make-up was flawlessly applied and pulled her very best pout. Demi has been sharing a slew of snaps from her sunny travels with her 16 million Instagram followers in recent months including trips to the Maldives and Tanzania. Sensational: Her Instagram is a hot bed of sexy snaps The brunette recently opened up to MailOnline about how she shot to stardom at the age of 14 after being bullied in school. Demi recalled: 'I was bullied in school, I wanted to make friends outside of it so I ended up spending a lot of time online. 'I was even interested in virtual reality as a kid, I was always on the computer and then MySpace came around and I found my calling.' The social media star experienced her first taste of fame when pictures of her on the beach as a young teenager went viral on Instagram. Oh my! The brunette recently opened up to MailOnline about how she shot to stardom at the age of 14 after being bullied in school Birmingham native Demi shared: 'I only ever got Instagram because someone made a fake profile of me on there with 3,000 followers and I was really envious. 'I was like, "wow, how can someone using my pictures get that much?" And then I started an account and it went from there.' From the age of 18, the bombshell who currently boasts 16 million followers signed with a modelling agency and her career went from strength to strength. Sabics recent Ordinary Annual General Meeting in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia has approved SR4.5 billion ($1.2 billion) cash dividends for the second half of 2020 at SR1.5 per share, representing 15% of the nominal share value. The Board of Directors had previously approved similar SR4.5 billion cash dividends for the first half of 2020 at SR 1.5 per share, representing 15% of the nominal share value. Eligibility for the second half dividends of the year will be for the shareholders owning shares on the due date that is, the date of the Ordinary General Meeting and those shareholders registered in the companys share registry at the Depository Center at the end of the second trading day following the due date. The dividends will be distributed on May 3, 2021. The total dividend for 2020 is SR9 billion at SR 3 per share, representing 30% of the nominal value per share. The Assembly approved the discharge of the Board of Directors members for the fiscal year ending December 31, 2020. It also approved the amendments to the charter of Audit Committee. It further reappointed Ernst & Young as the external auditor of the company to review and audit quarterly and the annual financial statements of the fiscal year 2021, in addition to the first quarter of the fiscal year 2022. The Assembly also approved the auditors fees. The Assembly further authorized the Board of Directors to distribute interim dividends, semi-annually or quarterly for the fiscal year 2021. Yousef Al-Benyan, Sabic Vice Chairman and CEO, emphasised how despite the challenges of the year, Sabic recorded an improved performance in sales volumes, with SR117 billion in sales; while demonstrating to customers around the world that they could rely on Sabic even in the hardest of times, with production levels amounting to 60.4 million metric tons, and increasing 0.8% versus 2019. Al-Benyan said: These outcomes indicate that we have not only learned to adapt to the New Normal but have also positioned our business for continued success as the global economy recovers and returns to growth this year. Our resilience is defined by our sound business model, operational efficiency, and effective customer engagement. As always, our performance has been underpinned by an uncompromising focus on our customers and on delivering innovative sustainable solutions. The year saw some momentous developments for Sabic. We embarked upon our new journey of value creation with Saudi Aramco and began, together, the implementation phase of our alignment. This will position us for long-term growth and take us to new heights by bringing additional scale, technology and investment potential opportunities. By 2025, Sabics share of the expected annual value creation with Aramco will amount to between $1.5 billion and $1.8 billion. He added: We moved forward during 2020 with the completion of our share purchase agreement with SAFCO, creating a new operating model which provides more focus and agility for our agri-nutrients business and giving Sabic a platform for more sustainable growth both as a national champion and a global leader in the agri-nutrients industry. Evolution was also evident in our Specialties business, which became a stand-alone entity. This important milestone unlocks further growth potential and enables our Specialties business to advance its business model and better meet customer requirements. TradeArabia News Service COLUMBUS, Ohio -- The Ohio Department of Health is monitoring the investigation into what may have caused a 21-year-old University of Cincinnati student to die suddenly last Sunday, around a day after he received the Johnson & Johnson vaccine. Alicia Shoults, a spokeswoman for the state health department, said the agency is waiting for the completion of a Hamilton County coroners report, and if necessary, further guidance from the CDC. If an adverse effect from a vaccine is reported to the CDC, it then leads to a federal investigation into whether the negative effects were coincidental or somehow related to the vaccine, Shoults said. The student, John Foley, died unexpectedly on Sunday, according to an obituary his family published through a Columbus funeral home. He was a junior studying medical sciences, and his mother, Mary Beth Foley, is an attorney with the state police and fire pension fund. A memorial service is planned on Friday. There are few available details about Foleys death. Theres no available evidence that suggests his death is related to the vaccine. But his family issued a statement on Wednesday asking for patience and privacy after Alex Berenson, a writer whos gained prominence for promoting fringe, skeptical views about the coronavirus pandemic, lockdown measures and vaccinations, used his social media account to share information about Foleys death. That included publishing a private message from Foleys mother sharing the news with friends that said the family suspected a bad COVID vaccination reaction, but wasnt sure. We understand many want to know more about his death we do, too but we ask people to understand that this is the time for our family to grieve in private, said the familys public statement, shared by Mark Weaver, a crisis communications consultant who said the family isnt granting media interviews. Foleys death comes amid heightened public concern about the Johnson & Johnson vaccine. Federal officials on Tuesday paused administration of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine, citing concerns about a possible complication that in six documented instances out of nearly 7 million people who were vaccinated of people suffering dangerous blood clots after getting the vaccine. Medical experts have said the pause is meant to make time to investigate the blood clots to see whether they are related to the vaccine. Public health officials and medical experts have said vaccines are a key part of ending the coronavirus pandemic, which has led to the deaths of 18,917 Ohioans and more than 564,000 deaths nationally. Foleys medical profile doesnt match the CDCs documented instances of the blood clots. All six occurred in women, and the median age was 32 years old. The onset of the side effects came six to 13 days after they received Johnson & Johnson vaccines, according to federal officials. Its also still unclear whether the blood clots are connected to the vaccines, or coincidental. Side effects, including extremely rare ones, are known to be associated with many vaccines, drugs and other common medical treatments. An official at the Hamilton County Coroners Office said Wednesday that it could be days or weeks before an autopsy is complete. No additional information was available, he said. But a log of emergency calls published by the Cincinnati Fire Department shows there was an emergency call at an address on Sunday night for a possible DOA that matched an address the coroners office had on file. Cleveland.com and The Plain Dealer has issued a public-records request for information associated with the call, but that request has not yet been completed. A police spokesman said Thursday there is a backlog for fulfilling public records requests. Officials with the University of Cincinnati and UC Health, the hospital system that administered a mass-vaccination site at the UC campus over the weekend, didnt respond to requests for comment, nor did a spokesperson for the Hamilton County Health Department. Marla Fuller, a spokeswoman for the Cincinnati Health Department, said Thursday her agency has no information about the death. (Alliance News) - Shares of IMC Exploration Group PLC rose by almost two thirds on Thursday afternoon after announcing it had provisionally agreed to buy a gold mine in Armenia via a reverse takeover. Shares in IMC Exploration were trading at 1.35 pence in London on Thursday afternoon, up 60%. The Irish precious and base metals mining project developer said it had conditionally agreed to purchase the Karaberd gold mine in Armenia. The acquisition will take effect via the reverse takeover of MVI Ireland sro from Mineral Ventures Invest spol sro. MVI Ireland owns Assat LLC, which holds the operating license for the Karaberd mine. If the acquisition goes ahead IMC will hold the Karaberd mine operating licence, together with an ore-crushing production facility located nearby. IMC said the acquisition involved issuing "several tranches of shares" to MVI, with each tranche being conditional on the occurrence of certain milestones. It said it will apply to issue shares that will equate to 51% of the new expanded total after the acquisition, meaning the seller will have control, making the transaction a reverse takeover. IMC said the acquisition would benefit expanded group's working capital through the provision by MVI of EUR20,000 per month for two years, totalling EUR480,000. The group will have the further benefit of a EUR650,000 deposit paid to China National Geological & Mining Corp by MVI, should IMC decide to complete a proposed eco-production facility at Karaberd by CGM. IMC Chair Eamon O'Brien said: "The proposed acquisition will transform IMC by adding a mining project and will generate cash-flow for IMC from both the monthly contribution to working capital and future mining operations. Furthermore, the geographical reach of IMC will be extended outside of Ireland which may lead to further opportunities for growth of IMC." By Will Paige; willpaige@alliancenews.com Copyright 2021 Alliance News Limited. All Rights Reserved. [April 15, 2021] Brinks Home Announces 6-Year Contract with Texas-Based True Protection Brinks Home has announced a new agreement with True Protection that extends their partnership for another six years. The partnership is expected to drive growth for both companies and allows True Protection to expand its Texas footprint. The San Antonio-based dealership was founded by Matthew True, president and chief executive officer; and John Jarvis, vice president of operations in 2011. "Matthew True and his team have been great partners for Brinks Home for a decade now," said Wade Gibson, senior vice president, Network Sales, Brinks Home. "We look forward to working with True Protection as we grow and provide more customers with a best-in-class experience in home and commercial security." The True Protection team started the company because they felt there was a need to offer ethical, high-quality security services to families and businesses alike. "We pride ourselves on maintaining long-lasting relationships with our customers," said Matthew True, president and chief executive officer, True Protection. "Extending our partnership with Brinks Home allows us to continue to provide Texas residents and businesses with smart securty they can trust, backed by a name that is respected nationwide." The agreement is the latest in a series of high-profile new contracts with top security dealers in North America as Brinks Home continues to transform not only the company, but the smart security industry as well. These mutually beneficial partnerships allow Brinks Home to provide platinum grade protection and professional monitoring to more customers and allow security dealers to provide those customers with the peace of mind that comes from being protected by an industry leader. About Brinks Home Brinks Home is one of the largest home security and alarm monitoring companies in North America. Headquartered in the Dallas-Fort Worth area, Brinks Home provides platinum grade protection to over 950,000 residential and commercial customers through highly responsive, simple security solutions backed by expertly trained professionals. The company has one of the nation's largest networks of independent authorized dealers and agents-providing products and support to customers in the U.S., Canada, and Puerto Rico-as well as direct-to-consumer sales of DIY and professionally installed products. To learn more about Brinks Home or how to become an Authorized Dealer, Partner, or Representative, visit brinkshome.com or brinkshome.com/partners. About True Protection Founded in 2011, True Protection has been providing exemplary customer service and smart security to both residential and commercial customers in Central Texas for more than a decade. The company, which started in San Antonio and now has teams in Austin, Houston, Dallas, and Fort Worth is dedicated to operating with integrity and providing affordable, high-quality smart security solutions to home and business owners throughout Texas. For more information about the company, visit truehomeprotection.com. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210415006106/en/ [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] Elevated Fire Dangers on Oregon, Washington Coast This Week Published 04/14/21 at 5:25 PM PDT By Oregon Coast Beach Connection staff (Manzanita, Oregon) So early in the year it's already cause for caution when it comes to fire dangers in Oregon and Washington, and that even includes the coastlines of both states. The National Weather Service (NWS) in Portland issued a special weather statement for the northern half of the Oregon coast and southern Washington coast saying it will be unseasonably dry and warm through this weekend. Extra caution is advised with fire, at least through the upcoming weekend, the NWS said. Be sure to check with your local fire district before burning, as there may be restrictions in place. The extra caution message is for the I-5 Corridor and Willamette Valley towns of Washington and Oregon, as well as the Oregon and Washington coast, starting from Florence up through Westport. Campfires in coastal forest lands will need more attention, and you should be extra certain your beach bonfires are far from beachgrass. This is always the law on Oregon and Washington beaches, but this week requires more caution. Oregon Department of Forestry (ODF) has reported some 70 fires were burning on the agencys lands this year. This is three times the average for fires this time of year. 40 of those fires were started by backyard burns that jumped to public lands and all happened before the official start of fire season. Fire fighters have already responded to numerous brush fires in northwest Oregon. An unseasonably dry start to April has left vegetation drier than normal for this time of year along the Oregon and southern Washington coast, the NWS said. Breezy offshore flow is resulting in unseasonably warm and dry afternoons, further drying out vegetation across the region. See Warm Weather Forecast Sunny and Near 70 for Oregon / Washington Coast | Portland near 80 From Seattle, Portland to Roseburg, and from La Push down through Cannon Beach and Gold Beach The upper half of the Washington coast and southern half of the Oregon coast do not have these warnings, but parts of the inland portions of both states already have issues. Currently, much of Oregon is experiencing some of the driest air lowest humidity level in a long time. The NWS said offshore winds have weakened and taken a more northerly direction for now, keeping things moist along the coastlines this evening. But all that will change Thursday, restarting the dry air conditions that have happened this week and continuing for a couple of days at least. Friday afternoon will bring breezier winds than Thursday, bringing an increased threat for fire spread, the NWS said. Oregon has released an interagency map showing closures of public lands among Oregon State Parks, U.S. Forest Service and others, some of which are from fire dangers while others are from COVID restrictions or other reasons, see the map. Oregon Coast Hotels in this area - South Coast Hotels - Where to eat - Maps - Virtual Tours MORE PHOTOS BELOW Above: NASA photo showing forest fires near southern Oregon coast in 2015 More About Oregon Coast hotels, lodging..... More About Oregon Coast Restaurants, Dining..... Coastal Spotlight LATEST Related Oregon Coast Articles Back to Oregon Coast Contact Advertise on BeachConnection.net All Content, unless otherwise attributed, copyright BeachConnection.net Unauthorized use or publication is not permitted A dog or a cat going missing is a run-of-the-mill occurrence in any neighborhood, but when an emu goes missing? That might not be as common. But on Wednesday, Oxford resident Jen Rich found one in her Perry Lane yard, thanks to a little help from her dog. Our dog scared it and it ran into the bushes near our house, she told Hearst Connecticut Media via text message. Soon after, I realized it was stuck [and] struggling, as I could hear it was in distress. After finding it tangled in her bushes, Rich said she noticed the emu appeared to be hurt, which made it tame enough to handle. Once she managed to guide it into a fenced-in enclosure in her yard, Rich said she asked her friend Joslynn Turcott to post a picture on Facebook to help locate its owner. But Facebook wasnt the only social media platform that ended up taking note of the missing emu. In the Reddit subgroup r/Connecticut, one user picked up on the post and started a thread also requesting help in locating the emu's owner. A few offered concerned comments, while some poked fun at a popular Liberty Mutual insurance commercial that features an emu. On Facebook, however, users began quickly tagging the suspected owner, Amanda Bonardi, who said on Facebook that her husband went home to check and see if their emu was missing. An hour later, Bonardi who did not respond to requests for comment claimed the emu as hers. Thanking commenters for their help, Bonardi said on Facebook that the emu is now home safely and suspects a bear passed through the night before and scared the emu from her yard. French regulator Arcep has approved Digicel and Free Caraibes network-sharing arrangement for the Antilles-Guyane region (covering French Guiana, Guadeloupe and Martinique). Digicel and Free Caraibe first drafted the agreement in February 2020 before signing the deal 16th December that year. The companies plan to build out and a shared RAN over the next two years that will be owned and operated by new joint venture Madiacom. As reported by CommsUpdate, the deal will involve temporary cross-sharing of low-band frequencies in the 800MHz and 900MHz bands. While the RAN is deployed, Digicel will authorize Free Caraibe to roam on its spectrum as part of the transition. In December last year, the companies informed Arcep that this transitory phase would last no longer than two years, but would be extended geographically during this time to encompass additional territories. An amendment to their agreement specified that the this phase could be extended by mutual consent by a maximum of one additional year if deemed necessary as a result of any technical issues with the implementation. The operators also laid out their roadmap for the overseas territories to Arcep, stating that they would provide annual progress reports as they look to boost mobile coverage and quality of service. The firms plan to install over 500 cell sites by 2025, as well as deploying new infrastructure in French Guinana by end-2022. New Delhi, April 15 : The Supreme Court on Thursday ordered a CBI probe into the role of Kerala police officers in framing ISRO scientist Nambi Narayanan in the 1994 ISRO espionage case. A bench headed by Justice A.M. Khanwilkar accepted the report of a panel headed by former top court judge D.K. Jain, and asked the CBI to carry out further investigation. The top court said the matter is very serious and it requires a CBI probe. The bench asked acting CBI Director to take charge of the case and treat the report by Justice Jain panel as a preliminary inquiry report to conduct further investigations into the matter. The bench also comprising Justices Dinesh Maheshwari and Krishna Murari also asked the CBI to file status report on its investigations in three months. The top court has ordered that panel's report should be kept confidential in a sealed cover. The 79-year-old Narayanan waged a legal battle against the Kerala police officers who accused him of being a Pakistan's spy in 1994. Besides appointing the panel, the top court had directed the Kerala government to pay Rs 50 lakh compensation to Narayanan for causing him immense humiliation. In 2018, a bench of the then Chief Justice Dipak Misra decided to appoint a committee under Jain and asked the Centre and the Kerala government to name one person each to the committee. While the Centre appointed a top official -- D.K. Prasad, the Pinarayi Vijayan government appointed former Additional Chief Secretary V.S. Senthil. The ISRO spy case surfaced in 1994 when Narayanan was arrested on charges of espionage along with another senior official of ISRO, two Maldivian women and a businessman. The CBI had held that the then top police officials in Kerala were responsible for Narayanan's illegal arrest. The panel examined the circumstances leading to Narayanan's arrest. It was alleged that confidential documents on India's space program was allegedly transferred to foreign countries. Narayanan had maintained that Kerala police fabricated the case and the technology he was accused to have stolen and sold in 1994 case did not even exist at that time. -- The story has been published from a wire feed without any modifications to the text Manitoba's highest court has dealt the Pallister government another blow in its bid to restrain public-sector wages. Manitoba's highest court has dealt the Pallister government another blow in its bid to restrain public-sector wages. In a ruling this week, the Manitoba Court of Appeal said the government was "unreasonable" when it refused to allow the provincial civil service contract to go to binding arbitration. The ruling paves the way for potential wage increases to 12,000 civil servants, who have been without a contract since March 2019. Finance Minister Scott Fielding had refused to allow a Manitoba Government and General Employees Union request that an arbitration board be appointed to settle the contract after the union deemed that bargaining had reached an impasse. He argued the two sides had not bargained sufficiently long to justify the appointment of an arbitration panel that would settle any outstanding issues between the two sides. Wages are the main bone of contention. Hanging over the contract negotiations is the Pallister government's 2017 Public Services Sustainability Act, which was passed by the Manitoba legislature but never proclaimed. It calls for wage freezes in the first two years of any new public-sector union contract followed by increases of no more than 0.75 per cent and one per cent in years 3 and 4. The legislation, despite not being proclaimed, has already been struck down in Court of Queen's Bench. The government is appealing the ruling. Madam Justice Freda M. Steel, writing on behalf of the Court of Appeal, said the Civil Service Act "clearly indicates" that the minister has "no discretion to refuse to appoint an arbitration board if he has received a request; he 'shall' appoint." "Factually, there is no question that the preconditions for the appointment of an arbitration board had been fulfilled," she wrote. "Negotiations had begun; a collective agreement had not been reached; and the MGEU had requested that the minister appoint an arbitration board, setting out, in its requests, the 'matters on which agreement (could not) be reached,' and a statement of difficulties involved in settling the dispute." It now appears the government will be forced to pay higher wages to its civil servants. Earlier this year, Pembina Trails School Division teachers received wage increases, through arbitration, of 1.6, 1.4 and 0.5 per cent, plus a cost of living increase in the fourth year of a new collective agreement. Winnipeg School Division bus drivers were awarded arbitrated wage increases of two per cent for 2019 and 0.75 per cent for 2020. MGEU president Michelle Gawronsky said she was "elated" at the ruling, but also "disturbed and disgusted" that the union had to apply to the courts to force the government to do something that it was already required to do under provincial law. While awaiting the results of the appeal (a lower court had already ruled in the union's favour), the province and the union tentatively set arbitration hearing dates in September. "The government has not shown any indication that theyre willing to sit down and negotiate," Gawronsky said. When the two sides bargained briefly in 2019, the government wouldn't say whether it would ever move from its wage-freeze stance, she said. It also threatened that it would remove any agreed-to items from the table if the union sought arbitration, she added. Finance Minister Scott Fielding would not discuss the ruling after question period Thursday. In answer to questions from the NDP in the legislature, he said the government "respect(s) the decisions of the courts." Fielding also lamented that there had not been more time for bargaining before the MGEU applied for arbitration under the Civil Service Act. NDP Leader Wab Kinew described the appeal court ruling in the legislature as "a win for thousands of families across our province." Afterwards, he said the court decision is another sign the Pallister government is taking the "wrong approach" in its dealings with organized labour. He also urged the government to allow an arbitrator to settle a dispute between striking IBEW workers and Manitoba Hydro. David Camfield, a University of Manitoba labour studies professor, said the ruling is a further blow to the government's public-sector wage restrain policies. He said the arbitrated settlement in the civil service contract would "set a benchmark" for future public sector agreements. larry.kusch@freepress.mb.ca In an era of unparalleled technological advancements, Laredo College has focused on expanding and upgrading its repertoire of high-quality degree offerings in the Computer Information Systems (CIS) Program. This upcoming fall, the program will debut a new Networking Technologies Associate in Applied Science Degree with two specialization tracks. This new degree and pair of study tracks-Cisco-Red Hat Linux Administration and Cloud Computing-will broaden the educational and professional prospects of LC students pursuing a myriad of careers within the computer information and computer science fields. Laredo College is constantly evolving and reinventing itself, and part of that transformation includes finding new programs, approaches and methodologies to improve and thrive in any given discipline, Laredo College President Dr. Ricardo J. Solis said. Our Computer Technology Department and Cybersecurity Institute offer a wide range of programs that allow students to stay up-to-date with the latest industry certifications and training. We are eager about the fall semester since they will be launching several new initiatives and upgrades to existing programs. The Cisco-Red Hat Linux Administration track will include industry curriculum from both the Cisco and RedHat Academies. The curriculum is intended to better prepare students for immediate entry into the workforce and acquiring highly-valued industry certifications. This program encompasses hands-on instruction in both the hardware and software that powers and enables these technologies, as well as the cybersecurity skillsets that garnered Laredo College a designation as a Center of Academic Excellence in Cyber Defense Education by the National Security Agency and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. Moreover, students can choose the Cloud Computing track route. The program has become a member of the Amazon Web Services (AWS) Academy. Membership in the academy privileges the program to include curriculum geared toward preparation in certification as an AWS Certified Cloud Practitioner and AWS Certified SysOps Administrator-Associate. The program will also focus on various virtualization and online database technologies. Both specialization tracks transfer to a baccalaureate program at Texas A&M University-San Antonio. The new program emphasis is on promoting industry certification, strengthening a program graduates cache of employment credentials and making them more marketable. The program continues to offer an Associate of Science Degree in the Computer Science Field of Study. This degree is transferable to most state university baccalaureate programs. Additionally, the program has already begun to experience certification successes. In the past year, several Laredo College students and faculty members attained different certifications such as the CompTIA Security+, CompTIA Network+ and Cisco Certified Network Associate (CCNA). For additional information about the program or how to register, contact the Computer Technology Department by sending an email to ctdept@laredo.edu or calling (956) 721-5317 or (956) 721-5423. SHE has toured, she has performed with some of the greatest artistes of all time, and she has spent time working and conceptualising with top producers. But now, singer/songwriter Sherma Andrews is on home soil, to give her home-based fans a taste of her legendary repertoire. As few as 40 per cent of people working with some of the province's most vulnerable people residents of personal care homes are vaccinated against COVID-19. As few as 40 per cent of people working with some of the province's most vulnerable people residents of personal care homes are vaccinated against COVID-19. Care home administrators and the organization that represents many such facilities in the province are trying to persuade Manitoba's vaccine task force to let the same nurses looking after residents give shots to fellow staff members. Jan Legeros, executive director of the Long Term & Continuing Care Association of Manitoba, said the group is hearing from member facilities that between 40 to 45 per cent of care home staff have been vaccinated. Staff don't have to volunteer that they have been vaccinated, but many have let the facilities they work at know, she said. Care home staff was one of the first groups eligible for a shot, back in December. Public health has helped encourage vaccinations by distributing information posters which care homes can post, while the province's vaccine task force has played host to a couple of virtual Q and A forums, Legeros said. Some facilities are having draws with prizes for people who have been vaccinated and several are allowing staff to go get the shot during working hours. MIKAELA MACKENZIE / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS Laurie Cerqueti, CEO of Saul and Claribel Simkin Centre. "We're hoping all of this will increase our ability to make our staff confident for taking the vaccine," she said Wednesday. "We are somewhat confident the symptoms will be milder with the vaccine, but for an older person with heart and lung problems,even minor symptoms can be devastating." Other provinces have driven up their numbers by having staff vaccinated at the workplace, Legeros said. "Ontario has seen a really high uptake of that between 60 to 98 per cent. We're talking to Shared Health and the vaccine task force about that," she said. At the Saul & Claribel Simkin Centre in Winnipeg, where roughly half of the staff have been vaccinated, chief executive officer Laurie Cerqueti said there's another way of driving up staff vaccination numbers. "I would like the government to make mandatory vaccinations for health-care workers. Our family members have asked that, but that would take the will of government," she said. The centre also would like to have the province supply extra vials of vaccine so it can not only vaccinate new residents, but also staff, Cerqueti said. Brenda Hodgson, acting CEO of Convalescent Home of Winnipeg, said about 82 per cent of its staff have been vaccinated. JOHN WOODS / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS FILES Ontario-based Revera Inc., which owns several personal care homes in Winnipeg, including Parkview Place (above), told the Ontario government about 45 per cent of its 20,000 staff nationwide had been vaccinated. "We are strongly encouraging everyone to go get the shot, presuming there is no underlying medical condition which would prevent them from doing so," said Hodgson. "There may be more uptake on the vaccine when staff are able to more freely obtain the shot at a pharmacy or doctor's office." Last month, Ontario-based Revera Inc., which owns several personal care homes in Winnipeg, including Heritage Lodge, Charleswood Care Centre, Maples and Parkview Place, was reported as telling the Ontario government about 45 per cent of its 20,000 staff nationwide had been vaccinated. The company is continuing to work with its union partners and public health to educate staff about the safety of vaccines and how well they protect health-care workers, care home residents and their own families, Revera spokesman Larry Roberts told the Free Press. "We take vaccination of residents and workers very seriously. Nurses and doctors within our homes and residences have been working to share information and address questions about the vaccines," he said. Revera does pay workers to visit offsite vaccination clinics, but it would make a difference to have the vaccines offered to their employees on site, Roberts said. "The staff in our long-term care homes and retirement residences have been working long hours throughout the pandemic, caring for their residents, and we believe we need to make it as easy for them to access vaccines as possible." There have been 124 vaccination clinics for personal care home residents in Winnipeg since January, with 4,955 residents fully vaccinated and 5,154 having their first dose, according to the Winnipeg Regional Health Authority. Currently there are outbreaks at Donwood Manor, Heritage Lodge, Lions PCH on Sherbrook Street, Meadowood Manor and Oakview Place, but no residents have active cases of COVID-19, and there are only six staff cases, the WRHA said. kevin.rollason@freepress.mb.ca This decision reaffirms the core principle that violators can and must be held accountable for their unlawful pollution, said Sanghyun Lee, a lawyer for the Environmental Integrity Project. The law is clear: Compliance with permit terms is just a basic cost of doing business, and regulated entities like BP cannot just reap the benefits of noncompliance at the expense of the health and welfare of local residents. Slate has relationships with various online retailers. If you buy something through our links, Slate may earn an affiliate commission. We update links when possible, but note that deals can expire and all prices are subject to change. All prices were up to date at the time of publication. In the late 2000s, an employee of Purdue Pharma was stunned by the words of the corporations in-house counsel. At a meeting, the companys lawyer, Stuart Baker, had been praising three former members of the leadership team, including his own predecessor. Those three men had pleaded guilty in 2007 to making fraudulent claims about the harmlessness of Purdues cash cow product, OxyContin, and had been forced to resign. Those people had to take the fall to protect the family, Baker said, as quoted in Empire of Pain, Patrick Radden Keefes masterfully damning new book about that family, the billionaire Sacklers, who owned Purdue. The companys foremost priority, Baker went on to remind all present, was to protect the family at all costs. The unnamed (and now former) Purdue employee who witnessed this little speech told Keefe, I remember going home and saying, Where the fuck am I working? Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Sign up for the Slate Culture Newsletter The best of movies, TV, books, music, and more, delivered to 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. Empire of Pain, Keefe explains in his afterword, is a dynastic saga. Like Purdue, it is all about the Sackler family: how it transformed American medicine, the key role it played in the opioid crisis that now costs tens of thousands of Americans their lives every year, and the familys belated and incomplete downfall. The Sacklers went from an esteemed clan known primarily for their philanthropy on behalf of cultural, educational, and scientific institutionsincluding, most famously, the spectacular Sackler wing of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, which houses the Temple of Dendurto public disgrace and repudiation. Among the final scenes in Empire of Pain is a student activist happily watching the Sackler name being chipped off the facade of a building at Tufts University. The family threatened to sue, claiming that the university was violating an agreement it had made when it received donations from one of its members. Keefe calls this a graphic measure of the Sacklers vanity, and of their pathological denial, that the family was prepared to debase itself by trying to force its name back onto a university where the student body had said, quite explicitly, that they found it morally repugnant. Its also an illustration of how much the very rich, when crossed, operate like the Mafia, though they reinforce their power with shell companies and lawyers rather than omerta and violence. Advertisement Keefe is no stranger to covering gangster tactics. His previous book, 2019s Say Nothing, was an acclaimed bestseller about the abduction and murder of a widowed mother of 10 by the Irish Republican Army, and for the New York Times Magazine, he wrote about the financial management of the Sinaloa drug cartel in Mexico. In fact, it was Keefes interest in how the cartels function as businesses that piqued his curiosity about Big Pharma, and specifically the Sackler family, which he wrote about for the New Yorker in the article that became the basis for Empire of Pain. Keefe doesnt lean too hard on the Mafia comparison in this book, but when he refers to Howard UdellPurdues ultraloyal longtime staff attorney, and one of the three men who took the fall in 2007as the Sacklers consigliere, the dart hits home. Advertisement Advertisement The Sackler story begins with three striving brothers, Arthur, Mortimer, and Raymond, born to a Jewish immigrant grocer and his wife in early 20th century Brooklyn. All three became doctors. Arthur, the eldest and a superhuman dynamo, seemed to start a new enterprise every week; after his death from a stroke in 1987, one of the greatest challenges facing his heirs was the task of locating all of his assets and paying off unexpected debts. Arthur Sackler didnt like people knowing his businessliterallyso no one had a grasp of the entire financial picture of his estate. This was partly because some of his dealings were ethically dubious. He secretly owned a controlling share in the chief competitor of one of his own firms, for example, and he kept his name out of medical newsletters that he published to conceal a self-interested editorial bias in favor of pharmaceuticals. When Arthur became obsessed with both collecting art and donating to cultural institutions in exchange for having galleries and wings named after himself and his family, he faced a challenge, as Keefe writes, to reconcile this ardent desire for recognition of the Sackler name with his equally strong preference for personal anonymity. He balanced this skillfully. In the art and philanthropy world, Arthur was known to have lots of money, but no one seemed to know where hed gotten it. Advertisement Advertisement The answer was Valium, the first $100 million drug in history. Arthur didnt own F. Hoffmann-La Roche, the company that manufactured the tranquilizer (although he swanned around the headquarters so often that there were rumors he ran it). Though Arthur was an early proponent of psychopharmaceuticals, his greatest expertise lay in advertising and marketing, services provided by his agency, McAdams. The first inductee into the Medical Advertising Hall of Fame, Arthur Sackler was credited by that august institution with pioneering the field and bringing the full power of advertising and promotion to pharmaceutical marketing. Some of his innovations included making unfounded claims for the nonaddictive nature of Valium, producing the first promotional insert designed to look like editorial content (in the New York Times, no less), and creating ads filled with the testimonials of practicing MDs who, upon investigation, turned out to be entirely fictional. Advertisement If you are someone who engages in sneaky conduct, the last person you want reporting on you is Keefe. Arthur died before OxyContin was developed, and his widow and children, according to Keefe, energetically strive to distance themselves from that most notorious of Sackler-associated products. Purdue, which the brothers bought in 1952, was run by Mortimer and Raymonds children and grandchildren. But Empire of Pain amply demonstrates that Arthur created the playbook used to make OxyContin a blockbuster drug, from incentives for sales reps to speakers, publications, and grassroots advocacy groups that are secretly funded by the manufacturer. Opioids are powerful and addictive painkillers, but not necessarily dangerous if used carefully and properly. Purdue Pharma, however, did nothing to ensure that OxyContin was used that way, and in fact encouraged its misuse. Internal documents and correspondence quoted in Empire of Pain prove that Purdues staff and leadership, including several of Arthurs nephews and nieces, knew full well that many doctors were operating illegal pill mills. Yet the company refrained from reporting them because it made money from every bogus prescription. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement If you are someone who engages in this kind of sneaky conduct, the last person you want reporting on you is Keefe. Although the material in Empire of Pain is more complex and less action-packed than the crimes and terrorism of Say Nothing, the narrative is just as involving. Keefe has a knack for crafting lucid, readable descriptions of the sort of arcane business arrangements the Sacklers favored. He is also indefatigable. He will interview the yoga teacher you brought to Turks a few times to help with your bad back and who knows your wife ordered two butlers to escort you everywhere as human crutches. He will find the doorman who was standing outside your aunts apartment building when your cousin jumped out the window to his death. And he will not only dig up the third grade classmate who remembers you as innocent and mocked and friendless and rich, hell quote that classmate adding that to be ostracized on that basis at such a tony private school, you had to be pretty fucking rich. Advertisement The Sackler infighting described in Empire of Pain will surely prompt many comparisons to the HBO series Succession, but a real-world parallel also comes into focus. Around this time last year, I was knee-deep in memoirs by Trump staffers and associates, and while the Sacklers may be more housebroken than the former president, there are some significant similarities. The Sacklers who ran Purdue surrounded themselves with yes men and interfered with the more prudent employees who sought to curb their excessive demands for more and more OxyContin sales. They considered only their own enrichment when making any business decision. They lack basic empathy for other people, or any understanding of the difficulties life presents to those less fortunate than themselves. Richard SacklerArthurs nephew and the driving force behind the OxyContin campaignadamantly insisted that neither Purdue nor OxyContin was to blame for the abuse of the drug, and pointed his finger at the addicts themselves. They consider themselves victimized whenever they dont get what they want or anyone criticizes them. The Sacklers are prone to feuds and tantrums and, finally, as Keefe puts it, there is their reluctance to concede, even hypothetically, the possibility of error or wrongdoing. Advertisement Held up to the Sacklers, Trump seems less outrageous and sui generis, his awful behavior less a manifestation of his dysfunctional individual upbringing than typical of his kindthe mediocre children of the rich. Only worse, of courseor is he? Cosmetically, Trump is certainly the more appalling, but when it comes to the deaths that can be chalked up to his heedless selfishness well, Keefes book makes clear, the Sacklers can give him a run for his money. Andhra Pradesh: Rise in invasive fish species a threat to biodiversity April 15,2021 | Source: The Times of India A freshwater fish from northern South America was recently let into Neknampur lake and the result was havoc with the fish eating up eggs of native species and destroying the balance of the citys already fragile aquatic ecosystem. A suckermouth catfish, an invasive species banned in Telangana by the fisheries department, was released into Neknampur lake on Sunday morning by unknown persons. This however, is not an isolated incident, said Madhulika Choudhary, founder of Dhruvansh, an NGO, adding the past six months have seen a number of exotic fish species released into the citys lakes. In March, crocodile fish introduced in Neknampur lake were later found dead. Instances of invasive species being dumped in lakes by aquarists and increasing in numbers have also surfaced in Bengaluru, Kolkata and elsewhere in the country. These fish eat the eggs of other fish and pose a threat to biodiversity if there is no other predator in the lake. They end up killing indigenous species. Nor do these species hold value for fisherfolk, Choudhary said. The unauthorised release of exotic species into the citys lakes also extends to red-eared terrapins that are bred in aquariums till they grow too large and are let into natural water bodies. Similar to the catfish that is initially kept as a pet, these terrapins are aggressive and alter the biodiversity of an ecosystem, Choudhary said. In 2016, the government issued a GO imposing restrictions on the culture of exotic fish such as tilapia to conserve aquatic biodiversity. In the same year, the National Green Tribunal (NGT) passed an order prohibiting the cultivation of African catfish in Telangana. But in spite of such efforts, species diversity in water bodies in and around the city is falling. Ameenpur lake has only tilapia despite farmers cultivating other species, said Shilpi Sharma, regional director, Telangana State Biodiversity Board. Exotic fish species are not only hardy, they are bottom-dwellers and there are no suitable nets to selectively harvest them. But the biggest hurdle may still be low levels of awareness among aquarists. We plan to ask the government to create awareness so that pet shop owners dont stock certain species. As much as 99% of exotic fish species in India ends up in aquariums, Sharma said. 2021 Bennett, Coleman & Co. Ltd. Two new exhibitions celebrating the power of women open this weekend at The Incubator Creative Hub at Taurangas Historic Village. The exhibitions will be officially launched at 10am on Saturday by local MP Angie Warren Clark MP, who is a former manager of Tauranga Women's refuge. The Incubator director Simone Anderson says the two exhibitions celebrate the positive strength of art to heal and connect people. The two exhibitions have good synergy, one is about not being defined by negative past experiences, and the other is how you can weave together positive encounters in ones past to inspire you. At The Peoples Gallery is a collection of art by Manawatus Womens Art Initiative, which tells stories of the artists personal experience of violence. More than 70 women, aged between 20 to 67 have been involved with WAI over nine years. Karen Seccombe, who founded WAI, says the collection challenges entrenched stereotypes of women who have experienced violence and abuse. Art from the Women's Art Initiative. Theres a preconception that these women are broken and depressed. People may expect it to be angry art, but in fact the exhibition does not tell stories of the violence itself, but how the women stood in their power, and resisted the violence even if that just means that at the time they took themselves to a safe place in their mind. The art is gentle and spiritual, reflecting them as strong wahine who are courageous and nurturing. Karen says the collection is not art therapy, but is a way of engaging the public with their kaupapa. Many of the women were already artists and creatives, and consider themselves activists who can start conversations through art and lobby for change. Art gives our women a voice in a way that upholds their mana and allows them to reclaim their identities. We are the experts about violence against women. But many women who have experienced violence cannot speak out in words - either because of safety concerns or because trauma makes them unable to verbalise their experiences. Or because the public does not want to listen because they do not know what to say. Karen says she has witnessed incredible transformations. Some of our women who come in cant look anyone in the eye. These same wahine are now doing solo exhibitions and can talk to others about sexual abuse. While there is funding and support to women in crisis, either through womens refuge, ACC or mental health services, Karen says there is little acknowledgement of how women still need support post- crisis. We are not defined by the violence, but it remains part of us. There are few groups like ours that provide a safe space for women post -crisis. The government has - quite rightly - directed funding towards crisis situations, but support needs to be ongoing. Karen is encouraged that this could change under Carmel Sepoloni as Minister for Arts, Culture and Heritage. Artists in the Women's Art Initiative see themselves as activists. Photographed here at a Against Domestic Violence protest in Wellington. It is great that groups like ours can now apply for funding under heritage, rather than in the health space. Initiatives like WAI are needed in other regions of New Zealand, says Karen, who has developed a model of practice and written a members and facilitators guide for other insiders to violence if they want to start a womens art collective in their town. The second exhibition, held in the Incubator gallery is by Tauranga based Chilean artist Constanza Briceno. The abstract collection tells stories of important women in Constanzas life. Inspired by knitting, every painting is named after a woman, that in some way is connected to at least one other piece, as though threaded together by invisible yarn. This layering of her life stories is reflected on canvas though layering and repetition of colours and patterns, evoking how women in her past have influenced and shaped her own journey. The Incubators Simone Anderson says everyone is welcome to come to the launch, and morning tea will be provided. The exhibitions run until May 8. Artist Constanza Briceno setting up for the exhibition opening Saturday. The details: Where: The Historic Village, 17th Avenue Tauranga When: Launch 10am Saturday April 17 until May 8. Exhibition 1. The People's Gallery Toi ka rere. WAI - the Womens Art Initiative Exhibition 2 . Constanza Briceno - Knitting, Women and Stories By Benjamin Jumbe The minister of state for international relations Henry Okello Oryem says there is no hard feelings between Uganda and Kenya despite recent disagreements over trade. He was speaking at a joint press conference called by the minister of trade Amelia Kyambadde and her kenya counterpart Betty Maina the Cabinet secretary for Industrialisation, trade and enterprise development in Kampala. Oryem said Uganda and Kenya enjoy an exceptionally cordial relationship, however adding that in any relationship disagreements are inevitable. Meanwhile, the Cabinet Secretary Maina said Uganda is Kenyas largest trading partner in East Africa with trade between the two countries growing steadily over the years. She however also noted that trade challenges are not unique to the EAC block but are the reason governments exist to address them. People queue to enter Yoido Full Gospel Church for Easter service in Seoul, April 4. Yonhap Church leaders blame media's biased portrayal of churches during pandemic By Park Ji-won A recent survey has found a deep gap in perceptions about the role of Protestant churches in social distancing with the vast majority of pastors saying churches were cooperative and did a good job in their responses to the government's regulations, while non-Protestants disagreed. The survey by the Presbyterian University and Theological Seminary conducted on 1,406 respondents found eight out of 10 pastors were positive about the role Protestant churches are playing during the pandemic. However, among the general public only 12 percent spoke positively about the church's cooperation with social distancing. YEREVAN, APRIL 15, ARMENPRESS. On April 15, Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Artsakh David Babayan, who is on a working visit in Yerevan, met with EU Special Representative for the South Caucasus and the Crisis in Georgia Toivo Klaar, the foreign ministry of Artsakh told Armenpress. Touching upon the armed aggression unleashed by Azerbaijan against Artsakh on September 27, 2020, with the support of Turkey and participation of international terrorists, the Foreign Minister presented the humanitarian situation in Artsakh emerged as a result of the war. Issues related to overcoming the post-war crisis were discussed. David Babayan stressed that the international community should take active steps aimed at repatriating all Armenian prisoners of war and hostages from Azerbaijan, emphasizing at the same time official Bakus open disregard for international humanitarian law and human rights. In the context of a comprehensive and final settlement of the Azerbaijan-Karabakh conflict, the parties stressed the importance of resuming the negotiations within the framework of the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairmanship. The Foreign Minister noted that Artsakh would never be under any subordination of Azerbaijan, adding that the security and self-determination of the people of Artsakh are the key components of the conflict settlement. Permanent Representative of the Republic of Artsakh to the Republic of Armenia Sergey Ghazarian and other officials participated in the meeting. She caused a stir over the weekend when fans began speculating on social media that she was pregnant again during her WrestleMania 37 appearance. But Nikki Bella shot down the rumors on Tuesday when she commented on her own Instagram post and attributed her tummy to her being 'bloated.' The 37-year-old Total Bellas star made a surprise appearance at WrestleMania with her twin sister Brie Bella in which they slapped down their fellow wrestler Bayley before tossing her down a ramp. Nothing to see: Nikki Bella, 37, shut down speculation on social media that she was expecting a second child on Tuesday after fans commented on her WrestleMania 37 look from over the weekend Nikki shared some photos from the evening to Instagram highlighting the confrontation and her red sequined tank top and black vinyl pants. But some fans wondered aloud in the comments if baby number two might be on the way. Nikki was quick to clear up that she wasn't expecting her second child at the moment. 'No lol. My dress was baggy and with the number placement and being super bloated from travel and hormones (milk is coming to an end) I totally look it,' she replied. 'It is what it is lol. Had abs in the day and a little bell at night. #momlife.' Woman in red: Nikki shared some photos from the evening to Instagram highlighting the confrontation and her red sequined tank top and black vinyl pants, but some fans wondered if she was pregnant again Regular fluctuations: She took to the comments and blamed her tummy on being 'super bloated from travel and hormones' and said she looked slimmer earlier in the day Later, Nikki shared a screenshot of the interaction to her Instagram Stories, along with a new caption. 'So a lot of people have asked me this since the weekend,' she wrote, adding that it 'sucks lol.' She attributed her curves at WrestleMania to 'hormones, body changes and holding 8 pounds of water weight.' 'Today back to normal!!' she added triumphantly. Fitness journey: She said she was holding '8 pounds of water weight' when she reposted it to her Insta Stories. The reality star has been showing off her abs journey in recent weeks on Instagram Growing family: She welcomed her baby son Matteo in July with her fiance Artem Chigvintsev; seen in August 2019 in Hermosa Beach, Calif. In fact, Nikki has been documenting her post-baby fitness journey on Instagram since she welcomed her baby son Matteo in July with her fiance Artem Chigvintsev. She last shared her impressive abs progress last month, and even in behind-the-scenes photos from earlier at WrestleMania she looks trim and fit. Back in November, Nikki told Us Weekly that she might be 'one and done' when it comes to having another child. 'Artem really wants a little girl, but I just dont know if I could do it again,' she said. 'Artem and I talk about living in Paris for, like, three months or, like, he may go do some theater stuff in London. And so, with just Matteo, its easy for us to just move around if we want to. So, I like that.' One's enough: Back in November, Nikki told Us Weekly that she might be 'one and done' when it comes to having another child Decisions: But last month she said she was having trouble deciding on another baby or getting back to her wrestling career She told the publication last month that she was having a hard time weighing getting pregnant again with returning to her WWE wrestling career. 'The thing is, I want to get back in the wrestling ring. There's so many things I want to do, and I feel bad I just don't think I have time,' she told Us Weekly. 'I have such a battle in my head, because I would want to wait and then I'm like, "OK, so I'm closer to 40. How's that going to be?"' she continued. 'And then I'm like, "No, no, no. I'm just going to have Matteo" ... but it's like, now that I have Matteo, I want to give him a sibling.' Regardless of what she decides to do, Nikki showed she was committed to putting on more muscle and shedding the pounds as she had a heavy-duty garage workout on Tuesday with her sister Brie Bella. Doctors have issued a warning over the dangers of energy drinks after a student who drank too many developed heart failure. The 21-year-old university student was forced to spend 58 days in hospital after consuming four 500ml energy drinks every day for two years, they say. He required a 'traumatising' stint in intensive care and was so ill that doctors were considering whether he needed an organ transplant. The unnamed student sought care after suffering for months with shortness of breath and weight loss that meant he struggled with his university work. Blood tests, scans, and ECG readings revealed that he had both heart and kidney failure where the organs are not doing their job properly. The 21-year-old university student was forced to spend 58 days in hospital after consuming four 500ml energy drinks every day for two years (stock image) The kidney failure was linked to a long-standing and previously undiagnosed condition. Energy drinks such as Red Bull or Monster are typically packed with caffeine and sugar and are very popular among teenagers and young adults. Writing in the British Medical Journal, the authors from Guy's and St Thomas' hospitals in central London, said the man had no medical history other than excessive intake of energy drinks. Each can he was drinking contained 160mg of caffeine. A cup of coffee contains around 100mg of caffeine Each can he was drinking contained 160mg of caffeine. A cup of coffee contains around 100mg of caffeine. The doctors concluded: 'Energy drink-induced cardiotoxicity was felt to be the most likely cause. 'This case report adds to the growing concern about the potential cardiotoxic effects of energy drinks.' After nine months, the patient's heart function appeared to have returned with 'mildly impaired function'. Writing anonymously, he called for more warning labels on the drinks. 'When I was drinking up to four energy drinks per day, I suffered from tremors and heart palpitations, which interfered with my ability to concentrate on daily tasks and my studies at university,' he said. 'I also suffered from severe migraine headaches, which would often occur during the periods when I did not drink energy drinks. 'I was eventually admitted to the intensive care unit. This experience was traumatising. 'I think there should be more awareness about energy drinks. I believe they are very addictive and far too accessible to young children. 'I think warning labels, similar to smoking, should be made to illustrate the potential dangers of the ingredients.' Although the war ended in 1975, the discovery of bombs, mines, and UXOs is still dragging on It has been 12 years since farmer Dao Thi Lua from the central province of Quang Tris Hai Lang district lost her three children. I lost everything, and a big scar in my heart remains and the wound will never heal, said Lua, 63, who still lives in a shabby house together with an ailing 67-year-old husband. One day in 2009, their children with 12-year-old Dao Ba Thanh asked his two brothers to take their buffaloes to a hill near their houses for grazing. The three poor children went up to the hilltop to play hide-and-seek. They suddenly found a number of shrapnel bombs. Fuelled by curiosity, they tried to smash the ordnances. The bombs exploded, killing them immediately. Thanh lost his legs, abdomen and one arm, while the remainder of his body was pierced with shrapnel. The other two children suffered much the same plight, Lua recalled with tears. A few bombs remained unexploded around them. It was reported that the area was once home to fierce bombing by the US army in 1972, but then was turned to agricultural production, though everyone knows that many bombs are still left dotting around. Lua said at the same spot, two other children were killed by an explosion in 1996. They were so innocent, why did they have to die? she cried. Although the war ended in 1975, hundreds of thousands of people in Vietnam like Luas children, especially those in the central region, still suffer from the grave aftermaths, with bombs, mines, and other unexploded ordnances (UXOs) still being found to this day, jeopardising lives in many areas of the country. Many people have lost their lives, body parts, or loved ones. At the same time, the consequences of landmines and UXO contamination have possibly hindered socioeconomic development and posed challenges to the realisation of Vietnams sustainable development goals. Aftermath According to Project RENEW an organisation founded in 2001 by Quang Tri and international non-governmental organisations as an effort to reduce the number of deaths and injuries caused by cluster bombs and other munitions remaining in this central province, since 1975 the UXOs remain a serious threat to many communities throughout Vietnam. It is estimated that out of eight million tonnes of munitions used by the US during the war, 10 per cent failed to detonate on impact. This means that many unstable and dangerous munitions still lie just beneath the ground. According to the Ministry of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs, unexploded bombs have been responsible for more than 100,000 injuries and fatalities since 1975, rendering many of the survivors permanently disabled. During the war Quang Tri was subjected to some of the heaviest bombing ever experienced. The province alone has sustained over 8,500 casualties from accidents involving UXOs, and 31 per cent of the victims have been children like Luas kids in Hai Lang district. Although data is not available to measure economic losses of agricultural land or other development restrictions due to widespread UXO contamination, these socioeconomic costs are considered to be extremely high, said Project RENEW on its website. Swift actions According to statistics from the Vietnamese government, it is estimated that over 6.1 million hectares of land or 18.71 per cent of Vietnams total area are contaminated with about 800,000 tonnes of bombs, mines, and UXOs left by wars, which are scattered over all 63 cities and provinces in the country, with the central region the hardest hit. Since 1975, bombs and mines have killed more than 40,000 people and injured 60,000 others, many of whom are family breadwinners and children. Over 2,000 sappers died or were injured while searching for bombs and mines during the period. Right after the end of the war, the Party and the state identified the settlement of consequences caused by war-era bombs, mines, and UXO as an urgent but long-term task. For the 2016-2025 period, the Vietnamese government aims to clear about 800,000ha of bomb- and mine-polluted land, while calling for domestic and international resources for the implementation of the programme. Simultaneously, residents living in danger zones will be relocated, and bomb and mine clearance projects will be added to local socioeconomic development plans. Thanks to the joint efforts, each year Vietnam has decontaminated 40,000-50,000ha of land. However, it will take more than a century to clear all bombs and mines in the country, with an estimated cost of over $10 billion, excluding spending on resettlement and social welfare work in danger zones. In Vietnam, 40 social service centres and 400 rehabilitation centres have been established so far to assist people with disabilities, including victims of post-war bombs and mines. All bomb and mine victims in the country have been entitled to social welfare benefits such as free health insurance and support in functional rehabilitation and vocational training. In terms of policies, over past years, the Party and the state have always paid due care and attention to carrying out a number of important policies and guidelines in overcoming landmines and UXO consequences, especially helping post-war landmines and UXO victims. The Secretariat issued Directive No.43 in 2015 on the enhancement of the Partys leadership in terms of the settlement of the consequences of toxic chemicals used by the US during the war in Vietnam. The prime minister approved the National Action Programme on Overcoming Post-war Bomb and Mine Consequences during 2010-2025, and the National Action Plan for Overcoming Consequences of Toxic Chemicals used by the US during the war in Vietnam for the 2015-2020 period. Furthermore, the government has also established the National Steering Committee for Overcoming the Consequences of Chemical and Explosive Remnants of War. Ministries, agencies, and localities across the country have actively cooperated with many countries and international organisations to implement various projects to overcome the consequences of war, while performing investigation and evaluation and dealing with landmines and toxic chemicals in severely affected areas. These include a cooperation project between Vietnam and the US on dioxin remediation at Danang International Airport, and one between Vietnam and South Korea on overcoming landmines and UXO consequences in the central provinces of Quang Binh and Binh Dinh. These results are of great significance, contributing to raising public awareness of and care and attention for the work of overcoming the consequences of wartime landmines and UXO, said former Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc at a recent Hanoi-based conference on the issue. In the hope that Vietnam would become a country that is no longer exposed to the aftermaths of landmines and UXO in terms of socioeconomic development while creating a safe environment for people, the government has asked agencies at all levels to make greater efforts, develop awareness, and take resolute action to overcome the consequences and quickly reduce areas contaminated with bombs and mines and toxic chemicals, while performing the work of accident prevention and actively supporting victims, he added. International-level contributions Vietnam is acting as a non-permanent member of the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) for the 2020-2021 tenure, and as the UNSC chair in April. The key activities of Vietnam as the leader of the council this month are focused on organising three events: one on mine action and sustaining peace; a second on protection of objects essential to the survival of civilian populations in armed conflicts; and the third on the cooperation between the UN and regional organisations in boosting dialogue and trust-building measures to prevent conflicts. At last weeks online meeting on mine action and sustaining peace, the UNSC adopted its first chair declaration proposed by Vietnam and exclusively highlighting the overcoming of bomb and mine consequences. The declaration is very important as it underlines the connection between the overcoming of bomb and mine consequences and the maintenance of peace, stability, and sustainable development, said a statement from the Vietnamese Ministry of Foreign Affairs. It affirms the commitment of the UNSC and heightens the necessity of international cooperation in the work of overcoming bomb and mine consequences. Moreover, the declaration also covers new important content, such as multifaceted negative impacts of COVID-19, encouragement in strengthening support for affected nations, and a need to consider the establishment of units specialised in overcoming bomb and mine consequences at the UN peacekeeping missions with special requirements for women and children in the implementation of related tasks. Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Dang Hoang Giang said, Vietnams active participation in and specific initiative on the issue of mine action are demonstrating the countrys contributions to a sector that many nations are interested in, making another milestone in the countrys 2020-2021 UNSC tenure. This also manifests the humanity in solving aftermath of bombs and mines, raising public awareness and attracting more international attention to the overcoming of war aftermath in Vietnam, thereby taking advantage of international support for Vietnam and other nations overcome the aftermaths of war, Giang said. According to statistics from the International Committee of the Red Cross, casualties caused by bombs and mines in the world remain at a high level. In the early 2000s, there were 15,000-20,000 cases a year. Then the number decreased gradually in the following years. However, figures have increased in recent years, luring in attention from the international community. Under statistics from non-governmental organisation Landmine Monitor based in Switzerland, the number of casualties due to bombs and mines left from wars worldwide was nearly 3,700 in 2014, 6,460 in 2015, and over 8,600 in 2016. In 2019, 80 per cent of casualties were civilians, of whom 43 per cent were children. At the UNSC, Vietnam has highlighted the role of overcoming the consequences of bombs and mines in post-conflict reconstruction at forums, with some important proposals based on the UNSCs Resolution 2365 released in 2017 on mine action, and via new UNSC documents such as Resolution 2540 enacted last year on the extension of the UNs mission in Somalia. Raising awareness Last week, Quang Tri authorities, and international mine action organisations including Norwegian Peoples Aid (NPA), Mines Advisory Group (MAG), PeaceTrees Vietnam (PTVN), Project RENEW, and Gio Linh District Youth Union hosted a public gathering to mark the International Day of Mine Awareness and Assistance in Mine Action (April 4), which has run since 2005. Nearly 300 people including field operators from MAG and PTVN, staff from Quang Tri Mine Action Centre and Quang Tri Department of Foreign Affairs, and members of Gio Linh Youth Union attended the gathering and later collected litter from Cua Viet Beach. This year, the UN called for continued efforts by states, with the assistance of the UN and relevant organisations, to foster the establishment and development of national mine-action capacities in countries where mines and explosive ordnance constitute a serious threat to the safety, health, and lives of the civilian population, or an impediment to social and economic development at the national and local levels. On this occasion, Project RENEWs representatives handed over 10 wheelchairs and tricycles funded by Irish Aid to severely disabled persons, explosive ordnance survivors who live in Gio Linh district. Triple amputee Ho Van Lai was among those who received a tricycle at the event. In 2000, Lai was seriously injured in an explosion of a cluster bomb near his home that killed two of his cousins. Lai was only 10 years old at the time. The aftermath of my accident was horrendous. From a normal kid, I was turned into a severely disabled one, said Lai, who now works with Project RENEWs Risk Education Programme as a collaborator, disseminating safety information to both children and adults and encouraging them to report discoveries of explosives to mobile disposal teams for timely destruction. Mine Action has helped me re-integrate into the community as a helpful person to society, Lai said. Thanks to Mine Action, disabled persons like me are positively welcomed by the community, so we feel more confident. Not as lucky as Lai, Lua from Quang Tris Hai Lang district said that in her locality, a number of other people have had their limbs removed due to the explosion of bombs in the ground. We dream that one day bombs and mines in our land will be cleared totally, so that no-one has to face death or injury the way my children did, Lua said. According to the Vietnamese Permanent Mission to the UN, some tasks must be implemented to help not only Vietnam, but also many other nations worldwide to shun risks caused by bombs and mines. Firstly, it is necessary to consider the work of overcoming the consequences of landmines and UXO an urgent task, showing deep humanity while contributing to properly protecting lives, health, and safety for people, while at the same time cleaning up the environment and offering favourable conditions for localities affected by landmines and toxic chemicals to develop the socio-economy sustainably. Secondly, it is necessary to continue reviewing and completing the policies on overcoming the consequences of landmines and UXO, especially assistance in medicine and employment for victims and related ones while taking better care of the lives of people affected by landmines and UXO. Thirdly, it is critical to intensify cooperation with other countries and organisations at home and abroad so as to fully mobilise all resources for the settlement of the consequences of landmines and UXO in an effort to jointly help improve the living conditions and render supports for victims of landmines and UXO to integrate into the community. Businessman Peter Clark, 51, legally smoked marijuana before flying to Dubai and being arrested A businessman who legally smoked marijuana before flying to Dubai and being arrested on a drugs charge has said he has been let down by US officials. Peter Clark had appealed to politicians in his home state of Nevada for help but has yet to receive a response. The 51-year-old, who is facing up to three years in jail, also said a response from US Embassy officials in Dubai had been disappointing. Clark has been trapped in the United Arab Emirates for over two months while he waits to find out if he will be prosecuted. He had legally smoked marijuana in his home city of Las Vegas before flying to Dubai in February to explore business opportunities. Just days after arriving he was rushed to hospital with pancreatitis and a routine urine sample taken by nurses showed traces of marijuana. He was arrested and spent three days in jail before being allowed to return to his hotel. But he has been banned from flying home until prosecutors in the UAE decide if he should be charged. The Al Barsha police station in Dubai where Clark was detained in February Clark has been trapped in the United Arab Emirates for over two months while he waits to find out if he will be prosecuted. Pictured: The Dubai skyline Former computer games designer Clark appealed to his state Congressmen and Senators to become involved in his plight. He said: 'The Embassy has been of no assistance and members of congress and senators have not yet responded to my pleas for help. 'I am not stunned, but I am disappointed that my country allows this.' He described his situation as a 'nightmare'. 'I haven't done anything wrong. Who would ever think you could get arrested for marijuana residue found in a drug test, from long before you ever travelled? Clark now is stuck in Dubai. He has obtained a lawyer 'This means anyone who has consumed hashish in the past couple of months could be arrested. How does that make sense? 'This whole situation has been really tough. I was only supposed to be here a few days. 'I have no idea what is going to happen, whether I'll end up in prison a year or whether I'll be deported.' Radha Stirling, from the pressure group Detained in Dubai, said marijuana residue can remain in a person's body for up to two months. She urged US authorities to step in and warned other tourists could fall foul of the country's zero tolerance towards drugs. 'Peter Clark, has been held in Dubai for almost two months. He's struggling. Being detained in a foreign country that you had only planned to stay for a few days, is daunting and it's costly., she said. 'Peter was there to look at investment opportunities. He doesn't know anyone there and is stuck on his own in a hotel room while awaiting his fate. 'This is an extremely traumatic experience for anyone. They have no idea what is going to happen to them, if they are going back to jail, if their life is ruined. 'It's even worse for those who have committed no crime, like Peter.' Hopes that the great British getaway would be possible this summer grew, with easyJet predicting that most of Europe would be open for travel and British Airways confident on routes to the U.S., despite ongoing uncertainty. Europe's travel industry, battered by the pandemic, is counting on British holidaymakers to lead a tourism rebound this summer. After one of the world's fastest vaccination programmes, Britons could be permitted to travel from late May. But over the last month, a third wave of coronavirus infections in continental Europe has cast doubts on the bumper return of travel. The British government disappointed airlines and consumers last Friday when it failed to say when travel could restart and which countries would be on its green list of low-risk destinations. But easyJet Chief Executive Johan Lundgren shrugged off concerns, telling reporters that he believed most of Europe would be open for Britons by May 17, the earliest date the government has said travel can restart. "I would expect that almost all major European countries, that by the time it comes to travel reopening, that most countries in Europe should be in that category," he said of Britain's green list. Meanwhile, British Airways Chief Executive Sean Doyle said there was an "immediate opportunity" to open up routes to the United States, given the fast pace of vaccine roll outs in both countries. The two countries "more or less mirroring each other" on vaccinations means they should be able to "lead the way" in terms of opening up", he said during CAPA Live, an online industry event. But Britain's aviation minister Robert Courts said that while the government did want to unlock travel, he could not offer airlines more clarity yet. "It wouldn't be right for me to speculate as to which countries in which areas of the world are likely to be on which list," he told a parliamentary committee. "It's too early to say at the moment." The government would give more details in early May, he said. Heathrow chief executive John Holland-Kaye was also more circumspect, predicting a "patchy" re-opening of travel with long-haul journeys more likely. "There is less chance of being able to fly to Europe in the next few months than there is of flying to the US or Israel or the Caribbean or Singapore," he told a separate industry event. Europe's vaccination rollout has lagged the UK's and the resurgence of cases in some countries is being driven by what Britain regards as "variants of concern" in terms of the risk they pose to vaccine efficacy. The UK government's requirement for two COVID-19 tests to allow travel to green list countries, which includes the more costly "gold standard" PCR test that helps identify variants of concern, gave Lundgren confidence that Europe would be open. While easyJet opposes testing for low risk green-list countries, Lundgren says if the government sticks with its two test plan, "I wouldn't see reason why you wouldn't have the majority of the countries of Europe in there." Airlines have worried that the tests which can cost more than 100 pounds ($137.52), or more than some of easyJet's ticket prices, would deter travellers, although the government has said it is trying to reduce the cost. British Airways said its customers could now book a cheaper 60 pound PCR test with provider Randox. In reference to Paul Mulshines recent column, For Republicans, defending the Donald is a fools errand, one thought comes to mind: Too little, too late. What is almost comical is Mulshines idea that it is conniving Democrats who want to keep the Donald in the political forefront. Let me remind Mr. Mulshine that we have yet to hear a concession speech from former President Donald Trump. We witnessed our Capitol being stormed by Trump followers, wreaking havoc, even death, before our eyes. This was all done to stop the steal, the lie that is today guiding Republican-controlled states to curtail voting rights for future elections. Yet, the columnist would have us conclude that Republicans do not currently view Trump as the head of their party. This is illogical, and very telling at best. The GOP had a perfect opportunity to make a complete break from Trump and renew their commitment to their traditional party values after the events of Jan. 6. That did not happen. The sad semblance of Republicans in office today remain silent on condemnation of this man who has brought us to this point. It tells us that, even now, Republicans cannot admit Trump was the wrong man as the standard bearer for the Republicans, and especially for our precious country. Christine Calhoun, Cranford Wheres Capital tour evidence from Sherrill? They do not lie. They do not cheat. They do not steal. These are the main points of the honor code of the U.S. Naval Academy, which U.S. Rep. Mikie Sherrill, D-11th Dist., wanted everyone to know she had attended, when she first ran for Congress in 2016. On Jan. 13, Sherrill publicly accused other members of the House or their staff of conducting reconnaissance tours of the Capitol on Jan. 5 in order to aid some of those who stormed the building the next day to protest election results. Sherrills claim was published in the Star-Ledger and other newspapers. In the three months since then, no evidence has been produced so far that such tours were conducted. Furthermore, Sherrill has declined to name whom she claims to have observed. Shouldnt this newspaper be demanding that Sherrill either identify the alleged collaborators or, just as publicly, apologize? Robert Faulkner, Sparta Weed handcuffs on police not so tight I just read a guest column by John Zebrowski, first vice president of the New Jersey Association of Chiefs of Police. In New marijuana and alcohol law handcuffs police, he warns us to be aware that police in most cases cannot search and/or arrest those suspected of being in possession of or under the influence of cannabis, or confiscate the product. This new inability to conduct traditional enforcement might affect family groups with children sitting near the users in parks or on beaches, he writes. Wouldnt the established laws of creating a nuisance apply if the users were disturbing the peace? Otherwise, live and let live should apply. More importantly, just as beaches and parks ban smoking and consumption of alcohol, couldnt they also ban the use of marijuana? Please clarify. Catherine Politi, Livingston Carry on, no fraud to see here So, key Democrat Party officials want candidate Lisa McCormick to be investigated criminally for possible fraud in petitions she filed to run against incumbent Gov. Phil Murphy for the nomination in the partys June primary. An administrative judge has removed McCormick from the ballot, stating that she didnt have a single valid signature. (She now plans a write-in campaign for the nomination.) Oh, come on now, there is no fraud in the voting process in our United States of America. Wink, wink. Suzy Young, Chatham Our journalism needs your support. Please subscribe today to NJ.com. The Star-Ledger/NJ.com encourages submissions of opinion. Bookmark NJ.com/Opinion. Follow us on Twitter @NJ_Opinion and on Facebook at NJ.com Opinion. Get the latest news updates right in your inbox. Subscribe to NJ.coms newsletters. Want to learn more about the cannabis industry? Subscribe to NJ Cannabis Insider. A demonstrator is seen during a standoff with police during a protest decrying the shooting death of Daunte Wright, outside the Brooklyn Center Police Department in Brooklyn Center, Minn., on April 14, 2021. (John Minchillo/AP Photo) 24 Arrested in 4th Night of Unrest in Minnesota City Following Police Shooting Most of those arrested don't live in Brooklyn Center About two dozen people were arrested in Brooklyn Center, Minnesota, late on April 14 as unrest continued for a fourth night in the wake of a fatal police shooting of a 20-year-old man. Demonstrators gathered around the Brooklyn Center Police Department and erected makeshift barricades before lobbing bricks, bottles, and other projectiles at law enforcement officers. Eventually, the mix of state and local officers, bolstered by National Guard members, ordered the crowd to disperse. We were very thankful that there was not a strong entrenchment mentality of the people that were there at the event. The group largely scattered. It was almost uneventful, Minnesota State Patrol Col. Matt Langer told reporters in an early morning briefing on April 15. The arrests were among those who remained and were largely for curfew violations or rioting. In addition to the crowd not swelling to the size seen the night prior, Langer said the anxiety, the tension, and the stress seemed to be lower even though emotions are still running high. Sixty people were arrested the previous night in a riot. Officials vowed to keep protecting Brooklyn Center, a suburb of Minneapolis, from those intent on destruction. We will stop violence and criminal activity. We will not abandon the city and the citizens of Brooklyn Center, Hennepin County Sheriff David Hutchinson said. John Harrington, commissioner of the Minnesota Department of Public Safety, received calls from people on the ground who conveyed frustration that their desire to remain peaceful was being ignored by agitators. People take part in a demonstration outside the Brooklyn Center Police Department in Brooklyn Center, Minn., on April 14, 2021. (John Minchillo/AP Photo) They were out on the ground and they were calling to say that they wanted the peace kept. They wanted the looting to stop. That they did not want to see their city burn, Harrington said. And that they were a bit frustrated that when theyve tried to have conversations with some of the folks that were there at Brooklyn Center Police Department, that they didnt feel like their messages were being listened to, were being heard. The crowd presented significant public safety challenges as they pulled on the fence, shot pyrotechnics, lobbed bricks and bottles over the fence. Most of those arrested had addresses outside of Brooklyn Center. No looting occurred for the second night in a row in Brooklyn Center. Officials in St. Paul and Minneapolis also reported no stores were looted. Demonstrators are upset that Daunte Wright, a 20-year-old black man, was shot after resisting arrest and trying to flee from officers on April 11. Wright had been pulled over for a traffic violation and officers tried to take him into custody on an outstanding warrant. Body camera footage showed that Wright slipped from the grasp of an officer and went into his car. After a struggle, officer Kim Potter shot him accidentally, intending to use her Taser. The death has been ruled a homicide, the gunshot wound to the chest being the cause. Potter, 48, resigned two days after the shooting. She has been charged with second-degree manslaughter. Jaylani Hussein, the executive director of the Minnesota chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, said on April 15 that Potter should face murder charges. What do we want? Murder charges! What she did was murder, he told people outside the police department. Federal Department of Foreign Affairs Bern, 15.04.2021 - From 13 to 15 April 2021, Switzerland presented its report on its implementation of the International Convention to the UN Committee. The report underlines Switzerland's commitment to worldwide efforts fighting the crime of enforced disappearance. The presentation of the report to the UN Committee on Enforced Disappearances (CED) took place in virtual format. Switzerland's delegation was led by Ambassador Corinne Ciceron Buhler, who heads the Directorate of International Law of the Federal Department of Foreign Affairs (FDFA), and comprised representatives of several offices of the FDFA and the Federal Department of Justice and Police, the federal law enforcement agencies, as well as a cantonal representative. The Swiss delegation presented Switzerland's measures to implement the Convention and answered questions from the CED. The crime of enforced disappearance has been added to the Swiss Criminal Code, and a network of coordination services (within the federal government and in the cantons) has been set up in order to swiftly establish the whereabouts of the person concerned in the event of a suspected disappearance. The Federal Office of Police (fedpol) has been appointed as the point of contact for relatives in cases of alleged enforced disappearance and works closely with the cantonal coordination services. The UN Convention of 21 December 2006 aims to address the problem of 'enforced disappearance' worldwide. Enforced disappearance is the deprivation of liberty by a state or with the authorisation, support or acquiescence of the state, usually accompanied by a refusal to acknowledge the deprivation of liberty, and often results in the torture or killing of the disappeared person. Enforced disappearance is a crime that occurs on every continent. The Convention obliges states parties to prohibit enforced disappearances under any circumstances, to take appropriate preventive measures and to bring perpetrators to justice. Switzerland ratified the Convention in December 2016. The Convention entered into force for Switzerland together with the necessary legislative amendments on 1 January 2017. In 2018, Switzerland submitted its initial report on implementation of the Convention to the CED, and in 2019 it responded to a number of supplementary questions. To date, the Convention has been signed by 98 states and ratified by 63. Switzerland's implementation of the Convention contributes to preventing and fighting enforced disappearances worldwide. Address for enquiries FDFA Communication Federal Palace West Wing CH-3003 Bern, Switzerland Tel. Communication service: +41 58 462 31 53 Tel. Press service: +41 58 460 55 55 E-mail: kommunikation@eda.admin.ch Twitter: @SwissMFA Publisher Federal Department of Foreign Affairs https://www.eda.admin.ch/eda/en/home.html The Axon 30 Ultra arrives with a surprise it will be sold in the US and Canada. We dont know when or for how much yet, but recent flagship launches from ZTE have steered clear from the North American market. The new model should be available in Europe too, as other Axons have been. There are two other models the Axon 30 and Axon 30 Pro. Those arent coming to North America, in fact, the vanilla model was barely mentioned at the presentation all we know is that it will have an under display camera. The implication here is that the other two do not. ZTE Axon 30 Ultra The ZTE Axon 30 Ultra draws attention with its triple 64MP camera. That includes a 64MP main IMX686 sensor with OIS (f/1.6 aperture), another 64MP module with a slightly longer lens (35 mm, f/1.9) and a 64MP ultrawide-angle shooter (120, 13mm). The main camera can record video at up to 8K 30 fps. ZTE Axon 30 Ultra Theres a fourth camera on the rear a 5x periscope (123mm lens with OIS) and an 8MP sensor behind it. The gap between the main cam and the periscope will have to be filled by that second 64MP module, its 35mm lens should be around 1.5x magnification over the main lens and further magnification will be handled by the high-res sensor. On the front, the punch hole camera makes a comeback. Considering that the Axon 20 5G was the first with an under display cam, this return to the supposedly-outdated tech was unexpected. And it has a 16MP sensor, down from 32MP. We guess selfies werent a priority. The display was, however, with a 6.67 OLED panel with 144Hz refresh rate (it also has 90Hz and 120Hz modes, but cant go below 60Hz). The touch sampling rate is 300Hz. The screen has 1080p+ resolution and supports HDR10+ and covers DCI-P3 100%. It has slightly curved sides and is guarded by Gorilla Glass 5. The ZTE Axon 30 Ultra is powered by the Snapdragon 888 chipset, unlike the mid-range chips of the Axon 20 family (which, to be fair, never had an Ultra member). Anyway, the base configuration has 8GB of RAM (LPDDR5) and 256GB storage (UFS 3.1), but you can upgrade to 12GB of RAM if you feel the need to. And theres a top of the line model with 16GB of RAM and 1TB storage as well. The battery has 4,600mAh in its tank and supports 66W charging over a cable. Theres no wireless charging, however. The phone has 5G as well as Wi-Fi 6E and fully-featured NFC. It runs MyOS 11 (based on Android 11). Pre-orders for the Ultra in China start on April 19 (Monday), the phone is coming soon to other markets. It will be available in three main colors (Black, White and Mint) plus a special tan vegan leather version. While we dont know the prices for the Western markets yet, we do have the prices for China. The Axon 30 Ultra will start at CNY 4,700 ($720/600). Then its just CNY 300 more for 4 extra gigs of RAM. The elite model will cost you CNY 6,666 ($1,020/850). ZTE Axon 30 Pro The ZTE Axon 30 Pro is similar to the Ultra, though it dials down the camera. And the screen, the 6.67 OLED panel is left flat and now tops out at 120Hz. Thats all the downgrades, however, it is still a 10-bit panel with 100% DCI-P3 coverage and the touch sampling rate is actually slightly higher, 360Hz. It has the same Snapdragon 888 chipset, equipped with less memory (6/128 GB is the base configuration). Its a 5G phone as well, but local connectivity tops out at Wi-Fi 6 (no E). ZTE Axon 30 Pro The camera department took the biggest hit as it lacks any semblance of optical zoom. And it only has two 64MP cameras one main module (IMX682) and one ultrawide (120). The other two modules are 5MP macro and 2MP depth sensor. The battery of the Pro model is smaller and slower to charge too, though not by much. It has 4,200 mAh capacity and support for 55W charging (again wired only). The ZTE Axon 30 Pro will sell for CNY 3,000 ($460/385) for the base 6/128 GB model, with CNY 3,300 (8/128 GB) and CNY 3,600 (8/256 GB) variants. Source 1 | Source 2 (in Chinese) SODANKYLA, Finland, April 15, 2021 /CNW/ - FireFox Gold Corp. (TSXV: FFOX) ("FireFox" or the "Company") is pleased to report that it has encountered coarse visible gold (VG) in the first drill hole of a newly commenced phase 4 diamond drilling program at its 100%-owned Mustajarvi Gold Project in the Central Lapland Greenstone Belt of northern Finland. The visible gold occurs as six discrete flakes (up to 1.0mm across) in a quartz-carbonate-tourmaline vein (QCT vein) within a 32-metre-wide zone of variably veined and altered metasedimentary rocks. The drill core is being logged and prepared for sampling, so no assays are available yet to confirm the quantity or extent of gold in the drill hole. FireFox has reported numerous drill intercepts of relatively narrow high-grade gold mineralization (as shown in Table 1) at the Mustajarvi Project since its first drill program in 2018, but this is the first visible gold reported by FireFox geologists at the project. Drill hole 21MJ001 is a significant step-out (150 metres) to the northeast from a recently reported high-grade intersection in drill hole 20MJ009 (2.0m at 33.25 g/t gold, see Company news release dated January 27, 2021) (see Figure 1: https://bit.ly/3uQyuYF ). Highlights: Hole 21MJ001 intercepted visible gold (at least six discrete flakes up to 1.0mm across) at a depth of approximately 185.5m downhole (see Figure 2: https://bit.ly/32guK6w) downhole (see Figure 2: https://bit.ly/32guK6w) The VG occurs in a 1.4 metre (m) section of QCT-veins from 184.2 to 185.6m depth depth QCT veins also host the high-grade gold mineralization previously reported in drill holes 20MJ009, 19MJ006, and others in the Central Zone There are several QCT veins of variable thickness within altered metamorphosed sedimentary and volcaniclastic rocks from 165.6m to the end of this hole at 199.4m downhole (see Figure 3: https://bit.ly/3adj2Of) to the end of this hole at downhole (see Figure 3: https://bit.ly/3adj2Of) This hole is a step-out of approximately 150m from drill hole 20MJ009 along the northeast trending Mustajarvi Shear Zone from drill hole 20MJ009 along the northeast trending Mustajarvi Shear Zone Drill hole 21MJ001 was completed in the early hours of April 11, 2021 , so assays have not yet been completed to confirm the quantity or extent of gold in the drill core "We are very excited to report the first visible gold from drilling at the Mustajarvi Project. The new drilling has encountered significant zones of intense alteration and veining along trend but beyond the extents of previous drilling," commented Carl Lofberg, President and CEO of FireFox. "In light of this favorable geology, we shall move quickly to secure assays on these samples and to carefully consider our plans for the current drill program." Preliminary Geologic Details of Drill Hole The Mustajarvi Project lies along the highway between the cities of Kittila and Sodankyla, approximately 17 kilometers east of Kittila. The project remains in the early stages of exploration, having only seen approximately 4,170m of drilling by FireFox since 2018. The property straddles the Mustajarvi Shear Zone (MSZ), a major right-lateral shear zone that has associated second and third-order structures which further dissect the project into separate structural zones. FireFox has developed a structural model that has identified dilatant zones along the major structure where higher grade gold is concentrated. Company geologists believe that the most prospective gold targets are in the Sodankyla Group metasedimentary rocks, which are to the north of the shear zone in the footwall. In this area, the Sodankyla Group includes metamorphosed sedimentary and volcaniclastic rocks. At Mustajarvi, the most quartz-rich portions of these rocks have become brittle due to pre-gold pervasive alteration with silica and albite, and host higher-grade gold where they have been shattered, brecciated, and veined. The 2021 drill program is targeting the brittle rocks in these interpreted dilatant zones at the Northeast Target, the Central Zone with its historic surface workings, and possibly at new targets farther to the northeast and southwest. These high-grade gold (>5 g/t) pods are known to occur along a distance of more than 1.5 kilometres of the hydrothermally altered shear zone from the southwest to northeast on the project. The sparsely drilled Northeast Target is one of these pods, and the area returned the best intercepts in both the 2019 and 2020 drill programs (see Table 1). The current Phase 4 drilling program was planned to include approximately 1,400 metres of diamond core drilling, but the program may be expanded. The first hole, 21MJ001, is in the Northeast Target area, approximately 150m northeast from drill hole 20MJ009, and nearly 750m from the Central Zone of gold mineralization. Table 1: Highlights of Previous Mustajarvi High-Grade Drill Intercepts Drill Hole Easting Northing Azimuth () Plunge () Depth (m) From (m) To (m) Interval* (m) Gold (g/t) Central Zone 18MJ002 427702 7500228 340 45 82.1 34.35 34.75 0.35 11.63 18MJ010 422728 7500162 340 45 154.8 125.5 127.5 2.00 45.05 20MJ008 427716 7500191 340 45 200 97.5 98.0 0.5 11.20 Northeast Zone 19MJ006 427709 7500244 340 45 179 125.75 127.9 1.95** 12.0 including 126.25 127.1 0.85 24.7 20MJ009 428335 7500581 340 45 178.5 65.0 67.0 2.0 33.25 146.5 147.0 0.5 9.36 * - Drilling is believed to be perpendicular to the dip of the mineralization, however true widths are not yet known and will be confirmed with additional drilling and geological modeling. ** - Including 0.2m of core loss Please see the original news releases for additional details: Holes 18MJ002 and 18MJ010 reported January 21, 2019; 19MJ006, reported January 15, 2020; and 20MJ008 & 20MJ009 reported January 27th, 2021. In drill hole 21MJ001, the targeted volcano-sedimentary series was encountered at approximately 104m down hole and continued to the termination of the hole at 199.4m. This section of rocks is pervasively altered with moderate to very abundant amounts of silica, albite, sericite, and pyrite. The altered rock sequence is cut throughout its width by QCT veins, quartz tourmaline, and quartz veins that contain abundant to semi-massive and massive zones of pyrite (see Figure 3). There are additional sulfide, or possibly telluride and bismuth-bearing minerals (not yet confirmed), that are common in the most intensely altered and veined rocks. Intense sericitic alteration with disseminated pyrite and narrow quartz tourmaline veins (up to 1cm) can be observed at the bottom of the drill hole. It may be significant that the most intense mineralization occurs at depths below previous drilling at the Northeast Target. Six individual zones of very well-developed tourmaline and pyrite alteration can be distinguished within the albite-sericite altered tuffs and sediments from 172.8-184.2m. Near the top of this zone there is an occurrence of bladed calcite textures in a vein (see Figure 4: https://bit.ly/3uLMbrC). This is often an indication of separation of liquid and vapor phases during vein formation, which may occur in the epizonal portion of orogenic gold deposits. Visible gold appears as six individual flakes, up to 1.0mm in size, observed on the core surface. These are hosted in a milky-colored carbonate-rich portion of a QCT vein. The vein is 1.4m-thick (184.2 - 185.6m) in total, with an approximately 5cm-wide zone of milky carbonate hosting the VG occurrence. Pyrite is abundant throughout the vein, increasing to semi-massive in places. The VG at 185.5 metres downhole occurs in close proximity to semi-massive pyrite and unconfirmed silver-colored minerals within a QCT vein. The previous holes in the Northeast Target also hosted high-grade mineralization in quartz tourmaline and QCT veins. However, the altered and veined volcano-sedimentary package encountered in 21MJ001 is interpreted to be stratigraphically below the mineralization encountered in 19MJ006 and 20MJ009. Previous drilling reported brecciated zones in altered metasediments with abundant quartz tourmaline veins and pyrite. FireFox geologists have confirmed that the alteration and veining in the vicinity of the VG occurrence is geologically similar to the previously reported mineralization along the Mustajarvi Shear Zone and at the Northeast Target. The drill rig has moved to drill hole location 21MJ002 (See Figure 1), which is approximately midway between drill hole 20MJ009 and 21MJ001. Company geologists are working diligently to complete the drill logging and sampling process for 21MJ001 so that samples will be delivered to the lab promptly. FireFox cautions the reader that the samples from this new core hole have not yet been assayed. Hence, descriptions of mineralization and comparisons to previously reported mineralized intervals cannot be relied upon. However, the reported visible gold has been visually confirmed by experienced Company geologists, including FireFox's Exploration Manager and General Manager of Exploration. The team further collaborated closely through a photographic review with senior technical advisors (Dr. Richard Goldfarb and Dr. Quinton Hennigh) and senior geologists on the board of directors (Timo Maki and Patrick Highsmith) who all confirmed the presence of coarse visible gold in the drill core. Quality Assurance The core was transported from the rig to the Companys core storage facility in Sodankyla, where FireFox's exploration team conducted geological and geotechnical logging and photographed the core. Company geologists will select and mark sample intervals prior to sawing of drill core and sampling for analysis. After insertion of quality controls samples into the shipment, the samples will be promptly delivered to an accredited laboratory for gold and multielement analyses. Patrick Highsmith, Certified Professional Geologist (AIPG CPG # 11702) and director of the Company, is a qualified person as defined by National Instrument 43-101. Mr. Highsmith has reviewed and approved all of the geological data and observations disclosed in this news release. The review process included a rigorous analysis of photographs, telephone discussions with geologists on site, and consultation with senior technical advisors to the Company. Mr. Highsmith has visited the Mustajarvi Project and reviewed drill core in person from earlier drill programs. Mr. Highsmith is not independent of the Company, as he owns shares and is a member of the board of directors. About the Mustajarvi Gold Project The Mustajarvi Gold Project (the "Project") consists of an exploration permit and exploration permit application totaling 2.68 km2. The project area is flat, glacial till-covered terrain in the Lapland region of northern Finland, 17km east of the town of Kittila, with road and power on the property. The Project is situated in the Central Lapland Greenstone Belt, which hosts several recent gold discoveries. The Project occupies more than two kilometres strike length of the Mustajarvi Shear Zone, which is believed to be a splay of the Venejoki Thrust Zone and related to the Sirkka Thrust Zone, an important host to gold mineralization in the belt. The observed gold mineralization, structural setting and work to date support the potential for a high-grade orogenic gold deposit on the Mustajarvi property. For additional details on the Project, please visit the Company's website www.firefoxgold.com. About FireFox Gold Corp. FireFox Gold Corp is listed on the TSX Venture stock exchange under the ticker symbol FFOX. The Company has been exploring for gold in Finland since 2017 where it holds a project portfolio that includes over 80,000 hectares of prospective ground. Finland is one of the top mining investment jurisdictions in the world as indicated by its multiple top-10 rankings in recent Fraser Institute Surveys of Mining Companies. Having a strong mining law and long mining tradition, Finland remains underexplored for gold. Recent exploration results in the country have highlighted its prospectivity, and FireFox is proud to have a Finland based CEO and technical team. For more information, please refer to the Company's website and profile on the SEDAR website at www.sedar.com. On behalf of the Board of Directors, "Carl Lofberg" Chief Executive Officer Forward Looking Statements The information herein contains forward looking statements that are subject to a number of known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause actual results to differ materially from those anticipated in our forward-looking statements. Factors that could cause such differences include: the receipt of the assay results, changes in world commodity markets, equity markets, the extent of work stoppage and economic impacts that may result from the COVID 19 virus, costs and supply of materials relevant to the mining industry, change in government and changes to regulations affecting the mining industry. Forward-looking statements in this release may include statements regarding: the intent to move quickly to complete the drill logging and sampling process so that samples will be delivered to the lab promptly so that the Company can secure assays on the samples; plans to review the current drill program in light of the results disclosed herein; the belief as to the location of the most prospective gold targets; the location of possible new targets for the 2021 drill program; the current and future work program, including the extent and nature of exploration to be conducted in 2021; and the potential expansion of the same and the significance of the most intense mineralization occurring at depths below previous drilling at the Northeast Target. Although we believe the expectations reflected in our forward-looking statements are reasonable, results may vary. FireFox cautions the reader that the samples from this new core hole are currently being logged and prepared for sampling, so no assays are available yet to confirm the quantity or extent of gold in the drill hole. Hence, descriptions of mineralization and comparisons to previously reported mineralized intervals cannot be relied upon. Further, although drilling is believed to be perpendicular to the dip of the mineralization, true widths are not yet known and will be confirmed with additional drilling and geological modeling. The forward-looking statements contained herein represent the expectations of FireFox as of the date of dissemination and, accordingly, are subject to change after such date. Readers should not place undue importance on forward-looking statements and should not rely upon this information as of any other date. FireFox does not undertake to update this information at any particular time except as required in accordance with applicable laws. SOURCE FireFox Gold Corp. For further information: FireFox Gold Corp., Email: [email protected], Telephone: +1-778-244-8439 Related Links www.firefoxgold.com Apr 15, 2021 10:00 AM Read time: 4 minutes Author: Tracy Onega, PhD, MS We live in a rural and increasingly diverse state in Utah. We have the 12th highest percentage of Hispanic residents in the United States. More than 96% of the area in Utah is considered rural (fewer than 100 people per square mile) or frontier (fewer than 7 people per square mile), with more than 330,000 people living in those areas. Rural residents are less likely to get cancer, but they are 10% more likely to die from it compared to residents of urban areas. Thats just one example of a health disparity Utahns face. Health disparities, which includes cancer disparities, are when people have worse health outcomes because of economic, social, cultural, environmental, and geographic disadvantages. Like many other states, Utah sees health disparities in rural residents, people of color, people living in poverty, and other groups. Utah keeps track of information about cancer cases, such as cancer type and number of cancer deaths. The data includes anonymous info about patients, such as age, gender, race, and ethnicity. This information helps us understand which groups of people suffer from cancer disproportionately. We first need to know what the disparities are before we can address them. The ultimate goal is to have health equity. What are some groups in Utah who have cancer disparities? Rural residents and the Hispanic population are two of the biggest groups who experience cancer disparities in Utah. Researchers at Huntsman Cancer Institute (HCI) found rural cancer patients in Utah had lower survival rates than non-rural for brain cancer, endometrial cancer, oral/throat cancer, and kidney cancer. Rural residents were also diagnosed at later stages. This may contribute to the 10% increase in the risk of death for rural residents with cancer (even when accounting for age and other factors). Hispanic individuals have a higher likelihood of developing lung, kidney, and pancreatic cancers. The likelihood of dying from lung and pancreatic cancers is about the same for Hispanic and non-Hispanic patients. But it is notably higher for kidney cancer. Why do these disparities exist? We dont yet know the reasons for these disparities. But one place to start is by looking at differences in factors that can contribute to cancer burden: Income level. Rural residents in Utah experience more poverty than urban residents. Rural residents in Utah experience more poverty than urban residents. Education level. Rural Utahns and Hispanic Utahns tend to have less education. Rural Utahns and Hispanic Utahns tend to have less education. In Utah, people in rural areas tend to be older than urban residents. Hispanic Utahns tend to be younger than non-Hispanic Utahns. Tobacco use. Rural Utahns and Hispanic Utahns use tobacco more. Rural Utahns and Hispanic Utahns use tobacco more. Cancer screening rates. Both groups have lower rates of cancer screening. Both groups have lower rates of cancer screening. Access to health care. Rural residents have to travel farther to get to doctors and clinics. Rural residents have to travel farther to get to doctors and clinics. Language or cultural barriers. Hispanic Utahns may not seek health care because of language or cultural differences. Hispanic Utahns may not seek health care because of language or cultural differences. Health insurance. Fewer rural Utahns and Hispanic Utahns have health insurance, or they are underinsured. What can we do to reduce cancer disparities? We need more in-depth research studies to fully understand the reason for cancer disparities. But we do know how to address some of the factors listed above through cancer prevention programs. These are some examples: These efforts are making a difference, but we will not stop addressing disparities until we achieve health equity for all. PARIS (dpa-AFX) - French advertising company Publicis Groupe (PGPEF.PK, PUBGY.PK) reported that its net revenue for the first-quarter was 2.39 billion euros, down by 3.6% from 2.48 billion euros in 2020. Exchange rates had a negative impact of 151 million euros. Acquisitions, net of disposals, accounted for a decrease in net revenue of 3 million euros. Organic revenue growth was 2.8%, supported by the performance in the U.S. North America net revenue was up by 4.7% on an organic basis in the first-quarter 2021, down by 3.2% reported basis due to the US dollar exchange rate. Net revenue in Europe was down by 2.9% on a reported basis. It was down by 1.8% on an organic basis, but it is worth mentioning that excluding the French outdoor media activities and the Drugstore, Europe was up by 2.8% on an organic basis. Net revenue in Asia Pacific was down by 0.9% on a reported basis, but returned to positive on an organic basis at +5.7%. China, which was the first country impacted by the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020, posted an organic growth of +3.0%. India and Australia both recorded dynamic organic growth in the first-quarter. Middle East & Africa declined by 17.3% in net revenue, or 11.0% on an organic basis, remaining impacted by the sanitary situation and impacted by a particularly high comparison base for Publicis Sapient. Net revenue in Latin America was down by 13.0% on a reported basis due to currency impact, it was up by 7.7% on an organic basis. Brazil was broadly flat, while Mexico, Argentina and Columbia saw an increase in organic growth. The company said it remains cautious in what is a still very challenging environment. Looking ahead for the second-quarter, the Groupe expects to recover between 60% to 80% of what it lost in the second-quarter of 2020, implying an organic revenue growth between 8% and 10%, assuming no further deterioration in sanitary conditions. The Groupe confirms that its operating margin rate will improve by up to 50 basis points in 2021. The Groupe also confirms that its free cash flow before change in working capital should be around 1.2 billion euros in 2021. Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX PUBLICIS-Aktie komplett kostenlos handeln - auf Smartbroker.de For the first time, Sikorsky, a Lockheed Martin subsidiary, flew its Future Attack Reconnaissance Aircraft prototype in two demonstrations this week for service leaders and soldiers at Redstone Arsenal in Huntsville, Alabama. In demonstrations Tuesday and Thursday, the S-97 Raider, which is based on the company's X2 coaxial-rotor technology, flew high-speed passes, hovered and showed off its maneuverability, according to a Lockheed Martin news release. Sikorsky's S-97 is competing against Bell Textron Inc.'s 360 Invictus single-rotor prototype helicopter for the Army's FARA program, designed to fill a capability gap left by the retirement of the OH-58D Kiowa Warrior scout helicopters. FARA is the Army's top priority in the Future Vertical Lift, or FVL, effort, which modernization officials see as a critical tool for penetrating enemy air defense networks. Read Next: COVID-19, Civil Unrest: Have Too Many Homeland Missions Damaged Trust in the Military? "Since the first [UH-60 Black Hawk] took to the skies in the 1970s, to when our teams broke helicopter speed records with X2 Technology in 2010, we have been working with our Army partners to develop and deliver low-risk, transformational, affordable and sustainable aircraft to support the warfighters' missions," Sikorsky President Paul Lemmo said in the release. "This is the first of what we believe will be many times our X2 Future Vertical Lift aircraft will fly at Redstone." The Sikorsky S-97 Raider helicopter flew two flight demonstrations at Redstone Arsenal in Huntsville, Alabama, on April 13 and April 15, 2021. (Courtesy Sikorsky, a Lockheed Martin Company) Sikorsky test pilots Christiaan Corry and Bill Fell piloted the S-97 at both demos, highlighting the low-level maneuverability and high-speed capability that only Sikorsky's X2 Technology family of helicopters offer, according to the release. "Flying Raider continues to amaze me," said Corry, a former U.S. Marine with more than 4,500 flight hours in 25 types of aircraft, including the CH-53E and CH-53K helicopter variants. "The combination of the coaxial rotors and the [rear-mounted] propulsor are really the enablers for this transformational technology. As we demonstrated today, in low-speed flight we are as capable as a conventional helicopter, but when we engage the [rear] prop, we are able to operate in a whole new way -- it's much more like flying an airplane." In addition to the FARA competition, Sikorsky and Boeing are competing in the Army's Future Long-Range Assault Aircraft, or FLRAA, effort to replace the service's UH-60 fleet. Like the S-97, the Sikorsky-Boeing Defiant X features the X2 technology and the rear-mounted propulsor rotor, which is designed to increase the speed of the aircraft. "Through this week's Raider flight and our ongoing test program with Defiant, we are demonstrating the future of Army Aviation," Kevin Mangum, Lockheed Martin vice president of Army programs, said in the release. "With Raider X, we will fill a critical Army capability gap, providing the speed, reach, lethality and convergence to fight and win on the ... battlefield, today and into the future. Defiant X will be the world's best assault aircraft -- like our great Black Hawk -- for decades to come." Sikorskys Future Vertical Lift aircraft like the Radier will provide U.S. Army commanders with information to self-diagnose maintenance and predict aircraft availability. (Courtesy Sikorsky, a Lockheed Martin Company) Bell Textron is also competing in the FLRAA effort with its V-280 Valor tilt-rotor helicopter prototype. Lockheed Martin officials also touted Sikorsky's FVL prototypes for the actional maintenance data they will provide, allowing commanders to accurately diagnose maintenance issues and predict aircraft availability, which increases operational readiness. With Sikorsky's Fleet Decision Tool, commanders can aggregate data from individual aircraft based on operational requirements, aircraft health assessment and maintenance flow to ensure they're optimizing readiness and aircraft availability across the entire fleet, according to the release. "This means that I, as a commander, could look at my aircraft battalion and understand the health of each one of the aircraft and prioritize the right aircraft for the next mission," Mangum said in the release. "This positions us to meet the Army's maintenance-free operating periods in which Raider X and Defiant X helicopters could operate without the need for service for an extended period of time." -- Matthew Cox can be reached at matthew.cox@military.com. Related: Down to 2: Aircraft Will Compete to Replace the Army's Apache, Kiowa The National Hurricane Center has released its report on Hurricane Sally. Sally was a Category 2 hurricane when it made an agonizingly slow landfall near Gulf Shores on Sept. 15 with winds near 110 mph. The hurricane centers report is a comprehensive look at the hurricane, the first to make landfall in Alabama since 2004s Hurricane Ivan. The Tropical Cyclone Report for Hurricane #Sally (September 11-17, 2020) has been posted on the NHC website. Sally made landfall at Gulf Shores, Alabama, as a category 2 hurricane, causing 4 direct fatalities and 7.3 billion USD in damage.https://t.co/ISvXsPVtci pic.twitter.com/wRTXp4Y7BJ National Hurricane Center (@NHC_Atlantic) April 14, 2021 Sally dumped nearly 30 inches of rain on parts of Alabama and spread damage far inland. Four deaths are directly blamed on the storm as well as $7.3 billion in damage. Sally became a tropical depression on Sept. 11, 2020, in the Bahamas. It intensified and crossed over the southern tip of Florida while strengthening to a tropical storm the next day. Sally entered the Gulf of Mexico, then turned northward toward the Gulf Coast. It strengthened to a hurricane on Sept. 14 and made landfall in Alabama over several hours in the early morning hours of Sept. 15. Sallys slow movement helped to batter parts of Baldwin County for hours. Once inland Sally crossed over south Alabama while weakening to a tropical depression and moved into Georgia. Some of the stats from the report: * Sally caused four direct deaths in the U.S.: Two from hazardous marine conditions, one from storm surge and one from downed trees. One of those was in Alabamas Wolf Bay. A 72-year-old man who tried to ride out the storm on his boat drowned. * Five deaths were indirectly attributed to Sally, including one person in Baldwin County that died from carbon monoxide poisoning and another killed by a falling tree in Foley. * Sallys peak winds were estimated at near 110 mph (95 knots), using observations from Hurricane Hunter aircraft and on-the-ground measurements from storm chasers. * Sallys lowest central pressure was 965 millibars at landfall. * The strongest winds reported from Sally were from a marine observation site at Ingram Bayou, which recorded sustained winds of 98 knots (about 113 mph) and a gust to 119 knots (about 134 mph). However it should be noted that was at a height of 18 meters (about 60 feet). * Other hurricane-force measurements in Alabama include sustained winds of 87 knots (100 mph) and a gust to 105 knots (120 mph) at Fort Morgan (at an elevation of 38 meters), sustained winds of 81 knots (93 mph) and a gust to 103 knots (119 mph) at Perdido Pass, and sustained winds of 76 knots (87 mph) with a gust to 90 knots (104 mph) at Dauphin Island. * Sallys erratic track produced what the hurricane center said was a multifaceted storm surge event along the coast. Some areas had flooding followed by abnormally low water levels on the backside of the storm. *The highest water level measured in the area was from a gauge in Pensacola, Fla., which recorded a peak water level of 5.6 feet above Mean Higher High Water (MHHW). In Alabama the highest stillwater mark found was 4.2 feet above ground level (AGL) in Orange Beach. * A gauge at the Coast Guard Sector Mobile showed measured a minimum water level of 7 feet below MLLW. The report said high water levels produced minor coastal flooding on Sept. 15 and then dropped by about 10.6 feet over roughly 20 hours (an average of half a foot per hour), exposing parts of the bay floor on Sept. 16. Water levels at some of the tide gauges were so low that they exceeded the physical limits of the instruments, and actual minimum water levels could not be recorded, the report said. * Sally produced record rainfall along the coast. The most was 29.99 inches at Orange Beach. A storm-total amount of 29.30 inches was also reported near Fort Morgan, the report said. * Sally produced 16 tornadoes, but none in Alabama. * In addition to the damage to homes and businesses, more than 1,000 pecan trees were toppled in Baldwin County, and $1.5 million of timber was destroyed. * At least 275,000 lost power during the storm, including almost all of Baldwin County and 85 percent in Escambia County. See the hurricane centers complete report on Sally here. BROOKFIELD For months, residents have been asking the same question: What grocery store is being built at 14 Candlewood Lake Road? Officials are tight-lipped about the construction, but several hints suggest the new store could be one of the East Coasts first Amazon Fresh grocery stores. Brookfield has just one supermarket, which First Selectman Steve Dunn said gets mobbed, especially on the weekends. But the town is building two new stores. Officials confirmed that one is a Food Emporium, but the identity of the other remains a mystery. I think it is highly anticipated, Dunn said, adding some residents are concerned about increased traffic with its opening. H John Voorhees III / Hearst Connecticut Media Since September, four Amazon Fresh stores have opened in Illinois and eight in California, but speculation over construction in other states has increased. Last month, Bloomberg reported that Amazon is working on more than two dozen stores around the nation. The towns new supermarket at the Candlewood Plaza Shopping Center is expected to open around September, according to officials, and construction is already underway. Construction costs for renovations are listed in town building permit documents at a projected $1.2 million. The concept has been debated since the fall of 2019 when the Wall Street Journal reported Amazon was scouting locations for a new grocery store concept in Connecticut. Its still the topic of debate in several local Brookfield Facebook groups and Reddit threads. The architect, Norr, LLC., declined to comment for this story, citing legal reasons and confidentiality, as did a representative for Raymour & Flanigan, which owns the plaza. A few clues From zoning commission meetings to renderings of the building, a few key clues lead to why Brookfield residents have been debating whether this will be Connecticut's first Amazon Fresh. Francis Lollie, Brookfields assistant land use manager and zoning enforcement officer, said his office gets at least a half-dozen phone calls a week asking about the construction and which store is going there. He tells them all the same thing: I dont know. If you look at the designs and you look at the other stores that are out there, its not hard to figure out who it is, its not, but theyve asked us to keep quiet, and we have, Dunn said. Zoning commission meeting minutes from October state Trevor Edkin, Raymour and Flanigans leasing director for the site said that, the proposed grocery store client is extremely secretive, as a product of the company's foundation as a technology company. Meeting minutes show Edkin said, When this store opens, if they are able to meet the client's deadlines, there will be about 50-60 locations open nationwide. Photo courtesy of the Town of Brookfield The architectural renderings from the Zoning Commission bear a resemblance to existing Amazon Fresh stores. From the wall paneling behind the store signage, to the specially placed wall sconces and the specific color scheme that aligns with existing stores, the similarities continue. Most notable is the prefabricated aluminum canopy fins directly underneath the store signage, which can be seen on other Amazon Fresh stores. As construction continues, the identity of the tenant may become clear. In an interview, Dunn hinted the new store would have an innovative type of technology available, allowing customers to skip the checkout line. Existing stores are known for use of the Dash Cart, a futuristic shopping cart that uses sensors and algorithms to sense whats being placed in the cart and charge it to your existing Amazon account, ultimately helping you skip the checkout line. You put the groceries that youre shopping for in your shopping cart and then you just leave. Its worked so far at other locations, he said. I think people are going to go there just to see what the experience is like. Still, without official confirmation, the stores identity remains a mystery. Well have to wait and find out, Lollie said. A Cayuga County jury this week convicted a Red Creek man for attempting to rob a northern Cayuga County bank and later burglarizing a nearby residence in 2019. Following a trial that began April 5 with jury selection, a jury of seven women and five men returned their verdict Tuesday on multiple charges for Jason A. Ingleston, 43, with a last known address of 6031 Manley Drive in Red Creek. Ingleston was convicted of second-degree burglary and third-degree attempted robbery, both felonies, and acquitted on a misdemeanor petit larceny charge. Chief Assistant District Attorney Christopher Valdina prosecuted the case, which was presided over by Cayuga County Court Judge Mark H. Fandrich. According to a press release from District Attorney Jon Budelmann, Ingleston entered the Cato branch of Community Bank wearing a motorcycle helmet and handed a note demanding money to a teller, claiming he had a gun on Oct. 15, 2019. The teller refused to give him money, and he fled the property and later burglarized a residence on Veley Road in Ira. A large law enforcement response to the area resulted in Ingleston being found after the reported burglary. A local Chinese-language Epoch Times newspaper vending box outside the post office on Wheeler Ave. in Arcadia, Calif. (The Epoch Times) Woman Monitoring Epoch Times Newspaper Box in LA Said She Was Tasked by Chinese Consulate, Witness Says A young woman was collecting data at a local Chinese-language Epoch Times newspaper vending box in Los Angeles County, California, on April 12, claiming that it was being done at the direction of the Chinese consulate, a witness reported. The witness, surnamed Xue, immigrated to the United States over 30 years ago and lives in Arcadia, a Los Angeles city with a large Chinese immigrant population. She has been reading the paper for 10 years. Xue went to buy a copy of the Chinese-language Epoch Times in the newspaper box outside a post office on Wheeler Street in the morning of April 12. In a phone call on the same day, she told The Epoch Times that after parking her car, she soon noticed a young university-student-like lady who was standing by the vending box and looking around. Its a young ethnic Chinese lady with a book and pen in her hand, seemingly taking notes, she said. A local Chinese-language Epoch Times newspaper vending box outside the post office on Wheeler Ave. in Arcadia, Calif. (The Epoch Times) Xue approached and asked what she was doing. The girl froze for a moment and then blurted out: Im recording, Xue recalled. While being asked about the content of her notebook, the girl did not answer her question directly but said: The Chinese consulate asked me to make a record. [The girl] was not defensive, said Xue, but then she seemed to become alert and asked Xues identity. While communicating in English, Xue found the girl spoke with a mainland accent. Xue said the experience left her with not a good feeling because the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) was openly collecting data and information about overseas Chinese communities. Overseas Chinese student bodies have engaged in Beijings influence efforts worldwide, most of which operate under the guidance of Chinese embassies and consulates, the Australian Strategic Policy Institute reported in 2020. Many Chinese Students and Scholars Associations also openly admit in their charters that they are directed, supported, or financed by local Chinese consulates. When asked by The Epoch Times whether Xue saw what was written in the book, she said she saw only street numbers in the address format. There were many of them, Xue said. The Chinese-language edition of The Epoch Times was founded in 2000. It is known for being free of Beijings censorship and infiltration and offering copies at no cost on major thoroughfares overseas in the past decades. However, due to paper theft and abuse, vending boxes were introduced in recent years, charging 50 cents per copy. Systematic Operation The recent attack on the printing press of the Hong Kong edition, which is believed to be orchestrated by the CCP, raised Xues concerns over the possibility of a systematic operation against The Epoch Times in the United States. So I wanted to tell you about it [the suspicious note-taking]. She added, You can disagree, but you cant destroy. Everyone has the right to choose what to read. In the early hours of April 12 in Hong Kong, four vandals barged into the printing plant of the Hong Kong edition of The Epoch Times, where they damaged computers and printing equipment with sledgehammers and construction debris, such as concrete, stone, and powder. Construction debris on top of printing press equipment at the print shop that prints the Hong Kong edition of The Epoch Times in Hong Kong, China, on April 12, 2021. (Adrian Yu/The Epoch Times) The Hong Kong edition was forced to temporarily halt operations, and said it hoped to return to full operation on Friday. The State Department, former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, and several U.S. lawmakers denounced the assault. The Hong Kong edition of The Epoch Times condemned the CCP in a statement, for creating white terror in Hong Kong. In August 2019, several boxes were found to have been sabotaged in Queens, New York, with the coin slots jammed, preventing people from paying for and retrieving newspapers. One box was set on fire on August 19, 2019. In September 2020, dozens of newspaper boxes were repeatedly spray-painted, knocked over, or lost papers. Outside the post office on Monday, Xue tried to warn the girl about spying for the CCP in the United States. Its a shame to help the Chinese Communist Party, Xue said, which agitated the woman. The woman shouted, I dont need to know this, before fleeing the scene, according to Xue. She got so loud then, Xue said, adding that the woman drew the attention of many people at the post office. Linda Jiang contributed to this report. Members of the Washington D.C. National Guard lacked clear guidance and didn't fully understand how to appropriately use helicopters during the civil unrest in the city last June when one of the aircraft flew very low over a crowd, a military investigation has concluded. Army officials said Wednesday that 'a number' of service members received some type of administrative discipline, but they refused to provide any details. One Army official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss personnel issues, said that no one was found to have committed any misconduct. Instead they were guilty of 'performance shortcomings.' The long-overdue report was triggered by widespread objections, including from Congress, after one of the D.C. Guard helicopters hovered low enough over protesters near the Capital One Arena to create a deafening noise and spray protesters with rotor wash. Army officials said Wednesday that 'a number' of service members received some type of administrative discipline for flying the aircraft so low last June at the Capital One Arena, but they refused to provide any details A helicopter circles low as demonstrators kneel to protest the death of George Floyd near the White House in Washington on June 1, 2020 Officials demanded to know why the D.C. Guard used one of the medivac helicopters to make such a 'show of force' against the crowds gathered to protest the death of George Floyd at the hands of a police officer. And officials raised questions about whether proper approval was given to use the medical aircraft for the mission. The report found that the use of medical helicopters was appropriate because of the ongoing emergency situation, as the protests got violent. Demonstrators set fires, broke store windows and stole items from the shelves and left police officers and Guard members injured. But Army officials said the aircrews did not have clear guidance as they flew over the downtown area. They said some crew believed they were simply supposed to circle and observe the crowd, while others thought they were supposed to have a larger deterrence presence. The Army officials spoke on condition of anonymity to several reporters to describe details of the report. The report, which was reviewed by the Army and the Defense Department's inspector general, said that an analysis of FAA flight data found that one helicopter did hover below 100 feet near a crowd by the arena. The report found that the use of medical helicopters was appropriate because of the ongoing emergency situation, as the protests got violent Army officials said there is now a very strict process to get approval for the use of aircraft for city events. And they noted that none have been used since the June incident. The report also recommended improved planning, training and oversight of the Guard's use of aviation in civil disturbance operations. And it called for a review of Army guidance to make sure it addresses any aviation questions. The release of the report comes in the midst of the murder trial of former Minneapolis Police Officer Derek Chauvin, who has been accused of killing Floyd during a confrontation last May when he pinned the Black man to the pavement with his knee for more than nine minutes. The long-overdue report was triggered by widespread objections, including from Congress, after one of the D.C. Guard helicopters hovered low enough over protesters near the Capital One Arena to create a deafening noise and spray protesters with rotor wash Army officials said there is now a very strict process to get approval for the use of aircraft for city events. And they noted that none have been used since the June incident. Floyd's death set off protests nationwide, including in Washington, D.C., where then-President Donald Trump encouraged authorities to get tougher to quash the unrest. An overpowering security force - officers from the FBI Hostage Rescue Team, the Secret Service, the Drug Enforcement Administration, the Bureau of Prisons and more than 2,000 National Guard troops - spread out across the city, creating a perimeter around the White House and protecting other national monuments. John Whitley, Acting Secretary of the Army, said the service is refining its regulations to address the matter. And officials said changes are being made to training and other policies, including the adoption of a formal approval process for Army aviation missions around the capital. The commanding general of the D.C. Guard, Maj. Gen. William Walker, initially launched an investigation into the matter. But the probe has languished for months as the Army, the Defense Department inspector general and others have reviewed it, and made some changes. As an example, Walker initially concluded that the use of the medical aircraft was not appropriate. But subsequent reviews at higher levels changed that. The final report, Army officials said, found that there is no law prohibiting it and that it was permissible because of the emergency situation in the city. Tycoon accused of Maltese journalist murder to stay in jail Denied request for home arrest, 'had plans to flee' (ANSAmed) - VALLETTA, APRIL 15 - The Maltese tycoon Yorgen Fenech, arrested in November 2019 on the accusation of being behind the murder of journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia and who has since then been held in the Corradino penitentiary, will remain in jail. The Valletta court on Thursday once again rejected a request for bail filed by the lawyers of the heir to the Tumas Group 'empire' (physical and online casinos, hotels, restaurants, construction, insurance, finance), who had asked for an exception on the length of time for pre-trial detention. The request was rejected by the head of the court, Rachel Montebello. "The risk of tampering with the evidence is significant," the magistrate said in reading out the order. She underscored that Fenech had "tried to tamper with the evidence even before he was indicted". Montebello noted that "other people are being investigated", citing former cabinet chief Keith Schembri, bodyguard Kenneth Camilleri, and Fenech's partner Johann Cremona. She then stressed that Fenech had been arrested while attempting a carefully prepared escape and that even now "he has a large amount of capital and numerous contacts abroad, contrary to what the defence claims". During the debate, assistant district attorney Philip Galea Farrugia stated that "no one in Malta believes that all those behind the journalist's murder have already been arrested and indicted". Galea Farrugia went on to describe the preparations for the escape. Denying the defense statements claiming that Yorgen did not intend to flee arrest by leaving Malta, the assistant district attorney revealed that messages received by Yorgen from his uncle Ray ("I spoke to K" and "leave now before it is too late", were among the many written only a few hours before he was arrested). The plan, prepared in the weeks before thanks to the 'tip-offs' received, called for Yorgen to arrive at the Ragusa port in Sicily with his family yacht. On the Italian island he was then to have been joined by his brother, who instead would have travelled with a ferry to Pozzallo. They were then to have arrived in Nice using public transport and there they planned to meet with a horse trader who was to provide them with a van to travel without undetected. A few hours before he was arrested while attempting to flee via the yacht, Yorgen had however contacted a pilot to try to use a private flight out of Malta ("No publicity, I have a lot of cash on me" was one of the messages sent to the pilot).(ANSAmed). New Hampshires governor said the Granite State is going to end its mask mandate wicked soon, despite daily new coronavirus cases continuing to rise. WMUR reported that Republican Gov. Chris Sununu said the face covering mandate will end very, very, very, very soon during a virtual event with the Greater Portsmouth Chamber. I cant tell you exactly what date its going to be but its very, I think the term we use in New Hampshire is wicked soon, wicked soon, so, were there, he said, according to WHDH. Sununu noted most of the regulations implemented amid the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic on businesses may be lifted before Memorial Day as well, the news outlet reported. Under New Hampshires current mask mandate, all Granite Staters above the age of 5 are required to wear a face covering over their noses and mouths any time they are in a public space, indoors or outdoors, where they are unable to keep at least six feet from people outside their own household. The governors comments come as coronavirus infections continue to rise in the Granite State and elsewhere in the country. As of Wednesday, there were 3,544 active COVID-19 cases and 118 current hospitalizations linked to the virus in New Hampshire, data from the state showed. Although Sununu said New Hampshire is at the tail end of the public health crisis, a low coronavirus death rate and fast vaccine distribution, health care workers in the state argue theyre still seeing a rise in cases and hospitalizations, WMUR reported. Patients coming in with typical symptoms, respiratory distress, body aches, fever. We have five patients in our ICU only one fortunately on a ventilator, Dr. Scott Wolf of the Southern New Hampshire Medical Center told the news outlet. Related Content: Source: Xinhua| 2021-04-15 01:49:46|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close RABAT, April 14 (Xinhua) -- A total of 703 people tested positive for COVID-19 in Morocco on Wednesday, taking the national tally of infections to 503,664, the Ministry of Health said in a statement. In the past 24 hours, 5 people have died from the disease, taking the toll to 8920 in the country, while 447 people are in intensive care units. The total number of recoveries from COVID-19 in Morocco increased to 489,928 after 640 more were added. The COVID-19 fatality rate in Morocco stands at 1.8 percent while the recovery rate is 97.3 percent. Meanwhile, 4,529,399 people have received so far the first vaccine shot against COVID-19 in the country, and 4,166,701 people have received the second dose. The North African country launched a nationwide vaccination campaign on Jan. 28 after the arrival of the first shipment of China's Sinopharm vaccines. Enditem JACKSON COUNTY, Mississippi -- Earl Etheridge was asked when he thought the rain would stop. If I could predict that, Id be a milllionaire. I know Ive had enough of it. I do know that, said Etheridge, Jackson Countys Emergency Management Director. Recent rains, including 5-6 1/2 inches Wednesday night into Thursday morning, has left Jackson County saturated, with reports of flooding in low lying areas and along roadways throughout the county. As of Thursday morning, the four municipalities were reporting roughly 60 roads with water over them, although Etheridge said most were passable. In Ocean Springs, police and Mississippi Department of Transportation officials closed U.S. 90 westbound from Highway 57 to the Lakeview subdivision due to flooding. Etheridge said water rescues were conducted in both Moss Point and Pascagoula, where a family had to be removed from their home on Maid Marion, as well as multiple rescues of motorists in flooded vehicles. In Moss Point, there was water reported inside homes on General Ike Avenue. Etheridge acknowledged the Friday and Saturday forecasts call for more rain, but said the issue for the county would be how much and how fast. For the next couple of days, its not about how much rain, but much rain in a short period of time, Etheridge said. If we get another event Friday or Saturday like we had last night, were going to have some real issues. We can stand a gentle rain, maybe an inch or two stretched over 12 hours, but if we get 2-3 inches in an hour, well be in trouble. Unfortunately, the National Weather Service was calling for new rainfall of 2-4 inches, with higher amounts possible in isolated areas, on Friday night into Saturday morning. Both Jackson and Harrison counties remain under a flash flood watch until noon Saturday. A flood warning is in effect for the Pascagoula River at Graham Ferry, where the flood stage is 16 feet and as of Thursday morning the river was at 16.1 feet. Etheridge did, however, offer one upbeat note. On the positive side, this has washed all the pollen out of the air. GLASSBORO, N.J., April 15, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- One hundred years of artifacts from the Miss America Organizationfrom jeweled crowns and velvet capes to programs, photographs, judges' books, oil paintings, films and business recordstell more than the story of the competition. They also provide a rich look at both American and New Jersey history and help illustrate how ideals surrounding beauty and women's roles in society have changed over a century. Now, through a unique partnership with the Miss America Organization, Rowan University students are sifting through the organization's expansive archives and digitizing the artifacts. Their work, currently underway, will be the cornerstone of the new Rowan Digital Collections. Scholars worldwide eventually will have access to the artifacts through the archive, hosted by Rowan Libraries. Currently, the massive Miss America collection is housed in storage in South Jersey. The storage contains a treasure trove of floor-to-ceiling artifacts from the competition. The Miss America Organization will continue to retain the physical artifacts. But the digitization, which began with program books and some oil paintings of former winners, will ensure the artifacts are categorized and documented--and available widely to future scholars. "We're excited Rowan is doing this and we're thrilled the University sees value in this project," says Shantel Krebs, chair of the board and interim president and CEO of the Miss America Organization. "This is New Jersey history. The digitization project will help others learn more about the quintessential competition and its evolution from a 'bather's revue' into a nationally recognized non-profit that offers scholarship assistance and helps thousands of young women from America to improve their communities through service." The project will be a crucial resource to scholars and students, notes College of Humanities & Social Sciences Dean Nawal Ammar. "The Miss America competition has been an enduring feature of American culture, producing idealized images of female beauty and achievement," says Ammar. "However, the pageant also has been a space to challenge those images, both inside and outside the competition hall. This collection will be an invaluable source for the study of American history, culture, women's history, business history, media studies, and many other topics." Project manager Katie Turner, a professor of history and American Studies, says students working on the digitization are gaining first-hand experience of the archival process. "This is a great opportunity for our students to get their hands on history and to really see what goes into making a collection," adds Turner. "Everything today is digitized for students. They often don't get to see and touch historical documents. When you sift through paper and do research in an archive, there's a real commitment to the work." Founded as a bather's revue by businessmen in 1921 as a gimmick to lengthen the summer tourist season in Atlantic City by capitalizing on popular American ideals of female beauty, the competition in its early years was often a stepping stone for women who wanted to pursue show business careers. By the 1950s, the competition had been transformed into a source of scholarships for contestants. But the competition, a crown jewel for Atlantic City, has not been devoid of controversy. In 1968, it was the site of the first major women's liberation protest in the United States, when the New York Radical Women, some 400 strong, protested on the Atlantic City Boardwalk. They maintained that the competition objectified women and upheld female stereotypes. Protestors through the years also objected to the program's exclusion of women of color. The first Black Miss America, Vanessa Williams, was crowned in 1983more than 60 years after the competition's founding. That isn't lost on senior English and writing arts major Destiny Hall, who is working on the digitization. She started with the 1984 Miss America magazine, where Williams is featured prominently. Hall, a women's and gender studies minor, says work on the project has been eye opening as she explores her own views of feminism. "Part of being a feminist is allowing women to be whatever they want to be. I have a complicated history with Miss America. In the beginning, I saw it as sexist. Now, I see it as a celebration of womanhood. Many of these women compete to further their careers," says Hall, 22, who will attend graduate school at Columbia University in the fall as she pursues a career writing fiction for women. "Through this project, I feel like I'm preserving history and I really appreciate that. It's important to have this information and to have access to it." While programs, photos and other ephemera are being scanned, other artifacts, such as crowns, trophies, and a Waterford scepter carried by winners, will be photographed. Scores of oil paintings and sketches of winners will be digitized under the guidance of Rowan art historians. Rowan's Department of Radio/Television/Film may assist in digitizing hundreds of films and slides. The Miss America Organization has established a campaign to help fund the digitization project and preserve the thousands of artifacts in the organization's 100-year history. SOURCE Rowan University Related Links http://www.rowan.edu Maximilian Schoenbein had already been cooling his heels in prison for eight years when "The Arrest of Arsene Lupin" hit the presses in 1905. Maurice Leblancs fictional gentleman thief is now enjoying his star turn as the inspiration for the popular Netflix series Lupin, but Schoenbein known around the globe as Baron Max Shinburn was upstate New Yorks own criminal aristocrat. Pursued on two continents for 35 years by the legendary Pinkerton Detective Agency, Robert Pinkerton declared Shinburn to be the greatest bank, safe and vault burglar that has ever been known in police history. The so-called King of Crooks would be dethroned in 1895 in the unlikeliest of locations: The Village of Middleburgh in Schoharie County. According to Shinburn biographer, Jerry Kuntz, Shinburns arrest for the Middleburgh robbery was the pivotal event in ending his criminal career. Max Shinburn was suspected in taking part in dozens of heists from Buffalo to Belgium in the latter half of the 19th century. The Los Angeles Herald in 1902 tallied his lifetime haul in excess of $5 million thats about $150 million in todays dollars. The size of the robberies was only part of Shinburns mystique; his style and elusiveness were the stuff of legend both inside the criminal world and in the press. Crime journalist Herbert Asbury noted in his book "Gangs of New York" that Shinburn was at heart an aristocrat. The German-born thief eschewed violent confrontation, employing his considerable intelligence to access the banks and their vaults outside of normal business hours. Between burglaries, Shinburn could be found holding court in tailored broadcloth in New Yorks finest hotels and gaming rooms, charming evening guests in several languages. Few of his fellow citizens would guess the true source of his apparent wealth. When the constabulary did occasionally collar Shinburn, his escapes were equally clever and non-violent. While once handcuffed to an arresting officer, he picked the shackles lock with a pin as the man slept and disappeared into the night. However brilliant and elusive as Max Shinburn could be, his criminal career would ultimately be book-ended by two sensational events in upstate New York: his public arrest in Saratoga Springs in 1865, and his trial for the robbery of the First National Bank of Middleburgh. Dwight Grimm Trained in Troy, safe apprentice turns safecracker Though born in Germany, Shinburns professional career began in Troy with an apprenticeship at the Lillie Safe Company in 1860. The young man was so adroit with the mechanics and manufacture of their safes, he was offered a management position. Shinburn declined. He had other ideas for his future and theirs. East Coast banks equipped with Lillie safes soon began to find money disappearing. To gain access to those banks after hours, Shinburn mastered the art of sneaking entering the home of a bank employee undetected, locating their keys and making a wax impression of those keys to fashion a duplicate. Once inside a bank safe, he often sowed confusion and obscured his thefts by removing only a portion of a safes contents. Shinburns repeated success in the shadows would help push Lillie into bankruptcy within a few years. In 1864, Shinburn entered the Walpole Savings Bank in New Hampshire and absconded with $96,000 ($1.6 million today) in less than 30 minutes. With this handsome score, he returned to New York and attempted to set himself up as a country gentleman in Saratoga Springs. Shinburn became a conspicuous resident of the towns enormous brick Grand Union Hotel on the west side of Broadway. He stayed in the cottages reserved for the societys elite and was a regular at the morning meetings in the so-called investors room there. In the book "Robber Baron," author Edward J. Gallagher writes that detectives tailing Shinburn described him as expensively attired, brilliant in conversation with other guests of the establishment, and as someone who could be found either as a spectator or participant in games at the casino. The police made their move on Shinburn on April 10, 1865 at the Saratoga Music Hall. In the pocket of his dinner jacket, police found seven $1,000 bonds for the Boston, Concord & Montreal Railroad, stolen from the Walpole Savings Bank. They then raided the top floor of his cottage at the Grand Union and uncovered a complete workshop of burglary tools as well as the keys to the vault of the Cheshire County Bank of Keene, New Hampshire, containing $230,000 ($3.8 million today). He was convicted for the bank robbery in New Hampshire, but Shinburn demonstrated that he was as skilled at getting out of prison as he was at getting into banks. In December of 1866, he orchestrated a daring escape from the New Hampshire State Prison in Concord. A string of high-profile bank robberies followed over the next three years. Of that period, Shinburn later wrote in a series of articles for The Boston Herald: Between that time and the year 1869, I robbed nine out of eleven banks which I attempted, and secured a share in loot ranging from $50,000 to $1,900,000. Thats a score worth about $800,000 to $32 million today. On the lam, but New York pulls him back again Still on the run from the law but now flush, Shinburn left New York for Belgium in 1870 with a new wife and a half million dollars ($10 million today) in cash. He picked the perfect destination to start anew: Belgium, a country with no existing U.S. extradition treaty. Shinburn purchased a barony and a silk mill, intent on living out his days as a titled and legitimate businessman, but by the late 1880s, the Baron Shinburn had lost his ill-gotten fortune on the gaming tables of Monte Carlo and run afoul of the Belgian authorities. Shinburn returned to his former way of life in New York by the early 1890s and was again suspected of another string of bank robberies. Safe cracking had necessarily evolved over those decades to keep pace with new safes, and the preferred tool among bank robbers at the end of the 19th century was now highly explosive nitroglycerin. On the night of April 16, 1895, Shinburn used too much nitro to blow the safe door off the First National Bank of Middleburgh. The cannon-like detonation awoke the village and a local posse pursued Shinburn and his crew as they fled into the night along the tracks of the Middleburgh & Schoharie Railroad on a stolen handcar. An indiscreet communique passed through a hotel maid in nearby Jefferson was Shinburns final mistake. On June 28, 1895, detectives from the Pinkerton Agency collared Max Shinburn in New York City. One last stand in Schoharie The trial at the Schoharie County Courthouse made news around the world. Given Shinburns history of escapes, the Pinkertons and the police were understandably nervous about the countys ability to hold him during the proceedings. They were correct to be concerned. The slippery Shinburn remained true to form and made several bids for freedom. In one of those escape attempts, he successfully cut his way out of the Schoharie holding cell only to be tackled by the jailers wife who was bringing him a slice of pie at the time. Ever the gentleman thief, Shinburn reportedly remarked on surrendering to her: I, never in my life, have struck a woman. Shinburn would be convicted of the Middleburgh robbery and went upstate to serve five years in Dannemora prison. The New Hampshire authorities were waiting at the gates on his release in 1900 and dragged him back to Concord to serve out his previous sentence imposed 40 years earlier. Shinburn was finally a free man again in 1908 and lived out the remainder of his days in Boston but not at a grand home in a tony neighborhood. The once-dapper Shinburn, who loved fine clothes and surroundings, listed as his last address, until his death in 1916, as the John Howard Home of Reformed Prisoners. Shinburn wrote a series of articles for The Boston Herald about his capers. Hudson Valley historian Jerry Kuntz published a collection of those articles in 2018 in the book "King of Burglars: The Heist Stories of Max Shinburn". Dwight Grimm is the owner-operator of Greenvilles Drive-in 32. In his spare time, he fills his head and his house with obscure historical tidbits sourced at flea markets. WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - Kimco Realty Corp. (KIM) and Weingarten Realty Investors (WRI) have reached a merger deal under which Weingarten will merge with and into Kimco, with Kimco continuing as the surviving public company. Each Weingarten common share will be converted into 1.408 newly issued shares of Kimco common stock plus $2.89 in cash. This represents a total consideration of approximately $30.32 per Weingarten share. On a pro forma basis, following the closing of the transaction, Kimco shareholders are expected to own approximately 71% of the combined company's equity, and Weingarten shareholders are expected to own approximately 29%. The Kimco management team will lead the combined company. The combined company is projected to have a pro forma equity market capitalization of approximately $12.0 billion and a pro forma total enterprise value of approximately $20.5 billion. Upon closing, the deal is expected to be immediately accretive to earnings metrics. Kimco plans to maintain its current dividend level post-closing. 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. Richard Caines covers courts and other topics in Horry and Georgetown County for The Post and Courier. He graduated from the Cronkite School at Arizona State University and is a huge Philadelphia sports fan. A native of Shrewsbury, Mass., German is a political science major who transferred to BC in 2019. His interest in public service has been cultivated through a diversity of experiences and influences such as winning election to town government; organizing voter registration drives in several Massachusetts cities; involvement with College Democrats of Boston College; participation in BCs Prison Arts Outreach Program; working as an undergraduate research assistant, and taking a course on Shakespeares depiction of politics. Germans career direction also has been shaped by a personal challenge: alcoholism, which he describes as a family disease that affected his upbringing and, at one point, left him as an unemployed college drop-out attending a 12-step program with people old enough to be his grandparents. The paradox of recovery is that to keep what you have, you have it give it away, he said. This experience is a new lens to view life for me. Service is how I have fused this code into working towards change in my community. Living with the disease of alcoholism is an inflection point where I deepen the understanding and use that connection as common ground to the adversity of others. So, while I am gratified at being chosen as a Truman Scholar, I keep in mind how many people have helped me to be able to achieve this milestone: my family, my friends, my girlfriend. I want to apply that collective, humanist mindset in helping make things better for whatever community I am part of. For German, his successful 2019 bid to win election as a Shrewsbury Town Meeting member, and immersion in the workings of local government, demonstrate public services capacity to build character. He had to show an ability to engage with voters on the most basic of issues, to find out what makes them tick, and gain their trusteven if some held social and political viewpoints different from his. As an elected official, he had to grasp the merits of short-term sacrifice for long-term gainsuch as when he helped craft, and fought for, a proposal aimed at preserving the integrity of Shrewsburys historical structures, only to later agree to scuttle the plan so it could be incorporated into a larger community preservation act. This grassroots/community focus was at the heart of Germans role in organizing the Check the Box voter registration drive, a pilot program for the Massachusetts Democratic Party, as an intern. Targeting cities and precincts with the lowest voter turnout, German put the emphasis on having volunteers work in their own communities so that neighbors would knock on neighbors doors and register them to vote. While the effort did not yield as many new registered voters as hoped, it had a positive impact in empowering community members to engage and bring change to their own neighborhoods, and creating a new pool of activists that are connected and present, he said. Check the Box is a model for ground-up leadership that is critical to expanding access and ensuring sustainable results into the future of political organizing. Since COVID-19 first hit the U.S. a little over a year ago, research has been somewhat mixed about whether a fever is a reliable metric for determining if someone is infected with the virus. Though many patients can carry the illness with little to no symptoms, the Centers for Disease Control and Preventions website still lists fever among the most common symptoms of the deadly pathogen.Knowing that thermometers still can play a role in detecting some outbreaks, the health technology company Kinsa is offering smart thermometers, which can transmit their readings to a phone app for school districts monitoring the spread of COVID-19. According to the company, the tool has been available through its FLUency program for about six years now and can be found in about 4,000 K-12 schools throughout the country.Kinsa spokeswoman and FLUency founder Nita Nehru said the main goal of the program was initially to provide parents and school staff with an early detection system for illnesses such as strep throat and influenza through the use of its thermometer, which connects to an app that records and aggregates symptoms reported by users.Over the past six years since schools started using the thermometer and app, Kinsa has recorded a 27 percent decrease in illness-based school absenteeism during the peak of flu season, according to the companys website.Nehru said Kinsas platform isnt an illness-specific diagnostics tool, but the device can help track symptoms that suggest outbreaks of COVID-19. Kinsa can also inform others visiting or living in areas if illnesses are prevalent within the region.Though we knew little about the virus a year ago, she believes Kinsa could have helped prevent some outbreaks from occurring last year.In the case of COVID, we didnt know what COVID was back then, but we couldve known, Hey, something really unusual is happening in this area. Lets go and investigate, she said.Using the Kinsa platform, education and government officials can pinpoint where limited coronavirus tests and treatment resources are most needed, which Nehru said is especially important in communities with limited resources to fight the spread of COVID-19.In other words, the Kinsa thermometer can serve as another part of a school district or citys anti-coronavirus toolkit, alongside other tests Lets say you know theres a rising number of fevers. Now you know where to be directing those expensive COVID tests, she said. Then youre able to make better decisions that way.Aggregated data recorded by Kinsa can also advise parents and school nurses on what to do next when certain symptoms are reported alongside temperature. She said this is crucial when deciding if and when users need to seek urgent care, or whether an illness is more likely the result of the common cold or strep throat, for example.The city of Little Rock, Ark., recently enrolled in the FLUency program, providing local schools with the thermometer and app at no cost to the districts. Through the program, Little Rock officials distributed more than 1,000 Kinsa devices to school nurses and other staff members in public schools, as well as parents of city district students.Jay Barth, the citys chief education officer, said officials wanted to provide an addition to school COVID-19 testing efforts after depleting federal relief funds last year. While public funds subsidize the program for many school districts, Barth said Little Rocks schools enrolled with help from cleaning supply company Lysol, which has partnered with Kinsas FLUency program to help cities like Little Rock.Barth added that the thermometer program has proved useful for city schools tracking the potential spread of the virus. He said school nurses and administrators have used the thermometers to regularly test students and staff members, noting that most of the districts 24,000 students returned to in-person learning this school year.The school nurses have seen some real value in this, he said. Most fundamentally, it really is bringing a high-quality thermometer into a hall where there might not be a thermometer at all.The city plans to order more devices in the months to come, and Barth said the tool will remain useful past the pandemic to help track influenza, which he believes will re-emerge as a problem for schools once people ditch the use of masks. However, as of Tuesday, he said, COVID-19 outbreaks among school-aged children have been on a downturn in Little Rock compared to the beginning of the public health crisis.I think by the time we got access to Kinsa, we were past the peak [of COVID-19]. That said, I think theres going to be a payoff more generally non-COVID, he said. Schools are places where, if a handful of folks get an illness, its going to spread because of the nature of the institution.While its difficult to imagine another public health crisis after COVID-19, Nehru said another new pandemic could present new challenges for public schools and local governments, making early detection of illnesses critical in the years to come.COVID is likely not the last pandemic well face, she warned.Nehru said school districts can now enroll in FLUency through the help of relief funds included in the federal American Rescue Plan , signed into law last month. Debris from missiles fired by Yemens Huthi rebels into Saudi Arabia caused a small fire on a university campus in the kingdoms south, the Riyadh-led military coalition operating in Yemen said. Saudi air defence intercepted five ballistic missiles and four drones deployed by Yemeni rebels on Wednesday night and Thursday morning, according to the coalition. The missiles were fired and drones sent from Yemens Saada province, a rebel stronghold in the north of the country, toward the Saudi city of Jizan, said coalition spokesman Turki al-Maliki. Debris fell on the campus of Jizan University, causing a small fire which was brought under control and there were no casualties, the spokesman said, according to the official Saudi news agency SPA. Maliki condemned the escalating Huthi air campaign against civilian targets, warning that these hostile acts constitute war crimes. A Huthi spokesman in the northern capital of Sanaa said that 11 missiles and drones had targeted facilities belonging to the Saudi oil giant Aramco. Patriot anti-missile batteries and other sensitive facilities were also targeted by the Huthis in Jizan, a rebel military spokesman said according to the Huthis Al-Masirah television. On Monday, the Huthis claimed to have carried out other attacks against Saudi Arabia, saying they had launched 17 drones and missiles at various targets including Aramco facilities. Saudi authorities did not confirm any attacks on oil facilities at the time. However, the coalition indicated that six drones launched from Yemen had been intercepted, without mentioning any casualties. Saudi Arabia leads a military coalition that intervened in the Yemen conflict in 2015, to support the the internationally recognised government. It has reported numerous attacks by the rebels on Aramco facilities, airports and other civilian targets in recent months. bur/sls/fz Saudi Aramco Source: Xinhua| 2021-04-15 09:22:25|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close SEOUL, April 15 (Xinhua) -- South Korea's central bank on Thursday froze its policy rate at a record low amid the continued economic slump from the COVID-19 pandemic. Bank of Korea (BOK) Governor Lee Ju-yeol and six other monetary policy board members left the benchmark seven-day repurchase rate unchanged at an all-time low of 0.50 percent. The policy rate has been kept on hold since May last year. It was in line with market expectations. According to a Korea Financial Investment Association (KFIA) survey of 100 fixed-income experts, all respondents predicted the rate freeze. Recent economic indicators showed signs of recovery, but the BOK refrained from altering the key rate amid a still high number of COVID-19 cases. In the latest tally, South Korea reported 698 more cases of COVID-19 for the past 24 hours, raising the total number of infections to 112,117. The daily caseload hovered around 700 for two days, fueling worry about the fourth wave of the pandemic. The country's export kept growing in recent months as the launch of vaccination campaigns across the world raised global demand for locally-made products. Helped by the export recovery, the business sentiment among manufacturers gained ground this month. Industrial production advanced in February, and retail sale, which reflects private consumption, picked up 8.4 percent in February on a monthly basis, after making no change in the previous month. Enditem Rebel Wilson channeled dog-hating character Cruella De Vil in a cheeky costume for her new show Pooch Perfect. The 41-year-old actress has turned hostess for a reality TV competition show that pits dog groomers against one another and she transformed into the Disney character before slipping into a sizzling red gown to show off her recent weight loss. And in a couple of new on-set photos she could be spotted in full unmistakable Cruella gear whilst in front of her makeup mirror. Hard at work: Rebel Wilson channeled dog-hating character Cruella De Vil in a cheeky costume for her new show Pooch Perfect Recent pictures have shown her hard at work in a number of eye-popping ensembles that include a burnt-orange blazer over basic black. She also at one point brought back Old Hollywood in a scarlet floor-length gown that was perfectly fitted to the figure she spent last year slimming down. The Hollywood blonde at one point found herself next to a human co-star who was all dressed up in a large dog costume. At the beginning of the year news broke that Pooch Perfect - initially an Australian TV - found a home on American network television at ABC. Looking fab: She also at one point brought back Old Hollywood in a scarlet floor-length gown that was perfectly fitted to the figure she spent last year slimming down Mugging for the camera: And in a couple of new on-set photos she could be spotted in full unmistakable Cruella gear whilst in front of her makeup mirror In the offing: Her Cruella De Vil outfit comes after a flurry publicity for Disney's upcoming live-action origin story movie for the character starring Emma Stone Throwback: The original 1961 animated movie starred Betty Lou Gerson as the voice of Cruella (left), with Glenn Close playing her in the live-action version decades later (right) Rebel, who hails from Sydney, hostessed the first season of the dog grooming competition show on the Seven network in her native country. However last October it emerged that Seven was not picking up the show for the second season which has come to the United States instead. The American season of the Pooch Perfect premiered on March 30 and is slated to feature eight episodes with 10 contestants. All the contenders on the program are professional dog groomers and they are able to have their assistants on hand to help them. Stunner: Rebel has been showing off a more svelte figure of late (pictured in 2019) There's Rebel: Recent pictures have shown her hard at work in a number of eye-popping ensembles that include a burnt-orange blazer over basic black Goofing about: The Hollywood blonde at one point found herself next to a human co-star who was all dressed up in a large dog costume At the end of last year Rebel went Live on Instagram for a lengthy discussion of her 'Year Of Health' in which she lost more than 60lbs. The 5ft3in actress explained that while she is in the process of shedding pounds 'I do try to stay under 1,500 calories, because again of my body type.' She explained that now that she had arrived at her goal weight of 75kg (approximately 165lbs), she was transitioning 'more into like a maintenance phase, and probably be about 2,000/2,500 because I do work out like a beast.' Out from Down Under: At the beginning of the year news broke that Pooch Perfect - initially an Australian TV - found a home on American network television at ABC Back at it: Rebel, who hails from Sydney, hostessed the first season of the dog grooming competition show on the Seven network in her native country Rebel has credited Vivamayr, a luxury medical center and holistic retreat in Lake Altaussee, Austria, for her astonishing weight loss journey. Her Cruella De Vil outfit comes after a flurry publicity for Disney's upcoming live-action origin story movie for the character starring Emma Stone. English writer Dodie Smith invented the character for his 1956 novel 101 Dalmatians which has been adapted multiple times by Disney. The original 1961 animated movie starred Betty Lou Gerson as the voice of Cruella, with Glenn Close playing her in two live-action movies decades later. Carbery Group has shown resilience and growth in 2020 despite disruption of the Covid-19 pandemic, according to its annual report which was launched this week. Revenue was up 5.8% to 459.5m across the Group and 596m litres of milk were processed at Carberys Ballineen site - an increase of 5% in milk volume, supplied by 1,215 local farmer shareholders. During 2020, the Group also completed its 78m cheese diversification plant and opened up new markets in Asia. Continued focus on achieving ambitious sustainability targets across the Group saw emissions intensity reduced by 4.8% as it continues to work in partnership with farmers to reduce carbon footprint on farms. Group earnings increased by 1% to 44.9m compared to 44.3m in 2019 while a decrease in operating profit to 28.3m - 30.2m in 2019 - reflected a year-on-year decrease of 6.2%. Carbery Group CEO Jason Hawkins said that despite Covid-19 related delays, the expansion project was completed and the new plant is producing mozzarella. The resilience of our business performance in a challenging year has given us increased confidence in the investment and diversification strategies we have pursued over the last few years, he added. With the challenges of a potential hard Brexit behind us, and our new plant online, as well as the investments we continue to make in our value-added Taste and Nutrition business segments, Im confident that we will continue to generate value for the farmers of West Cork. The new Mozzarella plant at Carbery in Ballineen, West Cork. The new cheese production facility is part of an overall 78m expansion of their headquarters site which is now operational. Picture: Don MacMonagle Our focus in terms of how we operate continues to be on sustainability both in the traditional sense of creating a resilient business, but also in working with key partners in our community, in the economy and with our farmers to build a future that will protect our resources for future generations and create opportunities for them. Carberys dairy business had a strong and resilient performance throughout 2020 to, what the company describes as, the backdrop of volatile and rapidly shifting markets. The new mozzarella plant, which was commissioned in late 2020, saw the first commercial orders sent to the UK, South Korea, China and Europe. Cheddar demand remained strong throughout the pandemic and 55,000t of cheese was produced in 2020. Countering the decline of food service, retail demand was very strong throughout the pandemic with an increased demand for cheddar and in particular for high-quality cheddars which Carbery specialises in producing. Carbery Groups Carbery Cracker product had a brand refresh and research to accompany that campaign showed that 72% of consumers surveyed would prefer to buy Irish cheese. TJ Sullivan, Chairman of Carbery Group, said that while the positive business results reflected the Groups strong position, other factors were also at play. The diverse nature of our business has helped us weather what 2020 and Covid-19 brought, added Mr Sullivan. We also have to credit the exceptional performance of our employees in Ballineen and around the world who, throughout very stressful conditions globally, remained committed, kept themselves and each other safe, and continued to deliver for our customers. I also want to credit our farmers who continued the supply of our milk at the highest quality throughout the stresses of the year. The performance of each of our businesses allowed us to continue to maximise the returns paid to our suppliers though our milk price, and we supported the price from our stability fund when the markets took a hit due to Covid. Meanwhile, Asia continues to be a focus region for the Nutrition business and the Taste Business performed strongly in 2020, despite the multiple challenges that the year presented. The Group continued to work towards a target of becoming carbon neutral by 2035 across all sites through decarbonising existing energy sources. Carbery conducted a group-wide materiality assessment to provide strategic input to guide sustainability activities. Emissions intensity across the Group reduced by 4.8% between 2019 and 2020 - more product is being made, but it has less embedded carbon. In 2020, water use per unit of production across the Group was reduced by 2.8%. The Farm Zero C project, launched in 2020, is a comprehensive effort to find ways to decarbonise on-farm dairy emissions. The project brings together a group of academic and industry experts in a world-first attempt to come up with a farm-level solution for a global problem. The project is looking at the potential for carbon trading to be integrated within a low emission farm model - Shinagh Farm, owned by the four West Cork Co-ops of Bandon, Barryroe, Drinagh and Lisavaird, is the site of the project. Carbery Group is owned by four Irish co-operatives, Bandon, Barryroe, Drinagh and Lisavaird, and employs almost 800 people, with 1,215 local farmer suppliers. The company operates from 10 locations including Ireland, the UK, the USA, Brazil, Italy, Indonesia and Thailand and supplies more than 50 countries worldwide. Carbery was established in 1965 and remains one of Irelands leading producers of award-winning cheeses for the industrial, foodservice and retail sectors. The company produces a wide range of cheese, including the Dubliner brand, Carbery Cracker, cheddar, reduced fat cheeses and Red Leicester. Ballineen is the largest single cheese-producing facility in Ireland, producing almost 25% of Irelands annual cheese output. Through a series of acquisitions in the UK, the USA, Europe, South America and Asia, Carbery has successfully built Synergy, its international flavours business. Its nutrition business provides a comprehensive range of advanced whey proteins for the infant, sport, clinical nutrition, and mainstream food and beverage markets. The market-leading Optipep whey protein hydrolysate range delivers scientifically supported health and performance benefits, and is suitable for use in a wide variety of applications. Advertisement A French submarine has been cut in two, with its salvageable half ready to be welded onto another chopped-up sub. The nuclear-powered Perle was severely damaged in a fire last year, leaving the front section of the boat unusable according to the French Defence Ministry. Though the accidental blaze, which broke out while the ship was in dock in Toulon, southern France, raged for 14 hours, the rear half of the 241-foot-long sub was undamaged. Officials determined that another submarine awaiting dismantlement at a shipyard in the northwestern port of Cherbourg could be split and joined with the rear of the Perle to make a functional attack submarine. The Perle was transported to Cherbourg in December and cut in half in February. A month later, the other submarine - the Saphir - was also cut in half, the French shipbuilder Naval Group said in a press release. A French submarine has been cut in two, with its salvageable half ready to be welded onto another chopped-up sub. The two halves of the ships were put on walkers at the start of this month, allowing them to be painstakingly aligned and welded The two halves of the ships were put on walkers at the start of this month, allowing them to be painstakingly aligned and welded. Work is expected to begin on joining them together in the coming months, the Naval Group said. The release added that the new submarine will keep the name the Perle and will be about four-and-a-half-feet longer than either of the subs it was made from. This will accommodate a 'junction area' while the many cables and pipes running through the sub are spliced together. It will also house new living quarters for the crew of 70 submariners. The nuclear-powered Perle (pictured) was severely damaged in a fire last year, leaving the front section of the boat unusable according to the French Defence Ministry The Naval Group will prepare for the delicate joining process by rehearsing with a 3D digital model. The procedure will involve 250,000 hours of work by 300 people along with 100,000 hours of engineering studies, the group said. Franck Ferrer, programs director for the Services Division of Naval Group, said in January that the new sub was expected to be returned to Toulon later this year so more technical work and upgrades to its combat systems could be applied before it enters the French fleet in early 2023. 'Carrying out this type of project in these circumstances, i.e. repair work that involves joining the fore and aft ends of two sister ships, is of course a first in the modern history of Naval Group,' Ferrer said. CNN reported that the United States Navy had carried out a similar procedure on one of its damaged ships, replacing the bow of the USS San Francisco with the bow of the USS Honolulu, which was due to be retired. The Naval Group will prepare for the delicate joining process by rehearsing with a 3D digital model. The procedure will involve 250,000 hours of work by 300 people along with 100,000 hours of engineering studies, the group said The Perle was commissioned in 1993 and was the newest of six Rubis-class nuclear submarines in the French fleet. The Saphir, was commissioned in 1984 and served 35 years. The Rubis-class subs are due to be replaced over the next few years by the Barracuda nuclear-powered submarines. The first of these, the Suffren, was delivered to the French navy in November. The Naval Group said the sixth Barracuda is not expected to join the fleet until 2030 so the new Perle will need to be active until then to keep French attack submarines at the required number of six. [April 15, 2021] Strategy Analytics: Global Smartphone Revenues to Spike 13% in 2021 According to the latest research from Strategy Analytics (News - Alert) , global smartphone wholesale revenues will increase +13% YoY in 2021, the highest revenue growth in six years. Despite the economic uncertainty and dented consumer confidence caused by the coronavirus, the market will be able to bounce back in 2021, on the back of the iPhone (News - Alert) 12 super cycle, and the migration to 5G globally. This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210415006036/en/ Figure 1: Global Smartphone Wholesale Revenue Growth YoY (Graphic: Business Wire) Boris Metodiev, Associate Director at Strategy Analytics, said, "Although global smartphone wholesale revenues decreased -5% YoY in 2020, as a result of the global coronavirus pandemic, we expect them to rebound strongly +13% in 2021 and continue to rise in the following years. Economic recovery following COVID-19 related lockdowns globally, overdue replacement of aging devices and higher component prices, as well as migration towards 5G, are all going to contribute to the revenue growth in 2021." Linda Sui, Senior Director at Strategy Analytics, added: "We expect global smartphone sales volume will grow + 7% YoY at 1.4 billion units, and global smartphone wholesale average selling price (ASP) will grow +6% to US$294 in 2021, resulting in smartphone wholesale revenue exceeding US$400 billion. We expect the ultra-premium segment (US$600 wholesale and above) to perform particularly well due to iPhone 12's super cycle, and to contribute to almost half of the overall wholesale revenues this year." David Kerr, Senior VP, noted, "We expect the four largest countries of China, US, India and Japan to account for 54% of all smartphone wholesale revenues worldwide in 2021. A downside risk remains in terms of volumes and value in India and Brazil which are suffering through significant surges in COVID-19 currently. However, in general we remain modestly optimistic about both replacement sales and new customers." About Strategy Analytics Strategy Analytics, Inc. is a global leader in supporting companies across their planning lifecycle through a range of customized market research solutions. Our multi-discipline capabilities include industry research advisory services, customer insights, user experience design and innovation expertise, mobile consumer on-device tracking and business-to-business consulting competencies. With domain expertise in smart devices, connected cars, intelligent home, service providers, IoT, strategic components and media, Strategy Analytics can develop a solution to meet your specific planning need. For more information, visit us at www.strategyanalytics.com. #SA_Devices View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210415006036/en/ [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] WASHINGTON, April 15, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Calling the White House plan to fully withdraw troops from Afghanistan by September 11, "a good start," the leader of the nation's largest veteran service organization, The American Legion, is calling for an end to the "Forever war," nearly twenty years after troops were deployed there. Acknowledging that the United States "had little choice but to strike back hard" after the 9/11 attacks, American Legion National Commander James W. "Bill" Oxford called for the repeal of the "outdated authorizations for use of military force" that are currently being used to keep U.S. troops in Afghanistan and Iraq. "Today, there are men and women defending our nation in uniform who were born after 9/11." Oxford wrote in the May issue of The American Legion Magazine. "Thousands of American lives have been lost or broken fighting the global war on terrorism. An entire generation grew into adulthood without knowing a time when the United States was at peace." Oxford's position mirrors a national resolution titled "Addressing the 'Forever War,' passed by The American Legion National Executive Committee (NEC) during its virtual meeting October 14-15, 2020. The NEC Resolution also states, "Our servicemembers accomplished their original objectives in Afghanistan long ago at great cost" Oxford penned the magazine piece weeks before the White House had announced its plan. The editorial also calls for the construction of the Global War on Terrorism Memorial in a prominent location in the nation's capital. "We understand the value of alliances and certainly favor the elimination of imminent threats," Oxford said. "But imminent is not the same as permanent. It's past time to memorialize and honor those who made tremendous sacrifices on our behalf. It's also time to put diplomacy first." About The American Legion The American Legion is the largest veterans service organization with nearly 2 million members in more than 12,000 posts across the nation. Chartered by Congress in 1919, The American Legion is committed to mentoring youth and sponsoring wholesome community programs, advocating patriotism and honor, promoting a strong national security and continued devotion to servicemembers and veterans. Contact: John Raughter, Media Relations [email protected] or 317-630-1350 SOURCE The American Legion Related Links http://www.legion.org FBI Director Christopher Wray was asked to probe Biden's Pentagon nominee that he mishandles classified information after his term in the Obama administration. Eighteen Republican senators don't have confidence in another of Biden's Obama-era officials. Biden's Pentagon Nominee might be a "No Go" Republicans blocked Kolin Kahl's appointment for the undersecretary of defense for policy infinitely until the FBI starts a probe over his former activities; they sent a letter to the FBI to that effect, reported the Epoch Times. Led by Sen. Bill Hagerty (R-Tenn.) in pushing for Kahl's investigation, he cited that answers to the chairman and ranking member of the Senate Committee on Armed Services made them doubt his credibility. The March 18 hearing raised red flags that were serious enough to deny the appointment. In the letter, the senator said they did not like the evasiveness of Kahl in his written response last March 23, 2021. He highlighted that the nominee disclosed secret documents that had been from officials in the executive branch, but he disclosed it publicly. Senators said that Wray should check Kahl's Twitter posts that he wrote. They added the nominee might have hidden more posts that he did not want scrutinizing. Biden's nominee had fully stated everything, which led them to doubt fitness for the post. The letter expressed concern that Kahl ,Biden's Pentagon nominee, revealed internal military plans and deliberation, even exposing U.S. national security interests that is a severe charge. Republican Senators call the nominee listed way handled classified information critical to U.S. interests, attempting to mislead the committee by not disclosing truthfully is a concern if he can be trusted for the nation's top national security position. Senator Lankford Says HR1 Bill Will Allow Democrats to Rig Elections As Kahl was accused of evading serious questions, no answer was given about the comments on his appointment. The list of senators who blocked his progress are Senators Tom Cotton (R-Ark.), John Cornyn (R-Texas), Ted Cruz (R-Texas), Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.), Steve Daines (R-Mont.), Thom Tillis (R-N.C.), Mike Braun (R-Ind.), Roger Wicker (R-Miss.), Roger Marshall (R-Kan.), Cynthia Lummis (R-Wyo.), Rick Scott (R-Fla.), Jonie Ernst (R-Iowa), Tommy Tuberville (R-Ala.), Josh Hawley (R-Mo.), James Lankford (R-Okla.) and Cindy Hyde-Smith (R-Miss.) signed the FBI's letter. Questions were asked to be answered by Kahl: Did he post classified info on social media or other sites? Did he share classified news to U.S. government officials that concerned the National Security Council? Overall, how did he handle the information given to him? Despite a 13-13 vote by the Senate Armed Services Committee last March, he is slated to helm the Pentagon's police department, but the GOP will not let him off the hook. Even if the Biden administration gives qualms, their appointee must pass the FBI probe. According to Sen. Jim Inhofe (R-Okla.), a top member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, issued a letter after the GOP letter. He said that keeping the information that the Under Secretary of Defense for Policy is crucial for the sensitive position. If Kahl, Biden's Pentagon nominee, is guilty of disclosing information without a care, he should not be confirmed for the nomination. Arizona Attorney General to Senators: Vote Against H.R. 1 Greg Abbott Supports Election Integrity Bill Miller-Meeks Calls Out the Democrats' Dirty Methods @ 2021 HNGN, All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. YEREVAN, APRIL 15, ARMENPRESS. The Armenian government is considering a potential extension of the import ban of Turkish-made goods, the Deputy Prime Minister Mher Grigoryan told lawmakers during questions time in parliament. The trade embargo against Turkish-made finished products came into effect January 1 for a 6-month term. Grigoryan, however, noted that before the government imposed the ban a total of 220 million dollar worth of finished products were imported from Turkey. This is a potentially industrial volume, which is very significant for Armenia, he said. I think our businesses must fill in that place. He said the ban doesnt cover raw materials and components so that local producers dont face problems. Asked whether or not the bans timeframes will be further extended, he said that the authorities are mostly inclined towards doing so. In terms of finished products I am sure that it will be extended. Earlier in January, the Economy Minister Vahan Kerobyan also said that the government is inclined to further extend the ban. Editing and Translating by Stepan Kocharyan Commentary: Trustworthy Chinese vaccines can help raise inoculation in Europe 14:19, April 15, 2021 By huaxia ( Xinhua People wait for COVID-19 tests outside a test site in Berlin, capital of Germany, on April 12, 2021. (Photo by Stefan Zeitz/Xinhua) With their proven efficacy in multiple countries, Chinese vaccines can definitely be taken as a trustworthy alternative if Europe really wants to expedite its vaccination efforts and effectively curb the pandemic for its own sake and that of the whole world. BERLIN, April 14 (Xinhua) -- As the third wave of the COVID-19 pandemic roars across Europe, countries in the continent are struggling to push ahead with their vaccination rollouts amid surging infection rates, fresh restrictions and lockdowns, as well as vaccine shortages. Facing criticism for their slow inoculation campaigns, European countries are earnestly trying to fill the vaccine gap. At this crucial moment, Chinese vaccines can be a trustworthy alternative as they are not only available, but their safety has also been approved in several European Union (EU) member states. Noticeably, Hungary and Serbia have spearheaded mass inoculation in Europe with China's COVID-19 vaccines. Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz has also noted that vaccines from Russia and China are welcome in his country and the EU. A doctor shows a box of China's Sinopharm COVID-19 vaccine in Varoslod, Hungary, Feb. 24, 2021. (Tamas Vasvari/MTI via Xinhua) Earlier in February, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Emmanuel Macron said that their countries are open to any vaccines approved by the European Medicines Agency (EMA), which has so far only given the green light to vaccines produced by Pfizer/BioNTech, Moderna and AstraZeneca. The EU's controversial joint vaccine procurement strategy has slowed the continent's inoculation process, constraining the ability of the 27-member state bloc to contain the pandemic. As of April 11, only 15.34 percent of the EU's total population have received at least one jab of COVID-19 vaccines, far less than the front runners -- Israel (61.46 percent) and the United States (35.65 percent), according to official data collected by Our World in Data, a project of the Britain-based Global Change Data Lab. Yet in contrast, some European countries are ahead in the process with the help of Chinese vaccines. Hungary has so far ranked sixth across the globe in terms of COVID-19 vaccination rate, with more than 30 percent of its population having received at least one jab. That is because Hungary did not wait for jab approvals from the EMA and imported vaccines from China and Russia to supplement its supply. Hungarian President Janos Ader and Prime Minister Viktor Orban have both received jabs of Chinese vaccines. Serbia, where over 25 percent of its population have received at least one jab of the vaccines as of April 11, is another model in securing multi-channel vaccine supplies. A man receives the COVID-19 vaccine in Majdanpek, Serbia, on April 6, 2021. (Photo by Wang Wei/Xinhua) In addition to the Russian Sputnik V vaccines and those developed by Pfizer/BioNTech and Oxford-AstraZeneca, Serbia has also purchased a large number of the Sinopharm vaccines from China with millions of doses shipped. Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic received a dose of the Chinese vaccine on April 6, saying that he was feeling well. Thanks to the recent large-scale vaccination campaign, Serbian virologists said the country's pandemic has been contained to a considerable extent. Outside Europe, many state leaders, including Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Indonesian President Joko Widodo and Peruvian President Francisco Sagasti, have been inoculated with Chinese vaccines. Since viruses respect no borders, life-saving vaccines should not be limited geographically due to political prejudice or geo-strategic calculations. With their proven efficacy in multiple countries, Chinese vaccines can definitely be taken as a trustworthy alternative if Europe really wants to expedite its vaccination efforts and effectively curb the pandemic for its own sake and that of the whole world. (Web editor: Shi Xi, Liang Jun) (Alliance News) - The following is a round-up of updates by London-listed companies, issued on Thursday and not separately reported by Alliance News: HSBC Holdings PLC - London-based bank - Announces the redemption of its USD2.00 billion 6.875% perpetual subordinated contingent convertible securities. The redemption price will be USD1,000 per USD1,000 of the securities together with any accrued but unpaid interest. RHI Magnesita NV - Vienna, Austria-headquartered supplier of refractory products - Notes appointment of Non-Executive Director Janet Ashdown as an independent non-executive director of Stolt-Nielsen Ltd, listed on the Oslo Bors. Blue Star Capital PLC - investment company with a focus on esports, payments, technology and its applications within media and gaming - Says investee Dynasty eSports Pte Ltd achieved its first monthly profit on an operating basis in January. Says Dynasty expects to shortly conclude a round of fundraising in which it is targeting to raise approximately USD5 million. Blue Star retains anti-dilution rights and is considering exercising these rights to participate in Dynasty's fundraising round. Blue Star currently holds approximately 13% of Dynasty. Alliance Pharma PLC - pharmaceutical company based in Wiltshire - Says Non-Executive Director Nigel Clifford to step down on April 30 after serving for six years. Futura Medical PLC - Surrey-based pharmaceutical company - Receives conversion notice from HT Riverwood Multi-Growth Fund, managed by Atlantis Investment Management Ltd, for GBP1.5 million loan notes. Says following this there will be no further amounts outstanding to Riverwood. Says following the conversion, Futura will issue 7.5 million shares at a conversion price of 20 pence per share. CEPS PLC - Bath, England-based investment company focussed on the industrial sector - Says subsidiary Hickton Group Ltd enters a four-year GBP500,000 Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan with Santander UK PLC. Proceeds will be used for general corporate purposes. Says the loan is repayable in 11 consecutive equal quarterly payments starting approximately 12 months after drawdown. Tavistock Investments PLC - Berkshire-based investment manager - Says holders of 42% of its shares are against possible Team PLC offer. On Wednesday, Tavistock received letters of intent from holders of 25% of shares saying they will reject the possible all-share offer by Team. In addition, Tavistock board members, who own a 16% stake, would not accept an offer at that level from Team as it significantly undervalues the business. On March 23, Jersey-based investment manager Team announced a possible all-share offer for Tavistock worth GBP15.2 million, or 2.5 pence per share. Tavistock's market capitalisation is GBP15.8 million. Diurnal Group PLC - Cardiff, Wales-based pharmaceutical company focused on hormonal diseases - Withdraws application for maintenance of Europe Efmody orphan designation. Says this follows feedback from the Committee for Orphan Medicinal Products, an advisory committee to the European Medicines Agency. "Diurnal has decided that continuing pursuit of an Orphan Designation for the drug would be likely to cause a significant delay in its European commercial launch. First commercial launch is currently anticipated to be in Q3 2021," says Diurnal. Emmerson PLC - Khemisset potash project in northern Morocco - Completes phased development plan for Khemisset potash project. Expects "significantly reduced up-front capex" of USD254.6 million. Expects earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation in first full year of phase four production of USD491.4 million. CATCo Reinsurance Opportunities Fund Ltd - investor focused on offering returns from investments linked to catastrophe reinsurance risks - Advised of further side pocket investment release amounting to USD19.2 million. Says it is expected to be paid to the company in May, following which the company intends to use it to carry out a seventh compulsory redemption of its shares. Caerus Mineral Resources PLC - exploration & resource development company focused on minerals in Europe to supply global clean energy drive - Says drilling in Cyprus has begun ahead of schedule. Says Mines Department of Cyprus has accepted its applications for the Kapedes and Vrechia extension licences. Says formal granting of licences expected to take several months but will commence reconnaissance geological mapping and sampling in the interim. Valeura Energy Inc - Canada-based company engaged in the exploration, development and production of petroleum and natural gas in Turkey - Agrees with TBNG Ltd to amend long stop date for completion of the sale of its shallow conventional gas business for USD15.5 million. Valeura will be entitled to royalty payments over a five-year period, with a minimum royalty payment of USD1.0 million, and maximum of USD2.5 million. Chesterfield Resources PLC - copper explorer focused on Cyprus - Announces that it has commenced its 2021 mineral exploration campaign in Cyprus. The company is exploring for further copper, gold, zinc and silver, after its successful diamond drill programme of late 2020. Says 15 percussion drill holes are planned during April and May. By Greg Roxburgh; gregroxburgh@alliancenews.com Copyright 2020 Alliance News Limited. All Rights Reserved. Our Top 5 Magazines + Digital We get it. You live by the Ski Valleys snow report even when youre hours away. You follow every Taos post on Instagram. Our small town occupies a BIG part of your heart. Keep in touch with all things Taos when you subscribe to FIVE of our national award-winning magazines, plus access to the website and e-edition for a full year at the special low rate of just $55. Scientists at the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) Brookhaven National Laboratory and the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (UIUC) have developed a new mathematical model for predicting how COVID-19 spreads. This model not only accounts for individuals' varying biological susceptibility to infection but also their levels of social activity, which naturally change over time. Using their model, the team showed that a temporary state of collective immunity--what they coined "transient collective immunity"--emerged during early, fast-paced stages of the epidemic. However, subsequent "waves," or surges in the number of cases, continued to appear because of changing social behaviors. Their results are published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. The COVID-19 epidemic reached the United States in early 2020, rapidly spreading across several states by March. To mitigate disease spread, states issued stay-at-home orders, closed schools and businesses, and put in place mask mandates. In major cities like New York City (NYC) and Chicago, the first wave ended in June. In the winter, a second wave broke out in both cities. Understanding why initial waves end and subsequent waves begin is key to being able to predict future epidemic dynamics. Here's where modeling can help. But classical epidemiological models were developed almost 100 years ago. While these models are mathematically robust, they don't perfectly capture reality. One of their flaws is failing to account for the structure of person-to-person contact networks, which serve as channels for the spread of infectious diseases. Classical epidemiological models tend to ignore the fact that a population is heterogenous, or different, on multiple levels, including physiologically and socially. We don't all have the same susceptibility to infection because of factors such as age, preexisting health conditions, and genetics. Similarly, we don't have the same level of activity in our social lives. We differ in the number of close contacts we have and in how often we interact with them throughout different seasons. Population heterogeneity--these individual differences in biological and social susceptibility--is particularly important because it lowers the herd immunity threshold." Alexei Tkachenko, Physicist in Theory and Computation Group at Center for Functional Nanomaterials (CFN), DOE Brookhaven National Laboratory Herd immunity is the percentage of the population who must achieve immunity in order for an epidemic to end. "Herd immunity is a controversial topic," said Sergei Maslov, a CFN user and professor and Bliss Faculty Scholar at UIUC, with faculty appointments in the Departments of Physics and Bioengineering and at the Carl R. Woese Institute for Genomic Biology. "Since early on in the COVID-19 pandemic, there have been suggestions of reaching herd immunity quickly, thereby ending local transmission of the virus. However, our study shows that apparent collective immunity reached in this way would not last." "What was missing prior to this work was that people's social activity waxes and wanes, especially due to lockdowns or other mitigations," added Nigel Goldenfeld, Swanlund Professor of Physics and director of the NASA Astrobiology Institute for Universal Biology at UIUC. "So, a wave of the epidemic can seem to die away due to mitigation measures when the susceptible or more social groups collectively have been infected--what we call transient collective immunity. But once these measures are relaxed and people's social networks are renewed, another wave can start, as we've seen with states and countries opening up too soon, thinking the worst was behind them." Ahmed Elbanna, a Donald Biggar Willett Faculty Fellow and professor of civil and environmental engineering at UIUC, noted transient collective immunity has profound implications for public policy. "Mitigation measures, such as mask wearing and avoiding large gatherings, should continue until the true herd immunity threshold is achieved through vaccination," said Elbanna. "We can't outsmart this virus by forcing our way to herd immunity through widespread infection because the number of infected people and number hospitalized who may die would be too high." The nuts and bolts of predictive modeling Over the past year, the Brookhaven-UIUC team has been carrying out various projects related to a broader COVID-19 modeling effort. Previously, they modeled how the epidemic would spread through Illinois and the UIUC campus, and how mitigation efforts would impact that spread. Last May, they began this project to calculate the effect of population heterogeneity on the spread of COVID-19. Several approaches already exist for modeling the effect of heterogeneity on epidemic dynamics, but they typically assume heterogeneity remains constant over time. So, for example, if you're not socially active today, you won't be socially active tomorrow or in the weeks and months ahead. "Basic epidemiological models only have one characteristic time, called the generation interval or incubation period," said Tkachenko. "It refers to the time when you can infect another person after becoming infected yourself. For COVID-19, it's roughly five days. But that's only one timescale. There are other timescales over which people change their social behavior." In this work, the team incorporated time variations in individual social activity into existing epidemiological models. While a complicated, multidimensional model is needed to describe each group of people with different susceptibilities to disease, they compressed this model into only three equations, developing a single parameter to capture biological and social sources of heterogeneity. "We call this parameter the immunity factor, which tells you how much the reproduction number drops as susceptible individuals are removed from the population," explained Maslov. The reproduction number indicates how transmissible an infectious disease is. Specifically, the quantity refers to how many people one infected person will in turn infect. To estimate the social contribution to the immunity factor, the team leveraged previous studies in which scientists actively monitored people's social behavior. They also looked at actual epidemic dynamics, determining the immunity factor most consistent with data on COVID-19-related hospitalizations, intensive care unit admissions, and daily deaths in NYC and Chicago. For example, when the susceptible number dropped by 10 percent during the early, fast-paced epidemic in NYC and Chicago, the reproduction number fell by 40 to 50 percent--corresponding to an estimated immunity factor of four to five. "That's a fairly large immunity factor, but it's not representative of lasting herd immunity," said Tkachenko. "On a longer timescale, we estimate a much lower immunity factor of about two. The fact that a single wave stops doesn't mean you're safe. It can come back." This temporary state of immunity arises because population heterogeneity is not permanent; people change their social behavior over time. For instance, individuals who self-isolated during the first wave--staying home, not having visitors over, ordering groceries online--subsequently start relaxing their behaviors. Any increase in social activity means additional exposure risk. "The epidemic has been with us a year now," said Maslov. "It's important to understand why it has been here for such a long time. The gradual change in social behavior among individuals partially explains why plateaus and subsequent waves are occurring. For example, both cities avoided a summer wave but experienced a winter wave. We attribute the winter wave to two factors: the change in season and the waning of transient collective immunity." With vaccination becoming more widespread, the team hopes we will be spared from another wave. In their most recent work, they are studying epidemic dynamics in more detail. For example, they are feeding statistics from "superspreader" events--gatherings where a single infected person causes a large outbreak among attendees--into the model. They are also applying their model to different regions across the country to explain overall epidemic dynamics from the end of lockdown to early March 2021. Employment situation has become little better despite headline figures Korea reported the first job gains in 13 months in March, putting an end to a downturn that has continued since the COVID-19 pandemic outbreak. The number of employed people totaled 26.92 million last month, up 314,000 from a year earlier, according to Statistics Korea's jobs report released Wednesday. "The employment situation may probably have entered a recovery phase," the state agency said. However, a deeper look into the report makes it difficult for the government to remain complacent. The illusion resulting from the base effect remains unchanged. It was in March last year that the number of employed people began to drop, hit by the pandemic. The government's easing of COVID-19 restrictions last month and state-backed employment programs have also contributed to job growth. Besides, March is the month that businesses, including state enterprises, recruit new workers. Even under these favorable circumstances, the job gains remained in the 300,000-range, indicating that the market is still tight. The number of manufacturing workers, a yardstick of decent jobs, continued a downtrend, dropping by more than 10,000. The number of economically inactive people those who have given up seeking jobs grew by 102,000 year-on-year to 684,000. All in all, the addition of 314,000 jobs has little meaning, considering that state-assisted job programs for people aged 65 or older created 355,000 positions, mostly in part-time work such as street cleaning. Excluding these jobs, the number of employed people fell by about 40,000. The number of unemployed people therefore increased by 36,000 in March. The only silver lining in the dark cloud was the growth of construction jobs thanks to seasonal factors, and a slowing of the decline in services jobs. In the lodging-catering business, job losses remained at 20,000 in March, far smaller than February's fall of 232,000. Of course, the economy also depends on psychology. It is also true one cannot improve it by just complaining and offering a gloomy outlook. However, policymakers should not brag about a nonexistent recovery based only on elusive figures. It may not necessarily be a trick, but it is an illusion at best. Texans would be able to carry handguns in public places without a license under a bill that was approved by the state House of Representatives on Thursday. Republican lawmakers are pushing to make Texas the largest of about 20 states to adopt the so-called constitutional carry law. The measure, which passed largely along party lines, is a win for the states conservative faction, which has promised to uphold Texas reputation as a pro-Second Amendment state even as Democratic President Joe Biden pushes for tighter gun restrictions. Under House Bill 1927, those 21 and older would not be required to pass a training class and hold a permit to carry a handgun in public. The bill does not apply to anyone with a criminal record. READ ALSO: Active shooter killed by police outside Texas airport This bill should be called common sense carry because this law is about common, law-abiding citizens being able to carry commonly owned handguns in common public places for the common reason of personal and family protection, said State Rep. Matt Schaefer, R-Tyler, the sponsor of the measure, as he introduced the bill Thursday morning. It passed, 84-56. WATCH THE HEARING LIVE: Texas House video feed Legislators spent seven hours debating the bill and sparred over more than a dozen proposed amendments, including one that would have lowered the eligibility age to 18 and two that would have explicitly barred domestic terrorists and white supremacists from carrying handguns in public. All three of those were rejected. Advocates filled the House gallery at the start of the debate. Members of Moms Demand Action and Gun Owners of America sat in separate sections of the chamber, both sides wearing shirts promoting their causes. Democrats wore red ribbons on the House floor to remember victims of gun violence. Billy Calzada, Constitutuonal carry BC 01 / Staff photographer Faith leaders who oppose the bill were escorted out of the chamber by security about an hour into the debate as they began reciting the Lords Prayer. The group sang Amazing Grace as it left. TEXAS TAKE: Get the latest news on Texas politics sent directly to your inbox every weekday Victory in the House! the Texas State Rifle Association wrote in an email blast to its supporters about six hours later. The Texas Senate must also pass the bill, and Gov. Greg Abbott has to sign it, before it becomes law. Dallas PD chief: It makes us less safe. Democrats and other critics have said the measure could lead to increased crime and gun violence. In a series of tweets Thursday afternoon, the Texas House Democratic Caucus referenced mass shootings that have occurred in Texas, calling it unconscionable to take up a permitless carry bill while declining to consider legislation to close loopholes in background checks and limit use of semi-automatic weapons. Those reforms, they say, would make Texas safer and prevent future tragedies. In August 2019, a gunman shot and killed 23 people at an El Paso Walmart. Four weeks later, another shooting occurred in Midland-Odessa, when a gunman driving through West Texas killed seven people and injured 25 others. Both were armed with semi-automatic rifles. Our focus needs to be on passing laws to ensure every Texan with a gun is safe and responsible with it, not gutting the systems that keep guns out of dangerous hands, the Democratic caucus wrote. We will fight hard on the floor today to give Texans the leadership they deserve on this issue. State Rep. Joe Moody, D-El Paso, introduced an amendment to strike the enacting clause of the bill in an effort to effectively kill it. In his remarks, he recalled hearing news of the El Paso shooting, telling his colleagues that he is so tired of doing nothing to improve Texas gun safety laws. The amendment failed, 63-79. In a separate interaction, State Rep. Carl Sherman, D-DeSoto, grilled Schaefer on the bills impact on Texas communities of color. Black and Latino Texans are already unfairly perceived as threats, Sherman said, and he fears the constitutional carry bill could make everyday life more unsafe for all people of color. I implore you to consider the other parts of your district and the entire state of Texas, Sherman said. We are very diverse, and every law that we pass here affects every family. The bill also faces opposition from prominent Texas law enforcement officers, who gathered outside the state Capitol in Austin on Tuesday to protest the legislation. This bill does not make officers more safe, Dallas Police Chief Eddie Garcia said. It makes us less safe. Schaefer and other bill supporters have argued that the legislation would not dilute any Texas law addressing misuse of firearms or criminal behavior. It does not address background checks required for firearm sales or other gun control issues, and it would not alter any existing laws preventing people from taking firearms into schools, airports or other sensitive locations. Rather, the legislation would improve access to firearms for individuals who find themselves in life-threatening situations and want to protect themselves, Schaefer said. The time it takes to get a permit could be a matter of life and death for some people, and Texans cant expect law enforcement officers to be present at every dangerous situation, he said: The simple truth is, criminals dont care about our gun laws. The House deliberations came just a day after the Texas Senate overwhelmingly passed Senate Bill 20, which would make it legal for gun owners to bring weapons into their hotel rooms. Supporters of the bill say currently licensed gun owners have to leave their guns in their cars in hotel parking lots, making them a target for car thieves. Jeremy Wallace contributed reporting. cayla.harris@express-news.net Daniel Garodnick was the former New York City Council member who helped organize tenants in Stuyvesant Town and Peter Cooper Village, the 80-acre complex of 110 apartment buildings in Manhattan, when the post-World War II developments original owner MetLife put the entire property up for sale in 2006. Garodnick, 48, wasnt just the local council member at the time; he also had been a resident for almost his entire life. That explains his personal involvement in helping a grassroots effort face off against developers and big corporate investors to protect the rights of middle-income residents in StuyTown and Peter Cooper, as both are fondly known. Garodnick now writes about the experience in his new book Saving Stuyvesant Town: How One Community Defeated the Worst Real Estate Deal in History, which releases April 15. The book includes how StuyTown and Peter Cooper, between First Avenue and the East River, and running from 14th Street to 23rd Street, were first built in 1947 for returning war veterans. Garodnick writes how residents from the beginning organized, seeing an end to a white tenant only policy and later resisting the impacts of an immediate rent increase that would have resulted from the expiration of a 25-year tax abatement. Garodnick in an interview with City & State discussed how his book details the events that unfolded once MetLife sold the development to Tishman Speyer. Residents in their fight for rent protections saw the real estate investment company default on its loans in 2010, leaving real estate services firm CWCapital to take over as owner from 2010 to 2015. The property is now under the control of investment manager Blackstone and Ivanhoe Cambridge, a Canadian real estate company. Garodnick also talks about his upbringing in the apartment complex, how longtime residents compare to the younger, more transient residents of recent years, and a warning against losing a development thats home to more than 30,000 residents. This interview has been edited for length and clarity. Tell me about your background and interest in writing about Stuyvesant Town and Peter Cooper Village. Im a lifelong New Yorker and grew up the first four years of my life in Stuyvesant Town. Then my parents made the big move across the street to Peter Cooper Village, where we had a little more space and the benefit of air conditioning. For 48 years, I was a resident of StuyTown and Peter Cooper Village. To be honest, I dont think I ever, ever really thought about leaving. It was home. But almost three months ago, my wife and I moved to be closer to our kids school. At the time it was built, StuyTown and Peter Cooper were intended to be affordable housing for veterans returning from World War II. I think most people recognize it as a place that is different. It was representative of the middle class in New York, and something worth protecting. My book covers the history of Stuyvesant Town tenant activism, from housing policies in the early 1950s, to delivering rent protections in the 1970s and then defeating the worst real estate deal in history in the 2000s. Both StuyTown and Peter Cooper are among the last bastions of middle-class housing in New York City. I thought it was important to tell the story of this committed group of residents who came together against big real estate to preserve a middle-class community. Who should pay attention most to the StuyTown and Peter Cooper story? Any community that is seeing its rent protections expiring or being challenged for one reason or another. And that happens frequently. In the years just before the collapse of the housing market in 2008, there was a prevalence of investors who were looking to get rich by pushing rent-stabilized tenants out of their apartments as quickly as possible. State law has changed to make that much more difficult today, but there are frequently tax abatements and other programs that are on the verge of expiring too. This book is a template for how to organize when your community is on the brink. How does todays StuyTown and Peter Cooper Village differ from the past? Its much younger. Its more transient. Historically, it had been a place where everybody became a resident for as long as they possibly could. Today, it could be a short-term rental with roommates right out of college or graduate school. But its still a mix between shorter-term residents and those who are longer-term. The latter are people who came in and got a rent-stabilized apartment and continue to occupy it. Todays new tenants go in there and dont have the same protections. The new people moving in are paying market rates, correct? Well, it depends on how they get in. They may be if they walk in off the street into the leasing office. And in many cases, rent is being shared by several roommates because it gets expensive. Please talk about the current landlords and their commitment. How long are the current landlords going to stick around being landlords, thats the question. They expressed a desire to be long-term owners of the property, much like MetLife. They also used an investment fund to buy Stuyvesant Town and Peter Cooper Village that was built on longer term, more patient returns. How did StuyTown and Peter Cooper Village survive the test of time so well, and what have the new owners done to make it more competitive in todays market? MetLife had an interest in keeping the community well-maintained and protected. And it had the resources to invest into fixing things when they broke down. In contrast, that is not the case in many communities and many buildings around the city. One of the observations I make in the book is that in predatory investing, you frequently have people coming in buying buildings, then letting them fall apart, taking out every dollar they possibly can and moving on. They made a different move with StuyTown and Peter Cooper. They actually made it even more beautiful and provided even more amenities to attract newer, more affluent residents. Your book is trying to point out the dangers of possibly losing what became a much-needed community development in Manhattan. How does this serve as a warning to other apartment complexes? Well, StuyTown and Peter Cooper were on a path to becoming totally unrecognizable as a middle-class community. They hung luxury rental banners from the sides of the buildings and started making changes that were designed to appeal to newer, more affluent residents, like getting rid of a supermarket and replacing it with a gym. That was the path we were on for a while. Without the tenants association, the support of elected officials and housing advocates, that would have been the future. It would have become a fully market rate luxury product unaffordable to nearly everyone. But instead, we were able to significantly stop the bleeding and to deliver an extraordinary outcome at a moment when we had very little leverage. When I was growing up, I counted firefighters, nurses, construction workers, teachers and small-business owners as my neighbors. To a large degree, that same middle-class demographic exists today. But many people are quietly struggling to hold it all together. So this is a cautionary tale, and its also a reminder that affordable housing at all levels of the income spectrum should be at the forefront for policymakers. Whitney ISD To Host Forum For Candidates A forum for Whitney Independent School District's school board candidates will be held Thursday, April 15, at 6 p.m. in the intermediate school auditorium. The purpose of the forum is to provide voters with valuable information about the eight candidates running for three open school board seats. The auditorium is located at 305 South San Jacinto Street in Whitney. LOS ANGELES (AP) The suspect in the 1996 disappearance of California college student Kristin Smart killed her while trying rape her in his dorm room and his father helped hide the body, the San Luis Obispo County district attorney said Wednesday. District Attorney Dan Dow said prosecutors would seek to prove Paul Flores tried to sexually assault Smart by showing prior sex acts he engaged in and crimes they believe he committed in more recent years. Prosecutors filed a first-degree murder charge against Paul Flores, 44, and an accessory after murder charge against his father, Ruben Flores, 80, for helping him conceal Smarts body, which has never been found. The two were arrested Tuesday after years of investigation and a search last month using ground-penetrating radar and cadaver dogs at the elder Flores home that led to evidence connected to Smarts death, authorities said. They didnt revealed what was found. Smart, 19, of Stockton, was last seen May 25, 1996, with Flores while returning to her dorm at California Polytechnic State University campus in San Luis Obispo after an off-campus party. She was inebriated at the time, and Flores, a fellow freshman, had offered to walk her home. Dow revealed that investigators think Flores killed Smart in his dorm room during the Memorial Day weekend when many students had left the campus. Investigators, who launched a renewed search Tuesday at his fathers property in nearby Arroyo Grande, believe they know where the body was buried but have not yet found it or disclosed the location. Paul and Ruben Flores are in jail and scheduled to be arraigned Thursday in San Luis Obispo Superior Court. A lawyer for Paul Flores declined to comment on the arrest or charges. Harold Mesick, a lawyer for Ruben Flores, told the Los Angeles Times his client is absolutely innocent. Paul Flores has remained mum through the years, invoking his Fifth Amendment right to not answer questions before a grand jury and in a deposition for the lawsuit brought against him. Susan Flores, the mother of Paul and estranged wife of Ruben, broke years of public silence last month in an interview with KSBY-TV in which she said her family had no role in the death and her son had been a scapegoat. They keep trying to find the answers with us and they keep failing because the answers are not here, she said. We have no responsibility for her disappearance and what happened to that young woman. Susan Flores hung up the phone when contacted by The Associated Press on Tuesday. The criminal charges include a disclosure that prosecutors intend to admit evidence of prior sexual acts by Paul Flores. These prior sexual acts include ... incidents described in the investigative reports and audio/video provided to defense, and other alleged incidents of abuse, which will be provided as they are obtained by the prosecution, the document said. Dow said investigators have evidence Paul Flores continued to prey on women after Smarts death and the prosecutor appealed to any victims to come forward. Dow didnt disclose what investigators found, but said Flores frequented bars around his home in the San Pedro area of Los Angeles area since 2005 and may have committed crimes there. He has a record of several convictions for driving under the influence. We have evidence that we do believe there were other people not yet identified that have had some kind of a criminal act perpetrated on them by Mr. Flores, Dow said. Were concerned about sexual assault. Flores has been under suspicion from the earliest days of Smarts disappearance. He has gone from being a person of interest to a suspect to the prime suspect and, now, defendant. Sheriff Ian Parkinson acknowledged Tuesday that early missteps by law enforcement, including a slow response to reports of Smarts disappearance, hampered the investigation. The revelation that the alleged crime scene was in Paul Flores dorm room highlighted one of those failures. Smart was reported missing May 28, 1996, but no search began until two days later. Flores room wasnt searched for another two weeks after he had moved out for the summer. Smarts family, who welcomed news of the arrest as a step toward bringing their daughter home, noted that an indifference and lack of resolve we experienced early on set the course for many years. A renewed effort to investigate the case led to new witnesses coming forward and warrants that allowed investigators to intercept and monitor Paul Flores phone and text messages and search his own home, along with those of his mother, father and sister that turned up new evidence, Parkinson said. He declined to offer more details because search warrants are sealed. Investigators served over 40 search warrants at 16 locations over the years, collected nearly 200 new items of evidence and used modern DNA techniques to test more than three dozen older pieces of evidence. So much evidence was compiled that it would fill three terabytes on a computer hard drive, he said. Children from nine countries will share what future should be like to make them happy in KidsTalkFuture project SAN FRANCISCO, April 15, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- We all wish for the happiest future for new generations. But what do children think "happy future" is supposed to be like? Novakid, Europe's number one ESL platform, asks this question directly to the kids, and then lets the answers be heard by the whole world. In April 2021 Novakid launched the KidsTalkFuture digital campaign. It invites children from all over the world to share their vision of a happy future for our planet. This reflects Novakid's mission - it not only teaches English, but also creates new opportunities for children from different countries, giving them a chance to communicate in the same language and build a happy future together. The campaign is executed on a global level - kids from nine countries (Russia, Poland, Italy, Spain, Germany, France, Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Israel) are invited to join the project. To participate in the contest film your child kid speaking on this topic in English and share the video on social media with the KidsTalkFuture and Novakid hashtags. The competition will run until May 10, and the finale of the project will be on June 1, when a compilation of winning videos will be aired on one of the largest global TV channels. "Novakid is reinventing English learning for kids in countries where English is not a primary spoken language," said Max Azarow, co-founder and CEO, Novakid. "Our goal is to improve the world via fostering a communication without borders for the 21st century. We believe that a world where children around the world are able to use English as a common tongue to communicate and exchange ideas will lead to more peace and more prosperity for all." Novakid is Europe's number one online ESL school for children (ages four to 12) with individual 25-minute game-based lessons with native speakers. It is incorporated in the US, with over 43 thousand students around the world. Novakid's IT platform emphasizes personalization and AI-assisted data extraction and analysis. Its data-driven curriculum approach involves highly detailed student attainment data from student-tutor sessions to personalize each student's curriculum, while at the same time improving overall curriculum via constant A/B testing to produce better outcomes for all students. Website - https://www.novakidschool.com https://new.novakid.ru/kidstalkfuture https://new.novakid.pl/kidstalkfuture https://new.novakid.it/kidstalkfuture https://new.novakid.es/kidstalkfuture https://new.novakid.com.tr/kidstalkfuture https://new.novakid.de/kidstalkfuture https://new.arab.novakidschool.com/kidstalkfuture https://new.fr.novakidschool.com/kidstalkfuture https://new.il.novakidschool.com/kidstalkfuture https://new.novakidschool.com/kidstalkfuture Logo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1393486/Novakid_Logo.jpg New Delhi, April 15: For the last two days, Pakistan has been burning. Thousands of protesters of Tehreek-i-Labbaik in the country have been clashing with the police on the streets, demanding the immediate release of their chief Saad Rizvi. Saad Rizvi, the chief of Tehreek-i-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP), was arrested in Lahore to "maintain law and order", said Ghulam Mohammad Dogar, chief of Lahore police. Rizvi had called on the Imran Khan government to honour what he said was a commitment it made to TLP in February to expel the French envoy before April 20 over the publication in France of depictions of the Prophet. Saad Rizvi is the son of late Khadim Hussain Rizvi, who protested last year against sacrilegious sketches in France and demanded expulsion of the French ambassador. Later on, the protesters led by him dispersed peacefully after the government reportedly assured him to take action in the matter. Khadim Hussain Rizvi, the founder of TLP, literally came out of the blue. His launchpad was the 2011 assassination of Salman Taseer, the Pakistani politician who was then Governor of Punjab province, by his bodyguard. Rizvi was then an unknown government-employed cleric in Lahore. He took up the cause of Taseer's assassin Mumtaz Qadri, lauding him for killing a man who had come out in support of Asia Bibi, the jailed Christian woman accused of blasphemy. The government served Rizvi several warnings over his utterances before finally sacking him. After this, he threw himself into a campaign in support of blasphemy laws and for the release of Qadri. The PPP government was then considering a repeal or reform of the draconian laws, but had to shelve this. Rizvi demanded the recognition of Mumtaz Qadri as a martyr, the conversion of his Adiala Jail cell into a national heritage site, the execution of Aasia Bibi, the removal of Ahmadis and other non-Muslims in key posts, and the assurance that the blasphemy laws would not be diluted. Finally the Pakistani Army brokered a deal that was effectively a total surrender by the government. Not only was the amendment rolled back, the Law Minister also resigned after issuing an apology. White In The Flag The military-intelligence establishment's pathological obsession with legitimising groups that provide their own warped-version of Islam, has made the foundation of Pakistani society unstable and unpredictable. And Pakistan's minority communities are living under constant threats. But that did not deter, Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy from launching a project that informs people about minorities in Pakistan, the issues they face, the legislation used against them and how to seek help. Last month she launched a website "White In The Flag" a project to educate people about minorities in Pakistan and uplift their stories. "Between forced conversions, abductions, terrorism at their places of worship, and targeted killings, Pakistan's minorities face an uphill battle just to exist," says Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy, a Karachi born Pakistani-Canadian journalist, filmmaker and activist. She is known for her work in films that highlight the discrimination against women. She is the recipient of two Academy awards, six Emmy awards and a Knight International journalism award. The website has a section on minority stories in which it features films and podcasts on minorities. These include Representations of Minorities in the Media: Ahmadis, Representations of Minorities in the Media: The Mandir, the Defender, Minorities and Social Pariahism, Minorities and Section 295-C, The Story of Abdul Sattar Edhi and Kulsoom Hazara, the Karate Wonder. Obaid Chinoy describes her website as an interactive one that aims to serve as a platform for students, activists, and legislators to come together and be able to discuss possible solutions to the various problems faced by religious minorities in Pakistan while providing a detailed record of the past, present, and future. Minority communities in Pakistan like Shias, Hazaras, Hindus, Christians, Ahmadis have continued to be the victims of particularly harsh religious laws. At the time of its creation as a separate nation, Pakistan was envisioned as a progressive, democratic and tolerant society, which, while retaining a Muslim majority, would give equal rights to its non-Muslim citizens. But the state of Pakistan has followed discriminatory policies against the minorities. Violent attacks, continued threats and religious hatred have been played by fundamentalist hardliners like TLP. Being home to several fundamentalist Islamic groups, the hate groups usually indulge in attacking the minority community members and promote sentiments against them. Issues such as forced conversions and marriages, land grabbing, target killings, neighbourhood arson and mob attacks, media representation and the blasphemy law are also highlighted, as are the punishments for the law. "White In The Flag is a comprehensive collection of information on minorities in Pakistan and will hopefully make people more aware of an important section of our population," says Sharmeen Obaid Chinoy. (This content is being carried under an arrangement with indianarrative.com) --indianarrative/ Credit: University of Liverpool Genomes from University of Liverpool excavations of burials around some of the earliest houses in history contributed to a major study by an international team of geneticists, anthropologists and archaeologists, revealing more about the remarkable diversity of kinship types in ancient human societies. The first villagers in history were Middle Easterners who adopted a sedentary lifestyle roughly 12,000 years ago. These people not only built houses, but also buried their dead, young and old, within and around these buildings, while they continued living in them. Although this subfloor burial tradition is well-known, the underlying social relations among these co-burials have remained a mystery. Many assumed these burials were biological family members, while others suggested that households and their burials represented more complex social groupings, organized through non-biological forms of kinship. Senior co-author, Hacettepe University's Professor Fusun Ozer, said: "Social kinship types are well-documented in many pre-industrial societies. "What we show in this study is that both sides may have been right, at least in the case of the Neolithic Middle East." Family ties among Neolithic house burials The team analyzed DNA from dozens of skeletons excavated from Neolithic Anatolian villages. Lead author Reyhan Yaka, who recently finished her Ph.D. at the Middle East Technical University (METU) in Ankara, explains that they generated new genomes from two Central Anatolian sites: Askl Hoyuk and Catalhoyuk. She said: "We scanned 3 times as many bones, but could only produce usable DNA from 22 of these, due to the skeletons' poor preservation." The team combined the new data with 37 published genomes from other sites: Boncuklu, Barcn and Tepecik-Ciftlik. The researchers then assessed biological relationships among burials excavated in the same or neighboring buildings. In the earliest villages studied, Askl Hoyuk and Boncuklu Hoyuk (about 10,000 years ago), co-buried individuals frequently included siblings and parent-offspring pairs. The University of Liverpool's Garstang Chair of Archaeology, Professor Douglas Baird; Director of Boncuklu excavations, Mihriban Ozbasaran from Istanbul University; and Gunes Duru from Mimar Sinan Fine Arts University, who lead the Askl Hoyuk excavation, suggest this confirms the notion these early Neolithic societies were organized, at least partly, around biological family ties. But not all co-buried individuals had relatives buried in the same structures. Professor Baird,, who leads the Boncuklu excavation, notes the telling case of a perinatal baby in Boncuklu buried together with a woman with whom she had no biological connectiona good indicator of social dimensions of kinship in death, as well as life. A role for social kinship in Neolithic communities A more surprising result was found in two of the later villages, Catalhoyuk and Barcn, from the time when villages grew in size and farming was well-established, about 8,500 years ago. Notably, Catalhoyuk was a mega-site of its time and famous for its large population and its houses entered from the roof. In both sites, the researchers successfully obtained DNA mainly from burials of children, infants, and babies. Intriguingly, in buildings with large numbers of such sub-adult burials, biological relationships were markedly rare. The University of Bordeaux's Christopher Knusel, senior co-author and part of the Catalhoyuk Human Remains Team, said: "There was no evidence for these children being members of biological families, nor of extended families." Gender dimension The study also takes a step towards understanding changing gender roles in these Neolithic communities. Previous studies of cemeteries in Late Neolithic and Bronze Age Europe showed that patrilocal traditions were salient in these societies, with adult female burials consistently identified as outsiders. However, in Askl Hoyuk and Boncuklu Hoyuk, adult women are found co-buried with siblings in the same buildings. Ylmaz Selim Erdal, an anthropologist at Hacettepe University and senior co-author, suggests this comparison supports the idea that matrimonial traditions and gender roles changed over time. Erdal said: "Patrilocal traditions may have emerged after the initiation of farming." Beyond family ties The researchers note that the question of how these earliest village societies were organized still needs deeper study. Senior co-author and former Newton Fellow at the University of Liverpool, Scott Haddow (University of Copenhagen) said: "But there is now better reason to suspect that the organizing principles of these societies went well beyond simple blood relations." Some researchers suspect that such social kinship ties could underlie how large communities with possibly thousands of inhabitants, such as Catalhoyuk, could have maintained apparently egalitarian social principles. The study involved an international team of 57 scientists from 11 countries. The work was co-led by researchers at METU, Hacettepe University, Stockholm University, Istanbul University, Mimar Sinan Fine Arts University, University of Liverpool, University of Nevada Reno, University of Copenhagen, Koc University, The Netherlands Institute in Turkey, and University of Bordeaux. The full study, "Variable Kinship Patterns in Neolithic Anatolia Revealed by Ancient Genomes," Yaka et al. is published in Current Biology. Explore further New evidence suggests sexual division of labor as farming arose in Europe More information: Reyhan Yaka et al. Variable kinship patterns in Neolithic Anatolia revealed by ancient genomes, Current Biology (2021). Journal information: Current Biology Reyhan Yaka et al. Variable kinship patterns in Neolithic Anatolia revealed by ancient genomes,(2021). DOI: 10.1016/j.cub.2021.03.050 Families of a dozen crewmembers missing since the Seacor Power lift boat capsized off Louisianas coast two days ago have been told those unaccounted for appear to still be on board, and indications are particularly good for two of them, one of their loved ones said Thursday. Marion Cuyler, who is engaged to missing crewmember Chaz Morales, said Seacor Power families spirits were guarded but high knowing that as many as 10 divers from Donjon Salvage had gone into waters off Port Fourchon on Thursday in search of their loved ones. I have a really good feeling today, said Cuyler, speaking outside of a Port Fourchon fire house where she and others received a briefing from authorities helming the search effort. But I dont know if its because Ive gotten more than 20 minutes of sleep for the first time in 48 hours. +6 Divers set to search capsized Seacor Power as family members of 12 missing crew hold out hope Divers were preparing to head out to the site of the crippled Seacor Power on Thursday as the search continued for 12 missing crew members sti Cuyler said she heard directly from one of six rescued following the capsizing that the remaining crewmembers were on board. According to Cuyler, during Thursdays briefing, officials said there was no evidence of anyone else having been in the water. That is good, Cuyler said. (That) is why we needed those divers in the water as soon as possible. Cuyler added: The guy who got rescued said they are in there all 12 should be in there in rooms waiting to be rescued. The U.S. Coast Guard has not publicly commented on what officials may have told Cuyler or other missing crewmembers' loved ones. On Thursday, the agency issued a statement declaring the Seacor Power's capsizing a major marine casualty. Coast Guard Petty Officer 3rd Class Carlos Galarza said the disaster qualified as a major marine casualty because the Seacor Power weighed more than 100 tons and its overturning is estimated to have resulted in $2 million or more in damage. Under U.S. law, any accident involving a commercial vessel that kills six or more people would also be classified as a major marine casualty. But Galarza made clear Thursday that investigators hadn't yet determined whether that criterion would apply in the case of the Seacor Power. Cuyler said crewmembers relatives were receiving more information more frequently, which was helping them cope. They were preparing for a sweep of the site around the Seacor Powers wreckage to last as many as four days, with U.S. Coast Guard members assisting the divers which the agency contracted. She also said officials believed two of the missing crewmembers were in the Seacor Power's engine room, which wasn't submerged Thursday. While her fiance wasnt one of them, she said the Seacor Powers extended family hoped that pair could be rescued soon and reunited with their loved ones. According to Cuyler, officials told crewmembers relatives that divers who are receiving help from the Coast Guard had tried to get to the ships hull and bang on it. But the waves amid three days of tempestuous weather were too intense, she said. Top stories in New Orleans in your inbox Twice daily we'll send you the day's biggest headlines. Sign up today. e-mail address * Sign Up Nineteen crewmembers were on the Seacor Power when it departed from Port Fourchon at 1:30 p.m. Tuesday en route to Main Pass 138, which is about 40 miles east of Venice, Louisiana. There was a break in stormy weather Tuesday when the ship left, but then forecasters placed the area where the crew was headed under a warning for tropical storm-caliber winds as well as potentially deadly waves. Unexpectedly, those winds turned out to be hurricane force because of a rare weather phenomenon known as a wake low. The Seacor Power overturned about 4:30 p.m., setting off a frantic rescue effort spearheaded by the U.S. Coast Guard. Besides the six rescued and 12 missing, the body of one crewmember was recovered: 63-year-old David Ledet, a captain from Thibodaux. +2 Man found dead after Seacor Power capsized was a captain: We're 'heartbroken' The crewmember found dead following the capsizing of the Seacor Power lift boat was a 63-year-old captain named David Ledet, authorities said Lift or jack up boats like the Seacor Power have 250-foot legs that can be jacked into the seafloor to create a raised platform for tasks such as offshore construction. They are reliable pieces of equipment for the offshore oil industry, but they are not designed to withstand conditions like the ones on Tuesday afternoon, according to experts. Cuyler said she was in Port Fourchon because her fiances mother and children are at home in Slidell worried sick about Chaz Morales. They need their dad hes the best father anyone can ask for, she said. I have to be here for them. Meanwhile, the father of another missing Seacor Power crewmember named Dylan Daspit rushed to Port Fourchon on Thursday to catch a boat in hopes of reaching the overturned vessel. The dad, Scott Daspit, wept, saying he hadnt been able to give his son a birthday card. He said hed last received a text message from his son at 9 a.m. on the morning they left. Then, he grabbed a life vest and headed for the dock. Im going, he said. South Africa: President Ramaphosa announces new SANDF leadership President Cyril Ramaphosa on Wednesday announced Lieutenant-General Rudzani Maphwanya as the new Chief of the South African National Defence Force and the Military Command. Lieutenant-General Maphwanya replaces General Solly Shoke who retires at the end of this month. He will assume his new responsibilities on 1 June 2021 where he will be promoted from Lieutenant-General to General. Announcing the new Chief of the South African National Defence Force and the Military Command, President Ramaphosa said since its formation nearly 27 years ago, the SANDF has been vital to the preservation of peace and stability in the land. The SANDF has as its central mission the protection of the South African nation and the defence of the democratic constitutional order. It has made a valuable contribution to the countrys development, and to strengthening the bonds of friendship and solidarity with other countries in our region and on our continent. It has given effect to our determination to be a nation at peace with itself and the world, President Ramaphosa said. Thanking the outgoing Chief of the SANDF, President Ramaphosa said General Shoke retires after years of distinguished service to the people of South Africa. He has led the Military Command of the SANDF over the years with distinction, and especially as the principal policy adviser to the Minister of Defence and Military Veterans. A young activist of the 1976 generation, General Shoke became a combatant of Umkhonto we Sizwe and commander in various roles, ultimately serving in the SANDF after the integration process in April 1994. He distinguished himself in the early days of integration as Major General and Chief Human Resources Support. He took over the reins as Lieutenant General and Chief of the South African Army, a responsibility he held until his appointment as Chief of the SANDF 2011, President Ramaphosa said. Since becoming President and Commander-in-Chief in 2018, President Ramaphosa said he has admired and appreciated General Shokes professionalism, diligence and wise counsel. The appointment of a new head of South Africas armed forces is accompanied by the following appointments to the Military Command - Major-General Wiseman Simo Mbambo is appointed as Chief of the South African Air Force; Major-General Siphiwe Sangweni as Chief of Joint Operations as of 1 June 2021 and Major-General Ntshavheni Maphaha is appointed as Surgeon General with effect from 1 November 2021. The President also announced the appointment of Major-General Thalita Mxakato as Chief of Defence Intelligence as of 1 June 2021. Once she assumes her position as the Chief of Defence Intelligence, Major-General Mxakato will become the first woman to be appointed to the Military Command of the SANDF, President Ramaphosa said. SAnews.gov.za This story has been published on: 2021-04-15. To contact the author, please use the contact details within the article. After a mass shooting spree that killed six Asian women in Atlanta-area spas and a string of streetside attacks targeting Asians, Asian American communities across the country have scrambled for ways to protect themselves. Among the approaches: Private armed guards, undercover police, volunteer patrols and on-call walking buddies. In Oakland, a crowdfunding campaign has raised more than $107,000 to hire private, armed security guards to watch over the city's Chinatown. In a post on the crowdfunding page, organizer Joanna Au wrote, "The local city officials have failed to protect members of our community and it's time we take matters into our own hands!" Au, who grew up in Oakland and is enrolled in school near Chinatown, decided to raise money for the guards after she became fed up with the attacks on Asian elders in the Bay Area. In February, 84-year-old Vicha Ratanapakdee died after he was shoved to the ground by a stranger on his morning walk. In March, a 56-year-old Army veteran was called an Asian slur and punched until his face swelled. And late last month, 76-year-old Xiao Zhen Xie was punched in the face while waiting at a traffic light before fighting off her attacker with a stick. Au said her parents are in their 60s and often go to Chinatown to buy groceries or go to a health clinic. "I don't want them to get hurt or have an attack issue," she said. "It could have been anyone's family member. It could have been my mom, it could have been your mom. It's not right." Joanna Au, left, grew up in Oakland and is enrolled in school near Chinatown. She decided to raise money for the guards after she became fed up with the attacks on Asian elders in the Bay Area. / Credit: Joanna Au As the Lunar New Year approached in February, Au hoped the guards would deter attackers during the holiday week. She ended up raising four times her original goal enough to keep the guards in place through April. She has since launched another fundraiser, which has raised over $10,000 so far, aimed at buying security cameras for the neighborhood. Au said the security guard firm, Goliath Protection Group, will stand guard in public spaces but will not enter private businesses. The company said in a statement, "We are concerned for the community due to the attacks on innocent elders. Racism is wrong and this needs to stop." Story continues The security guard firm, Goliath Protection Group, said in a statement, Reports of anti-Asian hate crimes rose nearly 150% in major U.S. cities last year, with the surge first growing alongside COVID-19 cases in March and April. Researchers found that racist rhetoric including from the former president, who has referred to COVID-19 as the "Chinese virus" and the "Kung-flu" correlated with incidents of racism against Asian Americans. In March, the week after six Asian women were killed in the Georgia spa shootings, New York Police Department Commissioner Dermot Shea announced increased protection, including undercover police to patrol Asian neighborhoods. The department shut down a separate, approximately 600-person undercover policing unit last year during protests for racial justice. Shea described that unit as a vestige of the city's controversial "stop-and-frisk" policing policies and said it had accounted for a disproportionate percentage of the department's shootings and complaints. When announcing plans to add undercover officers to Asian neighborhoods, Shea said, "The next person you target, whether it's through speech, menacing activity or anything else, walking along a sidewalk or on a train platform, may be a plainclothes New York City police officer, so think twice." Last week, when a 50-year-old woman named Sharon Williams threatened violence and screamed at Asian people inside and near a New York nail salon, she apparently didn't know she was yelling at an undercover NYPD officer. Police said she called the undercover officer a "Chinese motherf*****" and told him he brought coronavirus to this country. She was arrested by the officer's backup team and charged with aggravated harassment as a hate crime and criminal trespassing. Her arrest was one of two so far by the department's undercover officers in Asian communities. In the second case, police said 35-year-old Juvian Rodriguez approached an undercover officer near Penn Station and shouted anti-Asian statements at him. Rodriguez was charged with a number of crimes that included harassment as a hate crime and menacing as a hate crime, as well as criminal possession of a controlled substance. Police forces across the country including in Chicago, Houston and Philadelphia announced they'd increased the number of police patrols in predominantly Asian neighborhoods. In Los Angeles, police say they increased police patrols and launched a campaign in seven languages to encourage victims to report crimes. "We just want to get the message out that if they're a victim of crime, to report it," LAPD spokesperson Tony Im said. "If there's a trend and we can track it, then we can send undercovers in that area." In San Francisco, off-duty firefighters coordinated their own response, volunteering to patrol the streets of Chinatown and hand out information about a newly launched tip-line, according to CBS News affiliate KPIX. "We all know the police officers can't be everywhere," said John Choy of the San Francisco Fire Department. "We wish." San Francisco police guided the group, KPIX reported. "While we don't want them to act on criminal activity, we do want everyone to be safe, to keep the members of the community safe, and to watch out for the elderly and vulnerable," San Francisco Sheriff Paul Miyamoto told KPIX. "It's a way to connect immediately and to get us the information as soon as we can so we can act on it." But some, like Grace Pai, director of organizing for Asian Americans Advancing Justice in Chicago, are concerned about solutions that are based on policing. "Asian Americans have also, like other communities of color, been negatively impacted by policing especially Muslim and South Asian, working-class and limited English proficient community members," Pai said. "And so we're really attuned to the risks of that right and want to be thinking instead about how can the city of Chicago be investing resources in immigrant communities to improve language access, to improve outreach and access to government services." In early February, an Oakland resident named Jacob Acevedo posted on social media, offering that he and his dog could chaperone anyone who felt unsafe walking alone. His post went viral, and along with four other volunteers, he turned his offer into an organization called Compassion in Oakland. / Credit: Compassion in Oakland Timmy Lu, executive director of Asian American Pacific Islanders for Civic Empowerment, based in the Bay Area, noted that Oakland's Chinatown neighborhood is only a few blocks away from the Oakland Police department. "That proximity hasn't lessened the feeling of being threatened and being targeted within our communities," Lu said. Lu's group is focused on developing medium- and long-term solutions to violence, including housing and direct services, and he believes non-policing alternatives haven't been given "a full shot." Volunteer-based initiatives have sprung up in response to the violence. In Brooklyn, a woman raised money to pay for cab rides for Asian women, elderly Asian people and Asian members of the LGBT community who were afraid to take public transit. In Manhattan, a group called Chinatown Block Watch has convened groups throughout the pandemic to check in with neighbors and walk the streets with walkie-talkies and body cameras, ready to record or alert authorities if they run into a hate incident. Lu said, "I do think that some of those efforts should be systematized by the city, and resourced so that we're having, you know, ambassadors, so like non-police folks who are trained in de-escalation and just kind of keeping an eye on things in the street," Lu said. "And I think what we've seen in our sort of short-term pilots is that that has made an impact." A group called Compassion in Oakland fields requests to walk people home from work, helps with translations and distributes personal safety alarms to seniors. / Credit: Compassion in Oakland In early February, an Oakland resident named Jacob Acevedo posted on social media, offering that he and his dog could chaperone anyone who felt unsafe in the Oakland, Chinatown neighborhood. His post went viral, and along with four other volunteers, he turned his offer into an organization called Compassion in Oakland, which fields requests to walk people home from work, helps with translations and distributes personal safety alarms to seniors. After the Atlanta-area shootings, the group was flooded with offers to help. They've now received more than 2,000 applications to help volunteer. Acevedo, who founded the group, is Latino, and the group is made up of volunteers from all races. "Oakland in general is a really diverse community. And that's what really makes them such a strong community. So, when they started seeing these things happening in their neighborhood, it wasn't just Asian Americans that raised their hand to come and volunteer," said Linda Huang, a spokesperson for the group. "Their main mission is about spreading compassion," Huang said. "They really want to show the strength in community." Biden administration hits Russia with new sanctions Chicago mayor calls for calm ahead of Adam Toledo video release Derek Chauvin invokes Fifth Amendment right to not testify at his murder trial KYODO NEWS - Apr 15, 2021 - 15:19 | All, 3/11 Fukushima, Japan The International Atomic Energy Agency will play a central and "permanent" role in monitoring Japan's discharge of treated radioactive water from the crippled Fukushima nuclear plant into the sea, Director General Rafael Grossi told Kyodo News on Wednesday. He also said in an interview that the U.N. nuclear watchdog's involvement, including dispatches of experts, would lend credibility and offer reassurance about environmental safety. Japan's insistence that the water does not pose a danger to health is disputed by neighboring countries as well as domestic fishing groups. The Japanese government decided Tuesday to allow the plant operator Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings Inc. to release into the sea more than 1 million tons of treated water that has accumulated at the complex since a massive earthquake and tsunami triggered a triple core meltdown in March 2011. The water will be significantly diluted and released in small amounts, with the step-by-step operation set to start in about two years' time. "The IAEA will be at the center of this activity," including offering technical support and monitoring the safe implementation of the plan, Grossi said. He said the organization will be present "in a permanent way" by participating in the before, during and after phases of the water discharge project, which could last several years. The director general, who visited Fukushima last year, said he will return to the northeastern prefecture before the discharge operation starts and expressed hope that his trip would help reassure people concerned. The Fukushima project to release "a very vast" amount of stored water is a "complex task," different from controlled water discharges by operating nuclear power plants around the world based on an agreed procedure, Grossi said. He said it will be necessary to ascertain that all the water to be discharged has been processed "to the maximum level agreed." "The agency is going to be managing the assistance operations side by side of course with Japanese counterparts" and will seek assistance from other international experts to "enrich the quality of the whole operation," the IAEA chief said. "Of course Japan could do this unilaterally," Gross said, citing the country's technology and expertise. "But this would create enormous credibility gaps and problems in terms of transparency, in terms of the confidence that is needed." "By having an international, impartial body like the IAEA accompanying, joining this preparation, these measurements and the assessment of the measurements, then this ingredient of confidence and transparency is there," he said. "I cannot imagine a better, more efficient way to provide the international community with the necessary, timely, comprehensive information of what is going on than having the IAEA involved," the director general said. Japanese Chief Cabinet Secretary Katsunobu Kato on Thursday welcomed the IAEA's plan for a scientific investigation by experts from the agency. "We understand the investigation team is comprised of people with expertise in the field of nuclear safety regardless of nationality," Kato said at a regular news conference in Tokyo. Given various opinions on the matter, Kato said Japan must give explanations with transparency based on scientific grounds, and is grateful for the help of the IAEA and experts to that end. On Tuesday, China and South Korea expressed opposition to Japan's announcement on the water release plan, with Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian saying Beijing had urged Tokyo not to release the treated radioactive water at the Fukushima plant "without permission" from other countries and the IAEA. At the Fukushima Daiichi plant, water pumped into the reactors to cool the melted fuel, mixed with rain and groundwater, is treated using an advanced liquid processing system, or ALPS. The process removes most radioactive material except for tritium, which is said to pose little health risk. Over 1.25 million tons of contaminated water was stored in tanks as of March this year on the site. Last month, Japan asked the IAEA to conduct a safety review and make public its view in the event Tokyo decides to dispose of the treated radioactive water accumulating at the Fukushima plant. Related coverage: Fukushima locals criticize government for tone-deaf tritium mascot "Please drink" treated Fukushima water: China asks Japan's minister Q&A: Release of Fukushima nuclear plant treated water into sea A lawyer who filed a class action lawsuit over the mandatory coronavirus lockdown of nine public housing towers in Melbourne has had her licence cancelled by the states Legal Services Board. The board confirmed it had cancelled the licence of solicitor Serene Teffaha, saying the Melbourne lawyer no longer has a practising certificate and cannot engage in legal practice. Serene Teffaha of Advocate Me. Ms Teffaha has vowed to fight the decision. Hall & Wilcox partner Jacob Uljans has been appointed by the board to manage the litigation and has taken over the operational responsibilities for Ms Teffahas Preston law firm, Advocate Me, the board said. TORONTO, April 15, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Spectra7 Microsystems Inc.(TSXV: SEV) ("Spectra7", or the "Company") is pleased to announce that it has retained Hybrid Financial Ltd. The services provided by Hybrid to the Company are a data base of Registered Financial Professionals in North America. Hybrid is not promoting the specific purchase or sale of securities. It provides its database, technology and call center services to enable the issuer to disseminate its information to Financial Professionals only. Hybrid provides its services directly to the Company. Hybrid has agreed to comply with all applicable securities laws and the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange (the "TSXV") in providing the Services. Hybrid has been engaged by the Company for an initial period of 6 months starting April 12, 2021 (the "Initial Term") and then shall be renewed automatically for successive 3-month periods thereafter, unless terminated by the Company. Hybrid will be paid a one-time $50,000 payment and a monthly fee of $22,500, plus applicable taxes, during the Initial Term. Hybrid does not have any interest, directly or indirectly, in the Issuer or its securities or any right or intent to acquire such an interest. ABOUT HYBRID FINANCIAL LTD. Hybrid is a sales and distribution company that actively connects issuers to the investment community across North America. Using a data driven approach, Hybrid provides its clients with comprehensive coverage of both American and Canadian markets. Hybrid Financial has offices in Toronto and Montreal. ABOUT SPECTRA7 MICROSYSTEMS INC. Spectra7 Microsystems Inc. is a high performance analog semiconductor company delivering unprecedented bandwidth, speed and resolution to enable disruptive industrial design for leading electronics manufacturers in virtual reality, augmented reality, mixed reality, data centers and other connectivity markets. Spectra7 is based in San Jose, California with a design center in Cork, Ireland and technical support location in Dongguan, China. For more information, please visit www.spectra7.com . Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its regulation services provided (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. CAUTIONARY NOTES Certain statements contained in this press release constitute "forward-looking statements". All statements other than statements of historical fact contained in this press release, including, without limitation, those regarding the Company's continued engagement of Hybird, and the Company's strategy, plans, objectives, goals and targets, and any statements preceded by, followed by or that include the words "believe", "expect", "aim", "intend", "plan", "continue", "will", "may", "would", "anticipate", "estimate", "forecast", "predict", "project", "seek", "should" or similar expressions or the negative thereof, are forward-looking statements. These statements are not historical facts but instead represent only the Company's expectations, estimates and projections regarding future events. These statements are not guarantees of future performance and involve assumptions, risks and uncertainties that are difficult to predict. Therefore, actual results may differ materially from what is expressed, implied or forecasted in such forward-looking statements. Additional factors that could cause actual results, performance or achievements to differ materially include, but are not limited to the risk factors discussed in the Company's Annual Information Form for the year ended December 31, 2019. Management provides forward-looking statements because it believes they provide useful information to investors when considering their investment objectives and cautions investors not to place undue reliance on forward-looking information. Consequently, all of the forward-looking statements made in this press release are qualified by these cautionary statements and other cautionary statements or factors contained herein, and there can be no assurance that the actual results or developments will be realized or, even if substantially realized, that they will have the expected consequences to, or effects on, the Company. 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 subsequent information, events or circumstances or otherwise, except as required by law. For more information, please contact: Spectra7 Microsystems Inc. Justin Leighton Investor Relations 647-578-7996 [email protected] Spectra7 Microsystems Inc. David Mier Chief Financial Officer 925-858-7011 [email protected] SOURCE Spectra7 Microsystems Inc. Social media platforms play a pivotal role in amplifying domestic extremism, according to FBI Director Christopher Wray. Social media has become, in many ways, the key amplifier to domestic violent extremism just as it has for malign foreign influence, Wray said at a Senate Intelligence Committee hearing reported by The Wall Street Journal. He also warned that social medias echo chamber effect has exacerbated the issue. While Wray didnt single out specific platforms and stopped short of blaming the companies, his remarks come as pressure mounts for the companies to do more to combat extremist groups, and prevent users from being radicalized. Dear Reader, Business Standard has always strived hard to provide up-to-date information and commentary on developments that are of interest to you and have wider political and economic implications for the country and the world. Your encouragement and constant feedback on how to improve our offering have only made our resolve and commitment to these ideals stronger. Even during these difficult times arising out of Covid-19, we continue to remain committed to keeping you informed and updated with credible news, authoritative views and incisive commentary on topical issues of relevance. We, however, have a request. As we battle the economic impact of the pandemic, we need your support even more, so that we can continue to offer you more quality content. Our subscription model has seen an encouraging response from many of you, who have subscribed to our online content. More subscription to our online content can only help us achieve the goals of offering you even better and more relevant content. We believe in free, fair and credible journalism. Your support through more subscriptions can help us practise the journalism to which we are committed. Support quality journalism and subscribe to Business Standard. Digital Editor This page requires Javascript. Javascript is required for you to be able to read premium content. Please enable it in your browser settings. A woman filed a false arrest lawsuit Wednesday accusing a Portland detective of targeting her in August 2019 after she spat in the direction of a police riot control van in downtown. The federal suit by Hannah Michelle Ahern, 25, of Portland lists Portland police, Detective Erik Kammerer and other unnamed officers as defendants. Kammerer, the subject of other complaints from demonstrators, was one of a handful of officers removed from crowd control enforcement but remains a homicide detective. He said Wednesday he had no comment on the suit. Ahern was arrested Aug. 17, 2019, and accused of disorderly conduct for allegedly obstructing traffic but the charge was dismissed in Multnomah County Circuit Court in March 2020, court records show. Ahern had left work about 2 p.m. and was walking to her bus when she decided to check out a protest of the right-wing Proud Boys, who were rallying in downtown, according to her suit. She said she was disturbed by what she saw, alleging that police were targeting the counter-demonstrators as officers cleared the way for the Proud Boys to stage a photo opportunity while crossing a city bridge. Attorney Juan Chavez included this photo in his lawsuit against police, alleging Det. Erik Kammerer, circled in red, urged bicycle offiers to arrest Hannah Ahern after seeing her spit towards a police van. She said she got stuck at the northeast corner of Southwest Oak Street and Third Avenue when two officers directed her to cross Third Avenue against the light. As she crossed, she saw a police van carrying riot control officers and acknowledged she spat in the direction of the van but not near enough to hit anyone. Thats when Kammerer alerted bicycle officers to arrest her, the suit says. The bicycle officers took her to the ground as they took her into custody, the suit says. The suit alleges Kammerer falsely wrote in his police report that he saw a gray Toyota truck brake hard to avoid striking Ahern on Third Avenue. Video evidence, the suit says, showed Ahern was well past the truck when it stopped, the suit says. A Multnomah County judge dismissed the disorderly conduct charge on March 11, 2020, at the request of Deputy District Attorney Maggie Burgess. Portland Police need to understand that they cannot wield the power of the legal system against Portlanders in an attempt to silence them, Aherns attorney, Juan Chavez, said in a statement. Detective Erik Kammerers actions are an example of PPB abusing its authority to protect itself from criticism. ... This is not an isolated incident. PPB has a history of punishing people who express views in favor of police accountability or against white supremacy stretching back years and continuing today. Chavez, director of Oregon Justice Resource Centers Civil Rights Project, has filed multiple suits in U.S. District Court in Portland against Portland police stemming from their actions during recent protests. -- Maxine Bernstein Email at mbernstein@oregonian.com; 503-221-8212 Follow on Twitter @maxoregonian During the WWDC 2020 special keynote, Apple detailed its plan to move its Mac lineup from Intel processors to its own, in-house ARM-based processors. While performance was the aspect that Apple talked about the most during the keynote, many Mac users were asking whether this move would jeopardize Boot Camp, a utility that lets you install Windows on Macs. When Apple moves to ARM-based Macs, the x86_x64 version of Windows would be rendered useless. Theoretically, users would need to install the ARM version of Windows 10 on ARM-based Macs. However, Microsoft doesnt sell the ARM version of Windows 10 yet, so consumers were wondering if Microsoft would start selling Windows for ARM separately. A new statement from Microsoft to The Verge hints towards the end of Boot Camp and the ability to install Windows on Macs natively. A Microsoft spokesperson explained that the company currently licenses Windows 10 for ARM to manufacturers. Unlike Windows for x86_x64 technologies, Windows 10 for ARM cant be purchased and installed directly by consumers. When The Verge asked if Microsoft has any plans to change this policy to allow Boot Camp on ARM-based Macs, the company said, we have nothing further to share at this moment. Microsofts statement was vague and forced people to think that Microsoft might change the policy in the future. During John Grubers WWDC Talk Show, Craig Federighi confirmed that Apple will not allow direct booting of an alternate operating system. The Senior Vice President of Software Engineering at Apple mentioned that if consumers want to experience other operating systems on ARM-based Macs, they would have to use virtualization tools (like Parallels). He also said the hypervisors could be very efficient, so the need to direct boot shouldnt really be a concern for users. Apples Rosetta software, which will be used to translate software to make it compatible with ARM-based Macs, doesnt support virtualization software tools like Parallels. So, developers that make virtualization software would need to rebuild their tools for ARM-based Macs. If youre someone who needs to run Windows on a Mac, you should better stick to Intel-based Macs for the next couple of years. [Source: The Verge , Via: iMore View our Exclusive report on Market scenarios, Estimates, the impact of lockdown, and Customer Behaviour. Download FREE Sample Report! The report on the unmanned combat aerial vehicle (UCAV) market provides a holistic update, market size and forecast, trends, growth drivers, and challenges, as well as vendor analysis. The report offers an up-to-date analysis regarding the current global market scenario and the overall market environment. The market is driven by changing nature of advanced warfare. The unmanned combat aerial vehicle (UCAV) market analysis includes type segment and geographic landscape. This study identifies the escalating security threats as one of the prime reasons driving the unmanned combat aerial vehicle (UCAV) market growth during the next few years. This report presents a detailed picture of the market by the way of study, synthesis, and summation of data from multiple sources by an analysis of key parameters. The unmanned combat aerial vehicle (UCAV) market covers the following areas: Unmanned Combat Aerial Vehicle (UCAV) Market Sizing Unmanned Combat Aerial Vehicle (UCAV) Market Forecast Unmanned Combat Aerial Vehicle (UCAV) Market Analysis Companies Mentioned AeroVironment Inc. BAE Systems Plc Baykar Dassault Aviation Group Denel Dynamics Elbit Systems Ltd. General Atomics Israel Aerospace Industries Ltd. Lockheed Martin Corp. The Boeing Co. Related Reports on Industrials Include: Aerial Work Platform Truck Market by Product, End-user, and Geography - Forecast and Analysis 2021-2025- The aerial work platform (AWP) truck market has the potential to grow by USD 1.92 billion during 2021-2025, and the market's growth momentum will accelerate at a CAGR of 7.61%. Download FREE Sample Report! The aerial work platform (AWP) truck market has the potential to grow by during 2021-2025, and the market's growth momentum will accelerate at a CAGR of 7.61%. Cross-border E-commerce Logistics Market by Service and Geography - Forecast and Analysis 2021-2025- The cross border e-commerce logistics market has the potential to grow by USD 44.61 billion during 2021-2025, and the market's growth momentum will accelerate at a CAGR of 10.53%.Download FREE Sample Report! Key Topics Covered: Executive Summary Market Landscape Market ecosystem Market characteristics Value chain analysis Market Sizing Market definition Market segment analysis Market size 2020 Market outlook: Forecast for 2020 - 2025 Five Forces Analysis Five forces summary Bargaining power of buyers Bargaining power of suppliers Threat of new entrants Threat of substitutes Threat of rivalry Market condition Market Segmentation by Type Market segments Comparison by Type Medium-altitude UCAV - Market size and forecast 2020-2025 High-altitude UCAV - Market size and forecast 2020-2025 Market opportunity by Type Customer landscape Geographic Landscape Geographic segmentation Geographic comparison North America - Market size and forecast 2020-2025 - Market size and forecast 2020-2025 Europe - Market size and forecast 2020-2025 - Market size and forecast 2020-2025 APAC - Market size and forecast 2020-2025 MEA - Market size and forecast 2020-2025 South America - Market size and forecast 2020-2025 - Market size and forecast 2020-2025 Key leading countries Market opportunity by geography Market drivers Market challenges Market trends Vendor Landscape Vendor landscape Landscape disruption Vendor Analysis Vendors covered Market positioning of vendors AeroVironment Inc. BAE Systems Plc Baykar Dassault Aviation Group Denel Dynamics Elbit Systems Ltd. General Atomics Israel Aerospace Industries Ltd. Lockheed Martin Corp. The Boeing Co. Appendix Scope of the report Currency conversion rates for US$ Research methodology List of abbreviations About Us Technavio is a leading global technology research and advisory company. Their research and analysis focuses on emerging market trends and provides actionable insights to help businesses identify market opportunities and develop effective strategies to optimize their market positions. With over 500 specialized analysts, Technavio's report library consists of more than 17,000 reports and counting, covering 800 technologies, spanning across 50 countries. Their client base consists of enterprises of all sizes, including more than 100 Fortune 500 companies. This growing client base relies on Technavio's comprehensive coverage, extensive research, and actionable market insights to identify opportunities in existing and potential markets and assess their competitive positions within changing market scenarios. Contact Technavio Research Jesse Maida Media & Marketing Executive US: +1 844 364 1100 UK: +44 203 893 3200 Email: [email protected] Website: www.technavio.com/ Report Link:https://www.technavio.com/report/unmanned-combat-aerial-vehicle-ucav-market-industry-analysis SOURCE Technavio Related Links http://www.technavio.com/ Photo: The Canadian Press Prince Charles. Senior royals will wear civilian clothes to Prince Philips funeral, defusing potential tensions over who would be allowed to don military uniforms. Queen Elizabeth's decision means Prince Harry wont risk being the only member of the royal family not in uniform during Saturdays funeral for his grandfather, who died last week at the age of 99. Members of the royal family often wear uniforms to public events by virtue of their honorary roles with the British Army, Royal Navy and Royal Air Force. But Harry lost his honorary military titles when he decided to give up frontline royal duties last year. As a result, protocol suggests that Harry, an army veteran who served two tours of duty in Afghanistan, may only wear a suit with medals at royal functions, Britains Press Association reported. The decision also sidesteps another potential controversy after reports that Prince Andrew considered wearing an admiral's uniform to his fathers funeral. Andrew retains his military titles even though he was forced to step away from royal duties after a disastrous interview with the BBC about his acquaintance with convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. The funeral is scheduled to take place Saturday at Windsor Castle, with attendance limited to 30 because of coronavirus restrictions. Philip, also known as the Duke of Edinburgh, served in the Royal Navy for 12 years and maintained close ties to the armed forces throughout his life. Military personnel will have a large role in honouring him Saturday despite the attendance limit. Members of the Royal Navy, the Royal Marines, the Royal Air Force and the British Army plan to take part in the funeral procession. Military personnel rehearsed for the event Wednesday at Army Training Centre Pirbright, near London. Crash Sends Murray Man to E.R. By West Kentucky Star Staff MURRAY - A Murray man went to the hospital Tuesday afternoon after a crash on South 16th Street.The Murray Police Department said 76-year-old Jean Hale of Mayfield told them she was driving near Wiswell Road and started to turn left into a parking lot when she struck a vehicle driven by 40-year-old Chad Fritsche of Murray.Fritsche was taken to the emergency room for treatment of possible injuries. On March 30, Xiaomi launched their first foldable smartphone branded the Mi Mix Fold that's equipped with a large 8.01 WQHD+ resolution flexible internal display and a 6.52 external display which is reportedly the largest foldable display on any smartphone to date. It's definitely going to put pressure on Samsung who has already lowered the price of their Galaxy Z Fold 2 to be more in line with Xiaomi's pricing. And today we've learned that both Oppo and Google have filed patents showing their interest in joining the foldable device space. Earlier today Patently Apple discovered that Chinese smartphone vendor Oppo is also working on a foldable smartphone according to their published patent application 20210096596 made public on April first. A Google Foldable Device Patent Application Perhaps more interesting is that the U.S. Patent Office published a folding device patent from Google this morning titled "Hinge Mechanism by Gear Set with Slider for Foldable Display Device." The device could be a smartphone, tablet or netbook. Google first describes the issues with current foldable devices and then points to their patent pending solution. Google notes in their patent filing that display devices (e.g., organic light-emitting diode (OLED) displays) may include a flexible display coupled to a housing member, which may fold or bend in a rotating manner about a hinge assembly. In some instances, the flexible display can be bent or folded such that the flexible display can face each other e.g., rotated 180.degree. In other words, a portion of the flexible display can be bent towards a portion of the flexible display that remains fixed or stationary. However, the bending of the flexible display may cause malfunction or breakage of the flexible display. Further, in some occasions, the bending action may cause a portion of the flexible display to become unattached (e.g., separated, decoupled, unconnected, etc.) to the housing member and form a ridge. In other words, a lifting or curling phenomenon of the flexible display caused by an excessive folding operation in an area corresponding to the hinge assembly can be formed. This causes unnecessary deformation and/or an uneven surface, which may distort images on the display. Other flexible displays, which employ a hinge assembly, may use multiple shafts rotation hinges to fold the display. However, flexible displays using multiple shafts rotation hinges can be complex and include many parts. This may lead to more frequent breakage and expensive repairs. In most cases, one broken shaft or hinge will require replacement of the entire hinge assembly. Other flexible displays may include a biasing member (e.g., a spring) to rotate the hinge assembly. However, in this configuration, the biasing member causes a "pop-out" action (e.g., a rapid opening of the display device) to rotate the display device to an open position. In other words, the display device opens to a predetermined angle and cannot stop at various rotation angles. Moreover, in the above configurations, the display devices are generally larger and thicker due to the various parts required. In order to resolve the outlined issues, exemplary foldable display devices, as described in Google's patent filing, may include a hinge assembly having a slider mechanism and a set of gears. The slider mechanism and the set of gears operate to transfer a rotational movement into a translational movement of one of a first housing or a second housing. More specifically, the hinge assembly can transfer a rotational movement (rotatable 180.degree.) of the flexible device to a translational movement (e.g., sliding), and bend the flexible device without damage or breakage. Further, due to the translational movement, a flexible device can be completely attached (e.g., coupled, connected, affixed, etc.) to both of the first housing and second housing during folding and/or unfolding of the flexible device. In other words, there is no lifting or curling effect formed on the flexible display. Google's patent FIGS. 1A and 1B below illustrate schematic views of an exemplary display device. The device is seen to be offering a fold that is off-center. Google claims it could be a foldable smartphone, tablet or netbook. Google's patent FIG. 2A is a top view of an exemplary display device (#10 - without the display #100). The hinge assembly 150 may include at least a slider 151. Google's patent application 20210109572 was published today by USPTO. It was originally filed for in December 2020, which proves that it's a recent project. With LG out of the market, especially in North America, Google might want to fill that gap and a new economical foldable smartphone could spark some excitement. On another front, a foldable tablet or netbook could possibly compete with Lenovo's foldable device and others that will be making their way to market by Q4. Of course, it's a patent filing, which doesn't guarantee Google will ever pull the trigger on this invention. Though I'm sure that Google fans are hoping they will. To know what Apple is up to on this front, you could always review our archives covering foldable and scrollable devices. Right-wing pundit Ben Shapiro has been mocked online after saying the potential rise of global temperatures by 4C due to global warming is not an emergency. In a recent clip from The Ben Shapiro Show shared on Twitter, the commentator discussed the decision of Scientific American to begin using the phrase climate emergency over climate change. On Monday the publication said: Scientific American has agreed with major news outlets worldwide to start using the term climate emergency in its coverage of climate change. In reaction to the announcement on Twitter on Tuesday, Mr Shapiro replied: This sounds very, very sciency and not at all political. In a clip from his political podcast, Mr Shapiro reiterated his disagreement with the decision saying: Suddenly a bunch of these quote-unquote scientific magazines suddenly have very strong political bets. Now I was not aware that there is a scientific designation that amounts to an emergency, the commentator says in the clip. This is a completely political designation, he insists. And by the way, I do not consider it a quote-unquote emergency if the climate were to warm four degrees celsius over the course of the next century. I consider that a gradual change that human beings are going to have to adapt to with increased technological know-how as well as innovation. Scientists have widely predicted that a future where global heating by 4C in comparison to the industrial age would cause catastrophic damage to the modern world. Last year, Professor Kevin Anderson, a leading climate scientist at the University of Manchester said that there is a widespread view that a 4C future is incompatible with an organised global community. He added that the increase in temperature would likely create an atmosphere that was beyond adaptation and be devastating to the majority of ecosystems. Users on social media were quick to mock Mr Shapiro on Twitter for his comments regarding the climate crisis. Shapiro with some more profound insight into climate change, one user said. 4 degrees Celsius??? You better get good at swimming Ben, another added with a user responding underneath: And less reliant on things like food and water and security and happiness. Another joked: I do not consider it an emergency if the global climate, which currently supports human life, is suddenly and drastically altered. The United Nations has said that If the world warms by more than 1.5 degrees, we will see more frequent, and intense, climate impacts such as the heatwaves and storms witnessed in recent years. NASA says that scientists have high confidence that global temperatures will continue to rise for decades to come, largely due to greenhouse gases produced by human activities. "Taken as a whole," the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change states, "the range of published evidence indicates that the net damage costs of climate change are likely to be significant and to increase over time." This man has more money than most professors/scientists for the same reason Alex Jones has more money than most doctors, one user said in criticism of Mr Shapiros clip. People want to hear that everything is fine, particularly if you just buy this one simple life hack from my list of ten best life hacks to own the libs. New Delhi: Islamic seminary Darul Uloom Deoband has issued a fatwa asking the Muslims to follow the instructions of the local administration while offering prayers of Jumma during the holy month of Ramadan. The caretaker of the organization, Mohtamim Qari Usman Mansoorpuri, had raised the issue earlier citing the COVID-19 pandemic. In response, the administration said that the local guidelines issued by the authority must be followed. If the authorities allow 50 people to enter a mosque and offer namaz, the same should be followed, the organization said. Darul Uloom also said that if there isnt sufficient space to offer prayers, the same can be done from any other place. In this case, at least three adults and an Imam must be present. The organization also stressed the need of maintaining social distancing and wearing masks. India reported 2,00,739 new COVID-19 cases alongside 93,528 recoveries and 1,038 deaths in the last 24 hours. The unprecedented surge in infections has taken the country's active count to 14,71,877. Live TV CHICAGO Carlos Rodon was originally slated to start for the Chicago White Sox on Monday but was scratched because of an upset stomach. He returned Wednesday and flirted with perfection before making history. Rodon threw the 20th no-hitter in Sox history, striking out seven in an 8-0 victory over the Cleveland Indians at Guaranteed Rate Field. He was perfect through 8 innings before hitting Roberto Perez with a pitch. He then got the last two outs for the second Sox no-hitter in eight months. Lucas Giolito no-hit the Pittsburgh Pirates on Aug. 25. Its a pretty special moment, Rodon said. It feels good to say I did it. The ninth inning began with a close play at first base. Josh Naylor hit a grounder to first, and Jose Abreu barely beat him to the bag as Naylor dived head first. The out call was upheld upon review. Rodon then hit Perez with a 1-2 slider for the only Indians baserunner. After striking out Yu Chang for the second out, Rodon got Jordan Luplow to ground out to third. He was very determined, Sox manager Tony La Russa said. Proved to me hes a finisher. Rodon said when Yoan Moncada fielded the ball for the final out, he thought: I cant believe this is happening. As for Abreus play to open the ninth, Rodon said: I didnt want him to blow out his knee. Without that play, we dont get there. Rodon threw 114 pitches in his first career shutout and second complete game. He said he couldnt recall shaking off catcher Zack Collins all night. Everything was working, said Collins, who described Rodon as electric. Rodons journey to Wednesdays gem is remarkable. The Sox non-tendered the left-hander Dec. 2, then re-signed him Feb. 1. He entered camp competing for a spot in the rotation, and he earned it with a spectacular spring training. Rodon, 28, was the No. 3 pick in the 2014 draft. He has been hampered by a variety of injuries throughout his career. He was limited to 12 starts in 2017 because of left biceps bursitis and left shoulder inflammation. After having offseason shoulder surgery, he made 20 starts in 2018 and seven more in 2019 before undergoing season-ending Tommy John surgery on his left elbow. Story continues He appeared in four games with two starts in 2020. He went on the 10-day injured list Aug. 4 with left shoulder soreness, was transferred to the 45-day IL on Sept. 13 and returned 11 days later. He came to camp healthy and motivated. And he received plenty of offensive support early Wednesday. Yermin Mercedes hit a three-run homer during a six-run first inning. All attention then turned to Rodon. He received a nice defensive play by Leury Garcia in the sixth when the shortstop fielded a hard-hit grounder by Perez and threw to first for the second out. Rodon struck out Chang for the third out. Rodon started the seventh by striking out Luplow. Cesar Hernandez flied out to center and Jose Ramirez lined out to left. At that point Rodon said he started thinking, This is getting a little real. Franmil Reyes popped out to second baseman Nick Madrigal to begin the eighth. Jake Bauers and Amed Rosario struck out swinging to put Rodon three outs from perfection. The Sox had seven hits in the six-run first. Moncada drove in Adam Eaton with a single. Mercedes followed with his third home run. The 431-foot blast to left gave the Sox a 4-0 lead. Andrew Vaughn doubled to left with two outs, and Garcia knocked him in with a double. Madrigal followed with the final hit of the inning, an RBI single to right. One night after being limited to three hits in 10 innings, the Sox more than doubled that mark against Zach Plesac. The Indians starter, who is from Crown Point, Ind., lasted just two-thirds of an inning. Rodon had plenty to work with. And work he did. Source: Xinhua| 2021-04-15 11:03:54|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close HELSINKI, April 15 (Xinhua) -- The China-Europe freight train has a series of significant advantages, and there is huge potential for trade between China and Finland by rail, a Finnish minister has said. Finland welcomes more freight train connections with China, and hopes to become a leading hub between China and Europe with its existing advantages in transportation and logistics, said Ville Skinnari, Finnish minister for development cooperation and foreign trade, in a recent interview with Xinhua. Initiated in 2011, the China-Europe cargo rail transport service is considered a significant component of the Belt and Road Initiative, boosting trade between China and other countries along the Belt and Road. The first China-Europe freight train route between China and Finland opened in 2017, connecting Xi'an in northwestern China with Kouvola in southeastern Finland. At present, there are several China-Europe freight train routes from or via Finland, connecting Chinese cities such as Xi'an, Chongqing, and Suzhou. Skinnari listed speed as one of the advantages of the freight train. "The freight train ride between Finland and China takes about two weeks, compared to the sea freight which usually takes at least 1.5 months," he said. The railway freight has a clear sustainability advantage compared to other means of transport due to much lower carbon emissions, Skinnari added. "For companies, it is important to be able to diversify their logistical chains, add value with speed and have alternative means of transport," he said. The China-Europe freight train has facilitated trade between China and Finland as well as other Nordic countries, as industries from Sweden and Norway are also finding new railway routes, he said. Finland-based company Nurminen Logistics is cooperating with China to operate several China-Europe freight train routes. According to a press release issued earlier by the company, the volume of its container trains to and from China have tripled in 2020 compared to the previous year. "We have indeed seen a significant increase in the railway freight volume between Finland and China. And there is a lot of potential for the trade between the two countries by rail," said Skinnari, hoping Finnish exports to China will grow. "Finnish food is safe and of excellent quality. There is a growing demand in China for top-quality food products, such as Finnish meat, and our exports have grown significantly in this sector," he said. "The logistical chain risk is definitely something that many companies are more aware of now after the COVID-19 pandemic," noted the minister, adding that it can be seen from the expansion of the freight volume that the China-Europe freight train has a competitive advantage. Skinnari added that Finland wants to be a leading hub between Europe and China. "I believe that Finland has its advantages in this sector, for example, well-functioning import or export procedures, reliable transport network, proximity to major hubs in Nordics and Europe and even further to North America, as well as well-functioning transit between different means of transport," he said. "Our government is happy to see increased cooperation between Finnish and Chinese companies through the freight trains," he said. "Increased connectivity between the two countries is very welcome." Enditem ROSEBURG, Ore. -- Those in support of changing the Roseburg High School Indians mascot say they are not going down without a fight. A small group of alumni and community members gathered in front of Roseburg High School Wednesday evening with signs in support of making a change. After more than two hours of protesting, the group made their way into the high schools theater to listen to the school board meeting where board members had plans for a work session to discuss the mascot issue. RELATED: 'NOT YOUR MASCOT' PROTEST HELD IN FRONT OF ROSEBURG HIGH SCHOOL Supporter Kalli Albertus told KEZI 9 News people have been rallying in front of the high school and have attended every board meeting over the past month, even though the board has not discussed the mascot issue at all. She said its important to keep momentum going even though no progress has been made. For many of us supporting this movement and supporting this change, it is about standing out there still, its about not being forgotten or hoping this blows over, she said. The last time the school board discussed the mascot was late February after they collected more than 2,000 responses in community input. Back then, the board made no decisions in hopes of giving themselves more time to review the responses. However, supporter Megan Bentley said they plan on rallying in front of the high school before every board meeting moving forward until something changes. Its good to see some progress, its good to see some conversation about the issue, she said. Change can be a long and boring process so we will continue to be here until this changes. This all started last summer when a group of RHS alumni came to the board claiming the Indians mascot is disrespecting Native American people and cultures. However, another group of alumni have come forward claiming that the mascot is an important part of the Roseburg community. Those against the change were unable to speak with KEZI 9 News Wednesday, but they said some people plan on attending the meeting and speaking during public comment. 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. Cosmoprof Worldwide Bologna, originally scheduled for September 2021, has been postponed to March 10-14, 2022. Previously: ADF&PCD and PLD Paris Postpones to January 2022 The event will be divided into three different trade shows dedicated to specific industries and distribution channels. Cosmopack pavilions, hosting the best of the supply chain, and the retail and perfumery sectors of Cosmo | Perfumery and Cosmetics, will be held from Thursday, March 10 to Sunday, March 13. Cosmo | Hair, Nail and Beauty Salon will welcome professional operators from Friday, March 11 to Monday, March 14. According to Enrico Zannini, general manager of BolognaFiere Cosmoprof, the 2019 event hosted more than 250,000 operators from 154 countries and more than 3,000 companies from 70 countries. Gianpiero Calzolari, president of BolognaFiere, said: "The event will be back in attendance on the expected dates of March, which are traditionally more functional for the needs of the cosmetics industry. However, the need to resume activities is tangible among the players in the sector. Therefore, a new event will be exceptionally organized with an unprecedented format, which will bring stakeholders to Bologna from 9 to 13 September for a first relaunch." Renato Ancorotti, president of Cosmetica Italia, said: "The postponement to March next year of the most important international event dedicated to cosmetics requires a further effort on the sector and the professionals of its articulated supply chain. During the following months, the industry must not just keep waiting, but it must work on a restart, in safety and awareness, and at full speed. The recovery that all the players in the sector are expecting, and that will have a fundamental test event in September with the new project by Cosmoprof, must pass through the constant dialogue opened by Cosmetica Italia with the institutions. The relaunch plans will have to consider the requests of the industry. Alongside our historic partner BolognaFiere Cosmoprof, every day we hear the voice of a responsible and innovative industry, linked to over 400,000 employees and capable of generating, despite the drop in turnover (-13%) and exports (-16.7%) registered in 2020 in Italy, an economic system of 33 billion euros. We are an industry that is good for the country". Water molecules may appear insignificant at first glance, but they have a major influence on chemical reactions. The Franco-German team is investigating what happens at the interface between water and gold. Electrochemical processes could be used to convert CO 2 into useful starting materials for industry. To optimise the processes, chemists are attempting to calculate in detail the energy costs caused by the various reaction partners and steps. Researchers from Ruhr-Universitat Bochum (RUB) and Sorbonne Universite in Paris have discovered how small hydrophobic molecules, such as CO 2 , contribute to the energy costs of such reactions by analysing how the molecules interact in water at the interface. To conduct the work, Dr. Alessandra Serva and Professor Mathieu Salanne from Laboratoire PHENIX at Universite Sorbonne collaborated with Professor Martina Havenith and Dr. Simone Pezzotti from the Bochum Chair of Physical Chemistry II. Crucial role for small hydrophobic molecules In many electrochemical processes, small hydrophobic molecules react at catalyst surfaces that often consist of precious metals. Such reactions often take place in an aqueous solution, whereby the water molecules form what are known as hydration shells around the other molecules: they accumulate around the other molecules. The water surrounding polar, i.e. hygroscopic molecules behaves differently compared to the water surrounding non-polar molecules, which are also referred to as hydrophobic. The Franco-German research team was interested in this hydrophobic hydration. Using molecular dynamic simulations, the researchers analysed the hydrophobic hydration of small molecules such as carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) or nitrogen (N 2 ) at the interface between the gold and water. They showed that the interaction of water molecules in the vicinity of small hydrophobic molecules makes a crucial contribution to the energy costs of electrochemical reactions. Model for calculating energy costs expanded The researchers implemented these findings in the Lum-Chandler-Weeks theory. This allows the energy required to form water networks to be calculated. The energy costs for hydrophobic hydration were calculated for the bulk in the previous model. This model has now been expanded here to hydrophobic molecules near interfaces. This case was not included before, explains Martina Havenith, the Speaker of the Ruhr Explores Solvation Cluster of Excellence, RESOLV for short, at RUB. The adapted model allows the energy costs for hydrophobic hydration to now be calculated at the interface between gold and water based on the size of the hydrophobic molecules. Due to the water contribution, the size of the molecules plays an important role in the chemical reactions at these interfaces, says Dr. Simone Pezzotti from the Bochum Chair of Physical Chemistry II. For instance, the model predicts that small hydrophobic molecules would tend to accumulate at the interface based on the interactions with the water, while larger molecules would remain further away in the solution. CARROLLTON Two Kroger grocery stores in Greene County are set to close within the coming month, the company said Wednesday. The Cincinnati-based retailer, the largest U.S. supermarket chain by revenue with 2,920 stores nationwide, has stores in Carrollton and White Hall. Its a devastation to the town, White Hall Mayor Brad Staats said. Were going to lose jobs, revenue, its going to disrupt a lot of peoples lives. Aside from Kroger, the closest grocery stores to White Hall are 20-plus miles away, in Greenfield, Jerseyville and Jacksonville. Any of those can be a long trip, Staats said. Staats is hoping the town will get another grocery store, he said, adding that the lack will create issues for residents who dont drive and, instead, walk to the grocery. The price of gas being in the $3-a-gallon range makes it an issue for those who do drive, he said. Its terrible, White Hall resident Diana Monroe said. Because the post office is closed by the time she gets off work, she relies on the White Hall Kroger for both groceries and postage stamps, she said. Its also about the products the store sells, she said, noting that Kroger sells brands she might not be able to get elsewhere. Either way, all around, its going to be a big pain, Monroe said. Some areas south of Interstate 80 in northern Illinois can be considered a food desert, state Rep. C.D. Davidsmeyer said, noting that he is worried that Kroger leaving Greene County will create a food desert between Jacksonville and Jerseyville. Food deserts especially affect those at or below poverty level, he said. I hope community-minded people will step up and come together and try to figure out a solution but, in the meantime, food deserts are something that are in regular conversation in Springfield, Davidsmeyer said. We will certainly be working on opportunities to expand those services into those communities. Kroger spokesman Eric Halvorson said the decision to close the stores follows extensive evaluation of the stores financial performance. Carrollton officials asked about possible incentives the city could offer to prevent the Carrollton stores closing but were told the decision had been made. As a city, we are working to keep our only grocery store open, a news release from the city said. Weve been working with Kroger for many, many years and just have been falling on deaf ears, said Debbie Dunlap, Carrollton treasurer. The grocery store is like a color of your community and, if you dont have a grocery store, its difficult. Kroger cited years of failure to make a profit. Company analysts report the stores have not operated profitably for several years and research indicates neither has realistic prospects for a turnaround, the company said in a statement. Store employees were told of the decision Wednesday morning. The company said the decision was not a reflection on employees or their service. The two stores have a combined 46 employees. Severance will be offered to qualified associates based on the length of service with the company, a Kroger spokesperson said. Brandon Lund, a resident of Santa Cruz, California, previously published author, and graduate of Arizona State University with a bachelors degree in English, has completed his new book Two Plays on Revenge and History: a gripping and potent collection of two plays that explore the human condition. Published by Page Publishing, Brandon Lunds unique tale consists of two plays that probe into the essence of the human mind. The first cadenced play consists of Desmondo, the seeker of revenge, who is in despair because his proposal was rejected by Lynne, a lovely belle. She rejects him because she thinks his love is superficial. She believes Annabelle to be her friend; however, Annabelle is plotting to deceive both Lynn and Desmond in the hopes to destroy Lynne. This rhythmic play explores the causes and consequences of vengeance and unrequited love. A shamans tale to a young boy about lifes experiences and growing up is the second rhythmic play. The shaman details his history in Greece and tells all he knows in order to teach the boy about life. Both of these plays portray the human conditions of dignity and retribution. Readers who wish to experience this stimulating work can purchase Two Plays on Revenge and History 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. He is busy filming Thor: Love and Thunder in Sydney. But before heading to set on Wednesday, Chris Hemsworth stopped by a cafe for a caffeine hit ahead of his big day. He dressed for the outing in a relaxed outfit of a grey T-shirt, which drew attention to his bulging biceps, teamed with black shorts and runners. Mr Muscles! Chris Hemsworth showed off his bulging biceps in a fitted T-shirt as he stepped out for a coffee in Sydney on Wednesday during a break from filming Thor: Love and Thunder The actor kept a low-profile, matching his look with a khaki cap, sunglasses and a statement watch. The Hollywood star was seen chatting on his phone, before checking his messages. Under wraps: The actor kept a low-profile, matching his look with a khaki cap, sunglasses and a statement watch Checking in: The Hollywood star was seen chatting on his phone, before checking his messages He continued on his way, likely waiting for a ride to take him back to the Fox Studios in Moore Park, where the Marvel blockbuster is currently filming. Chris' coffee break comes after he playfully enjoyed a sparring session with one of his twin sons on-set on Tuesday. The Thor star donned his character's long blonde wig as his little boy took a series of jabs in a video shared on his Instagram, which he captioned: 'Introducing the next heavyweight champion of the universe!' Back to work! He continued on his way, likely waiting for a ride to take him back to the Fox Studios in Moore Park, where the Marvel blockbuster is currently filming Chris' son seems to be following in his famous father's footsteps, as he was wearing a superhero cape not unlike Thor's. The Avengers star and his Spanish actress wife Elsa Pataky have three children: twin sons Sasha and Tristan, seven, and daughter India Rose, eight. The couple temporarily moved from Byron Bay to Sydney last month to make their work commitments more manageable. But they have been flying back to Byron via private jet for occasional weekend trips. Cute! On Tuesday, the Thor star donned his character's long blonde wig as his little boy took a series of jabs in a video shared on his Instagram, which he captioned: 'Introducing the next heavyweight champion of the universe!' Chris is busy shooting the new Thor movie, while Elsa is working on Netflix action film Interceptor. The Hemsworths relocated to Byron from Los Angeles with their family back in 2014. They live in the suburb of Broken Head, a 20-minute drive from central Byron, in a mega-mansion estimated to be worth $30million. The property features a 50-metre infinity pool, a large Indigenous mural, two bars and a gym complex including steam, sauna and massage rooms. German Chancellor Angela Merkel and U.S. President Joe Biden discussed in a phone call the NATO military presence in Afghanistan and agreed to closely coordinate future steps, a German government spokesman said on Wednesday. The chancellor and the president exchanged views on the situation in Afghanistan and how to proceed with regard to the NATO troop presence, government spokesman Steffen Seibert said. Both leaders underlined the importance of close coordination and cooperation as well as continued political commitment for the country, Seibert added. In their phone call, Merkel and Biden discussed the latest developments in eastern Ukraine and called on Russia to avoid any further escalation. "The chancellor and the president agreed that Russia should reduce the latest troop reinforcements in order to de-escalate the situation," Reuters cited the government spokesman as saying. (Newser) Johnson & Johnson's COVID-19 vaccine will remain in limbo for a while longer after government health advisers declared Wednesday that they need more evidence to decide if a handful of unusual blood clots were linked to the shotand if so, how big the risk really is. The CDC expects its advisers to reconsider the evidence within two weeks, the AP reports. So far the clots have occurred between one and three weeks after people received the J&J vaccine, and officials cautioned that more reports could surface. The reports are exceedingly raresix cases out of more than 7 million US inoculations with the one-dose vaccine. But the government recommended a pause in J&J vaccinations this week, not long after European regulators declared that such clots are a rare but possible risk with the AstraZeneca vaccine, a shot made in a similar way but not yet approved for use in the US. story continues below These are not run-of-the-mill blood clots. They occurred in unusual places, in veins that drain blood from the brain, and in people with abnormally low levels of clot-forming platelets. The six cases raised an alarm bell because that number is at least three times more than experts would have expected to see even of more typical brain-drainage clots, said CDC's Dr. Tom Shimabukuro. What we have here is a picture of clots forming in large vessels where we have low platelets, Shimabukuro explained. This usually doesnt happen, but its similar to European reports with the AstraZeneca vaccine. When the clots were spotted after AstraZeneca vaccinations, scientists in Norway and Germany raised the possibility that some people are experiencing an abnormal immune response, forming antibodies that disable their platelets. Thats the theory as the US now investigates the J&J reports. The good news: The government says there are no signs of similar clots after vaccination with the Pfizer and Moderna shots that are the mainstay of the COVID-19 fight in the US. (Read more Johnson & Johnson stories.) Source: Xinhua| 2021-04-14 23:03:08|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close ZAGREB, April 14 (Xinhua) -- Croatian Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic on Wednesday presented the government's draft National Recovery and Resilience Plan for 2021-2026 to Parliament, saying that it should help the country overcome the current crisis and turn challenges into opportunities. The plan contains proposals worth a total of 49.08 billion Croatian kuna (7.75 billion U.S. dollars). Its drafting and submission to the European Commission is a precondition for obtaining funds from the European Recovery and Resilience Facility (RRF) for the 2021 to 2023 period. Croatia will have to implement reforms and invest almost 40 percent of the EU funds in green transition and 20 percent in digital transformation. "This is not helicopter money that would be simply given to the companies. It's not the purpose of the plan," Plenkovic said. The term "helicopter money" refers to a large sum of new money that is printed and distributed among the public to stimulate the economy. The COVID-19 crisis has cost Croatia 32 billion kuna, which equals 8.7 percent of gross domestic product (GDP), according to Plenkovic. The plan's main components are the enterprise sector, pubic administration, judiciary and state assets, education, science and research, labor market, social protection health care and building reconstruction. "We will allocate 54 percent of the money to the enterprise sector. We will ensure coherence with the European goals. We want to decarbonize transport and will ensure better coverage with broadband infrastructure," Plenkovic said. He noted that the plan should help the country overcome the crisis as soon as possible and that the government was open to consider new proposals. Discussions on the plan should be concluded by the end of April. (1 Croatian kuna = 0.16 U.S. dollar) Enditem Jakarta, April 15 : Indonesian police on Thursday shot dead a man allegedly linked to last month's suicide bombing outside a church in South Sulawesi province, a spokesman said. Members of the police anti-terrorism unit used lethal force after the suspect attacked them with a sickle during a raid on his home in the provincial capital Makassar, dpa news agency quoted a police spokesman as saying. "The suspect was believed involved in the group that attacked the cathedral church," Zulfan said. Police have arrested at least 31 people in connection with the March 28 attack on the Sacred Heart of Jesus Cathedral in Makassar, which left the two attackers dead and injured 20 people. Investigators said a newly married couple linked to Jamaah Ansharud Daulah (JAD), a militant network that supports the Islamic State terror group, carried out the attack. JAD has been blamed for a series of militant attacks in Indonesia in recent years, including suicide attacks on three churches in Surabaya, the country's second-largest city, in 2018. The coordinated attacks involving two families, including children, killed 15 people and 13 attackers. BANGALORE, India, April 15, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- The New Energy Vehicles Market is Segmented by Type (HEV, PHEV, EV), by Application (Commercial Vehicle, Passenger Vehicle). The report covers global opportunity analysis and industry forecasts from 2021 to 2027. It is published on Valuates Reports in the Autos & Vehicles Category. The New Energy Vehicles Market size was valued at USD 96,550 Million in 2020 and is projected to reach USD 286,340 Million by 2027, at a CAGR of 16.8% during the forecast period 2021-2027. Major factors driving the growth of new energy vehicles market size are: Rising need to control the pollution due to conventional fuel vehicles. Increasing government support through incentives and subsidies offered on zero-emission vehicles. Government imposing mandatory green credits on OEM's. Changing consumer sentiment towards the electric vehicle due to continuous drop in initial purchase cost, low maintenance cost, growing charging infrastructure and better driving experience. View Report Details Before Purchasing: https://reports.valuates.com/market-reports/QYRE-Auto-7G668/global-new-energy-vehicles TRENDS INFLUENCING THE GROWTH OF NEW ENERGY VEHICLES MARKET SIZE The demand for new energy vehicles has been driven by rising environmental issues and growing demand for pollution-free and energy-efficient transportation solutions around the world. Research has shown that electric cars are better for the environment. They emit fewer greenhouse gases and air pollutants than a petrol or diesel car. The rising government initiative to increase the adoption of EVs is expected to drive the growth of new energy vehicle market size. Many governments have offered compelling financial incentives to make the EV switch, such as providing cash subsidies to consumers buying low-emission vehicles, reducing taxes on EVs, and increasing or maintaining taxes on ICE vehicles. Changing consumer sentiment towards the electric vehicle is expected to drive the growth of new energy vehicle market size. HEV, PHEV & EV are becoming a more practical and viable choice as the obstacles such as driving range, cost of ownership are rapidly eliminated. Request a Sample Copy of the Report For Growth & Trends Analysis on New Energy Vehicles Market: https://reports.valuates.com/request/sample/QYRE-Auto-7G668/Global_New_Energy_Vehicles_Market NEW ENERGY VEHICLES MARKET SHARE ANALYSIS The passenger vehicle segment is projected to lead the New Energy vehicle market. This growth is largely due to increased consumer awareness and the introduction of stricter regulations, which has resulted in significantly higher passenger vehicle sales in the NEV market. The Asia Pacific is expected to be one of the most lucrative regions due to its large consumer base and increasing adoption of new energy vehicles. China leads the NEV market in the Asia Pacific. Besides China, Japan, South Korea, and India are also anticipated to be highly lucrative markets for new energy vehicles. Inquire for Regional Report: https://reports.valuates.com/request/regional/QYRE-Auto-7G668/Global_New_Energy_Vehicles_Market New Energy Vehicles Market Segment by Type HEV PHEV EV Others. New Energy Vehicles Market Segment by Application Commercial Vehicle Passenger Vehicle. Top Major Players in the New Energy Vehicles Market TOYOTA Nissan Tesla Mitsubishi GM Ford BMW Renault Volvo Mercedes-Benz Volkswagen Honda FIAT BYD Chery ZOTYE Yutong BAIC King-long Zhong Tong Geely SAIC JAC Others. Buy Now for Single User + Covid-19 Impact : https://reports.valuates.com/api/directpaytoken?rcode=QYRE-Auto-7G668&lic=single-user Buy Now for Enterprise License + Covid-19 Impact : https://reports.valuates.com/api/directpaytoken?rcode=QYRE-Auto-7G668&lic=enterprise-user SUBSCRIPTION We have introduced a tailor-made subscription for our customers. Please leave a note in the Comment Section to know about our subscription plans. SIMILAR REPORTS : - The Electric Commercial Vehicle market size is projected to reach USD 178560 million by 2027, from USD 101270 million in 2020, at a CAGR of 8.3% during 2021-2027. - The Electric Scooter and Motorcycle Market size was valued at USD 5560.9 Million in 2020 and is projected to reach USD 7618.5 Million by 2027, at a CAGR of 4.6% during 2021-2027 - Electric vehicle market was valued at USD 162.34 Billion in 2019 and is projected to reach USD 802.81 Billion by 2027, registering a CAGR of 22.6%. - The global electric vehicle battery market size was valued at USD 23 Billion in 2017 and is projected to reach USD 84 Billion by 2025, growing at a CAGR of 17.2% from 2018 to 2025. - The Electric Bike Market is expected to grow from USD 19,719.54 Million in 2019 to USD 36,466.04 Million by the end of 2025 at a Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of 10.78%. - Wireless EV Charging market size was valued at USD 7.6 Million in 2019 and is projected to reach USD 210.1 Million by 2030, registering a CAGR of 36.4% from 2020 to 2030. - The global Electric Car market size is projected to reach USD 476730 Million by 2026, from USD 97260 Million in 2019, at a CAGR of 25.3% during 2021-2026. - Electric Bus Market size will increase from USD 88,632.45 Million in 2018 to USD 183,269.78 Million by 2025, at a Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of 10.93%. - Electric truck market size was valued at USD 422.5 Million in 2019 and is projected to reach USD 1,893.1 Million by 2027, registering a CAGR of 25.8% from 2020 to 2027. - The global vehicle electrification market size was valued at USD 70.14 Billion in 2019, and is projected to reach USD 140.29 Billion by 2027, registering a CAGR of 11.3%. - The hydrogen fuel cell vehicle market size was valued at USD 651.9 Million in 2018 and is projected to reach USD 42,038.9 Million by 2026, growing at a CAGR of 66.9% from 2019 to 2026. 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CONTACT US: Valuates Reports [email protected] For U.S. Toll-Free Call +1-(315)-215-3225 For IST Call +91-8040957137 WhatsApp : +91 9945648335 Website: https://reports.valuates.com Twitter - https://twitter.com/valuatesreports Linkedin - https://in.linkedin.com/company/valuatesreports Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/valuatesreports SOURCE Valuates Reports All in will be closed till May 15 while board exams for classes 10 and 12 have been postponed till May 20 in view of rising COVID-19 cases, the state government said on Thursday. The new dates for the board examinations will be decided in the first week of May, an official said. " up to class 12 are being closed till May 15 and no examinations will also be held during this period. Also, UP board examinations for classes 10 and 12 have been postponed till May 20," the official said. The decision was taken at a meeting chaired by Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath. The Board examinations were scheduled to start from May 8. A night curfew from 8 pm till 7 am was imposed in 10 districts with more than 2,000 active COVID-19 cases, the official said. The districts are in Lucknow, Allahabad, Varanasi, Kanpur, Gautam Buddh Nagar, Ghaziabad, Meerut and Gorakhpur, the official said. Source: Xinhua| 2021-04-15 21:05:24|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close LUSAKA, April 15 (Xinhua) -- One hundred and six people received the COVID-19 vaccine jab on the first day of the launch of the vaccination program, a senior government official said Thursday. Zambia officially launched the vaccination program Wednesday, with the first phase targeting health workers and other people most at risk. Minister of Health Jonas Chanda, who was the first to receive the jab as a medical doctor, said the 106 people were vaccinated at the launch and so far no adverse events have been reported. He said only a few reports of common side effects like other routine vaccinations such as headaches and pains at the point of injection have been noted. A surveillance system has been put in place to tackle any concerns that might occur as the country rolls out the vaccination program, according to the official. "The government will only allow in the vaccines that are safe, efficacious and suitable for Zambia. Benefits of vaccination far outweigh the very rare side effects that may be reported," he said. The vaccination program is being conducted in a phased manner. The first pillar which is currently underway is a program under the COVAX Facility consisting of 228,000 doses of AstraZeneca manufactured in India. Meanwhile, the country recorded 143 new cases out of 5,696 tests done in the last 24 hours. This brings the cumulative figure to 90,532 while 42 patients were discharged during the same period, bringing the total recoveries to 88,283. The country, however, reported loss of one patient, bringing the total COVID-19 deaths to 1,230. Enditem WASHINGTON, DC Federal regulators have imposed a $15 million fine against the former owner of a mid-Michigan dam that unleashed a 500-year flood last year, saying the company failed to perform important safety work after the disaster. The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) announced Thursday, April 15, that it would assess the penalty against Boyce Hydro, a bankrupt company co-owned by Lee Mueller of Nevada that formerly operated the Edenville Dam. The Gladwin County dam failed last May, causing a downstream failure of the Sanford Dam and subsequent flooding in the village of Sanford, city of Midland and beyond. The fine has been anticipated since FERC proposed it in December. It equals the largest civil penalty for a hydroelectric dam safety failure in the United States, assessed after the 2005 Taum Sauk reservoir collapse in Missouri, which also resulted in a $15 million fine. The fine is based largely on Boyce Hydros failure to act on federal orders after the May 19, 2020 dam collapse in Edenville, which caused more than $200 million in estimated damages and forced the temporary evacuation of about 10,000 people. Todays decision sends a clear message to all licensees of FERC-jurisdictional hydroelectric projects: It is imperative that they comply with the safety requirements of their licenses, FERC Chairman Rich Glick said in a news release. Public safety is a top priority at these facilities, and we will do whatever we can to protect communities. However, attorneys say its unlikely the fine can be paid because Boyce Hydro is insolvent and bankruptcy claims by creditors such as Byline Bank and other flood victims are taking priority over payment to the federal government. Boyce Hydro no longer owns the dam, which was transferred to the Four Lakes Task Force (FLTF). The task force paid $1.5 million to acquire the Edenville, Sanford, Secord and Smallwood dams through eminent domain as a delegate of Midland and Gladwin counties. The FERC order says the fine is subordinate to flood victim claims in the Boyce Hydro bankruptcy case, in which a liquidation plan and settlement fund was confirmed on Feb. 25 by U.S. District Court Judge Daniel Opperman. FERC will take all reasonable steps to have any recovery of civil penalties be given lower priority than the victims recovery in the bankruptcy proceeding, wrote FERC Secretary Kimberly Bose in the fine order. Muellers attorney, Larry Kogan of New York, said the victims fund is about $4 million. Mr. Mueller has zero ability to pay because every single Boyce asset has been acquired either by the Four Lakes Task Force or placed in the stewardship of the liquidating trustee of the bankruptcy court to manage for the benefit of the flood victims, Kogan said. A call to liquidating trustee Scott Wolfson of the Wolfson Bolton firm in Troy was not returned Thursday afternoon. Kogan characterized FERCs fine as window dressing to compensate for a poor transfer of oversight after the Edenville Dam lost its operating licenses in 2018 and was placed under jurisdiction of the Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes and Energy (EGLE), which struggled to access key documents and understand problems with the dam. In its order, FERC directed Boyce to pay the $15 million within 60 days but will allow the company to file periodic bankruptcy updates every month until it has made whatever payment of this civil penalty it is allowed to make under the confirmed plan of liquidation. FERC never expects to be paid, Kogan said. Thats the implication. It went through the motions because it had to follow through. Kogan alleged that state attorneys are jeopardizing the flood victim payouts by pursing priority claims in the bankruptcy case while FERC is not. EGLE spokesperson Nick Assendelft disputed that, saying the state isnt expecting to receive a recovery under the Chapter 11 plan. EGLE agreed that its administrative priority claim would be treated the same as FERCs claim: a class 7 subordinated governmental claim that only gets paid if there is money left over after being distributed to flood victims, Assendelft wrote. Mueller and the state of Michigan have been embroiled in litigation since before the dam collapse last year. Those cases have been on hold during bankruptcy proceedings. According to FERC, 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. Disregarding FERCs post-flood investigation orders allowed the commission to assess penalties of $23,331 per-day, per-violation, under federal law. The Four Lakes Task Force says it plans to restore the Wixom Lake and Sanford Lake impoundments drained by the dam failures. The task force plans to spend about $300 million to repair the broken dams over the next six years. 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. The disaster prompted renewed attention on dam safety in Michigan. A state dam safety task force in February warned of another grave situation in a report to the governor and legislature if the states safety regulations arent updated. Through a suite of 86 recommended actions, the task force urged the state to reduce the risk of more dam failures by providing adequate authority and resources for state safety inspectors and new financing for dam maintenance, repair and removal projects, as well as emergency responses. Related stories: Officials push for $15M Edenville Dam fine Grave situation awaits Michigan without dam safety fixes 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 Source: Xinhua| 2021-04-15 21:59:02|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close BEIJING, April 15 (Xinhua) -- China's duty-free market has been gathering steam with overseas consumption flowing back to the home market due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. China's southern island province of Hainan recorded 1.5 billion yuan (about 229.7 million U.S. dollars) in offshore duty-free spending during the Spring Festival holiday this year, double the figure from the same period in 2019, official data showed. Offshore duty-free sales in Hainan are expected to double in 2021 for the second year in a row, as fine-tuned favorable policies continue to draw more consumers, Shen Xiaoming, Party chief of Hainan, told a press conference Monday. The island's offshore duty-free sales are likely to exceed 60 billion yuan in 2021, up from 30 billion yuan last year, which had doubled from 15 billion yuan in 2019, Shen told the press conference. The province previously increased the annual tax-free shopping quota per person from 30,000 yuan to 100,000 yuan starting from July 1, 2020. The categories of duty-free goods have also been expanded from 38 to 45, with electronic products such as mobile phones and laptops added to the duty-free list. By 2025, China's duty-free market is expected to top 150 billion yuan, according to a research note by CITIC Construction Investment Securities. A large number of listed Chinese companies, attracted by the huge growth potential, applied for qualifications covering duty-free businesses in the cities of Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Wuhan last year. Apart from duty-free businesses at airports, ports and offshore islands, the new model of cityside duty-free shops is attracting considerable attention. "Cityside duty-free stores, usually located in urban areas, benefit from greater transportation convenience and longer effective purchase periods," said Wang Yun, a researcher with the Academy of Macroeconomic Research. Citing prospects of such stores amid the country's further opening-up of the service trade sector, Wang said developing the duty-free economy will drive the coordinated growth of the local catering and tourism industries. Enditem GRAND RAPIDS, MI A public memorial service will be held Friday, April 16 to celebrate the life and legacy of former state Sen. Mark Jansen, who died March 23 after a valiant fight against Glioblastoma Stage 4 Brain Cancer, according to his family. Jansen, 61, R-Gaines Township, served as a Republican in both chambers of the Michigan Legislature for 14 years, representing residents in the suburbs of Grand Rapids and Allegan County. He was the senator for District 28 from 2007 to 2015 and prior to that represented District 72 in the House of Representatives from 1996 to 2002. While Jansen approached politics with a big smile and bigger heart, his wife, LeAnne Jansen, said he was a man of contrasts who often spent time in deep thought about how he could better serve those around the state. Despite his long tenure as a lawmaker, Mrs. Jansen said she didnt call him a politician. She told MLive Wednesday, April 14 that he was a servant leader who focused less on his political resume and more on chasing his convictions. Mark was not concerned about getting reelected when making decisions, Mrs. Jansen said. He was concerned about being able to put his head on his pillow at night and going to sleep without regret knowing that he held true to his principles and beliefs, that he brought honor to God and had also taken care of the needs of his community. Marnie Triemstra, who was Jansens legislative director during his second term as senator, said when she was helping organize a GoFundMe for Jansens battle against cancer, she was shocked to see that the donations rolling in were split right in half between Democrats and Republicans. It struck me that Mark brought people together during what might be our most divisive time politically, she said. Its no surprise, I think if you look at those saddened by losing Mark, youll see a reflection of his kindness to everyone around him, regardless of party or belief. Triemstra noted that wanting to be with his family kept Jansen home when he was off the clock. He would often try to get events after work covered for him so he could spend more time with his wife. It was incredibly rare for him to get a hotel in Lansing - even on late nights and bad weather, Triemstra said. He would remark he didnt like staying without his wife. Before working in Lansing, Jansen got his start in leadership as a Kent County road commissioner and vice-president of the Cutlerville Christian School Board. He also served as Gaines Township Clerk from 1992-1996 before being elected to the House. Jansen served all six years on the House Appropriations Committee, only one of two freshmen appointed to the influential committee by leadership. Beyond his political life, Jansen was dedicated to community service. In his 20s, he and his wife saw the widespread poverty of Appalachia, which turned safe and affordable housing into a passion of his. Jansen spearheaded Habitat for Humanitys Vision 20/20, which aimed to eliminate substandard housing by 2020. Mark believed if families could have a safe place to put their heads at night, and a sense of ownership, they had a much better chance to make it in life, the Jansen family said in a statement to MLive. Jansens family said that his faith permeated every part of his life. From his early days as a missionary in the Appalachian Mountains to his tight bond with his church community, they say he was a man of God. The Jansens have four children, Sarah (Jason) Noteboom, Bradley (Emily) Jansen, Anna Jansen, and Nathan Jansen and four grandchildren. Jansens obituary, written by his son Bradley, said wrote that his fathers favorite scriptures remind us where our spiritual focus remains on this earthly journey: Philippians 4:13 I can do all things through Christ who gives me strength and Proverbs 3:5-6: Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will direct your paths. Marks journey was led by faith and paired with his bold focus on his family and marriage, according to the obituary. Marks deepest desire was to walk by faith, love his wife and family, and equip his community to experience the full truth, wisdom and love that comes with life and hope in Christ. The family shared how he applied his wisdom as a leader in his own life, which rubbed off on those around him and that he modeled doing what he said he would do. Dad was a man who walked by example, the family statement said. He wasnt preachy, he humbly lived his daily life as someone who loves and follows the Lord and keeps his family a priority. It didnt matter what job he had, position he held, or how busy he was, if we needed him -- Dad was there. Whether it was lending a hand with a house project or listening to us as we processed through a big decision, we deeply valued his wisdom and advice. The void Jansen leaves behind is described as being filled with the laughter of playing with his grandkids, the smell of BBQ during the summer and the paint-stained jeans of renovating homes. His family also noted his smile, his trademark stocking stuffers and his famous chocolate chip cookies, which he even drove to Detroit to hand-deliver. Being married to Mark has been one of my lifes greatest joys, as well as quite an adventure, Mrs. Jansen said about their 38 years of life-defining experiences. It wasnt uncommon for him to sit me down and say, Ive been thinking and then he would stun me with some grand vision of the next thing he felt led by God to step into. It has been an honor to walk alongside him, supporting him in whatever way I could to help him fulfill the things He felt God calling him to do. Jansens memorial service will be held from 3 to 4:30 p.m. Friday at Kentwood Community Church, located at 1200 60th St. SE. Due to large venue COVID-19 distancing protocol, there is a limit of 500 guests allowed at this service. Masks are required and ushers will guide guests to seats following seating distancing requirements. A socially distanced fellowship time will follow the service at Covenant CRC Church, located at 7171 Willard Ave. SE, from 5 to 7 p.m. To accommodate for public health, attendees are encouraged to register online here. Read more: Grand Rapids elected leaders set to receive highest pay raise in 36 years amid budget shortfall Half of Mackinac Islands M-185 perimeter road will have construction, closures this summer Another person charged in Grand Rapids riot enters plea Uh-oh! It could be you, or it could be us, but there's no page here. Former U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo addresses the Conservative Political Action Conference held in the Hyatt Regency in Orlando, Fla. on Feb. 27, 2021. (Joe Raedle/Getty Images) Pompeo: Biden Right to Withdraw US Troops From Afghanistan, But Execution Matters Former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Wednesday that President Joe Biden is doing the right thing by withdrawing all U.S. troops from Afghanistan by Sept. 11, but stressed that it matters how the Biden administration executes the plans. The Biden administrations tactics, decisions, timing, and execution regarding the drawdown of combat troops in the region beginning May 1 will be key, said Pompeo. Pompeo was a member of the team negotiating the nations exit strategy with the Taliban under Bidens predecessor Donald Trump. Last year, Trump outlined an agreement with the Taliban, saying troops would withdraw from Afghanistan by May 1 in exchange for a promise from the Taliban for a reduction in violence, counterterrorism guarantees, and a pledge to kickstart intra-Afghan peace talks. We reduced [troops] from 10,000 plus to around 2,500 on our watch, and [we did] everything we could to make sure we were never attacked from Afghanistan again, Pompeo said during an appearance on Fox News America Reports. Biden said Wednesday that it is now time to end Americas longest war and time for American troops to come home, noting that the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks in New York City cannot explain why U.S. soldiers should remain in the Central Asian country. He said he made the decision after consulting with Vice President Kamala Harris, top military leaders, lawmakers, and former President George Bush. The president hasnt yet specified whether special operations troops will remain in Afghanistan. As of this year, as many as 1,000 special operations forces are reported to remain in the region. Pompeo said that the United States moving to reduce our footprint inside of Afghanistan is completely appropriate and the right thing to do. President Biden has it right. President Trump had it right before him, said Pompeo. Its leader is mostly inside of Iran and not inside of Afghanistan. President Joe Biden speaks from the Treaty Room in the White House about the withdrawal of U.S. troops from Afghanistan, in Washington, on April 14, 2021. (Andrew Harnik-Pool/Getty Images) But he stressed that how you execute this matters an awful lot. We need make sure to have our European partners on board and then the Taliban have an important decision to make. [They] have to decide if they want to be part of a pariah state and cause lots of trouble, or if they want to be part of a solution in Afghanistan. Its a long shot that theyll choose that choice but it would be the right thing for them to do, and in the event that they choose otherwise, the United States still provides billions of dollars in assistance to Afghanistan, and we ought to make that assistance contingent on the decisions of all Afghan leaders getting it right, Pompeo added. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) and other top Republicans said Bidens plan to remove troops is a grave mistake. During a press conference Wednesday, Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) said that Bidens decision to fully withdraw U.S. troops by Sept. 11 is the highest risk option available, and will put us in a world of hurt. What do we lose by pulling out? We lose that insurance policy against another 9/11, said Graham. We lose listening post in the backyard of some of the most radical movements in the world. Afghanistan has been a platform where we can monitor whats going on in Iran and other places. What do we gain? We gain the idea that the war is now over, and Joe Biden ended the longest war in American history, the South Carolina Republican continued. With all due respect to President Biden, you have not ended the war, you have extended it. You have made it bigger, not smaller. Youre going to do to us what you did in Iraq, put us in a world of hurt, Graham said, referring to a complete withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq in 2011 under former President Barack Obama, a move which some critics say led to the rise of ISIS. The likelihood of this happening again is going through the roof after President Bidens decision today, Graham added. Hes setting Afghanistan on a path to deteriorate rather quickly and for the enemy, radical Islam, to reconstitute. It can all be avoided with a minimal commitment compared to the past. Biden has said that the United States will continue to provide security assistance to Afghanistans army, adding that if the Taliban attacks, U.S. troops will defend themselves with all the tools available. Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said Wednesday that his country's decision to enrich uranium up to 60 percent purity is in response to the sabotage attack that damaged the nation's Natanz nuclear site. Speaking at a Cabinet meeting, Rouhani called the move "an answer to your evilness." Iran had previously enriched uranium to 20 percent. In addition to higher enrichment levels, Rouhani also said first-generation IR-1 centrifuges that were damaged in the attack would be replaced by more advanced IR-6 centrifuges. Under the terms of a 2015 agreement between Iran and a group of six world powers, Iran was limited to enriching uranium up to 3.67 percent to allay concerns about it developing nuclear weapons. Weapons-grade uranium is enriched to about 90 percent. Iran has said its nuclear program is solely for civilian purposes such as electricity and medicine. Gov. Whitmer announces Healthy Michigan Plan top 900,000 enrollees Gov. Whitmer announces Healthy Michigan Plan top 900,000 enrollees FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: April 12, 2021 CONTACT: Bob Wheaton wheatonb@michigan.gov Gov. Whitmer announces Healthy Michigan Plan top 900,000 enrollees Expanded Medicaid program helps residents afford coverage LANSING, Mich. - The Healthy Michigan Plan is now providing health care coverage to more than 900,000 residents for the first time, Gov. Gretchen Whitmer announced today. There are now 900,100 people enrolled in the Healthy Michigan Plan, the state's expanded Medicaid program. Gov. Whitmer and (MDHHS) have strongly supported the Healthy Michigan Plan. When she was State Senate Democratic leader, Whitmer helped pass the bipartisan legislation that created the Healthy Michigan Plan, which was enacted in April 2014. "The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the health and finances of so many Michigan families underscores the importance of the Healthy Michigan Plan for its 900,000 enrollees," said Gov. Whitmer. "Providing affordable health care coverage to all Michiganders is critical. I am proud of the Healthy Michigan Plan - one that I helped create during my time as Senate Democratic Leader by collaborating with a Republican governor and legislature." During the COVID-19 pandemic, the number of Healthy Michigan Plan beneficiaries jumped from just under 682,000 in late March 2020 to more than 900,000 now. Michigan instituted policies to help families access affordable health care coverage such as deciding to avoid terminating Healthy Michigan Plan coverage and freeze premiums for as long as the COVID-19 public health emergency exists. The state qualified for additional Medicaid funding from the federal government through the Families First Coronavirus Response Act. MDHHS has also worked to streamline the application process over the past few years to ensure people eligible to receive benefits are able to access them without unnecessary burdensome requirements. "The Healthy Michigan Plan is a perfect example of how we can work together with a bipartisan spirit to enact laws that make a positive difference in the lives of Michigan residents," said MDHHS Director Elizabeth Hertel. ""Our residents have increased access to health care as a direct result of the Healthy Michigan Plan, which allows them to be healthy, successful and productive." Healthy Michigan Plan coverage is available to Michiganders ages 19-64 years old who have an income at or below 133 percent of the federal poverty level - or $16,971 annually for a single person - and meet other eligibility requirements, such as not qualifying for other Medicaid programs. Expanded Medicaid plans are allowed under the federal Affordable Care Act if states decide to implement them. Apply for the Healthy Michigan Plan at www.michigan.gov/MIBridges or by calling the Michigan HealthCare Helpline at 855-789-5610. For more information, visit www.michigan.gov/HealthyMiPlan. # # # [April 15, 2021] William Blair Expands Consumer and Retail Investment Banking Team William Blair, the premier global boutique with expertise in investment banking, investment management, and private wealth management, today announced that Ben Riback joined the firm's growing Consumer and Retail investment banking team. Riback joins as a managing director based in the Chicago office and will be a leader in the food and beverage and agribusiness sector. "Ben is a talented and experienced banker, bringing a breadth of capabilities and senior-level advisory experience," said < rel="nofollow" rel="nofollow" href="https://cts.businesswire.com/ct/CT?id=smartlink&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.williamblair.com%2FBios%2FAdam-Filkin.aspx&esheet=52412447&newsitemid=20210415005654&lan=en-US&anchor=Adam+Filkin&index=4&md5=123f160e155b88e179f3220de33b3019" shape="rect">Adam Filkin, managing director and head of the Consumer and Retail investment banking team. "We are excited to have him join the team. Ben's long track record of successful food and beverage leadership will be a tremendous asset to our clients." With more than 17 years of industry experience, Riback joins William Blair after spending 10 years at BMO Capital Markets, where he was most recently a managing director. Riback was responsible for client coverage across the food and beverage landscape, leading mergers-and-acquisitions and equity and debt transactions across multiple verticals for public, private equity, and family-owned businesses. Before that, he was with Citibank in New York and Arthur Anderson's business consulting group. Riback received his B.B.A. from the University of Wisconsin, Madison, and his M.B.A. from the Michigan Ross School of Business. In 2020, William Blair unlocked over $115 billion in value for clients, completing 250 transactions. About William Blair Investment Banking William Blair's investment banking group enables corporations, financial sponsors, and owner/entrepreneurs around the world to achieve their growth, liquidity, and financing objectives. Drawing on the collective intellectual capital and deep sector expertise of a global team that reaches over 20 cities on four continents, the investment banking group brings a rigorous and innovative approach to corporate board advisory projects, mergers and acquisitions, and equity and debt financing. From 2016 to 2020, the team advised on more than $430 billion in completed transaction volume. About William Blair William Blair is the premier global boutique with expertise in investment banking, investment management, and private wealth management. We provide advisory services, strategies, and solutions to meet our clients' evolving needs. As an independent and employee-owned firm, together with our strategic partners, we operate in more than 20 offices worldwide.* *Includes strategic partnerships with Allier Capital, BDA Partners, and Poalim Capital Markets. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210415005654/en/ [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... David Holthouse knows his way around a story. Its a skill hes worked with as an investigative journalist for more than 20 years. The New Mexico resident is the subject of a coming three-part docuseries called Sasquatch. ADVERTISEMENTSkip ................................................................ It will begin airing on Hulu on Tuesday, April 20. The docuseries tells the story of Holthouses visit to a pot farm in northern California in 1993 one that still haunts him. On a nearby farm, three men were torn limb from limb in a savage Bigfoot attack. The series follows Holthouse as he revisits the Redwoods 25 years later, in search of any evidence that might lead to the truth of what happened that night. As he pulls at the threads of this story, hell be taken down a path thats far more terrifying than anyone would have imagined. Holthouse who moved to northern New Mexico in 2018 says the docuseries shines a light on the infamous Emerald Triangle in Northern California one of the largest cannabis-growing regions since 1960 that also holds the highest missing persons and murder rate in the state. I really have to credit the director, Joshua Rofe, on this project, Holthouse says. All of this was a journey for me. To revisit an area that I was in back in 1993. Im older now and am not as gung-ho as I was in my 20s. The series is also executive-produced by Mary and Jay Duplass. Holthouse says going back to the area was interesting because of how much it has changed, yet how much it remains the same. Cannabis is largely decriminalized, and that hasnt made northern Mendocino County any better, he says. The price of weed is down, and even people that are still doing black market grows arent bringing in the money they used to. Times are hard, and people are desperate. Its even a more dangerous place than in the 1990s. Holthouse says crystal meth is running through the area now. As he continued to move forward with the docuseries, Holthouse knew his limits. Ive learned when I can push them for information and when I have to sit back, he says. Im not quite as bold as I used to be. I just turned 50. Filming was also a journey, and Holthouse was often accompanied by a small camera crew to avoid drawing attention. I would stumble across a perpetrator, and I knew we had to dial back the risk, he says. The biggest challenge for me was not going back up the mountain one more time. It might get me closer to the truth, but I probably wouldnt have returned from there. Streaming soon Sasquatch is a three-part documentary that follows New Mexico resident David Holthouse as he returns to Northern California to update a story from 1993. It starts streaming on Hulu on Tuesday, April 20. ATLANTA Gov. Brian Kemp, the Georgia Republican who ranks high on former President Donald J. Trumps list of enemies, will face a high-profile pro-Trump challenger in next years Republican primary: Vernon Jones, a former Democrat who, echoing the false claims of Mr. Trump, has called Georgias November presidential election fixed and tainted. Mr. Jones, a former state representative and head of government in DeKalb County, announced his candidacy Friday in a fiery speech outside the Georgia capitol, in which he criticized Mr. Kemp for rejecting Mr. Trumps demand to convene special session of the state legislature to examine Georgias election results. For those of you who feel the incumbent governor didnt fight for you, a new day has dawned, he said. Mr. Jones expressed his support for the former president and struck a distinctly Trumpian tone, attacking the local newspaper and cancel culture, and hurling insults at prominent Democrats including Stacey Abrams, the former state House minority leader who may run for governor in 2022. Mr. Jones, at one point, referred to Ms. Abrams as the wicked witch of the South, part of an extended Wizard of Oz riff in which he also named Democrats whom he said had no brains, no heart and no courage. The timeless trope of the Miranda warning is familiar to most anyone whos watched a post-Perry Mason police questioning: The Constitution guarantees criminal defendants the right to an attorney including court-appointed advocates for those who cant afford one. Far fewer realize such broad federal protections dont extend to civil law, including for those facing eviction. Research shows that in many cities while 90 percent of property owners typically have the resources to hire a lawyer, the vast majority of tenants in these cases dont have their own legal advocate. With tens of millions of renters at risk of homelessness, the recent extension of the federal Centers for Disease Control and Preventions eviction moratorium recognizes the public health risks of turning people out of their homes during a global pandemic. Evicted renters must move, which leads to multiple outcomes that increase the risk of COVID-19 spread, the emergency order states. Despite its promise, the moratorium hasnt stopped evictions, with various exemptions and loopholes including no requirement that landlords actually have to inform tenants about the emergency CDC rule tilted in favor of property owners. Outside Washington, D.C., a growing number of cities are turning to a more systematic approach to the nationwide eviction crisis: right-to-counsel laws in landlord-tenant disputes. In 2017, New York City enacted the nations first right-to-counsel law for those facing eviction in housing court. Not only has legal representation of defendants increased, but eviction filings are also down, and almost 90 percent of households with counsel have been allowed to stay in their homes. In San Francisco, where voters approved a 2018 ballot measure ensuring right to counsel for those facing eviction, such filings are also down. And in Cleveland, which adopted its program in 2020, data for its first six months shows that 93 percent of tenants with counsel were able to avoid eviction. Those cities are joined by Baltimore, Boulder, Newark, Philadelphia and Seattle, where elected leaders have approved yet another right-to-counsel ordinance. Similar ordinances are being debated in Fresno and Tulsa. In Denver, organizers and city leaders alike are pushing to bring voters a right-to-counsel ballot measure in the fall, and a pilot project is under consideration in Milwaukee. At the state level, tenant right-to-counsel bills have been filed in eight states: Connecticut, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota , Nebraska, South Carolina , Washington and New York, where it would cover those ages 62 and over. Here in Houston, where only 3 percent of tenants in the 32,000-plus eviction cases processed in 2020 had attorneys, Lone Star Legal Aid is working with a coalition of eviction defenders to offer our own pilot program, the Eviction Right to Counsel Project, in a small number of area Justice of the Peace courts. The coalition is comprised of Lone Star Legal Aid, Houston Volunteer Lawyers, South Texas College of Law, Thurgood Marshall School of Laws Earl Carl Institute and the University of Houston Law Center. The only program of its kind in Texas, ER2C provides any eligible applicant full representation in eviction court. Since July 2020, thats meant legal representation in more than 300 eviction cases, on behalf of nearly 750 people. Public support for such legal protection is high. A February survey of likely voters nationwide found that across party lines, more than two-thirds support a right to counsel in eviction proceedings similar to the right that exists for criminal cases. Similarly high margins of support were expressed for increased funding of legal services by Congress to prevent evictions. The countrys eviction crisis ravaged low-income and marginalized communities long before COVID-19s arrival. And as the CDC notes, eviction results in increased homelessness and forces families to stay in shelters, in cars, or with friends and families as they double up and surf from couch to couch. This type of overcrowding and transiency increases the risk of COVID-19 exposure, infection and death and furthers health inequities among people of color. Its against this backdrop that Congress tasked the nonprofit Legal Services Corporation, the nations largest funder of civil legal aid, to examine how varying state and local laws affect eviction outcomes. Once completed later this year, that work will enable LSC to develop data-driven interventions to address the root causes of housing instability in the hardest-hit communities. But more immediately, the nation must not withhold lifesaving supports, including expanding the civil right to counsel when eviction is at stake. Flagg is president of the Legal Services Corporation. Furrh is CEO of Lone Star Legal Aid. Tenants facing eviction can apply for free legal help by calling 1-800-733-8394 or by visiting www.lonestarlegal.org. DPS Releases Report On Fatal Hwy. 22 Crash The Department of Public Safety released its report this week on a fatal crash that occurred Tuesday, April 6, west of Hillsboro. DPS troopers were dispatched to the scene on State Highway 22, approximately 4.4 miles west of Hillsboro, at 11:20 p.m. The report indicated that a Kia Rio traveling westbound left the roadway, struck the ditch and overturned, ejecting the driver. The driver, Sydney Oliver, 18, of Whitney, was transported to Baylor Scott and White Medical Center - Hillcrest in Waco, where she was pronounced dead. The passenger of the Kia, a 19-year-old female, was transported to the same medical facility in critical condition. DPS Sergeant Ryan Howard said that it was discovered during the investigation that a safety belt was not used. "Seat belts prevent drivers and passengers from getting ejected from a vehicle, which is almost always deadly," Howard said. "Wearing a seat belt reduces the risk of dying in a crash by 45%. That number jumps to 60% for pickup truck crashes." The Department of Public Safety investigated. Protesters organize at City Hall on Wednesday, April 14, 2021 at a Justice for Daunte rally in Athens, Georgia. Organized by District 2 Commissioner Mariah Parker, the event called for an end to mass incarceration and policing as it is used today and instead fighting for more community resources. (Photo/Taylor Gerlach; taylormckenziephotography.com) Board appoints its first independent member, to extend and encourage diversity of skills and thought As institutional investor, Chrysoula Zervoudakis brings a wealth of experience in financial and governance oversight New Committees to be established to increase transparency, equality and accountability Co-Founder Philippe Lenglart retires, leaving a legacy of growth and stability International beauty packaging manufacturer and provider Quadpack Industries (Euronext Growth: ALQP) has appointed Chrysoula Zervoudakis to its Board of Directors. Her appointment will be ratified by the shareholders at the annual general meeting on 13 July 2021. She becomes the Board's first independent member, establishing Quadpack's commitment to recruiting diverse board members, to foster a culture of oversight and good governance. Quadpack's board currently comprises seven members: Tim Eaves (President), Philippe Lenglart, Marc Sahonet, Patrick McDermott, Steven Lewis, Ignacio Fernandez Gomez (Secretary, non-member) and Beatriz Requena Blanes (Vice-Secretary, non-member). Collectively, the Board has specialist knowledge of key areas of the business, including operations, legal, finance, marketing and mergers & acquisitions. Zervoudakis adds to this her experience in integrating sustainability practices, as well as financial acumen. As an independent Board Member, Chrysoula brings a strong focus on effective, strategic development and decision-making. Prior to being a Board Advisor, she was a Senior Investment Director at AXA IM and INVESCO, with over 25 years of experience managing UK and European equity funds, integrating sustainability and corporate governace criteria to stock selection as early as 2005. An Economics graduate from the University of Birmingham with an MBA from Alliance Manchester Business School, she began her career as a consumer goods sector analyst. She is a member of Chapter Zero, the international non-executive directors' network encouraging informed discussions on the impact of climate change in the boardroom. "Quadpack is an ambitious and dynamic company. It has a strong culture of care and passion coupled with a determination to adapt to ensure a sustainable future. I am excited to be an independent voice on the Board, to help guide the company's strategic direction to emphasise resilience and good governance and create value for all stakeholders," said Zervoudakis. Long term, Quadpack aims to increase diversity and independent thought on the Board and promote sustainable success by taking into account the interests of all its stakeholders. It also intends to create a Nomination and Remuneration Committee and an Audit and Risk Committee. In a further development, Co-founder and Board Member Philippe Lenglart has retired, concluding a successful career during which he helped build Quadpack from a small trader to a leading international manufacturer and provider of beauty packaging solutions. CEO, Chairman and President of the Board Tim Eaves said: "I am fortunate and grateful to have had Philippe as a partner since we founded the company in 2003. Quadpack is where it is today thanks to our shared vision and unfailing belief in our mission to help beauty brands perform. I am also happy to welcome Chrysoula to the Quadpack family. With our first independent Board Member, we move towards greater transparency, diversity and improved governance, as we implement our purpose of doing things 'right, differently, better'." -ENDS- About Quadpack Quadpack is an international manufacturer and provider of enhanced packaging solutions for beauty brand owners and contract fillers. With offices and production facilities in Europe, the US and the Asia Pacific region, and a strategic network of manufacturing partners, Quadpack develops bespoke and customised packs for prestige, masstige and mass market customers. Listed on Euronext Growth in Paris since October 2019, Quadpack relies on a workforce of 600 people to build a more sustainable world. For more information, please visit www.quadpack.com Contact details Mariam Khan Quadpack press office Summit Media Services mariam@summitmediaservices.com Tel: +34 93 265 4463 Legal notice This document contains forward-looking statements about Quadpack's business, financial data, and events related to the company's prospects. These forecasts can be identified by the use of words such as 'estimated', 'plan', 'expectation' or words with a similar meaning. Quadpack may also make projections in other reports, presentations and press releases. Furthermore, the company's representatives may occasionally make forward-looking statements. These projections are based on current expectations and on certain hypotheses, many of which are beyond the company's control and subject to a series of risks and uncertainties. In the event that any of these risks or uncertainties should materialise or the underlying expectations are not fulfilled, the results or performance of Quadpack may differ (either positively or negatively) from those explicitly or implicitly forecast. Quadpack assumes no obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements made previously. ------------------------ This publication embed "Actusnews SECURITY MASTER ". - SECURITY MASTER Key: yGefaJxmlJuUlW1yYZqZbpdonGmWlJSVlmbHlJJsaJrGnGlmmW9ibMiVZm9pm21q - Check this key: https://www.security-master-key.com. ------------------------ Copyright Actusnews Wire Receive by email the next press releases of the company by registering on www.actusnews.com, it's free Full and original release in PDF format:https://www.actusnews.com/documents_communiques/ACTUS-0-68684-qp-new-board-member-pr.pdf symplr We look forward to working with the Banner Health team to improve operational provider data quality through Phynds data curation and data integration capabilities. symplr, a leading global healthcare governance, risk management, and compliance (GRC) software-as-a-service (SaaS) company, announced that Banner Health has selected Phynd, symplrs enterprise provider data directory platform. Banner will rely on Phynd as its centralized provider directory, search, and scheduling data hub to curate and share data with its Cerner EHR, network management, and other systems, thereby improving provider data quality across the Banner Health organization. Banner has chosen Phynd to be a central provider data platform for Banners ongoing digital transformation strategy, says Bryce Carder, Vice President, IT Business Services for Banner Health. Patients and staff will be able to find the most convenient provider with the right skills that participate in the Banner Health Network. The Banner mission is to honor those we serve by delivering the best possible care. Phynd will help fulfill that mission by serving up more accurate provider data for use by consumers, patients, and staff. Teams across Banner collaborated to choose a system which addresses the challenges we collectively face due to disparate and inaccurate provider data, said Carder. Phynd provides a solution to a health systems enterprise-wide provider data challenges. Headquartered in Arizona, Banner Health is one of the largest nonprofit health care systems in the country. The system owns and operates 30 acute-care hospitals, Banner Health Network, Banner University Medicine, academic and employed physician groups, long-term care centers, outpatient surgery centers and an array of other services; including Banner Urgent Care, family clinics, home care and hospice services, pharmacies and a nursing registry. Banner Health is in six states: Arizona, California, Colorado, Nebraska, Nevada and Wyoming. We are thrilled that Banner Health is deploying Phynd a cornerstone of symplrs expanded provider data management software family, said BJ Schaknowski, CEO of symplr. We look forward to working with the Banner Health team to improve operational provider data quality through Phynds data curation and data integration capabilities. Teams will be able to research and enroll new providers directly in Phynd and Cerner, in real-time, to eliminate downstream delays in revenue cycle and referring provider communications. By offering patients and staff a single, central provider data hub with advanced search that serves marketing, EHR, revenue cycle and value-based care teams, Banner will improve care coordination, revenue cycle, and network performance. About symplr As the global leader in healthcare governance, risk management, and compliance software, symplr has a single mission: to make healthcare GRC simpler, resulting in improved efficiency, better outcomes, and safer patients. symplr customers depend on our provider data management, workforce management, contract and spend management, access management and compliance, quality, safety solutions to drive positive outcomes and to protect their patients and staff. More information is available at http://www.symplr.com. Symplrs Phynd software is a cloud-based, SaaS integrated provider data and search platform that consolidates departmental and siloed provider data into a single hub. Phynd offers continuous data governance and data integration across a health system's digital ecosystem to improve marketing, clinical, and claims system performance. Designed to leverage organizations' existing infrastructure and investments, it is a cost-effective and future-proof solution for enterprise-wide provider data management, provider search, and integration at scale. Phynd is a member of the Epic App Orchard. AVIA has recognized the Phynd 360 provider data platform and Phynd Provider Search as AVIA Vetted products in 2020. The Phynd platform has achieved ISO-27001-certification. For more information visit http://www.phynd.com. BEIJING (dpa-AFX) - China is scheduled to release a batch of data on Friday, headlining a modest day for Asia-Pacific economic activity. On tap are Q1 numbers for gross domestic product and March figures for industrial production, fixed asset investment, retail sales and unemployment. GDP is tipped to rise 1.5 percent on quarter and 18.9 percent on year after gaining 2.6 percent on quarter and 6.5 percent on year in the three months prior. Industrial production is expected to climb 17.2 percent on year after surging 35.1 percent in February. FAI is tipped to jump 25.3 percent after soaring 35 percent in the previous month. Retail sales are expected to slow to 28 percent from 33.8 percent in February, while the jobless rate is called steady at 5.5 percent. Singapore will provide March numbers for non-oil domestic exports; in February, exports were up 8.2 percent on month and 4.2 percent on year, with a trade surplus of SGD6.21 billion. New Zealand will see March results for the Performance of Manufacturing Index from BusinessNZ; in February, the index score was 53.4. 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. Governor Newsom Signs Landmark $536 Million Wildfire Package Accelerating Projects to Protect High-Risk Communities Oroville East, California - Ahead of peak fire season, Governor Gavin Newsom Tuesday signed a $536 million wildfire package enabling the state to take urgent action on projects that support wildfire suppression, improve forest health and build resilience in communities to help protect residents and property from catastrophic wildfires in diverse landscapes across the state. The Governor signed SB 85 alongside legislative leaders at a fuels management project in the Lake Oroville State Recreation Area that helped protect a Butte County community from last years North Complex Fire. The legislative package builds on Governor Newsoms early action funding for wildfire resilience proposed in his 2021-2022 state budget. It funds projects to restore the ecological health of forests and watersheds, fuel breaks around vulnerable communities, statewide fire prevention grants targeting projects to advance community hardening, and improvements to defensible space to mitigate wildfire damage. This early action plan is part of the Governor's overall proposed $1 billion investment in forest health and community fire resilience. California is taking bold, early action to protect our high-risk communities from the upcoming wildfire season before it starts, said Governor Newsom. This crucial funding will go towards efforts including fuel breaks, forest health projects and home hardening. I thank the members of the Legislature for their partnership as we do more than ever before to build wildfire and forest resilience across the state. The Administration is spearheading sustainable approaches to thinning Californias vulnerable landscapes, half of which will be funded under the early action legislation. One of these approaches is to develop a comprehensive framework to expand the wood products market in California to create economic opportunities for the use of forest materials that store carbon, reduce emissions and contribute to sustainable local economies. Furthermore, the states iBank will partner with the Governor's Office of Business and Economic Development, Governor's Office of Planning and Research and other agencies to advance forest- and agricultural-related applications to the Climate Catalyst Fund. The fund will provide loans, loan guarantees and other credit support to encourage the development of businesses that utilize wood and forest biomass; encourage private-sector innovations in technology, business models, infrastructure and supply chains in woody biomass markets; and promote optimization of state grant funds in the sector. The Oroville East site is a joint project by CAL FIRE, the Department of Water Resources and the Department of Parks and Recreation to thin vegetation around the park, which helped slow the North Complex Fire and prevent it from spreading into the community of Kelly Ridge. As the Senate passed the wildfire prevention and resiliency package yesterday, members spoke about the many fires that have torn through their districts. From the coast to inland, north to south, Paradise to San Diego, each of us have watched our communities burn, evacuate, and work to rebuild far too many times, said Senate President pro Tempore Toni G. Atkins (D-San Diego). Together, we are just 40 people, but each of us represent the millions of Californians who said goodbye to homes, loved ones, and livelihoods. This bill will help protect those who have lost so much to wildfires and prevent fresh pain from being inflicted across the state. This is an investment in Californians, and it will not be the last. I appreciate the dedication my colleagues, particularly Senators Bob Wieckowski, Susan Rubio, and Mike McGuire, have shown to this critical issue. "This wildfire prevention package is a big deal, but its not enough. We are not out of the woods on this issue, and we need to act like the woods are in flames. I'm grateful that the Administration and the senate see it the same way, said Assembly Speaker Anthony Rendon (D-Lakewood). Thank you to my colleagues, in particular Assemblymembers Richard Bloom, Phil Ting, Luz Rivas, Laura Friedman, Jim Wood, and Cecilia Aguiar-Curry for their hard work on this important issue." Governor Newsom last week announced that he is expanding and refocusing the Forest Management Task Force to deliver on key commitments in the Wildfire and Forest Resilience Action Plan issued in January, including the $1 billion in investments. The Wildfire and Forest Resilience Task Force of federal, local and tribal leaders builds on the states collaborative effort to improve the health of forests and reduce wildfire risk to communities. In March, Governor Newsom authorized $80.74 million in emergency funds for 1,399 additional firefighters with CAL FIRE to bolster fuels management and wildfire response efforts. Severe Tropical Cyclone Seroja triggered deadly flash flooding and landslides in parts of southeast Indonesia and in East Timor, including its capital Dili. The worst of the damage occurred April 46. On April 12, after having moved south, the cyclone hit the coast of Western Australia. One person in Coral Bay died in the cyclone, a maintenance worker who was electrocuted, while about 70 percent of all homes and structures were damaged in the town of Kalbarri, with 40 percent entirely destroyed. While tropical storms are commonplace in the region, Cyclone Seroja was the most powerful cyclone to hit in decades. An estimated 180 people were killed in Indonesia, 42 in East Timor, while more than 20,000 homes were submerged across both countries, rendering tens of thousands of people homeless. The disaster still threatens to trigger a wave of dangerous diseases in multiple impoverished communities, including cholera, dysentery, typhoidand COVID-19. Both Indonesia and East Timor have experienced recent increases in coronavirus infection rates. Cyclone Seroja over Indonesia and East Timor (Credit: Japan Meterological Agency) While the cyclone was an unpreventable weather event, its devastating impact is a product of the capitalist system. Indonesia is a country with considerable natural wealth, yet the majority of its 270 million people live in poverty. The countrys top four billionaires control as much wealth as the bottom 40 percent of the population. The national government serves the interests of the ultra-wealthy and the transnational corporations, and has failed to invest public funds in basic infrastructure. This includes cyclone alert systems and emergency response systems. According to a Reuters report, cyclone alerts rely on the Indonesias weather agency feeding warnings to local disaster agencies. In the case of Cyclone Seroja, this system proved grossly inadequate. On the islands of Alor, Lembata, and Adonara, some local residents received no warning at all ahead of the destructive cyclone. Others heard mosques and churches issuing alerts, but only shortly before the destructive weather pattern hit. The cyclone coincided with Easter Sunday, with some of the affected islands having majority Christian populations. Numerous tragic stories have emerged. AFP reported from Lembata island, where some villages were swept down mountainsides. Resident Basir Langoday reported hearing screams from a home that had been buried in rubble. There were four of them inside, he explained. Three survived but the other one didnt make it. Langoday and others were unable to prevent one of the trapped men from being crushed to death. A destroyed road in Dili, East Timor (Supplied) Emergency response workers continue to deal with mass homelessness and the threat posed to survivors by hunger and exposure. Coronavirus fears are exacerbating the challenges. Indonesia has had a total of more than 1.5 million infections. Daily infections are more than 5,000, though this is down from a peak of 12,000 in late January. The situation is even more concerning in East Timor, because of a recent wave of COVID-19 infections. After spending most of 2020 coronavirus-free, since the beginning of March there has been a steady rise in daily infections, with the seven-day average now over 40. Nearly half of the countrys total infections during the pandemic (1,074) have been registered in the last two weeks. With only very limited testing taking place, the real rate of infection is likely substantially higher. Initial vaccinations have only just begun, with the first delivery arriving in the country on April 5. Timors worst hit area by Cyclone Seroja was its capital, Dili. Flash floods swept debris through populated areas, displacing a reported 13,000 people. Many of these have since taken shelter in makeshift emergency refuge centres. There is no proper social distancing or use of personal protective equipment in these centres. Madalena da Costa Hanjan Soares, head of Timors Red Cross, said, Its heartbreaking to see people making a choice between having a safe shelter, adequate food and water, or trying to avoid the spread of this deadly COVID-19 virus. This is a race against time. The longer people have to stay in these temporary shelters, the higher the risk of a mass outbreak. Casualties of the cyclone included 42 deceased Dili residents. One survivor, Markus dos Santos, told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) that his wife and three children had been buried by an avalanche of mud and water that hit their house. He managed to pull two of his daughters to safety as they were being sucked under the mud. His wife and two-year-old son, however, did not survive. The cyclone damage comes just over a year after monsoonal rains in Dili triggered damaging flooding in many parts of the city. No proper flooding protections were put in place by the government after this experience, facilitating the damage now caused by Cyclone Seroja. One Dili resident, whose family home was then submerged by flood waters, told the World Socialist Web Site: Before the major flooding hit, there had already been three days of constant rain every night. As a result, we started worrying about the possibility of another major flood, but there was not any signs from the government to alert anyone, especially those of us who live in high risk areas. We were left on our own to fence ourselves off from the pending disaster. Fresh from last years and this years flooding, Dili is no longer a safe place to live. Another disaster will strike again, and whichever political party is in government, I dont think they will redesign the capital for the safety of its own people. Prime Minister Taur Matan Ruak has estimated that the cost of recovery from the cyclone will total more than $US100 million. Yet the government has so far allocated less than $US1.5 million for the recovery mission, including for food supplies and transport. The Australian government has announced a relief package of just $7 million. This pittance again underscores the fraud of Canberras humanitarian concerns for the Timorese people, after it used this pretext in 1999 to launch a military intervention into the territory in order to protect its economic and geostrategic interests. SACRAMENTO Supporters have shelved a bill that would have prevented rental units in California from being removed from the market after they are sold to a new property owner, a phenomenon that tenant rights advocates say puts many low-income renters at risk. The measure, which targeted evictions under a state law known as the Ellis Act, was originally scheduled to be heard in its first committee Thursday. But lacking the votes to advance the measure, Assembly Member Alex Lee, the San Jose Democrat carrying the bill, pulled it from the schedule before the hearing. Theres a lot of educating that must be done about the need for tenant protection and about the Ellis Act, Lee said in a statement. We will continue this effort next year. The Ellis Act has for decades given California property owners a path to exit the rental market by evicting tenants if they plan to move themselves or family members in, sell the units or demolish the building. Tenant rights groups argue that the law has morphed into a tool for speculators to flip a dwindling supply of affordable rental housing in the state. They say thousands of rent-controlled units have been lost to serial evictors who can make far more money by kicking out the tenants and converting the buildings into single-family homes or condominiums, or tearing them down and building new housing. Lees bill, AB854, would have required that property owners hold onto a unit for at least five years before they could invoke the Ellis Act to evict tenants and would have restricted their ability to use the law to one property per decade. Lee said the changes would balance the rights of long-term property owners who want to retire from the rental business with protections against speculator abuse. But the measure was vigorously opposed by organizations representing property owners, who defended the Ellis Act as a backstop for owners who are losing money on a rental or need their building for themselves or relatives. Lee concluded that the bill would be unable to secure a majority on the eight-member Assembly Housing and Community Development Committee, even though the panel is chaired by one of the measures co-authors. This is at least the fourth time in the past two decades that advocates have tried and failed to add a holding period to the Ellis Act. I will never stop fighting for renters, Lee wrote on Twitter on Wednesday night. Even though we may not win (and we often dont) in an unfair game, we will keep fighting. I promise you that. Alexei Koseff is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: alexei.koseff@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @akoseff Subscribing to our services is a three step process. First you have to create an account and then you have to pick if you want to subscribe to digital and or print. Some people only want to be a digital subscriber to get access online and others want to also receive the print edition. If you are already a print subscriber and want online access, it is free, you simply have to create an online account and then attach your print subscription account number to the online account you create. Pennsylvania House Speaker Bryan Cutler said Thursday morning he has tested positive for COVID-19 and is experiencing mild symptoms. Cutler had previously been in quarantine due to an exposure to someone with COVID-19. The Lancaster County Republican said Thursday morning he has indeed tested positive. After a confirmed exposure to COVID-19, I was tested and today learned that I have tested positive for the virus, Cutler said in a statement. I am currently experiencing mild symptoms and will continue to work from home as my quarantine continues. My exposure and positive test do not fall within time frames of being inside the Capitol, so there is no impact on colleagues, fellow members or staff in Harrisburg or my district office, Cutler said. Cutler, who is 46, said his offices in Harrisburg and Quarryville will remain open to serve constituents while he remains in quarantine. I want to thank everyone who has reached out to me in recent days and appreciate all of your thoughts and prayers, Cutler said. Cutler took over as House Speaker in June 2020. He succeeded former House Speaker Mike Turzai after his resignation. Cutler was re-elected House Speaker in January. He has been a member of the House since 2006. A House session is planned next week and a Speaker Pro Tempore will be appointed and preside over the chamber in Cutlers absence, said Mike Straub, a spokesman for the speakers office. Such a step is common during longer sessions when the speaker leaves the rostrum or needs to go into a meeting. Cutler, who is married and a father of three, lives in the village of Peach Bottom at the southern end of Lancaster County. Several Pennsylvania lawmakers have tested positive for the coronavirus and recovered. The Pennsylvania Department of Health has reported an uptick in COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations in recent weeks. Most of those who contract COVID-19 deal with relatively mild symptoms but doctors say the virus poses risks to everyone, especially seniors and those with certain health conditions. Earlier this week, Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf expanded eligibility of the COVID-19 vaccine to everyone over the age of 16. More from PennLive Pa. incredibly concerned about falling demand for COVID-19 vaccine as eligibility expands Tuesday Few novels left me as breathless and, as we might say on the shrinks couch, as conflicted as Philip Roths Portnoys Complaint. I first read it in my mid-to-late teens, the time when we suddenly become conscious of who we are. As the daughter of Holocaust survivors in suburban Caulfield, I was starting to ask myself if I felt Australian. The answer was ... eh, sort of. Id been reading modern American Jewish writers Chaim Potok, Leon Uris out of some vague sense they were speaking to me directly. They wrote edifying and morally weighty books about the Jewish condition. Philip Roth, the author of the much debated Portnoys Complaint. I had assumed Roth, whose New Jersey parents were the children of Yiddish-speaking immigrants from eastern Europe, would offer more of the same. But Portnoys Complaint turned out to be a wank. Literally. Framed as Alexander Portnoys monologue to his psychiatrist, the 1969 bestseller of the future literary giant man is a masturbatory novel. It is one of the works being discussed afresh as a new biography of Roth reignites debate about the legacy of morally flawed authors post #MeToo. Fans of boba tea prepare yourselves: A tapioca pearl shortage is on the horizon. A number of bubble tea shops and suppliers in the Bay Area and across the country are being affected by a dwindling supply of those signature, chewy tapioca pearls that make up boba tea. And there are varying answers on just how long that shortage will last. The issue was first highlighted by popular boba brand, Boba Guys, in a social media video they posted late last week. They predicted that boba shops, including their own, will run out of boba in the next couple of weeks. The reason for the shortage is that the pandemic has caused "major congestion and shortages in the supply chain," the group said in its video. West Coast ports are backing up with shipments from Asia, as first reported by the San Francisco Chronicle, including much of the tapioca pearl supply that drives the bubble tea industry in the United States. (SFGATE and the San Francisco Chronicle are both owned by Hearst but operate independently of one another.) As much as 99% of boba comes from Asia, the group said, and although Boba Guys makes its tapioca pearls in the United States, ingredients like raw tapioca starch are also affected by the backup of products at ports on the West Coast in Los Angeles, Long Beach and Oakland. "The quick summary is that America is having trouble importing anything from overseas, especially from Asia," said David Fan from Fanale Drinks in the video. "The port and container issues are impacting us, along with apparel, electronics, or anything that isn't made domestically." The backlog in deliveries is also affecting the East Coast, and some predict the shortage will last at least until the end of April, one boba chain told Business Insider. Yet bubble tea brand Kung Fu Tea is predicting that the shortage could become a problem into the summer as "the demand for the entire bubble tea category is ever increasing," the brand told USA TODAY. Along with the bubble tea shortage, the company said they are also expecting shortages in other bubble tea ingredients, such as coconut powder and taro. Although there are alternatives to tapioca pearls in bubble tea, most boba shop owners know most of their customers are there for the chew of the tapioca pearl. One Tapioca Express customer told KPIX, "I dont think boba tea is complete without the boba, so I think its a mandatory ingredient." Units of Russian mountain air assault division hold exercise in Crimea in March 2021. Sergei Malgavko/Getty Images The top US general in Europe said there's a "low to medium" risk Russia invades Ukraine soon. Russia has amassed 80,000 troops on Ukraine's borders. Tensions between Russia and the West have reached historic heights. See more stories on Insider's business page. Air Force General Tod Wolters, the top US general in Europe, on Thursday said there's a "low to medium" risk that Russia invades Ukraine in the next few weeks, per Defense News. Wolters, the head of US European Command and NATO's supreme allied commander for Europe, during a House Armed Services Committee said that NATO was ready to respond to Russian aggression if necessary. "We deter, and, if deterrence fails, we're prepared to respond to aggression with the full weight of the transatlantic alliance," Wolters said, also stating that the likelihood of a Russian invasion will "start to wane" based on "the trend that I see right now." The general did not provide further details or intelligence behind this assessment. Roughly 80,000 Russian troops have amassed in Crimea and along the eastern border of Ukraine, which has already been fighting a war against Kremlin-backed separatists in the Donbass region for over half a decade, raising alarm bells across Europe and in Washington. NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg on Tuesday called on Russia to withdraw its troops from Ukraine's border. "NATO stands with Ukraine," he said. "Russia must end this military buildup in and around Ukraine, stop its provocations and de-escalate immediately." Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Sunday warned Russia of "consequences" if it "acts recklessly or aggressively." Blinken, who traveled to Brussels this week for talks with Ukraine's foreign minister and NATO leaders, on Tuesday said that the US "stands firmly behind the sovereignty and the territorial integrity of Ukraine." Story continues "And that's particularly important at a time when we're seeing, unfortunately, Russia take very provocative action when it comes to Ukraine," Blinken added. President Joe Biden earlier this week urged Russian President Vladimir Putin to deescalate tensions, and proposed holding a summit in a third country in the coming months. "The President voiced our concerns over the sudden Russian military build-up in occupied Crimea and on Ukraine's borders, and called on Russia to de-escalate tensions," the White House said in a statement. US-Russia relations have hit a historically low point in recent years, particularly since Putin's unilateral annexation of Crimea in 2014, and the contentious dynamic has persisted with Biden at the helm. Biden in March referred to Putin as a "killer," prompting outcry from the Kremlin. Russia's interference in US elections has also driven a wedge between Washington and Moscow. The Biden administration on Thursday issued new sanctions against over 30 Russian entities over Moscow's election interference as well as Russia's role in the SolarWinds cyberattack. Additionally, the US expelled 10 Russian diplomats. Russia has denied any role in the hack and rejected allegations of election interference. Read the original article on Business Insider ( ), the South African gold miner, renewed the mining rights to its Barberton mines complex for another thirty years. Official notification of the grant of the renewal was received on 1 June 2021, said the miner and comprises renewals of the mining rights for the Fairview, New Consort and Sheba Mines (all of Pan Africans Barberton mining rights). The renewal applications submitted included detailed technical reports and mine works programmes for mining at Barberton for the 30-year renewal period. Cobus Loots, Pan Africans chief executive, said: Our exploration and mining teams at Barberton have made exceptional progress over the past years, applying modern exploration, development and mining techniques to increase underground gold production and the lives of our mining operations. Appointment 15 April 2021 Kimpton Pittman Hotel is pleased to announce the appointment of Rajeev Gopalakrishnan as the hotel's new General Manager. While Gopalakrishnan is new to the Kimpton brand, he is no stranger to the hospitality industry, having worked in the industry for nearly 20 years. After receiving his Diploma in Hospitality and Business Management degree in his home country of India, Gopalakrishnan continued his education at the Institute Hotelier Cesar Ritz in Switzerland. A true globetrotter, upon graduating with a Diploma in Hotel Management in 2003, he began his hospitality career in London as a restaurant supervisor. Quickly working his way up the ranks, he was promoted to food & beverage manager at The Ritz-Carlton - Rose Hall, Jamaica in 2008. He stayed within the Ritz-Carlton brand or the next 10 years, traveling to Pentagon City, Tysons Corner and Washington DC before becoming the cluster director at the Intercontinental hotels of Cleveland. Gopalakrishnan' s most recent role, the interim general manager of the Intercontinental Los Angeles Beverly Hills, propelled him to his current role, where he will take a dedicated approach to lead hotel operations. A passionate leader who firmly believes in Kimpton's core values of providing personalized guest experiences, Gopalakrishnan looks forward to continuing the success of the recently opened Deep Ellum hotel. In his free time, Gopalakrishnan is an avid volunteer. He is a certified Level 1 sommelier and can speak five languages. He is looking forward to welcoming his first child this summer. EATON COUNTY, MI A 3-year-old boy shot by his father in Eaton County has died. Anson Zwick died at a local hospital on Wednesday night. Police say his father, 47-year-old, Joseph Lechleitner, shot him and his sister, 5-year-old Vivian Zwick, before killing himself inside a home on Old River Trail in Delta Township around 11 p.m. on Tuesday. Vivian Zwick was pronounced dead at the scene on Tuesday night. We are so sorry for the surviving family, Eaton County Sherriff Tom Reich said in a statement. Our thoughts and prayers go out to them. Lechleitner lived in the Shingleton area of the Upper Peninsula, police said. Deputies were assisted at the scene by Michigan State Police, MSU Police and the MSP Crime Lab. Anyone with information about this tragic incident is asked to contact Detective Ted Johnson at (517) 323-8492 A teacher who reportedly walks 20 kilometres per day to deliver KCSE exams has landed in trouble with the Education Ministry. Education officials on Tuesday summoned Mrs Magdalene Kimani, the Sosiana High School principal, after the Nation highlighted her story. The ministry summoned the teacher to record a statement explaining why she spoke to the media and allowed Nation journalists to accompany her on one of her trips last Friday. Officials said Mrs Kimani was not authorised to speak to journalists. Trans Mara East Sub-county Director of Education Steve Gachie said the story had landed him in trouble with his bosses. He said his seniors demanded that he confirms whether the teacher indeed covers a 20-kilometer round trip to deliver exams to her 18 candidates in Trans Mara East, Narok County. MUMBAI, India, April 15, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Xynteo India2022, a coalition of purpose driven organisations collaborating to develop new models of growth for India, today unveiled a new identity - Vikaasa, Together India progresses. Vikaasa, powered by Xynteo, re-affirms the coalition's commitment to foster collaboration to advance India's achievement of the United Nation's Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Designed by Landor, a consulting and design agency, the new avatar Vikaasa, signifies collective progress, brought about by partners with a common purpose, coming together. The identity celebrates union, harmony and coaction, brought alive in black, combined with universally appealing hues of blue and green, blending seamlessly. The fresh green reflects Vikaasa's ethos of sustainable growth, the metaballs that dot the "I", depict the powerful outcomes made possible when individuals and organisations join hands for good. The new logo is inspired by Xynteo's identity system. Subhashini Chandran, Managing Director, Xynteo India, said, "Xynteo is committed to develop and promote new models of growth that are inclusive, transformative and sustainable. Our new identity - Xynteo Vikaasa, communicates our aspiration to expand and strengthen our diverse ecosystem of purpose driven companies in service of India and the world." Xynteo Vikaasa will continue to flourish under the guidance and support of its core partner collective - Hindustan Unilever, Hindalco, an Aditya Birla Group Company; Cyient, Shell, Technip Energies, State Bank of India, Tata Trusts and WPP. Lulu Raghavan, Managing Director, Landor, said, "It was an honour to work with the very talented Xynteo team and the leaders of the coalition partners in India to help facilitate a new name for India2022. We loved their purpose, passion and collective energy towards their mighty ambition of a new model of growth for India. The name Vikaasa, coined from "vikas" in Sanskrit is a nod to the collective progress that is only possible through collaboration and deep commitment." About Xynteo Founded in Norway, Xynteo works with a community of visionary business leaders, equipping them and their organisations to transform the systems in which they operate. We provide advisory services spanning strategy, innovation, engagement, learning; and build cross-sector collaborations, including the Xynteo Exchange, Leadership Vanguard, Vikaasa (erstwhile India2022) and Europe Delivers. Xynteo also produces The Performance Theatre. About Vikaasa (India2022) Vikaasa is a coalition of purpose driven, forward leaning organisations, collaborating to accelerate India's progress on the UN Sustainable Development Goals by designing, incubating and piloting new growth models, enabling scale and creating material impact. The coalition was launched in March 2017, by the then President of India, Late Shri Pranab Mukherjee, who praised this initiative as "the need of the hour". Coalition partners include Hindustan Unilever, Hindalco, an Aditya Birla Group Company; Cyient, Shell, Technip Energies, State Bank of India, Tata Trusts and WPP. SOURCE Xynteo The agricultural ministry and Microsoft India have inked a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for a pilot project in 100 villages of six states to promote digital agriculture. Microsoft will start a pilot project in 100 villages in 10 districts of 6 states (Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat, Haryana, Rajasthan and Andhra Pradesh) to develop farmer interface for smart and well-organised agriculture, including post-harvest management and distribution. For this project, Microsoft has tied up with its local partner, CropData. The project is for one year and both sides inking the MoU will bear the cost on their own. Singing the MoU, agriculture minister Narendra Tomar said the agricultural economy is the backbone of the country. "The agriculture sector has contributed positively to our country's economy even in adverse conditions like coronavirus epidemic. Any loss to agriculture is a loss for the country. This is the reason why the Prime Minister has taken many tasks on priority basis." Also read: A last mile rural marketplace that connects rural entrepreneurs with buyers Under the MoU, various tasks will be taken for the betterment of farmers in the selected 100 villages, which will enhance their income. This project will reduce the input costs for farmers and make farming easy. The ministry will also undertake similar pilot projects with other public and private players. The move is aimed at increasing the income of farmers by removing the bottleneck of inconsistent information. The pact was signed to give shape to PM Modi's vision to use modern technologies in the farming sector to make it more profitable and to attract new generations towards agriculture, a government statement said. Also read: Data key in maximising India's agricultural output Also read: 9 in 10 firms to hire internally: LinkedIn The international community must intervene in the problem of the captive Armenians in Azerbaijan, Artsakh Foreign Minister David Babayan told reporters. It is necessary to knock on all doors. Yes, the Armenian side has data, but the intervention of the international community is necessary, monitoring is necessary, the Foreign Minister said, adding that the media exaggerate information that Azerbaijan is trading in organs. To know for sure, the international community must fit. After the first war - and I say this with 100% certainty - Azerbaijanis registered captives and hostages of Armenians under Azerbaijani names and kept them in prisons. The international community could not identify them through monitoring. And who knows, maybe this is the case now? But the fact that there may be more prisoners than is recognized by Azerbaijan, the Foreign Minister noted. Commenting on the attempts of the Azerbaijani authorities to present the prisoners of war as terrorists, Babayan recalled three Azerbaijani terrorists who had penetrated the territory of Artsakh. One was destroyed. In relation to the other two, an open transparent trial was held with the participation of representatives of international organizations and the media. They have been proven to be terrorists and criminals. And here there is nothing of the kind, the minister said. IRS is entering its fifth wave of releasing stimulus checks to eligible individuals. Different concerns are coming up: missing deposit checks, lacking payments due, plus-up additions, and 2020 tax returns. Luckily IRS has provided tools that can help you monitor your stimulus payments. Stimulus payments are money used to support individuals who cannot work, remain unemployed, or retired and are suffering from the effects of the pandemic. This is around $1400 per eligible individual and $1400 bonus per dependent. However, the eligible recipients are only individuals who are: single filers making up to $7500 income or spouses with joint filing making less than $150000. Eligibility will be based on Americans' most recent tax returns from 2019 or 2020. There are specific key points recipients have to look out for when receiving their stimulus payment. The Correct Amount: Use some of the available online calculators to compute how much of the stimulus payment you are expected to receive The Number of Dependents: There is no limit to the age as long as the dependents are appropriately registered in the tax returns. These could be college students, disabled adults, seniors, or newborn babies this 2020. Plus-Up factors: Some Americans have had significant changes in the pandemic, such as losing their jobs or supporting dependents in their families. Such changes should reflect when filing the 2020 tax returns, so eligible recipients could receive plus-up or bonus payments they are entitled to. Online Trackers: The payments should come by direct deposit to your registered bank account or paper check. There are available online tools that will tell you your delivery status, such as the USPS Service. Get My Payment Yahoo Money reported the first online tracking tool released by the IRS is the "Get My Payment" portal. This tool allows Americans to monitor the scheduled payment date, status of delivery, and how much money is due to them. The online application is available for desktop or online platforms. Using this tool is easy. IRS does not require users too much personal information and only the basics to identify you from other American citizens. To use the online tool, head to their website and provide your Social Security number or Individual Tax ID Number (ITIN), Date of birth, and Mailing address. The tracking tool will automatically reveal the complete status of your payment. Read Also: Stimulus Check Tracker for Your $1,400 Payment: How to Use IRS Online Portal, Requirements and More Create an Online Account Unfortunately, as of today, the "Get My Payment" would no longer show the status of the First $1200 stimulus payment under the CARES Act and the $600 payments under the December $900 billion stimulus deal. Instead, a new tool has been introduced to check the status of these accounts. IRS is requesting individuals to create an online account in their system. By officially registering yourself on their website, you can view: The amount you owe, updated for the current calendar day Your balance details by year Your payment history and any scheduled or pending payments Key information from your most recent tax return Payment plan details, if you have one Digital copies of select notices from the IRS Your Economic Impact Payments, if any When registering yourself, IRS would ask for personal information such as your Full Name, Email, Birthdate, Social Security Number (SSN) or Individual Tax Identification Number (ITIN), Tax filing status, and Current address. Have this information ready, and sign up now to get the complete details on your first, second and third stimulus checks. Related Article: Stimulus Check Tracker: What to Do and How to Trace Your Missing Stimulus Check Online A team of scientists used a telescope on the International Space Station to measure the size of PSR J0740+6620 (J0740, for short), the most massive known neutron star. NASA's Neutron star Interior Composition Explorer (NICER) has captured unprecedented detail from this stellar remnant to learn more about matter in its core, which is on the threshold of collapsing into a black hole. The NICER team will introduce their groundbreaking findings at a press conference during the 2021 APS April Meeting. NASA astronaut Christina Koch will join them to talk about how researchers use the space station as a science platform. From pencils to pulsars "Matter makes up everything we can see in the universe, from pencils to people to planets. In the heart of a neutron star, it's on the verge of collapsing into a black hole," said Cole Miller, an astronomy professor at the University of Maryland, College Park and a member of the NICER team. "We can't recreate those conditions on Earth, but scientists can study them from a distance by measuring the masses and sizes of neutron stars and calculating how dense they are." Miller will share the results from one of two groups that independently calculated the size of J0740. Neutron star squeezability "Our measurements of J0740 help constrain the squeezability of matter in neutron star cores, or at what density neutrons, one of the atomic building blocks, break down into smaller particles," said Anna Watts, a professor of astrophysics at the University of Amsterdam. Watts will share the results from the other independent team that calculated J0740's size. Combined with data from other neutron stars and multimessenger observations, the J0740 results herald a new age of neutron star science. FEATURED TALKS NICER Constraints on the Neutron Star Equation of State (E03.3, E03.4) 4:39 p.m. - 5:06 p.m. CDT, Saturday, April 17, 2021 Thomas Riley Livestream: Access here Abstract: http://meetings. aps. org/ Meeting/ APR21/ Session/ E03. 3 5:06 p.m. - 5:33 p.m. CDT, Saturday, April 17, 2021 Cole Miller Livestream: Access here Abstract: http://meetings. aps. org/ Meeting/ APR21/ Session/ E03. 4 PRESS CONFERENCE Register for the press conference to be held on Zoom at 10:00 a.m. CDT, Saturday, April 17, 2021. Speakers: Zaven Arzoumanian (NICER Science Lead, NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center) Cole Miller (Professor of Astronomy, University of Maryland) Anna Watts (Professor of Astrophysics, University of Amsterdam) Sanjay Reddy (Professor of Physics, University of Washington) Christina Koch (NASA Astronaut) Media Contacts: Claire Andreoli Public Affairs Officer NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md. claire.andreoli@nasa.gov (301) 286-1940 Jeanette Kazmierczak Science Writer NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center jeanette.a.kazmierczak@nasa.gov ### About 2021 APS April Meeting Complimentary registration is available to journalists and public information officers for the express purpose of gathering and reporting news and information from the meeting. All prospective attendees must register to access the virtual meeting platform: https:/ / my. aps. org/ NC__Event?id= a0l5G00000CNAUJQA5 Staff reporters, freelance writers, and students are welcome. Those who have not previously attended APS meetings as press or do not directly receive the APS journals tip sheet may submit a request for APS press credentials by completing the form on this page: http://info. aps. org/ press About APS Please visit the April Meeting Newsroom for a list of other press conferences and presentations featuring newsworthy research. The American Physical Society is a nonprofit membership organization working to advance and diffuse the knowledge of physics through its outstanding research journals, scientific meetings, and education, outreach, advocacy, and international activities. APS represents over 55,000 members, including physicists in academia, national laboratories, and industry in the United States and throughout the world. Society offices are located in College Park, Maryland (Headquarters), Ridge, New York, and Washington, DC. Russia restricts air service with Turkey and suspends flights to Tanzania from Thursday, April 15 to June 1 in line with the decision of the federal anti-coronavirus crisis center. Thus, all cargo, passenger and chartered flights and nearly all regular flights between Russia and Turkey will be suspended, with only two regular flights between Moscow and Istanbul being performed a week by a Russian air company and two such flights - by a Turkish air carrier. Russias flagship air carrier Aeroflot already said it would continue regular flights to Istanbul twice a week. Apart from that, the crisis center has allowed chartered flights to ensure continuation of the construction of the Akkuyu nuclear plant. According to Russian Deputy Prime Minister Tatiana Golikova, air service with Tanzania and Turkey will be resumed as soon as the coronavirus situation in those countries stabilizes. This is not the first case of repeated suspension of air service with foreign countries amid the pandemic. Thus, flights to the United Kingdom were suspended until April 16 in a bid to minimize risks of imports of a new coronavirus strain. Meanwhile, Golikova noted that Russian nationals staying in Turkey would be able to return home by chartered flights. Regular flights to Turkey were performed by eight Russian air carriers, namely Aeroflot, Pobeda, Rossiya, S7, Nordwind, UTair (the only air company flying not from Moscow and St. Petersburg, but from Grozny), Azur Air, and Ural Airlines. Flights from Turkey to Russia were operated by Turkish Airlines, Corendon Airlines, and Pegasus Airlines. By now, Aeroflot, Pobeda and S7 have already drawn schedules of return flights. Most of the air companies have already pledged to return money for cancelled flights without any penalties. Flights to Tanzania were performed by UTair and Azur Air, TASS reported. by Stefano Caprio Thanksgiving celebrations in all parishes, now more than 300 across the territory. The reconstitution of the structures of the Catholic Church in Russia began with the enthronement of Archbishop Tadeusz Kondrusiewicz in the church of St. Louis of the French in Moscow, on April 13, 1991. Msgr. Pezzi: The memory of "" all the sacrifices that so many believers offered to God for the unity of our Church. Commission for the postulation of the twentieth century Russian Catholic martyrs reformed. Rome (AsiaNews) - With the enthronement of Archbishop Tadeusz Kondrusiewicz (photo 2, left) in the Church of St. Louis of the French in Moscow On April 13, 1991, the reconstitution of the structures of the Catholic Church in Russia was officially inaugurated. A few weeks later Msgr. Joseph Werth in Novosibirsk (photo 3), still in office was tapped to lead the new apostolic administration of the Asian part of Russia. On the eve of the jubilee of 2000, the two maxi-dioceses were split with the seats of Saratov on the Volga and Irkutsk on Lake Baikal, and all four structures were elevated to the rank of diocese in 2002. Marking the anniversary, Catholics held solemn thanksgiving celebrations in all parishes, now more than 300 across the territory, not to mention the many chapels and "pastoral points", places where small groups of Catholics scattered throughout the immense Eurasian territory of the Russian Federation live. "Thirty years of communion and unity - underlined Archbishop Paolo Pezzi in Moscow - believing in the word of Jesus Christ, we begin to see what men without faith do not see ... we see the miracle of our unity, the gift precious that we received 30 years ago, grateful to God for our presence here today in the community of the Church. Msgr. Pezzi (photo 2, right) recalled "all the sacrifices that so many believers have offered to God for the unity of our Church". In the words resound the memories of the many martyrs for the faith, which united Russian Catholics, Orthodox and Protestants in the tragic Soviet persecutions. Observing the thirtieth anniversary, the postulation commission of the Russian Catholic martyrs of the twentieth century was reformed, which now officially follows the "cause of beatification or proclamation of the martyrdom of the servant of God Antonij Maletskij, titular bishop of Dionisiana, apostolic administrator of Leningrad and 9 companions, killed in hatred of the faith. With Bishop Maletsky there are some priests, one religious and one lay woman. Along with the memory of the martyrs, local Catholics recalled the difficulties and events of the past 30 years, during which the community gradually emerged from the semi-clandestine reality in which they hid their Catholic roots during the Soviet years. Catholics in Russia are largely heirs of Polish, Lithuanian and German ancestors, who often Russified names and surnames to avoid being noticed. They were joined by faithful from Africa or Latin America, and also from the Caucasus and Asia, from many countries that had privileged relations with the Soviet Union, where they arrived for work or for study and were also forced to put aside their own religious traditions and beliefs. In todays Russia the Catholic Church lives in peace with society, state structures and other religious confessions, starting with the dominant Orthodox Church. The priests serving in the parishes are still largely foreigners, but in recent years a very significant group of local priests and religious has grown, one of whom, the Franciscan Nikolai Dubinin, became auxiliary bishop of Moscow and St. Petersburg. He is the first bishop of Russian nationality in history. Accompanying the entrance of Msgr. Kondrusiewicz thirty years ago, there was only a small group of missionaries from various countries, including myself (photo 4, left), then chaplain of the Italian embassy in Moscow. The Polish priests would have liked to exhibit the pride of their national tradition, bringing the bishop triumphantly to church in the embassy car with the banners of Catholic Poland unfurled. Kondrusiewicz himself, on the other hand, begged me to take him in my small Russian utilitarian Ziguli without flags, and with a dented side: even in this way, one learned to live Catholic unity, witnessing in Russia a universal communion beyond origins. The Catholic Church, small and fragile in the great Russia, is at the service of all "with courage and a strong and wonderful hope in the future", as stated in the founding decree of April 13, 1991, signed by the Holy Pope John Paul II. An elderly Mexican-American woman was badly beaten by a racist bus passenger who mistook her for an Asian-American, the victim's son said. The 70-year-old victim, named only as Becky by her son Pete, suffered a concussion, a broken nose, swollen eyes and had her hair pulled out last Friday. She was attacked while on her way to go grocery shopping in Los Angeles' Eagle Rock neighborhood. Los Angeles police arrested 23-year-old Yasmine Beasley shortly afterwards on suspicion of the attack, KTLA 5 reported. Beasley allegedly attacked the 70-year-old as she was trying to get off the bus after calling her an anti-Chinese slur, despite Becky being Mexican-American. A 70-year-old Los Angeles woman suffered serious injuries after being attacked last Friday on a bus Becky, who is Mexican-American, was attacked by 23-year-old Yasmine Beasley, who hurled anti-Asian slurs before the assault The 23-year-old allegedly dragged Becky from the back to the front of the bus as fellow passengers watched and did not intervene. 'Nobody would help. Not even the bus driver,' Pete told The Eastsider. He identified Becky's attacker as black, and says the assault only ended when Becky called 911. He says his family are regularly mistaken for being Asian-American. The alleged mistaken-identity attack against Becky is part of a rising trend of hate crimes against Asian-American people. Beasley was charged with battery as police continue investigating the incident. Becky was held in the hospital for 24 hours before being released but her son says she still has difficulty walking after the attack worsened her pre-existing condition of lupus arthritis and other disabilities, the Eastsider reported. Becky was held in the hospital for 24 hours before being released but her son says she still has difficulty walking after the attack Becky suffered a concussion, a broken nose, swollen eyes and had her hair pulled out, her son said Raised awareness of anti-Asian hate crimes in the US has led to the popular 'Stop Asian Hate' movement online and in rallies across the nation Since the coronavirus shutdown in the US last march, a report from Stop Asian-American Pacific Islander Hate (AAPI) has documented at least 3,795 racially motivated attacks against Asian Americans in the last year alone. Former President Donald Trump was himself accused of stoking anti-Asian hatred while in office after repeatedly referring to COVID-19 as 'the China virus.' When challenged about his use of the term by a reporter at a White House press briefing, Trump said: ' Its not racist at all. Because (COVID-19) comes from China.' Increased awareness of anti-Asian hate crimes in the US has led to the popular 'Stop Asian Hate' movement online and in rallies across the nation. In March, six Asian women were among eight people murdered during three shootings at Atlanta-area massage parlors. Alleged gunman Robert Aaron Long, 21, is said to have blamed the shootings on his sex addiction. Police said he opened fire on the massage parlors to try and 'eliminate temptation', but anti-racism campaigners say the massacre highlights how vulnerable Asian-American people are to violence. You may also like these stories: He and U Nu agreed on the demarcation of their border and they later collaborated to crush nationalist, Kuomintang troops in late 1960 and early 1961. Three years earlier in 1957, Zhou, who was just recovering from an illness, went with foreign minister Chen Yi to Xishuangbanna Prefecture in Yunnan Province on Myanmars border to welcome U Nu, who was visiting Chinese new year celebrations. Zhous friends from Beijing asked him to avoid getting too wet but Zhou and U Nu marked the event in the traditional fashion. On this day in 1960, Chinese Premier Zhou Enlai arrived in Yangon (then Rangoon), the then capital, and celebrated the new year or Thingyan with his Burmese counterpart, U Nu, as a gesture of bilateral friendship. On This Day The Day Chinese Legend Zhou Enlai Celebrated Thingyan in Myanmar China Get Out of Myanmar Say Pro-Democracy Supporters Myanmar Security Forces Kill Another Six on Saturday, Sending Death Toll to 556 Myanmar Protesters and Interviewees Remain in Detention After Speaking to CNN Russia Plots Its Next Moves on the Myanmar Chessboard Did India Change Its Stand on Myanmar Under US Pressure? Myanmar Youths Call for Boycott of Traditional Water Festival to Defy Junta, Honor Those Slain At Least Five Protesters Killed as Junta Launches Heavy Crackdown in Kale Series of Explosions Rock at Least Seven Locations in Myanmars Largest City Deaths of Protesters and Bystanders Push Myanmar Toll to at Least 596 This Is Not Just Another Coup: Ex-US Ambassador to Myanmar Myanmar Junta Uses Explosives, Killing At Least Two Dozen Protesters We do not encourage viewing this site in this width. Please increase the size of your window. Fire destroyed a house at 216 E. College Ave. on Wednesday and spread to a wall of Muggsy's Fine Dining restaurant. Jacksonville, South Jacksonville and Woodson firefighters were on the scene for about two hours. Jacksonville Fire Chief Doug Sills said the cause of the fire was under investigation. No estimate of damage was available. Words of the Week Roll the Stone Away Scripture: Mark 16:1-8 Jesus Has Risen 16 When the Sabbath was over, Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and Salome bought spices so that they might go to anoint Jesus body. 2 Very early on the first day of the week, just after sunrise, they were on their way to the tomb 3 and they asked each other, Who will roll the stone away from the entrance of the tomb? ADVERTISEMENT 4 But when they looked up, they saw that the stone, which was very large, had been rolled away. 5 As they entered the tomb, they saw a young man dressed in a white robe sitting on the right side, and they were alarmed. 6 Dont be alarmed, he said. You are looking for Jesus the Nazarene, who was crucified. He has risen! He is not here. See the place where they laid him. 7 But go, tell his disciples and Peter, He is going ahead of you into Galilee. There you will see him, just as he told you. 8 Trembling and bewildered, the women went out and fled from the tomb. They said nothing to anyone, because they were afraid. Happy Easter! Billions of Christians across the globe will be celebrating the Easter Season from April 4 to May 16, 2021. We are Easter People! We believe in Resurrection Power. We are reminded during this Easter Season that God ultimately has the last word. The enemy is not in total control of our lives. Humanity is not more powerful than Jesus Christ. The enemy cannot stop God. God is still moving even now. According to the Gospel of Mark, 16th chapter, a few ladies worried that their options were limited in their inability to roll a stone away to reach Jesus. I believe this passage teaches us the following lessons: We will have a variety of stones during our human experience. 2. Do not allow stones to make you go backward. 3. Gods power can roll the stones away. It was not the first time that the ladies experienced stones. The ladies experienced stones of humiliation during the arrest of Jesus. The ladies experienced stones of disappointment during the crucifixion of Jesus. The ladies experienced stones of pain during the burial of Jesus. Yet, they remained determined to continue to reach Jesus. They did not allow the stone to turn them backward. ADVERTISEMENT You can walk around several stones in life. You can work around some stones in life. You can walk over a few stones life and continue to reach the destiny that God has in store for you. However, there are certain stones that are too large to overcome with your human abilities. These stones require Divine Deliverance. The ladies in the Gospel of Marks 16th chapter knew they could not get through this certain stone by themselves. The enemy will always try to place a variety of different kinds of stones to stop your progress. Easter Season is a good reminder that it is never too late to pivot in a different direction for the betterment of our lives and our community. We should not feel that we are by ourselves in isolated situations, away from miraculous rescues. We are not committed to a permanent state of physical, emotional, and/ or psychological exhaustion without any possibilities of renewal. We are an Easter People! What stones are trying to keep you down? What stones are contributing factors, hindering you from progress? There are a lot of stones in life trying to knock us down or hold us back. Too many people feel defeated by addictions, physical ailments, mental illnesses, and other misfortunes that can cause major afflictions. Christians are not immune to major stones of afflictions. However, Christians do not have to be defeated by major afflictions, because we believe in Resurrection Power! Easter Season is significant for many reasons that include, but not limited to, the following themes: (a) New Beginnings (b) Restoration (c) Divine Deliverance During this Easter Season I want you to know all that three of the previously highlighted themes are available for you. I am equally appreciative of New Beginnings, Restoration, and Divine Deliverance. The Holy Bible offers numerous stories of how God lifted people up to higher levels of consciousness and higher levels of commitment to following Jesus Christ. God can roll the stones away. Happy Easter! The Rev. Dr. Ken Walden is the senior pastor of Holman United Methodist Church located in Los Angeles, California. He is the author of Practical Theology for Church Diversity, Challenges Faced by Iraq War Reservists and Their Families and A Pastors Poetry. A new 104-page report from the Capitol Police inspector general confirms that leadership across the Capitol Police department facilitated the attack on the Capitol incited by Trump through deliberate inaction and what can only be described as sabotage. In excerpts from multiple press outlets who viewed sections of the law enforcement sensitive report, titled Review of the Events Surrounding the Jan. 6, 2021, Takeover of the U.S. Capitol, Inspector General Michael Bolton states that police on the frontlines of the assault on the Capitol were forbidden by their leadership from using their most effective crowd-control tactics and equipment despite intelligence clearly indicating that an attack on the Capitol building was planned. The report is the subject of a House Administration Committee hearing today and may be released to the public in some form. It comes less than a week after an internal Pentagon document was leaked to the press confirming that high-ranking military officials ignored desperate pleas from lawmakers and Vice President Mike Pence to deploy National Guard soldiers as the attack was underway. Bolton noted that the Capitol Police Civil Disturbance Unit, specifically created to handle large aggressive crowds such as that which confronted police on January 6, was prevented from using heavier less-lethal weapons because of orders from leadership. Speaking on the overall preparedness of the CDU to confront protesters, Bolton wrote that the unit was operating at a decreased level of readiness as a result of a lack of standards for equipment. As an example, the report noted that the few riot shields the department distributed that day had been stored improperly, leading to many cracking, while several other shields were apparently locked on a bus and inaccessible throughout the attack. Every local police force throughout the country is equipped with such weapons. The fact that the Capitol Police, with its annual budget of nearly half a billion dollars and charged with protecting Congress, was forbidden from using such weapons as thousands of Trump supporters and hundreds of fascist militia members and white supremacists were breaking into the Capitol has no innocent explanation. Trump supporters gesture to U.S. Capitol Police in the hallway outside of the Senate chamber at the Capitol in Washington, Wednesday, Jan. 6, 2021. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta) Bolton disputed Congressional testimony from former Capitol Police Chief Steven Sund who stated that there was no intelligence an attack was likely, noting that the departments own intelligence unit was warned three days before the attack that supporters of Trump, driven by his fraudulent claims of a stolen election, were targeting Congress and likely to become violent. The January 3 Capitol Police threat assessment plainly stated that: Unlike previous post-election protests, the targets of the pro-Trump supporters are not necessarily the counter-protesters as they were previously, but rather Congress itself is the target on the 6th. It added that Stop the Steals propensity to attract white supremacists, militia members and others who actively promote violence may lead to a significantly dangerous situation for law enforcement and the general public alike. The report notes that the threat assessment cited social media comments on a pro-Trump website that promoted attacks on members of Congress and included a map of the underground tunnel system. The Department of Homeland Security forwarded the map along with several comments made on the website which the DHS said promoted confronting members of Congress and carrying firearms during the protest. One comment cited in the report read: Bring guns. Its now or never, while another read, We cant give them a choice. Overwhelming armed numbers is our only chance. No one can take seriously the claim that the Capitol Police could not do in nations capital what is routinely done in every American city in response to left-wing protests. In the aftermath of the killing of Daunte Wright, the Democratic political leadership in Minnesota scrambled all available resources to squash the mounting protests, mustering police forces to deploy roadblocks, erect barbed wire fencing and implement unconstitutional curfews. More details will likely emerge in the coming days, but what has already been reported about the Capitol Police inspector generals investigation makes clear that there was a deliberate demobilization of police in advance of the January 6 insurrection. As this was taking place, the military itself was standing by and biding its time as events unfolded. The internal Pentagon document, which was released to the press this past weekend, details the series of calls made by lawmakers to Department of Defense officials as the attack was taking place. In Congressional testimony in early March, D.C. National Guard Commander William Walker testified that he requested the deployment of National Guard troops to the Capitol at 1:49 p.m., as the fascist insurrectionists approached the Capitol building. Acting Defense Secretary Christopher Miller, a hand-picked Trump appointee, did not grant authorization until 5:08 p.m., three hours and 19 minutes later. In the intervening period, congressmen as well as then Vice President Mike Pence made frantic calls demanding that the Capitol be cleared. This included a 30-minute call between House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Mark Milley at around 4:40 p.m., in which Pelosi and Schumer accused the National Security apparatus of knowing that protesters planned to conduct an assault on the Capitol, according to the report. The military and Defense Department, which included many individuals installed by Trump in the months preceding January 6, did not intervene as events unfolded, giving Trump space to carry out the operation. It finally acted only after it became clear that the operation had failed to achieve its objectives. In its perspective of March 5, 2021, One hundred and ninety-nine minutes in January, the World Socialist Web Site wrote: Moreover, the events of January 6 were far from a surprise. For months prior to the insurrection, there was an ongoing political crisis during which the president of the United States made clear that he would not accept the peaceful transfer of power. The intelligence agencies and military were well aware of the plans and threats targeting the date of January 6, in particular. Rather, a decision was made not to act as a definite political strategy was implemented. For more than three hours, the fascistic groups had virtual free rein over the Capitol building. The militarily trained elements within the rioters knew that they were being given time to seek out hostages among the Senators and Representatives. Subsequent revelations have confirmed this assessment. The claims that the attack was unforeseen or the unexpected result of volatile Trump supporters are belied by the months of planning that went into the attack and the deliberate stand-down of police and military forces. The attempt to seize power by Trump, which came within minutes of succeeding, serves as a deadly serious warning to the working class of the advanced decay of the democratic forms of rule in the US and worldwide. The ongoing threat of fascistic violence remains, despite the failure of the January 6 coup, because the Democratic Party and President Biden seek to cover up the danger and conceal the responsibility of the Republican Party. They seek above all bipartisan unity with their Republican colleagues in carrying out a shared class agenda: defending the interests of American imperialism abroad, and reopening the economy, regardless of the coronavirus pandemic, to guarantee the profits and wealth of the financial aristocracy. You are here: Arts Northwest China's Shaanxi Province now hosts a total of 1,012 grotto temples, according to the provincial cultural relics bureau. Distributed widely across the province, the 1,012 grotto temples were assessed through an investigation that kicked off last October, following a nationwide survey of the protection status of grotto temples. Local cultural relics authorities dispatched five research teams to thoroughly investigate and register the information of grotto temples and conduct initial damage analysis. Data in 2020 showed that China has a total of 5,198 grotto temples. Among them, 142 are under national-level protection and 345 are under provincial-level protection. Including the Mogao Grottoes, Yungang Grottoes and Longmen Grottoes, 10 of the historical relics are inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List. Appeals Court upholds Ohio's Down syndrome abortion ban; judges debate 'eugenics' comparison Email Print Img No-img Menu Whatsapp Google Reddit Digg Stumbleupon Linkedin Comment An appeals court has reversed a lower court decision blocking the enforcement of a law that bans the abortion of babies diagnosed as having Down syndrome. The United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit released a full-court opinion on Tuesday in a lawsuit filed by abortion providers against Ohio over House Bill 214, also called the "Down Syndrome Non-Discrimination Act," which was passed in 2017. Circuit Judge Alice M. Batchelder wrote the majority opinion, being joined by eight other circuit judges, concluding in part that the right to an abortion, even before viability, is not absolute. In [Roe v. Wade], the Supreme Court said, we do not agree with the contention that the womans right is absolute and that she is entitled to terminate her pregnancy at whatever time, in whatever way, and for whatever reason she alone chooses, explained Batchelder. Simply put, there is no absolute or per se right to an abortion based on the stage of the pregnancy. The district court erred by so holding, and the plaintiffs cannot succeed on that proposition standing alone or show any likelihood that they could do so. Batchelder also concluded that even if HB 214 is fully enforced, a woman in Ohio who does not want a child with Down syndrome may lawfully obtain an abortion solely for that reason. H.B. 214 does not prohibit her from choosing or obtaining an abortion for that, or any other, reason, she continued. It bars a doctor from aborting a pregnancy when that doctor knows the womans specific reason and that her reason is: the forthcoming child will have Down syndrome and, because of that, she does not want it. Sixth Circuit Judge Bernice Bouie Donald, one of the seven judges to dissent from the majority, argued in a dissent that the law was the long-arm of the statewielding the threat of a class-four felonyforcefully reaching into a profoundly intimate conversation between doctor and patient and telling the patient to be silent about her medical history or worse, purposefully lie about it. The majority adopts that purported interestprotecting the Down syndrome community from the stigma of a Down-syndrome selective abortionas a valid and legitimate state interest, wrote Donald, who rebutted the claim by quoting from the Supreme Court decision Lawrence v. Texas, which struck down sodomy laws in the United States. When considering moral views which are profound and deep for someas views on abortion certainly arethe power of the state may nonetheless not be used to enforce these views on the whole society through operation of the criminal law. Judge Richard Grifffin, an appointee of former President George W. Bush, added: "Many think that eugenics ended with the horrors of the Holocaust. Unfortunately, it did not. The philosophy and the pure evil that motivated Hitler and Nazi Germany to murder millions of innocent lives continues today." In response, Judge Julia Gibbons, also a Bush appointee, described Griffin's comparison as "inapt" because it "ignores the many complex and very personal reasons that might lead a woman to seek an abortion." She added: "But the American eugenics movement does share a goal of the majority view in this case: both seek to control a womans reproductive decisions. Eugenics certainly lives on... but not in a womans decisions about her reproductive health. The shadow of the eugenics movement materializes when the state wrests those decisions from her." Ohio Right to Life President Mike Gonidakis said in a statement released Tuesday that he was elated that the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals has sided with life and ruled against the fatal discrimination of babies with Down syndrome. The eugenic practice of singling out human lives for death because of a Down syndrome diagnosis has no place in our society, stated Gonidakis. This court ruling brings us one step closer to ensuring that vulnerable babies with special needs are not marked for death because of who they are. Every life is worth living and every precious and unique human being is worthy of complete protection under law. Jessie Hill, cooperating attorney for the Ohio chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union, said that the pro-choice civil rights group was deeply disappointed that the Sixth Circuit decided to overrule the clearly correct decision from the district court. Patients should have all the information desired about their pregnancy, and be encouraged to ask questions confidentially in order to make the very personal decision to have an abortion freely, without the presence of politicians in the exam room, stated Hill on Tuesday. Its unfortunate that the court gave so little weight to the importance of open and honest communication within the doctor-patient relationship. NEW YORK, April 15, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Getty Images, a world leader in visual communications, has today announced a number of financial grants in support of photojournalism and inclusive storytelling which shines a light on the important issues of our time. The new look Getty Images Editorial Grants will support both individual photojournalists and organizations which enable documentary photography, while the Getty Images Inclusion Scholarships return for a second year to support emerging storytellers within underrepresented groups. "At Getty Images, we believe in the power of editorial imagery to ask the questions, press the issues, challenge attitudes, to move the world for the good of society" said Pancho Bernasconi, VP Global News at Getty Images. "With the new Editorial Grants and returning Inclusion Scholarships we are committed to supporting editorial storytellers at every level and enabling the production of inclusive, socially significant stories from around the world." Getty Images Editorial Grant for Photography Programs Getty Images is offering two $15,000 grants for organizations that support documentary photography and its practitioners, either through public engagement or professional development. These project-based grants are intended for educational programs, workshops, exhibitions and other initiatives that reinforce the power of photography as a journalistic medium. The grants are open to non-profit organizations of any size, worldwide. Please see here for further details: https://grants.gettyimages.com/en/grant-for-photography-programs Getty Images Grant for Editorial Photography: Community Resilience Continuing Getty Images' tradition of supporting in-depth photojournalism through its Editorial Grants program, Getty Images is offering three grants of $5,000 each to photographers and videographers reporting stories of community resilience in the wake of the covid-19 pandemic. Within this theme, judges will be looking for visual journalists to show how communities around the world are recovering from the pandemic's far-reaching impact on public health, jobs, education and other aspects of human welfare. Grant submissions should focus on how individuals, businesses, volunteer organizations and local governments are helping communities recover from, and adapt to, the long-term disruptive challenges posed by the pandemic. The submissions will be judged by a prestigious panel of industry experts including: Pete Souza , former Chief Official White House Photographer , former Chief Official White House Photographer Jessica Lim , Director of Angkor Photo Festival , Director of Angkor Photo Festival Katherine Pomerantz , Director of Photography, TIME Magazine , Director of Photography, TIME Magazine Walter Astrada , Photographer For further information and to apply, visit https://grants.gettyimages.com/en/grant-for-editorial-photography Getty Images Inclusion Scholarships Launched in 2020, the Getty Images Inclusion Scholarships are open to emerging photographers around the world with the aim of promoting greater diversity and inclusion within the photographic and media industries. Together with a selection of prestigious photography and journalism associations, Getty Images aims to support emerging editorial talent within underrepresented groups and offer aspiring photojournalists the financial means to pursue education that will enable careers within the industry. Getty Images will partner with the organizations; Women Photograph, National Association of Black Journalists, Asian American Journalists Association and the National Association of Hispanic Journalists to award the following four scholarship grants of $10,000 each: Getty Images Inclusion Scholarship - Women Photograph Getty Images Inclusion Scholarship - National Association of Black Journalists Getty Images Inclusion Scholarship - Asian American Journalists Association Getty Images Inclusion Scholarship - National Association of Hispanic Journalists For further information and to apply, visit: https://grants.gettyimages.com/en/getty-images-inclusion-scholarships The Editorial Grants and Inclusion Scholarships are part of Getty Images' wider grants program, which since its inception has donated over US$1.8 million to photographers and videographers around the world. SOURCE press.gettyimages.com Advertisement Vaccines are behind Britain's sharp drop in coronavirus cases since January, top experts claimed today despite Boris Johnson insisting lockdown was the reason for the fall. Professor Tim Spector, a King's College London epidemiologist who runs the UK's largest Covid symptom tracking study, said the epidemic had 'mainly' been squashed by the 'exemplar vaccine programme'. With more than 60 per cent of the population jabbed with at least one dose and up to 10 per cent protected due to prior infection, Professor Spector added Britain was 'starting to see herd immunity take effect'. His comments come after data from his symptom-tracking app showed a 17 per cent drop in daily cases last week, with an estimated 1,600 new symptomatic infections a day across the country down from 60,000 at the peak in January. Separate Test and Trace figures showed new cases in England had dipped by 34 per cent last week, with 19,196 positive tests recorded in the seven days to April 7 compared to 29,178 at the end of March. Professor Spector said: 'As the UK slowly exits lockdown, I'm encouraged to see Covid cases continue to fall with our rates among the lowest in Europe. 'In fact, the UK closely mirrors cases in Israel with its exemplar vaccine programme. Based on our data and countries like Israel, I believe the fall in cases since January is mainly thanks to the vaccination programme and less about the strict lockdown the UK has been under since late December. 'With up to 60 per cent of the population vaccinated and around 5 to 10 per cent with natural immunity due to infection, we're starting to see herd immunity take effect. This should prevent future large-scale outbreaks.' Professor Spector warned it was inevitable cases would pick up again as restrictions are eased over the coming months. But he said any outbreaks would be 'smaller' and 'manageable' and among groups yet to be vaccinated. It comes after the Prime Minister claimed the reduction in Covid infections, hospitalisations and deaths was down to lockdowns and was not achieved by the roll-out of vaccines. In a significant toning down of his praise for the jabs, he said the 'bulk of the work' in reducing the disease was done by brutal restrictions. The Government's own analysis has shown the vaccines have so far prevented 10,000 Covid deaths and are reducing hospitalisations by more than 80 per cent. Experts told MailOnline today the PM's comments were 'slightly misleading' and suggested it was an attempt by Downing Street to keep people in check as lockdown is lifted. King's College London's study of more than a million Britons showed daily cases have fallen by 17 per cent in the last week, with an estimated 1,600 new symptomatic cases a day across the country Test and Trace data indicated a 34 per cent drop in Covid cases over the seven days to April 7 compared to the previous week, after 19,196 people tested positive for the virus With more than 60 per cent of the population vaccinated with at least one dose and up to 10 per cent of people protected due to prior infection, Professor Tim Spector said Britain was getting close to achieving 'herd immunity' What is herd immunity? Herd immunity is the indirect protection from an infectious disease that happens when a population is immune either through vaccination or immunity developed through previous infection. Effectively, it means that once people have some form of immunity, it reduces the ability of a disease to spread among the population. Therefore, someone who has antibodies either through previous infection or vaccines, acts as a 'barrier' to the virus. If you have enough 'barriers' then the disease cannot effectively spread through a population. But in the case of a new virus, such as with Covid-19, the virus can spread essentially without any barriers - which can lead to a pandemic. The World Health Organisation says it supports achieving herd immunity through vaccination, not by allowing a disease to spread through any segment of the population. But one expert told MailOnline that Covid-19 is here to stay and that the key is reaching a 'herd immunity threshold'. This keeps the virus at what is known as an endemic level - where a disease is regularly found among the population but is not harmful enough to impact on society. Keeping Covid-19 within the herd immunity threshold, which can vary particularly in winter when diseases such as flu and coronavirus spread quickly, will mean it is kept at a 'manageable level', the expert added. Research shows the current crop of Covid vaccines help by increasing the antibody response to the virus - therefore heavily reducing the risk that someone can be made seriously ill. But data is not yet available about how effective the vaccinations are at preventing transmission. Advertisement Professor Paul Hunter, an epidemiologist at the University of East Anglia, told MailOnline: 'The vaccines wouldn't have had much effect on the overall epidemic until the end of February/early March because they were not in enough arms yet, so you could say the initial drop was probably due to lockdown. 'But I think the comments were slightly misleading because now that 60 per cent have been given the jab, it's absolutely the case the vaccines will be doing the heavy lifting from now on.' Dr Jonathan Pearson-Stuttard, an epidemiologist at Imperial College London and health analytics firm Lane Clark & Peacock LLP, said: 'The January lockdown clearly helped break the chain of transmission resulting in cases and deaths declining across the whole population. 'The greatest declines in infection and mortality rates however were seen in the older and more vulnerable groups who had received Covid-19 vaccination during this period.' Internal NHS figures released yesterday show Covid admissions in A&E are down 76 per cent among people aged 80 to 83 vaccinated with Pfizer's jab, and positive tests down 70 per cent. The improvements were seen from 35 days after people's first vaccine doses and based on eight out of 10 getting their second jab within four weeks. Therefore, the findings are not specifically about effectiveness after either one dose or two doses. Statistics show that over-65s now make up a smaller proportion of hospital patients than they did before vaccines, accounting for 49 per cent in March compared to 70 per cent in December. Sir Simon Stevens, chief executive of the health service in England, said yesterday the 'vaccines are successfully reducing hospitalisations and deaths'. Public Health England's real-world analysis of both the AstraZeneca and Pfizer vaccine suggests both jabs cut transmission by up to 70 per cent and slash deaths and hospitalisations by over 90 per cent, after full vaccination. The figures are slightly less in people after their first dose. Today's figures from the Covid Symptom Study UK Infection Survey, ran by researchers at King's and health tech firm ZOE, are based on around one million weekly users of the app. Estimates were made based on users' feedback and almost 6,000 recent swab tests done between March 27 and April 10. Researchers believe about one in 2,000 people across Britain are carrying the disease at any given time, bringing the R value to around 0.8. The found on average there were 1,601 daily cases across the UK in the most recent recording period, compared to 1,924 daily infections the week before. The figure was 1,271 for England. Professor Spector argued the UK was on the cusp of achieving herd immunity, when so much of a population has protection against a virus through vaccines or previous infection that it starts to decline naturally. Experts are torn over the exact percentage needed to achieve herd immunity but believe it will be at least 75 per cent. Top US medical official Dr Anthony Fauci has previously suggested it could be as high as 90 per cent. The UK governments Chief Scientific Advisor Sir Patrick Vallance quoted a figure of 60 per cent back in March 2020 but scientists now believe it is much higher than that because the virus is more transmissible than previously thought. However, true herd immunity will likely only be attained if there is even jab coverage around the country. In London, uptake rates have been below 60 per cent in some parts, compared to more than 80 per cent in most other areas. Last week modelling by University College London (UCL) suggests that 73.4 per cent of the population will have protection against Covid by the middle of this month. UCL theoretical neuroscientist Professor Karl Friston told The Daily Telegraph on April 7: 'Over 50 per cent of adults have been vaccinated, around 42 per cent of people have now been exposed to the virus and about 10 per cent have pre-existing immunity. 'When factoring in the estimated efficacy of vaccination in terms of sterilising immunity, this according to the model means about 70 per cent of the population are immune. 'Based upon contact rates at the beginning of the pandemic and estimated transmission risk, this is nearly at the herd immunity threshold.' UCL's modelling examines real-time deaths, infections, vaccinations and hospital admissions - among other factors - to determine Britain's current R Rate of 1.12. Meanwhile, separate data from Test and Trace released today found that of the 3.7million swabs completed in England during the seven days to April 7, only 19,000 spotted the virus, indicating a positivity rate of 0.5 per cent. Although a million more swabs were done in the previous week, the proportion of all these that identified the virus was 0.6 per cent. This suggests cases are still dropping. The study found a clear reduction in the rates of positive tests, A&E visits and hospital admissions for Covid for people who were vaccinated (blue line) compared to people of a similar age who weren't vaccinated (orange line). It found that, as the time since vaccination increased, the effect became stronger (purple line), with A&E attendances and hospital admissions dropping to 75 per cent lower than in non-vaccinated people Separate NHS data show that an average of 175 people are now admitted to hospital with Covid each day in England. The number is a fraction of the 4,000 per day at the height of the second wave in January Just 175 Covid patients were admitted to hospitals across England on Sunday, Department of Health data shows. This is the lowest level since mid-September when ministers were happy to allow Britons to sit inside pubs despite no one being jabbed Despite the wealth of evidence showing the success of the jabs, the PM claimed this week that lockdown not vaccinations were driving down infections, hospitalisations and deaths. Speaking the day after No10's easing of lockdown restrictions saw pub gardens, shops, gyms and hairdressers reopen, Mr Johnson said it was the national shutdown that had been 'overwhelmingly important' in driving down rates. He said: 'The numbers are down of infections and hospitalisations and deaths. 'But it is very, very important for everybody to understand that the reduction in these numbers, in hospitalisations and in deaths and infections, has not been achieved by the vaccination programme. 'People don't, I think, appreciate that it's the lockdown that has been overwhelmingly important in delivering this improvement in the pandemic and in the figures that we're seeing. 'And so, yes of course the vaccination programme has helped, but the bulk of the work in reducing the disease has been done by the lockdown. 'So, as we unlock, the result will inevitably be we will see more infection, sadly we will see more hospitalisation and deaths, and people have just got to understand that.' The comments marked a significant shift in tone by the PM, who has repeatedly hailed the vaccines as a 'one-way road to freedom' and said they had 'thrown a shield' around the entire population. Director Avril Haines of the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) testifies during a Senate Select Committee on Intelligence hearing about worldwide threats, (Photo : Saul Loeb/Pool via REUTERS) U.S. spy agency leaders said on Wednesday that China is an "unparalleled" priority, citing Beijing's regional aggression and cyber capabilities as they testified at a public congressional "Worldwide Threats" hearing for the first time in more than two years. "Given that China is an unparalleled priority for the intelligence community, I will start with highlighting certain aspects of the threat from Beijing," Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines told the Senate Intelligence Committee. Advertisement She described China as increasingly "a near-peer competitor challenging the United States in multiple arenas." Federal Bureau of Investigation Director Christopher Wray said his agency opens a new investigation linked to China every 10 hours. Haines also cited Russian efforts to undermine U.S. influence, Iran's contribution to instability in the Middle East, global terrorism and potential North Korean efforts to "drive wedges" between Washington and its allies as significant threats. The appearance by Haines and the other intelligence directors was the first such public "Worldwide Threats" hearing since January 2019. Former President Donald Trump, who often clashed with security agencies, did not send officials last year to testify at what is normally an annual event. Democratic Senator Mark Warner, the committee's chairman, said he was "dismayed" there had been no hearing last year. EMPHASIS ON TECHNOLOGY Much of the hearing focused on technology - the threat from hacking, the importance of leading-edge development and the malign influence of social media. "Today's technology environment allows adversaries to wreak havoc,' panel Republican Vice Chairman Marco Rubio said. Warner noted the effort Beijing had put into making the Chinese firm Huawei a leader of advanced 5G systems, and said he was concerned it might make similar efforts in other emerging technologies. Noting the dangers of international computer hacking like the recent SolarWinds attack, Warner said: "We may also want to develop new international norms where certain types of attacks are prohibited, just as the use of chemical or bio-weapons is banned." Central Intelligence Agency Director William Burns, National Security Agency Director General Paul Nakasone and Defense Intelligence Agency Director Lieutenant General Scott Berrier also testified. Burns said nearly a third of the CIA's workforce is focused on cyber issues. Nakasone and Wray said intelligence agencies could benefit from more information from companies about cyber threats, but did not directly endorse calls from some members of Congress for legislation that would demand more of firms like Facebook and Twitter. Wray said social media has become "the key amplifier" to domestic violent extremism and malign foreign influence. "The same things that attract people to it for good reasons are also capable of causing all sorts of harms," Wray said. U.S. intelligence agencies on Tuesday released a sweeping report on global threats. Disease, the rich-poor gap, climate change and conflicts within and among nations will pose greater challenges, with COVID-19 already worsening some of those problems, the report by the National Intelligence Council said. [L1N2M12VM] The intelligence chiefs are due to testify at a second Worldwide Threats hearing, before the House Intelligence committee, on Thursday. [April 15, 2021] Failure to Understand Younger Investors Could Affect Advisors' Ability to Attract Clients, J.D. Power Finds With consumers in the Millennial1 generation poised to inherit more than $68 trillion in wealth from their Boomer parents during the next decade, full-service wealth management firms have a vested interest in tailoring their services to the evolving needs of younger investors. According to the J.D. Power 2021 U.S. Full-Service Investor Satisfaction Study,SM released today, the past year has exposed a stark divergence in the investment behavior of younger investors compared with their older counterparts. This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210415005379/en/ J.D. Power 2021 U.S. Full-Service Investor Satisfaction Study (Graphic: Business Wire) "Investors under age 40 are changing much more quickly in terms of their wealth management preferences and priorities-and they look increasingly different from Boomers," said Mike Foy, senior director of wealth intelligence at J.D. Power. "Not only has the pandemic significantly accelerated their shift to more digital engagement, but emerging issues like ESG [environmental, social and governance] are also a major priority for them that isn't seen as much yet among Boomers. Wealth management providers are making a mistake if they assume that the emerging affluent investors will simply evolve into Boomers over time. Firms with the ability to recognize and address these changing needs will define success through the great wealth transfer." Following are some key findings of the 2021 study: Younger investors crank up interaction during pandemic: More than half (55%) of full-service investors under age 40 prefer digital channels for communicating with their advisors vs. just 26% among older investors. More than two-thirds (71%) of full-service investors under age 40 have increased their frequency of interaction with their advisory firm during the pandemic, with phone (+33%), website (+25%), email (+24%) and mobile apps (+23%) emerging as the channels with the largest increases. By contrast, just 38% of investors age 40 and older increased their level of engagement during the past year. More than half (55%) of full-service investors under age 40 prefer digital channels for communicating with their advisors vs. just 26% among older investors. More than two-thirds (71%) of full-service investors under age 40 have increased their frequency of interaction with their advisory firm during the pandemic, with phone (+33%), website (+25%), email (+24%) and mobile apps (+23%) emerging as the channels with the largest increases. By contrast, just 38% of investors age 40 and older increased their level of engagement during the past year. Younger investors twice as likely to make financial changes: During the past year, 58% of investors under age 40 made changes to their investment portfolios, such as inceasing or decreasing investments, stopping recurring contributions or making withdrawals. During the same period, just 28% of investors age 40 and older made similar changes. During the past year, 58% of investors under age 40 made changes to their investment portfolios, such as inceasing or decreasing investments, stopping recurring contributions or making withdrawals. During the same period, just 28% of investors age 40 and older made similar changes. ESG becomes key priority but many firms still fall short: Among investors under age 40 who strongly agree that their advisory firm is committed to ESG efforts, 52% say they plan to increase their investment with that firm. The number falls to just 24% among investors over age 40. Despite the positive influence ESG has among younger investors, 68% say they either have doubts about their firm's commitment to ESG or don't know about it. Among investors under age 40 who strongly agree that their advisory firm is committed to ESG efforts, 52% say they plan to increase their investment with that firm. The number falls to just 24% among investors over age 40. Despite the positive influence ESG has among younger investors, 68% say they either have doubts about their firm's commitment to ESG or don't know about it. One-time fee-for-service and subscription payment models attractive to younger investors: Nearly three-fourths (74%) of investors under age 40 say they would prefer to pay for full-service wealth management via a one-time fee-for-service model. This is followed closely by a subscription model, which is supported by 73% of investors under age 40. By contrast, among full-service investors age 40 and older, just 42% support a fee-for-service model and 34% support a subscription model. Study Ranking Edward Jones ranks highest in overall investor satisfaction with a score of 770 (on a 1,000-point scale). Stifel (760) ranks second, while Fidelity (751), RBC (751) and UBS (751) each rank third in a tie. The U.S. Full-Service Investor Satisfaction Study, now in its 19th year, is redesigned for 2021. As a result of the study redesign, scores are not comparable to those of previous years. The study measures overall investor satisfaction with full-service investment firms in seven factors (in order of importance): trust; people; products and services; value for fees; ability to manage wealth how and when I want; problem resolution; and digital channels. The study is based on responses from 4,392 investors who make some or all of their investment decisions with a financial advisor. The study was fielded from December 2020 through February 2021. For more information about the U.S. Full-Service Investor Satisfaction Study, visit https://www.jdpower.com/business/resource/us-full-service-investor-satisfaction-study. To view the online press release, please visit http://www.jdpower.com/pr-id/2021033. About J.D. Power 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 1 J.D. Power defines generational groups as Pre-Boomers (born before 1946); Boomers (1946-1964); Gen X (1965-1976); Gen Y (1977-1994); and Gen Z (1995-2004). Millennials (1982-1994) are a subset of Gen Y. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210415005379/en/ [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] PORT FOURCHON Racing against time in the search for 12 people missing since their ship capsized in the Gulf of Mexico, Coast Guard divers hoped a break in stormy weather Thursday would give them an opportunity to reach the hull. Its possible that some of the missing are trapped inside, and the Coast Guard was trying to determine how rescuers can reach them without needing to be rescued themselves. With something like this, that is a vessel that is capsized with the potential of people trapped inside, there are a lot of dynamic aspects we have to look at, Coast Guard Petty Officer 2nd Class Jonathan Lally said shortly before dawn on Thursday. We dont have a whole lot of information of where they are, Lally added. The Seacor Power flipped over in hurricane-force winds and high seas on Tuesday, miles south of the Louisiana coast. Six people were rescued alive and one person's body was recovered from the water as searchers scanned an area larger than the state of Rhode Island. Today, weather permitting, we anticipate divers making it to the vessel," U.S. Coast Guard Petty Officer Third Class John Michelli said early Thursday. Lally said rescuers don't know how many of the missing might be caught inside. There is the potential they are still there, but we dont know, Lally said. Were still searching for 12 people because there are 12 still missing. What we know about capsized lift boat Seacor Power and rescue efforts off Louisiana coast Five crew members are dead and eight are missing as U.S. Coast Guard rescuers continued to search the waters of the Gulf of Mexico for survivo Top stories in New Orleans in your inbox Twice daily we'll send you the day's biggest headlines. Sign up today. e-mail address * Sign Up Part of the overturned ship's hull and one of its legs are still visible, leaving most of the bulky vessel under water. Also called a jackup rig, it has three long legs designed to reach the sea floor and lift it out of water as an offshore platform. Authorities also plan to use all-terrain vehicles Thursday to search the shoreline near Port Fourchon, a major base for the U.S. oil and gas industry. Despite a widening search involving Coast Guard boats and aircraft, no other crew members have been spotted. Interrupted by darkness and bad weather, the effort spread to more than 1,440 square miles by Wednesday afternoon, according to a news release. We had both air and surface assets out last night nothing materially has changed," Michelli said around dawn Thursday. By STACEY PLAISANCE, KEVIN McGILL and JEFF MARTIN, AP. McGill contributed to this story from New Orleans and Martin from Atlanta. Source: Xinhua| 2021-04-15 00:52:06|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close Rafael Mariano Grossi, director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), speaks during an interview in Vienna, Austria, on April 14, 2021. As Japan's decision to discharge nuclear wastewater into the Pacific Ocean sparked an international backlash, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) chief said Wednesday he takes these concerns "seriously" and called for "transparency." (Photo by Georges Schneider/Xinhua) VIENNA, April 14 (Xinhua) -- As Japan's decision to discharge nuclear wastewater into the Pacific Ocean sparked an international backlash, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) chief said Wednesday he takes these concerns "seriously" and called for "transparency." "The way to deal with these concerns, for me ... it's very simple. It has one name: transparency," Rafael Mariano Grossi, director general of the IAEA, told Xinhua in an interview here on Wednesday. Grossi stressed that when the wastewater is released, it should cause no harm to the environment. Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga said on Tuesday that his government has decided to discharge contaminated radioactive wastewater in Fukushima Prefecture into the Pacific Ocean amid domestic and international opposition. On Wednesday, China strongly urged Japan to reconsider its decision on the disposal of nuclear waste. The international community including the Republic of Korea (ROK), Russia and the European Commission had expressed deep concerns over the issue. Grossi noted that not only Japan's neighboring countries but also local people in Japan, such as fishermen, were "all very concerned." "The issue at hand is very well known. We all know what is there. We all know the amount of the water. What we need to do is to make sure that when this starts to be released, there will be no harm to the environment, no harm whatsoever," he said. Grossi noted that the IAEA would cooperate with Japan, with professional work organized "before, during and after the controlled release of treated water into the ocean. " "So the work will start now and we will have to make sure that every step of the way ... we observe this cooperation, that this cooperation is unhindered, that we have access to everything we need to have access (to)," he said. Enditem 7th Case of Rare, Severe Blood Clot Linked to J&J Vaccine The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said on April 14 that it learned of a seventh woman who developed a rare and severe type of blood clot after receiving the Johnson & Johnson (J&J) COVID-19 vaccine. The seventh possible patient was identified as a 28-year-old woman, as the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices debates whether the J&J vaccine should be used. The committee said more information is needed to make an informed recommendation. Several million doses of the J&J vaccine have been administered so far, meaning that the risk of developing clots appears to be extremely low. Earlier this week, the CDC and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) recommended pausing usage of the J&J single-shot vaccine. It came after six cases of blood clots were reported. We do need to better understand the risk, which we know is going to be very rare, very low, but we really dont know exactly how low, Dr. Beth Bell, a member of the panel who also works at the University of Washington in Seattle, said during the advisory committee meeting. J&J didnt respond to a request for comment by press time. In a statement on April 14, as the CDC advisory panel met, J&J said: We strongly support awareness of the signs and symptoms of this extremely rare event to ensure the correct diagnosis, appropriate treatment, and expedited reporting by health care professionals. We continue to believe in the positive benefit-risk profile of our vaccine. We value the consideration of the Advisory Committee, and we will continue to collaborate with medical experts and global health authorities, including the CDC, U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), European Medicines Agency, and the World Health Organization, as we work toward continuing vaccinations to end the global pandemic. Some members of the advisory committee expressed concern over the continued pause of the vaccine amid the number of COVID-19 cases being reported each day. Other blood clot cases include a 45-year-old woman living in Virginia who died. The woman got the J&J vaccine in March and was hospitalized 11 days later, authorities said. A 48-year-old woman in Nebraska was taken to an emergency room and remains critically ill after getting the vaccine. A 38-year-old woman suffered from cerebral venous sinus thrombosis and hasnt recovered. A 59-year-old woman with no known history of coronary artery disease took the J&J vaccine and had extensive deep venous thrombosis on her left side seven days later. An 18-year-old from Nevada with unknown risk factors also developed cerebral venous sinus thrombosis two weeks after the shot and hasnt yet recovered, authorities said. And a 26-year-old woman in the PennsylvaniaNew Jersey area got the J&J vaccine and had symptoms of blood clots, officials said. She has been discharged from the hospital. COVID-19 is the disease caused by the CCP (Chinese Communist Party) virus. Jerry Falwell Jr.'s son no longer employed by Liberty U months after father resigned Email Print Img No-img Menu Whatsapp Google Reddit Digg Stumbleupon Linkedin Comment The son of Jerry Falwell Jr. is no longer serving in a leadership position at Liberty University, less than a year after his father resigned as president of the Lynchburg, Virginia-based evangelical Christian school amid a sex scandal. Liberty University spokesperson Scott Lamb told Politico on Wednesday that Jerry Falwell III, also known as Trey Falwell, is no longer employed by the university. Trey Falwell, whose grandfather founded the university in 1971, had served as vice president of support services at Liberty. Before his father's departure, some had assumed that he would one day take over as Liberty president. Lamb declined to tell Politico why Trey Falwell left his position and did not explain if Falwells son, Wesley, or his daughter-in-law are still employed with the university. Save71, a group of students, faculty and alumni calling for leadership reform at Liberty, took to Twitter in response to the news. The group claimed that they received a tip last month that Trey, his brother and his sister-in-law had been given 30 days notice that they had to leave. We couldnt confirm it then, so we didnt report it. This seems to be confirmation, added the group. Many in the LU community have long assumed that Trey would one day take over as Libertys president, but that began to change when Falwell Jr left. Last August, Jerry Falwell Jr. resigned from his position as president and chancellor of Liberty University following a highly-publicized sex scandal regarding his wife and former pool boy. Soon after, Falwell filed a lawsuit against Liberty, claiming that the school had harmed his reputation by jumping to conclusions about the claims made against my character. But last December, Falwell dropped the lawsuit, stating at the time that he was going to take a time out from my litigation against Liberty University, but he assured he would continue to keep all options on the table for an appropriate resolution to the matter. Although Jerry Falwell, Jr. and his son Trey are no longer part of the university leadership, Liberty has not completely severed its ties to the founding family. Last week, the university announced that Thomas Road Baptist Church Senior Pastor Jonathan Falwell, another son of founder Jerry Falwell Sr., will become Libertys new campus pastor. The announcement came after the schools current campus pastor and vice president of spiritual development, David Nasser, announced to the community that he was leaving the university at the end of the semester to work with a nonprofit in Tennesee. By Bahk Eun-ji The wife of Belgian Ambassador to Korea Peter Lescouhier is under investigation for allegedly assaulting a saleswoman at a clothing shop in Seoul, police said Thursday. Yonhap Michael Vogel built a crypto exchange from the ground up, while Dominic Vogel is changing the game in strategic cybersecurity TechX Technologies invests in and provides subject matter experts within portfolio companies to accelerate success and maximize value for shareholders ( ) ( ) ( ) announced the addition of Netcoins founder and Coinstream CEO Michael Vogel as an independent director and his brother, CyberSC founder and Chief Strategist Dominic Vogel as an Advisor. Michael Vogel founded cryptocurrency exchange Netcoins in 2014, scaled the company to thousands of customers and millions in revenue and led the company to publicly list in 2018, making it the first crypto company to do so. Netcoins was acquired by BIGG Digital Assets Inc ( ) ( ) in 2018 and is now one of the largest and longest operating Bitcoin exchanges in Canada, the company said. Michael is now the CEO of Coinstream, a Bitcoin company aimed at the US market and bills itself as an ultra-simple way for Americans to buy cryptocurrencies. He is also the founder and CEO of Encore Ventures, which is involved in the development of start-ups in crypto and tech spaces. "Bitcoin and the cryptocurrency ecosystem is in a major growth phase, and TechX is very well positioned for rapid growth, Michael Vogel said in a statement. The TechX team has already demonstrated a solid track record of success, and I'm excited to bring my sector knowledge and experience in scaling startups to the team. Dominic Vogel, founder and chief strategist of cybersecurity firm CyberSC, holds a proven track record within a multitude of industries, the company said. He actively participates in the Vancouver security community and has appeared on media outlets across North America and internationally on BBC World News. Dominic was recently appointed to the BC Provincial Cyber Security Advisory Committee. Dominic focuses much of his energy on providing strategic security leadership to technology start-ups and small/midsize businesses to proactively solve their cyber risk challenges, the company said. "We are extremely pleased to have these two highly-seasoned experts join the company during our exciting move into the cryptocurrency space," TechX CEO Peter Green said. "Michael is a cryptocurrency pioneer, who personally founded and bootstrapped two multi-million dollar companies, including Netcoins, which he brought from nothing to $20 million in sales before it was acquired and publicly listed in 2018. Dominic has an equally impressive role within the cybersecurity space and is highly regarded for his deep expertise across several massive industries. I can't think of two better leaders to add to the TechX team. Additionally, TechX said it has granted 450,000 incentive stock options in accordance with its stock options plans that are exercisable at $1.19 per share for two years and are subject to vesting over two years. TechX Technologies, based in Vancouver, invests in and provides subject matter experts within portfolio companies to accelerate success and maximize value for shareholders. Contact Andrew Kessel at andrew.kessel@proactiveinvestors.com Follow him on Twitter @andrew_kessel Ashley Tisdale stepped out this Wednesday in Los Angeles to enjoy her first hike after becoming a mother. The 34-year-old and her husband Christopher French welcomed their daughter Jupiter Iris just three weeks ago. And this week Ashley draped her already svelte post-baby body in a cozy-looking hoodie and a pair of leggings for her workout. Legging it: Ashley Tisdale stepped out this Wednesday in Los Angeles to enjoy her first hike after becoming a mother As she took in some fresh air and exercise she let her more than 13 million Instagram followers know how 'Blessed' she was feeling. The High School Musical star also posted a masked selfie in which she raised one arm triumphantly into the air after her hike. 'I did it!' she wrote in a caption on top of the picture. 'First hike back and I did a legit victory dance. I was literally dancing on my own.' Ashley added: 'Not because I'm back to working out but because this time at the top I realized how powerful and strong I am.' Looking fab: And this week Ashley draped her already svelte post-baby body in a cozy-looking hoodie and a pair of leggings for her workout She pointed out: 'I delivered a f***ing baby, my body has changed my mind has changed and I feel f***ing powerful.' After announcing her pregnancy last September and going public with the sex in October she revealed last month that the baby was born March 23. Ashley broke the news by posting a heart-melting black and white snap that showed little Jupiter's hand resting in hers. Her pregnancy was not without its issues as she revealed that while she was expecting she suffered from plantar fasciitis. Out and about: As she took in some fresh air and exercise she let her more than 13 million Instagram followers know how 'Blessed' she was feeling 'I did it!': The High School Musical star also posted a masked selfie in which she raised one arm triumphantly into the air after her hike The medical condition has the nickname 'policeman's heel' and involves pain caused by inflamed tissue between the toes and heel. She wrote on Insta Stories while pregnant: 'It literally hurts to walk on my feet. I've never felt pain like this and I'm hoping once the baby is here it lets up.' The Scary Movie 5 actress allowed: 'I know there could be worse things but for someone who is constantly on their feet it can be pretty unbearable.' Hot couple: The 34-year-old and her husband Christopher French welcomed their daughter Jupiter Iris just three weeks ago Although Earth Day is celebrated annually on April 22, saving the environment requires commitments year round. Now the National Childrens Museum in Washington offers free online programs to inspire even the youngest activists. A digital version of the museums exhibition Climate Action Heroes, at climate-heroes.org, presents information and resources, as well as a quiz to help children discover their inner eco-warriors from an arbor avenger to a mighty meteorologist. Young conservationists can also embark on the Climate Action Heroes Virtual Field Trip, a 20-minute video journey geared toward Grades 3 to 5. Families submitting a request form online will receive an emailed link to the museum excursion, which explains the difference between weather and climate and demonstrates through a simple experiment how greenhouse gases lead to global warming. Along the way, participants meet seven real-life heroes, including James Balog, an environmental photographer; Danielle Nkojo, a sustainability expert; and Allison Fundis, a deep-sea explorer. They suggest how children themselves can help combat climate change. LAUREL GRAEBER BEIJING, Apr.14 -- Recently, the inspection team under the United Nations Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS) conducted the first combat readiness inspection and assessment on the 11th Chinese peacekeeping engineer contingent to South Sudan (Wau). In the inspection and assessment, the UN team listened to the work reports, reviewed the software used for work, took field investigation and watched real combat drills, focusing on nine aspects involving personnel, intelligence, pandemic prevention and control, etc. After eight hours accessment, the inspection team highly acknowledged and affirmed the combat readiness of the Chinese peacekeeping engineer contingent. YouTuber Malik Sanchez, 19, has been charged with making a hoax bomb threat (YouTube/Smooth Sanchez IRL) A self-described incel YouTuber has been arrested after running up to a group of outdoor diners in Manhattan and threatening to blow them up. Allahu Akbar! Allahu Akbar! Bomb detonation in two, in two minutes, Malik Sanchez, 19, shouted at a pair of women eating at the restaurant, as shown in a video he posted on 13 February. I take you with me and I kill all you! I kill all you right now! Mr Sanchez, who goes by the name Smooth Sanchez online, has been charged with conveying false and misleading information and hoaxes, the US Attorneys Office of the Southern District of New York announced on Wednesday. As alleged, Malik Sanchez perpetrated a hoax bomb threat at a Manhattan restaurant that frightened innocent victims, sowed chaos, and diverted precious law enforcement resources, the office said in a statement . Todays arrest makes clear that such conduct will not be tolerated. If convicted, Mr Sanchez could face up to five years in prison. He is currently being held without bail as he awaits his trial. The statement also notes that Mr Sanchez calls himself an involuntary celibate, or incel . The incel community, which exists primarily online, gained notoriety after the mass shooter Elliot Rodger , a self-described incel, killed six people in Isla Vista, California in 2014. It is not known whether he has been appointed a lawyer or enter a plea. Mr Sanchez has praised Mr Rodger in several of his videos. I have incel rage! he yelled at two women in a 7 February video entitled INCEL ARMY RISE UP. You know what? he goes on. Elliot Rodger was good. Elliot Rodger was a good guy. In another video, posted on 20 March, Mr Sanchez again invoked Mr Rodger as he berated several women at an outdoor seating area. When some patrons tried to get him to stop, he attacked one of them with pepper spray, according to the US Attorneys Office. He was then arrested and charged with state-level offenses. This is not Mr Sanchezs first time in the news. In October last year, he climbed up New Yorks Queensboro Bridge, stopping traffic and triggering a massive police response. NYPD officers finally brought Mr Sanchez down, but not without becoming unwitting stars of his YouTube video, which he live-streamed throughout the incident. Story continues Guys, Im not suicidal, Mr Sanchez yelled down to the cops as they approached him. I just wanted to take content to the next level, and I was just having fun. Read More Scottish Labour leader says SNP should focus on Covid recovery Bernie Madoff: Twitter reacts to the death of Ponzi mastermind Journalist shot with non-lethal during Daunte Wright protest I read Moving On in the summer of 1970 as I was finishing graduate school at Cornell and about to be moving on myself to Houston and a job at Rice University. It was the first Larry McMurtry novel I read, and I read it in a way I dont usually read novels that is, not for its art, but for its information. What is Houston like, I wanted to know. And Rice. After all this time, I cant remember what I learned then except that Houston is humid and many members of the English department were interested in pro football. At the time, the other contemporary writers I was interested in were John Updike and Philip Roth. Rabbit, Run and Portnoys Complaint were breakthrough books for me, the first because I had never read a novel narrated in the present tense and the second because Id never read anything as filthy or as funny. McMurtry is a more traditional novelist, but he gives us characters such as the imperious, melancholy, hard-to-forget Aurora Greenway, whom he surrounds with equally memorable minor characters. There is, for instance, the oilman Vernon, who lives in his car parked on top of a downtown garage. He is in love with Aurora and for her birthday he gives her a goat. He thinks it will help her tend her lawn by eating the grass. All of McMurtrys best books are filled with wonderful minor characters such as Vernon; and taken all together, they may be his greatest talent and most important achievement. They are always eccentric and usually both funny and sad not unlike many of Charles Dickens minor characters. McMurtry died March 25 at 84. Much has been written about his national acclaim in these pages, the New York Times and elsewhere. Im interested in something else. Where in his writing can we find his self-portrait. For those purposes, my favorite moment in all of his novels is the opening of Duanes Depressed: Two years into his sixties, Duane Moore a man who had driven pickups for as long as he had been licensed parked his pickup in his own carport one day and began to walk wherever he went. He didnt want to be in the cab of a pickup anymore because being in the cab of a pickup suddenly made him wonder what had happened to his life. Is this sadder than it is funny, or funnier than it is sad? And I have often wondered how much of McMurtry himself is in Duane and ready to take a new route. He published Lonesome Dove in 1985, which won the Pulitzer Prize and great popular acclaim. (I hate McMurtry, a friend of mine said. He made Lonesome Dove too short.) But McMurtry himself was unhappy with the way the book was received. He had begun to doubt the value of all his work, then required quadruple-bypass surgery, and entered a long period of depression. He published Duanes Depressed in 1999 the year he also published Walter Benjamin at the Dairy Queen: Reflections at Sixty and Beyond. In it he begins to think about the relationship between place, the community it locates, and memory and the loss of oral storytelling. He writes: The question I want to investigate is how someone like myself, growing up in a place that had just been settled, and a place moreover in which nothing of historical or cultural consequence had ever happened, became a novelist instead of being content to worry over an old woman who had been traded for skunk hides, or a dairy farmer who had given away to despair. McMurtry wore a shirt with Minor Regional Novelist printed on it. That phrase makes me think of being assigned in graduate school Hamlin Garlands Main Traveled Roads. (One of your favorites too? Wikipedia calls it an undisputed American classic.) Garland wrote about the upper Midwestern prairies states such as South Dakota and Wisconsin and called this region the Middle Borders. Texas is more than a geographical region, as California and New York City are, and no one thinks either of them is minor. Or merely a region. He was kidding with the slogan on his shirt, but perhaps also confessing his doubts about himself. When Duane cant overcome his depression by walking it off, he goes to see a psychiatrist. He doesnt notice that shes lesbian and falls in love with her. She says he needs a rehabilitative distraction and tells him not to come back until he has read Proust. In Search of Lost Time is well over 3,000 pages, but there is nobody better than Proust to read if you are thinking about place and memory. I want to believe McMurtry himself read Proust (or more likely reread him) for the inspiration he felt he needed. And then I have to realize that after 1999 he published nothing as good as Terms of Endearment or even Cadillac Jack. One of the Texas writers he most admired was the poet Vassar Miller. She published 10 books over 40 years, won the Texas Institute of Letters prize three times, and was named Poet Laureate of Texas in 1988. All her life, she suffered from severe cerebral palsy, and when McMurtry praises her, the virtue he singles out is her physical, intellectual, and moral tenacity. Reading Proust takes tenacity. Duane shows that he has some tenacity. McMurtry had some too. He wrote 38 books and many screenplays, including the one for Brokeback Mountain, for which he won an Oscar. All of My Friends Are Going To Be Strangers is the story of Danny Deck, a young novelist who has just published his first book. Published in 1972, its a wild and crazy picaresque story, and it seems to be McMurtrys version of a portrait of the artist as a young man. All My Friends is one of my favorites, despite its sad and empty ending. Danny Deck remains a minor regional novelist. I wish McMurtry had also produced a full portrait of the mature author who, like himself, was a major American writer. Doody is a professor emeritus of Rice University and the author of Confession and Community in the Novel and Among Other Things: A Description of the Novel. U.S. President Joe Biden had a constructive phone call with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin Tuesday, White House spokeswoman Jen Psaki said during a press briefing at the White House. "I will say that President Biden had a constructive call yesterday," she said. According to the spokeswoman, a conversation with the Russian leader is one of those cases when the U.S. "needs to have difficult discussions." During the call, President Biden "did not hold back on his concerns, including reiterating that there will be consequences to the actions that were taken [by Russia]," Psaki said. On Tuesday, Putin and Biden had the second phone call since Bidens assumption of office as the U.S. President. According to the Kremlin, the leaders discussed the bilateral relations and a number of international issues in substance. The White House disclosed that Biden had offered to hold an in-person meeting with Putin in a third country. Later, the U.S. stated that Washington does not change its position of pressure on Russia because of the summit plans. [April 15, 2021] AMPLY Power and UES Partner to Deliver Vehicle-to-Grid Ready Electric School Buses and Trucks MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif., April 15, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Evolving its e-mobility charging solutions with vehicle-to-grid capabilities, AMPLY Power is partnering with UES (Unique Electric Solutions) to offer a comprehensive fleet electrification solution primed for the wave of V2G (vehicle-to-grid) opportunities being pursued by utilities and end customers. The universal solution includes the repowering of existing ICE (internal combustion engine) trucks and buses with electric powertrains, charge management services, a V2G bi-directional EV charging system from Rhombus Energy Solutions, and baked-in coordination with the local utility. The companies are deploying their joint solution for the Logan Bus Company, the largest school bus provider for the New York City Department of Education. "The future of resilient electric vehicle infrastructure must include V2G capabilities. It can help fleet operators be more energy resilient and achieve greater cost-savings, while strengthening their local grids," said Vic Shao, CEO of AMPLY Power. A report by Precedence Research predicts that the global V2G technology market is expected to grow at a compound rate of 48% between 2020 to 2027. The concept enables bi-directional and controllable electrical energy flow among vehicles and the local electrical grid for the benefit of both parties. Beyond serving as a virtual power plant that utilities and owners can utilize in times of need (such as power outages or times of high prices due to increased demand), bi-directional charging can help fleets and grids balance their electricity demand and act as storage for renewable energy generation. "Logan is very excited to be a part of this project. Vehicle-to-grid will be imperative for electric school bus operations to scale," explained Corey Muirhead, Executive Vice President of Logan Bus. "V2G provides much-needed cost savings to the contractor while simultaneously allowing us to provide power back to the grid, thus reducing brownouts and helping our community during emergency events." The AMPLY Power, UES, and Rhombus Energy Solutions alliance allow fleets to take advantage of all of the benefits of electrification with less upfront capital and less risk. The economics of V2G will be on display in the Logan Bus project. By integrating these solutions into AMPLY's Charging-as-a-Service (CaaS) model, the project is set up to capture the cost reductions beyond what electrification via repowering can bring. "With today's climate protection goals set by local, state, and federal governments, we need to rapidly replace fossil-fueled vehicles with zero-emission vehicles. This speedy conversion can present issues for organizations thathave limited resources. However, the UES re-power option provides fleets with a lower cost and low-risk option to deploy EVs," Shao continued. UES has a seven-step process for repowering vehicles. It entails vehicle and route assessment, charging assessment, and after-sales support, making the repowering as reliable and low risk as purchasing a new vehicle. Additionally, operating these electric vehicles can cost fleet operators one-third of the OpEx cost compared with diesel. Combining UES's repowering technology with AMPLY's charge management software, operators can achieve higher efficiency and realize significant cost savings. "The higher initial price tag of EVs compared to that of internal combustion vehicles can be challenging for many fleet operators. However, when looking at the economics of fueling, maintenance, and operating costs, electric is more affordable than maintaining them as diesel-fueled vehicles," said Joe Ambrosio, CEO at UES. "Additionally, by deploying our re-powering strategy, where we retrofit the powertrain and keep the existing chassis, we can save operators even more time and money by providing all the reduced operating costs and emissions of a new electric vehicle but at a fraction of the price." "To see the massive evolution of bi-directional charging in the U.S. has been a pleasure to witness, and our recent completion of the UL 1741-SA certification for our Rhombus 125kW DC fast charger will meet the needs of fleet operators in a new way that will continue to forge a path to mass fleet electrification," said CEO of Rhombus Energy Solutions Rick Sander. "Knowing that our American-made products are pioneering change and ushering in a new era of EV through V2G technology is an honor, and we look forward to doing our part in pushing V2G to the forefront of adoption." AMPLY's CaaS model simplifies the transition to EVs for fleets by assuming end-to-end responsibility for all vehicle charging needs, from cloud-based system design to installing local site controllers. Its proprietary back-end software and operational methods drive utility costs down by optimizing EV charging and other energy use at both public and private depots. Combining this process with utility service upgrades as-needed enables Logan Bus to further scale its electric bus deployments. AMPLY Power announced its partnership with the Logan Bus Company last year and has since partnered with several transit agencies to support their transition to electric, including Tri Delta Transit, Solano County Transit, and the Anaheim Transportation Network. AMPLY recently joined forces with the California Mobility Center to accelerate the transition to e-mobility throughout California, and was also named on the 2021 Global Cleantech 100 list for the second year in a row. About AMPLY Power AMPLY Power offers the only fully managed charging service to the public sector and commercial businesses looking for guaranteed performance and fixed fuel pricing for their electric vehicle fleets. Similar to how data centers optimize for high efficiency, low cost, and 99.99 percent uptime, the company uniquely takes on all components of fleet charging through its scalable Charging-as-a-Service approach. From system design and utility upgrades, to financing, charging infrastructure, and maintenance, AMPLY allows fleet operators to expand their zero-emissions operations with confidence and ease, in exchange for an optimized, price-per-mile-driven fee. To learn more about how AMPLY takes the hassle and risk out of EV fleet operations, paving the way for accelerated EV adoption worldwide, please visit www.amplypower.com or LinkedIn and follow @AMPLYpower on Twitter. About Unique Electric Solutions Unique Electric Solutions, UES, manufactures electric (EV) and fuel cell electric (FCEV) vehicle propulsion systems for commercial fleets, upfitters and select OEMs. These engineered, end-to-end EV propulsion systems are deployed in both new production vehicle platforms as well as mid/high volume conversions of on-road medium and heavy duty trucks and buses for numerous applications such as package delivery, passenger transportation and terminal trucks. The uniqueEV platform, a Class 4-7 all-electric drive system available in both full EV and a range-extended HEV fuel-cell version, is field proven including daily service in UPS (United Parcel Service) fleets in New York City and California. For more information, please visit www.uesmfg.com. About Rhombus Energy Solutions Rhombus develops and manufactures next-generation bi-directional electric vehicle charging infrastructure, high-efficiency power conversion systems and energy management system (EMS) software for vehicle-to-grid (V2G) capable electric vehicle fleet charging, energy storage and microgrid applications. The high reliability of our solutions is the result of decades of experience developing high-power systems for a variety of applications and deployment scenarios, including UL 1741-SA certified system-to-grid solutions. For more information, please visit www.RhombusEnergy.com. Media Contact for AMPLY Power Technica Communications for AMPLY Power Lisa Ann Pinkerton Ph. 408-806-9626 Ext. 9626 lisaann@technicacommunications.com Media Contact for UES Michael Backman Ph. 505-333-0073 Ext. 515 mike.backman@uesmfg.com View original content to download multimedia:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/amply-power-and-ues-partner-to-deliver-vehicle-to-grid-ready-electric-school-buses-and-trucks-301269396.html SOURCE AMPLY Power [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] According to a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention study released Wednesday, April 14, blocking middle seats reduces coronavirus risks by 23 to 57 percent. Although the study, which focused on exposure, did not account for passengers' masking, the CDC still emphasizes the benefits of social distance on planes. Airlines are not likely to be convinced by the newly released report. CDC Research on Middle Seats According to the Washington Post, a case study shows that COVID-19 transmission has taken place in a flight with mandatory mask-wearing, with virus aerosols released from infectious passengers during distancing. Most airlines returned to packing flights last year to make up for their staggering financial losses. The only major U.S. airline still conducting this practice is Delta, which will stop doing so on May 1. Henry Harteveldt, an industry analyst and co-founder of Atmosphere Research Group, stated that this is a "huge bombshell from the CDC." He explained that airlines would acknowledge this as a positive development in the fight against air pollution. Physical separation of aircraft passengers, including through the practice of middle seat vacancy policies, can reduce the risk of SARS-COV-2 exposure, Jade Fulce, a CDC public affairs specialist, said in an email. Some airlines have been operating with a policy of empty seats, and this study supports the effectiveness of that intervention within the context of other implemented measures. Read Also: Apple Maps to Provide COVID-19 Vaccine Hotspots, Airport Travel Guidances, and More! Will Airlines Ban Middle Seats from Being Purchased BusinessInsider reports that airlines disagree with the recently released report that states blocking middle seats will better avoid the spread of the novel coronavirus than what they are currently doing. All major US airlines are engaged in masks-wearing and HEPA filters instead of banning middle seats. Others never adopted it and will not do so. Delta Air Lines is the last airline to ban middle seats, with its policy slated to end on May 1 this year. However, the underlying motivation goes well beyond airlines' desire to make a profit by filling planes. Several scientific studies conclude that the layers of protection reduce risks significantly. The risk of transmission on aircraft is shallow, said Airlines for America, the organization representing major domestic airlines like Delta and American Airlines. Airlines are already walking a tightrope to prevent an outbreak on board while at the same time trying to get flyers to come back. If an outbreak occurs, the industry may return to where it was in March 2020, with mass cancellations and billions of dollars disappearing. Masks onboard commercial airline flights have been required for almost a year now, and an outbreak would have been well noted and investigated. In addition, the 2017 study does not take into account the steps taken by airline companies, one industry expert explains. Henry Harteveldt, industry analyst and co-founder of Atmosphere Research Group, said of the CDC report, This is months-old data that does not consider significant alterations in real-world policies and practices have been implemented since the study was first conducted. Researchers conducted the tests on mannequins without wearing face masks in a lab setting. Related Article: A New Cheap COVID-19 Vaccine to Soon Have Global Access: It is the First One to Use New Molecular Design This article is owned by Tech Times Written by Lionell Moore 2021 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. Digital Health Companies Raise a Record $7.2 Billion in VC Funding in Q1 2021 Mercom Capital Group, llc, a global communications and research firm, released its report on funding and merger and acquisition (M&A) activity for the Digital Health (Healthcare Information Technology) sector for the first quarter of 2021. Mercom's comprehensive report covers deals of all sizes from across the globe. Download executive summary: https://mercomcapital.com/product/q1-2021-digital-health-healthcare-it-funding-ma-report Global venture capital (VC) funding, including private equity and corporate VC into Digital Health companies in Q1 2021, came to a record $7.2 billion (B) in 179 deals, up 60% compared to $4.5B in 139 deals in Q4 2020. VC funding in Q1 2021 increased 100% compared with $3.6B from 142 deals in Q1 2020. This was the single largest funding quarter to date for Digital Health. Total corporate funding for Digital Health companies - including VC, debt, and public market financing - reached $8.3B in Q1 2021. CHART: Digital Health VC Funding Q1 2020 - Q1 2021 Since 2010, Digital Health companies have received nearly $66B in VC funding in over 5,500 deals and almost $22B in debt and public market financing, bringing cumulative investments to $88B. In Q1 2021, 27 large funding deals of $100 million (M) or more accounted for 67% ($4.8B) of the total funding. The top-funded categories in Q1 2021 were: telemedicine with $2B, followed by mHealth apps with $912M, analytics with $906M, clinical decision support with $661M, and wellness with $559M. CHART: Top VC Funded Digital Health Categories in Q1 2021 CHART: Q1 2021 Top Funded Digital Health Categories (By Growth) The top VC deal in Q1 2021 was the $500M raised by Ro (Roman). CHART: Top 5 VC Funding Rounds in Q1 2021 "Q1 2021 was the largest funding quarter ever for Digital Health. Almost half of all funding raised in 2020 was matched within just the first quarter of 2021, and Q1 VC funding was more than venture funding raised in any one year between 2010 and 2017. Telehealth was the biggest beneficiary with a 100% increase in funding quarter-over-quarter. Increased M&A activity was another positive takeaway from the quarter. While it certainly looks like Digital Health is positioned for a record-breaking year, the next two quarters will tell whether the COVID-19 fueled funding surge is peaking or has peaked," said Raj Prabhu, CEO of Mercom Capital Group. The telehealth category, including telemedicine and remote monitoring, received a total of $2.4 billion in 53 deals. CHART: Telehealth VC Funding Q1 2020 - Q1 2021 (By Quarter) A total of 547 investors participated in funding deals in Q1 2021. Digital Health VC funding deals were distributed across 21 countries in Q1 2021. Six companies went public in Q1 via IPOs and SPACs, raising a total of $1.1 B: Signify Health ($610M), Hims & Hers ($279.5M), Dialogue Health Technologies ($79M), Movano ($43M), Mednow ($29M), and MCI Onehealth ($21M). In Q1 2021, there were 63 M&A transactions involving Digital Health companies. Telemedicine companies led M&A activity with ten transactions. CHART: Top Five Digital Health M&A Transactions in Q1 2021 By Disclosed Amount 849 companies and investors are covered in this 106-page report. To learn more about the report, visit: https://mercomcapital.com/product/q1-2021-digital-health-healthcare-it-funding-ma-report About Mercom Capital Group Mercom Capital Group, LLC is a global communications and research firm focused on digital health, cleantech, and financial communications. Visit http://www.mercomcapital.com to signup up for our market intelligence reports. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210415005891/en/ Russia welcomes the initiatives aimed at lasting peace and good-neighborly relations between Azerbaijan and Armenia, official representative of the Foreign Affairs Ministry of Russia Maria Zakharova said answering the question of Vestnik Kavkaza about whether the Russian Federation will participate as a mediator in the development of a full-fledged peace treaty between Azerbaijan and Armenia, which, according to Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev, his country is ready to work on. We welcome the initiatives aimed at establishing lasting peace and good-neighborly relations between Baku and Yerevan. The agreements reached by the leaders of Russia, Azerbaijan and Armenia on November 9 last year and January 11 this year are a solid basis for this process. We're ready to provide assistance to these processes. Of course, both Azerbaijan and Armenia are only at the beginning of a difficult path towards establishing the necessary level of mutual trust, normalizing bilateral relations," Zakharova said. She also noted that this initiative should be accompanied by a positive background, including in the media space. "There are many difficulties and obstacles to overcome in building cooperation with our Azerbaijani and Armenian friends. We emphasize that the stable economic development of the South Caucasus meets the interests of all Russia's partners in this region," the diplomat said. According to her, the Russian side expects that in practical matters both sides will strive for steps aimed at normalizing relations, creating an atmosphere of trust, and not new dividing lines. Participants of the Atlantic at Brook Run's COVID-19 First Vaccine Clinic Its really rewarding to see so many people come together to help others during this unusual time of need. - Guy Blundon, General Partner at CMB Development The Atlantic at Brook Run in Henrico, VA and Chesterfield Square in Midlothian, VA, both 55+ affordable senior living communities managed by DF Multifamily, a department of Drucker + Falk (DF), are offering scheduled COVID-19 vaccine clinics starting in March until late April for residents, on-site team members, and nurse aids. On Tuesday, March 23rd, The Atlantic at Brook Run, located at 6000 Brook Road in Richmond, VA, hosted volunteer medical professionals who administered 64 Moderna COVID-19 shots primarily to residents, with community employees receiving the shots as well. The clinic date for the second shot in the Moderna series will be held on Thursday, April 15th in the same location. Chesterfield Square, located at 1017 Hioaks Road in Richmond, hosted its first vaccine clinic on Tuesday, April 6th giving out 68 Moderna COVID-19 shots and scheduled the follow-up event for the second shot in the series for Thursday, April 22nd. Registration for the events at both communities began weeks before the first available shot date and is open to residents, employees, and nurse aids, with walk-ins being accepted. The idea to host a vaccination event in support of the ongoing fight against the COVID-19 virus was born from a conversation between Chesterfield Square property manager, Sonia Collins and a pastor in the local area. A vaccination event on-site at both properties was very important to Drucker + Falk and their on-site team members, as many of the residents in the 55+ communities do not have the option to drive off-site for a vaccine or register for one online as a result of limited technology and email access. Spearheading the initiative, Collins connected with Ellen Ficker at the Health Department, and the planning began. DF Managing Director, Wendy Drucker, says, We are so proud to be working with the communities that are opening up their properties for the greater distribution of the COVID-19 vaccine. This is a testament to the supportive, compassionate teams at The Atlantic at Brook Run and Chesterfield Square. The residents and staff have been so helpful and eager to be involved in this initiative, and its been an honor to see their communities come together for the greater good. In planning the events the on-site organizers prioritized comfort and convenience for their senior residents in addition to the health and safety guidelines previously set out by the Center for Disease Control and Virginia Department of Health. Comforts included plenty of seating, which is not the standard at most vaccine clinics, and spacious waiting areas. DF has always placed an importance on giving back to the community, whether it be through the companys annual Day of Giving, donating to local charities, or teaming up with other organizations around the community. The participation, volunteerism, and willingness of DF team members to help is a testament to the compassion that employees feel when giving back to their great community. Guy Blundon, General Partner at CMB Development, says, Its really rewarding to see so many people come together to help others during this unusual time of need. We are proud to be able to offer a venue for vaccination. None of this would have been possible without the folks at Drucker + Falk and the medical professionals who were eager to help and participate. We hope to be able to all come together to serve as many people as possible. 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. For more information, visit Drucker + Falk. A former Bachelorette contestant is accusing a security guard in his apartment building of allegedly attacking him and shouting anti-Semitic remarks, according to TMZ on Thursday. Michael Garofola filed a lawsuit against the guard claiming that the man went ballistic, spewing anti-Semitic rhetoric and getting violent, after he asked him to wear a face mask. The security guard, Ernest Anwuri, was arrested over the incident back in January on three charges, including a misdemeanor hate crime, the outlet previously reported. Taking it to court: Michael Garofola is suing a security guard in his apartment building for allegedly attacking him and shouting anti-Semitic remarks, according to TMZ on Thursday In Garofola's lawsuit he claims that he'd asked Anwuri to put on a facemask inside of his apartment complex's parking garage - which is mandated in Los Angeles to prevent the spread of COVID-19. It was this request, the Bachelor Nation star alleges, that caused the security guard to fly off the handle in the parking structure. 'Michael says he was trying to get to his car back in January when he encountered the maskless security guard,' TMZ reported. 'Michael says the guard responded to his request to put on a face-covering by spewing anti-Semitic comments and attacking him.' In February, Anwuri was arrested over the incident and charged with felony battery, felony vandalism, as well as a misdemeanor hate crime charge. 'Michael says he was trying to get to his car back in January when he encountered the maskless security guard,' TMZ reported. 'Michael says the guard responded to his request to put on a face-covering by spewing anti-Semitic comments and attacking him.' (Seen posing recently with his vaccine record) Evidence: TMZ obtained photos of Garofola's smashed phone and scraped hand from the alleged incident Garofola, who was able to capture some of the incident in a cell phone video, accuses the security guard of grabbing the phone and smashing it on the ground after yelling about 'the Jews'. 'As a new resident of L.A., the last thing I expected was to be physically attacked in the parking garage of my own residential building,' Michael told TMZ at the time. Adding: 'While my injuries will eventually heal and my damaged property will eventually be replaced, I am just glad that a person who holds so much hatred in his heart for certain groups of people has been brought to justice and will no longer be a threat to anyone else he encounters.' Michael starred in season nine of the Bachelorette vying for Desiree Hartsock's heart and ultimately finishing in fifth place. He went on to be a member of Bachelor Nation, appearing in Bachelor in Paradise and The Bachelor Winter Games. Arrest: In February, the security guard, Ernest Anwuri, was arrested over the incident and charged with felony battery, felony vandalism, as well as a misdemeanor hate crime charge (Garofola pictured in The Bachelor Winter Games) Bachelor Nation has been turned upside down in the past several months with the departure of host Chris Harrison amid a racism scandal. This week Harrison broke his social media silence following the scandal earlier this year to share his support and love to Bachelor star Colton Underwood who came out as gay in an emotional interview on Good Morning America early Wednesday morning. Chris, 49, posted a photo of the pair along with a statement saying: 'Very proud of you today @ColtonUnderwood Happy to see you stand up and openly live your truth.' Adding: 'You have my love and support my friend.' Speaking out: This week Chris Harrison arrison broke his social media silence following his racism scandal earlier this year to share his support and love to Bachelor star Colton Underwood who came out as gay in an emotional interview on Good Morning America early Wednesday morning The ex-NFL player made his announcement to Robin Roberts, revealing that the isolation during the pandemic forced him to finally 'look at himself in the mirror' and come to terms with his sexuality, before telling the host: 'I'm gay.' Colton said: 'Obviously this year's been a lot for a lot of people and it's probably made a lot of people look themselves in the mirror and figure out who they are and what they've been running from or putting off in their lives and for me, I've ran from myself for a long time. I've hated myself for a long time.' He says he is now the 'happiest and healthiest' he has ever been after fully embracing his sexuality, admitting that it was something he 'never thought he was going to share'. (@ChaudhryMAli88) Phnom Penh, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 15th Apr, 2021 ) :Spiraling Covid-19 cases have put Cambodia "on the brink of death", its strongman premier Hun Sen has warned, as the country imposed lockdowns in the capital Phnom Penh and a nearby city. The Southeast Asian kingdom has seen Covid-19 cases surge since February, when an outbreak was first detected among its Chinese expatriate community. Authorities said last week that hospitals in Phnom Penh were running out of beds and that they had transformed schools and wedding party halls into treatment centres, while Hun Sen threatened quarantine-breakers with jail time. Phnom Penh and adjacent city Ta Khmau were Wednesday night placed under lockdown for two weeks to curb the spread, effectively halting the movement of more than two million people. "Please my people -- join your efforts to end this dangerous event," pled premier Hun Sen in a recorded address aired on state-run television late Wednesday night. "We are on the brink of death already," he said. "If we don't join hands together, we will head to real death." Cambodia's latest announced figures exceeded 4,800, but the premier said Wednesday that an additional 300 cases had been detected. Phnom Penh and Ta Khmau residents are now barred from leaving their homes for two weeks except to go to the hospital or to buy medicine, while only two household members will be allowed out to buy food. On Thursday morning, police blocked motorists from passing a checkpoint set up at the border between the two cities, with residents showing their ID cards hoping to pass through. Blockades were also erected around the major Norodom Boulevard around the iconic Independence Monument to prevent people from travelling. While the kingdom has seen improvements in its healthcare in the past decade, its infrastructure -- especially in rural areas -- is still poor, with a lack of services and qualified doctors. Inequality also plagues the system, with reports of lower income families being turned away from hospitals. Before the community outbreak was detected in February, Cambodia's Covid-19 toll was comparatively lower than its regional neighbours -- but experts had chalked it up to the lack of widespread testing. (Alliance News) - The following is a round-up of London-listed company director and manager changes announced on Thursday and not separately reported by Alliance News: Norcros PLC - Cheshire, England-based kitchen and bathroom products supplier - Chair Mark Allen steps down from the board effective Thursday. Senior Independent Director David McKeith becomes acting board chair until Norcros appoints a new non-executive chair. "It is with a great deal of sadness that I have tendered my resignation from the board of Norcros. Unfortunately, my other business commitments do not allow me sufficient time to devote to the company," says Allen. Norcros also on Thursday said it made a strong finish to its financial year that ended March 31, with underlying operating profit ahead of previous guidance. Pennpetro Energy PLC - oil and gas company focused on the Gonzales oil field in the US state of Texas - Appoints Andy Clifford as president of its subsidiary Nobel Petroleum USA Inc, which runs the company's petroleum activities in Texas. Clifford has worked for ExxonMobil Corp, Kuwait Foreign Petroleum, BHP Group PLC and others. Following Clifford's appointment, Non-Executive Chair Keith Edelman steps down from the board but remains a consultant. Olaf Rapp becomes non-executive chair effective immediately. Pennpetro confirms it will release its 2020 results by the end of June. AFC Energy PLC - Surrey, England-based provider of hydrogen power generation technologies - Appoints Gary Bullard as non-executive chair with immediate effect. Bullard is currently chair of Gooch & Housego PLC and non-executive director of Spirent Communications PLC. He succeeds John Rennocks, who retired on Wednesday after four years as chair. "Our key priority is to put in place the required distribution channels, manufacturing and staffing to drive our commercial sales with significant annuity revenue and Gary's commercial acumen will be invaluable during this phase of the company's development," says Chief Executive Adam Bond. Lekoil Ltd - oil & gas exploration and production in Nigeria - Independent Non-Executive Director George Maxwell resigns in order to focus on his new role as chief executive of Vaalco Energy Inc. Maxwell says he is willing to remain on the board until April 30 to ensure an "orderly transition". McKay Securities PLC - South East and London-focused office property investor - Appoints Helen Sachdev as non-executive director effective immediately. Sachdev is currently chair of the Loughborough Building Society and non-executive director of Wilmington PLC. "She has considerable experience gained from a range of sectors, including real estate, and has also been involved in significant business transformation and change. Her knowledge and experience will be very helpful as we all emerge from the current pandemic," says Chair Richard Grainger. By Zoe Wickens; zoewickens@alliancenews.com Copyright 2021 Alliance News Limited. All Rights Reserved. New Delhi: Amid a massive surge in COVID-19 cases pan India, once again Bollywood actor Sonu Sood has stepped forward to extend help. This time, the actor in his bid to offer assistance, provided as many as 10 oxygen generators to patients battling the deadly novel coronavirus in Indore. Sonu Sood urged countrymen to not hesitate from helping each other and came to the rescue of patients in Indore who were stuck with a shortage of oxygen cylinders. He invoked the famous Maharani Ahilyabai Holkar of Indore and said, 'Everything will be fine at Maa Ahilya's place'. Take a look here: SONU SOOD EXTENDS HELP AMID COVID-19 SURGE: Once again, good samaritan Sonu Sood has taken it upon himself to make sure that none suffers due to the massive second wave of deadly COVID-19 pandemic. Like last year, when he sent thousands of migrants back home by arranging for buses and transportation services, this time too the actor is trying his best to offer help. Several of his fans and people in need to help have written to him on social media and Sonu has cared enough to respond back with assistance. The 47-year-old actor, who hogged the spotlight for helping migrants reach their homes during the coronavirus-triggered lockdown last year, is now encouraging people to receive the vaccine dose. He also launched "Sanjeevani: A Shot of Life" - a vaccination drive campaign to create awareness. New Delhi: A gunman killed two Saudi guards and injured three others at the gate of royal palace in Jeddah, said interior ministry. The gunman was shot dead by Royal guards. The attacker has been identified as 28-year-old Saudi national. He was armed with three grenades and a Kalashnikov. According to a tatement by the ministry carried by the official Saudi Press Agency, An outpost of the Royal Guard came under fire by a person who got out of a Hyundai car. Also read| Saudi Arabia: Man arrested for threatening to 'burn female drivers' The statement added, He was immediately dealt with. His cowardly act also resulted in the martyrdom of two Royal Guards. No radical terrorist group has claimed the attack. The attack came after last week raids by the Saudi Police in which suspected members if ISIS were killed and five others were arrested. Also read: Indian national in Saudi Arabia alleges exploitation by employer; appeals to PM Modi, Sushma Swaraj In the last three years ISIS has claimed series of bombing against Shites and security forces of Sunni-majority kingdom. Saudi Arabia is part of the the US-led international coalition battling Sunni extremist groups in Syria and Iraq. For all the Latest World News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. A Wyoming junior high school teacher is being blasted as 'racist' and 'smug' for bragging on TikTok that she confiscated a do-rag from one of her students. The woman, who has been identified as Mariah Webb, 29, is an English teacher at Sheridan Junior High School in Sheridan, Wyoming with a degree from Chadron State College. This week, Webb shared a video on TikTok in which she smirked while showing off a black do-rag which was one of the 'things that my kids bring to school that I get to confiscate,' she said and then draped the item over her head and said it looked 'like pantyhose.' After the video was shared by another TikTok user who called Webb the 'racist of the day,' Webb issued an apology for her 'cultural insensitivity' and 'lack of education' before deleting her TikTok account altogether. Trouble: Mariah Webb, 29, an English teacher at Sheridan Junior High School in Wyoming, has come under fire for bragging on TikTok that she confiscated a do-rag Boasting: Webb shared a video on TikTok in which she smirked while showing off a black do-rag, which was one of the 'things that my kids bring to school that I get to confiscate,' she said In the original clip that Webb posted on her account, she held up a black do-rag that she said she had confiscated from a student at school. 'Looks like pantyhose,' she said derisively before draping the do-rag over her head and making a face. '"Don't bring your mom's pantyhose to school" me, and adult,' she captioned the video. While do-rags (or durags) have become a fashion statement in recent decades, they also serve a practical purpose in protecting hair and holding a a hairstyle in place. Most commonly, the soft, stretchy fabric is used to create waves in curly hair. They are widely viewed as an important part of black culture and history, with Byrdie writer Saleam T. Singleton describing do-rags as 'defining decades of Black American culture' in a piece published in January. Though Webb likened it to pantyhose, it would be difficult to mistake a do-rag for stockings, since do-rags have no enclosed areas to fit legs, but rather one longer piece of fabric that's rounded into a head shape on one end and flanked by two thinner pieces to tie it together. Do-rags are also not against the school's dress code. 'Looks like pantyhose,' she said derisively before draping the do-rag over her head and making a face Job: Webb is a teacher at Sheridan Junior High School in Wyoming Webb has since deleted the video but not before it caught the attention of other TikTokers, including user @auntkaren0 who reposted it two days ago and blasted Webb as racist. 'Now Mariah, the devil works hard but we work harder,' she said, showing how she found the teacher's identity. 'I gotta say, I am wondering if the high school knows that you enjoy purposely confiscating your black students' do-rags and then, of course, wearing them like "pantyhose," you say? Well I have some questions,' she added, indicating that she emailed Webb's school. DailyMail.com has also reached out to the school for comment. Other app users have also blasted Webb, with one asking why Webb is 'proud of herself' for 'bullying a child.' 'If she's taking durags is she taking scrunchies, headbands, hair ties, and other hair care/protection products?' asked one. 'Making fun of them? Doubt it.' 'The spin around in the chair thinking she's something,' wrote another. Sorry: Webb has apologized after social media users called her 'racist' and complained that she bullied a student by mocking the headwear online Excuses: Webb called the lapse 'cultural insensitivity' and insisting it was due to 'lack of education' Several said that Webb choosing to confiscate the do-rag wasn't the main issue, but rather that she was 'practically bragging about it and mocking them.' Many, meanwhile, were simply hung up by the way Webb pronounced the word confiscate as 'confinscate.' As her video earned more attention, Webb followed up with an apology, calling the lapse 'cultural insensitivity' and insisting it was due to 'lack of education.' 'I owe every single person who saw my video yesterday an apology for my cultural insensitivity,' she said. 'I would like to say that I am not justifying any actions that I did, however, I would please ask for some forgiveness, due to the context of the situation and my lack of education. 'The black item, that I found out was a do-rag from TikTok, was taken away from a white student who had it wrapped around his neck in my class,' she claimed. 'I did not find this to be very appropriate, so I took it from him and thought it was just another silly item that my students were bringing to class. 'The reality of the situation is, I posted that on TikTok thinking that they were pantyhose, and put them on my head because sometimes I do silly things like that for my students. And it was very offensive and I apologize and I will never let it happen again.' New Delhi: The Gujarat government on Thursday (April 15) decided to postpone the Board examinations for Classes 10 and 12 amid spike in COVID-19 cases. For students studying in Classes 1 to 9 and 11, the state government has announced mass promotion. While new dates for the Board exams will be announced after reviewing the COVID-19 situation in the state on May 15. In the wake of COVID-19 pandemic, Gujarat Government decides to postpone Class 10 and 12 board examinations, scheduled to be held between May 10 to 25 and mass promotion for students of standard 1 to 9 and 11. New dates to be announced after reviewing coronavirus situation on May 15, ANI quoted Gujarat CMO as saying. The Gujarat Board exams were earlier scheduled to take place from May 10 to 25. Gujarat recorded 4,695 new COVID-19 cases in the last 24 hours, pushing the active cases to 39,250. With 73 more deaths, the death toll in the state reached 4,995, as per the Health Ministry data available at 8 AM on Thursday (April 15). Meanwhile, India reported over 2 lakh new COVID-19 cases in the last 24 hours, taking the caseload to 1.40 crore. While 93,528 recoveries were logged and 1,038 deaths reported across the nation. The active count has now climbed to 14,71,877. Live TV A more recent publication of this set of statistics is available. Latest publication: Index of turnover in industry 2021, April Published: 15 April 2021 Turnover in industry grew by 6.2 per cent in February According to Statistics Finland, working day adjusted turnover in industry (TOL BCD) grew in February by 6.2 per cent year-on-year. Among the main industries, turnover grew most in electricity, gas, steam and air conditioning supply, by 29.8 per cent from one year back. The growth in the industry was in part affected by risen prices of electricity. Turnover in the forest industry increased by 22.6 per cent year-on-year. The growth is explained by industrial actions in the field in February 2020, due to which the turnover of the forest industry was lower than normal. Seasonally adjusted turnover in industry (TOL BCD) grew by 2.6 per cent in February compared with January. Annual change in working day adjusted turnover in manufacturing (BCD), % (TOL 2008) In February, turnover decreased most in the electronic and electrical industry and was 5.2 per cent lower than one year earlier. Turnover in the metal industry fell by 2.9 per cent and in the chemical industry by 2.2 per cent. Turnover was lower than one year ago also in the textile, clothing and leather industry, and in the food industry. Annual change in working day adjusted turnover in manufacturing by industry, February 2021, % (TOL 2008) Export and domestic turnover in the forest industry grew in February In February, growth in export turnover was strongest in the industry of mining and quarrying, up by 28.3 per cent from the previous year. Export turnover in the forest industry was 12.9 per cent higher than one year previously. Export turnover also grew in the chemical industry, by 2.8 per cent, and in the metal industry, by 0.6 per cent from one year back. Export turnover decreased most in the textile, clothing and leather industry, by 4.9 per cent, and in the food industry, by 4.8 per cent. In the electronic and electrical industry, export turnover was 4.2 per cent lower than one year ago. Annual change in working day adjusted export turnover and domestic turnover in manufacturing by industry, February 2021, % (TOL 2008) In February, growth in domestic turnover was strongest in the forest industry, up by 32.6 per cent from the previous year. Domestic turnover in the textile, clothing and leather industry grew by 2.2 per cent year-on-year. Domestic turnover decreased in the other main industries. Domestic turnover in the chemical industry decreased most, by 10.8 per cent from one year ago. Domestic turnover decreased in the electronic and electrical industry by 5.8 per cent, and in the metal industry by 3.6 per cent year-on-year. Domestic turnover in mining and quarrying was 1.3 per cent lower and that in the food industry 0.6 per cent lower than in the previous year. Trend series of turnover, export turnover and domestic turnover in manufacturing (BC), 1/2007 to 2/2021, % (TOL 2008) The index of turnover in industry describes enterprises whose main industry is manufacturing. The calculation of the indices is based on the Tax Administrations self-assessed tax data which are supplemented with data obtained with Statistics Finlands sales inquiry. The monthly turnovers of manufacturing enterprises can vary considerably, especially in the metal industries. The variation is mainly due to invoicing practices. The final invoice for major machinery deliveries and projects may be recorded in the sales of one month, even if the delivery had required the work of several months or years. The factors caused by the variation in the number of weekdays are taken into account in adjustment for working days. This means taking into consideration the lengths of months, different weekdays and holidays. In addition, seasonal variation is eliminated from seasonally adjusted series, on account of which it makes sense to compare observations of two successive months as well. The data for the latest month are preliminary and are released at a delay of around six weeks. The data may become significantly revised particularly on more detailed industry levels in coming months. Revisions to the data may be particularly significant on the more accurate industry levels of export turnover and domestic turnover. Source: Index of turnover in industry 2021, February, Statistics Finland Inquiries: Maija Sappinen 029 551 3348, Heli Suonio 029 551 2481, myynti.teollisuus@stat.fi Head of Department in charge: Katri Kaaja Publication in pdf-format (338.3 kB) Updated 15.4.2021 Referencing instructions: Official Statistics of Finland (OSF): Index of turnover in industry [e-publication]. ISSN=1798-596X. February 2021. Helsinki: Statistics Finland [referred: 5.6.2021]. Access method: http://www.stat.fi/til/tlv/2021/02/tlv_2021_02_2021-04-15_tie_001_en.html My name is J.B. Gaskins and I am the president and CEO of Blood Assurance. I am honored to serve at the head of Blood Assurance and am honored to help provide blood to our area patients in need. I am writing today to say that we need our communitys help now. At the beginning of the pandemic, we knew that we would see a decline in blood donations. Many people were staying home ... (click for more) STAMFORD Bankrupt OxyContin maker Purdue Pharmas new reorganization plan runs about 100 pages. But it leaves a key question unanswered: What will happen to the firms approximately 500 employees, including the nearly 200 based at its Stamford headquarters, after its dissolution and the transfer of its assets into a new company? In response to an inquiry from Hearst Connecticut Media, Purdue said this week in a statement that we have no current plans for any reductions in force. The company declined to comment in response to a follow-up inquiry about whether its statement meant that current employees, including CEO Craig Landau and other senior-level executives, would be allowed to work at the new company if they were interested in doing so. State attorneys general are also staying tight-lipped about the staffing of the new company. Without listing specific individuals, I firmly believe that those responsible for this crisis should not continue to work in this industry, said Connecticut Attorney General William Tong. Tong is one of 24 state attorneys general who have not agreed to settle their states lawsuits against Purdue because they deem the companys settlement offer insufficient. What is clear is that the break-up of Purdue is on the horizon. Its reorganization plan calls for its dissolution and the transfer of all of its assets into a new company after emerging from bankruptcy. Sackler family members who own Purdue would relinquish control and have no involvement in the new company. The successor company would be indirectly owned by two trusts, which would help disburse settlement funds that the company values at a total of more than $10 billion. The settlement money would resolve the hundreds of thousands of claims against the company and fund programs aimed at tackling the opioid epidemic. Despite filing for bankruptcy in September 2019 to resolve the lawsuits, Purdue and the Sacklers have denied the complaints allegations that the company fueled the opioid crisis with deceptive OxyContin marketing. As the company has grappled with the torrent of litigation, its headcount has dropped dramatically in recent years. It cut its workforce by a total of more than 1,000 in 2017 and 2018. Several hundred employees were laid off when it disbanded its sales force following its February 2018 decision to stop marketing OxyContin and other opioids to medical professionals. Since filing for bankruptcy, the company has struggled to keep its remaining staff. Citing an annualized voluntary turnover rate of 13 percent from the start of its bankruptcy through August 2020, Purdue said in court filings last year that it needed to award employee bonuses to respond to a real and serious attrition problem. Last October, the judge overseeing Purdues bankruptcy approved bonuses for lower-level employees that could total up to nearly $36 million. Those payments are being distributed among more than 600 people. The following month, Judge Robert Drain signed off on a performance bonus of nearly $3 million for Landau, although that amount was $593,000 less than the amount originally proposed by Purdue. Questions about HQ Purdues re-organization plan also leaves unclear the new companys headquarters location. On Jan. 1, Purdue started a new three-year lease for about 104,000 square feet at 201 Tresser Blvd., in downtown Stamford. It ranked as the second-largest office-leasing transaction in Fairfield County in 2020. The current lease involves less space than Purdue previously used at 201 Tresser, although the company has declined to specify its previous square footage. It has been based since 2000 at 201 Tresser, which is also known as One Stamford Forum. In response to Hearst Connecticut Medias inquiry, Purdue officials said that we have no current plans to change location, but declined to say whether the lease would also apply to the successor company. The Sacklers represent the beneficial owners of the approximately 505,000-square-foot building at 201 Tresser, according to bankruptcy court records. A message left for a spokesperson for the Sacklers was not immediately returned. Other tenants at 201 Tresser include Charter Communications the provider of Spectrum-branded cable, internet and phone services which is headquartered in the adjacent building at 400 Atlantic St. Charter plans to open later this year its new headquarters a few blocks away at 406 Washington Blvd. During the past few years, 201 Tresser has periodically attracted protesters. On March 12, activist and former Stamford art gallery owner Fernando Luis Alvarez led a protest outside the building calling for the ouster of the Food & Drug Administrations interim commissioner, Janet Woodcock. Alvarez gained international attention in June 2018 after he was arrested for his role in a protest that involved the installation of an 800-pound spoon in front of 201 Tresser. In a move apparently aimed at reducing its offices visibility, Purdue in 2019 removed all of its exterior signs at 201 Tresser. [Want more Connecticut business news? Sign up for our newsletter here.] pschott@stamfordadvocate.com; twitter: @paulschott Immunohistochemistry for alpha-synuclein showing positive staining (brown) of an intraneural Lewy-body in the Substantia nigra in Parkinson's disease. Credit: Wikipedia New research from the Florida State University College of Medicine has found that the personality trait neuroticism is consistently associated with a higher risk of developing the brain disorder Parkinson's disease. The research by Professor of Geriatrics Antonio Terracciano and team, published in Movement Disorders, found that adults in the study who scored in the top quartile of neuroticism had more than 80% greater risk of Parkinson's, compared to those who scored lower on neuroticism. "Some clinicians think that the anxiety and depression is just the result of Parkinson's," Terracciano said. "However, our findings suggest that some emotional vulnerability is present early in life, years before the development of Parkinson's disease." The effects were similar for women and men and across socioeconomic strata. Furthermore, the association was virtually unchanged in models that excluded incident cases within the first five years of follow-up and remained significant in models that accounted for demographic variables and other risk factors, including smoking, physical activity, anxiety and depression. Three similar studies have published results consistent with Terracciano's findings, but with smaller sample sizes. Collectively, they provide a "pretty robust and replicable" assessment of the link between neuroticism and Parkinson's, Terracciano said. "It kind of gives you a better understanding of the risk factors for the disease and what could be a contributing cause," he said. "This is one of many [factors], but the evidence is convincing." Globally, an estimated six million people suffer from Parkinson's diseaseabout 1% of all older adultsmaking it the second most common neurodegenerative disease after Alzheimer's. The causes of Parkinson's disease are not well understood, but scientists believe genetic and environmental factors contribute to its onset. Neuroticism is a personality trait that measures individual differences in the tendency to experience negative emotions, vulnerability to stress, inability to resist urges and self-consciousness. It is one of the five major personality traits known as the "Big Five" or five-factor model of personality and is one of the most studied psychological dispositions for its relevance spanning normal to abnormal emotional functioning. Neuroticism has been linked to mood disorders and Alzheimer's, but there have been fewer studies on its prospective connection with Parkinson's. "Individuals who score high in neuroticism are at higher risk for poor health outcomes across the lifespan, particularly in the domain of mental health and neurodegenerative diseases, including Alzheimer's disease and related dementias," Terracciano said. Central to Terracciano's research was a large-scale study by the UK Biobank, which recruited nearly a half-million individuals ages 40-69 between 2006 and 2010, and collected data obtained over nearly 12 years of follow up. A baseline assessment measured neuroticism. There were 1,142 identified cases of Parkinson's ascertained through UK National Health Service electronic health records or death records up to 2018. "Anxiety and depression are comorbid with Parkinson's disease," Terracciano said. "Many people with Parkinson's tend to be anxious or tend to get depressed. Part of that could be due to the disease and how it alters the brain and can have an influence on emotions. Part could be a psychological reaction of having a diagnosis of the disease." Parkinson's is a long-term degenerative brain disorder that causes progressive decline of motor and physical functions. As the disease progresses, nerve cell damage in the brain causes dopamine levels to drop, leading to symptoms such as tremors, slow movement, stiffness and loss of balance. Dopamine is known as a "feel-good" hormone involved in reward, motivation, memory and attention in addition to regulating body movements. Terracciano led the research team, which included Damaris Aschwanden, a post-doctoral researcher in the FSU Department of Geriatrics, and Angelina Sutin, professor in the FSU Department of Behavioral Sciences and Social Medicine. Researchers from the University of Montpellier in France; the National Research Council, Sant'Anna Institute and Tor Vergata University of Rome in Italy; and the University of Cambridge in the United Kingston contributed to this study. More information: Antonio Terracciano et al, Neuroticism and Risk of Parkinson's Disease: A MetaAnalysis, Movement Disorders (2021). Antonio Terracciano et al, Neuroticism and Risk of Parkinson's Disease: A MetaAnalysis,(2021). DOI: 10.1002/mds.28575 A member of the Penticton Fire Department douses a debris pile that was set on fire Tuesday evening in an empty lot on Main Street. A half-eaten bag of marshmallows is visible on the ground behind the firefighter. [April 14, 2021] Delphi Display Systems Provides Total Digital Solution for Havana Savannah Coffee Concept Delphi (News - Alert) Display Systems, Inc. - a global provider of technology solutions for the Quick Service Restaurant (QSR) industry, has installed a full visual engagement and business optimization platform for the first Havana Savannah coffee concept based in Valencia, California. The platform consists of indoor and outdoor digital menu and promotional displays, drive-thru order confirmation, timing and wireless headset systems. All digital content is powered by Delphi's Insight Engage cloud-based content management system. As part of the turnkey offering, Delphi provided technical consulting services for the in-store and drive-thru design as well as installation services for all of the drive-thru equipment. "A key component of our consumer engagement strategy is to provide a full digital experience, both inside and in the drive-thru," said Bruce Burrows, founder and CEO. "Delphi's state of the art technology solutions helped us deliver on this strategy by immersing our customers in the Havana Savannah brand messaging throughout their entire visit." "We are very pleased to be able to provide our full line up of tchnology solutions for this amazing new coffee concept," said Ken Neeld, President and CEO of Delphi Display Systems. "We look forward to helping Havana Savannah continue to grow as they embark on their aggressive expansion plans across California and beyond." About Delphi Delphi Display Systems, Inc. provides customized outdoor and indoor digital signage hardware, software and service solutions that enable businesses to engage with, influence, attract and retain their end customers. Specializing in drive-thru technologies, Delphi provides solutions to the Quick Service Restaurant (QSR) industry where it has installed solutions in more than 40,000 locations in over 75 countries around the world. The company also serves the education, corporate, transportation and theme park markets as well as other industry verticals. For more information on the company and its products, visit DelphiDisplay.com. About Havana Savannah We are Havana Savannah, the home of TornadoBrew the world's newest, patents pending, coffee brewing system. Our founder, is a serial entrepreneur and inventor who spent an entire career designing, patenting, manufacturing and marketing groundbreaking water purification and coffee brewing technology. He invested years of experience and vast knowledge into the design, development and application of the TornadoBrew Technology featured at Havana Savannah. For more information, visit HavanaSavannah.com View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210414006007/en/ [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] Patients who are overweight or obese have more severe COVID-19 and are highly likely to require invasive respiratory support, according to a new international study. The research, led by the Murdoch Children's Research Institute (MCRI) and The University of Queensland and published in Diabetes Care, found obese or overweight patients are at high risk for having worse COVID-19 outcomes. They are also more likely to require oxygen and invasive mechanical ventilation compared to those with a healthy weight. MCRI researcher Dr Danielle Longmore said the findings, which highlighted the relationship between obesity and increased COVID-19 disease burden, showed the need to urgently introduce strategies to address the complex socio-economic drivers of obesity, and public policy measures such as restrictions on junk food advertising. "Although taking steps to address obesity in the short-term is unlikely to have an immediate impact in the COVID-19 pandemic, it will likely reduce the disease burden in future viral pandemics and reduce risks of complications like heart disease and stroke," she said. The study looked at hospitalised SARS-CoV-2 patients from 18 hospitals in 11 countries including China, America, Italy, South Africa and The Netherlands. Among the 7244 patients aged 18 years and over, 34.8 per cent were overweight and 30.8 per cent were obese. COVID-19 patients with obesity were more likely to require oxygen and had a 73 per cent greater chance of needing invasive mechanical ventilation. Similar but more modest results were seen in overweight patients. No link was found between being overweight or obese and dying in hospital from COVID-19. Cardiovascular and pre-existing respiratory diseases were associated with increased odds of in-hospital deaths but not a greater risk for needing oxygen and mechanical ventilation. For patients with pre-existing diabetes, there was increased odds of needing invasive respiratory support, but no additionally increase in risk in those with obesity and diabetes. Men were at an increased risk of severe COVID-19 outcomes and needing invasive mechanical ventilation. In those aged over 65 years, there was an increased chance of requiring oxygen and higher rates of in-hospital deaths. The University of Queensland's Dr Kirsty Short, who co-led the research, said almost 40 per cent of the global population was overweight or obese. "Obesity is associated with numerous poor health outcomes, including increased risk of cardiometabolic and respiratory disease and more severe viral disease including influenza, dengue and SARS-CoV-1," she said. Dr Short said while previous reports indicated that obesity was an important risk factor in the severity of COVID-19, almost all this data had been collected from single sites and many regions were not represented. Moreover, there was a limited amount of evidence available about the effects of being overweight or obese on COVID-19 severity. "Given the large scale of this study we have conclusively shown that being overweight or obese are independent risk factors for worse outcomes in adults hospitalised with COVID-19," she said. MCRI Professor David Burgner, who co-led the research, said the data would help inform immunisation prioritisation for higher-risk groups. "At the moment, the World Health Organization has not had enough high-quality data to include being overweight or obese as a risk factor for severe COVID-19 disease. Our study should help inform decisions about which higher-risk groups should be vaccinated as a priority," he said. ### Researchers from Radboud University Medical Center in The Netherlands, University of Bern in Switzerland, the Doherty Institute, University of Queensland, Washington University, Melbourne University, Monash University and an international BMI-COVID consortium also contributed to the study. Publication: Danielle K. Longmore, Jessica E. Miller, Siroon Bekkering, Christoph Saner, Edin Mifsud, Yanshan Zhu, Graham Colditz, Kirsty R. Short, David P. Burgner and an international BMI-COVID consortium. 'Outcomes in patients with overweight and obesity hospitalized with COVID-19: an international, multi-center analysis.' Diabetes Care. DOI: 10.2337/dc20-2676 JEM was supported by a fellowship from the DHB Foundation, Australia; SB is supported by the Dutch Heart Foundation (Dekker grant 2018-T028); EM is supported by the WHO CCRI funded by the Australian Commonwealth Government, Department of Health; KRS was supported by the Australian Research Council (DE180100512); DPB was supported by a National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) Australian Investigator Grant (GTN1175744). Research at the Murdoch Children's Research Institute is supported by the Victorian Government's Operational Infrastructure Support Program. Available for interview: Dr Danielle Longmore, MCRI researcher Dr Kirsty Short, The University of Queensland Professor David Burgner, MCRI Group Leader, Inflammatory Origins STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- Founded on their mothers Middle Eastern-inspired recipes, members of the Deib family -- Palestinians who immigrated to the United States from the West Bank -- have built their restaurant model around home-cooked meals they grew up eating for lunch and dinner. My mother (Jehad Deib) was a great cook. And we use all her recipes in our restaurants. All of our recipes are made from scratch, said Malek Deib, of Taheni Mediterranean Grill, which is the newest addition to the Staten Island Malls Food District in New Springville. Malek Deib, who runs Taheni Mediterranean Grill with other family members, said hes proud that everything served at the location is homemade. My mother and I do a lot of the prep work behind the scenes, he said, noting that in addition to his mother and father, Deib Deib, his eight siblings are involved in the business. The family-owned restaurant, which now has four locations in the Tristate area, is located between Chik-fil-A and Taco Bell in the Malls Food District. Deib noted that staff at all four locations call his mother Mama. We also have our own butchery. We clean up all our own meats, and we pre-portion them. Our pita bread is also made onsite, Deib said. (Courtesy of Malek Deib) The familys first location opened in Brooklyn in 2017. And while the family had to temporarily shutter a Manhattan location due to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, this is the second location to open amid the national health crisis. The Deib familys first location opened in Brooklyn in 2017. (Courtesy of Malek Deib) SPECIALITIES Deib said hes proud that everything served at Taheni Mediterranean Grill is homemade. The biggest thing customers really love from us is the falafel, which is our own family recipe. And our dips are very popular, he said. One special dish at the restaurant is a plate of Deibs zaatar fries.(Courtesy of Malek Deib) We also have our own butchery. We clean up all our own meats, and we pre-portion them. Our pita bread is also made onsite, Deib added. One special dish at the restaurant is a plate of Deibs zaatar fries. We were the first to introduce this unique item to the Mediterranean cuisine. The oregano used to create the zaatar spice blend is grown and harvested by us every year. The olive oil mixed in the blend is imported from our family farm in the West Bank. We are planning to package that olive oil and sell it to our customers in the near future. We pride ourselves on the authenticity of our flavors and ingredients, explained Deib. In addition to Malek and his parents, other Deib family members involved in the restaurant are Lutfi, Hidaya, Anas, Hamza, Ahmad, Aya, Omar and Ibrahim. FOLLOW TRACEY PORPORA ON FACEBOOK and TWITTER A cast of a T. rex skeleton on display outside the UC Museum of Paleontology at the University of California, Berkeley. The original, a nearly complete skeleton excavated in 1990 from the badlands of eastern Montana, is at the Museum of the Rockies in Bozeman, Montana. Credit: Keegan Houser, UC Berkeley How many Tyrannosaurus rexes roamed North America during the Cretaceous period? That's a question Charles Marshall pestered his paleontologist colleagues with for years until he finally teamed up with his students to find an answer. What the team found, to be published this week in the journal Science, is that about 20,000 adult T. rexes probably lived at any one time, give or take a factor of 10, which is in the ballpark of what most of his colleagues guessed. What few paleontologists had fully grasped, he said, including himself, is that this means that some 2.5 billion lived and died over the approximately 2 1/2 million years the dinosaur walked the earth. Until now, no one has been able to compute population numbers for long-extinct animals, and George Gaylord Simpson, one of the most influential paleontologists of the last century, felt that it couldn't be done. Marshall, director of the University of California Museum of Paleontology, the Philip Sandford Boone Chair in Paleontology and a UC Berkeley professor of integrative biology and of earth and planetary science, was also surprised that such a calculation was possible. "The project just started off as a lark, in a way," he said. "When I hold a fossil in my hand, I can't help wondering at the improbability that this very beast was alive millions of years ago, and here I am holding part of its skeletonit seems so improbable. The question just kept popping into my head, 'Just how improbable is it? Is it one in a thousand, one in a million, one in a billion?' And then I began to realize that maybe we can actually estimate how many were alive, and thus, that I could answer that question." Marshall is quick to point out that the uncertainties in the estimates are large. While the population of T. rexes was most likely 20,000 adults at any give time, the 95% confidence rangethe population range within which there's a 95% chance that the real number liesis from 1,300 to 328,000 individuals. Thus, the total number of individuals that existed over the lifetime of the species could have been anywhere from 140 million to 42 billion. "As Simpson observed, it is very hard to make quantitative estimates with the fossil record," he said. "In our study, we focused in developing robust constraints on the variables we needed to make our calculations, rather than on focusing on making best estimates, per se." He and his team then used Monte Carlo computer simulation to determine how the uncertainties in the data translated into uncertainties in the results. The greatest uncertainty in these numbers, Marshall said, centers around questions about the exact nature of the dinosaur's ecology, including how warm-blooded T. rex was. The study relies on data published by John Damuth of UC Santa Barbara that relates body mass to population density for living animals, a relationship known as Damuth's Law. While the relationship is strong, he said, ecological differences result in large variations in population densities for animals with the same physiology and ecological niche. For example, jaguars and hyenas are about the same size, but hyenas are found in their habitat at a density 50 times greater than the density of jaguars in their habitat. "Our calculations depend on this relationship for living animals between their body mass and their population density, but the uncertainty in the relationship spans about two orders of magnitude," Marshall said. "Surprisingly, then, the uncertainty in our estimates is dominated by this ecological variability and not from the uncertainty in the paleontological data we used." As part of the calculations, Marshall chose to treat T. rex as a predator with energy requirements halfway between those of a lion and a Komodo dragon, the largest lizard on Earth. The issue of T. rex's place in the ecosystem led Marshall and his team to ignore juvenile T. rexes, which are underrepresented in the fossil record and may, in fact, have lived apart from adults and pursued different prey. As T. rex crossed into maturity, its jaws became stronger by an order of magnitude, enabling it to crush bone. This suggests that juveniles and adults ate different prey and were almost like different predator species. This possibility is supported by a recent study, led by evolutionary biologist Felicia Smith of the University of New Mexico, which hypothesized that the absence of medium-size predators alongside the massive predatory T. rex during the late Cretaceous was because juvenile T. rex filled that ecological niche. What the fossils tell us The UC Berkeley scientists mined the scientific literature and the expertise of colleagues for data they used to estimate that the likely age at sexual maturity of a T. rex was 15.5 years; its maximum lifespan was probably into its late 20s; and its average body mass as an adultits so-called ecological body mass,was about 5,200 kilograms, or 5.2 tons. They also used data on how quickly T. rexes grew over their life span: They had a growth spurt around sexual maturity and could grow to weigh about 7,000 kilograms, or 7 tons. From these estimates, they also calculated that each generation lasted about 19 years, and that the average population density was about one dinosaur for every 100 square kilometers. Then, estimating that the total geographic range of T. rex was about 2.3 million square kilometers, and that the species survived for roughly 2 1/2 million years, they calculated a standing population size of 20,000. Over a total of about 127,000 generations that the species lived, that translates to about 2.5 billion individuals overall. With such a large number of post-juvenile dinosaurs over the history of the species, not to mention the juveniles that were presumably more numerous, where did all those bones go? What proportion of these individuals have been discovered by paleontologists? To date, fewer than 100 T. rex individuals have been found, many represented by a single fossilized bone. "There are about 32 relatively well-preserved, post-juvenile T. rexes in public museums today," he said. "Of all the post-juvenile adults that ever lived, this means we have about one in 80 million of them." "If we restrict our analysis of the fossil recovery rate to where T. rex fossils are most common, a portion of the famous Hell Creek Formation in Montana, we estimate we have recovered about one in 16,000 of the T. rexes that lived in that region over that time interval that the rocks were deposited," he added. "We were surprised by this number; this fossil record has a much higher representation of the living than I first guessed. It could be as good as one in a 1,000, if hardly any lived there, or it could be as low as one in a quarter million, given the uncertainties in the estimated population densities of the beast." Marshall expects his colleagues will quibble with many, if not most, of the numbers, but he believes that his calculational framework for estimating extinct populations will stand and be useful for estimating populations of other fossilized creatures. "In some ways, this has been a paleontological exercise in how much we can know, and how we go about knowing it," he said. "It's surprising how much we actually know about these dinosaurs and, from that, how much more we can compute. Our knowledge of T. rex has expanded so greatly in the past few decades thanks to more fossils, more ways of analyzing them and better ways of integrating information over the multiple fossils known." The framework, which the researchers have made available as computer code, also lays the foundation for estimating how many species paleontologists might have missed when excavating for fossils, he said. "With these numbers, we can start to estimate how many short-lived, geographically specialized species we might be missing in the fossil record," he said. "This may be a way of beginning to quantify what we don't know." More information: C.R. Marshall el al., "Absolute abundance and preservation rate of Tyrannosaurus rex," Science (2021). Journal information: Science C.R. Marshall el al., "Absolute abundance and preservation rate of Tyrannosaurus rex,"(2021). science.sciencemag.org/cgi/doi 1126/science.abc8300 Thousands of ultra-Orthodox Jews on Thursday made their annual pilgrimage to the burial place of Grand Rabbi Steiner Saje. Saje was a former resident of the eastern Hungarian village of Bodrogkeresztur, with the yearly visit marking the anniversary of his death in 1925. A prominent religious leader of his time, his popularity was mainly due to his puritanical lifestyle and his commitment to supporting the poor. The foundation which organized the pilgrimage said 4,500 mostly American and Israeli Orthodox Jews visit the burial place during the three days long event. According to the beliefs and perceptions of the pilgrims to the memorial site, the holy people are in direct contact with the Eternal, so the prayer told around sacred places can be heard more easily. The large event was held as Hungary continues to struggle with a powerful surge in coronavirus cases which has given it the highest per capita death rate in the world in recent weeks. While bars and restaurants remain closed, an overnight curfew is in effect and events are prohibited. Hungarian government pandemic regulations allow for religious communities to hold ceremonies at their own discretion. This religious exception means churches may hold services, and, that such religious events may still be held despite pandemic concerns. As of Thursday, 24,521 people had died of COVID-19-related causes in Hungary, and a brief decline in the rate of new infections has reversed course in recent days. (Disclaimer: This story is auto-generated from a syndicated feed; only the image & headline may have been reworked by www.republicworld.com) (Alliance News) - Ireland is seeing the "clear positive effect of vaccination" on the coronavirus pandemic, a health expert has said. Philip Nolan, chair of the Nphet Irish Epidemiological Modelling Advisory Group, also hailed "significant and positive improvements" against all indicators of Covid-19. However, he warned that until more of the population has received the jab, Ireland remains in a "positive but relatively high-risk position". The update from Nphet came after Tanaiste Leo Varadkar said Ireland is on course to lift more coronavirus restrictions from May 4. The Tanaiste also said that 80% of the population will have had their first dose of Covid vaccine, or have been offered it, by the end of June. He said the government will sit down at the end of April to develop a reopening plan for the months of May, June and July. The government is planning for more outdoor activities, a phased reopening of retail and the return of personal services such as hairdressers on a staggered basis next month. He said: "Cases are stable or falling, the R number is below one. Kids are back to school, the five kilometre rule is gone, we're building houses again. "We are on track, we're on track both to ease restrictions as planned from May 4, and to have over 80% of people receiving their first vaccine by the end of June." Speaking at an Nphet press conference, Prof Nolan said the numbers in hospital are below 200 for the first time since mid-December, and that an uplift in hospital admissions following Easter has not materialised. The seven-day average is around 400 cases per day and the five-day average is 358. Acting Chief Medical Officer Ronan Glynn described the latest numbers as "better than anything we could have hoped for a few weeks ago". "It's fantastic that we are where we are," he said. "Of course I'll give all the caveats and say it's still a high level of disease, it can still turn quicklya but we're in a much better position than we thought we would be, and that is down first and foremost to people listening to the messages and sticking with this. "We have come a huge distance, we do have a way to go, we have to stick with it but it is very important that people hear and understand that their efforts have made an enormous difference and we have avoided very significant mortality." Earlier HSE Chief Executive Paul Reid said they "expect and hope" that the Johnson & Johnson vaccine will become available during quarter two. Use of the vaccine was paused by its manufacturer this week amid concerns from US regulators over rare cases of blood clotting. Ireland was due to receive more than 600,000 doses of the single-shot vaccine between April and June, meaning plans for the vaccine rollout had to be quickly redrawn. While these problems were offset by news of an additional 545,000 doses of the Pfizer Inc jab, health bosses are still hopeful the J&J inoculation will be approved for use by the European Medicines Agency next week. "All we know right now is that it has been withdrawn for now, paused, and we can build based on that," Reid said. "What we would expect, and we will certainly hope that the Johnson and Johnson does come back within the quarter, with whatever definitions are defined by the EMA or National Immunisation Advisory Committee or the organisation themselves." However, the HSE's latest modelling is based on the J&J vaccine not being made available this quarter. Reid told a briefing on Thursday that there are three variables that will determine the modelling for how many people can be vaccinated over the next three months. These are the length of the delay on the J&J vaccine, the delivery schedule for the additional 545,000 Pfizer jabs and the possibility of extending the gap between first and second vaccine doses. Reid said the vaccine rollout had been changed up to 25 times already due to various issues, and is likely to change again. He said there has already been "huge benefits" delivered by the vaccine programme. "It's reducing our hospitalisations, our sickness and our mortality" he added. On Thursday, the HSE launched a new online portal where people can register for their vaccines. It is currently open to people aged between 65 and 69. Reid said there had been 18,000 registrations completed by lunchtime on Thursday, of which 95% were done through the portal. Eight further deaths with Covid-19 and another 309 cases in Ireland were notified on Thursday. As of 8am on Thursday, there were 184 Covid-19 patients in Irish hospitals, of whom 51 were in intensive care. Meanwhile, as of April 13, 1.1 million doses of coronavirus vaccine had been administered in Ireland. This included 769,721 first doses and 325,243 second doses. By Rebecca Black and James Ward, PA source: PA Copyright 2021 Alliance News Limited. All Rights Reserved. Karan Wahi Receives Death Threats For Jokingly Taking A Dig At The Kumbh Mela, Actor Has Cheeky Response For Haters The raising Covid-19 cases in the country during the second deadly wave of the pandemic remains a concern as India reported over two lakhs cases on Wednesday. As the cases pile on many celebrities have raised concerns over the ongoing election rallies and the Kumbh Mela taking place in Haridwar which are seeing mass gatherings. Actor Karan Wahi was amongst those who voiced concern over the Kumbh Mela where lakhs of Hindu devotees are gathering every day to take a dip in the holy Ganga. In an Instagram story the actor had jokingly posted, Isnt there a Work From Home culture for Naga Babas? Like get water from Ganga and take a shower at home #justcurious #kumbhmela. The post, however, apparently irked many people who wrote to Karan threatening him with dire consequences if he did not take down the post. Sharing screenshots of the many abusive messages he received the actor wrote in another story, So I have received messages, abusive content, even death threats already. Wow, people of India. If being a Hindu is to turn a blind eye on covid protocols not being followed then a lot of you first need to read what being a Hindu is. In another post replying to a user who asked Karan if he has ever read the Bhagavad Gita, he posted a picture of The Bible, Gita and Quran and said he has read all three and also knows how to respect them - Ye teeno padhhi hain aur teeno ki izzat karni aati hain. Karan refused to take down his original post unfazed by the threats and cheekily wrote, Ufff kash itna traction tum log meri pictures ko bhi dete Edmonton, Alberta--(Newsfile Corp. - April 15, 2021) - Grizzly Discoveries Inc. (TSXV: GZD) (OTCQB: GZDIF) (FSE: G6H) ("Grizzly" or the "Company") is pleased to announce that Geotech Ltd. has provided final data for the Company's approximately 400 line km Versatile Time Domain Electromagnetic ("VTEM") and magnetic survey over its 100% owned, road accessible Robocop Property in Southeast British Columbia (the "Property"), near the hamlets of Grasmere and Roosville. The VTEM survey was flown at 100 metre line spacing and, following interpretation, the data provides the first property-wide, high resolution geophysical images of the Property. Geotech Ltd. has provided initial finalized data and it confirms the presence of a number of EM (conductance) and magnetic anomalies that will require follow-up review and exploration, including drill testing. HIGHLIGHTS FOR THE ROBOCOP PROPERTY The Robocop Project is comprised of 6,850 acres (2,770 ha) in five mineral claims that are all road accessible, just off Provincial Highway 93 in southeast B.C. The Robocop VTEM survey is the first modern geophysical survey to be conducted at the property. The VTEM survey has identified multiple EM (conductance) and magnetic anomalies for follow-up exploration and drill testing. Initial surface trenching in the late 1980's to early 1990's yielded up to 0.06% cobalt (Co) and 1.93% copper (Cu) over 6 metres (m) in one trench, and in a separate trench with up to 0.146% Co , 1.8% Cu and 5.3 grams per tonne (g/t) silver (Ag) over 5 m in sediment-hosted sulphide mineralization within middle Proterozoic Purcell Group rocks (Thomson, 1990). and over (m) in one trench, and in a separate trench with up to , and 5.3 grams per tonne (g/t) silver (Ag) over in sediment-hosted sulphide mineralization within middle Proterozoic Purcell Group rocks (Thomson, 1990). A total of 15 drill holes in the area completed between 1990 and 2008 have yielded several intersections of near surface Co-Cu-Ag mineralization with grades of up to 0.134% Co , 1.19% Cu and 33.8 g/t Ag over 1.23 m core length in hole R-1990-5 and 0.14% Co , 0.9% Cu and 2.7 g/t Ag over 3.1 m core length in hole R-1990-6 (Thomson, 1990), along with an intersection of 0.18% Co , 0.28% Cu and 4.1 g/t Ag over 1 m core length in hole R-2008-02 (Pighin, 2009). , and over core length in hole R-1990-5 and , and 2.7 g/t Ag over core length in hole R-1990-6 (Thomson, 1990), along with an intersection of , and 4.1 g/t Ag over core length in hole R-2008-02 (Pighin, 2009). All but one of the historical drillholes tested a single target in an area about 500 m by 350 m. The Property is approximately 10 km in length and 3.5 km in width and contains at least four untested anomalous soil +/- rock geochemical targets (see figure below). Sediment hosted Co-Cu-Ag mineralization is similar in style, age and host rocks to mineralization at Jervois Mining Ltd.'s Idaho Cobalt project and Hecla's Revett Formation hosted mineralization near Troy, Montana. Brian Testo, CEO of Grizzly commented, "We are pleased to hit the ground running in 2021 by completing the first step of this year's exploration program at our Cobalt-Copper-Silver prospective Robocop Property. The new geophysics has identified multiple high-priority drill targets for copper, cobalt and silver. Historical work indicates we are in a system that caries significant grades adjacent to the new targets. The geology of the area and new targets have potential for new discoveries. Following interpretation and analysis of the VTEM survey raw data, Grizzly will refine and prioritize targets for our planned drill program at Robocop in 2021." VTEM SURVEY DETAILS The survey is the first of many modern exploration techniques that will be used to explore and develop the Robocop Co-Cu-Ag Project. The VTEM dataset will help to better define the geological model of the Property and to target conductive portions of the assemblage, potentially those associated with both stratigraphic and vertical structural anomalies, and in particular those that might be associated with sulphide minerals and Co-Cu-Ag mineralization, in advance of a planned 2021 drilling campaign. The survey has identified a number of intermediate to deep (200 to 300 m depth) conductivity anomalies (highlighted in the following figure as calculated EM Time-Constant anomalies in purple) that may be indicative of the presence of sulphide and/or alteration such argillic-sericitic alteration types (Figure 1). Figure 1. Calculated EM Time-Constant dB/dt response (TauSF) with Cu in rocks & soils. To view an enhanced version of this graphic, please visit: https://orders.newsfilecorp.com/files/4488/80550_639788f824211a88_002full.jpg The calculated EM Time-Constant (TauSF) shows the location and conductance quality of anomalies in the VTEM data, independent of the source depth and level of response, and is used to highlight target areas for further exploration. Figure 1 shows a few high quality conductance anomalies located near to the main Robocop Cu-Co-Ag showings and the prominent undrilled soil anomaly to the southeast. Figure 2 below shows a Resistivity Depth Imaging section (RDI cross section - showing conductive responses in purple) near to the main Robocop Cu-Co-Ag showings and undrilled soil anomaly. Figure 3 displays the EM Time-Constant anomalies calculated from the B-Field response, where better conductance quality is reflected by warmer-coloured anomalies that are also potential targets for further exploration. The EM anomalies for the most part appear to be at a depth that was not tested by any of the historical drilling (n= 15 drillholes). The Robocop VTEM survey is the first modern geophysical survey to be conducted at the property. Figure 2. Resistivity Depth Slice showing high apparent conductivity (purple) at 200 - 300 m depth. To view an enhanced version of this graphic, please visit: https://orders.newsfilecorp.com/files/4488/80550_639788f824211a88_004full.jpg Figure 3. Calculated EM time constant from B-Field response (TauBF) with Cu in rocks & soils. To view an enhanced version of this graphic, please visit: https://orders.newsfilecorp.com/files/4488/80550_639788f824211a88_007full.jpg Figure 4 displays both dB/dt and B-Field conductance anomalies that show intermediate to high conductance ranges in the red to purple colours and are potential targets for further exploration with Co in rocks and soils. Of note is a broad dB/st Tau anomaly (broad purple high) about 2.5 km northeast of the main Robocop Zone. The anomaly is about 1.3 km in length and about 700 m wide. The anomaly warrants follow-up exploration including prospecting, soil sampling and ground geophysical surveys including one or more of Induced Polarization (IP) and/or Time Domain EM (TDEM) techniques. Further integration of the geophysical interpretation with the geological model is ongoing and required prior to additional groundwork. The additional work will include plate modelling along with an integrated structural and 3D inversion model of the combined EM and magnetic data. The results of this work will be released as they become available. Figure 4. Calculated EM Time-Constant from dB/dt (TauSF) and B-Field (TauBF) with Co in rocks & soils. To view an enhanced version of this graphic, please visit: https://orders.newsfilecorp.com/files/4488/80550_grizz.jpg To view an enhanced version of this graphic, please visit: https://orders.newsfilecorp.com/files/4488/80550_639788f824211a88_008full.jpg The property is hosted within a similar geological setting to the Idaho Cobalt-Copper belt where conductivity (EM) and magnetic surveying techniques have been previously used to successfully guide drilling of prospective targets and assist in making new metal discoveries. The Property has yielded significant historical cobalt, copper and silver results and presents an opportunity to discover battery and electrification metals as the world shifts to electric vehicles, sustainable practices and greener alternatives. The macroeconomic outlook for battery metals such as Co and Cu remains strong with the ongoing shift to electric vehicles. It is estimated that the battery sector accounts for approximately 57% of current Co demand; this is expected to grow over the next five years to 72%, and will require an additional 100,000 tonnes/annum of Cobalt to meet demand.[1] The technical content of this news release and the Company's technical disclosure has been reviewed and approved by Michael B. Dufresne, M. Sc., P. Geol., P.Geo., who is the Qualified Person as defined by National Instrument 43-101 Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects. ABOUT GRIZZLY DISCOVERIES INC. Grizzly is a diversified Canadian mineral exploration company with its primary listing on the TSX Venture Exchange, with 90 million shares issued, focused on developing its over 156,000 acres of precious and base metals properties in southeastern British Columbia. Grizzly is run by a highly experienced junior resource sector management team, who have a track record of advancing exploration projects from early exploration stage through to feasibility stage. On behalf of the Board, GRIZZLY DISCOVERIES INC. Brian Testo, CEO, President Tel: 780 693 2242 For further information, please visit our website at www.grizzlydiscoveries.com or contact: Chris Beltgens Corporate Development Tel: 604 347 9535 Email: cbeltgens@grizzlydiscoveries.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. Caution concerning forward-looking information This press release contains "forward-looking information" and "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of applicable securities laws. This information and statements address future activities, events, plans, developments and projections. All statements, other than statements of historical fact, constitute forward-looking statements or forward-looking information. Such forward-looking information and statements are frequently identified by words such as "may," "will," "should," "anticipate," "plan," "expect," "believe," "estimate," "intend" and similar terminology, and reflect assumptions, estimates, opinions and analysis made by management of Grizzly in light of its experience, current conditions, expectations of future developments and other factors which it believes to be reasonable and relevant. Forward-looking information and statements involve known and unknown risks and uncertainties that may cause Grizzly's actual results, performance and achievements to differ materially from those expressed or implied by the forward-looking information and statements and accordingly, undue reliance should not be placed thereon. Risks and uncertainties that may cause actual results to vary include but are not limited to the availability of financing; fluctuations in commodity prices; changes to and compliance with applicable laws and regulations, including environmental laws and obtaining requisite permits; political, economic and other risks; as well as other risks and uncertainties which are more fully described in our annual and quarterly Management's Discussion and Analysis and in other filings made by us with Canadian securities regulatory authorities and available at www.sedar.com. Grizzly disclaims any obligation to update or revise any forward-looking information or statements except as may be required by law. 1 Cobalt's Price Rises Highlight Shift to Battery-Driven Pricing Dynamics, Benchmark Mineral Intelligence, November 19th, 2021 To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/80550 To achieve its target of net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2060, China must shut down nearly 600 coal-fired power plants in the next ten years and replace them with renewable energy production, according to a survey. According to the research firm TransitionZero, replacing the 364GW of coal production with clean energy will result in a net savings of $1.6 trillion (1.2 trillion) over the timeframe since wind and solar power is now significantly cheaper than coal. China's Coal-Fired Power Plants China's coal use, as the world's largest emitter, is a source of global concern. In an attempt to stimulate economic development after the coronavirus pandemic, the nation has increased proposals for new coal-fired power plants. Last September, China's president, Xi Jinping, stunned the world by announcing that the country will reach net zero emissions by 2060 and plateau before 2030. Related Article: 'Cut Carbon Emissions,' 300 Companies Urge President Biden Coal Usage Although climate analysts welcome the long-term target, they are worried that allowing emissions to continue to climb over the next ten years would exhaust the global carbon budget. "If China struggles on emissions, the rest of the planet will fail on containing serious climate change," Matthew Gray, co-chief executive of TransitionZero, said. However, the stars are starting to converge in China's favor in terms of cracking its coal addiction." The discovery that replacing coal with green energy could save China money in the short and long term raises the possibility of a decisive shift away from coal in the coming years. Climate Goals "This reveals that not only can China achieve its climate targets, but that the nation and its leaders can intensify them rapidly," said Al Gore, who wrote a foreword to the TransitionZero report. A change from coal to renewable energy presents an economic incentive, demonstrating that climate change and economic development are inextricably linked." China is planning to send a new climate plan known as a nationally defined contribution, or NDC, to the United Nations. Both countries are required to have such preparations under the 2015 Paris climate agreement, and they will be a big part of Cop26, the crucial UK climate talks in Glasgow this November. International Coordination UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has encouraged China to step away from coal as soon as possible. Still, the International Energy Agency has cautioned that China's coal demand is rebounding rapidly after the Covid-19 shock. Since coal is "deeply rooted" in China's economy and culture, Gray believes that transitioning away from it would be politically challenging. Coal is also used to power a large amount of infrastructure, including railways that transport coal from mines throughout the country and steel and cement plants. Benefits of the Transition According to Gray, the new study did not go into great detail about employment, but a shift from coal to renewable energy in China is expected to produce as many, if not more, jobs as those lost in conventional coal industries. "Moving to net-zero would provide a lot of jobs," he added. Reducing China's dependence on coal would have several health advantages, such as reducing air emissions, which would help alleviate looming water shortages in central Chinese areas, according to Gray. In progressively water-stressed countries, coal-fired power plants need massive amounts of water. Also Read: Chinese Dust Storm Turns Sun Blue in the Beijing Skies For more news update about Environmental Action, don't forget to follow Nature World News! Vancouver, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - April 15, 2021) - Axion Ventures Inc. (TSXV: AXV) (OTC Pink: AXNVF) ("Axion" or the "Company") is pleased to announce the results of voting at its Annual General and Special Meeting of Shareholders which was held earlier today in Vancouver, British Columbia (the "Meeting"). All matters submitted to the shareholders for approval as set out in the Company's Notice of Meeting and Information Circular were approved at the Meeting. In addition, the management nominees named in the Company's Information Circular received over 129 million votes in their favour out of a total of 163 million shares voted. Accordingly, the directors of the Company are: Yasuyo Yamazaki Kunio Hamada Robert Adams Mana Prapakamol Stephen Willey, and Grant Kim. The Company wishes to thank its shareholders for their participation and continued support. For further information: Axion Ventures Inc. Grant Kim Interim Chief Executive Officer info@axionagm.com Cautionary Statement Regarding Forward-Looking Information This news release may contain "forward-looking information" and "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of applicable Canadian securities legislation. All information contained herein that is not historical in nature may constitute forward-looking information. Forward-looking statements herein are necessarily based upon a number of assumptions that, while considered reasonable by management, are inherently subject to business, market and economic risks, uncertainties and contingencies that may cause actual results, performance or achievements to be materially different from those expressed or implied by forward-looking statements. Except as required by law, the Company disclaims any obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements. Readers are cautioned not to put undue reliance on these forward-looking statements. Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/80596 Chad Scott, the former federal drug agent convicted of corruption charges, is getting a break from the U.S. Justice Department. Prosecutors moved Wednesday to drop four remaining charges, leaving the once-decorated north shore lawman and co-defendant Rodney Gemar facing just three counts: conspiracy, conversion of property and removal of property to prevent seizure. In lay terms, Scott and Gemar stand accused of stealing evidence for themselves and taking some evidence to prevent investigators from finding it. +2 Attorneys for convicted DEA Agent Chad Scott accuse prosecutors of lying, demand new trial The attorneys for convicted federal drug agent Chad Scott have accused the government of lying in their investigation of the once-decorated la The dropped counts include additional conversion and conspiracy counts as well as one count of seeking and receiving an illegal gratuity. They will not be officially dropped until a judge signs off on the prosecution's motion. The move, which caught defense attorneys off guard, was nevertheless welcome news, said Kerry Miller, Scott's court-appointed defense attorney. "Any time charges are dropped, I think that's good," Miller said. "We think all these charges should go away." Bradley Egenberg, who represents Gemar, a former Hammond police officer, called on the government to dismiss the remainder of the indictment. "For five years, we've been telling the DOJ that these charges have no merit," he said. "This partial dismissal is a step in the right direction - finally." Top stories in New Orleans in your inbox Twice daily we'll send you the day's biggest headlines. Sign up today. e-mail address * Sign Up Scott ran a Drug Enforcement Administration task force that included officers of other agencies and worked primarily on the north shore, where he had a fearsome reputation among local drug dealers, some of whom knew him as the "white devil." In 2016, a member of the task force, Tangipahoa Parish deputy sheriff Johnny Domingue, was arrested after Louisiana State Police caught him trying to sell several pounds of marijuana through an intermediary. Domingue and deputy Karl Newman pleaded guilty to federal charges. But the investigation was quickly taken over by a special team from an array of agencies including FBI, the Justice Department Office of the Inspector General, DEA Office of Professional Responsibility and others. The investigation soon zeroed in on Scott, who was indicted along with Gemar in 2017. A federal judge split that indictment into two parts, the first applying only to Scott and containing seven charges including perjury, obstruction of justice and falsification of government records. A 2019 trial ended in a hung jury, but a second trial later that year ended with Scott convicted on all seven counts. Since that time, Scott has been confined on house arrest. His next trial, on the other part of the indictment, has been delayed by the pandemic and is now set June 7. Abdullah Abdullah, Chairman of the High Council for National Reconciliation (C) walks with U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, at the Sapidar Palace in Kabul, Afghanistan, on April 15, 2021. (Sapidar Palace via AP) US Secretary of State Visits Afghanistan in Surprise Trip After Bidens Withdrawal Announcement Secretary of State Antony Blinken visited Afghanistan on April 15, less than 24 hours after President Joe Biden announced that all American troops would be leaving the country by Sept. 11. Blinken, in an unannounced trip, met in Kabul with the countrys president, Ashraf Ghani, and another top official, Abdullah Abdullah. The overarching message was that the United States will continue supporting Afghanistan despite plans to pull out all troops. Weve achieved the objective we set out nearly 20 years ago. We never intended to have a permanent military presence here. The threat from Al Qaeda in Afghanistan is significantly degraded. Osama bin Laden has been brought to justice. After years of saying that we would leave militarily at some point, that time has come. But even when our troops come home, our partnership with Afghanistan will continue, Blinken told reporters during a press conference. Biden said a day prior that the initial military action in 2001, which he backed as a senator, had a clear objective and the cause was just. But as far back as 2008, when Biden, vice president-elect at the time, and incoming President Barack Obama flew to Afghanistan, Biden said he saw that an endless American military force could not create or sustain a durable Afghan government. After consulting closely with our allies and partners, with our military leaders and intelligence personnel, with our diplomats and our development experts, with the Congress and the Vice President, as well as with Mr. Ghani and many others around the world, I have concluded that its time to end Americas longest war. Its time for American troops to come home, he said. The withdrawal was already set for this year under an agreement hammered out during the Trump administration, provided the Taliban kept violence levels low. Military officials, though, have repeatedly cast doubt on the Taliban meeting those conditions. U.S. troops patrol at an Afghan National Army base in Logar Province, Afghanistan, on Aug. 7, 2018. (Omar Sobhani/Reuters) Blinken warned that the Taliban should understand that any attack on U.S. forces as they withdraw would be met with force, but conceded that it was time for other parties to take over the primary responsibilities in paving a path forward. Its very important that the Taliban recognize that it will never be legitimate and it will never be durable if it rejects a political process and tries to take the country by force, he told reporters. A readout of the secretary of states meeting with Ghani said the officials discussed [a] shared investment in Afghanistan and the importance of preserving the gains of the last twenty years, especially in building a strong civil society and protecting the rights of women and girls and counter-terrorism cooperation and [a] shared commitment to ensure al-Qaida never regains a foothold in Afghanistan. Ghani told Blinken that Afghani leaders respect the decision of the United States on withdrawing and are adjusting our priorities, The Associated Press reported. Blinken also convened with Abdullah, the chair of the Afghanistan High Commission for National Reconciliation, going over the continued work toward a permanent ceasefire between the Taliban and the Afghan government. Edmonton, Alberta--(Newsfile Corp. - April 15, 2021) - Altiplano Metals Inc. (TSXV: APN) (WKN: A2JNFG) ("Altiplano" or the "Company") is pleased to provide an update on activity at the Farellon Copper-Gold (Cu-Au) mine located near La Serena, Chile. The Company is pleased to report that it has purchased a diamond drill rig to support ongoing structural and geological grade control at Farellon. The RIVPA model Katan 1000 (2021) is capable of drilling diamond drill holes in NQ and BQ diameters. In addition, this new drill can operate from the horizontal at 0 to 180 to support both surface and underground drilling. The equipment includes supporting rods and a generator and is expected to be delivered in late May. On arrival, it will be set up to begin underground drilling at Farellon mine as part of ongoing development plans and resource definition. CEO Alastair McIntyre commented, "The addition of the drill rig to our operations at Farellon is an important step to maintain grade and structural control over the operations as we advance to lower levels of the Hugo Decline. With the drill rig on site, we are able to efficiently support further development and resource definition on the Iron Oxide Copper Gold vein system that remains open at depth. Previous drilling has yielded grades as high as 2.28% Cu at lower levels and with the new equipment, we can test with greater certainty the continuity of grade in advance of the deeper development. I am also excited with mobility of the drill, allowing the unit to be transported to our other projects. In addition, the mobile drill will provide us with the opportunity to obtain valuable cost effect geological information for our technical team to drill test prospective projects that may fit within our acquisition strategy. I am also pleased to report the equipment is produced locally in Chile, supporting local manufacturers." About Altiplano Altiplano Metals Inc. (TSXV: APN) is a Canadian mining company focused on the acquisition and development of near-term cash flowing assets and exploration projects of significant scale. Altiplano's goal is to grow into a mid-tier producer of copper, gold and silver with immediate plans of generating profits from three cash flowing projects in 2021. Management has a substantial record of success in capitalizing on opportunity, overcoming challenges and building shareholder value. John Williamson, B.Sc., P.Geol., a Qualified Person as defined by NI 43-101, has reviewed and approved the technical contents of this document. Altiplano is part of the Metals Group of companies, managed by an award-winning team of professionals who stand for technical excellence, painstaking project selection and uncompromising corporate governance, with a proven ability to capitalize on investment opportunities and deliver shareholder returns. www.metalsgroup.com ON BEHALF OF THE BOARD /s/ "John Williamson" Chairman For further information, please contact: Jeremy Yaseniuk, Director jeremyy@apnmetals.com Tel: (604) 773-1467 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 "forward-looking statements". All statements in this release, other than statements of historical facts, that address exploration drilling, exploitation activities and events or developments that the Company expects are forward-looking statements. A qualified person has not done sufficient work to classify any historical estimates as current mineral resources or mineral reserves and the issuer is not treating the historical estimates as current mineral resources or mineral reserves. The Farellon mine was previously in production dating back to the 1970's with a reported historical production (to a depth of 70 m) yielding approximately 300,000 tonnes at an average grade of 2.5% copper and 0.5g/t gold. This material was processed locally and sold to ENAMI. Altiplano is relying upon past production records, underground sampling and related activities and current diamond drilling to estimate grade and widths of the mineralization to reactivate production. The decision to commence production on the Farellon deposit is not based on a feasibility study of mineral reserves demonstrating economic and technical viability and there is increased uncertainty and economic and technical risks of failure associated with any production decision. 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. Investors are cautioned that any such statements are not guarantees of future performance and actual results or developments may differ materially from those projected in the forward-looking statements. For more information on the Company, investors should review the Company's continuous disclosure filings that are available at www.sedar.com. To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/80513 Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso (PANA) - At least eight volunteers backing the government to back the army in the fight against terrorism were killed Wednesday in an ambush by unidentified gunmen in the locality of Bouloye-Siguidi region of Burkina Sahel, security sources said here Get Free Access to These 20,000+ Profiles Each profile is free to view and is packed with high-quality insights, providing businesses with detailed company information. Users can take advantage of these insights to identify, target, and connect with the right motion picture industry companies. This company information includes employee insights, company competitors, the latest news, and more. 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We are a branch of Infiniti Research and have dedicated units in all three locations. BizVibe helps buyers find the most relevant suppliers from around the world and help sellers target prospects who need their products and/or services. For more information, please visit www.bizvibe.com and start for free today. Contact BizVibe Jesse Maida Email: [email protected] +1 855-897-5880 Website: https://www.bizvibe.com/ SOURCE BizVibe Related Links http://www.bizvibe.com/ Michael J. Hicks, Ph.D., is the director of the Center for Business and Economic Research and the George and Frances Ball distinguished professor of economics in the Miller College of Business at Ball State University. Contact him at cberdirector@bsu.edu. remaining of Thank you for reading! On your next view you will be asked to log in to your subscriber account or create an account and subscribepurchase a subscription to continue reading. Chairman of the Mejlis of the Crimean Tatar People Refat Chubarov has sent a letter to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan thanking him for Turkey's support for Ukraine's sovereignty and territorial integrity and for protecting the interests of the Crimean Tatar people. Chubarov wrote about this on his Facebook page, according to an Ukrinform correspondent. "In connection with the signing on April 10, 2021 of a framework agreement between the Government of Ukraine and the Government of the Republic of Turkey on cooperation in housing construction for the Crimean Tatar people and other privileged categories of Ukrainian citizens, I sent a letter to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan," he said. According to Chubarov, the letter expresses gratitude on behalf of the Mejlis of the Crimean Tatar people "for Turkey's unwavering support for Ukraine's sovereignty and territorial integrity, for its attention to protecting the rights and interests of the Crimean Tatar people, which has stayed under the occupation of Crimea by the Russian Federation for seven years." Chubarov stressed that the Mejlis is trying to "create conditions for tens of thousands of Crimean Tatars, in conditions of forced residence outside Crimea, but within Ukraine, to be able not only to preserve their identity, but also to increase their professional and intellectual potential which they will be able to apply for the reintegration and development of Crimea liberated from Russian occupiers." The letter states that the Mejlis of the Crimean Tatar people highly appreciates the efforts of the Republic of Turkey, also aimed at improving the living conditions of Crimean Tatars who, due to the threat to their life, were forced to leave Russia-occupied Crimea and live in mainland Ukraine. "These include, in particular, participants in the Russian-Ukrainian war, political prisoners, activists of the Crimean Tatar national movement, public figures and politicians, journalists, university professors, civil servants, and others," the letter reads. However, he said, the construction of housing in the ratio envisaged by the framework agreement (100 apartments in Kyiv, 200 apartments in Mykolaiv, and 200 apartments in Kherson) will not remove the severity of the housing problem in many Crimean Tatar families living in Kyiv, as well as other regions of Ukraine. "The Mejlis of the Crimean Tatar people, respecting the decision adopted by the Governments of Ukraine and the Republic of Turkey and enshrined in the framework agreement between the Government of Ukraine and the Government of the Republic of Turkey on cooperation in housing construction for the Crimean Tatar people and other privileged categories of Ukrainian citizens, appeals, simultaneously with the implementation of this project on the construction of 500 apartments, to consider building an additional 500 apartments, concentrating them in the places of actual residence of Crimean Tatar IDPs, including the city of Kyiv," Chubarov said. op ITHACA, N.Y. - Millions of people donate billions of dollars' worth of their time to citizen-science projects each year. While these efforts have broadened our understanding of everything from birds to bees to bracken ferns, rarely has citizen-science data informed policy at the highest levels of government. But that may be changing. One of the world's largest citizen-science efforts, the Cornell Lab of Ornithology's eBird, is now helping the federal government streamline and refine its process for assessing eagle populations and informing eagle management. New research out this week in the Journal of Applied Ecology finds that citizen-science data collected by 180,000 birdwatchers through eBird is the most accurate and reliable data source for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to use to help identify areas of low and high abundance of Bald Eagles as the Service fine-tunes its eagle permitting policy. The research team, including scientists at the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the Cornell Lab of Ornithology found that eBird data and the advanced statistical models generated by eBird Status and Trends provided the best available picture of Bald Eagles across space and time, when compared to other datasets. "It is important to account for eagle use throughout the entire year, at a refined spatial scale, in order to have confidence that activities in the low-exposure zones would pose less risk to eagles overall," says Emily Bjerre, wildlife biologist at the National Raptor Program at the USFWS. Brian Millsap, national raptor coordinator at the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, says that the "wall-to-wall" coverage provided by eBird was critically important. "The other data or surveys we evaluated generally cover a specific 'season'--for example, winter or breeding," says Millsap, "but then you don't have any information of what eagle abundance in that area is the rest of the year." Thanks to advances in quantitative methods, researchers can now overcome biases, such as observer error, that are often associated with citizen-science data. Viviana Ruiz Gutierrez, assistant director of the Cornell Lab's Center for Avian Population Studies and lead author of the study, says the key is the validation process--cross-checking eBird models with existing bird population data to confirm their accuracy. The research suggests that eBird data can be the primary data source used to define areas of low abundance for Bald Eagles, paving the way for this kind of citizen-science data to potentially be used in the future to shape policy decisions at the federal level. Millsap says that using eBird for these kinds of assessments could provide significant cost-savings in the future, for example potentially reducing or eliminating the need for multiyear survey periods to inform energy-related eagle permitting decisions--a win-win for Bald Eagles and green energy. According to Ruiz Gutierrez, the collaboration between the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service resulted in a framework that other agencies and governing bodies can follow to make use of citizen-science data going forward. "This case study could help convince other agencies and governments around the world to use citizen-science data to compliment existing methods of assessing and safeguarding bird populations," she says. ### The Security Council of Armenia has disclosed decrypted documents regarding the report by ex-chief of the General Staff of the Armed Forces Onik Gasparyan, the Office of the Security Council reports. The press release reads as follows: In response to the statement that former chief of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Armenia Onik Gasparyan made on November 17, 2020, the Office of the Security Council deems it necessary to clarify certain claims made in the statement and disclose decrypted documents related to the statement. Gasparyans statement concerns the state of the Armed Forces of Armenia before the war that broke out in the fall of 2020 and the state of the army during the war. Middle and high school students will learn the first steps to becoming entrepreneurs through a new curriculum designed by economics experts in business and education. A team of experts with diverse backgrounds and education from the University of Nebraska at Omaha (UNO), the University of Nebraska Lincoln, the Nebraska Department of Education, Bryan High School, and the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City wrote and published a new entrepreneurship curriculum guide for middle and high school students. The guide can be used in its entirety for a semester-long course, or it can be used to supplement resources that a teacher already uses. Entitled, Entrepreneurship in your Community: Creating Your Own Career, the program contains 11 lessons teaching students the basics of entrepreneurship all the way to the final lesson where they create a business plan and deliver an elevator speech. The idea is to teach entrepreneurship in a fun and engaging way, especially at the middle school level where there seems to be less material targeted for them. Jamie Wagner, Ph.D., assistant professor of economics at UNO, also project manager and co-author on the curriculum,said that an effective understanding of entrepreneurship requires an understanding of the ways in which individuals, business, governments, and societies make decisions to allocate human capital, physical capital, and natural resources; keeping in mind the goal of balancing costs and benefits to enable overall well-being. Economics is the study of choices, and entrepreneurs have to be mindful of the decisions they make and how to use resources effectively to maintain their business, Wagner said. The economic way of thinking helps them understand the interaction of buyers and sellers in markets everywhere. While the focus is on entrepreneurship, lessons also include activities that require students to improve their computer and online literacy through creating word clouds, infographics, vlogs, and other projects. Jennifer Davidson, Ph.D., co-author and president of the Nebraska Council on Economic Education, describes the curriculum as an important tool to reach economics requirements in the Nebraska Social Standards. The lessons give students an opportunity to explore and assess their personal desire and aptitude for starting their own businesses, something we need to ensure a strong future Nebraska economy, she said. This entrepreneurship curriculum is tied to the National Voluntary Standards in Economics and the National Financial Literacy standards. Additionally, each lesson is linked to the Nebraska Social Studies Standards and Nebraska Business, Marketing, and Management Career Field Standards throughout. It is free to use and download and has accompanying slides for teachers. The entire curriculum guide and slides can downloaded here: https://www.unomaha.edu/college-of-business-administration/center-for-economic-education/teacher-resources/entrepreneurship_in_your_community.php Page Content The City of Johannesburg hosted its first physical IDP, Budget and tariffs consultation meeting with the community of Soweto at the Orlando Communal Hall on Wednesday afternoon, 14 April 2021. Due to Covid-19 Regulations, the City decided to conduct this years consultations virtually, physically and using the hybrid model. Residents in attendance were reminded that no more than 200 people are allowed in the venue in line with the regulations. Present at the meeting was the Speaker of Council, Cllr Nonceba Molwele, the Executive Mayor, Cllr Geoffrey Makhubo, the MMC for Environment Infrastructure and Service, Cllr Mpho Moerane, Chairperson of EISD Section 79 Committee, Cllr Matshidiso Mfikoe and the Regional Director, Ms. Salome Ngobese. In the opening remarks, the programme director for the day, Cllr Molwele, encouraged residents to engage robustly in the discussions towards enhancing the draft IDP and Budget as well as proposed tariffs. She emphasised that the meeting is for the community to engage meaningfully with their government and influence development decisions. The MMC deployed to Region D, Cllr Moerane, gave an overview of the progress and challenges in the region as well as high level development plans for the entire City of Johannesburg. He stressed that Region D is the most important region in the City of Johannesburg given the size of the population and the number of wards. As such, it is critical that residents of Region D make inputs to the Citys plans to ensure that the City realises its long-term vision of being a world-class African City. The Regional Director, Ngobese, highlighted housing, by-law enforcement, waste management infrastructure rollout, stormwater upgrade, road resurfacing programme, youth empowerment as well as stakeholders engagement and communication. The upgrading of informal settlements, allocation of title deeds, hostels maintenance, flats maintenance and transfer to owners were critical interventions. Potholes are a challenge in most parts of the region, as such the City has allocated a budget to patch the potholes. There is also a resurfacing programme that is being rolled out. Some of the key issues raised by the community are safety and illegal dumping. One community member made a passionate plea to the Citys leadership for the CCTV cameras to be installed in Soweto to enhance existing efforts to deal with crime in the township. In response to this plea, the Member of the Mayoral Committee responsible for Public Safety, Cllr Mally Mokoena, indicated that a report will be tabled to Council for the rollout of CCTV cameras throughout the City as part of the implementation of the Integrated Intelligence Operation Centre (IIOC). The announcement was greeted with huge applause from the community. Another resident said illegal dumping is happening with impunity in some parts of the township and asked the City to come up with a strategy to curb this challenge. In response to this challenge, the Chairperson of the EISD Section 79 portfolio committee, Cllr Mofikoe, indicated that the City is rolling out programmes to improve waste management in the City of Johannesburg such as separation at source. This encourages residents to separate waste from their home so that the City can reduce the amount of waste that goes to the landfill sites. She said that there has to be a conversation with the community to explore ways to turn some of the waste generated as a source of income for community members, including the youth. WTF?! In another example of how this increasingly digitized age is catching some people out, a Canadian MP has been forced to apologize after he appeared naked in a Zoom call during a virtual meeting of the House of Commons. William Amos, who represents the Quebec district of Pontiac for Prime Minister Trudeau's Liberal Party, was caught walking around in his birthday suit during the session. Like many countries, Canada allows some MPs to participate in parliamentary sittings via video call as a precaution against Covid-19. Standing between the Quebec and Canadian flags while hiding his gentleman's parts behind a phone, Amos' faux pas was only visible to parliament members and staff on the internal feed. Image credit: The Canadian Press "My video was accidentally turned on as I was changing into my work clothes after going for a jog," he said. "I sincerely apologize to my colleagues in the House of Commons for this unintentional distraction. Obviously, it was an honest mistake and it won't happen again." I made a really unfortunate mistake today & obviously Im embarrassed by it. My camera was accidentally left on as I changed into work clothes after going for a jog. I sincerely apologize to all my colleagues in the House. It was an honest mistake + it wont happen again. Will Amos (@WillAAmos) April 14, 2021 Claude DeBellefeuille, an MP for the opposition Bloc Quebecois party, raised the issue of Amos' nudity in a point of order. While she complimented him for being in "great physical shape," she did suggest that "this member should be reminded of what is appropriate and to control his camera." "I think that this, today, we have beaten we have set a new record. We've seen a member during Question Period improperly dressed that is, uh unclothed." pic.twitter.com/a3fProg7q7 Jonathan Goldsbie (@goldsbie) April 14, 2021 Speaker Anthony Rota admitted that he did not see the incident, but it had been brought to his attention by technical support. He advised members to avoid walking about on camera exposing their members, essentially. Another, albeit more innocent, Zoom fail occurred earlier this year when a Texas lawyer couldn't remove a kitten filter, forcing him to assure the judge that he was not, in fact, a cat. Masthead image credit: Dean Drobot PITTSBURGH, April 15, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- "We thought there could be a better way for caterers to deliver disposable aluminum pans of hot food without the pans sagging or damaging various surfaces due to heat," said one of two inventors, from Bogue, N.C., "so we invented the LARGE ALUMINUM PAN SUPPORT BASKET. Our design can also be used to carry pans of food to gatherings such as picnics and parties." The patent-pending invention provides an effective way to carry and transport a disposable aluminum pan filled with food. In doing so, it prevents the heavy pan from bending or buckling when lifted. As a result, it enhances support, safety and convenience and it eliminates the need to use hot plates or trivets with hot pans. The invention features a practical design that is easy to use, transport and store so it is ideal for households, caterers, large gatherings, etc. Additionally, it is producible in design variations and a prototype is available. The original design was submitted to the Durham sales office of InventHelp. It is currently available for licensing or sale to manufacturers or marketers. For more information, write Dept. 19-DHM-551, InventHelp, 217 Ninth Street, Pittsburgh, PA 15222, or call (412) 288-1300 ext. 1368. Learn more about InventHelp's Invention Submission Services at http://www.InventHelp.com. SOURCE InventHelp Related Links http://www.inventhelp.com After examining the records, which were written in the longhand script of the era, Wilkinson realized what they were and began to translate them into a digital form. But he only got about 12 pages done before he realized that the whole job would be too much for him and he turned it over to volunteers Nancy Skog and Judy Burns. Flying low, fast and expertly executing crisp, tight, quick maneuvers that only Sikorsky's X2 Technology family of helicopters brings, the Sikorsky S-97 RAIDER helicopter flew two demonstrations before Army officials and Soldiers at Redstone Arsenal in Huntsville, Alabama this week. The events offered a glimpse at Sikorsky, a Lockheed Martin company's bid for the Future Attack Reconnaissance Aircraft (FARA) program, part of the U.S. Army's Future Vertical Lift (FVL) effort to revolutionize its aircraft fleet. Sikorsky is a Lockheed Martin Company (NYSE: LMT). The S-97 RAIDER, solely funded by Sikorsky is the only representative FARA aircraft flying today and provides risk reduction for Sikorsky's FARA concept, RAIDER X, a fast, agile, survivable compound coaxial helicopter that will allow future aviators to address evolving peer and near-peer threats in the most difficult environments. "Since the first Black Hawk took to the skies in the 1970s, to when our teams broke helicopter speed records with X2 Technology in 2010, we have been working with our Army partners to develop and deliver low-risk, transformational, affordable and sustainable aircraft to support the warfighters' missions," said Sikorsky President Paul Lemmo, who was at Redstone this week. "This is the first of what we believe will be many times our X2 Future Vertical Lift aircraft will fly at Redstone." RAIDER X will fully integrate the strengths of Lockheed Martin such as digital thread, advanced manufacturing, sustainment, training, and weapon and mission system development, manufacture and integration. At Sikorsky, the digital thread is built into current programs and is being utilized today in our digital advanced manufacturing facility. This proven, holistic life-cycle approach runs seamlessly throughout the design, development, production, supply chain and sustainment process. Today, all of Sikorsky's programs are born in a digital environment. The power of this digital thread drives affordability, producibility and reliability across the aircraft lifecycle. In addition to the FARA competition, Sikorsky and partner Boeing are offering the DEFIANT X for the Army's Future Long-Range Assault Aircraft (FLRAA) competition. With RAIDER X and DEFIANT X, the Army could have common, scalable aircraft with the mission advantage the Army is looking for. Both FARA and FLRAA are among the Army's top modernization priorities meant to address near-peer threats in the multi-domain operations (MDO) of 2030 and beyond. "Through this week's RAIDER flight and our ongoing test program with DEFIANT, we are demonstrating the future of Army Aviation," said Kevin Mangum, Lockheed Martin vice president, Army programs. "With RAIDER X, we will fill a critical Army capability gap, providing the speed, reach, lethality and convergence to fight and win on the MDO battlefield, today and into the future. DEFIANT X will be the world's best assault aircraft like our great Black Hawk for decades to come. Our X2-designed aircraft provide commonality in parts, systems, maintenance and training. And, DEFIANT X has the same operational footprint as the Black Hawk, reducing the Army's total cost of ownership by eliminating any modifications to existing facilities." Flight Demonstrations Highlight Maneuverability and Speed Where it Matters On April 13 and 15 at Redstone, Sikorsky's Christiaan Corry and Bill Fell piloted the S-97 RAIDER flight routines that highlighted both low-level helicopter maneuverability and the high-speed capability that only Sikorsky's X2 Technology family of helicopters offers. Corry previously flew with the first Army experimental test pilot in S-97 RAIDER, with additional events to come. "Flying RAIDER continues to amaze me," said Corry, a former U.S. Marine with more than 4,500 flight hours in 25 types of aircraft including the CH-53E, CH-53K and others. "The combination of the coaxial rotors and the propulsor are really the enablers for this transformational technology. As we demonstrated today, in low-speed flight we are as capable as a conventional helicopter, but when we engage the prop, we are able to operate in a whole new way it's much more like flying an airplane." "RAIDER is a tremendous risk reduction vehicle for RAIDER X and DEFIANT X and enables us to make data-driven design decisions for both aircraft," said Fell, a retired Master Army Aviator and former Army experimental test pilot. "Every time we fly, we are learning something that goes right into RAIDER X and DEFIANT X." Sikorsky has been flying and testing X2 Technology for more than a decade, accumulating nearly 500 hours on its X2 Technology test beds and aircraft including the X2 Technology Demonstrator, RAIDER and DEFIANT. Sustaining the Future Fleet Using Tools Proven Today Also while at Redstone, Sikorsky discussed its approach to mission and weapons systems integration, manufacturing and sustainment. For example, its FVL aircraft will have much more actionable maintenance data, providing commanders with information to accurately assess the health state of the weapon systems as well as the ability to self-diagnose maintenance and predict aircraft availability. That increases the operational readiness and availability and reduces life cycle costs associated with that platform. With Sikorsky's Fleet Decision Tool, commanders can aggregate data from individual aircraft based on operational requirements, aircraft health assessment and maintenance flow to ensure they're optimizing readiness and aircraft availability across the entire fleet. "This means that I, as a commander, could look at my aircraft battalion and understand the health of each one of the aircraft and prioritize the right aircraft for the next mission," Mangum said. "This positions us to meet the Army's Maintenance-Free Operating Periods in which RAIDER X and DEFIANT X helicopters could operate without the need for service for an extended period of time." Operations in Huntsville Sikorsky's facility in Cummings Research Park in Huntsville houses about 100 employees dedicated to supporting Future Vertical Lift, U.S. Army Black Hawk helicopters and other military aviation programs. Also located in Huntsville is Sikorsky's RAIDER X Portable Full-Mission Simulator (PFMS). The simulator consists of a full cockpit with a wrap-around dome for out-the-window visuals which can be updated as the system matures. In addition to the basic flying, the cockpit simulates sensors, weapons and a variety of tactical environments. The high-fidelity simulator has welcomed Army aviators, Soldiers and leaders at tradeshows and special events around the U.S. since 2018. In addition, Sikorsky and Boeing have developed a DEFIANT X simulator, which is permanently located at the Sikorsky Huntsville facility. The DEFIANT X simulator will allow Army aviators, Solider and leaders to experience the unique flight characteristics provided by X2 Technology as well as experiencing the mission system approach to the FLRAA mission. Learn more at our Future Vertical Lift webpage: www.lockheedmartin.com/fvl. Minister of State-owned Enterprise of Republic of Indonesia Erick Thohir JAKARTA, Apr 15, 2021 - (ACN Newswire) - As many as 13 Indonesian state-owned enterprises (SOEs) display their latest innovations at the largest industrial technology exhibition, the Hannover Messe 2021, as Indonesia plans to join the top 10 global economies by 2030."This goal can be achieved by accelerating the fourth industrial revolution, and pursuing not only technological transformation, but the digital transformation of industry, especially during this pandemic," Indonesian President Joko Widodo said.Indonesia was the first Southeast Asian country to become an official partner of the exhibition, which is being held this week, 12 - 16 April, in a digital edition. Participation at Hannover Messe (HM21) is part of the national policy "Making Indonesia 4.0"."We expect our state-owned enterprises to 'go global' as we stated in our ministry's road map. Not only through acquisition, but by leading the global competition," said Erick Thohir, Minister of State-owned Enterprises (BUMN).Some state-owned enterprises have adopted and developed recent technologies to compete with, and even lead the competition in digital technology, specifically in the energy industry, and in the automotive, electronics, chemical and pharmaceutical sectors, and the health equipment industry. All have their innovation on display at MH21.Indonesia's premier energy holding company PT Pertamina engages 4.0 industry transformation by transitioning energy consumption from fossil fuels to renewable energies. For energizing its sustainable future, Pertamina is converting its refineries to produce green diesel, green jet fuels and green gasoline, optimizing geothermal capacity, and utilizing green hydrogen. It also works with other state-owned companies to develop Indonesian EV batteries and energy storage systems.The state-owned enterprise in the electricity sector, PT Perusahaan Listrik Negara promotes digital-based products that can acclerate business processes, such as the iCORE Digital Power Plant for electricity generation, Digitally Enabled Distribution Excellence for electricity distribution, PLN Mobile application for customer service and the Charge in application for charging electric vehicles.A testing, inspection and certification company, PT Surveyor Indonesia is showcasing its drone-powered enhanced solution services for predictive maintenance and remote surveys. Meanwhile, Indonesia's state mint Peruri developed a research institute for authenticity and collaborated with SICPA SA (a Switzerland company) and Giesecke+Devrient (a German company). At the Hannover Messe, Peruri introduces its innovations in digital business solutions with its products Peruri Sign, Peruri Code and Peruri Trust.PT Pupuk Indonesia, the holding company for state-owned fertilizer producers, has implemented a "Smart Production" system that uses big data and integrates several data including operational data and distributed control systems. The system is expected to increase efficiency of operations and monitors production processes in real-time. The company also implements a 'Smart Distribution' system that integrates data in the warehouse all the way through the ports. Another smart product is the PreciPalm or Precision Agricuture Platform for Palm Oil that provides digital maps on soil condition in oil palm plantation that can give recommendations for fertilization.Indonesian pharmaceutical holding company PT Bio Farma displays "bio tracking", "bio detect" and an integrated packaging line for vaccine distributions. A thermal sensor and a GPS are installed in vaccine transporting vehicles to monitor temperatures inside the vehicles and their real-time position. Bio Farma hopes to expand to Eastern Europe following HM21. PT Indofarma promotes several premium products and seeks to attract foreign investment in pharmaceutical and herbal products. PT Kimia Farma, another state-owned pharmaceutical company also joins the exhibition, alongside its subsidiary PT Kimia Farma Sungwun Phramacopia.The largest port operator in Indonesia, PT Pelabuhan Indonesia II is showcasing several of its latest innovations, including i-Hub, an application for one-stop port service and e-government solutions National Single Window and Online Single Submission.In line with transforming into a digital telecommunications company, PT Telekomunikasi Indonesia brought several digital solutions, including digital connectivity, digital platform and digital service, all being displayed at HM21.PT INKA, the first integrated train manufacturer in Southeast Asia, presents 'E-Inobus', an electric bus that was produced in a configurable virtual workstation concept. The nation's shipbuilder PT PAL Indonesia introduces a dual fuel (diesel and LNG) barge-mounted plant, a floating power plant that can be operated in shallow waters and remote regions.Another state-owned company attending Hannover Messe is PT Barata Indonesia, which produces various machinery and components for power plants and trains. The company expects to expand its market and joins the global supply chain for industrial components."Leadership and technology transformation will create a momentum that will not only pull us out of this pandemic but will push us to leap further ahead," Thohir said. Indonesia's participation in Hannover Messe 2021 does push state-owned companies in going global, and it opens opportunities in forging business partnerships and investment cooperation with international companies towards building the future of industry 4.0.Source: Indonesian Ministry of State Owned Enterprises / BUMNCopyright 2021 ACN Newswire . All rights reserved. I'm speaking to you today from the Roosevelt - the Treaty Room in the White House. The same spot where, on October of 2001, President George W. Bush informed our nation that the United States military had begun strikes on terrorist training camps in Afghanistan. It was just weeks - just weeks after the terrorist attack on our nation that killed 2,977 innocent souls; that turned Lower Manhattan into a disaster area, destroyed parts of the Pentagon, and made hallowed ground of a field in Shanksville, Pennsylvania, and sparked an American promise that we would 'never forget.' We went to Afghanistan in 2001 to root out al Qaeda, to prevent future terrorist attacks against the United States planned from Afghanistan. Our objective was clear. The cause was just. Our NATO Allies and partners rallied beside us. And I supported that military action, along with overwhelming majority of the members of Congress. More than seven years later, in 2008, weeks before we swore the oath of office - President Obama and I were about to swear - President Obama asked me to travel to Afghanistan and report back on the state of the war in Afghanistan. I flew to Afghanistan, to the Kunar Valley - a rugged, mountainous region on the border with Pakistan. What I saw on that trip reinforced my conviction that only the Afghans have the right and responsibility to lead their country, and that more and endless American military force could not create or sustain a durable Afghan government. I believed that our presence in Afghanistan should be focused on the reason we went in the first place: to ensure Afghanistan would not be used as a base from which to attack our homeland again. We did that. We accomplished that objective. I said, among - with others, we'd follow Osama bin Laden to the gates of hell if need be. That's exactly what we did, and we got him. It took us close to 10 years to put President Obama's commitment to - into form. And that's exactly what happened; Osama bin Laden was gone. That was 10 years ago. Think about that. We delivered justice to bin Laden a decade ago, and we've stayed in Afghanistan for a decade since. Since then, our reasons for remaining in Afghanistan are becoming increasingly unclear, even as the terrorist threat that we went to fight evolved. Over the past 20 years, the threat has become more dispersed, metastasizing around the globe: al-Shabaab in Somalia; al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula; al-Nusra in Syria; ISIS attempting to create a [caliphate] in Syria and Iraq, and establishing affiliates in multiple countries in Africa and Asia. With the terror threat now in many places, keeping thousands of troops grounded and concentrated in just one country at a cost of billions each year makes little sense to me and to our leaders. We cannot continue the cycle of extending or expanding our military presence in Afghanistan, hoping to create ideal conditions for the withdrawal, and expecting a different result. I'm now the fourth United States President to preside over American troop presence in Afghanistan: two Republicans, two Democrats. I will not pass this responsibility on to a fifth. After consulting closely with our allies and partners, with our military leaders and intelligence personnel, with our diplomats and our development experts, with the Congress and the Vice President, as well as with Mr. Ghani and many others around the world, I have concluded that it's time to end America's longest war. It's time for American troops to come home. When I came to office, I inherited a diplomatic agreement, duly negotiated between the government of the United States and the Taliban, that all U.S. forces would be out of Afghanistan by May 1, 2021, just three months after my inauguration. That's what we inherited - that commitment. It is perhaps not what I would have negotiated myself, but it was an agreement made by the United States government, and that means something. So, in keeping with that agreement and with our national interests, the United States will begin our final withdrawal - begin it on May 1 of this year. We will not conduct a hasty rush to the exit. We'll do it - we'll do it responsibly, deliberately, and safely. And we will do it in full coordination with our allies and partners, who now have more forces in Afghanistan than we do. And the Taliban should know that if they attack us as we draw down, we will defend ourselves and our partners with all the tools at our disposal. Our allies and partners have stood beside us shoulder-to-shoulder in Afghanistan for almost 20 years, and we're deeply grateful for the contributions they have made to our shared mission and for the sacrifices they have borne. The plan has long been 'in together, out together.' U.S. troops, as well as forces deployed by our NATO Allies and operational partners, will be out of Afghanistan before we mark the 20th anniversary of that heinous attack on September 11th. But - but we'll not take our eye off the terrorist threat. We'll reorganize our counterterrorism capabilities and the substantial assets in the region to prevent reemergence of terrorists - of the threat to our homeland from over the horizon. We'll hold the Taliban accountable for its commitment not to allow any terrorists to threaten the United States or its allies from Afghan soil. The Afghan government has made that commitment to us as well. And we'll focus our full attention on the threat we face today. At my direction, my team is refining our national strategy to monitor and disrupt significant terrorist threats not only in Afghanistan, but anywhere they may arise - and they're in Africa, Europe, the Middle East, and elsewhere. I spoke yesterday with President Bush to inform him of my decision. While he and I have had many disagreements over policies throughout the years, we're absolutely united in our respect and support for the valor, courage, and integrity of the women and men of the United States Armed Forces who served. I'm immensely grateful for the bravery and backbone that they have shown through nearly two decades of combat deployments. We as a nation are forever indebted to them and to their families. You all know that less than 1 percent of Americans serve in our armed forces. The remaining 99 percent of them - we owe them. We owe them. They have never backed down from a single mission that we've asked of them. I've witnessed their bravery firsthand during my visits to Afghanistan. They've never wavered in their resolve. They've paid a tremendous price on our behalf. And they have the thanks of a grateful nation. While we will not stay involved in Afghanistan militarily, our diplomatic and humanitarian work will continue. We'll continue to support the government of Afghanistan. We will keep providing assistance to the Afghan National Defenses and Security Forces. And along with our partners, we have trained and equipped a standing force of over 300,000 Afghan personnel today and hundreds of thousands over the past two decades. And they'll continue to fight valiantly, on behalf of the Afghans, at great cost. They'll support peace talks, as we will support peace talks between the government of Afghanistan and the Taliban, facilitated by the United Nations. And we'll continue to support the rights of Afghan women and girls by maintaining significant humanitarian and development assistance. And we'll ask other countries - other countries in the region - to do more to support Afghanistan, especially Pakistan, as well as Russia, China, India, and Turkey. They all have a significant stake in the stable future for Afghanistan. And over the next few months, we will also determine what a continued U.S. diplomatic presence in Afghanistan will look like, including how we'll ensure the security of our diplomats. Look, I know there are many who will loudly insist that diplomacy cannot succeed without a robust U.S. military presence to stand as leverage. We gave that argument a decade. It's never proved effective - not when we had 98,000 troops in Afghanistan, and not when we were down to a few thousand. Our diplomacy does not hinge on having boots in harm's way - U.S. boots on the ground. We have to change that thinking. American troops shouldn't be used as a bargaining chip between warring parties in other countries. You know, that's nothing more than a recipe for keeping American troops in Afghanistan indefinitely. I also know there are many who will argue that we should stay - stay fighting in Afghanistan because withdrawal would damage America's credibility and weaken America's influence in the world. I believe the exact opposite is true. We went to Afghanistan because of a horrific attack that happened 20 years ago. That cannot explain why we should remain there in 2021. Rather than return to war with the Taliban, we have to focus on the challenges that are in front of us. We have to track and disrupt terrorist networks and operations that spread far beyond Afghanistan since 9/11. We have to shore up American competitiveness to meet the stiff competition we're facing from an increasingly assertive China. We have to strengthen our alliances and work with like-minded partners to ensure that the rules of international norms that govern cyber threats and emerging technologies that will shape our future are grounded in our democratic values - values - not those of the autocrats. We have to defeat this pandemic and strengthen the global health system to prepare for the next one, because there will be another pandemic. You know, we'll be much more formidable to our adversaries and competitors over the long term if we fight the battles for the next 20 years, not the last 20. And finally, the main argument for staying longer is what each of my three predecessors have grappled with: No one wants to say that we should be in Afghanistan forever, but they insist now is not the right moment to leave. In 2014, NATO issued a declaration affirming that Afghan Security Forces would, from that point on, have full responsibility for their country's security by the end of that year. That was seven years ago. So when will it be the right moment to leave? One more year, two more years, ten more years? Ten, twenty, thirty billion dollars more above the trillion we've already spent? 'Not now' - that's how we got here. And in this moment, there's a significant downside risk to staying beyond May 1st without a clear timetable for departure. If we instead pursue the approach where America - U.S. exit is tied to conditions on the ground, we have to have clear answers to the following questions: Just what conditions require to - be required to allow us to depart? By what means and how long would it take to achieve them, if they could be achieved at all? And at what additional cost in lives and treasure? I'm not hearing any good answers to these questions. And if you can't answer them, in my view, we should not stay. The fact is that, later today, I'm going to visit Arlington National Cemetery, Section 60, and that sacred memorial to American sacrifice. Section sisty [sic] - Section 60 is where our recent war dead are buried, including many of the women and men who died fighting in Afghanistan and Iraq. There's no - there's no comforting distance in history in Section 60. The grief is raw. It's a visceral reminder of the living cost of war. For the past 12 years, ever since I became Vice President, I've carried with me a card that reminds me of the exact number of American troops killed in Iraq and Afghanistan. That exact number, not an approximation or rounded-off number -- because every one of those dead are sacred human beings who left behind entire families. An exact accounting of every single solitary one needs to be had. As of the day - today, there are two hundred and forty- [2,448] U.S. troops and personnel who have died in Operation Enduring Freedom and Operation Freedom's Sentinel - our Afghanistan conflicts. 20,722 have been wounded. I'm the first President in 40 years who knows what it means to have a child serving in a warzone. And throughout this process, my North Star has been remembering what it was like when my late son, Beau, was deployed to Iraq - how proud he was to serve his country; how insistent he was to deploy with his unit; and the impact it had on him and all of us at home. We already have service members doing their duty in Afghanistan today whose parents served in the same war. We have service members who were not yet born when our nation was attacked on 9/11. War in Afghanistan was never meant to be a multi-generational undertaking. We were attacked. We went to war with clear goals. We achieved those objectives. Bin Laden is dead, and al Qaeda is degraded in Iraq - in Afghanistan. And it's time to end the forever war. Thank you all for listening. May God protect our troops. May God bless all those families who lost someone in this endeavor. Three more proposals, including a third for Mount Evans, have been submitted to the US Board of Geographic Names and now have joined the list in front of the Colorado Geographic Naming Board. Intelligent.com, a trusted resource for online degree rankings and higher education planning, has announced the top online programs for 2021. The comprehensive research guide is based on an assessment of 1,280 accredited colleges and universities in the nation. Each program is evaluated based on curriculum quality, graduation rate, reputation, and post-graduate employment. The methodology also uses an algorithm which collects and analyzes multiple rankings into one score to easily compare each school. Students who pursue any one of these programs can expect to gain employment much quicker in comparison to candidates without a degree. In addition to accessibility and cost, the steady job growth in this market is one of the many reasons Intelligent.com researched and ranked the Top Online Masters in Education Administration Degree Programs. Intelligent.com analyzed 101 schools, on a scale of 0 to 100, with only 53 making it to the final list for Online Masters in Education Administration Degree Programs. To access the complete ranking, please visit: https://www.intelligent.com/best-online-masters-in-education-administration-degree-programs/ 2021 Online Masters in Education Administration Degree Programs featured on Intelligent.com (in alphabetical order): Angelo State University Appalachian State University Ball State University Boston University Brandman University California State University, Northridge Central Washington University Clarks Summit University Columbia International University CUNY Bernard M Baruch College Dakota Wesleyan University Drexel University Duquesne University Emporia State University Florida State University Fort Hays State University George Washington University Georgia Southern University Indiana University Bloomington Lamar University Liberty University Louisiana State University Michigan State University Mississippi College National University New Mexico State University North Park University Nova Southeastern University Oklahoma State University Rowan University San Diego State University Seattle University Southern Wesleyan University Stony Brook University, New York Texas A&M International University Texas A&M University, College Station The University of Southern Mississippi UNC Greensboro University of Florida University of Houston-Clear Lake University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign University of Kansas University of Louisville University of Missouri University of Nebraska at Kearney University of Nebraska-Lincoln University of Oklahoma University of South Carolina University of Texas at Tyler University of WisconsinLa Crosse University of Wyoming Wayne State College Western Carolina University About Intelligent.com Intelligent.com provides unbiased research to help students make informed decisions about higher education programs. The website offers curated guides which include the best degree programs as well as information about financial aid, internships and even study strategies. With comprehensive, user-friendly guides and hundreds of program rankings, Intelligent.com is a trusted source among students and prospective students. To learn more, please visit https://www.intelligent.com/. [April 15, 2021] Circle K Takes Next Step in Sustainability Journey With New Sustainably Sourced Coffee Offer Circle K, the national convenience store, is taking its commitment to sustainability a step further by becoming the largest convenience retailer in the U.S. to offer 100% sustainably sourced coffee blends across all their locations. This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210415005150/en/ Circle K Sustainably Sourced Coffee (Photo: Business Wire) To celebrate this initiative, Circle K will be offering up to 40% off reusable mugs on April 22 for Earth Day. The sustainably sourced coffee program is built around three pillars: farm productivity, environmental practices, and social development. These high-quality coffee beans will come from participating farms around the world while providing valuable tools, training and services to coffee farmers and their communities. Additionally, farms where these coffees are sourced, actively promote the following: No child labor No formof slavery or forced labor Trainings on applicable local and international labor and employment laws Trainings on, but not limited to, critical health, occupational safety topics, and worker rights and conditions Gender equity Soil conservation Forest conservation and biodiversity Water protection, waste management, efficient energy use Environmentally responsible agriculture Circle K offers consistently fresh coffee through their bean-to-cup machines, which allow consumers to enjoy freshly ground coffee in every cup. The new sustainably sourced coffee blends will be available through these machines in both hot and iced forms. While the coffee beans will now be 100% sustainably sourced, the quality will continue to be the same java customers love, with no changes to the taste, aroma, or roast profile. When consumers opt for Circle K's coffee blends, they will be supporting a brighter future for farmers and their communities through better social, economic and environmental practices - from enhancing soil health and improving water management to teaching forest conservation. About Alimentation Couche-Tard Inc. Couche-Tard is the leader in the Canadian convenience store industry. Circle K is its global brand outside of Quebec, Canada. Couche-Tard is a global leader in convenience and fuel retail, operating in 26 countries and territories, with more than 14,200 stores, of which approximately 10,800 offer road transportation fuel. With its well-known Couche-Tard and Circle K banners, it is the largest independent convenience store operator in terms of the number of company-operated stores in the United States and it is a leader in the convenience store industry and road transportation fuel retail in Canada, Scandinavia, the Baltics, as well as in Ireland. It also has an important presence in Poland and Hong Kong. Approximately 135,000 people are employed throughout its network. For more information on Alimentation Couche-Tard Inc. or to consult its Unaudited Interim Condensed Consolidated Financial Statements and Management Discussion and Analysis, please visit: https://corpo.couche-tard.com. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210415005150/en/ [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] SPi Global, the market leading content technology enterprise, today announced the launch of its new avatar as Straive (pronounced strive). Following many developments in recent years including major acquisitions, new revenue streams and further consolidation of key business divisions, the new brand restates the value proposition of the company. Over the years, the company has established itself as a leading e-learning solutions partner for online K-12 and higher-ed providers, as a specialized solutions provider for top business information and financial platforms, and as the leading content services provider to research and education publishers. With the acquisition of LearningMate in 2020, Straive today has a robust end-to-end portfolio encompassing content generation, technology platforms and delivery for the Ed-Tech space. Straive also recognizes the untapped potential of unstructured data across industries. In line with that, Ed-Tech, Data Solutions, Research and Education Content Services would form the core pillars of the companys long-term vision. The rebranding exercise is an amalgamation of several strategic and gradual changes to the visual identity of the company including a new brand color, logo, refreshed website and social channels. The name Straive encompasses the company's increased focus on AI-driven solutions and signifies the ongoing endeavor to continuously enhance the value that the company brings to its customers, employees and to the community. The new brand logo represents Straives commitment to unravel the power of information by Connecting the Dots''. The refreshed look with Orange as the new brand color represents the wave of innovation and excellence the company brings to its esteemed customers in Research, Education, Ed-Tech, Finance, Real Estate, ESG, Logistics, etc. Ratan Datta, President and CEO, Straive (earlier known as SPi Global), said, We have been on a consistent path of growth, expansion and evolution through the years. As an extension of that, we are excited to launch our new brand and visual identity. The rebranding is our pledge to keep evolving in our quest to elevate knowledge to solve the critical problems of our time. Luka Muller Ysee, every night Muller is performing a different show, guided by us, his benevolent dictators, chosen from categories displayed on stage. Tonight hes instructed to start with New Material, Racism for Millennials (aka star signs) and moves to Dentist Drugs (which a crowd-member chooses because I hate one of those things), The Worst Day of Last Year (where a bike cop pulls him over for texting while driving) then back to some Old Faithfuls. The Other category yields A Moment of Truth which disarms the room when Muller nervously admits to jealousy of other comics success. Shout out to further self-awareness during a colour-blind gag where he grins at us, A straight white man in his 20s reaching for pathos. Quality. Mikey Cahill Best of the Edinburgh Fest Forum Downstairs, until April 18 Bob Downe is a special guest at cabaret event Show Queen. Uber-confident retro dork Bob Downe sashays onto stage and bursts into song. Its a joy to behold his shimmering, seemingly home-sewn gold tracksuit and blonde Ray Martinesque locks. He rattles off lines like an ol pro, referencing how many times hes been to Edinburgh, then playing host for the night. Geeky Kelsey De Almeida acknowledges its risky to crack vegan gags in Melbourne. Hes also got it in for personal trainers and ice skaters. And a ridiculous exchange with an oddly-named bloke in the audience works a treat. Toting a swag of impressive accents, Luke Benson is a loveable Geordie giant. Literally. Height jokes meld into relationship gags that lead to spirited stories of his love of Melbourne, where hes lived for three years. All land well. The finale is a three comics singalong including a Countdown wave. Its a curious mix that ultimately gels. An extra half star for Downes costume changes. Donna Demaio Josh Glanc, In a one-piece crotch-cut short-sleeve polo Greek Centre, until April 18 Josh Glancs surname is pronounced glans as in the part of his body we see within a second of this show starting. What? Yes. Josh Glanc is making his Edinburgh Festival Fringe debut. Credit:Angelo Leggas Glancs toga falls to the ground and he prances about like a hirsute, mature-age Cupid, making an early statement that hell do anything to make this full house laugh. The Melbourne character comedian shines brightest when he adopts garbled barbecue dad voices, Italian gibberish (call it Pigeon English as he implicates a rat-with-wings into a scene) and uproarious phonetic renditions of songs from a Lifetime Classics vinyl by Frank Sinatra, Dolly Parton and Mariah Carey. On that note, the music, lighting and endless props are well selected to assist with Glancs Dr Brown-like clowning skills. One aspect that needs work is his accents, which he slips out of too easily mid-monologue into gruff Aussie, piercing the illusion. Everything else is ship-shape. Mikey Cahill Chris Ryan, Big Hair, Big Dreams Comedy Republic, until April 18 At the age of 47, its fair to say that receiving a Best Newcomer nomination at this years festival is a slight shift of the paradigm. Chris Ryan Which, in an hour that does admittedly elicit multiple guffaws, doesnt quite stack up to the shows delivered by her fellow nominees awarded by the festivals clandestine judges. As with most debutantes, Ryans first solo hour is a patchwork of her favourite material delivered with no intertwined narrative. There are sharp jabs at the likes of Andrew Bolt, her partner and her children, but none that we havent already seen delivered at this festival with more vigour and finesse by those who have spent several years in the comedic game. There are certainly moments of brilliance and perhaps those with their own younger families will find the show more relatable theres just not enough to fill an hour. Tyson Wray Gen Fricker Swiss Club and Melbourne Town Hall until April 18 Gen Fricker is the funny best friend you wish you had. Without bells and whistles in the way of props and costumes, she immediately establishes an easy rapport with the audience almost a full house tonight. Her clear, engaging style stems from a career in radio and TV in which success depends on improvising, quick retorts, and keeping listeners from changing the dial. Gen Fricker Fricker says she knows we probably Googled her and discovered the most traumatic, worst moment of her life and the cause of her PTSD (a male attacker targeted her in her Triple J studio). She shares that she was also bullied on the internet by men helpfully claiming she may have dressed provocatively (jeans, a T-shirt and thongs: all 10 toes on show!). Beyond 31 its too late to start over and make new friends, Fricker informs us, so buy tickets if you want to hang out. Cat Woods Mrs Robinson: A Soap Cabaret La Mama until April 18 There was more confusion than amusement for this reviewer on the opening night of Mrs Robinson. Sitting toward the back of the small theatre, it was impossible to make out half the words being sung and spoken. By SCOTT BAUER and MIKE HOUSEHOLDER, The Associated Press BROOKLYN CENTER, Minn. (AP) A white former police officer faced her first court appearance Thursday in the traffic-stop shooting of a Black motorist that has engulfed a small Minneapolis suburb with four straight days of bitter conflict between protesters and police. Kim Potter, who quit her job on the Brooklyn Center force two days after Daunte Wrights death, was charged Wednesday with second-degree manslaughter in what her chief said appeared to be a case of confusing her Taser with her handgun. Many protesters and Wrights family members have rejected that, saying either that they dont believe it or that the incident reflects bias in policing, with Wright stopped for an expired car registration and ending up dead. Potter, a 26-year veteran, was training another officer at the time of the stop. She was arrested and later freed after posting a $100,000 bond. FILE - This photo provided by Ben Crump Law, PLLC. shows Daunte Wright and his son, Daunte Jr., at his first birthday party. Wright, 20, was killed during a traffic stop by a white suburban Minneapolis police officer on Sunday, April 11, 2021. (Ben Crump Law, PLLC. via AP)AP Wrights death came as the broader Minneapolis area nervously awaits the outcome of the trial for Derek Chauvin, the first of four officers charged in George Floyds death. Certain occupations carry an immense responsibility and none more so than a sworn police officer, Imran Ali, Washington County assistant criminal division chief, said in a statement announcing the charge against Potter. (Potters) action caused the unlawful killing of Mr. Wright and she must be held accountable. Intent isnt a necessary component of second-degree manslaughter in Minnesota. The charge which carries a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison can be applied in circumstances where a person is suspected of causing a death by culpable negligence that creates an unreasonable risk and consciously takes chances to cause a death. Potters first court appearance was expected to be via Zoom at 1:30 p.m. Her attorney did not respond to messages from The Associated Press on Wednesday. Potter, 48, and Police Chief Tim Gannon both resigned Tuesday, a day after the City Council voted to fire the city manager, who controls the police force. Acting City Manager Reggie Edwards said Wednesday that because Potter resigned, she is entitled to all accrual and benefits that is due. Mayor Mike Elliott has said that the city had been moving toward firing Potter when she submitted her resignation. Police say Wright was pulled over for expired tags on Sunday, but they sought to arrest him after discovering he had an outstanding warrant. The warrant was for his failure to appear in court on charges that he fled from officers and possessed a gun without a permit during an encounter with Minneapolis police in June. Body camera video that Gannon released Monday shows Potter approaching Wright as he stands outside of his car as another officer is arresting him. As Wright struggles with police, Potter shouts, Ill Tase you! Ill Tase you! Taser! Taser! Taser! before firing a single shot from a handgun in her right hand. The criminal complaint noted that Potter holstered her handgun on the right side and her Taser on the left. To remove the Taser which is yellow and has a black grip Potter would have to use her left hand, the complaint said. Flowers are placed on a banner as demonstrators gather outside the Brooklyn Center Police Department on Tuesday, April 13, 2021, to protest the shooting death of Daunte Wright on Sunday during a traffic stop in Brooklyn Center, Minn. (AP Photo/John Minchillo)AP Wright family attorney Ben Crump said the family appreciates the criminal case, but he again disputed that the shooting was accidental, arguing that an experienced officer knows the difference between a Taser and a handgun. Kim Potter executed Daunte for what amounts to no more than a minor traffic infraction and a misdemeanor warrant, he said. Potter was an instructor with Brooklyn Center police, according to the Minnesota Police and Peace Officers Association. Brooklyn Center had a 10 p.m. curfew Wednesday, the fourth night in a row that the city has taken that action. Elliott, the mayor, urged people to protest without violence, saying your voices have been heard. But for the fourth straight night, demonstrators clashed with police stationed behind a chain-link fence protecting the citys police station. Several hundred protesters filled the street in front of the station despite a mix of snow and rain, chanting Say his name! Daunte Wright! Outside Potters home in Champlin, north of Brooklyn Center, concrete barricades and tall metal fencing had been set up and police cars were in the driveway. After Floyds death last year, protesters demonstrated several times at the home of Derek Chauvin, the former Minneapolis officer now on trial in Floyds death. Brooklyn Center, a suburb just north of Minneapolis, has seen its racial demographics shift dramatically in recent years. In 2000, more than 70% of the city was white. Today, a majority of residents are Black, Asian or Hispanic. However, Elliott has acknowledged that the police force has very few people of color. SALEM, Ore. -- Oregon could soon become the thirteenth state to ban what is often referred to as the "gay panic defense" or the "trans panic defense." Oregon Senate Democrats passed Senate Bill 704 Wednesday, which will provide clarity and justice in crimes committed against LGBTQ+ individuals. Under current law, it is an affirmative defense to commit an act of murder in the second degree or claim self-defense because the act was committed due to an extreme emotional disturbance caused by the victims gender, gender identity, gender expression or sexual orientation. Senate Bill 704 would ban the use of this affirmative defense. The fact that this defense is available in state law is a relic of hate against LGTBQ+ individuals," said Sen. Kate Lieber (D-Beaverton), who spoke in support of the bill. "No one should be able to use a persons identity to justify or excuse acts of violence against them. Legal protection for bigotry is absolutely unacceptable and repealing this antiquated and hateful law is long overdue. As only the second LGBTQIA+ and first openly gay member of the Oregon Senate, I feel very strongly about ensuring that Oregon is a safe place for my community." Senate Bill 704 passed with near-unanimous support and now moves to the House of Representatives for consideration. Special promotion event held by Chinas Foreign Ministry to honor heroic Hubei Province 09:02, April 15, 2021 By Ji Peijuan, Song Yiran ( People's Daily State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi address the audience at a special promotion event for Hubei Province. (Photo from the official website of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs) A special promotion event for Hubei, the hardest hit Chinese province by COVID-19, was held by the countrys Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Monday, to introduce the strong resilience of the province amid the pandemic, showcase its robust recovery, and build for it a new bridge of foreign cooperation. Themed "Heroic Hubei: Reborn for New Glories," the special promotion event was the first promotion event in China for a provincial-level region held by the ministry since outburst of the pandemic. It was joined by around 500 people, including diplomatic envoys from 155 countries, representatives of 21 international organizations to China, as well as representatives from Chinese and foreign business circles. A series of delicious local food and drinks were displayed at the event, such as hot dry noodles of Wuhan, rice wine of Xiaogan, scented tea of Xiangyang, lotus root drink of Jingzhou and Wuchang bream. Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi attended the event and addressed audience. He said under the strong leadership of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping at its core, and with support pouring in from across the country, the people of Hubei and Wuhan stood united as one and fought a tenacious battle with the virus. Their enormous sacrifice not only made China's victory over COVID-19 possible, but also contributed significantly to the global COVID response, he remarked. Hubei's heroic fight against COVID-19 is an epitome of China's response efforts, and more importantly, an embodiment of the unique character and strength of the Chinese nation, the minister noted, adding that having emerged from the trying times of the pandemic, the ancient land of Hubei will show still greater vigor and vitality. He said as a responsible major country, China has fought the pandemic for the common good, not just for China itself; China has pursued shared prosperity, not just its own development. He vowed that China will uphold solidarity and mutual assistance as it works with other countries to prevail over the coronavirus, uphold openness and cooperation as it works with other countries to promote world economic recovery, and uphold multilateralism as it works with other countries to build a community with a shared future. Ying Yong, Secretary of the Hubei Provincial Committee of the CPC, and Wang Zhonglin, Secretary of the Wuhan Municipal Committee of the CPC made presentations at the event. Tourism, catering and transport industries were hit hardest in Wuhan, capital of Hubei, amid the pandemic. Last August, Hubei Province launched a promotional tourism event and saw massive tourists flocking in from across the country. The 44 scenic spots that had joined the event received a total of 21 million visits, up 27.5 percent from the same period in 2019. Last year, the total tourists reception and general tourism revenue of Wuhan recovered over 80 percent of those in 2019. The city's catering is also picking up. In the first two months of this year, 11 of the 20 catering enterprises with an annual income of over 100 million yuan ($15 million) in Wuhan saw a growth of over 10 percent in their revenue compared with that in the same period of 2019. French Ambassador to China Laurent Bili said at the event that currently there are over 30 French auto enterprises investing in Hubei. He hoped that the promotion event would further drive the enthusiasm of foreign investors to invest in Wuhan. Brazilian Ambassador to China Paulo Estivallet de Mesquita recalled the touching stories of China and Brazil fighting together against COVID-19. He said Wuhan's victory against the virus is inspiring all people in winning the war against the pandemic. Colombian Ambassador to China Luis Diego Monsalve said that Wuhan's rapid work resumption has set a role model for the world and is worth learning for Colombia. Oita, Japan is the earliest sister city of Wuhan. The mayor of Japanese city Kiichiro Sato sent a video message to the event, saying the experience of mutual assistance firmed his confidence to pass on the two cities' friendship. Oita and Wuhan will share development opportunities and further enhance cooperation, he said. (Web editor: Hongyu, Liang Jun) Expects to file its 2020 Annual Financial Statements on or before May 31, 2021 Toronto, Ontario--(Newsfile Corp. - April 15, 2021) - Matica Enterprises Inc. (CSE: MMJ) (FSE: 39N) (OTCQB: MMJFF) ("Matica" or the "Company") today announced that, as a result of the COVID-19 Pandemic measures, it will not be in a position to file its audited annual financial statements, the related management's discussion and analysis and related CEO and CFO certificates (the "Annual Filings") before the required deadline of April 30, 2021 (the "Specified Requirements"). The Company is working closely with its auditor and expects to file the Annual Filings on or before May 31, 2021. The Company does not anticipate any delay in filing its interim financial statements, management's discussion and analysis, and the related officer certifications for the financial period ended March 31, 2021. Matica has applied to the OSC, as principal regulator for the Company, for the imposition of a management cease trade order under National Policy 12-203 - Management Cease Trade Orders ("NP 12-203") over the duration of the default. If a management cease trade order is issued, it will generally not affect the ability of persons who have not been directors, officers or insiders of Matica to trade in their securities. The Company is providing this press release in accordance with National Policy 12-203 Management Cease Trade Orders ("NP 12-203"). The Company intends to follow the provisions of the Alternative Information Guidelines set out in NP 12-203, including the issuance of bi-weekly default status reports in the form of news releases, for as long as the Company remains in default. The Company 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. About Matica Matica is a multi-faceted, innovative company in the Quebec cannabis space. Its subsidiary, RoyalMax Biotechnology Canada Inc. is a Dorval, Quebec based Health Canada Licence Holder. RoyalMax has been granted a standard cultivation licence, standard processing and medical sales licences by Health Canada. For more information on Matica Enterprises please visit the website at: www.maticaenterprises.com. On behalf of the Board of Directors MATICA ENTERPRISES INC. Boris Ziger Boris Ziger, CEO & Chairman The Company's public filings are available for review at www.sedar.com and www.thecse.com. For further information, please contact Boris Ziger, at: Telephone: 416-304-9935 E-mail: info@maticaenterprises.com Website: www.maticaenterprises.com , www.maticammj.com Disclaimer for Forward-Looking Information Certain information in this press release may constitute forward-looking information. This information is based on current expectations that are subject to significant risks and uncertainties that are difficult to predict. Actual results might differ materially from results suggested in any forward-looking statements. The Corporation assumes no obligation to update the forward-looking statements, or to update the reasons why actual results could differ from those reflected in the forward-looking statements unless and until required by securities laws applicable to the Corporation. Additional information identifying risks and uncertainties is contained in the Corporation's filings with the Canadian securities regulators, which filings are available at www.sedar.com. This news release contains statements about the Company's information that may be made available on the S&P Capital IQ Corporation Records Listing Program and the business of Matica that are forward-looking in nature and as a result, are subject to certain risks and uncertainties. Although the Company believes that the expectations reflected in these forward-looking statements are reasonable, undue reliance should not be placed on them as actual results may differ materially from the forward-looking statements. The forward-looking statements contained in this news release are made as of the date hereof, and the Company undertakes no obligation to update publicly or revise any forward-looking statements or information, except as required by law. 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. We seek Safe Harbor. This news release is not for distribution or dissemination in the United States of America To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/80602 Things are really starting to get serious. After experiencing a glimmer of hope in the name of normalcy being restored to the exhausted citizens of India, the sudden astronomical rise in Coronavirus cases across the country has sent us back to the gloomy early months of 2020. PTI Thanks to the Tsunami of a second wave of Covid-19 on Indian shores, the country on Thursday (April 15) registered 2,00,739 fresh cases of the virus in the last 24 hours. It was a record high since the beginning of the pandemic and has forced major cities across the country to impose different curfews in order to curb the spread. Now, at a time when people might be forced to become anti-social again and live within the confines of their four walls, there is definitely a need for the nation and state heads to keep a cool mind and restore some confidence back with the citizens with their actions. However, one person that you can count out of that list is Madhya Pradesh minister Prem Singh Patel, who on Thursday shocked viewers when he said that "No one can stop corona deaths, People get old and have to die". As per a Free Press Journal report, the minister was handed the charge of overseeing the Covid-19-related arrangements in a district by Madhya Pradesh chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan on Tuesday (April 13). However, when Patel was asked to respond to a question on there being an increase in the Covid-related deaths while speaking with ANI, he said, "I agree that these deaths have occurred. No one can stop them (Covid-19 deaths). I am not the only one saying this. We have to cooperate (to fight the virus)," "People should consult doctors. We have arranged for doctors as well," "You said that many people are dying every day. As far as deaths are concerned, with age people get old and they die." #WATCH: MP Minister Prem Singh Patel speaks on deaths due to #COVID19. He says, "Nobody can stop these deaths. Everyone is talking about cooperation for protection from Corona...You said that many people are dying every day. People get old and they have to die." (14.04.2021) pic.twitter.com/os3iILZGyM ANI (@ANI) April 15, 2021 His comments sparked fury amongst citizens who now fear there being another 2020-like grave scenario. Many took to Twitter to post their reactions on the comments of the Madhya Pradesh minister. MP Minister: If ur govt can't stop deaths due to #COVID19 , then resign&let others take control of the situation. People die due to age in a natural way, not by getting infected with a virus, getting no treatment etc.All politicians are impotent in dealing with people's problems. Raju (@nbrengaraju) April 15, 2021 People don't have to die just because they don't have access to oxygen, ventilator,remdesivir. It's yours and government's responsibility. Mujra Karne ke liye vote Nahi Diya h tum chintuo ko. Puneet Arora (@Puneet__arora) April 15, 2021 I am MP resident and these illiterate ministers of this state are like this only. They only do politics here and people are fed up from them. No development or employment there in this state becoz of these Ministers. Subhash kumar singh (@ben10on10) April 15, 2021 He is shameful and illiterate. We have been electing such people to serve us. We are bound to die like this. cow corner (@silly_point_) April 15, 2021 Thanks to Covid-19, deeply-filled insensitivity towards common people is coming out. Harshil (@MehHarshil) April 15, 2021 Mr Singh Patel, the people who are dying are the very people who voted you into power. You are seated where you are today because of those people. Don't be comfortable & take your voters for granted, they will all come for you once they start suffering losses due to your failures JA_Discoverer (@JA_Discoverer) April 15, 2021 this is nothing but wishful thinking. such buffoons will continue cming to power. ppl have been brainwashed to the point that they will sacrifice their own wellbeing to safeguard their bigotry Shifali (@shefazzle) April 15, 2021 This is what happens when such type of people are in power. Sir, people are not dying because of old age, they are dying because they don't have access to oxygen ,ventilators and injections. Why are you not accepting that our system has failed completely to save lives Sakshi Singh (@Sakshi_Singh21) April 15, 2021 what gawaar mandali is governing this country!! theBoyWonder (@calmnreddy) April 15, 2021 These people are MPs. Embarassing. Sidrah (@SidrahDP) April 15, 2021 God bless the people who rallied and voted him to be their representative. VayuPutr (@vikram254) April 15, 2021 She is a fashionista about town in Manhattan. And Nicky Hilton unleashed her animal instinct with her latest outfit while surfacing for a coffee run in New York this week. The 37-year-old who has married from the Hilton family into the Rothschild family was seen modeling a leopard print dress. She is a fashionista about town in Manhattan: And Nicky Hilton unleashed her animal instinct with her latest outfit while surfacing for a coffee run in New York this week Her frock was cinched in at her midsection to emphasize her enviably trim frame as she pounded the pavement in the city that never sleeps. The sister of Paris Hilton slipped into a pair of dark flats that complemented her sleek black leather handbag and tortoiseshell shades that went well with her dress. Her leggy new outing comes amid her sister Paris' latest engagement - this time to sizzling venture capitalist Carter Reum. News of their relationship started doing the rounds more than a year since her breakup from her latest fiance, little-known actor Chris Zylka. Off she goes: The 37-year-old who has married from the Hilton family into the Rothschild family was seen modeling a leopard print dress Meanwhile Nicky married her husband James, grandson of the 3rd Baron Rothschild, in 2015 in a ceremony at the Orangery at Kensington Palace. Before getting hitched in Valentino to James, Nicky married her old pal Todd Meister in Las Vegas in 2004, then had the union annulled before the year was out. Nicky and James welcomed their elder daughter Lily-Grace in 2016, and their younger daughter Teddy was born five days before Christmas 2017. Recently Nicky featured in her big sister's new YouTube documentary This Is Paris where her no-nonsense personality was on display. Sleek and chic: Her frock was cinched in at her midsection to emphasize her enviably trim frame as she pounded the pavement in the city that never sleeps Nicky noted that Paris had not been sleeping, which Paris readily admitted to, explaining that 'my mind won't stop moving.' In response Nicky counseled her to take a phone-free holiday 'and just chill' but Paris dismissed the idea 'Because the schedule's too busy.' However Nicky was under no illusions and said with a smile that Paris would not go on vacation 'Because you're greedy and you can't turn down a check.' Nicky was interviewed for a confessional where she said: 'I think I come off tough sometimes with her but I feel I have to 'cause she has so many yes people and kiss-a**es around her that I'm gonna tell her the truth.' Lebanon, a haven for Christianity, on the brink of collapse if world fails to act, experts warn Email Print Img No-img Menu Whatsapp Google Reddit Digg Stumbleupon Linkedin Comment Lebanon, known as a haven for Christianity in the Middle East, is on the brink of financial collapse and teeters on the edge of failed-state status if its path is not quickly reversed, an expert roundtable hosted by a leading Middle Eastern Christians advocacy group warned. Lebanon is moving rapidly towards total state failure. Full collapse would take weeks to unfold but decades to repair, former U.S. Ambassador Ed Gabriel, the president of the American Task Force on Lebanon, said during a media roundtable hosted by In Defense of Christians last Friday. Richard Ghazal, a senior advisor for IDC, a nonpartisan Washington-based grassroots human rights organization, said Lebanon will not remain the final remaining bastion of Christianity in the Middle East if immediate action does not take place to reverse the countrys downfall. The explosion in Lebanons capital city of Beirut on Aug. 4 led to over 200 deaths, thousands of injuries and the destruction of over 300,000 homes. The explosion worsened Lebanons financial and humanitarian crisis as the country with nearly a 40% Christian population was already in a state of decline. The Lebanese prime minister resigned days after the deadly explosion and the protestors alleged the government was guilty of negligent handling of the explosives that triggered the blast. Before the fatal blast, nearly 1 million people in the Beirut area could not afford basic living essentials such as food, clothing and shelter. Around and 60% of citizens live below the poverty line due to political corruption and negligence, according to IDC. Lebanon, a country with a population of around 6.8 million, shares borders with Israel and Syria. Though it was once a financial capital in the Middle East, recent events, government corruption and the destabilization of its currency are causing international banks to flee as it is in a financial crisis. Foreign lenders such as HSBC and Wells Fargo are removing themselves from Lebanons central bank, while Bank of America and Deutsche Bank have reduced activities in Lebanon. The prevalence of Iran-backed militant group Hezbollah makes the countrys banks increasingly risky for international lenders. Bishop Peter Karam, the patriarchal vicar and titular bishop of Acre of Phoenicia of the Maronites, said part of Lebanons financial crisis is due to the amount of corruption in the government. He compared the financial systems mismanagement as a Ponzi scheme. We must admit the fact that there is a lot of corruption in Lebanon. A lot of corruption in Lebanon financially, politically, socially. The collapse of the financial institutions in Lebanon is a very complex issue. , Karam said. The financial sector in Lebanon was a model in the region for a lot of years. The country was known as the Switzerland of the Middle East. But now its just nonexistent because of mismanagement, corruption and political interference in the workings of the central bank and the financial sector. Ghazal said the whole world would feel the effects of Lebanons failure if it collapses. The Lebanese people cannot buy food or even the basic life essentials. So make no mistake about it, a total collapse in Lebanon will send economic humanitarian and even national security ripple effects around the region and then across the globe, Ghazal explained. Ghazal said the international community must respond to Lebanons worsening crisis through a United Nations-led summit to re-chart its course going into the future and restore its founding values of egalitarianism, accountability, the rule of law. We often hear the phrase, eternal vigilance is the cost of freedom, well thats never been more true than today in the case of Lebanon, Ghazal said. The panelists agreed that the international community must respond to Lebanons worsening crisis with a non-corrupt, reform-minded government. Stabilizing the currency will be a first step in the right direction, Gabriel, the former U.S. ambassador to Morocco, said. Gabriel recommended a solid diplomatic effort and an international conference led by the U.S. and France to provide humanitarian effort and stabilized armed forces. Robert Nicholson, president of the Philos Project, a Christian advocacy group in the Near East, said the countrys geopolitical importance means its impending downfall would cause a ripple effect of ramifications across Israel, the U.S. and Europe. Lebanon is uniquely linked to the West, Nicholson explained. Its part of the Arab world, but its just as much a part of the Western world. I sometimes think of Lebanon as kind of a ceasefire zone between these two worlds or civilizations or cultural-religious blocks. He said Lebanon is on the seam line between the Christian West and the Islamic [Near] East. We talk a lot about, as Christians, the importance of this country to the [Christian] who live there. But Lebanon is just as important for the Muslims who live there and their co-religionists throughout the region, Nicholson contended. What happens in Lebanon affects the Christians, yes, and I am very concerned about that as a Christian. But it also affects many Muslims. Here is The Oregonians weekly look at the numbers behind the states economy. View past installments here. Oregonians are flying again. Nearly 775,000 people traveled through Portland International Airport in March, more than twice as many as did in February. While still well below normal travel patterns, the March passenger count was by far the highest in the year since the pandemic began. The airport forecasts travel will be up again in April, to 813,000 passengers, and a number of airlines are expanding service -- restoring flights to Europe and a number of domestic destinations. There are several possible explanations. March is spring break in Oregon, always a busy travel month. And Oregonians like people everywhere are tiring of the pandemic restrictions and missing family and their favorite vacation destinations. Above all, though, the soaring passenger volumes surely reflect the effect of the vaccines. The number of fully vaccinated Oregonians is now approaching one million. The vaccines are proving highly effective, with cases of serious COVID-19 infections extremely rare. It took until April 2 for federal health authorities to advise that Fully vaccinated people can resume domestic travel. But many people didnt wait for the government to acknowledge that travel is generally safe for vaccinated flyers. Air travel is picking up all over the country. More than 38 million people flew in March, up from fewer than 25 million in February. Airports in sunny locales are hopping in some cases busier than they were before the pandemic. Airlines are responding by adding flights. Sun Country Airlines restored service to Minneapolis on Thursday and Condor Airlines will resume flying to Frankfurt, Germany, on May 21. Icelandair will resume flying in and out of Portland on July 2. Still, it may be many months or perhaps years before air travel returns to pre-pandemic travel volumes. In March 2019, 1.5 million people flew through PDX nearly twice as many as flew last month. But business travel, in particular, may never return to normal. Zoom meetings have proven highly effective at gathering colleagues from remote worksites and its not clear businesses are eager to restore air travel to their budgets. Any resumption in air travel is a potential boost for Portlands hospitality industry, which continues to struggle. Hotels near the citys core are still mostly empty even as lodging in other parts of the state is filling up. Many of the people flying in March may have been Portlanders themselves, finally taking that long-deferred vacation, or catching up with friends and family they hadnt seen in a year. But more air travel at least gives the city a chance to bring visitors back to Portland and repair some of last years economic damage. -- Mike Rogoway | mrogoway@oregonian.com | twitter: @rogoway | 503-294-7699 SAN DIEGO, April 15, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Shareholder rights law firm Johnson Fistel, LLP has launched an investigation into whether the board members of Weingarten Realty Investors (NYSE: WRI) ("Weingarten" or the "Company") breached their fiduciary duties in connection with the proposed sale of the Company to Kimco Realty Corp. (NYSE: KIM). On April 15, 2021, Weingarten announced that it had entered into a definitive merger agreement with Kimco. Under the terms of the deal, each Weingarten common share will be converted into 1.408 newly issued shares of Kimco common stock plus $2.89 in cash. Based on Kimco's closing stock price on April 14, 2021, this represents a total consideration of approximately $30.32 per Weingarten share. Weingarten shareholders will be subject to the future price fluctuation of Kimco 's stock price. The investigation concerns whether the Weingarten board failed to satisfy its duties to the Company shareholders, including whether the board adequately pursued alternatives to the acquisition and whether the board obtained the best price possible for Weingarten shares of common stock. If you are a shareholder of Weingarten and believe the proposed buyout price is too low or you're interested in learning more about the investigation, please contact lead analyst Jim Baker ( [email protected] ) at 619-814-4471. If emailing, please include a phone number. Additionally, you can [Click here to join this action]. There is no cost or obligation to you. About Johnson Fistel, LLP: Johnson Fistel, LLP is a nationally recognized shareholder rights law firm with offices in California, New York, and Georgia. The firm represents individual and institutional investors in shareholder derivative and securities class action lawsuits. For more information about the firm and its attorneys, please visit https://www.johnsonfistel.com. Attorney advertising. Past results do not guarantee future outcomes. Contact: Johnson Fistel, LLP Jim Baker, 619-814-4471 [email protected] [Click here to join this action] SOURCE Johnson Fistel, LLP Baker Botts partner Kevin Sadler walked into the office at 5050 Westheimer in Houston on Feb. 17, 2009, along with dozens of agents from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and the FBI. They were there to take control of Houston-based Stanford Financial Group and to serve subpoenas on Allen Stanford, who was arrested a few months later. Sadler represents court-appointed receiver Ralph Janvey, who was tasked with recovering as much money as possible to give back to 18,000 investors who suffered $5 billion in hard-dollar losses in the Ponzi scheme run by Stanford, who was convicted of 13 counts of securities fraud in 2012 and is serving a 110-year prison term. This week, Sadler obtained a federal court final judgment ordering Denver billionaire Gary Magness and his securities firm to pay the receiver $125 million a judgment Magness could appeal. In addition, Sadler is in the home stretch of collecting $64 million from a settlement agreement reached with Lloyds of London. About 72 hours before we walked into the Stanford offices in February 2009, I didnt know a single thing about Allen Stanford, Sadler said. Once we got into the details, we knew it was going to be a huge mess. But I never imagined we would still be pursuing this 12 years later. When either of those judgments are paid, the Stanford receiver will have officially recovered more than $1 billion in ill-gotten funds from those who benefited from the Stanford scheme. This month, those 18,000 victimized investors are receiving their eighth distribution from the receiver in the amount of $216 million, which was collected in 2020 from settlements with insurance brokers Willis of Colorado and Bowen, Miclette & Britt of Houston as well as from money in Stanford-related accounts in Swiss banks. Were not through fighting, Sadler said. The evidence shows that Allen Stanford could never have pulled off this fraud by himself. He had lots of help. The developments in the Stanford case came this week as federal officials announced Wednesday that infamous New York investor Bernie Madoff, who orchestrated the largest Ponzi scheme in U.S. history, had died in prison at 82. Those who helped and profited from the Stanford scheme have been the subject of dozens of lawsuits. To date, court records show that the receiver has recovered $935 million. More than $549 million has been distributed to the victims so far. One more potential huge payday looms: the receiver has accused five banks that worked with Stanford with helping perpetrate the fraud. The receiver seeks $4 billion in damages money that would go directly to those who lost money because of Stanford. The lawyers in the case are waiting for U.S. District Judge David Godbey to rule on motions for summary judgment. If he rules in favor of the receiver, the Dallas judge will send the case back to a federal judge in Houston who would set a trial date for either later this year or next year. The banks involved include Independent Bank, Trustmark National Bank, HSBC Bank, Toronto-Dominion Bank and Societe Generale Private Bank of France. That trial would likely take place in federal court in Houston, where it was originally filed. Godbeys final judgment order Monday against Magness, instructing him to pay $79.7 million in damages and another $45.2 million in prejudgment interest, is not the end of that part of the case, because lawyers for the defendant can still seek to appeal. But the order does mean that Magness likely will be forced to post either a $124.9 million appeals bond or provide guaranteed letters of credit from banks. If Mr. Magness had parked the money he took from Stanford in the S&P, the money would have quadrupled, said Sadler. Mr. Magness can write us a check tomorrow for every penny of this for the victims and would still be hundreds of millions of dollars ahead. Dykema senior counsel David Bryant of Austin, who represents Magness, said they plan to seek further judicial review in this case. He said, the most important issues that must be raised on review in the interest of justice is the denial of the Magness parties right to a jury trial on the critical issues in this case. The Magness parties believe that a fair jury will rule in their favor on these issues, just as the jury ruled in their favor in the 2017 trial in this case, Bryant said. A jury trial is required not only as a matter of basic justice, but also by the United States Constitution. Sadler said once Magness appeals have expired, he plans to ask Godbey to order the defendant to pay an additional $6 million in legal fees and expenses. Court records show that Sadler and his colleagues at Houston-based Baker Botts have worked several thousand hours on the Stanford case since February 2009. For a longer version of this article, please visit TexasLawbook.net. NORTHAMPTON, Mass., April 15, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Winning Writers is pleased to announce the results from its 18th annual Tom Howard/Margaret Reid Poetry Contest, judged by Soma Mei Sheng Frazier with assistance from Jim DuBois. Tony Keith Jr. of Washington, DC won the Tom Howard Prize of $3,000 for a poem in any style or genre, for "Black Man on Fire". Kayleb Rae Candrilli of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania won the Margaret Reid Prize of $3,000 for a poem that rhymes or has a traditional style, for "Ghazals Connected As Though Cargo Freights". The winners also received two-year gift certificates from the contest co-sponsor, Duotrope. 5,785 entries were received from around the world. The Tom Howard/Margaret Reid Poetry Contest is sponsored by Winning Writers and co-sponsored by Duotrope. Learn more at winningwriters.com/tompoetry Tony Keith Jr. and Kayleb Rae Candrilli won the 18th annual Tom Howard/Margaret Reid Poetry Contest sponsored by Winning Writers "Black Man on Fire" is a poem of intense but carefully controlled momentum, ignited by the opening confession-proclamation, "when I write/I'm dangerous". Language is the vessel for all the anger, pain, pride, and satire that America doesn't want to hear from a gay Black man. Frazier said, "The poet balances a breakneck pace and expert craft with introspection and a clear-eyed reverence for the calm catharsis of writing itself." "Ghazals Connected As Though Cargo Freights" is a transgender coming-of-age narrative that is also an elegy for post-industrial American towns, where a child can happily dumpster-dive for library books and a father's name can become synonymous with wreckage. Frazier called it "a tightly loaded train swerving from the speaker's childhood through perilous and tender adolescence to the self-actualization of adulthood." Ten Honorable Mentions of $200 went to Threa Almontaser, Judith Antelman, R.D. Bailey, Amber Edwards, Maria Greer, Kathryn Etters Lovatt, Hannah Louise Poston, Anne Delana Reeves, Anna Scotti, and Imane Terhmina. The top 12 poems and judge's comments are published on the Winning Writers website. The 2021 contest is now open through September 30, 2021. Soma Frazier returns to judge, now assisted by Vernon Keeve III. See the guidelines and enter here. In addition to the Tom Howard/Margaret Reid Poetry Contest, Winning Writers sponsors the Tom Howard/John H. Reid Fiction & Essay Contest, the North Street Book Prize for Self-Published Books, and the Wergle Flomp Humor Poetry Contest (no fee). All these contests are recommended by Reedsy. Learn more on the Winning Writers website. Media Contact: Adam Cohen 413-320-1847 [email protected] SOURCE Winning Writers Related Links http://www.winningwriters.com Acadiana school leaders were well represented among the states semifinalist pool for 2022 Louisiana Principal of the Year. Kevin Dugas of St. Martinville Senior High School, Patricia Gaspard of Forked Island/E. Broussard Elementary School and Kellie Rabalais of Palmetto Elementary School were named semifinalists for Louisiana Principal of the Year in late March. Ginger Richard, principal of Green T. Lindon Elementary in Lafayette Parish, was also among the honorees. A total of 24 elementary, middle and high school principals were honored as semifinalists for the state recognition program, an annual partnership between the Louisiana Department of Education, Dream Teachers and the Louisiana Association of Principals to honor outstanding principals and teachers. Finalists will be named May 25 at the 2021 Teacher Leader Summit, the Louisiana Department of Education said in a statement. Dugas, Gaspard and Rabalais each said the honor is a thrilling opportunity to shine a light on their school communities, but the recognition wouldnt be possible without the hard work of everyone students, parents, teachers and school staff, they said. I wish it could be more like School of the Year. I hate that it attributes success to one person because thats so far from the truth. The reality is that any acknowledgement that I get is more a testament to the people that I work with...Im grateful to have the opportunity to spotlight my school and spotlight the things were doing here, Dugas said. Kevin Dugas - St. Martinville Senior High School in St. Martin Parish Kevin Dugas has spent his entire education career 23 years at St. Martinville Senior High School, rising from a teaching role to administrative leadership, before assuming the principal position four years ago. His path to education was at first circuitous. After changing course from law school, Dugas began teaching at his alma mater and found a lot of satisfaction providing students the same foundation to succeed he garnered there. The school administrator said he views St. Martinville High as a community hub and safe place where students build relationships that will shape them into adult life and have the freedom and support to cultivate their interests to help guide their next steps into adulthood. Dugas said he and his team have worked to build new opportunities for students, including a STEM pathway in partnership with Louisiana State University that includes an endorsement on their diploma and a student-run help desk whereby students earn a computer technician certification through the JumpStart program and are employed part-time to assist in maintenance of school computers, a program thats being expanded around the district. The school leader credited mutual respect and appreciation, teamwork, collaborative decision making and a lack of ego for his success as principal. Dugas said working at a single school sometimes results in a limited perspective, and he frequently taps into the knowledge of his educators whove worked elsewhere and administrators at other schools to explore new ideas. Im very well aware that I dont know everything...Im very willing to accept another persons suggestion. If its good for my school and its good for my students then Im all for that contribution, he said. Dugas said his continued vision for the school includes strengthening St. Martinville Highs technological footprint and technology offerings, ensuring a positive and equitable experience for students and strengthening buy-in and support from parents. After March fire, Lafayette board approves funds for Woodvale repairs, quickens renovation process The Lafayette Parish School Board on Wednesday approved $114,500 for repairs to Woodvale Elementarys cafeteria after a March fire and took st Patricia Gaspard - Forked Island/E. Broussard Elementary in Vermilion Parish Leading Forked Island/E. Broussard Elementary School is a fulfilling, full-circle opportunity for Patricia Gaspard, the schools principal of eight years. Gaspard attended Forked Island as a child and taught there before entering administration, her children attended the school and her grandson is slated to enroll in pre-K there this fall, she said. The rural school serves about 275 students in pre-K through eighth grade and is a foundation of the community; locals have pride in the school and it binds everyone together, Gaspard said. While the 30-year educator worked elsewhere during her career, the family atmosphere and tight-knit community of Forked Island always called to her. Top stories in Acadiana in your inbox Twice daily we'll send you the day's biggest headlines. Sign up today. e-mail address * Sign Up Its just where Im meant to be. You know it when you feel it, she said. In 2020, Forked Island was recognized as a National Blue Ribbon School in the Exemplary Achievement Gap Closing Schools category, primarily for improving outcomes for students in special education, she said. The school is currently ranked an A school by the Louisiana Department of Education. Gaspard said the school is successful because everyone on staff is willing to go the extra mile to help students reach their fullest potential. Gaspard is the schools only administrator and said she takes a teamwork approach to leadership. The educators on site are phenomenal and the principal said she works hard to support them by listening, frequently checking in, practicing clear communication and upholding high educational standards, while trusting teachers professional opinions and helping them problem solve when an approach isnt working for their classroom. The principal said moving forward shell continue to fight for opportunities for her students, especially around access to technology and reliable internet connectivity. If the people in town can have it, I want my kids to have it too...Just because you live closer together, it shouldnt make a difference. I think thats what Im striving for the next couple years. Im always striving to get my kids out here things they have an equal right like everyone else. If they have it in Erath, I want it here, she said. I wont back down for my school. School on Saturday? Here's why one Lafayette Parish school is giving it a try David Thibodaux STEM Magnet Academy is taking a new approach to help students clear up zeros on assignments: Saturday school. Kellie Rabalais - Palmetto Elementary in St. Landry Parish Kellie Rabalais joined Palmetto Elementary School as an outsider roughly nine years ago, and since then the tight-knit rural community has embraced her, she said. Palmetto Elementary serves roughly 250 pre-K through fifth-grade students across four communities, with the highest student poverty rate in the parish at 86%, she said. Rabalais said she and her team fight for every child to achieve his or her full potential. Theyve built an environment focused on support, stability, consistency and accountability by enforcing all district and school policies, and setting high expectations for all students. During Rabalais tenure, the schools performance score rose from a C to an A. The school is currently ranked as a B. It proves that every child can learn, Rabalais said. The principal said it isnt magic just good, old-fashioned teaching. Rabalais said her team works hard to maximize instructional minutes and offer additional learning opportunities, like remediation assistance during before-school care. Rabalais said she aims to be the biggest cheerleader for her educators, giving them leeway to exercise their professional judgement and respecting their input, while still maintaining veto power over decisions. The veteran principal said she aims to be hands-on and visible to students, popping in to make visits and interact during recess, P.E. and other gatherings. The principal said she plans to push for continued growth for all students, including beyond the elementary schools doors. Rabalais said long term shed like to support more students in their efforts to attend college or earn a professional certification. Palmetto Elementary students begin each day with a chant focused on their potential to attend college, and Rabalais said she wants to continue to change the mindset of what students in the area can achieve. Theyre so capable of going places and I dont know how much of a push they get like that at home...I want them to know how smart they are and how they are capable. Maybe were the only people telling them that. They are so smart. Id put these babies up against anybody. I hope it rings in their ears when were not around, the principal said. Email Whatsapp Menu Whatsapp Google Reddit Digg Stumbleupon Linkedin Comment I confess to having followed the life of Prince Philip with some interest. After all, we both started life as Greeks, were born on islands, brought up in the Orthodox Church and ended up as very British Anglicans. In fact, trying to add anything meaningful to the mountain of material generated by the passing of Prince Philip is a daunting task. Nevertheless, I think one aspect that has not been considered adequately is his extraordinary role as a servant. In Christian circles we frequently pay lip service to the idea of being a servant. Although its a concept that is easy to embrace in an age and culture where most of us are unfamiliar with the practice of being a servant, I do wonder whether we understand the reality. To be a servant demands two things: first, you must make the needs of someone else your priority; second, you put yourself in a subordinate position. To make your well-being second to someone elses is a tough call. Prince Philip became a servant and played the role well. And let me remind you, its not a task he was born to. With his origins within Europes noble families, his outstanding education and his natural gifting of courage and intelligence, he was born to be a leader not a follower. In another time and place one can well imagine him as the respected monarch of some European kingdom. To be forced to walk two steps behind was never his natural position in life. Indeed, he may well have had some expectations of not having to play the role of consort to Her Majesty until much later in life: after all, George VI was only fifty-six when he died. The result was, however, that within five years of his marriage Prince Philip found himself thrust not so much into the limelight as into the shadows. And there he stayed, loyal and supportive, for nearly seventy years. We dont need the imaginations of The Crown to know that being consort to the Queen was not an easy role to play. The press has made much of Prince Philips occasional gaffe but there must have been countless occasions when he was forced to bite his tongue. I do wonder how often when, safe in the privacy of Balmoral or Buckingham Palace, he let off a steam of frustration at all that he had been forced to endure. Convention demands that the monarch is above criticism; there is no such protection for her spouse and Prince Philip took a lot of abuse. To choose to be a servant is to offer yourself as a sacrifice. Prince Philips life reminds us that as Christians we are to be servants. In an age of celebrity culture, taking a step back does not come easily. The Greek word for servant or slave doulos Prince Philip would have known it well occurs over a hundred times across the New Testament. It has three great focal points: Christ, the King above all who became the servant for all (Philippians 2:7); the way that we who follow him are to reciprocate by being his servants; and the way in which we are to be the servants of others. One of the glories of Christianity unknown and unsung in this life but not, we are promised, in the next are those men and women who have given up their own pleasures, priorities and power in order to loyally serve Christ or each other. In practice, as Jesus reminds us in Matthew 25:40, to serve our brothers and sisters in Christ is to serve him. Prince Philip bore the burden of servanthood to serve an earthly monarch. Well done! But his life is a reminder that, whether it be at home, at work or in church, we should do likewise. After all, the wonder of Christian service is that we do it for the greatest of monarchs, the greatest of causes and, ultimately, for the greatest of all rewards. RATETIGER AND IDS NEXT STRENGTHENS PARTNERSHIP TO HELP HOTELS OPTIMIZE REVENUE (Papua New Guinea) Crown Hotel Port Moresby endorses integrated solution for improving online sales RATETIGER AND IDS NEXT STRENGTHENS PARTNERSHIP TO HELP HOTELS OPTIMIZE REVENUE (Papua New Guinea) Crown Hotel Port Moresby endorses integrated solution for improving online sales Papua New Guinea - Suppliers - Providers This is a press release Filed by eRevMax Category: Asia Pacific This is a press release selected by our editorial committee and published online for free on 2021-04-14Filed by eRevMax Hotel business is always challenging, even more so, on an island nation that is heavily dependent on international business travellers during these turbulent times. For the Crown Hotel Port Moresby in Papua New Guinea, the challenge was to realign their strategy and expand domestic market at a time when travel restrictions were at its peak. Managing rates, inventory and reservations and reallocating availability across channels is a complex work. The revenue management team of the Crown Hotel depends on RateTiger for managing online sales efficiently and updates allotments directly from their PMS - IDS Next. Thanks to the close-knit 2-way XML integration between IDS Next and eRevMax-RateTiger, the team has been able to continuously distribute their live rates and inventory to multiple booking channels and get reservations delivered into the PMS in real-time. Crown Hotel is extremely happy with services from RateTiger and IDS Next. Both systems complement each other perfectly and we feel like we are using a unified platform making it a seamless experience for us. RateTigers integration with IDS Next allows automatic booking confirmation or cancellation to our PMS through our website booking engine and OTAs. RateTiger offers smooth connectivity with most of the OTAs which helps us in maximizing online revenue while staying on top of latest technology, commented Shankar Ghoshal, General Manager, Crown Hotel Port Moresby. "We believe in offering seamless technology solutions to our hotel partners. We invest heavily into our products and work closely with all our technology and channel partners to develop deep XML integrations. The smooth connectivity ensures real-time ARI and reservation data transfer between various systems giving hotels a clear view of bookings and availability for relevant rate strategy implementation. It means more sales and higher margins for our hotel customers, stated Prithwish Dutta, Regional Sales Director-EMEA, eRevMax. The deeply integrated solution set makes the process of pricing automation, online channel connectivity and rate distribution, a completely friction-free experience for our hotel customers. The dynamic room availability is displayed round the clock and booking confirmations are received by the guests with nil intervention by the reservations team, said Jacob K I, Vice President Business Development, IDS Next. [ More about ERevMax on their website ] U.S. Border Patrol agents arrested a convicted sex offender at a ranch in south Laredo, authorities said. On Tuesday morning, Laredo South agents encountered a group of nine people walking through the brush inside a ranch property in south Laredo. One individual was identified as Francis Lima-Sanchez, a 27-year-old Guatemalan citizen who had crossed the border illegally. A records check revealed Lima-Sanchez had a prior felony conviction for first-degree rape involving a minor younger than 13 years old in Southampton, New York. Records also revealed that Lima-Sanchez had an extraditable warrant out of Albany, New York, and was turned over to Webb County Sheriff's Office, authorities said. Through this fiscal year to date, Laredo Sector agents have arrested 623 criminal (immigrants) throughout the Laredo area of responsibility. Our agents remain committed in their resolve to meet all threats at the border and to protect the citizens of this country from dangerous criminals, Border Patrol said in a statement. Saul Mendoza walks with disinfectant while cleaning a common area at Hudson Pacific Properties, a big office landlord in Los Angeles. Arrows taped on the floor guide one-way foot traffic to guard against the spread of the coronavirus. (Mel Melcon / Los Angeles Times) People had started showing up to the office again in greater numbers but fled for home as the recent coronavirus surge shook the region, fresh data show. Still, employers and landlords are betting that workers will want to return as vaccinations increase and virus fears recede, even though demand to rent space in Los Angeles office buildings continues to shrink. "By the stats, it's not that encouraging," said broker Todd Doney of real estate services company CBRE. "We certainly have work ahead of us to get through this.... But when the governor announced no more COVID restrictions on June 15, thats light at the end of the tunnel for me." An average of 24% of employees in 10 major U.S. cities were back to the office as of April 7, down nearly a full percentage point from the week before, according to Kastle Systems, which provides key-card entry systems used by many companies and tracks patterns of workers' card swipes. In Los Angeles, the average at Kastle's 148 buildings was 22.1%. Like the national average, it took a significant dip during the winter COVID-19 surge but had been rising again before the latest virus resurgence. Although beneath the U.S. average, L.A.'s offices were more full than those in five other cities tracked by Kastle, including San Jose at 16.7% and San Francisco at 13.4%. As employees were trickling back to some offices, other workplaces were turning off the lights and turning over the keys. Overall non-rented office space in Los Angeles County reached 17.2% in the first quarter, the highest vacancy level since early 2012, CBRE reported. That reflected a net loss of 1.6 million square feet of leased space, nearly matching the worst quarterly loss during the Great Recession. Signings of office leases have been falling for about a year as companies sent employees home to work or laid them off in the face of a sharp economic downturn spurred by the virus. Many tenants reduced their office footprints as their leases rolled over, while others put their unused space on the market for sublease. Story continues Tenants looking to get some money for offices they were not using had 7.3 million square feet available for sublease in the first quarter, about 15% of the total space available for rent high by historical standards. The number of leases being signed remained low, as tenants avoided long-term decisions in favor of short-term renewals when their leases expired. Despite the economic headwinds, the average monthly asking rate climbed slightly to $3.90 per square foot in the first quarter, reflecting higher-quality space coming available and the reluctance of landlords to drop their rates. Instead, landlords offered tenants inducements such as months of free rent or generous allowances to build out their offices. Uber, Google, Facebook and Microsoft are among the companies that have reopened offices or are on the verge of doing so, according to media reports. And recent surveys have shown that many companies and their workers are eager or at least willing to get back to the office. A February survey commissioned by software company Eden Workplace found 85% of office workers are looking forward to being back at work, with many of them saying they miss socializing with their colleagues. A customer poll by marketing data provider ZoomInfo in February found that more than half plan to be back in the office by June, with information technology firms leading the way. The worry for landlords is how much space tenants think they need going forward and whether they still want to work in city centers that many can reach only by long commutes. It is a given among industry observers that remote work has been normalized to the point that white-collar companies will commonly allow their employees to work from home a few days a week in the future. Some workers may no longer have to come to the office at all. That's a substantial change in the office world from previous recessions, which also produced dramatic cutbacks in space leasing as companies went under or contracted their staffs. Recovery from this downturn will look different as companies reevaluate their needs. A big unknown is how businesses will configure their office space in a post-pandemic world. Will companies need less room if people are working at home sometimes, or must they have a devoted desk waiting for each worker when they do come in? Will workers still be seated close to one another as they have been in many offices in recent years, or must they have more elbow room to feel safe from viruses? "Most of our tenants are making some changes to their physical office layouts," landlord Bert Dezzutti said, but the long-term effects of those changes on building occupancy "haven't sorted themselves out yet." Flexible work schedules "are here to stay," said Dezzutti, head of Southern California operations for Brookfield Properties, the dominant office landlord in downtown Los Angeles. Many bosses, nevertheless, remain keen on preserving the office footprints they have. A recent survey by consulting firm KPMG found that only 17% of chief executives are looking to downsize their office space as a result of the pandemic, a steep drop from August, when 69% said they planned to shrink their offices. Before they return to the office, though, the majority of CEOs would like to see more than 50% of the general population vaccinated. They especially want to see their own employees get inoculated against COVID-19 90% of bosses said they are considering asking employees to report to them when they have been vaccinated, which may guide decisions on when companies return to their offices. For the last six months or so, tenants in Brookfield's high-rises have been using about 12% to 16% of their space, Dezzutti said. He expects that number to climb now that local officials have doubled the size of the office population allowed for nonessential businesses to 50% as part of easing COVID-19 restrictions. Doney predicted that many companies will reduce the size of their offices in the future as remote labor becomes routine, but that they will return to working together for the most part. "As more people get vaccinated and get more comfortable, they will do more things, including going to the office," he said. "Zoom meetings are terrific, but sometimes that magic occurs in person before a meeting starts or after it ends." People will come back to the office over the summer, he said, but the return will be substantial after Labor Day when the working-age population is largely inoculated and children are back in school. An autumn renaissance of office attendance is also expected by Kastle Systems Chairman Mark Ein. "You're going to see an increase of some magnitude starting at the beginning of the summer," Ein said. Then, "barring something unforeseen, there should be a huge surge coming back in the fall when virtually everyone is vaccinated." Cities where workers commute more by car than by public transit tend to have the most people in the office these days, Ein said. Offices in Houston and Dallas are the fullest in the country at close to 40% occupied. Having COVID-19 shots will become mandatory for many, he said, potentially enforced by voiding the key cards of the unprotected. "There are going to be a lot of companies who are going to decide that they only want people to come back to the office who are vaccinated," Ein said. Human beings have not been fundamentally changed by the coronavirus, Dezzutti said, and will again seek one another's company in busy metropolises. "In history, there has been no pandemic or plague or natural disaster thats killed off the city," he said. "Our need to live and work in urban clusters, and the concentration of people and economic activity that occurs there, is just too strong." This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times. DURANGO, Colo., April 14, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Following the successful collaboration with the Colorado Department of Revenue, MUNIRevs | LODGINGRevs is proud to have developed the award-winning Sales and Use Tax System (SUTS) which received the Colorado APEX Award for 2021 Project of the Year. Bolstering the company mission of providing outstanding software solutions with the highest level of support in the industry, this award acknowledges a decade of innovation. Clients of MUNIRevs | LODGINGRevs benefit from state-level vetted software and security to manage their unique needs. When asked about the company's recent success, MUNIRevs | LODGINGRevs CEO and founder, Erin Neer, stated, "We're honored to be the trusted software provider for communities of all sizes throughout the United States. Our partnership with the Colorado Department of Revenue and acknowledgment of success with the APEX award is a testament to the company's hard work. As we continue to grow, our commitment to providing a superior level of support is greater than ever. As we look back on our company development over the last ten years, our vision to deliver streamlined solutions has led us to become an industry leader." Three jurisdictions recently joined the fast-growing list of communities to select MUNIRevs | LODGINGRevs for their compliance, registration and tax collection needs. Washington, D.C., Glynn County, Georgia and Albuquerque, New Mexico are the latest communities to partner with the Colorado-based software company. Once live in the system, LODGINGRevs will provide these communities with short-term rental compliance and online registration. In addition, all three jurisdictions will also be able to provide their community with a 24/7 bilingual complaint hotline to help monitor non-emergency complaints about local short-term rentals. Communities across the nation continue to choose MUNIRevs | LODGINGRevs solutions to accelerate the effectiveness of their compliance, registration and tax collection. With a system that enables efficiencies to increase at a municipal, county and state level, the increase in compliance can have both economic benefits as well as community character benefits. Founded in 2011, MUNIRevs | LODGINGRevs automates business revenue collection, permitting and short-term rental compliance for jurisdictions and states across the U.S. With extensive experience in municipal finance, MUNIRevs has revolutionized these processes for local governments. It is the trusted source for secure, paperless payment processing, helping cities and states eliminate approximately 95% of the manual data entry tasks. For more information, visit www.munirevs.com . SOURCE MUNIRevs Related Links https://munirevs.com/ Mandira Bedi On Daughter Tara Being The Target Of Social Media Trolls: "I Cant Take It, My Claws Will Come Out" Mandira Bedi earlier this week was in the news for lossing her cool at a few trolls who called her daughter Tara names on her social media posts. The actress has now opened up about social media negativity and trolls targeting her 4-year-old adopted daughter and said that when someone targets her family, My claws will come out. Talking about the nasty comments where her daughter was referred to as an adopted street kid she tells Times Of India, Tara is innocent and too young to understand what happened, but it hurt me. I dont give two hoots about nasty comments. I can laugh over them when they are about me but its not okay to attack my family, my children. I cant take it. My claws will come out. View this post on Instagram A post shared by Mandira Bedi (@mandirabedi) Mandira and her husband raj Kaushal adopted Tara last year and introduced her to the world via social media in July last year. Speaking about her two kids, son Vir and daughter Tara, the actress further said that shes often asked if she could love her adopted daughter as much as her son. She says, It has only been a few months and yet, each day when I hug her, kiss her and put her to sleep, I just feel that its unbelievable just how much I love her. Its my proudest and most grateful moment to have her on one side and Vir on the other, sleeping peacefully on my shoulders. I feel blessed that I could give a family and a home to one child, and give birth to another. The U.S. Department of Agriculture has approved Alabamas plan to send more aid to families with school-age children and SNAP recipients with children under 6 years old. The Pandemic EBT benefits aim to help children who normally would get free or reduced-price lunches before schools closed for the pandemic. While many schools sent lunches home during remote schooling, not all did, and some families also needed help getting nutritious breakfast and snacks, officials said. Eligible pre-K and K-12 students are those who lost access to free or reduced-price meals during the 2020-21 school year because their schools were closed or operating with virtual or hybrid learning models. No application is required. The Alabama State Department of Education is providing the names of eligible children to the Department of Human Resources. Benefits backdate to the beginning of the school year, and families will receive differing amounts depending on the number of days their child was learning remotely. Families can expect to receive one payment in May for eligible days from the fall semester, and another later in the summer for eligible days in the spring semester. The payments are based on the National School Lunch reimbursement rate of $6.82 per day, which means families whose children attended school remotely for months at a time could receive hundreds of dollars. Eligible households will receive EBT cards in the mail that can be used to purchase SNAP-eligible food items at stores that accept the EBT cards. The benefits are available for 365 days from the issue date and are non-transferable. Children may continue to access meals from local school districts while receiving P-EBT benefits. To gain P-EBT eligibility, households that experienced decreased income may apply for free or reduced-price meals at the schools their children attend. Nearly half a million Alabama children benefited from last years program, according to state officials. April 15 is usually Tax Day but not this year. The federal government and at least three dozen states, including North Carolina, opted to extend the deadline for filing and paying individual income taxes because of the coronavirus pandemic. The new deadline is May 17. In order for taxpayers to have more time to navigate the tax changes during this pandemic, North Carolina will mirror the IRS change as much as possible under current state law, N.C. Department of Revenue Secretary Ronald G. Penny said in March. Everyone qualifies, meaning taxpayers dont need to apply for the extension, according to the Internal Revenue Service. What does the new deadline mean? Individuals living in North Carolina have until May 17 to file and pay their state and federal income taxes. The extension has been automatically applied, and there wont be any penalties for people who file their taxes after April 15 as long as they submit on or before May 17, according to the N.C. Department of Revenue. What doesnt apply? The extended deadline doesnt apply to trust taxes in North Carolina. That means sales and use taxes, withholding taxes or estimated tax payments are still due April 15. Sales and use tax refers to the percentage taxed on the price of a sale, according to the blog Tax Jar. It applies to people who sell goods, provide taxable services and rent or lease property in North Carolina, among others, according to the state Department of Revenue. Withholding taxes are taken out of an individuals paycheck by their employer, according to Investopedia. Estimated taxes are for people who pay their taxes quarterly, such as self-employed individuals, retirees, investors, businesses and corporations, the IRS says. Can you apply for another extension? People who need more time to file their federal tax returns can request an extension until Oct. 15 using a Form 4868, according to the IRS. In North Carolina, the Department of Revenue allows individuals to file a Form D-410 before the original deadline for a six-month extension. Story continues What is the benefit of filing early? Delaying the tax deadline is likely to give freelancers and small businesses more time to raise money they might owe, according to U.S. News & World Report. But the IRS still asks that people expecting a refund or who havent gotten their stimulus checks file sooner. Even with the new deadline, we urge taxpayers to consider filing as soon as possible, especially those who are owed refunds, IRS Commissioner Chuck Rettig said in March. Filing electronically with direct deposit is the quickest way to get refunds, and it can help some taxpayers more quickly receive any remaining stimulus payments they may be entitled to. Can unemployment benefits be taxed? Yes. Unemployment benefits received during the coronavirus pandemic can be taxed including the $600 a week some people received under the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act. However, a recent change in the law allows you to exempt up to $10,200 of unemployment compensation from federal taxes, The Wall Street Journal reported. Anyone with an adjusted gross income of less than $150,000 is eligible. The exemption does not apply to state taxes in North Carolina. The IRS has a tool to help individuals know what unemployed income will be taxed. Its called Are Payments I Receive for Being Unemployed Taxable and takes an estimated 10 minutes to complete, according to the IRS. How COVID affects your taxes, from stimulus checks to unemployment and home offices Latest batch of $1,400 stimulus checks to be deposited Wednesday for many non-filers Federal agencies call for pause on Johnson & Johnson COVID vaccine after 1 person dies A million Americans owed $1.3 billion by IRS in delayed tax refund. What to know Rain and thunderstorms are forecast to dampen southern Vietnam over the next eight days, although the region has yet to enter its rainy season. A thunderstorm occurred in many parts of Ho Chi Minh City at midnight on Wednesday and lingered until early Thursday morning. Similar rains are forecast from April 16 to 23, with most occurring in the evenings and at night, according to Le Dinh Quyet, an official from the southern hydro-metrological station. The downpours will be accompanied by strong gusts and thunderstorms, particularly between April 19 and 23. The rainy season has yet to begin in southern Vietnam, Quyet said, adding that it is expected to start in late April or early May. Local residents should be cautious as thunderstorms and gusts will become common at the beginning of the rainy season, the official added. Previous reports noted that the rainy season in southern localities will begin earlier this year due to the La Nina phenomenon. However, it may be shorter, resulting in a lower volume of rainfall compared to past years. Local authorities have been advised to store fresh water in order to cope with drought and saltwater intrusion caused by the shortened season. According to the National Center for Hydro-meteorological Forecasting, rain is also in the forecast for other parts of Vietnam from April 16 to 23. Like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter to get the latest news about Vietnam! The heavy engineering arm of Larsen & Toubro (L&T) has won significant contracts for its various business segmentsin Q4 of FY21. L&T Heavy Engineering has secured order for 12 Steam Generators (SGs) from NPCIL for the 3x700 MWe Pressurized Heavy Water Reactor (PHWR). The fleet order for reactor headers and pressurizers for GHAVP 1&2 units were received in the earlier quarter. The fleet program consists of constructing 10 units of 700 MWe PHWR with indigenous technology. L&T Heavy Engineering also won a critical reactor system package order for IOCL's Petrochemical project. Other notable orders include Hydroprocessing Reactors for the Renewable diesel & Biofuel project for prestigious refinery majors from USA & Europe; Reactor with internals for IOCL Barauni and a service contract for IOCL Paniipat PTA project. According to L&T's classification, the value of the said orders lie between Rs 1,000 crore to Rs 2,500 crore. The announcement was made during market hours today, 15 April 2021. On a consolidated basis, the infrastructure major's net profit rose 5.4% to Rs 2,849.06 crore on 1.8% decline in revenue from operations to Rs 35,596.42 crore in Q3 December 2020 over Q3 December 2019. L&T is an Indian multinational engaged in engineering, procurement and construction projects, manufacturing, defence and services with over $21 billion in revenue. Shares of L&T fell 0.41% to Rs 1,367.80 on BSE. The stock hovered in the range of Rs 1,358.55 to Rs 1,390.50 so far. Powered by Capital Market - Live News (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Environmental protection could benefit from 'micro' as well as 'macro' thinking Scientists at the University of Southampton have conducted a study that highlights the importance of studying a full range of organisms when measuring the impact of environmental change - from tiny bacteria, to mighty whales. Researchers at the University's School of Ocean and Earth Science, working with colleagues at the universities of Bangor, Sydney and Johannesburg and the UK's National Oceanography Centre, undertook a survey of marine animals, protists (single cellular organisms) and bacteria along the coastline of South Africa. Lead researcher and postgraduate student at the University of Southampton, Luke Holman explains: "Typically, biodiversity and biogeography studies focus on one group of species at a time, often animals. Studying animals, protist and bacteria together - organisms vastly different in size, separated by billions of years of evolution - gave us the opportunity to take a broader view of the marine ecosystem. We discovered remarkably consistent biogeographic groupings for the three across the coastline - consistent with previously studied patterns, driven by regional currents." Findings are published in the journal Nature Ecology and Evolution. The team took seawater samples in numerous locations along the length of the South African coast, from the warmer seas of the east, to the cooler waters of the west and the intermediate temperatures in the south. The samples were filtered, had environmental DNA extracted and underwent sophisticated lab analysis to indicate the diverse range of organisms found in particular locations. Results showed a broad range of animals living in the sea along the whole length of coast, but with differences in the exact species in warm, cold and intermediate regions. This same pattern of difference was also shown in bacteria and protists - demonstrating consistency in the biodiversity of life for each region. Furthermore, the scientists found that among the variables examined temperature had the greatest impact on determining the diversity of animals and bacteria, whereas protists were associated more with chlorophyll concentration in the water. The team also revealed that while all three groups were affected to some extent by human activity, such as shipping, fishing and building of marinas, this wasn't to the extent they'd expected. Commenting on the study, Luke said: "We hope our work encourages researchers to consider other groups of organisms, both in biogeographic assessments and marine protection and restoration projects. For example, a project aiming to restore a coral reef might also need to consider the bacterial communities, or the protection of a river system might also ensure the protists communities are monitored in addition to the fish." Moving forwards the team hope to learn more about the causes and consequences of global marine biodiversity change for all life, from microscopic bacteria and protists to macroscopic organisms like fish and marine mammals. ### Notes to Editors 1) For interviews with Luke Holman, please contact Peter Franklin, Media Relations, University of Southampton. Email: p.franklin@southampton.ac.uk Tel: 07748 321087 2) The paper Animals, protists and bacteria share marine biogeographic patterns is published in the journal Nature Ecology and Evolution (DOI: 10.1038/s41559-021-01439-7) and can be found at https:/ / dx. doi. org/ 10. 1038/ s41559-021-01439-7 after the embargo has lifted. 3) The University of Southampton drives original thinking, turns knowledge into action and impact, and creates solutions to the world's challenges. We are among the top 100 institutions globally (QS World University Rankings 2021). Our academics are leaders in their fields, forging links with high-profile international businesses and organisations, and inspiring a 22,000-strong community of exceptional students, from over 135 countries worldwide. Through our high-quality education, the University helps students on a journey of discovery to realise their potential and join our global network of over 200,000 alumni. http://www. southampton. ac. uk 4) For further information about the School of Ocean and Earth Science at the University of Southampton visit: https:/ / www. southampton. ac. uk/ oes/ index. page 5) For more on the universities of Bangor, Sydney and Johannesburg visit: https:/ / www. bangor. ac. uk/ https:/ / www. sydney. edu. au/ https:/ / www. uj. ac. za/ This story has been published on: 2021-04-15. To contact the author, please use the contact details within the article. STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. Police are looking for the publics help in locating two men and a woman sought for questioning in connection with an assault in Oakwood at the beginning of April. The three individuals engaged in a verbal dispute with a 47-year-old man on Guyon Avenue on April 7 at around 2:20 p.m., police said in a statement. The dispute turned physical and the individuals allegedly punched the man in the body causing injury, according to the statement. The man was transported to Staten Island University Hospital in Ocean Breeze in stable condition following the dispute, police said in the statement. The first individual is described as a male, approximately 22-26 years of age, standing 5 feet, 8 inches tall, weighing 120 pounds and was last seen wearing a black tank top and red pants, police said. Police described the second individual as a male, approximately 22-26 years of age, standing 5 feet, 8 inches tall, weighing 115 pounds and was last seen wearing a white t-shirt and dark colored jeans. The third individual is described as a female, approximately 22-26 years of age, standing 5 feet 6 inches tall, 180 pounds and was last seen wearing a red shirt and light colored pants, police said in the statement. Anyone with information in regard to the identity of the individual is asked to call the NYPDs Crime Stoppers Hotline at 1-800-577-TIPS (8477) or for Spanish, 1-888-57-PISTA (74782). The public can also submit their tips by logging onto the CrimeStoppers website at WWW.NYPDCRIMESTOPPERS.COM, or on Twitter @NYPDTips or by texting their tips to 274637 (CRIMES) then enter TIP577. Vancouver, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - April 15, 2021) - CARLYLE COMMODITIES CORP. (CSE: CCC) (FSE: 1OZA) (OTC PINK: DLRYF) ("Carlyle" or the "Company") is pleased to release its first batch of drill results from the Cecilia Project, Sonora Mexico. The program consisted of a total of seven (7) drill holes, out of which results have been received for five (5) holes so far as reported below. Anomalous gold mineralization was intersected in all five drill holes, with the best intercept being 24.2 m of 1.51 g/t Au starting from only 2.30 m downhole at the North Breccia Target (CED21-005). A further 8.9 m of 0.64 g/t Au was intersected near the end-of-hole starting from 40.35 m. Assays remain pending for another slightly deeper drill-hole at the North Breccia Target (see Figure 1). This first phase drill campaign included mostly shallow drill-holes, which successfully demonstrate a well-developed hydrothermal system near surface, with significant room to extend mineralization both laterally and to greater depths with subsequent drilling. Riverside is the operator on the project as part of the option agreement with Carlyle Commodities (see press release July 15, 2020). Data and geological insights reported in this news release have been supplied to Carlyle by Riverside's field personnel. Riverside completed field work and geophysics in 2020 that helped refine targets in advance of this initial drill campaign, and the Company looks forward to additional assay results in the coming weeks and follow up drill plans will be determined once all results have been received and interpreted. Carlyle's President and CEO, Morgan Good commented, "Carlyle is extremely encouraged by such positive results from our Phase 1 drill campaign at the Cecilia Project in Sonora, Mexico. Each hole intersected mineralization but specifically hole 5 into the North Breccia target with 24.2m of 1.51 g/t Au has gotten us excited. We are optimistic some of the remaining results which also tested the North Breccia target will prove successful and set the stage for a more robust Phase 2 drill campaign." Riverside's President and CEO, John-Mark Staude, stated, "We are very pleased with this first batch of samples. The results show continuity of mineralization at shallow depths and further drilling is certainly warranted to extend known near-surface mineralization at North Breccia and test at greater depth at San Jose where the first ever 4-holes all encountered gold mineralization and point to strong potential at slightly greater depths. Cecilia is target-rich, with 10 defined target areas providing excellent discovery potential beyond these initial targets that were tested during this first phase of drilling. We look forward to receiving the next batch of results which will give us insight and potentially vector us toward a larger volume deeper into the system." Table 1: First assays received from the North Breccia drilling, including two intercepts. Summary of additional results are listed further below in Table 2 Hole_ID From To Interval Grade CED21-005 2.30 26.50 24.2 1.51 CED21-005 40.35 49.25 8.90 0.64 including 43.95 47.25 3.30 1.32 Notes: Cut-off grade used for calculating intervals is 0.2 g/t Au. All reported intercepts are downhole lengths. Estimated true width will be determined with the hole CED21-006, for which logging indicate aa zone of interest of about 4 meters. Figure 1: 3D section of the drilling at North Breccia target from the Carlyle and Riverside exploration program. Hole CED21-005 intersected the fault system and shows the extent of mineralization with relation to the fault system. Mineralization corresponds to a zone of breccia, fault and strong silicification. To view an enhanced version of Figure 1, please visit: https://orders.newsfilecorp.com/files/6130/80516_567aaf75c46a2a66_001full.jpg The first drill program from Carlyle and Riverside was focused on targeting the hydrothermal system identified at two principal elevations: 2,200 m and 1,900 m, respectively corresponding to the San Jose Target and the North Breccia Target. By doing so, Riverside's team was able to test the continuity of the mineralized structures at shallow depth. Figure 2: Simplified map of the Cerro Magallanes eastern slope with the first phase drill program drill traces. To view an enhanced version of Figure 2, please visit: https://orders.newsfilecorp.com/files/6130/80516_567aaf75c46a2a66_002full.jpg A total of 3 holes were drilled into the San Jose Target (CED21-001, 002, 003) and 1 hole (CED21-004) tested the La Cueva zone. The La Cueva zone is interpreted as the northeastern structural junction with the east-west Agua Prieta structural corridor, which includes the North Breccia and Central targets, as shown in Figure 2. The San Jose target was originally identified from an historical underground working that included extensive tunnels up to 80 m deep and stopes, for which the extents are not known. Previous channel sampling from the stope wall during 2020 returned high values up to 48 g/t Au over 0.75 m from a rocksaw cut. Results from drilling are interpreted by Riverside geologists as a wide interval of lower grade gold enveloping high-grade pods at depth. The drilling at San Jose intersected extensive and intensive silicification which is interpreted as an upper zone of low sulfidation epithermal fluids, possibly the upper distal outflows from potentially gold rich veins below. This type of alteration is found in other epithermal centers in Sonora, Mexico and the results so far appear favorable for this target. Drill core shows the mineralized zone identified in the drill holes is primarily concentrated within fault zones and is associated with moderate to intense silicification. The fault system extends to depth where it appears to become significantly wider as reflected in the gold mineralization thickness. This program is the first time the San Jose has been drilled and drilling so far suggests the structures are widening at depth and warrant additional tests. Figure 3: Simplified cross section of the San Jose target. The cross section includes all 4 drill holes compiled in one section, which could misrepresent the actual thickness (see Table 2 for list of main intercepts). To view an enhanced version of Figure 3, please visit: https://orders.newsfilecorp.com/files/6130/80516_567aaf75c46a2a66_003full.jpg Table 2: Summary table of drill intersect from the targets La Cueva and San Jose. Hole_ID From To Interval Grade CED21-001 19.50 21.00 1.50 0.21 CED21-001 38.15 39.00 1.30 0.69 CED21-002 31.15 32.20 1.05 0.49 CED21-002 91.25 97.20 5.95 0.20 CED21-003 42.85 45.95 3.10 0.52 CED21-003 50.10 54.50 4.40 0.23 including 54.00 54.50 0.50 0.91 CED21-003 89.55 99.00 9.45 0.23 CED21-003 111.00 112.00 1.00 0.32 CED21-003 114.15 116.30 2.15 0.26 CED21-003 118.75 120.75 2.00 0.39 CED21-003 122.00 123.00 1.00 0.55 CED21-003 154.00 157.45 3.45 0.35 CED21-004 11.40 15.70 4.30 0.29 CED21-004 45.45 51.70 6.10 0.43 including 47.40 48.35 0.95 1.09 CED21-004 82.20 85.20 3.00 0.87 CED21-004 116.20 117.05 0.85 1.08 Appointment of New Corporate Secretary Carlyle would also like to announce and welcome Mr. Andrew Brown as its new Corporate Secretary. Mr. Brown joins the Company from Lions Corporate Secretarial Services Limited, a full-service corporate secretarial group that provides corporate secretarial and corporate governance services for public companies including SEDI, SEDAR, private placements, and regulatory reporting. Mr. Brown has over 10 years of experience working in the public markets and has served as Corporate Secretary for multiple publicly traded companies (TSX Venture Exchange and CSE-listed). Issuance of Stock Options The Company has approved the issuance of 555,000 stock options to a consultant of the Company pursuant to its stock option plan. The options are exercisable at a price of $0.115 and expire in two years. Qualified Person Harrison Cookenboo, Ph.D., P.Geo., is a Qualified Person as defined in Canadian National Instrument 43-101 - Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects and has reviewed and is responsible for the technical information presented in this news release. Riverside reports completing a QA/QC program as part of the drilling program with about 10% of the samples assayed being control samples. Standards and blanks were inserted approximately every 20 samples and duplicates every 30 samples. Some of blanks in Hole CED21-004 assays with trace amounts of gold suggesting some contamination did occur in hole 4. Hole CED21-005, the hole with the better intersects did not appear to be compromised and the blanks show positive results. Rock samples from the previous exploration programs discussed above at Cecilia were taken to the Bureau Veritas Laboratories in Hermosillo, Mexico for fire assaying for gold. The rejects remained with Bureau Veritas in Mexico while the pulps were transported to Bureau Veritas laboratory in Vancouver, BC, Canada for 45 element ICP/ES-MS analysis. A QA/QC program was implemented as part of the sampling procedures for the exploration program. Standard samples were randomly inserted into the sample stream prior to being sent to the laboratory. About Carlyle Carlyle is a mineral exploration company focused on the acquisition, exploration and development of mineral resource properties. The Company has an option to earn a 100% interest in the Cecilia Gold-Silver Project located in the State of Sonora, Mexico. Carlyle owns 100% of the Newton Gold Project in the Clinton Mining Division of B.C, as well has formed a strategic partnership with HDI (The Hunter Dickinson Group) and has formed a 50-50 joint venture with HDI affiliate United Mineral Services Ltd. on the Mack Project located in B.C. The Company also holds an option to earn a 100% interest in the promising Sunset property located in the Vancouver Mining Division near Pemberton, B.C. Carlyle is based in Vancouver, B.C., and is listed on the Canadian Securities Exchange ("CSE") under the symbol "CCC". ON BEHALF OF THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS OF CARLYLE COMMODITIES CORP. "Morgan Good" Morgan Good Chief Executive Officer For more information regarding this news release, please contact: Morgan Good, CEO and Director T: 604-715-4751 E: morgan@carlylecommodities.com W: www.carlylecommodities.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 Canadian legislation. All statements in this news release that are not purely historical are forward-looking statements and include statements regarding beliefs, plans, expectations and orientations regarding the future including, without limitation, the exercise of the Company's option on Cecilia Project, the expected results of the Program, and any plans for further exploration of the Cecilia Project. Although the Company believes that such statements are reasonable and reflect expectations of future developments and other factors which management believes to be reasonable and relevant, the Company can give no assurance that such expectations will prove to be correct. Forward-looking statements are typically identified by words such as: "believes", "expects", "anticipates", "intends", "estimates", "plans", "may", "should", "would", "will", "potential", "scheduled" or variations of such words and phrases and similar expressions, which, by their nature, refer to future events or results that may, could, would, might or will occur or be taken or achieved. In making the forward-looking statements in this news release, the Company has applied several material assumptions, including without limitation, that the Company will exercise its option on the Mack Project and form the joint venture with UMS (or its assigns), that the results of the work to be conducted on the Cecilia Project will be satisfactory to warrant further exploration, that market fundamentals will support the viability of gold and other precious mineral exploration of the Cecilia Project, the availability of the financing required for the Company to carry out its planned future activities, and the Company's ability to retain and attract qualified personnel. Forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors which may cause the actual results, performance or achievements of the Company to differ materially from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by the forward-looking information. Such risks and other factors include the inability of the Company to exercise its option on the Cecilia Project, execute its proposed business plans, and carry out planned future activities. The novel strain of coronavirus, COVID-19, also poses new risks that are currently indescribable and immeasurable. Other factors may also adversely affect the future results or performance of the Company, including general economic, market or business conditions, future prices of gold or other precious metals, changes in the financial markets and in the demand for gold or other precious metals, changes in laws, regulations and policies affecting the mineral exploration industry, and risks related to the Company's investments and operations in the mineral exploration sector, as well as the risks and uncertainties which are more fully described in the Company's annual and quarterly management's discussion and analysis and other filings made by the Company with Canadian securities regulatory authorities under the Company's profile at www.sedar.com. Readers are cautioned that forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance or events and, accordingly, are cautioned not to put undue reliance on forward-looking statements due to the inherent uncertainty of such statements. These forward-looking statements are made as of the date of this news release and, unless required by applicable law, the Company assumes no obligation to update the forward-looking statements or to update the reasons why actual results could differ from those projected in these forward-looking statements. Historical information contained in this news release cannot be relied upon as the Company's Qualified Person, as defined under NI 43-101 has not prepared nor verified the historical information. 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). To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/80516 Brussels: North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) allies on Wednesday (April 14) agreed to pull out all of their armed forces from Afghanistan after the United States announced that all US troops would leave the country by September 11. The US invaded Afghanistan in 2001 following the 9/11 attacks, with other NATO members also deploying military forces to the country, in a bid "to confront Al-Qaeda and those who attacked the United States, and to prevent terrorists from using Afghanistan as a safe haven to attack us," according to a statement after a virtual NATO foreign and defense ministers' meeting on Wednesday, Xinhua reported. In light of this and recognizing that there is no military solution to the challenges Afghanistan faces, NATO allies have determined to start the military withdrawal by May 1 and will finish it within a few months, the statement said, adding that this drawdown will be "orderly, coordinated, and deliberate." "Any Taliban attacks on allied troops during this withdrawal will be met with a forceful response," it noted. Withdrawing troops does not mean ending NATO`s relationship with Afghanistan. Rather, this will be "the start of a new chapter," said the statement. "We went into Afghanistan together, we have adjusted our posture together and we are united in leaving together," NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said at a joint press conference with U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Secretary of Defence Lloyd Austin. "Allies and partners will continue to stand with the Afghan people, but it is now for the Afghan people to build a sustainable peace," said Stoltenberg. There are currently about 10,000 NATO troops in Afghanistan. Live TV Asus ROG Phone 5 will be available for pre-order today in India. The new gaming phone was initially scheduled to go on sale today but it has been changed to pre-order. The company is yet to announce when the phone will go on sale. Asus ROG Phone 5 launched in India last month. Pre-orders for the ROG Phone 5 will begin at 12 noon today on Flipkart. Interested consumers can head to the e-commerce website and pre-book the phone. It comes in two variants starting at 49,999 for the base model with 8GB RAM and 128GB storage. Asus ROG Phone 5 with 12GB RAM and 256GB storage is priced at 57,999. The smartphone will be available in two colour options of Phantom Black and Storm White. In terms of specs, Asus ROG Phone 5 features a 6.78-inch FHD+ AMOLED display which is HDR10+ certified, and has Gorilla Glass Victus protection on top. It also has a 144Hz refresh rate and 300Hz touch sampling rate. The smartphone is powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon 888 5G processor paired with Adreno 660 GPU. Theres a triple camera setup on the ROG Phone 5 featuring a 64-megapixel Sony IMX686 sensor, a 13-megapixel ultra wide angle lens, and a 5-megapixel macro sensor. It features a 24-megapixel front camera for selfies. Asus ROG Phone 5 packs a 6,000mAh battery with support for up to 65W fast charging. The phone ships with a 30W charger. On the software front, ROG Phone 5 runs Android 11 with ROG UI layered on top. New Delhi: Karwa Chauth will be celebrated on October 8 this year. The festival comes during the Krishna Paksha Chaturthi in the month of Kartik. It is mainly celebrated by women from the northern part of India. According to Mahabharata, Karwa Chauth can be traced back to the time when Savitri begged the god of death, Lord Yama, for her husbands soul. On this day, married woman keep a fast in which they do not take food and water from sunrise to moonrise.They observe nirjala vrat for the safety and well being of their husband. Most women, precisely Punjabis, receive Sargi from their mother-in-law. To bless on this special day, mother-in-law prepared a meal called Sargi for her daughter-in-law which includes fresh fruits, Mithai, Dry fruits and Cooked food. In this festival, married women observe Karva Chauth break the fast only after offering prayer to the moon. Karwa Chauth Puja Timings The Puja Muhurat for Karwa Chauth begins from 06:03 PM and ends at 07:17 PM. The moon will rise on Karwa Chauth at 08:27 PM. The Chaturthi Tithi on Karwa Chauth begins on the 8 October at 04:58 PM and the Chaturthi Tithi ends on the 9th of October at 02:16 PM. For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. Iran's Supreme Leader has reiterated Tehran's position that US sanctions must be lifted before the Islamic Republic returns to its compliance with the 2015 nuclear deal, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA). "The officials' assessment is to go and negotiate in order to implement that policy, and we have no objection in this regard," Khamenei said in a public event on Wednesday. Talking through video conference in a religious ceremony to celebrate the first day of the holy month of Ramadan, the Supreme Leader stated that the US officials' expressions of readiness to negotiate do not mean that Washington is ready to "listen and accept what is fair", but are rather a sign of their determination to "impose their unjust position". The US "has not kept its promises on dozens of occasions", he said. Two meetings of the JCPOA Joint Commission were held last week in Vienna, chaired by Enrique Mora, the deputy secretary general and political director of the EU External Service Action Service, and attended by representatives from China, France, Germany, Russia, the UK and Iran. Washington sent a delegation led by US Special Envoy to Iran Robert Malley. They did not meet their Iranian counterparts face-to-face, but a shuttle diplomacy approach was adopted with the intensified help of the coordinators. This week, voices were clearly heard in Tehran asking the government to halt the Vienna talks after the Iranian uranium enrichment plant in Natanz suffered an attack on April 11, which the country has accused Israel of. --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.) Slovakia will receive additional Pfizer vaccines Meanwhile, the health minister commented on reported attempts to purchase vaccines outside the official EU system. Font size: A - | A + Our paywall policy: The Slovak Spectator has decided to make all the articles on the special measures, statistics and basic information about the coronavirus available to everyone. If you appreciate our work and would like to support good journalism, please buy our subscription. We believe this is an issue where accurate and fact-based information is important for people to cope. European Union countries will receive 50 million more coronavirus vaccines produced by Pfizer and BioNTech in the second quarter of the year. Originally, the deliveries expected at the end of the year will be brought forward, said European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen on April 14. I am pleased to announce that we have reached an agreement with BioNTech-Pfizer to once again speed up the delivery of vaccines, she said, as quoted by the Reuters newswire. Slovakia is entitled to 1.22 percent of the batch, which represents about 610,000 doses. The EC launched talks with Pfizer and BioNTech for a new contract for 1.8 billion doses to be delivered in 2022 and 2023, Reuters reported. Purchases from unverified firms discussed Slovakia has been mentioned in another topic related to vaccine purchases. The German broadcaster ZDF reported that Slovakia is the only EU country that is trying, along with Libya and Barbados, to receive additional vaccines by Pfizer/BioNTech and AstraZeneca through intermediaries. Such purchases are usually more expensive than those agreed through the EU, the broadcaster pointed out. Slovak Health Minister Vladimir Lengvarsky (OLaNO nominee) commented that he expects the country to not buy the Covid vaccines from unverified companies. People from another age group can now register for Covid vaccination Read more Although he admitted that he is not aware of all details, he said that the ministry has received offers to purchase vaccines from various companies. The offer was discussed by his predecessor, Marek Krajci (OLaNO), Lengvarsky said, stressing that it was only a discussion, as reported by the TASR newswire. Health Ministry spokesperson Zuzana Eliasova told ZDF that no agreement had been signed, and that Slovakia is firstly trying to manage the purchase of the vaccines via the centralised system administered by the EC. Neither Pfizer nor AstraZeneca are aware of such offers or orders, TASR reported. Read more about the Covid vaccination in Slovakia: 15. Apr 2021 at 11:52 | Compiled by Spectator staff New Delhi: The Marshal of Indian Air Force Arjan Singh, 98, passed away following cardiac arrest on September 16 at Delhi's Army Research and Referal Hospital. He was admitted to the hospital in a critical condition earlier that day. All you need to know about the Marshal of the Air Force 1. Arjan Singh was born on April 15, 1919 in Pakistan's Faisalabad to a military family. At the age of 19, he joined the Indian Air Force. A year later, he was commissioned from England's Royal Air Force College Cranwell. 2. He will be remembered for his remarkable operational tenures on the Burma Front during World War 2. 3. He was described as a fearless and exceptional pilot. He became the first Indian pilot to be awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross (DFC) by the Supreme Allied Commander, South East Asia. 4. Arjan Singh held the command of Indian Air Force's operational Group till December 1952, and then again from December 1955 to April 1959. 5. To take a number of courses in military academics, Singh was sent to RAF Staff College-Brackwell, Joint Services Staff College, and London's Imperial Defence College, after Independence. 6. On August 1964, Arjan Singh took charge as the IAF's third Indian Chief of Air staff at the age of 45. For his contributions in the 1965 Indo-Pak war, he was awarded the Padma Vibhushan in 1965. ALSO READ | Air Force Day special: Meet the ladies who helped IAF shrug its sexist fears 7. He retired at the age of 50 and became one of the longest-serving chiefs of the Army services in India. 8. He was made India's Ambassador to Switzerland in 1971 and then the Indian High Commissioner in Kenya in 1974. 9. Arjan Singh became the only IAF officer to be promoted to five-star rank in 2002. 10. To pay tribute to him, West Bengal's Air Force base at Panagarh was named as Air Force Station Arjan Singh last year. Arjan Singh was accorded a state funeral in New Delhis Brar Square on September 18. The national flag flew at half-mast at all government buildings in his honour. Army Chief Gen Bipin Rawat, Navy Chief Admiral Sunil Lanba and Air Chief Marshal BS Dhanoa paid their last respects to the Marshal of IAF. As a mark of respect to the departed dignitary, a state funeral will be accorded and national flag will fly half-mast on the day of the funeral (September 18) in Delhi at all buildings where it is flown regularly, a Home Ministry spokesperson said. From Prime Minister Narendra Modi to Congress President Sonia Gandhi, all have condoled the demise of the Marshal of the Air Force. Heres how everyone expressed their grief: Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited the residence of Arjan Singh, a day after he passed away, to pay tributes. PM Modi wrote a message in the condolence book at the residence of Marshal of Indian Air Force. "Arjan Singh led effective, amazing and dedicated life. He was epitome of valour and bravery. He was a rare combination of heights and depths. He was totally dedicated to India through his post, prestige and values. I salute the warrior who always gave feeling of soldier's bravery and etiquette," wrote PM Modi in condolence book. President Ram Nath Kovind said, Sad at demise of a great air warrior & Marshal of the Air Force Arjan Singh. Condolences to his family & IAF community. Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said, Great loss. Government will be doing maximum to extend the honour Marshal of IAF Arjan Singh deserves. Congress President Sonia Gandhi said, Air Marshall, Shri Arjan Singh was an outstanding soldier and a diplomat who led from the front. Shri Arjan Singh will be particularly remembered for his successful operation tenure on the Burma Front during World War II. Ravi Shankar Prasad said, Deeply saddened to learn about the demise of 1965 war hero Air Marshal Arjan Singh. Salute to the brave soldier of mother India. Pranab Mukherjee said, As an outstanding soldier who led from the front, a diplomat and an administrator #ArjanSingh will forever be remembered. #CitizenMukherjee ALSO READ: Why is Indian Air Force Day celebrated on 8 October For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. OTTAWA A retired Winnipeg police inspector says it's time Canada recognize officers as a group that should be protected from hate speech, arguing protests against police will only increase the chance of racially charged shootings. OTTAWA A retired Winnipeg police inspector says it's time Canada recognize officers as a group that should be protected from hate speech, arguing protests against police will only increase the chance of racially charged shootings. "We don't want our moral authority undermined to the point that we have no respect at all," said Stan Tataryn. "This constant, derogatory hatred towards the police makes them start to doubt they have that authority, and they'll go quicker to their weapon, or toward force." Winnipeg Liberal MP Kevin Lamoureux has sponsored a petition started by Tataryn, which asks Ottawa to broaden hate-speech laws to include vocations, in particular police officers. RUTH BONNEVILLE / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS "This constant, derogatory hatred towards the police makes them start to doubt they have that authority, and they'll go quicker to their weapon, or toward force," Stan Tataryn said. Tataryn said he realizes the timing will irritate some people a Minneapolis police officer is on trial for the death of George Floyd in May 2020 but he's been worried by what he's seen at protests related to the death of Eishia Hudson. The 16-year-old Indigenous girl was fatally shot by a Winnipeg officer after a high-speed chase, following a liquor store robbery, on Lagimodiere Boulevard during the afternoon rush-hour on April 8, 2020. The officer was cleared in January after an investigation by the Independent Investigation Unit, prompting protests with signs that read "Winnipeg police are murderers." Tataryn believes that sign would be considered hate speech if it referred to other groups. "Say three seniors were attacked during the year, and each of them was able to kill their assailant. And the justice system said it was self-defence. You could not say 'seniors are murderers;' you could not say 'seniors killed my daughter.'" A member of Winnipeg Police Cause Harm, which has organized anti-police protests, rejected the retired inspector's argument. "It's not that people are necessarily disrespecting the institution; they're criticizing it," said Paula Ethans, an organizer with the group, which wants police funding diverted to social services. (If) the only option is to escalate and resort to violence, (it) tells me that the police don't have the proper training to respond to incidents without violence. Paula Ethans She doesn't buy Tataryn's argument that if police lose their moral authority, they'll have no choice but to pull their weapons in stressful situations to compel people to listen. "(If) the only option is to escalate and resort to violence, (it) tells me that the police don't have the proper training to respond to incidents without violence, or they are not the proper institution to be responding to these incidents." JOHN WOODS / FREE PRESS FILES A sign at the one year anniversary vigil of the police shooting and killing of Eishia Hudson at Odena Circle in Winnipeg last week. University of Winnipeg criminologist Kelly Gorkoff said she was shocked by the petition, because it would likely limit freedom of speech and assembly. "It is a very surprising way to deal with the concerns people have raised about policing," she said "It kind of just stops the discussion about the bigger issue, around what role policing (is) playing right now, in this contemporary social landscape." The Criminal Code makes it an offence to publicly communicate a statement that "incites hatred against any identifiable group, where such incitement is likely to lead to a breach of the peace" or "wilfully promotes hatred against any identifiable group," such as race, religion or sexual orientation. Gorkoff said the law doesnt apply to criticism that is harsh or even unfair. "Police arent really marginalized, unless Im missing something," she said. "Police are granted the right to kill people, and when they misuse that right that's granted to them, the public I think has every right to speak out against that." Police are granted the right to kill people, and when they misuse that right that's granted to them, the public I think has every right to speak out against that. Kelly Gorkoff But to Tataryn, the debate in Winnipeg has gone beyond criticism. He spent 35 years as an officer, starting in the 1970s when he says police were roundly despised and called "pigs." The force did community outreach, and put peace officers into schools as part of a move to shore up relations with various communities. In the past two decades, violent incidents involving police in the U.S. have influenced how Canadians talk about police in this country, Tataryn argued, and it has taken a toll. He pointed to the case of a Winnipeg constable who took his own life in February, his family said, because he had been distressed by anti-police protests and sentiment. Yet activists say programs, such as having police officers in schools, affects minority communities and instills in children the idea that police should be the first ones to respond to problems. Tataryn counters that cutting those programs will result in a more adversarial relationship with the public. "You're driving us back to our little clique," Tataryn said. "You'll undermine any moral authority the police had; you'll take them out of the schools, you'll put them back in the cruising cars, you'll isolate them, and put them right back to 'us versus them.'" ADRIAN WYLD / CANADIAN PRESS FILES Liberal MP Kevin Lamoureux endorsed Tataryn's petition because he said he believes that overwhelmingly negative comments hurt the reputation of all officers. Lamoureux endorsed Tataryn's petition because he said he believes that overwhelmingly negative comments hurt the reputation of all officers. He said the vast majority of police make Winnipeg a better city. "There's a great deal of merit for us to give more positive attention to law enforcement officers," said Lamoureux, who said he was not speaking on behalf of the Liberal party. "When it comes to law enforcement personnel, it takes just a few bad apples to portray a relatively negative image, and it's not fair." The petition appeared on the House of Commons website on April 9, and had 166 signatures within five days. It will be presented to the Commons if it gets 500 endorsements by June 8. Lamoureux, whose riding includes Point Douglas and the North End, two communities with a high proportion of Indigenous residents, said he expects pushback. "I can recognize that a number of my constituents would be upset. But having said that, I think we have to recognize there is true value to community policing," said Lamoureux, who said people should focus on building bridges between police and communities. What individuals and community groups are trying to point out is that the institution is inherently flawed. Paula Ethans Ethans countered that relationship-building isnt possible when certain groups have radically different experiences with police officers. "What individuals and community groups are trying to point out is that the institution is inherently flawed," she said. Tataryn says he fears Indigenous grassroots organizers will only make the situation more tense with city police. "I see us going in a wrong direction with our less-privileged people; that there's groups within them that are trying to get the police away from them," Tataryn said. "Don't paint us all with the same brush." dylan.robertson@freepress.mb.ca In my opinion, Malcolm Gladwell is a one-in-a-generation kind of writer. Like F. Scott Fitzgerald or a more virtuous, thoughtful, and gentle Hemingway, without all the drinking, cavorting, and tragedy. (Gladwell is Canadian after all, and very proud of it.) He has an uncanny way of finding the story within the story and pointing out the important lessons often hiding in plain sight. Gladwell may be most known for popularizing the concept of taking 10,000 hours to become an expert, which he discussed in his best-selling book Outliers. Over the years, he has spoken about a wide range of topics from sociology and human behavior to psychology, history, and pop culture. His ideas have been immortalized in TED Talks, his various New Yorker articles, books, and on his popular podcast, Revisionist History. Gladwell enjoys employing a fresh perspective when it comes to ideas that are in the zeitgeist, and while many like to peg him as a contrarian, he doesn't think the definition really fits. "I think I'm the opposite of a contrarian," he says. "I think most of what I say is very, very commonsensical, but I think there's interesting ways to say things that are commonsensical. There are real contrarians out there...I'm not really one of them because I'm not that interested in conflict." I ask Gladwell why he believes people think he's a contrarian and he notes that the way he likes to tell stories could be misunderstood. "There's two different conditions here," he says. "Condition No. 1 is you have told me something I didn't know. Condition No. 2 is you have told me something that contradicts something I know. The contrarian is the second category. I'm the first category, I think. I think really what I'm doing is telling people things they didn't know." Gladwell mentions one of his more successful Revisionist History podcast episodes, which talked about the Brown v. the Board of Education decision and how it affected black teachers, not just black students. "It doesn't tell you that what you thought you knew is wrong; it told you that you didn't know the whole story. I'm way, way more interested in that second thing. The whole story is what I'm interested in." It's an important distinction, the idea of revising something to tell the whole story as opposed to shrinking the story down by contradicting it. Gladwell's goals are to expand our ways of thinking, not refute them and he's successful at this. His ideas seem to give listeners and readers genuine "a-ha!" moments. His storytelling style is provocative -- both in the written form and when he speaks. He's a master at gripping your attention from the get-go and keeping it for the duration of his story. His TED Talk on the unknown story of David and Goliath captivated me the first time I heard it. Gladwell's parents were both big thinkers, so it's unsurprising that he's comfortable thinking about such large, abstract concepts and then boiling them down to smaller, digestible ideas others can take in. He was born in Fareham, England to a Jamaican psychotherapist mother and an English mathematics professor father. When Malcolm was young, the family moved from England to a Mennonite community in Ontario, Canada. From the time he was young, Gladwell had a natural curiosity, and his father allowed him to wander the university where he taught in Canada, which stimulated the boy's mind and interest in books and libraries. To this day, Gladwell's work is frequently supported by extensive academic work by numerous scholars in the relating field. Gladwell earned his bachelor's degree in history from the University of Toronto, Trinity College and also interned at the National Journalism Center in Washington D.C. He has described his college years as difficult and not particularly intellectually fruitful. This subject comes up when I ask him about how he feels about the argument of nature versus nurture. He relates it to college and also to class. "If you are poor, then nurture matters a lot," he says. "It really matters what school you go to; it really matters whether your parents have any money; it really matters whether there's books in the home. It really matters.... So, for poor people, nature is a small thing; nurture is huge. For rich people, it's the opposite. They're maxed out on nurture. If you upgrade the educational experience of the children at the leading private schools in Manhattan, it won't make a whit of difference. They're already at a 10. For those kids, it's all about your genes. The winners are the ones who have the best set of genes. And the ones who don't make it are the ones who were just born unlucky. Viewing nature/nurture through a class lens is the most clarifying way to think of it. And I think one of the real issues we have as a country is our failure to understand that. We keep directing resources at people who are maxed out on nurture. And we keep directing resources away from people who would benefit enormously from nurture, which is nuts!" Gladwell estimates that the school that should receive the least amount of resources is a place like Harvard, where students could be educated in their closet and still grow up to do great things. He argues that the most flush schools should be the ones teaching students on Pell Grants. Gladwell feels that his parents and the experiences they gave him made up the bulk of his nurture, and school was just extra, and he may be right, because for Gladwell, school didn't really determine his ultimate success. His grades upon graduating weren't high enough for any graduate level studies so he began a career in advertising. He tells me that he was fascinated by commercials and always loved the concept of telling a story in 30 seconds. He loved the world of advertising, but it seems the world of advertising wasn't equally taken with him. After numerous rejections from the agencies he applied to, Gladwell found himself taking a low-paying job at the conservative American Spectator magazine in Indiana. Eventually Gladwell moved into the mainstream media sector and, in 1987, began covering business and science for The Washington Post. He stayed with the Post for 10 years and by the time he left, he really had put in about 10,000 hours and felt like an expert. In 1996, He began writing for The New Yorker, where he still writes today, and he gained popularity with two articles in particular: "The Tipping Point" and "The Coolhunt." These two pieces became the premise for his first book, also titled The Tipping Point, which received a $1 million advance and mostly positive reviews. Since that time, Gladwell has published five additional books, and this year, he published The Bomber Mafia, which he explains is an audiobook with a print offshoot. The idea came to fruition after Gladwell discussed the subject on his podcast and became obsessed with the story. "The story is about a band of kind of renegade pilots in central Alabama in the 1930s who think they can reinvent war," he says. "They call themselves 'the Bomber Mafia' and they think that by taking this newfangled thing called an airplane and figuring out how to drop bombs accurately, they can render conventional armies obsolete. And nobody believes in them, everyone thinks they're nuts. And the Second World War rolls around as they are at the height of their philosophizing and theorizing, and they get this opportunity to put their crazy ideas into action." "The Bomber Mafia" is a phrase with a somewhat negative connotation, but in reality, they were a group of innovators who wanted to find a more humane way to wage war. Gladwell tells me that the experiment failed, and I point out to him that part of that is because they were the direct competition for the Manhattan Project, which was the research project during WWII that developed the first nuclear weapons. The sad part about this is that the Bomber Mafia's intentions were to be more surgical in how the United States fought wars, while the Manhattan Project's idea was just to eviscerate large populations until either you get your guy or until the opposing force says "uncle." The Bomber Mafia's ideas might have worked just as effectively, if not more so, to end the war and might have yielded results with much lower fatality rates than when we dropped bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. At first, it gives me pause to consider why he'd choose the story of a failed wartime experiment to cover at length, but when I think about his body of work and his desire to expand our way of thinking, it makes sense that he would choose to celebrate a story about failure. He tells me that he finds them far more interesting than stories of successes. "We never talk about how failure is a contribution to our knowledge," he says. "To say that something doesn't work is, in the end of the day, as useful as saying something does work. Because it points you in the right direction. You don't get to where you want to go unless a bunch of people fail before you. So that's why you can't brush aside the failures and say that they wasted their time. They didn't waste their time." Gladwell likes to write about the underdog, and it's something I relate to strongly. I've always identified way more with the underdog than the celebrated hero, and that may be one of the reasons that Gladwell's writing has always appealed to me so much. I ask him what inspires him to write the stories of underdogs, or stories untold, and he says that really, it's the joy of saying something that not everyone else is saying. "Why would I write a book about a subject that people already know about," he says. "I'm always in awe of people who write about politics because you're writing about a subject that we're all such fanatic observers of.... If you're the person writing the 700th article on Donald Trump, how do you do that? I don't know how you would do that. Can you possibly say anything new about that man at this point? So, I prefer green fields to ploughed fields.... Shine a light in an unusual direction." Advertisement US Border Patrol agents and heavily-armed police officers were seen raiding a migrant 'stash house' near the Mexican border where six undocumented immigrants were being held after being smuggled into the US by human traffickers. Photos taken by DailyMail.com show law enforcement officers in tactical gear descending on a one-story home Monday in La Joya, Texas, just two miles from the border, after receiving a tip that migrants were being 'forced inside.' Members of the Mexican cartel are known to use properties and 'stash houses' in border towns to temporarily hold migrants they've smuggled into the country. Some immigrants are held for ransom by the coyotes who refuse to let them leave unless their families buy their freedom. The house was located near a recreation ground used by US authorities as a collection point for migrants joining the escalating surge across the Rio Grande from Mexico in a bid to claim asylum. Scroll down for video Two men and one woman, believed to be coyotes - or human traffickers - were arrested in La Joya, Texas during a dramatic raid of a 'stash house' on Monday. Pictured: A suspect sits on the ground with his hands cuffed behind his back Border Patrol agents, Texas State Troopers and local police arrived outside a run down wooden house to find the three suspects outside and immediately arrested them Law enforcement officers descended on the home, with at least 20 vehicles cramming the roadway, after receiving an anonymous tip that migrants were being 'forced inside' the property Authorities were ultimately forced to wait three hours for a search warrant that allowed them to raid the home. The migrants emerged after one of the suspects called for them to come out, police said Six illegal immigrants who had been waiting to be taken to their final destination after they were smuggled across the border by coyotes had been staying inside the house But the six adults are believed to have been 'runners' who hope to slip into the US unnoticed instead of going through the asylum process. Three adults, two men and one woman, believed to be coyotes, were placed in handcuffs outside the home, however, authorities were only able to enter the property and seize the migrants after a three-hour standoff. La Joya Police confirmed the six people inside were not being held hostage, but were staying at the property until they could be transported to their final destination. Acting on the anonymous tip, police officers, Border Patrol agents and Texas State Troopers surrounded the home, with at least 20 vehicles cramming the roadway. A Texas Highway Patrol helicopter was seen circling continuously overhead as more law enforcement piled into the area. Many officers cautiously took positions behind their SUVs until there was more intelligence about the situation inside. Others crouched at the back of the building with rifles poised. Finally law enforcement teams approached the wooden building situated on a dusty lot their wait caused by holding on for a warrant to search it. Police officers dressed in tactical gear were seen descending on the property with their weapons drawn Many officers cautiously took positions behind their SUVs until there was more intelligence about the situation inside. Others crouched at the back of the building with rifles poised The three suspects were sat down by police away from the building and remained in handcuffs during the dramatic raid Inside, a search team discovered shotguns in the hideout, but no explosives. Drugs are also commonly found in stash houses, however, authorities refused to comment on whether they seized illegal substances because of the ongoing investigation The six migrants were shepherded away from the suspects and allowed to sit in a group without being handcuffed. Conditions inside the stash houses are generally appalling and pose health hazards. Migrants are typically crammed into small spaces 'This was a stash house for human smuggling,' a La Joya police officer told DailyMail.com. 'The six who came out later weren't hostages, but they were there while they waited to be transported elsewhere. 'Typically in those situations, people are held while they move up the chain to other houses in other cities so they can try to disappear. 'The helicopter was there to act as a spotter in case anyone ran from the house or there were other security issues. 'He said police were on the scene after a call from "an anonymous source who said there were people being forced into the house".' When officers arrived the suspects were outside the building and immediately arrested. The officer added: 'We then had to wait while we got a search warrant, which took a considerable time. 'When we got it, we went in immediately. And with the help of one of the suspects, he called out the people who were still inside to come out.' Inside, a search team discovered shotguns in the hideout, but no explosives. Drugs are also commonly found in stash houses, used as staging posts for marijuana as well as people. The six migrants are believed to have been 'runners' who hope to slip into the US unnoticed instead of going through the asylum process The migrants were searched were searched and processed by Border Patrol Agents before being taken into their custody A Texas Highway Patrol helicopter was seen circling continuously overhead as more law enforcement piled into the area Stash houses are a crucial part of the trafficking of migrants from Central American countries such as Guatemala and Honduras, who pay extra to try to slip through the net 'Regarding drugs, I can't be too detailed because it is still an ongoing investigation,' the officer said. 'These stash houses are common in our area. It's the second in a short while here, and this is a small location.' The six migrants were shepherded away from the suspects and allowed to sit in a group without being handcuffed. They were eventually taken away by Border Patrol, while police took the arrested trio into custody. Stash houses run by ruthless Mexican cartels are an increasing problem in southern Texas as the smugglers fuel the growing migrant crisis on the US-Mexico frontier. The houses are a crucial part of the trafficking of migrants from central American countries such as Guatemala and Honduras who pay extra to try to slip through the net. Border Patrol Chief Agent Brian Hastings said his teams had just smashed five of them in the Rio Grande Valley section, resulting in 69 'illegal aliens' being held. He also revealed his agents recently seized 1,450lbs of marijuana from five failed smuggling attempts. The hauls included a cache of guns and were worth $1million in total. Some of the stash houses are small and contain only a few people like the one raided in La Joya. But some are large homes in wealthy neighborhoods. RVs and trailer park homes are also used to move illegal migrants and drug smugglers up the chain. Border Patrol have busted stash houses containing up to 60 people. Most are men, but there are a few women and occasionally agents find children being dragged along in them. Conditions inside the stash houses are generally appalling and a health hazard. Migrants are crammed into small spaces, often unable to keep themselves clean. They also lack air conditioning in the searing heat of the Rio Grande Valley where temperatures reached 106F last week. They began dating late last year. And Tammy Hembrow and Matt Poole are clearly still in the honeymoon phase of their fledgling relationship, with the couple unable to keep their hands off each other in a new Instagram post. The Thursday social media appearance also displayed the genetically-blessed duo in matching outfits. Handsy: Tammy Hembrow and Matt Poole are clearly still in the honeymoon phase of their fledgling relationship, with the couple unable to keep their hands off each other in a new Instagram post The post appeared to be promoting clothing from Tammy's own Saski range. Her crop top gave an unfettered view of the influencer's toned tummy, while her shirtless man displayed his own ripped torso in the pictures. Meanwhile, on Monday, Tammy cosied up to her beau as they enjoyed a romantic date night. The 26-year-old shared a series of photos to Instagram, while spending quality time with her man. Her own best advert: The post appeared to be promoting clothing from Tammy's own Saski range It's getting serious! Tammy shared a passionate kiss with her boyfriend Matt during a romantic date night on Monday In one picture, Tammy leant in close to Matt as the couple shared a passionate kiss. In another photo, the Instagram model wrapped her arms around her man as he lifted her with his muscular arms. Tammy and her surfer beau went public with their romance in September during a trip to the Whitsundays. Loved-up: The 26-year-old shared a series of photos to Instagram, while spending quality time with her man That month, Matt also made his debut on his girlfriend's YouTube channel, admitting in a Q&A video that he'd been the first to say 'I love you'. 'I did. I am obsessed,' Matt said, before Tammy explained how he had confessed his feelings after they'd 'had a little fight' on holiday. 'We had a little fight over nothing, and then when he was trying to make up with me and apologise, he told me he loved me,' she said with a smile. Going strong: Tammy and her surfer beau went public with their romance in September during a trip to the Whitsundays Matt also seems to be getting on wonderfully with Tammy's children, Wolf and Saskia whom she shares with her ex-partner Reece Hawkins. He runs a popular restaurant on the Gold Coast called Maman Bar and Kitchen. Meanwhile, Tammy's ex Reece Hawkins and his wife London Goheen, welcomed a baby boy named Stone last month. (TNS) Almost the entire roster of Huntington Park's finance department was placed on administrative leave and one staffer was arrested as part of an investigation into a records breach that has sparked competing claims of alleged wrongdoing by city employees.A statement issued by the city Wednesday said officials became aware of a "large-scale security breach of electronic financial records at Huntington Park City Hall" that was "intercepted and contained" by the city's IT Department and that the Huntington Park Police Department initiated a criminal investigation.The statement said the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department Cyber Crimes Bureau was requested to assist with the investigation and is now the lead agency. The statement said a 48-year-old city employee was arrested and booked on felony charges but did not specify what they were.City officials said they did not believe records of residents were accessed but were continuing to assess the breach as part of the investigation.Budget analyst Teresa Garcia was arrested and detained last week on suspicion of unauthorized computer access and identity theft, according to a summary of the charges in a complaint she filed with the city contesting the allegations. On Monday, five other finance department employees were escorted from City Hall by Huntington Park police, according to their attorney, Oshea Orchid, who also represents Garcia.The departures led to the closure of the finance department, which handles payroll, budgets, licensing fees and other financial transactions, on Monday and part of Tuesday. Orchid said that Garcia and the others placed on leave did nothing wrong. She alleged that the finance department staff are being targeted in an attempted coverup of suspicious bank transfers and city contracts that some employees allege are being improperly awarded to companies with political ties. "We believe that management is concerned about them having access to information about the budget and bank accounts, because the employee arrested was someone with a great deal of access to bank accounts and transfers," Orchid said.The city's employee union this week filed a document with the state Public Employee Relations Board alleging unfair labor practices and a pattern of city officials targeting finance department employees for retaliation. The extraordinary events unfolded after officials discovered that a finance staffer had allegedly "captured employee identity information" in what Mayor Graciela Ortiz called "a serious breach of confidential data."City attorney Arnold Alvarez-Glasman told The Times an investigation of the alleged data breach was begun Thursday, the day Garcia was arrested. City officials confirmed that six staffers in the nine-member finance department were on leave. One of those remaining was finance director Nita McCay, according to Orchid.Few details have emerged about the bizarre episode. Reached by phone, McCay declined to answer questions. Alvarez-Glasman confirmed that a number of employees were placed on administrative leave but would not provide more details, citing the need for confidentiality. Ortiz said the finance staffers were placed on temporary paid administrative leave to "maximize the integrity of the on-going Sheriff investigation."City officials Monday issued a notice to employees about the breach, adding that "financial records, as well as personal and other confidential information of all employees associated with the City financial systems, are secure." Still, the notice encouraged employees to "remain vigilant against incidents of identity theft or fraud." The notice stated that "information involved in the data breach" could include "Social Security number, birth date, driver's license number, financial account information, or medical information.""The City, along with partner law enforcement agencies, are conducting a criminal investigation to determine the gravity of this incident," the notice said. On Thursday, Huntington Park police detained Garcia and seized "all of her belongings from her including her personal phone, apple watch and hard-drive. She was then fully searched and put in a cell" for several hours, according to a legal claim she filed against the city Monday.The claim said she began downloading financial records to a hard drive in 2019, when she became "concerned that City Officials may be mishandling public funds and that the City's contracts may be given out to certain companies due to their political ties rather than the City following its procedure."She also learned that the FBI "was investigating the City based on allegations of this nature," the claim said. The claim is a precursor to a lawsuit."Concerned about being implicated in corruption in the City, Garcia continued her practice of saving her work and related accounting materials to a backup drive," the claim said.A spokeswoman for the FBI said the agency would neither confirm nor deny an investigation as a matter of policy. Alvarez-Glasman said Garcia's concerns were "misplaced." But he said the allegations of corruption prompted the city to refer the investigation to the Sheriff's Department.Questions remain about how the city will operate with most of its finance department staff absent.Alvarez-Glasman said city officials were "taking steps in which to ensure that the financial circumstances and operations are being properly administered," but didn't elaborate.On Monday afternoon, residents took walks around the grassy City Hall courtyard and a few people sat at picnic tables. Inside, a woman stood behind a desk surrounded by plexiglass. Asked if the finance department was opened she said no, it was closed. She didn't know why the department was closed but said payments could be dropped off at a bin just outside City Hall on Miles Avenue.Fernie Gonzalez, a resident, said he was inside City Hall and noticed that the finance department was locked and not open for business."Nobody was inside," he said. "It was all dark."On Tuesday afternoon, the city had posted a notice on Facebook that the finance department was "open to make water, business licence and pet license payments." Bahrain to save BD230 million in five years by investing on renewable and sustainable energy TDT | Manama The Daily Tribune www.newsofbahrain.com Bahrain is aiming to produce 5% of its total power through green energy by 2025. This was according to Sustainable Energy Authority (SEA) chairman Dr Abdulhussain bin Ali Mirza who said this will enable the Kingdom to save BD230 million in energy production. During a media briefing arranged by the National Communication Centre, Dr Mirza revealed that the Kingdom has 535 buildings that can accommodate solar systems on their roofs. He explained that the national renewable energy plan revolves around three main policies and seven projects and that the national goal aims to increase the share of renewable energy in the total energy mix by 5%, equivalent to about 250 megawatts by 2025 and by 10% by 2035. At present, the total electricity production in Bahrain is about 3,920 megawatts per day, all of which are produced by natural gas stations. Through the National Renewable Energy Plan, Dr Mirza said: We aim to have renewable energy stations participating in this production, as this will allow us to redirect the use of the natural gas that is saved to be used in supporting other economic sectors. He pointed out that SEA, in collaboration with the Ministry of Education, has tendered projects to set up solar systems at eight schools, indicating that there are 23 government entities expressed their readiness to have the same. We have developed a unique initiative by giving sustainable energy certificates which have been accredited by the Cabinet to those who invest in green energy. Their production will be recorded by the Sustainable Energy Authority, he explained. Chennai, April 15 : The Indian and French space agencies on Thursday signed an agreement for cooperation in human space flight programme, specifically on sharing of expertise in space medicine, the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) said. According to the Indian space agency, an implementing arrangement between its Human Space Flight Centre (HSFC) and the French National Space Agency (CNES) was exchanged for cooperation concerning human spaceflight programme, specifically on sharing of expertise in space medicine. The agreement was signed during French Foreign Affairs Minister Jean Yves Le Drian's visited to the ISRO headquarters in Bengaluru. ISRO Chairman and Space Secretary, K.Sivan, and other officials of both the countries were present during the occasion. The French Minister, with his delegation, also visited ISRO's HSFC where details of India's human space flight programme Gaganyaan including the full-size model of crew module were explained to him. The visiting minister was given a presentation of the evolution and achievements of Indian space programme, India-France space cooperation and details of the recent space reforms announced by the Indian government, ISRO said. BANGALORE, India, April 15, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- The Plasticizers Market is segmented by Type Low Phthalates, High Phthalates, Non-Phthalates, by Application Flooring & Wall Coverings, Film & Sheet, Wire & Cable, Coated Fabric, Consumer Goods. The report covers global opportunity analysis and industry forecasts from 2021 to 2026. It is published in Valuates Reports in the Chemical Industry Category. The global Plasticizers market size was valued at USD 8737.7 Million in 2019, and it is expected to reach USD 10110 Million by the end of 2026, growing at a CAGR of 2.1% during 2021-2026. Major factors driving the growth of plasticizers market size are: Rise in demand for flexible PVC in various applications, such as flooring & wall coverings, wire & cable, coated fabrics, consumer goods, and film & sheet Increase in adoption of non-phthalate & high molecular weight phthalate plasticizers Rapid growth of the construction industry in developing countries. View Full Report: https://reports.valuates.com/market-reports/QYRE-Auto-1633/global-plasticizers TRENDS INFLUENCING THE GROWTH OF PLASTICIZERS MARKET SIZE Increasing demand for flexible PVC is expected to drive plasticizer market size. PVC is a rigid thermoplastic polymer in general. Plasticizers are used for making PVC soft by imparting the requisite flexibility and durability. Because of its excellent water resistance and non-flammable properties, flexible PVC has seen steady growth. Furthermore, due to its high performance and reliability, flexible PVC is used in various end-user applications such as pipe, flooring, wall coverings, napkins, adhesive films, pool liners, extruded cables, automobile, synthetic leather coated textiles, and medical devices. The construction sector is witnessing rapid growth on account of the increasing infrastructure projects, mainly in developing countries. This, in turn, is expected to fuel the growth of plasticizer market size. Furthermore, during the forecast period, demand for cured plastic from packaging, healthcare & medical, toys, and consumer goods is expected to increase the growth of plasticizer market size. Continuous innovation in plasticizers, which has resulted in the production of bio-derived types, is expected to provide numerous opportunities for the plasticizer market to grow. The plasticizers industry is concentrating on developing safer alternatives, with a recent focus on bio-based that have a lower environmental impact. Phthalates plasticizers are being phased out in favor of bio-based plasticizers due to their toxicity and various regulations. As a result, to meet the need for environmentally friendly plasticizers, manufacturers are launching bio-based alternatives. Get Free Sample: https://reports.valuates.com/request/sample/QYRE-Auto-1633/Global_Plasticizers PLASTICIZERS MARKET SHARE ANALYSIS Based on region, Asia-Pacific is expected to be one of the most lucrative regions during the forecast period. This is due to the growing construction and automotive industries in the region. China was the leading production region in the plasticizer market, with a 49.55% market share in 2015. Based on application, the film & sheet segment is expected to be one of the most lucrative market segments during the forecast period. This segment's growth can be attributed to the demand from the food and beverage industry's packaging application. Based on type, the non-phthalates segment is expected to be one of the most lucrative segments due to the Registration, Evaluation, and Authorization of Chemicals (REACH) regulations for restrictions on the use of phthalates. Inquire for Regional Data: https://reports.valuates.com/request/regional/QYRE-Auto-1633/Global_Plasticizers PLASTICIZERS MARKET SEGMENTS Segment by Type Segment by Application Flooring & Wall Coverings Film & Sheet Wire & Cable Coated Fabric Consumer Goods Others. By Company UPC Group Bluesail Exxonmobil Henan Qing 'an Chemical Hi-Tech 'an Chemical Hi-Tech Nan Ya Plastics Aekyung Petrochemical Evonik Hongxin Chemical Anqing Sheng Feng Chemical Basf Eastman Lg Chem Perstorp Sinopec Jinling Guangdong Rongtai Zhejiang Jianye Chemical Deza. Production by Region North America Europe China Japan . 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SIMILAR REPORTS - The Bio Plasticizers Market size was valued at USD 850.2 Million in 2020 and is projected to reach USD 1280.4 Million by 2027, at a CAGR of 5.6% during the 2021-2027. - The global Polyvinyl Chloride (PVC) Market size is projected to reach USD 45 Million by 2027, from USD 36 Million in 2020, at a CAGR of 3.4% during 2021-2027. - In 2020, the global Medical Polymers Market size was USD 17170 Million and is forecast to USD 20620 million in 2027, growing at a CAGR of 3.1% during the 2021-2027. - The Concrete Superplasticizers Market size was valued at USD 3605 Million in 2020 and is projected to reach USD 5106 Million by 2027, at a CAGR of 4.6% during the 2021-2027. - The global PVC Pipes Market size is projected to reach USD 83710 Million by 2027, from USD 59740 Million in 2020, at a CAGR of 4.5% during 2021-2027. - Diisononyl Phthalate (DINP) (CAS 28553-12-0) Market is segmented by Type General Grade DIDP, Electrical Grade DIDP, Food and Medical DIDP and by various regions. - Low Phthalates Plasticizers Market is segmented by Type DHEP, DBP and by various regions. - High Phthalates Plasticizers Market is segmented by Type DINP, DIDP, DPHP and by various regions. - Non-phthalates Plasticizer Market is segmented by Type Adipates, Terephthalates, Benzoates, Bio-based plasticizers and by various regions. - TINTM Plasticizers Industry segmented by Type 98% Purity, 99% Purity and by various regions. - Vinyl Flooring Plasticizers Market is segmented by Type Non-Phthalates, Phthalates and by various regions. - Superplasticizers Market is segmented by Type Modified Lignosulfonates (MLS), Sulfonated Melamine-formaldehyde Condensates (SMF), Sulfonated Naphthalene-formaldehyde Condensates (SNF), Polycarboxylate Derivatives (PC), by Application Ready-Mix, Precast, Shotcrete, Self-Compacting and by various regions. - Automotive Plasticizers Industry segmented by Type DEHP, DINP, DnBP, BBzP, DIDP, by Application Exterior, Interior, Under the Hood, Electronics & Electrical and by various regions. - High Solvating Plasticizers Industry Segment by Type Phthalates, Non-phthalates, by Application Adhesives and Sealants, Coatings and Inks, Automotive Plastisols, Synthetic Leather and by various regions. Click here to see more related reports on Plasticizers market report ABOUT US Valuates offers in-depth market insights into various industries. Our extensive report repository is constantly updated to meet your changing industry analysis needs. Our team of market analysts can help you select the best report covering your industry. We understand your niche region-specific requirements and that's why we offer customization of reports. With our customization in place, you can request for any particular information from a report that meets your market analysis needs. To achieve a consistent view of the market, data is gathered from various primary and secondary sources, at each step, data triangulation methodologies are applied to reduce deviance and find a consistent view of the market. Each sample we share contains detail research methodology employed to generate the report, Please also reach to our sales team to get the complete list of our data sources CONTACT US Valuates Reports [email protected] For U.S. Toll-Free Call +1-(315)-215-3225 For IST Call +91-8040957137 WhatsApp : +91 9945648335 Website: https://reports.valuates.com Follow on Twitter - https://twitter.com/valuatesreports Follow on Linkedin - https://in.linkedin.com/company/valuatesreports Follow on Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/valuatesreports SOURCE Valuates Reports Yorkville, Ill., April 15, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Today Kendall County officials announced that its 2.10 MW Solar Farm is fully "energized" and performing as expected. The Solar Farm is located on a vacant 7.4-acre parcel at the Government Center Complex in Yorkville, IL. The solar farm will generate over 3.3 million kilowatt hours (kWh) per year, and provide power to the Public Safety Center, County Judicial Center, and Public Health Department. "Kendall County is continually looking for ways to reduce our operating costs. This will save County taxpayers over $4 million dollars. When Progressive Business Solutions presented a program that allowed us to reduce our costs without any capital investment, we decided it was a good fit for Kendall County and its residents," said Scott Gryder, Chairman of the Kendall County Board. Project Funding and Development Funds were made available in 2019 and 2020 from the Adjustable Block Program (ABP) under the Future Energy Jobs Act (FEJA), passed in December of 2016. Area residents, businesses, governmental organizations and non-profits all pay into a renewable energy fund, which is collected on each customer's monthly ComEd bill. The available funds were highly competitive in that less than 30% of the applications submitted received approval. "We are pleased to have delivered on our commitment to develop projects that provide environmentally friendly low-cost power for Kendall County, said Chris Childress, Development Director Progressive Business Solutions." The Kendall County Solar Farm joins the City of Plano, Fox Metro Water Reclamation, and Mooseheart Child City as the largest solar development in Chicagoland's Fox Valley Area. The 2.10 MW Solar Field will be owned, operated, and maintained by GRNE Solar of Palatine, IL. GRNE Solar won the project through an RFP process hosted by Progressive Energy Solutions and Kendall County. "This development will generate over 3.3 million kWh per year and 82.5 million kWh over the term of the contract. For reference, the average home consumes around 10,000 kWh per year. That means that this project will generate enough energy to power 395 homes per year." Said Eric Peterman, CEO of GRNE Solar. "We appreciate being selected by the Kendall County Board and are pleased to get this project online and energized." "No new taxpayer dollars were used to build the Solar Fields." said Chris Childress, Development Director Progressive Business Solutions. "We helped originate, competitively bid the solar field construction, and found the financial resources to fund the project. GRNE will receive Renewable Energy Credits (REC's). Kendall County will receive reduced cost power, which is substantially below market for a period of 25 years." per Mr. Childress. To monitor real-time production of the Kendall County Solar Farm Visit www.progressivebusinesssolutions.com/kendallsolarfarm-liveproduction/ Carbon Emissions Reduction Cost reduction is not the only benefit for the Community. By generating over 82.5 million kWh during the project, it will reduce Carbon Emissions by over 58,300 metric tons. According to the EPA Greenhouse Gas Equivalency Calculator, that is equivalent to eliminating over 12,600 passenger cars or eliminating 6.5 million gallons of gasoline. About Kendall County, IL Kendall County is a county U.S. state of Illinois, within the Chicago metropolitan area. It has a population of 128,900. Its county seat is Yorkville, IL. It was the fastest-growing county in the United States between 2000 and 2010. For more information about the Solar Farm Visit www.co.kendall.il.us/solarfarm. A dedication ceremony has been set for Saturday, April 17, 2021 at 2:00 p.m. About the Future Energy Jobs Act and Illinois Adjustable Block Program For more information on the Illinois Adjustable Block Program visit www.illinoisabp.com About GRNE Solar GRNE Solar is a Midwest leader of solar panel installation. Their full-service solar installation team includes consultants, engineers, project managers, electricians, and solar installers. Collectively, they have over two decades of renewable energy and green construction experience. We have proudly generated over 15 GWh of clean renewable power. Visit www.grnesolar.com About Progressive Business Solutions Progressive Business Solutions works with Municipalities, Non-Profits Organizations, and Commercial/Industrial customers to increase their profits by lowering operating expenses, without capital investment. Progressive Business Solutions has saved clients over $400 million dollars. For More Information About the Kendall County Solar Farm Contact: Chris Childress Phone: 630-882-6100 Email: [email protected] Website: www.savewithprogressive.com SOURCE Kendall County, IL The experiences of six Holland-area high school students participating in the Hope College TRIO Upward Bound program are at the heart of an ongoing documentary film project. Talent and Motivation Need a Chance: A National Issue Filmmaker and journalist Cynthia Martinez is developing First Voice Generation in collaboration with the Boys & Girls Club of Greater Holland. While focused on the local community, the documentary reflects the unique challenges that highly motivated and talented young people across the nation face while striving particularly during the COVID-19 era to become the first generation in their families to achieve a brighter future through higher education, and the important difference that support can make. Martinez, who participated in Hope College TRIO Upward Bound as a high school student herself, has been following the students since last summer. She has been in their homes, at their schools, and at many of the Upward Bound events documenting each students journey. My mission in creating this film is to bring awareness to the current educational crisis this pandemic has caused for low income and minority students in our country, she said. College common app and FAFSA applications are currently showing low numbers from underserved communities. What Upward Bound Does and Why Hope College TRIO Upward Bound seeks to generate the skills and motivation necessary for success in education beyond high school among students from low-income and first-generation families who have the potential to pursue a college education but may lack adequate preparation or support. The program enrolls 90 students each year from the Holland, West Ottawa and Fennville school districts. Established in 1968 and administered through Hope since its inception, it is one of the oldest if not the oldest continuous Upward Bound programs in the country and has served more than 2,000 students. Nationwide, TRIO Upward Bound began as part of President Lyndon B. Johnsons War on Poverty with the Educational Opportunity Act of 1964. Hopes program has received federal funding through the U.S. Department of Education for its entire 54 years. While the focus of Upward Bound is on academic advising and support, the program also continually offers personal and career advising as well as involvement in cultural and recreational activities. Throughout the academic year, students come to Hope a minimum of twice a week to receive help in their high school subjects from Hope College tutors. One Friday or Saturday per month, the students meet for three hours to attend workshops on topics such as goal setting, decision making, the college search process, career awareness, financial literacy, and time management. A senior seminar, which meets once a week, helps seniors with the college admission and financial aid process, as well as scholarship research and applications. Several ACT/SAT test preparation workshops are held throughout the year. A six-week summer residential program on the Hope campus exposes students to the academic and social world of college. Students live in a residence hall, attend classes, work in grade-level teams on project based learning (PBL) that apply what they are learning, and participate in career classes, internships, and college visits. Evenings are set aside for study sessions and social and cultural activities. In addition to the structured academic and social activities, the Upward Bound students also volunteer for community projects, such as watershed clean-up and visiting with the elderly at senior living facilities. First-Hand Experience with the Impact Martinezs passion for the program begins with her experience as a high school student. A Holland native, she participated in Hope College TRIO Upward Bound for two years (she notes that it would have been more if shed learned of it sooner), and credits her time with the program for the education and career arc that she has pursued since. After graduating from West Ottawa High School in 2000, she earned a bachelors degree at Western Michigan University and a masters from Columbia Universitys Graduate School of Journalism, and went on to a career that took her first to Univision News in Miami and then to New York City and Chicago. My parents were not able to help me with homework nor read to me before bed. They were both working two different jobs to provide our familys basic needs, she recalled. My summers were spent picking blueberries to pay for my school clothes and delivering phone books out the back of my mothers minivan. I struggled throughout school and was always trying to catch up to my peers. Spending my afternoons in the basement of Graves Hall with a Hope College tutor improved my grades and built my confidence, she said. I took advantage of every opportunity to get extra help after school and on weekends from the Hope students. One of the most valuable things Upward Bound taught me was showing me how to fill out the FAFSA application. This was something that I would have to continue filling out throughout my college years. My favorite Upward Bound memories were living six weeks in Durfee Hall doing summer school and having access to all the resources at Hope College, Martinez said. It was during this time that I felt college was accessible to me, despite not always having the resources growing up. Upward Bound sessions taught me how to write a resume and cover letter, and the importance of asking for help and making connections with professors in college. Martinez returned to Holland with her husband and the couples young son shortly after the pandemic began. She subsequently saw a Facebook post from Hopes program that explained that the pandemic was making it necessary to conduct the summer 2020 session virtually, and was immediately drawn to putting her professional background to use. As an alumna of the program, I had flashbacks of how my summer experience on Hope Colleges campus positively impacted me, she said. Upward Bound students already have a multitude of stressors, financial hardships, and challenges from living in immigrant households. And now, the universe wanted to rob them of a very meaningful summer of learning, socializing with their peers and dining at Phelps Hall. I feel God has given me a purpose to elevate the voices of students who just like me are overcoming the challenges of being a first-generation college student, Martinez said. I feel illuminating this program, and the struggles this pandemic has placed upon the students, will create more representation and social mobility in our nation. For More Information about the Film Martinez is pursuing funding to complete the project, seeking donations to the Boys & Girls Club of Greater Holland on its behalf through a Kickstarter campaign that is running until Tuesday, April 20. More information about the documentary, including a segment featuring clips from the film, is available on the Kickstarter site. GREENWICH XPO Logistics is committing to keeping the remainder of its organization headquartered in Greenwich after it spins off its logistics business a plan that highlights the Fortune 500 companys confidence in its hometown. The pledge will retain the largest publicly traded company headquartered in Greenwich. XPO posted 2020 revenues of about $16 billion and employs about 45,000 people in the U.S. About 600 are based in Connecticut, including approximately 75 at 5 American Lane in Greenwichs northwest corner, its headquarters since 2017. Connecticut is a great place to be for XPO, Josephine Berisha, XPOs chief human resources officer, said in a statement. Having our headquarters in Greenwich helps us attract world-class talent from the area, while serving as an attractive destination for professionals all over the world who relocate to join our team. For Greenwich, the commitment of the No. 196 company on last years Fortune list reinforces its status as a corporate hub. At the same time, it will help cushion the blow of Disneys shutdown of Blue Sky Studios, which was coincidentally based at 1 American Lane. The closing of Blue Sky was expected to result in 469 layoffs, the company told the state Department of Labor in February. XPOs continued presence will also boost the states coffers. The company paid $8 million last year in state income taxes, compared with $3 million in 2019 and $6 million in 2018, according to its 10-K annual report. The decision of XPO Logistics to keep their headquarters in Greenwich is welcomed by our town and residents. We appreciate their faith in and loyalty to our town, said Greenwich First Selectman Fred Camillo. Greenwich has the amenities that really appeal to companies like XPO, attributes that include a great location, proximity to big cities, an educated citizenry, beautiful shoreline and countryside, a well-run and active community local government and a very civic-minded and welcoming population. Last December, XPO announced its plan to split into two separately run and publicly traded companies, a decision reached after it had earlier considered the sale of key businesses. XPO intends to retain its global transportation operations which are primarily truck brokerage and less-than-truckload shipping services while spinning off its global contract-logistics business into a separate company known as GXO Logistics, which will be headquartered in London. Both businesses will have greater flexibility to tailor strategic decision-making and capital allocations to their end-markets, with the benefit of strong positioning as customer-focused innovators, XPO CEO and Chairman Bradley Jacobs said in a statement when the announcement was made. We currently believe that this spin-off is the most effective way to unlock significant value for our customers, employees and shareholders. After the spin-off is completed, Jacobs will continue to serve as CEO and chairman of XPO and also become chairman of GXOs board. While the company is advancing with the spin-off plan, it noted in the February announcement of its quarterly and annual financial results that there can be no assurance that a spin-off will occur or, if one does occur, of its terms or timing. In addition to the headquarters, XPO operates a last mile hub for heavy goods and a less-than-truckload terminal in Bridgeport; a less-than-truckload terminal in Meriden; last-mile hubs in Norwich, Wallingford and Windsor; and logistics facilities in North Haven and Windsor. Last week, the company announced it was hiring in North America for approximately 750 commercial truck-driver jobs and 700 dockworker positions for its less-than-truckload business. Ten of those positions will be based in Connecticut. There were 25 Connecticut-headquartered companies on last years Fortune 1,000 list. After XPO, insurer W.R. Berkley and electronic trading provider Interactive Brokers Group are the next two-largest firms headquartered in Greenwich, respectively ranking No. 402 and No. 862. State legislators are concerned about the future of the only one in that group based in Hartford insurer The Hartford, which ranked No. 160 after the company rejected last month a $23 billion acquisition offer from insurance multinational Chubb. Another on the list, No. 916-ranked Peoples United Financial the parent company of Bridgeport-based Peoples United Bank announced in February its agreement to be acquired for $7.6 billion by Buffalo, N.Y.-based M&T Bank. pschott@stamfordadvocate.com; twitter: @paulschott Deliveroo's founder has defended the company's shambolic float and its business model in the face of stinging criticism. Will Shu, who is also chief executive, has had a difficult couple of weeks after the takeaway delivery firm's shares tanked on its stock market debut and large fund managers raised concerns over how its riders are treated. But the 41-year-old was defiant, saying he was proud the company had listed in London and that investors will come to see the value in the long term. On call: Will Shu has had a difficult couple of weeks after the takeaway delivery firm's shares tanked on its stock market debut 'It's true we have faced a number of challenges over the past couple of weeks,' he said. 'I'm just focused on what I can control and I can't control the short term share price. Maybe the conditions weren't the best.' He also defended the company's business model, saying: 'From my perspective we do what the riders want. They have a phone and a bike, they are working part-time and they log in and out whenever they want.' But shares were back under pressure, falling 3.8 per cent, after the firm admitted growth will slow now that lockdown has ended. Shu added: 'The truth is that we don't know how things will turn out in the UK and how much these new consumer behaviours will stick, but we are really positive.' Australia's airlines want international borders open in October regardless of whether the country's derailed vaccine program is complete. Virgin Australia boss Jayne Hrdlicka called for the country to remove borders once the country's most vulnerable people are immunised. Qantas chief executive Alan Joyce also reaffirmed his desire for international holidays to resume by October, as predicted in the airline's half-year report. But the government refuses to guarantee when all Australians will be vaccinated and Health Minister Greg Hunt said even then the borders may stay shut. Virgin Australia CEO Jayne Hrdlick (pictured) wants borders removed as soon as Australia's most vulnerable people are immunised 'Vaccination alone is no guarantee that you can open up,' he said at a press conference on Wednesday. 'Were then looking at other countries within the Pacific and within the region that are potentially low-transmission environments,' he said. 'We still have to look at a series of different factors: transmission, longevity and the global impact [of opening borders].' Ms Hrdlicka on Thursday called travel to be allowed between Australia and countries like the Britain and US within a few months. 'The New Zealand bubble's a nice first step, but there are lots of communities around us that are well ahead of us on vaccine programs, like the US and the UK and Israel, Singapore,' she said. Mr Joyce said Qantas was preparing for international flights to commence on October 31, the date the government initially expected the rollout to finish. 'While there have clearly been some speedbumps with the vaccine rollout, we are still planning for international flights to resume in late October,' he said. Health Minister Greg Hunt (pictured) says even a fully vaccinated population does not guarantee open borders But Australia Medical Association vice president Chris Moy told Daily Mail Australia the government should not overpromise on border openings because they don't know everything about the vaccines. 'The airlines will have an interest to open up, you can understand its their business [but it is reasonable not to overpromise at the moment,' he said. 'The vaccine rollout has been negatively impacted by over promising and we need to just be realistic and hopeful as we get more information about the vaccine.' Dr Moy said scientists still didn't know if the Covid vaccines stop the transmission of the virus and how long they last. 'The best thing we can do [in the meantime] is just vaccinate as many people as we can,' he said. Qantas CEO Alan Joycesaid the aviation company is planning for open borders at the end of October, despite the slow vaccine roll-out Some commentators believe if the vaccine rollout was speedier, international borders would be removed sooner. Sky News host Rita Panahi called Australia a 'prison island' and said the border closure came at the cost of jobs and government. 'Yes, Australia isn't riddled with Covid-19, but that is only because our country has effectively been cut off from the rest of the world for the past year,' she said. 'That has come with an enormous cost. We now have unprecedented levels of government debt and have seen some sectors including tourism, hospitality, and higher education utterly decimated.' Speaking at a news conference on another matter, Lightfoot again said she backed the release of video from the body-worn camera of the officer who shot Toledo as well as other footage collected that night. She called it a difficult set of circumstances as the city tried to balance the need for transparency against a desire to honor the wishes of the Toledo family, who viewed the video Tuesday evening and asked that it not immediately be disseminated. Gabons mangroves stand among the worlds tallest but face threats by Hugh Biggar April 15,2021 | Source: Global Landscapes Forum On the northern coast of Gabon, the rumble of chainsaws has now joined the usual buzz of insects in the mangrove forests fronting the Atlantic. The chainsaws are just one sign of increased human encroachment into undeveloped areas near the countrys capital, Libreville, leading to calls for conservation action as the importance of Gabons mangroves has come into sharper focus. Gabons mangrove trees are really critical forest biomass because the mangroves store so much carbon, says Liza Goldberg, a NASA Goddard Flight Center researcher. In the past decade, scientists at the NASA Goddard Flight Center determined that mangroves in Gabon and other Central African nations are among the worlds tallest, with freshwater key to their growth. In Gabon, an abundance of freshwater has enabled mangroves to grow up to 63 meters in height and provide an important brake on climate change. As part of their research, the NASA scientists created the first map of mangrove heights and learned that the above-ground carbon stored in the tall mangrove trees of Gabon averaged about 244 metric tons per hectare. By comparison, shorter mangrove trees in Nigeria and Brazil sequestered roughly 100 per hectare. The amount of freshwater that mangroves have access to either from rivers or precipitation is one of the most important drivers of canopy height and growth in mangrove trees, which has a direct influence on how much carbon they are able to store in the trees, says Temilola Fatoyinbo, a physical scientist who led NASAs measuring study. However, these mangroves are increasingly threatened by the countrys urban growth. Just outside Libreville, property developers have torn out mangroves on Cap Esterias to build hotels and housing. At the same time, the citys growing population has pushed into protected and semi-protected places areas in a belt known as the Emerald Arc. The removal of the mangroves has been linked to increased flooding in Libreville and created concern among fishing communities about lost livelihoods. Also at risk are protections for coastal communities and for marine life. As extreme weather linked to climate change increases, the mangrove forests serve as a buffer against strong waves and storm surges. Freshwater flowing to the ocean helps with this barrier, bringing with it sediment that accumulates on the boggy soil and adds to the shoreline protection. At the brackish water level, the trees have thick and twisted root systems that slow wave energy and support fish, crabs, shrimp and other sea life. There are many benefits of mangroves: the provision of food, protection from storms, prevention of sediment erosion, ecotourism, and other forms of ecosystem services, explains Camille Rivera, a marine conservationist working in Filipino mangroves facing similar challenges. Recent studies show mangroves store four to five times more carbon than terrestrial [tropical] forest. These studies underscore what is at risk of being lost if more of Gabons mangrove forests are removed. The measuring and mapping of the worlds mangroves also gives countries crucial information on their sequestered carbon as they work towards meeting climate goals established by the Paris climate agreements. For now, mangrove clearing in Gabon has mostly taken place on the northern coast. With forests covering roughly 90 percent of the small nation of 2 million people, Gabon has a record of success in protecting its environment and rich biodiversity. Since 2002, the country has created 13 national parks and 20 protected marine zones. But Gabons lack of regulations and allegations of development-enabling corruption are new challenges. Climate change adds another threat, though the mangroves provide a natural, ready-made remedy so long as they are protected. Globally, conservation programs and improved government oversight have slowed mangrove loss in the past 20 years after widespread destruction due to large-scale aquaculture, agriculture and logging. But this trend could be upended by sea-level rise, erosion and soaring populations in Asia and Africa re-enforcing the need for continued conservation efforts in Gabon elsewhere. The Global Mangrove Alliance, for instance, has set a goal of boosting mangrove cover by 20 percent by 2030. To help reach this target, Rivera said integrating mangrove protection into public policy and implementing community-based conservation management programs is key. Having the communities involved will multiply the efforts of the government, plus these communities will protect it because they get the food from this habitat, she says. Fatoyinbo also stressed the importance of a balanced approach. It is important to have well thought out strategies that protect natural ecosystems as well as allow for some local use, she says. Access to water is an important factor in mangroves conservation status and highlights the need to enable conservation and restoration that takes into account the hydrology, geology, biodiversity and other drivers that impact the health of the ecosystem. In Gabon, activists are calling for the creation of a wildlife sanctuary and a protected area to conserve the vulnerable mangroves at Cap-Esterias. In an interview with AfricaNews, the head of Citizen Actions for Local Development, Paul Kopedina Itanguino, said, What is at risk through the destruction of the mangroves in the Idolo area is our environment, our coasts. These mangroves serve as a water watch for bad marine weather and in relation to climate change, they play the role of the biofilter. Therefore, [their conservation] is very important. Theme(s): Others. Saverglass Saverglass, the worlds leading manufacturer specializing in the production and decoration of luxury and high-end glass bottles for the wine and spirits industry, announces its expansion with a 430,000 square foot multi-service warehouse in a Class A building in Fairfield, California, to facilitate wine and spirits brands easy access to a suite of services for their glass bottle needs all in one place. With more space and more docks to work from, the multi-service warehouse is designed to optimize lead time and reduce costs while bringing the same level of service to its customers. A team of 35 third-party employees has been integrated within Saverglass warehouse team, optimizing repacking of orders to meet each customers needs and fulfilling last-minute requests for small and large orders. Moreover, the warehouse has the capacity for inventory storage and stock offerings for its customers. With over three decades in California, Saverglass has operated multiple warehouses near Napa to meet its customers increasing demand. The new multi-service warehouse is a testimony to our continued commitment to customers to provide excellent service and innovative and modern solutions for their glass bottle needs, said Romain Bacus, Vice President of Operations Saverglass Inc. The company has a strong commitment to the local community, and we are grateful for our long-standing partnerships with local third parties, packaging suppliers, trucking companies, distributors, and many others. Saverglass Inc. has experienced double-digit annual growth for the past eight years. In 2018, Saverglass opened a state-of-the-art manufacturing and decoration facility in North America and has been able to respond to the increasing trend for premiumization in the wine and spirits sectors. The company has offices and warehouses in Seattle (WA), Louisville (KY), and sales offices in Ramsey (NJ) and Washington D.C. to be close to its customers. For more information, please visit the Saverglass website: https://www.saverglass.com/en/our-news/saverglass-expands-with-multi-service-warehouse-fairfield-california Please call 707-259-2930 to make an appointment to visit the team in Fairfield at 2950 Cordelia Rd, Fairfield, CA 94534. # # # Saverglass is the worlds specialist in manufacturing and decorating premium and luxury glass bottles, with three glass production sites and three decoration sites in France, one glass production and decoration site in Mexico, one glass production site in the United Arab Emirates, one glass production site in Belgium. Saverglass produces a total of about 500,000 Tons of premium glass per year and operates four decoration factories that decorate over 150 million bottles per year, including a state-of-the-art facility in North America. The Group achieved a turnover of $590 million in 2020. Detectives in Taita Taveta County are probing the death of a man who was found hanging from a tree moments after he was involved in an accident. 35-year-old Lawrence Ongeri was driving along the Kanana-Lunga Lunga Road when the car hit a tree and rolled several times before landing in a ditch at Mkono wa Ndugu area. Witnesses said soon after the accident, Ongeri bought a rope from a nearby shop. His whereabouts thereafter could not be established, before locals found his body some meters away from the scene of the accident. It also emerged that Ongeri informed his wife about the morning accident and asked her to forgive him for what he was about to do. Nimepata ajali naomba unisamehe kwa uamuzi wangu, the text reportedly read. Lunga Lunga Police Boss Peter Ndzimbi confirmed the incident saying investigations are ongoing to ascertain if Ongeri took his own life. We have launched investigations because we have reports that the deceased had earlier been involved in an accident but later turned up dead several meters away, said Ndzimbi. The body was moved to Kwale County Hospital mortuary awaiting postmortem. A gunman who murdered a female construction worker during her lunch break then tried to flee on his bike was mowed down by the victim's boyfriend in his car. Lizbeth Mass, 52, was shot multiple times by a 67-year-old unnamed assailant after exchanging words with him at around 12:45pm on Wednesday. Mass was taken to Jacobi Hospital after the shooting, where she died of her injuries. A shocking shooting and subsequent car crash took one life on Wednesday afternoon The alleged shooting happened during Lizbeth Mass' construction lunch break around 12:45 The alleged gunman (not identified) shot Mass multiple times, ultimately killing her 'The guy on the bike, came up started hollering and just shot her,' said another worker at the construction site, who remained anonymous. Meanwhile, the gunman tried to flee the scene of the shooting on his bicycle. The gunman's escape was thwarted by Mass's 58-year-old boyfriend, a fellow construction worker, who allegedly hit the gunman with his Hyundai Sonata, the New York Daily News reports. 'The guy in the car, the black Hyundai ran him over, jumped out and started kicking the s**t out of him,' the anonymous construction worker added to the Post. Police were then able to arrest the suspect in the shooting and recover a weapon. He was transported to the same hospital as Mass for injuries suffered in the crash. Charges against the man were pending, police said. ABC7 reports that the boyfriend is not expected to face charges for hitting the shooting suspect. Mass' boyfriend allegedly hopped into his black Hyundai Sonata after the shooting Mass' boyfriend then allegedly drove the car at the gunman, who was trying to escape Mass' boyfriend allegedly hit the gunman's bike, injuring him to the point of hospitalization Cops pointed towards a domestic dispute as the possible cause of the shooting, though the NYPD says the gunman and the victim were not romantically involved. The gunman previously brought lunch to Mass, according to a nearby property owner. The motive for the shooting is not clear. Pictured: The alleged gunman, who has not been named, being arrested on Wednesday Police recovered a weapon from the scene, which was used by the alleged suspect 'This guy used to bring her sandwiches every day but then he brought bullets,' the man stated. Mass, who lived in Brooklyn, worked as a flagger at the construction site, according to CBS2, helping to keep traffic moving. 'She was always very pleasant, very chipper, just a nice person,' Marta Martinez said to the news station. 'Everybody smiles and waves at her because she wears a pink hard hat,' the construction worker told the NY Post about Mass. 'Shes a sweet person. I cant believe this.' Police were then able to arrest the gunman, as well as recover a weapon from the scene Mass' boyfriend isnt expected to face charges after hitting the alleged gunman with the car 'Everyone in the neighborhood knew her,' a neighbor said to the Daily News. 'I would see her when I would walk my dog around 4:30 in the morning, when she would park her car. She was a very sweet and beautiful woman.' This was just the ninth killing seen in the Bronx's 45th Precinct - which spans City Island and Co-op CIty - since 1993. The shooting is part of a troubling trend of increased crime in New York City Last week, the NYPD released its latest crime data for March, showing that overall crime went up 2.4 percent, compared with the same time last year. That increase is driven by a 36 percent jump in murders and a 35 percent increase in auto thefts. There were 99 shooting incidents in March 2021, compared to 56 a year ago, representing an increase of nearly 77 percent, even as police drastically stepped up their efforts to arrest suspects on weapons charges. There were 492 gun arrests citywide last month, which is an increase of nearly 67 percent compared to March 2020. BY BENSON TUMUSIIME At least seven people including police officers and civilians attached to the office of the Inspector General of Police (IGP) Martins Okoth Ochola are being investigated for leaking documents. A source at the Naguru police headquarters has revealed that Ochola ordered for the probe after documents meant for the top police leadership were found with junior officers. According to sources, some of the people being probed were surprised when they were ordered to temporarily surrender their mobile phones while some were found with confidential information restricted to the IGPs office. The civilians, according to sources were deployed at Naguru police headquarters through the Public Service Ministry. There are reports that the IGP intends to complain to the Ministry of public service about civilians leaking information since it is responsible for their deployment. The source said that the IGP Martin Okoth Ochola instructed his deputy to take over the investigation immediately. In a March 9th warning letter to all police directors, heads of departments and territorial commanders, Peter Lokech whoever will be found culpable to this misconduct will be dealt with severely. In the same letter Lokech instructed the director of crime Intelligence Brig. Christopher Damulira to take interest and investigate the matter immediately. Brig. Christopher Damulira confirmed the investigation to Daily Monitor through a whatsapp chat. COVID-19 has been associated with increases in opioid overdose deaths, which may be in part because the pandemic limited access to buprenorphine, a treatment used for opioid dependency, according to a new study led by Princeton University researchers. Credit: Egan Jimenez, Princeton University COVID-19 has been associated with increases in opioid overdose deaths, which may be in part because the pandemic limited access to buprenorphine, a treatment used for opioid dependency, according to a new study led by Princeton University researchers. The researchers found that Americans who were already taking opioids did not experience disruptions in their supply. Patients who were not previously taking opioids for pain management were less likely to receive a new prescription in the first months of the pandemic, but prescriptions for new patients soon bounced back to previous levels. At the same time, fewer new patients entered into medication-assisted treatment for opioid addiction, which may have contributed to a spike in overdose deaths, according to the study, which was published in the JAMA Network Open, a journal of the American Medical Association. "Medication-assisted treatment has been shown to prevent overdose deaths, so disruptions in access to treatment have likely played a role in increasing overdose deaths during the pandemic," said Janet Currie, the Henry Putnam Professor of Economics and Public Affairs and co-director of the Center for Health and Wellbeing (CHW) at Princeton University's School of Public and International Affairs. Prescribing patterns may be partially accounted for by the role of telemedicine. According to Currie, "Providers found it relatively easy to continue to serve existing patients remotely, but it was more difficult to bring new patients into care." Currie conducted the study with Jonathan Zhang, a postdoctoral research associate at CHW, Molly Schnell Ph.D. '18, and Hannes Schwandt, a former postdoctoral research scholar at Princeton. Schnell and Schwandt are both now at Institute for Policy Research at Northwestern University. The researchers explored the pandemic's impact on the opioid crisis by using a large national database of more than 90 million prescriptions for opioid analgesics and buprenorphine. First, they looked at prescriptions of opioid pain medications for new and existing patients. They also counted prescriptions for buprenorphine prescribed for opioid-use disorder and distinguished between new and existing patients entering and maintaining treatment for opioid dependency. To compare to the past, the researchers reviewed statistics dating back to 2018. They then studied two time periods to capture the initial and medium-term impacts of COVID-19: the onset of the pandemic (between March and May 2020) and a period when things returned to a more normal level of activity (May to September 2020). They took several factors into account, including the total number of prescriptions filled, the strength of the drugs prescribed, and the average dispensed pills per prescription. The research team concluded that patients who were already taking opioid pain medication did not experience a disruption in care. Although the number of weekly prescriptions fell slightly at the start of the pandemic, the amount of medication dispensed remained flat because providers increased the amount prescribed per prescription. There was initially a sharp drop in new opioid prescriptions from March to May 2020, followed by a rapid rebound to predicted levels. Given the downward trend in opioid prescribing, it is possible that some of these patients may never use opioids, thereby reducing future opioid addictions. Patterns were different for buprenorphine treatment for opioid dependency. Patients who were already in treatment retained access to these drugs during the pandemic. There was little to no change in the number of prescriptions or doses prescribed for these patients. However, the number of buprenorphine prescriptions for new patients decreased by almost a quarter at the beginning of the pandemic and had returned to 90% of predicted levels by late August. The researchers estimate that about 37,000 fewer people received buprenorphine treatment for opioid dependency as a result of the pandemic. This reduced access to treatment for opioid addiction may have increased overdose deaths. The study's findings shed light on the importance of access to treatment for opioid addiction and that cracks in the U.S. health care delivery system exacerbated and increased due to COVID-19. The researchers are hopeful that understanding prescription patternsand obstacles to carewill help to improve outcomes for patients suffering from addiction. The paper, "Prescribing of Opioid Analgesics and Buprenorphine for Opioid-Use Disorder During the COVID-19 Pandemic," was published April 15 in the Journal of the American Medical Association. Explore further Opioid overdose reduced in patients taking buprenorphine Governors Meadow Lower Primary School Back in Action After Fires at Start of School Holiday Two weeks after the devastating fires at Governors Meadow, school life is already getting back to normal during what has been one of the most challenging times in the schools history. It has been thanks to the quick response from the Gibraltar Fire and Rescue Service and the extraordinary work by GJBS, GEA, the Department of Education, ITLD, teaching staff, school SLT and administrative staff, cleaners and the school attendant that the school found itself in a position to continue teaching and learning so soon. A special mention for Ivan Latin, Maite Victor, Cheryl Cumbo and Ronnie Kennedy for their hard work, focus and drive. The support and messages of good will from the parents and local community have been a source of strength to all. Teams of dedicated workers have worked tirelessly to clean, repair, paint, relocate classrooms and prepare the school so that it was ready for pupils to come back and continue learning in a safe and happy school environment. Tuesday last week saw the return to work of teachers, followed by the children from Nursery and Reception on Wednesday, and children from Year 1 and 2 on Thursday. Children have quickly settled back into school life, ably supported by their teachers. Governors Meadow staff and the Department of Education have said they would like to extend their deepest gratitude to GJBS, GEA and the cleaning team, who worked throughout the school holiday and every day throughout the long weekend, when practically all the rest of the community was able to enjoy holiday time with their loved ones. They are grateful for the effort and care the teams have invested into making the school safe and ready to be operational again. Governors Meadow staff and the Department of Education would also like to thank all those parents, companies and members of the public who have donated food, drinks and their time to support everyone involved during this trying time. "We will forever be thankful." Minister for Education, Prof John Cortes, said: I have seen for myself the extraordinary work that the whole team at the school, and all those others involved, have done in getting the school into shape so as to allow teaching and learning to resume. The community as a whole is grateful. This is typical of how Gibraltar responds to trying situations. The main thing is that thanks to all these many people the children can continue on their learning journey. Paul Robesons Moral Imperatives: Striving to be African and Free If there is one hard and costly lesson learned from history and the current and continuous police killing of our people and the depraved disregard for our lives and our right to life, freedom and security that this represents, it is that there is a fatal penalty to pay for our daring to be our Black selves and free our Black selves in America. But we rightfully continue to resist our brutal erasure and savage oppression. For there is no moral or meaningful alternative to this position and the righteous and relentless struggle we wage to achieve these twin and intertwined goals. It is a fundamental concept and contention of Kawaida philosophy, a philosophy of life, work and struggle, that to free ourselves we must be ourselves, but that we cant fully be ourselves until we fully free ourselves. Thus, there is always the challenge to constantly expand the liberation struggle so that we can ultimately enjoy an authentic freedom and come into the fullness of ourselves. In this month of remembering, raising up and reflecting on the life and legacy of Paul Robeson (April 9, 1898-January 23, 1976), his two moral imperatives and constant striving and struggle to be African and to be free, easily and insistently comes to mind. A consummate artist, an activist intellectual and a dedicated freedom fighter, Robeson placed great and continuing emphasis on his constant concern with being African. That is to say, being himself, rightfully representing his people, their artistic and intellectual culture, their history and humanity and their liberation struggle. Thus, he says that in life and In my music, my plays, my films, I want to carry always this central idea: to be African. ADVERTISEMENT He had reached back in the spirit and practice of sankofa, studying the ancient, rich and varied cultures of African peoples. And he made two foundational and life-changing discoveries. First, he came to realize he, himself, was an African, a discovery which . . . influenced (his) life ever since. Second, as he studies African cultures and languages, he realized that along with the towering achievements of the cultures of ancient Greece and China, there stood the culture of Africa, unseen and denied by the imperialist looters of Africas material wealth. And he spent the whole of his professional life, sharing its deep and enduring beauty, its rich variedness, and its elevating insights into being African and human in the world. Speaking of the special uniqueness of Black people and their sacred soulfulness, Robeson raises up and praises the spiritual power of Black people. He states the power of the spirit is the pride and glory of my people and there is no human quality in all of America that can surpass it. Moreover, he tells us it is a force for good and there is no hatefulness about it. On the contrary, he continues, It exalts the finest things in life justice and equality, human dignity and fulfilment. It is, he says, deeply rooted in the everyday earthiness of our lives, and yet it also reaches up to the highest skies and mankinds noblest aspirations. As ever and always, speaking in a time of great striving and struggle, as we now and constantly confront, he concludes that It is time for this spirit to be evoked and exemplified in all that we do, for it is a force mightier than all our enemies and will triumph over all their evil ways. Like Anna Julia Cooper and Mary McLeod Bethune, who preceded him, and Martin King, and Malcolm X who followed him, Robeson loved and valued African Americans greatly and saw them as a moral and social vanguard in this country and the world. He stated that our struggle for freedom and justice represents the decisive front in the struggle for democracy in our country as well as for the cause of peace and liberation in the world. And we must summon the invincible spirit within us and embrace the role history and heaven demand of us. It is the self-same role Mary McLeod Bethune raised up and reaffirmed for us in her classic teaching that Our task is to remake the world. It is nothing less than this. Here, then, Robeson reaffirms the moral imperative of freedom and of the righteous and relentless struggle to achieve and secure it. He calls for an aware and organized people and a leadership with a single-minded dedication to their peoples welfare, a leadership that is independent and resistant to seduction and subordination by the oppressor or their allies. They must be, he says, prepared to face the trials of battle. And they must rely on and be responsive to no other control than the will of the people. Calling for a real leadership that is not only in terms of title and position but in reality, he stresses again the principle of self-determination, kujichagulia, as a moral imperative. In this special moment of Black women rising, he stresses the need to recognize and respect the leadership, history and capacity of Black women to lead the way, as well as men. And he asks us as a people, but especially, I imagine, Black men, a centering and sustaining question: who should know better than the children of Harriet Tubman, Sojourner Truth and Mary Church Terrell that womenfolk have led the way? We are indeed the children of our foremothers and mothers who lifted up the light that lasts and lighted the way forward and upward in our liberation struggle. Thus, the key here is not to erase or reduce the relevance and role of Black men, but to recognize and respect the indispensable, increasing and expanding role of women in leadership, life and struggle. ADVERTISEMENT In preparing us for the long, difficult, dangerous and demanding road to freedom, Robeson reminds and assures us that Freedom is a hard-bought thing and millions are in chains, but they strain toward the new day dawning near. Thus, he calls for us to take that irreversible stand for freedom, justice and other goods in the world. For in the struggle for liberation and against oppression, everyone must decide where they stand and act accordingly. In such an essential and life-and-death determining struggle, there is no standing above the conflict. There are no impartial observers. For indeed, The battlefront is everywhere; there is no sheltered rear. And Robeson knows as Frantz Fanon would later tell us, an authentic national liberation exists only to the precise degree to which the individual has irreversibly begun his own liberation. Robeson tells us that in our struggle to be ourselves and free ourselves, we are well within our rights, our human rights. He says, We ask for nothing that is not ours by right, and herein lies the great moral power of our demand. And thus he teaches that we must not let our oppressors, allies or leaders cool and calm us down, negotiate away our urgent needs and interests, our rights and rightful demands. On the contrary, we must continue and intensify our struggle and never accept or allow anything that would deny our dignity or reduce or relinquish our rights. There is in Robesons thoughtful instructions and advice a continuing sense of faith in our people and hope for the future and the ultimate and impending victory of our struggle, if we dare to struggle and dare to win. Thus, he says, to be free to walk the good American earth as equal citizens, to live without fear, to enjoy the fruits of our toil, to give our children every opportunity in life . . . , that dream which weve held so long in our hearts is today the destiny we hold in our hands. And as we say so often in Kawaida, we must audaciously and radically imagine that destiny, that unfolding future, and forge it in the most ethical, effective and expansive ways. 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. The Matilda Joslyn Gage Foundation will be partnering with PBS on Tuesday night, April 20, for a special virtual event surrounding one of the most beloved stories in American literature. Following the premier the night before of American Oz, a new documentary about Central New York native L. Frank Baum, the author of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, the Gage Center will hold a Zoom Q&A with filmmakers Randall MacLowry and Tracy Heater Strain, who together wrote, directed and produced the film for PBS American Experience series. They will tell the audience how they came to make the documentary, including the challenges of filming during the pandemic. Gage Foundation Executive Director, Dr. Sally Roesch Wagner, who appears in the film, will moderate the talk. Tickets to the virtual event cost $25 and can be purchased by calling the Gage Center at 315-637-9511 with a credit card, or directly through their online gift shop at https://matildajoslyngage.org/online-gift-shop. All proceeds will benefit the Gage Foundation. American Oz will debut on Monday, April 19 at 9 p.m. on PBS and will be available for streaming at americanexperience.org. It tells the remarkable story of the man behind one of the most beloved and quintessential American classics, which has been reinterpreted through the generations in films, books and musicals. Baum married the youngest daughter of Syracuse suffragist Matilda Joslyn Gage, Maud, and was deeply influenced by his mother-in-law. The film credits Gage for the social justice and feminist views often seen in Baums books. Randall MacLowry and Tracy Heather Strain are award-winning filmmakers who craft documentaries and non-fiction media projects through their production company, The Film Posse. Their credits include numerous films for the PBS series American Experience. They produced and edited the critically acclaimed Lorraine Hansberry: Sighted Eyes/Feeling Heart, which won a Peabody Award; Strain additionally won an NAACP Image Award for Motion Picture Directing and the American Historical Associations John E. OConnor Film Award for the film. MacLowry has received two Writers Guild awards, and two of his American Experience films won the Organization for American Historians Erik Barnouw Award. MacLowry and Strain serve on the faculty of Wesleyan Universitys College of Film and the Moving Image. Despite taking careful precautions, Mr. Lotito caught the virus from his daughter in mid-October. He had a fever for nearly a month, and spent a week in the hospital. Convalescent plasma and remdesivir, an anti-viral drug, provided relief for a couple of weeks, but his fever returned. He finally felt better after one more infusion of gamma globulin, during which he sweated through four shirts. Still, after nearly seven weeks of illness, Mr. Lotito had no antibodies to show for it. I still have to take the same precautions that I was taking, you know, a year ago, he said. Its a little disheartening. People like Mr. Lotito depend on those around them choosing to be vaccinated to keep the virus at bay, Dr. Cunningham-Rundles said. Youre hoping that your entire family members and all your close colleagues are going to go out and get some shot, and theyre going to be protecting you with herd immunity, she said. Thats what you have to start with. Dr. Cunningham-Rundles has tested her patients for antibodies and signed a few up for Regenerons monoclonal antibody cocktail. But many other people with such conditions are not aware of their risks or their options for treatment. The Leukemia and Lymphoma Society has set up a registry to provide information and antibody tests to people with blood cancers. And several studies are assessing the response to coronavirus vaccines in people with cancer, autoimmune conditions like lupus or rheumatoid arthritis, or who take drugs that mute the immune response. In one such study, British researchers followed nearly 7,000 people with Crohns disease or ulcerative colitis from 90 hospitals in the country. They found that less than half of patients who took Remicade mounted an immune response following coronavirus infection. As the Covid-19 spike continues to baffle the world, the deja vu feeling of 2020 lockdown seeps in and it's not a great feeling. While most countries took the spike seriously and have some strict lockdown measures in place, our government has taken some sweet time to muse on what to do. Infact, in a parallel universe, the Kumbh Mela and the lakhs of devotees taking shahi snan in the holy Ganges has appalled everyone on social media. As some states are badly hit, the onus on whether the capital city affords a lockdown was in the limelight. A while ago, chief minister Arvind Kejriwal announced a weekend lockdown in the capital. Only essential services will be allowed, cinema halls with a 30% capacity will function, malls, gyms and spas will remain shut. BIG BREAKING Weekend curfew in #Delhi. CM @ArvindKejriwal announces 1. Essential services allowed 2. Special pass for weddings 3. Gyms, spas, auditoriums, malls to be shut 4. No dine-in at restaurants anymore 5. Only delivery allowed 6. Cinema halls to operate at 30 % capacity pic.twitter.com/3Jh0iiB5PR DaaruBaaz Mehta (@DaaruBaazMehta) April 15, 2021 The measure has been taken to control the sudden spike in cases in Delhi, which recorded over 17,000 cases in a single day. Curfew passes for attending weddings will be given for those who need it. the curfew timings will be from Friday 6 Pm to Monday 6 am. While this seems to be a brilliant decision, considering what is happening in the state, some people obviously had a few thoughts and concerns which they didnt shy away from exhibiting. M@lls band rahenge aur cinema joki mall me hi hote hai wo 30% capacity me chalenge , wahan sadd ji wah Dilli walo u deserve him only bhaiyafromup (@bhaiyafromup) April 15, 2021 Cinema kisko dekhne ka shauk chadha hai corona aur curfew mein #Delhi dhiraj (@dkbharati) April 15, 2021 Why are Cinema Halls open? What kind of curfew is that? Educational institutions closed but people need the cinema?? Sahima Hannan Datta (@SahimaDatta) April 15, 2021 The chief minister has also announced that an adequate number of beds will be arranged and the state government is doing its best to assure treatment is provided. In the end, while we continue to suffer and businesses continue to struggle, it's important to understand that our security is in our own hands. Stay safe and stay home! (Natural News) A New Yorker who desires to marry his or her own adult offspring is suing the state in an attempt to overturn laws that prohibit the incestuous practice. The latest brand of LGBTQ perversion, the suit calls it a matter of individual autonomy for a person to marry a family member. The state, it adds, should not have a say one way or another. Through the enduring bond of marriage, two persons, whatever relationship they might otherwise have with one another, can find a greater level of expression, intimacy and spirituality, the parent argues in the claim, which was filed in the Manhattan Federal Court on April 1. Following the love is love trend pushed by the Cult of LGBTQ, the suits arguments center around the idea that anything consensual should be legal, even if it defies all moral standards of decency. Even though potential offspring from the couple could end up deformed or brain-damaged, the plaintiff says he or she has a right to live his truth (or her truth) without interference. The proposed spouses are adults, the suit explains in defense. The proposed spouses are biological parent and child. The proposed spouses are unable to procreate together. Whether this means one or the other person is too old to have kids or both are the same gender remains unclear. Regardless, the suit identifies the couple as being members of the PAACNP stripe of the LGBTQ flag PAACNP standing for Parent and Adult Child Non-Procreationable. Parent-and-adult-child couples for whom procreation is either virtually or literally impossible can aspire to the transcendent purposes of marriage and seek fulfillment in its highest meaning, the suit further argues. In typical LGBTQ form, the suit goes on to victimize the couple for not having the same rights as normal couples. It claims that not allowing the two family members to marry will diminish their humanity. Is there any limit to LGBTQ perversion? As it turns out, this attempt to add incest to the LGBTQ rainbow flag has been part of the agenda for years. LifeSiteNews writer Michael L. Brown has been documenting it for years. Back in 2012, the media was pushing the notion of Genetic Sexual Attraction, or GSA. Two years later, a judge in Australia affirmed this concept as valid. The year after that, a homosexual politician in Ireland publicly argued for legalized incest. As far back as 2007, The New York Times was pushing for legalized incest, lumping it in the same category as same-sex marriage. Though the nation at large is far from agreeing with this sentiment, the cultural re-shapers are desperately trying nonetheless. So, again, sadly and tragically, all this is nothing new, Brown laments. The slippery slope is very real. Brown adds that if marriage itself could be so radically redefined as to remove the requirement of one man and one woman, then there is no limit to the number of marriage configurations that could end up becoming the eventual norm. Amazingly, Brown was one of only five participants in a written debate that was held back in 2014 who supported keeping adult incest illegal. Two of the participants said they did not support the idea of consensual adult incest, but argued that the government has no right to interfere. The other two, however, operated from the love is love principle that is now widely prevalent in the LGBTQ community, which supports no limits to sexual promiscuity and perversion. What kind of horrific upbringing results in someone wanting to marry their own parent? asked one commenter at LifeSiteNews. It would be fantastic if this was just a farce to bring to light how absurd things have gotten. But I hold out no such hope in these days. More related news about the Cult of LGBTQ can be found at Evil.news. Sources for this article include: LifeSiteNews.com NaturalNews.com Kylie Minogue has made a secret visit secret trip to Perth as part of a collaboration for her Wines by Kylie Minogue brand. According to The West Australian, the pop star, 52, visited Howard Park Wines to taste test new wines for her label. The Perth-based winery is believed to be creating new products for Kylie's brand. Business trip: Kylie Minogue (pictured) made a secret trip to Perth to taste test new wines for her label, according to The West Australian Kylie's wine line currently consists of two roses, a sauvignon blanc, and a merlot. The pop star's business partner for the venture, Paul Schaafsma, said that joining forces with Kylie was a no-brainer because of her name recognition. 'It is reassuring for someone perhaps scared of buying the wrong wine,' he told The Australian. Coming soon: According to The West Australian, the pop star, 52, visited Howard Park Wines to taste-test new wines for her label 'Because Kylie is someone they know and understand, theyre more likely to give it a try,' he continued. 'And if we can ensure the wine is really good quality, the right price and stylistically what theyre looking for, theyll come back again and again.' Kylie returned home to Australia earlier this year and recently attended the funeral of music promoter Michael Gudinski, who launched her first album. Label: Kylie's wine line currently consists of two roses, a sauvignon blanc, and a merlot She also gave an emotional performance at the state memorial at Melbourne's Rod Laver Arena alongside Ed Sheeran. Kylie also made a surprise appearance at the 2021 Sounds Better Together concert in Victoria. The former Neighbours actress lives in Chelsea with her magazine executive beau Paul Solomons, 46. Lucknow, April 15 : Timings for night curfew in ten districts of Uttar Pradesh have been revised in view of the worsening Covid situation. The curfew will now begin at 8 p.m. and end at 7 a.m. Earlier the curfew was from 9 p.m. to 6.am. The decision was taken during a virtual meeting of the 'Team 11' chaired by Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on Thursday. Night curfew is presently in force in Lucknow, Prayagraj, Varanasi, Kanpur City, Gautam Buddha Nagar, Ghaziabad, Meerut, Gorakhpur, Shravasti and Moradabad. Uttar Pradesh recorded 22,439 fresh cases of Covid-19 on Thursday. Lucknow accounted for 5,183 of the cases followed by Prayagraj with 1,888, Varanasi with 1,859, Kanpur with 1,263 and Gorakhpur with 750 fresh cases of infection. Meanwhile, Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, who tested positive for Covid-19 on Wednesday, has been allotted a bed at the Sanjay Gandhi Postgraduate Institute of Medical Sciences (SGPGI) in case his condition worsens. Yogi Adityanath had gone into self-isolation on Tuesday as a "precautionary measure" after some officials at his office tested positive for Covid-19. He tested positive on Wednesday and has been working virtually. Berwyn, Pennsylvania--(Newsfile Corp. - April 15, 2021) - Annovis Bio Inc. (NYSE: ANVS), a clinical-stage drug platform company addressing Alzheimer's disease (AD), Parkinson's disease (PD) and other neurodegenerative diseases, today announced the appointment of Reid S. McCarthy to its Board of Directors and to the role of Audit Committee chairman, effective April 9, 2021. A specialist in bank, bond, and equity financings, McCarthy retired after serving from 2016 to 2019 as CFO of JJ Haines & Company, Inc., a $400 million revenue distribution company operating internationally. Previously, McCarthy provided CFO consulting services to several life sciences companies, served as CFO of Topaz Pharmaceuticals from 2007 to 2011, and served as a founding executive of several VC-backed companies operating in the senior real estate, biometric technology, and agri-business industries, all of which were successfully sold, from 1993 to 2007. McCarthy's past positions include Vice President of Financing for Trinity Capital Corporation, Director-Project Financing for ASEA Brown Boveri, Inc., and officer positions with New York-based money center banks, including J.P. Morgan Chase. McCarthy holds an undergraduate degree in international relations from the University of New Hampshire and an MBA in international finance from New York University. "We are delighted to welcome Reid to our board and audit committee," commented Maria Maccecchini, Ph.D., CEO of Annovis Bio. "Annovis is entering an exciting period of corporate development as we near the completion of our two ongoing Phase 2a trials. Based on positive initial interim data announced last month, we believe we will ultimately move into pivotal trials, and having someone of Reid's caliber on our board at this stage further strengthens the Company." "I am excited to work with the Annovis team as they execute on their mission of addressing chronic and acute neurodegeneration through a novel approach that offers new hope in the fight against the largest unmet need of our aging population," said McCarthy. 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. 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. Further, certain forward-looking statements are based on assumptions as to future events that may not prove to be accurate, including that clinical trials may be delayed and that the initial interim data referenced herein is interim data, conclusions as to which may be superseded by subsequent data we expect to receive in connection with Phase 2a trials and/or subsequent clinical trials. 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, 2020 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/80533 With rising cases of COVID in India again, it seems like were re-living the year 2020. Both in Maharashtra and Delhi, night curfews have been imposed and certain guidelines have been charted out in order to prevent the spread of novel Coronavirus. The restaurants will be shut in Mumbai at night but deliveries will be allowed. As we all know that we have two competitors when it comes to the arena of food delivery apps, Zomato and Swiggy. In a recent development, Zomato co-founder and CEO Deepinder Goyal took to Twitter Wednesday night, taking a dig at rival Swiggy while asking for clarity on food delivery rules in Mumbai. He tweeted, Zomato is prepared to provide the essential food delivery service post 8 pm in Mumbai, but we are not doing so because we are abiding by the letter of the law. I see our competition is continuing to operate post 8 pm. I urge @MumbaiPolice to please clarify the way forward here. Zomato is prepared to provide the essential food delivery service post 8pm in Mumbai, but we are not doing so because we are abiding by the letter of the law. I see our competition is continuing to operate post 8pm. I urge @MumbaiPolice to please clarify the way forward here. pic.twitter.com/LFd9qZUmED Deepinder Goyal (@deepigoyal) April 14, 2021 Mumbai Police clarified and asked him to follow the guidelines. The Twitter handle tweeted, Kindly read the Govt Notification. It says that Home Delivery is allowed but there is no time limit specified. Kindly read the Govt Notification. It says that Home Delivery is allowed but there is no time limit specified. Mumbai Police (@MumbaiPolice) April 14, 2021 After Mumbai Police responded to the CEO, people started to troll him and asked him to improve his services instead of slamming others. People appreciated the Mumbai Police for the epic reply. Mumbai Police Twitter Mumbai Police Twitter Mumbai Police Twitter Mumbai Police Twitter Mumbai Police on Wednesday issued fresh prohibitory orders under section 144 of the CrPC, banning the assembly of five or more people at one place in the city. This is part of the Maharashtra government's curfew-like restrictions on public movement over the next 15 days across the state. India has reached the mark of two lakh new Covid cases in the last 24 hours. India has been the world's worst-hit country since April 2. The situation is genuinely getting worse with each passing day and we wonder when will be able to defeat the pandemic. They lined up early, decked out in their Carla Zampatti best. The designer, who died unexpectedly this month after a fall, wouldnt have chosen this ending the 78-year-old still had so much work to do. But if she had to choose an ending, it may have been close to this one. Zampattis most loyal clients the real women who meant so much to her and were the backbone of her success over 56 years joined dignitaries from politics, fashion and business to honour the designer at a state funeral at St Marys Cathedral, Sydney, where she spent time in her earliest days in the Harbour City in the 1960s. Dignitaries and VIPs including former governors-general and three former prime ministers were there in number, such was influence of the Italian-born fashion pioneer and philanthropist, but this gathering was as much for the people she dressed as those who worked alongside her on many causes over her lifetime. Among them was Yvonne Dite, who flew up from Melbourne and was wearing the 1967 Carla Zampatti design that has been with her through many of lifes most cherished moments including meeting her husband, Bruce, who was with her. A federal district court judge in New York City has entered a judgment that calls for the seizure and forfeiture of five properties in Mexico that were purchased by fugitive drug kingpin Rafael Caro-Quintero. United States District Judge Eric N. Vitaliano ordered the seizure of the properties, including three homes, a ranch and a warehouse, which are located in the western Mexican city of Guadalajara. The properties were obtained with the drug trafficking money earned by Caro-Quintero's gang, a faction of the Sinaloa Cartel, according to a joint statement issued Thursday by the Drug Enforcement Administration and the Eastern District of New York. The US government will attempt to enforce the court order through diplomatic channels, as it affects properties in Mexico, officials said. Caro-Quintero is on the FBI's top ten most wanted list for his role in ordering the kidnapping, torture and murder of DEA Special Agent Enrique 'Kiki' Camarena in February 1985. A forfeiture complaint presented On October 11, 2019 indicated that between January 1980 and March 2015, Caro-Quintero's organization shipped multiple tons of marijuana and multiple kilos of methamphetamine and cocaine from Mexico to the United States. Caro-Quintero (left) is on the FBI's top ten most wanted list for his role in ordering the kidnapping, torture and murder of DEA Special Agent Enrique 'Kiki' Camarena (right) in February 1985. One of the five properties that were purchased in Guadalajara, Mexico, by fugitive kingpin Rafael Caro-Quintero that a New York federal court is seeking to seize, according to a judgement entered Thursday An apartment that is located at a condominium in Guadalajara, Mexico, could be seized by the U.S. government. It was purchased with earnings made off of drug trafficking operations carried out by the organization of fugitive drug lord Rafael Caro-Quintero. The fugitive drug kingpin is wanted by the FBI. The Department of Justice is offering a $20 million reward for information leading to his arrest and/or conviction This undated file photo provided by Mexico's government shows fugitive drug lord Rafael Caro-Quintero. Caro-Quintero was sentenced to 40 years in prison for the murder of DEA agent Enrique Camarena but was released after 28 when a Jalisco court ruled he had been improperly tried in court. A federal court issued an arrest warrant for Quintero, who remains on the run As a result, the drug trafficking activities produced a significant windfall which allowed Caro Quintero to use the illicit earnings to buy real estate property in his hometown of Guadalajara and the neighboring areas. The properties include include a ranch, warehouse, a house and two apartments. The properties were reportedly put under the names of family members to hide his name from the deeds and prevent Mexican authorities from taking them over. Caro-Quintero, who is known as the 'Narco of Narcos,' was one of the co-founders of the Guadalajara Cartel. The defunct criminal organization became a focus of the DEA in the 1980s. The gang sought revenge on Camarena after the Mexican military raided a 2,500-acre marijuana farm in 1984. Caro-Quintero and the two other cartel leaders, Miguel Angel Felix Gallardo and Ernesto Fonseca, kidnapped the then 37-year-old Camarena in broad daylight on February 7, 1985. He was tortured him at a residence that belonged to Caro-Quintero and his body was found on March 5, 1985, wrapped in plastic and dumped at an abandoned property in La Angostura, a city in the state of Michoacan. An empty ranch in Guadalajara, Mexico, is one of five properties that the U.S. government is seeking to confiscated from fugitive drug lord Rafael Caro-Quintero According to court documents, all of the properties were reportedly put under the names of Rafael Caro-Quintero's family members to hide his name from the deeds and prevent Mexican authorities from taking them over. Caro-Quintero eventually fled to Costa Rica with his girlfriend and was arrested the following month and was sentenced to 40 years in jail for Camarena's murder. The high-profile international incident is featured on the Netflix series, 'Narcos: Mexico.' A Jalisco court ordered the release of Caro-Quintero on August 9, 2013 after he had served 28 years in prison, ruling that he had been improperly tried for the killing of the DEA special agent. But on August 14, a federal court acted on pressure from the United States and issued a warrant for the arrest. Caro-Quintero, who remains on-the-run, reintegrated himself in the drug trade business and has been involved in an all-out-war with the sons of Joaquin 'El Chapo' Guzman, who are now in charge of operating Sinaloa Cartel. U.S. military personnel carry the coffin containing the body of DEA Special Agent Enrique 'Kiki' Camarena 'Rafael Caro Quintero is one of the world's most wanted criminals for years of drug trafficking and his role in killing one of our own, DEA Special Agent Enrique Kiki Camarena,' stated DEA Special Agent in Charge Donovan. 'The unprecedented seizures and forfeitures announced today exemplify our resolve and perseverance in bringing 'RCQ' to justice to face the consequences of his alleged crimes. 'As we continue to safeguard the American public from drug trafficking and the dangers associated, we will never forget Special Agent Camarena's courage and sacrifice.' The U.S. Department of Justice is offering a $20 million reward for information leading to his arrest and/or conviction. South Dakota Wont Be Taking Illegal Immigrants, Gov. Noem Says South Dakota wont accept any illegal immigrants that the Biden administration is looking to relocate from Americas southern border, Gov. Kristi Noem vowed on April 14. South Dakota wont be taking any illegal immigrants that the Biden Administration wants to relocate. My message to illegal immigrants call me when youre an American, Noem wrote in a statement on Twitter. Her comment comes as media reports that the Biden administration is reaching out to numerous states for assistance on housing illegal immigrants amid the burgeoning crisis at the southern border. The Washington Post has also reported that the Biden administration is considering flying migrant families and children to states near the Canadian border for processing. Fellow Republican Govs. Henry McMaster of South Carolina, Pete Ricketts of Nebraska, and Kim Reynolds of Iowa said separately in recent weeks that they have declined the administrations request to accept illegal immigrants into their states. McMaster also signed an executive order that directs the state to prioritize the needs of children in South Carolina and prevent the placement of unaccompanied minors into residential care or foster care facilities in the state. Noem spokesman Ian Fury told the Des Moines Register on April 14 that the governor hasnt received a request from the federal government, but was sending a message should such a request be made. In an attempt to address the surge of unaccompanied minors, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) stated that its seeking to build capacity for 13,500 beds, with the potential for additional capacity in order to meet what has been a continuous flow of unaccompanied minors coming across the border. The HHS has opened multiple temporary facilities in the past two weeks. For the month of March, CBP agents encountered more than 172,000 illegal immigrants, according to statistics released on April 8. Thats a sharp increase from just over 101,000 individuals encountered in February. Among those who crossed illegally into the United States last month were more than 18,800 unaccompanied minors, double the number who illegally arrived in the United States in February (more than 9,300 encounters). Thats compared to 5,585 unaccompanied minors in January, and 4,993 in December 2020. A top HHS official has described the surge of illegal border crossings as unprecedented and told a federal judge in a sworn declaration that she believes the influx is likely to increase in the coming weeks and months. As an initial matter, it is important to understand that the current influx is not limited to the January-March time period but is an ongoing challenge that will likely increase in severity in the coming weeks and months, Cindy Huang, director of HHSs Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR), wrote in her testimony (pdf). Republicans have argued that the burgeoning crisis is a result of President Joe Bidens move to overturn several Trump-era immigration policies that had helped to curb the flow of illegal border crossings. This includes his predecessors cornerstone Migrant Protection Protocols, which effectively ended the problematic catch-and-release policy that significantly stemmed the surge of illegal immigrants that was seen at the southern border in 2019. In a return to the Obama-era policies that facilitate catch-and-release, the Biden administration is again releasing unaccompanied minors into the country. The lawmakers argue that Bidens act has been interpreted as a signal to prospective migrants to travel to the United States. He is the one that opened the borders. He needs to be responsible for this, and he needs to stop it, Iowas Reynolds said on April 8. Meanwhile, the Biden administration has sought to shift the blame to former President Donald Trumps administration, with Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas saying that the previous government had dismantled the orderly, humane, and efficient way of allowing children to make their claims under United States law in their own country. It has also sought to downplay the severity of the situation at the border by asserting that the influx was driven by normal seasonal patterns rather than the administrations new policies. It happens every single solitary year. There is a significant increase in the number of people coming to the border in the winter months of January, February, March. It happens every year, Biden said on March 25. Advertisement Justin Trudeau was slapped down by Downing Street today after claiming Britain is facing a 'very serious third wave' - with critics accusing him of a desperate attempt to deflect criticism over his own country's sluggish vaccine rollout and surging infections. The Canadian premier referred to the UK's hugely successful drive, which has 60 per cent of the population given jabs compared to just 20 per cent in Canada, as he sought to justify keeping tough restrictions. 'Vaccinations on their own are not enough to keep us safe,' he told MPs in the country's parliament. 'We know for example that the UK is ahead of just about everybody else on vaccination and yet they maintain very strong restrictions and are facing a very serious third wave.' But Tories accused Mr Trudeau of 'fake news', telling MailOnline he should 'butt out' and focus on his own problems. Scientists tracking the spread of the virus also rubbished the Canadian premier's comments, insisting the UK is in a 'stable' position. A No10 spokesman insisted the 'case data speaks for itself'. 'I don't have a specific response for Justin Trudeau but I think the case data speaks for itself with this,' the spokesman said. 'Case numbers are down and ditto for hospitalisations and deaths and that is a tribute to our vaccine rollout and the work of the British public and the NHS.' Conservative MP Peter Bone said Mr Trudeau seemed to be deploying a similar tactic to the EU. 'When they were in trouble on their poor performance of vaccination, they went on the attack trying to hit out at everyone and everything including the UK. Maybe this is the old saying, 'the best form of defence is attack' - even if there is no foundation to it.' He added: 'It would sound to me, like with the EU, there's a lot of fake news in what he is saying. He should butt out of UK affairs and concentrate on running his own country, which he doesn't seem to be doing very well.' Professor Tracy Hussell, an immunologist and director of the Lydia Becker Institute of Immunology and Inflammation at Manchester University, said: 'I don't really know what his fears are based on. I think clarification of that would certainly be useful. The UK is in a relatively stable position at the moment.' Asked whether there was any sign of a third wave in the data, she said 'not at the moment' adding that hospitals have remained 'calm' and there are no clear signs of an uptick. 'I think we can expect little ripples going forward but unless a brand new strain comes along that is not recognised (by vaccines) these will not be as big (as the previous wave),' she said. Cases in the North American country, which was praised by pundits for its early response to the coronavirus outbreak but has struggled to get its vaccine programme up to speed, recently hit 207.3 per million people, according to data from Johns Hopkins University - exceeding even the staggering 206.7 per million recorded in the US. On Monday, Canada recorded a record 10,859 new cases compared to 2,491 cases on the same day in the UK - a resurgence which infectious disease experts blame on 'pandemic fatigue', the early lifting of lockdown curbs and the appearance of more transmissible variants. While Britain roars ahead with its hugely successful vaccine rollout, with more than 32 million people having already received a first dose and now being offered the jab to over-45s in England, Canada has inoculated just a fifth of its population against the virus. The Canadian government even suspended the use of the AstraZeneca vaccine in under-55s amid frenzied concerns it could cause blood clots in young people, and especially women - despite the claims of EU regulators that the shot does not cause the rare phenomenon. Amid growing pandemic fatigue, hundreds of protesters in Montreal chanting 'Freedom for the young' clashed with riot police as they smashed windows and set bins alight during a demo against a draconian curfew extended and expanded by local authorities. Yet despite this, Mr Trudeau claimed during a Question Time in the Canadian House of Commons on Wednesday that Britain was 'facing a very serious third wave' of Covid-19 cases - despite no evidence yet showing that the country is on the cusp of another outbreak. Dismissing the efficacy of vaccines, the Canadian premier said restrictions such as mask mandates and social distancing would help reduce cases and deaths, in an echo of Boris Johnson's claims yesterday that lockdowns saved lives - and urged MPs to 'engage in the right kind of behaviour'. Justin Trudeau has claimed that Britain is facing a 'very serious third wave' of coronavirus despite his own country overtaking the US for the first time on cases per capita. Though Boris Johnson has warned the third wave of cases in Europe could wash up onto British shores, he has so far insisted that the outbreak will not jeopardise the UK's 'roadmap' out of lockdown On Monday, Canada recorded a record 10,859 new cases compared to 2,491 cases on the same day in the UK - a resurgence which infectious disease experts blame on 'pandemic fatigue', the early lifting of lockdown curbs and the appearance of more transmissible variants King's College London's study of more than a million Britons showed daily cases have fallen by 17 per cent in the last week, with an estimated 1,600 new symptomatic cases a day across the country Police try and detain a woman as anti-curfew protests continue for a second night Monday, April 12, 2021 in Montreal Police move down Saint Catherine Street as anti-curfew protests continue for a second night, Monday, April 12, 2021, in Montreal 'I think it's really important that we work from facts and understanding of the science around things,' Mr Trudeau said. 'We know for example that the UK is ahead of just about everybody else on vaccination and yet they maintain very strong restrictions and are facing a very serious third wave. 'Vaccinations on their own are not enough to keep us safe. We need to engage in the right kinds of behaviours, do things that the conservatives aren't always good at like wearing masks, keeping distances and obeying public health rules.' Neighbouring Europe has been swept up by a third wave of cases, prompting national governments to lock-down their economies and impose restrictions on movement. Though Mr Johnson has warned the third wave of cases in Europe could wash up onto British shores, he has so far insisted that the outbreak will not jeopardise the UK's 'roadmap' out of lockdown. Commenting on Canadia's pandemic situation, Dr Eddy Fan of Toronto's University Health Network said 'things are, unfortunately, extremely challenging' and warned how patients are getting sicker faster than during the first two waves and heading to intensive care within 48 hours. 'Patients coming to the hospital, and certainly in the intensive care unit, now are younger,' he told the Times. 'Many of them have been previously quite healthy. 'In my ICU we've seen some 20-year-olds, and certainly 30, 40, 50-year-olds. It's a shift in the demographic downwards towards younger patients.' Opposition MPs have criticised the Canadian government for its sluggish vaccine rollout, with New Democrats leader Jagmeet Singh claiming: 'Canada is on fire. It's not good enough to sit on the sidelines.' In Ontario and British Columbia, which have seen record numbers of cases in recent days, local authorities are struggling to suppress the so-called Kent and Brazilian variants respectively which have taken root. Infectious disease experts claim the surge in cases has coincided with warmer weather and lockdown fatigue. Just this week, hundreds of protestors in Montreal chanted 'Freedom for the young' and smashed windows in defiance of a new coronavirus curfew. Riot police fired tear gas in a bid to control the crowd that had allegedly gathered on Sunday to protest Quebec premier Francois Legault's decision to roll the city-wide curfew back from 9:30pm to 8 pm. The move, previously replicated in other Covid-19 hot spots across the province, took effect in Montreal and nearby Laval on Sunday. The protest began calmly, with a mostly young crowd dancing to music from loudspeakers while lighting fireworks and chanting, 'freedom for the young' - and quickly turned violent as garbage fires were lit in Jacques Cartier Square. Marwah Rizqy, a Liberal member of the provincial legislature that represents a Montreal riding, condemned the protesters as they threw glass, destroyed city infrastructure and ran from police. Quebec had reported 1,535 new cases on Sunday, as well as five additional deaths linked to the virus - while hospitalisations jumped by 25 to 608, with 139 patients in intensive care. Police detain people in Montreal, Monday, April 12, 2021, for breaking an 8 pm curfew imposed by the Quebec government to help curb the spread of Covid-19 A woman is detained by police in Montreal, Monday, April 12, 2021, for breaking an 8 pm curfew imposed by the Quebec government to help curb the spread of the coronavirus Police detain people as anti-curfew protests continue for a second night, Monday, April 12, 2021, in Montreal A man is detained by police for breaking curfew in Montreal, Monday, April 12, 2021, as the Covid-19 pandemic continues in Canada Health Minister Christian Dube tweeted that the numbers had given cause for concern, given that 58 per cent of new cases involve people under the age of 40. 'While vaccination accelerates, we must continue to adhere to the measures if we want to defeat this pandemic,' Mr Dube said. 'Let's show solidarity.' Mr Legault said last week that he was imposing the curfew in Montreal and Laval despite a relatively stable case count due to the heavy presence of more contagious variants. Residents in those regions who leave their homes between 8 pm and 5 am without a good reason could face fines of over $1,000. The government also closed schools and non-essential businesses in those areas, and Legault announced Thursday that the measures would be extended until at least April 18. The province also gave 59,447 doses of vaccine on Saturday, and has currently given a shot to just over 22 per cent of the population. Washington: US President Joe Biden made an announcement on Thursday that all American troops would be withdrawn from Afghanistan by September 11, 2021. The North Atlantic Treaty Organizations (NATO) withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan would mean bringing to an end the country's longest war, spanning across two decades. "US troops, as well as forces deployed by our NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization) Allies and operational partners, will be out of Afghanistan before we mark the 20th anniversary of that heinous attack on September 11 (2001), said President Biden during a televised address to the nation from the White House, news agency PTI reported. After his address, Biden went to the Arlington National Cemetery to pay homage to the American soldiers who died in the Afghanistan war, which began in 2001 after Al Qaeda terrorists based in Afghanistan attacked the World Trade Centre in New York. He further spoke about the decision at the cemetery and said the troop-pullout was not a tough decision. "No, it wasn't. To me, it was absolutely clear. Absolutely clear. We went for two reasons: to get rid of (Al Qaeda chief Osama) Bin Laden and to end the safe haven. From the very beginning, you may recall, I never thought we were there to somehow unify Afghanistan. It's never been done," the President told reporters. In his address to the nation, President Biden reiterated that his administration would remain alert to the threat of terrorism. Biden said his team is refining national strategy to monitor and disrupt significant terrorist threats not only in Afghanistan, but anywhere they may arise - Africa, Europe, the Middle East, and elsewhere. It's time for American troops to come home, President Biden said. The United States will begin our final withdrawal -- begin it on May 1 of this year. We will not conduct a hasty rush to the exit. We'll do it responsibly, deliberately, and safely. And we will do it in full coordination with our allies and partners, who now have more forces in Afghanistan than we do, the President said. "The Taliban should know that if they attack us as we draw down, we will defend ourselves and our partners with all the tools at our disposal, he added. The US and the Taliban signed a landmark deal in Doha on February 29, 2020 to bring lasting peace in war-torn Afghanistan and allow US troops to return home from America's longest war. Under the US-Taliban pact signed in Doha, the US agreed to withdraw all its soldiers from Afghanistan in 14 months. Since the US-led invasion that ousted the Taliban after the September 11, 2001 attacks, America has spent more than USD 1 trillion in fighting and rebuilding in Afghanistan. About 2,400 US soldiers have been killed, along with tens of thousands of Afghan troops, Taliban insurgents and Afghan civilians. (With inputs from PTI) Live TV Angela Merkel will reportedly receive her first shot of the AstraZeneca vaccine on Friday after Germany banned the jab for people under 60. German daily newspaper Die Welt reported the news, adding that Interior Minister Horst Seehofer had received his first dose of the vaccine on Wednesday. Merkel is eligible to receive the AstraZeneca shot as she is 66. Her choice of vaccine may be intended to restore confidence in the safety of the AstraZeneca jab after several countries suspended or restricted its use over concerns about a possible link to extremely rare blood clots. Angela Merkel will reportedly receive her first shot of the AstraZeneca vaccine on Friday after Germany banned the jab for people under 60. Merkel is eligible to receive the AstraZeneca shot as she is 66 [File photo] Earlier this month, German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier also received the AstraZeneca vaccine, saying: 'I trust the vaccines approved in Germany'. WHICH COUNTRIES HAVE SUSPENDED THE ASTRAZENECA VACCINE? NOT SUSPENDED Austria Bulgaria Croatia Cyprus Czechia Hungary Latvia Luxembourg Malta Poland Romania Slovakia Slovenia SUSPENDED FOR UNDER-30s Greece United Kingdom SUSPENDED FOR UNDER-55s Belgium France SUSPENDED FOR UNDER-60s Estonia Germany Ireland Italy Portugal Spain SUSPENDED FOR UNDER-65s Finland Lithuania Sweden SUSPENDED FOR UNDER-70s Iceland SUSPENDED FOR ALL AGES Denmark The Netherlands Norway Advertisement Germany has frequently altered its approach to the AstraZeneca vaccine; first approving it for under 65s amid false concerns of its efficacy in older patients, then in early March walking back on the move by approving its use in over 65s. On March 30, it was announced that the two-dose jab would no longer be offered to people under 60 and on Tuesday federal and regional health ministers agreed to give people under 60 who had been given a first dose of the AstraZeneca vaccine a different jab for their second dose. Germany was not routinely offering jabs to those aged under 60 before the Astra ban took effect, meaning the group affected will only a small portion of the population - likely the clinically vulnerable and other risk groups who had priority. The World Health Organization has said it cannot recommend switching vaccines between two doses as a protection against Covid-19, due to insufficient data showing the effects. The concern over clots and mixed messages surrounding the vaccine are expected to affect people's willingness to take it in Germany and elsewhere. On Wednesday, Denmark became the first European country to completely cease administering the drug in a decision that could slow the country's vaccine rollout. Denmark was the first country to pause the use of the AstraZeneca jab in March amid concerns about blood clots. Several other countries followed suit though most, including Germany, have since resumed the use of the vaccine for older people. Last week, the European Union's drug watchdog said last week that it had found a possible link between the AstraZeneca vaccine and very rare blood clot cases. However it said the risk of dying from Covid-19 was 'much greater' than the risk of mortality from rare side effects. The regulator left it up to individual states to make their own risk assessments and decide how to administer the vaccine based on local conditions that vary widely across the bloc. There were 222 cases of the atypical thromboses blood clots out of 34 million AstraZeneca injections carried out in the European Economic Area (EU, Iceland, Norway, Liechtenstein) and Britain, as of April 4, according to the EMA. And there were 18 deaths, as of March 22. Most of the cases reported were in women under 60 years of age within two weeks of vaccination. According to Germany's health ministry some 2.2million people aged under 60 have received an AstraZeneca dose in recent weeks. Cases have been rising gradually in Germany since late January, with the country recording 21,693 new infections on Wednesday At least 79,427 people have died from coronavirus in Germany since the pandemic began last spring Johnson & Johnson's single-shot vaccine has come under similar suspicion for the same issue, with US health authorities recommending on Tuesday that it be paused while they investigate six cases of clotting. The AstraZeneca vaccine is significantly cheaper than other vaccines and is easier to store as it does not require to be kept at an extremely low temperature. The European Commission is also engaged in a row with AstraZeneca over missed delivery targets. It accuses the British-Swedish company of breaking its contract and claims it is at fault for the slow start to the EU's vaccination campaign. The Commission has threatened to block exports of jabs out of the EU until the company fulfils its outstanding orders from the bloc. AstraZeneca denies breaking the contract. The concern over clots and mixed messages surrounding the vaccine are expected to affect people's willingness to take it in Germany and elsewhere [Stock image] Over 78 pct of netizens oppose Japan's decision to dump radioactive water into sea: survey Xinhua) 16:59, April 14, 2021 BEIJING, April 14 (Xinhua) -- Over 78 percent of global netizens expressed opposition to Japan's decision to discharge contaminated radioactive wastewater into sea, according to an exclusive survey posted by Xinhua on its Twitter account on Tuesday. A total of 1,121 Twitter users took part in the survey which was of a single-choice vote and lasted for 24 hours. Of all the respondents, 65.7 percent voted "strongly against" and 13.2 percent voted "against." Only 11.2 percent voted "support," while 9.8 percent had no comments. The respondents' concerns mainly focused on the wastewater's lasting harm to the marines and human beings, Japan's irresponsibility and Western countries' collective silence on the matter. Sara Gomez Arancibia wrote with angry face emojis: "For me, (this) is a big mistake that goes against the respect of marine resources across our planet earth." Ahsen Abro wrote: "Radiation water reached the coast of California years ago, increasing cancer cases there by a wide margin. What's this stunt show about?" Edison Aardvark wrote: "We need more information on the effects. This affects the waters shared by many nations." Magic Stone wrote: "So surprised and shocked that someone still support this unethical and irresponsible decision." A netizen called subhasis said: "Neighbouring countries should sue the Japanese government." Another netizen called Bill said: "The Western and its media all keep in silence. Japan brought disaster to human beings during World War Two. Now, Japan again is dragging human beings into hell. Where are the U.S., Britain and their mainstream media? They choose deliberately to be blind." Xinhua also posted the same poll on Xinhua News app, where 389 netizens participated. Results showed that 95 percent of the respondents voiced objection to Japan's decision, among whom 87 percent were strongly against it. Only 1 percent supported it, while 4 percent had no comments. Earlier on Tuesday, Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga said his government had decided to discharge contaminated radioactive wastewater in Fukushima Prefecture into the sea. The water, according to reports, has been treated using an advanced liquid processing system, or ALPS, to remove most contaminants. However, things like tritium, a radioactive byproduct of nuclear reactors, are hard to filter out. The Fukushima nuclear plant has been struggling to store the contaminated water in huge tanks at the facility where more than 1.25 million tons of contaminated water are currently stored, and the plant is expected to reach capacity next year. Japan had considered evaporating or storing underground the tritium-laced water from the plant as an alternative. However, the Japanese government decided to dilute the contaminated water and discharge it into the sea because it was more technically feasible and would save on costs. Struck by a magnitude-9.0 earthquake and ensuing tsunami that hit Japan's northeast on March 11, 2011, the No. 1-3 reactors at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant suffered core meltdowns. The plant has been generating massive amount of radiation-tainted water since the accident happened as it needs water to cool the reactors. The plant's operator Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings Inc. said it will take around two years for the release to start. Japan's decision has raised concerns from neighboring countries, including China, South Korea and Russia, about a possible impact on human health and fishery businesses. It has also faced strong opposition from environmental groups like Greenpeace. Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency Rafael Mariano Grossi on Monday called for efforts to forestall further harm to environmental protection, food safety and human health. (Web editor: Guo Wenrui, Liang Jun) Mumbai: The Bombay High Court refused permission to a city-based trust to allow people to offer Namaz at its mosque in south Mumbai during the Ramadan period, saying the COVID-19 situation was "serious and critical" and the safety of citizens was more important. A vacation bench of Justices R D Dhanuka and V G Bisht noted that the Maharashtra government found it expedient to impose restrictions to break the chain of transmission of the coronavirus. "The right to celebrate or follow a religious practice is important, but what is more paramount and of importance is public order and the safety of citizens," the court said. It was hearing a petition filed by the Juma Masjid Mosque Trust, seeking permission to allow people from the Muslim community to offer the prayers five times a day at its mosque in south Mumbai. The petitioner said the mosque is spread over an acre and around 7,000 people can assemble at a time. However, considering the COVID-19 situation, only 50 persons would be allowed at a time to offer prayers during the Ramadan period and all safety precautions would be followed, it said. Additional Government Pleader Jyoti Chavan, appearing for the Maharashtra government, opposed the plea and said the situation in Mumbai and Maharashtra is alarming. "We cannot make an exception to any religion, especially in this 15-day period. We cannot take a risk at this stage and all citizens should cooperate," Chavan said. She said the government was not prohibiting any person from practising his/her religion, but they should do it in their homes. The court while dismissing the plea said it cannot consider the petitioner's request in view of the COVID-19 situation which is "serious and critical in nature". "In our view, the restrictions imposed by the state government are due to the COVID-19 circumstances. Considering the prevailing situation and ground reality in Maharashtra, we cannot permit the petitioner to perform prayers at the mosque," the HC said. The government's order of restrictions is in public interest and for the safety of all residents of Maharashtra, it said. The bench noted that in the past, several courts across the country refused permission to many other religious congregations due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Reeling under an unprecedented COVID-19 wave, the Maharashtra government on Tuesday announced severe restrictions on public movement over the next 15 days across the state. As part of the curbs, all religious places and malls shall remain shut. The restrictions, which exclude essential services, will come into effect from 8 pm on Wednesday and remain in force till 7 am on May 1. Section 144 of the Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC), prohibiting assembly of five or more people at one spot, will be in force during this period, Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray said on Tuesday. Live TV After 40 years, San Antonio radio anchor and reporter Elizabeth Ruiz will be retiring from KTSA. "It was a difficult decision to leave," Ruiz told MySA in a phone chat. "But after 40 years I thought 'what else am I going to be doing?'" As a San Antonio native myself, hearing about radio or TV legends hanging up their hats is never easy. Growing up in San Antonio, I was fortunate to hear Ruiz on the radio while my parents drove me to school. For those of you who don't know about Ruiz, there's a reason why Sonny Melendrez once dubbed her the "Queen of the Airwaves." Let me explain. Ruiz's first taste of radio came in 1980 when she was hired part-time at KKYX (600 AM) while attending San Antonio College, according to the San Antonio Radio Hall of Fame website. Not long after, Ruiz became a full-time reporter at KTSA a place she would end up calling home. In the past 40 years, Ruiz has also landed a spot in the San Antonio Radio Hall of Fame, and has accrued a list of prestigious awards including the Henry Guerra Lifetime Achievement Award for Excellence in Journalism from the San Antonio Association of Hispanic Journalists and the Governors Yellow Rose of Texas Award. The Kennedy High School grad also worked alongside Sonny Melendrez for several years at 102.7 KTFM Morning Show. READ ALSO: News 4 San Antonio just lost three major TV personalities. What is going on? "Our radio adventure took us to every corner of excitement this city has to offer, broadcasting the fun from the most unusual places, including atop the giant boots at North Star Mall!" Melendrez said. Many listeners rarely saw Ruiz, only heard her through the radio. But Ruiz has the most infectious smile that shined beyond the mic. She not only leaves an impact on loyal listeners, but also colleagues who turned into family. "There are so many great women in broadcasting that fly under the radar. Dedicated, humble, not wanting the spotlight but wanting accept life's responsibilities with grace," said former radio horst and her KTSA colleague Dave Rios. "The next chance you get please join us in thanking Elizabeth Ruiz for what she has done for our families throughout the years because she really deserves the best her next chapter has to offer. God bless 'Bitsy,'" he added. READ ALSO: KONO 101.1 Dave Rios signs off for the last time Rios clarified that 'Bitsy' was Ruiz's nickname with the radio folks from when the two worked together at KTSA in the '80s. Ruiz gave Dave Rios his name after he was looking for recommendations on a radio name that would be easy for San Antonians. "She thought of the San Antonio River and asked, 'How about Dave Rios?' So, my radio nickname has been Dave Rios for about 34 years, he told MySA in a previous report. Rios wasn't the only one left with Ruiz's lasting impact. Christian Bove, a former KTSA news director and reporter said Ruiz is San Antonio Radio. "Elizabeth Ruiz isnt just a staple of San Antonio radio, she is San Antonio radio. Liz embodies everything that makes our city great; a warm, welcoming demeanor, a loving and caring personality and of course, Fiesta!" Bove said in an email."While her retirement will leave a huge void on San Antonios airwaves, I couldnt be happier for her. A 40 year career in the same city, much less for the same group of radio stations, is almost unheard of in the radio industry." So what will Ruiz be doing with her post retirement life? She said it will consist of home improvement projects, travel and spending time with family. But there's one thing top of mind for Ruiz. "The first week I'm going to sleep," she joked on the phone. Well, we don't blame you Elizabeth, you've worked more than enough in those 40 years. Her last day is Thursday, April 15. But she has one message for listeners. "Thank you for allowing me to be with you in your cars and homes what a privilege." Happy retirement Elizabeth, we wish you the best! A 33-year-old woman who fell in love with a man 21 years her senior after they bonded over their shared love of cosplay has spoken out to defend their age-gap romance - despite voicing frustration that his role as a father gets in the way of their time together. Model Kat Lyons, 33, from California, met her retired lieutenant colonel boyfriend Rob Berg, 54, from Texas, at sci-fi convention Galaxy Fest in Colorado in February 2019. Despite their 21 year age difference, the pair immediately hit it off due to their shared interest in cosplay, sci-fi and comic books. True love: A 33-year-old woman has revealed how she fell for a man 21 years older than her after they bonded over a shared love of cosplay Meant to be: Kat Lyons, 33, met Rob Berg, 54, at a sci-fi convention in Colorado in February 2019 and the pair instantly hit it off The couple fell for each other quickly and began dating - but not everyone in their lives were supportive of their new relationship at first, with Kat's mom voicing serious concerns about her daughter's older boyfriend. Kat's mother insisted that Rob was just with her for her youthfulness and would leave when he got tired of her. Fortunately, after two years together, Kat's mom has taken a liking to Rob and they even shared a hug when they last met. 'We met at the sci-fi convention Galaxy Fest in February 2019 and fell in love after we went out on our first date,' said Kat. 'For Rob it was my geeky personality and for me it was that he could make me laugh effortlessly - we're both naturally silly people. 'My family was not so keen on me and Rob being together, especially at first. My mom said he was closer to her age and that he just wanted me because I'm young and eventually he will get tired of me. 'It was hurtful, but things have changed in the past two years and she seems okay with it now. They met recently and she even hugged him which was a big moment. 'There are lots of benefits to being in an age gap relationship. Rob has plenty of life experience, he knows what he wants, and is responsible. When in public, Kat and Rob are affectionate with each other, something that Kat says causes strangers to stare and whisper about the couple when they think they aren't looking. Upset: Kat says the age gap was never an issue for her and Rob, however her mother voiced concerns over the relationship, warning her daughter, 'He will get tired of you' Staying strong: The model insists that there are distinct advantages to being with an older man that strangers simply do not understand Skepticism about Kat and Rob's love isn't just confined to the outside world. The couple have people online commenting on pictures of them together, calling their relationship disgusting and even telling Kat that she should leave Rob and try dating someone younger. Kat says there are distinct advantages to being with an older man that strangers simply do not understand. Notably, Rob is mature, emotionally stable and knows what he wants in life. He is also able to provide for the couple financially, allowing Kat to avoid spending her thirties living with her parents. However, Rob has two daughters, Sophia, six, and Madison, 18, from two previous marriages and whilst they share an immense love with Kat, she says that it can be difficult for the couple to go out and spend quality time together alone when Rob has full custody of the youngest. Despite her man's age, Kat says that Rob always steals the show with his charm when they meet with friends or go out. According to the 33-year-old, men are even turned on by his good looks and charisma. 'Being with someone older often means that you are with someone both more emotionally and financially stable and can avoid living in your parent's basement,' Kat said. 'When we are out, I notice people staring and whispering about us. I certainly notice it more than Rob does. Online we always get comments about his age and people asking why I'm with an old man. 'Women often comment about it being disgusting. They say that "he just likes young women" and say that "when I get tired of the old man I should try someone young". 'Age certainly doesn't define the love we share. 'Rob has two kids from previous marriages and with him having sole custody over his six-year-old, it does affect our ability to go and do things as a couple. But I share an amazing love with both his six-year-old and 18-year-old so there are no issues there.' Kat is eager to let the world know that age should not define any relationship and hopes to eventually marry Rob to demonstrate the love they share, despite not particularly believing in the institution itself. 'Some people are skeptical about being with someone a lot older or younger than themselves, but you might be missing out on the best thing in your life,' she said. 'A lot of the time you can find stability with a person that is more mature. 'Eventually we want to get married even though we both don't believe in the institution of marriage. There are benefits to doing so and we both plan on being with each other for the rest of our lives, so why not.' The United Way Young Leaders United is partnering with Midland Business Alliance to provide lunch from local restaurants for all 1,325 staff members in the Midland, Bullock Creek, Meridian, and Coleman school districts. The organizations are reaching seeking community members to adopt a full or half school as an individual, group, or company or donate toward a single meal. Phuket yacht delivery to Samui stumped by pedestrian bridge PHUKET: Attempts to deliver a luxury yacht from Phuket to Surat Thani, for eventual delivery to Koh Samui, never made it off the island last night as the boat on the back of a trailer failed to make it under a pedestrian bridge. transportSafetypolice By The Phuket News Thursday 15 April 2021, 11:32AM A Thalang traffic police officer on duty last night explained to The Phuket News that the truck driver had issues with four pedestrian bridges in total on Thepkrasattri Rd. The officer, who asked not to be named, received his first call from the truck driver seeking assistance at about 8pm. The boat, a Prestige 500 measuring 50 feet long, was unable to make it under the pedestrian bridge near Baan Tha Reua School on Thepkrasattri Rd. Traffic Police arrived to make sure no cars or motorbikes tried to pass the boat while the problem was being sorted out. Then the driver had issues getting the boat safely under the pedestrian bridge near Provincial Electricity Authority Thalang branch just north of the Heroines Monument. After about half an hour, and letting some air out of the trailer tyres, the boat was safely taken under the bridge. At 11pm, the driver arrived at Thalang Police Station in person to ask for help, as this time the boat was unable to make it safely under the pedestrian bridge in front of Baan Lipon School in Srisoonthorn. This time the officer asked the driver to sort the problem out himself. I told him to try to resolve the problem by himself first. If he really needed help, to please call us again, the officer said. Before ending his shift, the traffic police officer went to check on the progress in getting the boat clear, and the driver told him that he will take the boat back to Boat Lagoon Marina in Koh Kaew. The driver said the radar on the boat had broken during the efforts to get under the bridge, the officer said. The Phuket News later confirmed that the boat has been returned to Boat Lagoon. The clearance of the pedestrian bridges is supposed to be five metres. However, one bystander noted that repeated resurfacing of the road may have left the height clearance notices inaccurate. Additional reporting by Eakkapop Thongtub Media Tech SPAC's Rick Senat presents his experience and expertise to Proactive London and how these skills will be implemented for his latest role as non-executive Chairman at the firm. He media career kicked off in 1977, becoming Senior Vice President for Business Affairs in EMEA. Working on key projects including Harry Potter films, Batman & Superman. He managed the negotiations for the acquisition of rights for Stanley Kubrick films and the film and associated rights in the Harry Potter books - he was instrumental in setting up Warners new European operations, including Warner Bros. Consumer Products and Warner Bros. International Theatres. He retired from Warner after 25 years. Source: Xinhua| 2021-04-15 22:14:37|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close JUBA, April 15 (Xinhua) - The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) on Thursday received more than 95 million U.S. dollars from the United States through USAID's Bureau for Humanitarian Assistance to provide food aid to South Sudan amid biting hunger. WFP Representative and Country Director in South Sudan Matthew Hollingworth said the rising food insecurity has pushed 60 percent of the population into hunger and poverty. He said WFP relies on predictable funding to plan ahead to prevent the kind of alarming conditions that precede famine by covering the pressing needs of the most food-insecure communities. "These funds will also help WFP to preposition food stocks for the lean season when humanitarian access is more challenging," he said in a statement issued in Juba. The latest integrated food security phase classification assessment released early this year warned that 7.24 million people will face severe acute hunger at the height of the lean season in between May and July, while 1.4 million children will be acutely malnourished. According to the report, unprecedented floods, the impact of COVID-19 on the lives of the poorest people and increased conflict over the last two years have taken their toll on the world's youngest country. WFP said the contributions provide relief to extremely vulnerable families living in emergency or catastrophic levels of hunger and in dire need of immediate food and nutrition assistance. Funding shortages, however, remain a reality in South Sudan, where humanitarian needs outpace the aid response, Hollingworth said. WFP last week announced that it was forced to cut food rations from April, a decision that will affect 700,000 refugees and internally displaced people who now receive 50 percent of a full ration, down from 70 percent. WFP said it requires 125 million dollars in the next six months to provide life-saving food assistance in sufficient quantities to crisis-affected people, including increased rations to refugees and internally displaced people. Enditem Stephanie Wiggins Appointed CEO of L.A. Metro Leading Generational Transformation in Local Transportation The Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority Board of Directors gathered to discuss Stephanie Wiggins new role as CEO of the company, leading L.A. Metro. On April 8, Los Angeles City Mayor Eric Garcetti announced the final tally in Wiggins favor, succeeding the role of retiring CEO Phillip Washington. Wiggins is currently seated at the helm, as the CEO of Metrolink; various leaders of the Los Angeles community have been celebrating her continual growth. Mayor Garcetti stated, Metro is in the midst of a generational transformation that will mean more jobs for local workers, more growth for our economy, and more ways for Angelenos to move around our region and nobody is better prepared to carry the torch of progress than Stephanie Wiggins. ADVERTISEMENT Stephanies career makes her ideally suited to lead this agency at this moment: shes experienced, determined, committed to equity, and steeped in L.A.s transportation history, and she is the perfect candidate to carry Metro into its next chapter, Said Garcetti. Washington announced his retirement in February, after serving roughly six years in Metro leadership. After a national search for the ideal candidate to take up the CEO mantle, they appointed Wiggins and met for a final vote on Thursday, April 8. In reflection of Washingtons leadership, Mayor Garcetti said, Phil Washington has been a visionary leader, a force for trailblazing growth and lasting progress across our transit network. Phil leaves this agency better off than he found it a legacy of an expanding public transportation system that gets Angelenos where they need to go and remains a force for sustainability, equity, jobs, workforce development, and shared prosperity across the L.A. area. Wiggins will begin a four-year term as Metro CEO between May 30 and June 14. She has built a strong rapport in her previous position as chief executive officer; pushing the needle forward with hand in Measure M; an initiative that raised financial support for transportation through half percent sales tax. Her first role in the transportation industry was temporary; dedicated to a six-month assignment with San Bernardino County Transportation Authority, Wiggins stayed in that position for four years. Earning her Masters from USC Marshall School of Business, and years of crafting exceptional leadership, Wiggins became an undeniable force that will be seen in new role at L.A. Metro. In December of 2018, Wiggins began her tenure as CEO of Metrolink. She conducted a network of regional passenger railing that expanded over a 500-mile-route-system. Her talent has been acknowledged by the Conference of Minority Transportation Officials; she received their Women Who Moved the Nation Award (2018) and the League of Railway Womens Women of the Year award (2020). ADVERTISEMENT Before stepping into her role, she learned varied levels of executive placement; Wiggins assisted the standing chief executive officer and designed of viable methods of implementation for high profile projects like Measure M. Through her credentials and experience as Metros executive director of vendor/contract management, she has helped various parts of the L.A. region. When she aligned herself with Metrolink, she was appointed CEO in 2018, and became their first woman of color in a chief executive officer position. When her position was announced back in December of that year, Washington was quoted in the press release, Over the last decade, Stephanie Wiggins has distinguished herself as a talented, resourceful and hardworking leader at Metro, most recently in her role as deputy chief executive officer since 2015. As the Metrolink CEO, Wiggins oversaw a $793 million annual budget led 282 full-time employees. As the new CEO for L.A. Metro, she will oversee its multi-billion-dollar budget. She will be trusted with another multi-billion-dollar financial plan that recent calculated reports have counted Metros current fiscal year to be $6 billion. In similar, work Wiggins served as regional program director for Riverside County Transportation Commission. Under Riverside County, she managed their transit, commuter rail, rideshare, and major rail projects. Los Angeles County has shown their solidarity in the transition of roles for Wiggins; Supervisor Holly Mitchell stated, Ms. Wiggins is the leader Metro needs, as we head into a new era of atonement, addressing inequity, and making our system more dignified for our riders. I thank Mr. Washington for his illustrative service, and for the tireless work that he did to position Metro as the best and most exciting transit agency in the world. L.A. Metros Bd appointee, Jacquelyn Dupont-Walker, spoke highly of Wiggins work ethic and loyalty to this sector, Stephanie Wiggins is what LA Metro and LA County need for such a time as this. She has proven leadership qualities of serving and valuing all the people, integrity and strong experience, and a track record for making and conveying tough decisions to all stakeholders. Dupont-Walker continued, I am humbled to have had to opportunity to be a part of selecting two outstanding Metro leaders and departing CEO Phil Washington agrees with this board choice. Together, we will not lose a beat in our quest to be the best public transit system in the world. In the end, the people win!! Chairwoman of Los Angeles Board of Supervisors Hilda Solis stated in response to Wiggins new responsibilities, Stephanie Wiggins appointment as the first woman of color to serve as CEO of Metro, marks a historic shift in the agencys leadership. Stephanie has demonstrated time and time again her commitment to equity by bridging transportation and community health while adapting to emerging needs like the pandemic Solis went on to paint a vivid picture of Wiggins dedication to this field, Her experience as the chief executive officer of Metrolink and her previous executive-level experience at Metro makes her the ideal candidate to lead this agency through recovery. She has had a number of successes over her career including the expansion of Metros Express Lanes program. The formation of Metros Women and Girls Governing Council, and the advancement of Metrolinks $10 billion SCORE program. As Metros new CEO, Stephanie will ensure equity is considered in every decision made, from improving customer service to increasing contracting with small businesses, Said Chairwoman Solis. Wiggins feelings about her new position were captured on the Metros reporting board, The Source, she stated, I am honored by the opportunity to return to LA Metro as its CEO and am grateful to Mayor Garcetti and the LA Metro Board for the faith they have placed in me for this important role. I am thankful to my team at Metrolink for all of our successes together and those that are still to come throughout this transition and as we work together in the future. LA County has great mobility needs that we must develop with goals of achieving better health, opportunity and equity for all of the regions residents, and I look forward to bringing transformative leadership and collaboration with the regions transportation authorities to make this vision a reality. GRAND RAPIDS, MI Pine Rest Christian Mental Health Services says the state erred last month when it declined its application to provide 60 additional in-patient psychiatric beds at its Gaines Township headquarters and instead approved a competing request by Havenwyck Hospital. Pine Rest is now asking the state to reconsider its decision. It filed an appeal this week with the Michigan Department of Licensing and Regulatory Affairs, arguing that the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services (MDHHS) failed to properly review Havenwycks certificate of need application. In an interview with MLive/TheGrand Rapids Press, Pine Rest Chief Operating Officer Bob Nykamp said Havenwyck, which is based in Auburn Hills, failed to include key details within its certificate of need application. He also said Pine Rests proposal was less expensive than Havenwycks, and that it gives Pine Rest the flexibility to provide those beds to adults as well as children. He also took aim at Havenwycks owner, Universal Health Services. He said part of the Pennsylvania-based for-profit companys job is to enrich their shareholders. Thats their job, and so that moneys going to leave West Michigan, that profits going to leave West Michigan and enrich their shareholders, which is, hey, thats the American way. Im OK with that, he said. But our margin stays in West Michigan and we reinvest it back in the delivery of care, because thats what were required to do. MDHHS granted initial approval to Havenwycks certificate of need application on March 29. Havenwyck has proposed building a 60-bed psychiatric hospital near Mercy Healths southwest campus in Byron Township. Havenwyck says it plans to operate the hospital, which UHS officials estimate will cost between $21 million and $40 million, in partnership with Mercy Health. Pine Rest is requesting permission to renovate 20,500 square feet of existing space and build 12,775 square feet of new space at its headquarters at 300 68th St. SE in Gaines Township to house 60 additional beds. The project is estimated to cost $15.6 million, state documents show. Forty of those 60 beds are already in place at Pine Rest. The behavioral health care provider previously received emergency state approval to add the 40 beds to house COVID-19 patients with psychiatric needs. In addition to the 40 beds, Pine Rest has a total of 162 adult psychiatric beds, 26 adult flex beds, and 36 child and adolescent beds. Pine Rest and Havenwyck were competing against one another to fill an unmet demand for 60 adult in-patient psychiatric beds in Allegan, Ionia, Kent, Lake, Mason, Montcalm, Muskegon, Newaygo, Oceana and Ottawa counties. Both organizations, in an effort to secure the right to provide those beds, submitted certificate of need applications to MDHHS. The applications were scored on factors such as cost per-bed, usage by Medicaid patients, and if the proposed projects include a partial hospitalization psychiatric program, outpatient psychiatric services, or psychiatric aftercare services. Pine Rest received 29 points, while Havenwyck received 32 points. Pine Rest and Havenwyck received identical scores in all but two categories: cost per-bed and use by Medicaid patients. Because Pine Rests proposal is less expensive than Havenwycks, it received more points in the cost per-bed category. However, Havenwyck received 10 points in the Medicaid usage category, while Pine Rest received 5 points. Nykamp declined to discuss Pine Rests appeal in detail, saying it was a legal matter. However, he did say that Havenwycks application only included data, which was used to score the applications, from one of UHS Michigan facilities. He said the certificate of need application indicates that applicants shall provide data for all their facilities in the state. In addition to Havenwyck, UHS lists four other Michigan facilities on its website: Forest View Hospital in Grand Rapids Township, Skywood Recovery in Augusta, Cedar Creek Hospital in St. Johns, and Skywood Outpatient in Royal Oak. Right now, the applicant were in the comparative review with used statistics from one of their four owned facilities within Michigan, and the standards are very clear that an owner must use all of their own facilities within the statistics, Nykamp said. That advantaged their application and disadvantaged Pine Rest and were asking (the state) to take a look at that in the appeal. UHS spokesperson Jane Crawford did not respond to a request for comment. In a joint statement, Mercy Health and Havenwyck Hospital said they are confident that MDHHS exercised its statutory authority to apply the CON review standards and reach the correct conclusion. We look forward to a prompt resolution so that we can move forward with our proposed project and address the need for additional adult psychiatric beds in Kent County, according to the statement, provided by Mercy Health. MDHHS spokesperson Lynn Sutfin said her agency does not comment on pending appeals. As far as process, she said if Pine Rest requests a hearing, a decision on the appeal would be made following the hearing by MDHHS Director Elizabeth Hertel. Besides being less expensive, Nykamp said Pine Rests proposal is superior to Havenwycks because it could be completed sooner. Because we have the facility already in place that we were going to renovate and reuse for these beds, were going to get these beds on board quicker, much faster than the two-year process that Havenwyck would have to go through to build their new hospital, he said. Nykamp said its important that the state reverse its denial of Pine Rests application because, in addition to other concerns, Pine Rests proposal calls for its 60 beds to be given flexible status so they could be used for adults and children. Children right now is where youre hearing all of the issues about being able to find resources, psychiatric hospital resources, he said. Havenywcyck or Universal cannot do flex beds in this new hospital but Pine Rest can, and thats critically important in this new application as well. MDHHS indicates there is not a shortage of children and adolescent beds in the West Michigan region. However, there are shortages of these beds elsewhere in the state, and Pine Rests Gaines Township facility serves children from throughout Michgan, Nykamp said. We have a contract with every county in the state of Michigan to provide child and adolescent services for Medicaid, he said. He added, We receive information from the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services and the Michigan Hospital Association on whos getting boarded in emergency rooms waiting for psych hospitals. And by far, the biggest boarding problem is kids, not adults. And the length of boarding is much longer for a child than it is for an adult. Winning its appeal will be a challenge, but Nykamp said hes hopeful Pine Rest will prevail. But he said the organization that would be harmed by Pine Rests victory, UHS, is a large, well-to-do company. It is a little bit of a David and Goliath thing from that perspective, he said. But just like in that story, we think the right thing ends up happening in the end, and I think were pretty optimistic about that. Read more: Teen charged after homemade bomb explodes in classroom Grand Rapids manufacturer seeking tax break for addition, anticipates creating 54 jobs Why some people may have to return their $1,400 stimulus check to the IRS [April 15, 2021] TA Digital Named No. 130 on the Inc. 5000 Regionals List for California NEWARK, Calif., April 15, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Inc. magazine has released its second annual Inc. 5000 Regionals: California list, highlighting the fastest-growing California-based private companies. The list, regarded as the most prestigious ranking for private businesses, has ranked TA Digital at No. 130. The Inc. 5000 list honors the innovative achievements of regional companies in generating sustainable growth and jobs and is one of the most esteemed recognitions for businesses and business leaders alike. "It's a tremendous honor to be recognized for record growth during the last two consecutive years. Our consistent growth is a testament to the amazing work done by our incredible team as well as supportive clients. As we continue to partner with our clients on large-scale digital transformation initiatives through industry leading platforms like Adobe, we are looking to rapidly expand our teams across various geographical regions," says Rajiv Rohmetra, CEO at TA Digital. Headquartered in the Bay area, TA Digital has continued to grow exponentially over the past few years, strengthening its strategic partnerships and enabling the digital transformation of multiple marquee organizations. Over the years, the company has evolved from being a software implementer to a full-fledged customer experience agency with expertise in Strategy, Experience, Data, Marketing, Commerce, and Managed Services. TA Digital recently entered the predictive search space, launching its first cognitive search solution, Searchboost.ai. TA Digital also holds the unique distinction of being the first Adobe partner to earn 8 specializations across the entire Adobe Experience Cloud. Leveraging their expertise in Adobe, SAP, Salesforce, and other partner technologies, TA Digital has created innovative solutions and exchange tools like TA Digital Ascent B2B, TA Digital Ascent B2C, SAP Nexus B2B, SAP Nexus B2C, CommerceFactory, and CMS Bridge. TA Digital believes in unifying content, data, and experience to help their clients achieve maximum ROI through superior customer experiences. The 2021 Inc. 5000 Regionals list highlights the impressive growth rates of companies across all industries in California. Between 2017 and 2019, these private companies had an average growth rate of 535 percent and, in 2019 alone, they employed more than 40,000 people and added nearly $7 billion to the California economy. Companies based in major metro areasLos Angeles, the Bay Area, and San Diegobrought in the highest revenue overall. Complete results of the Inc. 5000 Regionals can be found here. About TA Digital TA Digital is the only global boutique agency that delivers the "best of both worlds" to clients seeking to achieve organizational success through digital transformation. Unlike smaller, regional agencies that lack the ability to scale or large organizations that succumb to a quantity-over-quality approach, we offer resource diversity while also providing meticulous attention to the details that enable strategic success. Over the past 20 years, TA Digital has positioned clients to achieve digital maturity by focusing on data, customer-centricity and exponential return on investment; by melding exceptional user experience and data-driven methodologies with artificial intelligence and machine learning, we enable digital transformations that intelligently build upon the strategies we set into motion. We are known as a global leader that assists marketing and technology executives in understanding the digital ecosystem while identifying cultural and operational gaps within their business ultimately ushering organizations toward a more mature model and profitable digital landscape. Recognized in 2013, 2014, 2015, 2019 and 2020 Inc. 5000 list as one of the most successful technology companies in the United States, TA Digital is pleased also to share high-level strategic partnerships with world class digital experience platform companies like Adobe, SAP and Salesforce and possess global partnerships with industry leaders such as commercetools, Sitecore, Episerver, Elastic Path, BigCommerce, AWS, Azure and Coveo. More about Inc. and the Inc. 5000 Regional Series Methodology The 2021 Inc. 5000 Regional Series is ranked according to percentage revenue growth when comparing 2017 and 2019. To qualify, companies must have been founded and generating revenue by March 31, 2017. They had to be U.S.-based, privately held, for profit, and independentnot subsidiaries or divisions of other companiesas of December 31, 2019. (Since then, a number of companies on the list have gone public or been acquired.) The minimum revenue required for 2017 is $100,000; the minimum for 2019 is $1 million. As always, Inc. reserves the right to decline applicants for subjective reasons. About Inc. Media The world's most trusted business-media brand, Inc. offers entrepreneurs the knowledge, tools, connections, and community to build great companies. Its award-winning multiplatform content reaches more than 50 million people each month across a variety of channels including websites, newsletters, social media, podcasts, and print. Its prestigious Inc. 5000 list, produced every year since 1982, analyzes company data to recognize the fastest-growing privately held businesses in the United States. The global recognition that comes with inclusion in the 5000 gives the founders of the best businesses an opportunity to engage with an exclusive community of their peers, and the credibility that helps them drive sales and recruit talent. The associated Inc. 5000 Conference is part of a highly acclaimed portfolio of bespoke events produced by Inc. For more information, visit www.inc.com. Media Contact: Marketing Department 734-238-0005 307573@email4pr.com View original content to download multimedia:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/ta-digital-named-no-130-on-the-inc-5000-regionals-list-for-california-301269729.html SOURCE TA Digital [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] Federal COVID-19 guidance released in March said its safe for fully vaccinated adults from different households to meet indoors without masks. It was the nations first step back to normal social gatherings since the coronavirus pandemic started. But can unvaccinated kids join? Evidence shows children are more likely to have mild cases of COVID-19, while young kids are less likely to spread the virus than adults. But they can still infect others around them, and although rare, some kids may experience severe disease. Children arent risk-free, Dr. Kelly Fradin, a pediatrician in New York City, told NBC News. We want to balance, realistically, that they are low-risk but not absolutely no risk. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says unvaccinated children can visit their grandparents and spend time indoors without masks as long as their grandparents are vaccinated, provided none of the unvaccinated family members are at risk of severe COVID-19. But freedom narrows once unvaccinated people from other households are involved, the agency says. In the scenario above, if the neighbors, who are not vaccinated, decide to join the gathering, then the visit should be moved outdoors, masks should be worn and physical distancing should take place. This is due to the risk two unvaccinated households pose to one another, the CDC says. What the agency doesnt address, however, is what to do if two unvaccinated kids from different homes want to hang out. As long as community spread is relatively low, and as long as none of the children are involved in outside activities that would increase their risk of contracting or spreading the virus, I would say that kids from two families can be included in small gatherings, and that the families can decide about mask use and other precautions individually, based on their comfort levels, said Dr. Shawn Ferullo, the associate medical director at MIT Medical in Massachusetts. And as more people get vaccinated against COVID-19, the CDC is likely to loosen restrictions further, Ferullo added. In the meantime, vaccinated adults can allow the kids in their lives to begin to do some things they couldnt do last year, and we can find ways to allow them to do these things relatively safely. Story continues Whats more, Dr. Ed Levy, a pediatrician at the same medical center, said he sees more negative mental health effects in kids, as a result of isolation, than I see serious COVID disease. Experts agree it comes down to considering the risks: Do any of the unvaccinated people have medical conditions that increase their risks for severe disease? Do those involved in the gathering live with older adults or visit older loved ones who are not vaccinated in nursing homes? Some doctors say to err on the side of caution Other doctors worry the coronavirus variants, which appear to be more contagious, might complicate how comfortable people become with mixing unvaccinated children with others. There are some variants going around that increase the likelihood of spread so the most important thing is to continue to physically distance for kids. When theyre at school, they need to mask, Dr. Kate Williamson, a pediatrician at Childrens Hospital of Orange County in California, told ABC7. When theyre around anybody else who is not vaccinated, they need to continue to mask. Dr. Rosemarie Roque Gordon, a pediatrician at MIT Medical, agrees there are ways to mitigate risks as vaccine developers work on ensuring their COVID-19 shots are safe and effective for kids. I would recommend having the kids continue to wear masks, Gordon said. And, as the weather gets better, itll be easier to keep interactions mostly outdoors, where the risk of transmission is much lower. Generally, the older the child, the more precautions should be taken, experts say, because older kids are just as capable of spreading the coronavirus as adults. Those under 4 and 5 years, the risk of transmission to and from [these kids] is actually quite low, and the risk of having serious illness is low, Dr. Michael Chang, a pediatric infectious disease specialist at the McGovern Medical School at UTHealth in Texas, told Vox. So, [they] can be more flexible, in the types of activities they share with others. When will kids be eligible for COVID-19 vaccines? A recent study found that the two-dose Pfizer coronavirus vaccine, which was the first shot authorized for emergency use in the U.S., reduced risk of coronavirus infection in children 12-15 years old by 100%, meaning no vaccinated kids were infected during the late stage trial. Its a stunning boost in protection against COVID-19 compared to people between 16 and 25 years old, who benefit from a 95% reduction in infection risks after receiving their second, final dose. Top officials in the company said they hope to start vaccinating this age group before the next school year starts this fall. Pfizer also said it already started vaccinating the first group of kids in its study among children between 6 months and 11 years old. This study is separated into three age groups: children aged 5 to 11 years, 2 to 5 years, and 6 months to 2 years. Moderna announced in March that children between 6 months and 12 years old have started to receive its vaccine in a mid- to late-stage study. The company plans to enroll about 6,750 children in the U.S. and Canada. Anyone 18 and older can receive the Moderna and Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccines when they are eligible in their states; the Pfizer shot is authorized for those 16 and older. What to know about rare blood clotting connected to Johnson & Johnson COVID vaccine Do kids need COVID vaccines for school to return to normal? Heres what experts say If youve had COVID, your first vaccine dose may cause worse side effects. Heres why Patients who are overweight or obese have more severe COVID-19 and are highly likely to require invasive respiratory support, according to a new international study. Credit: i yunmai Patients who are overweight or obese have more severe COVID-19 and are highly likely to require invasive respiratory support, according to a new international study. The research, led by the Murdoch Children's Research Institute (MCRI) and The University of Queensland and published in Diabetes Care, found obese or overweight patients are at high risk for having worse COVID-19 outcomes. They are also more likely to require oxygen and invasive mechanical ventilation compared to those with a healthy weight. MCRI researcher Dr. Danielle Longmore said the findings, which highlighted the relationship between obesity and increased COVID-19 disease burden, showed the need to urgently introduce strategies to address the complex socio-economic drivers of obesity, and public policy measures such as restrictions on junk food advertising. "Although taking steps to address obesity in the short-term is unlikely to have an immediate impact in the COVID-19 pandemic, it will likely reduce the disease burden in future viral pandemics and reduce risks of complications like heart disease and stroke," she said. The study looked at hospitalized SARS-CoV-2 patients from 18 hospitals in 11 countries including China, America, Italy, South Africa and The Netherlands. Among the 7244 patients aged 18 years and over, 34.8 per cent were overweight and 30.8 per cent were obese. COVID-19 patients with obesity were more likely to require oxygen and had a 73 per cent greater chance of needing invasive mechanical ventilation. Similar but more modest results were seen in overweight patients. No link was found between being overweight or obese and dying in hospital from COVID-19. Cardiovascular and pre-existing respiratory diseases were associated with increased odds of in-hospital deaths but not a greater risk for needing oxygen and mechanical ventilation. For patients with pre-existing diabetes, there was increased odds of needing invasive respiratory support, but no additionally increase in risk in those with obesity and diabetes. Men were at an increased risk of severe COVID-19 outcomes and needing invasive mechanical ventilation. In those aged over 65 years, there was an increased chance of requiring oxygen and higher rates of in-hospital deaths. The University of Queensland's Dr. Kirsty Short, who co-led the research, said almost 40 per cent of the global population was overweight or obese. "Obesity is associated with numerous poor health outcomes, including increased risk of cardiometabolic and respiratory disease and more severe viral disease including influenza, dengue and SARS-CoV-1," she said. Dr. Short said while previous reports indicated that obesity was an important risk factor in the severity of COVID-19, almost all this data had been collected from single sites and many regions were not represented. Moreover, there was a limited amount of evidence available about the effects of being overweight or obese on COVID-19 severity. "Given the large scale of this study we have conclusively shown that being overweight or obese are independent risk factors for worse outcomes in adults hospitalized with COVID-19," she said. MCRI Professor David Burgner, who co-led the research, said the data would help inform immunization prioritization for higher-risk groups. "At the moment, the World Health Organization has not had enough high-quality data to include being overweight or obese as a risk factor for severe COVID-19 disease. Our study should help inform decisions about which higher-risk groups should be vaccinated as a priority," he said. Explore further Follow the latest news on the coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak More information: Danielle K. Longmore et al. Diabetes and Overweight/Obesity Are Independent, Nonadditive Risk Factors for In-Hospital Severity of COVID-19: An International, Multicenter Retrospective Meta-analysis. Diabetes Care April 15, 2021 Journal information: Diabetes Care Danielle K. Longmore et al. Diabetes and Overweight/Obesity Are Independent, Nonadditive Risk Factors for In-Hospital Severity of COVID-19: An International, Multicenter Retrospective Meta-analysis.April 15, 2021 doi.org/10.2337/dc20-2676 JACKSONVILLE, FL / ACCESSWIRE / April 14, 2021 / GEE Group Inc. (NYSE American:JOB) ("GEE" or the "Company") a provider of professional staffing services and solutions, today announced the pricing of an underwritten public offering of 83,333,333 shares of its common stock at a public offering price of $0.60 per share, for gross proceeds of approximately $50,000,000, before deducting the underwriting discount and commissions and offering expenses payable by the Company. GEE has granted the underwriters a 45-day option to purchase up to an additional 12,499,999 shares of the Company's common stock to cover over-allotments, if any, at the public offering price, less the underwriting discount. All of the shares of common stock are being offered by the Company. The Company intends to use the net proceeds of this offering, together with available cash to repay approximately $55,000,000 in aggregate outstanding indebtedness under its existing Revolving Credit, Term Loan and Security Agreement and the remainder, if any, for general corporate purposes, including working capital and potential acquisitions. The offering is expected to close on April 19, 2021, subject to satisfaction of customary closing conditions. ThinkEquity, a division of Fordham Financial Management, Inc., is acting as sole book-running manager for the offering. A registration statement on Form S-1 (File No. 333-254235) relating to the shares was filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission ("SEC") and became effective on April 14, 2021. This offering is being made only by means of the prospectus contained in, or which forms a part of, such registration statement. Copies of the final prospectus, when available, may be obtained from ThinkEquity, a division of Fordham Financial Management, Inc., 17 State Street, 22nd Floor, New York, New York 10004, by telephone at (877) 436-3673, by email at prospectus@think-equity.com. The final prospectus will be filed with the SEC and will be available on the SEC's website located at http://www.sec.gov . This press release shall not constitute an offer to sell or a solicitation of an offer to buy, nor shall there be any sale of these securities in any state or jurisdiction in which such an offer, solicitation or sale would be unlawful prior to registration or qualification under the securities laws of any such state or jurisdiction. About GEE Group Inc. GEE Group Inc. ("GEE" or the "Company") is a provider of specialized staffing solutions and is the successor to employment offices doing business since 1893. The Company operates in two industry segments, providing professional staffing services and solutions in the information technology, engineering, finance and accounting specialties and commercial staffing services through the names of Access Data Consulting, Agile Resources, Ashley Ellis, General Employment, Omni-One, Paladin Consulting and Triad. Also, in the healthcare sector, GEE Group, through its Scribe Solutions brand, staffs medical scribes who assist physicians in emergency departments of hospitals and in medical practices by providing required documentation for patient care in connection with electronic medical records (EMR). Additionally, the Company provides contract and direct hire professional staffing services through the following SNI brands: Accounting Now, SNI Technology, Legal Now, SNI Financial, Staffing Now, SNI Energy, and SNI Certes. Forward-Looking Statements In addition to historical information, this press release contains statements relating to the Company's future results (including results of business operations, certain projections, future financial condition, pro forma financial information, and business trends and prospects) that are "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the Securities Act of 1934, as amended, (the "Exchange Act"), and the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 and are subject to the "safe harbor" created by those sections. The statements made in this press release that are not historical facts are forward-looking statements that are predictive in nature and depend upon or refer to future events. Such forward-looking statements often contain, or are prefaced by, words such as "will", "may," "plans," "expects," "anticipates," "projects," "predicts," "pro forma", "estimates," "aims," "believes," "hopes," "potential," "intends," "suggests," "appears," "seeks," or variations of such words or similar words and expressions. Forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance, are based on certain assumptions, and are subject to various known risks and uncertainties, many of which are beyond the Company's control, and cannot be predicted or quantified and, consequently, as a result of a number of factors, the Company's actual results could differ materially from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. The international pandemic, the "Novel Coronavirus" ("COVID"-19), has been detrimental to and continues to negatively impact and disrupt the Company's business operations. The health outbreak has caused a significant negative effect on the global economy, employment in general including the lack of demand for the Company's services which is exacerbated by government and client directed "quarantines", "remote working", "shut-downs" and "social distancing". There is no assurance that conditions will not worsen and further negatively impact GEE Group. Certain other factors that might cause the Company's actual results to differ materially from those in the forward-looking statements include, without limitation: (i) the loss, default or bankruptcy of one or more customers; (ii) changes in general, regional, national or international economic conditions; (iii) an act of war or terrorism, industrial accidents, or cyber security breach that disrupts business; (iv) changes in the law and regulations; (v) the effect of liabilities and other claims asserted against the Company including the failure to repay indebtedness or comply with lender covenants including the lack of liquidity to support business operations and the inability to refinance debt, failure to obtain necessary financing from commercial sources or government programs such as the main street lending facility or other economic relief programs, failure to obtain partial or full forgiveness on payroll protection loans or the inability to access the capital markets and/or obtain alternative sources of capital; (vi) changes in the size and nature of the Company's competition; (vii) the loss of one or more key executives; (viii) increased credit risk from customers; (ix) the Company's failure to grow internally or by acquisition or the failure to successfully integrate acquisitions; (x) the Company's failure to improve operating margins and realize cost efficiencies and economies of scale; (xi) the Company's failure to attract, hire and retain quality recruiters, account managers and salesmen; (xii) the Company's failure to recruit qualified candidates to place at customers for contract or full-time hire; (xiii) the adverse impact of geopolitical events, government regulations and mandates, natural disasters or health crises, force majeure occurrences, global pandemics such as the deadly "coronavirus" (COVID-19) or other harmful viral or non-viral rapidly spreading diseases and such other factors as set forth under the heading "Forward-Looking Statements" in the Company's annual reports on Form 10-K, its quarterly reports on Form 10-Q and in the Company's other filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). More detailed information about the Company and the risk factors that may affect the realization of forward-looking statements is set forth in the Company's filings with the SEC. Investors and security holders are urged to read these documents free of charge on the SEC's web site at http://www.sec.gov. The Company is under no obligation to (and expressly disclaims any such obligation to) and does not intend to publicly update, revise, or alter its forward-looking statements whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise. Contact: Gee Group Inc. Kim Thorpe 904.512.7504 invest@genp.com SOURCE: GEE Group Inc. View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/640518/GEE-Group-Announces-Pricing-of-50-Million-Underwritten-Public-Offering Blind Dog With Cleft Palate Appears to Have 2 Noses But It Doesnt Stop Him From Smiling A blind rescue dog doesnt stop smiling with glee from ear to ear despite being born with a significant cleft palate which makes him appear to have two noses. Ashtons condition meant that his nostrils grew outwards and apart from each other and left him blind from underdeveloped eyes. Additionally, the condition also leaves him with what appears like two separate noses that many compare to the shape of a bat. Ashton has never let having two noses get him down, his owner Leah Hawkins said. Hes always smiling and hes always happy. (Kennedy News and Media) A cleft palate is an opening between the mouth and the nose that happens when the tissues separating these two cavities do not grow together properly. The fluffy American Eskimo dog was originally rescued from a center in Ohio but was returned 18 months later before eventually being adopted by Leah about three years ago. The adventurous dog now lives with Leah, 33, and her husband Nathan on a 25-acre farm outside Niagara Falls, Canada, with four other dogs. According to Leah, Ashtons unique nose structure comes in handy in all sorts of situations, as he has learned to use its unusual shape to pry open dog gates and doors so he can go where he pleases. (Kennedy News and Media) He uses his nose like a tool by prying open our one dog gate which is like an accordion style and to open the dog door sometimes if he doesnt feel like running through it, Leah said. However, Leah, who truly adores her adventurous canine, wouldnt have it any other way. I like to call his nostrils little cinnamon buns, Leah said. I loved his nose when I first saw him and I still do now. If anything I love him more. Two nostrils going in opposite directions means double the nose boops and kisses. (Kennedy News and Media) However, Ashton remains completely unaware of his condition as this has been the only way he has lived. He doesnt know a world with sight and nor does he realize that his nose is a bit different as he eats and drinks completely normally. Sharing more details about his condition, Leah said Ashton has an extremely small hole in the roof of his mouth, but it can only be visible if one is looking for it. Although Leah and Nathan have taken Ashton to different vets over the years so as to improve his condition, the vets all advised instead to leave it alone as surgery would not improve his quality of life because it is already great. He is very healthy. He doesnt get eye infections, his teeth look great and his vet was very happy with the overall health of his mouth, Leah said. Leah has often been asked by various curious people about Ashtons nose; as they sometimes fail to understand that he was actually born that way. His cleft nose is very spaced and many have not seen anything like that before, Leah said. However, when people get to know Ashton, they dont seem to notice it any longer and just see a happy dog living a normal life. When I continue and tell them he is blind well they are usually stunned, Leah said. Most people dont realize he is blind until I mention it as he moves with ease and relies very heavily on his hearing. Leah adds that she hasnt really met with any negative comments about him, but shares that even if she did, she would shrug it off. (Kennedy News and Media) Describing Ashtons fun-loving personality, Leah said his energy is contagious. He has a strong will to live and enjoy life, Leah added. Hes a pro at going with the flow and living each day to the fullest. According to Leah, Ashton is adventurous, too, and truly enjoys doing different activities with her. He also loves to play fetch, Leah said. I also enjoy paddleboarding with Ashton and he also does an annual agility camp once a year. Leah, who has for the first time come across the wonders and resilience of rescue dogs, shares they are a gift. The love and happiness they bring into our lives is something we should never take for granted, Leah said. The Epoch Times Staff contributed to this story. Now, before we discuss the details of the competitive sprint we have here, let's quickly get over these beasts's factory numbers. After all, both slices of America came to the fight in factory form.On paper, the pony has nothing to worry about. That's because its supercharged 5.2-liter V8, which churns out 760 hp (770 PS), can push the coupe past the quarter-mile mark in 10.7 seconds. Of course, the dual-clutch tranny, which is a first for the muscle car segment, also plays an important part here.As for the high-rider, the Durango SRT Hellcat's V8 delivers 710 horsepower (720 PS) using an eight-speed automatic, but it does so using all four wheels. Its factory 1,320-ft number? That would be 11.5 seconds, a number that will bring joy to more drivers than expected, since Dodge recently increased the super SUV's production numbers Tipping the scales at around 4,200 lbs (1900+ kg), the Ford Mustang Shelby GT500 is no featherweight, but we have to keep in mind that the Dodge is some 1,500 lbs (680 kg) meatier.Then again, those numbers were recorded in ideal conditions, and while this drag race takes place on a drag strip, you can overlook this aspect. You see, Hennessey Performance, which sits behind the adventure, ran the machines on a non-prepped surfacethe Texan specialist used the strip in its back yard the other way around, so it would simulate real-world conditions.Ford Performance engineers might've made efforts to ensure the GT500 can get a proper launch, but the machine's RWD nature means it obviously can't match its opponent during the initial phase of the race, especially since there doesn't seem to be any burnout to warm up the tires.And while we can't be sure about the drivers' reaction times, we can assure you that the drag race has a definitive conclusion. The Biden administrations decision to withdraw the last 2500 US troops from Afghanistan is a blow to the prestige of America and its allies but this is a case where it is better to admit failure and move on. The US and its allies invaded the Central Asian country in 2001 with the goal of overthrowing the Taliban regime and the al-Qaeda terrorists who used the country as a safe haven to attack New Yorks World Trade Centre. That was a righteous goal but it was achieved within weeks. In the two decades since, it has grown increasingly hard to understand what we were fighting for. The mission crept from fighting terrorism into pacifying and then rebuilding an ethnically fragmented and impoverished country. At the peak of troop deployment, more than 130,000 US, NATO and Australian troops were deployed to the country in an attempt to achieve the mammoth task of nation building. Despite that enormous effort, the Taliban still controls large sections of the countryside and Afghan democracy barely extends outside the capital Kabul and a few big cities. It is always hard to admit failure. Prime Minister Scott Morrison, who said Australia will withdraw its last 80 troops, defended the 20-year war on Thursday saying: Freedom is always worth it. Yet many will question whether the heavy price paid for this failure of arms and foreign policy was really justified. At least 41 Australian soldiers have died and 261 have been wounded. Hundreds of thousands of Afghan civilians have been killed and the war displaced millions, sending some of them Australias way in leaky boats. The endless war against a hostile population has also taken a heavy toll on the morale of Australian soldiers. The brutal climate was a factor in events that led to the alleged war crimes committed by our elite SAS troops that was exposed by the Herald and confirmed by the Brereton report. The decision to withdraw is not without risks. Hawks in the US and here are warning rightly that the Taliban could grow stronger and even take power. After September 11, when the withdrawal is due to be complete, Afghanistan could, once again, become a safe haven for terrorist groups aimed at the West such as Islamic State and al-Qaeda. These concerns made former president Donald Trump change his mind after the proposed withdrawal last year. But there are better ways of containing those risks than garrisoning a country of 38 million in perpetuity. The threat of Islamist terror has not disappeared but long years in Afghanistan has proven, if nothing else, that counter-insurgency is difficult, expensive and even counter-productive. If the West is to stay true to its principles, it cannot stop supporting its allies in Afghanistan who are still fighting for democracy. But it can do so by providing military, technical and economic support. It should reach out to neighbouring countries, including China which has no reason to favour an Islamist unstable Afghanistan. It has taken us too long to admit that the war was unwinnable and drop the pretence that we could remake the country in our own image. Withdrawal will allow Australia and the US to redeploy resources to other foreign policy and security challenges such as Chinas growing assertiveness in the Indo-Pacific. It is something former US president Barack Obama once talked about but failed to do. Australia and the US must shift their focus from fighting Afghan farmers armed with rifles to strengthening our defences against cyber-attack and deterring Beijings military build-up in the South China Sea and its economic coercion throughout the region. The US, Australia and its allies must accept that the balance of risks in the world has changed and craft a new approach. Israeli operator Partner Communications decided not to accept any of the bids received from potential investors for a 20% stake in its fibre infrastructure unit. TeleGeography reports that after receiving inquiries from interested parties, in November last year Partner considered soliciting offers for a stake in the rights to use its current and future fibre-optic networks. To execute this plan, Partner indicated that it would set up a new unit with one or more investors, transfer the rights to its fibre infrastructure to this newly formed entity, and then sell a 20% stake in the joint venture. In February this year, Partner announced that various investors had submitted bids for in excess of ILS550 million (US$167 million) for the available stake. SEARCH East End Tick Control The East End's only New York State licensed dedicated tick and mosquito control specialists! Southampton Masonry-Visiting the Southampton or the Wainscott locations is an exciting experience. Southampton Masonry has been serving Long Island's masonry and tile needs since 1975. Delivering quality products from Manhattan to Montauk for over three decades. The company's continued success is due primarily to their number one priority: customer satisfaction, with a promise of prompt and courteous service from the professional, knowledgeable staff. Southampton Masonry has the largest inventory on the east end. As direct importers they can offer a large variety of the finest quality products at the most competitive pricing for both your interior and exterior projects. New York Title Abstract Services, Inc. We are a title insurance services company dedicated to promptly delivering fully compliant and accurate reports, and title insurance, for residential and commercial real estate throughout New York State. Headquartered in the Hamptons, our professional team has extensive real estate experience and understands the business from all sides including title insurance, legal, sales, governmental, banking, and lending regulations. Hamilton Hoge As the owners representative our practice encompasses all aspects of a project from pre-purchase property due diligence, program development iterations, advisement on systems, analyze contracts/vendors, critical path analysis, feasibility and schedule. The strength of our approach is in facilitating organized communication. We strongly analyze all representations and warranties for the protection and benefit of our client. Associated Press An arrest warrant affidavit for a Colorado man charged with murder in the death of his wife who disappeared last year will remain sealed, a judge ruled Friday, saying that release of the document could harm the couple's daughters and witnesses in the case and hinder Barry Morphew's ability to prepare his own defense. Chaffee County District Court Judge Patrick Murphy ordered that the affidavit, which details investigators' reasons justifying Morphew's arrest in the disappearance of Suzanne Morphew, remain sealed until the conclusion of a preliminary hearing in August. A coalition of news media organizations, including The Associated Press, had petitioned the court for release of the 130-page document, arguing in part that the public has a presumptive right to know what led to Morphew's May 5 arrest. SPOKANE - Washington State University Health Sciences and its life sciences incubator, Spinout Space in Spokane (sp3nw), announced today a $750,000 award as part of the Economic Development Administrations Scaling Pandemic Resilience Through Innovation and Technology (SPRINT) Challenge. The SPRINT Challenge was launched to harness Americas entrepreneurial potential to address the economic, health, and safety risks caused by the coronavirus pandemic through entrepreneurship and innovation. Sp3nws proposal was chosen for its unique framework to create a flexible infrastructure for resilient entrepreneurship, referred to as FIRE, which consists of support programs that spur regional economic development in eastern Washington and North Idaho. We are thrilled to be chosen as a recipient in the Department of Commerce/Economic Development Administrations competitive SPRINT challenge. This validates the sp3nw program and its delivery of innovative life science to the region, said Glenn Prestwich, who is both the principal investigator for the project and the director for sp3nw. Continued Prestwich, Our proposal was unique in that it matches startups in the area with executive advisors and interns to help expedite go-to-market actions. The project will provide wrap-around services to startups including marketing, bookkeeping and business research. As we talk to life sciences entrepreneurs, these are often the services they lack capacity to carry out. Additionally, FIRE will establish a directory of funding opportunities, assess regional funding gaps, and train local investment groups to develop funding for early-stage businesses. The project also targets pharmaceutical manufacturing and technician certification in urban and rural areas in the Inland Northwest in order to create a growing and sustainable workforce, which is important for economic development. The Biden Administration applauds the SPRINT Challenge awardees efforts to pivot to help their communities through difficult times quickly, said Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo. American entrepreneurship and innovation will help our country through this coronavirus pandemic and build it back better, stronger, and more resilient. Sp3nw was started in 2020 in order to incubate WSU research and innovation into biotech, pharma, diagnostics, and medical device companies, while also connecting regional entrepreneurs with WSU faculty expertise. SPRINT funding for the FIRE project aligns with the incubators mission to identify, support, incubate and accelerate early-stage life science and health care companies. The products and innovations these companies ultimately produce will help the global health care community address challenges related to pandemics like COVID-19. Said WSU Health Sciences Vice President, Daryll DeWald, The SPRINT Challenge award validates that sp3nw project and teams are laser-focused on using innovation to help overcome challenges caused by the pandemic. It is awe-inspiring to learn about all the products from sp3nw companies that directly align with SPRINT Challenges mission and goals. Examples of sp3nw projects related to Covid-19 include: Intravenous line organizing devices of Crimson Medical Mental health improvements offered by HART3S SniffAlert technology for Covid positivity detection Decision-making algorithms to improve patient compliance and provider communications from Managed Health Connections And many more Incubator leaders are currently seeking additional funding from investors to allow its experts to further address critical entrepreneurial gaps throughout the state of Washington. The incubator affords opportunity for innovators to engage with nearly three dozen affiliated consultants, investor groups and service providers, as well as a mentor network comprised of nearly two dozen experienced entrepreneurs. Assistance offered to entrepreneurs includes grant preparation and submission, operational and intellectual property support, and legal and marketing services. For those interested in being an sp3nw service partner or mentor, entrepreneur, or investor, visit sp3nw.org. The field hospital in the parking lot of Sunnybrook Hospital in Toronto on Wednesday, March 31, 2021. Ontario says a COVID-19 field hospital in Toronto could be activated later this month as it grapples with rising hospitalizations cause by the pandemic. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Frank Gunn Deputy Prime Minister of Armenia Mher Grigoryan today received the delegation led by EU Special Representative for the South Caucasus and the crisis in Georgia Toivo Klaar, as reported the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister. Head of the EU Delegation to Armenia, Ambassador Andrea Wiktorin was also attending the meeting. The interlocutors exchanged views on the works being carried out for unblocking of transport links in the region. Grigoryan presented the scopes of activities of the trilateral task force operating under the co-chairmanship of the Deputy Prime Ministers of Armenia, Russia and Azerbaijan and the nature of the expert work. Several issues of mutual interest were also discussed during the meeting. ANN ARBOR, MI -- Ann Arbor allowed several street closures to make room for outdoor dining and retail through at least August, but one restaurant owner is urging the city to stop. Detroit Street Filling Station owner Phillis Engelbert sent a letter to city officials, pressing them to shut down non-essential activities due to the spike in coronavirus cases in Michigan, averaging more than 7,000 new cases per day. Engelbert has been running her restaurant on a carryout and delivery basis since October to curb the spread of COVID-19 among her customers and staff. Michigan coronavirus data for Wednesday, April 14: Closing in on new daily case record I read a lot, I care, I believe in science and I am incredibly frustrated with the publics behavior and the lack of courageous leadership at all levels of government, Engelbert said on her decision to put out the proposal. Our failure to pause now has the potential to propel this virus for years. And Im worried about our health care workers being pushed to the brink. We could be looking at a very scary future. Ann Arbor approved street closures for outdoor activity at a Monday, March 15 city council meeting. Businesses are required to follow social distancing guidelines, such as spacing our chairs and tables and enforcing employees and patrons to wear masks. But Engelbert does not see that as a solution to rising cases. Ann Arbor OKs street closures for restaurants, retail until August In the letter, Engelbert specifically requested Ann Arbor to stop the downtown street closures to avoid encouraging crowds to congregate. I have seen the public crowd into downtown streets and the Kerrytown area; many are unmasked. There is no way to effectively police the social distancing and mask mandates throughout the city. People will not self-police. The only remedy is to shut it down, Engelbert said in the letter, which was also shared on the restaurants Facebook page. Businesses are not obligated to disclose to the public their COVID cases, which means we dont even know the true tally. The majority of workers at these establishments are not yet fully vaccinated; someone needs to stand up for them, Engelbert said. Businesses are required to immediately report cases to their local public health department, according to Susan Ringler-Cerniglia, spokeswoman for the Washtenaw County Health Department. But the health department only announces exposure sites. We have never announced all cases or exposures, only those where there was concern about public exposure. The determining factor is typically if we can contact everyone directly/individually or not, Ringler-Cerniglia said in an email. For example, coworkers at a site can be contacted. Members of the public cant. Because of precautions in place, public exposure in sites are rare. Council Member Jeff Hayner told Engelbert in an email that he shares her concerns and would be willing to take action. Hayner will consider halting street closures, if and when experts deem it appropriate, but he has not yet prepared to do so because Engelbert is the first to approach him about it, he said. Thats the first Ive heard from a business owner about it, her saying that, Hayner said, adding that his friends in the service industry shared similar sentiments. It got me wanting to be ready for action. Im kind of waiting to hear from other people, to solicit their opinions. Hayner and his colleagues supported the resolution in March to extend street closures but due to changing circumstances, considerations also have to change, he added. Service industry people are taking the brunt of it, Hayner said. Its our decision ultimately, but we want the businesses to help decide what the balance is. I dont want to be responsible for putting people out of business. Engelbert is additionally offering to help business owners seeking assistance in implementing a carryout and delivery model. Keeping things open is short-sighted. We need to focus on the long term -- and that means being smart now to curb the number of cases so that we can have a healthy future, Engelbert said in the letter. More from MLive These Ann Arbor-area marijuana shops are offering 4/20 specials Boxing and strength training part of new Ann Arbor gym Michigan Ladder Companys products used at White House, in movies over 120 year history Ann Arbor senior home to add new residences by 2023 After a pause last year because of the pandemic, the Michelin Guides for restaurants in several cities in the United States are up and running again. The venerable French company announced Thursday that starting next week, it would begin revealing the stars and other ratings for restaurants in Washington D.C., Chicago and New York. The 2021 restaurant guides will be rolled out one week at a time and be entirely virtual; no red books are being printed, nor are they likely to be in the future. A guide to California will be announced at a later date. The rating process for these guides was completed by the end of 2020. Although the ratings for restaurants in the United States are usually released in the fall, Gwendal Poullennec, the international director of the guides, said the company decided to wait until now to allow more time for restaurants to reopen and Michelin inspectors more time to visit them. If anything we were benevolent as to the selections, he said of the restaurants. We were impressed with their incredible achievement throughout the crisis. Some of them went above and beyond the standards we usually expect. Thats a positive trend right now. RESIDENTS in Castleconnell are "up in arms" said a local councillor over two water outages in two days. On Wednesday it was to facilitate the repair of a fire hydrant. Today it was for Irish Water to repair a burst main. On both occasions, Castlerock and surrounding estates were affected. Cllr Sean Hartigan said "people are up in arms" because they weren't informed. "I am going to make contact with Irish Water to highlight the issue of people not being aware water is being tuned off. It might cause problems with washing machines," said Cllr Hartigan. He said Irish Water "need a system of informing people". Iris Water posts details of work on its website and Twitter page. Cllr Hartigan puts up the notices pertaining to his area on his social media but not everybody, particularly elderly people, will see them online. "I know if it is a burst main it's something they don't have control over but if they had somebody on their team who could drive around and inform local people, or put a sign up in the estate, that would be helpful," said Cllr Hartigan. A spokesperson for Irish Water said they and Limerick City and County Council have completed repairs to a burst water main which impacted on supply to customers in Castle Rock Avenue, Castleconnell and surrounding areas for a period of time today. "The repair was completed before 2pm and full water supply should return to all customers over the next two to three hours. We apologise for any inconvenience as a result of this unplanned incident. "All details of planned and unplanned works are updated regularly on the water supply and services section of our website, www.water.ie and on Twitter @IWCare ," said the Irish Water spokesperson. A Huawei logo is seen at the Mobile World Congress (MWC) in Shanghai, China, on Feb. 23, 2021. (Aly Song/Reuters) Romania Approves Bill to Bar China, Huawei From 5G Networks BUCHARESTRomanias centrist government on Thursday approved a U.S.-backed bill that effectively bars China and Huawei from taking part in development of its 5G network, a member of the IT&C and National Security Committee told Reuters. Europe has emerged as a battleground in the technology Cold War playing out between the Chinese regime and Washington and Huaweis European competitors, Ericsson and Nokia, could become a supplier duopoly should the Chinese company be shut out. The government just approved this bill of paramount importance for Romania, sealing a 2019 memorandum signed in Washington, meaning that China and Huawei are ruled out from any would-be partnership on 5G with the Romanian state, Pavel Popescu said. According to the memorandum between Romania and the Chinese regime in August 2019: as part of risk-based security approach, careful and complete evaluation of 5G vendors is necessary. Romania was a staunch Washington ally even before it joined the North Atlantic Treaty Organization in 2004. Washington sees Huawei as an arm of Chinas Communist Partys global surveillance machinery. Huawei, which is playing a leading role as the telecoms world gears up for next generation wireless technology, has repeatedly denied spying for the Chinese state. The bill approved on Thursday reflects the U.S. memorandum, and Romanias Supreme Defense Council stance. Popescu said: National security is a key goal, and protecting Romanias future generations personal data is crucial. It says a vendors evaluation should say whether a company is subject to control by a foreign government, has a transparent ownership structure, and is subject to a legal regime that enforces transparent corporate practices. Popescu said the bill, which could be rubber-stamped in parliament in the next weeks, is a prerequisite to launching 5G tenders in the Black Sea state in second half of the year. By Radu-Sorin Marinas MBABANE - Government, through the Ministry of Commerce, Industry and Trade has promised to re-look the operating hours of liquor traders in the country. This comes exactly three weeks after the Acting Prime Minister, Themba Masuku, lifted the ban on alcohol sale. Despite the lifting of the ban, traders in the liquor industry had been crying foul over the limited operating hours, which they said did not allow them to take advantage of the reopened industry. The fate of the liquor traders and possibly their new operating hours will be known next week. Government had banned alcohol sale after the surge of the coronavirus cases in the country. When Masuku announced the lifting of the ban on alcohol sale, he said the traders were allowed to operate from Monday to Thursday, from 9am to 5pm. He said no alcohol was to be sold on weekends. Also, all traders were requested to be in full compliance with the COVID -19 safety measures. Complaining In light of the ban being lifted, bottle store owners have been complaining that they are operating at a loss due to the minimal trading hours. Some said their businesses were slow as most customers preferred buying or stocking during the weekend. Minister of Commerce, Industry and Trade Manqoba Khumalo, assured the traders that they were reviewing the matter. He said all was to be done according to the compliance by liquor outlets. We are considering their concerns. We are currently consulting with the Ministry of Health on how we can relax the restrictions, said the minister. Khumalo said the biggest worry was how safe it would be to relax the restrictions. We need to relax the restrictions without increasing the risk of more infections. We shall have an update by next week, explained Khumalo. This news seemed to have hit the right chord with some traders in the industry. Randomly interviewed bottle store owners said they would really appreciate a review on their trading hours. I think I am speaking for all alcohol businesspeople in the country when I say we are strained. We are not seeing our profits because there are less people buying or stocking up, said one bottle store owner. Echoing him was another businessman, who said on a good day of business, he used to make a killing. Before the tricky operating hours I sold about 20 cases per day and this was a clean E10 000. Now Im lucky to get six cases out of the door and it becomes a huge profit mess, he said. The cause for concern among all the alcohol traders was the limited trading hours that government had put in place. SAN JOSE, Calif., April 15, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- UserZoom, the leader in Experience Insights Management (XIM), announces a $100M funding round led by Owl Rock. UserZoom will use the funding to build out the company's proven XIM solution that helps businesses join the dots between their user experience (UX) and customer experience (CX) strategies, and get an org-wide view on their digital experience. In today's digital economy, designing great product experiences is a critical competitive differentiator. Unfortunately, businesses often silo their data in separate user and customer buckets, resulting in increased technical, process and data debt, and a fragmented end experience for customers and users. UserZoom's XIM solution helps the world's leading brands better understand and manage their digital experiences by gathering and combining insights between user experience (UX) and customer experience (CX) teams and strategies, leading to enhanced digital experiences that increase sales, and improve engagement and retention. "COVID-19 has led to a significant acceleration in consumers' rate of digital adoption and their expectations for a seamless, convenient and personalized experience," said Alfonso de la Nuez, Co-CEO and Co-Founder, UserZoom. "This investment, as well as our 'rule of 40' financial performance in 2020, is proof that businesses are waking up to the fact that traditional ways of designing and measuring digital experiences are no longer good enough. Today's users and customers demand more, and leaders need the insights that UserZoom provides to allow them to quickly make confident, customer- and data-driven decisions across all stages of the product life cycle, pre and post-live, to stay in front of the competition." "In today's digital economy, quality of experience is the driving factor that helps businesses retain customers and generate increased revenue," said Pravin Vazirani, managing director at Owl Rock. "Despite this, many organizations are still unable to properly extract and manage the potential insights that lie within a customer journey. UserZoom helps enable companies to harness these insights and drive improved digital experiences." Andy Lefkarites, an investor at Owl Rock said in a statement, "We see a tremendous market opportunity for UserZoom, which enables companies of all sizes and industries to continually enhance and prioritize their digital experience strategy. We are pleased to be able to support UserZoom with growth capital to enable them to seize that opportunity." UserZoom's XIM solution equips organizations with everything they need to: Gather experience insights : Recruit participants across multi-method, multi-device and multi-stage experience research and testing to make high-impact design, product, and marketing decisions : Recruit participants across multi-method, multi-device and multi-stage experience research and testing to make high-impact design, product, and marketing decisions Build an agile research process : Test, measure and track experience from before design and development starts to during and after launch for the confidence to make bigger bets and faster strategic decisions : Test, measure and track experience from before design and development starts to during and after launch for the confidence to make bigger bets and faster strategic decisions Share experience insights : Structure, store, and share experience insights (XI) from multiple sources across the company to unlock the synergy of UX and CX strategies : Structure, store, and share experience insights (XI) from multiple sources across the company to unlock the synergy of UX and CX strategies Demonstrate value : Connect experience insights to KPIs in a standardized and structured way to measure the impact of changing experiences and consumer expectations : Connect experience insights to KPIs in a standardized and structured way to measure the impact of changing experiences and consumer expectations Partner with experts: Connect with UserZoom's change management experts to advance experience insights strategy UserZoom also announced the acquisition of EnjoyHQ, the market-leading experience insights hub, to bolster the company's ResearchOps (ReOps) capabilities. EnjoyHQ allows researchers to centralize and organize customer feedback and research findings into a single location, helping teams to better consolidate and collaborate regardless of where that data originated from. This level of collaboration will help companies further move away from data silos, improving the level of insight gained, and ultimately, efficiently manage their research operations. "Our acquisition of EnjoyHQ is yet another example of our goal to simplify and improve the XIM process," said Andrew Jensen, SVP Product, UserZoom. "Our vision is to allow our customers to connect project insights from UserZoom with a broader CX & UX integrated experience insights hub, where thousands of users across the organization can conduct analysis, share feedback, and discuss proposals needed to create seamless experiences that drive business outcomes." An integrated UserZoom and EnjoyHQ product will be available in the second half of 2021. For more information, please visit https://www.userzoom.com/ . About UserZoom UserZoom is the all-in-one Experience Insights Management (XIM) solution for the enterprise. Its platform and services provide the quantitative and qualitative insights essential to measuring and improving digital experience. With offices in four countries, the company helps global brands such as Google, Oracle, Aetna, Santander, News UK and half of the Fortune 100 raise the bar for an outstanding digital experience. To learn more, visit www.UserZoom.com. Media Contact Brian Janson Prosek Partners on behalf of UserZoom [email protected] (646) 402-2494 SOURCE UserZoom Related Links https://www.userzoom.com BEIJING, April 15, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Leju Holdings Limited ("Leju" or the "Company") (NYSE: LEJU), a leading e-commerce and online media platform for real estate and home furnishing industries in China, today announced that it filed its annual report on Form 20-F for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2020 with the Securities and Exchange Commission on April 15, 2021. The Annual Report on Form 20-F can be accessed on the Company's investor relations website at http://ir.leju.com. Leju will provide a hard copy of the annual report containing its audited consolidated financial statements, free of charge, to its shareholders and ADS holders upon request. Requests should be directed to Investor Relations department, Leju Holdings Limited, Level G, Building G, No.8 Dongfeng South Road, Chaoyang District, Beijing, People's Republic of China, 100016. About Leju Leju Holdings Limited ("Leju") (NYSE: LEJU) is a leading e-commerce and online media platform for real estate and home furnishing industries in China, offering real estate e-commerce, online advertising and online listing services. Leju's integrated online platform comprises various mobile applications along with local websites covering more than 380 cities, enhanced by complementary offline services to facilitate residential property transactions. In addition to the Company's own websites, Leju operates the real estate and home furnishing websites of SINA Corporation, and maintains a strategic partnership with Tencent Holdings Limited. For more information about Leju, please visit http://ir.leju.com. For investor and media inquiries please contact: Ms. Christina Wu Leju Holdings Limited Phone: +86 (10) 5895-1062 E-mail: [email protected] Philip Lisio Foote Group Phone: +86 135-0116-6560 E-mail: [email protected] SOURCE Leju Holdings Limited Johnson & Johnson (J&J) has demanded a letter from the Department of Trade and Industry acknowledging its local investment in local manufacturer, Aspen Pharmacare before it will sign off the delivery of 20-million doses of the vaccine to South Africa. This is one of difficult and sometimes unreasonable terms the government has had to navigate in procuring vaccines, health minister, Dr Zweli Mkhize told the Parliamentary Health Portfolio Committee. Image: Johnson & Johnson J&J vaccine suspended SA temporarily suspends J&J jab The South African Department of Health has put the Johnson & Johnson Covid-19 vaccine on hold temporarily, while it investigates a possible link between the jab and a rare blood clot disorder... Weve been taken aback by this, as there are clauses in the agreement that express this support and acknowledge that this production will not just be limited to South Africa and the continent, but also targeted for the global market, he said.Last month, President Cyril Ramaphosa and his deputy, David Mabuza, visited the Aspen Pharmacare sterile manufacturing facility, where millions of vaccine shots are produced in Gqeberha, Eastern Cape.Our support for this production in our country was publicly made J&J said if we dont give them this letter, were making their global leadership nervous and to them, weve not shown our political will to support them, said Mkhize.In addition, the agreements with Pfizer and Johnson J&J agreements, which both cost $10 per vaccine, state that down payments been made in advance by the department shall not be refundable by the manufacturer to us in any circumstances. This is another onerous term that we had to settle for, the minister told the committee.On a more positive note, Mkhize said the country has secured an additional 10-million Pfizer vaccines, bringing the total number of the two-dose vaccine to 30 million. The first batch of over 300,000 vials of these shots are expected to arrive in the country on 3 May 2021, while the rest of the consignment will be delivered weekly.Meanwhile, Mkhize was confident that in an unlikely event that the J&J rollout is completely halted, the country would still be able to proceed with phase two of the vaccination programme.We are confident that the rollout of Johnson & Johnson will resume and so, with 30-million doses of Johnson & Johnson and 30-million doses of Pfizer secured, we now have enough doses to exceed the 40-million we were targeting this year, he said. Theres nothing wrong with that. But each of us should ask ourselves what we would do if we encountered someone like Floyd stretched out in a seat on the train. Most people would move as far away from him as possible. The Democrats of Napa Valley Club will host a Zoom meeting with six key fire experts on Wildfires and Being Firewise in Napa County at 5:30 p.m. Monday, April 19. It is open to the public. Early registration is encouraged; space is limited. Quality journalism doesn't happen without your help. Subscribe today! Support local news coverage and the people who report it by subscribing to the Napa Valley Register. Anna Chouteau, St. Helena City councilmember, will be the moderator. Conchita Marusich, Democrats of Napa Valley Executive Committee member, is the panel coordinator. The panel includes Alfredo Pedroza, chair, Napa County Board of Supervisors; Geoff Belyea, Napa County Fire Chief; Christopher Thompson, president, Napa Communities Firewise Foundation; Joseph Nordlinger, president, Mount Veeder Fire Safe Council and vice-president, Grants Management, Napa Communities Firewise Foundation; Celeste Giunta, executive director, Community Organizations Active in Disaster (COAD); Dr. Tosha Comendant, Pepperwood, Conservation Science Manager. Over the past few years in Napa County there have been several of the largest fires in California's recorded history, consuming tens of thousands of acres, homes, businesses and other buildings, devastating our economy, and impacting our health from the smoky air. Ill probably stick to either the Italian beef or hot dog on my next visit, but the spicy chicken sandwich is there if you need it. The sandwich was tested out at some locations in April, but is rolling out to all Portillos restaurants Tuesday. Islamabad, April 15 : Pakistan's Chief of Army Staff Gen. Qamar Javed Bajwa and US Secretary of State Antony Blinken discussed the Afghan peace process, the military in Islamabad confirmed. In a statement, the military said that during a phone call on Wednesday, Blinken and Bajwa discussed matters of mutual interest, regional security situation including latest developments in the Afghan peace process and bilateral cooperation in various fields, reports Xinhua news agency. The Army chief said that Pakistan will always support an Afghan-led and Afghan-owned peace process based on mutual consensus of all stakeholders, according to the statement. Blinken acknowledged Pakistan's continuous efforts for peace and stability in the region and pledged to further enhance bilateral relations, the statement added. Kody Melton Taste of the Northside is the latest official Fiesta San Antonio event to bow out of this year's postponed event. San Antonio would be a day out from the city's largest party, but the April 15-25 event was postponed until June due to the pandemic. While Fiesta is scheduled for June 17-27, many events decided to cancel altogether. The two parades, Oyster Bake and now the Taste of the Northside will not participate in the 2021 installment. GREENVILLE, S.C., April 15, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- The MICHELIN Guide announced a three-week "Still Serving" virtual series for the newest editions of its restaurant selections in the United States. Listings for the new restaurant selections will be published on the MICHELIN Guide Instagram channel . City Date Washington, D.C., Bib Gourmands Tuesday, April 20 Washington, D.C., Star selections Thursday, April 22 Chicago Bib Gourmands Tuesday, April 27 Chicago Star selections Thursday, April 29 New York City Bib Gourmands Tuesday, May 4 New York City Star selections Thursday, May 6 "A monumental shift has taken place throughout the restaurant community, requiring everyone to pivot in their own unique way The MICHELIN Guide, included," said Gwendal Poullennec, international director of The MICHELIN Guides. "We look forward to highlighting the accomplishments of the industry's most resilient restaurants, who, despite the toughest year, are still serving." The "Still Serving" series is presented by Capital One. In addition to the highly anticipated Bib Gourmand and Star awards, the Guide will announce restaurants in the Plate category, the MICHELIN Green Star and special awards, including Sommelier and Young Chef. "As the presenting sponsor of the 'Still Serving' series, Capital One is proud to celebrate the award recipients and their accomplishments during this challenging time," said Monica Bauder, head of branded card partnerships and experiences at Capital One. "Our customers are passionate about dining experiences, and we remain committed to supporting this vital industry." The new selections will be available on the MICHELIN Guide iOS app. Download the app to explore all the Michelin-rated restaurants across the globe and book the world's most unique and exciting hotels. App users can also create and share their own restaurant and hotel wish lists. Through integrations with our official booking partners, including OpenTable and Resy, app users can make reservations directly within the app. About Michelin Michelin, the leading mobility company, is dedicated to enhancing its customers' mobility, and sustainably; designing and distributing the most innovative tires, services and solutions for its customers' needs; providing digital services, maps and guides to help enrich trips and travels and make them unique experiences; and developing high-technology materials that serve a variety of industries. Headquartered in Greenville, South Carolina, Michelin North America has approximately 23,000 employees and operates 34 production facilities in the United States and Canada. (michelinman.com) About Capital One At Capital One we're on a mission for our customers bringing them great products, rewards, service, and access to unique and unforgettable experiences they are passionate about. Capital One is a diversified bank that offers products and services to individuals, small businesses and commercial clients. We use technology, innovation and interaction to provide consumers with products and services to meet their needs. Learn more at capitalone.com/access. SOURCE Michelin North America Source: Xinhua| 2021-04-15 12:15:20|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close WASHINGTON, April 14 (Xinhua) -- The U.S. Senate voted Wednesday with sweeping bipartisan support to open debate on an anti-Asian American hate crimes bill, clearing a key hurdle to its final passage vote in the chamber. The evenly-split Senate voted 92-6 to move forward debating on the COVID-19 Hate Crimes Act, a bill drafted by Democrats that intended to speed up administrative processing of hate crimes, which the Asian American community has seen a skyrocketing surge during the pandemic. "I'm so glad that our Republican colleagues have voted with us to proceed with this legislation. This was never intended as gotcha legislation. It was always intended as bipartisan legislation," Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer said after the vote. Under the bill, the Justice Department would be required to designate an official to review COVID-19-related hate crimes, as well as to coordinate with local law enforcement and community-based groups to facilitate and raise awareness about hate crimes reporting. The bill would also call on the federal administration to offer guidance on "best practices to mitigate racially discriminatory language" describing the coronavirus pandemic. Schumer and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell has started negotiating a deal on amendments to the bill, local media reported, noting the first amendment vote is expected to be on a bipartisan bill called No Hate Act, which aimed to improve the reporting of hate crimes, beef up hate crimes training for law enforcement and set up a hate crimes hotline. Schumer said on Wednesday that there was bipartisan interest in moving forward with such an amendment, adding he and McConnell are making "good progress" on reaching a deal on "sensible, germane and constructive amendments." Without a deal, the Senate debate over the bill could easily stretch into next week. Democratic Senator Mazie Hirono, who introduced the COVID-19 Hate Crimes Act bill, said on Wednesday that in total about 20 amendments have been filed so far, though some of them "have absolutely nothing to do with the bill." "We're working with the Republican leader to determine if and how many other amendments to the bill there will be, so that we can consider them and vote on final passage without any gotcha or not-germane amendments," said Hirono. Some Republican senators criticized that Democrats had advanced the bill directly to the Senate floor without going through committee first. They also expressed concerns that the bill's focus on COVID-related hate crimes might be too narrow. According to Stop AAPI Hate, a California-based nonprofit social organization tracking incidents of violence against Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders during the pandemic, it received nearly 3,800 reports of attack or abuse against people of Asian descent between March 2020 and February 2021. "Too often, we've turned against one another," U.S. President Joe Biden said in his first prime time address earlier in April. "Vicious hate crimes against Asian Americans, who have been attacked, harassed, blamed, and scapegoated. At this very moment, so many of them, our fellow Americans, they're on the frontlines of this pandemic, trying to save lives, and still, they are forced to live in fear for their lives just walking down streets in America." Protesters of different colors and ages took to the streets in more than 60 cities across the United States after the shootings killing six Asian American women and two others in Atlanta in March, calling to stop anti-Asian violence which has stoked fear and anger across the Asian American community in the country. Enditem (Newser) Senior royals must wear civilian clothes to Prince Philip's Saturday funeral, defusing potential tensions over who would be allowed to don military uniforms. Queen Elizabeth II's decision means Prince Harry won't risk being the only member of the royal family not in uniform during Saturdays funeral for his grandfather, who died last week at the age of 99. Members of the royal family often wear uniforms to public events by virtue of their honorary roles with the British Army, Royal Navy, and Royal Air Force. But Harry lost his honorary military titles when he decided to give up frontline royal duties last year. As a result, protocol suggests that Harry, an army veteran who served two tours of duty in Afghanistan, may only wear a suit with medals at royal functions, Britains Press Association reported. story continues below The decision also sidesteps another potential controversy after reports that Prince Andrew considered wearing an admiral's uniform to his fathers funeral. Andrew retains his military titles even though he was forced to step away from royal duties after a disastrous interview with the BBC about his acquaintance with convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. Philip, also known as the Duke of Edinburgh, served in the Royal Navy for 12 years and maintained close ties to the armed forces throughout his life. Military personnel will have a large role in honoring him Saturday despite the 30-person attendance cap. Philips coffin will be carried to St. George's Chapel on a specially adapted Land Rover, which he designed himself, reports the AP. (Read more Prince Philip stories.) TORONTO, April 15, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Today, Canada Goose published its 2020 Sustainability Report, which highlights the progress made towards its 2025 sustainability goals, sets new ambitious commitments and reaffirms its purpose to keep the planet cold and the people on it warm by strengthening its sustainability commitments and working with communities towards a brighter future for generations to come. "This year's Sustainability Report builds upon the hard work we started in 2019 and takes it even further," said Gavin Thompson, Vice President of Corporate Citizenship, Canada Goose. "I've been incredibly inspired by our employees' from around the world and their commitment to sustainability and the significant progress we've made towards our aggressive goals that address social, economic, and environmental challenges." In addition to the goals set forth in Canada Goose's 2019 Sustainability Report, the company has identified new areas in which its business can make a more tangible impact. The 2020 Sustainability Report introduces two new commitments: Canada Goose commits to transitioning 90 per cent of its materials to Preferred Fibres and Materials (PFMs) by 2025: PFMs, such as recycled and organic fibres, are defined as sustainable alternatives to conventional materials. This commitment ensures Canada Goose will aggressively incorporate more environmentally responsible materials in its outerwear, apparel and accessories. PFMs, such as recycled and organic fibres, are defined as sustainable alternatives to conventional materials. This commitment ensures Canada Goose will aggressively incorporate more environmentally responsible materials in its outerwear, apparel and accessories. Canada Goose commits to sustainable solutions in 100 per cent of its packaging by 2025: Sustainable solutions include recycled content and recyclability in packaging used across its manufacturing, direct-to-consumer and marketing operations. In January, Canada Goose debuted its most sustainable parka to date, the Standard Expedition Parka, which will help set the standard for the future of outerwear. The Standard's design generates 30 per cent less carbon and requires 65 per cent less water during production compared to the in-line Expedition Parka. "At Canada Goose, our approach to design is always focused on quality, durability and functionality, while never sacrificing on performance," said Niamh McManus, Design Director, Canada Goose. "We design for generations, not seasons, and our new product-focused sustainable commitments further reinforce that approach." To launch the 2020 Sustainability Report, Canada Goose partnered with world-renowned science educator, Bill Nye. A leading voice in the science community and an environmental advocate, Nye participated in a roundtable event discussing Canada Goose's bold environmental goals and plans to achieve them. "Climate change is real. We must act now," said Bill Nye, Advisor to Canada Goose. "I am proud to partner with Canada Goose. They are working to keep the planet cold and the people on it warm. Working together, I believe we can bring attention to the need to manufacture products sustainably and responsibly. It's an opportunity for corporate leadership that consumers will recognize and embrace." Since releasing its inaugural Sustainability Report in April 2020, Canada Goose accomplished several initial goals outlined in its Sustainable Impact Strategy. The brand has achieved carbon neutrality for company operations (Scope 1 and 2 emissions), reaffirming its strategic approach to achieving net zero emissions by 2025; joined the bluesign raw materials standard as an official SYSTEM Partner, created the Reclaimed Fur Standard as part of its goal to end the purchasing of new fur by 2022 and remains on track to become Responsible Down Standard (RDS) certified by the end of 2021. Today's announcement builds upon Canada Goose's purpose platform, HUMANATURE, which unites its sustainability and values-based initiatives. To read the full report, visit: canadagoose.com/sustainability. About Canada Goose Founded in 1957 in a small warehouse in Toronto, Canada, Canada Goose (NYSE:GOOS, TSX:GOOS) is a lifestyle brand and a leading manufacturer of performance luxury apparel. Every collection is informed by the rugged demands of the Arctic, ensuring a legacy of functionality is embedded in every product from parkas and rainwear to apparel and accessories. Canada Goose is inspired by relentless innovation and uncompromised craftsmanship, recognized as a leader for its Made in Canada commitment. In 2020, Canada Goose announced HUMANATURE, its purpose platform that unites its sustainability and values-based initiatives, reinforcing its commitment to keep the planet cold and the people on it warm. Canada Goose also owns Baffin, a Canadian designer and manufacturer of performance outdoor and industrial footwear. Visit www.canadagoose.com for more information. Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements This press release includes forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements generally can be identified by the use of words such as "anticipate," "expect," "plan," "could," "may," "will," "believe," "estimate," "forecast," "goal," "project," and other words of similar meaning. These forward-looking statements address various matters and are necessarily based on a number of opinions, estimates and assumptions that we considered appropriate and reasonable as of the date of this press release. In particular, this press release contains forward-looking statements including, without limitation, with respect to (i) our sustainable impact strategy and vision; (ii) the goals underlying our strategy and our plans to advance such goals; (iii) our plans to manage our environmental impact, including our greenhouse gas emission target, our pledge to convert to Preferred Fibres and Materials, our pledge to convert to sustainable packaging, our plans to use reclaimed fur and cease purchases of new fur, and our commitment to reducing carbon emissions; and (v) the estimated timing to achieve environmental, energy and waste reduction targets. Each forward-looking statement contained in this press release is subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed or implied by such statement. Applicable risks and uncertainties include, among others, our expectations regarding industry and seasonal trends, our business plan and growth strategies, including our ability to successfully expand our product lines and expand internationally, global geopolitical events and other disruptions, our ability to forecast inventory requirements, particularly as our direct-to-consumer channel expands, our ability to implement our growth strategies, our ability to keep pace with changing consumer preferences, our ability to maintain the strength of our brand and protect our intellectual property, our ability to accurately forecast our results, risks associated with the impact of pandemics, such as the COVID-19 (coronavirus) outbreak, as well as the risks identified under the heading "Risk Factors" in our Annual Report on Form 20-F for the fiscal year ended March 29, 2020, and filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission ("SEC"), and the securities commissions or similar securities regulatory authorities in each of the provinces and territories of Canada ("Canadian securities regulatory authorities"), as well as the other information we file with the SEC and Canadian securities regulatory authorities. All forward-looking statements contained in this press release are expressly qualified in their entirety by the cautionary statements contained or referred to in this section. Readers are cautioned that forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance. In light of these risks, results could differ materially from those stated, implied or inferred from the forward-looking statements contained in this press release. The forward-looking statements in this press release speak only as of the date of this release, and we undertake no obligation to update or revise any of these statements. Media Contact: [email protected] SOURCE Canada Goose Related Links https://www.canadagoose.com Actors Kim Myung-min, left, and Lee Jeong-eun pose for pictures during an online media conference for the series, Wednesday. Courtesy of JTBC By Lee Gyu-lee Actor Kim Myung-min is returning to the small screen as law school professor Yang Jong-hoon in JTBC's new drama, "Law School," three years after starring in the hit fantasy series "The Miracle We Met" in 2018. The mystery thriller series kicked off Wednesday with a promising viewership rating of 5.1 percent nationwide. "This series is a legal drama combined with stories about college life. The series is about legal procedures, but at the same time, it also follows a mysterious case that happens on campus," Kim said during an online media conference for the series, Wednesday. "So, while other whodunit series would have a few lead characters solving the case, our series involves all of the characters working together with the professor." Directed by Kim Seok-yoon, who directed the "Detective K" film and the TV series, "The Light in Your Eyes," the program revolves around elite professor Jong-hoon and his students at a prestigious law school. After getting involved in a mysterious murder case on campus, the students are put to the test in seeking justice through the law. The director said the series will show the "naked truth" about law schools. "Law school became the only option to pursue a legal profession. So our series will provide an opportunity for people to take a closer look at the institution." Kim Myung-min's character is a sharp-witted, self-reliant professor who is skilled in teaching students. A poster for the series / Courtesy of JTBC ANKARA (Reuters) - Turkey will send a delegation led by its deputy foreign minister to Egypt in early May, Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said on Thursday, as Ankara ramps up a push to repair strained ties with Cairo after years of animosity. Last month, Turkey said it had resumed diplomatic contacts with Egypt and wanted to further cooperation, eight years after ties crumbled over the Egyptian army toppling a Muslim Brotherhood president close to Ankara in 2013. A thaw in ties between the regional powerhouses could have repercussions around the Mediterranean. They have backed rival sides in the war in Libya and sealed conflicting maritime deals with other coastal states. But Cavusoglu said on Wednesday that a new period was beginning in Turkey-Egypt ties. Speaking in an interview with broadcaster NTV, Cavusoglu said Cairo had invited the Turkish delegation to visit Egypt in the first week of May to discuss ties. He added that a meeting with Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry, whom he spoke to at the weekend, would take place after those talks. "The Egyptian side invited a delegation from Turkey to their country in the first week of May. The conditions between us have matured, meetings could continue," Cavusoglu said. Cairo has said Turkey's actions "must show alignment with Egyptian principles" to normalise ties. Last month, Ankara asked Egyptian opposition TV channels operating in Turkey to moderate their criticism of Cairo, in the first concrete step aimed at easing diplomatic tensions. (Reporting by Tuvan Gumrukcu and Ezgi Erkoyun; Editing by Daren Butler and Hugh Lawson) STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. Staten Island could get back the two judges it lost at the end of last year due to pandemic-related cuts to the states judiciary budget. Chief Judge Janet DiFiore said on Wednesday the new state budget passed by the Legislature, coupled with federal aid, have essentially restored the $300 million slashed. We are now able to spend up to our full appropriation level, which means that our commitments can be fulfilled and those Supreme Court justices who wish to renew their certification applications are now encouraged and welcome to do so, said DiFiore. Court officials last year declined to certify or re-certify 46 elected judges throughout the state as part of the effort to curb spending. Only three judges requesting certification or re-certification were approved. Staten Island lost Justice Joseph J. Maltese, who sat on the Appellate Court in Brooklyn, and Justice Orlando Marrazzo Jr., who sat in the Civil Term of state Supreme Court, St. George. In New York, the mandatory retirement age for judges is 70. However, elected state Supreme Court judges can apply for a two-year certification to stay on the bench. They can do it three times and, if approved, serve through the year they turn 76. Maltese was coming up for his second two-year certification, and Marrazzo was applying for the first time. Malteses departure left Staten Island with only one judge on the bench in the Appellate Division, Second Department Justice William F. Mastro. Lucian Chalfen, a spokesman for the state Official of Court Administration, said certification and re-certification applications will be reviewed in the coming weeks. If Maltese and Marrazzo apply and are approved, they will be seated in state Supreme Court, he said. Maltese would have to be re-appointed by the governor to return to the appellate court bench, said the spokesman. Staten Island would not get any additional judges should Maltese or Marrazzo not apply or not be approved, said Chalfen. Besides the certification strictures, other budget cuts imposed last year included a strict hiring freeze, eliminating all non-personal services spending, and deferring substantial payments owed. Many of those measures can now be lifted, said DiFiore. We look forward to increasing our nonjudicial staffing levels, expanding court services, paying deferred collectively-bargained raises to our employees, restoring $8.5 million in grant funding for civil legal services, and inviting those Supreme Court justices who, this past year, were not certificated to serve past their expired terms to reactivate their applications, DiFiore said. FDA lifts ban on abortion pill by mail during pandemic; pro-lifers say move 'prioritizes' profits Email Print Img No-img Menu Whatsapp Google Reddit Digg Stumbleupon Linkedin Comment The Food and Drug Administration has announced that it will not enforce the requirement that abortion pills be administered in person, easing restrictions on mailing abortion pills for the coronavirus pandemics duration. In a letter Monday, Acting Commissioner of Food and Drugs Dr. Janet Woodcock responded to two doctors who had expressed concerns about the in-person dispensing requirements for certain prescription drugs during the public health emergency. The in-person dispensing requirements are part of the Risk Evaluation and Mitigation Strategies implemented to protect women from the adverse effects that the abortion pill, referred to as mifepristone in the letter, may cause. Woodcock told the doctors that the Food and Drug Administrations Center for Drug Evaluation and Research was evaluating the issues you raised by analyzing studies pertinent to the in-person dispensing requirement in the Mifepristone REMS program during the COVID-19 pandemic. The evaluation concluded that there were no significant increases in serious safety concerns (such as hemorrhage, ectopic pregnancy, or surgical interventions) occurring with medical abortion as a result of modifying the in-person dispensing requirement during the COVID-19 pandemic. Provided the other requirements of the Mifepristone REMS Program are met, and given that the in-person dispensing of mifepristone for medical pregnancy may present additional COVID-related risks to patients and healthcare personnel because it may involve a visit to a clinic solely for this purpose, CDER intends to exercise enforcement discretion during the COVID-19 PHE with respect to the in-person dispensing requirement of the Mifepristone REMS Program, she wrote. The dispensing of the abortion pill can now either take place through the mail either by or under the supervision of a certified prescriber, or through a mail-order pharmacy when such dispensing is done under the supervision of a certified prescriber. Marjorie Dannenfelser, president of the pro-life grassroots organization Susan B. Anthony List, described the FDAs decision to suspend the in-person dispensing requirement for the abortion pill as the latest example of how pro-abortion activists have exploited the COVID-19 pandemic. According to Dannenfelser, this decision prioritizes abortion industry profits over the health and safety of women and puts the abortion extremism of the Biden-Harris administration on full display. This decision is pure politics, she added. The Biden-Harris FDA is acting in the financial interest of the big abortion lobby. This is [a] flagrant and dangerous disregard for the health and safety of American women and girls. Carol Tobias, president of National Right to Life, said in a statement that suspending this basic requirement places the lives of an untold number of women at risk. Telemedicine abortions and abortions by mail fit in with the plans of abortion groups to have women essentially self-abort at home. Sadly, women and their unborn babies will be the ones to suffer, Tobias said. Abortion groups now argue that, during the pandemic, it is safer not to evaluate and monitor a woman taking abortion drugs than to have her come to the office. An office visit would confirm that she is not too far along for the pills to work or that she does not have an ectopic pregnancy, which these pills do not treat and can prove deadly to a woman if it goes undetected. The activist further added that the FDAs changes place women at greater risk because they may not be able to distinguish the signs of an incomplete abortion, a ruptured ectopic pregnancy, or a deadly infection from the ordinary pain and bleeding of completed chemical abortion. None of these changes make this process safer for the woman, she asserted. What these changes do is make the process easier and cheaper for the abortion industry. The FDAs announcement was celebrated by abortion-rights proponents, such as the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists. ACOG has for years advocated for the FDA to remove the in-person dispensing requirement for mifepristone, given that there is no safety reason for the restrictions and that the restrictions were more burdensome than those placed on medications with similar safety profiles, or even those with greater risks, a statement from ACOG leaders reads. Moreover, mifepristone itself has demonstrated, through both clinical study and decades of use, to be a safe, effective medication. Requiring the medicine to be dispensed in person, then taken elsewhere at the patients discretion, is arbitrary and does nothing to bolster the safety of an already-safe medicine. On Monday night, before the FDAs decision became public, the national pro-life group Students for Life of America hosted a webinar outlining the efforts to eliminate the REMS. Sen. Steve Daines, R-Mont., participated in the panel discussion. He was joined by Students for Life of America President Kristan Hawkins and Kristi Hamrick, the organizations chief media and policy strategist. The conversation focused on the side effects that chemical abortions can cause and the effort by pro-abortion activists to enable women to obtain the abortion pill by mail without seeing a doctor. Daines accused Democrats of hypocrisy for mandating measures to protect the American people from coronavirus while working to gut measures that protect women from dangers that chemical abortions can cause. Daines mentioned that he had recently taken two two-hour flights on his way from Montana to Washington, D.C., noting that he and all other passengers were asked to wear a mask to protect the fellow passengers from possible exposure to coronavirus. And yet, at the same time, under the guise of COVID, theyre saying we can remove these protections and [a young woman] can just receive these drugs here to take a life, he argued. The mortality rates 100% in that situation. Stressing that he is not arguing about whether masks are right or wrong, he lamented that the administration mandated wearing masks on airplanes to protect your fellow passenger as a precaution while supporting the idea that a young woman doesnt have to have a face-to-face discussion with a doctor and can get a mail-order drug to take a life. Hawkins suggested that the abortion industry was looking to skirt safety standards that all companies that make products that may have adverse effects have to abide by, asking, In what other industry would you allow to do that? She likened the abortion industrys push to eliminate the REMS to the tobacco industry going up to Capitol Hill, telling Senator Daines and the other senators that they dont need warnings anymore, they can regulate themselves. Hamrick also raised allegations of hypocrisy. She asked, What other procedure is going to be DIY? I mean, do-it-yourself appendectomies, or I think I have cancer, so Im going to mail out for some chemotherapy? While that sounds like a joke, it really isnt because some of these drugs are dangerous, deadly drugs that have been used in cancer and ulcer treatments, she said. At the beginning of the conversation, Daines described chemical abortions as lethal for women, citing high complications for the mothers, including infections, severe bleeding and in some cases, even death. And due to this danger, the FDA has clearly articulated, imposed this REMS, this risk evaluation and mitigation strategy on the abortion pill to ensure that the mother is seen in person by a doctor who dispenses the drug and informs her of the risk, Daines contended. None of us on this livecast support abortion. But even if you supported abortion, you dont have to kill babies with these pills, you dont have to mail them into homes, you dont have to risk womens lives with RU-46 chemical abortion pills, Hamrick argued. To kill women with these pills in the name of making it easier to sell them makes no public policy sense, and its dangerous. Its not healthcare. Its politics. Students for Life launched a petition asking President Joe Biden to ensure that the REMS remain in place. Daines signed on to support the Save Moms and Babies Act, which he said would preserve and strengthen these requirements. Referring to chemical abortions are a two-step regimen, Daines explained that the first step is taking mifepristone, which he says causes the mothers body to stop nourishing an unborn baby and therefore, it kills the little baby. And then its followed by another drug thats taken in to expel the dead child, he added. Hawkins warned that the push to enable women to obtain the abortion pill without seeing a doctor is part of an overarching goal of the pro-abortion lobby to make abortion available everywhere. They want to make abortion happen in your home. They want abortions on college campuses. They want a woman to be able to walk into a CVS, get the drug or get her Amazon package and be able to start an abortion immediately. The pro-life group Live Action compiled an investigative report last summer called Abortion Pill Kills, which expands on the dangers of chemical abortions. The report noted that 8% of women who take the abortion pill could experience heavy bleeding for more than 30 days. Additionally, since its approval by the FDA in 2000, chemical abortions have caused 24 maternal deaths as well as 1,000 hospitalizations and more than 4,000 adverse events. Committed to building a better and brighter future for people and the planet, Beyond Green officially launches as a curated guide for travellers seeking a more purposeful way to explore the world. Featuring a global portfolio of 27 hotels, resorts, and lodges that exemplify sustainability in action, the new brand has been unveiled as part of Preferred Hotel Group. The brand invites travel advisors to discover and plan adventures for their clients that align with sustainable travel values and aspirations through a variety of intuitive platforms, tools, and experiences. These include a new common GDS chain code LE; a dedicated brand website; storytelling via its @StayBeyondGreen social media accounts; exclusive benefits through I Prefer Hotel Rewards; and a celebratory, limited-time Journeyers Pick Package, offering a 3 per cent bonus on top of the standard 10 per cent agency commission. Todays travellers are craving connectedness and renewal, and with this comes a new and profound sense of responsibility for taking care of personal and planetary health and well-being, said Lindsey Ueberroth, CEO of Beyond Green and its parent company, Preferred Hotel Group. The travel advisor community has always given their clients endless reasons to continue to Believe in Travel, more so than ever in the past year. As we look forward to new opportunities and possibilities, advisors will play a critical role in helping travellers live out their wanderlust daydreams in a way that prioritises holistic sustainability practices. Over the years, in speaking with advisors about sustainable travel, I was met with a common refrainment, We are inspired, we care, and we want to be part of the growing movement of travel that gives back in positive ways to the people and places we visit. But how can we easily identify the hotels that are truly doing it right? The launch of Beyond Green answers that question for todays travel advisors, said Costas Christ, Brand Leader of Beyond Green and President of Beyond Green Travel, also an entity of Preferred Hotel Group. Dedicated Travel Advisor Booking Channels & Support As part of this launch, Beyond Green has introduced one common GDS chain code for its new brand LE standing for Love Earth. Linked under Preferred Hotel Groups master GDS chain code, PV, this new chain code provides access to all member properties represented within the Beyond Green portfolio. Additionally, to ensure travel advisors are informed on every aspect of Beyond Greens global portfolio, the brands sales team, which also oversees relationships under Preferred Hotels & Resorts, will host a series of initiatives in key markets across the world including training seminars for advisors wanting to learn more about sustainable tourism and how to sell these unique properties. These events will be orchestrated throughout the year, keeping Beyond Greens valuable advisor community informed, inspired and engaged at all times. Digital-First Resources for Inspiration and Information Globetrotters looking to travel in a way that positively impacts nature, benefits local communities, and supports cultural heritage can now visit StayBeyondGreen.com for thoughtful, essential resources and tools to book truly sustainable luxury getaways, from Belize to Bora Bora. The new website features highly curated visual content of each member property and the experiences they offer, along with vivid stories about the world of sustainable travel through its Good Stories blog, where novel content, tips, and advice will be added on a continuous basis. The brand also invites travellers to engage in daily dialogues about sustainable tourism, inspiring travel experiences, and best practices for being informed global citizens on social media by following its newly launched Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn channels and #StayBeyondGreen and #TravelGently online conversations. To help build Beyond Green as a compelling, dynamic, and user-friendly platform, Preferred engaged two external consultants to bring the brand to life. Robert Louey Design was retained for the brand framework, narratives, and storytelling, including the image and identity for the overall brand look and feel, while Spherical was brought on to develop Beyond Greens digital identity with the new consumer-facing website and social media. I Prefer Hotel Rewards Member Benefits As part of the Preferred Hotel Group family of brands, Beyond Green invites advisors to enrol their clients in I Prefer to access meaningful benefits at more than 650 participating properties worldwide, ensuring they travel rewarded. In addition to receiving standard I Prefer benefits such as points for every eligible stay and early check-in and late check-out privileges, I Prefer members who book stays at participating Beyond Green hotels, resorts, and lodges receive access to exclusive bonus points-earning opportunities that are tied to participation in on-property enrichment activities representative of the three pillars of sustainable tourism. Varying from property to property, these experiences range from an Ecology Tour in San Juan Capistrano at The Ranch at Laguna Beach in California to a specialized lecture on the Gobi Desert at Three Camel Lodge in Mongolia. I Prefer members with Elite-tier status will also receive a welcome amenity or community giving opportunity, in addition to earning 50 percent more bonus points during every eligible stay. Celebratory Launch Offer Whether seeking to stay within their own country or satisfy the pent-up desire to dust off their passport and go somewhere new, Beyond Green encourages travellers to seize the moment by taking advantage of a limited-time only Journeyers Pick Package, available at 15 participating properties for bookings made by September 30, 2021 for travel through December 31, 2021. Featuring the best available rate plus a unique local experience or meaningful memento exclusively available through this special offer, as well as 5,000 I Prefer bonus points, is the Journeyers Pick Package also offers a 3 per cent bonus on top of the standard 10 per cent agency commission for all bookings made via the LE chain code in the GDS, Beyond Green website or call centre with a qualifying IATA/TIDS number. Highlights of the Journeyers Pick Package include, but are not limited to: Private 1.5-hour Shinrin Yoku Forest Therapy session at andBeyond Vira Vira Traditional sunset Dhow Cruise with snacks and drinks at andBeyond Mnemba Island Guided walking tour of the Monastery of Panagia Spileotissa at Aristi Mountain Resort & Villas Body scrub wellness experience using organic ingredients at Borgo Pignano Polynesian outrigger experience at the InterContinental Bora Bora Resort & Thalasso Spa Where Good Hosts Meet Good Guests: The Beyond Green Portfolio With plans for steady, thoughtful growth, Beyond Green celebrates its official launch in collaboration with 27 inspiring member properties that each take a unique and genuine approach to hospitality while representing sustainable tourism leadership through actionable, measurable efforts: Americas andBeyond Vira Vira (Pucon, Chile); Arenas Del Mar Beach Front and Rainforest Resort (Manuel Antonio, Costa Rica), Bentwood Inn (Jackson Hole, Wyoming, USA); Blancaneaux Lodge (Mountain Pine Ridge, Belize); Carneros Resort and Spa (Napa Valley, California, USA), Cavallo Point (Sausalito, California, USA); Islas Secas (Gulf of Chiriqui, Panama); Post Ranch Inn (Big Sur, California, USA); Ted Turner Reserves Vermejo (Raton, New Mexico, USA); The Ranch at Laguna Beach (Laguna Beach, California, USA); Turtle Inn (Placencia, Belize) Europe Aristi Mountain Resort (Zagori, Greece); Ashford Castle (Co. Mayo, Ireland); Borgo Pignano (Tuscany, Italy) Africa andBeyond Bateleur Camp (Masai Mara National Reserve, Kenya); andBeyond Mnemba Island (Zanzibar, Tanzania); andBeyond Sossusvlei Desert Lodge (Namib Desert, Namibia); Bushmans Kloof (Western Cape, South Africa); Wilderness Safaris Bisate Lodge (Volcanoes National Park, Rwanda); Wilderness Safaris DumaTau Camp (Linyanti Wildlife Reserve, Botswana); Wilderness Safaris Hoanib Skeleton Coast Camp (Kaokoveld, Namibia); Wilderness Safaris Linkwasha Camp (Hwange National Park, Zimbabwe); Wilderness Safaris Mombo Camp (Okavango Delta, Botswana); Xigera Safari Lodge (Okavango Delta, Botswana) Asia InterContinental Bora Bora Resort & Thalasso Spa (Bora Bora, French Polynesia); The Brando (Tetiaroa, French Polynesia); Three Camel Lodge (Gobi, Mongolia) Travel advisors and their clients are invited to access more information on Beyond Green, its three key pillars of sustainable tourism, and its member properties, and book authentic, luxury travel experiences around the world by visiting StayBeyondGreen.com. - TradeArabia News Service Jobless rates fall in the Tri-State; labor force numbers down, too Area unemployment rates fell during April, with some diving to less than half of what they were during the pandemic-related slowdown. New Delhi, April 15 : Fatima Sana Shaikh became popular even before the audience knew her name. Way back in 1997, she endeared herself to viewers playing Kamal Hassan and Tabu's daughter in "Chachi 420". Years later, she would score her first blockbuster with the 2016 Aamir Khan-starrer "Dangal". She has lately been seen in films such as "Ludo" and "Suraj Pe Mangal Bhari", and is now gearing up for her next film, the OTT anthology "Ajeeb Daastaans". The actress says she constantly doubts herself, adding that she wants to better herself. "Every day you go through your own journey of asking questions to yourself. There are your own challenges and weaknesses. You have to overpower them and overcome. You'd cross those and then you have more challenges and insecurities. That is a constant journey. Everyday, there is a new mindset," Fatima told IANS. She added: "Sometimes you feel confident and sometimes no matter how successful you are, (you could be) the most insecure person in the room in spite of your success. It's your mindset at that moment. I am constantly doubting myself but I think that is important for me because I want to grow. If I am being happy with what I am right now I will stop growing. I want to be better." "Ajeeb Daastaans" brings together four stories that analyse the complexity of human emotions including jealousy, entitlement, prejudices and toxicity, and their after-effects. What was it like exploring topics like sex, gender, class and patriarchy? "A topic can be anything as long it is said properly in a nice way and beautiful manner. I think stories written well, no matter what they are about, will engage you. If you choose to write on sex, gender or socio economic status -- issues are in everything. It is how you write a story more than the topic," Fatima said. She features in the first story of the anthology, titled "Majnu". She plays Leepakshi, a young woman stuck in an unhappy marriage with actor Jaideep Ahlawat's character. Always vying for love and attention, her life is thrown in a turmoil with the entry of a young new male in the household. Did she find Leepakshi a complex character? "What (director) Shashank (Khaitan) tried to do is write a very layered character, and it is written so well and is so layered as an actor that it becomes easy to understand the character, because everything about the role is about her. Her journey and her complexities. When you are human you have those qualities, flaws and complexities in you," Fatima replied. "It is neither black nor white and that is the beauty of these characters in 'Majnu' -- everybody has a shade. It is from black to white to grey," she added. Fatima enjoyed playing that character because she says it is so far away from her. "I have not met a (character like) Leepakshi in my life. (I have) Not experienced anything that Leepakshi has experienced. I am not from that world. It is so amazing because you are an actor and you love your work. Through your work you see different worlds. For me, it is the most beautiful thing that I get to know, see and hear so many new things," she said. (Durga Chakravarty can be contacted at durga.c@ians.in) -- The story has been published from a wire feed without any modifications to the text As chair, Dr. Nielsen will lead the AUA S&Q Council, providing strategic oversight to shape and execute on the broad science, quality and data agenda of the AUA to include the creation, dissemination and implementation of clinical guidelines and white papers; maintenance of the AUA Quality (AQUA) Registry; development and implementation of physician performance measures; advancement of patient safety initiatives; monitoring of federal, state, and local quality healthcare programs; and the formation and execution of data projects. "Dr. Nielsen's impressive experience and knowledge of science and quality issues, including guidelines, performance measurement, quality improvement, patient safety, data and research makes him the ideal candidate for this role," said AUA President, Scott Swanson, MD. "The Board and I are confident in his ability to lead the council into its next chapter and to improving urologic care throughout the world." An active member of the AUA since 2002, Dr. Nielsen currently serves as chair of the AUA Quality Improvement and Patient Safety Committee; is a graduate of the AUA Leadership Program; the recipient of several research awards from the Urology Care Foundation, including the prestigious Rising Stars in Urology Research Award; an author on several AUA patient safety and quality improvement white papers; provided oversight and direction as Chair of the AUA Quality Improvement Summit; a member of the 2020 AUA hematuria guideline panel as well as AQUA, telehealth and electronic medical records work groups; the AUA Representative for the Alliance of Specialty Medicine Physician Policy Roundtable on Accountable Care Organizations and Alternative Payment Models; and was named one of several AUA Young Urologist of the Year in 2018. He has also served as Associate Director of the UNC Institute for Healthcare Quality Improvement, physician lead for surgical services for the UNC opioid stewardship initiative, physician service line leader for urology on the inpatient patient safety and quality improvement program, as well as member of the Physician Consortium for Performance Improvement (PCPI) and the American College of Physicians' High Value Care Task Force and Performance Measurement Committee. In 2019, he was appointed to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services' Technical Expert Panel for the CMS Quality Measure Development Plan and Quality Measure Index. "Dr. Nielsen has the full confidence and support of our Board," said AUA Science and Quality Search Committee Chair, Raju Thomas, MD, FACS, FRCS, MHA. "His tremendous experience and energy in all areas of the council made him the best person to lead the next chapter of the AUA's science, data and quality initiatives." Dr. Nielsen's clinical practice is focused in urologic oncologyin particular, the treatment of bladder, prostate and kidney cancer. He is a member of the integrated Multidisciplinary Genitourinary Oncology Group at the Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center, and he served as Director of the Division of Urologic Oncology from 2013-2018. Dr. Nielsen received his medical degree from the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and completed his residency at the Brady Urological Institute at Johns Hopkins. After residency, Dr. Nielsen served on the faculty at Johns Hopkins prior to joining the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill (UNC) Urology faculty in 2009, where he was appointed Department Chair in 2020. In addition to his position as Professor with Tenure with the UNC Department of Urology, Dr. Nielsen serves as an Adjunct Associate Professor in the Departments of Epidemiology and Health Policy & Management at the UNC Gillings School of Global Public Health. Follow Dr. Nielsen on Twitter at @m_e_nielsen. About the American Urological Association: Founded in 1902 and headquartered near Baltimore, Maryland, the American Urological Association is a leading advocate for the specialty of urology and has nearly 23,000 members throughout the world. The AUA is a premier urologic association, providing invaluable support to the urologic community as it pursues its mission of fostering the highest standards of urologic care through education, research and the formulation of health policy. Media Contact: Teri Arnold, Corporate Communications and Media Relations Manager Cell: 757-272-7002, [email protected] SOURCE American Urological Association Related Links www.auanet.org THE nearly $65 million in funding poured into Efficiency Manitoba by the federal and provincial governments will result in no expansion of the programs offered by the Crown corporation, but rather a lower bill for Manitoba Hydro. THE nearly $65 million in funding poured into Efficiency Manitoba by the federal and provincial governments will result in no expansion of the programs offered by the Crown corporation, but rather a lower bill for Manitoba Hydro. Under the Progressive Conservative government, Hydro was relieved of the role it played in trying to improve energy efficiency at homes, businesses and industrial sites across the province. In lieu, Efficiency Manitoba was established as an arms-length Crown corporation that could pursue the same tasks with a smaller workforce and smaller budget, of approximately $69.9 million annually. In January, the province held a news conference trumpeting the arrival of federal funding to support Efficiency Manitoba through the federal Low Carbon Economy Leadership Fund. Manitoba lagged behind other jurisdictions in tapping this source of federal funding for green programs in the province, so the allotment of $32.3 million from federal coffers was especially noteworthy. The $32.3 million had to be matched by the provincial government in order to be approved, so between the two sources, $64.6 million was handed over to Efficiency Manitoba. At the news conference in January, how the funding would be used was unclear, but media were left with the impression it would result in the expansion of existing energy-efficiency programs. However, all of the funding provided will only go to cutting the bill for efficiency programming that would otherwise be provided by Hydro, Efficiency Manitobas sole funder (in tandem with Centra Gas, the natural gas subsidiary of Hydro). This caveat was built into the creation of Efficiency Manitoba. In its first three-year plan, released in 2019, it states: "If additional sources of funding become available to support either electric or natural gas portfolio activities outlined within the plan, it is understood that these amounts are to be used to reduce the electric or natural gas funding provided by Manitoba Hydro or Centra Gas, respectively." Efficiency Manitoba chief executive officer Colleen Kuruluk confirmed the funding would merely be displacing funding originally provided by Manitoba Hydro. "On our natural gas bill, we have a carbon charge now. And so with the feds now paying for half of our programs, that wont be coming from Manitoba Hydro ratepayers, so its essentially a really good way of returning those dollars directly to them," Kuruluk said Wednesday. Hydro spokesman Bruce Owen, pointed out the funding for Efficiency Manitoba is a small portion of the overall cost of providing electricity and natural gas but would likely make some impact. "We anticipate the costs of Manitoba Hydros natural gas operations will be lower. However, Manitoba Hydro has yet to determine how the federal funding factors into future rate requests," Owen said in a statement to the Free Press. Ultimately, the funding provided by the federal government to pursue energy efficiency programming will result in subsidizing the cost of the energy its meant to discourage the use of. Federal Minister for Environment and Climate Change Jonathan Wilkinson was not made available for an interview or comment, despite being given in excess of a weeks notice. Efficiency Manitoba will expand programming in some regards, but only the expansion that was originally prescribed in the three-year plan published in 2019, a spokesperson for provincial Minister of Conservation and Climate Sarah Guillemard said in an email statement. The spokesperson maintained federal government funding would be responsible for increased energy savings. In other instances across the country, loopholes in the implementation of federal climate policies have been exploited resulting in the undermining of the policies intent. For example, in New Brunswick, PC Premier Blaine Higgs attempted to lower the excise tax on gasoline in the Maritime province to help soften the blow of the federally-mandated carbon tax. sarah.lawrynuik@freepress.mb.ca Twitter: @SarahLawrynuik An astronaut from the second SpaceX Crew Dragon launch has captured a breathtaking timelapse of our milky way, from the Resilience spacecraft, while it was docked on the International Space Station. Twitter: Mike Hopkins The timelapse was captured by Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency Astronaut Soichi Noguchi. This timelapse came into the limelight when NASA astronaut Mike Hopkins shared it on his Twitter handle. Hes one of the 10 crew members currently aboard the ISS. Also Read: SpaceX Creates History: Successfully Sends 1st Operational NASA Mission To ISS The video shows stars shining in the bluish-black oblivion of the universe. Hopkins expressed through his tweet how he was blown away by the mesmerising timelapse, I didn't think the views could get any better, then my crewmate Soichi Noguchi took this night timelapse from Resilience and I was blown away. I didnt think the views could get any better, then my crewmate @Astro_Soichi took this night timelapse from Resilience and I was blown away. pic.twitter.com/2aKD9bgzJ4 Mike Hopkins (@Astro_illini) April 12, 2021 This is Noguchis third time aboard the space station. The first time he arrived was on the Space Shuttle which was retired in 2011. He next flew on a Soyuz spacecraft operated by Russias Roscosmos. With the most recent one, he has become the first Japanese astronaut to fly on a commercial spacecraft. NASA Noguchi came aboard the Resilience, along with NASA astronauts Michael Hopkins, Victor Glover and Shannon Walke, which was the first commercial spacecraft to arrive at the ISS (after the maiden launch that happened in May 2020). The spacecraft arrived in November 2020. Also Read: SpaceX To Launch Four Civilians To Space This Year Aboard Dragon Spacecraft However, with another SpaceX crew Dragon thats scheduled to arrive on April 22, Resilience was shifted from its primary position (from the Harmony forward port to Harmony zenith port) on April 5th. Successfully relocated the penthouse suite of @Space_Station yesterday! Resilience is viewing the world from a new perspective. pic.twitter.com/oAPjLyseAm Mike Hopkins (@Astro_illini) April 6, 2021 The second spacecraft thats scheduled to arrive next week will have NASA astronauts Shane Kimbrough, acting as spacecraft commander, and Megan McArthur as the pilot. They will also be joined by ESA astronaut Thomas Pesquet and JAXA astronaut Akihiko Hoshide. A week following this launch, Crew-1 astronauts will head back to Earth, with the spacecraft splashing in Florida. Community News Editor / Librarian Jeannie Maschino is community news editor and librarian for The Berkshire Eagle. She has worked for the newspaper in various capacities since 1982 and joined the newsroom in 1989. She can be reached at jmaschino@berkshireeagle.com. Email Whatsapp Menu Whatsapp Google Reddit Digg Stumbleupon Linkedin Comment Imagine receiving $1.2 million in your brokerage account as the result of a clerical error. What would you do? Heres what Kelyn Spadoni of suburban New Orleans allegedly did: she refused to return the funds, moving them instead into a different account so the bank could not reclaim them, then used some of the money to buy a new car and a house. She has been taken into custody and was fired from her job as a dispatcher for the Jefferson Parish Sheriffs Office. So far, about 75 percent of the money has been recovered. Her story is a parable for a secular society that is spending the cultural funds we received from our Judeo-Christian heritage but refuses to acknowledge our debt. This refusal is growing more serious and damaging by the day. For example, the Supreme Court ruled last Friday that California cannot bar meetings of more than three families from worshipping in a private home. According to The Wall Street Journal, the decision is the fifth time the Court has overruled the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals on pandemic orders against worship, as an exasperated majority points out. The Journal editorial adds: The willfulness of the lower courts in defying the High Court underscores how much religious liberty needs protecting against the militant secular values that now dominate American public life. Many secularists think religious liberty is about the right to be wrong, an appeal to an outdated constitutional mandate that protected what educated people now know to be superstition at best and dangerous prejudice at worse. As New York Times columnist Ross Douthat notes, many cultural elites are committed to a moral vision that regards emancipated, self-directed choice as essential to human freedom and the good life. But we should ask: Does this moral vision work? Does it deliver what it promises? A fascinating article by a religious skeptic offers a perceptive answer. 'Life without fellowship and shared meaning' John Harris is a columnist with the Guardian, a British publication, and a nonbeliever. He is also brutally honest about the results of his skepticism during the pandemic: Like millions of other faithless people, I have not even the flimsiest of narratives to project on to what has happened, nor any real vocabulary with which to talk about the profundities of life and death. As an irreligious person, he believes that the value of religious community lies in community rather than religion, focusing on the way religious people sing, pray, and eat together. He asserts that rediscovering things need not be a matter of finding God, claiming that secular society can provide similar structures for dealing with societys problems. This is an understandable position for someone who does not know God, but its completely wrong. Harris doesnt understand that Christians gather and serve in community because we know God and thus find unity in him and fellowship with each other. Our Savior empowers us to forgive each other, love each other, and serve with each other. Imagine people standing along the walls of a room with a chair in the center. The closer they draw to the chair, the closer they draw to each other. Harris concludes honestly: For many of us, life without God has turned out to be life without fellowship and shared meaningand in the midst of the most disorienting, debilitating crisis most of us have ever known, that social tragedy now cries out for action. Read more at the Denison Forum Photo: (Photo : Photo by Tima Miroshnichenko from Pexels) The reopening school issue received so many hesitations from the Teachers Union earlier. However, the new CDC Guidelines made them switch stance. Teachers' unions in many states and large jurisdictions have played a significant role in organizing school closures and reopening since the pandemic. With coronavirus cases on the rise across the country, labor unions use their political clout to lobby for a more conservative approach to bringing teachers and students back into classrooms. Although not all schools must agree with their unions to restore in-person teaching, they must have teachers show up. In some instances, unions argue that they want students to return, but only after specific safety measures have been implemented. Fearful of contracting COVID-19 at work, several teachers have stated that they will not enter school buildings, particularly as cases in their communities increase. According to the Kaiser Family Foundation, a fifth of all teachers are at increased risk of serious illness if they contract the coronavirus. Other teachers are afraid of spreading the virus to their high-risk family members. "The unions have made it clear that they don't want teachers back in the classroom until they're 100 percent confident they're safe," said Katharine Strunk, an education labor market expert at Michigan State University. READ: School Reopening: More and More Parents Opting for Private Schools However, after initially claiming it didn't take into account the specific problems facing the country's urban schools, the president of the influential American Federation of Teachers praised the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's new revision of social distancing in schools, which was made after mounting pressure from interest groups scrambling to reopen schools for in-person learning. As long as masks are universally used, the CDC lowered its social distancing recommendations in some school settings from 6 feet to 3 feet last month. CDC Director Rochelle Walensky said at the time that the revision was backed by science and would help the Biden administration achieve its target of expanding in-person learning in more classrooms. However, Weingarten and a few other urban school leaders expressed concern that the CDC's research to change the recommendation from 6 to 3 feet did not account for urban school districts. Not only do they have high group transmission speeds, but their school buildings are also older. The school buildings are also older, and they have fast community transmission rates. ALSO READ: School Reopening: Excessive Handwashing in School Damages Children's Skin, Parents Say New Stance of the Teachers Union Last month, the CDC reduced its social distancing guidelines in some school settings from 6 feet to 3 feet as long as masks are universally worn. According to CDC Director Rochelle Walensky, the revision was backed by science and would help the Biden administration achieve its goal of increasing in-person learning in more classrooms. On the other hand, Weingarten and a few other urban school leaders expressed concern that the CDC's report, which was used to adjust the recommendation from 6 to 3 feet, did not consider the needs of urban school districts. In summarizing the letter to her AFT colleagues, Weingarten wrote, "I want to emphasize that the letter is clear that the drive to increase the number of children in classrooms cannot happen in a vacuum." "The letter makes it clear that the current physical distancing guidance is a floor, not a roof, and that how the CDC guidelines are applied can differ depending on the local context as well as changing science," says the letter. President Joe Biden and Cardona have been pushing school districts, including urban school districts that serve some of the country's most disadvantaged children, to reopen for in-person instruction. READ MORE: School Reopenings Benefit Kids and Minimize Parental Stress, Pediatrician Says [April 15, 2021] LIXIL introduces Design DeepDive Live Sessions SINGAPORE, April 15, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- LIXIL, maker of pioneering water and housing products, recently introduced the Design DeepDive Live Sessions, a series of webinars that connect like-minded leaders to discuss design and architectural challenges in a post-pandemic world. With this initiative, LIXIL aims to tap on industry leaders' expertise and knowledge to inspire and empower these communities, young architects and students. At the webinars, renowned subject matter experts are invited to share their experiences and insights on the design and architectural landscape moving forward. The first ever Design DeepDive Live Session was launched in India in the beginning of 2020, with a total of 21 sessions hosted to date in the country. Some of the key topics discussed included "Sustainability and Hygiene by Design", "The Future of Architecture and Design" and "Juggling with the Mindsets". The webinars were presented by Reza Kabul, President of ARK Reza Kabul Architects; Patrik Schumacher, Principal at Zaha Hadid Architects (ZAHA); and Dipen Gada, Founder of Dipen Gada and Associates respectively. Executives from LIXIL brands -- American Standard, GROHE and INAX, co-presented the sessions, which saw a total viewership of 20,000 across all platforms. The sessions are available for viewing on the official Instagram account of GROHE India. The Philippines edition then followed suit under the theme "Build a Bette Normal". Industry experts, developers, and government planners were engaged in thought-provoking discussions to analyse the impact of COVID-19 on the real estate, construction, and design industries, as well as the challenges and ways forward. Renowned speakers presented their most compelling convictions and insights on the topics "Advising Clients in a Brave New World", "Co-creating with Government: Opportunities for Positive Change" and "Excellence in Times of Crises". These included Jojo Tolentino, CEO of Aidea APEX; Christine Bruckner, FAIA Director of Moser Associates; Royal Pineda, President and CEO of BUDJI+ROYAL Architecture and Design; and Tina Periquet, Interior Architect, Periquet Galicia Interiors. In all, the sessions in Philippines saw a total viewership of more than 10,900 across all platforms. The sessions are available for viewing on American Standard APAC's official YouTube channel, American Standard Philippines official Facebook page, the GROHE Pacific YouTube channel and the INAX YouTube channel. Antoine Besseyre des Horts, Leader, LIXIL Global Design, Asia, explained, "During the global pandemic, hygiene and well-being have undoubtedly taken precedence for people and businesses where daily life & operations have been highly disrupted. Through our Design DeepDive Live Sessions, we support the architecture and design community by providing a platform to share their experiences, knowledge, concerns and thoughts on the 'new normal'. Design is about understanding people and crafting culturally relevant solutions that address real-life issues, enhancing their daily lives both emotionally and practically. I am confident that these webinars will inspire the development of new solutions that will address the needs and demands of consumers reflecting LIXIL's user-centric philosophy." As the leader in pioneering water and housing products, LIXIL will continue to pay utmost attention and focus on design, innovation and consumer-centricity, developing hygiene technologies that address people's concerns and consumer pain points. Through this, LIXIL aims to make better homes a reality for everyone, everywhere. With the success of the sessions in India and the Philippines, LIXIL plans to replicate and bring these sessions to its other key markets in the Asia-Pacific region. About LIXIL LIXIL makes pioneering water and housing products that solve everyday, real-life challenges, making better homes a reality for everyone, everywhere. Drawing on our Japanese heritage, we create world-leading technology and innovate to make high quality products that transform homes. But the LIXIL difference is how we do this; through meaningful design, an entrepreneurial spirit, a dedication to improving accessibility for all, and responsible business growth. Our approach comes to life through industry leading brands, including INAX, GROHE, American Standard, and TOSTEM. Approximately 75,000 colleagues operating in more than 150 countries are proud to make products that touch the lives of more than a billion people every day. LIXIL Group Corporation (TSE Code: 5938) is the listed holding company for LIXIL's portfolio of businesses. SOURCE LIXIL [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] ADVERTISEMENT The police in Abia State said they have arrested two suspects in connection with the killing of two brothers, Bright and Victory Osuagwu, in Osisioma, near Aba. The police spokesperson in the state, Geoffrey Ogbonna, confirmed the arrest to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Thursday. Bright and Victor, aged nine and seven, were allegedly strangled to death in their house in Osisioma on Good Friday, while their parents, Chima Osuagwu and wife, were away. Mr Ogbonna, a superintendent of police, said the principal suspect, Chukwuebuka Nnamani, was arrested with the help of his alleged accomplice, Amanna, who was caught by people in the neighbourhood, while attempting to burgle the house of the deceaseds parents. He said Amanna, who allegedly aided Nnamani to kill the boys, returned to burgle Osuagwus house. He said the deceaseds parents were reportedly rushed to hospital after they suffered shock from the murder of their two children, leaving their house empty. Mr Ogbonna said Amanna, who lived in the same neighbourhood, took advantage of the absence of the occupants to sneak into the house to steal. It was while he was in the house that a neighbour, who heard some noise inside, rushed in and held him and shouted for support from other neighbours, he said. The police spokesperson said that Amanna, who was almost lynched by the mob, later confessed that the principal suspect was paid N80, 000 to kill the two children. He also told the angry crowd that Nnamani paid him N20, 000 to assist him to commit the dastardly act. He told the police that he was watching the environment for Nnamani to ensure that no one entered the place, while he strangled the boys to death, he said. Amanna, according to the police spokesperson, later led the mob to Nnamanis place, where his father reportedly held him back from escaping. His father handed him over to the crowd, which later invited the police to pick him up, Mr Ogbonna said. The police have commenced investigation into the matter, Mr Ogbonna said. Meanwhile, the father of the deceased, who is a trader at Ariaria International Market, Aba, has appealed for Governor Okezie Ikpeazus intervention to ensure that all the people involved in the killing of his children were arrested and made to face justice. He told NAN that he was afraid that those who allegedly paid Nnamani to kill their children might return to attack him and his wife in order to escape justice. (NAN) House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said she would have fought off the Capitol rioters had she been caught on January 6. 'Well, I'm pretty tough. I'm a street fighter,' Pelosi said in an interview with USA Today. 'They would have had a battle on their hands.' The California Democrat then pointed to the 4-inch stiletto heels she wears, adding, 'I would have had these' to use as weapons. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is photographed presiding over the House chamber on January 6 before the Capitol insurrection House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is known for wearing 4-inch stilettos and told USA Today this week that she would have wielded them as a weapon against the MAGA mob Richard Barnett, a supporter of President Donald Trump sits inside the office of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi on January 6 Pelosi was whisked away by her security detail and didn't have the same kind of close calls as Vice President Mike Pence and now Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer. Footage of both Pence and Schumer narrowly escaping the mob were used by Democratic impeachment managers in former President Donald Trump's second Senate impeachment trial over inciting the insurrection. Pelosi agreed with USA Today's Susan Page and Ledyard King that the rioters were out to kill her. 'That's what they were setting out to do,' the top Democrat acknowledged. She added that she was never personally fearful that day. 'I was never personally afraid because I had so much security for myself,' Pelosi said. 'I was afraid for everybody else, and I'll never forgive them [for] the trauma that they caused to the staff and the members.' Accounts from that day include Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez hiding in her office bathroom mistaking a member of the Capitol Police for a rioter. Rioters made their way into Pelosi's office - and her staff barricaded themselves into a conference room and hid under a table as the office was ramsacked, according to reporting from The Washington Post. 'I do think it will have an impact on how people decide to come to work here or stay to work here and the rest,' Pelosi told USA Today on Tuesday. The speaker said she's open to having a select committee investigate January 6 - similar to the select committee Republicans formed to probe Benghazi, if efforts to create a January 6 commission fail. There have been across-the-aisle disagreements on the scope of a commission and how its members would be chosen. She reiterated her commitment to an investigation of January 6 during her Thursday press conference. 'I would rather have a 9/11 ... type-commission,' she said. 'The challenge we have is what is the scope.' 'It's not about reviewing the elections, it's not about examining Black Lives Matter, it's about what happened on January 6 and how we can prevent it from happening again,' the speaker continued. 'But I'm optimistic, because, frankly, we have to have a commission, in my view, to find the truth,' she added. Nancy Pelosi calls George Floyd's death a 'public assassination' and says if she was there she would have 'just pulled Derek Chauvin off' House Speaker Nancy Pelosi called George Floyd's death a 'public assassination,' speaking about officer Derek Chauvin's trial from Capitol Hill Tuesday. Pelosi told USA Today she hasn't watched the full trial, but has kept up with developments via news accounts. 'I feel sad about the spectators, and that that young woman who said she's up all night because she wonders what she could have done differently,' Pelosi said. 'I think if any of us was there, we would have gone up and just pulled him off,' she said of Chauvin, who is facing both murder and manslaughter charges. 'I think if any of us was there, we would have gone up and just pulled him off,' Pelosi said of Derek Chauvin, who kneeled on the neck of George Floyd for nearly nine minutes She added, 'But we might have gotten shot, and that's probably why somebody didn't pull him off.' Throughout the sit-down with USA Today's Susan Page - who has written a biography about Pelosi that comes out later this month - and Ledyard King, the House speaker talked about how she has deep respect for law enforcement. She added, however, 'that isn't a license to kill. And that's what happened.' 'That was a public assassination of George Floyd,' she said. Pelosi, like President Joe Biden, has backed the House-passed George Floyd Justice in Policing Act, which implements some federal policing reforms. 'I was raised in a family where, be true to the men in blue police and fire. They save our lives. They risk their lives. They leave home. They don't know if they're coming home. Their families make sacrifices for our safety,' she said. 'So I have a respect for that as I do for our people here.' Pelosi argued that officers could benefit from better training, something the George Floyd act would provide. She pointed to the Sunday police shooting of 20-year-old Daunte Wright outside of Minneapolis. 'How could it be that violence of that kind is such an early resort for some of these police officers?' she said. 'There just has to be some better training.' Pelosi's interview with USA Today came the same day that she attended a memorial service for Capitol Police officer Billy Evans, who was killed on April 2 when a man rammed him before slamming a car into a Capitol barricade. Pelosi said Evans was a 'martyr for our democracy.' She doesn't back the progressive wing of her party's cry to 'defund the police.' 'Forget that. That has no place,' the speaker said. 'Safety is essential to everyone's life. But I find the [Chauvin] trial so disappointing,' she continued. 'And maybe my disappointment springs from my expectation that these are our protectors.' The George Floyd Justice in Policing Act is currently sitting in the Senate without enough votes to pass. Negotiations are ongoing, as White House press secretary Jen Psaski said Tuesday, between lawmakers like Sen. Cory Booker, a New Jersey Democrat, and Sen. Tim Scott, a South Carolina Republican who introduced his own police reform bill after Floyd's Memorial Day death. Nancy Pelosi tears into 'the Squad' and tells them 'this is not a one-person show, this is the United States Congress' in new book House Speaker Nancy Pelosi unloaded on 'the Squad' when talking about the progressive cohort to author Susan Page, whose book 'Madam Speaker: Nancy Pelosi and the Lessons of Power' come out next week. Axios reported some early details on Monday, including that Pelosi adopted a child-like voice when talking about Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, the 31-year-old ringleader of the group, who was previously the youngest member of Congress. 'Madam Speaker: Nancy Pelosi and the Lessons of Power' comes out next Tuesday and includes details like Pelosi's first call with the newly elected Donald Trump In the book, Pelosi gives 'the Squad' blunt advice: 'You're not a one-person show. This is the Congress of the United States.' Page, USA Today's Washington bureau chief, spoke to Pelosi 10 times for the biography. Pelosi told friends and family to participate in the process too. Pelosi didn't hold back in her assessment of some of her colleagues. In their second sit-down, which occurred in July 2019, Page said Pelosi's dispute with 'the Squad' had 'exploded.' 'Her anger at the four new progressive congresswomen was palpable,' Page recalled. Pelosi sat down for a meeting with Ocasio-Cortez later that month in an effort to minimize tensions. Pelosi also told Page that Mitch McConnell, the top Senate Republican, 'is not a force for good in the country.' 'He is an enabler of some of the worst stuff, and an instigator of some of it on his own,' Pelosi said. In an excerpt from the book posted on USA Today's website Friday, Page captures Pelosi's first conversation with now former President Donald Trump after he won the 2016 race. Pelosi, then in the minority, called Trump at Trump Tower to congratulate him on his win and offer her hope that they could work together. 'Nancy, me too,' Trump replied. 'We'll get some good things done.' Trump told Pelosi that she could deliver 'better than anybody.' 'Don't forget, I was a supporter of yours,' Trump told the Democratic leader, a reference to a donation he had made to the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee before becoming a Republican. 'I think you're terrific.' Pelosi suggested to the incoming president that he schedule a session to talk to the bipartisan Congressional Caucus for Women's Issues. He put her on the phone with Ivanka Trump. 'Talk to my daughter about it,' Trump said. 'Now it was Pelosis turn to be surprised. The House Democratic leader found herself listening to Trumps thirty-five-year-old daughter, whose resume mostly involved working on enterprises named Trump, relay her thoughts on childcare policy,' Page wrote. Page also revealed that Pelosi had planned to retire after the 2016 election of Hillary Clinton, as Clinton would have eclipsed her as the highest-ranking woman in American political history. 'She had intended to step back from elective office once Hillary was in the White House. That idea was instantly shelved,' Page wrote. The pain of Trump's election 'was physical, it was actually physical,' Pelosi told Page. 'Like a mule kicking you in the back over and over again,' Pelosi said. The Company fills key positions in Chief Operating Officer and Chief Strategy Officer. The new executives are retired Colonels of the Canadian Armed Forces with strong psychiatric, operating, and medical backgrounds, highlighting The Newly Institute's primary focus of effectively treating veterans with mental health indications. The Newly Institute also wishes to introduce its current management team. Calgary, Alberta--(Newsfile Corp. - April 15, 2021) - Aspen Island Therapeutics Inc. DBA The Newly Institute ("The Newly Institute" or the "Company") announces the executive team to lead its roll-out strategy of psychedelic assisted psychotherapy clinics across Canada. Executive Team The Newly Institute has assembled a world class team with the credentials and the track record to position itself as the institutional leader in revolutionizing mental health care delivery: Arthur H. Kwan, MBA, CFA, ICD.D - President and Chief Executive Officer Robert L. Tanguay, MD, FRCPC, CCSAM, CISAM - Vice President, Medical and Chief Medical Officer Colonel (Retired) Richard F. Pucci, OMM, CD, BSc, MDS - Vice President, Operations and Chief Operating Officer Marshall J. Ross, MD, FRCPC - Vice President, Science and Chief Scientific Officer Colonel (Retired) Rakesh Jetly, OMM, CD, MD, FRCPC - Vice President, Strategy and Chief Strategy Officer Nadine Weller, CA, CPA, FEA - Vice President, Finance and Chief Financial Officer Marney Riendeau, BScN, RN - Vice President, Clinical Operations David Wood, PhD, LLB - Senior Advisor, Regulatory and Intellectual Property Michael J. Saliken, BComm, LLB - Corporate Secretary Executive Biographies Arthur H. Kwan, MBA, CFA, ICD.D - President and Chief Executive Officer Arthur brings over 20 years of investment banking, capital markets, and leadership experience. He began his investment career in 1997 with TD Asset Management and has held increasingly senior investment banking positions with Scotia Capital, PI Financial, and Paradigm Capital, where he was Managing Director, Investment Banking. Arthur was the Founder, President & CEO of CannaIncome Fund, whose management contract was acquired by Balancing Rock in 2021. He was also the Co-Founder, President & CEO of Seven Leaf Ventures, which was acquired by Stem Holdings in 2020, and Vice President and Equity Partner of Westwind Partners, which was acquired by Thomas Weisel Partners Group in 2008. Robert L. Tanguay, MD, FRCPC, CCSAM, CISAM - Vice President, Medical and Chief Medical Officer Dr. Tanguay is one of a few Psychiatrists who has completed two fellowships: one in Addiction Medicine and one in Pain Medicine. He is a clinical assistant professor with the departments of Psychiatry and Surgery at the Cumming School of Medicine, University of Calgary. Dr. Tanguay was the Medical Lead for Addiction Education for Alberta Health Services (AHS) where he helped develop award winning educational programs. He is the Regional Director for Alberta and North West Territories for the Canadian Society of Addiction Medicine (CSAM) where he sits as a board member, the President of the Pain Society of Alberta, and the co-chair of the internationally recognized Alberta Pain Strategy. He is the founder of innovative programs including the Opioid Deprescribing Program, the Rapid Access Addiction Medicine (RAAM) Community Clinic, and the Transitional Outpatient Pain Program for Spine (TOPPS). He also consults with the Carewest Operational Stress Injury Clinic treating veterans and RCMP for trauma psychological injuries. He is the University of Calgary representative for the Association of Faculties of Medicine of Canada response to the opioid crisis, working on the development of curricula for medical trainees. Academically, he is involved in research in trauma, addiction, chronic pain, opioids, cannabis and psychedelics and is a member of the Hotchkiss Brain Institute and the Mathison Centre for Mental Health Research and Education at the University of Calgary. Colonel (Retired) Richard F. Pucci, OMM, CD, BSc, MDS - Vice President, Operations and Chief Operating Officer Colonel (Retired) Pucci, OMM, CD, BSc, MDS, served as the Deputy Commander of the Canadian Forces Health Services, during which time he oversaw a team of approximately 6,400 active members and 500 contractors. During his tenure he was responsible for over watching via the chain of command 43 units and 82 detachments, including clinics, mobile medical units, field hospital, schools, research establishment and a medical equipment depot. He also held the position of Chief of Staff of the Health Services Group, with the overall responsibility for a financial and business planning cycle of $462 million, and an infrastructure budget of $600 million. Colonel (Retired) Pucci was invested into the Order of Military Merit in 2011. Marshall J. Ross, MD, FRCPC - Vice President, Science and Chief Scientific Officer Dr. Ross is an FRCPC Emergency Medicine physician, co-founder of ResolvMD, clinical lecturer at the University of Calgary, and a transport physician with STARS air ambulance. He created a new protocol that formed the basis of a province-wide program to treat opiate addiction in the emergency department and has guided treatment for over 3,000 Albertans. Dr Ross is an award-winning clinician, medical researcher, and a published author on a range of topics including the efficacy of sub-dissociative dose ketamine. In addition, he received a Top 40 Under 40 2019 award by Avenue Magazine Calgary. Colonel (Retired) Rakesh Jetly, OMM, CD, MD, FRCPC - Vice President, Strategy and Chief Strategy Officer Colonel (Retired) has recently retired from the Canadian Armed Forces after 31 years of service. During his career he occupied various positions culminating in Chief of Psychiatry, which involved being the national practice leader of over 400 mental health professionals as well as the Mental Health Advisor to the Canadian Forces' Surgeon General. Dr. Jetly has been a driver behind the innovation and enhancements within the military mental health system in Canada as well as playing a significant role within the NATO research community. He was additionally appointed "The Canadian Forces Brigadier Jonathan C. Meakins, CBE, RCAMC Chair in Military Mental Health". He has published numerous articles in professional journals and has presented nationally and internationally on such topics as PTSD and operational psychiatry. Nadine Weller, CA, CPA, FEA - Vice President, Finance and Chief Financial Officer Nadine has been working in accounting since 2007 and currently holds her CPA and FEA designations. She was formerly with MNP and has over 14 years of accounting, auditing, and taxation experience. Nadine also volunteers in the community, acting as a Treasurer for two private schools and working with the CPA volunteer tax program. Marney Riendeau, BScN, RN - Vice President, Clinical Operations Marney has over 30 years of clinical, nursing, and management experience. She was the Program Manager for the Operational Stress Injury ("OSI") Clinic, operated by Carewest Innovative Health Care. She built the Calgary OSI clinic from 8 to 40 employees to be one of the largest in the country. She has been invited to speak nationally and internationally about the innovation that she brought to the clinic. Previously, she was the Program Manager for the suburban mental health clinics operated by Capital Health, where she provided community based services in mental health. David Wood, PhD, LLB - Senior Advisor, Regulatory and Intellectual Property Psychedelics, entheogens, entactogens and dissociative anaesthetics, and cannabis are the sole focus of Dr. Wood's intellectual property, regulatory and commercial practice at Borden Ladner Gervais LLP ("BLG"), Canada's largest law firm. Dr. Wood holds a PhD in biochemistry where his graduate-level education in structural biochemistry, synthetic organic chemistry, physical chemistry, plant biochemistry and natural products chemistry provides a strong technical background for advising clients working with psychedelics and clients working in Canada's cannabis industry in relation to both intellectual property and regulatory law. He is co-chair of BLG's National Psychedelics and Cannabis Focus Group. Michael J. Saliken, BComm, LLB - Corporate Secretary Michael is a Partner at Borden Ladner Gervais LLP, Canada's largest law firm, and represents public and private issuers and financers in public and private debt and equity financings, mergers and acquisitions, and corporate governance matters. Michael is a member of the steering committee of BLG's Psychedelics and Cannabis focus group. Michael is a board member and committee chair for various companies and has worked in BLG's securities and capital markets group for 12 years. Over the next several weeks, The Newly Institute will unveil its best-in-class board of advisors in the medical, psychiatric, and veteran sectors. About The Newly Institute The Newly Institute believes that mental health treatment is in drastic need of a paradigm shift, and our practice was founded to provide long-lasting change within this industry, our community, and with our clients. By fusing a bio-psycho-social-spiritual treatment model with psychedelic-assisted therapies, patients can overcome deeply embedded traumas that prevent them from living fully in their everyday lives. Our programs are based on evidence and data, but our approach is personal because we know it is vital that people feel safe to be vulnerable during this process. With locations opening in Calgary, AB and Fredericton, NB, as well as several more Canadian cities, The Newly Institute's goal is to become Canada's largest and premier operator of psychedelic assisted psychotherapy clinics. Forward Looking Statements This news release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of applicable securities laws. All statements that are not historical facts, including without limitation, statements regarding the opening of psychotherapy clinics in Canada, 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, timing to complete renovations, hire staff and open psychotherapy clinics in Canada; the Company's limited operating history and lack of historical profits; reliance on management; the Company's requirements for additional financing, and the effect of capital market conditions and other factors on capital availability, including closing of future financings. 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. 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 as a result of future events, new information or for any other reason except as required by law. SOURCE: The Newly Institute For further information: Investor, Media, and General Inquiries: ir@thenewly.ca Related Links www.thenewly.ca To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/80511 New Delhi/Noida, April 15 : For 28-year-old Pratyush Ranjan, the Covid-hit 2020 taught him hard lessons in embracing a digital life, not only for shopping clothes or shoes but also daily essentials like groceries, milk, vegetables, meat and more. A year later, living in a high-rise apartment in Noida which has over 40 Covid-positive cases and rising, he is well prepared to cope with the unprecedented second Covid wave, thanks to easy-to-operate apps and a robust digital payments system just few clicks away. "Life is so easy now. As I and several of my friends now work from home, ordering daily essentials was never so easy thanks to user-friendly apps. Last year made us realise the importance of going digital," said Ranjan. He is not alone as thousands of urban Indians - who never looked at using smartphones to purchase items of daily needs and are once again locked up in their homes - across the country have become comfortable in using apps like BigBasket, JioMart, Grofers, Country Delight, FreshToHome, Licious and Zappfresh, etc to fulfil their needs without venturing out. Moreover, digital payments providers like Paytm, PhonePe, Google Pay and BharatPe have made their digital journey easy. "Whether it be hyperlocal O2O commerce models, contactless deliveries and pick-ups, and new mobile apps for an array of use cases and contexts - there has been a rapid progress in experimenting and improvising to deliver strong digital experiences for consumers," Prabhu Ram, Head-Industry Intelligence Group (IIG), CMR, told IANS. During the pandemic, consumption of online branded meat has also increased by more than two times. "Since Covid, customers increasingly preferred purchasing meat online. This was driven by the assurance of safety and hygiene, availability of various products under one umbrella, doorstep service provided by online meat providers," according to Bengaluru-based market research firm RedSeer. The reality is that the pandemic has resulted in a significant increase in meat orders online and key delivery players have seen three times growth in meat orders since the outbreak of the pandemic in the country. "Covid-19 transformed the fish and meat purchasing behaviour of consumers dramatically. Due to safety concerns, consumers made the habit-forming shift to e-commerce and we saw online demand for our products going up many folds this year," said Shan Kadavil, Co-Founder and CEO of FreshToHome. Reliance Industries' e-commerce venture JioMart is now giving a fight to BigBasket. According to a BofA Global Research report, JioMart, launched in May last year, has gained a 20 per cent market share among distributors in Bengaluru. When it comes to daily/monthly user base, "the DAU/MAU ratio, a function of retention, is also highest for Big Basket and JioMart at 17 per cent and 16 per cent, respectively," said BofA. BigBasket, which saw a huge slump last year as the country went into lockdown, later doubled its business, servicing over 300,000 deliveries a day compared to around 150,000 deliveries prior to the lockdown. While direct-to-consumer dairy market is still in the nascent stage in India, Country Delight is performing really well, sourcing milk and eggs directly through farmers and processing several products such as paneer, curd, ghee and bread etc. It claims to have over 5 dozen stringent tests for impurities and toxins. In the aftermath of the daunting and disruptive challenges that the pandemic posed at the beginning of the pandemic in 2020, there has been a significant acceleration in all things digital, which is helping people stuck at homes in the lethal second wave of Covid-19. Latest updates on Coronavirus (COVID-19) Bell to start delivering 12 ultra-modern AH-1Z Viper attack helicopters to Bahrain later this year Bell to start delivering 12 ultra-modern AH-1Z Viper attack helicopters to Bahrain later this year TDT | Manama The Daily Tribune www.newsofbahrain.com Bell hosted a delegation from the Kingdom of Bahrain to mark the start of production of ultra-modern AH-1Z Viper attack helicopters built as part of the Foreign Military Sales (FMS) program. Bell helicopters have won a $240 million modification contract from the US Navy to supply 12 AH-1Z Vipers to Bahrain. Projects production deliveries are expected to begin later this year. Bell Textron Inc. is an American aerospace manufacturer headquartered in Fort Worth, Texas. A subsidiary of Textron, Bell manufactures military rotorcraft at facilities in Fort Worth, and Amarillo, Texas, as well as commercial helicopters in Mirabel, Quebec, Canada Bahraini delegates toured the Bell production facilities in Amarillo, Texas to observe the production line and ceremoniously sign the aircrafts frame destined to join the Royal Bahraini Air Force. In November last year, Bahrain signed an agreement with Bell Helicopter Textron Inc to procure 12 Bell AH-1Z twin-engine attack helicopters. Mike Deslatte, Bell H-1 Vice President and Program Director, said: We are honoured to host the Kingdom of Bahrain and share this milestone in production for the AH-1Z. Todays ceremony marks a new milestone in bringing the advanced capabilities of the Viper a step closer to the Kingdom of Bahrain. Today also signifies the dedication of thousands of Bell and Team Viper employees around the world who are proud to support our international partner. On 27 April 2018, the US Defense Security Cooperation Agency announced it had received US State Department approval and notified Congress of a possible sale to Bahrain of 12 AH-1Zs, 26 T-700 GE 401C engines, and armaments for an estimated cost of $911.4 million. The US government has also given the go-ahead for a series of ammunitions to be supplied with the aircraft, including Lockheed Martin AGM-114 Hellfire missiles and BAE Systems Advanced Precision Kill Weapon System II guided rockets. Bahrain already operates 22 older AH-1 attack helicopters The AH-1Z a type currently only operated by the US Marine Corps. is a twin-engine attack helicopter based on the Bell AH1W SuperCobra that features a four-blade rotor system, uprated transmission, and a new target sighting system. It has upgraded avionics, weapons, and electro-optical sensors designed to find targets at long ranges and attack them with precision weapons. Bahrains current air force inventory includes 30 AH-1E/Fs, which Cirium fleets data shows are aged up to 43 years. Bell designed the AH-1Z Viper to meet the demands of todays military campaigns and combat missions on the battlefields, within the overall scope of military operations. Viper regularly maintains a highly effective offensive speed from advanced operations facilities as it is characterised by a low logistical footprint without losing combat capabilities. Mainland voices firm opposition to "Taiwan independence" Xinhua) 14:14, April 15, 2021 File photo taken from Xiangshan Mountain shows the Taipei 101 skyscraper in Taipei, southeast China's Taiwan. (Xinhua/Zhu Xiang) BEIJING, April 14 (Xinhua) -- Exercises by the People's Liberation Army (PLA) have showcased that the mainland's determination to curb "Taiwan independence" and collusion between the island and the United States is not "empty words," a mainland spokesperson said Wednesday. Ma Xiaoguang, a spokesperson for the Taiwan Affairs Office of the State Council, made the remarks while responding to a media query on mainland military drills and training. Mainland's military exercises do not target the people in Taiwan, but are a response to Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) authority's stepped up provocative actions seeking "Taiwan independence" in collusion with external forces, Ma said. PLA's real combat-oriented drills across the Taiwan Strait are necessary moves aimed at the current security situation in the Strait and meant to safeguard national sovereignty, Ma said, adding that the military exercises are solemn responses to external interference and attempts seeking "Taiwan independence." As long as the DPP authority stops seeking secession and returns to the common political foundation of the 1992 Consensus, cross-Strait relations will improve, Ma noted. (Web editor: Shi Xi, Liang Jun) A new trans-Tasman travel bubble between Australia and New Zealand could have devastating 'unintended' consequences for Kiwis trying to return home. New Zealand will welcome back Australians back for the first time in 13 months when the long awaited travel bubble between the two countries takes off in the coming days following the coronavirus pandemic. From Monday, travellers in Australia can board quarantine-free 'green' flights across the Tasman if they have been in Australia for the last 14 days prior. But 'red flights' from Australia carrying passengers who must enter quarantine when they arrive in New Zealand will end, leaving no options for returning Kiwis transiting in Australia from further abroad - which is a very common way for them to get home. A two-way travel bubble takes off between Australia and New Zealand on April 19. Pictured is a traveller arriving in Sydney from an Auckland flight 'Red flights' currently carry passengers from countries outside of a quarantine-free travel arrangement, or from within a quarantine-free area with passengers that do not meet the eligibility criteria and must enter mandatory quarantine when they arrive in New Zealand. 'It will not be possible to book a red flight from Australia to New Zealand from April 19 Every flight from Australia to New Zealand from that time will be green flights,' the New Zealand government website states. 'When quarantine-free travel to New Zealand begins, people in Australia who meet the eligibility criteria can fly quarantine-free to New Zealand. 'If youre outside Australia, you can fly quarantine-free to New Zealand once you have met Australias managed isolation and quarantine requirements. You will also need to meet immigration rules and eligibility criteria.' Current 'red flights' between Australia and New Zealand when the travel bubble opens. Pictured are travellers at Auckland Airport Air New Zealand, Qantas, and Jetstar have all announced they will only be operating quarantine-free flights between Australia and New Zealand from April 19. Qantas and Jetstar will initially operate up to 122 return flights per week across the Tasman on 15 routes, offering more than 52,000 seats each week Air New Zealand currently operates five return red flights from New Zealand to Australia each week. Travellers are kept separate from green-flight passengers en route to Australia, and were required to enter into quarantine upon on arrival in New Zealand IMMagine immigration adviser Iain MacLeod believes consequence as 'unintended' by officials He's in contact with at least six South African families due to arrive in New Zealand after the travel bubble started who now have to book new flights. 'Who would have thought New Zealanders are going to be prevented from coming home?,' Mr MacLeod told Stuff. 'We are trying to make travel easier, but we are just making it harder.' Air New Zealand will only be quarantine-free 'green' flights across the Tasman Both countries confirmed they're working to resolve the issue. 'The Australian Border Force is working with New Zealand and our industry partners on the implementation of two-way quarantine free travel, including transit arrangements.' Australia's Department Home Affairs said in a statement: New Zealand's Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade added: 'We know that reduced transit options are likely to cause challenges for Kiwis in some destinations. 'Officials are in discussions with Australia to find a possible solution. However, it is a commercial decision for each airline as to which types of flights they operate.' (Newser) The former Minnesota police officer charged in the shooting death of Daunte Wright made her first appearance in court Thursday. Kim Potter said little in the five-minute hearing, just an occasional "yes" in response to questions from the judge, KARE reports. She's charged with second-degree manslaughter in the death of Wright, 20, during a traffic stop Sunday afternoon. The Brooklyn Center police chief, who resigned Tuesday along with Potter, has said he believes she intended to use her Taser. Potter appeared on the Zoom screen only briefly. Her next court appearance is scheduled for May 17. At the same time, Wright's family held a press conference to discuss the case and their loss. Benjamin Crump, a lawyer for the family, said that unlike in past cases of Black men killed by police, an officer has been arrested and charged. story continues below "So we are making progress," Crump said, "and I want to encourage those protestingthose young people, those activiststhat you are making a difference." Wright's aunt, Naisha, questioned the police chief's explanation, holding up a picture of a Glock and a picture of a Taser, per CNN. "Y'all see the difference?" she asked. Crump said the Wright family wants "to get full accountability, to get equal justice." Wright's mother, Katie, questioned the concept, per NPR. "What is justice?" she said. "Do we get to see Daunte's smile? We don't get to see that." Even if Potter is held accountable, she said: "We're still never going to be able to see our baby boy that we're never going to have again. So when people say justice, I just shake my head." Crump said her son's funeral will be April 22. (Read more Kim Potter stories.) [April 15, 2021] Doorstead, a Full-Service Property Manager That Provides Cash-Flow Certainty to Residential Landlords with Its Upfront Rental Guarantee, Raises $12.5 Million in Series A Funding Doorstead, a technology-operations company that specializes in full-service property management, announced today that it has raised $12.5 million in Series A funding. The round was led by Madrona Venture Group, an early investor in tech-enabled residential real estate brokerage Redfin. The oversubscribed round also included operating executives from OpenDoor, Uber, and Docusign. Doorstead was founded by Uber and Y Combinator veterans Ryan Waliany and Jennifer Bronzo in 2019 to create a new class of property management that applies AI and technology operations to simplify the lives of residential landlords. The company targets the 15 million small real estate investors who own 95% of single-family rental residences in the U.S. and are largely underserved today. Pricing and occupancy, two of the biggest drivers of landlord happiness and financial success, are core to the Doorstead value proposition, and why the company has seen such strong adoption by early customers. The company analyzes millions of market-specific data points on a daily basis to calculate the optimal rental price to maximize rental income while minimizing vacancy. Within 24 hours of request for a given property, Doorstead provides a guaranteed rental rate, occupancy date, and a year of cash flow for the owner. Once owners sign with Doorstead, the company does everything from preparing the property for lease, marketing the property and screening tenants, negotiating rent, an managing the property through the term of the lease. On average, Doorstead landlords earn $2,300 more per year with Doorstead than their prior property managers; and Doorstead has been able to deliver this performance, with guaranteed cash flow to its owner-customers, in a rental market that has seen headwinds associated with the Covid pandemic. "Doorstead's service has not only simplified the entire process of being a landlord, but also given me a peace of mind," says Candy Wan, a property owner in Hayward, California. "Having a trusted, close-knit management team which will search for the right tenant and take care of the little details to meet tenant's satisfaction on my behalf is awesome. The best part of all is Doorstead will guarantee a monthly rent payment even if the property is vacant." Doorstead now manages more than 300 properties in the San Francisco Bay Area, its first market, a footprint that grew by 50% each quarter of 2020. With more than $10 million of rent under management, the company recently launched in its second and third markets, Los Angeles and Orange (News - Alert) County. "We are just getting started in our journey to provide cash-flow certainty to all small residential landlords everywhere. Starting with pricing and occupancy, we are applying deep technology and operations capabilities to eliminate all of the headaches, friction and uncertainty involved with owning residential rental properties," said Ryan Waliany, CEO and co-founder of Doorstead. "We are excited to partner with our new investors, Madrona Venture Group and an incredible roster of prop-tech and ops-tech executives, to help further our mission to deliver a better property management experience for owners and tenants, throughout the U.S." "It's rare to find markets as large as single-family property management with very little technology adoption and no brands with national scale," said Scott Jacobson, Managing Director at Madrona Venture Group. "We love the approach the Doorstead team is taking, bringing technology and business models together to eliminate friction and provide better service to owners and tenants. The company's technology-operations model is ideal for local and national scale, and we look forward to working with Ryan, Jenn and team on the journey ahead." Doorstead will use the funds raised in its Series A to accelerate investments in its pricing and fulfillment technology platform, to build out its product, engineering, and marketing organizations, and to finance its expansions into new cities across the U.S. ABOUT DOORSTEAD Doorstead endeavors to eliminate the headaches, friction and uncertainty involved with owning and operating single-family rental properties. Starting with pricing, cash flow, and occupancy, Doorstead provides complete peace of mind for its owner-customers. Doorstead's application of data and technology to the full lifecycle of the rental experience enables the company to provide better cash flow to owners and higher satisfaction to both owners and tenants. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210415005332/en/ [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] CLEVELAND, Ohio The Cuyahoga County Medical Examiner identified the 25-year-old man shot to death by a Cleveland police officer identified by three law enforcement sources. Cleveland police officer Daniel Piper, a 10-year veteran, shot and killed Innes Lee Jr., 25, Thursday morning on the citys East Side. Piper and several other Fourth District police officers tracked down Lee, who had outstanding warrants for murder and aggravated robbery, according to officials and court records. The officers spotted Lee about 8:30 a.m. on East 134th Street near Beachwood Road, and Piper chased him into the backyard of a home. Lee unsuccessfully tried to scale a fence and pulled a gun from his waistband, according to police. Piper then shot Lee, killing him. UPDATE: Cleveland police release body camera of officer who fatally shot man Lee faced charges in two cases stemming from two recent incidents, according to court records. He was charged with aggravated robbery in a fight at a gas station in June. In that case, Lee argued with an employee of the Sunoco gas station on East 130th Street and Buckeye Road. Lee put a gun on the counter during the argument, according to court records. The employee believed Lee was going to rob him and grabbed the gun. Lee refused to leave until the employee gave it back. A friend gave Lee another gun, and he demanded his gun back from the clerk, according to court records. The clerk relented, and Lee left the store only to return later and punch the employee in the head, court records say. The employee grabbed Lees gun back and called 911. Lee posted 10 percent of a $50,000 bond in that case and eventually left the Cuyahoga County Jail. On Sept. 1, Lee and another man were at a gas station on East 131st Street and Harvard Avenue when they spotted a man punching a woman at a gas station across the street, according to police and court records. Lee and the other man fired shots, hitting the assailant, according to court records. The assailant returned fire, and bullets struck two women, according to police. The woman involved in the attack that prompted the shooting survived. Karen Hunter, 48, of Shaker Heights, suffered a gunshot to the face and died at the scene. Police did not arrest Lee on the warrant issued on Oct. 9. Lee was also a suspect in an April 10 incident where a woman accused him of attacking her at a party. Authorities filed no formal charges in that incident. Read more from cleveland.com: Undercover DEA agent shoots 20-year-old man police say was armed on Clevelands East Side Man is found dead outside of a store in East Cleveland, police releases photos of a possible suspect Grand jury declines charges for off-duty Cleveland police officer in fatal shooting of Desmond Franklin Michigan overdose deaths decrease again in 2019, with a greater decline than in 2018; Opioid overdose deaths also decrease as state efforts pay off FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: April 15, 2021 CONTACT: Bob Wheaton, 517-241-2112 LANSING, Mich. - Michigan is reporting its second consecutive year of decreasing opioid overdose deaths and drug overdose deaths overall - showing the progress that has been made under the state's comprehensive efforts to combat the national epidemic. The Michigan Department of Health and Human Services (MDHHS) announced today that in 2019 there were 2,354 overdose deaths in Michigan, 1,768 of which were opioid-related. Overall overdose deaths declined by 9.4% from the 2,599 in 2018 - a number that is now below what was seen in 2016. Opioid-related overdose deaths decreased by 13.2% from the 2018 total of 2,036 - a greater decline than the more modest gain the previous year. However, preliminary data for January-June 2020 show 1,340 overdose deaths - up from 1,155 in those same months in 2019, an increase of 16%. Similarly, opioid-related overdose deaths increased from 874 in the first half of 2019 to 1,045 in the same period in 2020, an increase of 20%. The 2020 deaths are likely to be underreported due to incomplete data. "Our efforts to prevent opioid misuse, provide high-quality recovery treatment and reduce the harm caused by opioids to individuals and their communities are paying off," said Dr. Joneigh Khaldun, chief medical executive and chief deputy for health for MDHHS. "We have made significant progress, however, our preliminary 2020 data is showing there may have been an uptick in deaths last year. This illustrates that there is much more work to do and we will not rest until we have made further progress in addressing an issue that has devastated far too many families." Michigan has a plan in place that calls for cutting opioid-related overdose deaths by half in five years by 2024. In 2019, the age-adjusted opioid overdose death rate decreased from 21.2 deaths per 100,000 residents in 2018 to 18.2 deaths per 100,000 residents in 2019. However, Michigan had an increase in deaths due to psychostimulants with abuse potential including methamphetamine. More than 200 Michiganders died from an overdose involving psychostimulants with abuse potential in 2019, which was a 21% increase from the previous year. The decline in opioid-related overdose deaths in 2019 was largely driven by decreases in the number of deaths due to poisoning by heroin and commonly prescribed natural and semisynthetic drugs such as oxycodone, hydrocodone, hydromorphone and oxymorphone. Drug poisoning deaths involving synthetic opioids such as fentanyl declined slightly. Despite overall progress in decreasing overdose deaths in 2019, the data show troubling disparities across racial groups. "MDHHS is firmly committed to ensuring equitable access to prevention, treatment, and harm reduction, and is taking targeted steps to address racial disparities," Khaldun said. Michigan's 2019 data shows: Overall overdose mortality rates among white residents decreased by 12.9 percent, while rates among Black residents increased by 2.7 percent. Opioid overdose mortality rates among white residents decreased by 16.9 percent, while rates among Black residents increased by 0.8 percent in 2019. Michigan residents of races other than Black or white experienced a 22.1 percent decrease in overall overdose mortality and a 20.2 percent decrease in opioid overdose mortality. The state is using every available tool to combat the opioid epidemic. The collaborative efforts of state agencies are amplifying Michigan's efforts related to prevention and treatment of patients, education of health professionals and enforcement of over-prescribers. Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, MDHHS and other members of the Michigan Opioids Task Force recently announced a slate of steps the state is taking to combat the opioid epidemic. At the end of 2020, the task force reviewed and revamped to produce the 2021 Opioids Strategy that maintains focus on 2020 priorities while increasing focus on reducing racial disparities. The strategy has outlined seven strategic pillars: 1) prevention, 2) expanding access to treatment, 3) harm reduction, 4) data and 5) equity, along with efforts targeted to population at heightened risk of overdose, 6) pregnant women and new mothers, and 7) criminal justice-involved populations. Efforts include: Launching public media campaigns to educate Michiganders on opioid risks, reduce stigma, and increase awareness of harm reduction services. Expanding funding of emergency-department based Medication-Assisted Treatment programs in hospitals across the state. Launching a statewide naloxone portal to allow local organizations to obtain the life-saving drug in bulk at no cost to the organization. Beginning Medication-Assisted Treatment programs in four state prisons and in several jails with the goal of expanding treatment to all facilities across the state. Expanding syringe service programs across the state to help reduce the amount of harm caused by opioid use disorder to individuals and their communities to 65 sites at 26 agencies. Rolling out Emergency Medical Services Naloxone Leave Behind protocol to allow EMS agencies to leave behind naloxone kits with family and friends after a nonfatal overdose. Supporting the implementation of Law Enforcement Assisted Diversion (programs in Muskegon and Washtenaw counties and the City of Detroit to divert people with opioid use disorder and other behavioral health issues to treatment and other resources. In addition, the Michigan Opioids Task Force hosted six townhalls across the state in 2020 to seek public input on Michigan's opioid strategy. For more information about opioids and the additional steps residents can take to protect themselves and loved ones, visit Michigan.gov/Opioids. If you or someone you know needs help with a substance use disorder, call the National Hotline, a 24-hour-a-day, 365-day-a-year treatment referral hotline at 1-800-662-HELP (4357). # # # Former Blue Circle director passes away 15 April 2021 Anthony J Jackson, a former director of UK-based cement multinational Blue Circle Industries PLC, sadly passed away on 29 March at the age of 87. Mr Jackson was previously the CEO of Blue Circles Nigerian operations, following earlier responsibilities in the UK and Australia. He was later also responsible for the Far East segment and involved in operations in Malaysia, Singapore and Indonesia. He went on to become the CEO of Blue Circle Enterprises in the UK, responsible for all non-cement activities, including decorative products, bricks, industrial minerals & aggregates, as well as Armitage Shanks and the property division. After retirement he worked for a few years as a consultant supporting some of Blue Circles overseas operations in Nigeria and elsewhere. Mr Jacksons grandson, Michael, continues the family link with cement and now works for LafargeHolcim in the UK. The family would welcome anyone who wishes to honour Tony, to make donations in his name to the charity Excellent Development at www.excellent.org.uk. Published under Even as military officials rushed to flesh out the details of Mr. Bidens revised plan, top Defense Department officials and military commanders appear to have ruled out for now two other options that could be employed if this revised approach falls short. More than 16,000 civilian contractors, including over 6,000 Americans, now provide security, logistics and other support in Afghanistan, according to recent figures compiled by the Pentagon. Top military officials on Wednesday played down any significant role for civilian contractors in combating Al Qaeda in Afghanistan, although some analysts say they could be used to train Afghan security forces. Under Mr. Bidens order, the United States is withdrawing 2,500 troops from Afghanistan, but the Pentagon actually has about 1,000 more troops on the ground there than it has publicly acknowledged. The murky accounting results from some Special Operations forces having been put off the books, Pentagon officials say, to include some elite Army Rangers, who work under both the Pentagon and the C.I.A. while deployed to Afghanistan. The Obama administration used similar sleights of hand under the bureaucratic term force management levels, which resulted in more troops in war zones with little public oversight. But Pentagon officials said they would not resort to those tactics to slip undisclosed troops into Afghanistan after the departure deadline, even though some analysts voiced skepticism. We are actively engaged in counterterrorism where every effort is made to minimize the troops the boots on the ground and replace them with an invisible force that can achieve just as much, William M. Arkin, a longtime security analyst and author of a new book, The Generals Have No Clothes: The Untold Story of Our Endless Wars, said in an interview. People who used to regularly attend religious services have opened up about why they stopped going and will never go back. Reddit user u/seventeencans kicked off the thought-provoking conversation about religion earlier this week by asking one simple question: 'When did you stop going to church?' Christians, Jews, Muslims, and Mormons were among the respondents, and their answers ranged from broad to specific, with one person admitting it just got in the way of 'brunch.' Over it: Reddit users have revealed why they've stopped attending religious services and will never go back (stock image) Inclusive: Christians, Jews, Muslims, and Mormons were among the respondents who opened up about their decision to stop attending religious services A number of lapsed Christians named the child sex abuse scandals that have rocked the Roman Catholic Church in recent decades. 'My spouse was raised Catholic, she'd go to church at least once or twice a month, and would feel guilty if we didn't go for longer than a month,' one Reddit user explained. 'Then the pedo scandal happened and she's had zero interest. She still has her faith in God and Jesus, but has none in religion as an institution. Which is pretty much where I always was.' Someone else commented: 'After the pedo scandal I started questioning myself and my relationship with Church and just sort of opened my eyes to all the problems behind that institution...' 'The priest I confessed my sins to was a kiddie diddler and fled the country,' another wrote, adding: 'I couldn't in good conscience be associated with a religion who refused to protect its own children.' Hypocrisy was widely mentioned in the comments, with some noting that only 'certain' people are welcome in most religious communities. 'I started to realize the teachings of the church weren't Biblical,' one person shared. 'Every Sunday the pastor would talk about righteousness that was really nationalism, and being free from those who are filled with sin, but very specific sin. Candid: Their answers ranged from the broad to the specific, with many Catholics citing the sex abuse scandals that have rocked the church in recent decades 'We had divorcees in the church and overt racists, but not gay people or former inmates. There were teachings of love, but it was very clear that love was only meant for certain people.' 'My father lost his job and the only work he could get involved travel, which meant he couldn't make the Sunday service,' someone else recalled. 'Even though my parents gave to the church monthly, all the support we got was "prayers that he found a job closer to home." 'As a teen I was also asked by church elders why [my]. father thought making money for his family was more important than attending the church.' Many Reddit users took issue with how members of the LGBTQ community are treated by some religious sects. 'I was introduced to the first gay person I had ever met and he was...great? Like a good, kind, caring human who lived a good life,' one person explained. 'And I started thinking about how the church that I had been part of for the first 17 years of my life always taught me that homosexuality is a choice, and a mortal sin and it just seemed...wrong. So I decided that the institution of Catholicism was not for me and I never explored any other religions.' Hard to handle: Some realized they were in a 'cult,' while others noted that only 'certain' people are welcome in most religious communities 'Grew up in a Christian cult, the kind that shunned family that stopped believing, and thought the only possible way to be saved from the apocalypse was to be an active member of their specific religion,' someone else said. 'The thing that woke me up from it all was just kinda getting to know people. I got to know gay/trans/atheist/pagan people I worked with, and they were every bit as compassionate, intelligent and honest as the people in my church.' The term 'cult' came up in more than a few posts in the thread. 'I moved to a new city for university and was doing a bit of church hopping with a religious roommate to see if we could find a church we liked. At one of the churches I had a once you see it, you cant unsee it moment where I suddenly thought... this is a cult,' one person recounted. 'The church we went to was a really boisterous hallelujah type place and it was very overwhelming so I had gone to the bathroom to try and avoid a full blown panic attack. When I was in there a few ladies crowded me and were saying I should take the panic as a sign that the Lord was flowing through me. 'Like... no this is anxiety, its a physiological thing. They really, earnestly believed that I was being touched by Jesus and I couldnt help but feel like they were brainwashed. It was so awkward and off-putting I lost my faith and havent really gone back since.' Outraged: A few people admitted that they gave up going to church because of how lax their places of worship were about wearing masks during the pandemic Many people shared that they stopped going to religious services as soon as they were old enough to make decisions for themselves. 'I grew up in a casually Jewish family (only go to synagogue on the high holidays, not kosher, etc). My dad (who was the driving force of the religious side of our family) knew my brothers and I didnt enjoy it and said we had to stick with it until we were 18. I did not stick with it,' one person admitted. 'The nail in the coffin was a service where we had to read a passage that said something along the lines of we are dust and ashes before God," and I could not get behind thinking I was nothing (especially compared to an entity I had never met or heard from personally), when I already had my fair share of bullies in school trying to convince me of the same.' A few people admitted that they recently gave up going to church during the COVID-19 pandemic and won't be back because of how lax their places of worship were about wearing masks. 'I literally just quit my church. We havent been in months because of the pandemic, but there was a thing for kids mine wanted to do. I can drop them off outside but for security reasons, I have to go in to pick them up,' one parent griped. 'None of the staff or other parents were wearing masks, they did not require it of the children, and no one was distancing at all. It was like 600,000 havent died in the last year from a contagious virus. I lean toward liberal anyway, but this was just it. How arrogant and hypocritical are you to mill about spreading the message of caring about others when you cant be bothered to protect them from yourself?' "This enables us to contrast the subjective perception of stress with an objective measurement method and compare the two," explains Nina Minkley. Contrary to expectations, it turned out that the effort invested in the task does not increase with its difficulty, nor does the stress level. The study was featured in the journal Frontiers in Education on 12. April 2021. Simple questionnaire surveys criticised To date, the stress experience of students has mostly been surveyed with questionnaires. But this approach has been criticised, because many factors have an effect on one's own perception that have nothing to do with the task. "For example, women often report higher stress levels than men," points out Nina Minkley. The researchers can only speculate why this is the case. In the current study, they used an objective method of measuring stress levels. They equipped 209 secondary school students who were working on biology tasks with chest straps that monitor the heart rate. They also had the participants fill out several questionnaires on their self-concept, their interest in biology and their perception of the tasks. "When we are relaxed, the individual heartbeats differ slightly, whereas when we are stressed, they are less variable," explains Nina Minkley. Thus, the change in heart rate variability is an objective measurement of the stress level. Mental effort causes stress Comparing the questionnaire answers with the measured heart rates revealed that it was mainly mental engagement, i.e. the effort the students invested in solving the tasks, that correlated with the objective stress level. Contrary to expectations, however, more difficult tasks did not increase stress. "Perhaps some tasks can be so difficult that students don't even try to work on them," concludes Nina Minkley. "Such objective measures could be used in future studies primarily to survey subjective cognitive stress dimension." ### Welcome to my genealogy blog. Genea-Musings features genealogy research tips and techniques, genealogy news items and commentary, genealogy humor, San Diego genealogy society news, family history research and some family history stories from the keyboard of Randy Seaver (of Chula Vista CA), who thinks that Genealogy Research Is really FUN! Copyright (c) Randall J. Seaver, 2006-2021. Lawton, OK (73501) Today Generally cloudy. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. High 79F. Winds SE at 5 to 10 mph.. Tonight Cloudy. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. Low near 65F. Winds SE at 5 to 10 mph. Starting on April 15, Turkish flag carrier Turkish Airlines has suspended flights service to Russia, mirroring a decision by Moscow. The restriction on flights to Russia will remain in force until June 1, 2021, Hurriyet reported. The only exception to the suspension is twice-weekly service from Istanbul to Moscow and then back, said the carrier on Wednesday. Earlier this week Russia decided to suspend Turkey-Russia flights with limited exceptions for the same period as part of COVID-19 measures. A new outbreak at Fairview Personal Care Home was declared after a health-care worker at the facility tested positive for COVID-19. Advertisement Advertise With Us A new outbreak at Fairview Personal Care Home was declared after a health-care worker at the facility tested positive for COVID-19. Thats according to an email sent out to the families of residents at the home from the care homes care team manager, Cynthia Chartrand. A copy of the email was sent to the Sun by someone who asked to remain anonymous. No residents at the care home have tested positive for the virus and no residents are showing any respiratory symptoms, the email states. An outbreak at the home was declared on Tuesday, but no specifics were disclosed by either Prairie Mountain Health or Manitoba Health. Its the second outbreak at the care home in five months. Several resident deaths were linked to COVID-19 during the prior outbreak. The Sun asked for further details, but a government spokesperson said information would be posted on Manitobas online COVID-19 dashboard and further information would only be disclosed if a public health risk was assessed and informing the public was necessary to protect the health of others. Fairview was added to the provinces online list of COVID-19 outbreaks on Wednesday, but the entry for the home states that there are zero cases connected to the outbreak. A government spokesperson later confirmed to the Sun via email that there was an error in the entry and it should read that a single case in a staff member has been detected. They wrote the error would be corrected in todays online update. While the outbreak is ongoing at Fairview, the email outlines several measures being put in place to protect residents. Visitor restrictions have been increased, including the cancellation of outdoor visits and visits in the outdoor shelter. Designated family caregiver indoor visits are still allowed between 11 a.m. and 7 p.m., but only one designated caregiver can visit at a time. New admissions to the home are being suspended and any residents showing symptoms will be placed in isolation with their needs being taken care of by dedicated staff. Staff is being screened to see if testing needs to occur at the home and any staff members in contact with residents will be wearing protective equipment to stop any potential spread between themselves and residents. Chartrand ended the email by saying another email update would be provided no later than Friday. cslark@brandonsun.com Twitter: @ColinSlark Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, April 15) Around 1.5 million jobs were lost as a number of industries were forced to temporarily stop operations or limit capacity because of rising virus cases, a Cabinet official said Thursday. "Base sa talaan naman ng mga labor force, iyong mga sectors na sarado noong ECQ, mga 1.5 million estimate kami na na-displace, nawalan ng hanapbuhay," Trade Secretary Ramon Lopez said during a virtual briefing on the impact of the strictest quarantine in Metro Manila, Rizal, Cavite, Laguna and Bulacan. [Translation: Based on the record of the labor force, in the sectors that were closed during the enhanced community quarantine, we estimate that about 1.5 million workers were displaced, lost their livelihood.] He said around half a million people returned to work after restrictions were slightly relaxed, adding that the rest would regain their jobs once the NCR Plus shifts to general community quarantine. Metro Manila and the four provinces are under moderate enhanced community quarantine until April 30. Under the guidelines, outdoor dine-in with 50% capacity is allowed as long as there are acrylic dividers and diners are seated diagonally, while dining inside restaurants is not allowed. Restaurants can also accommodate takeout orders. READ: MECQ guidelines: What we know so far Public transportation is limited to authorized persons outside of residence. Metro Manila also set a unified curfew hour from 8 p.m. to 5 a.m. Authorized persons outside of residence are exempted. A computer scientist from IIT-Mumbai, in the early 1990s when his peers were acquiring degrees from the best colleges in the United States, Lakhamraju dropped out of his doctorate at Berkeley, California to be part of a start-up in the US that was eventually bought and subsumed into Hewlett Packard. His start-up experience opened his eyes to how little he knew about business so when many of his peers were embarking on their careers, he headed to Stanford Business School at 26 to hone ... Dear Reader, Business Standard has always strived hard to provide up-to-date information and commentary on developments that are of interest to you and have wider political and economic implications for the country and the world. Your encouragement and constant feedback on how to improve our offering have only made our resolve and commitment to these ideals stronger. Even during these difficult times arising out of Covid-19, we continue to remain committed to keeping you informed and updated with credible news, authoritative views and incisive commentary on topical issues of relevance. We, however, have a request. As we battle the economic impact of the pandemic, we need your support even more, so that we can continue to offer you more quality content. Our subscription model has seen an encouraging response from many of you, who have subscribed to our online content. More subscription to our online content can only help us achieve the goals of offering you even better and more relevant content. We believe in free, fair and credible journalism. Your support through more subscriptions can help us practise the journalism to which we are committed. Support quality journalism and subscribe to Business Standard. Digital Editor Earlier this week, a newly discovered asteroid the size of a car passed exceptionally close to Earth. Now named the 2021 GW4 asteroid, it flew about 16,300 miles away from Earth, which is less than one-tenth the distance between the moon and our planet. But according to NASA, the asteroid was too small a size to survive being too close inside Earth's atmosphere. GW4 Asteroid that came close to Earth The 2021 GW4 Asteroid raced at Earth at a distance of just 16,700 miles with a speed of 18,700 miles per hour. According to Newsweek, that incredible speed is nine times faster than even a rifle bullet. Furthermore, the asteroid that came close to Earth had its closest pass at 9:01 AM ET, mimicking a 7 per cent distance between our planet and the Moon. Astronomer and Founder of the Virtual Telescope Project Gianluca Masi described the Asteroid over Florida as "exceptionally close" on his website. As per NASA calculations, the recent encounter with the GW4 asteroid will be as close as it can get for the next century. This asteroid was first spotted on April 8 at the Catalina Sky Survey, Mt. Lemmon, Arizona. Catalina Sky Survey is responsible for identifying more than 500 asteroids this year. Often such discoveries are only made hours before they pass by Earth or are already in our realm. But the recent discovery is just a testimony to the precision and improvement of such surveys. Harvard astronomer Jonathan McDowell described the incident on Twitter, saying that the 2021 GW4 Asteroid came within 12,324 miles (19,833 kilometres) of the surface of Earth. He added, "Fortunately space is still rather empty at these altitudes." Asteroid 2021 GW4 passes within the GEO belt from 1146 UTC to 1416 UTC Apr 12. Perigee is 19833 km. Fortunately space is still rather empty at these altitudes - my estimate is that the closest approach to a tracked object is 1009 km to debris object S26918 pic.twitter.com/FJReTeK0ll Jonathan McDowell (@planet4589) April 12, 2021 Apollo-type asteroid 2021 GW4. Diameter 3-8m. First observed at Mt. Lemmon Survey, on the 8th April. Very close approach today. Distance 25,000 km. We observed 2021 GW4 at +17.6 mag, moving through the constellation of Leo. #IAWN #2021GW4 @AsteroidDay @QHYCCD @RoyalAstroSoc pic.twitter.com/mPBu23DUPx Northolt Branch Obs (@NBObservatories) April 12, 2021 In the NASA blog on Asteroid Fun Facts, it is stated that the Earth is bombarded with more than 100 tons of dust and sand-sized particles every year. And about once a year, an automobile-sized asteroid hits Earth's atmosphere, creates an impressive fireball, and burns up before reaching the surface. So far, only two asteroids have had such a close pass by to the surface of our planet and neither of them posed a serious threat. Image Source: Shutterstock Brazil's 'failed' response to Covid-19 has driven the country to a 'humanitarian catastrophe,' Doctors Without Borders said on Thursday, accusing President Jair Bolsonaro's government of making the health crisis even worse. 'The lack of political will to adequately respond to the pandemic is killing Brazilians in their thousands,' the humanitarian group said in a statement. The statement underlined the deadly surge of Covid-19 that has made Brazil the current epicentre of the pandemic. Brazil's 'failed' response to Covid-19 has driven the country to a 'humanitarian catastrophe,' Doctors Without Borders said on Thursday (pictured, cemetery workers inter the coffin of a Covid-19 victim) The humanitarian organisation has blamed President Bolsonaro for failing to respond adequately to the virus, which he has described as a 'little flu' In all, the disease has claimed more than 385,000 lives in Brazil, second only to the United States Last week, the country of 212 million people accounted for 11 per cent of infections and 26.2 percent of deaths from Covid-19 worldwide, Doctors Without Borders said Last week, the country of 212 million people accounted for 11 per cent of infections and 26.2 percent of deaths from Covid-19 worldwide, the group said. In all, the disease has claimed more than 385,000 lives in Brazil, second only to the United States. 'These staggering figures are clear evidence of the authorities' failure to manage the health and humanitarian crises in the country and protect Brazilians, especially the most vulnerable,' it said. Bolsonaro has long downplayed the pandemic and defied expert advice on measures to contain it, leaving state and local authorities to implement a messy patchwork of response measures. Last week, the country of 212 million people accounted for 11 per cent of infections and 26.2 percent of deaths from Covid-19 worldwide, the group said Bolsonaro has long downplayed the pandemic and defied expert advice on measures to contain it, leaving state and local authorities to implement a messy patchwork of response measures Bolsonaro has long downplayed the pandemic and defied expert advice on measures to contain it, leaving state and local authorities to implement a messy patchwork of response measures Doctors Without Borders said the lack of an 'effective, centralised and coordinated' response was exacerbating the crisis. 'Public health measures have become a political battlefield in Brazil,' said Christos Christou, president of the group, which is sometimes referred to with its French acronym MSF. 'As a result, science-based policies are associated with political opinions, rather than the need to protect individuals and their communities.' The statement came two days after the Brazilian Senate launched an investigative committee into Bolsonaro's handling of the pandemic. Doctors Without Borders condemned the lack of masks and social distancing in Brazil, which have been 'shunned and politicised' even as Bolsonaro and his allies tout medications such as anti-malaria drug hydroxychloroquine, despite studies documenting their ineffectiveness against Covid-19. 'Fuelling sickness and death in Brazil is the overwhelming amount of disinformation,' it said. It also condemned the country's 'half-speed' vaccination campaign. The organisation, which has operated in Brazil since 1991, has deployed medical teams in eight of Brazil's 27 states to respond to the pandemic. The outbreak is pushing hospitals to breaking point with many patients dying before an Intensive Care Unit (ICU) bed becomes available. ICU capacity currently stands at about 80 per cent across all of Brazil's 27 regions. Moreover, over 50 per cent of intensive care beds are currently occupied by patients under 40 years old, according to a study published over the weekend by the Brazilian Association of Intensive Medicine. The outbreak is pushing hospitals to breaking point with many patients dying before an Intensive Care Unit bed becomes available (pictured, a field hospital in Santo Andre) Over 50 per cent of intensive care beds are currently occupied by patients under 40 years old, according to a study published by the Brazilian Association of Intensive Medicine It is not clear why more young people are falling seriously ill during the current wave of the virus in Brazil, but some scientists think the new P1 variant could be at least partly to blame (pictured, freshly dug graves at a cemetery in Brasilia, Brazil) The new statistic is a jump of 16.5 per cent compared to the occupancy of that age group between December and February. The report is based on data from over a third of all the countrys intensive care wards. It is not clear why more young people are falling seriously ill during the current wave of the virus in Brazil, but some scientists think the new P1 variant that originated in the Amazon city of Manaus could be at least partly to blame. Other factors, such as the behaviour of younger people who might feel less concerned about going out and socialising, and the vaccination of the elderly, could also be influencing the data. However, Brazil's vaccination program has been painfully slow and only an estimated 3 per cent of the population, approximately 6.3 million people, have received both jabs. A further 21.1 million have received one vaccine, according to the country's health ministry. But at least 1.5 million of them are behind schedule for their second jab and there has been no explanation for the delay from the government. Bolsonaro has drawn widespread criticism for his approach to the coronavirus, which he has described as a 'little flu.' He has repeatedly ignored calls of health experts to wear masks and railed against the use of lockdown measures. A probe into the government's pandemic response was launched on Tuesday after a Supreme Court judge ruled last week that enough senators had backed the inquiry. The congressional investigation, known by its Portuguese acronym as a CPI, can result in a number of actions, including the referral of possible wrongdoing to law enforcement. (L-R) Rep. Hank Johnson (D-Ga.), Sen. Ed Markey (D-Mass.), House Judiciary Committee Chairman Rep. Jerrold Nadler (D-N.Y.) and Rep. Mondaire Jones (D-N.Y.) hold a press conference in front of the U.S. Supreme Court on April 15, 2021. (Drew Angerer/Getty Images) Democrats Supreme Court Packing Bill Political Takeover of Judiciary, Expert Says Several Democratic lawmakers have announced a bill to expand the Supreme Court by adding four additional justices, which would fundamentally compromise and undermine two branches of government, according to an expert. This would be the greatest takeover of the judicial branch by the political branches since America was founded, said Thomas Jipping, federal judiciary expert at the conservative Heritage Foundation think tank and former counsel to former Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah). He pointed out that to push the bill through the Senate, Democrats would need to abolish the legislative filibuster, which requires 60 votes to pass most bills rather than a simple majority. That would be the most radical change in the Senate, as an institution, in more than 200 years, Jipping told The Epoch Times. And there is no conceivable argument that that is worth the cost to the liberty that judicial independence makes possible. Democrats only hold 50 seats in the Senate, with Vice President Kamala Harris available to cast tie-breaking votes. To nix the filibuster, theyd need to reinterpret the Senate rules to state that three-fifths of the chamber in fact means 51 of 100, Jipping noted. Current State Six of the current nine Supreme Court justices have been appointed by Republican presidents, giving conservatives better chances to challenge laws and regulations coming from the Democrat-held Congress and White House for overstepping the Constitution. Packing the court would give President Joe Biden a chance to appoint justices more sympathetic to his agenda, reversing the situation. Sen. Ed Markey (D-Mass.), the leading proponent of the bill, pronounced the Supreme Court broken during an April 15 press conference. It is out of balance and it needs to be fixed, he said. Too many Americans question the courts legitimacy and because of that, the rights of all Americans but especially people of color, women and our immigrant communities are at risk. Biden Rule Democrats have criticized how President Donald Trump and congressional Republicans handled nominations to the court in recent years. In 2016, when President Barack Obama nominated Judge Merrick Garland to the court, the Republican Senate wouldnt consider the nomination. Then-Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) called it the Biden rule, referring to Bidens 1992 comment that once the political season is underway, and it is, action on a Supreme Court nomination must be put off until after the election campaign is over. At the time, Biden chaired the Senate Judiciary Committee. Obama was a lame-duck president and the electorate sapped his mandate by giving majorities in both the House and the Senate to Republicans in the 2014 midterms, McConnell argued. To Democrats chagrin, McConnell ensured a speedy confirmation for Justice Amy Coney Barrett, Trumps nominee, shortly before the 2020 election. Unlike Obama, Trump was looking toward possible reelection, and his first midterm performancelosing the House, but expanding the Senate majoritywas generally better than that of several of his predecessors. History The number of Supreme Court justices has remained the same since 1869. Since the courts founding in 1789, the number has been increased several times, but always in connection with an expansion of the circuit court system. At the time, two justices would be responsible for one and later two circuit courts. They would need to periodically travel their circuit and personally handle lower court cases. As more states joined the Union, Congress would add more circuits and one more justice for each. By the early 20th century, the circuit riding virtually ceased as justices seldom needed to tend to any lower court duties, according to the Federal Judicial Center. Theres literally no argument that it needs more justices, Jipping said, noting that the court has half the workload now that it had several decades ago. Congress had twice passed bills to reduce the number of justicesonce in 1801 from six to five, which was reversed within a year, then in 1866 from 10 to seven, which also abolished the 10th circuit created just three years prior during the Civil War. Congress boosted the bench to the final nine seats in 1869. The additions of the District of Columbia circuit in 1893, the 10th circuit in 1929, the 11th circuit in 1981, and the Federal circuit in 1982 were no longer accompanied by an expansion of the bench. In 1937, when President Franklin D. Roosevelt pushed for a Supreme Court expansion, fellow Democrats in the Congress resisted, despite holding supermajorities in both chambers. They said judicial independence is more important than politics, Jipping said. And it still is. Prospects It isnt clear whether the court-packing bill will get any traction. On April 9, Biden ordered the creation of a commission to study court expansion. The White House said hes not ready to say whether he supports or opposes the bill. The bill has several backers in the House, including Rep. Jerrold Nadler (D-N.Y.), head of the Judiciary Committee. But House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) said she doesnt plan to bring the bill to the floor. I think its an idea that should be considered and I think the president is taking the right approach, to have a commission study such a thing. Its a big step, she said on April 15. Correction: A previous version of the article incorrectly described some aspects of the history of the Supreme Courts expansion and reduction in size. Congress reduced the number of seats from 10 to seven in 1866. The Epoch Times regrets the error. Update: The article has been updated with additional information about the history of the Supreme Court and Rep. Nancy Pelosis reaction to the court expansion bill. Suddenly, circular holes were visible on the surface of Mars that were not there before. On photos of Saturn's moon Enceladus, geysers were discovered that hurl powerful fountains of steam towards space. And on the images sent to Earth by the Mars rover Curiosity, structures were found that look like fossilised worms. All these phenomena, some of which appear to be temporary, were discovered by chance. Or because humans took a lot of time to sift through the images from Earth's neighbouring planets. "Artificial intelligence technologies would make it much easier to detect previously unknown anomalies," says Hakan Kayal, Professor of Space Technology at Julius-Maximilians-Universitat (JMU) Wurzburg in Bavaria, Germany. Science is still at the beginning Using artificial intelligence (AI) in astronautics? According to Professor Kayal, science in this field is still in its infancy: "There are only a handful of projects on this." If an AI is used to detect unknown phenomena, it must first be trained. It has to be "fed" with what is known so that it can recognise the unknown. "There are already satellites that are runned with AI. Their AI is trained on Earth and then sent into orbit. However, we have other plans: We want to train the AI on board of a small satellite under space conditions," says the JMU professor. This project is challenging, but feasible: "Miniaturised IT systems are becoming more and more powerful. And we take our time for AI training. So a learning process in orbit can take several days." Interplanetary missions as a long-term goal But why transfer the training of the AI to space, to computers in miniature? Whereas it would be much easier to realise with mainframe computers on Earth? That's because Hakan Kayal has a clear vision of the future. He wants to use small satellites with AI not only to observe Earth, but also for interplanetary missions - to discover new extraterrestrial phenomena, perhaps even traces of extraterrestrial intelligences. "As soon as you go interplanetary, communication with the satellite becomes a bottleneck," says the professor. With increasing distance from Earth, data transfer takes longer, "you can't keep sending data back and forth. That's why the AI must be able to learn independently on the satellite. And it must only report relevant discoveries to Earth." Launch into orbit expected in 2024 Kayal's team around project leader Oleksii Balagurin will implement this technology on the small satellite SONATE-2 and test it in orbit. The Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy is funding the project with 2.6 million euros. The project began on 1 March 2021; the satellite is to be launched into orbit in spring 2024. The mission there is designed to last one year. The small satellite from Wurzburg will be about the size of a shoebox (30x20x10 centimetres). Its cameras will take pictures in different spectral ranges and will have the Earth in view. The image data will flow into the on board-AI, which will automatically recognise and classify objects. The technology will first be thoroughly tested around the Earth before it can possibly go on an interplanetary journey later. Hakan Kayal already has this future mission called SONATE-X firmly in his research plan - the X stands for extraterrestrial. Students can collaborate SONATE-2 will have other innovative and highly autonomous features on board. Compared to the predecessor satellite SONATE, the sensor data processing system will be further miniaturised and made more energy-efficient. In addition, there are new types of satellite bus components, such as improved star sensors for autonomous attitude control. The cameras will not only detect and record static objects, but also short, transient phenomena such as lightnings or meteors. The SONATE-2 team will consist of about ten people. Students can also participate - as assistants or within bachelor's and master's theses. Training the next generation in this cutting-edge technology has a place in the project. In addition to its computer science programmes, JMU offers a Bachelor's and Master's programme in Aerospace Informatics and a Master's programme in Satellite Technology. The SONATE-2 project is financed by the German Aerospace Center (DLR) with funds from the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy (BMWi) based on a resolution of the German Bundestag (FKZ 50RU2100). The predecessor project SONATE The new nano satellite SONATE-2 builds on a successful predecessor project, the SONATE satellite - also developed and built by Kayal's team, also funded by the German Federal Ministry of Economic Affairs and Energy. More about the mission: https:/ / www. informatik. uni-wuerzburg. de/ en/ aerospaceinfo/ wissenschaft-forschung/ sonate/ ### Prime editing (PE), a "search-and-replace" CRISPR-based genome editing technique, has great potential for gene therapy and agriculture. It can introduce desired base conversions, deletions, insertions, and combination edits into target genomic sites. Prime editors have been successfully applied in animals and plants, but their off-target effects, which can be a major hindrance to real-life application, have not been thoroughly evaluated until now. Prof. GAO Caixia from the Institute of Genetics and Developmental Biology (IGDB) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) and her research team recently performed a comprehensive and genome-wide analysis of the off-target effects of PEs in rice plants. Off-target effects are in principle of two types: guide RNA (gRNA)-dependent and gRNA-independent. The first result from similarities between target and off-target sequences and the second from the activity of CRISPR-based tools, such as deaminase, at non-target positions in the genome. The researchers first measured editing frequencies using pegRNAs with primer binding sites (PBSs) or spacers containing mismatches of the chosen target sequence, and found that mismatches located in seed sequence regions of the spacer (near the PAM) and near the nicking site of nCas9 (H840A) at the PBS greatly reduced the frequency of PE implying high editing specificity. They also evaluated the frequencies of editing by 12 pegRNAs at 179 endogenous off-target sites containing mismatches, and confirmed that editing rates were extremely low (0.00%~0.23%). Thus, designing pegRNAs with homology to fewer off-target sites is necessary. The gRNA-independent effects induced by ectopic expression of functional elements in the CRISPR-based tools (which have been detected with some base editors) are not predictable by in silico methods. Gao et al. therefore used whole-genome sequencing to investigate whether ectopic expression of the prime editors induced undesired edits at the genome-wide level. They delivered PE constructs with or without pegRNA expression cassettes into rice calli via Agrobacterium-mediated transformation and obtained regenerated T 0 plants (the PE group). They found the number of single nucleotide variants and indels (small insertions/deletions) in the PE group was not significantly higher than in the control group (expressing Cas9 nickase). Moreover, mutation type analysis and mutation distribution analysis further demonstrated that the PE and control groups did not differ significantly. This result indicated that the PE system did not induce significant numbers of genome-wide pegRNA-independent off-target edits in plants. Since M-MLV RT is a core element of the PE system, it seemed possible that overexpressing M-MLV RT might interfere with natural reverse transcription mechanisms in the cell. The researchers therefore evaluated the activities of retrotransposons and telomerase by analyzing the number of copies of the OsTos17 retrotransposon and the fidelity of telomeres, and found no effect of M-MLV reverse transcriptase on either parameter. They also evaluated the possibility that over-expression of RT might increase the risk of random reverse transcription of mRNAs and insertion of the products into the rice genome. Hence, they looked for pegRNA and mRNA insertions but detected no such events, further indicating that the M-MLV reverse transcriptase in PEs does not have nonspecific effects in plant cells. In summary, a systematic assessment demonstrated that prime editors are highly specific in plants. ### This work, entitled "Genome-wide specificity of prime editors in plants," was published in Nature Biotechnology online on April 15. This research was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China, the National Key Research and Development Program of China, and the Strategic Priority Research Program of CAS. Prime Minister Scott Morrison choked back tears as he read the names Thursday of 41 Australians killed in Afghanistan to mark the end of his countrys involvement in the 20-year war. Speaking at a televised news conference, Morrison said Australia would remove its remaining troops from Afghanistan in September in line with the US decision to ends its military operations there. Australia deployed 39,000 troops over the past 20 years as part of US and NATO-led operations against the Taliban and terrorist groups in Afghanistan, but has only 80 support personnel there today. Morrison called the decision to leave Afghanistan a significant milestone in Australias military history that marked the end of a costly chapter for the countrys defence force. He then read out the names of the 41 Australian soldiers killed in the conflict, halting several times as he choked back sobs, especially when mentioning Brett Till, a 31-year-old sergeant from his own Sydney constituency. The loss is great. The sacrifice immense, he said. These brave Australians are amongst our greatest ever, who have served in the name of freedom. While Australia has not had a significant troop presence in Afghanistan in recent years after withdrawing its combat troops in late 2013, the war continues to take a toll and fuel controversy at home. Veterans groups have pressured the government into launching a formal inquiry into a high number of suicides among Afghan veterans and other ex-servicemen and women. The military and police are both actively investigating numerous war crimes alleged to have been committed by members of elite Special Air Services soldiers in Afghanistan. Covid patients at a hospital in Brazil are being comforted with 'fake hands' so they do not feel alone. An image shared on social media showed the hand of one bed-ridden patient being clasped by two rubber gloves that had been filled with warm water. The makeshift solution was created as a way to simulate human contact for those with coronavirus that are being housed on an isolation ward. Brazil has been particularly hard hit by the pandemic and trails only the United States in the official Covid-19 death toll, recording 361,000 deaths, according to the Johns Hopkins University tally. An image shared on social media showed the hand of one bed-ridden patient being clasped by two rubber gloves that had been filled with warm water Sadiq Bhat posted the snapshot on Twitter alongside a caption that read: 'The hand of God nurses trying to comfort isolated patients in a Brazilian Covid isolation ward. 'Two disposable gloves tied, full of hot water, simulating impossible human contact. 'Salute to the front liners and a stark reminder of the grim situation our world is in!' And other social media users were quick to praise the efforts of healthcare workers. One commented: 'Thanks for sharing such a wonderful Brazilian idea that may be followed by each and every one, to provide at least the minimum comfort to the Covid victims all over the world. 'Kudos to the Brazilian nurses.' Another added: 'Fairly well established now that the comfort of physical touch helps in healing. Both good thought and good science on display here.' And a third simply said: 'How wonderfully creative and compassionate!' It comes after Pope Francis offered Brazilians a message of hope and consolation amid soaring coronavirus deaths and infections in the country suffering 'one of the most difficult tests in its history.' In a video message to a conference of Brazilian bishops on Thursday, Francis said he was particularly praying for Brazilians who had lost loved ones to the pandemic. 'Young and old, parents, doctors and volunteers, sacred ministers, rich and poor: the pandemic has spared no one in its wake of suffering.' He added that it was particularly tragic families could not say goodbye to their loved ones: 'This leaving without being able to say goodbye, leaving in this stripped-down solitude, is one of the greatest pains for those who leave and those who remain.' Brazil trails only the United States in the official Covid-19 death toll, recording 361,000 deaths, according to the Johns Hopkins University tally. Public health experts blame President Jair Bolsonaro for refusing to enact strict measures to halt infections and for clashing with governors and mayors who did. Questo comunicato e stato pubblicato piu di 30 giorni fa. Le informazioni su questa pagina potrebbero non essere attendibili. Global Load Cell Market was valued US$1.99 Bn in 2017 and is anticipated to reach US$2.70 Bn by 2026 at a CAGR of about 3.4 % during a forecast. The report on aLoad Cell is segmented by Technology, by Type, and by region. Based on Technology Load Cell Market is divided into Analog Load Cells and Digital Load Cells. Based on Type Load Cell Market is bifurcated into Single-point, S-type, and Shear Beam. Based on End-User Load Cell Market is divided into Healthcare, Agriculture Equipment, Aerospace & Defense, Automotive, Oil &Gas, Bulk Material Handling, and Retail. Regionally into North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, Middle East & Africa, and Latin America. Load Cell is mostly demand in the healthcare industry. Medical devices and equipment including implantation pumps, dialysis machines, and surgical instruments among others are expanding the interest for load cells. The key factor behind the augmenting usage of load cells in the medical and healthcare industry is a development of hemodialysis machines including home haemodialysis (HHD). It usually drove by developing patient populace, substitution of existing HHD machines among others. HHD machines serve just one patient but increase the requirement to expand interest for load cells. Load Cell Market shows sustainable growth in testing applications across the aviation and the aerospace industries across the world. Request for Report Sample: https://www.trendsmarketresearch.com/report/sample/11061 Analog load cells segment is dominating the Load Cell Market. According to 2015, an analog load cell is accounted to a dominant revenue share of more than 80% in the Market. However, in the upcoming years, the demand for digital load cells is expected to increase remarkably in heavy lifting applications in the forecasting period. Single Point Load Cell segment is dominating the Load Cell Market. These Single Point Load Cell hold much more processing power at US$ Million in 2017 and is projected to reach US$ Million by 2025. Also, hold highest CAGR during the forecast period. Automotive, oil and gas, and mass material handling enterprises are accounted the largest Market share in Europe owing to the prolonged utilization of these cells. While North America is the fastest-growing regional Market for load cells in the field of healthcare, defense, and the oil and gas sectors. Europe holds the major share of Load Cell. Europe is expected to grow at high CAGR during the forecast period. The high usage of these cells in the oil and gas, automotive, aerospace and defense, and bulk material handling industries has been boosting this regional Market substantially. According to 2015 record, Europe Market for load cells contributed US$561.2 Mn in revenue. The second largest and fast-growing regional Market for load cells is North America. The U.S. is expected to lead the North America Market for load cells and followed by Mexico and Canada. Also Asia Pacific Market for load cell shows healthy growth over the next few years. Honeywell International Inc., Vishay Precision Group Inc., Hottinger Baldwin Messtechnik GmbH, Flintec Group AB, OMEGA Engineering Inc., FUTEK Advanced Sensor Technology Inc., Zhonghang Electronic Measuring Instruments Co. Ltd., Yamato Scale Co. Ltd., Novatech Measurements Ltd., Thames Side Sensors Ltd., Mettler Toledo International Inc., Precia Molen, Flintec Group AB, Honeywell Place a Direct Purchase Order @ https://www.trendsmarketresearch.com/checkout/11061/Single Scope of the Global Load Cell Market Global Load Cell Market by Technology: Analog Load Cells Digital Load Cells Global Load Cell Market by Type: Single-point S-type Shear Beam Global Load Cell Market by End-User: Healthcare Agriculture Equipment Aerospace & Defense Automotive Oil & Gas Bulk Material Handling Retail. Global Load Cell Market by Region: North America Europe Asia Pacific Middle East & Africa Latin America Key Players analyzed in the Global Load Cell Market: Honeywell International Inc. Vishay Precision Group Inc. Hottinger Baldwin Messtechnik GmbH Flintec Group AB OMEGA Engineering Inc. FUTEK Advanced Sensor Technology Inc. Zhonghang Electronic Measuring Instruments Co. Ltd. Yamato Scale Co. Ltd. Novatech Measurements Ltd. Thames Side Sensors Ltd. Mettler Toledo International Inc. Precia Molen Flintec Group AB Honeywell Request for Report Discount: https://www.trendsmarketresearch.com/report/discount/11061 CHATSWORTH, Calif.The Free Speech Coalition (FSC) issued a statement Thursday afternoon declaring victory in its years' long battle to curtail the onus on adult businesses imposed by the record-keeping law passed by the United States Congress in 1988 known as U.S.C. 2257. The FSC's full statement follows: Free Speech Coalitions long-running battle with the federal government has ended, with several substantial victories for adult businesses and workers. The federal government failed to appeal the case to the Supreme Court by the March 26 deadline, and, as such, last years landmark ruling in the 3rd Circuit now stands as final. As such, no adult business can ever be subject to a warrantless inspection under 2257. The Bush-era raids that once terrified adult businesses, and helped launch this legal challenge, have now been officially declared unconstitutional. While 2257 and 2257A were not struck down in their entirety for all adult producers, the 3rd Circuit did rule that all provisions are unconstitutional for most of the plaintiffs who were originally party to the suit. This is a powerful precedent for producers in the 3rd Circuit, and it is likely to be very influential nationally. In the face of this ruling, it will be extremely difficult for the Government to prosecute 2257-related offenses as originally envisioned. FSC first filed suit in 2009, after the FBI raided over 30 adult businesses looking for minor 2257 record-keeping violationseach of which was a felony. Those who were in the industry at that time will remember the fear and harassment legal adult businesses faced. Our case showed the federal government that we would not stand down in the face of harassment. This has been a long but critical battle in the rights of adult producers, says Jeffrey Douglas, FSC Board Chair. Had we not pursued this case, the government would have a dangerous tool for harassing and prosecuting adult producers and platforms. We are deeply grateful for the outstanding work by our lawyers, J. Michael Murray and Lorraine Baumgardner of Berkman, Gordon, Murray and Devan of Cleveland, Ohio. What This 2257 Ruling Means To You The U.S. Third Circuit Court of Appeals gave FSC and the other plaintiffs a major and lasting victory in the 2257 case. Here are the most important facts about the ruling: The FBI can no longer demand access to your records by way of random inspections. You should continue to follow all record-keeping requirements under 2257 as currently written, but the records cannot be accessed without a warrant issued by a court upon probable cause. Sections 2257 and 2257A of the US Criminal Code (2257) have been declared unconstitutional under both the First Amendment and the Fourth Amendment. While this judgment does not apply to all producers, this victory at the second-highest court in the land is precedent-setting. This precedent should be very helpful to other producers if further litigation occurs. You are now less likely to be charged with a crime under 2257 or 2257A and even less likely to be successfully prosecuted. What is the effect of this ruling on most adult businesses? The overall risk of prosecution for any adult company is now significantly reduced, and the risk of a successful prosecution even more so. This precedent creates significant hurdles for a prosecutor who hopes to bring a 2257 charge against an adult business. How did the court rule on First Amendment claims? The 3rd Circuit limited its decision regarding First Amendment claims to the specific plaintiffs in the case, but dismissed the claim of associational standingan argument made by the FSC which would have made the ruling binding as to all producers. The court ruled that the complex 2257 record-keeping regulations violated the First Amendment rights of the original plaintiffssave for FSC and American Society of Media Photographers (ASMP)by seriously discouraging free speech. (The court ruled that FSC and ASMP, as trade associations but not producers, did not have standing.) Anyone prosecuted under 2257 will now be able to point to this ruling as precedent, severely limiting the governments ability to successfully prosecute an adult producer under 2257. How is record-keeping a violation of free speech? The 2257 record-keeping regulations are so complex that they create a chilling effect on protected speechmeaning they effectively discourage people from creating protected speech. If 2257 were fully enforced, everyone who sends an explicit picture of themselves on text, or retweets an explicit GIF, would have to maintain detailed records on everyone who appears in the image, as well as label the imageor face criminal penalties. Such regulations would discourage people from talking about, creating, or engaging with sexually oriented content, and would have a silencing effect that courts have found unconstitutional. This was, perhaps, the original intent of the 2257 regulations. Will this decision ever be applied to producers who were not the original plaintiffs? If an adult company in the 3rd Circuit wishes to have this applied more broadly, there are avenues to bring new and broader challenges. Theoretically, such a new case could overturn 2257 regulations in their entirety. However, its an expensive propositionand there remains the possibility that the Supreme Court could overturn the 3rd Circuit ruling. Why did you not push to apply this to producers more broadly? We did. FSC and ASMP were both original plaintiffs to the suit, and argued that any decision should apply to our members. In the latest decision, the 3rd Circuit found that we did not have standing to bring the suitmeaning our members would not automatically be protected by the final judgment in the case. Originally, we had approached many adult companies to become a party to the suit in hopes of broadening it, but most did not want to draw attention to themselves, or be seen fighting a law that, on its face, was meant to fight child pornography. How did the court rule on Fourth Amendment claims? The court ruled that no adult producer can be subject to random administrative inspections of their recordssomething previously permitted under 2257. Any record inspection now requires a warrant (and, thus, probable cause). This applies to all producers nationwide, not just to the 10 plaintiffs. What does this change for the adult industry? We can no longer be harassed without probable cause, and its unlikely that a record-keeping violation will land you in prison. From 2005 to 2006, FBI agents raided over 30 adult businesses in an effort to find record-keeping violations. The raids were part of a long-running effort to use minor record-keeping violations to harass and prosecute otherwise legal adult businesses. (The warrantless inspections were ultimately stopped due to a ruling obtained by our lawyers in a different case.) Under 2257, even a minor mis-alphabetizing of a record could result in a felony. The government is permanently prohibited from conducting this type of inspection, and will now require a warrant. If this is a victory, do I need to continue maintaining 2257 records? Yes. For now, the only people specifically exempted from 2257 are the individual plaintiffs in the case. So were still forced to keep the records, but they cant inspect them? They can still inspect records if a court signs a warrant based on probable cause that you have not followed 2257 or committed another crime (e.g., they have specific reason to believe that you are filming people who are underage), but they may not show up at your offices without a warrant and demand you hand over any records they request. What if I only shoot GILF porn? All of my models are well over 30! The risk of prosecution is miniscule, but unless you were one of the 10 plaintiffs in this case, you still need to keep records. What are the possible consequences if they do get a warrant to search my records? On a practical level, why do I need to keep maintaining the records? While the risk is low, if you don't have records, or have inadequate records, and the government gets a search warrant you can still be prosecuted. You might assert First Amendment and perhaps other defenses, but violations of 2257 are felonies, so any prosecution poses risk, to say nothing of the defense costs and anxiety involved. You should always keep records to avoid the possibility of an inadvertent child pornography prosecution. And as long as it remains the law, 2257 documentation increases the value of your libraryanyone who might partner with you or purchase your library will need these records. Do I still have to get the 2257 records from the primary producer if I am a secondary producer? This depends upon your tolerance for risk. In its decision, the court said it assumed that secondary producer requirements were unconstitutional, but as no one who was exclusively a secondary producer was party to the case, they did not rule definitively. This is something to discuss with your lawyer. Why is FSC fighting regulations that require age-verification? Were not opposed to age-verification. Age-verification should always be conducted and documented. Filming someone under the age of 18 is immoral, illegal, and punishable by a minimum of 15 years in prison. The 2257 regulations were not designed to detect or deter child pornography, and they do not do so. They were designed to make legal adult producers easier to prosecute. FSC recommends record-keeping for all adult productions, but opposes the overly complicated 2257 regulations, which allowed the FBI to demand adult records at any time, and created a host of criminal penalties for adult producers for even minor record-keeping mistakes. You can read more about our commitment to fight child pornography and our opposition to 2257 here. How long have we been fighting this? The law itself has been on the books since 1988 when conservative anti-porn activists in the Reagan administration drafted the 2257 regulations to create additional burdens for adult producers. The FSC has been relentlessly leading the battle against 2257 since 2004, when the Bush Administration began using the law to harass adult businesses, and requiring not just producers, but secondary producerssuch as tube sites, review sites, and social mediato maintain records for every image on their site. In 2009, FSC sued the US government to overturn the regulations, arguing that they violated free speech protections and that the FBI searches violated the Fourth Amendment. Over the course of a decade, weve won significant victories in that regard, and so we should all thank FSCs legal team, J. Michael Murray and Lorraine Baumgardner, who have, in the course of this protracted litigation, very substantially disarmed Sections 2257, 2257A and the associated regulations. Project values range between Rs 1000 cr to Rs 2500 cr as per L&T project classification The Heavy Engineering arm of Larsen & Toubro has won significant contracts for its various business segments in Q4 of FY21. Nuclear : L&T Heavy Engineering has secured order for 12 Steam Generators (SGs) from NPCIL for the prestigious 3 x 700 MWe Pressurized Heavy Water Reactor (PHWR) strengthening its position as a key Nuclear power equipment supplier for Government of India's fleet mode procurement program. Fleet order for Reactor Headers and Pressurizers for GHAVP 1E2 Units were received in the earlier quarter. The fleet program consists of constructing 10 units of 700 MWe PHWR with indigenous technology. Steam Generators, Reactor Headers and Pressurizers are critical equipment of Nuclear Island of the power plant. Refinery, Petrochemicals, Oil & Gas: L&T Heavy Engineering also won a Critical Reactor system package order for IOCL's Petrochemical Project against stiff international competition. This is an important step in indigenization of High technology equipment and another major contribution towards Government of India's Aatmanirbhar Bharat initiative. Other notable orders include Hydroprocessing Reactors for the Renewable diesel & Biofuel Project for prestigious refinery majors from USA & Europe; Reactor with internals for IOCL Barauni and a service contract for IOCL Panipat PTA project. Powered by Capital Market - Live News (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) EDMONTON - A committee that is supposed to consult Albertans on coal development in the Rocky Mountains won't be allowed to hear what people want to say about water and land use. Energy Minister Sonya Savage speaks during an event to mark the start of right-of-way construction for the Trans Mountain Expansion Project, in Acheson, Alta., Tuesday, Dec. 3, 2019. A committee that is supposed to consult Albertans on coal development in the Rocky Mountains won't be able to ask questions about water or land use. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jason Franson EDMONTON - A committee that is supposed to consult Albertans on coal development in the Rocky Mountains won't be allowed to hear what people want to say about water and land use. "The terms of reference say we're consulting on everything but what we want to talk about," said local landowner Kevin Van Tighem. That document, posted to a government website, says the five-member committee will only be able to consider issues under the control of the Department of Energy. "The committee will focus only on matters related to coal that are under the administration of the minister of energy," the document says. That means it will only be able to discuss matters that arise under legislation such as the Coal Conservation Act and the Responsible Energy Development Act. The panel won't be able to consider concerns that would come under laws such as the Land Stewardship Act, which controls land-use plans, or the Water Act. "The vast majority of people are concerned about water and they're concerned about protecting the Rockies," said Van Tighem. "We're not allowed to talk about water and we're not allowed to talk about land use." The panel was formed in response to a massive public outcry over the United Conservative government's plan to dramatically expand open-pit coal mining in the summits and foothills of the Rockies one of the province's favourite landscapes as well as the headwaters of most of its drinking water. Municipalities, First Nations, ranchers and tens of thousands of Albertans have said they're worried about the threat of water contamination posed by coal mining. Many fear permanent damage to an area of great scenic beauty. But the word "environment" appears nowhere in the four-page document outlining the terms of a panel that Energy Minister Sonya Savage promised would be "focused on the views of Albertans and making sure the government of Alberta has a fair understanding of what those views are.'' It is, however, heavily focused on gauging how much Albertans understand about current coal policies and regulations. It will ask if Albertans perceive their province as a responsible developer and if they're aware of regulations that govern coal development. "I find it really condescending," said Katie Morrison of the Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society. "As if the government is saying, 'Clearly, Albertans don't know what they're talking about. If they only understood our regulations, they wouldn't be so opposed.' I don't think that is true at all." As well, the government-appointed committee won't have to report anything it hears outside the narrow scope it has been given. "The committee may post summaries online of input received from Albertans on matters within committee scope," the document says. As well, the document tasks the panel with "establishing relationships with Indigenous knowledge-keepers," despite Savage's promises of a government-to-government consultation. Alberta Energy did not respond to a request for an interview or comment on the terms of reference. "It will be very frustrating for a lot of people," said Craig Snodgrass, mayor of High River, Alta., whose town council has sent a letter to the government demanding an end to coal exploration. Opposition New Democrat environment critic Marlin Schmidt said the document raises doubts about the consultation. "Its clear that (Premier) Jason Kenney and the UCP have given this committee a mandate only to reach a predetermined outcome, which is expanded coal mining in Albertas Rocky Mountains and their watersheds," he said in an email. "If Jason Kenney was sincere about consultation, he would halt all exploration activity. But the damage to Albertas natural spaces and watersheds continues as we speak. Snodgrass said the panel is just the next step. "Albertans have to understand this is going to be a very, very long fight." This report by The Canadian Press was first published April 15, 2021. Follow Bob Weber on Twitter at @row1960 Note to readers: This is a corrected story. Previous version had last name spelled van Tighem. Van Tighem is correct. Fort Jackson command has suspended a military drill sergeant from his instructor duties after shocking video of him shoving a young black man went viral and sparked Black Lives Matter protesters to rally outside his South Carolina home. US Army Staff Sergeant Jonathan Pentland, 42, has been charged with third degree assault and battery over the footage, which shows him shoving a black man and telling him: 'You came to the wrong neighborhood motherf****r'. In the video, Pentland accuses the man of hanging around the neighborhood for '15 minutes', and tells him police have been called. The man responds that he lives in the area, which Pentland insists is not the case because it is a 'tight knit community'. And on Thursday, in a statement to DailyMail.com, a spokeswoman for Fort Jackson said that Sgt. 1st Class Pentland had been suspended from his role as a drill instructor until there is an outcome to the Department of Justice's assault charge. 'Soldier conduct on and off duty must be exemplary to retain the trust of our communities and our nation,' said Fort Jackson Commander Brig. Gen. Milford Beagle, Jr. 'Fort Jackson continues to work with and support Sheriff Lott, our local law enforcement professionals, and community & civil leadership as this case moves forward.' Dozens of Black Lives Matter protesters rallied outside Pentland's home on Wednesday night. Dozens of Black Lives Matter protesters were seen rallying outside the South Carolina home of a military drill sergeant after he was arrested and charged with assaulting a black man who was walking through his neighborhood Dozens of protesters holding signs and chanting descended on the street outside his gated-community home. One woman is heard shouting 'I'm on your yard!' in the direction of Pentland's home. 'We just want to talk, we want to understand some things, that's it,' she shouted in the video. Others in the crowd are heard saying: 'No justice, no peace!' Footage of the protest was posted on Facebook by Alexis Sincere, who brought a sign that read: 'We can walk around this [home] if we want to.' Most of the demonstrators were African Americans. A few were seen speaking through bullhorns and most were recording the event on their cell phones. Police said on Wednesday that Pentland's family was moved from their home out of concern for their safety. Images posted on social media show at least three dozen people outside the drill sergeant's home on Wednesday Video circulating online shows a large crowd of protesters holding signs and chanting as they stood in the street just outside the Columbia home of US Army Staff Sergeant Jonathan Pentland, 42, on Wednesday Police said on Wednesday that Pentland and his family were removed from the home for their own safety Pentland, 42, was quickly identified after the Monday video went viral showing his altercation in the Summit neighborhood of South Carolina. In the video, Pentland accuses the man of hanging around the neighborhood for '15 minutes', and tells him police have been called A spokesperson for the Richland County Sheriff's Department told DailyMail.com that Pentland was not relocated, though 'we do not know his whereabouts.' Pentland was charged with assault after accusing his victim of 'hanging around' his South Carolina gated community, Richland County Sheriff Leon Lott told reporters. Pentland, a father of two, had been quickly identified after the Monday video went viral showing his altercation with the young man at the Lakes at Barony Place - a gated community in Richland County located in the Summit neighborhood. Pentland is a drill instructor at Fort Jackson, a US Army installation located in South Carolina where soldiers undergo basic combat training. 'You're in the wrong neighborhood,' he tells the victim, identified only as Deandre. 'I ain't playing with you. I'm about to show you what I can do.' Pentland, 42, has been charged with third degree assault after shoving a black man and telling him: 'You came to the wrong neighborhood motherf****r' If found guilty Pentland faces 30 days in jail and a $500 fine. He is listed as detained in the Richland County jail and issued a personal recognizance bond, according to online jail records, which did not show him as having an attorney. Photos show that Pentland has been a drill sergeant at Fort Jackson in South Carolina since at least 2019. Fort Jackson Commanding General Brig. Gen. Milford Beagle, Jr, took to Twitter to announce that the video would be investigated. Throughout the three-minute video, Pentland repeatedly demands that the other man leave the neighborhood, getting in his face and, at one point, pushing the man, who almost falls to the ground. Authorities had originally handed Pentland a citation for malicious injury to property for slapping the man's phone out of his hand and cracking it, reports said. Sheriff Lott said Pentland had not been arrested on the day as it took officers some time to investigate properly. He said he would not be naming the victim but confirmed the young man was not a juvenile, adding that he will not face any charges. Sheriff Lott said the other man in the video had been involved in other incidents in the neighborhood in the days leading up to the video but said that 'none of them justified the assault that occurred.' Pentland pictured in uniform. He is a drill sergeant at Fort Jackson in South Carolina Cassie Pentland, his wife, can also be heard shouting at the black man and telling him police have already been called when he tells them to alert authorities Pentland is seen above with his wife, Cassie Dawn Dalrymple, after announcing their engagement 'This is by no means condoned by any service member,' Commanding General Milford Beagle Jr. said on Twitter. 'We will get to the bottom of this ASAP' 'The first time I saw the video, it was terrible. It was unnecessary,' Lott said. He noted he had met with community leaders and elected officials before speaking with reporters. Lott said his investigators had turned their case over to prosecutors, who determined what charge to levy against Pentland. Fort Jackson Commanding General Brig. Gen. Beagle, Jr had said on Twitter: 'This is by no means condoned by any service member. We will get to the bottom of this ASAP.' In a statement to Dailymail.com, a spokesperson for the base said Fort Jackson was working with local authorities on the matter, adding that 'this type of behavior is not consistent with our Army Values and will not be condoned.' 'The soldier in the video is stationed at Fort Jackson and Richland County Sheriff's Department have confirmed that he has been charged,' the statement reads. 'The U.S. Department of Justice is also looking into the incident.' 'The leaders at Fort Jackson in no way condone the behavior depicted in the video posted recently,' added Fort Jackson Commander Brig. Gen. Milford Beagle, Jr. 'This action deeply impacts our community--the neighbors in the Summit, the city of Columbia, Richland & Lexington counties, and our Army family,' Beagle said. 'I ask that our communities and leaders exercise a degree of patience, affording Sherriff Lott and law enforcement investigators to account for the full measure of events before, during, and after the incident that was recorded.' The three-minute clip shows Pentland repeatedly scream at Deandre - to 'go away now.' Cassie Pentland, his wife, can also be heard shouting at the black man and telling him police have already been called when he tells them to alert authorities. 'Maybe you should stick around a little longer and then we won't have to get the report by ourselves,' Cassie tells Deandre. The three-minute clip shows Pentland repeatedly scream at the man - identified only as Deandre - to 'go away now' The two continue arguing, with Pentland denying that he has hit Deandre. Deandre clarifies that he was actually pushed. Pentland pushes Deandre as the black man turns to speak to his wife who called him an aggressor The clip comes to a close with the camerawoman approaching Deandre and getting him away from the couple as Pentland continues making threats towards him Pentland asks the young man what he is doing in the area, to which Deandre calmly retorts 'walking.' 'That's what I was doing, walking to my house,' he continues. But Pentland dismisses the man's remark, telling Deandre that he has been 'here for 15 minutes now.' He and his wife then tell the young man to walk away, with Pentland suggesting that he can 'help' Deandre walk away. The two continue arguing, with Pentland denying that he has hit Deandre. Deandre clarifies that he was actually pushed. 'You're aggressing in the neighborhood,' Cassie Pentland claims. 'How am I the aggressor when someone came running up to me,' Deandre responds, turning his attention to the irate wife, who is not seen in footage. But as he turns to talk to the screaming woman, her husband charges at Deandre and roughly pushes him back. 'You better walk away,' Pentland screams at Deandre. 'You are talking to my wife right now.' Deandre, who remains calm throughout the ordeal, tells the sergeant: 'That's your wife, I didn't do nothing to your wife but speak.' As the two engage in tense standoffs, Pentland lodges threats at Deandre if he doesn't move. 'Check it out, you can either walk away or I am going to carry your a*s out,' he says to Deandre. A composed Deandre tells Pentland not to touch him, but the Army sergeant first class scoffs at the notion. Pentland responds: I'm about to do something to you...You're in the wrong neighborhood motherf****r get out.' When Deandre tells the couple he lives in the area, Cassie responds: 'Maybe we should walk you home?' Shirell Johnson, one of the black women who came to see the commotion, took to Facebook to share the video after the woman who initially filmed it - identified as Lady Shadae - shared it with her In a post online, the Richland County Sheriff's Department said that Sheriff Leon Lott was meeting with politicians and various organizations to discuss the incident Records indicate that Pentland was promoted to his sergeant first class in March 2020 Pentland inquiries where the young man lives and claims that Deandre is 'harassing the neighborhood,' to which Deandre reiterates that he lives in the neighborhood. 'Check it out, we are a tight knit community, we take care of each other,' the Army sergeant first class asserts. 'How long have you lived here,' Deandre asks. Pentland responds: 'A lot longer than your a*s because I have never seen you before in my life.' When Deandre repeats his question, the couple grow even more incensed and tell him that it is none of his business. 'Check it out motherf****r I am not playing with you,' Pentland tells Deandre, to which the black man responds: 'You smell drunk... You are drunk.' The argument continues for several more volleys as several black women can be seen making their way to the commotion. Cassie, who Pentland married in 2006, mentions that the entire ordeal spawned after Deandre got into a verbal spat with a neighbor of theirs, who seemed to exit the scene as the couple got more involved. The clip comes to a close with the camerawoman approaching Deandre and getting him away from the couple as Pentland continues making threats towards him. Shirell Johnson, one of the black women who came to see the commotion, took to Facebook to share the video after the woman who initially filmed it - identified as Lady Shadae - shared it with her. Johnson shared that the group of women waited with Deandre until police arrived and 'repeatedly informed the officer' that he was assaulted by Pentland, with the Army sergeant first class knocking his phone out his hand and cracking it. Prior to his station in South Carolina, Pentland was stationed at Fort Drum in New York as part of the 1st Brigade Combat Team, 10th Mountain Division (LI). He was also stationed in Fort Carson in Colorado Springs, Colorado Pentland can be seen in the background in this picture at Fort Jackson She added: 'The officer told us that his supervisor told him that he could only charge the white guy with malicious injury to property and not assault! Deandre was calm throughout and he had been in that neighborhood-The Lakes @Barony Place walking plenty of times and he lives in the summit! Lots of people walk out there and never any trouble.' In a post online, the Richland County Sheriff's Department said that Sheriff Leon Lott was meeting with politicians and various organizations to discuss the incident. 'Sheriff Lott realizes the importance of putting out correct information quickly as there has been a lot of incorrect information distributed through Facebook and other social media,' the department added in their release. 'We want to ensure the community knows this incident has been a priority for our Department. The video in itself is very disturbing and has helped tremendously in our investigation. More information will be provided when it becomes available.' Records indicate that Pentland was promoted to his sergeant first class in March 2020. Prior to his station in South Carolina, Pentland was stationed at Fort Drum in New York as part of the 1st Brigade Combat Team, 10th Mountain Division (LI). He was also stationed with the 1st Stryker Brigade Combat in Fort Carson in Colorado Springs, Colorado. Do you know the victim? Email us at newsUS@dailymail.com Reality TV format Love Island continues to flourish and roll out across the world and has now been commissioned by TV Nova in Czech Republic and Markiza in Slovakia. This marks the 21st version for the format, which sees single men and women live together in a villa and couple up in the hope of finding love and winning a cash prize. The local version will be produced by Paprika Studios at the ITV Studios hub on Gran Canaria. The first season is going to be released this autumn on SVOD platform VOYO. Silvia Majeska, programming director, TV Nova and Markiza, said: We are thrilled to announce that Voyo in Czech and Slovakia will bring original production of the worldwide successful format Love Island. We have been fans of the format and look forward to giving our audiences in both markets a chance to escape to the beautiful and exotic Canary Islands, filled with love, romance and fun. Love Island will be one of many original productions we plan to release on Voyo in the months to come. Love Island is owned by ITV Studios and Motion Content Group and is distributed internationally by ITV Studios Republicans have condemned proposals to increase the number of Supreme Court justices from nine to 13 - a plan which Democratic members of Congress have said they will introduce on Thursday. 'Packing the Supreme Court would destroy the Supreme Court,' tweeted Tom Cotton, senator for Arkansas. 'The Democrats will do anything for power.' Donald Trump's former chief of staff, Mark Meadows, said increasing the size of the court was a terrible idea. 'The moderate left is gone,' he said. 'This is who they are now. Open borders. Outlawing voter ID. Free healthcare for illegal migrants. And now court packing. 'This should be roundly rejected.' The proposal, first reported by The Intercept, was always likely to spark strong protest from Republicans, who warned during the election that Joe Biden would try and change the court's composition. 'Who agrees that we should expand the Supreme Court?' tweeted Ed Markey of Massachusetts, the sponsor of the bill in the Senate. Ruth Bader Ginsburg (front, second from right) opposed increasing the number of justices Mondaire Jones, who is sponsoring the bill through the House, tweeted: 'Our democracy is under assault, and the Supreme Court has dealt the sharpest blows. To restore power to the people, we must #ExpandTheCourt.' He added: 'Supreme Court expansion is infrastructure.' The Supreme Court is currently conservative leaning, with six conservative judges seated. Donald Trump appointed three: Neil Gorsuch, Brett Kavanaugh and Amy Coney Barrett. The new plan is being promoted in the House by the Judiciary Committee Chairman, Jerry Nadler. He is backed by Subcommittee chair Hank Johnson, and freshman Jones. In the Senate, the bill is being championed by Markey. Changing the composition of the court requires a Senate sponsor, and Congressional approval. The number of justices on the Supreme Court is not specified by the Constitution. Until 1869, the number regularly fluctuated depending on which political party was in power, and their aims. Under John Adams there were five: under Abraham Lincoln there were 10. Biden himself refused to say before the election what his position was. In 1995 described efforts to expand the Supreme Court as 'boneheaded'. But, under pressure from progressives within his party, he said last week that he was forming a special commission to investigate the issue. The formation of a 36-member commission was announced by the White House on April 9. Biden's move was called a 'power grab', and a 'move by the radical left when they can't get what they want'. Jerry Nadler (left) and Mondaire Jones are leading the push to change the Court in the House Hank Johnson (left) is also promoting the bill in the House, and Ed Markey in the Senate Joe Biden established a presidential commission to examine expanding the Supreme Court 'THIS IS A POWER GRAB': GOP FURY AT 'PACKING' COMMISSION Republican Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell Today's announcement is a direct assault on our nation's independent judiciary and yet another sign of the Far Left's influence over the Biden Administration. 'Rational observers know well there is nothing about the structure or operation of the judicial branch that requires 'study.' Constitutional scholars and the justices themselves have repeatedly affirmed the position of the late Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg: 'nine seems to be a good number.' Justice Breyer said just this week that 'structural alteration' like court packing would mean 'eroding' the public's trust in the judiciary. And by overwhelming margins, the American people agree. 'At the same time, more and more elected Democrats have made open disdain for judicial independence a key part of their political platforms. A sitting Senator has personally threatened certain justices should they rule against liberal interests. Multiple Senate Democrats signed a threatening brief suggesting the Court needed to either deliver liberal rulings or face being 'restructured.' The President spent most of his campaign playing coy on the issue, but has now admitted from the safety of a four-year term that he views the judiciary as 'out of whack.' 'So anyone who was surprised by the creation of a commission on packing the Supreme Court simply hasn't been paying attention. This faux-academic study of a nonexistent problem fits squarely within liberals' years-long campaign to politicize the Court, intimidate its members, and subvert its independence. This is not some new, serious, or sober pivot away from Democrats' political attacks on the Court. It's just an attempt to clothe those ongoing attacks in fake legitimacy. It's disappointing that anyone, liberal or conservative, would lend credence to this attack by participating in the commission. 'Of course, this is just another example of the liberal preference for attacking norms and institutions, rather than working within them. When Democrats lose a floor vote, it's time to change Senate rules. When they lose a presidential election, it's time to abolish the Electoral College. And when activists' cases fall flat against the rule of law, it's time to ignore Justices Ginsburg and Breyer and pack the Supreme Court. 'President Biden campaigned on a promise of lowering the temperature and uniting a divided nation. If he really meant it, he would stop giving oxygen to a dangerous, antiquated idea and stand up to the partisans hawking it. Republican Senator Mitt Romney My Democrat friends decry the last president for weakening our institutions with his words and behavior but they now cheer the effort to pack the Supreme Court and end the Senate filibuster, which would forever diminish institutions at our Republic's foundation. Republican Senator Ben Sasse 'This progressive court packing commission is going nowhere fast. President Biden knows that he doesn't even have the votes in his own party to pack the court; he knows that court packing is a non-starter with the American people; and he knows that this commission's report is just going to be a taxpayer-funded door stopper. 'What the President doesn't have his the courage to come out and flatly tell the radical left that he's not going to pack the Supreme Court.' Republican Rep. Jim Jordan 'Why study something we already know? Democrats want to pack the Supreme Court.' Republican Rep. Marsha Blackburn 'Joe Biden and the radical left will destroy our institutions to seize power. This means eradicating the electoral college and the filibuster and packing the Supreme Court ' Republican Rep. Mike Gallagher 'We don't need a commission to know that court packing is a radical idea that would destroy faith in the Supreme Court. Next week, I'll be reintroducing a constitutional amendment that would prevent this from happening by capping the court at nine justices' Former GOP South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley 'Court packing is undemocratic, divisive, and brainless. Don't take it from me, take it from Joe Biden who once called it a 'bonehead idea.'' Advertisement The move follows months of debate over whether Democrats should seek to expand the court beyond nine justices - a number that hasn't changed since Abraham Lincoln was president. Biden's move would essentially wipe out the conservative 6-3 majority Trump brought in. The six conservatives on the court are Amy Coney Barrett, Brett Kavanaugh and Neil Gorsuch, appointed by Trump; Samuel Alito, appointed by George W. Bush; and Clarence Thomas and John Roberts, both appointed by George H.W. Bush. Barack Obama appointed two liberals - Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kagan. The third liberal, Stephen Breyer, was appointed by Bill Clinton. The announcement came as progressive groups launched a campaign demanding Breyer, 82, resign for saying there shouldn't be more justices on the bench. Some are also urging Breyer to consider retiring so that Biden can appoint another liberal to the bench. Republicans, including their Senate leader, Mitch McConnell, and Trump's press secretary Kayleigh McEnany, say the steps are what the 'radical left' does when they don't get their way. McConnell added: 'When they (Democrats) lose a presidential election, it's time to abolish the Electoral College. 'And when activists' cases fall flat against the rule of law, it's time to ignore Justices Ginsburg and Breyer and pack the Supreme Court.' Even Biden has previous said bids to pack the court with more liberal judges were a 'power grab'. In 2005 he called it a 'bonehead idea'. Ruth Bader Ginsburg, who died last year, once said: 'There are some people on the Democratic side who would like to increase the number of judges. I think that was a bad ideaif anything would make the court appear partisan.' Biden's executive order creates a commission composed of a bipartisan group of experts, including legal and judicial scholars, former administration officials and former federal judges, the White House said in a statement. Biden's commission will be led by Bob Bauer, who served as White House counsel for Obama, and Cristina Rodriguez, a Yale Law School professor who served as deputy assistant attorney general in the Office of Legal Counsel under Obama. Among the members are Michelle Adams, who was was recently in Netflix documentary 'Amend: The Fight for America' about the 14th Amendment, Guy-Uriel E. Charles, who writes about law's role in addressing racial subordination, and constitutional law professor William Baude. Senator Ben Sasse, a Republican representing Nebraska, said: 'This progressive court packing commission is going nowhere fast. 'President Biden knows that he doesn't even have the votes in his own party to pack the court; he knows that court packing is a non-starter with the American people; and he knows that this commission's report is just going to be a taxpayer-funded door stopper. 'What the President doesn't have his the courage to come out and flatly tell the radical left that he's not going to pack the Supreme Court.' Republican congressman Jim Jordan said bluntly: 'Why study something we already know? Democrats want to pack the Supreme Court.' Senator Marsha Blackburn of Tennessee said: 'Joe Biden and the radical left will destroy our institutions to seize power. 'This means eradicating the electoral college and the filibuster and packing the Supreme Court.' The Article 3 Project, a group that defends constitutionalist judges and 'punches back on racial assaults on judicial independence', said in a statement: 'This is an alarming announcement from President Biden that should be met with the harshest of denunciations from both sides of the aisle. 'Packing the Supreme Court would destroy centuries of hard work from Democrat- and Republican-appointed justices to insulate the high court from partisan politics. It also raises serious red flags as to what unconstitutional actions President Biden is planning that a more favorable Supreme Court might tolerate. 'Just this week, Justice Breyer joined the late Justice Ginsburg in rejecting court packing. This isn't a right versus left issue. 'This is a matter of protecting the legitimacy of the Supreme Court and safeguarding our constitutional republic from irreversible damage. 'We hope this commission is simply an empty gesture to the radical left. 'But there is real danger in President Biden giving credibility to the idea of court packing; he is playing with fire and threatening the constitutional foundation of this country. 'He should have the wisdom and enough self respect to recognize that any attempt to pack the Supreme Court would be rejected by Congress and would be an ugly stain on his legacy, just as it was for the last president who tried it.' The Supreme Court building in Washington DC, seen on March 4 amid tight security Even some on the left criticized the decision. Brian Fallon, executive director of Demand Justice, a liberal advocacy group that supports expanding the court and term limits for justices, said in a statement: 'A commission made up mostly of academics, that includes far-right voices and is not tasked with making formal recommendations, is unlikely to meaningfully advance the ball on Court reform.' But others seemed willing to give it a chance. 'With five justices appointed by presidents who lost the popular vote, it's crucial that we consider every option for wresting back political control of the Supreme Court,' said Nan Aron, president of the Alliance for Justice, a liberal judicial advocacy group. 'President Biden's commission demonstrates a strong commitment to studying this situation and taking action.' By Lee Min-hyung Hana Card's new CEO Kwon Gil-joo The Serpent's cast list is led by Tahar Rahim, who can be seen playing the character of the infamous alleged serial killer Charles Sobhraj in the Netflix series. Since the release of the show, the viewers and reviewers alike have applauded the performance of Tahar Rahim in The Serpent. This article will essentially try to attempt to give its reader clarity regarding who is Tahar Rahim. It will also take a look at Tahar Rahim's movies and the part played by Tahar Rahim in The Mauritanian, also starring Sherlock star Benedict Cumberbatch. Read on for more details. So, who is Tahar Rahim? Tahar Rahim is a french actor who was born and brought up in France. Apart from The Mauritanian, most notably, he is known for his work on films such as A Prophet and The Past, amongst others. He was born on July 4, 1981, in Belfort, Territoire de Belfort, France. Tahar Rahim spent a significant portion of his formative years there. As far as his schooling is concerned, he attended the University Paul Valery of Montpellier, France. He secured his degree in Drama and Performance Arts from there. Tahar, who is a French actor of Algerian descent, made his debut in The 9/11 Commission Report, the 2007 feature film that saw him play the character of an interrogator working with an extremist group. That very same year, he even portrayed an important part in "La Commune" (2007). It is widely believed that the film that came shortly after, namely "A Prophet" is the reason that he is known by millions all around the world. Within some years after that, Tahar Rahim earned a reputation for himself as an actor who plays characters that are usually stuck in a moral conundrum in one sense of the term or the other. He has been married to Leila Bekhti, who is also a French Television actor of Algerian descent. The two tied the knot in the year 2010. What is he up to now? As far as Tahar Rahim's professional commitments are concerned, the actor was last seen playing Charles Sobhraj in The Serpent. Additionally, his latest theatrical release, namely The Mauritanian, opened in select regions across the globe, owing to the still-ongoing coronavirus pandemic. More details regarding Tahar Rahim's upcoming projects will be shared with the reader as and when they are made available. Disclaimer | The above information is sourced from various websites/ media reports. Republicworld does not guarantee 100% accuracy of the Trivia 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. (Newser) With voices raised, Dr. Anthony Fauci and Republican Rep. Jim Jordan clashed over personal liberties and pandemics during a hearing Thursday. The heated exchange, over several rounds of questioning, went on until Jordan ran out of his allotted time and Democratic Rep. Maxine Waters told the congressman to "shut your mouth." Throughout the hearing, Jordan loudly pushed the infectious disease expert on when the nation will achieve herd immunity from the coronavirus and when pandemic restrictions will be dropped, the Hill reports. "When do Americans get their freedom back?" Jordan asked. "We had 15 days to slow the spread, turned into a year of lost liberties." After Fauci began to answer that the best thing to do is gradually end restrictions once infection rates fall enough, Jordan interrupted, saying, "Give me a number." story continues below When Jordan said Americans' First Amendment rights have been ignored during the pandemic, Fauci said, "We're not talking about liberties, were talking about a pandemic that has killed 560,000 Americans." Jordan also said people have been censored who disagree with Fauci. "Youre making this a personal thing, and it isn't," Fauci said. "My recommendations are not personal recommendations." When Jordan asked the same questions, Fauci told him, "You're ranting again." The two have clashed before. After the chair informed Jordan that his time was up, even as he kept asking questions, Waters, who was up next, suggested he cease talking. "You need to respect the chair," she told Jordan. per CNN. The stated purpose of the hearing was to assess the Biden administration's progress on coronavirus vaccinations. (Read more Anthony Fauci stories.) The year 2021 looks destined to be a promising year for movie buffs as they will have a chance to watch a list of exciting Hollywood films that include The Matrix 4, Fast & Furious 9, Conjuring 4, Mortal Kombat, A Quiet Place Part II and the latest Bond film, No Time to Die. However, amongst this very list is a movie of a certain Hollywood superstar, who refuses to age with time and still chooses to do his own stunts- the Mission Impossible star, Tom Cruise. The 58-year-old actor is set to return as US Navy's daredevil pilot Pete "Maverick" Mitchell in Top Gun: Maverick, the sequel to the 1986 American action drama film, Top Gun. Pinterest Recently, it was announced that the movie's release date was shifted from June to November, and while fans may have been left disappointed for not seeing their hot-shot fighter jet pilot sooner, the wait is only going to make things a lot more sweeter. Amid the wait, we decided to make a list of things about Top Gun 2 that surely will get fans excited: 1. Maverick Returns as a Flight Instructor: Cinemablend Decades after passing out as an ace pilot from the Top Gun, the US Navy's most elite flight school, Tom Cruise's character Maverick returns to the training academy as a top-flight instructor. While we saw his exploits as a lethal fighter pilot in the first film, we cannot wait to explore how he trains and flies along his trainees to shoot down enemy planes in the sequel. 2. The Iceman-Maverick Rivalry: DigitalTrends People who saw the first Top Gun movie know that movie revolved around the rivalry around characters Maverick (Cruise) and Iceman (Val Kilmer). Kilmer has been confirmed to return as Iceman in the second installment, and we cannot wait for them to take the competition to the next level while flying top-end fighter jets. 3. New Fighter Jets: Twitter Maverick and the rest of the pilots flew in their F-14 Tomcat fighter jets in the first film. However, a lot has changed in the span of decades, and with the new movie trailer showcasing some mean machines ranging from Boeing F/A 18F Super Hornets and the mysterious SR-72 Darkstar aircraft, it sure looks like a visual treat. 4. Whiplash star Miles Teller stars as Goose's son: Pinterest The first movie showed the brotherly bond of Maverick and his flight partner, Goose (Anthony Edwards), who was killed during a training exercise in the film. Well, the second film sees Goose's son become a US Navy pilot and has been played by Whiplash actor Miles Teller, who will definitely bring something to the new film. Well, we cannot wait to see the evolution of Teller's character under the tutelage of Flight Instructor Maverick. Xi's speech marking 95th founding anniversary of CPC to be published Xinhua) 16:23, April 15, 2021 BEIJING, April 15 (Xinhua) -- A speech made by Xi Jinping, general secretary of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee, at a ceremony marking the 95th anniversary of the founding of the CPC will be published Friday in the eighth issue of the Qiushi Journal. Xi, also Chinese president and chairman of the Central Military Commission, delivered the speech at the ceremony on July 1, 2016. (Web editor: Shi Xi, Liang Jun) The Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer of VKS Group, Onur Kumral, has been honoured among Nigerias 100 most proactive, result-driven Chief Executive Officers in 2020. The honour was bestowed on Mr Kumral by The Guardian Newspaper in their 2020 Annual CEO series published on April 7, 2021. Mr Kumral was honoured among top CEOs in Nigeria, including Ebi Enaholo of Mainstreet Capital Investment, Chantelle Abdu of Mojec International, Gbenga Sokefun of Nigerian Robes, among other eminent CEOs. The Guardian Newspaper explained that what made the honorees of 2020 edition unique stems from the fact that even before the emergence of the COVID-19 pandemic, Nigerias economy became fragile, causing devastating impact on businesses such as downsizing in order to cut cost, improve operational capacity and effective delivery on set target. The publication pointed out that despite the daunting challenges and dire outcomes on many businesses, the honorees were able to navigate their organizations to optimal operational effectiveness, efficiency and visibility. The Guardian said the CEOs made this possible through ingenious management practices, prudent management of resources, as well as excellent, proactive, and innovative solutions and ideas in achieving set goals and objectives. The newspaper noted, While they defy the apparent harsh economic environment by piloting the affairs of their companies to profitability, these exceptional men and women deserve recognition for their out-of-the-box innovations and enviable CSR interventions. Indeed, they deserve laurels in their efforts and contributions to the stability and growth of the nations economy as well as modeling other upcoming businesses. Earlier in their letter of nomination to the MD/CEO of VKS Group, The Guardian Newspaper noted that the honour on Onur Kumral is based on available record of your remarkable accomplishment, exemplary leadership, overall contributions to the growth of the nations economy and VKS Nigeria Construction Limiteds position as one of the better managed corporate organisation in Nigerias private sector. The Guardian Newspaper also stated that Kumral has been recognised as one of the outstanding managers of humans and resources hence the honour. In a related development, the Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer of VKS Nigeria Construction Limited, Mr Onur Kumral has been nominated as Independent Newspapers CEO of the year 2020. The notification of the award was presented to Onur Kumral by the Managing Director/Editor-in -Chief of Independent Newspapers, Steve Omanufeme, in company of the Chairman, Editorial Board, Donatus Duru on Tuesday when they visited VKS office in Uyo. In his remark, Mr Omanufeme mentioned some of the remarkable projects undertaken by VKS Nigeria Construction Company which earned the CEO the nomination to include the 21-storey smart building in Uyo, the Akwa Ibom State capital. Mr Omanufeme commended the company for the quality of job delivery and its outstanding role in job creation in the State. In response, Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer of VKS Nigeria Construction Limited, Onur Kumral thanked the Independent Newspapers for the nomination. He appreciated the newspaper organisation for acknowledging his contributions to the state and expressed the companys determination to stay on track. Mr Kumral who spoke on the features of the companys star project in Akwa Ibom State, the 21- Storey building, said the building was constructed and fitted to compete with other smart buildings anywhere in the world. He said, ExxonMobil came to check the building and couldnt believe their eyes, especially on what they saw, technology-wise. The building could be compared to what we have in New York. Offering an insight into the strides in investments by VKS, the Managing Director said the Syringe Factory in February 2021 hit a daily production capacity of 1.2 million syringes, out of the projected 1.5 million. ADVERTISEMENT On flour Mill, which was initially fitted with the daily production capacity of 500 metric tons, the VKS MD explained that the company was able to expand its daily production capacity to 1200 during the COVID-19 lockdown to satisfy increased demand. According to data made available by the Human Resource Manager of the company, Mr. Ndiana Isong, VKS in less than five years of operation in the State has generated direct employment for 1,724 persons. An advisory panel for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Wednesday delayed making recommendations on a decision to pause the use of Johnson & Johnson's coronavirus vaccine, saying it needed more time to examine the data and possible risks, NBC News reports. Driving the news: Researchers said they did not have enough data to analyze the potential relationship between the J&J vaccine and the rare cases of severe blood clots that six women developed within two weeks of receiving the shot. It will be at least a week before the panel reconvenes. Get market news worthy of your time with Axios Markets. Subscribe for free. Members of the independent Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices argued that extending a pause on the vaccine would give more time to collect data and make sure health care providers are appropriately treating people who develop blood clot-related symptoms. The CDC said Tuesday there are too few cases to determine whether there are any subpopulations particularly at risk. The big picture: Nearly 7 million Johnson & Johnson doses had been administered in the U.S. when the Food and Drug Administration recommended an immediate halt of the use of the one-shot vaccine on Tuesday. All 50 states, Washington, D.C., and Puerto Rico paused or recommended a pause on the use of the vaccine, per the New York Times. "The committees assessment comes at a crucial time, while the nation is racing to vaccinate as many people as possible to curb the steady accumulation of cases, particularly as worrisome variants gain traction," the Times noted. Yes, but: The White House said in a statement Tuesday that the pause "will not have a significant impact" on the administration's vaccination plans, noting that it has secured enough Moderna and Pfizer doses for 300 million Americans. Like this article? Get more from Axios and subscribe to Axios Markets for free. Former MNH vice-chair demands Peggy returned to Castletown By Chris Cave - Local Democracy Reporter A former senior member of Manx National Heritage is calling on the organisation to return a famous schooner to the south of the Island. The Peggy was removed from the Nautical Museum in Castletown six years ago for conservation work and hasnt been returned since. Tony Brown, who has previously served as vice-chair of MNH, has strongly criticised those in charge for their handling of the matter. Edmund Southworth, director of MNH when the Peggy was removed in 2015, says it was taken out of Castletown due to damage being caused by salt water. Commenting before he left the role, Mr Southworth said it was soul-destroying to see a museum exhibit at such risk. Mr Brown says there appears to be no arrangements in place to put the famous boat back where it belongs: Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, April 15) The government wants private companies to be at the forefront of establishing the countrys capacity to produce vaccines on its own. Manufacturing is an activity that is best suited to the private sector and that is the reason why we are pushing the private sector to take the lead on vaccine manufacturing in the country, said DOST Usec. Rowena Guevara in a virtual forum. Authorities are in talks with six local potential vaccine manufacturers, according to the official, who kept these entities unnamed in observation of non-disclosure agreements with them. However, she provided descriptions of the developers: - a distributor of a South Korean company who is currently in talks with two companies for the formation of a venture and with the National Development Company - a company who has extensive facilities in Asia and whose intended foreign partner already manufactures vaccines the country needs against diseases like polio, HIV, tuberculosis, COVID-19 and other non-COVID-19 vaccines - a company connected with a vaccine developer in Germany which has already expressed willingness to partner with government and has begun talks with the DTI-Board of Investments and NDC - a long-term partner of a Chinese vaccine producer who is interested in local manufacturing. DTI-BOI and NDC are already discussing with this company how to fast-track its plans - a company who has already given NDC a pre-feasibility study for a vaccine it intends to initially do form and fill then COVID-19 vaccines. It is also looking for a possible partner, one of which is a company based in the United States For the private sector, as long as there is a market and they have the capability, they are going to be sustainable and we have seen this in many activities of the private sector, noted Guevara. The DOST official likewise revealed that two out of the six firms may even begin producing vaccines on their own by late 2022 depending on how aggressive they are in the pursuit of their plans. Guevarra added that no preferential treatment will be given to manufacturers prioritizing COVID-19 vaccines, even as the Philippines seeks to boost its vaccine-making capability for COVID-19 and other diseases. Government is guaranteeing an "enabling environment" for manufacturers eyeing a purely private vaccine development to encourage procurement of their products. In a separate briefing on Thursday, Trade Secretary Ramon Lopez said once all the requirements have been ironed out, these companies vying to construct vaccine plants may start pouring investments into the Philippines this 2021. Lopez added the DTI will help the firms in securing requirements by the Food and Drug Administration. "Hopefully this year or next year, actual investments will come in," he said. President Rodrigo Duterte said on Thursday night that other government offices must heed the Trade Department's requests for assistance to potential local vaccine manufacturers. "Ang hiningi lang ni Sec. Lopez (What Sec. Lopez asks is), assistance. Requested greenlane on government permits. Will subscribe to all requirements and submit documents but need faster production," Duterte said in his national address. Lopez revealed to the President that local pharmaceutical giant United Laboratories (Unilab) Inc. and Glovax Biotech Corp. are the potential local vaccine makers in the country. In his presentation, the DTI chief said Unilab started to manufacture COVID-19 vaccines last April 7 and its facility may operate by 2023. Meanwhile, Glovax inked an agreement with South Korea-based technology partner Eubiologics for its local vaccine manufacturing and may finish their plant by October 2022. A shocked mother saw her four-year-old son being snatched away by a woman who was 'high on GBH' at the Royal Albert Hall, a court has heard. The mother was attending a children's concert at the famous London music venue with her young boy when he was carried away by Charlotte Robbins. Jurors heard the mother, who cannot be identified for legal reasons, chased the 26-year-old through crowds of people as she tried to get her son back. She eventually caught up with Robbins, who claimed she had taken drug GHB and possibly smoked crystal meth, a court heard. Robbins, of Belsize Park, London, is on trial at Southwark Crown Court, accused of child abduction. She admits picking up the child, but denies attempting to abduct the boy. Robbins said the incident was a 'mistake' and she thought she was attempting to return the boy to his legal guardian. The mother was attending a children's concert at the famous London music venue with her young boy when he was carried away by Charlotte Robbins (pictured) Jury members heard how Robbins claimed she was high on GHB - also known as a liquid ecstasy - at the time of the incident on March 10 last year. The mother told jurors that as she searched for her son she almost lost him in the crowd. But she told the court she spotted his distinctive red shoelaces as Robbins carried him away. She caught up with Robbins and grabbed the woman and her son from behind, shouting for help, jurors heard. Eventually a man removed the boy from Robbins' grip and returned him to his mother, the court was told. Giving evidence, the mother said: 'My son was a bit restless, I just took him for a wander around the hall. 'The crowd was growing so I had taken him back to the stairs. I bumped into my daughter and asked where she was going. 'She's quite young. I stopped to find out where she was going. They were going to the bathroom. 'As I bent down she said: "I'm going to the bathroom, come with me mum". Then she said "she's taken him". The mother told jurors she turned around and could no longer see her son. She told the court: 'I saw his shoes, with bright red laces on his trainers, going into the auditorium. 'He was struggling as well, he's four, he was held pretty tightly. He was calling for me. 'I could feel him trying to get away, he was struggling to break loose. I wasn't successful, she was holding on, I just couldn't get the arms separated. 'I said "Help she's got my child, help". 'She said something like he's "her child," "custody" and "down there". The woman told jurors that a stranger then grabbed her son from Robbins' arms and returned him to her. Robbins claims she made an honest mistake and thought she was returning the child to his legal guardian. Dominic Hockley, prosecuting, said: 'She accepts that she took the boy who at that stage was a four-year-old child. 'That she took from the lawful control of his mother. That isn't in dispute. 'We say that her actions weren't reasonable, she made no effort at all, at all, to establish the facts before grabbing the child from his mother.' Mr Hockley added: 'No child, you may think, should be dragged from his mother by a stranger. 'Irrespective of whether she believed he might be, she should not be taking children unsupervised. That's more so in the way in which she did what she did.' Jury members heard how Robbins claimed she was high on GHB - also known as a liquid ecstasy - at the time of the incident at the Royal Albert Hall (pictured) on March 10 last year 'Even if she was right in what she says was her honest, genuine mistake, what she did was not reasonable in these circumstances. 'Her mistake was not reasonable because we say it came about because of her intoxication. 'Where a mistake results from voluntary intoxication by alcohol or drugs such a mistake cannot be thought of as reasonable. 'There is ample evidence that the defendant was intoxicated.' Mr Hockley told the court that a member of staff who later spoke to Robbins said she was 'talking as if she was high'. Another member of staff said she was 'unsteady on their feet,' her speaking was 'slurred' and her 'eyes couldn't focus when speaking,' jurors heard. 'An officer noticed something unusual, he immediately noticed the influence of drugs or drink,' added Mr Hockley. 'She told him that she had taken 'G'. 'In interview she admitted that she had taken G, sometimes known as the date rape drug. 'She didn't think that she smoked crystal meth but she could have.' Robbins denies taking a child from a person having lawful control at the concert, under the Child Abduction Act 1984. The trial continues. Bank of America reported its first-quarter 2021 financial results today. The news release, supplemental filing and investor presentation can be accessed in the following ways: Investor Conference Call information: Chief Executive Officer Brian Moynihan and Chief Financial Officer Paul Donofrio will discuss the financial results in a conference call at 9 a.m. ET today. For a listen-only connection to the conference call, dial 1.877.200.4456 (U.S.) or 1.785.424.1732 (international), and the conference ID is 79795. Please dial in 10 minutes prior to the start of the call. Investors can also listen to a live audio webcast of the conference call and view the presentation slides by visiting the Events and Presentations section of the companys Investor Relations website. Replay information for Investor Conference Call: Investors can access replays of the conference call by visiting the Investor Relations website or by calling 1.800.934.4850 (U.S.) or 1.402.220.1178 (international) from noon on April 15 through 11:59 p.m. ET on April 25. Bank of America Bank of America is one of the worlds leading financial institutions, serving individual consumers, small and middle-market businesses and large corporations with a full range of banking, investing, asset management and other financial and risk management products and services. The company provides unmatched convenience in the United States, serving approximately 66 million consumer and small business clients with approximately 4,300 retail financial centers, including approximately 2,700 lending centers, 2,600 financial centers with a Consumer Investment Financial Solutions Advisor and approximately 2,400 business centers; approximately 17,000 ATMs; and award-winning digital banking with approximately 40 million active users, including approximately 31 million mobile users. Bank of America is a global leader in wealth management, corporate and investment banking and trading across a broad range of asset classes, serving corporations, governments, institutions and individuals around the world. Bank of America offers industry leading support to approximately 3 million small business households through a suite of innovative, easy-to-use online products and services. The company serves clients through operations across the United States, its territories and approximately 35 countries. Bank of America Corporation stock (NYSE: BAC) is listed on the New York Stock Exchange. For more Bank of America news, including dividend announcements and other important information, visit the Bank of America newsroom and register for news email alerts. www.bankofamerica.com ### Investors May Contact: Lee McEntire, Bank of America Phone: 1.980.388.6780 lee.mcentire@bofa.com Jonathan Blum, Bank of America (Fixed Income) Phone: 1.212.449.3112 jonathan.blum@bofa.com Reporters May Contact: Jerry Dubrowski, Bank of America Phone: 1.646.855.1195 (office) or 1.508.843.5626 (mobile) jerome.f.dubrowski@bofa.com Christopher P. Feeney, Bank of America Phone: 1.980.386.6794 christopher.feeney@bofa.com LG Rollable TV, the world's first and only television unit with a rollable design that made its debut during the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) 2019 in Las Vegas, will be available in the United States very soon, according to The Verge. How to Buy LG's Rollable TV Labeled by the South Korean technology giant as the LG Signature OLED R, the rollable TV can now be inquired for availability via LG's international website. Interested parties who are looking for the TV should simply click on the "Inquire to Buy" button. On the next window, the website will ask you to contact a local representative. Interestingly, aside from the United States, people living in other countries such as Australia, Belgium, France, Germany, Israel, Italy, Netherlands, Nigeria, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Spain, Switzerland, United Arab Emirates, and the United Kingdom may not only inquire the LG Rollable TV price but also express their intent to buy through the LG website. Choosing a country on the dropdown menu will give you the email address and phone number of the LG representative whom you should contact. In the case of U.S. customers, the email address of the contact person is russel.abney@lge.com with contact number +1-504-202-0873. LG Rollable TV Specs, Release Date and More Apart from these details, the website doesn't mention the LG Rollable TV release date or price for consumers who are planning to buy it through regular retail channels. In its native South Korea, LG OLED R has been available since October 2020 for the price of 100 million Korean won or $89,000 based on the current exchange rate. Obviously, it is meant for customers who really have deep pockets. Making its first appearance three years ago, the LG OLED R Rollable TV introduces a revolutionary design that allows you to save space in a stylish fashion. True to its name, the LG Rollable TV uses an ultrathin display panel that rolls into a sound system when not in use. When it rolls out, the screen can go up to three different heights: Full View, Line View, and Zero View. Read Also: New iPhone 13 Leak Shows New Design: Bigger Screen, Smaller Notch Teased At Full View mode, the LG OLED R is an ultrathin 4K television. It becomes a mood setter at Line View, while Zero View transforms the OLED R from a TV into a state-of-the-art sound system. LG Rollable TV also takes advantage of LG ThinQ technology, offering viewers the capability to control the TV through virtual assistants and voice recognition for convenience. Supposedly, LG's rollable display technology is not only meant for televisions but for smartphones as well. Ubergizmo reported earlier this year that the Korean tech company teased an Android smartphone with a rollable screen. But with LG's recent decision to fold up its mobile phone business unit, it is expected that the rollable smartphone will no longer see the light of day. For those who cannot afford the LG Rollable TV, LG has more affordable 4K OLED TV offerings for 2021, with the cheapest 48-inch model starting at $1,299, as per Engadget's report. At the price point, you can get a television equipped with the latest image processor, a display panel with a 120Hz variable refresh rate, and HDMI 2.1 connectivity. Related Article: LG Smartphones Set to Phase Out: What Will Happen to Your Phone After Mobile Business Shuts Down? State Sen. Kimberly Lightford said she tested positive for COVID-19 Monday, making her at least the third person linked to the state government known to have tested positive this week. Reacting to Amit Shah's comments that the poor people of Bangladesh come to India as they don't have enough to eat in their own country, Bangladesh Foreign Minister AK Abdul Momen on Wednesday lashed out at the Union Home Minister. Stating that Shah's knowledge of Bangladesh is "limited", AK Abdul Momen said that such remarks are "unacceptable especially when relations between Bangladesh and India are so deep." "Such remarks create misunderstanding," he added. Bangladesh Foreign Minister slams Amit Shah Bangladesh's AK Abdul Momen's remarks came on Tuesday night when he was asked to comment on Amit Shah's recent comments published in Indian media. While speaking to Bangladesh media, Momen said, Prithibi-te onek gyani lok aachhen, dekheo dekhen na, jeneo janen na. Tobe teeni (Amit Shah) jodi seta bole thaken, aami bolbo, Bangladesh niye taar gyan seemito. aamader desh-e ekhon keu na kheye morey na. Ekhane kono monga-o neyi. (There are many wise people in this world, some who dont want to see even after looking, they dont want to understand even after knowing about it. But, if he (Amit Shah) has said that, I would say that his knowledge about Bangladesh is limited. Nobody dies of hunger in Bangladesh. There are no Monga (seasonal poverty and hunger in northern districts of Bangladesh). The Union Home Minister of India has said that the poor people of Bangladesh come to India as even now they do not get enough to ear in their own country. While campaigning for West Bengal elections, Shah pointed towards infiltration from Bangladesh and said that if BJP comes to power in the state, such infiltration will be stopped. Stressing that Bangladesh is ahead of India on many social indices, Momen said while almost 90 per cent of the people in Bangladesh use fairly good latrines, over 50 per cent of people in India do not have proper toilets. Accepting that there is a shortage of jobs for educated people in Bangladesh, the Bangladesh Foreign Minister said that there is no job scarcity for the less educated people in the country. He said that over 1 lakh people from India are now working in Bangladesh. "We do not need to go to India," he added. (Image: PTI, Facebook-@AK Abdul Momen) The stars of Gogglebox Australia were stunned by some of the late Prince Philip's public gaffes on Wednesday. The reality TV stars settled in to watch a tribute to the Duke of Edinburgh, and were treated to some of the recently deceased royal's greatest clangers. Isabelle Silberry was particularly taken aback during footage of Philip telling a nurse, 'The Philippines must be half empty because you're all here running the NHS.' Foot in mouth: The stars of Gogglebox Australia were stunned by some of the late Prince Philip's public gaffes on Wednesday. Mick and Di seen here on the show The star, who features alongside mother Kerry and grandma Emmie on the show, declared, 'It's that classic old person's humour that's just not okay.' Dalton family member Matt added, 'He said very inappropriate things occasionally.' Di speculated to husband Mick that the late royal's tendency to go off-script might in fact be 'what people liked about him.' Other controversial statements made by Philip during his long public service tenure included telling the Scottish Women's Institute in 1961 that 'British women can't cook' and asking a Kenyan woman in 1984, 'You ARE a woman, aren't you?' RIP: The Duke of Edinburgh - who died last Friday aged 99 - will be laid to rest at 3pm on Saturday Prince Philip's funeral will take place 'entirely within the grounds of Windsor Castle'. The Duke of Edinburgh - who died last Friday aged 99 - will be laid to rest at 3pm on Saturday. And Buckingham Palace have now revealed details of his ceremonial funeral, which are in line with the prince's personal wishes for it to be a relatively low-key event and will recognise and celebrate his life and decades of service. An official spokesperson said: 'In line with Government guidelines and public health measures, there will be no public processions and the Duke's funeral will take place entirely within the grounds of Windsor Castle.' The vaccinations targeting only frontline workers, seniors and people suffering from chronic illnesses began in Yerevan on Tuesday and other parts of Armenia the following day. The authorities are currently using 24,000 doses of the British-Swedish company AstraZenecas vaccine which were delivered to the country on March 28. Only people aged 55 and older are eligible for the vaccine jab because of lingering questions about its safety. Younger people deemed most at risk from the coronavirus will be offered the Russian Sputnik V vaccine later this month. Armenia received 15,000 doses of the jab on April 8. Health officials acknowledged that even vulnerable Armenians are in no rush to take free vaccines despite a high rate of coronavirus infections. Yerevans Policlinic No. 13 administered its first vaccine shot on Thursday. Its director, Ruzan Durgarian, said policlinic staff are now busy phoning residents of surrounding neighborhoods eligible for the first vaccinations and inviting them to the medical center. So far, she said, most people have declined the invitations. Some people say they dont want to be vaccinated while others say they have heard bad things about that or claim they are allergic to vaccines, explained Durgarian. Many of the elderly and middle-aged people randomly interviewed in the streets told RFE/RLs Armenian Service that they are ready to be vaccinated. Im afraid [of taking a vaccine,] but both I and my husband have already been infected and know what a tough experience it is, said one woman. Another woman said she does not trust Armenian health institutions and plans to get a Sputnik shot in Russia. I dont know what they inject here, she said. Another pensioner did not trust the coronavirus vaccines. Im afraid of dying, she said. Concerns about the AstraZeneca jabs presumed dangerous side-effects appeared to be one of the reasons for the slow pace of vaccinations. Health Minister Anahit Avanesian again downplayed the risk of a rare blood clotting disorder linked to the vaccine when she spoke in the Armenian parliament on Thursday. Many countries have resumed use [of the AstraZeneca vaccine] but changed age thresholds [for its recipients,] she said, arguing that the Armenian government has done the same to minimize the health risk. Avanesian reiterated that the governments objective is to have between 600,000 and 700,000 people vaccinated within a year. She said this will be enough to develop herd immunity against COVID-19 in the country of about 3 million. The Armenian Ministry of Health reported, meanwhile, 1,014 new single-day coronavirus cases and the deaths of 30 more people infected with the disease. The total number of coronavirus-related deaths thus reached 4,781, according to the ministry. Armenia is currently grappling with a third wave of infections that began in late February. Critics blame the resurgence of COVID-19 on the authorities failure to enforce their physical distancing and sanitary restrictions. According to preliminary information, the victim was subsequently brought to a hospital out of safety precautions. The incident occurred on Wednesday afternoon. A pedestrian tried getting to the other side of the street at the corner of Boulevard de Kockelscheuer and Rue F.W. Raiffeisen. He was then hit by a lorry while taking the zebra crossing. According to preliminary information, the victim suffered minor injuries and was only brought to the hospital for a routine check-up following the accident. A grieving Alabama pastor and his wife called on residents who witnessed the fatal shooting of their daughter in a public Birmingham park on Easter Sunday to come forward and help the police catch her killer. Areyelle Yarbrough, the 32-year-old daughter of the Rev. Michael Yarbrough of Shady Grove Missionary Baptist Church and his wife, Sonya, was shot in the head at Patton Park at about 7 p.m. on Easter. Five other victims, ages 21, 17, 16, 15, and 4, were also wounded. The 16-year-old boy was shot in the right hip while another female was shot in the chest. "I would like for them to give the information if they have it. But I know if they do have information, most of them are fearful to tell because of retaliation," said Sonya Yarbrough in an interview with ABC 3340 News. "In their mind, their [conscience] will whoop them more so than anything that I could do for them, so I pray for them and ask the Lord to guide them." One eyewitness told authorities that some 1,000 people were at the park when the shooting happened, with many grilling and eating with their families. Areyelle Yarbrough and another woman were sitting on top of a blue Dodge Charger when someone opened fire, striking the women and the vehicle. Birmingham Police Sgt. Rod Mauldin told AL.com that the shooting erupted from a fight between a group of males and the victims were innocent bystanders. Source:The Christian Post Arizonas attorney general, Mark Brnovich, has a problem: Theres no easy way to kill people. Arizona hasnt carried out any executions since it bungled the killing of Joseph Wood in 2014, leaving him gasping and gulping for air during the roughly two hours it took him to die from a lethal injection. In a country where cruel and unusual punishment is constitutionally prohibited, Mr. Woods long and agonizing demise belied assurances that lethal injection is humane and scientific, providing a death akin to falling asleep. But Arizonas pause in executions may be nearing an end not because someone has produced a cruelty-free method of killing a person, but because the state is following the blueprint pioneered by the Trump administration when it pushed through 13 federal executions in its final months. In 2019, Attorney General Bill Barr announced that the federal government would resume executions after a 17-year lapse caused by the unavailability of certain lethal chemicals, and despite a still-pending lawsuit concerning the method of execution itself. Mr. Barr announced that the Justice Department had procured the sedative pentobarbital, often used to euthanize animals, from secret sources and that it would begin executing prisoners with that drug alone. As soon as Mr. Barr shared his news what pride the prospect of 13 corpses can supply! Mr. Brnovich began lobbying Gov. Doug Ducey of Arizona to follow his lead. Mr. Barrs announcement, Mr. Brnovich wrote to Mr. Ducey, suggests that the federal government has successfully obtained pentobarbital. These recent developments establish that it is now time to resume executions in Arizona. HAMILTON, Bermuda, April 15, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- The Bermuda Supreme Court has turned down a request by Northstar Financial Services (Bermuda) Ltd.'s management asking for more time to pursue restructuring. Northstar had filed for Chapter 15 bankruptcy last year. However, even as liquidation proceedings may make getting money back directly from Northstar more challenging, this does not mean you cannot pursue damages from the financial firms that sold you Northstar Financial Services (Bermuda) investments. These firms include Bankoh Investment Services, Truist Investment Services, Ocean Financial Services, and other broker-dealers. Already, Bankoh Investment Services is facing customer complaints for selling Northstar investments to customers. This includes a $900K Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) arbitration claim brought over losses suffered by customers of Bankoh Investment Services broker Yoko Farias. Northstar Investment Services (Bermuda) Investors May Have Lost Millions Unfortunately, investors of Northstar Financial Services (Bermuda) are now grappling with significant losses in the wake of the company's bankruptcy filing and prior to that the suspension of monthly redemptions, as well as the criminal conviction of its owner Greg Lindberg. Northstar investors likely were drawn to the tax benefits they were supposed to garner from investments based out of Bermuda. Many were told that they could expect Northstar Financial Services (Bermuda) products to be CD-like, conservative, and low risk. Instead, their decision to invest in Northstar's variable- and fixed-rate annuity products has caused many of them to lose money. Broker-Dealer Negligence Involving Northstar Investments Brokerage firms must conduct the proper due diligence before recommending any financial product to make sure it is a safe and legitimate investment. When failure to fulfill this or other fiduciary duties to customers contributes to losses involving financial product failures, the investors who were harmed may have grounds for pursuing damages. Our Northstar Financial Services (Bermuda) investor fraud attorneys at Shepherd Smith Edwards and Kantas (SSEK Law Firm at investorlawyers.com) are representing investors in their fraud claims against the brokerage firms who sold Northstar products to their customers. If you are one of these investors seeking to recover your losses, contact SSEK Law Firm today at (800) 259-9010. Contact: Toll Free: (800) 259-9010 Hablamos Espanol Kirk Smith [email protected] SOURCE Shepherd Smith Edwards & Kantas LLP Related Links http://www.investorlawyers.com ADVERTISEMENT Dr. Mahmud Tukur was a man of peace and unquestionable diligence and professionalism, whose death is a great loss to Nigeria. He lived an impactful life, contributed immensely to Nigeria and etched his name on a platter of gold in the countrys history. In the end, it is not the years in ones life that count, but the life in ones years. Abraham Lincoln There cannot be space enough to describe the virtues of the late Dr. Mahmud Muhammad Tukur , a Nigerian politician and former Minister for Commerce and Industry during the military administration of Major General Muhammadu Buhari. Tukur, who belonged to a small clique of policy advocates in Northern Nigeria, died on April 9 at the age of 82. He has since been buried in Yola, Adamawa State. Dr. Tukur was the first indigenous Director of the Institute of Administration, Congo, Zaria. He took the mantle from Professor S.S. Richardson in 1967, until 1975 when he became the first Vice Chancellor of the Bayero University, Kano It was the late Sir Ahmadu Bello, the Sardauna of Sokoto, who upon attaining premiership of the Northern Nigeria, and in the presence of Sir Garwin Westray Bell, the last Governor General in 1957, at the Lugard Hall Kaduna, declared commitment to the training of the manpower in the North. According to him, On them we will rely on the attainment of improving the health, prosperity and happiness of our people without discrimination on grounds of tribe or creed, of which Dr. Tukur and a few distinguished others were the foundation recruits. Some have said the journey of President Muhammadu Buhari into politics is incomplete without Tukur. Yes, no doubt, the description of Tukur as being among the intellectual powerhouses of the president is true, since his contemporaries included Mamman Daura, Liman Ciroma, Adamu Ciroma, and Hamza Rafindadi Zayyad. Mahmud Tukur was a firm, tenacious and resolute man who led an impactful life; a man of deep convictions and inner strength, who served the North incorruptibly, and enhanced the betterment of the countrys democracy. Under his tutelage as Director, Institute of Administration, Zaria, he supervised and superintended the development of a crop of intelligentsia in the North and was deeply committed, with a strong sense of duty, to the building of a Nigeria that is equitable. We can safely deduce then that an entire generation of the current civil servants, private sector executives and political elites in the North passed through the hands of the late scholar, who affected every facet of education and saw to the manpower upliftment of the region. President Muhammadu, in a tribute to Tukur, said: Dr Mahmud Tukurs service to the nation will be remembered by generations. He had a passion for a prosperous, economically strong and united Nigeria. He was a proud nationalist. Buhari recalled that as Minister of Trade in his first coming as military Head of State, Dr. Tukur introduced a lot of schemes that revived the local industry, boosted exports and gave real meaning and effect to import substitution, in regenerating the indigenous manufacturing sector of the economy. He prayed to Almighty Allah to accept him in Aljannah Firdaus and give his family, friends, the Adamawa Emirate Council and the people of the State the strength to bear this grievous loss. Indeed Tukurs enviable position and competence increased his public profile in Nigeria. It indeed takes many good deeds to build a great reputation, therefore the contributions of Tukur in the development of the education sector and his tireless efforts in the peace building process and socio-economic development of Northern Nigeria can never be forgotten. Late Tukur, born in 1939 in Yola, Adamawa State, obtained his first degree in International Affairs and Political Science at the University of Wales (where he was the recipient of the Elizabeth Morris Memorial Prize for graduating first in his class). He then obtained a Masters Degree in Public International Affairs at the University of Pittsburgh and a PhD. in Public Management at Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, Kaduna. He also studied at Northwestern and Oxford Universities. The deceased was a Fulbright-Hays Fellow, senior I.U.C. Fellow and associate member of St. Anthonys College, Oxford (1974). He goes into history as the first Vice Chancellor of Bayero University, Kano. In his career as a public servant, the prominent scholar of worldwide fame served on the Adebo and Udoji National Wage Reviews and the Constitution Drafting Committee of 1976. He was also a member of the sub-committee on Citizenship Rights, Fundamental Rights, Political Parties and Electoral System under the chairmanship of Alhaji Aminu Kano. He was a member of the National Constitutional Conference (1994/1995) and the Vision 2010 Committee (1997). In 1984, during the military regime of Major General Muhammadu Buhari, he was appointed Minister of Commerce and Industries by the Federal Government. A business executive, the late Tukur chaired the activities of Fukarabe Industries Limited, Kaduna, and fulfilled the obligations of many corporate directorships. He was a Coordinator of Policy Analysis Limited and authored and co-authored many books, the most prominent of which is Leadership and Governance in Nigeria: The Relevance of Values, published in 1999. He is survived by three wives, nine children and many distinguished brothers, including the prominent global industrialist and world renowned business mogul, Alhaji Bamanga Tukur, former governor of the defunct Gongola State, one time Minister of Industries and ex-Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and Late Engineer Hamman Tukur, a former Director General, Federal Ministry of Petroleum Resources and Pioneer Chairman, Revenue Mobilisation and Fiscal Commission. We commiserate with Nigerians on the demise of this courageous academic, who, contrary to being also a match-maker, had a distinguished career in the service to the nation. Nigeria would surely miss the statesmanship of the Adamawa born Dr. Mahmud Tukur, an enigma during his lifetime, who displayed genuine magnanimity and moral courage, and who always put the national interest above ethnic or group interests. Reputed for his uncompromising adherence to due process, he was indeed a bridge, ever ready to deploy his wisdom and knowledge garnered over the years for the good of his country. Dr. Mahmud Tukur was a man of peace and unquestionable diligence and professionalism, whose death is a great loss to Nigeria. He lived an impactful life, contributed immensely to Nigeria and etched his name on a platter of gold in the countrys history. We all have a collective duty to keep alive his service patriotic duty for a peaceful and secured country. The Federal Government should immortalise him by naming an educational institution after him or even renaming the Institute of Administration (ABU) Zaria in his memory. Nigeria has indeed lost a rare gem, an academic extraordinaire and great author, who served this country meritoriously. A man of strong character and conviction, who led one of the most impactful lives anyone would have wished for, going by his well-defined roles in the growth of humanity and his untiring commitment to nation-building. His contribution to the history of our nation and continent will never be forgotten. Muhammad Gombe, a media practitioner, writes from Abuja. Most of the performances we've seen the past year have existed between the four corners of a laptop or a television screen. Live entertainment has been essentially nonexistent, arts organizations have taken pay cuts, venues are strapped for cash and some underfunded troupes may never recover. Yet somehow, despite the continued strain and strife, many dance companies have successfully adapted to the evolving digital stage - reimagining Nutcracker seasons, digitizing never-before-seen archival videos and launching their own streaming services. These digital offerings are just a smattering of what's available online for dance lovers over the next few weeks. Though mostly free, some streaming services require a subscription, but they all aim to re-create the magic of a dance performance across a digital stage. - Ailey All Access: Alvin Ailey's rich, colorful programming is available for streaming, broken down by playlists separating each repertory year and excerpts from select works. A 2015 recording of Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater's "Revelations," "Chroma," "Grace" and "Takademe" gives audiences a sampling of the company's invigorating and cerebral style. The company's performances of "Night Creature" and "Blues Suite" are the latest works available to stream. - American Ballet Theatre: ABT's 2020-2021 virtual season features works from such choreographers as Hope Boykin, Gabe Stone Shayer and Sonya Tayeh. The company's 80-year history is represented and matched by its extensive streaming collection of past performances and talks with company members. Current streaming options include "Visceral Harmonies," a collaboration between ABT's Studio Company and the Collective Conservatory, and weekly premieres of works from the 2021 ABT Incubator. - Jacob's Pillow Dance Interactive: The dance hub known for its yearly Jacob's Pillow Dance Festival has an interactive site that incorporates dance videos from the 1930s to now, with multimedia essays and a podcast. Giving the work that additional context has made the site an extensive digital resource, with photos, programming and exhibits. Its most recent playlist is "Indigenous Dance of the Americas," from the 2019 festival that honored Indigenous work and people. - Joyce's Stream the Stage: The Joyce Theater Foundation's Stream the Stage landing page features links to performances and other platforms from notable dance companies and choreographers. The American Dance Festival, Ballet Hispanico and 92Y Harkness Dance Center are just three of the 46 companies on the site. - Juilliard Live: The performing arts conservatory just introduced a streaming platform that offers digital performances of music, dance and drama. Student recitals have already been streaming on Juilliard's website, but Juilliard Live also includes live streams and recorded performances from all departments and divisions. The "Choreographers and Composers" programs A and B feature work by student choreographers and dancers. - Marquee TV: This performing arts streaming service, dubbed the "Netflix of the arts," made its debut in February 2020, just before the pandemic forced shutdowns around the world. In addition to opera and theater, Marquee TV's classical and contemporary ballet (from "Coppelia" to Akram Khan's "Giselle") and dance documentaries are available on-demand. The Washington Ballet's "Clara's Christmas Eve Dream" and "Something Human" are among the streaming service's vast offerings, and the company will have two digital premieres in June. - Mark Morris Dance Group: The modern dance troupe had to move its 40th anniversary online, but over the past year, it has launched video performances and an archival series called "Dance On! Video Vault." Its 40th-anniversary season continues this spring with "L'Allegro Week," April 19-25, honoring one of Morris's most recognizable works, and "Live From Brooklyn," a series of live-streamed shows, including new work by Morris, on May 6 and 7. - Merce Cunningham: The Merce Cunningham website has a staggering amount of digital content, from films of such Cunningham works as "Summerspace" and "Beach Birds" to his writings about technique and choreographic process. Viewers are invited to read about how Cunningham's legacy has been preserved through his digitized work, which includes 180 dances, drawings and writings. - New York City Ballet: On April 8, choreographer Kyle Abraham premiered his third creation for NYCB, "When We Fell." The sparse but lush black-and-white work, filmed in 16mm at Lincoln Center, was made during a three-week pandemic-compliant residency at Kaatsbaan Cultural Park, and is available online through April 22. Past performances are featured on the company's YouTube channel, including last year's New Works Festival. The spring digital season continues May 5, with filmmaker Sofia Coppola directing NYCB's first virtual gala and featuring five works, including a world premiere by resident choreographer Justin Peck. ISTANBUL - Greek foreign minister Nikos Dendias was on Thursday on a visit to Ankara to meet with his Turkish counterpart Mevlut Cavusoglu. During the talks, the Turkish government noted, "all aspects of bilateral relations between Turkey and Greece will be discussed as well as current regional issues". At the end of the meeting in the late afternoon there will be a joint press conference. The mission is part of normalisation efforts between the two countries, marked by a resumption in January after a five-year halt of explorative talks to resolve numerous bilateral disputes. Last summer, tensions between Ankara and Athens in the eastern Mediterranean had led to concerns of a military escalation. Tensions over Cyprus will also be among the issues to be discussed during the visit. Immediately after the talks, Cavusoglu will travel to the northern part of the island under Turkish control since 1974. The meeting between the two heads of diplomacy has come ten days after a visit to Ankara by EU leaders. The visit had initially been planned for Wednesday but was postponed due to a NATO foreign ministers summit. Dendias went on Wednesday morning to Istanbul to meet with the ecumenical patriarch of Constantinople, Bartholomew I, the highest authority of the Greek Orthodox Church. INS Ranvijay during its goodwill visit to Colombo, Sri Lanka. Photo: High Commission of India in Sri Lanka COLOMBO (PTI): INS Ranvijay, an Indian Navy destroyer arrived in Sri Lanka on Wednesday on a three-day goodwill visit to the island nation as part of efforts to develop close maritime and security cooperation between the two friendly and close neighbours. The arrival of the Indian Naval ship to Colombo brings in the message of solidarity and harmony for the people of Sri Lanka on the auspicious occasion of 'Avurudu', the Sinhala and Tamil New Year, the Indian High Commission said. "India and Sri Lanka have traditionally shared close cooperation in defence and security. Their Navies have been actively engaged in mutually beneficial cooperation in training and capacity building. The visit of the Ship is another step in developing close maritime and security cooperation between the two friendly & close neighbours," the High Commission said in a statement. INS Ranvijay, the fifth of the Rajput Class Destroyer, is the Anti Submarine Warfare capable Guided Missile Destroyer equipped with the state-of-the-art indigenous BRAHMOS supersonic missile, according to the statement. The Ship is commanded by Captain Narayanan Hariharan, who would call on the area Commander Western Naval Area, Rear Admiral WDEM Sudarshana and pay his respects at the Indian Peace Keeping Force (IPKF) memorial on Thursday, Colombo Gazette reported. The IPKF served in Sri Lanka's war-torn north and east between 1987-1990 as part of the Indo-Lanka Accord. India and Sri Lanka have traditionally shared close cooperation in defence and security. Their Navies have been actively engaged in mutually beneficial cooperation in training and capacity building, the newspaper report said. Seventy Times Seven: an exciting tale of forgiveness. Seventy Times Seven is the creation of published author, Sandra Stiles, an encouraging middle school teacher and loving wife. Stiles shares, Frankies school year is going downhill. His math teacher hates him, he keeps getting suspended. The new preacher keeps telling his dad how to handle his problem son. When the preachers son is left with them for a few weeks Frankie sees this as a relief until they are involved in a hit-and-run accident. All these conflicting emotions and secrets bring Frankie to a breaking point. Just when he decides what he must do to make things right, his sister and best friend go missing. Frankie is tormented by nightmares where he hears his sister calling for help while being chased by something dark and unseen. Everyone has abandoned him including God. What will it take to set everything right again? Published by Christian Faith Publishing, Sandra Stiles new book offers readers an exciting tale that examines the dangers of dishonesty and the importance of trust, faith, and loyalty. With an important message regarding the ugliness of prejudice, Stiles spins a gripping tale of young adulthood and the importance of forgiveness. View a synopsis of Seventy Times Seven on YouTube. Consumers can purchase Seventy Times Seven at traditional brick & mortar bookstores, or online at Amazon.com, Apple iTunes store, or Barnes and Noble. For additional information or inquiries about Seventy Times Seven, contact the Christian Faith Publishing media department at 866-554-0919. On Track to Meet Annual Production Guidance Year-to-date Exploration Program at OroValle Confirming Upside & Potential Mine Life Increase 5,000m Drilling Program Underway to Expand Taguas Project Resources in Argentina Undergoing Final Quality Assurance Testing of Oxides Stockpile Project at EMIPA, Bolivia TORONTO, April 15, 2021 /CNW/ - Orvana Minerals Corp. (TSX: ORV) (the "Company" or "Orvana") today announced production results for the second quarter of fiscal 2021 ("Q2 2021") and exploration results for the first half of fiscal 2021 ("H1 2021") at OroValle, Spain. Juan Gavidia, CEO of Orvana Minerals stated: "While we are on track to deliver on our production guidance for fiscal 2021, we are also pleased to report that exploration at OroValle continues to produce positive results, enhancing our current 5-Year Life-of-Mine Plan. OroValle's future has never looked brighter than today. Completing Orvana's big picture, we look forward to updating shareholders with exploration results at our in-development Taguas Project in Argentina, and with metallurgical testing programs completion at EMIPA, Bolivia, over the next upcoming quarters." Q2 FY2021 OPERATIONAL RESULTS OroValle 10,785 gold ounces, and on track to meet fiscal year 2021 guidance 1.4 million pounds, and on track to meet fiscal year 2021 guidance 6,530m of exploration drilling at OroValle were undertaken pursuant to aggressive resources annual program Taguas 3,000m of diamond drilling were undertaken in the quarter, with 2,000m more to be completed in Q3 of diamond drilling were undertaken in the quarter, with more to be completed in Q3 An updated Resource Estimate is expected in the next quarter EMIPA The Oxides Stockpile Project quality assurance (metallurgical) testing is currently in progress, and a decision on the project is expected by the end of fiscal year 2021 Objectives for Remainder of FY2021 OroValle: Strong cash flow generation. Deliver on production guidance, and go beyond replenishment of annual depletion thus, extending mine life Strong cash flow generation. Deliver on production guidance, and go beyond replenishment of annual depletion thus, extending mine life Taguas: Issue expanded-resource PEA by end of 2021, and define the Infill Drilling Program required to develop a Pre-Feasibility Study during 2022 Issue expanded-resource PEA by end of 2021, and define the Infill Drilling Program required to develop a Pre-Feasibility Study during 2022 EMIPA: Make final decision on Oxides Stockpile Project. Subject to final approval and access to required financing, it will be a one-year construction project in 2022, and a three-year production life between 2023 and 2025 Production Results Q2 FY2021 Q1 FY2021 Q2 FY2020 FY 2021 Guidance Ore milled (tones) 159,603 180,380 148,339 Gold Equivalent (oz) 14,197 18,398 14,843 Gold Grade (g/t) 2.31 2.60 2.74 Recovery (%) 90.9 93.6 93.0 Production (oz) 10,785 14,127 12,139 50,000 - 55,000 Copper Grade (%) 0.47 0.63 0.52 Recovery (%) 82.3 81.6 83.1 Production (K lbs) 1,355 2,044 1,422 7,000 - 8,500 Orovalle H1 Exploration Update El Valle Boinas Fiscal year 2021 drilling program focus continues on the Oxides areas with a total of 13,743m drilled in H1 2021 (see Figure 1). Detail of areas and drilled metres are in Table 1 below and full detail of the drill program can be found in Table 2: Infill (m) Brownfield (m) TOTAL (m) A208 3,658 - 3,658 Boinas South 2,167 - 2,167 S107 867 - 867 High Angle East - 4,648 4,648 Other Areas 1,796 607 2,403 TOTAL 8,488 5,255 13,743 Table 1. Orovalle H1 Drilling Fiscal Year 2021 Highlights per Area (see detailed assays in Table 2): A208: 8.9m with 28.93 g/t Au . Drilling advancing to the North, next to East Breccia. . Drilling advancing to the North, next to East Breccia. Boinas South : 5.9m with 11.87 g/t Au and 1.31% Cu . Mineral expansion is open at depth and to the North. Drilling continues to the North, connecting the Black Skarn area, around the intrusive contour. : . Mineral expansion is open at depth and to the North. Drilling continues to the North, connecting the Black Skarn area, around the intrusive contour. S107: 2.1m with 43.28 g/t Au and 1.23% Cu . Drilling focused on open mineralization at depth. . Drilling focused on open mineralization at depth. High Angle East : 4.3m with38.38 g/t Au and 4.22% Cu. Structure growth remains open at depth and to the North. Area 208 (A208) Information obtained from 16,802m of infill drilling since 2019 allowed for better understanding of the structure, which remains open at depth. Zoning can be identified within the structure, where the highest gold grades are located at the footwall. Boinas South (SB) The drilling campaign was focused on the lower part, targeting skarn material with the highest gold and copper grades. The structure remains open at depth and to the North. An infill drilling campaign is being planned for the next few months. S107 The infill drilling carried out in the deep zone has demonstrated a change in the inclination of the mineral layer, from a subvertical position to 45 Northwest, fitting the contact with the limestone. The skarn contains bands of massive copper sulphides. High Angle East (HAE) Drilling continues on the latest discovery at El Valle (see news release dated October 22, 2020). Zones within the structure contain Au and Au-Cu bands. The structure remains open at depth and to the North. Greenfield exploration update A total of 1,016.7m was completed at the Lidia Project in H1 FY2021. The second phase is anticipated for September 2021, once the results of the first phase have been completely evaluated. Quality Control The analytical work for the brownfield and infill drilling programs are being performed by the Orovalle laboratory, which is ISO 9001:2015 certified. Sample preparation was carried out at the El Valle facility. All diamond core samples have been prepared using the following procedure, once split: The core samples are dried at a temperature of 105C and then crushed through a jaw crusher to 95%<6 mm. The coarse-crushed sample is further reduced to 95%<425 microns using an LM5 bowl-and-puck pulverizer. An Essa rotary splitter is used to take a 450 g to 550 g sub-sample of each split for pulverizing. The remaining reject portion is bagged and stored. The sample is reduced to a nominal -200 mesh using an LM2 bowl-and-puck pulverizer. 140 g sub-samples are split using a special vertical-sided scoop to cut channels through the sample which has been spread into a pancake on a sampling mat. Samples are then sent to the laboratory for gold and base metal analysis. Leftover pulp is bagged and stored. After sample preparation, 30g samples are analyzed for Au by fire assay with an atomic absorption spectroscopy (AAS) finish and two-gram samples for Ag, As, Bi, Cu, Hg, Pb, Sb, Se, and Zn by ICP-optical emission spectroscopy (ICP-OES) after an aqua regia digestion. The reported work has been completed using industry standard procedures, including a quality assurance/quality control ("QA/QC") program consisting of the insertion of certified reference material, blanks and duplicates samples into the sample stream. The exploration update was prepared under the supervision of Guadalupe Collar Menendez, a qualified person for the purposes of NI 43-101 and an employee of Orovalle Minerals S.L., a subsidiary of Orvana. H1 2021 Intercepts from A208, S107, SB and HAE Zone DDH From (m) To (m) Thick (m) Au(gpt) Ag(g/t) Cu(%) A208 20V1836 9.00 10.55 1.22 15.59 1.8 0.26 A208 20V1836 19.60 20.90 0.90 3.31 0.5 0.08 A208 20V1836 23.90 25.50 1.10 6.34 1.2 0.05 A208 20V1836 62.30 63.75 0.89 4.78 0.5 0.02 A208 20V1836 87.45 88.50 0.64 4.54 0.5 0.03 A208 20V1840 10.40 12.70 2.17 4.21 3.6 0.24 A208 20V1840 35.80 37.00 0.81 8.03 0.5 0.02 A208 20V1840 102.00 105.00 2.67 13.01 0.5 0.04 A208 Including 102.00 103.50 1.33 20.33 0.5 0.04 A208 20V1843 16.10 18.90 1.99 2.75 1.9 0.23 A208 20V1843 31.50 32.70 1.00 12.95 0.5 0.06 A208 20V1843 37.50 41.85 3.63 5.43 0.5 0.03 A208 20V1843 124.50 130.35 5.13 2.32 6.1 0.31 A208 20V1843 134.75 137.55 2.46 2.64 1.9 0.25 A208 20V1845 8.50 9.80 1.10 5.13 1.0 0.32 A208 20V1845 17.65 20.50 2.44 2.72 3.3 0.10 A208 20V1845 25.90 27.50 1.37 3.19 0.5 0.03 A208 20V1845 90.20 91.70 1.43 13.67 5.0 0.36 A208 20V1845 152.35 161.70 6.75 6.72 1.1 0.07 A208 20V1847 22.90 23.90 0.73 11.37 1.5 0.02 A208 20V1847 34.70 46.10 7.98 5.26 0.5 0.05 A208 Including 38.20 39.00 0.56 21.63 0.5 0.03 A208 Including 43.80 44.90 0.77 12.83 0.5 0.03 A208 20V1847 90.70 131.00 26.87 6.41 0.5 0.03 A208 Including 92.70 102.70 6.67 11.67 0.5 0.01 A208 Including 106.70 108.70 1.33 13.89 0.5 0.01 A208 Including 117.00 119.00 1.33 20.87 0.5 0.03 A208 20V1847 171.00 173.00 0.96 3.64 0.5 0.01 A208 20V1847 186.55 187.60 0.63 6.05 0.5 0.02 A208 20V1847 198.00 201.30 1.98 9.21 0.5 0.02 A208 20V1849 8.30 9.00 0.53 9.39 1.80 0.58 A208 20V1849 25.10 36.30 6.84 2.45 1.15 0.09 A208 20V1849 94.60 103.10 4.91 10.16 0.10 0.04 A208 Including 94.60 96.60 1.16 13.65 0.10 0.02 A208 Including 101.85 103.10 0.72 39.80 0.10 0.06 A208 20V1849 156.70 158.70 0.82 5.16 0.10 0.02 A208 20V1849 166.70 168.70 0.82 3.22 0.10 0.02 A208 20V1852 9.70 11.15 1.16 3.82 1.10 0.12 A208 20V1852 26.05 45.50 15.13 2.65 0.50 0.07 A208 Including 44.20 45.50 1.01 18.45 0.20 0.02 A208 20V1852 187.70 188.90 1.20 2.31 0.80 0.12 A208 20V1858 8.60 9.70 0.86 6.88 2.00 0.62 A208 20V1858 24.75 26.20 0.64 11.14 2.10 0.07 A208 20V1858 37.20 40.20 1.07 6.08 0.85 0.06 A208 20V1858 46.35 47.90 0.55 3.12 0.50 0.04 A208 20V1861 10.40 11.45 0.69 2.93 29.70 2.23 A208 20V1861 43.65 60.00 4.18 8.89 0.75 0.11 A208 Including 49.45 51.00 0.40 41.46 0.50 0.05 A208 Including 55.25 57.55 0.59 21.07 0.50 0.05 A208 20V1861 66.60 69.25 1.38 3.22 5.71 0.10 A208 20V1861 73.60 77.80 2.19 18.20 0.50 0.03 A208 Including 76.40 77.80 0.73 28.99 0.50 0.02 A208 20V1861 163.90 165.15 0.65 3.13 0.50 0.01 A208 20V1861 170.40 171.45 0.55 7.85 0.50 0.01 A208 20V1865 95.90 97.40 1.37 6.24 0.50 0.04 A208 20V1865 114.80 116.30 1.37 2.74 0.50 0.02 A208 20V1865 148.15 149.55 1.24 5.46 1.90 0.10 A208 20V1868 80.20 81.40 1.11 2.32 0.5 0.09 A208 20V1868 115.40 119.85 3.91 2.68 0.8 0.20 A208 20V1868 122.75 125.30 2.24 1.94 5.1 0.12 A208 20V1869 78.50 79.90 1.12 5.08 0.5 0.02 A208 20V1869 135.55 137.30 0.64 6.24 0.5 0.02 A208 20V1869 161.30 167.30 3.20 6.42 0.5 0.11 A208 20V1869 164.30 167.30 1.60 12.02 0.5 0.08 A208 20V1870 112.90 114.50 1.05 2.29 1.3 0.40 A208 20V1870 130.75 132.00 0.82 17.10 0.5 0.01 A208 20V1870 146.00 147.30 0.85 8.89 2.4 0.09 A208 20V1871 84.90 108.60 12.11 5.71 0.5 0.03 A208 Including 98.05 99.80 0.89 26.61 0.5 0.01 A208 Including 101.55 103.30 0.89 13.09 0.5 0.01 A208 20V1872 117.90 119.15 1.07 31.27 0.5 0.03 A208 20V1872 137.30 148.70 8.87 28.93 0.6 0.09 A208 Including 137.30 139.95 2.06 81.31 0.5 0.02 A208 Including 144.05 145.60 1.21 15.49 0.5 0.00 A208 Including 147.15 148.70 1.21 57.01 0.5 0.02 A208 20V1872 154.75 156.30 1.21 2.62 1.8 0.13 A208 20V1873 89.90 91.55 1.52 2.15 0.5 0.01 A208 20V1873 101.85 104.65 2.49 7.83 0.5 0.10 A208 20V1873 101.85 103.25 1.24 14.03 0.5 0.10 A208 21V1874 106.35 110.15 3.67 11.75 0.5 0.01 A208 Including 108.25 110.15 1.84 20.62 0.5 0.01 A208 21V1875 No intercepts >2g/t Au A208 21V1876 72.00 74.00 1.82 5.55 0.5 0.01 A208 21V1876 120.10 121.85 1.59 31.59 0.5 0.03 A208 21V1876 128.85 130.60 1.59 8.72 0.5 0.03 A208 21V1877 132.00 133.50 1.25 8.01 0.5 0.02 A208 21V1878 91.90 93.90 1.89 4.67 0.5 0.04 A208 21V1879 92.90 100.75 6.45 5.58 1.3 0.09 A208 Including 95.50 96.80 1.07 11.67 0.5 0.05 A208 21V1880 60.90 62.40 1.50* 4.91 0.5 0.15 A208 21V1880 97.75 98.85 0.94 11.73 0.5 0.06 A208 21V1882 62.20 63.80 1.60* 2.15 0.5 0.11 A208 21V1882 94.85 97.85 2.63 21.52 0.5 0.03 A208 Including 96.35 97.85 1.32 40.86 0.5 0.03 A208 21V1882 101.85 103.35 1.32 2.04 0.5 0.08 A208 21V1882 106.35 107.85 1.32 2.57 0.5 0.01 A208 21V1883 51.75 53.75 2.00* 5.70 0.5 0.11 A208 21V1883 56.65 59.50 2.85* 38.04 0.5 0.27 S107 20V1838 No intercepts >2g/t Au S107 20V1839 No intercepts >2g/t Au S107 20V1842 88.90 90.10 1.11 9.78 94.20 7.65 S107 20V1841 8.90 10.65 1.75* 2.22 0.50 0.00 S107 20V1844 88.00 94.10 3.39 3.26 21.99 1.98 S107 20V1844 225.20 226.60 1.40 2.39 4.30 0.26 S107 20V1846 85.70 87.30 1.26 2.73 12.90 1.09 S107 20V1848 89.05 90.20 1.15* 2.78 4.20 0.03 S107 20V1850 41.35 42.80 1.45* 4.01 24.00 0.36 S107 20V1850 78.85 82.15 2.09 43.28 30.76 1.23 S107 Including 80.80 82.15 0.85 94.90 69.70 2.86 S107 20V1851 87.15 88.80 1.47 4.29 48.06 3.88 S107 20V1853 89.00 96.20 5.52 1.52 14.98 1.30 S107 20V1854 102.00 102.65 0.40 10.91 112.10 7.15 S107 20V1855 45.85 48.30 2.45* 13.06 17.72 1.38 S107 20V1855 58.55 59.90 1.35* 2.91 7.20 0.21 S107 20V1855 96.50 97.45 0.84 5.80 2.60 6.38 S107 20V1856 62.60 63.55 0.95* 5.58 25.30 0.42 S107 20V1856 85.80 90.85 4.21 1.18 14.77 0.77 S107 20V1857 61.20 62.50 1.30* 3.96 13.50 0.32 S107 20V1859 63.95 65.10 1.15 10.79 4.00 0.06 S107 20V1859 95.35 98.40 2.88 3.49 28.78 0.95 SB 20SB001 0.90 1.75 0.72 18.96 137.20 3.35 SB 20SB001 66.45 67.85 1.09 2.39 6.90 0.24 SB 20SB001 71.80 79.35 5.87 11.87 46.69 1.31 SB including 75.15 77.80 2.06 14.64 96.43 2.40 SB 20SB001 85.80 90.00 3.97 4.59 0.70 0.04 SB 20SB002 1.05 1.95 0.78 2.10 16.20 0.92 SB 20SB002 72.00 74.50 2.50 2.10 52.34 4.50 SB 20SB002 80.65 81.60 0.94 3.00 27.80 0.47 SB 20SB003 65.75 93.00 23.62 3.39 36.21 1.71 SB including 66.75 67.85 0.95 7.95 98.40 9.68 SB including 69.80 72.20 2.08 3.95 53.45 1.48 SB including 79.60 85.95 5.50 6.94 71.93 3.00 SB including 91.40 93.00 1.39 5.64 1.90 0.01 SB 20SB004 No intercepts >2g/t Au SB 20SB005 0.00 0.60 0.55 2.74 24.70 0.80 SB 20SB005 1.50 2.70 1.11 2.64 22.10 1.06 SB 20SB005 4.60 5.90 1.20 5.93 55.60 1.52 SB 20SB006 0.00 0.70 0.65 2.89 22.20 0.70 SB 20SB006 2.20 3.65 1.35 2.89 19.30 0.65 SB 21SB007 0.00 1.00 0.89 2.33 20.20 0.78 SB 21SB007 60.15 74.70 13.90 2.77 12.92 0.50 SB Including 73.20 74.70 1.43 16.68 0.50 0.22 SB 21SB008 0.00 2.20 2.13 3.72 33.10 2.70 SB 21SB008 67.15 68.80 1.37 2.40 64.10 0.97 SB 21SB008 78.30 79.55 0.99 3.96 0.50 0.07 SB 21SB009 0.00 0.95 0.81 5.13 59.60 7.00 SB 21SB011 53.00 56.10 2.86 2.32 20.94 0.91 SB 21SB010 0.00 1.55 1.21 7.54 53.50 4.01 SB 21SB012 51.50 57.25 5.30 5.27 77.67 2.26 SB 21SB012 65.30 74.20 5.64 3.52 18.52 0.43 SB 21SB013 62.40 64.10 1.53 14.54 144.30 2.29 SB 21SB014 54.90 58.30 2.87 2.20 18.18 1.09 SB 21SB014 62.65 64.10 1.22 2.86 19.10 0.68 SB 21SB015 52.30 63.80 9.46 3.45 18.76 0.48 SB 21SB016 84.95 86.45 0.75 2.37 27.90 0.62 SB 21SB017 69.00 70.25 1.11 2.21 11.20 0.26 SB 21SB017 78.40 79.55 0.83 2.85 1.10 0.02 SB 21SB018 56.65 59.85 2.99 6.63 38.97 1.07 SB Including 58.70 59.85 1.07 15.63 97.10 2.64 SB 21SB018 74.00 76.40 1.87 2.58 4.60 0.12 HAE 20HA41 213.70 214.80 1.10* 4.34 11.70 0.89 HAE 20HA42 No intercepts >2g/t Au HAE 20HA43 178.50 193.30 14.80* 2.16 2.16 0.13 HAE including 178.50 184.75 6.25* 3.46 1.95 0.04 HAE 20HA43 188.95 190.40 1.45* 2.62 5.50 0.28 HAE 20HA43 191.85 193.30 1.45* 2.04 0.50 0.05 HAE 20HA44 202.50 209.75 7.25* 1.39 0.80 0.03 HAE 20HA44 221.10 222.10 1.00* 1.64 17.10 0.94 HAE 20HA45 186.20 200.45 14.25* 2.09 7.29 0.25 HAE including 187.70 193.70 6.00* 3.29 1.78 0.03 HAE 20HA46 175.05 188.70 13.65* 2.83 2.37 0.06 HAE including 175.05 176.55 1.50* 16.39 0.50 0.05 HAE including 184.20 188.70 4.50* 2.85 6.17 0.14 HAE 20HA47 165.05 167.10 2.04* 2.02 168.93 8.94 HAE 20HA48 152.85 155.00 2.15* 1.90 5.27 0.09 HAE 20HA49 135.70 139.70 4.00* 2.95 24.41 1.39 HAE 20HA50 No intercepts >2g/t Au HAE 20HA51 214.00 220.75 6.75* 4.95 3.15 0.23 HAE 20HA51 223.30 225.10 1.79* 1.79 6.65 0.14 HAE 20HA52 128.80 130.00 1.19* 3.31 45.00 1.08 HAE 20HA53 167.80 171.30 3.50* 2.79 21.25 0.47 HAE 20HA53 178.70 184.70 6.00* 8.85 386.16 1.69 HAE 20HA54 159.90 163.80 3.90* 2.58 1.39 0.03 HAE 21HA55 92.75 94.00 1.25* 5.34 21.80 1.26 HAE 21HA55 96.50 99.85 3.34* 8.68 5.21 0.10 HAE 21HA55 176.00 176.90 0.90* 3.39 16.50 0.58 HAE 21HA56 109.45 112.70 3.25* 3.57 3.24 0.12 HAE 21HA57 31.90 33.25 1.35* 4.03 0.50 0.03 HAE 21HA58 204.45 206.00 1.55* 4.01 12.70 0.40 HAE 21HA58 207.55 209.10 1.54* 2.34 23.50 0.87 HAE 21HA59 No intercepts >2g/t Au HAE 21HA60 147.30 150.00 2.69* 10.55 3.90 0.23 HAE Including 148.65 150.00 1.34* 18.02 7.30 0.42 HAE 21HA60 155.40 156.55 1.15* 2.34 0.50 0.00 HAE 21HA60 165.50 169.00 3.50* 3.06 1.01 0.00 HAE 21HA61 188.40 189.90 1.50* 2.67 1.70 0.07 HAE 21HA62 55.85 60.15 4.30* 38.38 76.35 4.22 HAE Including 55.85 57.25 1.40* 83.21 101.80 2.85 HAE Including 58.65 60.15 1.50* 25.89 71.40 5.07 HAE 21HA62 136.55 139.05 2.50* 8.92 37.70 0.81 HAE Including 137.80 139.05 1.25* 11.38 8.90 0.19 * Not true widths as there is currently insufficient data to calculate true orientation ABOUT ORVANA - Orvana is a multi-mine gold-copper-silver company. Orvana's assets consist of the El Valle operation in northern Spain, and the Don Mario gold-silver property in Bolivia, currently in care and maintenance. Orvana is in the process of closing the acquisition of Taguas, Argentina. Additional information is available at Orvana's website (www.orvana.com). Cautionary Statements - Forward-Looking Information Certain statements made herein constitute forward-looking statements or forward-looking information within the meaning of applicable securities laws ("forward-looking statements"). Any statements that express or involve discussions with respect to predictions, expectations, beliefs, plans, projections, objectives, assumptions, potentials, future events or performance (often, but not always, using words or phrases such as "believes", "expects", "plans", "estimates", "intends" or "anticipates" or stating that certain actions, events or results "may", "could", "would", "might", "will" or "are projected to" be taken or achieved) are not statements of historical fact, but are forward-looking statements. The forward-looking statements herein relate to, among other things: Orvana's ability to achieve improvement in free cash flow; the potential to extend the mine life of El Valle and Don Mario beyond their current life-of-mine estimates including specifically, but not limited to in the case of Don Mario, the processing of the mineral stockpiles and the reprocessing of the tailings material; Orvana's ability to optimize its assets to deliver shareholder value; the Company's ability to optimize productivity at Don Mario and El Valle; any measures taken by the Company to prevent and/or mitigate the impact of COVID-19 and other infectious diseases at or near the Company's mines and support the sustainability of its business including through the development of crisis management plans, increasing stock levels for key supplies, monitoring of guidance from the medical community, and engagement with local communities and authorities; estimates of future production, operating costs and capital expenditures; mineral resource and reserve estimates; statements and information regarding future feasibility studies and their results; future transactions (including the completion of the acquisition of Taguas); future metal prices; the ability to achieve additional growth and geographic diversification; future financial performance, including the ability to increase cash flow and profits; future financing requirements; mine development plans, Orvana's exploration activities and programs and its plan and expectations for its properties, as well as the timing and costs associated with same; . Forward-looking statements are necessarily based upon a number of estimates and assumptions that, while considered reasonable by the Company as of the date of such statements, are inherently subject to significant business, economic and competitive uncertainties and contingencies. The estimates and assumptions of the Company contained or incorporated by reference in this news release, which may prove to be incorrect, include, but are not limited to, the various assumptions set forth herein and in Orvana's most recently filed Management's Discussion & Analysis and Annual Information Form in respect of the Company's most recently completed fiscal year (the "Company Disclosures") or as otherwise expressly incorporated herein by reference as well as: there being no significant disruptions affecting operations, whether due to labour disruptions, supply disruptions, power disruptions, damage to equipment or otherwise; permitting, development, operations, expansion and acquisitions at El Valle and Don Mario being consistent with the Company's current expectations; political developments in any jurisdiction in which the Company operates being consistent with its current expectations; certain price assumptions for gold, copper and silver; prices for key supplies being approximately consistent with current levels; production and cost of sales forecasts meeting expectations; the accuracy of the Company's current mineral reserve and mineral resource estimates; and labour and materials costs increasing on a basis consistent with Orvana's current expectations. A variety of inherent risks, uncertainties and factors, many of which are beyond the Company's control, affect the operations, performance and results of the Company and its business, and could cause actual events or results to differ materially from estimated or anticipated events or results expressed or implied by forward looking statements. Some of these risks, uncertainties and factors include the effect of COVID-19 and other infectious diseases on the Company's operations, workforce and supply chain, fluctuations in the price of gold, silver and copper; the need to recalculate estimates of resources based on actual production experience; the failure to achieve production estimates; variations in the grade of ore mined; variations in the cost of operations; the availability of qualified personnel; the Company's ability to obtain and maintain all necessary regulatory approvals and licenses; the Company's ability to use cyanide in its mining operations; risks generally associated with mineral exploration and development, including the interpretation and actual results of current exploration activities, changes in project parameters as plans continue to be refined as the exploration program advances, the success of exploration activities, the Company's ability to continue to operate the El Valle and/or Don Mario and/or ability to resume long-term operations at the Carles Mine; the Company's ability to successfully implement a sulphidization circuit and ancillary facilities to process the current oxides stockpiles at Don Mario; the Company's ability to acquire and develop mineral properties and to successfully integrate such acquisitions; the Company's ability to execute on its strategy; the Company's ability to obtain financing when required on terms that are acceptable to the Company; challenges to the Company's interests in its property and mineral rights; current, pending and proposed legislative or regulatory developments or changes in political, social or economic conditions in the countries in which the Company operates; general economic conditions worldwide; and the risks identified in the Company's disclosures. This list is not exhaustive of the factors that may affect any of the Company's forward-looking statements and reference should also be made to the Company's Disclosures for a description of additional risk factors. Any forward-looking statements made herein with respect to the anticipated development and exploration of the Company's mineral projects are intended to provide an overview of management's expectations with respect to certain future activities of the Company and may not be appropriate for other purposes. Forward-looking statements are based on management's current plans, estimates, projections, beliefs and opinions and, except as required by law, the Company does not undertake any obligation to update forward-looking statements should assumptions related to these plans, estimates, projections, beliefs and opinions change. Readers are cautioned not to put undue reliance on forward-looking statements. Photo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1488423/Figure_1.jpg Photo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1488424/Figure_2.jpg Photo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1488425/Figure_3.jpg Photo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1488426/Figure_4.jpg Photo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1488427/Figure_5.jpg Nuria Menendez, Chief Financial Officer, E: nmenendez@orvana.com; Joanne Jobin, Investor Relations Officer, E: jjobin@orvana.com, T: 647 964 0292 Ghana and cocoa and chocolate companies announced an agreement on Wednesday to accelerate collaboration to protect and restore forests in cocoa-growing areas. With this agreement, the World Cocoa Foundation (WCF) and the Forestry Commission of Ghana (GFC) are building a partnership to further align the Ghana Cocoa Forest REDD+ Program (GCFRP) and the Cocoa & Forests Initiative to achieve no deforestation commitments. The Memorandum of Understanding, signed by GFC and WCF, commits the parties to working together in six regions where the government of Ghana has made action to protect and restore forests a priority. The work in these Hotspot Intervention Areas has already started, with active engagements in the Asunafo-Asutifi, Bia-Juaboso, Kakum and Sefwi-Bibiani landscapes. It is aligned with commitments spelled out in the Ghana framework for action signed in November 2017 for the landmark Cocoa & Forests Initiative, a unique partnership of 35 companies, governments and cocoa-growing communities. As part of the Memorandum of Understanding, GFC will facilitate the development of strategic initiatives, collaborate on protocols for data collection and ensure stronger monitoring on social and environmental issues. WCF is responsible for facilitating the coordination and convening the actions of the 35 cocoa and chocolate companies that have signed the Cocoa & Forests Initiative. WCF will also support monitoring and evaluation, innovation and private-public learning. In his remarks, the Chief Executive of the GFC, John Allotey said this partnership represents a phenomenal collaboration with the private sector to ambitiously contribute to real and verifiable emission reductions in Ghanas precious forest landscapes which are home to diverse forms of wildlife and also provide important livelihood options for rural dwellers. The GCFRP is already achieving significant impacts with inclusive governance arrangements and the GFC encourages other like-minded institutions to strategically partner with the program for visible impact at scale. With our partner GFC, we aim to accelerate our journey towards forest positive cocoa, said Richard Scobey, WCFs President. Ending cocoa-related deforestation requires all stakeholders to work together. Today, WCF and cocoa and chocolate companies are strengthening our collaboration with the government of Ghana. Read Full Story .... www.perishablenews.com >>> : Source: .perishablenews.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 Public art is so important and should be more accessible to people. I love street art and putting art where everyone can see it. COVID was hard on art galleries, which had to close, but it forced artists to go on their own for people to see their work. We do more social media now. I also feel that much of public art should be temporary. It should be shown, then changed so that people get something out of it and then are surprised by the new art in its place. Crane continued, Art is changing from the large, more austere '80s geometric sculptures to having more of a human scope. Also, giant pieces that have to last 20 or 40 years outdoors generally limit the material the artist can use to stone or metal. I think Jung said that art comes from the subconscious mind. I believe that art is the subconscious of society. Art is becoming about the environment and climate change. The meaning of art to people is valuable and art can become more of a communication tool. The public can see art as an opportunity to learn something. More of Julia Cranes artwork can be seen on her website Julia-crane.com. Married At First Sight's Bryce Ruthven sparked controversy after reports claimed he was in contact with a 'secret girlfriend' named Courtney during filming last year. And while the 32-year-old continues to deny the rumour on and off screen, a friend of Courtney's has sensationally claimed the pair 'loved each other' and didn't split until a day before his final vows with 'wife' Melissa Rawson. 'They were full blown dating and loved each other,' the anonymous friend told B105 Brisbane's Stav, Abby & Matt on Tuesday. Married At First Sight bombshell: A friend of Bryce Ruthven's 'secret girlfriend' claims they 'loved each other' and didn't split until a day before his final vows with wife Melissa Rawson 'He had moved to Canberra in May/June and went to film the show in September, so he would have met her just weeks after moving there,' they added. According to the source, Bryce and Courtney stayed in regular contact until 'the last few weeks' of the experiment. 'Bryce ended it with her pretty much the day before [the final vows] was filmed in December,' they said. Bombshell: 'They were full blown dating and loved each other,' the anonymous friend told B105 Brisbane's Stav, Abby & Matt on Tuesday. Bryce is pictured with his 'wife' Melissa Rawson 'He came back to Canberra [and] he was in a bit of a bad way because he'd had a lot of people going at him over her during filming. So he met up with Courtney and said, "I'm going to end this."' Bryce, however, insists Courtney was just a Tinder date and that they only met up a few times before he left for Sydney to film Married At First Sight. Previously denying the claims, he told TV Week: 'It's news to me. I was only in the ACT for 12 weeks so I must have been having a good time. 'To be honest, I know there's articles and podcasts and other rubbish floating around but I'm just not reading it.' Hanging on: 'Bryce ended it with her pretty much the day before [the final vows] was filmed in December,' the friend said Meanwhile, Melissa told the publication that while she was worried about the rumour, she chose to believe her 'husband'. 'With Bryce's cheating past, I had to think, "Could this be true?" But I got over that because I put my trust in Bryce,' she said. It comes after Bryce and Melissa pledged to stay together at their final vows, despite the ups and downs their relationship had experienced throughout the experiment. Married At First Sight continues Sunday at 7pm on Channel Nine Deputy Superintendent Joseph Curtis was selected as the next superintendent, a post he's been filling since last fall. Interim Superintendent Joseph Curtis Offered Pittsfield Superintendent Position PITTSFIELD, Mass. The School Committee on Wednesday offered interim Superintendent Joseph Curtis the position permanently, a move that prompted one committee member to immediately resign. Curtis was selected from four candidates on a 4-3 vote with Mayor Linda Tyer, Daniel Elias, William Cameron and Chairwoman Katherine Yon voting in his favor. He accepted the position after being contacted immediately following the vote. Member Dennis Powell, the only supporter of Portia Bonner, a Connecticut administrator, publicly resigned from the committee in protest after the vote. "It's unfortunate, and I really felt that at the beginning of this whole process, I could have wrote this ending, that's the way this whole process was run," Powell said before signing out of the Zoom meeting. "So really, unfortunately, I just have to take the position and I'm just going to resign from this body, input my energy for the community somewhere where I think I will have a voice." Members Alison McGee and Mark Brazeau supported Marisa Mendonsa, who they felt was a forward thinker and well qualified even though she was the only applicant who had not previously served as a superintendent. Six members of the committee then voted to unanimously support Curtis; Powell did not vote. "I believe Mr. Curtis has all of the personal and professional qualities and character traits needed for leadership," Tyer said. "In the community search survey, the top three characteristics identified by the community as most important for the next superintendent, and I'm going to just summarize them, a champion for education, commitment to leadership as an experienced professional. When I look at these three most important elements identified by the community, Mr. Curtis' record of accomplishment, he gets high marks in many of these categories." Members of the committee praised Curtis for navigating the pandemic with all of the constantly shifting and complex elements of COVID-19 since stepping into the post last fall. Cameron said Curtis has proven his leadership by guiding the district through the most difficult time in public education that he has seen in 40 plus years. "Although many days have seen more than difficult. Some might even say next to impossible. I know that each day has made me stronger, more committed to our school system, our staff, and of course our community," Curtis said in his interview with committee on Monday. Cameron also felt that Curtis has strengths in instructional and management experience, his deep familiarity with the community, its agencies, its neighborhoods, and organizations, as well as his deeply rooted sense of the district's needs for being reshaped and reformed, both physically and culturally that make him a superior candidate. "I believe there is a great benefit in nominating Mr. Curtis because he has dedicated his entire career to the Pittsfield public schools and to our community," Tyer said. "In each position that he's held, he's gained insight into teaching, learning and leading that position him well for success as a superintendent." Yon cited Curtis' interview in which he emphasized the importance of leading with "empathy not sympathy." She said he really understands what kids go through and how they live every day, being a father of adoptive children, and has a grasp of what students need to be successful. While Elias voted for Curtis because of his "understanding of the community's needs and strength in financial management," he had some concerns about areas he would like to see Curtis better himself in if chosen. Elias said Curtis needs to delegate because he cannot do everything on his own, settle on a curriculum and direction, listen to teachers, be visible, and market the district. "Sometimes you just have to show up to a school event or a classroom just to let them know that you care," he added. "No interaction just the 'hi.' Jake [McCandless] had the ability to make the janitor feel like the most important person in the building." Though Curtis was not McGee and Brazeau's first choice, they supported his appointment. Brazeau said Curtis' dedication to the community and staff within the district has been "impeccable" and that he is "very student-centric." He also credited Curtis for growing in his career and for being in the district for the entire duration of it. To Brazeau, Curtis' homogeneous career is also a con. "He's sheltered, he has no diversity, he hasn't seen other districts," he said. "I have a serious question on can he attract candidates of diversity, staff retention, listening to the teacher's voice, and bringing their mind and decision making and a vision of long term planning." On the contrary, McGee believes that Curtis' community involvement is something that could use improvement. "Joe does always do a good job. He is a very hard worker. And I don't think anyone on the committee has a doubt about that. It was the direction our district needs to head though and I think it is one that is adaptive to the environment," she said. "I think as aware as he is of our student population in the school makeup, I think awareness of the community that surrounds it is lacking. An involvement in that community is not apparent." A number of committee members expressed that their choice was between Curtis and Mendonsa. Applicant Arthur Unobskey did not get any votes. Because of an unverified rumor suggesting that unnamed School Committee members encouraged Curtis to apply for the position, he submitted a letter to be read for the public record that stated: "No member of the committee encouraged or asked me to apply for the position of superintendent to public schools, the application submission was done in February, which was before the stated application date. Feb. 7, 2020." Paris, April 15 : The iconic Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris, which was badly damaged in a fire in April 2019, will be rebuilt on schedule, French President Emmanuel Macron said on Thursday. "The commitment for 2024 will be kept," dpa news agency quoted the President as saying to the Le Parisien - Aujourd'hui en France newspaper. In 2024, the French capital is also due to host the Summer Olympics. Exactly two years ago, on April 15, 2019, the world-famous landmark in the heart of Paris went up in flames. The fire spread to the roof truss and then engulfed large parts of the medieval building. The cause of the fire has not yet been fully determined, but fault in the electrical system or a lit cigarette may have triggered the disaster. The head of state went on to tell the paper that the whole of France was committed to the reconstruction of Notre Dame. Macron plans to visit the construction site, where numerous craftsmen are working, later in the day with Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo. When the 13th century roof of the Paris Cathedral caught fire, it sparked a vast outpouring of emotion, as well as donations from across the world. Within two days, about 900 million euros ($1 billion) had been raised for the cathedral's restoration, reports the BBC. The Cathedral's first spire was built in the 13th Century, but due to extensive damage it was removed in the late 18th Century. Its replacement, designed by architect Eugene Viollet-le-Duc, was built in the mid-19th Century. High-tech Japanese companies are contributing to growth here through expansion across various sectors. Photo: Le Toan Japanese food giant Meiji Company has established a new group in Vietnam aiming for the further expansion of its infant formula business in the country. The amount of investment will be $1.89 million and operations commenced this month. Meijis infant formula business in Vietnam mainly imports products from Japan and sales are growing steadily. The number of births per year in Vietnam is 1.5 million or approximately 1.7 times higher than that of Japan, and the market is expected to continue to expand in the future. By establishing a new company in Vietnam, Meiji aims to conduct more timely and effective sales activities and conduct business operations rooted in the region. Meanwhile, Sojitz Corporation and Vietnam Livestock Corporation JSC (VILICO), a company of the countrys leading dairy group Vinamilk, have reached an agreement to establish a new joint venture for the purpose of importing, processing, and selling beef products in Vietnam. Vietnams annual beef consumption is currently close to 500,000 tonnes, and is expected to increase as income levels rise and population growth continues. The joint venture, named Japan Vietnam Livestock Co., Ltd., will be capitalised at $2 million. Equity ownership will be split 49 per cent to Sojitz and 51 per cent to VILICO, while the joint venture is considering importing beef from such markets as Japan, North America, and Australia. Meanwhile Toppan Cosmo, Inc., a subsidiary of Toppan Printing, has partnered with Osaka-based Studio Tec and Ho Chi Minh City-based Nu Design and Supply Co., Ltd. (NDS) to establish Toppan Equator LLC in Vietnam. The new company is focused on creation of high-quality 3D computer graphics for sales promotion and presentations by Japanese companies in the construction, interior design, and housing equipment and appliance sectors. Toppan Cosmo is very pleased to be able to fuse Studio Tecs technical capabilities with NDS operational know-how to launch an organisation in Vietnam for production of high-quality 3D graphics, VR, and AR content with short lead times, said Koichi Takenaka, Toppan Equator CEO. We will leverage the visualisation content produced by Toppan Equator to bring new value to communication and contribute to growth in Japan and Vietnam through expansion across diverse sectors. It is apparent that more Japanese companies are pinning their hopes on the Vietnamese market in the midst of the global crisis. Commenting on the trend, Okada Hideyuki, chairman of the Japanese Chamber of Commerce and Industry in Ho Chi Minh City, said that the pandemic has disrupted the supply chain and manufacturing of accessories and spare parts, but Vietnams successful containment of the COVID-19 pandemic has captured the attention of Japanese investors, and so this is a big opportunity for Vietnam to woo more Japanese funds. Data from the Ministry of Investment and Planning revealed that in the first three months of 2021, Japan registered total investment capital value of nearly $2.1 billion in Vietnam. As of present, Japan is the second-biggest foreign investor in Vietnam after South Korea, with 4,666 projects totaling more than $62.51 billion in registered investment capital. The Japan External Trade Organization (JETRO) conducted a survey of over 900 Japanese companies about their business operations in Vietnam. Among them, nearly half plan to increase investment in the country in the next 1-2 years. They will focus investment on general products, high-value goods, sales, logistics, and research. Although the expansion plan is 17.1 per cent lower than last year, the figure remains high in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic. Japanese companies are looking for new investment opportunities in line with the growing revenue in the local market (65.9 per cent), rising earnings from export (48.7 per cent), and Vietnams high economic growth and potential (44.1 per cent). According to Hirai Shinji, chief representative of JETRO in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam has great potential for growth with a huge population coupled with increasing disposable income of the middle-class, making Vietnam a new darling for Japanese companies. He noted that Japanese companies already operating in Vietnam have started to expand their production here, providing strong evidence that they are placing trust in the economic development of Vietnam for the future. Meanwhile, the recent emergence of some top fashion brands like UNIQLO in the country reflects the growing interest of Japanese businesses in the potential domestic market. The expansion of UNIQLO is expected to draw more Japanese investors to Vietnam in the coming time, he said. Photo: The Canadian Press The number of Americans applying for unemployment benefits tumbled last week to 576,000, a post-COVID low and a hopeful sign that layoffs are easing as the economy recovers from the pandemic recession. The Labor Department said Thursday that applications plummeted by 193,000 from a revised 769,000 a week earlier. Jobless claims are now down sharply from a peak of 900,000 in early January and well below the 700,000-plus level they had been stuck at for months. The decline in unemployment claims coincides with other evidence that the economy is strengthening as vaccinations accelerate, pandemic business restrictions are lifted in many states and Americans appear increasingly willing to travel, shop, eat out and otherwise spend again. In March, employers added a healthy 916,000 jobs, the most since August, and the unemployment rate fell to 6%, less than half the pandemic peak of 14.8%. Other healthy economic data was reported Thursday, underscoring that a potential boom, much-anticipated by economists, may be getting under way. Trillions of dollars of government stimulus, including $1,400 checks largely distributed last month, have maintained overall household income despite widespread job losses in the pandemic. Those checks, supplemented by higher savings that many households have managed to build, drove retail sales sharply higher in March. Sales at stores, car dealers, restaurants and bars jumped 9.8%. It was the biggest gain since retail sales soared 18% in May of last year in a partial bounce-back from the virus initial blow. Todays report shows just how willing American consumers are to spend when the means and options are available," said Maria Solovieva, an economist at TD Bank. Fast vaccination and removal of restrictions burst the spending floodgates wide open. For the week ending March 27, 16.9 million people were continuing to collect unemployment benefits, down from 18.2 million in the previous week. That decline suggests that some of the unemployed are being called back to jobs. Yet the still-high number of ongoing recipients shows that even as the economy has improved in recent weeks, millions are facing a loss of a job or income and have been struggling to pay bills or rent. The last time the jobless rate was this low, weekly claims were around 350,000, still well below their current level. Economists point to a range of potential explanations. Some states are still struggling to clear backlogs of applications from previous weeks. As a result, jobless claims being reported now may stem from layoffs that occurred weeks ago. Other states are also facing what they suspect is a sizable number of fraudulent claims for unemployment aid. Another possible factor is that under President Joe Bidens $1.9 trillion rescue package, the federal government is now supplementing weekly jobless benefits by $300 a week on top of the average state unemployment payment of about $340 through September. That extra money may be encouraging more people to request unemployment aid. LETHBRIDGE, Alta. - The Alberta Medical Association says a Lethbridge physician has died from complications related to COVID-19. A nurse prepares to give the first COVID-19 vaccine to be distributed in Edmonton on Tuesday, Dec. 15, 2020. The Alberta Medical Association says a Lethbridge physician has died from complications related to COVID-19. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jason Franson LETHBRIDGE, Alta. - The Alberta Medical Association says a Lethbridge physician has died from complications related to COVID-19. Dr. Wayne John Edwards, who was 66, died Tuesday at the Chinook Regional Hospital in the southern Alberta city. His death was confirmed by Alberta Health. Spokesman Tom McMillan says the source of exposure in the death is unknown. The most recent statistics from Alberta Health show Edwards was the seventh health-care worker in the province to die from COVID-19. The Alberta Medical Association says in a statement on social media that they are saddened by his death. "So many Albertans have lost loved ones and friends to this terrible disease," said the statement. "The physician community joins in mourning a colleague and leader of his health community." An online obituary at LethbridgeNewsNow said Edwards was born in Trinidad and migrated to Yarmouth, N.S., in 1995. The family moved to Lethbridge in 2003 and became Canadian citizens. Edwards leaves behind his wife, Harriet, and two sons, Andre and Adrian. This report by The Canadian Press was first published April 15, 2021. Source: Xinhua| 2021-04-13 23:47:18|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close KAMPALA, April 13 (Xinhua) -- Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni on Tuesday urged the Muslim community in the country to continue observing the COVID-19 prevention measures while observing Ramadan. Museveni in a message sent by State House urged the community not to congregate but pray from home. He said those who can observe the COVID-19 prevention procedures like social distancing and sanitization, can pray from mosques. "I appeal to you to pray for peace and prosperity of our nation and I pray that at the end of the month of Ramadan, our prayers and supplications will be granted and rewarded," Museveni said. "I remind you to observe the COVID-19 Standard Operation Procedures which have been put in place by the government through the ministry of health," he added. Ugandan Prime Minister Ruhakana Rugunda on Tuesday told parliament that the country had started registering an increase in the number of positive cases especially in urban areas, border districts and trading centers. Rugunda said this is compounded by the reported cases of new fast-spreading and possibly more deadly variants of COVID-19. Ministry of health figures show that tests done on April 11 confirmed 30 new cases bringing the cumulative number of cases in the country to 41,204. The recoveries are 40,779 and the deaths are 337. Enditem NEW DELHI: If you live in Delhi-National Capital Region (Delhi-NCR) and own a vehicle, then beware as today (April 15, 2021) is the last date for high-security number plates (HSRP) registration Vehicle owners caught without high-security registration plates (HSRP) and colour-coded fuel stickers will have to pay a hefty fine after the deadline ends. The Delhi Traffic Police, complying with the governments new amendments to the Motor Vehicles Act (MVA), has been penalising defaulters under an enforcement drive. Violators, with vehicles purchased before April 1, 2019, can be fined up to Rs 10,000, which is compoundable to Rs 5,500, under the amended Motor Vehicles Act. The Delhi government has earlier given sufficient time to vehicle owners to get the HSRP and colour-coded stickers installed before enforcing the HSRP rules. Why is HSRP Important This is to be noted that as per the Motor Vehicles Act and the Central Motor Vehicle Rules, the HSRP and colour-coded stickers are mandatory for all the vehicles. As per a few reports, around 30 lakh vehicles in the national capital registered prior to April 1, 2019, don't have these. New vehicles registered after April 2019 come equipped with HSRP and colour-coded stickers. What is an HSRP? An HSRP is a chromium-based hologram applied by hot stamping on the number plates both at the front and back, along with laser-branding of a permanent identification number. They have certain security features and are protected against counterfeiting. The plates are fastened with a non-removable / non-reusable snap lock-fitting system. There are approximately three million vehicles, including 1.6 million two-wheelers, 1.2 million four-wheelers and 0.2 million commercial vehicles, which are required to be affixed with HSRPs. How To Apply For HSRP To apply for a high-security number plate, one has to go to bookmyhsrp.com where consumers will see 2 options of a private vehicle and commercial vehicle. On clicking on the Private Vehicle tab, you have to select the options of Petrol, Diesel, Electric, CNG and CNG + Petrol. After choosing the fuel type, the registration process will open the category of vehicles, from which the applicant has to choose his vehicle type. After this, the name of the state has to be filled in. Then after selecting the dealers you have to fill the information related to your vehicle. In the last step of this process, the customer will have to provide the vehicle registration number, registration date, engine and chassis number, e-mail and mobile number. Uploading all this information will open a new window, which will seek your vehicle documents like RC and your ID proof. An OTP will be generated after uploading all the information and papers. In the end, you will see a payment option, after which your process will be completed. Home Delivery of HSRP The Delhi government had earlier last month resumed the online bookings of the HSRP and colour-coded stockers, which was halted due to the coronavirus outbreak. To reach out to more and more travellers, the Delhi government had also increased the number of centres to 658 from 150 which will install the HSRP in vehicles. The Delhi government had also facilitated home delivery of number plates, for which the vehicle owners have to pay a nominal amount of Rs 100 to 200 in lieu of home delivery. All new vehicles to be pre-fitted with HSRP All new vehicles will be sold pre-fitted with High-Security Registration Plates (HSRP) from April 1 next year, the government has said. The Ministry of Road Transport and Highways has notified amendments in Central Motor Vehicles Rules, 1989 to this effect. The notification mandates that the High-Security Registration Plate including the third registration mark shall be supplied by the vehicle manufacturers along with the vehicles manufactured on or after April 1, 2019, to their dealers and dealers shall place a mark of registration on such plates and affix them on the vehicle. The vehicle dealers can also provide the HSRP plates for old vehicles. Live TV The California mom suspected of killing her three children in Reseda on Saturday pleaded not guilty on Wednesday to charges of carjacking a truck on the day of their murders. Liliana Carrillo, 30, appeared in a Kern County Superior Court wearing a blue jail uniform with a cast on her left arm for a hearing that lasted less than a minute, KFSN-TV reported. She entered the pleas to four charges: two of taking a vehicle without the owner's consent, one of carjacking, and one of attempted carjacking. Her bail was set at $2 million and she is scheduled to appear in court again there on May 7. Carrillo's three children were found dead on Saturday by their maternal grandmother in her apartment in the Reseda neighborhood of Los Angeles. She was arrested later that day in Tulare County, nearly 200 miles north of the scene. Liliana Carrillo, 30, appeared in a Kern County Superior Court wearing a blue jail uniform with a cast on her left arm for a hearing that lasted less than a minute She entered the pleas to four charges: two of taking a vehicle without the owner's consent, one of carjacking, and one of attempted carjacking Kern County prosecutors alleged that Carrillo crashed her car on Highway 65 near Bakersfield then carjacked a truck from someone who stopped to help her. 'Rather than accepting that help, the allegations are that she took their cars,' Kern County Assistant District Attorney Joseph Kinzel said, according to KFSN-TV. She entered the pleas to four charges: two of taking a vehicle without the owner's consent, one of carjacking, and one of attempted carjacking. She is pictured in an undated file photo before her arrest She then tried to steal another truck before she was arrested Saturday afternoon in the San Joaquin County community of Ponderosa near Porterville, where Carrillo and her family lived until February 25, according to court records. Officials said Carrillo is suspected of killing Joanna Denton Carrillo, 3; Terry Carrillo, 2; and 6-month-old Sierra. Carrillo hasn't been criminally charged in their deaths pending an ongoing investigation. Autopsies are pending to determine the cause of the children's deaths. The Los Angeles Police Department told KABC-TV that its detectives are investigating the alleged murder case and will seek extradition to Los Angeles County. 'The Los Angeles Police Department is investigating the potential homicide case down in Los Angeles,' Kinzel said. 'That investigation is not complete. While we do liaison with the Los Angeles Police Department to make sure we understand what's going on because it does have an interplay into the charges here.' He added: 'We don't have a complete investigation at this point, so I'm not going to speak for them.' Police haven't disclosed a motive for the killings. But court filings showed there was a bitter custody dispute between Carrillo and the children's father, Erik Denton, her ex-boyfriend. Erik Denton, left, is pictured with two of his three children who were allegedly killed by their mother Liliana Carrillo (top) in Reseda Erik Denton, left, is pictured with his three children who were allegedly stabbed to death in their apartment by their mother Liliana Carrillo, right, in Reseda, Los Angeles on April 10 Police haven't disclosed a motive for the killings. But court filings showed there was a bitter custody dispute between Carrillo, pictured, and the children's father The California mom suspected of killing her three children in Reseda on Saturday pleaded not guilty on Wednesday to charges of carjacking a truck on the day of their murders The children had been staying with Carrillo but Denton petitioned a court for custody March 1 fearing for the safety of the children. He alleged that Carrillo was delusional and had taken the kids and refused to tell him where they were. Carrillo, in turn, filed a restraining order against him and claimed Denton was an alcoholic who may have sexually abused their eldest child. A family friend told DailyMail.com that Denton's family claims that Carrillo's allegations of sexual abuse of the child by the father is 'unsubstantiated.' 'The family would like it to be known that those allegations were unsubstantiated. The mother made several allegations about different people and facilities the children were in contact with, all of which were unsubstantiated,' the friend said. The friend claimed that 'the father is not being investigated by Porterville police or LAPD.' It is not immediately clear if that comment is true or whether police have investigated the father for sexual abuse. 'You can only imagine the grief that both sides of the family are going through,' the friend said. Dentons court filings claim that Carrillo suffered post-partum depression following the birth of their middle child and that she had started therapy but quit. Instead, Carrillo allegedly self-medicated with marijuana, he claimed. In texts and social media posts, she had allegedly said things like 'I wish I never had kids' and threatened to kill herself. A passerby looks at a memorial outside the apartment where three young children were killed Saturday morning in Los Angeles A passerby looks at a memorial outside the apartment where three young children were killed Saturday morning in San Fernando on Tuesday Lupe Cuevas pays her respects at a memorial outside the apartment where three young children were killed Saturday morning in San Fernando on Tuesday Carrillo also allegedly believed she was 'solely responsible' for the coronavirus pandemic, Denton wrote, and she thought that Porterville was home to a 'giant sex trafficking ring.' She sought a temporary restraining order in Los Angeles County. Through the courts, Denton and Carrillo agreed to swap Denton's days to see the children - a few hours every other Sunday. Last Sunday was supposed to be just his second visit with the kids under the new schedule. Joseph Duncan, a convicted sexual predator and murderer, recently died in federal prison. The Duncan case is a classic one where the citizens and the police worked together to catch a dangerous predator. If it weren't for these alert citizens and their assistance, this predator might still be at large. The Spokesman-Review (SR) reported extensively on the Duncan case: Kootenai County deputies discovered three dead on May 16, 2005. Brenda Groene, 40; her fiance Mark McKenzie, 37; and her son, Slade Groene, 13, were bludgeoned to death. An Amber Alert was issued the next day for Brenda Groene's two youngest children, 9-year-old Dylan Groene and 8-year-old Shasta Groene. The abduction of Shasta Groene and the related murders became a national news story (SR): The murders and children's disappearance launched the biggest investigative effort in Kootenai County's history, at one point involving more than 100 FBI personnel and more than 80 investigators from several other agencies. Shortly before 2 a.m. on July 2, Shasta was recognized by workers and patrons at the Denny's in Coeur d'Alene, and her kidnapper, Duncan, was arrested without incident. Duncan, a longtime sexual predator of young children, was a federal fugitive from a prior Minnesota molestation case. Duncan was convicted on October 16, 2005, as reported by SR: Duncan pleaded guilty to three counts of kidnapping and three counts of murder in the deaths of Brenda Groene, Mark McKenzie, and Slade Groene. He was sentenced to three consecutive life sentences for the kidnappings. The sentences for the murders were undecided, pending federal prosecution. Duncan later pleaded guilty to the murder of Anthony Martinez. Martinez was abducted from near his home in Beaumont, CA. His body was later found in the Joshua Tree area in Riverside County near Palm Springs, CA. Duncan was also linked to the deaths of two half-sisters in Seattle, WA. Martinez's brother, Mark, said during the trial: [Mark] Medina said he, his brother Anthony and three friends were playing in the back yard, which was chain-link fenced, when Duncan's car pulled into the alley. "He approached the fence and called us forward," Medina told the court. "We came and he showed us a picture of a cat. He offered us each a dollar if we helped him look for his cat." The boy who lived at the house then went back inside with his little sister, but the other three boys agreed to hunt for the cat. After hunting a while in the alley, the kids went back to Duncan, who was standing in front of his car, and told him they couldn't find the cat. "He gave us each a dollar," Medina told the court. "The next thing I remember is seeing a knife being drawn. The next thing I remember is he had my brother. the knife to his head. He was being taken away and put in the car. That was the last time I ever saw him." What caught my attention was the connection to the Martinez murder. Beaumont, CA is located in Riverside County, a 30-minute drive from the City of Riverside, where I worked at Riverside P.D. as a detective. I remembered this unsolved murder case. Meghann Cuniff, a then-reporter for the SR, was the first to cover this connection in detail in a front-page story. Cuniff said an unknown latent print recovered from tape used to bind Martinez's body matched Duncan's. What led to this connection was fascinating to me as a blogger at the time. The possible relationship with Duncan to Beaumont, CA was made by a group of bloggers who monitor the activity of child perpetrators (see www.planethuff/Darkside/ now offline, archived at Wayback Machine). During the Idaho investigation, there was information that Duncan may have committed other murders. There was no direct evidence that linked Dunkin to the Martinez case. The FBI did pass on the information on Duncan to Riverside County. It surprised me that Duncan's fingerprints didn't hit on the Martinez case's unidentified latent print. Live Scan fingerprints from new bookings are entered into Automated Fingerprint Identification Systems (AFIS) maintained by local, regional, state, and national criminal justice agencies. The Martinez case's latent fingerprints are held by the Regional CAL-ID Office, which covers both Riverside and San Bernardino Counties. Latent prints with enough identification points to make an identification are processed and entered into a subsystem of unidentified latent prints. Depending on the seriousness of the crime, the unknown latent fingerprints are forwarded to other databases. Investigators can request known fingerprints such as Duncan's be run against unknown latent prints from specific cases. Riverside County authorities took this lead seriously. A Riverside fingerprint examiner was sent to roll a new set of prints from Duncan using ink and traditional fingerprint cards. Live Scan machines (optical laser scanning process) frequently do not capture the edges of the fingers. The Martinez latent print was the tip of a finger. There are plenty of minutia points on the tip of a finger to make a positive identification. The examiner made a positive identification match between Martinez's unknown latent print to the tip of one of Duncan's fingers. Yes, there are evil and bad people in this world. What stands between law-abiding citizens of all political ideologies and evil and disorder are men and women of The Thin Blue Line. In the U.S., the fundamental principle underlying our police is, "The police are the public, and the public are the police." The concept of an ethical police force, policing by consent and local control, is unique. This concept comes from the Peelian principles attributed to Sir Robert Peel with the Metropolitan Police's creation in London. The first principle is "to prevent crime and disorder, as an alternative to their repression by military force and severity of legal punishment." The London food riots of that time were put down by the military. The dilemma Peele faced was as follows: [M]ost Englishmen ... expressed greater fear of a police force than of crime and riots[.] ... At that time, police on the European continent were often oppressive, corrupt, and arbitrary seemed the relevant model for England. The problem was, as it always is for a society that values, political freedom, how to reconcile governmental power with individual freedom. Statue of Sir Robert Peel designed by Edward Hodges Bailey. Photo credit: David Ingham CC BY-SA 2.0 license. This use of the military to suppress the food riots led to the creation of the first modern police force with different rules of engagement from what governs a military force. Yes, there are bad cops as there are bad people in every profession. Without the police, however, there would be anarchy and disorder. Our police are now coming under attack as being systemically racist. According to the radical left (BLM and Antifa) and echoed by the media, the police must be disbanded. This accusation is untrue based on the data. The purpose of this false narrative is to further the left's Marxist revolutionary purposes, but this is a topic for another time. Please read my other articles at the American Thinker regarding our law enforcement agencies, especially at the federal level, straying from the original Peelian principles. "The Police Are the Public and the Public Are the Police" Sir Robert Peel Ron Wright is a retired detective from Riverside P.D., CA. B.A. in political science CSUF, M. Adm. University of Cal, Riverside. To comment, you can find the MeWe post for this article here. Azerbaijan will continue to use methods designed to terrorize the population of Artsakh, Artsakh Foreign Minister David Babayan told reporters. His remarks came on question about the incidents of throwing stones at Armenian vehicles and shelling of villagers. The international community is informed about what is happening, if only because the state institutions of Artsakh, the Foreign Ministry, come out with the appropriate official comments. Of course, we must understand that Azerbaijan will use such methods. Firstly, it is cheap from a financial point of view, no need to use tanks, UAVs, air forces. Because the goal is the same - to expel the Armenians from Artsakh. And such methods terrorize some of the people. It is easier for Azerbaijan. Well, they will say, this is not at the state level, maybe it was some mentally unbalanced person who did it, a relative of the one who died in the first Artsakh or April war. This takes the Azerbaijani state out of the area of responsibility. We must understand this well and do our best not to succumb to provocations. We know Azerbaijanis well. Maybe someone doesnt know them and compares Aliyev with Mona Lisa, but we know better, the Foreign Minister noted. Imperial Valley News Center AMO Transfers 4 Vessels, Helping Guatemalan Navy Bolster Capabilities Washington, DC - Air and Marine Operations (AMO) partnered with the Department of State Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement to transfer four 39-foot Midnight Express Interceptor vessels to Guatemala Comando De Fuerza Especial Naval, last Thursday. An AMO Midnight Express Vessel is loaded into U.S. Air Force C-5 for transport to Guatemala. The vessels, transported by a U.S. Air Force C-5 Galaxy, were donated from AMOs southwest and southeast regions, as they are being phased out of AMOs vessel fleet. No one agency, or country can take on the drug traffickers alone, said Jeremiah Rogers, Director, AMO Foreign Operations. Collaboration with our national and international partners multiplies our reach and increases our successes. As part of AMOs Vision and Strategy 2030, strengthening our partnerships with our international allies is vital to successfully execute our counternarcotic mission, combatting drug trafficking organizations, and preventing narcotics from reaching the U.S. The vessels transferred to Guatemala will help their forces increase their response capabilities, enhancing their ability to interdict drug smuggling vessels. Air and Marine Operations, U.S. Embassy, and Guate- malan Ministry of Defense officials board vessel for orientation float. In 2019, AMO conducted vessel interdiction tactics training with Guatemalan forces. With the delivery of these four vessels, the forces will be able to put the training to use. AMO may conduct additional training in the future with Guatemala. AMO safeguards our Nation by anticipating and confronting security threats through our aviation and maritime law enforcement expertise, innovative capabilities, and partnerships at the border and beyond. Lucknow, April 15 : The daughter of jailed former BJP MLA Kuldeep Sengar, has put out a video statement, questioning the 'injustice' done to her mother Sangeeta Senger. The daughter has not given out her name. "In any case, the name does not matter - what matters is that my surname is Senger. Her mother, Sangeeta Sengar was earlier given the ticket by the BJP for the panchayat elections in Unnao, but the same was later withdrawn after media raised questions on the same. "My mother has been in active politics for the past 15 years. She has contested and won the panchayat elections and was chairman of the zila panchayat. She has been known for her honesty and integrity but now her competence has been set aside. Women may be given reservation but why is it that they are known for what their father or husband has done. We have suffered injustice all through and if I keep quiet again now, I will not be able to answer my conscience," she said. Kuldeep Sengar is in Tihar jail after being convicted for the rape of a minor. His family wields considerable influence in Unnao and also enjoys the sympathy of his community that believes the former MLA was falsely implicated in the case. Kuldeep Senger, sentenced to life in jail, was disqualified as the member of the Uttar Pradesh legislative assembly last year in February. -- The story has been published from a wire feed without any modifications to the text Minister of National Defence Senior Lieutenant General Phan Van Giang received ambassadors of Laos, Cambodia, China and Russia in Hanoi on April 14. Minister of National Defence Senior Lieutenant General Phan Van Giang (right) and Lao Ambassador Sengphet Houngboungnuang Lao Ambassador Sengphet Houngboungnuang congratulated Giang on his appointment as Defence Minister of Vietnam and expressed his belief that the minister will make more contributions to the great friendship, special solidarity and comprehensive cooperation between the two Parties, States and armies. The two sides affirmed that the defence cooperation is an important pillar of the bilateral ties, and significantly contributes to national construction and defence of each country. Given the unexpected developments of the regional and international situation, the two countries should maintain and tighten the traditional friendship and special solidarity, and the defence ties in particular, they said. They agreed to step up the exchange of delegations, especially those at the high level, in order to discuss strategic issues of shared concern, and enhance collaboration across spheres, especially defence and military. Minister of National Defence Senior Lieutenant General Phan Van Giang (right) and Cambodian Ambassador Chay Navuth At a meeting with Cambodian Ambassador Chay Navuth, Giang spoke highly of efforts by the Cambodian government, army and people in the COVID-19 combat. They shared the view that defence collaboration is one of the major pillars of the relations between the two countries, and consented to step up delegation exchanges in the time ahead. Minister of National Defence Senior Lieutenant General Phan Van Giang (right) and Chinese Ambassador Xiong Bo During a reception for Chinese Ambassador Xiong Bo, Giang affirmed that Vietnam attaches importance to its relations with China, and will make all-out efforts to consolidate and strengthen the time-honoured relationship and the comprehensive strategic cooperative partnership with the neighbouring country. The minister briefed the ambassador on upcoming defence external activities to be held by Vietnam and China in the time ahead. Minister of National Defence Senior Lieutenant General Phan Van Giang (left) and Russian Ambassador Konstantin Vnukov Meeting with Russian Ambassador Konstantin Vnukov, the minister said Vietnam always treasures the long-standing relations with Russia, and will do its utmost to promote the comprehensive strategic partnership between the two countries, covering collaboration in national defence and technical military. He called on the ambassador, in any position, to make more contributions to the bilateral ties. The two sides reviewed the organisation of defence activities within Vietnam Year in Russia and Russia Year in Vietnam and the 25th anniversary of the signing of the treaty on basic principles for Vietnam-Russia friendship in 2019, and the 70th anniversary of the Vietnam-Russia diplomatic relations last year. The countries are working hard to prepare for the Army Games this year./.VNA WASHINGTON The Biden administration is set to announce on Thursday a string of long-awaited measures against Russia, including far-reaching financial sanctions, for the hacking of government and private networks and a range of other activity, according to people who have been briefed on the moves. The sanctions will be among what President Bidens aides say are seen and unseen steps in response to the hacking, known as SolarWinds; to the C.I.A.s assessment that Russia offered to pay bounties to militants in Afghanistan to kill American troops; and to Russias yearslong effort to interfere in United States elections, according to American officials and others who have been briefed on the actions. The moves will include the expulsion of a limited number of diplomats, much like the Obama administration did in response to the Russian efforts to influence the election five years ago. But it is unclear whether this set of actions will prove sufficient to deter Russia from further hacking, influence operations or efforts to threaten European countries. The sanctions are meant to cut deeper than previous efforts to punish Russia for interfering in elections, targeting the countrys sovereign debt, according to people briefed on the matter. Administration officials were determined to draft a response that would impose real costs on Moscow, as many previous rounds of sanctions have been shrugged off. The political rallies and religious snans could easily become super-spreader events. Some perhaps already have The electoral rallies with several lakh people that were held till very recently in Kerala, Assam and Tamil Nadu and which will continue to dominate the political horizon in West Bengal for the rest of this month. (Representational Photo: PTI) Nowhere are politicians perfect. They all make mistakes. Though they may atone for them later, usually in defeat, theyre almost always disinclined to apologise. But Im not put off by that. If you want them to take decisions, some are bound to be wrong. Thats a fact of life. But what irks me is irresponsibility. In particular, refusing to take tough decisions because it does not politically suit them to do so. For this there can be no excuse and little forgiveness. Faced with the raging second surge of Covid-19, which is relentlessly soaring at nearly 200,000 cases a day, our politicians have behaved irresponsibly. Worse, they continue to do so. Undeterred by criticism from the media and grave warnings from doctors and public health experts, they are now passing the buck. What am I referring to? The electoral rallies with several lakh people that were held till very recently in Kerala, Assam and Tamil Nadu and which will continue to dominate the political horizon in West Bengal for the rest of this month. But I am also talking of the Shahi Snans, which have started in Haridwar and will continue for another two weeks. Like the political rallies, these religious baths will attract hundreds of thousands of people, if not millions, and there will be no social distancing and precious little mask wearing. The rallies and snans could easily become super-spreader events. Some perhaps already have. Others are likely to follow. But even if by some miracle that doesnt happen, is it worth the risk? That may sound like a rhetorical question but, quite frankly, it is not. So why are they permitted? Lets take the political rallies first. They are an easy, simple and time-tested way of attracting large crowds and addressing them at one go. They also attract television attention and newspaper coverage. Therefore, they get talked about and that, its hoped, will create political momentum. This is why politicians are so reluctant to abjure them. In comparison, virtual campaigning is more difficult, the response isnt easy to assess, and it doesnt create any buzz. Therefore, citing the excuse of democracy, our politicians have continued to physically campaign as if the Covid-19 pandemic belongs to another and far-off world. In fact, when questioned theyve either been defiant, or they have blamed the Election Commission. This is what Hemanta Biswa Sarma said earlier this month: There is no Covid in Assam ... there is no need to wear a mask in Assam. Why wear masks unnecessarily and create a panic?. Incidentally, he is the states health minister. Days later, at a press conference in West Bengal, Union home minister Amit Shah was asked how he justified massive political rallies when the virus was surging past 100,000 cases a day. (Since then, its crossed a yet higher peak of nearly 200,000 a day.) Without a blush or a moments hesitation, he said the question should be asked of the Election Commission. It has set the rules and guidelines and his rallies are fully in accord with them. Sadly, I dont recall any journalist asking Mr Shah if this is an adequate answer from the nations home minister or simply an irresponsible attempt to pass the buck. A day later the commission spoke out but almost sotto voce and certainly ineffectively. As a national newspaper put it, the commission will not hesitate in banning rallies and meetings if precautions are not adhered to. Not surprisingly, they werent, and equally unsurprisingly the commission retreated to its earlier convenient silence. And so the irresponsibility continues. Now, lets come to the shahi snans. When Tirath Singh Rawat took over as chief minister of Uttarakhand, he dispensed with his predecessors insistence on a prior Covid test before participating in a snan. Nobody will be stopped in the name of Covid-19 as we are sure that faith in God will overcome the fear of the virus, he glibly though very confidently told another national newspaper. Days later he tested positive. Meanwhile, one newspaper, quoting government officials, said one crore people were expected to visit Haridwar on April 14, which was Baisakhi, whilst two crore more were anticipated between April 11 and 14. Photographs and WhatsApp clips showed that in fact happened. I fear they could soon realise the truth of the old cliche God helps those who help themselves. The government will tell you that banning or even restraining the long-awaited and deeply loved religious events is hard to do. Of course it is. It could make governments unpopular. In a democracy, no one wants that. But then who said that being Prime Minister or chief minister during the worst health crisis in a century is easy? Yet, if British PM Boris Johnson could enforce stringent curbs over Christmas and Germanys Chancellor Angela Merkel during Easter, do Prime Minister Modi and CM Rawat lack the strength to behave similarly? If Mr Johnson and Ms Merkel can take unpopularity on the chin, are our netas made of weaker stuff? Or could it be that our lot have deliberately chosen not to act because not only is it easier not to do so but that will also ensure that they remain the darling of the masses? Finally, just one question remains: how heavy a price will we pay for this irresponsibility? We know the damage the rallies and snans could do can only be estimated two weeks later. Thats not too far away. But chances are it wont be the politicians who will suffer. It will be the poor people of India. The former will bask in their electoral triumphs or boast of their administrative expertise. The latter could end up infected, with sickness and possibly worse to follow. And then? Before you answer, remember, this is India. I doubt if anyone will hold the errant politicians to account. They come from all our political parties and theyll all get away with it. But its likely to be very different for the majority, who are poor. If they get infected, fall ill and even die, who will care for and mourn them? Theyve paid the price of political incompetence for generations, possibly centuries. And as theyve always done, theyll pick themselves up, place their faith in God and carry on. I doubt if this time will be any different. [April 15, 2021] Cyber Security Market to Reach $304.91 Billion, Globally, by 2027 at 9.4% CAGR, Says Allied Market Research Increase in malware and phishing threats among enterprises, rise in adoption of IoT and BYOD, and demand for cloud-based cybersecurity solutions drive the growth of the global cyber security market PORTLAND, Ore., April 15, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Allied Market Research published a report, titled, "Cyber Security Market By Component (Solutions and Services), Solution/Offering (Identity & Access Management; Infrastructure Security; Governance, Risk, & Compliance; Unified Vulnerability Management Service Offering; and Data Security & Privacy Service Offering; and Others), Deployment Type (Cloud and On-premise), User Type (Large Enterprises and Small & Medium Enterprises), and Industry Vertical (Telecom, Automotive, BFSI, Public Sector, Retail, Healthcare, IT, Energy & Utilities, Manufacturing, and Others): Global Opportunity Analysis and Industry Forecast, 20202027." According to the report, the global cyber security industry generated $149.67 billion in 2019, and is estimated to garner $304.91 billion by 2027, witnessing a CAGR of 9.4% from 2020 to 2027. Download Sample Report: https://www.alliedmarketresearch.com/request-sample/1770 Drivers, Restraints, and Opportunities Increase in malware and phishing threats among enterprises, rise in adoption of IoT and BYOD, and demand for cloud-based cyber-security solutions drive the growth of the global cyber security market. However, budgetary constraints and complexities involved in the security of devices hinder the market growth. On the other hand, surge in adoption of mobile device applications and platforms, requirement for strong authentication methods, and transformation of the traditional antivirus software industry present new opportunities in the coming years. Impact of Covid-19 on Cyber Security Market: The number of cyber-attacks has been increased during the lockdown as many organizations adopted the work from home strategy. So, the need to implement cybersecurity for addressing security issues and facilitating secured access increased considerably. The attacks on hospital data, healthcare apps, and wearable have been increased as the volume of patient data increased. The need to secure and authenticate data in healthcare organizations surged. There has been a rise in the Covid-19-related phishing and ransomware attacks. This is due to the utilization of Covid-19 as bait to lead brands astray and attack their websites and apps. Cybersecurity providers have been focusing on innovations and development of advanced solutions by including features such as cloud security & AI-integrated solutions to deal with new types of viruses and ransomware used by attackers. Get detailed COVID-19 impact analysis on the Cyber Security Market: https://www.alliedmarketresearch.com/request-for-customization/1770?reqfor=covid The solution segment to maintain its highest contribution during the forecast period Based on component, the solution segment accounted for the largest market share, contributing to more than two-thirds of the total share of the global cyber security market in 2019, and will maintain its highest contribution in terms of revenue dring the forecast period. This is due to rise in need for vulnerability assessment, penetration testing, and compliance with the leading federal, defense, and industry security standards. However, the services segment is projected to witness the largest CAGR of 11.2% from 2020 to 2027, owing to surge in cyber-attacks on the IT infrastructure of organizations. The on-premises segment to maintain its dominant share during the forecast period Based on deployment, the on-premises segment held the largest share in 2019, contributing to more than half of the global cyber security market, and is expected to maintain its dominant share during the forecast period. This is due to rise in need to secure critical data and track the influx of data within the organization. However, the cloud segment is estimated to manifest the highest CAGR of 11.2% from 2020 to 2027, owing to lack of capital cost and low maintenance cost. For Purchase Inquiry: https://www.alliedmarketresearch.com/purchase-enquiry/1770 North America to continue to lead by 2027 Based on region, North America contributed to the highest market share in 2019, accounting for nearly one-third of the total share of the global cyber security market, and will continue to lead by 2027. This is attributed to presence of major key players, high ICT spending, and huge number of cyber-attacks on various enterprises. However, Asia-Pacific is estimated to portray the fastest CAGR of 11.0% during the forecast period, owing to adoption of wireless & mobile devices, rise in cyber-crimes, increase in awareness regarding data security, and strict security standards & government policies. Official Press Release: https://www.alliedmarketresearch.com/press-release/asset-performance-management-market.html Leading market players Accenture (NYSE: ACN) Capgemini Cognizant F5 Networks Inc. FireEye Inc. HCL Technologies Limited IBM Corporation (NYSE: IBM) Infosys Limited (NYSE: INFY) L&T Technology Services Limited PwC International Limited Broadcom Inc. Tata Consultancy Services Tech Mahindra Limited Wipro Limited Similar Research Reports for Information, Communication and Technology: Network Security Market Expected to Reach $63.40 Billion by 2027 Project Portfolio Management (PPM) Market Expected to Reach $9.16 Billion by 2027 Function-as-a-Service Market Expected to Reach $24,007.00 Million by 2026 Network Traffic Analytics Market Expected to Reach $3.11 Billion by 2026 Risk Analytics Market Expected to Reach $65.25 billion by 2026 3D Rendering Services Market Predicted to Hit $61.65 Billion by 2026 AVENUE- A Subscription-Based Library (Premium on-demand, subscription-based pricing model): AMR introduces its online premium subscription-based library Avenue, designed specifically to offer cost-effective, one-stop solution for enterprises, investors, and universities. With Avenue, subscribers can avail an entire repository of reports on more than 2,000 niche industries and more than 12,000 company profiles. Moreover, users can get an online access to quantitative and qualitative data in PDF and Excel formats along with analyst support, customization, and updated versions of reports. Get an access to the library of reports at any time from any device and anywhere. For more details, follow the link: https://www.alliedmarketresearch.com/library-access About Allied Market Research: Allied Market Research (AMR) is a full-service market research and business-consulting wing of Allied Analytics LLP based in Portland, Oregon. Allied Market Research provides global enterprises as well as medium and small businesses with unmatched quality of "Market Research Reports" and "Business Intelligence Solutions." AMR has a targeted view to provide business insights and consulting to assist its clients to make strategic business decisions and achieve sustainable growth in their respective market domains. AMR offers its services across 11 industry verticals including Life Sciences, Consumer Goods, Materials & Chemicals, Construction & Manufacturing, Food & Beverages, Energy & Power, Semiconductor & Electronics, Automotive & Transportation, ICT & Media, Aerospace & Defense, and BFSI. We are in professional corporate relations with various companies and this helps us in digging out market data that helps us generate accurate research data tables and confirms utmost accuracy in our market forecasting. Allied Market Research CEO Pawan Kumar is instrumental in inspiring and encouraging everyone associated with the company to maintain high quality of data and help clients in every way possible to achieve success. Each and every data presented in the reports published by us is extracted through primary interviews with top officials from leading companies of domain concerned. Our secondary data procurement methodology includes deep online and offline research and discussion with knowledgeable professionals and analysts in the industry. Contact: David Correa 5933 NE Win Sivers Drive #205, Portland, OR 97220 United States Toll Free: 1-800-792-5285 UK: +44-845-528-1300 Hong Kong: +852-301-84916 India (Pune): +91-20-66346060 Fax: +1-855-550-5975 help@alliedmarketresearch.com Web: https://www.alliedmarketresearch.com Follow Us on: LinkedIn Twitter Logo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/636519/Allied_Market_Research_Logo.jpg Bold partnership to defuse vaccine hesitancy down to the zip code in most populous region of the nation In a race to transform the vaccine-hesitant into adopters in New York City and surrounding counties as Covid-19 variants rise, the CUNY Graduate School of Public Health and Health Policy (CUNY SPH) has announced the New York State Vaccine Education and Adoption Project. Building upon the school's pandemic-long commitment to surveying New Yorkers to understand perspectives and its emphasis on engaging community, the project will accomplish three critical goals: to measure vaccine sentiments in the lower nine counties of New York State, to visualize these sentiments to understand where pockets of hesitancy exist, and finally, to design a vaccine literacy program for the most deeply hesitant communities across the five boroughs of New York, as well as Westchester, Rockland, Nassau and Suffolk counties. Three philanthropic leaders - The New York Community Trust, Altman Foundation, and New York State Health Foundation - have committed a total of $425,000 to establish the New York Vaccine Literacy Campaign and support the effort through the next 18 months. "We as New Yorkers and as a nation are at a crucial juncture in fighting a global pandemic that has erased lives and livelihoods. Unless we are able to engage every neighborhood in vaccine acceptance with respect and information, we leave ourselves vulnerable to variants and a shortfall of herd immunity," said Dr. Ayman El-Mohandes, Dean of CUNY SPH. "Hesitancy due to misinformation, bias or other causes should not prevent our city and the surrounding region from overcoming this crisis. This research will allow insights into a host of factors barring vaccination." The New York Vaccine Literacy Campaign is a component of the CONVINCE USA Initiative at CUNY SPH, led by Distinguished Lecturer Dr. Scott Ratzan. "Measuring sentiments from New Yorkers with specificity down to the community level will give us insights into the driving forces to bolster vaccine confidence and trust," said Dr. Ratzan. "CUNY SPH and the CONVINCE USA Initiative have a strong track record of surveying New Yorkers throughout the pandemic. Support from these three funders will allow us to advance vaccine literacy that ultimately will help support the vaccination efforts in the city and state." Trio of Funders Committed to New York's Health New York was unquestionably hit hard by the pandemic, and the collective funding of CUNY SPH by three key institutions will enable the school to survey New Yorkers for sentiments, establish an interactive dashboard display to visualize results, and work in collaboration with community leaders to build communications tools to establish trust and familiarity with vaccines and the vaccination process. "We are facing the greatest public health threat the country has seen in over a century," said Irfan Hasan, Deputy Vice President for Grants at the New York Community Trust. "Now, with a vaccine to immunize people against the Covid-19 virus, there is a chance to slow the spread of the virus and achieve herd immunity. It is of critical importance that all people choose to be vaccinated against the Covid-19 virus." "The rise of Covid-19 variants makes it critically important to address barriers to vaccination quickly and effectively," said Rachael N. Pine, JD, Senior Program Officer at the Altman Foundation. "This project promises to offer community groups, community vaccination sites, and even public health agencies a new resource -- one that will enable them to gauge whether hesitancy and distrust, access barriers, or both are the primary factors in disproportionately depressing vaccination rates by zip code. We are pleased to support CUNY SPH in this effort." "Understanding what New Yorkers think about the vaccine is crucial to building trust and increasing vaccine literacy and confidence," said Avital Havusha, Vice President for Programs, NYSHealth. "We need to meet people where they are and partner with communities to address vaccine hesitancy and connect New Yorkers to vaccines." "Covid-19 battered our city and New Yorkers were resilient enough to fight back, flatten the curve and help us return to some sense of pre-pandemic normalcy." said Dr. Lyndon Haviland, Chair of the CUNY SPH Foundation Board of Directors. "We cannot and will not get back to our way of life unless we all receive a vaccine. The Biden Administration has made these vaccines available to us faster than expected, and now we need to make sure New Yorkers understand the vaccine and trust in its safety." "We are deeply honored and humbled by this pioneering partnership to collaboratively support the school in this shared mission to end the pandemic," said Adam M. Doyno, Executive Director of the CUNY SPH Foundation. "This pandemic requires everyone to work together to end it. The CUNY SPH Foundation is pleased to play our role and work with these three funders to make a difference in New York's vaccination efforts." ### About New York Community Trust A public charity, The Trust is a grant making foundation dedicated to improving the lives of residents of New York City and its suburbs. We bring together individuals, families, foundations, and businesses to build a better community and support nonprofits that make a difference. We apply knowledge, creativity, and resources to the most challenging issues in an effort to ensure meaningful opportunities and a better quality of life for all New Yorkers, today and tomorrow. About Altman Foundation The mission of the Altman Foundation is to enrich the quality of life in New York City through support for programs and institutions that advance opportunity and equity for individuals, families, and communities. About the New York State Health Foundation The New York State Health Foundation (NYSHealth) is a private, statewide foundation dedicated to improving the health of all New Yorkers, especially the most vulnerable. Today, NYSHealth concentrates its work in two strategic priority areas: Empowering Health Care Consumers and Healthy Food, Healthy Lives. The Foundation is committed to making grants, informing health policy and practice, spreading effective programs to improve the health care system and the health of New Yorkers, serving as a convener of health leaders across the State, and providing technical assistance to its grantees and partners. About CUNY SPH The CUNY Graduate School of Public Health and Health Policy (CUNY SPH) is committed to teaching, research, and service that creates a healthier New York City and helps promote equitable, efficient, and evidence-based solutions to pressing health problems facing cities around the world. Located in Harlem, CUNY SPH is the top-ranked public school of public health in New York City, New York State, and the tristate region. About the CUNY SPH Foundation The CUNY SPH Foundation's mission is to advance the achievement of CUNY SPH's mission, vision, and values as New York City's public school of public health through fundraising, building strategic partnerships, and providing services as a champion for the school's students as they embark on public health careers and its faculty as they work to educate the next generation of public health professionals. For more information, contact: Lynthia Romney romneycom@gmail.com New Delhi, April 15 : India's cotton production is estimated at 360 lakh bales of 170 kg each for 2020-21, said the Cotton Association of India (CAI) on Thursday. The trade body has raised production estimates by 1.50 lakh bales while reducing the projection of cotton import by one lakh bales to 11 lakh bales. The CAI has increased the production estimate of cotton in 2020-21 (October-September) by 1,50,000 bales in north zone i.e. 50,000 bales each in Haryana, Upper Rajasthan and Lower Rajasthan. The trade body has retained its consumption estimate for the current crop year at the same level as estimated in the last month i.e. 330 lakh bales of 170 kgs each. There is an increase of 80 lakh bales in the cotton consumption estimate compared to the previous year's consumption estimate of 250 lakh bales of 170 kgs each. The consumption is estimated to reach its normal level this year after the disruptions and labour shortage caused on account of the lockdown imposed in the country to arrest the spread of the Covid-19 pandemic, said CAI. The estimate of cotton imports into India has been reduced by one lakh bales to 11 lakh bales from the previous month's import estimate of 12 lakh bales. The imports now estimated for the 2020-21 crop year are less by 4.50 lakh bales from 15.50 lakh bales estimated for the 2019-20 crop year. Upto March 31, 2021, about 7.50 lakh bales of 170 kgs each are estimated to have arrived at the Indian Ports, said the trade body. The estimate of cotton exports for the 2020-21 crop year has been retained at 60 lakh bales. Upto March 31, 2021, about 43 lakh bales are estimated to have been shipped, said CAI. As per the estimate, the closing stock of cotton as on September 30 this year will be 106 lakh bales. -- The story has been published from a wire feed without any modifications to the text To The Eagle: Once again, I am going back to the Big Lie, 45s big lie of fraudulent and stolen election. As I said before, it lives on in the form of voter suppression in almost every state, including this one! Washington State has had all-mail voting since 2012. Republican lawmakers put forward two bills to curb or end all-mail voting and require voters to affirmatively request absentee ballots. How the heck do the Republicans keep getting voted in? Republican lawmakers are against so many proposals, which have, even a majority Republican voters approval. H.R. 1: For the People Act of 2021. To require a background check for every firearm sale, 84% of voters, including 77% of Republicans, support requiring all gun purchasers to go through a background check. H.R. 6: American Dream and Promise Act of 2021. Voting rights legislation named for John Lewis stalled in Congress. All of those, because Mitch and Republicans refuse to pass anything that smells Democrat. End the fillibuster; give Mitch his due. He has installed over 300 right wing justices, with lifetime appointments, many not qualified, and mostly young, without 60 votes! Can someone tell me what the Republican platform was in the last election? No, there wasnt any, seriously. The Republican National Committee dispensed with producing a new platform, instead offering wholehearted support for 45! 45s administration cut hundreds of millions of dollars in aid to El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras, because thousands of their citizens had sought asylum at the U.S. border with Mexico. This aid has been restored, to hopefully make a difference for their people to stay. Id like to once again thank Biden for taking the virus seriously, unlike 45; 45 did though help get the vaccine produced, while not promoting it, getting the shot in private, why? Thank you also Wahkiakum Health Department; my wife and I have both our shots. Hope we can all band together and finish the covid battle, we are close. Spring is here; news is once again tolerable, enjoy life. God is good. Poul Toftemark Rosburg Source: Xinhua| 2021-04-15 22:24:25|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close WINDHOEK, April 15 (Xinhua) -- Namibian President Hage Geingob on Thursday called for a radical broad-based approach in dealing with the country's glaring inequality and skewed distribution of natural resources. Speaking at the State of the Nation Address, Geingob told parliament that Namibia is still faced with severe challenges of poverty among the majority of its people and called for all citizens to play their part in building the country. He said his government is pinning its hopes on the success of the second phase of the economic blueprint Harambee Prosperity Plan that he launched this year to boost the economy and also provide solace for the economically disadvantaged populace. According to Geingob, COVID-19 has had severe effects on the country's economic performance. "The COVID-19 pandemic has given us one of the toughest periods before but it has also given us an opportunity to strengthen our health care system. The effects of the pandemic on our populace cannot be underestimated," he said. Geingob called for unity of purpose among Namibians going forward as a way of finding a solution to the challenges faced by the country. Enditem Polling for the first phase of the Uttar Pradesh Panchayat elections will be held in 18 districts amid an unprecedented rise in COVID-19 cases, with Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath himself getting infected. Polling began at 7am and is set to last till 6pm on April 15, i.e., Thursday. The Uttar Pradesh panchayat elections, wherein over 5.56 lakh voters will exercise their right to vote, are being conducted in four phases from April 15-29. In this phase, over 3.33 lakh candidates are in the fray for over 2.21 lakh seats for posts of zila panchyat (district council) members, kshetra (block) panchayat members, village panchyat heads and wards. The 18 districts where voting will take place today are Ayodhya, Agra, Kanpur, Ghaziabad, Gorakhpur, Jaunpur, Jhansi, Allahabad, Bareilly, Bhadohi, Mahoba, Rampur, Raebareli, Shravasti, Sant Kabir Nagar, Saharanpur, Hardoi and Hathras. People stand in a queue at a polling booth in Ayodhya as they await their turn to cast vote for the first phase of Uttar Pradesh Panchayat polls. pic.twitter.com/XMfHokaTqr ANI UP (@ANINewsUP) April 15, 2021 Gorakhpur: Residents of Vantangia villages cast their votes for panchayat polls, for the first time ever. The villages were declared revenue village by CM Yogi Adityanath in 2018. Voting for the first phase of UP Panchayat polls are being held today. pic.twitter.com/kzfr5GmeZa ANI UP (@ANINewsUP) April 15, 2021 First phase of Uttar Pradesh Panchayat polls begins today. Visuals from Ajitpur Primary School - designated as a polling booth - in Rampur. pic.twitter.com/tnP4ahqdUa ANI UP (@ANINewsUP) April 15, 2021 Parties like the BJP, BSP, Samajwadi Party, Congress, AIMIM, Aam Aadmi party and the Bhim Army are contesting these elections, which are being seen as the semi-final before the 2022 UP Assembly elections. Voters will have to wear a face mask and maintain social distancing to curb COVID-19 transmission. Circles will be made at a distance of six-feet at polling centres to maintain social distancing. Counting of votes will take place on May 2. Additional Election Commissioner Ved Prakash Verma said COVID-19 safety norms will be observed while counting of votes and PPE kits will also be arranged as per requirement. Meanwhile, COVID-19 crisis continues to hit normal life in India's most populous state as over 1.11 lakh active cases were reported, which comprise 20,510 new COVID-19 cases and 4,517 recoveries in the last 24 hours. Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, his Officer on Special Duty (OSD) Abhishek Kaushik, Uttar Pradesh minister Ashutosh Tandon and Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav have tested positive for the novel coronavirus. Edited by Mehak Agarwal; with PTI inputs Also read: Liquor shops in Ghaziabad to remain shut between April 13-15 Also read: UP CM Yogi Adityanath tests positive for Covid, isolates himself NINGBO, China/BEIJING (Reuters) -Chinese automaker Geely, owner of Volvo Cars, on Thursday launched a high-end electric vehicle (EV) brand named Zeekr, targeting China's growing appetite for premium EVs that has boosted sales for Tesla and Chinese peer Nio. Parent Zhejiang Geely Holding Group and Geely Automobile said last month they would jointly invest 2 billion yuan ($306 million) in the new venture, seeking to position Zeekr as a startup under Geely group, also known overseas for its 9.7% stake in Germany's Daimler AG. The price tags for Zeekr cars will be around 300,000 yuan, and Flynn Chen, Zeekr's vice president, said the brand will explore new sales and marketing methods, including allowing customers to subscribe to car-using rights and offering a stake in the company to car buyers. Zhao Chunlin, general manager of Zeekr's production base in China's eastern city of Ningbo, said the plant, owned by Geely group, will have an annual manufacturing capacity of 300,000 electric vehicles. Zhao said the plant can produce six models on its production line, and can further expand production capabilities. Vice President Chen said Zeekr will use a direct-sales model to manage pricing and inventory. The brand plans to open more than 100 stores this year. Geely Automobile's parent group announced a flurry of tie-ups by Geely earlier this year as it pursues a goal of becoming a leading EV manufacturer and engineering service provider. ($1 = 6.5351 Chinese yuan renminbi) (Reporting by Yilei Sun and Tony Munroe; Editing by Kenneth Maxwell) Like other producers, she buckled down and focused on direct sales. After three or four tries, she was able to get a P.P.P. loan only with the help of an investor in her business, who had a private banker. Even so, business was difficult, but sales through the spring seemed enough to sustain her. A lot of things she feared did not come to pass. We were all doing whatever we could, she said. Then in August the fires struck. Instead of waiting to harvest grapes at peak ripeness, Ms. Stoumen said, she was forced to pick as soon as possible so that they would not be tainted by smoke from the fires. Some grapes could not be picked at all. The earlier harvest changed her winemaking plans. She was unable to produce the nuanced, age-worthy reds that are a significant part of her portfolio. The grapes would have had to ripen further and, as is the case with all red wines, the juice from the grapes would have had to macerate with the skins, which contain the color-producing pigments. Any taint from fires near harvest time, however, resides on the skins, making such macerations risky. Instead, she was compelled to produce roses and light reds, which, not incidentally, fetch lower prices. Her experience with the fires put other 2020 glitches into perspective. A worldwide shortage of shipping containers, caused by pandemic trade disruptions, postponed her plan to export wines to New Zealand, though the shortage also helped to boost consumption of domestic wines in the United States, she said. And she dismissed problems like getting timely shipments of bottles and corks as the sort of hiccups one might deal with in any year. KALAMAZOO, MI Police are investigating after a woman in a viral video alleged that more than a dozen people were drugged at a bar near Western Michigan Universitys campus. Kalamazoo Department of Public Safety Chief Vernon Coakley Jr. responded with a video statement on Thursday, April 15, saying several detectives have been assigned to investigate the allegations of drink tampering at Y Bar in Kalamazoo. The department is looking into multiple tips received in the past 24 hours, Coakley said. In the video, the woman speaking identifies the person she believes is responsible. The Gazette is not naming the person at this time, as police have not issued any criminal charges. An update from Chief Coakleyhttps://t.co/CDKMAdZWIe KDPS (@KalPublicSafety) April 15, 2021 The woman in the video said she posted the video as a warning to others. She said in the video she went with a group of women to the bar, and when they woke up the next day, none of them had any recollection of the night before. She said they later tested positive for opiates. Only one person was serving drinks to the group throughout the night, she said. The Kalamazoo Gazette is not posting the video here, out of privacy concerns for those involved. Police did not immediately respond to additional questions about the investigation, and whether they have previously investigated any similar complaints connected to the business. Kalamazoo Department of Public Safety Information Officer Ryan Bridges said it is an ongoing investigation, and police were fielding calls from multiple media sources Thursday. He said the department did not have additional information to release. WMU spokesperson Paula Davis said the location of Y Bar, at the intersection of Howard and West Michigan Avenue near the west entrance to WMUs campus, falls under the city of Kalamazoos police jurisdiction. She shared a message about the incident with WMUs public safety leadership. Kalamazoo City Commissioner Eric Cunningham posted on Facebook Thursday morning that elected officials have been notified of the allegations, and police were investigating. Read more: Whats new at Mackinac State Historic Parks for 2021 Hudsonville Ice Cream unveils summer flavors: American Fireworks, Blueberry Graham Delight Body of man swept from pier found in Lake Michigan The arrival of activist investor Elliott Management on the doorstep of Glaxosmithkline's glistening headquarters in Brentford has caught Emma Walmsley and her team on the hop. The pharmaceutical group is aware of investor disquiet about a lagging share price compared with peers on both sides of the Atlantic. The crossover in valuations between its main UK counterpart Astrazeneca and GSK, previously regarded as the UK's top rated big pharma group, has underlined perceived under-performance. Under pressure: GSK shares have been a disappointment, dropping 14 per cent since Emma Walmsley took the helm Walmsley has moved aggressively to change this. The choice of highly-rated Hal Barron to take charge of pharma and R&D with the aim of bringing new biotech skills to the table and speeding up new compounds has been part of that. It would be a huge step backwards were one of Elliott's demands be to pare back research spend, which is up 30 per cent since Walmsley's appointment as chief executive four years ago. She also listened to shareholder pressure to release value with the proposal, to be executed early next year, to split the group's cash-generating consumer healthcare arm from drugs and vaccines. A further division between pharma and vaccines has been resisted since it would involve in doubling up, among other things, on regulatory teams around the globe. It has been an acute disappointment that GSK's joint vaccine development with Sanofi came up with a dud first time around. It is worth noting, however, that this was never going to a profits gusher because GSK, similarly to AZ, made it clear that initially it was going to be a vaccine for humanity sold at close to cost. Perversely, though, the success of vaccine rollout by AZ, Pfizer, Moderna, Johnson & Johnson et al has hurt GSK. In recent times it has been the great vaccine innovator, developing the blockbuster Shingrix injection for shingles, a stream-lined inoculation treatment for HIV, the HPV vaccines against cervical cancer as well as a shot for some forms of meningitis. With health systems around the world working flat out to deliver Covid vaccinations in the hope of stemming the pandemic, other programmes notably the Shingrix jab have fallen by the wayside causing a revenue hit for GSK. The group's great breakthrough in the pandemic, a monoclonal antibody VIR-7831 for Covid infections developed with Vir Biotechnology, has received scant attention. Yet indications are remarkable, showing an 85 per cent efficacy in early treatment of Covid19 patients, guarding against hospitalisation and death in other words, a medicine which could halt the dangers from Covid in its tracks. The European Medicines Agency has just begun a review of the data which already is being examined at by the Food & Drug Administration in Washington. GSK is working on alternate ways to administer the compound which at present requires a jab. GSK's main financial advisers Citibank are well aware of the record of Elliott, which in the past has forced Softbank, Whitbread, BHP and eventually Akzo Nobel managements to change course. The threat may require Walmsley and the board to strengthen the defences by bringing in extra advisers experienced in dealing with activists. One curiosity is that in the past, Elliott has been very specific about its goals and has issued detailed manifestos making the case for change. So far there is no word as to what Elliott wants, although there is speculation around Walmsley's role after the split, a less generous dividend payout and clawback of R&D budgets. The is no escaping the fact that GSK shares (which I hold) have been a disappointment, dropping 14 per cent since Walmsley took the helm. This is in a period when AZ stock has advanced 40 per cent from an admittedly low start. Elliott may have ideas for extracting early gains, but cool heads should bear in mind that drug development is a long-term activity and anything which disrupts the UK's leadership in life sciences should be robustly challenged. Code breaking The City referee, the Takeover Panel, has a reputation for gnomic pronouncements, which has advisers scrambling for copies of its rulebook the City Code. In the latest change, included in Instrument 2021-22, the Panel is giving a nod to the 'woke' agenda. Appliances on Thursday said the industry is likely to contract 12-15 per centin 2020-21, compared to the previous year mainly due to the loss witnessed in June quarter and the worst hit was the air conditioner segment. Talking to reporters at a virtual press conference, Appliances Business Head and Executive Vice President Kamal Nandi said the company too faced challenges because of the unprecedented rise in commodity prices all across, which resulted in huge rise in input costs in air conditioners and refrigerators. "Roughly at an industry level we're expecting about 12-15 per cent de-growth at an overall level. And the worst hit has been the air conditioner segment, which is expected to de-grow somewhere around 30-35 per cent. And the reason behind this is the loss in first quarter, which contributes about 35-40 per cent to the overall revenue," he said. Nandi said high Customs duty also contributed to the rise in the input costs of printed circuit boards (PCBs), mainly used in compressors in air conditioners and refrigerators. However, he said, the future is bright with huge potential as the air conditioner category is growing following higher disposable income and soaring summer temperature. "Given that we are all working from home and this trend is expected to continue for some time, and therefore, to ensure a very comfortable and productive atmosphere at home and for kids attending online classes there is a need to have air conditioners at home. "I think that will also fuel demand very fast. Also we are seeing a new trend that is coming up. Given that there is an increasein awareness about health. I think consumers are now looking for more... appliances which are healthy for them and their families," Nandi said. Asked whether Maharashtra lockdown will affect sales, Nandi said, the state contributes about 10-12 per cent and another 3-4 per comes from Madhya Pradesh, however, the rest 85 per cent of the market is open and the company is seeing higher traction for sure. The company announced the launch of its range of 100 per cent 'Made in India' eco-friendly air conditioners with the added assurance of health. Driving its commitment towards 'Make in India', the brand has set up a new AC manufacturing unit at its Shirwal factory in Maharashtra. Over the last seven years, the brand has invested Rs 1,100 crore in capacity, R&D and technology expansion. "The brand has invested Rs 50 crore in capital, dedicated to machinery, tools infrastructure and backward integration for the air conditioner category, including AC heat exchanger coils and Indoor Units. "This will add 4 lakh units of AC production capacity at Shirwal in 2021. Another 4 lakh units of AC production capacity will be added in Mohali by 2025 with an additional similar investment, taking the total investment to Rs 100 crore," the company said in a statement. Appliances is also eyeing 10-12 per cent sales in the coming year from e-commerce channels, which is 5 per cent currently, Nandi said. "e-commerce channel is approximately 5 per cent. But as we progress in terms of development of an exclusive portfolio for the e-commerce channel, we are targeting approximately 10-12 per cent share of buyers from the e-commerce business in the coming year," 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.) Vodacom Group, part of Vodafone Group, will work with AUDA-NEPAD to build digital infrastructure to manage vaccinations across up to 55 countries, following successful deployments in South Africa - to manage Covid-19 vaccinations - and in Mozambique, Tanzania and Nigeria - to manage infant inoculations. The roll-out of mVacciNation, developed by Mezzanine, a member of the Vodacom Group, is the first project in a public-private partnership that has been formed between Vodacom Group and AUDA-NEPAD to boost Africas digital transformation and build resilience for the post-Covid world. Shameel Joosub, CEO of Vodacom Group, said: Vodacom has been at the forefront of helping governments where we operate to curb the spread of Covid-19. Making our mVacciNation platform available to all African countries will significantly enhance the continents digital health infrastructure for the long-term. Our contribution will improve the capability of African countries in this pandemic and beyond for vaccine distribution, management and surveillance, even in resource-constrained settings." Dr Ibrahim Mayaki, CEO of AUDA-NEPAD, said: The response to the Covid-19 crisis has significantly accelerated the adoption of frontier technologies. Africa's booming digital sector offers great opportunities for public-private partnerships to help build resilience in the aftermath of the Covid-19 crisis and respond to critical continental priorities. As the development agency for the African Union, we act as a channel to connect innovators and governments to roll-out and localise these solutions. mVacciNation has two core components and a control tower, to ensure people get the right vaccine, at the right place and time. A supply chain component provides real-time information for health workers of all available vaccines and medical equipment (like syringes and supplies) nationally. A beneficiary management component allows individuals to register on the platform and assigns them to vaccine service points on a specific day and time. A 'control tower' allows for the orchestration of stock to specific vaccination centres. Each time someone is vaccinated their digital record is updated and, if a further dose is required, mVacciNation automatically schedules and sends a follow-up date via SMS. Once vaccination is completed, the individual will receive electronic certification. Countries can link mVacciNation into their choice of temperature controlled supply chain (cold-chain), drug safety (pharmacovigilance) and vaccination travel passport platforms. AUDA-NEPAD, with a continental mandate and reach, will facilitate government engagement to link mVacciNation to policy and practice for accelerated roll-out of the solution to African Union Member States. South Africa is the first country that has started to utilise mVacciNation for Covid-19 vaccines through the National Department of Healths EVDS. Health workers are in the first wave to be vaccinated in that country. Nearly 279 000 Covid-19 vaccinations have been completed to date. Once installed, the mVacciNation platform will remain in place to help countries better manage future pandemics and other large-scale health programmes such as infant inoculations. mVacciNation has been utilised by the Ministries of Health in Tanzania, Mozambique, and Nigeria as they have sought to increase immunisation rates in children. Over 1.3 million vaccinations have been recorded in those countries of which 262,000 were children registered and vaccinated supported by mVacciNation. There will be a webinar for African Union Member States to share experiences and lessons learned in the roll-out of mVaccination on 21 April 2021. Interested parties can get more information about mVacciNation at www.mvaccination.com and register for the webinar here Source: Peacefmonline.com/Ghana Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority. Featured Video Thurrott.com points out a post on the Windows Blog today about a new beta version of Windows 10 with a curious feature removal among the listed bullet points. Microsoft: If you have your activity history synced across your devices through your Microsoft account (MSA), you will no longer have the option to upload new activity in Timeline. AAD-connected accounts wont be impacted. To view web history, Edge and other browsers have the option to look back at recent web activities. You can also view recently used files using OneDrive and Office. Microsoft has since updated the post to clarify that Timeline and the associated activity history will still be a part of Windows 10, but if you're using a Microsoft account it will only be available locally on that machine. It's not entirely clear what is behind the change, but as Thurrott points out, it also lost Android syncing late last year when Microsoft killed its launcher on the platform, so the potential for doom remains high. If you're not in the Insider beta program, a Microsoft support page mentions that cross-device syncing will go away for you in June, so anyone who uses it has a few months to prepare. Timeline was the "star" of Microsoft's fall 2018 update for Windows 10 (after a delay pulled it out of the earlier Creators Update) and while it will still remember everything you did, it just won't save that information to the cloud anymore. Paul Simon Institute to host virtual talk with Illinois poet laureate CARBONDALE, Ill. Illinois Poet Laureate Angela Jackson will discuss her writing and her vision of Illinois in a virtual conversation next week hosted by the Paul Simon Public Policy Institute at Southern Illinois University Carbondale. Jackson will join institute director John Shaw for the discussion at 10 a.m. Thursday, April 22, via Zoom. Shaw said he will ask Jackson about her life story and teaching career as well as her work as the states poet laureate. Gov. J.B. Pritzker in November selected Jackson to serve as the states fifth poet laureate. Jackson was raised on Chicagos South Side and attended Northwestern University and the University of Chicago. She has published four collections of poetry, and her forthcoming More Than Meat and Raiment: Poems will be released later this year. She is also a playwright and novelist and for 20 years was a member of the Organization of Black American Culture Writers Workshop. She has won several prestigious literary awards, including the American Book Award and Pushcart Prize. Angela Jackson is a state treasure, Shaw said. She is a celebrated poet, novelist, biographer, playwright and professor whose work demonstrates the importance of vivid writing and inspirational literature to American life. Registration is open The event part of the Simon Institutes Understanding Our New World series of virtual conversations is free and open to the public. Registration is required to receive the information to join the Zoom webinar. The Simon Institute encourages attendees to send questions for Jackson either by email to paulsimoninstitute@siu.edu or in the Questions and Comments section on the registration form. For more information, visit paulsimoninstitute.org/event-information. The government on Thursday informed the that it would hold online examinations for students with arrear papers, making a u-turn from the earlier cancellation of such exams. In a volte face from its earlier order passed in August last year, cancelling the arrear exams in view of the pandemic prevailing then, state Advocate General Vijay Narayan told the first bench of Chief Justice Sanjib Banerjee and Justice Senthilkumar Ramamoorthy that no student would be declared pass without writing the online exams. "We have decided to abide by the guidelines of the University Grants Commission (UGC) and it would be mandatory for all the students, who have arrears, to attend the online exams," the AG said. Recording this submission, the bench directed the government to hold the exam, declare the results and issue the certificates within eight weeks. The matter stands adjourned till the second week of July, by which time all the Universities shall file reports after conducting the exams online. The bench was passing further interim orders on two PIL petitions-- one from advocate Ramkumar Adityan and the other from Anna University former Vice Chancellor E Balagurusamy. The PILs sought to quash the GO. On April 7, the judges had observed that the August 2020 government order was nothing but an uninformed political decision, which had led to chaos. It had directed the state government and the UGC to put their heads together to suggest any ameliorative measure that could be taken for holding the online exam or some other method. [April 15, 2021] Avid Service Awards Honours Top Homebuilder Employees in Canada Avid Ratings proudly announces the 8th Annual Avid Service Awards, recognizing the top homebuilding professionals in the United States and Canada. The Avid Service Awards were created to honour employees who received exemplary customer satisfaction scores amongst the thousands of employees rated in the AvidCX survey program. The Avid Service Award is widely considered to be a premier award for homebuilding professionals. The winners of the 8th Annual Avid Service Award are selected according to customer satisfaction scores directly tied to performance on the AvidCX survey, provided they had a representative sample of more than 12 completed surveys over a 12-month period. The results were based on surveys taken by customers who closed on new homes between January 2020 and December 2020. Employees selected have scored in the top 5% of Avid's national customer satisfaction database for their respective roles. "Creating customer advocates requires a shift from a transactional to a relational experience throughout the customer journey," said Tim Bailey, chief strategy officer, Avid Ratings. "This relies heavily on the skills and expertise of employees and it is a privilege to recognize top-performing individuals in the building industry with our Service Awards." With in-person communication taking a back seat this year due to the pandemic, high levels of service have been difficult to achieve. However, those who are successful learn to adapt and this year has been a testament to that ability," said Zach Buehl, vice president of client success. "Avid Service Awards this year may be our most difficult to achieve simply because of the challenges we saw, but that just means that everyone should be proud of their accomplishments regardless of winning or not. Avid Ratings is incredibly happy to present the Avid Service Awards as recognition of the perseverance of individuals during difficult times." Winners will receive access to a press kit that will include the official Avid Service Award badge that employees may display in their email signature and on their letterhead. For a list of winners and more information about the Avid Service Awards, please visit https://www.avidratings.com/avid-service-awards/. About Avid Ratings Canada Avid Ratings Canada is the leading resource for building quality in the world. Dedicated to the homebuilding industry, Avid helps companies build better customer experiences by gaining powerful consumer insights and deep customer feedback through a proprietary customer experience platform. Avid Ratings was named a Top 5 Sales Tool by BUILDER magazine, a Brilliance Award recipient by TecHome Builder, and also featured as a Top Product by Constructech Magazine. For more information, please visit www.avidratings.ca. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210415005259/en/ [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] The number of ceasefire violations in the conflict zone in eastern Ukraine recorded over the past two weeks has reached its highest level this year and was three times higher than over the same period before. Special Representative of the OSCE Chairperson-in-Office in Ukraine and in the Trilateral Contact Group (TCG), Ambassador Heidi Grau, said this in a statement after the regular meetings of the TCG and its Working Groups held through video conferencing on April 14. She noted that the meetings took place against the background of an increased number of ceasefire violations. According to the SMM, the number of violations recorded over the past two weeks has reached its highest level this year and was three times higher than over the same period before. This is also having a negative impact on our work, Grau said. According to the ambassador, the last two weeks have also seen a significant increase in restrictions and impediments to the freedom of movement of the OSCE SMM and the fulfillment of its mandate. Nine out of ten of the SMM's long-range UAV flights have been affected by jamming. The discussion with regard to the Coordination Mechanism for Responding to Ceasefire Violations will continue at future meetings of the Security Working Group. However, it should be noted that effective implementation of this mechanism will only be possible if there is political will to significantly reduce the number of ceasefire violations on both sides of the line of contact. Again, procedural issues dominated the discussions of the participants in the meeting of the Political Working Group, which hindered progress towards the development of an action plan in full compliance with the Minsk agreements under the tasking given by the TCG. The Humanitarian Working Group focused on removing obstacles to the simultaneous opening of new crossing points near Zolote and Shchastia of the Luhansk region. The Working Group also discussed issues related to the mutual release and exchange of conflict-related detainees. The meeting of the Economic Working Group focused on provision of pension payments to persons with limited mobility residing in certain areas of Donetsk and Luhansk regions (CADLR) of Ukraine. Also, important topics of water supply across the contact line in Donetsk and Luhansk regions, environmental issues and provision of mobile communications in CADLR were duly considered. The next meeting of the Trilateral Contact Group for the Peaceful Settlement of the Conflict in Donbas is scheduled for April 28. ish China firmly opposes any form of official ties between U.S., Taiwan: spokesperson Xinhua) 13:37, April 15, 2021 BEIJING, April 14 (Xinhua) -- China has lodged solemn representations with the United States over the U.S. government sending a delegation to the Taiwan region, a Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson said Wednesday. Spokesperson Zhao Lijian made the remarks at a press briefing when commenting on U.S. President Joe Biden sending a delegation of former U.S. officials to Taiwan, scheduled to visit the island from Wednesday to Friday. Reiterating China's firm opposition to any form of official contact between the United States and Taiwan, Zhao noted that this position is consistent and clear. "We urge the United States side to strictly abide by the one-China principle and the three China-U.S. joint communiques, immediately stop any form of official contacts between the United States and Taiwan, prudently handle Taiwan-related issues, and refrain from sending any wrong signals to the 'Taiwan independence' separatist forces so as to avoid further damage to China-U.S. relations and peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait," the spokesperson said. (Web editor: Shi Xi, Liang Jun) EDWARDSVILLE A Bethalto woman faces multiple drug charges, one day after similar charges were filed against her. Kaitlyn R. Rexford, 24, was charged April 14 with one count of unlawful possession of methamphetamine, a Class 3 felony; and two counts of unlawful possession of a controlled substance, both Class 4 felonies. The charges are based on an April 13 incident. On April 13 Rexford was charged with two counts of unlawful possession of methamphetamine, both Class 3 felonies. Those charges were based on incidents July 7 and Jan. 1. Both cases were presented by the Alton Police Department. In the newest charges, according to court documents alleged that on April 13 Rexford was found to be in possession of less than five grams of methamphetamine; and less than 15 grams each of heroin and cocaine. Bail was set at $25,000. According to court documents related to the April 13 charges, on July 7 and Jan. 1 she had been found to be in possession of less than five grams of methamphetamine. Bail had been set at $15,000 on Tuesdays charges. Other drug-related felony charges filed April 14 by the Madison County States Attorneys Office include: Larry R. Maher, 36, of Roxana, was charged with unlawful possession of methamphetamine, a Class 3 felony, and unlawful possession of a controlled substance, a Class 4 felony. The case was presented by the Alton Police Department. On April 13 Maher allegedly was found to be in possession of less than five grams of methamphetamine and less than 15 grams of heroin. Bail was set at $15,000. Adam J. Rauschkolb, 31, of Alton, was charged with unlawful possession of methamphetamine, a Class 2 felony. The case was presented by the Alton Police Department. On June 26 Rauschkolb allegedly was found to be in possession of more than five grams of methamphetamine. Bail was set at $30,000. Kayla J. Sumpter, 33, of Bethalto, was charged with unlawful possession of methamphetamine, a Class 3 felony. The case was presented by the Alton Police Department. On June 26 Sumpter allegedly was found to be in possession of less than five grams of methamphetamine. Bail was set at $15,000. Clinton E. Lefler, 52, of Perryville, Missouri, was charged with unlawful possession of methamphetamine, a Class 3 felony. The case was presented by the Bethalto Police Department. On Nov. 20 Lefler allegedly was found to be in possession of less than five grams of methamphetamine. Bail was set at $15,000. Austin J. Nuedecker, 23, of Alton, was charged with unlawful possession of a controlled substance, a Class 4 felony. The case was presented by the Granite City Police Department. On April 13 Nuedecker allegedly was found to be in possession of less than 15 grams of Alprazolam. Bail was set at $15,000. The surge in cases in Michigan has reached levels of the winter surge and has seen daily new-case totals of more than 10,000 according to data tracked by the New York Times. The number of new cases over the last week is the worst rate in the country when population is taken into account. ADAMS Through a dreary, sometimes heavy rain, hundreds of Berkshire County residents lined the streets Thursday to pay tribute to one of their own: U.S. Capitol Police Officer William Billy Evans, who was killed in the line of duty earlier this month. Although few in the crowd said they knew Evans or his family, they turned out anyway to show their respect. This is what small towns do, said Adams resident Jim Dynes. Evans, 41, was killed April 2 when he and another Capitol Police officer, standing in front of a steel barricade near the Russell Senate Office Building, were struck when a driver intentionally rammed the barrier, authorities said. The other officer survived. Police shot and killed the driver. Evans is the second Capital Police officer to die in the line of duty this year. Officer Brian D. Sicknick died following the Jan. 6 riots, when supporters of former President Donald J. Trump stormed Congress. A ceremony for Evans Tuesday at the Capitol Rotunda included a eulogy by President Joe Biden. Evans laid in state in a flag-draped coffin one of highest honors granted a private citizen, and one usually reserved for presidents, congressional leaders and military heroes. Several members of Congress also paid their respects. A funeral mass for slain U.S. Capitol Police Officer William 'Billy' Evans was held at Saint Stanislaus Kostka Church in Adams Thursday, April 15, 2021.Don Treeger / The Republican The hundreds who stood in the rain in Adams came out to do the same. Dynes stood under a storefront overhang with Starr and Patricia Baker more than 30 minutes before the funeral procession passed by. When the hearse carrying Evans body drove slowly down the street, on its way from the Mass at St. Stanislaus Kostka Church to Bellevue Cemetery, Dynes and the Bakers left the overhangs protection to stand in the rain by the side of the road. Were here to support his family, said Patricia Baker. None of them knew Evans or his family. Dynes said he knew of Evans late father, and heard he was a terrific bowler. But knowing or not knowing them was beside the point, Patricia Baker said. All I know is what happened is really tragic, she said. This guy was all about helping everyone and he lost his life doing it. 27 Funeral for U.S. Capitol Police Officer William 'Billy' Evans At the other end of Park Street, across from the town post office, Kim Peters stood on the side of the road under an umbrella as the funeral procession rolled by. She said she had also been in North Adams Wednesday night, when the hearse arrived at the funeral home after Evans coffin was flown from Washington, D.C. to Bradley International Airport. Coming out Wednesday night, and in the rain Thursday, was just something she had to do to show her support. Were a close town, a close-knit town, she said. Evans, a native of North Adams, grew up in Clarksburg and graduated from Drury High School in 1998. He attended Western New England College, then the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center, and became an officer with the Capitol Police in March 2003. Springfield Police Commissioner Cheryl C. Clapprood, who taught criminal justice courses at Western New England University, recalled having Evans in one of her classes years ago. When she learned he had a connection to the university, and saw his photo, she remembered his smile. Any time a police officer is killed in the line of duty it hurts, but even more so when it hits so close to home, Clapprood said Thursday. I pray for his family and thank Officer Evans for his dedicated service and obeying his oath by putting innocent lives ahead of his own. Rest in peace Billy. Springfield police sent four officers and had cruisers in the procession. Officers from departments across the state, including the Boston Police Department and Massachusetts State Police, attended. About 50 police motorcycles escorted the hearse to the cemetery. At the end of the church service, which was closed to the press, dozens of police officers and state troopers stood at attention as a pipe and drum corps played and the coffin was carried to the hearse. In the history of the Capitol building, only six private citizens have lain in state in the Rotunda, and four of them were members of the Capitol Police. They are Evans and Sicknick, and officers Jacob Chesnut and John Gibson, who were killed by a gunman inside the capitol in 1998. The other two are the Rev. Billy Graham and civil rights leader Rosa Parks. Evans is survived by two children, Logan and Abigail, their mother Shannon Terranova, his mother Janice Evans, and a sister, Julie Kucyn. He was buried at Bellevue Cemetery in Adams where his father, Howard Evans, is also buried. Company News: With the pandemic wreaking havoc on patient anxiety and distress, patient engagement is emerging as one of the most important priorities, with more health professionals increasingly turning to technology for help. A recent survey found 71% of medical professionals reported an increase in patient anxiety or distress since the onset of the pandemic, and 50% saw an increase in patient appointment confusion and no-shows. Understanding the key pillars of healthcare I often talk about three key pillars in healthcare. The first pillar is information at the point of care. This is about getting the latest and most important information into Clinicians hands wherever they might be working, as well as into the hands of support staff and patients, to better support the care provider and help improve the outcome, empower patients in their own care, and help doctors be more efficient. The second pillar is patient engagement. The patient, more than ever, wants to be involved in their care journey. They dont choose to be sick but when they get sick, they want the best possible care and they want to be involved in their care journey. The patient is a well-informed consumer and they will be asked about their experience with your practice and they want transparency. Patient engagement is no longer a nice to have and the more you can leverage technology to drive engagement, the more appreciative and loyal your patients will be. And the third important pillar is connectivity a connected care model. The Australian healthcare system is built on referrals. As the patient navigates through the care system, it is our responsibility to work collectively within the space with the single aim of a single episode of care. The path to that utopia is connectivity and across the healthcare system and allowing patients control over the appropriate sharing of their personal data as needed. This connectivity creates continuity of care across the sector. This is one of the most powerful ways in which cloud software providers can add value to one of the best healthcare sectors in the world. Contactless Environment of care The pandemic has also shown the need for contactless healthcare. Practices want to minimise exposure for their staff and their patients and one of helping is to leverage technology to allow some of the work to be completed from home. Whether it is the patient that completes their registration process or paying through their portal or whether it is staff performing some of their work duties remotely, either way as a technologically advanced practice you are creating a safer environment. How technology can make a difference As we move further into prioritising patient engagement and connected care, it is a technology that will make the difference. Practices are looking towards technology to answer some of these patient engagement questions. Simultaneously, doctors are looking to make their businesses more efficient and safer for both patients and staff. With the rise of cloud technology and mobile-friendly health solutions, patients can now use their smartphone to pre-register with a practice, manage bookings, access test results and much more, in an effort to create efficiencies at the front desk and a contactless environment for both patients and practice staff. At the same time, clinicians can review information on-the-go and involve patients more easily in important conversations regarding their care plans or test results, without having to be physically present in a clinic. Due to the power of cloud medical practice software, staff can easily work remotely while taking appointments, taking bookings, completing information, managing referrals and billing. Meanwhile, other staff members can still be working in the clinic greeting patients. Automation, workflow improvements and the patient experience Automation within a medical practice is not just about sending out a reminder email to a patient about an upcoming appointment, it's much more than that. Cloud systems that support workflow improvement and automation in healthcare help improve efficiencies, reduce information transmission error within the clinic, help with better time management and make administrative tasks more efficient. These benefits, in turn, help doctors and medical staff have more time for patient care. The best digital platforms allow for easy information management, decision support, better workflows and allow for sharing with the patient themselves and create more transparency. Cloud-based platforms that are accessible via mobile devices means that information can be reviewed on the go, 24/7 from their devices as needed, allowing for faster and more informed responses to patients in need. We all know that Physicians and Surgeons are in high-pressure jobs and are expected to know their patients and make the right decisions, therefore this kind of technology is at the very least helping ease their stress. These tools effectively enable collaborative, real-time care, ensuring multiple care providers can simultaneously evaluate crucial and current patient information ultimately leading to better patient outcomes. The new portal into patient care Practices that utilise patient portals are already seeing improved levels of patient engagement and patient accountability for their health. A portal that is accessible on any device also allows for critical elements of information delivery to be fast-tracked, such as sharing test results post-doctor review. A Patient Portal that helps patients manage their appointments also helps reduce no-shows and gives patients access to upload documents or referrer information as well as access to medications or results as and when they come in. Quick tips to help boost continuity of care and prevent no-shows through technology: Enact a Patient Portal that helps patients be engaged, manage their appointments on any device and help them reduce their anxiety around their care journey. Provide health information at the point of care, as well as remotely. Give patients access to test results, where appropriate, delivered online. Automatic payment processing via the portal serves for a better patient experience and reduce debtors and overhead at the front desk. Enact SMS or Email auto-reminders for appointments and follow-up to reduce no-shows. Provide the ability to upload personal details straight to a secure online portal prior to an appointment. About Clinic to Cloud Clinic to Cloud is the leading cloud-based Clinical and Practice Management Software in Australia. With a vision to build a connected care ecosystem, Clinic to Cloud supports over 7,200 healthcare professionals who service 3.66 million patients. Clinic to Cloud is dedicated to revolutionising the way practices manage and deliver health care, with industry-leading workflow innovations, multi-device enabled applications and decision support, to help deliver exceptional experiences for practices and patients. Find out more about Clinic to Clouds innovative solutions at clinictocloud.com Current Print Subscribers will be prompted to either login to their current site user account or to create a new one. A confirmation email will be sent when a new user account is created, which must be confirmed within three days in order to provide uninterrupted online access through your Print Subscription. Once the email address is confirmed please provide your Account Number to activate your Print Subscription Service. The very fact that this is a pattern, and that the constant threat of deadly police violence is a reality of daily life in America for Black and brown people, is a sin that cries out to heaven for justice..." Today Catholics for Choice, which uplifts and amplifies the voices of the majority of Catholics who believe in reproductive freedom, issued the following statement from President Jamie L. Manson regarding the police shooting of 20-year-old Daunte Wright in Brooklyn Center, Minnesota, on Sunday and the police brutality inflicted upon Caron Nazario during a December traffic stop in Windsor, Virginia: Our hearts are broken today over the horrifying and senseless police shooting of Daunte Wright in Minnesota last weekend. Yet again, a mother is forced to bury her son. Yet again, a child will grow up robbed of their father. Yet again, a community convulses with anger and grief. And yet again, another unarmed Black man has been murdered at the hands of so-called law-enforcement. The very fact that this is a pattern, and that the constant threat of deadly police violence is a reality of daily life in America for Black and brown people, is a sin that cries out to heaven for justice and should outrage every single person with even a shred of morality, compassion, and basic human decency. The history of policing in this country is written in the blood, sweat, and tears of Black and brown Americans, who are disproportionately and systematically targeted by the law enforcement and criminal justice systems at every level from racial profiling and police violence to disparities in arrests, sentencing, and incarceration. And as the verbal abuse, excessive force, and pepper-spraying endured by U.S. Army Lt. Caron Nazario at a Virginia traffic stop proves, not even the uniform of the United States military offers protection from violent assault and humiliation at the hands of police. At Catholics for Choice, we believe that Black Lives Matter is a moral imperative. We denounce the evil of white supremacy in all its forms the original sin of this nation, committed moment after moment, day after day, across generations and centuries against the lives, bodies, families, and communities of Black and brown people. We demand justice for all its victims, including Daunte Wright and Lt. Caron Nazario. We call for the dismantling of structural racism and white supremacy in every institution of our society, from law enforcement, criminal justice and health care to the church, the school and the family. And we commit to being an organization that recognizes the interconnections between racism, xenophobia, misogyny, ableism, homophobia and transphobia, and attacks on reproductive rights and justice, and that fights for an end to them all around the world, across the country, in our communities, and within ourselves. ### Catholics for Choice shapes and advances sexual and reproductive ethics that are based on justice, reflect a commitment to a persons well-being and respect, and affirm the capacity of all people to make moral decisions about their lives. ALMATY, Kazakhstan -- Jailed Kazakh activist Kenzhebek Abishev, who started a hunger strike several days ago protesting the cancellation of his release on parole and prison conditions, was rushed overnight to hospital in a critical condition. Abishev's lawyer, Gulnar Zhuaspaeva, told RFE/RL on April 15 that an ambulance brought her client to the Qapshaghai City Hospital overnight. According to her, physicians diagnosed Abishev, who was recognized by human rights groups as a political prisoner, with coronary heart disease. Zhuaspaeva quoted the hospitals doctor, Zubaira Sarsenova, as saying that Abishev's current condition had improved to "stable." An opposition activist, Rysbek Sarsenbaiuly, told RFE/RL that Abishev did not stop his hunger strike, adding that he and other activists urged him via the hospital window to end it to stay alive. Sarsenbaiuly said he and his colleagues will demand authorities restore the court decision on Abishev's early release on parole. Abishev, who was jailed for being linked to a political movement founded by a fugitive tycoon, launched the hunger strike on April 11 and wrote an open letter to President Qasym-Zhomart Toqaev asking him to intervene in his case. In his letter, Abishev called the cancellation of the court decision to release him on parole in February and the case against him "illegal," adding that his medical conditions -- heart and respiratory problems -- had worsened due to the lack of proper medical treatment in prison. There have been no official statements regarding Abishev's hunger strike either by Kazakhstans Penitentiary Service or the Prosecutor-Generals Office. On February 1, the Qapshaghai City Court in Kazakhstan's south ruled that Abishev can be released on February 16, more than three years early, for good behavior while in prison, a procedure allowed by Kazakh laws. However, the Almaty regional prosecutors office appealed the ruling at the very last moment, arguing that the 53-year-old activist's good behavior in custody was not enough for his release since he still has more than three years to serve. The court then scrapped the move, leaving Abishev in prison. Abishev was sentenced to seven years in prison in December 2018 after he and two other activists were found guilty of planning a "holy war" because they were spreading the ideas of the banned Democratic Choice of Kazakhstan (DVK) movement. His prison term was later cut by eight months. Abishev pleaded not guilty, calling the case against him politically motivated. The DVK was founded by Mukhtar Ablyazov, an outspoken critic of the Kazakh government who has been residing in France for several years. Ablyazov has been organizing unsanctioned anti-government rallies in Kazakhstan via the Internet in recent years. In Louisiana, more than one million people are now fully vaccinated against the novel coronavirus, according to a noon update from the Louisiana Department of Health. There are 1,035,070 people who are fully vaccinated and 1,410,286 people who have received at least one dose of a vaccine. As of Thursday's update, 100,522 more doses of COVID vaccines have been administered statewide. A total of 2,355,822 doses have been given. Most of those shots are part of the two-dose regimen recommended for the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines, which is why the total number of people who have received at least one dose is lower than the total number of doses. Out of Louisiana's entire estimated population, 30.34% of people have received at least one dose and 22.27% of people are fully vaccinated. The Louisiana Department of Health reported 511 more confirmed coronavirus cases and three more confirmed deaths in its noon update Thursday. The number of hospitalizations increased by 13, and the number of patients in need of ventilators decreased by four. These are another few key statewide statistics as of Thursday: Total confirmed cases: 384,292 Total "probable" cases: 67,184 Total confirmed deaths: 9,388 Hospitalized: 338 On ventilators: 45 Vaccine series initiated: 1,410,286 (updated twice weekly) Vaccine series completed: 1,035,070 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 Note: The Advocate and The Times-Picayune staff calculates daily case count and confirmed death increases based on the difference between today's total and yesterday's total of confirmed coronavirus cases and deaths. The Louisiana Department of Health releases a daily case count on its dashboard that includes probable cases as indicated by a positive antigen test. That case count can be different than the one listed here. Here are some of the parishes with the highest single-day increase in confirmed coronavirus cases, based on the Thursday report: East Baton Rouge: 87 Livingston: 44 Jefferson: 39 Ascension: 35 Caddo: 34 Lafayette: 33 Orleans: 25 Can't see chart below? Click here. Can't see chart below? Click here. Louisiana began reopening for Phase 1 on May 15-16 then moved to Phase 2 on June 5. Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards extended Louisiana's Phase 2 restrictions twice in August before moving the state to Phase 3 on Sept. 11. The governor then moved the state back to a modified Phase 2 near the end of November before putting Louisiana back in a modified Phase 3 on March 2, 2021. This is a developing story. More details and analysis to come. Job seekers can tune in to a free workshop on interview skills put on by Brainfuse, a free service provided by the Jefferson Parish Library. Ashley Watkins, a nationally certified resume writer and nationally certified online profile expert, will conduct the seminar at 4 p.m. April 28. Attendees must register. Space is limited. Registration link: attendee.gotowebinar.com/register/6300374664512939535 The workshop will cover four key areas to help job hunters ace their next job interview: Ways to prepare for virtual and in-person job interviews no matter your career level Tips for researching employers and requesting your desired salary How to interpret and answer the most common interview questions Strategies for following up after the interview and asking for feedback. The email address requirement is for registration confirmation, reminder and post-workshop survey. Brainfuse will not market to patrons or use their contact information for any other purpose. LIT BITS: Do you know where the remains of Alexandre Dumas, author of "The Three Musketeers" and "The Count of Monte Cristo," are buried? They can be found in the Pantheon, Paris' domed mausoleum where more than 60 French dignitaries of the arts, politics and sciences are buried. His remains lie alongside fellow author Victor Hugo ("Les Miserables" and "The Hunchback of Notre Dame") and Nobel Prize-winning physicist Marie Curie. The great French author, self-educated and the grandson of a Haitian slave, died in 1870 in Normandy and was buried there because the Franco-Prussian War prevented his burial in Villers-Cotterets. Two years later, Dumas' son moved his body to his hometown after the war ended. They were moved to the Pantheon in November 2002 by order of French President Jacques Chirac. We know this information because it's on one of the librarys databases devoted to literature. The library has the following free databases devoted to authors and literature. Gale Literary Sources: Gale brings together formerly separate literary resources into a single research environment that provides a way to search across a wide array of materials and points in time and discover new ways to analyze content. Academic Search Complete: The world's most comprehensive scholarly, multidisciplinary full-text database, it has more than 7,100 full-text periodicals and includes more than 6,100 peer-reviewed journals. Book Collection: Nonfiction: Nonfiction is a rich research database for school and public libraries. It contains informative abstracts and searchable full text for more than 4,100 popular nonfiction books. Gale Virtual Reference Library: It includes literary criticism, author biographies and business resources, as well as Twayne's and Scribner. Humanities International Complete: You'll find full text of hundreds of journals, books and other published sources from around the world. It includes all data from Humanities International Index (more than 2,100 journals and 2.47 million records) plus unique full text content, much of which is not found in other databases. Literacy Reference Center (Advanced): This is a comprehensive literary reference database, which gives users a broad spectrum of reference information from antiquity to the present. It combines information from over 1,000 books and monographs, major literary encyclopedias and reference works, hundreds of literary journals, and unique sources not available anywhere else. MasterFILE Premier: Designed specifically for public libraries, this multidisciplinary database provides full text for nearly 1,700 general reference publications with full text information dating as far back as 1975. To access any of these services, go to the library website, click on the database tab at the top of the page, then click on the Literature tab in white near the top of the page. POETRY TALK: Two Louisiana poets will talk about the importance of poetry at 6 p.m. April 26 via videoconference. Visit www.jplibrary.net/adults for more details, including how to join the discussion. Peter Cooley, director of creative writing, professor of English, and Senior Mellon Professor in the Humanities at Tulane University, will discuss his new book, "That One Certain Thing." Skye Jackson is an MFA candidate in poetry at the University of New Orleans Creative Writing Workshop, where she works with Bayou Magazine. Her work has appeared in the Delta Literary Journal and Thought Catalog. Her chapbook "A Faster Grave" was published in 2019. COMPUTER CLASSES: Receive free computer training at the East Bank Regional Library, 4747 W. Napoleon Ave., Metairie. Seating is limited, and online registration is required. Visit the computer classes page at www.jplibrary.net/training and click East Bank Regional Schedule. Masks must be worn and social distancing is required. Upcoming classes include: One-on-One Slots in Basic Computer Skills: 2 p.m. to 3:30 p.m. April 21 MINDS (Mouse, internet, Navigation, and Digital Self-Sufficiency) in Beginning Computer Skills: 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. April 22 Introduction to Microsoft Word 2: 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. April 23 Introduction to Microsoft Excel 3: 10 a.m. to noon April 26 One-on-One Slots in Basic Computer Skills: 10 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. April 28 Upskilling for Job Hunters: 2 p.m. to 3:30 p.m. April 29 Chris Smith is manager of adult programming at the Jefferson Parish Public Library. An 11-month-old baby girl who was tragically found dead inside the grounds of a private school was accidentally left inside a car by her mother, police believe. Detectives think the mother was in the process of dropping off or collecting another child at an after-hours childcare facility when the tragic accident unfolded. The school, Kingsway Christian College in Darth, Perth, is yet to publicly comment on the disturbing discovery made on Wednesday afternoon. An 11-month-old baby was tragically found dead on the grounds of Kingsway Christian College in Darth, Perth on Wednesday (pictured) How long the baby was allegedly left unattended in the car is not known, The West Australian reported. The school is well-known in Western Australia, with tuition costing upwards of $10,000 per year. On Thursday morning, West Australian Police said a person was assisting them with the investigation but they offered no further detail about the person in question. Three crews from St John Ambulance Service attended at the campus just after 5.40pm on Wednesday after the baby's body was found. Who called authorities was not publicly revealed. Forensics officers were also on the scene and appeared to focus on one classroom in particular. They also paid close attention to a white van which was on the campus and eventually towed away by police about midnight. Officers continued to search the area using torch light late into Wednesday evening. The school, 17km north of Perth's CBD, is a co-educational school with pupils from kindergarten to Year 12. Major Crime squad detectives were at the scene late on Wednesday and were focusing on a portable classroom and a white van (stock image) The school is closed due to the Easter school holidays, but an after-hours daycare was open earlier on Wednesday. Children were coming and going for much of the day before the body was found. The centre reopened on Thursday, with the college confirming holiday care and daycare activities were running as usual. Western Australian Police told Daily Mail Australia investigations are ongoing. 04/15/2021 Photo (c) agrobacter - Getty Images Coronavirus (COVID-19) tally as compiled by Johns Hopkins University. (Previous numbers in parentheses.) Total U.S. confirmed cases: 31,439,683 (31,350,848) Total U.S. deaths: 564,557 (563,520) Total global cases: 138,489,227 (137,603,448) Total global deaths: 2,976,972 (2,962,611) CDC says nearly 6,000 vaccinated Americans got COVID-19 None of the COVID-19 vaccines is 100% effective, so it might not be surprising that some vaccinated people end up being infected with the virus. The CDC puts the number at around 5,800 people. To date, no unexpected patterns have been identified in case demographics or vaccine characteristics," the CDC told CNN via email. Although clinical trial data suggested that vaccinations reduced the seriousness of infections, the CDC reports that 74 Americans died of COVID-19 despite being vaccinated. Seven percent of the 5,800 people were treated in hospitals. No speedy resumption of Johnson & Johnson vaccinations There wont be a quick resumption of COVID-19 vaccinations with the Johnson & Johnson vaccine. A Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) advisory committee said it needs to see more data before making a decision. The committee has to decide whether six severe blood clot cases are linked to the vaccine and, if so, whether that constitutes an acceptable level of risk. So far, more than 7 million people have received the shot. Six women between the ages of 18 and 48, all of whom received the vaccine and had low platelet counts, developed severe brain blood clots. One woman died. Job market continues to show fewer layoffs The latest data from the government suggests that businesses are doing more hiring and fewer layoffs. The Labor Department reports that initial claims for unemployment benefits plunged last week, falling by 193,000 to 576,000. Last weeks jobless claims number was the lowest since March 14, 2020, just as the U.S. economy began to shut down to flatten the curve of the pandemic. New claims for benefits have been steadily declining since the beginning of the year. The number of people continuing to receive unemployment benefits for the week ending March 27 was 16,934,061. Thats a decline of 1,235,856 from the previous week. Stimulus checks boost retail sales A lot of Americans got their COVID-19 relief payments in March and wasted no time spending the money. Retail sales rose nearly 10% last month after declining 2.7% in February. Nearly every American received a $1,400 payment, meaning a family of four got $5,600. Advance surveys suggested that many recipients planned to save the cash or use it to pay down credit card debt, but there was plenty left over for spending. Sporting goods, clothing, and food and beverage sales led the increased spending, making for the best performance for retailers since last May. Kaiser study tracks the pandemics toll on mental health The coronavirus pandemic has been devastating physically, but researchers say it has also exacted a toll on mental health. A new report from the Kaiser Family Foundation (KFF) says it also created barriers for those who needed to seek mental health treatment. Stress and worry about contracting the virus, coupled with job losses, loss of childcare, as well as the devastating loss of loved ones due to COVID-19 are just a few ways in which the pandemic may be having an effect on mental health, the authors write. The percentage of American adults who cited the pandemic as having a negative impact on their mental health increased from about one-third in March 2020 to 53% in July 2020. Around the nation Here in the city, its a safe bet that most winter-weary Winnipeggers view this weeks three-day spring flurry-a-thon as a seasonal soul-crusher. A soggy-gloved meteorological slap in the face. A heartbreaking return to Manitobas least-beloved season, accompanied by a layer of white whose wet, sticky weight carries an inordinate cardiac-catastrophe potential for those who still possess the resolve to shovel it, rather than waiting impatiently for it to melt. Here in the city, its a safe bet that most winter-weary Winnipeggers view this weeks three-day spring flurry-a-thon as a seasonal soul-crusher. A soggy-gloved meteorological slap in the face. A heartbreaking return to Manitobas least-beloved season, accompanied by a layer of white whose wet, sticky weight carries an inordinate cardiac-catastrophe potential for those who still possess the resolve to shovel it, rather than waiting impatiently for it to melt. As the slowly ebbing slush temporarily turns the streets into a slippery, washer-fluid-wasting mess and the sidewalks into sock-soaking goat trails, theres a temptation to turn our eyes skyward and utter, almost in unison, a plaintive observation: "Enough." And while its true well all be glad when the sloppiness has subsided and the puddles that besmear the avenues and alleyways have finally dried up, we should take considerable solace in the simple fact that, annoying though it may have been, this April snowstorm was exactly what Manitoba needed. We should take considerable solace in the simple fact that, annoying though it may have been, this April snowstorm was exactly what Manitoba needed. After a winter marked by relatively mild temperatures one polar-vortex-numbed week notwithstanding and below-average accumulations of snow, the conditions in the southern half of the province were ripe for a full-blown drought. The federal governments Canadian Drought Monitor update for March 31 showed the potential for "severe" to "extreme" drought in an area stretching from Regina to Winnipeg and extending southward to the U.S. border. Much of the Interlake region was also in a serious moisture-deficit situation. "We are seeing serious grave situations across the Prairies," said Environment and Climate Change Canada senior climatologist David Phillips earlier this month. "Ive never seen Manitoba so dry as Ive seen it this particular spring. ... Its about as serious as you can get. And there doesnt seem to be any kind of relief on the way." Well, that was then. And this snowy, slushy slop is now. And its good news for farmers in what remains very much an agriculture-based province. Also no doubt relieved by Aprils mostly frozen showers are those concerned about Manitobas forests and grasslands, which had been tilting toward tinder-dry wildfire-danger conditions. On April 3, the Manitoba Wildfire Service imposed severe restrictions on camping, boating and motorized-vehicle travel across broad swaths of the southwestern and eastern regions. MIKE DEAL / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS A motorist scrapes his windshield on Tuesday morning in Winnipeg. Those restrictions were lifted on Tuesday. This weeks precipitation the largest single snowfall of the winter/spring of 2020-21 wont completely eliminate the concerns of the agricultural and wilderness sectors, but a thick layer of heavy, wet white will do wonders for what otherwise seemed destined to be a dangerously dry Manitoba summer. The clouds will part. The souls, not fully crushed after all, will be restored by the next burst of spring sunshines warmth. Ill humour will be replaced by optimism and a quick reminder that this is mostly a pretty great place to live. And as the passing weeks push us into summers recreation and toward autumns harvest, the April snow dump will eventually seem less discouraging than it did while we struggled to navigate our under-powered vehicles and overburdened shovels through its unbudgingly weighty accumulation. Listen to the farmers and conservationists: this snow is a good thing. And if you think theyre happy about it, just waitll you hear the gleeful buzzing of the millions of mosquitoes whose brief but pestiferous visits will have been made possible by this weeks sudden delivery of soon-to-be-standing water. Council buildings including City of Derry Airport, the Strand Road Offices and the Guildhall have been lit up in rainbow colours this week to celebrate the life of journalist Lyra McKee. Sunday, April 19, will mark the two year anniversary of her tragic murder. At the request of Mayor of Derry and Strabane, Councillor Brian Tierney, local councils in Belfast, Causeway Coasts and Glens, and Ards and North Down, will also join in showing solidarity with the campaign for justice being led by Lyra's family and friends. Buildings across the council areas will be illuminated on Sunday April 18th, two years to the day since the 29-year-old was killed when shots were fired as violence flared in the Creggan area of Derry. Mayor Tierney was approached by Lyra's partner Sara Canning, who has been campaigning for justice since the death of the talented young journalist, who was highlighted in the Forbes 30 under 30 list and a rising literary star by the Irish Times. An online campaign - justice4lyra.com - was also launched this month by her family on what would have been her 31st birthday. Speaking ahead of the anniversary, Cllr Tierney (pictured below with Sara and friend Sinead Quinn) encouraged people to remember Lyra McKee this weekend, and the positive message she tried to convey through her work. "While this is a very sad time for Lyra's partner Sara and her friends and family, I know they will be celebrating the many positive memories of Lyra and all that she achieved in her short life. "She was a passionate advocate for peace, inclusion and a better future for this country, and this inspired her in both her journalism and her personal life. The rainbow colours are an appropriate reflection of Lyra's vibrant energy and the diversity she wanted us all to embrace. "I want to thank the other Councils for standing with us as we show our solidarity with Sara and Lyra's family and send a clear message that people here absolutely oppose violence and support justice for Lyra. I also want to reiterate the appeal for anyone with any information about Lyra's murder to please come forward and ensure that her killer is brought to justice." Lyra's partner Sara Canning said she hoped the people of Derry and Strabane would join with Lyra's family and friends in remembering Lyra. "Lyra was someone who embodied the best of this place, she didn't care about colour or creed, she just wanted a better future for all of us. "Her friends spanned all counties, all political affiliations, and she bridged divides by bringing unlikely allies together. "Lyra's murder was hugely negative, it took so much away from us all, but in life she was a force for positivity, and it seems only appropriate to remember her with that same spirit." Asus ROG Phone 5 smartphone will be available for sale today in India. The gaming device will be made available at 12 noon via Flipkart. The handset was launched in India last month under the Asus ROG Phone 5 Series. Sale offers include 5 percent unlimited cashback on Flipkart Axis Bank credit cards, a Google Nest Hub (Chalk) at just Rs 5,999 on the purchase of select TVs, laptops, ACs and mobiles, no-cost EMI at Rs 8,334 per month, standard EMI options and up to Rs 16,500 off via exchange deals. Asus ROG Phone 5 First Online Sale on April 15, 2021; Check Offers Here. Asus ROG Phone 5 comes in two variants - 8GB RAM + 128GB internal storage and 12GB RAM + 256GB internal storage. The 8GB variant is priced at Rs 49,999 whereas the top-end model costs Rs 57,999. Asus ROG Phone 5 (Photo Credits: Asus India) Well done Agents of ROG! Thanks to you, Agent ROG @CarryMinati succeeded on his mission to #CrackTheCode The sale goes live tomorrow, 15th April at 12PM on @Flipkart-https://t.co/1pXSNF9W4S Catch the #ROGPhone5 @CarryMinati at 6PM tonight on https://t.co/a5PzITXkYy#RuleThemAll pic.twitter.com/pI2hprmUZz ASUS India (@ASUSIndia) April 14, 2021 The gaming smartphone comes powered by Qualcomm Snapdragon 888 SoC with Adreno 660 GPU. It comes with a 6.78-inch FHD+ AMOLED display with a resolution of 2448x1080 pixels with a 144Hz refresh rate. For optics, the device comes equipped with a triple rear camera setup comprising a 64MP primary lens with a Sony IMX686 sensor, a 13MP ultrawide-angle lens and a 5MP macro snapper. At the front, there is a 24MP shooter for selfies and video calls. Asus ROG Phone 5 (Photo Credits: Asus India) The gaming handset comes packed with a 6,000mAh battery with 65W fast charging support. It also comes with an all-new thermal design called GameCool 5, AirTrigger 5, dual front-firing speakers, multi-antenna Wi-Fi and quad-mic noise cancelling array. The device runs on the Android 11 based ROG UI operating system and will be made available in Phantom Black colour. (The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Apr 15, 2021 10:00 AM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com). Need a break from reality? (Don't we all these days ...) Try one of these book suggestions from New York Times best selling author Aimee Molloy. Click here to read the full article. Geologist Jerry Zieg grew up next to the Smith River in central Montana, on the ranch his family has owned for five generations. The river irrigated their land. He learned to fish from its pristine bounty of westslope cutthroat trout. The rivers russet canyon walls, with 1,000-year-old pictographs drawn by the Besant and Avonlea peoples, were what first inspired his fascination with geology. Later, when he married his wife, the two floated the Smith for their honeymoon. My family sold the part right on the river in the mid-Eighties, but I still have the rest of that land where I grew up on the Smith, he says proudly. Hes not alone in his reverence for the Smith. It is hallowed water in Montana. More than the Blackfoot, which reached mythical status in A River Runs Through It, and more than the federally protected Flathead, which makes up the borders of Glacier National Park, the Smith, which flows for 59 off-the-grid miles through the Belt Mountains, is iconic as the states sole permitted river; every year, thousands of Montanans and out-of-staters enter a lottery to snag a coveted spot to float and fish it. In 2010, when a grassroots coalition called Montanans for Healthy Rivers formed to protect the veins of Montanas heritage, the group put boots on the ground in communities all over Montana to find out which waters people thought were worthiest of preserving. [The Smith] came up around the state, says Kascie Herron, Northern Rockies associate director for the conservation organization American Rivers. Its one of those where its everyones river, even if its not in your backyard. The Smith is the soul of Montana. Which is why Ziegs plan to install a copper mine underneath its headwaters has drawn the escalating wrath of Montanans perhaps more than any other environmental fight in the state in the past decade. Zieg is the senior vice president of the mining company Sandfire Resources America, and says he wouldnt be heading the Black Butte Copper Project if he thought the mine would harm the river so pivotal to his youth. Rather, hes been driving the effort because he believes that a sustainable-energy future requires copper: a single wind turbine can contain 4.7 tons of copper. A solar-power system requires 5.5 tons of copper per megawatt produced. And demand for copper in electric vehicles is predicted to rise 1,700 kilotons by 2027. Most conservationists will agree that copper is necessary for the technologies that will reduce our use of fossil fuels. Most will also agree that if were going to unearth it, we should be pulling it from places that enjoy strict mining regulations, like Montana. Zieg says that the deposit under Sheep Creek, at the headwaters of the Smith, is a perfect example of this: Its a rare high grade of copper thats otherwise only been found in the environmentally lax Congo, where its a bit of a dicey situation politically, he notes dryly. But these arguments dont go over with environmentalists or many Montanans when theres a resource like the Smith River at stake. When you think about what this river represents to every single Montanan, the idea of threatening this landscape and this watershed with a mine not here and not ever, says Land Tawney, the Missoula-based CEO of the national advocacy group Backcountry Hunters and Anglers, his usually calm drawl flaring with reined-in indignation. Tawney is one of the thousands of people who, for the past 10 years, have testified against the mine, attended rallies, written letters to local papers, and donated to the environmental groups on the front lines. People have come from out of the woodwork to oppose the mine, says Derf Johnson, an environmental lawyer with the Montana Environmental Information Center (MEIC) in Helena. Johnson has been one of the leaders of the Save Our Smith campaign since the start of this fight in 2010. And not just environmentalists, its the whole gamut of people who access the river. Everyone from gear heads to fly fishermen to construction workers to hedge-fund managers. It costs $10 to apply for a permit, you dont need expensive whitewater gear or technical expertise to float it. Its a blue-collar river. In April 2020, though, Montanas Department of Environmental Quality issued a permit for the mine. In a last-ditch effort, MEIC and a few other environmental groups have intervened on one of the final steps before Sandfire can break ground, arguing in court that the companys acquisition of a set of water rights from upstream ranches will threaten the health of Sheep Creek and, ultimately, the Smith. But Montanas own government has become a little dicey lately. Helmed by a Republican governor for the first time in 16 years, Greg Gianforte (perhaps best known for body-slamming a reporter while running for Congress in 2017), the state is now entirely controlled by the GOP. And the Legislature is already pushing a host of bills that will weaken environmental protections and allow Black Butte and other mines to move forward. Tommy Martino/AP; Tom Williams/CQ Roll Call/AP Tommy Martino/AP; Tom Williams/CQ Roll Call/AP There is some hope for the Smith River, though. Last fall, Montana Sen. Jon Tester now the states lone Democratic official introduced legislation that would protect a swath of the states rivers, including the Smith, as Wild and Scenic, the highest level of federal protection for rivers in the United States. Its a bill that grew out of the work Montanans for Healthy Rivers started back in 2010 a wish list from the people of Montana that would protect 336 miles on 17 rivers. Its a piece of legislation that basically should have no political boundaries, Tester said when he presented the Montana Headwaters Legacy Act in October. Its about our kids and our grandkids. But its unlikely to be so simple. Here at the confluence of state politics and federal protections looms a key battle for Montanas future, one thats representative of a struggle playing out all over the West: to pursue a sustainable outdoor-recreation economy, or follow the same extraction-heavy path thats left this landscape littered with exhausted boomtowns. The Smith is emblematic of that conflict, and the crossroads that Montana has arrived at politically and historically: Which way are we going to go? says Scott Bosse, Northern Rockies director for American Rivers, another leader of Save Our Smith. Because if we betray the Smith River in Montana, theres nothing thats sacred anymore. Everyone has a story about the Smith. Bosse met his wife on a trip down the river. Tawneys sister pulled from it the biggest brown trout hed ever seen, when they were children. Johnson, an avid fisherman, grew up floating the river with his family, and still floats it every chance he gets. I remember that trip where we woke up to three inches of snow in April, he says. We were breaking ice off our raft to get on the river. It was freezing. And we were so totally happy. Because you get down into that canyon, into solace and nature, and you forget the day-to-day struggles. There are so few places like this left in the Lower 48 anymore. And the threat is right there, you can see where Sheep Creek comes into the Smith from the boat launch. Johnson knows better than most what a copper mine at its headwaters could do to the river. MEIC and the other organizations say they found serious flaws with Sandfires plan. For one, the copper deposit lies below the water table, which means water will have to be continually pumped out of the mine. Essentially, theyre taking water out of the basin, because theyre going to create a big hole under Sheep Creek that will suck water out of the river, Johnson explains. And the Smith is already almost subject to more demands than it can deliver in irrigation rights on private ranches. Theyre proposing that theyll buy water rights from upstream users and leave that water in the river to make up for it. But were talking about a complex water system with 24/7 use on it that can be hard to model. Theyre trying to mitigate for something thats impossible to mitigate for. The pumped wastewater from that hole under Sheep Creek is likely to contain arsenic and other toxics that could leach into Sheep, and from there, to the Smith, according to a 47-page letter to the state filed on behalf of MEIC and other litigating organizations that compiled comments from independent experts and scientists in fields from fisheries and hydrology to geochemistry and engineering. Even worse, the mining will dig into sulfide minerals, which, when exposed to air and water, form highly toxic sulfuric acid. Studies indicate that the cement-tailings paste Sandfire proposes to use to capture the acid mine drainage will break down and oxidize over time also ultimately flowing into the Smith. When the chemical reaction happens to produce sulfuric acid, its impossible to stop, says Johnson. The federal government has spent hundreds of millions to find ways to stop it, with no conclusion. So were left with a constant source of pollution that we either need to live with or treat, that will last forever. I dont know how else to explain it. Perpetuity, thousands of years of treating tainted water because of a chemical reaction weve caused. And in Montana, you cant throw a ball without hitting an acid mine drainage site. The states landscape is visibly scarred with the still-seeping wounds from a legacy of hard-rock mines. The Berkeley Pit in Butte a gaping hole nearly a mile and a half wide, a hideously poisoned lake of mine tailings and sulfuric acid is only the most well-known example. It achieved national infamy in 2016 when a flock of thousands of geese landed on the surface and died instantly. The pit is left over from Buttes heyday at the turn of the 20th century, when it was known as the Richest Hill on Earth, so booming with people and copper wealth that it was the biggest city between San Francisco and Chicago. Now, its an eerily quiet ground zero for one of the biggest Superfund sites in the country, alongside numerous other toxic mining projects in Montana that have already cost taxpayers millions to clean up after the company at fault shutters and walks away from the mess. Stephen Hilger/Bloomberg/Getty Images Stephen Hilger/Bloomberg/Getty Images The only upside to that poisoned history, Tawney says, is that it spurred the people to stand up and protect the landscape from the Copper Kings, a set of Gilded Age icons who amassed enormous wealth by pillaging the earth and avoiding consequence through corrupt political machinations. Today, Montana enjoys some of the strictest mining regulations in the country, as well as a rare state constitutional right to a clean and healthful environment. But all of that is on the chopping block right now in the state Legislature. Many see Gov. Gianforte as a kind of modern-day Copper King: an inordinately wealthy businessman with an ominous anti-public-lands record, overseeing a state government where industry and their allies in the Legislature have the keys to the kingdom, says Johnson. Gianforte made his fortune as a tech entrepreneur when he sold his Bozeman-based company, RightNow Technologies, to Oracle, a move thats widely credited for Bozemans meteoric (some say out-of-control) growth. In response to a request for comment for this story, a representative insisted, Governor Gianforte believes that we can responsibly develop our abundant Montana resources and simultaneously protect our environment. But during his one term as a congressman, he sponsored two congressional bills to strip environmental protections from 700,000 acres, which would have been the biggest protected-lands rollback in Montanas history. In 2009, he sued the state to cease public access to the East Gallatin River from an easement on his Bozeman mansions property. And some of his biggest campaign donors are the Texas-billionaire Wilks brothers, known for buying up land in Idaho and shutting people out from public right-of-ways, sometimes with armed guards. Gianforte presides over a citizen Legislature the states lawmakers meet only for four months, once every two years, so that elected officials can maintain their day jobs. It makes for something of a frenzied session, and since its start in January, Republicans have wasted no time fulfilling what they see as a mandate from the electorate on issues like abortion rights, gun laws, and environmental regulations. Already, conservationists are performing triage to fight a landslide of bills that would weaken wildlife protections, reduce limits on water pollution, and bypass environmental reviews on new development. But those elected officials dont have that mandate from voters, says Tawney. None of them campaigned on an anti-public-lands platform which, in Montana, would be political suicide. Like a vast majority of voters in the West, Montanans overwhelmingly support public-lands access and protections. A 2020 poll found 79 percent of voters consider themselves conservationists, and 85 percent think public lands are good for tourism, wildlife, and whats best about Montana. Regardless of such overwhelming sentiment and near-universal love for the Smith River, the Legislature is currently considering a bill that would prohibit the Montana Department of Natural Resources from evaluating water quantity and quality in issuing water rights permits which would quash environmentalists legal challenge to the water rights needed for the Black Butte mine. It joins another industry-backed bill that would loosen pollution-control standards, both of which are likely to wind up on Gianfortes desk to sign in April. Johnson says that its clear that this Legislature is willing to do whatever it takes to grease the skids for mining projects in Montana. Theyve been trying to eliminate environmental protections for mining projects for the past few decades, and this session is no exception. The difference now is that we have a governor thats willing to sign these bills rather than veto them. Im very worried were going to see a structural dismantling of our environmental-protection laws, Johnson continues, all at the request of a small group of executives looking to make more money. I dont think Montanans voted for this. I dont think they said, Please go to Helena and reduce our environmental protections. But thats whats going to happen. Johnson is optimistic that the Smith can still be saved, though. Even if this bill were to pass, that still doesnt resolve our constitutional concerns about our right to a clean and healthy environment, which is part of our litigation, he says. But with the current Republican supermajority, the Legislature could move to severely weaken that constitutional right, too. There are rumblings that Republicans will put a measure on the ballot in November to amend that right to a clean, healthful, and economically productive environment a small but extremely consequential modification thats at the heart of the battle for the New West. Right now is when deals are being made, and who knows whats going to happen? Johnson says. Were dangerously close to seeing a rollback on our rights. Courtesy of American Rivers The opposition often excoriate Sandfire Resources America for being a foreign-owned Australian company invading Montana soil. But Zieg, a local, has propelled the Black Butte Copper Project since its inception. While getting his masters degree at the University of Montana, he was on the exploration team that discovered the copper deposit under Sheep Creek in 1985. He left the state for years, working as a geologist on projects in northwest Alaska for NovaGold Inc., among other companies, which he says helped shape his ethics around mining. We were working a good deal in the Inupiat villages, living there and hiring the people for our field programs, he says. The CEO was Alaskan, and it was important to him that we had a strong relationship with those communities so that they understand the positives and negatives. If they didnt like what we were doing, they knew we would find ways to straighten that out. (NovaGold is itself currently under pressure from 35 Alaskan tribes opposing its Donlin gold mine in the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta, which Alaska Public Media reports as a major turning point in regional support for the gold prospect.) In 2008, Zieg got a call from the family who owned the land on top of the copper deposit hed discovered back in 1985. Theyd had more than a dozen other companies banging down their doors, he says, people they didnt know or trust the way they trusted Zieg. I didnt want to come here with an outfit that didnt care about the community or the environment, I needed to be sure wed do this in the right way. These are my friends, my neighbors, the land I love, the place where I live, he says. So he created Tintina Resources, a company that embodied the kinds of standards hed come to respect from working in Alaska. In 2017, Australia-based Sandfire Resources acquired Tintina as part of its search, Zieg says, for international projects that fit its forward-thinking environmental track record (Sandfires DeGrussa project is the first mine in Australia to operate on an off-grid solar and battery system, the largest of its kind in the world). Tintina changed its name to Sandfire Resources America, and the company remains Montana-driven, says Nancy Schlepp, Sandfire Resources Americas VP of communications and a local herself, whose first job was shuttling cars at the Smith River. Most of our team is from Montana or has moved here, and all of us live in Meagher County or within a 100-mile radius, she says. Zieg insists the Black Butte Copper Projects modern practices will atone for what he calls the sins of our mining past. He says the carbonite rock surrounding the copper deposit helps contain the inevitable and disastrously toxic sulfuric acid. (Think of the ore body as 30 weeks worth of stomach acid, and all of the rock around it as 540 weeks worth of Tums, Schlepp says.) Any water coming out of the mine will be treated for chemicals beyond regulations. (Its drinking water at that point.) And it will be an underground mine rather than a ghastly open pit, with such complete protection of water and return to the land of its former use that people will be hard-pressed to see that there had been a mine here, Zieg says. And Zieg and Schlepp both emphasize that the surrounding rural community is on board, hungry for the hope of revitalization and well-paying jobs. Meagher County has a small population about 1,000 people live in White Sulphur Springs, where the mine is sited, and the whole county is just shy of 1,900. But it used to be bigger, Schlepp says, before the sawmill closed and agriculture mechanized. Her graduating class was 30 strong. Ziegs before that was 43. But Schlepps daughters class was only 12. In the interim, businesses on White Sulphurs Main Street flagged, some shuttered, and streets fell into disrepair. Courtesy of Sandfire Resources Courtesy of Sandfire Resources Montanas flourishing outdoor-recreation industry has started to fill economic holes in the states depressed towns, annually contributing $7 billion in state revenue. Recreation on the Smith generates $10 million of that. But White Sulphur doesnt see a lot of that cash flow. Weve worked hard here to develop a recreation industry of hunting, floating, fishing, says Zieg. But when people float the Smith, they usually leave from Great Falls or Helena or Bozeman. They might buy a tank of gas in White Sulphur, but most dont spend the night or eat here. We have more economic gain from hunting, but that only lasts for the five weeks of the season. And the tourism and recreation industry support pretty-low-paying jobs. Counter that with something like our project, which is steady good employment lots of tax dollars, lots of good-paying jobs its a completely different economic impact on the community. Sandfire promises 240 jobs at an average annual salary of $65,000 over the course of the companys 11-year project. But guiding on the Smith also provides hundreds of jobs annually. While those people might not live in White Sulphur Springs year-round, Tawney says, that doesnt make their livelihoods less important. And if the Smith stays clean, those jobs will last far past the finite life of the mine. Thats why in my experience, theres universal opposition from guides and outfitters, he says, because even if the science says it can be done, theres still that risk. The mine only has to mess up once. The Smith also provides livelihoods to the people who own land on the river, which runs through a patchwork of federal and state land as well as big swaths of private property. Many of those landowners actively oppose the mine, having donated tens of thousands of dollars collectively to the litigation efforts to stop it, according to American Rivers. Were all talking about it, and I havent heard of one landowner whos supportive of that mine from small cabin owners to large landowners, says Willie Rahr, whose family has owned a ranch on the Smith for nearly 40 years. He calls himself a moderate Democrat, but says there is general consensus in the canyon, with signs in front of properties all down the river reading No Smith River Mine! Zieg maintains that those same landowners are also against the federal protections that Sen. Tester proposes for the Smith because they see it as yet another imposition on their private-property rights in a state where private property is king. But Rahr says every landowner hes talked to is in favor of the Wild and Scenic designation proposed by Tester. And if the mine leaks, that is 100 percent an imposition on our private-property rights, he says. That canyon is a massive source of value and happiness for our family and to risk having it all be destroyed? Jon Tester has been hailed as a populist Western Democrat, practicing the brand of libertarian Democratic politics that grew from the myth of rugged frontier individualism, where less government, more local control, and personal liberty feature heavily. As one of the last working citizens in the Senate, he still comes home every weekend to tend his Big Sandy wheat farm in northeastern Montana. Clean water isnt partisan its essential, Tester tells Rolling Stone via email. Farmers like me make a living using clean water, and so do outfitters, guides, and entrepreneurs who create jobs and bring revenue into our state. Tester is likely to reintroduce the Montana Headwaters Legacy Act in April, which would bestow the Wild and Scenic designation on the Smith and other rivers but even the highest federal protections wont act as an immediate silver bullet to save the Smith. Because the Black Butte copper mine is on private property, the state has jurisdiction, not the federal government. Federal protections will come into play, says Graham Coppes, a Missoula-based environmental lawyer with Backcountry Hunters and Anglers, for Sandfires expansion plan. It seems a little disingenuous for the company to describe this as a small operation, Coppes says. Generally, mining companies only profit from economies of scale, he explains, and so they often want to locate near federal mineral claims. Thats the case here: Sandfire has pitched investors on its plan to create a 50-year industrial-mining district on 40 mineral claims its purchased on adjacent federal lands. A federal Wild and Scenic designation on the Smith River could create legal avenues to withdraw those claims and prevent expansion. By then, though, it might be too late for the Smith. The thing about metal deposits is that we dont get to decide where they are, Zieg says. The world did that for us. We find what Mother Nature presents to us and have to deal with it as best we can. Coppes disagrees. At some point, we have to recognize that weve developed almost the entire world. Were fighting for this fractional percentage of whats left, he says. If we say that a global or local need for some resource should take precedent over the very few remaining pristine places left on the planet, that sort of Manifest Destiny will allow us to develop everything. No place will be left untouched. Thats an irreconcilable future. Sign up for Rolling Stone's Newsletter. For the latest news, follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. Fredrik Eklund, one of the stars of the Bravo reality television show Million Dollar Listing, will begin listing homes in Houston and throughout the state through luxury brokerage Douglas Elliman Real Estate. The move is motivated by the surge of people and companies relocating to Texas in pursuit of lower costs. The plan was always to expand to the rest of the state, said Jacob Sudhoff, chief executive of Douglas Elliman Texas. We did not think we would expand this rapidly, all at once. But due to the amount of growth and amount of demand and the amount of people relocating to Texas, we just had to do both cities at the same time. Douglas Elliman, which already has an office and 150 real estate agents in Houston, is recruiting another 50 to 100 agents in the region, and aims to recruit 100 to 150 agents in the Dallas area and 50 to 100 agents in the Austin area by the years end. On HoustonChronicle.com: Sudhoff, Douglas Elliman join forces in Houston real estate brokerage Eklund, who with John Gomes heads the Eklund Gomes Team within Douglas Elliman, was lured to Texas by his clients in Los Angeles and New York who were looking to move to the state. Sudhoff said the team will be able to elevate Texas real estate on the national level by bringing attention to how much clients can get for their money here. Wherever Fredrik goes, the show goes let me just put it that way, he said. The New York-based Douglas Elliman has also charted its growth course across the nation by following its clients. It opened offices in Florida, Aspen and California as its customers bought second homes in those markets. Houston was the brokerages first Texas market, Sudhoff explained, because so many Houstonians have second homes in the markets Douglas Elliman was working in. Theres always the joke that there are more Houstonians in Aspen in July and August than there are Coloradoans, Sudhoff said. Now, the pandemic and a series of corporate relocations have accelerated a trend of people moving from high-cost markets to Texas. Hewlett Packard Enterprise, Tesla, Oracle and Palantir have announced they are opening offices in Texas, bringing with them thousands of employees who suddenly need to move their families. In tandem with its Texas expansion, Douglas Elliman has also been redesigning its offices to be more client facing. In January, it rolled out the Design and Selection Center at the Shops at Arrive at Kirby Drive and Westheimer Road. There, real estate agents, in-house architects, designers and consultants all work in a space inspired by Starbucks and Apples Genius Bar. People selling their homes can meet with experts to discuss staging, renovations or virtual renderings of what a buyer could do with the space, and brokers can connect with Douglas Ellimans resources. Douglas Elliman has just signed a lease for a similar space in Dallas and is looking for another in Austin, where it currently has a temporary office. rebecca.schuetz@chron.com; twitter.com/raschuetz Matt Gaetz's alleged wingman Joel Greenberg made more than 150 Venmo payments to dozens of young women - and a 17-year-old girl - using the lipstick kiss emoji and title 'A**', new documents have revealed. A bombshell report from the Daily Beast Thursday shows Greenberg, who is currently behind bars awaiting trial on 33 charges including sex trafficking a minor, sent digital payments worth hundreds of dollars to women dating back to at least 2017. The payments were listed under various notes in the Venmo app, including 'ice cream', 'salad', 'a**', 'Stuff' and 'Orher stuff', with at least 16 payments ranging from around $500 to upwards of $1,000 made to 12 different women under the description 'school.' Others were simply sent under emojis including the lipstick kiss mark or the female police officer emoji. One of the payments, made in June 2017, was to a girl who was just 17 at the time. Greenberg sent the child $300 in a Venmo payment titled 'food.' Around a year later, by which time the girl had turned 18, Gaetz reportedly sent a Venmo to Greenberg telling him to 'Hit up [the teen's nickname]', according to the report. Greenberg listed this payment under the term 'school.' The congressman himself sent one payment to Greenberg for $300 under the love hotel emoji on November 1 2018, the Beast revealed. The disgraced former Seminole County tax collector reportedly booked a room for one night at the luxury hotel The Alfond Inn in Florida for that date. Matt Gaetz's (right) alleged wingman Joel Greenberg (left) made more than 150 Venmo payments to dozens of young women - and a 17-year-old girl - using the lipstick kiss emoji and title 'A**', new documents have revealed The new details of the interactions between the two men and Greenberg's payments to multiple women come as Gaetz is facing growing scrutiny. Late last month, it was revealed that Gaetz is under investigation by the Justice Department for allegedly having sex with a 17-year-old girl and trafficking her across state lines. Investigators are also looking into allegations he paid women for ecstasy-fueled sex at Florida hotels after being introduced to them by Greenberg. Gaetz has repeatedly denied having sex with a 17-year-old and said he has never paid for sex. He has not been charged. In a bizarre twist in the saga, the lawmaker has instead claimed he is the victim of an elaborate extortion plot by a former Justice Department official seeking to free an American hostage from Iran. However Greenberg is said to have been cooperating with federal prosecutors since December and has reportedly told investigators that both he and Gaetz gave women cash and gifts in exchange for sex, The New York Times reported Tuesday. Last week, Greenberg's lawyers said he was prepared to take a plea deal. 'I'm sure Matt Gaetz is not feeling very comfortable today,' Greenberg's attorney told reporters. Three sources told the Daily Beast that Gaetz was one of several men who enlisted the help of Greenberg to gain access to a network of young women. The payment history seen by the outlet reveals a pattern of behavior where Greenberg sent multiple young women payments on multiple occasions. One young woman received at least 16 payments from the jailed ex-official on Venmo throughout 2017 adding up to almost $5,000. A bombshell report from the Daily Beast Thursday shows Greenberg sent digital payments worth hundreds and even thousands of dollars to women, with some payment descriptions simply showing emojis including the lipstick kiss mark (left) or the female police officer (right) Gaetz sent one payment to Greenberg for $300 under the love hotel emoji (above) on November 1 2018. The disgraced former Seminole County tax collector reportedly booked a room for one night at the luxury hotel The Alfond Inn in Florida for that date She also received $1,500 in payments made over two days via Cash App, the Beast reported. This individual is said to be the same college student who went on to date Gaetz when she moved to DC as an intern - over the age of consent - in January 2018. Two sources told the Beast that federal investigators seized Gaetz's phone in December 2020 and the woman's phone soon after. Another transaction detailed by the outlet showed a payment of $500 between Greenberg and another woman on July 7 2017 under the policewoman emoji. The day after the payment was made, Gaetz, Greenberg and Roger Stone - the ex-Trump aide who was convicted of lying to Congress - were pictured together in a snap shared on social media. That weekend, Greenberg also used his taxpayer-funded credit card to pay for a 'weekend hotel stay' from July 7 to July 9 at the Four Seasons in Miami, the Beast reported. Another woman was paid $500 for 'food' and $500 for 'appetizers' from two separate credit cards on Greenberg's Venmo account within the space of two minutes, before she was given a formal contract for 'social media consulting and marketing' with the Seminole County tax collector's office in 2018, the Beast reported. The payments - which amounted to thousands of taxpayer dollars - were flagged by auditors of the office in 2020. Meanwhile, other payments between Greenberg and different women include five up to around $1,000 for 'salad', three ranging from $250 to $500 for 'ice cream' and several of between $300 and $500 for 'food'. Greenberg is pictured with Roger Stone and Gaetz after having dinner together in 2017. The day before this picture was taken Greenberg sent a $500 payment to a woman under the policewoman emoji Since the scandal broke, Gaetz has lost at least seven contacts on Venmo including three of the women and the 17-year-old girl who previously received payments from Greenberg, the Beast reported. The new details of the financial transactions comes one day after a report said Gaetz regularly attended gated community house parties with other Republican lawmakers where cellphones were handed over at the door and the 'frat party boy' Florida representative would discuss politics while popping pills. Two women told CNN they regularly partied with Gaetz at drug, sex and booze-fueled bashes over the past few years, and that they would often receive payments the following day for sex with people at the events. The two women, who spoke to CNN on condition of anonymity, said Gaetz was a regular fixture at the parties where the guest list read like a who's who of Florida Republican officials. The women said they would arrive at the gated community in the suburbs of Orlando and were told to put away their cellphones for the duration of the visit so they could not document what went on. Once inside, the women described nights fueled by champagne, cocaine and ecstasy, and sex, with money changing hands the next day. One woman told the outlet Gaetz behaved like a 'frat type of party boy' at the parties, where he would like to discuss politics and was seen taking mystery pills on more than one occasion. 'No one ever wants to stop partying, stop drinking, once you've had a few glasses of champagne in you,' one woman said. Gaetz with Trump. The Daily Beast reported that a $300 payment titled 'food' was made in June 2017 to a girl who was just 17. Around a year later, when the girl had turned 18, Gaetz reportedly sent a Venmo to Greenberg telling him to 'Hit up [the teen's nickname]' The woman said she was paid for sex after some of the parties by Greenberg, the disgraced former Seminole County tax collector in prison awaiting trial on 33 counts including sex trafficking a minor. Receipts show at least one of the women was sent hundreds of dollars by Gaetz and Greenberg through a digital payment app, reported CNN. The payments were made between 2018 and 2019 with at least one labeled that it was to pay for travel. Claims that Gaetz had paid women for sex via payment apps first surfaced in a bombshell report from the New York Times earlier this month. The report, which cited several unnamed sources close to the DOJ investigation as well as text messages and payment receipts reviewed by the outlet, said multiple women had told investigators Gaetz would tell them a time and place to meet and how much he was willing to pay them for sex. They would then meet in hotels in Florida where the lawmaker and staunch Trump ally would sometimes take ecstasy before they had sex, the women said. The DOJ investigation is also reportedly looking into whether one of the women was 17 at the time and whether he paid her or gave her gifts to have sex with him. Gaetz was reportedly first introduced to the women through close ally Greenberg, who investigators believe met the women through 'sugar daddy' websites. Gaetz with his fiancee food analyst Ginger Luckey, 26. Another woman sent multiple payments by Greenberg is said to be the college intern who went on to have a relationship with Gaetz Greenberg is currently in jail awaiting trial on 33 charges including sex trafficking charges related to a minor aged between 14 and 17 across a six-month period in 2017. The minor is said to be the same 17-year-old girl at the center of Gaetz's sex trafficking probe. The federal indictment against the disgraced ex-tax collector says Greenberg was 'engaged in 'sugar daddy' relationships'. Gaetz's future is currently hanging in the balance as his friend and alleged accomplice Greenberg is said to be cooperating with federal prosecutors as he sits behind bars awaiting trial. Sources close to the DOJ probe told DailyMail.com earlier this month that Gaetz is expected to be indicted within the next few weeks after the 17-year-old testified before a Florida grand jury saying she had sex with the conservative Republican before she turned 18. As well as the federal investigation, the House Ethics Committee has also launched an inquiry into a string of allegations including 'sexual misconduct and/or illicit drug use, shared inappropriate images or videos on the House floor, misused state identification records, converted campaign funds to personal use, and/or accepted a bribe, improper gratuity, or impermissible gift, in violation of House Rules, laws, or other standards of conduct.' Gaetz denies all allegations and has insisted he will not resign. His office did not return the Daily Beast's request for comment on the latest allegations. U.S. President Joe Biden invited his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin to meet "in the coming weeks," the U.S. Secretary of State Anthony Blinken said. Speaking at a press conference in Brussels, Blinken said the U.S. would prefer a stable and predictable relationship with Russia. According to him, this would require certain lines of communication to exchange views on a wide range of issues. "We would prefer a stable and predictable relationship with Russia, and that, in turn, requires open lines of communication," Blinken said. "And that's exactly what you saw yesterday with President Biden picking up the phone to call President Putin and also proposing that they meet in the weeks ahead." In a phone conversation, Biden suggested holding a meeting on the territory of a third country. At the moment, neither Washington nor Moscow have specified where this meeting could take place. In accordance with the White House statement on Tuesday, Putin and Biden "discussed a number of regional and global issues, including the intent of the United States and Russia to pursue a strategic stability dialogue on a range of arms control and emerging security issues, building on the extension of the New START Treaty." Where do we as creatives draw the line between art and filth? "Them" would fall under the latter. "Them," Amazons newest horror series, which was released this past Friday, stands as a large reminder of the way "people of color sometimes participate in their own degradation," per Angelica Jade Bastien at Vulture. OTHER TERRIBLE CINEMA: Netflix's 'Two Distant Strangers' is more triggering than thought-provoking I should've known that the show would be utter bulls--- when I realized that Lena Waithe the woman behind "Queen & Slim" was also behind the foolishness that is "Them." There's this notion, in Hollywood and beyond, that having Black artists behind the lens will somehow change the narrative of the content we see onscreen. Sometimes, it's just the opposite and seemingly worse. Black people can never just exist in film, there always has to be some type of pain or struggle. Created by our own, Black pain and struggle portrayals are that much more degrading, and it shows in series like "Them." Created by Black writers and producers, "Them" is not only a flagrant copy of Jordan Peele's cinematic creativity, but a violent display of racism and horror. For the show to be created by African American people, the subject matter itself is vigorously anti-Black. The imagery throughout the series is nothing short of horrific, and not in a way that would keep you wanting more the show gets so graphic, it makes you want to turn it off completely. The show spans over 10 days in the year 1953, following the Emory family and their journey from North Carolina to Compton, Los Angeles. The show chronicles the difficulty of a Black family moving into an all-white neighborhood, and the terrorism they face on a daily basis. The terrorism the Emory family faces isn't mild or bearable enough for television the show includes golliwogs hanging from nooses along the Emorys porch, supernatural undertones, rape and even the death of a newborn baby via a game of "cat in the bag." Why would this need to be on TV? Courtesy Amazon Prime The show is so visually terrible, I couldn't stomach watching the entire series. By the fifth episode I was completed disgusted. Black directors and producers need to rid themselves of the notion that content like this is "pushing the envelope"it's just bad television. Black people are surrounded every day by the trauma of Black death, especially recently with cases like Daunte Wright and George Floyd. But shows like "Them" only aggregate that trauma. BLACK PAIN IN FILM: 'Judas and the Black Messiah' is a one-watch cinematic masterpiece Circling back to my initial point of people of color inflicting pain on their own, it's very scary to think about the mind of the Black person who created such a show. We have to get rid of the idea that this type of content makes for good television or that it's even digestible for their audience. It's just bad television all around. "Them" isn't as thought-provoking as the creators may think it is. The show is despicable and should've never been created. Charles Taylor Acquires Syndicate Claim Services London-based Charles Taylor Adjusting, a provider of insurance services, claims solutions and technology platforms to the global insurance market, has acquired Syndicate Claim Services Inc., an independent adjusting and claims services business, based in Indianapolis, Indiana. Syndicate provides insurance clients with loss adjusting, claims and catastrophe services throughout the United States. Syndicate began as a family-owned business in 2006, and now provides tailored claims services and appraisal, umpire, dispute resolution, and litigation support services to a variety of commercial and residential property and liability/casualty insurers, TPAs and self-insured entities, Charles Taylor said in a press release. The company provides both daily claim and catastrophe services for commercial, industrial, retail and specialty commercial markets, as well as residential insurance markets, including condominium, farm and ranch properties. Syndicate joins the more than 3,000-strong team of professionals at Charles Taylor globally. This acquisition follows Charles Taylors acquisitions in the U.S. of Aegis Corporation in January 2021 and SBSA in September 2020; and the acquisition of the Cosulich Group in March 2021. Friss Acquires Terrene Labs Friss, a Dutch tech company known of its fraud detection software, has acquired Terrene Labs, a risk analysis software provider based in Mason, Ohio. Friss said the new partnership allows commercial lines underwriters to access actionable insights within five seconds, replacing a disjointed manual and limited enrichment process that previously took up to a week and delayed policies for quality customers. Terrene products will join the FRISS product suite as Underwriting Insights, Friss said in a press release. Customers will have access to screen submissions, policies, endorsement, renewals, book rollovers and claims using a variety of data sources, including images and social networks. The acquisition follows Friss announcement of record annual earnings. The company said revenues grew by 58% as the company doubled its client base in North America. Friss is headquartered in Utrecht, The Netherlands and has offices in Chicago; Paris; Cologne, Germany and Madrid, Spain. Matterport Matches its 3-D Models With Xactimate Matterport, a Silicon Valley tech company that converts images into three-dimensional model, released a product that can enter visual documentation into Verisks Xactimate software. Matterport said in a press release that its TruePlan product generates accurate sketches of any space, using 3-D models scanned by customers to visually document damage. The product eliminates the need to manually sketch spaces. The company, based in Sunnyvale, Calif., said Xactimate is widely used by claims adjusters to calculate building damage, estimate repair and rebuilding costs and generate property loss estimates to prepare settlement offers. Many restoration companies use Matterport for visual documentation instead of taking photos and video. Trueplan will generate an Xactimate-compatible file from those scans with one click, the company said. An accurate as-built sketch of a property is delivered within 48 hours, Matterport said. A California father is charged with murder following his five-year-old daughter's death in a suspected DUI crash. Police said on Wednesday that Ernesto Avalos, 28, was driving under the influence of drugs or alcohol at the time of the crash, which left his daughter dead and another child injured. According to People, Avalos is also facing two felony counts of child endangerment and a felony DUI apart from the murder charge. READ NEXT: Mexican Father Beats 3 Children to Death as 'Revenge' Against His Wife California Father and DUI Accident The five-year-old girl, identified as Alexa Avalos, lost her life after the car driven by her father crossed the center median and slammed on an electrical pole, New York Post reported. The crash happened outside San Bernardino on Sunday. The Colton Police Department Officers responded at the scene around 2:25 p.m., and authorities discovered the two children inside the car. All three were rushed to the hospital, where Alexa was pronounced dead. The officers' preliminary investigation revealed that the car was traveling southbound when it crashed on the pole located on the northbound lane of the road. Alexa Avalos was confirmed to be the only daughter of Ernesto and Stephanie Fisher. A GoFundMe campaign was launched by Alexa's uncle, Timothy Fisher, to seek financial help and prayers for the death of the five-year-old girl. "The memories will remain, however, nothing can the place of Alexa in our life," said Timothy Fisher. Photos of Alexa's last moment with her mother were posted by her uncle on the page created. Meanwhile, details regarding the other child's identity inside the car were not released by the authorities who are working on the case. At the time of the crash, Ernesto Avalos is already facing a misdemeanor DUI charge. Currently, he is being held without bail at West Valley Detention Center. DUI Accidents in California DUI or driving under the influence is one of the major causes of road accidents in California and other states. Krasney Law described the people who insist on driving even with alcohol and drugs' influence to be thoughtless and irresponsible. The charge for driving under the influence of alcohol in California differs based on the driver's age and whether the vehicle is driven privately or commercially. A driver can be charged with DUI or DWI if he or she is 21 years old with a Blood Alcohol Level (BAC) of 0.01 percent or higher, over 21 years of age with a BAC of 0.08 percent or higher, and driving a commercial vehicle with 0.004 percent or higher BAC. Krasny Law noted that the injured or killed victim's family could claim compensation for lost wages and medical bills. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) noted that about 10,327 individuals died due to car accidents involving drunk drivers from 2003 to 2012. Around 1.8 percent of drivers from California have admitted to driving while they are intoxicated. READ MORE: Police Arrest Latina Mom Following the Death of her Children in Los Angeles Apartment WATCH: Drinking & Driving - How Alcohol Affects Your Body? - From Drink Drive Courses With various national studies revealing that domestic violence has increased during the coronavirus pandemic, several area mental health and social justice organizations have come together to launch a helpline for abusers who need help stopping their violent behavior. Ten to Ten, a free, confidential helpline for people who abuse or may abuse their intimate partner, launched on Thursday and is the first of its kind in the U.S., although similar programs exist in Australia and the United Kingdom. We are creating more options for people who want to learn how to be a safe partner, and options outside the criminal justice system. We are turning to the direct source of abuse the person who abuses and asking them to help, said Monica Moran, manager of domestic violence prevention projects at the Pioneer Valley Planning Commission, one of the agencies overseeing the helpline. We are committing to seeing them as a whole person, Moran said. We are asking them to step up and commit to learning new ways of thinking from people who are always safe. The helpline will serve Western Massachusetts and will operate from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m., 365 days a year. The toll-free number is 877-898-3411. Family, friends and professionals worried that someone may harm their partner can also call the helpline. The Pioneer Valley Planning Commission is collaborating with Behavioral Health Network and Growing a New Heart on this project. An advisory board of regional partners as well as two rural domestic violence task forces from the Ware River valley and the southern hilltowns will oversee and guide the project. Its hard to see what could be different when you have lived your life according to values that are abusive in relationships. The helpline is one tool to help bring new messages and ideas to people as they work to change, said JAC Patrissi, founder of Proteus, the largest intimate partner abuse education program in Western Massachusetts and director of Growing A New Heart. Patrissi said sometimes an abuser has a false belief that others accept and agree with their behaviors. One of the key turning points in changing someones trajectory towards using violence is the feedback they get from their community, Patrissi said. People with abusive values in their relationships overestimate how many others agree with them. They need a new way of seeing, thinking and acting in their relationships based on values of profound respect and safety. Moran said the goal of the program is to start the initial conversation on the helpline and then connect people with intimate partner abuse education programs near them. We are building on the good work of programs like Proteus at Behavioral Health Network and Gandara. These programs provide 40 week groups now in various towns across Western Massachusetts. We want to build on and expand services for people who want to become safe in their relationships, she said. We are adding services, building it out, creating more options so that we can reach people who want to change in a format that works for them. Moran said abuse can take many forms, not necessarily just physical violence. We hope this helpline will appeal to people whose abuse is destructive, but not illegal, she said. The legal definition of abuse is quite different than the literal definition. Emotional abuse, verbal abuse, mind games, gas lighting, isolation these things are extremely destructive but they arent illegal. Police and courts might not get involved. But Ten to Ten can help. The Pioneer Valley Planning Commission secured federal CARES Act of 2020 funding for the helpline in partnership with 25 towns in the region, with Ware as the lead town. CARES Act funding is intended to address the impact of COVID-19. The Massachusetts Department of Public Health is providing supplemental funding so that the helpline can serve all of Western Massachusetts. Related content: An Illinois middle school won't be named after former President Barack Obama over deportation issues, reports say. Faithwire said the Thomas Jefferson Middle School, originally scheduled to be renamed after Obama and his former first lady Michelle Obama, will not be named after them because of some Latino members of the local community and of the school board's. The school will instead be renamed after civil rights leader John Lewis, who is also a renowned Democrat legislator. As per Newsweek, the Latino members of the school board opposed the idea of naming the school after the Obamas who have deported many illegal immigrants during their time. Newsweek cited school board member Edgar Castellanos who was previously an illegal immigrant and felt the Obamas "did not represent" the likes of him during their term. "I will not be part of renaming a school after someone who did not and does not represent the undocumented community," Castellanos told Newsweek in an interview. Faithwire also cited Julie Contreras, a local activist, who said that what Obama did for illegal immigrants was a "disservice." "He denied us and he didn't stop the deportations the way he promised," Contreras told Faithwire. Newsweek said the Waukegan Board of Education has decided to rename middle schools in their area by March. Besides the Jefferson school, the other one is the Daniel Webster Middle School who was named after former U.S. Secretary of State Daniel Webster. The Webster school will be renamed after activist Edith Smith. Newsweek revealed that the Obamas were among the top names to be chosen in renaming the Jeffersonschool but protests on it moved the board from removing it from the list. Obama was called the "deporter in chief" during his time for deporting a total of 5 million illegal immigrants for his two-term office. This number is only half of what former President George Bush deported and only almost a third of former President Bill Clinton's. Former President Donald Trump was said to deport the lowest with 935,000 during his term. Yet President Joe Biden, as cited by Newsweek, condemned Obama's deportation of immigrants as a "big mistake" allegedly since these people have no criminal records. "We took far too long to get it right. I think it was a big mistake. Took too long to get it right," Biden was quoted in saying from a Univision interview. Meanwhile, Faithwire cited renowned commentator Ben Shapiro in commenting on the issue as a boomerang effect of the cancel culture imposed by the Left that Obama belonged to. "The revolution always eats its own," Shapiro tweeted on Wednesday. A netizen commented on Shapiro's tweet saying it was "kind of satisfying to see two of the biggest perpetrators of wokeness get consumed by a mob of their own creation." Faithwire also cited a tweet on the 14th made by Townhall Political Editor Guy Benson who cited the protests being made by "'LatinX' activists." "A city in IL decided to strip Thomas Jefferson & Daniel Webster's problematic names off of local schools. One middle school was going to be re-named after the Obamas, but "LatinX" activists objected over deportation policies, so that move was scrapped," Benson said. Speaking of cancel culture, a similar effort was undertaken by the San Francisco School Board when it decided to remove the names of historical figures amongst its 44 schools because they are said to have human rights violations. Kate Owen is Uber SA marketing manager for Rides and Eats, based in Johannesburg. Having been at Uber for over four years, Kate has covered the marketing for Uber South Africa, the brand campaigns for Uber SSA and now research and strategy. Prior to this, Owen gained through-the-line and digital marketing experience working for Ogilvy and Mather Johannesburg where she operated in a client service role working with international brands across the retail, FMCG and broadcast sectors. Kate Owen Tell us about your career: what you studied and why, and how you ended up where you are today Whats the best part of your job? Can you share with our readers about Uber SA's recent brand campaigns and the rationales behind them? 1. Mobility: Uber Go Campaign UberGo, a low-cost ride service, is now available in South Africa Uber South Africa recently announced that UberNam has been renamed to UberGo and that the service is now available across the country... 2. Delivery: Nobody Gets it Like We Do Which consumer sector does brand Uber predominantly play in? What other sectors impact your industry? What do you think are the most successful channels for getting your brand message out there? Consumers are increasingly favouring green and sustainable brands; do you have any plans or purpose to increase sustainability in the next 12 months? If you were mentoring a future you, what career advice would you give to aspirant young marketing and branding professionals? What professional development, musical, cultural, literary or leisure activities do you engage in? Here, Owen unpacks Uber South Africa's brand marketing campaigns and strategies, amongst other things.I studied Business Science Marketing at the University of Cape Town because I was fascinated by how brands/products/services communicated to their customers and what tactics one could use to differentiate in such a commoditised world.I started my career at Ogilvy where I worked in client service in digital for three years and then realised how much I wanted to focus on just one brand to truly understand its business and marketing strategy and help drive considerable and measurable impact.I heard about Uber via a friend and applied and successfully became the Johannesburg City Marketing Manager (at that stage most people thought Uber was an insurance company).I have since been at Uber for six-and-a-half years (fun fact: currently the longest standing Uber employee (with Ubers Sub Saharan Africa communication manager, Samantha Fuller) and my roles have included city and country marketing for South Africa, brand and campaigns for SSA and research and strategy for SSA.The people! I love working with every single person at Uber - whether in South Africa, in SSA, EMEA or globally. Everyone has the same passion for the company and drive to make it succeed which is so motivating!The fast-paced and innovative environment means that the company changes every few months if not weeks, and is constantly adapting to what its customers need (drivers, riders, eaters, couriers, cities etc). Witnessing the technology developments and business strategy evolve first hand is inspiring! As an example, in 2020 when Covid-19 hit we immediately pivoted from being a mobility first company to focusing on delivery.We accelerated our plans for essential items and convenience deliveries on Uber Eats and launched Uber Connect, a same day customer-to-customer delivery solution, which both have now become permanent options. We also temporarily used our logistics platform to Move What Matters - which included free meals or rides to frontline workers, delivery of essential medicine to homebound patients and food parcels to those most vulnerable.To ensure we adapt our technology to respond to the latest health and safety needs, we ensured all our safety features and policies were in line with the latest guidelines in each market.For example, with the shortage of masks globally, we took the opportunity to showcase our commitment to our driver community by providing them with masks through a partnership with YES, a technology-based non-profit corporation (NPC) in South Africa. Globally we launched a mask verification feature to ensure all drivers and delivery people have masks before any trips take place.Finally, the fact that everything I do has a greater purpose. My work in growing demand is helping to create economic opportunities for driver-partners and helping people get around their cities in a safe, affordable and convenient way. Objective: Create awareness of Uber Go - our best-priced mobility option for price-sensitive consumers which makes use of smaller, fuel-efficient hatchback vehicles - with the same quality and door-to-door safety experience, while highlighting the convenience in a way that authentically connects with South Africans Approach: Utilise geo-targeted media (as we decided to do a staggered launch in select suburbs new areas launching weekly) with simple, clear affordability messaging and photos of South African cities/suburbs Channels: Community radio, billboards and geo-targeted online media (YouTube, Twitter and Facebook) Results: Statistically significant uplifts on Ad Recall and Product Awareness on Brand Lift Studies Objective: Get 18-45-year-olds who order takeaway via direct ordering or pick-up to switch to Uber Eats by showing them how its an easier and more reliable way to get the restaurants they love Approach: Utilise a much-loved character Gogo and her family in food moments South Africans recognise while showcasing why Uber Eats is the most convenient brand in the country when it came to ordering food online Channels: TV and Digital (YouTube, Instagram and Facebook) Results: Our content scored a considerable lift on ad recall, message agreement and considerationUber is a technology platform, and technology is at the heart of our approach. Uber brings an easy and affordable transport solution to people across the world, whereby riders can get a ride! We also help people order food and essentials quickly and affordably through the Uber Eats app, all at a touch of a button.In addition to offering mobility and delivery, Uber has produced thousands of sustainable economic opportunities for drivers and delivery partners. We can also leverage our technology to offer additional solutions like Uber Connect, a customer-to-customer delivery solution, to surface earning opportunities when they are available.We communicate to our users regarding our campaigns and reminding users of our features and products via our channels such as emails and in-app messages (pop-ups and in-app banners). To communicate to a wider audience we use digital and specifically Facebook, Instagram and YouTube. Below are reasons why: We have significantly high awareness in South Africa. These channels are the best to help drive consideration and usage for the Uber brand which is our two main focus areas Our key audiences are also customers who use social media as their key media channels Additionally at Uber we focus on results-driven campaigns and these channels are fantastic at providing causal impact measurement on exposure and interaction through Google measurement tools like Brand Lift Study (BLS) and Cumulative Layout Shift (CLS) They also allow us to optimise content in real-time to ensure maximum performanceWe do not have any specific campaigns in South Africa in the next 12 months, but I am quite proud of what we are looking to do globally. Uber is committing to becoming a fully electric, zero-emission platform by 2040, with 100% of rides taking place in zero-emission vehicles, on public transit, or with micro-mobility. It is our responsibility as the largest mobility platform in the world to more aggressively tackle the challenge of climate change.With over 10 billion trips since we started in 2009, weve started reducing congestion and pollution in our cities by getting more people into fewer cars.Find a company whose product/service you truly believe in as you will deliver the best work when you are passionate about what you are talking about. Get truly passionate about research and insights as your customer is number one. And develop a work/life balance as this ensures you love your job more.I have completed a Life Coach Course which has been instrumental in my career development at Uber, managing stress and working out how I want to manage my life versus work. I LOVE LOVE LOVE food and spend hours researching new restaurants to visit and experience with friends and family.Running, yoga, pilates all forms of exercise make me happy. I am aiming to do Africa X next year as a big goal! And of course family time. I have a 22-month-old boy and weekends are for quality time with him, my husband and our dog Rumpus. This service applies to you if your subscription has not yet expired on our old site. You will have continued access until your subscription expires; then you will need to purchase an ongoing subscription through our new system. Please contact The Chanute Tribune office at 620-431-4100 if you have any questions Defence Minister on Thursday complimented the Indian Air Force for ensuring a "timely and befitting" response to the "sudden" developments in eastern Ladakh, in a reference to the Sino-India border row in the mountainous region. During an interaction with top commanders of the IAF, the defence minister also advised them to draw up long term plans and strategies to boost combat capabilities of the force to counter future threats, officials said. Noting that changing dimensions of war would now include advanced technologies, asymmetric capabilities and information-dominance, the minister, who inaugurated the bi-annual commanders' conference, said it was very important that the IAF's preparations for the future must include these aspects. "The defence minister congratulated IAF for ensuring a timely and befitting response to the sudden developments in eastern Ladakh," the IAF said in a statement without elaborating. As the situation deteriorated in eastern following a fierce clash between Indian and Chinese troops in Galwan valley in June last year, the Indian Air Force deployed almost all its frontline fighter jets like Sukhoi 30 MKI, Jaguar and Mirage 2000 aircraft in the key frontier air bases in the region. In his address, Singh also assured the IAF of "wholehearted support" from the defence ministry in achieving its goal of becoming a potent strategic aerospace force, officials said. Referring to changing international geopolitics, Singh said the perceptible shift of focus from trans-Atlantic to trans-Pacific has become more obvious in the recent past. He also expressed confidence that important decisions taken during the conference would enhance the combat potential of the IAF, noting that security and economic development are complementary aspects of policy. The defence minister appreciated the "critical focus" of the IAF towards reorienting for the future while stressing on the need to work pro-actively towards integration among the three services. In the three-day conference at the Air headquarters in Delhi, the commanders are deliberating on finalising strategies to boost the IAF's combat prowess besides taking stock of overall security challenges facing the nation. "The defence minister stressed on the need to continue to work pro-actively towards the integration process currently underway, implementation of the joint logistics plan and to enhance synergy in areas of joint planning and operations," the IAF said. It said he urged the commanders to take stock and implement all directions issued by Prime Minister Narendra Modi during the combined commanders' conference that had taken place at Kevadia in Gujarat last month. Asserting that the IAF's order for Light Combat Aircraft Tejas would result in a substantial boost to the domestic defence industry, he said it will be a game changer from the perspective of defence indigenisation. In February, the government sealed a Rs 48,000 crore deal to procure 83 Tejas aircraft from state-run aerospace behemoth Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd. It is the biggest ever indigenous defence procurement programme. He urged the commanders to continue their efforts for achieving even greater results in the field of indigenous defence production and aircraft maintenance. Issues pertaining to systems, reforms and restructuring for ensuring more efficient processes across all domains and optimised operational training are also being discussed at the conference. The defence minister also expressed happiness that the conference coincided with the birth anniversary of the Marshal of the Air Force Arjan Singh. On COVID-19 pandemic, the defence minister appreciated the role played by the IAF in assisting other government agencies in dealing with the situation. (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.) A court in Abidjan on Thursday handed a life sentence to former warlord Amade Oueremi over March 2011 massacres in western Ivory Coast in which hundreds were killed. Oueremi had faced 24 charges of mass murder, rape and inhumane and degrading treatment over the violence in Duekoue, which occurred as Ivory Coast was in the grip of a post-election civil war. In estimates cited in the trial, the Red Cross said 817 people were killed on one day alone, while the United Nations put the toll at 300 dead. The case brought forward searing testimony from survivors of the March 27-28, 2011, violence. Duekoue, a hub for Ivory Coasts all-important cocoa industry, became one of the worst areas for bloodshed in a conflict sparked when then president Laurent Gbagbo refused to admit election defeat to rival Alassane Ouattara. The months-long war ended in April 2011, at a cost of some 3,000 lives, when Gbagbo was seized. He was later hauled off to the International Criminal Court (ICC) to face war-crimes charges, of which he was finally acquitted last month a move that supporters hope will lead to his imminent homecoming. Pro-Ouattara forces seized Duekoue in March 2011 before militiamen allegedly under Oueremis command carried out the massacres. The violence played out against a background of ethnic tensions between the local pro-Gbagbo Guere community, pro-Ouattara Dioulas from northern Ivory Coast, and immigrants from neighbouring Burkina Faso. Oueremi, 57, whose nickname was The Lord, did not deny that massacres had taken place but dismissed accusations that he bore sole responsibility. I cant be the one who carries the can for the others. I was part of the FRCI, he told the court, referring to the forces that took the city. We were fighting Liberians and pro-Gbagbo militias who were sowing terror in the area They killed us and we also killed them. Three of the eight people arrested in Allenwood yesterday in connection with the murder of Mark Loughlin have been released without charge. Mark Loughlin from Greenwood Park in Edenderry was fatally assaulted in Allenwood South on January 3 last. A large number of officers from Kildare, Offaly and Laois was involved in the search and arrest operation in Allenwood yesterday morning. Six men, one woman and one male juvenile were arrested and detained at stations in Kildare and Laois under Section 4 of the Criminal Justice Act, 1984 and Section 30 of the Offences Against the State Act, 1939-98. A Garda spokesperson said today: "Gardai can confirm that three of the arrested persons have been released without charge and a file will be prepared for the Direction of Public Prosecutions. "The other five prisoners remain in Garda custody at this time. "Investigations are ongoing." A number of premises were searched yesterday as part of the planned operation. BOCA RATON, Fla., April 15, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Foreclosure.com today announced that it will once again reward select college students with financial assistance who can best provide a solution(s) to its latest essay topic for 2021. The company has been working hand-in-hand with students, financial aid offices and bursars nationwide for more than a full decade to reward participating students for their informed responses regarding all aspects of the volatile housing market. The subject of the Foreclosure.com Scholarship Program 2021, however, is uncharted territory: "Please describe how COVID-19 has affected the foreclosure housing market in the United States. Please reference specific issues such as: How has COVID-19 affected homeowners facing foreclosure? Are the moratoriums on foreclosures helping (or just delaying) the inevitable? How has the auction process changed in response to the pandemic? Will there be opportunities for homebuyers and investors in 2021 from a possible crash, and how will it be different from the housing crash of 2007- 2008?" "This year's topic is one that the brightest financial analysts and housing experts worldwide continue to try to wrap their brains around," said James Houston, Foreclosure.com co-founder. "With moratoriums, forebearances and other assistance programs suppressing loan defaults, countless homeowners have fortunately avoided foreclosure during the ongoing global pandemic. But what will happen when these programs expire? That's what we want our scholarship entries to help figure out." Foreclosure.com, which has received tens of thousands of entries from students during its scholarship programs from 2009 through 2020, will accept written essays/plans (800-word minimum, 2,000-word maximum) through its website (http://www.foreclosure.com/scholarship) from now until Dec. 15, 2021. Three winners will be selected at the conclusion of the contest and will share $3,500 in allotted scholarship funds. The top prize is a $2,500 scholarship and two $500 grants will be awarded to the runners-up. In addition to the three cash prizes in the form of scholarships, the winning responses will be featured on Foreclosure.com. All students must read and agree to the scholarship rules, which are located on the Foreclosure.com scholarship page at http://www.foreclosure.com/scholarship, before submitting their entries for review. For complete details and submission requirements/instructions for the Foreclosure.com Scholarship Program 2021, visit http://www.foreclosure.com/scholarship. About The Scholarship Program: To date, Foreclosure.com has issued $72,000 in scholarship money to 40 college students nationwide since the program was introduced in 2009. Each year, the company challenges future leaders of America to provide creative solutions/ideas to many of the nation's most critical issues, real estate in particular, which can be used to help foster a robust United States housing market. For More Information, Contact: Foreclosure.com Scholarship Department, [email protected] , 1-800-535-6945 Related Images image1.png SOURCE Foreclosure.com GBP/AUD Exchange Rate Rises as US-China Tensions Weigh on Australian Dollar The Pound Australian Dollar (GBP/AUD) exchange rate dipped by -0.2% today despite Australias Unemployment Rate falling from 5.8% to 5.6%. The pairing is currently fluctuating around AU$178. Australia is now amongst the fastest nations in the world to return to pre-pandemic employment levels. Gareth Aird of Commonwealth Bank of Australia was more cautious, however, saying: Its is probably time to stop using the word recovery when referring to the state of the Australian economy. The domestic economy is now simply in expansion mode. There is still an output gap, but we expect the level of GDP in Q1 21 to be above its pre Covid high given the big lift in employment and hours worked. Renewed US-China trade tensions has also limited the appeal of the risk-sensitive Aussie today. China is Australias largest trading partner, so any signs of tensions between Beijing and Washington is AUD-negative. The US recently loosened restrictions on Taiwan in defiance of China, sparking tensions between the worlds two largest economies. Pound (GBP) Edges Higher on Growing UK Economic Confidence The Pound (GBP) rose today as the outlook for the British economy continues to improve following this weeks easing of some lockdown restrictions for non-essential shops and outdoor-serving pubs and restaurants. UK Covid-19 cases also continue to fall in the UK, with todays daily cases down by -272 compared to last week, and those in hospital down by -769 versus the previous week. As a result, UK markets are becoming more confident about the outlook for the economy. Today also saw news that UK restaurant reservations had surged after England eased lockdown restrictions. The Office for National Statistics (ONS) commented: On Monday 12 April 2021, estimates for UK seated diner reservations were at 79% of the level seen on the equivalent Monday of 2019, the first time their level has exceeded 2% since before the announcement of the latest lockdown in England on 4 January 2021. This coincides with the easing of lockdown restrictions in England on this day, allowing restaurants to open for outdoor dining. The equivalent figures for London and Manchester were 47% and 153%, respectively. Pound Australian Dollar Exchange Rate Forecast: Could Escalating US-China Tensions Weigh on the Aussie? The Australian Dollar (AUD) will remain sensitive to US-China relations this week. Any further signs of tensions escalating between the two worlds largest economies would be AUD-negative. Pound (GBP) traders will be awaiting tomorrows speech from the Bank of Englands (BoE) Sir Jon Cunliffe, the Deputy Governor for Financial Stability. If Cunliffe is notably bullish about the outlook for the British economy, then the Pound Australian Dollar exchange rate would head higher. .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... MOSCOW Tensions are rising over the conflict in eastern Ukraine, with growing violations of a cease-fire and a massive Russian military buildup near its border with the region. Ukraine and the West have become worried about the Russian troops concentration and have urged Moscow to pull them back. Russia has argued that its free to deploy its forces on its territory and sternly warned the government in Kyiv against using force to reclaim control of the rebel-held territory east where more than 14,000 people have died in seven years of fighting. Heres a look at some of the issues involving the conflict in eastern Ukraine: ADVERTISEMENTSkip ................................................................ WHAT ARE THE ROOTS OF THE CONFLICT? Ukraine was part of the Soviet Union until its 1991 collapse, and since then Russia has sought to keep the neighbor in its orbit. The separatist conflict in Ukraines eastern industrial heartland, known as the Donbas, short for Donetsk Basin, erupted in April 2014. That came a few weeks after Russia annexed Ukraines Crimean Peninsula following the ouster of a Moscow-friendly president by a popular uprising in the capital of Kyiv. Armed rebels in the mostly Russian-speaking eastern region seized government buildings and proclaimed peoples republics in the Donetsk and the Luhansk regions, and the Ukrainian military and volunteer battalions moved to put down the unrest. Ukraine and the West said Russia sent troops and weapons to the east to support the separatists. Moscow has denied those claims and insisted that Russians fighting alongside the rebels went there on their own. Amid the hostilities, a Malaysia Airlines passenger jet traveling from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur was shot down on July 17, 2014, over eastern Ukraine, killing all 298 people on board. Dutch prosecutors allege it was shot by a Russian Buk missile from an area controlled by the Russia-backed separatists. Russia denied any involvement. The United States and the European Union imposed sanctions on Moscow for its annexation of Crimea, which wasnt recognized by most of the world, and its support for the separatists. The restrictions have halted the transfer of Western technology and blocked Russias access to global capital markets. Russia retaliated by banning most Western food imports. The Kremlin has repeatedly vowed that no Western sanctions will ever force it to change its course on Ukraine. HAVE THERE BEEN EFFORTS AT A PEACE DEAL? After a series of Ukraines military defeats, France and Germany helped broker a peace deal that was signed in February 2015 in the Belarusian capital of Minsk. The agreement was a diplomatic coup for Russia, obliging Ukraine to grant broad autonomy to the rebel regions and declare an amnesty for the rebels. It stipulated that Ukraine would regain full control of its border with Russia in the rebel-held territories only after they elect local leaders and legislatures. Many in Ukraine saw the deal as a betrayal of national interests and opposed it. The Minsk agreement helped end large-scale hostilities, but sporadic skirmishes have continued and efforts at a political settlement have stalled. Ukrainian officials have repeatedly pushed for revising the Minsk deal, calls that Russia has rejected. HOW IS THE PEACE DEAL FARING? While the separatists have asked Russia to incorporate the rebel territories, Moscow has ignored the demand apparently figuring that those eastern regions would eventually help draw Ukraine back into Russias orbit and thwart Kyivs aspirations to join NATO and the EU. Russia has granted its citizenship to more than 600,000 people in the rebel-controlled regions. Political novice Volodymyr Zelenskyy was elected president of Ukraine by a landslide in April 2019 on promises to end the fighting and root out the countrys endemic corruption. He pushed successfully for a series of prisoner exchanges and sought to secure a lasting truce by pulling back troops and heavy weapons from the line of contact. In December 2019, the leaders of Russia, Ukraine, France and Germany met in Paris and reaffirmed their commitment to the 2015 peace deal, but no progress has been reached on a political settlement. WHY HAVE TENSIONS ESCALATED NOW? The lack of a lasting resolution to the conflict has fomented new tensions. Ukrainian authorities say cease-fire violations have become more frequent in recent weeks, with nearly 30 troops killed this year. They accused Russia of fueling tensions by deploying 41,000 troops near the border with eastern Ukraine and 42,000 to Crimea, where Russia maintains a large naval base. The U.S. and NATO say the Russian troops concentration is the largest since 2014. Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said the buildup in the past three weeks was part of readiness drills in response to what he described as threats from NATO. Russia also has cast it as a necessary security precaution amid what it described as Ukraines provocations along the line of control. Kremlin officials have strongly warned Kyiv against trying to use force to retake the east, saying Russia could be forced to intervene to protect civilians if they face a threat of massacre. WHATS THE U.S. ROLE? The United States has provided political, financial and military assistance to Ukraine, conducted joint military drills and regularly sent its ships into the Black Sea in a show of support. In a call with Russian President Vladimir Putin, new U.S. President Joe Biden voiced concern over the Russian buildup near Ukraine and called on Russia to de-escalate tensions. The White House said Biden emphasized the United States unwavering commitment to Ukraines sovereignty and territorial integrity. The Biden administration on Thursday raised the pressure on Russia, announcing an array of new sanctions, including a ban for U.S. financial institutions to buy Russian government bonds directly from Russian state institutions. Washington also ordered the expulsion of 10 Russian diplomats and targeted six Russian companies and 32 individuals with sanctions for trying to interfere in last years U.S. presidential election, the massive SolarWinds hack and other activities. Russia warned that it will respond with a series of retaliatory moves. Denmark's public prosecutor has charged three members of an Iranian Arab opposition group with financing and supporting terrorist activity in Iran and aiding Saudi intelligence services. "This is a very serious case, where people in Denmark have carried out illegal intelligence activities and financed and promoted terrorism from Denmark in other countries," Lise-Lotte Nilas, a Copenhagen prosecutor, said in a statement on April 15. "Of course, this cannot take place on Danish soil, and therefore I am satisfied that we can now bring charges in the case." The three members of the Arab Struggle Movement for the Liberation of Ahvaz (ASMLA) were arrested in February 2020 and have been in custody since. At the time of their detention, Danish officials said the three "collected information about individuals in Denmark and abroad and passed on this information to a Saudi intelligence service," among other things. The prosecutor said the case was linked to a 2018 police operation over an alleged Iranian plot to kill one or more opponents of the Iranian government. They said it was also connected with a criminal case that is currently pending against a Norwegian citizen of Iranian origin who is charged with having helped the Iranian intelligence service plan the murder in Denmark of one of the three. A jury trial will start on April 29 for the three and be held at the Roskilde district court, the statement said. The defendants face prison sentences of up to 12 years if convicted. ASMLA, which has an armed branch and seeks a separate state for ethnic Arabs in Iran's oil-producing southwestern province of Khuzestan, was accused by Tehran as being behind a deadly 2018 terror attack on a military parade in the southwestern city of Ahvaz that left at least 25 dead, including civilians. With reporting by Reuters The bilateral trade in education services between India and the US could record exponential growth if Washington removes barriers like visa and entry restrictions on the free flow of students, according to a top American business advocacy group. The 2020 Open Doors report on International Educational Exchange highlights that during the 2019-20 academic year, India remained the second largest source of international students in the US, despite a four per cent decline to 193,124 students, making up 18 per cent of the total higher education international student community in the US, the US India Strategic and Partnership Forum (USISPF) said in a report. The Open Doors report was recently released by the US Department of State's Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs and the Institute of International Education (IIE). Removing trade barriers on the free flow of students and educational services can strengthen the competitiveness of the US economy by way of value addition and job creation, it said. In the report US-India Higher Education Partnership: A Win-Win Opportunity USISPF visualises tremendous opportunities for the two countries in the higher education segment from both trade and investment perspectives, which are crucial for the economic growth of both economies. There are mutual gains for both partners, as the US wants to improve its bilateral trade balance with India to save jobs through increased exports, and India's young STEM talent assesses the US as one of the best destinations for world-class higher education and professional training opportunities, it said. STEM stands for Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics. If visa barriers are addressed, the bilateral trade in education services could record exponential growth, the USISPF said. According to the 2019 Open Doors Report on International Educational Exchange, India is the second-highest country of origin for foreign students in the US and has been, consecutively, for ten years. In 2018-19, before the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, more than 200,000 Indian students came to the US to pursue undergraduate, graduate, non-degree, and optional practical training (OPT) programmes, a 2.9 per cent increase from 2017-18,. The OPT programme allows international students to work in the US after completion of their courses. The pre-pandemic trend was also evident in the bilateral trade statistics, which capture spending on educational travel between the two countries. From 2015 to 2019, the amount spent by Indian students on educational travel to the US rose by 45 per cent, to nearly USD7.7 billion, the USISPF said. Significantly, these trade data only include cross-border expenditures and do not reflect the additional economic activity generated by students through local spending on fees, housing, and living expenses, it said. The USISPF has recommended the US to make comprehensive immigration reforms that allow robust student mobility by reviewing and streamlining the student visa process, especially for countries that send the most students to the United States. It also urges the US to enable a framework for OPT, expand training opportunities for capable international students following graduation, create a coherent framework for international education that aligns with the US diplomatic, economic and immigration goals and increase immigration numbers to the levels during the Obama administration. (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.) WASHINGTON U.S. Rep. Antonio Delgado raised $1.1 million in the first three months of 2021, an enormous show of force for the second-term congressman as he looks ahead to the 2022 campaign in a purple district that Republicans are targeting. The funds mark a first-quarter record in New York's 19th District, his campaign said. Delgado, D-Rhinebeck, now has over $4 million on hand for his re-election campaign, according to campaign filings from the Federal Election Commission released Thursday. No Republican candidates have filed paperwork to challenge Delgado in 2022. Delgado's 2020 opponent, Republican attorney Kyle Van De Water, said at the close of the campaign last year that he intended to run again in 2022. Van De Water did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Thursday. Political observers also have their eye on Dutchess County Executive Marc Molinaro, who is said to be considering a run either for Congress in the 19th District or for governor in 2022. Molinaro said Wednesday he had "no news ... yet." The sprawling 19th District, which stretches from Poughkeepsie through Rensselaer County and to the west of Oneonta, was previously held by Republican Rep. John Faso of Kinderhook, until Delgado defeated him in 2018. Since then, the competitive district has gained more Democratic voters than Republican voters. Delgado won re-election in 2020 with 54 percent of the vote about 40,000 votes. But the district could change this year depending on how the lines are drawn by New York's redistricting commission as a result of the 2020 census. It's expected the state will lose a congressional seat, but the final district maps aren't expected to be finished until the end of this year or early next year, later than usual because of delays in completing the census. Chris Mann, assistant professor of political science at Skidmore College, said he believes Republican candidates are hesitant to jump into the race without knowing the shape and political leanings of the district. "The real advantage to (Delgado), (and the) disadvantage to anyone challenging him is you've got to raise a ton of money, which means you've got to start early," Mann said. "But the top-tier challengers, there is a cost to announcing you're going to run for Congress and losing badly if the landscape gets worse, (the district gets bluer) or dropping out and being seen as not sincere ... that will make it less likely that he has challenger." Republicans generally are forecasted to have a strong year in 2022 typical for the opposing party during a presidential mid-term year. To the north, U.S. Rep. Elise Stefanik, R-Schuylerville, also posted similarly bullish numbers, collecting $1.2 million in the first quarter of 2021. U.S. Rep. Paul Tonko, D-Amsterdam, raised just over $100,000 in the same period, while his challenger Republican Liz Joy raised $190, according to FEC filings, but she did not launch her 2022 candidacy until the day after the quarter ended. Acquisition expands UK wealth management footprint into Scotland with a leading and well-established franchise and increases client assets by approximately 1.7 billion (C$2.9 billion) TORONTO, LONDON and EDINBURGH, April 15, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Canaccord Genuity Group Inc. (TSX: CF), (the "Company") is pleased to announce that through its wealth management business in the UK ("CGWM UK"), it has entered into an agreement with The Royal Bank of Scotland plc ("RBS"), which is part of the NatWest Group plc ("NatWest"), to acquire the private client investment management business of Adam & Company ("the Business").The acquisition is expected to be accretive to the Company's adjusted1 earnings. Closing is subject to regulatory approval and is expected to take place at the end of the Company's second fiscal quarter. Adam & Company's investment management business is a leading Scottish private client investment manager based in Edinburgh, with client assets totaling approximately 1.7 billion (C$2.9 billion2), which are managed on a discretionary basis. The Business includes a stable and experienced team of portfolio managers with direct responsibility for client relationships. With a commitment to service excellence, the Business benefits from strong client loyalty, as demonstrated through the growth in its client assets of approximately 45% over the past five years. The acquisition represents a unique opportunity for Canaccord Genuity Wealth Management to enter the Scottish market with a deeply established franchise and a strong brand. CGWM UK intends to continue to operate the Business under the name of Adam & Company. The Business's core client proposition will remain largely unchanged, and the existing direct relationships between clients and portfolio managers will not be affected. As part of CGWM UK, the investment professionals and clients of the Business will also have access to the broad range of resources and expertise in the areas of global and small cap equities, ESG and fixed income offerings, in addition to its robust suite of retirement, later life care and inheritance tax (IHT) planning capabilities. To help facilitate this, Adam & Company's investment team will become active members of CGWM UK's existing investment committees. With a common operating and technology platform, transition to CGWM UK is expected to be seamless to clients and investment professionals. Graham Storrie, Managing Director of Adam & Company, will continue with the Business in a leadership role. David Esfandi, Chief Executive Officer of CGWM UK said: "Entering the Scottish market represents a very important milestone in our long-term growth strategy and we are pleased to be doing so with Adam & Company's investment management business, a leading regional franchise with a strong cultural fit and a similar client base to our own. We are delighted to welcome this team of deeply established investment professionals, and we look forward to supporting their continued growth and commitment to providing the best possible outcomes for their clients." Graham Storrie, Managing Director of Adam & Company adds: "To build on the success of Adam & Company's investment management business it was essential to find a buyer who shared our investment philosophy and strategic ambitions for the future. I believe that with CGWM, we will be able to offer our clients in Scotland and beyond the continuity and high quality service they deserve, and I am delighted to have the opportunity to continue to lead this business." During the period to completion, it is CGWM UK's intention to establish a new office location for the Adam & Company investment management business in central Edinburgh. ___________________ 1 Adjusted earnings is a non-IFRS measure generally referred to by the Company as pre-tax net income excluding significant items. Refer to non-IFRS measures in the Company's MD&A. 2 Approximate Canadian Dollar equivalent based on current exchange rate of 1 to C$1.73 TRANSACTION OVERVIEW Cash consideration of 54.0 million (C$94.9 million) will be paid on closing. The transaction is to be effected through a Business Transfer Agreement that will result in CGWM UK acquiring both the shares of Adam & Company Investment Management Limited ("AIM") as well as certain assets from RBS, including the Adam & Company brand, certain intellectual property and client contracts. Portfolio managers and supporting employees who are currently employed by RBS yet dedicated to Adam & Company's business will transfer to CGWM UK. Both CGWM UK and Adam & Company operate on the Avaloq platform, and the parties have agreed a detailed migration plan which will be implemented after signing. During the year ended December 31, 2020, Adam & Company's investment management business held average assets under management of 1.6 billion (C$2.8 billion), and generated revenue of approximately 12.5 million (C$21.6 million). A retention plan will be implemented for key employees based on client assets and continued employment over a four year period. Closing is subject to regulatory approval and other customary closing conditions. The acquisition is expected to be completed during the quarter ended September 30, 2021, which will be the end of the second fiscal quarter of the Company's 2022 fiscal year. Raymond James Financial International Limited acted as financial adviser and Farrer & Co LLP acted as legal adviser to CGWM in connection with the transaction. Evercore acted as financial adviser and Pinsent Masons LLP acted as legal adviser to NatWest in connection with the transaction. 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 international capital markets division operates in North America, the UK & Europe, Asia, Australia and the Middle East. Canaccord Genuity Group Inc. is publicly traded under the symbol CF on the TSX. To learn more about CGWM UK, visit https://www.canaccordgenuity.com/wealth-management-uk/ 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 and its Crown Dependencies (Jersey, Guernsey and the Isle of Man) and Australia and has advisors in Canada who are registered in the US. Reference to CGWM UK includes offices located in both the UK and the Crown Dependencies. 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 ADAM & COMPANY INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Adam & Company Investment Management Limited (AIM) is regulated by the UK Financial Conduct Authority and provides discretionary investment management services primarily from its office in Edinburgh. AIM is a subsidiary of The Royal Bank of Scotland plc and part of NatWest Group plc, a large UK banking group that provides retail and commercial banking, insurance and investment services to over 19 million customers. Following the sale of AIM, any banking and lending activities conducted under the Adam & Company brand will in time be transferred to the Coutts business of the NatWest Group. 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 2021 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. Investor and media relations inquiries: Christina Marinoff, Vice President, Investor Relations & Communications, Phone: 416-687-5507 Email: cmarinoff@cgf.com, www.cgf.com/investor-relations The Duke of Edinburgh's carriage-driving companion - one of his closest confidantes - Countess Mountbatten of Burma will join mourners at Philip's funeral. Penny Romsey, 67, who is 32 years younger than Philip, remained close to the Duke for years after he took it upon himself in 1994 to teach her carriage driving. For years, no private royal event is complete without an invitation to Penny Brabourne. Around Buckingham Palace she is known simply as 'and also' because of the automatic way her name is added to the guest list. Now the 67-year-old countess - Penelope 'Penny' Knatchbull, previously known as Lady Romsey and later Lady Brabourne - will join the monarch, the Queen and Philip's four children and eight grandchildren and their respective spouses at the service in St George's Chapel on Saturday. Buckingham Palace said the Queen faced 'some very difficult' decisions as she selected the 30 guests permitted under Covid-19 rules, from the original 800-strong congregation, and had tried to ensure all branches of the duke's family were there. Penny's inclusion in the small group of 30 is an indication as to how close she and Philip remained until her death today. The Duke of Edinburgh's carriage-driving companion - one of his closest confidantes - Countess Mountbatten of Burma will join mourners at Philip's funeral (pictured together in 1975) Penny will join the Queen and Philip's four children and eight grandchildren and their respective spouses at the service in St George's Chapel on Saturday. These include Jack Brooksbank, the husband of Eugenie, daughter of the duchess and the Duke of York, and Beatrice's husband Edoardo Mapelli Mozzi. Three German relatives - whose ancestors were denied a place at Princess Elizabeth and Philip's wedding because of anti-German feeling after the second war - have been included. Others on the guest list include the Queen's first cousins Princess Alexandra, the Duke of Gloucester and the Duke of Kent, who loyally supported the monarch and Philip by carrying out royal duties over the decades. She first met the Duke who is 30 years her senior at a polo match when she was 20 and in a relationship with Lord Romsey, Earl Mountbatten's grandson Norton Knatchbull (pictured the trio together in 2009) The guests who will be involved in Prince Philip's funeral procession (left) and those who will be St George's Chapel (right). Penny will be in St George's Chapel But the most prominent name missing from the list is Prince Harry's wife Meghan, who has stayed at home in Los Angeles. Also is missing is the Queen's cousin, Prince Michael of Kent, 78, who is not a working royal. Who is invited? The Queen The Prince of Wales The Duchess of Cornwall The Duke of Cambridge The Duchess of Cambridge The Duke of Sussex The Duke of York Princess Beatrice Edoardo Mapelli Mozzi Princess Eugenie Jack Brooksbank The Earl of Wessex The Countess of Wessex Lady Louise Windsor Viscount Severn The Princess Royal Vice Admiral Sir Timothy Laurence Peter Phillips Zara Phillips Mike Tindall Earl of Snowdon Lady Sarah Chatto Daniel Chatto Duke of Gloucester Duke of Kent Princess Alexandra Bernhard, Hereditary Prince of Baden Prince Donatus, Landgrave of Hesse Prince Philipp of Hohenlohe-Langenburg The Countess Mountbatten of Burma Advertisement There was also not room for the spouses of the Queen's cousins - the Duchess of Gloucester and the Duchess of Kent, nor Prince Michael's often controversial wife, Princess Michael of Kent. Formerly Penelope Meredith Eastwood, Lady Brabourne is the daughter of a retired major. Penny's father left school at 15 and became a butcher, like his father and grandfather before him but died a wealthy man having founded the Angus Steakhouse chain of restaurants which he sold for several millions. She first met the Duke who is 30 years her senior at a polo match when she was 20 and in a relationship with Lord Romsey, Earl Mountbatten's grandson Norton Knatchbull. Penny's father, the short, dapper Reg Eastwood, had sold his steakhouse chain to the Golden Egg company and was living with his wife in Majorca when his daughter a graduate of the London School of Economics - married Norton. The wedding had been delayed for eight weeks because five months earlier, on August 25, IRA bombers blew up a small boat in the sea off Mullaghmore, Co. Sligo, where Lord Mountbatten had a holiday home. It killed Mountbatten, Norton's 14-year-old younger brother Nicholas (after whom he was to name his own son), his paternal grandmother the Dowager Lady Brabourne and a local boy who was with the family. Nicholas's twin brother, Timothy, and his parents were all injured. It was an intensely moving moment as the couple arrived in an ambulance for their son's wedding. Mountbatten's murder meant that Broadlands became the newlyweds' first and only home. Brought up in his parents' comfortable 18th century country house in Kent, Norton dreaded it. He never wanted the burden of Broadlands and knew he could hardly live up to his illustrious grandfather as the local 'lord of the manor'. A family friend previously revealed: 'On the other hand, Penny was always comfortable there because she knew it was their duty.' But Norton fell out with the locals when, in the Eighties, he tried to get planning permission for Tesco to build a superstore on the estate. Duke of Edinburgh took it upon himself in 1994 to teach Penny carriage driving and the pair travelled the country together Feelings ran so high that opponents of the development carried a burning effigy of their High Steward through the streets of Romsey. The supermarket was never built. Meanwhile the family's original closeness to those in The Firm came through Norton's friendship with Prince Charles. This went back to when they were schoolboys together at Gordonstoun and Norton, a year older, was deputed to show Charles the ropes. She welcomed a son Nicholas in 1981 and a daughter Lady Alexandra a year later. In 1986, she gave birth to daughter, who had kidney cancer and died aged five nearly 20 years ago. Just like his father and Charles, Nicholas was a year older than Prince William and was given the responsibility of showing him the ropes at Eton. The Queen and Duke of Edinburgh attended Penny's wedding to her husband Norton at Romsey Abbey in Hampshire However, starting as a teenager, Nicholas's life has been devastated by drugs. He has spent years on crack cocaine and heroin, living in drug dens and bedsits, is covered in tattoos and has found occasional work as a club DJ under the name 'Minimal Criminal'. Several years ago, he became engaged to single mother-of-two Zeaphena Badley, a dreadlocked Anglo-Jamaican girl from a shabby London council estate. Meanwhile in 2010, Norton moved to the Bahamas to embark on a new life with Lady Nuttall, 60. At that time, Brabourne gave up all public duties and his estranged wife took over many of his responsibilities. Royal expert Ingrid Seward previously said Prince Philip supported Penny when Norton left her. Royal expert Ingrid Seward previously said Prince Philip supported Penny when her husband Norton left her in 2010 However, their affair fizzled out and he returned in 2014 to Broadlands, where the Queen began her honeymoon. One of her oldest family friends previously revealed: 'I often wonder how their mother, Penny, copes with all the tragedy she has suffered. 'But she's a strong character - much stronger than Norton. I think Penny gets it from her father. He was a man who always seemed to know where he was going.' She has always been close to the royal family, as one friend who has known her since those early days previously recalled: 'She was one of the most natural young women I have ever met, outgoing but not brash or flirty.' In later years, she became one of the Duke of Edinburgh's regular companion at carriage-driving events, and painted watercolours together. Now the 67-year-old countess - Penelope 'Penny' Knatchbull, previously known as Lady Romsey and later Lady Brabourne - will join the monarch at the service in St George's Chapel on Saturday. She has been a regular guest at the weekend house parties he holds at secluded Wood Farm on the Sandringham Estate in Norfolk. She never stays when the Queen is there. She has been a decorative and determined carriage-driving companion of Prince Philip (which has made her the talk of countless gossip columns). Gossip about them has never been allowed to spoil their relationship. It was said that Penny's enthusiasm for the sport was crucial in keeping Philip's aged hands on the reins. Of all the women's names that have been linked with Philip, Penny's is easily the most enduring, the one that even now so late in his life, continues to raise unwelcome attention. Penny has been a regular guest at the weekend house parties he holds at secluded Wood Farm on the Sandringham Estate in Norfolk. She never stays when the Queen is there (pictured together in 2009) There was a time, indeed, when courtiers referred to the 'Penny Romsey situation' this before her now-estranged husband succeeded to his father's title of Baron Brabourne a decade ago. The phrase had emerged in royal corridors some years earlier, after details of a lengthy and rambling telephone conversation between Penny and Prince Philip were leaked by an electronic eavesdropper. With a warm familiarity, they were overheard chewing over some of the Royal Family's most private and pressing issues, from Charles and Diana's divorce, to Mrs Camilla Parker Bowles. Even the Queen Mother's hip operation was discussed. Prince Philip valued her thoughts and opinions. After all, Penny was the first person to suggest that Charles and Diana were ill-suited because they had virtually nothing in common. The full details of that late-night call have never been revealed. She has been a decorative and determined carriage-driving companion of Prince Philip (pictured together in 2015) Meanwhile Prince Charles is also a close friend of the family, giving away Penny's daughter Alexandra at her 2018 wedding But after the Squidgygate and Camillagate affairs when telephone calls between Diana and her friend James Gilbey, and Charles and his then mistress Camilla Parker Bowles were intercepted and then leaked the taped conversation was inevitably dubbed 'Dukegate', much to Philip's understandable anger. Even though their conversation had little in common with the intimacies and implications of the others, some interpreted it as an indication of their closeness. Writing last year, Seward commented: 'When I saw Philip and Penny gliding around the dance floor at the Royal Yacht Squadron Ball during Cowes Week one year, neither of them gave a damn who saw them or what anyone might say. ' 'I noticed that Philip was completely in rhythm with the beautiful Penny. He's undoubtedly close to her and is a supportive friend and mentor.' Penny has lived with Norton at Broadlands throughout their marriage (pictured, the Queen and Prince Philip at the estate in 1947) Meanwhile Penny was also credited with persuading him to give up his driving licence after his 2019 accident. The Queen was said to be 'relaxed' about the constant topic of Philip and Penny. As a figure close to the royals previously said: 'She shrugs her shoulders and says: 'Philip likes to have her around.'' As for Philip, he 'didn't believe he had anything to feel guilty about as he didn't give a damn what the world thinks'. Western Massachusetts business leader urged their peers to fight the latest tax notices showing massive unemployment tax hikes the kinds of increases lawmakers had hoped to prevent with the new unemployment insurance law. Executive board members of the East of the River Five Town Chamber of Commerce started circulating a petition and a letter to send lawmakers. They told employers on a call Thursday afternoon to contact their state legislators to push for a fix to the solvency fund before the end of the fiscal quarter on April 30. Business owners found out last week the solvency fund rate jumped up to 1600% because of COVID-related unemployment claims, raising unemployment taxes by thousands of dollars for Massachusetts business owners. We should not be penalized for the insolvency of the UI trust fund due to COVID-19 related UI claims as a result of the mandated shutdown of our economy to protect the community at large, the letter states. Legislative leaders and Baker administration officials are looking into how many businesses were hit with massive unemployment taxes because of the jump in solvency fund rates and how to reduce the hit to employers. Lawmakers in March passed an unemployment insurance bill that was supposed to provide relief to business owners. The new law, which took effect earlier this month, authorizes the state to borrow up to $7 billion to close the $4 billion-plus deficit in the unemployment insurance trust fund. They also froze the payment schedules that would have cost business owners hundreds more per employee. Yet the spike in the solvency fund, set under state statute, eluded state leaders. The solvency fund typically remains below 2% but jumped after the CARES Act mandated that states divert COVID-related unemployment claims to the solvency fund. That provision made the solvency fund rate jump from 0.58% to as high as 9.23% for Massachusetts employers. That rate drove the overall employer contribution rates business owners must pay into the unemployment insurance system. For some, the employer contribution rate doubled, seeing their unemployment tax bills increase more than tenfold. Its a very, very difficult pill to swallow when we spent a year trying to figure out how to calculate things and make projections and then all of a sudden we get whacked, said Charlie Christianson, board president of the ERC5. The chamber represents some 200 businesses in East Longmeadow, Hampden, Longmeadow, Ludlow and Wilbraham. 1/19/2021 - Customers checking out products at Webs - America's Yarn Store in Northampton. (Hoang 'Leon' Nguyen / The Republican) It just doesnt sit well When the pandemic was declared, Steve and Kathy Elkins closed their shop, WEBS - Americas Yarn Store in Northampton, like other retailers in Massachusetts did to comply with the governors mandate to close non-essential businesses. Their employees moved to the warehouse to help the business ramp up its online sales. Those who couldnt stayed home, continuing to get paid. We had done everything in our power to support our staff, who did such a great job throughout the whole thing, Steve Elkin said. The yarn store joined the minority of businesses that saw a windfall during the COVID-19 pandemic. Maybe it was the stay-at-home advisories, or the fear of contracting COVID-19. The yarn stores customer base tends to be above age 50 and female. The Elkins, second generation owners who took over the shop 18 years ago, announced in January they sold their store to the national craft retailer LoveCrafts. But they continue to run the store and work with the parent company. Things were looking up. Then came the state tax notice. WEBS faced a 120% increase in unemployment taxes, despite not laying off anyone. The company owes $33,000 instead of $15,000. It just doesnt sit well, said Steve Elkin, now general manager of the yarn store. Its $18,000 that we dont have to spend elsewhere in our business. Other businesses are seeing similar tax hikes. A Springfield-based company saw the tax bill increase by roughly $300,000. The Retailers Association of Massachusetts saw its tax bill jump from $500 to nearly $10,000. A downtown Northampton cafe that paid close to $4,000 a year earlier now faces a bill of $15,000. To get a really large bill like this is going to shut people down, and its probably going to lead to more layoffs and rising prices and all kinds of things as businesses figure out how to adapt, said Rep. Linsday Sabadosa, a Northampton Democrat, because nobody was ready for that. Massachusetts UI tax noticesScreenshot The state Department of Unemployment Assistance cannot revise the solvency fund rate because it is set by statute. Trade groups and several chambers of commerce signed onto a letter calling for state officials to use new federal aid to reduce the deficit in the UI trust fund. Fifty-five lawmakers signed onto a letter led by Rep. Bradley Jones and Sen. Bruce Tarr, the Republican minority leaders, making similar recommendations. House Speaker Ron Mariano and Senate Ways and Means Chairman Michael Rodrigues said they were working with the Baker administration to address the solvency rate increases. Mariano said hes waiting for a cost estimate from the governors office to determine the magnitude of the problem. Massachusetts is expected to receive $4.5 billion over two years from the federal American Rescue Plan. Mariano doesnt foresee using funds before the federal government releases its guidance on how to appropriate the money. The guidance is due in mid-May. It is premature to have any discussion about how our government would make up any deficit or fix any problem that the solvency fund created, Mariano said Wednesday. Even if lawmakers wait to use the federal funds until mid-May, Sabadosa said she hopes they can push for a short-term solution so business owners arent left in limbo. What I would like to see is some relief for business owners at least in the short term where were either giving them a longer period to pay into this or were easing the pain a little bit, she said. Related Content: In the 1982 film, My Favorite Year, the lead character, Bengie Stone, a Jewish comedy writer who worked on a fictional version of Sid Caesars Your Show of Shows is on a date, and trying to explain to his non-Jewish date, that Jews know three things, suffering, where to find great Chinese food, and funny. That line is sort a punchline within a sterotype that so many of the great early comedians through present day are Jewish. Well, I guess we like to laugh and make people laugh. Whats wrong with that? And that sentiment is alive and well, and celebrated daily on the website Jewish Humor Central. Each day, the masterminds at this website send out a daily email, reminding us all to remember to laugh, at least once a day. ADVERTISEMENT On Thursdays the site publishes, their Throwback Thursday, which features a funny clip from the past. Check it out here on The Jewish Light every Thursday, or visit their site to sign up for their daily newsletter. Todays Chuckle Today were flying the time machine back to 1971 when Don Rickles presided at a Friars Club roast of Jerry Lewis. The roast was attended by Milton Berle, Johnny Carson, Alan King, Rex Reed, and many other comedians and celebrities. Rickles was in fine form in delivering one insult after another, in his inimitable style, and had the audience laughing from start to finish. Enjoy! MIAMI, April 15, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- On April 15, low-fare carrier Frontier Airlines and Miami-Dade County officials gathered for a ribbon-cutting ceremony to celebrate the airline's inaugural flight from Miami International Airport to San Salvador that day, as well as its new Miami-Guatemala City service that began on April 12. Frontier is now serving both routes with twice-weekly service. Frontier topped off its busy week at MIA by announcing that it will be launching service to four more cities this summer: Myrtle Beach, South Carolina (5x weekly) on June 10; Nassau, Bahamas (4x weekly) on June 24; San Jose, Costa Rica (2x weekly) on July 2; and St. Maarten, Netherlands Antilles (1x weekly) on July 10. Myrtle Beach is not currently served by any other airline at MIA. "Congratulations to Frontier on their ongoing expansion of international flights from MIA," said Miami-Dade County Mayor Daniella Levine Cava. "Their growing service to our community is increasing travel options to and from popular destinations for our residents and visitors." Additionally, Frontier announced last week that it would begin Montego Bay, Jamaica service on May 28 with three weekly flights. The new routes will bring Frontier's network at MIA to a total of 34 destinations its highest number ever at the airport. "We proudly welcome this expansion of flights by Frontier, and we look forward to seeing their presence grow even stronger at MIA with service to five more cities by July 1," said Lester Sola, MIA Director and CEO. "Frontier has risen to become one of our busiest airlines in terms of seat capacity, and we appreciate their commitment to not only maintaining Miami service throughout the pandemic but continuing to expand their route network here." The inaugural San Salvador flight on April 15 was under the command of Captain Carlos Cartagena, who is originally from San Salvador and has been a Frontier Airlines pilot for nearly 19 years. "I am overjoyed to captain Frontier's first-ever flight from Miami to my hometown of San Salvador," said Captain Cartagena. "This new route opens up so many new opportunities for people to travel between these two thriving cities, and I could not be more proud to be a part of this remarkable event." The new Guatemala City and San Salvador service follows three other international route launches by Frontier just last month on March 7 and 8: Cancun, Mexico (4x weekly); Punta Cana, Dominican Republic (2x weekly); and St. Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands (2x weekly). "We're excited to begin flights from Miami to San Salvador today and announce four new nonstop routes," said Josh Flyr, Vice President of Network and Operational Design, Frontier Airlines. "With this level of service, Miami residents now have unprecedented access to affordable flights to take them to world-class destinations." Subscribe here for more MIA news Connect with us on: Twitter | Facebook | Instagram | YouTube | Linkedin Hi-res image download MEDIA CONTACT: Greg Chin 786.251.0588 [email protected] www.iflymia.com SOURCE Miami International Airport In the aftermath of the US and the NATO withdrawing its troops from Afghanistan, India will have tremendous concern on the resurgence of the and its territory being used as a safe haven for terrorist, experts said. US President Joe Biden on Wednesday announced that all American troops would be withdrawn from Afghanistan by September 11 this year, thus bringing to end the country's longest war, spanning across two decades. Following suit, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization will also pull out its troops from the war-torn country. "Regional countries, especially India, will have tremendous concerns about the US pullout from Afghanistan and the likelihood of a resurgence in the country, Lisa Curtis, who was Deputy Assistant to the President and NSC Senior Director for South and Central Asia from 2017-2021 under the previous Donald Trump administration told PTI. When the controlled Afghanistan in the late 1990s, they welcomed militants and terrorists of all stripes to train, recruit, and fundraise from Afghanistan. Many of those militants, including the Lashkar-e-Taiba and Jaish-e-Mohammad, trained for operations in India, such as the 2001 attack on the Indian parliament, Curtis said. An eminent foreign policy and national security expert with over 20 years of service in the US government, Curtis now is a senior fellow and director of the Indo-Pacific Security Program at the Center for a New American Security (CNAS) think-tank. Indian officials also remember the close cooperation between the Taliban and militants who in December 1999 hijacked an Indian airliner. India may seek to use its role in regional efforts to bring peace and stability to Afghanistan, like the recent UN effort, to press its goal of ensuring Afghan territory cannot be used by anti-India militants, Curtis said. India will worry about Taliban controlled territory being a safe haven for terrorists again, former Pakistan Ambassador to the US, Husain Haqqani, who is now Director for South and Central Asia at the Hudson Institute think-tank told PTI. The real question now is whether after withdrawing its troops, the US will continue to help the Kabul government and will the Afghan people be able to keep the Taliban at bay, Haqqani said. The Taliban have shown no interest in peace and the Doha process only reinforced their belief that US eagerness to leave Afghanistan outweighed its concerns about that country's future. India and Pakistan do not have the luxury of distance that the U.S. has and will remain involved in Afghanistan. Pakistan is too deeply tied to the Taliban to stop supporting them now though it should be concerned about the adverse impact Taliban ideology would further have on Pakistan, Haqqani said in response to a question. The Washington Post in a lead editorial asserted that the plans of Biden to withdraw all troops from Afghanistan will lead to disaster in the region. "Mr Biden has chosen the easy way out of Afghanistan, but the consequences are likely to be ugly, The Washington Post said. The New York Times said that stopping terrorism groups over the long term could be harder, an opinion also echoed by the The Wall Street Journal. The symbolic but arbitrary date shows the decision is driven less by facts on the ground than a political desire that is also a strategic gamble. History suggests US interests will suffer, The Wall Street Journal said in an editorial. The president's exit means he will have to take responsibility for what happens next. We hope it doesn't betray the great sacrifices so many have made, the daily said. The US and the Taliban signed a landmark deal in Doha on February 29, 2020 to bring lasting peace in war-torn Afghanistan and allow US troops to return home from America's longest war. Under the US-Taliban pact signed in Doha, the US agreed to withdraw all its soldiers from Afghanistan in 14 months. Since the US-led invasion that ousted the Taliban after the September 11, 2001 attacks, America has spent more than USD 1 trillion in fighting and rebuilding in Afghanistan. About 2,400 US soldiers have been killed, along with tens of thousands of Afghan troops, Taliban insurgents and Afghan civilians. (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.) STOCKHOLM, April 15, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- SciBase Holding AB ("SciBase") [STO:SCIB], a leading developer of augmented intelligence-based solutions for skin disorders, announced today the publication of a groundbreaking article presenting the "epithelial barrier hypothesis" in Nature Reviews Immunology. The article was written by Professor Cezmi Akdis at the Swiss institute of Allergy and Asthma Research (SIAF). Prof. Akdis is the key research collaborator in SciBase's product development for skin barrier assessment. The article presents the background for the steep increase in allergic diseases over the last decades, and how this increase is connected to industrialization and modern lifestyle. Simon Grant, CEO of SciBase commented, "This article shows just how important the skin and epithelial barrier in general, are in the development of a range of diseases. It also illustrates the potential value of tools for epithelial barrier assessment. This week Prof Akdis and his team in Davos also published an article in Allergy on the use of Nevisense with perhaps the most common barrier-related disease, atopic dermatitis. The Nature article is impressive in its breadth and by extension what it can mean for SciBase's barrier assessment technology. I think this will help followers of SciBase understand why we have included barrier assessment as a key component of our strategy. The article is not just important from a scientific perspective; we also believe it will, together with the previously published article in Allergy, drive interest from researchers and potential industry partners." Professor Akdis provides some background. "There has been a steep increase in allergic and autoimmune diseases, reaching epidemic proportions and now affecting more than one billion people worldwide. These diseases are more common in industrialized countries, and their prevalence continues to rise in developing countries in parallel to urbanization and industrialization. Intact skin and mucosal barriers are crucial for the maintenance of tissue homeostasis as they protect host tissues from infections, environmental toxins, pollutants and allergens. A defective epithelial barrier has been demonstrated in allergic and autoimmune conditions such as asthma, atopic dermatitis, allergic rhinitis, chronic rhinosinusitis, eosinophilic esophagitis, coeliac disease and inflammatory bowel disease. In addition, leakiness of the gut epithelium is also implicated in systemic autoimmune and metabolic conditions such as diabetes, obesity, multiple sclerosis, rheumatoid arthritis, systemic lupus erythematosus, ankylosing spondylitis and autoimmune hepatitis. Finally, distant inflammatory responses due to a `leaky gut' and microbiome changes are suspected in Alzheimer disease, Parkinson disease, chronic depression and autism spectrum disorders. The article introduces the `epithelial barrier hypothesis', which proposes that the increase in epithelial barrier-damaging agents linked to industrialization, urbanization and modern life underlies the rise in allergic, autoimmune and other chronic conditions. Furthermore, it discusses how the immune responses to impaired microbiota, which normally acts as a barrier against pathogens, may be involved in the development of these diseases. The research started in 1998 with the first studies showing mechanisms of eczema, mechanisms of epithelial cell death and continued with more than 60 publications, many major discoveries and one ready to use skin barrier detection instrument. The articles can be found at: Nature article: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41577-021-00538-7. Allergy article: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/all.14842?af=R. For more information please contact: Simon Grant, CEO SciBase Tel: +46 72 887 43 99 Email: [email protected] Certified Advisor: Avanza Tel: +46 8 409 421 20 Email: [email protected] About SciBase and Nevisense SciBase AB is a global medical technology company based in Stockholm, Sweden that develops unique point-of-care devices for the evaluation of skin disorders such as skin cancer and atopic dermatitis. SciBase's first product, Nevisense, helps clinicians detect melanoma, the most dangerous type of skin cancer. Further development has led to Nevisense also being used as a tool to assess the skin barrier and non-melanoma skin cancer. Nevisense is based on substantial research and has achieved excellent results in the largest clinical study ever conducted on the detection of malignant melanoma. Nevisense is CE marked in Europe, has TGA approval in Australia and an FDA approval (PMA) in the United States. SciBase technology is based Electrical Impedance Spectroscopy (EIS) combined with Artificial Intelligence (AI) algorithms that interpret the varying electrical properties of human tissue to detect malignancies and abnormalities. SciBase Holding AB is listed on First North Growth Market ("SCIB"). Further information is available at www.scibase.com. About SIAF-SFI The Swiss Institute of Allergy and Asthma Research (SIAF) is a department of the foundation Swiss Research Institutes for High Altitude Climate and Medicine Davos (SFI), an affiliated institute of the University of Zurich, and member of the Life Science Zurich Graduate School. SIAF members play leading roles in national and international organizations, such as European Academy of Allergy and Clinical Immunology and in editorial boards and editorships of top Journals in the field of allergy asthma and clinical immunology. At the same time, SIAF fulfills teaching obligations in the University of Zurich. The research activities at SIAF are focused on patient-relevant translational research and the investigation of the immunological principles in the field of skin atopic dermatitis, allergies and asthma to develop approaches for new preventive and curative treatments for patients. SIAF also promotes personalized medicine to develop treatment approaches that are better tailored to the needs of individual patients. These personalized medicine research activities are expected to not only help to find tailor-made therapies but also to develop more precise diagnosis. The continuously growing SIAF is one of the most cited and leading institutes in its area worldwide with more than 50,000 citations and 1,000 original research articles in the last 20 years. SIAF organizes the internationally renowned World Immune Regulation Meeting (WIRM) in Davos every year. SIAF works in close collaboration with the Christine Kuhne-Center for Allergy Research and Education (CK-CARE), Davos. Further information is available at www.siaf.uzh.ch. This information was brought to you by Cision http://news.cision.com https://news.cision.com/scibase/r/nature-article-presents-impact-and-importance-of-epithelial-barrier-damage-on-a-range-of-common-dise,c3325663 The following files are available for download: SOURCE SciBase STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. Staten Island hospitals have recently treated about 12 coronavirus (COVID-19) vaccine breakthrough infections cases in which patients test positive for the virus after receiving complete vaccination yet top borough doctors continue to stress confidence in the available vaccines. There have been no deaths from breakthrough infections, managing physicians at the Islands two hospital systems said, stressing that the cases most likely would have been more severe without vaccination. More than 100,000 Staten Islanders have been vaccinated against COVID-19, data shows, and the number of people hospitalized with the illness in borough hospitals fell to 149 on Tuesday, the lowest number so far this year. Staten Islanders should realize that there are very, very few patients who are getting admitted to the hospital after vaccination,' said Dr. Philip Otterbeck, chief medical officer at Richmond University Medical Center (RUMC) in West Brighton, where two patients are currently being treated for COVID-19 after being vaccinated. The fact that there are so few underscores the dramatic benefit these vaccines have had, and this should encourage them to get vaccinated as soon as they can.' And Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease, said during a White House briefing on Monday that breakthrough infections are seen with all vaccines in clinical trials. At Staten Island University Hospitals (SIUH) two locations, about 10 patients have been treated post-vaccination and one required hospitalization, according to Dr. Eric Cioe-Pena, the hospitals director of global health. The two patients currently being treated for COVID at RUMC both required intensive care and both are critically improving,' Otterbeck said. Neither hospital identified which vaccine the breakthrough patients had received. Otterbeck said that detail is not relevant, since the numbers are so small here. Drawing a conclusion from such a small number of patients would not be clinically or practically useful because the data set is so tiny,' Otterbeck said. Those numbers could be useful on a state or national level, but on a local level, with two patients, we could not draw any kind of appropriate conclusion (about one particular vaccine) at this point. The Moderna, Pfizer and Johnson & Johnson vaccines have all been administered to Staten Islanders. The Food and Drug Administration and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have called on states to pause administration of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine and New York has complied, citing the rare occurrence of blood clots in six women who had received the vaccine. Though the vaccines currently available are celebrated for their effectiveness at preventing serious illness and death from COVID-19, they still leave about a 5% chance of catching the virus, data shows. With more than 74 million people already fully vaccinated in the United States, it is unclear how many have later gotten infected with the coronavirus, as many remain asymptomatic or do not seek medical treatment, doctors say. Michigan and other states have reported hundreds of cases, and though most people have gotten only mildly ill, some cases were serious or even fatal. Cioe-Pena said the majority of SIUH cases involved people who experienced symptoms within two weeks of receiving their second dose. All but one was mild,' Cioe-Pena said. The only patient admitted to SIUH was 95 years old and did not require any life-saving measures, he added. The patient was never on a ventilator, never on high-flow oxygen,' the doctor said. He needed a bit of oxygen and was released.' At RUMC, both patients were two weeks past full vaccination and are older adults, Otterbeck said, but he declined to provide more identifying information, citing privacy considerations. A very small percentage of breakthrough infections is an accepted part of vaccines and vaccination, Cioe-Pena said, noting that they occur routinely with other trusted vaccines, like the flu vaccine, but very rarely are they serious or fatal. People tell me all the time that their loved one got the flu after being vaccinated, but no one says my loved one got the flu vaccine and died on a ventilator in the ICU, he said. COVID-19 is a virus that is killing thousands of Americans, and death from post-vaccination infection is a virtually-unheard-of event, Vaccination and continued social distancing practices are the best ways to reduce infections, both doctors said. As we get closer to herd immunity, the number of these cases goes down, because there will be less virus circulating in the community,' Otterbeck said. Cioe-Pena said as the nations infection rate drops, so too will the number of post-vaccination infections. Right now, weve got 70,000 new cases each day (nationally),' he said. If we get down to 5,000 cases or something very small, that number [of breakthrough cases] becomes very small.' The bottom line, Cioe-Pena said, is that vaccination is close to 99% effective at preventing hospitalization. Theyre not perfect, but theyre really good,' Vaccination prevents empty chairs at the dinner table,' Cioe-Pena said. It really does protect people, and even if they do get the virus, theyre not likely to be hospitalized at all.' IDEMIA, the global leader in Augmented Identity, and INTERPOL, the worlds premier police organization, are reinforcing their alliance after more than 20 years of collaboration. Backed by latest generation Multi-Biometric Identification System, MBIS, IDEMIA will supply a game-changing fingerprint and facial recognition system that can provide instant potential identification of suspects in criminal cases, and covers both police investigations and border control needs. Following the renewal of an existing contract, IDEMIA will deliver INTERPOLs new identification system that will usher in enhanced capabilities such as higher matching accuracy and more user-friendly interfaces. Designed and scaled so that police officers in member states can carry out an unlimited number of searches and analysis at will, MBIS, IDEMIAs latest technological biometric solution, will allow up to one million forensic analysis searches per day. This includes fingerprints, palm prints and faces, making it the top performing automated biometric identification system on the market. This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210414005324/en/ (Photo: Business Wire) These capabilities pave the way for introducing the application of biometrics to other sectors. In addition to police investigations, INTERPOL plans to enable its members to query their database from border control stations. This latest alliance further strengthens IDEMIAs 20-year relationship with INTERPOL. Collaboration began in 2000 when IDEMIA delivered the first Automated Fingerprint Identification System (AFIS). AFIS was designed to make cooperation easier between police forces from INTERPOLs 194 member states, by giving them access to a shared fingerprint database of suspects in criminal cases. Building on fingerprint capability, in 2016 INTERPOL called on IDEMIA to make facial recognition available to its members. Thanks to both biometric systems, INTERPOL managed to match and identify over 300 suspects in 2019. In the same way that criminals use ever more innovative and sophisticated ways to avoid detection, law enforcement must also benefit from the latest advances in technology, especially in biometric security, to better combat all forms of transnational crime. INTERPOLs enhanced partnership with IDEMIA will further help our member countries better protect their borders and their citizens, said Cyril Gout, INTERPOL Director of Operational Support and Analysis. Philippe Barreau,Executive Vice President for the Public Security & Identity Business Unit at IDEMIA said, I would like to warmly thank INTERPOL for placing their trust in our expertise. Innovation has underpinned our work for INTERPOL from the very outset. We worked closely together to capture the specific requirements of the INTERPOL teams so as to enhance our solutions in line with making us biometric security provider number one. Were thrilled to cement our longstanding alliance with INTERPOL who share our purpose to make peoples lives safer around the world. About IDEMIA IDEMIA, the global leader in Augmented Identity, provides a trusted environment enabling citizens and consumers alike to perform their daily critical activities (such as pay, connect and travel), in the physical as well as digital space. Securing our identity has become mission critical in the world we live in today. By standing for Augmented Identity, an identity that ensures privacy and trust, and guarantees secure, authenticated and verifiable transactions, we reinvent the way we think, produce, use and protect one of our greatest assets our identity. We provide Augmented Identity for international clients from financial, telecom, identity, public security and IoT sectors. With close to 15,000 employees around the world, IDEMIA serves clients in 180 countries. For more information, visit www.idemia.com / Follow @IDEMIAGroup on Twitter View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210414005324/en/ A species of ant can shrink its brain by as much as 20 per cent but is able to grow it back to full size in future, the first insect ever discovered with such an ability. The humble Indian jumping ant is less than an inch long and, before this most recent revelation, was most well-known for its ability to leap several inches into the air. But scientists from the US found the insect can release hormones which shrink its brain by a fifth to divert resources to its reproductive system. However, if these extra nutrients and energy are no longer needed in the future, the ant can revert back to its original state. Scroll down for video The Indian jumping ant (pictured) is less than an inch long and females vying to replace a dead queen shrink their brains and use the energy to grow their ovaries. The change can be reversed, a study found In ant colonies, normally only the queen and males are able to reproduce, and when the matriarch dies, so too does the colony as the other females are sterile. But Indian jumping ants have a different succession procedure which means that when the queen perishes, female workers compete for the job. These battles involve jabbing one another with their antennae and at some point a victor is declared, who then takes on the responsibility of queen. Exactly how a colony settles on its next ruler remains unknown. But a team of researchers from the US studied what happens when the champion female has been selected as queen and noted a variety of anatomical changes. Scientists from the US found the Indian jumping ant can release hormones which shrink its brain by a fifth to divert resources to its reproductive system. However, if these extra nutrients and energy are no longer needed in the future, the ant can revert back to its original state For starters, her ovaries swell up to five times their original size, increasing her egg-making ability. But this process is extremely energy intensive, and in order to fuel it the ants release a hormone which sees its brain shrink in size a rarity in animals, seen in a few insect species, such as honeybees. The energy saved by reducing cognitive capacity is thought to be diverted to the ovaries to increase the female's likelihood of becoming a functioning queen. But the scientists who studied 30 colonies in a lab found that if the queen loses her newly-acquired regal status, her body is able to reverse the drastic changes with her ovaries shrinking back to their original size and the brain rebounding to its full size. This reversible shrinking of the brain is extremely rare, with the Indian jumping ant being the first known insect species with the ability. 'If you look inside their bodies, you can see the huge transformations that they undergo,' said Dr Clint Penick, lead author of the study from Kennesaw State University in Georgia, told The Telegraph. The full findings are available in the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B. Zoom fatigue is real but its even more acute and intense for women, new research from Stanford shows. In the first large-scale paper analyzing Zoom fatigue, Stanford researchers found that feelings of exhaustion following long spans of time spent on Zoom calls are more severe for women than for men. The paper, released Tuesday on the Social Science Research Network, surveyed 10,322 participants in February and March to get a sense of burnout from technology across demographics. Data from their surveys show that women were hit harder: 13.8% of women, compared to 5.5% of men reported feeling very to extremely fatigued after Zoom calls, said Dr. Jeffrey Hancock, a professor of communication at Stanford who co-authored the study. The findings are a follow-up to a paper published previously in the journal Technology Mind Behavior that analyzed why people felt exhausted after video conferencing calls. The most recent study breaks down who was feeling the most strain, and why. Alongside women, other demographics reported feeling more fatigue: Introverts, anxious individuals, younger participants, and people of color. Hancock said the researchers are considering a follow-up study to analyze the latter with their colleagues at Stanford who study media and race. As for why women experienced more fatigue, the paper outlined several possibilities. The biggest factor, Hancock said, was a phenomenon called self-focused attention, a greater awareness of how one appears in conversation triggered by a prolonged experience of the self-view in video calls. The researchers found that female participants tended on average to have more self-focus than male participants. Extended periods of self-focus can provide negative emotions that can morph into fatigue, Hancock said, adding that researchers call the effect mirror anxiety. The survey also showed that meetings among female participants tended to run longer, and women reported were less likely to take breaks between meetings both of which may contribute to higher levels of fatigue. Women also reported feeling more pressure to stay in the center of the video screen than men did during video conferencing calls. Whats happening there, I think, is more at a societal level, Hancock said. Women are more likely to be in charge of childcare and home care so they probably cant take as long of breaks, and they also still tend to have less power on average in the workplace, so they may not be able to control how long their meetings are. In many ways, the findings seem at least in part connected to other aspects of the pandemic that have fallen harder on women, particularly mothers. According to a survey of parents in the U.S. and several other countries, mothers averaged 15 hours more a week in work than men due to child care and household responsibilities. The studys authors have suggested several specific calls-to-action individuals can take to help with Zoom fatigue, including hiding their self-view during video conferencing. But they also stress that the onus should be on organizations not individuals. I think its important that companies take responsibility so that its not the individuals responsibilities to manage Zoom fatigue, said Anna Carolina Muller Queiroz, a visiting research student at the Virtual Human Interaction Lab, who contributed to the study. For organizations, the authors suggested a few action items: Consider sending out the Stanford ZEF scale to measure employees and find solutions. Make no-video meeting days a tradition. Consider making one day a week a mandatory no-video day for meetings. Think about whether video is necessary before scheduling a meeting. If it isnt, making video-off mandatory can help eliminate pressure among employees to turn their video on when they might need a break. Annie Vainshtein is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: avainshtein@sfchronicle.com. Twitter: @annievain New Delhi, April 15 : Base effect, along with healthy demand conditions abroad, pushed India's merchandise exports higher by 60.29 per cent on a year on year basis in March 2021, official data showed on Thursday. The country's merchandise exports during the month under review increased to $34.45 billion as compared to $21.49 billion in March 2020. "Non-petroleum and non-gems and jewellery exports in March 2021 were $27.42 billion, as compared to $16.95 billion in March 2020, registering a positive growth of 61.75 per cent," said a Ministry of Commerce and Industry statement said on the basis of preliminary data. "Non-petroleum and non-gems and jewellery exports in April-March 2020-21 were $238.72 billion, as compared to $236.17 billion for the corresponding period in 2019-20, which is an increase of 1.08 per cent." Similarly, India's imports increased, rising by 53.74 per cent to $48.38 billion as compared to $31.47 billion reported for March 2020. "Oil imports in March 2021 were $10.27 billion which was 2.23 per cent higher in Dollar terms compared to $10.05 billion in March 2020." "Non-oil imports in March 2021 were estimated at $38.11 billion which was 77.90 per cent higher in Dollar terms compared to $21.42 billion in March 2020." As per the statement, non-oil and non-gold imports were $29.62 billion in March 2021, recording a positive growth of 46.66 per cent, as compared to non-oil and non-gold imports of $20.20 billion in March 2020. Consequently, India's trade deficit widened last month to $13.93 billion from $9.98 billion in March 2020. In terms of fiscal 2020-21, India's exports fell by 7.26 per cent to $290.63 billion, from $313.36 billion during the previous fiscal. Likewise, merchandise imports fell during April-March 2020-21. The imports declined by 18.02 per cent to $389.18 billion, as compared to $474.71 billion during the same period of last year. Accordingly, trade deficit for FY21 narrowed to $98.56 billion from $161.35 billion in FY20. Source: Xinhua| 2021-04-16 03:48:27|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close DAMASCUS, April 15 (Xinhua) -- The Syrian Foreign Ministry on Thursday condemned "terrorist" attacks on Iranian targets that have taken place recently. Calling it "terrorist acts", the ministry condemned the attacks against Iran's Natanz nuclear site and on the Iranian ship Saviz, reported the state news agency SANA. The ministry vowed Syria's full support to Iran in defending its interests and achieving further scientific and technological progress. It added that the Syrian government believes that those attacks will only strength Iran's "just stance" and will not affect the Iranian industrial capabilities. Iran has blamed Israel for what it called an act of "nuclear terrorism" by attacking its Natanz nuclear plant. Enditem BANGALORE, India, April 15, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- The Polyurethane Market is Segmented by Product (Flexible Foam, Rigid Foam, Coatings, Adhesives & Sealants, Elastomers, Others), by Application (Furniture and Interiors, Construction, Electronics and Appliances, Automotive, Footwear, Others). The report covers global opportunity analysis and industry forecast from 2021 to 2026. It is published on Valuates Reports in the Plastics & Polymers Category. The global Polyurethane market size is projected to reach USD 90,980 Million by 2026, from USD 71,320 Million in 2019, at a CAGR of 3.5% during the forecast period 2021-2026. Major factors driving the growth of Polyurethane market size are: Various end-user applications of polyurethane, due to easily moldable properties Increase in demand for lightweight and durable goods in the automotive, building, and electronics industries View Report Details Before Purchasing: https://reports.valuates.com/market-reports/QYRE-Auto-38H1936/global-polyurethane TRENDS INFLUENCING THE POLYURETHANE (PU) MARKET SIZE The rapidly expanding furniture industry is expected to drive the polyurethane market size during the forecast period. Due to rapid urbanization and a general shift in the lifestyle of city dwellers, the furniture industry is rapidly expanding. Polyurethane (PUR or PU) is a type of polyurethane that is commonly used in furniture for cushioning and bedding. This will be one of the most prominent polyurethane industry developments, which will be boosted even further by global housing growth. Furthermore, PU foams are used to make car seats as well as to insulate refrigerators and other electronics. Polyurethane is also becoming more common in construction applications, where it is used in coatings, sealants and adhesives, and elastomers, among other applications. This widespread application of PU in several end-user industries is expected to increase polyurethane market size. Request a Sample Copy of the Report For Growth & Trends Analysis on Polyurethane Market: https://reports.valuates.com/request/sample/QYRE-Auto-38H1936/Global_Polyurethane_Market THE POLYURETHANE (PU) MARKET SHARE ANALYSIS By Product Type, Flexible foam is one of the largest product segments of the polyurethane market, accounting for about 36% market share. Bedding, chairs, vehicle interiors, carpet underlay, and packaging all use flexible polyurethane foam as a cushioning material. Flexible foam can be made in a wide range of shapes and firmness levels. It's lightweight, long-lasting, supportive, and comfortable. By Application, Furniture and interiors and construction are the most widely used in the refuge chamber market, accounting for a combined about 55% of the market share. Some of the factors driving the segment's growth include increased use in bedding, upholstery, seating, and interior items. In the construction industry, PIR and PUR panels are used. PIR and PUR panels are lightweight, simple to handle and ship (lowering costs even more), and resistant to organic compound corrosion and vermin damage. As a result, they are suitable for all climates and seasons. Sandwich panels with a polyurethane core are one of the most useful building materials, and they are gaining traction in various countries due to their property By Region, The Asia-Pacific region was the largest polyurethane market in 2018, accounting for about 50% of the global market, compared with about 20% in Europe and 16% in North America. Due to growth in the construction and furniture industries, especially in China, Asia-Pacific is expected to hold a significant share of the market. Inquire for Regional Report: https://reports.valuates.com/request/regional/QYRE-Auto-38H1936/Global_Polyurethane_Market Top Major Players in the Polyurethane Market Dow BASF Huntsman AkzoNobel Covestro Lubrizol Recticel LANXESS INOAC Tosoh Mitsui Chem Woodbridge Foam Wanhua Shanghai Dongda Oriental Yuhong. Polyurethane Market Breakdown Data by Type Flexible Foam Rigid Foam Coatings Adhesives & Sealants Elastomers Others. Flexible foam is one of the largest product segments of the polyurethane market,accounting for about 36% market share. Polyurethane Market Breakdown Data by Application Furniture and Interiors Construction Electronics and Appliances Automotive Footwear Others Furniture and interiors and construction are the most widely used in the refuge chamber market, accounting for a combined about 55% of the market share. 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SIMILAR REPORTS : - Polyurethane Resin Market Report contains segmentation by Type (Solvent Based Polyurethane Resins, Water Based Polyurethane Resins, Other), Application (Transportation, Construction, Others) and Regional Opportunity Analysis and Industry Forecast. - The Polyurethane Elastomers market size is projected to reach USD 14280 Million by 2026, from USD 11310 Million in 2019, at a CAGR of 3.3% during 2021-2026. - The Thermoplastic Polyurethane Market Report contains segmentation by Type (Polyester, Polyether, Polycaprolactone), Application (Construction, Automobile, Footwear, Medical, Heavy Engineering, Others) and Regional Opportunity Analysis and Industry Forecast. - The Global Polyurethane Foam Market size is expected to grow from USD 50,437.19 Million in 2019 to USD 75,363.92 Million by the end of 2025 at a Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of 6.92%. - The global Polyurethane Adhesives market size is projected to reach USD 2561.3 Million by 2026, from USD 1997.7 Million in 2019, at a CAGR of 3.6% during 2021-2026. Asia-Pacific is expected to witness the highest growth rate in the PU adhesives market, in terms of value and volume. - The global Polyurethane Composites market size is projected to reach USD 635 Million by 2026, from USD 503 Million in 2019, at a CAGR of 3.3% during 2021-2026. - Polyurethane Microspheres Market Report 2021 - The demand for polyurethane microspheres has increased in paint & coating applications owing to their superior thickening properties. - The global Polyurethane Additives market size is projected to reach USD 2561.3 Million by 2026, from USD 1997.7 Million in 2019, at a CAGR of 3.6% during 2021-2026. Asia-Pacific region is dominant in the polyurethane additive market. The rising demand for polyurethane additives in this region is mainly driven by its increased use in building & construction industries. Europe is the second-largest consumer of polyurethane additives, globally. - Waterborne Polyurethane Market size is valued at USD 8807.1 Million in 2020 is expected to reach USD 11870 Million by the end of 2026, growing at a CAGR of 5.1% during 2021-2026. - The global Microcellular Polyurethane Foam market size is projected to reach USD 5928.3 Million by 2027, from USD 4552.3 Million in 2020, at a CAGR of 4.5% during 2022-2027. - The global Bio-Based Polyurethane market was valued at USD 26 Million in 2019 and it is expected to reach USD 42 Million by the end of 2026, growing at a CAGR of 7.1% during 2021-2026. To see the full list of related reports on the Polyurethane ABOUT US: Valuates offers in-depth market insights into various industries. Our extensive report repository is constantly updated to meet your changing industry analysis needs. Our team of market analysts can help you select the best report covering your industry. 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Each sample we share contains detail research methodology employed to generate the report, Please also reach to our sales team to get the complete list of our data sources CONTACT US: Valuates Reports [email protected] For U.S. Toll-Free Call +1-(315)-215-3225 For IST Call +91-8040957137 WhatsApp : +91 9945648335 Website: https://reports.valuates.com Follow on Twitter - https://twitter.com/valuatesreports Follow on Linkedin - https://in.linkedin.com/company/valuatesreports Follow on Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/valuatesreports SOURCE Valuates Reports Credit: Unsplash/CC0 Public Domain Israelis will no longer have to wear masks outdoors starting from Sunday as the number of virus infections plummets, Health Minister Yuli Edelstein said. "The rate of infection in Israel is very low thanks to the successful vaccine campaign in Israel, and therefore it is possible to ease (restrictions)," Edelstein said in a statement Thursday. He said however that masks will still be required indoors. With close to five million peoplemore than half the population of 9.3 millionvaccinated, Israel continues its world-beating campaign that sent coronavirus infection rates down. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu obtained millions of Pfizer/BioNTech vaccines in part by agreeing to share with Pfizer medical data on the product's impact. The vaccines have transformed life in Israel. In mid-January the country had a peak of some 10,000 new infections a day but the rate is now about 200 cases a day. The rate of new infections has remained low even after in-person learning resumed and restrictions were loosened on bars, restaurants and indoor gatherings. Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla was a guest of honour at a government ceremony Wednesday evening marking Israel's 73rd year of independence. "Together we are demonstrating that through mass vaccinations we can defeat the COVID-19 pandemic and save lives," Bourla said in a video address. Throughout the festivities marking independence day, thousands of people held barbecues, lounged on beaches and celebrated at parties, often without masks. On Wednesday, Israel announced a plan to allow vaccinated foreign tourists to return in groups beginning May 23, more than a year after closing its borders to most tourists to prevent the spread of the virus. Israel's easing of restrictions stands in contrast to the occupied West Bank and the blockaded Gaza Strip, where infection rates remain high and vaccinations are low. Rights groups say Israel must supply vaccines to the 4.8 million Palestinians living there, but Israel says Palestinians must obtain their own shots. Explore further Follow the latest news on the coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak 2021 AFP They took care of everything: they contacted the drug suppliers in Northern Europe, they organized shipments by sea using their own boats or recovering them, they provided the logistics on the ground with places to hide and store the cocaine and finally they took care of the transport on the trucks for get the drug to its destination, even in Sardinia. There are also six Sardinians among the 23 people arrested this morning by the Carabinieri of the Ros and Operative Department of Livorno and of the Ros of Florence, coordinated by Lieutenant Colonello Armando Ago, with the support of Sardinian colleagues, who have concluded three separate investigations related to traffic international drug, pollution and extortion, all criminal activities attributable to powerful families of the 'Ndrangheta. <| AF-1002675-the_sequestro_of_2017_photo_carabinieri |> The Sardinian investigation line, in particular, concerns drug trafficking and is linked to the investigation conducted by the Dda of Cagliari on the assaults on vaults and valuables that resulted in the "Maddalena" operation with over 30 arrests for criminal association aimed at trafficking drugs, international trafficking and the possession of common weapons of war and clandestine, the organization of robberies and assaults on vaults and vans. Among those arrested in January was Robertino Dessi, a Sardinian emigrant who emigrated to Tuscany, owner of a sheepfold in which weapons to be used for assaults on security guards were hidden. And it is Dessi (currently detained in Livorno) one of the six arrested today, with him they ended up in prison: Maria Giuseppina Nieddu, 57, born in Alghero but resident in La Spezia; Cristiano Puddu, 44, of Siurgus Donigala, but domiciled in Volterra; Andrea Serra, 48, from Villacidro but resident in Morocco. On the other hand, Lucio Falchi, 40, born in Oristano and resident in Alghero, and Mattia Derosas, 35 from Usini, ended up under house arrest. In particular, Dessi, Nieddu, Serra, Falchi and Derosas are accused of criminal association aimed at drug trafficking, in particular cocaine. Dessi, in particular, would have provided logistical support to the criminal organization which also included Domenico Vitale, 52 years old from Calabria, close to the gangs of the 'Ndrangheta, providing a place to keep and store drugs. Giuseppina Nieddu would have provided the gang with boats to transport the cocaine by sea. Serra, on the other hand, would have taken care of contacting suppliers in Northern Europe and organizing trips to get them to Tuscany. Falchi and Derosas, finally, would have taken care of transporting the drug which would then end up in the various trading squares including Sardinia. Carabinieri investigators have reconstructed several drug imports that would have involved the Sardinians. Two loads for a total of 200 kg of drugs were seized during the investigation by the Livorno police. (GD) Preparing Texas power plants and natural gas system to withstand another winter blast could cost hundreds of millions of dollars, but an analysis by the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas found the expense would be worth it. Dallas Fed analysts estimate the winter storm said Texas households and businesses lost out on $4.3 billion worth of electricity. Thats power they would have used if not for the calamitous outages stemming from the deep freeze. Total storm-related costs are significantly higher. Insured losses from the storm are as high as $20 billion, and some estimates put the losses to the Texas economy at more than $100 billion. On ExpressNews.com: CPS to trim bills for customers who lost a day or more of power during winter storm Early in the week of Feb. 14, the cold snap caused many power plants to seize up and touched off a shortage of natural gas, a fuel used to generate electricity and heat homes. Dallas Fed researchers concluded weatherizing natural gas wellheads some of which froze during the winter storm costs about $20,000 to $50,000 per well. Protecting every gas well in Texas from another long bout of freezing temperatures likely would cost about $200 million annually. That is something that would be a recurring annual expense, because youre constantly drilling wells and having to install this (equipment), said Garrett Golding, a Dallas Fed business economist. Weatherizing Texas 162 natural gas-fired power plants could be trickier, but the Dallas Fed estimates it would be a one-time cost of up to $95 million. The cost to weatherize a power plant would be at most $500,000. The Dallas Fed came to that figure by calculating the expense to install the weatherization equipment recommended in a report by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission following the 2011 freeze that caused power outages in Texas. The measures could include upgrading heat tracing circuits, beefing up thermal insulation and installing wind breaks or other temporary enclosures to protect equipment against wintry gusts. Texas power plants arent designed to trap in heat during winter. Theyre built to shed heat during the sweltering summer months when power plants are producing the most electricity. Theres going to be a lot of problems with just the overall architecture of (power plants), Golding said. Theyre extremely exposed to the elements because these are supposed to run hard in the summer. There are some things that will need to be bolted on and bolted off, as far as seasonal changes go. The analysts also found that weatherizing the states 13,000 wind turbines could be expensive. Wind turbines can be equipped with special blades that have internal heating equipment to prevent ice formation. But such blades cost about $400,000, add to the turbines already hefty price tag a few million dollars each. However, wind farm operators can apply cold-weather lubricants and blade coatings to protect against an ice storm without running up a massive tab, according to the Dallas Fed. Wind energy has made up a greater share of electricity on the Texas grid in recent years and the Electric Reliability Council of Texas, the grid operator, has had a harder time avoiding outages when the wind isnt blowing as strongly as expected. On ExpressNews.com: Amid ERCOT warnings, CPS says it had enough power available for San Antonio On Tuesday, ERCOT called on Texans to conserve power, citing a higher-than-usual number of power plants offline for maintenance, as well as wind and solar output that was lower than anticipated. Still, the Dallas Fed said that even if Texas wind turbines had been entirely replaced by fossil-fuel based generation, the state still would have experienced blackouts during the February storm. There should have been enough (power) available for us to make up for this loss of wind, Golding said. Where everything just went off the rails was the lack of availability for the gas to be procured, and then obviously, power plants just not being able to withstand the elements. The Dallas Fed didnt weigh in on whether state lawmakers should mandate weatherization of natural gas wellheads or power plants. But Golding said whether legislators require the investment or power companies make it on their own, it will pay off. The insurance policy of this stuff is a good cost-benefit trade-off, he said. Its going to be worth it. diego.mendoza-moyers@express-news.net The police have interrogated an anti-corruption activist, Olanrewaju Suraju, over a forgery petition sent to the Inspector General of Police (IGP) by a former Attorney-General of the Federation (AGF), Mohammed Adoke. Mr Adoke had sent the petition to the IGP office demanding a probe of an email evidence presented against him by prosecutors in Malabu trial in Milan, Italy. The former attorney-general also later complained to the police that some people, one of whom he suspected to be Mr Suraju, circulated a fake tape purporting it to be that of an interview he had with an Italian journalist admitting that the Malabu transaction was a scam. He said he granted no such interview but that a tape was concocted and circulated purporting him to have done so. Both Shell and Eni along with their managers that were the main defendants in the case, were accused of paying bribes to Nigerian officials in respect of the OPL 245 oil block. But they were recently acquitted by the Milan court in March. In his petition dated February 5, Mr Adoke claimed that an email presented at the Italian court and purported to have originated from him, was forged and presented in court to interfere with the course of justice. The former minister told the police in his petition that those behind the alleged forgery were unknown to him, but urged the police authorities to expose them. PREMIUM TIMES gathered that Mr Suraju, who with other anti-corruption activists gave support to the Milan prosecutors, was detained over the probe into the forgery allegation by the (IGP) Monitoring Unit in Asokoro, Abuja, on Wednesday. The interrogation was said to have continued Thursday. Mr Suraju, who is the chair of the Human and Environmental Development Agenda (HEDA), was released on bail after meeting bail conditions Thursday. He spoke with our reporter after his release, saying it was corruption fighting back. He said, This is a case of corruption fighting back, with Mr Adoke using the police to harass, not just the civil society, but at the same time using illegal means to accuse myself and my organisation of forging a document that was admitted in court as evidence in Milan, of which we had no previous connection and business with. He said both Mr Adoke and his lawyer, Kanu Agabi, who is also a former AGF earlier in time than Mr Adoke, refused to show up for interrogation, but rather chose to send an unknown lawyer. Mr Suraju added that the complainant, through the lawyer sent to the interrogation session, deviated from the original allegation of forgery by raising fresh allegation of distribution of fake documents, while also trying to drag his organisation into the probe. He said, Not only that he refused to show up during interrogation, his lawyer, Kanu Agabi, didnt show up. Only one unknown lawyer. He failed to introduce himself and rather said he was a friend to Adoke. He was around yesterday (Wednesday) and today (Thursday) falsely accusing us and attempting to move from case of forgery to distribution and circulation of information or fake documents and suddenly moving to the investigation of the organisation. ADVERTISEMENT Malabu deal, Adokes petition Mr Adoke had, in his petition dated February 5, claimed that the email evidence presented against him at the Italian court was forged, even though he said those behind the matter were not known to him, but could be unmasked by security operatives. In the petition, titled, Forgery of Document for Purposes of Unlawful Interference With the Course of Justice, Mr Adoke urged the IGP to look into the email evidence as well as another audio evidence earlier presented against him in the trial. The complaint came after the Milan court accepted the evidence sourced from U.S. banking giant JP Morgan as part of the Malabu OPL 245 corruption trial. The OPL245 oil block, regarded as one of Africas richest, was controversially awarded to Malabu in 1998 by the then petroleum minister, Dan Etete, without making due payments for it to the Nigerian government. Mr Etete owned 20 per cent of the block through a fictional character, Kwekwu Amafegha. In its attempt to resolve a back-and-forth intense battle over the ownership of the highly resourceful block, former President Goodluck Jonathan administration in which Mr Adoke was the AGF, authorised the sale of the OPL 245 block in 2011. Under the deal sanctioned by the Jonathan administration with the support of some of his then cabinet members, the block was controversially sold to oil giants, Shell and ENI, in 2011. But the about $1.1 billion paid by the oil giants into an escrow account controlled by the Nigerian government ended up in Mr Etetes accounts. Milan prosecutors alleged that the oil giants and their executives involved in the Malabu deal knew that the $1.1 billion they deposited into the Nigerian governments escrow account would be disbursed as bribes. They alleged that from the accounts controlled by Mr Etete, about $520 million translating into half of the $1.1billion, went to accounts of companies controlled by Aliyu Abubakar, popularly known in Nigeria as the owner of AA Oil. Investigators alleged that Mr Abubakar fronted for top officials of the Mr Jonathan administration as well of officials of Shell and ENI, although the two firms and their executives were recently exonerated of any wrongdoing concerning the Malabu deal. The email evidence tendered by the prosecution and accepted by the Milan court despite the opposition by the defence during trial, tried to link Mr Adoke with Mr Abubakar. Prosecutors claimed that Mr Adoke sent instructions about the transfer of OPL245 1.1$ billion payment by Eni and Shell from the email address of a certain A Group Properties, said to be owned by Mr. Abubakar. But Mr Adoke along with Mr Aliyu are still standing trial in connection with the Malabu deal in Nigeria. Adoke denies Mr Adoke, in his petition to the police, denied authoring the email as alleged. He expressed shock at what he called the unlawful design and collusion with the prosecutors in Milan, which resulted in the forgery of the evidence. He said he was no longer in office as the AGF when the email was allegedly sent on June 21, 2011 owing to the dissolution of the Federal Executive Council by then President Jonathan. Mr Adoke said he was only re-appointed into office on July 2, 2011, adding that within the period the email was allegedly sent, he was abroad and never had any dealings with official matters of the state. He also said the prosecutors claimed the email was sent by Mohammed Bello Adoke, but he never signed off correspondences without adding the suffix SAN, which was not contained in the email in question. Mr Adoke also claimed that he could never have sent an email from another persons email while using his name. He described such conduct as nonsensical and distanced himself from the claim. He argued further that even if he had any reason to use another persons mail, he had a retinue of aides who could help him out. HEDAs allies ask U.K to probe Adokes forgery allegation Mr Surajus organisation, HEDA, had in a recent statement, noted that it, with some leading global coalition against corruption, including Re-Common, Water House and a host of others, provided technical assistance in exposing alleged corrupt practices involving Oil giants, Eni and Shell. HEDA stated in the statement that The Corner House, one of its U.K. allies, petitioned the British Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office, Dominic Raab, over Mr Adokes forgery allegation. The organisation stated that the petitioner called on the U.K. authorities to probe the allegation which, according to it represents a challenge to the United Kingdom legal institution. A copy of the petition was said to have been sent to President Muhammadu Buhari and Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo. The Corner House cautioned the Nigerian police to recognise the international dimension the case has taken and not to allow individuals to subvert the institutions of justice in Nigeria. The group said the proper place for Adoke to have challenged the veracity of the email was in the court room in Milan where it was used as evidence against him and the oil giants, the statement added. The Jasper County Commissioners Court has approved two major grant expenditures to benefit the county and the region. More than $1 million in funds from the Hurricane Harvey Community Development Block Grant program was approved to be paid to Elite Contractors & Equipment LTD, Drewery & Wheaton LLC and Gulf Coast for road and bridge repairs and drainage improvements in the countys two southern Precincts 3 and 4. Commissioners also approved $1.4 million from a Texas Department of Transportation Aviation Division grant to make repairs and upgrades at Jasper County Bell Field Airport. The funds will be used for engineering and design of projects including resurfacing and rehabilitation of the runway and new lighting for the runway. It was also decided to pursue additional funds to widen the runway and provide lighting needed to accommodate larger aircraft. The commissioners and I know that improvements that we can make can enhance all sort of opportunities. There are commercial aspects of a wider and possibly longer runway and the strategic importance that could come into play in the case of hurricanes or natural disasters, County Judge Mark Allen said. In other business, commissioners approved a contract with the Army Corp of Engineers allowing county deputies to receive overtime work and pay for patrolling and security at park areas around Lake Sam Rayburn during the spring and summer months when the parks are their busiest. The Corp of Engineers will fund the overtime pay and provide all supplies and vehicles necessary for the deputies to perform their duties at the parks. Precinct 4 Commissioner Vance Moss informed the court a vacancy will need to be filled on the Evadale Emergency Services Board as Chuck Hobbs is retiring. Vance put forth Lisa Thomas to fill Hobbs place and then asked for recognition to thank Hobbs for his service. Finally, the Court reauthorized bids for equipment for Precinct 1 as no bids had been received to the construction equipment that was put out for bids at the previous meeting. The government must not implement proposals to criminalise sex work through the controversial policing bill, campaign groups have warned. Dame Diana Johnson, Labour MP for Kingston upon Hull, has called for amendments to the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Bill which would criminalise buying sex and the websites where sex workers advertise. An open letter, seen by The Independent, signed by leading organisations such as Amnesty International, Liberty, Stonewall and Sisters Uncut, warned evidence shows such measures would actually worsen violence against women. The (ICG) along with the Anti-Terrorist Squad (ATS) apprehended a fishing boat, carrying eight Pakistani nationals and 30 kg heroin, near Jakhau coast of Kutch district on Thursday, an official statement said. The ICG in a joint operation with apprehended Pakistani boat PFB (Pakistani Fishing Boat) NUH with 08 Pak nationals & 30 Kg of heroin off Jakhau #Guajrat close to IMBL (international maritime boundary line) in Indian waters today (sic), the ICG said on Twitter. (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 dramatic announcement of the withdrawal of U.S. forces from Afghanistan poses existential challenges for a country where the government is still largely dependent on international funding as it struggles to fight an emboldened Taliban insurgency. The withdrawal, formally announced by U.S. President Joe Biden on April 14, will undoubtedly end Washingtons longest war. But experts fear it will lead to renewed instability or a civil war as peace talks between Kabul and the Taliban have failed to take off since Washingtons agreement with the hard-line Islamist movement last year. The announcement of the unconditional withdrawal of U.S. troops with a five-month timetable constitutes the greatest challenge which Afghans have faced since the collapse of the Taliban regime nearly a generation ago, says Michael Semple, a former European Union and United Nations adviser in Afghanistan. He says that for many Afghans the withdrawal rekindles memories of how their country was nearly torn apart by the botched transition after the 1989 Soviet withdrawal. After the countrys socialist regime collapsed in 1992, a brutal civil war gripped Afghanistan. The Afghan people, government, and security forces can be expected to strive for a better outcome this time, Semple added. No one really knows how well they will rise to this challenge or, indeed, how well the international community will support. Backing For Peace In his April 14 speech, Biden vowed Washington would maintain support for the Afghan government after his countrys military forces leave. Our diplomatic and humanitarian work will continue, he said. Well continue to support the government of Afghanistan. We will keep providing assistance to the Afghan National Defenses and Security Forces. Washington and its allies are now paying some $5 billion annually to keep the Afghan military afloat. International donors are also funding most of the countrys budget. The U.S. president also indicated that Washington will continue supporting the stalled peace process between the Afghan government and the Taliban, which began last year but failed to even turn out a framework or agenda. We will support peace talks between the government of Afghanistan and the Taliban, facilitated by the United Nations, Biden said. But Marvin Weinbaum, a former Afghanistan Pakistan intelligence analyst for the State Department, is not optimistic. He said the withdrawal decision will set in motion events that might lead to the disintegration of the Afghan government, increased violence, a bloody civil war, and a refugee and humanitarian crisis. It spells the death knell of any peace process, he noted. Afghanistan has no choice but to settle for the best deal it can get with the Taliban, which probably means agreeing on an interim government that paves the way for a Taliban takeover. The Biden administration, however, has emphasized its continued engagement with Afghanistan. In an unannounced visit to the Afghan capital, Kabul, on April 15, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken attempted to reassure Afghans. "I'm here to demonstrate our ongoing commitment to the Islamic Republic and the people of Afghanistan," Blinken told Abdullah Abdullah, the head of Afghanistan's High Council for National Reconciliation (HCNR). We have a new chapter, but it is a new chapter that we are writing together, he added. "The partnership is changing, but the partnership itself is enduring." Semple, now a professor at Queen's University in Belfast, says the Talibans continued reluctance to join the peace efforts aimed at cobbling together an internationally supported Afghan government is a clear signal that it plans to rely on violence. All reasonable observers should conclude that this leadership has decided to attempt a military takeover, he noted. As there is no plausible military solution, the failure of the recent attempts at a grand bargain would oblige the Afghan government and its allies to come up with new approaches to reconciliation, which cannot so easily be stymied by a few warmongers. The Taliban, however, is not eager to show any flexibility. Earlier this week, it announced a boycott of the international peace conference on Afghanistan that is set to take place in Turkey later this month. In a statement, the group criticized Washington for missing the May 1 deadline for withdrawal that the two sides agreed on in the February 2020 deal. We are committed to a peaceful resolution of the Afghan conflict only after the complete and verified end of the occupation, the April 15 statement noted. Creating A United Front Amid the Taliban obstinance, an immediate challenge for the Afghan government will be to keep the countrys disparate political elites united behind the government and the current political system, which has already been weakened by the Talibans ascendence, widespread corruption, and factional squabbling. Chris Alexander, Canadas former ambassador in Afghanistan, however, hopes that Afghan elites might unite when faced with external pressures. Adversity has tended over history to bring Afghans together, he told Gandhara. I am convinced that there is a strong majority among leaders and among people on the street who wants to defend the achievements of the last 20 years, he added. They will not accept the overthrow of their government by force. He identified continued Western financial and political support as the major enablers of Afghan survival. There continues to be strong financial support for Afghanistan, and I am sure that there will be other forms of support from the Biden administration and others who aim to protect the constitutional order as it now is and prevent the country from lurching into the civil war, he noted. In Washington Weinbaum, now director of Afghanistan and Pakistan studies at the Middle East Institute think tank, is more apprehensive. He told Gandhara that the U.S. militarys departure from Afghanistan might also lead to regional destabilization and radicalization. With decreased American influence in the region [after the withdrawal] it will put at risk our efforts to head off global terrorism, prevent nuclear proliferation, a major Indo-Pakistan conflict, and our ability to check Russia, Iran, and China strategically, he said. Alexander, who also served as a senior UN diplomat in Afghanistan from 2005 to 2009, argues that Washington will remain engaged in the region and will pursue Afghan peace talks, which will aim at brokering a cease-fire between the Taliban and an eager Afghan government desperate to cut its losses. He argues that Pakistan will face mounting pressure to deliver a Taliban cease-fire. Pakistan remains an outlier on that issue mostly because the promise of negotiations has prevented Washington and its allies from being consistent on this course so far, he said. But no one wants to see a reconquest of Afghanistan by Pakistans military acting through the Taliban, he said, alluding to widespread belief among Afghans that the Taliban are primarily working for advancing Islamabads interests in Afghanistan. Pakistani officials reject such criticism. Last month Islamabad joined Washington, Moscow, and Beijing to demand that the Taliban not pursue its traditional spring offensive. The four countries also declared that they do not support the restoration of the Islamic Emirate, as the Taliban formally calls itself to reiterate that its regime from 1995 to 2001 was legitimate. In a recent speech, Pakistans powerful army chief Qamar Javed Bajwa declared that Islamabad has realized the need to put its own house in order. He also vowed to work toward regional cooperation based on noninterference of any kind in the internal affairs of our neighboring and regional countries. Kabul, however, is bracing for more violence. Afghanistans proud security and defense forces are fully capable of defending its people and country, which they have been doing all along, and for which the Afghan nation will forever remain grateful, Ghani tweeted after a telephone call with Biden on April 14. Syndicated and guest columns represent the personal views of the writers, not necessarily those of the editorial staff. The editorial department operates entirely independently of the news department and is not involved in newsroom operations. The pandemic has created more opportunities to work remotely, and people now have the flexibility to explore other cities, says David Franklin, General Manager of Expertise.com. This study was conducted to help Americans assess different relocation options and address public safety concerns. Expertise.com a top resource that evaluates and publishes the best local experts has published a comprehensive report on the safest and most dangerous states, cities, and towns in the U.S. The top five safest big cities are Gilbert, AZ, Plano, TX, Raleigh, NC, Virginia Beach, VA, and Madison, WI. Massachusetts, Connecticut, and Georgia are the safest states overall. The lowest ranking big cities on the list, and therefore, the most dangerous, are Memphis, TN, Cleveland, OH, Detroit, MI, Wichita, KS, and Lubbock, TX. The most dangerous states overall are Louisiana, Illinois, and Delaware. The pandemic has created more opportunities to work remotely, and people now have the flexibility to explore other cities, says David Franklin, General Manager of Expertise.com. This study was conducted to help Americans assess different relocation options and address public safety concerns. Researchers at Expertise.com accessed data from the FBIs 2019 National Incident-Based Reporting System. Each location was evaluated based on the number of violent crimes, other crimes against persons, and other crimes against property per 1,000 residents. The report highlights 1,434 cities and towns and the final scores were generated using a percentile rank formula. To view the complete results of the safest and most dangerous places in the U.S., visit: https://www.expertise.com/research/safest-cities-and-states-2021 Top 10 Safest Places in America 1. Wayland, MA 2. Frederick, CO 3. Weston, CT 4. Clinton, MA 5. Sagamore Hills, OH 6. Newtown, CT 7. Madison, CT 8. Franklin, MA 9. Medway, MA 10. Hopkinton, MA Top 10 Most Dangerous Places in America 1. Muskegon Height, MI 2. Tukwila, WA 3. Myrtle Beach, SC 4. Memphis, TN 5. Little Rock, AR 6. Cleveland, OH 7. Monroe, LA 8. Benton Township, MI 9. Henderson, NC 10. Helena-West Helena, AR ABOUT EXPERTISE.COM Expertise.com identifies leading service professionals in over 200 industries across the top cities in the United States. The company provides authentic online reviews of service providers via a selection process that includes in-depth research, detailed comparisons, customer feedback, and mystery shopping. Expertise.com is based in Los Angeles, California, and backed by a team of marketing, research, and content development experts. To learn more, visit: https://www.expertise.com/ LONDON, April 15, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Pure IP, a leading global provider of enterprise voice communications, is delighted to announce the launch of Number Connect, their new phone number management solution for enterprises. Pure IP Number Connect provides businesses with a single interface for the management of their organization-wide telephone numbers, regardless of the platform or provider used for those numbers. The solution consolidates data from different sources into a single view with intuitive dashboards and advanced drilldown capabilities, and is accessible on any device via Pure IP's online Customer Portal. It does this by synchronizing data from the O365 Teams tenant, Pure IP's carrier voice systems, and data uploaded from other platforms. "Centralized visibility over your systems and usage is essential in an age of distributed working from anywhere, and we firmly believe that it shouldn't be as difficult to oversee and manage your organization's telephone numbers as it is," said Gary Forrest, CEO at Pure IP, "We are proud to continue offering our customers market-leading, user friendly solutions that streamline their management processes, prioritize interoperability, and give them the flexibility they need in today's market." Number Connect provides capacity and allocation management information company wide, whilst clearly identifying spare numbers and blocks down to sites and users, which allows visibility into both existing, and future usage potential. Users will be able to manage the allocation of numbers directly within the application, and a single dashboard will provide an overview of key information including at-a-glance visibility of allocated and unallocated numbers, their geographic split, number ranges, usage, and total number of users. The service is ideal for organizations with multiple sites and large dispersed workforces, where the management of available phone numbers can be complex, inconsistent, and significant manual effort. As an agnostic solution, Number Connect: Simplifies the management of enterprise-wide phone numbers Saves time, effort and cost by reducing manual management processes Reduces the need for offline spreadsheets to manage data Has no limit on the amount of numbers stored Number Connect is available now for existing Pure IP customers, and will be released to the general market at a later date. About Pure IP Pure IP connects the old with the new; integrating voice across platforms, systems and applications to provide an end-to-end communications service that enables businesses to collaborate effectively, wherever they are. Their solutions combine the strength, scale, and reach of their own cloud-based global voice network, with the speed and flexibility of their managed services, enhanced visibility through their dedicated customer portal, and 24/7 support from their expert voice engineers. With full PSTN replacement services in 40 countries and service coverage in over 90, Pure IP's robust, geo-redundant SIP infrastructure and customizable cloud enablement services can help customers consolidate services and reduce the cost and complexity related to managing their telephony. Whether your organization is integrating with a Unified Communications platform or a traditional PBX, is on-premises, in the cloud, or in a hybrid environment, Pure IP's adaptable voice solutions have the power to keep your business connected on a single network, with a single provider. For more information, please contact: Alessandra Skarlatos, Content and Communications Manager +442078406149 [email protected] SOURCE Pure IP An advisory panel to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) remained with their decision to halt the usage of Johnson and Johnson COVID Vaccine in the vaccine rollout. This follows the panel's request for more information regarding J&J's "rare" blood clot occurrence. The CDC, along with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), recommended the pause of J&J COVID vaccines on Tuesday, after a rare yet serious blood clot occurrence among six people who were inoculated with the vaccine brand, according to an NBC News report. Because of this, all 50 states in the U.S. have temporarily stopped administering Johnson and Johnson. READ NEXT: After Blood Clot Reports, AstraZeneca Vaccine Suspended in Many EU Countries CDC's Advisory Panel on J&J COVID Vaccine Experts from the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) noted that lack of information is why they cannot come up with a decision on using Johnson and Johnson's vaccine. The experts also emphasized that the other two vaccine brands, which are included in the U.S. vaccine rollout, have no safety concerns just like what J&J has. CDC Director Rochelle Walensky noted that one of the reasons they recommended all states in halting J&J in the rollout is that they want to alert medical healthcare providers on how to treat the blood clots ABC News reported. Walensky pointed out that the blood clots should not be treated with Heparin, which is a blood clot medicine. However, during the meeting, some ACIP members expressed their concern about the continued pause of J&J in the vaccine rollout. "I continue to feel that we are in the race against time and the variants," said Dr. Grace Lee, a professor of pediatrics from Stanford University School of Medicine. However, Dr. Lee pointed out that the vaccine rollout should be done in the "safest possible way." Meanwhile, Dr. Beth Bell, also a member of the advisory panel to the CDC, noted the importance of understanding the risk - although very rare and very low - is the best way to treat blood clot cases. Dr. Bell is also a clinical professor from the University of Washington in Seattle. It can be remembered that EMA is also investigating J&J vaccines due to their blood clot occurrence. EMA's investigation on Johnson and Johnson COVID vaccine is part of the preparation in including the said shot in the roster of vaccines inoculated in their rollout. Blood Clot Cases Federal regulators have noted that the blood clots occurred roughly six to thirteen days after the injection of the J&J COVID vaccine, according to a report from Mass Live. The six cases mentioned are reported to be a group of women aging 18-48 years old. In addition, the six cases also involved rare blood clots in vessels leading out of the brain called cerebral venous sinus thrombosis or CVST. The CDC and the advisory panel are set to have a scheduled meeting after at least a week. Meanwhile, the White House noted that the pause of the J&J COVID vaccine will not affect the president's goal to inoculate all American adults by the end of May. READ MORE: U.S. Experts Questions EU's Decision to Halt AstraZeneca Vaccine Rollout WATCH: FDA calls to pause Johnson & Johnson vaccines over rare blood clots - from CNBC Television Intelligent.com, a trusted resource for online degree rankings and higher education planning, has announced the top online programs for 2021. The comprehensive research guide is based on an assessment of 1,280 accredited colleges and universities in the nation. Each program is evaluated based on curriculum quality, graduation rate, reputation, and post-graduate employment. The methodology also uses an algorithm which collects and analyzes multiple rankings into one score to easily compare each school. Students who pursue any one of these programs can expect to gain employment much quicker in comparison to candidates without a degree. In addition to accessibility and cost, the steady job growth in this market is one of the many reasons Intelligent.com researched and ranked the Top Online Masters in Counseling Degree Programs. Intelligent.com analyzed 149 schools, on a scale of 0 to 100, with only 37 making it to the final list for Online Masters in Counseling Degree Programs. To access the complete ranking, please visit: https://www.intelligent.com/best-online-masters-in-counseling-degree-programs/ 2021 Online Masters in Counseling Degree Programs featured on Intelligent.com (in alphabetical order): Adams State University Angelo State University Bradley University Brandman University California University of Pennsylvania Capella University Clarks Summit University Concordia University Wisconsin Divine Mercy University Edinboro University Fort Valley State University George Washington University Governors State University Grace College Grand Canyon University Gwynedd Mercy University Huntington University Lamar University Liberty University Lincoln Christian University North Carolina State University Northwestern University Nova Southeastern University Palo Alto University Saybrook University Seton Hall University Southwestern Assemblies of God University Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center The Chicago School of Professional Psychology University at Buffalo University of Arkansas at Little Rock University of Louisiana at Monroe University of Massachusetts Boston University of Southern California University of the Cumberlands University of the Southwest Wake Forest University About Intelligent.com Intelligent.com provides unbiased research to help students make informed decisions about higher education programs. The website offers curated guides which include the best degree programs as well as information about financial aid, internships and even study strategies. With comprehensive, user-friendly guides and hundreds of program rankings, Intelligent.com is a trusted source among students and prospective students. To learn more, please visit https://www.intelligent.com/. Vinitaly International Coming up on its 18th Edition Vinitaly International Academy (VIA) offers the gold standard for Italian wine education. It is a fully rounded approach to the study of Italian wine, that focuses not simply on the appellations, but covers a vast array of the native grape varieties, whilst also offering a deep dive into the history, culture, and philosophies that have shaped the long history of Italian wine. As Pedro Ballesteros MW has said Italy is one of the most fascinating wine countries, full of jewels to discover, historical backgrounds to understand, flavors to feel and remember, subtleties to spot, visions to share. VIA offers a unique opportunity to get to grips with such precious knowledge. One of the overarching aims of VIA is to be constantly building its ecosystem. In this way, the Faculty and VIA team have built a strong and committed community that many wine education programs lack. Beyond becoming an Ambassador or Expert community members benefit from the most up-to-date information about Italian wines thanks to Chief Scientist Prof. Attilio Scienza, as well as trips and access to producers and wineries in the territory. Besides, once certified as an Ambassador or Expert there is the option to become an Italian Wine Educator, an ancillary qualification that gives participants the possibility to teach the preparatory VIA Italian Wine Maestro course. The next course will be the 18th edition of the VIA Italian Wine Ambassador course, which will be marked by a return to Verona for another flagship edition. This new flagship course will be the first to utilize an agile format with the online theory classes continuing, but students coming together in Verona to be led by Faculty members through guided tastings and Q&A sessions ahead of the exam Later in 2021, VIA will return to offer courses in the USA. Previously these have had to be limited to particular cities, but now thanks to a reformatted agile course, applications can be accepted from all over the country, broadening the scope like never before and offering opportunities to more students than ever. Reformatted to be more agile, VIA USA will combine the online on-demand theory sessions with in-person tastings proposed for July at Tasting Centers across the United States. This newly reformatted course truly shows VIA at its best, as demonstrated by the enthusiasm of participants, Vinitaly Academy Agile edition has made the impossible possible: making us feel part of the VIA Community during this difficult time. I was able to feel surrounded by fellow classmates, share my passion for Italian wine, and feel close to the heart of Italy through my screen! I was completely blown away by the enthusiasm and knowledge shared by excellent Italian wine experts Henry Davar and Sarah Heller MW! Roddy Ropner IWA. Recruitment for both courses is now open and candidates can apply at: https://vinitalyinternational.com/wordpress/via-verona-2021/ or gain more information by emailing: via@justdothework.it About Vinitaly International Academy: Vinitaly International Academy (VIA) aims to be the gold standard of Italian wine education. VIA offers a complete educational path with standardized courses that will teach professionals and educators to master the diversity of Italian wine in a rigorous, organized manner. VIAs main objective is to foster a global network of highly qualified professionals such as Italian Wine Ambassadors and Italian Wine Experts: in turn, they will support and promote Italian wine throughout the world. VIAs ecosystem comprising the main institutional bodies and associations in the Italian wine industry strives to be the conduit between the leading players in the Italian wine scene and international professionals. To know more about VIA, please visit: https://vinitalyinternational.com/wordpress/vinitaly-international-academy/ Humnabad : , April 16 (IANS) Karnataka Home Minister Basavaraj Bommai on Thursday warned that stern action will be initiated against those found hoarding and black-marketing Covid drug remedesvir. Bommai, who was campaigning for the party for the April 17 bypoll to the Basavakalyana Assembly seat in Bidar, told reporters that he had contacted Health Minister K. Sudhakar to know about whether there was any shortage of this life-saving drug, but was assured that there are sufficient stocks. "Based on my interaction with him, I can safely maintain that there is no shortage of this drug, but if anyone is trying to make misuse of pandemic times by black-marketing, then all those will be punished severely," he said. He said that the government will take necessary steps to check demand and the supply chain. "We will keep track right from pharmaceutical companies to hospitals under the Epidemic Act. Therefore, I am warning those who are trying to play any hide and seek game here will not be spared," he said in response to a question. The state government cannot allow black-marketers and hoarders to have free run during the times of crisis like this. "With the second wave kicking in, I am convening a meeting of state police top brass on Friday to discuss strategies to nab those who are trying to create fake scarcity of this drug," he said. In response to a question, Bommai said that he was confident that year-long experience of fighting Covid had prepared them well enough to tackle the issue. A section of media had reported that both private and government hospitals in the state had been asking attendants of patients to procure the medicine from outside. Having no information on the availability of the drug, several people made frantic calls and visits to multiple medical stores to procure it, and in desperation, many even shelled out up to Rs 9,600 per vial, roughly about 200-300 per cent of the actual price of the medicine. Currently, at least seven companies are manufacturing and marketing Remdesivir in India under non-exclusive voluntary licensing agreements with US-based Gilead Sciences. These generic pharmaceutical manufacturers include Zydus Cadila (Remdac priced at Rs 2,800 per 100g vial, but now reduced to Rs 899), Cipla (Cipremi at Rs 4,000), Jubilant Lifesciences (Jubi-R at Rs 4,700), Mylan (Mylan Esrem at Rs 4,800), Hetero Labs (Covifor at Rs 5,400), Dr Reddy's (Redyx at Rs 5,400) and Syngene International (price could not be ascertained). U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Wednesday called Irans announcement of an intent to begin enriching uranium at 60% purity "provocative," saying the step raised questions about the seriousness of Tehran over the nuclear talks in Vienna. "We take very seriously its provocative announcement of an intent to begin enriching uranium at 60%," Blinken told a news conference at NATO headquarters in Brussels, referring to Iran. "I have to tell you the step calls into question Irans seriousness with regard the nuclear talks, just as it underscores the imperative of returning to mutual compliance with the JCPOA," Reuters cited Blinken as saying. Iran has said it will enrich uranium to 60% - a big step closer to the 90% that is weapons-grade from the 20% maximum it has reached so far - in response to what it says was an act of sabotage by Israel against its key nuclear facility. The European countries party to the 2015 Iran nuclear deal also told Tehran that the step was contrary to efforts to revive the accord. PRESS RELEASE DATED APRIL 15, 2021 SIMPLIFIED TENDER OFFER FOR THE SHARES OF [Natixis logo] initiated by the company [BPCE logo] presented by [JPMorgan logo] Bank presenting the offer and acting as guarantor PRESS RELEASE RELATING TO THE AVAILABILITY OF THE OFFER DOCUMENT PREPARED BY BPCE TERMS OF THE OFFER : 4.00 per share of Natixis (ex-dividend) OFFER PERIOD : 20 trading days The timetable for the simplified tender offer referred to herein (the Offer) will be set out by the Autorite des marches financiers (the AMF) in accordance with provisions of its General Regulation. [AMF logo] This press release (the Press Release) was prepared and made available to the public pursuant to Article 231-27, 2 of the AMFs General Regulation. Pursuant to Article L. 621-8 of the French Monetary and Financial Code and Article 231-23 of the AMFs General Regulation, the AMF has, in accordance with the clearance decision of the public tender offer dated April 15, 2021, affixed visa no. 21-107 on the offer document (the Offer Document). The Offer Document has been prepared by BPCE and is the responsibility of its signatories. The visa, in accordance with the provisions of article L. 621-8-1, I of the French Monetary and Financial Code, has been granted after the AMF has verified whether the document is complete and comprehensible, and whether the information it contains is consistent. It does not imply either approval of the appropriateness of the transaction or authentication of the accounting and financial information presented. IMPORTANT NOTICE In the event that the number of shares not tendered to the Offer by the minority shareholders of Natixis does not represent more than 10% of the share capital and voting rights of Natixis following the Offer, BPCE intends to implement, at the latest within three (3) months following the closing of the Offer, in accordance with Articles L. 433-4 II of the French Monetary and Financial Code and 237-1 et seq. of the AMFs General Regulation, a squeeze-out procedure in order to transfer the Natixis shares not tendered to the Offer in exchange for compensation equal to the Offer price. The Offer Document must be read together with all other documents published in relation to the Offer. Specifically, in accordance with Article 231-28 of the AMFs General Regulation, a description of the legal, financial and accounting characteristics of BPCE will be made available to the public no later than the day preceding the opening of the Offer. A press release will be issued, no later than the day preceding the opening of the Offer, to inform the public of the manner in which this information will be made available. The Offer Document is available on the websites of the AMF (www.amf-france.org) and BPCE (www.groupebpce.com) and may be obtained free of charge from: BPCE 50, avenue Pierre Mendes France 75013 Paris France JPMorgan (France) 14, place Vendome 75001 Paris France 1. OVERVIEW OF THE OFFER Pursuant to Title III of Book II and more specifically Articles 233-1, 1 et seq. of the AMFs General Regulation, BPCE, a limited liability corporation (societe anonyme avec directoire et conseil de surveillance) with a share capital of EUR 173,613,700, having its registered office at 50 avenue Pierre Mendes France, 75013 Paris, registered with the Paris Trade and Companies Register under number 493 455 042 (hereafter, BPCE or the Offeror), undertook to make an irrevocable offer to the holders of shares of the company Natixis, a limited liability corporation (societe anonyme a conseil dadministration) with a share capital of EUR 5,052,644,851.20, having its registered office at 30 avenue Pierre Mendes France, 75013 Paris, registered with the Paris Trade and Companies Register under number 542 044 524 (the Company or Natixis), the shares of which are traded on the compartment A of the Euronext Paris regulated market under ISIN Code FR0000120685, ticker symbol KN (the Shares), to acquire all the Shares that BPCE does not hold directly or indirectly on the date of the Offer Document at the unit price of EUR 4.00 (ex-dividend) (the Offer Price), as part of a simplified tender offer, the terms and conditions of which are described hereafter (the Offer). BPCE is a credit institution, central body of the cooperative banking group composed of the Banques Populaires and the Caisses dEpargne networks, as well as other affiliated credit institutions, including Natixis. BPCEs status is governed by the French Monetary and Financial Code. As of the date of the Offer Document, BPCE holds 2,227,221,174 Shares and the same number of theoretical voting rights representing 70.53 % of the capital and theoretical voting rights of the Company1. The Offer targets all the Shares not held by the Offeror or assimilated thereto: which are already issued, i.e. to the knowledge of the Offeror at the date of the Offer Document, a maximum number of 928,220,277 Shares, it being specified that the treasury Shares held by the Company are not targeted by the Offer2, and which are likely to be issued before the closing of the Offer in connection with the definitive acquisition of the free shares granted by the Company i.e., to the knowledge of the Offeror at the date of the Offer Document and on the basis of the tentative timetable presented in section 2.7 of this Press Release, a maximum number of 298,166 new Shares3, i.e., to the knowledge of the Offeror at the date of the Offer Document, a maximum number of Shares targeted by the Offer equal to 928,518,443. To the knowledge of the Offeror, there are no other equity securities or other financial instruments issued by the Company or rights conferred by the Company that may give access, immediately or in the future, to the share capital or voting rights of the Company, other than the free shares granted by the Company to certain corporate officers and employees and described in section 2.3 of this Press Release. The Offer, which will be followed, if applicable, by a squeeze-out procedure pursuant to Articles L. 433-4 II of the French Monetary and Financial Code and 237-1 et seq. of the AMFs General Regulation, will be conducted following the simplified procedure in accordance with the provisions of Article 233-1 et seq. of the AMFs General Regulation. The duration of the Offer will be twenty (20) trading days corresponding to twenty (20) business days in the United States. In accordance with the provisions of Article 231-13 of the AMFs General Regulation, on February 10, 2021, JPMorgan Chase Bank, N.A., Paris branch (the Presenting Institution or JPMorgan (France)), as presenting institution of the Offer, filed the Offer with the AMF on behalf of the Offeror. JPMorgan (France) guarantees the content and the irrevocable nature of the commitments made by the Offeror in connection with the Offer. The Offeror is not acting in concert with any third party or shareholder of the Company. 1.1 Background and reasons for the Offer 1.1.1 Background of the Offer BPCE Group, whose central body is the company BPCE, is the second largest banking group in France and is supported by two networks of cooperative, autonomous and complementary commercial banks: the fourteen Banques Populaires and the fifteen Caisses dEpargne (Groupe BPCE). It is a major actor in asset management, insurance, wholesale banking and specialized financial services. Natixis, a subsidiary of Groupe BPCE, is a French financial institution of international stature specialised in asset and wealth management, corporate and investment banking, insurance and payments. Natixis supports and advises its own corporate clients, financial institutions and institutional investors, as well as clients of the Groupe BPCE networks. The Offer follows the publication by BPCE on February 9, 2021 of a press release announcing that Groupe BPCE is studying a simplification of its organization and an evolution of its model. It is in the context of this reorganization that BPCE has informed the market, in its press release published on February 9, 2021, of its intention to file this Offer and to acquire the 29.4 % of the Companys share capital that BPCE does not hold4. The reasons for the Offer are more fully described in section 1.1.3 Reasons for the Offer below. 1.1.2 Breakdown of the Companys capital and voting rights Share capital of Natixis To the Offerors knowledge, the Companys share capital at the date of the Offer Document amounts to EUR 5,052,644,851.20, divided into 3,157,903,032 ordinary shares of EUR 1.60 par value each, fully paid-up and all of the same class. Composition of Natixis shareholding structure as at March 1st, 2021 To the knowledge of the Offeror, the share capital and voting rights of the Company as at March 1st, 2021 are as follows5: Shareholders Number of shares Percentage of shares Number of theoretical voting rights Percentage of theoretical voting rights BPCE 2,227,221,174 70.53 % 2,227,221,174 70.53 % Employee shareholding 89,416,505* 2.83 % 89,416,505 2.83 % Treasury shares 2,461,581 0.08 % 2,461,581 0.08 % Public 838,803,772 26.56 % 838,803,772 26.56 % Total 3,157,903,032 100% 3,157,903,032 100% *As part of its hedging strategy, FCPE Mauve Garanti carried out a stock lending transaction in early February 2021 covering the 5,017,214 Shares held by the fund. Consequently, the 5,017,214 Shares covered by the transaction are included in the free float in the table above rather than in employee share ownership plans. It is specified that the Offeror did not purchase any Natixis shares during the twelve (12) months preceding the visa of the Offer Document. 1.1.3 Reasons for the Offer The Offer is part of Groupe BPCEs desire to simplify its operations as part of the preparation of its strategic plan. Given the economic and market outlook, the Offeror wishes to provide more strategic leeway for the development of the Companys businesses (Asset and wealth management, Corporate & Investment Banking, Insurance and Payments), whereas the listing does not constitute an appropriate framework for achieving this goal. As a result, if the minority shareholders do not represented more than 10% of the share capital and voting rights of Natixis at the end of this Offer, it is BPCEs intention to require the AMF the implementation of the squeeze-out procedure as described in section 1.2.5 Intentions with respect to the squeeze-out below. In this respect, the Offeror has mandated the Presenting Institution to carry out an evaluation of the Natixis shares, a summary of which is reproduced below. In addition, pursuant to the provisions of Articles 261-1 I, II and III of the AMFs General Regulation, the Companys board of directors appointed an independent expert to assess the valuation of the Companys share price, whose report will be provided in full in the Natixis reply document. 1.2 Intentions of the Offeror for the next twelve months 1.2.1 Strategy and continuation of the Companys activities Over the last ten years, Groupe BPCE has become one of Europes leading banking groups. Its cooperative universal bank model is decentralised and organised around three activities (Retail Banking & Insurance, Asset & Wealth Management, and Corporate & Investment Banking), covering all customer segments (retail customers, professionals, corporates, and institutional clients). At a time of significant changes in the competitive landscape of financial institutions across Europe and in light of a new, post-health crisis economic cycle, Groupe BPCE wishes to enhance the development of its businesses, by providing them with the means to increase their strategic flexibility, accelerate their development for the benefit of their customers and their performance, by simplifying its organization. To reach this goal and as part of its upcoming strategic plan, Groupe BPCE wishes to study, together with its corporate bodies, an evolution of its organization with: On one side, the retail businesses, including Retail Banking and Insurance (BPA), Financial Solutions and Expertise (SEF), and now also Insurance and Payment businesses. This would complete the movement initiated with the successful creation of the SEF division. Insurance and Payment businesses might report directly to BPCE; the terms of such a combination would be analysed at a later stage; On the other side, Groupe BPCEs global businesses serving Large and Global Customers: Asset and Wealth Management (Natixis Investment Managers, Natixis Wealth Management), and Corporate & Investment Banking (Natixis Corporate and Investment Banking), would be gathered within a new structure Global Financial Services; A clearer model for the support functions of BPCE, Natixis and its businesses, with simplified functional links. This study will be carried out regardless of the Offers outcome. Any project stemming from these reflections will be submitted, if need be, to the consultation of relevant works councils. Moreover, Groupe BPCE observes that Natixis listing does not provide the means required for the development of its activities, whereas the strategic flexibility is greater within within Groupe BPCE than the public equity markets. Natixis clearly benefits from Groupe BPCEs financial backing, and the Caisses dEpargne and Banques Populaires are the first economic partners of Natixis businesses. As a consequence, in the perspective of the considered reorganisation, BPCE, which holds, as of the date of the Offer Document, more than 70 % of the share capital and voting rights of the Company (see section 1.1.2 Breakdown of the Companys share capital and voting rights above), wishes to acquire the 29.4 % of the Companys share capital that BPCE does not own6. Consequently, the Offer will not result in a change of control of the Company. Following this transaction, and in the event of implementation of the mandatory squeeze-out, if any, Groupe BPCE would be the largest privately-held banking institution in Europe. 1.2.2 Employment guidelines The Company will remain a separate entity with governance and functions adapted to the management of the businesses that it will be responsible for managing. Depending on the offers outcome and the possible delisting of Natixis, certain functions specifically related to the listing could be affected by the proposed transaction. The Offeror does not anticipate that the Offer will lead to a reduction in the workforce at Natixis, it being specified that any reorganization that may be decided upon following the Offer (see section 1.2.1 Strategy and Continuation of the Companys Activities above) would be carried out in accordance with the practices of Groupe BPCE, in particular without forced departure. 1.2.3 Merger and legal reorganisation The Offeror does not intend to merge with Natixis. Moreover, the Offer will have no impact on the legal organisation of the Company. As indicated in section 1.2.1 Strategy and pursuit of the Companys activities above), the Offeror is studying the possibility of implementing a direct linkage of the Companys Insurance and Payments businesses to the Offeror, it being specified that the study of such a linkage will not be conditional upon the success of the Offer. 1.2.4 Composition of the Companys corporate bodies and management The Companys board of directors is currently composed of the following members: Mr. Laurent Mignon (chairman of the board of directors); BPCE, represented by Ms. Catherine Halberstadt; Mr. Alain Condaminas; Mr. Dominique Duband; Ms. Nicole Etchegoinberry; Ms. Sylvie Garcelon; Mr. Philippe Hourdain; Ms. Catherine Leblanc; Mr. Christophe Pinault; Mr. Daniel de Beaurepaire; Ms. Anne Lalou*; Mr. Bernard Oppetit*; Ms. Catherine Pariset*; Ms. Diane de Saint Victor*; and Mr. Nicolas de Tavernost*. * Independent directors Mr. Nicolas Namias currently holds the position of Chief Executive Officer of the Company. It is specified that Mr. Henri Proglio holds a position of censor (censeur) in the Companys board of director. Should the Offer be followed by a squeeze-out, it will result in the delisting of the Shares from the Euronext Paris regulated market. In this context, changes in the composition of the Companys corporate bodies may be envisaged and will depend on the Offers outcome. 1.2.5 Intentions regarding the squeeze-out In accordance with Articles L. 433-4 II of the French Monetary and Financial Code and 237-1 et seq. of the AMFs General Regulation, the Offeror intends to require the AMF, within three (3) months from the closing of the Offer, to implement a squeeze-out procedure for Natixis Shares, if the number of shares not presented to the Offer by the Companys minority shareholders does not represent, at the end of the Offer, more than 10 % of the share capital and voting rights of Natixis. In such a case, the squeeze-out would relate to Natixis shares other than those held by the Offeror or assimilated to them (including in particular the Shares subject to the liquidity mechanisms described in section 2.3 of this Press Release). It would be made in consideration of compensation of the relevant shareholders at the Offer Price. The implementation of this procedure will result in the delisting of the Natixis shares from Euronext Paris. In the event that the Offeror is not in a position, following the Offer, to implement a squeeze-out, it reserves the right to file a buyout tender offer followed, if applicable, by a squeeze-out for the shares it does not hold directly or indirectly or in concert at that date. In this context, the Offeror does not exclude increasing its interest in the Company after the end of the Offer and prior to the filing of a new offer in accordance with the applicable legal and regulatory provisions. In this case, the squeeze-out will be subject to the control of the AMF, which will rule on its conformity in light of the independent experts report to be appointed in accordance with the provisions of Article 261-1 of the AMFs General Regulation. 1.2.6 Synergies Economic gains No synergies have been specifically identified in connection with the Offer. Groupe BPCE will continue to be active in its current businesses, including the Companys core businesses: Asset and Wealth Management, Corporate & Investment Banking, Insurance and Payments. The potential savings in listing costs that would result from the delisting of the Companys shares from Euronext Paris after the implementation of the squeeze-out, if need be, is not significant in relation to the amount of the transaction. 1.2.7 Dividend distribution policy The Companys dividend policy will be consistent with the current policy: following the Offer, the Companys dividend policy will continue to be determined by its corporate bodies based on Companys distributive capacity, financial situation and financial needs, in accordance with any regulatory requirements applicable to the Company and by taking into account the constraints related to the current economic context. The targets solvency ratio of Natixis (10.2% CET1 until 2021) could be adjusted upwards in the context of the strategic plan due to be announced in June 2021, in particular regarding the economic and regulatory changes. 1.2.8 Int erest of the Transaction for the Offeror, the Company and its Shareholders The Offeror is offering Natixis shareholders who tender their Shares in the Offer the opportunity to obtain immediate liquidity for their entire stake at a price per Share representing a premium of 16% compared to the closing price of the Share on February 5, 20217, of 40% compared to the volume-weighted average Share price over the 60 days preceding this date, of 62% compared to the volume-weighted average Share price over the 120 days preceding this date and 66% compared to the volume-weighted average Share price over the 180 days preceding this date. A summary of the elements of appreciation of the Offer price is presented in section 3 of this Press Release. 1.3 Agreements that may have a material impact on the assessment or outcome of the Offer Other than the Liquidity Agreement (described in section 2.3 of this Press Release), the Offeror is not aware of any agreement that could affect the determination of the Offer or its outcome. 2. CHARACTERISTICS OF THE OFFER 2.1 Terms of the Offer In accordance with the provisions of Articles 231-13 and 231-18 of the AMFs General Regulation, the draft Offer was filed on February 10, 2021 with the AMF by the Presenting Institution, acting on behalf of the Offeror. A notice of filing of the Offer has been published on the AMFs website (www.amf-france.org) on February 10, 20218. In accordance with Article 233-1 of the AMFs General Regulation, the Offer will be conducted following the simplified tender offer procedure. In accordance with the provisions of Article 231-6 of the AMFs General Regulation, the Offeror irrevocably undertakes to the Companys shareholders to acquire, at the price of EUR 4.00 per Share (ex-dividend9), all the Shares that will be tendered in the Offer during a period of twenty (20) trading days corresponding to twenty (20) business days in the United States. JPMorgan (France) guarantees the content and the irrevocable nature of the undertakings made by the Offeror in connection with the Offer in accordance with the provisions of Article 231-13 of the AMFs General Regulation. The draft response document to the Offer, including in particular the independent experts report in accordance with the provisions of Article 261-1, I, 1, 2 and 4 and II of the AMFs General Regulation, was filed with the AMF on March 15, 202110. By a clearance decision dated April 15, 2021, the AMF declared the Offer compliant after having verified the compliance of the Offer with the legal and regulatory provisions applicable thereto and affixed visa no. 21-107 dated April 15, 2021 to the Offer Document. The AMF has published its clearance decision on its website (www.amf-france.org). Prior to the opening of the Offer, the AMF will publish a notice of opening and the timetable of the Offer and Euronext Paris will publish a notice setting out the content of the Offer and specifying the timetable and terms of its completion. The terms and conditions of the Offer are detailed in section 2 of the Offer Document. 2.2 Number and nature of the shares targeted by the Offer As of the date of the Offer Document, BPCE holds 2,227,221,174 Shares and the same number of theoretical voting rights in the Company, representing 70.53 % of the capital and theoretical voting rights of the Company11. The Offer targets all the Shares not held by the Offeror or assimilated thereto: which are already issued, i.e. to the knowledge of the Offeror at the date of the Offer Document, a maximum number of 928,220,277 Shares, it being specified that the treasury Shares held by the Company are not targeted by the Offer12, and which are likely to be issued before the closing of the Offer in connection with the definitive acquisition of the free shares granted by the Company i.e., to the knowledge of the Offeror at the date of the Offer Document, and on the basis of the tentative timetable presented in section 2.8 of this Press Release, a maximum number of 298,166 new Shares13, i.e., to the knowledge of the Offeror at the date of the Offer Document, a maximum number of Shares targeted by the Offer equal to 928,518,443. To the knowledge of the Offeror, there are no other equity securities or other financial instruments issued by the Company or rights conferred by the Company that may give access, immediately or in the future, to the share capital or voting rights of the Company, other than the free shares granted by the Company to certain corporate officers and employees described in section 2.4 of this Press Release. 2.3 Situation of the beneficiaries of rights to receive Free Shares and holders of Non-Transferable Shares14 To the knowledge of the Offeror, at the date of the Offer Document, the Company has set up several plans for the allocation of Free Shares allowing the allocation of a maximum number of 6,083,355 Shares to certain employees and/or corporate officers of the Company and its group (the Free Shares). The table below summarises the main characteristics of the Free Shares allocation plans as of March 1st, 2021, to the knowledge of the Offeror. The figures presented provide an overview of the outstanding amount; shares canceled since their grant date as a result of the application of the terms and conditions of the relevant plans are therefore excluded. Plan Reference15 Allocation date Acquisition date Availability Date1 (excluding Shares covered by the Additional Retention Commitments2) Free Shares in Acquisition Period not covered by the Additional Retention Commitments Total Free Shares in Acquisition Period PAGA CDG 2017 23/05/2017 23/05/2021 23/05/2023 64,477 75,085 PMP 2018 Tranche 1 13/04/2018 13/04/2021 13/04/2023 223,081 223,081 PMP 2018 Tranche 2 13/04/2018 13/04/2023 13/04/2025 223,081 223,081 PAGA CDG 2018 23/05/2018 and 02/08/2018 23/05/2022 23/05/2024 68,657 78,188 PAGA 2019 Tranche 2 12/04/2019 01/03/2022 01/03/2024 1,644,218 1,650,321 PAGA CDG 2019 28/05/2019 28/05/2023 28/05/2025 86,722 98,192 PAGA 2020 Tranche 1 10/04/2020 01/03/2022 01/10/2022 1,161,575 1,161,575 PAGA 2020 Tranche 2 10/04/2020 01/03/2023 01/10/2023 2,323,229 2,323,229 PAGA CDG 2020 20/05/2020 20/05/2024 20/05/2024 126,396 250,603 Total - - - 5,921,436 6,083,355 1. The reasons for this non-transferability are detailed below. It is noted that, in accordance with the terms of the free share allocation plans, the Free Shares granted to a beneficiary will be immediately acquired and/or will become immediately transferable in case of invalidity or death of this beneficiary. Where applicable, the Availability Date (as this term is defined below) will be determined by reference to this accelerated acquisition date. 2 As defined below. The figures presented in the table above have been updated from the figures presented in section 2.5 of the draft offer document of the Offeror filed with the AMF on February 10, 2021, to take into account the following: 1,411,450 Shares were issued as of March 1 st , 2021 under the PAGA 2018 - Tranche 2 plan (and 385,102 Free Shares granted under the said plan lapsed following the departure of certain beneficiaries or due to the failure to comply with performance conditions); , 2021 under the PAGA 2018 - Tranche 2 plan (and 385,102 Free Shares granted under the said plan lapsed following the departure of certain beneficiaries or due to the failure to comply with performance conditions); 540,080 Shares were issued as of March 1 st , 2021 under the PAGA 2019 - Tranche 1 plan (and 289,855 Free Shares granted under the said plan lapsed following the departure of certain beneficiaries or due to the failure to comply with performance conditions) ; , 2021 under the PAGA 2019 - Tranche 1 plan (and 289,855 Free Shares granted under the said plan lapsed following the departure of certain beneficiaries or due to the failure to comply with performance conditions) ; 9,642 Free Shares granted under the PAGA 2019 - Tranche 2 plan lapsed following the departure of certain beneficiaries; 16,124 Free Shares granted under the PAGA 2020 - Tranche 1 plan lapsed following the departure of certain beneficiaries; and 32,249 Free Shares granted under the PAGA 2020 - Tranche 2 plan lapsed following the departure of certain beneficiaries. It is specified that, on the basis of the tentative timetable presented in section 2.7 of this Press Release scheduling a closing date of the Offer occurring Before March 1st, 2022, a maximum number of 298,166 Free Shares may be issued in connection with the definitive acquisition of these Free Shares, and these Shares are therefore targeted by the Offer. Moreover, it is also specified that some Shares currently held by the beneficiaries of some free share plans (or which will be held by these beneficiaries in case of termination of the acquisition period prior to the estimated closing date of the Offer) are non-transferable at the date of the Offer Document and will remain non-transferable until the estimated closing date of the Offer (the Non-Transferable Shares), including regarding some Shares for which the retention period has, or will have, expired at the date of the Offer Document or at estimated closing date of the Offer. The Non-Transferable Shares correspond to: A maximum number of 110,521 non-transferable Shares (including 99,913 Shares which are already issued at the date of the Offer Document and 10,608 Shares which are likely to be issued before the closing of the Offer) because of: the retention commitments provided by the regulations of the Free Share allocation plans under which all or part of the Shares received by the members of the General Management Committee of Natixis are non-transferable until the holder ceases its duties within the senior management committee; and/or the provisions of Article L. 225-197-1 II of the French Commercial Code, pursuant to which the board of directors of Natixis has imposed on the corporate officers of Natixis a commitment to retain their securities until the termination of their duties, (the Additional Retention Commitments); (ii) A maximum number of 5,058,974 non-transferable Shares (including 4,771,416 Shares which are already issued at the date of the Offer Document and 287,558 Shares which are likely to be issued before the closing of the Offer) pending the expiration of a tax holding period (period provided by the a of A of paragraph 1 ter of Article 150-0 D of the French General Tax Code for the Shares eligible to the benefit of the provisions of Article 200 A, paragraph 3 of the French General Tax Code, in its redaction provided by Article 135 of the law n2015-990 dated August 6, 2015 for growth, activity and equal economic opportunity. Therefore, to the knowledge of the Offeror at the date of the Offer Document, and subject to the anticipated acquisition and transferability events provided for by law16, the Free Shares may not be tendered in the Offer, to the extent that the acquisition or retention periods of the Free Shares will not have expired before the closing of the Offer. The Offeror will propose to the beneficiaries of the Free Shares and to the holders of Non-Transferable Shares to enter into put and call options of their Free Shares and Non-Transferable Shares in order to enable them to benefit from cash liquidity for the Free Shares and the Non-Transferable Shares that could not be tendered in the Offer (the Liquidity Agreement). The Non-Transferable Shares, the holders of which will have entered into a Liquidity Agreement, will not be tendered in the Offer. Pursuant to the Liquidity Agreement, the Offeror will grant to each beneficiary of Free Shares and holder of Non-Transferable Shares a put option, exercisable as of the Availability Date, followed by a call option granted by each beneficiary of Free Shares and holder of Non-Transferable Shares to the Offeror, exercisable as of the end of the exercise period of the put option, and in the absence of exercise thereof. The put and call options may, however, only be exercised in the event that the Offeror is in a position to implement a squeeze-out following the Offer, pursuant to Articles L. 433-4 II of the French Monetary and Financial Code and 237-1 et seq. of the AMFs General Regulation. The Availability Date shall correspond to the day on which the Shares subject to a Liquidity Agreement will become transferable as a result of (i) the expiry of the acquisition period, the holding period (if applicable), or, as the case may be, the tax holding period, or (ii) the termination of duties in respect of which the holder of such Shares was subject to a holding commitment. The exercise price per Share in the put and call options (the Exercise Price) will be determined by applying a formula that affects the Offer Price by a coefficient calculated as follows: the numerator is BPCEs aggregate net income Group share 17 for the three financial years preceding the date on which the Shares become available; and for the three financial years preceding the date on which the Shares become available; and the denominator is BPCEs aggregate net income Group share18 for the 2020, 2019 and 2018 financial years, however, any distributions 19 made between the date of signature of the Liquidity Agreement and date of exercise of the options will be deducted from the Exercise Price thus determined. The Exercise Price formula is thus as follows: Exercise Price = P 0 [((NI (N) + NI (N 1) + NI (N 2)) / (NI (2020) + NI (2019) + NI (2018))] - D Where: P 0 is equal to the Offer Price; is equal to the Offer Price; NI (N) is equal to BPCEs net income Group share 20 for year N, "N" being the last financial year preceding the Availability Date of the Shares; for year N, "N" being the last financial year preceding the Availability Date of the Shares; D is equal to the amount of all distributions per Share made by the Company between the date on which the Liquidity Agreement is signed21 and the vesting date of the Share. If it was determined at the date of this Offer Document, the Exercise Price, as calculated in accordance with the above formula, would result in the Offer Price. In the event of implementation, if need be, of the squeeze-out, the Shares subject to the liquidity mechanisms described above will be assimilated to the Shares held by the Offeror in accordance with Article L. 233-9 I, 4 of the French Commercial Code, and will not be subject to the said squeeze-out but will be transferred to the Offeror in the future as part of the Liquidity Agreement, subject to its execution by the relevant beneficiary or holder. 2.4 Conditions for the Offers opening As of the date of the Offer Document, the opening of the Offer remains, in accordance with the provisions of Article 231-32 of the AMFs General Regulation, subject to the prior authorization of the authorities listed below, due to the indirect increase of the Offerors holding in the share capital and voting rights of some entities and interests held by the Company: The AMFs authorisation, pursuant to the provisions of Article L. 532-9-1 of the French Monetary and Financial Code, with respect to the following portfolio management companies: - AEW Ciloger; - H2O AM Europe; - Ostrum Asset Management; - Seventure Partners; - Thematics Asset Management; - Vauban Infrastructure Partners; and - Galia Gestion, the Autorite de controle prudentiel et de resolutions authorisation, pursuant to the provisions of Article L. 322-4 of the French Insurance Code and with respect to the insurance company Compagnie Francaise dAssurance pour le Commerce Exterieur; and the authorisation of the Commission de Surveillance du Secteur Financier, in Luxembourg, for the portfolio management company AEW S.a r.l., (together, the Regulatory Authorisations). The Offeror has informed all the regulators concerned by the Offer and has filed all applications for Regulatory Authorization as of the date of the Offer Document. The shareholders of the Company will be informed of the grant of these Regulatory Authorisations and the opening of the Offer by a press release published by the Offeror. The Offeror has also taken steps to identify, and as the case may be obtain, in light of the applicable legislation, all other administrative formalities required in the relevant countries. 2.5 Offerors right to purchase Shares during the Offer period As from the filing of the proposed Offer with the AMF, and until the opening of the Offer, the Offeror reserves the right to purchase Shares, on or off-market, in accordance with the provisions of Articles 231-38 and 231-39 of the AMFs General Regulation. 2.6 Procedure for tendering in the Offer The Offer will be open for a period of twenty (20) trading days corresponding to twenty (20) business days in the United States. The attention of the Companys shareholders is drawn to the fact that, as the Offer will be conducted following the simplified procedure, in accordance with the provisions of Articles 233-1 et seq. of the AMFs General Regulation, it will not be reopened following the publication of the definitive result of the Offer. The Shares tendered in the Offer must be freely negotiable and free from any lien, pledge, collateral or other security or restriction of any kind on the free transfer of their ownership. The Offeror reserves the right to reject, in its sole discretion, any Shares tendered in the Offer that do not fulfil this condition. Shareholders of the Company who wish to tender their Shares in the Offer may sell their Shares on the market. The settlement-delivery of the Shares sold (including the payment of the price) will occur on the second trading day following the day of execution of the orders, and the trading costs (including the corresponding brokerage fees and VAT) relating to such transactions will remain entirely at the expense of the Shareholders tendering their Shares in the Offer, it being specified that: Shareholders of the Company who wish to tender their Shares to the Offer may sell their Shares on the market. The settlement and delivery of the Shares sold (including the payment of the price) will take place on the second trading day following the day of execution of the orders, and the trading costs (including the corresponding brokerage fees and VAT) relating to these transactions will remain entirely at the expense of the shareholders tendering their Shares in the Offer, it being specified that: The shareholders of the Company whose Shares are registered with a financial intermediary (bank, credit institution, investment firm, etc.) and who would like to tender their Shares in the Offer must submit to their financial intermediary an irrevocable sale order at the latest on the (included) closing date of the Offer, using the model made available to them by such financial intermediary; The Shares held in registered form will have to be converted into bearer form in order to be tendered in the Offer. Accordingly, holders of Shares held in registered form who wish to tender their Shares in the Offer will have to request the conversion of their Shares into bearer form to an authorised intermediary as soon as possible. It is specified that the conversion to bearer form of Shares held in registered form will result in the loss for such shareholders of the benefits associated with holding such Shares in registered form. The transfer of ownership of the Shares tendered in the Offer and all of the rights attached thereto (including the right to dividends) will occur on the date of registration in the Offerors account, in accordance with the provisions of Article L. 211-17 of the French Monetary and Financial Code. It is reminded, if need be, that any amount due in connection with the tendering of the Shares in the Offer will not bear interest and will be paid on the settlement-delivery date. Orders to tender the Shares to the Offer will be irrevocable. The Offer will be carried out through purchases on the market, in accordance with the provisions of Article 233-2 of the AMFs General Regulation. J.P. Morgan AG, investment services provider qualified as a member of the bidding market, will purchase, on behalf of the Offeror, all Shares which will be tendered in the Offer in accordance with applicable regulations (including Euronext notice N4-03). The Offer and all related documents are subject to French law. Any dispute or litigation of any nature whatsoever relating to this Offer will be brought before the competent courts. 2.7 Tentative timetable of the Offer Prior to the opening of the Offer, the AMF will publish a notice of opening and timetable, and Euronext Paris will publish a notice announcing the terms and timetable of the Offer. A tentative timetable is proposed below and will be adjusted according to the date of obtention of the Regulatory Authorisations: Dates Principal Stages of the Offer February 9, 2021 Announcement of the draft Offer February 10, 2021 Filing of the draft Offer and the draft offer document of the Offeror with the AMF Offerors draft offer document made available to the public and posted to the websites of the AMF (www.amf-france.org) and the Offeror (www.groupebpce.com) Publication by the Offeror of a press release announcing the filing of the Offer and availability of the draft offer document March 15, 2021 Companys draft reply document filed with the AMF, including the reasoned opinion of the Companys board of directors and the independent experts report Companys draft reply document made available to the public and posted to the websites of the AMF (www.amf-france.org) and the Company (www.natixis.com) Publication by the Company of a press release announcing the filing of the Offer and availability of Companys draft reply document April 15, 2021 Declaration of conformity of the Offer issued by the AMF, which serves as the approval (visa) of the Offerors Offer Document and the Companys reply document April 15, 2021 Offerors Offer Document is made available to the public and posted to the websites of the AMF (www.amf-france.org) and the Offeror (www.groupebpce.com) Publication by the Offeror of a press release specifying the terms and conditions for making the Offer Document available to the public Companys reply document made available to the public and posted to to the websites of the AMF (www.amf-france.org) and the Company (www.natixis.com) Publication by the Company of a press release specifying the terms and conditions for making the reply document available to the public 28 May 2021 Annual general meeting of Natixiss shareholders to approve the financial statements for the year ending December 31, 2020 (the amount of the dividend proposed by Natixis for its financial year ending December 31, 2020 is 0.06 euro per share) June 2021 (indicative date) Obtention of the last of the Regulatory Authorisations described in section 2.5 of the Offer Document [__] 2021 Information relating to the Offerors legal, financial, accounting and other characteristics is made available to the public and posted to the websites of the AMF (www.amf-france.org) and the Offeror (www.groupebpce.com) Publication by the Offeror of a press release specifying the terms and conditions for the provision of information relating to the legal, financial, accounting and other characteristics of the Offeror Information relating to the Companys legal, financial, accounting and other characteristics is made available to the public and posted to the websites of the AMF (www.amf-france.org) and the Company (www.natixis.com) Publication by the Company of a press release specifying the terms and conditions for the provision of information relating to the legal, financial, accounting and other characteristics of the Company [__] 2021 Publication by the AMF of the notice for the opening of the Offer Publication by Euronext Paris of the notice relating to the Offer and its terms and conditions [__] 2021 Opening of the Offer [__] 2021 Closing of the Offer [__] 2021 Publication of the notice of result of the Offer by the AMF [__] 2021 Implementation of the squeeze-out procedure and delisting of the Shares from Euronext Paris, if applicable 2.8 Costs and financing terms of the Offer 2.8.1 Co sts of the Offer The overall amount of the fees, costs and external expenses incurred by the Offeror in connection with the Offer, including, in particular, fees and other expenses relating to its various legal, financial and accounting advisors and any other experts and consultants, as well as publicity costs, is estimated at approximately EUR 25,000,000 (taxes excluded). In addition, the financial transaction tax pursuant to Article 235 ter ZD of the French General Tax Code will be added to these expenses and will be borne by BPCE on the shares tendered in the Offer. 2.8.2 Financing of the Offer In the event that all of the Shares targeted by the Offer are tendered in the Offer, the total amount of compensation in cash to be paid by the Offeror to the shareholders of the Company who tendered their Shares in the Offer would amount to EUR 3,714,073,772 (expenses and commissions related to the Offer excluded). The financing of the amounts due by the Offeror in connection with the Offer will be financed through the Offerors available cash. 2.8.3 Brokerage fees and compensation of intermediaries No fee or commission will be refunded or paid by the Offeror to a holder who tendered Shares in the Offer, or to any intermediary or person soliciting the tendering of Shares in the Offer. 2.9 Offer restrictions outside of France The Offer has not been subject to any other registration or visa application with any financial market regulatory authority outside of France and no steps will be taken for such registration or visa. The Press Release and the other documents relating to the Offer do not constitute an offer to sell or purchase securities or a solicitation of such an offer in any other country in which such offer or solicitation is unlawful or at any person to whom such offer or solicitation could not validly be made. The Companys shareholders located outside France may not take part in the Offer unless the foreign law to which they are subject allows them to do so. Indeed, the Offer, the participation in the Offer and the communication of the Press Release may be subject to specific regulations or restrictions in certain countries. The Offer is not directed at persons subject to such restrictions, either directly or indirectly, and is not likely to be accepted from a country where the Offer would be subject to such restrictions. Accordingly, persons coming into possession of the Press Release are required to inform themselves of any restriction that may apply to them and to comply with them. Failure to comply with these restrictions may constitute a violation of the applicable stock exchange and/or securities laws and regulations in some of these jurisdictions. The Offeror will not be liable for any breach by any person of any rules and restrictions applicable to such person. United States of America The Offer will be made in the United States of America in accordance with Section 14(e) of the U.S. Securities Exchange Act of 1934 as amended (the 1934 Act), and the rules and regulations promulgated thereunder, including Regulation 14E after applying the exemptions provided by Rule 14d-1(d) of the 1934 Act (Tier II exemption) and the requirements of French law. Accordingly, the Offer will be subject to certain procedural rules, in particular those relating to the timing of the settlement, waiver of conditions and payment dates, which are different from U.S. rules and procedures relating to public offers. The receipt of an amount of money under the Offer by a U.S. shareholder of Natixis may be a taxable transaction for U.S. tax purposes, including U.S. federal income tax purposes, and may be a taxable transaction under state or local tax laws, as well as foreign or other tax laws. It is strongly recommended that each Natixis U.S. shareholder should immediately seek independent professional advice regarding the tax consequences of accepting the Offer. It may be difficult for U.S. shareholders of Natixis to enforce their rights and claims under U.S. federal securities laws, since the Offeror and Natixis are companies with their respective headquarters outside the United States of America and all or some of their respective officers and directors are residents of countries other than the United States of America. U.S. shareholders of Natixis may not be able to sue proceedings in a court outside the United States against a non-U.S. company or its officers or directors alleging violations of U.S. securities laws. In addition, it may also be difficult to compel a non-U.S. company and its affiliates to submit to judgments that would be rendered by a U.S. court. To the extent permitted by applicable Laws and regulations, including Rule 14e-5 of the 1934 Act, and in accordance with customary practices in France, the Offeror and its Affiliates or its broker(s) (acting as agent or in the name and on behalf of the Offeror or its Affiliates, where applicable) and Natixis and its affiliates or its broker(s) (acting as agent or in the name and on behalf of Natixis or its affiliates, where applicable) may, before or after the date of the Press Release, directly or indirectly, purchase or arrange for the purchase of Shares outside of the Offer. Such purchases may be made on the market, on the basis of an order made at the Offer Price, or in off-market transactions at a price per Share equal to the Offer Price in accordance with the provisions of Article 231-39, II of the AMFs General Regulation. These purchases will not be concluded at a price per Share higher than the Offer Price. To the extent that information concerning these purchases or these provisions is made public in France, it will also be made public by means of a press release or any other means that informs the U.S. shareholders of Natixis, at the following address: www.natixis.com. No purchases outside the Offer will be made by or on behalf of the Offeror, Natixis or their respective affiliates in the United States of America. Offeror's and Natixis financial advisory affiliates may engage in ordinary trading activities in Natixis securities, which may include making purchases or arranging for the making of certain arrangements for the purchase of such securities. This Press Release has not been filed with or reviewed by any market authority (federal or state) or other regulatory authority in the United States of America, nor has any such authority passed upon the accuracy or adequacy of the information contained in this Press Release. Any statement to the contrary would be unlawful and may constitute a criminal offence. 2.10 Tax treatment of the Offer The tax treatment of the Offer is described in Section 2.12 Taxation of the Offer of the Offer Document. 3. SUMMARY OF THE INFORMATION USED TO DETERMINE THE OFFER PRICE The table below presents a summary of the valuations based on the valuation criteria used, as well as the premiums induced by the Offer price, both for a price of EUR 4.00 cum dividend (for illustrative purposes) and for a price of EUR 4.00 ex-dividend22: [The valuation summary table is reproduced in the PDF version of this press release] Note: 1 Value per Share (cum dividend) based on a fully-diluted number of shares of 3,162 millions, excluding treasury shares; 2 The share price as of 8 February 2021 has not been taken into account due to significant movements on the stock; 3 Last close prior to the publication of a forum post and several equity research notes mentioning a potential corporate event on Natixis. 1 Based on a total number of 3,157,903,032 shares and 3,157,903,032 theoretical voting rights of the Company (information as of March 1st, 2021). In accordance with Article 223-11 of the AMFs General Regulation, the total number of voting rights is calculated on the basis of all shares to which voting rights are attached, including shares without voting rights such as the treasury Shares. 2 The 2,461,581 treasury Shares held by the Company, representing 0.08 % of the Companys share capital (information as of March 1st, 2021), assimilated to those held by the Offeror pursuant to Article L. 233-9, I, 2 of the French Commercial Code, are not targeted by the Offer. 3 See section 2.3 of this Press Release. 4 As of March 1st, 2021, the percentage of the Companys share capital not held by the Offeror corresponds to 29.4% of the Companys share capital. 5 Based on a total number of 3,157,903,032 shares and 3,157,903,032 theoretical voting rights of the Company (information as of March 1st, 2021). In accordance with Article 223-11 of the AMFs General Regulation, the total number of voting rights is calculated on the basis of all shares to which voting rights are attached, including shares without voting rights such as the treasury Shares. 6 Based on total shares outstanding as of March 1st, 2021. 7 The Share price as of February 8, 2021 has not been taken into account due to significant movements on the stock. 8 Filing notice no. 221C0328 dated February 10, 2021. 9 Having noted, on the basis of the indicative timetable presented in section 2.8 of this Offer Document, that the opening of the Offer should only take place after the detachment of the 2020 dividend proposed to the vote of the shareholders of Natixis at the next general meeting scheduled for May 28, 2021, the Offeror has decided to provide that the price of 4.00 euros per Natixis Share is ex-dividend.. 10 Filing notice no. 221C0571 dated March 15, 2021. 11 Based on a total number of 3,157,903,032 shares and 3,157,903,032 theoretical voting rights of the Company (information as of March 1st, 2021). In accordance with Article 223-11 of the AMFs General Regulation, the total number of voting rights is calculated on the basis of all shares to which voting rights are attached, including shares without voting rights such as the treasury Shares. 12 The 2,461,581 treasury Shares held by the Company, representing 0.08 % of the Companys share capital (information as of March 1st, 2021), assimilated to those held by the Offeror pursuant to Article L. 233-9, I, 2 of the French Commercial Code, are not targeted by the Offer. 13 See section 2.3 of this Press Release. 14 As of the date of this Press Release, approximatively 400 beneficiaries hold Free Shares and/or Non-Transferable Shares. 15 The term PAGA refers to free performance share plans; the term PMP refers to the Payment business Plan; the term CDG refers to the senior management committee. 16 Especially pursuant to Articles L. 225-197-1 et seq. of the French Commercial Code (cause of death or invalidity of the beneficiary). 17 On an underlying basis, i.e., net income Group share adjusted for specific items (non-recurring or exceptional). 18 On an underlying basis, i.e., net income Group share adjusted for specific items (non-recurring or exceptional). 19 In particular dividends. 20 On an underlying basis, i.e., net income Group share adjusted for specific items (non-recurring or exceptional). 21 Except for the amount of the dividend to be paid by Natixis in respect of its financial year ending December 31, 2020 (the proposed dividend amount is equal to 0.06 euro per Share). 22Premiums implied for the Offer Price of EUR 4.00 ex-dividend have been calculated based on the Value per Share derived for each valuation reference (cum dividend), deducting from each of them EUR 0.06 per Share corresponding to the dividend proposed by Natixis for the financial year ending 31 December 2020. Attachment Virgin Australia have announced their post-Covid recovery plans which include recruiting hundreds of new cabin crew and adding new domestic and international routes. The airline expects to reach 'more than 80 per cent of pre-Covid domestic capacity by mid-June and plans to have an extra 370 cabin crew in the air, including a new recruitment drive for 150 new employees'. The announcement said: 'Trans-Tasman services to Queenstown are set to recommence ahead of school holidays on 18 September 2021.' Virgin Australia made a bullish company announcement on Thursday which included news of at least 150 new cabin crew jobs, new routes and the leasing of 10 additional Boeing 737-800 aircraft Virgin will resume flights to Queenstown, in New Zealand, from September. The Remarkables ski field is 40 minutes drive from central Queenstown Virgin Australia will send eight flights a week from Sydney and Brisbane to Queenstown in New Zealand from that date - just in time to catch the end of the ski season. Virgin believes it will reach 80 per cent of pre-Covid domestic capacity by mid-June Four of New Zealand's best ski fields - Cardona, The Remarkables, Treble Cone and Cornet Peak - are around Queenstown and usually remain open until late September and October. Virgin said it had leased an additional Boeing 737-800 as it aimed to add 220 extra weekly return services, including new domestic services from Melbourne to Hamilton Island and Darwin. It would also extend services between Melbourne and Ballina/Byron, and from Brisbane to Launceston. Additional flights will also be added from Melbourne to Hamilton Island, Perth, Adelaide, Gold Coast, the Sunshine Coast and Brisbane. Sydney will see extra flights to Perth, Adelaide, the Gold Coast, the Sunshine Coast, Brisbane and Melbourne. In addition to the 150 new Virgin Australia cabin crew jobs, 220 crew would return to the skies from 'discontinued long-haul international, ATR regional and Tigerair Australia operations'. Virgin Australia Group CEO Jayne Hrdlicka described the airline as 'strong and disciplined' and 'obsessed' with providing the best for its customers. 'More aircraft means more flying, and with easing travel restrictions, there are more opportunities to further support domestic tourism and the nation's economic recovery from COVID-19,' Ms Hrdlicka said. 'Today, we are operating around 850 weekly return flights, and as we approach the June school holidays, we will add another 220 return flights per week to our schedule.' 'By mid-June, we expect to be operating more than 80 per cent of our pre-COVID domestic capacity. Asians are a diverse group in the U.S. but they all seem to respond in a similar fashion to possible hate crimes directed against them. Activists spoke with VOA's Virginia Gunawan for this report. VOA Khmer's Sisovann Pin narrates. Now Open 15 April 2021 Travelers visiting Boston's vibrant Seaport District now have access to two award-winning Hilton brands under one roof. Hampton Inn by Hilton Boston Seaport and Homewood Suites by Hilton Boston Seaport opened the doors of its brand-new waterfront hotel and is the largest dual-branded Hampton by Hilton and Homewood Suites by Hilton property. Located at the gateway to the Raymond L. Flynn Marine Park, the 14-story, 416-room property is home to over 6,000 square feet of meeting space, including two outdoor decks. Just steps from the water, Hampton Inn by Hilton and Homewood Suites by Hilton Boston Seaport provides guests with quick access to the Seaport District's growing list of top restaurants, bars, breweries, retailers, and attractions. Credit: Meredith Michael Smith, University Communications Dictionary.com recently added hundreds of new words to its catalog, many of them capturing the zeitgeist of 2020, the year COVID-19 overtook the United States. One of those new words is "doomscrolling": the act of consuming large quantities of negative online news in a sitting. As you might imagine, mental health experts say doomscrolling is not good for you. UVA Today reached out to Bethany Teachman, a University of Virginia professor of psychology and an expert in managing anxiety, who leads the Program for Anxiety, Cognition and Treatment Lab. We had lots of questions for her about this new phenomenon and are happy to say that she has lots of helpful answers. Read on. Q. Why do people do doomscroll? A. This time has been filled with tremendous uncertaintyCOVID-19 risk, vaccines, racial justice, the economy, politics, climate, the health of those we lovewe have enormous unanswered questions in almost every critical sphere of life. With these unknowns comes a natural desire to resolve the uncertainty, so we seek information. There is a healthy side to this information-seeking that helps us to know what precautions we need to take during this time of elevated threat. Yet there is clearly also an unhealthy side that can leave us constantly on edge and worried we will miss the critical piece of information that will keep us safe and give us the answers we crave. Of course, there is no one magic piece of information, news story, or Facebook post. Instead, we have to learn to tolerate the uncertainty. Q. Are certain personalities more predisposed to this behavior? A. We don't have all the answers to who is spending hours a day during the pandemic doomscrolling, but we can infer from other research that people who are vulnerable to anxiety are going to be especially likely to fall into this cycle. This is because anxiety is associated with a bias to pay extra attention to negative information. Anxious individuals quickly orient to negative cues, so threatening headlines capture attention rapidly, and they find it hard to disengage once they are reading negative information. This pattern can reinforce anxious individuals' sense that the world is a dangerous place and they must be extra vigilant for signs of danger, which of course can lead to more doomscrolling in an endless cycle of monitoring for threat and trying to find answers to questions when those answers don't really exist. Psychology professor Bethany Teachman leads UVAs Program for Anxiety, Cognition and Treatment Lab. Credit: Dan Addison, University Communications Q. How does doomscrolling affect mental health? A. There is nothing wrong with seeking information and staying informed, but when a person gets caught in hours and hours of reading negative stories, it can give an exaggerated sense of threat and increase the feelings of danger and vulnerability. We know, for instance, from past times of trauma and crises that individuals who engage in extended media consumption tied to the trauma are more likely to develop later mental health problems, like post-traumatic stress disorder, anxiety and depressive disorders, compared to individuals who place limits on their negative media consumption. It is, however, important to distinguish between doomscrolling and other social media and news consumption. Spending time online has provided an important way for people to stay at least virtually connected when they are not able to physically connect. While we wouldn't want children or anyone else spending their whole day on social media, the research suggests there is not a strong, reliable association between spending time on social media and negative mental health. Rather, it depends on the role it is playing for the personif time on social media is generating a lot of envy or anxiety, it is likely not helpful, but if it is supporting connections and helping a person gather reliable, balanced information, it can serve a positive function. So, it can be helpful to monitor how you (or your family members) feel after spending time online and track the impact it has on your mood. The other big issue to consider tied to the negative impact of doomscrolling or other social media use is what valued, healthy activities are not happening because of the extensive time online. Going outside, getting exercise, actually talking to others, and getting good sleep are all really important right now as our normal routines have been so disrupted. Thus, it's critical that time online does not take away from meeting those other needs that help us manage our mental health. Q. The late philosopher Marshall McLuhan, who published pivotal studies on how media affects society and culture, said if you give people too much information, they resort to pattern recognition. Is that theory at play here at all? What are the consequences of being overly informed? A. Part of the issue is with being selectively informed and not having the information match the needs of the situation. Epidemiologists and infectious disease specialists likely can't be "overly informed" right now! They need extensive information to do their jobs effectively, and they are hopefully attending to positive as well as negative information and using objective criteria to evaluate the quality and reliability of the information they consume. This differs markedly from doomscrolling, in which a person is selectively focusing on negative stories and overweighting information that suggests a possible threat without placing the information in context and having a balanced perspective. The pattern recognition ties to the heuristics or schemas we use to rapidly process information. While useful, they can easily bias us to quickly categorize information without appreciating its nuance. For instance, a post that mentions a possible side effect of a vaccine is almost instantly added to the "world is dangerous" mental pile, without considering that the threat may be extremely minimal given the infrequent occurrence of the side effect. Q. How can people stop doomscrolling? Are there coping strategies you can suggest? A. I encourage people who are worried about whether they are doomscrolling to track both the time they are spending online reading scary and disturbing news stories and posts, and track the impact that time is having on their mood (e.g., levels of sadness, anxiety, and anger) and sleep. Then set some clear guidelines to try. For instance, they can decide that they will check the news and social media for 20 to 30 minutes in the morning and 20 to 30 minutes after work/school, but keep it closed at other times. They can also decide not to check past a certain time in the evening so it doesn't disrupt sleep by keeping them up worrying. People can try these strategies for a week and see whether their mood and sleep improve. There is not one magic rule to followit is likely to require some trial and error to figure out what will work for each person, so monitoring the impact of different strategies is helpful. McNeece appointed 5th Judicial Circuit magistrate judge A new magistrate has been hired for the 5th Judicial Circuit. .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... NEW DELHI Indias two largest cities imposed stringent restrictions on movement and one planned to use hotels and banquet halls to treat coronavirus patients as new infections in the country shot past 200,000 Thursday amid a devastating surge that is straining a fragile health system. The soaring cases and deaths come just months after India thought it had seen the worst of the pandemic and have forced the country to delay exports of vaccines abroad. India is a major producer of COVID-19 shots, and its pivot to focus on domestic demand has weighed heavily on global efforts to end the pandemic. New Delhi announced stay-at-home orders for the weekend, though essential workers will be able to move about if they have a pass from local authorities. Restaurants, malls, gyms and spas will be shut down. Movie theaters will close on weekends, but can operate on weekdays at a third of their capacity. ADVERTISEMENTSkip ................................................................ Arvind Kejriwal, Delhis top elected official, said that despite rise in infections, 5,000 hospital beds are still available in the capital and more capacity is being added. But still, more than a dozen hotels and wedding banquet halls were ordered to be converted into COVID-19 centers where doctors from nearby hospitals will treat the moderately ill. The surge is alarming, said S.K. Sarin, a government health expert in New Delhi. The moves in the capital came after similar measures were imposed in the worst-hit state of Maharashtra, home to financial capital, Mumbai. The bustle of Indias biggest city ebbed after authorities closed most industries, businesses and public places Wednesday night and put limits on the movement of people for 15 days. Train and plane travel was still allowed, however. In recent days, the city has seen an exodus of panic-stricken day laborers, hauling backpacks and flocking to overcrowded trains. Dozens of other towns and cities have also imposed nighttime curfews. The surge in cases was weighing on hospitals in Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat and several other states, where many reported a shortage of oxygen tanks. Imran Sheikh, a resident of the city of Pune in Maharashtra, said he was asked to supply his own oxygen tank for a relative undergoing COVID-19 treatment. Cremation and burial grounds in the worst-hit areas were finding it difficult to cope with the increasing number of bodies arriving for last rites, according to Indian media reports. Shahid Jamil, a virologist, said the recent local and state elections with massive political rallies and a major Hindu festival during which hundreds of thousands of devotees bathed in the Ganges river were super-spreader events. The 200,739 new infections recorded Thursday are about twice the number of daily cases that were recorded during the last peak, in September. The Health Ministry also reported 1,038 deaths from COVID-19 in the past 24 hours, pushing the toll over 173,000. Indias toll of 14 million cases puts it second behind the United States. It ranks fourth in deaths after the U.S., Brazil and Mexico though, with nearly 1.4 billion people, it has a much larger population than any of those countries. Experts say even these figures are likely an undercount. As it struggles with the caseload, India is ramping up its vaccination drive. The Health Ministry said the total vaccinations crossed 114 million with more than 3 million doses administered on Wednesday. When infections began plummeting in India in September, many concluded the worst had passed. Masks and social distancing were abandoned. When cases began rising again in February, authorities were left scrambling. Download free sample report Key Highlights Offered in the Report: Information on how to identify strategic and tactical negotiation levels that will help achieve the best prices. Gain information on relevant pricing levels, detailed explanation on pros and cons of prevalent pricing models. Methods to help engage with the right suppliers and discover KPI's to evaluate incumbent suppliers. Request a free sample report for more information 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 the Bearings market. The report also aids buyers with relevant Bearings 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 fulfill their category objectives. Insights on buyer strategies and tactical negotiation levers. Key Drivers and Trends Fueling Market Growth: The pressure from substitutes and a moderate level of threat from new entrants has resulted in the low bargaining power of suppliers. Price forecasts are beneficial in purchase planning, especially when supplemented by the constant monitoring of price influencing factors. During the forecast period, the market expects a change of 4.00%-7.00%. Identify favorable opportunities in Bearings TCO (total cost of ownership). Expected changes in price forecast and factors driving the current and future price changes. Identify pricing models that offer the most rewarding opportunities. Some of the top Bearings suppliers listed in this report: This Bearings procurement intelligence report has enlisted the top suppliers and their cost structures, SLA terms, best selection criteria, and negotiation strategies. SKF Group Schaeffler AG NSK Ltd. NTN Bearing Corp. The Timken Co. Robert Bosch GmbH Aisin Seiki Co. Ltd. THK CO., LTD. Melrose Industries Plc NACHI-FUJIKOSHI CORP. Related Report on Heavy Industry Include: To get instant access to over 1000 market-ready procurement intelligence reports without any additional costs or commitment, Subscribe Now for Free. 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 Get access to regular sourcing and procurement insights to our digital procurement platform- Contact Us. About SpendEdge: 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 Contacts SpendEdge Anirban Choudhury Marketing Manager Ph No: +1 (872) 206-9340 https://www.spendedge.com/contact-us SOURCE SpendEdge On Wednesday, April 14, officials halted the use of the Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccine in the United States to gather more information about the clots that were reported in six people who received the shot. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's independent advisory committee stated that the CDC did not have enough information to say which populations would be at risk of blood clots or to recommend who should obtain this vaccine. There are also concerns that this rare clotting can contribute to other problems with the vaccine. Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 Vaccine Can Cause Clotting According to Science, a rare but very serious adverse reaction that has complicated Europe's COVID-19 vaccination schedules in recent weeks has thrown a wrench into vaccination programs in the United States, as well. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) released a joint statement Tuesday morning in which they recommended a pause in the use of the COVID-19 vaccine produced by Johnson & Johnson. The action occurred following six cases of a rare clotting disorder that had been documented in people who had been vaccinated with the J&J vaccine in the United States. The diseases had occurred in women between the ages of 18 and 48. One died. Researchers studying the possible causes have named the complication as vaccine-induced immune thrombotic thrombocytopenia (VITT). A similar condition to the side effect of heparin-induced thrombocytopenia is that patients in Europe harbor antibodies against a protein called platelet factor 4 that can activate platelets and lead to widespread clotting. It cannot be determined at this time whether the same antibody response has been observed in American patients. For this reason, it is unclear how the vaccinations may have led to VITT. Peter Marks, who works for the FDA, said the attention should assist in ensuring that patients are treated correctly. This entails avoiding taking heparin for clotting problems, which many doctors usually recommend. "If you are using heparin on this condition, then you are simply throwing fuel on the fire," Arepally says. Read Also: COVID-19 Vaccine Cards Falsified and Sold on Facebook and eBay Underserved Communities at Risk According to TheVerge, Johnson & Johnson pause may affect the underserved communities in the US. The convenient, one-shot vaccine was being used for elderly people who were housebound and at clinical clinics in rural areas, as well as for people experiencing homelessness. The consequences of this pause were an important topic of conversation during the meeting today. "This one-shot vaccine which doesn't require cold chain storage is a significant loss," says Camille Kotton, the director of the transplant and immunocompromised host infectious diseases programs at the Massachusetts General Hospital. However, they may have the greatest difficulties being treated if they develop a clot in the future, said Helen Talbot, an associate professor of medicine at Vanderbilt University. Tom Shimabukuro, a member of the COVID-19 Vaccine Task Force, said during the committee meeting that the CDC was keeping a close eye on reports of these clots because of the problems with the AstraZeneca vaccine. Watching the vaccine safety monitoring system work in this particular case, during a large-scale national vaccination program, is a resounding example of how robust this system is," he explained. Related Article: Scientist Will Be Able to Gather Information About COVID-19 Through The Air This article is owned by Tech Times Written by Lionell Moore 2021 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. Mumbai-based couple Oniba and Sharique Qureshi, who was sentenced to 10 years in jail in a drug case in in 2019, returned to the city on Thursday with their minor daughter. A Control Bureau (NCB) official said the couple landed at the Mumbai airport at 2.30 am. The couple had been cleared of all charges after it came to light that a relative planted in their bag without their knowledge. The couple was arrested at Hamad International Airport in July 2019 after Qatari authorities recovered 4.1 kg of hashish in their bag. It later came to light that Sharique's aunt, Tabassum Qureshi, had used them to transport the drugs. The trip had been sponsored by Tabassum, the official said. At that time, while Sharique was employed with a Japanese company, Oniba had just learnt that she was pregnant. She delivered a girl, Aayat, in jail last February. The couple's family members approached the Indian Government, asking it to intervene in the matter. Following this, the NCB got in touch with the authorities in and the family challenged the lower court order convicting the couple. Eventually, the couple was cleared of all charges. (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 a newly released study, researchers found that remote and virtual care models can negatively impact small physician offices. Three researchers from University of Colorado Denver conducted the study, which was published in the National Library of Medicine. The COVID-19 pandemic has accelerated the adoption of remote and virtual care models in both small and large health care facilities around the world. CU Denver researchers Jiban Khuntia, PhD, Rulon Stacey, PhD, and Madhavan Parthasarathy, PhD, initiated this study to assess the perceptions small health care businesses' have regarding the impact of remote and virtual care on their business sustainability during the pandemic. The team analyzed how well perceptions of virtual care aligned with the current business scenarios of those surveyed. In total, researchers spoke with three different groups of health care facilities across Colorado--82 clinics, 99 small physician offices, and 89 pharmacies. The study found the perception of virtual health models varied between the three groups. Clinics surveyed believe their virtual care directly affects their current business scenario. Overall, their attitude towards the virtual model was positive. Small physician offices reacted differently to the survey. They believe while virtual care models significantly affect their business scenarios, it mostly comes with negative impacts such as a decrease in revenue. Pharmacies saw no significant effect on their current business scenarios from the virtual model. "We see small physician offices struggle to keep up with the changes COVID-19 has brought," said Khuntia "While they are ready to adapt to the changes virtual care models bring, the revenue stream isn't what it used to be with in-person visits." Why is this important? "If small health care firms cannot compete with the virtual model, they will become nonoperational," said Stacey. "This will damage traditional health services, particularly for critical care delivery and other services that cannot be done virtually." The current perception small health care businesses have toward remote care will give policy makers a better understanding of the pros and cons of rapidly adopting the remote virtual care model. For small physician offices to surivde, there must be a balance between in-person and virtual care. ### April 15, 2021 As we are now more than one year since the start of the global pandemic, the way we do business has fundamentally changed possibly forever. Main Street small businesses suffered greatly during the pandemic. Many had to shut down for good, while others were open, but at limited capacities. A lesson we can all learn from this is that a Main Street storefront no longer depends solely on foot traffic coming in to physical stores. Rather all businesses now understand that building and expanding their presence online is essential. Finding the Right Business Name At first, it sounds a bit crazy to start a business during a pandemic. But is it? If you have a great business idea, it may be your time to shine. Before you run off and get your business name registered with state and federal entities, its essential to also pick the right domain name that matches your business name. Using a domain name generator should help you figure out which domains and domain suffixes are still available on the internet. Wherever possible, try to land a .com domain name for your business, even if you need to buy a domain that already exists from the third party. Other suffixes such as .org are great, and there are even some new ones coming out, like .marketing, that may be of interest to you. How to Pick the Right Hosting Provider Now that you have your domain name picked out, its time to find the best hosting provider for your business. Not all web hosting companies are created equal and speed is everything. In fact, Googles (News - Alert) guidelines say that your website should load in 3 seconds or less. A large percentage of many modern websites these days are running on Wordpress (learn how to find the best Wordpress hosting provider for your business). Remember that youll get what you pay for here, so if you are more technically inclined, you may do ok when it comes to lower end hosting packages, but if you need tech help, it is better to get a more fully managed solution to put yourself at ease. Email: Far From Dead While many pundits have declared email dead, it is alive and well. By the year 2024, more than 361 billion emails will be sent every day. Having an email list to your addressable audience and making sure that your messages are delivered reliably are essential in todays market. Picking the best email marketing services for your business is of key importance. When trying to evaluate the right platform for you consider the integrations, mobile optimization, automation, and list segmentations, to name a few things to look out for. Putting it all Together Now that youve found the perfect fit for your online business everything from the right domain name, to hosting, to email marketing here are a few additional tools to help propel your business into the digital age: TrackTime24 for better remote work tracking of employees PracticeSquire for healthcare professionals to simplify contactless check in Edited by Erik Linask 53 Years After MLKs Assassination, Children of Civil Rights Icon Fight Voter Suppression Fifty-three years after the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.s death, the slain civil rights icons legacy is easily seen in how his daughter has continued to fight for many of the same causes. Bernice A. King joined the children of late civil rights champions the Rev. C.T. Vivian, and U.S. Rep. John Lewis, in blasting voter suppression laws that have cropped up since the 2020 election. In a letter, King, Al Vivian, and John-Miles Lewis took issue with corporate leaders who have done little or nothing to back up comments their businesses have made supporting racial equity. ADVERTISEMENT The trio said those corporations have disrespected their fathers. Rather than sowing seeds to provide democracy the greatest chance to grow today and prevail tomorrow, legislators are attempting to transport us back to the shameful period of American history when mass voter suppression for communities of color was the law of the land, King, Vivian, and Lewis, wrote. Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp, a Republican, signed into law legislation that imposes new ID requirements for mail-in voting and limits ballot drop box availability. The law also gives voters less time to request and return a mail-in ballot, and it prohibits anyone from giving food or water to those standing in line to cast their votes. The new law represents the states response to President Joe Bidens victory in Georgia in November and Democratic Sens. Raphael Warnock and Jon Ossoff winning run-off elections in January. Coca-Cola, Delta Air Lines, Google, Apple, Microsoft, and others have either condemned the new voting restrictions or have issued social media statements expressing concern. ADVERTISEMENT Reportedly, when Delta Air Lines ended its association with the National Rifle Association, Republican lawmakers removed a tax break from their tax reform bill that would have saved the airline $40 million. But King said that should not frighten businesses from making the right choice. Corporate leaders have the greatest influence in Washington and on our state legislators, King told Forbes. They pay lobbyists and invest in campaigns. They need to use their leveragetheir lobbying leverageon Capitol Hill and at the state level. On the evening of April 4, 1968, an assassins bullet tore through King while he stood on the balcony of his room at the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, Tennessee. King, who was 39, arrived in Memphis to support a sanitation workers strike. The civil rights leader had repeatedly expressed concern about economic inequality and went to Memphis because of how poorly the city treated African American sanitation workers. One night before he was killed, King delivered his final some say prophetic speech. Weve got some difficult days ahead, the resolute King preached. But it really doesnt matter with me now, because Ive been to the mountaintop I may not get there with you. But I want you to know tonight that we, as a people, will get to the Promised Land. The letter, authored, in part, by Bernice King, highlighted the icons statements about overcoming racism. Evil cannot permanently organize. It bears within it seeds of its own destruction, the letter states. The children of the three civil rights icons went on to state: This belief undergirds our abiding faith in America, even as legislators in Georgia and 39 other states attempt to root our nation in the oppressive weeds of yesterday through a new generation of Jim Crow voting laws. Oleh Titamyr, President of the NGO "Ukrainian Organization for Consumer Protection" Can Ukraine be interested in the Azerbaijani experience in smart accounting of housing and communal resources? Recently, the State Statistics Service of Ukraine released the following figures: in January this year the indebtedness of the population for consumed housing and communal services increased by 10.1%, or by UAH 7 443.5 million to UAH 81 042.8 million, compared to December 2020. In fact, in the context of recent years, the debts of Ukrainian consumers for housing and communal services are growing steadily. And neither the state nor the enterprises of the sector can cope with this negative trend. Moreover, officials and suppliers constantly complain that the most ignored payment for utilities is just wealthy consumers and middle-income households - while, for example, most retirees regularly pay for the services, spending the last penny. State mechanisms to combat malicious defaulters for housing and communal utilities can not be called rational and sufficient, and the judicial procedure for debt collection is long and inefficient. Such a situation leads to the fact that housing and communal companies are constantly reducing investment in the modernization of outdated, still Soviet infrastructure, accumulate debts to contractors. After all, the uninterrupted and high-quality provision of services is under threat, and there are risks of blackouts of electricity, water and other resources. However, is it possible to get out of such a communal "dead end"? Yes, maybe. And this was brilliantly demonstrated by the case of Azerbaijan. The fact is that in this country since 2011 the state, local authorities and suppliers have launched a co-financing program of the installation of smart gas, water and electricity meters in households. With the help of these devices, the principle of payment for utilities has changed dramatically. The Azerbaijani consumer pays for a certain amount of utilities in advance, as well as for any other product - food, clothing or mobile services. To do this, the supplier -- when installing a "smart" meter, - issues a plastic card similar to a bank. Advance payment is made to a personal account, after which the consumer inserts the card into a special slot in the meter, and the device reads the financial information. Then, a number appears on the screen showing the amount of resource purchased by the household, then the device records the used gas, electricity or water, and the meter data is transmitted to the supplier automatically! Thanks to this large-scale reform, residents of Baku and other large cities have long forgotten about the inconvenient procedure of transferring credentials to the gas "office", the latter is completely deprived of the opportunity to "hang" on the shoulders of consumers additional and unreasonable gas costs. In addition, the opportunity for gas distribution companies to manipulate the so-called the declared annual capacity of the resource, as it happens in Ukraine, when the consumer often has to pay for larger volumes of distributed gas than for the actual consumption. At the same time, the Azerbaijani innovation on smart meters and prepayment for housing and communal services has allowed suppliers to optimize the bloated staff of controllers and call center employees - because the whole process of communication between housing and communal service provider and consumer is digitalized as much as possible! This, in turn, made it possible to reduce the wage component in the cost of the service, and thus reduce the cost of housing and communal services for households! At the same time, it is difficult to overestimate the main effect of smart meters and the new system of payment for these services in Azerbaijan. This system completely eliminates the possibility of indebtedness of consumers for consumed resources, because the meters work exclusively on prepayment. You ran out of money on your smart card, did not pay on time for the resource - the service is stopped! Everything is fair: after all, gas, electricity, water, etc. is the same commodity as bread, milk, or mobile services. Well, the consumer cannot, for example, take the goods in the supermarket, paying for it later, or not pay at all! And if the subscriber has exhausted the funds on the mobile phone, the operator automatically blocks the service until the subscriber replenishes the account. Meanwhile, as this elementary market principle in the housing and communal sphere does not work in Ukraine, in Azerbaijan and in the countries of the European Union, getting into debt for communal services is a priori unprofitable for the client, because the service is turned off quickly! Thus, due to the comprehensive reform of the accounting of housing and communal services in a number of Azerbaijani cities, and, in particular, in the agglomeration of "Big Baku", debts for communal services for the last 5 years (i.e., since most households were provided with smart meters) have virtually stopped accumulating! By the way, another "nuance": Azerbaijani innovation in accounting of housing and communal resources also provides protection of consumers from force majeure situations, when the card runs out of money quickly, and the smart meter heartlessly "disconnects" the subscriber from the service. A few days before the account is completely depleted, "smart" devices notify consumers that the payment deadline is approaching. In addition, the supply of gas or water is not stopped immediately - the resource is delivered to the subscriber within a few days in the "format" of receivables. In addition, when installing a smart meter on the balance of the consumer is even a loan for a certain amount! Is the Azerbaijani communal "case" interesting and instructive for Ukraine? Of course so. Will it be introduced in the domestic housing and communal industry in the near future? I think not. After all: a) for years regional gas companies cannot provide all households with meters - membrane or rotary (smart devices are not mentioned at all!); b) non-transparency in the market of housing and communal services, lack of 100% accounting, unreasonable charging for the services for the majority of Ukrainian consumers "according to regulations", transfer of high "losses" in networks on the shoulders of subscribers - a huge opportunity for suppliers to quickly and illegally enrich themselves by selling air; c) relevant government agencies are not at all interested in implementing radical reforms in the housing and communal industry, as transparent and clear rules in this market, established in the interests of consumers, mean the end of large-scale corruption schemes, from which many officials still feed with impunity. Northbrook, IL -- (SBWIRE) -- 04/14/2021 -- According to the new market research report "Digital Battlefield Market by Solution (Hardware, Software, Service) Platform (Airborne, Naval, Land, Space), Application, Technology (Artificial Intelligence, IOT, Big Data, 5G, Cloud Computing and Master Data Management), Region - Global Forecast to 2025", published by MarketsandMarkets, the market is estimated at USD 32.9 billion in 2020 and is projected to reach USD 68.9 billion by 2025, at a CAGR of 15.9% from 2020 to 2025. Demand among defense forces remains high due to military upgrades as well as new procurement programs, particularly in developed and developing economies such as the US, India, and China, among others. Some of the major factors driving this market include increasing inclination towards cloud services in military & defense, rising modernization and investments in the defense sector for developing military equipment and foreign intelligence platforms, high demand for devices supporting 5G technology for high-speed data transfer, and rapid advancement in artificial intelligence, Big Data analytics and robotics technologies. Ask for PDF Brochure: https://www.marketsandmarkets.com/pdfdownloadNew.asp?id=73234342 Next generation digital battlefield products are among the vital requirements of defense and intelligence agencies across countries. Hence, military and intelligence agencies are the key end users, showcasing more demand for such equipment. Some industry experts have noted that the COVID-19 pandemic has not majorly affected the demand for digital battlefield products. Companies such as Northrop Grumman Corporation (US), Lockheed Martin Corporation (US), and General Dynamics Corporation (US) received contracts for the supply of digital battlefield products to the defense forces of various countries in 2020, showcasing continuous demand during the COVID-19 crisis. Below are some important developments that showcase the increase in demand for digital battlefield in the defense sector during the COVID-19 crisis in the North American region. The COVID-19 pandemic has caused significant damage to the economic activities of countries across the world. The manufacture of digital battlefield products including systems, subsystems, and components has also been impacted. Although next generation digital battlefield products for defense applications are of prime importance, disruptions in the supply chain have halted their manufacturing processes for the time being. Resuming manufacturing activities depends on the level of COVID-19 exposure, the level at which manufacturing operations are running, and import-export regulations, among other factors. Some important developments below showcase the increase in demand for digital battlefield in the defense sector during the COVID-19 crisis in the European region. The COVID-19 pandemic has affected deliveries of major platforms in India, such as HAL's supply to the Indian Armed Forces of Tejas combat aircraft and Dhruv helicopters. The delivery schedules of other platforms are also likely to be pushed back, particularly if lockdowns are extended. The Indian Ministry of Defence (MoD) has extended procurement deadlines due to the COVID-19 outbreak that will in turn affect the growth of digital battlefield product which are required in such aircrafts and helicopters. Rising modernization of military equipment to strengthen defense forces is driving the growth of the digital battlefield products in defense applications The rising focus of defense forces across the globe on modernizing their military equipment including digital battlefield products will propel market growth. For instance, in 2020, according to International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS), defense spending across the globe was estimated to be over USD 1,830 billion, an increase of 3.9% over 2019. This could be attributed to the growing conflicts between countries, leading to efforts to strengthen their defense forces. In recent years, over nine major international conflicts have taken place, including the Syrian Civil War, the Saudi Arabia-Yemen conflict, US-Iran tensions, and India-China tensions. Such conflicts can lead to high procurement of innovative AI-enabled battlefield products and the incorporation of advanced technologies into existing military systems to make them highly efficient and reliable. Several governments are establishing special departments or agencies to integrate AI capabilities into the existing equipment and focus on developing new capabilities in the digital battlefield. Initiatives by such agencies, including the Strategic Council for AI Technologies (Japan), The National Science and Technology Council (US), and the AI Council (UK), will in turn support the growth of the digital battlefield market over the projected timeframe. Based on platform, the space segment of the digital battlefield market is projected to witness the highest CAGR during the forecast period In terms of platform, the market is segregated into airborne, land, naval and space. Based on CAGR, the space segment is projected to witness highest CAGR from 2020 to 2025. Digital battlefield systems deployed in the space platform enable real-time mapping of objects across Earth and aid in satellite communication networks. This will substantially support the space segment growth. Based on platform, the airborne segment is projected to lead the digital battlefield market from 2020 to 2025. The growth in the airborne segment is attributed to the rising inclination of defense forces towards digital battlefield products & systems. Browse in-depth TOC on "Digital Battlefield Market" 193 Tables 81 Figures 341 Pages Inquiry Before Buying: https://www.marketsandmarkets.com/Enquiry_Before_BuyingNew.asp?id=73234342 New procurement sub segment of the digital battlefield market by installation is projected to witness the highest CAGR owing to increasing focus on defence equipment installation across the globe Based on installation, the new procurement segment is projected to lead the digital battlefield market from 2020 to 2025. The growth in the new procurement segment is due to the rising installation of advanced defense systems and increasing procurement of next generation digital battlefield products for battle troops. The upgrades segment will register substantial growth owing to the increasing modification & modernization activities of old military electronic systems by defense forces to gain an edge over incoming threats and enemy attacks. The North America market is projected to contribute the largest share from 2020 to 2025 in the digital battlefield market North America is estimated to account for the largest share (41.5%) of the digital battlefield market in 2020. In the North America region, the US, with its strong defense and economic policies, is recognized as one of the key manufacturers, exporters, and users of next generation digital battlefield technologies. The new defense strategy of the US indicates an increase in military spending to include advanced capabilities in existing defense systems of the US Army to counter incoming threats. Key manufacturers and developers of AI systems in the US include Lockheed Martin Corporation (US), Northrop Grumman Corporation (US), L3Harris Technologies, Inc (US), and Raytheon Technologies Corporation (US). The digital battlefield market is dominated by a few globally established players such as BAE Systems (UK), Northrop Grumman Corporation (US), Raytheon Technologies Corporation (US), Lockheed Martin Corporation (US), and Thales Group (US), among others. Related Reports: Electronic Warfare Market by Capability (Support, Attack, Protection), Platform (Airborne, Naval, Ground, Space), Product (EW Equipment, EW Operational Support), and Region - Global Forecast to 2025 Command and Control Systems Market by Application (Government & Defense, and Commercial), Solution (Hardware, Software, Services), Platform (Land, Airborne, Maritime, and Space), Installation Type, Installation Base, and RegionGlobal Forecast to 2025 About MarketsandMarkets MarketsandMarkets provides quantified B2B research on 30,000 high growth niche opportunities/threats which will impact 70% to 80% of worldwide companies' revenues. Currently servicing 7500 customers worldwide including 80% of global Fortune 1000 companies as clients. Almost 75,000 top officers across eight industries worldwide approach MarketsandMarkets for their painpoints around revenues decisions. Our 850 fulltime analyst and SMEs at MarketsandMarkets are tracking global high growth markets following the "Growth Engagement Model GEM". The GEM aims at proactive collaboration with the clients to identify new opportunities, identify most important customers, write "Attack, avoid and defend" strategies, identify sources of incremental revenues for both the company and its competitors. MarketsandMarkets now coming up with 1,500 MicroQuadrants (Positioning top players across leaders, emerging companies, innovators, strategic players) annually in high growth emerging segments. MarketsandMarkets is determined to benefit more than 10,000 companies this year for their revenue planning and help them take their innovations/disruptions early to the market by providing them research ahead of the curve. MarketsandMarkets's flagship competitive intelligence and market research platform, "Knowledge Store" connects over 200,000 markets and entire value chains for deeper understanding of the unmet insights along with market sizing and forecasts of niche markets. Contact: Mr. Aashish Mehra MarketsandMarkets INC. 630 Dundee Road Suite 430 Northbrook, IL 60062 USA: +1-888-600-6441 TOWIE star Demi Sims has split from her girlfriend Francesca Farago and blocked her on social media after four months of dating. The reality star, 22, embarked on a whirlwind romance with the Too Hot To Handle beauty, 27, who confirmed they have separated on Wednesday. Sharing a picture of roses, Francesca revealed to her 4.8million followers: 'I really didn't want to have to address this today, but I am already getting attacked on social media so I might as well bite the bullet since I have no choice. It's over: TOWIE star Demi Sims has split from her girlfriend Francesca Farago and blocked her on social media after four months of dating 'Demi and I are no longer together. We decided to go our separate ways this morning. Nothing bad happened. We were both loyal to one another and still love each other.' She continued: 'Sometimes people just don't work perfectly together and that's OK. We rushed into living together without knowing if our personalities and daily life meshed well together. 'I wish we could have had a few days to emotionally cope with this in private but we chose to share our entire relationship with you guys which is why I'm posting this now.' Eagle-eyed fans noticed the former couple had stopped following each other on social media. Happier times: The reality star, 22, embarked on a whirlwind romance with the Too Hot To Handle beauty, 27, who confirmed they have separated on Wednesday Candid: Francesca broke the news to her 4.8million followers with a lengthy statement on a picture of a bouquet of roses As she asked her followers to respect her privacy because they are having an 'extremely difficult time,' she added: 'I would have loved to remain friends and in each other's lives but she thought seeing me on social media would be too difficult for her, which is why she wanted to block me. 'In normal life when a couple breaks up this is a coping mechanism and they don't get scrutinised by thousands of people for how they choose to act after a heartbreaking situation. 'I really want you guys to know nothing bad happened between us at all.' She concluded the post: 'Please be kind and respect our privacy. It is an extremely difficult time for both of us and negative, inaccurate and presumptuous comments make it much more difficult. It did take a toll on our relationship as well.' MailOnline has contacted Demi's representatives for comment. The shock break up comes after Francesca revealed that Demi immediately asked her to marry her when sliding into her DMs on Instagram. She made the candid admission while appearing on the TOWIE: DRAGGED OUT digital series alongside her Essex-based girlfriend. Dragged out: The shock break up comes after Francesca revealed that Demi immediately asked her to marry her when sliding into her DMs on Instagram Francesca spoke about their first exchange of messages, and said: 'She slid into my DMs and asked me to marry her as a first question.' The new couple were appearing on a new digital show launched by The Only Way Is Essex, presented by drag artist A'Whora, who recently starred in the second series of RuPaul's Drag Race UK. TOWIE cast members appear on the social media-based spin-off to discuss the events of the most recent episode. This week A'Whora was joined by Demi and Francesca, as well as Chloe Brockett, 20, Joey Turner, 18, and Tom McDonnell, 24. Spin-off: The new couple were appearing on a new digital show launched by The Only Way Is Essex, presented by drag artist A'Whora (pictured), who recently starred in the second series of RuPaul's Drag Race UK Demi recently said she and the Too Hot To Handle personality have already considered tying the knot with a post-pandemic ceremony in Italy. The make-up artist and the model, who have been in a relationship for just two months, also defended getting tattoo tributes of each other's names after just one week of dating during their trip to Mexico. On taking things to the next level from their first chat, the Essex native said: 'The first conversation we ever had in the DMs was about a wedding, I actually asked her to marry me as my first message and she just went along with it which was great.' 'I asked her to marry me': Demi approached her now-girlfriend Francesca with a marriage proposal via Instagram DMs 'But yeah we have spoke about it, obviously we've only been actually together for two months so I think I dunno it's up to you really isn't it because you said you're gonna do the proposing, so it's up to Francesca.' (Francesca) I never really thought about doing it myself until I met her, right when I met her, I was like it's gonna be me, it needs to be me who's gonna do it. I already know how I'm gonna do it, she's not gonna see it coming.' Despite not being engaged, the lovebirds already have their ideal nuptials in mind, with Demi sharing: 'I think it depends on lockdown, were moving into a new place on Monday which is gonna be really nice. Going strong: The make-up artist and the model have been in a relationship for just two months 'Hopefully we're gonna move back to Essex because I miss the Essex life. We definitely don't want any lockdown weddings because that's like not a vibe. 'It needs to be like post pandemic, the very first thing I ever said to her was we need a post pandemic wedding in Italy at a vineyard, so I feel like we need to go all out.' The reality stars shocked fans when they got their names tattooed on each other's bottom and wrist during a whirlwind holiday. 'I knew for sure I wanted to do it': The couple also defended getting tattoo tributes of each other's names after just one week of dating during their trip to Mexico Lifting the lid: On taking things to the next level from their first chat, the Essex native said: 'The first conversation we ever had in the DMs was about a wedding' Influencer Demi, who has been living in London with Francesca for a month, stood by their decision as she explained: 'I got her name tattooed on my butt like the first week we met, yeah literally 6 days in. 'From the day that I met Francesca she kept saying ''I really wanna get your name tattooed on me, I really wanna do it I love you so much'' I just thought she was bluffing, I didn't think she was being serious. 'Then this one specific day we was at this beach bar and she was like I wanna do it today so then we went into a tattoo shop didn't we and you ended up getting it done in my hand writing. 'Yeah, she wrote it out like 30 times and then I picked the cute one with the heart on the I. Then I felt left out so I wanted to get her initial put on my body, she was like no I'm not letting you do it. 'She doesn't have any tattoo's so this was her very first tattoo so I was like you need to think of what it will look like, like for me I have a few so I knew for sure I wanted to do it and I was thinking about it for like a week up to that.' While they may seem strong now, the younger sister of Chloe Sims confessed her friends and family were apprehensive about Francesca at first. 'There's no stopping them!' The influencers have been living together in London for a month Demi Demi shared: 'She was literally like come to Mexico and meet me and I was nervous because I've never met her before so I was like what am I gonna do, am I actually gonna fly to Mexico by myself and meet this girl I've never met? It was all just crazy. 'In my heart and my head, it felt like the right thing to do. My mum was like make sure that she's real, like your flying over to Mexico to meet this person you've just met on social media. 'All my friends were saying the same things as well like ''You're crazy, don't do that that's so dangerous'' and I was like no guys honestly this girl, I feel like me and this girl have got so much in common I have to go and meet her.' Tlou Energy Limited is focused on delivering cleaner electricity in Botswana and southern Africa using gas and solar power. The companys first proposed development is the Lesedi Power Project which includes the construction of a power station and sale of electricity in Botswana. In addition, the company has two large exploration areas designated Mamba and Boomslang. New Delhi: The Arvind Kejriwal-led AAP government on Thursday (April 15) imposed weekend curfew in the national capital to curb the rising COVID-19 infections in the city. Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal addressed the residents of the national capital and urged them not to panic. He further assured them that there is no dearth of hospitals in Delhi and that measures are being taken to ensure adequate supply of drugs. Kejriwal also clarified that the aim behind this weekend curfew is to break the transmission chain. "These restrictions are for your sake, for you and you families. It will be inconvenient but these restrictions are necessary to break the chain of transmission," Arvind Kejriwal said in a video address. "Don't panic. All essential services will be available through the weekend," Delhi CM added. Heres what will remain closed in Delhi on weekend curfew: Malls, gyms, spas and auditoriums will be closed. Cinemas halls to operate at 30% capacity only. People will not be allowed to dine-in restaurants, only home deliveries will be permitted. Heres what will remain open in Delhi on weekend curfew: Only essential services to operate in the city. Curfew passes will be provided for marriages and other permitted activities or gatherings. One weekly market will be allowed per day per zone. Earlier, on Wednesday, with 17,282 fresh infections, the capital witnessed the worst day of COVID-19 infections on Wednesday, which recorded the highest ever daily cases since the start of the pandemic. Additionally, the national capital reported over 104 deaths, whereas the country reported 1,033 deaths due to COVID-19 infections on Wednesday, which was the highest since October 2020. In Delhi, the number of cremations at its biggest crematorium, Nigambodh Ghat have gone up by at least 30 percent. Meanwhile, the state government had named 14 private hospitals including Sir Ganga Ram Hospital, St Stephens Hospital and Tis Hazari in the national capital as COVID-19 care hospitals. On Wednesday, the authorities have also disclosed the list of hotels that are to be linked to these hospitals mentioned against their names for converting them into extended COVID hospitals. Live TV Chickapea, the gluten-free organic pasta business in Canada, has secured a Series C round of financing to further develop its growth across North America. Founded in 2016 by chief executive Shelby Taylor, Chickapea was a graduate of the start-up accelerator programme of Toronto-based District Ventures Capital (DVC), which has led the CAD9.3m (US$7.4m) round with another venture-capital firm InvestEco in the same city. Export credit agency Export Development Canada also contributed. Chickapea, a certified B Corp business led solely by women, makes pasta using chickpeas and lentils as the main ingredients spread across varieties such as penne, spaghetti, lasagne, spirals and elbows. The company recently launched its +Green pasta line consisting of chickpeas, lentils, kale and spinach. The company entered the US market in 2017 and its products are now sold in more than 4,500 retailers in North America, including Whole Foods Market. Get the best in data analysis & reporting - Alchemer. Please take my survey now Taylor said: "Chickapea has experienced exponential growth over the past couple of years. There's no longer the question of whether a substantive market exists for nutritious, high-protein pasta, but rather how to keep up with the growth and demands of that market, and this funding will provide us with the resources we need to continue offering the highest quality, most nutritious and innovative products." DVC provided Chickapea with seed funding after its graduation followed by an investment by InvestEco and Export Development Canada in 2019. Angel investors backing the business at its inception also contributed to the latest C round. The size of the previous investments has not been disclosed. Arlene Dickinson, a general partner of DVC, added: "Our initial investment in Chickapea was driven by the insight that consumers were looking for nutritious alternatives to traditional pasta. Four years later, this demand continues to increase and Chickapea continues to provide new ways to enjoy a healthy take on a staple household favourite." The life of the Duke of Edinburgh was always marked by his sense of duty to Queen, Country and The Commonwealth. by Victor Cherubim The world mourns the death of Prince Philip, the Duke of Edinburgh on Friday 9 April 2021, at Windsor Castle, at the age of 99 years,just two months before his 100th birthday. He was discharged from Barts Hospital,London on 16 March 2021,where he received treatment for a heart condition. Prince Philip, the Consort of H.M. Queen Elizabeth II, was like the Queen, the great great grandchild of Queen Victoria. The life of the Duke of Edinburgh was always marked by his sense of duty to Queen, Country and The Commonwealth. He completed over 22,000 royal engagements visiting almost all of the Commonwealth,before his retirement in 2017. When someone said: I am sorry to hear Your Royal Highness is standing down, he is said to have replied: We cant stand up much longer. The Duke was always remembered for speaking his mind,never a dull moment when he was around. The dry wit of the Duke is well known. His humour surrounded him wherever he went. He is reported to have said: One thing children go to school,is because parents dont want them in the house. His humour was part of his character Prince Philip will be remembered not only as the longest serving Consort, but perhaps, for his much publicised gaffs which endeared him to some,but if interpreted wrongly was capable of causing well meaning offence to some others. His lighthearted remarks of people,places and things are part of his character. On a visit to The Solomon Islands in 1982,when told that their population growth was 5% a year, he is supposed to have retorted: You must be out of your minds. Do you still throw spears at each other Prince Philip shocked the aboriginal leader,William Brin of the Aborigina Cultural Park in Queensland,Australia in 2002. You have mosquitoes, I have the Press he is supposed to have said to the Matron to a hospital he visited in the Caribbean in 1966. On being told by President Obama that he had breakfast with the leaders of the UK, China and Russia, the Duke of Edinburgh asked: Can you tell the difference between them? The Duke is reported to have commented in 2000:People think there is a rigid class system here, but do you know that Dukes have even been known to marry chorus girls. Some have even married Americans. He has always been fearless but diplomatic in his pronouncements. Tolerance is the one and essential ingredient.. You can take it from me that the Queen has the quality of tolerance in abundance. This was the advice given by the Duke of Edinburgh for a successful marriage at a meeting in 1997. His Human side of his character He always understood human frailties when people are introduced to Her Majesty The Queen, and did not know how to courtesy, bow or shake hands, if offered. It was always Prince Philip who would help them to ease their anxiety and calm them with his mannerisms. He was well known also to have a human side of his character. He didnt want Her Majestys subjects to stand on ceremony, privilege and power. To many around Britain and in the Commonwealth, Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh was the bridge between the role of the monarch and her people. He used humour as a tool of diplomacy. He was a tower of strength in times of trouble and always stood behind The Queen. The most human side of his dashing and charismatic personality during his younger years was his visit to the Antarctic, on the Queens yacht,The Britannia, his love of adventure, in flying various aircraft. He founded in 1956 The Duke of Edinburgh Award, maintained an interest in WildLife Conservation, scientific research and the Armed Forces. Who will miss him most? Prince Charles has said much about his dear Papa. My dear Papa was a very special person, said Prince Charles yesterday. Besides, the whole royal family has become united in mourning his loss. The young Princes, William and Harry, the Duke of Edinburghs grandsons are among the 30 invited inner circle to attend the final rites at St.Georges Chapel, Windsor Castle on the 17 April, 2021 to pay their final respects. Prime Minister,Boris Johnson, has given way for an additional member of the Royal Family to attend the funeral. There will only be a Ceremonial Funeral and not a State funeral due to the pandemic.Following the funeral the Duke of Edinburgh will be privately interred in the Royal Vault of St.George's Chapel, Windsor Castle, but this will not be his final resting place, not because of the pandemic but according to royal tradition. We may well see the royal scene less colourful in the years ahead with a tighter knit royal family and perhaps, a lengthy mourning period. Boats in the 101st annual Newport Beach Christmas Boat Parade are lit with Christmas decorations as they move through through the night in Newport Beach, Calif., on Dec. 16, 2009. (David McNew/Getty Images) Newport Beach Christmas Boat Parade Floats Theme Contest The Newport Beach Christmas Boat Parade returns to Newport Harbor this December, and organizers are asking the public for help creating a theme for the historic holiday tradition. After this past year, we are ready for some good news, Steve Rosansky, president of the Newport Beach Chamber of Commerce, told The Epoch Times. Each year, more than 100 decorated vessels make up the parade that travels a 14-mile parade route around Newport Harbor, passing by waterfront restaurants, businesses, hotels, and private residences. Last years official event was canceled by the chamber due to COVID-19 shutdowns. This years event will take place over five nights from Dec. 15 to 19. The event also extends on land with its concurrent Ring of Lights decorating contest that encourages residents and business owners to deck out their homes and businesses in conjunction with the parade. Humble Beginnings Over the past 113 years, the Newport Beach Christmas Boat Parade has become an internationally recognized event, with The New York Times even referring to it in its Cheer Around the Country top picks. But the event had humble beginnings. According to the Newport Beach Chamber of Commerce, it all began more than a century ago, when John Scarpa, an obscure Italian gondolier, joined with Joseph Beek, developer of Beacon Bay, the Balboa Ferry Line, and a principal force in the early development of Balboa Island to establish what was then called the Tournament of Lights. In 1907, Scarpa began the tradition of lighting boats by taking a group of visitors from Pasadena across the bay in a gondola decorated with Japanese lanterns. The next year, the first lighted boat parade took place when Scarpa and his fellow small-boat operators put together a loosely organized affair. By 1913, the parade was being called the Illuminated Water Parade, and prizes were given to participants for best decorated and lighted vessels. Held in the summertime back then, by 1915 the parade had grown to include more than 40 launches, canoes, and rowboats. The event included a derelict boat hull set ablaze, a Battle of Fireworks between two launches, and the explosion of two underwater mines witnessed by thousands of visitors. With the eruption of World War I, the parade was canceled for five years, until 1919, when Joseph Beek came up with an idea to have children decorate floats that were towed around the harbor, patterned after those seen in the Pasadena Tournament of Roses Parade. With the exception of a few years during World War II, the Tournament of Lights was held every summer from 1919 through 1949. It morphed into a new Christmas holiday tradition when city employees outfitted a barge with a large lighted Christmas tree, which was towed around the harbor while passengers sang carols to residents onshore. In later years, the Beek family provided a ferryboat for the floating Christmas tree celebration and gradually other lighted boats fell in line behind it, starting a new tradition which is todays Newport Beach Christmas Boat Parade. To submit a theme, visit christmasboatparade.com by June 1. Once the Boat Parade Committee selects the top five themes, community members will be encouraged to vote for their favorite themes, with a winner to be announced shortly thereafter. Source: Xinhua| 2021-04-15 11:34:03|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close People carry the wooden crosses and photos of their relatives and friends who died from overdose while attending the rally of five-year anniversary of declared overdose crisis a public health emergency in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, April 14, 2021. Family members and friends of the victims who died from drug overdose took part in a rally to mark the five-year anniversary of British Columbia declared overdose crisis a public health emergency. (Photo by Liang Sen/Xinhua) Weve been very active and highly involved in community outreach programs before, but never anything on this scale, says Cody Lane, president of Pedersons Natural Farms. Weve pledged 1.5 million meals this year to feed those that are food insecure, and we couldnt be more pleased to be involved Pedersons Natural Farms- the first company to make a no-sugar bacon available nationwide and continues to provide protein products that are humanely raised, made without the use of artificial ingredients or artificial preservatives, nitrates or nitrites, MSG, gluten, and soy - announce they are partnering with Feeding America, the nations largest domestic hunger-relief organization. Pedersons pledges to provide more than 1.5 million meals* during its first year partnering with Feeding America. Just a $1 donation helps to provide at least 10 meals for people in need and is secured by Feeding America on behalf of local member food banks. Weve been very active and highly involved in community outreach programs before, but never anything on this scale, says Cody Lane, president of Pedersons Natural Farms. Weve pledged 1.5 million meals this year to feed those that are food insecure, and we couldnt be more pleased to be involved in helping to bring meals to those in need. Pedersons Natural Farms has launched a campaign and influencer program - the Prep Rally - to promote the partnership with Feeding America and to encourage people to get involved and support neighbors faced with food insecurity. Prep Rally will leverage the audiences of several high-profile influencers in the food and healthy eating categories to help promote our goal of 1.5 million meals. For more information on Pedersons Natural Farms, go to: pedersonsfarms.com. For more information on Prep Rally, go to: Pedersonsfarms.com/pages/prep-rally. About Pedersons Natural Farms Headquartered in Hamilton, Texas, Pedersons Natural Farms has been committed to ethically sourcing and producing the highest quality fresh and smoked natural meat products since 1992. Today, with products sold in stores globally, the company strives to continue to keep its finger on the pulse of the ever-changing trends in the industry. Pedersons Natural Farms is known for being one of the first to market with an entire line of no sugar added, Whole30 and Paleo approved pork products. Pederson's Natural Farms produces bacon, sausage, ham, and fresh pork. In 2020, the company produced 19.6 million pounds of pork protein distributed throughout the United States, Mexico, and Canada. *$1 helps provide at least 10 meals secured by Feeding America on behalf of local member food banks. Meal claim valid as of 7/1/20 and subject to change. Booka Nile has expressed her regret over kissing fellow Married At First Sight star Jake Edwards during a boozy New Year's Eve party. However, the heavy metal musician, 31, insisted in an interview with 9Now on Thursday that the smooch was strictly platonic. 'On New Year's Eve I shared a kiss with about 10 of my friends, as I do every New Year's Eve as the clock strikes midnight,' she explained. If I could turn back time: Booka Nile (pictured) has expressed her regret over kissing fellow Married At First Sight star Jake Edwards during a boozy New Year's Eve party 'And Jake was one of those people because I'm very used to having close relationships with my male friends,' she added. Booka explained she also kissed MAFS bride Beth Moore that night, and 'Beth and Jake gave each other a kiss' too. The Make Them Suffer keyboardist went on to say that platonic kissing is 'just really fricking normal' in her family and friendship group. When asked if the kiss with Jake meant anything, Booka shot back: 'The kiss did mean something. It meant, "Happy New Year, Jake."' The only thing Booka did regret about the kiss was the fact it upset Jake's on-screen wife Beck Zemek - who believed she and Jake were still together at the time. Just friends: The heavy metal musician, 31, insisted in an interview with 9Now on Thursday that the smooch (left) was strictly platonic. Right: Jake and Booka on the night they kissed She said: 'I wish it hadn't happened because it had a carry-on effect and it hurt Beck Because you know what does mean something to me: Beck.' 'I regret it. If I could go back again I one hundred per cent wouldn't do it,' Booka stressed. 'Beck felt those feelings. Whatever that brought up in her was caused by things that have happened to her in her past and also the types of people she hangs out with. We're from different worlds.' Casualty: The only thing Booka did regret about the kiss was the fact it upset Jake's on-screen wife Beck Zemek (pictured), who believed she and Jake were still together at the time 'I think that Beck handled it well,' Booka said of the confrontation the two women later had over the incident. 'She took the time to process. She wasn't nasty and in the end we moved past it.' Beck, 27, had unleashed on Jake for kissing Booka during Wednesday night's reunion dinner party, after discovering footage of the kiss circulating on social media. After admitting he had 'innocently kissed' Booka at a New Year's Eve party in Perth, Beck slammed her husband's behaviour. 'That's not justifiable!' During Wednesday night's reunion dinner party, Beck unleashed on Jake for 'innocently' kissing Booka at a New Year's Eve party 'I gave Booka a kiss on the lips, just happy New Year's. It was very innocently. We are all friends. If I thought it was something more than that, I probably would not have filmed it,' Jake explained. 'If we wind the clock back for a bit, I went to Perth to spend time with Beck and hang out with Beck on New Year's Eve. I'm in the state to be with her but she doesn't want to be with me, which is fine,' he said. Jake also claimed Beck had given him 'every sign that we were not together'. 'But it's not justifiable!' Beck then yelled at him. Hitting back: After he admitted to the 'innocent' kiss, Beck slammed her ex-husband's behaviour and declared: 'Yes, Jake and I were still together when he kissed Booka. It just really infuriates me to hear that he was saying otherwise' 'Yes, Jake and I were still together when he kissed Booka. It just really infuriates me to hear that he was saying otherwise,' a frustrated Beck added. Booka then explained the moment wasn't 'romantic' and apologised to Beck for kissing Jake and hurting her feelings in the process. 'It wasn't romantic... What I'm saying is it's never okay so leave it at that. The fact of the matter is we did something that hurt Beck and I'm sorry about that. I really am,' Booka said. Locking lips: Booka then explained the moment wasn't 'romantic' and apologised to Beck for kissing Jake and hurting her feelings in the process Last month, Daily Mail Australia revealed Jake had shared a boozy 'three-way kiss' with Booka and Beth Moore during a New Year's Eve party in Perth. Jake and Booka were friends before appearing on Married At First Sight, but they have always refuted any suggestion of a romance. While the video only showed Jake giving Booka a peck, sources said there was definite chemistry between them on the night. The former chief medical examiner of Maryland, Dr. David Fowler, answers questions during the thirteenth day of the trial of former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin for second-degree murder, (Photo : Pool via REUTERS) A medical expert who testified in defense of former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin told jurors on Wednesday he believed George Floyd's death while under arrest was the result of heart disease which made his heart beat erratically. Dr. David Fowler, a forensic pathologist who was Maryland's chief medical examiner until his retirement in 2019, also told the jury he believed exhaust fumes from the police car next to which Chauvin pinned Floyd to the road may also have contributed to Floyd's death in May 2020. Advertisement Still, under cross-examination, Fowler agreed with a prosecutor who said Floyd should have been given immediate first aid when his heart stopped beating during the arrest, video of which sparked global protests against police brutality and racism. Chauvin's central defense against murder and manslaughter charges has been to raise doubts about the cause of Floyd's death. Dr. Andrew Baker, Hennepin County's chief medical examiner, ruled the death a homicide last year caused by Chauvin and other officers restraining Floyd in a way that starved his body of oxygen. Fowler, one of Chauvin's most important witnesses, disputed at least some of Baker's conclusions, telling the jury he believed the manner of death could be considered a homicide, but he would have instead ruled it "undecided." Chauvin, who is white, was seen kneeling on Floyd's neck for nine minutes while Floyd, a Black man in handcuffs, pleaded for his life before going limp. Fowler said Floyd's death was caused by his heart suddenly beating in an erratic way, known as sudden cardiac arrhythmia. This was a result of his "atherosclerotic and hypertensive heart disease" during the police restraint, Fowler said, using medical terms to describe the narrowing of blood vessels and heart problems caused by high blood pressure. Fowler said the way Floyd struggled with police trying to get him into their car may have caused stress that led to the sudden arrhythmia. The fentanyl and methamphetamine found in Floyd's blood and carbon monoxide poisoning from the exhaust fumes of the adjacent police car may have contributed to the death, Fowler said. Asked why Chauvin and other officers by the car were not harmed by carbon monoxide poisoning, Fowler replied that their heads were farther from the exhaust pipes than Floyd's, and "hopefully they're younger" than Floyd. At the time of Floyd's death, Chauvin was 44 and Floyd was 46. 'UNDECIDED' The jury has previously heard from medical experts called by prosecutors from the Minnesota attorney general's office, who say Floyd had high blood pressure, a slightly enlarged heart and used opioid painkillers but that none of them caused his death. Those experts agreed with the findings on Floyd's death certificate that his death resulted from being unable to inhale enough oxygen due to the way police compressed his prone body against the road. Baker, the chief medical examiner who certified Floyd's death, told the jury he stands by his findings. Chauvin's lead lawyer, Eric Nelson, asked Fowler if Floyd died in a homicide or by some other manner of death. "This is one of those cases where you have so many conflicting different manners," Fowler said. "The carbon monoxide would usually be classified as an accident, although somebody was holding him there, so you could elevate that to a homicide." In the end, Fowler, the only witness who testified on Wednesday, said he would "fall back to 'undetermined' on this particular case." Fowler has been involved in other high-profile cases involving police using force against Black people. His office ruled the 2015 death of Freddie Gray in Baltimore a homicide after Gray, 25, suffered spinal injuries in the back of a police van. In December, Fowler was sued in federal court by the family of Anton Black, who was 19 when he died in 2018 in police custody. Fowler ruled Black's death an accident, but Black's family said Fowler and other Maryland officials "covered up and obscured police responsibility" for Black's death. Under cross-examination, Fowler conceded to Jerry Blackwell, a prosecutor, that he did not know for certain whether the police car was still running during Floyd's arrest. Chauvin kept his knee on Floyd's neck for more than three minutes after Floyd stopped breathing, which his own expert witness agreed was wrong. "Are you critical of the fact that he wasn't given immediate medical care when he went into cardiac arrest?" Blackwell asked. "As a physician, I would agree," Fowler replied. The petitioner's counsel referred to the case of Narmada Bachao Andolan, where the Supreme Court reiterated the importance of fulfilling the promise which was made at the time of acquiring the land. (Image: Wikimedia Commons) Vijayawada: The Andhra Pradesh High Court on Thursday served notices to the Central government to file its response within four weeks on its decision to privatise Visakhapatnam Steel Plant (VSP). A division bench comprising Justice Joymalya Bagchi and Justice Ganga Rao heard a petition filed by a retired IPS officer, V.V. Lakshmi Narayana, challenging the Union Cabinets decision on divesting its stake in VSP. Petitioners counsel Adi Narayana Rao argued that the decision to privatise VSP was taken by the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs without taking into consideration various alternatives available to turn around VSP as suggested by both the state government and the petitioner and that no discussion was taken up on the criteria for selecting public sector entities for privatisation. Counsel informed the court that the plant was having the latest infrastructure and the right to life of thousands of farmers, who parted with their lands for setting up the plant, was infringed upon as most of them were not given permanent employment as assured by the company at the time of land acquisition. He referred to the case of Narmada Bachao Andolan, where the Supreme Court reiterated the importance of fulfilling the promise which was made at the time of acquiring the land. Advocate-General S. Sriram submitted that the state government has written a letter to the Centre suggesting several alternatives for the revival of the RINL and requested for a review of the Union Cabinets decision to sell VSP. After hearing the counsels, the court posted the next hearing in the case after four weeks. BENTON HARBOR, MI A Berrien County man faces four charges of sexual assault after his wife of 13 years accused him of assaulting her hundreds of times during that period. Kraig Smith, 48, was arraigned Wednesday, April 14, on four charges of first-degree criminal sexual conduct in Berrien County District Court. His wife, 38, reported in May that Smith had sexually assaulted her hundreds of times during their 13-year marriage, the Michigan Attorney Generals office said in a news release. The attorneys general office investigated the allegations. The mans wife said the coercive assaults starred after their marriage in December 2006, according to the release. She said she was verbally and emotionally abused throughout the marriage and that she and their children were threatened, the release said, and was forced into unwanted sexual activity throughout the marriage. Coercive assault can take place in any setting; even in a marriage, Attorney General Dana Nessel said in the release. An individual should feel safe in their home with their partner. I hope this case encourages public awareness of coercive assault and makes clear that assault by a domestic partner is a crime that will be prosecuted, Nessel said. Smith has posted bond, which was set at $20,000, according to court officials. A preliminary examination is scheduled for April 27 before Berrien County District Judge Gary Bruce. More from MLive: Police chase ends with arrest of suspect wanted in Kalamazoo-area shooting Urban Folk Art Exploratory to move into vacated Eastside print shop in Kalamazoo Second child, 3, dies after Michigan fathers murder-suicide shooting On some scenarios, Macquarie thinks the lithium price could double over the next four years Until now, the major mining companies havent played much of a role in the lithium space. The reasons are largely historical. Go back fifteen years and lithium mining was a just an obscure niche in a sector that offered plenty of easier profits elsewhere. The bulk of the production was in South America, and it was undertaken by specialists who knew their commodity, and knew their way around what was then a very opaque market. The advent of electric vehicles changed all that. Lithium companies are now mainstream at the junior and mid-tier level, and the major South American producer SQM (NYSE:SQM) has come out from the shadows and is now capitalised at US$14bn on the New York Stock Exchange. It was only a matter of time before the attractions of this value creation trickled upwards, and Rio Tinto ( )(ASX:RIO), one of the worlds big four miners, has now taken its first tentative steps towards serious nickel production. Earlier this month, Rio announced that it had produced battery-grade lithium at its Boron project in California, where an investigation of old tailings from borate production showed economical levels of lithium. Initially the company had been looking for gold in the tailings, but was delighted to find lithium instead. It wasnt always the case that companies preferred lithium to gold, but times change. Rio is now contemplating a US$50mln investment at Boron to allow it to scale up lithium production there to 5,000 tonnes year. Recent forecasts from Maquarie Bank show the lithium price increasing by between 30% and 100% over the next four years, so it may be that Rios decision is largely made for it. Even so, at this stage the revenue line from the lithium will be just a drop in the ocean when compared to Rios huge earnings from iron ore, copper and coal. Nevertheless, a major move into lithium would work in more ways than one for Rio, as a company that has been dogged in recent years by public relations disasters. For one thing, lithium is generally touted as a key commodity in a green future, something Rio Tinto is keen to get on board with. We produce materials essential to human progress, runs the strapline on the homepage of the companys website. A growing profile in lithium production would underline that point, and if the lithium price just happened to be on the rise, then so much the better. The company does have the potential to produce more lithium already. In Serbia it is developing another borate project, and this is also likely to throw off lithium as a significant by-product. Whether Rio Tinto, or any of its other peer group at the major end of the mining sector, is likely to get into the mining of lithium as a primary product is a more intriguing question. Although South America continues to play a major role in lithium production, the worlds largest producer is now Australia, a country where both Rio Tinto and BHP already have significant interests, and with which they are very familiar. Iron ore is key, but both companies also have significant coal operations there. Yet, with ESG pressures growing, the question is: how much longer are these going to be sustainable from a public relations point of view? Weve already seen Anglo American ( ) recently move to divest itself of a major coal asset in South Africa by spinning it out into a separate entity on the London Stock Exchange. Could it be that the majors in Australia will end up making similar moves? And if so, why not replace the outgoing coal capacity with incoming lithium capacity. There would be a certain symmetry to such an approach, and no shortage of companies with existing projects to choose from, if brownfields was to be preferred to greenfields. SQM has already dipped a toe in the water, with its involvement with Wesfarmers in the Mt Holland project in Western Australia. But there are plenty of other Aussie companies with promising-looking projects, like Lithium Australia ( ), Jindalee, ( ), Further afield, itd also be interesting to see if companies like AVZ Minerals ( ), Piedmont Lithium ( ) or Savannah Resources ( ) start to show up the large company radars Savannah, after all, is already in business with Rio Tinto in Mozambique. After all, the age of the electric vehicle is just beginning. The majors are well positioned in copper and nickel already, and Glencore also holds a commanding position in cobalt. But if lithium turns out to be the standout winner, the top companies are going to want a seat at that table too. Itll be interesting to watch. Have you received your COVID-19 vaccine, but want to know for sure that you developed antibodies? Thats now possible in New Jersey. People can check if they have the full protective armor from their vaccine at Bergen New Bridge Medical Center in Paramus, which announced the first vaccine immunity response test in the state. The test operates similarly to a regular antibody test. It still detects natural antibodies for those who contracted the coronavirus. But it can now also detect antibodies stimulated by vaccines. Before this test came out, the tests on the market were only able to test for natural immunity, said Deborah Visconi, president and CEO of Bergen New Bridge Medical Center. So the only antibody test that was available were ones that tested against the fact that you had the virus. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention previously said antibody testing is not recommended to assess for immunity to SARS-CoV-2 following COVID-19 vaccination. However, that was before a test emerged specifically to find vaccine-related antibodies. The test has received emergency use authorization from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. As people were getting vaccinated, people wanted to come in and get tested for the (antibodies), and we would tell them, The antibody test today does not test for vaccine immunity, Visconi said. She added that its another piece of armament and something that we have in our cabinets to fight against this pandemic and give us information about it. Test results take about three hours, Visconi said. This test will help physicians recognize vaccine generated immunity vs. autoimmunity from prior infection in their patients, according to a statement from the hospital. People who received the vaccine should wait at least 15 days after they were fully inoculated to undergo the test, the hospital says. People who contracted the virus also should wait at least 15 days after they first experienced symptoms or at least 15 days from the date that they tested positive if they were asymptomatic. People still need to have a doctor order a test. Only then can they call and make an appointment at 201-225-7130. Have a news tip or story you want to tell about COVID-19 or the vaccination process? Contact us on our tip form. Our journalism needs your support. Please subscribe today to NJ.com. Spencer Kent may be reached at skent@njadvancemedia.com. When Shah Rukh Khan's Mother Was Told He Would Never Be Able To Make It As An Actor As He Wasn't Good Looking Enough Shah Rukh Khans fans are dying to see him back on the big screen after his self imposed break from movies after Zero. The stars millions of dotting fans have been demanding time and again on social media that he announce his next project soon and nothing screams love quite like it, but did you know that Shah Rukhs mother was once told hed never be able to make it as an actor? The Pathan actor who transformed his success on TV into an even more successful career in films over three decades ago once told a publication how he was never deterred by what his critics thought as he just wanted to act. My mom wanted me to become an actor but three-four people from Mumbai whom we knew well told her Id never become one because I wasnt good-looking enough. She was hurt but it didnt bother me because all I wanted to do was act and I assured her main kaam karta rahunga. At that point I wasnt interested in films, I was doing well on stage. Then, TV happened and, 30 years later, Im a poster boy, Shah Rukh had told Mumbai Mirror in 2018. View this post on Instagram A post shared by Shah Rukh Khan (@iamsrk) You just have to believe in what you want to do despite what others may think of you or even if you yourself feel the lack of something, material or otherwise, he had added. On the work front, Shah Rukh Khan has been invested in his next project since last year. He will be seen in Siddharth Anands action entertainer Pathan which also stars John Abraham and Deepika Padukone. Several unconfirmed reports also claim that the actor will work on film with Rajkummar Hirani after wrapping up this Yash Raj Films project. ScholarX Technologies Limited, an edtech start-up founded in 2016 and headquartered in Lagos, has announced a strategic partnership with telecommunications services provider Airtel Nigeria. The partners are working together to extend the reach of LearnAM, a new mobile learning platform that provides skills training content to improve learning outcomes. ScholarX is a social impact platform that focuses on democratizing access to education for African youth by connecting them with funding sources that enable them to get quality education. As the ScholarX website says: We provide easy access to a learning platform using various devices including feature phones as well as funds for devices targeted at the unconnected in Africa. ScholarX says it will receive major support from the GSMA Innovation Fund for Mobile Internet Adoption and Digital Inclusion. It will also make use of the retail and digital footprints of Airtel Nigeria to deliver its skill acquisition content. Nigerian media reports say that the grant received from the GSMA will help fund key components in the initial phase of the project including platform development, content development and sourcing, and early user adoption. Commenting on the LearnAm initiative, co-founder and CEO, ScholarX, Bola Lawal, said: Through the GSMA fund, we are now able to embark on our quest to connect millions of unconnected people in Africa to the internet and help them get trained in valuable skills for the new digital economy. Gandhinagar, April 15 : In a joint operation, Indian Coast Guard and the Anti Terrorism Squad of Gujarat on Thursday apprehended a boat with eight Pakistan nationals and 30 kilos of heroin. According to the Coast Guard, the Pakistani boat was apprehended close to the International Maritime Boundary Line (IMBL) in the Indian waters. The Coast Guard said the operation was carried out in coordination with the ATS Gujarat. A Coast Guard official told IANS that the boat which is still at the sea will be brought to the shore for joint investigation by various security agencies of the country. And the boat will be thoroughly checked for any more hidden items. Jaguars E-Type has been a showstopper from the start. Specifically the 1961 Geneva International Motor Show, when Jaguar took the wraps off its coupe and convertible concepts. No less of an expert than Enzo Ferrari instantly judged the E-Type the most beautiful car in the world. Many car connoisseurs still hold this view. Jaguar had intended to remember that introduction 60 years ago at the Geneva show originally set for March, but pandemic lockdowns iced those plans. So Jaguar came up with a new way to celebrate. But first, a little more history. Back in early March 1961, Jaguars new cars barely arrived in time for their much-anticipated introductions after a couple of epic drives that are part of E-Type lore. The company had decided to preview the coupe for magazine journalists with early deadlines, and some mischievous journalists had gotten it up to 150 m.p.h. on back roads a racecar-worthy, and prison-worthy, speed at the time. Credit: CC0 Public Domain Researchers have discovered a new way to transform the tissues surrounding prostate tumors to help the body's immune cells fight the cancer. The discovery, made in human and mouse cells and in laboratory mice, could lead to improvements in immunotherapy treatments for prostate cancer, the second most common cancer in men in the US. Using a technique called epigenetic reprogramming, investigators altered the tumor and tumor microenvironment by inhibiting expression of a protein known as enhancer of zeste homolog2, or EZH2, which is found at high levels in prostate cancer. This protein helps tumors resist checkpoint inhibitor immunotherapies, which are designed to block certain other proteins that can stop immune cells from killing cancer cells. By inhibiting EZH2, the investigators were able to reduce the tumor's resistance to checkpoint inhibitors. If confirmed in clinical trials, the research findings, recently published in the peer-reviewed journal Nature Cancer, potentially may increase the percentage of prostate cancer patients who successfully respond to this therapy. "Our goal is to one day apply our strategy to fire up the immune system of prostate cancer patients and make the cancer vulnerable to the patient's own immune system," said molecular and cellular biologist Leigh Ellis, Ph.D., scientific director of the Center for Urologic Research Excellence at Cedars-Sinai Cancer and corresponding author of the multi-institutional study. The study's findings were made through the study of cancer epigenetics. Whereas traditional genetics describe the way DNA sequences in our genes are passed from one generation to the next, epigenetics describe how genes get turned on and off in an individual's body to produce proteins. Disrupted epigenetic mechanisms can alter gene function and form cancerous cells. The investigators zeroed in on the EZH2 mechanisms that altered the gene function of prostate cells, switching off the immune response, and on how to switch it back on. Well-established research has demonstrated that EZH2 inactivates several tumor-suppression genes in numerous cancers, including prostate. Based on those earlier findings, the researchers genetically and chemically inhibited EZH2 to activate important immune-related genes called interferon-stimulated genes. Interferons are proteins that alert the immune system to attack cancer cells. This action, called "viral mimicry," involves reopening dormant areas of the genomean organism's complete set of genetic instructionsthat typically are closed for action. That process prompted the tumor cell to activate the interferon-stimulated genes, which signaled the immune system to enhance the response to checkpoint inhibitor therapy. "We discovered that viral mimicry is key to activating interferon-stimulated genes," Ellis said. "With epigenetic therapy, we're able to get the immune response we want." In recent years, immunotherapy drugs have been added to chemotherapy regimens, or used alone, to help a patient's own immune cells attack cancer, but the response, while promising in treating skin, colon, lung, liver and other cancers, is still lowcurrently, about 70% to 85% of patients taking immunotherapy drugs fail to respond to them. The researchers' study findings hold the potential for personalized treatment approaches going forward, which may include combined regimens of EZH2 inhibitors and checkpoint inhibitors as a novel strategy to increase prostate cancer response to checkpoint immunotherapy. Following recent Food and Drug Administration approval of EZH2 inhibitors, Ellis and Edwin M. Posadas, MD, the medical director of the Center for Urologic Research Excellence, and associate professor in the Division of Oncology at Cedars-Sinai Cancer, plan to launch a Cedars-Sinai-based clinical trial of an EZH2 inhibitor in prostate cancer patients. "We are extremely pleased to see Dr. Ellis, one of our recent researcher recruits, contribute such a significant advance to the prostate cancer field," said Dan Theodorescu, MD, Ph.D., director of the Cedars-Sinai Cancer enterprise and professor of Surgery and Pathology and Laboratory Medicine. "Prostate cancer has been a challenge to treat even with immunotherapy, and this work will help overcome some of the barriers and hopefully improve outcome for patients." Explore further Genes and immune cells predict immunotherapy success in bladder cancer More information: Katherine L. Morel et al, EZH2 inhibition activates a dsRNASTINGinterferon stress axis that potentiates response to PD-1 checkpoint blockade in prostate cancer, Nature Cancer (2021). Journal information: Nature Cancer Katherine L. Morel et al, EZH2 inhibition activates a dsRNASTINGinterferon stress axis that potentiates response to PD-1 checkpoint blockade in prostate cancer,(2021). DOI: 10.1038/s43018-021-00185-w (CVE: GXU- OTCQB: GVXXF) CEO Daniel Major joined Steve Darling from Proactive to bring news the company has inked contracts to undertake drilling programs related to their Feasibility Study for the Madaouela Uranium Project in Niger. Major telling Proactive the program will be13,000 metres and to an average depth of 100 metres. Major says they will be focused on the Miriam deposit. The visit of the Ukrainian delegation headed by Deputy Prime Minister for the reintegration of the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine Oleksiy Reznikov to Israel resulted in the solution of a number of important issues for the country, in particular, to overcome the COVID-19 pandemic. The corresponding statement was made by the Ambassador of Ukraine to Israel Yevhen Korniychuk on his Facebook page. "I want to thank all the delegates for their active position in the work and significant contribution to the issue of reaching agreements in cooperation with Israel. Together, we solved a number of important issues for our country, in particular, interaction in the field of trade, investment, medicine and in overcoming the COVID-19 pandemic," the diplomat said. He said that an important aspect of the negotiations was the completion by Israel of the second phase of trials of its COVID-19 vaccine in mid-summer. "The Ukrainian side proposed to conduct the third stage of testing in Ukraine with the subsequent possibility of producing a vaccine, including at our facilities. Israel is still studying this proposal and, I hope, it will be received positively. It is already clear that the pandemic of coronavirus infection will drag on for more than one year in the world. And the production of the vaccine, its availability for our citizens is a very sensitive and important issue for us," Korniychuk said. [April 15, 2021] Surna Announces Representative Agreement with RSX Enterprises Intensifies Market Penetration Efforts with Expanded Sales Organization Boulder, Colorado, April 15, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Surna Inc. (OTCQB: SRNA), a leader in environmental control systems for the controlled environment agriculture (CEA) market, announced today that it engaged RSX Enterprises, Inc. to act as an external manufacturers representative offering Surnas engineering services and environmental control systems to commercial growers in the United States, Canada and Mexico. RSX Enterprises, which was recently founded by cannabis industry veteran Randy Shipley, is a sales and marketing firm that sells and markets equipment for use in controlled environment agriculture on behalf of various manufacturers. Mr. Shipley, who is also a member of Surnas board of directors, has been active in design/build consulting and supply chain management for cultivation operations in 12 states, serving more than 500,000 square feet of indoor cultivation. As an extension of Surnas in-house sales team, RSX Enterprises will increase the number of feet on the ground, which Surna believes will generate more sales opportunities at the all-important early design stage. We believe RSX Enterprises extensive background in the cannabis industry, and their experience, network, and sales skills, will provide an immediate impact on the sales and distribution of Surna technologies, and we are excited to be working with them, said Tony McDonald, Surnas Chairman and CEO. Randy Shipley, President and Founder of RSX Enterprises adds, We are pleased to have been appointed to represent Surnas growing product line of environmental control systems and look forward to working closely with their engineering team to bring innovative and cost-effective technology solutions to indoor cultivators of all types. About Surna Inc. Surna Inc. ( www.surna.com ) designs, engineers and sells cultivation technologies for controlled environment agriculture including: (i) liquid-based process cooling systems and other clmate control systems, (ii) air handling equipment and systems, (iii) a full-service engineering package for designing and engineering commercial scale thermodynamic systems, and (iv) automation and control devices, systems and technologies used for environmental, lighting and climate control. Our customers include commercial growers in the U.S. and Canada as well as other international locations, including those growers building new facilities and those expanding or retrofitting existing facilities. Currently, our revenue stream is derived primarily from supplying our products, services, and technologies to commercial indoor and hybrid sealed greenhouse facilities ranging from several thousand to more than 100,000 square feet. Headquartered in Boulder, Colorado, we leverage our experience in this space to bring value-added climate control solutions to our customers that help improve their overall crop quality and yield, optimize energy and water efficiency, and satisfy the evolving state and local codes, permitting and regulatory requirements. Forward Looking Statements This press release may contain statements of a forward-looking nature relating to future events. These forward-looking statements are subject to the inherent uncertainties in predicting future results and conditions. These statements reflect our current beliefs, and a number of important factors could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed in this press release, including the factors set forth in Risk Factors set forth in our annual and quarterly reports filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), and subsequent filings with the SEC. Please refer to our SEC filings for a more detailed discussion of the risks and uncertainties associated with our business, including but not limited to the risks and uncertainties associated with our business prospects and the prospects of our existing and prospective customers; the inherent uncertainty of product development; regulatory, legislative and judicial developments, especially those related to changes in, and the enforcement of, cannabis laws; increasing competitive pressures in our industry; and relationships with our customers and suppliers. Except as required by the federal securities laws, we undertake no obligation to revise or update any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise. The reference to Surnas website has been provided as a convenience, and the information contained on such website is not incorporated by reference into this press release. Statement about Cannabis Markets The use, possession, cultivation, and distribution of marijuana is prohibited by U.S. federal law for medical and recreational purposes. Although certain states have legalized medical and recreational cannabis, companies and individuals involved in the sector are still at risk of being prosecuted by federal authorities. Further, the landscape in the cannabis industry changes rapidly. This means that at any time the city, county, or state where cannabis is permitted can change the current laws and/or the federal government can supersede those laws and take prosecutorial action. Given the uncertain legal nature of the cannabis industry, it is imperative that investors understand that investments in the cannabis industry should be considered very high risk. A change in the current laws or enforcement policy can negatively affect the status and operation of our business, require additional fees, stricter operational guidelines and unanticipated shut-downs. Surna Marketing Jamie English Vice President, Marketing Communications jamie.english@surna.com (303) 993-5271 RSX Enterprises, Inc. Randy Shipley President randy@rsxenterprises.com (312) 446-4678 [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] This photo taken and received courtesy of an anonymous source via Facebook on April 13 shows protesters holding signs while taking part in a demonstration against the military coup in Yangon's Hlaing township during the Myanmar New Year festival of Thingyan. AFP-Yonhap Myanmar's military opened fire on protesting healthcare workers Thursday, killing at least one bystander as the demonstrators fled for safety to a nearby mosque. The country has been in turmoil since the military seized power from civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi on February 1, triggering a massive uprising that the junta has sought to quell using lethal force. But protesters have continued taking to the streets, this week using the Myanmar New Year holiday of Thingyan as their latest rallying point as the normal festivities have been cancelled. In Myanmar's second-largest city Mandalay, a demonstration by medical workers Thursday turned violent when soldiers opened fire, sending them running to the mosque. "They were shooting everywhere... they were targeting the Sule mosque compound because people in there were hiding protesters," said an eyewitness. A 30-year-old man who lived in the compound was shot dead, and at least two others were injured, said a doctor who treated the wounded. "The man who died was shot from the back and it penetrated through his chest," he told AFP. A medic who participated in the protest said he saw the arrest of six nurses and doctors during the crackdown. "We lost contact with some medical team members as well," he told AFP. Myanmar's healthcare workers have been at the forefront of a nationwide civil disobedience movement, refusing to return to work under a military regime. Their absence has left many of the country's hospitals unstaffed during the pandemic. Civil servants from other sectors have followed suit, bringing the operation of the country's banks, schools, railway operations, and businesses to a halt. The junta has tried to force people back to work, and on Thursday, state-run media reported that at least 20 doctors participating in the movement will be charged for attempting to "deteriorate peace and stability." So far, more than 700 civilians have been killed in anti-coup unrest, according to a local monitoring group, and more than 3,000 have been detained. A well-known protest leader was arrested Thursday in central Monywa city he was leading a demonstration by motorbike when a car rammed into him. "Wai Moe Naing was arrested... I saw his motorcycle hit by the car from afar," fellow activist Hein Zaw Win told AFP, vowing to "continue our protests until we win." The main boulevards of commercial hub Yangon were empty Thursday a far cry from the Thingyan celebrations of previous years that would see revellers dancing on the streets while being hosed down. This year, public water fights have been cancelled. "We may feel depressed because many of our people are killed every day... but we never feel that we will lose this battle," a Yangon resident told AFP, adding that he and his family were marking the new year at home. "Thingyan is just like any other day of revolution." The US embassy in Yangon on Thursday dedicated a post to the "fallen heroes in Myanmar", laying petals of the yellow Padauk flowers the symbol of Thingyan around a make-shift plaque. (AFP) One of the released Chibok girls on Wednesday lamented that the Federal Government was silent on the release of their colleagues still in ... One of the released Chibok girls on Wednesday lamented that the Federal Government was silent on the release of their colleagues still in the captivity of Boko Haram. The student, identified as Tabitha Stover, while speaking at the seventh anniversary of the kidnapping hosted by the Allamin Foundation in Maiduguri, Borno State, said the Federal Governments silence was killing them. The student, who noted that their lives had not remained the same since the incident happened, urged the Federal Government to come to their rescue. She said, I passed through hell, thank God I am back but many are still in captivity, I am appealing to the government to please come to their rescue. My President, our ministers, our senators, our governors, please we are pleading, dont we have right to life? Dont we have the right to education? Then if we right to education, why are we suffering, why are others still in captivity, if we have the right to life, why are we facing this, why are our parents dying silently and our government are still looking at us like this and they are not talking? Please our parents are still dying; they dont have anyone to help. A commoner like me does not have an answer to these question, but I know that our governors, our president have the answers to these question but youre still silent, please are we not a citizen of this country? Let us know that we are slaves. Put yourself in our shoes, how will you feel, if we are your children or some that are still in captivity are your children; if you put yourself in our shoes, how will you feel. I am not challenging our leaders, I will never do such a thing, but please if our government are silent, so who will answer the question among you that are sitting here. If our governors and president are silent, who will answer these questions, please do not be silent to us because this your silence is killing us and that is why we are saying that we need freedom, we are tired of bondage, we are sick and tired of all this. WASHINGTON In a speech on Thursday, President Biden explained his decision to impose new sanctions on Russia, saying that Vladimir Putins government had attempted to interfere with the 2020 U.S. presidential election and was behind a massive hack targeting America. We cannot allow a foreign power to interfere in our democratic process with impunity, Biden said in remarks delivered in the East Room of the White House. President Biden speaking from the White House on Thursday about new sanctions on Russia. (Andrew Harrer/Bloomberg via Getty Images) On Thursday morning, the president signed an executive order that imposed a range of new sanctions and the expulsion of diplomats. The sanctions allow the U.S. government to block bond transactions between U.S. institutions and Russian banks; the order reserves the right for the U.S. to expand these sovereign debt sanctions. In his remarks from the White House, Biden said he had warned Putin repeatedly in the past several months that there would be consequences for Russias meddling in U.S. elections, the SolarWinds data breach of U.S. government computers and its continued aggression in Crimea. In a call with Putin on Wednesday, Biden said, he informed the Russian president of the new sanctions but also stressed that he had sought to deliver a proportionate response to them. I was clear with President Putin that we could have gone further. But I chose not to do so. I chose to be proportionate, Biden said. The United States is not looking to kick off a cycle of escalation and conflict with Russia. We want a stable, predictable relationship. Biden added that further retaliatory action against Russia was not off the table. If Russia continues to interfere with our democracy, Im prepared to take further actions to respond, he said. As part of the Biden administrations retaliatory actions, the Treasury Department unveiled sanctions against 32 entities and individuals on Thursday. The White House, meanwhile, expelled 10 Russian diplomats from Washington. In a show of support for the new sanctions, foreign ministers from the other G-7 nations Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and the U.K. joined the U.S. in a statement issued Thursday. Story continues "We call on Russia to cease its provocations and to immediately de-escalate tensions in line with its international obligations," the statement said. Russian President Vladimir Putin. (Sputnik/Alexei Druzhinin/Kremlin via Reuters) While Biden said he was firm with Putin during Wednesdays call, he also stressed that the two leaders should continue to speak one on one and proposed that they hold a summit in the coming months. I expressed my belief that communication between the two of us, personally and directly, was to be essential in moving forward to a more effective relationship, and he agreed on that point, Biden said. To that end, I proposed that we meet in person this summer in Europe for a summit to address a range of issues facing both of our countries. Kremlin and White House readouts of Wednesdays phone call between the two men make no mention of conversations about jailed Putin opposition leader Alexei Navalny. Asked about the omission Wednesday, White House press secretary Jen Psaki said that the health, the safety of Alexei Navalny is raised frequently and through many channels. In a March interview with ABC News, Biden was asked whether he thought Putin was a killer. I do, he replied, a response that drew a sharp rebuke from Russia, which also promptly recalled its ambassador to Washington. On Thursday, Bidens tone was far less critical, as he repeatedly highlighted the potential in an ongoing partnership with Russia. The way forward is through thoughtful dialogue and the diplomatic process, he said. Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny being escorted out of a police station in January. (Alexander Nemenov/AFP via Getty Images) As yet, there has been no formal response from the Kremlin regarding Bidens proposal for a summit. Biden seemed optimistic about the prospect for good relations between the U.S. and Russia, but made sure to underscore that he will not be bullied or allow himself to be taken advantage of by Putin. My bottom line is this: When there is interest to work with Russia, we should and we will, Biden said. And when Russia seeks to violate the interests of the United States, we will respond. ____ Read more from Yahoo News: AI/ML - Software Engineer, Engineering Efficiency Santa Clara Valley (Cupertino) , California , United States Machine Learning and AI Summary Posted: Apr 13, 2021 Weekly Hours: 40 Role Number: 200236676 At Apple, we find joy in solving hard problems. We are motivated by curiosity to not just get the work done, but to continually make our products better. And we want to grow our team with an engineer who brings new ideas and insight for tackling these hard problems! Siri's Engineering Efficiency team is focused on building tools and infrastructure to create a frictionless development for AI/ML developers. We are focused on innovating the experience of Siri engineers - letting them focus on their best work without worrying about time consuming workflows and outdated tools. Key Qualifications 3+ years of industry experience Working experience and deep understanding of large scale software, object oriented design, distributed systems and multi-threading Ability to work in a fast-paced environment with rapidly changing priorities Excellent communication skills, and thrive in a collaborative team environment, strong problem solving skills, critical thinker, and self-starter Working experience with Python, Swift, JavaScript Passion for the customer experience, and obsessive about details Description We are looking for a software engineer who wants to bring their passion for building incredible infrastructure to support a device lab focused on testing the next generation of voice assistant technology. You will develop innovative technology to support end to end Siri testing on all Siri supported hardware. In this role, you will be working with teams across the whole Siri organization and very different roles including, but not limited to, other ambitious engineers from machine learning, text-to-speech, and audio teams, lab managers and admins, etc. To succeed in this role, we are looking for an engineer who has experience with scaling distributed systems and can help solve infrastructure problems holistically with the future in mind. - Responsible for full stack code for maintaining and monitoring Apple products with a device lab - Being able to prioritize tasks and lead projects to completion - Innovate new features to increase transparency, reliability and uptime for our customers Education & Experience Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, or a related field or equivalent work experience is required Additional Requirements Additional Preferred Qualifications: - Knowledge of networking and data center infrastructure - Deep understanding of full-stack software development - Knowledge of all Apple products and their features Apple is an Equal Opportunity Employer that is committed to inclusion and diversity. We also take affirmative action to offer employment and advancement opportunities to all applicants, including minorities, women, protected veterans, and individuals with disabilities. Apple will not discriminate or retaliate against applicants who inquire about, disclose, or discuss their compensation or that of other applicants. BCI removes statement on Xinjiang cotton from its website CGTN) 16:39, April 15, 2021 The Better Cotton Initiative (BCI) announced last year that it was ceasing all operations in northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region amid accusations of "forced labor" there. The statement has disappeared from its website as backlash grows in China against the organization and its members' attempts to boycott Xinjiang cotton. The screenshot of BCI statement on Xinjiang cotton released in October 2020 has been removed from its website. The screenshot of BCI statement on Xinjiang cotton released in October 2020 has been removed from its website. BCI Shanghai office said it didn't find any case of "forced labor" in Xinjiang in a statement released on its WeChat account at the end of March. "In response to overseas reports about 'forced labor' [in Xinjiang], our Shanghai office conducted a strict review of the projects in Xinjiang," Wu Yan, chief representative of the BCI Shanghai office said in an exclusive interview with China Central Television. Wu said, "We submitted two investigation reports to the headquarters. We also compiled and submitted inspection reports made by third-party inspection agencies, such as the SGS, in the past several years." The decision made by BCI to suspend licensing in Xinjiang will prevent nearly 500,000 tons of Xinjiang cotton from entering the global supply chain of cotton textile production, according to Wu. "Human rights organizations required the BCI to suspend licensing in Xinjiang and demanded BCI claim that any decisions made by it have nothing to do with these human rights organizations," Liu Haoran, project manager of the BCI Shanghai office, said in the interview. Founded in Switzerland in 2009, BCI sets the global standard for cotton industries and certifies cotton farms worldwide. It has 2,100 members worldwide, including cotton farmers, textile businesses and retail brands. Some multinational companies like H&M and Nike, members of the BCI, have been facing a backlash in China after they announced to suspend sourcing cotton from Xinjiang. Chinese e-commerce platforms Taobao, JD.com, Pinduoduo, Suning.com, and Meituan's Dianping removed H&M from their platforms in March, and Chinese Android app stores removed H&M as well. (Web editor: Liang Jun, Hongyu) Wealthy neighborhoods of New York City saw up to 11% of their population flee the city permanently during the COVID-19 pandemic, a new study has found. Four zip codes in the Hell's Kitchen neighborhoods of Manhattan from 40th to 59th Streets saw the greatest rate of departure, with 12,000 residents leaving four of its zip codes as the pandemic swept through the city. The area is home to thousands of young professional who work in the financial hubs of Midtown and the Financial District, as well as creatives working in nearby Broadway theaters, which have remained shut since last March. An analysis of 29 million address changes by the commercial real estate firm CBRE the population outflow from New York was concentrated in Manhattan's Midtown and surrounding neighborhoods. On the Upper East Side, the study showed 34,600 residents permanently left the area's five zip codes in 2020 - 10 times the previous year. The company assessed people who have permanently left, rather than those who have swapped a city apartment for a second home - as an estimated 420,000 New Yorkers did at the height of the epidemic in Spring 2020. The report from commercial real estate firm CBRE found New York was second only to San Francisco for the number of net departures last year. The areas with the highest proportion of departures from New York in 2020 - colored in green - are centered around Manhattan and some parts of Brooklyn As New York became the center of the global COVID-19 pandemic last Spring, streets deserted and thousands fled the city for good. This file photo from April 9 2020 shows an empty Seventh Avenue looking south to the World Trade Center The normally bustling Washington Arch in Manhattan lay empty last April as NYC residents either fled the city or stayed at home (File photo) The mapped data, is based on 29 million permanent address changes made with the US Postal Service Office, looked at the change in net population moves between 2019 and 2020. CBRE director of research Eric Willett, who oversaw the study, told Gothamist the majority of those who left were mobile young professionals. 'The real substantial change was that a small subset of the population young, affluent, childless urban dwellers moved dramatically more,' Willett told Gothamist. 'About 33 percent of them moved in 2019. That increased by 10 percent in 2020. That's the real driver of these migration patterns.' The four zip codes with the largest rate of departures - 10036, 10019, 10022, and 10017 - saw approximately 12,000 of their 108,708 population leave in 2020. Gentrified areas of Brooklyn including DUMBO, Greenpoint and Crown Heights also saw an exodus of young residents. The major exodus has coincided with a drop in rental prices in Manhattan. In October, the average rent in Manhattan had fallen to $2,990 - the lowest it has been since 2011. Many of those who shifted homes didn't go far: around 41% stayed in the borough to take advantage of new, cheaper rents, and around 7,000 shifted to Westchester. Of those who moved further afield, the most common destinations were Los Angeles, Miami and Palm Beach, Gothamist reported. Sun Belt cities such as Austin in Texas and Charlotte in North Carolina saw the largest population gains. New York was second only to San Francisco as having the highest proportion of its population move last year. As New York became the global center of the epidemic last year, financial companies closed their offices, restaurants shut and Broadway shuttered its doors. The city's 8.4 million population had been gradually declining prior to the pandemic, but between March 1 to May 1 2020, about 420,000 residents fled the Big Apple, particularly from the wealthiest neighborhoods, an analysis from the New York Times revealed. Then, zip codes, others such as SoHo, the West Village, Morningside Heights, the Upper East Side, the Financial District, Midtown, Gramercy and Brooklyn Heights emptied by at least 40 percent. Cell phone data showed popular destinations for the so-called 'coronavirus refugees' include Martha's Vineyard, Cape Cod, Rhode Island, the Hamptons, Hudson Valley, the Jersey Shore and southern Florida. There are encouraging signs the city is bouncing back from the population exodus. Nearly four in ten city residents have had at least one vaccine shot and restaurants, cinemas and bars have reopened with capacity limits. Last week, Coney Island amusement parks were allowed to reopen at 33% capacity. [April 15, 2021] LTI Appoints the new Chief Financial Officer Anil Rander brings multifaceted financial leadership experience to the company MUMBAI, India, April 15, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Larsen & Toubro Infotech (BSE: 540005) (NSE: LTI), a global technology consulting and digital solutions company, has appointed Anil Rander as its Chief Financial Officer. Sanjay Jalona, CEO and Managing Director, LTI, said: "The role of CFO is evolving rapidly, and I am pleased to welcome Anil to our leadership team at this critical juncture in our journey. His financial leadership and business acumen will enable us to chart the next phase of growth for LTI. We remain committed to pushing industry benchmarks on business excellence." Anil joins LTI from Tech Mahindra where he was the Senior Vice President for Finnce and Legal functions and Global Head of Finance for BPS. Before this role, Anil was with Hutchison Max Telecom Ltd where he looked after management accounting. His other stints have been with Alpic Finance and A.F. Ferguson & Co. Anil is a Chartered Account, Cost Accountant and a Company Secretary. He has won multiple industry accolades for outstanding contributions during his illustrious career. He will be based out of LTI's headquarters in Mumbai, India. About LTI: LTI (NSE: LTI) is a global technology consulting and digital solutions Company helping more than 400 clients succeed in a converging world. With operations in 31 countries, we go the extra mile for our clients and accelerate their digital transformation with LTI's Mosaic platform enabling their mobile, social, analytics, IoT and cloud journeys. Founded in 1997 as a subsidiary of Larsen & Toubro Limited, our unique heritage gives us unrivalled real-world expertise to solve the most complex challenges of enterprises across all industries. Each day, our team of more than 33,000 LTItes enable our clients to improve the effectiveness of their business and technology operations and deliver value to their customers, employees and shareholders. Follow us at @LTI_Global. Connect with LTI: Read our News and Blogs Follow us on Twitter and LinkedIn Like us on Facebook Logo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1044154/LTI_Logo.jpg [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] Videos Sorry, there are no recent results for popular videos. Source: Xinhua| 2021-04-15 22:20:19|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close A staff member makes preparation at the main venue for the annual conference of Boao Forum for Asia (BFA) in Boao, south China's Hainan Province, April 10, 2021. The BFA will hold its annual conference from April 18 to 21.(Xinhua/Guo Cheng) HAIKOU, April 15 (Xinhua) -- Over 4,000 people will attend the Boao Forum for Asia (BFA)'s annual conference, which is scheduled for April 18 to 21 in Boao, south China's Hainan Province, according to a press conference on Thursday. Official statistics show that 4,128 people have signed up for the conference, including over 80 Chinese officials, some 60 foreign diplomats in China, and over 130 entrepreneurs from China and abroad. Four sub-forums will discuss topics like sustainable development of rural areas and island economies on the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road, according to the press conference. The forum, in its 20th edition, will be mainly held offline but partly online for COVID-19 prevention and control, said Wang Sheng, director of the provincial foreign affairs office. All forum participants are required to provide a negative nucleic acid test report conducted within 72 hours before entering Hainan and receive another test at one of the province's entry ports, said Zeng Zhaochang, deputy director of the provincial health commission. The BFA was founded in 2001. It is a non-governmental and non-profit international organization committed to promoting regional economic integration and bringing Asian countries closer to their development goals. Vitruvian's acquisition enables KCAS to further accelerate global growth both through acquisitions and expansion of its U.S. operations Vitruvian Partners, one of the world's leading growth-focused investment firms, announced that it has acquired a majority ownership stake in KCAS Bioanalytical and Biomarker Services (KCAS), located in the Kansas City, Kansas metropolitan area. Both management and current majority shareholders KVCI are making a significant reinvestment in the company. Other financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed. KCAS is a leading U.S.-based Contract Research Organization providing comprehensive GLP-compliant bioanalytical and biomarker development testing services for the biotech, pharmaceutical, and animal health industries. The company offers a complete range of bioanalytical services from early discovery support through registration, providing expertise in biological (large molecule) and synthetic (small molecule) drug candidates. Vitruvian's investment positions KCAS to continue growing its operations in Kansas City, including with a [70,000] sq ft new facility; continue the rapid hiring of top scientific talent and focus on outstanding customer service; and accelerate internationalization including through acquisitions. Vitruvian's global reach and significant available capital positions KCAS as a platform for accelerated future growth through acquisitions and continued expansion of its current operations. John Bucksath, CEO of KCAS, commented, "We are delighted to be working with Vitruvian as we look to advance both organic and inorganic plans to support the growing demand for our services. With additional capital, expertise, and a global reach, Vitruvian sets the stage for the organization to accelerate into the future as a prominent large molecule focused CRO services provider to the drug development industry. With heavy focus on talent acquisition and investment in capabilities for both technical and systems growth, we know that Vitruvian's support and guidance will help enable our continued success. We look forward to continuing to grow our business with a very strong partner." Sophie Bower-Straziota, Partner at Vitruvian Partners, comments, "KCAS has built a very strong reputation in bioanalytical services, thanks to outstanding leadership from John and the support from KVCI. The company is an excellent fit with our investment strategy of backing best-in-class management teams leading companies benefiting from strong market tailwinds with internationalization opportunities. Vitruvian has invested in KCAS to help build on the excellent foundations, and hence support the increasing needs of the company's growing pharmaceutical and biotech clients. As the drug development market continues to evolve, our investment creates the opportunity to broaden capabilities, advance geographical reach, provide the resources to scale the business, and make strategic acquisitions." Brian Lueger, Konza Valley Capital Inc., comments, "We are excited to continue to invest alongside Vitruvian Partners. Our initial investment in KCAS helped the organization grow to where it is today, and we are proud of the growth and success of the company to date. We believe Vitruvian will help lead the Company to its potential and we are continuing with minority investment to support the Company in its next chapter." Vitruvian was advised by William Blair, Kirkland Ellis LLP, FTI Consulting, Bain Consulting and PwC. KVCI and KCAS were advised by BroadOak Capital and Polsinelli. Further information: About KCAS KCAS Bioanalytical and Biomarker Services, an Integris BioServices, LLC company is a rapidly growing company that provides comprehensive GLP compliant development services from early discovery support through product registration and beyond. One of only a select few CROs offering both large and small molecule development with extensive capabilities and expertise, KCAS provides a truly differentiated approach to its clients who are looking for both scientific expertise and excellent customer service. KCAS is headquartered in Shawnee, Kansas the Kansas City metro area and employs more than 180 employees. Further information regarding KCAS can be found at www.KCASBio.com. About Vitruvian Vitruvian is a leading international growth investor headquartered in London with offices in London, Stockholm, Munich, Luxembourg, San Francisco and Shanghai. Vitruvian focuses on dynamic situations characterized by rapid growth and change across industries. Vitruvian has backed over 50 companies and has assets under management of approximately 10 billion. Notable investments include global market leaders and disruptors in their field such as CRF Health, Maxcyte, Oxford Biomedica, Just Eat, Farfetch, Marqeta and TransferWise. https://www.vitruvianpartners.com/ About Konza Valley Capital Inc. (KVCI) Located in Overland Park, Kansas, KVCI has provided long-term capital solutions for portfolio companies since 1977. KVCI offers flexible, long term capital solutions for expansion, acquisitions, ownership transitions, and turnaround situations. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210415005330/en/ Contacts: KCAS Bioanalytical and Biomarker Services John Bucksath, 913-248-3003 John.Bucksath@KCASBio.com Seoul, April 15 : South Korea said on Thursday it will ramp up efforts to promote a homegrown charging technology for electric vehicles (EVs) as an international standard, as the country plans to penetrate deeper into the growing sector. The Korean Agency for Technology and Standards held a virtual meeting with experts from home and abroad to further foster the wireless charging technology for EVs with a capacity of 50 kilowatts, according to the Ministry of Trade, Industry, and Energy. South Korea proposed the technology as a global standard to the International Electrotechnical Commission last year, reports Yonhap news agency. The technology will allow EVs to be charged up to 80 per cent of their capacity within an hour. The agency said the technology proposed by South Korea holds more potential compared with that suggested by Japan, whose charging capacity stands at 11 kW. The country, meanwhile, is also carrying out studies to find a breakthrough to have cars charged while driving. The technology is expected to be first applied on buses that run on fixed routes before being available in other automobiles. The agency believes the development can lead to stronger demand for EVs once commercialized. The Moon Jae-in administration has been pushing to foster the industry for EVs in line with its green energy policy. South Korea plans to have eco-friendly cars, including hydrogen fuel cell cars, take up 30 per cent of the total automobiles registered in the country by 2030, rising sharply from the current estimate of 3 per cent. -- The story has been published from a wire feed without any modifications to the text Florencia Torche. Credit: Steve Gladfelter Something big is happening with babies in Chileand it's at the heart of a unique study into what it means to be born to married versus unmarried parents. In Chile, the proportion of births among women based on their marital status has shifted dramatically in the last 30 years. More unmarried women today give birth relative to married women. While this trend has been happening in most of the Western world, the drop has been especially sharp in Chile. This has allowed Florencia Torche, a professor of sociology in the School of Humanities and Sciences at Stanford University, and Alejandra Abufhele of the Universidad Catolica de Chile to investigate a key question about marriage's effects on child development and society's role in promoting them. Social scientists have long known that the offspring of married couples have significant, lifelong advantages over children born to unwed mothers, including better mental and physical health, higher levels of education and higher incomes. Research into this "marriage premium" has identified the multitude of individual differencesin race, socioeconomic status, personality, among other characteristicsto account for the discrepancies between children of married and unmarried parents. But what about society's role? When it comes to the marriage premium and child development, society's influence has always been part of the conversation, but assumptions about its impact have not been proven. "The question of the institution of marriagehow normative or accepted it is within societyand how it might affect the marriage premium has been curiously missing as a focus of research," said Torche, whose research focuses on inequality and well-being across generations, including the effects of early life exposures to shocks such as natural disasters, armed conflict and crackdowns on immigration. Torche and Abufhele saw in Chile a "unique and exceptional opportunity" to tackle this question head on. In a paper published April 14 in the American Journal of Sociology, the pair detail striking evidence that societal perceptions of matrimony also contribute to the marriage premium. "As marriage has lost its normative status in Chile, the marriage premium for children also declined to the point where it fully disappeared," Torche said. "Our analysis of that decline shows that the status of marriage in society matters." The researchers say their findings do not discount the role that parents and their marital circumstances contribute to the marriageit's just not the whole story. "Both factors matter," Torche said. "Individual characteristics matter and the extent to which marriage is a norm in a society also matter." A novel and striking insight In Chile, marriage shifted from norm to exception within a generationa swift reversal of fortune that was also comprehensive and measurable: The proportion of births among married women plunged from 66 percent in 1990 to 27 percent in 2016. What's more, in the early 1990s, babies born to married mothers had a considerable advantage over newborns from outside of marriage in that they were less likely to be of low birth weight, premature or small for gestational age. But by the mid-2010s, this advantage was negligible in the case of low birth weight, had completely disappeared for preterm birth and had declined by about two-thirds for small-for-gestational-age birth. "We found that this change was not due to demographic or socioeconomic differences between married and unmarried mothers or to the increase in cohabitation," Torche said. This conclusion was further supported by results from two additional analyses the researchers performed: First, they looked at births by marital status and infant health across regions of Chile. In the second, they studied health outcomes among siblings whose mother was unmarried when delivering one child and married when delivering another. The three analyses were designed to complement one another. "There is always a risk that there are differences between women who marry before having children and those who do not that we cannot observe in the data," Torche said. The birth certificate data that Torche and Abufhele relied on didn't have information on, for example, differences in personality or health conditions that might explain why the marriage premium disappeared over time. By analyzing siblings of the same mother born under different marital statuses, the authors ruled out these and other unmeasured characteristics. The researchers found that, on all three measures, the results were similar: As views on marriage in Chile changed, newborns of unmarried mothers were on average as healthy as those of married women. "By triangulating evidence of marital fertility and infant health over time, across place and within siblings, we offer consistent evidence that the prevalence of marriage in society also factors into the marriage premium," Torche said. According to Torche, the overall findingthat society at large can reinforce the marriage premiumis important for policymaking. Any group that is considered to be outside the norm, such as single parents or non-heterosexuals, may face stigmatization or even discrimination from family members, co-workers, neighbors and institutions. For unwed mothers, it can lead to higher levels of stress, which is known to harm fetal development, or feelings of shame that prevent them from seeking support. When that happens, the marriage premium gets reinforced. "When creating and implementing social policies, we need to be careful that the non-normative characteristics or statuses of the people they are intended to help are not portrayed as a problem," said Torche. "In addition to harming the individuals, it limits what policies can achieve." More information: Florencia Torche et al. The Normativity of Marriage and the Marriage Premium for Children's Outcomes, American Journal of Sociology (2021). Journal information: American Journal of Sociology Florencia Torche et al. The Normativity of Marriage and the Marriage Premium for Children's Outcomes,(2021). DOI: 10.1086/713382 Cash is probably not going to disappear anytime soon in Africa, but a growing number of digital finance initiatives including two recently announced in Kenya and Nigeria may help to accelerate the process. In East Africa Telkom Kenya has announced plans to develop a youth-focused digital wallet to combat the financial exclusion that it says has been an effect of the ongoing pandemic. The operator has signed an agreement with the Ministry of ICTs National Youth Council of Kenya (NYCK) to co-create Fursa (Swahili for opportunity), a platform that allows the council to disburse funds to young people conveniently, quickly and in a secure and timely manner. Independent trust The Financial Sector Deepening (FSD) Kenya estimates that 23 percent of the countrys 18-25-year-olds are excluded from financial services and products and that financial services providers have no solutions targeted at the young. Fursa will be customised to contain other capabilities including a membership management system, financial reconciliation, savings and investments, and an experience board for job matching and e-learning as well as experiential skill development. Telkom will install the Fursa wallet and offer support with operationalisation, maintenance and updates. It will also provide professional and product support services, including infrastructure, care services, monitoring, performance and availability. In Nigeria meanwhile, a digital payment solution provider, PurplePay, has launched a mobile pay solution application that it hopes eventually to extend to other countries. It is described as a pocket-friendly, convenient and safe way to send and receive money, pay bills and top up airtime with ease anytime and from anywhere. PurplePay, which is available in Android and iOS app stores, has a QR code scanner that allows merchants to receive payments as well as a bulk payment feature that allows users to make huge payments at once. The peer-to-peer transfer feature allows users to send and receive money from other PurplePay users with their usernames or phone numbers. PurplePay also offers a cross-border payments and multicurrency wallet in local currency and US dollars. In addition the platform provides virtual accounts for Nigerian users to send and receive money from any bank in Nigeria with their PurplePay account number. Derek Chauvin says he will not testify at trial and the defense rests Xiulin Ruan, a Purdue University professor of mechanical engineering, holds up his labs sample of the whitest paint on record. (Purdue University/Jared Pike) New paint formulation could help buildings rely less on air conditioning WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. In an effort to curb global warming, Purdue University engineers have created the whitest paint yet. Coating buildings with this paint may one day cool them off enough to reduce the need for air conditioning, the researchers say. In October, the team created an ultra-white paint that pushed limits on how white paint can be. Now theyve outdone that. The newer paint not only is whiter but also can keep surfaces cooler than the formulation that the researchers had previously demonstrated. If you were to use this paint to cover a roof area of about 1,000 square feet, we estimate that you could get a cooling power of 10 kilowatts. Thats more powerful than the central air conditioners used by most houses, said Xiulin Ruan, a Purdue professor of mechanical engineering. The researchers believe that this white may be the closest equivalent of the blackest black, Vantablack, which absorbs up to 99.9% of visible light. The new whitest paint formulation reflects up to 98.1% of sunlight compared with the 95.5% of sunlight reflected by the researchers previous ultra-white paint and sends infrared heat away from a surface at the same time. Typical commercial white paint gets warmer rather than cooler. Paints on the market that are designed to reject heat reflect only 80%-90% of sunlight and cant make surfaces cooler than their surroundings. The teams research paper showing how the paint works publishes Thursday (April 15) as the cover of the journal ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces. What makes the whitest paint so white Two features give the paint its extreme whiteness. One is the paints very high concentration of a chemical compound called barium sulfate, which is also used to make photo paper and cosmetics white. We looked at various commercial products, basically anything thats white, said Xiangyu Li, a postdoctoral researcher at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, who worked on this project as a Purdue Ph.D. student in Ruans lab. We found that using barium sulfate, you can theoretically make things really, really reflective, which means that theyre really, really white. The second feature is that the barium sulfate particles are all different sizes in the paint. How much each particle scatters light depends on its size, so a wider range of particle sizes allows the paint to scatter more of the light spectrum from the sun. A high concentration of particles that are also different sizes gives the paint the broadest spectral scattering, which contributes to the highest reflectance, said Joseph Peoples, a Purdue Ph.D. student in mechanical engineering. There is a little bit of room to make the paint whiter, but not much without compromising the paint. Although a higher particle concentration is better for making something white, you cant increase the concentration too much. The higher the concentration, the easier it is for the paint to break or peel off, Li said. How the whitest paint is also the coolest The paints whiteness also means that the paint is the coolest on record. Using high-accuracy temperature reading equipment called thermocouples, the researchers demonstrated outdoors that the paint can keep surfaces 19 degrees Fahrenheit cooler than their ambient surroundings at night. It can also cool surfaces 8 degrees Fahrenheit below their surroundings under strong sunlight during noon hours. The paint's solar reflectance is so effective, it even worked in the middle of winter. During an outdoor test with an ambient temperature of 43 degrees Fahrenheit, the paint still managed to lower the sample temperature by 18 degrees Fahrenheit. This white paint is the result of six years of research building on attempts going back to the 1970s to develop radiative cooling paint as a feasible alternative to traditional air conditioners. Ruans lab had considered over 100 different materials, narrowed them down to 10 and tested about 50 different formulations for each material. Their previous ultra-white paint was a formulation made of calcium carbonate, an earth-abundant compound commonly found in rocks and seashells. The researchers showed in their study that like commercial paint, their barium sulfate-based paint can potentially handle outdoor conditions. The technique that the researchers used to create the paint also is compatible with the commercial paint fabrication process. Patent applications for this paint formulation have been filed through the Purdue Research Foundation Office of Technology Commercialization. This research was supported by the Cooling Technologies Research Center at Purdue University and the Air Force Office of Scientific Research through the Defense University Research Instrumentation Program (Grant No.427 FA9550-17-1-0368). The research was performed at Purdues FLEX Lab and Ray W. Herrick Laboratories and the Birck Nanotechnology Center of Purdues Discovery Park. About Discovery Park Discovery Park is a place where Purdue researchers move beyond traditional boundaries, collaborating across disciplines and with policymakers and business leaders to create solutions for a better world. Grand challenges of global health, global conflict and security, and those that lie at the nexus of sustainable energy, world food supply, water and the environment are the focus of researchers in Discovery Park. The translation of discovery to impact is integrated into the fabric of Discovery Park through entrepreneurship programs and partnerships. 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, Media contact: Kayla Wiles, 765-494-2432, wiles5@purdue.edu Source: Xiulin Ruan, ruan@purdue.edu Journalists visiting campus : Journalists should follow Protect Purdue protocols and the following guidelines: Campus is open, but the number of people in spaces may be limited. We will be as accommodating as possible, but you may be asked to step out or report from another location. To enable access, particularly to campus buildings, we recommend you contact the Purdue News Service media contact listed on the release to let them know the nature of the visit and where you will be visiting. A News Service representative can facilitate safe access and may escort you on campus. Correctly wear face masks inside any campus building, and correctly wear face masks outdoors when social distancing of at least six feet is not possible. Ultra-white BaSO 4 Paints and Films for Remarkable Daytime Subambient Radiative Cooling Xiangyu Li, Joseph Peoples, Peiyan Yao and Xiulin Ruan DOI: 10.1021/acsami.1c02368 UPDATE: Police seek robber in 2 Kent County bank holdups KENT COUNTY, MI Police are searching a Wyoming neighborhood for a man who robbed a Grandville bank. The unarmed holdup was reported around 11:15 a.m. Thursday, April 15, at Fifth-Third Bank at 3900 Chicago Drive SW. Police spotted the suspects Mercedes near Clyde Park Avenue SW and 54 Street but the vehicle fled at a high speed, police said. The man stopped near 32nd Street SW and Homecrest Avenue and fled on foot, police said. Police were searching near Peppercorn Apartments and surrounding neighborhoods. Multiple police agencies are involved in the search. Police are also using a drone in the investigation. Read more: Drought continues to spread into Michigan from west; could have impact on summer weather Extended Benefits unemployment program ends in Michigan Grand Rapids manufacturer seeking tax break for addition, anticipates creating 54 jobs Ashley Cain's daughter Azaylia has been put on oxygen to help her sleep 'comfortably' after returning home from hospital amid her leukaemia battle. The eight-month-old was rushed to hospital on Tuesday night after her heart rate climbed to over 200 and she has since received a platelet transfusion. Taking to Instagram on Wednesday evening, Ashley's partner and Azaylia's mother Safiyya Vorajee gave an update on their daughter after returning home. Update: Ashley Cain's daughter Azaylia has been put on oxygen to help her sleep 'comfortably' after returning home from hospital amid her leukaemia battle Sharing a sweet video of herself holding a sleeping Azaylia in her arms, Safiyya admitted they had experienced an 'exhausting' night. She said: 'Really really exhausting night last night. We didn't get much sleep at all, probably haven't had much sleep in the last few weeks. 'As you can see, Azaylia is on oxygen at the moment. Her breathing is a little bit more intense. 'She is struggling a little bit so we're giving her oxygen just to help her sleep more comfortably. Home: The eight-month-old was rushed to hospital on Tuesday night after her heart rate climbed to over 200 and she has since received a platelet transfusion 'Quality time': Taking to Instagram on Wednesday evening, Ashley's partner and Azaylia's mother Safiyya Vorajee gave an update on their daughter after returning home 'She's not had an uncomfortable day today, she's been very comfortable and quite sleepy. Hopefully later on she wakes up and we can have some playtime.' Safiyya went on to share another sweet video of a sleeping Azaylia in her arms and added the caption: 'Quality time' followed by a heart emoji. It comes after Azaylia was nominated for a Pride Of Britain Award by thousands of supporters around the world. The eight-month-old has been battling acute myeloid leukaemia since she was just two months and has garnered thousands of votes. Sweet: Safiyya later shared another photo with Azaylia and said: 'Thank you for today, and blessing me with my beautiful family' Vote for Azaylia: It comes after Azaylia was nominated for a Pride Of Britain Award by thousands of supporters around the world (Azaylia pictured in a digital portrait by Roe-Parkin Creative) Let's go champ: On the Facebook page for the tot, one of her followers penned: 'Get this little champ nominated!!', leading to masses of comments confirming fans had voted The Azaylia Diamond Cain Journey To Fight Acute Myeloid Leukaemia Facebook page, which has 136.9K member, saw traction rising to get the tot nominated for one of the prestigious awards to recognise her fight. Ashley and Safiyya have been chronicling her leukaemia battle on social media and after their Pride Of Britain votes began the couple revealed she had been discharged from hospital again. On the Facebook page for the tot, one of her followers penned: 'Get this little champ nominated!!', leading to masses of comments confirming fans had voted. Home: In what will no doubt be happy news for the family, on Wednesday Safiyya shared a video of Azalyia as they made their way home after another platelet transfusion Heartbreak: Azaylia was rushed to hospital on Tuesday night, just hours after celebrities and fans held a clap in her honour The page has followed Azalyia's journey with huge support from many close to the family as well as strangers who have been helping the family. In what will no doubt be happy news for the family, on Wednesday Safiyya shared a video of Azalyia as they made their way home after another platelet transfusion. The video showed Azaylia on a stretcher while playing with a teddy bear which had been gifted to her by a paramedic. Before she was admitted to hospital on Tuesday night, the aesthetic practitioner wrote alongside the video: 'Back in hospital tonight, Azaylia's heart rate was over 200. Abbey was joined by her husband Peter Crouch alongside three of their children, and in her video Abbey wrote '#GoChamp' Let's go champ: Mrs Hinch, meanwhile, posted a photo from her front door and wrote over the snap: 'Azaylia. We are all behind you' Touching: Stacey Solomon was unable to get home in time to take part, but she shared a picture of Ashley with Azaylia, and wrote: 'It's just the most unimaginable, heartbreaking thing' Staying positive: Ashley also shared a post shortly before the clap was set to take place, as he gushed over being able to take his daughter for a walk outside for the first time 'Currently waiting for her blood results to see if we can get her some antibiotics to treat any infections... 'You are amazing baby. Mummy and daddy promised to give you our 100% from day 1 & we will keep to our word what ever you need we will do for you baby.' Clearly heartbroken, the couple took to Instagram to give the update alongside the videos showing paramedics tending to the tot in her third urgent hospital trip in the brief time she has been allowed to return home. Earlier in the evening, a special clap was held for Azaylia, with celebrities like Abbey Clancy, Marnie Simpson and Mrs Hinch leading the stars in taking part in the clap, which celebrated eight-month-old daughter amid her leukaemia battle. The couple were moved as strangers and celebrities showed their support for their little tot in the same way the public have done for the NHS during the Covid crisis. Heartache: Earlier in the day, Ashley revealed Azaylia had been rushed back to hospital after she began crying blood and in urgent need of a transfusion Bleeding: Safiyya also shared an image of Azaylia's leg with a deep purple bruise as a result of the disruption of the body's platelet production, which causes bleeding under the skin Abbey was joined by her husband Peter Crouch alongside three of their children, and in her video Abbey wrote '#GoChamp'. Mrs Hinch posted a photo from her front door and wrote over the snap: 'Azaylia. We are all behind you.' Stacey Solomon was unable to get home in time to take part in the clap, but she shared a picture of Ashley with Azaylia, and wrote: 'I've seen lots of you clapping for beautiful Azaylia tonight. 'It's just the most unimaginable, heartbreaking thing that I've seen and experienced with too many precious families. It's just so unfair and cruel.' Safiyya took to Instagram to share a video after the clap, showing how many people had come out to clap for Azaylia. Heartbreak: It comes after Safiyya revealed she has planned a tattoo tribute to her daughter Azaylia, as the tot continues her fight against leukaemia She told her followers: 'We've just done our 7 O'clock clap and wow our street was so loud wasn't it?' 'You were singing really loud weren't ya? Wow! Everyone's come out, yea they have all for you baby girl, I love you.' After they returned home, Safiyya went on: 'Wow here's the champ, everyone's still been singing for you, yea. Let's go champ, let's go!' Ashley also shared a post shortly before the clap was set to take place, as he gushed over being able to take his daughter for a walk outside for the first time. In a touching post, he wrote: 'Today was the first time in the 8 months of fatherhood that I've had the chance to walk down the street with my baby in my arms. Let's go: Ashley later shared another post showing his daughter sleeping and wrote alongside: 'We fight and we pray for another day #letsgochamp' 'No hospital, no isolation, no pram with a protective cover... Just me, and my baby, doing what a daddy and daughter should be able to do. 'When I say this to you all I really mean it... Appreciate what you have, cherish every single moment and always be the best you that you can be for the ones you love.' He added: 'I have been told today, there is an official doorstep clap that's been organised for Azaylia tonight at 7pm. 'To this day, I am still amazed and overwhelmed at the amount of love and support for my beautiful daughter, and I am grateful for everyone who has arranged and will be taking part in tonight's clap, to show support for Azaylia and her journey. 'Despite what's going on, I truly feel blessed that I get to spend these days with the best thing that ever happened to me. They will stay with me in my heart forever!' 'She's so beautiful': After having casts made of their daughter's feet over the weekend, Safiyya revealed they had another cast-making session, during which she was given the imprints of Azaylia's feet in preparation for a tattoo tribute to the tot Earlier in the day, Ashley revealed Azaylia had been rushed back to hospital after she began crying blood and in urgent need of a transfusion. Taking to Instagram, her mum Safiyya shared a video from within the hospital during which Ashley cradled the eight-month-old while she slept. Proving herself to be incredibly strong, Safiyya said to the camera: 'We've just gone back into hospital to get Azaylia another platelet transfusion because last night the tears started having blood in them, so we needed more platelets'. She also shared an image of Azaylia's leg with a deep purple bruise as a result of the disruption of the body's platelet production, which causes bleeding under the skin. People with leukaemia are more likely to bruise due to the fact their bodies don't create enough platelets to plug bleeding blood vessels. Pained: In the same video in which she discussed her tattoo, Safiyya branded her daughter's pain 'torture' to look upon and then posted a video while singing Mariah Carey and Whitney Houston's 1998 hit When You Believe Leukaemia bruises look like any other kind of bruise, but there are usually more of them than normal. Additionally, they may show up on unusual areas of the body. Ashley cradled Azaylia in the heartbreaking clip, while they stood in the brightly-coloured hospital room and Safiyya held the camera and spoke. It comes after Safiyya revealed she has planned a tattoo tribute to her daughter Azaylia, as the tot continues her fight against leukaemia. Taking to Instagram on Monday evening, she shared heartbreaking videos chronicling the family's tough evening before, after they demanded doctors carry out a platelet transfusion on the tot. After having casts made of their daughter's feet over the weekend, Safiyya revealed they had another cast-making session, during which she was given the imprints of Azaylia's feet in preparation for a tattoo tribute to the tot. Ashley later shared another post showing his daughter sleeping and wrote alongside: 'We fight and we pray for another day #letsgochamp'. The couple have been chronicling Azalyia's health woes on social media since she was diagnosed with leukaemia at just two months and has garnered worldwide support, including from Dwayne Johnson. In the same video in which she discussed her tattoo, Safiyya branded her daughter's pain 'torture' to look upon and then posted a video while singing Mariah Carey and Whitney Houston's 1998 hit When You Believe. On her tattoo, she said: 'We did more castings yesterday to get some necklaces and some hand prints and foot prints... 'I started stressing in case I dropped it but the lady was so good and gave me a print that I can get as a tattoo so she'll always be with me and so close. So I decided to get the prints done and a tattoo of her hands and feet.' Heartache: Last week, doctors revealed there was no further treatment available amid her leukaemia battle following the discovery of multiple tumours in her body On their trip to hospital and her transfusion the previous day, she said: 'Azaylia was experiencing loads of nosebleeds due to the platelets in the body not being able to clot the blood so we went to hospital... 'Unfortunately over the night she's still experiencing the bleeding. Just spoken to the community nurse and they're coming to check. Anything you're experiencing with your child, you know your child best. We thought it was right to get the transfusion... 'The NHS and the service they provide is amazing. Every morning I wake up is a blessing and I just feel so lucky to hold her there and for her to smile and to sing to and all our Jungle Book themed tunes... 'The amount of times we sing you wouldn't even know. You don't know how much I love her and it's absolutely heartbreaking and this feels like torture it's so hard and the support you've given us is amazing... 'It's so hard and painful but I'm gonna make every day as special and fun as possible for her. Make the most of everyday because tomorrow isn't promised to anyone.' Sweetheart: Ashley said he has spent the first eight months of fatherhood under Covid-19 restrictions in hospital as his daughter fought the cancer She then shared a video of Ashley's sister Alissia dancing with Azaylia and another showing them snapping selfies together. Last week, doctors revealed there was no further treatment available amid her leukaemia battle following the discovery of multiple tumours in her body. The couple recently raised more than 1.5m to fund a trip to Singapore for life-saving transplant, but she was being treated in the UK during the interim. He later revealed that Azaylia can no longer fly to Singapore for treatment after discovering the tumours, and vowed to make her final days 'as fun as they can'. Ashley penned a detailed account of Azaylia's health battle on his GoFundMe page and said that any extra funds the couple receive will be donated to other families in a similar situation to them. Pained: Last week, Ashley shared a heartbreaking video revealing he and Safiyya were bringing their little girl home to make her comfortable after learning doctors had found tumours throughout her body According to the NHS, it is a 'highly complex and potentially risky treatment' but has been shown in trials to cure some patients when other treatments have failed. Ashley said he has spent the first eight months of fatherhood under Covid-19 restrictions in hospital as his daughter fought the cancer. Doctors told the TV star and his partner Safiyya that chemotherapy would not be enough to cure Azaylia. Last week, Ashley shared a heartbreaking video revealing he and Safiyya were bringing their little girl home to make her comfortable after learning doctors had found tumours throughout her body. And as he faces up to the harrowing prognosis that his adorable child has just days to live, Ashley paid tribute to the brave youngster as he admitted: 'I don't know what I will do without you.' In the video, the doting dad was seen gently splashing the water around Azaylia as she looked up at her dad adoringly while sitting in a small tub on the hospital ward. Captioning the footage, he wrote: Azaylia's last bath in hospital, before we take her home where she belongs. '9 days ago consultants told us my daughter had 1-2 days to live, but thought she may pass that evening. Even with a barbaric disease consuming her blood, tumours in her brain and organs and amounts of pain I cannot imagine... 'She is still battling through 9 days later, with parts of the day with nothing but smiles despite her discomfort. 'This is a testament of this little girls strength and the fight she has possessed all of the way through. She has fought a battle that not many, if any, of us could have endured and she's earned the love and respect of many on the way... Her love: Over the weekend, Safiyya shared a heartwarming video showing the family eating together, with Azaylia tucking into strawberries while her parents looked on 'The truth is though, I hope and pray that I have earned hers! Even through the hardest and saddest time of my life, she has found a way to make it better... 'She has shined light on the darkest of days and she has opened my heart to amounts of love I couldn't believe possible. 'The truth is, I don't know what I will do without you. But for now, I find strength in giving you the best of me, and the only me that you deserve. 'You are in my arms, my thoughts, my prayers and my heart everyday my princess. YOU'RE MY HERO! DADDY LOVES YOU!' Britain has accused Russia's foreign intelligence agency of responsibility for a major cyber attack affecting thousands of organisations in the West. The Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) said it had been assessed that it was 'highly likely' that the SVR was behind the so-called SolarWinds hack. It came as Joe Biden said he was expelling 10 Russian diplomats in response to the Kremlin's targeting of federal agencies and attempts to interfere in last year's presidential election. Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab said the UK and US were determined to stand together against what he described as Russia's 'malign behaviour'. Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab said the UK and US were determined to stand together against what he described as Russia's 'malign behaviour' How hackers used legitimate software to carry out 'biggest hack in US history' The US Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency has released an alert detailing what it knows about the breach. CISA says that hackers were able to compromise the supply chain of network management software from SolarWinds, specifically recent versions of the SolarWinds Orion products. Beginning in March 2020, hackers used SolarWinds software updates to install a secret network backdoor, which authorities are calling SUNBURST. The malicious code was signed by the legitimate SolarWinds code signing certificate. An estimated 18,000 customers downloaded the compromised updates. Once installed on a network, the malware used a protocol designed to mimic legitimate SolarWinds traffic to communicate with a domain that has since been seized and shut down. The initial contact domain would often direct the malware to a new internet protocol (IP) address for command and control. The attackers used rotating IPs and virtual private servers with IP addresses in the target's home country to make detection of the traffic more difficult. 'Taken together, these observed techniques indicate an adversary who is skilled, stealthy with operational security, and is willing to expend significant resources to maintain covert presence,' CISA said in the alert. Advertisement 'We see what Russia is doing to undermine our democracies,' he said in a statement. 'The UK and US are calling out Russia's malicious behaviour, to enable our international partners and businesses at home to better defend and prepare themselves against this kind of action. 'The UK will continue to work with allies to call out Russia's malign behaviour where we see it.' The compromise of the SolarWinds IT services firm - discovered last December - is thought to represent one of the most serious cyber espionage attacks suffered by the US. Russian hackers are believed to have infected its widely used Orion software with a malicious code enabling them to access the systems of at least nine US agencies and 18,000 organisations worldwide, including Nato and the European Parliament. The FCDO said the impact in the UK had been assessed by the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) - part of GCHQ - as 'low' with a 'low single digit number' of public sector bodies having been targeted. It said the Government had been working with the affected organisations to ensure they were 'rapidly mitigated'. According to the NCSC assessment, the attack was carried out by a group of hackers known as Cozy Bear or The Dukes, which the FCDO said were linked to the SVR. It said that it was part of a 'wider pattern of cyber intrusions' by the Russian spy agency dating back at least a decade. In addition to the expulsion of the diplomats, the US administration said it was imposing sanctions on six Russian companies which supported Moscow's cyber activities and 32 individuals and entities accused of attempting to interfere in last year's presidential election. A further eight people and entities linked to Russia's occupation of Crimea also face sanctions. US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said: 'These actions are intended to hold Russia to account for its reckless actions. We will act firmly in response to Russian actions that cause harm to us or our allies and partners.' The FCDO said the impact in the UK had been assessed by the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) - part of GCHQ (pictured) - as 'low' with a 'low single digit number' of public sector bodies having been targeted In response, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova warned that America's 'aggressive behaviour' would 'undoubtedly trigger a resolute retaliation'. 'Washington should realise that it will have to pay a price for the degradation of the bilateral ties,' she said. 'The responsibility for that will fully lie with the United States.' She said the foreign ministry had summoned the US ambassador for a 'hard conversation' but gave no further details of what actions would follow. The latest exchanges come amid rising tension between Washington and Moscow following a build-up of Russian forces on the border with Ukraine - seen by some analysts as an attempt by the Kremlin to test the resolve of the new US president. In a telephone call earlier this week, Mr Biden warned Russian President Vladimir Putin that the US would 'act firmly in defence of its national interests'. One Right-wing Tory MP an ardent monarchist at that believes that Prince Philip represents a glaring contradiction. During a heated exchange at Westminster, Anthony Beaumont-Dark (Birmingham Selly Oak) demanded of the Prince: 'How can you stand there when you hunt and kill for pleasure and make an appeal for conservation?' The Duke of Edinburgh has two apparently irreconcilable images. On the one hand, the President of the World Wildlife Fund, passionately pleading on behalf of the panda. On the other, the master shot who downs hundreds of birds at Sandringham every year. It was these two conflicting roles that I put to the Prince during an exclusive interview as we sat in the Buckingham Palace Library, a room he designed with Sir Hugh Casson. 'What you've got to understand,' he told me, 'is that when you grow up in the countryside you learn the principle of conservation from farming. 'You learn you have to keep the seed corn for the following year. You know you can only take the surplus from your flocks or you won't have anything to breed from the following year. When I used to walk in the country with older relations, they would point out buzzards and eagles and my interest in conservation grew. Tory MP attacked Philip for preaching conservation while enjoying bloodsports. Pictured: Philip stroking an elephant on a visit to Chitwan Park, Nepal Sustainable 'I began to watch birds at Sandringham because we were on a migratory route. What also happens is you gradually notice the subtle changes. For instance, back in the Fifties when all the very poisonous agricultural sprays came into being, the keepers at Sandringham suddenly reported that all the small birds were dying and they'd keep picking them up all over the place. 'Then they found the pigeons and foxes dying and worked back to discover that the seed corn was being dressed with stuff to prevent it being attacked by weevils. 'Birds ate the seed and this material turned out to be toxic. Predators ate the dead birds and it accumulated so the whole natural system was affected.' Pointing out the glaringly obvious is something the Prince approaches with delicate mastery these days. 'There was a great battle to try to persuade people not to use the poisons and you had to persuade the scientists it was dangerous and they didn't want to accept it because it was their livelihood. He is also the master shot who downs hundreds of birds at Sandringham every year. Pictured: Philip with a dead pheasant on a shoot Logic 'Slowly the various chemicals were banned and people began to realise it was through country people seeing what was happening. You didn't have to be an expert or converted you just became aware of it.' Prince Philip waves his hand towards where we can see trees in the park. 'In this country we operate on a basis of sustainable use. If those trees didn't belong to anyone, people would come along and take what they wanted for firewood and they wouldn't last a minute. 'In places like Africa, you just break off a branch if you want firewood because no one owns the trees so they just get cut down.' He applies the same logic to other aspects of conservation, too. 'I'd like to see fewer people wearing fur, for instance, but I would never tell them not to that's a dangerous argument. 'What I would say is please make sure you only wear animal-based products from a species which is not in danger of extinction. This means it is either farmed and there's nothing wrong with farming animals or when you are certain there are plenty of them. The important thing is to get through to the people who make the decision to put these things on the market. They're the ones to influence.' Although Prince Philip believes sound common sense is the key when it comes to putting his message across, he does have moments of genuine amazement at people's behaviour which cause him to shake his head in despair. 'Sometimes it's very depressing because if you criticise people they think you're criticising their goodwill. I'm not doing that. I'm merely criticising their lack of comprehension. Disaster 'Some people are frightfully concerned about a particular animal, yet unconcerned about the fate of an entire species. 'Organisations like Animal Liberation are a disaster. They go and release an exotic species like mink which are being farmed and once they get out into the natural system do the most horrific damage to wildlife. 'We don't know whether what we're doing to this planet of ours is leading to a catastrophe or whether we've simply got a slow leak in the sytem which will crumble gradually before it runs down. 'But rather like stretching a rubber band, you can pull and pull and the band will get bigger. But suddenly it will snap and you don't have a rubber band any more.' Clearly, Prince Philip's concern is profound. Yet many criticise him. How does he answer these people? 'How do you divide your money up between hospitals and schools, theatres and art galleries? There are lots of things that need to be done. Goodwill 'I think the conservation of nature is important because we depend upon it and if we let it all go, it won't matter about these other things because nobody will be around to enjoy them.' The Duke of Edinburgh, had given me more time than he intended, and that is time over and above the many hours he devotes to explaining his theories to a wide variety of organisations concerned with conserving this planet. He'd like everyone to go and join something, whether it's the World Wildlife Fund, the RSPB or Friends of the Earth, any group which can offer the information he feels we all need. 'People can then make up their own minds,' he says. 'We don't have very much time left if we are to try to save the panda and its habitat, as well as all the other threatened species of wildlife. We'll have to use management and organisation, goodwill, enthusiasm and commitment.' A handshake, smile and 'Goodness knows what you'll make of all that!' in a self-deprecatory tone, and he's off. I left with a warm and very different picture of this supposedly irascible man. Friday, March 13, 1987 Prince Philip entered the nuclear debate as he said the deterrent was needed to keep world peace Philip: UK needs bomb By Gordon Greig, Political Editor Prince Philip entered the nuclear debate yesterday by backing the bomb. He said the nuclear deterrent was needed to keep world peace, but added that there was no point in having more than the bare minimum. It is the first time a leading member of the Royal Family has joined the controversy over nuclear weapons and it brought a swift response from Labour, which is committed to one-sided disarmament. The party's hard-Left wing said Philip should keep out of politics. Other Labour members took the view that he was entitled to his views, even if they disagreed. Philip made his remarks during a speech on atomic energy at the Institution of Civil Engineers in London. He said: 'All the evidence points to the successful deterrent of nuclear weapons. What really matters is the scruples of their possessors and the character of those individuals with the ultimate power to unleash them. People are far more dangerous than inanimate objects.' Invasion He claimed the deterrent effect of nuclear weapons had been successful and went on: 'Although they do not stop small wars or invasion by stronger powers of their weaker neighbours, they have prevented escalation and they certainly appear to have discouraged armed conflict in Europe.' Then, in comments that will be seen as a criticism of the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND), he added: 'Yet many people believe that wars are created by weapons. 'The problem is that any weapon capable of killing is dangerous the moment it gets into the hands of anyone with the intention of using it.' It is the first time a leading member of the Royal Family has joined the controversy over nuclear weapons Prince Philip's remarks suggest he is on the side of Margaret Thatcher's Government, which supports multilateral disarmament. But Labour critics pointed out that they differed from those of his uncle, Lord Mountbatten, who believed the arms race would end in catastrophe. Labour MP Leo Abse said: 'He does not appear to have the intellectual courage of his uncle.' Opposition defence spokesman John Silkin added: 'Prince Philip is entitled to his opinion but he is wrong. 'It's not the position taken by his uncle, who saw the danger of nuclear weapons.' Revealed: He's inspecting gadgets By Daily Mail Reporter The Duke of Edinburgh yesterday revealed one of the secrets of relaxing as a royal... playing with executive toys. Among the gadgets in his private 'Sunshine Room' at Buckingham Palace are an electronic chess set, a magnetic pattern game and a large novelty thermometer. 'They're fascinating things,' said Philip, who explains his busy schedule leaves him little time to himself. 'I admit I haven't used the chess set yet, but I do enjoy the magnets.' The stress-relieving toys caught the eyes of young reporters Heather Buttivant, Anneli Oakes and James Palmer during an interview for a children's newspaper. 'The chess set was very high-tech with a flashing score board,' said 13-year-old Heather, from Newquay, Cornwall. Among the gadgets in his private 'Sunshine Room' at Buckingham Palace are an electronic chess set, a magnetic pattern game and a large novelty thermometer 'But he said he enjoyed the magnetic toy. The thermometer was clever. It was shaped like a test tube and filled with water and little glass balls of mercury which get pushed upwards as it gets hotter to tell the temperature.' The Prince had invited the youngsters to the Palace after reading articles on the environment they had written for the Early Times. Last night, a top psychologist explained how executive toys can often help people who lead busy, stress-filled lives. 'They can relieve tension, and allow people to switch off for a short time', said stress expert Professor Cary Cooper. 'Electronic chess would be very useful because it gives the brain something else to think about.' Thursday, March 8, 1990 And he's reunited with his first car... By Daily Mail Reporter Prince Philip still has a framed photo of his first car, a 1935 Standard Nine two-door saloon. He bought the motor in Sri Lanka for 12 a lot of money in 1940 for a 19-year-old Navy midshipman on 25p a day. Colombo businessman Cyril Gardiner found and restored the car, registration X8468, to showroom condition and Philip sought a reunion with it. Saturday, November 24, 1984 Colombo businessman Cyril Gardiner found and restored the car, registration X8468, to showroom condition and Philip sought a reunion with it Philip to honour Reagan By Daily Mail Reporter Prince Philip is to present former President Reagan with the Churchill Award, given to those who 'epitomise the bold spirit' of the wartime leader. The Prince, honorary trustee of the Winston Churchill Foundation of the United States, will make the award at a dinner in Los Angeles on May 17. Mr Reagan expressed his 'pleasure and gratitude' for the honour. Monday, June 26, 1989 Will Duke follow suit like Cliff? By Daily Mail Reporter Could sober-suited Philip soon sport glitter? His tailor, John Kent, has received a commission from Cliff Richard, who has requested a naval-style outfit, with white trousers and gold epaulettes. But Prince Philip is unlikely to follow suit as Admiral of the Fleet, he already has a waterborne wardrobe. Friday February 2, 1990 Quick-witted prince leaves TV's Wogan floundering By Daily Mail Reporter Prince Philip turned the tables on Terry Wogan on TV last night. The Prince taunted the BBC's star chat host over his cue-cards, accused him of regurgitating old interviews and repeatedly evaded questions about Prince Andrew and Sarah Ferguson's wedding later this month. The Irishman was left embarrassed and flustered, and at one stage was reduced to bemused silence. Prince Philip had agreed to go on the programme, recorded before an audience, to talk about his hobby of carriage-driving. But he was clearly prepared for any questions about the wedding, skilfully skipping around them. Wogan said: 'If we may talk about one other subject, everyone . . .' Prince Philip turned the tables on Terry Wogan as he taunted the BBC's star chat host over his cue-cards, accused him of regurgitating old interviews and repeatedly evaded questions about Prince Andrew and Sarah Ferguson's wedding The Prince interrupted: 'No, I didn't think it would. We have already talked about it.' When Wogan was prompted with a cue-card to ask more questions about the wedding, the Prince spotted it and pounced. 'Why don't you hold it up for the audience to look at?' he said. After an embarrassed silence, Wogan reminded Prince Philip that he had recently been quoted as being cynical about society in Britain. Was it still true? To laughter Philip answered: 'Since it was only a fortnight ago I suppose so . . . why, do you want a second-hand interview?' It had already been published, he said, in Woman's Own. Wogan battled on. Was the Prince still depressed, as the article reported? The Prince countered: 'Do we have to regurgitate this interview? Can't you think of your own questions?' Persevering, Wogan returned to the wedding and wished Philip well for the big day, to which the Prince replied: 'I am not getting married.' He was full of quips from the start. As Wogan asked him about other sports, he intervened: 'I thought you were going to ask me about carriage-driving.' Jokingly in answer to a question about Prince Charles, he said: 'He is still young and vigorous younger than me, believe it or not, but he may not look it.' To more laughter, the Prince added: 'That is a bit unkind.' He was the second member of the Royal Family to appear on Wogan's show. Last year, Princess Anne was given a warm reception. Thursday, July 10, 1986 SIMON HEFFER: In praise of Philip - the anti-Pope of political correctness Simon Heffer: In praise of Philip: the anti-Pope of political correctness This is, in theory, still a free country, but our politically correct times are such that many of us tremble to give vent to perfectly acceptable views for fear of condemnation. One man prominent among us, however, remains untroubled by such vacillation and doubt. I refer, of course, to the Duke of Edinburgh. The Queens consort is in the news again. This time it is for, along with many others, calling for a debate about genetically modified foods and expressing the acceptable view that science has already done things far more terrible than this. Valuable Some think him tactless and ill-informed, but it is perhaps better to see him as a rare man in a senior public position who refuses to agree at all times with vociferous, self-appointed pressure groups that breed around controversial questions. In this he performs another great national service; indeed, perhaps as great as any in his 53 years as the Queens husband. The Duke is the anti-pope of political correctness. One suspects the fact that so many environmentalists oppose GM foods compelled him to say what he did. He has made something of a career out of playing Devils advocate, of forcing us to think, and it is what makes him so valuable. His bluntness takes him where mealy-mouthed politicians fear to tread. His main crimes, however, are said to have been against foreigners. Visiting Peking in 1986 he described it as ghastly. He was abused for this remark, and for its companion piece in which he warned British students not to stay in China too long lest they become slitty-eyed. Frustrations Having no constitutional position, his acts provide clues to the frustrations his wife must feel, but can never give vent to. There were tales in the Nineties of the Queen and the Duke summoning a defence minister to discuss the state of the Armed Forces, only for the Queen to sit silently during the ensuing interview while the Duke, a Navy man to his backbone, delivered the most ferocious tirade against the unfortunate politician. A man who takes such a militantly unforgiving view of the Duchess of York can hardly be criticised for want of judgment; and we must make what we can of his absence from the party at Highgrove on Saturday, where the Queen at last renewed her acquaintance with Mrs Parker Bowles. His wife has the most difficult job in the land, from which she cannot retire: yet he, as he approaches his 80th year, remains as steadfast as ever in supporting her in her still arduous round of duties. His work for charities, good causes, public and private bodies has been, and remains, extensive: from the Duke of Edinburghs Award Scheme to the World Wide Fund for Nature via the National Playing Fields Association. Finer But history, I suspect, will judge that his most significant contribution has been his input into The Firm, as the Royal Family call themselves something which will remain unquantifiable until, after his and the Queens deaths, the archives are opened up. A veteran royal correspondent told me that, while the Duke of Edinburgh is now often presented as a joke, history will rank him with Prince Albert, who did so much to reinvent the Victorian monarchy. If this seems preposterous, that is a sign of how brainwashed about the Duke we all are. He is one of the finer Crown Jewels, and we should recognise him as such before it is too late. Wednesday, June 7, 2000 GOING, GOING, GONE! DUKE DOZES OFF AT DINNER By Daily Mail Reporter Jet lag hits Philip at a banquet on a State visit to South Korea in 1999 Peter Watson: In the public spotlight, the Queen and Prince Philip have always appeared to be the most devoted of couples. But what do the stars say about their relationship? Queen: Taurus Born April 21, 1926: The Queen gives great attention to detail with her responsibilities as Saturn is exactly at the midheaven of her chart. Image is also important to her, although she will not act against her ideals. With Venus in Pisces, shes more of a romantic than we might expect and she can be the soul of discretion. In the public spotlight, the Queen and Prince Philip have always appeared to be the most devoted of couples Prince Philip: Gemini Born June 10, 1921: The Duke of Edinburghs chart shows great adaptability, but links between Mercury, Jupiter and Uranus provide flashpoints at which he says or does the wrong thing. Yet he can charm his way out of scrapes. Conflict between the Sun and Saturn brings out the control freak in him, but makes him resent toeing the line for appearances sake. Does this star attraction have staying power? The Queens planets are mainly fixed and Philips are mutable, so while she has to live within a certain structure, he fits in with it. Their combined chart shows a dynamic force between them that makes them equals. Great compatibility stems from her ascendant, midheaven and Moon being in the same sign as his. They cant always agree on how to run the family business, as will soon become obvious. Portland police officers chase demonstrators after a riot was declared during civil unrest over the shooting in Minnesota of Daunte Wright, in Portland, Ore., on April 12, 2021. (Nathan Howard/Getty Images) The Crisis of American Civilization Commentary We are now in a crisis of American civilization fully as dangerous and real as the crisis of the Civil War or World War II. During both those crises, if America had lost, it would have ceased to be Americaand the cause of freedom around the world would have been dramatically weakened. Today, we face combined internal and external threats that are as great or greater. Internationally, we face a surging China whose economic, scientific, and technological power is now fully competitive with the United States. The recent aggressiveness in the South China Sea, against Taiwan, and in domestic repression (including concentration camps and genocide against the Uyghurs, crushing Tibetan Buddhist culture, and repressing the freedom movement in Hong Kong) are all signs of the Chinese Communist Partys self-confidence. The announcement of a joint ChinaRussia moon project is an example of the collective authoritarian challenge to the American-led freedom coalition. Russias movement of military forces around the border of Ukraine is another signal of the potential aggressiveness of the authoritarian states. However dangerous the foreign challenges are, they fade away when compared with the domestic threats to American civilization. Consider these indicators that our civilization is beginning to fall apart. Several days of looting and rioting in Minnesota have occurred even as a trial of a former policeman is underway, proving the rule of law works. A policeman is killed during a car stop in New Mexico, and our elites ignore the murder. In fact, Mayor Mike Elliott of Brooklyn Center, Minnesota, said in the middle of the rioting: I dont believe that officers need to necessarily have weapons, you know, every time theytheyretheyre making a traffic stop or engaged in situations that dont necessarily call for weapons. There is a war on police underway, with 264 killed in 2020, a jump of 96 percent over the previous year. In New York City, hostile forces use Molotov cocktails to set police cars on fire. Murder rates are skyrocketing around the country, with 2020 the biggest one-year jump in homicides in American history36.7 percent. Faced with aggressive criminal behavior and violence against innocent peopleincluding young children being killedDemocratic Rep. Rashida Tlaib calls for no more policing, incarceration, and militarization. Ironically, Tlaib represents Detroit. According to the City of Detroits 2020 Crime Report, there were 327 homicides in 2020, up from 275 the previous yeara 19 percent increase. There were 1,173 non-fatal shootings in 2020. This is up from 767 the previous year, which is a 53 percent increase. In Milwaukee, Seattle, and Portland, Oregon, no-go zones similar to those in France have been created, which are effectively localized secessions from the United States. Portland continues to be attacked nightly by anarchists. Despite pious statements by public officials, no effective action is underway to restore law and order. In San Francisco, the declaration by the communist district attorney that theft under $900 will not be prosecuted has led to so much shoplifting that Walgreens is closing all 10 of its drugstores in the city. The threat to American civilization goes far beyond violence in the streets. Woke CEOs who refuse to condemn genocide and police state tyranny in China are quick to attack the U.S. state of Georgiaeven though President Joe Biden was just plain wrong (perhaps lying) about the states new election law. Moving the All-Star Game to Colorado from Georgia hurts black small businesses. (There are eight times as many employees of black-owned businesses in Georgia than in Colorado). Furthermore, Colorados current voting laws are stricter than Georgias new ones. For the woke, it is virtue signalingnot factthat matters. The television establishment systematically lied to defeat President Donald Trump in the 2020 election. CNNs Charlie Chester recently asserted: I came to CNN to be a part of that. Look what we did, we [CNN] got Trump out. I am 100 percent going to say it, and I 100 percent believe that if it wasnt for CNN, I dont know that Trump would have got voted out. I came to CNN because I wanted to be a part of that. Of course, The New York Times, The Washington Post, MSNBC, NBC, CBS, and ABC would dispute any CNN claim that it alone defeated Trump. The two papers won Pulitzer Prizes for lying about Trump. Traditional media hostility and dishonesty are overshadowed by the internet giants, which are increasingly acting like Russian oligarchs. They are trying to erase a leader who was supported by more than 75 million Americans with a ruthlessness worthy of Soviet tyranny and the Chinese Communist Party. Crony capitalism is becoming bolder as big government and big business reinforce each other at the countrys expense. Overt racism through race-based reparations, school quotas, and anti-white and anti-male curricula are a return to government-fueled discrimination and segregation. Finally, when the state of California is considering requiring students to chant every day to an Aztec god who was the center of a human sacrifice cult, there are sound reasons to believe American civilization is in crisis. If we are going to remain America, we must oppose the forces trying to destroy us. Newt Gingrich, a Republican, served as House speaker from 1995 to 1999 and ran as a presidential candidate in 2012. Views expressed in this article are the opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times. Power stocks were trading in the positive zone, with the S&P BSE Power index rising 9.82 points or 0.41% at 2408.96 at 09:49 IST. Among the components of the S&P BSE Power index, Adani Transmission Ltd (up 5%), ABB India Ltd (up 0.64%),Thermax Ltd (up 0.62%),NHPC Ltd (up 0.42%),Adani Power Ltd (up 0.28%), were the top gainers. Among the other gainers were NTPC Ltd (up 0.15%), and Power Grid Corporation of India Ltd (up 0.05%). On the other hand, Bharat Heavy Electricals Ltd (down 1.29%), Tata Power Company Ltd (down 1.15%), and Siemens Ltd (down 0.29%) moved lower. At 09:49 IST, the S&P BSE Sensex was down 214.47 or 0.44% at 48329.59. The Nifty 50 index was down 45.55 points or 0.31% at 14459.25. The S&P BSE Small-Cap index was down 104.31 points or 0.5% at 20701.17. The S&P BSE 150 Midcap Index index was down 25.93 points or 0.38% at 6776.42. On BSE,843 shares were trading in green, 1344 were trading in red and 94 were unchanged. Powered by Capital Market - Live News (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) (CNN) - A new campaign to raise $2 billion for the global fight against COVID-19 was launched today at an event hosted by the United States and Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance. Gavi have set a deadline of June for this additional round of funding, which would enable them to finance a total of 1.8 billion doses of COVAX COVID-19 vaccines for 92 lower-income countries by the end of the year. COVAX is a program is co-led by Gavi, the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI) and the World Health Organization. Its aim is to accelerate the development and manufacture of coronavirus vaccines, and to guarantee fair and equitable access for every country in the world. At the event, governments and private sector partners made early pledges worth nearly $400 million and committed to donate millions of COVID-19 vaccine doses to COVAX to benefit the most vulnerable, according to the news release. It includes commitments by Sweden, Denmark, Portugal, the Netherlands, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and the Visa Foundation among others. Google also announced a commitment to donate $2.5 million to COVAX and $15 million in Ad credits to Gavi. New Zealand said it would donate 1.6 million vaccine doses to COVAX, with a focus on the Pacific region. Speaking at the event, Gavi CEO Seth Berkley warned that the global supply of COVID-19 vaccines is incredibly tight right now. He said it is unlikely COVAX will be able to secure more supply in 2021 beyond the doses that we have reserved, calling on countries with excess supply to share spare vaccine doses with COVAX. At the same event, AstraZeneca CEO Pascal Soriot admitted the company has had bumps in the road. Its been not only an R&D challenge but also a manufacturing challenge, he said adding that manufacturing is ramping up very quickly now. This story was first published on CNN.com, "Global governments and partners pledge $400 million to COVAX vaccine program" Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev had offered money for Karabakh if Armenia agreed to settle the conflict peacefully. The statement came from President of Belarus Aleksandr Lukashenko. Lukashenko paid a visit to Baku, on Tuesday and Wednesday, where he held talks with Aliyev. Following their meeting, the two presidents answered reporters' questions. On Wednesday, an excerpt was shown on the state-run Belarus 1 television. "Of course, when I am not president, I will say very good things about how Ilham Heydarovich [Aliyev] proposed to the Armenian people and the leadership of Armenia to resolve this conflict. Yesterday he told me. Listen, pass it on to the Armenians; you have good relations with them. I am ready to restore not only Karabakh, but also Armenia. I will not specify the amount of money I am willing to pay immediately. Pass it on to them so that that they resolve this issue peacefully," Lukashenko said quoting Aliyev. "This is the first time I talk about it today. Something like that happened. However, the former leadership of Armenia, before [incumbent PM] Pashinyan, rejected the offer," the Belarusian president added. Also, Aleksandr Lukashenko noted that at the time of their conversation, the price of oil had exceeded US$100 per barrel. SARASOTA, Fla., April 15, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Piezo Motion Corp, a leader and innovator of precision motor technology, today announced a distribution partnership with Serticom b.v., a dynamic player in the market of industrial electronic components, to provide motion control systems to the Netherlands, Belgium, Luxemburg, Germany, Austria, and Switzerland. Piezo Motion Serticom Serticom is advancing its innovative product line with Piezo Motion's multifaceted rotary and linear motors. Piezo Motion's precision motors are built with revolutionary technology that provides a stable precision motor with competitive pricing designed explicitly for manufacturers that require precise control in a small and economical package. Piezo Motion's product line is the solution to the newest requirements, and Serticom is an innovator in these markets. "We have been looking for a supplier to help us advance from a technology side," explains Ron Timmermans, Managing Director at Serticom. "Piezo Motion's products provide the custom innovation, at an affordable price, that the industries we serve are seeking. I see many possibilities." "It is hard to find the perfect partner to fill the gap between the supplier and the end-user. We feel this will be a great partnership," added Paul Winsveen, who works in Product Marketing at Serticom. "Piezo Motion is at the forefront of this new technology, and we feel it will be mutually beneficial as we expand our reach." Piezo Motion motors are perfect for a wide range of applications. This includes laboratory instruments, biomedicine, optics, semiconductor, nanotechnology industries, and industrial electronic and automotive systems with an expanding portfolio of products that combine performance with dramatically lower costs than conventional piezo solutions. "The versatility of our product line offers a unique solution for manufactures that require piezo performance at a competitive price," said Hassan Kotob, CEO of Piezo Motion. "As we continue our expansion into global markets, European manufacturers can now benefit from the innovative solutions that Serticom and Piezo Motion offer." About Piezo Motion Piezo Motion ( piezomotion.com ) is a leader in piezo motor technology with multi-million dollar investments in research and development of affordable piezoelectric motors to meet, and exceed, the needs of today's global markets. The company is committed to the development of innovative piezoelectric technology and motion products that enhance their functionality in a multitude of applications. We work with startups, OEMs, research institutions, and industrial companies from around the world empowering the visionaries behind their products. About Serticom Serticom b.v. ( serticom.nl ) is a value-added distributor filling the gap between customer needs and manufacturers' products by means of the delivery and or adaptation of innovative products into customer-tailored solutions. Our engineers are well trained and can help you find the optimum solution for your technical requirements thus reducing the customer's overall costs and time to market. Media Contact: Nancy DeFilippis 941.241.5709 [email protected] SOURCE Piezo Motion Related Links http://piezomotion.com (Natural News) Prominent advocates of solar power as the renewable energy that can replace fossil fuels have to deal with the fact that the industrys supply chains are heavily reliant on Chinas Xinjiang region. According to multiple governments and human rights organizations, the Chinese Communist Party is currently conducting genocide in Chinas northwestern province of Xinjiang. This province is home to many ethnic and religious minorities. The CCPs ethnic cleansing campaign is focused on wiping out Xinjiangs Muslim Uyghur population. U.S. officials have accused the CCP of running a sprawling network of concentration camps that is believed to have held more than one million Uyghurs. This is a problem for solar energy advocates since about half of the worlds supply of polysilicon comes from Xinjiang. Polysilicon is an essential ingredient in the creation of solar panels. Many within the renewable energy industry are already stating their fears that the essential materials coming in from Xinjiang may have links to forced labor. (Related: Chinese-made solar panels to continue market dominance as demand for green energy increases under the Biden administration.) U.S. solar companies continue to work with Xinjiang suppliers Even as some American companies try to hold the CCP accountable for its actions in Xinjiang, they arent stopping trade with the region. Nexcamp, a Boston-based solar energy company, purchases solar panels and other solar energy components from China for its clients in America. Zaid Ashai, the companys chief executive, says it is virtually impossible to send independent auditors to inspect operations in Xinjiang. Ashai said that his company tried to investigate as much of his companys supply chain as it could to ensure that everything complied with ethical labor standards, but it wasnt able to discover much. Without a viable alternative supplier, Ashai said Nexamp would continue trading with Xinjiang suppliers. But the company said it hoped the solar industry could create a thorough tracking system to ensure nothing is made in Xinjiang. The CCP has denied all accusations of genocide in Xinjiang. It has also stated that there is no forced labor involved in the solar industry. Ashai said it is difficult to trust Chinese corporations in Xinjiang, even if they say they are free of forced labor. Attestations without verification mean nothing at this point, said Ashai. And given the troubling news and human rights reports that have leaked from the province, as concerned global citizens, we have to take that seriously. Senators demand solar lobby detail industrys connections to Xinjiang Global pressure to halt trade with Xinjiang has been building for some time now. Both the U.S. and the European Union are considering passing legislation that could ban products from the region, especially those that have ties to forced labor. The U.S. already has legislation banning cotton and tomatoes from Xinjiang, and it has begun tracking down the regions ties to the American solar industry. Republican Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida and Democratic Sen. Jeff Merkley of Oregon have demanded that the Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA) detail the measures it or member companies have taken to ensure that none of the products theyve sourced from Xinjiang, such as polysilicon, were made using forced labor. SEIA is the countrys largest solar energy lobbying group. The senators asked the lobbying group for information regarding the extent to which the U.S. solar supply chain is currently dependent on polysilicon, solar ingots and wafers and other solar energy products made in Xinjiang. In the letter, the senators said that the solar industrys reliance on China for its supply chain fails to protect consumers from inadvertently contributing to human rights abuses abroad. Dan Whitten, SEIA Vice President of Public Affairs, said the lobbying group shared Rubio and Merkleys concerns. We have called on American solar companies to completely leave the Xinjiang region by June and are working hard to develop a supply chain traceability protocol that can be used as a compliance tool to ensure the products they use are free of forced labor, said Whitten. Rubio and Merkley have been spearheading the campaign in Congress to make forced labor practices in Xinjiang as unprofitable as possible. Earlier this year, the two senators reintroduced legislation banning all products from Xinjiang without specific approvals. This legislation had strong bipartisan support, but it was targeted by lobbying firms with supply-chain links to Xinjiang. Learn more about the solar industrys links to Xinjiang and the widespread human rights abuses occurring in that region by reading the latest articles at SolarPanels.news. Sources include: WSJ.com Reuters.com HONG KONG (Reuters) - Hong Kong authorities said on Thursday that the city's vaccine scheme would be widened to include those aged between 16 to 29 years old for the first time, as they aim to boost lackluster demand for inoculations in the Asian financial hub. Hong Kong has seen a relatively slow take-up of vaccines since rolling out the scheme in February, with only around 8% of Hong Kong's 7.5 million residents having been inoculated so far. Patrick Nip, Secretary for the Civil Service, said that the widening of the scheme would enable a total of 6.5 million residents to take part. "We appeal to the public to take the vaccine as soon as possible so HK wont fall into the vicious cycle of wave after wave of outbreak," he said. The widening of the scheme comes three days after the city's Chief Executive Carrie Lam said Hong Kong would loosen some coronavirus restrictions for residents who have been fully inoculated from late April. The slow take-up of vaccines in Hong Kong has been driven by dwindling confidence in China's Sinovac vaccine and fears of adverse reactions. The city began vaccinating residents with doses from Sinovac in February and started offering a vaccine developed by BioNTech in March. Residents can choose which vaccine they take with the BioNTech shot seeing far greater demand. On a daily basis, two to three times more people booked inoculation with the BioNTech shot than with the Sinovac one, according to government figures. Nip said residents aged 16 and 17 can only receive a BioNTech dose while those older than 18 years old can choose between the shot and the Sinovac vaccine. Around 632,000 people have received their first vaccination dose, around 8% of the city's population. The former British colony has recorded around 11,600 total coronavirus cases, far lower than other developed cities. (Reporting by Farah Master; Editing by Ana Nicolaci da Costa) Israel's ambassador to Romania, David Saranga, said on his country's National Day on Thursday that many Jews in Romania - scientists, politicians, writers - contributed to the success of the State of Israel. We are a country with multicultural genes, including Romanians. Many Jews in Romania contributed to the success of the State of Israel. These people, artists, scientists, politicians or writers, represent a living bridge between our countries. To them and the 9.5 million Israelis I wish 'Happy Anniversary!' Saranga said in a video posted on the Facebook page of the diplomatic mission he headsagerpres.ro confirms. Thank you for all these years of friendship, the Romanian ambassador told them. He then spoke of the achievements of his country, "the expression of a diverse Israeli society." Today, the State of Israel celebrates 73 years of independence, democracy and progress. We celebrate 73 years during which the State of Israel has become a global leader in medicine, agriculture, defence, IT and many other areas, decades in which the technologies of our people help people in all corners of the world, Saranga stressed. Strategy focuses on reprogramming tissues surrounding the tumor to help the body's immune system attack the cancer LOS ANGELES (April 15, 2021) -- Researchers have discovered a new way to transform the tissues surrounding prostate tumors to help the body's immune cells fight the cancer. The discovery, made in human and mouse cells and in laboratory mice, could lead to improvements in immunotherapy treatments for prostate cancer, the second most common cancer in men in the US. Using a technique called epigenetic reprogramming, investigators altered the tumor and tumor microenvironment by inhibiting expression of a protein known as enhancer of zeste homolog2, or EZH2, which is found at high levels in prostate cancer. This protein helps tumors resist checkpoint inhibitor immunotherapies, which are designed to block certain other proteins that can stop immune cells from killing cancer cells. By inhibiting EZH2, the investigators were able to reduce the tumor's resistance to checkpoint inhibitors. If confirmed in clinical trials, the research findings, recently published in the peer-reviewed journal Nature Cancer, potentially may increase the percentage of prostate cancer patients who successfully respond to this therapy. "Our goal is to one day apply our strategy to fire up the immune system of prostate cancer patients and make the cancer vulnerable to the patient's own immune system," said molecular and cellular biologist Leigh Ellis, PhD, scientific director of the Center for Urologic Research Excellence at Cedars-Sinai Cancer and corresponding author of the multi-institutional study. The study's findings were made through the study of cancer epigenetics. Whereas traditional genetics describe the way DNA sequences in our genes are passed from one generation to the next, epigenetics describe how genes get turned on and off in an individual's body to produce proteins. Disrupted epigenetic mechanisms can alter gene function and form cancerous cells. The investigators zeroed in on the EZH2 mechanisms that altered the gene function of prostate cells, switching off the immune response, and on how to switch it back on. Well-established research has demonstrated that EZH2 inactivates several tumor-suppression genes in numerous cancers, including prostate. Based on those earlier findings, the researchers genetically and chemically inhibited EZH2 to activate important immune-related genes called interferon-stimulated genes. Interferons are proteins that alert the immune system to attack cancer cells. This action, called "viral mimicry," involves reopening dormant areas of the genome--an organism's complete set of genetic instructions--that typically are closed for action. That process prompted the tumor cell to activate the interferon-stimulated genes, which signaled the immune system to enhance the response to checkpoint inhibitor therapy. "We discovered that viral mimicry is key to activating interferon-stimulated genes," Ellis said. "With epigenetic therapy, we're able to get the immune response we want." In recent years, immunotherapy drugs have been added to chemotherapy regimens, or used alone, to help a patient's own immune cells attack cancer, but the response, while promising in treating skin, colon, lung, liver and other cancers, is still low--currently, about 70% to 85% of patients taking immunotherapy drugs fail to respond to them. The researchers' study findings hold the potential for personalized treatment approaches going forward, which may include combined regimens of EZH2 inhibitors and checkpoint inhibitors as a novel strategy to increase prostate cancer response to checkpoint immunotherapy. Following recent Food and Drug Administration approval of EZH2 inhibitors, Ellis and Edwin M. Posadas, MD, the medical director of the Center for Urologic Research Excellence, and associate professor in the Division of Oncology at Cedars-Sinai Cancer, plan to launch a Cedars-Sinai-based clinical trial of an EZH2 inhibitor in prostate cancer patients. "We are extremely pleased to see Dr. Ellis, one of our recent researcher recruits, contribute such a significant advance to the prostate cancer field," said Dan Theodorescu, MD, PhD, director of the Cedars-Sinai Cancer enterprise and professor of Surgery and Pathology and Laboratory Medicine. "Prostate cancer has been a challenge to treat even with immunotherapy, and this work will help overcome some of the barriers and hopefully improve outcome for patients." ### Research reported in this study was supported by the Intramural Research Program of the National Institutes of Health, National Cancer Institute; the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute Faculty Start-Up Funds; a Prostate Cancer Foundation Young Investigator Award; the Emory University Faculty Start-Up Funds and the Emory University School of Medicine Flow Cytometry Core. Epizyme Pharmaceuticals supplied EPZ0011989. DOI: 10.1038/s43018-021-00185-w Read more on the Cedars-Sinai blog: Prostate Cancer Active Surveillance San Francisco suffered nearly three times as many deaths from fentanyl overdoses than COVID-19 in 2020, shocking new figures show. Statistics supplied by San Francisco's Office of the Chief Medical Examiner show 708 people were killed by fentanyl in 2020, a 173 per cent increase since 2018. That figure also dwarfs the 254 COVID-19-related deaths recorded in the city for the whole of 2020. California was the first US state to implement a stay-at-home order on March 19 last year to try and protect residents from Covid. It subsequently endured the longest lockdown of any state in the country. The Golden State's 40 million residents have yo-yoed in and out of lockdown levels since then, with Governor Gavin Newsom plunging the state back into full lockdown again in December last year as cases surged. The pandemic and accompanying lockdowns are believed to be partly responsible for the rocketing number of drug deaths. That is because closures have badly disrupted the social services in the city - in particular public housing and drug addiction treatment. And drug experts say the isolation of the past 12 months is causing vulnerable residents to turn to opioids. The city death rate from fentanyl is rising in 2021: 135 died by overdose in January and February in San Francisco, on pace for more than 800 deaths by the end of the year. The number of deaths from fentanyl overdose were almost triple that of COVID-related deaths in San Francisco last year Paul Harkin, director of harm reduction at GLIDE speaks with people on a popular alley way with drug users in the Tenderloin neighborhood. Nearly 40% of deaths in the city occurred in the Tenderloin or South of Market districts Social issues such as increase in isolation, and disruptions to housing and addiction services in San Francisco, above, have exacerbated the opioid crisis in the city Long the scourge of the East Coast, fentanyl has flooded parts the West Coast in recent years, from California to Washington state. Data from the San Francisco's chief medical examiner shows more than 8 in 10 of deaths from fentanyl overdose in 2020 were male, and just under half were white. The most common age group was 55-64, which made up 24% of the fatalities. The drugs are bought and sold in open-air drug markets in neighborhoods such as the Tenderloin and South of Market, where nearly 40% of the deaths occurred. 'We see the death and devastation getting worse right in front of us,' San Francisco Board of Supervisors member Matt Haney told the Wall Street Journal. 'It's an unprecedented spiraling, directly connected to the introduction of fentanyl in our city.' Fentanyl first appeared on the streets of San Francisco in 2015, when there were just six deaths from the synthetic opioid that year. In 2016 the figure had doubled to 12 deaths, and then 37 in 2017. The figure skyrocketed when the drugs became widely available in the city in 2018. Kristen Marshall, manager of the national drug harm reduction DOPE Project, noted the grim irony that while social isolation could save lives from COVID, it had undoubtedly contributed to the number of overdose deaths. 'Isolation is also the thing that puts people at the absolute highest risk of overdose death,' she told the Wall Street Journal. And the number of overdose deaths in San Francisco could have been far worse as more than 3,000 addicts suffering from an overdose were administered with Narcan. The nasal spray can be used to treat emergency opioid overdoses. Fentanyl is often bought and sold in open-air drug markets and smoked on tin foil, as seen in the file picture from the Tenderloin district in San Francisco in 2019 In Washington state, there was a 92% increase in fentanyl seizures last year, according to the DEA. Transnational criminal organizations, specifically the CJNG cartel, are fueling the drug epidemic, causing a spike in overdoses by mixing fentanyl into illicit narcotics, the DEA said. Mexican cartels will often purchase the drug components in China and use human mules to smuggle the narcotics to lucrative drug markets north of the border, according to the DEA. 'For our community, this is a significant threat and something we should take very seriously,' said Frank A. Tarentino, special agent in charge of the DEA Seattle Field division, told King 5 News. According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, more than 83,000 people lost their lives to drug-related overdoses in the 12-month period ending in July 2020, a significant increase from 2019, when more than 70,000 people died of overdoses. The spiraling cost of housing in San Francisco has seen homelessness skyrocket and low-income families leave the city in droves in recent years. Last month, Governor Newsom announced California would drop all of its COVID restrictions on June 15 if cases and hospitalizations continued to fall at their current rates. The state will still enforce a mask mandate. Phat Rath and Oeun Sokheng were informed on April 8 that they were both positive for COVID-19. The couple, who live in Phnom Penhs Meanchey district, work at Din Han Enterprise, a garment factory that is a recent hotspot for the disease. The two garment workers live in a rented room, paying $25 a month for the basic living facility. Many garment factory workers in Phnom Penh live in shared, rented rooms with congested communal areas and bathrooms. Phat Ratha said after testing positive, the Health Ministry had not informed them if they had to go to a medical facility or a designated COVID-19 hospital. They were anxiously waiting at their rented room, all the while Oeun Sokhengs symptoms were getting worse. They listed our names [as COVID-19 positive], but they didnt come to take us for treatment. My husbands health is getting worse. He has continuous coughs with phlegm and little blood as well, she told VOA Khmer. I am worried that his health condition will get worse if there is no treatment on time. Din Han Enterprise has reported close to 700 cases in the last week, according to government statistics. There has been an explosion of COVID-19 cases in the country, centered in Phnom Penhs garment factories and public markets. Of the 4,600 cases reported in the country since last year, there are 2,800 active cases, of which at least 1,000 people are still waiting to be assigned to a treatment facility. Prime Minister Hun Sen has implored Cambodians to follow health measures because cities like Phnom Penh were running out of hospital beds. The government first converted the Great Duke Hotel into a temporary health facility and nationalized the Nokor Tep Womens Hospital with donations from wealthy tycoons. But as the caseload ballooned in Phnom Penh, authorities scrambled to convert the Koh Pich Convention Center into a 1,800-bed field hospital to treat patients with mild symptoms. The government, at the same time, released guidelines for home treatment of patients with mild symptoms. The Health Ministry estimates that around 80 percent of patients have mild symptoms and can be treated at home. But, Phat Ratha wanted her husband to be hospitalized, afraid his symptoms were getting worse. I called the 115 [COVID-19 hotline] many times and I was told to wait. They told me to stay home and drink hot water. They said there is no space for treatment. I dont know what to say, she said. I am stuck in the room. I cant go anywhere. I only have canned fish and eggs for food every day. Security and district officials are guarding locations and homes where there are a high number of cases to prevent patients or people awaiting test results from leaving their homes. Hun Sen on Wednesday announced that Phnom Penh and Kandals Takhmau city were being placed in lockdown, shutting all non-essential businesses and severely restricting movements within the city. Or Vandine, a Health Ministry secretary of state, did not respond to a request for comment, asking a VOA Khmer reporter to contact one of her colleagues, who could not be reached for comment. Pav Sina, president of the Collective Union of Movement of Workers, said garment workers should be transferred to treatment facilities immediately because they live in congested housing, which was not safe for their health and could potentially infect others. The medical workers have to take care of them to protect their lives and to especially prevent [COVID-19] spreading to others, he said. The World Health Organization in Cambodia has warned of an impending disaster if the country did not get a hold of the current cluster, adding that peoples behavior during Khmer New Year could be detrimental to the spread of the virus. We stand on the brink of a national tragedy because of COVID-19. Despite our best efforts, we are struggling to control the virus. Unless we can stop the outbreak, Cambodias health system is at high risk of being overwhelmed, which would have disastrous consequences, said Dr. Li Ailan, the WHOs representative to Cambodia. Oeun Sokheng, Phat Rathas husband, did not speak much due to his incessant coughing. I cough often and it is not getting better. I have pharyngitis and sometimes, it is hard to breathe, he said. I am concerned that it will get worse. After a week of waiting, Phat Ratha took the desperate step of posting a message on Facebook Tuesday detailing her husbands failing health. A day later, the two garment workers were taken to the Hun Sen Borey 100 High School where they are currently being treated with eight other patients. Regulatory News: SpineGuard (FR0011464452 ALSGD), an innovative company that deploys its DSG (Dynamic Surgical Guidance) sensing technology to secure and streamline the placement of bone implants announced today the appointment of Patrick Pilcher as Vice President of Sales Marketing for the United States, effective May 3, 2021. Patrick Pilcher joins SpineGuard as Vice President of Sales and Marketing with the U.S. responsibility for driving distribution channel development, launching the new DSG Connect platform and contributing to industry partnership activities to further leverage DSG, SpineGuard's core technology. Mr. Pilcher has over 30 years of sales, sales management, marketing and business development experience in the medical device and peripheral spine surgery arena. Over the course of his career, his areas of expertise were tied to spinal fusion, dynamic stabilization, motion preservation, neuromonitoring, and orthobiologic modalities. During that time, he held roles in both legacy corporations such as Medtronic (SDG), Zimmer and start-ups with Spinal Concepts (Abbott), Pioneer Surgical (Surgalign), Surgical Monitoring (Sentient Medical), Spinal Elements, AlloSource and CellRight Technologies. Pierre Jerome, co-founder, Chairman and CEO of SpineGuard, said: "With U.S. profitable operations, the FDA clearance of our DSG Connect platform and a secured cash runway, the right conditions are now in place for strengthening our US organization. I am thrilled to welcome Patrick aboard! His passion for meaningful medtech innovation and extensive US spine industry experience in shaping and driving the execution of growth strategies make him the suitable leader we need to move our U.S. business forward and expand the adoption of our DSG technology." Patrick Pilcher added: "I am excited at the opportunity to join this seasoned team and drive SpineGuard in the U.S. to further integrate its elegant, and technologically advanced DSG solutions into the mainstream of the evolving paradigm of spinal instrumentation. Our mantra remains in promoting the safest means of bony fixation with a significant reduction of radiation and time, while mitigating the inherent risks of neuro-vascular insults. We are poised to bring safety and confidence to any hospital or surgery center where spine cases using pedicle fixation are performed addressing a range of cases from primary to complex deformities." 2021 Perspectives SpineGuard is focusing on the following priorities while investing selectively to remain close to breakeven: Boost commercial activities with the launch of the DSG-Connect visual interface. Accelerate the implementation of the DSG digital technology in the surgical robotic field through the deployment of AI algorithms, new scientific evidence, and additional patents. Intensify the collaboration with ConfiDent ABC for the dental application and co-develop a new generation of products embedding the DSG technology. Affirm the company's technological shift and sign new strategic partnerships in particular for the use of DSG technology in the robotic field. Next financial press release: 2021 half-year revenue on July 7, 2021 About SpineGuard Founded in 2009 in France and the USA by Pierre Jerome and Stephane Bette, SpineGuard is an innovative company deploying its proprietary radiation-free real time sensing technology DSG (Dynamic Surgical Guidance) to secure and streamline the placement of implants in the skeleton. SpineGuard designs, develops and markets medical devices that have been used in over 80,000 surgical procedures worldwide. Sixteen studies published in peer-reviewed scientific journals have demonstrated the multiple benefits DSG offers to patients, surgeons, surgical staff and hospitals. Building on these solid fundamentals and several strategic partnerships, SpineGuard has expanded its technology platform in a disruptive innovation: the smart pedicle screw launched late 2017 and is broadening the scope of applications in dental implantology and surgical robotics. DSG was co-invented by Maurice Bourlion, Ph.D., Ciaran Bolger, M.D., Ph.D., and Alain Vanquaethem, Biomedical Engineer. For further information, visit www.spineguard.com Disclaimer The SpineGuard securities may not be offered or sold in the United States as they have not been and will not be registered under the Securities Act or any United States state securities laws, and SpineGuard does not intend to make a public offer of its securities in the United States. This is an announcement and not a prospectus, and the information contained herein does and shall not constitute an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy, nor shall there be any sale of the securities referred to herein in the United States in which such offer, solicitation or sale would be unlawful prior to registration or exemption from registration. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210415005540/en/ Contacts: SpineGuard Pierre Jerome Chairman and CEO Tel.: +33 1 45 18 45 19 p.jerome@spineguard.com Manuel Lanfossi Chief Financial Officer m.lanfossi@spineguard.com Europe NewCap Investor Relations Financial Communication Mathilde Bohin Pierre Laurent Tel.: +33 1 44 71 94 94 spineguard@newcap.eu 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 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 development of smartwatch ECG technology is promising, particularly because atrial fibrillation is known to cause a third of all strokes in Australia, she said. Atrial fibrillation is a type of arrhythmia in which your heart beats irregularly. Unlike some other health metrics collected by gadgets like smartwatches and scales, which are more there for entertainment and general information purposes, a lot of the data collected on your heart has the potential to be diagnostically relevant. Amanda Buttery, manager of clinical evidence for the Heart Foundation, welcomes these innovations. The Apple Watch has finally been approved to collect ECG readings in Australia, but in the years since that feature debuted internationally the market has filled with devices ready and waiting to give you information about your heart. Most people who buy smartwatches are under the age of 40, and yet the people who would derive the most benefit from the health features are much more mature than that. The Apple Watch is ideal for iPhone users over the age of 60, who are far too young to need any kind of medical alert necklace, but still want some way to monitor their health and get help if needed. Loading In addition to the ECG function, which can detect cardiac abnormalities and will be activated in Australia in the coming weeks, the Apple Watch Series 4 and later features fall detection which can automatically call for help. The watch can also send alerts when your cardio fitness drops to a concerning level. If you want a smartwatch thats big on health information, but looks more like a traditional watch, the Withings Scanwatch was the first in Australia to have its ECG monitoring feature approved by the TGA. It also does blood oxygen monitoring (like the Apple Watch), but its face is primarily just a very nice analogue watch, with a black circle up the top that can display information when you want it to. All the measurements are synced to the Health Mate app, and can be sent to others like Google Fit or Apple Health, so you can look to see how youre trending and bring up any concerns with your doctor. Scanwatch doesnt have fall detection, however, which will be a dealbreaker for many. But heart health information doesnt have to come from a wrist-mounted gadget you wear all the time. Withings Body Cardio scale will take your heart rate whenever you step on it, as well as your weight and body composition information, and chart it over time. You need to be careful when tying weight to overall health though. While weight can be a factor in heart issues, the weight could just be another symptom of the larger problem, or completely unrelated. Overweight people find it difficult enough to get proper health advice from many doctors, even without getting their heart health advice from a judgy scale. California (TNS) Acompany says it has received emergency use authorization from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for consumers to use its COVID-19 test kit at home. Lucira Health , a medical technology company, said the over-the-counter test kit can deliver accurate results in 30 minutes or less at home.The cost of the test is $55.Lucira said, Each single-use test kit contains everything needed to conduct one COVID-19 test. It can detect a positive result in as few as 11 minutes or confirm a negative result within 30 minutes. It was designed and tested extensively for individuals to use independently and does not require a physicians prescription or telehealth/supervised assistance.The Check It test kit has a swab, stir and detect process that Lucira during trials 100% of users successfully performed the test in about 2 minutes.Molecular tests are more sensitive than antigen tests because they amplify critical parts of the viral target. The targeted, molecular amplification that Lucira CHECK IT and PCR tests employ makes them demonstrably more sensitive and reliable than rapid antigen tests, which can miss active COVID-19 infections, Lucira said.The test kit includes the test device, two AA batteries, a sample vial, swab and instructions.To use the test, consumers must swab both nostrils. The swab is stirred in a sample vile, which is then pressed into the unit to start the test.The ready light will blink until a positive or negative green light is illuminated within 30 minutes, Lucira said.The same prescription test kit is still available for sale to health care providers. The videos were tailored for the echo chamber that is often created by social media networks like YouTube. To keep you watching, YouTube serves up videos similar to those you have watched before. But the longer someone watches, the more extreme the videos can become. It can create these very radical people who are like gurus, said Guillaume Chaslot, a former YouTube engineer who has been critical of the way the companys algorithms pushed people to extreme content. In terms of watch time, a guru is wonderful. Tech companies, regulators and individuals across the globe are struggling to understand and control the enormous power of YouTube and other social media services. In 2019, YouTube made important changes to how we recommend videos and prevent the spread of misinformation and hateful content, Farshad Shadloo, a spokesman for the company, said in a statement. It barred Mr. Molyneaux and Mr. Jones. But extreme videos continue to spread. In time, Mr. Robertson said, he realized that the videos he worked on stoked dangerous hatred. And in 2019, at a conference in Britain run by a left-wing newspaper, The Byline Times, Mr. Robertson distanced himself from his work with the far right. His change of heart was met with some skepticism. He was presented as a prodigal son, said Louise Raw, an antifascist activist who was onstage for Mr. Robertsons mea culpa. But he has not been held to account. Now, Mr. Robertson is detailing the ways he and his collaborators searched for confrontations to gain popularity on YouTube. Efforts to contact Mr. Robinson were unsuccessful, and Mr. Jones did not respond to multiple requests for comment. Ms. Southern said she should not be described as a far-right activist, saying she is merely a conservative. She was not involved in some horrible far-right grift that tried to deceive people into watching our content, she added. We were just doing what any other YouTuber does. Toronto, April 15, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Hydrostor , a long duration energy storage solution provider, announced today it has received funding from Natural Resources Canadas Energy Innovation Program and Sustainable Development Technology Canada to pursue the development of a 300-500 MW Advanced Compressed Air Energy Storage (A-CAES) facility in Canada. Approximately $4M has been committed to the project with support from Natural Resources Canadas Energy Innovation Program and Sustainable Development Technology Canada . Hydrostors A-CAES system supports Canadas green economic transition by designing, building, and operating emissions-free energy storage facilities, employing the people, suppliers, and technologies from the oil and gas sector. The funding will be used to complete essential engineering and planning, and enable Hydrostor to take critical steps toward construction. The project will be modeled on the success of Hydrostors commercially operating Goderich storage facility, providing up to 12 hours of long duration energy storage. The Honorable Seamus ORegan, Jr. Minister of Natural Resources, said: Investing in clean technology will lower emissions and increase our competitiveness. This is how we get to net zero by 2050. Curtis VanWalleghem, Hydrostors Chief Executive Officer, said: We are grateful for the federal governments support of our long duration energy storage solution that is critical to enabling the clean energy transition. This made-in-Canada solution, with the support of NRCan and Sustainable Development Technology Canada, is ready to be widely deployed within Canada and globally to lower electricity rates and decarbonize the electricity sector." For more information on the current facilities, please visit: hydrostor.ca ### About Hydrostor Hydrostor is a long duration energy storage solutions provider that provides reliable and affordable utility integration of long duration energy storage, enabling grid operators to scale renewable energy and secure grid capacity. Hydrostor supports the green economic transition, employing the people, suppliers, and technologies from the traditional energy sector to design, build, and operate emissions-free energy storage facilities. Hydrostor has developed, deployed, tested, and demonstrated that its patented Advanced Compressed Air Energy Storage (A-CAES) technology can provide long duration energy storage and enable the renewable energy transition. Hydrostor has projects worldwide in various development stages for providing capacity of over 200 MW and for 6 or more hours. Learn more about Hydrostor here: hydrostor.ca About A-CAES Advanced-Compressed Air Energy Storage (A-CAES) is a long-duration energy storage system that combines components from existing energy systems to create an advanced, emissions-free storage system that is low-impact, cost-effective, and can be located where the grid needs it. This innovative use of proven technologies provides a scalable, reliable and bankable energy storage solution for utilities and regulators. A-CAES utilizes renewable energy or excess grid energy to compress air. This compressed air is then funneled into underground purpose-built caverns, displacing water and creating storage capacity. Heat created by this process is captured and stored to reheat the compressed air when energy is needed. By utilizing proven technologies and components, A-CAES has a supply chain already established, along with a trained workforce from the oil and gas sector, enabling a seamless transition to a renewable economy and energy grid. Learn more about how A-CAES works here: https://www.hydrostor.ca/technology/ About Sustainable Development Technology Canada (SDTC) Sustainable Development Technology Canada (SDTC) helps Canadian companies develop and deploy competitive, clean technology solutions, to help solve some of the worlds most pressing environmental challenges: climate change, clean air, clean water and clean soil. By taking a cross-Canada approach, from seed to scale, and in partnership with the best peers and experts, SDTC is the global benchmark for sustainable development innovation programming. Media Contact Hydrostor Media Relations Justin Kaiser hydrostor@yulupr.com 604.828.3647 Natural Resources Canada Media Relations NRCan.media_relations-media_relations.RNCan@canada.ca 343.292.6100 Yves here. Tom Neuburger gives a hard look at AOCs recent donations to corporate Democrats and tries to ferret out what she intended to accomplish. Tom is at a loss to understand why AOC chose the party members she did. I am at a loss to understand why she thought $5,000 donations would have made any difference to the recipients even if they had been on board with taking funds from her. As I am sure readers know, theres a dark art as to how heavyweight bundlers and donors work around formal contribution limits. And on top of that, Congressional Democrats run a pay-to-play operation. Kicking in enough money to the DCCC is the cost of entry for getting House committee leadership positions. We explained this back in 2011, via the work of Tom Ferguson, in Congress is a Coin Operated Stalemate Machine. I strongly urge you to read the entire post. Key section: A new article by Ferguson in the Washington Spectator sheds more light on this corrupt and defective system. Partisanship and deadlocks are a direct result of the increased power of a centralized funding apparatus. Its easy to raise money for grandstanding on issues that appeal to well-heeled special interests, so dysfunctional behavior is reinforced. Lets first look at how crassly explicit the pricing is. Ferguson cites the work of Marian Currander on how it works for the Democrats in the House of Representatives: Under the new rules for the 2008 election cycle, the DCCC [Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee] asked rank-and-file members to contribute $125,000 in dues and to raise an additional $75,000 for the party. Subcommittee chairpersons must contribute $150,000 in dues and raise an additional $100,000. Members who sit on the most powerful committees must contribute $200,000 and raise an additional $250,000. Subcommittee chairs on power committees and committee chairs of non-power committees must contribute $250,000 and raise $250,000. The five chairs of the power committees must contribute $500,000 and raise an additional $1 million. House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, Majority Whip James Clyburn, and Democratic Caucus Chair Rahm Emanuel must contribute $800,000 and raise $2.5 million. The four Democrats who serve as part of the extended leadership must contribute $450,000 and raise $500,000, and the nine Chief Deputy Whips must contribute $300,000 and raise $500,000. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi must contribute a staggering $800,000 and raise an additional $25 million. Ferguson teases out the implications: Uniquely among legislatures in the developed world, our Congressional parties now post prices for key slots on committees. You want it you buy it, runs the challenge. They even sell on the installment plan: You want to chair an important committee? Thatll be $200,000 down and the same amount later, through fundraising.. The whole adds up to something far more sinister than the parts. Big interest groups (think finance or oil or utilities or health care) can control the membership of the committees that write the legislation that regulates them. Outside investors and interest groups also become decisive in resolving leadership struggles within the parties in Congress. You want your man or woman in the leadership? Just send money. Lots of it. The Congressional party leadership controls the swelling coffers of the national campaign committees, and the huge fixed investments in polling, research, and media capabilities that these committees maintain resources the leaders use to bribe, cajole, or threaten candidates to toe the party line Candidates rely on the national campaign committees not only for money, but for message, consultants, and polling they need to be competitive but can rarely afford on their own.. This concentration of power also allows party leaders to shift tactics to serve their own ends.They push hot-button legislative issues that have no chance of passage, just to win plaudits and money from donor blocs and special-interest supporters. When they are in the minority, they obstruct legislation, playing to the gallery and hoping to make an impression in the media The system ensures that national party campaigns rest heavily on slogan-filled, fabulously expensive lowest-common-denominator appeals to collections of affluent special interests. The Congress of our New Gilded Age is far from the best Congress money can buy; it may well be the worst. It is a coin-operated stalemate machine that is now so dysfunctional that it threatens the good name of representative democracy itself. If that isnt sobering enough, a discussion after the Ferguson article describes the mind-numbing amount of money raised by the members of the deficit-cutting super committee. In addition, immediately after being named to the committee, several members launched fundraising efforts that were unabashed bribe-seeking. But since the elites in this country keep themselves considerable removed from ordinary people, and what used to be considered corruption in their cohort is now business as usual, nary an ugly word is said about these destructive practices. So as much as AOC has seemed disappointing of late, the overwhelming majority of voters have no clue as to what she is up against. By Thomas Neubuger. Originally published at Gods Spies Many want more than a weeks salvation from Republican misrule. They want salvation for the rest of their lives from Democratic misrule as well. On April 1, @AOC did a livestream with Michael Miller, the head of the Jewish Community Relations Council of New York. She was asked about peace between Israelis and Palestinians. Her response was incredibly underwhelming, to say the very least: pic.twitter.com/qHdwTy5pVO Human Rights Watch Watcher (@queeralamode) April 7, 2021 One of the defining marks of the current divide among Democratic Party supporters is what to expect from Party elected officials. The practicalists (Ill explain that term in a moment) celebrate the transition from Trump and Republican destruction, see optimistic promise in Bidens tentative populism, and experience an almost existential relief at their deliverance. This group is dancing in the streets. Dont take the latter effect lightly: A great many people felt traumatized to their bones by Trump and his era, and whether or not that feeling was shared by you and your own friends, its nonetheless real for others and it informs their reaction to everything that has followed. I suspect the practicalists those starved for delivery from Republican rule form the majority of the Party electorate. The idealists (so called by the so-called practicalists) feel relief at release from the Trumpian grip, but not so much that they can calm their fear of the next neoliberal president, however kinder and gentler (even than the last one) he may prove to be. The practicalists, of course, are of a first-thing-first frame of mind, or so they see themselves. First, we get rid of Republicans, they say. Then we secure the gate from renewed assault. And only after that do they look at the rubble of the world and start to rebuild in earnest. For these good people, any rebuilding at all is reason for joy and celebration. And Biden is indeed rebuilding sort of. For praticalists, any inadequacy in the plan for moving forward is fully offset by the fact of motion itself. After years of retreat and decay, its easy to understand the present reversals appeal, even if small. Theso-called idealists, on the other hand, see little to like in an energy plan that will not end the dominance of fossil fuel in the lifetime of anyone living; see nothing to cheer in the prospect of extended forever war, continued diplomatic assault against Syria and Iran, and the constant coddling of Israeli apartheid and torture of its Palestinian neighbors and citizens; and cannot bring themselves to relax as the nation settles into rule by a man whose campaign slogan was Nothing will fundamentally change. The most important word in that slogan Nothing will fundamentally change is not the first or the last. Its the word fundamentally. Whatever Biden agrees to, whatever wonderful (or better-than-Trump) improvements he makes to our common condition, he nonetheless assures us that the people who own us today will own us tomorrow; that those who caused the problems we face now will not be pushed aside so others can fix them; and most importantly, that the men and women he serves, who feed first and mainly on money, will not go hungry. These idealists want more than a weeks salvation from Republican misrule. They want salvation for all of the rest of their lives from Democratic misrule as well. In fact, they see themselves as the actual practicalists in the story, since its certainly practical to want your infant children to live adult lives in the least bad climate-battered world we can give them. Our grandchildren wont praise dead Democrats for saving them from dead Republicans; but they will certainly hate us all for turning half of surviving Americans into starving refugees, dying at the fences that protect the more-fortunate Canadians, and the other half into servants of the despotic rich, who will long since have abandoned anyone they dont need to a lonely fate. How do we know the despotic rich will do that tomorrow? Because theyre doing it today in far less drastic circumstances. Why Did AOC Donate to the Campaigns of Corporate Democrats? Which brings us to the growing battle over the direction being taken by Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (AOC). Not the news that corporate Democrats are refusing or returning the campaign cash she gave them the news about her giving her money to corporate Democrats in the first place. The three Democrats named in the Politico piece linked above, those whose campaigns AOC tried to support, are Conor Lamb, a man who thinks the $15 minimum wage is too high, New Dem caucus member Carolyn Bourdeaux, and Elissa Slotkin, an ex-CIA security hawk who rejects Medicare For All in favor of improving the ACA and the never-going-to appear (and easily gamed if it does) public option. As Howie Klein put it, all are part of the Republican wing of the Democratic Party and all are members of the notoriously pro-corporate Problem Solvers Caucus. Why on earth is Alexandria Occasio-Cortez, a genuine hero of the people, supporting with money given personally to her the pro-corporate Democrats her supporters roundly despise? The answer from her defenders, well-meaning but sometimes tetchy, is So we can make sure that Democrats keep control of governmentstupid! Because, you know, job one is Republicans. Thus the divide. On a scale of one to the-next-eight-years or so, how important is it that Democrats keep control of government? On that scale, very, of course. But on a scale of one to your-surviving-grandchildren-living-like-feral-rats, how important is it that Conor Lamb keep his seat so he can vote with Republicans to his hearts content? Ill let you decide for yourself. As to AOC her own self, where is she headed? Shes certainly seems to be moving in a practicalist direction. Though she started her official career leading a sit-in outside Nancy Pelosis office an act her supporters loved her for shes now giving her donors money to the worst members of the Democratic caucus. And as the clip above shows, shes dancing like Democrats do around Israeli genocide. Shes obviously changed her stripes. But into what? Depending on who you ask, Amazons victory in last weeks union vote in Bessemer was either a crushing defeat for organized labor in America, or the first step in a continuing campaign to bring unions to online retail and Big Tech. According to the results of last Fridays vote count, only about 12.5% of the eligible workers at Amazons Bessemer fulfillment center actually voted to unionize with the Retail, Wholesale & Department Store Union, even after a mail-in election period that lasted for almost two months. That showing also came after weeks of national media coverage and public shows of support that went all the way to President Joe Biden. The U.S. labor secretary said it would be a mistake to think of the vote as anything more than one election in one corner of the country. Here is full coverage of the Alabama Amazon unionization effort I dont think you can judge the fate of labor on one vote, Labor Secretary Marty Walsh told The Wall Street Journal in an interview. I think there will be other conversations as we move forward in the country, in other companies as well as Amazon. Upon the election result, the RWDSU immediately called for an investigation into Amazons conduct during the union drive, accusing the company of unlawfully interfering with the right of employees to engage in union activity. But the Bessemer vote could signal a change in tactics for union organizers around the country. During the RWDSU campaign, five Democratic Representatives, as well as Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), visited Bessemer, drawing attention to The Protect the Right to Organize (PRO) Act, which passed the U.S. House and is currently with the Senate. The Pro Act is being called the most sweeping change to labor law in decades. But observers give it little chance of passing through an evenly-divided Senate. Among its more controversial provisions would be eliminating right-to-work protections that keep employees from being forced to pay union dues as a condition of their employment. According to Fortune, it would also expand the definition of what an employee is, and allow for more strikes while making it harder for employers to replace striking workers. Enacting those changes might reverse years of declining union membership. Private sector union membership stood at 6.3 percent of the U.S. workforce in 2020, according to the National Labor Relations Board. Patricia Campos-Medina is the executive director of The Worker Institute at Cornell University, which studies contemporary labor issues. She said the Bessemer vote illustrates why the PRO Act is being advanced. Currently labor law provides for union votes at individual workplaces instead of companywide. If the union had won at Bessemer, for example, Amazon would still have had more than 100 fulfillment centers around the country without unions. We who follow organizing and the labor movement understand that there are big mountains to overcome in terms of labor law reform that is needed for enterprise labor organizing to be successful, Campos-Medina said. So from the beginning we understood that it was a very high risk that the union was not going to win this election, because the deck is stacked against workers organizing against a multinational company like Amazon. Chances the PRO Act would pass the Senate are unlikely, unless the Senate Democratic leadership were to change the filibuster rules. Failing that, some observers say the next likely strategy might be establishing a minority union. Susan Schurman, a distinguished professor at the Rutgers School of Management and Labor Relations, said a minority union would only represent workers who wish to join. This would allow them to elect officers and shop stewards and engage in activity to improve working conditions. We saw a prominent example earlier this year when 200 Google workers formed a minority union, Schurman said. The problem is that labor leaders do not think of minority representation as a viable option. But with private sector unionization at a historic low of 6.3%, its time they started. Organizers at Alabama auto manufacturers, for example, have spoken of adopting minority union strategies, as every plant-wide union vote at foreign owned auto plants in the Deep South has failed. Unions have had more success with auto suppliers instead of the main manufacturing plants. Campos-Medina mentioned a similar strategy with Amazon, given its size and the complexity of its logistical network. Organizing Amazon requires both a change of law to sectoral bargaining, to more comprehensive approaches by different union across the production line, Campos-Medina said. This campaign in Bessemer is just the beginning of a long coming battle to transform Amazons monopoly control of warehousing and logistics workplace standards. Mark Hamill has signed on for his next feature film with an adaptation of comedian Bert Kreischer's real-life exploits titled The Machine. The comedy is inspired by Kreischer's popular stand-up routines about his drunken college days, particularly a viral monologue about his time studying abroad in Russia and befriending local mobsters, Deadline reports. The film will at least partially be set in the present, with Kreischer, 48, starring as himself and Hamill, 69, playing his father who gets roped into the consequences of his son's actions. New project: Mark Hamill, 69, will star as the father of Bert Kreischer in the film The Machine, which is based on the comedian's viral standup routine about studying abroad in Russia, Deadline reported on Wednesday Kreischer's standup routine for the machine has currently been viewed by at least 37 million people, making it his most popular video to date. The autobiographical comedy routine delves into his hard-partying years in college at Florida State University in the 1990s, leading to a Rolling Stone article featuring him labeled him 'the top partyer at the Number One Party School in the country' in a 1997 article. The article later served as the inspiration for the 2002 comedy National Lampoon's Van Wilder, starring Ryan Reynolds. But Kreischer's most famous standup routine involves his time studying Russian, which he claims he could barely read or speak after four semesters of classes. Yet somehow he was invited on a study-abroad trip to Russia with his class. Viral star: Kreischer was named the top partier at the top party school in a 1997 Rolling Stone article, and he went viral with a routine about his drunken time partying with Russian mobsters; seen in 2018 According to his standup routine and interviews about it, Kreischer was so intrigued by the Russian mobsters that the school paid to protect the students that he went to visit them after class with a bottle of vodka to hear some of their stories. But instead of the Russian introduction he planned, he accidentally introduced himself by saying, 'I am The Machine.' The mobsters loved the tough-guy nickname and his hard partying ways, so they started involving him in their criminal enterprises, culminating in having him rob a train that he and his classmates were on for a school assignment. Kriescher has since become a popular standup comedian, podcaster and TV host, and he regular appears shirtless when he's performing. Too crazy to be true: Kreischer befriend Russian mobsters paid to protect his classmates, and they eventually got him to commit crimes with them, including robbing a train with his classmates aboard; seen in 2018 If the name fits: Kreischer was nicknamed The Machine after he forgot his Russian-language introduction to the mobsters and accidentally introduced himself as The Machine, which stuck; seen in 2019 Along for the ride: Hamill will play Kreischer's father 20 years after his exploits in Russia, when they're kidnapped by those the comedian wronged in Russia; seen in 2019 According to Deadline, the film adaptation of The Machine will mix Kreischer's real-life tale with a fictional storyline set in the present in the present featuring Hamill as his father. In the wake of his fame, Kreischer and his father are kidnapped 20 years after the events of his standup routine by the people he wronged while drunkenly partying his way through his semester abroad. Hamill is best known for his longtime association with the Star Wars universe and his considerably voice acting for animated shows, but he also showed off his skills outside of genre projects in the dark comedy Brigsby Bear from Saturday Night Live cast member Kyle Mooney. The Machine is set to be directed by Peter Atencio, best known for directing every single episode of the acclaimed sketch comedy series Key & Peele, as well and Keegan-Michael Key and Jordan Peele's film Keanu. Questo comunicato e stato pubblicato piu di 30 giorni fa. Le informazioni su questa pagina potrebbero non essere attendibili. Market Research Future Published a Half Cooked Research Report on Global Waterborne Coating Additives Research Report. Market Scenario Waterborne coating additives are added to improve the rheological properties of water-based coatings. They serve various functions such as wetting & dispersion, defoaming, surfactant, deaeration, hydrophobic agent, and rheological improver among other. The stringent regulation by E.P.A and REACH against the use of solvent based coatings, is expected to be the major driver to the growth of waterborne coating additives market during the forecast period. Free Sample @ https://www.marketresearchfuture.com/sample_request/5892 Competitive Analysis Some of the key players of global waterborne coating additives market are Akzo Nobel NV (Netherlands), Allnex group (China), BASF SE (Germany), BELAMI FINE CHEMICALS PVT. LTD.(India), ALTANA (Germany), Evonik Industries AG (Germany), Dow Corning Corporation (U.S.), Falcon Technologies Inc. (U.S.), Harmony Additive Pvt. Ltd. (India), and UL LLC (U.S). Market Segmentation The Global Waterborne Coating Additives Market is segmented based on product type, end-use industry, and region. On the basis of the product type, the global waterborne coating additives market is segmented into wetting agent & dispersing agent, defoamers, surface control additives, deaerators, rheology modifier, hydrophobic agents, and others. Wetting & dispersion agents market is estimated to be the largest market due to high requirement for dispersing and wetting of resins and pigments in paints & coating industry and is expected to continue dominance over the forecast period. Other product types are also expected to show significant demand due to varied application in construction, automotive, and, the packaging industry. On the basis of the end-use industry, the global waterborne coating additives market is segmented into building & construction, automotive, packaging, and others. Building and construction industry is expected to have the major market share of waterborne coating additives due to high consumption of paints & coatings. Automotive industry is also expected to show rising demand over the forecast period due to strong automotive industry particularly in Europe and China of Asia Pacific region. Access Report Details @ https://www.marketresearchfuture.com/reports/waterborne-coating-additives-market-5892 Regional Analysis The global waterborne coating additives market is spanned across five regions namely Asia Pacific, North America, Europe, Latin America, and the Middle East and Africa. Asia Pacific is expected to have the major market share of waterborne coating additives in terms of market size. North America and Europe markets are relatively mature and expected to show steady demand in the forecast period. Middle East and Africa is expected to show rising demand during the forecast period from growing construction industry of Middle East. Latin America is also expected to join hand with other regions and is expected to show rising demand from construction industry. [April 15, 2021] Ancestry Appoints Gene Alston to its Board of Directors Ancestry, the global leader in family history and consumer genomics, today announced the appointment of Gene Alston as an independent member of its Board of Directors, effective immediately. This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210415005784/en/ Ancestry, today announced the appointment of Gene Alston as an independent member of its Board of Directors. (Photo: Business Wire) Alston is currently the Vice President of Commerce Business and Operations at Facebook (News - Alert) , where he is responsible for all strategy and teams for commerce products across Facebook's family of apps, revenue and lient satisfaction globally. "We are excited to welcome Gene to our board of directors. He brings a wealth of industry experience to the role with a focus on high growth, disruptive consumer internet companies," said Mark Thompson, Ancestry board chair. "Gene's counsel and expertise will bring energy to our board and strengthen Ancestry's commitment to bringing diverse perspectives to the table." Alston has more than 20 years of business leadership experience and prior to his current role, he led global marketing partnerships at Facebook. Before Facebook, Alston was at Pinterest, Groupon, and PayPal (News - Alert) where he led teams and was responsible for business development, partnerships, acquisitions, and international expansion. Deb Liu, chief executive officer at Ancestry added, "I've had the pleasure of working with Gene first at PayPal and again at Facebook. Gene is a thought leader and innovator, and he will bring his breadth of experience in consumer technology to Ancestry as we continue to accelerate growth and empower journeys of personal discovery for millions more people around the world." Alston holds a Bachelor of Science from the University of Washington and a J.D. and MBA from University of California Los Angeles. Before returning to graduate school, Alston served as a Naval Officer stationed on the USS Worden. About Ancestry Ancestry, the global leader in family history and consumer genomics, empowers journeys of personal discovery to enrich lives. With our unparalleled collection of more than 27 billion records and over 18 million people in our growing DNA network, customers can discover their family story and gain a new level of understanding about their lives. For over 30 years, we've built trusted relationships with millions of people who have chosen us as the platform for discovering, preserving and sharing the most important information about themselves and their families. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210415005784/en/ [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] (CNN) As offices reopen, Uber says its employees can work from home if they choose but only for two days a week. Starting in September, the ride-hailing company will shift to a "hybrid model" for its employees "with a clear expectation that they also come into the office 3 days a week," Nikki Krishnamurthy, the company's chief people officer, said in a blog post Wednesday. Internal company data showed that two-thirds of Uber employees prefer a mix of working from the office and from home, Krishnamurthy added. Several of Silicon Valley's biggest companies are slowly starting to reopen offices after being among the first to close them last year, offering a potential road map for what office work looks like in year two of the coronavirus pandemic. Facebook and Google will both reopen their San Francisco Bay Area headquarters at limited capacity in the coming weeks, while Apple reportedly started allowing workers back as early as last May. Uber last month opened the doors of its new campus in San Francisco's Mission Bay, which finished construction during the pandemic. The office initially opened at 20% capacity, with employees allowed to return on a voluntary basis. The ride-hailing firm has around 3,500 employees in the Bay Area and more than 22,000 worldwide. Employees who have gone remote will be required to return to their pre-pandemic location by September 13, the company said. Krishnamurthy also addressed why Uber workers aren't being given the option of staying permanently remote, like their peers at Twitter and Facebook. "Why didn't we make a more radical shift? It ultimately comes down to the kind of company we want to be," she said. "Our business also exists in the real world, on the streets of thousands of cities, and it's important we stay connected to the places we serve." This story was first published on CNN.com 'Uber expects employees to spend at least three days a week at the office' PORT HAWKESBURY, N.S. - An oil tanker has been anchored off Cape Breton since Sunday because of concerns several crew members may have contracted COVID-19. This 2020 electron microscope image made available by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention shows the spherical particles of the new coronavirus, colorized blue, from the first U.S. case of COVID-19. An oil tanker has been anchored off Cape Breton since Sunday after concerns several crew members may have contracted COVID-19. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Hannah A. Bullock, Azaibi Tamin/CDC via AP PORT HAWKESBURY, N.S. - An oil tanker has been anchored off Cape Breton since Sunday because of concerns several crew members may have contracted COVID-19. Karl Risser, Atlantic inspector for the International Transport Workers Federation, said Thursday one crew member on the STI San Telmo had tested positive and is in quarantine in a Sydney, N.S., hotel. Risser said he's been told another seven members of the crew have also tested positive for COVID-19. "From what I understand, the situation is being monitored (by health officials) and everybody is stable," he said. Risser said the vessel had been sailing to Montreal from Antwerp, Belgium, and his union, which represents foreign seafarers, will "keep and eye on things" until the ship gets permission to move. There's no word on how many crew members are on board, but Risser said an oil tanker of its size typically has a crew of up to 22. "They work in confined spaces, so (the virus) can travel quite fast," he said. On Wednesday, Transport Canada spokeswoman Cybelle Morin said in an email that the federal department was aware "of potential cases of COVID-19" involving a foreign-flagged vessel. Morin said the vessel presents no risks to port personnel or marine safety and can leave its anchorage only when the Public Health Agency of Canada agrees. "Crew members on this vessel are taking precautions as required," she said. In an email Thursday, the Public Health Agency of Canada confirmed it was notified about an ill crew member aboard the vessel last Friday. The agency said the individual was subsequently taken to hospital where they tested positive for COVID-19. It said the remaining crew were isolating on board the ship, adding that agency quarantine officers were monitoring the situation closely and receiving daily updates about the crew's health status. The vessel's local Canadian agent, SMK Tanker Agency in Longueuil, Que., did not provide comment when contacted Thursday. This report by The Canadian Press was first published April 15, 2021. Source: Xinhua| 2021-04-15 19:26:10|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close TEHRAN, April 15 (Xinhua) -- Iranian President Hassan Rouhani on Thursday dismissed concerns about Iran's plan to enrich uranium to 60-percent purity, saying that "we are not looking for a nuclear bomb." "Some have interpreted that 60 percent is a means to reaching 90 percent (of uranium enrichment). It is not correct. It is wrong to think that we are paving the way for the production of the atomic bomb," Rouhani was quoted by official IRNA news agency as saying. "Today, if we want, we can enrich 90 percent (uranium), but ... we are not looking for a nuclear bomb," he said. The United States should return to the 2015 nuclear deal, or the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), and remove anti-Iran sanctions, he said. On Tuesday, Iran informed the International Atomic Energy Agency of its plan to enrich uranium at 60-percent purity following the attack on its Natanz nuclear facility. Also, Iran said that it would install an additional 1,000 centrifuges with 50 percent higher enrichment capacity at the nuclear facility. Rouhani said Wednesday that Iran's plan to launch IR-6 centrifuges and 60-percent uranium enrichment were "a response to the evils" committed by other countries. A blackout struck the Natanz enrichment facility in central Iran on Sunday morning. Iranian authorities have accused Israel of the recent "sabotage." Under the 2015 nuclear deal, Iran was allowed to enrich uranium only up to 3.67-percent of purity and its stockpile should not be more than 300 kg. However, in a response to the U.S. withdrawal from the deal and imposition of sanctions, Iran on Jan. 4 this year started to produce uranium enrichment to 20 percent of purity and the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran announced on April 3 that its stockpile has hit 50 kg. Enditem Spiralling COVID-19 cases in India have impacted pre-scheduled appointments of visiting foreign dignitaries to the country with Prime minister French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian and Maldives Foreign Minister Abdulla Shahid, who are currently visiting India, were scheduled to meet Prime Minister Modi. However, the meeting could not take place. Sources stated that meetings with foreign dignitaries have been put on hold for some days as Prime Minister Modi is constantly keeping a close track of rising COVID-19 cases and holding back to back review meetings on the coronavirus situation in the country. The Prime Minister recently held meetings with Governors on the issue. He also convened a meeting with Union Education Minister and top officials related to CBSE Board examinations. It is learnt that Prime Minister Modi is also meeting various expert panels to discuss the situation. British Prime Minister Boris Johnson had also curtailed his to India visit due to the COVID situation here. "We've been in close contact with the Indian government about the PM's upcoming visit in light of the COVID situation in India," Johnson's spokesperson told Reuters. "As a result of these discussions, the Prime Minister has made the decision to reduce the length of the visit." According to the original plan, the British Prime Minister was also supposed to visit Chennai. However, now Johnson will meet PM Modi and top business leaders in New Delhi. The Ministry of External Affairs is yet to officially announce the visit and schedule of Johnson's visit. BRUSSELS Iran and the other signatories of the 2015 nuclear deal resumed negotiations in Vienna on Thursday to revive the accord, though the atmosphere was fraught in the aftermath of the apparent Israeli attack on a major uranium enrichment site in Iran. Senior diplomats involved in the talks have agreed that the working groups meant to bring both Iran and the United States into compliance with the deal had made progress. But after the meeting on Thursday, the head of Chinas delegation, Wang Qun, called for a faster pace and fewer distractions. We do think that all these developments have reinforced our conviction that what is needed most now as a top priority is to do away with any disruptive factors and pick up the pace of negotiation here, said Mr. Wang, Chinas ambassador to the International Atomic Energy Agency. Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, April 15) Washington, through the United States Agency for International Development, is providing the Philippines 170 million to support the countrys COVID-19 vaccination program. This was announced by U.S. Embassy Charge dAffaires John Law during his visit in a vaccination site in Caloocan City, according to a statement from the embassy. With him were Health Secretary Francisco Duque III, Caloocan City Mayor Oscar Malapitan, USAID Philippines Mission Director Lawrence Hardy II, and other officials from both countries. While the pandemic has tested our peoples and our economies, the strong bonds between Americans and Filipinos will help us rise above this challenge, Law was quoted as saying. We will continue to fight this unprecedented global health crisis together. The new assistance will help the Philippines strengthen its vaccine supply chain and monitoring, and delivery of communication campaigns to improve vaccine confidence among Filipinos. It will also help local governments in the implementation of their respective immunization programs. As of now, total support from Washington has reached nearly 1.3 billion, mostly allocated to improve the Philippines health system and vaccine delivery. This has largely helped the country carry out internationally-recognized infection prevention and control strategies, strengthen laboratory systems and case management, and communicate effectively about health risks. Recently, the U.S. also committed $4 billion to the World Health Organizations COVAX facility, a global initiative to support COVID-19 vaccine access for 92 countries, including the Philippines. An initial $2 billion has been provided to support purchase and delivery of vaccines. The Philippines has so far received some 3 million doses of vaccine from China and the COVAX facility. More supply is expected to come as the government finalizes agreements with manufacturers and donations from WHO. Rev. Franklin Graham is calling for prayers over government leaders and that God may intervene so that hostilities in America and beyond would be thwarted. In his recent post on social media, the American evangelist called on Christians to get on their civic duty of praying for those in authority. He asked Christians to join him in praying that God may work in their lives and to provide them wisdom in dealing with the escalating crises. Graham also urged believers to not let fear incapacitate them and to be reminded of what the Bible say about the future. "Even though the times are perilous and there may be "wars and rumors of wars," as Christians we don't have to be fearful," he wrote. "The Word of God tells us what the future holds and who wins. God is the ultimate authority." Graham highlighted former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich's warning about the danger that the country is currently in. "Newt cautions that with the unrest in our nation and the "forces of disorder," we should not be weakening our police forces and we certainly don't need to be cutting back on funding for law enforcement," he noted. In a Fox News interview where the House Speaker was asked to give a reaction on the unrest in Minnesota, he reasoned that weakening the police force will only result to more public riots and a dramatic rise in domestic crimes. His concern is for the poor and the minority groups who would likely become the recipient of street crimes and others. "Who does that hurt?" he asked "It hurts the innocent. It hurts minorities. I mean, who are the largest number of victims of these kinds of criminals? They're African Americans. So when you start talking about crime, you're really talking about entire populations of people in Chicago and New York and Baltimore who are faced with losing their lives potentially." While he acknowledged the need for extensive training and an investigation when something goes wrong, Grinch still calls for a "balance" on the cry to defund the police. "A strong, effective trained police force is better for the poorest people and better for the minority groups than any other situation," he argued. "We need to get back to that and realize that this fantasy, 'liberalism,' is putting everyone's life at risk." The former house speaker also pleaded that the police who have sworn to protect lives deserve the support of the community and to be given the benefit of the doubt in situations that need investigating. His point is the need for law enforcement to effectively curb "forces of crime" and "forces of hostility" from "dominating the streets." Wholly in agreement, Graham also asked his countrymen to look at the circumstances outside America. "China has informed the U.S. that they are now equal to us-and China has told Taiwan if they declare independence that will mean war. Russia and the Ukraine are on the verge of war. North Korea is testing its missile," he said. "What is needed is diplomacy to help resolve these tensions before they get out of hand," he added. Surprise, surprise: a new study shows reforms that pushed up the age at which women can claim their state pension have not saved the taxpayer any money. Why? Because women who carry on working to earn their own living (and pay tax) fail to carry out the caring responsibilities for ageing relatives that we have relied on them to do for decades. Its a pattern of family life that has saved the state 130 billion plus every year. According to the report by Kings College London, for every 30 hours a woman works in her 60s, it costs 5,600 to make up for the care she would otherwise have provided. And so, oh dear, far from being seen as a useful taxpayer who would contribute to any proper plan for the state to pick up the tab for care, she is perceived to cause the woeful diminution of care for the elderly and needy. Jenni Murray said it is still assumed to be a daughter's responsibility to look after an increasingly infirm and incapable mother or father (file image) Hang on a minute! How come, in the 21st century, it is still assumed to be a daughters responsibility to do the hardest job of all looking after an increasingly infirm and incapable mother or father? Do we still live as in the 18th and early 19th centuries, when one sister in the family would remain unmarried in order to nurse older family members? In Jane Austens Emma, its poor Miss Bates, there to care for the old Mrs Bates. And there are many more like her in literary history: women who were expected to forgo any life of their own for the benefit of others in the family. Dont a lot of these old people, in fiction and in fact, have perfectly competent sons as well as daughters? What is their responsibility for looking after Mum and Dad? So many women of my generation have faced this dilemma. As an only daughter, I was lucky. I did what I could to help as Parkinsons disease took its toll on my mother, but my devoted father did the bulk of her care, understanding that his daughter had a job and teenagers to care for. Other women, with equally busy working lives, would exhaust themselves when their brothers failed to help, too. Jenni (pictured) said there's a need for a better care system on the state so parents don't fear they'll become a burden on their children My friend Joanne came to my house one afternoon on her last legs. She was divorced, running her own business, had two teenagers to support and was spending hours every week running from London to Leicester, helping her widowed mother cope with advancing dementia and trying to arrange assistance for her. Why, I asked, didnt her brother, who lived near their mother, do his fair share? He apparently didnt think it was his problem. I couldnt help laughing after Lieutenant Commander Simon Reeves had a bit of an accident when he captained HMS Chiddingfold for the first time. He was trying to dock her in the dark and collided with HMS Penzance. Twice! It took me back to the BBC radio comedy The Navy Lark, when Jon Pertwee would yell, Left hand down a bit, Mr Phillips as HMS Troutbridge inevitably hit the harbour wall. As you approach old age, as I will in the not-too-distant future, you have to think seriously about these matters. I have two sons and I have no doubt they would never shirk their responsibilities for me or their father. When I had cancer years ago, they could not have been more attentive. On those occasions when Ive managed to fall and break a bone they have been there to help, driving me to the hospital, visiting, helping at home when cooking and dressing myself were tough. They never held back. But it seems rare for sons to be so willing. The new research suggests there should be more free care for old people whose family carers have jobs, or subsidies for employers to allow flexible hours for workers who have caring responsibilities. I say, lets provide a better care system on the state so parents dont fear theyll become a burden on their children. But, meanwhile, come on sons everywhere: step up and stop people assuming that elder care is womens work. We have jobs, too, just like you. Thanks for my 65, Rachael! Jenni won 65 after betting on Rachael Blackmore (pictured) winning the Grand National Thank you Rachael Blackmore for proving me right when I said a woman could win the Grand National. Its the only race I ever bet on and you won me 65 my best win since 1983, when the trainer Jenny Pitman advised me to back Corbiere. My dad used to say: Dont gamble, its a mugs game. But I think once a year is probably OK with very small stakes! Zoe Stacey, whose son William is two months old, is breastfeeding him. She has also been called for jury duty and been told she cant defer jury service for more than a year, as its not an excuse not to do her civic duty. Its outrageous that she is expected to leave him at home with a bottle. Heres what Id do. Go to court, take William with me and feed him when he needs it. I remember seeing a woman feeding on a bus when I was little and asking my mum, Has that baby got to eat all that before it gets to Sheffield? Everybody laughed. Nobody complained. I was once reduced to feeding my son while out shopping in the shoe section of Marks & Spencer, the only place I could sit down. Why all the fuss these days about a woman baring her breast for the purpose for which it was designed? Lighten up, everybody. Plucky Bukky gets my Bafta vote this year I think the squeal of delight in my house was as loud as the one in her sitting room when Bukky Bakray was named Rising Star at the Baftas on Sunday. She was picked from her school at the age of 16 to star in Sarah Gavrons film Rocks, about a girl who is left to care for her little brother. She had no acting experience but was brilliant. The chubby 16-year-old is now a stunning 19-year-old with a career she could never have dreamt of. Good luck to her. How ill miss my friend Shirley Jenni said unlike her friend Baroness Williams (pictured), her hair has always been her pride and joy After a four-hour cut and colour on Monday, I emerged a new woman. My hair, unlike that of my friend Baroness Williams, who died on that day, has always been my pride and joy. In 1995, we were both in Beijing to attend the UN Womens Conference. When I arrived at the hotel, they had no room for me. I called the producer, who had arrived earlier. Dont make a fuss, she said. It doesnt work here. Shirley Williams is asleep on my bed. No room for her either. Ill sort it. And the hotel manager, with the unlikely name of Peter Pan, did sort it. We had dinner and went off to our own beds. Next morning, at breakfast, my producer was worried. Her room seemed to have been searched. Shirley said the same, but my room was fine. Ah, said Shirley, I think they gave us the wrong rooms. They thought you were me. I was the dodgy journalist who needed to be checked out and, I have to say, you do look the more likely Baroness! Syracuse, NY -- A DeWitt man accused of throwing a machete at police officers after setting fire to an apartment across from the East Genesee Street Wegmans decided not to challenge evidence against him in court Thursday. Instead, Jonathan Almonte, 33, agreed to put his fate into the hands of defense experts who are looking into his mental health. Almonte started a police standoff on Nov. 14, 2020 above the Hair Shed salon, 6840 E. Genesee St., after threatening a neighbor with a machete, police said. During the three-hour ordeal, Almonte tried to set fire to the building (where he lived), threw items out a window and later confronted officers with the machete outside, according to police reports. The incident was first reported as a fire, but later it became apparent that a suspect had barricaded himself inside the building. The incident on a Saturday afternoon closed off the busy thoroughfare in the eastern suburbs. Almonte was indicted on charges of burglary, arson and menacing a police officer. In court Thursday, Almontes lawyer was supposed to challenge the legality of using statements attributed to him during the standoff. RELATED: Girlfriend: DeWitt man in standoff across from Wegmans is bipolar, paranoid and spike addict But it became clear that defense lawyer Patrick Hennessy was simply trying to buy more time for defense experts to complete a mitigation report -- an investigation into Almontes past that could lessen his criminal responsibility. Such a report almost certainly wont lead to Almonte avoiding a conviction for what he did. Instead, it may provide a rationale for arguing for a lower prison sentence or for specialized treatment while in prison. That mitigation report had been delayed by the fact that key parts of Almontes mental health history were recorded in New York City, Hennessy told the judge. Its taken far longer than expected to put the puzzle pieces together. So Almonte gave up his right to Thursdays hearing in exchange for more time for his lawyer to work out a plea bargain. The goal is to find a disposition thats fair to all sides, Judge Thomas J. Miller told him. Almonte remains jailed as the process plays out. Staff writer Douglass Dowty can be reached at ddowty@syracuse.com or 315-470-6070. [April 15, 2021] Synctera Signs on CheckAlt and Socure as Latest Partners to Continue Building out FinTech-as-a-Service Offerings Synctera, a new solution for partnership banking at scale, today announced partnership agreements with CheckAlt, the largest independent lockbox and electronic payments provider in the country, and Socure, the leader in 100% digital identity trust, to bring mobile remote deposit capture (MRDC) and identity verification capabilities to clients. Alongside the partnership news, Synctera is also announcing two new product offerings for its FinTech and community banking partners: ACH-as-a-Service, enabling community banks to execute ACH payment instructions on behalf of their FinTech partners, and Ledger-as-a-Service, allowing FinTechs to outsource ledger functionality to Synctera. On the heels of the two provider partnerships as well as the new product offerings, Synctera has further cemented itself as a leader in the rising Banking-as-a-Service and embedded finance categories. The promise of automation is an enticing one: most FinTechs only have so many team-members dedicated to compliance, and without a technology partner, their time is often spent manually reviewing customer applications and profiles that need attention. Their community bank partner also reaps the benefits-not only with peace of mind but also the added visibility into their FinTech's risk portfolio. "KYC, ACH, Ledger-these are the frameworks that are most in demand from our first community banking and FinTech partners," said Peter Hazlehurst, CEO and co-founder of Synctera. "Our vision since founding in early 2020 was to enable FinTechs to offer a wide range of banking products and services to their end customers. We're excited to keep the momentum going with our new offerings and partnerships that have been pre-configured specifically for the needs of community banks." As a result of Synctera's partnership with CheckAlt, Synctera will be able to help community banks simplify their stack while also offering a more streamlined go-to-market pipeline for FinTechs as well. In the current marketplace, FinTechs have to set up individual partnerships with MRDC providers and then build the tech into their infrastructure, which is not only time intensive and costly, but requires internal staffing and skills that startup FinTechs often don't have. With this new CheckAlt partnership, Synctera's FinTech clients will be able to get industry-standard MRDC directly from their banking partner and access the technology through Synctera APIs. "Simply put: Community banks want to offer more to their FinTech partners," said Shai Stern, Co-Chairman and CEO of CheckAlt. "Synctera is a grat partnership for us because they're easing the barrier of access to a lot of tech dev and programming that is essential in getting FinTechs and community bank partnerships up and running. We are looking forward to joining forces." Synctera also signed on Socure as an integrated partner for identity verification to help its community bank and FinTech clients, no matter the size, safely identify and onboard more customers without introducing friction. Socure's Sigma Fraud Suite and Intelligent KYC solutions passively assess prospective customers online to achieve auto-approval rates of up to 94% while significantly reducing manual reviews, enabling FinTechs to offer a best-in-class user experience and onboarding as well as efficient growth at scale. The fraud suite and KYC products are part of Socure's digital-first ID+ platform offered by Synctera that also includes physical document verification, a compliance suite, and modules for device, email, phone, and address risk. "Synctera delivers a much-needed service by fostering mutually beneficial partnerships for community banks and FinTechs, along with streamlined integrations that accelerate time to market in a highly competitive environment," said Evan Rabinowitz, Vice President of Business Development at Socure. "Our approach to identity verification is designed to drive the growth that makes partnership banking successful, and Socure is looking forward to powering Synctera's new offering." This news comes just four months after Synctera's launch and seed funding in December 2020, where it also debuted its first community bank and FinTech partners Coastal Community Bank and ONE Finance. In March 2021, Synctera also signed on four new team members to build out its leadership team, including its CCO and VP of Finance Kirsten Muetzel, who previously held positions at The Federal Reserve Banks of New York and San Francisco. Community partner banks and FinTechs are encouraged to reach out via Synctera's website to learn more about how to work together. For more information, please visit www.synctera.com. For visual assets, founder bios and headshots, FAQ and more, please access the media kit here. ABOUT SYNCTERA Synctera is building a partnership banking marketplace connecting community banks with FinTech platforms. The platform reduces risk, ensures compliance and speeds launches to market for FinTechs and banks alike, Synctera creates meaningful connections between community banks seeking more customers and FinTech platforms that need a licensed partner to operate in the US. Launched in 2020, the company was co-founded by CEO Peter Hazlehurst, former head of Uber Money, head of Google (News - Alert) Wallet and CPO at Yodlee, as well as CTO, Kris Hansen and Head of Product, Dominik Weisserth. For more information, please visit www.synctera.com. ABOUT CHECKALT In the past 10 years, CheckAlt has become the universal payment processing hub for hundreds of financial institutions across the country. As both bank agnostic and demographic agnostic, CheckAlt is uniquely positioned for payments convergence. It has been our focus to process check payments while also eliminating paper from the system with robust electronic payment APIs. CheckAlt's solutions include lockbox processing across a nationwide hub-and-spoke network of processing sites, consolidated item processing, integrated treasury solutions, and mobile capture services. CheckAlt is headquartered in Los Angeles, Calif. For more information, visit www.CheckAlt.com. ABOUT SOCURE Socure is the leader in digital identity verification technology for Day Zero and beyond. Its predictive analytics platform applies artificial intelligence and machine-learning techniques with trusted online/offline data intelligence from email, phone, address, IP, device, velocity, and the broader internet to verify identities in real-time. The company has more than 350 customers across the financial services, online gaming, telecom, healthcare, and eCommerce industries, including three top five banks, six top 10 card issuers, three top MSBs, multiple tier one payroll providers, the top credit bureau, and over 75 of the largest and most successful fintechs such as Varo Money, Public, Chime, and Stash. Socure recently received numerous industry awards and accolades including being named to "Forbes America's Best Startup Employers 2021," awarded "Best New Technology (News - Alert) Introduced over the Last 12 months - Data and Data Services" at the 2020 American Financial Technology Awards (AFTAs), ranked number 70 on Deloitte's (News - Alert) Technology Fast 500, listed as a Gartner Cool Vendor, recognized by Forbes as one of the "Top 25 Machine Learning Startups to Watch," named to CB Insights: The Fintech 250, and awarded Finovate's Award for Best Use of AI/ML, to name a few. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210415005802/en/ [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [April 15, 2021] OwnBackup Ranks No. 38 on the 2021 Financial Times The Americas' Fastest Growing Companies OwnBackup, a leading cloud-to-cloud data protection provider, today announced it ranked No. 38 on its FT The Americas' Fastest Growing Companies, a report of the fastest growing companies in North, Central and South America. This is the second consecutive year OwnBackup has appeared on the list, which comprises the enterprises that contribute most heavily to economic growth. "We're honored to once again be recognized by the Financial Times (News - Alert) as one of the fastest growing companies in the Americas. To be able to achieve the growth we did in such a challenging year is a testament to our customers, investors and employees," says OwnBackup CEO Sam Gutmann. The recognition is the latest example in a string of impressive achievements for the cloud data protection company. In January, OwnBackup announced a Series D investment of $167.5 million co-led by Insight Partners, Salesforce Ventures, and Sapphire Ventures, with participation from existing investors Innovation Endeavors, Vertex Ventures, and Oryzn Capital. Combined with a $50 million financing round six months earlier, the company's cumulative funding now totals over $267.5 million. In November, OwnBackup welcomed new leadership in Asia Pacific to support growing customer demand for SaaS (News - Alert) data protection in the ANZ market. Of OwnBackup's more than 3,000 customers worldwide, more than 29% are based outside the U.S., with a rapidly growing list of well known brands in Australia, UK and Europe. OwnBackup also continues to expand their platform beyond backup and recovery with data archiving and sandbox seeding capabilities, the latest step toward their vision of becoming a single pane of glass for companies to manage, backup, and secure all of their SaaS data. To enable all of this positive momentum, OwnBackup has plans to double their over 400-person team by the end of this year. They are currently hiring for roles across all departments, including sales, marketing, customer support, product, technical support, and administration. FT The Americas' Methodology In order to be included in the ranking, companies must have a revenue of at least $100,000 generated in 2016, revenue of at least $1.5m generated in 2019, be independent (no subsidiary or branch office of any kind), and be headquartered in one of 20 countries in the Americas listed here. The rating is the result of a joint project by the Financial Times and Statista. The results were achieved by conducting months of research, public calls, intensive database research and directly contacting tens of thousands of companies. About OwnBackup: OwnBackup covers data loss and corruption caused by human errors, malicious intent, integration errors, and rogue applications. Built for security and privacy, OwnBackup exceeds the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) requirements for backed-up data. Co-founded by seasoned data-recovery, data-protection, and information-security experts, OwnBackup is a backup and restore independent software vendor (ISV) on Salesforce AppExchange. Headquartered in Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey with Research and Development (R&D), support, and other functions in Tel Aviv and London. OwnBackup is the partner of choice for some of the world's largest users of SaaS applications. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210415005913/en/ [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] MILAN (Reuters) - Italy aims to administer a first dose of a COVID-19 vaccine to everyone over 60 by the end of the second quarter, Health Minister Roberto Speranza said on Thursday. Speaking at a parliamentary hearing, Speranza also said he hoped there will soon be clarity over the Johnson&Johnson jab, which has been suspended over side-effect concerns, in order to clear its use. The AstraZeneca vaccine "like all vaccines marketed in Europe, is safe and effective, it saves lives," Speranza said. He warned that a hasty easing of lockdown measures in Italy would only trigger more infections and new restrictions, so any easing needed to be introduced carefully and gradually. (Reporting by Francesca Piscioneri, writing by Maria Pia Quaglia, editing by Gavin Jones) KYODO NEWS - Apr 15, 2021 - 23:25 | World, All, Japan China's Assistant Foreign Minister Wu Jianghao on Thursday summoned Japan's ambassador to lodge a protest against its recent decision to release treated radioactive water accumulated at the crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant. Wu was quoted by the Foreign Ministry as conveying to Ambassador Hideo Tarumi about China's "strong dissatisfaction and firm opposition" to the decision made by the government of Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga. On Tuesday, Tokyo decided to release the treated water into the sea from the Fukushima plant in two years, a major development following more than seven years of discussions on how to deal with the water used to cool down melted fuel there. China on the same day urged Japan not to go ahead with the discharge "without permission" from other countries and the International Atomic Energy Agency. The United States has shown understanding of Japan's plan, but Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian cast doubt on it, saying Beijing believes Washington "attaches importance to environmental issues." Zhao also suggested China will take countermeasures against Japan if necessary. In addition to China, Japan's neighbors, South Korea and Taiwan, have expressed opposition to the nation's latest decision, claiming that the treated water would hurt the marine environment, food safety and human health. Japanese officials, however, have pointed out some other countries operating nuclear power plants, including China and South Korea, have released treated radioactive water from reactors there into the environment. A Place for All Conservatives to Speak Their Mind. For a certain kind of intellectually inclined New Yorker, the weekly Friday lunch of the New York Institute for the Humanities has long been a coveted invitation. Held for more than four decades in a succession of sometimes cramped rooms at New York University, its the kind of gathering where you suddenly realize that the seriously dressed-down person who had just abruptly put down a paper plate of deli sandwiches to pose a sharp question about a talk on Nietzsches concept of anti-education or the legacy of the documentary Paris Is Burning is actually an eminent philosopher, a prizewinning novelist, or maybe a downtown musician or painter. Now, after a period of pandemic-related uncertainty, the institute is leaving its longtime home at the university and moving uptown. Starting June 1, it will be based at the New York Public Library, which, after the pandemic lifts, will host the institutes weekly gatherings in its flagship 42nd Street building while partnering on public events through its Center for Research in the Humanities. Eric Banks, the institutes director since 2013, said the move came after N.Y.U. informed him last fall that, as part of pandemic-related cuts, it would be discontinuing its support for the institution, which had a $200,000 annual budget. Under the new arrangement, the bulk of the institutes budget will be paid for by its own fund-raising, including what Banks said was substantial initial support from some of the groups fellows. William Kelly, the librarys director of research libraries, said in a statement that the partnership was important as the city faces what is likely to be a long and difficult recovery from the pandemic. Henry Golding and his wife Liv Lo announced earlier this month that they had welcomed their first child together. And on Thursday, the couple were spotted strolling with their newborn after enjoying brunch in Venice, California. The 34-year-old Crazy Rich Asians star had his little one strapped to his chest in a Swan-patterned baby carrier, while holding hands with Liv, 35. Parental bliss: Henry Golding and his wife Liv Lo were spotted strolling with their newborn after enjoying brunch in Venice, California on Thursday The newborn, whose name and gender have yet to be officially revealed by the couple, looked cozy in a pink onesie and a soft lavender cap. Golding, looking ever bit the doting dad, sported a stylish ensemble for the family outing in Venice. He had on an off white button down shirt, which he layered over a plain black tee and matching trousers. Henry completed the look with a pair of suede Adidas sneakers. Doting dad: The 34-year-old Crazy Rich Asians star had his little one strapped to his chest in a Swan-patterned baby carrier, while holding hands with Liv Cozy: The newborn, whose name and gender have yet to be revealed, looked cozy in a pink onesie and a soft lavender cap Liv, despite having just given birth, put her enviably fit physique on display in a pair of formfitting ONA yoga pants and a chic sweater top. The fitness guru wore her shoulder-length tresses pulled back into a low ponytail and she carried a denim jacket over he arm as she walked beside Henry. In the midst of their family outing, Henry stopped to take a photo with his newborn child in front of a tree. 'Morning walks,' captioned the actor, followed by a heart emoji and photographer credit to Liv. Making memories: In the midst of their family outing, Henry stopped to take a photo with his newborn child in front of a tree Henry and Liv, who have been married since 2016, announced via Instagram on Monday, April 5 that they had welcomed their first child. Sharing a snapshot of himself, Liv, and their newborn in hospital, Henry wrote of his wife: 'Your strength brought us our greatest joy.' He continued: 'This woman right here. Beyond anything I could have ever imagined. Your strength brought us our greatest joy. Thank you, I love you.' The latest: Actor Henry Golding, 34, and wife Liv Lo, 35, announced on Monday, April 5 that they had welcomed their newborn child Amazing: Henry wrote of his wife: 'Your strength brought us our greatest joy' Lo, who works in the exercise industry with her company Fitsphere, posted, 'On March 31st our lives changed forever,' sharing a shot of the baby The Taiwan-born entrepreneur added, 'Ill prob be up during midnight breastfeeds checking in on you, but otherwise "Ill be back" xx.' The couple did not reveal the child's name or gender in the set of social media announcements. Focused: The pair displayed shots of Lo in a hospital amid the birthing process Precious: Lo, who works in the exercise industry with her company Fitsphere, posted, 'On March 31st our lives changed forever,' sharing a shot of the baby The Gentlemen actor, speaking in February with Us Weekly, opened up about his forthcoming fatherhood, after the couple last year said they were expecting. He said he and Lo were not anxious to make public all of the information about their child. 'We know the sex,' he said. 'We're keeping it on the down-low. We've got a name sort of rattling around, which I think it's only fair that my wife, she thinks that the baby should actually hear the name first. So, we've been trying to hold out on telling anyone.' There is no doubt that they meant well, coming out in their thousands to sincerely express their grief over the deeply tragic kidnap-murder of 23-year-old Andrea Bharatt. But the organisers of those candlelight vigils held all over Trinidad between February 4 and April 1 did not seem in the least bit concerned that what they were assembling could turn out to be Covid super spreaders. The Committee for Melbourne has recommended a bushfire-style levy be imposed on Victorian homes and businesses to raise crucial funds for a massively expanded 40-year affordable housing program. The Andrews government plans to build 12,000 social and affordable homes by 2024, at a cost of $5.3 billion the largest investment ever made in social housing in the state. A bushfire-style levy could help pay for more affordable housing, the Committee for Melbourne says. Credit:Paul Rovere But the Committee for Melbourne, which comprises 140 private and public organisations around the state, said while the governments building program was commendable it should be hugely expanded. Previously unreported figures show the need for low-cost housing is increasing faster than the government can build new stock. SUV Areas such as North Americas Moab, Utah region have that particular allure for off-road and overlanding aficionados . On the other hand, the Salento sub-peninsula in Italy is equally renowned worldwide for places such as Porto Cesareo, where the sandy shores recall the Caribbean atmosphere with their low tides and highly transparent waters.Its not exactly something thats legendary for off-road use, though. And it will never be. First and foremost, because its dedicated to humannot vehiculartourism, and above all, its also protected by the authorities and part of a National Marine Park.Naturally, as the video embedded below from local news outlet Corriere della Sera will attest, that hasnt stopped one Land Rover Range Rover Evoque owner to go for a little beach rally with the premium British. According to the description, the owner was a mother of two children who apparently decided to teach its offspring that breaking the law doesnt pay off.Theres no other sane explanation for a hooligan act in a world of smartphone and security cameras. Both captured the shenanigans, and the report mentions that the local residents quickly alerted the authorities. Naturally, now the owner will have to show the children that with great SUVs comes great responsibility , in the form of a 2,700 (around $3,235 at the current exchange rates) fine.Were even willing to venture into unknown territory and say the wannabe off-road driver had a rather inexpensive escapade (for our taste) since taking the crossover on the beach not only violated local environmental rules but was also breaking the current health regulations.And, just as a side note, with that money, they probably could have found a nice 4x4 safari deal from a tourism agency... Source: Xinhua| 2021-04-14 17:19:58|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close SUVA, April 14 (Xinhua) -- The Pacific Islands Forum (PIF) has expressed deep concern about Japan's decision to dump nuclear wastewater from the Fukushima nuclear plant into the sea and urged Japan to rethink about such a decision. According to a statement by the PIF on Wednesday, PIF Secretary General Dame Meg Taylor said that the PIF noted, with deep concern, the decision by the Japanese government to discharge the Advanced Liquid Processing System (ALPS) Treated Water from the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station into the Pacific Ocean, and wished to highlight and reiterate the position of the Pacific Islands Forum region in relation to this matter. As required under the international law, and as highlighted by the States Parties of the Treaty of Rarotonga, also known as the South Pacific Nuclear Free Zone (SPNFZ) Treaty, in December 2020, Japan should take all appropriate measures within its territory, jurisdiction or control to prevent significant transboundary harm to the territories of the Pacific, including the South Pacific Nuclear Free Zone, Taylor said. She said that the PIF's view is that Japan has not taken sufficient steps to address the potential harm to the Pacific, including possible environmental, health and economic impacts. While stressing that the Pacific's fisheries and oceans resources are critical to the Pacific livelihoods and must be protected, the PIF urgently called on the Japanese government to hold off the conduct of the discharge of the ALPS Treated Water until further consultations are undertaken with PIF members and an independent expert review is undertaken to the satisfaction of all PIF members. Founded in 1971, the PIF is an inter-governmental organization that aims to enhance cooperation between countries and territories of the Pacific Ocean, including formation of a trade bloc and regional peacekeeping operations. The Treaty of Rarotonga, which was inked by PIF members in 1985, bans the manufacture, possession, stationing, and testing of any nuclear explosive device in Treaty territories for which the parties are internationally responsible. It also bans the dumping of radioactive waste at sea. Enditem Britain today reported its first 77 cases of an Indian Covid variant that hasn't been detected before in the UK. B.1.617, yet another 'variant under investigation' by Public Health England, carries mutations that could make it spread faster and partially evade immunity. It is thought to have contributed to the now surging outbreak in India, where it was first found, and Government sources said the UK is monitoring it 'due to sustained international transmission'. Today's updated list of cases caused by variant versions of the virus counts another 56 infections with the South African strain, which is top of the UK's concerns. A SAGE member, Professor John Edmunds, has warned if the South African variant keeps spreading uncontrollably in London, the city could face local lockdowns. Surge testing was started this week in the four boroughs of Wandsworth, Lambeth, Barnet and Southwark, after cases of the variant were discovered. Professor Edmunds said: 'It's possible that we'll have to impose some sort of local restrictions back in place and nobody wants to do it.' SAGE member, Professor John Edmunds, has warned that if the South African variant keeps spreading uncontrollably in London the city could face local lockdowns The B.1.617 variant is thought to have contributed to the now surging outbreak in India, where it was first found, and sources said the UK is monitoring it 'due to sustained international transmission' The Indian variant was first spotted by scientists in March when it was described by the government in New Delhi as a 'double mutant'. They suggested that the variant had formed as a hybrid of two other strains and that it showed signs of being more infectious and less easily targeted by the immune system. Two key mutations set it apart from others named E484Q and L452R with both of them found on the 'spike' that the virus uses to latch onto human cells. These are not thought to be key mutations of any of the other variants on Public Health England's list, but have appeared in virus samples before. Dr Simon Clarke, a microbiologist at Reading University, said at the time: 'As for the L452R mutation, we're still waiting for a proper definition of what it does.' As well as counting the new Indian variant cases, PHE's report today added 56 more cases of the South African strain. B.1.351, that variant's full name, has made a resurgence in recent weeks after the discovery of dozens of cases in London. A total of 600 have now been diagnosed across the country through random screening of positive test samples. All adults in Wandsworth and Lambeth have been encouraged to get a swab test to see if they have the variant, and testing is being done in Barnet and Southwark, where it was also found. Professor Edmunds, speaking on ITV's Peston yesterday, said that strain was 'the most worrying' and that officials should do everything possible to control it. 'What we are looking at in south London is an example of what we'll see now in the coming months as we try our best to keep that variant out, or at as low a level as we possibly can. 'Because if these mass testing events dont work that well, and we dont know yet I mean, well have to evaluate this one very carefully then its possible that well have to impose some sort of local restrictions back in place and nobody wants to do it.' Niklas Astedt Finally Wins the GGPoker Super MILLION$ April 15 2021 Matthew Pitt The GGPoker Super MILLION$ has been a thorn in the side of Niklas Astedt since the very first edition of the weekly high stakes tournament. Astedt had never won the event in 43 previous attempts, but he got the job done on April 13, and walked away with a colossal $1,095,741. GG Spring Festival H-41: $2,500 Sunday 5 Million Final Table Results Place Player Country Prize 1 Niklas Astedt Sweden $1,095,741 2 Shawn Daniels United States $821,689 3 Jason Koon United States $616,180 4 Joao Vieira Portugal $462,070 5 David Yan New Zealand $346,504 6 Sami Kelopuro Finland $259,841 7 Sam Greenwood Canada $194,853 8 Pedro Garagnani Brazil $146,119 9 Wei Zhao China $109,574 The Super MILLION$ took on a different name this week because the tournament is part of the $150 million guaranteed GG Spring Festival schedule. Make no mistake, however, that this event was the Super MILLION$; perhaps the temporary name change is all that was required for Astedt to win? Day 1 took place on April 11 and saw the 202 starters cut down to a final table of nine. Astedt held the chip lead going into the final table, but his eight opponents refused to allow him to have everything his own way. It did not take long for the final table to lose a player because Wei Zhao sat down with a meager three big blinds. They went into the middle with king-nine against the pocket jacks of Astedt and failed to get there. Relive the Super MILLION$ action right here Garagnani Shot Down By Bad Beat Another 45 minutes passed before the next elimination was confirmed. Pedro Garagnani lost all but a small blind when his ace-king lost to the ace-queen of Joao Vieira. Garagnani's micro stack went into the middle of the felt with six-deuce and lost to the king-queen of Astedt. Seventh place and $194,853 went to Sam Greenwood. He busted during the 50,000/100,000/12,500a level when Astedt raised to 220,000 on the button with pocket sixes before calling Greenwood's 15 big blind shove from the small blind. Greenwood held ace-four, and busted when the board ran out king-high. More than a quarter of a million dollars went to Sami Kelopuro when he crashed out in sixth. Shawn Daniels raised to 220,000 under the gun with pocket queens, Kelopuro three-bet all-in for 15 big blinds from the big blind with ace-jack. Daniels called, his queens held, and Kelopuro was done. Kelopuro's seat had not even gone cold when David Yan's exit was confirmed. Yan committed his 10 big blinds with king-queen of clubs, but Astedt woke up with pocket aces. The board was kind to Astedt's aces, and Yan headed for the exits Sami Kelopuro Bags a $520,000 Score Uncharacteristic Jam By Vieira Portugal's Vieira was the next player to bite the dust; Vieira walked away with $462,070. Astedt min-raised with five-trey of hearts for 320,000, Vieira responded with a three-bet all-in for 2,835,505 with queen-jack of hearts from the small blind, only to see Daniels call the all-in with ace-king from the big blind. Astedt, obviously, ducked out of the way. Neither player improved with all five community cards in view, so Vieira busted. Jason Koon's tournament ended soon after to send the tournament into the heads-up stage. he busted at the hands of Astedt who raised enough from the small blind to set Koon all-in for his 1,342,517 chips, and Koon called. It was jack-nine for Koon, ace-king for Astedt, and a king on the river sent Koon to the showers. Astedt held a more than two-to-one chip advantage over Daniels going into heads-up. The pair battle for a while before Daniels disconnected. Astedt sat out and waited for Daniel to return, and it was on the first hand back that Daniels busted. Daniels open-shoved 15 big blinds with ace-six and Astedt called with the dominating ace-ten. Astedt's hand remained best, meaning Daniels was the runner-up, a finish worth $821,689. Astedt won his first Super MILLION$ title and a whopping $1,095,741. The Public Utility Commission of Texas is getting closer to filling its vacancies after its three members resigned last month. The Texas Senate on Wednesday confirmed Will McAdams to a four-year term as commissioner and a Senate committee is scheduled to question nominee Peter Lake on Thursday. CENTERPOINT: Customers to pay higher natural gas bills next month McAdams, a former state Senate staffer and the president of the Associated Builders and Contractors of Texas, was nominated by Abbott on April 1. He has worked in state government for more than 10 years, most recently as an adviser to Speaker Dennis Bonnen for Business and Regulated Industries. He also served in several senior staff positions for the state Senate, including director for the Committee on Business and Commerce and legislative director for Republican Sen. Charles Schwertner. Lake, nominated to a two-year term by Abbott on April 12, would replace departing Chairman Arthur D'Andrea, who was forced to resign after he was reportedly heard on a leaked recording promising out-of-state investors that he would stop efforts to reverse billions of dollars in charges for wholesale electricity during February's power crisis. D'Andrea continues to serve until his replacement is confirmed. Lake has served on the Texas Water Development Board since December 2015 and as chairman since 2018. The board plans and helps develop water resources in the state. He is the former head of business development at Lake Ronel Oil, an exploration and production company in Tyler, and he previously served as director of special projects for VantageCap Partners, an investment firm. The PUC, which regulates the state's electric, telecommunication, and water and sewer utilities, has faced a backlash over the widespread outages in February that left more than 4 million Texas customers without electricity for days. Then-Chairman DeAnn Walker and Commissioner Shelly Botkin resigned as the PUC came under fire for its oversight of the power system and the states grid manager, the Electric Reliability Council of Texas. Then-commissioner D'Andrea was elevated to PUC chair after Walker resigned. McAdams and Lake could preside over the next scheduled open meeting May 6. Abbott has yet to appoint a third commissioner. [April 15, 2021] BridgeTower Capital Launches Security Token Pre-Offering and Announces Global Expansion With Key Partners BridgeTower Capital, a tokenized global private equity firm, has launched a private Security Token Pre-Offering (STO) culminating 12 months of work to purposefully assemble a team of world-class partners to participate in the blockchain infrastructure and services marketplace in the rapidly growing world of decentralized finance (DeFi). BridgeTower also announced it has formed a Zurich-based entity to further expand its current offering of blockchain infrastructure products and services. BridgeTower launched its Private -STO campaign earlier this week, which provides an opportunity for accredited investors to purchase shares in the company in the form of a digital security. BridgeTower has received active participation already and is seeking to raise $200 million in this initial raise. "We are seeing a global confluence of public and private digital finance markets being fueled by the adoption of blockchain technologies. This is creating unique opportunities for those who can assemble the right team and product offering to navigate the complex international regulatory landscape," said CEO Cory Pugh. BridgeTower is bringing a traditional operational business approach to its decentralized "new world" finance business by building recurring revenue and EBITDA growth in addition to providing funding to growth companies with the intent to create increased valuations. BridgeTower's current blockchain staking product has grown substantially to more than $60 million assets under delegation within two months of launch. BridgeTower will aggressively add self-hosted Nodes over the coming months. BridgeTower also provides financial, operational, talent acquisition and marketing support for early to mid-stage growth companies. It has made investments in multiple entities in the digital space and will continue to add investments to its portfolio. BridgeTower has spent the past 12 months assembling global partnerships through its own investment support and from companies that have made significant investments in BridgeTower. A sampling of these partners include: Algorand Algorand builds blockchain technology that accelerates the convergence between decentralized and traditional finance by enabling the simple creation of next generation financial products, protocols and exchange of value. Algorand's technology is well suited for the development of a broader, holistic digital security eco-system for issuers that BridgeTower is focused on. "We shar an aligned vision with BridgeTower where modernized and decentralized infrastructure expands opportunity for participants in the future of financial services. We are excited to support BridgeTower as they allow investors to actually become shareholders in their tokenized private equity firm," said David Markley, Business Solutions at Algorand. "They have brought together a world class operational team with asset managers who are focused on the convergence of DeFi with traditional finance." Securitize Securitize is reinventing private capital markets by delivering trusted end-to-end security token solutions that leverage leading blockchain technology, which increases access to private markets for eligible investors while simultaneously making them more efficient, compliant, and liquid. "We've worked alongside BridgeTower as their Transfer Agent and Technology partner from early on and are excited by how they've approached the DeFi landscape with a regulated product," said Jamie Finn, Securitize President and Co-Founder. "We are excited to play a meaningful role in bringing the BridgeTower Capital token to market." Archax London-based Archax is the first ever digital securities exchange regulated by the FCA in London. Targeted at institutions, Archax also has its FCA brokerage, and custody permissions. BridgeTower made an earlier investment in Archax because of the company's market leadership in shaping the landscape of regulated exchanges. "We are pleased to be working with BridgeTower Capital to prepare them for issuance and we look forward to welcoming them onto the Archax exchange," said Simon Barnby, Archax Chief Marketing Officer. "Archax has been built to bring credible digital issuances to a global institutional investor community, and BridgeTower's significant investments in growth companies and blockchain and DeFi, with both debt and equity positions, make it perfectly suited for trading on the Archax global growth market." Black Manta Black Manta's MiFiD II compliant platform brings issuers and investors together through its licensure by Bafin (Federal Financial Supervisory Authority). BridgeTower recently made a second investment in Black Manta. "We view companies like BridgeTower as the investment vehicles of the future," said Christian Plazer, Co-Founder and Managing Partner of BMCP. "BridgeTower has worked hard to develop a host of portfolio companies and partnerships that we are proud to join." ABOUT BRIDGETOWER CAPITAL - BridgeTower Capital is a global tokenized private equity firm with a traditional operational business approach towards growth. BridgeTower shareholders have access to opportunities in decentralized finance (DeFi) investments built on blockchain technology. In addition, BridgeTower's private equity investments in early to mid-stage growth companies provides financial, operational, talent acquisition and marketing support. www.bridgetowercapital.com Disclaimer This is not an offer to sale or purchase securities in BridgeTower. Any securities offered by BridgeTower are offered pursuant to a Confidential Private Placement Memorandum to accredited investors only in accordance with an exemption from registration provided by Rule 506(c) of Regulation D of the Securities Act. BridgeTower is not under any obligation to make an offering. Any indications of interest in BridgeTower involves no obligation or commitment of any kind. Past performance is not indicative of future success. Statements about the expected timing, and all other statements in this press release, other than historical facts, constitute forward-looking statements. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements speak only as of the date hereof and are based on current expectation and involve a number of assumptions, risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those projected. A number of the matters discussed herein that are not historical or current facts deal with potential future circumstances and developments that may or may not materialize. This press release speaks only as of its date, and except as required by law, we disclaim any duty to update. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210415005356/en/ [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] ADVERTISEMENT Nigeria suffered an extensive power outage in recent weeks because 18 plants accounting for most of the electricity the country generates had faced operational problems, the government has said. The Minister of Power, Saleh Mamman, revealed the cause of the blackouts only on Thursday, weeks after many Nigerians had complained of persistent outages. Mr Mamman said eight plants suffered a breakdown while one underwent an annual maintenance. Seven other integrated power plants were experiencing gas constraints while one hydroelectric power plant has water management issue, he said. I sincerely regret the recent Power outages across the Nation and the difficulties it has brought with it. The problem is caused by the breakdown of some National Integrated Power Plants supplying electricity to the national grid, Mr Mamman tweeted Thursday. The plants are namely, Sapele, Afam, Olonrunsogo, Omotosho, Ibom, Egbin, Alaoji and Ihovbor. The Jebba Power Plant was shut down for annual maintenance. Seven other integrated Power plants, namely Geregu, Sepele, Omotosho, Gbarain, Omuku, Paras and Alaoji are experiencing gas constraints while the Shiroro hydroelectric power plant has water management issue, he said. The breakdown is significant for a country that has perennially underperformed in power generation, transmission and distribution. For years, Nigeria has only generated an average of 4,000 megawatts for a population of 200 million. Malfunctions are common in the sector and often result in extensive blackouts across the country. The government cites gas supply issues despite Nigeria being one the worlds largest producers of gas. Mr Mamman said there are efforts to resolve the power outage in the country as everyone involved is working assiduously to restore the National grid to its previous historical levels and exceed that. A statement by the spokesperson Ministry of power, buttressed the position. This unfortunate development has drastically affected power generation, thus effectively minimizing the national grid, it said. In view of this, the Minister of Power, Engr. Sale Mamman regrets this unfortunate situation and offers his sincere apology to all affected Nigerians on the inconveniences the power shortages are causing. The minister hopes the national grid will be restored to its previous distribution peak of about 5,600 megawatts of electricity achieved early this year, to help Nigerians battle the prevailing climatic condition while restoring full economic activities. Earlier Mr Mamman said Nigerias installed grid power generation capacity had grown from 8,000 MW to 13,000 MW between 2015 and 2020 while the distribution system had the capacity to evacuate 5,500 MW of power having grown from 4,500 MW in 2015. Encouraged by research on the benefits of community land trusts, Grounded Solutions aims to support the creation of one million new units across the country over the next 10 years. The model has been shown to keep foreclosure rates low through recessions and prevent displacement. It also increases access to homeownership and builds wealth over time for communities of color, according to a 30-year study of land trusts and similar affordable housing schemes from the Lincoln Institute of Land Policy. In over 4,000 units, the median home accumulated around $14,000 in value over a five-to-seven-year period. Fifty-eight percent of homeowners went on to buy market-rate homes. That, I think, is the great American success story that we really want to try to replicate for every family in this country, Mr. Pickett said. Because of discriminatory practices, such as redlining or even outright racial covenants excluding people of color from owning homes, that was prevented in years past. So this is an opportunity to reset. But community land trusts are not only a means to homeownership. Even in the most expensive cities, they increasingly support affordable rentals in multifamily buildings, said Tom Angotti, a professor emeritus of urban planning at Hunter College. Mr. Angotti has long advocated for the model in New York City, where he heads the board of a large multifamily site at Cooper Square. There, the land is owned by a trust and its 300-plus housing units are owned by a tenant cooperative. This structure keeps rents affordable over time and gives residents, a majority of whom are low-income people of color, a strong voice in how they want to use their homes and the space around them. In that way, Mr. Angotti said, land trusts are about residents seizing political power. Its not just that people want a house or an apartment thats safe and decent and well equipped, he said. Its that they want control over their living environment. The main barriers community land trusts face today are systemic. They must win support from policymakers and overcome entrenched real estate interests. Trying to pry away buildings from the city is a major political enterprise, Mr. Angotti said. It takes organizing. That process can be slow. But it has worked, even in New York Citys overheated housing market. Philadelphia is the site of another recent victory, where organizers successfully pressured the city to turn over 50 houses to a community land trust. If the criterion is numbers, land trusts are losing the contest, Mr. Angotti said. If the criterion is a community-based solution to permanent affordability, I would say land trusts are winning. With the economic downturn caused by Covid-19, millions are behind on rent and mortgage payments, and permanent affordability is more urgent than ever. Coming out of the pandemic, theres likely going to be another recession and increased need for affordable housing, Ms. Rhein said. Even though the work were doing today isnt directly responsive to Covid-19, it will allow us to be better prepared. CAMBRIDGE, Mass., April 15, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Ohza , the fast-growing canned-cocktail company founded in Cape Cod, Mass., is giving one lucky consumer the chance to win a deluxe vacation for four by hosting a Golden Ticket Contest in honor of National Mimosa Day on Sunday, May 16. After gaining popularity with its ready-to-drink mimosa and bellini cocktails, Ohza is giving anyone who purchases the product online a chance to win a taste of the company's Cape Cod roots with an all-expenses paid weekend to the Cape. Ohza Bellini and Mimosas From Saturday, May 1 until National Mimosa Day, Sunday, May 16, anyone 21 or older who purchases Ohza products online will be automatically entered for a chance to win. All fans will feel the excitement as they anxiously hope for the golden ticket to arrive by email on May 17 and win the grand prize trip to Cape Cod. The winner will have up to a year to book a weekend stay at the summertime destination in Massachusetts, which will include round trip airfare for four, resort accommodations, a $200 voucher to a local restaurants, a $100 Lyft gift card, and the drink that started it all, Ohza, for the weekend. "National Mimosa Day is really becoming National Ohza Day, so we wanted to up the ante and celebrate by giving back to the customers who made Ohza successful with a chance for them to win something they might not normally purchase for themselves. Each time they purchase Ohza leading up to National Mimosa Day, it will give them more of a chance to win," says Ryan Ayotte, CEO and Founder of Ohza. "Plus we have limited edition merchandise, fun promotions, and other giveaways we'll be doing all month long, so there are plenty of ways to win, even without getting the golden ticket." The National Mimosa Day contest will be available for participants who are 21 and older. For official rules and regulations please click here . Anyone who purchases Ohza products online here from May 1 to May 16 will be automatically entered for a chance to win. For more information about Ohza please visit www.ohzamimosas.com . About Ohza Ohza was founded in June 2019 by Ryan Ayotte after attempting to mix mimosas with his friends on a tippy boat off of Cape Cod, Mass. As a "champagne cocktail" company, Ohza uses quality sparkling wine and real juice like you would when making them yourself, but with fewer calories, less sugar, and ready-to-drink. Now available in four flavors, Ohza is considered one of the fastest-growing ready-to-drink cocktail companies in the industry. Ohza is available directly to consumers in 43 states at ohzamimosas.com , as well as at 2000+ retailers in the Northeast and Georgia including Whole Foods, Wegmans, Market Basket, Total Wine & More, and Hananford. Follow Ohza on Instagram and Twitter @ohzamimosas, and like on Facebook . Media contact: Cara Zizzo [email protected] 702-592-2234 SOURCE Ohza Doctors have warned that a growing number of babies in Brazil are mysteriously dying of COVID-19. Why does Brazil have terrifying COVID-19 deaths in children? Despite overwhelming evidence that the coronavirus seldom kills children under the age of five, 1,300 babies have died due to it in the last year. The increased deaths are being blamed on Brazil's COVID-19 infection rate, the second-highest in the world, a significant lack of monitoring, and a president accused of failing to treat the virus seriously enough. The greater the number of cases and, as a result, hospitalizations, the greater the number of deaths in all age ranges, including babies," Renato Kfouri, president of the Brazilian Society of Pediatrics' Scientific Department of Immunizations, told the BBC. "However, if the pandemic could be contained, this situation could be avoided," he said. It comes after a recent study found that after receiving the AstraZeneca vaccine, the chance of a brain blood clot was five in a million and four in a million after receiving vaccinations from Pfizer or Moderna. According to The Sun, the chance for people who had COVID-19 was almost 40 in a million. AstraZeneca Pauses COVID-19 Vaccine Clinical Trial in Children and Teens Researchers at Oxford, the same university that developed the AstraZeneca vaccine, said the possibility of a brain blood clot in the two weeks after the COVID-19 or a shot was extremely rare. However, when comparing the two, they found that the risk after COVID-19 was "substantially and dramatically higher," which is entirely avoidable with a vaccine. The researchers also looked at clotting levels of people who had the flu, which was zero. They also said that after COVID-19, the probability of CVST was "many-fold" higher than in the general population, perhaps up to 100 times higher. Another severe clotting condition, portal vein thrombosis, which affects blood flow to the liver, followed a similar pattern. Regulators have not raised the alarm about the case. US Halts Use of Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 Vaccine Following Rare, Severe Blood Clots Babies and children in Brazil's COVID-19 ICU As the coronavirus outbreak in Brazil gets out of control, it is killing not only adults but also babies and children. Since the start of the outbreak, 1,300 babies under the age of one have died as a result of the virus. BBC Brazil's Nathalia Passarinho visits a children's ICU in the northeast of the country and talks with workers about caring for these critically ill children. Multisystem inflammatory syndrome in children (MIS-C), according to a recent report published in The Lancet, is a recently described and severe health disorder linked to COVID-19. Brazil was one of the worst-affected countries by the COVID-19 pandemic, but the unusually high number of infant deaths has raised serious questions, as per Hindustan Times. About 1,300 babies have died from coronavirus, despite overwhelming evidence based on data that COVID-19 rarely turns fatal for children. The BBC covered the story of a Brazilian woman's one-year-old son, who died two months after experiencing signs of COVID-19 in May of last year. Since Lucas developed a fever, fatigue, and mildly slogged breathing, Jessika Ricarte took him to the hospital. The oxygen level was low at 86%, but the doctor told Jessika that COVID-19 was uncommon in children and sent her off with antibiotics. According to the report, Jessika, a resident of Tamboril in Ceara, northeast Brazil, said that although some of the symptoms subsided after his 10-day antibiotic treatment, the fatigue persisted. Lucas vomited several times after lunch on June 3, causing Jessika to take him to a nearby hospital. He was admitted to a pediatric intensive care unit in Sobral, a municipality about two hours away, after testing positive for COVID-19. Health Official Admits Having No Idea AstraZeneca COVID-19 Vaccine Causes Blood Clots @ 2021 HNGN, All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. Belagavi : , April 15 (IANS) Karnataka Chief Minister B.S. Yediyurappa on Thursday returned to Bengaluru, ending his campaigning for the Belgaum Lok Sabha bypolls, as he is suffering from fever and exhaustion. Yediyurappa had been campaigning hard for the last fortnight in by-polls to three seats - the Belgaum Lok Sabha seat, the Maski Assembly seat in Raichur district, and the Basavakalyana Assembly seat in Bidar district. Despite suffering from fever and exhaustion on Wednesday, he had campaigned for the BJP's Belgaun candidate Mangala Angadi, after taking medicines, but on Thursday, doctors advised him not to "strain himself" and rest to recuperate from stress as well as fatigue due to summer. With Thursday being the last day of the public campaign, he cut short his campaign and returned to Bengaluru by road. Over 30% Of Hill County Residents Now Vaccinated Data collected by the Texas Department of State Health Services (DSHS) shows that 31% of Hill County residents over the age of 16 had received at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine as of the beginning of the week. The data also shows that 24% of Hill County residents over the age of 16including almost 50% of those over 65are now fully vaccinated. Statewide as of Monday, approximately 5.6 million Texans were fully vaccinated, and 14.3 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines had been administered. DSHS was estimating 41 active cases of COVID-19 in Hill County as of Monday. The number of Hill County residents who have lost their lives due to the virus since the pandemic began was reported at 105 as of Monday. Everyone 16 and older is now eligible to receive a COVID-19 vaccine in Texas. All vaccines are authorized for people age 18 and older. The Pfizer vaccine is authorized for people 16 and older. With vaccine availability increasing rapidly, vaccination appointments are available through a variety of providers, including pharmacies, hospitals and medical clinics. Hill Regional Hospital also announced this week that it is reaching out to the rural communities in Hill County and offering to come to their locations to administer vaccines. The hospital will travel to communities to offer the Pfizer vaccine with a minimum of six people signed up, and for Moderna, there needs to be a minimum of 11 people. Offered vaccines will depend on availability. "If you can supply the space we need and help reach the people, well be there," said hospital spokesperson Tricia Shelton. Call Shelton at 254-580-8888 for more information. China is increasingly becoming a near-peer competitor of the US, posing challenges in multiple domains, while pushing to revise global norms in ways that favour the authoritarian Chinese system, a top American intelligence officer has told lawmakers. Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines on Wednesday briefed members of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence on the worldwide threat assessment of the US. "China increasingly is a near-peer competitor, challenging the United States in multiple areas while pushing to revise global norms in ways that favour the authoritarian Chinese system," Haines said. China, she said, is employing a comprehensive approach to demonstrate its growing strength and compel regional neighbours to acquiesce to Beijing's preferences, including its claims over disputed territory and assertions of sovereignty over Taiwan. It also has substantial cyber capabilities that, if deployed at a minimum, can cause localised temporary disruptions to critical infrastructure inside the United States, Haines said. Russia, Iran and North Korea are the other three countries that pose threats to the United States, she said. At the same time regional conflicts continue to fuel humanitarian crises, undermine stability and threaten US persons and interests. The fighting in Afghanistan, Iraq and Syria has a direct implication for U.S. forces, while tensions between nuclear-armed India and Pakistan remain a concern for the world. The iterate of violence between Israel and Iran, the activity of foreign powers in Libya and conflicts in other areas, including Africa and the Middle East, have the potential to escalate or spread, Haines said. Asia has periodic upheavals, such as the Burmese military seizure of power in February. Latin America has contested elections. Violent popular protests are likely to continue to produce volatility. And Africa will continue to see ongoing marginalisation of some communities, ethnic conflict, and contentious elections, she said. Senator Mark Warner, Chairman of the Senate Committee, described the rise of China as a major challenge for the United States. As we grapple with the challenges posed by a rising China, our problem is with the Chinese Communist Party, not with the Chinese people or the Chinese diaspora globally. And certainly not with Asian Americans here in the United States," he said. As China grows in power and stature, the CCP has sought to undercut the United States as the world's leading technological power, he said. We see this in the reliance on both strategic investments and traditional espionage to acquire intellectual property, their use and export of surveillance technology to authoritarian regimes, and their modernization of traditional and asymmetric military capabilities, including in the space and cyber domains, Warner said. When we look at development, for example, of 5G technology, we've seen the CCP act aggressively to influence international standard-setting bodies and invest in a national champion, Huawei, that threatens to dominate the worldwide telecommunications market, Warner said. I fear that the CCP will develop a similar strategy to dominate the development of other emerging technologies, including AI, quantum computing, and BAU technology. In many ways, the IC is the only part of our overall enterprise that sees across all domains in this field, and I think we must be clear-eyed in assessing the threats posed by the CCP, he added. Senator Marco Rubio said that the United States made a mistake to not focus on both China's capabilities and on its growing and intensifying efforts to involve and engage itself in the political environment in the United States. "Different aims, perhaps, different tactics in some ways. But certainly, they have every capability that the Russians do, and more, in many cases. And they are certainly interested in molding public discourse and creating political pressure among creating pressure on political figures who they don't like here in the United States," he said. FBI Director Christopher Wray told Senators that the investigating agency now has over 2,000 investigations that tie back to the Chinese government. "And on the economic espionage investigation side alone, it's about a 1,300 percent increase over the last several years. We're opening a new investigation into China every 10 hours. And I can assure the committee, that's not because our folks don't have anything to do with their time, he said. Image Credits: AP (Disclaimer: This story is auto-generated from a syndicated feed; only the image & headline may have been reworked by www.republicworld.com) NEW HAVEN They lived 150 million years ago. But the sauropods still capture our attention. (Think Brontosaurus.) In this case, its because a new study at Yale University of giant dinosaurs, which evolved in a specialized fashion compared to smaller species, shows that the specialized adaptations in the skull occurred in younger and younger dinos as they evolved. Sauropods, which include Brontosaurus, Apatosaurus and Brachiosaurus, were giant, plant-eating dinosaurs that lived in the late Triassic through late Jurassic periods, 150 million years ago. They were named by Yale paleontologist O.C. Marsh in 1878. The sauropods had a unique skull structure, according to a release on the study. Their nostrils, elongated faces, the backs of their skull and jaw muscles evolved over time, possibly to enable them to feed both in the trees and on the ground. Every part of the sauropod body is enormously modified, compared to other dinosaurs. Their skulls are no different. But no one had parsed out how and when those skull modifications happened, said Yale paleontologist Bhart-Anjan Bhullar, senior author of the study, which appears in the journal Evolution. Bhullar is an assistant professor in the Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences and assistant curator at the Yale Peabody Museum of Natural History. By studying sauropod fossils at different ages, the researchers were able to see that, over time, features that appeared in adult dinosaurs gradually began to appear in younger animals, according to the release. The study of the growth of an individual from youth to adulthood is known as ontogeny and the study of the structures of the body is morphology. In order to study how those structures changed as the sauropod aged, multiple individuals of different ages are needed to understand how developmental changes happen within species and among species in an evolutionary framework, said first author Matteo Fabbri, a doctoral student in the Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences. By using micro-CT scanning, the researchers created three-dimensional models of sauropod skulls including two skulls of Anchisaurus, a sauropod precursor species that Marsh found in Connecticut in the 19th century and brought to the Peabody. In Anchisaurus, the juveniles of the species resembled earlier dinosaurs and developed their unique skulls as adults, according to the release. But as later species emerged, the same features were found in embryos and juveniles. This is the first time this process, which is called predisplacement, has been demonstrated convincingly among dinosaurs, and one of the few times it has been demonstrated in the fossil record, Fabbri said. Ultimately, we show how different groups of dinosaurs evolved different developmental strategies. Its a key, missing component in our understanding of how these massive, elongated creatures came to be, Bhullar said. It also is a rare demonstration of the way in which changes in developmental timing break constraints and allow the evolution of extremes of form and function in these, perhaps the most extreme of all land animals. Kenmare Resources plc (Kenmare or the Company) 15 April 2021 Notice of Annual General Meeting Kenmare Resources plc (LSE:KMR, ISE:KMR), one of the leading global producers of titanium minerals and zircon, provides notice of its Annual General Meeting ("AGM"). Notice of AGM Kenmares AGM will be held at the Companys head office (4th Floor, Styne House, Hatch Street Upper, Dublin 2, Ireland) at 2.00 p.m. on 13 May 2021. The Company plans to conduct the AGM in accordance with the Irish Governments COVID-19 related public health measures and public health advice. Shareholders should expect the AGM to take place under constrained circumstances. The Company will ensure that all legal requirements of the meeting, in accordance with its Articles of Association, are satisfied with the minimum necessary quorum of three shareholders and physical distancing measures will be in place. The Company reserves the right to refuse entry to the meeting where reasonably necessary to comply with the COVID-19 related public health measures and advice. The Company will continue to closely monitor the developing situation around COVID-19, including the latest Government guidance, and how this may affect the arrangements for the Annual General Meeting. Consequently, the meeting is subject to change, possibly at short notice. If it becomes necessary or appropriate to revise the current arrangements for the Annual General Meeting, further information will be made available as quickly as possible by RNS and on our website at www.kenmareresouces.com/investors. In order to facilitate the greatest shareholder participation legally permitted at the moment, the AGM will be held as a combined physical and electronic meeting. Shareholders will be given the opportunity to remotely access the AGM, ask questions and vote at the AGM via a virtual meeting platform provided by Lumi AGM UK Limited. Further information on remotely accessing and participating in the AGM via the virtual meeting platform is set out in the Notice of AGM and on the Companys website at www.kenmareresources.com. The Notice of AGM and related voting forms are available on the Company's website, in addition to the Annual Report 2020 as previously announced, at: www.kenmareresources.com/investors/shareholder-information/meetings-and-voting Copies of the documents have also been submitted to Euronext Dublin and the UK National Storage Mechanism and will therefore shortly be available for inspection at: https://direct.euronext.com/Announcements/View-Announcements/OAM-Filing/ and https://data.fca.org.uk/#/nsm/nationalstoragemechanism The Annual Report 2020 and Notice of AGM will be posted to shareholders in the coming days. Shareholders are advised to monitor the Company's website and announcements for any updates regarding the AGM. For further information, please contact: Kenmare Resources plc Jeremy Dibb Investor Relations ir@kenmareresources.com Tel: +353 1 671 0411 Mob: + 353 87 943 0367 Murray (PR advisor) Joe Heron Tel: +353 1 498 0300 Mob: +353 87 690 9735 About Kenmare Resources Kenmare Resources plc is one of the worlds largest producers of mineral sands products. Listed on the London Stock Exchange and the Euronext Dublin, Kenmare operates the Moma Titanium Minerals Mine in Mozambique. Momas production accounts for approximately 5% of global titanium feedstocks and the Company supplies to customers operating in more than 15 countries. Kenmare produces raw materials that are ultimately consumed in everyday quality-of life items such as paints, plastics and ceramic tiles. Forward Looking Statements This announcement contains some forward-looking statements that represent Kenmare's expectations for its business, based on current expectations about future events, which by their nature involve risks and uncertainties. Kenmare believes that its expectations and assumptions with respect to these forward-looking statements are reasonable. However, because they involve risk and uncertainty, which are in some cases beyond Kenmare's control. Actual results or performance may differ materially from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking information. EU Refuses to Help Pay Off Montenegros $1 Billion Loan to China The European Commission said in Brussels on April 12 that it was not going to help Montenegro to pay off its 1 billion euro loan to China for the unfinished first phase of the Bar-Boljare highway. Montenegro is the first country in Europe to find itself in a debt trap set by the Chinese regimes Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). Chinas BRI (also known as One Belt, One Road) is Chinese leader Xi Jinpings grand foreign policy project launched in 2013. It aims to extend the Chinese communist regimes economic and political influence to countries in Asia, Europe, and Africa by recreating ancient Chinas silk road and maritime silk road for trading in the 21st century. The BRI invests Chinese capital in the construction of various high-cost infrastructure projects in more than 60 participating countries. However, BRI has been accused by the international community of setting debt traps for poor countries that accepted Chinese loans, aggravating their debt crisis and exposing them to Chinas influence. The EU is already the largest provider of financial assistance to Montenegro, the largest investor and the largest trade partner. We continue to stand by them, but we are not repaying the loans they are taking from third parties, European Union foreign policy spokesperson Peter Stano said at a press briefing on April 12. The EU has concerns over the socioeconomic and financial effects some of Chinas investments can have. There is the risk of macro-economic imbalances and debt-dependency, Stano added. Montenegros Minister of Finance and Social Welfare, Milojko Spajic, announced on April 15 that the government plans to negotiate with the European Union on repaying the billion dollar loan from China for the unfinished first phase of the Bar-Boljare highway. In 2014, against EUs advice, Montenegro accepted a 1 billion euro (about $1.2 billion) loan under the BRI to build a highway linking the port of Bar on Montenegros Adriatic coast to its neighboring country Serbia. The loan makes up 25 percent of the countrys overall debt, according to a report by Politico. In 2018, the highway loan began to impact Montenegros economy. The countrys debt significantly increased and forced the government to raise taxes, partially freeze public sector wages and end a benefit for mothers, Reuters reported. Montenegro holds a strategic position in the Balkans and is a key access point for China to reach central Europe and beyond. The small Western Balkan republic is an accession candidate to the EUclose economic and political ties could prove valuable for China if Montenegro becomes an EU member. The U.S. governments policy research organization Center for Global Development warned about the debt implications of the BRI in a report. It identified Montenegro as one of eight high risk countries that could suffer from debt distress due to future BRI-related financing. The other countries are Djibouti, Kyrgyzstan, Laos, the Maldives, Mongolia, Pakistan, and Tajikistan. CHARLES CITY, Iowa - The pandemic has changed education dramatically, with classes shifting back and forth from in-person to virtual learning, wearing masks in the classroom, and other major changes. In Charles City, a new option for learning will launch when kids head back to class in the fall. The school district is launching a K-12 virtual and alternative learning Innovative Campus. The new venture will combine resources and serve students and families who continue with School to You, Home School Assistance Program, Carrie Lane High School, and credit recovery. High School associate principal Larry Wolfe will be the principal of the new campus, and says the plan grew out of challenges posed by the pandemic. "We found that there's some gaps in what our kids need to be successful. Because of COVID, we've taken this as an opportunity to see what else what could we produce or have at our disposal for our kids." He adds that school districts like Cedar Falls, Des Moines and Oelwein have implemented similar programs, and the district has had conversations with them about how to make it work locally. What the campus will offer is still being worked out. "The conversation about curriculum is what are we capable of offering, and what do we not have the capabilities of doing now. If you look at a high school perspective all the way down to elementary, there are core classes that can be done, but when you get to your electives, those are things in our growth areas down the road." There are three locations under consideration for the new campus. Dieppe, New Brunswick--(Newsfile Corp. - April 15, 2021) - Colibri Resource Corporation (TSXV: CBI) ("Colibri" or the "Company") is pleased to announce that its option partner Tocvan Ventures (CSE: TOC) has reported that it is scheduled to begin the Phase II drilling program at the Pilar Gold-Silver Project tomorrow, April 16. Phase II will consist of two stages totalling a minimum of 4,000-meters of reverse circulation drilling. Stage one will focus on continued definition and expansion of the "Main Zone", where during Phase I the company intersected 94.6-meters at 1.6 g/t Au including 9.2m at 10.8 g/t Au and 38 g/t Ag in drill hole JES-20-32. Stage two will test new targets across the property including the newly identified Triple Vein Zone and the 4-Trench Extension. Tocvan Ventures is in year two of a five-year option agreement with Colibri to earn an initial 51% ownership of the Pilar Gold-Silver Project. For full details of the agreement see Colibri's news release dated September 24th, 2019. The following description of the drill program to be completed and recent results are from the Tocvan Ventures release dated April 15, 2021. Primary Drill Targets: Main Zone Expansion Drilling will include follow-up of highlight holes from Phase I Program: JES-20-32 94.6 meters at 1.6 g/t Au from 57.9 to 152.5 meters including a high-grade intercept of 9.2 meters at 10.8 g/t Au and 38 g/t Ag from 57.9 to 67.1 meters from 57.9 to 152.5 meters JES-20-36 24.4 meters at 2.5 g/t Au and 73 g/t Ag from 96.1 to 120.5 meters including a high-grade intercept of 9.2 meters at 6.3 g/t Au and 192 g/t Ag from 96.1 to 105.2 meters including 1.5 meters at 33.4 g/t Au and 1,090 g/t Ag from 96.1 to 97.6 meters from 96.1 to 120.5 meters 4-Trench Extension 600-meter strike length identified by historic workings and exploration and new surface sampling completed in 2020 and 2021 highlighted by 19.9 g/t Au with 8 g/t Ag and 5.1 g/t Au with 142 g/t Ag in rock samples length identified by historic workings and exploration and new surface sampling completed in 2020 and 2021 Triple Vein Zone 400-meter strike length identified by surface mapping and sampling highlighted by 4.5 g/t Au with 735 g/t Ag and 4.3 g/t Au with 96 g/t Ag in rock samples length identified by surface mapping and sampling Figure 1. 3D Target Map of Pilar Gold-Silver Project. Mapped veins are outlined in red. Phase II drilling will focus on Main Zone expansion and drill testing targets at 4-Trench Extension and Triple Vein Zone. To view an enhanced version of this graphic, please visit: https://orders.newsfilecorp.com/files/4269/80535_66537ccac4a1a958_001full.jpg About the Pilar Property The Pilar Gold-Silver property is interpreted as a structurally controlled low-sulphidation epithermal project hosted in andesite rocks. Three zones of mineralization have been identified in the north-west part of the property from historic surface work and drilling and are referred to as the Main Zone, North Hill and 4-Trench. Structural features and zones of mineralization within the structures follow an overall NW-SE trend of mineralization. Over 19,200 m of drilling have been completed to date. Significant results are highlighted below: 2020 Phase I RC Drilling Highlights include ( all lengths are drilled thicknesses ): 94.6m @ 1.6 g/t Au, including 1.5 m @ 9.2m @ 10.8 g/t Au and 38 g/t Ag; 41.2m @ 1.1 g/t Au, including 3.1m @ 6.0g/t Au and 12 g/t Ag ; 24.4m @ 2.5 g/t Au and 73 g/t Ag, including 1.5m @ 33.4 g/t Au and 1,090 g/t Ag 17,700m of Historic Core & RC drilling. Highlights include: 61.0m @ 0.8 g/t Au 16.5m @ 53.5g/t Au and 53 g/t Ag 13.0m @ 9.6 g/t Au 9.0m @ 10.2 g/t Au and 46 g/t Ag Soil and Rock sampling results from undrilled areas indicate mineralization extends towards the southeast from the Main Zone and 4-Trench Zone. Recent Surface exploration has defined three new target areas: Triple Vein Zone, SE Vein Zone and 4 Trench Extension. About Colibri Resource Corporation: Colibri is a Canadian-based mineral exploration company listed on the TSX-V (CBI) and is focused on acquiring and exploring prospective gold & silver properties in Mexico. The Company has six exploration projects of which five currently have exploration programs being executed or planned. The flagship Evelyn Gold Project is 100% owned and explored by Colibri. Colibri is acquiring up to a 100% ownership interest in the Diamante Gold & Silver Project and will soon begin exploration work in preparation for a Phase 1 drilling program. Three additional projects, Pilar Gold & Silver Project (optioned to Tocvan Ventures (CSE:TOC), El Mezquite Gold & Silver Project and the Jackie Gold & Silver Project (both earn-in agreements with Silver Spruce Resources (SXV: SSE) are also currently being actively advanced. For more information about all Company projects please open the following link to our most recent corporate slide presentation at www.colibriresource.com. Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. Notice Regarding Forward-Looking Statements: This news release contains "forward-looking statements". Statements in this press release which are not purely historical are forward-looking statements and include any statements regarding beliefs, plans, expectations or intentions regarding the future. Actual results could differ from those projected in any forward-looking statements due to numerous factors. These forward-looking statements are made as of the date of this news release, and the Company assumes no obligation to update the forward-looking statements, or to update the reasons why actual results could differ from those projected in the forward-looking statements. Although the Company believes that the plans, expectations and intentions contained in this press release are reasonable, there can be no assurance that they will prove to be accurate. For further information: Ronald J. Goguen, President, Chairperson and Director, Tel: (506) 383-4274, rongoguen@colibriresource.com. To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/80535 Through storytelling, podcast series offers an inside look at real-world investigations and the tactics that investigators used to solve them NEW YORK, April 15, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- K2 Integrity today announced the launch of a new investigative podcast series, Digging Deeper, which gives a behind-the-scenes look at the investigations industry. Guests will explore real-world cases and share what they uncovered along the way to crack the code for clients. In a recent episode, Jules Kroll, founder of the modern corporate investigations industry, discusses some of the most intriguing cases of his career and how the industry has changed over time. "Investigative and true crime podcasts have exploded in recent years. With such strong interest in how investigations are conducted, it is our hope Digging Deeper helps shine a light on the industry as few can: via the real-world, exceptional practitioners who, day in and day out, conduct this work for clients across sectors and around the globe," said Robert Brenner, Global Co-Managing Partner, K2 Integrity. Digging Deeper is hosted by Chris Morgan Jones, a corporate investigator with over 20 years of experience based out of K2 Integrity's London office. The podcast features practitioners sharing insights on cases they worked-highlighting both well-known and documented cases as well as anonymized, never-before-heard tales-including: Episode 7: "Investigating Fraud and Corruption," with Darren Matthews Episode 6: "One on One with Jules Kroll ," with guest host Robert Brenner ," with guest host Episode 5: "Varsity Blues," with David Holley Episode 4: "Public Sector Lessons for the Corporate Investigator," with Brian Cairl Episode 3: "When Personal Lives Feed Criminal Activity," with Lisa Silverman Episode 2: "Tales of Corporate Scams, Frauds, and a Stolen Dali," with Jordan Arnold Episode 1: "The Con Queen of Hollywood ," with Nicoletta Kotsianas To learn more about or listen to K2 Integrity's Digging Deeper, please visit K2 Integrity's website, or subscribe on Apple Podcasts, SoundCloud, Spotify, or Stitcher. About K2 Integrity K2 Integrity is the preeminent risk, compliance, investigations, and monitoring firm-built by industry leaders, driven by interdisciplinary teams, and supported by cutting-edge technology to safeguard our clients' operations, reputations, and economic security. K2 Integrity represents the merger of K2 Intelligence, an industry-leading investigative, compliance, and cyber defense services firm founded in 2009 by Jeremy M. Kroll and Jules B. Kroll, the originator of the modern corporate investigations industry, and Financial Integrity Network (FIN), a premier strategic advisory firm founded by Juan Zarate and Chip Poncy dedicated to helping clients achieve their financial integrity goals. K2 Integrity leverages unmatched multidisciplinary experience to develop cutting-edge solutions, stimulate business opportunities, and shape global economic security in a complex world. Whether it's protecting clients' assets or navigating the complex financial regulatory landscape to help clients identify, manage, and mitigate risk, K2 Integrity is an advisor trusted to meet and exceed clients' goals in a rapidly changing world. To learn more about how K2 Integrity is revolutionizing the management of risk, visit our website, www.k2integrity.com, or follow us on Twitter or LinkedIn. CONTACT: Paula Zirinsky Global Chief Marketing Officer pzirinsky@k2integrity.com Lindsay Sweeney Senior Manager, Communications lsweeney@k2integrity.com Logo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/930510/K2_Integrity_Logo.jpg On Monday night, the French Senate passed an anti-terrorism law that has greatly concerned church leaders. Now called the Law to Uphold Republican Principles and the Fight Against Separatism, the billapproved by a 208109 vote, with 27 abstentionsintends to combat the Islamist radicalism that has incited numerous attacks on French soil in recent years. However, the Macron administrations desire to make France safer has put the nations deeply rooted freedom of religion in the crosshairs. The wind has changed in France, said Clement Diedrichs, general director of the National Council of Evangelicals in France (CNEF), which according to new research represents half of French Protestants. The government has clearly indicated that were no longer in a Christian society. Religion has become expendable, he observed, saying that the countrys leadership no longer has any desire to protect space for any faith. In February, as reported by Christianity Today, the National Assembly, the French parliaments lower house, passed a first version of the bill. The net result of the Senates debates is a version with even tighter oversight measures, despite the inclusion of a few modifications seen by Christians leaders as positive. The Protestant Federation of France (FPF), which includes both evangelicals and Lutheran or historic Reformed groups, highlighted the Senate bills guarantee of the rights of chaplainciesin particular in educational establishments, though the bill forbids any type of religious service in these establishments. The bill also provides for churches ownership of buildings given to them for free as well as access to public subsidies for making buildings accessible for people with reduced mobility. CNEF appreciates the Senates reinstatement of homeschooling as an educational option, though with increased forms of oversight. The National Assemblys version of the bill had taken away authorization for home instruction for children. Next the bill goes to a joint committee of deputies and senators, who are expected in May to begin ironing out differences between the bills two forms before a final vote by the National Assembly in July. Soon after, the government will issue the decrees that cover the fine details of applying the law. While its final form remains in flux and Christian groups such as FPF and CNEF will continue their advocacy efforts, pushing for the laws impact to be made less onerous, French churches are beginning to prepare for how to comply with the anticipated new rules. In particular, churches face increased requirements for declaring themselves to the government and stringent new rules related to finances, including tracking and limiting funding from outside France and the financing of building projects. The law would also increase government surveillance of pastors teaching and increase religious leaders legal liability, proposing steep sanctions for speech deemed to encourage disrespect of laws. Were shifting from a separation of church and state based on liberty to a separation based on control, said Francois Clavairoly, president of FPF. Laicite is no longer really a laicite of trust and intelligence but is now a laicite of distrust, suspicion, and control. Frances famous principle of laicite, often misrepresented in English simply as secularism, was enshrined in a 1905 law that created a distinctly French form of separation of church and state, one that defends and guarantees freedom of religion and ensures government neutrality on religious matters. Evangelical Christians were among those who advocated strongly for the birth of laicite. But the principle is now in danger. While French Christians are supportive of their governments efforts to address the threat of radical Islam, they are troubled by constraints that dont actually address the fight against terrorism and that conflate other religions with Islamist extremisms threat. Our Western societiesI think its also true for American societyhave more and more difficulty understanding religious belief and the way it guides the faithful in their lives in society, said Clavairoly. Terrorisms extreme Islamist ideology that misrepresents Islam has further clouded understanding of religious life. Religious practice has become something menacing for many political leaders. So our advocacy explains that religion isnt a threat, but on the contrary, its a resource for intelligence and citizenship. Among the new constraints would be a threshold over which foreign funding of religious groups in France would require complicated, time-consuming processes of reporting and approval. The current proposed threshold is 10,000 euros (about $12,000 US) per year. We exist as a young church plant, thanks to the generosity of individuals and churches here in France, but still for the most part [donors] from abroad, said Etienne Koning, pastor of Saint-Lazare Church, a Paris church affiliated with the Acts 29 network. If the limit holds, it will have a big impact on our daily life. It will not make it impossible to do church, but it will make it far more difficult. He said authorities dont seem to recognize that unlike the extremists they say theyre targeting, churches like Konings have a clear financial plan for generosity from abroad to be replaced by generosity from the local church as the congregation grows. His churchs foreign funding comes from generous individuals with normal jobs, not from private societies or oil-industry wealth as is often the case for the radicalized mosques whose ideology the government wants to protect French society from. Koning noted the second main impact his church foresees relates to freedom of speech, expression of convictions, and increased control by the state over messaging. I know that sounds like in China, he said, acknowledging that whats proposed in France isnt at all at such levels. Still, it concerns him to see the governments desire to control what is thoughtthus, what is said and what is taught. Yet, despite the new laws dire evolution away from intelligent laicite as they see it, French Protestant leaders strategytoward both the government and the pewshas been notably free of fear-mongering. Instead, they have called for their sisters and brothers to avoid taking on a posture of victimization even as they recognize the seriousness of the moment. It is not the apocalypse, said Clavairoly. We are absolutely not in an atmosphere of fear. Rather, he said, they are engaged in a very French debate that is a continuation of the hard conversations that took place at the end of the 19th century and beginning of the 20th between the church and the republic. Without fearing at all for our faith, we can legitimately express our concerns and the fact that we will remain attentive to the preservation of our legitimate freedoms, in defense of a well-understood laicite, said Erwan Cloarec, director of formation of the Federation of Evangelical Baptist Churches of France (FEEBF) and a pastor in Lyon. For him, this means promoting the freedom to believe and not believe and being able to live this freedom without being worried or hindered in any way by the government. It seems important to me to continue this fight, without fear or weakness, said Cloarec. The Lord is with us, and he invites us to faith, trust, and prayer. Should we be afraid? No, said CNEFs Diedrichs. In Jeremiah, it is said that we must look for the good of the city where we are, and this town isnt Jerusalem. Its Babylon. I think a lot of Christians would prefer that we were in Jerusalem instead of Babylon. Many evangelicals would like to still be in a Christian society that protects us. But since they are no longer in a Christian society, he said, French evangelicals have to be witnesses to the gospel like the first Christians were in their non-Christian society. They didnt expect the government to protect them. They simply had an eternal hope and witnessed to this hope in their society, he said. This is why I say that we have no reason to be afraid, but do have all the good reasons to proclaim the gospel. While Koning, the Paris pastor, gives four stars to CNEF leaders seriousness and professionalism in tackling the issue as well as their desire to be peaceful, obedient citizens, he said he and other colleagues think the posture has been too kind and a little naive. He acknowledges that the governments desire for control and the potential repercussions for freedom of speech and freedom of conviction give legitimate reason for French evangelicals to feel concerned. On the other hand, he said, there are plenty of reasons not to feel afraid: In a democratic country like France, elections can change things, and there are French who think clearly and can parse through the political discourse. Whatever the outcome, Koning said, Well find a way to carry on serving the Lord taking good care of our people by faithfully proclaiming to them the unaltered and life-changing gospel, serving and loving our neighbors just as they are, never giving in to bitterness or hatred, always building bridges and relationships, in order to bring Christ to our nation. How can Christian brothers and sisters outside France care for the French church? In separate interviews, Clavairoly and Diedrichs said the same thing: Dont be afraid for us. But theres also a call for prayer. Recognizing the spiritual stakes, CNEF leaders sensed committing to prayer would bring a greater return on investment than some of their meetings with government leaders. A thousand people receive the groups weekly updates and prayer requests regarding the separatism bills progression. Pray for us, Diedrichs invites those outside France, that we will be courageous in advancing the gospel. Gerard Kelly, a British expat observer who has ministered in France for three decades and pastors a Normandy church plant alongside his wife, agrees. We should be praying for revival, for the growth of the church, he said. We need to pray for vibrant churches so that when laws like this come up, people dont see the evangelicals as a sort of weird, fringe cult thing. Instead, they see people they know as neighbors. For Christians in other cultures, especially the United States, seeing whats happening in post-Christian Europe can be cause for alarm over what may be coming their way. But Kelly, who codirects with his wife the UK-birthed Bless Network, says such Christians can learn from Europe right now, specifically what living in a post-Christian culture looks like. Post-Christian means its a form of exile. We live in Babylon, he said, unwittingly echoing Diedrichs. We dont live in Jerusalem. Because of this, Kelly says as a European Christian, he doesnt expect his government to make laws that particularly suit his worldview, though he does think it should protect freedom. He acknowledges that moving into exile brings real losses and pain, not least of which is pastors and parents fear of living in a world in which their children are less likely to remain in the faith community they are raised in. But he says exile is actually very good for mission: a post-Christendom missions model is much more inspiring and creative. Your dialogue with the culture is not You should join our enclave. Its You should find Jesus. When the church is strong and rich and powerful, it forgets missional engagement because it doesnt need to. It stops engaging creatively with its neighbors and becomes complacent, said Kelly. God solves complacency by allowing exile to happenbecause we were never meant to be separatist. [ This article is also available in Francais. ] 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. Lock them up. There are things that you can do, a Houston assistant police chief said last week after a 3-year-old boy fatally shot his 8-month-old baby brother in the family home. The assistant chief was talking about guns, not the 3-year-old. Obviously. Although in some parts of the country, the idea of putting kids in prison seems to elicit more enthusiasm than the idea of locking away the weapons. This kind of disaster happens way, way, way too much. Last year at least 371 children stumbled across a loaded gun and fired, causing 143 deaths and 243 injuries. In one case, a 3-year-old shot himself to death with a pistol that had fallen out of the pocket of a member of his family apparently while the adults were playing cards. None of this has led to any significant change in the national attitude toward deadly weapons. Many Americans like to arm themselves to the teeth as protection from crime and bleep over the danger that comes with all that hardware, especially in the hands of people who arent really equipped to use it. China develops featured industries to boost rural revitalization People's Daily Online) 16:29, April 14, 2021 China's central government has approved a fiscal budget of 156.1 billion yuan ($23.84 billion) to support the growth of advantageous industries featuring local characteristics in less developed regions of the country this year, all with an aim to consolidating poverty alleviation outcomes and promoting rural revitalization. Farmers harvest daylilies in Yunzhou district, Datong. (Photo/Xinhua) The country has also established over 300,000 industrial bases of various kinds in once-impoverished counties. As of November 2020, it had set up 2.241 million farmers' cooperatives to spur continued growth in the rural economy. Zoucheng city in east China's Shandong province has been vigorously developing its edible fungus industry to help farmers increase their incomes. The city has cultivated over 20 varieties of high-quality edible fungi and can now generate a total yield of up to 350,000 tons of fresh fungi annually. By the end of 2020, Zoucheng had planted 2,230 hectares of edible fungi with an output value worth more than 3.3 billion yuan. The edible fungus industry has now grown into a pillar industry in the city's Dashu township, which previously had no such pillar industry in the past. Two years ago, the building of an edible fungus processing factory was completed in the township, with the factory featuring smart and fully mechanized production processes. "Our factory now produces 550,000 bottles of mushrooms and 280 tons of enoki mushrooms a day, and our annual output value has hit 400 million yuan," said one of the managers from the factory, adding that the factory has so far cultivated over 900 professional farmers. Diaoyutai village is one of the beneficiaries of the township's supportive policies. Dashu township allocated specific funds for rural revitalization as well as inviting experts and a leading edible fungi company to build greenhouses to cultivate shiitake mushrooms in Diaoyutai, where crops had low yields due to infertile land, according to Zhu Yujian, Party chief of the village. In November 2019, the village's farmers' cooperative signed contracts with seven farming families, contracting them to operate the first batch of 20 greenhouses. The edible fungi company not only sent technicians to guide the farmers on how to cultivate shiitake mushrooms, but it also directly purchased products from them. Villager Zhu Hongwei was able to contract two greenhouses and garnered a net income of about 40,000 yuan during the first harvest season. "Mushroom cultivation is profitable, and I feel more confident in my business as Ive learnt how to collect mushrooms and master the techniques of pest control," Zhu said excitedly. Yunzhou district, in Datong city of north China's Shanxi province, has rolled out over 40 incentive-orientated policies to develop the daylily industry, making it a cash cow in helping farmers to increase their incomes. Yunzhou has built irrigation facilities for all local fields growing daylilies, a kind of edible flower used in traditional Chinese medicine, and granted a subsidy of 500 to 1,000 yuan per mu (1 mu is 667 square meters) to daylily growers in the first three years after they joined the business. The district has also taken out insurance against risks on behalf of the growers and hires pickers from other regions during the harvest season. To encourage daylily cultivation, 83 chiefs of village Party branches and 650 Party members in Yunzhou have taken the lead in expanding the cultivation of daylilies. In addition, 81 village officials and outstanding growers have joined hands to establish farmers' cooperatives to grow daylilies and have helped impoverished households increase their incomes through the transfer of land use rights. Now growing daylilies is very popular in the district, with the total area of daylily plantations increasing from about 1,333 hectares 10 years ago to the current area of 11,333 hectares, according to An Yiping, director of a department responsible for the daylily industry in the district. Yunzhou has also built daylily-planting bases with a total area of around 3,333 hectares to standardize the growing and processing of daylilies In Daibu township, Huize county, situated in southwest China's Yunnan province, Duan Zidong, a strawberry grower, never expected that the planting area of summer strawberries would increase from about 2.7 hectares in 2012 to the current extent of 5,333 hectares. Back then, Duan was the first farmer to grow strawberries in the town during the summer, having taken advantage of natural local conditions that feature a relatively cool climate, combined with abundant light, heat and water, all of which are very suitable for successfully cultivating strawberries in the summertime. So far, Duan has helped roughly 300 rural families to grow summer strawberries, generating an overall annual revenue of more than 100 million yuan. The output value for approximately 0.07 hectares of summer strawberries is close to 40,000 yuan, which hence provides a boost to farmers' incomes, the man said, adding that ordinary workers engaged in the towns strawberry industry are able to earn an annual income of more than 20,000 yuan. Daibu was a severely impoverished town before developing its strawberry industry, with more than 80 percent of villagers securing jobs outside their hometown. "Now many villagers have returned to the town and can find a job near their home thanks to the cultivation of strawberries," he said. Duan's success could not have been achieved without the township's efforts to strengthen the development of agricultural infrastructure, including over 100 infrastructure projects focusing on comprehensive land management, transportation, water conservancy, and electric power. The man said he has additional plans to build a processing factory to develop the added-value processing of strawberries and further expand the localitys industrial chain. (Web editor: Hongyu, Liang Jun) Advertisement A spiritual healer who performs surgery with a machete and tells his patients drinking half a bottle of rum a week will stop them getting Covid-19 has become popular in Cuba. Jorge Goliat's unorthodox methods have increasingly attracted Cubans who are seeking alternatives to traditional medicines. They flock to him despite the Communist country offering excellent free healthcare to all residents. Cuba has 33,000 primary care physicians - similar to general practitioners - for its 11 million residents, equivalent to one doctor for every 343 people. Its health service also offers a network of 498 polyclinics spread throughout the country, many of which offer specialist treatments more commonly found in large hospitals. The heavy drinking and smoking Cuban healer claims he was visited more than 30 years ago by a spirit who told him to start healing people with his machete. He's been practicing ever since and now performs between 120 and 150 surgeries every day on different patients in Havana. Jorge Goliat performs surgery with a machete and tells his patients drinking half a bottle of rum a week will stop them getting Covid-19 The spiritual healer's unorthodox methods have increasingly attracted Cubans who are seeking alternatives to traditional medicines The heavy drinking and smoking Cuban healer claims he was visited more than 30 years ago by a spirit who told him to start healing people with his machete Over the years, he claims to have performed several thousands of surgeries, all without anaesthesia. Goliat said: 'If they can't walk, the leave walking. If they can't move, or raise an arm, they can raise it. 'I don't leave anybody helpless because life is hard, this country is a hard country, we can't save ourselves from Covid. 'I would never leave anyone to die, or let a child die simply because of Covid.' Goliat encourages his patients to drink half a bottle of Rum each week or smell bags of camphor, a medicine derived from wood used to treat pain and cough, from 'time to time' to keep Covid away. Patients seeking advice on anything from fertility to traumatic lower back pain seem to frequent Goliat's makeshift clinic for help. One young Panamanian couple say they visited Goliat for help conceiving after getting nowhere with traditional medicine. Though they do not yet know if his treatment was successful, the pair say the healer was immediately able to guess their backgrounds, and the man's job, adding to his credibility. Others said Goliat's credibility came from his ability to marry up his machete surgeries with conventional medicine. Patient Leonides Lara said: 'At first one feels a bit incredulous, but when you arrive and you see what science has told you practically coincides with what this person tells you then he really gains credibility.' Over the years, the Cuban healer claims to have performed several thousands of surgeries, all without anaesthesia Goliat has been practicing for more than 30 years and now performs between 120 and 150 surgeries every day on different patients in Havana Patients seeking advice on anything from fertility to traumatic lower back pain seem to frequent Goliat's makeshift clinic for help Goliat encourages his patients smell bags of camphor, a medicine derived from wood used to treat pain and cough, from 'time to time' to keep Covid-19 away But for many being treated by Goliat was not just about the medicine, it was a spiritual and emotional experience. Patient Elviscala, who receives treatment for traumatic lower back pain, said: 'It's very impressive the conviction he has, this person, he comes and miraculously guesses things and tells you how things are and that really impresses.' Goliat uses a piece of paper and a candle to create makeshift scans of the patient's body, a practice which his followers claim reveals everything an X-ray would show. 'Seeing is believing', says patient Ricardo Rodriguez. The Cuban healer also told patients that drinking half a bottle of rum per day would help protect them from catching Covid-19 For many being treated by Goliat was not just about the alternative type of medicine, it was a spiritual and emotional experience Goliat uses a piece of paper and a candle to create makeshift scans of the patient's body, a practice which his followers claim reveals everything an X-ray would show The healer claims nurses are wary of working with him for fear they may end up in jail, and that police have investigated his unorthodox practice in the past, but insists he is not doing anything illegal. 'Let the police come and check everything they have to check', he said. 'The inspectors who come here are right to come here because of the amount of people but I am not doing anything wrong.' Cuba has long been praised for its strong health care sector and high number doctors, often dubbed the 'white coat army'. At the height of the pandemic last year nearly 40 countries, including Italy, Mexico, and Togo, received Cuban doctors to help fight virus outbreaks. But, in recent months, that reputation has wavered slightly as the country has experienced a surge in Covid-19 cases. As of April 14, the country had reported 89,404 cases, among them 487 deaths. Though still much lower figures than other countries, Cuba has seen a dramatic surge in infections after recording only 11,863 cases in 2020. The country's health care system has also come under fire for failing to secure licensed vaccines from abroad. perhaps explaining the surprising turn to alternative medicine. Government critics have said Cuba should have purchased approved vaccines from abroad to kick off its immunisation campaign while it completed trials on its homegrown vaccines, Soberana 2 and Abdala. Instead, nearly all of Havana's residents are set to receive experimental jabs by May in the hopes a nationwide vaccine can be rolled out by the summer. The healer claims nurses are wary of working with him for fear they may end up in jail, and that police have investigated his unorthodox practice in the past, but insists he is not doing anything illegal Goliat said he thought it was right for police to investigate his practice because of the number of people regularly visiting, but insisted his practices are not illegal Cuba has long been praised for its strong health care sector and high number doctors, often dubbed the 'white coat army', so it was not immediately clear why so many people have turned to alternative forms of medicine Goliat sharpens his tools ahead of a surgery. The Cuban spiritual healer claims to treat between 120 and 150 patients every day Bang! Goliat uses a variety of tools, including a hammer, to perform his controversial surgeries, though he uses a machete most often Goliat has been flooded with customers waiting to be treated as Cubans turn away from traditional sources of medicine in the pandemic Goliat also prescribes herbal medicines for some of his patient's ailments. (pictured, Chofer Eliasez Mendez buys herbal medicine on April 9) JACKSON, MI Two weeks after taking a step back in reopening the Jackson County Courthouse to the public, officials are taking another step back amid growing COVID-19 cases in the county. Abiding by a four-phase plan created by the Michigan Supreme Court to return court operations to full capacity, Jackson County court officialss announced Wednesday, April 14, they would be returning to phase one of the plan. Within the span of a month, the courthouse has gone from phase three, which allowed open but limited public access to the courthouse, to phase one, which closes the courthouse the public entirely with only a few exceptions. Jackson courts return to stricter access due to growing county COVID infection rate As of April 15, Jackson County has had 12,796 confirmed cases of COVID-19, with 240 deaths attributed to the disease, according to the Jackson County Health Department. A graph showing the daily confirmed case count posted online by the health department shows a steady increase in reported cases since early March. While in phase one, all court offices are closed to the general public and most court hearings will be conducted remotely using Zoom. In-person hearings will be limited to those where there is a statutory or constitutional right that has not been waived. How Michigan courts determine when to hold jury trials again after pandemic shutdown The Jackson County Clerks Office, which is located inside the courthouse, will allow people in by appointment only and only for obtaining a new concealed pistol license, marriage license application and new notary public applications. For more information on court hearings, services and emergency filings, please call: Circuit Court cases/County Clerk: 517-788-4268 County Clerk Vitals: 517-788-4265 District Court cases: 517-788-4260 Probate Court cases: 517-788-4290 Jackson County Public Defenders office: 517-768-6842 District Court on-line services can be found by visiting d12.com For County Clerk on-line services: click here Friend of the Court: 517-788-4470; or click here Elections office: 517-768-6759 More from The Jackson Citizen Patriot: Process to create neighborhood associations being considered by Jackson officials Prepare for low water pressure, potential discoloration while Jackson crews flush fire hydrants Virtual career fair hopes to fill teacher shortage in Jackson County An ion pump can deliver cytostatics more accurately in the brain, which gives less severe adverse effects in chemotherapy. Credit: Thor Balkhed Despite surgery and subsequent treatment with chemotherapy and radiation, the majority of patients experience recurrence of malignant brain tumors. Researchers at Linkoping University, Sweden, and the Medical University of Graz, Austria, have shown in cells in culture that an ion pump can deliver drugs more accurately, which results in less severe adverse effects in chemotherapy. The results have been published in Advanced Materials Technologies. "This is the first time an ion pump has been tested as a possible method to treat malignant brain tumors. We used cancer cells in the lab, and the results are extremely promising. However, it will probably take five to 10 years before we see this new technology used in treatments for brain tumors," says Daniel Simon, associate professor at the Laboratory of Organic Electronics at the Department of Science and Technology at Linkoping University . The scientists have used cells from glioblastoma, which is the most common and most aggressive type of cancer that can arise in the brain. When a brain tumor is surgically removed, small parts of the tumor are often left behind, embedded between the brain cells. Even high-precision surgery cannot remove these cells without damaging the surrounding healthy brain tissue. This means that radiation treatment and chemotherapy are used to stop the recurrence of the tumor. In Sweden, around 30 cytostatics are available to treat different types of cancer. These chemotherapy agents are most often given either intravenously or as a tablet. But in order to reach the brain, they must first spread through the circulatory system and then pass through the blood-brain barrier. The walls of the small blood vessels in the brain are much less permeable than blood vessels in the rest of the body, and can prevent many substances in the blood entering the brain. Thus, only a few drugs that work against cancer can pass through. Scientists at Linkoping University and at the Medical University of Graz have now developed a method in which an implanted ion pump can be used to get around the blood-brain barrier and supply gemcitabinean extremely effective chemotherapy agent that cannot normally pass the blood-brain barrierdirectly into the brain with high precision. Gemcitabine is currently used to treat cancers in the pancreas, bladder and breast, where it acts by disrupting the cell division process in rapidly growing tumors. This means that gemcitabine does not affect brain cells, since these do not, in general, undergo cell division. "The traditional glioblastoma treatment currently used in the clinics harms both cancer and neuronal cells to the same extent. However, with the gemcitabine ion pump, we tackle only the cancerous cells, while neurons stay healthy. In addition, our experiments on cultured glioblastoma cells show that more cancer cells are killed when we use the ion pump than when we use manual treatment," says Linda Waldherr, postdoctoral fellow at the Medical University of Graz. She has conducted the study together with researchers at Linkoping University. When the ion pump is to transport gemcitabine from an electrolyte reservoir into cells or a tumor, a low current is used to "pump" the positively charged drug through an ion transport channel. The method is known as electrophoresis. The ion pump needs only a low current to pump the gemcitabine, which is an advantage since it avoids the risk that brain cells are activated and transmit unintended nerve signals. The low current and voltage also mean that eventual therapeutic technology will not require large power supplies or batteries to operate. Rainer Schindl, associate professor at the Medical University of Graz, describes other advantages. "The pressure inside the brain is extremely sensitive, and using an ion pump to transport the drug instead of a fluid-driven device means that the pressure is not affected. Also, the dosage is controlled by electrical charging, which makes the supply of the chemotherapy agent extremely precise. The next step will be to use the ion pump to evaluate different chemotherapy agents that have previously given adverse effects that are too serious or that are unable to pass the blood-brain barrier," he says. More information: Linda Waldherr et al, Targeted Chemotherapy of Glioblastoma Spheroids with an Iontronic Pump, Advanced Materials Technologies (2021). Linda Waldherr et al, Targeted Chemotherapy of Glioblastoma Spheroids with an Iontronic Pump,(2021). DOI: 10.1002/admt.202001302 Several of Vietnams key export sectors have become magnets for merger and acquisition (M&As) activities, posing a risk of leading enterprises in those sectors being purchased by foreign investors. The leather-footwear industry is among the key export sectors attracting M&As in recent years (Photo: VNA) An advantage of Vietnams textile-garment industry is low labour costs, and it was also identified as one of six sectors on a list of supporting industry products prioritised for development. The country has become the footwear factory of the world, while the domestic market boasts a population of more than 96 million. Vietnam is also establishing itself as the worlds electronic manufacturing hub, with FDI continuing to flow into the sector over recent years. Tran Phuong Lan, an official from the Vietnam Competition and Consumer Authority at the Ministry of Industry and Trade (MoIT), said that apart from existing development potential, opportunities created by bilateral and multilateral free trade agreements (FTAs) have also fuelled those industries development. For example, she noted, under the EU-Vietnam FTA that took effect on August 1, 2020, 42.5 percent of import tariffs on textile-garment products were immediately eliminated, while those on leather-footwear items will be gradually cut to zero percent. The Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP), which came into force on December 30, 2018, abolished tariffs on Vietnams textile-garment products exported to other member countries. A recent study of COVID-19s impact on certain main industries in Vietnam noted that there have been signs of M&As surging in the textile-garment, footwear, and electronics sectors over the last three years. In 2018, Japans Itochu Corporation spent 47 million USD on purchasing nearly 10 percent of shares in the Vietnam National Textile and Garment Group (Vinatex), raising its stake to almost 15 percent and becoming the second-largest shareholder, after MoIT. Notable M&A deals last year included the one between the Taekwang MTC Vietnam Co. Ltd and the Jin Heoung Vina JSC in the leather-footwear industry, and the one between the Zenith Electronics LLC and Luxoft USA Inc. in the electronics industry. Investors from the Republic of Korea, who have continually conducted large-scale M&A deals in Vietnam, also tend to select sectors with potential, like textile-garment, leather-footwear, and electronics. Economic experts cited the experience of other countries as showing that to ensure effective M&A activities and protect the interests of all sides involved it is necessary to perfect related legal regulations, especially those on information transparency, and set up a regular consultative mechanism between the MoIT and the Ministry of Planning and Investment to develop an M&A database for key industries like textile-garment, leather-footwear, and electronics. Vietnamese enterprises should proactively diversify technical solutions to keep information transparent, identify their targets in M&A deals, and analyse partners to avoid risks during negotiations. In particular, experts noted, in M&As involving foreign firms, businesses should have a good grasp of market information and carefully assess foreign investors regardless of the deals value. Nguyen Thi Tong, former Vice Chairwoman and former Secretary-General of the Vietnam Leather, Footwear and Handbag Association, recommended that as the leather-footwear and handbag sector is one of Vietnams five key export industries, businesses should make proactive moves to boost their capacity and cooperation via M&As within their sector, to secure sustainable development./. VNA Young farmer earns billions of VND a year from rabbit exports to Japan After many years raising rabbits, Do Quoc Toan, a farmer in Dan Phuong district in Hanoi, has reaped fruit. His rabbit farm brings revenue of over VND1 billion a year. (Alliance News) - Electra Private Equity PLC on Thursday said it has sold Sentinel Performance Solutions Group Ltd to Dutch industrial technology group Aalberts NV for GBP22.2 million. Sentinel is a UK manufacturer of products to improve the performance of heating and closed water systems. The London-based investment trust said it gained control of Sentinel in July 2019 following an initial investment in 2011. It intends to retain "the cash received pending further asset realisations and confirmation of future distributions to shareholders in due course." Shares in Electra Private Equity were up 6.0% at 390.00 pence in London on Thursday. In addition, Electra said restaurant chain TGI Fridays opened outside dining at 32 of its 87 sites on Monday due to the relaxation of Covid-19 restrictions in England. It is also planning to open additional new sites in 2021. Turning to Hotter Shoes, sales in the three months to the end of March were up 6% year-on-year on a like-for-like basis, with direct channels up 34%. Reported earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation for the quarter was up by GBP900,000 from the same period in 2020. "As we approach the final stages of our realisation strategy, we are pleased with the ongoing progress of Fridays and Hotter Shoes, both of which have made significant improvements to their businesses in the last 12 months. We are delighted that we have successfully completed the disposal of Sentinel on-time and to plan, despite the challenges of the last year," said Electra Chair Neil Johnson. By Zoe Wickens; zoewickens@alliancenews.com Copyright 2021 Alliance News Limited. All Rights Reserved. Athens, GA (30605) Today Mixed clouds and sun with scattered thunderstorms. High 87F. Winds light and variable. Chance of rain 40%.. Tonight Overcast with a slight chance of showers and thunderstorms, mainly this evening. Low 68F. Winds light and variable. Chance of rain 30%. Giancarlo DiTrapano, a defiantly independent publisher whose Tyrant Books, long run out of his cramped apartment in Hells Kitchen, issued volumes that big publishing houses wouldnt touch and took chances on untested young writers, died on March 30 at a hotel in Manhattan. He was 47. His sister Lia DiTrapano Fairless confirmed the death but did not specify the cause. Mr. DiTrapano occupied a roguish space in the American literary landscape. In an industry where book proposals are analyzed for their market promise on spreadsheets, he published books based on his bohemian whims, championing avant-garde work that explored drug addiction, explicit sexuality and memoir in the internet age. He nurtured writers who were raised online and who felt like outcasts in the legacy publishing world. As his imprints name suggested, Mr. DiTrapano was tyrannical: He published exactly what he wanted to. Tyrant stuff isnt for everyone, but nothing should be for everyone, he said in an interview with Entropy magazine in 2015. Or at least nothing thats worth anything. You know whats for everyone? Water. Water is for everyone. And if youre publishing something for everyone, well, youre publishing water. Piramal Retail Finance today announced the launch of its expanded multi-product retail financing platform that includes used-car financing. Focused on small and mid-town India, the company offers new and expanding product offerings to meet various financing needs of customers from these regions. Over the last quarter, Piramal has launched Digital Purchase Finance and Used-Car financing solutions. For its business model to work efficiently, Piramal has tied with CARS24 for used car financing. In the last year, Piramal Retail has grown its on-ground presence significantly, now covering 40 locations across the country, with a mix of large and small towns. The geographic growth plans continue with 10 new locations all set for opening in the next three months. Jairam Sridharan, CEO, Piramal Retail Finance, said, Our core target market is the budget customer of Bharat. For this customer, although Housing Finance remains a very important financial need, they also have a wide variety of other needs as well - to expand their business, buy a second-hand car, etc. Availability of credit for these highly underserved segments has been limited. Piramal Retail Finances expanded multi-product platform aims to serve these diverse needs and contribute to the growth story of Bharat. FinancialNewsMedia.com News Commentary PALM BEACH, Fla, April 15, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Experts are saying that after a record year, gold is bound to see more gains in the medium and long-term. Gold performed well in the pandemic. The biggest drivers that will support gold as the world reopens include sovereign and private sector debts, deficits, and ultra-loose monetary policies. Governments around the world will struggle to reverse the fiscal policies introduced as a response to the pandemic, said the CPM Group, citing lackluster economic growth in coming years. In an article by Kitco News, discussing CPM's Gold Yearbook, said that: "The pandemic has changed the world, making some of the existing problems even worse and setting gold up to benefit While the pandemic will eventually pass, it has left the world changed and has in fact compounded and worsened some of the factors that are supportive of gold prices," the CPM Group said. This scenario positions gold well for further gains in the medium to long term," the Yearbook stated. "The pandemic has deepened these problems and will make it harder to reverse some of these issues, which will help to keep investors interested in the metal." Active stocks in the mining markets this week include Golden Independence Mining Corp. (OTCQB: GIDMF) (CSE: IGLD), Barrick Gold Corporation (NYSE: GOLD) (TSX: ABX), Rio Tinto Group (NYSE: RIO), Hecla Mining Company (NYSE: HL), Kinross Gold Corporation (NYSE: KGC) (TSX: K). The stock market is forecasted to keep climbing despite looking top heavy. "The returns from these markets may not be as attractive as those seen over the past couple of years. A combination of top-heavy equity markets and low yields on debt make gold an attractive portfolio diversifier," the CPM Group said. The use of gold as a portfolio diversifier is expected to grow this year, which should help the prices move higher. Central banks are projected to remain net buyers of gold in 2021, with about seven million ounces estimated to be bought. "Many central banks, especially in developing countries, continue to want to diversify their assets away from the U.S. dollar and euro and are likely to continue adding to their holdings in the foreseeable future," the Yearbook said. Golden Independence Mining Corp. (CSE: IGLD.CN) (OTCQB:GIDMF)BREAKING NEWS:GOLDEN INDEPENDENCE INTERSECTS 1.23 G/T GOLD AND 15.6 G/T SILVER OVER 55 FEET AT INDEPENDENCE PROJECT - Golden Independence (the "Company") is pleased to announce the final series of drill results from its recently completed 2020 resource expansion drill program at the Independence project, south of Battle Mountain, Nevada. Results from these four reverse circulation (RC) holes consist of three of four holes targeting the main oxide zone and one wildcat exploration hole and include: 0.59 g/t gold and 8.3 g/t silver over 240 feet (73.2 metres) including 1.23 g/t gold and 15.6 g/t silver over 55 feet (16.8 metres) 0.78 g/t gold and 46.1 g/t silver over 140 feet (42.7 metres) including 2.02 g/t gold and 21.9 g/t silver over 15 feet (4.6 metres) "Results from these holes, including the last three holes targeting the main oxide horizon in the Phase I program, include 1.23 g/t gold and 15.6 g/t silver over 55 feet, within a longer 240 foot interval of 0.59 g/t gold and 8.3 g/t silver extending the zone to depth to the west." commented Golden Independence President Tim Henneberry. "All results from the Phase I RC program have now been released. Phase II will commence shortly and focus on further resource expansion along with follow up of the significant intersections in holes AGEI-32 and AGEI-47." he concluded. "Golden Independence has completed 36 RC holes as well as 5 core holes since acquiring the Independence project. Results from these holes combined with results from 56 previously drilled RC holes not included in the 2010 Historical Resource will be used to generate a new expanded NI 43-101 compliant resource for the project expected later this quarter, a significant milestone for the Company." stated Golden Independence CEO Christos Doulis. "Delineation of additional near surface high grade material such as that encountered in hole AGE-32 will be a significant focus of our next drill campaign at the Independence project." he continued. CONTINUEDRead this entire release for the Golden Independence news at:https://www.financialnewsmedia.com/news-igld/ Other recent developments in the mining markets include: Barrick Gold Corporation (NYSE:GOLD) (TSX:ABX) is committed to being a good neighbor, a responsible corporate citizen and a conscientious caretaker of the environment. We believe these traits are the very foundation on which to build a modern mining company and are as important as geotechnical expertise and free cash flow, president and chief executive Mark Bristow says in the company's 202 Sustainability Report, published recently. Bristow said Barrick's approach to climate risk was led by site-specific strategies based on science and operational realities, rather than hopeful aspirations, and it was constantly reviewed in the light of technological advances. Identification and realization of the opportunities these offered enabled the company to update its 2030 emissions reduction target from 10% to 30% against its 2018 baseline. Barrick's ultimate aim is to achieve net zero emissions by 2050. Rio Tinto Group (NYSE:RIO) recently announced that it has entered into a binding Heads of Agreement (HoA) with Turquoise Hill Resources (TRQ) for an updated funding plan (the "Funding Plan") for the completion of the Oyu Tolgoi (OT) Underground Project in Mongolia. The Funding Plan addresses the estimated remaining known funding requirement of approximately $2.3 billion1, building on and replacing the arrangements established in the Memorandum of Understanding that Rio Tinto and TRQ previously entered into on 9 September, 2020. Under the HoA, subject to securing approval by OT LLC and any required support from the Government of Mongolia, and subject to timing, availability, and terms and conditions being acceptable to both parties, Rio Tinto and TRQ will: pursue re-profiling of principal debt repayments up to $1.4 billion with lenders under the existing project finance arrangements to better align with the revised mine plan, project timing and cash flows; seek to raise up to $500 million in senior supplemental debt (SSD) under the existing project financing arrangements from selected international financial institutions; Rio Tinto has committed to address any potential shortfalls from the re-profiling and additional SSD of up to $750 millionby providing a senior co-lending facility (the "Co-Lending Facility") on the same terms as OT's project financing; and TRQ has committed to complete a rights offering or placement of common shares for up to $500 million to satisfy any remaining funding shortfall within six months of the Co-Lending Facility becoming available. Hecla Mining Company (NYSE:HL) recently announced its preliminary silver and gold production for the first quarter of 2021. HIGHLIGHTS WERE: Silver production of 3.5 million ounces, an increase of 7%, due to growing Lucky Friday production; Gold production of 52,004, a decrease of 12%, because of reducing less profitable production; Zinc and lead production increased 25% and 82%, respectively, due to Lucky Friday production; Silver equivalent production of 9.3 million ounces or gold equivalent production of 135,946 ounces; and Quarter-end cash position exceeds $135 million. "Greens Creek, Lucky Friday and Casa Berardi all had strong operating performance which combined with current silver prices enabled us to close the quarter with more than $135 million in cash," said Hecla's President and CEO, Phillips S. Baker, Jr. "This is our fourth consecutive quarter of increasing cash balances, all attributable to free cash flow generation." Kinross Gold Corporation (TSX:K) (NYSE:KGC) recently announced that it has acquired 3,125,000 common shares of Wolfden Resources Corporation (WLF) in a non-brokered private placement at a price of CA$0.32 per common share for total consideration of CA$1,000,000. Prior to completion of the transaction, Kinross held 12,500,000 common shares, representing approximately 9.6% of the outstanding common shares. As a result of the acquisition of 3,125,000 common shares (approximately 2.3% of Wolfden's issued and outstanding common shares), Kinross now owns 15,625,000 common shares, representing approximately 11.4% of Wolfden's issued and outstanding common shares, on a non-diluted basis. Kinross acquired the common shares pursuant to the transaction for investment purposes. Kinross may, from time to time, acquire additional common shares or other securities of Wolfden or dispose of some or all of the common shares or other securities of Wolfden that it owns at such time. 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Contact Information: Media Contact email: editor@financialnewsmedia.com - +1(561)-325-8757 Denmark's fragmented executive search market highlights strong performance from Boyden, with leading MedTech expert Sren Rysholt Christiansen joining as Partner COPENHAGEN, Denmark, April 15, 2021as Partner in Boyden's global healthcare & life sciences practice. Morten Winther, Managing Partner, Boyden Denmark, comments, "The pandemic has created a fragmented market with contraction among larger executive search firms, while Boyden has benefited from working at the most senior levels and collaborating with regional and global colleagues. In addition, our dual office structure in Denmark differentiates our firm, underlines our commitment to the market and puts us near our clients. We have been rewarded with a stronger financial performance than last year, increasing our turnover by 25%, and we are poised to deliver exceptional results this year." Boyden Denmark's gross profit increased by approx. 40% in 2020, with a result before tax of DKK 5.8 million with the same number of employees. Boyden Denmarkhas proved its capabilities with significant traction across industries, particularly in renewable energy. During the pandemic, almost solely online, Boyden won and completed the search for a new CEO for wind market leader Gurit AG. In just 16 weeks, Boyden Denmark mapped the global leadership talent in the industry, collaborating with Boyden's teams in Switzerland, Spain and the Benelux region, two leading wind energy markets, presented final candidates to the nomination committee and helped finalize the appointment of Mitja Schulz as CEO. "During a year when everyone has suffered from Covid-19, our dual offices setup in Denmark and a broad customer and industry coverage demonstrates the robustness of our business model," added Henrik Harbo, Managing Partner, Boyden Denmark. "This has enabled us to grow our business among different industries and client demographics such as privately-held companies and private equity investors that value our ability to deliver the right leadership aligned to their growth agendas." The appointment of Sren Rysholt Christiansen completes Boyden's sector coverage, providing executive search, board consulting, and CEO successionto clients in industrial, consumer & retail, and financial services. Being a MedTech expert, Christiansen further strengthens Boyden's mature global healthcare & life sciences practice, and brings exceptional local expertise to clients in Denmark and the Nordic region. Christiansen has a distinguished career as CEO at MedTech pioneer Acarix AB - a spin-out from Coloplast A/S - and has held other leadership positions at dentistry supplier XO CARE A/S, hearing aid producer GN Hearing, medical equipment supplier BK Medical/BK Ultrasound, and medical device leaders Elos Medtech and COOK Medical. He was a member of the Public Affairs Focus Group with European medical device industry association Eucomed, and board member of the Danish medical device association Medicoindustrien. Culturally fluent, Christiansen has commercial experience in EMEA, the United States, Asia, and Latin America. He holds an executive MBA and a Graduate Diploma in International Business from Copenhagen Business School. "I am delighted to be appointed Partner with Boyden Denmark and to support MedTech, Biotech, and Pharma clients, who are substantial contributors to the Danish economy," commented Sren Rysholt Christiansen, Partner, Boyden Denmark. "Healthcare and life science is growing in importance as a key industry for Denmark. My appointment underlines the critical role that business leaders, and leadership experts play in supporting export earnings and economic growth in Denmark. I have walked in the shoes of Boyden's clients and have led businesses with different ownership structures, so I feel well-placed to contribute to the growth of Boyden's business in the region and worldwide." About Boyden Working out of our 75 offices in over 45 countries, our global reach enables us to serve client needs anywhere they conduct business. We connect great companies with great leaders through executive search, interim management, and leadership consulting solutions. Boyden is ranked in the top 10 on Forbes' America's Best Executive Recruiting Firms for the past four years. For further information, visit www.boyden.com. Contacts: Chris Swee, Boyden Global Head of Marketing T: +1 914 747 0172 E: cswee@boyden.com Henrik Harbo, Boyden Managing Partner, Denmark T: +45 29 709 759 E: hharbo@boyden.com Morten Winther, Boyden Managing Partner, Denmark T: +45 202 82884 E: mwinther@boyden.com A photo accompanying this announcement is available at https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/dfaff2e9-749e-4d66-a72c-a2baf6e02c19 What do we do? The BIS Innovation Hub has a threefold mandate: We identify, in a structured and systematic way, critical trends in technology affecting central banking in different locations, and develop in-depth insights into these technologies that can be shared with the central banking community. We develop public goods in the technology space geared towards improving the functioning of the global financial system. We serve as the focal point for a network of central bank experts on innovation, with regular events to promote exchange of views and knowledge-sharing. These efforts complement the well established cooperation within the BIS-hosted committees. Why was the Innovation Hub set up? Technology-driven innovation in financial services is accelerating, and will have major consequences for global financial systems and central banks. The IT revolution has repercussions in multiple locations simultaneously. Central banks can achieve economies of scale by working together. What are we working on? The Innovation Hub work programme demonstrates our focus on six key areas as we foster international collaboration among central banks on innovative financial technology. In January 2021, the BIS Innovation Hub launched the BIS Innovation Network to support the Innovation Hub priorities, share knowledge about technology projects and discuss innovative answers to problem statements relevant to central banks. Who are we? Innovation Hub Management team Innovation Hub Secretariat Based in Basel, the BIS Innovation Hub Secretariat supports the Head of the Innovation Hub in the management and oversight of the Hub's operations. Under the guidance of the Head of the Innovation Hub, it develops policies and procedures governing the Hub's operations, and prepares background notes for BIS Management and the BIS governing bodies. It leads the development of the Innovation Hub work programme, organises meetings of the Innovation Hub Advisory Committee, coordinates the work of the BIS Innovation Network, and guides the implementation of the Phase II expansion of the Hub. It ensures appropriate oversight of the implementation of projects in the Hub Centres, the preparation and implementation of the Innovation Hub budget, and the continuous development of its IT framework. Where do we operate? We have multidisciplinary teams located in Hong Kong SAR, Singapore and Switzerland, and will soon open centres in Toronto, London, Frankfurt/Paris and Stockholm. The BIS has also formed a strategic partnership with the Federal Reserve System in New York. Hong Kong SAR Singapore Switzerland Hong Kong SAR Singapore Switzerland The BIS Innovation Hub Centre in Hong Kong SAR was established in 2019. Its current project focus areas are CBDC, open finance and green finance. Read more The BIS Innovation Hub Centre in Singapore was established in 2019. Its current project focus areas are suptech, regtech, CBDC and next-generation Financial Market Infrastructures (FMIs). Read more The BIS Innovation Hub Centre in Switzerland was established in 2019. Its current project focus areas are CBDC, suptech and regtech. Read more Contact us BIS Innovation Hub Bank for International Settlements CH-4002 Basel, Switzerland Tel: +41 61 280 8498 Email: Service.BISIH_Office@bis.org As the COVID-19 pandemic continues to evolve, a new, worrying trend is emerging in India. Across the country, there has been an increase in the number of children and young adults testing positive for the COVID-19. This is unlike what happened during the first wave of the outbreak when it was told that children are comparatively safe. BCCL Worrying numbers In Haryana, 41,324 people have been tested positive for Covid-19 between March 15 and April 11, out of which, 3,445 were children below the age of 10. And in Delhi, out of the 2,733 children who were infected, 441 of them below the age of five years. The figures are worrying other places too. In Maharashtra, 60,684 children were infected with COVID between 1 March and 4 April. BCCL In Chhattisgarh, 5,940 children had tested positive for COVID-19 during the same period and 922 of them are below the age of five. In Karnataka, a total of 7,327 children had tested positive for COVID-19. In Uttar Pradesh, 3,004 children including 471 below five had tested positive for COVID-19 during the second wave. Double mutation According to Dr Subash Rao, Consultant Pediatrician at Reliance Hospital and Fortis Hospital, Navi Mumbai, the Covid-19 virus has undergone a double mutation (changes in genetic structure), and the current strain is highly infectious infecting many people, especially children. Reuters Dr Rao said that a reverse trend is being seen in the second wave where children develop symptoms before the adults. "The second wave of Covid is known to affect the children much more than in the first wave. Also, a reverse trend is being seen that is - children develop symptoms first, and then adults are getting it from them. The difference is while in the first wave most of the children were asymptomatic, in the second wave they are coming with symptoms like fever, cold, dry cough, loose motions, vomiting, not feeding well, fatigue, loss of appetite, among other common symptoms. Few may also have breathing difficulties and rashes like any other viral fever," he said. "Also another reason of rising infection among children is increasing exposure due to playing outdoor, travelling and inappropriate behaviour and laxity," he added. Get tested The pediatrician said that if a child is showing symptoms of Covid-19 infection, an RT PCR test should be done by the second day. AP "Don't delay or hesitate out of fear to do the test. Early diagnosis helps in early treatment. In case of an asymptomatic child with both parents Covid-19 positive, there is no need for a test but they should be kept in home quarantine for 14 days," he told the parents. The doctor said if a child had a fever for two days, but recovered later, they should be home quarantined for 14 days unless they were tested for Covid-19 and their report is negative on the fifth day. Super Spreaders "Keep in mind children can act as silent carriers or "super- spreaders" and spread it to other children and adults, who can suffer severe diseases," he said. He added the in case a parent is tested positive, it is the "most dangerous" thing to send the children to live with someone else. "Keep in mind your child would already be harbouring the virus even though they have no symptoms. They can innocently pass on the infection to the elders where you have sent them. Hence it would be wiser to keep them in your home along with you quarantined for 14 days. If possible isolate the index (affected) patient in a separate room and other members who are unaffected can remain in the same house," he said. BCCL Dr Rao said that in case a child tests positive for COVID-19, there is no need to rush them to the hospital and have them admitted. "They can be monitored at home after consulting the pediatrician. Watch for red flag and danger signs of breathlessness, fever beyond five days, poor oral intake, rash among other symptoms," he said. Pastor who predicted end to Trump's presidency says Gods going to 'reimburse' black Americans Email Print Img No-img Menu Whatsapp Google Reddit Digg Stumbleupon Linkedin Comment Despite opposition among some conservatives to the idea of reparations for slavery, the Rev. John A. Kilpatrick, a self-styled Assemblies of God prophet in Alabama who predicted the end of Trump's presidency in 2018, also predicted that God is going to reimburse black Americans for their trouble and labor. Kilpatrick, who leads the Church of His Presence in Daphne, Alabama, as well as John Kilpatrick Ministries, made the prediction in a viral video clip shared earlier this month by online personality Larry Reid. The Alabama preacher told The Christian Post on Wednesday that the clip is at least two years old, roughly around the same time he predicted that former president Donald Trump wouldn't have a second term in office due to "witchcraft trying to take this country over" that he wouldn't be able to withstand. Now let me say something right quick. I think back on African American people in America. I think how they were taken against their wills, put in the belly of ships brought over here, beat, cussed. Many of them died in the guts of those ships, thrown overboard. They were pulled from families over there. You aint never heard a gut-wrenching song 'til you hear a black person sing one of those black negro spirituals," Kilpatrick said in the clip posted on March 1, before trying to sing Nobody Knows the Trouble Ive Seen. When you experience hell it comes out of your voice. If youre one of those people that youve got problems with black people or whatever, you better shut your mouth, cause theyre Gods people, you better hear what Im saying to you. Shut your mouth, you better shut your white mouth, he told his audience. I know some of you [were] raised in the deep South, raised by prejudiced people, bigoted people, you better get that out of your system, get it out of your system. Itll cause you to suffer right along with those masters. Itll cause you to suffer right along with them. These are Gods people, he warned before making his comments on reimbursement for black people. I know that theres wicked in the white race and wicked in [the] black race, Im not justifying none of that stuff. Im just saying God knows what happened to the black race. He knows how they wound up over here and God is going to reimburse the black people for all their trouble and all their labor. You watch what I tell you, he said. Speaking with CP about the clip Wednesday, Kilpatrick explained that his comments about black Americans werent made as part of his planned message and weren't in response to any specific event at the time. It was just some comments that I made before I actually preached. It wasnt a sermon on that in particular. I just made the comments as I was addressing my congregation, he said. I made those comments not because I was addressing any particular issue in my church, because it wasnt necessary to do that. ... I was just making the statement that the black people in America have endured so much, he said. I was raised in the deep South. I was raised in Georgia and my playmates used to be black kids. And I loved them and they loved me. And I just dont like to see anybody mistreated and anybody abused in any kind of way, and I was just making a statement that morning that I believe that God is going to remunerate and bless the black race because of all theyve been deprived of. When asked if he had reservations about upsetting his diverse but predominantly white church with his comments, he said that he wasn't and explained that his ministry is global and it was just something that needed to be said. My people are used to me being a straight shooter. Im not a provocative person. I just try to shoot straight and just tell it like I believe that it is. And I just was talking to my congregation that morning and telling them that they really need to be careful. Everybody needs to be careful about the black race because theyve gone through a lot, he said. Kilpatrick, who explained that he tries not to get political with issues, didn't elaborate on what that remuneration for black Americans would look like, but maintained that I believe God is going to bless them and I believe God is going to send revival to the black race, and thats the way I felt about it. While Kilpatrick didn't use the word reparations and shied away from politics in his response, his prediction about reimbursement to black Americans for their trouble and labor could be as accurate as his predictions on Trump's presidency. On Wednesday, a House committee voted to recommend for the first time the creation of a commission to consider providing black Americans with reparations for slavery in the United States and a national apology for centuries of discrimination through a bill called H.R. 40, The New York Times reported. The late Democratic Rep. John Conyers of Michigan, first proposed the bill to study reparations for black Americans in 1989 and every legislative session after that. The bill never reached the House floor for a vote to put it on a path to become law. His Democratic colleague, Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee of Texas, continued his fight when she raised the issue of reparations in January 2019 by introducing bill H.R. 40, also known as the Commission to Study and Develop Reparations Proposals for African Americans Act. In addition to providing reparations, the legislation "is intended to examine the institution of slavery in the [British] colonies and the United States from 1619 to the present," according to a press statement at the time. Last May, three days before the death of George Floyd on May 25, and just months after Conyers death in October 2019, Lee paid homage to Conyers efforts in an op-ed on the bill for the ACLU. Though many thought it a lost cause, he believed that a day would come when our nation would need to account for the brutal mistreatment of African Americans during chattel slavery, she wrote. She then explained how H.R. 40 is not just about money but a path toward restorative justice. Though critics have argued that the idea of reparations is unworkable politically or financially, their focus on money misses the point of the H.R. 40 commissions mandate. The goal of these historical investigations is to bring American society to a new reckoning with how our past affects the current conditions of African Americans and to make America a better place by helping the truly disadvantaged, she said. Consequently, the reparations movement does not focus on payments to individuals, but to remedies that can be created in as many forms necessary to equitably address the many kinds of injuries sustained from chattel slavery and its continuing vestiges. To merely focus on finance is an empty gesture and betrays a lack of understanding of the depth of the unaddressed moral issues that continue to haunt this nation. During a committee debate Wednesday, Lee added: Were asking for people to understand the pain, the violence, the brutality, the chattel-ness of what we went through. And of course, were asking for harmony, reconciliation, reason to come together as Americans. While noting that he didnt know enough about some of the more recent high-profile fatal police shootings of black men, like 20-year-old Daunte Wright in Minnesota, Kilpatrick said there is a spiritual component to the violence happening today. I can understand so much of the frustrations that they [black people] were going through," he said. "At the same time, I realize were living in a world filled with hatred and violence. Thats the way it is before the coming of the Lord. "The Lord said one of the main things that filled the Earth in the days of Noah, He said, as it was in the days of Noah so shall it be in the days before the coming of the Son of Man. He said the Earth was filled with violence and I believe that violence is pervasive right now. I believe its filling the Earth. I really do. Its not just a racial thing. Its not just a black and white thing. This is just the spirit of violence thats filling the Earth. And I believe that right before the coming of Christ, I believe that were close to that. He urged pastors to try speaking calm into tense situations such as on discussions on race as that is something that Christ would have done. I saw a commercial one time of a building supply company and it showed a major storm coming in. Big, deep, dark clouds, lightning, thunder, wind blowing. And it showed him [building supply company representative] at a stop sign and to the right was clear skies and to the left was a major storm. He cut his signal on, his turn signal on to the left and drove right into the storm. You know, a lot times the Lord has not called us to drive away from the storm, Hes called us to drive into the storm because thats where your voice needs to be heard. People [are] not going to listen to your voice in clear skies. Theyre going to need to listen to a preachers voice in the middle of the storm. And Jesus voice was raised in the midst of the storm, he said. I think that preachers need to use their voices to calm the storm. Instead of stir up the storm. So we shouldnt run from it, we should run to it. But when we get there, we need to ask ourselves the question: Is this storm going to get better or worse because of my voice? Am I going to have a calming effect on this? Am I going to bring order out of disorder or am I going to bring disorder out of order? he continued. I do know that pastors, if theyre called by God, God gives them wisdom to deal with situations and wisdom has to come from God, it cant come from within. We can have knowledge, we can have intelligence, but God has to give wisdom and the Bible says, if any man lack wisdom, let him ask God. He further noted: If we speak the Word of the Lord, it will deal with the political realm. It will deal with the racial issues, it will deal with everything that has to be dealt with, because the Word of God is a common denominator. We had mentioned in the previous closing report that Nifty, Sensex were under pressure. On Thursday, the indices opened lower but rallied and closed with decent gains. On the NSE, there were 761 advances, 1,117 declines and 375 unchanged. The trends of the major indices in the course of Thursdays trading are given in the table below: Wipro reported 28% YoY rise in net profits for the quarter ended 31 March 2021 to Rs 2,972 crore compared to Rs 2,326 crore in the corresponding quarter of the previous year. Revenue grew 3% YoY to Rs 16,334 crore compared to Rs 15,850 crore YoY. IL&FS group has addressed a debt of Rs 43,000 crore so far and the management has now raised its aggregate debt recovery estimate to Rs 61,000 crore. Infosys said it would buy back shares amounting to Rs 9,200 crore (USD1.23 billion) from the open market route. Tata Motors Group reported its global wholesales in Q4FY21, including that of Jaguar Land Rover rose by 43% on a YoY basis to 330,125 units. Tinplate Company of India reported 107% rise in net profits at Rs 56.15 crore compared to Rs 27.12 crore YoY. Revenues grew 59% YoY to Rs 762.86 crore from Rs 479.19 crore YoY. UPLs subsidiary Advanta Seeds Pty Ltd in Australia had a class action litigation against it. This was dismissed by the Supreme Court of Queensland, Australia. 5paisa Capital approved fresh capital raise of Rs 250.87 crore through preferential issue of equity shares and warrants at Rs 500 per share to a set of marquee investors and the promoter group. VIP Industries saw its shareholder Rakesh Jhunjhunwala trim his stake in the company during the March quarter of the financial year 2021. Muthoot Finance declared an interim dividend of Rs 20 per equity share for the financial year 2020-21. Motherson Sumi System credit rating by Moodys Investors Service was revised to 'stable' from 'negative' while affirming its Ba1 corporate family rating. Hindustan Copper raised Rs 500 crore through issuance of shares to institutional investors on fully subscription of qualified institutions placement. The top gainers and top losers of the major indices are given in the table below: The closing values of the major Asian indices are given in the table below: Stache Gives College Students a Way To Earn Money on Their Empty Apartments During the Long Summer Break by Giving Others a Safe Place To Store Their Gear NASHVILLE, TN / ACCESSWIRE / April 15, 2021 / With most college students going home or traveling during the summer months, their apartments often sit empty, but the rent is still due. Stache, a peer-to-peer storage solution growing across the country, gives students the opportunity to make money on their housing space by allowing fellow students to store their things in this extra space. Students can avoid dingy public storage units and, for those needing to pay for their apartments all summer, Stache offers a passive way to help cover the expense. "Stache is growing fast, and we now operate in 38 states. We feel very fortunate to be able to connect people with the space they need, but our roots remain with college students. It is where we got our start. We realized that students are often stressed when they need to leave for summer break from school," said Mike Anderson, founder and CEO of Stache. "Whether it's figuring out how to pay rent while their apartments sit empty or having to move everything home only to take it all back a few months later, we knew there had to be a better solution. Stache gives students a simple way to make money while simultaneously providing a more affordable and safer storage solution right on or near campus." For students who will be continuing to pay rent for their apartment over the summer, it is an easy way to make additional income off of their unused space. Student hosts who have the extra space might use the income to pay rent, put it toward their monthly utility bills, or build their savings. For those who need storage, Stache's peer-to-peer storage platform offers a safer and more affordable way to store their important things. They can save 30% to 50% when they use Stache rather than a traditional storage unit, which are often dimly lit, dirty, and not easily accessible. "Stache has been amazing. I'm renting my garage near campus and am earning $420 per month storing a car and some boxes. I'll be renting a spare bedroom this summer as well when my roommate leaves for her internship. Easiest $5,000 I've ever earned," said Chanel, a student at the University of Pennsylvania. The company also has a socially driven mission, donating 10% of all revenues to non-profit organizations. "Similar to Bombas and Toms Shoes, philanthropy is a guiding principle of our company. We have believed in this since day one," continued Anderson. "Storage is a $40 billion industry, but, unlike the major national storage brands, we are focused on local people and relationships. Our main goal is to keep money in the community." Stache is a true local partner by ensuring that money spent on the platform helps fund community causes. Ten percent of the company's proceeds are donated back to a broad range of charities selected by users. Some of Stache's nonprofit partners include Dreams and Wishes, Service2School, RaiseRed, Special Olympics Kentucky, and Special Olympics Washington. Stache has donated tens of thousands of dollars to nonprofits since its founding in 2017. To sign up and use Stache, hosts visit the website (www.stache.com) and list what space they have available. Those needing some extra storage space can register online with information on how much space they need and what they need to store. Renters can also browse local listings and book with hosts, all through the platform. For more information about Stache, or to learn about renting or hosting, visit www.stache.com. Images available here: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1aWmTIDHxEYg4v9XpeXONTJA-RRN_Lsyj ABOUT STACHE Stache is a peer-to-peer storage company that allows anyone with available space to rent it to people who need storage or parking for cars, motorcycles, boats, and RVs. The company is operating in 38 states with a concentration of business in the Southeast. Stache is community-focused, enabling people to make money on their pre-existing assets and making it a priority to give back a portion of its revenue to non-profit community partners. For more information, visit stache.com. Media Contact: Erica Zeidenberg erica@hottomato.net Office: (925) 631-0553 Mobile: (925) 518-8159 SOURCE: Stache View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/640479/Summers-Coming-for-College-Students-Got-Space-New-Easy-Way-to-Make-Extra-Money-While-Giving-Back-to-Community Special Representative of the OSCE Chairperson-in-Office in Ukraine and in the Trilateral Contact Group (TCG) on Donbas, Ambassador Heidi Grau announced a sharp increase in ceasefire violations, as well as an increase in cases of obstacles to the free movement of the OSCE SMM, which complicates the implementation of the mandate by the mission in over the past two weeks. "The meetings of the TCG and its Working Groups took place against the backdrop of an increased number of ceasefire violations. According to the SMM, the number of violations recorded over the past two weeks has reached its highest level this year and was three times higher than over the same period before. This is also having a negative impact on our work," Grau said in a press statement following the meeting of the TCG at the level of heads of delegations on April 14. According to her, "the last two weeks have also seen a significant increase in restrictions and impediments to the freedom of movement of the OSCE SMM and the fulfilment of its mandate." "Nine out of ten of the SMM's long-range UAV flights have been affected by jamming," Grau said. She also said that "the discussion with regard to the Coordination Mechanism for Responding to Ceasefire Violations will continue at future meetings of the Security Working Group." "However, it should be noted that effective implementation of this mechanism will only be possible if there is political will to significantly reduce the number of ceasefire violations on both sides of the line of contact," the OSCE SMM Special Representative said. She also said that "procedural issues dominated the discussions of the participants in the meeting of the Political Working Group, which hindered progress towards the development of an action plan in full compliance with the Minsk agreements under the tasking given by the TCG." According to Grau, "the Humanitarian Working Group focused on removing obstacles to the simultaneous opening of new crossing points near Zolote and Shchastia of the Luhansk region." The meeting of the Economic Working Group focused on provision of pension payments to persons with limited mobility residing in certain areas of Donetsk and Luhansk regions (CADLR) of Ukraine. In addition, important topics of water supply across the contact line in Donetsk and Luhansk regions, environmental issues and provision of mobile communications in CADLR were duly considered. WASHINGTON, April 15, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- CompTIA and Maher & Maher, partners in a new national apprenticeship initiative designed to diversify and expand the technology workforce across America, announced today that CityWorks DC has joined the skills and career building effort. CityWorks DC is a nonprofit organization dedicated to helping young people growing up in the District of Columbia secure meaningful work that can support a family, build personal wealth and drive economic growth in the region. "CityWorks DC, CompTIA and Maher & Maher have a shared vision for the future: DC residents, especially underrepresented populations, securing high-wage, high-demand careers in technology," said Lateefah Durant, vice president for innovation at CityWorks DC. "This partnership will provide local residents with greater access to family-sustaining jobs in IT through expanding opportunities for Registered Apprenticeship. "We know that developing an equitable, diverse and inclusive tech talent pipeline is a good business strategy and an imperative for our community," Durant continued. "CityWorks DC looks forward to adding to their occupation choices using CompTIA's National Guideline Standards and engaging with CompTIA's vast network of employers to meet their talent needs with individuals ready for work and eager to contribute to the bottom-line." CompTIA and Maher & Maher were selected by the U.S. Department of Labor to lead this apprenticeship initiative and grow the number of workers trained and certified to fill high-demand tech positions, especially groups that are under-represented in the tech workforce, including women, people of color and individuals with disabilities. The Labor Department has approved National Guideline Standards for Registered Apprenticeship Programs in three entry-level job roles tech support specialist, network support specialist and cybersecurity support technician. These three job roles, with others to follow, form the basis for the CompTIA Apprenticeship for Tech framework. CityWorks DC will help with the recruitment of Washington area organizations interested in hiring apprentices to enhance their internal technology staffs. "We can demonstrate to employers of any size and from any industry that by investing in training through apprenticeship they can gain access to a diverse pool of candidates and create a predictable pipeline to meet their tech hiring needs," said Amy Kardel, vice president for strategic workforce relationships at CompTIA. Employer demand for tech talent and career opportunities for individuals remain strong across much of the country. CompTIA's newly published Cyberstates 2021report projects growth in net tech employment across 48 states this year, with 245,000 net new tech jobs created in areas such as IT support, cybersecurity and other technology infrastructure-related positions.[1] This demand for technology workers includes the Washington, D.C., metro area. According to CompTIA's latest Tech Jobs Report, D.C. employers advertised job openings for nearly 17,000 core technology positions in March. For more information on the program visit www.comptia.org/content/lp/apprenticeships-for-tech. About CityWorks DC CityWorks DC is an entrepreneurial non-profit venture sponsored by CityBridge Education. CityWorks DC's mission is to reshape education-to-employment pathways in Washington, DC, by mobilizing key stakeholders and resources in order to dramatically increase the number of DC young people who secure the family-sustaining jobs available in our growing regional economy. Our vision is that all young people in DC have the "social mobility trifecta": 1) valuable certifications and credentials, 2) paid, relevant work experience, and 3) a supportive professional network. To provide this trifecta to all students, especially those who are marginalized and historically overlooked, CityWorks DC focuses its work on redesigning how young people experience high school, postsecondary, and early employment. To accomplish this bold vision, CityWorks DC's theory of change has two complementary strands: 1) launch a targeted set of innovative programs that work directly with young people and 2) lead systems-level initiatives that create the conditions for CityWorks programs and others to thrive and spark citywide reform across K12, postsecondary, and employment. About CompTIA The Computing Technology Industry Association (CompTIA) is a leading voice and advocate for the $5 trillion global information technology ecosystem; and the estimated 75 million industry and tech professionals who design, implement, manage, and safeguard the technology that powers the world's economy. Through education, training, certifications, advocacy, philanthropy, and market research, CompTIA is the hub for advancing the tech industry and its workforce. Visit www.comptia.org. About Maher & Maher Maher & Maher is a talent development firm that helps organizations view their work through the eye of their customer. We partner with our clients in identifying ways to improve workflows, align resources, and develop people to excel at fulfilling the needs of the customers they serve. Maher provides key services essential to organizational success, including business integration, change management, performance management, continuous improvement, and workforce and talent development. In combination these help organizations work in an aligned fashion, producing efficiency, increasing workforce capacity and engagement, and achieving desired outcomes. We go one step further by assisting in the creation of a talent pipeline prepared to do the work using proven skill development strategies, including apprenticeships, work-based learning, and formal and informal training solutions. Maher & Maher is now a wholly owned aliate of the American Institutes for Research (AIR), dedicated to providing top-quality research and technical assistance, and with AIR, is exceptionally positioned to contribute to the complex challenges facing society. Visit www.mahernet.com. Media Contact Steven Ostrowski CompTIA +1 630-678-8468 [email protected] [1] CompTIA Cyberstates 2021, March 2021, www.cyberstates.org/ SOURCE CompTIA Related Links http://www.comptia.org Dutch citizens are using a doorbell to help fish get past barrier New Atlas (furzy) Nepal rhino numbers rise in exciting milestone BBC Ancient Greeces Army of Lovers New Yorker (dk) Ponzi schemer Bernie Madoff dies in prison at 82 Associated Press (Kevin W) Boy, 12, dies after doing TikTok blackout challenge Independent. :-(. Too young to be Darwin Award material, you need to be of the age of consent. The first swarm of genetically modified mosquitos is about to hit the US Popular Science (resilc) These sneakers are woven by robots and have 3D-printed soles Boing Boing. Resilc: Great, more unemployment in Bangladesh. Maybe they can code. Encryption Lava Lamps Atlas Obscura (Chuck L). Very cool. 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GOP Civil War Gunz Black Injustice Tipping Point Police State Watch Maryland trooper shoots, kills teenager who had airsoft gun Associated Press (resilc) AT&T/Verizon workers union urges states to regulate ISPs as utilities ars technica Will Future Electric Vehicles Be Powered by Deep-Sea Metals? Wired Class Warfare Antidote du jour (retaj): And a bonus: See yesterdays Links and Antidote du Jour here. Qantas boss Alan Joyce has declared there is no reason why Australia shouldn't open its international borders for flights as planned in late October - before criticising the government's snail-like current vaccine rollout. Joyce has urged the government to be proactive when it comes to mass vaccinations, and stressed the nation can't afford to 'fall behind' compared to other countries. 'There should be no reason why we don't open up international borders,' Joyce told reporters on Thursday, just days before the trans-Tasman travel bubble officially launches in New Zealand next week. 'We know other countries are ahead of us [with the vaccine rollout] we cannot be laggers here and fall behind the rest of the world. We will fall behind economically and some sectors will take a hit. I think the government is aware of that. Qantas boss Alan Joyce wants the government to speed up its current vaccination rollout, fearing Australia is 'falling behind' other countries Qantas have every intention to resume international flights on October 31 this year - despite fears the slow vaccination rollout will further delay the process 'Anything that speeds up the vaccination in Australia is a great thing, and gets us up to the numbers we are seeing around the rest of the world.' Earlier this week, Health Minister Greg Hunt raised fears after stating even after the whole country is vaccinated against Covid-19, there is no guarantee borders will instantly re-open. 'Vaccination alone is no guarantee that you can open up,' he said. 'And this was a discussion that in fact I had with (Chief Medical Officer) Professor Murphy....that (even) if the whole country were vaccinated, you couldn't just open the borders.' Recent world rankings have revealed just how slow Australia has been in its vaccination roll-out. In a genuine cause for concern, Australia is said to be level with African nation Botswana and is ranked 76th out of 152 countries in another. Joyce has also confirmed Qantas will implement a permanent 'no jab, no fly' policy for all its passengers. 'We are regarded as the safest airline in the world...and we do think it should be a requirement that people are vaccinated on our aircraft,' he said. 'We know it's going to take a while to get confidence back.' Australia's national Covid vaccine rollout was thrown into turmoil last week, after medicine regulators ruled the AstraZeneca jab should not be issued to anyone under 50 due to the risk of blood clotting. Australia had been relying on the Oxford University-developed vaccine to make up the bulk of its rollout. Now the federal government is scrambling to secure millions of doses of the Pfizer vaccine - which aren't expected to arrive on Australian shores until the final quarter of this year. PM Scott Morrison (pictured in Perth) is planning to set up mass vaccination hubs in Australia Mr Morrison wants under 50s to be rapidly jabbed with Pfizer or Novavax shots, which are yet to be approved, towards the end of 2021 Prime Minister Scott Morrison announced on Wednesday he plans to hold weekly National Cabinet meetings with state leaders and health chiefs to address the bungled vaccine rollout. Morrison also stated this week he 'would like' all Australians to get at least their first vaccination dose by the end of 2021, but made no guarantees. In a desperate attempt to get the stalled program back on track, he plans to create mass state hubs to ramp up vaccination numbers. Mr Morrison revealed he has spoken to at least one premier - understood to be NSW leader Gladys Berejiklian - about getting millions of Australians vaccinated rapidly once there is enough supply of domestically produced vaccine in June or July. Ms Berejiklian has already vowed to set up a hub at the Sydney Olympic Park after criticising the federal government over the slow rollout which has fallen well short of its targets so far. A new political group in Virginia is taking pains to keep the people behind it a secret. And one candidate in the state's gubernatorial race claims it is buying ads designed to falsely make it look like they're coming from him. Why it matters: The group, dubbed the Patriot Leadership Trust, has succeeded in hiding the identities of its principals, depriving Virginians of information about the people and interests seeking to sway their votes in a bellwether off-year race. What's happening: The Patriot Leadership Trust has bought radio ads and direct mail pieces attacking Glenn Youngkin, a former private equity executive vying for the Republican nomination. Its latest direct mail piece, which attacked Youngkin over his ostensible support for the Southern Poverty Law Center, drew condemnation Wednesday from one of Youngkin's rivals, Virginia's former Republican House Speaker Kirk Cox. Cox accused the Patriot Leadership Trust of attempting to give the false impression that the attack came from his campaign, citing similarities in its name and mailing address to those of a PAC affiliated with Cox. This is the latest in a series of attacks launched by shadowy PACs that are potentially violating the letter and spirit of Virginias campaign finance laws, Cox said in a statement. The intrigue: Cox was very clear the mail piece "is not coming from me, or anyone associated with me." Who it is coming from is less clear. The Patriot Leadership Trust was formed April 6. It won't have to disclose its donors, paid staffers or consultants until July, more than two months after the nomination fight ends. Its mailing address is a post office box. Its phone number greets callers with an automated voicemail message. Its website contains no identifying details and uses a service that hides web domain registration information. When the group began buying radio ads last week, some station representatives pressed the group for more information about its officers, who must be disclosed in filings with the Federal Communications Commission. It responded that its only officer is its treasurer, Paul Kilgore, a compliance consultant who works with hundreds of Republican-aligned groups. Between the lines: The Patriot Leadership Trust is just the latest independent spender to jump into the Virginia governor's race, and it's hitting the same lines of attack against Youngkin as some others. TriMet officials learned Thursday that the transit agency will receive 1,000 COVID-19 vaccines next week that will allow it to begin vaccinating bus operators, mechanics and other frontline workers against the coronavirus. The tri-county rail and bus operator expects to start mobile vaccine clinics at its bus yards next week and said it expects to receive additional shipments to vaccinate more of its employees in coming weeks. The vaccine delivery is welcome news for transit workers whove had to try and register for appointments while working and ferrying passengers around the metro area. The development comes months after the agencys union-represented workforce, top administrators and the board of directors first started pushing Gov. Kate Brown and state health officials to prioritize transit workers by providing vaccine doses for workplace clinics. Those calls went unanswered. TriMets ridership remains at least 60% down from pre-pandemic levels, but its buses and trains have continued to operate. As of Thursday, the agency was aware of 90 employees whod tested positive for the virus since the pandemic began. Some 345 TriMet employees reported receiving at least one COVID-19 shot, according to agency figures. The actual number could be significantly higher because workers arent required to notify the agency of their vaccination status. While some staffers likely qualified before all transit workers were made eligible April 5, the agency believes the bulk of its more than 3,300 employees just became eligible last week. In an interview Tuesday, TriMet spokesperson Roberta Altstadt said the agency was ready for a mobile clinic immediately but was rebuffed. We are ready, but we need the vaccine, she said at the time. On Jan. 15, the agency sent a letter to Brown pleading to move its workers up in the vaccine line, calling it critical to helping the rest of the region recover. The next month, the agencys Board of Directors upped the ante and again asked to move up, saying that workers were scared and stressed. When the pandemic finally subsides and life takes the slow turn back toward normalcy, the board, whose members are appointed by the governor and confirmed by the State Senate, said, more riders will start riding again, and TriMet will be an important player in returning the economy to solid footing. This has a better chance of happening if transit works are vaccinated, sooner rather than later, the board wrote. The state didnt budge. Rudy Owens, a state health authority spokesperson, confirmed TriMet will receive 2,000 doses over a two-week period. Owens said the state didnt have enough supply to accommodate the agency earlier. We were very happy to be able to make this work for TriMet and for their workers, Owens said in an email. Krista Cordova, labor relations coordinator with the Amalgamated Transit Union Local 757, said TriMet and the union worked hand in hand to try and move workers to the front of the line. The union workforce which consists of some 2,500 bus and rail operators, mechanics and other staffers, had been at loggerheads with TriMet brass for more than a year on a contract dispute that was tentatively settled earlier this month. But they were in full agreement on the efforts to bring a mobile clinic to the bus yards and to move up workers. The state, county and federal government have helped bring mobile clinics to workers across Oregon in recent weeks, focusing on agricultural workers or those in rural communities. Cordova said the state wanted to focus on low-income communities first in the Portland area. Grocery workers and other essential employees also took umbrage with the state prioritizing teachers and other people before workers who had been out in public throughout the pandemic. The union staff said the cumulative effects of the past year will linger. The rest of us have the luxury of being able to take precautions, Cordova said of much of the general population, but bus operators dont have that luxury. To not give them vaccine priority was a crazy decision. TriMet said it expects to receive the Moderna shipment next week. -- Andrew Theen; atheen@oregonian.com; 503-294-4026; @andrewtheen Flash Two people were killed and three others sustained injuries following an accident involving two trucks and a motorcycle in Nigeria's southwest region on Wednesday, a local official said. The two trucks had a head-on collision while the motorcycle was trapped in between them along the Lagos-Ibadan expressway linking the southern state of Ogun, said Olusola Ojuoro, a divisional head of the Traffic Compliance and Enforcement Corps. One of the trucks was on top speed, thereby losing control and hitting a moving motorcycle before having a head-on collision with the other, Olusola said. The two dead victims were trapped at the scene of the accident while the three injured victims were quickly rescued and taken to a hospital, he said. The police have launched further investigation into the incident, he added. Deadly road accidents are frequently reported in Nigeria, often caused by overloading, bad condition of roads, and reckless driving. Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, April 15) The Duterte administration has "always been consistent" in invoking Philippines sovereignty over the West Philippine Sea, Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque said on Wednesday. The National Task Force for the West Philippine Sea has always been consistent in invoking Philippine sovereignty and sovereign rights over West Philippine Sea, said Roque in a statement. Roque cited President Rodrigo Dutertes move to raise the importance of the 2016 arbitral ruling, favoring the Philippines claims in the disputed waters, before the United Nations General Assembly in September last year. RELATED: Duterte lauded for sea row stance, urged to turn PH arbitral victory into reality Malacanang assured the presence of Philippine maritime security and law enforcement forces in Kalayaan, Palawan has been beefed up to protect Filipino fishermen and marine resources. The municipality is near the islands reclaimed by Chinese and surrounded by China-based maritime militia vessels, despite those being under the countrys exclusive economic zone. The Philippine government filed diplomatic protests against China for the continued presence of over 200 Chinese vessels in the West Philippine Sea. On Tuesday night, the government task force reported that 240 Chinese ships were spotted around Pagkakaisa Banks and Pag-asa Islands, including the nine vessels that were still at Julian Felipe Reef. RELATED: Around 240 Chinese maritime militia vessels still in Philippine waters, West PH Sea task force says The Department of Foreign Affairs also asserted the countrys claims in the West Philippine Sea when it summoned China's Ambassador to the Philippines Huang Xilian on Monday. The 2016 Permanent Court of Arbitration ruling said there was no legal basis for China to claim historic rights over most of the South China Sea using its "nine-dash line" assertion. It also recognized Philippine sovereign rights in marine features within its exclusive economic zone and said Beijing violated those rights by interfering with fishing and petroleum exploration as well as constructing artificial islands. China has repeatedly refused to recognize the tribunal ruling and continued to reclaim islands in the disputed areas for military and research purposes. PITTSBURGH April 14, 2021 Tariq Cheema University of Washington in Seattle Briana DiSilvio Jeffrey McGovern Meilin Young Betsy Blazek-O'Neill Amy Crawford-Faucher Andrea Synowiec Kevin Kelly Alicia Kaplan Wexford Jefferson Grove City Western Pennsylvania Nikki Buccina /PRNewswire-PRWeb/ -- Allegheny Health Network (AHN) announced today it has established one of the region's first specialized clinics to address the unique health needs of patients recovering from moderate to acute cases of COVID-19 and experiencing its longer-term effects. The AHN Post COVID-19 Recovery Clinic is led by the Network's pulmonary and critical care division and is based out of the Breathing Disorders Center at the AHN Wexford Health + Wellness Pavilion."Across the country, physicians are witnessing an increasing number of patients who have recovered from COVID-19 yet continue to deal with a myriad of issues from pulmonary, heart and vascular problems to chronic fatigue, headaches and post-traumatic stress disorder," explained, MD, division director of pulmonary, critical care, sleep and allergy at AHN and physician lead at the clinic. "The ramifications of the pandemic will continue to be seen in this new patient population and we're looking forward to helping these individuals diagnose their symptoms, navigate their treatment path and ease some of their concerns."A February study in JAMA by infectious disease specialists from the, ("Sequelae in Adults at 6 Months After COVID-19 Infection" doi:10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2021.0830) found that roughly 30 percent of 177 people who mostly had mild COVID-19 cases reported persistent symptoms up to nine months after illness; for surveyed participants over the age of 65 years, that number jumped to 43.3 percent. Overall, of the more than 28 million Americans diagnosed with COVID-19, it's estimated that as many as 8.4 million people fall into the category commonly known as the "long-haulers."Across AHN, and in line with national findings, the coined "long-COVID" symptoms most often recorded include fatigue, shortness of breath, scarred lung tissue, cardiac or neurological complications and depression. In fact, in a recent report published in JAMA Psychiatry ("Association of Acute Symptoms of COVID-19 and Symptoms of Depression in Adults" doi:10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2021.3223) researchers surveyed nearly 4,000 individuals with a prior COVID-19 diagnosis and found that more than half met the criteria for moderate or greater symptoms of major depressive disorder."We've seen former COVID-19 patients who've never smoked before with lung scans mirroring that of a lifelong smoker. We're also noting increased cases of extreme fatigue, ongoing loss of smell/taste, heart inflammation and growing numbers of self-reported depression," continued Dr. Cheema. "So as COVID-19 hospitalizations started to fall across the Network, we pivoted our focus to designing a multidisciplinary, strategic clinical team aimed at diagnostics, recovery and comprehensive care."Currently, the AHN Post COVID-19 Recovery Clinic engages caregivers from the cardiovascular, family medicine, behavioral health, pulmonary and critical care disciplines to create tailored treatment paths that help patients diagnose, manage and overcome related complications brought on by mild to severe COVID infections.Pulmonologists Tiffany Dumont, MD,, MD,, MD, and, MD will work alongside Dr. Cheema to spearhead the effort. Specialty physicians at the clinic include Indu Poornima, MD, cardiologist,, MD, integrative medicine,, MD, family medicine,, MD and, MD, neurologists and, MD, psychiatrist.Patients can expect to work closely with an assigned nurse navigator to design and implement a purposeful care pathway to best manage their post-acute COVID syndrome and treat persistent symptoms. For patients at the clinic, treatment plans will vary but may include CT scans, cardiac or pulmonary rehabilitation, medical therapies, mental health screenings and breathing exercises.Although based out of AHN Health + Wellness Pavilion in, the clinic is available for patients throughout the region with participating clinicians positioned across Allegheny General, Allegheny Valley,and Saint Vincent hospitals. The clinic offers both telemedicine and in-person appointments.The AHN Research Institute will also be actively engaged to systematically assess and analyze data collected from patient reports and outcomes."We anticipate the broad-range of patient cases to offer a special vantage point into the lasting impacts of the virus. As we rapidly synthesize this information, we'll be able to better understand its epidemiology, have more data to inform treatment plans and gain more knowledge to share with our broader community. There's still so much to learn and apply from this pandemic," concluded Dr. Cheema.The new clinic is open to anyone who has been diagnosed with COVID-19 and continues to experience symptoms after recovery. For more information or to make an appointment, please call 412-DOCTORS.###Allegheny Health Network (http://www.AHN.org), a Highmark Health company, is an integrated healthcare delivery system serving the greaterregion. Among the network's 300 clinical locations are 13 hospitals and five Health + Wellness Pavilions. AHN also is home to a comprehensive research institute; home- and community-based health services; and a group purchasing organization. The network employs more than 20,000 people and has more than 2,400 doctors on its medical staff. Established in 2013, AHN's member hospitals share legacies of charitable care that date back more than 160 years., Allegheny Health Network, 412-596-2679, dominique.buccina@highmarkhealth.orgSOURCE Allegheny Health Network Press Release April 15, 2021 Senate COW adopts resolution urging Duterte to recall 'botcha' policies on pork importation 'The two policies can potentially spell the demise of our local hog industry,' says Drilon, author of the resolution As local hog raisers cry for help and fear that imported pork will flood the market soon, the Senate Committee of the Whole adopted today a resolution authored by Senate Minority Leader Franklin M. Drilon urging the President to withdraw Executive Order No. 128, which provides for the temporary modification of the rates of import duty for fresh, chilled or frozen meat of swine, and to recall the recommendation to increase the Minimum Access Volume of pork. The committee asserted that "the power to fix tariff rates and import quotas fall within the realm of the power of taxation, a power which is within the sole province of the legislature under the Constitution." "Under our system of laws, the setting of the MAV and the power to set the tariff rates are the functions of Congress. The exercise of the President of the power to increase the MAV and to lower the tariff are delegated authorities of Congress which may be withdrawn or terminated by Congress through a joint resolution," Drilon, a former justice secretary, stressed. "(I)t is Congress which authorizes the President to impose tariff rates, import and export quotas, tonnage and wharfage dues, and other duties or imposts and that such authorization can be exercised only within the specified limits set in the law and is further subject to limitations and restrictions which Congress may impose," the resolution stressed, citing Southern Cross Cement Corporation v. Cement Manufacturers Association of the Philippines, (GR G.R. No. 158540). "The two policies can potentially spell the demise of our local hog industry, most of them belong to what we call backyard hog raisers. Mag-aalaga ng ilang baboy para ibenta sa mercado para may pambili ng pagkain," Drilon warned. He called the two policies "botcha" and urged that they be recalled immediately. "Botcha" po ang dalawang polisiyang ito na gustong ipatupad ng Department of Agriculture. What do we do with "botcha" or double-dead meat, in this case, policies, Mr. President? We recall them," he said. The bipartisan resolution was co-authored by Senate President Vicente Sotto, Senate President Pro-Tempore Ralph Recto, Majority Leader Miguel Zubiri, and Senators Sonny Angara, Nancy Binay, Pia Cayetano, Leila De Lima, Risa Hontiveros, Lito Lapid, Panfuilo Lacson, Imee Marcos, Manny Pacuqiao, Francis Pangilinan, Grace Poe, Richard Gordon, Ramon Revilla Jr., Joel Villanueva, Cynthia Villar. The President issued Executive Order No. 128 last April 7 reducing the in-quota tariff rate from 30% to 5% for the first three months and 10% for the 4th to 12th month and reducing the out-quota tariff rate from 40% to 15% for the first three months, and 20% for the 4th to 12th month. Last March 26, when Congress was no longer in session, the President also sent Congress a letter to convey his proposal to increase the minimum access volume or MAV to 350,000 metric tons from 54, 210 MT. The Senate, however, believed that the proposal to set the minimum access volume (MAV) from the current 54,210 MT to 350,000 MT for 2021 cannot take into effect because the recommendation was sent to and received by the Senate when it was no longer in session. "Section 6 of the Agricultural Tariffication Act (Republic Act No. 8178) which provides that the President's recommendation to revise, modify or adjust the MAV in case of shortages or abnormal price increases in agricultural products is deemed approved if Congress fails to act after fifteen (15) days from receipt is not applicable in this case because the President's recommendation was sent to and received by the Senate when it was no longer in session and thus cannot act on the recommendation," it stressed. The resolution also hit the Department of Agriculture for its failure to satisfactorily establish through accurate and reliable data that the country will have 388,790 MT of deficit in supply of pork for the year which necessitates the increase in MAV. The resolution stated that based on the testimonies of the resource persons during the first hearing of the committee, there is reasonable basis to conclude that the new set of tariff rates and the huge increase in the MAV can cause the demise of the local hog industry and cost the government billions in foregone revenue. It was reported in the media that the foregone revenue can reach up to P11 billion. Natalina Pamean (right), the widow of Oktovianus Rayo, a school teacher who was shot on April 8 by suspected armed rebels in Beoga district, reacts after his coffin arrived in Timika in Indonesias Papua province, April 10, 2021. Updated at 8:17 p.m. ET on 2021-04-14 Suspected separatist rebels shot and killed a motorcycle taxi driver in the Papua region of far-eastern Indonesia on Wednesday, police said, about the third fatal attack on a civilian in the past week. The West Papua National Liberation Army (TPNPB), an insurgent group, could not be immediately reached for comment on Wednesday, but its operations commander said a day earlier that it was responsible for last weeks killing of two of the civilians, who were teachers. The rebels claimed they were informants working for the government. We shot them dead. If you want war, face us. Dont go after the people. We are responsible for the shootings, Lekagak Telenggen, TPNPBs general operations commander, told BenarNews. The taxi driver, who was identified as 41-year-old Udin, was killed in Eromaga village in Puncak regency, said Papua police spokesman Ahmad Musthofa Kamal. Puncak police chief I Nyoman Punia confirmed Wednesdays incident. When we arrived at the scene the taxi driver had died, Nyoman told BenarNews. The teachers slain last week were identified as Oktovianus Rayo, 42, and Yonathan Renden, 28, who taught at a local elementary school and junior high school, respectively. It is true that an armed separatist group has shot dead a teacher of the state junior high school. Nyoman told the government-run Antara news agency last week, referring to Renden. Fellow teachers witnessed Rayos shooting on April 8, Inspector General Mathius Fakhiri, Papuas police chief, said last week. Many government soldiers and police personnel disguise themselves as motorcycle taxi drivers, teachers and traders especially in conflict areas such as Intan Jaya, Puncak and Nduga Gusby Waker, the TPNPB operations commander in Intan Jaya regency, told BenarNews on Tuesday. The teachers were killed because they were informants for government security forces, he said. They were spies for the TNI and Polri, Waker told BenarNews, referring to the Indonesian military and police. We will kill Papuans and non-Papuans who are spies for the TNI and Polri. On Sunday, suspected rebels also set fire to a grounded helicopter parked at Aminggaru Airport in Ilaga. Unitrade Persada Nusantara, an air logistics company, operated the helicopter. TPNPB was also behind the arson attack on the helicopter, said Telenggen, the rebels general operations commander. The rebels had also claimed responsibility for the Jan. 6 arson attack on a plane belonging to the Mission Aviation Fellowship (MAF), an American-Christian humanitarian organization that brings aid to rural Papuans. No one was injured in that attack. The insurgent group had alleged that the aircraft had been used to transport government military and police personnel as well as supplies, but MAF representatives denied the claims. Meanwhile, a Papuan education official told the Antara agency that an armed criminal group had set fire to a school in two separate incidents last week. The fire caused losses of 7.2 billion rupiah (U.S. $493,000) at the school, the official said. Killings condemned Papua Deputy Gov. Klemen Tinal called the killings of the teachers in Beoga extremely barbaric. There was no reason for them to kill teachers who have brought light, Tinal said in a statement to reporters on Monday, urging security forces to arrest the killers. Laurenzus Kadepa, a member of the Papuan legislative council, also condemned the killings. They must provide evidence for their accusations [that the victims were spies], not just speculation that could threaten the security of all humanitarian workers in Papua, and Puncak in particular, Kadepa said Sunday. In February, three men who were related were shot dead by security forces for allegedly attacking them at a community clinic in Intan Jaya. Locals and the TPNPB said they were civilians. Since the start of the year, at least four soldiers, five civilians and four suspected rebels have been killed in Papua, according to a tally by BenarNews. According to Amnesty Internationals Indonesia office, at least 22 people were victims of unlawful killings in Papua in 2020. Indonesian forces have been accused of committing human rights abuses in Papua. In 1963, Indonesian forces invaded Papua and annexed it. In 1969, the region held a referendum in which security forces selected slightly more than 1,000 people to agree to Papuas formal absorption into Indonesia, according to human rights advocacy groups. CORRECTION: An earlier version contained an erroneous figure in U.S. dollars for fire damage at the school. Katia Ramos stood on the corner of Florida and 24th streets in the Mission last weekend with an exciting message for those passing by: We have vaccine appointments! Does anyone need one? But what she and a dozen other volunteers from Unidos en Salud United in Health kept hearing on that sunny Saturday afternoon was, in many ways, even more exciting: I already got it. The volunteers fanned out through the heavily Latino district to spread the word that anyone older than 16 would soon be eligible for a vaccine. Their goal? Secure appointments for as many people as possible before eligibility expanded this week. With about half of the Mission District already vaccinated, the group quickly realized that many in the neighborhood were ahead of them. If the city continues focusing on its most vulnerable, Ramos said, San Francisco could turn out to be a small bright spot in a nationwide vaccine rollout that has been criticized as inequitable. Were headed in the right direction, said Ramos, a senior executive at the Latino Community Foundation. San Franciscos push to vaccinate the hardest-hit communities against COVID-19 appears to be making progress: On average, neighborhoods with higher rates of coronavirus cases, such as the Mission, Bayview and the Excelsior, show vaccination rates that are either on par with or slightly higher than the overall city average, according to an analysis of city data by The Chronicle. Constanza Hevia H./Special to The Chronicle As of Sunday, coronavirus infections had been confirmed in almost 7% of Mission residents since the start of the pandemic, which compares with a citywide case rate of about 4%. Half of all neighborhood residents had received at least one vaccine shot, which is similar to the 50% vaccination rate among all city residents. In the Excelsior, which has a case rate similar to the Missions, 56% of the population has been vaccinated. Bayview-Hunters Point, with about 1 in 10 residents known to have been infected, has a 54% vaccination rate. By contrast, an analysis of neighborhoods in the city of Los Angeles shows that higher infection rates in a neighborhood are associated with lower vaccination rates. Meanwhile, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention ranked California among the worst states for distributing shots to the communities with the worst infection rates last month. To change course, Gov. Gavin Newsom directed 40% of the vaccine supply to the states lowest-income ZIP codes. A recent Kaiser Family Foundation study additionally found that, unlike San Franciscos vulnerable neighborhoods, counties with high coronavirus rates often have lower vaccination rates than those with lower infection rates. The study found that counties with higher shares of Black and Latino residents had lower vaccination rates. Constanza Hevia H. / Special to The Chronicle But despite San Franciscos progress nearly 60% of residents 16 and older had been vaccinated by Wednesday challenges still loom. The city experienced a tighter vaccine supply this week, even before the city expanded eligibility on Tuesday and suspended the use of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine over concerns about a side effect in a handful of cases in the United States. Experts also worry that those who are tech-savvier and have more time on their hands to wait in line or look for an appointment may have a better chance at snagging the citys limited slots. And even when everyone who wants a shot can easily get one, its unclear how many people will refuse vaccination. We are pretty amazed at how many people are willing to take the vaccine; it has not been a struggle, said Valerie Tulier-Laiwa, a volunteer for the Latino Task Force, a community group. But she thinks they will start to exhaust that population in maybe a month or so. The approximately 500 people who signed up for an appointment over the weekend through volunteers from Unidos en Salud a partnership with the citys Latino Task Force and UCSF dwarfed the handful who did not want a shot. Constanza Hevia H. / Special to The Chronicle Tulier-Laiwa said outreach workers are sometimes even able to change reluctant minds by answering basic questions, like if the vaccine is safe and what kind of side effects people may get. The key, she said, is having community members directly talk with people about their concerns, rather than relying on billboards and TV ads. It has to be intimate, she said. People have very specific questions that they cant respond to if its just a one-way conversation, like if its a billboard talking to them. Meghan Morris, an associate professor of infectious disease epidemiology at UCSF, said community outreach like that of Unidos en Salud has likely directly impacted vaccination rates in lower-income communities, and should continue. Community sites, like one that officials planned to announce at 18th and Shotwell streets on Thursday, are also key to reaching people in the neighborhood, she said. San Francisco is a rich city, and people are very tech-savvy, she said. So if were relying on that platform as a primary avenue for people to access vaccines, thats only going to exacerbate the differences were seeing with access. Unidos en Salud has been conducting its outreach since the beginning of the pandemic, starting with testing at BARTs 24th Street Mission Station. Over the past few months, the organization has been going door to door in the neighborhood, looking for eligible people every time the vaccine eligibility requirements changed. Volunteers sometimes have walked people to the vaccination site at 24th and Mission whether an appointment was immediately available. Volunteer Nicole Bermingham said she felt like Santa Claus over the weekend as she offered appointments to dozens of people in the Mission. Even though the majority of people she stopped said theyd already gotten their shots, she signed up several people for an appointment this week including a street vendors son, a family who was eating lunch in a parklet and several homeless people near San Francisco General Hospital. Were delivering good news, she said. It is really heartening that so many people have already had it. Note: UCSF associate professor Meghan Morris name was misspelled in an earlier version of this story. San Francisco Chronicle staff writers Dan Kopf and Nami Sumida contributed to this report. Trisha Thadani is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: tthadani@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @TrishaThadani NEW YORK, April 15, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- The FAIR Health Board of Directors has elected James W. Lytle, a senior counsel at Manatt, Phelps & Phillips LLP, to the Board. A national, independent nonprofit organization dedicated to bringing transparency to healthcare costs and health insurance information, FAIR Health is governed by a Board comprising leaders from all parts of the healthcare sector. Mr. Lytle operates out of the Albany and Boston offices of Manatt, Phelps & Phillips and participates in the firm's New York State government, regulatory and policy practice and as a member of Manatt Health, the firm's healthcare law and consulting practice. He represents a broad array of clients, especially in the healthcare and higher education arenas, before the legislature and the executive branch and has represented clients in administrative hearings and throughout all levels of the state court system, including the state's highest court. Mr. Lytle is the former Chair of the Health Law Section of the New York State Bar Association and served as Assistant Counsel for Health and Human Services to Governor Mario M. Cuomo from 1983 to 1986. He is currently an adjunct professor of Health Law at New York University School of Law and has also been an adjunct professor at the State University of New York (SUNY) at Albany School of Public Health, New York Medical College School of Health Sciences and Practices and SUNY College of Optometry. He has been consistently recognized by Chambers USA and by The Best Lawyers in America, which named him the 2017 Lawyer of the Year in Albany for healthcare and governmental relations and Albany Lawyer of the Year for government relations again in 2019. A graduate of Princeton University and Harvard Law School, Mr. Lytle is currently a fellow at the Advanced Leadership Initiative at Harvard University. "We enthusiastically welcome Mr. Lytle to the FAIR Health Board," said Sara Rosenbaum, Chair of FAIR Health's Board of Directors. "Drawing on his distinguished legal career in the fields of healthcare and government relations, he will greatly enrich the Board's deliberations." "FAIR Health is honored to have Mr. Lytle join this esteemed assembly of leaders from throughout the healthcare ecosystem," commented Robin Gelburd, President of FAIR Health. "His record of service demonstrates deep knowledge of the complexities of the nation's healthcare sector that makes him a valuable addition to our Board." Follow us on Twitter @FAIRHealth About FAIR Health FAIR Health is a national, independent nonprofit organization that qualifies as a public charity under section 501(c)(3) of the federal tax code. It is dedicated to bringing transparency to healthcare costs and health insurance information through data products, consumer resources and health systems research support. FAIR Health possesses the nation's largest collection of private healthcare claims data, which includes over 33 billion claim records and is growing at a rate of over 2 billion claim records a year. FAIR Health licenses its privately billed data and data productsincluding benchmark modules, data visualizations, custom analytics and market indicesto commercial insurers and self-insurers, employers, providers, hospitals and healthcare systems, government agencies, researchers and others. Certified by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) as a national Qualified Entity, FAIR Health also receives data representing the experience of all individuals enrolled in traditional Medicare Parts A, B and D; FAIR Health includes among the private claims data in its database, data on Medicare Advantage enrollees. FAIR Health can produce insightful analytic reports and data products based on combined Medicare and commercial claims data for government, providers, payors and other authorized users. FAIR Health's systems for processing and storing protected health information have earned HITRUST CSF certification and achieved AICPA SOC 2 compliance by meeting the rigorous data security requirements of these standards. As a testament to the reliability and objectivity of FAIR Health data, the data have been incorporated in statutes and regulations around the country and designated as the official, neutral data source for a variety of state health programs, including workers' compensation and personal injury protection (PIP) programs. FAIR Health data serve as an official reference point in support of certain state balance billing laws that protect consumers against bills for surprise out-of-network and emergency services. FAIR Health also uses its database to power a free consumer website available in English and Spanish, which enables consumers to estimate and plan for their healthcare expenditures and offers a rich educational platform on health insurance. An English/Spanish mobile app offers the same educational platform in a concise format and links to the cost estimation tools. The website has been honored by the White House Summit on Smart Disclosure, the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ), URAC, the eHealthcare Leadership Awards, appPicker, Employee Benefit News and Kiplinger's Personal Finance. FAIR Health also is named a top resource for patients in Dr. Marty Makary's book The Price We Pay: What Broke American Health Careand How to Fix It and Elisabeth Rosenthal's book An American Sickness: How Healthcare Became Big Business and How You Can Take It Back. For more information on FAIR Health, visit fairhealth.org. Contact: Rachel Kent Senior Director of Marketing, Outreach and Communications FAIR Health 646-396-0795 [email protected] SOURCE FAIR Health Related Links www.fairhealth.org A large cornal mass ejection leaps off the Sun in 1999. Credit: NASA/ESA It's a fascinating thought to consider. What exactly did the Sun look like, centuries ago? What would we see, if astronomers back in the time of Kepler and Galileo had modern technology monitoring the Sun across the electromagnetic spectrum, available to them? Thanks to modern artificial intelligence, there may be a way to actually 'see' just what state the Sun was in, way back in those days of yore. A recent study, titled "Generation of Modern Satellite Data from Galileo Sunspot Drawings in 1612 by Deep Learning" out February 2021 in the Astrophysical Journal of the American Astronomical Society used an innovative set of deductions to compare sketches of sunspots with modern views from ground and space-based observations. The study was led by Harim Lee from Kyung Hee University in the Republic of South Korea. Galileo and the Sun Sunspot records represent one of the longest sets of astronomical data available, going all the way back to Chinese observations in 1128 A.D. Before the era of the telescope, large, naked eye sunspots would occasionally be seen and recorded, as the muted Sun shone through a low fog bank or cloud haze near sunrise or sunset. AI vs. SDO: each pair is a real SDO image (left) versus a deep learning image (right) generated in the study. Credit: Harim Lee et al. 2021 Galileo kept a meticulous record of sunspot activity, sketching what he saw for several months starting in the summer of 1612. Despite legend, the story that Galileo went blind observing the Sun is apocryphalinstead, he used the projection method, casting the image of the Sun through a primitive helioscope into a darkened room. Of course, Galileo had no idea exactly what sunspots were. Today, we know that these regions of magnetic flux in the solar photosphere are cooler than the surrounding areas, appearing black against the dazzling face of the Sun. What's more, the polarity of sunspot groups and pairs not only denote their association with a particular 11-year solar cycle, but their appearance in latitude on the face of the Sun progresses through a cycle, starting from high latitudes early on and then moving towards the solar equator, in what's known as Sporer's Law. The Sun also flips polarity every 11-year cycle, and two cycles (22 years) equals one Hale Cycle. Today, missions such as NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory and the joint NASA/European Space Agency (ESA's) Solar Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO) monitor the Sun across the spectrum, around the clock. This gives us a much more robust and holistic picture of what's going on with the Sun. Thanks to these missions, we now know that sunspot activity is intimately connected with other phenomena, to include faculae seen in the photosphere to spicules, prominences and coronal mass ejections seen in the upper solar chromosphere Galileos sunspot sketches. Credit: Galileo Project/Rice University/Public Domain But what might these unseen events have actually looked like, in Galileo's day? Researchers in the study realized that we actually have a modern analog to bridge the gap between old and new methods chronicling solar activity. Since 1917, skilled observers at the Mount Wilson observatory in southern California have sketched the face of the Sun, every clear day. This is done using the 150-foot Solar Tower on the observatory complex grounds andjust like in Galileo's day sketching is done using a projection of the Sun into a darkened room. You can peruse this fascinating modern record online. Training AI to Observe the Sun Researchers realized that these sketches are now carried out concurrent with modern observations across the spectrum, giving artificial intelligence programs something to 'fact check' against. Using drawings made of the Sun from 2011 to 2015 versus SDO data, researchers were then able to 'teach' the program to replicate broad-spectrum diagrams with high fidelity. Ultimately, the deep learning model used a comparison set of 1,046 pairs of sunspot sketches versus SDO images. An early 17th century helioscope very similar to Galileos, used here by astronomer Father Christoph Sheiner to sketch sunspots. Public Domain Meticulous solar sketches carried out at Mt. Wilson. The sphere represents the Earth for comparison. Credit: Mount Wilson Observatory Next the team turned this on the sketches made by Galileo, with intriguing results. "Historical sunspot drawing are very important resources for understanding past solar activity," says Lee in the recent paper on the subject. "Our results show that bipolar structures of the the AI-generated magnetograms are consistent with those of the original ones and their unsigned magnetic fluxes are consistent with those of the original ones." This could also be used in a historical context to glean new insight for other events, such as the Great Carrington Super-flare of 1859. This infamous massive flare sent aurorae visible as far south as the Caribbean, and actually induced enough current to set telegraph offices aflame. Solar activity simulated over time during the summer of 1612, based on Galileos observations. Credit: Harim Lee et al 2021. This technique comes at a fascinating juncture for the Sun and modern solar activity, as solar cycle 25 is just getting underway in earnest in 2021. Will it dazzle, orlike 24 before itfizzle? Looking ahead to the future, this method for extrapolating what the Sun would appear like from simple sunspot sketches could also be applied, should we discontinue any of the current space-based assets. It's fascinating to see modern high-tech astronomy assisted by the low-tech, hand-eye method of simply sketching and recording what the observer sees, projected from the eyepiece. Explore further Solar telescope releases first image of a sunspot More information: Harim Lee et al. Generation of Modern Satellite Data from Galileo Sunspot Drawings in 1612 by Deep Learning, The Astrophysical Journal (2021). Journal information: Astrophysical Journal Harim Lee et al. Generation of Modern Satellite Data from Galileo Sunspot Drawings in 1612 by Deep Learning,(2021). DOI: 10.3847/1538-4357/abce5f One summer, Prince Philip was presented with a birthday present of three pairs of carriage-driving gloves. He unwrapped the parcel and inspected the gift. The first pair of gloves were a light tan colour. The duke sniffed approvingly. The second pair were dark tan. 'Thank you very much,' he said. The third pair were a pale lilac colour. He held them up disdainfully between his thumb and forefinger and said: 'I think we'll give these to the Prince of Wales.' I was there when he said this and his biting sarcasm came as no surprise. By the late Eighties, he often gave the impression that he wished his first-born were more robust and less fey. More seriously, there were periods when he regarded Charles as self-indulgent, self-regarding and naive. Indeed, the Duke of Edinburgh's disdain for his eldest son was all the more shocking because he made little or no attempt to hide it. Once, boldly, I challenged him. I told Prince Philip that, having met them both, I was struck, not by the differences between him and Charles, but by their similarities. I mentioned their gait, their body language, the joshing humour, their moments of pigheadedness, their shared enthusiasms (nature conservancy, painting, poetry, comparative religion). And I said: 'You're clearly peas from the same pod, you're so similar.' The duke interrupted me: 'With one great difference. He's a romantic and I'm a pragmatist. That means we do see things differently.' He paused and shrugged, adding with a slightly despairing laugh 'and because I don't see things as a romantic would, I'm unfeeling'. He was being sarcastic, of course. Prince Charles chats with his father Prince Philip in the drawing room at Sandringham Lady Kennard, who knew him well, said to me: 'He just can't resist coming out with these personal remarks. He can't stop himself. He's at his worst with Charles, but he could be quite sarcastic with Anne too, you know.' Was this all Philip's fault? Did he, in some senses, fail as a father to Charles? In the early 1990s, Charles co-operated with the broadcaster Jonathan Dimbleby on a television film and biography. These revealed that Charles had been a profoundly unhappy child. As he was growing up, he said, he'd felt 'emotionally estranged' from both parents, craving 'the affection and appreciation' that they were either 'unable or unwilling' to offer. The Queen and the duke were appalled by the Dimbleby book. For a start, they couldn't see how their son's indiscretions or special pleading could possibly serve his cause, or that of the Royal Family. Like father, like daughter... 'a tomboy who presented no problems at all' Princess Anne is like her father. From her, you'll never hear a complaint of any kind about her upbringing. As Philip's cousin Patricia Mountbatten said, with a dry laugh: 'Anne, of course, as a natural tomboy, presented no problems.' The Princess's first husband, Mark Phillips, was from solidly middle-class stock, and an outstanding horseman, if a little unexciting. He sired two fine bipeds, but the marriage foundered. Prince Philip said to me at the time: 'What can you do? It isn't easy. She tried to make it work. She really did.' In December 1992, the Princess Royal married Commander Timothy Laurence, RN, the naval son of a naval father. He, too, is from solidly middle-class stock, and a little unexciting, but brighter and more determined than he looks. But I got the impression from Prince Philip that his daughter's second marriage has not been a bed of roses. Once, at a charity lunch, the duke told me that Anne and her husband were having a 'rocky patch'. He paused. 'You're married you know how it is?' 'I do,' I said. We'd only just taken our places, and now food was being served. He turned to the middle- aged woman who was seated between us. 'As a rule, I try to keep out of these things,' Prince Philip explained. 'But you want to help,' said the woman, who had married children of her own. 'Yes,' said the duke, contemplating his starter, 'but I don't know what to say except: 'Keep going, it will work out. With good will on both sides, it usually does.' He sighed. 'Children.' Advertisement But they were also deeply hurt by their son's public complaints about the quality of their parenting. 'I tried to be a good father. We did our best,' was all that Prince Philip would say to me about this. Personally, I was on the duke's side on this one though he certainly hadn't been above reproach. Charles may have whinged about his childhood, but Philip could rarely resist firing cheap shots at his son's expense. Indeed, he did it all the time. It became a habit. So when did their relationship start to go wrong? Certainly, the Queen and Philip's recollection of Charles's childhood was rather different from his own: they had memories of fun and games, bath-times, story-telling, picnics and bonfires, laughter not tears. During the summer holidays, the duke recalled, he often took Charles and Anne cruising in his yacht Bloodhound 'good times, happy days,' he said. True, he and the Queen didn't spend as much time with their children as they may have liked but that was because Elizabeth was heir to the throne and Philip was a serving officer in the Royal Navy. Servicemen and their families often have to be apart. He shrugged. 'It's the way it was. It's the way it is,' he told me. In any case, Elizabeth saw her young children as much as any aristocratic mother of her generation and more, perhaps, than many busy working mothers today. To this day, she believes that she did her best to balance her responsibilities as a princess and monarch, a mother and wife though, as Philip told me: 'It hasn't always been easy.' In November 1953, for instance, the royal couple embarked on a five-and-a-half month Commonwealth tour. Charles and Anne, aged five and three, were left behind. Even so, Prince Philip reminded me, his son was far from being neglected or unloved: whenever he wasn't with his parents, he was with doting nurses and his adoring granny, the Queen Mother. According to Gina Kennard, who saw a lot of the Royal Family in the Fifties, the duke 'played with his children . . . he was very involved.' By all accounts, he was good with babies and small children. 'They like him and he likes them,' is what Countess Mountbatten, the duke's first cousin, told me. 'No question about it, Philip was a very good father to his children when they were young.' Even non-curtseying Cherie Blair, whose son Leo was two when the Blairs went to stay at Balmoral, was impressed. 'I have to say that both the Queen and Prince Philip are really, really good with little children,' she said to me. 'You couldn't fault them.' During the Blairs' visit, it was evident that the duke had taken a real shine to Leo. Once, the little boy proudly sang him the first verse of the national anthem and Philip sang him the second. For Charles, however, the jolly sing-songs and boating trips seemed to come to an end when he was sent to his first boarding school, Cheam. It was the loneliest period of his life, he said later. He loathed his next school, Gordonstoun in Scotland chosen by Philip even more. 'It's absolute hell,' he wrote home. Prince Charles in the arms of her mother, the then Princess Elizabeth and his father, Prince Philip 'It's near Balmoral,' his father told him. 'There's always the Factor [estate manager] there. You can go and stay with him. And your grandmother goes up there to fish. You can go and see her.' Charles did indeed seek comfort from family retainers. He was close to his nannies and to his governess, Catherine Peebles, known as 'Mipsy'. She recalled how sensitive and tentative he was as a small boy: 'If you raised your voice to him, he'd draw back into his shell, and for a time you'd be able to do nothing with him.' But, as his father knew, Charles's chief comforter was the Queen Mother. She was a doting grandmother who always gave her favourite grandson an understanding shoulder to cry on and a warm bosom to embrace. She made him feel that she understood him in a way that his parents didn't. 'He is a very gentle boy,' she said, 'with a very kind heart, which I think is the essence of everything.' Why he forgave Sophie's tabloid blunder In the spring of 2001, a Sunday newspaper ran an embarrassing story about Sophie, Countess of Wessex. She'd been the victim of a sting set up by the News of the World, and her reported remarks to an undercover reporter were unfortunate, to say the least. She referred to the Queen as 'the old dear' and described the Prince of Wales and Camilla Parker Bowles as 'No 1 on the unpopular people list', only likely to be married after the death of 'the old lady' (the Queen Mother). Most damagingly, she let slip that, while her PR company's prestige and royal connections were not officially for hire, 'that is an unspoken benefit'. Despite all this, Prince Philip and the Queen immediately forgave her. Why? 'She was 'set up',' said the duke. 'It was entrapment.' It also helped that Sophie's husband, Prince Edward, seemingly a bit wet and a tad irritating to the rest of us, had always been his parents' favourite. That became apparent in 1987 when Edward, aged 22, opted out of the Royal Marines when he was just a third of the way through his basic training. To the surprise of some, Prince Philip (Captain-General of the Royal Marines) didn't come down on his son like a ton of bricks. He accepted that the Marines 'wasn't right for Edward' and, to this day, Edward is grateful for that. Edward was always close to his father. And now that Prince Philip has died, it is Prince Edward who will eventually become the Duke of Edinburgh. Advertisement By his teens, Charles seemed to regard his father as a bully, and his mother as distant. He still talks about the mortifying day when his father came to Gordonstoun to watch him play the title role in the school production of Macbeth and laughed. 'It was the 'Scottish play',' remembered Charles. 'I had to lie on a huge, fur rug and have a nightmare. My parents came and watched, along with other parents. I lay there and thrashed about and all I could hear was my father and 'ha, ha, ha.' I went up to him afterwards and said, 'Why did you laugh?' and he said, 'It sounds like The Goons.' The adolescent Charles bruised easily. As Gina Kennard reflected, 'When he was a little boy, there didn't seem to be a problem at all. But, as he was growing up, I think probably the Queen was too tolerant, and Prince Philip too tough.' Countess Mountbatten, godmother to Charles, told me: 'You can see it from both sides, can't you? A resilient character such as Prince Philip, toughened by the slings and arrows of life, who sees being tough as a necessity for survival, wants to toughen up his son and his son is very sensitive. It hasn't been easy for them.' By his 20s, Charles had grown very close to her own father his great-uncle Dickie Mountbatten who counselled him to have as many affairs as he could before marrying a virgin. Mountbatten even lent him his home Broadlands, in Hampshire for romantic trysts with Camilla Shand (later Mrs Parker Bowles). After the earl was assassinated by the IRA in 1979, Charles pointedly referred to him as 'infinitely special' and the one man in his life who combined the roles of 'grandfather, great-uncle, father, brother and friend'. Prince Philip admired Mountbatten, too. But I got the distinct impression that he regarded the relationship between his uncle and his son as somewhat self-indulgent on both their parts. As time passed, Philip readily acknowledged many of the Prince of Wales's achievements but he left it to the Queen to sing their son's praises publicly. P rivately, though, she grumbled about her eldest son's extravagance. Even now, Charles has a lifestyle and a way of spending money that is more akin to his maternal grandmother's than to his parents'. The Queen is reported to have said: 'The amount of kit and staff he takes about it's obscene.' Naturally, both she and Philip were deeply dismayed when Charles's marriage fell apart, not to mention those of Princess Anne and Prince Andrew. Three failed marriages out of four was an unfortunate statistic for any family. Had the Queen and Philip simply been unlucky? An exclusive picture of the Prince of Wales acting in the dagger scene as 'Macbeth' in the Gordonstoun School production of the Shakespeare play I talked about all this with Margaret Rhodes, a cousin of the Queen. She has a countrywoman's values and a beady eye. 'I've seen Philip being absolutely sweet with his children's babies,' she told me, 'absolutely sweet.' She paused and sighed. 'But with their own children, it hasn't been easy. There's no use denying it. Things have gone slightly awry with Prince Charles, although he's very conscientious, very committed. He works so hard.' Mrs Rhodes lit a cigarette and looked at me. 'It's incredibly sad,' she said. 'It's a fractured family. Philip can't bring himself to be close with Charles. Perhaps you don't learn to give love if you haven't had love.' We talked for a while about Prince Philip's childhood in Britain, and the years when he barely saw or heard from either of his parents. But what about the Queen, I asked. Her own childhood was very loving, wasn't it? Mrs Rhodes pondered for a moment. 'The Queen was always reserved, even as a child. And when she became Queen, that did add to her reserve, very definitely. 'But you're right. The King adored both his daughters. And Queen Elizabeth was brimming with love.' The relationship between Charles and his father did finally change for the better. In 2012, 20 years on from the Dimbleby documentary, the Prince of Wales made a film broadcast at the start of the Jubilee weekend. It was a tribute to his mother, illustrated with 'home movies' from the early years. These revealed them to be loving, affectionate parents. Charles spoke of them both with unfeigned affection. A couple of days later, the duke was admitted to hospital. So he wasn't at the Jubilee concert at Buckingham Palace that night when the Prince of Wales began to speak. His speech, in which he saluted his mother, was warm, witty and well-judged. The crowd cheered almost every phrase but they positively roared when Prince Charles asked them to cheer for his father. In the Mall on that wet and windy Monday night, a quarter of million people started chanting, 'Philip, Philip, Philip!' A mile away, in his hospital bed, the old duke watched the scene unfold on television. And, as he told me later, he was deeply touched. Source: Xinhua| 2021-04-15 18:38:43|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close JUBA, April 15 (Xinhua) -- South Sudan's government has lifted COVID-19 restrictions as the number of infections continues to decline. Hussein Abdelbagi Akol, Vice President for service cluster and chair of the country's national task force, said the decision to lift the COVID-19 partial lockdown came as a result of the low infection rate in the country. "After a thorough consultation with stakeholders, it gives me great pleasure to announce the lifting of the COVID-19 pandemic partial lockdown in the country," Akol said in a statement issued on Wednesday evening in Juba. The decision to lift the COVID-19 restrictions on Wednesday came as South Sudan recorded 16 new COVID-19 cases bringing the cumulative number of infections to 10,416, 10,148 recoveries and 114 deaths. Akol said the effectiveness of the earlier month-long partial lockdown had expired on April 4, noting that the infection rate in the country has significantly reduced as the laboratory result announced 16 positive cases for the last 24 hours. He urged the public to strictly follow the country's COVID-19 preventive measures and guidelines to curb the spread of the virus. Last week, the east African nation launched the AstraZeneca vaccine and has so far vaccinated 947 out of 4,000 targeted frontline health workers. Enditem The company is going with a four-phase approach. Subsequent phases through to full production would likely be financed from internal cash flows, it said ( ) has completed a concept study to examine the potential to develop its Khemisset potash project in Morocco using a four-phased approach. The company said the phased approach will reduce upfront capital costs and execution risk. The idea is to start with a smaller scale start-up operation producing muriate of potash (MOP), to be followed by a series of expansion phases to increase the level of MOP produced while adding in the production of de-icing salt in increasing quantities as well as premium potash product, sulphate of potash (SOP). The estimated upfront capital expenditure of the first phase is US$287mln. Emmerson told investors that subsequent phases through to full production would likely be financed from internal cash flows. In full production, the Khemisset project could produce 800,000 tonnes per annum (TPA) of MOP, 240,000 TPA of SOP and 4mln TPA of de-icing salt, resulting in annual underlying earnings (EBITDA) in the first year of full production of US$491mln. This production rate is a significant increase to that envisaged in the feasibility study published in June of last year. Emmerson believes the increase is justified given the scale and quality of the Khemisset orebody. "This work demonstrates that the project has the flexibility to be developed in phases, whilst further proving the world-class nature of Khemisset. With significant expansion potential that adds huge value to the project, we are now confident that we could develop Khemisset using a staged approach potentially reducing upfront capital costs and equity requirements from the market and, therefore, dilution to our existing shareholders as we grow to our full potential, said Graham Clarke, the chief executive of Emmerson. "2021 continues to be a pivotal year for Emmerson as we move forward in the development of what is to become the first large scale potash mine in Africa," he added. Shares in Emmerson were up 6.0% at 6.15p in early deals. Hong Kong: COVID-19 family cluster detected The Centre for Health Protection today reported that a couple was confirmed infected with COVID-19 and five family members tested preliminary positive for the virus. The centre's Communicable Disease Branch Senior Medical & Health Officer Dr Ambrose Wong told a press briefing that there are six additional COVID-19 cases and the couple are among the local infections. The 29-year-old wife has an unknown source of infection and her 38-year-old husband is classified as a linked case. The female patient's parents who live together in Yuen Long, and three other family members who had gatherings with the couple in early April have also tested preliminary positive. Dr Wong said: "We are facing two confirmed COVID-19 cases and five preliminary positive cases. If all five preliminary positive cases finally become confirmed, of course this is definitely an outbreak within the family. "It is related to the Easter holiday. I think it is quite obvious, because of the family gatherings during the holiday. So I would say, yes, if all of them are confirmed to be positive, it will be one Easter holiday-related cluster." He added that around 40 to 50 people who had close contact with the couple, including their friends and colleagues, are required to undergo quarantine. The couple's residence and workplaces are also covered by compulsory testing notices. The Government will set up a mobile specimen collection station at Block 19 of Meadowlands in Yuen Long on April 16 to provide testing services. The four imported cases arrived from the Philippines, France, Italy and India. For information and health advice on COVID-19, visit the Government's dedicated webpage. This story has been published on: 2021-04-15. To contact the author, please use the contact details within the article. Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, April 15) The Food And Drug Administration on Thursday recommended that the Philippines continue the rollout of AstraZenecas COVID-19 vaccine following a review by health experts. In a Palace briefing, FDA Director General Eric Domingo said he already sent a letter to Health Secretary Francisco Duque III suggesting that the government push through with the vaccines use, reiterating that the products benefits outweigh the risks. Dumating na po yung mga recommendation ng WHO [World Health Organization], ng vaccine expert panel, noong atin adverse event committee unanimous naman lahat na ang AstraZeneca, yung paggamit niya bilang bakuna, overall, ay talagang the benefit outweighs the known and the potential risks, Domingo told reporters. So sumulat ako kanina kay Secretary Duque, para sabihin sa kanya, the benefit outweighs risks, and that we should continue using the vaccine para sa ating vaccination program, he added. [Translation: The recommendation of the WHO, our vaccine expert panel, and our adverse event committee arrived, and it was unanimous that the overall use of AstraZeneca, the benefit really outweighs the known and potential risks. So I wrote to Secretary Duque to tell him that benefit outweighs risks, and that we should continue using the vaccine for our vaccination program.] Last week, Philippine health authorities decided to temporarily stop giving the AstraZeneca vaccine to people under the age of 60. The move came after European drug regulators found a link between the coronavirus shot and a few cases of unusual blood clots with low platelet count a report that prompted several countries including Denmark, Iceland, and Norway to suspend their rollout. The Department of Health earlier reported there have been no reports of unusual blood clotting among Filipinos who received the vaccines developed by the British-Swedish manufacturer. In line with this, Domingo assured that those who got inoculated with the AstraZeneca vaccine will be getting their second doses once supplies arrive. He added the DOH is also expected to release new guidelines on the product's use. A member of the countrys vaccine experts panel, Dr. Rontgene Solante, has also reminded the public that vaccinees' health condition will be monitored for possible adverse effects following inoculation. We hope that our communication to the public, especially for those who will be given the vaccine, they should understand that during the rollout, there will be really post-vaccination monitoring, including close follow-up, he said in a CNN Philippines interview Thursday evening. Last week, Domingo said the country has almost used up all of the 525,600 doses of AstraZeneca that arrived in the country in March. Latest government data show a total of 1,255,716 COVID-19 vaccine doses have been administered nationwide as of April 13. OAKVILLE, ON, April 14, 2021 /CNW/ - Algonquin Power & Utilities Corp. ("AQN") (TSX: AQN) (NYSE: AQN) today announced plans to release its first quarter 2021 financial results on Thursday, May 6, 2021, after market close. AQN will hold an earnings conference call at 10:00 a.m. eastern time on Friday, May 7, 2021, hosted by President and Chief Executive Officer, Arun Banskota and Chief Financial Officer, Arthur Kacprzak. Conference call details are as follows: Date: Friday, May 7, 2021 Time: 10:00 a.m. ET Conference Call: Toll Free Dial-In Number (833) 670-0721 Toll Dial-In Number (825) 312-2060 Conference ID 3675026 Webcast: https://event.on24.com/wcc/r/3079718/2EEC1CE59E87CEB12E20CF93F37B363E Presentation also available at: www.algonquinpowerandutilities.com About Algonquin Power & Utilities Corp. and Liberty Algonquin Power & Utilities Corp., parent company of Liberty, is a diversified international generation, transmission, and distribution utility with approximately $13 billion of total assets. Through its two business groups, the Regulated Services Group and the Renewable Energy Group, AQN is committed to providing safe, secure, reliable, cost-effective, and sustainable energy and water solutions through its portfolio of electric generation, transmission, and distribution utility investments to over one million customer connections, largely in the United States and Canada. AQN is a global leader in renewable energy through its portfolio of long-term contracted wind, solar, and hydroelectric generating facilities. AQN owns, operates, and/or has net interests in over 3 GW of installed capacity. AQN is committed to delivering growth and the pursuit of operational excellence in a sustainable manner through an expanding global pipeline of renewable energy and electric transmission development projects, organic growth within its rate-regulated generation, distribution, and transmission businesses, and the pursuit of accretive acquisitions. AQN's common shares, Series A preferred shares, and Series D preferred shares are listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange under the symbols AQN, AQN.PR.A, and AQN.PR.D, respectively. AQN's common shares, Series 2018-A subordinated notes and Series 2019-A subordinated notes are listed on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbols AQN, AQNA and AQNB, respectively. Visit AQN at www.algonquinpowerandutilities.com and follow us on Twitter @AQN_Utilities. SOURCE Algonquin Power & Utilities Corp. For further information: Investor Inquiries: Amelia Tsang, Vice President, Investor Relations, Algonquin Power & Utilities Corp., E-mail: [email protected], Telephone: (905) 465-4500; Media Inquiries: Stephanie Bose, Director, Corporate Communications, Algonquin Power & Utilities Corp., E-mail: [email protected], Telephone: (905) 465-4500 Related Links http://www.algonquinpower.com Love Island bosses have reportedly lined up aerial dancer Alexis Bailey for the upcoming 2021 series. The fire-eating beauty queen, 21, is said to be looking for love after recently breaking up from a long-term relationship. It has been claimed that Alexis will 'bring some heat' to the villa as she is 'very open' and 'always talking about sex'. Contestant? Love Island bosses have reportedly lined up aerial dancer Alexis Bailey for the upcoming 2021 series The aerial dancer was runner-up in the Miss Manchester pageant in 2019 and is one of Wayne Lineker's Dream Dolls in Ibiza. A source told The Sun: 'She loves sex and is always talking about it. Shes very open about it but is incredibly likeable and loves to party. 'There are no limits as far as she is concerned and she very much wears her heart on her sleeve. Its fair to say she will bring some heat to the villa.' Goodness! The fire-eating beauty queen, 21, is said to be looking for love after recently breaking up from a long-term relationship 'Open': It has been claimed that Alexis will 'bring some heat' to the villa as she is 'very open' and 'always talking about sex' MailOnline has contacted ITV2 for comment. It comes after MailOnline revealed that Love Island have lined up Chelsea party boy James Price for the 2021 series. The recruitment consultant, 23, originally from Worcester, grew close to former Islander Lucie Donlan, 22, in 2018 the summer before she rose to fame on the ITV2 show. A TV insider told MailOnline that James, who has a soft spot for blondes, hopes to bring the 'Worcestershire Sauce' to the villa this summer. Joining in? The aerial dancer was runner-up in the Miss Manchester pageant in 2019 and is one of Wayne Lineker's Dream Dolls in Ibiza A source said: 'James is in final talks with producers and they're really keen on signing him this year. 'He's cheeky, fun and handsome and will be a sure-fire hit with the female contestants, while he's also on the lookout for his dream girl. 'Lucie Donlan is his type on paper. They grew close in Newquay the summer before she went on the show but their flirtation didn't grow into a relationship. 'Cheeky, fun and handsome': It comes after MailOnline revealed that Love Island have lined up Chelsea party boy James Price for the 2021 series 'While James is from Worcester, his group of friends reside in Fulham and he spent a lot of time before the pandemic partying in Chelsea.' James is yet to find love, but Lucie's now in a long-term relationship with boyfriend Luke Mabbott, 25, who starred on the winter version of Love Island. A spokesman for ITV2 said: 'No decisions have been made on the line up for this year's Love Island.' Lost out: The recruitment consultant, 23, originally from Worcester, grew close to former Islander Lucie Donlan, 22, in 2018 the summer before she rose to fame on the ITV2 show James could potentially be in the villa this year with the son of pro boxer Nigel Benn, 57. Harley Benn, 24, was tipped for the dating show this week after catching the eye of producers due to his fascinating backstory. Harley has previously admitted that he has an 'inconsistent relationship' with father Nigel after he left his mother Lisa Andrews before he was born and took a paternity test at the outset. 'Party boy': A source told MailOnline: 'He's cheeky, fun and handsome and will be a sure-fire hit with the female contestants, while he's also on the lookout for his dream girl' The boxer was born to Lisa four days before Nigel's wife Caroline had twins Conor and India in September 1996. A source told The Sun: 'Harley's already got a huge following and gets loads of attention from girls. 'He's had video meetings with the casting team and everyone is very excited at the prospect of having him on the show.' While Love Island are yet to make any final decisions on the line up, the casting team have been hard at work whittling down the best contestants for the show's return this summer. Tipped for the show: James could potentially be in the villa this year with Harley Benn (pictured) who's the son of pro boxer Nigel Benn MailOnline revealed Love Island is set to launch three weeks later than usual this year due to the coronavirus pandemic. The 2019 series started on June 3 but this year crew won't fly out to Majorca until the end of the month. ITV confirmed the delay would not impact the length of the series, with future stars destined to sun themselves for a total of eight weeks. Show bosses have Jersey on standby if a new strain of Covid-19 hits, but the hope is that the series will be set in Majorca. Helping Children Triumph Over Trauma Tracy Lee knows the importance of keeping the connection between a parent and child, especially if one parent is not physically present. She launched her nonprofit, We Are Here for You, to support children who are involuntarily separated from a parent due to incarceration. Longing for an absent parent is a feeling all too familiar to Tracy Lee, 56. Its been forty years and Lee still has the yellow birthday card her father sent from prison for her 16th birthday. It remains perfectly preserved in a plastic ziplock bag. No child should feel abandoned because a parent cant afford to call them or send them a birthday card, Lee said. As a teenager, she felt very special that her father would remember her birthday while he was on vacation. ADVERTISEMENT It wasnt until she was an adult that Lee came to realize that her father was not out of town, as her mother had told her, but serving time in a federal institution. According to a 2016 study published by the Child and Adolescent Health Measurement Initiative, one of every 12 American children more than 5.7 million kids under age 18 have experienced parental incarceration at some point during their lives. This proportion is higher among African American, poor and children who live in rural areas. Research has found connections between parental incarceration and childhood health problems, behavior problems and grade retention. It has also been linked to poor mental and physical health in adulthood. Dire outcomes are exacerbated when there is no contact between the child and the incarcerated parent. Fortunately for Lee, though her father was in and out of jail throughout her childhood and as a young adult, he remained in contact with her. Lees 28-year old son who has been in jail since 2017 awaiting trial, also keeps in contact with Lee and his five children and one stepchild, ages 6 to 16. Lee does not want to reveal her sons name because his case is still pending. Each week Lee puts $100 on a prepaid phone card so she can talk to her son daily. Lees son is one of the lucky ones. He has a family that can afford to send prepaid phone cards to maintain contact. Many inmates and their families cannot afford the cost of a collect phone call, prepaid phone card or other means to keep in touch on a regular basis. My son is able to talk with his children, help them with their homework and make sure they have a nice Christmas or birthday, said Lee. But there are some inmates that cant connect with their children. They cant talk with their mothers because they cant afford the phone call. They cant even send their kids a birthday card. Through We Are Here for You, Lee hopes to bridge that gap and keep families connected. The organizations mission is to help children by reducing the stigmas, shame and trauma that frequently results from having an incarcerated parent. They offer a range of programs to assist inmates and their families. ADVERTISEMENT If an inmate reaches out for assistance, We Are Here for You will provide a free phone card or birthday present in the inmates name. Three of We Are Here for Yous programs focused on children include the Giving Tree Program, providing gifts and financial assistance during the holidays; the Giving Tree Financial Literacy Program, a workshop to teach children to handle money responsibly; and the Giving Tree Kids Literacy Program, a summer reading program where children in grades 1 through 6 win prizes by reading eight books and writing a book report. Currently, Lee funds the nonprofits programs from her savings and public donations. The nonprofit is a labor of love for Lee who works fulltime as a bookkeeper. She is working to grow We Are Here for Yous volunteer staff as well as increase the number of families the organization assists. Although having a parent behind bars is much more common today than it was four decades ago when Lee was a child, she still would like to reduce the effects of having an absent parent. Were trying to help as many children as we can, said Lee. For more information or to donate to We Are Here for You, visit wearehere4you.info. The views expressed by public comments are not those of this company or its affiliated companies. Please note by clicking on "Post" you acknowledge that you have read the TERMS OF USE and the comment you are posting is in compliance with such terms. Your comments may be used on air. Be polite. Inappropriate posts or posts containing offsite links, images, GIFs, inappropriate language, or memes may be removed by the moderator. Job listings and similar posts are likely automated SPAM messages from Facebook and are not placed by WFMZ-TV. Employees of Community-Based Environmental Protection and Enhancement Programme (CEPEP) say they have were blindsided with a 33 1/3 per cent pay cut in their salaries. While some workers were under the impression the cut was supposed to occur next fortnight, many were unprepared for managements move. One employee told the Express yesterday while talk was being bandied about a few days ago with regard to the pay cut, she thought more notice would have been given to staff since globally theres a pandemic. I am hurt and disappointed. (Photo : Youtube/ Richard Tech) Urbanista solar-powered headphones Urbanista introduces its new wireless noise-cancelling headphones, the Urbanista Los Angeles, and it has a solar panel integrated into the length of the headband, allowing it to draw power from both indoor and outdoor lights. Urbanista's latest headphone is solar-powered Although its built-in 750mAh battery can be charged through USB-C and offers up to 50 hours of battery life, the real appeal of the new headphones is the solar charging. According to Wire, the solar-powered headphones are due to ship in early summer and it will cost around $232 each. Even though Urbanista's site promises infinite playtime from the headphones, the exact amount of power these headphones can generate while solar charging varies. Also Read: Zamkol Releases Kid-Friendly Wireless Headphones One hour spent in the sun should generate enough power for three hours of playtime, but on a cloudy day that drops to just two hours, Urbanista stated. In a worst case scenario on a long-distance journey, users will need at least 8 hours of light exposure in order to get an hour of listening. Urbanista Los Angeles headphones are similar to the Miami range when it comes to other features. The only thing that sets them apart is the solar-powered panels. Both headphones have built-in microphones for use with voice assistants like Google Assistant or Siri, an ambient sound mode, on-ear detection, and they wirelessly connect through Bluetooth 5.0. In the box users get a carrying case, audio cable, and in-flight adaptor. The Concept of Solar-Powered Headphones Urbanista is not the first company to come up with the concept. In Dec. 2019, JBL announced a very similar pair of solar-powered headphones and it was crowfunded on IndieGoGo. JBL is known to be one of the best companies when it comes to producing wireless, noise-cancelling headphones, and it wanted to be the first company to produce solar-powered headphones. However, the Reflect Eternal headphones by JBL are not available yet. In Dec. 2020, the company posted an update on the project's page saying the headphones were facing major delays because of the coronavirus pandemic, and that it would be offering refunds to its backers. Both JBL's and Urbanista's headphones rely on the same Powerfoyle solar charging technology that is developed by Exeger, according to Engadget. The material can be screen-printed onto flexible plastic, laminated, and according to Exeger, it follows the principle of photosynthesis to generate and store electricity. Just like photosynthesis, Exeger uses different dyes of different colors that absorb photons. Exeger's CEO Giovanni Fill told Wired that JBL were a bit unlucky with the pandemic, and Urbanista became lucky because Exerger and Urbanista is located in the same city in Sweden. Exerger clarified that they will pick up the project with JBL as soon as possible. Urbanista's headphone development Meanwhile, Urbanista CEO Anders Andreen stated that he was skeptical in the beginning about the project but when they started to determine that they could make a product that essentially gained back as much energy as is used, they knew they can remove the need for charging. Andreen said that the company's goal is to take a sizeable slice of a wireless headphone market that could be worth $42.1 billion by 2026. He stated that they want the headphones to be affordable so people can purchase as many pairs as they want. Related Article: Nokia Lite Earbuds Prides Itself with 36-Hour Battery Life, Voice Control Support and Affordable Price This article is owned by Tech Times Written by Sieeka Khan 2021 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. Researchers from cybersecurity company Bitdefender have warned that hackers are actively exploiting software cracks in pirated versions of Microsoft Office and Adobe Photoshop CC to empty peoples cryptocurrency wallets. Bitdefender analysts recently uncovered a series of attacks that leverage office tools and image-editing software cracks to compromise computers, hijack crypto-currency wallets, and exfiltrate information via the TOR network. Once executed, the crack drops an instance of ncat.exe (a legitimate tool to send raw data over the network) as well as a TOR proxy, said Bitdefenders Bogdan Botezatu, Director of Threat Research and Reporting and Security Researcher Eduard Budaca in a blog post. These files are placed in the system storage identified as %syswow64%-nap.exe or %syswow64%-ndc.exe, and %syswow64-tarsrv.exe. A batch file is also placed at %syswow64%-chknap.bat which contains a command line for the Ncat component dedicated to traversing ports 8000 and 9000 in .onion domains as shown below. These tools work together to create a powerful backdoor that communicates through TOR with its command and control center: the ncat binary uses the listening port of the TOR proxy (`proxy 127.0.0.1:9075`) and uses the standard exec parameter, which allows all input from the client to be sent to the application and responses to be sent back to the client over the socket (reverse shell behavior). The crack also creates persistence mechanisms for the TOR proxy file and the Ncat binary on the compromised machine with a service and a scheduled task that runs every 45 minutes. According to Bitdefenders investigation, the backdoor is most likely being used interactively by a human operator rather than sending automated requests to the victims. Some of the actions that were observed by the researchers are: File exfiltration BitTorrent client execution to exfiltrate data Disabling the firewall in preparation for data exfiltration Stealing of Firefox browser profile data (history, credentials, and session cookies). Before exfiltration, attackers archive the profile folder with 7zip to generate one file that contains everything. Theft of the Monero wallet via the legitimate CLI client monero-wallet-cli.exe. The above list of actions is non-exhaustive, as attackers have complete control of the system and can adapt campaigns based on their current interests. As per Bitdefender, these types of malware-loaded cracks mostly affect people who download files from websites that have little or no control. These cracks are usually hosted on direct-download websites rather than on torrent portals, as the latter have a community that downvotes and flags malicious uploads, Botezatu told TF. Currently, distribution of these cracks are mostly found in the United States, India, Canada, Greece, Germany, Italy, Spain, South Africa, and the United Kingdom. For more information about the files and processes involved, you can read Bitdefenders complete write-up here. Source: Xinhua| 2021-04-16 00:03:22|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close WASHINGTON, April 15 (Xinhua) -- The United States on Thursday imposed sanctions against Russia and expelled 10 diplomats in response to Moscow's alleged election interference and cyber activities. The White House said in a statement that President Joe Biden had signed a new sanctions executive order against Russia. According to the order, the U.S. Department of the Treasury issued a directive that prohibits U.S. financial institutions from participation in the primary market for ruble or non-ruble denominated bonds issued after June 14, 2021, by Russia's central bank, the national wealth fund, or finance ministry. The Treasury also designated six Russian technology companies that "provide support to the Russian Intelligence Services' cyber program," and 32 entities and individuals related to the 2020 U.S. presidential election interference, the statement said In addition, the Treasury, together with the European Union, Britain, Australia, and Canada, blacklisted eight individuals and entities over the Crimea issue. The United States is expelling 10 personnel from the Russian diplomatic mission in Washington D.C., the statement added, saying the personnel "include representatives of Russian intelligence services." The statement also accused the Russian Foreign Intelligence Service of carrying out the alleged SolarWinds hack last year. These measures came days after Biden warned his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin in a phone call that the United States will "act firmly in defense of its national interests in response to Russia's actions, such as cyber intrusions and election interference." The Kremlin repeatedly said that claims of Russia's alleged meddling in the 2020 U.S. elections were baseless and regretful, calling them a pretext for additional sanctions. Relations between Washington and Moscow have been adversarial for recent years. The two were bitterly divided over Ukraine, Syria, and cybersecurity issues, and they mutually accused the other of domestic political interference. Enditem PLYMOUTH Buddy, the elusive beefalo that evaded authorities attempts to capture him and became a minor social media cause, has been captured after more than eight months on the lam, authorities confirmed Wednesday. Plymouth police posted a photo of the escaped cow-bison hybrid on Facebook with the word captured stamped over it. His capture was the result of a community effort from spotting him, feeding him throughout the winter and to the experts who were able to make the final capture, Plymouth police said.We would like to thank all those would brought this adventure to a successful resolution. The beefalo, who was later christened Buddy by police, escaped on Aug. 3 last year while being offloaded from a truck at a Terryville slaughterhouse, officials said. Since then he has roamed the wooded countryside, occasionally being spotted by residents and surveillance cameras. Along the way, Buddy gained a devout following on social media, spawning at least one parody Twitter account that posted supposed updates from the beefalo as he eluded efforts to trap him. In the end, it may have been Buddys social life that led authorities to nab him. The 1,000 pound animal had been visiting the cows at a nearby farm, Capt. Ed Benecchi said in a phone interview. At some point he was able to get into the cow pen where he was contained. Benecchi said it took him a few days to calm down, but by Tuesday night he was rounded up in a trailer. Benecchi said Buddy is in fantastic condition, thanks in no small part to a resident who ensured the animal was fed and had water throughout the winter. He declined to release the name of the farm where the infamous outlaw was brought in. With his capture, Buddy will live out the remainder of his days on Critter Creek Farm Sanctuary in Florida, police said. Last year, the union that represents the town police force organized a crowdfunding campaign to purchase Buddy from his owners to ensure he would be released to an animal sanctuary. But first the four-legged fugitive is headed to Massachusetts for a full checkup by a veterinarian, police said. Without everyones donations this would not be possible. Thank you for all your continued support and we wish Buddy safe travels and happy life, police said. In his 22 years of law enforcement, Benecchi said he has seen other escaped cows, most of which are docile and friendly. But Buddys case stands out, both for the length of time the animal remained at large and for how aggressive he could be if cornered. Benecchi says hes fielded calls about the wayward beast from as far away as England and has gotten messages from family in California who heard about the animal on their local news. Other law enforcement agencies were talking about the case as far away as Utah. He called the case a great example of the community coming together. I cant say enough about this community and what theyve done for this little animal, Benecchi said. Connecticut retailers saw a surge of activity in March at about the same time that stimulus checks went out from the federal government. The U.S. Commerce Department reported Thursday that retail sales around the country increased by 9.8 percent in March compared to the previous month. The increase was the largest since May 2020, when retailers started reopening after being shutdown due to COVID-19 protocols. The March increase in retail sales was well above the 5.9 percent increase that economists who were surveyed prior to the Commerce Department announcement had expected. Across the state, retailers said they are seeing signs of growth. Our traffic was up, our sales were up, said Charlie Guthrie, general manager of Westbrook Outlets. We hold a monthly artisan and local vendors event, which occurred in March after the stimulus checks went out. We saw a lot more activity than usual. The March retail sales numbers represent a dramatic turnaround from February, when commerce department officials reported numbers that were down 2.7 percent. The rebound came just as $1,400 stimulus checks, which were included in President Joe Bidens American Rescue Plan, started to reach the public. Tim Phelan, president of the Connecticut Retail Merchants Association, said his members benefited from the stimulus money, which gave consumers a little bit more disposable income. But Phelan said the increasing number of people getting a COVID-19 vaccine may be an even bigger factor driving sustained growth in the coming months. It makes folks feel more confident when they go shopping, he said. More than one-third of U.S. population has received at least one vaccine dose, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Here in Connecticut, 46 percent of the population has received at least one shot. Several Connecticut residents said they would use their stimulus checks to pay bills or put it into savings. Others, like Shaun Turpenning, of Middletown, said they wanted to purchase a new vehicle. (Going to) a down payment on a mini-van for the family, said Turpenning. Tracey Broadrick Brown, of Naugatuck, said she hasnt spent her stimulus check yet, but its getting added onto the down payment on a new car in the next few weeks. Another factor in bolstering retail sales is more people returning to work, said Pete Gioia, chief economist with PGEcon LLC. The Connecticut Department of Labor reported that the states economy added 5,400 jobs in March, the third straight month there has been an increase in employment. The states retail sector has recovered 84 percent of the jobs that were lost during the pandemic. As they see more people in the stores, theyre saying I need to hire more people, Gioia said. The increase in the number of vaccines has also led to more people traveling, he said, which also has an effect on the retail sales numbers. People tend to spend more when they travel, Gioia said. Gioia predicted retail sales numbers will continue to be strong in the coming months. Maybe 9.8 percent increases, but certainly five or six percent, he said. luther.turmelle@hearstmediact.com A key aide to Boris Johnson is facing accusations of a potential conflict of interest after it was claimed she still owns 35 per cent of a consultancy firm which advises governments on public sector reform. Baroness Finn, the Prime Minister's deputy chief of staff, co-founded Francis Maude Associates (FMAP) with the ex-Cabinet Office minister Lord Maude. The Times reported that while Lady Finn resigned as a director at FMAP before joining Number 10 she does still own a third of the firm. Meanwhile, ITV reported that her shareholding is worth between 25 and 50 per cent. It came amid a growing row over outside earnings in Whitehall which has been triggered by the David Cameron Greensill lobbying scandal. Baroness Finn, the Prime Minister's deputy chief of staff, is facing accusations of a potential conflict of interest after it was claimed she still owns 35 per cent of a consultancy firm Baroness Finn, co-founded Francis Maude Associates (FMAP) with the ex-Cabinet Office minister Lord Maude Lord Maude served as minister for the Cabinet Office during the years of the Coalition Government between 2010 and 2015. FMAP states on its website that 'Francis Maude and Simone Finn founded FMA to work with governments to help them save money, improve services and build lasting capability'. The firm states it has 'worked with the federal governments in Canada and Australia, the government of NSW and a number of governments in Asia and the Middle East'. 'Our focus is on the implementation of fiscal, economic and public sector reform,' it adds. The firm currently employs former chancellor Philip Hammond and former ministers Nick Boles and Nick Hurd as senior advisers. A friend of Lady Finn told The Times: 'Simone no longer has any involvement in or association with this company.' A spokesman for FMAP denied any conflict of interest, telling the newspaper: 'It was not feasible to relinquish her shareholding as it is an illiquid holding. 'Her shareholding is declared in the House of Lords register of interests and internally. She is not involved with FMAP in any way.' But Sir Alistair Graham, the former chairman of the committee on standards in public life, raised concerns. He said: 'While working for the prime minister there is a risk she is looking over her shoulder at how her company is prospering. 'You cannot stop yourself being influenced by the interests of a company of which you are a significant owner.' Lord Maude told ITV that his company has done no work for the UK government and has not sought any work and 'nor will we'. A Government spokesman said: 'Baroness Finn has declared all her relevant interests to the House of Lords, and in addition, complied with the Cabinet Office requirements for special advisers to declare outside interests. 'The Cabinet Office has a formal process to avoid conflicts of interest arising from such declared interests.' Younger star Molly Bernard is celebrating a new collaboration with Australian luxury accessories brand The Daily Edited. The American actress, 33, fronts a new campaign for the brand, looking very stylish indeed as she poses with some of her favourite accessories. In a series of playful images, Molly shows off her trim figure in a chic LBD while posing with a personalised phone case and suitcase. New campaign: Younger star Molly Bernard showcases her sartorial savvy in a series of stylish outfits as she fronts a new campaign for accessories brand The Daily Edited She styles her short red hair in loose curls, and her makeup consists of dewy foundation, lashings of mascara and a soft pink lip. She also channels her Younger character, publicist Lauren Heller, by posing in a brown figure-hugging dress next to a laptop and several items of stationery. Molly, who is engaged to Hannah Lieberman, spoke about her collaboration with TDE and said she loves that it's a female-owned brand. Fun: In a series of images, Molly poses with a personalised phone case and other accessorises Chic: She also channels her Younger character, publicist Lauren Heller, by posing in a brown figure-hugging dress next to a laptop and several items of stationery Girl power: Molly, who is engaged to Hannah Lieberman, spoke about her collaboration with TDE and said she loves that it's a female-owned brand 'I love that it's a female owned brand!' Molly said. 'That's probably my favourite part.' Molly said she's a 'sucker for personalisation and streamlined products', so her collaboration with TDE is a match made in heaven. 'They also have... everything. And the quality is truly amazing,' she added. Dream collab: Molly said she's a 'sucker for personalisation and streamlined products', so her collaboration with TDE is a match made in heaven Familiar face: Molly is known for playing pansexual publicist Lauren Heller on Stan's Younger, which also stars Hilary Duff, Nico Tortorella and Sutton Foster Molly is known for playing pansexual publicist Lauren Heller on Stan's Younger, which also stars Hilary Duff, Nico Tortorella and Sutton Foster. Younger premiered in 2015 and is based on the 2005 book of the same name by Pamela Redmond Satran. The show, created by Sex and The City's Darren Star, has consistently received positive reviews since its first season aired. Storyline: Younger follows Sutton Foster's character Liza Miller's journey into the publishing world in New York, after lying about her age to get a job Younger follows Sutton's character Liza Miller's journey into the publishing world in New York, after lying about her age to get a job. The final season premieres on Stan on April 15. Molly teased fans about the finale this week, telling Mamamia: 'There is a crazy thing that happens with Lauren... and fans are going to really like it, it's pretty wild.' She added: 'I'm always surprised about where the show goes, but I'm never surprised by Lauren. 'Which I know is a cop-out answer, but as I was reading the final script, I just thought, "This show is so good."' Europe faces a predicament. Even as it struggles to contain the COVID-19 pandemic, it's setting itself up for another crisis this one financial. To ensure the viability of the common currency at the heart of the European project, the EU's leaders will have to cooperate in ways they've so far resisted. Adopting the single currency has yielded great benefits, from frictionless trade to improved global competitiveness. But the euro also obliged member states to relinquish the independent monetary policies that can help backstop national debts and financial systems. One result is that distress at banks presents a heightened threat to individual governments' finances, and vice versa the so-called "doom loop" that played out in spectacular fashion during the early 2010s, when the euro area nearly broke apart. In 2012, European leaders agreed on what should have been a big part of the solution. They envisaged a full banking union, in which governments would take joint responsibility for supervising financial institutions and, most important, for dismantling or recapitalizing banks when necessary, and for making depositors whole. Progress has been excruciatingly slow. Although the European Central Bank now oversees the region's largest banks, individual governments still bear the cost of rescues, as bailouts in Italy and Germany have demonstrated. Mutual deposit insurance remains no more than a proposal. The pandemic has aggravated the problem, with governments taking on ever more debt in their efforts to provide economic relief. The International Monetary Fund estimates that general government debt in the euro area will exceed 98 percent of gross domestic product by the end of 2021, up from 84 percent at the end of 2019. Worse, individual countries' obligations are accumulating on the balance sheets of their banks. At the end of February, Italian banks' holdings of Italian government debt amounted to 124 percent of their capital and loss reserves, rendering them extremely vulnerable in the event of fiscal distress. Aside from the financial risks they present, these sovereign exposures make banking union harder to achieve politically. Northern countries such as Germany, for example, don't want to sign on to mutual deposit insurance if it means subsidizing Italian banks' excessive holdings of Italian public debt. Governments of heavily indebted countries, for their part, worry that restrictions on banks' holdings could render them unable to borrow when they have to. There's a way forward. To nudge banks toward diversification, the ECB could designate a "safe portfolio" of government debt, corresponding to member states' shares of the region's GDP (an idea originally proposed by German Finance Minister Olaf Scholz, and elaborated by Luis Garicano, an economist and member of the European Parliament). Any divergence would entail an increase in capital requirements. This would address northern countries' concerns by giving banks an incentive to reduce home-government exposures. At the same time, it would moderate the pressure that would otherwise be imposed on heavily indebted governments: The decrease in Italian banks' holdings of their government's debt would be at least partially offset by increases in other banks' holdings. This would be a step toward banking union in its own right. Europe's leaders ought then to go further. They should undertake a major upgrade of the Single Resolution Board, providing it with the powers and resources required to take over and liquidate or recapitalize banks anywhere in the euro area, and to compensate depositors much as the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation does in the U.S. To make a mutual insurance fund more politically palatable, it could initially be designed to kick in only as a backstop to national funds. During the pandemic, Europe's leaders have been willing to deepen their cooperation most notably in pooling fiscal resources to support the union's hardest-hit economies. With increasing urgency, the same logic applies to severing the link between the health of banks and the solvency of national governments. Until this is addressed, Europe's single-currency system is dangerously unfinished work. This editorial appeared at the Bloomberg and was distributed by Tribune Content Agency. In an unusual incident, a man who works as a clerk in a bank in Taiwans capital city Taipei married the same partner four times and got divorced thrice in a time span of 37 days. The man who remains anonymous did this to claim 32 days of marriage leave. According to the reports by United Daily News, the bank was issued a fine for only paying for the mandatory 8 days leave for the first marriage. Man gets married 4 times in 37 days The lawyer named Lin said that the clerk registered marriage on April 6, 2020, and took 8 days to leave. Immediately after this, the clerk divorced the spouse, then registered a new marriage to the same spouse on April 17. After enjoying another 8 days of marriage leave, the clerk then divorced again on April 28 and married again on April 29. A third divorce has ensued for May 11, which will be followed by a fourth marriage to the same spouse on May 12. The bank declared the clerks actions as malicious abuse of marriage leave and paid leave for only the first marriage. After being refused the extra leaves, the clerk went ahead with his plans. Also, he filed a complaint against the bank at the Taipei City Labour Bureau for having refused him offs. Also, the man alleged the bank was not following Article 2 of the Labour Leave Rules. The Bureau fined the bank NT$20,000 for not paying leave for all four marriages. As an aftermath, the bank filed an appeal with the Appeals Committee. The bank claimed that the employees abuse of marriage leave was not in compliance with the Labor Standards Act. The appeals committee asked the Labor Bureau to revoke the original sanction and make a new sanction within 60 days as it had not clarified whether the bank employee had abused his rights and violated the principle of good faith. According to the reports by the Taiwan English News, the Commissioner of the Labor Standards Section of the Labor Bureau Huang Jingang said that even if the employees practice seems unreasonable, as per the Labor Standards Law, there is no obligation that he needs to marry a different person to receive a leave. The employee should be granted a leave, as long as there is a marriage, he added. (Image Credits: Unsplash) 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. Click here to read the full article. Longtime record promotion executive Jonas Cash, who founded the influential radio programming competition AIR (Active Industry Research) in Baltimore-Washington, MD, died at age 81 in his Columbia, MD home. He was not just a promotion executive, but a real artist development guy, says veteran promotion/marketing exec Michael Plen, who recalls how Cash helped him break Wall of Voodoos Mexican Radio. If he believed in a record, hed go all out. AIR established competitions for radio programmers in five different musical genres in 1983, testing new songs potential by having programmers listen to and respond to each songs hit potential using a national chart as the qualifier. The overall winner in picking the hits would receive a car. In conjunction with his partner Alan Smith, Cash developed Billboard Airplay Monitor, which started out in 1993 as an eight-page publication covering Top 40, Top 40 Rhythmic, Crossover, Urban, AC, Hot AC, Rock, Alternative and Country. Eventually, four different publications under the Airplay Monitor title would turn into a leading source of hit music information. The publications were combined in 2001 and later changed their name to Billboard Radio Monitor in 2003, which was relaunched under the Radio & Records banner in August 2006. The move was a result of a merger between R&R and Radio Monitor after VNU Media acquired R&R on July 6, 2006. The relaunched R&R would later cease publication in June 2009. Cash was often seen as the Baltimore/Washington member of Hit Mens famed Network, which included such characters as Jerry Brenner, Joe Isgro, Fred DeSipio and Ralph Tashjian, though Cash was described as one of the good guys very old school, but very important, and was close to many top radio programmers, including iHeartMedias Tom Poleman, fellow Maryland native Steve Kingston and former CBS Radio executive Kevin Weatherly, all of whom were AIR participants. Another well-loved top promotion exec from that era, Herb Rosen, died last week. Jonas treated everybody like family, but he was a bulldog when it came to promotion, said another longtime colleague. He was relentless. Jonas started his career as a dancer on The Buddy Dean Show, an American Bandstand- type dance party featuring high schoolers dancing, where he met his wife and dance partner for life, Joan. The show owned the Baltimore market afternoons the Dick Clark-hosted, Philly-based competitor was never broadcast in Baltimore as Buddy had a 70 share of the market for a decade on the ABC affiliate. Deans show served as the inspiration for the dance program in fellow Baltimore denizen John Waters film Hairspray. After a short stint in the Marine Corps reserve, Cash began working at Washington, D.C.-area distributor Schwartz Brothers in the 60s, moving to Nashville to take over as head of promotion for Monument Records, where he was influential in the career of label stalwart Roy Orbison. Cash was in the studio when the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame legend cut Pretty Woman, while his wife Joanie personally answered all of Orbisons fan mail in longhand. Moving back to Baltimore, Jonas formed an independent promotion company, Jonas Cash Promotions, and in 1982 had an idea for a music contest for radio programmers which became AIR, a music industry fixture for nearly 25 years as well as a great way to establish a relationship with every PD in the country. NBCs Brian Ross, with his report on independent promotion in 1986 that put many indies out of business (and created the still-existing tip sheet Hits), allowed AIR to flourish with FCC approval. He wasnt mob-related, laughs David, his son, but he did have his own territory, his niche in Baltimore, Washington and Northern Virginia, and never overstepped it. David recalls that his father, a horse-racing fan who owned a few ponies, liked the idea of betting on hit records in AIR, attracting major- and small-market programmers alike (like a young Tom Poleman) before New York State attorney general Eliot Spitzers investigation of payola shuttered it in 2005, when record companies made a public display of pulling their support for independent promotion. His son recalls his father dealing with one recalcitrant PD who wouldnt play his record by sending him a Christmas package of horse manure in aluminum foil with the missive: From one asshole to another. The song got played. Another time, Cash bet then-WPGC/Baltimore PD Jim Elliott his own brand new 1972 Mercedes, his dream car, if Foreigners Feels Like the First Time hit the Top 10. Elliott left it at #11 for weeks. Foreigner had a smash and my dad kept his car, said David. Cash is survived by his wife, Joanie, his son David, and two grandchildren. An outdoor funeral service will be held on Thursday, April 22 at Meadowridge Memorial Park in Elkridge, MD. In lieu of flowers, the family asks that contributions be made in Jonas honor at Childrens Oncology at Johns Hopkins. Sign up for Varietys Newsletter. For the latest news, follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. Source: Xinhua| 2021-04-15 16:07:22|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close KABUL, April 15 (Xinhua) -- The government of Afghanistan respects the U.S. decision on troops withdrawal from the militancy-plagued country, spokesman for the Afghan presidential palace Dawa khan Minapal said Thursday. According to Minapal, the presidents of Afghanistan and the United States had a phone conversation on Wednesday night, discussing the U.S. decision to withdraw all troops from Afghanistan by Sept. 11. "Tonight, I had a call with President (Joe) Biden in which we discussed the U.S. decision to withdraw its forces from Afghanistan by early September. The Islamic Republic of Afghanistan respects the U.S. decision and we will work with our U.S. partners to ensure a smooth transition," Menapal quoted Afghan President Mohammad Ashraf Ghani as saying. The upcoming Sept. 11 is the 20th anniversary of the terrorist attacks that drew the United States into war in Afghanistan. The latest U.S. decision extends the deadline negotiated between the previous U.S. administration and the Afghan Taliban last year to pull U.S. troops out of the country on May 1. The Pentagon said that there are roughly 2,500 U.S. troops in Afghanistan, but U.S. media recently said the number did not include 1,000 more U.S. special forces in the Asian country. Besides, about 7,000 NATO troops in Afghanistan rely on U.S. logistics and security support. Enditem Galveston, TX (77553) Today A mix of clouds and sun. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. High around 85F. Winds SSE at 10 to 15 mph.. Tonight Partly cloudy this evening followed by increasing clouds with showers developing after midnight. Low 77F. Winds SSE at 10 to 15 mph. Chance of rain 60%. Vietnam Railways owes its 11,300 workers four months salaries due to a funding delay by the government, and fears this could cause many to quit. It reminded the government that it was supposed to receive VND2.8 trillion ($121.3 million) at the beginning of this year, but has not, forcing it to pay minimum compensation to staff. Vu Anh Minh, its chairman, said the delay could cause barrier operators at grade crossings and patrol staff to quit since they have the lowest incomes. "The issue has pushed the company to the end of its road. We might not survive until the end of this month." This is not the first time VNR has been forced to beseech the government for funding. Last year too it owed its staff salary for months but managed to survive that crisis. The problem can be tracked to a dispute between two government agencies. Last year VNR became one of 19 state-owned companies whose oversight passed to the Commission for the Management of State Capital at Enterprises (CMSC), an entity that manages the governments $43 billion investment in various companies. The CMSC refused to provide funds, saying maintenance workers should be paid by the Ministry of Transport since it controls the maintenance and infrastructure budget. But the ministry cannot provide funds to any entity it does not manage. A temporary solution was agreed upon last year and the transport ministry provided the needed sum of VND2.5 trillion. But there has been no decision yet on whether the same thing will happen this year, leaving VNR and its staff in the lurch. VNR wants the government to provide the money through the CMSC. Max Verstappen lost the Bahrain Grand Prix three weeks ago after he had to give Lewis Hamilton back the lead because of an illegal overtaking manoeuvre. During the press conference prior to the race in Imola he will revisit the track limits discussion. "It can be solved easily if you just put a wall there [Turn 4 in Bahrain] or gravel. It would help a lot, because in qualifying we had to stay on the kerb. So that's what I did in the race. Then I heard Lewis was going wide, so then I did it for two laps, but then I wasn't allowed to do it again." Read more Red Bull extends contract with major sponsor until 2024! Verstappen will consult with drivers and race committee Verstappen says he understands why he was reprimanded for his overtaking, but is somewhat surprised by the double standard that was applied during the race. Especially since the rules for the rest of the weekend were clear. "For 30 laps Lewis went wide and gained time there. I tried it for two laps after and then they told me not to, so that's a bit odd. Read more Verstappen explains remarkably calm reaction after losing in Bahrain "I don't think they should be able to change it during the race. Either you are allowed to go wide or not. I can understand that my overtaking outside the track limits is not allowed, so that's fine. But if you're allowed to do it on your own, I don't think that's correct, so we're going to talk about that with the drivers and with Michael [Masi]," said the Dutchman. Read more Russell puts an end to rumours of 'feud' with Hamilton NATO calls on Russia to immediately stop escalation, end its practice of aggressive provocations against Ukraine NATO member states have called on Russia to immediately stop the escalation, end its practice of aggressive provocations and respect its international obligations, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said. "The allies fully support Ukraine's sovereignty and territorial integrity, and we call on Russia to immediately ease tensions, end its practice of aggressive provocations and respect its international obligations," he said at a press conference in Brussels on Wednesday following a videoconference of the North Atlantic Council with the participation of foreign ministers NATO countries and defense ministers. Stoltenberg said that NATO ministers have considered building up Russia's military presence in and around Ukraine. The secretary general also said this is the largest build-up of Russian troops since the illegal annexation of Crimea in 2014, and it is part of a broader trend of aggressive Russian actions that are causing very serious concern. The man wanted in a kidnapping and sexual assault in North Hudson Tuesday was arrested Wednesday night, the Hudson County Prosecutors Office said. The man, 44-year-old Juan Gonzalez-Fuentes of Union City, was arrested at approximately 9:30 p.m. at the Hudson County Prosecutors Office. He is charged with first-degree kidnapping, first-degree carjacking, second-degree burglary, two counts of first-degree aggravated sexual assault and third-degree aggravated sexual criminal contact. The 26-year-old victim was sleeping in her boyfriends car, which was parked on 28th Street just off Kennedy Boulevard in Union City with the engine running Tuesday night at 10:30 p.m., when Gonzales-Fuentes jumped in and drove to the area of 2600 Meadowview Avenue in North Bergen, Prosecutor Esther Suarez said. Meadowview Avenue is a dead end street off 26th Street, west of Kennedy Boulevard. The woman awoke when the Gonzalez-Fuentes began sexually assaulting her. He then fled. Suarez credited the Hudson County Prosecutors Office Special Victims Unit and the Union City and North Bergen Police Departments for the investigation and arrest. A detention hearing for Gonzalez-Fuentes is tentatively scheduled for April 20. This report has been updated with new information. Film celebrities are known to often share their pictures from their sets on social media with their fans. While most of these pictures usually show them preparing for their film projects, the one shared by Janhvi Kapoor on her Instagram story is different in nature. Known for being one of the active Bollywood celebrities on social media, the actor has shared a picture from her shoot which shows how she is tackling the heat, along with a quirky take on the same. Janhvi Kapoors shares her method of dealing with heat Even though the summer season has arrived and temperatures have gone high, that has not stopped Janhvi Kapoor from sticking to her shooting schedule. Her recent Instagram story has been taken from sets, where she is seen sitting on a chair, waiting for her shot. Having donned a stylish outfit, Janhvi is seen wearing a device that has a resemblance with headphones, with small fans on both ends. The two ends of the device are pointed towards her face which keeps the heat at bay. Kapoor is seen wearing the device with a smile on her face. Image courtesy: Janhvi Kapoor's Instagram Janhvi simply wrote in the caption, Hai Garmi ko Bye Garmi. The actor had recently flown to Maldives for a vacation and had shared several pictures from her trip. Some of those pictures include the candid ones, which have captured her enjoying the scenic views of the sea from the beaches. She wrote in one of the posts caption, Last to get on the Maldives bandwagon but I fully get the hype. However, she has now returned back to her shooting schedule after the break. Janhvi Kapoor was recently seen in Roohi, which also starred Rajkummar Rao and Varun Sharma opposite her. The film was delayed due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic but eventually had a theatrical release. Janhvi also has a couple of upcoming films up her sleeve, including Dostana 2 and Good Luck Jerry. She has worked on a handful of film projects to date, including Gunjan Saxena: The Kargil Girl, Ghost Stories and more. Promo image courtesy: Janhvi Kapoor's Instagram 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. The festival was positioned as a luxury concert event featuring Migos, Disclosure, Blink-182, Major Lazer and others by McFarland and his business partner, rapper Ja Rule. It was scheduled to take place over two weekends in the spring of 2017 on the island of Exumas in the Bahamas, with ticket prices ranging between $1,000 and $12,000. It was advertised with a splashy video ad filled with models luxuriating on yachts and sun-kissed beaches on an island purportedly formerly owned by Pablo Escobar (who actually never owned an island in the Bahamas). LONDON (AP) The ousted Myanmar ambassador to Britain has appealed to the British government to help him as he faced eviction from his London residence. Kyaw Zwar Minn had to spend a night in his car last week after his countrys military attache barred him from the embassy in central London. He told reporters from behind the padlocked gates of his residence in northwest London on Thursday that he is not going to go today and intends to stay despite orders from his former staff that he has to move out. The former diplomat had called for the release of former elected leader Aung San Suu Kyi, who was detained after the military took power in a coup on Feb. 1. Asked what he would do over the next few days, he replied: Who can tell? The last time they seized the embassy without warning, so I need to be careful. He did not elaborate on what kind of help he wanted from the British government. Britain Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab said last week he condemned the bullying actions of the Myanmar military regime in London. More than 700 people in Myanmar have been killed in a brutal crackdown against pro-democracy protesters and others opposed to Februarys coup. Hyderabad, April 15 : Hyderabad police on Thursday detained former Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy's daughter Y.S. Sharmila as she tried to continue her fast demanding job notifications for Telangana's unemployed youth. She was taken into custody as she tried to take out a 'padyatra' after police forcibly ended her fast at Indira Park. Police forcibly ended her protest as the permission was given for one-day fast, though she had applied for a three-day fast. Police stopped Sharmila at the Telugu Talli flyover when she, along with her supporters, was walking towards her Lotus Pond residence in Banjara Hills. There was even a stampede-like situation. At one stage, she collapsed and was briefly unconscious. She was later dropped at her residence. Sharmila, however, staged a sit-in outside her residence and made it clear that she will continue the fast till all her supporters are released by the police. Condemning the police action against her and her supporters, she targetted Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao. Sharmila, who plans to launch a new political party in Telangana in July, undertook the fast to demand the state government issue job notifications for unemployed youth. The sister of Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy, she questioned the silence of Chandrasekhar Rao on suicides by unemployed youth. She said the Chief Minister should respond to the burning problem. She said she would stand with the unemployed youth who are seeking jobs. "Whether other opposition parties speak for you or not, I will stand by you," she told the youth. She said fasts and protests will continue across the state till the state government issues job notifications to fill the vacancies in various government departments. She alleged that dejected over the delay in job notifications, unemployed youth were ending their lives but the Chief Minister is neglecting the issue. Recalling that youth were in the forefront of the movement for statehood to Telangana, she demanded that Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) government fulfil their aspirations by providing them jobs. "There are 1.91 lakh vacancies. The government should fill them," she said and appealed to youth not to resort to suicides, assuring them that she would lead the fight to pressurise the government to issue job notifications. Sharmila undertook the fast a week after addressing a public meeting at Khammam, where she announced that she will launch the political party on July 8, the birth anniversary of her father. Unemployed youth, students and leaders of various groups met her during the fast and expressed their solidarity. She said she would unveil the flag, name and ideology of the new party on July 8. The public meeting at Khammam was also addressed by Sharmila's mother Y. S. Vijayamma, who appealed to people to bless her daughter with their support. Vijayamma also shared the dais with Sharmila at Thursday's fast. An interesting incident at the venue caught the attention of all and triggered speculations. Asking video camera persons to move aside, Sharmila remarked that Sakshi (the media house owned by her brother) will not give coverage. Vijayamma, who was sitting next to her, was apparently taken aback. She immediately patted her hand in an obvious signal to stop. Sharmila has been holding meetings with loyalists of her late father in Telangana for more than a month as part of the preparations to float a political party here. Andhra Pradesh's ruling YSR Congress Party (YSRCP) has already made it clear that its leader Jagan Mohan Reddy has difference of opinion with his sister's plan to enter Telangana politics and launch a new party. [April 15, 2021] Apple and Partners Launch First-Ever $200 Million Restore Fund to Accelerate Natural Solutions to Climate Change Apple (News - Alert) today announced a first-of-its-kind carbon removal initiative - called the Restore Fund - that will make investments in forestry projects to remove carbon from the atmosphere while generating a financial return for investors. Launched with Conservation International and Goldman Sachs, Apple's $200 million fund aims to remove at least 1 million metric tons of carbon dioxide annually from the atmosphere, equivalent to the amount of fuel used by over 200,000 passenger vehicles, while demonstrating a viable financial model that can help scale up investment in forest restoration. "Nature provides some of the best tools to remove carbon from the atmosphere. Forests, wetlands, and grasslands draw carbon from the atmosphere and store it away permanently in their soils, roots, and branches," said Lisa Jackson, Apple's vice president of Environment, Policy, and Social Initiatives. "Through creating a fund that generates both a financial return as well as real, and measurable carbon impacts, we aim to drive broader change in the future - encouraging investment in carbon removal around the globe. Our hope is that others share our goals and contribute their resources to support and protect critical ecosystems." This effort is part of Apple's broader goal to become carbon neutral across its entire value chain by 2030. While the company will directly eliminate 75 percent of emissions for its supply chain and products by 2030, the fund will help address the remaining 25 percent of Apple's emissions by removing carbon from the atmosphere. Trees absorb carbon as they grow, with researchers estimating that tropical forests hold more carbon than humanity has emitted over the past 30 years from burning coal, oil, and natural gas, despite ongoing deforestation. The partnership aims to unlock the potential of this natural solution by scaling it in a way that makes it attractive to businesses. To ensure that the carbon stored in forests is being accurately quantified, and permanently locked out of the atmosphere, the Restore Fund will use robust international standards developed by recognized organizations such as Verra, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, and the UN Climate Convention. And it will prioritize investments in working forests that improve biodiversity through the creation of buffer zones and natural set-asides. Conservation International is a co-investor in the fund and is ensuring that projects meet strict environmental and social standards. Goldman Sachs is managing the fund. The three parties will identify new projects later this year. "Innovation is core to Apple's approach to climate solutions, and Goldman Sachs is proud to partner with them and Conservation International," said Dina Powell, Global Head of Sustainability and Inclusive Grwth at Goldman Sachs. "We all agree that the urgency of climate transition requires private capital to work alongside new and established efforts aimed at sustainably removing carbon from the atmosphere with rigor and high standards. We believe launching this fund can catalyze significant additional investment capital for climate impact." Apple's Forestry Efforts The Restore Fund builds on Apple's legacy of work in forestry conservation. For three years running, Apple has used 100 percent responsibly sourced fibers in its packaging and improved the management of more than 1 million acres of forests globally to date. Apple has also pioneered groundbreaking carbon projects with Conservation International that protect and restore grasslands, wetlands, and forests. "Investing in nature can remove carbon far more effectively - and much sooner - than any other current technology. As the world faces the global threat climate change presents, we need innovative new approaches that can dramatically reduce emissions," said Dr. M. Sanjayan, CEO of Conservation International. "We are excited to build on our long-standing partnership with Apple and believe the groundbreaking approach with the Restore Fund will make a huge difference and benefit communities around the world with new jobs and revenue that support everything from education to healthcare." In 2018, Apple partnered with Conservation International, local government, and conservation organizations in Colombia to protect and restore a 27,000-acre mangrove forest in the country. The aim is to sequester 1 million metric tons of carbon dioxide over the project's lifetime. These mangroves not only protect the coasts and help support the livelihoods of residents in those communities where they grow, but they also store up to 10 times more carbon than forests on land. This project is the first to use "blue carbon" methodology to rigorously value the entire mangrove system - both above and below the waterline - for its climate mitigation impacts. Apple and Conservation International have also partnered with local conservation organizations in Kenya to restore degraded savannas in the Chyulu Hills region, an area between three national parks in Kenya and just across the border from Kilimanjaro National Park in Tanzania. Scaling up this work across the degraded rangeland and natural savannas across Africa could remove hundreds of millions of tons of carbon from the atmosphere each year, while also benefiting local communities and wildlife. Apple's customers can also take part in supporting these efforts. For each Apple Pay purchase from now through Earth Day, Apple will make a donation to Conservation International to support its efforts to preserve and protect the environment. Working Forests and Responsible Packaging Since 2017, 100 percent of the virgin wood fiber used in Apple's packaging has come from responsible sources - the same sort of responsibly managed working forests in which the Restore Fund intends to invest. This represents the company's first closed-loop material as part of its goal to one day make products using only recycled or renewable materials. Progress to this goal has involved steady innovations that have the potential to change the future of sustainable packaging. After launching the first iPhone (News - Alert) with majority-fiber packaging in 2016, Apple's newest iPhone 12 lineup now arrives to customers in packaging that comprises 93 percent fiber-based materials. This includes the fiber-based screen cover that protects the display and for the first time replaced the standard plastic film. Apple has also taken direct steps to support the responsible production of wood fiber. Through partnerships with The Conservation Fund and World Wildlife Fund, Apple has improved the management of more than 1 million acres of working forests in the United States and China since 2015. Apple revolutionized personal technology with the introduction of the Macintosh in 1984. Today, Apple leads the world in innovation with iPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple Watch, and Apple TV. Apple's five software platforms - iOS, iPadOS, macOS, watchOS, and tvOS - provide seamless experiences across all Apple devices and empower people with breakthrough services including the App Store, Apple Music, Apple Pay, and iCloud. Apple's more than 100,000 employees are dedicated to making the best products on earth, and to leaving the world better than we found it. NOTE TO EDITORS: For additional information visit Apple Newsroom (www.apple.com/newsroom), or call Apple's Media Helpline at (408) 974-2042. 2021 Apple Inc. All rights reserved. Apple, the Apple logo, Apple Pay, and iPhone are trademarks of Apple. Other company and product names may be trademarks of their respective owners. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210415005310/en/ [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] WASHINGTON (AP) Former Vice President Mike Pence has undergone surgery to have a pacemaker implanted. His office says that Wednesday's procedure went well and that Pence is expected to fully recover and return to normal activity in the coming days. The 61-year-old Pence, who recently launched a new advocacy group and signed a book deal, had previously been diagnosed with a heart condition called asymptomatic left bundle branch block. His office says that, over the past two weeks, he experienced symptoms associated with a slow heart rate and underwent the procedure in Virginia in response. Pence is considered a likely 2024 presidential candidate if former President Donald Trump declines to run again. He is expected to deliver his first public speech since leaving office later this month in South Carolina. SAULT STE. MARIE, ON, April 14, 2021 /CNW/ - Terry Sheehan, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Economic Development and Official Languages, on behalf of the Honourable Patty Hajdu, Minister of Health, will announce support towards a safe voluntary isolation site for residents of Sault Ste. Marie and Algoma District. He will be joined by Christian Provenzano, Mayor of Sault Ste. Marie, Mike Nadeau, CEO, District of Sault Ste. Marie Social Services Administration Board and Dr. Jennifer Loo, Acting Medical Officer of Health and CEO, Algoma Public Health. There will be a media availability immediately following the announcement. Date April 15, 2021 Time 1:00 PM (EDT) Location The event will be held on Zoom. Zoom link: https://ca01web.zoom.us/j/68840767104 Passcode: 294944 Please indicate your name (first and last) and media outlet when joining the event. SOURCE Public Health Agency of Canada Cision View original content: http://www.newswire.ca/en/releases/archive/April2021/15/c0085.html Today, the Senate Judiciary Committee heard testimony from Kristen Clarke, Joe Bidens nominee to head the Justice Departments Civil Rights Division. Clarke appeared along with Todd Kim, the nominee to head the Environment and Natural Resources Division. This meant a pretty easy time for Kim. Clarke, by contrast, came under heavy fire. She tried to deflect it through a combination of lies and nonsense. Consider her exchange with Sen. Ted Cruz. In June 2020, Clarke wrote an article for Newsweek called I Prosecuted Police Killings. Defund the Police But Be Strategic. So Cruz asked Clarke whether she still favors defunding the police. Clarke responded that she doesnt support defunding the police, and that she wrote the Newsweek article to make it clear that she does not support defunding the police (she later made clear that she equates defunding the police with investing fewer resources in the police). Clarke blamed the title of the article, which called expressly for defunding the police, on Newsweek. Cruz showed, however, that in the body of her article Clarke repeatedly advocated taking resources away from the police. Three paragraphs in a row began with the words we must invest less in police. (Emphasis added) Unable to sustain her false statement, under oath, that her article didnt call for defunding the police, Clarke resorted to a fallback position. She defended her article by saying that, at the time she wrote it, she lacked the power of the purse. In other words, she lacked the power to defund the police. Thats an interesting defense. Is it one of general applicability? If a nominee for a civil rights job had called for defunding the DOJs Civil Rights Division, should the Senate overlook that advocacy because at the time of publication, the author lacked the power of the purse? If I advocate life sentences for pickpockets, is it unfair to hold me accountable for that position because Im not a prosecutor, a judge, or a legislator? Clarke noted that Joe Biden supports increased funding for the police (through the federal COPS program), and that she concurs. I suspect that the devil is in the details when it comes to Bidens position on more funding. But lets put that aside. If Biden really wants more money for the police, then jobs in his administration that intersect with policing should be filled by presidential appointees who didnt disagree with Bidens view nine months ago. In any case, they shouldnt be filled by nominees who, like Kristen Clarke, lie under oath as to what their position was. Technique could help find sources of heavy air pollution and allow researchers to better study its effects on human health and make more socially just policy decisions DURHAM, N.C. - Researchers at Duke University have developed a method that uses machine learning, satellite imagery and weather data to autonomously find hotspots of heavy air pollution, city block by city block. The technique could be a boon for finding and mitigating sources of hazardous aerosols, studying the effects of air pollution on human health, and making better informed, socially just public policy decisions. "Before now, researchers trying to measure the distribution of air pollutants throughout a city would either try to use the limited number of existing monitors or drive sensors around a city in vehicles," said Mike Bergin, professor of civil and environmental engineering at Duke. "But setting up sensor networks is time-consuming and costly, and the only thing that driving a sensor around really tells you is that roads are big sources of pollutants. Being able to find local hotspots of air pollution using satellite images is hugely advantageous." The specific air pollutants that Bergin and his colleagues are interested in are tiny airborne particles called PM2.5. These are particles that have a diameter of less than 2.5 micrometers -- about three percent of the diameter of a human hair -- and have been shown to have a dramatic effect on human health because of their ability to travel deep into the lungs. The Global Burden of Disease study ranked PM2.5 fifth on its list of mortality risk factors in 2015. The study indicated that PM2.5 was responsible in one year for about 4.2 million deaths and 103.1 million years of life lost or lived with disability. A recent study from the Harvard University T.H. Chan School of Public Health also found that areas with higher PM2.5 levels are associated with higher death rates due to COVID-19. But the Harvard researchers could only access PM2.5 data on a county-by-county level within the United States. While a valuable starting point, county-level pollution statistics can't drill down to a neighborhood next to a coal-fired power plant versus one next to a park that is 30 miles upwind. And most countries outside of the Western world don't have that level of air quality monitoring. "Ground stations are expensive to build and maintain, so even large cities aren't likely to have more than a handful of them," said Bergin. "So while they might give a general idea of the amount of PM2.5 in the air, they don't come anywhere near giving a true distribution for the people living in different areas throughout that city." In previous work with doctoral student Tongshu Zheng and colleague David Carlson, assistant professor of civil and environmental engineering at Duke, the researchers showed that satellite imagery, weather data and machine learning could provide PM2.5 measurements on a small scale. Building off that work and focusing on Beijing, the team has now improved their methods and taught the algorithm to automatically find hotspots and cool spots of air pollution with a resolution of 300 meters -- about the length of a New York City block. The advancement was made by using a technique called residual learning. The algorithm first estimates the levels of PM2.5 using weather data alone. It then measures the difference between these estimates and the actual levels of PM2.5 and teaches itself to use satellite images to make its predictions better. "When predictions are made first with the weather, and then satellite data is added later to fine-tune them, it allows the algorithm to take full advantage of the information in satellite imagery," said Zheng. The researchers then used an algorithm initially designed to adjust uneven illumination in an image to find areas of high and low levels of air pollution. Called local contrast normalization, the technique essentially looks for city-block-sized pixels that have higher or lower levels of PM2.5 than others in their vicinity. "These hotspots are notoriously difficult to find in maps of PM levels because some days the air is just really bad across the entire city, and it is really difficult to tell if there are true differences between them or if there's just a problem with the image contrast," said Carlson. "It's a big advantage to be able to find a specific neighborhood that tends to stay higher or lower than everywhere else, because it can help us answer questions about health disparities and environmental fairness." While the exact methods the algorithm teaches itself can't transfer from city to city, the algorithm could easily teach itself new methods in different locations. And while cities might evolve over time in both weather and pollution patterns, the algorithm shouldn't have any trouble evolving with them. Plus, the researchers point out, the number of air quality sensors is only going to increase in coming years, so they believe their approach will only get better with time. "I think we'll be able to find built environments in these images that are related to the hot and cool spots, which can have a huge environmental justice component," said Bergin. "The next step is to see how these hotspots are related to socioeconomic status and hospital admittance rates from long-term exposures. I think this approach could take us really far and the potential applications are just amazing." ### The results appeared online April 1 in the journal Remote Sensing. This work was supported in part by the Duke Energy Initiative as well as the Office of the Provost at Duke University. CITATION: "Local PM2.5 Hotspot Detector at 300 m Resolution: A Random Forest-Convolutional Neural Network Joint Model Jointly Trained on Satellite Images and Meteorology," Tongshu Zheng, Michael Bergin, Guoyin Wang and David Carlson. Remote Sensing, April 1, 2021. DOI: 10.3390/rs1307135 US President Joe Biden on Wednesday said that the United States will start its final withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan on May 1 and complete its pullout ahead of the 20th anniversary of the September 11 terrorists attacks. Biden, while delivering his remarks on the "Way Forward in Afghanistan" said, "The United States will begin our final withdrawal beginning on May 1 this year." US President Joe Biden said, "US troops, as well as forces deployed by our NATO allies and operational partners, will be out of Afghanistan before we mark the 20th anniversary of the heinous attack on September 11 but we will not take our eyes off the terrorist threat." Joe Biden announces Afghanistan exit Stating that the US will use all tools at its disposal to respond to any potential Taliban attack on the US forces or partners, the US President said, "The Taliban should know that if they attack us as we draw down we will defend ourselves and our partners with all the tools at our disposal." Biden further mentioned that he will ask other countries to step up support for Afghanistan. Joe Biden that the US will ask other countries in the region, especially Pakistan, but also Russia, China, India and Turkey to step up support for Afghanistan. This latest development comes after a senior Biden administration official on Tuesday said that the US is ending the war in Afghanistan after 20 years and will complete the withdrawal of American troops from the country before this year's anniversary of the September 11 attacks. The senior officer of the Biden administration had said, "After a rigorous policy review, President Biden decided to draw down remaining US troops from Afghanistan and finally end the US war there after 20 years." Meanwhile, the Taliban have rejected the United States' plan to restore peace in Afghanistan as well as the proposed six-month delay in the withdrawal of the American troops. Taliban's spokesperson Mohammad Naeem Wardak on Tuesday had said that the movement would refrain from taking part in any conference until foreign military presence in Afghanistan is ended. "Until all foreign forces completely withdraw from our homeland, the Islamic Emirate will not participate in any conference that shall make decisions about Afghanistan," Wardak tweeted. Earlier, Former US President Donald Trump had set a May 1 deadline to withdraw from Afghanistan but the effort has been complicated by logistical issues, according to the senior Biden administration officials. (Image: AP) YEREVAN, APRIL 15, ARMENPRESS. Georgias proposal to serve as Nagorno Karabakh conflict settlement platform remain in force, President of Georgia Salome Zurabichvili said in a joint statement with President of Armenia Armen Sarkissian in Tbilisi. I am happy for the opportunity to meet you at the Orbeliani Palace. Following our previous meeting, we all encountered very hard challenges, on the one hand, because of the pandemic that damaged the economies of all three countries in the region, isolated us from relations with the world, as well as caused human losses. But the picture of the war was much worse. Mr. President, I want to offer my condolences to the families of the victims and personally you. Like during the war, now Georgia is standing as a supporter of peace. As a sign of that, we proposed our platform for meetings, dialogue and de-escalation of the situation. This proposal remains in force, ARMENPRESS reports Zurabichvili as saying. According to the Georgian President, everyone understands very well that any conflict in the region causes damage to the entire region, therefore peace and cooperation have no alternative for the development of Caucasus. In the context of the importance of stability in the region, we also discussed the situation in Ukraine, destabilization in the Black Sea region and not only. We understand how much de-escalation is important for this region today, she said. Evangelical leader Pat Robertson gave a damning critique of American police for an onslaught of violence against Black Americans, blaming a low-paid force consisting of not the best and brightest. In the latest edition of CBNs700 Club, Mr Robertson was incredulous at the claim by former police officer Kim Potter that she mistook her handgun for her Taser in the fatal shooting of Daunte Wright. Employing prop weapons to make the point, Mr Robertson and co-host Terry Meeuwsen agreed there was no comparison in the weight of the two items. Ms Meeuwsen reminded viewers the two weapons are also sited on different sides of an officers body, with the gun on the dominant side. Theres just no comparison, said Mr Robertson. Now how she made the difference, when she shot that poor guy to death, saying this is what I thought was my Taser. And if you cant tell the difference in the feel of those things, its crazy. Mr Robertson then used the segment, which had followed a news report about the arrest of Ms Potter for the killing of Mr Wright, to rail against the police, much to the surprise of viewers. You know I am pro-police folks, I think we need the police, we need their service, and they do a good job, but if they dont stop this onslaught, they cannot do this, said Mr Robertson. The evangelist, known for his ultraconservative views, then brought up the traffic stop in Virginia that led to Army Lt Caron Nazario being pepper-sprayed by officers. He also referred to the trial of Derek Chauvin for the murder of George Floyd in Minneapolis. You know, the police in Virginia picked up a lieutenant in the Army and began to give him trouble, and our state police are highly trained, but why they dont stop this? said Mr Robertson. And this thing thats going on in Minnesota with Derek Chauvin. I mean they ought to put him under the jail. The televangelist continued: He has caused so much trouble by kneeling on the death of George Floyd, I mean his neck, its just terrible whats happening. He added: The police, why dont they open their eyes to what the public relations are, theyve got to stop this stuff. Ms Meeuwsen suggested that they needed more and consistent training to which Mr Robertson replied with a form no, instead saying that they need to be paid better to attract a higher quality of candidate. We dont have the finest in the police department. Theyre low-paid people, Terry, they dont get adequate Its not a question of training, its a question of hiring a more superior workforce, and we arent doing it, he said. But we need police, we need them, and we need to honour them, and Im all for it, but at the same time, we cannot have a bunch of clowns running around who are underpaid and who really are not the best and brightest. Weve got to have the best in there. Viewers and commentators were taken by surprise at the harsh criticism levelled at law enforcement officers by the famously right-wing evangelist. Comedian Walter Kamau Bell, host of CNNs United Shades of America, tweeted: Who had Woke Pat Robertson on their 2021 bingo card? Other Twitter users asked if Mr Robertson had had a true come to Jesus moment and pointed out that if even he could call out police brutality, then so can pretty much anyone else. Filmmaker and activist Bree Newsome was less impressed, tweeting: I dont see someone condemning racism, I see someone condemning cops for acting so outrageously that theyve caused destabilisation for the racist system. She added: Pat Robertson is not the first person to tell the boys theyre going just a bit too far with it & to reel it back in a little bit. BRISTOL, Pa., April 15, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Gentell President David Navazio announced the opening of the company's new distribution center in Boca Raton, FL. This operation will provide advanced wound care supplies to nursing homes throughout Florida and other southern states. "This is part of our continuing effort to give the best service to our customers," says Navazio. "Our goal is to deliver wound care supplies quickly and efficiently so that nursing home residents can get the treatments they need without any delays." David Navazio, President of Gentell Gentell services a substantial number of nursing homes in the state of Florida and around the country with its Gentell Total Wound Care Solution, providing clinical support, education and advanced wound care products. The Boca Raton location joins Gentell's other distribution centers in Chicago, IL, Las Vegas, NV, and Bristol, PA. Because the company is experiencing significant growth, plans are also underway to open a distribution center in the Dallas, TX, region. The company is transferring two managers from Pennsylvania to head up the operation. "As a local homeowner, I am pleased to support the economy of South Palm Beach County. Gentell is a thriving company that provides competitive wages and excellent benefits to our employees," he states. The new Gentell distribution center is located at 1141 South Rogers Circle, Boca Raton 33487. About Gentell: Headquartered in Bristol, PA, Gentell is a leading provider of advanced wound care products and services to nursing homes throughout the United States. David Navazio founded the company in 1994 and serves as President. More information can be found at www.gentell.com. Contact Valerie Falkenberg [email protected] 856-237-5699 Related Images david-navazio.jpg David Navazio David Navazio, President of Gentell SOURCE Gentell HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) About 150 unaccompanied children found at the southern border of the U.S. have arrived in northwestern Pennsylvania and will be housed at a dormitory at the Pennsylvania International Academy. The children landed Tuesday night at Erie International Airport and were screened by a physician, dentist and nurse, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services said. The Pennsylvania International Academy is designated as an emergency intake site by the department. Six children were assigned to each room in the 648-capacity dormitory, with more children expected in the future, the department said. A department spokesperson told the Erie Times-News that the majority of the 146 children have relatives in the U.S. and the process will begin to try to connect them with those family members. Vehicles are parked outside the Pennsylvania International Academy dorms, Wednesday, April 14, 2021, in Summit Township, Pa., which is housing a group of migrant children, about 146 girls ages 7-12, who were detained at the U.S.-Mexico border. The girls were flown to Erie International Airport, then transported to the facility to receive temporary shelter. (Greg Wohlford/Erie Times-News via AP)AP The U.S. government picked up nearly 19,000 children traveling alone across the Mexican border in March, the largest monthly number ever recorded, authorities said last week. Children are released to sponsors in the U.S., usually parents or close relatives, while being allowed to pursue their cases in immigration courts. The Roman Catholic Diocese of Erie said a local volunteer effort will be led by Sister Linda Yankoski, president and CEO of the Pittsburgh-based Holy Family Institute, which also has received children from the border at its facilities in that city. Volunteers likely will be used to help with laundry, meals, sorting clothing and toys and, for those with clearances, to interact with the children, the diocese said. Governors of two states, Iowa and Nebraska, are refusing to house the children. More from PennLive Biden to address joint session of Congress just before his 100th day in office The special crossing sale of the 8.73% stake has been strongly supported by Valors existing shareholders with the companys broker, directors and existing shareholders participating. SSR Mining Limited is the vendor of the relinquished Berenguela Project in Peru. ( ) (FRA:LFY) has received strong validation of its projects and exploration strategy with supporters buying the entire stake of a major shareholder through a special crossing sale. SSR Mining Limited (SSR), vendor of the relinquished Berenguela Project in Peru, has arranged the special crossing sale for its 247,288,034 ordinary fully paid shares representing 8.73% of Valors capital. Strong support This sale at $0.006 per share has been strongly supported by Valors existing shareholders with the companys broker, directors and existing shareholders participating. Late last year Valor completed and settled the transfer of the entities which hold rights to the Berenguela Project back to SSR. Terms for the transfer were the release and discharge of Valor's acquisition obligations including the release of outstanding amounts of US$10.8 million owed to SSR and relevant security interests. Following settlement of the transfer, SSR had no further project interests with the company and as a result, wished to sell its major shareholding. Valors broker CPS Capital has now arranged a special crossing trade for SSR to sell 100% of its shareholding. Directors participate Directors have subscribed for shares from the special crossing with executive chairman George Bauk subscribing for 15 million and non-executive director Brian McMaster for 20 million. The balance of the shares will be subscribed by existing Valor shareholders, which highlights the strong support and sentiment for the companys current projects. Focus on Peru and Canada Valor is focused on two key projects in Peru and Canada. Peruvian subsidiary Kiwanda SAC holds the rights to the Picha & Berenguela South Projects in the Moquegua Department of Peru, 17 kilometres ENE of the Chucapaca (San Gabriel-Buenaventura) gold deposit. They are two copper-silver exploration projects comprising 14 granted mining concessions for a total of 6,900 hectares. Valor is also the 100% owner of Pitchblende, which holds the following interests: More than the stereotype of the docile smart student that sits in the back row and lives for math and science, the AAPI community has taken it upon themselves to rewrite outdated characters in favor of vibrant multifaceted ones that encapsulate their contemporary experienceswritten by and for AAPI individuals who werent able to find themselves in popular media. As shown by the myriad of AAPI childrens and YA authors and their storiesfrom struggles with self-identity, fitting in with the crowd, the joys of rediscovering and sharing culture, and contributing to societyevery AAPI has a distinct story to tell. Here we have collected some of the years new and forthcoming titles that celebrate AAPI experiences, strength, and resilience no matter the circumstance. The recent rise in hate crimes toward AAPI continues to shake the community, but stories like these serve as a reminder of joy and belonging. Picture Books and Graphic Novels Always Anjali Sheetal Sheth, illus. by Jessica Blank. (Mango & Marigold, $19.95, ISBN 978-1-68401-968-7) When Anjali receives the bike of her dreams on her birthday, she is excited to get a license plate with her name on it. But Anjali cant find her name. To make matters worse, she is bullied for her name, and is so upset she wants to change it. Eyes That Kiss in the Corners by Joanna Ho, illus. by Dung Ho (HarperCollins, $21.99, ISBN 978-0-06-291562-7) An Asian girl notices that her eyes look different from her friends and begins to wish for eyes that are like theirs, until she realizes that her eyes are like her familys: filled with stories of the past and hope for the future. See our profile on Joanna Hos bestselling picture book debut. Hair Twins by Raakhee Mirchandani, illus. by Holly Hatam (Little, Brown, $17.99, ISBN 978-0-316-49530-1) A Sikh father and daughter with a special hair bond proudly celebrate and share a family tradition. Every morning Papa combs through his daughter's waves like he does his own. Her favorite style is when he combs her hair in a tight bun on the top of her head, just like the joora he wears every day under his turban. I Dream of Popo by Livia Blackburne, illus. by Julia Kuo (Roaring Brook, $18.99, ISBN 978-1-250-24931-9) When a girl and her family emigrate from Taiwan to San Diego, they leave behind the narrators maternal grandmother, Popo. This story touches on learning a new language, acclimating to a new home, and the changing relationship the child maintains with Popo even while apart. My First Day by Phung Nguyen Quang and Huy'nh Kim Lien (Make Me a World, $17.99, ISBN 978-0-593-30626-0) The rainy season has come to the Mekong Delta, and An, a Vietnamese boy, sets out alone in a wooden boat wearing a little backpack and armed only with a single oar. Although daunted by the unknown, An realizes that his efforts will be worth it when he reaches his destination. The Fearless Flights of Hazel Ying Lee by Julie Leung, illus. by Julie Kwon (Little, Brown, $18.99, ISBN 978-0-7595-5495-5 The picture book biography focuses on Hazel Ying Lee, the first Chinese American woman to fly for the U.S. military. When people scoffed at her dreams of becoming a pilot, Hazel wouldn't take no for an answer; she joined the Women Airforce Service Pilots during World War II. When Lola Visits by Michelle Sterling, illus. by Aaron Asis (HarperCollins/Tegen, $17.99, ISBN 978-0-06-297285-9) For one girl, summer doesnt start until her lolaher grandmother from the Philippinescomes for her annual visit. Her lola fills the house with the aroma of mango jam and her quiet, sweet singing in Tagalog. The whole family gathers to share in their happiness of another season spent together. Watercress by Andrea Wang, illus. by Jason Chin. (Holiday House/Porter, $18.99, ISBN 978-0-8234-4624-7) Driving through Ohio, a girls parents stop the car when they spot watercress growing wild by the side of the road, and the family wades into the muck to collect as much as they can. First, the girl is embarrassed, but when her mother shares a story of her familys time in China, the girl learns to appreciate what they foraged. See our In Conversation with Wang and Chin. Middle Grade All You Knead Is Love by Tanya Guerrero (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, $16.99, ISBN 978-0-374-31423-1) Alba, who is one quarter Filipino and one quarter Spanish, doesn't want to live with her estranged grandmother, Lola Abuela, in Barcelona. She wants to stay with her mother, even if that means enduring her fathers abuse. But in her new home, Alba forms a close relationship with Lola Abuela, discovers a talent for baking, and gets to know the city her mother used to call home. Aminas Song by Hena Khan (S&S/Salaam Reads, $17.99, ISBN 978-1-5344-5988-5) In this companion novel to Aminas Voice, it is the last few days of vacation in Lahore, Pakistan and Amina is excited to share her experience with her friends back home in Wisconsin. But her friends dont seem interested. When she decides to do a presentation on Pakistani hero Malala Yousafzai, her classmates focus on the worst parts of the story. Amina wonders how she can share the beauty of Pakistan when no one wants to listen. See our q&a with Khan here. Clues to the Universe by Christina Li (Quill Tree, $17.99, ISBN 978-0-06-300888-5) Lis debut middle grade novel is about losing and finding family, forging unlikely friendships, and searching for answers to questions bigger than yourself. If there is anything Ro loves more than watching rockets being launched, its building them with her father, until he is unexpectedly killed. When Ro and Benji become science partners at school, they become unlikely friends and grow together facing bullying, grief, and their own differences. Finding Junie Kim by Ellen Oh (HarperCollins, $16.99, ISBN 978-0-06-298798-3) While facing racist vandalism at her middle school, Junie must decide between staying silent or speaking out. When her teacher assigns an oral history project, Junie learns of her grandparents experiences as lost children during the Korean War and finds her inner strength, just as her grandparents did. Generation Misfits by Akemi Dawn Bowman (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, $16.99, ISBN 978-0-374-31374-6) Millie Nakakura is starting sixth grade at a real school for the first time in her life, and making friends is trickier than expected. When she spots a flyer for an after-school club for fans of Japanese pop music, Millie begins to find her place with this crew of misfits. Kiki Kallira Breaks a Kingdom by Sangu Mandanna (Viking, $17.99, ISBN 978-0-593-20697-3) Kiki has always been a worrier, but the thing that has always soothed her is drawing. Her sketchbook is full of doodles depicting the rich Indian legends her mother has told her over the years. One day, her sketchbooks calming effect is broken when her mythological characters spring to life and Kiki ends up falling into the mystical world she drew. Piece by Piece: The Story of Nisrins Hijab by Priya Huq (Amulet, $22.99, ISBN 978-1-4197-4016-9) In this middle-grade graphic novel, a Bangladeshi American girl is the victim of a hate crime on her way home from school. Deeply traumatized, she spends the summer only leaving her house for therapy. The night before her freshman year at a new school, she decides to start wearing hijab, to the dismay of her family. This puts her on a path to discovering more about Islam, her familys complicated relationship with the religion, and the reasons they left Bangladesh. Rea and the Blood of the Nectar by Payal Doshi (Mango & Marigold, $19.95, ISBN 978-1-64543-763-5) After a fight with her twin brother, Rohan, who goes missing, Reas life in the village of Darjeeling, India, gets turned on its head. Her grandmother is also behaving strangely. Unwilling to give up on Rohan, Rea meets a fortuneteller whose powers of divination set her off on a secret quest. Red, White, and Whole by Rajani LaRocca (Quill Tree, $16.99; ISBN 978-0-06-304742-6) Reha feels torn between two worlds: school, where shes the only Indian American student, and home, with her family and close community. But Rehas parents dont understand why shes conflicted. Reha feels especially disconnected from her mother, or Amma. Then Reha finds out that her Amma is very sick. Sugar and Spite by Gail D. Villanueva (Scholastic Press, $17.99, ISBN 978-1-338-63092-3) In this tale steeped in Villanuevas Filipino culture, Jolina can't take Claudine's bullying any longer. Though Jolina knows she's still in training to use her grandfather's arbularyo magic, she brews a batch of gayuma, a powerful love potion to use on Claudine as revenge. But magic comes with a cost, and bad intentions beget bad returns. Strong as Fire, Fierce as Flames by Supriya Kelkar (Tu, $21.95, ISBN 978-1-64379-040-4) In 1857 India, Meera escapes a life she has no say in only to end up a servant to a British general in the East India Company. When a rebellion against British colonizers spreads, she must choose between safety in a British household or standing up for herself and her people. The Girl Who Stole an Elephant by Nizrana Farook (Peachtree, $16.99, ISBN 978-1-68263-285-7) Chaya must play Robin Hood for her impoverished community, but when she steals the queens jewels a messy getaway jeopardizes a friends life. After a haphazard prison break, Chaya barely escapes on the kings prized elephant into the lush Sri Lankan jungles. That Thing About Bollywood by Supriya Kelkar (Simon & Schuster, $17.99, ISBN 978-1-5344-6673-9) An Indian American girls world turns upside down when she involuntarily starts bursting into glamorous song-and-dance routines during everyday life. The Last Fallen Star by Graci Kim (Disney/Rick Riordan Presents, $16.99, ISBN 978-1-368-05963-3) Riley can't wait to see her sister get initiated into the Gom clan, a powerful lineage of Korean healing witches. Although Riley is desperate to follow in her sister's footsteps, she's a sarama person without magic. Then Hattie gets an idea: what if they cast a spell that would allow Riley to share Hattie's powers? The Many Meanings of Meilan by Andrea Wang (Kokila, $17.99, ISBN 978-0-593-11128-4) Meilans world has a few key ingredients: a family matriarch, Nai Nai; the family bakery in Bostons Chinatown; and her Chinese fairy tales. After Nai Nai dies, the family has a falling-out that sends Meilan, her parents, and her grieving grandfather in search of a new home in Redbud, Ohio. Unsettled by Reem Faruqi (HarperCollins, $16.99, ISBN 978-0-06-304470-8) When Nurahs family moves from Karachi, Pakistan, to Peachtree City, Ga., she wants to blend in, but she stands out for all the wrong reasons. Nurahs accent, floral-print kurtas, and skin make her feel excluded, and shes left to eat lunch alone under the stairwell, until she meets Stahr at swimming tryouts. We Belong by Cookie Hiponia Everman (Dial, $16.99, ISBN 978-0-593-11220-5) Stella and Luna know that their mother came from the Philippines when she was a child. One night they ask her to tell them her story. As they get ready for bed, their Mama spins two tales: that of her youth as a strong-willed middle child and immigrant; and that of the life of Mayari, the mythical daughter of a god. While I Was Away by Waka T. Brown (Quill Tree, $16.99, ISBN 978-0-06-301711-5) When Wakas parents suspect she cant understand basic Japanese, they send her to Tokyo to live with her strict grandmother. Waka flies across the globe from rural Kansas, where she faces the culture shock of a lifetime. Even though this is the country her parents came from, Waka has never felt more like an outsider. YA A Pho Love Story by Loan Le (Simon & Schuster, $19.99, ISBN 978-1-5344-4193-4) In this romantic comedy, two Vietnamese American teens fall in love and must navigate their newfound relationship amid their families age-old feud about their competing neighboring restaurants. See our q&a with debut author Le. A Taste for Love by Jennifer Yen (Razorbill, $17.99; ISBN 978-0-593-11752-1) High school senior Liza Yang is nearly perfect. But compared to her older sister Jeannie, Liza is rebellious and determined to push back against their mothers traditional dating values. When Liza agrees to help at the family bakerys junior competition, she realizes theres a catch: all of the contestants are Asian American men her mother has handpicked for Liza to date. American Betiya by Anuradha D. Rajurkar (Knopf, $17.99, ISBN 978-1-984897-15-2) Rani Kelkar has never lied to her parents, until she meets Oliver. They begin dating in secret, but when Olivers troubled home life unravels, he starts to ask more of Rani than she knows how to give. When a twist of fate leads Rani from Evanston, Ill., to Pune, India for a summer, she has a reckoning with herself. Anna K Away by Jenny Lee (Flatiron, $18.99, ISBN 978-1-250-23646-3) In this sequel to Anna K, the former golden girl of Greenwich, Conn., and New York City has been brought low by a scandalous sex tape and the tragic death of her first love, and is now in South Korea to connect with her family. Set during one summer, the story also features familiar characters Lolly, Steven, Kimmie, Dustin, and Bea. Counting Down with You by Tashie Bhuiyan (Inkyard, $18.99, ISBN 978-1-335-20997-9) Karina has a plan. Keep her head down, get through high school without a fuss, and follow her parents ruleseven if it means sacrificing her dreams. When her parents travel to Bangladesh for four weeks, Karina expects some peace and quiet. Instead, one simple lie unravels everything. From Little Tokyo, with Love by Sarah Kuhn (Viking, $18.99, ISBN 978-0-593-32748-7) If Rikas life seems like the beginning of a fairy tale, she would be the first to reject that notion. After all, her biracial background doesnt quite fit the princess mold. That changes when she sees Grace Kimura, Americas rom-com sweetheart, setting off a chain of events to find her long-lost mother and a sense of belonging. Hani and Ishus Guide to Fake Dating by Adiba Jaigirdar (Page Street, $17.99, ISBN 978-1-64567-257-9) In Irish Bangladeshi author Jaigirdars new YA novel, everyone likes Hanishes the most popular girl at school. But when she comes out to her friends as bisexual, they invalidate her identity, saying she cant be bi if she has only dated guys. Panicked, Hani says she is in a relationship with academic overachiever Ishu, a girl her friends absolutely hate. When Ishu agrees to help Hani, they start to develop real feelings for each other. But some people will do anything to stop two Bengali girls from being together. Iron Widow by Xiran Jay Zhao (Penguin Teen, $17.99, ISBN 978-0-7352-6993-4) Chinese history and mecha science blend together in this fantasy. The boys of Huaxia dream of pairing with girls to pilot Chrysalises, robots that battle the mecha aliens lurking beyond the Great Wall, but at the cost of the girls lives. When Zetian offers herself up, its to assassinate the male pilot responsible for her sisters death. After she gets vengeance in an unexpected way, she is determined to fight the misogynist system and stop the sacrifice of more girls. Jade Fire and Gold by C.L. Tan (HarperTeen, $17.99, ISBN 978-0-06-305636-7) In this debut novel inspired by Chinese mythology, Ahn is a nobody, with no past and no family. Altan is a lost heir, his future stolen away as a child. When they meet, Altan sees in Ahn a path to reclaiming the throne. Ahn sees a way to finally unlock her past and understand her lethal magical abilities. Last Night at the Telegraph Club by Malinda Lo (Dutton, $18.99; ISBN 978-0-525-55525-4) America in 1954 is not a safe place for two girls to fall in love, especially not in San Franciscos Chinatown. Red-Scare paranoia threatens everyone, including Chinese Americans like Lily. With deportation looming over her fatherdespite his hard-won citizenshipLily and Kath risk everything to let their love see the light of day. Luck of the Titanic by Stacy Lee (Putnam, $18.99, ISBN 978-1-5247-4098-6) Valora has two things: a ticket for the most luxurious ocean liner in the world, and a dream of leaving England behind and making a life as a circus performer. Much to her surprise, shes turned away at the gangway because Chinese people arent allowed into America. But theres not much a trained acrobat like Val cant overcome when she puts her mind to it. Shell need that determination more than ever when disaster strikes the ship. Made in Korea by Sarah Suk (Simon & Schuster, $19.99, ISBN 978-1-5344-7437-6) Valerie has made a name for herself selling K-beauty products at school to help fund a trip to Paris with her halmeoni. But when the new kid in class threatens to upend her beauty business with one of his own, Valerie refuses to go down without a fight. Not Here to Be Liked by Michelle Quach (HarperCollins/Tegen, $18.99, ISBN 978-0-06-303836-3) An ambitious Chinese Vietnamese American girl finds herself trapped between leading a feminist movement and falling for her patriarchal enemy. Sisters of the Snake by Sarena Nanua and Sasha Nanua (HarperTeen, $17.99, ISBN 978-0-06-298559-0) This debut fantasy is inspired by the co-authors (twin sisters) Indian heritage. Princess Rani longs for a chance to escape her gilded cage and prove herself. Ria is a street urchin, stealing just to keep herself alive. When their lives collide, everything turns on its head: because Ria and Rani, orphan and royal, are unmistakably identical. A deal is struck to switch placesbut danger lurks in both worlds. Six Crimson Cranes by Elizabeth Lim (Knopf, $18.99, ISBN 978-0-593-30091-6) In this fantasy drawing from The Wild Swans and East Asian folklore, Shiorianma, the only princess of Kiata, has a secret. Forbidden magic runs through her veins. But when she loses control and is banished by her stepmother who also turns the princess brothers into cranes, Shiori must search for her brothers while uncovering a dark conspiracy to seize the throne. The Ones Were Meant to Find by Joan He (Roaring Brook, $18.99, ISBN 978-1-250-25856-4) In this story that centers on Asian sisterhood and family, Cee awoke on an abandoned island three years ago. With no idea of how she was marooned, she only has a rickety house, an old android, and a single memory: she has a sister, and Cee needs to find her. Tokyo Ever After by Emiko Jean (Flatiron, $18.99, ISBN 978-1-250-76660-1) Izumi (Izzy) has never really felt like she fit init isnt easy being Japanese American in her small, mostly white, California town. But Izzy discovers that her previously unknown father is the Crown Prince of Japan. In a whirlwind, Izzy travels to Japan to meet her father and discover the country she always dreamed of. Izzy soon finds herself caught between worlds, and between versions of herselfback home, she was never American enough, and in Japan, she must prove shes Japanese enough. Yolk by Mary H.K. Choi (Simon & Schuster, $18.99, ISBN 978-1-5344-4600-7) Sisters Jayne and June Baek are nothing alike. Once thick as thieves, these sisters who moved from Seoul to San Antonio to New York together dont want anything to do with each other anymore. That is, until June gets cancer and Jayne becomes the only one who can help her. Youve Reached Sam by Dustin Thao (Wednesday, $18.99, ISBN 978-1-250-76203-0) Julie has her future all planned outmove out of her small town with her boyfriend Sam, attend college in the city, spend a summer in Japan. But then Sam dies. Desperate to hear his voice one more time, Julie calls Sams cellphone just to listen to his voicemail. And Sam picks up the phone. XOXO by Axie Oh (HarperTeen, $17.99, ISBN 978-0-06-302499-1) Cello prodigy Jenny finds herself falling for a K-pop idol who isnt allowed to date, and has to decide whether their love is worth the risk. Zara Hossain Is Here by Sabina Khan (Scholastic Press, $18.99, ISBN 978-1-338-58087-7) Zaras family has waited years for their visa process to be finalized so that they can officially become U.S. citizens. But it only takes one moment for that dream to come crashing down around them. See our q&a with Khan about the personal story behind her new novel. Clare Balding has revealed she was 'put in her place' by 'the absolutely charming' Prince Philip when she interviewed him in 2010. The veteran broadcaster, 50, spoke to The Duke of Edinburgh in 2010 as part of the Queen's birthday celebrations for the BBC's broadcast of Trooping the Colour. Speaking to Ranvir Singh this morning on ITV's Lorraine, Clare paid tribute to the royal, who died last Friday at Windsor Castle aged 99, praising his sharp wit and knowledge. Clare Balding has revealed she was 'put in her place' by 'the absolutely charming' Prince Philip when she interviewed him in 2010 (pictured during the interview) Clare, who is known for her horse racing coverage, said of the Duke: 'I interviewed him for the BBC in 2010. 'Huw Edwards was meant to do it, but you'll remember it was the year of the very, very, close election and the hung parliament, so all of the political journalists had to stay very close to 10 Downing Street, so Huw had to be there. 'This was ahead of Trooping the Colour and the Queen's birthday parade. The Grenadier Guards were trooping the colour and I was talking to the Duke about that. 'He was absolutely charming and very straight-forward and very professional, until I said something. The veteran broadcaster, 50, spoke to The Duke of Edinburgh (pictured) in 2010 as part of the Queen's birthday celebrations for the BBC's broadcast of Trooping the Colour. Speaking to Ranvir Singh during Lorraine on ITV this morning (pictured), Clare paid tribute to the royal, who died last Friday at Windsor Castle aged 99, praising his sharp wit and knowledge. 'I was talking about the Grenadier Guards, and I was talking about the way they are and the values they hold and I said "the guardsmen or women" the same way I say "firemen or women", I always do that, I say "sportsmen or women". 'And he looked at me and said "there are no women in the Grenadier Guards" which is not correct now but was correct then. Can women be Grenadier Guards? In 2010, Prince Philip was right that the Grenadier Guards were all male. However, in December 2020, they welcomed 15 new Guardsmen including the first female Grenadier Guard since the Regiment's formation in 1656. Advertisement 'And I just thought "yep, you've been put back in your box, know your place Clare".' Philip, who was an active member of the military until his wife's accession to the throne in 1952, served as Colonel of the Grenadier Guards from 1975, and told Clare during the interview that the military 'turned ordinary people into extraordinary ones'. Clare also discussed the royal family's love for all things equestrianism. 'The Duke of Edinburgh himself wasn't mad for horse racing if I'm totally honest,' Clare added to Ranvir. 'He obviously came to Royal Ascot every year as part of the Royal Procession and he presented the trophy for certain key races including the Queen's Vase, and the Duke of Edinburgh therefore presented it to the Queen when her horse Ester won the Queen's vase and then went on to win the Gold Cup in subsequent years. 'He was a very keen sportsman but much more in the sport of polo and in carriage driving, where he not only took part but also help to create the rules and oversaw the building of the course at Windsor Great Park. 'He was very keen to open up Windsor for an equestrian club, through the Duke of Edinburgh awards he was really promoted that message of get out there and try new things and take risks. Queen Elizabeth ll and Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh wave from the balcony of Buckingham Palace in 2010 'He was really keen that young people should stretch out of their own comfort zone, meet other people and volunteer and always looking outwards,' she added. 'He was always looking outward and I think that's something that will be really remembered as we learn from his life and we reflect on his example I think that's something learn from his example, and I think that's the strongest message we can take from him,'. It comes as it was revealed all senior members of the Royal Family will now wear mourning dress at the Duke of Edinburgh's funeral on Saturday. In an unprecedented about-turn, a last minute decision, approved by the Queen, has been made that no royals will wear military uniform in order to present a united family front. Behind the scenes, courtiers have been racked by concern that Prince Harry, who was forced to give up his honorary military titles after he acrimoniously quit royal duties and moved to the US, would be the only senior royal not in uniform. Harry, 36, is understood to have wanted to wear the Blues and Royals dress uniform he wore on his wedding day in May 2018. As a former captain with the Household Cavalry, however, he is entitled only to wear a suit, with any medals he has been awarded in the course of his duties or by the Queen. By contrast the Prince of Wales, Duke of Cambridge, Earl of Wessex and Princess Royal would have been, by convention for a royal ceremonial funeral, in full military uniform. NEW YORK, April 15, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Atento S.A. (NYSE: ATTO), the largest provider of customer relationship management and business process outsourcing solutions (CRM/BPO) in Latin America and among the top five providers worldwide, announced today that it will release its fiscal First Quarter 2021 financial results after the market close of the New York Stock Exchange on Wednesday, May 5, 2021. Atento's senior management team will host a conference call and webcast to discuss the financial and operating results on Thursday, May 6, 2021 at 10:00 a.m. Eastern Time. You are invited to visit Atento's Investor Relations website at http://investors.atento.com. A replay will also be available after the event in the Presentations and Webcast section of the website. Dial In Info: USA: +1 866 807 9684 Brazil: +55 11 4933-0682 Spain: +34 91 414 9260 UK: +44 20 3514 3188 Webcast: click here About Atento Atento is the largest provider of customer relationship management and business process outsourcing ("CRM BPO") services in Latin America, and among the top five providers globally. Atento is also a leading provider of nearshoring CRM BPO services to companies that carry out their activities in the United States. Since 1999, the company has developed its business model in 13 countries where it employs approximately 140,000 people. Atento has over 400 clients to whom it offers a wide range of CRM BPO services through multiple channels. Atento's clients are mostly leading multinational corporations in sectors such as telecommunications, banking and financial services, health, retail and public administrations, among others. Atento's shares trade under the symbol ATTO on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE). In 2019, Atento was named one of the World's 25 Best Multinational Workplaces and one of the Best Multinationals to Work for in Latin America by Great Place to Work. Also, in 2021 Everest named Atento as a star performer Gartner named the company as a leader in the 2021 Gartner Magic Quadrant. For more information visit www.atento.com Forward-Looking Statements This press release contains forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements can be identified by the use of words such as "may," "should," "expects," "plans," "anticipates," "believes," "estimates," "predicts," "intends," "continue" or similar terminology. These statements reflect only Atento's current expectations and are not guarantees of future performance or results. These statements are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those contained in the forward-looking statements. In particular, the COVID-19 pandemic, and governments' extraordinary measures to limit the spread of the virus, are disrupting the global economy and Atento's industry, and consequently adversely affecting the Company's business, results of operation and cash flows and, as conditions are recent, uncertain and changing rapidly, it is difficult to predict the full extent of the impact that the pandemic will have. Risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to, competition in Atento's highly competitive industries; increases in the cost of voice and data services or significant interruptions in these services; Atento's ability to keep pace with its clients' needs for rapid technological change and systems availability; the continued deployment and adoption of emerging technologies; the loss, financial difficulties or bankruptcy of any key clients; the effects of global economic trends on the businesses of Atento's clients; the non-exclusive nature of Atento's client contracts and the absence of revenue commitments; security and privacy breaches of the systems Atento uses to protect personal data; the cost of pending and future litigation; the cost of defending Atento against intellectual property infringement claims; extensive regulation affecting many of Atento's businesses; Atento's ability to protect its proprietary information or technology; service interruptions to Atento's data and operation centers; Atento's ability to retain key personnel and attract a sufficient number of qualified employees; increases in labor costs and turnover rates; the political, economic and other conditions in the countries where Atento operates; changes in foreign exchange rates; Atento's ability to complete future acquisitions and integrate or achieve the objectives of its recent and future acquisitions; future impairments of our substantial goodwill, intangible assets, or other long-lived assets; and Atento's ability to recover consumer receivables on behalf of its clients. In addition, Atento is subject to risks related to its level of indebtedness. Such risks include Atento's ability to generate sufficient cash to service its indebtedness and fund its other liquidity needs; Atento's ability to comply with covenants contained in its debt instruments; the ability to obtain additional financing; the incurrence of significant additional indebtedness by Atento and its subsidiaries; and the ability of Atento's lenders to fulfill their lending commitments. Atento is also subject to other risk factors described in documents filed by the comp any with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission. These forward-looking statements speak only as of the date on which the statements were made. Atento undertakes no obligation to update or revise publicly any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise. SOURCE Atento S.A. Related Links http://www.atento.com [April 15, 2021] Top Canadian Builders Distinguished with the 18th Annual Avid Awards for Highest Homebuyer Ratings In recognition of the best builders providing extraordinary customer experiences, Avid Ratings Canada is proud to announce the winners of the 18th Annual Avid Awards. Homebuilders throughout Canada are honoured with the prestigious awards for scoring highest with their customers on homebuying experience surveys. Award winners are chosen based on results received from some of the largest publicly traded builders, Canada's largest private builders, and hundreds of small volume and custom builders from coast to coast. This year's program had 452 qualifying builders from all over the United States and Canada and covers homebuyer data from January to December 2020. "The rapidly changing expectations of today's consumers make delivering a great customer experience a never-ending pursuit," said Tim Bailey, chief strategy officer, Avid Ratings. "It takes a masterful blend of art and science, with people, processes and products to consistently create a great customer experience, and the past year has certainly added its share of obstacles to navigate. It is an honour to recognize this year's Avid Award winners for their customer experience achievements." The Avid Awards are regarded as a trusted benchmark of customer service performance in the homebuilding industry. Avid Ratings has long been at the forefront of bringing transparency of builder performance to consumers by consumers since 1992. In order to determine the Avid Award winners, homebuilding companies are evaluated using Avid's award-winning platform. Every homebuyer survey in our database is analyzed to determine each builder's overall rating. Avid's New Home Experience surveys collect detailed homebuyer feedback and provide industry-leading insights on overall satisfaction, willingness to refer, actual number of recommendations, and strategic CX diagnostics for homebuilders. "Deneschuk Homes is honoured to be a recipient of an Avid Diamond Award. The Avid surveys provide us with the feedback we need to continually transform our business as we strive to deliver exceptional customer experiences. Because of the surveys, we've been able to identify pain points that we didn't know existed which allows us to proactively address and improve upon our existing processes," said Lee Rusnak, presidet, Deneschuk Homes. "We look forward to reading every survey response and reflecting on where we could have done better, as well as cheer on the positive wins with the team. We are honoured to be recognized by our customers and Avid Ratings for this achievement." "Morningstar is proud and honoured to be recognized for our excellence in the New Home Move-In Experience we provide for our purchasers. The Avid Diamond Award is a direct reflection of our commitment to excellence, validated by our purchasers. There is no better reward than a satisfied customer!," said Deborah Calahan, vice president sales and marketing, Morningstar Homes. Each award-winning builder must score at or above the top 25th percentile in Canada to be recognized with an Avid Award. Avid Diamond Award Builders with the highest scores in their nation on the New Home Move-In Experience Survey, taken from the first 90 days of homeownership, are recognized with this award. The US and Canada are eligible for one award each for Production, Custom, and Small Volume builder categories. Avid Diamond Award winners in Canada are as follows: Production: Rinaldi Homes Rinaldi Homes Small Volume: Morningstar Homes Ltd. Morningstar Homes Ltd. Custom: Deneschuk Homes Avid Gold Award This award is presented to builders with the highest scores in their region on the New Home Move-In Experience Survey, taken from the first 90 days of homeownership. Every province is eligible for one award each for Production, Custom, and Small Volume builder categories. Avid Gold Award winners in the Canadian provinces are as follows: Province of Alberta Production: Laebon Developments Ltd. Province of Ontario Production : Brookfield Residential - Ontario Low Rise : Brookfield Residential - Ontario Low Rise Small Volume: Terra View Custom Homes Ltd. Province of Saskatchewan Production: North Ridge Development - Saskatoon North Ridge Development - Saskatoon Small Volume: Homes by Dream - Regina Homes by Dream - Regina Custom: Maison Design + Build Avid Benchmark Award This award recognizes any US or Canadian builder scoring among the top 25% of Avid's nationwide databases on the New Home Move-In Experience survey, taken from the first 90 days of homeownership. The winners of the Avid Benchmark Award in Canada are as follows: Augusta (News - Alert) Fine Homes Baywest Homes Bucci Developments Calbridge Homes HN Homes Mattamy Homes - GTE Pacesetter Homes Saskatchewan - Saskatoon Prominent Homes For more information about the Avid Awards, please visit https://www.avidratings.com/avid-awards. About Avid Ratings Canada Avid Ratings Canada is the leading resource for building quality in the world. Dedicated to the homebuilding industry, Avid helps companies build better customer experiences by gaining powerful consumer insights and deep customer feedback through a proprietary customer experience platform. Avid Ratings was named a Top 5 Sales Tool by BUILDER magazine, a Brilliance Award recipient by TecHome Builder, and also featured as a Top Product by Constructech Magazine. For more information, please visit www.avidratings.ca. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210415005256/en/ [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant in Okuma town, Fukushima prefecture is pictured after a strong earthquake shook northeastern Japan, Feb 14, 2021. [Photo/Agencies] By Yan Lun The Japanese government has totally disregarded the human rights of its own people, and the interests of neighboring countries in the Asia-Pacific region, when it announced the decision to dump over 1.23 million tons of radioactive wastewater from the Fukushima nuclear power plant in two years. What's more, the unanimous tolerance of Western politicians and media outlets toward Japan's decision has laid bare their double standards. Their silence on this forthcoming man-made environmental disaster speaks volumes about their hypocrisy, when the lives and health of the people in the Asia-Pacific region will be severely endangered and the regional fishing industry will be dealt a deadly blow. As the world's third-largest economy, Japan could build more tanks in Fukushima to permanently store the wastewater. Instead, it has made an irresponsible and unjustified decision to contaminate the Pacific Ocean, at the cost of the health of local residents and people in the Asia-Pacific region, especially China and South Korea. China is fully justified in opposing Japan's decision, as there are no international rules on who and how should define the standards of diluted wastewater before discharging it into the sea. Activists protest against the Japanese government's plan to discharge treated water from the stricken Fukushima nuclear plant into the sea, outside the prime minister's office in Tokyo on Monday. PHILIP FONG/AFP As a signatory to the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, Japan is obliged to protect its marine environment. According to the convention, signatory countries should not, directly or indirectly, dump substances into seas and oceans that could harm or likely damage the ocean's bio-system. Therefore, Japan's unilateral dumping decision defies international law and displays its indifference to basic ethics as a major country. The earthquake and tsunami that battered the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant on March 11, 2011, triggered meltdowns in three of its six reactors, which left clutters of intensely radioactive fuel loose in the reactor buildings. But Japan should do more to rebuild the quake-hit area, help local residents and scientifically store and process the nuclear waste, rather than rubbing salt in the wounds of local people. Its dumping decision is nothing but a slow-motion man-made disaster. The contrast could not be more clear than in early spring, when northern China was hit by sandstorms. Many Western politicians and media outlets were quick to point fingers at China's environmental records. In sharp contrast to Japan's attitude, China has been ready to fight sandstorms with Mongolia, as environmental issues have no borders. Now, those same politicians and media outlets' tolerance of Japan's truly man-made environmental crisis proves how biased they are. If they truly care about human rights, it's time for them to stand up to safeguard the lives and health of people in the Asia-Pacific by strongly opposing Japan's decision. The author is a writer with China Daily. Local observers have focused on the fact that Belarus, which is Armenias ally with respect to the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO), is supporting Azerbaijan in the conflict between Baku and Yerevan, Nezavisimaya Gazeta reports. Azerbaijan has taken a big step to achieve its national dream. Im very glad that you, as real friends of the people of Belarus, understand that there is still work to do. There is difficult work to do to restore life in the returned territories, and you need to understand that Belarus is your reliable friend, Lukashenko said during his meeting with Aliyev. Armenia might view this statement as unfriendly. The visit, the possible sale of weapons and the congratulatory remarks were a sting for Armenia and may escalate relations with Belarus, political scientist Valery Karbelevich told NG. Commenting on the possible goals of Lukashenkos visit, analysts say Lukashenko has a plan to ask for funds. In 2010, Aliyev helped Lukashenko by paying him $200,000,000 to settle the accounts with Gazprom. Lukashenko might have discussed the issue of weapons supply. This article appears in the April 16, 2021 issue of Executive Intelligence Review. [Print version of this article] Dennis Small Make Space for the Belt and Road in the Americas Dennis Small is the Ibero-America Intelligence Director for Executive Intelligence Review. Mr. Small delivered this speech on March 20, 2021 to Panel 2 of the Schiller Institute conference, The World at a CrossroadTwo Months into the Biden Administration. Video of Panel 2 is here. View full size Schiller Institute Dennis Small Ibero-America today is being wracked by a pandemic that is also wracking the world. It is facing approximately 45% real unemployment, if you measure unemployment in Lyndon LaRouches terms of actual physical economic parameters. It is being destroyed by a drug trade which is run by the same financial interests of Wall Street and the City of London which are also behind the collapsing global speculative bubble of about $1.7 quadrillion. In fact, we have a situation where millions of people throughout the region, but especially in Central America and Mexico, have been driven by that drug trade, by the poverty, and by the misery overall, into forced migration to try to find survival, sustenance, or simply fleeing for their lives. So, if we are, in fact, serious about solving these problemswhich we should be in the United Statesthere is only one approach that is going to be possible and will actually work. There is, when we look at this, a straightforward solution at hand, and that is the extension of the Belt and Road Initiative into the Americas. There is going to be an upcoming trip in May, of the President of Argentina, Alberto Fernandez, to China, where he will be signing a Memorandum of Understanding with the Belt and Road Initiative. This is of enormous importance as an initiative in the direction of the policy which must be adopted. All the more so, since President Fernandez of Argentina has developed a close and important working relationship with the President of Mexico, Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, who has consistently proposedfirst with President Donald Trump, and now to President Joe Bidenthe concept that the joint development of the region is in the common interests of both nations. And what we would add to that is that the urgent requirement is that it be done in conjunction with China and its Belt and Road Initiative, without which it will not have the physical economic basis to actually function. So, such an idea, of a China-United States-Mexico or China-U.S.-Mexico-Argentina axis of cooperation, is nothing but a win-win-win proposal. Impossible, you say? Well, its only so, if you limit the options that youre willing to consider to those that are acceptable under the current bankrupt and collapsing financial system of the trans-Atlantic region, of the City of London and Wall Street. If you think outside that box, then the solutions are at hand. FIGURE 1 The Caribbean Basin Belt and Road View full size EIRNS Belt and Road Routes Now, lets look quickly at a couple of the components of this Belt and Road Initiative for the Americas. Figure 1 shows the Caribbean area, which is really the centerpiece of trade of the crossroads between the Pacific-based countries and the Atlantic-based countries. The maritime routes now do go through this region, and in fact, through the expanded Panama Canalthrough what should be a new sea-level Nicaraguan canaland the basis laid for developing major industrial ports, such as in Ponce, Puerto Rico, and Mariel, Cuba, for transshipment of goods, increased trade flow of goods, for the ports of the Gulf Coast and the Atlantic coast of the United States. These ports must be upgraded and rebuilt for these purposes. The second area, besides the maritime route which connects the Americas into the Belt and Road Initiative, is the land-based Belt and Road Initiative, the World Land-Bridge. High-speed rail lines have to be built to extend from Tierra del Fuego in the very south of Argentina, all the way up through South America, through the Darien Gapwhich now has no passable road, let alone a high-speed rail line, even though a functional alternative to do that had been designed going back to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in the 19th Century, and proposals from President McKinley. Then you have those rail routes going through Central America, through Mexico. This is the way to address the problem of under-development and poverty and the drug tradearound high-tech industrial corridors of development stretching through this region, linking into the United States, and through the Bering Strait tunnel into the Eurasian Land-Bridge. This is something which would immediately benefit the United States. We can estimate that approximately 1 million jobs would be created in the United States in exporting the needed capital goods, along with China, to make these projects possible. The Space Silk Road As important as the maritime and the land World Land-Bridge or the Silk Road are, perhaps more important still is the Space Silk Road. Just look at it from the standpoint as shown in Figure 2. The point of the matter is that the entire planet, and especially its productive workforce, is best developed by a high-technology scientific orientation to develop what is, in fact, the driving force and the motor of all human economic development. And that is, creative scientific discoveries, both in the hard sciences and in Classical culture. And in this case, the role of space science is absolutely critical. It just so happens that two of the worlds premier space launch sites are in the South American continent. We are talking about Alcantara in Brazil, and Kourou in French Guiana shown in Figure 1. Theyre very close to the equator, which is the reason their location is so advantageous. But in the case of South America, Argentina and Brazil both have very significant aerospace capabilities, and can help be the basis of linking those capabilities into cooperation with China, with the United States, with other space-faring nations such as Russia and India, to develop those space launch sites in those two locations as centers of scientific and economic development for the entire region. Those hubs of development should be linked, and I would suggest that this would be an extremely important theme for President Fernandez to take up on his trip to Chinato establish two polytechnic institutes, or institutes for space science educational activity, one in Mexico, perhaps in the small city of Queretaro near Mexico City, and one in Argentina. Such institutes can serve as the poles of the educational process required to bring the entire continent into this kind of high-technology space development. That kind of approach, combining the countries of South America, Central America, North America, and China, is, in fact, the only way to solve the global breakdown crisis now underway. Impossible, you say? Well, with my apologies to President John Kennedy, let me simply say the following: We do these things not because they are hard, but because they are impossible; or at least, we are told they are impossible. End poverty in the world? Well, thats impossible! And yet, China has done it in their country. Have a small Arab nation send an orbiter around Mars? Get serious! Thats completely impossible. And yet, the UAE just did it. Turn poor Ibero-American youth and children into space scientists? It cant be done! And yet, it is happening in Argentina and elsewhere. And perhaps most fundamental of all, get the United States and China to cooperate in the development of Mexico and all of the Americas. Stop dreaming! We all know this is the law of the jungle, and that Americas gain means Chinas loss, and vice versa. You cant do that; it wont work. Grow up! And yet, the Belt and Road is a win-win-win proposition, and it is coming to the Americas, so wed best make space for it. Questo comunicato e stato pubblicato piu di 30 giorni fa. Le informazioni su questa pagina potrebbero non essere attendibili. Global Barite Market Research Report - Forecast to 2022 - Market Analysis, Scope, Stake, Progress, Trends and Forecast up to 2022. Barite Market Market Overview Global barite market witnessed strong growth from oil and gas exploration industry owing to its usage to suppress the high formation of liquid and prevent blowouts. Rising pressure on energy sector to meet global demand of growing transportation and petrochemical industry has result in rising oil and gas production which in turn will have positive impact on barite market. In addition, barite is used for application as weighing agent and to increase density of fluid to control pressure in shale reserves. Thus, blooming oil shale production will subsequently drive the demand of barite in U.S. market. Get a Free Sample Report @ https://www.marketresearchfuture.com/sample_request/2035 Barite is widely used in application such as textile, paints and coatings and paper making among others. This mineral is used in sodium hydroxide production which is extensively used in refining sugar and in paints as white pigments. Moreover, increasing automotive production coupled with rise in residential and commercial projects also positively influence the barite market growth. Barite is also used in production of barium carbonate which in turn used in manufacturing LED glass. Growing LED glass consumption in television and laptops is expected to augment the barite market growth over the forecast period. Barite is non-magnetic in nature which makes it ideal choice for drilling hole. Hence, alternative to barite such as celestite, iron ore and synthetic hematite does not hold any major impact in drilling mud industry. Barite is broadly segmented according to grade as grade 3.9, grade 4.0, grade 4.1, grade 4.2 and grade above 4.3. Grade with high specific gravity represents superior quality compared to lower specific gravity. Higher grade obtained from deeper earth crust holds higher prices, which in turn impede the market growth over the forecast period. However, lower grade barite from 3.9 to 4.2 is gaining traction in oil and gas industry owing to optimum production of shale gas coupled with shift in trend towards unconventional energy source thereby, will have positive impact on barite market in coming years. Barite are largely consumed in Asia Pacific region owing to robust end use industry growth, favourable government policies and low labor cost. China is leading country owing to large availability of shale reserve to meet growing demand of barite in automotive and construction industry. Furthermore, rapid industrialization has led to strong growth in paints and coating industry which is likely to propel barite market growth. North America is second largest market due to rise in shale gas production in U.S. and development in infrastructure activities leading to growth in paints and coatings industry. U.S. is major market and exhibits growth potential in coming years. Europe to register significant growth. Germany and UK are leading countries in European regions on account of large automotive hub. Automotive refinishes and restoration is driving huge demand of paints and coatings which in turn drives the demand for barite market. Moreover, Brazil is anticipated to witnessed high demand of barite on account of increase in expenditure on interior of residential projects which is anticipated to further drive the paints and coatings industry. Key Players: Desku Group Inc. (United States), Halliburton Company (Unites States), Excalibar Minerals LLC (United States), P & S Barite Mining Co. Ltd. (Thailand), Ashapura Minechem Ltd. (India), Anglo Pacific Minerals (United Kingdom), CIMBAR Performance Minerals (United States), New Riverside Ochre Company, Inc (United States), Andhra Pradesh Mineral Development Corporation Limited (India) and Mil-Spec Industries Corporation (United States) among others are some of the prominent players at the forefront of competition in the Global Barite Market and are profiled in MRFR Analysis. Barite Market Competitive Analysis Barite market is fragmented market with tier 1 and tier 2 companies dominating the overall market. The major players are adopting key strategy like partnerships and agreements in order to reduce gap between supplier and manufacturer of barite. Apart from that, various key strategies adopted by key players are expansion and acquisition. Advancement in technology and increasing presence of significant players has positively impact the growth of barite market. Moreover, companies are expanding their production facility to meet global demand and obtain competitive advantage in the market. Industry/ Innovation/ Related News: April 2017 Nigeria barite sector are entering new era of development by targeting strategic minerals and metals of development including barite, limestone, iron and bitumen along with offering tax break to mining companies. This project got initiative after World Bank approved credit line of USD 150 Million to increase the mining sector in Nigerian economy. This would open new lucrative opportunity to market players. June 2017 Honey Badger Exploration Inc. signed an agreement to acquire assets located in Quebec. The deal includes acquisition of three properties including the Upton Property, the Saint-Fabien Property, and the Kamouraska Property. Total of 642 hectors are acquired for zinc and barite mining. This would strengthen companies position by opening new opportunity to investors as well as raise capital for advanced new projects. February 2016 Schlumberger got approval of barite mining at Duntanlich near Aberfeldy in Perthshire. The Duntanlich site is economically known as barite deposit in UK. The company plans to mine around 120,000 tons of mineral each year to make self sufficient for over next 50 years. This would strengthen companies position as barite is key ingredient of drilling mud industry. Browse Related Report @ http://www.marketwatch.com/story/aviation-fuel-market-worldwide-share-growth-emerging-trend-size-share-business-analysis-future-scope-and-forecast-to-2025-2021-01-19 http://www.marketwatch.com/story/aircraft-design-and-engineering-market-worldwide-analysis-industry-demand-size-share-emerging-audience-business-growth-and-forecast-to-2025-2021-01-19 http://www.marketwatch.com/story/aircraft-de-icing-market-is-expected-to-register-a-592-cagr-during-the-forecast-period-2021-01-19 http://www.marketwatch.com/story/superhydrophobic-coating-market-key-players-consumption-status-industry-analysis-and-opportunity-assessment-2023-2021-01-19 http://www.marketwatch.com/story/plastic-additives-market-growth-drivers-impact-analysis-market-opportunities-by-2023-2021-01-19 India has had over 100,000 COVID-19 cases every day since April 5, endangering the lives of millions of people and pushing the countrys grossly underfunded public health care system to breaking point. The disaster is a direct result of Prime Minister Narendra Modis government, which has allowed industries to keep operating with unsafe conditions, placing the profits of big business over human life. Indian state governments also share responsibility for the worsening situation. People wearing masks as a precaution against the coronavirus stand in queues to board trains at Lokmanya Tilak Terminus in Mumbai, India, Wednesday, April 14, 2021. India's worst-hit and richest state Maharashtra will impose stricter restrictions for 15 days on Wednesday in an effort to stem the surge of coronavirus infections that is threatening to overcome hospitals. (AP Photo/Rafiq Maqbool) On Monday, India recorded 168,912 new COVID-19 cases, replacing Brazil as the second-most affected country in the world hit by the highly-infectious disease. According to under-counted figures provided by Indias Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, the countrys overall tally is now 13.7 million cases with the death toll surpassing 171,000. In the past seven daysfrom April 5 to 11India recorded over 937,000 cases, a 70 percent jump from the previous seven days, while the death toll hit 5,057a 70 percent rise on the previous seven days. Reuters has reported that Indias death toll is on course to double in two months, according to estimates based on data from Johns Hopkins University Center for Systems Science and Engineering. India, the current epicentre of Asias COVID-19 pandemic, now has more than 1.5 million active cases that are overwhelming hospitals and their intensive care units and oxygen-equipped beds. Health experts have reported a number of new COVID-19 variants, including a new double mutant variant and the highly-infectious UK variant, which are undoubtedly a major factor in the rapid increase in corona cases and deaths. The western state of Maharashtra, home to Indias financial capital Mumbai, accounts for more than half of Indias new infections. On Monday, Maharashtra reported over 63,000 new coronavirus cases and 349 deaths. The next day, Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray declared a Janata curfew (but stopped short of calling it a lockdown) on the movement of people beginning at 8 p.m. on April 14 until May 1. The state government also imposed prohibitory orders under Section 144, which ban gatherings of more than five people for the same period. Construction work and industrial production, however, will continue as usual, ensuring employers maintain their exploitation of workers and profits. The state government claimed there would be limited relief for those affected but small businessmen and traders are complaining that they have not received any subsidy to compensate for having to close their shops for the 15 days. Despite the massive increase in deaths and infections, the Modi government has ruled-out a national lockdown. This was made clear in an April 8 video conference with chief ministers from various regional states. Modi declared that COVID-19 infection figures were very alarming in some states and that work on a war footing should be resumed to prevent spread of the disease corona. His so-called war footing, however, does not involve a national lockdown but a corona curfew from 9 p.m., until 5 or 6 a.m., and only in small containment zones. Modi made the following outrageous and criminally irresponsible point: Dont make the entire locality a containment zone if there are two flats in a six-storey building where positive cases have been discovered. Dont seal the nearby tower. This response guarantees that the disease will continue to rapidly spread in major cities like Mumbai, Chennai and New Delhi, where millions of poor people live in jam-packed, unhygienic shanties and social distancing is practically impossible. Once again, Modi attempted to blame the population for the rising infection rates and deaths. The root cause of the problem is that anybody who leads a routine life and considers it to be a minor disease spreads it to the entire family, he arrogantly declared. This is from a prime minister who, working on behalf of a tiny super-rich elite, is employing disastrous herd immunity policy that allows COVID-19 to surge unchecked throughout the country. Major Indian industries, including garment factories, have never sealed their doors, except for a brief period, and with only limited restrictions, during last years lockdown. The indifferent and irresponsible attitude of the Modi government and its state counterparts has created a false sense of security among broad layers of the population. The BBC reported on April 12 that masses of Hindu devotees had bathed in the Ganges River, as part of the two-month-long Kumbh Mela religious festival. Officials told the news outlet that over 2.1 million devotees had already bathed in the river and many more were expected to follow suit, The BBC report correctly warned: Mondays bathing day will help the infection spread faster among the devotees and that some of them could also take the virus back to their cities and villages in other parts of the country. Highlighting the governments recklessness, it reported that although the government had earlier said that only people with COVID negative reports would be allowed at the festival and that strict measures, like social distancing would be followed a number of people, including top saints, have already tested positive. During his April 8 video conference, Modi also boasted that daily vaccinations had reached four million. Yet, according to a Reuters report on April 12, less than 4 percent of Indias 1.4 billion-strong population have been vaccinated. The news agency said that experts say the situation could have a long way to go before it starts getting better. The Modi government has refused to make coronavirus vaccinations available for all age groups and is currently only vaccinating those over 45 years. Meanwhile, several media outlets have reported that there are vaccine shortages in at least half a dozen of states, including Maharashtra. On April 12, the BBC, citing local government officials, said that the states current stock of 1.5 million COVID-19 vaccines will last only three days. Vaccination centres in a number of districts in the state have been shut down due to lack of supplies. During Modis meeting with chief ministers he falsely declared, today, we have better resources and therefore, we can bring down this peak very fast and not allow it to go up. The reality, however, is a disaster. In Raipur, capital of the central Indian state of Chhattisgarh, the Dr. Bhim Rao Ambedkar Memorial Hospital, the citys largest medical facility, is running out of space to store the large number of COVID-19 dead. NDTV reported on April 12 that the dead were piled on gurneys, lying on the floor and even outside in the sun by the dumpsters. These skin-crawling scenes, it added, highlight the huge human cost of the second wave of COVID-19 in India and shows what happens when the countrys creaky healthcare system is pushed to its brink. The nine-county northwest region, which includes Rockford, DeKalb and Galena, also dipped below 20% on Wednesday for the third day in a row. In the 20-county north-central region, which stretches from Grundy and Kendall counties to the Quad Cities, less than 20% of staffed ICU beds have been available for seven straight days. NEW YORK, April 15, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- WeissLaw LLP is investigating possible breaches of fiduciary duty and other violations of law by the board of directors of Weingarten Realty Investors ("Weingarten" or the "Company") (NYSE: WRI) in connection with the proposed cash-and-stock acquisition of the Company by Kimco Realty Corporation ("Kimco") (NYSE: KIM). Under the terms of the merger agreement, each Weingarten common share will be converted into 1.408 newly issued shares of Kimco common stock plus $2.89 in cash, representing per-share merger consideration of approximately $30.32 based upon Kimco's April 14, 2021 closing price of $19.48. Upon consummation of the deal, Kimco shareholders will own approximately 71% of the newly-combined company, leaving only 29% of the new company controlled by former Weingarten shareholders. If you own Weingarten shares and wish to discuss this investigation or have any questions concerning this notice or your rights or interests, visit our website: http://www.weisslawllp.com/WRI/ Or please contact: Joshua Rubin, Esq. WeissLaw LLP 1500 Broadway, 16th Floor New York, NY 10036 (212) 682-3025 (888) 593-4771 [email protected] WeissLaw LLP is investigating whether (i) Weingarten's board of directors acted in the best interests of Company shareholders in agreeing to the proposed transaction, (ii) the per-share merger consideration adequately compensates Weingarten's shareholders, and (iii) all information regarding the sales process and valuation of the transaction will be fully and fairly disclosed. WeissLaw LLP has litigated hundreds of stockholder class and derivative actions for violations of corporate and fiduciary duties. We have recovered over a billion dollars for defrauded clients and obtained important corporate governance relief in many of these cases. If you have information or would like legal advice concerning possible corporate wrongdoing (including insider trading, waste of corporate assets, accounting fraud, or materially misleading information), consumer fraud (including false advertising, defective products, or other deceptive business practices), or anti-trust violations, please email us at [email protected] SOURCE WeissLaw LLP Related Links http://weisslawllp.com Yes, no matter what Yes, but it depends on variety No, for medical reasons, uncertainty No, principle Vote View Results OTTAWA - Canada's charities are hoping the Liberals extend them a helping hand in net week's budget as the sector faces the possibility of a prolonged road to recovery, even after the economy reopens. Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance Chrystia Freeland responds to a question during Question Period in the House of Commons Tuesday December 8, 2020 in Ottawa. Canada's charities are looking to next week's federal budget with hopes the Liberals will extend their sector a helping hand as they face the possibility of a prolonged and protracted road to recovery even after the economy reopens. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Adrian Wyld OTTAWA - Canada's charities are hoping the Liberals extend them a helping hand in net week's budget as the sector faces the possibility of a prolonged road to recovery, even after the economy reopens. Charities and non-profits have been hit hard during the pandemic as donations have dried up while demand for their services spiked. Imagine Canada, a charity that promotes the work of the sector, said groups have on average seen just over two-fifths of their earnings disappear due to the pandemic. The organization's CEO, Bruce MacDonald, said charities and non-profits are hoping the government extends and expands access to the rent and wage subsidies set to end in June. He also said more targeted support is needed, including finding ways for the government to incentivize donations and federal grants to cover operating expenses. Above all, MacDonald said the supports can't end when the economy fully reopens because it will likely take far longer for revenues to rebound for charities than it will for private-sector businesses. Canadians are sitting on about $200 billion or so in accumulated savings through the pandemic that businesses are banking will start being spent in the second half of the year as vaccination rates rise. While Canadians may return to their favourite restaurant or feel comfortable hopping on planes to travel, charities would be looking at a much longer timeline for a return to pre-pandemic normalcy, MacDonald said. Events, conferences or galas used to raise revenues take months of planning, he said, and donations may be secondary to consumer spending plans. "This potential gap between the end of some of these large federal programs, and the whole restart of the economy, could in fact be the darkest time for charities in this country," he said. "Many will have already used up their their reserves and because our revenue models are likely to be slower to respond to a restart of the economy, having that kind of continued bridge support will be important so that, as we've made it this far, we don't collapse before the economy restarts." Just over two-thirds of charities have seen a decline in donations since the onset of the pandemic. Those that rely on earned income through the sale of goods or services which pre-pandemic accounted for 42 per cent of the sector's funding pie have reported revenue declines of nearly two-thirds. Overall, Imagine Canada pegs the cumulative loss to charities and non-profits last year at between $9.5 billion and $15.7 billion. The federal wage subsidy has been among the most used of federal aid programs, credited with preserving on average 55 per cent of paid positions at recipient charities and non-profits. The sector has been in talks with the government for months about how support can be extended and reshaped to help more charities and non-profits qualify, not unlike calls from small businesses ahead of the budget. Social Development Minister Ahmed Hussen said Wednesday that he recognized the challenges charities and non-profits have faced from COVID-19 and that conversations recently have looked at the "longer term resiliency of the sector." He noted the take-up of the wage and rent subsidies, then added the government will "continue that approach and we will continue to be there for the sector." Overall, the sector is estimated to contribute about 8.5 per cent to Canadas economic output, and employs 2.4 million people, four-fifths of whom are women. This report by The Canadian Press was first published April 15, 2021. [April 15, 2021] AM Best Affirms Credit Ratings of National General Insurance Company (P.J.S.C.) AM Best has affirmed the Financial Strength Rating of A- (Excellent) and the Long-Term Issuer Credit Rating of "a-" of National General Insurance Company (P.J.S.C.) (NGI) (United Arab Emirates). The outlook of these Credit Ratings (ratings) is stable. The ratings reflect NGI's balance sheet strength, which AM Best assesses as very strong, as well as its strong operating performance, limited business profile and appropriate enterprise risk management. NGI's balance sheet strength is underpinned by risk-adjusted capitalisation at the strongest level, as measured by Best's Capital Adequacy Ratio (BCAR). AM Best expects prospective risk-adjusted capitalisation to remain at the strongest level, supported by good earnings retention and controlled growth. The assessment also factors in the company's good level of liquidity and low underwriting leverage. Offsetting rating factors include NGI's high dependence on reinsurance and exposure to volatile equity and real estate assets. The balance sheet strength assessment incorporates the UAE's low economic risk, and moderate political and financial system risk. The company has achieved a five-year (2016-2020) weighted average return-on-equity ratio of 6.6%, which has been supported by robust and stable underwriting results from its non-life portfolio. NGI has demonstrated good underwriting performance across key non-life lines of business, with a five-year average combined ratio of 90.9%, as calculated by AM Best. NGI generated net income for 2020 of AED 44.4 million (2019: AED 15.1 million), driven by strong underwriting performance in the company's core medical and motor lines of business. Operating performance is further supported by stable investment income, with a five-year average investment return of .5%, excluding gains. NGI's business profile is limited, due in part to its concentration to the highly competitive UAE market. The company has a well-established profile in the UAE insurance market as a mid-tier player. NGI has a strong presence in the local motor and medical lines of business and is one of only 12 insurers licensed to participate in the Dubai Health Authority's mandatory health insurance scheme. AM Best expects the company to grow modestly over the short-to-medium term, with a focus remaining on achieving bottom line profitability and a balanced portfolio. This press release relates to Credit Ratings that have been published on AM Best's website. For all rating information relating to the release and pertinent disclosures, including details of the office responsible for issuing each of the individual ratings referenced in this release, please see AM Best's Recent Rating Activity web page. For additional information regarding the use and limitations of Credit Rating opinions, please view Guide to Best's Credit Ratings. For information on the proper media use of Best's Credit Ratings and AM Best press releases, please view Guide for Media - Proper Use of Best's Credit Ratings and AM Best Rating Action Press Releases. AM Best is a global credit rating agency, news publisher and data analytics provider specialising in the insurance industry. Headquartered in the United States, the company does business in over 100 countries with regional offices in London, Amsterdam, Dubai, Hong Kong, Singapore and Mexico City. For more information, visit www.ambest.com. Copyright 2021 by A.M. Best Rating Services, Inc. and/or its affiliates. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210415005644/en/ [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] Mumbai, April 15 : Actor Abhishek Bachchan on Thursday urged everyone to keep their masks on to stop the spread of Covid-19. Abhishek posted a picture on Instagram, where he is seen sporting a mask and sunglasses as he poses for the camera. "Please, please, PLEASE KEEP YOUR MASK ON! If not for yourself, think about your family, elders, friends and loved ones. #maskup #maskon," Abhishek wrote as caption on the photo-sharing website. On Thursday, India reported 2,00,739 new Covid-19 cases in the last 24 hours, the biggest single-day spike ever, taking the overall tally to 1,40,74,564, while the death toll stood at 1,73,123. Abhishek's latest work is "The Big Bull", which is based on the securities scam of 1992, and broadly outlines the story of stockbroker Harshad Mehta. The film also stars Ileana D'Cruz and Nikita Dutta. Fatima Sana Shaikh became popular even before the audience knew her name. Way back in 1997, she endeared herself to viewers playing Kamal Hassan and Tabu's daughter in "Chachi 420". Years later, she would score her first blockbuster with the 2016 Aamir Khan-starrer "Dangal". She has lately been seen in films such as "Ludo" and "Suraj Pe Mangal Bhari", and is now gearing up for her next film, the OTT anthology "Ajeeb Daastaans". The actress says she constantly doubts herself, adding that she wants to better herself. "Every day you go through your own journey of asking questions to yourself. There are your own challenges and weaknesses. You have to overpower them and overcome. You'd cross those and then you have more challenges and insecurities. That is a constant journey. Everyday, there is a new mindset," Fatima told IANS. She added: "Sometimes you feel confident and sometimes no matter how successful you are, (you could be) the most insecure person in the room in spite of your success. It's your mindset at that moment. I am constantly doubting myself but I think that is important for me because I want to grow. If I am being happy with what I am right now I will stop growing. I want to be better." "Ajeeb Daastaans" brings together four stories that analyse the complexity of human emotions including jealousy, entitlement, prejudices and toxicity, and their after-effects. What was it like exploring topics like sex, gender, class and patriarchy? "A topic can be anything as long it is said properly in a nice way and beautiful manner. I think stories written well, no matter what they are about, will engage you. If you choose to write on sex, gender or socio economic status -- issues are in everything. It is how you write a story more than the topic," Fatima said. She features in the first story of the anthology, titled "Majnu". She plays Leepakshi, a young woman stuck in an unhappy marriage with actor Jaideep Ahlawat's character. Always vying for love and attention, her life is thrown in a turmoil with the entry of a young new male in the household. Did she find Leepakshi a complex character? "What (director) Shashank (Khaitan) tried to do is write a very layered character, and it is written so well and is so layered as an actor that it becomes easy to understand the character, because everything about the role is about her. Her journey and her complexities. When you are human you have those qualities, flaws and complexities in you," Fatima replied. "It is neither black nor white and that is the beauty of these characters in Majnu' -- everybody has a shade. It is from black to white to grey," she added. Fatima enjoyed playing that character because she says it is so far away from her. "I have not met a (character like) Leepakshi in my life. (I have) Not experienced anything that Leepakshi has experienced. I am not from that world. It is so amazing because you are an actor and you love your work. Through your work you see different worlds. For me, it is the most beautiful thing that I get to know, see and hear so many new things," she said. BIG RAPIDS -- Big Rapids is getting a new grief support services manager from Hospice of Michigan. Hospice of Michigan announced the appointment of David Keller, MDiv., as grief support services manager in Big Rapids and Ludington. Keller's primary responsibilities include development and implementation of grief support services and educational programs for bereaved individuals, including Hospice of Michigan families and community members. Prior to this role, Keller was a spiritual care advisor in Traverse City, where he supported Hospice of Michigan patients, caregivers and staff. He currently facilitates a monthly virtual support group. Keller received his Bachelor of Science in electrical engineering from Saginaw Valley State University and earned his Master of Divinity and clinical pastoral education from Trinity Lutheran Seminary in Columbus, Ohio. A woman has given birth in a bike lane beside heavy traffic on a highway, only two minutes' drive away from the maternity hospital - with the delivery going smoothly thanks to passing medical professionals. Aishling Mohan began giving birth while in the car on Wednesday morning, forcing her husband Stephen to pull off the busy road before they reached Mater Hospital in South Brisbane. A paediatrician and student midwife who were in the vicinity of the pulled-over car were called on to help deliver the baby while other curious onlookers watched on. A woman has given birth in a bike lane during peak hour traffic next to a multi-lane highway Ms Mohan started having mild contractions at about 5am on Wednesday, but told Mr Mohan to go to work anyway. 'I gave it an hour and then I thought, right, now he needs to come home,' she told Sunrise. 'He got home about 45 minutes later, just as my waters broke. Then we quickly dropped our daughter in day care but it was peak hour traffic.' Then couple were only 200m from the hospital when Ms Mohan starting crowning - the stage of birth when the baby's head becomes visible. 'We were just coming to this big intersection and then I just said, 'Stephen, the baby's head is there',' she recalled. Aishling Mohan (pictured left) began crowning while in the car on Wednesday morning, forcing her husband Stephen (right) to pull over near Mater Hospital at South Brisbane As luck would have it, a paediatrician walked past the scene and helped Mr Mohan deliver the baby and place the newborn on the mother's chest. Student midwife Emily was also wandering by as Ms Mohan started to crown. 'I was just walking to my shift and someone yelled out asking if I was a nurse and I said I was a student midwife,' she recalled. 'They pointed to the car and said, 'That lady is having a baby'. So I just ran as fast as I could to help assist them.' A paediatrician and student midwife Emily (pictured with the parents) happened to walk past the birth and helped deliver it as passers-by watched Mr and Ms Mohan (pictured) said their son has not been named yet but will meet his big sister on Thursday Emily said the birth was surprisingly calm given the unusual circumstances. '[The couple] were wonderful, they were beautiful, everything was a calm setting. They were not stressed and it was really relaxed environment to welcome him into the world.' Mr and Ms Mohan said the baby boy, who is their second child, has not been named and was restless during his first night in the outside world. 'He is just a little bit unsettled because he came out so quickly, so he has got lots of secretions and stuff that he is bringing up,' said Ms Mahon. 'Today (his big sister) will come in and meet him. It will be lovely. I can't wait to see her reaction.' Union Commerce and Industry Minister on Thursday called for scaling up global production of vaccines and medical products to battle the pandemic. This will require removal of barriers to the production of Covid-19 medical products, including where necessary intellectual property protection, Goyal said at an event organised by the World Trade Organization on Covid-19 and vaccine equity: What can the WTO contribute? The minister said an inequitable programme could prolong the pandemic for many years through cycles of mutation and might cost the global economy trillions of dollars as lost output and fiscal and monetary stimulus. Last year, India and South Africa, along with 57 other WTO members, proposed a temporary waiver from certain provisions of the Trade Related Aspects of agreement relevant to the prevention, treatment and containment of Covid-19. A waiver on certain provisions of the multilateral agreement is expected to help more countries, especially middle- and low-income nations to access vaccines. However, countries have been divided on the issue, with some developed nations opposing it. Waiver is not intended to take away protection given to pharma companies, it focuses only on Covid-19 vaccines, associated medicines, and cure, Goyal said. At the event, WTO Director General Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala called on WTO members, vaccine manufacturers, and international organisations to act to address trade-related obstacles to the scale-up of Covid-19 vaccine production. This would not only save lives, but also hasten the end of the pandemic and accelerate the global economic recovery, she said. As older teens and young adults become eligible for COVID-19 vaccination across the country, and younger teens await their turn, new survey data suggest a strong readiness that has grown since fall. But just as with older generations, a shrinking but still sizable minority of people age 14 to 24 say they're not willing to get vaccinated, or that their decision will depend on safety. That makes it crucial for public health authorities, health care providers and others to create vaccination-related materials that reach young people in ways that are relevant to them. The data, from the text-message-based MyVoice national survey of youth based at the University of Michigan, are published in a new paper in the Journal of Adolescent Medicine, and supplemented by new polling data just received in the past week. Eric Brandt, M.D., M.H.S., lead author of the new paper, notes that in the first MyVoice survey in October 2020, 76% of the 911 teens and young adults said they were willing to get vaccinated, though that included 33% who said their ultimate decision would depend on additional information. At that time, 20% of young people said they were unwilling to get a COVID-19 vaccine. Brandt's colleague Stephen Gorga, M.D., has just finished analyzing data from MyVoice respondents who answered a repeat survey in late March 2021. The percentage who say they're willing to get vaccinated, or already have been vaccinated, has risen to 84%. Nine percent of the total say they're willing but that their decision still depends on what they learn about the vaccine. That means that 75% are unconditionally willing to get the vaccine when it becomes available to them, or already have been vaccinated. The percentage of people age 14 to 24 who say they are not willing or intending to get vaccinated is down to 15%. These data reassure us that most youth are willing to get vaccinated against COVID-19 if they feel the vaccine is safe and effective. But concerns about vaccine safety are still very much alive in this group." Eric Brandt, M.D., M.H.S., Lead Author He notes that the newest data were gathered before the U.S. Food and Drug Administration announced its "pause" of use of the Johnson & Johnson/Janssen vaccine due to a small number of cases of a rare blood clot condition in younger women who were among the first 6.7 million Americans to get the vaccine. The Astra-Zeneca vaccine, which is not available in the United States, has been paused in some countries because of clot concerns, too. Currently, the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine has emergency approval for use in Americans age 16 and up, while the Moderna and J&J vaccines have such approval for people age 18 and up. The new MyVoice data were also gathered before Pfizer announced results from its study of its vaccine in people age 12 to 15, and its intention to see approval in this age group soon. Moderna has also just announced that enrollment in its clinical trial for ages 12 to 17 has been completed. Other findings In the new paper, Brandt and colleagues - including MyVoice director Tammy Chang, M.D., M.P.H., M.S., share other findings from the October poll. At that time, Black young people were more than three times more likely than their white peers to say they weren't willing to get the vaccine when it became available. Meanwhile, young people of Asian descent were more likely than white or Black young people to say they'd get vaccinated. As communications efforts shift to younger people, the study finds that organizations such as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and the World Health Organization, are the preferred sources of vaccine information for 42% of young people, and that 32% said they would prefer to learn about the vaccine from a health professional such as a doctor, pharmacist or other provider or health care organization. Among those who said in October that they weren't willing to get the vaccine, safety was the top concern, especially what some saw as an inadequate amount of time in testing. Only 2% mentioned conspiracy theories. The role of younger people in spreading COVID-19, even if they generally have a lower risk of developing severe disease, makes it important to reach them with effective messages and transparent information and answers to their questions, Brandt says. Special efforts to reach Black teens and young adults may be needed, because of the disproportionate risk they and their family members face. Otherwise, racial disparities already well-documented in COVID-19 outcomes may continue to increase. Brandt, Gorga and Chang are all members of the U-M Institute for Healthcare Policy and Innovation. Brandt is a cardiologist at the U-M Frankel Cardiovascular Center; Gorga is a pediatrician at C.S. Mott Children's Hospital and Chang is a physician in the Department of Family Medicine. URBANA, Ill. - Australian pineapple, Danish trout, and Midwestern U.S. corn farmers are not often lumped together under the same agricultural umbrella. But they and many others who raise crops and animals face a common problem: excess nitrogen in drainage water. Whether it flows out to the Great Barrier Reef or the Gulf of Mexico, the nutrient contributes to harmful algal blooms that starve fish and other organisms of oxygen. But there's a simple solution that significantly reduces the amount of nitrogen in drainage water, regardless of the production system or location: denitrifying bioreactors. "Nitrogen pollution from farms is relevant around the world, from corn and bean farms here in Illinois to sugarcane and pineapple farms in Australia to diverse farms bordered by ditches in Belgium. We're all dealing with this issue. It's really exciting that bioreactors are bringing us together around a potential solution," says Laura Christianson, assistant professor in the Department of Crop Sciences at the University of Illinois and lead author on a new synthesis article accepted for publication in Transactions of the American Society of Agricultural and Biological Engineers (ASABE). Denitrifying bioreactors come in many shapes and sizes, but in their simplest form, they're trenches filled with wood chips. Water from fields or aquaculture facilities flows through the trench, where bacteria living in wood chip crevices turn nitrate into a harmless gas that escapes into the air. This edge-of-field conservation practice has been studied for at least a dozen years, but most of what scientists know about nitrogen removal rates is based on laboratory replicas and smaller-scale experimental setups. The USDA's National Resource Conservation Service published a set of standardized bioreactor guidelines in 2015, based in part on Christianson's early field-scale work, and now more and more U.S. farmers are adding bioreactors. They're catching on in other countries, too. The ASABE article is the first to synthesize the available data from full-size bioreactors on working farms across the world. "After gathering all the data, the message is bioreactors work. We've shown a 20-40% reduction in nitrate from bioreactors in the Midwest, and now we can say bioreactors around the world are pretty consistent with that," Christianson says. She adds bioreactors, like all conservation practices, have their limitations, but nitrous oxide emissions aren't one of them. "People are worried we're just transferring nitrate in water for nitrous oxide, which is a greenhouse gas. We don't know the full story on nitrous oxide with bioreactors yet, but we can say with good confidence they're not creating a huge nitrous oxide problem," she says. "They're just not." Christianson says farmers frequently ask her about monitoring the water in bioreactors, so she and her co-authors detail the process in the ASABE article. She also partnered with the Illinois Farm Bureau to create a series of step-by-step videos explaining how to test the water. "For monitoring, there are two parts. You have to know how much water is flowing through the bioreactor and how much nitrogen is in the water," she says. The short videos, which are aimed at non-researchers such as farmers and water quality volunteers, break the process down into five steps. Christianson notes her students, postdoctoral researchers, and lab staff all pulled together to create the series. The videos are available at https:/ / go. aces. illinois. edu/ MonitoringMagic . Christianson, who may just be the world's biggest cheerleader for bioreactors, admits the monitoring guidelines and video series are a little self-serving. "We included recommended monitoring approaches so that more people will build them, and then more people will monitor them. And then we'll have more data to show how well bioreactors work and how we can make them work better." ### The article, "Effectiveness of denitrifying bioreactors on water pollutant reduction from agricultural areas," is published in Transactions of the ASABE [DOI: 10.13031/trans.14011]. Among the 19 authors, Laura Christianson and Richard Cooke of the Department of Agricultural and Biological Engineering hail from the College of Agricultural, Consumer and Environmental Sciences at the University of Illinois. Denmark has stopped the rollout of AstraZeneca vaccine completely amid concerns over rare side effects caused due to the virus. The Danish Health authorities on April 14 announced that they will no longer resume use of AstraZeneca vaccine. The Danish authorities are now going ahead with the vaccination program with Pfizer/Biotech and Moderna vaccines. With this, Denmark has become the first country in the European Union to drop AstraZeneca Plcs vaccine amid concerns over serious side effects. The health authorities in a statement said that they will continue the vaccination drive without the use of AstraZeneca. They further said that they might re-introduce the vaccine if the situation changes. The Danish health authorities said that the AstraZeneca vaccine is still an approved vaccine but it has been pulled out of vaccine rollout in the country. The decision comes after the European Union Medicine Regulator said that an unusual blood clot should be listed as a 'very rare' side effect of AstraZeneca vaccine. On 11 March 2021, the Danish Health Authority paused the use of the COVID-19 vaccine from AstraZeneca due to worrying feedback from the ongoing safety monitoring of the COVID-19 vaccines. Since then, the Danish vaccination effort has continued with the vaccines from Pfizer/BioNTech and Moderna, it said. The Danish Health Authority has decided to continue the rollout at this time without AstraZeneca, but this does not exclude that we may re-introduce the vaccine at a later date if the situation changes, it added. Despite the recommendations of World Health Organization and Eurpean Union, the Danish authorities has stopped giving AstraZenecavaccine to the people. In the statement, it was mentioned that the people who had received the first dose of AstraZeneca vaccine will receive an invitation for taking the vaccination with another vaccine. Danish Health agency Director General Soren Brostrom said that based on the investigation into the Astrazeneca vaccine, the results showed serious effects after administering the vaccine. Based on the scientific findings, our overall assessment is there is a real risk of severe side effects associated with using the COVID-19 vaccine from AstraZeneca. We have, therefore, decided to remove the vaccine from our vaccination programme, said Brostrom. Earlier last month, several countries in the European Union temporarily suspended the use of AstraZenecas vaccine over reports of blood clots in recipients. The European Medicines Agency (EMA) launched an investigation into the reports of blood clots in people who had been given AstraZenecas COVID-19 vaccine. On March 18, EMA concluded that the benefits of AstraZeneca vaccine fighting the virus continue to outweigh the risk of side effects. (Image Credits: AP/PTI) [April 15, 2021] Social Analysis & Disinformation Detection Platform Cyabra Announces New Agency Partnership with TBWA-Brazil NEW YORK, April 15, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Cyabra , a SaaS platform that measures authenticity and impact within online conversations, today announced a new agency partnership with the leading global disruption advertising agency Lew'Lara\TBWA based in Brazil. Lew'Lara\TBWAs integration of Cyabra into its offerings will be exclusive to the Brazilian market and available to their brands immediately. Cyabras agency offering provides advertising, marketing, and communication firms with its unique social analytics data to allow brand leadership teams to identify, analyze, and understand online narratives. Fake news and disinformation campaigns can have a lasting impact on brands and with Cyabras technology, agency partners now have the data they need to strategically inform decision making and mitigate any damage. Cyabras platform will help to guide Lew'Lara\TBWAs client strategy by allowing them to: Monitor Online Narratives : Cyabras platform monitors billions of online conversations happening across the internet to identify when and where a brand or organization is getting attention online. : Cyabras platform monitors billions of online conversations happening across the internet to identify when and where a brand or organization is getting attention online. Understand Content Origins and Story Lines: Through Cyabras AI-lens, the platform extracts insights from dialogues to show how narratives shift, which words or themes are being used, and if disinformation content is geared towards specific audiences or demographics. Through Cyabras AI-lens, the platform extracts insights from dialogues to show how narratives shift, which words or themes are being used, and if disinformation content is geared towards specific audiences or demographics. Track Social Conversation's Reach & Impact: Once fake news, disinformation, brand backlash or praise has started online, agency pros can identify how that message has traveled and its total reach.The data from Cyabra will provide detailed findings on which authors authentic, fake or nefarious are spreading content and the genuine engagement with these narratives. "Cyabra will allow us to get a deeper analysis of dialogue across various social networks in order to mitigate and protect the image and reputation of our brands in the face of disinformation, said Vicente Varela, Chief Data & Media Officer of Lew'lara\TBWA. We are ready to deliver unprecedented social analysis to the Brazilian market, which will show how and when disinformation is affecting a brand, and how we will act to effectively stop these malicious agents including bots, fake authors, and trolls. Our multidisciplinary team of data scientists, analysts, and strategists will lead the efforts to identify, analyze, mitigate, and recommend new social positioning to deliver better results. Cyabra delivers the data agencies need to better inform their decision making around client campaigns, communications, and more,'' said Dan Brahmy, Co-founder and CEO of Cyabra. Were thrilled to partner with Lew'Lara\TBWA and bring the features and tools that help Cyabras solution stand out to their team of creative minds and roster of iconic brands. Together, our work will fight disinformation in Brazil and enable better understanding of online conversations. We believe in the power of data to serve creativity to empower our brands for disruptive business solutions. Knowing the veracity of the information we are analyzing and offering to our brands will allow us to achieve better results. We are very happy to bring Cyabra to Brazil, said Marcia Esteves, CEO & Partner at LewLara\TBWA. To learn more about Cyabra, its features, and how agencies are integrating the platform to better serve their clients, visit: www.cyabra.com About Cyabra: Cyabra is an advanced social analytics platform that breaks through the layers of online conversations in real-time to connect dots and measure impact. The platforms powerful lens offers customers the ability to understand narratives, discover trends and reach true audiences. Founded by a team of leading information warfare experts, Cyabras executives use their experience to reverse engineer the technology of bad authors and study online media trends, helping customers keep a pulse on online conversations and counter disinformation. For more information, visit www.cyabra.com . About Lew'Lara \ TBWA: Brazilian agency founded in 1992 by Luiz Lara and Jaques Lewkowicz. Since 2008, is part of the TBWA Group - Omnicom Group. We are the one who has Disrupcao as a trademark, the cultural mechanism of business in the 21st century. We create innovative and disruptive ideas that localize and involve brands in culture, giving them greater participation in the future. Lew'Lara\TBWA has more than 200 professionals and 2 offices in Brazil (Sao Paulo and Brasilia), developing relevant work for several sectors: food & beverage, automotive, health, tourism, finance, beauty, among others. Media inquiries: FischTank PR cyabra@fischtankpr.com [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] Tanks of the Ukrainian Armed Forces are seen during drills at an unknown location near the border of Russian-annexed Crimea, on April 14, 2021. (Press Service General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine/Handout via Reuters) Ukraine Rehearses Repelling Tank Attack Near Russian-Annexed Crimea KYIVUkraines armed forces rehearsed repelling a tank and infantry attack near the border of Russian-annexed Crimea on Wednesday, the Ukrainian military said in a statement. The drills came a day after U.S. President Joe Biden phoned Russian President Vladimir to discuss a build-up of Russian troops near eastern Ukraine and in Crimea, among other U.S. concerns. Russia seized Crimea from Ukraine in 2014 and fighting has increased in recent weeks in eastern Ukraine, where government forces have battled Russian-backed separatists in a seven-year conflict that Kyiv says has killed 14,000 people. The Ukrainian military said it had deployed tanks and artillery in Wednesdays drills to practice repelling a force of tanks and infantry trying to break through its defenses. It posted video footage, set to rock music, of Ukrainian tanks maneuvering in formation and of soldiers loading and firing artillery pieces. Tanks of the Ukrainian Armed Forces are seen during drills at an unknown location near the border of Russian-annexed Crimea, Ukraine, on April 14, 2021. (Press Service General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine/Handout via Reuters) Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said on Tuesday that Moscows military build-up near Ukraine was part of a large snap drill meant to test combat readiness and respond to what he called threatening military action by NATO. Shoigu said that the three-week exercise, which he called successful, was due to wrap up in the next two weeks. Shoigu said NATO was deploying 40,000 troops and 15,000 pieces of military equipment near Russias borders, mainly in the Black Sea and the Baltic regions. The Western alliance denies any such plans. PHILADELPHIA, April 15, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Axalta (NYSE: AXTA), a leading global supplier of liquid and powder coatings, will release its first quarter 2021 financial results after the close of trading on Monday, April 26. The release and supporting materials will be posted to the Investor Relations portion of axalta.com. In addition, the company will host a conference call at 8 a.m. EDT on Tuesday, April 27, 2021. Robert W. Bryant, Chief Executive Officer, and Sean Lannon, Chief Financial Officer, will review the company's financial performance for the period. A live webcast of the conference call will also be available online at www.axalta.com/investorcall. The dial-in phone number for the conference call is 201-689-8560. For those unable to participate, a replay of the call will be available through May 4, 2021. The replay dial-in number is 412-317-6671. The replay passcode is 13719030. About Axalta Axalta is a global leader in the coatings industry, providing customers with innovative, colorful, beautiful and sustainable coatings solutions. From light vehicles, commercial vehicles and refinish applications to electric motors, building facades and other industrial applications, our coatings are designed to prevent corrosion, increase productivity and enhance durability. With more than 150 years of experience in the coatings industry, the global team at Axalta continues to find ways to serve our more than 100,000 customers in over 130 countries better every day with the finest coatings, application systems and technology. For more information, visit axalta.com and follow us @axalta on Twitter. Axalta Two Commerce Square 2001 Market Street Suite 3600 Philadelphia, PA 19103 Investor Contact Christopher Mecray +1-215-255-7970 [email protected] axalta.com SOURCE Axalta Coating Systems Ltd. Related Links http://www.axalta.com More than 80 bronze mirrors made during the Western Han Dynasty were discovered in a large-scale ancient tomb in China. Although some 2,000 year old, many of the mirrors are still reflective and show original details such as clouds and ancient Chinese characters. The mirrors range from just about three inches (seven centimeters) to eight inches (22 centimeters), and were placed close to the head or around the upper body of skeletons inside the tombs. Situated in the Gaozhuang Township of Shaanxi's Xixian New Area, the graveyard is home to more than 400 tombs of the dynasty's elites and a collection of pottery and bronze ware were also uncovered. Scroll down for video More than 80 bronze mirrors made during the Western Han Dynasty were discovered in a large-scale ancient tomb in China. Although some 2,000 year old, many of the mirrors are still reflective Archaeologists first discovered the cemetery, which resulted in a trove of ancient goods including pottery and other trinkets. However, the team recently unearthed the trove of mirrors and some high glass is still well-preserved and were found in tombs containing remains of both men and women. One of the mirrors shows four Chinese characters: jia chang fu gui, which roughly translates to 'home of prosperity.' Researchers involved with excavations say the giant cemetery was dedicated to the dynasty's upper-class residents, which may explain why they were buried with the exquisite mirrors. The mirrors are well-preserved, showing original details such as clouds and ancient Chinese characters The mirrors range from just about three inches (seven centimeters) to eight inches (22 centimeters) Researchers involved with excavations say the giant cemetery was dedicated to the dynasty's upper-class residents, which may explain why they were buried with the exquisite mirrors A team from the University of Hon Kong recently studied different Chinese bronze mirrors and in the study they wrote: 'Modern scholar Liang thought the ancient Chinese got the inspiration of creating a reflective surface to see the world from looking at still water in a lake or pond.' The earliest mirror was discovered in Gansu Province and dates back to the the Neolithic period's Qijia culture some 4,000 years ago. Although the looking glasses became more advanced over time, it was not until the Han Dynasty did the industry begin to flourish. During this time period, people began to produce them in vast amounts. The cemetery and mirrors were discovered in the Gaozhuang Township of Shaanxi's Xixian New Area All of which were created in clay mold castings, allowing people to add intricate details and lettering to accompany the mirrors. 'An archaeological excavation of a mirror workshop dated to the Western Han dynasty in Shandong province, P. R. China proved this practice was employed. Before clay molds, stone molds were used,' reads the study published in the Heritage Science Journal. Most of the ancient Chinese mirrors contain mostly copper and tin, along with traces of lead. Bronze mirrors were polished after casting to make the surface as smooth as possible to render the best reflective property. Most of the ancient Chinese mirrors contain mostly copper and tin, along with traces of lead. Bronze mirrors were polished after casting to make the surface as smooth as possible to render the best reflective property Unlike other bronze objects the mirror has a specific and special function so the reflective surface has to be treated to increase the reflective effectiveness. Pictures is the non-reflective side showing intricate details Unlike other bronze objects the mirror has a specific and special function so the reflective surface has to be treated to increase the reflective effectiveness. 'The newly discovered mirrors are great references for archaeologists to further study the material culture of the early and middle periods of the Western Han Dynasty,' an archaeologist in Xi'an told the Global Times. 'They are also excellent examples of the aesthetic taste of ancient Chinese and possess both historical and artistic values.' The Han Dynasty is considered a golden age in Chinese history with advances in science and medicine as well as the flourishing of poetry, literature and beautiful artwork. Archaeologists have uncovered a number of wonders, tombs and even ancient wines that date back to this era. The Han Dynasty is considered a golden age in Chinese history with advances in science and medicine as well as the flourishing of poetry, literature and beautiful artwork such as the mirrors The earliest mirror was discovered in Gansu Province and dates back to the the Neolithic period's Qijia culture some 4,000 years ago. Although the looking glasses became more advanced over time, it was not until the Han Dynasty did the industry begin to flourish For example, pulleys and wheelbarrows were made to move goods, bellows used to aid furnaces and water-powered hammers to smash grain. Notably, a eunuch called Cai Lun, is credited with inventing paper in 105 AD, by raising a screen of rice straw and tree bark that was pressed and dried to form a sheet. The Han Dynasty began in 206 BC and ended in 220 AD, making it one of China's most enduring dynasties and it rivalled the Roman Empire in the West in terms of power. Minister of Foreign Affairs Bogdan Aurescu participated, on Thursday, in the opening of the first edition of "The European Union's External Relations and the Global Order" International Conference, by presenting an analysis on the future of the North-Atlantic Alliance and the transatlantic relationship, shows a press release of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MAE) sent to AGERPRES. The event, with the theme "New transatlantic relations and the perspectives of the global order", was organized by the Faculty of European Studies at Babes-Bolyai University in western Cluj-Napoca, in partnership with the Representation of the European Commission in Romania and in collaboration with the European Democratic Culture Initiative think-tank, agerpres.ro confirms. In relation to the current security context, Aurescu analyzed the process of reflection on the future of the organization, NATO 2030, led by the Secretary General of the Alliance, designed to strengthen the capacity to respond effectively to current and future security challenges and that will contribute to the development of a new Strategic Concept of the Alliance. The Minister outlined the priority directions for the next period in order to consolidate these measures, stressing the need to continue the process of strengthening NATO's defense and deterrence posture, evoking the current worrying situation in the Black Sea area, especially in the context of Russia's "assertive" behavior. Aurescu recalled that an extraordinary jumbo NATO ministerial meeting, at the level of ministers of defense and foreign affairs was held on Wednesday, with the participation of US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin, at which "we assessed the situation in Afghanistan and we decided to begin the withdrawal of US troops and of the forces of the Resolute Support Mission from May 1. We also discussed the worrying situation in Ukraine's proximity, reiterating Romania's support for Ukraine's territorial integrity and sovereignty, and stressed the need for the Alliance to continue to strengthen the defense and deterrence posture on the Eastern Flank, at the Black Sea". Aurescu called for increased efforts, especially at the EU level, to resolve protracted conflicts in the region, a priority consistently pursued by Romania, to combat the Black Sea insecurity arc. The Foreign Minister also spoke about the importance of supporting international efforts dedicated to increasing strategic resilience and combating hybrid threats, also addressing the need to develop innovative defense capabilities and new technologies. In this context, he referred to Romania's initiative to establish and host a Euro-Atlantic Center for Resilience, dedicated to NATO, the EU and to partner states. Moscow, April 15 : Russian authorities are closely studying the US' proposal for a summit between Presidents Joe Biden and Vladimir Putin, Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov told journalists. "We are studying this proposal," TASS News Agency quoted Peskov as saying on Wednesday. Without providing any further details on the development, the spokesman said it was too early to speak about the time of the meeting, for instance, that it may take place this summer. In their second phone call since Biden took office in January, the American President on Tuesday proposed to Putin of holding a summit in the coming months "in a third country". During the call, Biden urged Putin to de-escalate border tensions with Ukraine, while also discussing a range of other issues, from arms control to cyberattacks, according to the White House. The last Russia-US summit was held in Helsinki in July 2018. At the time, then President Donald Trump was embroiled in investigations over Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election. In March, the Kremlin was outraged by Biden's comments about Putin during an interview. Biden had answered "I do" to the question of whether he considered Putin a "killer". -- The story has been published from a wire feed without any modifications to the text Police officers perform a new goose-stepping march, the same style used by police and troops on the Chinese mainland, on National Security Education Day in Hong Kong, April 15, 2021. Pro-democracy activists in Hong Kong on Thursday marched in protest calling for the immediate repeal of a draconian national security law, as the city's leader warned that the law will increasingly affect journalism, the arts, internet, and education. Chanting "We have no democracy or human rights!" "Human rights over state power!" and "There is no national security!" the protesters marched from Wanchai MTR station to the Convention and Exhibition Centre where chief executive Carrie Lam was addressing an event to mark National Security Law Education Day on Thursday. Protester Chow Hang-tung, vice chairwoman of the Hong Kong Alliance in Support of Patriotic Democratic Movements of China, said the national security law had done nothing to make people feel safer. "Are the people of Hong Kong safer since the national security law took was enacted?" Chow said. "We have been left with more and more fear, with our human rights increasingly trampled on, and more and more people going to prison," she said. "What sort of security is that?" "The national security law is basically a law that deprives us of security," she said. Inside the venue, Carrie Lam warned that the law -- imposed on the city by the ruling Chinese Communist Party (CCP) from July 1, 2020 -- will soon have an impact on every aspect of life in the city. "We will take forward the work of safeguarding national security ... and ensure that the related work is fully understood and implemented at full steam and in a holistic manner," Lam said in a speech marking She said the implementation of the law would be fully felt in every area of the city's life, "including [in] the domains of politics, society, economy, culture, technology, the internet, finance, and public health." The government has already launched a campaign promoting the law in schools, many of which have set up "national security committees" to educate students about "safeguarding" Hong Kong. The National Security Law for Hong Kong threatens anyone criticizing the Chinese or Hong Kong authorities anywhere in the world with possible life imprisonment. It has created specialized secret security agencies, denied fair trial rights, provided sweeping new powers to police, increased restraints on civil society and the media, and weakened judicial oversight. The law also affects the right to education and freedom of information, opinion, and expression in schools, as political statements and discussions are banned from the city's classrooms and university campuses. Restricted freedoms Since the city was handed back to China in 1997, Hong Kong's seven million residents had continued to enjoy unfettered internet access free from the Great Firewall that limits what users in mainland China can see or do online. But in January, the HKChronicles website dedicated to publishing first-hand accounts of the protest movement was blocked for the first time, prompting concerns that internet service providers in the city are increasingly facing pressure to censor content according to the new law. In response to media inquiries about the block, the Hong Kong police cited Article 43 of the national security law, which states that the police may require service providers to block access to online content message deemed "likely to constitute a crime against national security or result in a crime against national security." The police said at the time that they would "take action in accordance with the law" depending on the circumstances. China's feared state security police have also set up a headquarters in the city to oversee the law's implementation and to deal with "serious cases," while the government has warned that slogans linked to last year's protest movement, including "Free Hong Kong, Revolution Now!", will fall within the law's remit. Lam said on Thursday that the process of implementing the law was still under way. "We will engage the whole community in our efforts to raise Hong Kong people's awareness of national security and the obligation to abide by the law, so as to make it everybody's responsibility to safeguard national security," she said. "National security and political security are inseparable," Lam said. "To achieve genuine national security, governance must be firmly held in the hands of patriots." Goose-stepping police As she spoke, the Hong Kong Police Force gave its first public demonstration of the goose-stepping marching style of China's People's Liberation Army (PLA) at a public open day to mark the law. Lam said the "message of national security" was being brought into schools and communities, with pupils leaving messages of support for the law in an apparent imitation of the "Lennon walls" of post-it notes used during the 2014 and 2019 protest movements. "[We will] strengthen communication, guidance, supervision and regulation over matters concerning national security handled by schools, social organizations, the media and the internet," Lam said. She said the law had already given rise to a new political and law enforcement infrastructure, including the National Security Department of the Hong Kong Police Force, the National Security Prosecutions Division of the Department of Justice, and the Secretariat of the National Security Committee. Words and deeds The CCP's envoy to Hong Kong Luo Huining said Beijing is concerned with "both words and deeds." "We will deal with all those who arbitrarily interfere in Hong Kong affairs and try to use [its people] as pawns," Luo said. "Foreign countries and external forces should ... learn a lesson from our resolute countermeasures [to economic sanctions linked to the suppression of dissent and the protest movement]," he said. "Anything that undermines national security through hard confrontation will be counterattacked in accordance with the law," he said, in an apparent reference to the protest movement, and to protesters who fought back against riot police through 2019. "Soft confrontations will be dealt with through law and regulation," he said. Zheng Yanxiong, director of the Office for Safeguarding National Security of the Central People's Government in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, who has been sanctioned by the U.S. government, said recent sweeping changes to Hong Kong political system went hand-in-hand with the national security crackdown. Earlier this month, Beijing unveiled comprehensive plans to ensure that anyone standing for election to Hong Kong's legislature is a staunch supporter of the ruling Chinese Communist Party (CCP), with all candidates to be vetted by the national security police before being allowed to stand. The new system will force election hopefuls to run a multi-layered gauntlet of pro-CCP committees before they can appear on any ballot paper. However, the decisions of all of those committees will hinge on approval by the national security branch of the Hong Kong Police Force, according to details published by the National People's Congress (NPC) standing committee. Zheng said the system was set up to "end all chaos that challenges the constitutional order" in Hong Kong. Foreign ministry official Yang Yirui said foreign powers had posed a risk to national security in Hong Kong in recent years, in an apparent reference to Beijing's claim that recent pro-democracy movements were instigated by foreign governments. Their purpose was to "turn Hong Kong into an independent or semi-independent political entity, into an enclave of secessionism, a bridgehead of subversion, infiltration, and destruction," Yang told dignitaries at the same event addressed by Lam. 'Like the Cultural Revolution' Current affairs commentator Johnny Lau said the law is part of a process known as "mainlandization" that is deliberately intended to erase the differences between Hong Kong and other Chinese cities. "Actually, the atmosphere in Hong Kong right now is very similar to the way it was in the early days of the Cultural Revolution [1966-1976]," Lau said. "They use written denunciations as the starting point to attack a person's politics, and this is increasingly happening in Hong Kong," he said. "Beijing wants to turn political tension into political pressure." Last month, organizers canceled a public screening of a documentary about a Hong Kong university that was besieged by riot police as students fired petrol bombs and other projectiles from behind makeshift barricades in November 2019, following a denunciation in a pro-CCP Hong Kong newspaper. The Hong Kong Film Critics Society canceled the screening of "Inside the Red Brick Wall," following a number of articles in the Beijing-backed Wen Wei Po criticized the plan as being in breach of the national security law. In the same month, the brand new M+ Museum announced it had shelved plans to show Ai Weiwei's Study of Perspective: Tiananmen Square (1997), after it opens later this year. The work is a photograph of the artist raising his middle finger in Tiananmen Square. Reported by Fong Tak Ho, Lau Siu Fung and Lu Xi for RFA's Cantonese and Mandarin Services. Translated and edited by Luisetta Mudie. Jason Langhans, 17, died on Saturday after he was viciously assaulted in the early hours of March 21 at a gathering in Melbourne's south-east Gatecrashers who allegedly stabbed a 'fun loving' teenager in the head with a screwdriver at a wild house party are believed to have attacked people at a second property in a nightlong rampage. Jason Langhans, 17, died in hospital on Saturday after he was viciously attacked about 2.30am on March 21 at the home in Tooradin in Melbourne's south-east. Detectives say there are three people of interest who werent invited guests of the 16th birthday party. They are also not believed to have known the majority of the guests and turned up with one guest later in the night. Police said as attendees were leaving and milling out the front of the home, a confrontation sparked between the trio and another guest who had asked them to leave. Jason was nearby and was allegedly stabbed in the head with a screwdriver in an unprovoked attack, police said. A group of guests chased the three gatecrasher out of the home before they disappeared into the grounds of nearby rural properties. Police believe another altercation occurred on one of the properties. Homicide detectives have launched an appeal for information to find three persons of interest they would like to speak to in relation to the teenager's murder Homicide detectives spoke to several guests but launched an urgent appeal for anyone with information to come forward. They are particularly interested in hearing from anyone who has information about the three suspects, the later altercation or the area where it occurred, or the weapon used in the second attack. The three men of interest are described as Middle Eastern and believed to be 'of driving age' and not from the surrounding area. All three are described as about 170cm tall, and were wearing dark clothing. The first man had dark, short-cropped hair, the second had wavy black hair brushed across his face, and the third has a dark crew cut and is believed to have visible injuries to the left side of his face. 'Fun loving' teenager Jason Langhans was stabbed in the head on March 21, with the alleged offender still at large 'I cant even imagine what the Langhans family must be going through, to find out that your son and much-loved brother, who just went out to a party, will no longer be coming home,' homicide squad Detective Inspector Andrew Stamper said. 'To the friends or guests who chased the trio away, who would have been just trying to look out for their friend, wed like to hear from you to help establish the circumstances of what occurred and you may be able to help us find the weapon involved. 'Were urging anyone who knows the three men involved, who we believe attended with the intention to cause trouble, to come forward. 'These men need to be held to account for their actions.' Jason was given first aid at the party before being driven home, but paramedics were called when his condition deteriorated. The Cranbourne North teenager was rushed to hospital after the stabbing and had multiple surgeries before going into the ICU, but suffered a stroke following medical complications on April 6. Homicide Squad Detective Inspector Andrew Stamper said: 'I cant even imagine what the Langhans family must be going through, to find out that your son and much-loved brother, who just went out to a party, will no longer be coming home.' Jason's family turned off his life support this week and his mother Carolyn Langhans remains in disbelief she will soon have to bury her son. 'Jason you were our whole life and not a day will go by without us thinking about you and wishing you were here, we love you so much and our lives feel so empty,' she wrote on Facebook. 'You put up a good fight but unfortunately, it was your time to go and now you're no longer in any pain.' His sister Stacey Langhans is equally devastated. 'Jason had everything going for him and has had it all taken away before he could even experience his life,' she told the Herald Sun. 'Our son and baby brother have been murdered and whoever did this is still running around free.' The family wants answers and vowed not to give up until the killer was brought to justice. Family friend Greg Angus described the attack on Jason as 'senseless' and said whoever was responsible can 'rot in hell.' Carmen Mireya Alarcon Rivera, the fugitive arrested by police in Barcelona. EL PAIS When police found her in an apartment in Barcelona, Carmen Mireya Alarcon Rivera told them they had the wrong person. I dont even live in Spain, I came to pick up my husband with the lawyer, she said. Last Friday, the 47-year-old Ecuadorian had gone to Barcelonas El Prat airport to try to help her husband, also from Ecuador. When he had arrived from Quito, he was arrested by Civil Guard officers after a security checkpoint picked up that there was an international warrant out for his arrest. The warrant had been filed by the Californian Southern District in the United States. Forty-eight hours later, after being alerted again by US authorities, National Police officers located Alarcon Rivera, otherwise known as La Senora, one of the most wanted fugitives in the US. Alarcon Rivera was staying in an apartment in the Barcelona neighborhood of Vilapicina i la Torre Llobeta, where her two adult children had been living for years, although their names were on another two earlier residences in Hospitalet. Alarcon Rivera is accused of belonging to a criminal organization that tried to transport 3,400 kilograms of cocaine from Colombia When police found her, she was convinced they had come for her husband not her. Alarcon Rivera was surprised to learn that there was also an international arrest warrant against her, allegedly for belonging to a transnational criminal organization that tried to introduce by sea, over the Ecuador-Mexico route, 3,400 kilograms of cocaine from Colombia. That is how she came to share a lawyer with her husband, who is accused of the same crime. It was the information Spain gave to US authorities on the husbands arrest that set off the search to find Alarcon Rivera. And La Senora? Do you have the boss? the US officials asked Spanish police. Officers from the fugitive department in Barcelona spent all weekend trying to find the woman, before locating her in the apartment in Vilapicina i la Torre Llobeta. Alarcon Rivera arrived in Spain for the first time in 2001. She was a hired worker for a number of years and even managed to secure Spanish nationality. According to investigators, from that moment on, she started to use Spain as a country of refuge, while she developed her businesses in Ecuador. In the South American country, she appears to be linked to a large company called Ecuador Negocios dedicated to wholesale and retail sale of fish products, which was founded in 2012. According to information from US police: She coordinated the resupply of both fuel and other provisions to boats carrying drugs that sailed without a flag or to fishing vessels, including one ship that belonged to her. In addition, she also notified of the departures of these ships and the locations of the supply points. English version by Melissa Kitson. Gov. Phil Murphy nominated the son of Democratic U.S. Senator Robert Menendez, a Hudson County official and a Cliffside Park councilwoman to the board of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, which controls an annual budget larger than some states. Murphy announced the nominations Thursday morning, confirming an NJ Advance Media article that Rob Menendez Jr., Michelle Richardson, executive director for the Hudson County Economic Development Corporation, and Cliffside Park Councilwoman Dana Martinotti would be nominated to the bi-state agency. Murphy said he intends to re-nominate Commissioner Kevin McCabe to the board. McCabe joined the board in 2017 and is also chairman of the Middlesex County Democratic Organization. The nominations require state Senate approval. If confirmed, the new commissioners could be faced with significant decisions, including the selection of the Authoritys first ever chief executive officer and handling a $1.7 billion revenue shortfall caused by COVID-19 travel declines. Passed over for a board position was Amy Rosen, a former deputy DOT commissioner, ex-NJ Transit and Amtrak board member, who was nominated by Murphy in May 2018. That nomination stalled when it apparently failed to get the needed behind-the-scenes legislative support. Richardson and Martinotti would be the first women to represent New Jersey on the board since Caren Turner resigned in April 2018 after an incident captured on video where she tried to use her influence as a commissioner during a police traffic stop that involved a car her daughter was riding in. They would join New York Commissioners Leecia Eve and Rossana Rosado, adding more two women to a board that has been criticized in past years for being made up predominantly of white males. Michelle Richardson was nominated by Gov. Phil Murphy to the board of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey on Thursday, April 15. If confirmed, the new commissioners would replace David Steiner and Richard Bagger on the Port Authority board. Steiner has served since 2003 and Bagger since 2012. They would join a bi-state board that controls a $7.3 billion budget that is larger than those in several states. They also would come to the authority as it grapples with a $1.7 billion revenue shortfall in 2020, caused by coronavirus travel declines at airports, bridges and tunnels and on PATH trains. Authority officials warned that a $3 billion earnings shortfall projected to be reached in 2022 could require the agencys to cut projects from its ambitious $37 billion capital plan. The authority is funded by tolls, fares and fees from its facilities. If appointed, the trio of new commissioners also could decide who is named as the Port Authoritys first Chief Executive Officer, a process that was begun under reforms started in the 2010s but has stalled searching for a candidate. Richardson is the executive director of the Hudson County Economic Development Corporation. Before that, she worked as the director of Hudson Countys Department of Parks and Community Service. She was an assistant commissioner of the New Jersey Department of Labor Workforce Development and the New Jersey Department of Community Affairs. She received her undergraduate degree at Emerson College before earning her masters degrees at Columbia University. Dana Martinotti was nominated by Gov. Phil Murphy to the board of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey on Thursday, April 15. Martinotti serves as a councilwoman for the borough of Cliffside Park since 2002. In Cliffside Park, and has served as council president three times since 2005. Martinotti is the principal of Public School No. 5 and serves as a district safety and security specialist. She earned her masters degrees at William Paterson University and St. Peters University. Rob Menendez Jr., is a counsel at the law firm of Lowenstein Sandler LLP. Before joining the firm, he was an Eagleton Executive Fellow in the Port Commerce Department, and worked on various port initiatives and legal matters. He began his career as a judicial intern for U.S. District Court Judge William J. Martini, and received his law degree from the Rutgers University School of Law. The Port Authority is still in the midst of reform efforts to depoliticize and instill ethics reforms after it was tarnished by the Bridgegate scandal. Agency officials orchestrated the shutdown of several local toll lanes at the George Washington Bridge in 2013 in a scheme of political retribution targeting the mayor of Fort Lee over his refusal to endorse Gov. Chris Christie. Another challenge for the authority is being subject to the whims of governors from both states when they demand specific infrastructure projects. Please subscribe now and support the local journalism YOU rely on and trust. Larry Higgs may be reached at lhiggs@njadvancemedia.com. Karnataka: Navy joins in search for nine missing fishermen April 15,2021 | Source: The Hindu The Indian Navy on Wednesday deployed its surface and air assets for the search and rescue of nine missing fishermen of a Kerala-registered mechanised fishing boat which with 14 crew on board capsized off the Mangaluru coast in the early hours of Tuesday. Three fishermen died, while two crew members were rescued after the boat Rabah suffered a collision with a merchant ship carrying the Singapore flag mv APL Le Havre at about 2 a.m. about 43 nautical miles west off Mangaluru coast. A press release said that Indian Naval Ships Tillanchang and Kalpeni along with naval aircraft from Goa were deployed in the area to augment search and rescue efforts of Indian Coast Guard vessels. To assist in the rescue efforts, INS Subhadra, a patrol vessel, sailed out from Karwar with a diving team embarked. Two specialist diving teams undertook snagline search in the area in an effort to locate the fishing craft that had sunk, it said. Meanwhile, Superintendent of Police, Karnataka Coastal Security Police, Udupi, Chethan R. said that two of the three bodies were handed over to their relatives on Wednesday. The two survivors were also handed over to the owner of the boat Mamentakathu Jaffar of Beypore in Kozhikode. The bodies of Dasan Channappa and Alexander Syrang were taken to Tamil Nadu after post-mortem. The body of Manikyadas from West Bengal will be handed over to the concerned after a COVID-19 test on Thursday. It will be flown to West Bengal. The Coastal Security Police have registered a case under Sections 304 (A) (causing death by negligence) and 280 (navigating a vessel in rash and negligent manner), Mr. Chethan added. Of the fishermen on board, seven each were from West Bengal and Tamil Nadu. The two survivors are Sunil Das (34) of West Bengal and Velumurugan (37) of Kalirajapuram, Rameswaram, Tamil Nadu. 2021, THG PUBLISHING PVT LTD. [April 14, 2021] US online retailer iHerb launches a promotional event during April HONG KONG, April 15, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- With April here before we realize it, many are already making travel plans and developing a routine for getting back in shape, signaling their pursuit of a happier and healthier lifestyle. The demand for nutritional supplements that enhance health is on the rise alongside the awareness of the necessity for regularly-scheduled physical exercise now that warmer weather is with us. Global online retailer iHerb recently launched a promotional event that will last until the end of April. To provide shoppers across the world's different time zones the best discounts this spring, the event consists of daily promotions (from 10:00 am Mondays (US Pacific Time) to 10:00 am Thursdays) and weekend promotions (from 10:00 am Fridays to 10:00 am Mondays), with discounts of at least 20 per cent. In addition, shoppers are also entitled to an additional 5 per cent off by placing orders during the promotional period using the discount code BDU9188. US-based e-commerce company iHerb has provided high-quality, cost-effective, healthy products made with natural ingredients to more than 150 countries and regions worldwide through its online platform since 1996. Currently, the company has established a number of GMP-certified modern green warehousing facilities in California, Kentucky and Pennsylvania as well as Incheon, South Korea, providing stocking and packaging services to the over 1,200 selected brands and 30,000 products available on the platform. The April promotional event includes a rich line-up of nutritional supplements thatmeet the expectations of shoppers with a wide range of needs. 1. California Gold Nutrition, Hydrolyzed Marine Collagen Polypeptide, Natural Flavor, 7.05 oz. (200 g) Product Code: CGN-01863 CGN collagen is the brand's signature supplement with the newly launched version containing upgraded ingredients. The legacy product is a combination of cod and tilapia (African crucian carp), while the upgraded version is made of 100 per cent wild cod, delivering a purer and more reassuring product. The collagen polypeptide extracted from sea fish can be easily absorbed, so even men can use it safely without being concerned about issues associated with animal feed and hormones. Collagen offers a higher level of absorption and utilization after being hydrolyzed into amino acids and peptides. Taking collagen before going to bed is highly beneficial in helping keep the skin taut and smooth as well as preserving joints and bones. 2. MuscleTech, Essential Series, Platinum-Level Full Omega Fish Oil, 100 Soft Capsules Product Code: MSC-60448 MuscleTech, an exquisitely packaged fish oil, is rich in DHA and EPA which are the essential omega-3 fatty acids and play an important role in boosting the metabolism. The product is mainly made from anchovies. Each capsule contains a moderate level of 300mg DHA and EPA and features the enteric coating design that removes fishy smells and helps eliminate inflammation caused by workouts. 3. Jarrow formulas, Jarrosil, Activated Silicon, 2 oz. (60 ml) Product Code: JRW-13017 JarroSil's Activated Silicon delivers outstanding performance in promoting skin rejuvenation. Using JarroSil's patented silicon formula with high bioactivity and stable silicic acid clusters, the product improves the skin's elasticity and reduces wrinkles by stimulating collagen production. Adequate silicon helps hair and nails grow thicker and stronger while playing an important role in bone calcification. With a daily intake of just 10 drops, the product with an acidulous taste helps create softer and smoother skin and improve dry heels. It also acts as an agent for healthier hair by helping ensure fast and smooth hair growth. 4. Desert Essence, Tea Tree Oil Skin Ointment, 1 fl. oz. (29.5 ml) Product Code: DES-00003 The Dessert Essence Tea Tree Oil Moisturizing Cream is rich in vitamin E and contains natural essence oil along with lavender essential oil which helps soothe stressed skin. Combining essential oil with herbs, it helps relieve allergic and dry skin in addition to preventing cracked skin on the face or body. With tea tree essential oil, the cream can also be used as a multi-purpose ointment, with an anti-inflammatory and healing effect on small skin wounds. It has been proved especially useful in repairing skin tears and irritation caused by shaving in addition to healing chapped hands and feet. This product is suitable for all types of skin. 5. Mild By Nature, Thickening B-Complex + Biotin Shampoo by Madre Labs(R), No Sulfates, Citrus Squeeze, 16 fl. oz. (473 ml) Product Code: MBN-01259 The organic shampoo, one of the brand's best-sellers, is safe for use as it is a non-GMO product, free of synthetic flavors, glutenin, P-hydroxybenzoate and phthalates. It is also pH-balanced and cruelty-free. When used frequently, the nutritious shampoo cleans the hair while rendering it thicker, fuller and healthier looking. The B-complex and biotin help improve the health of both the hair and the scalp. In addition, the shampoo contains vegetarian quinoa and flax protein (which strengthen the hair), aloe leaf juice (which helps soothe the scalp and the hair follicles), and essence oil blends (which offer fresh citrus scents and make the hair look more natural). A complete list of the products featured in the promotional event can be viewed on the official website, as well as on iHerb's global and China apps. The China app is available for download at https://img.iherb.cn/app/app.html?channelCode=HY while the global app can be downloaded by searching "iHerb" in the App Store. Shoppers in mainland China who place orders using the Wechat mini program are also entitled to an additional 2 yuan (approx. US$0.30) to 888 yuan (approx. US$133) discount via Wechat red envelope. iHerb provides discounts on a rich line-up of products as part of its promotional event until the end of April SOURCE iHerb [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] (CNN) -- President Joe Biden on Wednesday formally announced his decision to withdraw American troops from Afghanistan before September 11, the 20th anniversary of the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon that led the US into its longest war. "We cannot continue the cycle of extending or expanding our military presence in Afghanistan hoping to create the ideal conditions for our withdrawal, expecting a different result," Biden said. "I am now the fourth American president to preside over an American troop presence in Afghanistan. Two Republicans. Two Democrats," he added. "I will not pass this responsibility to a fifth." In a sign he views his remarks as a historic bookend to the prolonged conflict, he delivered them from precisely the same spot in the White House Treaty Room that President George W. Bush announced the start of the war on October 7, 2001. Afterward he'll visit the section of Arlington National Cemetery where many of America's war dead from Afghanistan are buried. Biden will say that American diplomatic and humanitarian efforts will continue in Afghanistan and would support peace efforts between the Afghan government and the Taliban. But he'll be unequivocal that two decades after it began, the Afghanistan war is ending. "It is time to end America's longest war. It is time for American troops to come home," he said. Biden said the withdrawal will begin on May 1, in line with an agreement President Donald Trump's administration made with the Taliban. He said the complete withdrawal will be done by September 11. The deadline Biden has set is absolute, with no potential for extension based on worsening conditions on the ground. Officials said after two decades of war, it was clear to the President that throwing more time and money at Afghanistan's problems wasn't going to work. "This is not conditions-based," a senior administration official heavily involved in the deliberations said on Tuesday. "The President has judged that a conditions-based approach, which has been the approach of the past two decades, is a recipe for staying in Afghanistan forever." Some US troops will remain to protect American diplomats, though officials declined to provide a precise number. Afghan President Ashraf Ghani said Wednesday he spoke to Biden and that he "respects the US decision." "Afghanistan's proud security and defense forces are fully capable of defending its people and country, which they have been doing all along, and for which the Afghan nation will forever remain grateful," Ghani said on Twitter. Biden has spent months weighing his decision, and determined a war in Afghanistan that killed some 2,300 troops and cost more than $2 trillion no longer fit within the pressing foreign policy concerns of 2021. That was true of Biden's two most recent predecessors as well, who both attempted withdrawals from Afghanistan only to be drawn back in by devolving security and attempts to prop up the government. Biden has made a different calculation that the US and the world must simply move on. Biden said that he spoke with former President George W. Bush on Tuesday ahead of announcing his decision to withdraw the troops. "I spoke yesterday with President Bush to inform him of my decision. While he and I have had many disagreements over policy throughout the years, we are absolutely united in our respect and support for the valor, courage and integrity of the women and men of the United States forces who've served," Biden said. His foreign policy priorities now lie elsewhere in Asia, where he hopes to compete with China, and in Russia, whose President he spoke with Tuesday and proposed an upcoming summit. "We went to Afghanistan because of a horrific attack that happened 20 years ago. That cannot explain why we should remain there in 2021," Biden will say, according to his speech excerpts. "Rather than return to war with the Taliban, we have to focus on the challenges that will determine our standing and reach today and into the years to come." Still, as Biden was making his decision, the prospect of the Taliban returning to power and potentially rolling back gains on security, democracy and women's rights provided a stark counter-argument to an immediate US withdrawal. Deliberations stretched longer than some US officials expected, even as Biden signaled repeatedly a May 1 deadline was near-impossible to meet. Hoping to provide space for him to make an informed final decision that he wouldn't come to regret, officials sought to avoid pressuring a President known for blowing past deadlines. Top-level meetings were convened at an unusually high rate. A long history with the conflict Officials involved in the process interpreted the lengthy timeline as a sign of Biden's genuine anguish about a path forward, sources said. Biden, meanwhile, made clear he didn't want to be rushed. In reality, Biden has been thinking about this issue for nearly as long as the war itself, having traveled to the region as a leader on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and as an internal advocate -- at first ignored -- of drawing down troops during the Obama administration. On the day in 2001 that Bush addressed the nation from the Treaty Room, Biden appeared on CNN a few hours later from his home in Wilmington. Then the chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Biden told Larry King he believed the Taliban would be quickly defeated. "There is no doubt in my mind the Taliban is done and the American people are going to learn about that and the world is going to learn about that in a matter of weeks, I predict," he said in the interview -- a projection that, 20 years later, appears misguided as his administration works to urge peace talks between the Taliban, which control large swaths of Afghanistan, and the Afghan government. Still, in the interview, Biden acknowledged the lengthy road ahead -- even though he could not have imagined he would be the president two decades later deciding to pull troops out. "The hard part is going to be putting it together," he said then. "The easiest part is going to be taking it down." Over the ensuing decades, Biden would travel to Afghanistan as part of congressional delegations and grill military leaders appearing before his committee. By the time he became vice president, Biden had adopted a skeptical view toward a continued large presence in the country. Some confidants attributed that to worsening conditions and the growing intractability of the political situation; others said his son Beau's deployment to Iraq as a member of the Delaware Army National Guard lent him new insight into the sacrifices of military families. At one point in 2009, he hand-wrote a memo to President Barack Obama arguing for a troop withdrawal and faxed it to the White House from his Thanksgiving vacation on Nantucket. He made various attempts to argue his case to Obama, who chose instead to surge troops before eventually pulling many of them out. Focusing on 2021, not 2001 His views of the war as a drain on American lives and resources haven't changed since then. He campaigned on a pledge to end the Afghanistan war and has reminded advisers in meetings that most Americans have either forgotten about it or say in polls it should end. Ultimately, he believes the time and energy spent on the Afghanistan war should be redirected to more present-day matters. "The President deeply believes that in contending with the threats and challenges of 2021, as opposed to those of 2001, we need to be focusing our energy, our resources, our personnel, the time of our foreign policy and national security leadership on those threats and challenges that are most acute for the United States," the senior administration official said, citing as examples China, the pandemic and more disperse terror threats. "Doing that requires us to close the book on a 20-year conflict in Afghanistan and move forward with clear eyes and an effective strategy to protect and defend America's national security interests." Biden officials said they believed they got a late start in weighing options for Afghanistan because of the delayed transition under President Donald Trump, who refused to acknowledge the results of the election for weeks. Officials said at the time that they weren't able to understand fully the US force posture or assess the entire scope of the agreement the Trump administration had struck with the Taliban. Starting in February, officials undertook a review of "genuine, realistic options" for Afghanistan, according to an official, mindful of Biden's instructions not to "sugarcoat" the likely outcomes. Heavy consultations between Cabinet members and foreign partners ensued. During deliberations with senior national security and military officials, Biden chafed at suggestions US troops should remain in Afghanistan for much longer, according to people familiar with the matter, reminding his advisers that -- like his two predecessors -- he promised voters he would end the country's longest war. There was not unanimous consent among his team. Among those advocating against a withdrawal, Gen. Mark Milley, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, had been among the most ardent, suggesting earlier in the deliberations that pulling American troops from Afghanistan could cause the government in Kabul to collapse and prompt backsliding in women's rights, according to people familiar with the conversations. An annual US intelligence community's assessment released Tuesday was grim on the outlook for Afghanistan, concluding that prospects for a peace deal between the Taliban and the Afghan government "remain low during the next year." "The Taliban is likely to make gains on the battlefield, and the Afghan Government will struggle to hold the Taliban at bay if the coalition withdraws support," the assessment said. Biden is fully aware of those risks, officials said, but made his decision based on his firm determination there wasn't a military solution to the various problems plaguing Afghanistan. Still, the images from Saigon linger, even if others reject the comparison. "This is not Vietnam. This is different," said Chuck Hagel, who earned two Purple Hearts during the Vietnam War before serving alongside Biden as a Republican senator from Nebraska and as Obama's third Secretary of Defense. "Responsibly managing the end of America's longest war, and the complications of America's interests and helping secure the future for Afghanistan with our allies and the Afghan people is the right course of action," Hagel said. This story was first published on CNN.com, "Biden announces troops will leave Afghanistan by September 11: 'It's time to end America's longest war'" Steve Gonzales, Houston Chronicle / Staff photographer For the second-straight day, the Electric Reliability Council of Texas said it is expecting electricity supplies to be tighter than forecast due to power plant outages and temperatures. ERCOT, the states grid manager, said it is expecting strained grid conditions Wednesday afternoon but is not asking for energy conservation at this time. A conservation order is typically issued when there are less than 2,500 megawatts of power supply remaining to meet demand. Defence Minister Peter Dutton says he has made it very clear to officials that a twerking performance at a naval ship commissioning on the weekend will never happen again. The ABC issued a correction on Thursday over the original video of the routine that incorrectly showed Governor-General David Hurley and Chief of Navy Vice Admiral Michael Noonan were present at the time, ahead of the HMAS Supply launch on Saturday at Fleet Base East in Sydney. The 101 Doll Squadron has deleted its social media pages following criticism and widespread media coverage of their dance and described the editing as creepy and deceptive. It wasnt a good look, Mr Dutton told Nines Today on Friday. COLUMBUS, Ohio, April 15, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Ohio-based furniture retailer Designer Looks only at Value City Furniture is giving back to its home state by supporting Ohio hospitals and its caregivers who have gone above and beyond throughout the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. Designer Looks announced today the company donated furniture to three hospital systems across the state to be used in respite rooms for doctors, nurses, and hospital staff. The respite rooms were built this year due to the pandemic in order to create a quiet, relaxing place for a moment of composure and reflection while on their shift. Designer Looks donated 16 recliners to Premier Health in Dayton, Ohio, to furnish each of the Miami Valley Hospital COVID respite rooms. Mercy Health Hospitals also received 16 recliners for its staff respite rooms, which they call Lavender Rooms, at both the Springfield Regional Medical Center in Southwest Ohio and the St. Elizabeth Youngstown Hospital in Northeast Ohio. "Every level of health care worker has been impacted by the memory of a patient they cared for at one point in their career. Today, COVID-19 has left an imprint on each of us," said Stacie Call, chief nursing officer, Mercy Health, Youngstown. "Our associates have always been resilient but at the end of the day, they are human and also need a moment to recharge and decompress. When a situation that impacts the hospital staff occurs, frontline associates can use these respite rooms to disconnect, recollect and reflect. These Lavender Rooms are an additional step to further remind our staff that we understand the impact their jobs have mentally and physically." In addition to donating furniture, Designer Looks also donated $10,000 to the Central Ohio American Red Cross for its Humanitarians of the Year Awards, which honored Dr. Amy Acton and Central Ohio's healthcare community for their tireless work this past year to ensure the local community's safety. "Designer Looks is honored to have the opportunity to support Ohio's healthcare heroes fighting for their communities every day," said Jonathan Schottenstein, president, Designer Looks only at Value City Furniture. "This past year has been tough on all of us and our healthcare workers are bearing the brunt of it. Now, these heroes will have a place to rest and the acknowledgement they deserve so they can have the strength to continue to fight. I hope these gestures help to show just how thankful we are for the sacrifices they're making." About Designer Looks only at Value City Furniture Founded in 1948, American Signature, Inc. is a family-owned and -operated furniture retailer based in Columbus, Ohio. It is the parent company of Designer Looks only at Value City Furniture with more than 120 stores across the U.S. VCF and its Designer Looks offerings, including ComforTECH products, provide on-trend, high-end styles made with incredible quality details like hand-stenciled finishes, solid wood surfaces or 100 percent feathers, without the high-end price. For more information on VCF, Designer Looks and to locate your nearest Designer Looks only at VCF store, visit www.DesignerLooks.com. SOURCE Value City Furniture Related Links https://www.valuecityfurniture.com/ New Delhi: The Indian Air Force on Sunday is proudly celebrating its 85th anniversary or Raising Day. October 8 is celebrated as Air Force Day in India. It commemorates the anniversary of the official foundation of the Indian Air Force in 1932. A scintillating air display by various IAF aircrafts will be the hallmark of the 2017 Air Force Day Parade cum Investiture Ceremony at Air Force Station Hindan (Ghaziabad). Every year since India became a republic in 1950, the Air Force Day is celebrated on Oct 8. So a question that naturally comes to every citizens mind is as to why is October 8 celebrated as the Air Force Day. So here is a brief history about the formation of the IAF and the significance of Oct 8 in Indian Air Force's history. The Indian Air Force, the air arm of the Indian armed forces, is entrusted with the prime responsibility of safeguarding the Indian airspace as well as to carry out aerial warfare on enemy aircrafts and destroy strategic installations during war time. IAF FORMATION DAY - 8 Oct 1932 The Indian Air Force was officially established on 8 October 1932 as an auxiliary air force of the British Empire which honored India's aviation service during World War II with the prefix Royal. After India gained independence from the United Kingdom in 1947, the name Royal Indian Air Force was kept and served in the name of Dominion of India. With the government's transition to a Republic in 1950, the prefix Royal was removed after only three years. On 1 April 1933, the IAF commissioned its first squadron, designated as the No.1 Squadron. The Squadron's manpower comprised off six RAF-trained officers and 19 Havai Sepoys (literally, air soldiers). The aircraft inventory comprised of four Westland Wapiti IIA army co-operation biplanes at Drigh Road as the "A" Flight nucleus of the planned No.1 (Army Co- operation) Squadron. IAF's Operational Engagement Since 1950, the IAF has actively taken part in four wars with neighboring Pakistan and one with the People's Republic of China. Other major operations undertaken by the IAF include Operation Vijay, Operation Meghdoot, Operation Cactus and Operation Poomalai. The IAF's role expands beyond engagement with hostile forces, with it contributing significantly to the United Nations peacekeeping missions. IAF's Relief and Rescue Operations The Air Force also renders relief and rescue operations to the citizens of the country in times of natural disasters and calamities. The IAF provided extensive assistance to relief operations during natural calamities such as the Gujarat cyclone in 1998 and the Tsunami in 2004. The IAF also provides assistance to other countries during relief activities such as Operation Rainbow in Sri Lanka. For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. Advertisement Satellite images reveal how St. Vincent has been completely blackened by ash as La Soufriere volcano continues to blow on an almost daily basis and residents are facing 'chronic water shortages'. Aerial photos taken Tuesday show the Richmond Vale waterfront in Chateaubelair, just south of the volcano almost unrecognizable from images taken just two weeks before on April 2. The lush green land and crops are now destroyed by fallen ash, with the roofs of homes covered in a thick layer of dust. La Soufriere first erupted Friday for the first time in over 40 years, with continuous explosions over the following days. Eruptions are expected to continue for weeks with the United Nations warning of a growing humanitarian crisis and announcing an emergency relief fund to send clean water and supplies to those worst affected. Slide me BEFORE AND AFTER: Satellite images reveal how St. Vincent has been completely blackened by ash as La Soufriere volcano continues to blow on an almost daily basis and residents are facing 'chronic water shortages' Slide me BEFORE AND AFTER: Aerial photos taken Tuesday show the Richmond Vale waterfront in Chateaubelair, just south of the volcano almost unrecognizable from images taken just two weeks before on April 2 This NASA Earth Observatory handout image taken on Tuesday shows a satellite image of the volcano eruption Around 20,000 people have so far been evacuated from the most dangerous 'red zone' - accounting for roughly a fifth of the Caribbean island's 110,000 residents. Roughly 4,500 of these residents are staying in emergency shelters where fears are now growing about the risk of a COVID-19 outbreak, with about a dozen new cases of the virus reported in recent days. While the red zone has been hardest hit, much of the island is covered in falling ash, with even those in the safest 'green zone' staying inside to avoid breathing in the dust. Most homes are now without water with some locals saying it is five days since they first lost their supply and lining up at spigots to fill up buckets with water. Suzanne Thomas, who lives in eastern St. Vincent, said she had taken nine people into her home from the worst areas but they were all sharing a small supply of water after her town was hit with water shortages Saturday. 'It's real rough. We have to use one jug of water to shower, brush your teeth and flush the toilet,' she told AP. The ash has killed crops across the island and Argyle Airport is closed until further notice, leading to concerns about the supply of food and essential items. Supplies are already running out at government shelters, where people The UN announced Thursday it has allocated $1 million from its Central Emergency Response Fund to help provide urgent humanitarian assistance to those affected people. The funds will be used to help provide safe drinking water and hygiene kits to the most vulnerable people. Eruptions are expected to continue for weeks with the United Nations warning of a growing humanitarian crisis. People clean ash from the roof of homes in Wallilabou, on the western side of the Caribbean island A view from the Belmont Observatory in St. Vincent. La Soufriere first erupted Friday for the first time in over 40 years, with continuous explosions over the following days Volcanic ash covers the roofs of homes after the eruption of La Soufriere volcano in Wallilabou Monday as the volcano continues to erupt Ash rises into the air as La Soufriere volcano erupts again on the eastern Caribbean island of St. Vincent Tuesday Didier Trebucq, United Nations resident coordinator for Barbados and the Eastern Caribbean, warned Wednesday that the 'crisis' is likely to linger for several months even after the volcano goes quiet. 'So we are facing a situation with a great deal of uncertainty, and also a humanitarian crisis that is growing and may continue for weeks and months,' he told reporters. He said around 20,000 people are 'estimated at risk of food insecurity, given the loss of the assets in terms of livelihood like fisheries, or agriculture.' 'This is a crisis that is going to certainly last more than six months in St. Vincent and other islands,' he added. Fears are also growing about a surge in COVID-19 infections as families pack into government shelters and into homes of friends and relatives after fleeing their homes. Dr. Simone Keizer-Beache, chief medical officer on the Caribbean island, said in a press briefing Thursday that around a dozen new cases have been reported in recent days. The volcanic hazard map shows the different zones. Around 20,000 have been evacuated from the red zone At least one of these cases was reported in a shelter, meaning around 20 people have been exposed to the virus, she said. Prime Minister Ralph Gonsalves said the lack of water was adding to the risk of a new wave of the virus as he urged people to follow COVID-19 safety precautions. 'If we're not careful, we're going to have a spike, which could create a real danger in addition to what we're having with the volcano,' he said. 'Washing your hands when you don't have a lot of water is problematic.' Gonsalves previously said only people who had received the COVID-19 vaccine could board cruise ships sent to the island at the weekend to transport them to neighboring islands. No deaths have yet been reported since the first eruption Friday. A rooster and a hen walk on the ash-covered main Black Rock road on the outskirts of Bridgetown, Barbados Neighboring islands have shipped emergency supplies to St. Vincent but these islands have also been impacted by the volcano's eruptions. Barbados above The ash has blown across the sea to the Grenadines as well as further afield to Barbados (pictured above) grounding flights at Grantley Adams airport GoFundMe campaigns have been set up to donate funds and supplies to those worst affected, while pop star M.I.A has also launched an appeal. Neighboring islands have shipped emergency supplies to St. Vincent and the Barbados Defence Force sent in 30 troops to provide on the ground support. But these islands have also been impacted by the volcano's eruptions with the ash blowing across the sea to the Grenadines as well as further afield to Barbados, where both locals and tourists are stranded due to the closure of Grantley Adams airport. The airport first shuttered on Sunday due to limited visibility from the ash, with officials announcing it will stay closed until at least noon on Friday as a gray haze continues to hover over the capital Bridgetown. La Soufriere began rumbling back in December, with the explosions of recent days marking the first since back in 1979. Prior to that, an eruption in 1902 killed around 1,600 people. The Nepali e-commerce market is still considered to be in an infant stage, but the way people shop has changed tremendously in the last few years. Among the many e-commerce platforms used by people, Daraz has been contributed a lot to helping e-commerce flourish in the country and building a better ecosystem for a digital Nepal. The ongoing Daraz sale Nawa Barsa ko Bhabya Sale has been live only for the past three days, but it is already pulling one of the highest traffics to the website, says Darazs Chief Commercial Officer Temple Pyakurel. The mega sale campaign launched on April 11 will now run till April 20. OnlineKhabar caught up with Daraz Managing Director Lino Ahlering and Pyakurel to talk about their ongoing campaign, and their preparations to make the campaign successful. The duo also talks about the e-commerce market in Nepal, its possibilities and opportunities. Watch the full interview here: New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday held a roadshow in Vadnagar, his birthplace, in Mehsana district as he arrived here on the second day of his visit to Gujarat. He also inaugurated GMERS Medical College and hospital of a total bed capacity of 650. Here are the Live updates- # Modi to lay foundation stone of barrage over Narmada River, flag off Antyodaya Express # PM Modi reaches Bharuch # Today I met youngsters from a medical college. We as a society require more doctors who can serve people: PM Modi Today I met youngsters from a medical college. We as a society require more doctors who can serve people: PM Modi #Vadnagar pic.twitter.com/YoMCdywWRx ANI (@ANI) October 8, 2017 # We brought prices of stents down. Work is constantly being done to make healthcare affordable for the poor: PM # Doctors and good food may or may not guarantee good health, but cleanliness does: PM Modi # PM Modi talks about Chinese President says,'scholar Xuanzang visited my village in India & in China he visited Pres Xi's village' # I am happy that I have got to inaugurate projects relating to the health sector, particularly Intensified Mission Indradhanush: PM # I will go back with your blessings and assure you that I will work even harder for the nation: PM # Vadnagar has had historic importance, Xuanzang, Buddhist monk stayed in Vadnagar # Coming back to one's home town and receiving such a warm welcome is special. Whatever I am today is due to the values I have learnt on this soil, among you all in Vadnagar: PM # PM Modi launches Mission Intensified Indra Dhanush, an immunization program # PM Narendra Modi interacts with students at Vadnagar's GMERS Medical College Gujarat: PM Narendra Modi interacts with students at #Vadnagar's GMERS Medical College. pic.twitter.com/JNUF1hWm60 ANI (@ANI) October 8, 2017 # PM Narendra Modi dedicates Vadnagar's GMERS Medical College to the nation; Gujarat CM, Dy CM & Union Min JP Nadda also present. Gujarat: PM Narendra Modi dedicates #Vadnagar's GMERS Medical College to the nation; Gujarat CM, Dy CM & Union Min JP Nadda also present. pic.twitter.com/M9ySQBIcfZ ANI (@ANI) October 8, 2017 # PM Modi visits Hatkeshwar Temple, offers prayers # PM Modi reaches his school #PM arrives in Vadnagar, holds roadshow # Prime minister Modi to visit his hometown Vadnagar On the second day of his #Gujarat visit, Prime Minister Narendra Modi set to visit his hometown #Vadnagar, gearing up to welcome him pic.twitter.com/4d32de0MFx ANI (@ANI) October 8, 2017 PM had already shared the news about his visit to Vadnagar. He also wrote that the visit would bring back several memories from my childhood. I look forward to visiting Vadnagar, my hometown tomorrow morning. This visit will bring back several memories from my childhood. Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) October 7, 2017 He will also launch the Intensified Mission Indradhanush, to accelerate progress towards the goal of full immunization coverage. The mission will provide greater focus on urban areas and other pockets of low immunization coverage, the statement said. The prime minister will also distribute e-tablets to health workers to mark the launch of ImTeCHO (Innovative mobile-phone Technology for Community Health Operations). For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. Oil supermajor Shell will put its Energy Transition Strategy to a non-binding shareholder vote at its annual general meeting next month, the first time an energy firm will be seeking an advisory approval of its plan to go to net zero. Shell has pledged to become a net-zero energy company by 2050, and said earlier this year that its oil production peaked in 2019 and was set for a continual decline over the next three decades. As we transform our business, it is more important than ever for shareholders to understand and support our approach, Shells chief executive officer Ben van Beurden said in the preface of the companys Energy Transition Strategy. We are asking our shareholders to vote for an energy transition strategy that is designed to bring our energy products, our services, and our investments in line with the goal of the Paris Agreement and the global drive to combat climate change, van Beurden added. According to Shells strategy, the target for carbon intensity reduction is 6-8 percent by 2023 for the short term, 20 percent by 2030, and 45 percent by 2035, until reaching carbon intensity reduction of 100 percent by 2050. The vote is purely advisory and will not be binding. Shells Board and Executive Committee remain responsible and accountable for setting and approving Shells energy transition strategy, Shell said in a statement today. The supermajor will also seek every year, beginning in 2022, an advisory vote from shareholders on its progress in achieving its energy transition strategy. The Church of England Pensions Board, a shareholder in Shell, will likely support the energy strategy, Adam Matthews, chief responsible investment officer, told The Wall Street Journal. Shell is also set to tie the bonuses for its top executive directors more closely to the groups performance in reaching its net-zero goals, if shareholders approve the plan at the annual general meeting in May. The weighting of the progress in the energy transition performance measures in the long-term incentive plans (LTIP) for executive directors is set to grow to 15 percent from 10 percent. By Charles Kennedy for Oilprice.com More Top Reads From Oilprice.com: Washington, April 15 : US President Joe Biden has announced that all US troops will be withdrawn from Afghanistan before September 11, a move to end the longest war in American history. "The United States will begin our final withdrawal, begin it on May 1 of this year," Biden said on Wednesday in his remarks at the White House, Xinhua news agency reported. "US troops, as well as forces deployed by our NATO allies and operational partners, will be out of Afghanistan before we mark the 20th anniversary of that heinous attack on September 11th." "It is time to end America's longest war. It is time for American troops to come home," he said, noting that the US has achieved counterterrorism objectives in Afghanistan. In his remarks, Biden made clear that the withdrawal is not subject to any changes of conditions on the ground. "We cannot continue the cycle of extending or expanding our military presence in Afghanistan hoping to create ideal conditions for the withdrawal and expecting a different result," he said. "I'm now the fourth United States president to preside over American troop presence in Afghanistan. Two Republicans, two Democrats. I will not pass this responsibility on to a fifth." The upcoming September 11 is the 20th anniversary of the terrorist attacks that drew the United States into war in Afghanistan. Biden said that 2,488 US military personnel were killed, and 20,722 have been wounded in this longest war in American history. Biden highlighted that the US would continue to support the Afghan government and provide assistance to the Afghan military after the withdrawal. "While we will not stay involved in Afghanistan militarily, our diplomatic and humanitarian work will continue." Meanwhile, he voiced US support for the peace talks between the Afghan government and the Taliban facilitated by the United Nations. Biden spoke with Afghan President Mohammad Ashraf Ghani earlier in the day. The two leaders discussed continued commitment to a strong bilateral partnership following the departure of US troops from Afghanistan, according to a readout issued by the White House. The latest decision extends the deadline negotiated between the previous administration and the Afghan Taliban last year to pull US troops out of the country on May 1. The United States and the Taliban signed an agreement in late February 2020, which called for a full withdrawal of foreign forces from Afghanistan by May 2021 if the Taliban meets the conditions of the deal, including severing ties with terrorist groups. The Biden administration had concluded that the Taliban had not met its commitment under the US-Taliban deal. The Pentagon said that there are roughly 2,500 US troops in Afghanistan, but US media recently said the number did not include 1,000 more US special forces in the country. Besides, about 7,000 NATO troops in Afghanistan rely on US logistics and security support. Interfaith Leader and Author Eboo Patel to Speak at Muhlenberg's 173rd Commencement Patel will receive an honorary degree along with physician and scholar Dr. Karen Antman '70 and director and choreographer Jeffrey Page. By: Bill Keller Thursday, April 15, 2021 01:00 PM Eboo Patels address to the Class of 2021 will be delivered at the Commencement ceremonies at Allentowns PPL Center on Monday, May 24. Patel is an internationally respected leader and frequent speaker on religious diversity, civic and community engagement, racial equity and interfaith work. He is the founder and president of Interfaith Youth Core (IFYC), "a non-profit organization working to make interfaith cooperation a social norm in America." In the more than two decades since founding IFYC, the organization has worked with students, faculty and staff at more than 600 colleges and universities. Patel has authored four books and published dozens of articles and op-eds in publications such as The New York Times, National Public Radio, PBS NewsHour, the Washington Post and the Chronicle of Higher Education. His blog, "Conversations on Diversity," is a regular feature on Inside Higher Ed. He served on President Barack Obama's Advisory Council on Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships. Patel earned a bachelor's in sociology from the University of Illinois and a Ph.D. in the sociology of religion from Oxford University. He is a Rhodes scholar. Dr. Karen H. Antman is an internationally recognized expert on breast cancer, mesotheliomas and sarcomas, and serves as provost of the medical campus and dean of Boston University School of Medicine. Antman's previous appointments include deputy director for translational and clinical science at the National Cancer Institute of the National Institutes of Health and as the Wu Professor of Medicine and Pharmacology and Director of the Herbert Irving Comprehensive Cancer Center at Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons. She served on the faculty of Harvard Medical School and worked at Brigham and Womens Hospital and Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston. Antman earned her bachelor's in chemistry from Muhlenberg College and her M.D. from Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons. Jeffrey Page is an Emmy Award-nominated director and choreographer, and he holds lecture posts at both Harvard University and The Juilliard School. Page's work spans performances on Broadway; international theatre in Tokyo, Japan; appearances as a featured choreographer on the hit television show "So You Think You Can Dance" and choreography for some of the world's largest musical acts, including Beyonce and Mariah Carey. His contributions as creative director and choreographer have earned critical acclaim, including an appointment as the first African American to serve as a Marcus Institute Fellow for Opera Directing at The Juilliard School, an MTV Video Music Award, a recipient of an Advisory Committee on Chorus Affairs Outstanding Broadway Chorus as an original cast member of FELA! On Broadway and recognition as one of the Top 100 African-American Influencers by "The Root." Page earned his bachelor's from the School of Dance at the University of the Arts and his MFA from School of the Arts at Columbia University. LITTLE CHUTE, Wis., April 15, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- In an effort to celebrate the strong bond and relationship between local businesses, schools, and families, BLC Community Bank is recognizing the Power of Community Week April 19-24 during National Community Banking Month and National Financial Literacy and Capability Month. "Community is at the heart of our Mission and Values," said Heather Calnin, Director of Marketing and Business Development. "As part of National Community Banking Month, BLC is proud to celebrate Power of Community Week and highlight the relationships we have right here in Little Chute and the Fox Valley. We want our community to know that we don't just do business here, we live here and are proud to call this area our home." BLC is proud to participate during Power of Community Week and will be celebrating with donations to Harbor House, Boys and Girls Club, and St. John Nepomucene; fundraising for Special Olympics; team lunches from local restaurants; and a virtual story hour to local first grade classes. See more community support events at www.blccb.com/community. The purpose of Power of Community Week is to highlight the longstanding tradition of local hometown community banking. We urge consumers, small business owners, farmers, and community leaders to learn more about the relationship community banks have with the communities that are not home only to our bank, but our families and our livelihoods. The role banks play in building strong communities, and the quality products and personal services we provide give our customers the support they need to succeed. Wisconsin's banks have always been involved in community service projects, but over the past year have stepped up to support their customers and community in the midst of crisis. Major disruptions impacted communities large and small across the state and the nation. Wisconsin's bankers offered a helping hand in special ways during the pandemic, and they are committed to seeing their communities through challenging times. "When challenges arise and unforeseen circumstances occur in their hometowns, Wisconsin banks are among the first to step forward and ask what they can do to help," said Rose Oswald Poels, president and CEO of the Wisconsin Bankers Association. "Our banks and their dedicated employees continually step up and serve." BLC Community Bank has proudly served over four generations of individuals, families and businesses in the Heart of the Valley since 1906. For additional information on BLC Community Bank please visit www.blccb.com. Member FDIC SOURCE BLC Community Bank Related Links https://www.blccb.com Justice Minister David Lametti makes an announcement about the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples in Ottawa on Dec. 3, 2020. (The Canadian Press/Adrian Wyld) Ottawas UNDRIP Legislation Draws Criticism From Different Camps The federal governments Bill C-15 is attracting criticism from a myriad of interest groups on public policy and legislation. Among them are advocates of more action on reconciliation, those wanting more resource sector development opportunities for indigenous communities, and those concerned about erosion of Canadas sovereignty in seeking its own legislative and policy solutions. Bill C-15, An Act respecting the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP), is designed to promote and safeguard the rights of indigenous people around the world. The UN General Assembly adopted UNDRIP in September 2007, but Canada voted against it at the timedue to concerns over natural resources and land use. Canada would officially support the declaration at the UN in 2010, but implementation at home remains elusive. In June 2019, New Democrat MP Romeo Saganashs private members bill on the declaration was thwarted in the Senate, following concerns from Conservative senators that aligning Canadas laws with UNDRIP could lead to legal and economic consequences. Bill C-15 is the latest attempt at federal recognition. Bill Gallagher, an indigenous law expert and a critic of the proposed legislation, says UNDRIP was not designed to support natives who have constitutionally protected rights, Charter-protected rights, and a legal winning streak of over 300 wins. The UN declaration is designed to protect native people in Paraguay and Bolivia and Mexico, who have no safety net, Gallagher said in a recent interview. British Columbia was the first Canadian jurisdiction to pass legislation to implement UNDRIP. Like B.C.s 2019 bill, the federal version contains guarantees for indigenous rights, stating: This Act is to be construed as upholding the rights of Indigenous peoples recognized and affirmed by Section 35 of the Constitution Act, 1982, and not as abrogating or derogating from them. Russell Diabo, a Kahnawake Mohawk Nation member whos been active in indigenous politics since he was a teenager, argues that by making UNDRIP subject to existing Canadian laws under Section 35, the government is taking away the rights the declaration was designed to recognize rather than expanding them. Bill C-15 talks about rights of indigenous peoples but its relying on Section 35. The problem with that is weve had over 30-plus years of Supreme Court of Canada decisions [that] said these rights are not absolute, they can be justifiably infringed for valid legislative reasons. So in other words, the ultimate title belongs to the Crown, Diabo told The Epoch Times, adding that the legislation would lead to more trouble if it were passed. If theres ongoing, distinct indigenous societies theres going to have to be some accommodation within the Canadian federation of that kind of a recognition. Otherwise youre going to continue to have increasing land and resource conflicts. Diabo says he sees the proposed legislation as an attempt by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to jump to reconciliation and bury the outstanding issues, including the truth of how Canada acquired all this land, or the assumed sovereignty of the Crown. Resource Development Concerns Assembly of First Nations (AFN) Chief Perry Bellegarde argued in favour of Bill C-15 on April 13 before the parliamentary indigenous and northern affairs committee studying the legislation. Of UNDRIPs 46 articles, No. 19, which affords indigenous groups free, prior, and informed consent before a state adopts and implements laws or administrative measures that may affect them, has been viewed as a veto on projects like oil and gas pipelines and hydro transmission. Not so, Bellegarde told the committee. One of the most important rights we have is the right to self-determination. And that is the right to say yes and the right to say no, and each project should be assessed on its own merits, he said. To me thats what this bill speaks tojoint decision making, [industry and government] getting involved sooner than later, so you avoid blockades, and you avoid legal battles. Last March, Indian Resource Council president and CEO Stephen Buffalo published an article highly critical of the legislation, especially the implication it would have for resource sector development, saying it would bring grievous harm to indigenous communities whose economies are heavily reliant on the resource sector. Opponents of resource development have weaponized a narrow interpretation of this one provision, claiming that it provides dissident groups within Indigenous communities with the authority to fight projects that actually have broad community support, Buffalo wrote. It will take years for the Canadian courts to define the authority and limits of free, prior, and informed consent. In the interim, the concept is being used freely by environmentalists and anti-development protesters to argue that Indigenous peopleand not necessarily Indigenous governmentshave the right to shut down projects. Potential Impact on Sovereignty Other critics of the bill include University of Calgary professor emeritus of political science Tom Flanagan, who told The Epoch Times the legislation would encumber future lawmakers, eroding sovereignty from the inside. [UNDRIP] explicitly says it should not be read to undermine the sovereignty of any state. It says it doesnt support separatism by any group to leave jurisdiction. So it doesnt directly challenge Canadian sovereignty, but it hollows out one of the attributes of sovereignty, which is the ability to make law, Flanagan said. If the bill passed and were interpreted in a certain way, it will very much limit the ability of any government to arrive at legislative solutions for resource development. And actually for other policies, too, he added. Weve been talking about resource development, but thats only a small part where UNDRIP could have an impact. Most of it is connected with all kinds of thingslanguage and education and health care and on and on and on. Testifying on April 13, AFN legal counsel Mary Ellen Turpel-Lafond dismissed such criticisms as fear-mongering, saying Article 19 promotes certainty and it was up to stakeholders like government and industry to operationalize it in a positive way. The declaration as an international instrument is there to assist us to have a better discussion about the rights of indigenous people under Section 35, she told the committee. There are many first nations across Canada that have fought hard to get their rights affirmed through Section 35 [so] the idea is not in any way to limit the UN declaration. We are creating space with this bill to breathe greater life into Section 35. Foreign Affairs Minister Bogdan Aurescu had a telephone call on Thursday with the Secretary-General designate of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), Mathias Cormann, on Romania's accession to the organization, a release by the Foreign Affairs Ministry (MAE) sent to AGERPRES, informs. The head of the Romanian diplomacy reconfirmed "the political commitment of the Romanian Government and the broad support of the Romanian political forces and society towards the strategic objective of Romania's adhering to the OECD as soon as possible, expressing the hope that the expansion of the organization will be one of the priorities of the new secretary general", agerpres.ro confirms. Aurescu presented the arguments that support the "solidity" of Romania's candidacy, as well as the constant efforts of our country, which has so far joined about 50 legal instruments of the OECD and participates in more than 20 bodies of the organization. The minister stressed that our country share the same value system with the organization, with the Government making constant efforts to meet OECD standards, with the candidacy for the organization being a facilitator of domestic governance and the promotion of economic reforms in Romania. The chief diplomat has also confirmed that the Romanian authorities share the priorities of the new Secretary General designate of the OECD and assured that our country is ready to cooperate actively with the organization's structures and to support efforts in the agenda's current files. Romania will continue to consult with OECD member states and the organization to continue its good training, Aurescu said, recalling the recent discussion with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken on the organisation's expansion and Romania's candidacy. Millennial Liu Lurui quit her job and moved to the outskirts of Beijing, where she built a farm on three acres of land to create a healthier lifestyle for herself and five friends. The farm was completed in April 2020, and includes a house, a garden and an organic orchard. They hope that their hobo life can set an example for people looking to lead alternative way of life Jun 04, 2021 06:31 PM Mumbai, April 15 : Actress Maanvi Gagroo, who is currently shooting for the new season of the popular series "Four More Shots Please", will be seen in a virtual play titled "Islands Of Contentment". "Islands Of Contentment" is written by Dipti Bramhandkar, and co-directed by Arpita Mukherjee and Hannah Wolf, with filmed monologues directed by Rahul Chittella. Maanvi will be seen sharing the stage with the likes of Ajay Naidu, Kalki Koechlin and Suraj Sharma. "I am absolutely pumped about the performance as this plunge will enable me to broaden my base. As an artiste, I strongly believe that an actor must not be confined to one medium or format and that content always trumps everything else. 'Islands Of Contentment' will have 13 monologues and given the unique virtual format that we have taken to, it is the content that will make the audiences feel extremely relatable," said Maanvi. "The topics are around modern relationships and I, for one, am honoured to be a part of this venture, especially given the global reach, which will allow me to widen my fan base. The pandemic has forced us to be more creative with not just the content and stories but their format and execution as well. It has brought the world closer, in more ways than one," she added. "Islands Of Contentment" will be performed over the weekends from April 16 to May 2. It is presented by New York's non profit broadway performance venue, The Tank. For many infantry troops and officers, leaving the military is a daunting life event. While so many military specialties have direct civilian counterparts, the direct civilian equivalent for the infantry is not as apparent. Steve White is the president and chief operating officer at PuroClean, a restoration franchise that offers cleanup services after fires, floods and biohazard leaks. He was also an Army infantry officer for seven years. He says the infantry is a great place to start a career, especially in franchising. I knew almost nothing about business when I started, White told Military.com. I was a political science major in college. But I got sold into the pure leadership aspect of infantry, the small unit actions, and I really loved it. And then when I got into business, I found those things in franchising. About a month after leaving his Army green behind in 1986, White donned the red, white and blue of Dominos Pizza, working in the corporate offices of the major fast food franchiser. He spent five years as the pizza giants operations manager. Thats where he learned his business fundamentals. Those fundamentals served him well over the years. After five years at Dominos, White moved onward and upward to another franchiser, Allegra, which offers printing and marketing services. Over the course of some 20 years, the one-time grunt officer who didnt know anything about business worked his way up from national sales to become the corporations COO. The infantry taught him to work his tail off. His first job in business taught him the fundamentals of his industry. When he retired from Allegra in 2012, he was still young and able to do anything. I was a goofball college student who was put in the infantry, White recalled. I was hoping to get something like military intelligence or something that would give me business skills, but they branched me infantry and Im telling you, nothing better could have happened to me. In six weeks time, the Army scraped enough crud off the outside of me to find a responsible adult on the inside that I didn't even know resided there. That might have been a career for White, who was happily living his life, doing nothing. Until he was approached by a new franchiser, PuroClean. When White took over as president of PuroClean in 2013, it was a brand that had begun to lose steam and was in need of revitalization. It was also much smaller than anything hed ever done before. He initially turned it down, but PuroClean was persistent and polite. He ended up taking the job, the one he holds today. PuroClean now holds a rating of four out of five stars on Consumer Affairs and is an industry leader in disaster and hazardous waste cleanup with more than 325 locations across the United States. White has been with the company for almost eight years and he attributes his 35 years of success to the parallels between the worlds of franchising and the infantry -- there are systems and procedures to follow. Every franchise is really developed around a business concept that works really well, he said. Then we have a set of systems and procedures that work, and then we constantly hone those procedures to just be more effective than other people in the same business. Theyre standard operating procedures. White believes that this is the reason why there is no better match for a military mind in the civilian world than the business of franchising. You follow this; you get that result, White said. This franchise world is just collections of systems and SOPs to follow. They all call it different things; their franchise model, their operating system, whatever. But to a military guy, its just following the SOP. That's the way to success. -- Blake Stilwell can be reached at blake.stilwell@military.com. He can also be found on Twitter @blakestilwell or on Facebook. Want to Know More About Veteran Jobs? Be sure to get the latest news about post-military careers as well as critical info about veteran jobs and all the benefits of service. Subscribe to Military.com and receive customized updates delivered straight to your inbox. Apr. 15A Westmoreland County jury deliberated just one hour Wednesday before finding a former Somerset County man guilty of the attempted rape of Saint Vincent College freshman in 2017. Hoover, prosecutors said, accosted his then 18-year-old victim from Kittanning as she walked in a secluded trail in the Winnie Palmer Nature Reserve weeks after she started her first semester at the Unity school. Now 22 and since transferred to another school, she testified Hoover passed her on the trail, turned and grabbed her from behind and wrapped his forearm around her neck before she fought him off and fled. The jury found Hoover guilty of attempted rape, aggravated assault, strangulation and simple assault. Assistant District Attorney Jim Lazar said Hoover faces up to 50 years in prison when he is sentenced. Hoover, now 23, was a resident of a Latrobe area home for juvenile sex offenders at the time and was free on a home pass at the time of the incident, Lazar said. Jurors were told that Hoover was convicted of rape counts as a juvenile for a case in Somerset County in which his victim claimed she was grabbed from behind and by the neck then had her pants removed before she was sexually assaulted. Prosecutors also disclosed a second Somerset case in which Hoover was charged as an adult with attempted rape as part of a crime that featured similar allegations. According to court records, Hoover pleaded guilty in 2019 to aggravated assault and was sentenced to serve up to five years in prison after prosecutors withdrew an attempted rape charge. Hoover's short, two-day trial before Common Pleas Court Judge Megan Bilik-DeFazio featured just two witnesses. Hoover did not testify. Lazar said Hoover's actions on the walking trial mirrored his previous offenses. "Luke Hoover was on that trail like a predator. He's prowling. He saw what he wanted on this secluded portion of this trail," Lazar argued to jurors. "He doesn't get extra credit for not being successful." Story continues Hoover's defense lawyers conceded he was guilty of simple assault but argued that prosecutors were not able to prove there was an intent to commit a rape. "There is no question he grabbed her, but we don't have the elements to prove a rape," said defense attorney Mike Garofalo, who later told jurors: "You have to consider the evidence, but you also have to consider the lack of evidence." The judge ordered Hoover undergo a pre-sentence investigation and undergo a sex offender evaluation. Hoover is expected to be sentenced in about three months. Rich Cholodofsky is a Tribune-Review staff writer. You can contact Rich at 724-830-6293, rcholodofsky@triblive.com or via Twitter . said today that two of its nanotechnology innovations had reached the stage of multi-sector commercial applications. The products, which have been developed with funding from the UK's Defence and Security Accelerator (DASA) and alongside the Defence Science and Technology Laboratory (Dstl), are now at the demonstrator level said ADM. CHAMIR is a device that can modulate infra-red emissions to avoid military hardware or personnel being detected. nMark, meanwhile, is a nanomaterial application, akin to a unique barcode, that cannot be removed, corrupted or reverse engineered, said ADM, and can both prove authenticity and prevent counterfeiting. Oregons premier Latino advocacy group put state officials on blast Wednesday for what it described as a state failure to get coronavirus vaccines to the people the group represents. The Latino Network will convene at least six speakers Thursday to outline accusations that officials have failed to tear down barriers to COVID-19 vaccinations for the Latinx community. Leaders in our community have made sustained efforts to engage with the state to develop an implementation strategy to get our people vaccinated, spokeswoman Martina Bialek said in a news release Wednesday. These efforts have been largely rebuffed. About 6% of administered COVID-19 vaccine doses have gone to people who identify as Hispanic, according to Oregon data. The states Latino population, meanwhile, is around 13%. The Latino Network outlined four proposals that it will presumably address in more detail Thursday. The Network asked that federal, state and local health officials acknowledge the existing vaccination approach has failed the Latinx community; proposed a Spanish-language vaccine registration hotline; asked health officials to partner up with community groups to hold vaccine events in culturally specific locations; and asked that those community groups be paid to staff Latinx-focused clinics themselves. But in a nearly four-page response to the Networks announcement, the Oregon Health Authority outlined a long list of work it has done on its own and in partnership with community groups to help ensure Latinos get vaccinated. That includes $45 million in grants the health authority said it has pumped into community-based groups, the largest portion of which have gone to groups serving Latinos, including the Latino Network itself. The agency also said it has paid for numerous social media campaigns, supported dozens of Latino-focused clinics around the state and has been allocating thousands of doses of the vaccine a week to health care groups authorized to vaccinate all their patients, not just those eligible under state guidelines, including one health care network whose more than 50,000 patients are majority Latino. We continue to re-evaluate our vaccine allocations to find ways to address the unmet vaccination needs of communities of color whove borne the brunt of the COVID-19 pandemic, the health authority said in a written statement. We welcome input from the community, and we look forward to continuing to work with organizations and health systems on the ground in every corner of the state. The Oregon Health Authority has on multiple occasions acknowledged that Latinos are getting vaccinated at rates out of step with the rest of the population. A few weeks ago, at least some of that disparity was attributed to the age distributions among the groups first eligible for shots. After health care workers, seniors in long-term care and teachers, the state prioritized people 65 and older a demographic Latinos hardly represent at all. About 3% of Oregonians over 65 are Latino or Latina, health authority director Patrick Allen said in March. Allen previously said he was hopeful that opening eligibility to farm workers would help get shots into Latinos arms. That category of people became eligible for shots March 29. More than two weeks later, Allen does not appear to be happy with the states progress. Were significantly below where we need to be with the Latino, Latina population, but making progress in beginning to close those gaps, Allen told lawmakers Thursday at a legislative hearing. For the Latino Network, broadening eligibility does not appear to have been a silver bullet, either. While vaccination efforts are taking place across Oregon, members of the Latinx community have been at the sidelines of the states vaccination campaign, Bialek wrote. Many Latinos in Oregon continue to experience a number of systemic barriers and inequities that have prevented them from getting the much-needed COVID-19 vaccine. -- Fedor Zarkhin Alberta beekeepers are concerned about honey production as imports are either delayed or not coming at all. Ankara, April 15 : Turkish Tourism Minister Mehmet Nuri Ersoy said the country might lose nearly 500,000 tourists by June in the wake of Russia's decision to impose flight restrictions. "There might be a fall of nearly 500,000 in tourist numbers," Ersoy was quoted as sayingon Wednesday by Xinhua news agency. The Minister said no problems have been observed with summer bookings so far, and the end date of the ban could be brought forward depending on the decrease in Covid-19 case numbers. On Monday, Russia decided to reduce the number of regular and charter flights with Turkey from April 15 to June 1 to curb the spread of the pandemic. Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu, meanwhile, said a Russian delegation would visit Ankara to observe the pandemic-related measures in the field, according to media reports. Despite a mass Covid-19 inoculation drive launched in January in Turkey, the daily cases hit a record high of more than 59,000 on Tuesday. Turkey has imposed a "partial closure" for the first two weeks of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan to curb the infections surge. The new measures took effect on Wednesday evening. OAKLAND, Calif., April 15, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- OhmConnect , the leading residential customer-response energy program, today announced a $3 million grant from the California Energy Commission (CEC) to bring immediate relief to California's grid, while supporting low-income families. The grant extends a successful CEC-funded effort by OhmConnect focused on Empowering Prosumers to Access Wholesale Energy Products in a mission to support reimagining the way people collectively use energy. OhmConnect: Save energy. Get paid. "This grant signifies government investment in a demand-response model, which our energy infrastructure desperately needs," said Cisco DeVries, CEO, OhmConnect. "But more importantly, it's an investment that empowers families, especially those who have the most to benefit, to reduce their energy, have an immediate impact on their communities, and receive compensation for their efforts." An estimated 40% of OhmConnect customers are low-to-moderate income families, and this grant will extend the company's role in California to help people save energy and earn money, especially in times of need. OhmConnect's community of energy savers played a critical role in last year's unprecedented August 2020 heat wave and helped keep the lights on by reducing 1GWh of energy, equivalent to taking 600K homes off of the grid for an hour. They earned $1.3 million from OhmConnect for their efforts and also helped to prevent six additional days of blackouts during the heatwave. "The Energy Commission is proud to support OhmConnect in its work to provide California customers the tools they need to conserve power when it matters most," said David Hochschild, Chair, California Energy Commission. "Today's $3M grant represents another important milestone in California's efforts to build a clean and reliable grid for the future." OhmConnect pays residential customers to conserve power during times of peak demand, sells the collective energy savings back to the grid, and then passes their earnings onto their users in the form of cash and prizes. OhmConnect users are rewarded for smart energy use while saving on their utility bills and reducing their carbon footprint. The $3 million funding project aims to: Bring immediate relief to California grid reliability shortages by providing at least 25MW of flexible demand capacity in California in 2021. grid reliability shortages by providing at least 25MW of flexible demand capacity in in 2021. Create a sustainable growth pathway to increase capacity in subsequent program years. Enroll users in disadvantaged communities in flexible demand. Increase the number of connections with grid-responsive smart devices. Maintain reliable reductions of electricity during grid events. California residents can sign up for OhmConnect for free here . About OhmConnect OhmConnect was founded in 2014 with the vision of becoming the world's largest supplier of clean energy. It has a mission to improve the lives of people and the health of the planet by reimagining the way energy is (collectively) used. Today, OhmConnect enables hundreds of thousands of customers to reimagine how they use energy, to choose clean energy over dirty energy when required, and to be rewarded for timely, smarter, home energy use. OhmConnect makes it possible for customers to use clean energy without buying expensive solar-powered systems or changing energy providers. The company pays its users for saving energy when the grid is at risk of using dirty power. Customers of the three major California energy suppliers Pacific Gas and Electric (PG&E), Southern California Edison and San Diego Gas & Electric can sign up with OhmConnect for free at ohmconnect.com. Follow OhmConnect on Twitter @OhmConnect, see the OhmConnect blog or check it out on Facebook and LinkedIn. Media Contact: Alexandra Pony [email protected] 250.858.0656 SOURCE OhmConnect When the Ever Given container ship choked off traffic in the Suez Canal for almost a week in late March 2021, it made big headlines around the world. The price of oil rose, and companies fretted as hundreds of ships carrying everything from coffee and cattle to toys and furniture were delayed. Experts estimated that every hour traffic remained stuck cost the global economy over US$400 million in lost trade. Yet many people I spoke with, including students and professional colleagues, didnt seem to have a clue about what was happening, why it mattered or how it affects them. As a supply chain expert, I was truly surprised. If nothing else, the COVID-19 pandemic should have made it abundantly clear how easily a disruption in the supply chain or a sudden increase in demand for a product can lead to empty grocery store shelves and other problems that might directly affect you. Without a change of course, I expect this problem to only get worse. Supply chain strains The pandemic revealed that even simple supply chains, such as that of toilet paper and hand sanitizer, can easily break in the face of disruptions. The same was true with food, personal protective equipment, pharmaceuticals and ordinary household items, which all suffered from severe shortages that lasted for months into the pandemic. Pandemic-strained supply chains are now creating a global shortage of semiconductors, a component used in a wide variety of consumer goods, from Samsung smartphones and Apple laptops to Ford Explorers and Sony PlayStations. Virtually every piece of electronics needs a chip, and the supply chain is much more complex than for toilet paper. The Suez Canal blockage that began on March 23, 2021, and lasted six days exacerbated these already stressed supply chains. Even though traffic is now running smoothly through the canal, the jam is still causing massive ripple effects and delivery delays even toilet paper could once again be in short supply. It may take up to 60 days for the supply chain system to reset itself to where it is functioning close to normal. That means consumers will continue to feel the impact of these problems for months to come as well. Lean and mean The fundamental problem behind each of these disruptions is simply the inability of modern supply chains to adjust when something goes wrong, even briefly. A big problem early in the pandemic, for example, was simply a lack of flexibility. While consumers were having trouble tracking down toilet paper because of panic buying and hoarding, there were plenty of rolls sitting in warehouses but intended for offices and restaurants. Companies had trouble diverting the toilet paper to the retailers, which kept only a very lean inventory of the product. Supply chains for this and most every other product have been increasingly designed to be as lean as possible in terms of cost and efficiency, rather than resiliency. As customers demand ever cheaper products delivered faster, supply chains have given up every bit of slack. As a result, a disruption of any magnitude creates significant consequences through product shortages and rising prices. Its easy to think of a supply chain like its a linear conveyor belt, as disparate parts turn into a product that is then shipped around the world to your door. But it is more like a massive intertwined highway system. Consider the path and massive disruption caused by shortages of a simple chip, known as a display driver. Its only purpose is to convey instructions for illuminating a digital screen like the one on your phone, laptop monitor or navigation system in your car. There is a huge shortage of the chips caused by supply problems and soaring demand. And this in turn has triggered a shortage of liquid crystal display panels, as well as a jump in prices, forcing automakers, airplane manufacturers and refrigerator makers to all scale back production. All because of a shortage of a $1 chip, in part triggered by minor disasters like the recent winter storm in Texas and a fire in Japan. And a problem like the Suez Canal traffic jam is even worse because it is represents an intersection and bottleneck for so many supply chains, including oil, parts and finished products. As cargo is shipped, there is a complicated choreography of vessels, ports, distribution centers and other modes of transport. A little more slack The obvious solution is to add resiliency or slack into supply chains to expect the unexpected. This would require moving away from aggressive lean systems that have virtually no excess inventory. It doesnt have to be terribly costly. As my own research shows, companies need only selectively add extra inventory, suppliers and capacity for certain critical items or at key chokepoints, such as for products identified as being in short supply, where there are few suppliers or where lead times are extra long. For example, coffee roasters generally do not have inventory to handle a two- or three-week delay. Delays in shipping raw beans from Brazil and the Ivory Coast to Europe due to the Suez blockage mean consumers will likely soon experience the impact of a lack of coffee availability in stores and cafes. This is not a recommendation to stock huge amounts of inventory. Rather, it is to say that there are advantages to being highly strategic almost surgical to ensure that the greatest resiliency can be achieved with only a small amount of additional slack. Otherwise, the trends that led supply chains to become so lean and efficient will likely continue, leading to more and bigger disruptions for the global economy and more shortages and higher prices for consumers like you. [Insight, in your inbox each day. You can get it with The Conversations email newsletter.] Nada R. Sanders, Distinguished Professor of Supply Chain Management, Northeastern University This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article. Europe has surpassed the grim milestone of one million Covid-19 deaths, a top World Health Organisation Official (WHO) revealed on Thursday. Dr Hans Kluge said the situation remains 'serious' with about 1.6 million new cases reported each week in the region. Addressing recent concerns about vaccines, Dr Kluge also said the risk of people suffering blood clots is far higher for people with Covid-19 than people who receive AstraZeneca's coronavirus vaccine. Europe has surpassed the grim milestone of one million Covid-19 deaths, a top World Health Organisation Official (WHO) revealed on Thursday Speaking to reporters during a visit to Greece, Dr Kluge did point to 'early signs that transmission may be slowing across several countries' and cited 'declining incidence' among the oldest people. He said the proportion of Covid-19 deaths among people over 80, who have been prioritised for vaccines, had dropped to nearly 30 per cent - the lowest level in the pandemic. 'For now, the risk of suffering blood clots is much higher for someone with Covid-19 than for someone who has taken the AstraZeneca vaccine,' he said. 'Let there be no doubt about it, the AstraZeneca vaccine is effective in reducing Covid-19 hospitalisation and preventing deaths,' he added, saying WHO recommends its use for all eligible adults. Dr Hans Kluge (pictured) said the situation remains 'serious' with about 1.6 million new cases reported each week in the region His comments come after German Chancellor Angela Merkel, 66, announced she would get her first jab of the AstraZeneca vaccine on Friday. Merkel will become the most high-profile leader to receive the controversial jab after its roll out was halted in more than a dozen countries across Europe. Germany has stopped giving the AstraZeneca vaccine to under 60s, but at 66, Merkel is still eligible for the Oxford-developed jab. German Chancellor Angela Merkel, 66, has announced she will get her first jab of the AstraZeneca vaccine on Friday Germany has stopped giving the AstraZeneca vaccine to under 60s, but at 66, Merkel is still eligible for the Oxford-developed jab The rollout of the AstraZeneca jab was paused by several European states in March over concerns about blood clots, though most countries have since resumed using vaccine for older people. The European Union's drug watchdog said last week that it had found a possible link between the AstraZeneca vaccine and very rare blood clot cases. However it said the risk of dying from Covid-19 was 'much greater' than the risk of mortality from rare side effects. The regulator left it up to individual states to make their own risk assessments and decide how to administer the vaccine based on local conditions that vary widely across the bloc. The AstraZeneca vaccine is significantly cheaper than other vaccines and is easier to store as it does not require to be kept at an extremely low temperature. The concern over clots and mixed messages surrounding the vaccine are expected to affect people's willingness to take it. The European Commission (pictured, President Ursula von der Leyen) is also engaged in a row with AstraZeneca over missed delivery targets The European Commission is also engaged in a row with AstraZeneca over missed delivery targets. It accuses the British-Swedish company of breaking its contract and claims it is at fault for the slow start to the EU's vaccination campaign. The Commission has threatened to block exports of jabs out of the EU until the company fulfils its outstanding orders from the bloc. AstraZeneca denies breaking the contract. A tally by Johns Hopkins University shows nearly three million deaths have been linked to Covid-19 worldwide - with the Americas hardest hit, followed by Europe. The United States, Brazil and Mexico have reported the highest number of deaths, collectively at more than 1.1 million. New Delhi: Spreading at a very high speed, the second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic, which has overwhelmed healthcare infrastructure in several states, urgently requires an extraordinary response to contain the virus, feel the leading doctors, dealing with the health crisis in the country. "One robust way to respond to this new variant of the virus is to quickly go for a restrictive lockdown," said Naresh Trehan, top cardiovascular and cardiothoracic surgeon. "The way Maharashtra had taken a decision, the other states too should make a fast move... because time is precious." Regarding the magnitude of the situation which is getting worse and worse, Trehan, chairman of the Medanta hospital chain in India, said that the different new strains of the virus have spread at a double speed and caught the medical fraternity by surprise. "Even the second wave of the Spanish flu was very devastating. Similarly in this second wave of Covid-19, I see that the number of cases is swelling very fast, each day. The difference between the figures of the first and second wave is enormous, almost double." said Tehan. On how to contain the virus, the leading cardiologist said the vaccination drive has to be augmented. "Besides, we have to increase the base of testing to ascertain the spread of this virus. And lastly, everyone has to be cautious. Wearing a mask is a must... It`s simple to say but hard to implement on the ground, particularly in smaller towns and places," Trehan, an alma mater of the famous King George Medical College (KGMC) of Lucknow, told IANS. The new variants of coronavirus, which is spreading faster than ever before are affecting young people, even children this time. When asked how dreaded are these new variants, leading Indian physician and former President of the Indian Medical Association (IMA), K.K. Agarwal said: "The UK strain, seen largely in Punjab is affecting the young, especially those under the age of 45. Then there are strains from South Africa, Brazil, and ones traced in Maharashtra. Out of these, the Indian mutation (of the virus) seems a bit dangerous. Like a wave, the virus is now spreading from the west(Maharashtra) to the north (Delhi)... But seeing the cases, I can say that the UK virus doesn`t look dangerous." On the question of enforcing a complete lockdown in the country to curb the further spread of the second wave of the pandemic, Agarwal suggested that area-wise containment could be effective. "Complete lockdown would not be practical. Actually, enough time has been lost. We have to now focus on how to back the healthcare services and provide treatment to patients as numbers of admission are rising at a very fast pace. I would suggest that people should go for treatment as soon as symptoms appear," said Agarwal, who was awarded the Padma Shri, India`s fourth-highest civilian honor for his contribution to the field of medicine. The leading medical practitioners have a word of caution for India`s young generation. "For the past fortnight, I am seeing a trend that more and more youngsters are coming to our centres," said Sandeep Sharma a top radiologist and a former key functionary of the Delhi Medical Association. "On Wednesday, I had seen 15 Covid positive patients for their chest CT scan. Out of 15, only one patient was around 60 years old. Rest were within the age group of 40 to 22," he said. "The young population seems to have less fear about the virus. I would suggest they should be more careful as new strains of the virus are affecting them." The leading doctors were of the opinion that a callous approach by people, especially youngsters, and huge gatherings in recent festivals, and social events have led to the second wave. "Everyone has to be careful. I will reiterate, that wearing a mask, and maintaining social distancing is the simplest form of prevention. Let`s follow this rule," Trehan quipped. Live TV Planning Commission Rejects Digital Billboards at Costa Mesas Triangle Square Planning commissioners in Costa Mesa, California, have rejected a proposal to install digital billboards at a shopping center near one of the citys busiest intersections. The six commissioners voted unanimously to deny city staff recommendations that favored the billboards over Triangle Square shopping center, after listening for hours to input from dozens of business owners and residents. Henny Abraham, co-founder of Greater Costa Mesa Republicans (GCMR), called the decision a great victory for residents. Im extremely glad our planning commissioners were listening to the residents, Abraham told The Epoch Times. We are not LA. We are not like this trendy downtown, you know. Were not Manhattan and were not Las Vegas. Thats not who we are. Mall owner Tyler Mateen said the three digital billboards were essential for the shopping centers future. These signs are absolutely necessary for the center to succeed, Mateen told the commissioners on April 12. He said occupancy rates at the mall could fall below 70 percent as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, and the signs would attract new businesses. Since the last public hearing and the resulting buzz that has been created, we have had seven inquiries to sign leases at the center. And if the digital signage plan is approved, theyll be signing leases, he said. Residents argued that the signs would distract drivers and make already dangerous intersections near the mall even more perilous. Before voting against the proposal, Commissioner Jon Zich said it should be intuitively obvious that adding digital billboards would only further distract drivers at intersections such as 19th Street and Harbor Boulevard. A Graveyard for Businesses Several of the malls prospective occupants called in to the April 12 virtual public hearing and wrote letters to support Mateens claims that they are interested in signing leases at Triangle Square. Shaan Mehta said he is currently working with Mateen to bring a salon to Triangle Square, and believes in his vision to improve the shopping center and draw more business with the digital signage. That center is located in the heart of Costa Mesa in the heart of Orange County and theres no reason why businesses cant thrive there, except that they cant get the word out, said Mehta. But without the signage, theres no money to put into the center to actually upkeep it. It is in a state of disrepair. Even though he is a Costa Mesa resident, Mehta, who owns ASPIRE Salon Studios, hadnt considered Triangle Square as a location because of its reputation. It is a graveyard for businesses, and it has been that way for a while, he said. But, since talking to Mateen about his plans to revamp the center, Mehta said hes changed his mind and wants to set up shop at Triangle Square. I understand people are really worried about safety, but its not like were putting the signage, you know, right in front of peoples houses. Its a busy commercial intersection, and that center is there for commerce, and the businesses that are there are struggling, he said. Triangle Square had scaled down the scope of its original proposal, agreeing to slow the frequency of ads to 20-second intervals and reduce the size and brightness of the signs. The center also agreed to turn off the signs from midnight until sunrise Sunday through Wednesday, and from 2 a.m. till sunrise Thursday through Saturday. Mateen also committed to reinvesting 50 percent of the billboards revenue to improving the image of the shopping center, which he said would bring in new tenants and create jobs. The proposal will go to City Council before a final decision is made. The billboards would generate a guaranteed $150,000 annually, along with 10 percent of any ad revenue over $1 million every year, less expenses. A date has not yet been set for the council vote. Dangerous Intersection Despite assurances from experts and consultants that drivers would notice the signs but not be distracted by them, many residents disagreed. City Transportation Services Manager Jennifer Rosales cited a high number of accidents near the mall. She reported that from 2016 to 2020, on Newport Boulevard from 19th Street to 18th Streetwhere the mall is locatedthere had been a total of 134 accidents: 70 with injuries, 32 involving drunk drivers, and nine involving pedestrians. During those years, the intersection of Newport Boulevard and 19th Street had 60 crashes, the highest number in Costa Mesa, according to Rosalesalong with the highest traffic volume in the city. At the meeting, Costa Mesa resident Flo Martin said she was almost run over by a distracted driver while wearing a high-visibility vest and participating in a walk audit at one of the intersections. Martin disputed the figures Rosales reported, stating they were very cleaned up. She said that 162 pedestrians were victims of traffic accidents on that stretch between 2014 and 2018, including nine fatalities and 21 severe injuries, though her figures were unsubstantiated. There were also 238 collisions with bicyclists, she said, including one fatality and 10 suspected serious injuries. These are human beings, Martin said. Planning commissioners, you do not represent out-of-town developers and out-of-town [business] owners. You represent your constituents, like me. Another resident, Rick Huffman, also opposed the project. These signs are a gross violation of the character of the surrounding neighborhoods, he said. These LED digital signs will result in visual blight, light pollution, safety issues due to distracted drivers, and a cheapening of the citys brand and sense of place. GCMRs Abraham and co-founder Ben Chapman, who both ran unsuccessfully for seats on the City Council last fall, opposed the signage. Abraham said she lives near Triangle Square and had promised residents she would fight tooth and nail against the signage, whether she was elected or not. I just hope the City Council does the right thing, too, she said. Chapman said that businesses that must rely on digital signs for financial success should revisit Marketing 101 and rethink their marketing strategies. We have used your information to see if you have a subscription with us, but did not find one. Please use the button below to verify an existing account or to purchase a new subscription. Statement by Ambassador Byrne Nason at UNSC Briefing on the Situation in Yemen Statement Thank you very much Mr. President and I would like to also join in wishing Eid Mubarak to all celebrating at this time. A special thanks also to Special Envoy Griffiths and Under-Secretary-General Lowcock for once again very frank and also informative, if not very uplifting briefings. When we last discussed the situation in Yemen at this Council in April, we did so with some sense of hope. This hope at the time stemmed from the concerted diplomatic efforts of the international community and regional actors to help end six long years of war, which of course have taken a brutal toll on the people of Yemen. Despite those efforts and the resilience and tireless work of Special Envoy Griffiths and other envoys, it is worrying, it is disappointing, it is dismaying that progress in bringing an end to this conflict remains so elusive. Although I did note that Martin this morning left the door open, telling us that a deal is still possible, in spite of everything. I heard Martin also reach for new ways to say the inevitable - that all parties to this conflict have a responsibility to put the rights and the needs, and I would add the lives, of the Yemeni people first, and to engage seriously with the diplomatic efforts underway to end the violence, including the efforts within the UN process. I urge them all to do so without further delay. Mr. President, We all know here how critical it is that the Houthis end their offensive on Marib. Hostilities there continue to inflict death and misery on the civilian population and are quite simply deplorable. Children have been recruited, homes destroyed, 25 thousand Yemenis displaced due to the violence. The most vulnerable in Marib face extremely difficult conditions, with mothers, children and pregnant women unable to safely access emergency pediatric and maternal care. This must stop. Elsewhere in the country, Yemenis are also continuing to suffer. We know that COVID-19 cases are rising across the country. Years of conflict have shattered the healthcare system; there is a really constrained capacity to control the spread of the virus, to care for infected people and indeed to sustain basic health services for the general population. We know every effort should be made to assist those in need. We are deeply concerned by reports we have of bureaucratic impediments to humanitarian assistance, particularly in the south and west coast. This basic assistance is a vital lifeline for millions of Yemenis each month, including those facing the horrible threats we heard Mark outline of hunger and famine. We again urge all parties to adhere to their obligations under international humanitarian and human rights law and enable the rapid, safe and unimpeded delivery of humanitarian assistance. Mr. President, We must also acknowledge the role of the economic crisis and blockages of vital imports such as fuel in driving the humanitarian crisis, and we call on all parties to work together to urgently reduce humanitarian need. Furthermore, the Safer oil tanker, as we know, continues to pose a significant danger to the people of Yemen and the region and we urge all parties to conclude talks to allow UN teams to access the vessel and carry out the necessary repairs. In line with Security Council Resolution 2564, Ireland strongly supports all efforts to ensure an inclusive Yemeni-led, Yemeni-owned political process, under UN auspices, with women at the table. We call again on the parties to the conflict to ensure women comprise at least 30 percent of their delegations in all future talks. Their participation in the room at the talks will be critical, not just to achieving a political solution, but also to establishing a sustainable peace. Mr. President, I began by expressing the disappointment we all share at the lack of progress towards peace. However, I am encouraged that despite the stubborn and persistent obstacles, the international community and this Council stands fully united behind efforts to end the conflict. Violations of international humanitarian and human rights law must end, and accountability must be prioritised. The work of the Group of Eminent Experts on Yemen is essential in this regard. Once again the world is watching. For the sake of the Yemeni people, it is incumbent upon all parties on the ground to engage urgently and sincerely, to agree on an immediate nationwide ceasefire and to resume talks - long overdue. The people of Yemen deserve nothing less. Thank you Mr. President. Previous Item | Next Item Minister of Foreign Affairs of Spain Arancha Gonzalez Laya assured Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine Dmytro Kuleba of Spain's unwavering support for Ukraines sovereignty and territorial integrity against the background of Russia's aggravation of the security situation. This was said during a phone conversation between the ministers on April 14, the press service of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine reports. "Arancha Gonzalez Laya assured of Spain's unwavering support for the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine: You can count on the support of Spain'," the report reads. In particular, Kuleba informed his Spanish counterpart in detail about the threatening actions by the Russian Federation near the Ukrainian borders and the aggravation of the security situation in the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine. The minister stressed that Russia is responsible for de-escalating the situation and reaffirmed the commitment of our state to a political and diplomatic settlement of the Russian-Ukrainian armed conflict. The foreign ministers of the two countries coordinated their positions on the eve of a meeting of the Foreign Affairs Council on April 19, in which Kuleba will take part. A separate topic of conversation was the preparation for the inaugural summit of the Crimean Platform in Kyiv on August 23. The ministers also agreed to revive the political dialogue between Ukraine and Spain, make joint efforts to increase trade and deepen cooperation in the security sphere. In this context, they discussed preparations for a visit of the prime minister of Spain to Ukraine, within which a business forum will also be held. Arancha Gonzalez Laya also accepted Kuleba's invitation to visit Ukraine as soon as the epidemic situation improves. As Ukrinform reported, the Russian armed forces have recently been building up troops near the state border of Ukraine in the north, east and south, as well as in the occupied Crimea. In addition, the number of ceasefire violations by the armed formations of the Russian Federation in eastern Ukraine has increased; there are losses among the soldiers of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. At the same time, the Russian Federation is conducting a propaganda campaign to justify possible aggression against Ukraine. On April 6, it also became known that, against the background of a buildup of troops to the Ukrainian border, Russia had begun a control check of the army's combat readiness. The United States, other Western countries, as well as the EU and NATO, came out in support of Ukraine's sovereignty and territorial integrity against the backdrop of Russia's escalation in eastern Ukraine. ish POTTSVILLE Steve Foltin stood outside his business, Foltin Music Center, while firefighters carried out musical instruments that could be salvaged. They set sooty drums and guitars on a tarp in the parking lot of the business complex along Route 61 that was heavily damaged by fire Wednesday morning. Foltin said he opened the business in 2002 and did everything from music lessons to instrument repairs and sales. I do have insurance, but I dont think it will be enough to cover everything, he said. The fire did extensive damage to the two-story concrete structure at 450 N. Claude A. Lord Blvd. (Route 61), known as the former Davis Building. Pottsville Fire Chief James Misstisshin said firefighters from Pottsville and departments throughout Schuylkill County responded to the 6:28 a.m. call and found heavy smoke. They were forced to close all four lanes of Route 61 for several hours during rush hour because fire hoses were placed across both the north- and southbound lanes. In addition to several businesses that sustained various degrees of damage, two people living in an apartment on the second-floor back of the building were displaced. Patty Daley, disaster captain with the Red Cross, said Richard Ratta and his son, Anthony, will be assisted with food, clothing and shelter. They were evaluated by Schuylkill EMS on scene. Misstishin said firefighters brought the fire under control at 8:33 a.m., but several Pottsville companies remained on the scene into the afternoon to assist in the investigation and in the event the blaze would rekindle. In addition to Foltin Music Center, the complex housed Six-One Vapor Lounge and a tattoo studio that recently opened, all facing Route 61, and Gary Brennan II-Aflac insurance, which sustained extensive damage from fire, smoke and water. The entire building sustained heat and smoke damage. Misstishin, who was still at the scene into the late afternoon hours, said the cause remains under investigation. As of right now we dont have any idea what the cause is, he said. He has contacted a state police fire marshal to assist with the investigation. There may have been a few other businesses at the rear of the building, Misstishin said. Foltin said he was told by firefighters the blaze could have started in a ceiling area on the first floor of the building. I dont know too much right now, he said at the scene. He stood outside his business with Sajun Matharu, owner of Six-One Vapor Lounge. Matharu said that when he arrived about 45 minutes after the fire was reported, heavy smoke was still coming from the building. He said he did not know the extent of damage to his business because had not been able to get inside. An attempt to reach the owner of the building, James Coulson, was unsuccessful on Wednesday. While crews battled the fire, Pottsville fire police shut down the northbound lanes of Route 61 south of the scene while state police troopers, Pottsville police and Pottsville fire police closed southbound lanes. The diverted traffic clogged nearby roads and downtown streets amid the smell of smoke. In a social media posting, the Pottsville Fire Department thanked Dunkin Donuts, Bowers Donuts, McDonalds of Pottsville and Roma Pizza for providing food and drinks to volunteer responders. The Elisha Camp Manor has remained in the same family for over 200 years since the corner stone of the foundation was laid in 1807. Now, this historic Federal style, Georgian architecture home at 310 General Smith Drive in Sackets Harbor is for sale. Historic Camp Manor at 310 General Smith Drive in Sackets Harbor, NY.campmanor.org | Provided photo Because it has remained in the family, there is an extensive history on the home both about its structure and its inhabitants. It has all been collected onto CampManor.org, where history buffs can take a deep dive into its depths. Some of its more notable residents include the founder, Colonel Elisha Camp who served in the War of 1812 and Anna Quaid Mason, the first woman elected as mayor of a village in New York state when chosen to be Village President of Sackets Harbor in 1918. As the family notes, village mayors were also head of police, she is possibly the first first female police chief of a village in New York. A famous frequent visitor to the home was Ulysses S. Grant, who was in business with one of the Camp sons. He left some pieces of his own furniture behind at Camp Manor which is now in the 10th Mountain Division & Fort Drum Museum. Historic Camp Manor at 310 General Smith Drive in Sackets Harbor, NY.campmanor.org | Provided photo The stone for the home was locally sourced and the brick was bartered for from England. The glass fan windows were designed and installed in such a way that they would let light in, but help keep the heat inside the home from the fireplaces. Historic Camp Manor at 310 General Smith Drive in Sackets Harbor, NY.campmanor.org | Provided photo Much of the original architecture and features inside the home have been preserved. One of the most colorful rooms is the North parlor which has a French wallpaper mural designed for that room in 1816. The block-printed, hand-painted watercolor mural fills the room. Historic Camp Manor at 310 General Smith Drive in Sackets Harbor, NY.campmanor.org | Provided photo Historic Camp Manor at 310 General Smith Drive in Sackets Harbor, NY.campmanor.org | Provided photo The design is known as the Banks of Bosporus, depicting Constantinople in the Byzantine period. The family said it is one of three or four no-repeat, complete room wallpaper murals that still exist in the world today. Historic Camp Manor at 310 General Smith Drive in Sackets Harbor, NY.campmanor.org | Provided photo Historic Camp Manor at 310 General Smith Drive in Sackets Harbor, NY.campmanor.org | Provided photo The home has five bedrooms and three full bathrooms. There is a more modern kitchen on the main floor of the home, but the historic original kitchen is still intact in the basement. The family story that is told that the original lady of the house, Elisha Camps wife, Sophia Hale, did not want to eat on the same floor as the food was prepared. This caused the original kitchen to be moved downstairs. Historic Camp Manor at 310 General Smith Drive in Sackets Harbor, NY.campmanor.org | Provided photo The property extends across 2.4 acres which covers most of the block and is two blocks up from the village of Sackets Harbor, so it is within walking distance to shops, restaurants, and marina. Beautiful Lake Ontario can be seen from its grounds and as it looks West, the sunsets are breathtaking. The Jefferson County home is also just an hour away from the Syracuse Hancock International airport. Historic Camp Manor at 310 General Smith Drive in Sackets Harbor, NY.campmanor.org | Provided photo Owner and seventh generation family resident of Camp Manor, George Smith said his favorite part of the house is the upstairs hallway. Its a cool space with a lookout over the lake and in the winter time, its the warmest spot in the house, Smith said. Smith also said he loves the way the house was built, being hand-done with no heavy machinery. You cant build a house like this anymore, he said. The home is on the National Register of Historic Places and the historical society of the village of Sackets Harbor recently acquired many documents pertaining to the Camp family for preservation. After so many years of family lines, Camp Manor is ready for a new steward. Smith said the home needs someone with fresh eyes and someone who will care for it year-round, as historic places often do. Details Address: 310 General Smith Dr., Sackets Harbor, NY 13685 Price: $525,000 Size: 5,480 square feet Acreage: 2.4 acres Built: 1814 Bedrooms: 5 Bathrooms: 3 Total taxes: $10,970 School district: Sackets Harbor Central School Agent information Cathy Garlock Garlock Realty Phone: 315-486-4944 Email: cgarlock@garlockrealty.com See the full listing More photos below Historic Camp Manor at 310 General Smith Drive in Sackets Harbor, NY.campmanor.org | Provided photo Historic Camp Manor at 310 General Smith Drive in Sackets Harbor, NY.campmanor.org | Provided photo Historic Camp Manor at 310 General Smith Drive in Sackets Harbor, NY.campmanor.org | Provided photo Historic Camp Manor at 310 General Smith Drive in Sackets Harbor, NY.campmanor.org | Provided photo Historic Camp Manor at 310 General Smith Drive in Sackets Harbor, NY.campmanor.org | Provided photo Historic Camp Manor at 310 General Smith Drive in Sackets Harbor, NY.campmanor.org | Provided photo Historic Camp Manor at 310 General Smith Drive in Sackets Harbor, NY.campmanor.org | Provided photo Historic Camp Manor at 310 General Smith Drive in Sackets Harbor, NY.campmanor.org | Provided photo Historic Camp Manor at 310 General Smith Drive in Sackets Harbor, NY.campmanor.org | Provided photo Historic Camp Manor at 310 General Smith Drive in Sackets Harbor, NY.campmanor.org | Provided photo Historic Camp Manor at 310 General Smith Drive in Sackets Harbor, NY.campmanor.org | Provided photo Historic Camp Manor at 310 General Smith Drive in Sackets Harbor, NY.campmanor.org | Provided photo Historic Camp Manor at 310 General Smith Drive in Sackets Harbor, NY.campmanor.org | Provided photo Historic Camp Manor at 310 General Smith Drive in Sackets Harbor, NY.campmanor.org | Provided photo Historic Camp Manor at 310 General Smith Drive in Sackets Harbor, NY.campmanor.org | Provided photo Historic Camp Manor at 310 General Smith Drive in Sackets Harbor, NY.campmanor.org | Provided photo Historic Camp Manor at 310 General Smith Drive in Sackets Harbor, NY.campmanor.org | Provided photo Historic Camp Manor at 310 General Smith Drive in Sackets Harbor, NY.campmanor.org | Provided photo Historic Camp Manor at 310 General Smith Drive in Sackets Harbor, NY.campmanor.org | Provided photo MORE UPSTATE NEW YORK HOMES Must-see Upstate NY home: Live in your very own Hudson Valley art park mansion Must-see Upstate NY home: Fairytale lodge in the Catskills built by 1800s railroad baron Must-see Upstate NY home: Historic Northern NY limestone gem with cheese cellar Must see Upstate NY home: Live off the grid near Otsego Lake with Catskill Mountain views This undated photo provided by Taylor family attorney Sam Aguiar shows Breonna Taylor in Louisville, Kentucky. She was shot when detectives serving a no-knock warrant busted into her apartment on March 13, 2020. Taylor's boyfriend fired at the officers, believing they were being robbed. (Photo provided by Taylor family attorney Sam Aguiar via AP) PHOTO:Photo provided by Taylor family attorney Sam Aguiar via AP Officer Reprimanded Over Breonna Taylor Email By The Associated Press LOUISVILLE - Louisvilles police chief has reprimanded the sergeant who was shot during the raid on Breonna Taylors apartment for an email that was critical of department leadership. Sgt. Jonathan Mattingly sent the email in September.In it, he wrote that he and other officers did the legal, moral and ethical thing the night of the deadly raid.He also accused the mayor and former police chief of failing to defend the officers.Mattingly was shot in the leg during the March 2020 raid by Taylors boyfriend.Louisville Police Chief Erika Shields found Mattingly's email violated the departments policy for email usage.He received the letter of reprimand on March 29. A Long March-3B carrier rocket carrying the 24th and 25th Beidou navigation satellites takes off from the Xichang Satellite Launch Center in Xichang, China, on Nov. 5, 2017. (Wang Yulei/China News Service/VCG via Getty Images) Chinas BeiDou Could Become a Global Nightmare Commentary The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) calls the BeiDou satellite navigation system (BeiDou or BDS) a pillar of great power, a global espionage tool. It is suitable for use in various fields such as the military, transportation, communications, and urban surveillance. According to its website, the BDS provides all-time, all-weather and high-accuracy positioning, navigation and timing services to global users. During Operation Desert Storm, in the 1990s, the commercial Global Positioning System (GPS) aided U.S. soldiers to end the war in 43 days. The U.S. military won the war and did not have many casualties compared to the Iraqi army, which lost more than 100,000 soldiers. To compete with the GPS, the CCP spent 26 years developing its satellite navigation system, investing more than $12 billion and placing 55 satellites in orbit. BeiDou was developed by the CCPs military and its National University of Defense Technology, with the support of other government branches that focus on science, space, and technology, and state-owned companies such as China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation and China Electronics Technology Group Corporation (CETC). CCP Promotes BeiDou Through BRI According to a 2019 Nikkei Asia report, China is using its Belt and Road Initiative [BRI] to promote the BeiDou navigation system. BeiDou satellites were the most frequently observed in more than 100 of the 137 countries that have signed on to the massive infrastructure project. Most were in Southeast Asia and Africa. More than 30 countries in the Middle East, Africa, and elsewhere use the Chinese navigation system. If it becomes the standard in these countries, China will have an advantage in introducing new technologies and products, the report said. A Global Nightmare China and Iran formally signed a strategic cooperation agreement on March 27. The two countries will cooperate in the economic and military fields in the future. The agreement also includes proposals to help Iran build a 5G telecommunications network and requires BeiDou to help Iranian authorities assert greater control over what circulates in cyberspace. With the aid of BeiDou, the agreement could be the beginning of a nightmare for the United States. Due to the greatly improved accuracy, Iran can use ballistic missiles to attack U.S. aircraft carriers, and the situation in the Middle East is likely to reverse. At present, Iran has developed and equipped itself with a number of ballistic missiles. Among them, the Meteor and Baked Clay-2 series missiles are the most typical. According to the 2014 report by the Center for Strategic and International Studies, the range of the Meteor-3 missile has an estimated range of 500 miles to over 600 miles. The Baked Clay-2 missile has a range of more than 1,200 miles. These two missiles can strike most countries in the Middle East, as well as U.S. military bases in Iraq and Saudi Arabia. In July 2014, when a total of 19 experts from eight Asia-Pacific countries received training on the technology and application of the BeiDou in China, South Korean newspaper Dong-A Ilbo raised concerns, claiming that North Korea will be able to maliciously exploit the technology on long-range missiles or drones, posing a global threat. BeiDous Military Application According to Chinese news portal Sina, BeiDous communication function will allow the Chinese military to issue combat orders to its troops, and the front-line combat troops can give feedback on the battlefield situation at any time, to facilitate the strategic and decision making of the commander. This command and intelligence transmission network built through BeiDou will give a clear view of the battlefield situation and significantly improve the combat effectiveness of the troops. BeiDou Gains Accuracy Through GPS On Nov. 29, 2017, Chengqi Ran, director of the China Satellite Navigation Office, and David Turner, deputy director of the U.S. Space and Advanced Technology Office, signed an agreement called The Joint Statement of BDS and GPS Signal Compatibility and Interoperability. According to BeiDous website, the Statement indicated that the two systems are radio-frequency compatible and will continue to carry out compatibility and interoperability cooperation and facilitate the accuracy of BeiDou. Earlier in May 2015, China and Russia had already signed a BeiDou-GLONASS system compatibility and interoperability cooperation agreement. When Xi Jinping celebrated the completion and launch of the BeiDou in July 2020, Cheng-hsiu Lee, a researcher at the National Policy Foundation of Taiwan, said that the system will serve as a spy satellite when its accuracy is stabilized, and it would allow the CCPs army to monitor the movements of the U.S. military. Gu Feng is a former media veteran from mainland China who spent many years reporting on the countrys political, economic, and social issues. He is now living in the United States. Views expressed in this article are the opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times. Democratic and Republican lawmakers in the Oregon House reached a deal late Wednesday that will significantly speed up the pace of the 2021 legislative session. The agreement also means Republicans will have more to say about how the states political boundaries will look for the next decade. In recent weeks, Democrats had been openly frustrated with the GOP insistence that most bills be read aloud in their entirety before receiving a vote. Reading a single bill took hours and even entire days in some cases, and the backlog of bills awaiting a vote had reached more than 60. The requirement to read bills aloud on the House floor is part of the Oregon Constitution, but that provision can be waived with a vote of at least two-thirds of the lawmakers. In the past, lawmakers from both parties routinely voted to speed up sessions in this way. But in recent sessions, Republicans, who serve in the minority, have been more selective about agreeing to it. House Speaker Tina Kotek, D-Portland, had scheduled all-day floor sessions over the coming week to tackle the backlog. But on Wednesday evening, more than an hour after the House was due to reconvene, lawmakers emerged with a deal. House Republicans made an unexpected motion to waive the read aloud requirement for the remainder of the 2021 session. It was quickly approved on a voice vote. Next, Kotek made an announcement: Republicans would be granted an additional seat on the Houses committee on redistricting, giving them an equal number of members as Democrats. Additionally, one of the Republicans on the committee would be elevated to co-chair status. That effectively gives the Republicans veto power over any redistricting plan, since approval by a greater than 50% majority of a committee is required for the proposal to reach the full House for a vote. It was not immediately clear Thursday whether Senate Democrats would give Republicans in their chamber similar status on the counterpart committee. While the GOP will have more say in how legislative districts will be carved up, if a majority of lawmakers in both chambers dont agree on a plan, it would fall to Oregon Secretary of State Shemia Fagan, a Democrat, to create the maps. While Oregon lawmakers in the past have frequently come to a stalemate on redistricting, in 2011, when the House was evenly split between Democrats and Republicans, lawmakers approved a plan on a bipartisan basis. The delay tactics employed this session were preventing the legislature from doing the peoples work, said Koteks chief of staff, Lindsey OBrien. Now that there is a break in the logjam, the Speaker is focused on passing policies and budgets that will combat the pandemic, advance racial justice and equity, support workers, address Oregons housing crisis, and create clean energy opportunities. House Republican Leader Christine Drazan, of Canby, said in a statement that her caucus is very pleased that so far weve been able to expedite the budget to fund relief on these critical issues, along with a number of other proposals that solve problems people are facing. We look forward to expanding on this collaborative work with our colleagues following this agreement. The redistricting changes appear to be the only concession from Democrats. But there is another potential win for Republicans of allowing business to continue: the top Democrats in the House and Senate asked lawmakers to submit their ideas on how to spend $780 million in federal funds that are coming to Oregon as part of the American Rescue Plan Act. The pitch for ideas could result in a budget bill stuffed with cash to pay for pet projects in lawmakers home districts. With more than two months left in the legislative session, Republicans and Democrats have plenty of other priorities that will undoubtedly continue to be negotiated and could impact the pace of business. A gun storage proposal supported by Democrats and opposed by Republicans, for instance, is among the potential high-profile points of contention, and the House delayed a vote on it on April 12, so its currently scheduled for a vote Monday. On the topic of redistricting, House Republicans have introduced a proposal to refer a proposal to voters that would hand the job of redistricting to an independent commission. It resembles a planned 2020 initiative that fell short of signatures necessary to qualify it for the ballot last summer after the pandemic undercut signature-gathering. Majority Democrats have ensured House Joint Resolution 7, sponsored by seven Republicans, stayed alive past critical bill deadlines, so its possible Republicans could push Democrats to pass the proposal. Nationally, Democrats have supported similar redistricting commission systems, particularly in states with Republican-controlled legislatures. California also adopted the model. Drew Kaza, a member of the Independent Party of Oregon who has been involved in efforts to create an independent redistricting commission in Oregon, said that if voters approve such a change, supporters would like the state to update its legislative and congressional districts mid-cycle rather than waiting another decade to hand it over to the citizens. Members of a coalition called People Not Politicians that is pushing for Oregon to adopt the independent commission model issued a press release Thursday evening pointing to the legislative dealmaking over redistricting as a reason to scrap the current method. The promise of fair representation should not be a political negotiating tactic between partisan legislators behind closed doors, said Norman Turrill, chair of the group. This maneuvering between House leadership exactly underscores why we need reform and fair redistricting so Oregon voters choose politicians, instead of politicians choosing voters. House Majority Leader Barbara Smith Warner, D-Portland, said in an emailed statement that Democrats are committed to a legislative redistricting process that lifts up the voices of diverse communitiesespecially BIPOC and low-wage communities who have been historically excluded from these processesand is informed by the compelling testimony of Oregonians from across the state, and produces district maps that are fair and reflective of our vibrant communities. House Democrats believe that the best way to do that is through an open, transparent, and thorough legislative process that is accountable to the people of Oregon. Republicans and Democrats both have a clearer view of what they will be working on for the remainder of the legislative session, after many bills died earlier this week after failing to receive a committee vote by a key deadline. Reporter Hillary Borrud contributed to this report. Chris Lehman clehman@oregonian.com TERRE HAUTE, Ind. (WTHI) -- Senate Bill 389 has gained attention from environmentalists, farmers, and builders across the state. Some are in support of the bill, but some are also concerned. On Tuesday, the Indiana House of Representatives passed SB 389 with a 58 to 40 vote. This version excluded an amendment that would preserve the protection of most wetlands in the state. This exclusion upset many state environmentalists. "We were very disappointed in the version of this bill that passed the house yesterday. Indiana is a water-rich state and we need to be careful with our water resources," said Indra Frank, Environmental & Water Policy Director of the Hoosier Environmental Council. On Wednesday, the Senate voted 31 to 19 in agreement with that House version of the bill. This version takes away the law that requires a permit and or certification for Class I wetland activities only. A Class I wetland is an isolated wetland that has been affected by human activity by at least 50% and or supports only minimal wildlife or aquatic habitat. The bill also clarified the definition of a Class II wetland and the appropriate regulations for Class II and Class III wetlands. Jeff Cummins, the Indiana Farm Bureau Associate Director of Policy Engagement, said the bureau supports the new form of SB 389. He explained to News 10 that this version would help farmers in more ways than one. "When it comes to clarifying Class II wetlands, clarity on tile drain maintenance and repair, clarity and protection regulatory relief on ephemeral streams, and some of the increased efficiencies on permitting, those are the top four issues that Farm Bureau wanted to see resolved. I think we have those, and we're grateful that a compromised version was adopted," said Cummins. The bill also includes an Indiana Wetlands Task Force that will consist of 14 members who research and develop recommendations for wetland-related issues across the state. The group will also receive support from the Department of Natural Resources. Since SB 389 has passed the general assembly, it's now headed to Governor Eric Holcomb's desk. If you'd like to send your thoughts on the bill to the governor, you can find his contact information below: Email: govholcomb@gov.in.gov Number: 317-232-4567 MUSKEGON COUNTY, MI Three Muskegon County residents, two of them in their 40s, died from COVID-19 this week and the public health director is growing increasingly concerned about community spread. There were nearly 400 new cases of COVID-19 in Muskegon County over the last week, and public health Director Kathy Moore said there are reasons to be concerned by the latest surge. Of concern to Moore are hospitalizations of vaccinated people, younger people who are dying at a faster rate and no clear source for the spread. Prior to the administration of the vaccine to older individuals earlier this year, many of the deaths and growth in cases were in nursing homes and congregate living facilities, Moore said. Now Muskegon County is seeing true community spread with the very sick becoming younger, she said. People should not let their guards down, she said. We dont know what to expect. Mercy Health in Muskegon reported 58 patients hospitalized with COVID-19 on Thursday, April 15. Of those 10 people were in intensive care, eight of whom were on ventilators. The deaths this week were the first reported since April 5. They were a 70-year-old who died Sunday, April 11, three days after diagnosis; a 49-year-old who was diagnosed April 6 and died April 13; and a 42-year-old who was diagnosed April 7 and died April 12, Moore said. Health department tracing is finding people who are positive for the virus but have not been in risky settings, Moore said. Some who are hospitalized had done everything right, including getting vaccinated, wearing masks and avoiding group settings, she said. Thats the most troubling, Moore said. You cant pinpoint it to any specific behavior, or vaccination versus no vaccination, or a particular variant There are not a lot of answers. The county has had six confirmed cases of the British B.1.1.7. variant and one case of the South American P.1 case, she said. Dr. Jerry Evans, chief of staff at Mercy Health in Muskegon, said the more contagious variants are behind the recent surge in cases. He also said more people are having to return to work or are socializing and traveling. The majority of patients are in their 50s and 60s, which is definitely different than we had before, Evans said. Hospital statistics show 36 of the 58 COVID-19 inpatients at Mercy are in their 50s and 60s. Another 10 are younger than that, though those people have significant underlying health problems, Evans said. The hospital census equals that recorded in early November 2020, a number that peaked at 152 later that month. Were hopeful that the number of admissions will not peak at 152 again, Evans said. I cannot say that for sure because a lot of people have been traveling recently. And there are lot of people in Muskegon County who have a lot of medical problems that, unfortunately, make them more susceptible to severe illness from COVID. A drive-up COVID-19 testing site at Muskegon Community College on Sunday, April 11, was aimed at people returning from Spring Break. Total tests numbered 519, with 60 of them positive for COVID, Moore said. The countys overall COVID-19 test positivity rate has crept up to 22%, Moore said. The good news is that the county has plenty of vaccine, even with the pause put on the one-shot Johnson & Johnson vaccinations, Moore said. We absolutely have more doses than demand, she said. Anybody who wants a vaccine should and will be able to get one within a matter of days. Walk-in vaccination clinics will be held on Saturday, April 17. One will be from 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. at Muskegon Community College, 221 Quarterline Road, and the other will be 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. at Queen Esther Missionary Baptist Church, 2220 Superior St. in Muskegon Heights. Links to other vaccination sites are available by visiting www.vaccinatewestmi.com. More than 30% of eligible Muskegon County residents have been fully vaccinated, with more than 43% having at least one dose, Moore said. There has been some issue with people, particularly younger individuals, failing to return for their second doses, she said. Getting as much of the population vaccinated as possible, thereby restricting the number of hosts, is how the virus can be prevented from mutating into more contagious strains, said Evans, an emergency physician. We are seeing that some people who are fully vaccinated now have COVID, he said. But theyre very low numbers, and theyre not very sick the ones were seeing in the emergency department. The most recent deaths in Muskegon County bring the total death toll to 305, according to health department statistics. Total cases were 11,884 on Wednesday, April 14, up 398 from the prior week. Cumulative case numbers by age group are 1,374 among individuals age 19 and younger, up 75 from a week ago; 2,033 among those in their 20s, up 88 from a week ago; 1,841 among those in their 30s, up 77; 1,856 among those in their 40s, up 62; 1,846 among those in their 50s, up 49; 1,475 among those in their 60s, up 32; 860 among those in their 70s, up 11; and 598 among those age 80 and older, up four. Total deaths are 12 among people in their 40s; 14 among people in their 50s, 49 among those in their 60s, 80 among those in their 70s and 149 among those who were age 80 or older. Ottawa County has averaged more than 213 cases per day over the past week, according to the health department. The cumulative total is 27,891. There were five deaths between April 8-14, bringing the total to 371. Oceana County reported 153 new cases for the week of April 6-12, according to data from District Health Department No. 10. The cumulative number of cases is 2,247 with 48 deaths. Hospitals throughout the region are filling up as the COVID-19 numbers rise, said Evans, who is medical director for the Region 6 Healthcare Coalition. That has meant long waits in emergency rooms and infrequent cancellations of pre-scheduled procedures, he said. It also has meant long days for hospital staff who, like everyone else, are tiring of the pandemic. Everybody in our hospital is just working their tails off to do their best for our patients, Evans said. Theyre tired, Ill be honest about itbut they are such good people. Also on MLive: Michigan reports 6,303 coronavirus cases, slight decline in average cases Thursday, April 15 Sculpture installation at Muskegon beach to close roundabout 9 Secretary of State branches close due to coronavirus exposure Girl With Down Syndrome, Autism, and Cerebral Palsy Graduates From College, Wins Award Born prematurely with the odds stacked against her, this 22-year-old woman has since defied her diagnoses of Down syndrome, cerebral palsy, and autism. While doctors had said she may never walk, talk, read, or write, over the years, she braved through to graduate high school, complete community college, and even win a coveted award. Jessica Faith Lonergan, of Mount Vernon, Washington, now teaches workshops to encourage other students with developmental delays to pursue their college dreams. She thinks shes a rock star all the time, her mother, Joy Caldwell, told the Skagit Valley Herald. Sharing her story on social media, Lonergan said when she was just a week old, her mother read a story about Karen Gaffney, a woman with Down syndrome who had attended community college and swam the English Channel. Karens story helped my mom to expect more and not limit my future, she wrote. Lonergans fortitude was tested from a young age. Throughout her childhood and teens, she underwent two brain surgeries and many complicated procedures to place a cumulative four rods and 28 screws in her back, reported KING5. Yet she persevered through the pain, learning to walk at the age of 6, and enduring a back brace that limited her movement. Lonergan thrived at school with the support of some amazing teachers and an Individualized Education Plan (IEP). She took part in the Special Olympics State Summer Games in 2015, winning gold and bronze medals for 25- and 50-meter guided walks. Two years later, she earned a place at Skagit Valley College as part of their INVEST (Individualized, Next Step, Vocational Education, and Social Skills Training) programa specially devised independent-living curriculum, currently adopted by only three U.S. schools, for students with developmental delays. Lonergan blossomed at college, joining the Campus Christian Fellowship and making many friends. The proud mom Caldwell, who is also completing a nursing certificate at Skagit Valley, said attending and graduating college was her daughters dream come true, reported Skagit Valley Herald. Owing to her success, Lonergan was nominated by the colleges board of trustees for a 2021 Transforming Lives Award in February, placing her among just 34 students representing the 34 community and technical colleges across Washington state, reported Skagit Valley Herald. We nominated her because shes a walking, talking miracle, Flora Perez-Lucatero, vice-chair of the Skagit Valley College Board of Trustees, told the outlet. We feel she truly is an inspiration and a light of hope for so many other students out there who want to attend college, but may feel it may not be for them. Since graduation, Lonergan has used the life skills gleaned from the INVEST program to demonstrate how college has enriched her life. Through workshops, Lonergan helps students with developmental disabilities learn about the incredible support and numerous technologies that could help make a college career possible. A confident young adult, Lonergan was chosen as an ambassador for the nonprofit Nothing Down in 2017. She has even taken a job as a restaurant hostess, which she loves. Caldwell claims her daughter may not quite appreciate the gravity of her achievements, but Lonergans power to inspire is tangible. So is her power to make her mother proud. She is a miracle and a blessing and I wouldnt have her any other way, Caldwell posted on Facebook. Good job, God! Share your stories with us at emg.inspired@epochtimes.com, and continue to get your daily dose of inspiration by signing up for the Epoch Inspired Newsletter at TheEpochTimes.com/newsletter A worker adjusts the U.S. flag before Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe addresses media following a meeting with President-elect Donald Trump in Manhattan, New York City, on Nov. 17, 2016. (Andrew Kelly/Reuters) Biden, Suga to Send Signal to Aggressive CCP at US-Japan Summit TOKYO/WASHINGTONJapanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga and U.S. President Joe Biden will highlight Tokyos central role in Washingtons strategy to counter the challenge of an increasingly aggressive Chinese regime at a summit on Friday. While that emphasis on Japans key status will be welcome in Tokyo, where some politicians are pushing for a tougher stance towards Beijing, it also raises questions about how far Tokyo can go to meet demands on regional defense and human rights. This will be the precursor to a series of meetings among like-minded countries to send the right signal to Beijing, Kunihiko Miyake, an adviser to Suga, told Reuters. Suga took over as premier last September. The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has increased maritime activities in the East and South China Seas and near Taiwan. Rights concerns have deepened over the treatment of Muslim Uyghurs in Chinas Xinjiang region. Washington says Beijing is perpetrating a genocide. Suga will be the first foreign leader to meet Biden in person since the president took office, something that could give Suga a boost ahead of a general election this year. Asking Suga to meet the president first means a lotthat China competition is critical and who is the best partner? Japan, said Toshihiro Nakayama of Japans Keio University. That also means that Japan has to do more. Suga told reporters before leaving for Washington he hoped to strengthen the alliance based on the shared values of freedom, democracy, human rights and rule of law, show the two countries leadership in creating a free and open Indo-Pacific and build a relationship of trust with Biden. Besides regional security, the two are also expected to discuss climate change, supply chain resilience, a global semiconductor shortage and COVID-19. Marc Knapper, the senior official for Japan and Korea at the U.S. State Department, said issues that would be front and center in the discussions included Chinas unilateral attempts to change the status quo in the East China Sea, South China Sea; whats happening within China, andaround China, Taiwan, Hong Kong. He told an event at Washingtons Center for Strategic and International Studies there would also be discussion of North Koreas nuclear missile program, which threatens both Japan and the United States, and ways to address existential issues of our time, climate change, clean energy, COVID-19. Japan is grappling with rising coronavirus infections with fewer than 100 days from the planned start of the Summer Olympics in Tokyo. Peace and Stability In a statement after a March meeting of U.S.-Japan defense and foreign ministers, the two sides underscored the importance of peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait and shared serious concerns about human rights in Hong Kong and Xinjiang. The United States, the European Union, Britain and Canada have imposed sanctions on Chinese officials for alleged abuses in Xinjiang and some Japanese lawmakers think Tokyo should adopt its own law allowing it to do the same, while Japanese executives worry about a backlash. Japanese officials were divided over whether Suga should endorse a strong statement on Taiwan, despite U.S. urging, or Xinjiang, two Japanese ruling party lawmakers familiar with the discussions said. A Japanese foreign ministry official said it was not decided whether there would be a joint statement after the summit. Asked to comment, a senior U.S. official said: We would not want Japan to make any statements that they do not fully support. Any comments by Suga on either Taiwan or human rights will be closely watched by the Chinese regime, which has warned Tokyo against being misled by countries biased against Beijing. The CCP sees Taiwan as a part of its territory and has threatened war to bring the island into its fold. The self-ruled island is a de facto independent country with its own democratically elected government, military, constitution, and currency. Washington is required by U.S. law to provide Taiwan with the means to defend itself. While Tokyo has no official diplomatic relations with Taipei, non-governmental engagement has flourished. Some Japanese lawmakers want even closer ties. The last time U.S and Japanese leaders referred to Taiwan in a joint statement was in 1969, when Japans prime minister said maintenance of peace and security in the Taiwan area was important for its own security. That was before Tokyo normalized ties with Beijing. Japan hosts over 50,000 U.S. military personnel and, experts say, would be unlikely to stand idly by in any Taiwan crisis, although many ordinary citizens would probably be wary of entanglement. By Linda Sieg and David Brunnstrom Epoch Times staff contributed to this report The 2022 Mercedes-Benz EQS could give the Porsche Taycan and Tesla Model S a run for their money. Mercedes-Benz Mercedes-Benz unveiled its first electric car for the US, the flagship EQS sedan on Thursday. The EQS will have a 478-mile range and a gigantic 56-inch "Hyperscreen" as an option, Mercedes says. It will hit US dealerships in the fall of 2021, likely carrying a starting price of around $100,000. See more stories on Insider's business page. Mercedes is jumping into the US electric-vehicle market at long last. 2022 Mercedes-Benz EQS. Mercedes-Benz On Thursday, the German automaker took the wraps off of its first US-market EV, the flagship EQS sedan. 2022 Mercedes-Benz EQS. Mercedes-Benz There will be two models to start: the 2022 EQS 450+ and the EQS 580 4Matic. 2022 Mercedes-Benz EQS. Mercedes-Benz Both cars will arrive at US dealers in fall 2021. 2022 Mercedes-Benz EQS. Mercedes-Benz Mercedes hasn't announced pricing yet, but expect it to be in line with the gas-powered S-Class sedan, which starts at around $110,000. 2022 Mercedes-Benz EQS. Mercedes-Benz But the EQS isnt just a battery-powered S-Class. Its the first Mercedes built on a dedicated electric platform that will underpin its future EVs. 2022 Mercedes-Benz EQS. Mercedes-Benz The 450+ comes with a single rear motor that delivers a rated 329 horsepower and more than 400 lb-ft of torque. 2022 Mercedes-Benz EQS. Mercedes-Benz Mercedes gave the 580 4Matic an extra motor up front, for a whopping 516 horsepower and 611 lb-ft of torque, the company says. 2022 Mercedes-Benz EQS. Mercedes-Benz The dual-motor model hits 60 mph in 4.1 seconds, according to Mercedes. 2022 Mercedes-Benz EQS. Mercedes-Benz Rear-wheel steering comes as standard to give the electric land yacht a more manageable turning radius. 2022 Mercedes-Benz EQS. Mercedes-Benz As for range, both models get a rating of 770 kilometers - around 478 miles - according to the European WLTP standard. 2022 Mercedes-Benz EQS. Mercedes-Benz The EQS will likely get a lower rating from the US EPA, but anything close to 478 miles would put it well ahead of nearly every other battery-powered car on the market. 2022 Mercedes-Benz EQS. Mercedes-Benz Plugged into a DC fast-charger, the EQS can go from 20% to 80% battery in 31 minutes. 2022 Mercedes-Benz EQS. Mercedes-Benz Judging by the numbers alone, Mercedes is diving into the electric market guns blazing, delivering an EV that can go toe-to-toe with lauded models like the Porsche Taycan and Tesla Model S. 2022 Mercedes-Benz EQS. Mercedes-Benz Mercedes also pulled out all the stops for the EQS interior. Story continues 2022 Mercedes-Benz EQS. Mercedes-Benz The centerpiece of the EV's cockpit is a massive, 56-inch wide screen that spans the entire width of the car. 2022 Mercedes-Benz EQS. Mercedes-Benz The "MBUX Hyperscreen" is actually a single piece of glass with three OLED displays underneath: a 12.3-inch instrument cluster, a 17.7-inch center screen, and a 12.3-inch display for the passenger. 2022 Mercedes-Benz EQS. Mercedes-Benz That all comes on the upper-trim 580. The 450+ gets a more conventional center display instead of the Hyperscreen. 2022 Mercedes-Benz EQS. Mercedes-Benz. Mercedes' latest driver-assistance suite comes standard, including adaptive cruise control, lane-keep assist, and automatic parking. 2022 Mercedes-Benz EQS. Mercedes-Benz Lavish features like heated leather seats and 64-color ambient lighting also come standard. 2022 Mercedes-Benz EQS. Mercedes-Benz A long list of add ons are available, including doors that open and close electronically, an "Executive Rear Seat Package" with massaging seats and a tablet, and a heads-up display. 2022 Mercedes-Benz EQS. Mercedes-Benz Buyers can also add a gesture control feature that lets them do things like close the doors by waving their hands. 2022 Mercedes-Benz EQS. Mercedes-Benz In addition to the two models hitting the market this fall, Mercedes has plans for a performance model with 630 horsepower. 2022 Mercedes-Benz EQS. Mercedes-Benz Read the original article on Business Insider by Sumon Corraya For a second time in a row, Pahela Baishakh was celebrated without outdoor activities. The latest surge in the pandemic is putting a strain on hospitals. On the day that symbolises harmony in the country, all religions prayed for the end to the pandemic. Dhaka (AsiaNews) Bangladesh celebrated Pahela Baishakh yesterday, the first day of 1428 in the Bengali calendar. Due to the pandemic, the usual colourful outdoor parades and celebrations were not held. Pahela Baishakh is celebrated in Bangladesh as well as some Indian states, most notably West Bengal (Paschim Banga), Assam, Tripura, Jharkhand and Odisha (Orissa). During his reign (1556-1605), Mughal Emperor Akbar introduced the calendar to facilitate tax collection. Even today, businesses across Bangladesh, especially in the countryside, call in dues from their customers and open new accounts. In the last two years, outdoor celebrations have been cancelled due to the pandemic. This year the event coincided with the start of a week of hard lockdown meant to stop the latest surge of infections. On Pahela Baishakh last year, 891 people contracted the SARS-CoV-2 virus with 39 deaths. This year, some 7,000 cases are reported per day with 70 deaths. As of yesterday, Bangladesh had 697,985 cases with 9,891 deaths since the pandemic began. Due to the increase in the number of patients, hospitals are under heavy pressure. Many ick people have no place and the situation in intensive care is critical. In addition, having lost their job, the poor have had to endure heavy economic consequences because of COVID-19. We have to remember that the lives of the people come first. If (we) survive, well be able to rearrange everything, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina said during a New Year televised address to the country. Theres no need to be worried, she added, the government is always beside you. I have taken steps for the poor and lower-income people after the second wave hit the country. To this end, rich people and aid agencies are encouraged to help the needy with food and money during the pandemic. The Bengali New Year is a social event that embodies the countrys secular nature. Rich in culture, tradition and heritage, it brings together people of every caste, creed and class as a symbol of harmony and secularism in Bangladesh. This year, the faithful of all religions prayed on Pahela Baishakh for an end to the pandemic in the country and throughout the world. It is precisely because of this spirit that radical Islamist groups are against Bengali New Year celebrations, claiming that it is a Hindu festival. In 2001, during Pahela Baishakh celebrations in Dhakas Ramna Batamul district, the Harkat-ul-Jihad al-Islami group carried out a terrorist attack in which 10 people died. HELSINKI (Reuters) - Finland's health minister said on Thursday the Nordic country was initiating talks with Russia over buying its Sputnik V COVID-19 vaccine, which has yet to be approved for use in the European Union. The European Medicines Agency (EMA) is conducting a rolling review of the vaccine as many European countries seek to ramp up inoculation programmes that have been hampered by delivery delays and lagged behind countries such as Britain and the United States. "We will approach Russia and negotiate," Health Minister Krista Kiuru told parliament. "This is in accordance with the European Union's joint buying scheme since the union does not yet have agreements with Sputnik's manufacturer." "We have this opportunity. I cannot say how it will go, but the work has begun in the foreign ministry," Kiuru added. Whether or not the vaccine can be marketed widely in the bloc hinges on the EMA approval, though two EU members, Hungary and Slovakia, have already approved the shot independently for emergency use. Only Hungary has so far begun to administer it. Among other European countries, Germany is gearing up to start bilateral negotiations with Russia to obtain supplies of Sputnik V, though a final decision would depend on it receiving the regulatory greenlight. (Reporting by Essi Lehto, writing by Anna Ringstrom; editing by Niklas Pollard) Activist hedge fund Elliott Management has taken a multi-billion pound stake in GlaxoSmithKline, the Financial Times reported on Thursday, after a year that has seen the British pharma firm take a backseat role in the COVID-19 vaccine race. Shares in erased losses and traded more than 7% higher on the report, and were last up 5% at 1151 GMT. A spokesman declined to comment on the report. Elliott did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Britain's warned in February of a bigger than expected fall in 2021 earnings as the COVID-19 pandemic continues to disrupt other healthcare treatments and it invests in new medicines ahead of a split from its consumer products business next year. Rather than developing its own COVID-19 shot, GSK has so far focused on supplying its vaccine booster to other drugmakers. But a project with Sanofi has been delayed, and China's Clover has ended its deal with the British drugmaker. GSK, the world's biggest vaccines maker by sales, in February announced a deal with Germany's CureVac to work on a next generation of shots to combat new COVID-19 variants. GSK's shares had been down nearly 4% in 2021 before the rally on Thursday. SEATTLE, April 15, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- DefinedCrowd, the one-stop-shop for high-quality Artificial Intelligence training data, today announced that Bob Parker and Terence Fitzpatrick, two industry-renowned leaders, have joined the company to head the Finance and Sales departments, respectively. Bob Parker joins DefinedCrowd from SentinelOne, where he helped the company through significant growth and expansion during his four years there, including raising multiple rounds of equity and debt. With 30 years of experience working in Silicon Valley for both large public companies and growing private ones, Parker joined DefinedCrowd to support the company's fast growth. "I'm thrilled to join DefinedCrowd, one of the most exciting companies in the AI space. DefinedCrowd is at a key moment of growth, and it's at the center of one of the fastest-growing markets. The connection with the team was immediate, and I couldn't be more excited to join the team," Parker said. Terence Fitzpatrick brings three decades of experience in AI sales across Europe, Asia, Middle East, Latin America and United States to DefinedCrowd. Previously the Chief Growth Officer at IPsoft where he led global sales, operations and development pipeline, Fitzpatrick joined DefinedCrowd to expand global sales and assist the company reach its ambitious growth goals. "As someone who has been responsible for managing global partnerships and senior level relationships in emerging technology companies, I've been extremely impressed by DefinedCrowd's growth over the last five years. DefinedCrowd is clearly increasing market share by providing high-quality AI training data and I'm thrilled to join such an accomplished executive team," said Fitzpatrick. Experiencing an 8550% growth in revenue from 2016 to 2019, DefinedCrowd is one of the fastest-growing private companies in the United States. Parker and Fitzpatrick join at a pivotal time in the scale-up's progression and look to support its aggressive growth goals in the upcoming years. Dr. Daniela Braga, founder and CEO of DefinedCrowd, said, "I'm delighted to welcome Bob and Terence to the team. As we become the GitHub of AI, we're witnessing stellar growth. With their extensive industry experience and track records, it's difficult to think of anyone better qualified to lead our Finance and Sales departments at this crucial time," Dr. Braga said. Contact: Catarina Peyroteo Salteiro Director of Global Communication & Brand [email protected] Related Images definedcrowd.png DefinedCrowd DefinedCrowd horizontal logo SOURCE DefinedCrowd, Corp. A medical worker at the HCMC Hospital for Tropical Diseases checks a Covid-19 vaccine vial by AstraZeneca before inoculation, March 8, 2021. Photo by VnExpress/Huu Khoa. There are "challenges" to securing Covid-19 vaccines, and the AstraZeneca vaccine is safe despite reports of adverse reactions, the Health Ministry has said. Speaking at a meeting Wednesday with the National Steering Committee for Covid-19 Prevention and Control, Minister of Health Nguyen Thanh Long said there is a shortage of vaccines globally, and countries are racing to secure supply. Vietnam needs to secure its supply as soon as possible, but has faced challenges and difficulties in doing so, and "risks" might have to be taken to gain access to vaccines, he said without elaborating. The ministry said the Covid-19 vaccine produced by British-Swedish firm AstraZeneca, currently being used for Vietnams vaccination program, is safe and it would continue to vaccinate frontline workers, soldiers, police officers, and other priority categories, and in fact sped up the task. Deputy Prime Minister Vu Duc Dam instructed the ministry to make clear plans for negotiations to secure the vaccines. Vietnam has vaccinated over 62,000 people with the AstraZeneca shot it has secured either through contracts with the manufacturer or global vaccine access mechanism Covax. Reports of blood clots following the use of the AstraZeneca vaccine have prompted certain countries to temporarily suspend its use, with Denmark on Wednesday becoming the first country to stop using it altogether. Vietnam has not reported any cases so far. The country is developing four indigenous vaccines through Nanogen, the Institute of Vaccines and Medical Biologicals, the Vaccine and Biological Production Company No. 1, and the Center for Research and Production of Vaccines and Biologicals. It aims to secure 150 million doses to cover 70 percent of its population by next year. Rahul Roy Tests Positive For COVID-19 Along With His Entire Family, Reveals They Had No Symptoms At All The coronavirus pandemic is far from being over. Just when we had thought that probably we are closer to normalcy than before with the vaccine being administered, the number of cases took a sharp rise. People from every sphere in the nation, including celebs, have gotten affected. Now, we have learnt that Rahul Roy of Aashiqui fame had also tested positive for the novel virus. In fact, he is in quarantine for 20 days now! View this post on Instagram A post shared by Rahul Roy (@officialrahulroy) The actor, who recently recovered from brain stroke, took to his social media to reveal that he, along with his family that includes her sister and brother-in-law, have tested positive. He revealed that it started when a neighbour had tested positive. He wrote, "Quarantine Day 19. My Covid story My Resident Floor was sealed on 27th March as a neighbour had got tested positive so as a precautionary measure we all were sealed within Flats for 14days." He was scheduled to travel and when he took an RT PCR test, it was revealed that they have also tested positive. He added, " and my family had to fly to Delhi on 11th April so we did RTPCR test from Metropolis Lab on 7th April only to receive the test reports on 10th April stating my whole family @romeersen and @priyankaroy_pia are Covid positive. We had no symptoms at all, and we came to know that the same day BMC officials were doing testing for the whole society so we again did the Antigen test and we all were negative, and moments later again gave samples for RTPCR which went to Suburban Lab but the test report has still not been given to me." He then wrote, "BMC officials came made me and my family sign isolation forms, sanitised my home, the doctor called asking random questions of what my family business is into? Where is our office? Travel itineraries... haha dont know what the connection was? Suggested me to get hospitalised to which I replied We have no symptoms so he said ok and suggested to make a chart of oxygen level and take medicines which I am doing since the time I came back post brain stroke from the hospital. I know covid is there but how did I and my family contract this virus without leaving the house, without meeting people or even without going for walks is a question I will never be answered to? My sister @priyankaroy_pia is a yogini and a breathing expert who practices ancient breathing techniques and did not leave the house since 3 months, and without any symptoms has been shown positive in the reports. For now, waiting for the second 14 days quarantine to get over and redo my tests. For all of you, wear your masks, wash your hands, stay clean. And I hope you do not contract the virus staying inside the house. Hope to be back soon with negative reports.Love you all - Rahul Roy." See the post here: View this post on Instagram A post shared by Rahul Roy (@officialrahulroy) Well, we hope that the family recovers soon. CHICAGO, April 15, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- According to the new market research report "3D Printing Ceramics Market by Material type (Oxide based, non-oxide based), Form,End-use Industry (Aerospace & defense, healthcare, automotive, consumer goods and electronics, construction), Application and Region - Global Forecast to 2025", published by MarketsandMarkets, the 3D Printing Ceramics Market is projected to grow from USD 116 million in 2020 to USD 384 million by 2025. The aerospace & defense segment accounted for a share of 39.7% in terms of value in the 3D printing ceramics market in 2020 and is projected to reach USD 172 million by 2025 at a CAGR of 30.2%. The healthcare sector is projected to witness the second highest CAGR of 26.5%, growing from USD 25 million in 2020 to USD 82 million by 2025. Download PDF Brochure: https://www.marketsandmarkets.com/pdfdownloadNew.asp?id=26085601 Browse in-depth TOC on "3D Printing Ceramics Market" 114 - Tables 49 - Figures 157 - Pages View Detailed Table of Content Here: https://www.marketsandmarkets.com/Market-Reports/3d-printing-ceramic-market-26085601.html Oxide based 3D printing ceramics comprises a major share of the 3D printing ceramics market in terms of value. Oxide-based ceramics dominate the market in terms of value, with a share of 60.0%. This is due to the fact that these ceramics have wide applications in the aerospace & defense, healthcare, electronics, and consumer goods industries, among others. Oxide-based ceramics are economical and hence, are widely used for prototyping and by hobbyists for personal use as well. It is because of the same reason that oxide-based ceramics have 69.0% market sharein terms of volume. The powdered form of 3D printing ceramics accounts for the largest market share in the global 3D printing ceramics market during the forecasted period in terms of value and volume Powdered ceramics are dominating the 3D printing ceramics market. The main reason is their ease of use and machinability. With new technologies such as laser sintering and binder jetting, powdered ceramics are gaining momentum. Presently, liquid and filament forms hold a small share of the market, and the share of filament is expected to decline in the coming years as powdered and liquid ceramics offer better technical capabilities in printing higher quality products and are widely accepted in the 3D printing ceramics industry. The commercial/manufacturing application accounted for the largest market share of the global 3D printing ceramics market during the forecast period in terms of value and volume Industries have adopted 3D printing for part production i.e. a small component of a bigger assembly. This has opened new frontiers in the 3D printing landscape, with companies developing their printing capabilities in terms of speed, material utilization, and printing. Commercial manufacturing of 3D printing ceramics is gaining traction. The US military recently made a contract to buy portable 3D printing factories built in shipping containers. Request Sample Pages: https://www.marketsandmarkets.com/requestsampleNew.asp?id=26085601 The aerospace & defense end-use industry accounted for the largest market share in the global 3D printing ceramics market during the forecast period in terms of value and volume. The advantages of 3D printing ceramics, such as high strength, high stiffness, bio inertness, excellent corrosion resistance, and high thermal stability, have boosted the market in aerospace & defense, automotive, and healthcare industries. Aerospace & defense is the largest end-use industry of 3D printing ceramics. The demand for ceramics in this end-use industry has increased in the last few years due to the growing demand for commercial aircraft from Boeing and Airbus. Healthcare is the second-largest end-use industry of 3D printing ceramics with a share of 20.6%, in terms of value, in 2019. The demand for stable bio-implants is rising. Ceramics present a viable, stable, and economical option. 3D printing ceramics are also agile and flexible to meet the design constraints of bio-implants. Europe is expected to account for the largest market share in the 3D printing ceramics market during the forecast period. The global 3D printing ceramics market is expected to grow at a significant rate during the forecast period. The market in Europe accounted for the largest share of 35.0% in 2019 in terms of value, followed by North America with a share of 32.6% in terms of value in 2019. APAC is estimated to be the fastest-growing market between 2020 and 2025. However, the global 3D printing ceramics market witnessed slower growth in 2020 due to COVID-19 that forced companies to temporarily shut down their operations in various regions to prevent the virus spread. The pandemic adversely affected various end-use industries, including aerospace & defense, construction, and automotive, which weakened the demand for 3D printing ceramics in 2020. The key players in the 3D Printing ceramics market include 3D Ceram (France), ExOne (USA), 3DResyns (Spain), Admatec Europe (Nehterlands) and Tethon 3D (USA) are some of the key players in the 3D printing ceramics market. Steinbach AG (Germany), 3D Systems (USA), Johnson Matthey (UK), Aon Inni (Korea) and CeramTec (Germany) are among others. These companies are involved in adopting various inorganic and organic strategies to increase their foothold in the 3D printing ceramics market. These players have taken different organic and inorganic developmental strategies over the past five years. Browse Adjacent Markets: Chemical Market Research Reports & Consulting Related Reports: 1.3D PRINTING MARKET- GLOBAL FORECAST TO 2024- BY OFFERING (PRINTER, MATERIAL, SOFTWARE, SERVICE), PROCESS (BINDER JETTING, DIRECT ENERGY DEPOSITION, MATERIAL EXTRUSION, MATERIAL JETTING, POWDER BED FUSION), APPLICATION, VERTICAL, TECHNOLOGY, AND GEOGRAPHY https://www.marketsandmarkets.com/Market-Reports/3d-printing-market-1276.html 2.INDUSTRIAL 3D PRINTING MARKET- GLOBAL FORECAST TO 2025- BY OFFERING (PRINTERS, MATERIALS, SOFTWARE, SERVICES), APPLICATION (MANUFACTURING, PROTOTYPING), PROCESS, TECHNOLOGY, INDUSTRY (AEROSPACE & DEFENSE, AUTOMOTIVE), AND GEOGRAPHY https://www.marketsandmarkets.com/Market-Reports/industrial-3d-printing-market-160028620.html About MarketsandMarkets MarketsandMarkets provides quantified B2B research on 30,000 high growth niche opportunities/threats which will impact 70% to 80% of worldwide companies' revenues. Currently servicing 7500 customers worldwide including 80% of global Fortune 1000 companies as clients. Almost 75,000 top officers across eight industries worldwide approach MarketsandMarkets for their painpoints around revenues decisions. Our 850 fulltime analyst and SMEs at MarketsandMarkets are tracking global high growth markets following the "Growth Engagement Model - GEM". The GEM aims at proactive collaboration with the clients to identify new opportunities, identify most important customers, write "Attack, avoid and defend" strategies, identify sources of incremental revenues for both the company and its competitors. MarketsandMarkets now coming up with 1,500 MicroQuadrants (Positioning top players across leaders, emerging companies, innovators, strategic players) annually in high growth emerging segments. 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Contact: Mr. Aashish Mehra MarketsandMarkets INC. 630 Dundee Road Suite 430 Northbrook, IL 60062 USA: +1-888-600-6441 Email: sales@marketsandmarkets.com Research Insight: https://www.marketsandmarkets.com/ResearchInsight/3d-printing-ceramic-market.asp Visit Our Website: https://www.marketsandmarkets.com/ Content Source: https://www.marketsandmarkets.com/PressReleases/3d-printing-ceramic.asp Logo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/660509/MarketsandMarkets_Logo.jpg Romania will act in accordance with allied decisions on the timetable for withdrawal from Afghanistan, Defence Minister Nicolae Ciuca said after attending a joint meeting of NATO foreign ministers and defence ministers on Wednesday, organized in video conference format. The meeting took place in the context of the completion of the US administration's analysis of Afghanistan and the decision to withdraw US forces by September 11, 2021. "Following the allied talks, the allied foreign affairs and defence ministers adopted a Joint Declaration of the North Atlantic Council deciding to start the process of withdrawing allied forces from Afghanistan from May 1, 2021. As one of the most important troops-contributing states at the Resolute Support Mission, with over 600 troops currently deployed, Romania will act in accordance with allied decisions regarding the timetable of the withdrawal," the defence minister wrote on his Facebook page.According to a statement of the Ministry of National Defence, sent to AGERPRES, the Romanian side appreciated, during the meeting, the way of reporting the USA to the whole issue of the situation in Afghanistan, both from the perspective of dialogue and coordination with the Allies, and in terms of boosting negotiations and intra-Afghan peace.He also stressed Romania's long-term commitment to the stability and security of Afghanistan and pointed out the need to take into account the security interests of the Allies and Afghanistan, as well as the importance of maintaining solidarity and NATO unity.In this context, Minister Ciuca stressed the importance of focusing attention on the implementation of consistent measures to ensure the protection of NATO forces in Afghanistan in the coming period, along with a coordinated approach to troop withdrawal. The Romanian official also expressed appreciation for the planning process carried out by the NATO Military Authorities, the quoted source shows.Also, in the context of the discussions, the security situation recently created in the Eastern Neighborhood was addressed. "NATO foreign and defence ministers have expressed concern over recent developments and the significant increase in the presence of Russian military troops in illegally occupied Crimea and the eastern border of Ukraine," the Ministry of Defence said in the release. Source: Xinhua| 2021-04-15 16:19:00|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close by Peerzada Arshad Hamid NEW DELHI, April 15 (Xinhua) -- The ongoing Kumbh Mela congregation in India's northern state of Uttarakhand will continue as per schedule until April 30 and there has been no discussion to cut it short despite the rising COVID-19 infections, officials said Thursday. "It (Kumbh Mela) has been notified from April 1 and its validity is until April 30. I don't have any information that it is being curtailed or it has been cancelled," Deepak Rawat, Kumbh Mela officer, told the media. Local media reported on Wednesday that discussions between the Uttarakhand government and religious leaders took place. However, the latter have remained unconvinced so far about cancelling the event. Thousands of Hindu devotees have gathered in Uttarakhand's Haridwar town to take bath in the Ganges river as part of a ritual. Devotees continue to throng the river banks while the country struggles through a more severe wave of COVID-19 outbreak. Reports said close to 3 million Hindu devotees turned up on Monday to take a dip in the Ganges river and participate in the month-long Kumbh Mela congregation. Experts fear the congregation would trigger an exponential increase in COVID-19 cases and the festival could turn into a super spreader event. Television images showed large crowds of sages and devotees collectively taking bath in the river in violation of the federal government's COVID-19 protocol of social distancing and wearing of face masks. "We are allowing people only after their reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) reports are negative so the chances of any kind of spread are minimal," Rawat said. "The way the second wave of COVID-19 has hit, I can't deny that wherever the crowd grows there is a greater possibility of spreading the infection, irrespective of for how much time the gathering lasts," S K Gunjyal, a senior police official told a local news channel. Reports said hundreds of devotees, including nine top saints, have tested positive for COVID-19 in Haridwar. Indian authorities have come under huge criticism for their decision to allow huge religious gathering like Kumbh this year despite a raging pandemic. Tirath Singh Rawat, chief minister of Uttarakhand, told the media that they were following the federal health ministry's guidelines in regulating the congregation. Rawat said the ongoing Kumbh Mela should not be compared to last year's Tablighi Jamaat congregation at Nizamuddin Markaz in Delhi. "They (Markaz attendees) were all inside a building and here it is out in the open," Rawat told media. "And this is near the Ganges. The flow and blessings of Ma Ganga will ensure that coronavirus does not spread. The question does not arise of a comparison." The Kumbh Mela, which started on April 1 and will last until April 30, is expected to be visited by 1 million pilgrims each day. The number of devotees visiting the festival is likely to increase manifold on three days of royal bath - Monday, Wednesday, and April 27. Rawat said Kumbh comes once in 12 years and is linked with the faith and sentiments of millions of people. The Jamaat hit the headlines in March last year when authorities blamed their congregation at its headquarters in New Delhi's Nizamuddin area for a jump in COVID-19 infections. India is witnessing a severe resurgence in COVID-19 cases. The federal health ministry on Thursday morning said a record high of 200,739 new COVID-19 cases and 1,038 related deaths were registered in the past 24 hours across the country. Enditem Taurangas Poppy Lady Veronica Egan has been organising the Tauranga RSAs annual Poppy Day appeal since 1985. This year, the RSA has chosen to highlight the experiences of women and the military. I joined the womens section of the RSA in 1983 and was just a member, says Veronica. Before very long, I found I was on the committee. Her first Poppy Day came along and she quickly found she was able to assist with anything needed. I was helping with the catering and the womens section. Then the lady who was in charge passed away. I had worked with her, so I ended up being the Poppy Lady - thats what they called me. To be the Poppy Lady requires liaising with people and plenty of planning. Its a big job, with Sonia Peebles and RSA welfare committee chairperson Tony Hulme assisting her. You ring around people and businesses, to see if theyre interested in helping us by selling poppies or putting the buckets on their reception desks so people can buy a poppy. Her team deliver the poppies to schools, businesses and rest homes. And Tauranga grows so that means theres a bit more each year. The RSA Poppy has truly become a national icon. Poppy Day is usually held on the Friday before Anzac Day, the national day of remembrance commemorating all Australians and New Zealanders who served and died in all wars, conflicts and peacekeeping operations, and also commemorates the first landing of the Anzacs at Gallipoli. This year, Poppy Day is being held a week earlier, in order to ensure that funds are raised in time ahead of Anzac Day. The RSA Poppy Appeal is New Zealands longest running charity appeal with more than 80 years of history. First conducted in 1922, the Poppy Appeal was held to fund welfare and support services for veterans of the First World War. French woman Madame E. Guerin conceived the idea of widows manufacturing artificial poppies in the devastated areas of Northern France which then could be sold by veterans organisations worldwide for their own veterans and dependants as well as the benefit of destitute French children. In 1931, the NZRSA started producing its own poppies, made by disabled returned men at Auckland and Christchurch RSA. Poppy Day was cancelled last year because New Zealand was in Alert Level 4 lockdown, and Veronica had to store Taurangas boxes of poppies for a year. The appeal typically raises between $1 million and $2 million annually which enables the RSA, New Zealands largest veterans charity, to make welfare grants to assist its more than 102,000 members. During this years appeal, hardworking RSA volunteers will be exchanging distinctive red poppies for a donation to the Poppy Appeal. We have volunteers sitting at all the supermarkets, says Veronica. And the Lions Clubs come on board and help too, walking around the streets with the poppies. As well as Tauranga, Poppy Day appeals will be held on Friday, April 16, in Katikati, Te Puke and Mount Maunganui. As mentors we learn as much as the mentees do and diving into conversations about the foundational principles of our discipline is providing mentees with the building blocks needed to forge their own path in this industry, said Sam Curry. Cybereason, the leader in future-ready attack protection, today announced that it has joined with the MassCyberCenter at the MassTech Collaborative and other Massachusetts companies to mentor college students from 14 schools across the state. Cybereason has three on-staff mentors, including: Sam Curry, Chief Security Officer, Lodrina Cherne, Principal Security Advocate and Maggie MacAlpine, Security Strategist. As part of Chernes mentorship engagement, she has organized a panel for the student mentees for Thursday, April 22 with digital forensics and incident response experts who will provide an overview of this career path. Mentors from both the public and private sector will speak. As mentors, Curry, Cherne and MacAlpine will meet regularly with their mentees to discuss cybersecurity careers. During the program, students will build, break, secure, and administer a virtual machine; evaluate a cybersecurity policy or procedure for a business; draft a policy recommendation for the Commonwealth of Massachusetts; create or evaluate a cyber incident response plan, and develop a cyber education and awareness product. The private sector, government, and academia all have important roles to play in growing and diversifying the cybersecurity workforce, which is why I am happy to see the involvement of these partners in the Cybersecurity Mentorship Program, said Stephanie Helm, Director of the MassCyberCenter at the MassTech Collaborative. There is a massive skills gap in the cybersecurity industry and we should do all we can to bridge it and to pay forward what we all received in our careers. No one advances in isolation and it is important to share, talk to new people and to listen. As mentors we learn as much as the mentees do and diving into conversations about the foundational principles of our discipline is providing mentees with the building blocks needed to forge their own path in this industry, according to Curry. Curry is a nationally renowned cybersecurity expert with more than 25 years of experience and is a Visiting Fellow at the National Security Institute. Cherne has more than 15 years of cybersecurity experience and is also a certified instructor with the SANS Institute. MacAlpine has more than 10 years of cybersecurity experience and is one of the co-founders of the DEFCON Voting Machine Hacking Village. I believe that participating in our local communities is one of the best ways to strengthen them. To grow our local cybersecurity community, we need to encourage our future security leaders and guide them through real-world problems and that is exactly what MassCyberCenter is doing, said Cherne. The cybersecurity industry is facing shortages of personnel even as cyber threats multiply exponentially each year. With MassTech, I hope to be able to give back to the community and to impact both insight and opportunities to the next generation of professionals, said MacAlpine. About MassCyberCenter The MassCyberCenter was launched in September 2017 with a vision to enhance opportunities for the Massachusetts cybersecurity ecosystem to compete as the national cybersecurity leader while strengthening the resiliency of the Commonwealths public and private communities. Learn more at http://www.masscybercenter.org. About Cybereason Cybereason is the champion for todays cyber defenders providing future-ready attack protection that unifies security from the endpoint, to the enterprise, to everywhere the battle moves. The Cybereason XDR Platform combines the industrys top-rated detection and response (EDR and XDR), next-gen anti-virus (NGAV), and proactive threat hunting to deliver context-rich analysis of every element of a Malop (malicious operation). The result: defenders can end cyber attacks from endpoints to everywhere. Cybereason is a privately held, international company headquartered in Boston with customers in more than 30 countries. Learn more: https://www.cybereason.com/ Follow us: Blog | Twitter | Facebook Media Contacts: Bill Keeler Senior Director, Global Public Relations Cybereason bill.keeler@cybereason.com (929) 259-3261 The National Bank of Romania (BNR) notes that the public interest in virtual currencies (also called crypto-assets) is on a steady upward trend and cautions that, in its opinion, these remain highly volatile and extremely risky speculative assets that are highly likely to cause financial loss to the investors, BNR said in a statement on Thursday. Despite the European Banking Authority's opinion that virtual currencies carry a high risk of illicit use, the premises have been created for the management of these assets, agerpres.ro confirms. Thus, starting with July 15, 2020, the providers of exchange services between virtual currencies and fiat currencies, and digital wallet providers are required to comply with the provisions of Law No. 129/2019 on preventing and combating money laundering and terrorist financing, which also amends and supplements specific regulatory acts, with all the subsequent amendments and completions, including the requirement to be authorized or registered by the Finance Ministry, through the Foreign Exchange Authorization Commission. The process of regulating virtual currencies and related service providers has started in Europe, and negotiations are currently taking place between member states based on the European Commission's proposed Regulation on the cryptocurrency market. The regulations of the National Bank of Romania do not include any provisions that would forbid credit institutions to offer account services to providers of exchange services between virtual currencies and fiat money and to digital wallet providers, the central bank's statement mentions. Credit institutions are required to comply with the provisions of Law No. 129/2019, specifically to apply the customer knowledge and risk management measures regarding money laundering and terrorist financing, and to heed the risks they take following the provision of payment account services for these entities, by adapting in-company risk policies and their risk management capacity according to objective and proportionate criteria. At this moment, the risks specific to the ownership and trading of virtual currencies and the significant price volatility of some of the traded virtual currencies do not represent a threat to financial stability in Romania, BNR concludes. Xi to join European climate summit, as Kerry in China for talks The US consulate said Kerry arrived in China on Wednesday night and will meet with his Chinese counterparts in a day of closed-door talks Chinese President Xi Jinping will join a virtual climate summit with France and Germany, Beijing announced Thursday, as US envoy John Kerry visited Shanghai to drum up support from the world's biggest polluter for America's drive to address environmental challenges. Kerry, President Joe Biden's climate tsar, is in China for meetings with his counterparts until Saturday -- the first visit by an official from the new US administration. Kerry is not expected to meet with Xi, on a trip which has so far taken place behind closed doors. But Beijing unexpectedly announced Xi would join an online French-German climate summit on Friday "at the invitation of French President Emmanuel Macron". Kerry's trip is seen as a chance for Beijing and Washington to put aside high political tensions -- following a heated initial meeting last month between diplomats in the US -- and focus on areas of potential climate collaboration. The two sides clashed in Alaska over accusations about China's policies in Hong Kong and its treatment of Uyghurs in its northwestern Xinjiang region -- criticisms Beijing rejects as interference in its domestic affairs. Biden has made reversing the climate-sceptic policy of his predecessor Donald Trump a priority, and is hosting a virtual summit of world leaders next week. Chinese leader Xi has been invited to the US-led summit but is yet to confirm if he will attend. The US consulate said Kerry would meet Chinese counterparts at a Shanghai hotel in a day of closed-door talks. Officials are expected to discuss environmental challenges, areas which both China and the US say are top priorities, as well as the upcoming UN-led climate talks to be held in Glasgow, UK, at the end of the year. "At this point understanding each others' expectations and ambition levels, and agreeing how to use those commitments to move the international climate negotiations forward would already be an important first step," Lauri Myllyvirta, lead analyst at the Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air, told AFP. Story continues China -- the world's biggest polluter -- announced an ambitious target to be carbon-neutral by 2060, but analysts have warned high reliance on coal and modest short-term targets could scupper the ambition. - 'Long way to go' - As Trump turned away from the climate agenda, Xi made bold promises to cut emissions. China "now shouldered the responsibility of global climate governance" and will not be part of a US-centred climate campaign, the nationalistic Global Times cited experts saying Thursday. Biden has yet to announce any new targets under the 2015 Paris climate accords. "Both countries have a long way to go to firm up their targets and commitments for this decade," said Myllyvirta. No global solution on climate change is likely without both the US and China on board, since the world's top two economies together account for nearly half of the world's total greenhouse gas emissions. Li Shuo from Greenpeace China said he hoped the talks might yield agreements on China's huge use of coal. "China is the largest coal consumer, it is still building coal-fired power plants, both domestically and along the Belt and Road region," he told AFP, referring to China's sprawling international infrastructure plan. "There needs to be a reverse on that," he said. "The next few days will be critical for China and other major emitters to provide enhanced climate responsibility and leadership." A report from analysis company TransitionZero on Thursday said China needed to "cancel all new coal immediately and indefinitely" and convert almost all of its coal fleet by 2040 in order to meet the zero-emissions target. While Beijing and Washington have clashed over Hong Kong and Xinjiang, the climate issue is seen as a shared interest which cuts through the rancour. bur-rox/tjx/leg MONACO, April 15, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- With demand at an all-time high, Silversea Cruises today opened sales on brand new voyages aboard Silver Moon to the Eastern Mediterranean, departing from Greece from June 18, 2021. The leading ultra-luxury cruise line unveiled a collection of nine voyageseach 10 days in lengthwhich will sail round-trip from Piraeus (Athens), taking in many of Greece's most beautiful destinations, such as Santorini, Paros, Mykonos, and Crete, among others, as well as Haifa (Israel) and Cyprus. "The entire team at Silversea, our colleagues at the Royal Caribbean Group, and our loyal guests have been waiting for this incredible news for over one year. We are delighted to open general sales on our new Silver Moon itineraries in the Eastern Mediterranean," says Roberto Martinoli, President and CEO of Silversea Cruises. "Our guests are yearning to continue their travels, exemplified by the unprecedented demand we are currently registering. We are excited to introduce them to our beautiful new flagship Silver Moon, as they travel deep into Greece, Israel, and Cyprus. On behalf of the entire Silversea team and our valued guests, we extend our deepest gratitude to Greece's Honorable Minister Harry Theoharis, Ministry of Tourism Hellenic Republic; port authorities; and other governing bodies for their valued support and their openness to collaboration. Greece has long constituted a key destination for our cruise line and we are thrilled to resume sailing in this magnificent part of the world." "We welcome the announcement of Silversea Cruises' restart from Greece,'' says Honorable Minister Harry Theoharis.'' Once again, travellers will have the opportunity to discover our beautiful destinations and create memories to last a lifetime. We fully support the recommencement of cruising, as it is a very important pillar of our tourism strategy." TRAVELLING DEEP INTO GREECE, CYPRUS, AND ISRAEL During her inaugural season, Silversea's new flagship Silver Moon will take travellers deep into the Eastern Mediterranean, calling in many of the region's most beautiful destinations. To protect guests' health and safety, guests will only be allowed to leave the ship on Silversea's verified shore excursions which will be included in the fareone included shore experience per day, from a selection in each portwith premium verified shore experiences available at an additional charge. Offering guests the possibility of combining voyages for extended exploration, the new collection includes the following sample itineraries: Piraeus ( Athens ) to Piraeus ( Athens ) June 18-Jun 28 Silver Moon's maiden voyage will depart Piraeus ( Athens ) on June 18 , calling in some of Greece's and Cyprus' most beautiful destinations, including Syros, Paros, Patmos, Rhodes, Limassol, Heraklion, and Mykonos, before returning to Piraeus ( Athens ) on June 28 . In Limassol, the ancient grandeur of Cyprus will come alive as guests discover Petra tou Romiou, or 'Aphrodite's Rock', the breathtaking mosaics of Paphos at the House of Dionysos, and the 3 rd -century Tomb of the Kings. A verified shore experience in Rhodes will unlock the destination's medieval past, with travellers stepping back in time in the walled Old City, the Palace of the Grand Masters, the Avenue of the Knights, and the Archaeological Museum, among other mesmerising highlights. Two days at sea will enable guests to discover the remarkable enrichments aboard Silver Moon , including those unlocked through the new S.A.L.T. programme, which will take guests deeper into each destination by showcasing the most engaging stories around food and drink. Silversea's President's Ambassador to the Venetian Society, Fernando Barroso de Oliveira , will accompany guests on this momentous voyage, gladly reconnecting with the Silversea family. maiden voyage will depart Piraeus ( ) on , calling in some of and most beautiful destinations, including Syros, Paros, Patmos, Rhodes, Limassol, Heraklion, and Mykonos, before returning to Piraeus ( ) on . In Limassol, the ancient grandeur of will come alive as guests discover Petra tou Romiou, or 'Aphrodite's Rock', the breathtaking mosaics of Paphos at the House of Dionysos, and the 3 -century Tomb of the Kings. A verified shore experience in Rhodes will unlock the destination's medieval past, with travellers stepping back in time in the walled Old City, the Palace of the Grand Masters, the Avenue of the Knights, and the Archaeological Museum, among other mesmerising highlights. Two days at sea will enable guests to discover the remarkable enrichments aboard , including those unlocked through the new S.A.L.T. programme, which will take guests deeper into each destination by showcasing the most engaging stories around food and drink. Silversea's President's Ambassador to the Venetian Society, , will accompany guests on this momentous voyage, gladly reconnecting with the Silversea family. Piraeus ( Athens ) to Piraeus ( Athens ) Jun 28-July 8 After departing Piraeus ( Athens ) on June 28 , guests travelling aboard Silver Moon will spend a day at sea, relaxing under the warm Mediterranean sunshineperhaps with a cocktail on the pool deck. After discovering the delights of Limassol in Cyprus , guests will journey on to Ashdod ( Jerusalem ) and Haifa (Nazareth) in Israel , before travelling to Rhodes, Aghios Nikolaos and Souda Bay in Crete , and Santorini. Travellers will have the opportunity to visit some of history's most sacred and important sites in Jerusalem , including the Room of the Last Supper, the Tomb of King David , and Dormition Abbey, while touring the Old City. Spectacular scenery and laid-back village life await in Santorini's Oia, considered by many as the Cyclades Islands' most picturesque town. SILVER MOON: PUSHING BOUNDARIES IN ULTRA-LUXURY TRAVEL Delivered in October 2020, Silver Moon pushes the boundaries of ultra-luxury, immersive travel as the best ship in her class. Taking inspiration from her sister ship, Silver Muse, Silver Moon will maintain the small-ship intimacy and spacious all-suite accommodations that are hallmarks of the Silversea experience, while bringing elements of innovation and an array of enhancements. With fewer than 300 suites, a personalised service, and a crew-to-guest ratio of almost 1:1, Silver Moon offers unparalleled levels of comfort and physical distancing to ensure guests can travel in unwavering confidence. Among her eight distinct restaurant concepts is the new S.A.L.T. Kitchen, which will serve regionally-inspired cuisine as one of three new venues to comprise Silversea's new S.A.L.T. programme. Elsewhere, guests will continue their culinary discovery of the Eastern Mediterranean's richest food and drink cultures in the S.A.L.T. Bar and the S.A.L.T. Labthe former of which will serve guests cocktails, spirits and other drinks inspired by the visited destination, while the latter is a test kitchen that will enable guests to get hands-on with the best ingredients from the region. FULL VACCINATIONS MANDATORY FOR GUESTS AND CREW Full vaccinations will be mandatory for guests and crew embarking Silver Moon in Greece, forming part of a comprehensive, multi-layered set of science-backed protocols, which, approved by the Royal Caribbean Group's Healthy Sail Panel and the Greek Ministry of Health, will help to safeguard the health and safety of guests, crew, and visited communities. The protocol includes enhanced sanitation procedures, providing the highest standards of cleanliness in travel; increased air filtration to ensure the supply of fresh and filtered air from outdoors; high-quality onboard medical care with state-of-the-art medical equipment; and enhanced medical teams aboard Silver Moon. Silversea will continue to work closely with relevant governing bodies and health authorities to evolve its health and safety procedures, as new health recommendations are issued and as the fluid situation advances. Part of Silversea's commitment to providing the best travel experience and safeguarding guests' wellbeing, guests travelling on Silver Moon will benefit from the cruise line's recently enhanced all-inclusive offer, which, as well as round-trip economy-class flights* and complimentary, verified shore excursions in every port, includes: Pre- and post-cruise hotel night/s, or day-use hotel, depending on Silversea's air programme flight schedule Transfers Luggage handling Butler service in every suite category Onboard gratuities Multiple open-seated restaurants, serving diverse cuisine and an in-suite 24-hour dining service Sustainable caviar on demand 24 hours per day Beverages in-suite and throughout the ship, including champagne and selected wines, premium spirits, soft drinks, and more Unlimited Wi-Fi View all voyages in the new collection: https://www.silversea.com/lp-silversea-return-to-sailing.html Find out more information about Silversea's health and safety protocols: https://www.silversea.com/lp-silversea-hrts-consumer.html Silversea's 'Cruise with Confidence' policy and its COVID-19 protections enable guests to book with full peace of mind. Find out more information: https://www.silversea.com/temporary-amendment-to-cancellation-policy.html Please note: All itineraries are subject to change based on a variety of external factors. Please refer to https://www.silversea.com/health-and-travel-notice.html for the latest health and travel advisories pertaining to cruise travel. *Business-class upgrades are available at full fare, depending on availability. A non-use credit is also available. About Silversea Part of the Royal Caribbean Group, Silversea Cruises is recognised as an innovator in the ultra-luxury cruise industry, offering guests large-ship amenities aboard its intimate, all-suite vessels: Silver Wind, Silver Shadow, Silver Whisper, Silver Spirit, Silver Muse and Silver Moon all designed to offer an atmosphere of conviviality and casual elegance. With the inclusion of the expedition ships Silver Origin, Silver Explorer, and Silver Cloud, Silversea's itineraries encompass all seven continents and feature worldwide luxury cruises to the Mediterranean, the Caribbean, the Galapagos, both Polar Regions, and hundreds of fascinating destinations in between. Silversea is also looking forward to the launch of three new ultra-luxury ships: Silver Dawn and two Evolution-class ships. Browse Silversea's blog, Discover, and subscribe to receive the latest content directly into your inbox. SOURCE Silversea Cruises Related Links https://www.silversea.com Amsterdam, 15 April 2021 - HEINEKEN today announced a new ambition to decarbonise its own production by 2030 and its full value chain by 2040. This is the first in a series of refreshed Brew a Better World ambitions, which form an important part of the company's new EverGreen balanced growth strategy. "In this Decade of Action1, we are committing to accelerating our actions to address climate change. We aim to be carbon neutral in our production sites by 2030 in order to meet the 1.5C goal set by the Paris Agreement. We will further reduce our emissions through energy efficiency and speed up the transition towards renewable energy," said HEINEKEN's CEO and Chairman of the Executive Board Dolf van den Brink. "A large part of our overall carbon footprint beyond production comes from agriculture, packaging, distribution and cooling. This means we will work in close partnership with our suppliers and partners to reach our ambitious goal of a carbon neutral value chain by 2040. We know that HEINEKEN can only thrive if our planet and our communities thrive. I want to thank our deeply committed employees for their passion for this topic. Together, we will do our part to brew a better world." From barley to bar, HEINEKEN continues to focus on concrete actions to reduce its carbon footprint, working closely with customers, consumers and suppliers. Key milestones on the path to zero impact HEINEKEN aims for all of its production sites to become carbon neutral by maximising energy efficiency and renewable energy use by 2030. In close partnership with suppliers, also by 2030, HEINEKEN aims to cut emissions by 30% across its entire value chain2 from a 2018 baseline. Looking ahead to 2040, the company will be the first global brewer to aim for carbon neutrality in its full value chain. The company is taking a science-based approach by working closely with the SBTi3 to validate its new commitment. The work has already started Building on momentum from the last decade of Brew a Better World efforts, since 2008, HEINEKEN has reduced carbon emissions per hectoliter in its breweries by 51%. Since committing to the transition to renewable energy in 2018, the company has implemented over 130 renewable energy projects, including 5 of the world's 10 largest on-site solar-powered breweries. HEINEKEN has partnered to build a wind farm in Finland that will inject renewable electricity in the European grid supplying 13 of its operating companies. In Indonesia, the company utilises sustainable biomass made out of agricultural waste to heat its two breweries. In Nigeria, HEINEKEN has recently inaugurated solar panels in its Ibadan brewery, and in Vietnam, the company sources rice husks from local farmers to heat its brewing boilers. In addition, HEINEKEN is supporting a pilot of 500 low-carbon farming projects in eight countries, as well as shifting to zero-emission breweries in Spain and Austria . In Mexico, the company is using smart fridges that leverage software to automatically adjust cooling settings to minimize energy use. HEINEKEN Netherlands is pioneering cleaner inland shipping methods for its beer and cider. In the UK, HEINEKEN has launched an innovative cardboard multi-pack called Green Grip , reducing carbon and saving 500 tonnes of plastic every year. To mark its commitments, HEINEKEN is joining alliances to drive collective forward momentum. The brewer is proudly becoming a member of the Business Ambition for 1.5C , the Race to Zero as well as RE100 . -END- Press enquiries Sarah Backhouse / Michael Fuchs E-mail: pressoffice@heineken.com Tel: +31-20-5239-355 Investor enquiries Federico Castillo / Janine Ackermann / Robin Achten E-mail: investors@heineken.com Tel: +31-20-5239-590 About HEINEKEN HEINEKEN is the world's most international brewer. It is the leading developer and marketer of premium beer and cider brands. Led by the Heineken brand, the Group has a portfolio of more than 300 international, regional, local and specialty beers and ciders. HEINEKEN is committed to innovation, long-term brand investment, disciplined sales execution and focused cost management. Through "Brew a Better World", sustainability is embedded in the business. HEINEKEN has a well-balanced geographic footprint with leadership positions in both developed and developing markets. It employs over 80,000 employees and operates breweries, malteries, cider plants and other production facilities in more than 70 countries. Heineken N.V. and Heineken Holding N.V. shares trade on the Euronext in Amsterdam. Prices for the ordinary shares may be accessed on Bloomberg under the symbols HEIA NA and HEIO NA and on Reuters under HEIN.AS and HEIO.AS. HEINEKEN has two sponsored level 1 American Depositary Receipt (ADR) programmes: Heineken N.V. (OTCQX: HEINY) and Heineken Holding N.V. (OTCQX: HKHHY). Most recent information is available on HEINEKEN's website . Follow us on LinkedIn , Twitter and Instagram . 1The UN's Decade of Action calls for accelerating sustainable solutions to all the world's biggest challenges - ranging from poverty and gender to climate change, inequality and closing the finance gap 2Including barley farmers, glass and cans makers, own production, logistic providers and fridges to customers 3 https://sciencebasedtargets.org/ Attachment Australia's 20-year war in Afghanistan will finally end in September when the last remaining 80 troops are pulled out of the conflict-ravaged nation. Over the past two decades 41 Australians have been killed while serving their country in two operations titled SLIPPER and HIGHROAD. Australia entered the war on terrorism alongside its Western allies in response to the September 11 attacks on the World Trade Centre in New York in 2001. Australian Army soldiers from the 7th Parachute Regiment Royal Horse Artillery at Camp Bastion In an impassioned speech in Parliament, Prime Minster John Howard said he would send troops to protect 'the great, decent, freedom loving, fair minded Australian nation.' The result was a 20-year gruelling and brutal war that tested Australia's finest soldiers and the expectant public back home. Here Daily Mail Australia takes a look at some of the most memorable moments of the battle in Afghanistan. John Howard declares war The prime minister was in Washington D.C. when two planes hijacked by Al-Qaeda terrorists crashed into the World Trade Centre, killing 2,977 including 10 Australians. On September 17, 2001, six days after the terrorist attacks, the veteran politician stood in the House of Representatives, invoked Australia's ANZUS Alliance with the US and committed the nation to war. Speaking about the worst terrorist attack the world had ever seen, Mr Howard said: 'Its context represents a massive assault on the values not only of the United States of America but also of this country - the values of free men and women and of decent people and decent societies around the world. It is an act of terror. Former Prime Minister John Howard (left at Carla Zampatti's funeral on Thursday) was in Washington D.C. when two planes hijacked by Al-Qaeda terrorists crashed into the World Trade Centre 'It is an act which is repugnant to all of the things that we as a society believe in.' Mr Howard said Australia and the Western world had never faced a greater task. 'We have confronted significant moral and national challenges, but none matches in depth, scale and magnitude the consequences of what the world must now do in response to the terrible events in the United States last week,' he said. The prime minister moved a motion which pledged 'the commitment of the Australian Government to support within Australia's capabilities United States-led action against those responsible for these tragic attacks', thus starting Australia's involvement in the Afghanistan war. By October 2001 Australian special forces were deployed and involved in the establishment of the Western coalition's first base, southwest of Kandahar. First Aussie Killed On 16 February, 2002, the reality of being at war hit home for millions of Australians when the nation suffered its first casualty. Married father of a baby daughter Sergeant Andrew Russell, who had served in Iraq, Kuwait and East Timor, was on a patrol when his vehicle struck a land mine. Despite the efforts of a three-member US military rescue team, who parachuted into the scene to stabilise him in preparation for evacuation by helicopter, he was pronounced dead after arriving at a United States medical facility in Kandahar. Married father of a baby daughter Sergeant Andrew Russell, who had served in Iraq, Kuwait and East Timor, was on a patrol when his vehicle struck a land mine Mr Howard warned the country that his would not be the only death. 'It indicates how dangerous is the mission on which our servicemen are embarked. It is a sad and awful reminder of the great risks that the men and women of the ADF undertake,' he said. In December 2002 - Australia's initial commitment to the conflict in Afghanistan ended and about 200 Australian special forces were withdrawn. But in July 2005 Australia announced it had agreed to a request by Afghanistan to deploy more troops and about 200 were sent. By mid-2009 Australia's presence peaked at just over 1,500 personnel under the orders of Prime Minister Kevin Rudd. Miracle Dog In October 2009 the spirit of the nation was lifted when explosives detection dog Sarbi was found after 13 months missing at war. Sarbi was attached to the Australian Special Operations Task Group in 2008, but vanished in the same action for which Trooper Mark Donaldson was awarded the Victoria Cross. During the bitter fighting, nine Australian soldiers, including Sarbi's handler, were wounded. In October 2009 the spirit of the nation was lifted when explosives detection dog Sarbi (pictured in November 2009) was found after 14 months missing at war Thirteen months later a US soldier on patrol in the same area spotted a black labrador walking with a local villager, an unusual sight in Afghanistan. Back at the Australian base at Tarin Kowt, a quick check of the dog's microchip confirmed this was Sarbi. For her brave efforts, Sarbi was awarded the War Dog Operational Medal, the Canine Service Medal and RSPCA Purple Cross Award. She died of cancer in 2015. Helicopter Crashes Two of Australia's most tragic episodes in the war came in 2010 and 2011 when four Australians were killed in two separate helicopter crashes. In June 2010 three Australian soldiers of the second Commando Regiment were killed when the US UH-60 Blackhawk helicopter carrying them crashed in northern Kandahar Province. Two of Australia's most tragic episodes in the war came in 2010 and 2011 when four Australians were killed in two separate helicopter crashes The helicopter's US pilot was also killed, while a US crewman and the other seven Australian commandos aboard were injured. Then in May the following year an Australian Army CH-47D Chinook helicopter crashed during a resupply operation in Zabul Province, killing one Australian and injuring five others. Friendly Fire Australia's deadliest single event during the Afghanistan war came in October 2011 when three diggers were killed and seven were injured by a rogue solider of the Afghan National Army, with whom they were working to defeat the Taliban. The shooting occurred during morning parade at 8.30am at Shah Wali Kot in Kandahar province. Two Australian diggers were killed at the scene and the third later died of his injuries after 'an individual wearing an Afghan National Army uniform apparently turned his weapon on Afghan and coalition forces,' according to a NATO report. Alleged war crimes A four-year Australian Defence Force inquiry released in November 2020 reported evidence of 39 murders of civilians or prisoners by 25 Aussies serving in Afghanistan from 2009 to 2016. Australian soldiers allegedly cut the boys' throats and dumped their bodies in a river because they thought they were Taliban sympathisers, according to allegations cited in the Brereton Report. The report alleged troops would force new recruits to get their first kills by murdering prisoners in a practice known as 'blooding'. The Australian government has set up a special investigator to probe the allegations and troops involved face criminal charges and being stripped of medals. An end to the war Since the end of 2013, Australia has only maintained a small training force in Afghanistan rather than active combat troops. But the final personnel will be pulled out by September, Scott Morrison announced on Wednesday. The prime minister was visibly emotional when he announced the news at a media conference in Perth and read out the names of the 41 soldiers who had lost their lives in the war-ravaged middle-eastern nation. 'These brave Australians are amongst our greatest ever who have served in the name of freedom,' he said. 'This day, we dedicate to their memories. We think of their families, their friends, the life they would have lived. But they gave that for others they did not know.' Asked if the war had been worthwhile, Mr Morrison replied: 'Freedom is always worth it'. With his voice quivering, Mr Morrison added: 'We can be so proud of them, of their service... we thank them for their service humbly and gratefully.' Mr Morrison's announcement comes after US President Joe Biden said on Wednesday he will withdraw remaining U.S. troops from the 'forever war' in Afghanistan, declaring that the September 11 terror attacks of 20 years ago cannot justify American forces still dying in the nation's longest war. His plan is to pull out all American forces - now numbering 2,500 - by this September 11, on the anniversary of the attacks, which were coordinated from Afghanistan. Soon after Biden made his announcement, NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg in Brussels said the alliance had agreed to withdraw its roughly 7,000 forces from Afghanistan, matching Biden's decision to begin a final pullout by May 1. The US cannot continue to pour resources into an intractable war and expect different results, President Biden said. The drawdown would begin rather than conclude by May 1, which has been the deadline for full withdrawal under a peace agreement the Trump administration reached with the Taliban last year. 'It is time to end America's longest war,' Biden said, but he added that the U.S. will 'not conduct a hasty rush to the exit.' Apr. 15Panelists in a Wednesday night online forum hosted by the League of Women Voters of Boulder County reviewed the potential benefits of locating a large-scale compost facility in the county. The compost products produced in such a facility could help Boulder County and its communities attain their goals of diverting solid waste from landfills, reducing emissions from landfill organic waste, enriching soils to which the compost is applied, increasing water holding capacity of those soils, reducing farmers' use of synthetic fertilizers and ultimately increasing plant and human health, said Tim Broderick, senior sustainability strategist in Boulder County's Office of Sustainability, Climate Action and Resilience. Dan Matsch, manager of Eco-Cycle's Compost Department, said he's excited about the possibility of a county-owned compost facility because of how it could be used for carbon sequestration on agricultural and other private public lands, as well as its potential for treating wildfire-burned areas and reforestation. "There is no shortage of uses for compost," Matsch said. Bob Yost, the vice president and chief technical officer for A1 Organics, a Keenesburg company that is the Rocky Mountain Region's largest commercial composting company, said the family-owed Weld County business recycles 425,000 tons of organic material a year. Charles Kamenides, Longmont's city waste services manager and chairman of the Boulder County Recycling and Conservation Advisory Board, said community outreach about the benefits of composting and the construction of a facility in Boulder County may be needed as well as more public input while any plans for a large-scale center are developed in order to ensure "we could all find a good approach" to making it a reality. Elizabeth Black, founder of the Citizen Science Soil Health Project, said, "From a grower's perspective, a Boulder County composting facility makes a lot of sense." Story continues The League of Women Voters of Boulder County organized and moderated what it said beforehand would be a "community conversation" about "large-scale composting" in the region. League officials said the webinar was intended to clarify what composting is, where compost comes from, where it goes, the costs and benefits of a compost facility "and where ... we go from here." Not part of Tuesday night's panel discussion was the controversy that erupted among some critics and skeptics of Boulder County's onetime plan to locate a commercial-scale compost facility on county-owned open space property on the former Rainbow Tree Nursery at 5762 N. 107th St., which lies near U.S. 287 between Colo. 52 and Lookout Road, south of Longmont and northwest of Erie. Boulder County commissioners decided on March 4 to have county staff withdraw a land use application for siting and developing a facility and since have stated that if one eventually is developed, it will not be on that North 107th Street site. During Tuesday night's webinar, panelists answered questions people had submitted in advance or during the forum itself about such things as how odors would be controlled and managed in such a facility, how groundwater would be monitored for contamination. Matsch said a challenge that emerged during the controversy over the possibility of such a county compost center last fall and this winter was a lack of familiarity among the public about how compost production is accomplished and how the resulting product is used. He suggested that if Boulder County proceeds with developing a new plan for such a facility somewhere in the county, part of that process could include sending delegations of people to existing facilities elsewhere across the country so those people could see and evaluate them for themselves. Yost said there is "a lack of knowledge and understanding" among many members of the public about the environmental and economic advantages of such a facility. He said getting one situated should be done in a way that would allow the community "to accept it" and that once it's in operation, "to embrace it." Disagreeing with the points made by the panelists was Nancy Davis, who with her husband Jeff own property adjacent to the 107th Street site and still have a Boulder District Court lawsuit pending against the county over the choice of that site. Nancy Davis said in an interview after the forum, "I think it was a complete waste of time." She said she'd submitted 30 questions for the League members to ask the panelists, and "they did not speak to any one of them." She challenged the accuracy of a number of things the panelists said, based on her own research, and she said, "You can't have a conversation without the truth." Davis said, "It was very condescending" for some of the panelists to suggest that foes of a compost facility are only against it "because we're afraid and we don't understand it." The Boulder County League of Women Voters will be posting a link to the video of the webinar on its Climate Action web page, tinyurl.com/4pnx6xj3. 11,2% EBITDA MARGIN UP +9% 8,0% CURRENT OPERATING MARGIN IN PROGRESS 48 M FREE CASH-FLOW ON 2020 NET DEBT diviDED BY 2 AT END 2020 At its meeting of April 12, 2021, the Board of Directors of Umanis (Euronext Growth - FR0013263878 - ALUMS) approved the 2020 consolidated annual financial statements (year ended December 31, 2020) as summarized below. The audit procedures for the annual accounts was performed, the audit report was issued by the statutory auditors and the 2020 annual report is available on the Umanis website, Investors area, Financial documents section. IFRS standards - In M - Audited consolidated data 2020 (12 months) 2019 (12 months) Variation Revenue 214,9 219,2 -2% EBITDA 1 24,2 22,2 +9% In % of Revenue 11,2% 10,1% Current operational income 17,3 16,5 +4% In % of Revenue 8,0% 7,6% Other financial income and operating costs 2,5 (4,1) Operational Income 19,8 12,4 +59% Financial income 2 (2,4) (2,6) Income tax cost (3,5) (2,5) Net income Group share 14,1 7,4 +92% In % of Revenue 6,6% 3,4% 1 EBITDA: Current operational income + net amortization and depreciation charges 2 Cost of net debt+ other financial items At the closing of the financial year 2020, Umanis generated a Consolidated Revenue of 214,9 M, very slightly down -2%. This near stability of business activity attests to the good resilience of the group and its agility during an atypical year marked by the health crisis. After a challenging Q2, business momentum gradually recovered in H2, thanks to (i) sales growth and (ii) measures taken to optimize operational efficiency. Concurrently, our strict cost management policy and government support measures for businesses (part-time work scheme) have helped cushion the impact of the health crisis on profitability. Over the full year, EBITDA stood at 24.2 million, up 9%. The EBITDA margin stood at 11.2% in 2020, compared to 10.1% for the previous year. After taking into account net depreciation charges and provisions, Umanis' current operating income stood at 17.3 million in 2020, up 4% compared to 2019, i.e. a current operating margin of 8.0% against 7, 6% in 2019. Other operating income and charges amounted to + 2.5 million in 2020, including in particular exceptional income from research tax credit (CIR credit d'impot recherche) from previous years. Umanis' operating income thus stood at 19.8 million in 2020 ( 12.4 million in 2019), up + 59%. The financial income improved to - 2.4 million in 2020, due to a lesser recourse to factoring from the second half of the year. It mainly consists in interest charges on financial debts and rental debts (IFRS 16). After accounting for corporate tax, the group share net income stood at 14.1 million, up 92%, representing a net margin of 6.6%. STRONGER FINANCIAL POSITION AS AT DECEMBER 31, 2020 IFRS standard- In M - Audited consolidated data 31/12 2020 31/12 2019 IFRS standard - In M - Audited consolidated data 31/12 2020 31/12 2019 Non-current Assets 127,5 132,7 Shareholders' Equity 78,7 67,9 Of which Goodwill 84,5 84,5 Provisions 6,5 5,8 Current Assets 62,4 86,5 Financial Debt 105,6 93,7 Of which Clients 44,9 44,6 Of which Rental Debts (IFRS16) 10,6 12,3 Cash Flow 65,8 13,0 Current Liabilities 65,0 64,9 TOTAL 255,8 232,2 TOTAL 255,8 232,2 Despite the crisis, Umanis's financial position improved significantly in 2020. As a result of (i) the income of the financial year, (ii) good management of working capital requirements (decrease in the average customer payment period of two days over the year, after a decrease of five days in 2019), (iii) the collection in 2020 of several annuities of CIR (research tax credit), and (iv) a prudent investment policy (CAPEX) during the crisis, free cash flow amounted to nearly 48 M in 2020. In the absence of external growth operations in 2020, and following the decision not to pay dividends last year, the company reduced its debt considerably during the year. Net financial debt at the end of 2020 thus amounted to 39.8 million (including 10.6 million under IFRS16 rental debt) as at December 31, 2020, compared to 80.8 million at the end of 2019 (including 12.3 M of IFRS16 rental debts). The company plans to repay its PGE (State Guaranteed Loan) of 10.0 million in full by its anniversary date in June 2021. Bank covenants were clearly met as at December 31, 2020. As responsible behavior in the context of the current health crisis, the company will not, on an exceptional basis, propose the payment of dividends for the 2020 financial year at the next general meeting of shareholders. FORECAST At the start of 2021 there is no indication of particular concerns about business activity levels compared to the end of the 2020 fiscal year. Business recovery remains slow but is continuing its upward trend. Umanis is planning a significant hiring plan in 2021, with the recruitment of 1,000 employees, including 700 in France and 300 abroad. These recruitments are concentrated in data professions (data engineers, data scientists and developers). During the first quarter of 2021, Umanis announced the acquisition of the French digital services company (ESN) Alphonse, specializing in digital transformation of businesses. Alphonse generated a revenue of over 20 million last year, accompanied by profitability that is within Umanis standards. Alphonse, which will remain a wholly owned subsidiary of Umanis, has been consolidated into the Group's accounts since March 1, 2021. This transaction demonstrates Umanis's desire to resume a strategy of sustained external growth in 2021. Several files are being studied, in line with the Group's strategic positioning on Data, business consulting and digital transformation of companies. Umanis will remain extremely selective about the financial performance of the targeted companies. After the acquisition of Alphonse, and in a scenario where the health crisis would not again disrupt activity, Umanis is currently at a 2021 proforma revenue rate of close to 250 million. Profitability at the start of this year is slightly higher than last year at this time. The company will report on its longer-term strategy and ambitions once the effects of the health crisis have passed. FINANCIAL CALENDAR May 5 2021 2021 1st Quarter Revenue (unaudited) June 3 2021 AGM Annual General Meeting July 27 2021 2021 Half-Year Revenue (unaudited) September 6 2021 2021 Half-Year Income 2021 (unaudited) November 4 2021 2021 3d quarter Revenue (unaudited) February 2 2022 2021 Annual Revenue (unaudited) April 13 2022 2021 Annual Income (audited) These dates are given for information only, they are likely to be modified if necessary. Publishing will take place after the closing of the Euronext Paris markets About Umanis Founded in 1990, Umanis is the French leader in data, digital and business solutions. Some 3000 highly skilled new technolog experts are at your service on your site, in our branches or at our onshore and nearshore service centers. Umanis supports companies throughout all the stages of their IT projects (consulting, development, integration, outsourcing and change management) following various operating modes: on-site service, fixed price and service centers. Recognized for its technical and functional expertise, Umanis is a strategic partner of the largest software vendors on the market. In 2020, Umanis generated a consolidated revenue of 215 M. Umanis is listed on the Euronext Growth market in Paris (ISIN code: FR0013263878 - mnemonic code: ALUMS). More information on Umanis.com Contacts Umanis Olivier POULIGNY Managing Director +33(0)1 40 89 68 00 opouligny@umanis.com Umanis Olivier JOLLY Finance Director +33 (0)1 40 89 68 00 ojolly@umanis.com ACTUS finance & communication Mathieu Omnes Investors Relation +33 (0)1 53 67 36 92 momnes@actus.fr ACTUS finance & communication Vivien Ferran Relation presse +33 (0)1 53 67 36 34 vferran@actus.fr ------------------------ This publication embed "Actusnews SECURITY MASTER ". - SECURITY MASTER Key: nGtuaZpvlWmYm21qZMZpmmdpapljlZKVm2qYl5ZvZJedZ2+Ul2iTZ5WaZm9pm25r - Check this key: https://www.security-master-key.com. ------------------------ Copyright Actusnews Wire Receive by email the next press releases of the company by registering on www.actusnews.com, it's free Full and original release in PDF format:https://www.actusnews.com/documents_communiques/ACTUS-0-68695-umanis_pr_fy-2020_20210414_en.pdf Source: Xinhua| 2021-04-15 19:26:21|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close NAIROBI, April 15 (Xinhua) -- Massive injection of capital from China into Africa's economies is hastening the realization of the continent's transformation agenda and pandemic recovery, experts said on Thursday. The experts, who spoke at the virtual forum organized by the China Business Studies Initiative (CBSI) affiliated with the University of San Francisco in the United States, said that African countries should leverage investments from the Asian nation to realize socio-economic transformation. Marco Tavanti, an international development scholar said that Chinese investments combined with soft power have fuelled a more equitable and inclusive economic growth in Africa. "The presence of Chinese companies in Africa has revolutionized development and bilateral cooperation with the continent," said Tavanti. "China represents a crucial source of foreign direct investments (FDI) in Africa and it also pushes forward the idea of neutrality and non-interference with decision-making processes of partner nations," he added. More than 200 participants including policymakers, scholars and development experts attended the virtual forum titled "Examining China's Investments in African Nations: Promises and Influence". The experts agreed that China-Africa cooperation in diverse spheres like trade, culture, health, education and technology has reshaped the global balance of power. Beatrice Matiri-Maisori, a Kenyan business development expert said that China's footprint in Africa has moved beyond infrastructure development to cover key areas like health, academic exchanges, manufacturing and ICT. "We have seen China become a favorite destination for African youth keen to pursue further studies besides building our industrial capacity and health systems," said Matiri-Maisori. She said that African countries have borrowed best practices from China in their quest to realize aspirations contained in Agenda 2063 including connectivity, green growth and social renewal. "When we hear that China has achieved zero poverty, it is an experience that Africa would like to learn from and apply in its own unique circumstance," said Matiri-Maisori. "We believe in multilateralism and China represents what can be done in a short time for an integrated Africa," she added. Matiri-Maisori said that other lessons Africa would like to learn from China includes urban renewal, the establishment of thriving industrial zones, harnessing renewable energy and ICT to power green growth. "We are looking at a post-pandemic recovery and there is strength in partnership with China," said Matiri-Maisori. Peter Ping Li, an international business scholar said that Chinese firms have managed to establish a large footprint in the African market thanks to agility, innovation and ability to connect with local consumers. He singled out Transsion, a Chinese mobile phone company, for its seamless penetration in the African market linked to innovative branding, prudent supply chain management and regular interaction with clients. Motolani Agbebi, a researcher and human resource expert said that China's investments in Africa have achieved strategic objectives for both sides including job creation and enhanced bilateral trade. "In economic sense, China is a viable development partner for Africa. We will continue to witness China strengthen its economic, diplomatic and cultural ties with Africa," said Agbebi. She said that China is a beneficial and not a malign actor in Africa, adding that the medical supplies donated by the Asian Nation including vaccines have boosted the COVID-19 war in the continent. Enditem Taipei: Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen has told emissaries visiting at US President Joe Bidens request that the island would work with the United States to deter adventurous manoeuvres and provocations amid threats from Chinese military activities. Former senior US officials, including former senator Chris Dodd and former deputy secretaries of state Richard Armitage and James Steinberg, were in Taipei on Thursday to signal Bidens commitment to Taiwan and its democracy. Tsai told the delegation at the Presidential Office that Chinese military activities in the region have threatened regional peace and stability. Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen, right, boards a guided-missile frigate in the northern port of Keelung, Taiwan, last month to thank personnel for their dedication to protect the island. Credit:AP We are very willing to work with like-minded countries, including the United States, to jointly safeguard the peace and stability of the Indo-Pacific and deter adventurous manoeuvres and provocations, Tsai said. Back in the mid-1930s, there were only about 25 breeding pairs of sandhill cranes left in Wisconsin. But today thanks to protections like the Migratory Bird Treaty Act the count tallies nearly 10,000 of these regal, crimson-crowned cranes across Wisconsin. But theres more than cranes in Necedah come spring, as dozens of Neotropical migratory songbirds have been recorded here from April through June. Indeed across the Midwest, spring brings an avian parade. The Great Lakes are a big draw, or rather a funnel, concentrating the columns of migratory birds headed farther north to Canadas boreal forest. When the birds hit the big waters, many travel along shorelines, creating spectacular birding opportunities at points along Lake Superior and Lake Michigan from Minnesota through Michigan. Even inland at Necedah, migration swells the avian ranks to nearly 200 species in May, according to eBird a database of birders checklists. The spring birder may see trumpeter swans, secretive vesper sparrows, indigo buntings and blue-winged warblers. The very lucky birder might even glimpse a whooping crane ghostly white and five feet tall, the tallest bird in North America, another crane in the midst of its own comeback from near extinction. But its the sandhill crane count that was my cherished rite of spring. Sandhill cranes are one of the oldest known bird species; the unison calls of their duets have been rattling in spring for millions of years. BERLIN (dpa-AFX) - German airport operator Fraport (FRA.DE, 0O1R.L, FPRUF.PK) reported Thursday that Frankfurt Airport or FRA passenger traffic in the month of March declined 56.4 percent to 925,277 passengers compared to March 2020 when the onset of the coronavirus crisis already reduced traffic significantly. Compared to March 2019, prior to Covid, traffic decreased 83.5 percent for the reporting month. In contrast, cargo throughput at FRA continued to rise by 24.6 percent year-on-year to 208,506 metric tons during March, and was up 3.0 percent compared to March 2019. Aircraft movements decreased 40.1 percent year-on-year to 13,676 takeoffs and landings. Accumulated maximum takeoff weights or MTOWs contracted by 30.3 percent to about 1.1 million metric tons. During the January-to-March 2021 period, nearly 2.5 million passengers traveled through FRA, down 77.6 percent from 2020 and down 83.2 percent from 2019. The airports in Fraport's international portfolio reported mixed results for March 2021, with passenger traffic still largely affected by the pandemic situation. Slovenia's Ljubljana Airport saw traffic sink by 78.3 percent year-on-year in March 2021. Combined, the two Brazilian airports of Fortaleza and Porto Alegre received a total of 330,162 passengers, down 57.7 percent. Traffic at Peru's Lima Airport dropped by 46.2 percent. The 14 Greek regional airports registered a total traffic decline of 60.0 percent year-on-year. On the Bulgarian Black Sea coast, the Twin Star airports of Burgas and Varna together welcomed 21,502 passengers in March 2021, down 46.1 percent. When compared to March 2019, all Group airports registered noticeable passenger declines. 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. A vulnerable asylum seeker was held at Napier Barracks for weeks after he attempted suicide at the camp, according to a previously unseen report which raises serious concerns about safeguarding on the site. A damning Prison Inspectorate report into the accommodation of asylum seekers at the Ministry of Defence site in Kent, carried out in February, warns of major weaknesses in the way residents with serious mental health and welfare needs are cared for at the camp. The report, which has not yet been published in full but was released to journalists after it was referenced during court proceedings, found there had been seven incidents of self-harm at the barracks with some described as serious and that seven residents had threatened suicide. The findings were cited as evidence in a legal challenge over the use of Napier Barracks, which was repurposed into asylum accommodation in September and around 400 individuals were subsequently moved in. The camp was emptied in April, but the Home Office has started placing a new cohort of asylum seekers there and intends to use the site until September which the claimants lawyers are hoping to prevent. The case is being heard at the High Court this week. Lawyers acting for six former residents of the barracks have argued that housing asylum seekers on the site is unlawful and breaches their human rights. The judgement is expected at a later date. The Prison Inspectorate report finds that although the Home Office has said people with serious health problems and vulnerability should not be placed at the site, safeguarding failings meant suicidal individuals and potential trafficking victims had remained there for weeks. It cites one case in which a man who had previously threatened suicide was left unsupervised and subsequently attempted to take his life, which led to him requiring overnight hospital treatment. He was returned to the barracks and was not transferred out until three weeks later, following a further incident in which staff intervened to prevent him from self-harming. The inspection report states that little meaningful engagement was made with the resident before he tried to take his life and no engagement undertaken with him after that incident, nor any review of the case to learn lessons, according to official documentation. In another case, the Home Office decided that a resident was a potential victim of trafficking, but he remained at the barracks for a further 10 weeks before being transferred out, according to the report. The report also cites cases where it took weeks for residents presenting as children to be transferred to the care of social services for an age assessment. In one case, an individual remained in the barracks for two months before being moved to local authority care for age assessment and that was only following legal intervention. Home Office electronic records showed little meaningful attention to the residents vulnerability and it was unclear why he had not been transferred to more suitable accommodation much sooner, the report said. A survey carried out by inspectors shows that only one out of 18 residents who had felt depressed or suicidal said they had received any help from staff, and that all respondents said they had been depressed at some point at the barracks and a third said they had felt suicidal. The report found the systems intended to safeguard residents did not ensure that vulnerability was always identified and acted on promptly and that records of welfare checks were often superficial. It said vulnerable residents, including those who said they were children, were placed in single rooms in an isolation block described as decrepit and wholly unsuitable. The safeguarding team, managed by Home Office contractor Clearsprings, was based off site. Inspectors also cite significant concerns about Covid safety on the camp, stating that there was no evidence of a risk assessment to determine the maximum Covid-19 safe occupancy. It comes after lawyers acting for the Home Office admitted during the court hearing that the department had placed asylum seekers at increased risk of contracting the coronavirus when housing them at the site. They said Priti Patel had always accepted and acknowledged that transmission risk is higher in congregate settings such as Napier Barracks, and justified this by saying the men were young and healthy. A Covid outbreak did then occur at the site where residents were housed 14 to a dormitory in January, leading to 200 people testing positive. Tom Hickman QC, representing four of the six claimants, told the court there had been a total systems failure when asylum seekers were placed at the camp, with no Covid protocol, no testing, no outbreak plan. The hearing is due to conclude on Thursday evening, with a judgment expected to be handed down at a later date. If you are experiencing feelings of distress and isolation, or are struggling to cope, The Samaritans offers support; you can speak to someone for free over the phone, in confidence, on 116 123 (UK and ROI), emailjo@samaritans.org, or visit the Samaritans website to find details of your nearest branch. For services local to you, the national mental health database- Hub of Hope allows you to enter your postcode to search for organisations and charities who offer mental health advice and support in your area. Tip From Portland Police Informant Leads to Arson Charges Against Alleged Antifa Rioter A tip from a Portland Police Bureau informant led to arson charges against a woman for allegedly setting fire to a police union building on April 13, according to court papers. Alma Raven-Guido was observed pouring an accelerant on a fire in Oregons largest city during a riot, a police affidavit obtained by The Epoch Times says. The informant observed the defendant pour a flammable liquid on the building from three plastic bottles which the informant described as having labels which were either blacked out or taped over with black tape, the affidavit states. The informant further explained that when the defendant was pouring the liquid on the fire and causing the fire to grow, one of the bottles caught on fire and started to melt. Raven-Guido, 19, was charged with arson, criminal mischief, and felony riot by the Multnomah County district attorneys office. The informant allegedly saw Raven-Guido place three bottles of the flammable liquid into her backpack. Portland Fire & Rescue Lt. Jason Anderson was also present during an interview with the police information, according to the affidavit. Lt. Anderson reports that the informant has no criminal convictions, has a history of providing credible and reliable information on multiple prior investigations, and that the informant personally observed the action of the defendant, the affidavit stated. In particular, the informant told Lt. Anderson that the defendant was present when the second large fire began. Raven-Guido was identified as a University of Oregon student and told officials that she was a journalism student. Raven-Guido was arrested last August on several misdemeanor charges including disorderly conduct in riots and protests before she was released. The affidavit said that Raven-Guido and other rioters were dressed in black bloc-style clothing similar to what Antifa uses. Antifa is a far-left, anarcho-communist network that regularly engages in violence. A court-appointed attorney for the defendant did not respond to a request for comment. The fire was allegedly started by rioters on Tuesday night, leading officials to declare a riot, authorities said. A member of the crowd was spotted spraying unknown accelerant on the wooden framing around a door of the building, then lit it on fire, Portland Police said. I dont consider these protests. Were talking about direct action events that are being billed as such and these are criminal events, Portland Police Bureau Capt. Tina Jones told media outlets, adding that $25,000 in estimated damage was done. Burning things, breaking things and attempting to injure police puts lives at risk. I condemn those who were involved in these criminal acts, Mayor Ted Wheeler also said during a City Council meeting on Wednesday morning. For those who engage in criminal destruction and violence: Please know that our investigations continue and were doing everything we can if youve been involved in this kind of criminal destruction to identify you, to find you, to arrest you, and to hold you accountable. Zachary Stieber contributed to this report. The explanation distorted the plain language of the bills, of course. And experience at the federal level shows confusion is easy to avoid. Supreme Court rulings focus on public officials who seek private enrichment for performing their official duties, or, as the court put it plainly, the rough equivalent of what we would now describe as taking a bribe. A Chinese diplomat known for his championing of Xi Jinpings flagship Belt and Road Initiative has been appointed to lead the countrys consulate in Perth almost a year after predecessor Dong Zhihua unexpectedly moved to Beijing. Long Dingbin landed in WA on April 2 after spending four years as Chinas consul-general in Lahore, Pakistan, where he was involved in delivering several projects under the trillion-dollar program. Long Dingbin during his time as consul-general in Lahore with Punjab police captain Arif Nawaz Khan. Credit:Pubjab Police The Belt and Road Initiative funds Chinese-built infrastructure projects and aims to create a trading block centred around Beijings influence. Pakistan is one of the key regions within the initiative and has seen a windfall of investment from China in recent years. Among Mr Longs most publicised acts in Lahore was the unveiling amid much fanfare of Pakistans first electric train line, which the diplomat described as a gift from the Chinese to the Pakistani. It was good to see the Supreme Court rule yet again in favor of religious liberty in the latest California case to reach the nations highest court. Yet the fact that the ruling was only 5-4, not to mention some of the reasoning in the dissenting opinion, gives real cause for concern. This should not have been a close vote at all. Instead, it should have been a slam dunk for religious freedoms. As reported on Forbes, The Supreme Court ruled by a 5-4 margin late Friday that California's coronavirus-related restrictions on gathering in private homes violated constitutional rights on the free exercise of religion, the latest ruling from the high court that prohibits authorities from enforcing limits on religious services. Chief Justice John Roberts joined with the three liberal justices, and the dissenting opinion was written by Justice Elena Kagan. As for the majority opinion, the reasoning was as follows. Source:The Christian Post The evolution of campus, a new normal for higher education Institutions are looking beyond traditional delivery models and the typical classroom. By JACKIE ECKHARDT DLR Group Eckhardt What initially began as a listening exercise to understand the pandemic across the higher education sector has blossomed into a framework for a design practice and, most importantly, a driving force for sweeping change across the industry. Members of DLR Groups higher education team are conducting an ongoing national research study, engaging with more than 170 institutions through one-on-one interviews across every aspect of campus. Along the way, were gathering input from students, faculty, staff and administrators as we discuss ways in which campuses have responded to the events of the past year and will continue to evolve into the future. During this research effort, we are exploring approaches taken by many institutions nationwide, including the Pacific Northwest, for rethinking design now, for the future. The adaptation of the built environment is playing a critical role in the future of learning, student success, and access to education. At this pivotal junction, institutions are looking beyond traditional delivery models and the typical classroom, to embrace technology in a way that connects the world in a seamless exchange of knowledge sharing for the next generation of students. Photo by Seamus Payne/courtesy of DLR Group [enlarge] Design for a campus experience that is more flexible and adaptable, and therefore more collaborative and innovative. University of Florida Institute of Black Culture and Institute of Hispanic and Latino Cultures. Academics: Institutions are reevaluating student and faculty needs, driven by expectations about the campus experience. Parameters for time, accessibility, and flexibility will collectively reshape the environments for learning and research. Ramifications of the pandemic have taught us that learning has and will rapidly expand beyond the traditional classroom. Planning: Beyond the building, campuses facilitate strong relationships between architecture and sociology. In many cases, a students campus experience is the time to build character by learning from a diverse network of peers, exploring new passions and living independently. Planning for a resilient future of the campus experience gives institutions the tools to embrace an ever-changing world. Work spaces: A remote-renaissance has paved the way for campuses to think critically about the value and purpose of work environments. These may no longer be assigned based on title alone, but instead focus on meaningful, collaborative and social environments where people come together for intentional reasons. LOCAL PERSPECTIVE The Northwest is home to some of the finest colleges and universities in the country. During a recent AIA Seattle event, I spoke with three institutions that shared evolving outcomes informing their respective campuses. Bellevue College in Bellevue already had a strong remote learning system in place, so when the remote transition occurred, it was well received. Faculty perspectives have since evolved to envision using shared campus spaces in addition to traditional academic work spaces. Diversity, equity and inclusion work is occurring on campus, and experiences for Bellevue Colleges majority commuter populations could be enhanced through a wider variety of indoor and outdoor spaces. The campus nestled in the forest seeks to become more inclusive, more embracing, more nurturing for everyone who visits. Changing the perspective for reasons to be on-campus allows for increased flexibility for the campus community. The on-campus experience is tailored towards enriching the academic and social hub for the community. Repurposing infrastructure to support the community for alternative uses, and as a receiver for new projects and initiatives is driven by the state of Washington in order to serve constituents. Central Washington University in Ellensburg strives to return to an on-campus experience to support the majority of its students who seek in person engagement in fall 2021. The university is focused on increasing effective utilization of space on campus, as facility design and evolving pedagogy are aligning to ensure flexible models of learning continue into the future. An emphasis on health and wellness is a growing trend that has seen a growing need for services on campus. It highlights the critical resources of the campus to support the increase in student needs. The university is seeking partnership opportunities to support operational and functional needs of the physical campus, in coordination with the local municipalities. Carbon emission reductions and energy reduction goals are dependent on these relationships. All parties are looking forward to the future and managing the learning and social activities on campus to keep the Wildcat Spirit strong. Washington State University in Pullman has maintained a small degree of research faculty and courses in person to manage critical on-campus activities. According to one university representative, the capacity to change was surprisingly easier during the transition to remote learning and will have longer term opportunities for expanding access for education. Social aspects of higher education are more important than ever. WSU has embraced new and exciting ways to engage the campus community through remote activities and will continue to build upon the social aspects of the campus experience. As some initiatives have stalled, new relationships have formed. The partnerships with the local health authorities, like on-campus blood drives, have expanded new networks for the university to contribute to. The energy focused on community health is a new frontier and an aspect of the campus experience that WSU is excited about. A lot of traditions have been upended and WSU has the capacity to quickly adapt, with the infrastructure support of new and expanding tools to tailor support for achieving the institutions mission. These campuses have found creative ways to continue the critical steps of bringing communities together. At the end of the day, its not about the trends its about whats intrinsic in the culture of an institution, and how we as designers can help tell that story through our work. Jackie Eckhardt leads DLR Groups higher education practice in the Northwest and contributes as a thought leader to national campus planning projects from the firms Seattle office. Other Stories: The London Book Fair will be an all-virtual, online-only event this year, with events that will bookend the month of June, with conferences taking place the week of June 7, and a further series of flagship digital events will run June 29-July 1, the dates the in-person fair was to be held. The organizers had held out hope that moving the fair from its customary spring dates to the summer would allow them to hold in-person events. Unfortunately, the ongoing pandemic has made that an impossibility. Over the last few months, we have explored every scenario for this years Fair with our exhibitors, stakeholders and Advisory Board," said Andy Ventris, director of the London Book Fair, in a press release. "Given the complex challenges and constraints of the global pandemic, we wanted to give as much notice as possible to exhibitors and attendees while making the best possible decision for the publishing industry. With the continued uncertainty around international travel and vaccination rollouts, it has become apparent that an in-person Fair for 2021 would not be able to offer the full value to participants that we want to deliver." Exhibitors can use a portion of their fees paid for the in-person fair for an online exhibit during this year's fair or else they may roll them over to 2022, when the fair is scheduled to take place April 5-7. Ventris underscored that this year's event, dubbed The Online Book Fair," will be taken seriously and offer "real value" and will be marketed to the international trade, not just publishers and affiliates in the U.K. "We want to do whatever we can to support the international publishing trade as we transition to a post-pandemic environment and The Online Book Fair will allow us to do that this year, but we look forward to celebrating the resilience and creativity of our industry with you all in-person at the 2022 Fair in London. Commensurate with the move to online, this year's event will be free of charge for attendees. The organizers said that more information and a schedule of events will be available in the coming weeks. [April 15, 2021] Wells Fargo Announces Human Resources Leadership Change Wells Fargo (News - Alert) & Company (NYSE: WFC) today announced that David Galloreese, head of Human Resources, will leave Wells Fargo on April 23, 2021, to take a role outside the company. Kleber Santos, head of Diverse Segments, Representation and Inclusion and a member of the Operating Committee, will take on the additional role of interim head of Human Resources while the company conducts a thorough and formal search for a new head of Human Resources. "Since joining Wells Fargo in 2018, David has made many significant contributions to our company that are instrumental to our ongoing transformation," said CEO Charlie Scharf. "In particular, he has led through a period of significant change for the company and the Human Resources organization. For me personally, David has been a trusted and collaborative partner since I joined the company, and I know I speak for many in saying we wish him all the best and thank him for his leadership and contributions. We are fortunate to have a strong leader like Kleber to step in while we conduct a comprehensive search for our next HR leader." About Wells Fargo Wells Fargo & Company is a leadingfinancial services company that has approximately $1.9 trillion in assets and proudly serves one in three U.S. households and more than 10% of all middle market companies and small businesses in the U.S. We provide a diversified set of banking, investment and mortgage products and services, as well as consumer and commercial finance, through our four reportable operating segments: Consumer Banking and Lending, Commercial Banking, Corporate and Investment Banking, and Wealth and Investment Management. Wells Fargo ranked No. 30 on Fortune's 2020 rankings of America's largest corporations. In the communities we serve, the company focuses its social impact on building a sustainable, inclusive future for all by supporting housing affordability, small business growth, financial health and a low-carbon economy. News, insights and perspectives from Wells Fargo are also available at Wells Fargo Stories. Additional information may be found at www.wellsfargo.com | Twitter (News - Alert) : @WellsFargo. News Release Category: WF-LO View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210415005691/en/ [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] As it is the first time that a Japanese company's alternative meats were offered in a chain restaurant in Singapore and the meals are also Aburi-EN's first-ever plant-based menus, their product launch event gained attention from influencers and media personnel. Made largely from soy proteins, the NEXT Kalbi contains double the amount of protein and half the fats than that of regular meat and even more, it does not contain any chemical additives or cholesterol due to its lack of animal ingredients. The two menus available at Aburi-EN are the Kalbi Don Set (S$13.80) and the Stamina Teishoku (S$15.80) which will be available from April to July 2021 in all locations of the chain. For the Kalbi Don Set, Next Meat's Kalbi is grilled and served atop a bowl of fragrant Japanese steamed rice. Equally indulgent, the Stamina Teishoku features the Kalbi stir-fried with cabbage along with eggs imported from Okinawa. The meat is then served with fragrant Japanese steamed rice, salad, pickles and miso soup. For both dishes, the meats are glazed with a special homemade sauce that packs an irresistible umami punch. About Next Meats Based in Tokyo, Next Meats is a food-tech venture company that specialises in the research and development of Japanese-style alternative meat products. Its journey of product development began in 2017, and the company was officially established in 2020. In addition to the facilities in Japan, Next Meats has a production line in Vietnam and has also signed a joint development contract with Hung Yang Foods of Taiwan and signed a partnership with Toyota-Tsusho Corporation. The company is rapidly expanding their business to the United States, South East Asia, Europe, and other countries. They plan to research various types of alternative proteins in the future and aim to replace all animal meats by 2050. Official website: https://nextmeats.us Social Media for Next Meats Facebook: /nextmeats.singapore Instagram: @nextmeats_singapore Hashtags: #nextmeats #nextmeats_sg #japaneseplantbased About Aburi-EN Aburi-EN is Singapore's leading Japanese Grill restaurant chain, best known for their high quality grilled donburi bowls. Signature dishes include the Premium Buta Don with grilled chestnut-fed pork, Wagyu Karubi Don, and the Wagyu Stamina Don, made using A4/A5 Miyazaki Wagyu, which has won Japan's "National Wagyu Award" for 3 consecutive years, among many others. The homemade sauces give the meats and dishes an extra umami flavor. Aburi-EN is also known for affordable highballs and Japanese sours, which pair perfectly with the Aburi dishes. Social Media for Aburi-EN Facebook: /aburiensg Instagram: @aburien.sg Hashtags: #aburiensg #aburiendonburi #aburienjapanesegrill Locations - Isetan Scotts: 350 Orchard Rd, #01-K1 Shaw House, Singapore 238868 - Causeway Point 1 Woodlands Square, #02-09B Causeway Point, Singapore 738099 - Jem 50 Jurong Gateway Rd, #01-04 Jem, Singapore 608549 - Vivo City 1 Harbourfront Walk, #01-159/160 VivoCity, Singapore 098585 - Novena Square 238 Thomson Rd, #01-89/90, Singapore 307683 - Guoco Tower 1 Wallich St, #B2 - 09, Singapore 078884 - Orchard Central 181 Orchard Central, Central, #01-16 Orchard, 238896 - Suntec City 3 Temasek Blvd, #B1-121 Suntec City Mall, Singapore 038983 - Nex 23 Serangoon Central, #01-63/64/65 Nex, Singapore 556083 Operating Hours 11am 10pm, Daily SOURCE Next Meats Co., Ltd. Related Links https://nextmeats.us Chennai, April 15 : A division bench of the Madras High Court on Thursday stayed its order directing the Chennai Corporation to exhume the body of Dr Simon Hercules, who had succumbed to Covid-19 last year, from a burial ground at Velangudu and rebury it at a cemetery in Kilpauk, as requested by the family. The bench comprising Justices M.M. Sundresh and R.N. Manjula passed the interim order on an appeal moved by the corporation against the single bench order of the court dated March 31. The division bench said in its order, "The authorities are required to deal with much more serious issues than this during the second wave of the pandemic." It may be recalled that a single bench of Justice Abdul Quaddhose had on March 31 ordered to exhume the body of Simon Hercules following a petition filed by his widow, Anandhi Simon. Justice Quaddhose had made it clear in the order that the dignity of the deceased should be maintained throughout the process. The order stated, "The Covid-19 guidelines issued by the Central government and the WHO had made it clear that the infection would not be contracted from a dead body." With India not having a proper legislation on exhumation of bodies, Justice Quaddhose had after some research decided to rely on a statute of Ireland - the Local Government (Sanitary Services) Act. Quaddhose had said, "This court, after perusing and examining the safeguards adopted in Ireland for the purpose of exhumation, is of the considered view that till such time a legislation on exhumation comes in place in India, the same safeguards shall be followed while exhuming Dr Simon's body." Simon Hercules was a neurosurgeon and MD of New Hope Medical Centre in Kilpauk who died of Covid-19 on April 19 last year. The locals had opposed the burial of the doctor's body at the Kilpauk cemetery as they feared that it would spread the disease in the area. The body was taken to a burial ground at Vellangadu where a mob had turned violent, resulting in damaging the ambulance in which the body was carried, and injuring the doctor who had driven the ambulance. Later, with the help of the police, the body was interred at Velliangadu. His widow, Anandhi Simon, had requested the Chennai Corporation on April 25, 2020 to exhume his body and to bury it at the Kilpauk cemetery as per his last wish. However, her plea was rejected by the corporation which had said that a committee of public health experts which it had constituted had advised it to not to permit reburial of the body to minimise risk to the public. Latest updates on Coronavirus (COVID-19) One potential buyer for the nursing home owned by Cumberland County has dropped out of discussions, but commissioners are now negotiating with another company for the sale of the Claremont Nursing and Rehabilitation Center. Transitions Healthcare, with whom county commissioners had been negotiating the transaction, has withdrawn from the process, county officials announced today. Cumberland County will now begin negotiations with Allaire Health Services of Lakewood, New Jersey. Allaire was one of two prospective companies designated as finalists in the vetting process commissioners started in the fall for the potential sale of Claremont. For years, Claremont had operated on a self-sustaining basis through Medicare and Medicaid reimbursements and care-related revenue, but the county cites rising costs of care and stagnant or declining revenue from federal and state sources as depleting the homes financial reserves over time. County officials say despite efforts to reverse this trend, it became necessary to sell the home before it becomes a drain on taxpayer dollars. At Thursdays Cumberland County commissioners workshop meeting, the commissioners voted 2-1 to make the motion to designate Allaire as the primary bidder with Commissioners Vince DiFilippo and Gary Eichelberger supporting the motion, and Commissioner Jean Foschi voting against it. We were prepared for a decision to change if warranted, Commissioner Gary Eichelberger said in a press release. The original choice between our two finalists was probably one of the toughest parts of the process, because both exhibited the qualities we sought. It would not be fair to say that this is a second choice; it could easily have gone either way. We are fortunate to be in an excellent position to keep this process on track without compromising anything. Commissioners expect to finalize the sale by late summer or early fall. The potential sale of Claremont has been met with some local opposition. Opponents say there is a broad-based support for keeping the home under county control and hope the commissioners will weigh other options before a potential sale. Claremont Nursing and Rehabilitation Center is a 282-bed skilled nursing facility providing therapeutic nursing care for a variety of needs. Claremont provides transitional care and a full-time rehabilitation center and dementia unit. A facility was established in 1829. From 1967 to 1997, it was known as the Cumberland County Nursing Home and in 1997, the name was changed to Claremont Nursing and Rehabilitation Center. The local reporter Ismael Mashaal had asked Abdullah whether he did not believe that NATO would end the war in Afghanistan at the same point where they started, reports dpa news agency. Kabul, April 15 (IANS) In a sympathetic admission of an earlier mistake, Abdullah Abdullah, Chairman of Afghanistan's High Council of National Reconciliation, on Thursday congratulated a journalist on a question posed 11 years ago. "Only now did I understand what he meant at the time," admitted Abdullah. "Wherever you are, I send you my regards: You asked a really good question back then." In 2009, Abdullah belittled the journalist for his question, asking if his TV station did not have any other reporter. He deemed the question nonsense. Eleven years on, Abdullah said: "He has actually asked a really good question, only the timing wasn't right." On Wednesday, US President Joe Biden has announced that all American troops will be withdrawn from Afghanistan before September 11, a move to end the longest war in the country's history. "The US will begin our final withdrawal, begin it on May 1 of this year. US troops, as well as forces deployed by our NATO allies and operational partners, will be out of Afghanistan before we mark the 20th anniversary of that heinous attack on September 11." September 11 is the 20th anniversary of the terrorist attacks that drew the US into war in Afghanistan. Biden said that 2,488 US military personnel were killed, and 20,722 have been wounded in this longest war in American history. NATO also announced on Wednesday a collective withdrawal from Afghanistan. In Afghanistan however, the news of the US-initiated withdrawal of international troops was received with shock and to some extent disappointment. According to a poll launched by local broadcaster TOLOnews on Thursday, two-thirds of around 20,000 who took part believed that the unconditional withdrawal would not lead to peace but drag the country into another civil war. --IANS ksk/ The launch of services by Mukesh Ambani-led RILs telecom subsidiary in 2016 became one of the most powerful competitors in the Indian telecom space, according to Sunil Bharti Mittal, founder and chairman, Bharti Enterprises. Mittal was sharing experiences about building Airtel into a leading telecom company and how it emerged from several rounds of crisis. The launch of Jio (2016 edition) was one of the most powerful competitors in Indian space. Free service for a year, subsidised service for another year. Predatory pricing, subsidized phones, all sorts of things, says Mittal during Amazon Smbhav Summit 2021, the flagship event of the e-commerce firm. And it's no surprise that nine out of the 12 operators packed up, went bankrupt, merged with us or with each other. And today we are down to three private sector operators, in which very clearly one operator is becoming increasingly a question mark. For a country of the size of 1.3 billion people, Mittal said the country is now down to nearly two and a half operators, but Airtel has passed that test very well. We have increased our market share, brand loyalty and index, and we're getting more customers than the competition in the last 8-9 months, says Mittal. The company has added new lines of businesses and accelerated fibre to home service and hundreds of thousands of new homes have been connected every month. Data centre business has come through. The firms enterprise business is leading and the DTH (direct to home) business now has taken a lead over DishTV which used to be the largest DTH operator. Also, Airtel Payments bank is making strides in the rural areas and in tier-2 and tier-3, with nearly 15 million active monthly customers using the service. So all in all, I would say, we have now arrived today, after three or four big crises into a very healthy shape, says Mittal. Telecom is a very high capital intensive industry. Spending Rs 50,000 crore over the spectrum, which will be used over 20 years, but paid up front, is pretty normal. Spending Rs 20,000 crore of capital expenditure on the network, year after year is very normal. Have we gone through challenges? The answer is yes. We have gone through, I would say several near-death experiences, says Mittal. In 2003, the question was when would Airtel collapse. Airtel was growing at a breakneck speed, rolling out networks in every part of the country including mobile and fixed-line. It was putting satellite nodes and India's first submarine cable from India to Singapore. The firm was hiring a massive number of people. All this was creating a massive crisis. We needed to get capital and get support from our vendors and have more customers signed on with us to make us successful, says Mittal. We demonstrated that Airtel is a company which will thrive even in a crisis. That playbook has helped the company several times since 2004. In 2008, 12 new licenses were given out in the industry which created a huge disruption in the marketplace and Airtel emerged from that challenge as well. Talking about the opportunities now, Mittal said India is a continent of consumers where more than 1.3 billion people are consuming more products, services and data. And based on that data and the smartphones in their hands, they are using the services of such as Amazon, Google, Facebook, Ola and Uber and seeking deliveries from the restaurants. Everything is now fast-moving on to the digital platform. And these young people who are coming in hordes into the mainstream are adding momentum to our GDP and to our consumption story, says Mittal. He said India is attracting today tens of billions of dollars of FDI (foreign direct investment), year after year and the country is getting some tailwinds as China is not the flavour of the decade. Most people are shifting their businesses from China to India, which would mean more manufacturing development and innovation would come to the country. Mittal is of the belief that in the next 5-10, India could become a major economy, which would have industrial and digital upliftment. And importantly, more of self-reliant and stronger India in the hands of Indians, says Mittal. Some of you will break through and make bigger businesses than Airtel, and many other established I always say, those who are there yesterday are not here today, and those people like me who are here today may not be there tomorrow. Mittal Test Mittal started his business as a small entrepreneur in 1976. He started as a manufacturer of bicycle parts to supply to the bicycle in his hometown in Ludhiana, in Punjab. Access to capital and attracting talent with the right kind of skill sets was hard. One of the fundamental thesis of building a venture from a small firm to a bigger company is being committed. You need to do a test check when you get into a business. You need to be in a place which you enjoy every morning, says Mittal, who has always been doing this test on himself on Monday mornings. If I am not excited about going behind my small little office desk in Ludhiana, I knew that I was not in the right business. This test kept him moving from one business to another in the first 10 years of his entrepreneurial journey. By doing things out of compulsion it's very unlikely that one will make a huge success of it. When your work becomes your joy, that's the time when the magic really starts, says Mittal. From 1976, when I started till today, (nearly 45 years) for me, the Monday morning test is very important and I can tell you, I still pass it every Monday morning. For me, weekends are difficult to pass by. I am excited about getting back into my office on a Monday morning because I really love what I do. I say this to my children and young entrepreneurs. For building a business, there is no substitute for hard work. According to Mittal, there are stories of people who worked less hard than him and did create businesses that were equal or bigger than his venture, but those examples are far and few. For building a business, it is also important to assemble a team early on, which is aligned to the thoughts of the entrepreneurs and fill the areas where he or she is not strong. Mittal emphasised hiring better people and creating an atmosphere where everybody can flourish and thrive. He recalled how he hired an IIT- IIM graduate as his deputy during 1984-85. He was braver than I was. He saw probably something in my eyes, that there could be a possibility of scaling up a big business, says Mittal. He could have got a bigger job, but I could talk to him and convince him that he had an opportunity of a lifetime. And we could build something together. So, he joined me and stayed with me for over 20 years. Mittal said entrepreneurs need to make sure that their fiscal discipline is strong and their finances are under control. However, ambition always needs to be greater than resources. But equally, one shouldn't extend to a point where the day of salary becomes stress. I would scramble around and beg my bank manager to give me an overdraft or borrow some money from some friendly place or a place which will charge me very high interest, says Mittal. But I ensured that the payday was never missed out. It is important to pay people on time to build credibility. During the worst times of Airtel, the company was able to raise $12 billion. Back in 1977, Mittals early venture was a supplier to Hero Cycles founded by Brijmohan Lall. Mittal went to seek money ahead of time to Lall and appealed to him that he was in a desperate situation and needed the money. He was not happy I could see the frown on his face. He finally wrote me that cheque. But he told me not to make this a habit, says Mittal. I have never forgotten those words of that wise man and that was the last time that I ever let my monetary position take the better of me. Now, the journey of scaling up for companies has really shrunk from decades to years and even less than a year as technology is providing an advantage to the firms. Amazon is an example of how disruptive technology can start to create businesses that could have never been thought of before. Technology will accelerate the growth of the businesses and make them more efficient, cost-effective and improve their margins. Please use technology early on, says Mittal. If you have younger members of the family who are eager to do business, bring them in early, they are digitally native and understand technology very well. Having Brian at the forefront of our technology team will allow us to embrace agile methodology, achieve success as a team, and provide faster innovation to our customers so they can effectively run their dealership. Motility Software Solutions, the leading provider of dealer management software (DMS) for the specialty vehicle industry, today announced the appointment of Brian Dunnam as Chief Technology Officer. Dunnam will be responsible for continuing the transformation of Motilitys dealer management solutions into an end-to-end web platform, bringing innovation to existing product offerings, and building scalable infrastructure to support long-term growth objectives. Dunnam brings over 20 years of experience in enterprise software, product management, technology operations, and digital transformation. Prior to joining Motility, he was CTO at Levatas, an AI solutions and analytics company focused on delivering modern cloud and AI enabled software for several industries. Before that, Dunnam was VP of Product and Technology for LexisNexis, a large software and data solutions provider with a portfolio of over 200 products. Its a truly transformative time for Motility and Im ecstatic to have Brian join the leadership team, said Brad Rogers, CEO of Motility. Having Brian at the forefront of our technology team will allow us to embrace agile methodology, achieve success as a team, and provide faster innovation to our customers so they can effectively run their dealership. His leadership in technology makes him a perfect fit for this role. Dunnams primary focus will be leading the technology organization and continuing to modernize the Motility platform. As part of his new role, he will support the companys broader strategies by driving rapid innovation for customers and contributing to the companys ongoing leadership in the dealer management space. Dunnam will be merging efforts of the product and engineering teams to collaboratively execute on the product roadmap. Motility has tremendous potential in the specialty dealer space, said Brian Dunnam, CTO of Motility. The solutions we offer to dealers are critical to their day-to-day. Im eager to bring big changes that allow us to provide faster innovation and further enhance our customers ability to use our product. About Motility Software Solutions For over 36 years, Motility remains committed to providing best-in-class dealer management software (DMS) to over 7,000 users and 800 rooftops. Motilitys comprehensive software delivers an end-to-end solution to increase the efficiency for every critical function in a dealership, including inventory management, CRM, quoting, accounting, payroll and service scheduling, and more. Visit motilitysoftware.com or follow us on Twitter @motilityss for more DMS news. Marion, North Carolina--(Newsfile Corp. - April 15, 2021) - Greene Concepts Inc. (OTC Pink: INKW) is pleased to announce a growth in the total number of Amazon Distribution Centers carrying its first-class brand of artesian bottled water, BE WATERTM. Using Fulfillment by Amazon (FBA), the company's allocation of FBA centers has expanded from six to nine representing an increase of 33%. FBA offers faster delivery service to customers via Amazon Prime through Amazon's multibillion-dollar distribution and sales network. Be Water Artesian To view an enhanced version of this graphic, please visit: https://orders.newsfilecorp.com/files/6717/80564_9df17151742759b8_001full.jpg Within its January 25, 2021 press release, Greene Concepts publicized the launch of its Amazon listing and the presence of BE WATER in three Amazon fulfillment centers located in New Jersey, Tennessee and Washington. In its February 16, 2021 press release, the company noted the addition of three more centers to bring the total to six with the three new add-ons from the states of Illinois, California and Virginia. Since February, the number of Amazon distribution centers rose to nine with an expansion to three more FBA centers within the states of Michigan, Maryland and Georgia. The addresses of the nine Amazon FBA distribution centers distributing BE WATER are: 6001 Bethlehem Blvd Baltimore, MD 21219 7001 Skipper Rd Macon, GA 31216 50500 Mound Rd Shelby Township, MI 48317 23714 Amoco Rd Channahon, IL 60410 225 Infinity Dr NW, Charleston TN 37310D 22 Hightstown Cranbury State Rd Cranbury, NJ 08512 2700 Center Dr DuPont, WA 98327D 500 Commerce Way Petersburg, VA 23803 255 Park Center Dr Patterson, CA 95363 Lenny Greene, CEO of Greene Concepts, states, "Amazon continues to see the value in the sale of BE WATER and has rewarded us by opening up three more Amazon FBA distribution centers. Amazon has a total of 110 active fulfillment centers in the U.S. and we are in nine of them. We fully expect more centers to open as the Amazon algorithm allows us to deliver BE WATER via FBA to our customers in the shortest amount of time based on significant sales volume. Soon we will be in all 110 Amazon fulfillment centers allowing us to cover Amazon Prime members in most markets throughout the country." BeWater EBC To view an enhanced version of this graphic, please visit: https://orders.newsfilecorp.com/files/6717/80564_9df17151742759b8_002full.jpg Mr. Greene continues, "A special thanks goes to our VP of Marketing and Regulatory, Amy McNally and Sean Farrington, the owner and CEO of EComOptimization, as we maximize Amazon at all levels to increase search engine optimization and product availability by FBA and Fulfillment by Amazon (FBM). An upcoming feature we will deploy within Amazon very soon is targeted advertisements to intensify BE WATER awareness to new customers thereby boosting sales. The above actions coupled with the accessibility of BE WATER on our company's BeWaterBeYou page, mean everyone who wants to purchase our product throughout the country has a way to obtain it. These deeds enhance both company and shareholder value." Consumers may purchase BE WATER on Amazon at the following link: BE WATER Amazon Page. About EcomOptimization LLC EcomOptimization LLC is the world's leading e-commerce agency or high-profit Amazon sellers and brands. We have helped grow some of the web's most sophisticated Amazon sellers, helped migrate many traditional enterprises and smaller business onto eCommerce and have helped most clients more than double their sales results. Our clients include large, medium and small-sized businesses as well as brick and mortar brands. Over the years we have measurably grown hundreds of businesses in almost every category. Our mission is "Making e-commerce that wins". https://ecomoptimization.com/Home About Greene Concepts, Inc., Mammoth Ventures, Inc. and Water Club, Inc. Greene Concepts, Inc. (http://www.greeneconcepts.com) is a publicly traded company. Through its recently acquired wholly owned subsidiary, Mammoth Ventures Inc., the Company has entered the specialty beverage and bottling business and is an emerging leader in the global scientifically formulated beverage industry. Through its subsidiary Water Club, Inc. we intend to pursue subscription-based delivery of water and scientifically formulated beverages directly to the consumers home and market the convenience of this service thru social media affiliate marketing partners. Safe Harbor: This Press Release contains 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. These forward-looking statements are based on the current plans and expectations of management and are subject to a number of uncertainties and risks that could significantly affect the company's current plans and expectations, as well as future results of operations and financial condition. A more extensive listing of risks and factors that may affect the company's business prospects and cause actual results to differ materially from those described in the forward-looking statements can be found in the reports and other documents filed by the company with the Securities and Exchange Commission and OTC Markets, Inc. OTC Disclosure and News Service. 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. CONTACT: Greene Concepts, Inc. Investor Relations IR@greeneconcepts.com To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/80564 This site uses cookies to ensure the best experience. By continuing to browse this site you are agreeing to our use of cookies. Our cookie policy. Late TikTok star Adam Perkins' twin brother Patrick has urged fans to respect their family's choice to not divulge the cause of death. After announcing his brother had passed away aged 24, Patrick shared a series of tributes on Instagram and among heartfelt best wishes from fans, he was forced to shoot down questions about how Adam had died. He responded: 'Think I need to take this opportunity to explain something to you: if the cause of death is not released, there is a reason... 'There is intention in every part of this. Please respect both of us by not asking that question... not sure how it's not obvious that I didn't say for a reason. Everything in this is intentional. Please respect that.' So sad: Late TikTok star Adam Perkins' twin brother Patrick has urged fans to respect their family's choice to not divulge the cause of death Please respect: He responded: 'Think I need to take this opportunity to explain something to you: if the cause of death is not released, there is a reason' Patrick's messages to fans came before he shared a heartbreaking tribute to his sibling on Wednesday. To the tune of Joni Mitchell's 1976 hit Coyote, from his favourite album Hejira, the late online sensation was seen larking around while filming, having his haircut, driving, petting a dog and many more candid moments from their life. He added a caption on the heartbreaking video reading: 'Adam Perkins 1997 - forever and ever. I love you my brother. Always.' The Boston-born star's twin confirmed the news on Instagram, as he revealed the star had died on April 11 but did not disclose any cause of death. Heartbreak: Patrick's messages to fans came before he shared a heartbreaking tribute to his sibling on Wednesday Beneath the touching video, Adam's fans penned: 'My heart hurts. What a huge part of my youth your brothers vines were rest in peace... 'Sending my condolences to you and your family... Life just doesnt feel real anymore lately, sorry for your loss... One last time as a tribute Hi welcome to chillis!' As well as having thousands of TikTok followers, Adam was also known for an iconic clip on the social media site Vine which saw him parody an advert for the American restaurant chain Chili's. In his announcement, Patrick penned: 'My brother, Adam Perkins, passed away this previous Sunday, 4-11-21. His love: To the tune of Joni Mitchell's 1976 hit Coyote, from his favourite album Hejira, the late online sensation was seen larking around while filming, having his haircut, driving, petting a dog and many more candid moments from their life Pained: Fans praised the sweet video in the comments Tragic news: He added a caption on the heartbreaking video reading: 'Adam Perkins 1997 - forever and ever. I love you my brother. Always' Fan tributes: Beneath the touching video, Adam's fans penned: 'My heart hurts. What a huge part of my youth your brothers vines were rest in peace 'I can't even really put into words what this loss means for me. I'm often asked the question, ''what's it like to be a twin?' and my response is usually, 'what's it like to NOT be a twin?''... 'Being a twin is a very central part of my identity. it's all i've known. and i'm struggling to find the words to explain what it will be like for me to live in this world without him. my best friend. 'In his honor, I will be releasing his album 'Latch Relay' on a limited edition vinyl. it will be the first release on Plas Teg Records (@plas.teg), a label that will seek to fulfill his musical destiny that was so tragically cut short. 'I love you, my best friend Adam. 1997-forever.' Emotional: In a moving tribute, Patrick revealed his brother had died on April 11 but did not confirm any cause of death Following the news of Adam's death, many devastated fans flooded social media with their tributes and offered their sympathies to Patrick. One wrote: 'My heart aches for you Patrick. I've been fans of both of you for years, sending love and strength,' while another added: 'I'm so sorry, thinking of you.' A third penned: 'So deeply sorry man... sending so much love,' with one also writing: 'I can't believe this I'm so so sorry.' One fan also wrote: 'Unbelievavbly tragic. Sorry for your indescribable loss,' while another commented: 'I'm so so so sorry :( in my thoughts forever and ever.' Heart-breaking: Following the news of Adam's death, many devastated fans flooded social media with their tributes (pictured in his final Instagram post) Saddening: Many offered their sympathies for Adam's devastating brother Patrick as they shared their own tributes Funny: Adam was most well-known for a 2015 viral clip on the now-defunct social media site Vine which saw him walk into the bathroom and say 'Welcome to Chili's' 'I love you and Adam to the moon and beyond and to say I'm heartbroken is a huge understatement. I will cherish all the incredible hilarious memories we made together forever,' one of Patrick's followers wrote in a moving tribute. Adam's ex-boyfriend Kelton Elliott also took to social media to pen a lengthy tribute, along with a gallery of snaps from their relationship. He wrote: 'This past weekend my forever best friend and ex-boyfriend passed, and I've been devastated. We spent almost every day and night in 2020 and 2021 together in our little home until I temporarily relocated to Oregon. 'We were there for each other during the hardest year of our lives. I could and have talked about him for hours, but I'm just saying one thing right now: Me and him discussed how we'd want to be remembered after we died, and he said he'd like to be remembered for his art, his music. Devastating: Adam's ex-boyfriend Kelton Elliott also took to social media to pen a lengthy tribute, along with a gallery of snaps from their relationship Close: The snaps showed the pair together as Kelton said he was 'devastated' by his passing after they spent 'much of 2020 and 2021 together' 'The second slide is a screenshot of Redwood Reverie, the track on Spotify he most liked sharing with his coworkers and friends. It's from his 2018 album Latch Relay, and it's one of my favorite songs of his along with The Engine and Arms Akimbo. 'Last week he was working on more to release. Give his music a listen, and know that the artist was loved so so so much. The link in my bio takes you to his Spotify.' While he boasted over 19,000 followers on TikTok, Adam was most well-known for a 2015 viral clip on the now-defunct social media site Vine. Distraught: Kelton added: 'We were there for each other during the hardest year of our lives. I could and have talked about him for hours' Supportive: In his lengthy tribute, Kelton added that Adam would want to be remembered for 'his art and his music' In the six-second video, he could be seen walking into a bathroom in his boxers and saying: 'Hi, welcome to Chili's' to mock the tagline for a series of ads for the US restaurant chain Chili's. The clip sparked a slew of parodies and remixes, and gained over 20 million loops in a year. Adam and Patrick often made Vine videos together, and he even featured in the video which sees him vape a cloud of smoke which is blown away, before turning to the camera and saying: 'Adam!' MILWAUKEE, April 15, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Johnson Controls (NYSE: JCI), the global leader for smart, healthy and sustainable buildings, today announced OpenBlue Buildings as a Service. Aligning more than 135 years of experience with its OpenBlue digital transformation vision, OpenBlue Buildings as a Service enables Johnson Controls and its customers to be more agile in delivering outcome-based decisions centered around integrated data to help reach environmental stewardship goals. "Sustainability is our business. Nearly half of Johnson Controls revenue, more than $11 billion in fiscal year 2019, comes from products and services that cut energy use and improve sustainability for our customers," said Nate Manning, President of Building Solutions North America at Johnson Controls. "In some ways, Johnson Controls has been delivering sustainability as a service to our customers for decades. We empower our customers to bring their sustainability vision to life while enjoying the peace of mind that their facilities and spaces are in good hands." Through OpenBlue Buildings as a Service, building owners are able to transfer the full lifecycle risk of building operations to Johnson Controls. This can include upfront capital and decision-making processes, responsibility for design and construction, energy efficiency and emissions management, as well as operations including maintenance and retrofits. Through an ongoing OpenBlue Building as a Service partnership, Johnson Controls helps customers make and implement decisions that improve a building's total cost of occupancy, energy and carbon profile, as well as the wellbeing of their occupants, without having to manage or even think about the process. All of this happens while Johnson Controls also ensures consistent availability to buildings and a predictable cost of operations. As a result, building owners are able to focus on their mission and their business. Four Johnson Controls customers, all sustainability pioneers, represent more than $1 billion in multi-decade contracts and illustrate how Johnson Controls leverages OpenBlue solutions to achieve ambitious sustainability goals. Children's of Alabama: Early adopter of OpenBlue reduces use of natural gas by 69% Ranked as one of the best pediatric medical centers in the nation, Children's of Alabama holds a valuable position as the only medical center in Alabama dedicated solely to the care and treatment of children and is a Level 1 state designated trauma facility. In 2008, the non-profit hospital sought a way to maximize energy savings in its new 14-story patient tower in the heart of Birmingham. Emphasizing the need to be good stewards of financial donations, the hospital sought a partnership to find innovative solutions to drive maximum efficiency of operations, lower energy costs, reduce risk of failure, and provide guaranteed outcomes. The hospital looked to Johnson Controls to design, build, operate and maintain its new central utility plant through a 25-year contract where Johnson Controls operates and holds all the risk for building systems. By meeting or exceeding yearly performance guarantees, Johnson Controls has provided nearly $250,000 in annual savings. An early adopter of OpenBlue Enterprise Manager, the hospital's main campus has been able to reduce the use of natural gas by 69% because Johnson Controls implemented an OpenBlue Central Utility Plant program in 2018. When complete, Children's of Alabama expects this portion of the project to save $450,000 a year. McGill University Health Center: Aspired to achieve Silver LEED Certification, received Gold LEED Certification Twice McGill University Health Center in Quebec selected Johnson Controls to better understand how to best use sustainable development practices to help them achieve Silver LEED certification status. Through a 30-year contract, Johnson Controls provides life cycle and facilities management, an integrated building management system, security and fire alarm systems, electrical low voltage systems as well as operations and maintenance. OpenBlue Enterprise Manager and Smart Connected Chillers enabled Johnson Controls to monitor MUHC's systems and clarify where energy efficiencies could be achieved as well as validate energy saving strategies and make continual improvements. In 2019, McGill University Health Center became the first facility in Quebec to achieve its second LEED Gold certification. Humber Hospital: Reduced energy usage equal to 44.3 million kilowatt hours in 5 years Humber River Hospital in Toronto is North America's first fully digital hospital with advanced information technology applied and integrated into patient care. As a result, the patient journey throughout the hospital is highly visible, easier to navigate, more interactive and significantly more patient centered. Through a 30-year contract, Johnson Controls has contributed to Humber's technology design and implementation and now supports operations and maintenance for the hospital. Johnson Controls provides financial guarantees on Humber's operations and maintenance which ties some payment for services directly to building performance. Tools such as OpenBlue Enterprise Manager and Smart Connected Chillers provide operational teams a more proactive approach to facility management with real-time information for improvements such as energy efficiency, asset performance, maintenance operations, and space performance which leads to patient and staff satisfaction and asset performance. Johnson Controls has reduced energy consumption equal to 44.3 million kilowatt hours since 2016. University of North Dakota: Reduced greenhouse gas by 38,000 metric tons a year University of North Dakota (UND) will reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 38,000 metric tons of CO2 annually, which is equivalent to the carbon sequestered by 74 square miles of forest, essentially the size of Grand Forks and Fargo, ND combined. The 138-year-old university signed a 40-year contract with Johnson Controls who designed, built, financed and now operates and maintains the new plant which replaces an old and inefficient coal plant. OpenBlue connected solutions make it possible for Johnson Controls to diagnose and resolve problems and aid the site management team so energy targets are being made and performance-based agreements are being met. "As a renovation wave accelerates the pace of building upgrades across North America, customers are asking for a blueprint of the future through integrated solutions," continued Manning. "OpenBlue Buildings as a Service is the key to meeting their ambitious aspirations while taking a burden off owners and management." To learn more about OpenBlue, visit: https://www.johnsoncontrols.com/openblue. About Johnson Controls: At Johnson Controls (NYSE: JCI) we transform the environments where people live, work, learn and play. As the global leader in smart, healthy and sustainable buildings, our mission is to reimagine the performance of buildings to serve people, places and the planet. With a history of more than 135 years of innovation, Johnson Controls delivers the blueprint of the future for industries such as healthcare, schools, data centers, airports, stadiums, manufacturing and beyond through its comprehensive digital offering OpenBlue. With a global team of 100,000 experts in more than 150 countries, Johnson Controls offers the world`s largest portfolio of building technology, software as well as service solutions with some of the most trusted names in the industry. For more information, visit www.johnsoncontrols.com or follow us @johnsoncontrols on Twitter. SOURCE Johnson Controls International plc The release of at least four films scheduled for April have been pushed back due to the second wave of COVID-19. The makers of films like Love Story (April 16), Tuck Jagadish (April 23), Thalaivi, (April 23), Virata Parvam (April 30), etc., have postponed the releases indefinitely. Films like the Chiranjeevi-starrer Acharya, Venkateshs Narappa, etc. are likely to follow suit if the situation doesnt improve. While the governments of both the Telugu speaking States have clarified that there wont be any lockdown (subject to the situation), the second wave of COVID-19, coupled with the issue of operational efficiency of theatres vs. ticket prices, is prompting filmmakers to delay releasing their films. Audiences apprehensive Filmmakers feel audiences may avoid coming to the theatres fearing they may contract the virus. Ram Mohan Rao Puskur, Chairman, Telangana State Film Development Corporation, and one of the producers of Love Story, feels that it is very difficult to draw family audiences to the theatres in the present situation. Theres a lot of craze for the film and director Sekhar Kammula garu is a name to reckon with among the youth, so we thought we could go all out. But since our films target audience (youth and family) think twice before coming to the theatres now, we have decided to postpone the release, explains Ram Mohan, adding that most film releases have been postponed fearing that infections may go up in the next 30 days. There has also been speculation that theatres in Telangana will be allowed to function at only 50% occupancy. Asked to comment on that, Ram Mohan says There isnt any official communication so far, but the government may clarify matters in a few days time. Pressure from buyers? Theres a buzz that pressure from buyers is one of the strong reasons for filmmakers to delay releases. Having bagged theatrical rights for a higher price, the buyers feel that releasing films at this point will not be viable, as low viewership will not get them quick returns. The Telugu Film Chamber of Commerce (TFCC) Vice President Mutyala Ramadas blames it on the rising production costs. The lockdown and subsequent delay in release dates have added to the woes and forced producers to sell films at higher prices. The buyers have to get back their investments, Ramdas points out. Dim outlook for single screen theatres Ever since the country went into lockdown last year, theatres have been badly affected. With many theatre owners indicating that they would have to shut down if no action was initiated on ticket pricing, filmmakers fear they might lose out on wider reach. Several exhibbitors have been complaining that the high maintenance costs are forcing them into the red. In fact, ticket prices for Vakeel Saab were raised for the first two days in Andhra Pradesh before the government raised objections. Eluru Suresh, an exhibitor in West Godavari, laments that the situation in small towns is even worse. Almost all the theatres in villages and panchayat centres have been renovated and now have air-conditioning. So with power, diesel and other expenses on par with cities, how can theatre owners sustain themselves with low ticket prices? he asks. Suresh hopes that the industry biggies will bring this matter to the notice of the government. Meanwhile... No vendetta against Pawan Kalyan While on one hand COVID-19 cases have been on the rise, on the other, the Pawan Kalyan-starrer Vakeel Saab opened to full houses on April 9. Buyers of the film in Andhra Pradesh decided to sell tickets for the film at a surge price, in an attempt to get back their investments quickly. However, following an AP High Court ruling, the State Government intervened and said that the increased prices would be applicable only for April 9 and April 10 for online tickets. While many are seeing this as a bid by the ruling party to curb Pawan Kalyan (Chief of the rival Jenasena Party), Andhra Pradesh Film Development Corporation Chairman Vijay Chander rubbishes such speculation. Describing it as a welcome decision, he says, If tickets are sold at a premium, how can a common man watch the film on the first day? Thats why the government has changed the price. It has nothing to do with Pawan Kalyan or any political vendetta. No vendetta against Pawan Kalyan While on one hand COVID-19 cases have been on the rise, on the other, the Pawan Kalyan-starrer Vakeel Saab opened to full houses on April 9. Buyers of the film in Andhra Pradesh decided to sell tickets for the film at a surge price, in an attempt to get back their investments quickly. However, following an AP High Court ruling, the State Government intervened and said that the increased prices would be applicable only for April 9 and April 10 for online tickets. While many are seeing this as a bid by the ruling party to curb Pawan Kalyan (Chief of the rival Jenasena Party), Andhra Pradesh Film Development Corporation Chairman Vijay Chander rubbishes such speculation. Describing it as a welcome decision, he says, If tickets are sold at a premium, how can a common man watch the film on the first day? Thats why the government has changed the price. It has nothing to do with Pawan Kalyan or any political vendetta. It's not just the difficulty of a task that affects how stressed students are. Credit: RUB, Marquard Is it the difficulty of a task that determines whether or not students are stressed when working on it? Dr. Nina Minkley, a biologist working in biology didactics at Ruhr-Universitat Bochum (RUB), set out to find out the answers in an interdisciplinary research team together with Dr. Moritz Krell (Freie Universitat Berlin) and Dr. Kate Xu (Open Universiteit, Netherlands); to this end, the team used questionnaires and measured the heart rate in 209 test participants." This enables us to contrast the subjective perception of stress with an objective measurement method and compare the two," explains Nina Minkley. Contrary to expectations, it turned out that the effort invested in the task does not increase with its difficulty, nor does the stress level. The study was featured in the journal Frontiers in Education on 12. April 2021. Simple questionnaire surveys criticized To date, the stress experience of students has mostly been surveyed with questionnaires. But this approach has been criticized, because many factors have an effect on one's own perception that have nothing to do with the task. "For example, women often report higher stress levels than men," points out Nina Minkley. The researchers can only speculate why this is the case. In the current study, they used an objective method of measuring stress levels. They equipped 209 secondary school students who were working on biology tasks with chest straps that monitor the heart rate. They also had the participants fill out several questionnaires on their self-concept, their interest in biology and their perception of the tasks. "When we are relaxed, the individual heartbeats differ slightly, whereas when we are stressed, they are less variable," explains Nina Minkley. Thus, the change in heart rate variability is an objective measurement of the stress level. Mental effort causes stress Comparing the questionnaire answers with the measured heart rates revealed that it was mainly mental engagement, i.e. the effort the students invested in solving the tasks, that correlated with the objective stress level. Contrary to expectations, however, more difficult tasks did not increase stress. "Perhaps some tasks can be so difficult that students don't even try to work on them," concludes Nina Minkley. "Such objective measures could be used in future studies primarily to survey subjective cognitive stress dimension." Explore further Children of academics exhibit more stress More information: Nina Minkley et al, Analyzing Relationships Between Causal and Assessment Factors of Cognitive Load: Associations Between Objective and Subjective Measures of Cognitive Load, Stress, Interest, and Self-Concept, Frontiers in Education (2021). Nina Minkley et al, Analyzing Relationships Between Causal and Assessment Factors of Cognitive Load: Associations Between Objective and Subjective Measures of Cognitive Load, Stress, Interest, and Self-Concept,(2021). DOI: 10.3389/feduc.2021.632907 Local News, Health & Wellness, Press Releases, Politics By Chris Boyle Published: April 15 2021 The funding would preserve NHCCs role as the regions only public safety net healthcare system. Nassau County Executive Laura Curran announced that she is seeking $85 million in federal infrastructure funding to expand healthcare and housing for veterans. The funding would assist Nassau Health Care Corporation (NHCC) renovate facilities to include veterans in patient services and specialized care, as well as establish a Veterans Adult Day Health Care Program and make upgrades to unoccupied apartment buildings located on NHCCs East Meadow Campus to house veterans suffering from housing insecurity. The funding would preserve NHCCs role as the regions only public safety net healthcare system and establish an important satellite to the Northport VA Hospital for thousands of veterans who require treatment but find it out-of-reach due to distance constraints. We have an opportunity to expand critical care and enhance quality-of-life for thousands of veterans who bravely served our country, said Nassau County Executive Laura Curran. Too many veterans right now in Nassau face burdensome hurdles as they travel to out-of-county facilities for specialized care. This is a chance for the federal government to step up in the upcoming round of stimulus bill discussions to deliver for our veteran community A partnership between the Northport VA and NUMC is a creative and innovative approach to save this vital resource and expand veterans services, said Congressman Tom Suozzi. The men and women who have served our nation should never be without a place to call home. I am committed to continue my call for increasing support and services for Veterans and their families here in Nassau County. I applaud Laura Curran for her strong efforts on behalf of Nassau veterans and look forward to continuing our work together, said New York State Senator John E. Brooks. Senator Kevin Thomas said, Veterans in Nassau County are facing unprecedented economic hardships and health concerns as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. By expanding healthcare and housing for veterans in Nassau County, we can ensure that every single veteran in Nassau has access to the specialized programs and services they need and deserve. I thank Nassau County Executive Laura Curran for her tireless efforts to ensure that our Countys veterans are receiving the care they need during the pandemic and beyond. "This is a great first step to protect and enhance NHCCs irreplaceable role as the only safety-net healthcare system in the area. said CSEA Local 830 President Ron Gurrieri. We are equally pleased that the program will not only provide vital assistance to our nations heroes but do so in a manner that amplifies NHCCs core social mission and presence in the community." Nassau Countys veterans deserve the best and this proposal will make our County a leader in providing access to healthcare and housing for veterans, said Ralph Esposito, Director of Nassau Countys Veteran Service Agency. I thank Nassau County Executive Laura Curran and her team for putting veterans and their families first. Veterans residing in Nassau County often travel hours to access enhanced medical treatments offered at VA hospitals. The closest VA hospitals for Nassaus more than 40,000 veterans are located out-of-county, in Suffolk, Brooklyn and Manhattan. The physical distance and time required to travel to these out-of-county facilities is often difficult for veterans to navigate, and results in a disproportionate number of veterans lacking access to medical care. Nassau County carries a proud tradition of supporting our heroes who served our country, said Nassau County Executive Laura Curran. Expanding existing services and renovating unused space at this well-known location could help transform how Nassau serves those who served our country. Through a hybrid healthcare model that preserves NHCCS mission of serving the most vulnerable, Nassau County would become home to New York States first Veteran Housing Village. Purdue University researchers Eckhard Groll (left) and Leon Brendel stand next to a fridge experiment they designed to work in different orientations - even upside down. Credit: Purdue University/Jared Pike For astronauts to go on long missions to the moon or Mars, they need a refrigerator. But today's fridges aren't designed to work in zero gravityor upside down if oriented that way when a spacecraft lands on another planet. A team of engineers from Purdue University, Air Squared Inc., and Whirlpool Corporation is working on building a fridge for zero gravity that operates in different orientations and just as well as the one in your kitchen, giving astronauts access to longer-lasting and more nutritious food. In May, the team will test their fridge design on Zero Gravity Corporation's (ZERO-G) unique weightless research lab. The only testing space of its kind in the United States, the specially designed plane will fly in microgravity dozens of timesfor 20-second intervalsduring each of four flights. Data from these flights, which are supported by NASA's Flight Opportunities program, will help the team determine if the design is ready to be used in space. The canned and dried food that astronauts currently eat during missions have a shelf life of only about three years. The team's project, funded by NASA's Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) program, aims to give astronauts a supply of food that could last five to six years. "Astronauts need to have better quality food that they can take along. And so that's where a refrigerator comes into play. But it's still a relatively novel technology for space," said Eckhard Groll, a professor and head of Purdue's School of Mechanical Engineering. The engineers are not the first to attempt building a fridge like those used on Earth for space missions, but they are among the few who have tried since astronauts walked on the moon in 1969. Even though fridge experiments have been in space before, they either didn't work well enough or eventually broke down. Cooling systems currently on the International Space Station are used for experiments and storing biological samples rather than for storing food, and they consume significantly more energy than fridges on Earth. The team is aiming to design a fridge that could be sent into space ahead of a mission and operate at freezer temperatures to meet the needs of astronauts. The engineers' May flights will test possible solutions to making the type of cooling process that a typical fridge usesvapor compression refrigerationreliable enough for space missions. "When I jumped on this project, it wasn't completely clear what the problems would be, since there haven't been many vapor compression refrigeration experiments in microgravity in the past," said Leon Brendel, a Purdue Ph.D. student in mechanical engineering. "In a typical fridge, gravity helps to keep liquid and vapor where they are supposed to be. Similarly, the oil lubrication system inside of a fridge's compressor is gravity-based. When bringing new technology into space, making the entire system reliable in zero gravity is key." Brendel and Paige Beck, a Purdue junior majoring in mechanical engineering, and three other members of the team from Air Squared will be flying with experiments testing various aspects of the fridge design. For each flight, the plane will perform 30 parabolas including Martian, lunar and micro gravities. During and after the peak of the parabola, the engineers will experience a microgravity environment, allowing them to float around to observe their experiments and collect data. A team of engineers has built three experiments to test the effects of microgravity on a new oil-free fridge design: a prototype for potential future use on the International Space Station (left), a setup for testing the prototype's vulnerability to liquid flooding (center), and a larger version of the prototype with sensors and instruments to capture how gravity affects the vapor compression cycles (right). Credit: Air Squared, Inc. "This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for me. I can't wait to board the plane," Brendel said. The team's fridge prototype is about the size of a microwave, ideal for potentially fitting onto the International Space Station and plugging into an electrical outlet like on Earth. The prototype, built by Air Squared, will fly as one of the team's three experiments. Purdue researchers built two other experiments to fly that will help them understand in detail how well the prototype operates. One of these experiments is a larger version of the prototype with sensors and other instruments to measure the effects of gravity on the vapor compression cycles, while the other experiment tests the prototype's vulnerability to liquid flooding that could damage the fridge. The experiments were built at Purdue's Ray W. Herrick Laboratories, facilities for research on heating, ventilation, air conditioning and refrigeration. The Purdue team is testing the ability of the fridge design to operate in different orientations, such as upside down and sideways, by rotating the larger version of the prototype in the lab. Rotating this experiment gives the team a sense of how gravity affects the design before flying in May. "Nowhere on the ground can you find microgravity to run an experiment, but we can change the relative direction of gravity to our fridge by rotating it," Brendel said. If the researchers prove in their lab that gravity has a negligible impact on the vapor compression cycle, then the design might also work in zero gravity. Andif the fridge can work in any orientationthen space crews wouldn't have to worry about making sure the fridge is right side up at a landing. To avoid the problem of how a zero gravity environment would affect the flow of oil throughout the fridge, Air Squared developed an oil-free compressor. The compressor will be tested both in the prototype and in its larger, more instrumented counterpart built by Purdue researchers. "No gravity means that oil isn't flowing where it should. Our design provides a higher reliability by not requiring oil in the compressor so that the fridge can run for a long period of time and not be challenged by a microgravity environment, where oil might leave the compressor, become trapped in the system and render the compressor inoperable," said Stephen Caskey, a project engineer at Air Squared, principal investigator for the team's NASA SBIR award and an alum of Purdue's School of Mechanical Engineering. Whirlpool Corporation provided other components for the fridge experiments as well as expertise on how to integrate these components, run the experiments and package the prototype in a way that would meet requirements for use on the International Space Station. "If you have a problem with a fridge in space, you can't just call a service team to come fix your fridge like you can on Earth," said Alberto Gomes, senior principal engineer at Whirlpool Corporation. "When we develop fridges for household applications, reliability is a very important piece. You need the fridge to last for several years. We've brought in some expertise to this project on how to make these systems more reliable for space." If these experiments are successful, it shouldn't be long before astronauts have a reliable fridge in space, the researchers said. "During the last two years of this project, we have made tremendous strides in moving the technology forward," Groll said. "If these parabolic flights check out as we imagine they will and prove our system works in microgravity, we're just a couple years away from having a refrigerator for spaceflight. We're excited to provide the refrigerator for that flight. I think we have all the tools in place to do so." Controlling stake in Motor Sich bought via offshore for over $700 mln using loans from state banks of China MP Arakhamia A controlling stake in Motor Sich was bought via offshore for more than $700 million with violations without the permission of the Antimonopoly Committee of Ukraine (AMCU) using funds provided by Chinese state banks, a criminal investigation is underway, there is no final decision on the enterprise yet, Head of the Servant of the People parliamentary faction MP David Arakhamia. "Now we have a somewhat stalemate," he said on Ukraine 24 TV channel, refuting reports that the government had allegedly offered Motor Sich shares to Turkey or some other investors. Arakhamia recalled that the Chinese buyer came to the AMCU for permission a year after the acquisition of the controlling stake. However, during the investigation of the committee, it turned out that the shares were bought by related persons, which means they should have received permission before the transaction. "Someone has $700 million somewhere offshore. This is something that we have to deal with, and it will definitely happen in the criminal plane," the head of the faction said, pointing out that taxes were not paid in Ukraine. Asked who the Chinese investor is, Arakhamia said that the Ukrainian side turned to the Chinese diplomats to find out "if this is a state or private history." "Some time later, it turned out that those people, who bought, now with electronic ankle tags, with restriction of freedom, are in China and are accused of embezzlement on an especially large scale, since the creditors of this transaction were state-run banks, which now have claims against these people, who bought this plant without permission," the head of the faction said, describing the situation. According to him, Ukraine does not want to violate the interests of Chinese investors if they are legitimate investors, while the shares are seized and no other decisions have been made. Arakhamia said that now the task is to support the company as much as possible in implementing its contracts and obtaining new ones. Baghdad, April 15 : A booby-trapped drone struck a US-led coalition base at the Erbil airport, the capital of the semi-autonomous region of Kurdistan in Iraq, an official statement said. The Kurdish regional authorities investigated an explosion that occurred in Erbil International Airport on Wednesday night and discovered that it was caused by a drone carrying TNT explosives, the statement by the regional Ministry of Interior said. "Fortunately, the explosion did not cause any casualties except damages to a building," the statement said, adding that investigations are underway, Xinhua news agency reported. Hoshyar Zebari, a prominent Kurdish official and former Iraqi Foreign Minister, said in a tweet that "tonight there was yet another terrorist drone attack on Erbil airport. This is a clear and dangerous escalation". He said that it seems the same militia who targeted the airport two months ago was involved in the attack. No group has so far claimed responsibility for the rocket attack on the relatively peaceful Kurdistan region. On February 15, several rockets landed in and near Erbil airport and the coalition base, killing a foreign civilian contractor with the international coalition forces, and wounding nine others, including an American soldier. An unknown armed faction calling itself the Awliya al-Dam Brigades, or 'Guardians of blood', claimed responsibility for the February attack. Such attacks have frequently targeted Iraqi airports and military bases housing US troops, as well as the American embassy in Baghdad's Green Zone with mortar and rocket attacks. Associate Professor Ta Hai Tung (R) receives the Order of the Star from Italian ambassador to Vietnam Antonio Alessandro. Photo by VnExpress/Duong Tam. Associate Professor Ta Hai Tung has received the Ordine della Stella d'Italia for stellar contributions to promoting sci-tech connections between Vietnam and Italy. Tung, head of the International Research Institute for Multimedia, Information, Communication and Applications (MICA) at the Hanoi University of Science and Technology, received the Order of the Star of Italy from Italian ambassador Antonio Alessandro at an event held at the university Wednesday. The order, granted by the president of Italy, is conferred on Italians abroad or foreigners who have made especially meritorious contributions to promoting friendly relations and cooperation between Italy and other countries. Tung obtained his master from the Polytechnic University of Turin, Italy before defending his doctorate in Electronics and Telecommunications from the school in 2010. He made important contributions to the Italian research industry with many papers published in prestigious, specialized journals, the ambassador noted. Between 2011 and 2018, Tung worked as director of the International Collaboration Center for Research and Development on Satellite Navigation Technology in South East Asia (NAVIS), a collaboration between the Hanoi University of Science and Technology and the Polytechnic University of Turin. The international center specializes in studying and applying satellite navigation technologies. Tung has contributed significantly to the transfer of Italian and European navigating technologies to Vietnam towards improving local capabilities. As head of the MICA since 2018, Tung has been working closely with the NavSAS, or Navigation Signal Analysis and Simulation, which works to promote technological and economic growth through various activities including research exchange. "We highly appreciate Tung's contributions in promoting international scientific cooperation, which works as a tool to promote sustainable development and improve the quality of life in Vietnam and in the countries that he works with," ambassador Alessandro said. For his part, Tung said living and working in Italy gave the opportunity to appreciate and promote cooperation between the two countries in many fields, especially culture and education. "Once I returned to Vietnam, my partners and I have done our best to promote cooperation between the two nations in high-level scientific research and training for mutual benefit," he said. The U.S. Health Officials emphasize the pause is not likely to have a significant impact on U.S. vaccine distribution. The Food and Drug Administration has paused the Johnson & Johnson vaccination until it studies highly rare blood clots involving eight persons, out of an abundance of caution. Of the more than 6.8 million dosages that have been dispensed of the Johnson & Johnsons Covid-19 vaccine, seven people in the United States, as well as one individual in a clinical trial, acquired a severe condition causing blood clots. Clots originated in the veins that pump blood from the brain in seven of the eight patients with cerebral venous sinus thrombosis. The number of cases is extremely small. There has been one fatality, and a second is hospitalized in critical condition. Is such an overabundance of caution warranted when so many people are dying of Covid-19 every day, and the risk has shown to be extremely low. The clotting disease-causing alarm among vaccine recipients is distinct from ordinary blood clots, which affect hundreds of thousands of individuals per year. The seven women had clotting in their brains and a low amount of platelets, blood components that aid in the formation of natural clots in the event of an accident. Just one of the women was on hormonal medication, and none of the women had just given birth, which may increase the risk of more common blood clots. So far, no evidence has been found that birth control pills, which could raise the risk of blood clots, are involved. Not only did three of the women have massive, harmful clots in their brains, but they still had them in other areas of their bodies. According to the Food and Drug Administration, people who have administered the Johnson & Johnson vaccine during the last three weeks are being recommended to call their physicians if they experience serious headaches, stomach pain, leg pain, or shortness of breath. According to doctors, patients with such symptoms, especially young people, should be asked whether they have recently received a Covid vaccine. After specialist advisors to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention agreed on Wednesday that they required more time to investigate a potential connection to an uncommon yet dangerous blood-clotting condition, the usage of Johnson & Johnsons Covid-19 vaccine could be halted for a week to ten days. Experts are still attempting to determine how much of the clots were caused by the vaccine, if any. The investigation came after European officials concluded that an AstraZeneca injection may be to blame for a similar yet very rare clotting condition. The majority of advisory meetings conclude with a decision about whether or not to use a vaccine. However, despite considering many alternatives including whether to restrict vaccination usage to older people, as several European countries have done the panel representatives refused to vote, claiming that they lacked sufficient evidence to ascertain the possible dangers. The decision not to reintroduce vaccines may have far-reaching national and international consequences. It can even erode public confidence in vaccinations in general, slowing the supply of critical vaccines to rural and underserved areas. Dr. Camille Kotton of Harvard Medical School told the panel Putting this vaccine on pause, for those of us that are frontline health care workers, has really been devastating. She said that even momentarily missing the Johnson & Johnson vaccine was a major setback for attempts to halt the pandemic, especially in underserved areas. The pause, which was first suggested by the FDA on Tuesday, caused Johnson & Johnson to postpone the vaccines launch in Europe, where many countries were set to begin prescribing it this week. Europe suffers from the fallout from unusual reports of a similar blood disease, which has caused many countries to restrict or refuse the AstraZeneca-Oxford vaccines broad usage and propose alternatives. South Africa, which has been ravaged by a dangerous mutated strain of the virus, has already stopped using the Johnson & Johnson vaccine. Australia also confirmed that it would not be purchasing any doses. Furthermore, the European Union stated that it would only accept new agreements with firms that did not use the same technologies as Johnson & Johnson or AstraZeneca. While the committees duty was to the United States, Dr. Grace Lee of Stanford University, a panel specialist, noted that several countries adopt the United States example of vaccinations. She stayed I also feel the weight of the burden of a global responsibility that we also have and the impact that our decision-making can potentially worsen inequities. Advisory sessions typically conclude with a decision about whether or not a vaccination can be included. However, despite considering many alternatives, including whether to restrict vaccination usage to older people, as several European countries have done, the panel members refused to vote, claiming that they lacked sufficient evidence to ascertain the possible dangers. The eight cases are somewhat close to the AstraZeneca Covid vaccine, affecting several young women in Europe, where the vaccine was widely used. According to researchers, patients in Germany and Norway produced antibodies that triggered their platelets an abnormal reaction to the vaccine triggering a cascade of clotting and bleeding. Antibodies can be detected using specialized blood samples, and some of the patients in the United States tested positive. Not all were put to the test. AstraZeneca and Johnson & Johnson also use adenoviruses to carry DNA into human cells to develop coronavirus defenses. The blood disease, according to researchers, is caused by a part of the technology. They also mention that since the illness is rare, certain people are predisposed to have a bad reaction to the vaccine due to a biological quirk. Several scientists believe that if the vaccine was the sole reason, there would be several more cases. Experts noted that the risk window for vaccine recipients condition was still open during the panel discussion. Since almost 3.8 million patients got the vaccine in the past two weeks, new infections are possible. Within two weeks of the inoculation, the six women experienced extreme clotting. Officials also noted that people with the condition needed to be treated as soon as possible because the clots were so serious. Some patients required invasive procedures to remove large clots from blood vessels in their brains. Several panel members reiterated that two other vaccines from Moderna and Pfizer-BioNTech are available, neither associated with the clotting problem, so continuing the pause would not stop most people in the United States from being vaccinated. Since almost 3.8 million patients have obtained the vaccine during the past two weeks, specialists said the danger window for the disorder in vaccine users was still active and that new cases might occur throughout the panel debate. Within two weeks after receiving the injection, the six women experienced extreme clotting. Other physicians advocated for the sharing of health knowledge about the conditions diagnosis and care. Hospitals, emergency departments, and patients who had administered the vaccination might be more informed of the situation. The blood thinner heparin, commonly used to treat clots, may be harmful to these patients and should not be used. Officials have said that since the clots were too dangerous, patients with the disease wanted to be handled immediately. To extract massive clots from blood vessels in their brains, some patients need invasive procedures. Several panel members emphasized that there are two other vaccinations from Moderna and Pfizer-BioNTech that are available that are not linked to the clotting epidemic, but keeping the delay in place does not prevent any Americans from getting vaccinated. 'Safety Was Put Right Up Front' People will likely need a third dose of a Covid-19 vaccine within a year of getting fully vaccinated and may subsequently need annual shots to protect against the coronavirus, Pfizer's CEO Albert Bourla said Thursday. Pfizer and its German partner BioNTech are in the process of studying how long the protective immunity induced by the vaccines will last. Their findings will guide whether additional booster shots will be necessary. Bourla said it's "likely" that a booster will be needed within 12 months of the initial two-shot regimen. "It is extremely important to suppress the pool of people that can be susceptible to the virus," Bourla told CNBC Thursday during an event with CVS Health. Read more China urges Japan to reconsider decision on nuclear waste disposal: FM spokesperson Xinhua) 11:04, April 15, 2021 File photo taken on Oct. 12, 2017 shows huge tanks that store contaminated radioactive wastewater in Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant, in Fukushima Prefecture, Japan. (Xinhua) BEIJING, April 14 (Xinhua) -- China strongly urges Japan to reconsider its decision on the disposal of nuclear waste, a Foreign Ministry spokesperson said Wednesday. Spokesperson Zhao Lijian made the remarks at a daily news briefing when asked to comment on the international response to Japan's decision to dispose of Fukushima's radioactive water by releasing it into the sea. The international community including the Republic of Korea (ROK), Russia and the European Commission expressed deep concern over the issue. Zhao said China strongly urges the Japanese side to face up to its responsibility, follow the science, fulfill its international obligations and duly respond to the serious concerns of the international community, neighboring countries and its own people. Citing Japanese media report that the work of releasing nuclear waste into the sea will start in two years and last for 30 years and that the total amount of nuclear waste will exceed 1 million tonnes, Zhao said that the amount, duration, scope of affected areas and the risk level is unprecedented. He then raised three questions to the Japanese side. First, has the Japanese side really heard the doubts and concerns at home and abroad? Zhao pointed out that there were protest marches in many places in Japan including Tokyo and Fukushima. Besides China, ROK, Russia and the EU, 311 environmental groups expressed firm opposition to the Japanese decision. The Climate and Energy Campaigner at Greenpeace Japan said that the Japanese government turned its back on the clear evidence that the technology and conditions for greater storage capacity is available, they have opted for dumping the water into the Pacific Ocean. "The Japanese government has taken the wholly unjust decision in total disregard of the environment," he said. Second, does Japan's decision really comply with international law? Zhao said Japan's decision will set a precedent for discharging treated wastewater into the ocean after a serious nuclear accident. Japan, as a signatory to the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), should be aware of the relevant provisions of the Convention. States shall take all measures necessary to ensure that pollution arising from incidents or activities under their jurisdiction or control does not spread beyond the areas where they exercise sovereign rights in accordance with the Convention. "Japan is also obliged to undertake such international obligations as notification and full consultation, environmental assessment and monitoring, preventive measures to minimize risks, and information transparency," Zhao said. "Has Japan fulfilled all these obligations?" He further noted that the endorsement of the Japanese decision by the United States does not mean endorsement by the international community, and the United States should shoulder its responsibility and urge Japan to prudently handle the disposal issue in an honest, scientific and responsible manner for the sake of marine environment and mankind's health rather than confusing right with wrong, foregoing principles and adopting double standard. Third, does the nuclear wastewater that Japan plans to release into the sea really meet international standards? Zhao said that the assessment report of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) expert group clearly pointed out that the treated water still contains other radionuclides apart from tritium. According to statistics by Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings Inc., there are 62 kinds of radionuclides in the water. "The oceans are not Japan's trash can, and the Pacific Ocean is not Japan's sewer," said the spokesperson, adding that the price of Japan's disposal of nuclear waste should not be borne by the entire world. Zhao said the Japanese side should reevaluate the issue and refrain from wantonly discharging the wastewater before reaching consensus with all stakeholders and the IAEA through full consultations. "China reserves the right to make further reactions," Zhao added. (Web editor: Shi Xi, Liang Jun) [April 15, 2021] Freadom Announces 100 Best Places To Read In America CHICAGO, April 15, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Freadom, the premiere purpose-driven social enterprise lifestyle brand dedicating 100% of net profits towards transformative literacy initiatives, proudly announces their first photo contest, 100 Best Places to Read in America. The image-driven social media campaign celebrates readers, booklovers and literacy-advocates nationwide encouraging them to not only share their favorite reading spots, but to raise awareness for Freadom's ongoing mission to promote the vital need for literacy throughout the United States. "Our brand was built to address illiteracy--one of the driving causes related to inequality in our country," says Freadom Founder and CEO Brian Floriani. "We want to support literacy initiatives that innovatively bridge the gap in underserved communities, and raise awareness of the literacy crisis gripping America. 100 Best Places to Read in America showcases the importance and fun that reading has on all of our lives." To participate, simply take a picture of yourself or someone you know reading in a favorite place, include a brief caption on why this place is meaningful, then upload it here. Top images will be featured across Freadom's social media channels and website through July 16, 2021. A panel of judges will review and determine the top 100 submissions, which will be announced on July 23, 2021. Freadom is also encouraging audiences to vote for their favorite image via their Instagram page here, and the one with the most votes will be named People's Choice. Each entry receives a four-pack of custom designed Freadom stickers and the top 100 images will win a $50 gift card to be used for Freadom swag. The People's Choice photo will receive a $500 Freadom gift card and a $500 airline travel voucher. Freadom works closely with strategic partners to design and produce high-quality apparel and products. In response to what is an obvious funding gap in our communities to support literacy programs, Freadom has set two primary, audacious goals: to dedicate 100% of net profits to bold literacy initiatives across the country and to generate $100 million annually for literacy. Freadom has identified four charter beneficiary partners to date, including Little Free Library, READ Alliance, Reading Partners and Bernie's Book Bank in Chicago, with the goal of expanding beneficiaries and replicating their model nationwide. "I guess I consider myself a literacy entrepreneur as I've seen firsthand the profound impact that not being able to read proficiently can have on someone, which is why I founded Freadom to help bold and effective literacy initiatives scale more quickly and in a more sustainable way," added Floriani, "We believe equality begins with literacy and directly correlates to being able to fully access and participate in all that our country has to offer. We're working to ignite the fight for literacy by offering unique products and apparel to support meaningful change for all." To learn more about Freadom, their partners and the cause, please visit www.freadomusa.com. ABOUT FREADOM Freadom is a purpose-driven, for-profit lifestyle brand that was established in late 2020 by Brian Floriani, who is also the founder of the nonprofit organization Bernie's Book Bank in Chicago. Freadom collaborates with partners to design and produce high-quality, responsibly made apparel and products, while maintaining focus on an enterprise that is working to solve a root cause of inequality in our society - illiteracy. Freadom has the audacious goal of investing $100 Million to literacy initiatives annually by giving 100% of Freadom's net profits to support promising and bold literacy programs throughout America. View original content to download multimedia:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/freadom-announces-100-best-places-to-read-in-america-301269218.html SOURCE Freadom [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] Boris Johnson today backed Lord Pickles after the government watchdog warned over a lack of 'boundaries' in civil service links to business and said 'excuses' are being used to avoid checks. The PM said he 'thoroughly' agreed after the peer, head of the Advisory Committee on Business Appointments, delivered a damning assessment of the revolving door between Whitehall and the private sector. The former Cabinet minister said his 'eyebrows raised the full quarter-inch' when it emerged procurement chief Bill Crothers had been allowed to join Greensill as an adviser in September 2015 alongside his 149,000 role. The permission was given through an internal 'conflicts' process at the Cabinet Office - meaning he was never required to run it past Acoba. It also emerged tonight that Mr Crothers failed to ask permission before taking a not-for-profit role, earning him a further admonishment from Lord Pickles. The former civil servant was a trustee of the Chartered Institute of Procurement and Supply from November 2016 until he resigned in December 2018, Acoba revealed in a letter. Appearing before the Public Administration and Constitutional Affairs Committee - which has launched one of the seven separate inquiries being conducted into the controversy - Lord Pickles said he wanted to know how many other civil servants had a similar arrangement. Asked about Mr Crothers not requiring Acoba's approval before moving to take a post with Greensill Capital, the former Cabinet minister said: 'That raises some of the problems. 'This is not particularly unusual in terms of civil servants having second jobs but it is not usually seen at this level of the civil service. 'At the level that Mr Crothers was, the kind of way the system would have been used would have been to allow them to offer advice to Citizens' Advice or some other voluntary organisation, or sit on a board of a housing association or be involved with a health authority. 'That usually would present no problem because it would not usually involve any remuneration. 'So I was surprised with regard to the excuse and it did seem, talking to other colleagues who had enjoyed being civil servants in the past, that they also shared my surprise this seems to be a new thing, or a new excuse.' Lord Pickles said many of the outside interests taken on by civil servants were harmless. In an apparent reference to his time as Communities Secretary, the peer said: 'When I was Secretary of State I had a director whose husband ran a large travel agency, she was a director in that. I couldn't see a problem in that.' Lord Pickles, head of the Advisory Committee on Business Appointments, delivered a damning assessment of the revolving door between Whitehall and the private sector Bill Crothers (pictured left) spent several months as Government procurement head and a Greensill board adviser. The then Cabinet Office permanent secretary John Manzoni (pictured right) is thought to have approved the arrangement The Public Administration and Constitutional Affairs Committee chaired by William Wragg (pictured) has launched its own inquiry into lobbying Seven probes into the lobbying row Official Cabinet Office inquiry led by Nigel Boardman Cabinet Secretary Simon Case's review of outside interests among civil servants Treasury Committee inquiry Public Admin Committee inquiry Public Accounts Committee Committee on Standards in Public Life Cabinet Office review of the Lobbying Act Advertisement Lord Pickles said: 'If Crothers decided he wanted a milk round I don't think we'd be terribly worried, but his particular position in terms of running procurement and working for a commercial organisation is something that requires a full and frank and transparent explanation.' In a nod to the lack of powers for the watchdog, Lord Pickles pointed out that around 34,000 people left the civil service last year but Acoba only covered appointments for 108. He also insisted there needed to be 'consequences' for people who did not obey its guidance. Cabinet Secretary Simon Case, the UK's most senior civil servant, last night ordered Whitehall's top mandarins to notify him of any second jobs. Lord Pickles said contractors and consultants to the Government should have to sign a memorandum of understanding about the restrictions that would be placed on them after completing their public sector work. Explaining some of the 'anomalies in the system' regarding Lex Greensill's work in Downing Street, the peer said: 'Contractors, consultants, people who arrive and offer assistance, maybe during the pandemic or maybe as Mr Greensill did, they are not covered at all. 'I think that needs addressing and I think it needs addressing urgently.' He said there were steps that 'could be taken now' to have in place 'well before the summer'. 'Someone in Mr Greensill's place or someone offering advice on health equipment, they should at least sign a memorandum of understanding which would outline their responsibilities, outline the restrictions that would be placed on them once they left working with the Government,' said the former communities secretary. 'And I believe that memorandum of understanding should be a transparent one and should be published so everyone understands where they are.' David Cameron has suggested he will give evidence to a parliamentary inquiry into the Greensill lobbying storm The Treasury's probe will almost certainly examine how Lex Greensill enjoyed such access to the heart of government during the Cameron administration (pair pictured in Saudi Arabia in 2020) Lord Pickles said that the public was 'entitled' to know the arrangements for second roles being approved by the Cabinet Office, as with the Bill Crothers case. 'I would expect it to be recorded in a register, I would have expected that register to be transparent, I would have expected the rules to be known,' he told the MPs. 'So far as I know, the rules have never been published, therefore I have asked them to publish the rules this is not a satisfactory situation. 'And I think, not only you are entitled to know or I am entitled to know, I think the wider public are entitled to know what these arrangements are, how they apply, what criteria is raised, what checks are raised, what conditions are made on an agreement to do so.' Mr Johnson said he agreed 'thoroughly' with Lord Pickles that reforms were required. Speaking to broadcasters at Dartmouth College in Devon, Mr Johnson said: 'I think the most important thing is for us to get to the bottom of it properly and I want all ministers and civil servants to be making the information that needs to be known known to Mr Boardman and let's see what he has to say. 'You're absolutely right, we need to understand what's gone on here. 'I agree thoroughly with Lord Pickles.' Other former civil servants were today dragged into the row. The Daily Telegraph reported that Stephen Kelly, who was the government's chief operating officer from 2012 to 2014, also had roles at three tech companies that briefly overlapped. 'Upon his appointment as chief operating officer, Stephen resigned all outside commercial directorships, including roles at angel invested companies, and did not attend board meetings relating to previous appointments,' his spokeswoman told the paper. The Telegraph also said Lord Hogan-Howe, the former Metropolitan Police Commissioner, was a paid adviser to Greensill at the same time as working at the heart of Whitehall. 'I advised on product and organisational development but not on opportunities in the Cabinet Office or government,' he told the paper. Meanwhile, David Cameron has suggested he will give evidence to inquiries into Greensill as the government reels from another wave of lobbying revelations. A spokesman for the former PM said he will 'respond positively' to any approaches from MPs or the official probe by lawyer Nigel Boardman. Yesterday the Commons Treasury Committee launched an inquiry into the financial firm's collapse, which threatens thousands of British jobs at Liberty Steel. It came after Tory MPs, whipped by the Government, blocked a Labour motion to create a committee to specifically drill down into the lobbying saga. But the Treasury's probe will almost certainly examine how Lex Greensill enjoyed such access to the heart of government during the Cameron administration. And how Mr Cameron, later an adviser and shareholder, used his influence and contacts to lobby ministers and officials on Greensill's behalf - including texting Rishi Sunak in an unsuccessful effort to secure coronavirus loans. The Conservative ex-premier has already denied breaching lobbying rules but acknowledged he should have communicated via formal channels. A spokesman for Mr Cameron said he 'will respond positively to all such requests when the terms of reference of each inquiry are made clear and any invitations to provide evidence are received'. 'While he was an adviser to the business and not a board director, he is keen to ensure that lessons from it going into administration are learned,' the spokesman said. Boris Johnson (pictured this morning with dog Dilyn) has also tasked City lawyer Nigel Boardman with heading an inquiry into Greensill and lobbying In a letter to permanent secretaries, Simon Case said the disclosures were a cause of 'acute concern'. Sir David Normington, former permanent secretary of the Home Office, this morning said it was 'absolutely baffling' Mr Crothers was allowed to have a dual role. He told BBC Radio 4's Today programme: 'I've never come across anything like it in my 40 years in Whitehall. I know Simon Case is checking whether there are any other similar cases, I'd be very surprised if there were. 'I'm absolutely amazed that Bill Crothers could be allowed to work for Greensill while still in the civil service. But worse this allowed him to evade scrutiny of his appointment after he left the civil service - it's completely unacceptable.' Sir Alistair Graham, former chair of the Committee on Standards in Public Life, said Mr Cameron remained silent about Greensill for so long out of 'pure embarrassment'. He told GMB: 'How else can you explain it. The story unfolded over a long period of time, and the more it unfolded, the worse it got for him. As we found he'd arranged for Greensill and key colleague in Greensill to have a quiet drink with the Health Secretary to try to, and succeed to some extent, sell one of Greensill's services.' Cabinet Secretary Simon Case has ordered the heads of all government departments to search their ranks for civil servants taking money for a second job that could pose a potential conflict of interest Yesterday the Prime Minister insisted he had not spoken to Mr Cameron about his role in the Greensill affair Mr Johnson has also tasked City lawyer Nigel Boardman with heading an inquiry into Greensill and lobbying. Yesterday the Prime Minister insisted he had not spoken to Mr Cameron about his role in the Greensill affair. Speaking at PMQs, he said: 'The honest truth: I cannot remember when I last spoke to Dave. 'But if she [Labour MP Ruth Cadbury] wants to know whether I've had any contact with him about any of the matters that have been in the press, the answer is no.' Greensill, a firm that specialised in supply-chain financing, cratered into administration in March this year. It was a key backer of Liberty Steel, which is now in jeopardy and jobs hang in the balance. Mr Greensill, an Australian venture capitalist, was brought into government by the late former Cabinet Secretary Lord Heywood under Mr Cameron. He was given a desk and had a Downing Street business card describing him as a 'senior adviser' to the prime minister. Strictly Come Dancing is reportedly hoping to a land a 'star of the pandemic' for the 2021 series with Professor Chris Whitty at the top of the list. The hit BBC One dance show is said to be making 'discreet enquiries' over the next few weeks in a bid to secure England's Chief Medical Officer Whitty, 54, his deputy Jonathan Van-Tam, or vaccine tsar Kate Bingham. It is reported that Health Secretary Matt Hancock was also lined-up as a possible contestant but his 'hectic schedule' ruled him out from taking part. Strictly 2021? Strictly Come Dancing is reportedly hoping to a land a 'star of the pandemic' for the 2021 series with Professor Chris Whitty, pictured, at the top of the list Line-up? Whitty's deputy Jonathan Van-Tam and vaccine tsar Kate Bingham (L-R) are also reportedly being lined-up for the 2021 series A collection of politicians have taken part in previous series including Ann Widdecombe in 2010, Ed Balls in 2016 and Jacqui Smith in 2020. A source told The Sun: 'Eighteen months ago Chris Whitty, Jonathan Van-Tam and Kate Bingham were utter unknowns. Today they're practically household names. 'After all the doom and gloom of Covid, it would be brilliant viewing to get one of these three out of their suits and into some sparkles. Chris is top of the list, and discreet enquiries will be made over the next few weeks.' They added: 'Obviously it's all dependent on where we are on the R rate, but landing a star of the pandemic is the goal. Unfortunately it's been made clear Matt Hancock's hectic schedule won't allow for a weekly waltz so he's been ruled out.' Exciting: The hit BBC One dance show is said to be making 'discreet enquiries' over the next few weeks in a bid to secure England's Chief Medical Officer Whitty, 54 (2020 winners Oti Mabuse and Bill Bailey pictured) MailOnline has contacted Strictly Come Dancing for comment. Whitty has become a household name in Britain over the past year, regularly appearing at Downing Street briefings to issue updates on the pandemic. The professor has developed something of a fan following among the public for his straight-talking, trustworthy and unflappable nature at the press conferences. Earlier this year, a range of merchandise was released in appreciation of England's Chief Medical Officer - from mugs to T-shirts, birthday cards and cardboard masks. Reports: It is reported that Health Secretary Matt Hancock was also lined-up as a possible contestant but his 'hectic schedule' ruled him out from taking part Politicians: A collection of politicians have taken part in previous series including Ann Widdecombe in 2010, Ed Balls in 2016 and Jacqui Smith, pictured, in 2020 Among them was a 10 mug referencing Dub Be Good to Me, saying: 'Hands, face, space, walk jam nitty-gritty; You're listening to advice from Professor Chris Whitty.' There were birthday cards with his face on, with one stating: 'The science is saying that you are one year older' - and another: 'If you've planned anything, unplan it.' And there is a range of T-shirts and mugs with the phrase 'next slide please' in reference to him asking for a following graphic during the press conferences. Deputy chief medical officer Van-Tam, who also regularly appears at the press conferences, has inspired his own range of products from T-shirts to mugs. Household name: Whitty has become a household name in Britain over the past year, regularly appearing at Downing Street briefings to issue updates on the pandemic (pictured in July) Number 10's 'favourite' health chief: Who is Jonathan Van Tam? Professor Van Tam - dubbed JVT - received cult status throughout his appearances flanking ministers at Downing Street press briefings. He took on the role of deputy chief medical officer for England in 2017 and leads on health protection. He won several accolades for his forthright and colourful communications style and has accumulated a hoard of loyal fans who fawn over his use of elaborate extended metaphors. These included likening the production of the Covid vaccine to a train. When the Pfizer vaccine was approved, he triumphantly announced: 'The train has now slowed down safely, it is at the station.' He steamed ahead with the drawn-out analogy, announcing that the train would be stopping all over the country and urging people to 'get on'. He said there would be 'several more trains' coming down the tracks - believed to be a coded signal that not everyone would receive a jab in the first phase of the rollout. When explaining the logistical difficulties of storing the Pfizer vaccine, he used a bizarre yoghurt pot analogy. 'It is not a yoghurt that can be taken out of the fridge and put back multiple times,' he said, before later trending on Twitter. Prof Van Tam - whose mother called him 'Johnny' - has previously appealed for Britons not to 'tear the pants out of' a looser lockdown, and likened the cutting-edge scientific quest for treatments to a football penalty shoot out. Advertisement Among them is an 8.95 mug saying 'J.V. Tea' and a 33.99 hoodie with his face on, saying 'The Prof. Jonathan Van-Tam Appreciation Society'. The deputy chief medical officer has provided a rare ray of sunshine during this Covid crisis with his offbeat analogies. Professor Van Tam - dubbed JVT - received cult status throughout his appearances flanking ministers at Downing Street press briefings. He won several accolades for his forthright and colourful communications style and accumulated a hoard of loyal fans who fawn over his use of elaborate extended metaphors. In May, he appealed for Britons not to 'tear the pants out of' a more-relaxed lockdown and urged them to be sensible to avoid a spike in infections. He also likened the Covid vaccine to a train stopping all over the country and urging people to 'get on'. When explaining the logistical difficulties of storing the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine, he said it is 'not a yoghurt that can be taken out of the fridge and put back multiple times'. In February, responding to rumours that he was set to appear on Strictly, he told ITV News: 'I think it would be rather like watching Jumbo on ice. 'But I don't want to spoil the bookmakers' books, so I'll say no more than that.' Strictly professional dancer Janette Manrara backed calls for him to appear on the show, telling Jeremy Vine on Channel 5: 'I feel like he could be really good in ballroom because he's quite elegant.' It comes after it was reported that the BBC is planning for the 2021 series to resume its full 13-show run this autumn after the 2020 show was reduced to just nine weeks due to Covid restrictions. It was also claimed that the much-anticipated Blackpool special will be back this year, after travel restrictions meant a trip to the seaside town last year was impossible. A source recently told The Sun: 'They're going to put on a full series this year. That means 13 episodes will and all of the themed weeks. The pinnacle will be the trip to Blackpool and that's always been the way on Strictly. 'As things stand, the whole show will head to the North West in November. Everyone is really excited.' Strictly's eighteenth series faced major setbacks and was forced to go ahead with strict social distancing protocols in place. This meant the annual Blackpool trip was scrapped, and the competition only ran for nine episodes. However, the BBC succeeded in keeping the show on air despite a handful of COVID-19 outbreaks with Katya Jones testing positive and leaving the show early with her celebrity partner Nicola Adams. Popstar HRVY, 22, also tested positive before the show aired, however was able to recover in time to take part. Here come the girls! Making up the female pros are Amy Dowden, Oti Mabuse, Luba Mushtuk, Nadiya Bychkova, Dianne Buswell, Janette Manrara, Karen Hauer, Katya Jones and Nancy Xu (pictured L-R in 2020) Last month the BBC confirmed the 16 professional dancers who will hit the dance floor this Autumn, with fan favourites such as Anton Du Beke, Johannes Radebe and Dianne Buswell all back. Anton, 54, is to continue his reign as Strictly Come Dancing's longest-serving professional dancer by marking his 19th season on the show. Making up the female pros are Oti Mabuse, Janette Manrara, Amy Dowden, Dianne Buswell, Karen Hauer, Katya Jones, Luba Mushtuk, Nadiya Bychkova and Nancy Xu. While Aljaz Skorjanec, Anton Du Beke, Giovanni Pernice, Gorka Marquez, Graziano Di Prima, Johannes Radebe and Neil Jones make up the male pros. Supplier News 15 April 2021 Most new business owners struggle with placing their business online. If you are also facing this challenge, social media could be your strongest resort. Latest figures from a study revealed that there are 3.78 billion social media users worldwide. Therefore, it is certain that your target audience is reading reviews about your business online. Social media is one of the leading resources for travellers to seek recommendations for accommodations for their next travel destination. This is why hotel owners must make sure they are present where their audience is. Social media management for hotels is an essential part of marketing strategy. Social media channels help you accomplish many goals related to your business - ranging from creating brand awareness to establishing your brand's identity. Minutely targeting your audience to establish a relationship and drive organic interactions encourages direct bookings. How can hotels use social media? The impact of social media on the hotel industry has grown multifold in the last few years. Let us now take you through a series of steps you can take to increase your business' revenue with the power of social media. Employ the right channels: Drive your focus on and engage with your audience on the platforms where they are. Learn your target audience's digital whereabouts and use your financial resources judiciously. There are two parts to this firstly, find the kind of audience that is interested in your offerings or a potential buyer. Secondly, approach the audience that displays buying behaviour that favours your brand. Manage your resources: Handling multiple social media channels involves multiple tasks like creating content, responding to queries or comments etc. This requires a great deal of planning and efficient use of manpower, skill sets, budget etc. However, social media marketing in the hospitality industry is not limited to just consistent posting. It is driven by a list of clearly laid-out goals. Setting up your channels is time-consuming and requires several iterations before a basic plan can take shape. Apart from resources, you will need to brainstorm ideas that your audience enjoys. Spending some time researching channels is definitely the most important part of your social media plan. Create content to match the purchase cycle: At its core, social media management for hotels is based on building awareness about your business at every stage of the buyer's purchase journey. The principles of targeting consumers at each part of the purchase cycle remain the same. Your relationship with your customer doesn't end when they've made the purchase - it in fact begins there. You must therefore try to keep them constantly engaged with surveys, reminders, and feedback at regular intervals. Make content quality your priority: In 2019, an average adult spent 2 hours and 22 minutes per day on social media. Since the lockdowns of 20202, this has almost doubled. Since your audience is spending so much time of their day online, you need to ensure your content is worthy of their attention. Content is what drives your brand on social media - because of its quality of socialization and shareability. Social media users today are sagacious, and your quality of content needs to match that, compelling them to want to become your customers. With mediocre content, you would not want to risk low engagement. Encourage purchases: The ultimate aim of any marketing activity is to drive sales. Social media is a great way to prompt users to transact without being too salesy. It is your responsibility to make it easier for people to not just engage with your content on social media, but also purchase if they so wish. Facilitating purchases on the social media channels themselves, makes for a frictionless shopping experience, apart from driving traffic. Improve brand awareness: When done right, social media management for hotels has the unique benefit of creating and nurturing a community around your business' expertise. Having a dedicated following on social media lets you connect with your audience by means of discussion boards, forums, etc. It is also a great opportunity to keep up with the trends of your industry. Along with brand awareness, having a community is a tool for spreading the word about your brand and gaining social proof. Induce lead generation tactics: In order to drive leads, you need to pay close attention to combining the existing features of various social media channels with effective 'calls-to-action'. To personalize the experience subsequently, build lead capturing landing pages as per your campaigns. It is also important to draft your social media descriptions wisely. Give your new visitors a glimpse of your business' unique selling points, and more importantly, explain accurately what you do and who you are. Having a simple link to your website can help you gain more foot traffic on your website. Conclusion Your audience wants to hear from you and engage with you, no matter the scale of your business. Therefore, it's important that you are present when they look for you and respond when they need you. Hotelogix helps you carefully plan your social media strategy with regular updates on trends. To improve your online presence and reviews, Hotelogix has partnered with 3rd party platforms. With Hotelogix all-around software you can automate reviews and feedback requests and interact with your past and potential guests using a single dashboard. It is time for you to get creative and have your social media goals met with a little help from Hotelogix. Hotelogix Editorial Desk Hotelogix's team of researchers and writers are constantly innovating to share the latest trends from the travel and hospitality space. Got suggestions? Write to us on [email protected] Erpenbeck is a writer who makes you feel like love of literature is an extension of the love of family, of purpose, and of noble endeavour. She reflects on her work as an opera director and an opera lover, she considers Ovid, whom she studied as a child, and Thomas Mann, whom she was not allowed to study as a child. Germans from East and West stand on the Berlin Wall in front of the Brandenburg Gate in the momentous month of November 1989. Credit: This sense of longing for the former socialist East Germany Ostalgie wafts through her work like a perfume memory cant forget. Her depictions of the German Democratic Republic are interlinked with memories of her loved ones: her mothers flat, a childhood crush, her university classmates. Jenny Erpenbecks Not A Novel shows a true artisan of the page and stage pausing to deliver her private meditations on some public artworks that stand as monuments to everything innovative, compassionate, and daring about European literature. Erpenbeck is well situated for the task. Born into a family of writers and translators in East Berlin, Erpenbeck speaks of herself as a virtual refugee from an imagined community that no longer exists. Most tellingly for an Australian reader, she considers the place of refugees in her society and explores the cultural richness of a group of refugees she knows personally. A horrified reflection on a New York academic who praises Syrian refugees for being the most easily assimilated by Western culture reminds us that sometimes even noble goals are fraught with ugly prejudices and difficult choices. Still, it is impossible to think about the GDR without thinking about the constant surveillance by the secret police, the Stasi, who recruited citizens to spy on each other. Erpenbecks engagement with the topic is oblique, but alive with a novelists eye for telling detail. Credit: She quotes Stasi head Erich Mielke, a bureaucrat of totalitarian reach and scope, as someone who just wants to love the citizens of the GDR. Erpenbeck leaves the reader to identify any Orwellian resonances her focus is on telling vignette and the texture of memory. Nothing about Erpenbeck is obvious, and she does not lapse into value judgments of Germanys complex past. Instead, her reflections on East Germany are whimsical, often surprising. She describes the street of her first childhood home, bisected by the Berlin wall, as a home at the ends of the earth, a place of great safety, after all what business would a bad guy have on a dead end street? Its a question that keeps coming up throughout the piece, such as when Erpenbeck reads her Stasi file and finds the only person who informed on her was the young man who used to call her anonymously to play Beatles songs and once saw her play a mermaid in a school play. Many people around the world are mourning the death of Prince Philip, the Duke of Edinburgh. As the longest serving royal consort, Philip was a figurehead in a lot of peoples lives for many decades. Now that he is no longer alive, fans are looking back on his relationships with other members of the royal family, namely Princess Diana. So, were Philip and Diana friendly? Did Prince Philip even like Princess Diana? Princess Diana and Prince Philip | Tim Graham Photo Library via Getty Images Prince Philips death On Apr. 9th, news of Philips death was made public. It is with deep sorrow that Her Majesty The Queen has announced the death of her beloved husband, His Royal Highness The Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, the royal familys official Instagram account announced. His Royal Highness passed away peacefully this morning at Windsor Castle, the post continued. The Royal Family join with people around the world in mourning his loss. Further announcements will be made in due course. Prince Philip and Princess Dianas relationship Though Diana had a bit of a tumultuous relationship with many of the royals, Prince Philip made an extra effort to welcome his new daughter-in-law into the family. RELATED: Prince Philips Net Worth When He Died Was Lower Than You Might Think When Diana first joined the royal family, it was Philip who came to her aid, sitting next to her at black-tie dinners and chatting to her while she learned to master the art of small talk, an excerpt from Ingrid Sewards new book Prince Philip Revealed reads. As she began to become discontent with royal life, Diana grew closer to Philip. When (Diana) found the restrictions of royal life difficult, it was Philip who helped her, the book reads, according to an excerpt from PEOPLE Royals. Once she was married, she never sat next to her husband; she was always sat next to Philip at the endless black-tie dinners, and he took care of her. Even as Princess Dianas relationship with Prince Charles ventured into unsalvageable territory, Philip remained sympathetic to Diana. As the couples marriage began to crumble and her increasingly erratic behaviour threatened the image of the monarchy, he tried again to help, setting up a highly personal correspondence with her and explaining that he understood the difficulties of marrying into the Royal Family, the book states. Prince Philip tried to save Diana and Charles marriage When it became clear that Charles was cheating on Diana with Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall, Philip was shocked and offered sympathies to Diana. RELATED: Why Prince Harry Will Have to Wear a Suit to Prince Philips Funeral, Unlike Prince Charles and Prince William We never dreamed he might feel like leaving you for her, Philip wrote of his son to Diana in a letter, according to the book. I cannot imagine anyone in their right mind leaving you for Camilla. Such a prospect never entered our heads. Philip even offered to help Diana and Charles work on their marriage. I can only repeat what I have said before, he wrote. If invited, I will always do my utmost to help you and Charles to the best of my ability. But I am quite ready to concede that I have no talent as a marriage counsellor! Unfortunately, the friendship between them ended when Prince Philp asked Princess Diana to look into herself to see what could have caused Charles to go back to Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall. The idea that Diana could have been the cause of the infidelity offended her and ended their communication. Their relationship remained fractured until Princess Dianas death in 1997. RELATED: The Heartbreaking Reason that Prince Charles Cheating on Princess Diana was Inevitable Photo: Contributed The ex-boyfriend who murdered Burnabys Nicole Porciello has been sentenced to life in prison with no chance of parole for 15 years. Jan Poepl pleaded guilty to second degree murder in February in relation to Porciellos November 2018 death. At a sentencing hearing last month, the court heard that Poepl, her on-again, off-again boyfriend for seven years, had become jealous that she was seeing another man. On Nov. 16, 2018, Poepl picked Porciello up in a rental vehicle and stabbed her 47 times, according to an agreement statement of facts read out in court. Later, he drove the vehicle at high speed into a light standard on the Barnet Highway, according to the statement. Emergency crews had to cut Poepl out of the vehicle with the Jaws of Life, but Porciello, who also used the surname Hasselmann, was found unresponsive in a ditch 30 feet away, according to police statements at the time. Second-degree murder carries a mandatory life sentence with between 10 and 25 years of parole ineligibility. Crown prosecutor Karima Adani argued for a 15-year period of parole ineligibility. Poepls lawyer, Kevin Westell, called for 10 years without parole eligibility. On Tuesday, B.C. Supreme Court Justice Kathleen Ker sentenced him to life in prison without eligibility for parole for 15 years. Porciello, who was 34 years old when she was killed, worked as an education assistant at Templeton Secondary School in Vancouver. Her son was 10 when Poepl took her life. Porciellos family and friends launched a social media campaign ahead of Poepls final sentencing hearing to bring attention to her tragic death and the possibility that Poepl could end up eligible for parole in 10 years. April 15, 2021 Three Recent Failures In Foreign Policy Coordination - Why Is Jake Sullivan Creating Such A Mess? This was fun to watch. U.S. Navy ships were supposed to sail into the Black Sea "in a show of support for Ukraine" and to "send a specific message to Moscow" due to "concerns about mounting tensions between Ukraine and Russia." Moscow then let it be known that it was not amused about the obviously preplanned provocation: "We warn the United States that it will be better for them to stay far away from Crimea and our Black Sea coast. It will be for their own good." Next the U.S. Navy put its tail between its legs "due to concerns about escalating tensions between Russia and Ukraine." So the U.S. wanted to send ships due to "concerns about mounting tensions between Ukraine and Russia" and then pulled them back due to "concerns about escalating tensions between Russia and Ukraine". Here is the trail: CNN April 9 - US considering sending warships to Black Sea amid Russia-Ukraine tensions The United States is considering sending warships into the Black Sea in the next few weeks in a show of support for Ukraine amid Russia's increased military presence on Ukraine's eastern border, a US defense official told CNN Thursday. The US Navy routinely operates in the Black Sea, but a deployment of warships now would send a specific message to Moscow that the US is closely watching, the official said. ... The Biden administration and the international community have expressed concerns about mounting tensions between Ukraine and Russia. MEE April 9 - US notified Turkey about warship deployment in the Black Sea, Ankara says The United States has notified Turkey that it intends to deploy two warships to the Black Sea amid rising tensions with Russia, Turkish foreign ministry sources said on Friday. Washington made the notification just over two weeks ago, as required under the Montreux Convention on passage through the Bosporus and Dardanelles straits. The warships will stay in the Black Sea until 5 May. Reuters April 13 - Russia warns Black Sea-bound US warships to stay away from Crimea Moscow warned the United States on Tuesday to keep its warships away from the Russian-occupied Crimean peninsula, calling their deployment in the Black Sea a provocation. ... Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov was cited by Russian news agencies on Tuesday as warning U.S. warships in the Black Sea to keep their distance, saying the risk of unspecified incidents was very high. "There is absolutely nothing for American ships to be doing near our shores, this is purely a provocative action. Provocative in the direct sense of the word: they are testing our strength, playing on our nerves. They will not succeed," Ryabkov was cited as saying. "We warn the United States that it will be better for them to stay far away from Crimea and our Black Sea coast. It will be for their own good." Politico April 15 - U.S. drops plans to send destroyers into the Black Sea due to concerns over Russia The Pentagon has scrapped a potential Black Sea transit by two Navy destroyers this week due to concerns about escalating tensions between Russia and Ukraine, according to two U.S. officials familiar with the plans. ... The tentative transit, first reported by CNN, was not unusual or designed to send any particular new signal, as the U.S. Navy typically conducts eight or nine such movements per year, the person said. But after new fighting erupted in Eastern Europe between Ukrainian soldiers and Russian-backed separatists, officials decided not to undertake the transit to avoid needlessly escalating the situation, the person said. Then came the next funny thing. Biden asked Putin for a summit in a third country. The Russians then said lets first see how you behave. Next Biden puts 'tough sanction' on Russia for things that it likely did not even do. Result - no summit. Then there was this silly story about Russia (Iran, China) paying bounties to the Taliban to kill U.S. soldiers but with no soldiers getting killed. That obvious nonsense was officially buried today: U.S. Intel Walks Back Claim Russians Put Bounties on American Troops [O]n Thursday, the Biden administration announced that U.S. intelligence only had low to moderate confidence in the story after all. Translated from the jargon of spyworld, that means the intelligence agencies have found the story is, at best, unprovenand possibly untrue. But just yesterday the Biden administration used the very same false bounty claim to justify the sanctions on Russia: The sanctions will be among what President Bidens aides say are seen and unseen steps in response to the hacking, known as SolarWinds; to the C.I.A.s assessment that Russia offered to pay bounties to militants in Afghanistan to kill American troops; and to Russias yearslong effort to interfere in United States elections, according to American officials and others who have been briefed on the actions. All three, the ship sending and pullback, the attempt to get a summit with Putin to then issue shortsighted and dangerous sanctions, and the contradicting 'Russian bounty' tale point to badly coordinated policy planning. Isn't Jake Sullivan, Biden's National Security Advisor, supposed to plan and coordinate such steps? So far he has been a creating a total mess. Posted by b on April 15, 2021 at 17:48 UTC | Permalink Comments next page SAO PAULO, April 15, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- BBM Logistics, one of the biggest road modal logistics operators in Brazil and Mercosul, has been recognized and is now part of the Financial Times' Americas' Fastest Growing Companies List in 2021. This important award is given by the media outlet and by Statista, world leader in statistics and industry listing provider. Among the 500 companies awarded, BBM Logistics, which recently announced its 2020 results, with earnings of 1.2 billion reais, a growth of 70 % in comparison to 2019, has been elected as the only Brazilian company in the transportation sector and appears on this list beside major global companies such as Lyft and Uber. The fastest growing companies, 500 companies altogether, appear on the list, released on-line, today, April 13th, and can be accessed on The Financial Times website. The complete report, with case studies and this year's classification analysis will be published on-line and printed on April 29th by the media outlet. The criteria for the FT award takes into consideration the companies that contributed the most to the economic growth and that present a fast growth rate. The FT list was compiled alongside Statista and classifies all of Americas' participants by the Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) in revenue between 2016 and 2019. "Among millions of active companies in the Americas only 500 have been chosen. BBM Logistics takes pride in being recognized by The Financial Times", celebrates Andre Prado, BBM's CEO. "This achievement has come to crown our strategic planning, our approach focusing on differentiated logistic solutions, in all aspects of logistics, our market positioning and the sheer capacity of our team". About BBM Logistica BBM Logistica is one of the main logistics operators in Mercosur and was elected by the Financial Times as one of the eight fastest growing carriers in the Americas, being a single representative from Brazil. Founded under the End-to-End concept, operating from the raw material to the end customer, the company provides e-commerce, fractional transport and general cargo, international logistics solutions, in addition to dedicated operations for the forest, chemical, industrial gas and others. With 25 years of experience, since the entry in 2017 of the Stratus Private Equity Fund and the new management team, BBM has become a consolidator of the road transport sector, acquiring highly reputable companies such as Transeich (2018), Translovato (2019), Translag (2019) and Dialogo (2020), and is a listed public company on B3 since 2019. Today, with more than 5,000 employees, 3,000 vehicles in operation and approximately 8 million deliveries per year, BBM is the only fully Omnichannel in the market, providing logistical solutions for any sales channel. www.bbmlogistica.com.br Investor relations: [email protected] For more information : Claudia Reis [email protected] Tel.: 11 30312388 Theo Carnier [email protected] Tel. 11 30312388 SOURCE BBM Logistica Related Links http://www.bbmlogistica.com.br New York, April 15, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Reportlinker.com announces the release of the report "Oil ad Gas Asset Integrity Management Services Market - Growth, Trends, COVID-19 Impact, and Forecasts (2021 - 2026)" - https://www.reportlinker.com/p06062831/?utm_source=GNW With the continued increase in the demand for production, a majority of the assets are expected to be further used during the forecast period. Moreover, the offshore oil and gas platforms are subjected to severe ocean currents, corrosive saltwater, and frequent hurricanes. Unlike drilling rigs, which are mobile, platforms cannot be brought to shore for repairs. Many of the platforms are very old and the maintenance records are either missing or unreliable. With the aging infrastructure, the demand for asset integrity management services in the oil and gas sector is expected to increase, in order to prolong the life of these assets. However, the lower prices of oil and gas led to reduced expenditure on CAPEX and OPEX by several major operators globallly. This factor is expected hinder the grhowth of the market. - The downstream sector is expected to dominate the oil and gas asset integrity management services market during forecast period. - The aging oil and gas infrastructure in the Asia-Pacific region is expected to create business opportunities for then companies involved in asset integrity management services in the region. - North America is expected to continue to be a dominant market, due to the aging infrastructure, mainly in the upstream and midstream sectors. Key Market Trends Downstream Sector to Dominate the Market - Asset integrity management (AIM) services are deployed in the oil and gas refinery sector and other process plants, in order to help track the performance of assets, carry out inspections, and improve the reliability of equipment, plant safety, and profitability. - The global refining sector is witnessing an increased demand for refined products from the chemical and petrochemical industry. The higher margins have propelled the crack spread, which is a crucial factor for the profitability of oil refiners. This factor also encouraged investments in new projects. - Capacity upgrades may lead the way, as industry players invest in infrastructure that can handle more crude oil. In addition, the structure and the design of plants are becoming complex day-by-day. - Furthermore, in the past two decades, many major accidents were witnessed in the process plants, worldwide, owing to the factors, like delay in handing equipment for inspection, overstretching equipment run, improper maintenance practices, not undertaking proper inspection upon repair, and others. - Due to the aforementioned factors, the refining businesses and companies are now actively investing in asset integrity management services, in order to increase their productivity and reduce costs. Hence, the downstream sector is expected to witness a significant growth during the forecast period. North America to Dominate the Market - North America has one of the oldest midstream infrastructures, with many oil and gas pipelines older than 40 years. The upstream infrastructure in the country is also aging. Most of the active platforms in the Gulf of Mexico are older than 25 years. - Apart from that, the existing upstream and midstream infrastructure in the region is vast in nature. The United States has about 2.5 million km of oil and gas pipeline, while Canada has about 800,000 km of pipeline. As a result of large and aging infrastructure, North America is expected to lead the oil and gas asset integrity management services market during the forecast period. - Furthermore, after the explosion of the Deepwater Horizon in the Gulf of Mexico, the United States reassessed and strengthened the safety requirements for offshore drilling, exploration, and production. - Furthermore, about 2,996 active production platforms exist on the US Outer Continental Shelf, with about 40% of these facilities older than 25 years. - The US government recently put forward several proposals for offering new offshore territories for drilling activities. These programs, once approved, are expected to attract companies to invest in the offshore development projects. This factor, in turn, is expected to augment the growth of the market during the forecast period. Competitive Landscape The global oil and gas asset integrity management services market is fragmented. Some of the major companies include Aker Solutions ASA, Bureau Veritas S A, Fluor Corporation, and Technip FMC. Reasons to Purchase this report: - The market estimate (ME) sheet in Excel format - 3 months of analyst support Read the full report: https://www.reportlinker.com/p06062831/?utm_source=GNW About Reportlinker ReportLinker is an award-winning market research solution. Reportlinker finds and organizes the latest industry data so you get all the market research you need - instantly, in one place. __________________________ The principal of the celebrity-loving private New York City school that charges $57,000 per year says he is 'disappointed' a math teacher penned an expose saying students are being indoctrinated by radical race theory that makes them ashamed to be white. Paul Rossi, a math teacher at Grace Church High School in Manhattan's NoHo neighborhood, publicly blasted his employer in a blog post on Tuesday. He accused the school of 'indoctrinating' students with 'anti-racism' ideology that he says induces shame in white students. Rossi also said the school wanted teachers to embrace anti-racism training and that they are required to 'treat students differently on the basis of race'. Principal George P. Davison sent a letter to parents and staff in the wake of Rossi's scathing post saying he was 'disappointed' the math teacher had chosen to air his 'differences' in a public forum. Davison failed to address any of the claims raised by Rossi. The school, which has two campuses in lower Manhattan that caters for grade and high school students, is where a number of celebrities send their children. The grade school campus, in particular, has a security guard dressed in a business suit patrolling the sidewalk every morning and afternoon as SUV after SUV rolls through to drop off or pick up students. Nannies are also often spotted crowding the sidewalk around pick-up time. DailyMail.com observed at least three staff members outside the school on Thursday morning greeting grade school students as they arrived. It is the same elite private school that was slammed last month after it emerged students were being banned from using the words mom and dad and Merry Christmas in a bid to make it a more 'inclusive' place. George P. Davison, the head of the Grace Church High School in Manhattan, sent a letter to parents and staff saying he was 'disappointed' math teacher Paul Rossi had publicly blasted the private school in a blog post Following Rossi's scathing post, principal George P. Davison sent a letter to parents and staff saying he was 'disappointed' the math teacher had chosen to air his 'differences' in a public forum In his letter to parents, Davison, who did not name Rossi, said that Grace had 'respect for the wide spectrum of political views that our faculty members hold' but it was their expectation that staff would find 'appropriate venues and times to raise concerns'. 'As you may be aware, a member of the faculty wrote and posted an article that is critical of Grace and of our efforts to build a school where everyone feels they belong,' his letter said. 'The process of building a community is often challenging, and I am disappointed that this individual felt it necessary to air his differences in this way. 'We have always held the goal of fostering an environment that is safe and welcoming for all members of the community across a myriad of differences. This is a work in progress, and while we are not always as successful as we would hope, we know that it requires the constructive engagement of everyone in the community.' A spokesman for the school insisted to DailyMail.com that Rossi would not be fired or disciplined in any way for going public with his criticisms. The assurances come amid a wave of cancel culture in recent months. Rossi had acknowledged in his blog post, which was published on former New York Times opinion writer Bari Weiss's Substack newsletter, that his public criticism of the private Episcopal school could cost him his job. It is not yet clear if parents at the elite school have complained or demanded any action over Rossi's column. Rossi, in his blog post, had accused the school of indoctrinating students with 'anti-racism' ideology that 'induces shame' in white students for being 'oppressors'. He said he decided to come forward because he could no longer stay silent while 'witnessing the harmful impact' that anti-racism instruction has on children. Paul Rossi, a math teacher at Grace Church High School in Manhattan's NoHo neighborhood, publicly blasted his employer in a public blog post on Tuesday Grace Church High School is a $57,000-a-year private school in New York City. The school, which has two campuses in lower Manhattan that caters for grade and high school students, is where a number of celebrities send their children The grade school campus (pictured above in a file photo) has a security guard dressed in a business suit patrolling the sidewalk every morning and afternoon as SUV after SUV rolls through to drop off or pick up students Rossi wrote: 'As a teacher, my first obligation is to my students. But right now, my school is asking me to embrace 'antiracism' training and pedagogy that I believe is deeply harmful to them and to any person who seeks to nurture the virtues of curiosity, empathy and understanding.' Rossi said that he and other teachers at the school were being required to 'treat students differently on the basis of race.' Rossi claimed that students at Grace High School 'are pressured to conform their opinions to those broadly associated with their race and gender and to minimize or dismiss individual experiences that don't match those assumptions'. He said while white students are 'assigned' the 'morally compromised status of 'oppressor',' minority students are being 'cultivated' with the idea that they are 'oppressed' as well as 'resentful, morally superior, and dependent.' 'All of this is done in the name of 'equity,' but it is the opposite of fair,' according to Rossi. 'In reality, all of this reinforces the worst impulses we have as human beings: our tendency toward tribalism and sectarianism that a truly liberal education is meant to transcend.' Rossi also alleged that the school has held 'whites-only' student and faculty meetings on Zoom and that 'such racially segregated sessions are now commonplace.' Speaking of the meeting, Rossi said: 'It was a bait-and-switch 'self-care' seminar that labelled 'objectivity,' 'individualism,' 'fear of open conflict,' and even 'a right to comfort' as characteristics of white supremacy.' It is the same elite private school that faced criticism last month after it emerged students were being banned from using the words mom and dad in a bid to make it a more 'inclusive' place Rossi said that during the session, he 'questioned whether one must define oneself in terms of racial identity at all.' 'It seemed like my questions broke the ice,' he wrote. 'Students and even a few teachers offered a broad range of questions and observations. 'Many students said it was a more productive and substantive discussion than they expected.' Rossi claims that after it was learned that he had challenged the prevailing orthodoxy, he was told by the head of the high school that he had 'caused harm' to students. According to Rossi: 'I was reprimanded for 'acting like an independent agent of a set of principles or ideas or beliefs'.' Rossi claims the school's 'director of studies' said that his remarks 'could even constitute harassment'. He said that days after the Zoom meeting, his boss told all high school advisers to 'read a public reprimand of my conduct out loud to every student in the school.' According to Rossi, the statement read: 'Events from last week compel us to underscore some aspects of our mission and share some thoughts about our community. 'At independent schools, with their history of predominantly white populations, racism colludes with other forms of bias (sexism, classism, ableism and so much more) to undermine our stated ideals, and we must work hard to undo this history.' Rossi said that, as a result, he was now required to 'participate in restorative practices designed by the Office of Community Engagement' so as to 'heal my relationship with the students of color and other students in my class.' Reaction online to Rossi's blog post was largely critical of the school. GRACE CHURCH SCHOOL 'DIVERSITY MISSION STATEMENT' The following is a 'mission statement' from Grace Church High School that spells out its commitment to 'antiracism, equity, and belonging.' Grace Church School seeks to provide its students with an outstanding education and with the desire to use it to make the world a better place. Every facet of our work is enhanced by the diversity and strength of our community. We believe that equity and inclusion are not only hallmarks of a just society, but also virtues essential to sound learning. And so, Grace seeks to recognize and honor the unique gifts of its students, families, faculty, and staff - and the cultures, beliefs, values, and experiences that have shaped them - striving always to cultivate mutual understanding, humility, respect, and kindness. But inclusion is not enough and equity is an impossibility if we cannot name, acknowledge, and oppose the forces of racism and all forms of bias, hate, and fear that exist in our society and that seek to diminish so many in our midst. Knowing this, we commit ourselves to the work of antiracism and to the cause of justice: that all students may find in Grace a home, may learn from Grace their precious worth, and may hear from Grace a call to serve the common good and the dignity of humanity. Advertisement It comes just one month after it was revealed the school had issued a 12-page glossary of terms they claim would make for a more inclusive environment. The guide encouraged them to stop using the terms 'mom' and 'dad', to stop asking classmates where they may have gone on vacation and urges them not to wish anyone a 'Merry Christmas' - or even a 'Happy Holidays'. The Episcopal school also offers courses and after-school programs for its students that include single-gender groups, a Roots of Empathy program, and a course called 'Allying: Why? Who? and How?' which is offered to seniors. The curriculum for that particular program, according to the City Journal, includes a photograph of a burning police car in a 'zine called 'Accomplices not Allies'. The photograph is teamed with a declaration that 'the work of an accomplice in anti-colonial struggle is to attack colonial structures & ideas'. Grace Church school issued its 'inclusion glossary' for 2021 which it claims will 'remove harmful assumptions from the way we interact with each other'. 'While we recognize hateful language that promotes racism, misogyny, homophobia, and other forms of discrimination are already addressed in our school handbooks, we also recognize that we can do more than ban hateful language; we can use language to create welcoming and inclusive spaces,' it states. The guide also warns readers to 'be aware that people may not always welcome questions, and they are not obligated to respond'. Among the topics covered in the guide is the language surrounding gender, families, sexual orientation, race and ethnicity, religion, disability, and socioeconomics. Under gender, it urges for 'boys and girls', 'guys', 'ladies and gentlemen' to be abandoned in favor of the likes of 'people', 'folks', 'friends', 'readers', or even 'mathematicians'. It even encourages for those terms to be changed when reading books, using child, person, or character instead of 'the boy/girl on this page'. And pet names are out of the question, with 'sweetheart' and 'honey' to be replaced only with the child's name or a description of what the child is wearing if that is not known. 'Mom', 'Dad' or 'parents' are also outlawed for 'grown-ups, folks, family or guardian'. Nanny and babysitter must also be change to caregiver or guardian. [April 15, 2021] Natixis Investment Managers Partners with Two Charter Schools in Boston and San Francisco Natixis Investment Managers (Natixis) today announced that it has added two charter schools based in Boston and San Francisco to its philanthropic partnership program. Natixis will collaborate with the Academy of the Pacific Rim in Boston (APR) and the Life Learning Academy in San Francisco (LLA) to create workforce development, career exploration and financial literacy programs that introduce students at the elementary and high school level to career opportunities in the finance industry. This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210415006016/en/ The partnerships with Academy of the Pacific Rim and Life Learning Academy are part of Natixis' long-standing commitment to support its local communities and support its broader efforts to increase diversity in the financial services industry. In addition to Natixis' financial contributions, Natixis associates will organize skills-based volunteering opportunities to teach APR students financial literacy. Associates will also develop "career exploration" videos designed to introduce LLA pupils to different roles within financial services. Exposing underrepresented students, with a focus on racial and ethnic minorities, to the numerous career trajectories available within financial services can help expand diversity in future candidate pools. "We are excited to partner with Academy of the Pacific Rim and Life Learning Academy to make a direct and sustainable impact that will enhance student education and improve learning environments," said David Giunta, CEO for the US at Natixis Investment Managers. "We look forward to supporting the schools' efforts to ensure that all students are given an opportunity to reach their full potential." "At Life Learning Academy we do whatever it takes to support students that have faced unthinkable adversity. We are no ordinary school, and that means we rely on extraordinary partners, like Natixis," said Dr. Teri Delane, executive director at Life Learning Academy. "Natixis' support enables us to meet our students' needs under one roof, from basic needs, like food, to job placement and academic opportunities that empower them to create a good life for themselves. We're grateful for this thoughtful partnership and looking forward to having the Natixis team to campus for lunch - prepared by Life Learning Academy students, of course - as soon as possible." "Academy of the Pacific Rim is both grateful for and energized by the partnership with Natixis," said Spencer Blasdale, executive director at the Academy of the Pacific Rim. "From the outset our work together has been focused on our mission 'to empower students of all racial and ethnic backgrounds' and we are now able to offer more opportunities for our students to explore meaningful educational and career opportunities. It's exciting to think about, plan and create the future for our students with Natixis by our side as a true stratgic partner." "Natixis is committed to attracting more diverse people to our industry, and inspiring students at a young age to explore the broad array of rewarding positions in finance is a step in the right direction," added Giunta. "We view these partnerships as a long-term investment in the future." Natixis has a strong culture of giving back to the communities where its associates live and work. The firm's unique philanthropic model provides direct support to its nonprofit partners and offers meaningful engagement opportunities for associates. Since 2012, Natixis has worked with the John Winthrop Elementary School in Massachusetts to provide corporate funding, volunteer events, mentoring and other programs. Natixis' collaborative philanthropic model has been embraced by employees and has been recognized in the community and the industry. For nine consecutive years, the annual Boston Business Journal ranking has recognized Natixis associates as the Most Generous Employees in Massachusetts. Natixis is also a fixture on Boston Business Journal's list of the Largest Corporate Charitable Contributors in Massachusetts. About Natixis Investment Managers Natixis Investment Managers serves financial professionals with more insightful ways to construct portfolios. Powered by the expertise of more than 20 specialized investment managers globally, we apply Active Thinking to deliver proactive solutions that help clients pursue better outcomes in all markets. Natixis Investment Managers ranks among the world's largest asset management firms1 with nearly $1.4 trillion assets under management2 (1,135.5 billion). Headquartered in Paris and Boston, Natixis Investment Managers is a subsidiary of Natixis. Listed on the Paris Stock Exchange, Natixis is a subsidiary of BPCE, the second-largest banking group in France. Natixis Investment Managers' affiliated investment management firms include AEW; Alliance Entreprendre; AlphaSimplex Group; DNCA Investments;3 Dorval Asset Management; Flexstone Partners; Gateway (News - Alert) Investment Advisers; H2O Asset Management; Harris Associates; Investors Mutual Limited; Loomis, Sayles & Company; Mirova; MV Credit; Naxicap Partners; Ossiam; Ostrum Asset Management; Seeyond; Seventure Partners; Thematics Asset Management; Vauban Infrastructure Partners; Vaughan Nelson Investment Management; Vega Investment Managers;4 and WCM Investment Management. Additionally, investment solutions are offered through Natixis Investment Managers Solutions, and Natixis Advisors offers other investment services through its AIA and MPA division. Not all offerings available in all jurisdictions. For additional information, please visit Natixis Investment Managers' website at im.natixis.com | LinkedIn (News - Alert) : linkedin.com/company/natixis-investment-managers. Natixis Investment Managers' distribution and service groups include Natixis Distribution, L.P., a limited purpose broker-dealer and the distributor of various U.S. registered investment companies for which advisory services are provided by affiliated firms of Natixis Investment Managers, Natixis Investment Managers S.A. (Luxembourg), Natixis Investment Managers International (France), and their affiliated distribution and service entities in Europe and Asia. About Academy of the Pacific Rim Charter School Academy of the Pacific Rim (APR) Charter School is a nationally recognized charter public school located in Hyde Park, the southernmost neighborhood of Boston. Our mission is to empower students of all racial and ethnic backgrounds to achieve their full intellectual and social potential. Our vision is that all students graduate APR with a focused mind and a big heart, and that they are ready to succeed in post-secondary education, careers and civic life. About Life Learning Academy Life Learning Academy is a public charter high school that believes that every single student, no matter what they've done or where they're from, deserves relentless love, accountability, and the chance to make a good life. LLA seeks to close the opportunity gap by the most disinvested youth by empowering students with academic skills, jobs, mental health counseling, social-emotional learning, belonging, community, and even no-cost, on-campus housing. 1 Cerulli Quantitative Update: Global Markets 2020 ranked Natixis Investment Managers as the 17th largest asset manager in the world based on assets under management as of December 31, 2019. 2 Assets under management ("AUM") as of December 31, 2020 is $1,389.7 billion. AUM, as reported, may include notional assets, assets serviced, gross assets, assets of minority-owned affiliated entities and other types of non-regulatory AUM managed or serviced by firms affiliated with Natixis Investment Managers. 3 A brand of DNCA Finance. 4 A wholly-owned subsidiary of Natixis Wealth Management. 3497942.1.1 View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210415006016/en/ [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] Australians could be packing their bags for their next overseas adventure sooner than they think, according to travel experts. More holiday destinations have been earmarked for potential travel bubbles as Australians get ready to dust off their passports for the first time in more than a year following the coronavirus pandemic. New Zealand will welcome back Australians back for the first time in more than a year when the long awaited trans-Tasman travel bubble between the two countries begins on Monday. More travel bubbles are on the cards with places such as Singapore, Japan and South Korea in the pipeline, along with some of our island neighbours in the Pacific. Even winter holiday favourite Bali could also be on the cards - but comes with a cautious warning that 70 per cent of locals need to be vaccinated first. Travel experts believe Singapore will become Australia's next travel bubble. Pictured is downtown Singapore 'Travel bubbles are fantastic. They're going to enable us to get out and see the world which is what we love to do,' travel expert Quentin Long told A Current Affair. 'Singapore is probably the one we're closest to getting up and running. 'Following Singapore you're looking at places like Japan, South Korea but more likely are the Pacific Islands - places like Fiji, Vanuatu, those sort of Pacific Islands which had had little cases and can open up to New Zealand first and then Australia.' Vanuatu has recorded just three cases of the virus while Fiji has 68 cases and two lives lost. Indonesia is surging ahead with its bold travel bubble plans for Bali, which was visited by more than one million Australians each year pre-pandemic. Green zones have been proposed for the Balinese districts of Sanur, Nusa Dua and Ubud where Australians can potentially stay. Vanuatu (pictured) has recorded just three cases of coronavirus during the pandemic and could become one of Australia's next overseas destinations Empty hotels on the once thriving island are being used as makeshift vaccination centres. 'There's a solid plan that 70 per cent of the population must be vaccinated,' chef and former Australian ex-pat Dean Keddell said. 'It's a little bit of a grey zone depending on what you read. I believe between July and October, somewhere around there. But the objective is as soon as possible. Francisca Handoko from Bali's Hotel Association is 'positive' the travel bubble will happen with not just Australia but also Singapore and then United Emirates, China, and the Netherlands. But Mr Long warned the federal government could reject a proposed travel bubble with Bali if it's opened up to other countries. 'If Bali opens up to China and Russia and the Australian government doesn't feel they have enough protection with those visitors, they won't open the bubble,' he said. 'Realistically, I don't see us opening any more travel bubbles in 2021 because of the delay in the vaccine rollout here. 'We can't go to Singapore or Bali until we are vaccinated and vice versa, so until we get mass vaccination we won't be able to open other travel bubbles.' The Indonesian island of Bali was visited by more than one million Australians each year before the pandemic hit Expert Quentin Long (pictured) describes travel bubbles as fantastic for Australia while its borders remain closed Insurance Council of Australia has warned anyone planning an overseas holiday to check the coronavirus conditions of their travel policy. The only country considered safe, at this stage, is New Zealand, Plans for Australia's borders to be opened up hit a major hitch this week when Prime Minister Scott Morrison admitted the government is unlikely to meet its vaccination rollout targets due to a series of ongoing delay and hinted overseas travel may be some time off. 'Around the world it is still a very dangerous situation because of COVID,' Mr Morrison said. Australia and New Zealand could consider travel bubbles with Fiji (pictured) - which has had very few Covid cases An expat who can't wait to welcome back friends and family back to Bali is charity worker Dame Margaret Barry, who has lived on the island for three decades. 'It'll be brilliant, wonderful,' Dame Margaret said. 'I have friends and family who have been unable to visit me here so it will be amazing when it happens.' Dame Margaret had this advice for anyone looking forward to returning to Bali. 'I'd say get vaccinated, number one, because that's the first way you are going to have the opportunity if Australia is fully vaccinated,' she said. 'Then it's very hard for the government to say "no, you can't go anywhere".' Advertisement President Joe Biden on Thursday warned Vladimir Putin it was time to de-escalate in the Ukraine and reminded his Russian counterpart that U.S. sanctions could have been much worse. Biden extended his offer to Moscow to hold a summit between the two leaders in Europe this summer and, in brief remarks at the White House, said there were areas the two nations could work together. But he also had tough words for Putin, who has caused concern in the United States and Europe with its actions on the Ukraine border and violations of a cease-fire agreement in the Crimea. Biden noted that, in his phone call with Putin on Tuesday: 'I express concerned about Russia's military buildup on Ukraine's border and occupied and unoccupied Crimea. I affirmed US support for the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine, and I strongly urge him to refrain from any military action.' 'Now is the time to de-escalate,' he added. President Biden warned Vladimir Putin it was time to de-escalate in the Ukraine and said US sanctions could have been much worse The president also said he warned Putin that the series of US sanctions announced Thursday - hitting the Russian government and some entities and individuals with financial penalties - could have been far tougher. But, the president said, he didn't want to escalate the already high tensions with Moscow. 'I was clear with President Putin we could have gone further, but I chose not to do so. I chose to be proportionate. The United States is not looking to kick off a cycle of escalation and conflict with Russia. We want a stable predictable relationship,' he said. But, he warned, if Russia hit back, the US would strike harder. 'I urged [Putin] to respond appropriately, not to exceed it, because we can move as well,' he said. The United States issued the sanctions because of Russian interference in American elections, the SolarWinds cyber attack, and its aggressive actions in the Ukraine. The White House argues any domestic interference or interference with foreign allies is a threat to the US. 'If Russia continues to interfere with our democracy. I'm prepared to take further actions to respond. It is my responsibility as president of the United States to do so,' Biden said. 'Where Russia seeks to violate the interests of the United States we will respond. We will always stand in defense of our country, our institutions, our people and our allies,' the president said. He said he was hopeful Russia would accept his offer to meet for a summit in a third nation this summer. 'I proposed that we meet in person this summer in Europe,' he said. 'to address the range of issues facing both of our countries. Our teams are discussing that possibility right now.' Biden's remarks come as the United States cancelled the deployment of two US warships from the Black Sea despite warning Putin there would be 'repercussions' for the troop build-up in Ukraine. Last week, Turkey said Washington was sending two warships to the Black Sea, in a decision Russia called an unfriendly provocation. But the Biden administration reversed the decision after the Kremlin warned them to 'stay away for their own good', and gave Putin the chance to ramp up his military presence in Crimea and near the Ukrainian border. White House officials decided not to send the ships to avoid needlessly escalating the situation with Russia over the Ukraine, a US defense official told Politico. Hours later, Putin took advantage of Biden's U-turn by closing off the Kerch Strait between Crimea and Russia, blocking all foreign warships from getting to Ukraine until October 2021. Ukraine said the move was an 'act of war' and were disappointed foreign destroyers had turned around before one of Moscow's biggest escalations in the last 30 days. The Kerch Strait is a crucial access for the Ukrainian ports of Mairupol and Berdyansk. Commercial ships will still be allowed to pass through, but the blockade leave the region vulnerable in the face of Russian aggression. Washington's change in the region came on the day Biden announced sweeping new sanctions against Moscow as the White House seeks to rein in Russian aggression while avoiding an all-out war with the Kremlin. 'We have no desire to be in an escalating war with Russia,' a senior administration official said Thursday on a briefing call with reporters, saying the White House doesn't want things 'spinning out of control.' 'We do not seek a downward spiral. We can and think we can avoid that,' the official said. Officials made it clear, however, that the administration 'will not accept [Russia's] destabilizing behavior that harms the United States, its allies and its partners. Russia called in America's ambassador in response. Russia's foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said in a televised briefing that Ambassador John Sullivan had been summoned for a 'difficult conversation.' And she said that a Russian response to the sanctions was 'unavoidable.' 'Such aggressive behavior, without question, will receive a decisive push back, a response to the sanctions is unavoidable,' she said. 'In Washington, they must realize that it's necessary to pay for the degradation of bilateral relations. Responsibility for what is happening lies entirely on the U.S.' President Joe Biden cancelled the deployment of two US warships from the Black Sea despite warning Vladimir Putin there would be 'repercussions' for the troop build-up in Ukraine Hours later, Putin took advantage of Biden's U-turn back by closing off the Kerch Strait between Crimea and Russia, blocking all foreign warships from getting to Ukraine until October 2021. Ukraine said the move was an 'act of war' and were disappointed foreign destroyers had turned around before one of Moscow's biggest escalations in the last 30 days Putin is continuing to build up his forced on the border with Ukraine, as the government warns troops numbers could swell to 110,000 with 7,000 tanks and other vehicles in support U.S. Navy guided-missile cruiser USS Monterey (CG-61) sails in the Bosphorus, in Istanbul, Turkey To give the sanctions teeth - in a way financial sanctions have not deterred Russia before - the US is seeking to choke off lending to the Russian government. The US also expelled 10 diplomats in retaliation for the Kremlin's interference in American elections, its aggressive actions in the Ukraine, and the SolarWinds cyber hack. The Treasury Department and Western allies - including the UK and Canada - also targeted eight individuals and entities associated with the 'ongoing occupation and repression in Crimea'. 'The Transatlantic community stands united in supporting Ukraine against unilateral Russian provocations along the Line of Contact in eastern Ukraine, in occupied Crimea, and along Ukraine's borders, as well as agreeing on the need for Russia to immediately cease its military buildup and inflammatory rhetoric,' the White House said. Manafort's associate Konstantin Kilimnik sanctioned for passing polling data to the Kremlin One of the individuals sanctioned Thursday by the U.S. government was Konstantin Kilimnik, a Russian-Ukrainian political consultant who worked with former Trump campaign manager Paul Manafort as a lobbyist for the pro-Russia president of Ukraine. Kilimnik was indicted in Robert Mueller's 2018 investigation for carrying out election influence operations on behalf of Russian intelligence services. The Senate Intelligence Committee assessed that Kilimnik is a Russian intelligence officer and found that Manafort passed him sensitive internal polling data and campaign strategy. The Treasury Department, in its sanction's notice, found that Kilimnik provided Russian intelligence 'with sensitive information on polling and campaign strategy' during the 2016 election. Treasury noted that Kilimnik, who is wanted by the FBI on charges of obstruction of justice, helped promote the false narrative that Ukraine, not Russia, interfered in the 2016 election. Kilimnik and his wife live in a heavily-fortified residence outside of Moscow. Konstantin Kilimnik in a March 2006 photo Advertisement The White House also denounced Moscow for offering the Taliban bounties for U.S. troops serving in Afghanistan. But a senior administration official noted the US intelligence community has only 'low to moderate confidence' that Russia offered bounties on American troops and isn't imposing any punishment on Moscow for the possible action right now. 'The United States Intelligence Community assesses with low to moderate confidence that Russian intelligence officers sought to encourage Taliban attacks against U.S. coalition personnel in Afghanistan in 2019, including through financial incentives and compensation,' the official said. Administration officials described its actions on Thursday as 'tailored and proportional' and reiterated it seeks a 'predictable and stable' relationship with Moscow. In a series of actions on Thursday, the United States sanctioned 32 Russian entities and individuals along with six technology companies, formally attributed the SolarWinds cyber breach to Russian intelligence agencies, and accused Moscow of still trying to hack American targets. 'The President signed this sweeping new authority to confront Russia's continued and growing malign behavior,' said Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen in a statement. The Treasury Department is in charge of carrying out the sanctions. 'Treasury is leveraging this new authority to impose costs on the Russian government for its unacceptable conduct, including by limiting Russia's ability to finance its activities and by targeting Russia's malicious and disruptive cyber capabilities,' she said. Biden signed an executive order Thursday morning authorizing the sanctions and expelling of diplomats, who the administration claims includes representatives of Russian intelligence services. The administration specifically cites Russian interference in free and fair elections, its 'malicious cyber activities' against the United States, fostering corruption to influence foreign governments, targeting dissidents or journalists, undermining security in countries important to American national security and violating well-established principles of international law, including respect for the territorial integrity of states. It also criticized Russian for offering the Taliban bounties on U.S. troops serving in Afghanistan but said that would be handled through diplomatic channels. 'Given the sensitivity of this matter, which involves the safety and well-being of our forces, it is being handled through diplomatic, military and intelligence channels,' the White House said in a statement. President Biden announced on Wednesday he will remove all US troops from Afghanistan by September 11th. The executive order also expanded an existing ban on US banks trading in Russian government debt. It prohibits U.S. financial institutions from buying new bonds directly from Russia's central bank, finance ministry and the country's massive sovereign-wealth fund after June 14. Republicans on Capitol Hill praised Biden's tough response. 'I think this is a good step. Keep it up,' said Republican Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina. 'I applaud him,' said Republican Senator Chuck Grassley of Iowa. 'And I think that's all you have to say - he's doing the right thing.' The administration has been warning the actions are coming as President Biden takes a much harsher stance against Moscow than his predecessor, Donald Trump. Biden spoke to Russian President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday to warn him. 'He did not hold back on his concerns, including reiterating that there will be consequences to the actions that were taken. I expect you will know more about that soon,' White House press secretary Jen Psaki said of the call on Wednesday. In its Thursday announcement, the administration targeted six Russian technology companies it claims are supporting Kremlin intelligence agencies. The administration also blamed - for the first time - Russian intelligence agencies for the SolarWinds cyber hack, which Moscow denies. The US said it had 'high confidence' the hack was masterminded by the SVR, one of the Russian intelligence agencies that was also involved in the hacking of the Democratic National Committee six years ago. And the Biden criticized the Russian intelligence agencies for their involvement in the August 2020 poisoning of Aleksey Navalny and its targeting of Russian journalists. Additionally, the National Security Agency on Thursday issued guidelines for companies on how to counter Russian cyber actions. The agency said it was taking such action to 'highlight additional tactics, techniques, and procedures being used; by Russian intelligence agencies 'so that network defenders can take action to mitigate against them. The massive Russian hacking campaign - familiarly known as the SolarWinds breach -targeted at least nine vital federal agencies, including the Treasury, Justice, Energy and Homeland Security departments. The scale of the hack is still being determined. The Kerch Strait (pictured in 2018) is a crucial access for the Ukrainian ports of Mairupol and Berdyansk. Commercial ships will still be allowed to pass through, but the blockade leave the region vulnerable in the face of Russian aggression Ukrainian troops man trenches in the eastern Donbas region as the country's foreign minister warns Moscow it will bear 'very painful consequences' if it invades Pictured: Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskiy visits positions of armed forces near the frontline with Russian-backed separatists in Donbass region, Ukraine April 9, 2021 BIDEN'S SANCTIONS ON RUSSIA DURING TROOP BUILD-UP IN CRIMEA The White House listed a number of reprisals against Moscow for the Ukraine build-up, election interference, the 'bounties' on Afghanistan soldiers and the SolarWinds hack ADDITIONAL SANCTIONS Treasury sanctioned 32 entities and individuals carrying out Russian government-directed attempts to influence the 2020 U.S. presidential election, and other acts of disinformation and interference. This action seeks to disrupt the coordinated efforts of Russian officials, proxies, and intelligence agencies to delegitimize our electoral process. The U.S. government will continue to pursue those who engage in such activity. Treasury, in partnership with the European Union, the United Kingdom, Australia, and Canada, sanctioned eight individuals and entities associated with Russia's ongoing occupation and repression in Crimea. The Transatlantic community stands united in supporting Ukraine against unilateral Russian provocations along the Line of Contact in eastern Ukraine, in occupied Crimea, and along Ukraine's borders, as well as agreeing on the need for Russia to immediately cease its military buildup and inflammatory rhetoric. AFGHANISTAN BOUNTIES The Administration is responding to the reports that Russia encouraged Taliban attacks against U.S. and coalition personnel in Afghanistan based on the best assessments from the Intelligence Community (IC). Given the sensitivity of this matter, which involves the safety and well-being of our forces, it is being handled through diplomatic, military and intelligence channels. The safety and well-being of U.S. military personnel, and that of our allies and partners, is an absolute priority of the United States. EXPELLING DIPLOMATIC PERSONNEL l The United States is expelling ten personnel from the Russian diplomatic mission in Washington, DC. The personnel include representatives of Russian intelligence services. RESPONSES TO THE SOLAR WINDS HACK Today the United States is formally naming the Russian Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR), also known as APT 29, Cozy Bear, and The Dukes, as the perpetrator of the broad-scope cyber espionage campaign that exploited the SolarWinds Orion platform and other information technology infrastructures. The U.S. Intelligence Community has high confidence in its assessment of attribution to the SVR. The SVR's compromise of the SolarWinds software supply chain gave it the ability to spy on or potentially disrupt more than 16,000 computer systems worldwide. The scope of this compromise is a national security and public safety concern. Moreover, it places an undue burden on the mostly private sector victims who must bear the unusually high cost of mitigating this incident. Today, the National Security Agency, the Cybersecurity & Infrastructure Security Agency, and the Federal Bureau of Investigation are jointly issuing a cybersecurity advisory, 'Russian SVR Targets U.S. and Allied Networks,' that provides specific details on software vulnerabilities that the SVR uses to gain access to victim devices and networks. The advisory also provides specific steps that network defenders can take to identify and defend against the SVR's malicious cyber activity. Additionally, the SVR's compromise of SolarWinds and other companies highlights the risks posed by Russia's efforts to target companies worldwide through supply chain exploitation. Those efforts should serve as a warning about the risks of using information and communications technology and services (ICTS) supplied by companies that operate or store user data in Russia or rely on software development or remote technical support by personnel in Russia. The U.S. government is evaluating whether to take action under Executive Order 13873 to better protect our ICTS supply chain from further exploitation by Russia. GLOBAL CYBERSECURITY The United States continues to strongly affirm the importance of an open, interoperable, secure, and reliable Internet. Russia's actions run counter to that goal, which is shared by many of our allies and partners. To strengthen our collective approach to bolstering cybersecurity, we are announcing two additional steps: First, the United States is bolstering its efforts to promote a framework of responsible state behavior in cyberspace and to cooperate with allies and partners to counter malign cyber activities. We are providing a first-of-its kind course for policymakers worldwide on the policy and technical aspects of publicly attributing cyber incidents, which will be inaugurated this year at the George C. Marshall Center in Garmisch, Germany. We are also bolstering our efforts through the Marshall Center to provide training to foreign ministry lawyers and policymakers on the applicability of international law to state behavior in cyberspace and the non-binding peacetime norms that were negotiated in the United Nations and endorsed by the UN General Assembly. Second, we are reinforcing our commitment to collective security in cyberspace. The Department of Defense is taking steps to incorporate additional allies, including the UK, France, Denmark, and Estonia, into the planning for CYBER FLAG 21-1, which is an exercise designed to improve our defensive capabilities and resiliency in cyberspace. CYBER FLAG 21-1 will build a community of defensive cyber operators and improve overall capability of the United States and allies to identify, synchronize, and respond in unison against simulated malicious cyberspace activities targeting our critical infrastructure and key resources. Advertisement Russian hackers are believed to have infected widely used software with malicious code, enabling them to access the networks of the federal agencies. Officials believe it was an intelligence gathering operation aimed at mining government secrets. The sanctions, foreshadowed for weeks by the Biden administration, are the first retaliatory action announced against the Kremlin for last year's hack. The sanctions are intended to send a clear retributive message to Russia and to deter similar acts in the future. They come amid an already tense relationship between the U.S. and Russia amid a large Russian military buildup on the borders of Ukraine and in Crimea, the peninsula that Moscow annexed in 2014. President Biden told Putin this week in their call to 'de-escalate tensions' following a Russian military buildup on Ukraine's border, and said the U.S. would 'act firmly in defense of its national interests' regarding Russian intrusions and election interference. Ukraine and the West have become worried about the Russian troops' concentration and have urged Moscow to pull them back. Russia has argued that it's free to deploy its forces on its territory and sternly warned the government in Kyiv against using force to reclaim control of the rebel-held territory east where more than 14,000 people have died in seven years of fighting. But the Ukraine has warned Russia that it will bear 'very painful' consequences if it invades as Vladimir Putin continues to mass his forces in eastern Europe. Dmytro Kuleba, the country's foreign minister, said Thursday that Moscow is 'openly' threatening Ukraine with 'destruction' by stationing 80,000 troops along its border - with more arriving every day. 'Today, the four of us can firmly declare that we condemn the exacerbation of the situation by Russia, the actions and statements of Moscow aimed at escalating tensions,' Kuleba said at a joint news conference with the Baltics ministers in Kyiv. 'The world is on the side of Ukraine and international law, and this is one of the elements of restraining Russia from reckless actions,' he added. It remained unclear whether the U.S. actions would actually result in changed behavior, especially since past measures by the U.S. have failed to bring an end to Russian hacking. The Obama administration expelled diplomats from the U.S. in 2016 in response to interference in that year's presidential election. And though Trump was often reluctant to criticize Putin, his administration also expelled diplomats in 2018 for Russia's alleged poisoning of an ex-intelligence officer in Britain. Last month, the U.S. sanctioned seven mid-level and senior Russian officials, along with more than a dozen government entities, over a nearly fatal nerve-agent attack on opposition leader Alexei Navalny and his subsequent jailing. Mumbai, April 15 : It was a warm and emotional 'ghar-wapsi' for a young Mumbai couple that had been embroiled in a fake drugs peddling case and ended up spending nearly 21 months in a Qatar jail. On their return early this morning to Mumbai's Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport (SCMIA) on a Qatar Airways flight, the couple - Shareeq Qureshi and his wife Oniba - was carrying a tiny bundle of joy, daughter Aayat who was born inside the jail in a foreign land. "We cannot forget these past two years... We were trapped and entangled in a case with which we not even remotely connected," said Shareeq with moist eyes on reaching his motherland. Oniba said: "Life was indeed very tough, since I was expecting (a baby)" and the couple had been shattered emotionally by the incident although the Qatar jail authorities took good care of the expectant mother. Accompanied by his wife, Shareeq - working for a Japanese company - had left India in July 2019, on a 'second honeymoon' sponsored by his seemingly generous-hearted aunt Tasneem Qureshi. Upon landing at the Hamad International Airport in Dohar, the couple was arrested after the Qatar Police found 4.1 kg hashish in their baggage. It later transpired that Shareeq's aunt had quietly used them to courier the drug consignment under the pretext of sending the couple on a 'second honeymoon' to this Gulf nation. She had requested her unsuspecting nephew and his wife to hand over the bag, ostensibly containing 'gutka' and 'zarda', to a contact in Qatar as these items are very expensive in that country. Though the couple was reluctant for the so-called 'second honeymoon' trip, they had accepted it, even promised to carry the parcel for their aunt and ended up landing in a huge mess. Qatar courts found them guilty and awarded them both 10 years jail terms besides a fine of 300,000 riyals each. Their desperate families in Mumbai ran from pillar to post, made all-out efforts with the Centre, and even the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) to help them out from the crisis. The NCB entered the picture, helped bust the drug trafficking module involved in this case, challenged a lower court verdict and also pursued the matter with the Qatar government through diplomatic channels. Finally, after a series of hearings and challenges, the Qatar Supreme Court considered and appreciated the fresh evidence produced before it and subsequently ordered their release. An extremely relieved NCB Deputy Director K.P.S. Malhotra said that the case was an epitome of the government-media symbiotic relationship which he had taken up after he recovered from Covid-19 in mid-2020. "This was one of the most satisfying investigations of my career and I owe a lot to the media for its support," Malhotra said as the couple returned to India. Mud Creek pollution comes from cattle, faulty sewers, failing septic tanks Testing conducted by local conservation organization MountainTrue has confirmed that cattle and faulty or inadequate sewer, septic or water treatment infrastructure are the major sources of E. coli pollution in the French Broad River. MountainTrues French Broad Riverkeeper conducts regular water quality monitoring of rivers and streams throughout the French Broad River Basin, including weekly testing of more than 30 recreation areas from May to September. After decades of slow but consistent improvement to the basins water quality, the organization has documented a sharp decline in water quality. The difference over that past few years has been disturbing, French Broad Riverkeeper Hartwell Carson said in a news release. Take Pearson Bridge in Ashevilles River Arts District: That site passed the EPAs safe threshold for swimming 81% of the time in 2016. Just four years later, that site failed 81% of the time in 2020. Or Mud Creek in Henderson County, that site passed 52% of the time in 2018, and now it fails 93% of our tests. Testing at Mud Creek below Downtown Hendersonville showed the highest level of human DNA of all sites. Pollution sources for Mud Creek are likely cattle, closely followed by human waste from faulty sewers, failing septic systems and inadequate wastewater treatment plants. MountainTrues standard E. coli testing program measures the E. coli in the river. Levels in the French Broad have been high and rising year-over-year, but the nonprofit couldnt say for certain what the sources of the pollution were. Determining the major sources of E. coli required more expensive testing to look at the presence of DNA in the river. Testing DNA in polluted water is pretty state-of-the-art and it isnt cheap, explains Hartwell Carson. We needed help paying for it, so we approached Senator Chuck Edwards for help. North Carolina Senator Edwards, whose district includes Henderson and parts of Buncombe County, helped secure state funding to pay for sampling and lab costs. With that funding, MountainTrue looked at the DNA found in 55 water samples to look for genetic fingerprints of E. coli from people, cows, dogs, poultry, sheep and swine. Our rivers are very important to our quality of life and our economy, explains Senator Edwards. This project is helping us better understand the causes of bacteria pollution in the French Broad River. We need that information to develop solutions that will keep the river clean. Of the 55 samples, 44 revealed DNA from cows. Human DNA was the second most prevalent. The results vary, but at nearly every site the primary sources of pollution were cattle followed by human. Dog DNA also showed up as a moderate contributor to E. coli pollution at a few sample sites. The French Broad has some clean and clear streams that run through protected public lands, but were seeing more and more problem sites that consistently fail the EPAs safe water standard for E. coli, says Hartwell Carson. Until now, weve only had educated guesses about where the E. coli was coming from. With this testing, we have the data we need to make more informed decisions about how to clean up our rivers. MountainTrue is presenting the results from their DNA testing to local members of the General Assembly and is encouraging the public to advocate for the adoption of a clean rivers policy agenda that includes funding to help farmers, property owners and local governments reduce water pollution. Now that we know the sources of E. coli pollution, says Hartwell Carson. The next step is to invest in actions that fix the problem. The public can read about issues affecting water quality, and the policies and reforms needed to fix them at iloverivers.org. Results of testing MountainTrue focused their testing on problem sites that had shown high levels of E. coli in previous testing: Hominy Creek, Mud Creek below downtown Hendersonville, Cane Creek and the French Broad River at Pearson Bridge in Ashevilles River Arts District. DNA levels of 0-49 numbers of DNA copies/100mL are considered very low, 50-99 low, 100-499 medium, 500-999 high, and 1,000 or above was very high. DNA testing provides a general picture of a body of water for approximately 100 meters upstream. Mud Creek below Downtown Hendersonville. Average for seven samples: Cow 251, Human 120, Dog 52 Mud Creek was the site with the highest level of human DNA in all our testing. But, even here, levels of cow DNA were more prevalent than human. In three instances, human DNA counties were higher, but the overall average for cow DNA was higher. The pollution sources for Mud Creek are likely cattle, closely followed by human waste from faulty sewers, failing septic systems and inadequate wastewater treatment plants. Hominy Creek Averages for six samples: Cow 339, Dog, 89, Human 34. Every sample taken at Hominy Creek showed cow DNA counts at or above medium levels. The highest level of cow DNA recorded was 511, putting that sample in the high range. Human DNA was also found in every sample, though at low or very low amounts in all samples except one in the medium range. This indicates that upstream agriculture in the watershed is significantly contributing to E. coli impairment, and while human waste from faulty sewers and failing septic systems plays a role, it isnt the dominant pollution source. This testing site is below the Hominy Creek Greenway, a very popular dog-walking area and the likely reason for higher levels of dog DNA. French Broad at Pearson Bridge Averages for six samples: Cow- 270, Dog 59, Human 67. Cow DNA was the largest contributor at this site, but levels were more varied than at Hominy Creek. One sample showed cow DNA in the high range at 764, while three other samples presented low levels of cow DNA. Human DNA and dog DNA were also present at this site but at much lower levels. The variability of DNA levels is likely due to the impact of stormwater runoff. When it rains, cow and dog waste are washed in from the surrounding landscape causing a rise in pollution levels. Cane Creek at Fletcher Park Averages for six samples: Cow 334, Human 47, Dog 8. The primary source of E. coli pollution in Cane Creek is quite clearly cattle from area farms. Human levels of DNA were very low and nonexistent in two instances. Studies show wearing masks and social distancing can contain the spread of the COVID-19 virus, but their combined effectiveness was not precisely known. Researchers at the New York University Tandon School of Engineering and Politecnico di Torino in Italy developed a network model to study the effects of these two measures on the spread of airborne diseases like COVID-19. The model shows viral outbreaks can be prevented if at least 60% of a population complies with both measures. Neither social distancing nor mask wearing alone are likely sufficient to halt the spread of COVID-19, unless almost the entire population adheres to the single measure. But if a significant fraction of the population adheres to both measures, viral spreading can be prevented without mass vaccination." Maurizio Porfiri, Institute Professor, Mechanical and Aerospace, Biomedical, and Civil and Urban Engineering, NYU Tandon The research, "How adherence to public health measures shapes epidemic spreading: a temporal network model," by Porfiri, Brandon Behring, a post-doctoral researcher at NYU Tandon, and Alessandro Rizzo, a visiting professor at NYU Tandon, who is from the Politecnico di Torino, Italy, appears in Chaos: An Interdisciplinary Journal of Nonlinear Science. A network model encompasses nodes, or data points, and edges, or links between nodes. Such models are used in applications ranging from marketing to tracking bird migration. In the researchers' model, based on a susceptible, exposed, infected, or removed (recovered or has died) framework, each node represents a person's health status. The edges represent potential contacts between pairs of individuals. The model accounts for individuals' variability in their interactions with others, meaning a few highly active nodes are responsible for much of the network's contacts. This mirrors the validated assumption that most people have few interactions, and only a few interact with many others. Scenarios involving social distancing without mask wearing and vice versa were also tested by setting up the measures as separate variables. The model drew on cell phone mobility data and Facebook surveys obtained from the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation at the University of Washington. The data showed people who wear masks are also those who tend to reduce their mobility. Based on this premise, nodes were split into individuals who regularly wear masks and socially distance and those whose behavior remains largely unchanged by an epidemic or pandemic. Using data collected by The New York Times to gauge the model's effectiveness, the researchers analyzed the cumulative cases per capita in all 50 states and the District of Columbia between July 14, 2020, when the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention officially recommended mask-wearing, through December 10. In addition to showing the effects of combining mask wearing and social distancing, the model shows the critical need of widespread adherence to public health measures. "U.S. States that have been suffering the most from the largest number of infections last fall were also those where people complied less with public health guidelines, thereby falling well above the epidemic threshold predicted by our model," Porfiri said. "Line 5 is a significant aspect of Canada's economic relationship with the United States and contributes to secure energy supplies in both countries," the report states. "Its shutdown could have many implications, including reduced safety, shortages of various energy products on both sides of the CanadaU.S. border, transportation bottlenecks for Alberta's crude oil, and job losses for Canadian and American workers. In this context, the Special Committee believes that the Government of Canada's efforts designed to ensure that Line 5 remains in operation are vital." Since the beginning of 2021, governments, local communities, labor groups, chambers of commerce, business councils, industry associations and thousands of citizens in Canada and the U.S. have been vocal in stressing the importance of keeping Line 5 operating without interruption until Enbridge can complete its Great Lakes Tunnel Project. The Special Committee's report on Line 5 follows parliamentary hearings in March that featured testimony from labor and business groups like Canada's Building Trades Unions, the Laborers' International Union of North America, and the Canadian Chamber of Commerce. The Energy Ministers from Ontario, Alberta and Saskatchewan also testified to the importance of Line 5. Many organizations provided written input to the committee. "Enbridge is grateful for the tremendous outpouring of support for the uninterrupted operation of Line 5, including Parliamentarians across all party lines who've come together on this important cross-border issue," said Vern Yu, Executive Vice President and President, Liquids Pipelines. "We concur fully with the findings of the report, most importantly on the need to resolve the current dispute through executive action and state-to-state negotiation. As the report makes abundantly clear, it's in the best interests of both Canada and the United States to agree on a plan to keep the Line open and get the new proposed tunnel built in a timely manner. "The stakes could not be higher," Yu said. "Line 5 is not just a pipelineit's an economic lifeline in Canada and the United States." About Enbridge Inc. Enbridge Inc. is a leading North American energy infrastructure company. We safely and reliably deliver the energy people need and want to fuel quality of life. Our core businesses include Liquids Pipelines, which transports approximately 25 percent of the crude oil produced in North America; Gas Transmission and Midstream, which transports approximately 20 percent of the natural gas consumed in the U.S.; Gas Distribution and Storage, which serves approximately 3.8 million retail customers in Ontario and Quebec; and Renewable Power Generation, which generates approximately 1,750 MW of net renewable power in North America and Europe. The Company's common shares trade on the Toronto and New York stock exchanges under the symbol ENB. For more information, visit www.enbridge.com. FOR FURTHER INFORMATION PLEASE CONTACT: Media Toll Free: (888) 992-0997 Email: [email protected] Investment Community Toll Free: (800) 481-2804 Email: [email protected] SOURCE Enbridge Inc. Related Links http://www.enbridge.com Women leaders are still underrepresented in nearly every sector and industry. And we see the consequences daily. The one exception to this may be in the nation's women's colleges. While nearly every other college and university today is coed, all-women's colleges remain vibrant, exemplary, and essential to higher education. Women's colleges give young women of all backgrounds the opportunity to study in an affirming, encouraging community, with some of the most influential and accomplished women in the world. For students looking for a women's college to build the knowledge, expertise, skills, and confidence to take on the 21st century, the College Consensus ranking of the Best Women's Colleges for 2021 shows a panoramic picture of the women's college landscape. College Consensus is designed as an aggregate ranking, with a mission of providing prospective students and their families a clearer, more comprehensive view of each school by combining multiple perspectives. Each school's Consensus score combines publisher rankings and student reviews, providing the most unbiased and comprehensive college scoring system available. The Top Consensus Ranked Women's Colleges are listed in descending order by their Consensus score. In the event of ties, schools are ranked in alphabetical order with the same rank number. The top three Women's Colleges are 1) Bryn Mawr College, 2) Wellesley College, 3) Barnard College. The remaining Best Women's Colleges for 2021 are below: Mount Holyoke College Scripps College Smith College Spelman College Saint Mary's College Brescia University College of Saint Benedict Notre Dame of Maryland University Simmons University Wesleyan College Mount Saint Mary's University (CA) Agnes Scott College Alverno College Bay Path University Bennett College Brenau University Cedar Crest College College of Saint Mary Converse College Hollins University Mary Baldwin University Meredith College SOURCE College Consensus Related Links https://www.collegeconsensus.com CHANGZHOU, China, April 15, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Trina Solar Co., Ltd ("Trina Solar"), a leading global PV and smart energy total solution provider, announced the official worldwide launch of the TrinaTracker Agile 1P Dual Row on April 15 (4pm CET). Agile 1P tracker is fully compatible with ultra-high power modules ranging from 400W to 670W+. The Agile series is a new member to the TrinaTracker family after the Vanguard series launched in December, which further enriches the trackers application scenarios and upgrades TrinaTracker solutions. At the launch conference, Duan Shunwei, head of Tracker business unit at Trina Solar and Antonio Moralejo Gil, head of Product & Engineering department for TrinaTracker, presented the new product comprehensively. Agile 1P adopts the 1P Dual Row design with four key technology advantages: higher reliability, greater power generation, optimized BOS and enhanced adaptability. SuperTrack algorithm delivers an extra yield gain up to 8%. Cesar Hidalgo, Principal Engineer of solar systems at DNV, a well-known international testing organization, elaborated on the research methodology used in tracker bankability report and explained that both TrinaTracker's "Vanguard" and "Agile" tracker systems have been approved by DNV's verification. Agile 1P has officially gone into mass production since the launch date. Up to now, the global installation capacity of TrinaTracker has exceeded 5 GW, with 8 GW annual production capacity on trackers in 2021. Agile 1P's enhanced reliability is guaranteed by three innovative technologies The new Agile 1P tracker can achieve optimal adaptability and reliability in compatibility with 600W+ ultra-high power modules. Mr. Gil revealed that CPP, a world-renowned authoritative wind tunnel test organization, put the Agile 1P tracker through a set of comprehensive wind tunnel tests including dynamic and static as well as full aeroelastic, simulating operation under actual condition. Upon these tests, TrinaTracker kept optimizing the tracker design to ensure all the components of tracker system to boast higher reliability and enhanced adaptability. Agile 1P leverages the innovative multi-drive (dual-slewing) system and exclusively worldwide patented spherical bearing to improve the overall stability of tracker system, effectively reducing the system aeroelastic effect, improving load transmission efficiency, avoiding rotation error and enhancing the overall structure. The spherical bearing can minimize the structure stress and deformation and further improve reliability and adaptability in complex terrains. In addition, Agile 1P is equipped with sophisticated stow strategy, preventing the tracker from structural failure in gusty wind and strengthening system reliability. Installation capacity increases by 15.6%, SuperTrack algorithm drives up 8% power gain The Dual-Row design of Agile 1P shortens the tracker length to only 72 meters, enabling installation of up to 120 modules per tracker, and achieving higher installation capacity under the same layout by 15.6%. The intelligent "SuperTrack" algorithm can increase the Agile 1P's total power generation by up to 8%. With the cleaning robot effectively eliminating sands and dust on modules, system power generation can be enhanced by more than 10%. Optimized BOS saves Agile trackers amount by 33% under the same installation capacity The amount of Agile 1P trackers is reduced by 33%, compared with conventional single-row 1P trackers in a typical 1MW layout, saving 9% in DC cabling. The spherical bearing of TrinaTracker features the self-alignment with an angle adjustability of 30%, which can correct the installation deviation and reduce failure rate as well as operation and maintenance costs. Furthermore, an innovative upgrade to the installation process that integrates the patented Trina-Clamp diminishes installation time by 50%. Besides, upgraded from TrinaTracker Cloud, the upcoming TrinaTracker SCADA system will feature remote monitoring, early warning, intelligent diagnosis and troubleshooting. SCADA system will boost the effective operating time under different weather conditions, diagnose the real time tracker problems and perform troubleshooting accordingly, reducing the maintenance costs and increasing solar farm operation efficiency. Mr. Duan noted: "Trina Solar's tracker business has to consider the developments from all perspectives. Currently, tracker industry's primary focuses are wind engineering and structural enhancement, but we also need to consider the software development such as intelligent tracking algorithms and SCADA system. By embracing full compliance of well-established industry standards, state-of-the-art technology, as well as upstream and downstream integration, Trina Solar will enhance the trackers value, and facilitate the continuing growth of the global tracker market." With the photovoltaic industry entering the 600W+ era, trackers, used in conjunction with ultra-high power modules will accelerate the reduction of LCOE and the entrance to the photovoltaic parity era. Sticking to the principle of "driven by innovation, more reliable", TrinaTracker is dedicated to offering customers with high quality, reliable ultra-high power trackers and service, and will make sustained efforts to promote technical innovation and industry-wide standardization of trackers to expedite further reduction of LCOE and ultimately bring more returns to our customers. Photo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1486487/1.jpg (Natural News) In the segment below on last nights Tucker Carlson Tonight, the Fox News commentator said there are two things the public wants to know about COVID vaccines and neither has anything to do with how many professional athletes or Netflix stars have been vaccinated. (Article republished from ChildrensHealthDefense.org) People want to know: Are the vaccines safe? And, are they effective? Carlson said the public was assured the vaccines are safe, that the risks were so small we could ignore them completely. In fact, we were told that the clinical trials revealed no evidence at all that the vaccines could cause any life-threatening injuries, Carlson said. But after Tuesdays decision by federal health officials to shut down the Johnson & Johnson vaccine rollout because six people experienced blood clots, including one who died Carlson had a lot of questions. And those questions arent being answered by federal health officials, who are sending a lot of mixed messages these days, Carlson explained. What about the question of effectiveness, Carlson asked. After being told that everyone must get the vaccine, the rollout is more important than the moon shot, health officials are telling people even if theyre fully vaccinated, they must avoid crowds and wear masks. Thats not what we expected at all, Carlson said. If the vaccines work, why are the vaccinated still banned from living normal lives? Its a legitimate public health mystery, Carlson said, adding: Either it works, or doesnt. But it cant be simultaneously highly effective and at the same time not restore peoples lives to normal. As for journalists asking these questions on behalf of the public, forget it, Carlson said. Journalists have decided their job is to enforce the regimes rules, no matter how often those rules change. PHILIPSBURG:--- As of April 14th, there were three (3) persons who tested positive for COVID-19; however, three (3) persons have recovered. The total active cases remain at thirty-six (36). The total number of confirmed cases is now two thousand one hundred ninety-nine (2199). The Collective Prevention Services (CPS) are monitoring thirty-five (35) people in home isolation. One (1) patient remains hospitalized at the St. Maarten Medical Center. The total number of deaths due to COVID-19 remains at twenty-seven (27). The number of people recovered since the first case surfaced on St. Maarten has increased to two thousand one hundred thirty-six (2136). Thirty-five (35) people are in quarantine based on contact tracing investigations carried out by CPS. The Ministry of Public Health, Social Development and Labour (VSA) Airport Health Team in collaboration with Health Care Laboratory Sint Maarten (HCLS) have tested 2655 travelers arriving at the Princess Juliana International Airport (PJIA), while CPS tested 25, 304 people throughout the community. As the numbers continue to fluctuate, CPS will continue to actively execute its contact tracing measures. Minister Panneflek encourages everyone to become a part of the solution and register to be vaccinated. Registration for the COVID-19 vaccine can be done via the online registration form which is available in English, Spanish, and Creole, and can be found via this link: https://forms.sintmaartengov.org/form.aspx?v=OGtn05kNmb or by paper registration which can be found at Collective Prevention Services (CPS) at the Vineyard Office Park Building, the Division of Labour Affairs at the Simpson Bay Public Service Center in Simpson Bay, doctors offices, the Government Administration Building, and select pharmacies. Violent protests against the arrest of an Islamist party leader continued in Pakistan on Wednesday for the second day as demonstrators blocked roads in several major Pakistani cities, including the country's largest city of Karachi, Al Jazeera reported. Ever since the protests broke out, visuals, where scores of protestors were seen swarming the streets across all major cities, including Lahore and Rawalpindi, are making rounds on the Internet. One of the Twitter users said, "War-like situation in Pakistan", something that has been echoed by others too. War-like situation in Pakistan. Situation is out of control in Pak as Lakhs of protestors gathered against Imran Khan Govt and Pak Army.#CivilWarinPakistan @tilakdevasher1 @KanchanGupta @kakar_harsha @gauravcsawant pic.twitter.com/b5HAAsySOD Mujaid Alam Bakarwal (@alam_mujaid) April 14, 2021 Pakistan bans Tehreek-i-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP) Absolutely shocking scenes from Pakistan. A Metro! pic.twitter.com/gmBH2Fk9mC Gabbbar (@GabbbarSingh) April 14, 2021 Earlier on Wednesday, Pakistan Interior Minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmed had announced that the government has decided to ban the Islamist terror outfit Tehreek-i-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP). It was after this announcement that the workers and supporters of TLP have been carrying out violent protests across the country. As per Dawn, Pakistan's Sheikh Rashid Ahmed said that the religiopolitical terror outfit would be banned under Rue 11(b) of the Anti-Terrorism Act (ATA), 1997. Rashid had said that the Punjab government had recommended a ban on the organisation, for which a summary was being sent to the federal cabinet. He said TLP leaders used to come to all rounds of talks with the government after issuing instructions to their workers regarding road closures. "They were more prepared than us but today we've decided that [a] ban on TLP [will be placed] and this file is going to the cabinet for the approval from today," the minister said. This statement by Sheikh Rashid Ahmed came after the law enforcement agencies and officials moved to clear TLP activists from roads in different cities of Pakistan as violent protests refused to die down. Stating that the TLP workers through blocking roads had stopped ambulances from reaching their destinations and impeded the transport of oxygen cylinders of COVID-19 patients, the Pakistan Interior Minister called upon TLP members "who are running the media" to surrender. he also said that the TLP members were mistaken in their belief that they could create problems for the government through social media. "We want a document that exalts the flag of the Prophet (PBUH), but what you are demanding gives an impression of us being an extremist-minded state to the world," he told the TLP leadership. Why are TLP supporters and workers protesting? The TLP is protesting against the arrest of their leader Saad Hussain Rizvi, who was taken into custody earlier this week, and blasphemous caricatures of the Prophet published in France by Charlie Hebdo and others even recently and the controversy over French President Emmanuel Macron standing by the act. They have demanded that the Ambassador of France should be sent home and import of goods from that country banned, as reported by Dawn. According to media reports, the Imran Khan-led Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf government had signed an agreement with the TLP in November 2020, agreeing to expel the French Ambassador. The TLP had launched a massive protest in November last year against the cartoons but dispersed after the agreement with the government to expel the Ambassador by February and the deal was extended until April 20. (Image: Twitter- @alam_mujaid, AP) Lorrie Shepard In this months episode of the NEPC Talks Education podcast, NEPC Researcher Christopher Saldana interviews Lorrie Shepard, whose research focuses on psychometrics and the use and misuse of tests in educational settings. Dr. Shepard is the University Distinguished Professor in the School of Education at the University of Colorado Boulder. Saldana and Shepard discuss the Biden administrations decision to require standardized testing this year. Shepard believes that while the administrations decision is likely motivated by a desire to collect information about student outcomes in an effort to promote educational equity, it will likely result in an undue and unnecessary burden on under-resourced schools already struggling to respond to the pandemic. In particular, Shepard is concerned that testing will require a reallocation of school resources such as computers, and leave students who are dependent on school computers for remote learning without technology for the weeks that in-school testing is conducted. Moreover, because student participation in this years test is likely to be much lower than normal, Shepard believes that what data is collected will need to be carefully analyzed and thoughtfully presented to the public to avoid misinterpretation and misinformation about alleged learning loss. In response to the administrations decision, Shepard encourages teachers to work with students to address testing anxiety rather than concerning themselves with trying to cover more material in class. In the years to come, Shepard hopes that federal and state policymakers will take the lessons learned during the pandemic and over the last 40 years of accountability policy to consider how federal testing policy can provide useful and valid information about district, school and student academic outcomes, without distorting teaching and learning or disproportionately burdening under-resourced schools. A new NEPC Talks Education podcast episode, hosted by Christopher Saldana, will be released each month from September through May. Dont worry if you miss a month. All episodes are archived on the NEPC website and can be found here. NEPC podcast episodes are also available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and Stitcher, under the title NEPC Talks Education. Subscribe and follow! The National Education Policy Center (NEPC), a university research center housed at the University of Colorado Boulder School of Education, produces and disseminates high-quality, peer-reviewed research to inform education policy discussions. Visit us at: https://nepc.colorado.edu The Catholicosate of Sis was unlawfully seized by the then-Ottoman Empire during the Armenian Genocide and continues to be unlawfully occupied by the current-day Turkish regime The legal proceedings initiated by the Holy see of Cilicia of the Armenian Apostolic Church against Turkey, and demanding the Catholicosates historical seat in Sis continues. This is reported on the Facebook page of the Catholicosate. In 2015, at the height of centennial of the Armenian Genocide, the Holy See of Cilicia launched a lawsuit against the Republic of Turkey in efforts to acquire and reclaim the historical Catholicosate of Sis, which was for centuries the Seat of the Catholicosate and continues to be lawfully and legitimately owned by the Holy See of Cilicia. The Catholicosate of Sis was unlawfully seized by the then-Ottoman Empire during the Armenian Genocide and continues to be unlawfully occupied by the current-day Turkish regime. Following a submission at the European Court of Human Rights, the Holy See of Cilicia submitted an amended application to the Turkish court on July 30th, 2019. Due to continued delays caused by the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, the hearing took place on March 30th, 2021. The second date for hearing has not been determined. The legal team headed by His Holiness Catholicos Aram I, continues to follow the lawsuit unfold, reads the respective statement. .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. The Arizona Daily Sun is shutting down its printing press and outsourcing the work to a facility in metropolitan Phoenix, the newspaper announced Wednesday. The move will take place in mid-May, and the 20,000 square-foot building that also houses the newspaper staff will be put up for sale, said Colleen Brady, the Daily Suns publisher and advertising director. In a letter to readers published Wednesday, Brady attributed the decision to the difficulty in keeping a more than 55-year-old press running and the need to stay competitive. The Daily Sun has been printed in Flagstaff for more than 80 years, including 26 at the current location off Route 66 on the west side of the city, she said. We do this with a heavy heart because of the dedicated production and press staff who ensured that we continued to produce quality publications, Brady wrote. The Daily Sun, like other newspapers, has downsized over the years. It stopped printing a Monday edition in 2012 and ceased print publication of other niche products more recently. The newspaper also has had to implement layoffs in the editorial, circulation, advertising and production departments. ADVERTISEMENTSkip ................................................................ Brady declined to comment Wednesday on how the decision to outsource printing will affect several employees, some of whom have worked there for decades. Charles Arms, a spokesman for Lee Enterprises, which owns the Daily Sun, said the company would not comment on the changes beyond what was in Bradys letter. The Phoenix-area facility that will print the Daily Sun is run by the Arizona Republic, part of Gannett Co. The Daily Sun prints other newspapers in Arizona. Brady said the Daily Sun will retain those customers and continue delivering newspapers, including the Arizona Republic, the Wall Street Journal, USA Today and others, around northern Arizona. Brady said once the Daily Sun building is sold, the remaining newspaper staff will relocate within Flagstaff. Credit: Pixabay/CC0 Public Domain The Covax scheme launched a push for an extra $2 billion in donations on Thursday, saying it needed the money in advance to reserve COVID-19 vaccine doses. The Covax facility ensures the 92 poorest participating economies can access coronavirus jabs, with the cost covered by donors. The United States co-hosted Thursday's donor event at which the first $400 million was raised. Sweden led the way, putting in $258 million, with the Netherlands donating $47 million. "People everywhere should have access to rigorously tested, safe, and effective COVID-19 vaccines," said US Secretary of State Antony Blinken. "As long as COVID is spreading and replicating anywhere, it poses a threat to people everywhere." Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga will host a Covax funding summit focused on the 92 countries in June, it was announced. "The supply of vaccines and funding are still insufficient, and there is an urgent need to further strengthen the Covax facility to ensure equitable access to safe, effective, and quality-assured vaccines to people in developing countries," said Japan's Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi. Nearly 840 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines have been administered in at least 205 territories around the world, according to an AFP count. Covax has delivered more than 38 million doses so far to 113 participating territories. The first shipment landed in Ghana on February 24, with Ghanaian President Nana Akufo-Addo publicly taking the first shot. Covax is co-led by the WHO, the Gavi vaccine alliance, and the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations. The scheme is aiming to distribute enough doses to vaccinate up to 27 percent of the population in the 92 poorest participating economies by the end of the year. "We have now secured up to 2.5 billion doses ... and sight on another billion doses," said Gavi chief Seth Berkley. "You can put advance purchase agreements in place but to do those you have financing available. "That's why the up-front money is critical." Sweden's donation made it the largest contributor relative to population. "This is an investment not only in global solidarity, but also in our common objective of putting an end to the pandemic," said International Development Minister Per Olsson Fridh. "Minimising the risk of dangerous virus variants, enabling a quicker economic recovery and minimising the already devastating impact of COVID-19 is in everyone's best interest," he said. Explore further Follow the latest news on the coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak 2021 AFP John Cleese has apologised for making fun of 'white English people' in a mocking snipe at The Simpsons actor Hank Azaria. Mr Azaria, who is white but had played the Indian-American character Apu since 1989, was the subject of controversy in 2017 following the release of a documentary. He recently apologised to 'every single Indian person' for voicing the Kwik-E-Mart clerk, following a row over how the portrayal of Apu had impacted Indian people in the United States. In an interview with the Armchair Expert podcast, Mr Azaria has said the character had contributed to 'structural racism' and that he hadn't known any better during the nearly 30 years he voiced the character. Mr Azaria is the voice behind Moe Szyslak, Chief Wiggum Comic Book Guy and many other characters. Monty Python actor Mr Cleese has now made fun of his apology, saying sorry himself for 'any distress' caused by portraying white English people. He tweeted: 'Not wishing to be left behind by Hank Azaria, I would like to apologise on behalf on Monty Python for all the many sketches we did making fun of white English people. Monty Python actor John Cleese has now made fun of Hank Azaria's apology, saying sorry himself for 'any distress' caused by portraying white English people Hank Azaria said he feels the need to apologize to 'every single Indian person in this country' for voicing The Simpsons character Apu 'We're sorry for any distress we may have caused.' In another tweet on Wednesday night, Mr Cleese, while discussing so-called 'woke-ism', said: 'Started out as a good idea - ''Let's be nice to people'' - and finished up as a humorless, censorious, literal-minded, posturing idiocy.' John Cleese has apologised for making fun of 'white English people' in a mocking snipe at The Simpsons actor Hank Azaria When Apu had been called out for promoting racist stereotypes in the 2017 documentary The Problem With Apu, Mr Azaria and the show's creators had seemed to shrug off the criticism. Addressing the controversy in an episode the next year, Lisa Simpson asks 'what can you do' when a character which had been beloved for decades had suddenly become politically incorrect. However, Azaria, 54, says since then he has listened to the concerns of Indian-Americans and came to realize that Apu was a problem. 'I needed to shut up... and listen and learn. And that took a while,' he said. 'This was not a two-week process: I needed to educate myself a lot.' Apu, an Indian immigrant who runs Springfield's Kwik-E-Mart convenience store in the long-running show, first appeared on The Simpsons in 1990. Speaking on the Armchair Expert, Azaria said the character had been created with good intentions. 'I really didn't know any better. I didn't think about it. I was unware how much relative advantage I had received in this country as a white kid from Queens. 'Just because there were good intentions it doesn't mean there weren't real negative consequences to the thing that I am accountable for.' In 2017, Indian-American filmmaker Hari Kondabolu released The Problem With Apu, which made the case that the character played on racist stereotypes of Indian immigrants. Azaria turned down requests to appear in the documentary. But The Simpsons' writers addressed the controversy directly on the show. In the scene, Marge reads Lisa a bedtime story that was just a jumble of PC buzzwords. It was only after the 2017 documentary The Problem With Apu, by Hari Kondabolu, above, that Azaria says he recognized the character was problematic Lisa stares directly at the camera, with a photo of Apu on the nightstand beside her, and says. 'Something that started decades ago and was applauded and inoffensive is now politically incorrect. What can you do?' The show's response drew a stinging backlash on social media. That same year Azaria appeared on The Stephen Colbert Show where he said he would be happy to stand aside and let someone else voice Apu. He told the Armchair Expert at first he didn't know if he should stop doing Apu, as he didn't want to make a 'knee-jerk reaction' to what could've just been '17 hipsters in a microbrewery in Brooklyn'. So he spent the next year speaking with Indian-American groups to educate himself - 'doing the work'. 'I needed to educate myself a lot,' he said, crediting his experience of Alcoholics Anonymous with helping the process. 'If I had not gotten sober, I promise you it wouldn't have taken much wine for me to be in my feelings one night and fire off a tweet that I felt justified in firing off. 'Some kind of defensive, white-fragile tweet. Boy, was I glad I had a system in place where I could look at this thing.' He also apologized to the podcast's co-host, Monica Padman, who's Indian-American. 'I know you weren't asking for that but it's important. I apologize for my part in creating that and participating in that. Part of me feels I need to go round to every single Indian person in this country and apologize. 'I realized I have had a date with destiny with this thing for 31 years.' Why Did Durham County Hire a Consultant? An oversight committee for county managers reviewed the matter after getting an anonymous complaint. The county spent $29,343 to hire Coleman as a legal consultant to investigate the claims. What Did Coleman's Report Say About Racial Bias? A lack of collegiality among some commissioners and a lack of trust between some commissioners and the manager. Some employees felt micromanaged by Commissioners Wendy Jacobs and Carter, the only white members currently on the board. The manner and tone in which some commissioners asked Davis and staff questions could be perceived as "disrespectful of their expertise" or "biased." Staff were often caught in the middle of disputes between the board and the manager. Where Does Public School Funding Fit Into This? What About Davis' Contract? The People's Alliance asked the commissioners to hire a new manager who would match the board's progressive, political philosophy. The Friends of Durham, two weeks later, opposed PA's statement, saying managers are supposed to be nonpolitical. The Durham Committee followed with a letter in support of county employees and requested Carter recuse herself from discussing Davis' contract. What's Next? (TNS) The debate about racial bias in Durham County, N.C., government grew louder Wednesday when more community leaders and organizations weighed in.Two of the city's political groups joined Black faith and political leaders pushing elected officials to address county employees' allegations that some county commissioners are racially biased against them.Members of the Durham Committee on the Affairs of Black People and the Friends of Durham spoke at a news conference outside county offices on Main Street. Joining them were leaders from the Interdenominational Ministerial Alliance of Durham, Durham Clergy United, and the city's Racial Equity Task Force."We are watching Durham get progressively ill," said Elaine O'Neal, former chair of the Racial Equity Task Force. "We see this as a perpetuation of a culture of anti-Blackness." The allegations arose last year after the county hired Duke University law professor James E. Coleman Jr. to investigate alleged racial bias and unfair treatment of county employees. The Durham Committee sent the county a letter last month, citing the bias allegations and asking that Commissioner Heidi Carter recuse herself from any discussion about County Manager Wendell Davis' contract.Davis accused Carter of racism last year."It is our fundamental belief that no employee should be subjected to a toxic work environment," said Antonio Jones, chair of the Durham Committee. "Furthermore, it is time to stop disrespecting, scapegoating and gas-lighting Black county employees for political appeasement."Last February, Davis accused Carter of having a racial bias against him and other people of color after Carter criticized him at a public meeting for how long it was taking staff to plan school construction projects.In a letter to Carter published by local media, Davis wrote that Carter had once told him, "You work for the Board, and when we tell you to do something, you'd better grin and bear it."Carter, a former Durham school board member, was seeking re-election. She called the accusations "baseless" and claimed Davis was trying to sabotage her campaign. She later apologized for her role in the conflict.Davis' letter led to two independent probes.In his nine-page report, Coleman said the tension between the commissioners and manager, and between commissioners, has put Durham County government in "a state of periodic dysfunction."Coleman interviewed county commissioners, the county manager and staff members. He found:Coleman found no evidence of intentional or conscious racial bias. However, his report stated both the manager and his staff "reasonably could have perceived" Carter's criticism of Davis last year as racially biased, at least implicitly so.Nearly two-thirds of Durham County employees are part of a minority group, Jones said, and most of those employees are Black.Davis has been a critic of Durham Public Schools, saying it is not doing enough to raise Black students' achievement. He has rejected the school board's full funding requests, saying he can't recommend more money for a district that is losing students.As a school board member and as a commissioner, Carter has opposed Davis' budget proposals for school funding.Jones said local leaders need to have "an open and honest conversation" about public school funding.The state carries the burden on school funding, but historically the General Assembly has not provided enough money to meet districts' needs, he said."As white parents chose, over decades, to leave Durham Public Schools for various reasons, there's a cost associated with it," he said in an interview with The N&O.Durham County ranks third across the state on local spending per student, according to a 2020 report by the Public School Forum of North Carolina. The data draws from the 2017-18 fiscal year.A 2019 assessment found DPS needs $727 million in maintenance and improvement projects over the next 10 years, The N&O reported.Davis' contract, up for re-negotiation, will automatically renew unless the commissioners vote to end it by June.Since March, three prominent political groups have weighed in.At Wednesday's news conference, O'Neal said the county should halt all decision-making about the contract "until the commission no longer operates out of the current dysfunction."She said the commissioners need to find a constructive way to address the issues in Coleman's report."Instead of responding effectively to the charge of periodic dysfunction, there has been continued questioning of County Manager Davis' competence, salary, character and motivation," she said. "That is dehumanizing."Jones said Carter's disputes with Davis pose a conflict of interest.Carter declined to recuse herself from discussions about the contract in March, citing state statutes requiring her to vote.Henry McKoy, an N.C. Central University business professor who spoke at Wednesday's news conference, is co-hosting a virtual town hall at 6 p.m. Tuesday, April 27, to discuss the public conversation regarding Davis.McKoy invited the Durham Committee, Friends of Durham and The People's Alliance to take part in the conversation last week.The Friends of Durham and the Durham Committee have agreed to join the town hall. The PA declined. Hainan to embrace brighter future thanks to favorable policies People's Daily Online) 14:24, April 15, 2021 Thanks to at least 110 policy documents aimed at spurring its development, south Chinas Hainan province has made significant progress in developing itself into a free trade port, embracing a brighter future for the tropical island. Tourists shop at the Haikou Riyue Plaza duty-free shop in south China's Hainan province. (Photo/Chinanews.com) Hainan has become a magnet for foreign investment. Foreign investment into the island, in terms of actual utilized funds, has doubled for three consecutive years, with the total amount accrued over the past three years exceeding over half the cumulative amount invested into the Hainan Special Economic Zone since its establishment 30 years ago. Sources of foreign capital have also doubled, with more than 80 countries and regions investing in the province. Last year, 1,005 foreign enterprises were newly established on the island, almost threefold the figure achieved in 2019. The foreign investment boom in Hainan can be attributed to Chinas preferential policies. Hainan enjoys the shortest foreign investment negative list, with 27 items, compared to 33 at the national level and 30 at the free trade zone level, as the provinces governor Feng Fei outlined at a press conference in Beijing on April 12. Enterprises registered in Hainan have the lowest tax burden in the country, Feng added, explaining that encouraged industries and enterprises registered in the province enjoy a corporate income tax rate of 15 percent, while high-end talent working in the free trade port only need to pay income taxes of no higher than 15 percent of their income. China has also been stepping up efforts to build Hainan into a paradise for shoppers. Offshore duty-free sales in the island province are expected to exceed 60 billion yuan in 2021, as fine-tuned favorable policies continue to draw in more customers. Aerial photo shows Boao Hope City, an international medical and tourism pilot zone in Boao township, Qionghai city, south Chinas Hainan province. (Photo/Chinanews.com) According to Chinese vice finance minister, Zou Jiayi, residents in Hainan will be able to buy imported goods tariff free, and overseas exhibitors will enjoy tax exemption policies for offshore duty-free goods at the China International Consumer Products Expo scheduled to be hosted in Hainan from May 7 to 10 this year. Hainan is also building itself into an international education center by introducing excellent international education resources, said Shen Xiaoming, Party chief of the province. A Harrow International School has been put into use in the provincial capital city of Haikou, and some international schools at the Lingshui Li'An international education innovation pilot zone located along the Li'An peninsula of Lingshui Li autonomous county will usher in their first autumn semester this year. Photo shows the beautiful scenery in Sanya, south China's Hainan province. (Photo/Chinanews.com) Chinese people can also enjoy greater access to more high-quality medical resources in Hainan thanks to the establishment of Boao Hope City, an international medical and tourism pilot zone situated in Boao township, Qionghai city of the province. The medical institutions in the pilot zone are able to make use of new drugs from all around the world, Shen said. In addition, an electronic prescription center will be established in Boao Hope City, according to a guideline issued by Chinas National Development and Reform Commission. The country will further encourage well-known beauty and medical institutions to set up operations in the pilot zone and push for an international center for transplantation sciences there, the guideline said. Hainan has also attached great importance to environmental protection. The island aims to become a global leader in ecological conservation by 2035 and has plans in place to ensure that the installed capacity of power generation using renewable energy resources accounts for 85 percent of the province's total capacity by 2030. It will also ban the sale of gasoline-fueled automobiles by 2030 in a push to promote the adoption of new energy vehicles. The continuous development of the Hainan free trade port should not inflict damage on the ecological environment, Shen said. (Web editor: Hongyu, Liang Jun) PHILADELPHIA, April 15, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Film Trailer SAFE x SOUND is an exploration of consent and safe spaces in the East Coast underground music scene, as told by musician, activist and advocate, Brian Walker of A Day Without Love. This film was made possible by the incredible hospitality of musicians, show promoters, and hosts they met along the way on the 2019 Storytellers Tour. From bars to coffee shops, art spaces to basement shows, they discovered a common thread. Consent and inclusion is the only way to create a space to feel SAFE and SOUND. Safe and Sound Trailer A Day Without Love and Brianna Spause at the Storytellers Tour The documentary is targeted to release in the Summer of 2021 (July 23rd, 2021) and is looking to be released digitally. The duo is currently working with editor/animator Alex Stanilla on production and Katy Galvin for design assets. The intent of the documentary is to address the value of consent, safe spaces, inclusion, and the value of live music for underrepresented voices. This project was made possible by generous support from Philadelphia based fashion brand Cultured Assets. Excerpt from the film: "As a musician I'm trying to create a space where people don't feel ashamed of the pain inside of them. And people do not feel ashamed of the good inside of them. I hope to create a community of honesty where that veil does not exist. We don't respond to positive or negative emotions. Because either a, we're too afraid of accepting that A good thing is coming to them, or B we're afraid of the pain that's actually inside of us. If we can't breathe in our art and expression, then how the hell are we ever going to breathe?" Documentary Info Trailer https://youtu.be/3lyUjL_W1xM Documentary Poster https://drive.google.com/file/d/1GKGZLVYJV2J8D8-X0R3NDpcZGkknXuI_/view?usp=sharing Additional Press Photo https://drive.google.com/file/d/1hNMswU2eHDncRMbiXNDZfFdDh7_NyISr/view?usp=sharing Contact Brian Walker Email: [email protected] Socials IG: @safesoundfilm | @adaywithoutlove | @bsproductions.co Website: https://www.bsproductions.co/safe-sound-film/ Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/adaywithoutlove Music Twitter| IG | Website: @adaywithoutlove | www.adaywithoutlove.com Tiktok: @adaywithoutloveband SOURCE A Day Without Love Related Links https://www.adaywithoutlove.com This service applies to you if your subscription has not yet expired on our old site. You will have continued access until your subscription expires; then you will need to purchase an ongoing subscription through our new system. Please contact the Parsons Sun office at (620) 421-2000 if you have any questions Mumbai: Its time to sharpen those knives, wear your apron and don the chefs hat! In this playground for the foodies, its a game of imagination and innovation with plenty to mix and match. Come Sunday, 25th April, Zee Cafe brings the ultimate cook-off to your television screens with the launch of the unique cooking competitive show, Chef vs Fridge. Based on the daily challenge posed by the fridge, the show comes with exciting new themes every week featuring extraordinary dishes made from the limited ingredients available in the fridge that are an absolute feast for the eyes. Airing as part of the channels special block What The Food that brings MasterChef Australia S10 weeknights at 9, the homegrown production is set to air on Sundays as 8PM on Zee Cafe and 10:30PM on Zee Cafe HD along with 5 other ZEE channels viz. Zee TV, Zee Zest, Big Ganga, Zee Telugu and Zee Marathi in English, Hindi, Marathi and Telugu respectively and stream on ZEE5. Coupled with irresistible food, the repertoire of flavours and creative meal combinations, Chef Vs. Fridge promises to take viewers on the ultimate sensory experience that is sure to make every foodie drool. Chef vs Fridge takes viewers on one delicious journey alongside some of the youngest and innovative culinary wizards. Each episode brings a new twist on the menu with a different theme that challenges the imagination of the contending Chefs. With the limited ingredients available in the fridge aka. Serial Chiller on the show, the two chefs battle it out to create extraordinary dishes for a winner to be declared at the end of each episode. Coupled with an exciting digital contest for viewers every week, the shows interactive and entertaining format makes it an absolute feast for viewers to tune in. In a light-hearted campaign film featuring the ace celebrity Chef Vicky Ratnani and actor-comic Gaurav Gera, the channel unveils its latest original that promises the ultimate we-time experience for viewers. The entertaining ad film features Gaurav Gera all prepped up for a Mexican cooking experiment. With only Idli and tomatoes available in his fridge, a surprised Gaurav is confused and caught off guard. Its then that Chef Vicky Ratnani comes to the rescue with a unique dish suggestion that mixes the south Indian staple with the quintessential Mexcian ingredient. The film culminates with the judge-host duo revealing the shows theme in chorus, Ab fridge lega sabki class, chefs banaenge kuch world-class. Sharing his views, celebrity Chef Vicky Ratnani said, I am extremely thrilled to be back on set with Chef Vs. Fridge. This is a show made with a lot of love and it's unlike any other cooking competitive show. The unique format brings exciting weekly challenges and it's been great fun to see the innovative food creations stem from completely random ingredients found in the fridge. It's every foodies delight to experience food that is a feast for the eyes and here's a show that one surely cannot miss. I'm thrilled to have collaborated with Zee Cafe for the show and it was extremely fun working with the talented Gaurav Gera on set. We hope fans will enjoy the show as much as we did making it. Commenting on the same, actor-comedian Gaurav Gera said, Being a foodie myself, Im elated to be a part of a show thats all about the sizzle and simmer. Its been a lot of fun discovering unique dishes and interacting with some of the most talented young chefs. Theres fun, theres food and theres definitely a lot of frolic in Chef Vs. Fridge. Im delighted to collaborate with Zee Cafe and Im certain that fans are certainly in for a treat. It was great working with Chef Vicky Ratnani who opened the doors of the fridge to a new challenge every week. Theres loads of fire and grill in this kitchen. Stay tuned. Speaking about the launch, Kartik Mahadev, Business Head, Premium Channels, ZEEL said, A show as refreshing and exciting as Chef vs Fridge needed the communication to bring the experience of the show alive in a very relatable manner. The fridge as a device helps build that relatability as all homes deal with an everyday problem of what to cook today? with ingredients in the fridge always throwing a challenge at the cook. A good cook learns to imagine and innovate with what they have. The ad film captures this everyday experience in a light-hearted and entertaining banter between Chef Vicky Ratnani and Gaurav Gera. With the innovative format, creative food combinations and weekly plating challenges we are certain that the show will be loved by our audience and deliver value to our partners. In line with the announcement, the channel has onboarded leading sponsors for the show. Presented By Haier, Co-Powered by Lifebuoy and Parle Platina Hide & Seek, Cookware Partner Prestige, Spice Partner Catch Salt & Spices and Gifting Partner The Gift Studio, the show promises to be a unique platform with multiple integration opportunities for brand partners. Featuring an extraordinary line-up of contending chefs who each come with an inspiring story to tell, the show has loads to look forward to in this exciting kitchen. From an investment banker-turned-chef and a self-taught baker to a cake designer and an LGBTQ Activist raised in the slums of Mumbai, the show gives many such talented chefs a platform they truly deserve! Explore innovative, imaginative cooking with extraordinary deliciousness as Chef vs Fridge is set to air starting 18th April, Sundays at 8P M only on Zee Cafe and 10:30 PM on Zee Cafe HD along with Zee TV, Zee Zest, Big Ganga, Zee Marathi and Zee Telugu in English, Hindi, Marathi and Telugu and Zee5 To know more, follow us on @ZeeCafe, Zee Cafe, zeecafeindia New Delhi: The country's exports surged by 60.29 per cent to a monthly record high of USD 34.45 billion in March on growth in sectors such as engineering, gems and jewellery and pharmaceuticals, even as the outbound shipments contracted by 7.26 per cent during the full 2020-21 fiscal to USD 290.63 billion. Imports too grew by 53.74 per cent to USD 48.38 billion in March, but dipped by 18 per cent to USD 389.18 billion during April-March 2020-21, according to the Commerce Ministry data released on Thursday. Trade deficit during March 2021 widened to USD 13.93 billion from USD 9.98 billion in March 2020. The trade deficit during the full fiscal, however, narrowed to USD 98.56 billion as against USD 161.35 billion during 2019-20, the data showed. Product categories that recorded positive growth during March include carpet (89.84 per cent), gems and jewellery (78.93 per cent), engineering goods (71.3 per cent), rice (66.77 per cent), spices (60.42 per cent), pharmaceuticals (48.49 per cent), chemicals (46.5 per cent), marine products (40.81 per cent), petroleum products (35.52 per cent), coffee (23.27 per cent), and tea (8 per cent). The export growth of 60.29 per cent in March this year is the highest after about 82 per cent growth recorded in July 2011. Sectors that saw negative growth during March are oilseeds (-6.45 per cent) and cashew (-1.99 per cent). Import sectors which recorded negative growth during the month include silver, transport equipment, pulses and fertiliser. Oil imports in March grew by 2.23 per cent to USD 10.27 billion in March. During April-March 2020-21, the imports dipped by 36.92 per cent to USD 82.35 billion. Gold imports during the month increased to USD 8.49 billion from USD 1.22 billion in March 2020. Commenting on the numbers, Federation of Indian Exports Organisations (FIEO) President Sharad Kumar Saraf said that since "we have momentum with us, we should aim at exports of USD 350 billion in this financial year so that we not only cover the lost ground but also help the economy move to much needed double digit growth". He also urged the government to soon notify the RoDTEP ( remission of duties and taxes on export products) rates to remove uncertainty. Live TV For a guy reported dead almost 80 years ago, retired Navy Capt. Richard Robbie Roberts has lived a remarkably long life. The combat pilot earned 15 medals over a 24-year military career, which ended in 1963. He flew over 50 aircraft models, including fighters, helicopters, patrol bombers and sea planes; fought in two wars; and saw action in nine major naval engagements. He was shot down on the third day of World War II but survived, landing the damaged seaplane on the water. Roberts said he was just 27 at the time and never expected to see 30. But he will celebrate his 107th birthday Saturday with new friends and family at the Allegro senior community in Winter Park where he spends most days listening to big band music or audio books. I wish I could do more than I can, he said. Fading eyesight and poor balance limit him now. He no longer dances twice a month as he did a few years ago. A nurse often sits with him, but he showers, shaves and mostly dresses himself. He needs help lifting his feet into shoes. His memory is sharp, his mind clear, said stepson, Blake Warren, 71, of Maitland. His faculties are there 100 percent, Warren said. Roberts, who served in both World War II and the Korean War, is the oldest active member of the Navy League, a nonprofit civilian and advocacy organization founded in 1902 to support Americas sea services. The Central Florida chapter will fete him Friday. At least 10 U.S. World War II veterans and maybe more are believed to be older than Roberts, who signed up for duty after he heard a radio commercial about the Navys search for aviators. According to a link provided by the National WWII Museum in New Orleans, the oldest is Lawrence Nathaniel Brooks Sr., 111, of Louisiana. Asked to list his favorite memories, Roberts gently closed his eyes. It wanders, he said of his imagination. He said he often sees the face of Ginnie, the cute little gal he knew for two weeks before marrying her in 1945. They had no children but lots of fun over the next 22 years, traveling the world together, Roberts said. She died from a brain aneurysm in 1967. He said he also pictures Gloria, his second wife, who he married in 1969. They moved to Central Florida in 2005 to be closer to her children. She died in 2006 at age 83 of Parkinsons disease. Roberts said he sometimes remembers the view of Earth from the sky. Even whats terrible on the ground is beautiful from above, he said. He said he wished he could have spent even more time flying than he did. Glaucoma grounded him in 1963. His most unforgettable, happy memory is a serendipitous moment in San Francisco in 1942. Roberts, stationed in the Philippines when Pearl Harbor was attacked in December 1941, flew 14-hour missions in a patrol bomber over the Pacific Ocean in search of Japanese ships. He also flew the last plane out of the Philippines before the Japanese invaded. At the time, he was frequently unable to contact his family in Oregon. A lieutenant commander mistakenly listed him as missing in action, presumed dead, as many airmen were. But, months later, on leave in California and hoping to soon visit his parents, he walked down from the balcony of The Emporium, a store in San Francisco. He lifted his eyes on a stairway landing to see suddenly in front of him his mother, Idamae, walking up. She was in California visiting his brother in military training, Roberts said, voice quivering, a tear skidding down his cheek. His mother reacted the same as he did hollering and screaming and the party started, Roberts said. She thought I was gone and there I was. But not all his memories are welcome. Ive got a lot of horrible ones, he said. Combats pretty hellacious. He saw fellow pilots shot out of the sky, watched through binoculars from the deck of the USS San Jacinto as young Marines were cut down on Iwo Jima. He said he saw a Japanese warplane dive through the clouds and bomb the USS Franklin. Explosions blew men and aircraft and fuel overboard, and a burning sea swallowed them. There was nothing we could do to help, Roberts said. Nothing. When asked if he lost close friends in the war, he nodded and said in a barely audible whisper, All of them. Roberts was honored in March as the nations oldest living Naval helicopter pilot at a ceremony at Orlando Executive Airport. The Naval Helicopter Association also saluted him with a Lifetime Achievement Award for his work to integrate helicopters into the Navy. This article is written by Stephen Hudak from The Orlando Sentinel and was legally licensed via the Tribune Content Agency through the Industry Dive publisher network. Please direct all licensing questions to legal@industrydive.com. BEIJING, Apr. 15 -- China looks forward to the resumption of dialogue between Serbia and Kosovo as soon as possible, Ambassador Geng Shuang, China's deputy permanent representative to the United Nations, said in a speech at the UN Security Council open video teleconference on Kosovo on Tuesday. Amb. Geng expressed that the Kosovo issue is essential to peace and stability in the Balkans and to Europe as a whole. It is important that Serbia and Kosovo work within the framework of the Security Council resolution 1244 to find a solution acceptable to both parties through dialogue and consultation. In this process, Serbias sovereignty, independence and territorial integrity should be fully respected, he stressed. Over the past six months, relations between Serbia and Kosovo have been stable in general. Progress has been made in energy transmission and border management. China welcomes this positive development, he pointed out. Due to the political turmoil in Kosovo, dialogue between the two sides has been stalled since December last year. China looks forward to the resumption of dialogue ASAP and appreciates the willingness on the part of Serbia for the talk. The results of the previous dialogue must also be implemented. Kosovo should follow the Brussels agreement and make effective efforts as early as possible to promote the establishing of the Association/Community of Serb-majority municipalities. As the Coordinator of the Serbia-Kosovo relationship, the EU should play a facilitating role in this regard. Geng also stressed that strengthening unity among ethnic groups is the only way to achieve peace and stability in Kosovo. While the COVID-19 pandemic poses a threat to the health of people of all ethnic groups in both sides, both parties should turn the fight against the pandemic into an important opportunity to strengthen unity and cooperation and achieve peaceful coexistence. According to the SGs report, with the political turmoil, pandemic prevention and control was relaxed, leading to sharp increase of infections. When Serbia provided vaccines to area in Kosovo inhabited by Kosovo serbs, the Kosovo authorities reacted strongly which came as a surprise. The international community should make sure that vaccines are fairly distributed and vaccine gaps are eliminated. It should also be ensured that there are no man-made obstacles to vaccination, Geng said. Vaccines are important for people's lives and health. Extensive vaccination should be done in a way that helps increase mutual trust among all ethnic groups. Amb. Geng further reiterated that China appreciates the work done by UNMIK under the leadership of Special Representative Tanin and supports UNMIKs continued efforts to perform its duties as a coordinator in accordance with its mandate. And China also calls on relevant parties to fully protect the safety of UN personnel and create favorable conditions for UNMIK to perform its duties. The latest update on New York Mets reliever Dellin Betances is not encouraging. MLB.coms Anthony DiComo reports Dellin Betances (right shoulder impingement) wont travel with the team to Colorado and Chicago, and hasnt begun throwing yet, so needless to say he wont come off the IL when eligible on Sunday. Mets officials have been consistent in saying it could be a while for Betances. The Mets placed Betances on the injured list one week ago. Introducing Yankees Insider: Get exclusive news, behind-the-scenes observations and the ability to text message directly with beat writers He struggled in spring training, posting a 7.71 ERA in seven appearances. But heading into the regular season, Betances had the support of Mets manager Luis Rojas. Per WFAN: With Dellin, weve always heard that the velo increases as camp goes. So we havent really paid attention to that. We trust his recent history, before he had the injury Hes been consistent. Hes throwing the ball with better command. Betances made his 2021 regular-season debut eight days ago, giving up one run in one inning of work in the Mets 8-2 loss to the Philadelphia Phillies at Citizens Bank Park. Betances joined the Mets one year ago, leaving the New York Yankees after eight seasons in the Bronx. Betances, a four-time All-Star with the Yankees, made 15 appearances in 2020, compiling an unsightly 7.71 ERA as he worked his way back from a strained right lat and partially-torn left Achilles. In November, the 33-year-old Betances exercised his player option for 2021, which is worth $6.8 million. Get Yankees text messages: Cut through the clutter of social media and text during games with beat writers and columnists. Plus, exclusive news and analysis every day. Sign up now. Thank you for relying on us to provide the journalism you can trust. Please consider supporting NJ.com with a subscription. Mike Rosenstein may be reached at mrosenstein@njadvancemedia.com. Tell us your coronavirus story or send a tip here. The father and son charged in the killing of California college student Kristin Smart have faced court for the first time but will not enter their pleas until next week. Paul Flores, 44, is charged with first-degree murder for the killing that allegedly happened as he tried to rape a 19-year-old Smart in his dorm room at Cal Poly University after an off-campus party in 1996. His father, Ruben Flores, 80, is charged with helping his son conceal Smart's body, which still has not been found. The brief proceeding in San Luis Obispo Superior Court was livestreamed with the father and son, who were arrested on Tuesday after years of investigation, appearing separately by video from the county jail. Paul Flores, who was wearing a blue suit jacket, white shirt and necktie, is being held without bail. His father, who was in orange jail scrubs, was held on $250,000 bail. Paul (left) and Ruben Flores (right), the father and son charged in the killing of California college student Kristin Smart, faced court for the first time on Thursday but will not enter their pleas until next week. Kristin Smart was last seen on May 25, 1996, with Flores while returning to her dorm at Cal Poly University in San Luis Obispo after an off-campus party A spokesperson for the Smart family said they were not surprised the arraignment was delayed. 'After nearly 25 years of waiting, today's delay in the arraignment process was not unexpected or surprising. Make no mistake, we have begun the final quest to bring justice for Kristin,' the family said. 'We know we are in good hands with the San Luis Obispo County District Attorney's office, and we will wait patiently for the process to commence.' Their arrests this week followed significant developments in the case in recent years as new witnesses came forward, investigators monitored Paul Flores' cell phone and text messages and searches were conducted at separate homes where Flores, his father, mother and sister live. A search last month at Ruben Flores' home 13 miles south of campus in the community of Arroyo Grande using ground-penetrating radar and cadaver dogs discovered evidence connected to Smart's death, authorities said. They did not disclose what was found but were seen digging in the backyard on Tuesday following their arrests. The body of Smart, who was officially declared dead in 2002, has never been found. Authorities said they believe they know where she was buried but have not yet found her remains or publicly disclosed the location. Despite being a suspect from day one, investigators say they never had enough evidence to charge Paul Flores over Kristin Smart's disappearance until Tuesday when he was taken into custody (above) on suspicion of murdering the 19-year-old Paul Flores, 44, and his father, Ruben Flores, 80, were arrested on Tuesday in connection with Kristin Smart's 1996 disappearance Smart was last seen on May 25, 1996, with Flores while returning to her dorm at Cal Poly University in San Luis Obispo after an off-campus party. She was drunk at the time, and Flores, who was a fellow freshman, had offered to walk her home. District Attorney Dan Dow revealed on Wednesday that investigators think Flores killed Smart in his dorm room during the Memorial Day weekend when many students had left the campus. A lawyer for Paul Flores has declined to comment on the arrest or charges. Harold Mesick, a lawyer for Ruben Flores, told the Los Angeles Times his client is 'absolutely innocent.' The case dates back to May 25, 1996 when Smart was last seen returning to her dorm at the Cal Poly University campus at about 2am after an off-campus party. A then-19-year-old Flores, who was a fellow freshman at the school, had offered to walk her home from the party. Smart was not reported missing to the Cal Poly Police Department until three days after she was last seen. Her dorm mate at the time said police were initially reluctant to take a missing persons report because it was Memorial Day weekend and she might have left the campus. As the last person to see Smart alive, Flores was under suspicion from the start. Investigators, who launched a renewed search on Tuesday at his father's property (above) in nearby Arroyo Grande, believe they know where the body was buried but have not yet found it or publicly disclosed the location Smart's family (above in an undated photo) issued a statement shortly after the arrests calling it a 'bittersweet day' but slammed Paul and Ruben Flores for allegedly hiding 'this horrible secret' for decades The San Luis Obispo County Sheriff's Office has been in charge of the investigation since a month after Smart vanished. During the investigation, four different search dogs trained to pick up the smell of human remains led police to Flores' dorm room. No evidence was ever found in Flores' room. Smart was officially declared dead in 2002. Various search efforts have been carried out over the years, including the excavation of three different hillside locations near the campus in 2016. The younger Flores, who has long been a suspect in Smart's 1996 disappearance, was a former classmate and the last known person to see Smart the night she vanished. He has never been charged over her disappearance At the time, an investigator said a lead strongly suggested her remains might be buried near a large concrete letter 'P' that is the school's landmark but the search ended with no trace of Smart's remains. The case picked up steam in the past few years after Parkinson, who became sheriff in 2011, ordered a thorough review of the evidence and hired a fulltime cold case detective. Flores then went from being a 'person of interest' to a 'suspect' to 'the prime suspect', Parkinson said. The sheriff revealed a new witness came forward in 2019 and, coupled with new evidence, they were able to get a warrant to intercept and monitor Flores' phone and text messages. Other warrants enabled investigators to conduct searches on Flores' home, along with those of his mother, father and sister, in February and April last year, which turned up additional evidence. In total, Parkinson said they served over 40 search warrants at 16 locations over the years, collected nearly 200 new items of evidence and used modern DNA techniques to test more than three dozen older pieces of evidence. He said so much evidence was compiled that it would fill three terabytes on a computer hard drive. Just last month, officers conducted yet another search warrant at the Flores' family home using ground penetrating radar equipment and cadaver dogs. Investigators discovered more evidence that resulted in the charges being brought against Paul and Ruben Flores this week. Flores has remained silent over the decades-long investigation. He has previously invoked his Fifth Amendment right to not answer questions before a grand jury and in a deposition for a lawsuit that was brought against him in relation to the investigation. The Smart family filed the $40 million lawsuit in 1996 against Flores and added the the university for allegedly not protecting their daughter. It is pending awaiting a criminal case outcome. Smart was officially declared dead in 2002 but her body has never been found CAMBRIDGE BAY, NU, April 15, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Province Brands of Canada, the beverage technology company behind a groundbreaking process for creating both (1) sugars for beverage fermentation (e.g. for brewing beer/ nonalcoholic beer) and (2) sugars tailored for sweetening food and beverage from just about any type of non-starch cellulosic plant material, today announced the execution of a Subscription Agreement for a CAD$25 million investment commitment from GEM Global Yield LLC SCS ("GEM"), the private alternative investment group. Under the agreement, GEM will provide Province Brands with a Share Subscription Facility of up to CAD$25 million with a 36-month term provided that Province Brands' common stock is listed on a major stock exchange. Province Brands will control the timing and maximum amount of drawdowns under this facility and has no minimum drawdown obligation. Concurrent with a public listing of Province Brands of Canada's shares, Province Brands will issue warrants to GEM to purchase up to 7.8% of the common stock of the company. "We are excited to work with a world-class partner such as GEM. This partnership will support our plans to bring some really wonderful products to market," said Jennifer Dianne Thomas, Province Brands of Canada's Chief Executive Officer. "We anticipate that this equity facility will help us complete construction on our 123,000 SF facility in Grimsby, Ontario, and launch products using our first-of-its-kind intellectual property. We are now exploring ways to list our company's shares so that we can take advantage of this equity facility should we choose to do so." Province Brands of Canada currently is exploring merger options with publicly listed companies. Following such a merger, the Share Subscription Facility would become available to the combined entity. Funds from the equity facility may be used to complete construction on Province Brands' production facility and to fund the launch of premium lower-glycemic index, vegan and gluten-free plant-based sugars and beverages using Province Brands' patent-pending technology for converting cellulosic plant materials such as agricultural byproduct into premium edible and fermentable sugars. "YANDI FRESH" THC Cannabis Beverage In preparation for expected product launches, Province Brands has submitted its Notice of New Cannabis Product to Health Canada for its "YANDI FRESH" brand of grapefruit-ginger seltzer with THC and submitted its notice to purchase to Ontario Cannabis Stores. About Province Brands of Canada Province Brands of Canada is a food and beverage technology and branded products company that has developed a suite of patented and patent-pending technologies enabling the creation of a better class of plant-based sugars and fermentable beverages. For the first time ever, premium vegan and gluten-free sugars and beverages can be crafted from non-starch plant material and a variety of agricultural and food waste. When applied to beverages, Province Brands' technology results in beers that are low calorie, low in carbohydrates and gluten free. Brewers may license Province Brands' technology and use it to experiment with new flavours and make beers from locally sourced materials - all the while reducing greenhouse gas emissions and waste disposal costs. Cannabis beverage companies can license the technology to make authentic non-alcoholic fermented beverages brewed directly from the industry's primary waste stream (stalks, stems and roots). Province Brands is exploiting the technology by developing both premium clean, sustainable, and tasty sugars/syrups from non-starch biomass (including plant waste) and fermented alcoholic and nonalcoholic beverages under various brand names. About GEM Global Emerging Markets ("GEM") is a $3.4 billion, alternative investment group with offices in Paris, New York, and Los Angeles. GEM manages a diverse set of investment vehicles focused on emerging markets and has completed over 400 transactions in 70 countries. Each investment vehicle has a different degree of operational control, risk-adjusted return, and liquidity profile. The family of funds and investment vehicles provide GEM and its partners with exposure to: Small-Mid Cap Management Buyouts, Private Investments in Public Equities and select venture investments. For more information: http://www.gemny.com MEDIA CONTACT Matt Yemma Peaks Strategies (909) 633 9396 [email protected] SOURCE Province Brands of Canada Related Links https://www.provincebrands.com/ Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, April 15) A fire at the provincial capitol in Cagayan de Oro on Wednesday compromised at least 30 vials of Sinovac vaccine, the health chief of Misamis Oriental said. "No one was hurt., there were 30 vials of sinovac, one dose/vial," Dr. Jerie Calingasan said in a text message when asked if there were people hurt and vaccines damaged in the fire. A police report said the fire started around 6:40 p.m. at the kitchen of the motor pool of the Provincial Engineering Office and reached the third alarm before it was declared out at 8:54 p.m. Damage from the blaze was estimated at 1.4 million. Several vehicles were also scorched, the report said. Police said upon receiving the call about the fire, personnel were immediately dispatched and helped secure the provincial jail that houses 550 inmates. Firefighters from the Bureau of Fire Protection and other volunteer fire brigades worked to battle the blaze. There were no reports of injuries or casualties. Thursday, April 15, 2021 Royal funeral planning has lessons for us commoners. The British Royal Family will have a funeral for Prince Philip, the husband of Queen Elizabeth, on Saturday, April 17. Because of the coronavirus pandemic, there will be no public involvement in his funeral. According to the BBC, coronavirus restrictions in England mean only 30 people, socially distanced, are allowed to attend funerals. Full details of the invited guests are yet to be announced, but its expected the majority of the reduced guest list will be family members. Prince Harry will attend but his wife Meghan, who is pregnant, will not make the trip from the US, on medical advice. It is the first time the Duke of Sussex has returned to the UK since stepping down as a senior royal last year. Attendees are expected to wear masks in line with government advice. The pallbearers and clergy are not included in the number of attendees. Prince Philips body is resting in a private chapel at Windsor Castle. He will be interred in a royal vault inside St. Georges Chapel, which is on the grounds of Windsor Castle. The duke is reported to have requested a funeral of minimal fuss and has not laid in state where members of the public would have been able to view his coffin. The procession and service will be televised. The duke will have a ceremonial funeral, rather than a state funeral. There is a subtle difference state funerals are usually reserved for monarchs, although wartime Prime Minister Winston Churchill was given a state funeral. The Queen Mother had a ceremonial funeral in 2002, as did Diana, Princess of Wales in 1997. On the day of the funeral, the coffin will be moved from the private chapel to the State Entrance of Windsor Castle. It will be placed on a modified Land Rover, that the duke himself helped design, to be carried the short distance to St Georges Chapel. Even if you dont want a fuss for your own funeral, there are lessons to be learned from watching royal funeral planning. We all need to plan ahead. Royal Funeral Planning Back in 2014, I did a Friday Funeral Film review about the 2007 movie, The Queen. The film traces The Royal Familys evolving response to the death of Princess Diana in 1997 and the planning and implementation of her funeral. She died in a fatal automobile crash in France a year after she divorced Prince Charles. As the mother of young princes William and Harry, there was confusion about how to hold a funeral for an ex-royal family member. Royal funerals are ordinarily planned well in advance. In the film, Princess Dianas funeral plans are based on Tambridge, the code name for The Queen Mothers eventual funeral plans (she was still alive in 1997). Its the only one that had been rehearsed and could be put together within a weeks time. Instead of 400 soldiers, 400 representatives of the Princess various charities could march behind the coffin. Instead of foreign heads of state and crown heads of Europe, the guests would include actors of stage and screen, fashion designers and other celebrities. Whether you are a pauper or a prince or princess, this film shows that a public recognition of loss is needed, especially when the person is highly beloved. It also shows that it takes some coordination to create a funeral, big or small. The Queen is a great film to watch to help start a funeral planning conversation. Need Help with Your Funeral Plans? For an excellent guide planning ahead for your eventual demise, get a copy of A GOOD GOODBYE: Funeral Planning for Those Who Dont Plan to Die. It covers everything you need to know before you go. A GOOD GOODBYE: Funeral Planning for Those Who Dont Plan to Die provides the information, inspiration and tools to plan and implement creative, meaningful and memorable end-of-life rituals for people and pets. Learn how to save money, reduce family conflict, and avoid stress at a time of grief. Chapters include: How Do I Work This? Event planning under pressure A Grave Undertaking: Working with a funeral home We Can Do That? New trends in death care Its My Party and Ill Die If I Want To: Unique memorial ceremonies, remains disposal, and receptions Amazing Grace: Religious customs for death Just as talking about sex wont make you pregnant, talking about funerals wont make you dead and your family will benefit from the conversation. Related China, ROK urge Japan to prudently handle radioactive wastewater Xinhua) 08:29, April 15, 2021 BEIJING, April 14 (Xinhua) -- China and the Republic of Korea (ROK) on Wednesday urged Japan to prudently handle the issue of Fukushima radioactive wastewater based on full consultation with international organizations and its neighbors and substantive participation of relevant countries and international organizations. This came at the first meeting of the China-ROK dialogue and cooperation mechanism of maritime affairs held via video link. China and the ROK expressed strong dissatisfaction with the unilateral decision recently made by Japan to dump the wastewater into the sea, regardless of opposition from the international community, especially China and the ROK as its two major neighbors. China and the ROK both pledged to keep in close contact over the issue. They also voiced their readiness to work with the international community and regional countries to jointly take necessary measures to respond to this global challenge. Hailing the sound development of China-ROK ties, both sides believed the dialogue and cooperation mechanism is conducive to expanding maritime exchanges and cooperation, and will enrich the China-ROK strategic cooperative partnership. Both sides agreed on the framework and operation mode of the mechanism. They also pledged to deepen cooperation in areas including marine science and technology, environmental protection, fisheries, search and rescue, shipping, defense, and law enforcement. Both sides exchanged views on issues including demarcation of territorial waters, agreed to enhance communication and coordination, and properly handle sensitive issues. They agreed to promote mutual trust and work for a Yellow Sea featuring peace, friendship, and cooperation. Hong Liang, director-general of the Department of Boundary and Ocean Affairs of China's foreign ministry, and Choi Hee-deok, director-general for the Northeast Asian Affairs Bureau of the ROK's foreign ministry, co-chaired the meeting. Japan on Tuesday announced its decision to dump contaminated radioactive wastewater from the Fukushima nuclear plant into the sea. It has generated a massive amount of radiation-tainted water since an accident triggered by the massive 2011 earthquake and tsunami. (Web editor: Guo Wenrui, Liang Jun) The Indian health regulator will take a decision within three working days of a foreign maker seeking emergency use approval, the Centre said on Thursday in a definite move to accelerate the inoculation process. Also, the Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation (CDSCO) will work in a time-bound manner for every step connected to approval. For instance, import licence and registration certificates will be processed within three working days of the approval. In addition, bridging clinical trial protocols must be cleared within seven working days for vaccines approved by international regulators. Sources, however, indicated that price negotiations are likely to happen with the before a is allowed entry into the Indian market. The government is looking for multiple Covid-19 vaccines here. It wants a portfolio of vaccines to improve supplies. However, pricing is an important factor and the Centre would negotiate that with the firms, said a source in the know. Even after vaccines are granted commercial approval to sell in the private market in future, the pricing regulator is likely to keep a close watch. ALSO READ: India adds 200,000 Covid-10 cases in a day; Maharashtra cases slow down Another source claimed that both and have initiated talks with the government. The firms did not respond to queries. It is learnt that US major Moderna is in talks with the salt-to-software conglomerate Tata Group to bring its vaccine here. J&Js single shot vaccine, however, has received a setback in the US as the USFDA has paused further usage pending investigation of the blood clotting incidents reported in individuals immediately after So, technically, the vaccine does not meet the Indian criteria for approval at the moment. According to the roadmap issued on Thursday, a foreign vaccine maker can submit an application to CDSCO seeking approval for restricted use in emergency situation either through its Indian subsidiaries or authorized agents. The Drugs Controller general of India (DCGI) will consider such applications and take a decision within three working days. In keeping with the guidelines outlined in the National Covid-19 Programme, the first 100 beneficiaries will be assessed for seven days before a vaccine is rolled out for others. The applicant can initiate bridging clinical studies on Indian volunteers within 30-days of approval. The CDSCO needs to approve such applications for clinical trials within seven days. ALSO READ: Covid: NEET-PG exam postponed, next date to be decided later, says Vardhan The drug regulator, however, has added some caveats. For example, the Central Drugs Laboratory (CDL) at Kasauli will approve each batch of the vaccine that is to be released for use in the national Covid-19 programme. The applicant will need to submit safety data on 100 beneficiaries of the vaccine to the CDSCO after it gets the CDL approval. The DCGI will review the permission granted for restricted use in emergency situations after it receives the results of the bridging study. Please purchase a subscription to continue reading. If you have a subscription, please Log In . Your current subscription does not provide access to this content. If you believe you've gotten this message in error, please Log In. This is not another Me Too play, insists veteran Australian playwright Wendy Beckett. Think of it as a Remember Me Too play. The writer of more than 25 theatre plays is talking about Claudel, her latest drama combining history, dance (choreographed by the legendary Meryl Tankard), music and sculpture. Playwright Wendy Beckett in rehearsals with dancers Dorothea Csutkai, Cloe Fournier and Kip Gamblin, who will be performing in Claudel at the Opera House. Credit:Dominic Lorrimer The prodigiously talented and pioneering French sculptor Camille Claudel (1864-1943) was the student, mistress, and muse of Auguste Rodin, historys most famous sculptor after Michelangelo. She worked with Rodin on at least two of his masterpieces - The Kiss and The Gates of Hell - which could be the ironic title of a Claudel biography. Minister for Foreign Affairs of Ukraine Dmytro Kuleba has called on his Baltic colleagues to convince other EU and NATO member states that Ukraine needs practical support in the face of destabilizing actions of the Russian Federation. The Ukrainian minister said this at a joint briefing with the foreign ministers of Estonia, Lithuania and Latvia following the talks in Kyiv, an Ukrinform correspondent reports. "There is no doubt that Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania are always ready to support Ukraine not only in word but also in deed. However, I also asked my colleagues, as members of the EU and NATO, to talk to other members of these organizations about the need for practical support for Ukraine," Kuleba said. He also said that the Baltic partners reaffirmed their readiness to act jointly in the UN, OSCE and other international organizations in order to consolidate Ukraine's effective international support in the face of Russian aggression. As reported, Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Estonia Eva-Maria Liimets, Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Latvia Edgars Rinkevics and Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Lithuania Gabrielius Landsbergis are on an official visit to Ukraine on April 15. iy Jenny Morrison has made her first public appearance since actor and comedian Magda Szubanski launched an extraordinary attack on her marriage to the prime minister. Mrs Morrison was seen on Thursday at Sydney's St Mary's Cathedral comforting Carla Zampatti's daughter Bianca Spender at a state funeral for the legendary fashion designer. She was representing her husband Scott who has been in Western Australia and tweeted his regret at not being able to attend the service. Mr Morrison's absence meant he did not cross paths with former Australia Post chief executive Christine Holgate who this week accused him of bullying her out of a job. The prime minister's wife Jenny Morrison is pictured offering words of comfort to Bianca Spender at the funeral of Ms Spender's fashion designer mother Carla Zampatta. It was the first time she had been seen in public since being attacked by comedian Magda Szubanski Magda Szubanski, who tweeted her sympathies to Zampatti's family upon learning of the 78-year-old's death, did not attend her funeral. She recently compared a picture of prime minister Scott Morrison and his wife Jenny to a scene from The Handmaid's Tale Mr Morrison's absence meant he did not cross paths with former Australia Post chief executive Christine Holgate who this week accused him of bullying her out of a job. Ms Holgate is pictured right with former foreign minister Julie Bishop and her partner David Panton Melbourne-based Szubanski, who tweeted her sympathies to Zampatti's family upon learning of the 78-year-old's death, also did not attend the funeral. 'So very sad to hear of the death of Carla Zampatti,' Szubanski had written. 'Such a lovely woman who dressed me on a few occasions with great elegance and empathy. 'Her tailoring was impeccable and her style divine. My deepest condolences to her family.' It was another tweet from Szubanski likening a picture of the Morrisons to something from The Handmaid's Tale that has mired the 60-year-old in controversy. Szubanski made headlines on Sunday when she retweeted a photo of Mrs Morrision wearing a modest black dress while watching her husband sign a condolence book for the late Prince Philip. In her tweet, she said the image looked like a scene from the dystopian thriller where women are uneducated, subservient to men and ruled by Bible-touting dictators. The left-wing comedian had retweeted a photo of Mrs Morrison watching her husband sign a condolence book for the late Prince Philip, captioning the image: 'I genuinely thought this was a photoshopped Handmaid's Tale meme. But no. It's 21st century Aussie life' 'I genuinely thought this was a photoshopped Handmaid's Tale meme. But no. It's 21st Century Aussie life,' she wrote. On Wednesday night, the Kath & Kim star doubled down on her comments and said they were a restrained way of drawing attention to the fact that she thinks elements of 'far-right' Christian conservatism are increasingly present in politics. 'That was a mild way of drawing attention to the fact I do have concerns about, and trust me this is not about the majority of Christians, but the element of the far-right,' she told A Current Affair. 'And - they are really going to come for me now - I think that is a concern. 'I think that is quite legitimate to say in this country. I don't like extremes of any kind is my stance.' Mr and Mrs Morrison are evangelical Christians and have made no apologies for their strong beliefs, with the Liberal leader having met his future wife at a Christian youth camp. Doubling down on her decision to make the comments about the Morrison family, the actress added: 'I am extremely restrained about what I say on Twitter, but there are some opinions that I will voice. 'In terms of the increasing presence of the religious right in politics in this country, then I will say something.' Szubanski also asked presenter Tracy Grimshaw: 'Why you would put something that looks like the Handmaid's Tale out as a photo op?' Magda Szubanski says she didn't recognise Jenny Morrison (left) in this photo of her watching her husband Prime Minister Scott Morrison sign a condolence book for the late Prince Philip - which she then compared to a scene from the Handmaid's Tale (right) She also said she did not instantly recognise the woman in the photo as Mrs Morrison because she wasn't wearing her 'normal hair and make-up'. Margaret Atwood's 1985 classic is set in a totalitarian state called Gilead where single women are kept as sexual slaves for reproduction purposes, while married women are only taught how to sew and bow to the whim of their powerful husbands. It has since been made into a successful TV series. Women in the book and show are also covered from head to toe in long, plain-coloured dresses and watch their husbands carry out official duties. Referring again to her decision to speak about the Morrisons, the actress said she was 'not there to just make nice comments all the time' and that certain things 'needed to be addressed'. 'I am 60 Tracy, at what point do you start to just say you know things that you think are important?' she asked. NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian (L), Australia's Prime Minister Scott Morrison (C), his wife Jenny Morrison (2nd L), Governor-General David Hurley (R) and his wife Linda Hurley (2nd R) attend a special prayer service to commemorate the death of Prince Philip Scott and Jenny Morrison pictured with their children Lily and Abbey. The family are evangelical Christians and the couple met at a church camp in their youth In a follow-up tweet on Tuesday, Szubanski said 'the infiltration of the religious far-right into Australian politics is disturbing'. She also drew comparisons between 'Christian soldiers' and those criticising her own comments. 'I see what the "Christian Soldiers" are doing here. They have drawn a "pink line" and Im the Big Game,' she wrote in reference to the scandal around the tweet. Actor, comedian and gay marriage advocate Magda Szubanski poses with an LGBTQI flag. She has seen blamed her comments about Jenny Morrison on fearing the rise of the 'religious right' Pictured: Scott Morrison and his family with Prince Harry and Meghan Markle. Szubanski asked 'what's with the hand signal thingy?' referring to Mrs Morrison's hand on her daughter's wrist She also drew attention to a sign Mrs Morrison was making with her hand in a picture they family posed for alongside Harry and Meghan - the Duke and Duchess of Sussex. In the image, Mrs Morrison's thumb and forefinger are touching, forming a circle on the little girl's arm. 'What's with the hand signal thingy?' Szubanski wrote, showing Mrs Morrison index finger and thumb forming a circle. While it is most commonly understood to be a benign sign meaning 'OK', a similar signal had been used by the political far right, when the digits create a W and P for White Power. While her question may have been innocent, it prompted a string of replies suggesting the hand gesture was somehow sinister. Daily Mail Australia is not suggesting Jenny Morrison's hand gesture was in any way signifying 'white supremacy'. When asked about her comments, Szubanki acknowledged to A Current Affair that it was 'probably a silly tweet to put out' but said the reaction was designed to distract the public from other issues. Magda Szubanski (pictured) poses with the LGBTI Celebrity Award in 2018. She has a history of outspoken left-wing views 'The fact that it turned into a big issue is no doubt in my mind partly to distract from the fact that Christine Holgate was making her testimony,' she said. Ms Holgate, the former CEO of Australia Post, accused Mr Morrison of humiliating her in a scorching senate enquiry on Wednesday, after the prime minister slammed her for buying luxury watches for staff. Szubanski told the program she was shocked at the backlash the tweet has sparked but insists she was doing 'okay' after celebrating her 60th birthday on Monday. 'I'm becoming Twitter toughened and if you speak up, this is what's going to happen,' Szubanski said. 'What stunned me was this was such a non-event, and non-comment - it was a comment about a photo that I genuinely thought was a meme. 'I was a bit staggered that I got drawn into this over such a nothing observation that thousands of people had already made on Twitter. 'I think it's sort of a fact of 21st century life if you are at all a public person, you do get better at it, but it seems excessive as to what the actual tweet was. It certainly wasn't a tirade as it has been called.' Prime Minister Scott Morrison and wife Jenny wait to sign a condolence book at Admiralty House following the death of Prince Philip Scott Morrison with his daughters Lily and Abbey. Szubanski has asked why Mr Morrison asks his wife Jenny for political advice Earlier on Wednesday, Szubanski fired off a series of angry tweets amid growing backlash and argued Mrs Morrison was 'fair game' for criticism because she had 'opted in' to public life by offering her husband policy advice. Responding to criticism from Liberal MP Nicolle Flint - one of several conservative female politicians who took issue with her Handmaid's Tale tweet - Szubanski wrote: '1) seriously, my comment is 'appalling' says Flint. 'Appalling'?! '2) I never said a single word about Jenny. 3) why is this headline news when... Christine Holgate is testifying?! Blatant attempt to use 'sisterhood' to distract. Now THAT'S appalling.' She also insisted that she hadn't meant to make a personal attack on Mrs Morrison's appearance, but instead wanted a greater degree of accountability - particularly given her husband's revelation that he turns to her for work advice. Questo comunicato e stato pubblicato piu di 30 giorni fa. Le informazioni su questa pagina potrebbero non essere attendibili. According to World Health Organization (WHO) estimates, every year, 3.8 Mn new cases of urothelial carcinoma occur around the world, with the recurrence rate being nearly 30-50%. However, early detection by use of modern diagnostics enables quick medical decision-making and consequent treatment for urothelial carcinoma. Accuracy in urothelial carcinoma diagnostics plays a significant role in the reduction of treatment costs. Moreover, increased demand for treatment of urothelial carcinoma is a key driver for increasing revenue inflow from diagnostic tests and procedures. However, development of effective urothelial carcinoma screening methods will play a significant role in the early detection and subsequent reduction in mortality rates. Furthermore, technological advancements in diagnostic methods such as the adoption of diagnostic imaging procedures, rapid molecular diagnostic kits, and use of biomarker testing in urothelial carcinoma screening programs are some other factors that will aid the growth of the urothelial carcinoma diagnostics market. How About Looking Through The Sample Of Urothelial Carcinoma Diagnostics Market Report? https://www.persistencemarketresearch.co/samples/14128 Companies covered in Urothelial Carcinoma Diagnostics Market Report GE Healthcare Roche Holding Illumina IDL Biotech Agilent Technologies Olympus Corporation Philips Healthcare Abbott Molecular Bio-Rad Laboratories, Inc Thermo Fisher Scientific, Inc.( Qiagen N.V.) Danaher Corporation (Cepheid) How About Step-By-Step Insights To Urothelial Carcinoma Diagnostics Market? Look Through The Methodology Employed! https://www.persistencemarketresearch.co/methodology/14128 According to the latest report published by PMR, the global urothelial carcinoma diagnostics market was valued at US$ 1 Bn in 2020, and is expected to progress at a CAGR of over 11% during the forecast period (20202030). Key Takeaways from Urothelial Carcinoma Diagnostics Market Study The reagent and kits segment, under product type, is expected to contribute more than 70% of revenue share in the urothelial carcinoma diagnostics market. of revenue share in the urothelial carcinoma diagnostics market. By test type, molecular diagnostic tests accounted for the highest revenue in 2019 . Rapid and sensitive detection is anticipated to drive demand for urothelial carcinoma diagnostics. . Rapid and sensitive detection is anticipated to drive demand for urothelial carcinoma diagnostics. Based on end user, the hospitals segment accounts for a major revenue share in the urothelial carcinoma diagnostics market. Leading players launching rapid diagnostic products with advances technology are expected to dominate the urothelial carcinoma diagnostics market space. Governments of various countries are organizing cancer screening programs and are spreading awareness, which is creating significant demand for urothelial carcinoma diagnostics. The COVID-19 outbreak has resulted in manufacturing disruptions and also decreased demand, which is projected to impede market growth in the near term. Want To Keep A Tab On The Latest Findings In The Urothelial Carcinoma Diagnostics Market? Purchase Our Urothelial Carcinoma Diagnostics Market Report Now! https://www.persistencemarketresearch.com/checkout/14128 Rise in prevalence of urothelial carcinoma and demand for early detection for preventive treatments will boost the global urothelial carcinoma diagnostics market, says a PMR analyst. Acquisitions and Partnerships - Key Strategies amongst Market Players Key players in the urothelial carcinoma diagnostics market are looking forward to strengthening their product portfolios through the launch of new products. For instance, in 2017, Roche received FDA approval for the complementary PD-L1 (SP263) biomarker test in urothelial carcinoma. In August, 2018, Agilent Technologies, Inc announced that the US Food and Drug Administration approved its Dako PD-L1 IHC 22C3 pharmDx assay for expanded use as a companion diagnostic test for Merck's anti-PD1 immunotherapy Keytruda (pembrolizumab) for urothelial carcinoma. Various players in the urothelial carcinoma diagnostics market are focusing on growth strategies such as acquisitions and partnerships. For example, in 2020, Thermo Fisher Scientific signed an agreement with Janssen to co-develop companion diagnostics for cancer. What Does the Report Cover? Persistence Market Research offers a unique perspective and actionable insights on the urothelial carcinoma diagnostics market in its latest study, presenting historical demand assessment of 20152019 and projections for 20202020, on the basis of product type (reagents and kits, instruments), test type (urinalysis test, molecular diagnostic test, biomarker test, imaging test, cytoscopy, ureteroscopy), and end user (hospitals, diagnostic laboratories, research and academic institutes, clinical research organizations), across seven key regions. About Us :- Flash President Joe Biden announced on Wednesday that all U.S. troops will be withdrawn from Afghanistan before Sept. 11, a decision to end the longest war in American history. "The United States will begin our final withdrawal, begin it on May 1 of this year," Biden said in his remarks at the White House. "U.S. troops, as well as forces deployed by our NATO allies and operational partners, will be out of Afghanistan before we mark the 20th anniversary of that heinous attack on September 11th." Biden delivered the address at the Treaty Room, the same place where then President George W. Bush informed the nation that the U.S. military had begun airstrikes against terrorists in Afghanistan nearly two decades ago. "It is time to end America's longest war. It is time for American troops to come home," he said, noting that the United States has achieved counterterrorism objectives in this war. In his remarks, Biden made clear that the withdrawal is not subject to any changes of conditions on the ground. "We cannot continue the cycle of extending or expanding our military presence in Afghanistan, hoping to create the ideal conditions for our withdrawal, expecting a different result." The upcoming Sept. 11 is the 20th anniversary of the terrorist attacks that drew the United States into war in Afghanistan. Biden said that 2,488 U.S. military personnel were killed, and 20,722 have been wounded in the prolonged war. This latest decision extends the deadline negotiated between the previous administration and the Afghan Taliban last year to pull U.S. troops out of the country on May 1. The United States and the Taliban signed an agreement in late February 2020, which called for a full withdrawal of foreign forces from Afghanistan by May 2021 if the Taliban meets the conditions of the deal, including severing ties with terrorist groups. Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid tweeted earlier Wednesday that "if the agreement is breached and foreign forces fail to exit our country on the specified date, problems will certainly be compounded and those whom failed to comply with the agreement will be held liable." "The Taliban should know that if they attack us as we draw down, we will defend ourselves and our partners with all the tools at our disposal," Biden warned. Since February last year, the Taliban has held off on attacking U.S. troops in Afghanistan but increasing attacks against Afghan forces. The Biden administration concluded that the Taliban had not met its commitment under the U.S.-Taliban deal for keeping up ties with al-Qaida. The Biden administration previously suggested that it would be tough to pull a large number of troops and equipment in weeks' time due to logistics reasons. The Pentagon said that there are roughly 2,500 U.S. troops in Afghanistan, but U.S. media recently said the number did not include 1,000 more U.S. special forces in the country. Besides, about 7,000 NATO troops in Afghanistan rely on U.S. logistics and security support. In the meantime, Biden highlighted that the United States would continue to support the Afghan government and provide assistance to the Afghan military after the withdrawal. "While we will not stay involved in Afghanistan militarily, our diplomatic and humanitarian work will continue." He also voiced U.S. support for the peace talks between the Afghan government and the Taliban facilitated by the United Nations. Biden spoke with Afghan President Mohammad Ashraf Ghani earlier in the day. They discussed continued commitment to a strong bilateral partnership following the departure of U.S. troops from Afghanistan, according to a readout issued by the White House. The latest decision has drawn criticism from analysts and lawmakers. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell on Tuesday said in a statement that "Precipitously withdrawing U.S. forces from Afghanistan is a grave mistake. It is retreat in the face of an enemy that has not yet been vanquished and abdication of American leadership." "Disappointing that Biden admin opted for calendar- rather than conditions-based withdrawal from Afghanistan," Richard Haass, president of the Council on Foreign Relations, tweeted Tuesday. The expert noted that the withdrawal would come with high costs, including possible terrorism revival, a spike in repression by the Taliban, and damage to U.S. reputation. "I think that the critics make some valid points," David Gordon, a senior adviser at International Institute for Strategic Studies, told Xinhua. "But the fact of the matter is that the U.S. has been in Afghanistan for 20 years, the Ghani government has basically refused to compromise with the Taliban, public support for the war in the U.S. was lost quite a while ago, I see the President's move as the least-bad option," he said. A recent threat assessment report released by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence offered some grim predictions: "The Taliban is likely to make gains on the battlefield, and the Afghan Government will struggle to hold the Taliban at bay if the collation withdraws support." Gordon, who served as vice-chair of the U.S. National Intelligence Council under the George W. Bush administration, agreed that the balance of forces in a continuing conflict will shift to favor the Taliban due to the U.S. withdrawal. "But we will also see Russia, Iran, India, and Pakistan - as neighboring states - each become more actively engaged. While they have differing interests, none will favor a rapid Taliban victory," he said. Scott Morrison has warned there would be at least 1,000 Covid-19 cases per week if international borders were opened - even if the most vulnerable people were vaccinated. Australians have been locked in their own country in all but exceptional circumstances since its borders closed in March 2020. Politicians have been skirting around the topic of when millions can go on overseas holidays again since the number of community transmitted cases teetered between low single digits and zero in January this year, with no clear goal in sight. Doubling down on comments made by health minister Greg Hunt earlier in the week who said trips abroad could remain off limits even if everyone in the country got the jab, Scott Morrison said the nation would be inundated with infections. Pictured: Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison speaks during a Community Vaccine Forum at the Stirling Community Centre on April 15 in Perth Pictured: Passengers wearing face masks waiting to check in to Emirates at Sydney's Kingsford Smith International airport on January 19, 2021 'If we were to lift the borders and people were to come then you would see those cases increase and Australians would have to become used to dealing with a thousand cases a week or more,' Mr Morrison said told radio station 6PR. 'Now it is true that our most vulnerable populations would be vaccinated. 'But I don't think Australians would welcome restrictions and closures and border shutting and all of those things again out of states' concerns about the rising numbers.' When asked if the whole world would need to be vaccinated before Australian borders were open, Mr Morrison said it was a 'moving situation'. He also said work was being done to open a travel bubble with Singapore, but said pathways between Europe, the U.S, India, Indonesia, Papua New Guinea and other nations with large outbreaks would not be possible. Pictured: A nurse receives the Pfizer's Covid-19 vaccine in Canberra on February 22, 2021 - but there is now no guarantee mass vaccination will open borders Pictured: Passengers wearing facemasks as they arrive into the international arrivals area at Sydney's Kingsford Smith Airport after landing on Air New Zealand - the only international destination on offer 'Australians, I don't think, would welcome the incursion of the virus into the country,' he said. The nation's leader also said experts are looking at whether vaccinated Australians can travel without spending two weeks and $3,000 in hotel quarantine upon return. Earlier, Mr Morrison told a community forum in Perth that step one would be to allow people to travel internationally for funerals and on business trips. He also said those who have had the jab would be allowed to quarantine at home. 'That would enable Australians to travel first for business and those sorts of things,' he said. 'But ultimately if that worked well over a period of time and the data was showing that home-based quarantine was not creating any additional, scaled risks, that could lead to something more significant.' Pictured: Minister for Health Greg Hunt and Chief Medical Officer Paul Kelly on April 9. Mr Hunt has said that even mass vaccinations would not necessarily open borders He added that such a move would need the support of state premiers. While the travel ban is set to end in June, it is likely the ban will remain in place until at least the end of the year due to the delayed vaccine program. On Tuesday, Mr Hunt said: 'Vaccination alone is no guarantee that you can open up.' 'This is a discussion I had with Professor (Brendan) Murphy in just the last 24 hours, that if the whole country was vaccinated, you couldn't just open the borders, we still have to look at a series of different factors.' Mr Hunt said health experts would have to look at a number of factors, including transmission rates and longevity. COLLINSVILLE A Madison County manufacturer of industrial ink jet printers is expanding exports to three additional countries thanks to funding and expertise via the Illinois SBDC International Trade Center (ITC) at Southern Illinois University Edwardsville. Marsh Shipping Supply Co., LLC (MSSC) makes industrial printing, marking, sealing and stenciling products. It has been exporting its products for decades to more than 250 distributors worldwide. In 2019, MSSC connected with ITC Director Silvia Torres Bowman and joined a trade mission to Chile and Peru. Financial support from the Illinois State Trade and Export Promotion (ISTEP) program equipped MSSC with the expertise and funding necessary to participate in the trade mission, which resulted in the company adding two distributors one in Santiago, Chile and one in Lima, Peru. The 30-employee manufacturer now exports to 57 countries. MSSC President and CEO Craig Eversmann said about 30% of the companys sales come from outside the U.S. Thanks to the ongoing help and expertise of the International Trade Center at SIUE, weve successfully leveraged CARES (Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security) Act and ISTEP funding to work with a global website consultancy firm, Eversmann said. Weve begun 2021 with four new websites, each one speaking to the specific country to which were now exporting. This funding covered the entire cost of designing these new, localized websites. Thanks to the State of Illinois, the ITC and Silvia, were now talking about next steps in our marketing efforts to find customers and distributors, he added. Were growing our markets in the United Kingdom, Brazil and Mexico, and our new websites and one-on-one relationships are making that possible. Last summer, MSSC was also granted ISTEP funding to recertify one of its products to comply with the new UL safety specifications effective in 2020. This will allow the ITCs longtime client to enter the European market with the product. The ITC has been working with Craig and the MSSC for the last 20+ years, Torres Bowman said. Craig is not only our client, but also an outstanding partner and longtime supporter of the ITC, serving as a mentor to other small businesses in the region by providing valuable guidance on how to develop an active export business while navigating the unique challenges of selling abroad. The pandemic provided an opportunity for this southern Illinois exporter to study how to scale its exporting strategies and increase its overall reach, Torres said. Were delighted to be able to tap into vital funding for small businesses to assist him and many others in any way we can. Eversmann said the pandemic represents an unprecedented disruption to the global economy and world trade. My business, along with many others in the region who depend on foreign customers to flourish, need help to survive and continue to be profitable during these trying times, he said. ISTEP funding, along with continued support and encouragement from the Illinois SBDC International Trade Center at SIUE, have positively impacted my companys success in the global marketplace. Eversmann is president of the Southwest Illinois Trade and Investment Council, an organization that has spent the past few years working in concert with the ITC to build local business by establishing markets for trade internationally and at home. He also collaborates with Torres Bowman as a regular cohost and speaker at the ITCs monthly Virtual Trade Roundtable series. For more information about the ISTEP program or CARES Act funding, contact the ITC by email at International-Trade-Center@siue.edu or phone at 618-650-3851, or visit siue.edu/business/itc. Assistant defence minister Andrew Hastie has insisted the military's main role is to carry out 'lethal violence' and win wars. The former SAS-soldier, who fought in Afghanistan before turning to politics in 2015, outlined the military's purpose in an emailed newsletter to constituents this week. 'Our military serves a vital role across Australian society, whether during pandemic, flood or fire,' he wrote. Assistant defence minister Andrew Hastie (pictured in Afghanistan) has insisted the military's main role is to carry out 'lethal violence' and win warns 'But the ADF's core business will always be the application of lethal violence in the defence of our values, sovereignty and interests. We should never forget that.' Mr Hastie said when this is forgotten troops may lose their way and become less effective at war. 'Mission clarity is vital in the profession of arms,' he wrote. 'Without it, confusion grows - confusion about role, identity and purpose. And confusion is deadly on the battlefield, at sea or in an aerial dogfight. 'Mission focus is the foundation of victory. It keeps everyone driving towards a singular purpose,' he added. It comes as the ADF faces criticism over a 'shocking' decision to celebrate a new warship with twerking dancers. The $2billion HMAS Supply was last week commissioned in Woolloomooloo, Sydney infront of high-ranking personnel including Governor-General David Hurley and Defence Force chief Angus Campbell. But before the formalities commenced, the audience was subjected to a modern dance routine by scantily clad women who performed raunchy moves including twerking. Governor-General David Hurley (pictured wearing glasses) sat front and centre of the ceremony Senator Lambie trashed the celebration as an 'absolute shocker'. 'I thought I was watching the Super Bowl there for a split second, I'll be honest with you,' she told Nine's Today show. 'Whoever made that call, it's an absolute shocker for goodness' sake.' Senator Lambie added: 'Good on those young ladies for getting out there, but I tell you, being half clothed outside a warship is probably inappropriate. 'If that is the leadership in our defence forces, God help our sons and daughters who are serving.' Another former soldier turned politician, LNP Member for Herbert Philip Thompson, said the Navy had turned too woke. 'Standards in the ADF, and definitely when commissioning a ship, should be a little bit higher than that,' he told the ABC earlier this week. 'Our ADF shouldn't be left or right; they should be straight down the middle of what their job is, and their job is to defend our nation, our interests, our values, our sovereignty, but also when we go on operations, have an unapologetic aggression and violence to get the mission done.' He added: 'We've gone a little bit woke over the past few years and we can't afford to be doing that.' BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) Louisiana State Police have arrested a man accused of causing a 16-vehicle crash in February on the old Mississippi River bridge in East Baton Rouge Parish that left a 13-year-old girl dead. After an investigation, state police said Thursday that troopers determined that 42-year-old Marlin Jordans actions leading up to the crash were negligent. The agency did not provide any further details. Jordan, of Addis, was arrested on a charge of negligent homicide. He was released later from the East Baton Rouge Parish jail after posting $75,000 bond. It was unknown if he has an attorney who could speak on his behalf. Updated: April 15, 2021 Authorities arrested an inmate Wednesday night who was suspected of carjacking two travelers after walking away from a work crew earlier in the day in rural Washington County. Jedaiah Lunn, a 35-year-old inmate at the minimum-security South Fork Forest Camp, walked away from the work crew near the Gales Creek Campground about 2:30 p.m., according to the Oregon Department of Corrections. The agency said about the time he disappeared, two people reported that someone assaulted them nearby and stole their blue 2015 Subaru Legacy. Authorities did not specify whether the travelers described the person who stole their car or if the carjacker matched Lunns description. Lunn, who is serving a three-year sentence for one count of second-degree robbery, was arrested around 10:40 p.m. on Sauvie Island, according to corrections officials. Jayati Ramakrishnan; 503-221-4320; jramakrishnan@oregonian.com; @JRamakrishnanOR AACSB Recognizes Muma College of Business' "Post-Crisis Leadership Certificate Program By Keith Morelli TAMPA (April 9, 2021) -- The forward thinking of the USF Muma College of Business in offering a free-of-charge certificate focusing on the business community emerging from the worst pandemic in a century was recognized last month by the AACSB, the accrediting agency for business colleges around the world. USF was one of two universities in the entire Southeast honored with the award and the only one in Florida. In May 2020, as the worlds economy spiraled down with a pandemic that claimed hundreds of thousands of lives and wrecked the economies of nations, the Muma College of Business offered a Post-Crisis Leadership certificate for business leaders, alumni and managers, many of whom had been laid off, furloughed or were working reduced hours remotely. More than 9,000 people from 80 counties viewed at least one module. About 3,800 participants passed all seven quizzes and earned the certificate, along with a digital badge that could be showcased on LinkedIn profiles. Registrants wanted to learn from the crisis as well as earn a new credential during the time off, one that might pay off in the job search. The college offered the non-credit Post-Crisis Leadership certificate as a community service. With the help of DCE Productions, which supplied the virtual platform for the program, the initiative proved to be a success and became a model for other certificate offerings over the past year. This is a perfect example of our robust engagement with the outside business community, said Moez Limayem, the Lynn Pippenger Dean of the Muma College of Business. We continue to be a valuable resource to our business partners, who helped put this remarkable program together through sponsorships and input on the material covered in the modules. The Muma College of Business stands with our corporate partners in both good times and bad times. We could not be prouder of this Innovations That Inspire recognition by the AACSB, Limayem said. This was only the beginning of a series of Muma College of Business certificate programs that serve two purposes: to assist our outside business community in a time of need and to put a spotlight on our amazing faculty. The AACSBs Innovations That Inspire initiative recognizes institutions from around the globe serving as champions of change in the business education landscape. The awards went to 24 business schools for their efforts to address wide-ranging societal challenges such as food insecurity, pandemic leadership, climate change and gender equity. The 2021 Innovations That Inspire showcase schools' positive contributions to society through one of the following ways: Cultivating a position at the intersection of academia and practice Connecting with other disciplines Driving innovation in higher education The seven-module certificate offered by the Muma College of Business both helped its outside business partners while highlighting faculty expertise. Faculty volunteers created and delivered modules teaching participants how to navigate the transition from the crisis to the new normal. Modules included instruction on leveraging key data and analytics as well as assessing risk and security during business continuity and recovery. One segment focused on supply chains. The program engaged social media for live Q&A each week, which not only gave the 8,000 viewers a chance to ask questions via hashtags but also provided an avenue to generate chatter. Personal and shared experiences surfaced, participants engaged with faculty and an informal community sprang up. The impact comes down to people, said the AACSB in the awards announcement. Hundreds of participants were struggling to with pandemic consequences and this certificate was a needed hand of support to those seeking to re-tool themselves during a crisis. It helped those in leadership positions think differently so their companies could survive the pandemic and concomitant economic crisis, the AACSB said. The program helped them determine new ways to support employees and lead teams as companies shifted to remote work and remote programs. It sparked creative thought. To view the list of schools on the list, click here. Kim Potter, a 26-year veteran who resigned from the Brooklyn Center police force, poses for a booking photograph at Hennepin County Jail, in Minneapolis, Minn., on April 14, 2021 in a combination of photographs. (Hennepin County Sheriff's Office via Reuters) Former Officer Who Shot Daunte Wright to Remain Free on Bail The former police officer who fatally shot a man during a traffic stop in Minnesota over the weekend was ordered on April 15 to appear in court next month. In a brief appearance via Zoom, Kim Potter was told to appear on May 17 in person before Hennepin County Judge Regina Chu, unless other arrangements are made with the judge. Potter, 48, was arrested on April 14 on a second-degree manslaughter charge. She was released from jail hours later after posting a $100,000 bond; she will remain free until her next court appearance, a judge said during the virtual hearing. Potter was reminded that she must remain law-abiding and must make all future court appearances and that Minnesota law requires that she not possess, use, or transport firearms, ammunition, or explosives. Potter had pulled her handgun during the arrest of Daunte Wright, 20, on April 11 in Brooklyn Center, a suburb of Minneapolis. When Wright resisted and hopped back into his drivers seat, Wright shot him. Potter believed she was firing the Taser she also had on her, former Brooklyn Center Police Chief Tim Gannon told reporters in a briefing; Potter and Gannon both submitted their resignations on April 13. Fencing and concrete barriers surround the home of former Brooklyn Center police officer Kim Potter as local police guard her residence, in Champlin, Minn., on April 14, 2021. (John Minchillo/AP Photo) Members of Daunte Wrights family visit a memorial site near the place he was killed, n Brooklyn Center, Minn., on April 14, 2021. (Stephen Maturen/Getty Images) According to the criminal complaint against Potter, obtained by The Epoch Times, Potters handgun was holstered on the right side of her belt, and the Taser was holstered on the left side. Potter would have had to use her left hand to draw the Taser because it was set in a straight-draw position, Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension agent Sam McGinnis said. Wrights death was declared a homicide by Dr. Loren Jackson, a county medical examiner, with the cause of death a gunshot wound to the mans chest. Certain occupations carry an immense responsibility and none more so than a sworn police officer. With that responsibility comes a great deal of discretion and accountability, Imran Ali, Washington County assistant criminal division chief and director of the Major Crime Unit, said in a statement announcing the charge against Potter. We will vigorously prosecute this case and intend to prove that Officer Potter abrogated her responsibility to protect the public when she used her firearm rather than her taser. Her action caused the unlawful killing of Mr. Wright and she must be held accountable. County Attorney Peter Orput and I met with the family, expressed our deepest sympathies, and assured them we would spare no resources in seeking justice for Mr. Wright. Ben Crump, a lawyer for Wrights family, alleged that Potter executed the man. In a news conference on April 14, he said the family was concerned that Potter wouldnt be held accountable. The head of Minnesotas largest police union, meanwhile, said Wright would still be alive he had not tried escaping from police. Daunte Wright, if he would have just compliedhe was told he was under arrest, they were arresting him on a warrant for weapons. He set off a chain of events that unfortunately led to his death, Brian Peters, executive director of the Minnesota Police and Peace Officers Association, told WCCO-TV. Wrights death sparked riots in Brooklyn Center and elsewhere, with dozens of arrests made. Equiano Rum founder Ian Burrell believes the recent launch of Equiano Light will further open up the brand to the global on-trade. Equiano Light is a blend of molasses-based Barbadian rum from the Foursquare Distillery and Mauritian sugar cane juice rum from the Grays Distillery. I always felt as though bartenders needed a lighter version of Equiano to go in things like Daiquiris and Mojitos, said Burrell. But at the same time we wanted to maintain the same DNA of Barbados and Mauritius rums which makes up Equiano. We wanted to tap into the French style of rum production and use fresh sugar cane juice rum in this blend, and we havent used an age statement because the Mauritian rum is un-aged. The Foursquare rum is distilled in copper pot and column stills before being aged in ex-bouron barrels for a minimum of three years. It is then shipped to the Netherlands where it is blended with the fresh sugar cane juice rum from Grays, which is distilled in a single column still, before being bottled at 43% abv. In honour of Olaudah Equiano, the Nigerian-born writer, entrepreneur, abolitionist and freedom fighter, 2 of every bottle sold through equianorum.com goes towards the brands charitable grant, helping to abolish modern slavery around the world through Anti-Slavery International. Equiano Light is available through the brands website with an RRP of 34.50. The FBI has more than 2,000 investigations that tie back to the Chinese government and is opening a new one every 10 hours, Bureau Director Christopher Wray told US Senate Intelligence Committee on April 14. Testifying along with US Director for National Intelligence Avril Haines and CIA Director William Burns, Wray asserted that no state posed more threats on American democratic ideals and economic security than the Chinese Republic. Highlighting the CCPs extra-territorial projects, Wray asserted that Beijings ability to influence US institutions was deep, wide and persistent. Washington-Beijing ties have hit rock bottom in the recent past owing to a list of issues including the US criticism of human rights abuse in Xinjian and increasing unrest in Hong Kong and Taiwan. With Biden taking the office of President, America has shown considerable interest in regional affairs of Asia Pacific. Just last month, US State Secretary Antony Blinken and Defense chief Austin Llyod paid a visit to South Korea, Japan and India and vowed to retaliate against Chinas increasing attempt to alter the status quo in the region. Foxhunt On Wednesday, the FBI Director especially highlighted an indictment pertaining to a Chinese government operation called Foxhunt which he alleged involved Beijing conducting "uncoordinated illegal law enforcement activity" on US soil as a means to "threaten, intimidate harass (and) blackmail" members of the ethnically Chinese "diaspora." While Wray asserted that the operation was an indication and illustration of how challenging the threat was, China has defended it labelling the operation as an anti-corruption campaign. Fighting cross-border crimes, repatriating corrupt fugitives and recovering illegal proceeds are a just cause widely recognized by the international community. When conducting law enforcement cooperation with other countries, the Chinese law enforcement authorities strictly observe international law, fully respect foreign laws and judicial sovereignty, and guarantee the legitimate rights and interests of criminal suspects. Their operations are beyond reproach, China had said last November defending Operation Foxhunt. Adding to Wray testimony, the Director of National Intelligence also pointed out Chinas computer hacking capabilities that couold prove disruptive. Haines told the Senate Intelligence Committee that the Chinese government had "substantial" cyber capabilities that "if deployed, at a minimum can cause localized, temporary disruptions to critical infrastructure inside the United States." Image Credits: Associated Press Success! An email has been sent to with a link to confirm list signup. Help India! Hindus for Human Rights (HfHR) accused Yati Narsinghanand Saraswati of making several notorious statements calling for violence and genocide against Muslims, and publicly declaring that Islam should be eradicated from Earth all Muslims should be eliminated. TCN News Support TwoCircles Within two days of a public petition and awareness campaign launched by Hindus for Human Rights, the World Hindu Council of America (Vishwa Hindu Parishad of America, or VHPA) has cancelled their virtual events featuring Yati Narsinghanand Saraswati, a hate-mongering and Islamophobic Hindu extremist leader in India who has called for the eradication of Islam and Muslims in India, the Hindus for Human Rights (HfHR) said in a statement. Hindus for Human Rights (HfHR) is a U.S. based advocacy organization that is committed to the ideals of multi-religious pluralism in the United States, South Asia, and beyond. Earlier this week, the World Hindu Council of America (Vishwa Hindu Parishad of America, or VHPA) announced they would be organizing a series of religious discourses to celebrate the Hindu festival of Chaitra Navratri. These events were scheduled to run from April 13-21, with Yati Narsinghanand Saraswati, a hate-mongering, Islamophobic, and violent Hindu extremist, as the featured speaker, HfHR said. Yati Narsinghanand Saraswati is the chief priest of the Dasna Devi Temple in Ghaziabad, Uttar Pradesh, India. He is also the leader of a Hindu extremist organization called Hindu Swabhiman (Hindu Self-Respect), HfHR said. HfHR accused Saraswati of making several notorious statements calling for violence and genocide against Muslims, and publicly declaring that Islam should be eradicated from Earth all Muslims should be eliminated. HfHR said that just last month, a 14-year-old Muslim boy was violently assaulted for drinking water at Saraswatis temple in Ghaziabad an act which Saraswati praised. HfHR further accused Saraswati of encouraging violence even against the revered Indian saint Shirdi Sai Baba, and has publicly praised Mahatma Gandhis assassin. For decades, the VHPA has continually tried to downplay its links to Hindu extremists in India, HfHR said Under fire from a recent Al Jazeera investigation about Hindu nationalist organizations in the United States receiving federal Covid-19 relief funds, VHPA leaders have argued that they are a benign community organization serving American Hindus and that they are not formally affiliated with Hindu extremist groups in India, they added. HfHR said that VHPAs invitation of Yati Narsinghanand Saraswati is just another example proving the deep ties that exist between Hindu nationalist organizations in the United States and Hindu extremist leaders in India. In response to VHPAs announcement, Hindus for Human Rights (HfHR) launched an online petition and public awareness campaign on April 12th, which called upon our fellow Americans and all people of conscience to stand up to Hindutva (Hindu nationalism) and all hate perpetuated in the name of religion. HfHR also raised this issue at several forums, including at a briefing for members of Congress on April 14th. HfHRs coverage of this issue was shared by figures such as Rutgers University professor Audrey Truschke and Indian journalist Siddharth Varadarajan. By the evening of April 14th, the VHPA announced that the events with Yati Narsinghanand Saraswati had been cancelled. The VHPAs leadership is now trying to downplay its role in the event, arguing that the event series was organized by a supporter of the VHPA. However, it was clearly organized by VHPAs national leadership; the event was posted on VHPAs national website and was scheduled to be live-streamed on VHPAs national Facebook page and YouTube channel. The VHPA has claimed that they were unaware of Saraswatis controversial statements, and is trying to portray him as a victim, similar to the victims of the Charlie Hebdo massacre, HfHR added. Hindus for Human Rights has called on VHPA President Dr Ajay Shah to take full responsibility for organizing the event and to publicly disavow the statements of Yati Narsinghanand Saraswati, whose calls for murder and genocide against Muslims have incited violence in India. If VHPA wants its fellow Americans to believe that it is truly a benign community organization working to serve Hindu American families, then it must disavow its hateful ideology of Hindutva (Hindu nationalism) and reject all hate perpetuated in the name of religion. Hindu American families and communities deserve better, HfHR demanded. House and Senate Democrats, led by Massachusetts Sen. Ed Markey, on Thursday unveiled legislation that would expand the number of seats on the Supreme Court in an effort to restore balance to the high court after it gained three Republican justices during the Trump administration. The legislation would add four seats to the high court, from a total of nine to 13. House Judiciary Committee Chair Jerry Nadler, subcommittee Chair Hank Johnson and Rep. Mondaire Jones joined Markey in unveiling the legislation. We are here today because the U.S. Supreme Court is broken, it is out of balance, and it needs to be fixed, Markey said on the steps of the high court on Thursday. The bill would strike language in the federal law stating that the court shall consist of a Chief Justice of the United States and eight associate justices, any six of whom shall constitute a quorum and replace it with a Chief Justice of the United States and twelve associate justices, any eight of whom shall constitute a quorum. The Supreme Court can be expanded by an act of Congress, which has altered the courts size seven times throughout its history, which the Democrats cite as a substantial historical precedent for their proposal. The move comes after Republicans appointed three conservative justices in four years, including one Amy Cony Barrett who was confirmed days before the 2020 election. Markey said Barretts nomination should not have gone forward so close to the election after Republicans declined to hold a hearing on now-Attorney General Merrick Garlands nomination in 2016. Garlands nomination lasted 293 days. So much for letting the people weigh in, Markey said. We must expand the court and we must abolish the filibuster to do it. There can be no justification for what they did, Nadler said, adding that the court has been so obviously politically manipulated. Its a necessary step in the evolution of the court. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell has repeatedly suggested that packing the court, as the Democrats are proposing, would amount to an assault on the independence of the judiciary, and worsen the already steep political divide. President (Joe) Biden campaigned on a promise of lowering the temperature and uniting a divided nation, McConnell said in a statement last week, according to NBC. If he really meant it, he would stop giving oxygen to a dangerous, antiquated idea and stand up to the partisans hawking it. The legislation also comes just days after President Biden ordered that a bipartisan commission be created that would study overhauling the Supreme Court over the next six months. The commission would look at the possibility of term limits for justices and the expansion of the court, among other issues. Material from the Associated Press was used in this report. Related Content: JAKARTA: Indonesian police on Thursday shot dead a man who is allegedly connected to last month's suicide bombing outside a church in South Sulawesi province. According to a spokesman statement, members of the police anti-terrorism unit used lethal force after the suspect attacked them with a sickle during a raid on his home in the provincial capital Makassar, as per reports by DPA. "The suspect was believed involved in the group that attacked the cathedral church," Zulfan said. Police have arrested at least 31 people in connection with the March 28 attack on the Sacred Heart of Jesus Cathedral in Makassar, which left the two attackers dead and injured 20 people. Investigators said a newly married couple linked to Jamaah Ansharud Daulah, a militant network that supports the Islamic State terror group, carried out the attack. Jamaah Ansharud Daulah has been blamed for a series of militant attacks in Indonesia in recent years, including suicide attacks on three churches in Surabaya, the country's second-largest city, in 2018. The coordinated attacks involving two families, including children, killed 15 people and 13 attackers. Canadian MP appears completely naked at online meeting US forces return from Afghanistan, NATO take initiative Iran's Supreme Leader reiterates on US lifting sanctions to revive nuclear-deal Smith College staffer Jackie Blair says her life has 'not been the same' since she was falsely accused of racism in a viral Facebook post The cafeteria worker at Smith College who was hit with a false allegation of racism has filed an internal complaint against the school, saying her life has 'not been the same since.' Jackie Blair, a longtime cafeteria employee at the elite liberal arts women's college in Northampton, Massachusetts, spoke out in an online fundraising appeal to cover her legal and medical expenses. 'In the summer of 2018 I was falsely accused of racism by a black student on her Facebook page and my life has not been the same since,' she said. In August 2018, Smith student Oumou Kanoute accused Blair and other college staff of racism after the student was questioned about why she was in a building that was closed for the summer. The allegation and the president of Smith's profuse apology went viral worldwide, but an internal report finding no basis for the claim went largely ignored until a New York Times report on the case in February. In August 2018, Smith student Oumou Kanoute accused Blair and other college staff of racism after the student was questioned about why she was in a building that was closed Blair, a longtime cafeteria employee at the elite liberal arts women's college in Northampton, Massachusetts, spoke out in an online fundraising appeal to cover her legal expenses 'I work as dining service staff at Smith College. I also happen to be white, which should not be relevant, but Smith College has made clear it is,' Blair wrote on her fundraising page. Blair said that she has 'obtained legal counsel and have filed an internal complaint against Smith College administration in response to their treatment of me.' 'I started this fundraiser to help me pay my legal expenses, as well as personal expenses (including medical and therapy bills) and living expenses in the case I am either terminated or am otherwise forced out of my job as a result of speaking out about this,' she explained. JD Vance, the author of Hillbilly Elegy and a possible Republican candidate for Senate in Ohio, supported Blair's fundraising appeal in a tweet on Thursday. 'Not long ago, a student at Smith College accused workers at the college of racism, which predictably ruined their lives and cost them their jobs. It was a race hoax, totally made up,' he wrote. The controversy stems from an incident in August 2018, when, Kanoute, a 21-year-old who was raised in New York after her family emigrated from Mali, was in an empty cafeteria that was reserved for a summer camp program for young children. Blair, a veteran cafeteria employee, mentioned to Kanoute that it was reserved for the summer school, and then decided to drop the matter for fear of a student complaint, she told the times Times. The incident went viral, and Kanoute gave tearful interviews with national news outlets slamming the 'racist' staff at Smith A janitor, who was in his 60s and poor of sight, and had worked at Smith for 35 years, was emptying garbage cans when he saw a figure reclining and eating alone, in a far corner of the building which was supposed to be closed. Campus police had advised staff to call security rather than confront strangers on their own, so the janitor called security. 'We have a person sitting there laying down in the living room,' the janitor told a dispatcher according to a transcript. 'I didn't approach her or anything but he seems out of place.' A well-known older campus security officer drove over to the dorm where the cafeteria was situated, The Times recounted, and was accompanied by a campus police officer. He recognized her as a student and they had a brief and polite conversation, which she recorded on video. 'Hi,' she says. 'How are you doing?' a man says. 'Good, how are you?' she replied. 'We were wondering why you were here,' he says. 'Oh, I was eating lunch, I'm working the summer program, so I was just relaxing on the couch.' He replies: 'Oh, just taking a break. So you're with the program?' 'Yeah. I'm actually a TA,' she says. He replies: 'Oh, so that's what it was. We just wondered.' Kanoute says: 'It's OK, it's just that kind of stuff like this just happens way too often, where people just feel threatened.' Kanoute went on to post Blair's name and photo on Facebook, claiming she was the one who had called the campus security officer and demanding 'restorative justice'. 'This is the racist person,' Kanoute wrote of Blair, also naming a custodial worker who was not on duty and had gone home at the time of the incident. The incident went viral, and Kanoute gave tearful interviews with national news outlets slamming the 'racist' staff at Smith. Blair first learned of the incident when a Boston Globe reporter called her at home demanding she explain her racist behavior. She also found notes in her mailbox and taped to her car window, with one reading 'RACIST'. Her home was bombarded with phone calls. 'You should be ashamed of yourself,' one stranger said. 'You don't deserve to live,' said another. Smith College put out a short statement noting that Blair had not placed the phone call to security but did not absolve her of broader responsibility. Blair has lupus, an auto-immune disorder that can be exacerbated by stress, and had episodes of feeling faint. 'Oh my God, I didn't do this,' she told a friend, according to the Times. 'I exchanged a hello with that student and now I'm a racist.' Kathleen McCartney, president of Smith College, immediately apologized to Kanoute, but did not issue a public apology to the staffers affected by the false claim In October 2018, Smith quietly released a report from an independent investigator clearing Blair altogether and finding no evidence of racial discrimination Smith put pressure on Blair to go into mediation with Kanoute, in order to provide the student with 'willing apology, forgiveness and reconciliation.' Blair refused, saying: 'Why would I do this? This student called me a racist and I did nothing.' In October 2018, Smith quietly released a report from an independent investigator clearing Blair altogether and finding no evidence of racial discrimination from anyone involved. The report also said Kanoute could not point to any examples that supported the claim she made on Facebook of a yearlong 'pattern of discrimination.' Still, Smith president Kathleen McCartney doubled down, saying the report validated Kanoute's 'lived experience' and the fear that she felt at the sight of a campus security officer. 'I suspect many of you will conclude, as did I,' she wrote of the report, 'it is impossible to rule out the potential role of implicit racial bias.' McCartney offered no public apology to the staffers impacted by the allegations, and the school pursued rigorous anti-bias training that prompted one staff member to resign in protest. Jodi Shaw, who worked for the residential life department, resigned from the school on February 19, citing a 'racially hostile environment.' 'I ask that Smith College stop reducing my personhood to a racial category. Stop telling me what I must think and feel about myself,' she said. 'Stop demanding that I admit to white privilege, and work on my so-called implicit bias as a condition of my continued employment.' Melbourne employers are calling in psychologists to help coax reluctant workers back to their offices after lengthy periods of working from home. Employees are also seeking psychological help after feeling threatened by bosses, who are no longer legally bound to allow remote work, asking them to return. Victorian Chamber of Commerce and Industry chief executive Paul Guerra at his busy office on Thursday. Credit:Luis Ascui The Victorian Chamber of Commerce and Industry and the Community and Public Sector Union both told The Age this week that tensions were emerging between employers keen to get their workplaces up and running again and employees who did not want to come back. Public servants are complaining that managers in Victorian state government departments are taking a get-tough approach, despite the official rhetoric about flexible attitudes as workplace practices such as hot-desking become controversial in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. By Li Qiang Taiwan's first new multimission amphibious warship Yushan was launched on April 13, which could carry troops and equipment to its offshore and South China Sea islands, and conduct surface warfare missions with anti-ship missiles, according to the US media. However, some military experts of Chinese mainland believe that the ship's self-defense firepower is relatively weak, which makes its wartime survival difficult. Furthermore, no matter what battleships the Taiwan military wants to purchase while dreaming on "resisting reunification by force," they are doomed to failure. Taiwan's new multimission amphibious warship launched Defense News reported that the ship Yushan displaces 10,600 tons when fully loaded and measures 152 meters, with a hull draught of 20 feet. The top speed of the ship is said to be 21 knots with a range of 7,000 miles. The islands defense authorities said that the ship Yushan could accommodate up to 673 troops, and its vehicle deck can carry AAV7 tracked amphibious vehicles. The ship is scheduled to enter service in 2022 following final construction and sea trials with the builder. Taiwan has a requirement for four amphibious dock transport ships of this class to replace the current amphibious fleet. The Chinese mainland also has a ship named Yushan Tsai Ing-wen said at a ceremony in Kaohsiung that the launch of Taiwan's first locally-built amphibious transport dock ship marks a milestone in Taiwan's shipbuilding history and would greatly enhance the capabilities of the navy, according to a report published by the Taipei Times. It is named after Yushan, the highest mountain in Taiwan, symbolizing that the navy in the region is not afraid of dangers, always ascending and pursuing excellence." Intriguingly, the PLA Navy also has a Yushan (Hull 944) landing ship. However, the PLAs Yushan ship is named after the Yushan County in Jiangxi Province, not the Yushan in Taiwan. The building of any vessel is doomed to get Taiwan nowhere Song Zhongping, a mainland military expert, said that in current sensitive period, the launch of the Yushan will not help ease the situation in the Taiwan Strait. If Taiwan military wants to use it to resist reunification by force, they will find it not able to play any role or pose any threat to the PLA. Song said that Taiwan military now has no desire to attack the mainland. This type of amphibious warship may not be of much use. Even if being used to perform some transportation tasks among the islands, the warship needs large-scale wharf, which is obviously not cost-effective for Taiwan. Under the current circumstances, the Taiwan military's attempts to "resist reunification by force" through buying and building ships are probably all in vain finally. TDCJ Sentences Handed Down In 66th District Court The office of District Attorney Mark Pratt prosecuted multiple felony criminal cases in the 66th Judicial District Court of Hill County in March, with the following Texas Department of Criminal Justice (TDCJ) sentences handed down: Idalia Parra, possession of THC oil under one gram, six months state jail Rodney Dewayne Ransom, evading arrest/detention with a vehicle, 25 years prison; possession of methamphetamine between one and four grams, 25 years prison; possession of cocaine under one gram, 15 years prison Zachary Lee Stabeno, evading arrest/detention with a previous conviction, 14 months state jail; evading arrest/detention with a vehicle, three years prison Cody Westbrook, assault family/household member impeding breath/circulation, six years prison Byron Anthony Green, possession of methamphetamine under one gram, 10 months state jail Allan Keith Hemphill Jr., possession of methamphetamine under one gram, 14 months state jail Nicholas Reid Rukat, attempt to commit tamper/fabricate physical evidence with intent to impair, 12 months state jail Troy Lee Densman, possession of methamphetamine between four and 200 grams with intent to deliver, 15 years prison Denzell Lee Davis, possession of methamphetamine under one gram, 18 months state jail Sirmarcus Lichon Outley, aggravated assault with deadly weapon, 10 years prison Eric Ross Waits, unauthorized use of vehicle, nine months state jail Jeremy Deondra Rigsby, unauthorized use of vehicle, 18 months state jail Heath Clayton Owen, theft of property under $2,500 with two or more previous convictions, four years prison; possession of methamphetamine under one gram, four years prison Jessica Yvonne Smith, abandon/endanger a child criminal negligence, 18 months state jail Angela Bernice Groves, possession of methamphetamine and cocaine under one gram - two counts, 20 months state jail Jalen Lamar Bailey, possession of oxycodone between 200 and 400 grams with intent to deliver, 15 years prison; possession of amphetamine between four and 400 grams with intent to deliver, 15 years prison; possession of alprazolam between 28 and 200 grams with intent to deliver, 15 years prison; unlawful possession of a firearm by a felon, 10 years prison District Judge Lee Harris presides over the 66th Judicial District Court. KYODO NEWS - Apr 15, 2021 - 15:07 | World, All North Korea on Thursday marked the 109th anniversary of the birth of its founder Kim Il Sung, the grandfather of current leader Kim Jong Un, as the country remains wary of the novel coronavirus. North Korea, which officially says it has no confirmed virus cases, has in principle cut off traffic to and from neighbors China and Russia since early last year, while some reports say it has started to ease restrictions put in place to prevent the virus from spreading. The anniversary, known in North Korea as the "Day of the Sun," is a major holiday in the country. Related events were conducted in the capital Pyongyang. The commemoration also came three weeks after North Korea fired what it calls new tactical guided projectiles into the Sea of Japan in apparent defiance of U.N. Security Council resolutions designed to thwart its nuclear and ballistic missile ambitions. North Korea's latest missile launch was aimed at testing the administration of U.S. President Joe Biden, who took office in January, as bilateral talks on denuclearization and sanctions relief have been at a stalemate, foreign affairs experts say. On Mansu Hill in Pyongyang on Thursday, citizens and military personnel laid flowers and bowed before giant statues of the founder and his son, Kim Jong Il, the previous leader who died in 2011. Russian Ambassador to North Korea Alexander Matsegora said in an interview with Tass news agency that citizens in the capital have recently been allowed not to wear face masks during a wedding and that schools there may reopen as early as Monday. Matsegora added, "Everything points to the fact that the Democratic People's Republic of Korea that became the first to close its borders, will be the last to open them," using the formal name of the country. Last year, North Korea's state-run media did not report that Kim Jong Un had visited the Kumsusan Palace of the Sun mausoleum complex in Pyongyang on the key April 15 anniversary, briefly sparking speculation that he was in grave health. The Kumsusan Palace of the Sun is where the embalmed bodies of North Korea's two former leaders lie in state. Since 2012, a year after Kim Jong Un effectively became the country's leader, North Korean media had reported his visit there every year. Related coverage: Japan lost track of key North Korean liaison officer several years ago North Korea completes building new 3,000-ton submarine: report North Korea says will not participate in Tokyo Olympics due to pandemic Cameran Eubanks from Southern Charm isnt entirely sure that Shep Rose is ready to leave the series just yet. Rose recently teased that he was mulling over whether he wanted to return, admitting that following Eubanks, who left last season, sounded pretty attractive. But Eubanks told Showbiz Cheat Sheet that shes spoken to Rose, and they weighed the pros and cons of staying versus leaving the show. She also revealed exactly why she knew she could no longer remain on the series. Cameran Eubanks from Southern Charm attends 2019 BravoCon | Arturo Holmes/WireImage Cameran Eubanks thinks Shep Rose will return for season 8 Rose wanted to see how life had changed for Eubanks now that she was no longer on the show. You know, Shep called me, I dont know, a month ago, she recalled. And he was picking my brain on how life has been without cameras in my face, she continued. I could tell he was pondering, potentially doing the same thing. But I dont think he will. I think hell stay on. But yeah. I think Shep has grown a lot. He has a girlfriend now; hes in a different stage in his life now. But I think hell stay on. I dont think hell leave. RELATED: Southern Charm: Its No April Fools Joke Craig Conover Will Launch a Sewing Down South Store in Charleston (Exclusive) She also gave some serious props to Craig Conover for his booming business Sewing Down South. Conover announced he is opening a retail location in a prime Charleston, South Carolina, location, and he started his own law firm. We are all eating crow for making fun of Craig, she admitted. I remember telling him you need to be a lawyer, youre never gonna make a living sewing pillows. And now he has a storefront on King Street. So I owe Craig a huge apology. He is doing incredible and making more money than all of us probably. Conover recently teased that Southern Charm Season 8 was likely picked up by Bravo. Why did Cameran Eubanks really leave Southern Charm? Eubanks announced in 2020 she would not appear on season 7. She said that becoming a mother was a game-changer for her, and she didnt want to put herself in a position where she might have to face any embarrassing behavior. Having a child really puts things into perspective, she said. And I did not want [daughter] Palmer to ever be ashamed of anything that I did. And I felt like I didnt really fit. I dont do drama very well, she added. If someone gets mad at me I will just run away and cry. I didnt feel like I genuinely fit in the group anymore, and it felt like the right time to leave. RELATED: Southern Charm: Shep Rose Isnt Sure if He Will Return for Season 8 Eubanks has remained extremely busy still selling real estate, and her daughter Palmer is currently enrolled in preschool. Eubanks also shared that shes been trying to find healthy meals because Palmer is particular. Palmer is a super picky eater, and Moes chicken quesadilla is one of like five things that I can get her to eat, Eubanks exclaimed. Eubanks is so enthusiastic about Moes, she partnered with the restaurant for its first national Kids Eat Free program. All locations across the country will offer free meals for children under the age of 12 every Sunday. Moes is also hosting the Moes Mini Chef contest where one winner will get the chance to create and name their very own kids menu item to be available in restaurants nationwide. The SETI Institute in and Ars Electronica Futurelab in announce that Interspecifics, are the winners of the AI Lab residency, SETI x AI April 15, 2021, Linz, Austria / Mountain View, CA -- The SETI Institute in Mountain View, CA and the Ars Electronica Futurelab in Linz, Austria are announcing that Interspecifics (INT), an independent artistic research studio founded in Mexico City, are the winners of the AI Lab residency, SETI x AI. Interspecifics' (INT) project is called Codex Virtualis. With Codex Virtualis, Interspecifics will build a systematic collection of AI-generated hybrid organisms that will emerge due to speculative symbiotic relationships between microorganisms and algorithms. The goal is to conceptualize and simulate life-like, self-organizing autonomous organisms that could provide insights into how life might originate in extraterrestrial habitats. They would manifest in both morphological and algorithmic forms. What might they look like in an AI setting fed by microbial intelligence? What would a computational symbiosis produce? "The Interspecifics collective is a fantastic choice; we could not have asked of a better fit for the SETI x AI residency," said Bettina Forget, Director of the SETI AIR (SETI Artists in Residence) program. "The Codex Virtualis project dovetails perfectly with the SETI Institute's research into astrobiology, the evolution of life, and AI. We're excited to get started connecting this creative team with our Institute's scientists." "We are looking forward to the exchange of ideas and to learn more about the specific perspective Interspecifics have on AI," said Maria Pfeifer, Key Researcher and Artist, Ars Electronica Futurelab. "What I find so intriguing about their approach, is that hybridity seems to be the driving force behind this project. It not only combines bioart and AI to formulate radical questions, it is based on cooperation as a concept." ### Interspecifics (INT) Interspecifics is an independent artistic research studio founded in Mexico City in 2013. Using sound and AI, they explore patterns from nature as an all-encompassing form of communication. They also develop research and educational tools, which they call "Ontological Machines." A Latin American context strongly influences their work, where creative action emerges out of necessity, and ancient technologies meet cutting-edge forms of production. Interspecifics is a team of six: Leslie Garcia, Paloma Lopez Ramirez, Emmanuel Anguiano Hernandez, Felipe Rebolledo Carvajal, Carels Tardio Pi and Maro Pebo. "Our work is deeply shaped by the Latin American context where precarity enables creative action and ancient technologies meet cutting-edge forms of production," they said. "Our current lines of research are shifting towards exploring the hard problem of consciousness and the close relationship between mind and matter, where magic appears to be fundamental. Sound remains our interface to the universe". The SETI x AI residency is part of the AI Lab (European ARTificial Intelligence Lab). It offers international artists working in AI a chance to win a residency at a scientific partner institution and the Futurelab of Ars Electronica. The program is open for international artists who work in AI, Machine Learning and digital approaches. SETI x AI is especially interested in projects that ponder the beginnings of life, explore the possibility of life on other planets, and critically reflect on our anthropocentric world view. The European ARTificial Intelligence Lab The AI Lab (European ARTificial Intelligence Lab) is a successor project of the European Digital Art and Science Network. It offers international artists working in AI the opportunity to win a residency at a scientific partner institution and Ars Electronica's Futurelab. Ars Electronica organizes and leads the AI Lab in collaboration with 16 partners from across Europe and the SETI Institute. Artists working on artificial intelligence and its applications will have the opportunity to apply for residencies at major scientific institutions through the "European ARTificial Intelligence Lab" (AI Lab). Launched by Ars Electronica in 2018, the "European ARTificial Intelligence Lab" now includes 17 renowned institutions from the arts and sciences. The Europe-wide network is funded by the Creative Europe Program of the European Union. Download press release here INSERT LINK FOR .PDF The SETI Institute Founded in 1984, the SETI Institute is a non-profit, multi-disciplinary research and education organization whose mission is to explore, understand, and explain the origin and nature of life in the universe and the evolution of intelligence. Our research encompasses the physical and biological sciences and leverages expertise in data analytics, machine learning and advanced signal detection technologies. The SETI Institute is a distinguished research partner for industry, academia and government agencies, including NASA and NSF. Contact information Rebecca McDonald, Director of Communications SETI Institute 189 Bernardo Ave., Suite 200 Mountain View, CA 94043 rmcdonald@seti.org According to Harris Countys COVID-19 guidance, residents should avoid all unnecessary contact with others. They should not go to bars or barbecues or ballgames. They should work from home if possible and leave only for errands, such as groceries or medicine. Hardly any of the countys 4.8 million residents appear to be following this advice now. Gov. Greg Abbott fully reopened Texas last month and nixed the mask mandate. Youth sports have resumed, houses of worship again welcome in-person parishioners and 21,765 fans attended the Astros home opener at Minute Maid Park. Yet, for 42 consecutive weeks, Harris County has been at its highest COVID-19 threat level, red, even though the virus metrics here have improved significantly since January and other counties have relaxed their guidance for residents. Though local officials have no authority to issue COVID-19 restrictions, Harris appears to be the only of Texass 254 counties to still urge residents to remain at home. The countys two Republican commissioners, Jack Cagle and Tom Ramsey, this week urged Democratic County Judge Lina Hidalgo to reconsider the threat-level criteria. The pair also have resumed attending court meetings in person, which they say can be done safely, while the three Democrats join virtually and require members of the public to do so, as well. Ramsey noted school districts in his western precinct, including Spring Branch and Tomball ISDs, have reopened successfully. Districts serving students in Harris County have documented roughly 29,000, student and staff cases of COVID-19 since schools reopened, though local health officials have said they believe virus transmission is low on campuses properly following safety protocols. According to Code Red, they shouldnt be going to school; we shouldnt be going to church, Ramsey said Tuesday. I dont think the Code Red matches the reality of where we are, and maybe theres a better way to communicate with our residents in terms of where we are and what they need to do. Cagle said that while the virus still poses a risk, the continuous red level obscures the progress Harris County has made and leaves officials with no clear way of informing residents if the metrics do get worse again. Folks are becoming blind to the color red, Cagle said. It doesnt mean anything anymore, in terms of their daily lives. Hidalgo will not budge. She said she has let advice from doctors and epidemiologists dictate her strategy since the beginning of the pandemic last March, and will stick with that approach. She noted that fewer than 20 percent of Harris County residents have been vaccinated, and said new outbreaks in states such as South Dakota and Michigan offer a warning for Texas. I really hope Im wrong. I really do, Hidalgo said. Its the kind of thing you really cant win. If youre right, people end up in the hospital or dead. If youre wrong, then you just look like you cried wolf. I would rather follow the advice of these folks that keep looking at it, that are not political at all. Hidalgo, who acknowledged many in the public have resumed normal lives, has tried to lead by example. She declined to join other politicians at last summers George Floyd march in downtown Houston over social distancing concerns and celebrated New Years Eve at her apartment. Since moving to level red last June, Harris County never has met all the criteria to move to the second-highest level, orange, including 14-day averages of: A positivity rate below 5 percent, daily new cases below 400 and COVID-19 patients occupying less than 15 percent of hospital ICU capacity. As of Wednesday, those metrics stood at 8.7 percent, 434 and 15.1 percent. The glass-half-full view of these numbers is that each has declined significantly from Januarys post-holiday spike. Both the number of COVID-19 patients occupying ICU beds and positivity rate have dropped by more than half, and the daily new case average is down 83 percent. The more cautious approach, which Hidalgo favors, considers that the governor fully reopened the state over the objection of one of his medical advisers, herd immunity that is still months away and the presence of several virus variants in Houston that are a wild card. Dr. Katelyn Jetelina, a professor at the UT Health Science Center who spoke with commissioners at Hidalgos request, said the improving metrics have reached a plateau, which could be a sign of trouble. This means that there continues to be active spread in the community, and also, coupled with variant spread, this really is an unfavorable position for an outbreak, Jetelina said. Hidalgo and Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner were sharply critical of Abbott for reopening Texas and ending mandatory mask usage in early March, which they suggested was motivated by the governors desire to distract from Februarys cold and blackout crisis. Hidalgo noted that Texas suffered COVID-19 surges after the governors attempts at partial reopenings this past spring and fall, and warned hospitalizations would raise again. So far this time, however, the local Democrats fears have not materialized. Statewide, the daily average of new cases and deaths has plummeted. The positivity rate dropped below 6 percent on Monday, the lowest in a year. That has convinced other Texas cities and counties to lower their risk levels. On Tuesday, Fort Bend downgraded its third-highest threat level, yellow. Unlike Harris County, it does not use positivity rate as a criterion. Dallas went from red to orange on March 24. Austin downgraded to its version of yellow on March 13, citing an increase in vaccinations. San Antonio rates the COVID-19 risk for residents as low, the least severe rating on its scale. Hidalgo still has the backing of the two Democratic commissioners, Adrian Garcia and Rodney Ellis. Garcia said he is particularly troubled that unvaccinated younger people continue to get sick. Keep the faith, Ellis said to Hidalgo at Tuesdays court session. Follow the science and not the politics. Jacob Carpenter contributed reporting. zach.despart@chron.com VANCOUVER, British Columbia and TORONTO, April 15, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Clean Power Capital Corp. (CSE: MOVE)(FWB: 2K6)(OTC: MOTNF) (Clean Power or the Company or "MOVE"). The Company is pleased to announce that it has entered into a definite agreement to make an investment in FusionOne Energy Corp. (FusionOne), a producer of technologies primarily for the conversion of plastic waste to hydrogen and clean electricity. One of the principals of FusionOne has developed proprietary, patented pending technologies for the thermal processing of plastics and other carbon matter into clean white hydrogen and electricity, this gives the opportunity to recognize the breadth of technologies central to Companys investment philosophy. The cutting-edge solution integrates an internally developed, market-leading efficiency, continuous cycle reactor, a proprietary secondary heating system and a synthesis gas separation system to optimize the volume of synthesis gas (syngas) available for hydrogen recovery. The inventor of the proprietary technologies has submitted patent applications for the technologies with the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). Upon the patent applications being approved by the USPTO, the inventor will assign one of the patents to FusionOne and will license the other patent to FusionOne. The companys proof of concept benchmarked the systems capabilities, its ability to process multiple waste stream feedstock and the quality of subsequent outputs. Clean Power will be acquiring an approximate 5 percent ownership of FusionOne for an initial US$500,000 investment. Clean Power will also receive one-year warrants to acquire an additional 3,333,333 common shares for an additional US$1m investment. The value of the investment in FusionOne was negotiated at arm's-length and was determined through a due diligence review of FusionOne's technology and a review of comparable technologies and companies in the market. Clean Power will support FusionOnes efforts to commercialize its HydroPlas Reactor, the first integrated technology thermal solution to create white hydrogen from plastic waste, as well as other carbon-based waste, and will deploy on two sites in North America starting in the first half of 2021, with delivery expected on both by the first half of 2022, and a third site in the UK will be announced in Q1 of 2023 with subsequent US and UK deployments to follow. FusionOne technology allows for the production of hydrogen at a low cost with tipping fees received on the multiple, abundantly available waste streams used to generate electricity and hydrogen. This investment in FusionOne aligns with the Companys investment policy. In connection with Clean Powers strategic investment and Raghu Kilambi will been appointed as a strategic advisor to FusionOne. FusionOne has successfully built a pilot plant, which has been both internally and externally validated on a number of carbon-based waste feedstocks with a specific focus on plastic polymers. However, as an early stage company, FusionOne does not have a history of operating the proposed plant on a commercial scale, and therefore has a limited history upon which the efficiency of its technology may be assessed at such scale. The FusionOne system is a new technology in the nascent hydrogen fuel industry, and therefore the success of the application of the FusionOne technology on a commercial level will depend on, among other factors, the general pace of development of the hydrogen fueling industry, the evolving regulatory environment, and the availability of further funding. The success of FusionOne is also dependent on the USPTO granting patents to the technologies that are currently at the application stage. The Company is also announcing that it has retained Media Nation Corp., an arms-length party to the Company based in Toronto, Ontario, to provide marketing services focused on a world-wide basis. Media Nation is a digital online solutions and advertising firm. Under the agreement, which commences on the date hereof, the service provider is to provide content creation, distribution and advertising services in the agreed upon jurisdictions. The Company agrees to pay the service provider up to CDN $250,000 over a 3-month period. All content created by the service provider on behalf of the Company and its investments will be reviewed and vetted in accordance with the Companys enhanced review procedures before distribution. About FusionOne FusionOne is a privately owned end-to-end technology and operations company specializing in renewable electricity, white hydrogen production and thermal processing technologies. Deployment of their commercial system will result in thousands of tons of waste being diverted to a clean and profitable energy stream. FusionOnes team brings decades of experience in emerging technologies and research and development of the most advanced solutions to the energy sector. To register interest in FusionOnes technologies visit https://www.fusionone.co/. ABOUT CLEAN POWER CAPITAL CORP. Clean Power is an investment company that specializes in investing into private and public companies opportunistically that may be engaged in a variety of industries, with a current focus in the health and renewable energy industries. In particular, the investment mandate is focused on high return investment opportunities, the ability to achieve a reasonable rate of capital appreciation and to seek liquidity in our investments. A copy of Clean Powers amended and restated investment policy may be found under the Companys profile at www.sedar.com. Learn more about Clean Power by visiting our website at: https://cleanpower.capital/ NEITHER THE CANADIAN SECURITIES EXCHANGE NOR ITS REGULATIONS SERVICES PROVIDER HAVE REVIEWED OR ACCEPT RESPONSIBILITY FOR THE ADEQUACY OR ACCURACY OF THIS RELEASE. FusionOne Contact Elliott Talbott Elliott@fusionone.co PR Contact VitoPalmeri AMW PR c: 347.471.4488 | o: 212.542.3146 vito@amwpr.com Clean Power Contact Raghu Kilambi raghu@hydrogenfueling.co +1 (604) 687-2038 Notice Regarding Forward Looking Information: This press release contains "forward-looking statements" or "forward-looking information" (collectively referred to herein as "forward-looking statements") within the meaning of applicable securities legislation. Such forward-looking statements include, without limitation, forecasts, estimates, expectations and objectives for future operations that are subject to a number of assumptions, risks and uncertainties, many of which are beyond the control of Clean Power, which includes, without limitation, the successful application of the FusionOne technology on a commercial scale and the granting of patents to the technology by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. Some assumptions include, without limitation, the development of hydrogen powered vehicles by vehicle makers, the adoption of hydrogen powered vehicles by the market, legislation and regulations favoring the use of hydrogen as an alternative energy source, the Companys ability to build out its planned hydrogen fueling station network, and the Companys ability to raise sufficient funds to fund its business plan. Forward-looking statements are statements that are not historical facts and are generally, but not always, identified 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 or be achieved. This press release contains forward-looking statements pertaining to, among other things, the timing and ability of the Company to complete any potential investments or acquisitions, if at all, and the timing thereof. Forward-looking information is based on current expectations, estimates and projections that involve a number of risks, which could cause actual results to vary and, in some instances, to differ materially from those anticipated by the Company and described in the forward- looking information contained in this press release. Although the Company believes that the material factors, expectations and assumptions expressed in such forward- looking statements are reasonable based on information available to it on the date such statements were made, no assurances can be given as to future results, levels of activity and achievements and such statements are not guarantees of future performance. The forward-looking information contained in this release is expressly qualified by the foregoing cautionary statements and is made as of the date of this release. Except as may be required by applicable securities laws, the Company does not undertake any obligation to publicly update or revise any forward- looking information to reflect events or circumstances after the date of this release or to reflect the occurrence of unanticipated events, whether as a result of new information, future events or results, or otherwise. While he's best known as an actor on hit shows like Lost and Hawaii Five-0, Daniel Dae Kim has also been a producer on the ABC hit series The Good Doctor. The series, starring Freddie Highmore as the title character, is originally based on the South Korean TV series of the same name, with South Korean native Kim, 52, originally set to produce the show for CBS back in 2014. During a wide-ranging interview with Vulture, Kim explained that they were initially eyeing an Asian lead for the show, in the early stages. Producer: While he's best known as an actor on hit shows like Lost and Hawaii Five-0, Daniel Dae Kim has also been a producer on the ABC hit series The Good Doctor Original: The series, starring Freddie Highmore as the title character, is originally based on the South Korean TV series of the same name, with South Korean native Kim, 52, originally set to produce the show for CBS back in 2014 'I wanted an Asian lead. The first time we developed it, it was with an Asian lead,' Kim said of the show's first stint in development at CBS. CBS ultimately didn't pick up the project, with the show being moved to Sony Pictures Television and ABC issuing a put pilot commitment in 2016, when House creator David Shore came on board. 'And the second time, when [David] Shore came aboard, we had a conversation about it,' Kim added. Asian lead: 'I wanted an Asian lead. The first time we developed it, it was with an Asian lead,' Kim said of the show's first stint in development at CBS 'When you start working with a showrunner, it has to be a proper meeting of the minds because he's the one that'll be running the show every day. And so he had to have a level of comfort with it,' Kim continued. He added that, 'I'm not going to say he was the one that wanted a white lead, but I will say that it became less clear to him how an Asian lead would work.' Kim said the studio ultimately brought in Freddie Highmore for the lead, adding both he and Shore, 'absolutely loved.' White lead: He added that, 'I'm not going to say he was the one that wanted a white lead, but I will say that it became less clear to him how an Asian lead would work' With Highmore aboard, Kim said his focus, 'it shifted the focus to creating a diverse ensemble' around the young star. Kim added that the only 'real control' he had over the project was in the early stages, before the showrunner came on board. 'I have ownership of the project only until a showrunner comes aboard. And then, at that point, the power dynamic shifts," he explained. Diverse ensemble: With Highmore aboard, Kim said his focus, 'it shifted the focus to creating a diverse ensemble' around the young star 'And then when your lead actor comes aboard, the power dynamic shifts again. And then when the ratings come, the power dynamic shifts again because there's a studio and network involved,' he added. When asked why he compromised and not insisted on having the Asian lead in The Good Doctor, Kim simply said he just wanted the show to get made. 'I felt like we were so close to getting a show made, and ultimately that is the goal. You can develop every show you want, but if none of them ever see the light of day, whats the point?' he said. The Mejlis of the Crimean Tatar people thanked Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan for his attention to protecting the rights and interests of the Crimean Tatar people, which has been under the occupation of Crimea by the Russian Federation for seven years in a row, chairman of the Mejlis Refat Chubarov said. In a statement published on Facebook on Wednesday, he said that a letter of gratitude was sent to Erdogan due to signing on April 10, 2021 of the Framework Agreement between the Government of Ukraine and the Government of the Republic of Turkey on cooperation in the construction of housing for the Crimean Tatar people and other privileged categories of citizens of Ukraine. It also indicates that the main aspirations of the Crimean Tatar people remain the soonest de-occupation of Crimea and the restoration of Ukraine's state sovereignty over the Crimean Peninsula and the adjacent waters of the Black and Azov Seas. "Accordingly, we are trying to create conditions so that tens of thousands of Crimean Tatars, in conditions of forced living outside Crimea, but within Ukraine, could not only preserve their identity, but also build up their professional and intellectual potential, which they can use for reintegration and development of the Crimea liberated from the Russian occupiers," Chubarov said. He also said that the Mejlis highly appreciates the efforts of the Republic of Turkey, also aimed at settling the Crimean Tatars, who, due to the threat to their lives, were forced to leave the Crimea occupied by Russia and living on the mainland of Ukraine. "We are talking about participants in the Russian-Ukrainian war, political prisoners, activists of the Crimean Tatar national movement, public figures and politicians, journalists, university professors, civil servants and others," the chairman of the Mejlis said. At the same time, he said that the construction of housing in the ratio stipulated by the Framework Agreement (Kyiv - 100 apartments, Mykolaiv - 200 apartments, Kherson - 200 apartments) will not alleviate the severity of the housing problem in many Crimean Tatar families living in connection with leaving occupied Crimea in Kyiv, as well as other regions of Ukraine. "The Mejlis of the Crimean Tatar people [...] makes an appeal, simultaneously with the implementation of this project on the construction of 500 apartments, to consider the possibility of building additional 500 apartments, concentrating them in the places of actual residence of the Crimean Tatars-forced migrants, including the city of Kyiv," Chubarov said. Developers envision linking the storied Bethlehem Steel General Office building with the adjacent east annex via a glass atrium and transforming the annex into a modern office building for 600 people, who work on a campus that includes a roof deck with views of the blast furnaces. Peron Development offered the public a first glimpse into its vision for the 120,000-square-foot building at East Third Street and Founders Way in Southside Bethlehem, during a Thursday afternoon meeting of the Bethlehem Revitalization and Improvement Authority. The SGO building and annex sit within Bethlehems City Revitalization and Improvement Zone, which the authority oversees. The designation allows state and local non-property taxes from new development in the zone to help finance construction within it. Peron principal Michael Perrucci, who owns the five-story annex and the 13-story general office building, sees the smaller annex as the perfect way to launch a phased redevelopment of the site. But first he must environmentally remediate the annex to attract tenants. A look at inside the Steel General Office building annex in its current condition.Courtesy Peron Development The authority board voted to back Perons request to tap Pennsylvanias Industrial Sites Reuse Program, which provides grants of up to $1 million and low-interest loans for environmental site assessment and cleanup of former industrial properties. The grant program requires a public partner thats where the authority comes in to temporarily take ownership of the site during cleanup and act as a funding pass through. Ownership would then transfer back to Peron. Certainly this is a priority for the city, Bethlehem Director of Community and Economic Development Alicia Miller Karner said in an interview Thursday. We want to see this move forward. Peron hopes the state grant can make a dent in the estimated $2.6 million environmental cleanup of the mold-ridden, five-story building and take it down to the building frame. Authority board Chairman Joseph Kelly, who is also chief of staff for state Sen. Lisa Boscola, D-Northampton, said it is a very competitive program. Currently, all of the program funding is allocated, but Peron wants to be at the front of the line when the next state budget passes. Its a good way for us to get involved in the project and provide much-needed assistance but still have the developer facilitating the project, Karner said. This conceptual rendering shows the annex with a rooftop deck with views of Bethlehem Steel black furnaces.Courtesy MKSD architects Perons director of development, former Bethlehem Mayor John Callahan, told the authority redeveloping the Steel General Office building property has long been his own white whale. This property is the lynchpin and tipping point fo Perons ambitious plans to reimagine the Third Street corridor into a live, work, play, knowledge community, Callahan said. This requires bringing more employees into the neighborhood via office space. Were certainly looking and attempting to try to restore the entire complex back to its grandeur, he said. Early concepts call for reorienting the entrance of the annex onto East Second Street and creating a sprawling plaza fronting the campus that Peron hopes is a selling point to companies. The building could feature a roof deck and open concept office spaces. I think this building has the potential to be the most modern and forward and unique business or office space in all the Lehigh Valley, Callahan said. This conceptual rendering shows a new campus for the east annex building.Courtesy MKSD architects Fully redeveloping the entire Steel General Office complex will be a massive undertaking and require an unprecedented public-private partnership, Callahan said. Applying for the state remediation grant is just the first step. Hamilton Crossings in Lower Macungie Township, formerly open-pit iron mines, and the old Stewart Silk Mill in Easton each relied on the program for assistance with environmental site cleanup, Callahan said. The massive 115-year-old SGO building was headquarters for Bethlehem Steel Corp. until it moved its executives to Martin Tower in 1972. It has sat vacant since the mid-1990s. The Steel annex was built in the 1950s and it can easily be cordoned off from the SGO building, Callahan said. Bethlehem Steel first used the annex to house its mainframe computers and then as offices, Callahan said. The annex was last used as a temporary school in 2000 when Freemansburg Elementary School students were displaced by mold. This shows the evolution of the Steel General Office building over its lifespan.Courtesy Peron Development Across from the annex, Peron is in the midst of a three-phase urban infill redevelopment on former Steel parking lots on East Third Street. Five10 Flats features 95 luxury apartments anchored by a first floor Starbucks, the Mexican eatery El Jefe and the future home of Mister Lees Noodles second location. Back in February 2020, Peron shifted its plans for Six10 Flats from office space to another 74 apartments with ground floor retail, and the developer plans more office space in a third Flats building at East Third and Fillmore streets. The Bethlehem Parking Authority also selected Peron and J.G. Petrucci Co.s plan for a mixed use development fronting the planned Polk Street parking garage at East Third and Polk streets. Plans call for a five-story building with 32 luxury apartments on the upper four floors and a unique first floor retail user. Before the coronavirus pandemic struck, Polk Street was ready to break ground, but financial uncertainty paired with unexpected emergency repairs at the Walnut Street Parking garage have stalled the deck. The city is awaiting a parking garage condition study to determine its next steps. Even with the coronavirus drastically upending traditional working environments, Peron still believes the Steel annex is best suited for office space, Callahan said. With many employees working remotely successfully, companies are weighing how much office space they need. But this shifting work landscape could be a plus for the Lehigh Valley, Callahan said. Might a New York City or northern New Jersey based company now consider relocating here, who wouldnt have in the past? The regions already seen an influx of new residents, who, freed from their long commutes, are drawn to the Valley by cheaper real estate and living costs, he noted. This conceptual rendering shows an atrium linking the annex with the Bethlehem Steel General Office building.Courtesy MKSD architects The annex is the most open concept in the 400,000-square-foot complex and the most modern, so it lends itself well to this renovation, Callahan said. Perrucci is one of the original investors who purchased the former Bethlehem Steel plan and helped lure Las Vegas Sands Corp. to the city. When Sands sold the casino to Wind Creek Hospitality, Perrucci and his investors obtained full ownership of the Steel General Office building property. Previously, the investors and Sands split ownership 50/50 and Sands controlled the future of the property, Callahan said. We are now in a position to try to move forward with this site, he said. This conceptual rendering shows a plaza outside the east annex.Courtesy MKSD architects The Bethlehem Steel General Office building's five-story annex, 715 E. Third St. in Bethlehem.Sara K. Satullo | For lehighvalleylive.com The lobby of the Bethlehem Steel General Office building.Courtesy Peron Development This conceptual rendering shows a potential first floor plan for the Bethlehem Steel General office annex.Courtesy MKSD architects This conceptual rendering shows a potential floor plan for the annex building.Courtesy MKSD architects Our journalism needs your support. Please subscribe today to lehighvalleylive.com. Sara K. Satullo may be reached at ssatullo@lehighvalleylive.com. SANTA CLARA, Calif. and CHICAGO, April 15, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Santa Clara University and Everspring today announce the launch for the new online Master of Science in Business Analytics (MSBA) program, which is now accepting applications for the inaugural fall 2021 cohort. The online MSBA, which will align with the university's recently revamped on-ground MSBA, will provide in-demand advanced skills in business analytics for professionals seeking the flexibility of an online master's program with the academic quality of a highly ranked business school. Santa Clara University's Leavey School of Business, a top ranked institution in the heart of Silicon Valley, has worked with Everspring, Inc., a leading provider of education technology and services to universities seeking to build or expand their online capabilities, to develop a robust portfolio of online master's programs. In addition to the new online MSBA, this portfolio includes an MBA, MS in Marketing and MS in Finance and Analytics. In support of Leavey's online portfolio, Everspring provides program design, course development, marketing and enrollment, and student support services. "Business analytics is a high-demand field, and with the interest in our on-ground MSBA, we know many busy professionals want the flexibility of an online offering," said Toby McChesney, senior assistant dean of graduate business programs at the Leavey School of Business. "Like the corresponding on-ground program, our new online MSBA will offer a variety of elective options for students to tailor their curriculum to their individual professional goals. We're confident this program will yield the same level of strong outcomes for graduates as our existing online master's programs with Everspring." Everspring's partnership with Santa Clara has yielded outstanding results for the existing online graduate programs at Leavey: Student satisfaction is 94% Princeton Review ranks the online MBA the #14 online MBA program ranks the online MBA the #14 online MBA program Poets&Quants ranks it in the top 10 overall and #3 for career outcomes ranks it in the top 10 overall and #3 for career outcomes U.S. News & World Report's "Best Online Program Rankings" ranks the online MBA #40 and its finance and marketing specialties came in at #10 and #12, respectively "We're proud of the portfolio we've built together with the Leavey School of Business, and are appreciative of their continued trust in us," said Beth Hollenberg, president and co-founder of Everspring. "We're thrilled to add the MSBA which, given the importance of analytics and data science, reflects an important addition to Santa Clara University's already robust online portfolio." To learn more about the new online MSBA, visit http://onlinedegrees.scu.edu/academics/masters-business-analytics About Santa Clara University Santa Clara University is a private Jesuit, Catholic University in the epicenter of Silicon Valley, infusing ethics and social consciousness into a rigorous cross-disciplinary education for its nearly 9,000 undergraduate and graduate students. For more information, see www.scu.edu. About Leavey School of Business Located in the heart of Silicon Valley, one of the most dynamic business environments in the world, Santa Clara University's Leavey School of Business combines academic excellence in the 450-year Jesuit tradition, with an energetic, innovative spirit that typifies the region. The Leavey School of Business offers one of the nation's best graduate business programs, ranked No. 13 for executive MBA, No. 20 for evening MBA and No. 40 for online MBA by U.S. News & World Report. Our undergraduate business programs rank in the Top 15% and No. 23 nationwide in best undergraduate teaching, according to U.S. News & World Report. For more information, visit www.scu.edu/business. About Everspring Everspring is a leading provider of education technology and services for higher education. Our advanced technology, proven marketing approach, and robust faculty support and instructional design services deliver outstanding outcomes for our university partners, powering their success and rising rankings. From on-campus to hybrid to online, Everspring offers a range of full-service turnkey solutions, standalone fee-for-service offerings, and innovative self-service products that enable universities to establish themselves as leaders in the digital delivery of higher education. Based in Chicago and named one of the " Best Places to Work ," Everspring serves a growing number of colleges and universities, nationwide. Visit www.everspringpartners.com for more information. Don't just go digital. BE DIGITAL. SOURCE Everspring [April 15, 2021] Aternity Positioned as a Challenger in the 2021 Magic Quadrant for APM Aternity, the enterprise-class Digital Experience Management Company, announced today that it has been positioned by Gartner (News - Alert) in the Challengers quadrant of the 2021 Magic Quadrant for Application Performance Monitoring (APM). Aternity provides insights into the experience of consumers and employees by combining cloud native APM (News - Alert) capabilities with end-user experience monitoring, device performance monitoring, and benchmarking into a single, comprehensive digital experience management solution. To download a complimentary copy of the 2021 Magic Quadrant for APM visit Aternity.com. The Aternity (News - Alert) Digital Experience Management platform provides actionable insights at every device, app, and click by providing a complete view of the digital experience for the business, employees, and customers. The platform includes: End-User Experience Monitoring - Self-healing and visibility into the employee experience of every cloud, SaaS (News - Alert) , thick client, or enterprise mobile app in your portfolio, running on any device - Self-healing and visibility into the employee experience of every cloud, SaaS (News - Alert) , thick client, or enterprise mobile app in your portfolio, running on any device Application Performance Monitoring - Simplified high-definition monitorin that is scalable, easy to use and deploy, and unifies APM visibility across end users, applications, networks, and the cloud-native ecosystem - Simplified high-definition monitorin that is scalable, easy to use and deploy, and unifies APM visibility across end users, applications, networks, and the cloud-native ecosystem Device Performance Monitoring - Insights into performance and health of laptops, desktops, VDI, and mobile devices, along with self-healing to automatically resolve issues - Insights into performance and health of laptops, desktops, VDI, and mobile devices, along with self-healing to automatically resolve issues Benchmarking - Compare your organization's digital experience to others in the market by leveraging our IT service benchmark data from millions of devices under management To download a complimentary copy of the 2021 Magic Quadrant for Application Performance Monitoring visit: https://www.aternity.com/gartner-application-performance-monitoring-magic-quadrant/ Gartner, Magic Quadrant for Application Performance Monitoring, Federico De Silva, Padraig Byrne, Josh Chessman, 9 April 2020 Gartner Disclaimer Gartner does not endorse any vendor, product or service depicted in its research publications, and does not advise technology users to select only those vendors with the highest ratings or other designation. Gartner research publications consist of the opinions of Gartner's research organization and should not be construed as statements of fact. Gartner disclaims all warranties, expressed or implied, with respect to this research, including any warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose. About Aternity Aternity, the leader in Digital Experience Management, transforms the employee experience in the digital workplace, with enterprise-scale analytics for every application, all transactions, any device, and all users. The Company's AI-powered visibility and self-healing control help IT optimize business application performance to improve employee productivity and customer satisfaction, mitigate the risk of IT transformation, and drive down the cost of IT operations. Aternity is a Thoma Bravo backed company, headquartered in Cambridge, Massachusetts, with offices globally. Learn more at Aternity.com. Aternity and any Aternity product or service name or logo used herein are trademarks of Aternity, LLC. All other trademarks used herein belong to their respective owners. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210415005605/en/ [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] India will take only three working days to clear the applications to import and supply COVID-19 vaccines approved for restricted use by US FDA, EMA, UK MHRA, PMDA Japan or which are listed in WHO Emergency Use Listing (EUL). The country's drug regulator Central Drugs Standards Control Organization (CDSCO) headed by the Drugs Controller General of India (DCGI) will issue a detailed guideline specifying the regulatory pathway for such approvals on the basis of recommendations from the National Expert Group on Vaccine Administration for Covid-19 (NEGVAC), headed by Niti Aayog member (health) Dr VK Paul soon. Union Health Ministry said the decision will facilitate quicker access to such foreign vaccines by India and would encourage imports including import of bulk drug material, optimal utilisation of domestic fill and finish capacity etc., which will in turn provide a fillip to vaccine manufacturing capacity and total vaccine availability within the country. The DCGI's permission for Restricted Use in Emergency situation will be conditional. First of all, such vaccines will have to be used as per the guidelines prescribed under National Covid-19 Vaccination Programme. Secondly, the first 100 beneficiaries of such vaccines shall be assessed for 7 days for safety outcomes before it is rolled out for further vaccination programme. The applicant will also be required to initiate conduct of post approval bridging clinical trials within 30 days of such approval. The applicants for Restricted Use in Emergency situation for such vaccines will have to submit a bridging trial protocol, application for import registration certificate and application for import license at the time of application itself. CDSCO will process applications for Registration Certificate (registration of oversees manufacturing site and product: in this case Covid vaccine) and Import License, within 3 working days from the date of approval of Restricted Use in Emergency Situation, the ministry said. The CDSCO will approve the protocol for the bridging trial in consultation with Subject Expert Committee (SEC) within 7 days of the receipt of the proposal. The government will also ask the applicant to conduct the bridging trial within the time lines specified in the approved protocol, and submit data generated in the bridging trial to CDSCO. Based on the bridging trial results, the DCGI will review the permission granted for Restricted Use in Emergency situation. On April 13, the Centre had approved the streamlining and fast tracking of regulatory system for COVID-19 vaccines approved for restricted use by US FDA, EMA, UK MHRA, PMDA Japan or which are listed in WHO Emergency Use Listing (EUL). Also read: India struggles with vaccine shortage at the height of the pandemic Also read: DCGI approves emergency use of Russia's Sputnik V; 3rd vaccine to get nod in India Also read: India's COVID-19 vaccination drive hits roadblock; Punjab, Rajasthan, Maha report vaccine shortages Also read: India badly needs Sputnik V in fight against COVID-19 KYIV -- Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba on April 15 called for stronger Western backing, saying words of support aren't enough amid escalating tensions prompted by a Russian troop buildup near the border. Kuleba, speaking after talks in Kyiv with his counterparts from Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania, asked the Baltic nations to reach out to other European Union and NATO members about offering practical assistance to Kyiv. Kuleba accused Moscow of "openly threatening Ukraine with war and the destruction of Ukrainian statehood, and said it was necessary to show Russia that its actions in eastern Ukraine could have "very painful" consequences. The three Baltic foreign ministers have expressed solidarity with Ukraine, a fellow former Soviet republic, and called for Moscow to de-escalate the situation. WATCH: Russian Military Activity Ramps Up In Crimea Along Major Highway From Russia Ukraine is legally and morally right, and we will emphasize this in international organizations. Currently, there is only one side that needs to de-escalate its actions -- the Russian Federation, Latvian Foreign Minister Edgars Rinkevics told a joint press conference with his counterparts from the two other Baltic states and Ukraine. "Ukraine will never be alone, added Lithuanias Gabrielius Landsbergis. On April 16, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy will consult with French President Emmanuel Macron in Paris. German Chancellor Angela Merkel will also join them for a trilateral video call. Zelenskiy said after a meeting of Ukraine's security council that the discussions in Paris will help prepare so-called Normandy format talks involving the leaders of Ukraine, Russia, France, and Germany to try to resolve the Ukraine conflict. Recent photographs, video, and other data suggest major movements of Russian armed units toward or near Ukraine's border and into Crimea, fueling concerns that Russia is preparing to send forces into Ukraine. The U.S. and NATO have described it as the largest Russian military buildup since 2014, when Moscow illegally annexed Crimea and backed separatists in the east of Ukraine. Speaking to U.S. lawmakers, the top U.S. general in Europe said on April 15 there is a "low to medium" risk that Russia will invade Ukraine over the next few weeks. Air Force General Tod Wolters, the commander of U.S. European Command and NATOs Supreme Allied Commander in Europe, suggested that he does not expect a Russian invasion of Ukraine. If the current conditions continue, Wolters estimated the risk of an invasion could decrease. "My sense is, with the trend that I see right now, that the likelihood of an occurrence will start to wane," he said, without explaining the intelligence behind his assessment. The comments come a day after William Burns, director of the CIA, told the U.S. Senate Intelligence Committee that Russia had amassed sufficient military forces and equipment along Ukraines border to provide the basis for limited military incursions into the country. Russia has rejected Western calls to pull back its troops, denying they are a threat and saying that military movements within Russia are an internal sovereign issue. The Kremlin has also warned that Moscow "will not remain indifferent" to the fate of Russian speakers who live in Ukraines east, an area where Moscow has made it easier in recent months for them to gain Russian passports. Russia annexed Ukraine's Crimean Peninsula in March 2014, sending in troops and staging a referendum denounced as illegitimate by at least 100 countries. Moscow also backs separatists in a war against Ukrainian government forces that has killed more than 13,000 people in eastern Ukraine since April 2014. Nearly 30 Ukrainian soldiers have been reported killed since the start of the year, compared with 50 in all of 2020, when fighting in the conflict subsided as a new cease-fire deal came into force in July. With reporting by Reuters, AFP, and C-SPAN The Texas Senate backed a potential constitutional amendment Tuesday that would substantially rein in the power of the governor during emergencies like this past years coronavirus pandemic. Texas voters would have to approve the amendment Nov. 2 for it to take effect. And before it could get on a ballot, the Senate action must still be approved by the House. READ MORE: Biden picks Texas-native, first person of color to head Census full-time The amendment would require the governor to call a special session in order to declare a state emergency that lasts more than 30 days. The special session would give lawmakers the chance to terminate or adjust executive actions taken by the governor, or pass new laws related to the disaster or emergency. The Legislature did not meet last year as the pandemic swept the state, so Gov. Greg Abbott addressed the largely unprecedented situation with executive orders and declarations spanning several months, citing the Texas Disaster Act of 1975. Abbott issued what essentially amounted to a statewide shutdown order last year, and he kept in place some level of capacity limitations for businesses until early March of this year. In July, he mandated that Texans wear masks in public. He also used executive authority to lift other state regulations to help businesses struggling during the pandemic, such as allowing restaurants to sell groceries and mixed drinks to go. But many state lawmakers say the Legislature should be the government body to make decisions that affect businesses and livelihood of Texans. Early on, people understood [business closures] because they're like, we don't know what this is, Sen. Brian Birdwell, R-Granbury, said on the Senate floor. But as the pandemic and business closures wore on, Birdwell said the anger grew as the mandates continued. Birdwell said if the governor believes the situation is dire enough that businesses need to close, then he needs to get the Legislature involved. The resolution now heads to the House, where another proposal to check executive powers received a hearing but has not yet made it out of committee. READ ALSO: Millionaire Texas entrepreneur dazzles mothers with $100,000 PTO fund Birdwell and others have said the law is not intended to be an indictment of Abbotts handling of the pandemic. But both Democrats and Republicans have been critical of how the governor wielded his power throughout the crisis. Over the past year, Democrats and some public health experts have urged the governor to issue tighter restrictions to slow the spread of COVID-19 or give authority to county officials to impose local measures on top of statewide rules. On Tuesday, some Democratic senators expressed concerns the Legislature would not be able to act quickly enough to take necessary steps to address a disaster. I don't see this Legislature being able to convene fast enough to answer ... in the kind of disasters I have seen and expect the state to see in the future, said Sen. Sarah Eckhardt, D-Austin, who used to serve as Travis County judge. Meanwhile, a priority bill filed in the House would carve out future pandemics from how the state responds to other disasters. That bill, HB 3, has not yet made it out of committee, but would allow the governor to suspend state laws and require local jurisdictions to get approval from the secretary of state before altering voting procedures during a pandemic. Rep. Dustin Burrows, R-Lubbock, previously told the Texas Tribune that the proposal was meant as a starting point to map out responses in the event of another pandemic. HB 3 was trying to set structures, predicting the disaster or the emergency, Birdwell said. What I did was set a baseline...It is impossible to predict the disaster. Abbott lifted the statewide mask mandate and reopened businesses at 100% capacity in late February and has signaled he is aware lawmakers, even within his own party, are interested in curbing his power. In his State of the State speech earlier this year, Abbott promised to continue working with the Legislature to find ways to navigate a pandemic while also allowing businesses to remain open. In media appearances afterward, Abbott signaled openness to reforming the governors emergency powers, telling the Tribune that his office is offering up some legislation ourselves on ways to address this going forward. In response to the bill, an Abbott spokesperson late Tuesday said, We continue to review all legislation as bills make their way through both chambers. Correction, April 13, 2021: A previous version of this article misspelled a Texas senator's first name. He is Brian Birdwell, not Brain Birdwell. The Texas Tribune is a nonpartisan, nonprofit media organization that informs Texans and engages with them about public policy, politics, government and statewide issues. The results of the first clinical trial of a new vaccine for a neglected tropical disease have demonstrated that it is safe and induces immune responses in patients with the infection. There are currently no vaccines to prevent leishmaniasis which is spread by the bite of sand flies and existing drugs have many side effects and are difficult to administer. The potential new vaccine was developed by researchers at the Hull York Medical School, which is the joint medical school of the Universities of Hull and York. Professor Paul Kaye from the Hull York Medical School was the principal investigator on the Wellcome Trust Translation Award that funded the development of the vaccine. Professor Kaye said: "We have always thought that vaccines should be our greatest weapon against the different forms of leishmaniasis, but it has been a long journey to develop vaccines for testing in the clinic. "These results are very encouraging, showing that the vaccine we have developed is safe and immunogenic in patients. It is now important to test this vaccine as a therapy in different forms of leishmaniasis where drugs are poorly effective, and to see if it can prevent the spread of the disease." The new vaccine, called ChAd63-KH, uses a non-replicating virus to introduce genes that code for Leishmania proteins into the human body. The design of the vaccine is very similar to the Oxford / Astra Zeneca vaccine being used to prevent COVID-19. In the current clinical trials, ChAd63-KH is being tested to see if it can be used to treat rather than prevent disease. The vaccine was given to patients with a chronic skin form of leishmaniasis and was shown to be safe and to stimulate immune responses associated with a cure. A second trial of the vaccine is currently underway that will determine whether vaccination helps patients to recover from their disease without the need for drugs. The research team is also planning to test the vaccine in healthy volunteers to determine whether it can protect them from getting the disease after exposure to infected sand flies. Leishmaniasis results in up to one million new cases each year across 98 countries. Infection can lead to different forms of disease, ranging from persistent and disfiguring skin ulcers to death. ### The research is a collaboration between the Hull York Medical School, the Institute of Endemic Diseases, Khartoum, the Department of Biotechnologies, University of Siena, Queen Mary University of London, the University of Edinburgh and the Robert Koch Institute, Berlin. The research was funded by the Wellcome Trust and the TRANSVAC2 project supported by the European Union's Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation programme under grant agreement No 730964. The Wellcome Trust supports science to solve the urgent health challenges facing everyone. The organisation supports discovery research into life, health and wellbeing and is currently taking on three worldwide health challenges: mental health, global heating and infectious diseases. The research paper called "Safety and immunogenicity of ChAd63-KH vaccine in post-kala-azar dermal leishmaniasis patients in Sudan" is published in the journal Molecular Therapy Experts say we should investigate breakthrough infections to look out for variants and understand whos vulnerable. In many cases, thats not happening. Crucial pieces of the puzzle are being tossed in the trash. Dr. Carey Washington was eager to be vaccinated. The psychologist, who was still working at 80 years old, got his first coronavirus shot on Jan. 12 and followed up with the second Pfizer dose on Feb. 4. With both shots done, he let his guard down at the office he shared with another doctor, sometimes leaving his mask off. Then he woke up on March 7 with aches and fatigue, feeling as though he might have a cold. When he started experiencing chest pain and finding it hard to breathe, he booked an appointment with his primary care physician, who sent him on to his cardiologist. Both thought that his symptoms must be related to his past heart issues. But Washingtons symptoms got worse. He was so tired he could barely get out of bed. His cardiologist reassured him that the fatigue was likely due to the irregular heartbeat he was experiencing, and that the medications prescribed for that would take a while to kick in. But on March 12, Washingtons son took him to the emergency room anyway. A test revealed Washington was positive for COVID-19. A week later, he was transferred to the intensive care unit. On March 25, he died. Washingtons daughter, Tanya Washington, says that after her father was admitted to the Prisma Health Richland Hospital, she was determined to understand why. Why had Washington gotten sick despite being fully vaccinated? Doctors said that because he was vaccinated, we think this may be a variant, a strain of the coronavirus that could be more contagious or dangerous, Tanya recalls. She said they originally thought it might be a variant found in South Africa. Working with an infectious diseases doctor at Prisma Health, Tanya helped to arrange for samples to be collected from her brother and the office secretary, who had also tested positive. The samples genomes were analysed via a process known as sequencing. A week and a half after her father died, Tanya found out that he had been infected by B.1.427, a variant first identified in California. Known as breakthrough infections, cases in which people test positive for COVID-19 after being fully vaccinated are extremely rare. Public health experts are anxious that these cases not be blown out of proportion and discourage people from getting vaccinated. Yet they also say its critical to track and study these cases, because scientists do not fully understand who is susceptible to vaccine failure. Furthermore, as the coronavirus continues to mutate, breakthrough cases may be the leading indicator of a new variant that is more resistant to a vaccine, which could necessitate manufacturers adapting their vaccines or developing booster shots. In interviews with patients and through information requests to state health departments, ProPublica has found that the investigations recommended by experts, including analysing the genome of the virus that infected the patient and collecting patient demographic information such as whether their immune system is compromised, are often not being done. Some states are tracking cases but are not reporting information about severity, such as whether patients were asymptomatic, were mildly ill or required hospitalization. In many instances, patients samples are not sequenced to find out if a variant might have been involved; some labs are throwing out test samples before an analysis can be done; hospitals and clinics arent always collecting new samples to analyse them. That means that for so many people, nobody will ever know if a variant was involved, leaving public health officials without data to be able to examine the extent to which variants are contributing to breakthrough cases. Republicans are bloodied and beaten, and maybe just a little too bashful for their own good. At least, so says Chris Christie. Knocked back on their heels and forced to answer for every outrageous thing Donald Trump did, said, or tweeted for four years, some among their ranks worry that the Grand Old Party has forgotten how to go for the throat. Making matters worse, the new president is perceived as a nice guy. So how do you fight with Uncle Joe when every jab, even above the belt, is condemned as elder abuse? Well, Christie told fellow Republicans behind closed doors Wednesday, you call him a liar. "Oh, its poor old Joe now? You cant call poor old Joe a liar? asked the former New Jersey governor. No. You can. And we need to. Then, added Christie, you realize that everything changed in Washington after the election except the rules: The American people understand fairness. Right? That's it. They say, Oh, you're just being negative to the president. No. No, I'm not being negative to President Biden. I'm holding him to the same standard you all held President Trump to, and if it was fair then, it is sure as heck fair now. This was the message Christie delivered to the Republican Study Committee during a packed private lunch at the Capitol Hill Club. The governor has quickly emerged as the preeminent GOP brawler post-Trump, sparring on ABCs This Week each Sunday with anchor George Stephanopoulos and former Chicago Mayor (and Obama chief of staff) Rahm Emanuel. On Wednesday, he was greeted as such by the largest caucus in the new GOP minority. More than 40 minutes of remarks boiled down to three words of advice: Buck up, already. They will only fear us when they know we don't fear them, Christie said of the need to take the fight to Democrats. The former governors theory of the case is that Democrats cant help but go too far too fast. All Republicans really have to do then is leave the majority to its own devices. When your opponent is in the midst of committing suicide, he told the lunchtime crowd, there is no reason to commit murder. The result is the same. And Democrats are moving quickly. Biden already muscled a $1.9 trillion stimulus through Congress on a party line vote. Now House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer are preparing to do more of the same with an infrastructure package that Republicans complain stretches the definition of the word beyond recognition. While polling shows broad support for the package as written, Christie insisted that overreach was still inevitable. Weve seen this playbook, he told lawmakers, urging patience, let them overreach. He likened the actions of the current Democratic majority to their forebears in 1992 and 2008, who moved too quickly and gave us back Congress with bigger majorities each time than they sit with today. We don't need to bludgeon them to death every minute, he added, but what we do need to do is go after the soft underbelly. The soft underbelly are the lies. Christie was complaining about the fact that just 1% of the COVID relief bill went to vaccine distribution and that just a little under 6% of the proposed infrastructure package would go to roads and bridges. The spending spree was indefensible, he argued, and voters would begin to question the White House when they learned more about fiscal malfeasance, such as the $630 million stimulus payment that helped San Francisco shore up its deficit. What's that got to do with COVID, Mr. President? he asked. Voters would be similarly incensed, he predicted in referencing Congressional Budget Office projections, to learn that just $6 billion of that legislation is earmarked for education spending before October of this year. It makes my blood boil when this president stands up and tries to convince the American people that what he's spending all this money on has something to do with getting your kids back to school, has something to do with getting more vaccines in arms, has something to do with making their lives better economically, Christie concluded. True to form, the politician who once went to war with public sector unions reserved particular ire for what he saw as an indefensible carve-out for labor. What the heck is the care infrastructure? he asked, referencing the proposed $400 billion in funding earmarked for home and community-based care. According to the Biden administration, it is money needed to give caregivers a raise, better benefits, and the ability to collectively bargain. Christie pointed to the money as evidence that the Democrats only care if the person in your parents house or your grandparents house pays union dues. It is exactly the kind of thing that will drive the American people crazy. All Republicans have to do is make sure the electorate knows about it before heading to the polls for the midterms. The Republican Study Committee has busied itself with that kind of work. With the GOP not only out of power but struggling with an identity crisis, the group feels a particular sense of urgency. We are developing the agenda in the post-Trump era, RSC Chairman Jim Banks told RealClearPolitics, bringing Republicans back together at a time when we haven't been all that united recently. This means white papers on policy and information blitzes in the press. It also means holding auditions for potential presidential candidates. Christie hasnt ruled out a run, but if the former governor harbors White House ambitions, he kept them to himself on Wednesday. If we keep fighting amongst ourselves, he warned, we are the ones committing suicide, and we cant have that. Of course, intraparty fights have been kept to a minimum with the GOP in the minority. We can be tough without being crazy, Christie said, while not mentioning anyone in particular. We can be tough without being reckless. But this is easier said than done for the Party of Lincoln, a fact that Christie did not shy away from. Republican problems are partly of their own making, he said with characteristic bluntness: Everything that is happening today, all the things that are driving us crazy, are because of what happened in January in Georgia. If Republicans had tended to our knitting, he explained, the newest senators would not be Democrats named Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock. And frankly, he added, if my friend had gone down there and talked about Kelly Loeffler and David Perdue, and not about Brian Kemp and Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, we would be in the majority in the Senate right now. There was no need to speculate about the friendship in question. Christie and Donald Trump have been close for 20 years. In 2016, others turned their nose up at the host of Celebrity Apprentice. Not the New Jersey political boss. His loyalty earned him trust. But unlike the other acolytes, Christie was not one to hold his tongue when he differed with the 45th president. Wednesday was no exception, and he laid the blame for a lost Senate and a lost White House at the feet of Trump. We lost because we were looking in the rearview mirror at what happened on general election day, not what was going to happen on runoff election day, Christie said in bemoaning the fact that Republicans depressed their own voter turnout. We were telling them it was rigged, and so they said, Hell, why should I go to a rigged election? My votes not gonna matter anyway. Republicans havent conducted an autopsy, as they did after Barack Obama won a second term. There is no official document in the basement of the Republican National Committee detailing all the missteps that lost them the presidency. On Wednesday, Christie seemed to say there was no need for that kind of postmortem. We didnt lose the White House because the American people disagree with our ideas and support what [Democrats] are trying to do right now, he admitted. We know why we lost. We know why we lost, and so does President Trump. And then Christie glimpsed briefly in the rearview mirror. I told the president 131 days out, he recalled, if you dont knock off some of this crazy stuff, your behavior is going to obscure your accomplishments. And if this becomes an election for student council president, we dont win because he doesnt offend anybody as a category. Trump did not listen. Uncle Joe, the nice guy, won. And now Republicans are struggling to combat the president they couldnt define as a candidate. The Christie prescription is to call out the new White House on the details of policy, to apply the Trump-era rules to the Biden presidency and make this a four-year mistake. This is possible, he insisted, if the GOP adopts a strong, consistent message of strength without recklessness. Winning back the House in 2022 is possible. Maybe even the Senate too. Christie told the Republicans gathered Wednesday that they can win back the voters they lost with the broader, working-class base the president helped us develop. Banks has authored a memo on how to do exactly that, arguing that Trump had given Republicans a political gift: we are now the party supported by most working-class voters. The question is whether Republicans reject that gift or unwrap it and permanently become the Party of the Working Class. The RSC chairman handed a copy of that blueprint to Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy earlier this month. Buenos Aires, Apr 15 (UNI) Argentina President Alberto Fernandez, infected with the COVID-19, will return to work on April 15, the head of state's medical team said. "The president is feeling good, he has no symptoms. On Thursday, April 15, he will resume his normal activities," the team said. It said the president would remain under the control of doctors. Fernandez tested positive for COVID-19 on April 3. On the same day, doctors assessed the president's health as stable. UNI XC GNK 0647 Bosch and China-based premium commercial vehicle manufacturer Qingling Motors have established a joint venture in China: Bosch Hydrogen Powertrain Systems (Chongqing) Co. Ltd. The new company will develop, assemble and market fuel cell systems for the Chinese market. The goal is to pool the technology and market expertise of both partners and contribute to the development of the Chinese fuel cell market and the transformation of the automotive industry there. According to the Energy Saving and New Energy Vehicle Technology Roadmap 2.0 by the China Society of Automotive Engineers (China-SAE), more than one million vehicles with fuel cell drive systems could be registered in China by 2030. The joint venture aims to provide all Chinese vehicle manufacturers with fuel cell systems. The components required for this, such as the fuel cell stack, air compressor with power electronics, and control unit with sensors, come from Bosch, mainly from the plant in Wuxi. Small-scale production will start there this year. Also in 2021, a test fleet of 70 Qingling trucks equipped with Boschs Fuel Cell Power Module will hit the road. The market launch of the fuel cell system is planned for 2022/2023. Fuel Cell Power Module Bosch is bringing its expertise in fuel cell systems to the joint venture. As a premium manufacturer with a complete portfolio ranging from light to medium to heavy trucks and a strong commitment to electrification and fuel cells, Qingling is contributing its commercial vehicle know-how as well as years of experience in the Chinese truck market. China is the most important growth market for electromobility. Especially for large, heavy vehicles that travel long distances, the fuel cell offers clear advantages over the battery-electric powertrain. Stefan Hartung, Bosch board of management member and chairman of the Mobility Solutions business sector Bosch believes in a hydrogen future and is continuously investing in this area. The company has already built up development and application competences with its fuel cell activities in China. Last year, the fuel cell center in Wuxi was built. The task now is to prepare the necessary manufacturing capacities for the components which will also be supplied to the joint venture. Bosch is thus strengthening its engagement in the Chinese market. At its German locations in Bamberg, Feuerbach, and Homburg, Bosch is also driving forward the industrialization of the fuel cell. Together with the Swedish specialist Powercell, Bosch is currently developing the fuel cell stack to be market ready, in order to start large-scale production on its own from 2022 onwards. Compton College Recognized By Congresswoman Barragan Congresswoman Nanette Diaz Barragan congratulates Compton College on their updated federal designation as a Hispanic Serving Institution (HSI). HSI is one of several federal Minority-Serving Institution designations from the U.S. Department of Education for institutions of higher education that categorically or historically enroll a targeted racial or ethnic group. ADVERTISEMENT Congratulations to Compton College on being awarded Title III and Title IV Hispanic Serving Institution designations from the U.S. Department of Education, Congresswoman Barragan said. Compton College plays a critical role in our community, training and teaching our youth to gain the valuable skills they need to contribute to the community and achieve their goals. The college will now be able to access additional resources to better serve students and our entire community. It was great to work closely with Compton College to try and secure this designation and Im proud our joint effort made this designation possible. I look forward to continue working to improve access to affordable and high-quality higher education. In October 2020, Barragan sent a letter to the U.S. Department of Education requesting reconsideration of Compton Colleges application to receive and HSI designation. Thank you, Congresswoman Nanette Diaz Barragan, for assisting Compton College with receiving our HSI designation, said Dr. Keith Curry, Compton College President/CEO. This designation will open avenues to pursue new sources of funding and create increased opportunities for students to excel and achieve their goals. We look forward to implementing new and improved programs designed to help students succeed, especially those from historically marginalized communities. Flash Russian President Vladimir Putin said he received his second dose of the COVID-19 vaccine on Wednesday, following his first shot on March 23. Putin made the announcement at a meeting of the Board of Trustees of the Russian Geographical Society via video link. "I hope that everything will be fine. Not just hope, I have confidence in it," he told the participants. After receiving the first jab last month, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that Putin was feeling well and would not take a single day off. The Kremlin refused to disclose which of the Russian-made vaccines, namely Sputnik V, EpiVacCorona and CoviVac, Putin had received. It has not released any photo or footage of Putin's inoculation. Peskov has said that Putin would be more engaged in public events in Russia and possibly abroad after developing anti-bodies against the coronavirus. Please enable cookies on your web browser in order to continue. The new European data protection law requires us to inform you of the following before you use our website: We use cookies and other technologies to customize your experience, perform analytics and deliver personalized advertising on our sites, apps and newsletters and across the Internet based on your interests. By clicking I agree below, you consent to the use by us and our third-party partners of cookies and data gathered from your use of our platforms. See our Privacy Policy and Third Party Partners to learn more about the use of data and your rights. You also agree to our Terms of Service. Heard at BOP oversight hearing: "Simply put, our prison system at the federal level is failing." | Main | Can capital punishment be another part of a bipartisan criminal justice reform story? The title of this post is the title of this recent report from Southern Poverty Law Center. I just noticed the report because it was recently made available here via SSRN, where one finds this abstract: The Deep South is the epicenter of mass incarceration. The United States incarcerates more people per capita than any other country, with prison populations growing by 86% between 1990 and 2019. For Southern states, prison populations exploded by 127% during that same period. During this time in history, America implemented tough on crime policies that responded to public health issues like the drug epidemic with incarceration instead of rehabilitation. Laws for even nonviolent crimes became more punitive with longer sentences, and people of color were disproportionately pushed into prisons with little hope for parole. Today, incarceration rates for Latinx and Black people are more than two and five times the incarceration rate of whites, respectively. The commitment to the tough on crime narrative led to significantly overcrowded prisons, which not only put a strain on state budgets, but also created human rights challenges regarding how to maintain a safe and healthy prison environment. Three Southern states in particular Alabama, Florida, and Louisiana exemplify how prison populations have grown to be problematic in three unique ways. Alabama is home to the most overcrowded prisons in the country, currently at 151% of capacity. Even after sentencing reforms were passed in 2017, recent legislation concerning the Alabama Board of Pardons and Paroles has severely diminished the parole chances of currently incarcerated people. Florida, with over 95,000 imprisoned people, has the third-largest prison population of any state in the country, and still adheres to a Truth in Sentencing rule requiring incarcerated people to serve at least 85% of their sentences, regardless of any demonstration of rehabilitation. As a result, Florida has grown to have the oldest prison population in the South, a group whose care is increasingly expensive. Louisiana has been known as the incarceration capital of the world for consistently having incredibly high incarceration rates. A large factor is the number of people serving life sentences without the possibility of parole, including juveniles. The lack of early prison release is just one of many contributors to mass incarceration in the South. The solutions also vary from expanding parole eligibility and making it retroactive, to increasing incentives for rehabilitation credits, to re-calibrating triggers for life without parole sentences. This report will investigate the impact that over-incarceration has had in three Southern states, and provide recommendations on how each state can address the issue through policy change. Together with CPS Energy's diverse power generating units, as well as its award-winning energy conservation programs and significant renewable energy resources, electric vehicles (EVs) are now another avenue for the utility to help reduce the community's carbon footprint. EVs will directly help our community reduce air emissions from transportation. In line with its Flexible Path strategy, CPS Energy is adding two new programs for customers who charge their EV at home. With the introduction of its FlexEVSM brand, the utility recognizes the need to improve the environment by being a major supporter of EV adoption. CPS Energy is therefore unveiling new products and services to encourage drivers to consider alternative vehicles. "No more standing at the gas pump, no more oil changes, no more tail pipe exhaust, just a smooth ride and the sound of the wind. What is not to love about driving electric?" Said Drew Higgins, Senior Director of Products and Services for CPS Energy. "I am an EV advocate and am enthusiastic about helping San Antonio embrace EVs." CPS Energy is introducing two pilot programs that incentivize EV home charging during off-peak energy demand hours and that help address drivers' range anxiety, which is the fear of running out of power while en route. The utility's new and unique FlexEV Rewards programs provide rebates for charging responsibly at home when the demand for energy is low. The company's two new programs are: Flex EV Smart Rewards A participant in this program will receive a one-time $250 enrollment credit on their utility bill. The customer will also receive a $5 monthly credit, equivalent to about 120 miles of driving, for allowing CPS Energy to remotely connect and carefully manage the customer's charging device, as needed. This would only occur when energy demand is high, between the hours of 2 p.m. and 9 p.m. , Monday through Friday. Specifically, if needed, CPS Energy would manage the flow of energy to the charger to help take pressure off the grid, which is always good to do. Smart Rewards A participant in this program will receive a one-time enrollment credit on their utility bill. The customer will also receive a monthly credit, equivalent to about 120 miles of driving, for allowing CPS Energy to remotely connect and carefully manage the customer's charging device, as needed. This would only occur when energy demand is high, , Monday through Friday. Specifically, if needed, CPS Energy would manage the flow of energy to the charger to help take pressure off the grid, which is always good to do. FlexEV Off-Peak Rewards A participant in this program will receive a one-time $125 enrollment credit on their utility bill. The customer will also receive a $10 monthly credit, equivalent to more than 200 miles of driving, for voluntarily choosing to limit charging to no more than two times a month between the hours of 4 p.m. and 9 p.m. , Monday through Friday. "Charging your EV is the easiest connection you'll make," Higgins continued. "If you're like most commuters in San Antonio you drive about 30 miles a day, and an all-electric vehicle has enough juice to get you to work and back. Recharging the battery overnight takes around one or two hours using your level 2 charging station. We want to get EV drivers in the habit of charging at night when the demand for energy is lower and our new programs reinforce that habit." For customers who would like more information before deciding if an EV is right for them, CPS Energy's website cpsenergy.com/ev includes the following resources: Carbon Reduction Calculator provides users with a carbon reduction tool that compares their current vehicle to an EV provides users with a carbon reduction tool that compares their current vehicle to an EV Charging Solutions describes products and services for charging EVs describes products and services for charging EVs Benefits & Facts provides reasons to drive an EV provides reasons to drive an EV Fuel Savings Calculator provides users with potential fuel cost savings when comparing their current vehicle to an EV provides users with potential fuel cost savings when comparing their current vehicle to an EV Incentives references information on Federal Tax Credits and available rebates references information on Federal Tax Credits and available rebates EV Models furnishes basic information about available EVs on the market furnishes basic information about available EVs on the market FAQ & Helpful Terms addresses frequently asked questions and explains definitions While overnight charging is the best for the environment, CPS Energy understands that there are instances when charging during the day is necessary. EV drivers also need to charge when they are out and about. CPS Energy has 76 local ChargePoint charging stations in its FlexEV Public Charging program. In support of public charging, the utility's program includes a flat-rate pilot program. This program has a low annual fee of $96 for unlimited access to charging stations at any time of day or night. If customers do not subscribe to the flat rate pilot program, they can still use the charging stations on a Pay-As-You-Go basis. The newly developed FlexEV brand is further evidence that CPS Energy continues to put a focus on forward-thinking programs aimed at keeping customer bills affordable while enhancing Reliability. As part of the utility's overall Flexible Path strategy, FlexEV, along with its FlexPOWER BundleSM and FlexSTEPSM initiatives announced earlier this year, demonstrate a solid commitment to remain a leader in the fast-evolving energy industry. Customers can learn more about the FlexEV Rewards programs, see a list of eligible chargers, and enroll in home charging programs by visiting Charging Solutions on cpsenergy.com/ev. About CPS Energy Established in 1860, CPS Energy is the nation's largest public power, natural gas, and electric company, providing safe, reliable, and competitively-priced service to 860,934 electric and 358,495 natural gas customers in San Antonio and portions of seven adjoining counties. Our customers' combined energy bills rank among the lowest of the nation's 20 largest cities while generating $8 billion in revenue for the City of San Antonio for more than seven decades. As a trusted and strong community partner, we continuously focus on job creation, economic development, and educational investment. True to our People First philosophy, we are powered by our skilled workforce, whose commitment to the community is demonstrated through our employees' volunteerism in giving back to our city and programs aimed at bringing value to our customers. CPS Energy is among the top public power wind energy buyers in the nation and number one in Texas for solar generation. SOURCE CPS Energy Related Links www.cpsenergy.com Deputy Head of the Ukrainian Presidents Office Ihor Zhovkva had an online meeting with representatives of the Government of the Czech Republic to discuss the escalation of the situation in eastern Ukraine. "Ukraine is grateful to the Czech Republic for its continued support for sovereignty and territorial integrity," Zhovkva said, the Office of the President of Ukraine reported on its Facebook page. Zhovkva informed about Russia's military build-up on the Ukrainian-Russian border and the growing number of killed Ukrainian servicepersons. The Deputy Head of the Ukrainian Presidents Office thanked the Czech Republic for supporting Ukraine's sovereignty and territorial integrity. He noted the importance of increasing pressure from the Euro-Atlantic community on Russia to avoid large-scale aggression. The interlocutors paid special attention to the situation in occupied Crimea, in particular, they discussed the continuation of Russia's militarization of the peninsula and the systematic violation of human rights by the occupation authorities. Zhovkva acquainted State Secretary for European Affairs of the Government of the Czech Republic Milena Hrdinkova with the Ukrainian Presidents initiative Crimean Platform and confirmed the invitation from Volodymyr Zelensky to Prime Minister of the Czech Republic Andrej Babis to take part in its work on August 23, 2021 in Kyiv. The parties also discussed progress in implementing Ukraine's European aspirations. The Deputy Head of the Ukrainian Presidents Office stressed that the priority for Ukraine is the recognition by the EU member states of Ukraine's European perspective. Hrdinkova confirmed that the Czech Republic is a traditional supporter of Ukraine's European integration and it will continue supporting Ukraine on this path. iy CALGARY, AB / ACCESSWIRE / April 15, 2021 / Canadian Overseas Petroleum Limited (the "Company") (CSE:XOP)(LSE:COPL), is providing this bi-weekly default status report in accordance with National Policy 12-203 - Management Cease Trade Orders ("NP 12-203"). On March 17, 2021, the Company disseminated a news release (the "MCTO Notice") disclosing that it had voluntarily applied to the Alberta Securities Commission (the "ASC") for a management cease trade order ("MCTO") as it was not able to complete and file its audited annual financial statements and the applicable CEO and CFO certifications in respect of such filings for the financial year ended December 31, 2020 (collectively the "Annual Filings") by the filing deadline of March 31, 2021. On April 1, 2021 the Company announced that the ASC granted the MCTO provided that the Company issue a bi-weekly default status report every two weeks, in accordance with NP 12-203, during the period of the MCTO. The Company disseminated a news release on April 1, 2021, in which it provided its first bi-weekly status report (the "First Bi-Weekly Status Report"). The Company confirms that since the date of the First Bi-Weekly Status Report: (i) there has been no material change to the information set out in the MCTO Notice that has not been generally disclosed; (ii) there has been no failure by the Company in fulfilling its stated intentions with respect to satisfying the provisions of the alternative information guidelines set out in NP 12-203; (iii) there has not been any other specified default by the Company under NP 12-203; and (iv) there is no other material information concerning the affairs of the Company that has not been generally disclosed. The Company confirms that its directors, officers and insiders cannot trade the Company's securities until the Annual Filings have been made. The Company is working diligently to complete the audit of the financial statements for the year ended December 31, 2020. The MCTO stipulated that the Annual Filings were to be filed by no later than April 30, 2021 and the Company will be in a position to file the Annual Filings on or before that date. Until filing of the Annual Filings, the Company intends to satisfy the provisions of the alternative information guidelines as required by NP 12-203. About the Company COPL is an international oil and gas exploration, development and production company actively pursuing opportunities in the United States through the acquisition of Atomic Oil and Gas LLC with operations in Converse County Wyoming, and in sub-Saharan Africa through its ShoreCan joint venture company in Nigeria, and independently in other countries. For further information, please contact: Mr. Arthur Millholland, President & CEO Canadian Overseas Petroleum Limited Tel: + 1 (403) 262 5441 Cathy Hume CHF Investor Relations Tel: +1 (416) 868 1079 ext. 251 Email: cathy@chfir.com Charles Goodwin Yellow Jersey PR Limited Tel: +44 (0) 77 4778 8221 Email: copl@yellowjerseypr.com Forward-looking statements This press release contains statements that constitute "forward-looking information" (collectively, "forward-looking statements") within the meaning of the applicable Canadian securities legislation. All statements, other than statements of historical fact, are forward-looking statements and are based on expectations, estimates and projections as at the date of this news release. Any statement that discusses predictions, expectations, beliefs, plans, projections, objectives, assumptions, future events or performance (often but not always using phrases such as "expects", or "does not expect", "is expected", "anticipates" or "does not anticipate", "plans", "budget", "scheduled", "forecasts", "estimates", "believes" or "intends" or variations of such words and phrases or stating that certain actions, events or results "may" or "could", "would", "might" or "will" be taken to occur or be achieved) are not statements of historical fact and may be forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements contained in this press release include, without limitation, statements relating to the timing for completion of the Annual Filings and other statements that are not historical facts. In making the forward-looking statements contained in this press release, the Company has made certain assumptions. Although the Company believes that the expectations reflected in forward-looking statements are reasonable, it can give no assurance that the expectations of any forward-looking statements will prove to be correct. Known and unknown risks, uncertainties, and other factors may cause the actual results and future events to differ materially from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on the forward-looking statements and information contained in this press release. Except as required by law, the Company disclaims any intention and assumes no obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements to reflect actual results, whether as a result of new information, future events, changes in assumptions, changes in factors affecting such forward-looking statements or otherwise. The securities of the company have not been registered under the United States Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and may not be offered or sold in the United States absent registration or an applicable exemption from the registration requirements. This release is issued for informational purposes only and does not constitute an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy any securities, nor shall there be any sale of any securities in any jurisdiction in which such offer, solicitation or sale would be unlawful. The Canadian Securities Exchange (operated by CNSX Markets Inc.) has neither approved nor disapproved of the contents of this press release. SOURCE: Canadian Overseas Petroleum Limited View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/640572/Canadian-Overseas-Petroleum-Limited-Provides-Second-Bi-Weekly-Status-Report To provide current updates on the new administrations changes that impact utilities and the energy industry, EUEC is hosting three timely follow-up conferences this year with valuable information on the status of rules and the changing environment, said Dr. Prabhu Dayal, Chairman, EUEC. The Energy, Utility & Environment Conference (EUEC) today announced free online access to the video keynote addresses from leaders at the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), ComED and Edison Electric Institute (EEI). Free video playback of the Keynote Speakers presentations at the 24th annual EUEC virtual conference, held March 89, 2021, is available at the EUEC website. Videos from all speakers in the March program are also available for purchase. Available speaker videos: Angelos Kokkinos, Associate Deputy Assistant Secretary for Clean Coal and Carbon Management in the U.S. DOEs Office of Fossil Energy, provided insights on the new administrations programs aimed at building a 100 percent clean energy economy by 2050 and going to carbon-free electricity by 2035. Terry Donnelly, President and COO of ComEd, focused on what utilities should be doing now to be prepared for tomorrow and what ComEd has done through innovation and smart investments. Reid Harvey, Director of the U.S. EPAs Clean Air Markets Division, discussed the impacts of the Cross-State Air Pollution Rule (CSAPR) and Clean Power Plan (CPP) program. John Kinsman, Senior Director, Environment at EEI, shared insights on transitioning the electric power sector, including clean air issues at the federal and state levels, evolving power generation sources and technology advances. To provide current updates on the new administrations changes that impact utilities and the energy industry, EUEC is hosting three timely follow-up conferences this year with valuable information on the status of rules and the changing environment, said Dr. Prabhu Dayal, Chairman, EUEC. It also provides a professional networking opportunity with speakers and exhibitors, all remotely accessible year-round. EUEC will host its Quarterly Virtual Conference 2021 Speaker Series on June 1517, August 1719 and October 2628. Click here to register and attend. MISSION STATEMENT: The 24th Annual Energy, Utility & Environment Conference (EUEC) facilitates information exchange and fosters cooperation between industry, government, and regulators for the protection of our environment and energy security. For more information, visit http://www.EUEC.com EUEC Contact: Prabhu Dayal 520-615-3535 info@euec.com PR Contact: Teri Sawyer 714-801-1687 Teri@TandCoMarketing.com You can now use an eSIM with the Samsung Galaxy Note 20 Ultra if you're a T-Mobile subscriber. The carrier has rolled out an update for the model that adds eSIM support to the phone, allowing you to use your number without having to slot in a physical SIM. It could be very useful if you have two lines, or if you're traveling and need the physical slot for an international SIM. Even though the technology has been around for quite a while, it still not as commonly used as physical SIMs in the US, since very few phones support it. According to XDA Developers, the Galaxy Note 20 Ultra is the first Samsung phone in North America to offer eSIM capability thanks to this update. In the US, the only other options that allow you to ditch physical SIMs are iPhones and Google's Pixel phones. There are many other models, such as the Galaxy S21, that can technically use digital SIMs, but carriers must enable the feature first before subscribers can use it. T-Mobile first switched on eSIM support for the iPhone in 2018 and has enabled the feature for Pixel devices since then. If you haven't activated an eSIM for your number yet, check out TMobile's support page for instructions you can follow. US climate envoy John Kerry met with his Chinese counterparts in Shanghai on Thursday, in the first visit to China by an official from a Biden administration seeking to re-establish America's leadership on the environment. The trip is seen as a chance to put aside high political tensions -- following a heated initial meeting last month between diplomats in the US -- and focus on areas of potential climate collaboration. The two sides clashed in Alaska over accusations about China's policies in Hong Kong and its treatment of Uyghurs in the northwestern Xinjiang region, criticisms China rejects as interference in its domestic affairs. In Shanghai, officials are expected to discuss environmental challenges, areas which both China and the US say are top priorities, as well as the upcoming UN-led climate talks to be held in Glasgow at the end of the year. President Joe Biden has made scuttling the climate-sceptic policy of his predecessor Donald Trump a priority. He has rejoined the 2015 Paris accord, and is hosting a virtual summit of world leaders next week which the US hopes will result in stronger climate pledges. China's leader Xi Jinping is yet to confirm if he will attend the summit. The US consulate said Kerry arrived in China and will meet with his Chinese counterparts at a Shanghai hotel in a day of closed-door talks. "At this point understanding each others' expectations and ambition levels, and agreeing how to use those commitments to move the international climate negotiations forward would already be an important first step," Lauri Myllyvirta, lead analyst at the Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air told AFP. China, the world's biggest polluter, announced an ambitious target to be carbon-neutral by 2060, but analysts have warned high reliance on coal and modest short-term targets could scupper the ambition. - 'Long way to go' - As Trump turned away from the national climate agenda, Xi made bold promises to cut emissions. Story continues China "now shouldered the responsibility of global climate governance" and won't be part of a US-centred climate campaign, the nationalistic Global Times cited experts saying Thursday. Biden has yet to announce any new targets under the Paris agreement. "Both countries have a long way to go to firm up their targets and commitments for this decade," said Myllyvirta. No global solution on climate change is likely without both the US and China on board, since the world's top two economies together account for nearly half of the world's total greenhouse gas emissions. Li Shuo from Greenpeace China said he hoped the talks might yield agreements on China's huge use of polluting coal. "China is the largest coal consumer, it is still building coal-fired power plants, both domestically and along the Belt and Road region," he told AFP, referring to China's sprawling international infrastructure plan. "There needs to be a reverse on that. In terms of potential outcomes, that would be top on my list." While Beijing and Washington have clashed over Hong Kong and Xinjiang, the climate issue is seen as a shared interest which cuts through the rancour. bur-rox/apj/jfx Mumbai, April 15 : IL&FS Group has addressed a debt of Rs 43,000 crore so far and the management has now raised its aggregate debt recovery estimate to Rs 61,000 crore. The previous estimate of overall debt recovery was Rs 56,000 crore. The increased estimate represents a resolution of nearly 62 per cent of overall fund based and non-fund based group debt of around Rs 99,000 crore, as of October 2018, Chairman of IL&FS, Uday Kotak told the media on Thursday. The aggregate debt of Rs 43,000 crore addressed till date represents nearly 71 per cent of the overall revised targeted recovery value of Rs 61,000 crore and 44 per cent of the overall debt of over Rs 99,000 crore. "It may be kept in mind that the recovery target is higher than the average recovery observed under IBC since its inception," said an IL&FS statement. Out of total 347 entities under IL&FS Group, as of October 2018, a total of 186 entities stand resolved till date, while the remaining 161 entities are under various stages of resolution. The new board, while working in public interest, has been able to maximise the recoveries for all classes of creditors, through following a three-pronged strategy of resolution, restructuring and recovery, while keeping the tenets of corporate governance and corporate finance in mind. "The upgrade in potentially addressable debt by Rs 5,000 crore has been largely on account of improved valuations, better operating performance and enhanced recoveries from non-group exposures," IL&FS said. The aggregate addressed debt of Rs 43,000 crore comprises Rs 26,800 crore on the basis of entity monetisation initiatives and accrued cash balance, Rs 14,350 crore of additional net recovery expected from resolution and restructuring applications filed with and awaiting approval of the Mumbai-bench of NCLT and the NCLAT and Rs 1,926 crore from Supreme Court verdict passed in favour of Rapid Metro Gurgaon. The period since January 2021 also saw the filing of NCLT application for Phase 1 of IL&FS Group's Infrastructure Investment Trust (InvIT) with a resolution value of over Rs 9,300 crore across six Road SPVs. The InvIT, which is being set-up across multiple phases (encompassing 12 Road SPVs) represents one of India's largest such resolution initiatives and would contribute to significant value enhancement for IL&FS Group stakeholders, it said. The gross resolution value across all completed NCLT and NCLAT filings but awaiting final approval amounts to over Rs 20,450 crore. In the next few quarters, IL&FS estimates to address around Rs 8,000 crore of additional debt by September 2021 which would include monetisation of stake in ONGC Tripura, Warora Chandrapur and Karyavattom Stadium, phase-2 of InvIT including five road SPVs, and receipt of expected settlement claims from road authorities for Khed Sinnar Expressway and Srinagar Sonmarg Tunnel. With this, the overall debt addressed is expected to cross Rs 51,000 crore by September 2021. Further, recovery of around Rs 10,000 crore is likely to spill over beyond September 2021 on account of various reasons, including procedural complexities. This includes sale of Paradip Refinery, Mangalore SEZ, Tamil Nadu Water, ILFS Prime Terminals Fujairah, Hill County Properties, phase-3 of InvIT, sale of real estate assets including IL&FS building in BKC, Mumbai, expected receipt of settlement claims for balance road assets, among others. COLUMBIA, S.C. A white Army non-commissioned officer depicted in a viral video accosting and shoving a Black man in a South Carolina neighborhood has been charged with third-degree assault. Jonathan Pentland, 42, was charged Wednesday and listed as detained in the Richland County jail and issued a personal recognizance bond, according to online jail records, which did not show him as having an attorney. The video, posted Monday by a woman on Facebook and shared thousands of times, shows a man, identified as Pentland, demanding that a Black man leave the neighborhood before threatening him with physical violence. Youre in the wrong neighborhood, Pentland, standing on the sidewalk, can be heard saying to the other man before using an expletive. I ain't playing with you. ... Im about to show you what I can do. Related: Army Investigates Video Allegedly Showing a White NCO Assaulting a Black Man According to Shirell Johnson, who posted the video, the incident happened in a subdivision of The Summit, which has a Columbia address but is technically outside the city's limits. The video does not show what started the conflict. Johnson did not immediately respond to a message from The Associated Press seeking further details. The recording begins with Pentland, a U.S. Army staff sergeant, asking the Black man what he's doing in the area. The Black man says he was simply walking and not bothering anyone. Throughout the three-minute video, Pentland continuously demands that the other man leave the neighborhood, getting in his face and, at one point, pushing the man, who almost falls to the ground. Lets go, walk away," he said. Im about to do something to you. You better start walking right now. At the end of the video, a woman who Pentland identifies as his wife can be heard telling the other man that he had picked a fight with some random young lady in the neighborhood, a claim the Black man then denies. Johnson said authorities arrived at the scene and only gave Pentland a citation for malicious injury to property for slapping the man's phone out of his hand and cracking it. Officials at Fort Jackson, the U.S. Armys largest basic training facility, said Wednesday they were looking into the incident. On one of its Twitter accounts, base officials also said that U.S. Department of Justice authorities were investigating as well. According to social media accounts connected to Pentland, he has been stationed at Fort Jackson since 2019 and has worked as a drill sergeant at the garrison, a 53,000-acre complex that trains 50% of all soldiers and 60% of women who enter the Army each year. Asked on Twitter for his response to the video, Fort Jackson Commanding Brig. Gen. Milford H. Beagle Jr. said the behavior displayed in the video is by no means condoned by any service member. We will get to the bottom of this ASAP, he said. On his official Facebook page, Beagle said Army officials have begun our own investigation and are working with the local authorities. Earlier this year, the Department of Defense announced that Beagle would take over as commanding general at Fort Drum, New York, to be succeeded at Fort Jackson by Brig. Gen. Patrick R. Michaelis. An official transfer date has not been announced. Commenters on the video said they had reached out to the Richland County Sheriffs Department asking for additional charges to be filed. In a release issued early Wednesday, a department spokeswoman said deputies had been dispatched to the neighborhood for an assault" call involving one of the men several days before the date of the video, and that all of the matters were under investigation. During an afternoon news conference, Sheriff Leon Lott said the other man in the video was not a juvenile but declined to release his name. Lott said that man had been involved in other incidents in the neighborhood in the days leading up to the video but said that none of them justified the assault that occurred." The first time I saw the video, it was terrible. It was unnecessary, Lott said, noting he had met with community leaders and elected officials before speaking with reporters. Lott said his investigators had turned their case over to prosecutors, who determined what charge to levy against Pentland. Pentland did not immediately respond to an email message seeking comment. If convicted, he faces up to 30 days in jail and a $500 fine. State Sen. Mia McLeod, who represents the area, said Wednesday on the Senate floor that she had spent much of the previous day in discussions about the incident and planned to meet with the sheriff later in the day. My sons have a freaking right to live, said McLeod, who is Black. Another unarmed Black man could be dead today because he was walking in a neighborhood that, I am told, is adjacent to his, doing absolutely nothing." This article was written by MEG KINNARD from The Associated Press and was legally licensed through the Industry Dive publisher network. Please direct all licensing questions to legal@industrydive.com. [April 15, 2021] Alchemab raises 60M ($82M) in Series A financing to advance novel platform for identifying disease-modifying antibody therapeutics Alchemab Therapeutics, a biotech company developing novel products for patients with hard-to-treat diseases by harnessing the power of naturally protective antibodies, today announces the completion of a 60 million ($82 million) Series A financing round. The international investment syndicate is led by RA Capital Management, with participation from Lightstone Ventures, Data Collective VC (DCVC), DHVC, SV Health Investors and the Dementia Discovery Fund. The company was created by SV Health Investors who led the Seed round in 2019. The proceeds will be used to advance Alchemab's unique target-agnostic drug discovery platform. The approach interrogates the entire antibody repertoires of individuals from well-defined groups who show unexpected resistance to disease despite genetic disposition or other risk factors predicative of a poor prognosis. Using insights gained, Alchemab can identify naturally protective antibodies with therapeutic potential. Alchemab's primary focus is the development of novel therapeutics for hard-to-treat neurodegenerative diseases and cancers, and the Company currently has several programs at the preclinical stage. Alchemab's approach was developed with support from scientific founders at Oxford University, Johns Hopkins University and Mount Sinai Hospital. Alchemab is amongst the first commercial group to access Illumina's Cambridge, UK Accelerator. "Our aim is to become a major player in the identification of novel targets and antibodies in the areas of neurodegeneration and cancer," noted Alex Leech, CEO at Alchemab. "The substantial financial commitment by this high-caliber group of US and European investors is a strong endorsement of our science and eam." His colleague and co-founder, Dr Jane Osbourn OBE, CSO at Alchemab, added: "Our approach to understanding the natural immunological response to disease and why some people are able to stay well has huge potential to identify antibody therapies across a range of indications. The Series A financing offers a great opportunity to accelerate our efforts to positively impact the lives of patients. Dr Houman Ashrafian, Managing Partner at SV Health Investors, commented: "Alchemab is a brilliant company driven by science. The Company combines elements of traditional drug discovery techniques with advanced analytics, and in doing so turns the conventional biotech model upside down." Dr Andrew Levin, Managing Director at RA Capital, added: "It is a privilege to work with this exceptional team. Alex, Jane and the scientists at Alchemab are offering a truly innovative, disease-agnostic approach that we believe has great potential for the development of novel therapeutics." Last month, Alchemab announced the award of an Innovate UK grant to support the development of a novel disease-modifying antibody therapy for Huntington's disease, in collaboration with the Medicines Discovery Catapult. - Ends - Notes for Editors About Alchemab Alchemab has developed a highly differentiated platform which enables the identification of novel drug targets and therapeutics on the basis of patient B-cell antibody repertoires. The platform uses well-defined patient samples and a range of functional and advanced analytical techniques to evaluate convergent protective antibody responses in groups of individuals that are susceptible but resilient to specific diseases. Alchemab is building a broad pipeline of protective therapeutics for hard-to-treat diseases, with an initial focus on oncology, neurodegenerative conditions and infectious diseases. Alchemab was founded in 2019 and brings together expertise from Oxford, Cambridge, London in the UK and the United States, with seed funding from SV Health Investors, the Dementia Discovery Fund and DCVC. The highly specialised patient samples that power Alchemab's engine are made available through valued partnerships and collaborations with patient groups, biobanks and academic institutes. Alchemab is led by highly experienced management and has an extended team of scientific founders and collaborators contributing a deep understanding of antibody repertoires, computational biology and disease understanding. Alchemab's R&D facility is in Cambridge, UK. For more information, visit www.alchemab.co.uk. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210415005045/en/ [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem (R) has put the Biden regime on notice that her state will refuse to accept any illegal alien migrants that are attempted to be sent there. As a result of the Biden border crisis, which the presidents of Mexico and Guatemala have blamed on Biden's messaging to potential migrants, the southern US border is being overrun. No proper vetting can be done or screening for infectious diseases including the Wuhan coronavirus. The Biden regime is doing catch and release without even the formality of giving migrants court dates, and they are sending them all over the country. Governor Noem cited the safety of her states citizens in making this refusal to accept these illegal aliens. Any of them who are granted asylum also immediately qualify for welfare benefits, part of which has to be paid for by the states. Where is NC Gautleiter "Coop 'em up" Cooper on this? Shouldn't we also tell Biden "no way, Jose" on this? As the second wave of the Coronavirus looks to wreak havoc on the country and once again destabilize the Indian economy which had just started showing signs of recovery, there is an urgent need for all to stay united and work with each other. On Thursday (April 15), India recorded a staggering 2,00,739 fresh Covid-19 cases over the last 24 hours, a record high since the beginning of the pandemic. According to reports, Maharashtra continues to stand as the worst-hit Indian state, recorded with a total of 765,094 cases recorded in the past fortnight. Business Standard Now, with the current Covid scenario beginning to overwhelm the public health and healthcare delivery systems in the state, the billionaire Chairman of Reliance Industries Limited, Mukesh Ambani, has taken a step forward in battling the virus outbreak. Reuters According to reports, Reliance Industries Limited, which operates the world's biggest refining complex in Maharashtra, has started the supply of oxygen from Jamnagar in Gujarat to Maharashtra free of cost. As per Eknath Shinde, the Urban Development Minister for Maharashtra, the state will receive around 100 tons of gas from Reliance. According to a Reliance spokesperson, the oxygen streams, which were originally meant for the company's petroleum coke gasification units, will be diverted for medical purposes after it has been made suitable for such usage. Mukesh Ambani has his residence as well as the headquarters of his company in India's financial capital of Mumbai, and his contribution to the fight against the virus was praised by many people, who took to Twitter to share their views. Let's applaud together for this. Thank you let's fight together. santsakha karemore (@SantsakhaK) April 15, 2021 Thanks sir. Bharti Makanjee (@bharti_makanjee) April 15, 2021 How embarassing it would be for Ambani critics now to survive on his oxygen. John Wick (@udbeast) April 15, 2021 This is very humane, unless proven otherwise. Taurus 294 (@smneeraj2001) April 15, 2021 Good on them. Mukesh Ambani, Reliance Industries is diverting oxygen produced at his refineries to help India battle a savage coronavirus outbreakhttps://t.co/v9Eg4MEkBM menaka doshi (@menakadoshi) April 15, 2021 Slap on those faces who were doing poilitics using Ambanis name Check out this story: Billionaire #MukeshAmbani sends oxygen from his refineries to aid Indias covid fight https://t.co/YjdNjaVNrK thinkb4uink (@thinkb4uink1) April 15, 2021 Mukesh Ambani to supply 100 MT of oxygen from Reliance Industries Jamnagar plant I hope Ambani haters will Boycott Ambani Oxygen Roop Darak BHARTIYA (@iRupND) April 14, 2021 Breaking : Reliance Industries Jamnagar, Gujarat headed by Ambani offers help to Maharashtra. Maharashtra to get 100MT oxygen from Reliance Jamnagar (Gujarat) unit. We are sure CM @OfficeofUT will acknowledge Mukesh Ambani Gesture in Crisis ridden State@ril_foundation Krunal Goda (@Krunal_Goda) April 14, 2021 Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen and former U.S. Sen. Chris Dodd (D-Conn.) attend a meeting at the presidential office in Taipei on April 15, 2021. (Ann Wang/POOL/AFP via Getty Images) Taiwan President Warns of Beijings Threat to Region While Welcoming US Delegation TAIPEI, TaiwanTaiwan President Tsai Ing-wen warned on April 15 that Chinas military activities against the self-ruled island pose a threat to regional peace. Recently, China has frequently dispatched military vessels and aircraft to carry out maneuvers in waters and airspace surrounding Taiwan. These actions alter the status quo in the Indo-Pacific and threaten regional peace and stability, Tsai said while welcoming a visiting U.S. delegation before the two sides held closed-door talks at the Presidential Office. The delegation was headed by former U.S. Sen. Chris Dodd (D-Conn.), who arrived in Taiwan on April 14. The former senator was accompanied by former Deputy Secretaries of State Richard Armitage and James Steinberg, as well as Dan Biers, director of the Office of Taiwan Coordination at the State Department. The visit marks the first U.S. delegation to visit Taiwan since President Joe Biden took office in January. Tsai said, We are very willing to work with like-minded countries, including the United States, to jointly safeguard the peace and stability of the Indo-Pacific region and deter aggression and provocation. The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) sees Taiwan as a part of its territory and has threatened war to bring the island into its fold. Since the start of this year, the Chinese military has been sending aircraft into Taiwans air defense identification zone (ADIZ) on a near-daily basis. On April 12, 25 Chinese military aircraft, including 14 J-16 fighter jets, entered Taiwans ADIZ. It was the largest incursion ever reported by Taiwans Ministry of National Defense. Two days later, on April 14, Chinas Maritime Safety Administration announced that the Chinese military will hold live-fire drills at waters near the Nanpeng Islands in the South China Sea from April 15 to April 20. Hours after Tsais remarks, Chinas military aircraft entered the islands ADIZ again, according to local outlet Liberty Times. Bejing is angry at the U.S. visit. On April 14, at a daily briefing, Chinas foreign ministry spokesperson Zhao Lijian said China has lodged solemn representations with the U.S. He also called on Washington to prudently handle Taiwan-related issues in order to avoid further grave damage to ChinaU.S. relations. Former U.S. Sen. Chris Dodd (D-Conn.) arrives with the U.S. delegation for a meeting with Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen (not pictured) at the presidential office in Taipei on April 15, 2021. (Ann Wang/POOL/AFP via Getty Images) Also on April 14, Chinas hawkish mouthpiece Global Times stated that the unofficial nature of the visit showed that the Biden administration has no intention of crossing Chinas red line on the Taiwan question and is still groping for its Taiwan policy. Washington currently has no formal diplomatic ties with Taipei but has maintained a robust relationship with the island based on the Taiwan Relations Act, which was signed into law by former President Jimmy Carter in April 1979. The United States is also Taiwans biggest arms supplier. Speaking after Tsai at the Presidential Office, Dodd reaffirmed Washingtons relationship with Taipei. I can say with confidence that the United States partnership with Taiwan is stronger than ever, Dodd said. At the request of my long-standing friend, President Joe Biden, to reaffirm the U.S. commitment to this partnership and to deepening our cooperation on the multitude of interests that we share in common. Dodd said that the Biden administration will deepen its economic ties with Taiwan in addition to helping the island to expand its international space and supporting Taipeis investments in self-defense. Beijing opposes Taiwans participation in international organizations and meetings, seeing any international presence that the island might enjoy as tantamount to suggesting that Taiwan is a de facto nation-state. Currently, Taiwan is not a member of the World Health Organization because of objections by Beijing. Steinberg applauded Taiwans success in containing the spread of the CCP virus, which causes the disease COVID-19. Taiwan has had a total of 1,068 infection cases and 11 related deaths as of April 15. Taiwans magnificent efforts in responding to the COVID-19 outbreak are a testament to how a democracy can provide strong effective governance for the benefits not only for its own citizens, but for the globe, Steinberg said at the Presidential Office. On April 15, Taiwans Ministry of Foreign Affairs took to Twitter to say that talks between the two sides were warm, expansive, and highly productive and that U.S.Taiwan relations are rock solid and in great shape. In early March, U.S. Adm. Philip Davidson, head of the U.S. Indo-Pacific Command, warned that China could invade Taiwan in the next six years. Other analysts believe the timeline could be much shorter. WALNUT CREEK, Calif., April 15, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Heffernan Insurance Brokers, one of the largest full-service, independent insurance brokerage firms in the United States, announces the opening of new heavy equipment warranty and insurance program Iron Guard Solutions (IGS), led by Joe Svien and Ryan Martin as Managing Director's and overseen by Jeff Hamlin, Managing Senior Vice President. Iron Guard Solutions (IGS) was formed to fill a void in the heavy equipment industry. Just as equipment has become more sophisticated, so has the need for innovative warranty and insurance solutions available in the marketplace. IGS takes pride in putting the client first, doing business transparently and providing unique solutions leveraging analytics, technology, specialized marketing and product innovation. "We are excited to be part of Heffernan Insurance Brokers. It is clear Heffernan's core values, company culture and client first track record will be well received with OEM's, Dealer Groups and Financial Institutions," said Joe Svien, Managing Director of IGS. "Heffernan is excited to add IGS to our portfolio and we welcome Joe and Ryan to the team. Leveraging the strength, resources and strategic partners of the Heffernan Group, IGS is positioned to deliver an enhanced value proposition to the heavy equipment industry," said Jeff Hamlin, Managing Senior Vice President. For more information visit ironguardsolutions.com or contact: Joe Svein Managing Director Direct: 602.606.5173 [email protected] Ryan Martin Managing Director Direct: 602.535.0226 [email protected] About Heffernan Insurance Brokers Heffernan Insurance Brokers, formed in 1988, is one of the largest independent insurance brokerage firms in the United States. Heffernan provides insurance and financial services products to a range of businesses and individuals. Headquartered in Walnut Creek, Calif., Heffernan has offices in San Francisco, Petaluma, Menlo Park, Truckee, Bakersfield, Woodland Hills, Los Angeles and Irvine, CA; Phoenix, AZ; Portland, OR; Seattle and Olympia, WA; St. Louis, MO; Philadelphia, PA; and London, UK. Employee-owned, Heffernan Insurance Brokers was named the Top Mid-Sized Broker in the United States to work for in 2009 by Business Insurance Magazine. The firm has been among the Top Greater Bay Area Philanthropists since 2003, donating more than 11 percent of profits to charity in 2016. For more information, visit www.heffins.com. License #0564249 SOURCE Heffernan Insurance Brokers Related Links http://www.heffins.com Source: Xinhua| 2021-04-16 00:23:11|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close People enjoy their time at Beirut Corniche in Beirut, Lebanon, on April 15, 2021. Lebanon registered on Thursday 2,501 new COVID-19 cases, raising the total number of infections to 504,800, the Health Ministry reported. (Xinhua/Bilal Jawich) BEIRUT, April 15 (Xinhua) -- Lebanon registered on Thursday 2,501 new COVID-19 cases, raising the total number of infections to 504,800, the Health Ministry reported. Meanwhile, death toll from the virus went up by 31 to 6,809. Ambassador of Cuba in Lebanon Alexander Pellicer Moraga said Thursday that the Cuban and Lebanese Health Ministries will negotiate in the coming two weeks the possibility of Lebanon's participation in clinical trials for the Cuban COVID-19 vaccines Abdala and Soberana-02, Elnashra local news website reported. "If the two ministries agree to cooperate, Cuba will then send vaccines to Lebanon for the clinical trials," the ambassador said. He also assured that the vaccines did not show any serious side effects on people who administered them in Cuba, Iran and Venezuela. Lebanon has been fighting against the pandemic since Feb. 21, 2020. Enditem Five crew members are dead and eight are missing as U.S. Coast Guard rescuers continued to search the waters of the Gulf of Mexico for survivors from the capsized lift boat Seacor Power near Port Fourchon, Louisiana. Here's the latest on the rescue and recovery efforts. New design requires thoughtful programming Delivering more building for the budget using design-build at University of Washington Bothell/Cascadia College STEM 4. By BRIAN ASKE Lease Crutcher Lewis Aske As Seattles higher education institutions compete with other regions to attract the best and brightest students the ones who will find the cure for our most challenging diseases or invent the technology that revolutionizes the way our community functions in the future they must do so with talented faculty, noteworthy programs and with state-of-the-art lab and learning space. In Bothell, Cascadia College and University of Washington Bothell joined forces, and funds, to create an educational resource that is fully integrated to educate their students in science, technology, engineering and math. Once complete, the 80,000-square-foot facility will feature classrooms, labs, collaboration space and facilities for biology, chemistry and physics. One of the goals of the project is to build a facility with the most instructional space possible, so more students from both institutions have access to educational resources. Renderings courtesy of Mithun [enlarge] STEM 4 will be an 80,000-square-foot facility featuring classrooms, labs, collaboration space and facilities for biology, chemistry and physics. After the successful completion of the Hans Rosling Center for Population Health by Lewis and UW Seattle Lewis has teamed with a new partner on this project, Mithun, to implement a similar integrated approach to deliver a state-of-the-art facility with the largest instructional space possible for UW Bothell and Cascadia College stakeholders TRUSTING THE PROCESS While the institutions share other space on campus, STEM 4 will be the largest and most complex jointly used facility and requires thoughtful programming and design solutions. These solutions have evolved from skillfully led working sessions with a variety of stakeholders. Those stakeholders needed to be aligned around not just their institutional needs, but also for the overall success of the project. As a progressive design-build team, Lewis, Mithun, their trade partners and consulting engineers have worked with those stakeholders to identify what success looks like, then design and build a project that specifically meets those goals eliminating wasted resources, optimizing time and money. Since the entire team is aligned to meet the owner goals, each specialty is working towards a shared vision of success including building size meaning there is no need for redesigns, rework or value engineering later in the process. Now, every resource, be it funding, expertise or time is focused on providing the best possible value for the project and client. IDENTIFYING POSSIBILITIES To help University of Washington and Cascadia College stakeholders identify and understand the right program size for their building, the design-build team collected and compared historical cost data from similar higher education facilities in the area. Then, the team adjusted the data to account for escalation, location and changes in building codes to create reliable benchmarks and help set realistic expectations for the owner team, while setting target values to guide the design-build team. Aligning the program and building size to the budget before design begins gives the team the right starting point make strategic design and programming decisions, while eliminating the need to value engineer important aspects of the building later in design. HELPING OWNERS Through transparent collaboration between the design-build team and the institutions, the team will proactively track and manage risks throughout the project, meaning unused contingency can be reinvested back into the building. By identifying and mitigating risks early at the STEM 4 project, we were able to develop the confidence with the owners to design a larger building than the initial benchmarks indicated would be possible. The team also maintains certainty that the project will be finished on budget while maximizing the amount of new lab space added to the campus. The design-build team considered several building sizes and footprints to understand how they fit the site and the cost implications for each option. Since maximizing instructional square footage was a primary goal for our owners, the design-build team presented several options with varying building size; the bigger buildings met the owner goals, but also put a small portion of the interior buildout at risk meaning some of the finishes would be funded through contingency that would be reinvested in the building as design and construction progressed. In a traditional delivery method, project risks are divided amongst each stakeholder and trade partner. To manage risk, each stakeholder holds their own contingency to cover their risk throughout the project. Typically, there is little team alignment on managing that risk, it is up to each individual partner to manage risks associated with their scopes. However, a progressive design-build delivery allows all stakeholders including the owner, design-build team and trade partners to combine and manage risk and contingency together. The UW Integrated Design-Build contract takes this a step further and creates a Risk Reward team comprised of the builder and certain designers and trade partners. The team puts their fee at risk to incentivize everyone to work towards a common goal to get a proportional reward. By doing so, the team can more effectively manage risk and reinvest contingency back into the project, rather than return that funding as savings too late to be meaningfully invested into the building. Together, the institutions and the design-build team collaborated to settle on a base program that maximized the size of building with some level of the interior buildout at risk, understanding that through thoughtful risk management, the team could likely reinvest the funds later in the project. The design-build process has proven to be an important tool for higher education institutions looking to get as much building as possible for their funding, while tailoring the program to the unique needs of the students, researchers and faculty who will use it. The benefit comes from constant communication, a shared vision and complete transparency from the entire team. The UW Bothell and Cascadia College STEM 4 building is set to complete in the fall of 2023 and will provide both institutions with a building that is 12% larger than the historical benchmarks indicated, with more instructional space, serving an additional 72 full-time students year after year meaning more lab, classroom, collaboration and faculty space for both institutions. The project is another example of how innovative project delivery can have a direct and positive impact on fulfilling the mission of higher education. Brian Aske is the education market director at Lease Crutcher Lewis and past president of the Northwest region of the Design-Build Institute of America. Other Stories: They are undoubtedly one of Hollywood's most loved-up couples. And now Nicole Kidman has revealed the full extent of her devotion to her husband Keith Urban. The 53-year-old actress told InStyle on Tuesday that she treats Keith, 53, to at-home pedicures. Devoted wife: Nicole Kidman (pictured) has revealed she treats her husband Keith Urban to at-home pedicures 'He's a pretty low-maintenance guy,' she admitted. 'But sometimes, I'll treat my whole family to a spa day and massage their feet and give them pedicures.' Nicole's admission comes after she returned to the U.S. last month after filming the Hulu limited series Nine Perfect Strangers in Byron Bay with a star studded cast. Pamper sessions: The 53-year-old actress told InStyle: 'I'll treat my whole family to a spa day and massage their feet and give them pedicures' Nicole and her family had been residing in the NSW coastal town for six months as she filmed the show. The limited series is being produced by Nicole's production company, Blossom Films, alongside Big Little Lies collaborators Bruna Papandrea and David E. Kelley. Nine Perfect Strangers is based on Liane Moriarty's bestselling novel of the same name. Going back home: Nicole's admission comes after she returned to the U.S. last month after filming the Hulu limited series Nine Perfect Strangers in Byron Bay with a star studded cast The series stars Melissa McCarthy, Bobby Canavale, Regina Hall, Luke Evans, Samara Weaving and Manny Jacinto. Last year, Nicole told The Daily Telegraph, she's 'thrilled' to be able to bring the $100million production and hundreds of jobs to the local film industry, after it was sent crashing down by the coronavirus pandemic. Meanwhile, Keith and his daughters Sunday, 12, and Faith, 10, jetted from Sydney to America on Tuesday. Source: Xinhua| 2021-04-15 22:46:53|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close BEIRUT, April 15 (Xinhua) -- Lebanese President Michel Aoun asked, during his talks on Thursday with U.S. Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs David Hale, for help by international experts to demarcate the maritime borders between Lebanon and Israel. According to a statement issued by Lebanon's presidency, Aoun emphasized the importance of resuming negotiations on maritime borders demarcation between Lebanon and Israel while urging the United States to be a fair and transparent mediator in these talks. Hale told reporters, following his meeting with Aoun, that "America stands ready to facilitate negotiations on the maritime borders demarcation between Lebanon and Israel on the basis on which these negotiations were initiated in the first place." He stressed that these negotiations can be very helpful for Lebanon's economy which has been suffering from an unprecedented crisis. "If necessary, international experts could be brought in to help inform us all," Hale said. Lebanon and Israel had embarked on negotiations over maritime borders demarcation in a disputed area of about 860 square km. The Lebanese government recently signed a document that will formally lay claim to an additional 1,430 square km on top of the Exclusive Economic Zone in disputed waters in the Mediterranean. Indirect negotiations between Lebanon and Israel to demarcate the maritime borders kicked off on Oct. 14, 2020, mediated by the United States and sponsored by the United Nations, at the headquarters of the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) in Naqoura, south of Lebanon. Demarcation negotiations were later suspended. Enditem Peru has been taken over by populism during the ongoing pandemic, as a far-left activist won the first round of the presidential election on Sunday. Pedro Castillo, a far-left school teacher caught the wave of popular discontent over the handling of the COVID-19 pandemic and a plummeting economy of Peru. Castillo will be facing Keiko Fujimori, the leader of the right-wing Popular Force. She is the far-right heiress to one of the most controversial political dynasties of Peru. The union leader of veteran teachers took the polls by surprise in the first round of voting on Sunday after winning 18.47%. In the second spot is Keiko Fujimori, who is the daughter of the jailed ex-leader Alberto Fujimori, with 13.12%. This is despite being largely unknown before polling day. Castillo stunned the country by sweeping the votes of poorer regions in Peru. The far-left school teacher won 16 of 24 regions of Peru and had a 50% margin in two of the poorest Andean states. According to Financial Times, Castillo shouted in front of his supporters from a balcony in his hometown in Tacabamba in the highland Cajamarca region, the blindfold has just been taken off the eyes of the people of Peru. Despite the elections being compulsory, almost one-third of the population abstained from voting, while at least 17% of the votes were considered invalid. In a statement Wilson Center's Latin America program director Cynthia Arnson stated that the number of those who cast blank ballots was more than those who voted for Castillo, who won the top spot. 'Barely a Competitor' Before the late stages of the campaign, Castillo was barely a competitor and ranked low in opinion polls. He was known to be the leader of a teacher's strike back in 2017 that lasted quite a long period of time, The Guardian reported. Castillo advocates for widespread nationalism. He is also calling to renegotiate trade treaties which have caused widespread alarm among the people. Many were still awed at the results of the polls. ALSO READ: Mexican President Says Mexico's Future is Coal Not Renewable Energy Election Cycle in Latin America At the moment, Latin America is going through an election cycle. By October of this year, seven major nations will be holding their midterm and presidential elections. Many voters have seen this as an opportunity to move against a political class that they believe has failed, AS/COA reported. According to the World Bank, Latin America has been hit by the COVID-19 pandemic the worst, both in economy and the health sector. The pandemic also heightened the severe problems of the countries such as their income inequalities, the lack of good public service, and uncompetitive economy. On Sunday, Ecuador also held its elections and the people elected Guillermo Lasso into office, with a promise of reviving their economy. Lasso is a former banker and self-made millionaire. However, like in Peru, Lasso is not supported by a congressional majority which is another challenge in governance. After the elections in Ecuador and Peru, Chile would follow in mid-May when they will choose delegates in drafting their new constitution. RELATED ARTICLE: Lasso Wins Ecuador Presidential Elections With Promise to Revive Economy WATCH: Peru votes in most fragmented elections in history - Al Jazeera English [April 15, 2021] Bell Let's Talk announces increased funding for post-secondary student mental health action plans More than $3 million in initial grants awarded to 123 post-secondary institutions planning to implement the National Standard of Canada for Mental Health and Well-Being for Post-Secondary Students in initial grants awarded to 123 post-secondary institutions planning to implement the National Standard of Canada for Mental Health and Well-Being for Post-Secondary Students Total funding increased from original $2.5 million commitment to meet high demand commitment to meet high demand Further Bell Let's Talk funding in June will support new initiatives aligned with the Standard developed by the schools MONTREAL, April 15, 2021 /CNW Telbec/ - Bell Let's Talk today announced that $3,075,000 in grants from the Bell Let's Talk Post-Secondary Fund have been awarded to 123 Canadian colleges and universities to support them in the initial implementation of the National Standard of Canada for Mental Health and Well-Being for Post-Secondary Students. "Bell is committed to supporting student mental health and we were pleased to see so many post-secondary institutions apply for funding such a great response in fact that we increased total funding for the initiative by almost 25% to more than $3 million," said Mary Deacon, Chair of Bell Let's Talk. "These grants will help colleges and universities across the country accelerate the important work they're doing to support student mental health and well-being. We look forward to building on their progress with more funding later this spring for schools implementing new initiatives aligned with the Standard." In June, Bell Let's Talk will launch a second phase of the Post-Secondary Fund with implementation grants for institutions that have used the Standard to identify specific gaps or needs in their mental health support services and are building new initiatives to address them. The National Standard of Canada for Mental Health and Well-Being for Post-Secondary Students provides a set of guidelines to help increase awareness, reduce stigma, improve life and resiliency skills, and create a healthier and safer educational environment overall. Bell Let's Talk funding helped enable the creation of the Standard, led by the Mental Health Commission of Canada (MHCC) in partnership with the Canadian Standards Association (CSA). According to the 2019 National College Health Assessment, about 16% of students have seriously considered suicide, and almost 3% attempted suicide in the past year. And over the past year, COVID-19 has affected the mental health of students at every post-secondary institution in Canada. "If the COVID-19 pandemic has taught us anything, it's that taking care of our mental health is essential. That's especially true for students, who, even in the best of times, find themselves at a critical point in their lives, making tough decisions that will shape the rest of their careers, often in the face of uncertain outcomes," said Denise Amyot, President and CEO, Colleges and Institutes Canada. "That is why the National Standard of Canada for Mental Health and Well-Being for Post-Secondary Students is so important. It is a valuable resource for colleges and institutes as they strive to promote mental health and support their students as best they can." Schools like the University of Calgary are actively engaging students as they implement the Standard. "During my time at the University of Calgary, it has been evident that students are at the core of the University's approach to supporting student mental health. As a student, I have personally experienced how their approach and engagement with the student population has led to multiple initiatives, making mental health an integral and essential component of students' well-being," said Cassandra Chisholm, a University of Calgary student. "Through my own involvement with the University of Calgary's Student Medical Response team, and as the student representative for the Post-Secondary Partnership Alcohol Harms initiative, I have seen how student voices are always considered and incorporated into efforts and projects throughout the campus community. Ultimately, this student-centric process makes the campus community flourish. I consider myself fortunate to attend a University that believes in the importance of student mental health." The largest colleges in the Greater Toronto Area Centennial, George Brown, Humber, Seneca and Sheridan have formed a partnership that will allow the colleges to pool their expertise and resources to create learning environments where all students can thrive. "Wellness and health promotion have long been prioritized across our institutions, and it's a privilege to support more than 125,000 students every day," said Dr. Janet Morrison, President and Vice Chancellor of Sheridan College. "However, we know that for many students the ability to learn and succeed is influenced by a complex web of pressures that take a toll on mental health. Our partnership, together with Bell's support, will identify the programs that best help students succeed, work to make real improvements in mental health and wellness across all our campuses, and then share our work as a roadmap for success." In Quebec, Bishop's University, Cegep de Sherbrooke, Champlain College, Sherbrooke Seminary and University of Sherbrooke are also joining forces. "Thanks to the support of the Bell Let's Talk Post-Secondary Fund kickoff grant, our collaboration efforts will go further to help and better equip our community in matters of mental health," said Marie-France Belanger, Executive Director of Cegep de Sherbrooke. "We are proud to work together to implement best practices to promote the psychological health of more than 50,000 students and staff members." "We are delighted to receive a $25,000 grant from the Bell Let's Talk Post-Secondary Fund to implement two exciting programs. Both programs were developed by our Student Mental Health Task Force, an inclusive and diverse group of faculty, staff, students and community leaders working to review student mental health and well-being," said Paul J. Mazerolle, President and Vice-Chancellor of the University of New Brunswick. "The first program will focus on enhancing our campus mental health service providers' knowledge in the areas of truth, reconciliation, allyship and culturally responsive care. The second program will use multimedia approaches to empower our BIPOC students to share their voices to provide guidance to ensure mental health services are more accessible and effective." "The mental health and well-being of our students and employees is a top priority for Yukon University. The Bell Let's Talk grant will enhance and accelerate the development and implementation of our comprehensive Mental Health and Wellness Strategy," said Dr. Maggie Matear, Interim President and Vice Chancellor of Yukon University. "Based on the National Standard, our strategy will amplify the resources available to the YukonU community improving outreach and resilience for all. Bell's continued commitment to engaging Canadians and taking action to create positive change in mental health is incredibly important and we are grateful for their support." To see a complete list of universities and colleges that received a $25,000 kickoff grant, please click here. About Bell Let's Talk The largest-ever corporate commitment to mental health in Canada, Bell Let's Talk is focused on 4 key action pillars: Anti-stigma, Care and Access, Research and Workplace Leadership. Since its launch in September 2010, Bell Let's Talk has partnered with more than 1,100 organizations providing mental health supports and services throughout Canada, including hospitals, universities, local community service providers and other care and research organizations. To learn more, please visit Bell.ca/LetsTalk. Media inquiries: Katie Hatfield 902-487-6198 katie.hatfield@bellaliant.ca @Bell_LetsTalk @Bell_News SOURCE Bell Canada [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] London, United Kingdom--(Newsfile Corp. - April 15, 2021) - As the number of people who are turning towards trading online is increasing, the demand for a good platform that can aid traders to make the right decision is also on the rise up. One such excellent resource that is available online is Marketbull. To view an enhanced version of this graphic, please visit: https://orders.newsfilecorp.com/files/7919/80526_8180c9bd64b75aaf_001full.jpg The market fluctuations recently have been unforeseen and unpredictable. In such cases, it is best to have a support system like the one Marketbull offers. With Marketbull one can buy and sell cryptocurrency, commodities, forex, stocks and futures. Many such platforms that offer similar services can appear complicated for beginners as they are focused more on established traders to use their expertise to the fullest. Marketbull is completely beginner-friendly and the trading apparatus and other resources are satisfyingly simple be it for a first-timer or for an experienced trader. With Marketbull, one can get the benefits of: -Instant Account Creation Traders can get their account opened almost instantaneously with just three steps of registering, account top-up, and start trading in over 10,000 instruments available on Marketbull. -Simple Fund Handling Fund management is one of the fundamentals of trading. Marketbull makes managing funds easy and comfortable by allowing transfer through various payment methods including credit cards and PayPal. -Multilingual Supporting Staffs Marketbull's staffs are available anytime to clear valuable doubts of traders in more than just one language. The company believes that one understands the best in their mother tongue and thus has created a diverse workforce. -Professional Help Marketbull has some of the most qualified employees and experts in this field. They are ready to answer the queries of the traders instantly by offering insightful suggestions. They are excellent account managers who can conjure up personalised profit-making strategies for each and every trader. Marketbull does not only provide advanced help but is well stocked in providing fundamental resources. It contains articles, tutorials, useful materials and personal assistants who can help with the basic analytics of trading. With Marketbull, one can trade on 3 world-class programs that are MT4, Web Trader STATUS, and Mobile Trader. The company is registered and authorised hence is safe and secure against risks. It allows for tight spreads from zero pips. It allows up to 1: 1000 leverage indicates that a trader can level up their buying capacity to 1000 times. Marketbull guarantees the executions of a transaction. They have included innovative systems for investors to trade with full trust at every step. The experts assist to invest with low interest and in turn trade in high volume. The company believes in fastness as the market does not wait for anyone thus, fast execution runs from the account set-up process to transactions. A trader gets access to fast rates, bank liquidity and the opportunity to get tight spreads. Marketbull can help to trade even when one is asleep using its new automated system that uses specific algorithms of previous trade patterns so that the investors never loses a chance. Media Details Company: Marketbull Email: clients@marketbull.com Website: https://www.marketbull.co.uk/ To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/80526 Prince Premium+ is an extremely high-quality chemotherapy drug tested, exam grade, nitrile glove produced by GIS Resources in Malaysia. Their exceptional glove quality has been recognized by some of the largest hospital networks in the country and PPE Advantage is also set to announce an additional partnership in the US with a multi-billion-dollar company for distribution by the end of April. Dato' Murali Darvin, CEO of the Prince Premium+ brand said, "PPE Advantage has been a tremendous advocate and partner for our brand since our beginning. As our largest exporter in the world, PPE Advantage has been responsible for some of our biggest growth and has worked with us side-by-side to develop the look and feel of the brand, its packaging and marketing strategy. He Added, "Douglas Stein, CEO of PPE Advantage, is very well known in the glove space as a product expert, an influencer and a champion against covid scams and fraud in the industry. We are thrilled to be partnering with such a well-known and highly respected company in the US." Douglas Stein, CEO of PPE Advantage added, "We could not be more excited about our partnership with GIS Resources and Prince Premium+. Our companies are very much aligned with the vision of providing an amazing product, while always putting our people and customers first. We are immensely proud to represent the Prince brand to our hospitals, healthcare, government, and industry related clients. We believe that Prince Premium+ can and will compete against and rival the top 5 glove brands in the marketplace." PPE Advantage is also the worldwide distributor of Sanisurface Antimicrobial germ-free products. Sanisurface is treated with a non-toxic invisible defense layer that continuously kills germs, bacteria, pathogens, and viruses up to 99% efficiency. Using a molecular nano tech coating that is fused to the sticker or within the product, Sanisurface provides a continuous cleaning antimicrobial germ-free surface to grip, push, and touch. Contact: Douglas Stein PPE Advantage 773-887-2266 www.ppeadvantage.com [email protected] SOURCE PPE Advantage Related Links https://www.ppeadvantage.com Skuid Chicago Skuid, a leading toolkit for creating unique and adopted Salesforce experiences, introduced the Skuid Chicago release today, a set of features and enhancements providing more declarative support to app designers and builders. App development teams create custom digital experiences up to 10 times faster with Skuid, dramatically increasing user adoption and business innovation. The Skuid Chicago release delivers a vast array of features to enhance the employee and customer experience, including: Calendar anything. A completely overhauled calendar component transforms any date/time data into a powerful user experience. For example, imagine viewing active service cases on a calendar, and when clicking an item, viewing all data related to that case and taking immediate action. Ditch the spreadsheets. Keep users from the pain of using separate spreadsheets outside of your CRM by delivering better features inside your CRM. Key upgrades to Skuid Tables, Lists, Decks, Filter Sets, and more, bring dynamic, hybrid spreadsheet-database approaches to the Salesforce ecosystem. Simplify upgrades. Last year, Skuid introduced an entirely new set of components, called Skuid Ink, in tandem with a new version of its API. Now customers can quickly and easily convert their existing apps and pages to the new components and API with a simple, yet robust point-and-click migration utility. The launch of Skuid Chicago meets an urgent need for delivering better customer, partner, and employee-facing applications faster than ever before. Over the last year, businesses have grasped the importance of UX in designing and building these apps. A recent Forrester report, Design For Work: Boost Productivity And Satisfaction By Transforming Enterprise UX, identified that UX quality directly affects business results in several ways: digital transformation is more successful because employees adopt required tools and processes, employees try harder and feel invested in their jobs, and companies that spend on UX increase market share. Customers now demand digital-first experiences, but companies struggle to deliver, said Ken McElrath, founder and chief strategy officer of Skuid. The causes are clear: siloed data, mountains of code, and a resulting lack of agility in an ever-changing economy. Still, employee and customer experience continues to gain momentum as a prime concern. Customers, partners, and employees want apps that delight. Otherwise, they simply wont use them. The Skuid Chicago release makes it possible for app developers and designers to execute on the experience design priority. With Skuid they can connect disparate data, create seamless customer experiences, and deliver delightful app experiences faster than ever. The Chicago release comes on the heels of two of the biggest revenue growth quarters in the companys eight-year history (Q4 2020 and Q1 2021). In addition, the company recently named Ryan Niemann, former CEO of Cirrus Insights, as its new CEO to continue market expansion. CUSTOMER QUOTES The new list sorting capabilities and CSV export actions will make it easy for us to manipulate the data without switching between spreadsheets and Skuid. -Meredith Meyers, Technology and Innovation Manager at American Enterprise Institute "As a long-time Skuid builder, the migrator tool gets me excited to move to V2. It has streamlined the migration process and will help us take advantage of the new enhancements across existing pages. -Rich Slack, President at Chrysalis I love this calendar. -Rich Slack, President at Chrysalis The new calendar is amazing. We can take full advantage of its power by integrating it with our project management system. -Eric Wahlberg, Salesforce Manager at Mary Ann Liebert, Inc. About Skuid Generic applications rarely match the unique needs of your people, which kills adoption, productivity, and ROI. Admins and developers dramatically increase app adoption and innovation with low-code, Lightning-native tools from Skuid. Thousands of builders have used Skuid to create custom digital experiencesup to 10 times fasterfor millions of users across dozens of countries, dramatically increasing adoption and innovation. Discover the #1 toolkit to accelerate custom Salesforce app design, development, and adoption at https://www.skuid.com One of the things I couldn't help but notice during the BLM protests last year was the fact that deeply distraught, hysterically angry white women seemed to be taking the lead in many of the protests. It turns out that I may have been on to something. A women's publication called Evie has caught up with the fact that a study from last year found that over half of white, Democrat women have been diagnosed at one time or another with a mental health problem. I'm not at all surprised. To quote myself, in July, after sharing several videos of crazed white women during the height of the BLM marches, I wrote: The root problem is that these women are receiving mixed messages that would make even the strongest person go crazy. Beginning in high school, or even earlier, they're told endlessly that they're both victim and oppressor. These mixed messages make straight white girls distinct from other students. White boys are told they're evil, toxic oppressors of both women and minorities. It's an ugly message, but a consistent one. Boys lucky enough to have countervailing influences shake it off and become the men they should be. The boys who don't have better influences, interestingly enough, become feminized, even if they're not gay, as if trying to escape that awful toxic masculinity. Meanwhile, everyone who is non-white and/or non-straight, whether male or female, or something else, is told that he, she, or it is a victim. White privilege, racism, homophobia, transgenderism, misogyny all of them define how non-white and/or non-straight people suffer endlessly at the hands of straight whites. And then there are the straight, white girls. On the one hand, they're...well, white and straight. That means they are evil oppressors who have benefited unfairly from white privilege. In the morality play that is leftism, they owe the world big-time. On the other hand, they're women, which means men have victimized them from time immemorial to the present. It's not just the BLM phenomenon that highlighted crazy women in the past year. COVID revealed numerous white women who were incapable of staying silent if people didn't wear masks. (See here and here.) These white women were the ones who acted as the voluntary civilian brigade to enforce every jot and tittle of the new fascists' lock-up and mask dictums. They enjoyed their power and were obnoxious all over America. It turns out that I was on to something. The article in Evie notes that a Pew Research study has found that more than 50% of white women who identify as politically "liberal" (or, as I more accurately say, "leftist") have some form of mental health problem. What makes the article interesting is that, after noting real hormonal issues (periods, post-partum depression) and women's propensity for depression, it got to the nitty-gritty, which is that leftist women's mental health issues transcend merely biology: The study, which examined white liberals, moderates, and conservatives, both male and female, found that conservatives were far less likely to be diagnosed with mental health issues than those who identified as either liberal or even "very liberal." What's more, white women suffered the worst of all. White women, ages 18-29, who identified as liberal were given a mental health diagnosis from medical professionals at a rate of 56.3%, as compared to 28.4% in moderates and 27.3% in conservatives. And then, showing that Evie is not your ordinary hard-left women's magazine, the article points its finger at Progressivism itself: But at the heart of the matter is this: Progressivism is an ideology that supposedly demands equality for all, and one that keeps score to an exhausting degree. The privilege between social classes, between races, between men and women, between religious and non-religious, and more, all have to be constantly monitored, and "inequality" has to be exposed for the purposes of "accountability." That kind of behavior isn't just unrealistic, it's unsustainable. In all honesty, it's understandable that anxiety and depression thrive in these kinds of environments when we're focusing on every minute, problematic issue in our world and not able to take comprehensive, productive action to solve all these problems. I'll throw in one more factor, which is leftist white women's college attendance. Colleges today are disproportionately female, making normal male-female relationships unusual. In addition, as I noticed when I took my daughter to college a few years ago, the colleges seem deliberately structured to make young women crazy. Certainly, many of the cheerful, normal young women I met her freshman year were angry, neurotic harridans by senior year. If you can't keep your daughter from attending college, at least try to get her to join Turning Point or some other campus conservative group. Her life will be much happier. Image: Sad woman by Ulrike Mai from Pixabay. To comment, you can find the MeWe post for this article here. An appeals court has reversed a lower court decision blocking the enforcement of a law that bans the abortion of babies diagnosed as having Down syndrome. The United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit released a full-court opinion on Tuesday in a lawsuit filed by abortion providers against Ohio over House Bill 214, also called the "Down Syndrome Non-Discrimination Act," which was passed in 2017. Circuit Judge Alice M. Batchelder wrote the majority opinion, being joined by eight other circuit judges, concluding in part that the right to an abortion, even before viability, is not absolute. In [Roe v. Wade], the Supreme Court said, we do not agree with the contention that the womans right is absolute and that she is entitled to terminate her pregnancy at whatever time, in whatever way, and for whatever reason she alone chooses, explained Batchelder. Source:The Christian Post It's one of the most popular skincare lines among several Aussie reality stars turned social media influencers. And the likes of former Bachelor stars Keira Maguire and Bec Cvilikas, Love Island winner Tayla Damir and new Big Brother housemate Mary Kalifatidis turned out to celebrate the launch of Bangn Body's new beauty range on Wednesday night. Keira stole the spotlight in a pair of tight leather trousers and a revealing off the shoulder crop top as she posed for photos on the media wall before the group took a cruise around Sydney Harbour. Going hell for leather! Keira Maguire showed off her toned abs in tight leather trousers and a midriff-baring top as she attended the launch of Bangn Body's new beauty range on Wednesday night She accessorised with a black handbag by French designer Jacquemus and added a pop of colour by slipping some baby pink mules on her feet. Meanwhile, Tayla looked heavenly in an elegant white ankle-length dress teamed with strappy white sandals. She also went for a more conservative look for her hair and makeup, wearing neutral tones on her flawless complexion and her chocolate locks tied back in a high ponytail. Sexy in satin: The Bachelor's Bec Cvilikas also showed off some skin in a olive ruched midi skirt and a matching crop top A delight in white: Meanwhile, Tayla looked heavenly in an elegant white ankle-length dress teamed with strappy white sandal Also wearing white was Tayla's former co-star Cassidy McGill, who looked stunning in a short-sleeved sheer button-up dress, accessorised with a Louis Vuitton handbag and quilted beige mules. Meanwhile, former Bachelorette star Elly Miles showed off her deep tan and toned legs in a short denim mini dress. The event was to celebrate the launch of Bangn Body's two new hydrating skincare products. Guests enjoyed blue-inspired cocktails, donuts, vegetarian pizzas, sliders, and nachos supplied by The Woofys team. Bangn Body launched their Hydrating Facial Cleanser and Firming + Brightening Beauty treatment to a waitlist of 80K consumers on Thursday. Heavenly: Also wearing white was Tayla's former co-star Cassidy McGill, who looked stunning in a short-sleeved sheer button-up dress, accessorised with a Louis Vuitton handbag and quilted beige mules. Meanwhile, former Bachelorette star Elly Miles showed off her deep tan and toned legs in a short denim mini dress New reality star! New Big Brother housemate Mary Kalifatidis made an appearance without her famous daughter Martha Kalifatidis The United States and China do not agree on much nowadays, but on climate change both countries are publicly pledging to do more to fight global warming. The problem will be working together on it. On Thursday, President Bidens climate envoy, John Kerry, met in Shanghai with his counterpart to press China on reducing its carbon emissions, at a time when an emboldened Communist Party leadership has become increasingly dismissive of American demands. In Beijings view, the United States still has much ground to recover after walking away from the Paris climate agreement, the 2015 accord to address the catastrophic effects of warming. Mr. Bidens commitments to now make climate change a top priority are, to officials in Beijing, merely catching up to China after its leader, Xi Jinping, last year pledged to accelerate the countrys efforts to reduce carbon emissions. Scranton teachers Wednesday reauthorized union leaders to call a strike when they feel it necessary possibly by the end of the school year. We have our signs and our shirts. ... We are ready, said Rosemary Boland, president of the Scranton Federation of Teachers. During a union meeting, frustrated teachers and paraprofessionals in their fourth year of working under an expired contract overwhelmingly approved the strike authorization. The employees originally authorized a work stoppage four years ago, but never went on strike. The nearly 900-member union last went on strike in 2015 for 11 days before coming to a two-year agreement at the time, which expired in 2017. They would like to go on strike right now, Boland said. Theyre outraged. Theyre fed up. Theyre tired. Theyre tired of being taken for granted. Theyre just plain tired. After more than a year of working remotely, teachers and students started a phased-in hybrid plan last month. Tenth through 12th grade students return to school for the first time next week. The financial recovery plan, which the school board approved in 2019, includes no guaranteed salary increases for five years. Any raises must be found from savings within the contract, according to the plan. But as the contract remains unsettled, a growing number of teachers continue to leave the district for jobs elsewhere. Each year, the number of teachers who should have reached the bump step, the final step on the pay scale, grows. For example, teachers with masters degrees go from making $59,148 to $81,226 from their 15th to 16th step. The lack of a new contract means that any pay raises are frozen. Teachers who reached the bump step during the first year without a new contract will be owed $80,000 or more in back pay by the end of this school year. Union leaders have said they will not accept any contract that does not include retroactive pay. Boland said the union has met with district officials 36 times since the contract expired in August 2017, but they have not agreed to anything substantial. The district canceled a negotiation session for this week, she said. Board President Katie Gilmartin would not comment on a possible strike until the district received notice, but said she understood the frustration. We have to be responsible stewards of taxpayer dollars, she said. We have to make sure we are able to sustain whatever is in this agreement, but we absolutely want to see this resolved. Superintendent Melissa McTiernan said a work stoppage would be unfortunate because having our kids and their teachers back in our school buildings was wonderful to see. In the meantime, we will continue to work towards a new teacher contract, she said. Im hoping the district and the union can come to an agreement. AVer Europe, leading developer and manufacturer of education technology and visual collaboration solutions, has announced that its product content is now available to channel partners via the Icecat platform. Through its partnership with Icecat, a leading publisher and syndicator of product information worldwide, retailers and partners of AVer Europe are now able to freely access product datasheets, marketing materials and rich media assets. The content is easy to access, standardised and available in a range of languages via the Icecat catalogue. Following AVer Europe's recent distribution agreement extension with audio-visual distributor Midwich Group, this partnership with Icecat is another move to support its channel partners in delivering quality conferencing and audio-visual solutions to organisations across Europe. Rene Buhay, Senior VP of Sales Marketing at AVer Europe comments: "We are pleased to inform our customers that all our video conferencing and education products are now available on Icecat, in all European languages. Most of our customers are already users of the Icecat platform. AVer Europe is now making it easier for them by setting up this strong partnership with Icecat." Icecat also offers AVer Europe's partners the opportunity to integrate this product content into their own e-commerce platforms. "AVer Europe is a great addition to the Open Icecat catalog given its strong presence in the AV industry, said Filip Van Ryn, Country Manager for Belgium at Icecat. For more information about AVer Europe's products, please visit: http://bit.ly/AVerEurope. -ENDS- About AVer Europe AVer Europe provides intelligent technological solutions to harness the power of visual communications for business and education. With over 20 years of research, development and manufacturing excellence, AVer holds numerous international design, innovation, application, and service awards for exceptional product usability, reliability and customer satisfaction. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210415005462/en/ Contacts: Press contact Alison Scarrott Senior PR Account Manager alison@brookscomm.com INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. (WLFI)-Both the House and Senate voted to override Governor Eric Holcomb's veto of House Bill 1123. It comes as many Republicans have criticized the governor's executive orders during the COVID-19 pandemic. The legislation allows the general assembly to call itself into an emergency session when it isn't meeting during its annual legislative session. The bill passed in the house 56-26 down party lines and 36-10 in the Senate. Democratic State representatives Chris Campbell and Shelia Klinker voted against the override. "The legislative process takes a really long time," said Democratic State Representative Chris Campbell who represents District 26. "In a medical crisis like we have seen in this state we needed the flexibility and promptness of the Governor to be able to respond quickly." "I just think it's the wrong thing to do," said Democratic State Representative Sheila Klinker of District 27. "I think that we went too far on this issue and that's why I voted no twice on this issue." Republicans have been pushing the bill after months of criticism from some conservatives over COVID-19 restrictions. Many feel executive orders during the statewide public health emergency issued by the Governor went too far. Senator Ron Alting feels the Governor did a good job handling the Pandemic. However, he says the General Assembly should have a seat at the table when big decisions are being made. "The majority of us feels that our constituents have elected us to at least have a seat at the table on a pandemic or an emergency like that in representing our constituents in sharing their thoughts and their ideas," said State Senator Ron Alting a Republican from District 22. Under this bill, if lawmakers are called back into session, they would be able to end any emergency order the governor puts in place. Ron Alting says he doesn't think it will unbalance the scales. "I think certain actions are going to have to be taking place by the Governor just like a CEO of a corporation there is no time to have a lot of meetings and debate and have conversations so I see both sides of this," said Senator Alting. Attica State Representative Sharon Negele voted in favor of the override as well she sent WLFI a state saying the following. "House Enrolled Act 1123 ensures legislators have a seat at the table during a state of emergencies, so we can represent the needs and voices of our unique communities. The executive decisions over the last year had a direct impact on the lives and livelihoods of all Hoosiers. By creating a framework for the General Assembly to call an emergency session in the future, we can better serve our constituents and address pertinent issues impacting our counties." The Governor released a statement last week saying he feels the bill is unconstitutional. It's unclear if he will challenge this bill in the court system. This legislation is now in effect. To read more about the legislation click here. [April 15, 2021] Statement from Minister Champagne regarding the CRTC Wireless Framework decision OTTAWA, ON, April 15, 2021 /CNW/ - The Honourable Francois-Philippe Champagne, Minister of Innovation, Science and Industry, made the following statement: "Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, Canada's telecommunications service providers and their front-line workers have been doing their part and providing essential services to keep Canadians connected. Now more than ever, Canadians are relying on telecommunications services for work, school, finances and health caremaking access to high-quality and affordable services essential. "The COVID-19 pandemic has only reinforced the importance of connectivity for Canadians. Canadians are concerned about the cost of their Internet and cellphone plans and are looking for lower-cost options and innovative services. We recognize that competition is the best way to bring down prices of telecommunications services, including cellphone plans. "In June 2019, the Government of Canada directed the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) to consider how it can promote competition, affordability, consumer interests and innovation in all of its decisions and to demonstrate to Canadians that it has done so. "Further, since March 2020, the government has been reporting quarterly on he progress achieved towards the 25% reduction over two years in wireless service prices on 2 GB to 6 GB data plans. The government has been clear that if these options are not offered to Canadians by then, we will look at other regulatory tools to further increase competition in the marketplace and help reduce prices. "The government has taken note of the CRTC's decision today and thanks them for their continued important work during the COVID-19 pandemic. We will be reviewing the decision and its implications to ensure they align with the government's goals of promoting competition, affordability, consumer interests and innovation." Associated links: Government directs CRTC to place consumer interests and innovation at the forefront of telecom decisions CRTC launches comprehensive review of mobile wireless services Government of Canada tracks progress on reducing prices of wireless services Stay connected Follow Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada on Twitter: @ISED_CA SOURCE Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] Mike Pompeo joins Liberty U's Freedom Center to advance people's 'God-given rights to practice faith' Email Print Img No-img Menu Whatsapp Google Reddit Digg Stumbleupon Linkedin Comment Former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has been named as a senior advisor at the Standing for Freedom Center where his foreign policy experience will be used to help advance religious freedom, Liberty University announced Thursday. Pompeo told The Christian Post in an interview on Tuesday that as a senior advisor he will further advance the religious freedom rights he promoted worldwide as secretary of state under the Trump administration and preserve the values he's held throughout his life. Ive watched this Center begin its development and its deep commitment for a set of issues Ive cared about for a good part of my life the capacity for every human being to exercise their God-given rights to practice their faith or if they choose not to practice their faith , Pompeo said. We live in a special place, and I want to make sure we continue to do that at home here in the United States and then continue to work to expand that freedom abroad, as well, and I think this Center could be an important part of that, Pompeo added. Ryan Helfenbein, executive director of the Center, said other newly named fellows joining Pompeo include: former Gov. of Arkansas Mike Huckabee, former Planned Parenthood director turned pro-life advocate Abby Johnson, and brothers David and Jason Benham, Christian entrepreneurs who are well-known for defending the faith in secular society. These fellows embody the core of what our Center stands for: faith, freedom, and engaging culture with Gospel-centered truth," Helfenbein said in a statement shared with CP. "Im proud to have these faithful world-changers on board with us and am excited to see our center grow with them, he added. Pompeo was known as an unapologetic defender of his faith in Jesus Christ during his confirmation hearings and while serving as secretary of state. He was frequently criticized for both his religious beliefs and for raising concerns about rising radical Islamic extremism worldwide. Under the Trump administration, Pompeo was instrumental in advocating for religious freedom protections for people of all faiths as well as atheists' right not to adhere to any religious traditions. He told CP that from his perspective, religious freedom is under assault in the United States, and stressed that it's the duty of every American to protect these rights. Each of us can do our part in every walk of life, Pompeo said. It starts with things that we do at home with our families, promoting this understanding, teaching our children about how important it is to make sure that every human being has the capacity to exercise their religious freedom. So it certainly starts there. Pompeo added that pastors and church leaders must talk to their congregations about the importance of religious freedom issues, and educators must teach their students that the U.S. Constitution requires the government to allow the free exercise of religion. [Religious freedom rights] are under assault, he said. They are under assault from city councils, county commissions, state elected officials. Every citizen can do their part in their space, in their own little community to do the right thing to promote religious freedom in the places that are closest to them. Standing up for religious freedom requires action, which might include writing letters, making phone calls, attending city council meetings or supporting legislators who support this, he explained. We have to understand that any place we see government infringing on our right to exercise our faith, we must push back, he said. In response to COVID-19, many states mandated lockdowns over the past year and have been accused of infringing on constitutionally protected religious freedom rights by placing more extreme measures on houses of worship than secular businesses. In some instances, state and county officials prohibited believers from gathering for worship outdoors or imposed limits on outdoor services, even going so far as to fine those who attended drive-in services. State governments, Pompeo said, must not continue to restrict religious entities in this way. We can never give an inch when it comes to religious freedom, Pompeo continued. This is the lesson of the past ... dozen-plus months. We can never give an inch. We have to defend it everywhere and always. The governments are omnivorous. They will attempt to deny religious people the capacity to worship, to share their faith with others in so many ways, and we saw that and we continue to see it. We have to be dedicated to this cause. Pompeo warned against the Equality Act (H.R. 5), a 500-plus page bill passed by the U.S. House in February that adds sex, gender identity and sexual orientation to the 1964 Civil Rights Act. If it were to pass in the Senate and be signed into law by President Joe Biden, it would make sexual orientation and gender identity protected categories in nondiscrimination law. The measure also strips away key religious liberty provisions and conscience protections in the Religious Freedom Restoration Act. Its effects would be far-reaching because it redefines public accommodation to include any establishment that provides a service, including churches, shelters operated by religious groups, faith-based adoption agencies, and educational institutions associated with religious denominations and associations. We need to make sure that we educate and inform people about this [legislation], Pompeo said. It puts tax exemptions for churches at risk. It will put at risk the requirement for religious-affiliated institutions to engage in activities which they find inconsistent with their faith and their religion. We need to make sure that H.R.-5 never becomes law. Some have speculated about a 2024 presidential run for Pompeo. When asked by CP about this possibility, Pompeo said it's still a long way off. Im going to do lots of good work here at the Freedom Center continue to articulate our America-first foreign policy and those ideas and how they play out here at home. And then Susan and I will pray to try and figure out the right path for us starting in a year or two, Pompeo said. He also addressed these issues in an op-ed titled "Americas Heritage of Religious Freedom Matters to the World" for the Standing for Freedom Center that will also be featured in its spring journal. Along with being the nation's 70th secretary of state from 2018 to 2021, Pompeo previously served as the director of the Central Intelligence Agency, CEO of Thayer Aerospace and president of Sentry International. He also served four terms as a congressman for Kansas 4th district and is a graduate of West Point and Harvard Law. He and his wife, Susan, have one son. ALTON Friends of the 60s/Alton Black Alumni Association has awarded Trinity Ingram its Leo C. Cox Scholarship. Ingram, a senior at Alton High School, will be attending the University of Tennessee where she plans to major in Architecture or Interior Design. During her last two years of high school, she raised her grade point average and maintained straight As. She has received several awards in academics and talent, including the Art-Fahrners Remarkable Redbird of the Month award. She has been a member of the Student Council, German Club, American Sign Language Club and the Cooperative Work Training Program. She said her greatest aspiration is to help inspire and educate other African American girls who may not have self-assurance to move forward. The mission of Friends of the 60s/Alton black Alumni Association is to reunite colleagues who attended Alton area schools and to use their life and career experiences to lead, strengthen, and mobilize the Alton community to prepare our youth for productive adulthood. Jeanine, 53, a South African woman who did not want to use her family name for this interview, was in an abusive relationship for two years. It got worse when her boyfriend lost work because of the coronavirus pandemic and took his frustrations out on her. Jeanine recalled in anguish those dark moments of her relationship, not knowing what to do. He was mean and nasty and cruel and wanted to hurt me, physically, emotionally, verbally, mentally. They make you financially dependent on them. Then you think, Where am I going to go? There is nowhere to go. What do I do? To help Jeanine and other survivors of gender-based violence, the South African telecom company Vodacom, along with its British parent company Vodafone and the charity Hestia, launched a mobile application, Bright Sky, in November. Vodacoms chief officer of corporate affairs, Takalani Netshitenzhe, said Bright Sky provides a wide range of services. The app has a suite of 12 services, or "functionalities," Netshitenzhe said, that will enable users to determine whether they are in abusive relationships. The app also offers emergency services, including geolocation that will pinpoint a user's location and the nearest facility where help can be obtained. Avoiding stigma Vodacom said Bright Sky allows users to get help without the stigma of having to ask for it. It said the app has been downloaded about 1,000 times in South Africa, helping many women like Jeanine. What I like about this app, its the two areas where you can get advice for yourself, or someone else," she said. "It gives you a whole lot of scenarios. It explains what happens. It gives you a number where you can phone. Theres lots of information. The app comes in three South African languages English, Sesotho and isiZulu. South African police say reported annual sexual assaults have been rising since 2016 and surpassed 53,000 last year. Activists blame the pandemic lockdowns and say the actual number of assaults, including those that go unreported, are much higher. The following list includes recent reports from the Midland County Sheriffs Office and the Midland Police Department. Compiled by reporter Mitchell Kukulka. Wednesday, April 14 11:17 p.m. -- A deputy stopped a 31-year old woman for speeding. During the contact, it was discovered the woman's license was suspended. She was cited for driving while license suspended, and was given a verbal warning for speeding. 9:53 p.m. -- Deputies were dispatched to a Porter Township location in reference to a 55-year-old man stating his 2019 Polaris RZR was stolen out of his front yard. The man said the RZR was taken between 6:30 a.m. and 8 p.m. The total value for the stolen RZR is about $25,000. There are no suspects at this time. 9:21 p.m. -- Deputies responded to a car-deer crash in Geneva Township. 6:10 p.m. -- A 26-year-old man said he was being threatened by his 47-year-old uncle. The 26-year-old said this is over a family fight over property. Contact was made with the uncle, who denied threatening his nephew. Both parties were advised to not talk to each other. The 26-year-old was encouraged to file for a Personal Protection Order. 9:26 a.m. -- A deputy was dispatched to the area of West Barden Road near North Coleman Road for the report of a car-deer traffic crash. 12:13 a.m. -- A deputy stopped a 40-year-old man for loud exhaust and defective lighting. During the contact, it was discovered the man's license was suspended. He was cited for driving while license suspended and was given a verbal warning for the loud exhaust and defective lighting. Tuesday, April 13 10:38 p.m. -- Officers responded to a vehicle crash in the 4500 block of North Saginaw Road. 8:42 p.m. -- Deputies were dispatched to an Edenville Township residence in reference to a 31-year-old woman stating her 14-year-old juvenile ran away. Deputies were able to locate the juvenile and return him home. 8:15 p.m. -- Officers responded to a report of juvenile trouble in the 700 block of Village East Drive. 7:23 p.m. -- Officers responded to a hit-and-run crash in the 5700 block of Londonberrie Court. 5:02 p.m. -- Officers responded to a vehicle crash in the 1100 block of Joe Mann Boulevard. 2:17 p.m. -- A 65-year-old man reported that a unknown suspect used his social security number in an attempt to claim unemployment benefits. Michigan Unemployment contacted the complainant and the claim was denied. The man was advised to contact the Social Security Administration in reference to his social security number being compromised. There are no suspects. 1:18 p.m. -- Officers responded to a suicide attempt in the 1700 block of Bauss Court. 12:06 p.m. -- A deputy spoke with a 39-year-old Larkin Township man who said his 13-year-old daughter received an inappropriate photograph via text message from a 13-year-old male. The 39-year-old father did not want to pursue charges and requested that the boy be spoken to. The deputy made contact with the teen male and explained to him the possible consequences for his actions. His parents were contacted, and he was no longer allowed to contact the girl. 11:06 a.m. -- A deputy investigated a littering/trespassing complaint in Midland Township. A 66-year-old Midland man was a suspect, and he returned and cleaned up his trash. 8:11 a.m. -- A 29-year-old Larkin Township man reported a suspicious situation. He had received approximately 20 envelopes in the mail at his residence from the unemployment office. Several of the letters had the wrong name attached to them or had his partial name on it. The man had not opened any of the envelopes. A deputy opened one of the envelopes and it was from the unemployment office trying to verify his information. The deputy told the complainant to contact the unemployment officer directly to speak with them about the letters. As of now, the victim is out no property/monetary loss. 7:29 a.m. -- A deputy was dispatched to the area of South Meridian Road near West Ashby Road for the report of a single-vehicle crash. The at-fault driver was issued a citation for speeding. 6:38 a.m. -- Deputies responded to a car-deer crash in Porter Township. OSLO, Norway, April 15, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- DigiPlex, the Nordic leader for scalable, secure and sustainable data centers, reconfirms its position among Norway's very best workplaces by being certified Great Place to Work 2021 for the third consecutive year and nominated as one of Norway's Best Workplaces 2021. DigiPlex has participated in the Norwegian survey since 2018, and we are proud to announce that the company yet again has been certified as a Great Place to Work 2021. The accreditation process, a thorough and independent analysis conducted by Great Place to Work Norway, includes direct feedback from employees. Our average score for employees agreeing that DigiPlex is a Great Place to Work was 80 per cent, with 86 per cent saying they look forward to coming to work here. "This extensive and anonymous survey about the workplace experience has become a key part of our culture and its results eagerly anticipated across the organization. Even though most of our employees are still working from home due to the COVID pandemic, we are pleased that our score in the Great Place to Work survey remains at an industry-leading level of 80% which is extremely gratifying," said Wiljar Nesse, CEO at DigiPlex. "Despite the significant disturbance caused by the COVID pandemic, Team DigiPlex has responded to a year of dislocation and uncertainty with brilliant attitude and dedication. The `I got this' culture of DigiPlex has shone through and is reflected in the findings of the Great Place to Work assessment. We have stood out in a difficult year, not only earning our third accreditation, but maintaining our culture while growing the number of employees by 25 per cent. I am proud of the way our teams have risen to this year's challenges, and to me this speaks volumes to the quality of our culture and our people," said Haakon Holm Knapstad, Chief HR & Compliance Officer at DigiPlex. "The DigiPlex culture focuses on responsibility, empowerment and shared success - and achieving certification three-years in a row underlines the power of this combination. DigiPlex' employees are proud to be part of an organization recognized for its role in sustainability and making a difference and this year of all years, feeling good about the contribution you make to society is a huge plus," said Jannik Krohn Falck, CEO Great Place to Work. The winners of Norway's Best Workplaces will be announced by Great Place to Work at a digital live event on Tuesday, April 27, 2021 at 3 PM UTC+02 - 4 PM UTC+02. For more information please contact: Haakon Holm Knapstad Chief HR & Compliance Officer DigiPlex +47 934 93 821 Elisabeth Lennhede Head of Communications +46703322705 [email protected] This information was brought to you by Cision http://news.cision.com https://news.cision.com/digiplex/r/digiplex-certified-as-a-great-place-to-work-3-rd--year-in-a-row-and-norway-s-best-workplaces-finalis,c3326083 The following files are available for download: https://mb.cision.com/Main/7526/3326083/1402042.pdf DigiPlex Certified as a Great Place to Work 3rd Year in a Row and Norway's Best Workplaces finalist! https://news.cision.com/digiplex/i/we-have-been-nominated-to-norway-s-best-workplaces-2021--gptw,c2900361 We Have Been Nominated to Norway s Best Workplaces 2021_ GPTW https://news.cision.com/digiplex/i/great-place-to-work-2021-norway-s-best-workplaces,c2900203 Great Place to Work 2021 Norway s best Workplaces https://news.cision.com/digiplex/i/wiljar-nesse--ceo--digiplex,c2900198 Wiljar Nesse, CEO, DigiPlex https://news.cision.com/digiplex/i/haakon-holm-kapstad--chief-hr---compliance-officer,c2900197 Haakon Holm Kapstad, Chief HR & Compliance Officer https://news.cision.com/digiplex/i/jannik-krohn-falck--ceo-great-place-to-work,c2900199 Jannik Krohn Falck, CEO Great Place to Work SOURCE DigiPlex A young Dublin woman with a very rare genetic disorder died suddenly after suffering a nosebleed while out socialising in a pub in Swords three years ago, an inquest has heard. However, the coroner, Dr Clare Keane, said the death of 26-year-old Lauren Rodgers from Melrose Park, Kinsealy was not a direct cause of her suffering from Job Syndrome a rare immunodeficiency condition. A post-mortem carried out on Laurens body found she died after her airways became obstructed by blood and blood clots from a nosebleed she suffered at the Empire Bar on Main Street, Swords on January 13, 2018. Dr Keane, who returned a narrative verdict, said she could not say conclusively that the nosebleed was linked to Job Syndrome but would note that it might have been a contributory factor. Only about 250 cases of Job Syndrome worldwide, which is estimated to affect one in every million individuals, had been diagnosed up to 2007. First Irish person with condition At the time of her birth in May 1991, Lauren was believed to be the first Irish person known to suffer from the condition which was only first diagnosed in 1966. The condition is characterised by regular infections of the skin and lungs and bone abnormalities. Evidence was given that Lauren had begun to have regular, heavy nosebleeds since 2014 and sometimes needed to call an ambulance as she encountered difficulties breathing. She had spent two and a half weeks at Beaumont Hospital in late 2017 when she required a blood transfusion and surgery on her nose after suffering a heavy nosebleed. Professor Rory McConn Walsh, an ear, nose and throat consultant at Beaumont Hospital, said Lauren suffered no complication or bleeding after the operation. He said he had spent many sleepless nights wondering about Laurens death but said the cause of her nosebleeds was unclear as there were no abnormalities in her nasal blood vessels. Lauren Rodgers had spent two and a half weeks at Beaumont Hospital in late 2017 when she required a blood transfusion and surgery on her nose after suffering a heavy nosebleed. The inquest at Dublin Coroners Court heard Lauren collapsed shortly after arriving at the Empire Bar. Lauren had gone to the pub with her best friend, Catherine Cullen, who was due to leave for Australia a few days later. Ms Cullen told the inquest that Lauren was struggling to breathe after running into the pubs bathroom after suffering a heavy nosebleed. Fighting back tears, Ms Cullen remarked: I did not know how serious it was. She said Lauren collapsed a number of times in a cubicle before an ambulance crew arrived to try and resuscitate her. Mother's shock Laurens mother, Edith Rodgers, told the hearing how her daughter was in good form as she dropped her off at the pub in Swords that night. Ms Rodgers said she had been called by Laurens friend within an hour to say she had a nosebleed and needed an ambulance. She described the shock of arriving at the Empire Bar and walking into an upstairs bathroom to find her daughter dead. My life will never be the same again, said Ms Rodgers. Paramedic, Willie Howard, said an ambulance crew had worked for an hour on Lauren after she had been found unconscious after suffering cardiac arrest but she failed to respond to CPR treatment. Laurens GP and family friend, Dr James Keely, who knew her since shortly after her birth, said he had never seen her so well as the six months before her death. However, Dr Keely said she had been plagued with skin infections and her nosebleeds became more regular and severe in 2017. Complex condition He described her condition as a complex and challenging one which involved many related conditions including asthma, hay fever, eczema and severe lung infections. Although Laurens family expressed concern that she was suffering a low blood cell count shortly before her death, Dr Mary Keoghan, an immunologist at Beaumont Hospital, said a blood test conducted on January 8, 2018 had recorded the same levels as at the time she was discharged from the hospital in December and would not have sparked a need to recall her. Dr Muna Sabah, who carried out the post mortem, told the inquest that Laurens blood count level would not have been a factor in her death. Beaumont Hospital witnesses expressed surprise at a complaint by Laurens family that no nose specialist was available on a number of occasions when they had visited the hospitals emergency department as they claimed one was always on-call. Revolutionary FLEX-Cal technology features a groundbreaking fuel cell module that can be easily replaced by a user where law allows. Simply put, FLEX is the most advanced Ignition Interlock on the market. Smart Start LLC today announced the launch of the innovative FLEX Ignition Interlock Device, a major leap forward in ease, convenience, and cost savings for users of in-car breathalyzers. NHTSA-certified FLEX utilizes Smart Starts revolutionary FLEX-Cal technology, featuring a groundbreaking fuel cell module that can easily be replaced. This patented technology enables immediate contactless calibration of the FLEX Ignition Interlock Device (IID). The handheld device, which is about the size of a smartphone, also has a sleek, stylish design with an intuitive interface. During the pre-calibrated FLEX-Cal module replacement process, the FLEX IID handset is never removed from the vehicle, ensuring that the licensed technicians original device configuration remains intact. Smart Start, the leading Ignition Interlock provider with thousands of locations in the U.S.and internationally, will initially roll out FLEX in select partner states that require the use of an IID for impaired-driving related offenses. Over time, additional states and markets will be offered FLEX and its FLEX-Cal technology benefits. BREAKTHROUGH TECHNOLOGY BENEFITS END-USERS Currently, all 50 states have some form of Ignition Interlock requirement, with 34 states plus Washington, D.C. requiring an in-car breathalyzer for impaired-driving offenders. Many states require regularly scheduled visits to a Smart Start service center for device calibration, which can be a barrier to program entry due to the location and time required to perform the calibration. FLEX provides states with the choice on how often they want a user to make a contactless calibration service visit. Daryl Grimes, Smart Start Chief Operating Officer, said that FLEX will create a huge advantage for the companys Ignition Interlock users and monitoring authorities by enabling contactless calibration, streamlining the process, enhancing the user experience, and reducing program costs. Our patented FLEX-Cal technology reduces the time needed for calibration. And because FLEXs handset is not removed from the originally installed Ignition Interlock system, the required device settings are never compromised, Grimes said. For states that require a licensed technician to configure and validate program settings, FLEXs always connected architecture provides a high assurance level of program compliance. Simply put, FLEX is the most advanced Ignition Interlock on the market. Were committed to ensuring device accuracy and precision while streamlining the service process for our users, he added. Our goal is to help monitoring authorities and users successfully complete the states Ignition Interlock program by removing barriers. IGNITION INTERLOCKS SAVE MILLIONS OF LIVES An Ignition Interlock Device works by requiring a driver to blow into a mouthpiece to test their Breath Alcohol Concentration (BrAC) before they can start a vehicle. If the device detects a BrAC greater than a preset level determined by the monitoring authority, it prevents the engine from being started. Ignition Interlock Devices have prevented drivers from illegally starting their vehicles more than 26 million times. Smart Start CEO Matt Strausz said that FLEX is the latest example of the companys commitment to advanced alcohol breath-testing technology, whether through in-car breathalyzers, portable alcohol monitoring, or transdermal alcohol monitoring devices. Were proud to work with the initial states to begin using FLEX as part of their Ignition Interlock requirement, Strausz said. We have always been committed to reducing the number of lives lost to impaired drivers, and Ignition Interlocks are a proven way to achieve that goal. ABOUT SMART START Based in the Dallas suburb of Grapevine, Texas, 1A Smart Start LLC is the acknowledged leader in alcohol monitoring nationally and worldwide with our advanced alcohol breath-testing technology. Smart Starts Ignition Interlock is a convenient, discreet solution for impaired driving offenders, while SmartMobile, BreathCheck and ORBIS portable alcohol monitoring devices provide the greatest benefit at the lowest cost to users and monitoring authorities. Our SmartWeb online platform offers quick reporting and analysis for easy caseload management. Smart Start is Setting the Standard in Alcohol Monitoring Technology with thousands of service locations across the U.S. and internationally, and a 24/7/365 multilingual Customer Care Center. For more information, visit smartstartinc.com. Top intelligence officers from India and Pakistan held secret talks in Dubai in January in a new effort to calm military tension over the disputed Himalayan region of Kashmir, people with close knowledge of the matter told Reuters in Delhi. Ties between the nuclear-armed rivals have been on ice since a suicide bombing of an Indian military convoy in Kashmir in 2019 traced to Pakistan-based militants that led to India sending warplanes to Pakistan. Later that year, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi withdrew Indian-ruled Kashmir's autonomy in order to tighten his grip over the territory, provoking outrage in Pakistan and the downgrading of diplomatic ties and suspension of bilateral trade. But the two governments have re-opened a back channel of diplomacy aimed at a modest roadmap to normalising ties over the next several months, the people said. Kashmir has long been a flashpoint between India and Pakistan, both of which claim all of the region but rule only in part. Officials from India's Research and Analysis Wing, the external spy agency, and Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence travelled to Dubai for a meeting facilitated by the United Arab Emirates government, two people said. The Indian foreign ministry did not respond to a request for comment. Pakistan's military, which controls the ISI, also did not respond. But Ayesha Siddiqa, a top Pakistani defence analyst, said she believed Indian and Pakistan intelligence officials had been meeting for several months in third countries. "I think there have been meetings in Thailand, in Dubai, in London between the highest level people," she said. Also read: India under PM Modi more likely to retaliate with military force to Pakistan: US intel report 'IT IS FRAUGHT' Such meetings have taken place in the past too, especially during times of crises but never been publicly acknowledged. "There is a lot that can still go wrong, it is fraught," said one of the people in Delhi. "That is why nobody is talking it up in public, we don't even have a name for this, it's not a peace process. You can call it a re-engagement," one of them said. Both countries have reasons to seek a rapprochement. India has been locked in a border stand-off with China since last year and does not want the military stretched on the Pakistan front. China-ally Pakistan, mired in economic difficulties and on an IMF bailout programme, can ill-afford heightened tensions on the Kashmir border for a prolonged period, experts say. It also has to stabilise the Afghan border on its west as the United States withdraws. "It's better for India and Pakistan to talk than not talk, and even better that it should be done quietly than in a glare of publicity," said Myra MacDonald, a former Reuters journalist who has just published a book on India, Pakistan and war on the frontiers of Kashmir. "...But I don't see it going very far beyond a basic management of tensions, possibly to tide both countries over a difficult period - Pakistan needs to address the fall-out of the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan, while India has to confront a far more volatile situation on its disputed frontier with China." Also read: 'India desires cordial relations with Pakistan': PM Modi writes letter to Imran Khan DIALLING DOWN THE RHETORIC Following the January meeting, India and Pakistan announced they would stop cross-border shooting along the Line of Control (LoC) dividing Kashmir which has left dozens of civilians dead and many others maimed. That ceasefire is holding, military officials in both countries said. Both sides have also signalled plans to hold elections on their sides of Kashmir this year as part of efforts to bring normalcy to a region riven by decades of bloodshed. The two have also agreed to dial down their rhetoric, the people Reuters spoke to said. This would include Pakistan dropping its loud objections to Modi abrogating Kashmir's autonomy in August 2019, while Delhi in turn would refrain from blaming Pakistan for all violence on its side of the Line of Control. These details have not been previously reported. India has long blamed Pakistan for the revolt in Kashmir, an allegation denied by Pakistan. "There is a recognition there will be attacks inside Kashmir, there has been discussions as to how to deal with it and not let this effort derailed by the next attack," one of the people said. There is as yet, however, no grand plan to resolve the 74-year-old Kashmir dispute. Rather both sides are trying to reduce tensions to pave the way for a broad engagement, all the people Reuters spoke to said. "Pakistan is transiting from a geo-strategic domain to a geo-economic domain," Raoof Hasan, special assistant to Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan, told Reuters. "Peace, both within and around with its neighbours, is a key constituent to facilitate that." Also read: Imran Khan responds to PM Modi's Pakistan Day letter; says 'enabling environment' imperative for dialogue ADVERTISEMENT The police in Ebonyi State, Nigerias South-east, have confirmed the killing of three of their operatives by gunmen in Abakaliki, the state capital. The police spokesperson, Loveth Odah, told reporters on Thursday that the officers were shot dead at a checkpoint on Onuebonyi/Nwezenyi Road, Abakaliki on Wednesday night. Ms Odah, a deputy superintendent of police, said the assailants, who pretended to be holding a burial rite, drove round the area in a tricycle before opening fire on the police officer. Right now, investigation is ongoing and we are committed to bringing the perpetrators to book, she said. The police spokesperson appealed to the public to support the fight against crime by providing useful information to the police and other security agencies in the state.P Personnelof the Nigeria Police Force have come under serious attacks by gunmen in recent times in some parts of the south-east region. Similar killings Ebonyi, like other states in the South-east, has witnessed an increase in attacks on police officers and police facilities. Just three months ago, in January, some unknown gunmen attacked a police station in Onueke, Ezza South Local Government Area of the state, and shot dead three police officers. The gunmen, as it has always been the case in such an attack, stole two rifles from the station. In October, last year, some hoodlums attacked a police station in Abakaliki shot a police inspector and then savagely cut off his manhood, before they took off with his rifle. Hours after, the hoodlums regrouped, re-invaded the station and set it ablaze, including several vehicles that were parked as exhibits at the stations premises. The spate of attacks on security officials in the South-east, which has complicated the security challenges in the region, prompted the five states in the region to convene a security summit recently where they all agreed to set up a joint security outfit. (NAN) Top Companies Covered in Injection Molding Machine Market Research Report are ELECTRONICA PLASTIC MACHINES LIMITED, Engel Austria GmbH, NISSEI AMERICA, INC., Sumitomo Heavy Industries, Ltd., Milacron Holdings Corp., Haitian International, Ved Machinery, Husky Injection Molding Systems Ltd., Arburg GmbH + Co KG, Japan Steel Works, Ltd., Chen Hsong Holdings Limited Pune, India, April 15, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The global injection molding machine market size is projected to reach USD 20.49 billion by 2027, exhibiting a CAGR of 4.1% during the forecast period. Advent of smart manufacturing technologies will generate numerous innovation opportunities in this market, shares Fortune Business Insights in its report, titled Injection Molding Machine Market Size, Share and COVID-19 Impact Analysis, By Product Type (Plastic, Metal, Rubber, Ceramic, Others), By Machine Type (Electric, Hydraulic, and Hybrid), By Clamping Force (0 - 200 Ton Force, 201 - 500 Ton Force, and Above 500 Ton Force), By End-use Industry (Packaging, Automotive, Electronics and Telecommunication, Healthcare, Infrastructure, Others) and Regional Forecast, 2020-2027. New-age, smart technologies powered by artificial intelligence (AI) and the Internet of Things (IoT) have revolutionized manufacturing processes. For example, in the injection molding domain, machines and equipment are embedded with sensors that collect and transmit data to a central system, where they are analyzed. The key feature of these technologies is that they eliminate the need for human intervention. Injection molding machines are widely utilized in manufacturing essential items made from plastics and metals. With the integration of AI and IoT, these machines can work at higher efficiencies compared to their conventional counterparts and this factor is expected to create wide-ranging opportunities for players in this market. Click here to get the short-term and long-term impact of COVID-19 on this Market. Story continues Please visit: https://www.fortunebusinessinsights.com/industry-reports/injection-molding-machine-market-101389 The report states that the global market value stood at USD 15.39 billion in 2019 and offers the following: Holistic understanding of the market drivers, trends, and restraints; Microscopic examination of the all possible market segments; In-depth evaluation of the regional dynamics influencing the market; and Tangible insights into the key players profiles and strategies. List of Key Companies Profiled in this Market Report: ELECTRONICA PLASTIC MACHINES LIMITED (Maharashtra, India) NISSEI AMERICA, INC. (California, United States) Haitian International (Ningbo, China) Ved Machinery (Maharashtra, India) Husky Injection Molding Systems Ltd. (Caledon, Canada) Arburg GmbH + Co KG (Loburg, Germany) Chen Hsong Holdings Limited (Tai Po, Hong Kong) Market Restraint Declining Manufacturing Activities amid COVID-19 to Limit Market Growth The outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic has unprecedented uncertainty across industries, hampering investments in new technologies and creation of employment. The injection molding machine market growth is likely to get impacted as well owing to the reduced labor force working in manufacturing plants amid the pandemic. In India, for example, the sudden lockdown announced in March 2020 to contain the spread of the infection forced a huge number of migrant workers, most of who are employed in the countrys burgeoning small and medium enterprise (SME) sector, to leave for their native places. In the US, to take another example, a survey conducted by the National Association of Manufacturers revealed that 53.1% of manufacturers foresee changes in production operations, while 35.5% have been facing issues due to supply chain disruptions. The uptick for this market is the surging demand for plastic medical devices, which are extensively manufactured by injection molding machines. Thus, the demand for these machines from the medical device industry may offset the losses from other industries to a limited extent for players in this market. Get Sample PDF Brochure: https://www.fortunebusinessinsights.com/enquiry/request-sample-pdf/injection-molding-machine-market-101389 Regional Insights Asia Pacific to Hold Lions Share Backed by Strong Industrial Growth At USD 6.01 billion, Asia Pacific dictated the injection molding machine market share in 2019 and is predicted to maintain its dominant position during the forecast period. This will mainly be a result of robust growth of industries in the region, especially in the SME sector in countries such as India, China, and Vietnam. In addition, government policies supporting manufacturing activities will further encourage innovation and entrepreneurship in the region, benefiting the market in general. In North America, quick adoption of advanced manufacturing equipment and technologies to compensate the lack of labor will favor the market in the region. In Europe, on the other hand, manufacturers are facing major hurdles in the form of stringent environmental regulations, which is dampening the regional prospects of the market. Competitive Landscape Leading Players to Concentrate on Developing Cost-Effective Molding Equipment Key players in this market are constantly engaged in developing injection molding machines that are cost-effective and energy-efficient. By offering future-proof solutions to end-users, these companies are able to broaden and deepen their presence in the market and expand their operations globally. Industry Developments: September 2020: Engel Austria announced the inclusion of the new e-mac 130, which has a clamping force of 1300kN, in its all-electric injection molding machine suite. The new addition will allow the company to entrench its position as the leading supplier of electric injection molding solutions. September 2019: Milacron Holdings showcased its Advanced Plastic Processing Technologies at K 2019, the worlds biggest plastics trade fair, held in Dusseldorf, Germany. Milacrons product display included CIMCOOL, TIRAD, DME, and Mold-Masters. Speak to Analyst: https://www.fortunebusinessinsights.com/enquiry/speak-to-analyst/injection-molding-machine-market-101389 Major Table of Contents: Introduction Definition, By Segment Research Methodology/Approach Data Sources Executive Summary Market Dynamics Macro and Micro Economic Indicators Drivers, Restraints, Opportunities and Trends Impact of COVID-19 Short-term Impact Long-term Impact Competition Landscape Business Strategies Adopted by Key Players Consolidated SWOT Analysis of Key Players Porters Five Force Analysis Global Injection Molding Machine Market Share Analysis and Matrix, 2019 Key Market Insights and Analysis, By Segments Global Injection Molding Machine Market Size Estimates and Forecasts (Quantitative Data), By Segments, 2016-2027 Market Sizing Estimations and Forecasts By Product Type (Value) Plastic Metal Rubber Ceramic Others Market Sizing Estimations and Forecasts By Machine Type (Value) Electric Hydraulic Hybrid Market Sizing Estimations and Forecasts By Clamping Force (Value) 0 - 200 Ton Force 201 - 500 Ton Force Above 500 Ton Force Market Sizing Estimations and Forecasts By End-use Industry (Value) Packaging Automotive Electronics & Telecommunication Healthcare Infrastructure Others (Consumer Goods, etc.) Market Analysis, Insights and Forecast By Region (Value) North America Europe Asia Pacific Middle East & Africa Latin America North America Injection Molding Machine Market Size Estimates and Forecasts (Quantitative Data), By Segments, 2016-2027 Market Sizing Estimations and Forecasts By Product Type (Value) Plastic Metal Rubber Ceramic Others Continued.! Quick Buy Injection Molding Machine Market Research Report: https://www.fortunebusinessinsights.com/checkout-page/101389 Have a Look at Related Research Insights: Forklift Trucks Market Size, Share & Industry Analysis, By Type (Class I, Class II, Class III, Class IV, Class V), By Application (Mining, Logistics, Construction, Food & Beverage, Natural Resources, Manufacturing, Others (Agriculture, etc.)) and Regional Forecast, 2019-2026 HEPA Filters Market Size, Share & Industry Analysis, By Application (Air Purifiers, HVAC Filters, Cleanroom Filters, Automotive Filters and Gas Turbine Filters), By End-User (Household, Commercial & Industrial) and Regional Forecast, 2019-2026 Baggage Handling System Market Size, Share & Industry Analysis, By Type (Destination coded vehicle (DCV), Conveyor), By Technology (Radio-Frequency Identification (RFID), Barcode), By Application (Airport, Railway, Marine), and Regional Forecast, 2020-2027 Waterjet Cutting Machine Market Size, Share & Industry Analysis, By Type (Micro Waterjet Cutting Machine & Robotics Waterjet Cutting Machine), By Technology (Pure & Abrasive), By Pressure Range (Less than 4200&4200 and above), By Pump Type (Direct Drive Pumps & Hydraulic Intensifier Pumps), By Industry (Aerospace & Defense, Automotive, Electronics, Energy & Power, Metal Fabrication, Rubber & Plastic and Others) and Regional Forecast, 2020-2027 Loaders Market Size, Share and Industry Analysis By Loader Type (Skid Steer, Backhoe, Wheeled, Crawler/Track, Mini Loaders), By Payload Capacity (3-5 tons, 6-10 tons, 11-15 tons, 15 tons and above), By Application (Mining, Construction, Waste Management, Others) and Regional Forecast, 2019 - 2026 About Us: Fortune Business Insights delivers accurate data and innovative corporate analysis, helping organizations of all sizes make appropriate decisions. We tailor novel solutions for our clients, assisting them to address various challenges distinct to their businesses. We aim to empower them with holistic market intelligence, providing a granular overview of the market they are operating in. Contact Us: Fortune Business Insights Pvt. Ltd. 308, Supreme Headquarters, Survey No. 36, Baner, Pune-Bangalore Highway, Pune - 411045, Maharashtra, India. Phone: US: +1 424 253 0390 UK : +44 2071 939123 APAC : +91 744 740 1245 Email: sales@fortunebusinessinsights.com LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/fortune-business-insights Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/FortuneBusinessInsightsPvtLtd Twitter: https://twitter.com/FBInsightPvtLtd Read Press Release: https://www.fortunebusinessinsights.com/press-release/injection-molding-machines-market-9268 MANCHESTER, N.H., April 15, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Xello, the award winning K-12 college, career and future readiness program, and Awato, a leader in personalized career pathfinding, today announced a partnership to offer New Hampshire schools a more comprehensive approach to career and college readiness to meet the needs of the Drive to 65 Act. According to the Drive to 65 Act, all incoming high-school freshmen must complete a career assessment and document how they'll achieve a career readiness credential upon graduation. To fulfill these requirements, the New Hampshire Department of Education purchased the Awato platform to be used in middle and high schools across the state starting in the fall of 2020. Through Awato, students have access to the state's local career and technical education programs, higher education options, work-based learning opportunities, certificates, and licenses. Now, through integration with Xello, high-school students will be able to connect the local pathway options they discover in Awato with Xello's robust course planning, nationwide college search, and college application capabilities. "Students and counselors want to be able to explore their career and education opportunities in one easy location. Awato is ecstatic to partner with Xello to provide a single robust platform for students to learn more about themselves, find careers and colleges, connect to local opportunities and manage the college application process," says Awato CEO Matthew Guruge. Through single sign-on, students will be able to easily toggle between programs and make the connection between career aspirations and academic plans. Work completed in Awato will appear in student accounts, helping them build course and career plans aligned to their Awato assessment results. For educators, work completed by students in Awato will be ingested and presented in Xello, keeping everything organized in a single spot. "The team at Awato have proven to deeply understand the education space and, specifically, the needs of New Hampshire students and schools," says Matt McQuillen, CEO and Co-Founder of Xello. "We're excited to work alongside them to support the state in the Drive to 65 Act, and deliver an end-to-end college and career readiness experience that supports all students, all pathways." The partnership will roll out this summer to give schools ample time to implement and train before students return. Schools looking for a sneak peek of the integration and its ability to better support the Drive to 65 Act can join a live webinar on Thursday, May 6th, 2021 at 11 am by registering at awato.co/building-the-bridge-webinar . About Xello: Xello is a modern K-12 college, career and future readiness program that helps students achieve a deeper understanding of themselves, explore pathways, and plan for the future. Using Xello's discovery-based model, students build knowledge, real-world skills and confidence to prepare for the rapidly evolving world of post-secondary academics and work. Xello supports multiple student pathways and helps students build essential skills valued by post-secondary institutions and employers. Over 9 million students and educators work with Xello in their efforts to become future-ready. Learn more at https://www.xello.world About Awato: Awato is the leader in personalized career pathfinding software based in Manchester, NH. Founded in November 2015, Awato has worked with educational institutions across the country to help find a path for every student. Today, over 200 K-12 schools and higher education institutions use Awato's robust career assessments, local content mapping, and pathfinding software to build better pathways for their students. Learn more at awato.co Press Contact Logan Ouellette Director of Marketing, Awato [email protected] Erin Smith Chief Revenue Officer, Xello [email protected] SOURCE Awato Related Links https://awato.co As we mourn the many losses from COVID-19, and after navigating the challenges of the past year, we now find ourselves at a crossroads as we decide how best to recover economically and rebuild our daily lives. America was inequitable in so many ways before the pandemic began, and those injustices have only deepened since. As the Black Lives Matter movement was unfurling across Connecticut in 2020, state Senate Democrats led in outlining a Juneteenth Agenda to tackle longstanding racial and socio-economic inequities in our state. In this legislative session, we are committed to evaluating public policy initiatives through the lenses of racial equity and social justice, and of protecting the middle class. To that end, its imperative that we craft a budget that is fair to middle income families while also addressing social justice. The central principle is simple: those who make more should contribute more. Not only is burdening Connecticuts middle class unjust, but it will also hinder our efforts to recover from the economic stresses that the pandemic has wrought. According to the Economic Policy Institute, taxing the rich, who spend the smallest share of their income, puts the least downward pressure on demand in state economies. The net effect on demand is strongly positive if these tax revenues are used to support state spending. Its also vital to note that the pandemic has had a disproportionate impact on people of color. Reforming Connecticuts tax policy is one way to begin addressing inequity and closing the racial wealth gap that has plagued Black and brown communities across our state for generations. According to a study by the Brookings Institution, high and progressive taxation of extreme wealth is in itself a strategy for racial justice because it would directly reduce the portion of the racial wealth gap that exists at the top of the economic ladder. One way to enhance fairness is to adjust taxes on capital gains since the wealthiest derive most of their income from capital gains rather than a weekly paycheck. The stark reality is that for those earning under $100,000 a year, less than 10 percent of that income is derived from capital gains while those over $2 million have 80 percent of their income in capital gains. An additional 1 percent surcharge tax on the capital gains of millionaires will allow Connecticut to invest in social programs, education, and support for cities and towns. As you know, this pandemic has seen the wealthiest grow even richer, leaving the rest of us behind. Main Street not Wall Street needs our help. Connecticut should also increase income tax rates on its highest income earners while remaining competitive with states in our region. New York is poised to increase tax rates on multimillionaires from 8.82 percent to 9.65 percent, with even higher rates on those making $25 million or more a year. By contrast, married couples in Connecticut making $1 million or more every year pay a maximum of just 6.99 percent. A shift to 7.99 percent for joint filers making over $5 million and 8.99% for those making over $25 million is reasonable. Also, imposing an additional 1 mill state property tax on homes with a market value over $700,000, with a 1.5 mill tax on the portion of value over $1.4 million and 2 mills on the portion of value over $2.2 million is one way of ensuring the vast real estate wealth in Connecticut that was built up over decades of restrictive zoning and housing regulations can contribute to the health and vibrancy of all 169 cities and towns in the state, and not just to a lucky few. These tax policy changes will enable us to restore the property tax credit on the state income tax and the state Earned Income Tax Credit for the working poor to pre-FY 2018 levels, fund an equitable, tiered structure for Payment In Lieu of Taxes on private college and hospital property for needy communities, and begin the phase in of a state child tax credit. At the same time, we must avoid funding new initiatives with regressive taxes or user fees which burden low- and moderate-income families while leaving the wealthiest relatively unscathed. We have endured much from this viral pandemic. Looking forward we must keep in mind the economic burdens shouldered by our middle class, and the racist and intolerable burdens endured for centuries by our Black and brown communities. Equity will be at the heart of our modernized state tax policy. Now is the time to act. Senator Martin Looney is the Senate President Pro Tempore and represents the 11th Senate District serving New Haven, Hamden, and North Haven. .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... Copyright 2021 Albuquerque Journal The Albuquerque Police Department has investigated 34 homicides this year almost twice as many as the city had at this point in each of the past two years. By this time in both 2020 and 2019, there were 19 killings. APD ended up with 77 homicides in 2020 and a record 80 in 2019. Homicides often ebb and flow during the year, usually spiking in warmer months. But the first four months of 2021 have seen the highest total in the past seven years. ADVERTISEMENTSkip ................................................................ The next highest count was in 2018, when there were 21 homicides by mid-April. Of the 34 homicides, APD has made an arrest in six cases and filed an arrest warrant for 15-year-old Josef Toney in the double homicide of two women. APD Chief Harold Medina said not much has changed in the departments focus on homicides since January, when Medina held a briefing after 14 people were killed in Albuquerque during that month including two double homicides. Were very concerned. We want to see a reduction, but we also know were in the midst of a pandemic, and its a real tangible item were seeing nationwide that theres an increase in homicides, he said. I would hope that we could be the exception as a chief I dont like to see it. Medina said the department is trying to be proactive by targeting specific areas, looking to beef up drug and gang units, and trying to prevent those known to be involved in illegal activity from becoming homicide victims or suspects. He said officers have increased their presence at hotels and apartment complexes, where 14 of this years 34 homicides have been committed. Four happened at a cluster of apartments near Montgomery and Carlisle, and another four at a few motels along Interstate 40, between Juan Tabo and Eubank. APD spokesman Gilbert Gallegos said police believe at least nine of the killings at apartments and hotels were drug related, and three involved domestic violence. Medina said police are planning first-of-their-kind operations that target areas like stretches of Montgomery that have seen a cluster of violent crimes. He said a big obstacle is a lack of resources that would allow gang and drug units to tackle criminal activity that often leads to homicide. Medina said police are also using the Violence Intervention Program to help people who were injured or otherwise involved in prior shootings or violent incidents so they dont become the victim of a homicide due to their activities. When somebody is a victim once, he said, theres a strong probability that theyll likely be a victim again or an offender. [April 15, 2021] Tyler Technologies Schedules First Quarter 2021 Earnings Conference Call and Webcast Tyler Technologies, Inc. (NYSE: TYL) will discuss its first quarter 2021 results during a conference call and webcast on Thursday, April 29, 2021. The teleconference begins at 10 a.m. ET and will be hosted by H. Lynn Moore Jr., president and CEO; and Brian K. Miller, executive vice president and chief financial officer. The related press release will be issued after the market closes on Wednesday, April 28, 2021. Participants can pre-register for the teleconference at the following link: https://dpregister.com/sreg/10153708/e599360d94. Registered participants will receive an email with a calendar reminder, dial-in number, and PIN that allows immediate access to the call n Thursday, April 29, 2021. Participants who do not wish to pre-register may dial 844-861-5506 (U.S. callers), 412-317-6587 (international callers), or 866-450-4696 (Canada callers) and ask for the " Tyler Technologies (News - Alert) " call. A replay will be available one hour after the call ends through May 6, 2021. To access the replay, please dial 877-344-7529 (U.S. callers), 412-317-0088 (international callers), or 855-669-9658 (Canada callers) and reference passcode 10151750. The live webcast and archived replay can also be accessed at https://tylertech.irpass.com/Presentations. About Tyler Technologies, Inc. Tyler Technologies (NYSE: TYL) provides integrated software and technology services to the public sector. Tyler's end-to-end solutions empower local, state, and federal government entities to operate more efficiently and connect more transparently with their constituents and with each other. By connecting data and processes across disparate systems, Tyler's solutions are transforming how clients gain actionable insights that solve problems in their communities. Tyler has more than 27,000 successful installations across more than 11,000 sites, with clients in all 50 states, Canada, the Caribbean, Australia, and other international locations. Tyler has been named to Government Technology's GovTech 100 list five times and has been recognized three times on Forbes' "Most Innovative Growth Companies" list. More information about Tyler Technologies, an S&P 500 company headquartered in Plano, Texas, can be found at tylertech.com. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210415005054/en/ [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [April 15, 2021] BRAVADA International Pre-Launches WholesalePetWorld.com, a Website Specializing in Wholesale Pet Supplies BRAVADA International Ltd (https://www.WholesalePetWorld.com) (Pink Sheets: BRAV) announced today that it is pre-launching WholesalePetWorld.com, an online ecommerce website providing wholesale pet supplies. WholesalePetWorld.com will initially focus on dog and cat products and intends to expand its initial selection of a few hundred items to an expansive selection of dog and cat products. The official name of the website is Wholesale Pet World Superstore with a registered trademark pending at the USPTO. WholesalePetWorld.com is the wholesale website to its companion retail website, WorldofPets.com, which was launched on January 26 of this year. BRAVADA's strategy is to pair B2B and B2C websites together for improved operating efficiencies and product throughput. WholesalePetWorld.com will utilize a multi-year development strategy to take a measured growth path and expand product offerings across high demand categories to maximize its competitive position in specific categories including wholesale dog supplies, wholesale cat supplies, products for pet mom and dads and more. A BRAVADA "pre-launch" website is live but in development and not active for receiving orders but in a position to begin the Google (News - Alert) crawl process during early development having the crucial elements in place for SEO. The length of time a website is "live" plays an important role in SEO and SERP performance which is why BRAVADA is "pre-launching" to be crawled during the early stages of development. Each website is expected to require 12 months of SEO to develop valuable organic web traffic. BRAVADA is sourcing a number of dog and cat product lines that are new and / or less familiar to the North American marketplace to develop a distinct mix of pet supplies. The Company is also developing its own dog and cat product line to establish a proprietary line of products unified under a trademarked brand name. As with all BRAVADA websites, WholesalePetWorld.com was created, built, and developed in house by CEO Danny Alex. This significant competitive advantage allows BRAVADA to develop its websites with almost "zero" invested capital. This includes the SEO process, CSS (News - Alert) / HTML, content creation, Photoshop, database management and more, where its competitors must hire an entire team(s) at the cost of hundreds of thousands of dollars per year. Mr. Alex has been successful developing a number of online properties with over $4,000,000 in revenue in 2020 and has launched a number of new websites in the past few months. Forward-looking Statements Certain matters discussed in this announcement contain statements, estimates and projections about the growth of BRAVADA International's business, corporate growth, and related business strategy. Such statements may constitute forward-looking statements within the meaning of the federal securities laws. Factors or events that could cause actual results to differ may emerge from time-to-time. BRAVADA International undertakes no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise. The recipient of this information is cautioned not to place undue reliance on forward-looking statements. About: BRAVADA International is an internet and media company that owns and curates online properties through a proprietary methodology of creating, developing and operating retail and wholesale websites that provide an exciting blend of consumer level and B2B products and services. BRAVADA owns and operates OnlyLeggings.com, WorldofLeggings.com, LeggingsWholesale.com, WomensFashionWholesale.com, USAFashion.com, MedicalMaskSuperstore.com and WorldofPets.com. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210415005640/en/ [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] on Thursday pledged funds for 250,000 COVID-19 vaccinations and technical assistance towards vaccine delivery in low- and middle-income countries amidst a surge in infections across the world. The internet search giant also announced that it is helping to fund pop-up vaccine sites in the US and committing an additional USD 250 million in Ad Grants to connect people to accurate vaccine information. We're also announcing that Cloud is launching a virtual agent where people without internet access can schedule vaccine appointments and ask questions about eligibility and availability over the phone in up to 28 languages and dialects, it said. The announcement came as Google's Chief Health Officer Dr Karen DeSalvo joined an event co-hosted by Gavi the vaccine alliance and the US Secretary of State Antony Blinken to kick off a campaign to fund vaccines for low and middle income countries. In a blog post, said more people have access to the COVID-19 vaccine, it is making it easier to learn why, when and where one can get immunised. Today, you can now find vaccination locations on Google Maps and Search in the US, Canada, France, Chile, India and Singapore, it said. Acknowledging that overcoming the pandemic will require a coordinated effort on a global scale, Google said that to do its part it is providing 250,000 COVID-19 vaccines to countries in need, helping fund pop-up vaccine sites in the US, and committing an additional USD 250 million in Ad Grants to connect people to accurate vaccine information. The announcement came as Gavi, The Vaccine Alliance, launched a drive for additional funding to secure vaccines for people in low and middle-income countries. Google.org is funding 250,000 vaccinations and providing Gavi with pro bono technical assistance to accelerate global distribution. We're also kicking off an employee giving campaign, and both the Gavi Matching Fund and Google.org will match each donation to triple the impact, it said. Since the beginning of the pandemic, hundreds of Google employees have helped organisations connect people with up-to-date information particularly in communities that are not typically reached by mainstream public service announcements. For example, we're working with UnidosUS on a bilingual vaccination campaign that to date has reached more than two million people in hard-hit communities in Miami, Chicago, Houston, NYC and LA. We've conducted research with the World Health Organisation on what information improves vaccine confidence, and governments worldwide are using these insights to inform their public service announcements, Google said. To expand this work, Google said that it is committing an additional USD 250 million in Ad Grants to governments, community and public health organisations, including the WHO, that will fund more than 2.5 billion vaccine-related PSAs. This brings Google's total commitment for COVID-related public service announcements to more than USD 800 million. As we've learned throughout the pandemic, no one is safe from COVID-19 until everyone is safe. Getting vaccines to everyone around the world is a challenging, but necessary, undertaking. We'll keep doing our part and working together until we get there, Google said. The World Health Organisation has warned that the world needs a "reality check" on the state of the pandemic, as countries abandon restrictions despite four weeks of rising deaths and seven weeks of rising cases globally. Over 4.4 million COVID-19 infections have been recorded across the world last week. New deaths have increased by 11 per cent, the WHO said. There have been 138,284,275 confirmed COVID-19 cases globally and the death toll stands at 2,973,179, according to Johns Hopkins University. Amid the uncertainty caused by the coronavirus pandemic, Sweden is facing an acute shortage of sperm for assisted pregnancy as would-be donors avoid hospitals citing health risks. According a report in Reuters, there has been an abrupt stop in inseminations in large parts of the healthcare system and is resulting in increase in waiting times by years. Were running out of sperm. Weve never had so few donors as during the last year, Ann Thurin Kjellberg, head of the reproduction unit at Gothenburgs University Hospital, told Reuters. Reuters The report says that this unusual crisis of sorts has meant that the times for assisted pregnancy have drastically gone up from around six months to an estimated 30 months in the past year, possibly longer. Its stressful that we cant get a clear time or date for treatment, Elin Bergsten, a 28-year-old maths teacher from southern Sweden, told Reuters. Two years ago, Bergsten and her husband learned he was unable to produce semen, and the pair immediately applied for assisted pregnancy. She was due to have her second cycle of insemination before her treatment was indefinitely delayed due to the shortage. Also read: Sperms Don't Swim But Spin Like A Screw To Fertilise Eggs, Reveals Study Reuters The shortage isn't restricted to any particular area, rather it is the case across the country. Weve run out in Gothenburg and Malmo, they will soon run out in Stockholm, Thurin Kjellberg added. The Nordic countries and Belgium have the highest assisted conception rates in the world, in terms of availability of cycles per million of population, according to the European Society of Human Reproduction and Embryology. Also read: Pollution Is Shrinking Penises And Lowering Sperm Count, Scientists Claim Reuters Under Swedish law, a sperm sample can only be used by a maximum of 6 women. Most donated sperm in Sweden has reached this legal capacity, meaning that in many areas, assisted pregnancy is only available for women who have used a specific sperm sample before. Some Swedish regions have taken to social media to encourage potential male donors, but with varying results. In the meantime, the shortage lingers. Also read: Man Keeps Bumping Into Siblings On Dating Apps Thanks To His Sperm Donor Dad At about the same time U.S. Rep. Matt Cartwright and other Congressional leaders fled the chambers of the House of Representatives on Jan. 6, a volunteer firefighter from his district streamed live to Facebook as the mob he was in rushed the doors of the U.S. Capitol, according to newly unsealed documents in the case. Michael Joseph Rusyn, 35, of Olyphant was about 10 feet from the front of a group the outnumbered U.S. Capitol Police tried to block from entering the House chamber, FBI Special Agent Michael B. Miller charged in federal court. The crowd seethed. Some demanded the Capitol Police step aside as they called the officers traitors. Some declared their support for then-President Donald Trump. And some yelled they had come for House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. Chants of stop the steal, a rallying cry for the falsehood that Trump had reelection stolen from him, rang out. Rusyn held a cellphone to record the encounter, according to a criminal complaint filed in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. Federal authorities have not charged Rusyn with any violence against law enforcement. Five people died that day, including Capitol Police Officer Brian Sicknick. Rusyn told investigators he was actually injured trying to take weapons away from members of the crowd, which he described as objects like broom sticks with hooks and nails affixed to their ends. However, Rusyn was part of a crowd that breached the building and sent the nations leaders scrambling for safety, according to a probable cause document charging him with entering and remaining in a restricted building or grounds, disorderly and disruptive conduct in a restricted building or grounds and related counts. On the day the House and Senate met to certify the election victory of President Joseph R. Biden, a Scranton native, and Vice President Kamala Harris, hundreds of Trump loyalists stormed the Capitol to disrupt the process. Since then, federal investigators have charged more than 350 people from across the country for participating in the breach, now including two from Lackawanna County, according to a tally of cases listed by federal prosecutors in Washington D.C. Rusyn surrendered to authorities Friday and had his initial court appearance the same day. U.S. Magistrate Judge Joseph Saporito released him and ordered he appear in front of the court in Washington, D.C., by Zoom at 1 p.m. this Friday. A preliminary hearing is scheduled April 21 in Wilkes-Barre before Saporito. Reached by phone Wednesday, Rusyn declined to comment. Attempts to reach his attorney, assistant U.S. public defender Elliot Smith, were unsuccessful. Smith previously declined to comment on the case. The FBI snared Rusyn with help from his social media postings. A person who knew of Rusyn from high school, who was not identified by authorities in court papers, saw him in a livestream entering the Capitol and contacted the FBI on Jan. 7. The person shared Rusyns Facebook account with investigators, which was under the moniker Michael Joseph. That witness could not recall his last name but said he lived in the Scranton area and was a volunteer firefighter and EMT, according to court papers. Federal agents built a case against Rusyn by first confirming through a search warrant served on Facebook that his social media profile was among those within the Capitols geographic area that livestreamed that day. Facebook also provided agents with a cellphone number associated with his account. Search warrants served on AT&T and Google provided investigators with his name, email and physical address in Olyphant. His phone number was associated with the AT&T account of the Liberty Fire Department, according to investigators. Olyphant Fire Chief Dave Tully said Rusyn is a firefighter with Liberty Hose Company No. 6, one of five volunteer fire companies in the borough, and has been for years. Rusyn spoke with the FBI voluntarily in Scranton on Feb. 17, investigators wrote. He admitted he was at the Capitol on Jan. 6, but denied making a conscious decision to go inside the building, according to the FBI. He told investigators he was pushed in by others and remained there for about an hour. The FBI provided him with a screenshot of a video taken from inside the Capitol with his face in it. Rusyn confirmed it was him, investigators wrote. Beside Rusyn, former Old Forge School Director Frank Scavo, 58, who led five busloads of local residents to Washington on Jan. 6, was charged March 25 on similar counts. It is not known if Rusyn was on one of those buses. Scavo is scheduled for a case status hearing April 21. Attempts to reach Scavo were unsuccessful Wednesday. University students have been left frustrated after learning their face-to-face classes will not resume before the middle of next month, with some saying their teaching will have already finished by then. The government has said a full return to campus and in-person teaching will happen no earlier than 17 May, amid restrictions due to the coronavirus pandemic. But some students have toldThe Independent they do not expect to have any in-person teaching now before the academic year, following months of online classes. Its really annoying. My teaching is due to finish in early May, Natasha* from the University of Birmingham said. The only thing happening after that is coursework deadlines, so I doubt Ill actually get any in-person teaching for the rest of the year, the first-year student said. Orion Hall-Turner, who is in her final year at Roehampton University, toldThe Independent her course is due to end more than a week before she can return to university under the governments timetable. I havent had a normal schedule since February last year so I was definitely hoping Id get some normality before I graduate, she said. Bailey Mansfield, who is studying at Portsmouth University, toldThe Independent his term would be finished by the time all students are allowed to have face-to-face teaching again, with the time due to be spent on assignments and preparing for exams instead. On Tuesday, the universities minister confirmed the full return to face-to-face teaching would happen alongside restrictions on social contact easing further and most indoor settings reopening. Michelle Donelan said more people will have been vaccinated by this stage and the decision gives more time to boost testing. Many courses moved online right before the Christmas holidays to allow students to migrate back home during a recommended travel period. As England went into lockdown in early January, it was confirmed most courses would be taught virtually and these students told to stay put, while many were at home for the holidays. From 8 March, all students on practical courses were allowed to join others on courses such as medicine and dentistry back on campus for in-person teaching. It has now been confirmed all others - around one million students, according to Russell Group estimates - will be able to return to campus and face-to-face teaching on the 17 May date by the earliest. But Kyle*, a first-year at the University of Sussex, said: In-person teaching for me and almost everyone is over by then. Eve* at the University of Warwick, who has not had a face-to-face seminar since November, said she is in the same frustrating situation. By that point in-person teaching - well all teaching really - wont be on the timetable, because everyone will be preparing for exams, she said. The final-year student, who has been at home since December, said she is probably not going to wait until May to return to campus, as she wants to use the library and the experience of being at university before graduating. University of Birmingham student Alex* said their teaching is scheduled to finish two weeks before 17 May and expects to have gone to a total of four or five in-person seminars by the end of the academic year, which is really frustrating. They are also planning on returning before the 17 May, despite their course still being virtual. The government has told students to not travel back to their term-time if their learning is online, unless for reasons such as inadequate study space or mental health and wellbeing issues. In her statement on Tuesday, Ms Donelan said: The movement of students across the country poses a risk for the transmission of the virus particularly because of the higher prevalence and rates of transmission of new variants. While the government understands how difficult and disruptive the past year has been for students, she said the roadmap aims for a cautious approach to easing restrictions to ensure that we can maintain progress towards full reopening. But a student doing a PHD in music composition toldThe Independent it annoys him that the public can grab a pint outside whilst shopping, followed by a trip to the zoo while he cannot organise a music recital on campus. Natasha, from the University of Birmingham, said: It just feels a bit unfair with so many other things opening up that we cant sit socially distanced in a lecture hall. Universities, unions and ministers are at loggerheads over when all students should resume face-to-face teaching, with the University and College Union claiming current plans make no sense considering course timetables. Announcing the plans for the full return from mid-May at the earliest, the government said the timing aims to limit potential public health risks associated with student populations moving across the country. This week, Boris Johnson warned easing restrictions will inevitably lead to more infections and deaths, and said lockdown rules had done the bulk of the work in driving down Covid cases. The Department for Education has been approached for comment. *Students wished to remain anonymous The Biden administration has only allowed 2,050 refugees to resettle in the US at the midpoint through the fiscal year, which began October 1, according to a report by the International Rescue Committee (IRC), a non-profit humanitarian aid organization. The IRC report projects that the Biden administration will admit just 4,510 refugees by the end of the fiscal year, less than half the number that Trump admitted in his final year in office and a record low. Immigrants in a US detention centre President Joe Biden has made several promises that he would roll back Trump era restrictions on refugee admittance. Upon entering office, Biden signed several executive orders aimed at reversing some Trump policies. In February he announced that he would raise the annual ceiling on refugee admissions to 125,000, up from Trumps historic low of just 15,000, and that he would raise the goal for 2021 to 62,500. However, this has not yet occurred. In order to raise the cap on refugee admissions the president needs to sign a presidential determinationa form of executive decree similar to an executive order legally establishing the new threshold. This could be done at any time with the stroke of a pen, yet Biden has so far not done so, keeping the cap on refugees at 15,000 and leaving many of Trumps restrictive policies still in place. I dont know the specific reason why [Biden] hasnt signed, and its really unusual that he hasnt signed, Nazanin Ash, the IRCs vice president for global policy and advocacy said in a statement to the Washington Post. It is typically a standard, automatic last step in the process. Roberta Jacobson, the White House border coordinator told CNN in March that the administration would dismantle Trumps policies in a deliberate way and that we have to make sure that were doing it in a way that is well considered and that responds to where the need is. Jacobsons excuse did not satisfy the IRC, which referred to the administrations delay on reform as unexplained and unjustified. In addition to severely limiting refugee resettlement, the Biden administration has also refused to rescind many of Trumps restrictions on majority Muslim countries. While Biden reversed Trumps prohibitions on refugees from many Muslim-majority countries, he has not reversed restrictions that target Muslim refugees, including policies like extreme vetting. Because of this, only 42 Syrian refugees have been resettled in the United States this fiscal year, while millions remain displaced by a decade of conflict fueled by American imperialism. These categories are nothing short of discriminatory said Ash, who also told the Post that there is no rational relationship between these categories and any security or other concern of the United States. They were simply put in place by the Trump administration to restrict refugee admissions and in particular to restrict the admission of black, brown, Asian and Muslim refugees. Despite the blatantly discriminatory character of these restrictions, the Biden administration has only bothered to reverse some of them. This has left many refugees caught in limbo. Thirty-three thousand refugees who had been cleared to relocate are being prevented from resettling, and more than 700 flights have been canceled. Meanwhile, tens of thousands of migrants from Central and South America are being detained after crossing the southern border with little hope of admittance into the United States. According to official reports, 20,000 children are currently in US custody with 19,000 child migrants encountered by border patrols in March alone. The number of children detained could rise to 35,000 by June. US detention facilitiesmore accurately described as concentration campsfor migrants along the southern border, are overflowing. Children captured by border patrol agents are supposed to be held in border jails for no more than three days before relocation to larger facilities. These facilities, however, are so crowded that children are remaining in border jails for days and weeks on end. Despite this humanitarian crisis, the IRC has noted that just 139 people from the Northern Triangle region of Guatemala, El Salvador and Honduras, where many of these migrants are fleeing from, have been admitted as refugees during this fiscal year. The refusal of the Biden administration to fully end Trumps racist refugee policies exposes the Democratic Party for the reactionary party of capitalism that it is. Tens of thousands of people whose lives have been ruined by US imperialism for decades are fleeing their homes in a desperate effort to seek a better life for themselves and their children. Central American families have even resorted to sending their children unaccompanied in the hope that they may have a better chance of being admitted to the US. Using the COVID-19 pandemic as a thin cover for this horrendous disregard for human life, the Democratic Party is carrying out the same policies of not just the Trump administration, but the Obama administration as well. Obama, with Biden as his vice president, deported nearly 3 million immigrants, more than all previous presidents combined. While Trump was certainly more vicious in his policies and rhetoric, the Obama administration was by far the more aggressive in terms of deportations. Obama averaged close to 400,000 deportations annually in his first four years, while Trump was closer to 250,000. While the IRC is correct that Bidens policies are unjustified, it is not quite correct that they are unexplained. The attack on the rights of migrants and refugees is the product of the rapid decline of American capitalism and the turn of the ruling class toward increasingly authoritarian and oppressive policies. Biden is continuing the legacy of the administrations before him, assaulting the rights of the most vulnerable with the ultimate aim of turning this attack on the working class as a whole. Over the past 20 years the Democrats have falsely portrayed themselves as the defenders of migrants, while at the same time employing the same reactionary and oppressive policies as the Republicans. Only the most wretched of political charlatans could defend the Biden administrations decision to retain Trumps anti-refugee policies. The UAE cabinet has adopted the UAE Strategy for Talent Attraction and Retention, a move that contributes to strengthening the UAE leading position as a preferred destination for living, working and investing. His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, who chaired the Cabinet meeting, said that the strategy aims to place the UAE among the top three countries in talent attraction and availability of highly skilled employees, a WAM report said. Talented residents have been always a crucial part of the UAE journey and achievements, stressing that attracting more talents and creative minds is a key factor of the UAEs preparation for the future. The UAE strategy is an integrated national initiative that aims to enhance the country's attractiveness to foreign investments and talents. It serves as a comprehensive framework that allows the country to develop policies to attract talents from all over the world. The UAE strategy for talent attraction and retention has three main targets: positioning the UAE among the top ten countries in the global talent competitiveness indices, ensuring talents availability across all strategic sectors and to cementing the UAE image as an ideal destination for living and working. The cabinet received a briefing from Reem bint Ibrahim Al Hashemy, Minister of State for International Cooperation and Director-General of Expo 2020 Dubai, about the latest preparations and readiness of all teams and the participation of the UAE federal government entities in the event that is held under the theme 'Connecting Minds, Creating the Future'. Ministries and federal government entities will participate in a wide range of topics including: climate and biodiversity, tolerance and inclusion, travel and communication, food and agriculture, space, water, urban and rural development, knowledge and learning, and health, in addition to other topics that fall under the Expo 2020 program (People and Planet), which has been approved by the cabinet. The cabinet also approved the export development policy that sought to increase UAE exports and open new international markets with the aim of supporting the country's foreign trade and increasing the non-oil sectors participation in the GDP. The policy is a long-term vision for the UAE's foreign trade, it enables the national economy to benefit from opportunities of the economic recovery expected in the current and future stages. The policy adopts several tools including opening direct communication channels with government entities concerned with trade and investment in the countries of focus, and activating the formation of joint committees. The cabinet adopted the National Autism Policy that aims at improving the health and well-being of people with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) and to supporting caregivers. The policy also focuses on upgrading the skills of personal working in ASD centers and raising the efficiency of the services offered. The UAE government have been launching and implementing initiatives and programs that touch the lives of people with ASD. The National Autism Policy allows these efforts to be moving in a consistent direction to work together to support patients and their families. The Policy ensures that all autistic have full and equal access to the resources they require to achieve their full potential. The cabinet approved the Sustainability Handbook for federal buildings and roads, which provide policies, procedures and practices of sustainability. The Handbook aimed at developing the regulations to ensure that the legislative framework concerning building codes and road standards help to achieve balance between urban and environmental requirements. The Handbook implements big data applications that support smart city components to reach the required level of sustainability and improve the living standards. It also utilizes multiple technologies to improve the performance of building and roads services leading to higher levels of comfort. On the legislative affairs, the cabinet amended the Executive Regulation of Federal Law on Tax Procedures. The amendment extends the tax notification from 10 to 40 working days. The amendment also covers the time limit for issuing the decision of the Federal Tax Authority to reduce or exempt administrative penalties from 20 to 40 working days from the date of receiving the application. The cabinet approved the issuance of a decision regarding the requirements of the Natural Person Insolvency Law. The law aims at enhancing the competitiveness of the UAE by ensuring the ease of doing business and creating favourable conditions for individuals facing financial difficulties. The cabinet also approved a decision regarding the exception of the Federal Law concerning Public Associations and Institutions of Public Benefit. The Cabinet congratulated His Highness Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan, President of the UAE, Their Highnesses the Supreme Council Members and Rulers of the Emirates, Emirati People and Muslims all over the world on the occasion of the holy month of Ramadan. The UAE cabinet meeting was held at Qasr Al Watan in Abu Dhabi, in presence of Lt. General Sheikh Saif bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of the Interior, and Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Presidential Affairs.-- Tradearabia News Service A 36-year-old man free on bail since January in an Allentown drug and firearm case allegedly was caught with about 70 bags of cocaine this week in Bethlehem. Victor L. Rivera, of the 300 block of Grandview Boulevard in Bethlehem, was arraigned Thursday on felony and related counts in the Bethlehem case and sent to Northampton County Prison, according to court records. Bethlehem police say they began investigating Rivera after responding to a disturbance Tuesday at a home in the 400 block of Wyandotte Street. Investigators on Wednesday served a search warrant on a black Nissan Altima that Rivera was driving in Tuesdays incident, and found the corner-tie bags of cocaine individually packaged for sale in the vehicle, court records say. Police also reported finding a bag of marijuana. Rivera was arraigned before District Judge Nancy Matos Gonzalez on a felony count of drug possession with intent to deliver, along with misdemeanor marijuana possession and possession of drug paraphernalia. He was imprisoned in lieu of $200,000 bail and faces a preliminary hearing tentatively scheduled April 29 before Matos Gonzalez to determine if there is sufficient evidence to send the charges toward trial in Northampton County Court. Rivera on Jan. 10 was charged in Allentown with 17 criminal counts, including felony drug possession with intent to deliver, prohibited possession of a firearm and receiving stolen property, court records say. Living at the time in Easton, he was freed the next day on surety bonds posted to cover his $100,000 bail, according to the records. Allentown police then on Jan. 14 filed additional felony firearm charges against Rivera for an incident Dec. 12, along with misdemeanor reckless endangerment and summary driving without a license, according to court records. He was not arraigned in that case, however, until Tuesday, when he was sent to Lehigh County Jail in lieu of $100,000 bail. Rivera has preliminary hearings scheduled May 18 in the Allentown drug and firearm case and June 9 in the incident from December. Court records did not immediately list an attorney in Riveras latest case. His attorney in the Jan. 10 incident declined to comment on the new arrest. Our journalism needs your support. Please subscribe today to lehighvalleylive.com. Kurt Bresswein may be reached at kbresswein@lehighvalleylive.com. WE have many problems in public education and changes need to happen fast. Teachers are skipping parts of the curriculum. Children are struggling emotionally and academically. There are great inconsistencies amongst schools. Parents need to be more involved. We need the government to step in. Opinion WE have many problems in public education and changes need to happen fast. Teachers are skipping parts of the curriculum. Children are struggling emotionally and academically. There are great inconsistencies amongst schools. Parents need to be more involved. We need the government to step in. But wait dont we have one of the greatest education systems in the world? We do. Canada is a great country, and there is a direct correlation between a productive school system and quality of life. And in Manitoba, we are also doing well, despite what the Progressive Conservatives will have you believe. The majority of students in Manitoba graduate high school and go on to be contributing members of society. We accept, on average, 15,000 newcomers each year, and our school system is one the main reasons people choose Manitoba. We hosted more than 18,000 international students in educational facilities in 2018. This is a good place to be. But we need to make changes, and here are the issues: A super-sized curriculum: We think schools can fix everything. Kids are fat? Add more physical education. A cashier couldnt make change? More math. Businesses cant find enough staff? Lets teach employability skills. A student didnt know what the Holocaust was? Ramp up the social studies. Throw in arts education, sustainable development and land-based learning, just to name a few, and we quickly see there arent enough hours in the day to teach it all. We keep adding more and more, so curriculum needs restructuring. Perhaps we need to decide if we are educating well-rounded students with a general skill and knowledge base or we are a factory pumping out future employees. Is it a surprise these students do not do as well as those in the suburbs? Is it a surprise their parents are not involved as much as they would like to be in their childs school? Support for struggling learners: Most energy and resources in a school go to less than 20 per cent of the students. This is reality. We continue to see an increase in the number of students with exceptional needs. Learning differences, mental and physical health issues and behaviour issues are just a few of the concerns educators struggle to deal with. We need help. As the provincial government trims what it calls top-heavy administration, what also gets cut are the supports schools need in the way of co-ordinators and clinicians. These people help the teachers and educational assistants who work with students. And larger class sizes dont make their work any easier. Inequities amongst schools: The purveyors of Bill 64 say this will be solved a child will get the exact same educational experience in Dauphin, Steinbach, Charleswood and downtown Winnipeg. But it will not happen. Publishing test scores will not provide accountability. Schools in lower socioeconomic areas of Winnipeg deal with many issues that do not arise in more affluent neighbourhoods and rural areas. Poverty is real in Winnipeg, and it greatly affects learning. Along with poverty come hunger, transiency, lack of proper clothing, supplies and resources. Many families living in poverty deal with trauma. Moms and dads work two and three jobs just to put food on the table. Many parents do not trust the education system, as generations of their families have dealt with residential schools. Is it a surprise these students do not do as well as those in the suburbs? Is it a surprise their parents are not involved as much as they would like to be in their childs school? What is needed are community resources, run in conjunction with high-needs schools to help families. In other words, wrap-around support. If we are truly an inclusive community and we care about our neighbours, we need to remedy this now. Teachers, educational assistants, secretaries, custodians and bus drivers have been involved in student-centred education for a long time now in Manitoba. Better education doesnt start today; it started many years ago. Yes, we need to change education in Manitoba. But Bill 64 is not the fix we need. It is not a "modernization" act; its scope is archaic. I can guarantee that in 10 years, this legislation will not have saved any money, but it will have impacted learning. And unfortunately, that impact will be to the negative. Rick Haley is a retired school principal who still dabbles in public education. He is also an instructor at the University of Winnipeg. Rep. Carolyn Maloney (D-N.Y.) leads a hearing about CCP virus preparedness and response on Capitol Hill in Washington on March 12, 2020. (Joshua Roberts/Reuters) Progressive Group That Helped Seat the Squad Supports Challenger to Primary Rep. Carolyn Maloney Justice Democrats, a progressive political action committee (PAC) that helped elect the Squadthe four progressive minority Congresswomento the Congress in 2018, has introduced a new candidate to challenge Rep. Carolyn Maloney (D-N.Y.) in the 2022 primary election. Rana Abdelhamid, a community organizer, non-profit founder, and member of the Democratic Socialists of America, announced that she is running for the U.S. House of Representatives on Wednesday. I am honored to announce that I am running for Congress to bring a new generation of leadership to NY-12, Abdelhamid said in a statement. New Yorks 12th congressional district includes the east side of Manhattan, western Queens, and part of Brooklyn. The districts per capita income is among the highest in the nation. Former President Donald Trumps Trump Tower is located in this district. We deserve a representative who shows up for us, too, Abdelhamid said in a campaign video released on Tuesday. Representative Maloney has spent nearly 30 years taking millions of dollars from the developers and Wall Street banks, profiting off our suffering, she exclaimed. Rana Abdelhamid (Courtesy of Rana Abdelhamid For Congress) Abdelhamid explained that she would run for full COVID relief for working families and small businesses, for jobs in line with the goals of the progressive Green New Deal framework, Medicare for All, affordable housing, and an end to mass incarceration. She also pledged that she wouldnt take a dime of corporate PAC money. Justice Democrats say their PAC exists to support candidates who dont take corporate PAC donations. Now its time for more leaders in the Democratic Party who dont represent corporate donors, but the voters of the Democratic Party: women, people of color, young people, and working-class people of all backgrounds to help build our progressive movement, the progressive group states on its website. Our goal is to build a mission-driven caucus in Congress by electing more leaders like Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Jamaal Bowman, who will represent our communities in Congress and fight for bold, progressive solutions to our current crises. The group says their bold vision for America also includes the Green New Deal, Medicare for All, as well as policies like taxing the rich, free public college and trade school, and universal basic income, among others. Justice Democrats famously helped Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) defeat then Number 4 Democrat in Congress, Rep. Joe Crowley (D-N.Y.)a 10-term incumbent. Justice Democrats also supported the campaigns of the three other Squad members, Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.), Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.), and Rep. Ayanna Pressley (D-Mass.). Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) speaks as Reps. Ayanna Pressley (D-Mass.), Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.), and Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.) listen during a press conference in Washington on July 15, 2019. (Alex Wroblewski/Getty Images) In 2020, the Justice Democrats also helped Rep. Jamaal Bowman (D-N.Y.) defeat 16-term incumbent Rep. Eliot Engel (D-N.Y.). New York State Democratic Party Chairman Jay Jacobs released a statement on Wednesday in response to the Justice Democrats claim that Maloney is not progressive, saying it was just pure nonsense. Make no mistake about it. This challenge is not about progressive causes. This challenge is about one thing: power, Jacobs continued. Ive read the [Democratic Socialists of America (DSA)] platform. Everyone should. Tell the voters where you and the DSA stand on defunding the police, ending capitalism in America, unilaterally disarming the nuclear deterrent of the U.S. military, and seizing private businesses that have to lay off workers even when their survival requires it, Jacob challenged of Abdelhamids progressive policies. Maloney, 75, who has served in Congress from 1993 and is currently Chairwoman of the House Committee on Oversight and Reform, called herself a recognized progressive national leader with extensive accomplishments. Maloney announced her running for reelection on March 31. Now more than ever, our city needs innovative leaders to spearhead our rebuilding from the COVID-19 crisis, and I am proud to say that I have started rolling up my sleeves, she said at the time. Her office didnt respond to a request by The Epoch Times for comment. New Delhi : In what can be called a major step taken towards crackdown of terrorism US Prsident Doanld Trump is about to send his top military and diplomatic advisors to Pakistan in the coming weeks. Among the top officials are US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and Defence Secretary James Mattis. This step by Trump is being seen as very important from the point of fighting global terrorism where Pakistan has been a major ally to the United States (US) ever since its creation. Pakistan which is a non Nato ally of the US has also been accused of being the safe heaven for various terrorist groups which are banned by the US. In his speech on 'US' military engagement in Afghanistan', Trump said, "The U.S. can no longer be silent about Pakistan's safe havens for terrorist organizations, the Taliban and others, that pose a threat to the region and beyond ... No partnership can survive a country's harboring of militants, the U.S. will further develop its strategic partnership with India," he added. "We have been paying Pakistan billions and billions of dollars at the same time they are housing the very terrorists that we are fighting," he said an August address. The US-Pak relationship became more bitter when in 2011 former President Barack Obama send a team of US Navy Seals to Paksitan to take down al- Qaeda chief Osama Bin Laden. For all the Latest World News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. SEE ALSO: Hey Ladies Does This Hit Your MV spot? Hyundai Motor's STARIA MPV Debuts, Pioneering Future of Mobility with Safety and Versatility STARIA embodies Hyundai Motors new inside-out design methodology, establishing a model for Purpose Built Vehicles in future mobility era Maximized space utilization, flexible seating with long sliding capability, along with highest level of safety make STARIA suitable for business and family Hyundai plans to add STARIA Special Vehicle lineups and eco-friendly variants in the upcoming years SEOUL, April 12, 2021 Hyundai Motor Company today officially launched its new STARIA multi-purpose vehicle (MPV) lineup via a digital world premiere, establishing a model for its future Purpose Built Vehicles (PBVs). STARIAs debut furthers Hyundai Motors transformation as a Smart Mobility Solution Provider and embodies the companys inside-out design methodology that emphasizes interior spaciousness and usability. STARIA is Hyundais response to shifting consumer needs by offering them purposeful, innovative features and redefining in-car travel experiences in line with the companys vision of Progress for Humanity. STARIA is available in 2- to 11-seat configurations[1] and in two variants: STARIA and STARIA Premium, the latter elevating mobility to the next level with upgraded features and variant-exclusive finishes for a more luxurious look and feel. We are thrilled to introduce STARIA, which represents our latest effort to spearhead the evolution of mobility, and to address emerging lifestyle needs as we adapt to new ways of living, said Thomas Schemera, Executive Vice President and Global Chief Marketing Officer. STARIA is a step forward in connecting us more closely with our environments so that we can get more out of our everyday lives and do more for ourselves in transit. STARIA will go on sale in select markets starting from the second half of 2021. Premium and Futuristic Exterior Styling Evoking the streamlined form of a spaceship, STARIAs sleek exterior is defined by a single stroke running from front to rear inspired by the curve of light that illuminates the Earths horizon at sunrise when viewed from space. STARIAs front is embellished with horizontal daytime running lights (DRLs) and a positioning lamp, together running across the width of the vehicle, complemented by a bold, wide radiator grille with a unique pattern. Its clean silhouette is further accented by a pair of low-set headlamps. Hyundai uses the same body color for all frontal parts to maximize the vehicles modern and pure style. STARIA Premium model features a variant-exclusive tinted brass chrome treatment, applied to the Hyundai emblem, grille, headlamp bezels, front and rear bumpers, wheels, side mirrors and door handles to emphasize the vehicles premium and modern look. Lowered beltlines and panoramic side windows improve overall visibility and create a feeling of openness. This sense of spaciousness inspired by traditional Korean hanok architecture allows passengers to feel as if the outside scenes are an extension of the vehicle interior. The design theme carries over to the rear, featuring a wide window framed by elongated vertical tail lamps, with STARIA Premium models receiving Hyundais unique Parametric Pixel lamp design and garnish on top. The rear bumper is lowered so passengers can easily load and unload cargo. STARIA models are available in eight exterior colors: Abyss Black Pearl, Creamy White, Graphite Gray Metallic, Moonlight Blue Pearl, Shimmering Silver Metallic, Dynamic Yellow, Olivine Gray Metallic and Gaia Brown Pearl.[2] Transforming Mobility by Providing More Quality Time in Transit STARIA interior applies a simple and modest layout to highlight drivers convenience and passengers comfort, while staying faithful to its original value as an MPV. The cruise ship-inspired interior delivers an open and unique atmosphere through its innovative design architecture. The vehicles lower beltlines and panoramic windows create a spacious, stimulating environment for all passengers. The driver and passenger seats in the first-row are designed to offer a feeling of space and comfort. STARIAs simple interior layout focuses only on the essentials to provide more room and flexibility to passengers. A glove compartment in the first-row passengers seat is moved forward to provide extra legroom space. The drivers seat has a futuristic high-tech look with an advanced 10.25-inch front display screen, touch-based center fascia and a button-type electronic shift lever. The digital cluster is located on top of the dashboard, providing an unobstructed view for the driver. Storage space is available on top of the overhead console, bottom of the cluster, and top and bottom of the center fascia. Both driver and passengers also have access to a center console equipped with cup holders, USB ports and additional storage space. STARIA Premium offers a variety of additional interior features that will transform the passengers mobility experience. The 7-seat Premium model is equipped with Premium Relaxation Seats in the second row that recline electronically and also have sliding capabilities for easy reach or to maximize cargo space. The one-touch relaxation mode makes the seats recline automatically to a posture that comfortably disperses the passengers weight and improves overall body balance. Even when the seats are reclined by this mode, there is enough room for an adult passenger to sit comfortably in the third row, thanks to STARIAs spacious interior layout. The 9-seat Premium models individual seats in the second row can swivel 180 degrees to face passengers in the third row. This makes STARIA Premium ideal for corporate vehicles or mobile offices as passengers can turn their seats around and conduct meetings face to face. Families will also find these swiveling seats convenient as rear-facing passengers will have easy access to those seated in the third row. A 64-color ambient mood lamp, available in all STARIA Premium variants, provides a lush interior atmosphere. The harmonious direct and indirect lighting can selectively illuminate the cockpit, console, doors and cargo areas. The premium feeling is further enhanced by the Bose sound system. Additionally, STARIAs generous legroom is among the best in its segment and can be converted into expansive additional cargo space when all seats are pushed together made possible by the versatile long sliding seat function. Moreover, the full-flat mode applied to rear passenger seats of STARIA standard model makes this vehicle the perfect choice for activities that require a lot of room and interior flexibility, such as camping and equipment-intensive sports. STARIA is not just reinterpreting spatiality, but also reimagining time spent in transit for the future. Designing for mobility isnt about vehicle design. Its about designing to accommodate a variety of lifestyles, said SangYup Lee, Senior Vice President and Head of Global Hyundai Design. STARIAs interior space and functionalities aim to transform how people experience in-car travel, optimizing journeys by making the most of time in transit. STARIAs interior is available in these colors: Black, Black and Beige two-tone, Black and Blue two-tone. The Premium variant offers additional options of Gray and Brown two-tone as well as Gray and Light Gray two-tone.[3] Maximizing Platform and Performance STARIAs innovative interior space utilization is made possible by the MPVs 3,273-mm wheelbase with an overall length of 5,253 mm and width of 1,997 mm. Its overall height of 1,990 mm is optimized for passengers to conveniently enter and exit the vehicle and is high enough for an average school-aged child to stand upright and move with ease. The cargo space availability varies depending on how the seating configurations are arranged. The 2- and 3-seater, optimized for business use, offers maximum cargo space of almost 5,000 liters. The cargo space dimensions have also been increased to carry three Euro pallets at once. STARIA offers powertrain options of a diesel-powered 2.2-liter VGT engine and a gasoline-powered Smartstream G6DIII 3.5-liter MPI engine. The diesel engine is newly improved and mated with either a six-speed manual or eight-speed automatic transmission, delivering an estimated power output of 177 PS and 44 kgf-m of torque. Its high-efficiency, air-cooled turbocharger has an improved compressor and turbine wheel performance for better low speed torque performance. The gasoline-powered G6DIII 3.5-L MPI is mated to an eight-speed automatic transmission, delivering an estimated power output of 272 PS and 33.8 kgf-m of torque. Its integrated thermal management system provides fuel efficiency improvement by optimizing control of coolant temperature according to vehicle operating conditions. An integrated roller swing arm helps to further improve fuel efficiency by reducing friction. New stainless-steel castings help improve exhaust interference for more power. Hyundai Motor optimized each powertrain option for low noise, vibration, and harshness (NVH), better shift sensation for high torque performance and improved acceleration. It also optimized the direct valve control body for increased hydraulic efficiency, the oil pump for fuel efficiency, and the multi-plate torque converter for control and fuel efficiency. Mechanical upgrades also resulted in improved ride comfort thanks to the application of a multi-link suspension at the rear axle. STARIAs upright inclination angle and lever ratio of shock absorbers also contribute to improved ride comfort. Likewise, upgrades in brake calipers and discs provide stable stopping power even with the models large size. On top of mechanical upgrades, aerodynamic upper body design and under body improvements result in improved drag coefficient for better fuel economy. Smart Features for Safety and Convenience STARIA has secured the highest level of vehicle safety. STARIA offers an option to add as many as six airbags[4], and all seats come with three-point seat belts and headrests. Safety is further bolstered by smart features such as Forward Collision Avoidance Assist (FCA) and Blind-Spot Collision-Avoidance Assist (BCA). STARIA also offers other safety features. Wireless Module Seat Belt Reminder (WM-SBR), the worlds first seat belt reminder system using wireless communications technology, enables passengers to enjoy the benefits of seat belt reminder and long sliding capabilities at the same time. In a situation where a passenger attempts to open the power sliding door while a rear-side vehicle is passing by, Safe Exit Assist (SEA) prevents the door from opening. Rear Occupant Alert (ROA), available in select markets, uses a radar sensor to detect and alert the driver if a rear passenger is left in the car after exiting the vehicle. STARIA also comes with Hyundais smart infotainment system and is equipped with a wide-angle camera that enables the driver and front passenger to view rear passengers in the back seat on the display screen. Families can use this feature to conveniently monitor children and pets, while business users such as ride-hailing services also will benefit from this feature. The infotainment system also enables the driver and front passenger to communicate with rear passengers using a unique speaker function that allows all occupants to clearly hear one another. Whats Next Moving forward, Hyundai plans to launch Special Vehicle lineups[5] of STARIA, such as limousines, ambulances and camping car. In addition, eco-friendly variants of STARIA are scheduled to be added in upcoming years. Editors note: The vehicle specifications and features in this press release may vary depending on country/region. [1] Seating layouts may vary according to region and model. [2] Color options may vary according to region and model. [3] Color options may vary according to region and model. [4] For Australia, a total of seven airbags are provided. [5] Special Vehicle lineups will be available in limited markets only. by Francis Khoo Thwe A man killed in Maha Aungmyay mosque. The Muslim quarter, which protected doctors and nurses on strike for civil disobedience, burned down. Women religious and Buddhist monks rush to aid the Muslim community. A leader of demonstrations, Wai Moe Naing, was arrested in Monywa. In Yangon, trade unionist Myo Myo Aye arrested. Mandalay (AsiaNews) - The second largest city in Myanmar, Mandalay, is under attack from soldiers who want to stop the civil disobedience strike carried out by public employees, doctors, nurses and teachers. This morning the soldiers opened fire in the Maha Aungmyay mosque, south of Mandalay. Some of the strikes organizers had spent the night there. A 28-year-old Muslim, Ko Htet, was killed (photo 2). With him, two other people - one of them disabled - were injured. The soldiers arrested some present, including children aged 11 and 16. In the morning, they attacked a march of doctors and medical personnel who were about to start a demonstration and arrested 16 people. Social media posts relay that soldiers have targeted the Muslim neighbourhood of Mandalay, where doctors, students and nurses were hiding and set houses on fire. At least 40 homes were burned down. Yesterday afternoon, some nuns of the order of Saint Joseph of the Apparition and a group of Buddhist monks went to visit the victims of the fire and the neighbourhood, bringing food and donations for the community (photo 1). The comments on social media are enthusiastic: "This is a sign that we are winning already No Junta can incite hatred within civilians because our hearts beat as one You cant divide us by our religions coz our hearts are close." The comments allude to the past of the military dictatorship when soldiers, in the name of the unity of the nation, fought different religious and ethnic groups, pitting Christians against Buddhists, Muslims against Christians, ethnic minorities against the majority Baman ethnic group. Meanwhile arrests multiply in all regions. This morning in Monywa (Sagaing), some plainclothes policemen arrested one of the leaders of the anti-coup protests, the 26-year-old Muslim Wai Moe Naing (photo 3). The young man was leading a march on his motorcycle when plainclothes soldiers ran him down. The gunmen also arrested a girl. Also this morning, in Yangon, in the Nawarat market district, Myo Myo Aye (photo 4), a trade union activist, director of the Stum (Solidarity Trade Union of Myanmar) program, was arrested. Four military vehicles with about 40 soldiers carried out a raid on her office, confiscating all the cell phones of the employees. The Stum has been among the supporters of the civil disobedience strike since the first day of the coup. In Taungyy (Shan), seven civilians were arrested; three of them were brutally beaten. In Myitkyina (Kachin), two journalists were arrested last night. According to the Association for Assistance to Political Prisoners, up until yesterday, 715 people were killed in the coup d'etat; 3070 arrested. A speeding truck driver barrelled down a main road before smashing into a McDonald's drive through and crushing two women. Sourab Bisht, 24, was behind the wheel of a flatbed truck loaded with steel when he lost control in November 2018. Horrifying dashcam footage shows the truck speeding along the road in Mount Ousley road near Wollongong, and overtaking a gas tanker. The truck is later seen hurtling through an intersection and into the Fairy Meadows McDonalds carpark, colliding with a fire hydrant and three parked cars The truck is later seen hurtling through an intersection and into the Fairy Meadows McDonalds carpark, colliding with a fire hydrant and three parked cars. The 24-year-old, who wrecked several vehicles and badly injured two women was simply in a rush to get to his destination, the court heard on Wednesday. One of the women suffered nine fractured ribs among other injuries, while the other had a gash across her head and severe bruising. Mr Bisht failed to obey several warning signs to slow down and use a lower gear on an upcoming descent. 'If he had kept it left at all times and in low gear, this disaster would not have occurred,' District Court Judge Gregory Woods QC told the court. 'He had a duty to use the emergency ramp. He should have attempted to do so.' Mr Bisht was convicted of dangerous and negligent driving and causing bodily harm after the court rejected his claim the brakes failed. Sourab Bisht, 24, (pictured) was behind the wheel of the flatbed truck, which was loaded with steel at the time, when he lost control back in November 2018 The Roads and Maritime Service provided evidence in court that found the truck's brakes were defective but still operational, the ABC reported. He was ordered to serve 15 months jail in the community as a corrections order, and was unsuccessful in appealing that decision in a higher court. Judge Gregory Woods recognised Bisht wasn't under the influence of drugs or alcohol at the time of the crash. His good character meant he would not serve time in jail. His original intensive corrections order will remain in place as his actions were considered extremely reckless and could have caused multiple deaths. Frances death toll from Covid-19 is expected to pass 100,000 on Thursday, which would make the European country the eighth in the world to pass the symbolic mark. Only the United Kingdom and Italy have so far reached 100,000 deaths from coronavirus in Europe. This number has been called an important threshold by Lionel Petitpas, president of the association Victims of Covid-19, the Associated Press reported. On Wednesday evening the cumulative death toll in France had reached 99,777 and is expected to hit 100,000 deaths on Thursday. Indeed, French health authorities have been reporting around 300 new covid-related deaths daily. Mr Petitpas said that the figure is piercing a lot of minds. It is a figure we thought would never be reached. He added that families of victims want the government to make a collective gesture to recognise our collective loss, having lost his wife Joelle to the virus last March. The countrys president Emmanuel Macron told Le Parisien newspaper that he thinks about all of the people who died in the pandemic as well as their families. Mr Macron called the pandemic so cruel especially to those who sometimes were not able to accompany, during the last moments and in death, a father, a mother, a loved one, a friend. However, the French president praised how the country of 67 million had united in the face of the pandemic. It is thought by experts that the 100,000 mark is an underestimate by several thousands at least. Experts say this is because people who die at home, or in locations such as psychiatric units or chronic care facilities, sometimes do not have Covid-19 recorded on their death certificates, even if they did die from the disease. A spokesperson for the French government Gabriel Attal has suggested that it is too soon to set a date to honour those who have died from the virus, since the country is now yet again fighting a rapid rise in Covid-19 case numbers. He said: There will be an homage for sure, a national mourning for the victims of Covid-19, adding: That time will come. France was yet again plunged into a third, partial lockdown at the start of the month as infection rates surged. Restrictions have included closing schools, a domestic travel ban as well as shutting most non-essential shops and come over a year since the French president first declared war on the virus. A nationwide overnight curfew has been in place in France since mid-December, and all Frances hospitality sector has remained shut since October. Mr Attal suggested the government plans to lift restrictions around mid-May, while schools are set to gradually reopen from 26 April. Meanwhile, Mr Macron will hold a meeting on Thursday to plan the gradual reopening. France has now given roughly 17 per cent of its population at least one dose of the coronavirus vaccine. This puts it just behind neighbouring countries Belgium and Italy. France has so far reported over 5.1 million infections due to Covid, making it the country in Europe with the highest number of confirmed infections. (CNN) On Monday, a cohort of former Trump administration officials launched the America First Policy Institute, a think tank organization aimed at promoting "liberty, free enterprise, national greatness, American military superiority, foreign-policy engagement in the American interest, and the primacy of American workers," according to its website. Trump quickly endorsed the effort, saying that the founders, which include his daughter, Ivanka Trump, and her husband, Jared Kushner, "have my full support as they work not only to preserve the historic accomplishments of my administration, but also to propel the America First Agenda into the future" It's the latest -- and best-funded, with an initial budget of $20 million -- example of how the 45th President and his supporters are building out a constellation of groups (political, legal and policy) that parallel the structure of the national Republican Party. And yet more evidence that not only does Donald Trump have no plans to step away from politics, but that he is also constructing what amounts to a shadow version of the GOP. The centerpiece of that shadow party is Trump's Save America Super PAC, which he has been aggressively raising money for months -- including during his extended efforts to protest the results of the 2020 election. According to a Trump aide who spoke with The New York Times, the PAC had $85 million in the bank earlier this month, roughly equivalent to the $84 million cash on hand that the Republican National Committee showed at that same time. Trump has used -- and will use -- the PAC to fund his political activities. He has already promised to campaign against Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) and endorsed, among others, Rep. Mo Brooks in the Alabama Senate race and Rep. Jody Hice's bid to be the next Georgia secretary of state. "I stand before you this evening filled with confidence that in 2022, we are going to take back the House and we are going to reclaim the Senate," Trump told RNC donors over the weekend in Florida. "And then in 2024, a Republican candidate is going to win the White House." (In that same speech, Trump also attacked Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell in deeply personal terms.) There is also the America First Legal Foundation, which was formed in late March by longtime Trump confidante Stephen Miller for the purpose of organizing legal challenges to policies enacted by President Joe Biden and his administration. And yes, Trump publicly endorsed it, too -- calling Miller "a fearless, principled fighter for the America First movement. He has backbone, integrity, and never gives up." And don't forget the Conservative Partnership Institute, a sort-of training ground for future Trump conservatives that was founded by former South Carolina Sen. Jim DeMint -- and which former Trump White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows joined in January. Taken together, the groups allow Trump to exert maximum influence over the party and its direction in not just the coming months but future years. And while the groups' main goal will, undoubtedly, be to position to Trump to walk to the 2024 Republican nomination if he decides to pursue it, there are other reverberations --- whether planned or not -- from what is happening here. The establishment wing of the Republican Party, with McConnell at its head, is trying to move along from Trump. McConnell slammed Trump for his role in the January 6 US Capitol riot (although he voted against convicting Trump on impeachment charges over his role). An outside group aligned with McConnell just endorsed Murkowski in Alaska. The problem with that is two-fold: 1) Trump has zero interest in being moved on from and 2) The GOP base still sees Trump as its unquestioned leader. The construction of Trump Inc. in the political space is evidence that the former President (and his many minions, hangers-on and family members) are not only in this for the long haul but have absolutely no problem in building an infrastructure designed to marginalize the establishment's pillars of influence. What Trump is doing will force many major donors (and plenty of small-dollar donors too) to decide between giving to Trumpworld or the RNC as well as the various other establishment groups and committees that have always been the vessels through which conservative money flows. And that is a BIG problem for the Republican establishment. This story was first published on CNN.com, "Donald Trump is building a shadow Republican Party." The conference presents attendees the opportunity to engage with multiple disciplines, families of children with PFD and content experts through evidence-based assessment and management of PFD," said Jaclyn Pederson, chief executive officer of Feeding Matters. Arizona-based nonprofit Feeding Matters, the first organization in the world dedicated to advancing the system of care for pediatric feeding disorder (PFD) is proud to host the upcoming 8th annual International Pediatric Feeding Disorder Conference (IPFDC). Now proficient in virtual conferencing, the IPFDC 2021 will be streamed live April 29-30, 2021, and all sessions will be available on-demand until May 31, 2021. The two-day conference is the largest of its kind and is accredited by The American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA) as well as the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education. Feeding Matters recognizes the importance of a collaborative care model and invites all healthcare disciplines to attend the IPFDC. Every healthcare professional will receive a certificate with CE hours along with a program syllabus that can be submitted to their respective association. The event is presented by Mead Johnson Nutrition and Aveanna Healthcare Medical Solutions and underwritten by several additional sponsors. Since 2008, the IPFDC has been a leader in providing evidence-based education for the evaluation and treatment of children with PFD featuring intermediate and advanced-level sessions formatted into lightning talks, breakout sessions, and keynote presentations. This years conference will bring together a lineup of more than 30 of the pediatric feeding communitys foremost experts, leaders, and contributors. In response to the COVID-19 pandemic there will be general sessions focused on telehealth. And in continued effort to heighten the individual family engagement experience, there will be reduced cost and pre- conference options specifically designed for families impacted by PFD. Visit this link to learn more about all of this years internationally renowned presenters. You may also view their biographies and disclosures here. To register for the conference visit: 8th International PFD Conference. And new to the conference this year attendees can enjoy robust networking opportunities and the first annual pre-conference session, a virtual and interactive kick-off event with dueling pianos and a virtual 5k. To register for these conference options visit: Pre-Conference events. For more information on the joining the 5k event between April 2325 and purchasing Feeding Matters 5k merchandise please visit: IPFDC Virtual 5k. We hope that the entirely virtual and on-demand nature of this years conference inspires even more healthcare professionals and parents from around the world who serve children with PFD to join us and advance their skills or earn continuing education units, said Jaclyn Pederson, chief executive officer of Feeding Matters. The conference presents attendees the opportunity to engage with multiple disciplines, families of children with PFD and content experts through evidence-based assessment and management of PFD. Our goal is that every participant walks away with tools for intervention and the ability to earlier identify children with PFD, Pederson concluded. To secure your registration or see the complete schedule with session descriptions for the years most prolific and informative pediatric feeding conference, visit International Pediatric Feeding Disorder Conference. About Feeding Matters For kids with pediatric feeding disorder (PFD), every bite of food can be painful, scary, or simply impossible to swallow, potentially impeding nutrition, development, growth, and overall well-being. Yet, there is no functional system of care for PFD locally, nationally, or internationally. Thats why Feeding Matters is dedicated to creating a world where children with pediatric feeding disorder will thrive. Established in 2006, Feeding Matters is the first organization in the world uniting the concerns of families with the fields leading advocates, experts, and allied healthcare professionals to ignite unprecedented change to the system of care through advocacy, education, support, and research including a stand-alone diagnosis, the International Pediatric Feeding Disorder Conference, and the Infant and Child Feeding Questionnaire. In 2019, Feeding Matters reached more than 125,000 individuals in 50 states and 143 countries through their programs and website. To learn more about pediatric feeding disorder, visit feedingmatters.org or follow us on Facebook, Instagram and YouTube at @FeedingMatters. Media Contacts: Stephanie Sanstead Public Relations stephanie@communicadenceco.com 602-476-9997 Jaclyn Pederson, MHI Chief Executive Officer Feeding Matters jpederson@feedingmatters.org 602.690.6680 US Secretary of State Antony Blinken holds a joint news conference with the NATO secretary general and US secretary of Defense on April 14 at the NATO headquarters in Brussels. AFP-Yonhap U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken made an unannounced visit to Afghanistan on Thursday to sell Afghan leaders and a wary public on President Joe Biden's decision to withdraw all American troops from the country and end America's longest-running war. Blinken was meeting with Afghan President Ashraf Ghani, chief executive Abdullah Abdullah, and civic figures, a day after Biden announced that the remaining 2,500 U.S. soldiers in Afghanistan would be coming home by the 20th anniversary of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks that led to the U.S. invasion. His trip also came after NATO immediately followed suit, saying its roughly 7,000 non-American forces in Afghanistan would be departing within a few months, ending the foreign military presence that had been a fact of life for a generation of Afghans already reeling from more than 40 years of conflict. Blinken sought to reassure the Afghan leadership that the withdrawal did not mean an end to the U.S.-Afghan relationship. ''I wanted to demonstrate with my visit the ongoing to commitment of the United States to the Islamic Republic and the people of Afghanistan,'' Blinken told Ghani as they met at the presidential palace in Kabul. ''The partnership is changing, but the partnership itself is enduring.'' ''We respect the decision and are adjusting our priorities,'' Ghani told Blinken, expressing gratitude for the sacrifices of US troops. Blinken arrived in the Afghan capital from Brussels where he and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin briefed NATO officials on the move and NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg announced the alliance would also be leaving. Biden, Blinken, Austin and Stoltenberg have all sought to put a brave face on the pullout, maintaining that the U.S.- and NATO-led missions to Afghanistan had achieved their goal of decimating Osama bin Laden's al-Qaida network that launched the 9/11 attacks and clearing the country of terrorist elements that could use Afghan soil to plot similar strikes. However, that argument has faced pushback from some U.S, lawmakers and human rights advocates who say the withdrawal will result in the loss of freedoms that Afghans enjoyed after the Taliban was ousted from power in late 2001. Later, in a meeting with Abdullah, Blinken repeated his message, saying that ''we have a new chapter, but it is a new chapter that we're writing together.'' ''We are grateful to your people, your country, your administration,'' Abdullah said. Despite billions of U.S. dollars in aid, Afghanistan 20 years on has a poverty rate of 52 per cent according to World Bank figures. That means more than half of Afghanistan's 36 million people live on less than $1.90 a day. Afghanistan is also considered one of the worst countries in the world to be a woman according to the Georgetown Institute for Women Peace and Security. For many Afghans the past two decades have been disappointing, as corruption has overtaken successive governments and powerful warlords have amassed wealth and loyal militias who are well armed. Many Afghans fear worsening chaos even more once America leaves. Peace talks between the Taliban and the Afghan government are at a stalemate but are supposed to resume later this month in Istanbul. Under an agreement signed between the Trump administration and the Taliban last year, the U.S. was to have completed its military withdrawal by May 1. Although Biden is blowing through that deadline, angering the Taliban leadership, his plan calls for the pull-out to begin on May 1. The NATO withdrawal will commence the same day. ''It is time to end America's longest war,'' Biden said in his announcement in Washington on Tuesday, but he added that the U.S. will ''not conduct a hasty rush to the exit.'' ''We cannot continue the cycle of extending or expanding our military presence in Afghanistan hoping to create the ideal conditions for our withdrawal, expecting a different result,'' said Biden, who delivered his address from the White House Treaty Room, the same location where President George W. Bush announced the start of the war. ''I am now the fourth United States president to preside over an American troop presence in Afghanistan. Two Republicans. Two Democrats. I will not pass this responsibility to a fifth.'' Biden, along with Blinken and Austin in Brussels, vowed that the U.S. would remain committed to Afghanistan's people and development. ''Bringing our troops home does not mean ending our relationship with Afghanistan or our support for the country,'' Blinken said. ''Our support, our engagement and our determination remain.'' Austin also said that the U.S. military, after withdrawing from Afghanistan, will keep counterterrorism ''capabilities'' in the region to keep pressure on extremist groups operating within Afghanistan. Asked for details, he declined to elaborate on where those U.S. forces would be positioned or in what numbers. (AP) Pokhara, April 15 Minutes after the Gandaki Provincial Assembly Secretariat received a notice from the Province Chief (Governor)s Office that the current session of the assembly has been prorogued, opposition parties have filed a no-confidence motion against Chief Minister Prithvi Subba Gurung. Gurung had recommended for the prorogation after the Nepali Congress, CPN-Maoist Centre, Janata Samajwadi Party, and Rastriya Janamorcha finalised a deal to file a no-confidence motion against him. Despite the end of the current session, the opposition parties except Janamorcha filed the motion, proposing Krishna Chandra Nepali Pokharel as Gurungs successor. The Congress partys lawmaker Kumar Khadka says Janamorcha has also expressed its commitment to voting in favour of the motion. After the registration of the motion, the Congress lawmakers also submitted an application to the Governor Amik Sherchan, demanding he summon the new special session of the legislative. The constitution has it that the governor shall summon the session upon receiving such an application from at least one-fourth of members of the assembly. In young adults, brain tumours can be benign for years before they switch their behaviour and become highly aggressive. It is not clear why this happens. Researchers at King's College London Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology, & Neuroscience, in collaboration with King's College Hospital NHS Foundation Trust, have found small clusters of cells in the brain that identify locations where tumours could become malignant. The study, which has been published in Neuro-Oncology Advances today, analysed pieces of living human brain tissue from 20 people undergoing brain tumour surgery at King's College Hospital, the largest neuro-oncology centre in Europe. The researchers found groups of tumour cells clustered around blood vessels and believe that these sites could be the seedbeds for malignant progression, the process by which a tumour becomes a fast growing and uncontrolled cancer. To study the brain tissue, neurosurgeons cooled the surface of the brain. They then took a sample and placed it into a cerebrospinal fluid solution. Once it had been transported to the lab, the tissue was then placed into a miniaturised incubation chamber specially designed for this study, where it was bathed in a solution that makes the living tumour cells fluoresce and more easily studied under a microscope. Dr Gerald Finnerty, Lead author at King's IoPPN and Honorary Consultant Neurologist at King's College Hospital said, "This research is hugely significant. The "hotspots" we found exhibited many of the hallmarks of cancer. The ability to pinpoint areas at high risk of malignancy gives us a much better chance of establishing why the brain tumour becomes malignant." Brain cancers are difficult to treat because they are so invasive. Even after surgery and chemoradiotherapy there is still a high risk that some cancerous cells can be left behind, increasing the likelihood that the cancer will return. This unfortunately means that many of the young adults it affects do not survive beyond a year. Dr Alastair Kirby, First author on the study said, "It has been a privilege to work with brain tumour patients and our neurosurgical team to deliver this highly innovative research. Live human brain tissue offers great opportunities to study how a person's brain tumour responds to treatments. This will revolutionise therapy and bring precision medicine of brain cancer one step closer." ### This research was made possible thanks to funding provided by the Medical Research Council (UK), Psychiatry Research Trust, and the Inman Charity. Notes to Editors "Multicellular 'hotspots' harbour high-grade potential in lower-grade gliomas" (https:/ / doi. org/ 10. 1093/ noajnl/ vdab026 ) (Alastair J. Kirby, Jose P. Lavrador, Istvan Bodi, Francesco Vergani, Ranjeev Bhangoo, Keyoumars Ashkan, Gerald T. Finnerty) was published in Neuro-Oncology Advances.) For further information and interviews with the authors, please contact Patrick O'Brien, Senior Media Officer, on 07813 706 151. About King's College London and the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience King's College London is one of the top 10 UK universities in the world (QS World University Rankings, 2018/19) and among the oldest in England. King's has more than 31,000 students (including more than 12,800 postgraduates) from some 150 countries worldwide, and some 8,500 staff. The Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience (IoPPN) at King's College London is the premier centre for mental health and related neurosciences research in Europe. It produces more highly cited outputs (top 1% citations) on mental health than any other centre (SciVal 2019) and on this metric we have risen from 16th (2014) to 4th (2019) in the world for highly cited neuroscience outputs. World-leading research from the IoPPN has made, and continues to make, an impact on how we understand, prevent and treat mental illness and other conditions that affect the brain. https:/ / www. kcl. ac. uk/ ioppn @KingsIoPPN King's College Hospital NHS Foundation Trust is one of the UK's largest and busiest teaching hospitals, training over 900 dentists, 750 doctors and 300 nurses every year. The Trust is recognized internationally for its work in liver disease and transplantation, neurosciences, cardiac, haemato-oncology, stroke and major trauma. On 1 October 2013, King's took over the running of the Princess Royal University Hospital in Bromley and Orpington Hospital, as well as some services at Beckenham Beacon and Queen Mary's Hospital, Sidcup. The new enlarged organisation has over 10,500 staff and provides over 1 million patient contacts a year. 9,000 babies are delivered by our hospitals each year, and over 750 patients come to our Emergency Departments every day. For more information, please visit the website. You can also support the work of King's College Hospital at supportkings.org.uk King's Health Partners Academic Health Sciences Centre (AHSC) is a pioneering collaboration between King's College London and Guy's and St Thomas', King's College Hospital and South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trusts. We work collectively to make sure that the lessons from research are used more swiftly, effectively and systematically to provide better and more joined up physical and mental health care for people. Our partnership brings together: * three of the UK's leading NHS Foundation Trusts * a world-leading university for health research and education * nearly 4.3 million patient contacts * more than 43,000 NHS and university staff * 31,000 students * a combined annual turnover of more than 3.7 billion http://www. kingshealthpartners. org @kingshealth At King's College Hospital we fundraise for the best in treatment, research and health education, leading-edge equipment and improving well-being in our communities. By uniting doctors, nurses, researchers and academics with our supporters and volunteers we can provide the best patient care that goes above and beyond. Find out more and support us at supportkings.org.uk The Medical Research Council is at the forefront of scientific discovery to improve human health. Founded in 1913 to tackle tuberculosis, the MRC now invests taxpayers' money in some of the best medical research in the world across every area of health. Thirty-three MRC-funded researchers have won Nobel prizes in a wide range of disciplines, and MRC scientists have been behind such diverse discoveries as vitamins, the structure of DNA and the link between smoking and cancer, as well as achievements such as pioneering the use of randomised controlled trials, the invention of MRI scanning, and the development of a group of antibodies used in the making of some of the most successful drugs ever developed. Today, MRC-funded scientists tackle some of the greatest health problems facing humanity in the 21st century, from the rising tide of chronic diseases associated with ageing to the threats posed by rapidly mutating micro-organisms. The Medical Research Council is part of UK Research and Innovation. https:/ / mrc. ukri. org/ The Psychiatry Research Trust's sole aim is to raise funds for mental health and brain disorders research into these devastating conditions at the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience (KCL) and its associated Mental Health Trust (South London & Maudsley Foundation Trust). Our target is not just to find better treatments for sufferers but also to understand the underlying causes of mental illness and brain disorders with the goal of finding means of preventions and cures for these illnesses. We support young scientists in a wide range of mental health topics ranging across the life span, including Autism and Hyperactivity in childhood, Eating Disorders, Alcohol and Drug Addiction, Motor Neurone Disease, Depression, Schizophrenia and Alzheimer's and Parkinson's Disease in the elderly. Many more conditions affect individuals of all ages. Mental illness and brain disorders are more common than many assume - they are part of everyone's life is some way. The Inman Charity (registered charity number 261366) supports a wide range of UK registered charities. The directors are particularly interested in supporting the following areas of charitable work: Medical research, Care of the elderly, General welfare, Hospices, The Deaf and Blind, Care of the physically & mentally disabled and The Armed Forces Harnessing the fusion power of the stars requires the control of plasma and a powerful diagnostic tool to analyse it As the world's energy demands grow, so too does growing concern over the environmental impact of power production. The need for a safe, clean, and reliable energy source has never been clearer. Fusion power could fulfil such a need. A review paper published in EPJ H examines the 6-decade history of neutral particle analysis (NPA), developed in Ioffe Institute, Saint Petersburg, Russia, a vital diagnostic tool used in magnetic plasma confinement devices such as tokamaks that will house the nuclear fusion process and generate the clean energy of the future. As the review's corresponding author Dr Pavel Goncharov, laboratory head at the Advanced Plasma Research Laboratory, Saint Petersburg Polytechnic University, Russia, explains, fusion power requires bringing processes that occur within the cores of stars down to earth. "Plasma is the dominant state of the visible matter in the present Universe and nuclear fusion powers the stars," says the physicist. "The ability to burn deuterium formed at the beginning of the Universe and generate energy represents a new height for mankind." The key to this is creating and constraining plasma with powerful magnetic fields. But, understanding the fusion processes with plasma and how this is best harnessed also requires powerful diagnostic techniques, and NPA is such a method. The concept of NPA originates in the 1951 work of Andrei D. Sakharov, a Nobel Peace Prize laureate who realised that within a plasma fast-moving hydrogen ions would collide with slow-moving neutral hydrogen atoms transferring their charge. Thus, measuring the flux of these fast neutral atoms as they are ejected from the plasma is a good way of diagnosing its ion distributions. The birth and history of NPA is not only closely related to the history of controlled fusion physics but will play a key role in its future. The technique will be one of the key diagnostic methods employed by ITER?--?currently the world's largest fusion experiment, which hopes to bridge the gap between smaller scale experiments and a functioning nuclear fusion power plant. "Three factors played a role in our interest in fusion science," remark the authors. "First, it involves multiple branches of fundamental science. Second, this field is of great practical importance. Third, a new clean and abundant energy source is the basis for a better future for mankind. This is an impressive combination." ### Reference Kiwanis International is a 500,000-plus member international organization working to improve lives in the communities served; particularly of children. The Midland Kiwanis Club is celebrating its 100th year, and it has always supported Midland County schools. As a service club, Kiwanians volunteer their time to enhance playgrounds and to assist classroom teachers, particularly in areas of science and math. Pre-pandemic efforts existed in preschool, grade school and high school and anxiously await an ability to engage again next school year. For the past several years, Midland Kiwanis Club members have collectively worked to volunteer at least once per week at the West Midland Family Center Preschool; reading with children, helping with planned activities, demonstrating musical instruments, etc. In recent years, an added focus includes a weekly Wonder Wednesday hands-on focus to spark the childrens curiosity and basic science awareness skills. Activities include traditional bicarbonate and vinegar experiments and exploring which items would float or sink, but also exploring dissolution differences between cold and hot water, viscosity differences of condiments, dissolving egg shells and making "rubber eggs," making robot hands, dissolving Styrofoam cups, making soap powered paper boats, and more. Involvement in elementary school goes back to 1996, when Kiwanian Cal Goeders responded to a request from the Midland Public Schools administration for science support. Joined early on by Roger Briggs Sr., they became known as the "Kiwanis Science Guys." The effort expanded to engage other Kiwanians, yielding a volunteer for each grade at Longview Elementary to support the teachers with hands-on science activities. "It was particularly rewarding to assist the teachers and curriculum such that MEAP scores climbed significantly at the school over the following decade, said Goeders. The science volunteer effort moved from Longview to Eastlawn and then to Central Park Elementary (CPE) as school changes occurred. Most recently Kiwanian Roger Briggs, Sr., his son Mike Briggs, and Kevin Shaughnessy have worked with some of the third and all of the fourth grade teachers. The Science Guys proved to be one of the most caring, dedicated groups of volunteers that I have worked with! They would do anything to support the kids and the teachers! They helped teachers set up experiments and run small groups with hands-on activities, said Kelly Narlock, fourth grade teacher at CPE, who started interacting with the Kiwanis Science Guys at Longview. Narlock continued, They were always a strong advocate for the science curriculum and even attending some district training to keep up with changes over the years. The Science Guys are truly passionate about helping students to be immersed in all areas of science. They would research the topics and even supply supplemental activities to extend student's learning. Best of all, they are dependable and kids anxiously awaited their arrival every week! Midland Kiwanian involvement in high school started in 2011 when Charlie Nielsen moved from the Eastlawn Elementary effort to support Mary Fredells advanced chemistry efforts at Dow High School. Nielsen's bachelor's of science degree in organic chemistry and 34-year Dow Chemical career working on a variety of research focuses, leveraged nicely into his Kiwanis volunteer support with AP chemistry students, as well as assisting with I.B. chemistry and general chemistry labs. He has also been supportive of helping students in supplemental topics beyond the curriculum. "I have really enjoyed working with and supporting the teachers and curriculum. Some of the more interesting efforts have been in working with an I.B. chemistry student to isolate caffeine for their self-designed lab and then arranging a tour of Impact Analytical to see Nuclear Magnetic Resonance analysis of the sample, and working with a group of Advanced Placement students to build their own Differential Scanning Calorimeter," Nielsen said. Nielsen has also provided technical mentoring for students competing in regional and state competitions. Just recently, he mentored four first place teams participating in the annual Mid-Michigan Regional A.H. Nickless Competition, where cash prizes were awarded to students and schools. This resulted in a total of $80,000 being awarded to Dow Highs science budget. Also, Nielsen mentored two ninth graders in Michigan Science & Engineering Fair project to use chemical degradation kinetics to simulate vaccine potency during shipment and storage won third place in their grade level. This same project won the MIDHHS Explore Lab Science Creativity and Exploration first place at the Flint Regional Science & Engineering Fair. The Midland Kiwanis Foundation has provided financial grants for numerous needs, such as textbooks, robotics, field trips, camps, and classroom aids. The recent impact has been approximately $100,000 since 2010. Were proud to have several of our Kiwanians engaged with Midland County teachers in a variety of education support efforts. It very much embodies our International Mission to improve our community, one child at a time, said John Anderson, current Midland Kiwanis president. Kevin Shaughnessy, a member of Midland Kiwanis and a retiree of The Dow Chemical Co., authored this piece as part of the Daily News' Community Connections intiative. Jorge Alberto Garcia-Zuniga, 60, was charged with three felony counts of sexual penetration of an unconscious person by fraudulent representation A California massage therapist has been detained for allegedly sexually assaulting three of his clients while providing services to them in his own home, according to local authorities. Jorge Alberto Garcia-Zuniga, 60, was arrested and charged with three felony counts of sexual penetration of an unconscious person by fraudulent representation, El Monte Police Department said on Wednesday. Garcia-Zuniga, also known as 'Sobador,' is a licensed massage therapist. He was detained on February 17. He has been under investigation by the El Monte police department since February 13, authorities shared. The massage therapist was identified as the perpetrator who sexually assaulted a woman during a scheduled massage that occurred at his home on the 11300 block of Medina Court. Police have so far identified three victims but believe there are more. Authorities have asked that anyone with more information to contact the El Monte Police Department at 626-580-2100. New York, April 15, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Reportlinker.com announces the release of the report "Dementia Drugs Market - Growth, Trends, COVID-19 Impact, and Forecasts (2021 - 2026)" - https://www.reportlinker.com/p06062856/?utm_source=GNW The outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic is expected to have a significant impact on the Dementia drugs market. According to a research study by Katya Numbers et al., published in Nature Reviews Neurology, in January 2021, the population with dementia are at high risk of contracting COVID-19 infection as the cognitive symptoms cause difficulty to abide by the safety guidelines that were proposed to contain the viral spread. Furthermore, older populations with dementia are also more likely to have more severe disease consequences than those without dementia. Additionally, the statement from Office for National Statistics UK 2020, stated that dementia and Alzheimers disease were the most common pre-existing conditions found among deaths involving COVID-19 in the United Kingdom. However, the COVID-19 pandemic is expected to harm the new product launches, which are estimated to be the most prominent factor of the growth of the market. For instance, in April 2020, Biogen has delayed Alzheimers and dementia drug filing to FDA due to the complexity of data analysis and the impact of COVID-19 on its R&D resources. The increasing prevalence of target disease and the growing geriatric population suffering from these diseases are expected to promote the growth of the Dementia Drugs market. The increasing burden of dementia cases is one of the major factors driving the growth of the global dementia drug market. For instance, as per the Alzheimers Disease International, globally, in 2020, there were over 50 million people with dementia. This number is projected to double every 20 years, reaching 82 million in 2030 and 152 million in 2050. Furthermore, the market players focusing on enhancing the business presence through strategic product developments, product launches, partnerships, collaborations, mergers, acquisitions, and expansions are expected to support the growth of the target market. For instance, as per the National Clinical Trials (NCT) Registry, Eli Lilly and Company is conducting a phase III clinical trial to evaluate the safety and efficacy of donanemab in participants with early Alzheimers disease. The trial started in June 2020 and is expected to complete in December 2023. Thus, increasing research and development activities in the development of effective therapies, the market studied is expected to project at significant growth rates over the forecast period. Also, the increasing government funding for the target disease care, support, and research activities is estimated to fuel the growth of this industry. Various organizations involved in this activity include the National Institute of Health (NIH), Alzheimers Association, and National Institute on Aging. In 2019, the NIH has spent around USD 387 million on research projects for Alzheimers Disease-Related Dementias (ADRD). These initiatives are anticipated to provide this market with growth opportunities. However, factor such as high failure rates of drugs at approval stages is expected to impede market growth over the forecast period. Key Market Trends The Alzheimers Disease Segment Dominates the Market and is Expected to Continue the Same Over the Forecast Period Alzheimers disease is expected to grow at a lucrative CAGR during the forecast period. The high prevalence of the diseases is due to the growing geriatric population base coupled with the weak immune system. According to the World Health Organization, Alzheimers disease is the most common form of dementia and may contribute to 6080% of cases worldwide. Large autopsy studies show that more than half of individuals with Alzheimers dementia have Alzheimers disease brain changes (pathology) as well as the brain changes of one or more other causes of dementia, such as cerebrovascular disease or Lewy body disease according to Alzheimers Association: Alzheimers Disease Facts and Figures, Alzheimers Dementia 2021 report. Furthermore, as per the Alzheimers Association 2021 report, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved five drugs for the treatment of Alzheimers, namely rivastigmine, galantamine, donepezil, memantine, and memantine combined with donepezil. A sixth drug, aducanumab, is under FDA review for potential approval as of 2021. Of these drugs, aducanumab is the only one that may potentially slow the progression of Alzheimers, and it has been tested only for individuals with Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI) or early Alzheimers dementia. The vast majority of people who develop Alzheimers dementia are aged 65 or older. This is called late-onset Alzheimers. nearly 5.3% of people aged 65 to 74, 13.8% of people age 75 to 84, and 34.6% of people age 85 or older have Alzheimers dementia in the United States. Additionally, an estimated 6.2 million Americans aged 65 and older are living with Alzheimers dementia in 2021 and is projected to reach 13.5 million by 2050. Moreover, as per the research article published in Translational Research and Clinical Interventions, 2020, there were 121 agents in clinical trials for the treatment of Alzheimers disease. Twenty?nine agents are in 36 Phase 3 trials, 65 agents are in 73 Phase 2 trials, and 27 agents are in 27 Phase 1 trial. Twelve agents in trials target cognitive enhancement and 12 are intended to treat neuropsychiatric and behavioral symptoms. There are 97 agents in disease modification trials as of Feb 2020. Thus, owing to the increasing burden of Alzheimers associated dementia and the increase in the clinical trials for the development of advanced therapeutics, the studied segment is expected to witness steady growth over the forecast period. The European Region Holds the Major Share in the Studied Market and is Expected to Continue the Same Over the Forecast Period Europe is expected to dominate the Dementia Drugs market as a result of the presence of sophisticated healthcare facilities and infrastructure in European countries, such as the United Kingdom and Germany. Also, the market in Europe is expected to grow due to increasing R&D initiatives, increasing prevalence of target diseases, an increase in geriatric population, and the presence of favorable pharmaceutical regulations. The country also has a large number of companies operating in the healthcare sector and has a large amount of government funding and awareness programs. As per Germany Federal Statistical Office 2020 report, there were about 83 million people in Germany in 2020. Of these 16.2 million people were above 67 years of age and this number is projected to reach 21.4 million in 2040. As the number of the elderly population is expected to increase in near future, the incidence of neurological disorders such as Alzheimers disease dementia is expected to be high, which in turn propels the market studied. Furthermore, according to the Alzheimer Europe 2019 report, it was estimated that the number of people with dementia in the United Kingdom in 2018 was around 1,031,396 and this number is expected to double to around 1,977,399 in 2050. Similarly, a percentage of the overall population with dementia is estimated to represent 2.67% in 2050 compared to 1.56% in 2018 in the United Kingdom. As the number of people with dementia is expected to double in near future, the market is predicted to boost over the forecast period in the region. Also, the federal government has been primarily focused on funding large research institutions that conduct clinical and care research. Recently in 2019, Germanys Julich Research Centre has reported successful results from the first phase of human clinical testing of a new Alzheimers drug. The new molecule, which is called PRI-002, directly breaks down the toxic amyloid oligomers and has been shown to reverse cognitive decline in mice with fully-developed pathological characteristics. Also, companies have been looking forward to expanding their market presence in Dementia Drugs through collaborations, mergers, and acquisitions. For example, in October 2019, Germany-based Vivoryon Therapeutics raised EUR 43 million on Euronext Amsterdam to fund a phase IIb trial of a drug that could slow the progression of Alzheimers disease and related dementia issues. Thus, given the aforementioned factors, the studied market is expected to witness significant growth over the forecast period in the European region. Competitive Landscape The dementia drugs market is moderately competitive and consists of local as well as global players. The major players include companies such as Apotex Inc, AstraZeneca, Aurobindo Pharma, Eisai Co., Ltd, Eli Lilly and Company, Johnson and Johnson, Pfizer, Inc., Teva Pharmaceuticals, and Zydus Cadila. In an attempt to enhance market position, the key players have been investing in new product development, collaborations, along with strategic alliances such as mergers and acquisitions. For instance, in July 2020, Eisai Co. Ltd., co-developed and began the provision of the brain performance application Easiit App, as a strategy towards the preparation against dementia based on a business alliance agreement with DeSC Healthcare Co. Ltd. This was carried out to expand the treatment options and gain a competitive advantage. Reasons to Purchase this report: - The market estimate (ME) sheet in Excel format - 3 months of analyst support Read the full report: https://www.reportlinker.com/p06062856/?utm_source=GNW About Reportlinker ReportLinker is an award-winning market research solution. Reportlinker finds and organizes the latest industry data so you get all the market research you need - instantly, in one place. __________________________ Care home residents are being 'trapped in solitary confinement' by cruel rules forcing them to isolate for 14 days if families take them out for a walk in the park, campaigners warned yesterday. While the rest of society is enjoying the return of basic freedoms, residents are effectively banned from leaving their homes for a stroll or a trip to a cafe with loved ones. In what was branded a 'blatant human rights abuse', guidance from the Department of Health states that those living in care homes have to self-isolate alone for 14 days if they make a visit outside the home. The guidelines apply even though almost all have now had both doses of the vaccine, and homes regularly undergo routine testing for Covid-19. It also means that residents are unable to vote in person in the UK's local elections on May 6, without having to isolate for 14 days afterwards. Campaigners want the rule scrapped immediately but the Government says it is needed 'to manage the risk of residents returning from visits bringing infection into the care home environment'. However, the Department of Health guidance itself acknowledges: 'We recognise that in practice, this is likely to mean that many residents will not wish to make a visit out of the home.' Diane Mayhew, from campaign group Rights for Residents, said: 'People have been cooped up in their care homes for 13 months. Dan Lees and Neil Frost of Mad Etiquette perform through the front window glass for residents at the Spring Lane Nursing Home on December 18, 2020 in London Stroke survivor Stephen Hayes, 51, is visited on his birthday by his wife, Karon Hayes, after months of only visiting each other through a window 'They have now almost all had two doses of the vaccine, but even as lockdown is lifted they are effectively trapped in solitary confinement. OUR SON IS JUST LIKE A PRISONER Sarah and Paul Eastlake have only seen Matthew, 27, (pictured with his mother) who is severely autistic, five times in the last year A couple from Essex whose son is in a care home say he is like 'a prisoner with no parole date' because of the 14-day isolation rule. Sarah and Paul Eastlake have only seen Matthew, 27, (pictured with his mother) who is severely autistic, five times in the last year. They are desperate for him to come home for the weekend, as he did once a month before the pandemic, but he would not be able to cope with isolation for a fortnight afterwards. Mrs Eastlake, 53, of Harlow, said Matthew has had both doses of the vaccine and she and her husband have had their first. She said: 'We're prepared to minimise contact for the fortnight before to have him home but the council don't even consider it. They have a blanket ban. The residents are prisoners with no parole date. It's not rational.' Matthew Eastlake, 27, lives in a care home Advertisement 'If relatives want to take loved ones out for a walk on a beautiful spring day, to the park or to get a coffee, they will get punished by 14 days in isolation. This means residents are effectively banned from days out that families would really treasure and would uplift their mental health.' Miss Mayhew added: 'The pubs and shops are open and care home staff can come and go as they please and meet up in groups of six, yet residents aren't even allowed a day out. It is absolutely crazy.' Jenny Morrison, also from Rights for Residents, told Parliament's Human Rights Committee yesterday: 'The Government's guidance on visiting out of care homes really is a blatant human rights abuse. 'People are now meeting up in groups of six, in parks, getting their haircuts and going to gyms, including carers. 'And yet our loved ones who have spent 13 months in isolation cannot go out and enjoy a spring afternoon for two hours unless they agree to come back to the care home and isolate on their own for 14 days.' Professor Martin Green, chief executive of charity Care England, told the Human Rights Committee: 'It is frankly ridiculous. It means people won't be able to do out of home visits. It is a particular issue for people with learning disabilities who often go and stay with relatives or students who go out to colleges or workplaces.' Zac Taylor, from Mencap, said the 14-days self-isolation period was 'very inhibiting' for those with learning disabilities. The National Care Forum, which represents care homes, added that residents' access to the voting booth for local elections on May 6 will effectively be restricted by the 14-day isolation period. Chief executive Vic Rayner said: 'The whole experience of voting for the majority of people living in care homes will have been in person, often for many years at the same polling station. 'Getting the vote is a rite of passage. Losing the right to vote in person is a national scandal.' In November, the Daily Mail launched a major campaign for an end to cruel visiting bans at care homes that led to sharp deteriorations in the mental and physical health of residents. Since Monday, residents have been able to welcome two visitors with the latest easing of lockdown restrictions, meaning many can finally see their grandchildren. Residents are also able to receive additional close contact visits from an 'essential care giver'. But campaigners and MPs say that a postcode lottery remains, and that many families are only getting the 'bare minimum' of one supervised 30-minute visit a week. A Department of Health and Social Care spokesman said: 'We understand contact with family and friends is vital to the health and wellbeing of residents and we are doing everything we can to provide safe opportunities to meet. Guidance on visits out of care homes will be kept under review.' North Korea marked the anniversary of the birth of its founder Kim Il Sung Thursday, with mask-wearing citizens placing flowers before his statue in Pyongyang. The grandfather of the current leader Kim Jong Un was born 109 years ago and April 15 is the most important date in the nuclear-armed state's annual political calendar, where it is known as the Day of the Sun. But the country is more isolated than ever after it imposed a strict border lockdown to protect itself from the coronavirus pandemic that first emerged in neighbouring China. It still insists that it has not had any cases of the disease -- a claim that analysts doubt -- but has paid a heavy economic price. Groups of Pyongyang residents went to Mansu hill, where giant bronze statues of founder Kim and his son and successor Kim Jong Il gaze out over the capital, to lay flowers at their base. "Comrades Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong Il will always be with us" read a floral frieze. Citizens, many of the women in traditional dress, were assembled in key locations for performances to mark the occasion. In the streets, everyone wore masks, although the dancers for the shows had their faces uncovered. It represented an increase in festivities compared with last year's subdued events. "North Korea has brought the commemorations back to almost normal compared to last year when most activities were cancelled due to Covid," Yang Moo-jin of the University of North Korean Studies in Seoul told AFP. Nonetheless several usual elements were missing, notably the Pyongyang Marathon, the country's biggest annual tourism money-spinner, which was again cancelled due to the pandemic. Pyongyang has also announced it will not attend the Tokyo Olympics. Leader Kim was absent from the commemorations last year, raising eyebrows at the start of an extended period out of public view that triggered feverish speculation over his health. But, unlike in 2020, a floral basket stood in pride of place in front of the statues, the usual location for his tribute. Story continues Earlier this week he posed for pictures with delegates to a ruling party conference. At a five-yearly party congress in January he repeatedly apologised for mistakes in economic management, saying the last five years had been the "worst" time. North Koreans are taught from birth to revere Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong Il, and all adults wear badges depicting one or both men. Kim Il Sung died in 1994 but remains the country's Eternal President, and his preserved body lies in state in a red-lit chamber at the Kumsusan Palace of the Sun on the outskirts of the capital. cdl-slb/leg Source: Xinhua| 2021-04-15 17:43:26|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close BEIJING, April 15 (Xinhua) -- A speech made by Xi Jinping, general secretary of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee, at a ceremony marking the 95th anniversary of the founding of the CPC will be published Friday in the eighth issue of the Qiushi Journal this year. Xi, also Chinese president and chairman of the Central Military Commission, delivered the speech at the ceremony on July 1, 2016. The birth of the CPC is an epoch-making event, which profoundly changed the course of Chinese history in modern times, the fate and future of the Chinese people and nation, and the direction and pattern of world development, says the article. "We must forever preserve the fighting spirit that Chinese Communists demonstrated when the CPC was founded, and forever preserve our devotion to our people," it says. In its momentous 95-year history, the CPC, relying closely on the Chinese people, has surmounted obstacle after obstacle, and gone from victory to victory, making a great, historic contribution to the Chinese nation, according to the article. The cause of the Chinese nation's rejuvenation, which history and the people have chosen the CPC to lead, is correct, must be always upheld, and can never be doubted, says the article. The path of socialism with Chinese characteristics, which the CPC has led the Chinese people in opening, is correct, must be always upheld, and can never be doubted, it says. The strategy of taking root in China, absorbing the finest achievements of human civilization, and independently achieving national development, which the CPC and the Chinese people have employed, is correct, must be always upheld, and can never be doubted, it adds. "Today, we are closer than ever to realizing the goal of national rejuvenation, and more confident and able than ever to realize this goal. We can now say with complete confidence that the Chinese dream of national rejuvenation has to be achieved, and definitely will be achieved," says the article. Enditem 404 EDMONTON, AB, April 15, 2021 /PRNewswire/ - The Board of Directors of Alberta Investment Management Corporation (AIMCo) is pleased to announce the appointment of Mr. Evan Siddall as Chief Executive Officer. Mr. Siddall will assume his responsibilities on July 1, 2021, and will succeed Kevin Uebelein, who has served in the capacity of CEO since January 1, 2015. Also released today are AIMCo's financial results for the year ended December 31, 2020. On behalf of its 31 Alberta-based pension, endowment and government fund clients, AIMCo earned a total fund return of 2.5% net of all fees, representing approximately $3.0 billion in net investment income, with assets under management reaching $118.6 billion. The annualized total fund returns over four and ten years are 6.1% and 7.7%, respectively. Chief Executive Officer Appointment Evan Siddall most recently served as President & Chief Executive Officer of the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC), a position he has held since January 1, 2014. Under Mr. Siddall's leadership, CMHC transformed itself into a client-centered, innovative, impactful organization. Mr. Siddall served as Special Advisor to the Governor of the Bank of Canada before joining CMHC. His experience also includes 20 years with investment banking firms in Toronto and New York and two years as a senior executive with Irving Oil Limited. Mr. Siddall has a B.A. in Management Economics from the University of Guelph, a law degree from Osgoode Hall Law School and has completed Harvard Business School's Presidents Program in Leadership. "Evan is an executive who is ready to drive the organization forward with an exceptional focus on clients, commitment to collaboration, and deep knowledge of financial services. The Board and I look forward to working in partnership with him in this exciting new chapter for AIMCo." said Mark Wiseman, Chair, AIMCo Board of Directors. "On behalf of the Board of Directors, I want to express our gratitude to Kevin Uebelein for his unwavering commitment to AIMCo during the past six years. The organization is well-positioned as one of Canada's most accomplished institutional investors," added Wiseman. "Kevin's passion for AIMCo is undeniable and he has built a legacy of which all Albertans can be proud." Kevin remains the CEO of AIMCo until June 30, 2021 and will then support transition initiatives. "I am delighted to join Alberta Investment Management Corporation as Chief Executive Officer and to further strengthen the organization's commitment to its clients across all aspects of its business. I am looking forward to working with AIMCo's talented team of professionals in delivering consistently superior investment performance on behalf of our clients," says Evan Siddall, incoming Chief Executive Officer. "The Board has made an excellent choice in selecting Evan Siddall as the new Chief Executive Officer of AIMCo," added Kevin Uebelein, Chief Executive Officer. "Evan is a veteran of the financial services industry and a well-regarded executive with the skill, presence and acumen to lead AIMCo. Albertans have a strong, independent public asset manager in AIMCo an organization that is purpose-built to serve the investment management needs of a diverse group of Alberta public sector clients. I have every confidence that Evan will lead AIMCo to even greater heights for the benefit of its clients and for all Albertans." 2020 Investment Performance Results Despite the global economic impact of COVID-19, AIMCo earn a total fund return of 2.5% net of all fees, on behalf of its clients. Since inception, AIMCo has earned more than $70 billion in net investment income on behalf of its clients, contributing to the well-funded status of Alberta's public sector pension plans and generating significant income for the Alberta Heritage Savings Trust Fund, the proceeds of which have benefited all Albertans. "AIMCo is a long-term investor, in alignment with the objectives of our clients, and accordingly our performance is gauged by investment returns measured in decades, not years. Nevertheless, a year like 2020, where so many asset classes declined in near unison, erasing the typical benefits of well-diversified portfolios, is extremely humbling," said Kevin Uebelein, Chief Executive Officer. "AIMCo has demonstrated complete transparency regarding investment performance in 2020. We undertook a comprehensive review of risk management and believe we are well-positioned going forward." In terms of asset class performance, public market investments continued to gain strength following the challenges of the first quarter in 2020. A broadening of the market rally favoured AIMCo's approach in public equities, while Fixed Income also continued on the path of recovery, with steadily improving absolute returns and relative returns as well. Private Equity investments outperformed overall, while Infrastructure fared less well. Re-positioning the Real Estate portfolio toward industrial and logistics, should drive strong performance in the future, though office and retail were challenged in 2020 as a result of extensive COVID-related measures. Overall, for the one-year period ending December 31, 2020, AIMCo's total fund return is 5.4% below that of its benchmark. Detailed performance information will be available in AIMCo's Annual Report to be released in June 2021. About Alberta Investment Management Corporation AIMCo is one of Canada's largest and most diversified institutional investment managers with more than $118 billion of assets under management. AIMCo was established on January 1, 2008 with a mandate to provide superior long-term investment results for its clients. AIMCo operates at arms-length from the Government of Alberta and invests globally on behalf of 31 pension, endowment and government funds in the Province of Alberta. For more information on AIMCo please visit www.aimco.ca. SOURCE Alberta Investment Management Corporation Related Links www.aimco.ca. PHILOMATH, Ore., April 15, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Are fashionable shoes required to have tight, pointy toes and sky high heels? Not if Softstar has anything to say about it. Softstar, a specialist in minimal leather footwear, handcrafts shoes in Oregon, USA, that incorporate both fashion and function. One of the company's shoe styles, the Ballerine, is a leather ballet flat that combines luscious leather and a sleek, simple design to transition from the cafe to the conference room. "The Ballerine is consistently one of our most popular styles," said Softstar CEO Tricia Salcido. "Our customers love that they can wear beautiful shoes without sacrificing comfort." With hundreds of five star reviews to date, the Ballerine's following is loyal and growing and it's not hard to see why! Here are five reasons why these flats are attracting business professionals and barefoot shoe enthusiasts alike: Softstar Ballerines feature soft leather uppers and flexible soles. 1. Spacious toe box for all-day comfort Unlike most dress shoes for women (and men), the Ballerine features a spacious toe box that does not constrict or compress toes into unnatural formations. Many customers say they can happily wear these flats for extended periods of time without a second thought! 2. Customizable colors The Ballerine is available in a selection of color combinations chosen by Softstar's in-house shoe designers. Customers can also choose their own colors in hundreds of possible combinations to suit their needs and individual personality. 3. Natural non-toxic materials From body care products to clothing and footwear, anything that comes in contact with the skin can be absorbed. Softstar uses premium eco-leather tanned without toxic chemicals, including luscious vegetable tanned leather choices from the prestigious Ecopell tannery. The shoes are also made by hand in Softstar's Oregon workshop, providing local jobs and a low carbon footprint. 4. Minimal, flexible sole The Ballerine features a 4mm Vibram outsole and a lightly cushioned insole for superior comfort. This creates a barefoot-like feel that encourages feet to move and flex naturally. 5. Lightweight and compact for travel The Ballerine takes up a fraction of the space that conventional shoes do. Weighing in at an average of 5 ounces, this style is perfect to roll up in a carry-on or weekend bag. As if the above features weren't enough, the Ballerine also has a durable heel wrap for long-lasting wear and an optional elastic closure for those on the go. For the ideal combination of comfort and class, look no further than the Ballerine by Softstar Shoes. This flat retails for $155 and is available in a wide range of sizes for adults. Please contact Softstar Shoes for more information or to request high-resolution photos or samples. About Softstar Shoes: Softstar has been designing and handcrafting minimal leather footwear since 1985. With an emphasis on high-quality, flexible materials that allow for free and natural movement, the company offers a range of ultra-comfortable and foot-healthy shoe styles for all ages. Each pair is handmade in-house with responsibly sourced materials. Softstar ships worldwide from its workshop in Philomath, Oregon. Contact: Alison Brody (541) 753-5845 [email protected] Softstar Shoes 914 Main Street Philomath, OR 97370 SOURCE Softstar Shoes In this handout provided by the Hennepin County Sheriff's Office, former Brooklyn Center police officer Kim Potter's mugshots at the Hennepin County Jail in Minneapolis, on April 14, 2021. (Hennepin County Sheriff's Office via Getty Images) The Abolition of Doubt Commentary If you were surprised by the firing of Curt Boganey, the city manager of Brooklyn Center, Minnesota, merely for saying that the police officer who shot a wanted criminal was entitled to due process, you havent been paying attention. Kim Potter, the officer in question, says she thought she had reached for her Taser rather than her pistol (she even shouted Taser!) when Daunte Wright, 20, wanted on a weapons charges, attempted to flee from a traffic stop. Wright, a black man, was killed in the incident. Maybe it was, as she claims, an accident, and maybe it wasnt. It sounds like an accident to me, but I admit there must be some doubt. It would once, therefore, have been a matter of course to say that a fair trial should decide the truth of the matter. Now that Potter, who has since resigned, has been charged with second-degree manslaughter in the incident, she will presumably receive a trial, but it wont be a fair one. Mike Elliott, the mayor of Brooklyn Center who fired Boganey for not prejudging her as guilty, has in effect done so himself. Its not, you understand, that he has prejudiced any potential jury by doing so. Its that his own premature guilty verdict and that of any conceivable Minnesota jury have a common determinantwhich is the rioters who took to the streets of Brooklyn Center and other cities in response to the shooting and who, as we already know, have no interest in due process. No more do those who are now awaiting the verdict in the Derek Chauvin trial in nearby Minneapolis and who make no secret of their intention to resume civil violence and attacks on the police there if the verdict goes the wrong way. The problem with due process is precisely that it offers no guarantees against going the wrong way. It might find that the shooting really was an accident, and that wouldnt be consistent with the truth as the rioters understand it. Their truth. And riots or the threat of riots are the means by which they make their truth the only truth that matters, either to Elliott or to potential jury members, who know that they will be made to pay a price if they take a different view from that of the mob. As a Brooklyn Center Council member cited by the Minneapolis Star-Tribune put it, she voted to fire Boganey out of fear of potential reprisals from protestors if she did not. So one denial of due process under threat of violence begets another. The race hustlers in the Democratic party and the media, speaking for the riotous mob, already know that Ms. Potter is guilty. It wasnt an accident, tweeted Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich). Policing in our country is inherently & intentionally racist. At least Elliott, a black man himself and an immigrant from Liberia, implicitly admitted that the shooting might have been an accident. My position, he said, is that we cannot afford to make mistakes that lead to the loss of life of other people in our profession. In other words, there isnt any real difference between his view and that of Tlaib, since to him it doesnt matter if the shooting was a mistake or not. Shes guilty anywaybecause the rioters and their apologists in the media say so. The legal principle of the mens rea, or knowledge of wrongdoing, no longer applies in Minnesota. Despair is real among Black, brown Americans as police mistakes persist, Daunte Wright killed, wrote Suzette Hackney for USA Today. And the quotation marks around mistakes say it all. Dont you know, comrade, that there are no mistakes. Its just one more way in which the dominant ideology of our timeswhich in cases like these is called anti-racism but which goes under many names and is essentially nothing more than an adaptation of MarxistLeninism to 21st-century identity politicsseeks to outlaw doubt and uncertainty along with the intellectual humility which, among non-ideologues, must always acknowledge their possibility. But that, after all, is what ideology does, and its why those are wrong who say that the defense has only to plant a reasonable doubt in the mind of the Chauvin jury to gain an acquittal. No, no, no. They dont get it. The mob lingers in the streets today for no other reason than to signify that there is no possibility of doubt, reasonable or unreasonable. Not in anti-racist land. The mob knows the truththeir truthalready, and you must know what to expect if you dont acknowledge it as truth yourself. Some people laughed at Chelsea Handler when she wrote in a tweet: So pathetic that there is a trial to prove that Derek Chauvin killed George Floyd when there is video of him doing so. I laughed at her myself. But then I realized that she wasnt just making the naive assumption that her interpretation of an amateur video was the only possible one. Not at all. Instead, she was pledging allegiance to the anti-racist ideology which had decided on the spot that it was the only possible onebecause the ideology required it to be so. Doubt, like mistakes, is not allowed in the world of the ideologues who are slowly taking over our justice system, as they have already taken over the media and the Democratic Party. At least not any doubt or mistakes that might benefit their ideological enemieswho, as Tlaib reminds us, include the police. Like her, or Handler or Elliott, the ideologues know the truth already, without any need for such legal niceties as the rules of evidence or mens reabecause their ideology has got it all figured out in advance and has assured them they are on the right side of history. Both Potter and Chauvin are doomed, Im afraidor the mob will know the reason why not. James Bowman is a resident scholar at the Ethics and Public Policy Center. The author of Honor: A History, he is a movie critic for The American Spectator and the media critic for the New Criterion. Views expressed in this article are the opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times. Run-down apartment blocks throughout Hanoi pose deadly threats to their residents, yet authorities have no mechanism to step in and save those they are meant to protect. The capital city is home to 1,579 apartment buildings which were constructed between 1960 and 1992, many of which are in dire need of renovation, according to the municipal Department of Construction. No work can be done on these buildings without consent from 100 percent of the residents, no matter how deadly or uninhabitable they become, according to the construction department. Consent is not the only roadblock the municipal Department of Construction faces in its quest to renovate old buildings. It takes a long time to technically examine the conditions of severely damaged also known as level D apartment buildings," the department noted in a recent statement. "The government has yet to develop proper regulations on the renovation and reconstruction of apartment buildings using build transfer (BT) investment mechanisms. "It has not either formulated policies on relocating and compensating residents, as well as tasking local authorities with managing the process." Apartments in many of these buildings have been illegally enlarged, posing dangers to those who live there, according to the department. An apartment in the Van Chuong condominium area in Dong Da District, Hanoi. Photo: Nam Tran / Tuoi Tre A hallway in the Van Chuong condominium area in Dong Da District, Hanoi. Photo: Nam Tran/Tuoi Tre A stairwell in the Van Chuong condominium area in Dong Da District, Hanoi. Due to the inner citys height limits, most old apartment buildings have five floors. Photo: Nam Tran / Tuoi Tre The B2 building in the Van Chuong condominium area in Dong Da District, Hanoi. Photo: Nam Tran / Tuoi Tre Many residents in the Van Chuong condominium area in Dong Da District, Hanoi have illegally enlarged their apartments. Photo: Nam Tran / Tuoi Tre Since 2007, 18 old apartment buildings have been renovated and rebuilt while 14 others are under construction. These projects have investment capital allocated from both the citys public budget and private funding sources. Truong Viet Tam, 71, a resident of Ba Dinh Districts Thanh Cong condominium area, said he has been waiting a long time for the city to step in and renovate his building. I heard about the citys plan to renovate old apartment buildings ten years ago but the process is moving at a snail's pace," he complained. "We want city authorities to accelerate the process for highly degraded buildings. "Hanoi has more than 1,500 old apartment buildings, it would be impossible to renovate them all at once." Le Hoa, 67, a resident of the Giang Vo condominium area in the same district, pointed out difficulties in convincing the residents of level-D apartment buildings to give up their homes while the apartments are rebuilt. It should be based on the majoritys decision to decide whether an apartment is rebuilt," she said. "It is too dangerous to live inside these shabby apartments. In the long term, city authorities should ensure the livelihoods of residents displaced by these projects. The facade of block A in Ba Dinh Districts Ngoc Khanh condominiums in Hanoi. Photo: Quang The / Tuoi Tre Sinking has cause an apartment building in Ba Dinh Districts Ngoc Khanh condominiums in Hanoi to tilt. Photo: Quang The / Tuoi Tre A building in the Thanh Cong condominium area in Dong Da District, Hanoi. Photo: Quang The / Tuoi Tre Shops at the ground level of a building in the Thanh Cong condominium area in Ba Dinh District, Hanoi. Old apartment buildings are the homes and livelihoods of many households. Photo: Quang The / Tuoi Tre Enlarged apartments in Ba Dinh Districts Giang Vo condominium area, as seen from Tran Huy Lieu Street in Hanoi. Photo: Quang The / Tuoi Tre Like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter to get the latest news about Vietnam! The Placerville City Council voted unanimously Tuesday remove the noose from the official logo of the city that has been nicknamed Old Hangtown since the Gold Rush days. In a marathon online meeting that lasted nearly six hours and featured the one-minute pleas of scores of impassioned citizens, the council ordered the symbol stricken from the circular seal. No one seemed to know exactly how long the noose had been part of the citys logo but everyone seemed to have strong feelings about it. Lose the noose, several members of the public said. Some residents of Placerville, the county seat of El Dorado County, called it a symbol of vigilante justice out of place in the 21st Century. One resident told the council she stopped inviting her friends to town because of it. The noose is depicted in the upper right section of the seal, behind the shoulder of a red-shirted miner panning for gold. During the Gold Rush, armed robberies of Placerville area miners were common. Three such robbers were convicted and hanged in 1849. The nickname of Old Hangtown soon caught on and the Hangmans Tree still stands across from City Hall, marked with a plaque. This year, particularly in light of the association of the noose with the lynchings of Black people in the United States, the council decided to take on the issue and consulted with a focus group and historical committee. Mayor Dennis Thomas said the vote had been a long time coming. Removing the noose from the city logo and signs will cost an estimated $3,500, the city said. Steve Rubenstein is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: srubenstein@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @SteveRubeSF Green Flower is launching their first online Cannabis Career Summit designed to help career seekers. Tweet this The event showcases industry leaders and top brands in Washington's cannabis market as they share their experience and opinions on job opportunities. The event will highlight insights from retailers, manufacturers, brands, cultivators and wellness experts as they discuss 1) top things to know about the cannabis industry; 2) hot sectors and trends in the cannabis industry, and 3) what companies are looking for when hiring in the cannabis industry. The event is free to register and attend. Attendees are encouraged to further their career development through Western Washington University's Professional and Continuing Education new cannabis certificate programs. These new programs focus on career preparation and skills development for the growing cannabis industry. Register Here (Free): https://www.cannabiscareersummit.com/ May 6, 2021 About Green Flower Since 2014, Green Flower has been the global leader in cannabis education, helping millions of people learn about the personal and professional benefits of cannabis. Utilizing their network of more than 700 experts, Green Flower produces best-in-class educational programs designed to help people succeed in the cannabis industry today. Green Flower also partners with colleges and universities to help job seekers, law and health care professionals and entrepreneurs succeed in the rapidly growing cannabis marketplace. About the WWU Certificate Program Western Washington University's Professional and Continuing Education has adopted four new cannabis certificate programs, focused on career preparation and skills development for the growing cannabis industry. Leafly's annual cannabis jobs report highlights the need for skilled employees, as the industry is now the fastest growing job-sector in the country and supporting double-digit job growth since 2016. WWU is collaborating with Green Flower, a market-leading cannabis education company, to offer four programs in Business, Agriculture & Horticulture, Healthcare & Medicine, and Law & Policy. The certificates are designed as both an on-ramp for professionals for work in the industry and for current cannabis industry employees looking to build on their current knowledge. More information on the Western Washington University & Green Flower cannabis certificate programs may be found at: https://wwu.cannabisstudiesonline.com/ Contact / Press Inquiries: Zach Carson 510-978-9636 [email protected] Cannabis Career Summit - https://www.cannabiscareersummit.com/ SOURCE Green Flower The first enact enactment will allow the money Highland received to use the $726,000 it received in the second round of CARES Act funds to reimburse the Parks and Recreation Department $250,000 for initial COVID-19 losses and public safety items; and $11,736 from the Lake County Community Development Department to reimburse the Highland Police Department for initial expenses related to the COVID Emergency, Clerk-Treasurer Michael Griffin said. The CARES Act money, he said, came from the Indiana Finance Authority because Highland is considered a nonentitlement community, while the $11,736 came from the Department of Community Development department based on moneys that became available on the Community Development block grant moneys based on population and not to exceed $12,000. South Africa: Nzimande saddened by passing away of Graeme Bloch Higher Education, Science and Innovation Minister, Dr Blade Nzimande, has expressed sadness at the passing of education activist, Graeme Bloch. Bloch passed away last week Friday at Constantiaberg Hospital in Cape Town. He succumbed to an uncommon brain disorder affecting movement and control of walking, progressive supranuclear palsy (PSP), seven years after his diagnosis. Paying tribute, Nzimande said Bloch was a struggle hero, educationist, and activist. He had an illustrious political career and extensively fought against apartheid during his days as a student activist at the University of Cape Town. He fought alongside the poor, the working class and the disenfranchised, among others, challenging the apartheid authorities on their discriminatory education system. Graeme was intellectually astute. Our current education policies find expression from Graemes policy positions of the 70s, 80s and 90s. Today, we can cheerfully claim that his contribution was indeed immeasurable and futuristic. The Minister said he was a visionary who among many leaders advocated for the decolonisation of the education system in order to benefit the poor and the working class. Before 1994, Bloch was an executive member of the National Education Crisis Committee (NECC) as well as the United Democratic Front (UDF). Both organisations were part of the anti-apartheid movement challenging various laws and policies of the apartheid oppressive system. Post-1994 South Africa, Bloch continued to write and publish extensively on matters of education and contributed immensely to forging democratic principles of education. He continued to serve in many capacities at universities, including the University of Cape Town Council, University of Witwatersrands Public and Development Management School (P&DM) and served as a senior researcher at the Mapungubwe Institute for Strategic Reflection (Mistra). In Graemes memory, I would like to urge our contemporary writers and education commentators to emulate Graemes exemplary stewardship which he unselfishly shared with the South African education landscape for social and economic emancipation of the poor and the working class. Indeed this work will remain engraved in our minds through the books and papers that he wrote, Nzimande said. The Minister extended his condolences to Blochs wife, Cheryl Carolus, and his eight siblings as well as the entire mass democratic movement. I would also like to thank his family and relatives who shared Graeme with us. May his soul rest in eternal peace, the Minister said. SAnews.gov.za This story has been published on: 2021-04-15. To contact the author, please use the contact details within the article. California Governor Gavin Newsom on Wednesday urged all schools in the state to prepare for reopening by next fall when the new academic year begins. About six million students from California are currently out of school, according to a report from EdSource. The report further noted that school districts are struggling to provide these students with "distance learning." READ NEXT: California Teacher Calls Parents Demanding Schools to Reopen 'White Supremacists' Gavin Newsom on California's School Reopening Gavin Newsom made a similar pronouncement earlier in the week, according to a KCRA report. He said that he sees no barriers to getting children back into schools now, as California's COVID-19 cases continue to drop and more residents are getting vaccinated. "I want all schools to reopen. I've been crystal clear about that," said Newsom on Wednesday. The California governor noted that money is not an issue in the school reopening but rather an excuse. However, many districts and teachers are still skeptical about the school reopening the governor is planning. It can be recalled that a teacher from California was caught scolding her students over a Zoom class due to the parent's collective push for school reopening. The said teacher from San Marcos High School also challenged the students' parents to confront her because she was "sick to her stomach" of parents questioning her skills during distance learning. Gavin Newsom's announcement regarding his push for school reopening happened at an elementary school in Santa Rosa. The said school in the area began welcoming their students back this week. Gavin Newsom's wish remained an expectation instead of a mandate. This is because of California's decentralized education system, wherein school districts negotiate separately with teachers' unions and then govern themselves. Newsom emphasized that the school reopening must be done safely. The governor noted that "deep sanitation" and "massive deep cleaning" of schools will be needed as well as sanitizing playgrounds, par swings, and even sidewalks. Newsom acknowledged that ensuring social distancing will also be a challenge in the reopening of the schools. That is why he might recommend to schools to implement staggered schedules. "We need to do it in a safe way so that kids are not going to school, getting infected, and coming back home," said Newsom. The California governor noted that he plans to lift most of the coronavirus restrictions on June 15 as part of the state's reopening to business as usual. Views on California School Reopening Gavin Newsom's push for California school reopening comes after a significant decrease of the state's COVID-19 infections. The superintendent of schools from Sacramento County, David Gordon, has commended Newsom for bringing up the issue. However, Gordon noted that the students' willingness would depend on the ability to convince them that the new guidelines will keep them healthy. The California Teacher's Association (CTA) expressed its willingness to participate in school reopening discussions. "We look forward to ensure that when it is time to reopen schools, educators are part of the conversation," said the CTA, which is the largest teacher's union in the state. READ MORE: California Legislature Granted Authoritative Approval on Budget Plan for In-Person Learning WATCH: Newsom Calls for California Schools to Fully Reopen by Fall - From NBC Bay Area [April 15, 2021] Symetra Investment Management (SIM) Becomes Registered Investment Advisor Symetra Financial Corporation today announced that its investment subsidiary, Symetra Investment Management Company (SIM), is now a Registered Investment Advisor (RIA) with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Launched in January 2020, SIM will expand its existing relationship with Symetra, continue to facilitate the ability of Symetra's Japan-based parent, Sumitomo Life Insurance Company, to invest in U.S.-based assets, and begin to pursue third-party institutional clients. This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210415005847/en/ "SIM is a key supporter of the sustainability principle in Symetra's Value, Transparency and Sustainability (VTS) guiding principles, managing $40 billion of Symetra's assets, which are there for our customers whenever they need to access their policy benefits. SIM's RIA designation gives us the opportunity to further strengthen our sustainability promise by enhancing our strategic planning capabilities and investment management strategies," said Margaret Meister, president and chief executive officer, Symetra Financial Corporation. Mark E. Hunt, president of SIM and executive vice president and chief investment officer of Symetra Financial Corporation and its insurance subsidiaries, directs the company's investment policy and strategy, and oversees Symetra's approximately $40 billion investment portfolio. "We see a bright, dynamic future for SIM," said Mr. Hunt. "Becoming an RIA is an important step that expresses our commitment to excellence and demonstrates our long-term goal to grow the firm by allowing us to open our doors to third-party institutional investors. In the near term, we continue to focus on and expand the investment portfolios we manage for Symetra and Sumitomo Life. The entire team takes great pride in the trust Symetra and Sumitomo Life have placed in us." In addition to Mr. Hunt, the SIM team includes Colin Elder, senior managing director and head of commercial mortgage loans; Nicholas Mociolo, senior managing director and head of structured bonds and derivatives; and Evan Moskovit, senior managing director and head of corporate fixed income. SIM's fixed income team is based in Farmington, Connecticut, and its commercial mortgage loans operation is based in Bellevue, Washington. Over the course of the last fourteen months, SIM's investment and leadership team has grown to include: Ken Yang, senior managing director and head of high yield, bank loans and structured products, oversees investments in below investment grade rated corporate credit and structured products. Prior to joining SIM in 2020, Mr. Yang was co-head of bank loans and a high yield portfolio manager for income builder and multi-asset funds at Goldman Sachs Asset Management, an asset management subsidiary of Goldman Sachs. At Goldman, he managed CLOs, bank loan separate accounts and mutual funds, U.S. and European high yield bond portfolios. Previously, Mr. Yang was an investment banker at Salomon Smith Barney, a subsidiary of Citigroup, where he worked in the investment banking division covering financial institutions, including insurance and asset management companies. Yvonne Guajardo, managing director and head of private placements, oversees Symetra's approximately $3 billion private placement portfolio. Ms. Guajardo joined Symetra in March 2020 from MetLife Investment Management's Private Placement Group, where she was managing director and head of relationship management. Prior to joining MetLife, Ms. Guajardo spent 25 years with Prudential Private Capital most recently as senior vice president managing a team responsible for marketing, originating, structuring and underwriting private placement debt investments. Kevin Sklar, senior managing director and chief financial officer, joined SIM in February 2021 and oversees the firm's finances, investment operations and investment reporting. He has over 24 years of investment management industry experience and was most recently senior vice president and corporate controller at York Capital Management, an investment adviser to private investment partnerships and offshore investment funds. Prior to that, he was executive director and head of finance at an investment management subsidiary of Nomura and vice president of finance at a private bank subsidiary of Franklin Templeton. Earlier in his career, Mr. Sklar was a senior auditor at Ernst & Young. A Certified Public Accountant, he holds a Chartered Global Management Accountant designation. He earned an MBA with concentrations in finance and management from New York University's Stern School of Business. Richard Wirth, senior managing director and general counsel, has over 38 years of experience in the financial services sector practicing law in the areas of asset management, international fund formation, real estate, insurance, and variable products. Mr. Wirth has published numerous law review articles and served as a senior adjunct professor of law at Western New England School of Law, where he taught insurance law courses at both the JD and LL.M levels. Prior to joining SIM in 2020, he served as executive vice president, U.S. Head of Legal, Regulatory Compliance & General Counsel for Aegon Asset Management, a subsidiary of Aegon N.V. Mr. Wirth's background includes division general counsel with Transamerica (News - Alert) and roles of ever-increasing responsibilities at The Hartford and The Phoenix. Robert Herlihy, chief compliance officer, joined SIM in January 2021. Since 2005, he has served as a chief compliance officer for GE Asset Management, State Street Global Advisors, and most recently, Hudson Structured Capital Management. Mr. Herlihy previously held several finance leadership roles, serving as treasurer for the GE Mutual Fund family and as an audit manager with PricewaterhouseCoopers (News - Alert) LLP, McGladrey LLP, and Condon O'Meara McGinty & Donnelly LLP. Mr. Herlihy is a Certified Public Accountant. About Symetra Symetra Financial Corporation is a diversified financial services company based in Bellevue, Washington. In business since 1957, Symetra provides employee benefits, annuities and life insurance through a national network of benefit consultants, financial institutions, and independent financial professionals and insurance producers. For more information, visit www.symetra.com. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210415005847/en/ [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] New Delhi, April 15 : Domestic airlines are expected to log net losses in FY22 on the back of lower domestic air traffic compared with pre-pandemic levels, together with high fuel prices, ratings agency Crisil said. However, the agency said that these net losses will be 35-40 per cent below the ones reported for fiscal 2021 mark at Rs 9,500- Rs 10,000 crore. A Crisil Ratings study of the top three airlines, which account for 78 per cent of total passenger traffic, noted: "A resurgence of Covid-19 infections across the country -- especially in Mumbai and Delhi, which account for 36 per cent of overall air traffic - is expected to stall the recovery seen over the past six months." "In fact, average daily domestic passenger air traffic has fallen in April by almost 20 per cent to 2.35 lakh compared to February 2021." Nonetheless, it said that domestic traffic, which accounts for 75 per cent of airline revenues, is expected to surge 120-130 per cent this fiscal on a low base though it will still be significantly lower at 70 per cent of fiscal 2020 level. "Domestic traffic fell 85 per cent in the first half of last fiscal due to lockdowns and restrictions on operations," said Gautam Shahi, Director, Crisil Ratings. "Despite the second wave-induced fresh curbs, which will temper recovery, domestic traffic in the first half of this fiscal is likely to be 3.5-4 times higher on-year, on a low base. The second half should see good recovery in traffic, supported by acceleration in the vaccination drive and people gradually taking to travel after prolonged stay at home." Besides, a gradual recovery in international operations in the second half of fiscal 2022 will also boost traffic, it said. But, airlines have also seen their cost of operations spurt due to a rise in the price of aviation turbine fuel (ATF), a key cost head for them. "The price, which remained low until November 2020, limiting their losses, has shot up 30 per cent since then," the report said. "This will offset the benefits from some of the initiatives the carriers undertook to reduce cost - employee costs, rentals, etc. - last fiscal, and which are being carried forward into the current fiscal." EUGENE, Ore. A Eugene woman who embezzled millions from Weyerhaeuser was sentenced on Wednesday. Susan Tranberg, 62, will serve four years and nine months as well as three years of supervised release. Authorities say Tranberg, who worked at Weyerhaeuser for more than 40 years, defrauded the company out of more than $4.5 million. RELATED: WOMAN PLEADS GUILTY TO EMBEZZLING MILLIONS FROM WEYERHAEUSER Court documents say starting as early as June 2004 and continuing to January 2019, Tranberg submitted fraudulent invoices for payments to a fake vendor. In 2014, the company transitioned to a new payment processing system, so to continue the scheme, Tranberg set up a fake vendor account in the new system, forged colleagues signatures and used co-workers computer login credentials to create requests and approve payments. She reportedly used the money to fund expensive dinners, vacations, six-figure wedding expenses, and shopping sprees. Then, on Jan. 29, 2020, Tranberg was charged with superseding criminal information with mail fraud, aggravated identity theft, and tax evasion, and she pleaded guilty the next day. Tranberg has been ordered to pay more than $5.3 million in restitution, including $775,984 to Weyerhaeuser, $3,805,223 to the crime victims fund, and $807,033 to the Internal Revenue Service. SPRINGFIELD A Maine man is charged with federal hate crimes in connection with multiple blazes at a Black church in December, including the fire that essentially destroyed the building. Dushko Vulchev, 44, of Houlton, Maine, was charged through a criminal complaint unsealed Thursday morning. Federal prosecutors filed a motion for detention, though Vulchev has been held behind bars on state charges since his arrest on Dec. 31. He is charged in federal court with damage to religious property and use of fire to commit a federal felony. Vulchev, a Bulgarian national with a long criminal record, is accused of setting fires at the Martin Luther King Jr. Community Presbyterian Church at 14 Concord Terrace. He also is accused of going on a random tire-slashing spree both in Springfield and in Pittsfield. In December 2020, there was a series of small fires set at the MLK Church and a series of tire slashings in the immediate vicinity. On December 28, 2020, another fire was set at the MLK Church; this fire essentially destroyed the building, reads an FBI affidavit filed in connection with the case. The affidavit, written by special agent Casey Anderson, continues, My investigation has established probable cause to believe that Vulchev set the fire that destroyed the MLK Church on December 28, 2020, and also that he committed the vandalism and arsons that preceded it. A press release from the office of acting U.S. Attorney Nathaniel R. Mendell said investigators uncovered messages Vulchev sent that demonstrated a hatred of Black people, including one sent the month of the fires in which he used a racial slur in a call to eliminate them. If convicted on the charge of damaging religious property, he faces a sentence of up to 20 years in prison and a fine of up to $250,000. Vulchev will be arraigned at a later date, prosecutors said. This story will be updated with additional information. Related content: [April 15, 2021] A Cloud Guru Opens Doors to Cloud Careers for Upcoming College & University Grads AUSTIN, Texas, April 15, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- A Cloud Guru (ACG), the leader in modern tech skills development for businesses and individuals, today announced that all students with an .edu, ac.uk, or .edu.au email address are eligible to save 50% on personal subscriptions to ACGs comprehensive library of courses, hands-on labs, and sandbox environments in the most in-demand cloud infrastructures such as AWS, Microsoft Azure and Google Cloud Platform. We founded A Cloud Guru to make tech education as accessible as possible, particularly to those who never felt that an IT career was a real possibility for them, said Sam Kroonenburg, CEO and co-founder of A Cloud Guru. By making our platform more accessible to the groups who need it moststarting with the thousands of students entering a competitive post-COVID job marketwere giving all individuals equal opportunity to unlock a cloud career and learn the skills needed to help businesses thrive. ACG offers a wide breadth of in-depth courses spanning the three major cloud providers, Linux, and other open-source technologies like Kubernetes, Terraform, and more. With this offer, students will aso be able to practice their skills in real-world environments through unlimited access to ACGs 1,600+ hands-on labs. Now more than ever, enterprises need a talent pool that can navigate the cloud infrastructures integral to their business operations, Kroonenburg continued. With this program, we aim to contribute to closing the tech skills gap thats hindering companies acceleration of cloud migration and maturity. Further, we strive to increase diversity in technology careers while reducing that same skills gap. To see if you qualify for the discount or want to activate your discount, visit https://get.acloudguru.com/students . To learn more about how ACG is helping individuals master the skills they need to drive their careers, visit https://acloudguru.com/solutions/individuals . The discount is the first of many programs for groups who are historically excluded from the technology sector, including women and military veterans, reaffirming ACGs commitment to democratizing the cloud. About ACG A Cloud Guru is driven by a simple mission to teach the world to cloud. We believe people learn best by doing. Thats why our in-house cloud experts go to ridiculous lengths to design fresh, engaging, and hands-on learning tools that empower both individuals and organizations to stay ahead of the technology curve. As the worlds most comprehensive, hands-on, and effective platform for cloud learning, ACG has enabled more than 2 million learners and 4,000 organizations to achieve a brighter future. Media Contact acloudguru@launchsquad.com [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] (Newser) A Canadian member of parliament appeared naked in front of his colleagues Wednesday when he changed out of jogging clothes in his officeright in front of his camera. Liberal MP William Amos, the parliamentary secretary to Industry Minister Francois-Philippe Champagne, was seen completely naked during a virtual parliamentary session, though a screenshot obtained by media outlets showed he was holding something, possibly a phone, that blocked his genitals from view. The footage was visible to other MPs and House of Commons staff, but was not broadcast to the public because Amos wasn't speaking, per CBC News and CTV News. In a later statement, Amos, who represents the Quebec region of Pontiac, said his camera "was accidentally turned on as I was changing into my work clothes after going for a jog." story continues below "I sincerely apologize to my colleagues in the House of Commons for this unintentional distraction," Amos added, promising the "honest mistake won't happen again." House Speaker Anthony Rota later said he'd missed the incident, but Bloc Quebecois MP Claude DeBellefeuille, the party whip, brought it up following the session. "It may be necessary to remind the members, especially the male ones, that a tie and jacket are obligatory, but so are a shirt, boxer shorts or pants," she said in French, per CTV. She did acknowledge that Amos was "in great physical shape." Liberal whip Mark Holland says Amos was "utterly mortified," per CTV. During the pandemic, "the line between our home and our office place is so blurred and trying to manage that is sometimes challenging," he added. "You've got to really always assume that camera is on." (Read more Canada stories.) 911 Psaki Republican senators have criticized attaching the withdrawal of troops in Afghanistan to September 11th. They say its politically driven. Do you have a response to that? And also, do you have anything to share on who came up with that deadline and why? more details or full transcript can be found here some user comments can be found here youtube VANCOUVER, BC / ACCESSWIRE / April 15, 2021 / Gold Mountain Mining (TSXV:GMTN)(FSE:5XFA)(OTCQB:GMTNF) ("Gold Mountain" or the "Company") is pleased to announce that after successfully completing the application process it has been approved by FINRA for quotation in the U.S. The Company's common shares began being quoted on the OTCQB today, April 15, 2021, at the opening of the market under the stock symbol "GMTNF" and will remain listed on the TSX Venture Exchange under the ticker symbol "GMTN." The Company has also completed the application process for the OTC Market and for eligibility with the Depository Trust Company ("DTC"). Kevin Smith, Gold Mountain's CEO, commented, "Being quoted on the OTCQB will enhance our visibility and make the Company accessible to a broader range of U.S. investors. The quotation on the OTCQB is expected to increase liquidity by providing current and potential investors with a transparent and easily accessible trading platform where they can find Real-Time quotes and market information." Shareholders of existing Gold Mountain shares, previously quoted on the OTC Pink Open Market, will now be quoted on the OTCQB without any further action required. The OTCQB Venture is the premier marketplace for companies that are committed to providing a high-quality trading and information experience for their U.S. investors. Qualifying for approval to trade on the OTCQB requires a Company to be current on disclosure obligations, to pass a minimum bid price test, and to provide an annual company verification and management certification process. The OTCQB quality standards create a solid baseline of transparency, as well as the technology to improve the information and trading experience for investors. About Gold Mountain Mining Gold Mountain is a British Columbia based gold and silver exploration and development company focused on resource expansion at the Elk Gold Project, a past-producing mine located 57 KM from Merritt in South Central British Columbia. Additional information is available at www.sedar.com or on the Company's new website at www.gold-mountain.ca. For Further information, please contact: Gold Mountain Mining Corp. Kevin Smith, Director and Chief Executive Officer Phone: 604-309-6340 Email: ks@gold-mountain.ca Website: www.gold-mountain.ca Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) has reviewed or accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this Release This news release includes certain "forward-looking statements" under applicable Canadian securities legislation. Forward- looking statements include statements that are based on assumptions as of the date of this news release. Forward looking statements in the press release include but are not limited to: any enhancement in visibility or increase in liquidity resulting from the OTCQB quotation. 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 price of gold; and the results of current exploration. 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. Gold Mountain 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. For a comprehensive overview of all risks that may impact the Company, please see the Filing Statement filed on Gold Mountain's SEDAR profile on December 15, 2020. SOURCE: Gold Mountain Mining Corp. View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/640622/Gold-Mountain-Announces-OTCQB-Listing-and-DTC-Eligibility President Bidens American Jobs Plan has the potential to transform our economy as we Build Back Better post-pandemic. In fact, our president has proposed the largest American jobs investment since World War II, which will promote our national security interests and create millions of good-paying manufacturing jobs. My home state of Indiana has more manufacturing jobs per capita than any other state. So, when rebuilding Americas infrastructure, it is especially important that we ensure U.S. taxpayer-funded projects are constructed with raw materials such as primary aluminum and steel that are made in America. Having served on Senate Armed Services Committee, I know first-hand just how important infrastructure is to our national defense. It is much harder to defend a nation with crumbling roads, an electrical grid that is totally inadequate for the modern age, and an inability to provide secure high-speed Internet to all Americans. In a modern, vibrant economy, having a first-rate infrastructure is critical to ensuring that America maintains its place as a global leader. In modernizing, however, we cannot be dependent on foreign nations to supply the critical raw materials and components that will be necessary. The experience of the pandemic has taught us that lesson. American-made primary aluminum and high purity aluminum are essential to building our nations defense infrastructure, and provide good-paying jobs for thousands of American workers in Indiana and all across Americas heartland. The Section 232 program that applied a 10% tariff on foreign aluminum imports, saving Americas remaining aluminum smelters from imminent closure, will also allow us to rebuild our infrastructure. With only six surviving smelters, America has the absolute bare minimum primary aluminum capacity to meet critical infrastructure needs in a national emergency. These are the smelters that will produce the aluminum America needs to Build Back Better and to supply the building blocks necessary for a thriving modern economy. Just a few short years ago, the entire industry was on the verge of closure. Global overcapacity had collapsed prices to the point where every smelter in the United States had announced that it planned to shut down. The Section 232 program put a floor under the industry and is saving the remaining smelters. But the global overcapacity crisis continues to persist. Americas competitors did not substantially reduce their excess capacity after the tariffs were put in place. To the contrary, many producing countries doubled down, providing more subsidies and continued expanding capacity. Other producing regions, such as the European Union, maintained their own long-standing import tariffs on primary aluminum, diverting even more excess global supply to the United States. Now, just when the U.S. needs its aluminum smelters to rebuild America, the whiskey industry is asking the administration to lift the Section 232 tariffs. Doing so in exchange for reducing similar tariffs on whiskey imports into the EU ignores the fact that the whiskey industrys U.S. sales increased by over $1.2 billion in just the last four years. The resulting $130 million increase in sales revenue for its exports to Europe is simply not worth the damage it would cause to Americas national security. When the Section 232 program was initiated, the U.S. aluminum industry was on the verge of collapse. American aluminum jobs and our nations national defense were at stake. When it comes to helping Indiana families and rebuilding Americas infrastructure, the benefits of the Section 232 program should never be undone to boost the short-term profits of a special interest group that is thriving, while tens of thousands of American manufacturing workers and their families will undoubtedly feel the pain. As my friend President Biden remarked in Pittsburgh, Wall Street didnt build this country; the great middle class built this country. And unions built the middle class. We need to create millions more, not less, good-paying union manufacturing jobs in Indiana and across this great nation, like those in the primary aluminum industry. While our country begins to recover from the pandemic, our trade policies should seek to create and protect American manufacturing jobs. The Section 232 program is saving a vital industry that is critical to the nations supply chain, but more needs to be done. President Bidens once-in-a generation investment in America will help to do more for Americas critical industries such as aluminum by rebuilding U.S. infrastructure, supporting domestic manufacturing jobs and strengthening U.S. supply chains as we work together to Build Back Better. Photo: BC CDC More British Columbians between 40 and 59 years old have been hospitalized with COVID-19 in recent weeks, likely due to the prevalence of more variants of concerns in the province. The new data is part of Dr. Bonnie Henry's latest epidemiological modelling presentation that shows a snapshot of where the province's pandemic currently stands, and where it may be going. Dr. Henry said people between the ages of 19 and 59 have been driving the rapid rise in infections over the past month, but those between 40 and 59 are ending up in hospital more than they were earlier in the pandemic. That increase can be seen in the above chart. Dr. Henry noted many of these people are becoming infected through family, social and workplace contacts with younger people. While total hospitalizations have been rising recently, slightly lagging behind the skyrocketing cases, COVID-19 deaths in B.C have remained low. Dr. Henry said this is directly attributable to the province's immunization of the oldest and most at-risk British Columbians. More than 60 per cent of all new COVID-19 cases in British Columbia are now a variant of concern, but those numbers are lower in the Interior. Driven largely by P.1 and B.1.1.7 variant clusters in the Lower Mainland in recent weeks, these strains have begun taking over the majority of B.C. cases. But in the Interior, these variants make up about 40 per cent of all new cases. Dr. Henry said the majority of Interior variant cases are the B.1.1.7. The BC CDC says these variants have a higher transmissibility and can cause more severe illness than the standard COVID-19 virus. On Thursday, B.C. hit its highest ever number of active COVID-19 cases, at 10,052. While the number of new cases in the Interior remains far lower than the Lower Mainland, the Interior currently has the highest COVID-19 reproductive number of all health authorities in the province, which could lead to more rapid transmission in the future. The R number of a region is the average number of people that one infected person will spread the virus to. When an R number is greater than one, rapid spread is possible. In the Interior, the R number is around 1.6, compared to B.C.'s 1.26. Meanwhile, the Fraser Health region has a R number of 1.31, while the Vancouver Coastal region has seen a dramatic drop in recent weeks, falling to 1.13. Modelling presented Thursday shows significant transmission everywhere in B.C. since mid-March. Dr. Henry said that the current infectious contact rate across B.C. is about 60 per cent of normal, but to get the current growth under control, reducing that rate down to 40 per cent will be necessary. She did note that in the past week, there have been positive signs that transmission across some part of B.C. may be slowing slightly. She said it's important British Columbians "step back" from their social contacts to allow the vaccine program to take hold. Dr. Henry also spoke about plans to vaccinate frontline workers and teachers over the next few weeks, starting in areas where transmission is highest. Unlike the Rauner bailout, which guaranteed Exelon subsidies for a decade, Synapse said the Pritzker administration could limit special payments for Bryon and Dresden to five years and provide them during each of those years only if the company opens its books and proves the power plants need the money. The program would cost $150 million a year at most, according to a redacted copy of the audit shared Wednesday with the Chicago Tribune. ADVERTISEMENT Nigerians should not blame only the police for the congestion in correctional centres across Lagos State, Olumuyiwa Adejobi, the police public relations officer in Lagos State, has said. Mr Adejobi said in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Thursday that apart from the police, seven other individuals and organisations involved in the Criminal Justice Administration were also responsible for the congestion found at the various correctional centres in the state. There are the suspect, the complainant, the police, the bar, the bench, the Directorate of Public Prosecution, the Ministry of Justice, and the Correctional Centres, said Mr Adejobi, a chief superintendent of police. He was reacting to allegations that the police were responsible for the large number of inmates at the centres because of their indiscriminate arrests. Mr Adejobi, however, said that despite the high number of inmates at the different centres, the command would continue to perform its constitutional responsibilities. According to him, the police certainly will perform their constitutional duties, hand over suspects to court for prosecution and whatever happens thereafter should not be blamed on the police. The issue of many cases in magistrates and other courts are not the faults of the police alone. The police work is to arrest and when they had established that a crime had been committed, they (police) will charge such suspect(s) to court. This also extends to a case of two fighting, except the complainant and the offender decide to settle amicably. If the complainant wants to take the case further to court, the police have no fault. They are just performing their duty. Mr Adejobi, however, cautioned operatives against unprofessional conduct while carrying out their duties, adding that the command was devising means of resolving some cases out of court. On the attack on correctional centres, Mr Adejobi said the command was tightening security in and around centres located in Badagry, Ikoyi and Kirikiri to avoid jailbreak. (NAN) In 2021, Ramadan, the month of fasting, runs from 12/13 April to 13 May. Today, many Muslims worldwide are genuinely seeking God and are opposed to violence, seeking peace, and observing Ramadan as a means to demonstrate their devotion to Allah. Many do not know the Quran and are ignorant of the violence advocated in the Quran. However, the situation is significantly different in Islamic countries where there are small populations of Christians. Background Ramadan is traditionally the ninth month of the Islamic calendar (which is a lunar calendar with 354 or 355 days in the year), determined from the sighting of one crescent moon to the next. It is the month in which the Quran was revealed to the prophet Muhammad. The Islamic calendar also determines when various religious festivals can be celebrated. The observance of Ramadan is one of the five Pillars of Islam. The other four Pillars are Testimony of the Faith, Ritual Prayers, Almsgiving and Pilgrimage to Mecca. During Ramadan Muslims must abstain from eating, drinking, smoking and sex throughout the daylight hours between sunrise and sunset. It is a form of expressing submission to the will of Allah. Every evening they can break the fast in a meal called the Iftar. The word Ramadan derives from an Arabic word meaning scorching heat, or hot month, a state of being parched. It infers a heightened sense of piety, being thirsty for Allah. The end of the Ramadan fast is celebrated as Eid al-Fitr, the Feast of Fast-Breaking. Evolution of Ramadan In pre-Islamic times, Ramadan was a month of fasting and peace, in which pagan Arabs would take a break from fighting and raiding. This tradition was so well established that caravans would transport their wares unarmed. Breaking with tradition, Muhammad exploited Ramadan. He raided unarmed caravans, reportedly with Allah's permission, to acquire booty for his struggling Muslim community. Consequently, Ramadan became a time not only for prayer and fasting, but also for Islamic advance through violence. For example, it was during Ramadan that Muslims triumphed in many of their battles, such as the battle of Badr in 624, the conquest of Mecca in 630, Andalusia in 711, and Al-Zallaqa in 1086 in the Muslim invasion of Christian lands in Europe. For many Muslims around the world, there is a close connection between fasting and jihad. Many imams teach that fasting is a powerful means to prepare the soul for jihad. It instills obedience, devotion, resilience and endurance, which are the virtues of the jihad fighter that allow him to vanquish his enemies. Consequently, Christians are vulnerable during Ramadan Anyone who does not submit to Allah is the enemy of Islam. It is believed that on Ramadan, Allah grants fighters special strength and those who gain martyrdom during the month of Ramadan are doubly rewarded in Paradise. Muslim leaders often use this time of the year to incite violence and persecution against Christians living in their lands for not submitting to Allah. During Ramadan, Muslims are especially beholden to protect the sanctity of the Muslim holy places and keep the infidels from desecrating or threatening them. In Iraq, Islamic State has directly threatened Iraq's churches, promising attacks to 'remove their crosses' as in 2014. In Syria, a resurgent Islamic State is poised to launch a Ramadan offensive from its bases in the mountains of the Central Syrian Desert. Meanwhile, analysts suspect that Azerbaijan and neo-Ottoman Turkey are preparing to launch a military campaign to seize control of territory in Armenia's southern Syunik Province. One Egyptian believer said, As much excitement as the Islamic holy month brings to Muslims, it does carry a great deal of burdens and concerns to the Christian community. It is a very long 30 days during which Christians in schools, work or public spaces will receive harsh looks and verbal harassment because of their faith. There have even been some cases where Christians have faced physical violence because they were caught eating their lunch by their fasting Muslim co-workers or neighbours. If one part suffers, every part suffers with it; if one part is honoured, every part rejoices with it. 1 Corinthians Chapter 12, verse 26 (NIV) Let us be diligent in prayer Praise God, that the arm of the Lord is not too short to save, nor his ear too dull to hear. (Isaiah chapter 59 verse 1). Praise God, that His Spirit is moving powerfully within Muslim communities. Pray that the Iraqi government can secure Iraqs churches in the wake of direct threats from Islamic State and may it follow through with the words of support for churches. Pray that all anti-Islamic forces operating in Syria cooperate to end Islamic State. Pray that God would oversee the preservation of Iraqs remnant Christians and Syrias suffering church, protecting and building them up. Pray that God would intervene in the South Caucasus to enable a breakthrough that will preserve the territorial integrity of Armenia; and because politics, weapons and alliances do fail, may the Church exalt, glorify and place her trust in Yahweh Sabaoth, that the battle might be turned back at the gate (Isaiah 28:5,6). Pray that the Holy Spirit will move with transforming power this Ramadan, graciously revealing Christ to Muslims - those who seek him and those who don't - in answer to the prayers of many. Mumbai, April 15 : Though a year has passed since the ghoulish mob-lynching of two Sadhus and their driver in Palghar district in Maharashtra, the politically sensitive case is still very much alive in public memory and keeps popping into headlines at frequent intervals. The two Sadhus - Kalpavrikshagiri Maharaj (70) and his assistant Sushilgiri Maharaj (35) - and their driver Nilesh Telgade (30) were waylaid by an angry mob of tribals and villagers and were brutally lynched to death on the night of April 15-16, 2020. The incident took place at Gadchinchale village in Dahanu tehsil of Palghar district, nearly 120 km from Mumbai, shocking people as it came at the height of the Covid-induced lockdown declared three weeks before. The Nashik-based Sadhu duo, belonging to the Varanasi-headquartered Shri Panch Dashnam Juna Akhara, the biggest order of sadhus in India, was proceeding to Surat in Gujarat to attend the funeral of their guru, Shri Mahant Ramgiri. The Gadchinchale village, falling in the jurisdiction of Kasa police station, had been agog with wild rumours of robbers who had allegedly sneaked to fish for kidneys of young children and sell them in the organs black market. These canards spurred the villagers to mount a 24x7 vigil within and outside the village, on all approach roads, the state and national highways, etc. On that fateful night, the Sadhus and their driver, who were driving down near the village, were stopped and brutally attacked by a group of nearly 500 villagers who suspected them to be the kidnappers and much-dreaded organ harvestors. As the incident came to light the following morning, it triggered national political shockwaves and alarmed the five-month-old Maha Vikas Aghadi government of Shiv Sena-Nationalist Congress Party-Congress, which came under fierce attack from the opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). Among other things, the BJP in the state and a the national level targeted Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray, questioned his Hindutva credentials, and raised apprehensions over the safety of Hindu religious personalities in the state, among other aspects. However, with some deft political management - deflected by a similar tragic incident that occurred in Uttar Pradesh soon afterwards - the MVA government managed to weather the crisis. Nevertheless, the BJP kept firing its missives at regular intervals, occasionally demanding a CBI probe claiming that people had lost their faith in the MVA regime, etc. Acting quick, the then state Home Minister Anil Deshmukh took away the case from the local police and handed it over to the state CID, which arrested a total of 251 people, including 13 juveniles (then), of whom 12 have been bailed out. Of the 251 arrested persons, 75 are still in custody in various jails in the district while the others have been released on bail. The charge-sheets have been filed and the case proceeds in the courts, even as the CI plans to arrest another around 55 accused persons. Veteran Mumbai lawyer Satish Maneshinde is leading the government's charge as the special public prosecutor, while prominent Palghar lawyers Amrut Adhikari and Atul Patil represent the accused. Interestingly, Adhikari has set a new legal record of sorts - representing the highest number of accused in any case, a staggering 250-plus, but he declines to comment on this. There were other repercussions also with ex-minister Deshmukh shunting out the then Palghar Superintendent of Police Gaurav Singh on compulsory leave and a shake-up of the entire local police department with 35 officers and policemen getting transferred within the district. Subsequently, after a department enquiry, Assistant Police Inspector Anandrao Kale was dismissed, while two others -- Assistant Sub-Inspector Ravi Salunkhe and constable Naresh Dhodi -- were retired compulsorily, and different types of exemplary punishment were meted out to several other policemen. The Ganchinchale village - barely a few metese from the state borders with the Union Territory of Dadra & Nagar Haveli - has a population of around 1,300, including 93 per cent Scheduled Tribes, as per the 2011 Census. (Quaid Najmi can be contacted at: q.najmi@ians.in) NEW ORLEANS The Coast Guard continues to search for 12 missing people Thursday from a capsized vessel 8 miles south of Port Fourchon. Coast Guard air and surface assets continued to search overnight, and the search will continue throughout the day. Coast Guard crews have searched for a combined 70 hours covering approximately 6,380 square miles, an area roughly the size of Hawaii. Divers are on scene Thursday to conduct an assessment and begin operations in support of the ongoing search and rescue effort. While search efforts for the crew are continuing, the incident has been declared a major marine casualty. The Coast Guard is leading a preliminary investigation and the National Transportation Safety Board will be joining in that effort. Rescue assets involved in the search so far: the pre-commissioned Coast Guard Cutter Glen Harris crew Coast Guard Cutter Amberjack crew Coast Guard Cutter Moray crew Coast Guard Cutter Benjamin Dailey Coast Guard Air Station New Orleans MH-65 Dolphin helicopter crew Coast Guard Station Grand Isle 45-foot RB-M boatcrews Coast Guard Air Station Corpus Christi HC-144 Ocean Sentry airplane crews Two Coast Guard Aviation Training Center Mobile HC-144 Ocean Sentry airplanes crews Two Coast Guard Air Station Clearwater HC-130 Hercules airplane crews Two Coast Guard Aviation Training Center Mobile MH-60 Jayhawk helicopters Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries crews Port Fourchon Harbor Patrol Port Fourchon Sherriff's Department Lafourche Parish Sheriffs Office One commercial air medical service crew A Ukrainian serviceman keeps ready a machine gun in his shelter near the front-line town of Krasnohorivka, eastern Ukraine, on March 5, 2021. (Evgeniy Maloletka/AP Photo) Ukraine Seeks Stronger Western Backing Amid Russian Buildup KYIV, UkraineUkraines top diplomat asked Thursday for stronger Western backing, saying words of support arent enough amid escalating tensions in the countrys east and a Russian troop buildup across the border. Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba, speaking after talks with his counterparts from Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania, asked the Baltic nations to reach out to other European Union and NATO members about offering practical assistance to Kyiv. More than 14,000 people have died in seven years of fighting between Ukrainian forces and Russia-backed separatists that erupted after Russias 2014 annexation of Ukraines Crimean Peninsula. Efforts to reach a political settlement have stalled, and violations of a shaky truce have become increasingly frequent in recent weeks. Ukraine and the West also have sounded alarmed about the concentration of troops along Russias western border, a buildup that the United States and NATO have described as the largest since 2014. A Ukrainian soldier watches through a periscope at fighting positions on the line of separation from pro-Russian rebels near Donetsk, Ukraine, on April 12, 2021 (AP Photo/File) Russia has argued that its free to deploy its forces wherever it deems necessary on its territory, and the Russian defense minister charged earlier this week that the buildup was a response to security threats posed by NATO forces near Russias borders. Kremlin officials have warned Ukraine against trying to use force to reclaim control of the rebel east, saying that Russia may intervene to protect civilians in the region. Amid the recent tensions, the United States informed Turkey that two U.S. warships would sail to the Black Sea on April 14 and April 15 and stay there until May 4 and May 5. But Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said Thursday that the U.S. Embassy had notified Ankara that the two warships wouldnt be making the crossing. The U.S. Navy ships have made regular visits to the Black Sea in past years, vexing Moscow. Earlier this week, a senior Russian diplomat described the planned U.S. ships deployment to the Black Sea as openly provocative. Bernie Madoff has died in prison at the age of 82, the Bureau of Prisons confirmed. On Wednesday, Madoff died at the Federal Medical Center in Butner, North Carolina, due to natural cause, his lawyer and the Federal Bureau of Prisons revealed. The exact cause of death remained unknown, but the Associated Press noted that it was not COVID-19-related. However, for what it's worth, Madoff filed a document in February where he asked the court to release him since he had terminal kidney failure. Bernie Madoff's Cause of Death In the same filing, he revealed that he was also suffering from several health conditions including bladder neck obstruction, cardiovascular disease, hyperparathyroidism, and hypertension. READ ALSO: 'The Adventures of Rin Tin Tin' Actor Dead at 77 -- Tragic Cause of Death Announced He added that he also had acid reflux and insomnia. Madoff then reasoned out that he should be released as he no longer posed threat to the public, and he deserved a "compassionate release" due to his terminal illness. Unfortunately, the judge disapproved of his request and the possible compassionate release. "Bernie, up until his death, lived with guilt and remorse for his crimes," his lawyer Brandon Sample said in a statement," his lawyer said, per BBC. "Although the crimes Bernie was convicted of have come to define who he was - he was also a father and a husband. What Led Bernie Madoff to Scam It all started when he set up his firm Bernard L Madoff Investment Securities decades ago. At that time, the company grew into one of the largest market-makers. Through its stint, the company was put under investigation eight times by the US Securities and Exchange Commission. He was finally busted in 2008 after his two sons turned him in. Madoff faced 150-year of sentence after getting involved in fraud and the long-running Ponzi scheme. The operation allowed him to take cash from more than 40,000 people in 125 countries since the 1970s. Among his victims were Elie Weisel, Sandy Koufax, Kevin Bacon, and Steven Spielberg. In an e-mail to CNBC in 2013, he revealed that the break in the market caused the Great Recession. "I thought this would be only a short-term trade which could be made up once the market became receptive," he said. "The rest is my tragic history of never being able to recover." He ended up pleading guilty to 11 federal felony counts, causing the judge to maximize his sentence. READ MORE: Will Queen Elizabeth II Abdicate After Prince Philip's Death? Royal Aide Reveals Duke's Wish See Now: Famous Actors Who Turned Down Iconic Movie Roles COLUMBUS, Ohio Seeking to distance herself from former Ohio Gov. John Kasich, Republican U.S. Senate candidate Jane Timken erroneously claimed on conservative radio that she never donated to his 2016 presidential campaign. The assertion came in a race where an endorsement from former President Donald Trump, a favorite target of Kasichs attacks, could be potentially pivotal. The Republican ex-president twice carried Ohio by more than 8 percentage points. Timken brought up the donation issue while pushing back Friday against a characterization by conservative talk show host Bob Frantz that she was a huge Kasich fan and has a back and forth going there with respect to true conservatives and Republicans In Name Only. Timken, who ousted Kasichs hand-selected Ohio GOP chair in 2017 after Trump personally intervened to back the takeover, rushed to squelch the suggestion, saying of Kasich, I never donated (to) or supported his presidential campaign. Campaign finance reports show Timken, not yet the head of the Ohio Republican Party at the time, contributed the maximum $2,700 to Kasichs presidential run in February 2016. Her husband, Ward J. Tim Timken Jr., then the CEO of TimkenSteel, donated the same amount the same day. Her campaign told The Associated Press that Timken believed her statement on the radio to be accurate. Spokesperson Mandi Merritt said both donations came from Tim Timken, but in a check with both the couples names on it. She said he intended to spread the donation across both election cycles, primary and general, but the Kasich campaign logged it as two separate donations, one from each Timken. A Kasich spokesperson couldnt immediately verify those details Tuesday. There is only one candidate in this race that took on and defeated Kasich and his establishment and that is Jane Timken, Merritt said in an emailed statement. Merritt said the Timkens raised and contributed over $5 million to Trump, dwarfing the sum contributed to Kasich. The Kasich contribution arrived before the former Ohio governor had become something of a pariah within his own rightward-trending party. He steadily blasted Trump during the 2016 primary and then, after dropping his own presidential bid, refused to attend the 2016 Republican National Convention in his own state that nominated Trump. Kasich appeared at last years Democratic National Convention to back then-candidate Joe Bidens election over Trumps re-election. Timken is running in a GOP field that includes former Ohio Treasurer Josh Mandel and Cleveland businessmen Mike Gibbons and Bernie Moreno. Hillbilly Elegy author J.D. Vance and several Republican U.S. House members are also considering runs for the seat Republican two-term Sen. Rob Portman decided to retire from. Democratic U.S. Rep. Tim Ryan is expected to soon announce his bid for the seat, which could be crucial in the battle for control of the Senate. Too Close viewers were left outraged last night after ITV froze during an ad break - meaning fans missed 'vital scenes' in the finale. Taking to Twitter, audiences at home complained that the programme stopped playing during an advertisement for home furnishings retailer ScS - with some saying it didn't resume for around twenty minutes. The three-part series, which concluded last night, follows London-based forensic psychiatrist Dr Emma Robertson (played by Emily Watson) as she assesses the sanity of Connie Mortensen (Denise Gough), a 'yummy mummy' accused of attempted murder. But as viewers waited to discover why Connie tried to kill her daughter and a neighbour's child by driving off a bridge with them in the car, ITV froze, leaving fans fuming. Yet many social media users still praised the psychological thriller's finale, which opened with tormented Connie setting fire to her own room. Scroll down for video Too Close viewers were left outraged last night after ITV froze during an ad break - meaning fans missed 'vital scenes' in the finale. Pictured, main character Connie Mortensen setting her room on fire The three-part series, which concluded last night, follows London-based forensic psychiatrist Dr Emma Robertson (played by Emily Watson) as she assesses the sanity of Connie Mortensen (Denise Gough, pictured together), a 'yummy mummy' accused of attempted murder Bemoaning the technical error, which appeared to only impact some customers, one person wrote on Twitter: 'What happened halfway through #TooClose? 'The telly froze during an @scssofas ad break for about 20 mins which meant we missed most of the second part of the drama? Another added: 'So now we've missed something crucial because of the frozen ad!!! #TooClose,' while a third said: 'Omg I've just missed a massive chunk because the ads froze.' 'What's happened?! @ITV #TooClose Last 15 minutes and screen freezes,' complained a fourth viewer. MailOnline has contacted ITV for comment. In the finale, viewers discovered what drove Connie to commit her horrifying act - learning that her mother died, her marriage broke down and she was prescribed a potent mix of drugs. Reaction: Taking to Twitter, audiences at home complained that the programme stopped playing during an advertisement for home furnishings retailer ScS - with some saying it didn't resume for around twenty minutes Connie and her husband Karl (Jamie Sives) decided to have an open marriage, but she was left distraught when he moved on with her neighbour and best friend Ness (Thalissa Teixeira). Her mother Julia (Eileen Davies), who suffered from dementia, also died - a life-shattering incident that Connie had forgotten about during her time in psychiatric care. Connie, who was already on antidepressants, was also suffering from insomnia and hair loss, which prompted her doctor to give her a strong mix of drugs. But after becoming concerned with her dependency on the medication, she flushed all of her pills away 'for the kids'. Yet this resulted in Connie suffering from psychosis, which is when people lose some contact with reality, and driving off the bridge with the children because she believed her mother could 'save them all'. As viewers waited to discover why Connie (pictured) tried to kill her daughter and a neighbour's child by driving off a bridge with them in the car, ITV froze, leaving fans fuming Yet many social media users still praised the psychological thriller's finale, which opened with tormented Connie setting fire to her own room (pictured) Viewers eventually saw Emma appear in court to offer her testimony, in which she insisted Connie isn't a danger to herself or society. 'Who knows what any one of us is capable of given the wrong medication and the right triggers,' she added. Fans were quick to praise the drama, with one writing: 'This was so emotional. I cried and cried to see both women's suffering... Powerful stuff.' Another said: Absolutely loved #TooClose. Emily Watson and Denise Gough were amazing and portrayed women and mental health in a refreshingly honest way.' Don't miss the big stories. Like us on Facebook. As the motorcade arrived in Massachusetts on I-91 from Bradley International Airport, it passed under a bridge on Bark Haul Road in Longmeadow. Atop that overpass, nearly two dozen firefighters and police officers offered salutes, as two ladder trucks held a draped American flag. with casket about to leave.jpg A hearse carrying the casket of the late William "Billy" Evans, the U.S. Capitol Police officer killed on duty April 2, prepares to head Wedn The jet carrying the body of the late William Billy Evans, the U.S. Capitol Police officer killed in the line of duty April 2, has arrived at Bradley International Airport. A motorcade this evening will escort a hearse carrying Evans on the journey back to his home town of North Adams, and then to a funeral home in Adams. The Eagle will provide updates of the motorcades trip to Berkshire County, where people plan to gather to honor the late police officer. Onto tarmac.JPG Vehicles head Wednesday out onto the tarmac at Bradley International Airport, part of the motorcade that will bring the body of the late Willi waiting for jet.jpg A hearse bearing the emblem of the United States Capitol Police waits at Bradley International Airport for the aircraft bearing the body of th People gathered along the motorcades route from Bradley to I-91. Eagle staffer Stephanie Zollshan is following the procession. She reports: Tons of people lining the streets, saluting, waving, flags as we go. Where to go to witness Thursdays funeral procession On Thursday, people can pay their respects to Evans by gathering on Park Street in Adams at 1 p.m. to witness his funeral procession. The funeral and burial are private, but the public can watch the procession go by on Park Street from St. Stanislaus Kostka Church to Bellevue Cemetery, where Evans will be buried beside his father, Howard. Adams officials said Wednesday that people who gather are asked to wear masks and practice social distancing. The cemetery will be closed to the public from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Toronto, Ontario--(Newsfile Corp. - April 15, 2021) - Wallbridge Mining Company Limited (TSX: WM), ("Wallbridge" or the "Company") is pleased to announce that it has completed the previously announced "bought deal" public offering through the issuance of an aggregate of 21,063,400 charity flow-through common shares of the Company (each, a " Charity Flow-Through Share") at a price of C$0.95 (the "Offering Price") per Charity Flow-Through Share for gross proceeds of C$20,010,230 to the Company, inclusive of the full exercise of the over-allotment option by the Underwriters (as hereinafter defined) to acquire an additional 2,747,400 Charity Flow-Through Shares at the Offering Price (the "Offering"). The Charity Flow-Through Shares were issued and sold pursuant to the terms of an underwriting agreement dated March 31, 2021, among the Company, BMO Capital Markets, as lead underwriter and sole bookrunner, RBC Capital Markets, Cormark Securities Inc., Eight Capital and Paradigm Capital Inc. (collectively, the "Underwriters"). In connection with the Offering, Kirkland Lake Gold Ltd. ("Kirkland Lake") was a back-end buyer and acquired 2,085,277 Common Shares to maintain its ownership interest in the Company at approximately 9.9% (on a non-diluted basis) in accordance with the non-dilution rights granted to Kirkland Lake by the Company pursuant to a participation agreement between the Company and Kirkland Lake dated December 6, 2019. In respect of the Offering, the Charity Flow-Through Shares were offered by way of a short form prospectus dated April 12, 2021, filed in all of the provinces of Canada. The Underwriters were paid a cash commission of 5.5% on the gross proceeds of the Offering. The Charity Flow-Through Shares will qualify as "flow-through shares" within the meaning of subsection 66(15) of the Income Tax Act (Canada) and, in respect of eligible Quebec resident purchasers, section 359.1 of the Taxation Act (Quebec). The gross proceeds from the sale of the Charity Flow-Through Shares will be used to support the Company's 170,000 m drill program in 2021 at the Fenelon project, which will qualify as "Canadian exploration expenses" ("CEE") and "flow-through mining expenditures", both within the meaning of the Income Tax Act (Canada). The Company will renounce such CEE with an effective date of no later than December 31, 2021. The securities offered have not been registered under the U.S. Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and may not be offered or sold in the United States absent registration or an applicable exemption from the registration requirements. This press release shall not constitute an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy nor shall there be any sale of the securities in any jurisdiction in which such offer, solicitation or sale would be unlawful. About Wallbridge Mining Wallbridge is currently advancing the exploration and development of its 100%-owned Fenelon Gold property, which is located along the Detour-Fenelon Gold Trend, an emerging gold belt in northwestern Quebec. The Company completed approximately 102,000 metres of drilling in 2020 and has begun a fully-funded 170,000-metre drill program and the 2021 portion (4,800 metres) of a 10,000-metre, two-year underground exploration development program in 2021. The Company intends to complete a maiden resource on the Fenelon Gold System in the third quarter of 2021. Wallbridge now holds several kilometres surrounding its rapidly expanding Fenelon discovery providing room for growth, as well as future mine development flexibility. Wallbridge's land holdings in Quebec along the Detour-Fenelon Gold Trend are over 900.0 km2, improving Wallbridge's potential for further discoveries for over 90-kilometre strike length in this under-explored belt. Wallbridge is also the operator of, and a 17.8% shareholder in, Lonmin Canada Inc., a privately-held company with a portfolio of nickel, copper, and platinum-group metals (PGM) projects in Ontario's Sudbury Basin. This news release has been authorized by the undersigned on behalf of Wallbridge Mining Company Limited. For further information please visit the Company's website at www.wallbridgemining.com or contact: Wallbridge Mining Company Limited Marz Kord, P. Eng., M. Sc., MBA President & CEO Tel: (705) 682-9297 ext. 251 Email: mkord@wallbridgemining.com Brian Penny, CPA, CMA Chief Financial Officer Tel: (416) 716-8346 Email: bpenny@wallbridgemining.com Forward-Looking Information This press release may contain certain "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of applicable Canadian securities legislation relating to, among other things, the operations of Wallbridge Mining Company Limited ("Wallbridge" or "Company") and the environment within which it operates. All statements, other than statements of historical fact, included herein, including, without limitation, statements regarding future plans and objectives of Wallbridge, future opportunities and anticipated goals, the Company's portfolio, treasury, management team, timetable to mineral resource estimation, permitting and the prospective mineralization of the properties, are forward-looking statements that involve various risks, assumptions, estimates and uncertainties. Generally, forward-looking information can be identified by the use of forward-looking terminology such as "seeks", "believes", "anticipates", "plans", "continues", "budget", "scheduled", "estimates", "expects", "forecasts", "intends", "projects", "predicts", "proposes", "potential", "targets" and variations of such words and phrases, or by statements that certain actions, events or results "may", "will", "could", "would", "should" or "might", "be taken", "occur" or "be achieved". 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. By their nature, forward-looking statements involve numerous assumptions, inherent risks and uncertainties, both general and specific, that contribute to the possibility that the predicted outcomes could differ materially from those contained in such statements. These risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to, delays in obtaining or failures to obtain required governmental, regulatory, environmental or other required approval, the actual results of current exploration activities, fluctuations in prices of commodities, fluctuations in currency markets, actual results of additional exploration and development activities at the Company's projects, capital expenditures, the availability of any additional capital required to advance projects, accidents, or pandemic interruptions. Although the Company has attempted to identify important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those contained in forward-looking information, there may be other factors that cause results not to be as anticipated, estimated or intended. These statements reflect the current internal projections, expectations or beliefs of the Company and are based on information currently available to the Company. The Company does not undertake to update any forward-looking information, except in accordance with applicable securities laws. The Company believes that the expectations reflected in those forward-looking statements are reasonable but no assurance can be given that these expectations will prove to be correct and such forward-looking statements included in this press release should not be unduly relied upon by investors as actual results may vary. Risks and uncertainties about Wallbridge's business are more fully discussed in the disclosure material filed with the securities regulatory authorities in Canada and available on SEDAR under the Company's profile at www.sedar.com. Readers are urged to read these materials and should not place undue reliance on the forward-looking statements contained in this press release. Covid-19 - Given the rapidly evolving nature of the Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, Wallbridge is actively monitoring the situation in order to continue to maintain as best as possible the activities while striving to protect the health of its personnel. Wallbridge' activities will continue to align with the guidance provided by local, provincial and federal authorities in Canada. The Company has established measures to continue normal activities while protecting the health of its employees and stakeholders. Depending on the evolution of the virus, measures may affect the regular operations of Wallbridge and the participation of staff members in events inside or outside Canada. Not for distribution to U.S. news wire services or dissemination in the United States. To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/80546 The White House on Monday held a meeting with the semiconductor industrys biggest names to discuss the ongoing global chip shortage. While the details of the talks remain tightly sealed, reports suggest that foreign chipmakers such as Samsung may require to respond immediately to the United States demands. According to The Korea Herald, US President Joe Biden has made it clear that he wants global semiconductor companies to produce chips in America, not China. As such, Samsung is in a dilemma as it is now torn between two strategically important markets. Samsung already operates a chip manufacturing plant in Austin, Texas. Though it is reportedly planning to build another one on American soil, industry watchers believe the company isnt entirely sure of these plans. However, following this weeks discussions with the US President, the Korean firm may now require to come to a decision very quickly. Advertisement In the meantime, the absence of a leader is hurting Samsung. The company is reportedly mulling a location either in Arizona, Austin, or New York. However, since its Vice Chairman and de-facto leader Lee Jae-yong is in jail, the Korean firm is finding it difficult to come to a decision. Of course, a $17 billion business decision requires the leaders approval. Since the investment talk was held at the highest level in the US, it could prompt Samsung to finalize its discussions with the three state governments and execute the plan soon, said an industry insider. White House talks over chip shortage issues may require Samsung to act quick The ongoing global chip shortage is a result of most chipmakers opting for a fables business model. The likes of Qualcomm and AMD, who design their own chips, all outsource the actual manufacturing to other companies like Samsung or TSMC. And since there arent many chip manufacturing companies out there, demand has outpaced supply. Advertisement The recent White House meeting was primarily to discuss the building of new manufacturing facilities for chips in the US. President Biden wants all big players of the industry to start manufacturing on American soil. These chips, these wafers batteries, broadband its all infrastructure, he said, holding up a wafer. We need to build the infrastructure of today and not repair the one of yesterday. The plan I propose will protect our supply chain and revitalize American manufacturing. This move not only strengthens Americas chip supply chain but also further hurts that of China. Samsung, meanwhile, is now under pressure as it has to choose between the two. The Korean firm operates large-scale memory fabs in China. It is the worlds No. 1 producer of memory chips. Advertisement Moreover, the Korean government is also urging domestic chipmakers to expand local manufacturing. The country is reportedly working on developing a comprehensive package to encourage investments in the foundry segment. All this makes it even more difficult for Samsung to decide on the US investment. Samsung was the only South Korean participant in Mondays virtual meeting. The companys foundry business head, Choi Si-young, represented it at the conference. CEOs of Googles parent company, Alphabet, as well as Intel, General Motors, and Ford were also present. Representatives of TSMC, the worlds largest contract chipmaker and Samsungs main rival in the industry, also tuned into the videoconference. (CNN) -- The United States could have around 300 million excess Covid-19 shots by the end of July, health policy experts at Duke University estimated in a report Thursday, calling on the country to share doses more widely to address the stark inequality around global vaccine distribution. The US has provided limited shipments of AstraZeneca's vaccine -- which is not yet authorized for use in the United States -- to Mexico and Canada, but US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has said it won't share shots more broadly until the country is "more confident" in its own supplies. The US is the biggest financial donor to the global vaccine-sharing scheme COVAX, but the country has been tight-fisted with the actual vaccines it has in huge supply, while many others have none at all. Three-quarters of the world's vaccines actually administered have been in just 10 nations, which together account for under half the world's population. "The world's wealthiest nations have locked up much of the near-term supply. At the current rate vaccines are being administered, 92 of the world's poorest countries won't vaccinate 60% of their populations until 2023 or later," wrote Dr. Krishna Udayakumar and Dr. Mark McClellan, health experts at Duke. The report laid out a three-part plan in which the US should increase funding for COVAX, make excess doses available through the same scheme and create bilateral programs modeled on the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief -- or PEPFAR -- to provide shots and support to countries in need. It could also provide the support and materials for countries to produce safe and effective vaccines on their own. The AstraZeneca vaccine, which the US has shared, has been paused in many age groups in Europe after regulators said the vaccine was possibly linked to dozens of rare but serious blood clotting events, some of them fatal. The US suspended use of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine on Tuesday after reports of the same rare clotting event in six people. The incidence remains extremely rare, at around one in a million. Duke University's estimate of 300 million excess doses had assumed the US would use J&J vaccine, but given the pause, their projections may be overstated. But it won't change the big picture, as the J&J shot currently makes up less than 5% of around 190 million shots currently in the US. YOU ASKED. WE ANSWERED. Q. Officials are saying the J&J pause won't slow down the US vaccine program. Is that true? A. The pause in Johnson & Johnson's Covid-19 vaccine rollout could have a significant impact on the US -- but not in the way you might think. Practically speaking, the effect is likely to be minimal. Even if the suspension is prolonged, the US hasn't relied very heavily on J&J's vaccine, and the government said the US can meet its vaccination goals without the shot. The bigger worry is that the J&J pause could deliver a serious psychological blow to confidence in vaccines generally. But it's important to remember these events are extremely rare. Out of nearly 7 million people who've received the J&J vaccine, there have been reports of just six cases of people experiencing cerebral venous sinus thrombosis in combination with low levels of blood platelets, the US Centers for Disease Control and the US Food and Drug Administration announced Tuesday. One of those people died. Dr. Arnold Monto, acting chair of an FDA vaccine advisory committee, wants to remind people that the other two vaccines being used in the US, made by Pfizer and Moderna, are designed differently, and have not been linked to this rare blood clot event that authorities are investigating in the J&J shot, as well as the AstraZeneca shot used widely in Europe. Here's what else to know. WHAT'S IMPORTANT TODAY Keeping middle seats empty on airplanes can significantly reduce Covid-19 exposure Leaving the seats vacant on airplanes can reduce a passenger's risk of being exposed to the coronavirus by 23% to 57%, according to a study published Wednesday by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Researchers used laboratory models to simulate how much exposure to virus particles could be reduced when middle seats are kept vacant in an aircraft cabin. The models were based on the spread of bacteriophage aerosols used as a surrogate to estimate the airborne spread of the coronavirus. Bacteriophages are viruses that can infect bacteria. The analysis did not measure the impact of wearing masks, which is currently required on flights, but the researchers noted that some virus aerosol can be emitted from an infectious masked passenger and so distancing could still be useful. Denmark drops AstraZeneca from its vaccination program Denmark is the first country in Europe to remove the AstraZeneca Covid-19 shot from its vaccination program, following announcements last week from medicines regulators in the European Union and UK confirming a possible link between the shot and rare but serious blood clotting events. The UK has limited the use of the vaccine to people aged 30 and over, while other European nations have taken a more cautious approach, only offering the shot to people in much older age groups. Younger adults appear to be experiencing the blood clotting events in higher numbers. The European Medicines Agency (EMA), however, did not advise any change in the way the shot is used, saying the cases were very rare and that the benefits still outweigh the risks. "We are basically in agreement with EMA's assessment regarding the AstraZeneca vaccine," said Sren Brostrm, Director General of the Danish Health Authority, adding the shot wasn't needed because the country had already reached "an advanced point" in its vaccine rollout. "If Denmark were in a completely different situation and in the midst of a violent third outbreak, for example, and a healthcare system under pressure -- and if we had not reached such an advanced point in our rollout of the vaccines -- then I would not hesitate to use the vaccine, even if there were rare but severe complications associated with using it." 1 in 5 Americans will 'likely never' choose to get a Covid-19 vaccine The US, along with the rest of the world, is banking on widespread vaccination to dig itself out of the pandemic. But the latest numbers from a Monmouth University national poll about the vaccination suggest vaccine hesitancy will be a major hurdle to achieving that. More than half of people polled (51%) reported that they already had at least one shot of the vaccine. Another 14% said they plan to get one of the vaccines as soon as they can. Another 12% said they are waiting and seeing whether to get the vaccine. But more than 1 in 5 Americans (21%) said they will "likely never" get the vaccine. Chris Cillizza breaks down what we know about this group of people, including what their political leanings have to do with it. ON OUR RADAR Banquet halls and hotels in the Indian capital region of Delhi are being converted into "extended Covid hospitals" as cases continue to surge during the country's second wave. A senior Japanese government official did not rule out the possibility the Tokyo Olympics in July could be canceled if the country's outbreak worsens. Many Evangelicals say they won't be vaccinated against Covid-19. Here's what one pastor is telling his congregation. Dr. Anthony Fauci wants you to know that the J&J vaccine is just paused -- not canceled. Here's how long a final decision may take. More than 5,000 fully vaccinated people in the US have had Covid-19 infections, but that's no reason to panic. Here's why. TODAY'S PODCAST "We've been very slow in our agreements, and we are slow in the vaccination, too. And this is something that I really can't explain. We should be doing better. We should be able to vaccinate faster because we've got a lot of expertise with that." Natalia Pasternak, Brazilian microbiologist Covid-19 is wreaking havoc in Brazil right now, with a record number of daily deaths in recent weeks. CNN International Correspondent Matt Rivers provides an inside scoop on what went wrong and how the country's crisis is a warning for the rest of the world. Listen now. This story was first published on CNN.com, "The US could have 300M extra vaccines. Why won't it share?" Total character Regarding Columnist Hales wife: Hes still here, (A3, April 12): I just read Joe Holleys piece about Leon Hale and his recent conversation with Babette Fraser Hale. I have been a fan of Hales work ever since my late husband and I moved here from the Midwest in 1982, mostly because his writing style echoed mine, save for the Texas, laid back twang that Hale had and I wished I did. I met him about 10 years back, while crossing the Central Market parking lot to my car, and I spied this lanky and tall man with a familiar face loping slowly toward the market. I knew in an instant it was him, and as we got close, I said, You gotta be Leon Hale, although I had never imagined how tall he was. His head-and-shoulders photo with his column in the paper did not reveal that. He was truly, just as Babette had said in Holleys column, easy to be with, and engaged me in a short conversation about writing, very pleasantly, instead of just walking by a stranger in the parking lot. I am very thankful that happened, as it confirmed my thinking on his total character: Leon Hale was a true down-to-earth, unpretentious nice man as well as one of my favorite writers. Rusti Stover, Houston Slippery slope Regarding GOP chair calls for brigade of poll watchers, (April 10, A1) In 1973 I was able to study for a year as a college student in Kenya. While there, a national election took place, and to my dismay I witnessed Kenyan voters having to contend with club-wielding gangs of partisan thugs at their polling places as they faithfully cued up to cast ballots. I recall feeling so proud to be an American citizen where I was certain my experience as a voter would always take place in freedom, fairness and safety. Now almost half a century later, I read reports that political operatives here may be marching Texas voters into a similar danger. They are threatening to install an election integrity brigade of partisan poll watchers outfitted with video-cams to record what they deem unlawful activity. Could this be a slippery slope? We must not tolerate cunningly crafted voter intimidation policies to creep any further into what are supposed to be free, fair and safe polling places. Do American voters need to run gauntlets of vigilantes? How long will it take for such tactics to devolve into citizens confronting thugs like I saw in Kenya? I shudder to think! Robert F. Forker, Houston If those poll watchers are really skilled and precise, maybe they can pick up on all manner of non-verbal intentions of those crafty voters. Perhaps they will even be seasoned and experienced enough to read sign language. I just hope they understand that yes, the extension of a voters middle finger is meant just for them. Brenden McBride, Katy Derek Chauvins defense team called its own medical expert Wednesday to rebut days and days of specialist testimony presented by the prosecution and to push the alternative theory that George Floyd did not die from asphyxiaor the loss of oxygenduring the arrest but rather a drug overdose coupled with preexisting health problems, including high blood pressure and heart disease. Wednesdays hearing was the second day of witnesses called by Chauvins defense team after the prosecution rested its case after weeks of presenting evidence and calling expert and eye witnesses. Chauvins defense team is expected to wrap up its case by Thursday, though it is unclear if Chauvin himself will take the stand in his own defense. Advertisement Much of the days proceedings revolved around David Fowler, a former chief medical examiner for the state of Maryland, who was called by the defense to make the broad medical case against Chauvins arrest causing Floyds death. While the prosecution called numerous, far more specialized experts to testify on each part of the arrest, the video evidence, and the medical reasoning behind their claims, the defense appears set to leave its medical case largely to Fowler, who said he would not have declared Floyds cause of death as a homicide, as the autopsy did. Though not part of the Chauvin case, Fowler is currently being sued for his expert testimony in another case in Maryland where police killed a Black teen, an arrest the teens parents described as chillingly similar to George Floyds, but a death that Fowler similarly testified was accidental. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Subscribe to the Slatest Newsletter A daily email update of the stories you need to read right now. 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. During hours of testimony, there was little about the arrest that Fowler declined to opine on, restating the building blocks of the defenses case. Fowler introduced new theories, like perhaps Floyds oxygen intake was impeded by the exhaust pipe of the nearby police car during the arrest, despite conceding he knew little about the car or whether it was even on at the time. Fowler also testified that perhaps a tumor found in Floyds lower abdomen could have contributed to a sudden surge of adrenaline that led to sudden cardiac arrhythmia. Fowler countered extensive testimony, claiming Chauvins weight wasnt really that heavy on Floyds back, neglecting to factor in what prosecutors say was 50 to 60 pounds of equipment. Fowler testified about the position of Chauvins knee during the arrest, saying it wasnt necessarily restricting Floyds breathing and, if it was, there would be evidence of bruising on Floyds body, skipping over evidence of bruising on Floyds left side introduced by prosecutors. Fowler reiterated claims from another defense witness, use-of-force expert Barry Brodd, that studies show that restraining people in the prone position isnt that dangerous, even though those studies didnt really fit the length of time and situation under which Floyd was being held. And on and on and on. Advertisement Much of Fowlers testimony, if it did not completely fall apart, at least looked rickety, under cross-examination by the prosecution and as the Washington Post noted for a second day, it was unclear whether Chauvins witnesses were helping or hurting his defense. Fowler testified he saw no evidence that Floyd was oxygen-deprived, in part because he did not complain during the arrest of experience problems with his vision, which is a common symptom when human tissue is deprived of oxygen. People describe little spots of light, a gray curtain coming down, Fowler said. [Floyd] complained of shortness of breath, but there was no indication that he made any statements that he was having difficulty in seeing things. It could have been this, it could have been that, it could have been anything, just not the most obvious thing. You put all of those together, its very difficult to say which of those is the most accurate, Fowler explained, which is why he said he would have classified Floyds cause of death as undetermined. ATLANTA, April 14, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- On Monday, April 19th at 11:00 a.m. Clark Atlanta University, the University of Liberia, and the Liberian Consulate in the State of Georgia in a spirit of mutual trust and collaboration, will host a virtual signing ceremony marking the continuation of a unique partnership between both universities. The partnership will allow both institutions to develop and implement programming and activities to improve their capacities to best serve their students. Clark Atlanta University and the University of Liberia's missions are similar. They are committed to research, accessing and utilizing emerging technologies, and providing a quality education that produces well-qualified and globally competitive graduates. "I am ecstatic about the partnership with the Rev. Dr. Julius S. Nelson, Jr., the president of the University of Liberia and his esteemed institution. Such collaborations help to strengthen Clark Atlanta's outreach on an international level and creates more opportunities for students at both universities," said President George T. French, Jr., Ph.D. The Rev. Dr. Julius S. Nelson, Jr., president of the University of Liberia, said, "We will accomplish a lot through this memorandum of understanding to include: developing exchange and professional development programs for our students, faculty, and staff, and we look forward to this partnership between the University of Liberia and Clark Atlanta University." Additionally, the partnership will include seminars and workshops, the establishment of cultural exchange in areas of education and research, as well as sharing new technologies and methods of management through programming. "As the President and Board Chair of the University Consortium for Liberia, (UCL) and as Honorary Consul Republic of Liberia in Georgia, we are celebrating a 9-year partnership with Clark Atlanta University and this bold new vision to put a Mandela Young African Leaders Fellowship Program, also known as (YALI) at UL, is both exciting and historic. Liberian students will have the opportunity to participate in business and entreprensurship classroom-based coursework, leadership development, experiential learning, community service, networking and more, modeling what YALI-CAU has successfully done over the years, in Atlanta, Georgia." To learn more about the partnership and to view the signing ceremony live, access Clark Atlanta University's YouTube Channel or visit liberianconsulatega.com. About Clark Atlanta University Clark Atlanta University was formed with the consolidation of Atlanta University and Clark College, both of which hold unique places in the annals of African-American history. Atlanta University, established in 1865 by the American Missionary Association, was the nation's first institution to award graduate degrees to African-Americans. Clark College, established four years later in 1869, was the nation's first four-year liberal arts college to serve a primarily African-American student population. Today, with nearly 4,000 students, CAU is the largest of the four institutions (CAU, Morehouse College, Spelman College, and Morehouse School of Medicine) that comprise the Atlanta University Center Consortium. It is also the largest of the 37-member UNCF institutions. To learn more about Clark Atlanta University and its mission visit www.cau.edu About the University of Liberia The University of Liberia was founded in 1862 as Liberia College and became a full University in 1951. It is a public institution funded mainly by the Government of Liberia. The University now has four campuses: Capitol Hill, Fendall, Medical School Fendall, and Starz-Sinji campus located in Sinji, Grand Cape Mount County. During its early formative years, financing for Liberia College was provided by the New York Colonization Society and the Trustees of Donation for Education in Liberia (TDEL), both were United States based organizations. The donations laid the cornerstone and financed the first building on January 25, 1858. The University of Liberia serves over 20,000 students. To learn more about the University of Liberia and its mission visit www.ul.edu.lr About the University Consortium for Liberia The University Consortium for Liberia (UCL) coordinates diverse academic efforts between Liberia and the global community. Since 2009, we have collaborated with students, university faculty, and other academic professionals to increase learning in Liberia and the United States. An Atlanta-based 501c3 organization, we coordinate Study Abroad Programs, Service Learning Opportunities, Student and Faculty Exchanges, Research Studies, Workshops & Conferences. Under UCL, American students have studied abroad in Liberia, participated in service learning opportunities, and prepared research reports. Likewise, Liberian students have received U.S. scholarships in pursuits of Undergraduate, Master's Degrees and PhDs with the opportunity to apply what they have learned on campus back home in their communities. Our Honorary Chairs and 19 Institutional Partners give us the opportunity to grant students scholarships and provide educators with additional training. These opportunities have become life changing experiences. Please visit at www.ucliberia.com for further information. SOURCE Clark Atlanta University Related Links www.cau.edu Fewer Covid-infected Britons are sticking to the 10-day self-isolation rules than two months ago, an official survey suggests. The Office for National Statistics found 82 per cent of those questioned who tested positive said they followed the mandatory quarantine in the six days to March 13. For comparison, the figure in early February when just 10million Britons had been vaccinated was 86 per cent. Experts stressed, however, the results were likely an 'overestimate' because they were at odds with other studies, including one paper that claimed fewer than one in five Britons was properly self-isolating. On the other hand, Test & Trace's Dido Harding has claimed in the past the numbers underestimate people's efforts because they are a yes/no question people who obeyed all the rules for nine days but had to go to a shop once, for example, would fail. Britain was under its third lockdown in early February, with citizens required to stay home except for to shop for essentials and attend crucial jobs across all four nations. But by March 13, England had reopened schools for all pupils, while Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland were allowing primary school children back to the classroom. Office for National Statistics found 82 per cent were self-isolating for ten days in early March. For comparison, in February they suggested it was 86 per cent. Experts stressed, however, the results were likely an overestimate ONS survey found going to the shops, visiting work, school or university or a medical appointment were the most likely reasons for not following the mandatory quarantine They found 14 per cent of those who isolated were not paid by their employer for the period Professor Robert West, a behavioural scientist at University College London, warned there was a 'high risk' these results were an overestimate. 'First, the rate of reported self-isolation is much higher than that found in repeated surveys using a different sampling method,' he said. Can you smell your friend's garlic breath? Then you're close enough to catch Covid from them, expert says Britons should use the 'garlic-breath distance' measurement to work out whether they are at risk of catching coronavirus, an expert said today. Dr Julian Tang, a virologist at Leicester University, warned people were standing close enough for the virus to jump between them if they could smell each other's breath. 'The way this virus transmits is really through conversational distance, within one metre,' he told Sky News. 'When you're talking to a friend or sharing the same air as you're listening to your friend talking, we call it the garlic-breath distance. 'So if you can smell your friend's lunch you're inhaling some of that air as well as any virus that's inhaled with it.' Dr Tang added the Government's slogan 'hands, face, space, fresh air' was sending the wrong message about how the virus spreads. At the start of the pandemic, experts thought the risk of getting infected was mainly from touching contaminated surfaces such as ATMs and petrol pumps. But evidence now suggests the SARS-CoV-2 virus is airborne, with infected patients emitting contagious particles when they cough, sneeze, talk or breathe Advertisement 'Secondly, the data rely on self-reporting in circumstances where the pressure to report having self-isolated is very high. 'Thirdly, this is a sample of people who have chosen to get tested, and responded to the survey and are, therefore, likely to be much more compliant than the average person.' Professor James Rubin, a psychologist at King's College London, argued the results were 'good news', saying the 'high levels of adherence were encouraging'. But he warned they should be taken with a pinch of salt because fewer than half of the people the ONS rang to ask to complete the survey actually responded. 'We need to ask ourselves whether there's systematic bias at play,' he said. 'Perhaps people who don't adhere to self-isolation also tend to not respond to surveys asking about adherence?' The ONS survey relied on 1,122 people for its results, with respondents self-reporting whether they had followed isolation rules without providing any evidence. Statisticians claimed their low response rate (45 per cent) was down to the target population being unwell and, therefore, less able to take part. They found shopping for groceries, toiletries or medicines (32 per cent) and going to work, school or university (31 per cent) were the most common reasons for not staying at home out of those who failed to stick to the requirements in the latest survey. This was similar to the previous survey which found shopping for groceries, toiletries and medicine (27 per cent), going to work, school or university (22 per cent) and visiting the doctors (17 per cent) were the most likely reasons. A third of those who self-isolated said it had a bad impact on their wellbeing and mental health during the period in March. And 14 per cent reported not being paid by their employer for following the rules. Moreover, three in ten respondents said they were not sure they understood the self-isolation rules. The ONS study did not include people who had been asked to self-isolate despite not getting a positive test, such as those returning to the UK from abroad or who had recently been in contact with someone who was infected with the virus. Previous studies have suggested adherence to the self-isolation rules is very low despite ministers making them a legal requirement. A King's College London paper from September found just one in five Britons who had tell-tale Covid symptoms self-isolated. They quizzed 30,000 in the research. And a British Medical Journal study based on 26,000 participants published last month found less than half of respondents (42 per cent) stayed home for the full ten-day quarantine period. Experts have suggested many are not self-isolating because of insufficient income support and concerns over struggles with mental health. They add many housing options - such as small flats in city centres - make the requirement impractical. Ministers cut the self-isolation period from two weeks to 10 days in December, amid warnings the period was too long and many people were not following the order. Medical officers said there was sufficient evidence that people weren't infectious after this time period. (Natural News) Exposure to air pollution has been associated with serious health problems in adults. However, its effects on childrens health remain unclear. Now, a study has shown that children exposed to air pollution for as little as one day may face a higher risk of heart disease and other ailments in adulthood. Published in Scientific Reports, the study also showed that early exposure to bad air alters childrens genes in a way that may affect their long-term health. This study may change the way parents think about the air that their children breathe. It may even help experts devise better clinical interventions for children exposed to elevated levels of air pollution. Exposure to air pollution linked to higher risk of disease To identify the multifaceted impacts of air pollution exposure on childrens health, a team of researchers led by Mary Prunicki, the director of the Sean N. Parker Center for Allergy and Asthma Research at Stanford University, studied a predominantly Hispanic group of children aged six to eight years from Fresno, California. Fresno ranks among the top five most polluted cities in the United States in terms of both short-term and year-round particle pollution, as well as ground-level ozone pollution, due to wildfires and industrial agriculture. Prunicki and her colleagues used continuous daily pollutant concentrations measured at central air monitoring stations in Fresno and daily concentrations from meteorological and geophysical data to estimate average air pollution exposures for one day, one week and one, three, six and 12 months prior to each participant visit. When they looked at this data with regard to the participants blood pressure readings and blood samples, they found that long-term exposure to particulate matter 2.5 (PM2.5), carbon monoxide and ozone is linked to increased deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) methylation. Methylation changes the activity of DNA molecules without changing their sequence. The result may be passed down to future generations. DNA methylation may lead to serious health problems, such as atherosclerosis, cancer, nervous disorders and cardiovascular disease. The researchers also found that exposure to air pollution led to increased monocytes, white blood cells that play a key role in the buildup of plaques along arterial walls. Over time, plaque buildup can harden and narrow the arteries, restricting blood flow to the heart. Therefore, children exposed to long-term air pollution might be predisposed to heart disease in adulthood. Worse, the researchers found that air pollution can negatively affect childrens health even after just one day of exposure. That is certainly startling, especially for this age group, said Prunicki. How to combat air pollution Despite these sobering findings, the researchers noted that there are still several ways parents can protect their children from the negative impacts of air pollution. For one, parents should keep their children indoors as much as possible if there is wildfire smoke in the area, said Prunicki. But if children need to go outside to burn off some energy, its a good idea to check the air quality index level so that they can avoid spending time outdoors on days when air quality is particularly bad. Prunicki also advises parents to have their children not be as physically active as usual on days they spend time outdoors. This ensures that the children are not straining themselves and taking in lungfuls of bad air, especially in places that normally see elevated levels of air pollution. In addition, the researchers support prescribed burning. This practice is usually done in areas that see frequent wildfires to reduce the amount of dead branches and foliage that can fuel future wildfires. (Related: Human intervention has made forests less resistant to drought, pests, wildfire.) Follow Pollution.news for more articles about the impacts of air pollution on human health. Sources include: NaturalHealth365.com Nature.com StateOfTheAir.org Cureus.com KQED.org DETROIT -- A postal worker was assaulted Wednesday and a woman is in custody after she allegedly stole a U.S. Postal Service truck. According to WXYZ Detroit, the worker -- who was not injured in the attack -- was preparing to deliver mail in the 12600 block of Monte Vista around 3 p.m. As the worker was preparing the mail, she was pulled out of the truck by woman who threw the worker to the ground. The suspect got into the postal truck and sped away. A cash reward was offered by the postal service for information leading to the arrest of the suspect. Around 7 p.m. Wednesday, police were able to capture the female suspect in the 11700 block of Appoline. Anyone with additional information regarding the incident is asked to contact the U.S. Postal Inspection Service at 1-877-876-2455. READ MORE: Second child, 3, dies after Michigan fathers murder-suicide shooting 7-year-old Michigan girl shot during argument between parents Teen charged after homemade bomb explodes in classroom As (Ai) technology gets all-pervasive, the is considering a ban on the use of AI for mass and social credit scores, among other applications. The leaked draft proposal, first reported by Politico and is expected to be made official next week, would see the EU take a strong stance on certain applications of AI, similar to the EU's regulation of digital privacy under the GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation), reports The Verge. According to the draft, a ban on AI is needed for "indiscriminate surveillance," including systems that directly track individuals in physical environments or aggregate data from other sources. It also seeks a ban on AI systems that create social credit scores, which means judging someone's trustworthiness based on social behavior or predicted personality traits. The draft proposal seeks ban on special authorisation for using "remote biometric identification systems" like facial recognition in public spaces and asks for notifications when people interact with an AI system, unless this is "obvious from the circumstances and the context of use". The key section of the document is Article 4, which prohibits certain uses of AI, including mass and social credit scores. The EU proposal also demands new oversight for "high-risk" AI systems, including those that pose a direct threat to safety, like self-driving cars, and those that have a high chance of affecting someone's livelihood, like those used for job hiring, judiciary decisions, and credit scoring. The proposal, however, drew some criticism too on social media. Omer Tene, vice president of nonprofit International Association of Privacy Professionals (IAPP) said on Twitter that the regulation "represents the typical Brussels approach to new tech and innovation. When in doubt, regulate." "The key provision of the Reg is Article 4, which defines 'prohibited AI practices'. It will cause great consternation because it's vague and potentially all encompassing," Tene commented. --IANS na/dpb (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 children became separated from their families in the panic after jihadist attacks in northern Mozambique in March, and thousands more are suffering from malnutrition, Unicef warned Thursday. The UN children's agency has managed to shelter 250 children separated from their families in the assault on Palma, a town in northern Cabo Delgado province long prey to jihadist attacks that have mounted in ferocity over the past year. Alone after being separated from her family in a jihadist attack, one six-year-old girl wandered through the brush of northern Mozambique for four days before being taken in by Unicef. Struck dumb following the late March violence, the girl "has been speaking for the past three days," Manuel Fontaine, emergency operations director at the UN children's agency, told AFP. "She's managed to tell us that she had a grandfather, we're doing everything we can to track him down." The foundlings represent a fraction of the 2,500 lost children recovered since the raids began in late 2017. As more survivors stream in to provincial capital Pemba, "among the latest arrivals are three brothers and other solitary children," Fontaine said. With almost 700,000 put to flight by the attacks, malnutrition is a growing danger for people in the poor northern region bordering Tanzania. Almost 13 percent of children under five already suffer from acute malnutrition, including four percent with a severe form. "These are only the figures for the areas where we have access," Fontaine highlighted, adding that they are likely to worsen with the end of the rainy season and the blows to the incomes of those forced to flee. It all adds up to a "seriously and likely enduring" humanitarian crisis in Cabo Delgado, he warned. With one-third of the population already displaced, "at this pace there will be a million by June". During a five-day visit to Pemba, Fontain said a third of the population had been displaced. Story continues In some towns, the population had doubled or even tripled, he said. He said was struck to see "families of five or six finding themselves putting up 15 to 20 people from their extended family". "In one small house in Pemba where I visited, they're sleeping in the garden, in the courtyard, there's no space anywhere. So when it rains -- and the rains here are heavy -- everyone comes inside to shelter and noone sleeps". ger/hba/tgb/ri Phuket residents urged to protect themselves from COVID PHUKET: Phuket Vice Governor Piyapong Choowong has made a special plea for residents in Phukets Muang District to take steps to prevent themselves from being infected with COVID-19, and especially follow what he called the three iron rules of preventing the virus from spreading. COVID-19Coronavirushealth By The Phuket News Thursday 15 April 2021, 10:18AM The number of confirmed cases has risen to 112. Image: PPHO Vice Governor Piyapongs plea came in a special video released yesterday (Apr 14), when there were 98 confirmed cases of people infected with COVID-19 on the island. The Phuket Provincial Public Health Office (PPHO) last night confirmed that the number of COVID-19 infections in Phuket had risen to 112. Vice Governor Piyapong pointed out that infections in Muang Phuket District were the highest on the island, with 49 of 98 cases at the time. Kathu District had recorded 35 cases and Thalang District 14 cases, he said. Maintain social distancing, wash your hands often, wear masks, Vice Governor Piyapong said. "Please, brothers and sisters, take intensive care of yourselves. When leaving the house, always wear a mask. When entering the community, keep some distance [from other people]. And always wash your hands with alcohol, he added. Such measures are iron rules that everyone has to follow in strict accordance because the Phuket Health Medical team is working hard to fight COVID-19, Vice Governor Piyapong said. At this time I would like my brothers and sisters to spend as much time at home as possible. If there is no important business, please do not go anywhere, V/Gov Piyapong added. We have to help everyone in order to make Phuket free from COVID very soon, he said. Vice Governor Piyapong urged Phuket residents to also follow the timelines released of movements of people now confirmed as infected with COVID-19 to make sure they are not at risk of being infected themselves. He urged people to regularly check the timelines of COVID patients released by the PPHO, which were posted on the Ministry of Interior Phuket offices official COVID-19 information Facebook page, Phuket Anti-COVID19. (See the latest timelines posted here.) People with specific queries about the COVID situation were advised to call the PPHO at 094-5935342 or 094-5938876, V/Gov Piyapong noted. The latest number of people confirmed as infected with COVID-19 will be released each day, sometime after 7pm, he added. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) holds a news conference one day after Congress passed a $1.9 trillion COVID-related stimulus package at the Capitol Visitors Center in Washington on March 11, 2021. (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images) Pelosi Aims for Bipartisan Backing on Infrastructure Plan, Ready to Resort to Reconciliation House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) said on April 15 that she hopes some Republicans will back President Joe Bidens infrastructure plan but, if not, Democrats are ready to go it alone through the reconciliation process to push through another major piece of legislation. Pelosi began her weekly press conference on Capitol Hill by talking about the American Rescue Plan, the $2 trillion pandemic relief package that drew zero Republican backing and which Democrats ended up approving via budget reconciliation, a process that had allowed them to sidestep the filibuster in the 50-50 split Senate. About 160 million Americans have received their checks from this legislation, she said. Those checks are part of nearly a trillion dollars in the pockets of the American workers. We said our purpose in the plan was vaccines in the arm, money in the pocket, children safely in school, workers safely back at workand that is what is happening now. And so were very proud of that. But we have more to do, Pelosi said, referring to Bidens $2.3 trillion infrastructure package, the American Jobs Plan, which has already drawn the scrutiny of Republicans, who are wary of its price tag and argue that it goes well beyond what people normally think of as infrastructure. Bidens plan includes $100 billion in workforce development programs, $400 billion toward expanding access home- or community-based care for aging relatives and people with disabilities, $25 billion to increase the supply of child care, $300 billion to strengthen manufacturing supply chains, and $10 billion for a new Civilian Climate Corps that will work on conserving public lands and waters. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell took to Twitter on April 13. There is a bipartisan appetite for smart infrastructure bills. In fact, all the multi-year highway bills have been bipartisan going back decades. There isnt an appetite for using the word infrastructure to justify a multitrillion-dollar slush fund for unrelated bad ideas. McConnell reiterated the point in remarks from the Senate floor on April 13, calling Bidens package misleadingly titled legislation. The White House has lumped together a motley assortment of the lefts priciest priorities, he said. Less than 6 percent of this proposal goes to roads and bridges. Its not remotely targeted toward what Americans think they are getting when politicians campaign on infrastructure. But instead of coming up with a better bill, Democrats have decided its the English language that has to change. They are embarking on an Orwellian campaign to convince everybody that any government policy whatsoever can be labeled infrastructure. Pelosi told reporters that she believes the American Jobs Plan is not an opportunity of a generation, but of a century, before adding that, for the plan to meet its objectives, you have to have human infrastructure to go with it. And that is workforce development that is very much a part of all this: women being able to participate fully in how we build back better, she said. That means we have to have adequate child care so they can confidently be part of the workforce knowing that their children or loved ones are cared for. Pelosi said that, in March, she directed Democratic committee chairs to reach across the aisle and find common ground on the package. Now that the chairs have begun to hold committee hearings and started drafting the bill, she said she hopes a substantial part of it will be done by the end of May. I hope it will be bipartisan and that is what we are striving for now, she said. Asked about the possibility of advancing the bill via reconciliation if Democrats fail to win bipartisan backing, Pelosi said, I hope it wouldnt need a reconciliation bill, but well be ready if it does. How we process it, well see. Biden said he hopes to win bipartisan backing for the plan and is prepared to negotiate on both its size and funding. The president met with lawmakers from both parties on April 12 to discuss the package as they returned to Washington following a recess. Im prepared to negotiate as to the extent of my infrastructure project, as well as how we pay for it, Biden said ahead of an Oval Office meeting with House and Senate members from both parties. I think everyone acknowledges we need a significant increase in infrastructure. Its going to get down to what we call infrastructure. Its not just roads, bridges, highways. In a statement following Bidens meeting with lawmakers, the White House stated that the sides had a good exchange of ideas, and the President asked for their feedback and follow-up on proposals discussed in the meeting, while underscoring that inaction is not an option. Republicans, meanwhile, say they plan to unveil a narrower infrastructure package to counter Bidens sweeping proposal. Advertisement Royal experts hit out today at what they called 'shameful tantrums' thrown by Princes Harry and Andrew about what uniform to wear to the Duke of Edinburgh's funeral this weekend, saying it is 'not about them'. Among the most scathing was royal biographer Angela Levin, who said the Queen had 'got much, much more to cope with than deciding on what male family members should wear for her adored husband's funeral'. Former BBC royal correspondent Peter Hunt was also unimpressed, saying it was 'striking that Andrew thought he could use his father's funeral to advance his rehabilitation' amid talks over him wanting to dress as an Admiral. But royal expert Robert Jobson said he hoped Harry and Andrew would be allowed to wear their military uniform to the funeral 'because they are two guys who have served their Queen and Country on the front line'. The commentators reacted after the Daily Mail revealed that all senior members of the Royal Family will now wear mourning dress at the Duke's funeral at Windsor Castle which will take place at 3pm on Saturday. The Mail understands that, in an unprecedented about-turn, a last minute decision, approved by the Queen, has been made that no royals will wear military uniform in order to present a united family front. Royal experts (from left) Angela Levin, Peter Hunt and Robert Jobson have spoken out about the funeral uniform row Prince Andrew in ceremonial dress at a service to mark the centenary of the RAF in London on July 10, 2018 (left); and Prince Harry attending Royal Albert Hall with Meghan in his dress as Captain General of the Royal Marines on March 7, 2020 (right) Today, Ms Levin, who has written books about Harry and William, tweeted: 'Due to Princes Andrew and Harry throwing tantrums, none of the Royal Family will be wearing military uniforms on Saturday. 'You'd think the Queen and Duke's exemplary behaviour would have passed down. Their behaviour is shameful. The funeral is not about them. Actions have consequences.' She later added: 'Hasn't our Queen at 94, got much much more to cope with than deciding on what male family members should wear for her adored husband's funeral?' Mr Hunt also gave his view in a series of tweets, saying: 'Adapt to survive is a mantra that has, once again, served the royals well. Now, Harry won't be the loner in a suit and Andrew won't wear a uniform with extra lace. His attempts to accelerate his rehabilitation have stuttered.' ''Uniform gate' might just prompt thoughtful royals to reflect on the mistakes they made when they removed Prince Harry's military appointments and shut the door on Harry and Meghan rather than leaving it slightly ajar. 'It's striking that Andrew thought he could use his father's funeral to advance his rehabilitation and that it took the leak of news about his uniform choice, to stop him.' Harry, 36, is understood to have wanted to wear the Blues and Royals dress uniform he wore on his wedding day in May 2018 The Duke of York, Prince of Wales, Duke of Edinburgh, Princess Anne and the Earl of Wessex follow the coffin of the Queen Mother from Westminster Hall to Westminster Abbey in 2002 But Mr Jobson, author of the upcoming book Prince Philip's Century: The Extraordinary Life of the Duke of Edinburgh which is out next month, said he hoped Harry and Andrew would wear military uniform. Royals in military uniform: A brief history Royal Family members with a military rank have worn uniforms at state occasions since the 19th century. At the Queen Mother's funeral in 2002, the last funeral of a royal consort, Prince Philip, Prince Charles, Prince Andrew and Princess Anne all wore uniforms. Prince Edward, who quit the Royal Marines after four months' service, wore a black morning coat, as did his nephews William and Harry, who had yet to serve in the Armed Forces. Anne had not served in the military but held the honorary rank of Rear Admiral. By contrast, at the funeral of Princess Diana royals wore dark suits and not military dress. The funeral was considered a ceremonial event rather than a full state occasion. In 1952, at the funeral of the Queen's father King George VI, his brothers the Duke of Windsor and the Duke of Gloucester wore military dress alongside Prince Philip. The Queen and Queen Mother wore mourning clothes, including heavy black veils. The three dukes also wore military dress for Queen Mary's funeral in 1953. Illustrations from Queen Victoria's 1901 funeral show her sons Edward VII and the Duke of Connaught in military dress on horseback in her funeral procession. Advertisement Speaking on the Royal Beat on True Royalty TV, he said: 'I hope they are allowed to wear their uniform, both him (Harry) and The Duke of York, because they are two guys who have served their Queen and Country on the front line. It is only appropriate. I think Harry will and I think the Duke of York will as well.' Behind the scenes, courtiers have been racked by concern that Harry, who had to give up his honorary military titles after he acrimoniously quit royal duties and moved to the US, would be the only senior royal not in uniform. Harry, 36, is understood to have wanted to wear the Blues and Royals dress uniform he wore on his wedding day in May 2018. As a former captain with the Household Cavalry, however, he is entitled only to wear a suit, with any medals he has been awarded in the course of his duties or by the Queen. By contrast the Prince of Wales, Duke of Cambridge, Earl of Wessex and Princess Royal would have been, by convention for a royal ceremonial funeral, in full military uniform. The issue was compounded when Prince Andrew demanded to wear the uniform of admiral, a position he had offered to defer taking up after stepping back from public duties in the wake of the Epstein scandal. Crucially Andrew has not been stripped of his honorary military titles and remains a vice-admiral in the Royal Navy. It led to concerns within the Royal Household that if Andrew were denied his request to go in uniform, he and Harry would be the only ones in civilian dress who had seen active service in the military. A source said: 'There was the risk of real embarrassment.' The Queen has decided that, to retain family unity and spare Harry any public humiliation, everyone will dress the same morning coats and black ties for the men, simple black outfits for the women. It is believed to be only the second time in more than a century that members of the Royal Family have not worn uniform to the funeral of a monarch or their spouse. It will, however, be seen as a significant public olive branch to Harry in the wake of his and Meghan's devastating interview with Oprah Winfrey last month, in which they criticised members of his immediate family and accused the institution of racism. The Queen attends a ceremony at the CWGC Air Forces Memorial at Runnymede in Surrey on March 31 The Duke of Edinburgh (left) walks in procession with the Duke of Gloucester, Duke of Windsor (Edward VIII) and the Duke of Kent as the funeral cortege of King George VI makes its way from Windsor Station to St George's Chapel in 1952 Buckingham Palace last night declined to comment, but the Mail understands the decision will be officially announced today. It is believed that there is a genuine desire to try to start to repair stricken family relationships, particularly the rift between Harry and his older brother William, and the funeral of their beloved grandfather may be a good place to start. Discussions on the issue went to the wire, with senior aides including the Master of the Household, Vice-Admiral Tony Johnstone-Burt, trying to negotiate a solution. The final decision rested with the widowed Queen. A source close to Andrew said yesterday that he would 'do what is appropriate' and had no intention to distract from his father's funeral. He served 22 years in the Navy and is promoted in line with his peers who are still serving. He became a rear admiral on his 50th birthday, a vice-admiral on his 55th and had been due to become an admiral on his 60th last year. But he requested to forgo the promotion until he is able to clear his name and fully resume royal duties. However it is understood that he still asked to go to his father's funeral as an admiral. Saturday's event is known as a royal ceremonial funeral based on one held 19 years ago for the Queen Mother, wife of George VI at Philip's specific request. Prince Charles, Prince Philip, Prince Harry And Prince William walk behind the coffin of the Queen Mother as it arrives at Westminster Abbey in April 2002 A photograph by Horace W Nicholls of the funeral of King Edward VII at St George's Chapel, Windsor, in November 1910 It is not as large or as grand as a state funeral, but many of the ceremonial elements are the same. All senior royals entitled to wear uniform, including the Duke of Edinburgh, did so in April 2002. This was in contrast to the private funeral of the Queen's sister, Princess Margaret, weeks earlier, where mourning dress was worn, as well as five years earlier at the funeral of Diana, Princess of Wales, by then a former royal. Initially the plan was for senior royals to wear military uniform on Saturday in line with convention. But it quickly became clear this was a thorny issue given how vocal Harry, currently quarantining at Frogmore Cottage at Windsor after flying back from the US, has been over the loss of his military titles. Sources close to Harry have revealed the depth of his anger, particularly given he had served ten years in the military with two frontline tours of Afghanistan. Last month he told Oprah that losing his official positions 'hurt' but added that he ultimately respected his grandmother's decision. However, he pointedly attended with Meghan a military cemetery in Los Angeles wearing his lounge suit and medals, after the Queen denied his request to have a wreath laid at the Cenotaph on his behalf on Remembrance Sunday as he is no longer a working royal. Killeen, TX (76540) Today Partly to mostly cloudy. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. High 79F. Winds SE at 5 to 10 mph.. Tonight Partly cloudy this evening, then becoming cloudy after midnight. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. Low 66F. Winds SSE at 5 to 10 mph. Kenya officials seize vessel conducting illegal fishing in Indian ocean April 15,2021 | Source: KBC The Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS) officials have seized a fishing vessel in Kipini area in Tana River county which was allegedly carrying out illegal fishing in the Indian ocean. The officials together with community members and Tana River county government officers managed to arrest Salim Kolombo Tawfiq who was the commanding officer of the fishing vessel 5ZZB MV Roberto belonging to an Italian tycoon. Police reports indicate that the ship 5ZZB MV Roberto belonging to an Italian tycoon was using a trawler which is a prohibited fishing vessel. The officials together with Locals and Tana River county government officers managed to arrest Salim Kolombo Tawfiq who was the commanding officer of the fishing vessel. According to police, the vessel was found trawling in shallow waters of a depth of less than 15 meters in contravention of the Fisheries Management and Development Act of 2016. The trawlers are believed to destroy turtle habitats as they do not have a device that excludes the turtles. Area locals said they were happy that MV Roberto had been nabbed and called on the government to completely ban trawling in Kipini saying it was harmful. Abdalla said, a resident of Kipini said the harmful fishing activity in the area has contributed to a massive reduction of fish stock in the ocean. As residents of Kipini, we are against trawlers, during one of the meetings a foreigner asked the authorities why they were allowing trawlers which are like poachers in his country, he said. Kenya Broadcasting Corporation 2017 Theme(s): Fishing Craft, Gear and Fishing Methods. .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... Copyright 2021 Albuquerque Journal As a public comment period on the federal mineral leasing program draws to a close today, Thursday, environmental and Indigenous groups in New Mexicos oil- and gas-producing communities are seeking a complete overhaul of the system. Julia Bernal, a Sandia Pueblo member and Pueblo Action Alliance director, said during a panel discussion Wednesday that previous administrations had gone off the rails in leasing on culturally significant areas near Chaco Culture National Historical Park. ADVERTISEMENTSkip ................................................................ Meaningful tribal consultation hasnt been fulfilled, nor has it been respected, Bernal said. Resource management plans should have tribal governments at the initial planning processes as the Indigenous nations in New Mexico have a large stake in how our water and land is managed. President Biden ordered a pause on new fossil fuel leasing on federal lands in January. Interior Secretary Deb Haaland said the pause allows for a careful review of a program that operated under an act now, think later approach for the past four years. In order to tackle the climate crisis and strengthen our nations economy, we must manage our lands and waters and resources, not just across fiscal years, but also across generations, Haaland said during a March forum. The majority of New Mexicos oil production occurs on public land. The industry contributes about 40% of the states general fund revenue. New Mexico wells produced a record 366.6 million barrels of oil in 2020, despite the pandemic. The Rev. Gene Harbaugh, a retired Presbyterian minister and member of Carlsbad-based Citizens Caring for the Future, said the government should consider long-term local impacts of the boom-and-bust cycle. Short-term economic gains from the extraction industry have resulted in housing and educational and infrastructure problems that will have to be faced long after the man camps and the traffic has gone silent, Harbaugh said. Gov. Michelle Lujan Grishams administration has finalized, or is developing, new industry regulations to address climate change. New rules include water use reporting requirements, and a ban on routine venting and flaring of natural gas. Interior will release a report this summer with recommendations for natural resource management on federal land. Theresa Davis is a Report for America corps member covering water and the environment for the Albuquerque Journal. NEW DELHI : Space agencies of India and France on Thursday signed an agreement for cooperation for the former's first human space mission, Gaganyaan, a move that will enable Indian flight physicians to train at French facilities. French space agency CNES said under the agreement, equipment developed by it, tested and still operating aboard the International Space Station (ISS) will be made available to Indian crews. The CNES will also be supplying fireproof carry bags made in France to shield equipment from shocks and radiation, it said. The agreement was announced during French Foreign Affairs Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian's visit to the Indian Space Research Organisation's (ISRO) headquarters in Bengaluru. ISRO has asked CNES to help prepare for the Gaganyaan mission and to serve as its single European contact in this domain, the French space agency said. "Under the terms of the agreement, CNES will train India's flight physicians and CAPCOM mission control teams in France at the CADMOS centre for the development of microgravity applications and space operations at CNES in Toulouse and at the European Astronaut Centre (EAC) in Cologne, Germany," the CNES said. The training of astronauts is a critical aspect of the human space mission project. Flight physicians or surgeons are responsible for astronaut's health before, during and after the flight. Currently, all space physicians are from the Indian Air Force. France has a well-established mechanism for space medicine. It also has the MEDES space clinic, a subsidiary of CNES, where space surgeons undergo training. The agreement provides for CNES to support the implementation of a scientific experiment plan on validation missions, exchange information on food packaging and the nutrition programme, and above all, the use of French equipment, consumables and medical instruments by Indian astronauts. "This cooperation could be extended in the future to parabolic flights operated by Novespace to test instruments and for astronaut training, as well as technical support for the construction of an astronaut training centre in Bangalore," the CNES said. The Gaganyaan orbital spacecraft project was kicked off in August 2018. It originally intended to send astronauts from India to mark the 75th anniversary of the country's independence in 2022. However, the mission has been delayed due to the restrictions imposed in view of the coronavirus pandemic. ISRO is targeting the first unmanned mission under the Gaganyaan project in December. This launch was to take place in December last year. This mission will be followed by another unmanned mission. The third leg is the main module. France and India share robust ties in the area of space cooperation. The first space agreement between France and India dates back to 1964. Existing partnerships between the two nations cover almost all areas of space activity. ISRO will also be launching the joint Oceansat 3-Argos mission this year. In March 2018, India and France had unveiled a joint vision for space cooperation. The two nations have also agreed to work on inter-planetary missions to Mars and Venus. India has already signed an agreement with Russia for the training of four astronauts who have been shortlisted for the Gaganyaan mission. Additionally, it is also in talks with Australia to have a ground station at the Cocos Islands for the Gaganyaan mission. Subscribe to Mint Newsletters * Enter a valid email * Thank you for subscribing to our newsletter. As COVID-19 restrictions are eased and more people return to the office, traffic levels around Australia are returning to pre-Covid levels. Road toll operator Transurban said roads in Sydney and Brisbane experienced a rise in average daily traffic in the March quarter compared to the same period in 2020. The jump in traffic comes as residents of cities around Australia slowly start going back into the office and onto the roads during their commute. Traffic is almost back to normal in Sydney and Brisbane as people return to the office The company said Sydney's roads had experienced a 21.8 per cent jump to 936,000 trips in this year's March quarter or a 4.8 per cent jump when excluding the contributions from the M5/M8 East and NorthConnex. Transurban said in a statement to the ASX that the boosted traffic performance was due to the easing of restrictions. 'Improved operating environment in Sydney, with the city now largely free of restrictions during the period,' the statement read. In Brisbane the company wrote that average daily traffic had increased by 3.3 per cent to 403,000 trips. Traffic rose despite the city being forced into two separate lockdowns in January and March during the quarter. While Sydney and Brisbane experienced rises in average daily traffic Melbourne received a fall in average daily traffic for the quarter with levels falling 15.2 per cent down to 675,000 trips. Sydney's best performing road was the Hills M2 motorway which was only down 3.4 per cent down on pre-covid 2019 levels The company blamed lockdowns and mandatory masks indoors during the quarter, but noted traffic levels were improving since restrictions were eased in February. Transurban said traffic on Sydney's newest roads was exceeding pre-Covid levels. 'Average daily traffic of 37,000 on NorthConnex continues to exceed expectations set prior to COVID-19. The M8 and M5 East assets also continue to ramp up,' it wrote. Sydney's best performing road, the Hills M2 motorway has almost returned to pre-Covid levels as it recorded 135,000 average daily trips over the quarter which was 9.3 per cent above the 2020 quarter and just 3.4 per cent below 2019. Some of Sydney's major roads recorded a rise when compared to the pre-Covid march 2019 quarter, including the M5 West motorway with an increase of 1.6%. QUEBEC CITY, April 15, 2021 /CNW/ - CrownIndigenous Relations and Northern Affairs Canada The Government of Canada is rebuilding the nation-to-nation, InuitCrown and government-to-government relationship with Indigenous Peoples by supporting their right to self-determination. A key part of this work is the Nation Rebuilding Program. Today, the Honourable Carolyn Bennett, Minister of CrownIndigenous Relations, announced that Canada has provided over $1.5 million to four Indigenous groups in Quebec through the Nation Rebuilding Program. Minister Bennett met virtually with the Conseil Tribal Mamuitun to learn more about the work being undertaken in their nation and their unique priorities and needs. Funding for the fiscal year 2021-2021 will support the Conseil Tribal Mamuitun in continuing their work to foster communications within the Quebec Innu communities through their Aishkat innuat project. The Conseil Tribal Mamuitun is working to mobilize its member communities and citizens to participate in rebuilding the Nation and implementing the conclusions of the first Aishkat Forum, as well as to move forward with the continuation of the Aishkat Youth Ambassador Project and support for the updating of the governance framework for its communities. In Budget 2018, the Government of Canada invested $100 million over five years to support Indigenous groups' efforts to rebuild their governance structures and reconstitute their nations. Over the past three years, since the Budget 2018 announcement, Indigenous communities and groups in Quebec have received over $5.3 million in funding through the Nation Rebuilding Program. The Government of Canada will continue to work with Indigenous Peoples in Quebec on advancing reconciliation and supporting their right to self-determination. Quotes "Supporting Indigenous communities in Quebec that are revitalizing their nations and working to fulfill their vision of self-determination is part of our shared path of reconciliation. By coming together and working collectively on their common vision for rebuilding the Innu Nation in Quebec, the Conseil Tribal Mamuitun is creating a stronger future for its members that is deeply rooted in their culture, language and values. Strong and self-reliant Indigenous nations with the tools and capacity to govern effectively will lead to a healthier, sustainable and more prosperous future for their citizens." The Honourable Carolyn Bennett, M.D., P.C., M.P. Minister of CrownIndigenous Relations "At the end of this first Aishkat Forum, we can see that the issue of self-determination for the Innu Nation is being addressed at all levels. We realize together that it is possible and motivating to question our governance frameworks in order to transform them in our image by building the future on the basis of a renewed autonomy." Robin St-Onge, Director General Conseil Tribal Mamuitun Quick facts The Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples (1996) recommended that Indigenous groups begin to reconstitute themselves as nations. Supporting Indigenous groups in rebuilding their nations is also an objective outlined in the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. Under the Nation Rebuilding Program, $100 million in funding has been made available over five yearsstarting in 201819to support Indigenous groups of the same nation in coming together to build capacity at the nation level. in funding has been made available over five yearsstarting in 201819to support Indigenous groups of the same nation in coming together to build capacity at the nation level. The four Indigenous groups in Quebec who will receive Nation Rebuilding funding for 202021 are Conseil de la Nation Atikamekw, Conseil Tribal Mamuitun, Grand Conseil de la Waban-Aki and Makivik Corporation. Associated links Nation Rebuilding Program Nation Rebuilding Program Guidelines Contributions to support the Nation Rebuilding Program Aishkat Forum (French only) Stay connected Join the conversation about Indigenous Peoples in Canada: Twitter: @GCIndigenous Facebook: @GCIndigenous Instagram: @gcindigenous Twitter: @CrownIndigenous Facebook: @CrownIndigenous You can subscribe to receive our news releases and speeches via RSS feeds. For more information or to subscribe, visit www.cirnac.gc.ca/RSS. SOURCE Indigenous Services Canada For further information: media may contact: Ani Dergalstanian, Press Secretary and Communications Advisor, Office of the Honourable Carolyn Bennett, Minister of Crown-Indigenous Relations, 819-997-0002; Media Relations, Crown-Indigenous Relations and Northern Affairs Canada, 819-934-2302, [email protected]; Sylvain Marseguerra, Communications Advisor - Projet Aishkat innuat, 438 829-1717, [email protected] Related Links https://www.aadnc-aandc.gc.ca After 185 days in space, Bay Area astronaut Kate Rubins will hurtle back to Earth on a Russian spacecraft Friday having traveled more than 78 million miles and circled the globe nearly 3,000 times since she launched into space last year. After six months on the International Space Station, the Napa native is set to chart a fiery descent through the Earths atmosphere aboard a Russian spacecraft bound for a landing field in Kazakhstan. NASA will air live coverage of the vessels re-entry and landing on its website and YouTube channel at 8:30 p.m. PST. The carefully choreographed flight takes about 2.5 hours from undocking to parachute landing, said Johnson Space Centers Rob Navias, who will be the voice of Mission Control during Fridays broadcast. Rubins, along with Russian cosmonauts Sergey Ryzhikov and Sergey Kud-Sverchkov, will first strap themselves into the spacecraft and inspect their pressurized suits for leaks, Navias said. The spacecraft then will begin a four-minute engine burn to propel the vessel 10 kilometers away from the space station before yanking the spacecraft out of orbit for its descent to Earth. Thirty minutes later, the astronauts will initiate a pyrotechnic separation, Navias said, splitting the spacecraft into three sections. The split creates a heat shield in front of the center section, where the astronauts sit, protecting them as they enter the Earths atmosphere. Fifteen minutes before landing, as the spacecraft enters the lower atmosphere, its parachutes will begin to open, slowing the vessels descent as it heads for a remote grassland prairie in central Kazakhstan, on Russias southern border. There, a dozen Russian military helicopters will await the crew along with NASA personnel, who will help extract the crew. After an extensive medical evaluation, Navias said, Rubins will board a jet bound for the NASA training facility in Houston. Rubins completed her six-month stay in space as part of her training for a coveted mission: the chance to be the first woman to walk on the moon. Petaluma-born Nicole Aunapu Mann is also vying for the history-making moonwalk, planned for 2024. Along with Megan McArthur of Mountain View, the astronauts are part of a trio of Bay Area natives advancing deep space exploration as NASA sets its sights on the lunar surface and beyond. Rubins, a Vintage High School graduate and Stanford-trained biologist, spent much of her time aboard the space station engaged in scientific experiments. She sprouted radishes, sequenced DNA and took a census of the microbes found on the space station an undertaking that required her to swab 1,000 locations in the floating laboratory. Its really fun to be up here you get to be all kinds of scientists at once, Rubins said Tuesday in an interview with NASA. Nora Mishanec is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: nora.mishanec@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @NMishanec The government has said it's still committed to its target of giving at least 80% of adults their first Covid-19 jab by June. It comes after news the EU is set to receive 50m extra Pfizer-BioNTech vaccines this quarter on top of 200m doses already earmarked for the bloc. Ireland will receive 545,000 extra doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine over the next three months, which it is hoped will make up the shortfall that may be experienced due to heightened caution around the use of AstraZeneca and the Johnson and Johnson vaccine. Speaking this afternoon, Finance Minister Paschal Donohoe said the government is standing by its initial targets. We remain committed to the objective that we have of delivering a dose for 80% of our country by the summer." "We will be working around the clock, sparing no effort, doing all that can be done, with the supply thats available to Ireland, to deliver against those objectives," he said. Tanaiste Leo Varadkar said the vaccine programme is still "broadly on track," tweeting that what the country had lost in supply from Johnson & Johnson (also known as the Janssen vaccine), it had regained with the extra Pfizer doses today. What we lost yesterday in terms of Q2 vaccine supply from Janssen we regained today with an extra 550k Pfizer shots. Janssen may yet get the green light. Vaccine programme still broadly on track https://t.co/SRU0j82zR2 Leo Varadkar (@LeoVaradkar) April 14, 2021 Taoiseach Micheal Martin said it was "welcome news" that Ireland will be receiving close to 545,000 extra BioNTech-Pfizer vaccines, while President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen said "vaccination is picking up speed across Europe. Vaccination delays News of the new deliveries will be welcomed by the EUs 27 member nations, especially considering supply delays and concerns over rare blood clots potentially linked to the AstraZeneca vaccine and the one-shot Johnson & Johnson jab. Johnson and Johnson announced that it was pausing the European rollout of its vaccine yesterday, just one day after the AstraZeneca vaccine was suspended for the under-60 age group. Alluding to J&J's decision, Ms von der Leyen said that there were many factors that can disrupt the planned delivery schedule of vaccines." She said it was important to "act swiftly, anticipate and adjust whenever it is possible." Ms von der Leyen said the EU was doing everything in its power to support Europes rollout by increasing vaccine supply in the coming weeks and months. At the end of her speech, Ms von der Leyen said the EU was drawing upon lessons learned in the early phases of the pandemic. Looking forward, The EU President said that at a certain point, booster jabs to "reinforce and prolong immunity may be needed. Ms von der Leyen said the EU bloc had also entered into a negotiation with BioNTech for a third contract for a further 1.8bn doses of its vaccine in 2022 and 2023. She said that other contracts with other firms may follow. We are in this fight together, and we will win this fight against this pandemic. EMA to speed up review of J&J vaccine, conduct risk-review of AstraZeneca The EMA made announcements on reviews of both the Johnson and Johnson and AstraZeneca vaccines this afternoon. Pictures: PA Wire Meanwhile, the European Medicines Agency has said it will speed up its review of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine, with results expected next week. The review started last week and as recently as Tuesday had no set deadline for completion. But now the pharmaceutical company itself said it wished to proactively delay its EU roll-out, there is increasing pressure to assess the vaccine. This followed a decision by the US Food and Drug Administration this week to temporarily halt their use of this vaccine. They received reports of six cases of rare blood clotting in women among the 6.8m people vaccinated with the single-shot vaccine. The EMA said in a statement on Wednesday: EMA is investigating all the cases reported and will decide whether regulatory action is necessary. The Agency is working closely with the US FDA and other international regulators. And the safety committee further stressed their faith in the vaccine, saying: While its review is ongoing, EMA remains of the view that the benefits of the vaccine in preventing Covid-19 outweigh the risks of side effects. Also today, the EMA announced it will now also compare vaccination data from the AstraZeneca vaccine Vaxzevria with its impact on fighting the virus. They said: EMA is undertaking a review of vaccination data and data on disease epidemiology including infection rates, hospitalisations, morbidity and mortality. The review by EMAs human medicines committee (CHMP) will enable authorities to put the risks of Vaxzevria into the context of the benefits of ongoing vaccination campaigns. This was requested following a meeting of EU health ministers earlier in the week. An attorney representing the teacher aide accused of making threats and causing the lockdown of Clark Middle School said the detective in the case rushed to judgment when arresting his client. The allegations of terroristic threat made against Ms. Granger are completely false and without merit, said attorney Rene Cantu. On Tuesday, Irma Yvette Granger, 29, was served with arrest warrants that charged her with five counts of terroristic threat impair public service, a third-degree felony punishable with up to 10 years in prison and a possible $10,000 fine. She is out on bond, according to Webb County Jail records. Despite Grangers repeated cooperation with the investigation even turning over her phone to be searched by the police the detective assigned to this case could not establish any reason or motive for these threats, according to Cantu. Instead, the affidavit filed by her specifically identifies three other numbers used to send these messages, none of which are connected in any way to Granger, Cantu said. Ms. Granger was working when these messages were sent, and was not using her phone during this time. We are in the process of retaining an expert who will be thoroughly investigating this matter, Cantu said. While the detective seems to have rushed to judgment, we respectfully request that the public not pass judgment on Ms. Granger as she is presumed innocent and has always been a law-abiding citizen and exceptional employee at UISD. We look forward to clearing her name of any wrongdoing. Background In January, Granger allegedly sent five threatening messages that caused the lockdown of Clark Middle. Court documents show the messages mentioned shooting and killing people on campus. Court documents stated the first message was sent at about 9:24 p.m. Jan. 6. It read, I will destroy Clark middle tomorrow! Shoot every stupid individual in that school! Fire it up just how I know! Next time tell your teachers to treat me better! The principal asked who the sender was but she did not get a reply. A second message was sent at about 9:47 a.m. Jan. 7 that read, Get ready for your Clark middle teachers to get shooted we have arrived and you think your smart but your not get ready for the party b---- and your polices are so stupid they will find us but after everybody is dead! Ill start slowly! A third message sent on Jan. 7 read, This is not over b---- we are still hiding and we will shoot one way or another right now clark middle teachers and everyone will pay your about to hear some gun shots you all will pay, states the affidavit. A fourth message sent at about 1:52 p.m. Jan. 8 stated, Your not smart I will destroy you all anytime now or next week if I have to put a bomb to kill everyone I will and you will not know when it will explode iam smarter that you officers f--- everyone We will be watching until we are done and over with all of you. A fifth message sent at about 3:09 p.m. Jan. 15 read, Your so stupid every student and teacher at Clark middle will get shooted one by one and this is not a threat anymore I will take action and kill you all we are watching, states the affidavit. Further investigation led police to identify Granger as the sender after submitting a subpoena requesting the subscriber information for the Spectrum IP address which had originally created the Pinger app, according to court documents. The return showed a subscriber name of Granger with an address in the 4000 block of Aidin Street. Granger allegedly stated to police she was at school when the first threat was made but then missed the next day of school. Ms. Granger stated she recalled the polices (police) at the school. Ms. Granger called the police polices multiple times, which is how police is spelled in one of the messages received (by the principal), states the affidavit. Forensic data extraction from Grangers cellphone revealed she was using the words polices and shooted, which are both words used in the threats the principal received. She allegedly told police on March 25 that she was possibly being hacked. She told police that she never had Pinger on her current phone, according to court documents. [April 15, 2021] TAUW reports increased profitability and social impact in 2020 DEVENTER, Netherlands, April 15, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Consultancy and engineering company TAUW's financial statements show record revenues at the end of the 2020 financial year. In 2020, sales increased with more than 4%, from EUR 138 million in 2019 to EUR 144 million. EBITDA also rose by 16% to almost EUR 10 million. Henrike Branderhorst, one of TAUW's two executive board directors: "We are delighted with these figures, which once again prove that making money and embracing social responsibility as a company go hand in hand. In addition to further improving our returns, we have also taken steps to expand our social and environmental contribution during the past year." In 2020 TAUW continued to work on strengthening its strategic positioning as a European consulting firm specialising in the natural environment and the physical living environment. After all, social challenges such as climate change, declining biodiversity and sustainable industrial operations transcend national borders and require an integrated European approach. TAUW launched a new slogan at the end of last year: a living ambition." Record turnover in a more sustainable world TAUW has achieved excellent results for several consecutive years, and 2020 was no different. Both sales and the number of employees increased. Ralph van Roessel, executive board director at TAUW: "We are immensely proud to have achieved this result in 2020. TAUW aims to create a better, more sustainable world and succeeds in combining this ambition with financial growth. As a result, we can invest even more intensively in people and the environment, taking on many projects that have a demonstrable positive impact. Our project in Northern Italy is an excellent example. TAUW made a feasibility study about the renovation of the heating and air conditioning system in an old railway area for maximum sustainability. The designed system will lead to a saving of 355,700 kilos of CO2, which is equivalent to the emissions of 374 cars or planting 4,446 new trees." Key figures in millions of euros 2020 2019 Turnover 144.1 138.0 EBITDA 9.9 8.5 Net result 5.8 4.5 Average number of employees 1,229 1,202 Solvency (equity ratio) 50.9% 47.3% COVID-19 has accelerated social innovation Branderhorst looks back on a tumultuous year: "The COVID-19 virus has made us more aware than ever of the importance of our colleagues' health and well-being. To respond to this challenge, we have channelled extra investment into TAUW's social profile during the past year. For example, we made home office facilities available to many colleagues who wanted to work from home, we offered employees a high degree of flexibility and we have set up inspiring connection initiatives." The employees of today and tomorrow demand an open, diverse, safe and participative working environment. Van Roessel adds: "This new working environment not only contributes to smooth collaboration with clients and partners, leading to impactful projects, it also represents enormous added value internally. It has helped TAUW to involve a diverse, committed, and skilled group of colleagues when tackling important organisational challenges. For example, urgent decisions on the approach to COVID-19 or consultation to determine our long-term ambition and strategy." [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] While Hanois new bridge development by 2030 is expected to drive future socioeconomic development and increase regional connectivity, bankability remains dim, waiting for special mechanisms in which to lure private investment. Hanoi today has a batch of new bridges planned, but only a portion of proposed capital to cover it has been amassed. Photo: VIR At the site of the second phase of Vinh Tuy Bridge, excavators are in full capacity and actively speeding up work to meet the construction timeline, which is scheduled to be put into operation in 2022. It is the first bridge in Hanoi to begin construction this year as part of 10 major crossings of the Red River in the citys new transport development plan by 2030, with a vision towards 2050 and approved by the prime minister five years ago. With the total investment capital of $110.43 million, the second phase is expected to contribute to ease traffic jams, accelerate socioeconomic development in the north of the Red River, and strengthen regional links with other cities and provinces. The plan in line with the prime ministers directions, in which the north of the river will be developed into new modern urban areas with developed infrastructure, is designed to enable the city to realise its dream of a balanced development between north and south. Pros and cons The new bridge development plan is, however, taking on different ideas after lessons from the failure of Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) topped public concerns. The BRT was a costly investment of around $50 million and faces falling numbers of passengers because of half-hearted planning and lack of connectivity. The situation is forecast to become worse when the Cat Linh-Hadong urban railway line is put into operation. Ho Chi Quang, deputy head of the Ministry of Constructions Planning and Architecture Department, said the plan to develop more bridges over the Red River is necessary. Hanois existing planning takes Hoan Kiem Lake as the focal point, and then four city centre districts followed by three beltways. For years, Hanois expansion and development plans focused towards the south. However, building bridges is not enough for Hanoi. To develop modern urban areas and increase connection, means of transport should be taken into account, Quang said. Other countries use satellites to measure traffic volume, and they then make forecasts for bridge constructions to increase links among parts of the city, with other cities, and with airports. Senior transport expert Nguyen Xuan Thuy said that many countries worldwide build bridges that then become popular tourist attractions something that Vietnam could tap into over time. Architect Dao Ngoc Nghiem, vice chairman of the Hanoi Urban Planning and Development Association, agreed by commenting that no matter how many bridges will be built, there should be due attention paid to the purpose of not only transport infrastructure development and economic development, but also culture significance. Many countries have successful models, but Quang explained that applying models of city development from other countries is not always the best method. We cannot build bridges to create a Seoul-like urban area in Hanoi because the Red River is very ferocious and people cannot live along the low-lying river dykes, he said. Moreover, the two banks are far from each other which is a different situation compared to the likes of South Koreas capital. At present, Hanoi has eight bridges crossing the Red River. Existing ones like Vinh Tuy and Thanh Tri are tapping into their full roles in connecting with industrial zones (IZs) and export processing zones (EPZs) as well as neighbouring cities and provinces, thus utilising land funds, human resources, and materials and then improving living conditions for people there. For instance, Long Bien, Chuong Duong, and Nhat Tan bridges all help solve the problem of regional connectivity, use of land funds, and improvement of living conditions for people living in the outlying districts. Similarly, other bridges like Thang Long and Nhat Tan increase links to IZs and EPZs, as well as between Hanoi and neighbouring provinces. Bankability questions Planning itself may not take forever, but the entire process from start to finish takes both time and huge investment. Normally it takes a few years to develop a bridge, and if it faces capital shortage or site clearance problems the time can be lengthened to decades. For example, Long Bien Bridge cost millions of French francs before the Euro came into use, and took nearly four years to complete. Meanwhile, Thang Long and Chuong Duong are valued at about $1 billion each and took 11 years to come into use. As noted, Vinh Tuy Bridges second phase only kicked off this year despite being approved in 2016. Hanoi may be able to manage capital for this project for now, but for others, no confirmation about investment capital has been made. At a meeting on March 28 with former Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc, Chu Ngoc Anh, Chairman of Hanoi Peoples Committee, proposed two constructions among the 10 crossing the Red River Tu Lien Bridge worth $739.1 million, and Thuong Cat worth $391.3 million. The city proposed the government to apply other formats of investment, or utilise public investment, as well as to have special mechanisms to lure financial resources from society because the build-transfer (BT) model in exchange for public land which the city applied in the past is no longer allowed under the Law on Public-Private Partnership Investment, which took effect from January. BT investment attracted a number of private companies which greatly contributed to positively changing the face of Hanoi, especially the significant development of transport infrastructure. Prominent names included Vingroup, Sun Group, Tasco, and Him Lam Group. With the absence of BT investment, how to ensure sufficient capital for future bridge projects poses a headache for Hanoian leaders. While in the 2016-2020 period, the city planned $4.25 billion for bridge constructions, it has only been able to meet 10 per cent of the capital demand. Bridges might therefore remain stuck on paper in the next few years. International organisations have recommended an approach of integration with other transport segments such as rail to ease traffic jams and increase connection, while easing pressures on the huge budget for bridges by giving priority to those deemed most necessary, and more importantly avoiding incurring a debt trap. In June Hanoi will approve the plan on development of urban areas at the Red River in which it will be the axle of development of the two river banks. Until then, investors continue to wait for a solution in order to join related ventures. VIR Hanoi to build 10 bridges over Red River Ten bridges are expected to facilitate commuting across the river. NEW MILFORD Cramer & Anderson partners Ken Taylor and Chris Sochacki were recently certified in mediation. Attorney Taylor, who focuses on family law, completed a 40-hour training course through the Connecticut Council for Non-Adversarial Divorce to become certified in divorce mediation. He also offers the collaborative model of divorce, in which each spouse is represented by an attorney and both agree to collaborate on achieving an equitable resolution based on mutual goals. Attorney Sochacki completed a 40-hour general mediation certificate training program via the Quinnipiac University School of Law Center on Dispute Resolution. His civil litigation practice focuses on helping people who have been wronged or injured, including workers compensation cases. Cramer & Anderson has offices in New Milford, Danbury, Litchfield, Kent, Washington Depot, and Ridgefield. For more information, visit crameranderson.com or call the New Milford office at 860-355-2631. North Country and Canadian officials are growing less optimistic that the U.S.-Canada border can reopen this summer to leisure travelers. "Most of us who are actively engaging in this issue now anticipate little change through the summer, hopefully seeing a return to relative normalcy in September," said Garry Douglas, who heads the North Country Chamber of Commerce in Plattsburgh. "But these are an informal sense of things and nothing official," he added. Last week, Dominic LeBlanc, Canada's intergovernmental affairs minister, told CBC News that it wasn't the right time to talk about reopening the border. "We do recognize, as vaccination rates go up and, hopefully, as we see the public health measures that are in place now bring down those case counts, there will be a conversation that we can have both with the American administration and with provinces and territories about what is the right posture at the international borders," he told CBC. "But for the moment, there's no active discussion [about] adjusting those measures." Just 2.24 percent of Canada's population has been fully vaccinated, according to the Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Center. By comparison, the U.S. figure is 21.15 percent. "The vaccination effort is substantially behind us in New York and generally across the U.S.," said Douglas. "While in New York we are now vaccinating everyone 16 and older, in Quebec they are vaccinating age 55 and older." Montreal, perhaps the most popular destination for New Yorkers, is in the red zone, with an overnight curfew running from 8 p.m. to 5 a.m., according to Tourisme Montreal. Quebec officials and a tourism agency spokesman didn't immediately respond to a request for comment. Essential trade and traffic continue to cross the border in both directions. A number of Canadian companies, for example, have operations in and around Plattsburgh. But leisure travel, even if the traveler is fully vaccinated, isn't permitted. Related: Loophole lets Canadian snowbirds fly into U.S. Douglas and others were hoping that some intermediate steps could be taken, "for example, access to near-border property including boats, especially if vaccinated. Also, a bit more flexibility on allowed business-related travel, given the importance of cross border supply chains and investment, especially in support of economic recovery," Douglas said. U.S. Customs and Border Protection, meanwhile, advised travelers on Wednesday that "routine small boat travel for pleasure is deemed non-essential," and that temporary closing of "small boating locations" would continue. A task force at the Washington-based Wilson Center's Canada Institute, formed to make recommendations for an orderly reopening of the border, was to have made a webinar presentation to the North Country Chamber and the Quebec Federation of Chambers on April 28. But that won't happen. Douglas said Wednesday the task force's recommendations "aren't expected by 4/28."A new target date hasn't been set. Trevor Noah addressed Daunte Wright, Caron Nazario, and what he referred to as the system that protects bad cops, ultimately saying Were not dealing with bad apples, were dealing with a rotten tree. The Daily Show host from South Africa said hes been watching the police encounters that have been all over the news the last few days, asking why other cops arent stopping their colleagues during the incidents. If were meant to believe that the police system in America -- the system of policing itself -- is not fundamentally broken, then we would need to see good apples, Noah said. He also said he was not saying there are no good policeman, but merely asking where the good apples are. What I mean by that is where are the cops who are stopping the cop from putting their knee on George Floyds neck? he asked. Because theres not one cop at that scene. Theres one cop whos on trial, but theres not one cop on that scene. One of two police officers accused of pepper-spraying and pointing their guns at a Black Army officer Caron Nazario during a traffic stop has since been fired, a Virginia town announced late Sunday, hours after the governor called for an independent investigation into the case. A white former suburban Minneapolis police officer was charged Wednesday with second-degree manslaughter for killing 20-year-old Black motorist Daunte Wright in a shooting that ignited days of unrest and clashes between protesters and police. Noah said reiterated he thinks there are plenty of good people on American police forces who join to do right in their communities, but he thinks their speaking up would rock the boat. I think its because they themselves know that if they do something, theyre going against the system, he said. The system is more powerful than any individual. The system in policing is doing exactly what its meant to do in America, and that is to keep poor people in their place. Who happens to be the most poor in America? Black people. He said the system isnt broken, but that its working the way it was designed to. For the most part, the tree that was planted is bearing the fruit it was intended to, Noah said. Watch Noahs comments in the video above. Susan Antony, originally from New Jersey, has found a fascination with Moncks Corner, where she now resides. Her latest novel takes place in the Lowcountry town and features several iconic locations throughout the story. The rollout of Covid vaccines to new patients has slowed to a crawl in comparison to how it performed in March, official data show. An average of 91,000 people are getting their first dose each day now after the rollout peaked at just over 500,000 per day in the middle of last month. The rollout itself has managed to keep moving quickly, reaching an average 462,000 people per day over the last week, but most doses now are boosters. A bottleneck in supplies and a need to give second jabs to millions of people who got their first in January have meant the rollout has lost momentum. Figures from the NHS show that 117,835 people got their first vaccine dose on Wednesday, which was up from just 59,905 on Monday but significantly lower than the one-day record of 614,930 on March 19. The focus has switched now to second doses, with four times as many of those being administered each day an average of 346,000. Health Secretary Matt Hancock and NHS bosses warned at the end of March that April would be a month dedicated to second doses and preserving supplies. Although the introduction of a third vaccine, made by Moderna, has allowed some newcomers to get their first jab the programme opened up to 45 to 49-year-olds this week Pfizer and AstraZeneca supplies for newcomers are running low. Medical chiefs said in a warning on March 17 that, for four weeks or more, 'volumes for first doses will be significantly constrained'. Britain's vaccine rollout has managed to reach more than half of UK adults already but the number of people getting their first jab has tumbled in April due to supply issues. The delivery of second doses (yellow bars) has overtaken that of first doses (green bars) Health chiefs have known for months that April would be the month second jab demand started to kick in. Everyone must get the second dose of their Covid vaccine about 12 weeks after the first, according to UK Government policy. A total of 9.2million people were vaccinated with at least one dose by the end of January, meaning that the same amount must have had both jabs by the end of April. So far, 8.5million people have had both doses. THIRD OF BLACK BRITS OVER 60 HAVEN'T HAD THEIR JAB YET More than 30 per cent of black over-60s have still not had their first Covid vaccine despite No10's PR blitz to encourage uptake, data show. The proportion of older black people who have not had a jab is nearly seven times higher than it is for white over-60s and higher than all other ethnicities, according to weekly figures. The data published yesterday which comes from NHS health records shows more than one in five Chinese or Pakistani over-60s in England have not yet had a jab. Some 15 per cent of Bangladeshi people and 11 per cent of Indian people in that age group had also not taken the vaccine by April 7. Uptake was much higher among white, mixed race and Irish people with only four to eight per cent not getting a jab yet. Ministers launched a media campaign in February to address vaccine hesitancy after experts raised concerns about low uptake in ethnic minorities. And a survey at the start of the month showed self-reported hesitancy among black people had halved since the start of the advertising campaign. But the latest figures will raise concerns that more still has to be done to ensure jabs are being given to people of all ethnicities in a successful national roll-out. Professor Anthony Harnden, deputy chief at the JCVI, said in a seminar today: 'There are problems in London, where the coverage rates are lower, and there are problems among certain ethnic minority groups, such as black Africans, where rates are lower, and we still need to do a lot of work with those groups.' Advertisement Because of the need to get through these people, all supplies of Pfizer's vaccine and most of those from AstraZeneca have been preserved for follow-up jabs for these people. This was planned for, as was a dip in supply after the initial massive deliveries from manufacturers that also have commitments to other countries. But the UK had hoped it would be able to steam ahead with its plans to vaccine younger people using a batch of five million extra doses of the Oxford jab due to arrive from India, as well as the first lots of Moderna jabs. That India delivery was held up, however, putting the rollout on the back foot. When that was announced last month NHS clinics were sent a letter that said the number of people getting first vaccine doses would be much lower in April. Matt Hancock said at the time that the rollout to under-50s might have to be paused to make sure there were enough supplies to get through all the second doses that needed doing. He said in a Downing Street press conference: 'Were on track to offer a first dose to everyone in priority groups one to nine by April 15. 'While we deliver on that commitment, we also want to ensure that this offer reaches everyone in groups one to nine. 'At the same time as opening up offers of vaccinations to all those who are 50 or above, we are going to do whatever it takes to reach all those in the most vulnerable groups who havent come forward yet before we move onto the next cohort, which is people in their 40s. 'Before we forge ahead I want us to be confident that weve done everything we can to protect those most in need of protection and we will do all we can and do everything necessary to deliver the supplies that are contractually committed to protecting people in this country.' The Government said it successfully hit the target of offering vaccines to everyone over the age of 50, with a long-term health condition, or who was a health or social care worker, by April 15. This week it expanded the offer of first vaccine doses to people aged between 45 and 49. Mr Hancock said the rollout would expand to everyone in their forties 'in line with supplies'. Department of Health bosses suggested the roll-out would be slow, saying the rest of the 40-49 age bracket would receive texts inviting them to book an appointment in the 'coming weeks and months'. FAYETTEVILLE, NC / ACCESSWIRE / April 15, 2021 / Tree Commando, a tree services company, is offering its services in Fayetteville, NC and surrounding areas of Cumberland County, North Carolina. The company offers services such as tree removal, tree trimming, stump grinding, risk assessment, disaster relief, balancing & pruning, and drop & chop. Customers can find out more about the company by heading over to its website at https://treecommando.com. According to OSHA (the Occupational Safety and Health Administration), every year over a 100 people lose their lives because of falling trees. Trees can become weak and become prone to breaking off during times of high winds such as thunderstorms, tropical cyclones, tornadoes, snow, and ice. For property owners, it is very important to check the health of trees because falling trees pose a direct danger to everyone who lives on the property. If there is an especially weakened branch or the entire tree is in danger of collapsing, the homeowner can take preemptive action to prevent a mishap. Not everyone has the experience to spot hazardous branches and tree limbs. It takes an acute eye and an ability to perform risk assessment to spot all the problems that can arise. One has to be trained and have on-the-job experience to give an informed opinion. The technicians at Tree Commando are skilled in such assessments and can spot a potential problem better than those with an untrained eye. They are experts in spotting problems such as asymmetrical canopies, root rot, widow maker limbs, bark beetles, and many more other unseen threats. One can contact the company through the Tree Commando - Facebook page to get an assessment of their property if one suspects their trees might need pruning or removal. Sometimes, precautions and preventative measures might not prevent nature from running its course. When high winds show up at a town's doorstep, the trees in the region might buckle and cause damage to property. Tree Commando can help in the aftermath of such incidences too. The company can ease homeowners' fears in stressful times by clearing the property of any excess plant matter and chopping down or pruning any damaged sections that might pose further risk. Tree Commando insists that prevention is better than cure and it encourages property owners to always try to schedule inspections in times of less risk to prevent untoward accidents when the weather goes bad. Property owners who are looking to cut costs can also avail of Tree Commando's drop & chop or drop & chip services. First, the company will safely drop the homeowner's trees. After the initial step, the company will then give the homeowner a choice to customize the service. This gives property owners a chance to save some money and only use the level of service that they absolutely need. The company can drop & walk, drop & chop, drop, chop & stack, or drop & chip depending on the requirements. The company's knowledgeable staff always give their expert opinion when customers contact them to find out the best plan that suits their needs. When asked about the company's approach to solving problems, a spokesperson for the company, Joe Harsh says, "We look at every tree and its potential for doing damage on a case-by-case basis. We understand that every property has unique circumstances that can play a role in causing problems. We account for poor weather and potential change in seasons when we give the homeowner our assessment of the trees on their property. We suggest the best strategy to move forward and eliminate the threat that comes from poor tree health. We use a combination of traditional and unconventional methods to bring down a damaged tree precisely without harming the surrounding property. Contact us today to find out why we are the best tree removal service in Fayetteville, NC." Home and property owners can reach Tree Commando at the phone number (919) 300-6444. Those looking for testimonials and reviews to read first-hand accounts of the quality of the company's service can do so by finding its Google My Business page and the Tree Services - Yelp page. For more information about Tree Commando, contact the company here: Tree Commando Joe Harsh (919) 300-6444 jharsh@treecommando.com 35 Canopy Court Spring Lake, NC 28390 SOURCE: Tree Commando View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/640589/Fayetteville-Tree-Services-Company-Offering-Services-To-Residents-In-Cumberland-County The Biden administrations decision to withdraw the last 2500 US troops from Afghanistan is a blow to the prestige of America and its allies but this is a case where it is better to admit failure and move on. The US and its allies invaded the Central Asian country in 2001 with the goal of overthrowing the Taliban regime and the al-Qaeda terrorists who used the country as a safe haven to attack New Yorks World Trade Centre. That was a righteous goal but it was achieved within weeks. In the two decades since, it has grown increasingly hard to understand what we were fighting for. The mission crept from fighting terrorism into pacifying and then rebuilding an ethnically fragmented and impoverished country. At the peak of troop deployment, more than 130,000 US, NATO and Australian troops were deployed to the country in an attempt to achieve the mammoth task of nation building. Despite that enormous effort, the Taliban still controls large sections of the countryside and Afghan democracy barely extends outside the capital Kabul and a few big cities. EAST LANSING Maj. Chad Curtis Conquergood, a native of Harbor Beach, recently returned home after a year-long tour of service as part of the Department of Defenses response to COVID-19 and preparation for any other concurrent natural or man-made incident in the homeland. Conquergood is a military policeman who served as a task force liaison officer with Task Force 46, U.S. Army North's flexible, adaptable headquarters responsible for supporting Department of Defense COVID-19 efforts and providing command and control over DoD military assets as part of Defense Support of Civil Authorities in the event of an all-hazards event or a chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear incident in the homeland. The Delhi government has told the Supreme Court that has not taken any concrete step to address its grievance over discharge of untreated pollutants causing rise in ammonia level in the Yamuna and release of insufficient water which led to reduction in supply in some areas here. The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government has filed its rejoinder affidavit in the apex court in response to the reply of and its Department of Irrigation and Water Resources. A bench headed by Chief Justice S A Bobde, on March 26, had directed the government and others to continue with the status quo on supply of Yamuna water to Delhi, making it clear that it should not be reduced to the national capital which is facing a shortage. The AAP government, which had moved the top court in January this year, through Delhi Jal Board (DJB), has sought directions to Haryana to cease the discharge of untreated pollutants into the Yamuna and release sufficient water to the national capital which is facing potential crisis. The rejoinder affidavit, filed through DJB's Chief EngineerM K Hans, has termed the entire reply of Haryana and its department concerned as an exercise in obfuscation. The entire reply is an exercise in obfuscation, wherein the Respondents No. 1 and 2 (Haryana and its department concerned) have effectively sought to assert a 'right to pollute' the River Yamuna, taking advantage of their geographical location as an upper riparian state. The entire reply discloses absolutely no efforts on the part of the Respondents No. 1 and 2 to take any concrete steps to address the discharge of untreated pollutants that cause a rise in ammonia levels in the River Yamuna, the 26-page affidavit of Delhi government said. It said the Delhi government has moved the top court because of the precipitate water crisis in the national capital and it has been held by this court on multiple occasions that the right to clean and adequate drinking water forms part of the right to life under Article 21 of the Constitution. Haryana has an abundance of drinking water, with the per capita availability of drinking water being far higher than that of Delhi and it is an upper riparian state that is serviced not just by the River Yamuna, but by various other rivers, it said. The continued actions/inaction of the Respondents No. 1 and 2 have led to large scale reductions of up to 30 per cent in water supply in many areas supplied by the Wazirabad, Chandrawal and Okhla Water Treatment Plants, and has a direct and potentially devastating impact on the right of residents of the NCT of Delhi to clean and adequate drinking water, it said. On April 11, the ammonia level in Yamuna at the point it enters the Wazirabad reservoir is 4.4 ppm, which is much higher than the ammonia level that the plants of the Delhi government can process for purification, it said. This has resulted in the Wazirabad water treatment plant functioning at 71 per cent of its capacity, the Chandrawal water treatment plant at 84 per cent of its capacity and the Okhla water treatment plant at 86 per cent of its capacity as of 11.04.2021, causing large scale water shortage, it said. The apex court had on April 6 deferred the hearing on Delhi government's plea. In its application, the DJB claimed that Haryana government has reduced the supply of raw water to Delhi, resulting in shortage of water supply in the national capital. The DJB had said that Delhi is facing a potential severe water crisis due to high ammonia levels in the Yamuna and the continuously depleting water level at Wazirabad barrage, which supplies drinking water to the Wazirabad, Okhla and Chandrawal water treatment plants. Raw water is sourced from the Yamuna and is drawn at Wazirabad barrage, it had said, adding that the quantity and quality is dependent on the release of water by the Haryana government. Haryana supplies water to Delhi through the Carrier-Lined Channel (CLC), Delhi Sub-Branch (DSB) and the Yamuna. The CLC and DSB supply water from Hathni Kund via Munak canal and Bhakra Beas Management Board. The apex court had on January 13 said that pollution-free water is a fundamental right which a welfare state is bound to ensure, and issued notices to the Centre, CPCB and five states including Delhi and Haryana on the issue. The top court, while appointing senior advocate Meenakshi Arora as amicus curiae, had directed its registry to register the suo motu case as 'Remediation of polluted rivers', and said it would first take up the issue of contamination of the (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.) To the Editor: Re Johnson & Johnson Shots Halted in U.S. Over Rare Clotting Effect (front page, April 14): Over the past few months, I have been taken aback by the number of conversations Ive had with educated, worldly friends or acquaintances who have said they wont get the coronavirus vaccine because of safety concerns or an aversion to vaccines in general. Ultimately, I find their reasoning selfish, privileged and entitled, considering whats at stake. But the call by federal health agencies to immediately pause use of the Johnson & Johnson single-dose coronavirus vaccine after six recipients, all women, developed a rare blood-clotting disorder and one died will only not fuel their hesitancy but reinforce doubts across Americas demographic spectrum. As with most forms of medicine, there is almost always some risk involved. And in the case of Covid-19, the potential consequences of millions of Americans not getting the vaccine far outweigh any risk of side effects. In the coming days, federal officials should emphasize that. Cody Lyon Brooklyn To the Editor: Re Trying to Weigh Greater Risk: Rare Side Effect vs. the Virus (news article, April 14): Even if blood clots are a relatively rare side effect of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine, federal health agencies made the right decision in calling for the pausing of this vaccine. Actor Um Tae-goo / Courtesy of Netflix By Kwak Yeon-soo Actor Um Tae-goo is innately driven toward playing strong characters, but that doesn't define who he is in real life. The 38-year-old actor confessed that he actually dislikes violence and horror movies. Instead, he finds simple pleasure in sipping iced vanilla latte and watching cute videos of his dog. During an interview with The Korea Times, Um shared insights and memories about everything from his strengths and weaknesses as an actor, why he's attracted to noir films, his hopes of gaining higher levels of recognition and how he stepped into the shoes of a mobster for "Night in Paradise." In director Park Hoon-jung's sixth feature "Night in Paradise," Um plays Park Tae-goo, who is driven by the urge to take revenge against an organized crime gang, Buksung, which killed his sister and niece in a deadly car accident. Outraged over the loss of his family members, he stabs gangsters and the head of the gang, which infuriates mob boss Ma (Cha Seoung-won). Um flees to Jeju Island and meets Jae-yeon (Jeon Yeo-been), a mysterious woman with impressive sharpshooting skills, but who is suffering from a terminal illness. Jeon Yeo-been, left, and Um Tae-goo in a scene from "Night in Paradise" / Courtesy of Netflix To play his role in "Night in Paradise," Um said he gained 9 kilograms and didn't wear any makeup while filming. "I tried to express how devastated Tae-goo looks like after losing his sister and niece. To make my skin look rough, I didn't apply moisturizer or lotion or lip balm," he said during an interview with The Korea Times via Zoom, Wednesday. "I had to keep reminding myself that Tae-goo has lost family, his most precious thing in life. The feeling of grief lingered in his mind," he added. Telling he's an introvert person, Um confessed that it took him years to lose some of that shyness. "I'm naturally very shy and I don't have a powerful voice. In the early years of my career, if I was really nervous I would start shaking and forgot my lines. There was a time when it took some courage to start conversations with other cast members, but that just made things more awkward," he said. "Then I appeared on tvN's reality show House of Wheels last year, which was helpful in overcoming my anxiety. I was able to share casual conversations with others and to my surprise, viewers left positive comments about me," he added. When asked what drives him to continue acting, he said it is the only thing that fulfills him. "I just feel alive when I dive into someone else's world and walk in their shoes. I feel like acting is what I want to do for the rest of my life. It's hard, but so rewarding," he said. He also expressed satisfaction in acting alongside Jeon, saying that the two became close friends as they spent much time eating out at restaurants after filming. "We are both food lovers, and many of our senior actors and director Park took us out for dinner and late night snacks. We all had fun together," he said. Um also revealed that although he doesn't have a favorite film genre, he doesn't enjoy watching horror films because they scare him. "I don't have a preference for a specific film genre, but I'd love to star in a romance or melodrama in the future," he said. "Night in Paradise" is currently screening on Netflix. Today was the day that hundreds of college students at Texas Tech University and up to 1,500 others in Lubbock, one of last years coronavirus hot spots, were going to be fully vaccinated against COVID-19. Today was also the day that some members of the Petersburg Mission Baptist Church, a Black church in the rural Texas community of Athens, were going to be fully vaccinated. And in Corpus Christi, a city-sponsored effort was about to get underway in the coming days to vaccinate the citys homeless population. All of that was upended when providers across Texas paused usage of the one-dose Johnson & Johnson vaccine this week after federal and state health officials urged the action because a small number of recipients developed blood clots. It messes up our plans, said Katherine Wells, director of public health for Lubbock, which is now sitting on about 7,000 unusable at least for now doses of the vaccine that were supposed to be administered to residents at the countys vaccination hub before it shuts down in two weeks. Firefighters wait to check people out of a vaccination site in the Lubbock Memorial Civic Center on April 14, 2021. Credit: Justin Rex for The Texas Tribune The pause on the Johnson & Johnson vaccine came after a rare and severe type of blood clot was reported in six women across the nation after they received the shot, out of 6.8 million doses administered, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. RELATED: US recommends 'pause' for J&J vaccine over clot reports The CDCs Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices on Wednesday delayed making any recommendations to the CDC on whether to continue the pause, promising instead to meet again by the end of next week and give the CDC time to gather better data. They also noted that more than half of the Johnson & Johnson doses in the U.S. have been administered within the last two weeks, within the time frame in which the clots appeared in the six recipients, and more data could come as health officials monitor those outcomes. But members and other attendees from the medical community agreed that a quick resolution is vital to the continued vaccination of underserved communities who benefit from the convenience of the one-dose regimen. "The extension of the pause will invariably result in the fact that the most vulnerable individuals in the United States, who were prime candidates for the Johnson & Johnson vaccine, will remain vulnerable, the most at risk will remain at risk, and those who would benefit immediately from vaccination will remain unvaccinated for an unknown period of time," said Dr. Nirav Shah, director of the Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention and a nonvoting member of the panel. The Johnson & Johnson vaccine, lauded by many as being particularly well-suited for some of most hard-to-reach and highest-risk people, was key to Texas effort to fully and quickly vaccinate most of its population of 29 million people. In Texas, half a million people already have gotten the Johnson & Johnson vaccine. More than 9 million people in the state have been given at least one dose of vaccine, including the two-dose vaccines manufactured by Moderna and Pfizer. Nearly 6 million have been fully vaccinated. Going by sheer numbers of doses allocated, the biggest impact in Texas was likely on larger retail pharmacies such as H-E-B and other chains, which were anticipating that about two-thirds of the supply being delivered this week would be Johnson & Johnson, officials have said. But because states were already experiencing a large, but temporary, dip in the number of Johnson & Johnson allocations, many of the states limited doses landing in Texas this week went to smaller providers and regional hubs that could most benefit from the easier-to-manage vaccine. Nearly 60% of this weeks 143,000 Johnson & Johnson doses were slated to go to the hubs in Houston, Dallas and Arlington, with the rest going to local providers and smaller hubs. Now, with 59,000 Johnson & Johnson doses arriving and unable to be used until further direction from the CDC, the impact is being felt in some of the states hardest-hit communities. We were planning to give probably close to 1,000 J&J shots here today and another 1,500 Moderna first and second doses, said Wells, the Lubbock health director. So instead of about 2,500 appointments, we have about 900. It ends up being a big, empty room with a lot of volunteers sitting around. And a lot of very expensive firemen. READ MORE: St. Edwards becomes one of the first universities to require vaccine for in-person activities Unlike vaccines produced by Pfizer and Moderna, both of which require two doses to be fully effective against the virus, the Johnson & Johnsons one-and-done regimen, combined with its ability to be stored for months at regular refrigeration temperatures, made it ideal for homeless people, residents of rural areas and mobile vaccination efforts. It is also well-suited for young people whose busy social lifestyles not only contribute to community spread but also sometimes prevent them from returning reliably for a second dose, providers say. And its an attractive vaccine for those who are worried about what they consider to be the newer technology in Pfizer and Moderna although in reality, the mRNA technology behind those two vaccines has been studied for more than 30 years said Dr. Carolyn Salter, who co-owns Sycamore Medical Clinic in rural Palestine, about 100 miles southeast of Dallas in Anderson County. Salters clinic is set to receive its second shipment of 100 doses of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine this week, and we had plans for all of them, she said. Since March, local providers in Anderson County have been allocated 3,000 Johnson & Johnson doses. Salter had partnered with the church in neighboring Athens, about half an hour away, to do an on-site vaccination event during Bible study Wednesday evening, she said. Thats now been postponed. Its disappointing, Salter said, because communities of color were especially hard hit by the virus, and rural counties have a lot of residents who are low-income and cant easily travel to out-of-town clinics for even one dose, much less two. READ ALSO: Can I take painkillers before or after a COVID-19 vaccine? Anderson County, home to five prisons, was considered a national hot spot for the virus at one point during the summer peak, so residents there are anxious to move past the pandemic, Salter said. The county of nearly 60,000 about one-third of whom are incarcerated, Salter said reported more than 2,000 confirmed cases, or 37 cases per 1,000 people, during June and July last year. The county has seen 116 deaths from the virus as of Tuesday. It was pretty bad here, she said. We have a lot of multigenerational households, a lot of crowded households, which made COVID spread through our community worse than in some others, I think. In Corpus Christi, another one-time hot spot, where there are an estimated 850 people experiencing homelessness, a city effort to vaccinate that population who are often difficult to follow up with for second doses because they dont have permanent addresses will have to switch to the two-dose regimens until the problem is rectified, Mayor Paulette M. Guajardo said in an emailed statement. Last summer, Nueces County, which is home to the city, saw a surge in cases in part due to tourist activity. Cases ballooned quickly, doubling from 3,000 to 6,000 total cases over 10 days in early July. Bruce Wilson, a retired Episcopal priest who now spends his time working in a homeless camp in Corpus Christi, said Johnson & Johnson is the best option because getting people to return for a second vaccine dose is so challenging. So far, Nueces County has been allocated 8,400 Johnson & Johnson doses. You never know for sure whos going to be in the camp that day or not, said Wilson, executive director of Coastal Bend Neighborhood Empowerment. Some are out looking for a house or a job or on some other errand, so they might not be there. Volunteers and firefighters vaccinate patients against COVID-19 at the Lubbock Memorial Civic Center on April 14, 2021. Credit: Justin Rex for The Texas Tribune In Lubbock, officials have administered about 106,000 shots, about 2,600 of which were Johnson & Johnson, since December, Wells said. The county has been allocated 16,700 Johnson & Johnson doses since early March, including about 10,000 in the past two weeks for use by the citys hub. The effort has been particularly urgent in Lubbock, where last fall more than 40% of hospitalizations in the trauma service area servicing Lubbock were COVID-19 patients, putting a strain on the areas hospitals. About 1,500 doses per day were going through the city hub at the Lubbock Memorial Civic Center, and more were being administered through the local United pharmacy chain which had planned to fully inoculate students at Texas Tech on Wednesday but had to switch from Johnson & Johnson to Modernal, which complicates the effort, Wells said. Through March, the vaccine being used in Lubbock was mainly Moderna, Wells said, but the hub switched to Johnson & Johnson at the beginning of April in anticipation of shutting down on May 1 because the center was needed for other city uses, she said. The city has long planned to transition its vaccination efforts to smaller locations like mobile clinics and pop-up events, with the idea of halting two-dose vaccine use and just using Johnson & Johnson for the final weeks, she said. Now things are more complicated without the Johnson & Johnson doses. The city must switch back to Moderna, and with only two weeks left at the hub, Wells will have to line up alternate locations to administer the second dose four weeks later, she said. She also said many people who showed up for the Johnson & Johnson shot this week were offered the Moderna shot instead, but declined and said theyd wait. I just feel like were missing opportunities, Wells said. Disclosure: H-E-B and Texas Tech University have been financial supporters of The Texas Tribune, a nonprofit, nonpartisan news organization that is funded in part by donations from members, foundations and corporate sponsors. Financial supporters play no role in the Tribune's journalism. Find a complete list of them here. The Texas Tribune is a nonpartisan, nonprofit media organization that informs Texans and engages with them about public policy, politics, government and statewide issues. [April 15, 2021] JustKitchen Announces the Opening of 14th Spoke Kitchen and Second Hub Facility Ghost Kitchen Operator Continues to Grow Across Taiwan TSXV: JK VANCOUVER, BC, April 15, 2021 /CNW/ - Just Kitchen Holdings Corp. ("JustKitchen" or the "Company") (TSXV: JK), an operator of ghost kitchens specializing in the development of delivery-only food brands to customers across Taiwan, is pleased to announce the opening of its 14th satellite spoke kitchen (the "14th Spoke") today, which is located in the Wenshen District of Taipei. The 14th Spoke unlocks access to over 275,000 new customers in a dense urban area and further enhances JustKitchen's capacity utilization of its infrastructure. Further, the Company is pleased to announce that a second hub kitchen (the "Second Hub") has recently commenced operations in Tainan City and consists of 15,000 square feet of commercial kitchen space. The Second Hub was built by Chi Mei Frozen Foods Co. ("Chi Mei"), which is a large Taiwanese food manufacturing and partner of the Company. It is located within Chi Mei's processing plant and has the capacity to support JustKitchen's next 20-25 Spoke kitchens. Since being founded in late 2019, JustKitchen has established operations and rapidly grown through the opening of numerous ghost kitchens in Taiwan. "The openings of the 14th Spoke and Second Hub are great milestones for our young company. Growing to this size in just over a year is a testament to the dedication of our employees and the loyalty of our customers," said Jason Chen, Co-Founder, Chief Executive Officer and Director of JustKitchen. "Demand for delivery-only food in Taiwan continues to increase and JustKitchen is well positioned, both strategically and financially, to reach and serve new consumers. We continue to scout for JustKitchen's next ghost kitchen locations and expand our unique hub-and-spoke operating mdel across Taiwan," added Mr. Chen. Information about JustKitchen's business and future plans, including its hubs and spokes is contained in its final prospectus dated March 26, 2021, which can be found on under the Company's issuer profile at www.SEDAR.com. In addition, the Company has retained Generation IACP Inc. ("IACP") to provide market making services in accordance with TSX Venture Exchange ("TSXV") policies. IACP will trade the securities of JustKitchen on the TSXV for the purposes of maintaining an orderly market. In consideration of the services provided by IACP, JustKitchen will pay IACP a monthly cash fee of $7,500 for a minimum term of six months and renewable thereafter. JustKitchen and IACP are unrelated and unaffiliated entities. IACP will not receive shares or options as compensation. IACP currently does not own any securities of the Company; however, Generation and its clients may acquire a direct or indirect interest in the securities of the Company from time to time. The capital used for market making will be provided by IACP. IACP is a registered broker and member of the Investment Industry Regulatory Organization of Canada, the TSXV and the Canadian Securities Exchange, and is a Participating Organization as such term is defined in the rules and policies of the Toronto Stock Exchange. ABOUT JUSTKITCHEN JustKitchen is primarily an operator of ghost kitchens specializing in the development and marketing of proprietary and franchised delivery-only food brands for customers across Taiwan. JustKitchen uniquely utilizes a hub-and-spoke operating model, which features advanced food preparation taking place at larger hub kitchens and final meal preparation taking place at smaller spoke kitchens located in areas with higher population densities. The Company combines this operating model with online and mobile application-based food ordering fulfilled by third-party delivery companies, to minimize capital investments and operating expenses and reach more customers in underserved markets. The Company's other business, JustMarket, is an e-commerce grocery delivery platform that allows customers to purchase groceries for delivery or add select grocery items to meals ordered through JustKitchen. For more information about the Company, please visit investors.justkitchen.com. JustKitchen's final prospectus, financial statements and management's discussion and analysis, among other documents, are all available on the Company's profile page on SEDAR at www.sedar.com. Neither the TSXV nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSXV) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS This news release contains certain "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of such statements under applicable securities law. Forward-looking statements are frequently characterized by words such as "anticipates", "plan", "continue", "expect", "project", "intend", "believe", "anticipate", "estimate", "may", "will", "potential", "proposed", "positioned" and other similar words, or statements that certain events or conditions "may" or "will" occur. These statements are only predictions. Various assumptions were used in drawing the conclusions or making the projections contained in the forward-looking statements throughout this news release. Forward-looking statements are based on the opinions and estimates of management at the date the statements are made and are subject to a variety of risks (including those risk factors identified in the Corporation's prospectus dated March 26, 2021) and uncertainties and other factors that could cause actual events or results to differ materially from those projected in the forward-looking statements. The Corporation is under no obligation, and expressly disclaims any intention or obligation, to update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as expressly required by applicable law. SOURCE Just Kitchen Holdings Corp. [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] The territorial defeat of ISISs so-called caliphate in 2019 was a major victory. In the years since, some eight million people have returned to their homes and basic services have been restored. But the threat from ISIS remains, as the Foreign Ministers of the Global Coalition to Defeat ISIS/Small Group acknowledged in a joint communique after their recent virtual meeting. The ministers noted increased ISIS activities in Iraq and Syria; the danger posed by ISIS affiliates across West Africa and the Sahel, as well as the emerging threat in East Africa. They also noted the challenge of ISIS foreign fighters who are in custody in Iraq and Syria. At a press conference prior to the meeting, U.S. Acting Special Envoy for the Global Coalition to Defeat ISIS John Godfrey declared that the detention centers housing these ISIS foreign fighters are a growing issue. The Syrian Democratic Forces continue to secure about 10,000 ISIS fighters, including roughly 2,000 Iraqis and 2,000 foreign terrorist fighters, in makeshift detention facilities. As these detainees await repatriation and prosecution in their home countries, he said, our local partners need support to help ensure humane and secure detention conditions. Separate from the detention facilities for ISIS foreign terrorist fighters, there are concerns pertaining to the humanitarian camps for displaced persons, including the family members of ISIS foreign fighters. Al-Hol is the largest of these humanitarian camps. Acting Special Envoy Godfrey pointed to the recent killings of Al-Hol residents. They reflect a persistent threat from ISIS and its criminal affiliates to innocent civilians in Al-Hol, he said. In response to the challenges at Al-Hol, between March 28 and April 2, the Syrian Democratic Forces initiated an operation to degrade and disrupt ISIS activities inside the humanitarian camp and to improve security for civilians. Acting Special Envoy Godfrey called the situation an international problem that requires an international solution. He said, We urge the international community to consider how they might support both humanitarian agencies which are providing to those populations now, as well as consider the repatriation of their own citizens to relieve the burden on our local partners. International cooperation was emphasized throughout the Coalition to Defeat ISIS ministerial meeting. In its joint communique, the Coalition reaffirmed its belief that a comprehensive and collective effort remains necessary to achieve a full and enduring defeat of Daesh/ISIS worldwide. Every parent learns the hard way that babies and children cannot rule the house. There are some cultures where things are done differently, but here in the USA, we parents quickly learn, whether we like it or not, that we have to be the adult and keep control. I was reminded of this recently when my next-door neighbors asked if their baby was keeping us up, as they were working on sleep training. Babies can, and most do, get into the habit of awakening way too many times in the night, and they must learn the art of self-soothing to get back to sleep, lest the parents come to resemble the walking dead. It's tough, really tough, to listen to your baby cry. They can be stubborn; most are, extremely. At a certain point, parents simply must put in earplugs, and turn over and try to get back to sleep themselves, judging that the time has come for their loved and cherished child to sleep at least three hours between feedings and diaper-changing. They may not be able to sleep after all, their baby is suffering, and they have the means to end that suffering. They wish to comfort that poor little wailing being they love so much. They also worry that they're misjudging, that something is in fact wrong. I remember many sleepless nights, sometimes giving in to the need just to take a peek, to make sure there wasn't a diaper explosion or something else wrong. Now we have video baby monitors to make it a bit easier, but the same principles apply. The one thing all parents know is that even when a baby cries for an hour straight, they can't give in to it. By the same token, it's inevitable that toddlers test their boundaries and throw a temper tantrum or six. Sometimes, in a public place and always at the most inconvenient moment, these meltdowns can, but don't necessarily, correspond to hunger, a need for a nap, or any other real discomfort. They can just be a part of the growth process, the development of the ego, of self-control, of awareness of self versus others. Tantrums are a means to test a child's power and will. Most parents simply recognize what is happening and deal with it depending on circumstances. At home, they can be ignored. Eventually, children will realize they are not getting whatever they are raging about and not accomplishing anything by their bad behavior. They then learn to find better means to get the goods. It's always a mistake to dangle a bright thing in an attempt at re-direction, because, as parents will learn, that bright object becomes a reward for bad behavior and will tend to encourage rather than discourage it in the future. When children don't get these early lessons in self-control, they often grow up to be self-centered and have poor impulse control. They become bullies. They don't learn to solve problems. They become narcissists. Without demeaning the rioters and looters by saying they are literally infants or toddlers, it's still possible to view the rioting in Minneapolis as a series of temper tantrums that "bad parents" (i.e., the Democrats) are encouraging and normalizing for their own ends. I see the looters and rioters as children being given free rein to give in to poor impulse control, even being encouraged in their outrageous behavior. I don't see the people who ought to be discouraging the behavior, doing so; rather, I see them encouraging it. There is no logic to this behavior. If one wished to protest blacks being killed, one might go to Chicago, where hundreds have been killed but then the focus, rather than being on police officers' perceived behavior, would be on the actual bad behavior of the rioters' black peers. More whites are killed by cops than blacks. More blacks kill one another by a huge factor. Blacks kill more cops than anyone else, too. Blacks do this not because they are incapable of other behavior. They do it because the political class actively encourages them to engage in violence. Their violence allows politicians to demand gun control, defunding the police, reparations, and a whole lot of other ideas that are bad for individual liberty regardless of the individual's skin color. So where are the black leaders, telling their people to stop the temper tantrums and learn some adult behavior? If we are to take seriously the idea that black lives matter, shouldn't the black population of this country learn to be good citizens? When you witness blacks carrying all the cases of hard liquor out of a store or senselessly destroying the property of another black business, you are witnessing a self-destructive cultural temper tantrum that more powerful people with an agenda are encouraging. The people rioting gain nothing from their acts; the benefit all flows to the people manipulating them. One would hope someone would take the parental role, call the rioters out on their behavior, and stop the madness. Toby Ranley is a pseudonym. Image by PublicDomainPictures from Pixabay. To comment, you can find the MeWe post for this article here. NEW YORK, April 15, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Alleghany Corporation (NYSE:Y) today announced that it will host an Alleghany Capital Corporation ("Alleghany Capital") virtual investor meeting on Friday, May 14, 2021 beginning at 9:00 a.m. Eastern Time and concluding at approximately 11:00 a.m. Eastern Time. The event will include an in-depth presentation by Alleghany Capital executives on its strategy and performance and will also include presentations by leaders of certain of Alleghany Capital's portfolio companies. Presentations by management will be followed by question-and-answer sessions. The meeting will be webcast live and all interested parties are invited to join by registering in advance at http://www.alleghany.com in the Events and Presentation section of the website. A replay of the webcast will be available for 90 days after the event. About Alleghany Corporation Alleghany Corporation (NYSE:Y) creates value by owning and supporting its operating subsidiaries and managing investments, anchored by a core position in property and casualty reinsurance and insurance. Alleghany's property and casualty subsidiaries include: Transatlantic Holdings, Inc., a leading global reinsurer; RSUI Group, Inc., which underwrites wholesale specialty insurance coverages including property, casualty, professional liability and directors' and officers' liability; and CapSpecialty, Inc., an underwriter of commercial property, casualty and surety insurance coverages. Alleghany Capital Corporation owns and supports a diverse portfolio of non-financial businesses for its parent company, Alleghany Corporation (NYSE:Y). Alleghany Capital's industrial businesses include: (i) Precision Cutting Technologies, Inc., a holding company focused on the machine tool and consumable cutting tools sectors through Bourn & Koch, Inc., Diamond Technology Innovations, Inc., CID Performance Tooling, and Supermill LLC; (ii) R.C. Tway Company, LLC (dba Kentucky Trailer), a manufacturer of custom trailers and truck bodies for several niche end markets; (iii) WWSC Holdings, LLC, a structural steel fabricator and erector for commercial, industrial, and transportation infrastructure projects; and (iv) Wilbert Funeral Services, Inc., a provider of products and services for the funeral and cemetery industries and precast concrete markets. Alleghany Capital's non-industrial businesses include: (i) Concord Hospitality Enterprises Company, a hotel management and development company; (ii) IPS-Integrated Project Services, LLC, a provider of design, engineering, procurement, construction management, and validation services for the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries; and (iii) Jazwares, LLC, a global toy and musical instrument company. For additional information about Alleghany Capital Corporation, please visit www.alleghanycc.com. SOURCE Alleghany Corporation Related Links http://www.alleghany.com Addis Ababa, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 15th Apr, 2021 ) :Africa is "in a bind" over coronavirus vaccines, as some countries could run out without knowing when more doses will be available, the continent's disease control body said Thursday. Health officials hope to vaccinate at least 20 percent of the continent's more than one billion people by the end of the year. But many African countries are depending on AstraZeneca jabs produced in India and allocated under the Covax scheme, which aims to provide equitable access around the world and particularly in poorer countries. India announced last month it was putting the brakes on vaccine exports as it battled a new wave of infections and a faltering inoculation drive at home. "We are in a bind as a continent," Dr John Nkengasong, director of the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC), told a press conference Thursday. "Access to vaccines has been limited for us as a continent and it's affecting the way in which we roll out our vaccination programme." He highlighted the case of Ghana, which he said had already administered "70 to 80 percent" of its current supply of shots, most of which came via Covax. "Even if Ghana had the money it would not know where to go get the vaccine," Nkengasong said, noting that AstraZeneca is a two-dose vaccine. "We cannot predict when the second doses will come." The African Union (AU) is also trying to secure shots bilaterally, outside the Covax scheme. Johnson & Johnson announced last month it would make up to 400 million doses of its own single-shot vaccine available to Africa, though the first shipments were not expected to arrive until the third quarter of 2021. South Africa is the only country to have acquired J&J shots of its own, but this week it suspended their rollout after US health authorities recommended a pause over blood clot fears. No blood clots linked to J&J have been reported in South Africa, Nkengasong said. The Africa CDC had also at one point been in talks to acquire AstraZeneca shots bilaterally from the Serum Institute of India, but Nkengasong said last week it had abandoned that effort to avoid replicating the work of Covax. He stressed Thursday, though, that he still sees the shot as central to Africa's vaccination strategy, despite concerns that it too might be linked to rare blood clots. "If they have vaccines at the Serum Institute today we'll be happy to get them," he said. As of Monday the AU's 55 member states had acquired 34.6 million vaccine doses and administered 13.9 million, although 8.6 million of those were in Morocco alone, Nkengasong said. Vancouver, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - April 15, 2021) - Cabral Gold Inc. ("Cabral" or the "Company") (TSXV: CBR) (OTC PINK: CBGZF) is pleased to provide assay results from the initial two diamond drill holes at the MG gold deposit within the Cuiu Cuiu gold district in northern Brazil. These initial holes form part of a 5,000m diamond drill program, which in turn is part of a larger ongoing 25,000m drill program. Highlights are as follows: The first diamond drill hole (208-21) completed at MG returned 2.1m @ 29.4 g/t gold including 0.5m @ 120.6 g/t gold and indicates the presence of a parallel high-grade zone which is located 75m south of the main MG deposit. This zone was not separately wireframed and was cut to a maximum of 2.0 g/t gold in the 2018 resource estimate completed by Micon International Limited ("Micon"). The zone appears to continue down-dip and dips steeply to the north. It has been named the 104 Zone Results from the second diamond drill hole (209-12) at MG suggest the presence of an extensive gold-in-oxide blanket up to 48m thick averaging 0.5g/t gold and covering an area of approximately 500m x 400m Alan Carter, Cabral's President and CEO commented, "The initial diamond drill results from MG are highly encouraging and indicate the presence of a parallel high-grade zone 75m south of the main MG deposit, which also contains considerable high-grade mineralization. A historic high-grade drill hole in this zone intersected 2m @ 70.2g/t gold which was cut to a maximum of 2g/t gold as part of the 2018 resource estimate. The current drill program will allow us to further define the extent of this new high-grade 104 Zone. These new drill results suggest we have a significant high-grade zone parallel to the main deposit at MG which could contain a significant amount of gold. It also appears that the MG deposit is covered by a large low-grade oxide gold blanket which was also not previously included in the historic resource estimate and could add significant ounces to the MG resource". MG Infill Diamond Drilling Assay results were returned on the initial two diamond drill holes (208-21 and 209-21) completed at MG as part of the infill drilling program designed to define the limits to the high-grade zones within the existing MG and Central deposits at Cuiu Cuiu. Diamond drill hole 208-21 was designed to test the up-dip continuity of an isolated historic drill intercept (drill hole 104-10) which intersected 2m @ 70.2 g/t gold including 0.5m @ 264.9 g/t gold (Figure 1). This historic intercept was included in the 2018 resource estimate completed by Micon but was cut to a maximum of 2.0 g/t gold. As a result, all of the high-grade gold mineralization intersected in the drilling was cut to this value and not treated as high-grade material for the purpose of the resource estimate. Hole 208-21 was drilled to intersect the zone above the previous intercept and provide a dip on the zone. It returned 2.1m @ 29.4 g/t gold from 90.3m depth, including 0.5m @ 120.6 g/t gold suggesting that the zone dips steeply to the north (Figure 2). Figure 1: Map showing the location of drill holes at the MG gold deposit and the location of high-grade zones (ellipses) which are being targeted as part of the current drill program. Results from holes 208-21 and 209-21 are shown in yellow. To view an enhanced version of Figure 1, please visit: https://orders.newsfilecorp.com/files/3900/80529_476f4d87d4e0fabb_002full.jpg Figure 2: Cross-section through the MG gold deposit and the parallel 104 zone showing recent drill results from holes 208-21 and 209-21 are new. Assay results from 210-21 and 211-21 are pending To view an enhanced version of Figure 2, please visit: https://orders.newsfilecorp.com/files/3900/80529_476f4d87d4e0fabb_003full.jpg Hole 209-21 intersected the down-dip extension of the same zone at depth and returned 6m @ 1.3 g/t gold from 159m depth. Hole 209-21 also intersected two narrower zones of mineralization including 1.6m @ 2.6 g/t gold from 77.7m depth and 0.5m @ 1.3 g/t gold from 98m depth further up the hole indicating the presence of narrower zones between the MG deposit and the 104 Zone. Hole 209-21 also intersected 63m @ 0.5 g/t gold from surface suggesting the presence of an extensive thick oxide-gold blanket in saprolite and recent cover sediments at MG. This is supported by the fact that numerous other drill holes at MG have also intersected oxide gold values in oxidized material above the main hard rock deposit at MG, notably holes 46 (23m @ 0.93 g/t), 47 (15.3m @ 0.47 g/t), 51 (26.8m @ 0.46 g/t) and 66 (19.9m @ 0.46 g/t). This blanket has almost certainly resulted from erosion of the mineralized rocks at MG over millions of years and the dispersion of gold in near surface soils, sediments and saprolite material. Whilst further drilling of this oxide blanket at MG is needed, drilling to date suggests that the blanket could extend up to 200m north and south of the margins of the MG deposit and appears to cover an area of approximately 500m x 400m. The identification of this oxide blanket could result in the addition of significant ounces of low-grade oxidized surface material at MG, in an area which was previously assumed to be barren in the 2018 resource estimate. Results on five additional diamond drill holes recently completed at MG are pending, as well as several RC holes at the JM, JN, Hamilton Novo and Maranhao West targets. About Cabral Gold Inc. The Company is a junior resource company engaged in the identification, exploration and development of mineral properties, with a primary focus on gold properties located in Brazil. The Company has a 100% interest in the Cuiu Cuiu gold district located in the Tapajos Region, within the state of Para in northern Brazil. Two gold deposits have so far been defined at Cuiu Cuiu and contain 43-101 compliant Indicated resources of 5.9Mt @ 0.90g/t (200,000 oz) and Inferred resources of 19.5Mt @ 1.24g/t (800,000 oz). The Tapajos Gold Province is the site of the largest gold rush in Brazil's history producing an estimated 30 to 50 million ounces of placer gold between 1978 and 1995. Cuiu Cuiu was the largest garimpo in the Tapajos and produced an estimated 2Moz of placer gold historically. FOR FURTHER INFORMATION PLEASE CONTACT: "Alan Carter" President and Chief Executive Officer Cabral Gold Inc. Tel: 604.676.5660 Dr Adrian McArthur, B.Sc. Hons, PhD. FAusIMM., a consultant to the Company as well as a Qualified Person as defined by National Instrument 43-101, supervised the preparation of the technical information in this news release. Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as such term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. Forward-looking Statements This news release contains certain forward-looking information and forward-looking statements within the meaning of applicable securities legislation (collectively "forward-looking statements"). The use of the words "will", "expected" and similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements. These statements involve 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 statements. Such forward-looking statements should not be unduly relied upon. This news release contains forward-looking statements and assumptions pertaining to the following: strategic plans and future operations, and results of exploration. Actual results achieved may vary from the information provided herein as a result of numerous known and unknown risks and uncertainties and other factors. The Company believes the expectations reflected in those forward-looking statements are reasonable, but no assurance can be given that these expectations will prove to be correct. Notes Gold analysis has been conducted by SGS method FAA505 (fire assay of 50g charge), with higher grade samples checked by FAA525. Analytical quality is monitored by certified references and blanks. Until dispatch, samples are stored under the supervision the Company's exploration office. The samples are couriered to the assay laboratory using a commercial contractor. Pulps are returned to the Company and archived. Drill holes results are quoted as down-hole length weighted intersections. To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/80529 The Postal Workers Rank-and-File Committee warns postal workers that, behind their backs, the Communication Electrical and Plumbers Union (CEPU) is working closely with Australia Post to impose a new enterprise agreement that will intensify the unbearable workloads, pay cuts and restructuring contained in the Alternative Delivery Model (ADM). For all the unions phony claims to now oppose the hated ADMwhich it helped the management inflict on workers last yearthe union has been involved in backroom talks with Australia Posts executive group for months on how to suppress workers opposition to the ADM or a new version of it. Part of an Australia Post facility in Alexandria, Sydney [Credit: Rork Projects] Buried away on page 14 of the CEPU submission to the current Senate committee inquiry into Australia Post, the union informs the senators: In February, the union was invited to meet with the executive group responsible for the delivery operations in an effort to find common ground in order to resolve outstanding employee grievances and improve services whilst still delivering a sustainable operating model. Any sustainable operating model will be one designed to keep boosting Australia Posts revenues and profits. These have soared via the ADM and its accelerated shift to parcel delivery during the COVID-19 pandemic, at the direct expense of workers conditions, health and livelihoods. The submission says no agreements have yet been reached, but holds out the prospect that if the union sees results from consultation it would support an extension to the government regulations underpinning the ADM, which are scheduled to end in June. Those regulations allowed Australia Post to drop daily mail deliveries and shunt posties into parcel delivery. CEPU boasts how closely its officials and workplace delegates are working with the management at local, state and national levels. Despite the contention over temporary reform and its introduction, the union and its members has continued to engage genuinely, meaningfully, and significantly, with management, it states. A warning also must be taken from the submissions profuse support for ousted Australia Post chief Christine Holgate, with whom the union signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) last year to impose a 12-month ban on industrial action in order to enforce the shift to the ADM. While claiming to oppose the Liberal-National Coalition governments secretive plans, outlined by the Boston Consulting Group, for further privatisation of postal services and the destruction of more than 8,000 jobs, the CEPU will seek to work just as loyally with Holgates replacement, ex-Woolworths chief supply chain officer Paul Graham, to police equivalent cost-cutting and profit results. The CEPUs genuine, meaningful and significant engagement with management is code for intensifying the closed-door talks and partnership it formed with Holgate and the government last year, resulting in the no-strike MoU, signed on July 7. Anticipating mass opposition to the introduction of the ADM, the union imposed the no-strike agreement, effectively blocking all independent action from postal workers against the biggest attack on their conditions in 40 years. Fully aware of workers hostility, the union did not discuss the MoU at any meetings with workers before signing it. The MoU committed the union to co-operating with Australia Post to ensure the successful implementation of the ADM, including by encouraging employees to operate new and different modes of delivery based on business requirements. In other words, the CEPU agreed to stop workers from opposing attacks, such as the redeployment of posties to the parcel sector and the creation of floaters, who have no set job description and can be shunted from one area to another. As a result, posties are now often working long shifts and are still unable to complete their delivery rounds, known as beats. The use of casual and contract labour is increasing, and workers who have been on the job for decades are being forced out by over-work, resulting in the thousands of job cuts that management wants. In order to fight this ongoing offensive, the Postal Workers Rank-and-File Committee calls on postal workers to reject the entire enterprise bargaining straitjacket and anti-strike laws that the unions have enforced against the working class since the unions Accords with the Hawke and Keating Labor governments in the 1980s and 1990s. We urge our fellow workers to join the rank-and-file committee, which is completely independent of CEPU, to advance the demands needed to defend the jobs and basic rights of postal workers. These demands include: The immediate ending of the ADM and all attempts to impose a new version of it. No to privatisation. The governments Boston Consulting Group secret report and its recommendations must be made fully public. All fixed term contract workers and casuals must be given full-time positions. Increase full-time staff to deal with extra parcels and reduce the workload on existing staff. One beat, one postie. Recast beats on the basis of finishing within rostered hours. Rank-and-file committees must be established to plan and control the organisation of beats and other aspects of production. 10 percent wage increases per year, with absolutely NO trade offs. Postal workers must receive a living wage to meet the escalating cost of living. End the unaddressed mail service (UMS) of junk mail. All statistical information about the level of accidents and mental health issues as a result of the ADM to be reported to the workers. Rank-and-file committees must be elected, independent of management and the unions, to organise and fight for the protection of workers health and safety. These committees will give regular reports to the workers and make the necessary recommendations. Workers whose health has been affected must be paid their full wage, including overtime, until they make a full recovery and can carry out their regular duties, with no management harassment. Stop the surveillance of postal workers, and end the ban on public comments by Australia Post staff to expose management practices. Free speech is a democratic right. Increase annual leave by two weeks. Return the Authorised Holiday to the Christmas period, as previously established. End the gravy train for top executives. All executives to be paid the same rate as team leaders. Australia Post must be transformed into a genuine public utility, under real public ownership and the democratic control of the working class, to meet the needs of society, including the basic social right to a secure and affordable postal service. We call on workers to build and expand our committee to discuss and prepare for the full mobilisation of all postal workers in a campaign of mass industrial and political action to fight for these and other agreed demands. In advancing these demands, postal workers will face the opposition of not just the management, the government and big business, but also the CEPU and the Labor Party, which endorsed the ADM and MoU. As the Socialist Equality Party explained last year in a statement calling for the building of a postal workers rank-and-file committee: This is a political struggle against the government, Labor, the unions and corporations. It requires the unity of Australia Post workers across the country and a turn to broader sections of the working class who face the same big business onslaught. We urge postal workers to unite with other sections of workers, such as warehouse and health workers, teachers and transport workers, who face similar restructuring and attacks on their conditions in the worsening global pandemic. We call for the building of rank-and-file committees in every industry to unify the working class in the fight for a workers government that will place all the major industries and banks under genuine public ownership and the democratic control of the working class. To discuss this struggle and how to get involved, contact the Postal Workers Rank-And-File Committee at auspostalworkers@gmail.com. Northbrook, IL -- (SBWIRE) -- 04/15/2021 -- The Depth Filtration Market estimating the current size and exhaustive research was conducted to collect information on the market as well as its peer and parent markets. The next step was to validate these findings, assumptions, and sizing with industry experts across the value chain through primary research. According MarketsandMarkets Research The report "Depth Filtration Market by Media Type (Cellulose, Activated Carbon), Product (Capsule, Sheet, Module), Application(Final Product Processing (Biologics), cell Clarification, Viral Clearance, Operation Scale (Manufacturing, Lab) Global Forecast to 2025", is estimated to grow from USD 1.7 billion in 2019 to USD 2.9 billion by 2025, at a CAGR of 9.0% during the forecast period. The growth of Depth Filtration Market is majorly driven by factors such as the growing adoption of disposable filters and benefits such as ease of use and low cost of media and filters. However, factors such as the requirement of high capital investments for setting up production facilities are expected to restrain the growth of this market during the forecast period. Request Research Sample Pages: https://www.marketsandmarkets.com/requestsampleNew.asp?id=143876285 Geographical View in-detailed: Segmented into four major regions, namely, North America, Europe, the Asia Pacific, Latin America, and Middle-East & Africa. In 2019, North America accounted for the largest share of 38.0% of the global depth filtration market, followed by Europe, with a share of 29.2%. The large share of the North American region can be attributed to a large number of pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies in the region and the presence of a well-established healthcare market. The Asia Pacific market, on the other hand, is expected to register the highest growth during the forecast period. Factors such as increasing research and development by pharmaceutical companies in China, India, and Japan are likely to support the growth of this market. Global Key Leaders: The major companies operating in the global depth filtration market include Merck KGaA (Germany), Danaher Corporation (US), Sartorius AG (Germany), GE Healthcare (US), 3M (US), Parker Hannifin Corporation (US), Porvair Filtration Group (UK), ErtelAlsop (US), Amazon Filters Ltd. (UK), Meissner Filtration Products, Inc. (US), Donaldson Comany, Inc. (US), Eaton Corporation (Ireland), Saint-Gobain Performance Plastics (France), Clariance Technique (Australia), Repligen Corporation (US), Microfilt India Pvt. Ltd. (India), Graver Technologies (US), Gusmer Enterprises (US), Filtrox AG (Switzerland), Pure Process (UK), Membrane Solutions (US), Allied Filter Systems Ltd. (UK), Pentair (US), Membracon (UK), and Phenomenex (US) Danaher Corporation (US) is the leading player in the global depth filtration market owing to its broad range of products in depth filtration. The sale of the company's separation, filtration, and purification technologies have witnessed high demand from the biopharmaceutical industry in Western Europe, North America, and other high-growth markets, particularly in the Asia Pacific region. The company is focusing on expanding its presence in Europe and the Asia Pacific region to maintain its leadership position. Merck KGaA (Germany) has over 50 years of expertise with leading products in the market. The company has been providing depth filters and media in this market through its Millistak, Clarisolve, and Opticap series. Merck has expanded its position as the most profitable technology and solutions supplier in the depth filtration industry by offering leading-edge products for biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies Download PDF Brochure: https://www.marketsandmarkets.com/pdfdownloadNew.asp?id=143876285 Police are hunting a hit-and-run driver who mowed down an officer as he stood next to an undercover patrol car in London. Emergency services were called just before 3pm today to the scene of the collision at Dartmouth Park Hill in Camden. The officer, who had been standing outside of a stationary police vehicle at the time of the crash, was rushed to hospital after suffering injuries to his lower body. Police at the scene believe the incident to be deliberate. Police are hunting a hit-and-run driver who mowed down an officer as he stood next to a patrol car in London Emergency services were called just before 3pm today to the scene of the collision at Darmouth Park Hill in Camden The damaged vehicle was an undercover police car, pictured. An officer was taken to hospital after suffering injuries in the collision The police car was also damaged in the crash, while the driver of the suspect vehicle did not stop at the scene. Enquiries are underway to trace both the driver and the vehicle. A Metropolitan Police spokesman said: 'The injured officer was taken to hospital by LAS. We await an update on the officers condition. 'A crime scene remains in place. 'Anyone who witnessed this incident or has dash-cam/moving footage should call police on 101 or Tweet @MetCC quoting 4030/15APR. 'To remain 100% anonymous call Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111 or visit Crimestoppers_uk.org.' A sing shows the way to the abandoned village of Varisha inside the U.N controlled buffer zone that divide the Greek, south, and the Turkish, north, Cypriots areas since 1974 of the Turkish invasion, in the divided island of Cyprus, on Friday, March 26, 2021. There's something peculiarly regal in the sprightly step and curious gaze of the long-horn sheep that roam this hilly ground near Varisia, an abandoned village inside a United Nations-controlled buffer zone cutting across ethnically divided Cyprus. (AP Photo/Petros Karadjias) There's something regal in the sprightly step and curious gaze of the long-horn sheep that roam the hills near Varisia, an abandoned village inside a U.N. buffer zone that cuts across ethnically divided Cyprus. The endangered Mouflon sheep that's endemic to the eastern Mediterranean island nation is one of many rare plant and animal species that have flourished in this no-man's land, which stretches for 120 miles (180 kilometers) and divides the island's breakaway north from its internationally recognized south. Devoid of human habitation since a 1974 war that spawned the country's ethnic cleave, the buffer zone has become an unofficial wildlife reserve. Its residents include the threatened Egyptian fruit bat, the bee orchid and the Eurasian Thick-knee, a dwindling species of shorebird also known as a stone-curlew. All have multiplied largely unperturbed. This unlikely refuge has been embraced by two environmental scientists, one Greek Cypriot and one Turkish Cypriot, as an open-air laboratory where complex politics and physical divisions can be put aside to focus on the overriding concern of protecting the parched country's fragile ecosystem. Greek Cypriot Iris Charalambidou and Turkish Cypriot Salih Gucel, both biologists, headed a pioneering survey in 2007 that explored the thriving flora and fauna inside the buffer zone. An endangered Mouflon sheep runs in the forest near abandoned village of Varisia, inside the U.N controlled buffer zone that divide the Greek, south, and the Turkish, north, Cypriot areas since the 1974 Turkish invasion, Cyprus, on Friday, March 26, 2021. Cyprus' endangered Mouflon sheep is one of many rare plant and animal species that have flourished a inside U.N. buffer zone that cuts across the ethnically cleaved Mediterranean island nation. Devoid of humans since a 1974 war that spawned the country's division, this no-man's land has become an unofficial wildlife reserve. (AP Photo/Petros Karadjias) Among the survey's findings were that some areas in the no-man's land were important for the birds that use Cyprus as a stopover during spring and autumn migration, like buzzards, ospreys and harriers, as well as the Northern lapwing whose numbers in Europe have been in decline. Another important finding was that of the Cyprus spiny mouse, a rare endemic species not frequently found elsewhere on the island. The survey garnered international accolades and provided impetus to a budding ecological consciousness-raising on the island. It also underscored the need for cooperation for the sake of what all Cypriots sharetheir environment. Located in the island's remote northwest, Varisia has offered the scientists a deeper understanding of nature's dynamics in a formerly inhabited area. Abandoned in the wake of a 1974 Turkish invasion prompted by coup aimed at union with Greece, the village's empty crumbling homes stand as a silent witness to the conflict. But for Gucel, the area speaks volumes about how to "be more sensitive toward the environment and to have a common implementation plan and laws" to protect the entire island's ecosystem. The scientists' efforts to engage experts from both sides of the political divide on environmental protection is an ongoing project. Earlier this year, Gucel became the co-head of the Environmental Committee, a body to promote island-wide idea-sharing on environmental issues. A U.N peacekeeper remove the barbed wires around the abandoned village of Varisia, inside the U.N controlled buffer zone that divide the Greek, south, and the Turkish, north, Cypriot areas since the 1974 Turkish invasion, Cyprus, on Friday, March 26, 2021. Cyprus' endangered Mouflon sheep is one of many rare plant and animal species that have flourished a inside U.N. buffer zone that cuts across the ethnically cleaved Mediterranean island nation. Devoid of humans since a 1974 war that spawned the country's division, this no-man's land has become an unofficial wildlife reserve. (AP Photo/Petros Karadjias) Charalambidou serves on the board of the Cyprus Environmental Stakeholder Foruma group of scientists seeking "to tackle environmental issues in Cyprus as one united island." She said the forum is talking with the U.N. peacekeeping force in Cyprus to create a communications campaign. "In order to adequately protect and conserve the environment on such a small island, it is important to cooperate and manage the plant, animal and other species, as well as habitats and ecosystems, as a common resource," said Charalambidou. U.N. peacekeeping force spokesman Aleem Siddique said there's been a groundswell of interest in environmental issues, especially among young people who come together online to share ideas on how to tackle environmental challenges. "We see a lot of interest from people on both sides of the island to bridge the divide, work together, overcome the mistrust for the common good of building a more environmentally friendly Cyprus," Siddique said.. Wild flowers are seen through barbed-wires inside the U.N controlled buffer zone that divide the Greek, south, and the Turkish, north, Cypriot areas since the 1974 Turkish invasion, Cyprus, on Friday, March 26, 2021. Cyprus' endangered Mouflon sheep is one of many rare plant and animal species that have flourished a inside U.N. buffer zone that cuts across the ethnically cleaved Mediterranean island nation. Devoid of humans since a 1974 war that spawned the country's division, this no-man's land has become an unofficial wildlife reserve. (AP Photo/Petros Karadjias) A U.N vehicle drives at the abandoned village of Varisia iinside the U.N controlled buffer zone that divide the Greek, south, and the Turkish, north, Cypriot areas since the 1974 Turkish invasion, Cyprus, on Friday, March 26, 2021. Cyprus' endangered Mouflon sheep is one of many rare plant and animal species that have flourished a inside U.N. buffer zone that cuts across the ethnically cleaved Mediterranean island nation. Devoid of humans since a 1974 war that spawned the country's division, this no-man's land has become an unofficial wildlife reserve. (AP Photo/Petros Karadjias) If Greek Cypriot and Turkish Cypriot leaders overcome deep political differences and forge a peace accord reunifying the country, the buffer zone that makes up 3% of Cyprus' total land mass will revert back to human use as people reclaim their property. In that scenario, both Charalambidou and Gucel say any decisions about environmental protection within the buffer zone should be carefully thought out in full collaboration with local communities. For instance, safeguarding fragile areas inside the buffer zone could be part of an overall plan to develop ecotourism and agrotourism, producing and marketing high-grade food products from the area. "What is needed is vision and the passion to come up with sustainable solutions," said Charalambidou. Despite progress, there's still a long way to go in raising environmental awareness among all Cypriots, the scientists say. Illegal dumping and poaching are still a problem within the buffer zone, and a bicommunal committee on the environment that was part of peace accord confidence measures remains dormant. "While we should be proud that our island has a wealth of unique and important species ... instead we seem to be content to allow many species and populations disappear quietly into oblivion," said Charalambidou. Explore further Turkish Cypriots bar entry to non-residents over virus 2021 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission. HOUSTON, April 15, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Quanta Services, Inc. (NYSE: PWR) announced today that it will release first quarter 2021 financial results on Thursday, May 6, 2021, before the market opens. In conjunction with the press release, Quanta has scheduled a conference call for 9:00 a.m. Eastern time on Thursday, May 6, 2021, which also will be broadcast live over the Internet. Quanta will utilize a slide presentation to accompany its prepared remarks, which will be viewable through the webcast and available on the Investor Relations section of the Quanta website prior to the conference call (http://investors.quantaservices.com). What: Quanta Services First Quarter 2021 Earnings Conference Call When: Thursday, May 6, 2021 9:00 a.m. Eastern time How: Live via phone By dialing (201) 689-8345 or (877) 407-8291 and asking for the Quanta Services First Quarter 2021 Earnings Conference Call at least 10 minutes prior to the start time. Live over the Internet By logging on to the website through the Investor Relations section of Quanta's website (http://investors.quantaservices.com) For those who cannot participate live, an archive of the webcast will be available shortly after the call on the Investor Relations section of Quanta's website (http://investors.quantaservices.com) and dial-in information for a replay of the call will be available in the upcoming earnings release. For more information, please contact Kip Rupp at Quanta Services at (713) 341-7260. About Quanta Services Quanta is a leading specialized contracting services company, delivering comprehensive infrastructure solutions for the utility, communications, pipeline and energy industries. Quanta's comprehensive services include designing, installing, repairing and maintaining energy and communications infrastructure. With operations throughout the United States, Canada, Australia and select other international markets, Quanta has the manpower, resources and expertise to safely complete projects that are local, regional, national or international in scope. For more information, visit www.quantaservices.com. Contact: Kip Rupp, CFA Quanta Services, Inc. (713) 341-7260 SOURCE Quanta Services, Inc. Related Links http://www.quantaservices.com With the deadline for most bills to pass out of a committee now in the rear-view mirror, its a bit clearer which gun bills have a chance to make it to the governors desk for a signature this session. Heres a roundup: Didnt make the cut: Senate Bill 396 : This bill would have banned undetectable or untraceable firearms, sometimes referred to as ghost guns. The measure was scheduled for a public hearing in the Senate Judiciary Committee on March 25, but was pulled from the schedule prior to the meeting and is now considered dead. Still in play: Senate Bill 554 : This bill would allow local governments to ban holders of concealed weapons permits from bringing guns into public buildings . The bans could not apply to the parking lots. The Senate approved the bill 16-7 on March 25 after several hours of debate. The bill is now awaiting action in the House Rules Committee, which can schedule a vote right up until the end of the legislative session. Gun rights advocates criticized the six Republican Senators who showed up for the vote, even though they all voted against it. At least two GOP Senators said later they received threats from people who wanted them to walk out, and the head of the Senate Republican caucus is now the target of a recall effort because he showed up to take the vote. House Bill 2510 : This bill would require gun owners to secure their weapons when not in use, either by placing them in a locked container or by using a trigger lock. The measure would also require people whose guns are stolen to promptly report the theft to law enforcement. The bill was up for a vote on April 12, but House Democrats moved to postpone its consideration until April 19. The majority caucus remains firmly committed to its passage, said their spokesperson, Hannah Kurowski. House Bill 2543 : The measure would close what its supporters call the Charleston loophole. It would prevent the Oregon State Police from approving a gun transfer if the agency cannot definitely prove the purchaser of the gun is legally eligible to receive the firearm. On March 30, the House Judiciary Committee used a procedural move to keep the bill alive by sending it to the House Rules Committee, which is not subject to session deadlines. Also dead for the year: Senate Bill 585 and House Bill 3005 : Both of these measures would have repealed the states ban on local governments enacting their own gun regulations. Opponents said it would pave the way for cities and counties to create gun restrictions that were stricter than state law. Both bills never received a public hearing and are dead for this session. Senate Bill 503 : This bill would have allowed people with concealed weapons permits from other states to carry a concealed weapon in Oregon without applying for an Oregon permit. The measure has been introduced by Republican lawmakers in the past with no success, and that was its fate this year, too. Senate Bill 604 : This bill would have required a prospective gun owner to obtain a permit and complete a firearms safety course before purchasing a weapon, in addition to the existing criminal background check. It was assigned to the Senate Judiciary Committee and did not receive a hearing before the session deadline. Chris Lehman clehman@oregonian.com New Delhi: India is concerned about a vacuum developing in Afghanistan following the proposed withdrawal of United States and NATO forces from the country, the chief of the defence staff said on Thursday (April 15). General Bipin Rawat told a security conference that the worry was "disruptors" would step into the space created by the withdrawal of foreign troops from Afghanistan. He declined to name the countries that could act as disruptors, news agency Reuters reported. President Joe Biden has said that U.S. troops will be withdrawn from Afghanistan starting May 1 to end America`s longest war, rejecting calls for them to stay to ensure a peaceful resolution to that nation`s grinding internal conflict. The North Atlantic Treaty Organizations (NATO) withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan would mean bringing to an end the country's longest war, spanning across two decades. Since the US-led invasion that ousted the Taliban after the September 11, 2001 attacks, America has spent more than USD 1 trillion in fighting and rebuilding in Afghanistan. About 2,400 US soldiers have been killed, along with tens of thousands of Afghan troops, Taliban insurgents and Afghan civilians. Live TV Its provenance was unexpected, the underlying motives unclear, and its seriousness questioned. But a public squabble born of Slovenian indelicacy rippled through the Bosnian and EU capitals this week and raised uncomfortable questions about the durability of borders and institutions in the Balkans, particularly Bosnia-Herzegovina. Slovenian President Borut Pahor reportedly broached the possible "dissolution" of Bosnia-Herzegovina in conversation with Bosnia's tripartite presidency last month, and unconfirmed reports this week cited a phantom "non-paper" by Slovenian Prime Minister Janez Jansa echoing talk of possible border changes to address lingering malaise in the former Yugoslavia. Both leaders publicly dismissed suggestions that they were advocating or agitating for such an outcome. But the alarm was duly raised and, strategic or not, the flap has unsettled outsiders to whom tinkering with decades-old borders is anathema and who think reforms are the best way to lift ethnically fraught Bosnia out of political paralysis. "The idea of border changes is dangerous," Florian Bieber, director of the Center for Southeast European Studies at Austria's University of Graz, said. He cited particular peril in the Balkans, where Serbian and Kosovar leaders were rumored to have considered a possible land swap three years ago. But he also warned of an unintended spillover into places like Ukraine, where Russia annexed Crimea seven years ago and still supports armed separatists. "It was already highly risky [to] discuss a mutually agreed border change between Kosovo and Serbia and [is] even more risky in Bosnia because it would involve not only a nonconsensual process [but] affect people against their will and throw overboard the approach of the international community [that has been in place] since 1991, namely that no border changes along ethnic lines are acceptable," Bieber said. "This would have knock-on effects in Crimea and elsewhere and could trigger renewed conflict in Bosnia." Out In The Open? A local Slovenian news portal first reported on April 11 that Pahor had asked Bosnia's co-presidents at a March 5 meeting whether "separating peacefully" was an option for Bosnia, which is still governed as a Bosniak and Croat federation along with a Serb-majority entity called Republika Srpska. The complicated arrangement and labyrinthian levels of government were codified in the Dayton accords that ended the Bosnian War in 1995. Bosnian Croat* Zeljko Komsic said a day later that the question had been put to him and the other two members of Bosnia's presidency at a meeting in March. Pahor's office later confirmed that he had asked the Bosnian leaders about "ideas about the dissolution of Bosnia-Herzegovina and the redrawing of borders in the Western Balkans" during a visit to Sarajevo in early March "out of concern about these ideas." Reports suggested that Milorad Dodik, the Serb member of the presidency and leader of Republika Srpska who recently intensified his calls for secession from the rest of Bosnia, responded more warmly to the Slovenian idea than his Bosniak and Croat counterparts. Pahor subsequently stressed his "advocacy" for Bosnia's languishing EU membership bid and his respect for the country's territorial integrity. Then came whirlwind reports this week suggesting that Jansa personally delivered a "non-paper" earlier this year to European Council President Charles Michel in which possible border changes were mentioned. Jansa, a politically pugnacious ally of Hungarian nationalist Prime Minister Viktor Orban, has denied writing any such "non-paper." An EU official responded on behalf of Michel's office on April 12 by saying that "we cannot confirm that we have received" such a document. On April 15, a Ljubljana-based outlet, necenzurirano.si, published what it said was the "non-paper" in question. In it, under the heading "Western Balkans -- A Way Forward," the authors propose "solutions" that included "the unification of Kosovo and Albania" and "joining a larger part of the Republika Srpska territory with Serbia." They propose special status "following the model of South Tyrol" -- the mainly German-speaking province in northern Italy -- for "the Serbian part of Kosovo." They also suggest either "joining the predominantly Croatian cantons of Bosnia-Herzegovina with Croatia, or...granting special status to the Croatian part of Bosnia-Herzegovina." Bosniaks, they reason, "will thus gain an independently functioning state and assume responsibility for it." They go on to say that, after EU preparations for stabilization and other programs, "silent procedures" that are already "under way" include running the plans by "decision-makers in the region" and "decision-makers in the international community." Pressure For Change Bosnia-Herzegovina has faced near-constant problems of governance since its creation with the two ethnic-based entities and locally governed Brcko district leaving the country with a highly constrained, weak central government. Brussels and its high representative for foreign policy, Josep Borrell, have repeatedly stressed the bloc's desire to see a commitment to reforms from Bosnian officials that would "enable the country to progress towards the EU." But unresolved issues -- including the problem of Bosnia's ongoing political instability and stagnation when it comes to reforms -- dominated conversation around the 25th anniversary of the Dayton accords in December. Last month, Croatia's Foreign Ministry was quoted saying Zagreb was "the driver" of an initiative earlier this year to draft a "non-paper" to highlight Bosnia "as an important issue for the European Union which should be more visible on the geopolitical space in Southeast Europe." WATCH: Peace, But No Prosperity: Bosnia Marks 25 Years Since Dayton Accords EU institutions and member states occasionally share confidential but unofficial "non-papers" as suggested talking points or possible frameworks for discussion of particularly fraught topics. In the Croatian one, Foreign Minister Gordan Grlic-Radman advocated EU candidate status for Bosnia, including for its effect to improve the beleaguered country's "fragmented political landscape and atmosphere of mistrust" that exists among Bosnia's political representatives. Slovenia was among the other signatories, as were Bulgaria, Cyprus, Greece, and Hungary. Grlic-Radman said after a meeting of EU foreign ministers on March 22 that other European counterparts -- including from France and Germany -- had also expressed support for the document. It said Bosnia must reform its electoral legislation before next year's general election. U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken earlier this month appealed to Bosnia's tripartite presidency to work toward at least modest reforms, including "limited constitutional change...to reform the electoral system." He reportedly cited EU membership goals and "rulings of the European courts," a reference to a 2009 European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) decision demanding that Bosnia allow a minority outside the three main ethnicities -- Bosniak, Croat, and Serb -- to run for high office, an act that is currently banned. It was the first official communication to Bosnia from U.S. President Joe Biden's administration and, while delicately worded, sent an unmistakable signal to Sarajevo. "There's a whole bunch of things that are happening right now," Toby Vogel, a policy analyst focused on the Western Balkans and senior associate of the Democratization Policy Council (DPC), told RFE/RL prior to the leak of Jansa's purported "non-paper." "And I think it makes a lot of people nervous, not just Bosnians but others as well who fear that the incumbent ethnic elite [in Bosnia] might be seeking to sort of cement or solidify their stranglehold over politics, society, and the economy and preempt any challenge to their rule," he said. In that sense, Vogel added, the main ethnic parties that were essentially enshrined in the Bosnian Constitution that emerged from Dayton "absolutely have a congruence of interest." Then came the confusing barrage of diplomatic signals from Slovenia. 'Dangerous Game' In Ljubljana Slovenia is scheduled to join the rotating Trio Presidency of the EU Council in the second half of 2021, so the timing of Pahor and Jansa's statements packs a particular punch. Perhaps they are simply seeking political points by appearing to offer solutions to the lingering instability among fellow former Yugoslav republics to the southeast. Some analysts speculate that the Slovenian leaders could also be channeling dissatisfaction with Bosnia among "bigger actors" within the European Union. Mateusz Seroka, a research fellow at the Center for Eastern Studies (OSW) in Warsaw, told RFE/RL he thinks border adjustments are a nonstarter -- "such an option would cause as many problems as it could theoretically solve." But speaking before the "non-paper's" contents were leaked, he said "there are still groups which could embrace thinking about partitioning the Western Balkan region along ethnic lines," and doesn't necessarily fault Ljubljana for raising the topic. "Of course serious politicians should take into account that things could go in [the] wrong direction, so they should talk about various scenarios with their counterparts from the region," Seroka said. "But it does not necessarily mean that they are in favor of, for example, the partitioning of existing countries." Policy analyst Vogel said he doubts the reported talk of Balkan border changes by Slovenian officials is a thoughtful strategic push. "I think it's more of a trial balloon or a provocation maybe," he said. "But the question is, what's the secondary effect this is going to have? Independently of whether any of this will actually happen, I think the effect it has is to create an atmosphere in which people feel that everything is negotiable -- nothing is to be taken for granted. And that's a very dangerous game to play, I think, in the Balkans." We finally have some answers in the search for 19-year-old Kori Gauthier from opelousas but unfortunately... It wasn't the ending we were all hoping for. Unfortunately, we have been it has been confirmed that it was my nieces body found in the river near Reserve, Louisiana. Kori Gauthier's uncle, Spencer Gauthier... announcing in a live video on facebook... the body found yesterday in the Mississippi river in St. John the Baptist parish was identified as Kori Gauthier. The LSU freshman and Opelousas native has been missing since last week. authorities say her car was found early Wednesday morning after another driver crashed into it. Her phone and wallet were still inside. LSU Chief of police Bart Thompson released a statement saying in part... "based on cell phone tracking, video footage and a timeline of the events related to this case combined with other evidence we shared with Kori's parents that we are not at liberty to disclose publicly out of respect for their privacy we have concluded that there was no criminal activity or foul play involved." Her uncle says though the road to closure began in tragedy, the healing process starts now. Spencer Gauthier says "boy or girl man or woman if you're going through anything in life get comfortable having uncomfortable conversations life is worth living in all honesty life is worth living never give up" Spencer Gauthier says it's all about coming together, especially in times of trouble. Spencer Gauthier says "it takes a village to raise children these days as we were all taught that coming up ourselves everybody child should be treated like our owns regardless the race regardless the religious beliefs regardless of political affiliations" The Gauthier family has asked to extend their sincerest thanks to all law enforcement officials and volunteers who helped in the investigation and the search... they thank everyone for their support during this time, and ask to please respect their privacy in the days and weeks going forward. Credit: Pixabay/CC0 Public Domain Now that many of us have been fully vaccinated against COVID-19, we are now navigating a new gray areawhich of the many rules we've been following can we now safely ignore? Is it really safe to take off your mask and hug your fully vaccinated friend? Are you comfortable with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) guidelines that say it's OK for your kids (who have not been vaccinated) to visit, inside and unmasked, with their vaccinated grandparents? After a year of social distancing and shifting public health recommendations, achieving full vaccination can feel like a major milestoneor even a miracle. Many people are beginning to resume pre-pandemic activities they've missed dearly, some with an air of triumph, others with a substantial dose of anxiety. "This is a weird transition. As hard as our abrupt transition was a year ago, this is really hard, too," says Jaimie Meyer, MD, MS, a Yale Medicine infectious diseases specialist. "You are being asked to let your guard down. I feel it, too. I can't stop wearing 'gas gloves," even though I know contaminated surfaces aren't the primary way people become infected. We need to learn to get comfortable again with activities that we've been avoiding for a year." And just because the CDC says it's now safe to do certain things, that doesn't mean that you have to, points out Brita Roy, MD, MPH, MHS, a Yale Medicine internist and director of population health. The first thing I did when I was fully immunized... I jumped in my car and drove to Vermont to see my baby nephew and my sister, who I hadnt seen in a year. It was wonderful, says Dr. Meyer. Credit: Anthony DeCarlo "Nothing is 100-percent risk free, and you have to do what you feel comfortable with," Dr. Roy says. "These are individual decisions." So, how does one make these decisions? We talked more with Dr. Meyer for some guidance. As always with COVID-19, the answers may not be crystal clear, but there are some general principles to keep in mind that may help. What COVID-19 precautions have changed? In early March, the CDC issued guidelines on what activities fully vaccinated Americans could now do. One is considered fully vaccinated two weeks after either the second dose of a two-dose vaccine (Moderna or Pfizer-BioNTech) or a single-dose vaccine (Johnson & Johnson). It takes that long for immunity to fully kick in. While the fully vaccinated are still advised to take precautions in public places, including wearing a mask, staying 6 feet apart from others, and avoiding crowds and poorly ventilated areas, there were bright spots in the updates. For example, fully vaccinated people can gather with other fully vaccinated people indoors without wearing a mask. They can also gather indoors, without masks, with unvaccinated people from one other householdbut only if none of the unvaccinated people (or those they live with) have an increased risk for severe illness from COVID-19. The CDC provides a full list of conditions that put people at risk for severe illness, which includes cancer, chronic kidney disease, obesity, and chronic lung disease. According to the CDC, this means that fully vaccinated grandparents can visit with their adult, unvaccinated children and unvaccinated grandchildren indoors without masksagain provided the unvaccinated are healthy and not at risk for severe COVID-19 illness. How to assess risk Dr. Meyer welcomes the above guidance from the CDCespecially compared to what things were like a year ago. "Last year at this time, we were in a huge data vacuum. We were telling people that everything they did required a risk assessment for themselves and anyone they came in contact with, which became very confusing," Dr. Meyer says. "Now, we understand much more about how the virus is transmitted, and we have safe and effective vaccines at our disposal. This means people who have been vaccinated can take a deep sigh of relief." Plus, most public places now have many safety precautions in place, and as more people get vaccinated and case rates eventually go down, our worlds will become even safer, Dr. Meyer says. There is still a risk assessment, but it's easier, she adds. "If you are fully vaccinated, there is minimal risk of becoming severely ill with COVID-19," Dr. Meyer says. While the Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna vaccines are deemed to be 95% effective, for example, that leaves about 5% of people who may get the virus even though they were vaccinated. "But are you willing to take the risk of being mildly ill? And what is the risk to whomever you are with, in case you are infected without symptoms but still able to transmit COVID-19 to them?" asks Dr. Meyer. "That has become less of a concern with new data from the CDC, showing that both the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines are highly effective at preventing symptomatic and asymptomatic infection, but there is still a minimal risk to consider." Plus, every day we learn more about the virus variants, and those should be a part of your risk calculation, too, she adds. "Some, like the B.1.1.7 variant [which was first identified in the UK], are more contagious and potentially more lethal," she says. "To date, though, the available vaccines appear to be effective at preventing severe disease even in cases that involve that variant." Dr. Meyer did her own risk calculation when it came to seeing her 75-year-old mother. "We are both fully vaccinated and we are able to be together now, hugging and riding together in the car with no masks," she says. "I am a health care worker, and she sees my kids, but they have no risk factors for severe disease. We had been hedging a little about how to handle this, and then when the CDC came out with more explicit guidance, we decided it was OK to be together, inside, without masks. My mother doesn't leave the house, so it is unlikely that she could be an asymptomatic carrier and transmit it to my kids." When it comes to other friends and family who are not vaccinated and have risk factors, Dr. Meyer maintains the full, usual precautions of masked social distancing. Continue to be flexible after vaccination This past year, Dr. Meyer says, has shown us how flexible and adaptable we can be. Maintaining that flexibility may make the next steps easierand it doesn't have to be an all-or-nothing approach. "Unlike when we had to quickly adjust to the extreme of shutting down our lives, now we can slowly slide back into being normal," she says. However, a slow transition isn't what most of us are accustomed to, Dr. Meyer acknowledges. "We don't do well in this gray zone. We want a full-out, complete shut down or a full opening up," she says. "Instead, we are trying to figure this out, and guidance from public health authorities has been intentionally limited because it has to be supported by science. For example, the CDC can't weigh in yet on every possible scenario, as exact risks just aren't known yet." Enjoy those 'post-vaccination' embraces For Dr. Meyer, full vaccination brought many joys back to her life. "The first thing I did when I was fully immunizedmeaning it had been two weeks since my second vaccination doseI jumped in my car and drove to Vermont to see my baby nephew and my sister, who I hadn't seen in a year," she says. "It was wonderful." But she took a number of steps to prepare. Before her trip, Dr. Meyer checked travel restrictions in both Connecticut and Vermont. "I also checked with my employer about what would be required to return to work. I quarantined and tested prior to the trip, and I tested after the trip. And I made sure my test was negative before I returned to work," she says. "I traveled in my own car and stopped only for gas, which I pumped using my favorite gas glove and Purell! While there I stayed in their home, and I did not go out in public places." Her sister, brother-in-law, and nephew were not vaccinated, but none of them have health conditions that would put them at risk of severe disease. The parents both work from home and have been really isolated, she adds. To be able to do something like see her familyand hug her motheris very liberating, she adds. "There is a collective trauma from being apart for so long, so to be able to do these things now is great," she says. At work, however, Dr. Meyer still wears full personal protective equipment when she takes care of patients, including masks and eye protection. "We still wear masks in the break room, but there is peace of mind that comes with being vaccinated myself, as well as knowing that my coworkers are almost all vaccinated, and that many of our patients are vaccinated, too. That makes me much less worried about becoming ill or bringing the virus home to my family." For those who don't work in health care settings and do not have the option of working remotely, there may be a variable amount of protection in the workplace, Dr. Meyer acknowledges. "So, the best thing you can do is to protect yourself with vaccination. Continue to wear masks and practice social distancing as much as you can, especially if your coworkers are not yet vaccinated," she says. It's OK to want zero risk When it comes to making choices and assessing various risks, it's also perfectly fine to go the most cautious route, if you can, Dr. Meyer says. "If your level of comfort with risk really is zero, then you should continue doing exactly what you've hopefully been doingsticking to outdoor visits and masks and distancing," she says. "I'm really happy that we live in a place like Connecticut where anyone over the age of 16 is now eligible to be vaccinated, and most adults may be vaccinated by summer. That is the push right now for vaccinationgetting us to a new normal." For many of us, it can't come soon enough. Explore further Follow the latest news on the coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak Kinney Pike Insurance has been named Vermonts 2020 Diamond Achiever by Patriot Insurance Company. The annual award is presented to the highest performing agency based on set criteria including length of appointment, profitability, growth, and policy retention. Each year, the top Patriot Insurance Company agencies receive the Diamond Achiever award in recognition of their outstanding accomplishment. Patriot Insurance Company President and CEO, Lincoln Merrill Jr. explains, We are proud to present Kinney Pike Insurance with our Diamond Achiever award. Through their hard work and commitment to providing superior services, support and products, it is well deserved. This recognition exemplifies their commitment to providing quality, professional insurance products and services to our mutual clients. The results achieved by the team at Kinney Pike Insurance helped the agency become one of the most successful among Patriot Insurance Companys more than 115 independent agencies. We strive to work with carriers who, like us, uphold the highest of customer service standards. Patriot Insurance Company has long been one of our key partners, and together, we provide excellent insurance products and superior service. Being recognized for our commitment to our clients is especially rewarding. Says Justin Barwood, one of the Kinney Pike Insurance principals. Kinney Pike Insurance has been working with Patriot Insurance Company since 2005 and is honored to receive Patriot Insurances Diamond Achiever award. ### About Patriot Insurance Patriot Insurance has been providing peace of mind for families and businesses in New England for over 50 years. Headquartered in Yarmouth, Maine, we are a regional carrier offering business, home, auto, life, and surety products backed by local, autonomous claims, loss control, and underwriting teams. We work exclusively with independent agents who can give our customers the personal guidance and service they deserve. Since 2007, we have partnered with Frankenmuth Insurance, a longstanding company founded in Michigan in 1868. Patriot Insurance is financially sound, with an A.M. Best rating of A (Excellent). About Kinney Pike Insurance Kinney Pike Insurance, founded in 1904, is one of the largest independent insurance agencies in Northern New England with six locations: Rutland, White River Junction, Williston, Randolph, St. Johnsbury, and Swanton. Kinney Pike is a full-service agency specializing in commercial insurance, personal insurance, and employee benefits. Kinney Pike holds the distinction of being Vermonts only Assurex Global Partner, a prestigious international consortium of top brokers worldwide. April 14, 2021 Compensation law for employees are laws that control workers in all organizations. In any company, laws are essential as they protect the rights of employees. In the event that any injury or disease happens to them when in their line of service, the workers are paid. For employers, the employee benefits statute has strong positive consequences. The failure of an organization to comply with workers' compensation laws causes great problems, especially for people who neglect workers' working conditions. If the employer does not pay them in the event that anything debilitating happens to them during their line of service, the employee may sue the employer. This is a very important problem that must be adhered to very well by all organizations. They include paying the bills and compensating the employee if a poor physical condition in the line of duty has impacted them adversely. All over the world, people want to work. Among us, there is a desire to work hard and succeed in a career. However, it opens up the potential for a workplace accident while putting in long hours on the job. Workplace accidents range from repetitive trauma injuries such as carpal tunnel, heavy lifting back injuries, slip and fall, a co-fault worker's or equipment error. It is important to understand why it happened, regardless of how the injury happened, and make adjustments to ensure that a similar occurrence does not happen again. After an accident at work happens, it's still necessary to consider your rights. Worker compensation laws vary by state, but many of them provide the injured worker with rights that they may not be aware of. Job comp laws in Illinois include: 1- The employer will pay for all medical treatment related to occupational injuries. 2. Wages are paid by the employer while the injured person is recovering. 3. Health services by two physicians of the injured person's choosing. 4- They may be referred to specialists by doctors treating the injured person. When one of the original two physicians accepts a referral, it does not count as a separate appointment. This is called a referral chain. After a workplace accident, it is extremely critical that steps are taken to ensure that equipment is repaired or that safety standards are maintained. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) have implemented safety requirements for the workplace. These standards are to be enforced at all times in the workplace. There are times where the employer and their insurance agent might challenge or delay a claim made by an injured employee. For an injured person who is expected to pay medical expenses before their application is considered, such delays may be a burden. This is why getting a job compensation lawyer working for you is most effective. They will work on your behalf directly with the insurance provider to help you get the advantages you deserve much quicker. The workers compensation laws in your state are in place to protect you. If anyone is concerned about job loss due to a workers' compensation lawsuit, then they certainly need a trained work injury lawyer on their side. The laws and how they apply to your event can also be translated by a staff benefits lawyer. The bottom line is to ensure that your civil rights are protected and to enlist the skills of a trained compensation lawyer for workers. The trial of a man accused of killing two Black men along city streets and shooting into the home of a Black family that lived down his street opened Thursday in a Baton Rouge courtroom, with prosecutors saying Kenneth Gleason inflicted a "four-day streak of terror" on the region in 2017. In her opening statement, Assistant District Attorney Dana Cummings recounted how, just after midnight on Sept. 11, 2017, gunfire rang through a home in Hickory Ridge, a subdivision off Coursey Boulevard. Days later, a homeless man was gunned down at a Florida Street bus stop, and not long after, long-time Louie's restaurant employee Donald Smart was fatally shot while walking to work. While the trial centers on Smart's death, prosecutors will be allowed to show evidence linking Gleason to the other shootings, including the death of Bruce Cofield, 59, at a bus stop on Florida Street near South Acadian Thruway. Gleason, 27, is accused of starting the violence by shooting into a home on Sandy Ridge Drive, in Hickory Ridge. Two teenagers were inside the home while their mother worked an overnight nurse shift. Neither were injured. It was the beginning of a four-day streak of terror in Baton Rouge, Cummings told jurors. +3 Swastika can't come up at alleged Baton Rouge serial killer's trial; Hitler references can A sketch of a swastika found in a suspected Baton Rouge serial killer's holding cell won't be used at the upcoming trial of the White man accu Gleason, who is White, faces a first-degree murder charge in the death of Smart, 49, who was shot dead on a street north of the LSU campus. Prosecutors have won court permission to present evidence that Gleason has made references to Adolf Hitler and cleansing, but they cannot tell jurors that a drawing of a swastika was found in Gleason's cell after his arrest. Prosecutors said theyll rely heavily on digital records that show incriminating activity on Gleasons phone, including evidence he was in the area at the time of Smarts death and had been searching for information about the case before his arrest. Defense lawyers argued the prosecutors evidence is circumstantial and said media attention to the shooting pressured police to make a quick arrest. Make them prove it to you, said defense lawyer Ashly Van Earl. They cant be like an amateur magician pulling a rabbit out of a hat." +4 Alleged Baton Rouge serial killer Kenneth Gleason ruled sane during shootings; trial date set Kenneth Gleason, a suspected Baton Rouge serial killer accused of fatally shooting two men nearly three years ago, has been scheduled for a tr No gun was ever recovered from Gleason, though prosecutors say they plan to show he had purchased a gun just a year before the shootings and had taken it to a conceal-and-carry class. The first-degree murder charge carries a mandatory life sentence if hes convicted by a unanimous jury; prosecutors opted against seeking the death penalty after speaking to Smart's family. Gleason has pleaded not guilty and has awaited trial in the parish jail for more than three years after being denied bond. Gleason was also indicted on two counts of attempted second-degree murder in which hes accused of firing several shots into the home of the only Black family on Sandy Ridge Drive, just a few doors down from where Gleason had been living with his parents. One of the bullets traveled through a couch, under a chair, out a back window and through a wall before striking a shed. 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 Thursday's testimony focused on the non-fatal shooting near Gleason's family home. One neighbor who had called 911 after hearing gunfire testified he saw Gleason outside shortly after he called police but at the time didn't think anything of it. Lawyers have yet to call witnesses related to the two fatal shootings. The trial is expected to last until at least next week, and attorneys spent a full three days selecting jurors. +4 In 2017 slaying of Black men, alleged Baton Rouge serial killer's trial set to start Monday Just after midnight on Sept. 11, 2017, three shots ripped through the front door of a Black family's Sandy Ridge Drive home. The next night a That process, too, had been contentious as prosecutors argued Gleasons legal team had been improperly disqualifying Black jurors. Defense lawyers argued that it disqualified potential jurors for comments they made that would indicate bias or other reasons. Only one out of 12 members of the jury they ultimately selected are Black, despite the pool of candidates being about 40% non-White. East Baton Rouge Parish District Attorney Hillar Moore III said last week that his office is confident that after a full presentation of the evidence "justice will prevail." Authorities have said the three shootings were apparently random and possibly racially motivated. None of the crime scenes was close to another. A Baton Rouge police detective testified in a 2019 pre-trial hearing that a witness told police a White man got out of his car and shot Cofield, who then rolled into the street. The shooter then stood over Cofield and fired several more shots. The detective said nearly a dozen bullets were recovered from the victims body, and 13 shell casings were recovered from the scene. At the time of Smarts shooting, two LSU students were in nearby park at the time and told police a man drove up in a red car and shot Smart. The shooter then got out of his car, walked over to the victim and continued shooting. Authorities have said DNA evidence linked Gleason to Cofield's killing and to the nonfatal shooting, as did ballistics evidence. Gleason is not charged with a hate crime, but prosecutors said last week that his cellphone records will be used in his trial and contained "repeated references" to Adolf Hitler and cleansing. The Associated Press reported in September 2017 that law enforcement also found a copy of a Hitler speech during a search of Gleason's home. A sketch of a swastika was found in Gleason's holding cell in 2017, but prosecutors said the drawing won't be shown to the jury because it had been misfiled and wasn't disclosed to defense lawyers in a timely manner. Earl said Gleason studied German when he attended LSU for a year in 2012. He also pointed to Gleasons upbringing, saying he graduated with honors from Baton Rouge Magnet High School, a selective program often referred to as the city's flagship public school and became an Eagle Scout in 2012, completing a construction project at St. John's United Methodist Church to earn the rank. Next Story : Moheys Wedding Collection Sets The Tone For The Bridal Season 2021 is turning out to be the year of blossoming hope, with Dia Mirza announcing herself as a mommy-to-be, the latest entrant to the numbers. The actor exudes an understated elegance in all kinds of styles, displaying a sartorial versatility that often sees her playing muse to homegrown as well as international labels with equal elan. Time and again, she is seen making awe-worthy style statements in comfy maternity outfits that are perfect for the sultry summer season. Her recent fashion choices are inspiring moms-to-be everywhere to upgrade their wardrobes.Dia Mirza announced her pregnancy during her dreamlike honeymoon in the Maldives, where the stunning actor has been serving up major maternity fashion goals. She seems to have absolutely mastered the art of dressing her new body shape with the bare minimum add-ons. The actors love for easy-breezy outfits is evident in her summer wardrobe, which is full of everything chic, from vibrant printed kaftans to stylish ethnic wear. We cant wait to see whats next in store from one of our favourite style muses.If the mommy-to-be and all-round divas intention is to make everyone stop and stare at maternity fashion, its definitely working. Quite honestly, the actors flowy numbers are not just for moms-to-be, wed wear them too.Weve decoded the top seven looks from the actors chic summer wardrobe to help you get on board with her latest maternity fashion looks. Go ahead and get inspired!Image: @diamirzaofficial 2021 is sure to be an eventful year for mom-to-be, Dia Mirza, who broke the news about her pregnancy with a sun-kissed snapshot in which shes cradling her baby bump by the sea, dressed in a red floral kaftan. If this dreamy outfit does not define a sultry summer, what does?Image: @diamirzaofficial Dias stunning maternity wardrobe on vacation has been raising temperatures on the gram and how! The actress was seen wearing a turquoise blue bikini paired with a roomy printed throw-over. Take cues from the actor to make a holiday statement in style.Image: @diamirzaofficial Perfect for a beachy getaway, Dia teams a maxi dress with a cool straw hat. The actor sure looks like a vision in white; were taking notes to add the look to our summer vacation wardrobe.Image: @diamirzaofficial Dia never fails to grab our attention with her ethnic looks. She was seen in a gorgeous lavender-hued floral printed sari by Tarun Tahiliani. The actors elegant number has just the right amount of flower-power you need this summer.Image: @theiatekchandaney Upping her maternity fashion game with the brightest of shades, Dia looks like an absolute colour blockers dream in a vibrant blue and green oversized kurta set by Payal Khandwala. Bookmark this look as a great addition to your ethnic wardrobe.Image: @theiatekchandaney Dias flowing maxi dress by Sunira Designs gives bohemian chic a fresh spin. If youre going on holiday soon, this look is a good one to incorporate into your maternity vacation wardrobe.Image: @theiatekchandaney This breezy black kurta set by Payal Khandwala, which comes with a relaxed silhouette and gold brocade work is another traditional touch to Dias wardrobe. Moms-to-be, whether youre hosting an intimate evening party or attending a religious event (all with social distancing in place, of course), a fuss-free brocade kurta like Dia Mirzas would make the perfect fit.Also Read: 8 Fun Ways To Indulge In Print Play The retail visionary WG Galen Weston, who has died aged of 80, was the inheritor of the struggling Canadian supermarket group, which in a lifetime of work he turned into an 8billion personal fortune. His commercial interests spanned the Atlantic. An unassuming billionaire, he liked nothing better than to wander the elegant halls of his landmark Canadian store, Holt Renfrew, chatting to customers about their experience and engaging with staff on the progress of new products and lines of fashion. It was under his tutelage and that of his daughter, Alannah, that the family bought control of a fading and dowdy Selfridges store on Londons Oxford Street in 2003. Power couple: Galen Weston was married to wife Hilary - a former Irish fashion model - for 55 years With an enormous investment, modernisation and a keen interest in high fashion and style they re-created the Selfridges of old, arguably turning it into Britains most alluring department store in an age when the format was in decline. The food hall and restaurants, famously serving sandwiches with lashings of salt beef, have become a go-to destination for tourists from the US, Japan and China. Galen Weston was a scion of an empire built by his grandfather George Weston on the Canadian prairies, supplying the wheat for a bread and bakery business in Toronto. By the time Galen took the reins from his father Willard Garfield in the 1970s, the bakery firm had expanded exponentially, acquiring what is now Canadas biggest supermarket group, Loblaw. It would be easy to regard Galen as just the caretaker of the family name. But his colleagues credit him with being one of the greatest wealth creators in Canadas history. Shopping landmark: Selfridges on Londons Oxford Street has been restored to its former glory He was born in Buckinghamshire on October 29, 1940, the youngest of nine children in an already prominent family. His early years in commerce were spent acquiring supermarkets in the UK before returning to Canada to rescue Loblaw. Over a long career retirement did not come until the age of 75 he developed a retail colossus which today employs more than 200,000 people , and includes the Canadian chains Shoppers Drug Mart and No Frills. Among the most renowned of Loblaws products is the Decadent chocolate chip cookie brand. I think when people think of the Westons, they think of the history and the family. But he was a real retailer, said Gordon Nixon, the former head of the Royal Bank of Canada who served on the Loblaw board. Legend: Galen Weston in his prime The acquisition of Selfridges, and, later, the upmarket Brown Thomas and Arnotts stores in Ireland, appealed to his taste for the preservation of great shopping landmarks. In the 1980s, Galen was the subject of a failed kidnapping attempt by the Irish Republican Army. Despite his Canadian roots, he was a deeply loyal to the UK, the country of his birth, and forged a close friendship with Prince Charles. In 1975 he acquired the lease of one of Britains most famous houses, Fort Belvedere, in Surrey, owned by the Crown Estate. Built in 1750-1755 for William Augustus, a son of George II, its main claim to fame came as the residence of the late Edward, Prince of Wales, the Duke of Windsor, where he entertained his future wife, Wallis Simpson. Under Galen Weston it has been restored and renovated at his own cost. The house proved a great venue for sumptuous champagne gatherings, marking his philanthropy through the Weston Family Foundation in Canada and the Selfridges Group Foundation in Britain. It has been a long tradition in all branches of the Weston family for dividends on their considerable shareholdings to be directly paid to charity. A separately, British branch of the Weston family currently controls Associated British Foods, led by chief executive George Weston. It is the owner of the no-frills fashion concern Primark, as well as luxury store Fortnum & Mason. Galen Weston died peacefully after a long illness. He is survived by Hilary, his wife of 55 years, a former Irish fashion model who served as Ontarios lieutenant-governor, his daughter Alannah (Cochrane) and his son Galen G Weston. Windsor Mayor Dominic Foppoli told his Town Council colleagues that he would ignore their demands that he resign and then listened calmly as dozens of speakers strongly urged him to quit, some even cursing him, during an extraordinary emergency meeting held by the town Wednesday evening. Foppoli, who was accused of sexual assault by several women in a recent Chronicle investigation, was positioned in a center square on the screen during the public Zoom meeting, surrounded by the same Town Council colleagues and employees who called the meeting to demand his resignation. As mayor, Foppoli ran the first half of the meeting even though it was about his own alleged misbehavior, ushering speaker after speaker through the public comment segment, reminding people to unmute, only to have them unload on him after they did. They sobbed, hurled profanities at him, and called him a gross joke, a sociopath, a narcissist and a rapist. Several people accused Foppoli of additional sexual misconduct. Acknowledging the discomfort his presiding over the meeting was causing some attendees, Foppoli left after a break at the three-hour mark. Before he departed, remaining council members voted 2-1 to pass a mostly symbolic motion demanding his resignation, with Foppoli the dissenting vote. Foppoli left the meeting not having heard a single speaker, out of dozens, support him, including one who accused him of assaulting her. I have experienced and seen some of this behavior firsthand and I have to say that I am so sorry, said a speaker who identified herself as Carson Davis and said she had lived in Windsor for 10 years. I have had my butt grabbed by him and I have seen some of the things that people are referring to. And we just should have taken this more seriously. Im just so sorry to these women that it didnt come out sooner. Foppoli called on the next speaker, noting the meeting was not interactive. The virtual meeting a confluence of the #MeToo movement, the pandemic and the staid machinations of municipal governance is the latest development in response to a Chronicle investigation that detailed four womens allegations of sexual assault against Foppoli. The alleged incidents range from groping to rape and span from 2003 to 2019, tracking closely with Foppolis rise to power in Sonoma County. On Saturday, a fifth woman told The Chronicle that Foppoli sexually assaulted her dozens of times throughout a three-year relationship that began in 2001 when they were both 19. Without specifically addressing the allegations, Foppoli has vigorously denied any misconduct and has refused to resign his position. First appointed mayor in 2018 by his Town Council colleagues, Foppoli won Windsors first election for the mayoral seat in November 2020. Because he was chosen by voters, Foppoli can be stripped of his title only through a felony conviction or a recall election. At the outset of the Zoom meeting, Foppoli reiterated his refusal to step down. The meeting would ultimately last six hours and draw more than 1,800 viewers. I know deep in my heart that I have done nothing criminally wrong and eventually will be cleared, the mayor said. I am not without fault but I am not a criminal. Councilmember Esther Lemus, who has publicly accused Foppoli of sexual assault, recused herself from the meeting. This is very personal and traumatic for me thus I will not be in attendance this evening, Lemus said in a statement, which was read by Town Manager Ken MacNab. All three of Foppolis Town Council colleagues have told him to resign. Councilmember Debora Fudge his chief ally on the council until last week was tearful but blunt as she begged him to heed their calls on Wednesday. If you love Windsor as much as you say you always have, then you need to resign tonight, she said. I feel like all of us were manipulated and betrayed, and I mean all of us, in different ways, depending on what our relationships were, Fudge said. The women who were physically and mentally hurt will be like that for the rest of their lives, and for that we grieve. MacNab said that town employees had expressed discomfort with being in Foppolis presence, virtual or otherwise, and that Foppoli had agreed not to come into Town Hall before first receiving MacNabs permission. Calling the allegations shocking and appalling, MacNab said the town had no knowledge of an employee being harassed or assaulted by Foppoli but that Windsor officials are providing counseling services to these town workers. The Chronicle investigation also documented a 2017 email, sent to Fudge, in which a woman alleged sexual misconduct by Foppoli in 2013. The complainant whose name was redacted by town officials said Foppoli tried to remove the bathing suit of a woman who had rented the guesthouse at Christopher Creek Winery, among other allegations. Town councilmembers and employees defended their handling of the email, saying they did not contact law enforcement in accordance with the complainants wishes. Some speakers at the Zoom meeting said they were dissatisfied with this response, calling on Foppolis colleagues to resign, too. Windsor officials first scheduled the Zoom meeting on Saturday when it became clear that, despite widespread condemnation, Foppoli would refuse to step down. Be assured that I will not succumb to any pressure to resign my office as I have done nothing to warrant your attacks, he said in a statement released that evening. In addition to his elected Town Council colleagues, more than a dozen elected officials have told Foppoli to resign, from the eight other mayors of Sonoma County cities, to both U.S. congressmen who represent the North Bay, Rep. Jared Huffman of San Rafael and Rep. Mike Thompson of St. Helena. In his Saturday statement, Foppoli denied any misconduct, criticized The Chronicle investigation and lashed out at his critics: To my fellow elected officials who have called for my resignation, your cowardly rush to judgment without evidence is a particularly alarming reflection of the state of our dwindling Democracy; indicative of your lack of commitment to critical thinking and logic; as well as an absolute collective failure to fully evaluate a challenging situation before making judgments and condemning a fellow colleague and citizen. In the statement and the days that followed, Foppoli and Lemus who is also Sonoma Countys deputy district attorney traded allegations about each other, which were reported by other media. The Chronicle continues to investigate those statements. Unswayed by Foppolis response and in some instances, spurred by it dozens of speakers told Foppoli that he was no longer fit to lead Windsor at the Wednesday Zoom meeting. When you put out a statement like the one you did to defend yourself against these horrible things, you make every survivor in this country relive the horrible things that have happened to us, said one speaker, who identified herself on Zoom only as H. I have a little sister who works for the county, who works for the city (town) of Windsor, and I have to relive the fear every single day, not knowing if shes going to be safe at the hands of any of you. Tyler Wilcox, the fiance of Allison Britton, one of the women who accused Foppoli of assault in The Chronicles investigation, spoke at the meeting Wednesday. It is a joke that a known rapist is running a meeting on his own rape accusations, Wilcox said. What kind of man calls his own rape victims a liar? Foppolis decision to leave the Zoom after the 9:10 p.m. break prompted Fudge to call for a vote on an earlier motion to demand his resignation. After a brief argument, Fudge and Vice Mayor Sam Salmon voted yes and Foppoli voted no. The motion, which is mostly symbolic, passed. The meeting continued with more public comment that lasted until nearly midnight; although, because the Town Council lost its quorum with Foppoli, the official meeting adjourned. I want you know how upset, pissed and disgusted I am that Mayor Foppoli would duck out of this meeting, Fudge said. And you all had a right to be heard, and now he wont hear you. My blood pressure went through the roof. I am so sorry, I didnt expect that. I think he is a coward and we are all outraged and you deserve to be heard. Later, as the meeting was wrapping up, Fudge would add, I hate Dominic Foppoli. Im done. Salmon said that Windsor officials had asked Foppoli to relinquish his right as mayor to preside over the meeting before it began, but that he had declined to do so. Lemuss lawyer, Traci Carrillo, told The Chronicle Wednesday night that Lemus would have attended the meeting if Foppoli had agreed not to go. Speakers blasted Foppoli after his abrupt departure. It was just a coward move to control the situation, said Dan Levy, a Sonoma County resident. As a survivor of sex violence and connected to many people who have suffered sex violence, my blood is a mix of boiling and Im also just so tired. A Santa Rosa resident named Rachel, who did not share her surname over Zoom, suggested that the Windsor councilmembers walk out if Foppoli showed up to future council meetings. Its going to stop Windsor, but I really have to point out to you that you are at 11:21 p.m., she said. This has stopped Windsor. Its stopped Sonoma County. Everyone is holding their breath. A woman who had previously told The Chronicle that Foppoli raped her twice in 2004, when she was 18, was one of the final speakers of the night. Using the alias "Joan," the woman who told reporters that she dated Foppoli while volunteering for his first campaign for public office said she was buoyed by the support of her fellow speakers. "I definitely feel like my trust in Windsor and this community has been restored," said the woman, who added that she wanted to see Foppoli be criminally prosecuted. The Sonoma County Sheriffs Office is investigating allegations of sexual assault made against Foppoli. Windsor residents said earlier this week that they were moving forward with an effort to recall Foppoli from office. Tim Zahner, chair of the Recall Foppoli Campaign, said on Sunday that the group was prompted by Foppolis attempt to distract from the allegations against him with a strategy of blatant lies and misdirection. This is part of a larger pattern of narcissistic and dangerous behavior from the mayor that not only harms his reputation, but also creates unnecessary strain on our community, Zahner said. Mayor Foppoli has to go. If he wont resign, let there be no doubt that the residents of Windsor will remove him from office. Hours later, Joe Foppoli the mayors older brother and fellow co-owner of Christopher Creek Winery said he, too, wanted Dominic Foppoli to resign. Joe Foppoli said he had asked his brother to step down as the chief executive officer of the winery, and that Dominic Foppoli reluctantly agreed. On Tuesday, the Sonoma County Board of Supervisors rescinded its approval of Dominic Foppolis appointment to the Golden Gate Bridge, Highway and Transportation District in a unanimous vote. Earlier this month, he had been appointed to the Board of Trustees of the district, to represent Sonoma Countys half-million residents in the operation of the bridge and the districts bus and ferry services. Last week, the League of California Cities also voted unanimously to remove Foppoli from a leadership post he held within the organization. Both the Russian River Valley Winegrowers and the Sonoma County Vintners announced they were cutting ties with Christopher Creek Winery. Alexandria Bordas and Cynthia Dizikes are San Francisco Chronicle staff writers. Email: alexandria.bordas@sfchronicle.com, cdizikes@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @crossingbordas, @cdizikes Tripoli, Libya (PANA) - Libyan Health Minister Ali al-Zanati has given instructions for the commencement of distribution of vaccines to the various vaccination centres ahead of the launch of the national vaccination campaign against the emerging coronavirus Union Minister said that with the global supply chain undergoing significant restructuring, and countries looking to diversify their supply out of China, Indian have a great opportunity of being integrated into these global supply chains. He said digitally empowering (micro, small and medium enterprises) will propel the country faster towards the vision of Digital India and catapult Make in India to go global and create digitally enabled robust business that power livelihoods in the entire community. They are the backbone of our country, and the MSME sector has created more than 11 crore jobs contributes to 1/3 of the countrys GDP (gross domestic product) and around half of its exports, said Gadkari at e-commerce giant Amazons flagship event Amazon Smbhav 2021. With time it has become increasingly clear that the technology will be a very critical factor in defining the success and competitiveness of Indian both domestically as well as globally in the days to come. Such a transformation will have a multiplier effect by increasing consumption, spurring manufacturing, growth, and export and ultimately promoting inclusive economic growth - the True Vision of Aatmanirbhar Bharat. Gadkari said Covid-19 posed some very serious challenges to the MSME sector. But Im proud to say that our MSMEs were able to adapt to the changing circumstances and eventually help India get back on its growth trajectory, said Gadkari. We took some steps in coming up with relief packages to help review the MSME sector. Early on itself, we announced a financial package of one lakh crore for reviving MSMEs that were affected by the lockdown. The economy will play a definite role in helping Indias MSME succeed. Gadkari said there is a need to ensure that the digital transformation of MSME is taking place at a pace that enables them to capitalize on this current opportunity. In parallel, there needs to be a greater focus on capacity building for MSMEs. This includes helping these MSMEs with the right inputs on design, manufacturing, maintaining product quality and scaling their business. Gadkari said e-commerce players such as Amazon should continue to focus on such capacity-building activities. The adoption of technology coupled with the right inputs and maintaining quality will define the long term success of this sector. I was very pleased to hear that today. 2.5 million MSMEs work with Amazon India, including sellers, artisans, weavers, delivery and logistics services. Amazon has also enabled $3.3 billion in cumulative exports, said Gadkari. I have been made to understand that it took Amazon Global Selling exports program three years to get the first billion in export. The second billion came in 18 months, and the third billion has taken just 12 months. This is a great example of the dynamism of our MSMEs and a proof of how we have the potential to succeed across global markets and realize the true potential of an Aatmanirbhar Bharat. E-commerce has enabled small and marginal sellers by expanding their outreach, not only nationally, but also globally. Gadkari urged Amazon and all other stakeholders, industry leaders and experts present at the Smbhav event to keep investing to enhance the potential of Indias MSMEs and make them more successful and profitable. Technology will be a key driver to that growth, and therefore digitalising millions of Indians MSMEs should be the top priority. Gadkari said that he is pleased that Amazon has been partnered with the TRIFED (Tribal Cooperative Marketing Development Federation of India) and NEHHDC (North Eastern Handicrafts and Handloom Development Corporation) to focus on empowering 50,000 weavers, artisan and small business in the region by 2025. Amazon is bringing 5000 plus unique crops, geographical indication products and other local products on the Indian marketplace and boosting exports of special commodities from the Northeast like tea, honey and spices to millions of customers globally. Amazon India will be also using technology, training and enablement capability to power local shops across India to sell online and will bring 1 million local shopkeepers and kirana store owners to sell on Amazon by 2025. All of these are very important commitments. And Im glad to see Amazon directional thinking to empower Indias MSME sector, said Gadkari. This will give an impetus to our MSMEs and to our economy in the long term. (Natural News) Multiple cases of deadly blood clots have prompted health officials in the United States to temporarily halt all further administration of Johnson & Johnsons (J&J) Wuhan coronavirus (Covid-19) injection. The so-called experts are reportedly working to update physicians all across the country about new vaccine fact sheets that warn about the deadly blood clots, which can be triggered by interference from other pharmaceutical medications. When asked about the AstraZeneca injection, which is doing the same thing in Europe, health officials brushed aside the question and went on to insist that the J&J injection is safe and effective. Only in rare cases, they claim, will a person who receives a J&J shot for the China Virus develop a deadly blood clot. Dr. Peter Marks from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), however, admitted that the blood clotting issue between the J&J and AstraZeneca vaccines is related because both jabs operate on an adenovirus platform. The real thing that is so notable here is not just the cerebral blood clots, Dr. Marks explained. Its their occurrence together that makes a pattern, and that pattern is very, very similar to what was seen with another vaccine. Neither the FDA nor the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) have issued any guidance thus far about the issue and how medical professionals should proceed. A CNN reporter claims to have been told that the issue was being looked into, but nothing has come of it yet. Vaccine-related adverse effects feared to once again overload hospitals Dr. Marks worries that a whole lot more people are going to be seeing doctors like himself if the list of potential side effects from the jabs is expanded to include things like headaches and abdominal pain. If jab recipients are told to seek emergency care in the event that they develop serious adverse effects, hospitals and emergency rooms could very quickly become overloaded, possibly leading to more lockdowns. A wave of patients being told to seek emergency care as a precaution could push ER occupancy rates higher again, Zero Hedge warned. Suddenly, the numbers will be telling us that we are back in the worst of the COVID pandemic. Meanwhile, the Biden regime is doing everything it can to downplay the news, claiming that because most people who receive the J&J jab supposedly do just fine, we should all just forget about the minority that is seriously injured or killed. This announcement will not have a significant impact on our vaccination plan, stated Jeffrey Zients, Beijing Bidens White House Coronavirus Response Coordinator. China Joe is still on track to plunge 200 million injections into Americans arms by his 100th day in office, a plan that apparently will not be disrupted by a few pesky blood clots or deaths. Patients who were scheduled to receive the J&J injection are quickly being rescheduled to receive either the Pfizer-BioNTech or Moderna injection instead. Moderna, meanwhile, put out a statement claiming that a comprehensive assessment of safety data shows no connection between its jab and any negative health outcomes so line right up and get stabbed, America. Nobody in their right mind would take a vaccine that has a higher chance of killing them than the virus does, wrote one Zero Hedge commenter. Yes, these injections are fatal, wrote another. But there is a time delay, random, and the method of death varies. Very clever. Very deadly. Streets are going to be very empty. The WEF (World Economic Forum) will be pleased. To learn more about the dangers and ineffectiveness of Wuhan coronavirus (Covid-19) shots, be sure to check out ChemicalViolence.com. Sources for this article include: ZeroHedge.com NaturalNews.com A Kildare flour mill is one of the national winners of 2021 Irish Food Writers Guild (IFWG) Food Awards. Ballymore Organics has been honoured by the Irish Food Writers Guild for sustainability practices. In a year in which there has been a newfound appreciation for the simple pleasures in life, it is perhaps no coincidence that the winners of the 2021 Irish Food Writers Guild (IFWG) Food Awards reflect the basic foundations of Irish food, said IFWG Chair, Kristin Jensen, who announced this years winners. The 2021 Environmental Award went to Kildare business Ballymore Organics for producing organic porridge oats, stoneground flour and semolina, which witnessed a recent resurgence in popularity with people returning to or trying out home baking for the first time during lockdown. Set up by James Kelly, it was the first mill to open in Kildare since Odlums 200-year-old Leinster Mills closed in 1989. After growing his first organic crop of smashing wheat in 2015, James convinced Andrew Workman of Dunany Flour to mill 20kg of the grain. Positive responses to the flour meant that James decided to build a mill on the farm and he started producing his own stoneground wholemeal flour in 2017. The single-varietal, single-origin flour is expensive to grow and mill, but Jamess sales pitch was simple: he got in contact with hotels and restaurants telling the chefs about the way that he farmed and got them to try the flour. The hook was the flavour. Soon his flour was being namechecked on menus at Aimsir, Ashford Castle, Dromoland Castle and Adare Manor and James was dealing regularly with Michelin-starred chefs. With wholemeal flour selling well, James expanded his range of products to plain flour and semolina at the beginning of 2020. He also started milling the oats that he grows, becoming Irelands only grower and miller of both wheat flour and porridge oats. As well as selling direct to chefs, he invested in a small webshop, selling small amounts of 5kg, 10kg and 20kg bags of flour and porridge oats until everything changed on 14 March 2020. While Jamess trade customers disappeared overnight, online orders fuelled by a COVID-19-caused flour shortage skyrocketed. Consumers locked down at home now actively wanted to buy Irish and support Irish farmers. James credits COVID-19 with putting his products on the map, which have gladdened the hearts of home bakers all around Ireland over the past year. The Vermont Foodbank announces that it has received a $25,000 gift from the Blue Trident Foundation, a 501(c)(3) charitable foundation led by Jaime and Pamela Ellertson of South Woodstock, Vermont. This gift will be leveraged as a challenge match in 2021, multiplying the impact of other donations to help alleviate the hunger crisis in Vermont which has increased significantly since the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic. Food insecurity affects all of us, says Jaime Ellertson. It is a critical public health crisis nationwide and is affecting more families during the COVID pandemic. We are thrilled to be making a pledge to the Vermont Foodbank, which has risen to the challenge of meeting the increasing need in Vermont. Since the start of the pandemic, says Vermont Foodbank CEO John Sayles, 1 in 3 Vermont residents have experienced hunger which is unprecedented. We are extremely grateful to the Blue Trident Foundation for their matching pledge, which will result in a combined total of $50,000 in donations toward the fight against hunger in Vermont. With more people turning to charitable food for support than weve seen in the history of our organization, this gift will go a long way toward providing food for all of our communities across the state. For more information about the Vermont Foodbank, please visit vtfoodbank.org. ### The Vermont Foodbank is the states largest hunger-relief organization, providing nutritious food through a network of 215 food shelves, meal sites, senior centers, and after-school programs, and directly to families, children, older adults and individuals at schools and hospitals. Last year, the Vermont Foodbank provided 11.7 million pounds of food to people throughout Vermont. The Vermont Foodbank, a member of Feeding America, is nationally recognized as one of the most effective and efficient nonprofits and food banks in the nation. Learn more at http://www.vtfoodbank.org. Blue Trident Foundation is a charitable organization established by Pamela and Jaime Ellertson which focuses its resources on supporting public health, education, the arts and the environment with a specific focus on the worlds oceans. Blue Trident Foundation is a charitable foundation defined under and pursuant to Section 170(c) and Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986. Photo: The Canadian Press Toyota is recalling nearly 280,000 Venza SUVs in the U.S. because a wiring problem can stop the side air bags from inflating in a crash. The recall covers Venzas from the 2009 through 2015 model years. Documents posted Thursday by the U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration say wires to the air bag sensor in the driver's side door can become damaged with regular use. That could stop the side and curtain air bags from deploying when needed. Toyota said in documents that it received 31 field reports and 56 warranty claims in the U.S. due to the problem. Toyota will inspect the wires and replace them if needed at no cost to owners. The recall is expected to start May 31. Ever since the introduction of its reform and opening-up policy, China has continued to achieve tremendous economic development, becoming the second-largest economy of the world against all the odds. Nothing has stopped its robust journey to be a global economic engine and factory due to its pragmatic economic strategies and plans. China has stunned the world through staging a miraculous and nearly unthinkable turnaround from the devastating impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on its economy as well as its public health. It is the only major country in the world posting positive economic growth in 2020. The country has proved its mettle in handling the economic crisis by ensuring vast growth in its foreign trade, in terms of both exports and imports, in the first quarter of this year. There was a 29.2% year-on-year surge in foreign trade to 8.47 trillion yuan ($1.29 trillion). Exports soared 38.7% on a yearly basis to 4.61 trillion yuan, while its imports jumped 19.3% year-on-year to 3.86 trillion yuan, according to the latest data released by the country's General Administration of Customs. This is a manifestation of China's continued opening up efforts that have indeed become the main driving force of its robust growth of foreign trade and overall economic development. With its commitment to becoming ever more open, China has adopted a series of policies to promote high-standard liberalization and facilitation of trade and investment, such as the establishment of free trade zones, holding import expos, reducing entry barriers of foreign capital, as well as promoting trade negotiations. All have significantly eased market access, and contributed to its target to form globally-oriented networks of trade, investment and financing, production, and services, so as to promote international economic cooperation. The free trade zones emphasize the importance of advanced systems rather than preferential policies. China has introduced special tax incentives for foreign investments in the zones. It has granted greater independence on international trade activities. They are attracting and utilizing foreign capital by means of joint ventures and partnerships as well as wholly foreign-owned enterprises. Export-oriented products and goods are being produced, resulting in positive growth of exports and foreign direct investment. So far, China has established 12 large free trade zones. They employ 4% of the overall workforce and handle goods representing around 17% of total Chinese imports. Around half of these goods are for domestic consumption and half are for re-export. Electronics and machinery passing through them account for 20% of imports in their respective sectors, while transport goods make up 25% imports in that particular sector, according to the European Central Bank. Following the principle of win-win cooperation, the Belt and Road Initiative has also helped to expand China's foreign trade and promote trade cooperation with other countries. In the first quarter, China's total trade with BRI countries increased 21.4% to 2.5 trillion yuan. Bangladesh is one of the active and important participants of the initiative. It has been getting zero tariffs on 97% of its goods exported to China from last year. A total of 8,256 Bangladeshi products are so far exempt. Other measures, like holding an import expo, reducing entry barriers of foreign capital, trade negotiations, and regional and multilateral trade talks have entailed further deepening of bilateral and multilateral economic and trading engagements of China with the rest of the world. China's economic and trading engagements with other countries resulted in significant growth in the first quarter of 2021. Official data shows its exports to the European Union rose 36.4% year-on-year, and exports to the U.S. surged 61.3%. As China has entered a new era of development, its endeavors to promote further opening up will help it establish better connections with the rest of the world and enable China to share more opportunities for win-win cooperation with other countries, thus to foster global economic growth and prosperity. Md Enamul Hassan is a news editor and broadcast journalist at China Media Group (CMG) in Beijing. Opinion articles reflect the views of their authors, not necessarily those of China.org.cn. If you would like to contribute, please contact us at opinion@china.org.cn. Were thrilled to welcome Paulus to the Wayback Burgers family and eager to work with him to open the brands first location in Germany, said Patrick Conlin, President of Wayback Burgers. Wayback Burgers, Americas top fast-casual burger brand, and one of the nations fastest-growing burger franchises, is excited to announce a new location opening in Augsburg, Germany. Paulus Bulun is a first-time Wayback Burgers franchisee who has been living in Augsburg for 40 years; and is originally from Turkey. Bulun, husband and father of three children, has previous experience in the restaurant industry. Being a burger lover, he began researching burger restaurant ownership opportunities and came across the Wayback Burgers franchise offering. He was immediately drawn to the brands value proposition and decided to visit the Wayback Burgers location in Breda in the southern part of the Netherlands. Traveling to the Netherlands to try Wayback Burgers was worth the trip, said Bulun. After visiting the Breda location, I decided to take the next steps toward starting my own Wayback Burgers franchise. I am excited to be apart of this growing brand and looking forward to opening the first location in Germany. Wayback Burgers currently has 166 locations, and has continued to grow its presence domestically and internationally, opening several new restaurants in 2020. Outside of the United States, Wayback also has locations in Brunei, Sudan, Morocco, Saudi Arabia, Malaysia, Pakistan; in Manitoba, Canada, Ireland and the Netherlands. With this addition, Wayback Burgers will be expanding its reach into Germany. I am very happy that something as great and delicious as Wayback Burgers is coming to Augsburg, said Bulun. I hope to see everyone at the new location. Bulun was drawn to Wayback Burgers because of its reputation as a great burger brand, and he is confident it will be a great addition to the city of Augsburg. Were thrilled to welcome Paulus to the Wayback Burgers family and eager to work with him to open the brands first location in Germany, said Patrick Conlin, President of Wayback Burgers. He is excited to embark on this journey and we believe he will be a great fit for our brand. The entire Wayback Burgers team has continued to go above and beyond for our franchisees and guests, despite the challenges weve all faced in 2020, and we look forward to doing the same for Paulus. This is the brands first location in Germany. Wayback Burgers plans to continue expanding across the country. About Wayback Burgers Founded in 1991 in Newark, Delaware, Wayback Burgers is a Connecticut-based fast-casual franchise with a reputation for cooked-to-order burgers and thick, hand-dipped milkshakes, served in an environment that hearkens back to a simpler place and time when guest service meant something and everyone felt the warmth of the community. Wayback Burgers currently operates in 31 states with over 166 locations nationally and internationally in Brunei, Sudan, Morocco, Saudi Arabia, Malaysia, Pakistan; Manitoba, Canada and the Netherlands. Through its executed master franchise agreements, Wayback Burgers plans to open in 38 provinces/countries in the Middle East, Northern Africa, South Africa, Bangladesh; Alberta, Ontario, Saskatchewan, British Columbia, Canada, Ireland, Malaysia, Germany, and the Netherlands. For more information about Wayback Burgers, please go to https://waybackburgers.com/ For franchising information about Wayback Burgers, please go to https://waybackburgers.com/franchising Staying in Hong Kong is a Dead End: Hong Kong Father and Son Seek Asylum in US Both arrested for a major protest in Hong Kong, a father and son are seeking asylum in the United States at an immigration detention facility. They entered the United States from Mexico on April 10 and turned themselves in. The family doesnt have British National Overseas (BNO) passports. Upon learning that plainclothes police were closely monitoring Hong Kong flights to the United Kingdom, Mr. Lee decided to go for the Mexico-U.S. route. We are basically starting over. Staying in Hong Kong is a dead end. We had to leave [Hong Kong], said the father Mr. Lee in an interview with The Epoch Times. Mrs. Lee and two younger children are staying in Mexico, hoping to come to the United States legally. Mr. Lee and his son had participated in the Hong Kong protests since 2014. The family was among the 2 million Hongkongers who had marched in June 2019, opposing the extradition bill that would allow the transfer of Hongkongers to mainland China and subject them to the law there. His 16-year-old son had joined a dayslong protest at Hong Kong Polytechnic University. Protestors occupied the campus and fought the police with bows and arrows. Mrs. Lee supported her oldest sons activities and followed his GPS location via her mobile phone. On the night of Nov. 18, 2019, she saw that her husband and sons position was frozen for over an hour. She knew that they had encountered problems. Mr. Lee had gone into the Hong Kong Polytechnic University to look for their son. The police had already besieged the campus on Nov. 13 and prohibited citizens from entering. However, Mr. Lee managed to find his son on Nov. 18. As they were leaving the campus, Mr. Lee and his son were arrested. According to the son, police verbally threatened them. A policeman threatened to kill me and drop my dead body in the ocean, the son said. While Mr. Lee usually took a supporting role in the protests by volunteering after work, the son was often on the front line. The 16-year-old described his scariest experience when police cornered him and other protestors in an alley. He was with about 50 other protestors when the police shot tear gas, pepper rounds, and rubber bullets at them non-stop. There was only a one-person-wide exit at the end of the alley where the police waited. Anyone who tried to escape was beaten with police batons. He eventually fled by jumping over bushes and rails. He later suffered from post-traumatic stress syndrome, including insomnia, nightmares, and occasional loss of memory. The recovery took three months of psychological consulting and therapy. Both Mr. Lee and his son refused bail after their arrests. The police then had to decide whether to charge them or release them within 48 hours. They regained freedom, but they said this didnt mean they were off the hook. The police could still decide to prosecute them at a later time. Mr. Lee said the police didnt have enough manpower to process so many cases at the time, so they got the temporary release. After the National Security Lawan escalated version of the 2019 Hong Kong extradition billbecame effective on July 1, 2020, Mr. Lee worried that he and his son might be arrested again and sentenced. He then considered moving the entire family to the United States but worried that his 15-year-old and 5-year-old children might not take the immigration detention experience well and could even contract COVID-19. Therefore, he decided to divide the family up into two groups. We had just renovated our house and bought all new furniture. We really didnt want to leave Hong Kong! said Mr. Lee. One country, two systems is dead. Hong Kong is completely under one country, one system. The executive and judicial branches are not independent. Police and customs have been reduced to the regimes henchmen. Hong Kong is no longer a free and democratic society, he said. Close The InSight Lander from NASA is in trouble. Business Insider said the InSight Lander is caked in so much dust that its solar panels cannot generate enough energy to keep it working. The said spacecraft has been performing critical research on the surface of Mars since it arrived in 2018, To save resources, NASA has gradually turned off InSight's instruments and placed the lander into hibernation mode. The agency seems confident that it will make it. Since the weather on Mars is so erratic, another dust storm might be enough to destroy the rover. The InSight lander is currently in hibernation mode. NASA engineers are trying to save what is left of the spacecraft's life. NASA's Insight Spacecraft Could Survive the Martian Winter, Recharge Its Batteries The landing area of InSight is unlike any other, Interesting Engineering said. It's called Elysium Planitia, and it doesn't have the same strong wind gusts as NASA's Perseverance rover. Wind gusts are also known as "cleaning activities" because they blow accumulated Martian dust off of NASA robots' solar panels. Without the natural wind, the dust settles into a dense, sun-blocking sheet, rendering InSight virtually incapable of absorbing sunlight and generating further electricity. In February, InSight's solar panels provide around 27% of their total energy capacity, which corresponds to the start of winter on Elysium Planitia. As a result, NASA ordered InSight to go into "hibernation mode," which switches off various instruments daily. However, the robot will soon be forced to switch off all functions that are not needed for survival. There is, however, a reason to be optimistic. The InSight lander should be able to save enough power by ceasing all scientific operations. In that way, it would keep its systems warm enough to last through the deathly cold nights on Mars, when temperatures drop to minus 130F (-90C). "The amount of power available over the next few months will really be driven by the weather," said Insight's Project Manager Chuck Scott, in an official statement. ALSO READ: Could Sparkling Dust Particles From Martian Dust Storm Affect Mars Perseverance Rover? However, while InSight appears to be operational for the time being, the possibility of a potentially fatal power outage has not diminished in the least. If the robot's batteries die, the intrepid lander will be doomed. "We would be hopeful that we'd be able to bring it back to life, especially if it's not asleep or dead for a long period of time," said InSight's Principal Investigator Bruce Banerdt, in an Insider report. "But that would be a dicey situation." When the Red Planet gets closer to the sun in July, NASA expects to restart InSight's full operations. Suppose the robotic lander survives Mars' harrowing winter weather, it will be able to continue listening for earthquakes and observing weather until 2022. Random Dust Storm on Mars Could Spell Doom for NASA's Insight In January, NASA's decision to abandon InSight's "mole" was motivated by the lander's lack of energy. It was designed to burrow into the surface of Mars and calculate temperatures deep within the planet's crust - information critical to understanding the Red Planet's deep history as well as its internal structure. However, scientists will have to give up more data as the lander's instruments are turned off, with weather measurements becoming scarce and quake signals predicted to stop in the next month or so. Banderdt believes the lander might skip some significant ones as well, but that it's safer to save the whole lander rather than risk all possible measurements for one. "It's a nice zombie spaceship" if or when InSight lacks battery capacity, according to the scientist. It means it can deliberately recharge and restart until it has access to sunlight. "The problem with that scenario is that in the meantime, the spacecraft is very, very cold," added Banderdt. "And this is happening during the coldest part of the year for the spacecraft. A lot of the electronics is pretty delicate." "And it's, unfortunately, pretty likely that something would be damaged by the cold." Although all signs point to NASA's InSight lander's demise, things could get worse. Much more dust could build up on InSight's solar panels if a random dust storm occurs in the next four or five months. This isn't dust-storm season, which is fortunate for the robot. RELATED ARTICLE: Jupiter's Icy Moon Europa 'Glows in the Dark' Due to Radiation, Scientists Say Check out more news and information on Space on Science Times. To say that we are back to 2020 in 2021 is telling of a lack of understanding of where we are in 2021. In 10 days, India has raced from over 1 lakh to over 2 lakh daily cases. And then no number tells you the entire story. One part of the story that this number does not tell is that this is not the complete number. Because of a burden on testing labs, reports are getting delayed by as long as a week. Also, India is touted to be the second-worst Covid-hit country after the US, which is the first-worst hit. The US took 20 days to climb from 1 lakh daily cases to 2 lakh daily cases. India, let us say this again, has done it in 10 days flat. So who you give the Number 1 spot is for you to decide. Because of a burden on testing labs, reports are getting delayed by as long as a week. (Photo: Reuters) The Delhi government today decided to impose a lockdown over the weekend with over 17,000 cases reported yesterday. The government hasn't called it lockdown because people have no love for lockdowns. But malls, gyms, spas and auditoriums will remain closed on the weekend. Cinema halls will open to 30 per cent capacity. How will you enter the cinema hall without entering the mall? CM Arvind Kejriwal did not answer. Our guess is Kejriwal doesnt think anyone will be to cinema halls amid the apocalypse. So the need to answer the question doesnt arise. But there is a more important question being asked. What is driving the surge? The desi virus. The virus is still Chinese, but the one spreading rapidly in India could be its desi variant. The National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) recently reported a new double mutant variant of the coronavirus. Classified as B.1.617, the variant has now been found in eight countries, with 70 per cent of samples containing mutations believed to have originated from India. Experts have called the new new double mutant strain a desi (Indian) variant. The Desi Girl is now half-videshi but desi is still desi but what is desi? The Word Of The Day. Desi comes from Sanskrit word desh. Desh has come to mean country but driving from disha (direction), Oxford dictionary defines desh as local or belonging to a particular place. Coronavirus is a desi virus for China but the variant is desi for India. Desi, however, is a very Indian word. Words have no borders and the same, sadly, hold true for the virus. You see there are multiple explanations to why the second wave, which is the fourth wave in Delhi, is bigger. Lets time travel to 1918 to find one of the many explanations. Lets say we land in Switzerland in 1918. In July-August 1918, Switzerland was particularly hit hard by the Spanish Flu. That was the first wave of the disease. The government moved quickly, strongly and centrally. Gatherings were restricted, markets were shut and schools were closed. Nurses take part in a demonstration at the Red Cross Emergency Ambulance Station in Washington, DC, during the Spanish Flu pandemic of 1918. (Photo: via Reuters) Come September and all restrictions were lifted. And then in October, came the second wave. The economic implications of the first wave had not petered out. The government shied away from reimposing the stringent restrictions and new cases raced. The central administration left the decision to impose restrictions on individual municipalities, which hesitated too. So the second wave turned into a tsunami and lasted longer, stretching to 1919. Yes, what Switzerland saw in 1918-1919, India is seeing in 2020-2021. We are additionally seeing election rallies. We are also seeing Kumbh Mela and Ramzan gatherings. We are also seeing people queued outside crematoriums. To a question about the rising Covid death toll, Madhya Pradesh minister Premsingh Patel said no one can stop deaths due to Covid-19 because people get old and they have to die. How can you ensure while you age, you dont really get old? Ikigai could hold the answer. The Japanese concept is all about how to live life long and well. If you want to learn more about it, we recommend Ikigai by Hector Garcia and Francesc Miralles. Since we are talking about Japan, let us also tell you that Tokyo Olympics might be cancelled if Covid cases spike. The information has come just 99 days before the pandemic-postponed Games open on July 23. The remarks have come from members of the Japanese ruling party. Cancel all your parties. Be your own government and impose a lockdown on yourself. Main markets in Uttar Pradesh's Lucknow have voluntarily shut down to curb Covid transmission. Dont move out if your life doesnt depend on it. Stay in. Stay safe. Now get the all-new DailyOh in your mailbox. Click here to subscribe. Also read: Is it too hot under the spotlight for Prashant Kishor? The decision to increase Covid-19 bed strength in government hospitals comes in the wake of increasing complaints from people on the lack of bed availability for treating Covid-19 patients. (DC file photo) Hyderabad: The Telangana state health department has decided to increase the number of beds available to Covid-19 patients at all government hospitals treating Coronavirus infected patients by 25 per cent. The decision to increase Covid-19 bed strength in government hospitals comes in the wake of increasing complaints from people on the lack of bed availability for treating Covid-19 patients, especially those requiring serious and critical care in intensive care units. The department will also be asking private hospitals to increase the beds being made available to Covid-19 patients in view of the fast-rising Coronavirus cases in the state. As on Wednesday, according to the daily data released in the Covid-19 bulletin by the department, the state-run hospitals in all districts treating Covid-19 patients, have a total of 9,281 beds available for them. Of these, 5,503 beds are equipped with oxygen supply, while another 1,773 beds are in the Intensive Care Units with the capability to provide ventilation and continuous positive air pressure (CPAP) equipment to help patients in serious and critical condition to breathe. Among private hospitals treating Covid-19 cases, the bulletin says there are 13,294 beds of which 4,568 have oxygen connectivity, and another 3,654 were capable of accommodating patients requiring CPAP machines or ventilators. It may be recalled that on Wednesday, the Director of Health Services warned that if the current rate of Coronavirus infections continues in the state, then the day when hospitals run out of beds for the patients, may not be far off. The issue of increasing bed strength was among those discussed at a meeting chaired by Chief Secretary Somesh Kumar here on Thursday and attended by top health department officials. It was also resolved at the meeting to ask private hospitals to put of elective surgeries so doctors and staff can focus attention on Covid-19 patients needing urgent attention. Exactly 20 years ago, A. Lange & Sohne presented the LANGEMATIK PERPETUAL, its first wristwatch with a perpetual calendar. It was followed by seven further models, mostly in combination with other complications such as a chronograph, a tourbillon or both. The perpetual calendar reconceived Apart from the classic principle with calendar displays controlled by a 48-step cam, the LANGE 1 TOURBILLON PERPETUAL CALENDAR introduced in 2012 already took a different approach that has now been adopted by the new model. To integrate the calendar ensemble into the exceptional off-centre dial architecture of the LANGE 1 without compromising the harmonious balance of the displays, the month indication was implemented with a ring at the periphery of the dial that advances once a month. This design replaces the classic control principle with a 48-step cam. The innovation challenged the ingenuity of Langes engineers because advancing the ring at the end of the month requires considerably more power than traditional solutions. Lange 1 Perpetual Calendar A. Lange & Sohne The ring-shaped month display is complemented with the Lange outsize date, a retrograde day-of-week display, and a leap-year indication. The instantaneously advancing calendar displays are always crisply legible. They can be advanced collectively or individually with correctors. Once properly set, the mechanism is programmed to reliably indicate each month change until the year 2100. Moon phase with day/night indicator The perpetual calendar is the central complication of the LANGE 1 PERPETUAL CALENDAR, but not the only one. The watch additionally features a moon-phase display with an integrated day/night indicator. The combination of the moon-phase display with a day/night indicator has two layers. It consists of a solid-gold celestial disc with a blue gradation. It completes one full revolution about its own axis every 24 hours. Against this background, the moon either in white or pink gold performs its synodic orbit in 29 days, 12 hours, 44 minutes, and three seconds with such precision that it takes 122.6 years before a correction by one day is needed. With the 2016 debut of the combined display in the LANGE 1 MOON PHASE, the moon appears on a monochrome light blue canopy during the day and on a dark blue starry sky at night. Two exquisite colour variations The LANGE 1 PERPETUAL CALENDAR has a diameter or 41.9 millimetres and a height of 12.1 millimetres. It is available in two versions. It comes in pink gold with a grey solid-silver dial and in a 150-watch limited edition in white gold with a solid pink-gold dial. The latter material combination has been presented by A. Lange & Sohne initially in 2019, in the DATOGRAPH PERPETUAL TOURBILLON, also a limited-edition model. Colour-coordinated hands and appliques in pink gold or rhodiumed gold luminous in the pink-gold version round off the harmonious design. The white-gold version has a dark-brown leather strap, the pink-gold model comes with a red-brown leather strap. Lange 1 Perpetual Calendar A. Lange & Sohne A new manufacture calibre The self-winding movement L021.3 is A. Lange & Sohnes 67th manufacture calibre. It is based on the calibre L021.1 of the LANGE 1 DAYMATIC and has been endowed with a newly developed winding mechanism. Its technical features include a unidirectional winding rotor in 21-carat gold with an additional centrifugal mass in platinum, a power reserve of 50 hours, and a cam-poised balance that runs with a frequency of 21,600 semi-oscillations per hour. Many of Langes quality hallmarks can be admired through the sapphire-crystal caseback: the plates and bridges made of untreated German silver and decorated with Glashutte ribbing, five gold chatons secured with thermally blued steel screws, and the hand-engraved balance cock with the superposed whiplash spring used for beat adjustments. As always, the parts of the movement, which is assembled twice, are manually finished to the strictest Lange standards. The materials, the architecture, and the artisanal finissage confirm that in terms of unique design and mechanical perfection, this watch is perpetual in every respect. Divers were preparing to head out to the site of the crippled Seacor Power on Thursday as the search continued for 12 missing crew members still unaccounted for in the waters off Port Fourchon. Two days after the lift boat capsized in the Gulf of Mexico seven miles off the Louisiana coast, six members of the 19-person crew had been rescued, and the one crewmember whose body was recovered had been identified. The Lafourche Parish coroner said the man was a ship captain named David Ledet, 63, of Thibodaux. As divers check for Seacor Power survivors, hopes of a rescue effort, fears of a recovery job The owner of a boat taking three divers to the capsized Seacor Power to look for 12 crewmembers who have been missing since Tuesday said the d Coroner John King requested privacy on behalf of Ledet's family and extended condolences to all the loved ones of the Seacor Power's crew. As Ledet's name circulated online among the tight-knit coastal communities of Louisiana, the tributes began pouring in. One came from a woman identifying herself as Ledets cousin. She wrote that Ledet's wife and children were heartbroken about his death, but the family experienced a sense of closure from the recovery of his body. +2 Man found dead after Seacor Power capsized was a captain: We're 'heartbroken' The crewmember found dead following the capsizing of the Seacor Power lift boat was a 63-year-old captain named David Ledet, authorities said Continuing to pray for...(those) still lost and their families, she wrote. Another came from a woman describing herself as a family friend, saying, My deepest condolences to Captain David Ledets family. May our friend (rest in peace). Ledet was one of 19 crewmembers who were aboard the Seacor Power jack up boat when it departed from Port Fourchon at 1:30 p.m. Tuesday en route to Main Pass 138, which is in the Gulf of Mexico about 40 miles east of Venice, Louisiana. There was a break in stormy weather when the ship left. But about an hour into the journey, forecasters warned that the ship was headed into an area that would experience tropical storm-force winds and potentially destructive waves. +6 'Need him to come home': Slidell woman prays for son's safe return after Seacor Power capsizes Darra Ann Morales and her son, Chaz, had been exchanging a series of sarcastic text messages about a dilapidated dresser he bought online when Due to a rare weather event known as a wake low, the storm ended up producing wind gusts of 70-to-90 miles per hour in line with those experienced during a hurricane meaning they were much more intense than anyone had anticipated. The Seacor Power capsized about 4:30 p.m. Tuesday afternoon. A social media user describing himself as a former co-worker of Seacor Power crewmembers said Ledet had served 15 years on the ill-fated lift boat. The user, who identified himself as Joshua Segura, said lift boat crews prepare for inclement weather, but he didn't think anyone anticipated the intensity of Tuesday's storms. Jack up boats, or "lift boats," like the Seacor Power have 250-foot legs that can be jacked into the seafloor to create a raised platform for tasks such as offshore construction. According to experts, they are reliable equipment for the offshore industry but aren't designed to endure conditions like those encountered Tuesday. In Port Fourchon, friends and relatives of the missing crew members gathered to await news. For 17-year-old Maddy Boteler, her hope is that there's an air pocket in the wrecked vessel big enough to keep her uncle alive. Top stories in New Orleans in your inbox Twice daily we'll send you the day's biggest headlines. Sign up today. e-mail address * Sign Up The thought of Chaz Morales getting plucked from the Seacor Power and returned safely to his three children in Slidell led the teen and her mother, Danielle Boteler, south to the oil-industry hub on Wednesday. They came as an aspiring welcome party, wanting to be as close as possible to the 37-year-old crane operator who is still missing. "That way we're just waiting for him to get pulled up," Maddy Boteler said. He has a big, giant, bald head. Im hoping that big head saves him." A day without answers, though, left her weary mother sitting on the shoulder of A.J. Estay Road on Wednesday evening, staring into her lap as the sun went down. Its been a rough day, Danielle Boteler said. Three divers were set to head to the grounded vessel Thursday morning, according to Capt. Shaw Couevas, owner of the Jean Lafitte Harbor and boat fleet, who was contracted to take them to the site for what would either be a rescue or recovery mission depending on what they found. With the situation, I think its a little bit of both, said Couevas. Couevas said U.S. Coast Guard officials called him Wednesday and told him to ready a 40-foot boat to bring out three divers to the Seacor Powers wreckage seven miles south of Port Fourchon. They called off a Wednesday evening attempt then tried again at 4 a.m. Thursday before a storm kicked up and forced a further delay. According to Couevas, Coast Guard officials hoped to shield his small boat with another ship to allow divers into the waters by the overturned jack-boat, to assess its position and if possible prepare to extract survivors or remains. The marching orders from the Coast Guard were broad, he said. With this weather, its been very difficult to get there and put divers in the water, Couevas said. But, he added, Were loaded up and ready to go. Coast Guard Petty Officer 3rd Class Carlos Galarza said that the divers, which the agency contracted, were prepared to be out there throughout most of Thursday. However, that wholly depended on weather conditions, which were predicted to be tempestuous across southeastern Louisiana. As long as its not harsh, and theyre not in rough seas, thatll determine whether they can begin their diving operations, make it to the hull and pull out any crewmembers who may be trapped there, Galarza said. Seacor Power capsize investigation to take more than a year - NTSB A team from the National Transportation Safety Board has joined the investigation into the Seacor Power incident, as the U.S. Coast Guard and Meanwhile, a team of about 10 investigators from the National Transportation Safety Board had arrived on the coast and were prepared to help Coast Guard officials in the initial investigation of what might have happened. NTSB spokesperson Keith Holloway said the Coast Guard is the industry regulator and was still the lead agency as search and rescue efforts continued, but the board's marine investigators will typically take the lead of the investigation of such serious incidents at some point. Previous NTSB investigations into lift boat accidents have taken months to complete. The most recent accident investigated by the agency into the Kristin Faye, which sank in about 20 feet of water 18 miles south of Venice, Louisiana occurred in Sept. 2019 and the NTSB reported its findings in November last year. Houston Astros star Alex Bregman and Reagan Howard had planned a dream wedding for early December at the La Cantera Resort & Spa in San Antonio. But a surge in COVID-19 cases and deaths in Bexar County forced them to call it off. So the couple attempted to reschedule their wedding date for this November or December. It didnt pan out and now Bregman is suing the resort for the return of a nearly $80,000 deposit that it allegedly refuses to return. We tried to work something out with the resort, Bregman said in a statement. Since the resort is unwilling to work with us on a solution, we feel we have no choice but to take legal action to get our deposit back. The lawsuit was filed Thursday, a day after the Astros placed Bregman and four other players on the injured listed due to COVID-19 health and safety protocols. The team could not confirm if any of the players had tested positive for the virus. Bruce Malott, Bregmans business manager who has power of attorney for the ballplayers business matters, filed the lawsuit against Destination Hotels and Resorts, doing business as La Cantera Resort & Spa, in Bexar County Court. The suit alleges fraud and violations of Texas Deceptive Trade Practices Act. A La Cantera Resort spokeswoman didnt immediately respond to requests for comment. Bregman and Howard still managed to tie the knot that early December weekend. They held a smaller ceremony at her parents Katy home. The La Cantera wedding event agreement was entered into in August. When we booked the wedding, cases were lower and we hoped the pandemic was subsiding, Bregman said. However, as cases surged in Texas and across the country leading up to the wedding date, it was clear we had to make plans for a smaller ceremony with fewer guests. But first, according to the lawsuit, the couple tried to reschedule their wedding for this November or December at the resort. The resort demanded a $20,000 rescheduling fee, an amount Bregman refused to pay. The event agreement, included as an exhibit with the lawsuit, allowed for the weddings cancellation if a pandemic prevented at least 25 percent of the guests from attending. The hotel shall refund all deposits if that occurred. The pandemic made it impossible for our guests to attend safely, Reagan said. The lawsuit cites Bexar County Judge Nelson Wolffs Nov. 25 executive order prohibiting large gatherings of 10 people or more because of the spread of the virus. Bregman sought to cancel the contract but the suit says the resort refused to honor his promised and rightful termination of the Contract. Bregman had paid $78,600 in installment payments, the suit says. The statement issued by Malott says the hotel is demanding an additional $40,000 despite not hosting the event. La Cantera is attempting to create a profit windfall for themselves, Malott said. They incurred virtually no expenses since the Bregmans canceled nearly three weeks before the planned event, yet (the resort wants) all the money under the contract. As part of his demands, Bregman seeks triple damages from the resort under the Deceptive Trade Practices Act. pdanner@express-news.net A group of Mount Maunganui residents have expressed their disappointment at rezoning plans that will impact their school. Residents in Arataki have started a petition titled Do not change the Arataki School zone with rezoning in Mount Maunganui and Papamoa set to see the zone for Arataki School on Kaimanawa Street change. The Ministry of Education is currently asking for consultation on the rezoning via consultancy group D&G Consulting. Submissions were due to close this Friday, but the Ministry has confirmed an extension has been granted until April 23. The provisions are being undertaken due to the opening of Te Manawa o Papamoa School in 2022. The school will have an enrollment scheme home zone which, along with Mount Maunganui Colleges own implementation of an enrolment scheme, will have knock on effects for several schools. The schools impacted are Arataki School, Golden Sands School, Mount Maunganui Intermediate School, Mount Maunganui Primary School, Omanu School, Papamoa College, Papamoa Primary School, Tahatai Coast School and Te Akau Ki Papamoa School. Two proposals have been put forward regarding the rezoning for Arataki School. Both proposed changes to the Arataki zone will see the area between Concord Ave and Taupo Ave, including Carysfort St, Leander St and Farm St, excluded along with most of Mangatawa. The petition argues that this change will change the heart and story of the Arataki community, suggesting that removing students from their local school is taking them away from the connection with their area. They also argue the change will increase travel demands, decrease safety for those having to travel along busier routes, such as Links Ave and Oceanbeach Road, and It is also suggested that Arataki Schools own future plans, based on population growth, could now be scuppered. The Ministry of Education explains that to manage increasing demand in the area enrolment schemes at Mount Maunganui College and Te Manawa o Papamoa School are needed. Tauranga and the Western Bay of Plenty are one of New Zealands fastest growing areas so we are currently consulting with the Papamoa and Mount Maunganui communities about future schooling, says Katrina Casey, MOE deputy secretary sector enablement and support, before making it clear feedback from the community is important. The Ministry is leading the consultation on enrolment schemes as the Education and Training Act now requires this, she continues. The new schemes may have impacts on other schools and require them to amend their current enrolment scheme home zones. The future of secondary schooling in the area also needs to be considered, as the population growth will impact on rolls at this level in due course. Our planning for additional provision will be informed by the feedback from the community. Weve met with schools and iwi, held a number of public meetings and have opened a public survey. Weve received over 500 responses to that survey since it opened in March and the closure date for submissions has been extended until April 23. We have also participated in two hui organised by the community in Arataki. Themes that have repeatedly come up so far include the quality of teaching and learning, as well as the need for a sense of community, and the affect changes may have on access to Arataki Schools Reo Rua Maori language programme. Another area of concern regarded parents concerned about the enrolment of siblings of current students at the same schools but a six-year transitional statement in the scheme aims to eradicate those fears. We expect to have considered the feedback and finalised the enrolment schemes by August, Katrina says. This is in order that communities are clear about where children/students can enrol before the 2022 enrolment begins in September. Residents held a meeting regarding the move on Sunday, April 11, and Vicky McGreal, who is involved with the campaign makes it clear on the Make Arataki Safe Again Facebook group that those involved in the petition fiercely oppose both options regarding proposed new zones. [April 15, 2021] Paul Kwan Joins General Catalyst as Managing Director SAN FRANCISCO, April 15, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Today, the venture capital firm General Catalyst (GC) announced that Paul Kwan, the former head of west coast tech banking at Morgan Stanley, has joined the firm as a managing director focused on identifying, building, and investing in enduring businesses in both the private and public markets. For 25 years, Paul has partnered with category-defining tech companies to understand their strategic business objectives and ensure they have access to the capital required to meet those critical milestones. During his time at Morgan Stanley, he led IPOs and M&A for leading technology companies globally and helped create the modern day direct listing. Most recently, together with Morgan Stanley and GC, he created the first Stakeholder Aligned Initial Listing (SAlL), the first SPAC structure in the market that aligns financial outcomes with the interests of all stakeholders. Paul has worked with a number of GC-backed companies during his tenure at Morgan Stanley, including representing Livongo in its $18.5 billion merger with Teladoc Health, the largest in digital health history to-date. Paul has built a strong reputation as the partner for stand-out tech cmpanies looking to make a lasting impact, said Hemant Taneja, managing partner, General Catalyst. Hes adept at understanding the needs of those companies, collaborating with them to market themselves, and identify and acquire the strategic capital to lead in their respective sectors. That level of talent and instinct is invaluable to our portfolio companies as they navigate growth in both the private and public markets. Paul is well known and respected among founders and investors alike. At GC, he will focus on supporting and investing in software and internet companies, as well as digital Health Assurance companies both in the U.S. and abroad. Im thrilled to join GC as they continue their evolution to a full-stack venture model, said Paul Kwan. Their commitment to supporting founders at every stage of the company building process while also making an impact on society is inspiring. In todays world of digital transformation, companies are getting bigger faster. Im excited to partner with GC portfolio companies and help guide them as they scale into and through the private and public markets responsibly and purposefully on their journey to becoming enduring businesses. 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, Illumio, Lemonade, Livongo, Oscar, Samsara, Snap, Stripe, and Warby Parker. For more: www.generalcatalyst.com . Contact: generalcatalyst@launchsquad.com [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] Summertown Interiors, one of the UAE's leading sustainable fit-out contractors, said it has been awarded the contract for the refurbishment of the food court, Picnic Square, within the Times Square Center in Dubai. One of the newest community-oriented malls in Dubai, Times Square Center is a uniquely compact community shopping destination which offers a wide selection of renowned international and boutique brands. Summertown Interiors said over the next few months, it will collaborate with the malls management team to transform the existing 2,330-sq-m food court space into an exciting new family focused dining area. It is likely to be handed over in the third quarter. In line with Times Square Centers sustainability focus, Summertown said it aims to achieve the green building certification Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (Leed) for the new artisan food dining area. The global certification encourages the design, construction, operations and maintenance of resource-efficient, high-performing, healthy buildings, said the top fitout contractor. Once completed, Picnic Square will be an exciting artisanal, deli-style dining area with family-friendly seating zones; including stylish private pods for mothers to feed their babies in privacy, which will complement the functional open plan design, it added. (Newser) An area larger than Rhode Island has been searched by Coast Guard boats and aircraft following the Tuesday afternoon capsizing of a commercial lift boat off the coast of Louisiana. There were 19 crew members aboard the offshore oil rig, also known as a jackup rig, and just six have been rescued. One person was found dead, and 12 others are still missing, the AP reports. "We are hopeful. We cant do this work if youre not optimistic, if youre not hopeful," a Coast Guard captain said at a press conference Wednesday. story continues below The 129-foot Seacor Power services oil platforms, NOLA.com explains. It is owned by Houston-based Seacor Marine. Soon after it embarked from Port Fourchon, it was overtaken by 7- to 9-foot waves and winds up to 90mph. "Im like, The weathers too bad. You need to come home. And hes like, I wish I could,'" recalls Marion Cuyler of her last conversation with her fiance before the boat left. "We are deeply saddened by the news of the vessel capsizing and are working closely with the US Coast Guard and local authorities to support all efforts to locate our valued team members and partners," Seacor Marine says in a statement. (Read more Louisiana stories.) Muslims in Senegal sang poems and prayed at a major mosque on Wednesday to mark the first day of Ramadan. As part of the tradition of the Mouride brotherhood, the country's most influential religious order, during the holy month a group of men sing the poems or "Khassaides" to honour the Prophet Muhammad. Ramadan is a time of spiritual devotion for Muslims and to attend the prayers at the mosque is important for the majority of the community. The Massalikul Jinaan mosque in Dakar, one of the largest in West Africa, was opened on September 2019. During its first Ramadan in 2020, the collective prayers at night were banned and the number of people inside the building was limited because of the coronavirus pandemic. This year, wearing a mask and washing hands are some of the measures that remain in place to avoid the spread of the virus in the mosque but, other activities like the night prayer, are now allowed. El Hadji Mbackiou FAYE, head of the Massalikul Jinaan mosque is optimistic that soon the pandemic will be "an old memory" and that they will begin doing their religious practices normally. Ramadan is marked by longer prayers, dawn-to-dusk fasting and nightly feasts with family and friends. Muslims abstain from any food or drink including water from morning to night during Ramadan. The month long practice is aimed at heightening remembrance of God, curbing unhealthy habits and deepening gratitude. After sunset, when people break their fast, men distribute food to hundreds of worshippers and to any person needing a meal. (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) BENTONVILLE (dpa-AFX) - Walmart Inc. (WMT) plans to invest in self-driving vehicle company, Cruise, in which General Motors (GM) has a majority stake. This investment is part of the company's latest $2.75 billion funding round. The decision to invest in Cruise is not a sudden one and comes five months after the companies began working on a pilot program to use the self-driving vehicles for Walmart delivery in Scottsdale, Arizona. Cruise had in January announced the investment round at $2 billion. The investors included Microsoft, General Motors and other institutional investors. Walmart and other institutional investors are part of the second round of investment. The latest round of investment values Cruise at more than $30 billion. In the Scottsdale, Arizona project, Cruise is operating a complete fleet of all-electric delivery vehicles, running on 100 percent renewable energy. Walmart said that this partnership with Cruise is part of its plans to reach the goal of zero emissions by 2040. As part of the pilot project, customers place orders from their local Walmart stores and have their purchases delivered, contact-free, through Cruise's electric self-driving cars. Commenting on the latest investment, John Furner, President and CEO, Walmart U.S., said, 'This investment is a marker for us - it shows our commitment to bringing the benefit of self-driving cars to our customers and business. We're excited to join Cruise's already impressive partner and investor ecosystem with the likes of GM, Honda and Microsoft as we work toward pioneering this emerging technology.' 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. Opening remarks by Mr Mario Centeno , Governor of the Banco de Portugal, at the "Eurofi High Level Seminar", virtual, 14 April 2021. Good morning. It is unfortunate that we cannot meet in Lisbon, despite all efforts. The topic proposed could not be more appropriate to the current juncture and the work ahead. We need a broad-based recovery. The pandemic and the necessary confinement measures adopted had a large impact on economic activity. Last year, GDP contracted 6.3% in the European Union, the deepest annual contraction observed on record. This was concentrated in the first half of the year, as activity recovered strongly in the third quarter. By then, the more stringent confinement measures were partially relaxed and agents showed a remarkable capacity to adapt to the new economic environment. Contraction was broad-based, even if with different magnitudes, so we cannot ask for less than a broad-based recovery. The ECB aims at favourable financing conditions for all sectors. It is our duty to make sure that no sector is left behind, and that viable firms will have the necessary support. This requires the intervention of fiscal policy. We can now be sure that monetary policy was not the only game in town in 2020. We have no moral hazard, no need for immediate structural adjustments, and developments within sectors were symmetric between countries. Initially, the economic shock was symmetric. The severe lockdowns hit all sectors and global trade fell dramatically. Services and manufacturing were severely hit. The global composite PMIs plunged in early-2020, from an expansionary 52.2 in January to a deep recessionary 26.2 in April. But, following a sharp contraction of industry in the first semester of 2020, the industrial sector rebounded strongly in the second semester. The recovery in international trade of goods was also fast. The Portuguese experience shows exactly that: exports of goods (other than energy) grew, year on year, in real terms in the second half of 2020 (1,7% in Q3 and 0,6% in Q4). The quarter-on-quarter figures are quite expressive, after a reduction of 27% in the second quarter there was a rebound of 40% in the third quarter. Nevertheless, activity in contact-intensive services remained depressed. The European Union services PMI has just returned to expansion territory in March 2021 (at 53.0), after a prolonged contractionary period (still at 48.8 in February). The labour market presented a different pattern from that observed in previous recessions. Policy measures preserved employment and limited the increase of the unemployment rate. This is the best condition I can think of as a pre-requisite to a broad-based recovery. We did not destroy hundreds of millions of years of accumulated human capital in European firms, measured by firm level tenure. Firms and Member States invested astronomic amounts of money to preserve employment. And workers too, as they agreed to more flexible working arrangements. All rules of thumb relating employment and economic activity broke up. In truth, potential output is more latent than ever, but the behaviour of investment; abound liquidity; temporariness of the crisis; and employment resilience hint at a small impact. And, more importantly, they hint at the path for recovery. The resilience of tax collection in many economies is yet another sign of this resilience. Personal Income Tax increased in Portugal, as it did in many of the US States. This was against all odds, at least given the profound recession. Going forward, we expect economic activity to recover gradually, supported by a continuation of the strong and decisive policy response and the rollout of the vaccination process. The joint impact of the monetary and fiscal policies has been crucial and has to be preserved. Monetary policy acted to preserve favourable conditions in financial markets. A generalized backtracking in monetary policy may be ill advised. Assessing the precise frictions that are at work, fine-tuning the monetary policy instruments or suggesting a more relevant role for other policies seems more adequate. At evaluation time, it is useful to consider the counterfactual scenario without the strong monetary response, both conventional and unconventional measures. Absent such policies, the materialization of a disruptive scenario would be more likely. The potential trade-offs we now face seem quite limited when compared to the welfare losses that we would have incurred in such scenario. The same applies for fiscal policy measures. Fiscal policy should proceed and be adapted. It allows for a more targeted action, where it is most in need. For a sustainable and inclusive recovery, we need fiscal policies that duly consider the asymmetric evolution of the crisis but also fiscal policies that provide the right incentives. The paradigm used at the beginning of the crisis must be adapted. The initial measures, aimed at mitigating the direct effect of the severe lockdowns in the economic activity. We asked firms to stop production and people to stay at home. As uncertainty begins to fade, the focus should be on job creation. This helps the reallocation of resources, if needed. And reallocation is not necessarily bad, if income support is available for workers in the transition stage. We should not fool ourselves. The decisions taken in 2020, brave as they were, were much simpler to design than what comes next. Faced with an asymmetric reality, choices must be made. We should direct public resources to those in need, and we must address the needs as they evolve, in a targeted way. All economic agents must participate in the effort to put together the recovery process. This time, leaving sectors or fractions of the population behind is not an option. Leaving all efforts to the Public Administrations will be a failure; no single sector can handle the recovery by itself. A word to the role of the prudential policies both micro and macro and the role of banks. Banks have been able to maintain the flow of credit in the economy. The EU banking sector entered this crisis in more favourable situation, notably in terms of the quantity and quality of capital, a significant improvement in banks' capacity to absorb potential losses. However, risks persist and existing vulnerabilities may be amplified. Prudential policies should continue to promote the lending activity, while fine-tuning a balanced build-up of risks. We need an integrated approach to achieve a recovery broad-based across sectors and countries. A final reference to the gigantic effort to fight the crisis made by Europe and the Europeans. My argument is two-fold. Firstly, we were able to coordinate economic and monetary policies for the first time ever. Secondly, we did it in a sizeable and timely manner. So far, I must say, as clouds linger on the implementation process of Next Generation EU. We should rush to start running it. This argument also goes with numbers. It is quite difficult to forecast public deficits 3 to 4 years ahead. If we take for good the numbers of the IMF, we see that the fiscal stimulus in the Euro Area, computed by the projected fiscal deficits up to 2024, is only slightly smaller than that of the US, less 0,5pp of GDP. If we add to these numbers the NGEU package, this gap is reversed in favour of Europe. If you prefer expenditure instead of deficits, the Fiscal Monitor of the IMF is quite clear about the size of the revision of expenditures in the Euro Area and the US between October 2019 and April 2021. Plus 20% in Europe and plus 17% in the US. Europe responded strongly. We should not forget, also, that the estimates available for the investment gap in infrastructures in the US amounts to 1,25 trillion USD (computed as deviations from trend). The catching up process of the US (and the quality of that process) is mostly welcome, and it will have a positive impact in global economic activity. Europe should continue its way forward. Paying tribute to the leap of integration observed in the Spring of 2020. From the structural reform of the Budgetary Instrument for Competitiveness and Convergence by the Eurogroup and European Council at the end of 2019, to the 540 billion package and the NGEU in mid-2020. Broad-based requires moving together. Now that we regained multilateralism, now that we learned how to deal with the pandemic and vaccination, we cannot afford an economy with segregated labour markets and without convergence within and between countries. We now understand what a global challenge is. Let's raise to the moment. Thank you. LAS VEGAS, April 15, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Version2, an industry leader in programmatic advertising and technologies, celebrates its milestone first anniversary. The company launched during the onset of the COVID-19 global pandemic in 2020. This month marks consecutive growth and expansion, serving more than 50 clients both domestically and internationally. "It has been an unprecedented first year for our business and we are grateful to all of our partners and team members for helping us achieve this significant milestone," says David Burns, Chief Executive Officer, Version2. "We set out to become a positive disrupter and industry leader by aligning our talent and technology with the clients for whom our solutions make sense. We remain committed to investing in our workplace culture, supporting our community, and delivering unmatched service and technology for our partners." Version2 is an algorithmically-driven performance media company that combines strategic thinking, entrepreneurial spirit, and the power of artificial intelligence. The company continues to develop proprietary technologies and scale its business, partnering with ad tech's most dominant players including Google, Amazon, Zeta Global, and cultivating client relationships with global brands. "It is our philosophy that the client always comes first," says Shane Taylor, Chief Operating Officer, Version2. "We are able to provide the technology, strategy, and solutions-oriented approach, to create value and meaningful results for our partners." The company is founded by global media and ad tech entrepreneurs David Burns and Shane Taylor with a mission to empower and enable organizations through direct access to best-in-class technologies to optimize campaign strategy and results. The company is comprised of leaders based across the U.S. and is headquartered in Las Vegas. As Chief Executive Officer of Version2, Burns oversees the company's performance and growth, works closely with its senior leadership to forge client relationships, oversees the workplace culture, and focuses on delivering value to its partners and clients. Burns specializes in creating and growing new businesses with more than 20 years of strategic global leadership experience and expertise. He has held senior executive positions for brands including Univision, Los Angeles Times, Tribune Media Company, Viacom, and Westfield; and has been instrumental in the development, launch and repositioning of brands and new franchises within North America, Asia and Latin America. As Chief Operating Officer of Version2, Taylor is responsible for overseeing the performance, advancement, and technological innovation for the company as well as optimizing partnership success and strategy. He brings more than 15 years of experience and expertise in digital marketing communications and advanced technology. Taylor spent the majority of his career working for leading digital media agencies and brands at the forefront of the technological evolution of the marketing industry. Prior to founding Version2, he served as Senior Vice President of Sales & Partnerships for a global trading desk, Director of Sales for SteelHouse, and Director of Sales with eBay's programmatic group. He has worked with a number of prominent brands including the NBA, US Army, VIZIO, Ford Motor Company, Gildan, and Yum! Brands. About Version2 Version2 is an advertising technology company that specializes in programmatic media strategy and algorithmically-driven performance solutions. ORION , Version2's buying platform empowers agencies and advertisers with direct access to best-in-class programmatic technologies to enhance strategy, boost performance, and drive superior results. To learn more about Version2, please visit www.theversion2.com and follow along on Linkedin, Twitter, and Instagram. SOURCE Version2 Related Links https://www.theversion2.com Valeria Alderete, 30, had been eagerly awaiting the opening of Maverick Dog Park since she first heard about it two years ago. This week, Alderete finally got to unleash her two dogs in the ample space that was six years and more than $600,000 in the making. Her dog Xochitl, a Xoloitzcuintli, also known as a Mexican hairless dog, dashed about the park playing chase with four to five other dogs at a time, making full use of a wide open space. Alderetes other dog Bruno, a bluetick hound mix, mingled with 15 other pooches of different breeds and sizes. Theres other parks that weve gone to, but theyre a little bit tighter so it doesnt seem like the dogs have as much space to run, Alderete said. Whereas here, theyve got quite a bit of space, which is great. On an overcast Tuesday afternoon, more than 20 visitors checked out the park on opening day while their dogs explored the landscape like children at a new playground. Lisa Krantz /Staff photographer On ExpressNews.com: 8 San Antonio restaurants with the best dog menus or dishes made for dogs At almost a third of Maverick Parks total size, the 1-acre dog park features fenced areas for small pups and large dogs, an area for disk and ball throwing, and a small climbing portion for the dogs. Maverick Park Dog Park, a passion project led by members of the community, has been in the works since 2014. San Antonio firefighter Joe Alderete III, not related to Valeria, and friend Ashley Riley, formerly with AREA Real Estate, lived near the park and thought it could serve a larger purpose. They teamed up with Frank Pakuszewski, the former owner of GS 1221, which sat kitty-corner to the Maverick Park, and Larry Clark, vice president and designer with Bender Wells Clark Design, to get a dog park added to the green space. There were ups and downs in the six years, different council people, different iterations of the plan, but there was never an inclination to stop, Alderete said. His family has since lost both of the dogs they owned during the early phase of the project, but a new bouncy Doberman named Luna (after the Halloween moon she was born under) will get to enjoy the fruits of their labor. The project was a combination of community donations, gifts from entrepreneurs, including real estate developer David Adelman, and funding from the 2017 bond program and the Midtown Tax Increment Reinvestment Zone, according to the citys website. The donations were raised through the San Antonio Parks Foundation and Friends of Maverick Dog Park. Lisa Krantz /Staff photographer On ExpressNews.com: San Antonio Zoo's #ZooGlamourShots hashtag and animal photos go wild on social media The canine rec space is the citys 16th dog park, officials said. The Parks and Recreation department is actively recruiting volunteers for their dog park ambassador program which provides dog park safety and etiquette outreach. More information about upcoming orientations and the growing network of dog parks can be found at saparksandrec.com. The opening of the new dog area and park amenities is a great addition to Maverick Park. Right now, we are all looking for new ways to safely gather and get out for some of this good weather. I look forward to seeing the community enjoy the new features at the park, District 1 Councilman Roberto Trevino said in a statement. The park is in his downtown district. Kelly Baker was one of those taking advantage of the new park this week. She was chatting with Etny Candelario and Gem Alegre, who moved from New York City, as their pug Bay socialized with the other dogs. Baker, who moved from Denver about a year ago, said the dog park was one of the appeals for choosing the downtown area to live. As Baker threw a hollow lime-green disk, her rescue dog Luna, a Labrador pitbull mix by her best guess, caught it with her teeth for a moment before quickly dropping it to play with the other dogs. With COVID, this is a safe, socially distanced space, Baker said. Its really nice to come out and do something thats COVID safe. US President Joe Biden has said India, Pakistan, Russia, China, and Turkey have a significant stake in the stable future of Afghanistan and these regional stakeholders should do more to bring peace in this war-torn country, from where he will withdraw all American troops by September 11. "We will ask other countries in the region to do more to support Afghanistan, especially Pakistan, as well as Russia, China, India, and Turkey. They all have a significant stake in the stable future of Afghanistan," Biden said in a nationally televised speech from the White House on Wednesday. Also read: Joe Biden says 'time to end' US war in Afghanistan with total pull out In less than 100 days after taking over as the president of the US on January 20, Biden announced to begin to withdraw all American troops from Afghanistan by September 11. The US currently has a little over 2,500 troops, which is far less than the 100,000-plus during the Barack Obama administration. White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki told reporters that there is no military solution to the current situation Afghanistan, rather a diplomatic solution is required. Even as we are withdrawing our troops, we will continue to support diplomatic and humanitarian work. We will ask other countries to step up, whether that's Pakistan, Russia, China, India, Turkey -- countries in the region that certainly have a stake in stability. We will continue to provide significant humanitarian resources, Psaki said in response to a question. We will continue to be engaged. This is the president's assessment about whether having troops on the ground, a military presence in the same way -- in a version of the same way it has been over the last two decades -- is in our national interest. And he has made the decision it is not, she said. Read more: Germany will synchronise withdrawal from Afghanistan with US, minister says Biden said the war in Afghanistan was never meant to be a multi-generational undertaking. "We were attacked. We went to war with clear goals. We achieved those objectives. (Osama) Bin Laden is dead, and al Qaeda is degraded in Iraq, in Afghanistan. And it's time to end the forever war, he asserted. The Biden administration on Wednesday did not give details of its expectations from India on the latter's role in Afghanistan after the complete withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan. In the past, successive US administrations have praised Indias role in peace and development in Afghanistan. India has been the largest regional contributor to Afghan reconstruction, but New Delhi has not shown an inclination to pursue a deeper defense relationship with Kabul, said a recent report on Afghanistan by the independent Congressional Research Service. Read more: NATO forces will leave Afghanistan together: Blinken Pakistans security establishment, fearful of strategic encirclement by India, apparently continues to view the Afghan Taliban as a relatively friendly and reliably anti-India element in Afghanistan. India's diplomatic and commercial presence in Afghanistan and US rhetorical support for it exacerbates Pakistani fears of encirclement, said the CRS report. The US and the Taliban signed a landmark deal in Doha on February 29, 2020, to bring lasting peace in war-torn Afghanistan and allow US troops to return home from America's longest war. Under the US-Taliban pact signed in Doha, the US agreed to withdraw all its soldiers from Afghanistan in 14 months. Since the US-led invasion that ousted the Taliban after the September 11, 2001 attacks, America has spent more than $1 trillion in fighting and rebuilding in Afghanistan. About 2,400 US soldiers have been killed, along with tens of thousands of Afghan troops, Taliban insurgents and Afghan civilians. A public policy brief produced by the Kathleen Babineaux Blanco Public Policy Center at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette compares transportation infrastructure spending in the state to national trends. The Blanco Public Policy Centers Funding Infrastructure in Louisiana also analyzes the long-term economic impact of increased investment in the states highways, roads and bridges. The Blanco Center contributes interdisciplinary, independent research to a host of public policy areas, including education, poverty and economic opportunity, criminal justice reform, governmental ethics and health care. Evidence-based data and research about the impact of using state dollars to address areas of concern is crucial in establishing priorities for fostering economic growth in Louisiana, said Dr. Stephen Barnes, the Blanco Public Policy Center Centers director. According to Funding Infrastructure in Louisiana, almost half of the 17,500 miles of highways and interstate maintained by the state are rated poor or mediocre. Fourteen percent of Louisianas 12,982 highway bridges are also considered structurally deficient. In fiscal year 2019, the Louisiana Department of Transportation and Development calculated a $14.8 billion backlog of infrastructure projects awaiting funding. Such projects are typically funded with a blend of state revenue and federal funds. Louisianas base gas tax, however, has lost significant purchasing power since the current rate was established in 1984. In Louisiana, state funds cover 49% of its transportation infrastructure projects; state funds cover 73% of such projects in the other states, according to the national average. Erich Ponti, president of the Louisiana Coalition to Fix Our Roads, said the public policy brief offers straightforward assessments about where our states transportation infrastructure stands and underscores a need for targeted funding. The Funding Infrastructure in Louisiana policy brief can be read on the Blanco Centers website; it was posted this week in conjunction with the beginning of the 2021 Louisiana legislative session, which began Monday. The Blanco Center Policy Briefs" will continue after the session ends on Thursday, June 10, as part of an ongoing series to inform policy makers and the public, Barnes said. Theyre designed to provide high level summaries of research and data related to important policy issues as part of the Blanco Centers commitment to advancing evidence-based public policy to help foster informed debate. Troy Wayman, One Acadiana president and CEO, said investment in transportation infrastructure creates a ripple effect, enhancing access to markets, labor and key locations that leads long-term economic growth. Investing in infrastructure unlocks economic development opportunities that will pay dividends in Acadiana and across the state, while providing vital improvements to safety and quality of life, Wayman said. The Blanco Center and One Acadiana established a strategic partnership to advance their shared missions improving and informing local, regional and state policies. An emphasis on increasing educational attainment and enhancing economic opportunity are two key areas of focus. The center was established in 2018 in honor of Gov. Kathleen Babineaux Blanco, a UL Lafayette alumna and the only woman to serve as Louisianas chief executive. Photo caption: A public policy brief produced by the Kathleen Babineaux Blanco Public Policy Center at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette compares transportation infrastructure spending in the state to national trends. Photo credit: Creative Commons / Darrell Miller Geneva, 15th April 2021 - When it was shown launching out of the sea to snatch birds from the air in the first episode of the BBC's Blue Planet II, the Seychelles giant trevally, or 'karang ledan' as it is called in Creole, became world-famous. Typically eating fish, not birds, this reef predator is critical for maintaining healthy balanced ecosystems. 'The giant trevally is a popular, sought-after prize fish in Seychelles, particularly in the big-game sportfishing industry. Seychelles has a reputation for being one of the best trevally destinations in the world. The species is also caught in the handline fishery,' explains Helena Sims, the Save Our Seas Foundation's Seychelles ambassador. Sims, with more than a decade of conservation experience, is part of the initiative determining which 30% of Seychelles waters should become marine protected areas (MPAs). 'Although the giant trevally is very popular and sought after, not much was known about its population dynamics in Seychelles until recently. For Seychelles, it is important to study the range of targeted species to better understand how to manage and conserve them effectively,' Sims explains. New research by the Save Our Seas Foundation D'Arros Research Centre (SOSF-DRC) has revealed that to protect giant trevally throughout their lifespan, the nursery areas of this iconic predator, which are critical habitats for the survival of the next generation, should be conserved. In addition, the larger areas these fish move through and frequently use as adults should be taken into account when conservation planning is undertaken. To find out where giant trevally went, and when and why, individuals were tagged with acoustic tags in 2019 and tracked across the Amirantes, a group of outer islands in Seychelles. Some were tracked for more than three years. This revealed that juveniles stayed around St Joseph Atoll, but that the extent of the area they frequently used quickly increased as they grew bigger. By the time they were adults, they were using the whole Amirantes Bank. Although small and large adults utilised similar areas, large adults occasionally travelled longer distances, probably driven by their need to find more food to eat as they grew, in order to meet their increasing energy requirements. Both the reduced risk of predation on account of their increased size and the onset of sexual maturity appear to be linked to them using a larger area and a wider diversity of habitats. This study showed that the area giant trevally frequently used was larger than had been reported from other tropical islands and atolls around the world. In this study 'it took some giant trevally a surprisingly long time - on average 18 months but sometimes over 30 - to use the full extent of their home range,' says Dr Ryan Daly, a former director of the SOSF-DRC. 'This emphasises the need to follow, track and monitor threatened species in the marine environment for long enough to appreciate the full extent of their home range and thus to understand how spatial protection like MPAs is going to be effective.' Daly led the study, which was published as 'Ontogenic shifts in home range size of a top predatory reef-associated fish (Caranx ignobilis): Implications for conservation' in Marine Ecology Progress Series on 15 April 2021. Daly suggests that further conservation planning in the region could take into account the findings of this study. The Save Our Seas Foundation (SOSF) commends the marine protection measures Seychelles is putting in place. 'The giant trevally is a beautiful fish and an important predator. I am delighted that our work from the D'Arros Research Centre is helping us learn more about its behaviour and providing insight to help its conservation,' comments the SOSF's Founder, His Excellency Abdulmohsen Abdulmalik Al-Sheikh. The entire Amirantes Bank, including St Joseph Atoll, has already been demarcated as part of an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty by the Seychelles government, which is a Zone 2 protected area. Within this area, fishing by foreign vessels is not allowed (with regulations to be finalised later this year for implementation). This is part of the Marine Spatial Plan Initiative by the Seychelles government, which announced a series of 13 new MPAs in March 2020. Daly recommends that St Joseph Atoll's Zone 2 status should not allow fishing of giant trevally because the area protects the next generation. If fishing is to be allowed at St Joseph Atoll, he advises that it should only be catch-and-release. He suggests the areas that the adults commonly use and occasionally move through, as revealed by this study, should also be considered when further conservation planning is carried out in the region. Daly explains that it will be important to find a balance between harvesting giant trevally as a food source and high-value giant trevally catch-and-release fishing. He encourages high-value catch-and-release fishing of giant trevally, but stresses that regardless of the balance chosen, it is important to protect nursery areas like St Joseph Atoll so that giant trevally fishing is sustainable. ### The Save Our Seas Foundation D'Arros Research Centre: Daly's research utilised the impressive network of 88 acoustic receivers positioned around St Joseph Atoll. This array of receivers is the only one of its size and kind in the Amirantes and belongs to the SOSF-DRC. The centre works with Seychellois to support research, conservation and education in Seychelles. The SOSF also provides technical support and funding to numerous conservation and research projects in Seychelles. Arca Continental announces an investment of close to US$500 million in 2021, 60% more than in 2020, to strengthen its operations in all the markets it serves MONTERREY, MEXICO / ACCESSWIRE / April 15, 2021 / Arca Continental, one of the world's largest Coca-Cola bottlers, announced today that it is planning to invest close to US$500 million in 2021, which will be allocated towards strengthening and innovating its production, distribution and execution capabilities, as well as promoting digitalization and sustainability projects in its operations in Mexico, the U.S., Ecuador, Peru and Argentina. In the midst of a challenging economic environment due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the company explained that approximately 42% of the total amount will be allocated to investment projects in Mexico. Prior to its Annual Shareholders' Meeting, the company's Chairman of the Board of Directors, Jorge Humberto Santos Reyna, and CEO, Arturo Gutierrez Hernandez, spoke about Arca Continental's performance in 2020 and outlined the main strategies for 2021. "To remain true to the historical legacy of Arca Continental, we rose to the challenge in 2020. Our top priorities were to ensure safe working conditions for our associates, support the communities where we live and work, guarantee the continuity of our operations, and support our customers during severe mobility restrictions and the economic downturn in the countries we serve, all with a clear focus on the business strategies we have defined as part of our long-term vision," stated Santos Reyna. During the presentation of the company's results, Gutierrez said that 2020 sales for Arca Continental increased 4% year-over-year to 169,314 million pesos. EBITDA totaled 32,147 million pesos, 5.7% higher than 2019, mitigating a volume fall of 3.8% in the countries where it attends. "In 2020 the company proved its capability to deliver sound results, even in adverse environments, always driven by our associates' commitment and professionalism. We achieved our goals by adapting to the new circumstances of the market, speeding up innovation and digitalization projects, as well as perfecting customer and consumer service models to achieve a better performance, all while sustaining profitability and the positive evolution that distinguishes us," explained Gutierrez. Key factors contributing to the company's profitability were its operational and administrative discipline, as well as the successful completion of its synergy plan announced in 2017 which totaled US$90 million, driven largely by our new production plant in Houston, Texas, which initiated operations in March 2020. The company stated that in 2021 it will continue strengthening its commitment to its associates and the community while advancing its customer service digital platforms, incorporating advanced analytics to improve point of sale service and expanding direct-to-consumer sales initiatives. About Arca Continental Arca Continental produces, distributes, and markets beverages under The Coca-Cola Company brand, as well as snacks in Mexico, Ecuador, and the United States. With an outstanding history spanning more than 95 years, Arca Continental is the second-largest Coca-Cola bottler in Latin America, and one of the largest in the world. Through its Coca-Cola franchise, the company serves more than 123 million people in the Northern and Western regions in Mexico, as well as in Ecuador, Peru, in the Northern region of Argentina, and in the Southwestern United States. Arca Continental is listed on the Mexican Stock Exchange under the ticker "AC". For more information about Arca Continental, please visit www.arcacontal.com SOURCE: ARCA CONTINENTAL, S.A.B. DE C.V. View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/640582/AC-Strengthens-Investment-Commitment-for-2021 Salix Pharmaceuticals Sponsored Report, Patient Perspectives: Living with IBS in a Pandemic Insights May Help Health Care Providers Have Productive Conversations with Their Patients About IBS Symptoms LAVAL, Quebec, April 15, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Bausch Health Companies Inc. (NYSE/TSX: BHC) ("Bausch Health") and its gastroenterology (GI) business, Salix Pharmaceuticals ("Salix"), one of the largest specialty pharmaceutical companies in the world committed to the prevention and treatment of gastrointestinal diseases, today released a report of survey results that offers perspectives from U.S. adults living with irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) during the COVID-19 pandemic. Entitled Patient Perspectives: Living with IBS in a Pandemic, the report provides insights about the symptoms and behaviors of IBS patients over the past year (March 2020 March 2021). Most notably, more than one-third (37%) of those surveyed acknowledge that the COVID-19 pandemic has made it more challenging to manage their IBS symptoms. The report, which was developed based on a survey conducted by The Fairleigh Dickinson University Poll, also finds concerns about post-pandemic life and insights about the way patients are communicating with their health care providers. Experience the interactive Multimedia News Release here: https://www.multivu.com/players/English/8700351-salix-pharmaceuticals-survey-living-with-ibs-in-a-pandemic Salix_Logo "It's been just over a year since the COVID-19 pandemic upended lives across the nation. Salix is committed to helping patients with GI conditions, and we believe it is important to gain an understanding of how the COVID-19 pandemic may impact people living with IBS, a common gastrointestinal disorder that is estimated to affect more than 12 million Americans1," said Robert Spurr, president, Salix Pharmaceuticals. "We believe these new insights may foster important dialogue between health care providers and their patients." Story continues Key findings from the report include: The pandemic is impacting the wellbeing of IBS patients with 49% reporting that their mental health has worsened. Of the respondents, 51% report worse physical activity and 34% state worse eating habits. Many respondents report deteriorating IBS symptoms. According to the survey, 33% report worsened diarrhea, 31% report worsened constipation, 39% report worsened abdominal pain or discomfort, and 42% report worsened bloating. 35% of respondents have not discussed their IBS symptoms with a health care provider at all since the COVID-19 pandemic began. Respondents express concerns about post-pandemic life, including lack of access to restrooms (55%) and being able to attend social gatherings (48%). To view the complete findings from the Patient Perspectives: Living with IBS in a Pandemic report, visit https://www.multivu.com/players/English/8700351-salix-pharmaceuticals-survey-living-with-ibs-in-a-pandemic/. About the Methodology Behind Patient Perspectives: Living with IBS in a Pandemic Data is from a representative non-probability online sample of U.S. residents and was carried out in March 2021 by Fairleigh Dickinson University's FDU Poll. Participants were recruited based on previously reported gastrointestinal issues. The overall sample size of the survey was 695 respondents and was screened to include only those who self-reported having IBS with constipation, Chronic Idiopathic Constipation or IBS with diarrhea. Respondents were drawn from multiple panels of U.S. residents and were compensated for their time. Due to the limitations of this survey, results may not be representative of the general IBS population. About Fairleigh Dickinson University Since 2001, Fairleigh Dickinson University's FDU Poll has conducted survey research on issues of public importance. Utilizing best practices in survey methodology, FDU Poll produces authoritative statewide and national public polling. In addition, FDU Poll engages in research for corporate, non-profit and government entities. As a charter member of the American Association for Public Opinion Research's Transparency Initiative, the FDU Poll is devoted to building public confidence in polling by embracing the open science of survey research. About Salix Salix Pharmaceuticals is one of the largest specialty pharmaceutical companies in the world committed to the prevention and treatment of gastrointestinal diseases. For more than 30 years, Salix has licensed, developed and marketed innovative products to improve patients' lives and arm health care providers with life-changing solutions for many chronic and debilitating conditions. Salix currently markets its product line to U.S. health care providers through an expanded sales force that focuses on gastroenterology, hepatology, pain specialists and primary care. Salix is headquartered in Bridgewater, New Jersey. For more information about Salix, visit www.Salix.com and connect with us on Twitter and LinkedIn. About Bausch Health Bausch Health Companies Inc. (NYSE/TSX: BHC) is a global company whose mission is to improve people's lives with our health care products. We develop, manufacture and market a range of pharmaceutical, medical device and over-the-counter products, primarily in the therapeutic areas of eye health, gastroenterology, and dermatology. We are delivering on our commitments as we build an innovative company dedicated to advancing global health. More information can be found at www.bauschhealth.com. Forward-looking Statements This news release may contain forward-looking statements, which may generally be identified by the use of the words "anticipates," "expects," "intends," "plans," "should," "could," "would," "may," "believes," "estimates," "potential," "target," or "continue" and variations or similar expressions. These statements are based upon the current expectations and beliefs of management and are subject to certain risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those described in the forward-looking statements. These risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to, the risks and uncertainties discussed in the Bausch Health's most recent annual report on Form 10-K and detailed from time to time in Bausch Health's other filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and the Canadian Securities Administrators, which factors are incorporated herein by reference. They also include, but are not limited to, risks and uncertainties caused by or relating to the evolving COVID-19 pandemic, and the fear of that pandemic and its potential effects, the severity, duration, and future impact of which are highly uncertain and cannot be predicted, and which may have a material adverse impact on Bausch Health, including but not limited to its project development timelines, and costs (which may increase). Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on any of these forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements speak only as of the date hereof. Bausch Health undertakes no obligation to update any of these forward-looking statements to reflect events or circumstances after the date of this news release or to reflect actual outcomes, unless required by law. References Palsson OS, Whitehead W, Tornblom H, Sperber AD, Simren M. Prevalence of Rome IV Functional Bowel Disorders Among Adults in the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom. Gastroenterology. 2020 Apr;158(5):1262-1273.e3. doi: 10.1053/j.gastro.2019.12.021. Epub 2020 Jan 7. PMID: 31917991. SAL.0059.USA.21 2021 Salix Pharmaceuticals or its affiliates. Bausch_Health_Logo SOURCE Salix Pharmaceuticals IRVINE, Calif., April 15, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- The pandemic has shaken up the coworking/flexible office space industry with struggling and bankrupt1 coworking operators dominating the headlines. Many coworking operators closed2 their doors, leaving office building owners with empty and vacant floors previously occupied by these coworking companies. Premier Workspaces (formerly Premier Business Centers) has positioned itself to offer such office building owners solutions. With the backing of its multi-billion dollar real estate holding company investor (The Bascom Group, LLC), Premier is moving forward with plans to grow by taking over these distressed locations and adding more than 100 new locations over the next few years. Premier Workspaces, Washington DC Jeff Reinstein, Premier CEO Premier, one of the largest privately held coworking/executive suite operators in the US, started with the bankruptcy sale acquisition of American Office Centers. nearly 20 years ago. Premier has since owned or operated a total of 132 shared workspace locations and more than two million square feet of space. Over these two decades, Premier has never had an unprofitable year, nor defaulted on a lease, making Premier a trusted option for landlords. Premier's impressive, yet responsible growth, comes from operating coworking spaces with a healthy mixture of master leases, subleases, and management/partnership agreements. This strategic growth comes not only from new buildouts, but also from the managing and repositioning of distressed locations. As a pioneer in the management agreement model, Premier signed its first management contract to operate a coworking space nearly 20 years ago and has continued to grow the management portion of its portfolio. In 2020, Premier added five new managed shared office spaces. These managed locations also include a coworking space within a luxury apartment community the latest amenity trend in rental housing. Jeff Reinstein, Premier's Chief Executive Officer, says he is convinced that businesses will not only still need office space, but also seek the flexibility and convenience of full-service office solutions like Premier Workspaces offers. With news of large national and global companies going through restructuring3, having to right-size their footprints4 or in extreme cases, filing for bankruptcy5, Reinstein thinks the industry is ripe for consolidation. "Over the past nearly 20 years, Premier Workspaces has taken over and repositioned 74 distressed or bankrupt shared workspace locations. There is no company in our industry that has the same track record or depth of experience as Premier Workspaces in taking over and repositioning failed shared workspace locations." "We are getting calls from landlords daily," stated Michael Pollack, Vice President, Director of Real Estate at Premier. "Landlords are inquiring about possible partnerships to take-over spaces where coworking operators are not paying rent or simply notified them that they are leaving. We are able to sign short-term management agreements to stabilize the center and then convert it to a long-term master lease, unless the landlord prefers a long-term management deal." The Orange County-born coworking company expects to take-over, partner with, or start up 100 coworking spaces nationwide totaling another estimated two million square feet of space. "Bascom is committed to supporting Premier Workspaces' upcoming growth," said Jerry Fink, Managing Partner at Bascom Group, LLC. Bascom Group's commitment of financial support certainly adds credibility to the announcement. David Kim, Managing Partner at Bascom Group added "We are excited about the opportunity in the coworking space today and our turnaround experience is a natural fit with the distress in the industry." An example of the win-win nature of such transactions is one of the many management deals done by Premier with a large, institutional office building owner such as the Irvine Company. In this example, after another operator defaulted, Premier Workspaces quickly assumed management of over 200,000 square feet of space across the six Irvine Company properties in Southern California. Premier was able to retain nearly all of the existing clients, dramatically reduce recurring operational expenses, and increase revenue through a more diverse product offering and favorable client negotiations. Finally, and most importantly to the building owner, Premier Workspaces converted all six locations to master leases prior to the one-year mark. "We offer landlords our unparalleled experience as well as internal infrastructure that allows us to better understand and fulfill the opportunity of each location." said Amy Fuller, the Company's SVP of Sales & Marketing. Premier's shared workspaces were fortuitously designed with an almost exclusive focus on individual, private offices, which has become highly desired in this Covid-19 environment. This allowed the company to retain almost all of its client base during the pandemic. The swift implementation of additional COVID-19 protocols allowed the company to attract a new client base while competitors repositioned their centers by dividing large team rooms or shared coworking areas. As a result, Premier has seen a consistent increase in activity in recent months. Much of this activity is driven by corporate clients seeking remote or spoke locations in the communities where their employees live. They also appreciate the added flexibility of short-term agreements as they incorporate coworking into their real estate strategy to attract and retain talent. Before as Premier Business Centers and now as Premier Workspaces, Premier has been a trusted, industry leader with nearly 20 years of management knowledge and experience both clients and landlords can count on. About Premier Workspaces: Premier Workspaces (http://www.premierworkspaces.com) operates one of the largest privately owned executive suite, coworking and shared workspace companies in the United States with locations in Arizona, California, Colorado, Florida, Hawaii, Illinois, Nevada, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Texas, Washington, and the District of Columbia. Founded in 2002, the company has grown from 9 to over 90 centers under lease or management, providing over 1.6 million square feet of commercial office space and serving more than 16,000 clients daily. About Bascom: The Bascom Group, LLC (http://www.bascomgroup.com) is a private equity firm specializing in value-added multifamily, commercial, and non-performing loans and real estate related investments and operating companies. Bascom sources value-added and distressed properties including many through foreclosure, bankruptcy, or short sales and repositions them by adding extensive capital improvements, improving revenue, and reducing expenses by realizing operational efficiencies through implementation of institutional-quality property management. Bascom, founded by principals Jerry Fink, David Kim, and Derek Chen, is one of the most active and seasoned buyers and operators of apartment communities in the U.S. Since 1996, Bascom has completed over $21.7 billion in multifamily and commercial value-added transactions including more than 653 multifamily properties containing over 173,000 units. Bascom has ranked among the top 50 multifamily owners in the U.S. Bascom's subsidiaries and joint ventures include Bascom Value Added Apartment Investors, Shubin Nadal Associates, Spirit Bascom Ventures, REDA Bascom Ventures, MHF RM Holdings, Bascom Northwest Ventures, Bascom Arizona Ventures, Harbor Associates, Village Partners Ventures, and the Realm Group. 1 Regus Co-Working Company Files More Bankruptcies But Suffern Location Still Operating (https://rcbizjournal.com/2020/09/17/regus-co-working-company-files-more-bankruptcies-but-suffer-location-still-operating/) 2 Coworking Provider MakeOffices Is Closing Down (https://www.bisnow.com/washington-dc/news/coworking/dc-coworking-provider-makeoffices-closing-down-107355) 3 WeWork Forerunner IWG/Regus Restructures its Business, Unleashing Mayhem on Landlords and Investors (https://wolfstreet.com/2020/10/29/wework-forerunner-iwg-regus-restructures-its-business-unleashing-mayhem-on-landlords-and-investors/) 4 Coworking CEO Says Business Model 'Never Made Sense,' Closes All Locations (https://www.bisnow.com/national/news/coworking/breather-closes-400-locations-lays-off-employees-online-only-107142) 5 Knotel Files for Bankruptcy as Pandemic Strains Office Rentals (https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-02-01/knotel-files-for-bankruptcy-as-pandemic-strains-office-rentals) 6 Irvine Co. tells 450 small businesses not pay rent to ROC after terminating lease (https://www.ocregister.com/2017/08/31/irvine-co-terminates-lease-with-roc-offices-shared-by-some-450-small-businesses-in-newport-beach-irvine/) Contact: Charlie Brown 949-253-4179 [email protected] SOURCE Premier Workspaces Questo comunicato e stato pubblicato piu di 30 giorni fa. Le informazioni su questa pagina potrebbero non essere attendibili. The global market size of Tolfenpyrad is $XX million in 2018 with XX CAGR from 2014 to 2018, and it is expected to reach $XX million by the end of 2024 with a CAGR of XX% from 2019 to 2024. Global Tolfenpyrad Market Report 2019 - Market Size, Share, Price, Trend and Forecast is a professional and in-depth study on the current state of the global Tolfenpyrad industry. The key insights of the report: 1.The report provides key statistics on the market status of the Tolfenpyrad manufacturers and is a valuable source of guidance and direction for companies and individuals interested in the industry. 2.The report provides a basic overview of the industry including its definition, applications and manufacturing technology. 3.The report presents the company profile, product specifications, capacity, production value, and 2013-2018 market shares for key vendors. 4.The total market is further divided by company, by country, and by application/type for the competitive landscape analysis. 5.The report estimates 2019-2024 market development trends of Tolfenpyrad industry. 6.Analysis of upstream raw materials, downstream demand, and current market dynamics is also carried out 7.The report makes some important proposals for a new project of Tolfenpyrad Industry before evaluating its feasibility. 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We also can offer customized report to fulfill special requirements of our clients. Regional and Countries report can be provided as well. Lloyds announced the next 11 insurtech start-ups that are participating in the sixth cohort of its Lloyds Lab innovation accelerator program. These insurtechs will be focused on creating simpler products for customers, including building solutions related to climate risks. This follows Lloyds commitment to reducing product complexity and enhancing coverage clarity as well as its focus on climate change resilience, detailed in its Futureset platform. The Lloyds Lab program received 177 applications, from which 11 successful teams have been selected to form the next cohort, beginning on April 26, 2021. The cohort will begin in a virtual capacity but will be able to return to the physical Lloyds Lab workspace in London from June 21 (pending completion of the UK governments plans to ease COVID-19 restrictions). The insurtechs have been selected based on solutions geared towards four key themes: climate change and decarbonization; geopolitics; data and models, and claims support services. The teams will explore how they can support Lloyds customers around the world by creating simpler products capable of responding quickly in the aftermath of a disaster. The 11 teams selected are: Moonshot is an analytics firm that builds technology to map extremism, disinformation and organized crime. is an analytics firm that builds technology to map extremism, disinformation and organized crime. Verisk Maplecroft uses a combination of risk analytics and expert analysis to help companies manage risks that can undermine commercial value, damage brand reputation and disrupt global operations, investments and supply chains. uses a combination of risk analytics and expert analysis to help companies manage risks that can undermine commercial value, damage brand reputation and disrupt global operations, investments and supply chains. Scrub AI specializes in automating the repetitive task of data cleansing or scrubbing. specializes in automating the repetitive task of data cleansing or scrubbing. Supercede Technology helps cedents and brokers automate the creation of submission packs, for a more reliable presentation of risk to reinsurers. helps cedents and brokers automate the creation of submission packs, for a more reliable presentation of risk to reinsurers. Safekeep is an AI subrogation solution that increases the number of recoverable claims by 37%, increases dollar net recoveries by 21%, and reduces effort by 90%. is an AI subrogation solution that increases the number of recoverable claims by 37%, increases dollar net recoveries by 21%, and reduces effort by 90%. SettleIndex is a litigation risk platform that cuts the time and cost of resolving disputes. is a litigation risk platform that cuts the time and cost of resolving disputes. DistriBind uses AI to deliver efficiencies in delegated authority through automation. uses AI to deliver efficiencies in delegated authority through automation. CarbonChain helps companies automate the accounting of their carbon emissions. helps companies automate the accounting of their carbon emissions. Jupiter Intelligence provides climate risk analysis of multiple perils, in spatial resolutions from portfolio to asset level, globally and across flexible time horizons and climate scenarios. provides climate risk analysis of multiple perils, in spatial resolutions from portfolio to asset level, globally and across flexible time horizons and climate scenarios. Tesselo is a geospatial intelligence firm delivering solutions to monitor natural resources (trees, soils, crop) and reduce climatic risks. is a geospatial intelligence firm delivering solutions to monitor natural resources (trees, soils, crop) and reduce climatic risks. Gaia has created an insurance product to make IVF treatments more accessible, affordable and personal. (Gaia has been invited to join the cohort, based on its innovative fertility solution, despite the fact that it is outside of the main four themes). Source: Lloyds Topics Excess Surplus InsurTech Tech Lloyd's Twelve people were still missing on April 14 after six other crew members were pulled from rough seas following the capsizing of their commercial platform vessel during a microburst of bad weather off the coast of Louisiana, the U.S. Coast Guard reported. The search involved at least four Coast Guard vessels, four private ones and Coast Guard airplanes based in Corpus Christi, Texas, and Mobile, Alabama. A Coast Guard helicopter also was being used. Lafourche Parish President Archie Chaisson III confirmed that 18 people were on board before the Seacor Power flipped over in rough seas. The hope is that we can bring the other 12 home alive, Chaisson said Wednesday morning. Time is of the essence in the rescue efforts, as we have the potential for some rough weather around lunchtime, he added. Relatives of the missing crew members rushed to the port from their homes nearby, seeking any information they could get, Chaisson said. We continue to pray for the 18 men who were on that vessel as well as their families, Chaisson said. The company involved, Houston-based Seacor Marine, set up a private hotline to share information with families of those onboard, Chaisson said. An employee who answered the phone said he had no immediate information he could share. The National Weather Service in New Orleans had been warning of bad weather offshore, including a special marine warning issued before 4 p.m. on April 13 that predicted steep waves and winds greater than 50 knots (58 mph). The Seacor Power crew sent an emergency distress signal a half-hour later, at 4:30 p.m., according to the Coast Guard, which then issued an urgent marine broadcast that prompted multiple private vessels in the area to respond, saving four of the crewmembers, the agency said. Coast Guard crews in boats rescued another two people. A search plane also joined the effort, miles south of Port Fourchon. There was a microburst of weather that came through the area at the time, Coast Guard Petty Officer 2nd Class Jonathan Lally said. Capt. Ronald Dufrene said his offshore trawler Mister Jug was among the shrimp boats that struggled to survive the storm. He said the captain who was on board told him seas rose 15 to 20 feet (5 to 6 meters). They lost the wind gage at 80 miles (129 kilometers) an hour, Dufrene said. They say it blew like that for more than an hour. People who have been fishing 30, 40 years the first time they put their life jackets on was yesterday. I know three boats for sure said that, Dufrene said. The Seacor Power, a bulky vessel 129-feet (39-meters) long at its beam, is designed to become an offshore platform by dropping three towering legs down to the sea floor. It flipped over in the high wind and rough seas. At one point, it would be seen on video with one of its legs pointed awkwardly skyward as rescuers searched in the heaving water. Port Fourchon, Louisianas southernmost seaport, is a major base for the U.S. oil and gas industry, supporting most of Louisianas offshore platforms and drilling rigs. The storm also overturned other vessels and damaged property from Louisianas shore up to New Orleans. The Coast Guard warned in a Facebook post that the storms caused significant hazards to life and property. Copyright 2021 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. Topics Louisiana Great Barrington Police Chief Paul Storti is convening two online forums this month to help his department better understand the needs of the local Asian community. Brad Thomas, CEO Prophecy International (ASX:PRO) As a cyber vendor with over 4000 customers it's great to be able to share our knowledge and help other around the globe and to further advance Prophecy as a leader in these areas. Brad Thomas, CEO of the Australian-based software development company Prophecy International (ASX:PRO), has been accepted into Forbes Technology Council, an invitation-only community for world-class CIOs, CTOs, and technology executives. Thomas was vetted and selected by a review committee based on the depth and diversity of his experience. Criteria for acceptance include a track record of successfully impacting business growth metrics, as well as personal and professional achievements and honors. We are honored to welcome Brad Thomas into the community, said Scott Gerber, founder of Forbes Councils, the collective that includes Forbes Technology Council. Our mission with Forbes Councils is to bring together proven leaders from every industry, creating a curated, social capital-driven network that helps every member grow professionally and make an even greater impact on the business world. As an accepted member of the Council, Brad has access to a variety of exclusive opportunities designed to help him reach peak professional influence. He will connect and collaborate with other respected local leaders in a private forum. Brad will also be invited to work with a professional editorial team to share his expert insights in original business articles on Forbes.com, and to contribute to published Q&A panels alongside other experts. Finally, Brad Thomas will benefit from exclusive access to vetted business service partners, membership-branded marketing collateral, and the high-touch support of the Forbes Councils member concierge team. This is an exciting opportunity to have an impact on a world stage by collaborating and sharing knowledge with other leaders. I look forward to working with other members to advance both cyber security and customer experience. As a cyber vendor with over 4000 customers it's great to be able to share our knowledge and help other around the globe and to further advance Prophecy as a leader in these areas, Thomas said. ABOUT FORBES COUNCILS Forbes Councils is a collective of invitation-only communities created in partnership with Forbes and the expert community builders who founded Young Entrepreneur Council (YEC). In Forbes Councils, exceptional business owners and leaders come together with the people and resources that can help them thrive. For more information about Forbes Technology Council, visit forbestechcouncil.com. To learn more about Forbes Councils, visit forbescouncils.com. ABOUT PROPHECY INTERNATIONAL Prophecy International Holdings Limited is a listed Australian company (ASX:PRO) that has been operating globally since the 1980s. More recently the focus at Prophecy has been on growing the eMite and Snare lines of business. eMite service intelligence platform combines analytics, correlation, capacity, and performance, availability, and SLA management into a single, out of the box solution to provide customers with real time insight. The Snare product suite is a highly scalable platform of security products designed to find, filter and forward event log data. Snare log sources include Windows, flat files, databases, Linux, Mac, and Solaris with coverage for desktops and servers. Prophecy operates globally from Adelaide and Sydney in Australia, London in the United Kingdom and in Denver, USA. Visit http://www.prophecyinternational.com. Under a government decision approved today, the Republic of Moldova will be offered another 132,000 doses of COVID-19 vaccine, free of charge, the Health Ministry announced on Thursday. "The regulatory act provides for the grant of a free humanitarian aid to the Republic of Moldova's National Public Health Agency, for the management of the COVID-19 epidemic following the activation of the EU's Civil Protection Mechanism. A number of 132,000 doses of COVID-19 vaccine delivered by AstraZeneca and purchased by the Health Ministry will be allocated to the Republic of Moldova. The Interior Ministry's Department for Emergency Situations - the General Inspectorate for Emergency Situations will ensure the transport of the vaccines," the release states, agerpres.ro confirms. Queenslands Premier has rejected calls for an independent inquiry into abandoned fraud charges that led to the sacking of one of the states largest councils, as the head of the states corruption watchdog expressed his disappointment in the prosecutors decision to drop the charges. A lack of evidence led the Director of Public Prosecutions to drop charges against seven former Logan councillors on Thursday, almost two years they were automatically suspended for an alleged plot to push out the councils then-chief executive. The decision to drop charges has sparked calls for changes to the legislation, compensation for the councillors and a probe into the corruption watchdogs actions. Credit:Jimboomba Times Under laws enacted in 2018, then-local government minister Stirling Hinchliffe said he was left with no choice but to dismiss the entire council because it could not form a quorum. The decision has sparked calls for changes to the legislation, compensation for the councillors and a probe into the corruption watchdogs actions while chairman Alan MacSporran, QC, stood aside. Former mayor Luke Smith has been committed to stand trial on separate charges. The S-97 RAIDER, solely funded by Sikorsky is the only representative FARA aircraft flying today and provides risk reduction for Sikorsky's FARA concept, RAIDER X, a fast, agile, survivable compound coaxial helicopter that will allow future aviators to address evolving peer and near-peer threats in the most difficult environments. "Since the first Black Hawk took to the skies in the 1970s, to when our teams broke helicopter speed records with X2 Technology in 2010, we have been working with our Army partners to develop and deliver low-risk, transformational, affordable and sustainable aircraft to support the warfighters' missions," said Sikorsky President Paul Lemmo, who was at Redstone this week. "This is the first of what we believe will be many times our X2 Future Vertical Lift aircraft will fly at Redstone." RAIDER X will fully integrate the strengths of Lockheed Martin such as digital thread, advanced manufacturing, sustainment, training, and weapon and mission system development, manufacture and integration. At Sikorsky, the digital thread is built into current programs and is being utilized today in our digital advanced manufacturing facility. This proven, holistic life-cycle approach runs seamlessly throughout the design, development, production, supply chain and sustainment process. Today, all of Sikorsky's programs are born in a digital environment. The power of this digital thread drives affordability, producibility and reliability across the aircraft lifecycle. In addition to the FARA competition, Sikorsky and partner Boeing are offering the DEFIANT X for the Army's Future Long-Range Assault Aircraft (FLRAA) competition. With RAIDER X and DEFIANT X, the Army could have common, scalable aircraft with the mission advantage the Army is looking for. Both FARA and FLRAA are among the Army's top modernization priorities meant to address near-peer threats in the multi-domain operations (MDO) of 2030 and beyond. "Through this week's RAIDER flight and our ongoing test program with DEFIANT, we are demonstrating the future of Army Aviation," said Kevin Mangum, Lockheed Martin vice president, Army programs. "With RAIDER X, we will fill a critical Army capability gap, providing the speed, reach, lethality and convergence to fight and win on the MDO battlefield, today and into the future. DEFIANT X will be the world's best assault aircraft like our great Black Hawk for decades to come. Our X2-designed aircraft provide commonality in parts, systems, maintenance and training. And, DEFIANT X has the same operational footprint as the Black Hawk, reducing the Army's total cost of ownership by eliminating any modifications to existing facilities." Flight Demonstrations Highlight Maneuverability and Speed Where it Matters On April 13 and 15 at Redstone, Sikorsky's Christiaan Corry and Bill Fell piloted the S-97 RAIDER flight routines that highlighted both low-level helicopter maneuverability and the high-speed capability that only Sikorsky's X2 Technology family of helicopters offers. Corry previously flew with the first Army experimental test pilot in S-97 RAIDER, with additional events to come. "Flying RAIDER continues to amaze me," said Corry, a former U.S. Marine with more than 4,500 flight hours in 25 types of aircraft including the CH-53E, CH-53K and others. "The combination of the coaxial rotors and the propulsor are really the enablers for this transformational technology. As we demonstrated today, in low-speed flight we are as capable as a conventional helicopter, but when we engage the prop, we are able to operate in a whole new way it's much more like flying an airplane." "RAIDER is a tremendous risk reduction vehicle for RAIDER X and DEFIANT X and enables us to make data-driven design decisions for both aircraft," said Fell, a retired Master Army Aviator and former Army experimental test pilot. "Every time we fly, we are learning something that goes right into RAIDER X and DEFIANT X." Sikorsky has been flying and testing X2 Technology for more than a decade, accumulating nearly 500 hours on its X2 Technology test beds and aircraft including the X2 Technology Demonstrator, RAIDER and DEFIANT. Sustaining the Future Fleet Using Tools Proven Today Also while at Redstone, Sikorsky discussed its approach to mission and weapons systems integration, manufacturing and sustainment. For example, its FVL aircraft will have much more actionable maintenance data, providing commanders with information to accurately assess the health state of the weapon systems as well as the ability to self-diagnose maintenance and predict aircraft availability. That increases the operational readiness and availability and reduces life cycle costs associated with that platform. With Sikorsky's Fleet Decision Tool, commanders can aggregate data from individual aircraft based on operational requirements, aircraft health assessment and maintenance flow to ensure they're optimizing readiness and aircraft availability across the entire fleet. "This means that I, as a commander, could look at my aircraft battalion and understand the health of each one of the aircraft and prioritize the right aircraft for the next mission," Mangum said. "This positions us to meet the Army's Maintenance-Free Operating Periods in which RAIDER X and DEFIANT X helicopters could operate without the need for service for an extended period of time." Operations in Huntsville Sikorsky's facility in Cummings Research Park in Huntsville houses about 100 employees dedicated to supporting Future Vertical Lift, U.S. Army Black Hawk helicopters and other military aviation programs. Also located in Huntsville is Sikorsky's RAIDER X Portable Full-Mission Simulator (PFMS). The simulator consists of a full cockpit with a wrap-around dome for out-the-window visuals which can be updated as the system matures. In addition to the basic flying, the cockpit simulates sensors, weapons and a variety of tactical environments. The high-fidelity simulator has welcomed Army aviators, Soldiers and leaders at tradeshows and special events around the U.S. since 2018. In addition, Sikorsky and Boeing have developed a DEFIANT X simulator, which is permanently located at the Sikorsky Huntsville facility. The DEFIANT X simulator will allow Army aviators, Solider and leaders to experience the unique flight characteristics provided by X2 Technology as well as experiencing the mission system approach to the FLRAA mission. Learn more at our Future Vertical Lift webpage: www.lockheedmartin.com/fvl. About Lockheed Martin Headquartered in Bethesda, Maryland, Lockheed Martin Corporation is a global security and aerospace company that employs approximately 114,000 people worldwide and is principally engaged in the research, design, development, manufacture, integration and sustainment of advanced technology systems, products and services. Please follow @LMNews on Twitter for the latest announcements and news across the corporation. SOURCE Lockheed Martin Corporation Related Links http://www.lmsg.lmco.com/gsa Source: Xinhua| 2021-04-15 18:30:30|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close The China-Europe cargo train arrives in Paris, France, June 23, 2020. (Xinhua/Xu Yongchun) BEIJING, April 15 (Xinhua) -- Chinese President Xi Jinping has, on various occasions, called for strengthening cooperation with Germany and France in jointly tackling the COVID-19 pandemic, climate change and other global issues. Here are some highlights of his remarks on China's cooperation with Germany and France. Boxes containing 50,000 medical masks donated by Sany Group to Germany is seen before shipment at its industrial park in Changsha city, central China's Hunan province, March 14, 2020. (Xinhua) April 7, 2021 Xi held a phone conversation with German Chancellor Angela Merkel. -- China stands ready to work with the EU to ensure the success of a series of important political agendas for the next stage through consultation, deepen and expand practical cooperation across the board, strengthen communication on climate change and other global governance issues, and jointly practice multilateralism, Xi said. -- Vaccines are used to prevent diseases and save lives, he said, stressing that China opposes the politicization of vaccines or "vaccine nationalism," and stands ready to work with Germany and the international community as a whole to promote fair and reasonable vaccine distribution, support and help developing countries to obtain vaccines, and contribute to humankind's common fight against the pandemic for an early victory. Feb. 25, 2021 Xi held a telephone conversation with his French counterpart, Emmanuel Macron. -- Xi said that China and France should continue to champion multilateralism, and inspire global efforts to uphold equity and justice, coordination and cooperation, as well as openness and inclusiveness, so as to make due contributions to achieving an early victory in humanity's fight against COVID-19 and promoting world peace and development. China, he said, has offered COVID-19 vaccine aid to more than 50 developing countries, and stands ready to work with France to support the World Health Organization's role in international cooperation against the pandemic, and actively participate in the Access to COVID-19 Tools Accelerator initiative and the COVID-19 Vaccines Global Access Facility. Dec. 30, 2020 A meeting was held between Xi and Merkel, Macron, President of the European Council Charles Michel and President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen via video link. -- Xi called for coordinated actions of pandemic response to ensure the equal distribution of COVID-19 vaccines as global public goods, especially to make sure the move benefits developing countries. -- Xi called for speeding up green development, urging the two sides to give full play to their high-level dialogue mechanism on environment and climate, and give mutual support to each other in hosting international conferences on biodiversity, climate change, and conservation of nature. A China-Europe freight train carrying medical supplies bound for Madrid of Spain departs from the city of Yiwu, east China's Zhejiang Province, June 5, 2020. (Photo by Lyu Bin/Xinhua) Sept. 14, 2020 Xi co-hosted a China-Germany-EU leaders' meeting in Beijing via video link with Merkel, whose country was holding the EU's rotating presidency, Michel and von der Leyen. -- Xi pointed out the COVID-19 pandemic is accelerating changes unseen in a century, and mankind is standing at a new crossroad faced with multiple common challenges. It is only more imperative for China and the EU, as two major forces, markets and civilizations, to firmly grasp the general trend of mutual support and united cooperation in face of such situations, unswervingly promote the sound and stable development of the China-EU comprehensive strategic partnership, to inject more positive energy into COVID-19 response efforts, economic recovery and championing justice, Xi said. -- "The two sides should forge China-EU green partnerships," Xi said, adding that the two sides need to participate constructively in the global multilateral process of tackling climate change and protecting global biodiversity, support each other in running the UN Climate Change Conference in Glasgow next year (2021) and promoting the 15th Conference of the Parties of the convention on biodiversity in Kunming to achieve positive results, and contribute to global sustainable development. Representatives pose for a photo after the arrival of the China-Europe cargo train in Paris, France, June 23, 2020. (Xinhua/Xu Yongchun) June 6, 2020 Xi held a phone conversation with Macron. -- Xi stressed that China and France have maintained high-level strategic coordination since the onset of the COVID-19 outbreak. Noting that the spread of the coronavirus has not been effectively contained globally, Xi said that solidarity and cooperation are the right way forward. The two countries, he added, should promote joint research, support international cooperation in vaccine and drug research and development, step up efforts to implement the consensus reached at the 73rd World Health Assembly, and enhance support for the World Health Organization. -- He said China is pleased with the progress achieved in EU integration and stands ready to strengthen strategic cooperation with the EU, advance major political agendas between the two sides, support multilateralism, and jointly tackle such global challenges as public health, climate change and biodiversity, so as to work for sound and steady development of China-EU relations. Opinion Policies Editorials are longer opinion pieces that are written by a group of community members recruited across campus who address relevant issues on a local, national and international level. Editorials are research-based. The purpose of the Editorial Board is to promote discussion concerning relevant issues in the community while advising on possible solutions. Topics are chosen via relevancy and interests of the members, which are then discussed by the Editorial Board in order to reach a general consensus concerning the topic or issue. Feedback policy If you have a grievance concerning the content or argument of the Editorial Board, please contact either Opinion Editor Peyton Hamel (peyton.hamel@iowastatedaily.com) or the Editorial Board as a whole (editorialboard@iowastatedaily.com). Those wanting to respond to editorials can also submit a letter to the editor through the Iowa State Daily website or by emailing the letter to Opinion Editor Peyton Hamel (peyton.hamel@iowastatedaily.com) or Editor-in-Chief Sage Smith (sage.smith@iowastatedaily.com). Column Policy Columns are hyper-specific to opinion and are written by only columnists employed by the Iowa State Daily. Columnists are unique because they have a specific writing day and only publish on those writing days. Each column undergoes a thorough editing process ensuring the integrity of the writer, and their claim is maintained while remaining research-based and respectful. Columns may be submitted from community members. These are labelled as Guest Columns. These contain similar research-based content and need to be at least 400 words in length. The following requirements should be met: first and last name, email and relation or position to Iowa State. Emails must be tied to the submitted guest column or it will not be accepted or published. Pseudonyms are prohibited and the writer will be banned from submissions. Read our full Opinion Policies here. Updated on 10/7/2020 Samantha Armytage held on tight to new husband Richard Lavender as they attended the state funeral of her late fashion designer friend, Carla Zampatti, on Thursday. The duo joined a bevy of stars at the service to pay their respects to the late industry icon, who died tragically on April 3. Samantha, 44, looked stylish in a black figure-hugging dress, believed to be a design of Carla's, as they attended the funeral at Sydney's St Mary's Cathedral. Paying tribute: Samantha Armytage wore a black Carla Zampatti dress as she attended the late designer's funeral with new husband Richard Lavender in Sydney on Thursday The former Sunrise co-host wore her chic black dress with a star-embellished black blazer, but added a pop of colour with a pair of bright pink heels. She also accessorised with a stylish pair of gold oval shades and carried a small black clutch. Meanwhile, equestrian businessman Richard, 61, looked smart in a dark charcoal suit which he teamed with a white shirt, a navy tie and black leather shoes. Fashionable: The former Sunrise co-host wore her chic black dress with a star-embellished black blazer, but added a pop of colour with a pair of bright pink heels Star-studded: The pair joined the likes of Julie Bishop, Melissa Doyle, Sonia Kruger, former Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull and designer Camilla Franks at the funeral Paying their respects: Mel and Sonia are pictured arriving at the service, which was held at Sydney's St Mary's Cathedral Sam and Richard joined the likes of Julie Bishop, Melissa Doyle, Sonia Kruger, former Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull and designer Camilla Franks at the service. Carla, 78, died on April 3, days after a fall at an outdoor opera performance. The mother of three and grandmother of nine had spent a week in hospital after the accident. After her death, Samantha penned a touching tribute to her late friend. Tragic: Carla, 78, died on April 3, days after a fall at an outdoor opera performance. The mother-of-three and grandmother of nine had spent a week in hospital after the accident Sam, who wore a dress by Carla on her wedding day just a few months ago, wrote on Instagram that she was 'absolutely devastated at the loss of my beautiful friend.' 'Absolutely devastated at the loss of my beautiful friend Carla Zampatti this morning,' Sam's post began. 'She was a creative genius, a wonderful generous elegant woman & very much a part of many of my favourite memories.' She finished: 'She will be dearly missed, but never forgotten. And will live on forever in my heart, & my wardrobe. Vale Carla.' Born in Italy in 1942, Zampatti migrated to Australia with her parents in 1950 at age nine, and set up her fashion famous label at 24. Her designs have been worn by some of Australia's most influential women, including Princess Mary of Denmark, Australia's first female prime minister Julia Gillard and Oscar-winning actress Nicole Kidman. Advertisement President Joe Biden cancelled the deployment of two US warships from the Black Sea despite warning Vladimir Putin there would be 'repercussions' for the troop build-up in Ukraine. Last week, Turkey said Washington was sending two warships to the Black Sea, in a decision Russia called an unfriendly provocation. But the Biden administration reversed the decision after the Kremlin warned them to 'stay away for their own good', and gave Putin the chance to ramp up his military presence in Crimea and near the Ukrainian border. White House officials decided not to send the ships to avoid needlessly escalating the situation with Russia over the Ukraine, a US defense official told Politico. Hours later, Putin took advantage of Biden's U-turn back by closing off the Kerch Strait between Crimea and Russia, blocking all foreign warships from getting to Ukraine until October 2021. Ukraine said the move was an 'act of war' and were disappointed foreign destroyers had turned around before one of Moscow's biggest escalations in the last 30 days. The Kerch Strait is a crucial access for the Ukrainian ports of Mairupol and Berdyansk. Commercial ships will still be allowed to pass through, but the blockade leave the region vulnerable in the face of Russian aggression. Washington's change in the region came on the day Biden announced sweeping new sanctions against Moscow as the White House seeks to rein in Russian aggression while avoiding an all-out war with the Kremlin. 'We have no desire to be in an escalating war with Russia,' a senior administration official said Thursday on a briefing call with reporters, saying the White House doesn't want things 'spinning out of control.' 'We do not seek a downward spiral. We can and think we can avoid that,' the official said. Officials made it clear, however, that the administration 'will not accept [Russia's] destabilizing behavior that harms the United States, its allies and its partners. President Joe Biden cancelled the deployment of two US warships from the Black Sea despite warning Vladimir Putin there would be 'repercussions' for the troop build-up in Ukraine Hours later, Putin took advantage of Biden's U-turn back by closing off the Kerch Strait between Crimea and Russia, blocking all foreign warships from getting to Ukraine until October 2021. Ukraine said the move was an 'act of war' and were disappointed foreign destroyers had turned around before one of Moscow's biggest escalations in the last 30 days Putin is continuing to build up his forced on the border with Ukraine, as the government warns troops numbers could swell to 110,000 with 7,000 tanks and other vehicles in support U.S. Navy guided-missile cruiser USS Monterey (CG-61) sails in the Bosphorus, in Istanbul, Turkey To give the sanctions teeth - in a way financial sanctions have not deterred Russia before - the US is seeking to choke off lending to the Russian government. The US also expelled 10 diplomats in retaliation for the Kremlin's interference in American elections, its aggressive actions in the Ukraine, and the SolarWinds cyber hack. The Treasury Department and Western allies - including the UK and Canada - also targeted eight individuals and entities associated with the 'ongoing occupation and repression in Crimea'. 'The Transatlantic community stands united in supporting Ukraine against unilateral Russian provocations along the Line of Contact in eastern Ukraine, in occupied Crimea, and along Ukraine's borders, as well as agreeing on the need for Russia to immediately cease its military buildup and inflammatory rhetoric,' the White House said. Manafort's associate Konstantin Kilimnik sanctioned for passing polling data to the Kremlin One of the individuals sanctioned Thursday by the U.S. government was Konstantin Kilimnik, a Russian-Ukrainian political consultant who worked with former Trump campaign manager Paul Manafort as a lobbyist for the pro-Russia president of Ukraine. Kilimnik was indicted in Robert Muellers 2018 investigation for carrying out election influence operations on behalf of Russian intelligence services. The Senate Intelligence Committee assessed that Kilimnik is a Russian intelligence officer and found that Manafort passed him sensitive internal polling data and campaign strategy. The Treasury Department, in its sanctions notice, found that Kilimnik provided Russian intelligence "with sensitive information on polling and campaign strategy" during the 2016 election. Treasury noted that Kilimnik, who is wanted by the FBI on charges of obstruction of justice, helped promote the false narrative that Ukraine, not Russia, interfered in the 2016 election. Kilimnik and his wife live in a heavily-fortified residence outside of Moscow. Konstantin Kilimnik in a March 2006 photo Advertisement The White House also denounced Moscow for offering the Taliban bounties for U.S. troops serving in Afghanistan. But a senior administration official noted the US intelligence community has only 'low to moderate confidence' that Russia offered bounties on American troops and isn't imposing any punishment on Moscow for the possible action right now. 'The United States Intelligence Community assesses with low to moderate confidence that Russian intelligence officers sought to encourage Taliban attacks against U.S. coalition personnel in Afghanistan in 2019, including through financial incentives and compensation,' the official said. Administration officials described its actions on Thursday as 'tailored and proportional' and reiterated it seeks a 'predictable and stable' relationship with Moscow. In a series of actions on Thursday, the United States sanctioned 32 Russian entities and individuals along with six technology companies, formally attributed the SolarWinds cyber breach to Russian intelligence agencies, and accused Moscow of still trying to hack American targets. 'The President signed this sweeping new authority to confront Russia's continued and growing malign behavior,' said Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen in a statement. The Treasury Department is in charge of carrying out the sanctions. 'Treasury is leveraging this new authority to impose costs on the Russian government for its unacceptable conduct, including by limiting Russia's ability to finance its activities and by targeting Russia's malicious and disruptive cyber capabilities,' she said. Biden signed an executive order Thursday morning authorizing the sanctions and expelling of diplomats, who the administration claims includes representatives of Russian intelligence services. The administration specifically cites Russian interference in free and fair elections, its 'malicious cyber activities' against the United States, fostering corruption to influence foreign governments, targeting dissidents or journalists, undermining security in countries important to American national security and violating well-established principles of international law, including respect for the territorial integrity of states. It also criticized Russian for offering the Taliban bounties on U.S. troops serving in Afghanistan but said that would be handled through diplomatic channels. 'Given the sensitivity of this matter, which involves the safety and well-being of our forces, it is being handled through diplomatic, military and intelligence channels,' the White House said in a statement. President Biden announced on Wednesday he will remove all US troops from Afghanistan by September 11th. The executive order also expanded an existing ban on US banks trading in Russian government debt. It prohibits U.S. financial institutions from buying new bonds directly from Russias central bank, finance ministry and the countrys massive sovereign-wealth fund after June 14. The Kremlin said on Thursday it would respond in kind to any new 'illegal' new U.S. sanctions on Russia and said any new measures would reduce the chances of a summit between Biden and Putin taking place. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Moscow would wait to see what happened before commenting in detail. 'We're not going to speculate on what the Russian response will be,' a senior Biden administration official said Thursday. 'We will track closely the Russian response to this.' Republicans on Capitol Hill praised Biden's tough response. 'I think this is a good step. Keep it up,' said Republican Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina. 'I applaud him,' said Republican Senator Chuck Grassley of Iowa. 'And I think that's all you have to say - he's doing the right thing.' The administration has been warning the actions are coming as President Biden takes a much harsher stance against Moscow than his predecessor, Donald Trump. Biden spoke to Russian President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday to warn him. 'He did not hold back on his concerns, including reiterating that there will be consequences to the actions that were taken. I expect you will know more about that soon,' White House press secretary Jen Psaki said of the call on Wednesday. In its Thursday announcement, the administration targeted six Russian technology companies it claims are supporting Kremlin intelligence agencies. The administration also blamed - for the first time - Russian intelligence agencies for the SolarWinds cyber hack, which Moscow denies. The US said it had 'high confidence' the hack was masterminded by the SVR, one of the Russian intelligence agencies that was also involved in the hacking of the Democratic National Committee six years ago. And the Biden criticized the Russian intelligence agencies for their involvement in the August 2020 poisoning of Aleksey Navalny and its targeting of Russian journalists. Additionally, the National Security Agency on Thursday issued guidelines for companies on how to counter Russian cyber actions. The agency said it was taking such action to 'highlight additional tactics, techniques, and procedures being used; by Russian intelligence agencies 'so that network defenders can take action to mitigate against them. The massive Russian hacking campaign - familiarly known as the SolarWinds breach -targeted at least nine vital federal agencies, including the Treasury, Justice, Energy and Homeland Security departments. The scale of the hack is still being determined. The Kerch Strait (pictured in 2018) is a crucial access for the Ukrainian ports of Mairupol and Berdyansk. Commercial ships will still be allowed to pass through, but the blockade leave the region vulnerable in the face of Russian aggression Ukrainian troops man trenches in the eastern Donbas region as the country's foreign minister warns Moscow it will bear 'very painful consequences' if it invades Pictured: Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskiy visits positions of armed forces near the frontline with Russian-backed separatists in Donbass region, Ukraine April 9, 2021 BIDEN'S SANCTIONS ON RUSSIA DURING TROOP BUILD-UP IN CRIMEA The White House listed a number of reprisals against Moscow for the Ukraine build-up, election interference, the 'bounties' on Afghanistan soldiers and the SolarWinds hack ADDITIONAL SANCTIONS Treasury sanctioned 32 entities and individuals carrying out Russian government-directed attempts to influence the 2020 U.S. presidential election, and other acts of disinformation and interference. This action seeks to disrupt the coordinated efforts of Russian officials, proxies, and intelligence agencies to delegitimize our electoral process. The U.S. government will continue to pursue those who engage in such activity. Treasury, in partnership with the European Union, the United Kingdom, Australia, and Canada, sanctioned eight individuals and entities associated with Russia's ongoing occupation and repression in Crimea. The Transatlantic community stands united in supporting Ukraine against unilateral Russian provocations along the Line of Contact in eastern Ukraine, in occupied Crimea, and along Ukraine's borders, as well as agreeing on the need for Russia to immediately cease its military buildup and inflammatory rhetoric. AFGHANISTAN BOUNTIES The Administration is responding to the reports that Russia encouraged Taliban attacks against U.S. and coalition personnel in Afghanistan based on the best assessments from the Intelligence Community (IC). Given the sensitivity of this matter, which involves the safety and well-being of our forces, it is being handled through diplomatic, military and intelligence channels. The safety and well-being of U.S. military personnel, and that of our allies and partners, is an absolute priority of the United States. EXPELLING DIPLOMATIC PERSONNEL l The United States is expelling ten personnel from the Russian diplomatic mission in Washington, DC. The personnel include representatives of Russian intelligence services. RESPONSES TO THE SOLAR WINDS HACK Today the United States is formally naming the Russian Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR), also known as APT 29, Cozy Bear, and The Dukes, as the perpetrator of the broad-scope cyber espionage campaign that exploited the SolarWinds Orion platform and other information technology infrastructures. The U.S. Intelligence Community has high confidence in its assessment of attribution to the SVR. The SVR's compromise of the SolarWinds software supply chain gave it the ability to spy on or potentially disrupt more than 16,000 computer systems worldwide. The scope of this compromise is a national security and public safety concern. Moreover, it places an undue burden on the mostly private sector victims who must bear the unusually high cost of mitigating this incident. Today, the National Security Agency, the Cybersecurity & Infrastructure Security Agency, and the Federal Bureau of Investigation are jointly issuing a cybersecurity advisory, 'Russian SVR Targets U.S. and Allied Networks,' that provides specific details on software vulnerabilities that the SVR uses to gain access to victim devices and networks. The advisory also provides specific steps that network defenders can take to identify and defend against the SVR's malicious cyber activity. Additionally, the SVR's compromise of SolarWinds and other companies highlights the risks posed by Russia's efforts to target companies worldwide through supply chain exploitation. Those efforts should serve as a warning about the risks of using information and communications technology and services (ICTS) supplied by companies that operate or store user data in Russia or rely on software development or remote technical support by personnel in Russia. The U.S. government is evaluating whether to take action under Executive Order 13873 to better protect our ICTS supply chain from further exploitation by Russia. GLOBAL CYBERSECURITY The United States continues to strongly affirm the importance of an open, interoperable, secure, and reliable Internet. Russia's actions run counter to that goal, which is shared by many of our allies and partners. To strengthen our collective approach to bolstering cybersecurity, we are announcing two additional steps: First, the United States is bolstering its efforts to promote a framework of responsible state behavior in cyberspace and to cooperate with allies and partners to counter malign cyber activities. We are providing a first-of-its kind course for policymakers worldwide on the policy and technical aspects of publicly attributing cyber incidents, which will be inaugurated this year at the George C. Marshall Center in Garmisch, Germany. We are also bolstering our efforts through the Marshall Center to provide training to foreign ministry lawyers and policymakers on the applicability of international law to state behavior in cyberspace and the non-binding peacetime norms that were negotiated in the United Nations and endorsed by the UN General Assembly. Second, we are reinforcing our commitment to collective security in cyberspace. The Department of Defense is taking steps to incorporate additional allies, including the UK, France, Denmark, and Estonia, into the planning for CYBER FLAG 21-1, which is an exercise designed to improve our defensive capabilities and resiliency in cyberspace. CYBER FLAG 21-1 will build a community of defensive cyber operators and improve overall capability of the United States and allies to identify, synchronize, and respond in unison against simulated malicious cyberspace activities targeting our critical infrastructure and key resources. Advertisement Russian hackers are believed to have infected widely used software with malicious code, enabling them to access the networks of the federal agencies. Officials believe it was an intelligence gathering operation aimed at mining government secrets. The sanctions, foreshadowed for weeks by the Biden administration, are the first retaliatory action announced against the Kremlin for last year's hack. The sanctions are intended to send a clear retributive message to Russia and to deter similar acts in the future. They come amid an already tense relationship between the U.S. and Russia amid a large Russian military buildup on the borders of Ukraine and in Crimea, the peninsula that Moscow annexed in 2014. President Biden told Putin this week in their call to 'de-escalate tensions' following a Russian military buildup on Ukraine's border, and said the U.S. would 'act firmly in defense of its national interests' regarding Russian intrusions and election interference. Ukraine and the West have become worried about the Russian troops' concentration and have urged Moscow to pull them back. Russia has argued that it's free to deploy its forces on its territory and sternly warned the government in Kyiv against using force to reclaim control of the rebel-held territory east where more than 14,000 people have died in seven years of fighting. But the Ukraine has warned Russia that it will bear 'very painful' consequences if it invades as Vladimir Putin continues to mass his forces in eastern Europe. Dmytro Kuleba, the country's foreign minister, said Thursday that Moscow is 'openly' threatening Ukraine with 'destruction' by stationing 80,000 troops along its border - with more arriving every day. 'Today, the four of us can firmly declare that we condemn the exacerbation of the situation by Russia, the actions and statements of Moscow aimed at escalating tensions,' Kuleba said at a joint news conference with the Baltics ministers in Kyiv. 'The world is on the side of Ukraine and international law, and this is one of the elements of restraining Russia from reckless actions,' he added. It remained unclear whether the U.S. actions would actually result in changed behavior, especially since past measures by the U.S. have failed to bring an end to Russian hacking. The Obama administration expelled diplomats from the U.S. in 2016 in response to interference in that year's presidential election. And though Trump was often reluctant to criticize Putin, his administration also expelled diplomats in 2018 for Russia's alleged poisoning of an ex-intelligence officer in Britain. Last month, the U.S. sanctioned seven mid-level and senior Russian officials, along with more than a dozen government entities, over a nearly fatal nerve-agent attack on opposition leader Alexei Navalny and his subsequent jailing. [April 15, 2021] Hearby.com Partners with Music Venue Trust (MVT) to Aid in Tracking UK Live Music Activity AI-driven live music tracker Hearby.com has forged a partnership with Music Venue Trust (MVT) to provide comprehensive, real-time event information on the return of live music. MVT is the UK grassroots venues association that recently successfully lobbied the UK Government for urgent relief on behalf of small independent grassroots music venues that many see are the rootstock of the UK's most long-lived and thriving national export - music. This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210415005880/en/ Hearby's widgets in action on the Music Venue Trust website (Photo: Business Wire) Hearby.com will provide the MVT with consolidated live show data for their 900+ members, including grassroots venues across the UK with visual tools like interactive maps and carousels of all the live show listings within a radius around the user. Hearby's widgets provide not only audience awareness of shows available at the best grassroots venues across the UK, but also new pathways to discovering artists, and tools that make it fun to discover local live music as it returns to our cities. "We are powered by the thrill of discovery, the joy of sharing, and the satisfaction of a great night out," said Ian Condry, Hearby co-founder and professor of Anthropology at MIT (News - Alert) . As MVT continues to work with the UK government on he return of live music, Hearby's highly visual tools will help illustrate the story to stakeholders regarding impact, both nationally and locally. Access to Hearby's vast dataset is of utmost value to MVT. According to CEO Mark Davyd, "We are working closely with the UK government and other key stakeholders to bring about the comeback of live music. I field calls every day asking for analysis on the effectiveness of steps being taken and the value of money spent." He added, "With access to Hearby's data portal and widgets, we can present clear, instantly readable communications in a format that best suits these stakeholders." For Hearby's creators, Area4 Labs Inc., working with Music Venue Trust will help keep live show information accurate in uncertain times as venues return from Covid, explained Area4 Labs CEO, Gary Halliwell. "There's a lot of uncertainties that will persist over the next few months. Our connection to Music Venue Trust's member venues and audiences means that our integrated map and show carousels will get that feedback fast." About Hearby.com: Created by Area4 Labs Inc., Hearby.com is a live music discovery platform that combines Big Data and Anthropology to provide the most comprehensive collections of local music listings. We use AI, data cleansing and social matching to yield data on 3x more shows across 100+ cities in North America and the UK, with expansion planned to European & global cities in 2021. We want to get more people to more shows. Connect with us Facebook | Instagram | LinkedIn See Hearby's Recent press coverage on Forbes.com & Yahoo! News About Music Venue Trust: Founded in 2014, Music Venue Trust is a registered charity that seeks to preserve, secure and improve the UK's network of small to medium scale, mostly independently run, music venues. We have a long-term plan to protect that live music network which includes, where necessary, taking into charitable ownership freehold properties so they can be removed from commercial pressures and leased back to passionate music professionals to continue their operation. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210415005880/en/ [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] By Moses Ndhaye Health experts have warned people against shunning the COVID-19 Vaccination. The minister for health Dr. Jane Aceng says, the country is translating to high infectious and a high non communicable disease burden therefore if people continue shunning the ongoing vaccination exercise it will turn out to be dangerous for the country. She asked the eligible persons supposed to access the vaccine, to go and take the jabs. Currently, about 206,708 people have been voluntarily vaccinated since Uganda launched the COVID-19 campaign vaccination exercise . Chloe Sevigny, Charlotte Gainsbourg, Julianne Moore and Indya Moore star in Jim Jarmuschs Saint Laurent short, 'French Water'. The fashion film showcases the French fashion houses Womens Summer 2021 collection. The nine-minute clip sees 'Big Lebowski' star Julianne and filmmaker-and-model Chloe look for English-French actress Charlotte at an empty venue at the end of a dinner party. The guests - who go through multiple outfit changes - are served water by a waiter played by actor-and-model Leon Reilly - the son of screen legend John C. Reilly. Saint Laurent CEO Anthony Vaccarello also served as art director for the film. A description read: The dinner party is over. A lone waiter is watching guests search for Charlotte. "The echoes of their whispers multiply. Anthony Vaccarello chose Jim Jarmusch to orchestrate a dreamy, surreal ballet, following his own rules. "Mysterious, elusive Charlotte keeps disappearing and reappearing. Tangled until creating a form of vertigo, space and time spin beautifully. Into eternity. The latest short from Saint Laurent follows December's short promo by Argentine filmmaker Gaspar Noe.Charlotte Rampling starred as a mysterious and haunted priestess in the 'Summer of '21' film. The 75-year-old actress appeared alongside a number of high fashion models. The film started in a grand estate with the likes of Anok Yai, Antonia Przedpelski, Assa Baradji, Aylah Mae Peterson, Clara Deshayes, Grace Hartzel, Kim Schell, Mica Arganaraz, Miriam Sanchez, Sora Choi and Stefania Cristian, wandering through the eerie mansion dressed head-to-toe in garments from the collection. They then gathered in a theatre-like setting in front of a stage before a haunted Charlotte appeared before their eyes in a bed of rose petals. A press release at the time stated: "A familiar and timeless feeling. Dreaminess and tension, decadence and danger. The unsettling strangeness of those girls gravitating around Charlotte Rampling, the mysterious and haunted priestess." It followed Gaspar's first short film for Saint Laurent 'Lux Aeterna' which premiered at the Cannes Film Festival in 2019. (Natural News) An audit has found that Marylands procurement of 500,000 COVID-19 tests did not adhere to the states guidelines. The review by the Maryland Office of Legislative Audits (OLA) found that payments to the South Korean company for the tests were devoid of any written basis to support them. It also found that dealings with the firm were not supported by formal written contracts or agreements. The state purchased 500,000 COVID-19 test kits from the South Korean firm LabGenomics, with the initial batch costing $9 million. Maryland had no formal contract with the firm, instead it relied on an April 2020 letter of intent to purchase and import the tests prior to the Food and Drug Administrations (FDA) emergency approval. The OLA report said this letter did not meet the states procurement requirement. The office of Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan initially announced the acquisition of the COVID-19 tests in April 2020. But when the tests proved faulty and did not get approval from the federal regulator, the state sent them back to LabGenomics. Health Secretary Dennis Schrader acknowledged the issues of the COVID-19 tests in December 2020. A replacement batch was then procured for an additional $2.5 million. Furthermore, the OLA report noted a pervasive lack of written documentation of the procured COVID-19 test kits. Payments made for the [COVID-19] tests were not supported by formal written contracts or agreements containing any of the critical provisions required by state procurement regulations, it said. The procurements lack of a paper trail meant the audit was mainly based on interviews with current and former state employees and other individuals linked to the deal. It could not be determined exactly how many tests from the initial batch of 500,000 were used. Hogan said some tests in the replacement batch were used by December 2020, but OLA auditors were unable to confirm this. They wrote in the report: No centralized records of tests distributed and/or used was maintained by [the Maryland Department of Health], and we are unaware of the existence of any such records. Legislative auditor Gregory Hook commented: While there was an expressed urgency to procure the tests, such conditions would not mitigate the need to properly document and comply with state regulations specifically tailored to emergency procurements. Meanwhile, LabGenomics officials were unreachable for any comment on the matter. Compliance and transparency took a backseat OLA auditors remarked that they could not determine the process on how LabGenomics was picked and the names of state officials that authorized the deal. While there was documentation showing the state government talking with other vendors, it was unable to determine the degree to which these other parties were considered. However, the report noted that the governors wife Yumi Hogan worked with the Maryland Department of General Services (DGS) on acquiring the initial tests. We found no records documenting the formal evaluation of the vendors, the basis for the selection of LabGenomics, or whether LabGenomics was the best qualified vendor. [Furthermore], we have been unable to locate any documentation as to the identity of the party or parties who authorized the purchase of the tests, the OLA report remarked. Some state officials did not take kindly to the report. DGS Chief of Staff Eric Lomboy and MDH Chief of Staff Thomas Andrews slammed the OLA report as rushed and politically driven. They reiterated that compliance with audits and underlying regulations are their agencies utmost priorities. The governors spokesman Mike Ricci remarked in an April 2 statement: We have no regrets, except for the time and tax dollars that have been wasted trying to undermine this international accomplishment. (Related: Canada spent more than $700 million on unused ventilators with a refund unlikely.) The United Kingdom reported a similar issue in its procurement of vital items to address COVID-19 back in November 2020. The U.K. governments National Audit Office (NAO) said that around one percent of personal protective equipment (PPE) purchased by the U.K. Department for Health and Social Care was potentially unusable. According to the NAO report, the office flagged around 195 million unsuitable items amounting to hundreds of millions of pounds. The office, in particular, cited two PPE contracts for masks worth 214 million pounds as the face coverings had ear loops instead of the required head straps. The problem of ear-loops on FFP2 respirator masks is likely to apply to tens of millions of similar masks from other suppliers. Most other types of PPE have also the same problems with compliance with technical standards, its report said. Visit Pandemic.news to read more on issues surrounding the procurement of items needed to fight the spread of COVID-19. Sources include: CIPS.org 1 BaltimoreSun.com CIPS.org 2 Shefali Shah On Ajeeb Daastaans: "Unrequited Love Stories Have Much More Impact On The Audiences" As a "hardcore romantic", actor Shefali Shah believes that films dealing with unrequited love leave a more visceral impact on audiences as compared to stories that have a happy end. The 48-year-old actor, known for performances in movies such as "Satya", "Waqt: The Race Against Time", "Dil Dhadakne Do" and "Once Again", said people keep on thinking about such stories even after the film is over. View this post on Instagram A post shared by Shefali Shah (@shefalishahofficial) "For me personally, I feel that a film that doesn't end with a happy ending has a far bigger reach. It lingers on far more. Unrequited love stories have much more impact on the audiences. If 'Romeo and Juliet' had been happily married and had kids and dogs, I don't think it would have been a classic. I feel that the most beautiful love stories are the unrequited ones as they leave a really huge impact because then we are left with the feeling, 'What if they meet again after some years or decades?' Shah told PTI in an interview over Zoom. Shah currently features in Netflix's anthology movie "Ajeeb Daastaans", which is set to debut on the streamer's platform on Friday. The movie, as its title suggests, is about the third wheel in relationships and explores complex themes of fractured relationships, and human emotions such as jealousy, entitlement, prejudices and toxicity, and their effects. Shah features in the segment called "Ankahi" from debutant director Kayoze Irani. She plays the role of Natasha, a woman going through a rough patch in her marriage with her husband, mainly due to their different approaches in dealing with their daughter, who is going through progressive hearing loss. But then she finds a companion in Kabir (Manav Kaul), a man with whom she communicates in only sign language. "I'm a hardcore romantic. So when I was approached for this movie, I was like, 'This is what I was looking for so many years'," the actor said. What Shah liked the most about "Ankahi" were the scenes with Kaul's character where the two are communicating through sign languages. "It's a dream come true for me to not talk. I always want to cut every single line, possibly, that is mine from the script. One of the first things I do on any script is to shred, shred and shred my lines. I believe we have the privilege of a camera that can catch the smallest of emotions. So if you can say something in two words, why use four? And if you can say something without any word or lines, then it's the cherry on the cake." View this post on Instagram A post shared by Shefali Shah (@shefalishahofficial) Shah said her approach towards any role is to understand the character first and then work on her dialogues. "For me, lines and dialogues are the last bit. Of course, a lot of actors work backward. They work on the lines and then the scene. I do not work like that. The lines will come naturally if I know the character and I just totally love the fact that some of the most precious moments come without a dialogue." A major challenge for the actor was to learn sign language so that the scenes between her character and Kaul feel realistic. "Sign language wasn't easy. It really wasn't. It was very easy for Manav, who was prolific at it. In our scenes, there is a lot of chemistry. It's just the merging of two beautiful characters." "Ajeeb Daastaans" also features Fatima Sana Shaikh, Jaideep Ahlawat, Konkona Sen Sharma, Aditi Rao Hydari, Nushrratt Bharuccha and Abhishek Banerjee. Toronto, Ontario--(Newsfile Corp. - April 15, 2021) - ScreenPro Security Inc., (CSE: SCRN) ("ScreenPro" or the "Company") is pleased to announce that it has opened its first COVID-19 testing clinic in partnership with Concierge Medical Consultants, Inc. ("Concierge"), located in Coal Harbor, Vancouver. The clinic is operated by Concierge Medical Consultants Inc. ("Concierge"), a wholly-owned operating subsidiary of Datametrex AI Limited (TSXV: DM) ("Datametrex"), with testing administered by ScreenPro's trained nurses, and processed by ScreenPro's lab partners. The clinic offers both rapid testing, with results in ten (10) minutes, and traditional lab-based polymerase chain reaction ("PCR") testing, with results within twenty-four (24) hours. According to the manufacturers, both the rapid test and PCR test kits can detect the new variants. ScreenPro, upon request by the client, can also provide travel documents electronically, confirming PCR test results, with the Company's app, GoStop, for travel from Canada to the United States and destinations worldwide. John McMullen, CEO of ScreenPro commented, "As we are in the third wave of the virus across the country, with both the Brazil and UK variants present, it is critical to offer the public convenient Covid-19 testing options. Our nurses, and partner labs, working with Dr. Jibran and the Concierge medical team, provide consistent test processing and timely reporting of results. As cases rise in the province, we believe testing is an important part in the solution to fight the virus." The clinic opened in March and offers a comfortable and convenient location for ScreenPro clients. Testing is available to the public, Monday to Friday from 8 am to 4 pm Vancouver time. For more information and to book your appointment email info@screenprosecurity.com or 1 (855) 457 2733. About ScreenPro ScreenPro provides turnkey coronavirus screening solutions to the private sector including testing, track and tracing with GoStop alerting software. ScreenPro's unique access to multiple manufacturers of high quality South Korean test kits and its strategic partnership with Canvas Labs in Vancouver and Integrated Explorations in Ontario. This platform allows ScreenPro to be a nationwide provider of a full-service testing solutions across Canada. In addition to providing test kits, ScreenPro has its own nursing professionals, and access to high quality PPE to ensure that its clients are protected in all aspects of their testing needs. GoStop's passport was developed with a privacy preserving approach that will enable individuals to use the alerting software and downloadable app with authentication certificates. The alerts can be scheduled on an on-demand, daily, weekly, or monthly basis and can be used also for vaccine scheduling. For additional information on ScreenPro and other corporate information, please visit the Company's website at www.screenprosecurity.com Neither the Canadian Securities Exchange (the "CSE") nor it's Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the CSE) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. ON BEHALF OF THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS "John A. D. McMullen" President and CEO For further information please contact: John McMullen Email: info@screenprosecurity.com Forward Looking Statements: Certain statements contained in this news release may constitute forward-looking information, including statements relating to expectations regarding the future development of ScreenPro's business. 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 actual results of ScreenPro could differ materially from those anticipated in this forward-looking information as a result of regulatory decisions, competitive factors in the industries in which ScreenPro operates, prevailing economic conditions, changes to ScreenPro's strategic growth plans, and other factors, many of which are beyond the control of ScreenPro. Management of ScreenPro believes that the expectations reflected in the forward-looking information herein 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 ScreenPro's expectations as of the date hereof and is subject to change after such date. ScreenPro 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. ### To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/80484 ADVERTISEMENT President Muhammadu Buhari says he has high expectations of the new acting Inspector General of Police, Usman Alkali. The president stated this while answering questions from journalists upon his arrival from the United Kingdom on Thursday. The president had on March 30 departed Abuja for London for routine medical check-up, his media handlers tagged private trip. While he was away, the appointment of Mr Alkali as the new acting IGP was announced by the minister of police. Mr Alkali replaced Mohammed Adamu, whose tenure was initially extended by three months by Mr Buhari. The acting IGPs appointment came at a critical time when security agencies are being targeted in some parts of the country and crimes and violence are on the rise in virtually all parts of Nigeria. The appointment also came a few days after the police headquarters and a prison in Owerri, Imo State, were attacked by gunmen. High expectations Mr Buhari said considering the experience Mr Alkali had gathered in the police over the years, he was confident that he would perform better. He also revealed that prior to his appointment, several other names were brought before him for consideration but that he eventually settled for Mr Alkali. Well, we went through the system. There was a committee by the Minister of Police Affairs, they gave me some names and he (Alkali) happened to be the one chosen. He knows his job, he has been in it for a long time, he went through all the trainings, he has the necessary experience. So, we have a high expectation from him, the president said. On the performance of the recently appointed service chiefs, the president expressed confidence in their leadership. Oh yes, they have been in the system all the way, they know what is wrong. They know what is right and I think they are doing their best. I hope their best will be good enough for Nigeria, he said. Prime Minister Florin Citu has delegated his office duties as acting health minister to senior official with the Ministry of Health Andrei Baciu, official sources have told AGERPRES. On Wednesday, Citu took over as acting health minister after he had previously dismissed health minister Vlad Voiculescu and Deputy Prime Minister Dan Barna refused to be the acting health minister. Secretary of the National Security and Defense Council (NSDC) Oleksiy Danilov asks journalists to submit verified, balanced and accurate information in context of increased information propaganda campaign by the Russian Federation on social networks. "Not only classical mass media, but also social networks and instant messengers, where there is no self-censorship or editorial policy, are increasingly becoming a platform for the mass dissemination of disinformation. Unfortunately, the media themselves sometimes unconsciously contribute to the spread of fakes, partly due to not checking the accuracy of the data received," Danilov wrote on his Facebook page. According to him, "anti-Ukrainian narratives are created and managed from Russian territory through the widespread use of 'black' propaganda and lies to deliver disinformation in order to influence Ukraine's ability to resist Russian aggression." "The objects of influence are often the Ukrainian media, experts, representatives of civil society - all those who form positions and are opinion leaders," the NSDC secretary said. "Dear journalists! We urge you to provide information in a balanced and accurate manner during the period of intensification of the propaganda campaign by the Russian Federation, not succumbing to provocations and not playing along with disinformation campaigns, the purpose of which is to weaken our ability to resist the enemy," Danilov said. ROME, APR 15 - US Charge d'Affaires Thomas Smitham told an ANSA Forum Thursday that "the Biden administration and the Draghi government see eye to eye. We can work together on many important issues". He stressed there was also harmony between US and EU views. "Relations with Italy are very important for us and the new administration wants to strengthen and renew ties. In this context Di Maio's visit to Washington was very important, it was an honour to welcome him as first foreign minister. And then we appreciate Mattarella's words on the occasion of the 160th anniversary of our relations". (ANSA). In March 2020, Sean Maika was getting ready for a family camping trip when he realized that everything was about to change, fast not just his spring break plans, but his job as superintendent of North East Independent School District and education as a whole. It was a phone call from Taylor Eighmy, president of the University of Texas at San Antonio, who told Maika he was shutting down his campuses because the coronavirus had arrived and was starting to circulate locally. I looked at my wife off of that phone call and I said, Im pretty sure my break is over now, Maika recalled a year later. I knew at that given point there were going to be so many questions and so many things to work through. School buildings in San Antonio and across the country shut down almost overnight as educators scrambled to figure out how to teach from a distance while supporting students, school system employees and their families. As more than half a million K-12 students in the San Antonio area started learning through laptops and tablets at home, the educational system began a transformation radical, on the fly and far from smooth. In a week, we had to totally change the way we had done business for decades, Maika said. Education has changed forever. On ExpressNews.com: Uncharted territory - San Antonio teachers overwhelmed with pandemic challenges Among the early priorities was finding a way to quickly transition to online classes a massive endeavor that proved to be a major logistical challenge in an area where thousands of students do not have reliable high-speed internet access. School districts purchased and distributed devices like Chromebooks, iPads and wifi hotspots. Some districts extended campus wifi networks into parking lots and put hotspots on school buses parked around their neighborhoods to reach students homes. Jerry Lara /San Antonio Express-News But most school districts were not able to provide a device to every student until the summer or fall, and teachers struggled to reinvent lessons and engage meaningfully with their classes. We told our teachers, You have to get creative. We cannot stop educating the children, said Norma Cavazos, board president at Harlandale ISD. They became teachers 24 hours, seven days a week. Despite those efforts, many students fell far behind, finding it difficult or impossible to learn online as the pandemic and the economic downturn it triggered upended daily life for their families. On ExpressNews.com: Online schooling has hammered student performance. Educators call it the COVID slide, and San Antonio schools are testing kids to assess the damage Thousands of students simply disappeared, not logging on or returning when campuses reopened in the fall. Teachers and administrators have worked tirelessly to find them, calling parents and going to their homes to check on them and offer support. A year later, many students are still unaccounted for, and even greater numbers continue to struggle with online learning, raising concerns about the so-called digital divide and COVID slide the success gap between those with better and worse access to devices and the internet and the varying risk of learning loss that comes with it. This system does not always allow us to reach the students, Chris Contreras, a special education teacher in Northside ISD, said in the fall. Theres going to be some slippage and we dont know how to solve that equation. Jerry Lara /San Antonio Express-News At mostly-rural Southside ISD, that slippage became evident as students struggled to stay connected through one class, let alone a full day of school, Superintendent Rolando Ramirez said. Every district found itself under pressure to bring students back into classrooms, a new set of challenges that had to be met amid uncertainty about the pandemics trajectory and constantly changing state rules. The transition back to in-person learning began in August and September, with Bexar County still recovering from a summer surge in virus infections. Districts did the math on the physical distancing that the size of their classrooms could accomodate, upgraded their cleaning and stockpiled face masks. Texas decided to require districts to offer in-person learning to any student who wanted it, but the percentage of parents willing to take that risk varied widely among school districts. Required Reading: Get San Antonio education news sent directly to your inbox Some area school districts encouraged all students to return to campuses as soon as they could and had upward of 70 percent of their enrollment learning in person in the fall. In others, superintendents asked families to hold off unless their children badly needed classroom instruction, which kept their in-person attendance as low as 30 percent for most of the year. By November, most school districts in Bexar County had begun offering regular coronavirus testing for staff and students, allowing them to catch asymptomatic cases before they could cause outbreaks and shut down schools. But local virus caseloads surged in the winter months, and conflicting guidance on how much to limit classroom occupancy came from local, state and federal officials, which effectively forced school districts to politely defy the Metropolitan Health District. It frustrated some families and fueled criticism in a debate about safe practices that could not be untangled from national politics. I would say something and then the CDC says this, the president says that, and so our folks were highly confused, said Eduardo Hernandez, superintendent at Edgewood ISD. Its hard to build trust when thats going on. With the approval of COVID-19 vaccines, school districts scrambled to obtain it for employees, competing for a limited supply amid high demand and pleading that they be designated a front-line priority. That didnt happen until March for teachers and child care workers in Texas, but by the end of the school year, several area districts will have most, if not all, of their teachers who want the shot vaccinated. Schools have more students in them now than at any point in the pandemic, and districts are pushing for even greater in-person attendance with just a few weeks left in the school year. Every day spent in the classroom matters, superintendents say. This year, many students can expect to be in school for much of the summer, too, as school districts are planning their biggest summer programs ever and offering more tutoring than ever before. Some are expanding remediation opportunities to three or even six times their normal scope, hoping to give struggling students more individualized support. It will be a crucial time for students to catch up, but more important are the long-term adjustments school districts will have to make. This problem will persist for years in the system, Maika said. Public education is not going to correct this learning loss in one summer. Jerry Lara /San Antonio Express-News Many teachers will be in summer school, too, receiving training and professional development to help them better navigate a changed educational model. Nearly all will continue to adjust and rewrite their lesson plans. Meeting every child where they are and trying to bring them along is even more important now because kids are all over the place with regard to what they know and what they dont know, said Northside ISD Superintendent Brian Woods. School leaders have said remote learning will continue to be an option next school year, and some have explored the possibility of opening virtual academies for students who prefer and excel in the remote format. The genie is not going back in the bottle, Woods said. I suspect there will be some demand for virtual learning and well continue to provide it at some level, anyway. On ExpressNews.com: San Antonio school districts see remote learning stretching way into next year But teachers and administrators are wary of maintaining a learning model that has allowed so many students to struggle academically, and say there must be limits to avoid making it an option for students for whom it has not worked. Jerry Lara /San Antonio Express-News Without many state policies or regulations yet in place, districts have done much of the planning for the year ahead in the dark. And with the changes coming at an increased cost, there are also questions on how the state will use its federal stimulus funding. Amid all the change the pandemic forced, theres the silver lining that it also exposed areas where change was long overdue, some said. It drove school leaders to try approaches they would not have considered otherwise. A return to what once was normal seems impossible. Because we were able to get through COVID, I am positive that we will be able to close the equity and the learning gap, said Jeanette Ball, superintendent at Judson ISD. Were never going back to the way it used to be, so itll only get better from now on. andy.picon@hearst.com | Twitter: @andpicon | danya.perez@express-news.net 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. COLUMBIA Debate over whether the Reconstruction era following the Civil War should be required reading for South Carolina's college students halted legislators' discussion April 14 on requiring a semester-long course on America's founding. The bill taken up by the House would require all students in South Carolina's public colleges to a take a course that "provides a comprehensive overview of the major events and turning points of American history." Instruction must include reading in their entirety the U.S. Constitution, the Declaration of Independence, and the Emancipation Proclamation, as well as at least five essays from the Federalist Papers. But Rep. Gilda Cobb-Hunter, D-Orangeburg, argued that if the intent is for students to better understand how America came to be, the measure should also include instruction on Reconstruction, when newly freed slaves acquired voting rights and ran South Carolina's Legislature, before the end of federal oversight ushered in the Jim Crow era. She proposed adding John Hope Franklin's 1947 "From Slavery to Freedom" and five essays on Reconstruction to the course's required reading. "Context is important. If were going to talk about equipping young people today to work and be effective in an increasingly diverse world, we need to give them the entire picture," she said. "What we have in this bill is part of the picture." The legislation is nothing new. Since 1924, state law has mandated a year-long course and test on the founding documents to graduate from a public college. Efforts to update the century-old law began seven years ago, with legislators complaining most colleges stopped following it. But the proposals repeatedly failed, partly due to pushback from university officials. But with colleges no longer opposed, and civil unrest across the nation renewing calls for students to learn their history, the bill seemed poised to become law. The Senate passed a similar version unanimously last month. Rep. Cezar McKnight, D-Kingstree, called the course a good start. "This country sorely needs a lesson in basic civics," he said, calling the preamble to the Constitution "one of the greatest paragraphs ever composed in the English language. "Its clear that, nationally, we lack a fundamental understanding of the functions of government," McKnight added. "This is needed, but this isnt the panacea." Sign up for updates! Get the latest political news from The Post and Courier in your inbox. Email Sign Up! Republican backers pointed out the proposal not only makes the 97-year-old law more practical by shrinking the year-long requirement into a three-credit course, it also removes a problematic clause that the course's final test serves as a loyalty oath to the United States for students who are American citizens. Rep. Tim McGinnis, R-Myrtle Beach, likened the course to handing students the "owners' manual" to the United States of America. "We want you to read it. We want you to know what rights you have," he said. "We are giving our students who are the best and brightest in South Carolina another tool for when they get out of school, so they understand how their country works, what their rights are. This shouldnt divide us along party lines. Lets be united. Lets give them the owners manual." And that's when Cobb-Hunter proposed broadening that manual, and general support for the bill turned into a debate. McKnight went back to the podium. "We've got to appreciate and celebrate the story that is America and we do that by telling the complete story, not just whitewashing it," he said. "I'm wholeheartedly for educating our children about the U.S. Constitution, the Federalist Papers, all the things our founders considered when they founded this great nation. "We also need to know it was created with a conundrum. Well have free people, but well also have people in bondage," he continued. "And how that festered and metastasized to a Civil War. That's neither good nor bad. Those are facts, and thats not to impugn anyone or any race, but we need to tell the story, the whole story and not just the parts we think make us feel good." McGinnis called it a well-intentioned amendment that could create a problem for colleges. Specifying a particular book for a course could be seen by college accreditors as "telling colleges how to teach, and we can't do that." "Kinda like the Constitution, it's an imperfect bill," he said. "Maybe we can improve on this as we move along." The debate then got put on hold to check with colleges and potentially find a compromise, a surprising move for a GOP majority that easily had the votes to kill the amendment and approve the bill. The chamber may revisit the bill as early as April 15. Law Street Media helps [law firm] industry teams at law firms secure new clients by taking a holistic, interdisciplinary focus, said Steve Errick, Fastcase COO and veteran of the legal publishing industry. Legal news leads to business. Law Street Media, Fastcases industry-focused legal news service, today introduces Featured Viewpoints, a new channel for articles authored by legal and industry professionals. Starting today, the Featured Viewpoints articles will be published on Law Street Medias website and included in its daily news feeds accompanying its current distribution of legal news. The addition of author-submitted Featured Viewpoints articles brings a new dimension to the legal news platform by providing readers with perspectives from industry leaders applying Docket Alarm analytics data. The articles will showcase legal insights and data-backed predictions, provide deep analysis on industry-specific issues, and project how litigation trends will affect industries in the future. In the last decade firms have evolved from single practice area teams to practice and industry teams, landing new clients. For example, firms have developed energy practice groups that includes M&A, Bankruptcy, Intellectual Property and Tax in addition to oil and gas experts. Law Street Media helps those industry teams at law firms secure new clients by taking a holistic, interdisciplinary focus, said Steve Errick, Fastcase COO and veteran of the legal publishing industry. Legal news leads to business. Law Streets content, including the collection of Featured Viewpoints articles, is available for free, without paywalls, ad bloat, or article limits. Every article also links to relevant court filings and dockets for free. In addition to reading legal news online at http://www.lawstreetmedia.com, readers can subscribe for customized daily delivery of new stories at https://lawstreetmedia.com/subscribe-lsm/. The initial Featured Viewpoints articles feature insights from a variety of authors, including attorneys from AmLaw 100 firms, such as Ogletree Deakins, to partners at industry specialty boutiques, as well as industry experts, such as Tom Hagy, Editor in Chief of the Journal of Emerging Issues in Litigation. Furthering Law Streets mission to provide news that leads to business, submitting authors receive visibility and recognition for their legal insights to an audience of over 80,000 readers, which includes their peers in the legal market, industry leaders, and potential clients. Law Street Medias seamless integration with Fastcase and Docket Alarm surfaces breaking case law and key litigation filings. Readers may also benefit from access to Docket Alarms Alerts and Analytics Center, which allows users to easily set up litigation alerts via their Docket Alarm accounts. Users can easily set alerts to track companies theyre interested in or follow competing law firms. Readers can leverage Fastcases wealth of real-time docket, litigation, and analytics information to create legal news that generates business for its users. The Law Street team is delighted to share the viewpoints of some of the best and brightest in the legal industry, said David Nayer, Editor in Chief of Law Street Media. Its a perfect complement to our day-to-day news content, and brings us closer to being the one-stop shop for all the legal news any lawyer needs. About Law Street Media Law Street Media publishes legal news that leads to business. The news service was founded by legal journalist John Jenkins in 2013 and acquired by Fastcase in 2018. The reboot of Law Street complements Fastcases goal of democratizing the law and providing a smarter approach to legal research. Law Streets industry-by-industry approach keeps the focus of news stories on clients. For more information, follow Law Street Media on Twitter @LawStreetMedia or visit lawstreetmedia.com. About Docket Alarm Docket Alarm is a national leader in docket research and legal analytics. Docket Alarm leverages a library of hundreds of millions of litigation records, as well as unique machine learning and natural language processing tools. The Docket Alarm API gives firms and companies the ability to leverage a giant database of PACER cases, alerting capabilities, and analysis in bulk. Docket Alarm was acquired by Fastcase in January 2018, and continues to be a disruptor in the legal analytics market. Follow Docket Alarm on Twitter @DocketAlarm. About Fastcase Fastcase is a leading legal publisher that democratizes the law, making it more accessible to more people. Fastcase is a comprehensive research suite of primary law, treatises, legal blogs, analytics, workflow tools, and legal news. Founded in 1999, the service has more than 1.1 million subscribers from around the world. Fastcase is an American company based in Washington, D.C. For more information, follow Fastcase on Twitter @Fastcase or visit fastcase.com. A body recovered Tuesday from the Mississippi River is that of missing Louisiana State University student Kori Gauthier, officials said Wednesday. LSU Chief of Police Bart Thompson said investigators concluded there was no criminal activity or foul play involved. He cited video footage, cellphone tracking and "other evidence we shared with Koris parents that we are not at liberty to disclose publicly out of respect for their privacy." Gauthier was a freshman at the university in Baton Rouge. Thompson's department, other law enforcement agencies and volunteers searched exhaustively for the 18-year-old, he said. "This is a difficult conclusion for all of us, but we hope this will bring closure for the Gauthier family," Thompson said. Baton Rouge Police Chief Murphy Paul extended his prayers to the young woman's family and friends. Image: Kori Gauthier (Facebook/LSU Police Department) Gauthier's vehicle was found on the Horace Wilkinson Bridge by Baton Rouge police early April 7, police have said. It was found unoccupied shortly after midnight after there was an accident involving what was described as a stalled vehicle on the bridge. The bridge spans the Mississippi. Searchers on horseback and in boats looked for her since she was reported missing, officials said. On Friday, more than 300 volunteers were searching for her, and that night LSU students held a prayer vigil. The university said the Gauthier family wished to express its sincerest thanks to law enforcement officials and volunteers and asked for privacy at this time. Her body was found in St. John the Baptist Parish, the university said.A cause of death was not released in the LSU statement. Interim LSU President Tom Galligan said the university community was devastated, and he and Baton Rouge Mayor-President Sharon Weston Broome offered their condolences to Gauthier's family and friends. TORONTO, April 15, 2021 /PRNewswire/ - Battle North Gold Corporation (TSX: BNAU) (OTC: BNAUF) ("Battle North" or the "Company") announces the details of its Annual General and Special Meeting of Shareholders to be held on May 11, 2021 at 4:30 p.m. (Eastern Time) via live audio webcast at https://web.lumiagm.com/207274698 (the "Meeting"). At the Meeting, holders of the Company's common shares ("Battle North Shareholders") will, in summary, be asked to consider the following matters, all as more particularly described in the Company's management information circular for the Meeting (the "Circular"): receive the audited consolidated financial statements of the Company for the financial year ended December 31, 2020 , together with the report of the auditors thereon; appointment of PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP as auditors of the Company for the ensuing year and authorization to fix their remuneration; election of directors of the Company for the ensuing year; a special resolution approving the acquisition of Battle North by Evolution Mining Limited ("Evolution") as further described below; and such other business as may properly come before the Meeting or any adjournment or postponement thereof. The Company has filed the Circular with the Canadian Securities Administrators on SEDAR under the Company's profile at www.sedar.com and will be mailing copies of the Circular and applicable related Meeting materials (collectively, "Meeting Materials") to Battle North Shareholders of record as of March 24, 2021. The Meeting will be held virtually via live audio webcast accessed as more particularly set out in the Meeting Materials. Copies of the Meeting Materials can also be obtained at www.battlenorthgold.com/EvolutionAcquisition. The Transaction As previously announced by the Company on March 14, 2021, Battle North and Evolution entered into a definitive arrangement agreement pursuant to which Evolution has agreed to acquire all of the issued and outstanding shares of Battle North (the "Transaction") at a price of C$2.65 per common share in cash (the "Consideration"), for total consideration for all issued and outstanding common shares pursuant to the Transaction of approximately C$343 million. The Transaction will be implemented by way of a statutory plan of arrangement involving the Company, Evolution and Evolution Mining (Canada Holdings) Limited, pursuant to Division 5 of Part 9 of the Business Corporations Act (British Columbia) (the "Arrangement"). The Arrangement is subject to approval of the Supreme Court of British Columbia (the "Court") as well as Battle North Shareholders at the Meeting by special resolution as described further below. The Arrangement is anticipated to be completed by the end of May 2021, subject to obtaining the approval of Battle North Shareholders and the Court, as well as the satisfaction or waiver of other customary closing conditions. Court Approval The Company is also pleased to announce that on April 9, 2021 the Court granted an interim order that, among other things, authorized Battle North to call and hold the Meeting to approve the Arrangement. The hearing date for the application to the Court for the final order approving the Arrangement has been scheduled for May 17, 2021. Approval of the Arrangement by Battle North Shareholders In order to become effective, the Arrangement must be approved by an affirmative vote of at least: (a) two-thirds (66%) of the votes cast by Battle North Shareholders present in person or represented by proxy at the Meeting and entitled to vote thereat, and (b) a simple majority (50%) of the votes cast by the Battle North Shareholders present in person or represented by proxy at the Meeting and entitled to vote thereat, excluding the votes cast by such Shareholders that are required to be excluded pursuant to MI 61-101. To the knowledge of the Company, only the votes attached to the common shares of Battle North owned by George Ogilvie, representing in the aggregate approximately 0.45% of Battle North's outstanding common shares, will be excluded from the "majority of the minority" vote mandated by Multilateral Instrument 61-101 Protection of Minority Security Holders in Special Transactions. The votes of all Battle North Shareholders are important regardless of the number of shares held. The Company encourages Battle North Shareholders to read the Meeting Materials in detail. Copies of the Meeting Materials are available at www.battlenorthgold.com/EvolutionAcquisition and under the Company's profile on SEDAR at www.sedar.com. For details on how to vote, Battle North Shareholders should refer to the Meeting Materials. * YOUR VOTE IS IMPORTANT * The Board of Directors of Battle North UNANIMOUSLY RECOMMENDS that Battle North Shareholders vote FOR the Arrangement. Reasons and Benefits of the Arrangement include: Significant Premium . The Consideration of $2.65 per common share of Battle North offered to Battle North Shareholders under the Arrangement represents a premium of approximately 46% to the closing price of the common shares of $1.82 on the TSX on March 12, 2021 , being the last trading day prior to the announcement by the Company of the entering into of the Arrangement Agreement and a premium of approximately 54% to the volume weighted average price of the common shares for the 20 trading days ending March 12, 2021 . . The Consideration of per common share of Battle North offered to Battle North Shareholders under the Arrangement represents a premium of approximately 46% to the closing price of the common shares of on the TSX on , being the last trading day prior to the announcement by the Company of the entering into of the Arrangement Agreement and a premium of approximately 54% to the volume weighted average price of the common shares for the 20 trading days ending . Immediate Liquidity and Certainty of Value . The Consideration to be paid pursuant to the Arrangement will be entirely in cash, which provides immediate liquidity and certainty of value at a significant premium, as described above. The Consideration to be paid pursuant to the Arrangement will be entirely in cash, which provides immediate liquidity and certainty of value at a significant premium, as described above. Compelling Value Relative to Alternatives . The independent Directors and the Board of Directors of Battle North have concluded that the value of $2.65 in cash per common share offered to Battle North Shareholders under the Arrangement is more favourable than the value that might have been realized through pursuing the Company's current standalone business plan to develop the Bateman Gold Project, given an assessment of the current and anticipated future opportunities and risks associated with the financing and development of the Bateman Gold Project by the Company as an independent public entity. For further reasons for the Board of Directors' recommendation, Battle North Shareholders should refer to the Circular. About Battle North Battle North is developing the Bateman Gold Project to become the next gold producer in the renowned Red Lake Gold District in Ontario, Canada and controls the second largest exploration ground in the district. Battle North also owns a large gold exploration land package on the Long Canyon gold trend near the Nevada-Utah border in the United States. Battle North's shares are listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange (BNAU) and the OTCQX markets (BNAUF). For more information, please visit our website at www.battlenorthgold.com. Battle North Gold Corporation George Ogilvie, P.Eng. President, CEO, and Director Cautionary Statements regarding Forward-Looking Statements and Other Matters All statements, other than statements of historical fact, contained or incorporated by reference in this news release constitute "forward-looking statements" and "forward looking information" (collectively, "forward-looking statements") within the meaning of applicable Canadian and United States securities legislation. Generally, these forward-looking statements can be identified by the use of forward-looking terminology such as "anticipated", "could", "believes", "estimate", "expected", "exploration", "factors", "favourable", " focus", "forecast", "forward", "future", "may", "need", "plan", "potential", "project", "promising", "scheduled", and "will", and variations of such words, and similar such words, expressions or statements that certain actions, events or results can, may, could, should, will (or not) be achieved, occur, provide or result in the future. In some cases, forward-looking information may be stated in the present tense, such as in respect of current matters that may be continuing, or that may have a future impact or effect. Forward-looking statements include statements regarding the purchase by Evolution of all the issued and outstanding common shares of Battle North; the timing and outcome of the Meeting; the anticipated timing of the closing of the Transaction, and the satisfaction of closing conditions including but not limited to, required Battle North Shareholder and Court approvals in connection with the Arrangement; and the merits of the Arrangement to Battle North Shareholders (including, but not limited to, the reasons and benefits for the Arrangement described herein). Forward-looking statements are inherently subject to known and unknown risks, uncertainties, contingencies, assumptions and other factors which may cause the actual results, performance or achievements of Battle North to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements. Such risks, uncertainties, contingencies, assumptions and other factors include: the risk that the Arrangement will not be approved by the shareholders of Battle North; the failure to, in a timely manner, or at all, obtain the required court approval of the Arrangement; the failure of the parties to otherwise satisfy the conditions to complete the Arrangement; the possibility that Battle North could terminate the Arrangement Agreement as a result of a superior proposal that is not matched by the other party; the effect of the announcement of the Transaction on Battle North's strategic relationships, operating results and business generally; significant transaction costs or unknown liabilities; the risk of litigation that could prevent or hinder the completion of the Arrangement; other customary risks associated with transactions of this nature; and the "Risk Factors" in the Circular, the "Risk Factors" in Battle North's annual information form dated March 29, 2021 ("2021 AIF") and the risks described in Battle North's management's discussion and analysis for the year ended December 31, 2020. In addition, if the Arrangement is not completed, and Battle North continues as an independent entity, there are risks that the announcement of the Transaction and the dedication of substantial resources by Battle North to the completion of the Arrangement could have an adverse impact on Battle North's business and strategic relationships, operating results and business generally. The foregoing list of risks, uncertainties, contingencies, assumptions and other factors is not exhaustive; readers should consult the more complete discussion of Battle North's business, financial condition and prospects that is provided in the 2021 AIF. As a consequence, actual results in the future may differ materially from any forward-looking statement, whether expressed or implied. Forward-looking statements contained herein are made as of the date of this news release (or as otherwise expressly specified) and Battle North disclaims any obligation to update any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or results or otherwise, except as required by applicable laws. SOURCE Battle North Gold Corporation Related Links http://www.battlenorthgold.com/ Australia will pull its last 80 remaining troops out of Afghanistan by September, a tearful Scott Morrison has announced. The Prime Minister was visibly emotional when he announced the news at a media conference in Perth and read out the names of the 41 soldiers who had lost their lives in the war-ravaged middle-eastern nation. 'These brave Australians are amongst our greatest ever who have served in the name of freedom,' he said. Mr Morrison was emotional when he thanked Australia's troops for their service 'This day, we dedicate to their memories. We think of their families, their friends, the life they would have lived. But they gave that for others they did not know.' With his voice quivering, Mr Morrison added: 'We can be so proud of them, of their service... we thank them for their service humbly and gratefully.' Asked if the war was worth it, Mr Morrison said: 'Freedom is always worth it'. Australia joined the war in Afghanistan in November 2001 after the September 11 attacks on the World Trade Centre in New York, the worst terror attack in history. The US-led coalition swiftly deposed the Taliban government before year's end, but western troops had stayed for 20 years since, dealing with lingering pockets of resistance and trying to train the local army. At the peak of the war, Australia had 1,500 troops in Afghanistan and in total 39,000 Australian Defence Force personnel have been deployed on Operations SLIPPER and HIGHROAD. An Australian Platoon from Combat Team Tusk in Afghanistan Since the end of 2013, Australia has only maintained a small training force in Afghanistan rather than active combat troops. 'The conflict has exacted an enormous toll on the Afghan people and the complex task of making peace lies ahead,' Mr Morrison said in a statement. 'Australia continues to support the peace negotiations between the Afghan government and the Taliban. 'We encourage both parties to commit to the peace process and call on the Taliban to cease the violence.' Mr Morrison's announcement comes after US President Joe Biden said on Wednesday he will withdraw remaining U.S. troops from the 'forever war' in Afghanistan, declaring that the September 11 terror attacks of 20 years ago cannot justify American forces still dying in the nation's longest war. His plan is to pull out all American forces - now numbering 2,500 - by this September 11, on the anniversary of the attacks, which were coordinated from Afghanistan. Special Forces Task Group (SFTG) members board a Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) C-130 Hercules Soon after Biden made his announcement, NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg in Brussels said the alliance had agreed to withdraw its roughly 7,000 forces from Afghanistan, matching Biden's decision to begin a final pullout by May 1. The US cannot continue to pour resources into an intractable war and expect different results, President Biden said. The drawdown would begin rather than conclude by May 1, which has been the deadline for full withdrawal under a peace agreement the Trump administration reached with the Taliban last year. 'It is time to end America's longest war,' Biden said, but he added that the U.S. will 'not conduct a hasty rush to the exit.' His 11:30 a.m. appointment Wednesday was to get a Real ID, the new, gold-star designation the federal government is requiring for people to be able to use their drivers license for domestic flights. The deadline for enforcement of that rule has already been postponed a couple of times, currently to Oct. 1, although White has joined with other officials and the travel industry in asking the TSA to postpone it once again. (Newser) Last week, President Biden signed an executive order to set up a commission dedicated to studying possible reforms to the Supreme Court, including an increase in the number of justices on the bench. Congressional Democrats, however, aren't waiting for the results of the panel's report due out in six months, instead moving to introduce legislation Thursday on expansion of the court. The bill, led by Sen. Ed Markey and Rep. Jerry Nadler, proposes upping the number of Supreme Court justices from nine to 13a move that can only be carried out via an act of Congress. The legislation is a reaction to what NBC News calls "an undercurrent of progressive fury" after then-President Obama nominated Merrick Garland in March 2016 to fill Antonin Scalia's spot after the latter had died, and Mitch McConnell, then the GOP Senate majority leader, denied a vote on Garland. story continues below McConnell's reasoning: It was an election year, and he felt the incoming president should be the one to fill Scalia's slot, which Trump nominee Neil Gorsuch eventually took. Democrats' anger was further stoked when Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg died in September and the GOP swept Amy Coney Barrett onto the bench just days before the 2020 election. "This bill marks a new era where Democrats finally stop conceding the Supreme Court to Republicans," political activist Brian Fallon says, per NBC News. The Intercept notes that the number of seats on the court bounced around earlier on in US history, going up to 10 before falling back to nine in 1869, where it's stayed since. NBC and Vox note the bill is unlikely to become law in the near future, with the GOP pushing back hard against it as a radical move. Biden himself has wavered on fully supporting such an expansion, though he hopes to receive some clarity from his newly formed commission. (Read more US Supreme Court stories.) Two seventh-grade students in Phu Tho Province, located in northern Vietnam, were swept away by the current while swimming with friends in the local Da River on Wednesday afternoon. At around 2:00 pm that day, a group of 11 seventh-grade students from Dao Xa Middle School, including two girls and nine boys, visited the Da River in Thanh Thuy District for a swim during time off from school. According to information provided by the students, the nine boys swam in the river. During the swim, three of them became quite exhausted, with one of the exhausted boys being pulled back to shore. The other two were swept away. Functional forces and rescuers rushed to the scene to search for them after being informed of the situation. Divers combed the river bed for the victims until 9:00 pm the same day but none of them had been found, local authorities said. Like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter to get the latest news about Vietnam! Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Estonia Eva-Maria Liimets has confirmed Estonia's participation in the Crimean Platform summit scheduled for August 23. She said this at a briefing following the talks between the foreign ministers of Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia and Ukraine in Kyiv on Thursday, April 15, according to an Ukrinform correspondent. "Estonia supports the Crimean Platform, an initiative of Ukraine to intensify the international response to the occupation, and we look forward to participating in the event at the highest level in August this year," Liimets said. The minister separately assured Ukraine of Estonia's support. "Estonia will support Ukraine. We continue to cooperate in various fields. For example, decentralization, development of e-services, good governance, provision of additional opportunities for internally displaced persons, as well as in the field of defense and security, she stressed. She also emphasized the unanimous support of Ukraine and the united position of all NATO allies. As Ukrinform reported, the foreign ministers of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania are on a joint working visit to Ukraine on April 15 at the invitation of Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba to demonstrate their solidarity with Ukraine amid Russia's destabilizing actions. Crimean Platform is a new consultative and coordination format initiated by Ukraine to improve the efficiency of the international response to the occupation of Crimea, respond to growing security challenges, step up international pressure on Russia, prevent further human rights violations, protect victims of the occupying power and to achieve the de-occupation of Crimea and its return to Ukraine. Ukraine is actively inviting world countries to take part in the Crimean Platform activities. The Crimean Platform is to be launched officially at an inaugural summit in Kyiv on August 23, 2021. ish (@FahadShabbir) Australian troops remaining in Afghanistan as part of the NATO-led Resolute Support Mission will be fully withdrawn from the country by September, Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison said on Thursday MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 15th April, 2021) Australian troops remaining in Afghanistan as part of the NATO-led Resolute Support Mission will be fully withdrawn from the country by September, Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison said on Thursday. The statement comes in the wake of Washington's announcement on Tuesday that the US troops would be removed from Afghanistan before September 11, with the gradual pullout starting in May. NATO pledged to begin withdrawing its troops in coordination with the United States starting May 1. "In line with the United States and our other allies and partners, the last remaining Australian troops will depart Afghanistan by September 2021," Morrison said in a joint statement with Defense Minister Linda Reynolds and Foreign Minister Marise Payne. Australia has reduced its military presence in Afghanistan over the past two years from over 1,500 personnel to around 80 currently, according to the statement. "Over the last 20 years, Australia has been a steadfast contributor to the fight against terrorism in Afghanistan. Australia has fought alongside Coalition and Afghan partners to degrade the capabilities of terrorist organisations, including al-Qaeda [terrorist organization, banned in Russia]," the statement read. Since 2001, a total of 41 Australian soldiers were killed and many more received injuries, both physical and mental, while on service in Afghanistan. Source: McAlinden Research for Streetwise Reports (4/15/21) McAlinden Research Partners comments on the uranium market, noting "bullish trends" given recent mine closures, shrinking supply and anticipated increases in demand from China. Summary: Uranium finally managed to break above the $30/pound mark this year amid news of permanent mine closures, an increase in spot market purchase activity, and a strong outlook for the future of China's nuclear energy infrastructure. Production is expected to bounce back slightly from 2020, when COVID-19 shutdowns wracked mine operations, but will remain below 2019 levels, continuing the downward trajectory in industry output that began several years ago. Related exchange-traded funds (ETFs): North Shore Global Uranium Mining ETF (URNM), Global X Uranium ETF (URA). The spot price for U3O8 (triuranium octoxide, the most stable form of uranium oxide found in nature) moved above $30 per pound for the first time this year. As Mining.com reports, two new research notes from BMO Capital Markets and Morgan Stanley say today's price marks a floor and predict a rally in prices over the next few years to the $4850 level by 2024. Supply Shrinkage Continues On Those predictions come as several key uranium firms have finally seen success in thinning out a global glut of supply that forced prices below the $20 level in the mid-2010s. While estimating the exact global stockpile is tricky, the Wall Street Journal notes there are some indications that inventory is starting to get depleted. Over the past five years, roughly 815 million pounds of uranium oxide equivalent have been consumed in reactors, while 390 million pounds have been locked up under long-term contracts with the uranium producers, according to UxC's estimates. To receive all of MRP's insights in your inbox MondayFriday, follow this link for a free 30-day trial. This content was delivered to McAlinden Research Partners clients on April 8. After years of cutting mining operations, the annual global supply deficit of uranium is projected to average a total of 23 million pounds through 2022, or roughly 13% of global uranium demand, according to Scotia Capital. As FNArena reports, two more mines closed indefinitely in the first quarter of 2021: Energy Resources of Australia Ltd.'s (ERA:ASX) 3.5-million-pound Ranger mine ended production in January, while Niger's 2.6-million-pound Cominak mine shut at the end of March. Morgan Stanley analysts forecast total mine supply to increase 10% in 2021, rebounding from a year of COVID-19 shutdowns, but that will still fall 6% short of 2019 levels. Without a significant price appreciation soon, more mines will likely shut and some project downstream development will slow even further. As Uranium fund Sachem Cove Partners' CIO Mike Alkin stated last year, "If prices stay below $50 per pound, idled production won't come back online and new mines won't get builtthat need to get builtand deficits will be at least 35 million pounds per year" out to 2030. Per MRP's March report on uranium, COVID-19 hit the uranium industry hard, forcing the idling of much more capacity than plannedincluding two separate shutdowns of Cameco Corp.'s (CCO:TSX; CCJ:NYSE) Cigar Lake facility, the largest source of uranium in the world. Cigar Lake had produced just 2.3 million pounds of uranium oxide in the January-September 2020 period, way below its target for the 2020 year of 5.3 million pounds. The facility's mining operations have been shut since December. Worldwide production declined 30% due to the COVID-19 pandemic, notably in Kazakhstan, which produces 40% of the world's uranium. Firms Rush to Scoop Up Spot Market Sales Cameco later poured fuel on the fire when said it will go into the spot market to buy uranium oxide to meet the totals for its sales agreements, adding further upward pressure to prices. That purchase was a sign of more to come, as market activity has been particularly strong through the first quarter of 2021. Even with uranium prices bouncing back, purchasing product in the spot market remains cheaper than the cost of production. Many firms see this as an opportunity to build up an affordable strategic inventory that will benefit their balance sheets as long-term investments, as well as help to continually dry up the spot market. Denison Mines Corp. (DML:TSX; DNN:NYSE.MKT) said this month that it has secured 2.5 million pounds of uranium concentrates at $29.61 a pound, at a total cost of US$74 million. The purchase is an obvious bet that uranium prices will rise. As Resource World notes, all of the purchases were made on the uranium spot market, with delivery dates ranging from April 2021 to October 2021. Per World Nuclear News (WNN), Western Australia's Boss Resources Ltd. has entered into binding agreements to purchase 1.25 million pounds U3O8 on the spot market, at a weighted average price of $30.15 per pound, and is funding this by a "well-supported" $AU60 million share placement. Boss will acquire the first 0.25 million pounds by the end of April and the remainder by the end of June. In an especially large transaction, UK-based uranium purchaser Yellow Cake PLC elected March 15 to fully exercise its $100 million uranium purchase option for 2021 with JSC National Atomic Co. Kazatomprom, and agreed to purchase another 440,000 pounds from the Kazakh uranium major. As S&P Global notes, the move may prompt Kazatomprom, the largest uranium producer in the world, to purchase material on the spot market to fulfill outstanding contracts. WNN reports that U.S. uranium producer Uranium Energy Corp. (UEC:NYSE AMERICAN) entered into initial agreements totaling $10.9 million to purchase 400,000 pounds of U.S. warehoused uranium. Per UEC CEO Amir Adnani, this initiative will support three objectives: to bolster UEC's balance sheet as uranium prices appreciate; provide a strategic inventory to support future marketing efforts with utilities that could compliment production and accelerate cashflows; and increase the availability of production capacity from the company's Texas and Wyoming operations. U.S. Stacks up a Stockpile; China Ramps Up Reactors Freeing up production capacity is a key goal for Uranium Energy Corp., since they are one of the companies that will be supplying the U.S.'s new federal uranium reserve. As MRP previously noted, Congress approved $75 million for an initial year of funding for the reserve, resulting in a 2.5-million-pound purchase of American uranium, according to Investor Intel. That amount is well above annual domestic production, which was only 174,000 pounds of U3O8 (uranium oxide concentrate) in 2019 and declined even further in 2020. The World Nuclear Association estimates roughly 50 nuclear reactors are being constructed in 16 countries, compared with about 440 operating today. That includes substantial capacity in China, perhaps the most important market for the future of nuclear energy. Last month, China unveiled its 14th five-year economic plan, which includes plans to increase nuclear power capacity from 48 gigawatts (GW) presently to 70GW by 2025. In late 2020, MRP noted that China aims to become one of the world's largest nuclear power users, planning to build over 80 new reactors in the next 15 years, and more than 230 by 2050. China currently operates 47 nuclear plants with a total generating capacity of 48.75 gigawatts, the world's third highest after the United States and France. Theme Alert In our April 16, 2020, report on uranium, MRP wrote: "An ongoing supply shock is moving the uranium market's demand/supply balance in favor of miners." Since the publication of that report, the North Shore Global Uranium Mining ETF (URNM) has returned +140%, more than tripling the S&P 500's +46% gain over the same period. On the back of bullish trends emerging across the industry, MRP will be adding long uranium to our list of themes. We will track this new theme with the North Shore Global Uranium Mining ETF (URNM). URNM launched in December 2019, so it is a relatively new ETF with about $116 million in net assets. It is a pure play on uranium miners, unlike the older and larger Global X Uranium ETF (URA), which combines uranium miners with nuclear component producers. Originally published April 8, 2021. McAlinden Research Partners (MRP) provides independent investment strategy research to investors worldwide. The firm's mission is to identify alpha-generating investment themes early in their unfolding and bring them to its clients' attention. MRP's research process reflects founder Joe McAlinden's 50 years of experience on Wall Street. The methodologies he developed as chief investment officer of Morgan Stanley Investment Management, where he oversaw more than $400 billion in assets, provide the foundation for the strategy research MRP now brings to hedge funds, pension funds, sovereign wealth funds and other asset managers around the globe. Sign Up To get MRP's unique thematic investment ideas in your inbox everyday and full website access, sign up for a Free Trial. [NLINSERT] Disclosure: 1) McAlinden Research Partners disclosures are below. 2) The following companies mentioned in this article are billboard sponsors of Streetwise Reports: None. Click here for important disclosures about sponsor fees. 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"One robust way to respond to this new variant of virus is to quickly go for a restrictive lockdown," said Naresh Trehan, top cardiovascular and cardiothoracic surgeon. "The way Maharashtra had taken a decision, the other states too should make a fast move... because time is precious." Regarding the magnitude of the situation which is getting worse and worse, Trehan, chairman of the Medanta hospital chain in India, said that the different new strains of virus have spread at a double speed and caught the medical fraternity by surprise. "Even the second wave of the Spanish flu was very devastating. Similarly in this second wave of Covid-19, I see that the number of cases are swelling very fast, each day. The difference between the figures of the first and second wave is enormous, almost double." said Tehan. On how to contain the virus, the leading cardiologist said the vaccination drive has to be augmented. "Besides, we have to increase the base of testing to ascertain the spread of this virus. And lastly everyone has to be cautious. Wearing a mask is a must... It's simple to say but hard to implement on the ground, particularly in smaller towns and places ," Trehan, an alma mater of the famous King George Medical College (KGMC) of Lucknow, told IANS. The new variants of coronavirus, which is spreading faster than ever before is affecting young people, even children this time. When asked how dreaded are these new variants, leading Indian physician and former President of the Indian Medical Association (IMA), K.K. Agarwal told IANS: "The UK strain, seen largely in Punjab is affecting the young, specially those under the age of 45. Then there are strains from South Africa, Brazil and ones traced in Maharashtra. Out of these, the Indian mutation (of the virus) seems a bit dangerous. Like a wave, the virus is now spreading from the west(Maharashtra) to north (Delhi)... But seeing the cases, I can say that the UK virus doesn't look dangerous." On the question of enforcing a complete lockdown in the country to curb the further spread of the second wave of the pandemic, Agarwal suggested that area wise containment could be effective. "Complete lockdown would not be practical. Actually enough time has been lost. We have to now focus on how to back the healthcare services and provide treatment to patients as numbers of admission are rising at a very fast pace. I would suggest that people should go for treatment as soon as symptoms appear," said Agarwal, who was awarded the Padma Shri, India's fourth highest civilian honour for his contribution to the field of medicine. The leading medical practitioners have a word of caution for India's young generation. "For the past fortnight, I am seeing a trend that more and more youngsters are coming to our centres," said Sandeep Sharma a top radiologist and a former key functionary of the Delhi Medical Association. "On Wednesday, I had seen 15 Covid positive patients for their chest CT scan. Out of 15, only one patient was around 60 years old. Rest were within the age group of 40 to 22," he said. "The young population seems to have less fear about the virus. I would suggest they should be more careful as new strains of virus are affecting them." The leading doctors were of the opinion that a callous approach by people, especially youngsters, and huge gatherings in recent festivals, and social events have led to the second wave. "Everyone has to be careful. I will reiterate, that wearing a mask, and maintaining social distancing is the simplest form of prevention. Let's follow this rule," Trehan quipped. Latest updates on Coronavirus (COVID-19) -- The story has been published from a wire feed without any modifications to the text The French embassy in Pakistan on April 15 advised French nationals and companies to temporarily leave the country in the wake of anti-France demonstrations that were witnessed in large parts of the country this week, reported ANI citing Pakistan media. Thousands of Pakistani Islamists clashed with the law enforcement for the second day in a row on Tuesday to demonstrate against the arrest of their leader ahead of rallies to criticise the French cartoons that appeared be depicting Prophet Mohammad. As per reports on Wednesday, at least one activist and one police officer died from wounds suffered overnight after Islamists blocked the highways and other routes impacting business in several cities on April 13. As per Dawn report, the email by the French embassy sent to the French citizens, the authorities cited serious threats to French interests in Pakistan while recommending the citizens to leave the foreign nation. French embassy also said, The departures will be carried out by existing commercial airlines. The French embassy in Pakistan on Thursday advised all French nationals and companies to temporarily leave the country, after violent anti-France protests paralysed large parts of the country this week: Pakistan media ANI (@ANI) April 15, 2021 Anti-French sentiment in Pakistan The strong anti-french sentiment has been simmering among Pakistan nations for several months now and was also fueled By French President Emmanuel macrons support to the French Weekly magazines right to republish the caricatures that depict Prophet Mohammad that Pakistanis consider blasphemous. French embassy warning the citizens came after the Pakistani government on April 14 banned the Tehreek-i-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP) whose leader, Saad Rizvi had called for the expulsion of the French ambassador. As per reports, Rizvi was detained for hours after making his demands promoting anti-French sentiments and bringing thousands of TLP supporters to the streets across the nation. Several videos emerged on social media and some of them showed protesters beating and dragging police as well as pedestrians. As per Dawn report, at least two police officers have died in the clashes that witnessed water cannon, tear gas and rubber bullets used by law enforcement to control the crowd. Reportedly, Islamabad was brought to a standstill by TLP supporters in November 2020 while demonstrating against France government. (Image credits: The associated Press) Now in ruins, this dramatic and imposing 13th-century Norman castle was once in the hands of Hugh O'Connor, King of Connaught. It features a quadrangular plan with rounded bastions at the corners and a double-towered entrance gate. Roscommon Castle, a 13th-century Norman structure, was built in 1269 by Robert de Ufford, Justiciar of Ireland, on lands which were taken from an Augustinian priory. The castle was laid siege by the Connacht King Aodh O'Connor in 1272. Eight years on, it was once more in the possession of the English garrison and fully restored. By the year 1340, the O'Connors had regained possession and held it until 1569, when it then fell to Sir Henry Sidney, the Lord Deputy. In 1641, it was obtained by the Parliamentarian faction and then confederate Catholics, under Preston, captured it in 1645. From then, it remained in Irish hands until 1652, when it was partially blown up by Cromwellian 'Ironsides', who then had all the fortifications dismantled. The castle was burned down in 1690 and ultimately fell into decay. New Delhi, April 15 : The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which won seven of the eight Lok Sabha seats in north Bengal in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, is once again trying to woo 25 lakh Gurkhas in the region. The party, this time in the assembly elections, aims to get the upper hand in North Bengal with 54 assembly seats as Gurkhas are considered its votebank. Union Home Minister Amit Shah himself has taken over the command to get the Gurkhas to his side by making big promises during one of his trips to the state. As a part of its strategy, Shah spent one full night in Darjeeling on April 12. This is the first time that a home minister of the country has spent the entire night in Darjeeling, meeting the various leaders of Gurkha associations. The next day, on April 13, he held an election rally in Darjeeling and tried to woo this community by making several big promises. There are as many as nine districts in north Bengal, which include Darjeeling, Kalimpong, Alipurduar, Cooch Behar, Jalpaiguri, Malda North, Malda South, North Dinajpur and South Dinajpur. These nine districts have eight Lok Sabha seats. Gurkhas play an important role in the election here and in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections extended their full support to the BJP which resulted in the party winning seven seats -- Alipurduar, Jalpaiguri, Cooch Behar, Balurghat (Dakshin Dinajpur), Raiganj (Uttar Dinajpur), Malda North and Darjeeling. BJP Lok Sabha MP from Darjeeling Raju Bisht told IANS, "The manner in which North Bengal has been neglected by the Mamata government and the Gurkhas have been sidelined and even subjected to atrocities, the Home Minister is very much aware of this. That is why he focused on local problems and gave them assurances that these will be addressed if the party comes to power. The Gurkhas can get a chance to join the mainstream of development of the country only if the BJP forms the government in the state." Amit Shah in his election rally in Darjeeling on April 13 clearly mentioned the BJP's past relations with the Gurkhas. He recalled how the Gurkhas have always been supporting the BJP in north Bengal. Shah even tried to connect emotionally with the Gurkhas by remembering freedom fighters -- Dal Bahadur Giri, Helen, Gaga Sherring, Pushpa Kumar Ghising and others. He also made special mention of mountaineer Tenzing Norgay Sherpa. A total of 11 Gurkhas were killed during the violent protests in north Bengal in 2017 under Mamata Banerjee's government. Realizing the seriousness of the issue, the Home Minister assured to conduct an inquiry into the incidents with the SIT. He also assured a long-standing political solution to the Darjeeling, Terai and Duvars problems. Shah claimed that the Gorkhaland Territorial Administration (GTA) would be dissolved if the BJP comes to power in the state. He even assured to hold panchayat polls given the fact that they have not been held for years in this region. He made several other promises -- Darjeeling will be upgraded to Municipal Corporation, special package of Rs one thousand crore for tourism, setting up of a Central University and making north Bengal an education hub. The Home Minister also allayed fears of the NRC. He said, "Gurkha cannot be an outsider, they are the children of the soil. No decision has been taken on NRC yet. Whenever NRC comes, not a single Gurkha will be asked to go. A Radio and a TV channel will be started in the Nepali language." DALLAS, April 15, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Oncor Electric Delivery Company LLC ("Oncor") plans to release its first quarter 2021 results on May 5, prior to Sempra Energy's (NYSE: SRE) first quarter 2021 conference call. Oncor's earnings release will be available on Oncor's website, oncor.com. Sempra Energy executives will conduct a conference call at 12 p.m. ET, Wednesday, May 5 that will include discussion of Oncor's first quarter 2021 operational and financial results. Investors, media, analysts and the public may listen to a live webcast of the conference call on Sempra Energy's website, sempra.com, by clicking on the appropriate audio link. Prior to the conference call, an accompanying slide presentation will be posted on Sempra Energy's website. For those unable to participate in the live webcast, a replay of Sempra Energy's call will be available a few hours after its conclusion on Sempra Energy's website or by dialing (888) 203-1112 and entering passcode 6657833. Oncor's Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the period ended March 31, 2021 will be filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission after Sempra Energy's conference call and, once filed, will also be available at oncor.com. Headquartered in Dallas, Oncor Electric Delivery Company LLC is a regulated electricity distribution and transmission business that uses superior asset management skills to provide reliable electricity delivery to consumers. Oncor (together with its subsidiaries) operates the largest distribution and transmission system in Texas, delivering power to more than 3.7 million homes and businesses and operating more than 139,000 miles of transmission and distribution lines in Texas. While Oncor is owned by two investors (indirect majority owner, Sempra Energy, and minority owner, Texas Transmission Investment LLC), Oncor is managed by its Board of Directors, which is comprised of a majority of disinterested directors. SOURCE Oncor Electric Delivery Company, LLC Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, April 15) Metro Manila needs thousands more hospital beds to accommodate COVID-19 patients, the countrys treatment czar Health Undersecretary Leopoldo Vega said Thursday. Vega told CNN Philippines Balitaan that the capital region, the epicenter of the local coronavirus outbreak, has only 9,636 COVID-19 beds. Of this number, only 737 are for intensive care unit or ICU, where those with severe or critical condition can be treated. Kailangan po naming magdagdag ng ICU beds [We need to increase ICU beds] twice what we have now, Vega said. He said he's finding ways to have over 700 more ICU beds in the next three to four months. Kailangan rin natin 'yung hospital beds natin from 9,636, dapat pataasin pa ho natin 'yan into something like another, up to 15,000 to cover the COVID mild cases, he added. [Translation: We also need to increase our hospital beds from 9,636 to up to 15,000 to cover COVID mild cases.] The official explained that although the government has opened more temporary treatment and monitoring facilities for patients with mild symptoms, those who have comorbidities like hypertension and diabetes have to be transferred to hospitals. The country is seeing an average of 8,000 to 10,000 new COVID-19 cases daily, Vega said, resulting in a 65% ICU utilization rate nationwide. Metro Manila, however, has a critical care utilization rate of 86%. As of Wednesday, there are 173,047 active cases or those currently battling the coronavirus disease. Based on the Health Departments breakdown, 96.3% of these active cases are tagged as mild, 2.4% as asymptomatic or having no symptoms, 0.5% as severe, 0.4% as critical, and 0.31% as moderate. Vega said the One Hospital Command, the governments centralized referral system, is still overwhelmed with calls from people struggling to find hospitals for their infected loved ones. He said the government is working on improving the system by adding more personnel, including doctors who can provide medical direction. We will have more open lines, Vega added, noting efforts to enhance connectivity. On Wednesday, Dr. Bernadette Velasco, operations manager of One Hospital Command, said the turnaround time for processing calls used to be around ten minutes. With the surge in COVID-19 cases, it now takes at least two hours to find vacancies and most of the time it would be in hospitals outside Metro Manila, she said. Vice President Leni Robredo earlier called on the government to expedite the release of real-time updates on hospital bed capacity, citing the struggles of families looking for available facilities, and the deaths of some patients while waiting to be treated. The Department of Healths tracker is usually at least two days late. The website now shows data as of April 13. Vega said they are also working on better communication with health institutions. The hunt for 12 people suspected missing after a 129-foot boat capsized south of Port Fourchon on the Louisiana coast during a heavy storm Tuesday afternoon continued Wednesday morning. A commercial boat used to support oil rigs capsized in hurricane-force winds in the Gulf of Mexico on Tuesday, killing one crew member and leaving a dozen others missing. After the 129-foot commercial vessel, Seacor Power capsized in 90-mile-per-hour winds south of Louisiana's Port Fourchon, rescuers in Coast Guard cutters, aircraft, and volunteer civilian vessels searched for the 12 missing persons. The remains of the deceased survivor who died in the accident have been recovered. But the Coast Guard has yet to reveal how they died. Guardsmen said they saved two people after the ship capsized, and a fleet of volunteer rescue vessels pulled four others from the water. Captain Will Watson of the Coast Guard said that searchers were 'saturating the area,' and that several people may still be stuck on the crippled vessel. 'We're giving it all we've got,' he added, noting that they'd discovered a body on the surface of the sea. Marion Tyler, the fiancee of one of the crew members who went missing, told WLOX.com that she couldn't sleep because she was worried. Teen Dies After Police Shot Him When He Fired At Officers in Knoxville, Tennessee High School The US Coast Guard requested all assistance from boat operators in the zone on Tuesday afternoon to facilitate their rescue mission. Archie Chaisson, president of Lafourche Parish, expressed concern about the possibility of more bad weather on Wednesday but said they would deal with it when the time came. According to Chaisson, the missing crew members' families rushed to the port from their homes nearby, searching for whatever detail they could find. The National Weather Service said strong winds from a line of thunderstorms with some hail and floods are forecasted to persist in southeastern Louisiana. A flash flood alert is in place until Thursday morning in the area due to the possibility of extreme weather overnight, Daily Mail reported. 'Please join @FirstLadyofLA and me in praying for those who remain missing after yesterday's capsizing off the coast of Grand Isle, and for those who are trying to save them,' Louisiana Governor John Bel Edwards tweeted. Please join @FirstLadyOfLA and me in praying for those who remain missing after yesterdays capsizing off the coast of Grand Isle and for those who are working to rescue them. #lagov John Bel Edwards (@LouisianaGov) April 14, 2021 Police Officer Who Shot Daunte Wright Mistakenly Fired Gun Instead of Using Taser, Police Chief Claims One dead, 12 missing Seacor Marine, a Houston, Texas-based shipping firm, owns the vessel. Due to its extendable 250-foot legs that can meet the seafloor, the Seacor Power is a lift boat, also known as a 'jack barge.' Energy firms also use this type of service vessel for offshore construction projects or to supply oil rigs. A representative for the ship's owner could not be reached for comment right away. Port Fourchon is a significant oil and gas industry in the United States, hosting most of Louisiana's offshore platforms and drilling rigs. The boat capsized about 4:30 PM Tuesday, prompting a search and rescue operation involving private vessels, Coast Guard teams, and an HC-144 Ocean Sentry aircraft, based on a Coast Guard statement released late Tuesday. Coast Guard authorities said a crew from the 154-foot Coast Guard, Cutter Glenn Harris arrived within 30 minutes and saved one person from the boat. Another person was rescued from the water by a second Coast Guard team, while four others were saved by other private boats run by Good Samaritans. The missing boaters' continuing search involves several Coast Guard vessels, private boats, and an HC-144 Ocean Sentry aircraft. At the time, the number of people on board is uncertain, Coast Guard spokesman Petty Officer Jonathan Lally told The New York Post. Three Individuals Related to 2-Year-Old Boy Arrested Following Toddler's Death Due to Drug Overdose Reaches Finance Document Contractual Close for Hydro Sydney, April 15, 2021 AEST (ABN Newswire) - Genex Power Limited ( ASX:GNX ) is pleased to announce that, further to its announcement of Project Document Contractual Close on 31 March 2021, it has today completed the execution of all outstanding financing documentation and as a result has reached Finance Document Contractual Close ('FD Contractual Close') for the 250MW Kidston Pumped Storage Hydro Project ('K2-Hydro' or 'Project'). FD Contractual Close secures all of the external financing required for the Project to reach Financial Close.As part of the FD Contractual Close process, the special purpose vehicle established to own and operate the Project ('Project SPV') has executed the following final documentation to secure a total of $660M of external financing for the total Project construction costs:- $610M 15-year debt facility from the Northern Australia Infrastructure Facility ('NAIF') (refer ASX Announcement dated 22 December 2020);- $47M project grant funding agreement with the Australian Renewable Energy Agency ('ARENA') and the joint venture of McConnell Dowell Constructors (Aust.) Pty Ltd and John Holland Group Pty Ltd ('MDJH JV'), together with a Deed of Mutual Termination in relation to the forgiveness of $9M of convertible notes previously issued by Genex to ARENA (refer ASX Announcement dated 24 March 2021); and- A Variation Deed to the Loan Note Subscription Agreement with the Clean Energy Finance Corporation ('CEFC'), to provide a further $3M of subordinated debt funding to be applied toward the Project costs.In conjunction with the proceeds of the fully underwritten $115M fundraising (refer ASX Announcement dated 24 March 2021) and Genex's existing cash, the execution of this documentation secures the balance of funding required for construction and means the Project is now fully funded.Genex will now be working with its stakeholders to finalise all outstanding conditions precedent, ahead of commencement of construction later this month. Financial Close is scheduled to occur in mid-May 2021 following the Extraordinary General Meeting on 29 April 2021.Commenting on today's announcement, Genex CEO James Harding stated: "Following execution of the construction documentation for the Kidston Pumped Storage Hydro Project, I am delighted that we have now executed all outstanding finance documents and, in doing so, secured all of the funding required to construct the Project.I would sincerely like to thank our financiers NAIF, ARENA and the CEFC, together with the Queensland Government, for their continued and longstanding support of Genex and the Project, without which the realisation of this iconic project would not be possible.We look forward to updating the market when we commence construction at the Kidston site toward the end of this month."NAIF CEO Chris Wade stated: "NAIF was an early supporter of the transformational Kidston Pumped Storage Hydro Project and we have worked closely with Genex to ensure the project is a success. We are delighted that our $610 million financing in the project has reached contractual close.I congratulate the Genex team for successfully bringing together the parties required to develop this project and we look forward to continuing our partnership as they work towards construction and delivering the significant economic and employment benefits to the region."About the Northern Australia Infrastructure FacilityThe Northern Australia Infrastructure Facility (NAIF) is a development financier that provides loans to infrastructure projects in the Northern Territory, Queensland and Western Australia.NAIF works with project proponents to encourage and ensure that NAIF's financial support will help bring a positive impact to local communities, provide positive Indigenous outcomes, and support the region and northern Australia as a whole.NAIF has approved more than $2.8 billion in loans to infrastructure projects across northern Australia, with $1 billion of that to central and northern Queensland projects. NAIF has now reached contractual close of a total of 19 financings worth $1.9 billion. Based on proponents' drawdown schedules, the bulk of this funding is expected to be drawn over the next 2-3 years.NAIF's investment is forecast to support around 9,000 jobs and generate around $8.8 billion in economic benefit to the north.About Genex Power Ltd Genex Power Limited (ASX:GNX) is focused on developing a portfolio of renewable energy generation and storage projects across Australia. The Company's flagship Kidston Clean Energy Hub, located in north Queensland, will integrate large-scale solar generation with pumped storage hydro. The Kidston Clean Energy Hub is comprised of the operating 50MW stage 1 Solar Project (KS1) and the 250MW Kidston Pumped Storage Hydro Project (K2-Hydro) with potential for further multi-stage wind and solar projects. The 50MW Jemalong Solar Project (JSP) is located in NSW and provides geographical diversification to the Genex Power Limited portfolio. JSP was energised in early December 2020 and commissioning is now underway. Genex is further developing its energy storage portfolio via the early stage development of a 50MW/75MWh standalone battery energy storage system at Bouldercombe in Queensland. With over 400MW of renewable energy and storage projects in development, Genex is well placed as Australia's leading renewable energy and storage company. New Delhi, April 15: The damage caused to the village mosque at Hadipora in southern Kashmirs Shopian district during an encounter between the security forces and the militants on 9 -10 April has outraged the local population but, in contrast to some previous incidents, the public anger this time around is unmistakably against the militants. Three militants, including a 14-year-old child guerrilla recruit Faisal Ganai, were killed in the encounter that happened around the place of worship in which the militants were hiding and firing out on the troops. The gunfight left some of the mosque's windows ripped and the interiors damaged, even as the troops avoided using rockets and improvised explosive devices that quite often destroy a targeted structure. Minutes after the spot was sanitised and the security forces withdrew from the village, 20-odd militant sympathisers made unsuccessful attempts to stage a massive demonstration against the troops for the damage caused to the mosque. Just a few gathered as most of the residents began implicitly and explicitly blaming the militants. Some of them, not willing to be named, said that they had been deprived of the place of worship at the very beginning of the holy month of Ramadan. "Had they not been hiding in the mosque, there wouldn't have been any damage to it", said a middle-aged orchardist. Partly for the damage caused to the mosque and partly for the fact that a young boy and the only brother of his four sisters became a casualty in the encounter, even the militants disowned their slain associates. Videos of Faisal Ganai's parents, grandparents and four young sisters beseeching the militants to release the teenage recruit went viral in the social media and generated a palpable public anger. Reacting to some media reports, Albadar Mujahideen issued a rare statement, claiming that the militants killed in the Shopian gunbattle were not their cadre. The statement claimed that they had been recruited by an Afghanistan-based radical outfit Ansar Ghazwatul Hind. The statement called them as 'martyrs' but insisted that recruitment of child guerrillas was not permitted in Albadar. Even as a robust ecosystem of the valley's separatists and militants chose to remain mum, there were unsuccessful attempts to raise the religious passions and put the blame as usual on the Police and the security forces. According to senior Police officers, a photojournalist posted an image of a blood-soaked Quran on her Twitter handle and claimed that the Holy Scripture was splashed with the blood of a slain militant inside a mosque in Shopian. "It prima facie suggested that someone was provoking the masses for violence with fake and false news. During a quick fact checking exercise, we found that it was actually the image of a Quran damaged during a suicide strike on the religious preacher Al-Bouti inside the Al-Iman mosque in Mazraa district of Damascus in Syria some years back. 42 persons had been killed and 84 left injured in that attack", said a senior Police official. "The photojournalist has deleted the objectionable tweet but we are initiating necessary legal action", he added. The Jammu and Kashmir Police sought peoples' condemnation to the militants' trail of misusing the mosques in Kashmir as their shelters and hiding places during the counterinsurgency operations in recent times. "#Terrorists have misused #mosques for terror attacks i.e, Pampore on 19/6/20, Sopore on 1/7/20 & Shopian on 9/4/21. General public, Masjid Intizamia , Civil Societies & Media should condemn such acts: IGP Kashmir", Zonal Headquarters of the J&K Police in Kashmir tweeted. Apart from the three major incidents in 2020-21, scores of the mosques, shrines and other religious places have been damaged or fully destroyed in different encounters in Kashmir in the last 30 years of militancy. In the very beginning of the insurgency, militants of a group active in downtown Srinagar were found hiding in the domes of a major mosque in Srinagar in 1989. Quite a number of them were seized alive from the mosques. An Islamic library gutted in a mysterious blaze near the revered Hazratbal shrine in 1992. Later in October 1993 and March 1996, the JKLF militants occupied the shrine. In 1993, they were given a safe passage but in 1996 they gunned down four Police personnel, resulting in the killing of around 30 militants. In 1994-95, one of the heavily armed groups of the militants, led by 'Major' Mast Gul of Pakistan, occupied the second most revered shrine of the valley at Chrar-e-Sharief in Budgam district. The standoff culminated into a fierce encounter on 11 May 1995 when Mast Gul and his militants set the shrine of the 14th century Rishi saint Sheikhul Aalam Sheikh Nooruddin Noorani along with a historic monastery and a mosque and a major portion of the town on fire. Some of the militants got killed but Mast Gul managed to escape with many of his associates. Militants also attacked and looted the weapons of the Police guards at a number of the protected shrines. On several occasions, they entered and shot dead their soft targets inside the mosques. At one mosque in Sogam, Kupwara, they grabbed a civilian during the congregational prayers and left him beheaded at the entrance. (This content is being carried under an arrangement with indianarrative.com) --indianarrative/ UAE partners with Japan's ispace to send rover to the moon in 2022 Moon is seen in the sky during the closest visible conjunction of Jupiter and Saturn in 400 years, in Tejeda, on the island of Gran Canaria, Spain (Photo : REUTERS/Borja Suarez) Lunar exploration company ispace will transport a United Arab Emirates rover to the moon in 2022, the company said on Wednesday, as the UAE pushes for rapid expansion in the space exploration business to diversify its economy. The UAE is using its space programme to develop its scientific and technological capabilities and reduce its reliance on oil. Advertisement The Gulf state's, and the Arab world's, first interplanetary probe entered Mars' orbit in February. It is now sending data about the Martian atmosphere and climate. The Rashid lunar rover will be designed entirely by Emiratis. The UAE had originally intended to send it into space by 2024. Japanese company ispace, founded in 2010, aims to provide commercial transportation to the moon with a wider mission to ultimately incorporate the moon into the earth's economy. The 2022 launch will be ispace's first mission of this kind and will use a Falcon 9 rocket from Elon Musk's SpaceX, to be launched from Florida. Dubai's Mohammed Bin Rashid Space Center (MBRSC) will build the Rashid lunar rover. It will remain on the moon after data collection is completed, said Emirates Lunar Mission manager Hamad al-Marzooqi. The SpaceX rocket will deliver an ispace lander to the moon's orbit. The lander will propel itself to the moon's surface and the UAE rover will then emerge from the lander and drive off to explore, said ispace Founder and CEO Takeshi Hakamada. The lander will also be carrying a solid-state battery designed by Japanese company NGK Spark Plug to be tested in the lunar environment. The lunar mission is part of the Gulf state's broader vision for a Mars settlement by 2117. Under the agreement, ispace said it would also provide the Emirates Lunar Mission with wired communication and power during the cruise phase and wireless communication on the moon. The UAE launched a National Space Programme in 2017 to develop local expertise. Its population of 9.4 million, most of whom are foreign workers, lacks the scientific and industrial base of the major countries which have space programmes. Hazza al-Mansouri became the first Emirati in space in 2019 when he flew to the International Space Station. This week the UAE selected the first Arab woman to train as an astronaut. India has a crucial role to play in shaping the post-COVID-19 world: Singapore FM India had a crucial role to play in helping the region build an inclusive architecture at a time of increasing global instability, Singapores Foreign Minister Vivian Balakrishnan said at the Raisina Dialogue, held virtually this year and hosted by the Observer Research Foundation in partnership with Indias Ministry of External Affairs. The theme for the 2021 Edition is "#ViralWorld: Outbreaks, Outliers and Out of Control. The Singapore Foreign Minister praised Indias strong support to global vaccine cooperation. Photo courtesy: MEA Balakrishnan said he hoped India would reassess its stand on regional trading agreements such as the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) pact that India withdrew from in 2019. On the trade deal, Balakrishnan said he was making a plea for India to revisit its stand. I hope India will reassess regional trade pacts like RCEP and even the CPTPP [Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership], he said. These trade pacts will give Indian companies a platform to showcase their strengths across even larger markets. The RCEP came into force in November 2020 without India and is the worlds largest trading agreement, covering the 10 ASEAN nations, China, Japan, South Korea, Australia and New Zealand. The CPTPP, successor of the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) which the US withdrew from, includes Singapore, Brunei, Malaysia and Vietnam from ASEAN, along with Australia, New Zealand, Japan, Canada, Mexico, Chile and Peru. India withdrew from the RCEP largely because of concerns it would open it up to Chinese goods amid an already wide trade imbalance with China, and the failure of the agreement to adequately open up to services. Balakrishnan said Singapore hoped India could play a role to help build a regional architecture that was open and inclusive. He added that ASEAN-India relations have also been enhanced in recent years, under Prime Minister Modi's Act East Policy, and by his administrations support for ASEAN Centrality. "In the digital economy and beyond, Indian companies have tremendous growth potential and have an important role to play in stimulating global recovery. With its wealth of engineering talent and robust digital infrastructure, India's digital and innovation space has thrived and is really ready for lift-off," he added. The Singapore Foreign Minister praised Indias strong support to global vaccine cooperation, at a time when the pandemic had turbocharged protectionism and nationalism all over the world, significantly disrupted trade flows and supply chains, and sharpened the tendency for policymakers to turn inwards. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi in his inaugural address elaborated upon Indias pandemic response efforts, both domestically as well as in form of assistance to other countries. He called for joint efforts to meet the varied challenges posed by the pandemic and reiterated that India would share its strengths for global good. "We must create systems that address the problems of today and challenges of tomorrow. And we must think of the entire humanity and not merely of those who are on our side of the borders. Humanity as a whole must be at the center of our thinking and action," he said. Student Spotlight: Jan Hanousek Following in his dads footsteps By Jamie Boyle ST. PETERSBURG (April 8, 2021) -- Jan Hanousek is a second year PhD student with a concentration in finance. He moved to Florida from the Czech Republic to attend USF. His interest in finance runs in the family, as Hanouseks father is a professor of finance as well. In fact, Hanousek first became aware of USF when a colleague of his father gave him a USF T-shirt when he was younger. Not only is Hanousek following his fathers example, but he also conducts research alongside him. They are currently working on a number of papers together regarding ownership structures, private and public firms. I have a really good relationship with my father, we are best friends, Hanousek said. I have someone I can discuss basically anything with. Hanouseks research covers a lot, but he has a particular interest in political corruption and senator insider trading. His studies have found that there is information symmetry around the times senators trade and their investments performing extremely well. Other current topics Hanousek has looked at recently revolve around GameStop and Reddit. Its too exciting to stay away from it, he said. Hanousek presented his first-year paper on senator trading in the Czech Republic and placed second for the Young Economist of the Year Award by the Czech Economic Society. New Delhi: Karwa Chauth or Karva Chauth is a Hindu festival which will be celebrated on October 8 this year. It is traditionally observed by married women during which they conduct a nirjala fast for the safety and longevity of their husbands. The word Karwa or Karak refers to the earthen pot through which water offering, known as Argha is made to the moon. Karwa Chauth falls during the Krishna Paksha Chaturthi in the month of Kartik as per the Hindu calendar. Women, who dress in bright and colorful ethnic wear looking nothing less than a bride, observe rigorous fast throughout the day and break it only after offering prayers to the moon. Women offer water to the moon as a part of their prayer by holding a sieve in another hand. The Puja Muhurat for this begins from 06:03 PM and ends at 07:17 PM. The moon will rise on Karva Chauth at 08:27 PM. The Chaturthi Tithi on Karwa Chauth begins on the 8 October at 04:58 PM and the Chaturthi Tithi ends on the 9th of October at 02:16 PM. For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. English Dutch French Ghent, 14 April 2021, 6 p.m. Press release / Regulated information ABO-GROUP announces that it has signed a letter of intent for the acquisition of the French company SEGED. This acquisition is an important step for the further development of the environmental activities in France. ABO-GROUP expects to complete the acquisition, after completion of due diligence, in the second quarter of 2021. SEGED is an environmental and ecological consultant and is located in Saint-Maximin-la-Sainte-Baume in the French department of Var. SEGED's activities seamlessly integrate with those of GEO+ Environnement, the French specialist in mines, quarries and ecology, which was acquired by the group at the end of last year. SEGED SEGED (Societe d'Etudes et de Gestion de l'Environnement et de Dechets) is a consultancy agency specialised in the field of environment and ecology. Since its creation in 2001, it has developed a strong expertise in environmental studies and environmental coordination, waste streams and remediation. The engineering office has a multidisciplinary team of some 25 experts and achieves a turnover of approximately 1.75 million euros. About ABO-GROUP ABO-GROUP is a Euronext-listed group of semi-integrated consultancy, testing & monitoring companies, focusing on soil, geotechnical and environmental research. With its twenty-five offices, ABO-GROUP is active in Belgium, the Netherlands, France and the United Kingdom. The group also operates internationally on a project basis. ABO-GROUP guarantees its clients a sustainable solution. For a more detailed description of the group's activities, please visit the ABO-GROUP website (www.abo-group.eu). For more information: ABO-GROUP Environment NV Frank De Palmenaer CEO ABO-GROUP Environment NV frank.depalmenaer@abo-group.eu T +32 (0)9 242 88 22 Attachment West Bengal: COVID, climate change pushing Sundarbans women to distress by Namrata Acharya April 15,2021 | Source: Al Jazeera In April last year, 17-year-old Rani Khatun, a resident of Sagar Island in the Sundarbans, would spend most of her day in school, preparing for the upcoming board exams. She wanted to be a teacher one day. Less than a year later, Khatun is a school dropout and a victim of domestic violence after a forced underage marriage. Sundarbans, the worlds biggest delta, is a 10,000 sq km (6,213 sq miles) dense forest of tidal mangroves, straddling Indias eastern coastline and western Bangladesh, opening into the Bay of Bengal. Crisscrossed by rivers, it is home to nearly 4.5 million people on the Indian side, with a large part of its population being subsistence farmers, dependent on fishing, paddy and betel leaf cultivation, and honey collection. Sagar Island, spread over 282 sq km (175 sq miles), is home to more than 200,000 people. The deltaic region saw large-scale migration of people to cities for work in 2009 after Cyclone Aila devastated the region, killing more than 300 people. But many had to return after they lost their jobs due to the coronavirus lockdown imposed in March last year. As they returned, another super cyclone, Amphan, ravaged Sundarbans in May 2020, killing more than 100 people. Even as COVID-19 restrictions were eased in June, the 46-year-old could not re-establish his tailoring business due to rampant poverty in the region, pushing the family into acute financial distress. Then came a marriage proposal for Khatun, with the grooms family demanding little dowry. Though outlawed, the practice of dowry continues in the Indian subcontinent, in which money and expensive gifts are given to the grooms family for marriage. Though Khatun was a minor who could not be married according to Indian laws, her family married her off. The grooms family didnt demand any money. We thought by marrying off our daughter, we would have one person less to feed, Khatuns mother Nazula Biwi told Al Jazeera. However, Khatun was allegedly assaulted by her husband and in-laws and she came back within a month to her parents, who have ended up with a bigger liability a debt of 80,000 Indian rupees ($1,104), which they had taken for their daughters marriage. Like Khatun, other young girls in the Sundarbans are also being forced into marriage due to poverty, worsened by climate change as recurrent storms and rising sea level lead to land loss and fall in farm productivity due to saline water intrusion. The COVID-19 pandemic, resulting in job losses and more poverty, has only aggravated the crisis. Rise in underage marriages According to UNICEF estimates, at least 1.5 million Indian girls below the age of 18 are married off every year and nearly 16 percent girls aged between 15 and 19 are currently married. After the pandemic and Cyclone Amphan hit the Sundarbans, reports suggest a substantial spike in the numbers. Laboni Singha Das, a representative of Childline India Foundation, a government-appointed coordinating agency focused on ending child marriages in West Bengal, said there has been an unusual spike in the cases of child marriage on Sagar Island alone in the last year. Das said she has rescued close to 50 girls from child marriages in less than a year after receiving tip-offs about their marriages. Once Childline is alerted to a child marriage through its helpline or other means, it intervenes to stop the marriage by going to the spot along with the police. Das attributed the spike in child marriages to the prolonged closure of schools due to the pandemic. With girls engaged more in housework, they got disconnected from education, she said. The most vulnerable are those aged between 13-16 years. Nihar Ranjan Raptan, secretary of Goranbose Gram Bikas Kendra, an NGO fighting child marriages in the region, said while four-five cases of child marriages were reported in the region every month, that number has gone up to eight to 10 since the pandemic. In June last year, the West Bengal Commission for Protection of Child Rights, a government body, set up a special team in association with various NGOs to deal with child marriages in the Sunderbans. Any case of child marriage could be reported over the phone or WhatsApp on a number provided by the agency. The government has also made it mandatory for the children forced into child marriages to be sent to rehabilitation centres for a minimum of 40 days. At these centres, the girls are offered psychological counselling, vocational training and, if needed, even enrolment in schools. Those who facilitated the marriage could be imprisoned for up to two years and fined 100,000 Indian rupees ($1,360). Climate change and women Faced with environmental degradation and resultant poverty, women suffer differently from men. They continue to remain marginalised and fall prey to child marriages, trafficking and domestic violence. The evidence regarding the gendered effects of climate change is presently limited but there has been extensive research showing that when poor households in developing countries are hit by adverse economic shocks, women and girls suffer considerably more than men and boys, said Zaki Wahhaj, co-director of Development Economics Research Centre at the University of Kent. Anurag Danda, a senior visiting fellow with think-tank Observer Research Foundations Energy and Climate Change Programme, said he will not attribute incidences of child trafficking and marriages to Amphan or COVID alone. However, economic hardships have an ecological angle. As land turns saline or there are breaches of embankments, people lose land and economic hardships ensue. Also, with every generation, landholdings turn smaller as they get divided among scions. All this leads to a higher incidence of poverty and subsequently child marriages and trafficking, he told Al Jazeera. A study by M Niaz Asadullah, Kazi Md Mukitul Islam and Zaki Wahhaj, published in the Journal of Biosocial Science, examined the reasons leading to child marriage in eight villages in the climate-affected areas of coastal Bangladesh. The study found that more than two-thirds of the respondents had encountered at least one event of a natural disaster before marriage. These patterns suggest that climate change may be worsening the problem of child marriage in the Sundarbans region, Wahhaj told Al Jazeera. Ajanta Dey, joint secretary of Nature Environment and Wildlife Society (NEWS), said the experience after Cyclone Aila showed that climate change affected women much more than men. Be it in the form of trafficking or child marriage, women are first impacted due to climate change, he said. Hostile landscape After Cyclone Aila devastated the region in 2009, submerging the nearby islands of Lohachara and Suparibhanga, Sagar Island became the home of a large number of climate refugees. After migrating to the island, more than 64 percent of its residents had to change their original livelihoods, according to a 2012 study. Nearly 20 percent of former farmers and more than 6 percent of fishermen became daily wage labourers, while 35 percent of people took to other jobs, said the study. While frequent storms cause extensive damage, the Sundarbans have also been witnessing a rapid loss of land for years due to a rise in temperature. The waters of Bay of Bengal have been rising up to twice as fast as the global average at about 4.4-6.3mm a year as temperature in the region is rising faster than other regions, said a 2018 study by climate physicist Chirag Dhara. The Sundarbans Delta is sinking at a rate of about 2-4mm a year, he said. Dhara added that the rise in sea levels around the Sundarbans at 8mm a year was nearly three times faster than the global average and as high as 12mm a year on Sagar Island. While rising sea continues to shrink habitable land in the region, the dreams of girls like Rani Khatun continue to get broken. She is back in school, but not sure if another storm will sink her ambitions again. 2021 Al Jazeera Media Network On April 15, in Saint Petersburg, Speaker of the National Assembly of Armenia Ararat Mirzoyan delivered a speech at the international conference Global Challenges and Threats in Time of COVID-19 Pandemic: Terrorism and Violent Extremism. The Speaker particularly noted: Dear Valentina Ivanovna, Dear colleagues, participants of conference, First of all, I would like to thank you for the organization of this conference, Terrorism and violent extremism in the manifestation of any forms have become one of the most dangerous problems of the 21st century. Last year was marked as one of the unprecedented challenges a new coronavirus infection COVID-19. The rapid spreading of the new virus and the restrictions related to the pandemic created serious problems in all the countries. The world has become more unpredictable, all spheres of our activities has radically changed. We all witness how the political and social-economic systems of the country are put to test. I would like to especially mention the importance of the calls by the UN Secretary General to put an end to all hot conflicts, and do all the best to avoid new cold war. New challenges require active cooperation at the level of the national parliaments and inter-parliamentary organizations. We need coordinated actions in the issues of the international agenda, respecting the international law, countering terrorism and extremism and eradication of all forms of discrimination. Colleagues, In time of pandemic the citizens of different countries showed examples of support and mutual help. It seemed that challenges related to the coronavirus infection and its grave consequences, should unite the states and the peoples. However, despite the call of the UN Secretary General and the global humanitarian crisis, at the end of September Azerbaijan with the full and open support of Turkey and the involvement of the mercenaries from different terrorist organizations of the Near East, unleashed large-scale military aggression against Nagorno-Karabakh. During the war, the armed forces of Azerbaijan committed heinous crimes shot purposefully the civilians and the infrastructures of vital importance, desecrated and destroyed the Armenian historical, cultural and religious heritage in the territory of Nagorno-Karabakh, including the cathedrals, churches and other religious and historical monuments, such as the monuments to Armenian marshals and generals, who fought and won Nazism and fascism during the Great Patriotic War. All these actions were accompanied by the flagrant of violations of human rights and norms of international humanitarian law. At the very beginning of escalation it became evident that the mercenaries and the militants from Syria and Lebanon replenished by Turkey are involved in the military aggression against Nagorno-Karabakh. Russia, France, Iran, Syria and the U.S. also confirmed the fact of moving the militants to our region. I would like to draw your attention to the fact that the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Russia Sergey Lavrov still in November of the last year noted that about two thousand terrorists were thrown to the region. These mercenaries and the representatives of the terrorist structures, taking part in the war on the side of Azerbaijan, promoted turning the South Caucasus into the next center of international terrorism. We reportedly stated that if not taking radical measures then the South Caucasus would turn into the platform of the international terrorist organizations, from where a new terrorist threat could proliferate throughout the whole region. According to the Chief of the Foreign Intelligence Service Sergey Narishkin, from the first days of the war the mercenaries from such banned terrorist organizations in Russia as Jabhat an-Nusra, Firkat Khamza, Sultan Murad, were thrown into the region. I would like to especially mention the humanitarian problems too. As you know, the exchange of the captives, the forcefully kept persons and the bodies of the dead is one of the obligatory points of the Trilateral Statement of 9 November 2020. That process should begin immediately after its signing. Moreover, there was an agreement that exchange of captives, the forcefully kept persons and the bodies of the dead should take place by the principle all for all. However, after more than four months, we state that the Azerbaijani side grossly violates the corresponding agreements. By now, Azerbaijan continues illegally forcefully keeping hundreds of Armenian servicemen and civilians. There are undeniable and confirmed facts that many captives were tortured, crippled and even killed. These crimes were shot on the video and spread in the social networks and were widely accepted in the Azerbaijani society. It is obvious that the delay of the return process from the Azerbaijani side of the captives is exclusively of artificial character and creates serious obstacles on the way of the implementation of the Tripartite Statement of 9 November 2020, and also the statements of January 11 of this year. The Armenian side fully implemented all the obligations. In contrast with this Azerbaijan consistently refuses fulfilling the Tripartite Statement agreements, manipulates the lists of prisoners of war and forcefully kept persons, fabricating artificial criminal cases and in general, continues its policy of Armenophobia, with all this damaging the process of stabilization of the South Caucasus and unblocking the infrastructures. Such attitude to the reached agreements cannot but arise relevant reaction of the colleagues, who are interested in peace and stability of our region. We are convinced that immediate and practical actions will serve the interests of the quick solution of this most urgent problem. Colleagues, We call on you to unity, solidarity and global partnership to soften the difficulties which we still will have. We have a task for working out joint consolidating actions facing modern challenges and threats, search of topical problems for legislative solutions. Thanks for your attention. Nancy Pelosi effectively killed an upcoming Democrat proposal to expand the Supreme Court by four seats by saying Thursday she would not bring the bill to the House floor. The bid from a group of Democratic lawmakers would change the number of justices for the first time in 160 years and wipe out the conservative majority built under Donald Trump. 'Do you support [Rep.] Jerry Nadler's bill to expand the Supreme Court by 4 seats and would you commit to bringing that bill to the floor,' a reporter asked the House Speaker at a press conference on Thursday. 'No,' she said. House Judiciary Chairman Jerry Nadler, while unveiling the bill Thursday, explained Democrats are looking to reverse the conservative majority created under the last administration with the court packing bill. 'We're not packing it, we're unpacking it,' Nadler argued. Pelosi said she backs President Joe Biden launching a commission to look at expanding the Supreme Court Justice count, rather than bringing forward the current Democrat proposal. 'I support the president's commission to study such a proposal,' Pelosi added. 'But, frankly, I'm not right now, we're back, our members committees are working putting together the infrastructure bill and the rest.' 'I don't know that that's a good idea or a bad idea,' she said. 'I think it's an idea that should be considered and I think the president's taking the right approach to have a commission to study such a thing. It's a big step. It's not out of the question, it's been done before in the history of our country.' Biden's commission plans to study a wide-range of Supreme Court-related issues and report its findings to the president. The purpose of the group, however, is not to make a straightforward recommendation on whether or not to change the bench number. Republicans railed against the progressive idea with House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy claiming it would 'dismantle the government institution' and allow Democrats to 'totally take over another branch of government to have control purely for a political base.' Of the proposal for a four-seat expansion, McCarthy said: 'Ironically it's the same number needed to give Democrats a one seat edge.' 'Never in my time in politics did I ever believe they would go this far,' McCarthy added during his press conference Thursday. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and other senior Democrats effectively killed their own party's proposal to expand the Supreme Court by four seats before House Judiciary Chairman Jerry Nadler's announcement of the bill Democrats, led by Senator Ed Markey (at podium) unveiled a new bill Thursday, April 15 in front of the Capitol that would expand the Supreme Court from nine to 13 seats despite fellow Democratic leadership claiming they would not back the proposal House Judiciary Chairman Jerry Nadler said, 'We're not packing it, we're unpacking it', by arguing the bill would reverse the 'unfair' conservative majority created under Trump During Senate floor remarks on Thursday, Republican Leader Mitch McConnell pointed out a continued double standard between what Democrats expect of the GOP and what they carry out when they have power. 'If Republicans had introduced a bill to add four Supreme Court seats for the last president to fill, there would have been weeks of wall-to-wall outrage on every newspaper and cable TV channel nonstop,' McConnell lamented. Senate sponsor of the bill Ed Markey, along with Nadler and House advocates of the bill, unveiled a new 'court packing' proposal Thursday outside of the Capitol that would expand the number of justices on the Supreme Court from 9 to 13. Senate Judiciary Chairman Dick Durbin expressed Thursday he would not sign on to the idea yet. Durbin told reporters at the Capitol: 'I just heard about [the proposal]. I'm not ready to sign on yet. I think this commission of Biden is the right move. Let's think this through carefully. This is historic.' 'I'm concerned both by the current situation, which I believe was influenced by the McConnell decision to keep that vacancy open until Trump could fill it,' Durbin said when asked about critics' claims of court packing. 'I want to make sure that our response to that is reasonable,' he said. 'So you haven't decided yet if you'll bring it up for a vote in committee?' a reporter pushed. 'Not yet,' Durbin said. 'This is the earliest stage of the conversation. I really want to see what the commission proposes.' Bill would create four more seats on the Supreme Court, bringing the bench from nine to 13 Republicans have condemned proposals to increase the number of Supreme Court justices from nine to 13. Nebraska Senator Ben Sasse said in a statement to National Review on Thursday: 'Here are some facts: The Supreme Court isn't supposed to be America's super-legislature.' 'Democrats don't have some historic mandate in a 50-50 Senate to nuke the Court; the progressive activists who wrote this bill are high on their own supply; and a whole bunch of sane Democrats are quietly praying this thing dies,' he continued. 'The court-packing bill is delusional,' Sasse said. Senator Tom Cotton of Arkansas tweeted: 'Packing the Supreme Court would destroy the Supreme Court. The Democrats will do anything for power.' Donald Trump's former chief of staff, Mark Meadows, said increasing the size of the court was a terrible idea. 'The moderate left is gone,' he said. 'This is who they are now. Open borders. Outlawing voter ID. Free healthcare for illegal migrants. And now court packing. 'This should be roundly rejected.' Biden established a 36-member commission earlier this month to look into 'court packing' in a move at getting more liberal justices onto the Supreme Court bench and dismantling the 6-3 conservative majority. The president's moved has been called a 'power grab', a 'move by the radical left when they can't get what they want' and an attack on the Constitution by furious Republicans. The announcement of the commission follows months of debate over whether Democrats should seek to expand the court beyond nine justices a number that hasn't changed since Abraham Lincoln was president. During Trump's presidency, he was able to expand the conservative majority by bringing in Brett Kavanaugh, Neil Gorsuch and Amy Coney Barrett. The announcement came as progressive groups launched a campaign demanding Justice Stephen Breyer resign for saying there shouldn't be more justices on the bench. Ruth Bader Ginsburg (front, second from right) opposed increasing the number of justices THE SUPREME COURT, ARTICLE III OF THE CONSTITUTION AND ITS HISTORY The Supreme Court was established in 1789 by Article Three of the Constitution. President George Washington then signed the Judiciary Act which specified that the court would initially be made up of six justices who would serve until they died or retired. For the next 80 years, until 1869, Congress altered the number of justices six times from a low of five to a high of 10. But there have been nine serving justices for the last 160 years. Congress does have the power to change the number of justices, and the Democrats could pass it with slim majorities in both the House and Senate. Any effort to alter it would be explosive and would attract furious support from both sides of the aisle. Imposing term limits would likely require a constitutional amendment, though some scholars have proposed ways to accomplish it by statute. The constitution doesn't explicitly grant 'life tenure', but it is implied from the phrase that they shall 'hold their offices during good behaviour'. Democrats have tried to unravel the Supreme Court's historic traditions with the argument that justice are now serving an average of 28 around years, the longest in history. In 2020, California Democrat Rep. Ro Khanna introduced a proposal that would establish 18-year limits for Supreme Court Justices, but the bill never materialized. 'We can't face a national crisis every time a vacancy occurs on the Supreme Court,' said Rep. Khanna. 'No justice should feel the weight of an entire country on their shoulders. No president should be able to shift the ideology of our highest judicial body by mere chance. Most importantly, our country's top constitutional questions shouldn't be decided by a panel of jurists who are biding their time until a president of their choice is elected. It's time to standardize and democratize the Supreme Court.' Over the last 44 years, Republicans have held the presidency for 24 years and appointed 15 justices. Donald Trump appointed three relatively young conservatives: Amy Coney Barrett, Brett Kavanaugh and Neil Gorsuch. Democrats have held the presidency for 20 years and appointed only four justices. As of January 2021, 115 justices have served on the court.. Advertisement Regardless of any recommendations given by the White House commission, changing the number of justices would require congressional approval. Durbin's proposal, first reported reported by The Intercept, was always likely to spark strong protest from Republicans, who warned during the election that Joe Biden would try and change the court's composition. 'Who agrees that we should expand the Supreme Court?' tweeted Ed Markey of Massachusetts, the sponsor of the bill in the Senate. Mondaire Jones, who is sponsoring the bill through the House, tweeted: 'Our democracy is under assault, and the Supreme Court has dealt the sharpest blows. To restore power to the people, we must #ExpandTheCourt.' He added: 'Supreme Court expansion is infrastructure.' The Supreme Court is currently conservative leaning, with six conservative judges seated. Donald Trump appointed three: Neil Gorsuch, Brett Kavanaugh and Amy Coney Barrett. The new plan is being promoted in the House by the Judiciary Committee Chairman, Jerry Nadler. He is backed by Subcommittee chair Hank Johnson, and freshman Jones. In the Senate, the bill is being championed by Markey. Changing the composition of the court requires a Senate sponsor, and congressional approval. The number of justices on the Supreme Court is not specified by the Constitution. Until 1869, the number regularly fluctuated depending on which political party was in power, and their aims. Under John Adams there were five: under Abraham Lincoln there were 10. Biden himself refused to say before the election what his position was. In 1995 described efforts to expand the Supreme Court as 'boneheaded'. But, under pressure from progressives within his party, he said last week that he was forming a special commission to investigate the issue. The formation of a 36-member commission was announced by the White House on April 9. Biden's move was called a 'power grab', and a 'move by the radical left when they can't get what they want'. Jerry Nadler (left) and Mondaire Jones are leading the push to change the Court in the House Hank Johnson (left) is also promoting the bill in the House, and Ed Markey in the Senate Joe Biden established a presidential commission to examine expanding the Supreme Court 'THIS IS A POWER GRAB': GOP FURY AT 'PACKING' COMMISSION Republican Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell Today's announcement is a direct assault on our nation's independent judiciary and yet another sign of the Far Left's influence over the Biden Administration. 'Rational observers know well there is nothing about the structure or operation of the judicial branch that requires 'study.' Constitutional scholars and the justices themselves have repeatedly affirmed the position of the late Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg: 'nine seems to be a good number.' Justice Breyer said just this week that 'structural alteration' like court packing would mean 'eroding' the public's trust in the judiciary. And by overwhelming margins, the American people agree. 'At the same time, more and more elected Democrats have made open disdain for judicial independence a key part of their political platforms. A sitting Senator has personally threatened certain justices should they rule against liberal interests. Multiple Senate Democrats signed a threatening brief suggesting the Court needed to either deliver liberal rulings or face being 'restructured.' The President spent most of his campaign playing coy on the issue, but has now admitted from the safety of a four-year term that he views the judiciary as 'out of whack.' 'So anyone who was surprised by the creation of a commission on packing the Supreme Court simply hasn't been paying attention. This faux-academic study of a nonexistent problem fits squarely within liberals' years-long campaign to politicize the Court, intimidate its members, and subvert its independence. This is not some new, serious, or sober pivot away from Democrats' political attacks on the Court. It's just an attempt to clothe those ongoing attacks in fake legitimacy. It's disappointing that anyone, liberal or conservative, would lend credence to this attack by participating in the commission. 'Of course, this is just another example of the liberal preference for attacking norms and institutions, rather than working within them. When Democrats lose a floor vote, it's time to change Senate rules. When they lose a presidential election, it's time to abolish the Electoral College. And when activists' cases fall flat against the rule of law, it's time to ignore Justices Ginsburg and Breyer and pack the Supreme Court. 'President Biden campaigned on a promise of lowering the temperature and uniting a divided nation. If he really meant it, he would stop giving oxygen to a dangerous, antiquated idea and stand up to the partisans hawking it. Republican Senator Mitt Romney My Democrat friends decry the last president for weakening our institutions with his words and behavior but they now cheer the effort to pack the Supreme Court and end the Senate filibuster, which would forever diminish institutions at our Republic's foundation. Republican Senator Ben Sasse 'This progressive court packing commission is going nowhere fast. President Biden knows that he doesn't even have the votes in his own party to pack the court; he knows that court packing is a non-starter with the American people; and he knows that this commission's report is just going to be a taxpayer-funded door stopper. 'What the President doesn't have his the courage to come out and flatly tell the radical left that he's not going to pack the Supreme Court.' Republican Rep. Jim Jordan 'Why study something we already know? Democrats want to pack the Supreme Court.' Republican Rep. Marsha Blackburn 'Joe Biden and the radical left will destroy our institutions to seize power. This means eradicating the electoral college and the filibuster and packing the Supreme Court ' Republican Rep. Mike Gallagher 'We don't need a commission to know that court packing is a radical idea that would destroy faith in the Supreme Court. Next week, I'll be reintroducing a constitutional amendment that would prevent this from happening by capping the court at nine justices' Former GOP South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley 'Court packing is undemocratic, divisive, and brainless. Don't take it from me, take it from Joe Biden who once called it a 'bonehead idea.'' Advertisement The move follows months of debate over whether Democrats should seek to expand the court beyond nine justices - a number that hasn't changed since Abraham Lincoln was president. Biden's move would essentially wipe out the conservative 6-3 majority Trump brought in. The six conservatives on the court are Amy Coney Barrett, Brett Kavanaugh and Neil Gorsuch, appointed by Trump; Samuel Alito, appointed by George W. Bush; and Clarence Thomas and John Roberts, both appointed by George H.W. Bush. Barack Obama appointed two liberals - Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kagan. The third liberal, Stephen Breyer, was appointed by Bill Clinton. The announcement came as progressive groups launched a campaign demanding Breyer, 82, resign for saying there shouldn't be more justices on the bench. Some are also urging Breyer to consider retiring so that Biden can appoint another liberal to the bench. Republicans, including their Senate leader, Mitch McConnell, and Trump's press secretary Kayleigh McEnany, say the steps are what the 'radical left' does when they don't get their way. McConnell added: 'When they (Democrats) lose a presidential election, it's time to abolish the Electoral College. 'And when activists' cases fall flat against the rule of law, it's time to ignore Justices Ginsburg and Breyer and pack the Supreme Court.' Even Biden has previous said bids to pack the court with more liberal judges were a 'power grab'. In 2005 he called it a 'bonehead idea'. Ruth Bader Ginsburg, who died last year, once said: 'There are some people on the Democratic side who would like to increase the number of judges. I think that was a bad ideaif anything would make the court appear partisan.' Biden's executive order creates a commission composed of a bipartisan group of experts, including legal and judicial scholars, former administration officials and former federal judges, the White House said in a statement. Biden's commission will be led by Bob Bauer, who served as White House counsel for Obama, and Cristina Rodriguez, a Yale Law School professor who served as deputy assistant attorney general in the Office of Legal Counsel under Obama. Among the members are Michelle Adams, who was was recently in Netflix documentary 'Amend: The Fight for America' about the 14th Amendment, Guy-Uriel E. Charles, who writes about law's role in addressing racial subordination, and constitutional law professor William Baude. Senator Ben Sasse, a Republican representing Nebraska, said: 'This progressive court packing commission is going nowhere fast. 'President Biden knows that he doesn't even have the votes in his own party to pack the court; he knows that court packing is a non-starter with the American people; and he knows that this commission's report is just going to be a taxpayer-funded door stopper. 'What the President doesn't have his the courage to come out and flatly tell the radical left that he's not going to pack the Supreme Court.' Republican congressman Jim Jordan said bluntly: 'Why study something we already know? Democrats want to pack the Supreme Court.' Senator Marsha Blackburn of Tennessee said: 'Joe Biden and the radical left will destroy our institutions to seize power. 'This means eradicating the electoral college and the filibuster and packing the Supreme Court.' The Article 3 Project, a group that defends constitutionalist judges and 'punches back on racial assaults on judicial independence', said in a statement: 'This is an alarming announcement from President Biden that should be met with the harshest of denunciations from both sides of the aisle. 'Packing the Supreme Court would destroy centuries of hard work from Democrat- and Republican-appointed justices to insulate the high court from partisan politics. It also raises serious red flags as to what unconstitutional actions President Biden is planning that a more favorable Supreme Court might tolerate. 'Just this week, Justice Breyer joined the late Justice Ginsburg in rejecting court packing. This isn't a right versus left issue. 'This is a matter of protecting the legitimacy of the Supreme Court and safeguarding our constitutional republic from irreversible damage. 'We hope this commission is simply an empty gesture to the radical left. 'But there is real danger in President Biden giving credibility to the idea of court packing; he is playing with fire and threatening the constitutional foundation of this country. 'He should have the wisdom and enough self respect to recognize that any attempt to pack the Supreme Court would be rejected by Congress and would be an ugly stain on his legacy, just as it was for the last president who tried it.' The Supreme Court building in Washington DC, seen on March 4 amid tight security Even some on the left criticized the decision. Brian Fallon, executive director of Demand Justice, a liberal advocacy group that supports expanding the court and term limits for justices, said in a statement: 'A commission made up mostly of academics, that includes far-right voices and is not tasked with making formal recommendations, is unlikely to meaningfully advance the ball on Court reform.' But others seemed willing to give it a chance. 'With five justices appointed by presidents who lost the popular vote, it's crucial that we consider every option for wresting back political control of the Supreme Court,' said Nan Aron, president of the Alliance for Justice, a liberal judicial advocacy group. 'President Biden's commission demonstrates a strong commitment to studying this situation and taking action.' Detectives are investigating after two cows, worth $2500, and a deer were shot dead on a rural property in the Somerset region, north-west of Brisbane. Police said the animals were shot and killed on a rural property on Wivenhoe Somerset Road at Crossdale in two incidents between March 14 and March 31. Two people were captured on surveillance. Credit:Police media Police said a small amount of meat was removed. The deer was found dead near Lake Somerset by Seqwater rangers, with surveillance images capturing several trespassers carrying firearms between March 29 and March 31. Former rugby league WAG Phoebe Burgess (nee Hooke) has revealed her carefully curated Instagram posts often contain hidden meanings. She said her picture-perfect family snaps taken at her family's Bowral estate are her way of communicating to fans that she's coping well - despite her bitter split from ex-Rabbitohs star Sam Burgess 18 months ago and subsequent legal dramas. Phoebe, 31, explained that her social media followers can decode her 'secret messages' by cross-referencing her posts with media reports about her personal life. Secret messages: Former rugby league WAG Phoebe Burgess has revealed her carefully curated Instagram posts often contain hidden meanings. Pictured: Phoebe's Instagram grid Two meanings: For example, this seemingly innocent photo Phoebe posted in October last year was widely seen as her 'breaking her silence' on a report that had just been published about her ex-husband's allegedly wild lifestyle. (Burgess strongly denied the allegations) She told The Daily Telegraph: 'If I post a picture [on Instagram] and if people are aware via the media that something isn't right, they know that for me getting up, getting dressed, showing up and just having a presence signifies a bit of strength.' The former journalist added: 'I get messages like, "Well done. Keep going."' Indeed, a photo Phoebe posted in October last year was widely seen as her 'breaking her silence' on a report that had just been published in The Australian about her ex-husband's allegedly wild lifestyle. Burgess strongly denied the allegations. She shared two photos of herself and her children at her family's Southern Highlands farm, and wrote: 'Finding joy in the little things and my little people.' Everything's okay: She said her picture-perfect family snaps taken at her family's Bowral estate are her way of communicating to fans that she's coping well - despite her bitter split from ex-Rabbitohs star Sam Burgess 18 months ago and subsequent legal dramas Phoebe also revealed that moving back in with her parents, Mitchell and Sarah Hooke, following her marriage breakdown had given her 'a new appreciation for what I do have and what's good'. The mother of two acknowledged there's a lot of pressure on women to 'do everything on your own', but said asking her family for help in her time of need was actually a 'sign of strength'. The Burgesses separated in October 2019, after previously splitting in December 2018 just weeks after the birth of their son, Billy, and reconciling four months later. Code: Phoebe (pictured with ex-husband Sam in November 2015) explained that her social media followers can decode her 'secret messages' by cross-referencing her posts with media reports about her personal life The former couple, who are also parents to a four-year-old daughter, Poppy, had married in December 2015. Their divorce was finalised late last year. Since their separation, Sam has faced legal dramas concerning an argument with his former father-in-law Mitchell Hooke at the Hooke family home in October 2019. The retired NRL player was found guilty in February of intimidating Mr Hooke, but this verdict was overturned the following month. Tumultuous marriage: The Burgesses separated in October 2019, after previously splitting in December 2018 and reconciling four months later. Pictured in April 2016 MILWAUKEE, April 15, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Insurance technology provider, Zywave, today announced the acquisition of Boston-based Enquiron, a leading provider of risk management and consultative business solutions. Combined with Zywave's existing portfolio of solutions, the acquisition reinforces Zywave's leadership position in these markets. "We are incredibly impressed with Enquiron's combined data, service solutions and processes that result in proven return on investment, long-term relationships and continued growth," said Jason Liu, chief executive officer of Zywave. "By joining our two companies together, we look forward to bringing even more resources, support and deep industry knowledge to our shared customers." Founded in 1996, Enquiron serves more than 100 of the top P&C, healthcare and HCM organizations in the United States. Enquiron has revolutionized the way risk management services are delivered to and utilized by employer customers of the property and casualty insurance, healthcare and human capital management markets. For nearly 25 years, the company has delivered industry-leading solutions to the P&C insurance carrier marketplace. Enquiron provides on-demand risk management solutions in the areas of human resources, healthcare, retirement, cyber and more. Enquiron has the unique capability to show risk management patterns and trends based on aggregate employer events and actions as they engage with the solutions. Greater employer engagement with the solutions leads to longer term relationships with market providers. Zywave plans to align Enquiron's solutions and modern user experience within Zywave's product cloud portfolio. Zywave will leverage Enquiron's proprietary service offering to further enhance its existing market-leading customer experience and further expand upon its risk management solutions. Zywave's enhanced services will provide even more value to customers across markets. Over the next several months, Zywave and Enquiron leadership teams will work together on integration operations. "With this new partnership, we are excited to grow Enquiron to the next level, while expanding the service capabilities and suite of products available to our customers," said Mike Naclerio, chief executive officer of Enquiron. "Aligning with a partner like Zywave that has extensive insurance industry experience to understand our customers' specific needs was of key importance. We are excited for the opportunity to join forces with their team and contribute to a market-leading solution set." The Enquiron acquisition marks Zywave's fifth in less than two years, reinforcing Zywave's continued commitment to the insurance industry. In November 2020, Zywave announced the acquisition of both Advisen, the foremost provider of data, media and technology solutions for the commercial property and casualty insurance market and ITC, a leading provider of marketing, rating, and management software and services for the insurance industry. "Zywave remains committed to bringing industry's best technology to our partners, empowering them with the tools they need to grow their business," added Liu. "We will continue to invest in our existing products, while also enhancing our product portfolio with new acquisitions. At the same time, we are dedicated to providing technical support and consultative services to our partners to help them succeed." For more information on Zywave, visit www.Zywave.com. About Enquiron Enquiron, headquartered in Boston, Massachusetts, provides risk management solutions to employers in all 50 states, across various industries, sectors and sizes. Since 1996, Enquiron has revolutionized the way that services impacting Human Resources, Employment, Healthcare, Retirement, Cyber Security and more are delivered to and utilized by employers. Enquiron is a trusted partner to organizations who need specific answers to specific questions. Additional information can be found at www.enquiron.com. About Zywave Zywave leads the insurance tech industry, fueling business growth for its partners with cloud-based sales management, client delivery, content and analytics solutions. More than 15,000 carriers, agencies and brokerages worldwideincluding all of the top 100 U.S. insurance brokeragesuse Zywave solutions to enhance client services, achieve business growth and promote greater health, wellness, risk management and safety. Additional information can be found at www.zywave.com. Contact: April Larsen [email protected] 414-918-0547 SOURCE ZYWAVE Related Links http://www.zywave.com WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. Karen Plaut, Purdue Universitys Glenn W. Sample Dean of Agriculture, has appointed Senay Simsek as head of the Department of Food Science. "We are excited to welcome Dr. Simsek home to the department, where she earned her doctorate. She has had an incredible career at North Dakota State University, rising to her current position of an endowed professor and earning an outstanding reputation as a researcher in food chemistry and carbohydrates," Plaut said. "She brings proven experience as a leader, researcher and teacher to the food science department and the college leadership team." Simsek said, "I am truly honored to have the opportunity to lead Purdues food science department. During my graduate education at Purdue, I was trained by the best professors in the world and worked with outstanding colleagues. The food science faculty, staff and students have the extraordinary ability to bring together cutting-edge research and education across multiple disciplines to address national and global challenges. I look forward to working with the members of the department to advance our global impact." After completing a bachelor's degree in chemistry and a master's in biochemistry from universities in Turkey, Simsek traveled to Purdue to pursue her doctorate in food science. After her graduation, she began her career at North Dakota State University in 2007 and has spent the ensuing 14 years there. She has received numerous awards for research and teaching and published more than 200 peer-reviewed journal articles. Simsek currently is the Bert L. D'Appolonia Cereal Science and Technology of Wheat Endowed Professor. Simsek describes the vision that inspired her to apply for and accept the position of food science department head. "Food encompasses many areas of society. It is power; it is essential; it is personal; it is cultural; it is science, and no one can survive without it, she said. Currently, the food industry is going through a revolution. We have challenges and opportunities. Emerging technologies provide us a range of opportunities to transform our food and agriculture systems. We must develop a strong vision to enhance food science at Purdue with a focus on being at the forefront of research, training students and providing the best service to the scientific community and the citizens of Indiana, the United States and the world." Writer: Maureen Manier, mmanier@purdue.edu Source: Karen Plaut, kplaut@purdue.edu Agricultural Communications: 765-494-8415; Maureen Manier, Department Head, mmanier@purdue.edu Agriculture News Page Conservative MP Kenny Chiu rises during question period in the House of Commons on April 13, 2021. In an effort to counter foreign interference in Canada, Chiu introduced Bill C-282, an Act to Establish the Foreign Influence Registry. (The Canadian Press/Adrian Wyld) MP Seeks to Establish Registry to Counter Foreign Interference in Canada In an effort to counter foreign interference in Canada, legislation that would mandate people who act on behalf of foreign governments, political organizations, or corporations to register as foreign agents was introduced in the House of Commons on April 13. Bill C-282, an Act to Establish the Foreign Influence Registry, seeks to impose an obligation on individuals acting on behalf of a foreign principal to file a return when they undertake specific actions with respect to public office holders. These individuals could be fined or jailed should they fail to file a return as required or if they knowingly make false or misleading statements in any return filed under the act. We are all aware of the instances of foreign interference in Canada and the threat of further intimidation and corruption. For years, we have heard the dangers of such foreign interference, cautioned by Canadas National Security and Intelligence Committee of Parliamentarians and Canadian Security Intelligence Service, Conservative MP Kenny Chiu said upon introducing the bill. Beyond calls for action and attention, the government has suggested no other plan to counter interference operations. This bill is only the first step in improving domestic safety measures, Chiu added, noting that it was the efforts of Australia, one of Canadas Five Eyes allies, to address its problems with foreign interference that inspired him to craft the bill. In 2018, the Australian government passed the Foreign Influence Transparency Scheme Act to counter Chinese influence-spreading activities in the countrys political, media, and academic institutions. In December 2017, then-Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull said the new laws were required to combat the rapidly escalating threat of foreign interference. He referred to disturbing reports about Chinese influence as justification for the bill. Media reports have suggested that the Chinese Communist Party has been working to covertly interfere with our media, our universities, and even the decisions of elected representatives right here in this building, Turnbull said in Parliament at the time. We take these reports very seriously. Under Australias act, people working for foreign countries are to register as foreign agents and could face criminal prosecution if they are independently deemed to be meddling in Canberras affairs. The Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) has warned of increasing threats by foreign state actors against Canadas national security. Director David Vigneault said in the agencys annual report published on April 12 that in 2020, CSIS observed espionage and foreign interference activity at levels not seen since the Cold War. CSIS director David Vigneault holds a press conference on Parliament Hill in Ottawa on July 16, 2020. (Sean Kilpatrick/The Canadian Press) Vigneaults warnings echo those of the National Security and Intelligence Committee of Parliamentarians, a special parliamentary committee that published a separate report the same day. The threat from espionage and foreign interference is significant and continues to grow. Several states are responsible for conducting such activities in Canada, but intelligence shows that China and Russia remain the primary culprits, the report reads. Though the effects of espionage and foreign interference are not as readily apparent as those of terrorism, they are the most significant long-term threats to Canadas sovereignty and prosperity. The CSIS report details how China and Russia conduct espionage and interference activities in Canadas public and private sectors. While federal, provincial, and municipal levels of Canadian government are of interest, foreign states such as the Peoples Republic of China and Russia also target non-governmental organizations in Canadaincluding academic institutions, the private sector, and civil society, the report says. In 2020, the Peoples Republic of China, Russia, and other foreign states continued to covertly gather political, economic, and military information in Canada through targeted threat activities in support of their own state development goals. CSIS also found that foreign state actors continue to use their resources and relationships with private entities to conduct clandestine, deceptive, or threatening foreign interference activities in Canada to influence government policy or advance their political agendas. The report cites how threat actors associated with the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) exploit the openness and freedom in Canada society to further the regimes political interests on Canadian soil. In addition, the spy agency noted how foreign powers have covertly monitored and intimidated various Canadian communities to achieve their strategic and economic objectives. When engaging in such activities, foreign states target members of vulnerable communities and groups who often lack the means to protect themselves. These communities often fear state-backed or state-linked retribution targeting both themselves and possibly their loved ones in Canada and abroad, the report says. It says the harassment, manipulation, or intimidation tactics used by the foreign actors to garner support or silence the criticism from the community groups of their policies constitute a threat to the sovereignty of Canada and the safety of Canadians. Conservative MP Michael Chong rises during question period in the House of Commons on F March 26, 2021. (Sean Kilpatrick/The Canadian Press) On March 27, Beijing sanctioned Conservative MP Michael Chong and the Commons Subcommittee on International Human Rights, of which Chiu is the vice-chair, in retaliation for the sanctions Canada and the United States had imposed on Chinese officials and entities for their involvement in the abuse of Uyghurs and other ethnic Muslims in Chinas Xinjiang region. Beijing accused the two countries of basing their decisions on rumors and disinformation and interfering in internal affairs. In an interview with NTD Television, an Epoch Times affiliate media, Chiu said the CCP lacks the confidence to tolerate any criticism. He also stressed that the CCP does not represent the Chinese people as they were already a highly developed culture for thousands of years, long before the communist regime came into power in 1949. The Communist Party was actually something that was introduced, imported into China, from Germany, from USSR, from Russia. And this is a foreign entity thats only been on Chinese soil for, I think, 100 years, he said. The Chinese Communist Party does not equate Chinese and definitely cannot be equated to Chinese culture, Chinese history, Chiu said, adding that the CCP also doesnt represent the Chinese diaspora. By no means do they actually represent the Chinese people around the world, including in Canada, or in the United States of America, or elsewhere in the world. With reporting by Janita Kan and Andrew Chen. In the wake of a surge in demand for medical oxygen, the Mumbai civic body on Thursday said it has appointed six of its officers as coordinators for maintaining seamless supply of the life-saving gas used in treatment of critical COVID-19 patients. The civic body also said up to 2,000 more hospital beds for COVID-19 patients will be added in the next one week. According to a Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) release, civic commissioner Iqbal Singh Chahal informed about the appointments at a virtual meeting with Maharashtra Tourism and Environment minister Aaditya Thackeray, Food and Drugs Commissioner Abhimanyu Kale and others. The release said the officials will give instructions to private hospitals and nursing homes on judicious use of to present wastage. They will also coordinate with suppliers, civic ward officers and the Food and Drugs administration for seamless supply of the gas. In the meeting, Chahal said hospitals in Mumbai are currently being supplied with 235 metric tonnes of and they have asked the state government to increase the supply in view of its growing number, according to the release. He informed that presently Mumbai has 20,000 beds available at 150 COVID-19 hospitals, including government, and private hospital-run. The number of hospital beds will go up to 22,000, in a week, the release quoted the civic chief as telling the meeting. Though the daily number of cases are between 8,000 to 10,000, the next 15 days are crucial for the city, the senior bureaucrat said. At the meeting, Thackeray said all necessary measures are being taken for the treatment of COVID-19 patients in the metropolis and a demand for 2 lakh Remedesivir injections has also placed by the state government, according to the release. The number of beds is also being increased besides ramping up the oxygen supply, the minister, an MLA from Mumbai, said. FDA commissioner Kale said the Maharashtra government is in touch with other states for supply of medical-grade oxygen. He said once more stocks are received, oxygen will be provided to Mumbai on a priority basis. (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.) Neuralink is one of the most popular innovations that Elon Musk is currently working on. However, some experts claim that using this wireless brain chip could be unsafe since there's a chance that it could sell users' thoughts. Previously, Elon Musk's wireless brain chip showcased its capability by allowing a primate to play ping pong using only its brain. However, there are still some experts that were not satisfied with the latest Neuralink experiment. Although this is the case, the results of the primate study still show that the wireless brain chip is still improving as time goes by. "While I'm excited about the therapeutic applications of brain chips for those with movement and memory problems," said Susan Schneider, a cognitive psychologist. "I worry about the widespread use of brain chips in the future," she added via Futurism's latest report. What makes Neuralink unsafe Schneider, who is also the director of Florida Atlantic University's Center for the Future Mind, explained that Elon Musk's ambitions for his Neuralink could pose some negative outcomes. Also Read: Neuralink Co-Founder's Tweets on Building Real-Life Jurassic Park Says It Is Possible She added that if Neuralink becomes widely available across the globe, it could sell users' biometric data and innermost thoughts to companies and businesses who have the budget to buy them. Although HIPAA (Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act) will protect the neurological data that Neuralink will gather, Susan Schneider explained that the brain chip can still sell people's thoughts since it has no legal barrier. However, the claimed issue is still a speculation. The scientists also said that if this is true, it will still take more years. Things you should ask about Neuralink Elon Musk's Neuralink could soon offer more capabilities that people will surely benefit from. However, people should still study more about it if they want to try it in the future. Here are some of the questions you should ask before you decide to have it implanted in your brain, as reported by Fossbytes. What will happen if Neuralink is hacked? What is the limit of this wireless brain chip? Will it offer advertisements in your thoughts? Can Neuralink be controlled by governments? For more news updates about Neuralink and upcoming innovations of Elon Musk, always keep your tabs open here at TechTimes. Related Article: Elon Musk Makes Bold Claims About Neuralink's Future, Promises Paraplegics Can Walk Again This article is owned by TechTimes Written by: Giuliano de Leon 2021 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. What is the meaning of security of the person and right to liberty in a state of emergency (SoE)? The security of the person is a basic and most fundamental of all human rights (as guaranteed by the Universal Declaration of Human Rights), and involves the liberty of the person, the right not to be unlawfully detained, or the right to be detained only with due cause or with due process. DES MOINES, Iowa, April 15, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Kemin Industries, a global ingredient manufacturer that strives to sustainably transform the quality of life every day for 80 percent of the world with its products and services, has announced the publication of a clinical study on Kemin Human Nutrition and Health's DailyZz sleep ingredient. Michael Grandner, Ph.D., an internationally recognized expert on sleep and health and director of the Sleep and Health Research Program at the University of Arizona Health Sciences, led the study. The study found that DailyZz may improve sleep quality and daytime functioning in healthy individuals with occasional sleep complaints. The 30-day, double-blind, placebo-controlled, randomized study assessed 89 individuals, examining if a polyphenol botanical blend could improve sleep and/or daytime functioning. At the end of the study, participants who received 485 milligrams of DailyZz 30 minutes before bed every night reported improved sleep quality and reduced insomnia severity index scores compared with the control group. Additionally, DailyZz did not impair the ability to think and reason quite the opposite. After 30 days, participants who received supplementation with the polyphenol blend also showed statistical improvements in neurocognitive functioning. More specifically, they demonstrated improved concentration, executive function and risk assessment. "The study on DailyZz is so unique, not only because of the exciting, statistically significant sleep quality and cognitive results without side effects, but also because the study population was optimally targeted to the supplement market: healthy people with minor sleep disturbances but not major sleep disorders," said Dr. Grandner, who also is an associate professor of psychiatry in the University of Arizona College of Medicine Tucson. "The overall results of this rigorously designed study demonstrate that DailyZz supports healthier sleep, but it also supports next-day functioning, as measured by the ability to concentrate and make strategic decisions." DailyZz contains a propriety blend rich in naturally occurring polyphenols for safe and natural nightly sleep. "We are excited to see the results of this study published in the International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, a peer-reviewed journal, which confirm supplementation of DailyZz provides better sleep and improves next-day functioning in healthy individuals with occasional sleep challenges," said Kim Edwards, Global Product Manager, Kemin Human Nutrition and Health. "Globally, sleep disturbances have emerged as a primary area of concern for consumers, in part due to the uncertainty associated with the current pandemic situation. Demand for nightly sleep solutions has grown, particularly for those with clinically studied, safe, natural and non-habit-forming ingredients. DailyZz fulfills the need for next-generation sleep-support ingredients in formulations including beverages and more traditional supplement formats. Click here to find out more about formulating with DailyZz. About Kemin Industries Kemin Industries (www.kemin.com) is a global ingredient manufacturer that strives to sustainably transform the quality of life every day for 80 percent of the world with its products and services. The company supplies over 500 specialty ingredients for human and animal health and nutrition, pet food, aquaculture, nutraceutical, food technologies, crop technologies, textile, biofuels and animal vaccine industries. For over half a century, Kemin has been dedicated to using applied science to address industry challenges and offer product solutions to customers in more than 120 countries. Kemin provides ingredients to feed a growing population with its commitment to the quality, safety and efficacy of food, feed and health-related products. Established in 1961, Kemin is a privately held, family-owned-and-operated company with more than 2,800 global employees and operations in 90 countries, including manufacturing facilities in Belgium, Brazil, China, India, Italy, Russia, San Marino, Singapore, South Africa and the United States. Media Contact: Kim Edwards, Global Product Manager, [email protected], +1 515 344-2423 Kemin Industries, Inc. and its group of companies 2021. All rights reserved. TM Trademarks of Kemin Industries, Inc., U.S.A. Certain statements, product labeling and claims may differ by geography or as required by government requirements. SOURCE Kemin Industries Source: Xinhua| 2021-04-15 20:57:41|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close People rally to protest against the Japanese government's decision to discharge contaminated radioactive wastewater in Fukushima Prefecture into the sea, in Tokyo, capital of Japan, April 13, 2021. (Xinhua/Du Xiaoyi) BEIJING, April 15 (Xinhua) -- Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Zhao Lijian Thursday urged Japan to cooperate with relevant countries, including China and the Republic of Korea (ROK), to conduct assessments on Fukushima radioactive wastewater. Noting at a daily news briefing that the first China-ROK maritime affairs dialogue and cooperation mechanism meeting was convened on Wednesday, Zhao said China and the ROK had urged Japan to prudently handle the issue of Fukushima radioactive wastewater based on full consultation with international institutions and its neighbors and substantive participation of relevant countries and international organizations. "It is the common position of China and the ROK," Zhao said. He said it was extremely selfish that Japan wantonly and unilaterally decided to release the nuclear wastewater into the sea and shift the burden and risks onto others in disregard of the safety and interests of the international community, its Asian neighbors in particular. "To protect the health of their own people and international marine environment, China and the ROK, as Japan's close neighbors and stakeholders, expressed grave concerns and strong dissatisfaction. This is perfectly natural and justified," Zhao said. People protest against Japan's decision to dump radioactive wastewater from the crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant into the Pacific Ocean outside Japanese embassy in Seoul, South Korea, April 14, 2021. (Photo by Xu Ruxi/Xinhua) Citing unilateral statistics from Japan, the country claimed that the nuclear wastewater is safe. "It is not convincing at all," Zhao said, adding that there are plenty of reports and testimonies that indicated the Tokyo Electric Power Company, which runs the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, had manipulated data and covered up truth. "With its poor record, is Japan's data that is lacking in substantive third party participation, assessment and oversight by international agencies and others really reliable?" Zhao asked. He said that according to a German marine scientific research institute, with the world's strongest currents along the coast of Fukushima, radioactive materials could spread to most of the Pacific Ocean within 57 days from the date of discharge, and reach all global oceans in a decade. "Some Japanese politicians spared no effort to prove that the nuclear wastewater is harmless, then they should use the water for drinking, cooking, laundry and irrigation; guarantee that seafood won't be contaminated; and accept the advice of the International Atomic Energy Agency and set up a technical working group with relevant countries including China and the ROK to make assessment," Zhao said. While giving thumbs-up to Japan on the one hand, the United States is banning Japanese rice and fish imports on the other, Zhao noted, adding that due to the public health concerns that are associated with radiation and nuclear contamination, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has increased surveillance of regulated products from Japan. "How would Japan explain this policy of the United States?" he asked. Bree Newsome has argued that rioting and looting are 'a legitimate, politically-informed response to state violence' A prominent activist who supports the Black Lives Matter movement has appeared to support violent protests, arguing that rioting and looting are 'a legitimate, politically-informed response to state violence'. Bree Newsome, 35, made the passionate remarks in a series of tweets this week, arguing that police are not limited to non-violence, and that a violent response to injustice can be appropriate and justified. Newsome, a filmmaker and activist on racial justice issues, famously scaled a flagpole at the South Carolina State House to tear down the Confederate battle flag in 2015. Weeks later, lawmakers ordered the divisive symbol's removal from the grounds. 'I'm definitely in the camp of defending rioting & looting as a legitimate, politically-informed response to state violence,' Newsome said in a tweet on Tuesday. 'I've tweeted on this topic many times & I'm always willing to engage people in good faith discussion of why I hold that position.' Police confront demonstrators in Minnesota. 'I'm definitely in the camp of defending rioting & looting as a legitimate, politically-informed response to state violence,' Newsome said. 'I refuse any effort to deflect from the central issue of racism by pretending property damage warrants police firing teargas on communities that are justifiably outraged by how police keep murdering people,' Newsome continued. 'Far from making the argument people think it does, the hand-wringing over property damage & looting in situations like this only highlights how this society treats Black people as less than human,' Newsome said. 'I saw less concern when a white man blew up an entire block in downtown Nashville,' she added in a reference to the December 2020 suicide attack on an AT&T switching center by Anthony Quinn Warner, who was fueled by bizarre conspiracy theories about 5G. Newsome continued: 'No one has difficulty understanding targeted property damage as a political act when it's white ppl. Depicting Blk &/or poor ppl as mindlessly looting just to 'take advantage' of social unrest [fostered by actions of the police] serves a racist fantasy of Black ppl being lawless.' 'The whole function of the focus on looting is to say, 'look this is why we need police even if they frequently murder people. Black ppl are just waiting for any opportunity to steal & the police are the only ones protecting the property,'' the filmmaker argued. She continued saying 'people are so fully indoctrinated into white supremacy that they've never interrogated who is allowed to damage property & why. The police are simultaneously damaging property during a riot they incited but that is deemed acceptable.' Newsome, a filmmaker and activist on racial justice issues, famously scaled a flagpole at the South Carolina State House to tear down the Confederate battle flag in 2015 A store near the Brooklyn Center Police Station in Minnesota is seen ransacked this week 'I saw less concern when a white man blew up an entire block in downtown Nashville,' Newsome claimed about coverage of BLM looting Newsome compared property damage during BLM protests to the havoc at the U.S. Capitol during the January 6 riot, saying that 'half' of the political establishment believes 'that the people who damaged property that day were justifiably outraged.' 'The Boston Tea Party is also framed as a justified political act. It's only Black ppl who must protest quietly,' she said. Newsome followed up with other tweets doubling down on her argument, writing on Wednesday: 'Folks love to distinguish between 'peaceful protesters' and the protesters throwing rocks at police while ignoring how the police side of the conflict is nothing but violence & military grade weaponry. Why can't police also be obligated to respond by marching in circles w/ signs?' 'There are many arguments to be made in favor of nonviolent resistance. 'Violent resistance never leads to desired results' is not one of them & it hurts the credibility of the argument to make a statement that is demonstrably untrue,' she added on Friday. 'It's also problematic that many only speak of nonviolence to say how people should *respond to* violent systems but don't call for the abolition & dismantling of the violent systems themselves,' Newsome added. Her impassioned remarks come in the midst of the trial of the former police officer who killed George Floyd in Minneapolis last year, and days after another Minnesota cop fatally shot 20-year-old Daunte Wright. Demonstrators protest outside of the Brooklyn Center police station on Wednesday in Brooklyn Center, Minnesota following the fatal shooting of 20-year-old Daunte Wright Derek Chauvin, 45, faces murder and manslaughter charges in Floyd's death. Former Brooklyn Center officer Kim Potter, 48, is charged with second-degree manslaughter after she said she meant to pull her Taser when she shot Wright. Newsome is outspoken about her belief that racial injustice in policing cannot be resolved with reforms to the current system, and that police departments should be abolished, defunded and the funds redirected to community services. 'I understand the focus on consequences for Kim Potter but they could put her in an electric chair side by side with Chauvin right now for what she did & we'll still be left with the murderous institution of policing having been altered in no substantive way,' she remarked of the Wright and Floyd cases earlier this week. Her remarks in defense of rioting and looting drew strong criticism from conservative commentators, including Fox News host Tucker Carlson. 'BLM leader Bree Newsome no longer talks about 'peaceful protests.' She doesn't want those any more,' Carlson said of recent tweets. 'It goes without saying that Bree Neswsome is a child of privilege. Only privileged people could be that decadent,' Carlson added of Newsom, a graduate of New York University's prestigious Tisch School of the Arts. However, Carlson drew his own strong reactions after an apparent slip of the tongue led him to refer to the Confederate flag as simply 'the flag' when describing Newsome's 2015 protest. 'A few years ago, she trespassed at the Capitol in South Carolina and ripped down the flag. She also trespassed in a state lawmaker's office and refused to leave. Is she rotting in jail?' he said, comparing her case to the January 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol. In the U.S. the phrase 'the flag' usually refers to the American flag, leading left-wing critics to question Carlson's sympathies. Welcome to Morningstar.co.uk! You have been redirected here from Hemscott.com as we are merging our websites to provide you with a one-stop shop for all your investment research needs.To search for a security, type the name or ticker in the search box at the top of the page and select from the dropdown results.Registered Hemscott users can log in to Morningstar using the same login details. Similarly, if you are a Hemscott Premium user, you now have a Morningstar Premium account which you can access using the same login details. An Australian woman who developed blood clots just hours after getting the AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccine has died. The 48-year-old, from the Lake Macquarie area in New South Wales, was given the vaccine last Friday, but developed major blood clots the next day and was put on dialysis. Daily Mail Australia understands the woman, who was diabetic but otherwise previously in good health, was placed in an intensive care unit and died on Wednesday. A NSW Health spokesman said the department could not yet confirm any link between the woman receiving the vaccine and her death. The woman received the AstraZeneca vaccine, which has been linked to blood clots overseas, the federal Department of Health confirmed on Thursday night. Addressing the woman's death, Scott Morrison said there was 'a lot more to understand about the issue' and pleaded for caution in drawing conclusions. A middle-aged New South Wales woman has died after developing blood clots following administration of AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccine (stock image) Australia had been relying on the AstraZeneca dose for the bulk of its vaccination program - but links to rare cases of blood clots in some countries has thrown the government's rollout into disarray. Experts in Australia now say those under 50s should be offered an alternative, while the British-made jab has been stopped altogether in Denmark. 'I think there is a lot more to understand and learn about that issue and I would caution others in making conclusions about this at this point as well,' the prime minister said while on a visit in Western Australia's Pilbara region. 'We've been very transparent, very transparent when it comes to information on these issues and people can expect us to do that.' Mr Morrison said potential concerns around vaccine hesitancy meant it was important that the matter was fully investigated by medical experts. 'I think it's important, because of the fact that people can have concerns, that we follow that important process, to inform ourselves properly,' he said. Daily Mail Australia understands the woman, who was diabetic but otherwise previously in good health, was placed in an intensive care unit and died on Wednesday (stock image) A spokesman for NSW Health told Daily Mail Australia it 'does not speculate on or discuss individual cases'. 'But the death of anyone is always a tragedy and our condolences are with the family and loved ones of the person who has passed away,' he added. The Therapeutic Goods Association is now investigating the woman's death, and the Department of Health has not yet established whether her clot was related directly to the vaccine. The risk of dying from Covid-19 is significantly higher than the rate of blood clots, which have not been definitively linked to the vaccines (based on fatality estimates from Cambridge University and CSVT occurrences in Germany) WHICH COUNTRIES HAVE SUSPENDED THE ASTRAZENECA VACCINE? NOT SUSPENDED Austria Bulgaria Croatia Cyprus Czechia Hungary Latvia Luxembourg Malta Poland Romania Slovakia Slovenia SUSPENDED FOR UNDER-30s Greece United Kingdom SUSPENDED FOR UNDER-55s Belgium France SUSPENDED FOR UNDER-60s Estonia Germany Ireland Italy Portugal Spain SUSPENDED FOR UNDER-65s Finland Lithuania Sweden SUSPENDED FOR UNDER-70s Iceland SUSPENDED FOR ALL AGES Denmark The Netherlands Norway Advertisement The Australian Technical Advisory Group on Immunisation advised earlier this month that people aged under 50 should not be vaccinated with the AstraZeneca jab due to the risk of blood clots. News of the 48-year-old's death comes on the same day Denmark announced it will be ceasing use of the AstraZeneca vaccine all together, while under 30s in the UK are already being offered alternative vaccines. Denmark was the first country to pause the use of the AstraZeneca jab in March amid concerns about blood clots. Several other countries followed suit though most, including Germany and France, have since resumed the use of the vaccine for older people. Denmark has also put Johnson & Johnson's vaccine on pause pending further investigations into a possible link to rare blood clot cases. The European Union's drug watchdog said last week that it had found a possible link between the AstraZeneca vaccine and very rare blood clot cases. However it said the risk of dying from Covid-19 was 'much greater' than the risk of mortality from rare side effects. The AstraZeneca vaccine is significantly cheaper than other vaccines and is easier to store as it does not require to be kept at an extremely low temperature. The concern over clots and mixed messages surrounding the vaccine are expected to affect people's willingness to take it. Scott Morrison promised the whole adult population would be immunised by October, but the rollout has since been derailed by the jab's link to blood clots. Twenty million doses of Pfizer are on their way but no more help is on hand for younger Australians until at least October. The prime minister said he 'would like' all Australians to get at least their first dose by the end of the year, but made no guarantees. In a desperate attempt to get the stalled program back on track, he plans to create huge hubs to ramp up vaccinations. 'NSW Health investigates these events and refers its expert panel findings to the TGA, which is responsible for assessing causality,' a spokesman said. 'Many conditions can arise during normal life, whether or not a vaccine is administered, but it remains important to report any new serious or unexpected events so that safety can be appropriately monitored. 'Anyone concerned that they are experiencing a serious adverse event following vaccination should see their health care provider in the first instance or dial 000 in an emergency.' Scott Morrison (pictured with the AstraZeneca vaccine) promised the whole adult population would be immunised by October, but the rollout has since been derailed by the jab's link to blood clots The 48-year-old woman, from the Central Coast, was given the vaccine last Friday, developed major blood clots and was put on dialysis the next day. Stock image Blood clots are a common problem for people with diabetes. The metabolic disease, which causes high blood sugar levels, increases the risk of plaque build-up in the arteries which can cause dangerous blood clots. In fact, nearly 80 percent of people who have diabetes will eventually die of clot-related causes, according to Heart.org. But it still remains unclear how some Covid vaccines may trigger blood clots. The 48-year-old's death comes just two days after it was revealed a Western Australian woman in her 40s was hospitalised with blood clots after getting the AstraZeneca vaccine. The woman received treatment for 'thrombosis with thrombocytopenia' and is now in a stable condition. Back in April, a 44-year-old man in Victoria also developed blood clots after being inoculated with the AstraZeneca vaccine. He has since recovered. The Banks-Caddell Elementary principal placed on paid administrative leave last month for potentially problematic interactions with school staff is accused of threatening a girlfriend at his Arab residence and holding her against her will March 14 for 3 1/2 hours, according to court records. David McCollum, 40, has been told to stay away from Decatur City Schools property, and his contract wasnt renewed for the next school year. McCollums last day of work at Banks-Caddell was March 12. A 34-year-old Madison woman, who alleged she was in a current or former dating relationship with McCollum, said in her petition for a protection-from-abuse order, filed March 17 in Marshall County and granted the next day, that McCollum hit her on her shoulder, head and arms. He said he had a gun and when she tried to leave he attacked her physically and wouldnt let her leave, according to the petition. The document said the victim feared he would come after her. Hes obsessive, and he has threatened to kill her with his gun or through hitmen, the petition says. A letter from Decatur City Schools Superintendent Michael Douglas, dated March 19, informed McCollum that he had been placed on indefinite paid administrative leave, pending the outcome of an investigation into potentially problematic interactions on your part with faculty members at your school. The Decatur City school board voted on March 26 to accept Douglas recommendation not to renew McCollums contract for the 2021-22 school year. The three-year contract expires June 30. Arab Police Chief Shane Washburn said Wednesday that officers responded to a domestic call on March 14 at a residence in the 500 block of Fairway Drive in Arab and took the victims statement but were unable to make contact with McCollum. Warrants were obtained for McCollum and he was arrested on April 8 on charges of domestic violence and domestic violence-menacing with a gun, according to Washburn. He was taken to Arab City Jail, booked and released on bond, Washburn said. Child custody In a separate case, McCollums ex-wife said that it is no longer in the best interest of their minor children to be in his legal or physical custody, according to a petition for emergency custody and request for modification of custody filed March 25 in Marshall County. The emergency petition says McCollum had recently become very erratic, threatening and dangerous to all of us. Marshall County Circuit Judge Zach Ross ordered that same day that the mother would have custody of the two minor children, and McCollum should have no contact with her or the children until further order from the court. The order also restrained McCollum from communicating, threatening or harassing them or trying to contact them. A hearing on the matter is set for April 28, and the victim in the March 14 case has been subpoenaed to testify. The emergency petition says that on or about March 14, the ex-wife got a call from McCollums then-girlfriend, saying she had escaped from him, having been held at gunpoint. At the same time, the McCollum daughter was hysterical after a phone conversation with her father, who told her he had a gun, he had all kinds of guns, and he was on his way to our house. The ex-wife immediately left the house with the children, according to the petition. The petition said that although McCollum had been involuntarily admitted to a hospital, he called the house trying to speak to her or the children 15 times or more a day and had sent notes to the childrens schools. Angie Whittington, who retired as principal at Woodmeade Elementary last year, was approved as interim principal at Banks-Caddell Elementary on Tuesday by the Decatur school board. Douglas said she started as interim principal on April 5, the first school day after spring break. In his letter to McCollum, Douglas said the action taken does not represent a finding or determination of misconduct or wrongdoing but is being taken to ensure the inquiry can be completed as fully, fairly and promptly as possible. Douglas letter states that while McCollum is on leave, you should not report to work, be on the premises of any Decatur City Board of Education property, or participate in any school district activity without my express permission. The Decatur school board voted in June 2017 to hire McCollum at Banks-Caddell on a one-year probationary contract at the recommendation of then-interim Superintendent Dale Edwards. The board gave McCollum a three-year contract in June 2018. marian.accardi@decaturdaily.com or 256-340-2438. Twitter @DD_MAccardi. ___ (c)2021 The Decatur Daily (Decatur, Ala.) Visit The Decatur Daily (Decatur, Ala.) at www.decaturdaily.com Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC. ADVERTISEMENT The governor of Edo State, Godwin Obaseki, has reacted to the Nigerian governments denial that it printed money in March to support allocations to states. The governor said the federal government must act quickly to end the current monetary rascality. Mr Obaseki on Monday had lamented the fiscal state of the nation, saying by the country was effectively broke. When we got FAAC for March, the federal government printed additional N50-N60 billion to top-up for us to share, he said. But the Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Zainab Ahmed, on Wednesday said the claim was untrue. The issue that was raised by the Edo State governor for me is very, very sad, because it is not a fact, Mrs Ahmed claimed. Mrs Ahmed insisted that FAAC allocation was from revenues from different agencies of the federal government. What we distribute at FAAC is a revenue that is generated and in fact distribution revenue is a public information. We publish revenue generated by FIRS, the customs and the NNPC and we distribute at FAAC. So, it is not true to say we printed money to distribute at FAAC, it is not true, she said. The ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) also tackled Mr Obaseki, and rejected his claim that the Nigerian economy was in a critical situation due to a huge debt burden. The true position is that under Obasekis watch, the economy of Edo is in dire straits with the governor bereft of ideas on how to get it out, the APC said. The state is engulfed in a foreign debt of 300 million dollars and a domestic debt including loans from commercial banks, the capital market, and other doubtful sources, approaching N120 billion as at March, for non-existent projects, it said. Mr Obaseki in a tweet on Thursday said, We believe it is our duty to offer useful advice for the benefit of our country. The Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning, @ZShamsuna should rally Nigerians to stem the obvious fiscal slide facing our country, the governor said. Rather than play the Ostrich, we urge the government to take urgent steps to end the current monetary rascality so as to prevent the prevailing economic challenge from degenerating further. We believe it is imperative to approach the Nigerian project with all sense of responsibility and commitment and not play to the gallery because ultimately time shall be the judge of us all. Sri Lanka: Marine resources at risk: Sumanthiran April 15,2021 | Source: News First Sri Lankas marine resources are at risk by issuing permits allowing Indian fishermen to enter Sri Lankan waters, parliamentarian M.A. Sumanthiran has said. If 50 people are allowed to do this 500 people will take advantage of this, Sumanthiran, a Tamil National Alliance MP noted. Rathna Gamage, the National Organizer of the All-Island General Fisheries Federation, pointed out that it was the Sirasa media network that exposed the illegal bottom trawling method of Indian fishermen. Now we would like to ask the Government not to cover the truth, he said. Gamage insisted that the government cannot drag its feet by claiming that the issue will be resolved in a diplomatic matter by holding talks with the Indian Prime Minister. We as the All Island General Fisheries Federation request the Government to stand on their feet and involve in this matter so that pride of our country will be protected, he said. New Delhi, April 15 : As the suspension on fresh insolvency cases got lifted last month, Insolvency and Bankruptcy Board of India (IBBI) Chairman, M.S. Sahoo feels that although filings for bankruptcy may increase somewhat, but there would not be a huge jump in cases. Speaking to IANS, Sahoo noted that there are other provisions for debt resolution too, which would lower the pressure on the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC). "I don't see that there will much rise. It is because people are making more profits then they were making earlier. People have adjusted to the new normal. There are some sectors which have more problems, but generally people are adjusted to the new normal, doing normal business," he said. Sahoo was of the view that in India, the leverage level is still not very high and businesses continue to get more funding through the equity route. "And in India also generally, the profit margin is high. Moreover, there are other options for resolution including using the RBI prudential framework, companies act etc. So I don't see a huge rush of bankruptcy filings," he said. Last year, Sections 7, 9 and 10 of IBC were suspended in the wake of the Covid crisis and the nationwide lockdown, and this further extended till March 24, 2021. There was anticipation that with the resumption of these Sections, the number of bankruptcy filing would surge. Sahoo was also of the view that the development in the code has been significant and international agencies have appreciated the law and its contribution to the ease of doing business scenario. Noting people mostly look at how much has been recovered, the IBBI chief said that the law is not primarily for recovery. Even in terms of recovery, it is results in highest recovery among all the options available for banks. "As compared to liquidation value, the realisation is about 200 per cent and more importantly the ones which come to IBC, they come as last resort, where the banks have mostly written it off." He said that it is a wrong notion that lenders are taking a 50-60 or 30 per cent haircut. "In their books, they had written it off, so they were not expecting any money to come in, so the entire money goes to their profit and loss, does not go to their balance sheet actually," Sahoo said. As per latest data from the IBBI, a total of 4,139 cases were admitted as of last December, out of which 2,422 cases have been closed, including 601 settled or reviewed, 378 withdrawn, 317 approved for resolution plans and liquation for 1,126 companies. (Rituraj Baruah can be contacted at rituraj.b@ians.in) Australians have been warned they may need a third dose of the Covid-19 vaccine to become fully immunised against the virus. Pfizer's CEO Albert Bourla said earlier this month he believes most of those inoculated with his company's vaccine will 'likely' need a third dose. Pfizer is now the preferred vaccine option for people under the age of 50 in Australia because of the AstraZeneca's link to rare blood clots. During a panel discussion which aired in the US on Thursday, Albert Bourla said a potential booster shot would need to be administered within six to 12 months of being fully vaccinated. Bourla added he even thinks it is possible the global population will need to be immunised against the coronavirus annually. The revelation comes as some of Australia's most senior doctors raised serious concerns with the federal government's rollout of the vaccine. During a panel discussion on Thursday, Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla (pictured) said it is 'likely' the global population will need a booster shot of the COVID-19 vaccine Before meeting Prime Minister Scott Morrison on Thursday in Perth to discuss the rollout, Australian Medical Association president Omar Khorshid said the core problem was the lack of vaccine supply, as the Pfizer jab is made overseas. 'We just don't have the vaccine supply and there is no mass increase in vaccine supply likely for several months,' Dr Khorshid told ABC radio. 'And if it does come it's probably going to be in the form of the Pfizer vaccine, which, of course, has those logistic challenges when it comes to rolling them out.' He says the Pfizer jab is best suited to be rolled out through state-run centres over GP clinics as they have appropriate storage facilities. While the vaccine can now be stored for a few weeks at normal freezer temperatures, most clinics do not have such facilities. The AMA is urging the government to look at mass vaccination clinics for the Pfizer jab instead of the AstraZeneca option. 'The problem with a centre that focuses on the 50- to 70-year-old age group using the AstraZeneca vaccine is that you're using the same vaccines that we are currently rolling out through general practice,' Dr Khorshid said. 'So the only way to actually fill those centres will be to take the vaccines off general practice, which is quite capably administering those vaccines as we speak.' The potential booster shot would be given six to 12 months of someone being fully vaccinated and Bourla said it is possible people will need to be immunized annually. Pictured: A nurse prepares a dose of the Pfizer vaccine, April 15 Recently, updates from clinical trials showed the Pfizer vaccine was more than 90 effective at preventing COVID-19 six months after the second dose. However, more data is needed to determine if protection lasts beyond six months. 'It is extremely important to suppress the pool of people that can be susceptible to the virus,' Bourla said during the segment, which was taped April 1. Earlier on Thursday, Dr David Kessler, the Biden administration's chief science officer of Covid response, said booster shots should be expected, especially as variants continue to spread. 'We are studying the durability of the antibody response,' he said during testimony before the House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Response. 'It seems strong but there is some waning of that and no doubt the variants challenge...they make these vaccines work harder. So I think for planning purposes, planning purposes only, I think we should expect that we may have to boost.' Pfizer and its German partner BioNTech began studying a third dose of their vaccine in late February. The booster shot is aimed at protecting against future variants, which may be better at evading antibodies from vaccine than earlier strains of the virus. About 144 volunteers will be given the third dose, mostly those who participated in the vaccine's early-stage U.S. testing last year. A nurse receives the Biotech Pfizer Covid-19 vaccine at a surge centre for the virus in Canberra in February The vaccine uses part of the pathogen's genetic code called messenger RNA, or mRNA, to get the body to recognize the coronavirus and attack it if a person becomes infected. In the jab, known as BNT162b2, the mRNA encodes for all of the spike protein found on the outside of the virus that it uses to enter and infect cells. It was authorized for emergency use by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) after a clinical trial involving 44,000 volunteers found the shot was 95 percent effective at preventing symptomatic COVID-19. However, the company's current two-dose regimen produced a weaker immune response against the South African variant. For the new study, researchers will examine volunteers upon injection of the third dose one week later and one month later to see if they developed neutralizing antibodies. An Australian nurse receives a Covid-19 vaccination in February. Pfizer and its German partner BioNTech have begun studying a third dose of their vaccine Neutralizing antibodies not only kill invading viruses, but prevent them from entering and infecting cells. In March, Moderna and the National Institutes of Health also began testing a booster shot against the South African variant, with hopes it will be available in fall 2021. Currently, more than 123.9 million Americans - or 37.3 percent of the population - have received at least one dose with an average of 3.3 million shots in arms per day. In addition, more than 76.6 million Americans - 23.1 percent of the population -are fully immunized against coronavirus. A meeting scheduled to hold between government representatives and the leadership of the striking judiciary workers on Thursday has been postponed indefinitely, PREMIUM TIMES has confirmed. State governors, under the aegis of the Nigeria Governors Forum (NGF) along with the labour minister, Chris Ngige, postponed the meeting without giving reasons to the workers union on Thursday. With no new date fixed for the meeting, the development erodes hopes for a resolution of the judiciary workers strike that has shut down all Nigerian courts for 10 days. Judiciary workers, under the aegis of the Judiciary Staff Union of Nigeria (JUSUN), had on April 6, embarked on the indefinite nationwide strike demanding an enforcement of constitutional provisions and court judgments granting financial autonomy to the judiciary at both the state and federal levels. The governors, who are the main target of the strike, had scheduled a meeting with the leadership of JUSUN on Thursday to fashion out modalities for meeting the workers demand. But a top officer of the JUSUN, Jimoh Musa, told PREMIUM TIMES, they were shocked to receive the message postponing the meeting on Thursday. Mr Musa said the meeting was scheduled to hold at the federal ministry of labour with the minister of labour as the lead representative of the federal government. We were shocked to get a message from a director in the ministry of labour today that the meeting has been postponed. The director said no reason for the postponement of the meeting was given but that a new date will be communicated to us, Mr Musa said. The deputy director, press and public relations of the ministry of labour, Charles Akpan, also confirmed that the meeting was called off. He also said he could tell the reason for the development. I would not know the details of the scheduled meeting. But I was told the meeting was called off. I was not told the reason for the calling off of the meeting. I was just told it was called off, he said. Protests to be added to strike Mr Musa said JUSUN leadership was disappointed by the abrupt postponement of the meeting. He added that the executives of the union later, on Thursday, held a meeting where it was resolved that the strike should continue. In addition to that, we have also resolved that if we do not hear from them before next week, we will add protests to the strike, he said. He said the union would lead a march to the offices of the accountant-general of the federation and the attorney-general of the federation in Abuja for their refusal to enforce the relevant sections of the constitution that entitles the state judiciaries to receive their allocation directly from the federation account. We cannot understand why the accountant-general of the federation cannot deduct the money due to the state judiciaries from the federation account and pay it to them directly, and why the attorney-general has not been able to ensure that those constitutional provisions are complied with. We are saying that the accountant-general should start the implementation of the financial autonomy status of the judiciary by not giving the funds meant for the state judiciaries as from this month (April), he said. ADVERTISEMENT Financial autonomy, strike The governors often claim not to be opposed to the financial autonomy of the judiciary. However, they trample on the independence of the arm of government by only releasing funds to it as they please, violating constitutional provision placing both the state judiciary and legislature on first line charge of the state budgets. The first line charge status, which is being respected by the federal government in respect of the federal judiciary, entitles the state judiciaries to get funds due to them directly from the federation account. The governors rushed to court last year to challenge an executive order signed by President Muhammadu Buhari for the enforcement of the first line charge status of both the state judiciary and legislature. They argued that executive order which directs the accountant-general of the federation to deduct funds meant for the state judiciaries and legislatures in the federation account and pay it to them was unconstitutional. Federal judiciary, to a large extent, has been enjoying some measure of financial independence, by being placed in the first line charge of the federal governments budget. However, both the state and the federal government have failed to comply with a less known aspect of the financial autonomy which entitles the judiciary to prepare its budget without executive tinkering. Several meetings held between the leadership of JUSUN with the Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN), Tanko Muhammad, the leadership of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), Mr Ngige, and some members of the House of Representatives, have failed to end the strike. EDWARDSVILLE If you live in Madison County and you need a COVID-19 vaccination, the good news is that plenty of appointments are available. For Amy Yeager, the bad news is that there are too many open appointments. In the last week and a half, weve had a significant drop-off in people scheduling their vaccination appointments, said Yeager, director of community health and public information officer for the Madison County Health Department. Several other counties in the region have run into the same problem. It doesnt seem like its vaccine hesitancy because were not getting much pushback. I looked at the IDPH data for vaccination percentage by county and we have a little over 69 percent of our 65-and-older population vaccinated, which is what we were focusing on when we started vaccinations. In the 16 to 64 age group, we only have about 30 percent, including the essential workers. We think there are still a lot of people that dont know they are eligible for the vaccine. All Madison County residents age 16 and older are now eligible for the COVID-19 vaccine. Yeager believes that part of the problem may be that people have seen conflicting dates for the start of eligibility for the 16 to 64 age group. The President (Joe Biden) said May 1, then he said April 19, Yeager said. The governor (JB Pritzker) said April 12 and then he allowed counties that were ready to open up fully on March 26. Although expanding eligibility earlier is a good thing, I think people may have become confused with the date changes and they might not realize they are eligible. There was a big splash when people 65 and older became eligible and there was a big splash for healthcare workers and people with certain medical conditions. But when it opened up to people 16 to 64, there was no splash at all. Im trying to create at least a trickle to let people know they are eligible. Remaining vaccination clinics in Madison County for this week include April 15, 16 and 17 in Collinsville and April 17 in Granite City. On Tuesday, Illinois joined other states in pausing the use of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine. This comes as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Food and Drug Administration are investigating unusual blood clots in six women that occurred 6 to 13 days after vaccination. All six cases were in women between the ages of 18 and 48. More than 6.8 million doses of the J & J vaccine have been administered in the U.S., the vast majority with no or mild effects. Locally, the pause in the use of the J & J vaccine is not having any effect on the vaccination schedule for Madison County. We are only giving out Pfizer vaccines right now, other than a limited amount of Moderna for the people that need a second dose, Yeager said. Weve only had a very small amount of Johnson & Johnson since we had that first big batch about a month ago. Weve only given out a little over 12,000 J & J vaccines in the county, which is 6 percent of the total amount of vaccines we have given out. We had two clinics scheduled for this week for Johnson & Johnson and we changed those to Pfizer. We sent out messages on social and our website for everyone who was scheduled for those clinics and only two people contacted us to cancel their appointment and said they would rather wait for J & J. Everybody else said they would take Pfizer, so they just want the vaccine regardless of which one it is. On Wednesday, the county added appointments for April 18-24 to its website. A slate of appointments from April 23-28 is currently available only to people that are getting a second dose of the Pfizer vaccine. We hardly had any second doses to schedule for this week because it coincides with when we did most of the J & J vaccine, Yeager said. Weve had a lot fewer people schedule appointments this week, which is unusual, but again its partly because people dont know they are eligible. Yeager noted that local hospitals have also seen a drop-off in the number of people signing up for COVID-19 vaccinations. In addition to people not knowing they are eligible, Yeager said there may be other reasons as well. Some people work and they dont want to take time off to get the vaccine, or they dont have the gas money or the transportation or the flexibility of their workplace to get someplace where they can get vaccinated, Yeager said. Thats partly why we started doing other clinics around the area. This Saturday, we have a clinic as usual at Gateway Convention Center (in Collinsville), but we also have one at the Granite City Township Building. Next week, in addition to Collinsville, we have clinics at Lewis and Clark Community College in Godfrey, Southern Illinois University Edwardsville and Gordon Moore Park in Alton. Yeager urges Madison County residents to get vaccinated if they have not done so already, whether they are 16 to 64 or 65 and older. The sooner we get people vaccinated, the sooner we can move forward with the next step in the pandemic, Yeager said. The virus is still very much here, and the variants are across the United States, especially the one from the UK which is in our region. People still need to be cautious whether they are vaccinated or not. They still need to be wearing masks, watching their distance and washing their hands and getting a COVID test whenever they are in an environment where those things are not being done. The CDC relaxed some of the guidelines for people that have been vaccinated, but if youre out in the general community, your workplace or your school, you still need to be following all of the guidelines. To schedule a COVID-19 vaccination in Madison County, go to https://coronavirus-vaccine-outreach-madcoil.hub.arcgis.com/pages/covid-19-vaccine-appointment-scheduler. (Newser) The body of a missing Louisiana State University student has been found in the Mississippi River, ending a dayslong search involving hundreds of people. "We have concluded that there was no criminal activity or foul play involved" in the death of Kori Gauthier, an 18-year-old freshman, LSU Police Chief Bart Thompson says, per CNN, basing this assessment on "cellphone tracking, video footage, and a timeline of the events related to this case, combined with other evidence we shared with Kori's parents that we are not at liberty to disclose publicly." A driver had struck Gauthier's vehicle, which was running but unoccupied, on a bridge spanning the Mississippi River in Baton Rouge in the early hours of April 7, per CNN and the Lafayette Daily Advertiser. Gauthier's phone and wallet were still inside. Her family didn't realize she was missing until later that day, per WAFB. story continues below More than 300 volunteers took part in a search for Gauthier on Friday, per NBC News. A K9 cadaver dog alerted officials to a particular area of the Mississippi River, said to be 85 to 90 feet deep, on Saturday, but conditions "were unsafe to deploy divers," according to LSU. Gauthier's body was subsequently found by a boater on Tuesday, per the Daily Advertiser. Identification came Wednesday, per KLFY. "Thanks for everything that was done, thanks for all the prayers," Gauthier's uncle, Spencer Gauthier, said in a video posted to Facebook on Wednesday. "Not the end result that we were hoping for, but at least we have her body and can start the healing process." He added a message to anyone listening: "If you're going through anything in life, get comfortable having uncomfortable conversations. Life is worth living. ... Never give up." (Read more Louisiana stories.) Copyright 1995 - . All rights reserved. The content (including but not limited to text, photo, multimedia information, etc) published in this site belongs to China Daily Information Co (CDIC). Without written authorization from CDIC, such content shall not be republished or used in any form. Note: Browsers with 1024*768 or higher resolution are suggested for this site. 0108263 License for publishing multimedia online Registration Number: 130349 Registration Number: 130349 TBILISI, APRIL 15, ARMENPRESS. The official visit of President of Armenia Armen Sarkissian to Georgia kicked off today, the Presidential Office said on social media. The Armenian President was welcomed by Georgian deputy prime minister, minister of foreign affairs David Zalkaliani at the Tbilisi international airport. During the visit the Armenian President is scheduled to have a private talk with his Georgian counterpart Salome Zourabichvili, which will be followed by an extended-format meeting. The discussions will focus on the agenda of the bilateral relations and the opportunities of expanding the mutually beneficial cooperation in different areas. The regional affairs and developments will also be discussed. President Armen Sarkissian will also meet with Catholicos-Patriarch of All Georgia Ilia II and Speaker of Parliament of Georgia Archil Talakvadze. Mr. Sarkissian will also visit the St. George Church of the Georgian Diocese of the Armenian Apostolic Church. Editing and Translating by Aneta Harutyunyan SCHENECTADY Librarian Chinasa Seyse struggled to make some sense of what she saw last week: a rope with a loop at the end of it that looked like a noose dangling from the side of Phyllis H. Bornt branch library. After entering her workplace, which was closed at the time, Seyse retrieved her laptop and iPad before returning outside and taking a picture with the iPad. Im looking at the picture, and the rope is tied to this PVC pipe on the top of the roof, and I dont know what that pipe is for, and I dont know why they would tie a rope to it, said Seyse, who is Black. She wondered if the facilities crew might have been working on the State Street building. The Times Union spoke to Seyse about the incident, which continues to be disturbing to her regardless of the county's explanation that the rope had been on the roof for maintenance purposes and fell over the building's edge unbeknownst to workers until Seyse spotted it. In America, nooses have come to symbolize brutality against African Americans, a stark reminder of the country's dark history of lynching and other forms of racial violence. Desperate for an explanation on the day she saw the rope, Seyse said she tried to keep an open mind and sent the photo to her husband, who does a lot of projects around the house, and then later to her architect brother in Boston. Im trying to get validation whether Ive seen what I think Ive seen or whether its just something else, she said, adding her brother responded that it looked like a noose to him, but reassured her that she would be OK. I didnt think they (county officials) were dealing with it urgently enough. Back at the Mont Pleasant branch where she was working that day, Seyse said she downloaded the photo to a computer, and then fired off emails to Schenectady County Public Library director Karen Bradley and two assistant library directors about 30 minutes after first spotting the rope around 11:15 a.m. April 6. She showed the picture to several co-workers, who were shocked at the image. Seyse later snapped more photos from various angles. Before long, Seyse received a response from Devon Hedges, one of the assistant library directors, that the rope would be immediately taken down and that he planned to confer with Schenectady County officials about further options to address the issue. He soon showed up at Bornt and was part of a small group that scoured security footage from cameras around Bornt for possible clues. At times, the room got real quiet. Sensing that officials might be trying to cover something up, Seyse called the Schenectady police department to report a hate crime. Shortly before 1:30 p.m., Seyse said she and the others finally got some clarity when a county facilities worker showed up at the library and said he recognized the rope because he and his co-workers use it "to move the filters up and down the ladder" and that it is kept in a coil on the rooftop. He said he would put the rope back and theorized that the wind blew it off the roof. Seyse was a bit skeptical about the explanation in part because it wasnt that windy the night before. She was also bothered that the man didn't seem to think that it was that big of a deal. It is not right that he cant apologize for the perception that the rope conveys, added Seyse, a Schenectady County resident in her late 30s who has worked for the county library system for about 4 1/2 years. She did, however, receive an apology from Undersheriff James Barrett, who Seyse says was at the library to gather evidence as part of the probe into the matter. I do not view it as a hate crime, I dont believe the department is racist or discriminatory, I just think that I am going to have to go through the therapy, then they should have a little sensitivity training, added Seyse. Im just working toward better preparing the staff to deal with anything that comes through the door or that meets us outside. County Manager Rory Fluman has previously said the rope, which was used as a makeshift pulley system to hoist air vents up and down from the building for cleanings, was left there by county workers six months ago. He said that the practice of leaving the ropes atop library buildings for the maintenance work has been halted. Hedges declined comment. Bradley referred questions to Bill Levering, president of the county public library's board of trustees. He stressed that the board is dealing with the situation head-on. "We understand that a rope hanging in a particular way, some people look at it and they're going to see one thing and other people are perfectly legitimately going to see it a different way, and that we have to understand how to be sensitive to each other culturally and personally," he said."What we want to do is to be sensitive to the issue and to be sensitive to her." He acknowledged that this could serve as a teachable moment. "We understand that some of the racism that's a part of our culture is something that we all need to be more sensitive to and we're taking that very seriously, we're taking her feelings very seriously," she said. "We're looking to address this appropriately so that we can all learn from it and grow in our sensitivity to these sort of issues." Erin Roberts, a county spokeswoman, sent out a statement Tuesday that the county "will continue working to address the concerns of affected employees, and review our policies and procedures to ensure something like this does not happen again." A debriefing session with library officials was held on April 7 the day after Seyse found the rope and another meeting that will involve the sheriff's office is slated for Thursday to discuss potential new protocols and other related issues. Additionally, Seyse has agreed to be part of a committee that will explore other changes to make library buildings safer for patrons and employees. TAIPEI (dpa-AFX) - TSMC (TSM) reported first quarter net income of NT$139.69 billion, and earnings per share of NT$5.39 or $0.96 per ADR unit, up 19.4% from prior year. Consolidated revenue was NT$362.41 billion, an increase of 16.7%. In US dollars, revenue was $12.92 billion, an increase of 25.4% year-over-year. 'Our first quarter business was supported by HPC-related demand, balanced by a milder smartphone seasonality than in recent years,' said Wendell Huang, Chief Financial Officer of TSMC. For the second quarter, the company expects revenue to be between $12.9 billion and $13.2 billion. 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. A new review published in The European Physical Journal H by Clara Matteuzzi, Research Director at the National Institute for Nuclear Physics (INFN) and former tenured professor at the University of Milan, and her colleagues, examines almost three decades of the LHCb experimentfrom its conception to operation at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) - documenting its achievements and future potential. The LCHb experiment was originally conceived to understand the symmetry between matter and antimatter and where this symmetry is brokenknown as charge conjugation parity (CP) violation. Whilst this may seem like quite an obscure area of study, it addresses one of the Universe's most fundamental questions: how it came to be dominated by matter when it should have equally favoured antimatter? "LHCb wants to study by which mechanism our universe, as we see it today, is made of matter, and how antimatter disappeared despite an initial symmetry between the two states," says Matteuzzi. "The Standard Model contains a tiny amount of violation of this symmetry, whilst the observation of the universe implies a much larger one. This is one of the most fascinating open questions in the Particle Physics field." The LHCb experiment investigates this problem by studying the behaviour of systems and particles made from so-called heavy quarks. These are produced in abundance by highly energetic collisionsexplaining why the LHC is the perfect location to study themand were also abundant in the highly energetic early Universe. "The field in which the LHCb is active is so-called 'heavy quarks physics' which aims to study and understand the behaviour of the particles containing the c and b heavy quarksusually named charm and beauty quarks," says Matteuzzi. "The rich sectorspectroscopycovered by LHCb is how quarks of different types, or flavours, aggregate together to form particles in a way that is analogous to how 'Up' and 'Down' quarks in different combinations make protons and neutrons." "It became clear that the potentiality of the LHCb detector was in other fields beyond the study of CP violation that also hinged on aspects of heavy quark interaction. One was the spectacular success of spectroscopy and the measurement of many new states composed by heavy quarks," concludes Matteuzzi. "This incredibly rich variety of results is demonstrated in our paperwe hope!" Explore further New result from the LHCb experiment challenges leading theory in physics More information: I. Belyaev et al, The history of LHCb, The European Physical Journal H (2021). I. Belyaev et al, The history of LHCb,(2021). DOI: 10.1140/epjh/s13129-021-00002-z Iran's supreme leader warned Wednesday against protracted talks on the country's atomic programme, in remarks on the eve of another round of negotiations aimed at reviving a landmark nuclear accord. Tehran declared Tuesday it will sharply ramp up its enrichment of uranium, two days after what it says was an act of Israeli "nuclear terrorism" against its enrichment plant in Natanz. The announcement has cast a shadow over talks in Vienna aimed at salvaging the 2015 nuclear deal between Iran and world powers that then US president Donald Trump abandoned almost three years ago. Read | Enriching Uranium to 60% answer to 'evilness': Rouhani "We have to be careful" that the dialogue is not conducted "in a way that parties drag (out) the negotiations, as that is harmful for the country," Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said in remarks broadcast by state television on Wednesday. The supreme leader also warned that Iran had to be wary of the Americans during the negotiations. The Islamic republic had earlier in the day said its decision to boost uranium enrichment to 60 per cent purity was a response to arch-foe Israel's "nuclear terrorism" against the Natanz facility, where an explosion knocked out power on Sunday. Iran's enrichment move brings it a step closer to the 90 per cent threshold for military use and shortens its "breakout time" to build an atomic bomb. Under the nuclear deal formally known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, it had committed to keep enrichment to 3.67 per cent, though it stepped this up to 20 per cent in January. The European parties to the accord -- Britain, France and Germany -- on Wednesday expressed "grave concern" over the enrichment move, while also rejecting "all escalatory measures by any actor". The UN's International Atomic Energy Agency said its inspectors visited the site on Wednesday. "IAEA inspectors are continuing their verification and monitoring activities in Iran, and today have been at the Natanz enrichment site," it said. The Natanz attack unleashed a "dangerous spiral", Iran's Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif tweeted. Read | After Natanz blast, Iran vows to ramp up uranium enrichment Zarif warned US President Joe Biden the situation could only be contained by lifting sanctions Trump imposed on Iran from 2018. "No alternative. Not much time," he added. Israel has neither confirmed nor denied involvement but public radio reports in the country said it was a sabotage operation by the Mossad spy agency, citing unnamed intelligence sources. Israel has consistently vowed it will stop Iran from ever building an atomic bomb, an eventuality it regards as an existential threat. Iran has also never minced words when it comes to the Jewish state. Khamenei in 2018 reaffirmed Iran's long-held position that Israel is "a malignant cancerous tumour" that must "be removed and eradicated". Israel, the only country in the region believed to have nuclear weapons, is strongly opposed to Biden's efforts to revive what it regards as a flawed nuclear agreement between Iran and the UN Security Council's five permanent members plus Germany. The accord, agreed when Biden was vice-president to Barack Obama, promised Tehran relief from punishing sanctions in return for agreeing to limits on its nuclear programme. The United States said Tuesday it stood by its ally Israel but remained committed to the Iran talks that are set to resume on Thursday despite Tehran's enrichment plan. Iran's President Hassan Rouhani said on Wednesday that Israel had aimed to deprive Tehran of its leverage during the Vienna talks, saying: "You want our hands to be empty during negotiations, but we will go there with fuller hands." Iran opted for more advanced centrifuges and higher-level enrichment so that Israel "would understand that you cannot stop us" from using nuclear technology, he said. Rouhani also again pledged that Iran's nuclear activity would "certainly be peaceful" and remain under IAEA supervision. Iran has said it requires the more highly enriched uranium for medical purposes. Robert Kelley, a former IAEA director of inspections, described the leap to 60 per cent as "very provocative". Iran had greatly increased the number and performance of its centrifuges, but "there is not much evidence" it had accumulated the many other key elements for developing a nuclear bomb, he said. Analyst Henry Rome argued that Iran's moves seek to avoid it "appearing weak as nuclear negotiations resume". "For now, Iran is building leverage, not a bomb," said Rome, a specialist on Iran for the Washington-based Eurasia Group consultancy. Orange Council Forgoes Special Election, Appoints Member to Vacant Seat Rather than hold a special election to fill its vacant seat, the City Council of Orange, California, has appointed a new councilmember for District 3. Kathy Tavoularis, director of community and government relations for the Orange County Auditor-Controllers Office, will fill the seat vacated by Mike Alvarez following a judges ruling that his recent election violated the citys two-term limit. The April 13 decision to appoint Tavoularisrather than hold a special election in November for an estimated cost of $150,000received criticism from councilwomen Arianna Barrios and Ana Gutierrez, and nearly all of those who offered public comments. District 3 voters in Orange were stripped of their democratic privileges for the second time in the past year, and I am deeply troubled by the implications, Barrios told The Epoch Times via text. The same individuals who loudly proclaimed no price was too high in support of democracy 18 months ago shamelessly flip-flop to suit their own agendas. I, for one, will continue to fight for transparency and public participation in service of our residents. Tavoularis told The Epoch Times she had no concerns being appointed because she is dedicated to the city and residents of Orange. I will put my all into helping Orange become better, she said via email. I think our first concern is public safety and helping our citizens and businesses navigate back to some sort of normalcy as hopefully COVID concerns decrease. Councilman Jon Dumitru told The Epoch Times via text that he was looking forward to working with Ms. Tavoularis and tackling numerous issues that are facing the city. Specifically, the recovery of the local economy from the overbearing State regulations shutting down our business community. Barrios told The Epoch Times previously that she personally didnt like the idea of spending desperately needed general fund dollars on a special election, but in the interest of fairness, the District should be given the opportunity to choose their own representative. The current Council Majority was adamant in 2019 that Special Election is the only democratic solution, she said. The Council Debate At the Apr. 13 City Council meeting, the majority perspective changed. The final vote was 42, with Barrios and Gutierrez voting against the appointment. Councilman Chip Monaco said the cost of a special election would be a terrible waste of taxpayer resources. I just think $10,000 a month for someone to sit up here once a month or twice a month is an inefficient, ineffective way to spend taxpayer dollars, he said. Mayor Mark Murphy agreed. If we appoint someone now, there are no additional expenses, he said. Mayor Pro Tem Kim Nichols said she was conflicted, because shes a very strong advocate for the voters. However, she noted that voter turnout for recent special elections was notably low, citing turnouts as low as 19 percent in 2020 and 13.2 percent in 2015. So thats a lot of money for a very small turnout for a short period of time, she said. Barrios then reminded Murphy, Monaco, and Nichols of their support for a special election in 2019which cost over $425,000, according to estimateswhen Murphys election as mayor left his seat on the council vacant. So I guess my question to my colleagues is: What has changed? she said, adding that the city can afford a special election. According to Monaco, if the council hadnt held a special election in 2019, the councilmember would have been appointed for four years, whereas a current appointment will only last for 16 months before the appointee must face reelection in November 2022. Gutierrez emphasized the rights of the public. If you cared about the people back then, you care about them now. And that hasnt changed. It shouldnt change, she said. The Right Way Attendees who spoke out in favor of a special election included Daniel Correa, a former city planning commissioner; Alison Martin, who applied to fill the vacancy herself; Doug Westfall, a local historian; John Russo, Alvarezs opponent in the November election; and Michael MacIsaac, the citizen who filed the lawsuit that led to Alvarezs ousting. Only a special election provides the transparency and reparations required for the city, MacIsaac said. So I ask that you do the right thing. Fix this the right way. Hold a special election. Michael Fisher, a 33-year resident of Orange, said that if the council chose to appoint someone to the District 3 office, the spot should go to Russo because he was the runner-up to Alvarez. He campaigned, he knocked on doors, talked to voters, [and] he spent his time, resources, and money to run and win the race, even though he came up a little short, Fisher said. For the City Council to appoint someone who was never involved in that race and has never received a single vote would not be acceptable to myself or to many other voters in District 3. Correa, the former planning commissioner, spoke out in favor of Russo because hes not a Yes Man. I have my suspicions that youre going to appoint not because you want a team player, but a person who you can manipulate, Correa said. Dumitru, whos known Tavoularis and her family for 20 years, described the new councilwoman as a dedicated member of the community who has resided in Orange for over 35 years. Murphy said she brings a wealth of experience to the position, citing her professional credits and volunteer efforts. Prior to her current position, Tavoularis was a senior adviser and executive director for the California Delegation to the Republican National Convention. In 2006, she spearheaded a statewide get out the vote campaign to reelect Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger. Tavoularis earned her Bachelors degree in Political Science from California State UniversityLong Beach. She will likely be sworn in to her new position at the councils next scheduled meeting on April 27. In August 2020, he won praise from the prestigious Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine at the National University of Singapore for his contribution to a fundraising drive. A Pagani Huayra supercar was among S$100 million of assets seized from Ng by the nations Commercial Affairs Department, the Straits Times reported, citing sources it didnt name. It is inappropriate to comment on ongoing police investigations, the Singapore police said when asked about the seizure. Industry sources have valued Ngs Pagani Huayra at between S$7 million and S$8 million, according to the Straits Times. Ngs business interests spanned everything from commodities trading and tech startups to Japanese restaurants and a veterinary clinic, according to corporate filings. The fraud allegations against Ng centre on his dealings at Envy Asset Management and Envy Global Trading, companies he controlled and where he was a director. Of the more than S$1 billion that was invested in the companies, S$300 million was transferred to Ngs personal account while an estimated S$200 million remains unaccounted for, prosecutors alleged in court proceedings last month. While investors received payments worth S$700 million, theyre owed another S$1 billion based on the face value of outstanding contracts, prosecutors said. Both Envy Asset and Envy Global are under investigation by Singapore police, according to a police statement, though only Ng has been charged. An external representative for Envy Global didnt respond to emails seeking comment. Envy Asset is no longer active, the representative of Envy Global said in February. Ngs purported investment strategies that are under the spotlight were linked to nickel, a key ingredient in many electric-car batteries. The metal has become a popular speculative bet in recent years amid soaring demand for Teslas and other EVs. Singapore has been rocked by a number of financial scandals in recent years. Credit:Bloomberg In one transaction described in charge sheets, Ng was involved in raising money from investors claiming he would use it to buy nickel from an Australian company called Poseidon Nickel. He never followed through with the purchase, prosecutors said. Poseidons chief executive officer, Peter Harold, said in an email that the company has had no engagement with Ng or related entities. Ng was involved in deceiving investors into buying supposed forward contracts that were purportedly with French lender BNP Paribas SA, but those contracts didnt exist, according to the charge sheets. BNP had no account or trading history with Ng, Envy Asset Management or Envy Global Trading, a person familiar with the matter said. A BNP spokesperson declined to comment. One person who said he began investing with Ng in 2018 after hearing about him through business associates said he never withdrew money because he believed Ng was delivering sustained high returns. Documents seen by Bloomberg that were sent by Envy Asset Management to potential investors and partners include details such as purchase and sale prices of prior nickel transactions, contract durations and expected profits in percentages down to the fourth decimal point. Ngs investors included Envysion Wealth Management, a Singaporean fund management company, and its founder Shim Wai Han. While Envysion has a similar name to those of Ngs companies and shared meeting rooms and pantry services with them through a rental agreement, Shim said in an April 1 interview and subsequent messages that Envysion is otherwise unrelated to Ng. He isnt an owner or executive at Envysion, she said. Prosecutors allege that Ng convinced Envysion and Shim to invest S$48 million in receivables on nickel products that never existed. Our objective now is just one thing, Shim said in the interview. To get back the money for investors and for ourselves. The Monetary Authority of Singapore, the nations financial regulator, is conducting a supervisory review of Envysion to determine if there have been governance or risk management failures by its board and senior management. Envysion hasnt been accused of any wrongdoing, Shim said in the interview. Shim said she and Envysion are working on this together with MAS to help investors. She said she conducted due diligence into her investments with Ng, including by asking friends in the commodities industry to assess his trades and strategy. Ngs purported investment strategies that are under the spotlight were linked to nickel, a key ingredient in many electric-car batteries. The metal has become a popular speculative bet in recent years amid soaring demand for Teslas and other EVs. Credit:Bloomberg Both Envy Asset and Envy Global arent licensed by MAS, since the regulator doesnt require licences from firms investing in physical assets for high-net worth investors or institutions. MAS put Envy Asset on its investor alert list last year to highlight that the firm may have been wrongly perceived as being licensed by MAS, according to a March statement from the monetary authority. JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) The state health department Tuesday said upcoming appointments for the single-dose Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccine in Alaska are being canceled or delayed after federal agencies recommended a pause to review reports of rare but potentially dangerous blood clots. State health officials told reporters the federal recommendation shows that safety checks are working and they hope this bolsters rather than hinders confidence in the vaccine rollout. Dr. Joe McLaughlin, the state epidemiologist, said people with appointments for the other COVID-19 vaccines authori... Bruces Beach Update: Supervisor Hahn Takes First Steps in Returning Beach Front Land to Descendants of Original Owners On April 8, Los Angeles County Supervisor Janice Hahn announced the preliminary steps towards returning the rightfully owned Manhattan Beach waterfront landscape known as Bruces Beach back to the decedents of Charles and Willa Bruce. The original owners of Bruces beach were harassed for owning their land for years, until it was finally seized by the city; Hahn is looking to make a progressive step in the right direction today. Supervisor Holly Mitchell, Senator Steven Bradford, and Assemblyman Al Muratsuchi were present when L.A. County met with a representative from the Bruce family on Friday. ADVERTISEMENT In a document announcing the event, Hahn endorsed this statement, She has recognized the opportunity the County has to begin to right the wrongs of the past and bring some justice to Charles and Willa Bruces descendants. She has been meeting with the family and has stated her intention to work to return the land to them. Fridays announcement will be a step toward achieving that goal. The land was transferred to the State and then back to the County in 1995; it was not until 2006 that the beach was adorned with the name of the original owners. ABC 11 captured this statement, It is the Countys intention to return this property, Hahn told the news conference held at Bruces Beach. On April 10, inserts from a County document addressed the condemnation of the beach, We offer this acknowledgement and condemnation as a foundational act for Manhattan Beachs next one hundred years, and the actions we will take together, to the best of our abilities, in deeds and in words, to reject prejudice and hate and promote respect and inclusion. Willa and Charles Bruce were the first Black landowners in Manhattan Beach; they purchased two beachfront lots in 1912. In a time of strong division, the City of Manhattan eventually found a way to take ownership of their property. Generations of the Bruce family have grown to have stint in their emotions about the beach. In a time of a radical social awakening, Los Angeles County is looking to hand over proper ownership of the beachfront back to the Bruce family. Located on 2600 Highland Ave. in Manhattan Beach, CA, Willa and Charles Bruce bought the land for $1,225 ($33,034), followed by another purchase of a beach lot. Many families of color owned land along the coast in that area. The L.A. Times reported years of harassment towards Black property owners. During the Jim Crow era, Black people were driven out of these areas and forced to sell their land. The City would use an ordinance known as eminent domain to strip ownership from the Bruce family and many others alike. ADVERTISEMENT Through eminent domain, members of the Manhattan community gave City officials the power to obtain privately-owned properties to reimagine for public use. The urgent takeover of Bruces land was for a public park. The Bruce family fought for years in litigation; they asked for $120,000 ($3,203,044 ) for loss of property and damages; the Bruces received $14,000, which is $300,000 in present day. L.A. County Supervisor Janice Hahn stated, The property that was once the Bruces is now owned by the County and I want L.A. County to be part of righting this wrong. She continued, I am looking at everything from repurposing the property in a way that tells the history of Bruces Beach to actually giving the property back to the descendants of Charles and Willa Bruce. Anthony Bruce is one of the direct decedents of Charles and Willa. He told L.A. Times last year, The first thing we need to get right is the information about the plaque. We need to make sure the plaque tells the exact story about what happened. He continued, That was our property. And they removed it with eminent domain, which was pretty much like using the law to pretty much commit a crime. This pain in deception has weighed on the Bruce family. Most members of the family do not talk about it publicly. According to ABC news, the beach front is now worth $75 million dollars, and Hahn is leading the way for the County to return the land to the rightful owners. Hahn reached out to Mitch Ward who served on Manhattan Beach City Council and led the City as Mayor; she called him to speak directly about Bruces Beach. According to news report by Patch.com, Ward said during an interview, Supervisor Hahn has stepped up and is doing the right thing for Black Americans (and consequently, all Americans). She is respectful of our history and is willing to right a wrong that occurred here in Manhattan Beach in the 1920s the City of Manhattan Beachs orchestrated efforts to rid the city of Black Americans for 100 years are one of the most tragic legacies of our beautiful town. Ward Continued, I am glad we have a regional leader that has the ability to come in and do whats best for the Willa and Charles Bruce family as well as for the County of Los Angeles and the City of Manhattan Beach. Supervisor Hahn has my utmost respect for her leadership and innovative approach to righting this wrong. The overturn of this land will not re-write its past transgression, but the correction of the injustice will create a new future for the Bruce family, for generations to come. Their pain of that legacy being taken away has lived with the Bruce family through their names sake. A century later, and the recognition that is instrumental to the healing, has finally come. There is a hill near the land under acquisition, it will not be included in the return. Once the beachfront is handed back to the Bruce family, the agreement could include an option for the Bruce descendants to lease the land back to the county for continued use. Thank you for reading! Please log in, or sign up for a new account and purchase a subscription to continue reading. Read what is in the news today: COVID-19 Updates -- Vietnam reported 20 imported cases of COVID-19 on Wednesday afternoon and Thursday morning, raising the national tally to 2,737 patients, with 2,445 recoveries and 35 virus-related deaths, according to the Ministry of Health -- Ho Chi Minh City medical authorities said on Wednesday that the city had yet to receive the protocol of vaccine passports, which are COVID-19 vaccination certificates to be granted for international visitors and stranded Vietnamese to enter the country, from the National Steering Committee for COVID-19 Prevention and Control. Society -- It is forecast to rain in the evening from Friday to April 23 in the southern Vietnamese region, according to the National Center for Hydro-meteorological Forecasting. -- More than 14 metric tons of fish died en masse due to an unknown reason on the section of the Ma River passing through Cam Thuy District in the north-central Vietnamese province of Thanh Hoa on Wednesday. -- Police in Ho Chi Minh City said on Wednesday that they had recently arrested a group of seven people for staging motorbike accidents on the streets to steal properties from commuters. -- One student has been successfully rescued from drowning while two others remain missing after a group of nine students went swimming at a local river in northern Phu Tho Province on Wednesday afternoon. -- An eighth-grade student critically knifed a seventh grader after being reprimanded by their school administrators for hitting the latter in southern Vinh Long Province on Wednesday afternoon. -- Two workers were dead and another was injured after a personnel lift overturned at a shipbuilding company in central Quang Ngai Province on Wednesday morning. Business -- The 2021 Vietnam International Trade Fair (Vietnam Expo), the 30th edition of its kind, opened at the Hanoi International Exhibition Center on Wednesday. -- E-stamping, a computer-based application with product information that can be retrieved on state agencies' websites, must be used for imported tobacco and alcohol products from July 2022, according to the Ministry of Finances new instruction. Like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter to get the latest news about Vietnam! ST. HELENA A company that specializes in the co-ownership of second homes by multiple parties sued the city of St. Helena last week amid a dispute over whether the arrangement amounts to a timeshare. The federal lawsuit, filed April 6 in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, seeks to guarantee the legally-protected rights of (Pacasos) homeowners to enjoy the benefits of owning property in the beautiful surrounds of St. Helena. The complaint requests a judgment declaring that St. Helenas timeshare prohibition does not apply to Pacaso and an injunction barring the city from interfering with Pacasos economic interests. Pacaso creates a limited liability company to hold the title for each home and allows up to eight co-owners to buy an interest in the LLC. At closing, the co-owners take full ownership of the house and Pacaso stays on as property manager. According to the complaint, Pacaso owns or manages five homes in St. Helena. Quality journalism doesn't happen without your help. Subscribe today! Support local news coverage and the people who report it by subscribing to the Napa Valley Register. The city has accused Pacaso of operating timeshares, which are banned by a city ordinance. The Municipal Code defines a timeshare as "an ownership or leasehold estate in property devoted to a time-share fee (tenants in common, time span ownership, interval ownership) or a time-share lease." The first signs of trouble came around 5:15 a.m., shortly before a pilot reported egg-sized hail falling over the Birmingham area. Although forecasts that Sunday morning warned of tornadoes, many messages from meteorologists went to unstaffed wire services and radio stations playing prerecorded programs with no on-air announcers. Then, just before 3 p.m. on April 15, 1956, 65 years ago today, winds up to 261 mph swept the area. For some reason, no official tornado warnings were issued that afternoon, according to National Weather Service records. Thankfully, news reports reached some Jefferson County residents before an F4 tornado roughly 300-yards-wide left a 21-mile-long path of destruction. As the storm made its way through McDonald Chapel, a home was spun on its foundation, leaving the front door facing the backyard. When it was over, 200 people were injured and another 25 dead. The tornado was the sixth deadliest in Alabama since 1950, tied with one that hit Dekalb County on April 27, 2011, according to Mark Linhares of the National Weather Service. More than 1,100 were left homeless as 400 homes and buildings were destroyed. From the National Weather Service: This man in photo lost three members of his family in home about two blocks to the right It was about 90 minutes after the storm in the then-largely rural area that news finally reached television and radio stations and the weather service, according to NWS records. The houses looked like piles of timber in a lumberyard, the United Press International reported. A crew of 50 searchers forced their way into rooms buried under debris and picked up mounds of planks in their hunt for victims. Here are more vintage images and stories of Alabamas past . Elizabeth Sheetz was 9-years-old and watching her father and uncle paint her grandparents house when the sky turned an eerie color and a dark, muggy stillness fell over the neighborhood, she would later recall for meteorologist Bill Murray. My Dad yelled, Here it comes! The men ran into the house, Sheetz wrote. It took three grown men pushing with all their might to close the back door of my grandfathers house. Then, all nine of us (five adults and four children) lay face down on the floor hallway. Sheetz heard a roar of wind through the trees. It just got louder and louder, Sheetz recalled. It was over in seconds, but a hard rain followed. The roof on the house across from her grandfathers was blown off and debris was scattered in the yard. FILE-April 15, 1956 an F4 tornado struck Jefferson County around 3 p.m. and claimed 25 lives and injured 200 people. Seven communities were hit by the tornado according to the National Weather Service tornado survey and over 400 structures were damaged. (FILE\The Birmingham News) The Birmingham NewsThe Birmingham News We all sat in the darkness of no power, Sheetz wrote. Dad got us all back to our home in Wylam. Mom and Dad turned on the radio and the list of the dead was being broadcast. The tornado destroyed 20 blocks of homes as it passed through Sandusky, according to the AlabamaWX Weather Blog. It then hit the Sayreton area just north of North Birmingham and destroyed a gas station and barbecue restaurant along U.S. 31 in Fultondale. A doctor examines Marvin E. Morton, 2, as nurses and an orderly stand by. A Larry Morton, 4, and Lester Morton, 38, were killed but it's not clear if they were related. This scene was typical of the way the men and women in white responded to the emergency created by the tornado's savage devastation. . (FILE\The Birmingham News) The Birmingham NewsThe Birmingham News Homes were destroyed in the New Georgia community between Sayreton and Lewisburg. The tornado passed just north of Tarrant, near Ketona, finally lifting near Chalkville. Most of the deaths occurred in the Stacy Hollow and McDonald Chapel communities, except for two young sisters in the Sandusky area. Those sisters -- Wanda Ware, 11, and Diane Ware, 5 -- were thrown several blocks from their home, The Birmingham News reported. The April 15, 1956 tornado track. Bloodstains were on a portion of a wall, that report stated. The mangled bodies were under the timbers near the stains. Their sister, Betty Ware, then 14, carried a baby to safety. In McDonald Chapel, Betty Duncan was found dead while holding the lifeless body of her 3-year-old, Rodney. Her 8-year-old, Melvin, was found dead nearby. About 10 people were dead on arrival at Lloyd Nolan Hospital in Fairfield. In one instance, a News reporter watched as a mud caked car pulled up to the hospital and a doctor came out to examine a little girl. Shes dead, a man in the car told the doctor. The physician placed a stethoscope on her chest and replied, Yes. The doctor went back inside the emergency room and the car drove away. Others killed included a husband and wife, John and Mary Anderson, who were both about 35, and Michael Anderson, 2 (it was not clear if the child was theirs). Also killed were Claudette Gilmore, 20, Craig Heard, 6-months-old, Addie Hall, 29, and infant girl Hall, Billy Wayne Pryor, 3, Lester Morton, 38, Larry Morton, 4, and Lee Thelma Tucker, 14. Its hard to tell 65 years later if the ages and spellings are accurate. The list of Black people killed ran beneath a list of the white victims in at least one Alabama newspaper and Negro appeared by their names. At least 16 of those killed were Black. Willie Wallace at Stacy Hollow. (Joe Campbell\The Birmingham News) The Birmingham NewsThe Birmingham News Ramona Colvin was 19 and lived in Stacy Hollow when the 1956 tornado hit, she said in a 1998 news report. We had a concrete block house and it blew down, Colvin said. It blew my mother and sister out in the street. All survived. Colvin was being interviewed after her McDonald Chapel home was devastated by another deadly Jefferson County tornado that hit many of the same areas as the 1956 twister. April, 9, 1988 file photos --- Linda Sander of Docena holds Oak Ridge resident Delia Lett's hand as they pick their way down the hill from Open Door Church into the McDonald Chapel community to check on friends Thursday afternoon. By Julie Hunter/Birmingham Post-Herald PHPH That April 8, 1998 F5 tornado devastated Oak Grove and killed 32 people in Jefferson County. Another tornado that day killed two people in St. Clair County. Deniece Kemp Presley survived that 1998 McDonald Chapel tornado huddled inside Open Door Church as it was destroyed. She told The News months later she had joined a support group for survivors. A lot of times I dont sleep, she was quoted as saying. It is something that is always on your mind. You would think that after seven or eight months, things would get better. On April 27, 2011 an EF-4 tornado struck McDonald Chapel, hitting Kemps home minutes after she walked in the door. That tornado killed 65 people in Tuscaloosa and Jefferson counties as part of the historic outbreak that killed 253 statewide. A woman was killed in a house that is now this pile of debris in McDonald Chapel after another serious hit from a deadly tornado that struck there two days ago Fri., April 29, 2011 in Birmingham, Ala. (The Birmingham News/Bernard Troncale). BNBN The 57-year-old was killed and her body stayed in the street for hours until the coroners office could get through debris-covered roads to retrieve her. I couldnt sleep. I kept thinking about her body out there. I was worried about dogs .....This is so hard, Darlene Hunt, a neighbor and friend of 40 years, said in 2011. She was a Christian lady. A good person. At a previous 'I Built This' event, participants listened and learned in Minneapolis, January 2020. Fifty-three percent of skilled trade workers are over 46 and will be retiring. I Built This introduces diverse students to construction opportunities to work towards changing those statistics. ConstructReach, a construction industry workforce development initiative and consultancy, will be hosting a private I Built This! event in Chicago at the newly constructed Target facility located at 3501 S. Pulaski St. on May 11 and 12, 2021 from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. High school students aged 16-18 years from neighboring school districts, charter schools, and workforce development programs are invited to learn about the construction industry and engage in hands- on activities. Attendees will connect with general contractors and other construction professionals to discuss internships, job opportunities and scholarships while learning more about jobs in the construction industry. ConstructReachs I Built This! initiative exists to introduce the construction industry to a diverse new generation and, in turn, help an industry facing an impending labor shortage crisis. Participants confirmed for the event as of release date include Hilco Redevelopment Partners, Morgan / Harbour Construction, Berkshire Grey Robotics, Honeywell Intelligrated, E&K Companies, and the United Brotherhood of Carpenters. Our mission at ConstructReach is to increase the visibility of the construction industry by educating students about career opportunities, connecting general contractors to interns and innovative internship curriculum, and creating content, experiences, and a ConstructReach social network to expose diverse populations to construction careers, said Paul Robinson, Founder and CEO of ConstructReach. Fifty-three percent of skilled trade workers are over 46 and will be retiring. I Built This introduces diverse students to construction opportunities to work towards changing those statistics. In 2015, Robinson, a former Construction Project Manager for Target, realized the importance of developing an industry-wide initiative to create a diverse pipeline of talent while addressing a generational workforce shortage. ConstructReach was developed with the view that a more diverse workforce is the key to a brighter future and has hosted other I Built This events around the country. During I Built This! events, students from surrounding communities participate with hands-on activities and learn directly from Robinson, about the construction industry and discuss career opportunities. By uniting general contractors, educators, companies, and students in a variety of meaningful ways, all stakeholders are educated about the opportunities within construction while gaining unparalleled insights. Through a variety of services offered to its members and events such as I Built This!, ConstructReach plans to transform the construction industry within the next decade. For more information or to interview Paul Robinson, please contact Melissa Barreca at mbarreca@arcoandassociates.com. About ConstructReach Founded in May 2018, ConstructReach is a construction industry workforce development initiative and consultancy that seeks to increase the visibility of the construction industry by educating students about career opportunities within construction, connecting general contractors to interns, employees, and internship curriculum, and creating content, experiences, and a social network to expose a diverse population to sustainable construction careers. Over half of the skilled construction labor force is nearing retirement age and fewer students, especially from diverse backgrounds, are pursuing a construction career. ConstructReach works with students, educators, high school counselors, large brands, and general contractors throughout the country to ensure they have the information and connections they need to facilitate the long-term longevity of a new, more diverse construction industry. ConstructReach started efforts with more than 100 general contractors throughout the United States, but is currently adding additional general contractors, and expanding brands to its network. For more, please visit http://www.constructreach.com. Syracuse, NY -- Michael Viola, critically injured by police gunfire after allegedly charging officers with a hatchet, doesnt want his assigned defense lawyers advice. Viola, 23, apparently doesnt have much respect for the judge on his case, either. Hes been jailed since leaving the hospital after the Dec. 31, 2019 police shooting on Grant Boulevard. Viola is charged with multiple counts of menacing a police officer and weapons possession. On Thursday, he hoped state Supreme Court Justice Gordon Cuffy might approve a plea deal that would get him out of jail. When that didnt happen, Viola lost his cool. Cuffy, Im not interested..., Viola began, speaking over a TV screen from the jail during virtual court. Did you just call me Cuffy? the judge cut him off. Judge Cuffy, Viola corrected himself, before continuing with his diatribe. State Supreme Court Justice Gordon Cuffy, pictured here before taking the bench in 2012. Violas lawyer, Ben Coffin, noted in court that hed tried to pursue a mental-illness defense, but Viola wouldnt go for it. Because Viola is considered competent to stand trial, he can decide whether his lawyer brings in mental health experts to look at his case. Viola was arrested after confronting officers with a hatchet inside a Grant Boulevard home, authorities have said. A resident at the house had called police on Viola, saying he was acting oddly. After 15 minutes of negotiating, an officer fired a Taser at Viola, authorities said. Viola is then accused of getting right back up and charging at officers with the hatchet. Thats when two officers fired their guns at Viola, Onondaga County District Attorney William Fitzpatrick has said. Viola was critically injured by the gunfire and spent an extended stay in a hospital. He was later sent to jail and indicted on the menacing and weapons charges. The officers involved in the incident were cleared of wrongdoing in firing their guns at Viola. On Thursday, Viola offered to plead guilty to a felony if he could be released from jail. Hes been jailed for 16 months now, awaiting trial. The DAs office said it hadnt yet decided whether to accept Violas plea offer or not. But the judge said that he was likely going to want Viola to spend time on probation if he pleaded guilty. Its in his best interest, he can get himself together on probation, Cuffy explained. Thats when Viola started declaring that he was ready for trial and didnt want to keep negotiating a plea deal. When Cuffy urged him to not make a rash decision, Viola became even more irritated. My understanding is I was going to this virtual court today to take a plea offer, Viola said. Cuffy, Im not interested... The conversation devolved from there, with Viola repeatedly saying that he wanted to go to trial. Mr. Viola, weve been through this many times, Ive told you many times not to interrupt me, Cuffy said near the end of the appearance. Despite Violas wishes, the judge refused to order the case straight to trial and scheduled a new date to check progress on plea negotiations. If convicted after trial, Viola faces up to 7 years in prison on each of the three menacing a police officer charges -- one for each officer involved. Thats a maximum of 21 years in prison. Its unclear if the judge might still consider probation after Violas outburst in court. [April 15, 2021] Wipro Limited Announces Results for the Quarter and Year ended March 31, 2021 under IFRS Wipro Limited (NYSE: WIT, BSE: 507685, NSE: WIPRO) today announced financial results under International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) for the Quarter and Year ended March 31, 2021. Highlights of the Results Results for the Quarter ended March 31, 2021: Gross Revenue was Rs 162.5 billion ($2.2 billion 1 ), an increase of 3.4% YoY ), an increase of 3.4% YoY IT Services Segment Revenue was at $2,152.4 million, an increase of 3.9% QoQ and 3.8% YoY Non-GAAP 2 constant currency IT Services Segment Revenue increased by 3.0% QoQ and 0.5% YoY constant currency IT Services Segment Revenue increased by 3.0% QoQ and 0.5% YoY IT Services Operating Margin 3 for the quarter was at 21.0%, an expansion of 344 bps YoY for the quarter was at 21.0%, an expansion of 344 bps YoY Net Income for the quarter was Rs 29.7 billion ($406.4 million 1 ), an increase of 27.8% YoY ), an increase of 27.8% YoY Earnings Per Share for the quarter was at Rs 5.39 ($0.071), an increase of 31.8% YoY Results for the Year ended March 31, 2021: Gross Revenue was Rs 619.4 billion ($8.5 billion 1 ), an increase of 1.5% YoY ), an increase of 1.5% YoY IT Services Segment Revenue was at $8,136.5 million, a decrease of 1.4% YoY Non-GAAP 2 constant currency IT Services Segment Revenue decreased by 2.3% YoY constant currency IT Services Segment Revenue decreased by 2.3% YoY IT Services Operating Margin 3 for the year was at 20.3%, an expansion of 218 bps YoY for the year was at 20.3%, an expansion of 218 bps YoY Net Income for the year was Rs 107.9 billion ($1,475.9 million 1 ), an increase of 11.0% YoY ), an increase of 11.0% YoY Earnings Per Share for the year was at Rs 19.11 ($0.26 1 ), an increase of 14.6% YoY ), an increase of 14.6% YoY Operating Cash Flow was at Rs 147.6 billion ($2,017.4 million1), an increase of 46.6% YoY, which is 136.7% of Net Income Performance for the quarter and year ended March 31, 2021 Thierry Delaporte, CEO and Managing Director said, "I am delighted with the way we have finished the financial year. We delivered a third consistent quarter of strong revenue growth, deal wins and operating margins. We also announced our largest ever acquisition of Capco that will bolster our global financial services sector. We are excited with this wave of business momentum that we are witnessing. All key markets are now growing on YoY basis and this provides us a solid foundation to build on next year growth rates." Jatin Dalal, Chief Financial Officer said, "We delivered a 340 bps expansion YoY in operating margins for the quarter after absorbing the impact of wage hike. On a full year basis we increased margins by 220 bps with a consistent improvement in operating metrics. Led by disciplined execution, we generated strong operating cash flows at 136.7% of our net income for the full year. We successfully completed the share buyback program returning $1.3Bn to our shareholders." For the convenience of the readers, the amounts in Indian Rupees in this release have been translated into United States Dollars at the certified foreign exchange rate of US$1 = Rs 73.14, as published by the Federal Reserve Board of Governors on March 31, 2021. However, the realized exchange rate in our IT Services business segment for the quarter ended March 31, 2021 was US$1= Rs 73.83 Constant currency revenue for a period is the product of volumes in that period times the average actual exchange rate of the corresponding comparative period IT Services Operating Margin refers to Segment Results Total as reflected in IFRS financials Outlook for the quarter ending June 30, 2021 We expect Revenue from our IT Services business to be in the range of $2,195 million to $2,238 million*. This translates to a sequential growth of 2.0% to 4.0%. This does not include revenue from our recently announced acquisitions of Capco and Ampion. * Outlook is based on the following exchange rates: GBP/USD at 1.39, Euro/USD at 1.20, AUD/USD at 0.78, USD/INR at 72.76 and CAD/USD at 0.78 Capital Allocation In the quarter ended March 31, 2021, the Company has concluded the buyback of 237.5 million equity shares as approved earlier by the Board of Directors at their meeting held on October 13, 2020 for an aggregate amount of Rs 95 billion ($1.3 billion 1 ), excluding buyback tax ), excluding buyback tax The interim dividend of Rs 1 declared by the Board at its meeting held on January 13, 2021 shall be considered as the final dividend for the financial year 2020-21 IT Services Wipro continued its momentum in winning large deals with our customers as described below: Wipro has won a multi-million-dollar integrated engagement from a leading US-based industrial manufacturing company to transform and modernize its business functions and enable it to become a digital enterprise via transformation in applications, infrastructure, cyber security and service delivery. Wipro has won a multi-year strategic contract from a US-based digital transformation and consulting agency to provide Infrastructure Managed Services for its Data Center, and Network and Tools landscape. Wipro will leverage AI Ops tool stack to automate the client's infrastructure to reduce turnaround time across requests and incidents, improve operational efficiency, and deliver a superior user experience for its end customer, a leading US-based Federal agency. Digital Services Highlights We continue to see increasing traction in digital oriented and other strategic deals as illustrated below: A leading Indian e-commerce and technology company has selected Wipro to enhance customer experience, leveraging its expertise in digital operations and new-age solutions. A leading technology provider has awarded Wipro a contract to consolidate its enterprise digital assets on cloud and on-premise to a centralized content repository to enable robust management of its marketing content needs. A global communications and networking giant has extended their decade-long partnership with Wipro Designit to research, prototype, and design their major product family, as well as associated services and experience. Wipro has won a multi-year engagement with a US-based utilities company to provide System Integrator services for a large business and IT transformation program in the areas of Supply Chain and Enterprise Work and Asset Management. Wipro will leverage its strong domain expertise and capabilities in Digital, Applications, and Data and Analytics to implement leading practices and business processes across the enterprise. A multinational professional services company has engaged Wipro Designit to design next generation, user-centric experience for its employees. Designit will apply research, service design blueprinting and experience design to transform the workplace and the computing experience for the client's global workforce. Analyst Recognition Wipro was positioned as a Leader in Gartner Magic Quadrant for Managed Workplace Services, North America, Daniel Barros, Mark Ray, Stephanie Stoudt-Hansen, Tobi Bet, 24 Feb 2021 Wipro was positioned as a Leader in Gartner Magic Quadrant for Managed Workplace Services, Europe, David Groombridge, Claudio Da Rold, Alexandra Chavez, Daniel Barros, Katja Ruud, 24 Feb 2021 Wipro was positioned as a Leader in Gartner Magic Quadrant for Customer Service BPO, Deborah Alvord, Kim Dans, Philip Jenkins, John Quaglietta, TJ Singh, 9 Feb 2021 Wipro ranks among the Top Service Providers in Customer Satisfaction Category in Whitelane / Quint Netherlands IT Outsourcing Study 2021 Wipro ranks among the Top Service Providers in Customer Satisfaction Category in Whitelane & PA Consulting IT Outsourcing Study 2021 in Nordics Region Wipro was positioned as a Leader in Everest Group's Pharmacovigilance and Complaint Management Operations Services PEAK Matrix Assessment 2021 Wipro was recognized as a Leader in Everest Group's Intelligent Process Automation (IPA) Solutions PEAK Matrix Assessment 2021 Wipro was recognized as a Leader in Everest Group's Semiconductor Engineering Services PEAK Matrix Assessment 2021 Wipro was rated as a Leader in ISG Provider Lens Salesforce Ecosystem Partners 2021 - US Wipro was rated as a Leader in ISG Provider Lens Next-gen Application Development & Maintenance (ADM) Services 2020 - US and UK Disclaimer: Gartner does not endorse any vendor, product or service depicted in its research publications, and does not advise technology users to select only those vendors with the highest ratings or other designation. Gartner research publications consist of the opinions of Gartner's research organization and should not be construed as statements of fact. Gartner disclaims all warranties, expressed or implied, with respect to this research, including any warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose. IT Products IT Products Segment Revenue for the year was Rs 7.7 billion ($105.1 million 1 ) ) IT Products Segment Results for the year was a profit of Rs 0.05 billion ($0.62 million 1 ) ) IT Products Segment Revenue for the quarter was Rs 2.1 billion ($28.9 million 1 ) ) IT Products Segment Results for the quarter was a profit of Rs 0.15 billion ($2.0 million1) India business from State Run Enterprises (ISRE) India SRE Segment Revenue for the year was Rs 8.9 billion ($121.8 million 1 ) ) India SRE Segment Results for the year was a profit of Rs 1.1 billion ($14.5 million 1 ) ) India SRE Segment Revenue for the quarter was Rs 2.3 billion ($31.5 million 1 ) ) India SRE Segment Results for the quarter was a profit of Rs 0.6 billion ($8.0 million1) Please refer to the table at the end for reconciliation between IFRS IT Services Revenue and IT Services Revenue on a non-GAAP constant currency basis. About Non-GAAP Financial Measures This press release contains non-GAAP financial measures within the meaning of Regulation G and Item 10(e) of Regulation S-K. Such non-GAAP financial measures are measures of our historical or future performance, financial position or cash flows that are adjusted to exclude or include amounts that are excluded or included, as the case may be, from the most directly comparable financial measure calculated and presented in accordance with IFRS. The table at the end provides IT Services Revenue on a constant currency basis, which is a non-GAAP financial measure that is calculated by translating IT Services Revenue from the current reporting period into U.S. dollars based on the currency conversion rate in effect for the prior reporting period. We refer to growth rates in constant currency so that business results may be viewed without the impact of fluctuations in foreign currency exchange rates, thereby facilitating period-to-period comparisons of our business performance. Further, in the normal course of business, we may divest a portion of our business which may not be strategic. We refer to the growth rates in both reported and constant currency adjusting for such divestments in order to represent the comparable growth rates. This non-GAAP financial measure is not based on any comprehensive set of accounting rules or principles and should not be considered a substitute for, or superior to, the most directly comparable financial measure calculated in accordance with IFRS and may be different from non-GAAP measures used by other companies. In addition to this non-GAAP measure, the financial statements prepared in accordance with IFRS and the reconciliation of these non-GAAP financial measures with the most directly comparable IFRS financial measure should be carefully evaluated. Results for the quarter and year ended March 31, 2021, prepared under IFRS, along with individual business segment reports, are available in the Investors section of our website www.wipro.com Quarterly Conference Call We will hold an earnings conference call today at 07:15 p.m. Indian Standard Time (09:45 a.m. U.S. Eastern Time) to discuss our performance for the quarter. The audio from the conference call will be available online through a web-cast and can be accessed at the following link- https://links.ccwebcast.com/?EventId=WIPRO210415 An audio recording of the management discussions and the question and answer session will be available online and will be accessible in the Investor Relations section of our website at www.wipro.com About Wipro Limited Wipro Limited (NYSE: WIT, BSE: 507685, NSE: WIPRO) is a leading global information technology, consulting and business process services company. We harness the power of cognitive computing, hyper-automation, robotics, cloud, analytics and emerging technologies to help our clients adapt to the digital world and make them successful. A company recognized globally for its comprehensive portfolio of services, strong commitment to sustainability and good corporate citizenship, we have over 190,000 dedicated employees serving clients across six continents. Together, we discover ideas and connect the dots to build a better and a bold new future. Forward-Looking Statements The forward-looking statements contained herein represent Wipro's beliefs regarding future events, many of which are by their nature, inherently uncertain and outside Wipro's control. Such statements include, but are not limited to, statements regarding Wipro's growth prospects, its future financial operating results, and its plans, expectations and intentions. Wipro cautions readers that the forward-looking statements contained herein are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from the results anticipated by such statements. Such risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to, risks and uncertainties regarding fluctuations in our earnings, revenue and profits, our ability to generate and manage growth, complete proposed corporate actions, intense competition in IT services, our ability to maintain our cost advantage, wage increases in India, our ability to attract and retain highly skilled professionals, time and cost overruns on fixed-price, fixed-time frame contracts, client concentration, restrictions on immigration, our ability to manage our international operations, reduced demand for technology in our key focus areas, disruptions in telecommunication networks, our ability to successfully complete and integrate potential acquisitions, liability for damages on our service contracts, the success of the companies in which we make strategic investments, withdrawal of fiscal governmental incentives, political instability, war, legal restrictions on raising capital or acquiring companies outside India, unauthorized use of our intellectual property and general economic conditions affecting our business and industry. Additional risks that could affect our future operating results are more fully described in our filings with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission, including, but not limited to, Annual Reports on Form 20-F. These filings are available at www.sec.gov. We may, from time to time, make additional written and oral forward-looking statements, including statements contained in the company's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission and our reports to shareholders. We do not undertake to update any forward-looking statement that may be made from time to time by us or on our behalf. WIPRO LIMITED AND SUBSIDIARIES INTERIM CONDENSED CONSOLIDATED STATEMENT OF FINANCIAL POSITION (Rs in millions, except share and per share data, unless otherwise stated) As at March 31, 2020 As at March 31, 2021 Convenience translation into US dollar in millions Refer footnote 1 ASSETS Goodwill 131,012 139,127 1,902 Intangible assets 16,362 13,085 179 Property, plant and equipment 81,120 85,192 1,165 Right-of-Use assets 16,748 16,420 225 Financial assets Derivative assets - 16 ^ Investments 9,302 10,576 145 Trade receivables 6,049 4,358 60 Other financial assets 5,881 6,088 83 Investments accounted for using the equity method 1,383 1,464 20 Deferred tax assets 6,005 1,664 23 Non-current tax assets 11,414 14,323 196 Other non-current assets 11,935 15,935 217 Total non-current assets 297,211 308,248 4,215 Inventories 1,865 1,064 15 Financial assets Derivative assets 3,025 4,064 56 Investments 189,635 175,707 2,402 Cash and cash equivalents 144,499 169,793 2,321 Trade receivables 104,474 94,298 1,289 Unbilled receivables 25,209 27,124 371 Other financial assets 8,614 7,245 99 Contract assets 17,143 16,507 226 Current tax assets 2,882 2,461 34 Other current assets 22,505 24,923 340 Total current assets 519,851 523,186 7,153 TOTAL ASSETS 817,062 831,434 11,368 EQUITY Share capital 11,427 10,958 150 Share premium 1,275 714 10 Retained earnings 476,103 466,692 6,381 Share-based payment reserve 1,550 3,071 42 SEZ Re-investment reserve 43,804 41,154 563 Other components of equity 23,299 30,506 418 Equity attributable to the equity holders of the Company 557,458 553,095 7,564 Non-controlling interests 1,875 1,498 20 TOTAL EQUITY 559,333 554,593 7,584 LIABILITIES Financial liabilities Loans and borrowings 4,840 7,458 102 Derivative liabilities 138 - - Lease liabilities 12,638 13,513 185 Other financial liabilities 151 2,291 31 Deferred tax liabilities 2,825 4,633 63 Non-current tax liabilities 13,205 11,069 151 Other non-current liabilities 7,537 7,835 107 Provisions 2 2 ^ Total non-current liabilities 41,336 46,801 639 Financial liabilities Loans, borrowings and bank overdrafts 73,202 75,874 1,037 Derivative liabilities 7,231 1,070 15 Trade payables and accrued expenses 78,129 78,870 1,078 Lease liabilities 6,560 7,669 105 Other financial liabilities 899 1,470 20 Contract liabilities 18,775 22,535 308 Current tax liabilities 11,731 17,324 237 Other current liabilities 19,254 24,552 336 Provisions 612 676 9 Total current liabilities 216,393 230,040 3,145 TOTAL LIABILITIES 257,729 276,841 3,784 TOTAL EQUITY AND LIABILITIES 817,062 831,434 11,368 ^ Value is less than 1 WIPRO LIMITED AND SUBSIDIARIES INTERIM CONDENSED CONSOLIDATED STATEMENT OF INCOME (Rs in millions, except share and per share data, unless otherwise stated) Three months ended March 31, Year ended March 31, 2020 2021 2021 2020 2021 2021 Convenience translation into US dollar in millions Refer footnote 1 Convenience translation into US dollar in millions Refer footnote 1 Revenues 157,110 162,454 2,221 610,232 619,430 8,469 Cost of revenues (114,133 ) (109,805 ) (1,501 ) (436,085 ) (423,205 ) (5,786 ) Gross profit 42,977 52,649 720 174,147 196,225 2,683 Selling and marketing expenses (10,295 ) (10,679 ) (146 ) (42,907 ) (41,400 ) (566 ) General and administrative expenses (7,681 ) (8,689 ) (119 ) (29,823 ) (34,686 ) (474 ) Foreign exchange gains 993 886 12 3,169 2,995 41 Other operating income/(loss), net 395 - - 1,144 (81 ) (1 ) Results from operating activities 26,389 34,167 467 105,730 123,053 1,683 Finance expenses (1,653 ) (1,122 ) (15 ) (7,328 ) (5,088 ) (70 ) Finance and other income 4,907 4,447 61 24,081 20,912 286 Share of net profit /(loss) of associates accounted for using the equity method 13 4 ^ 29 130 2 Profit before tax 29,656 37,496 513 122,512 139,007 1,901 Income tax expense (6,205 ) (7,755 ) (106 ) (24,799 ) (30,345 ) (415 ) Profit for the period 23,451 29,741 407 97,713 108,662 1,486 Profit attributable to: Equity holders of the Company 23,260 29,721 407 97,218 107,946 1,476 Non-controlling interests 191 20 ^ 495 716 10 Profit for the period 23,451 29,741 407 97,713 108,662 1,486 Earnings per equity share: Attributable to equity holders of the Company Basic 4.09 5.39 0.07 16.67 19.11 0.26 Diluted 4.07 5.38 0.07 16.62 19.07 0.26 Weighted average number of equity shares used in computing earnings per equity share Basic 5,692,835,298 5,510,335,838 5,510,335,838 5,833,384,018 5,649,265,885 5,649,265,885 Diluted 5,703,378,727 5,524,619,810 5,524,619,810 5,847,823,239 5,661,657,822 5,661,657,822 ^ Value is less than 1 Additional Information: Particulars Three months ended Year ended March 31, 2021 December 31, 2020 March 31, 2020 March 31, 2021 March 31, 2020 Audited Audited Audited Audited Audited Revenue IT Services Americas 1 46,510 45,015 45,977 178,091 176,115 Americas 2 46,475 44,702 45,418 179,821 181,481 Europe 45,107 42,880 41,104 165,441 157,526 APMEA 20,825 20,717 20,395 82,462 78,676 Total of IT Services 158,917 153,314 152,894 605,815 593,798 IT Products 2,117 1,563 3,266 7,685 11,657 ISRE 2,302 2,388 1,931 8,912 7,950 Reconciling Items 4 1 12 13 (4) Total Revenue 163,340 157,266 158,103 622,425 613,401 Other operating income/(loss), net IT Services - - 395 (81) 1,144 Total Other operating income/(loss), net - - 395 (81) 1,144 Segment Result IT Services Americas 1 9,863 8,095 7,324 33,040 27,289 Americas 2 10,500 10,216 9,008 41,589 34,341 Europe 8,704 9,251 7,181 31,673 27,617 APMEA 3,074 2,765 2,426 11,476 9,550 Unallocated 1,257 2,944 609 5,153 7,732 Other operating income/(loss), net - - 395 (81) 1,144 Total of IT Services 33,398 33,271 26,943 122,850 107,673 IT Products 145 78 145 45 (323) ISRE 587 471 (510) 1,061 (1,849) Reconciling Items 37 (7) (189) (903) 229 Total 34,167 33,813 26,389 123,053 105,730 Finance Expense (1,122) (1,400) (1,653) (5,088) (7,328) Finance and Other Income 4,447 5,975 4,907 20,912 24,081 Share of net profit/ (loss) of associates accounted for using the equity method 4 101 13 130 29 Profit before tax 37,496 38,489 29,656 139,007 122,512 The Company is organized into the following operating segments: IT Services, IT Products and India State Run Enterprise segment (ISRE). IT Services: As announced on November 12, 2020, effective January 1, 2021, the Company re-organized IT Services segment to four Strategic Market Units ("SMUs") - Americas 1, Americas 2, Europe and Asia Pacific Middle East Africa ("APMEA"). Americas 1 and Americas 2 are primarily organized by industry sector, while Europe and APMEA are organized by countries. Americas 1 includes Healthcare and Medical Devices, Consumer Goods and Lifesciences, Retail, Transportation and Services, Communications, Media and Information services, Technology Products and Platforms, in the United States of America and entire business of Latin America ("LATAM"). Americas 2 includes Banking, Financial Services and Insurance, Manufacturing, Hi-tech, Energy and Utilities industry sectors in the United States of America and entire business of Canada. Europe consists of United Kingdom and Ireland, Switzerland, Germany, Benelux, Nordics and Southern Europe. APMEA consists of Australia and New Zealand, India, Middle East, South East Asia, Japan and Africa. IT Products: The Company is a value-added reseller of desktops, servers, notebooks, storage products, networking solutions and packaged software for leading international brands. In certain total outsourcing contracts of the IT Services segment, the Company delivers hardware, software products and other related deliverables. Revenue relating to the above items is reported as revenue from the sale of IT Products. India State Run Enterprise segment (ISRE): This segment consists of IT Services offerings to entities/ departments owned or controlled by the Government of India and/ or any State Governments. Reconciliation of Non-GAAP Constant Currency IT Services Revenue to IT Services Revenue as per IFRS ($Mn) Three Months ended March 31, 2021 IT Services Revenue as per IFRS $ 2,152.4 Effect of Foreign currency exchange movement $ (18.7 ) Non-GAAP Constant Currency IT Services Revenue based on $ 2,133.7 previous quarter exchange rates Three Months ended March 31, 2021 IT Services Revenue as per IFRS $ 2,152.4 Effect of Foreign currency exchange movement $ (68.8 ) Non-GAAP Constant Currency IT Services Revenue based on $ 2,083.6 exchange rates of comparable period in previous year Year ended March 31, 2021 IT Services Revenue as per IFRS $ 8,136.5 Effect of Foreign currency exchange movement $ (72.2 ) Non-GAAP Constant Currency IT Services Revenue based on $ 8,064.4 exchange rates of comparable period in previous year View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210415005601/en/ [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] Amazon founder and outgoing CEO Jeff Bezos says he takes no comfort from the results of the union vote at the companys Bessemer fulfillment center. Instead, in a letter to shareholders, Bezos said the online retailer needs to do a better job for our employees and that he plans to focus on making Amazon a safer and better place to work. While the voting results were lopsided and our direct relationship with employees is strong, its clear to me that we need a better vision for how we create value for employees a vision for their success, Bezos wrote in the letter, posted this morning. Here is full coverage of the Alabama Amazon unionization effort According to the results of last Fridays vote count, only about 12.5% of the eligible workers at Amazons Bessemer fulfillment center actually voted to unionize with the Retail, Wholesale & Department Store Union, even after a mail-in election period that lasted for almost two months. In the message, Bezos confronted criticisms of the company trumpeted by union organizers over the last few months - that its a grueling pace for workers, with little rest, exacting a physical toll in stress and injuries. He said most of those characterizations were inaccurate and do not acknowledge steps Amazon has taken in recent years to improve its workplace. Over the next year, Bezos said Amazon will introduce new automated staffing schedules with algorithms to rotate employees among jobs that use different muscle-tendon groups to decrease repetitive motion injuries. The company also plans to spend $300 million on safety projects, including a $66 million to create technology that will help prevent collisions of forklifts and industrial vehicles. Despite what weve accomplished, its clear to me that we need a better vision for our employees success, he wrote. We have always wanted to be Earths Most Customer-Centric Company. We wont change that. Its what got us here. But I am committing us to an addition. We are going to be Earths Best Employer and Earths Safest Place to Work. He said reports had portrayed Amazon workers as desperate souls and treated as robots. Thats not accurate. Theyre sophisticated and thoughtful people who have options for where to work. When we survey fulfillment center employees, 94% say they would recommend Amazon to a friend as a place to work, Bezos wrote. Despite criticism that employees were forced to maintain a relentless pace or lose their jobs, Bezos said less than 2.6% of Amazon employees are terminated due to inability to perform, a number that is probably lower because of the effects of COVID-19. In response, RWDSU President Stuart Appelbaum said the impact on Amazons reputation by this campaign has been devastating, regardless of the vote result. We have initiated a global debate about the way Amazon treats its employees, Appelbaum said. Bezoss admission today demonstrates that what we have been saying about workplace conditions is correct. But his admission wont change anything, workers need a union not just another Amazon public relations effort in damage control. Advertisement Chrissy Teigen and John Legend have slashed the price of their sprawling Beverly Hills mansion from $23.9million down to $17.95million. The couple, who have since moved into a new $17.5million mansion also in the same swanky neighborhood, dropped the price by a whopping $6million, after slowly lowering the figure since first putting it on the market last August amid the pandemic. Myra Nourmand, a principal and agent with Nourmand & Associates, told Realtor this week that the property was 'too aspirational to start with that high of a price.' Slashed: Chrissy Teigen and John Legend have slashed the price of their sprawling Beverly Hills mansion from a whopping $23.9million down to $17.95million 'They were competing with areas such as Beverly Hills proper and Bel-Air that have all sold in the $20 million-plus range,' Nourmand added. On the move: The couple have dropped the price by a whopping $6million, after first listing it last August However, Nourmand says the massive price dip should push the sale along, explaining: 'The property is much more competitive now, and it should sell. Price drives the market.' The luxury home is said to have been previously owned by pop star Rihanna and last traded hands for $14.1 million. Chrissy and John purchased the mansion in 2016 and began to add their own flourishes to the place, increasing the value. The 8,520sq.ft. home has seven bedrooms, seven bathrooms and sits on nearly an acre of land in a private gated area just minutes from The Beverly Hills Hotel and Rodeo Drive. Listing photos show just how luxurious the stylish celebrity couple's home is, with 33-foot high ceilings, a sculptural staircase and floor-to-ceiling windows with sweeping views of the canyon. The kitchen is made for a chef, as cookbook author Chrissy is often seen showing off her cooking skills online, and comes complete with an enormous island that seats six. That space then opens up into a large family room and throughout the home the ceilings are bespoke patterned from Thailand, with oak floors and clay and steel-rolled walls that 'exude sensuality', according to the listing. Though the home was built in 1966, it appears the couple have made modern renovations with custom touches, including a personal gym and movie theater. The master bedroom features a brass and concrete fireplace with a balcony and a lush 'glam room', according to the property listing. The home features 33-foot ceilings, a sculptural staircase and floor-to-ceiling windows with sweeping views of the canyon The 8,520sq.ft. home has seven bedrooms, seven bathrooms and sits on nearly an acre of land in a private gated area just minutes from The Beverly Hills Hotel and Rodeo Drive The kitchen is made for a chef, as cookbook author Chrissy is often seen showing off her cooking skills online, and comes complete with an enormous island that seats six The grand piano sits in front of EGOT recipient John Legend's many awards, including Emmys, Grammys, Oscars and Tonys The backyard is perfect for entertaining guests, with its heated saltwater pool and jacuzzi as well as a wood-burning oven, grill, and grapevine-wrapped pergola The spa-like bathroom comes completes with a marble tub, onyx sinks and a double shower with a large window and television. The backyard is perfect for entertaining guest, with its heated saltwater pool and jacuzzi as well as a wood-burning oven, grill, and grapevine-wrapped pergola. Ever the sustainable pioneer, Chrissy has a solar power generator to complete the estate. Chrissy revealed that she and her family were planning to move out of the home last August. The master bedroom features a brass and concrete fireplace with a balcony and a lush Glam Room Chrissy showed off a stylish new pair of $860 Bottega Veneta shoes, admitting she really wanted them to 'work' as she loved their 'cute and specific' color, while she cleaned out her closet The supermodel has recently been letting fans inside her enormous closet that looks more like a showroom after clearing out her clothes ahead of the move Determined to keep the space tidy, Chrissy told fans as she cleaned out her closet: ' I can't come up here ever again, I can't handle it.' The couple's children Miles, 2, and Luna, 4, enjoyed a perfect playroom that any child would love, complete with books, a TV, kitchen area and stuffed animals The supermodel let fans inside her enormous closet that looks more like a showroom after clearing out her clothes ahead of the move. Chrissy showed off a stylish new pair of $860 Bottega Veneta shoes, admitting she really wanted them to 'work' as she loved their 'cute and specific' color. Determined to keep the space tidy, she told fans: 'I can't come up here ever again, I can't handle it.' In a caption for the post Chrissy also wrote: 'All this and we're moving.' Last October, Chrissy announced the heartbreaking news that she and John had lost their baby Jack halfway through pregnancy after suffering 'many complications.' The spa-like bathroom comes completes with a marble tub, onyx sinks and a double shower The tub sits in front of a huge window with sweeping views of the canyon below, as well as separate sinks and vanities for plenty of space Though the home was built in 1966, it appears the couple have made custom touches, including a personal gym and movie theater The home gym has plenty of equipment to stay fit without ever leaving your home, especially while locked down during the coronavirus pandemic The former Minnesota police officer charged with shooting Daunte Wright has been released from jail on a $100,000 bond while protests erupted for the fourth day over his death. Kimberly Potter, 48, was released from the Hennepin County jail at 5.38pm - just hours after she was arrested around 11.30am on Wednesday by Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension agents in St. Paul, according to jail records. Earlier Wednesday, the former Brooklyn Center officer was charged with second-degree manslaughter for killing Wright, a 20-year-old black man, in the Minneapolis suburb on Sunday. Her first court appearance is scheduled for Thursday in downtown Minneapolis. Kimberly Potter, 48, left, was released from the Hennepin County jail at 5.38pm after posting a $100,000 bond after she was charged for the shooting death of Daunte Wright, right Demonstrators hold vigil across the street from the Brooklyn Center Police Department headquarters, where one of its former officers were involved in killing Daunte Wright on Tuesday Daunte Wright's sister Diamond Wright, left, and mother Katie Wright, center, place flowers at a memorial site on Wednesday in Brooklyn Center, Minnesota Ben Crump, the civil rights attorney who represents Wright's family, told CNN in an interview that Potter has a right to a reasonable bond and is presumed innocent until she has been convicted. Under Minnesota law, a second-degree manslaughter charge is filed when a person is accused of causing another person's death through negligence that created an unreasonable risk, and of consciously taking the chance of causing severe injury or death. If convicted, Potter faces up to 10 years in prison and a $20,000 fine. However, sentencing guidelines for someone without a criminal record call for no more than four years behind bars. Potter shot and killed Wright Sunday during a traffic stop just 10 miles from the courthouse where another white cop Derek Chauvin is currently being tried for the murder of black man George Floyd. The veteran officer, who has worked for the department for 26 years, allegedly confused her gun for a Taser. She resigned from the force Tuesday as protests erupted in the city demanding justice for Wright. The protests continued into their fourth day on Wednesday with Gwen Carr, mother of Eric Garner, joining Crump and Reverend Al Sharpton during a press conference to comment on the George Floyd and Daunte Wright cases on Wednesday. Garner died in New York City in 2014 after NYPD officer Daniel Pantaleo used a prohibited chokehold while arresting him, sparking Black Lives Matter protests. Businesses in downtown Minneapolis were pictured being boarded up and fenced in on Wednesday while National Guard troops deployed ahead of the outcome of the Dereck Chauvin trial were seen. Imran Ali, Washington County assistant criminal division chief and director of the Major Crime Unit, said in a statement announcing the charges that the state will 'vigorously prosecute this case' against the veteran cop. 'Certain occupations carry an immense responsibility and none more so than a sworn police officer,' said Ali. 'With that responsibility comes a great deal of discretion and accountability. We will vigorously prosecute this case and intend to prove that Officer Potter abrogated her responsibility to protect the public when she used her firearm rather than her Taser. 'Her action caused the unlawful killing of Mr. Wright and she must be held accountable.' Gwen Carr, mother of Eric Garner, joins the Reverend Al Sharpton and Attorney Ben Crump and numerous members of the 'Mothers of the Movement' during a press conference to comment on the George Floyd and Daunte Wright cases on Wednesday Demonstrators gather as the National Guard soldiers look on at the Brooklyn Center police station on Wednesday in Brooklyn Center, Minnesota Demonstrators hold signs as they gather near the Brooklyn Center police station on Wednesday in Brooklyn Center, Minnesota. This is the fourth day of protests in the suburban Minneapolis city following the fatal shooting of 20-year-old Daunte Wright National Guard troops have been deployed to downtown Minneapolis ahead of the outcome of the Dereck Chauvin trial and are pictured as protesters demonstrate against the recent death of Wright Businesses are pictured being boarded up and fenced in downtown Minneapolis on Wednesday A National Guard Humvee is seen in downtown Minneapolis on Wednesday while demonstrators gather to protest the deaths of Wright and George Floyd Ali and County Attorney Peter Orput had met with Wright's family prior to announcing the charges, assuring them 'we would spare no resources in seeking justice for Mr. Wright,' said Ali. New details about the fatal shooting were also released by the attorney's office Wednesday. Potter had been training a rookie cop, named in the criminal complaint as Brooklyn Center Police Officer Anthony Luckey, on Sunday when she shot Wright dead. According to the criminal complaint, Luckey and Potter pulled Wright over while he was driving his white Buick at 63rd and Orchard Avenues North in Brooklyn Center at 1.53pm Sunday. Police previously said Wright, who has a toddler son, was first pulled over for expired license plate tags when he was driving with his girlfriend. Luckey ran Wright's identification and found he had a warrant out for his arrest for a gross misdemeanor weapons charge, the complaint states. Police guarded Potter's home on Tuesday night and fencing was erected around it It was not immediately clear if Potter would be returning to the home after posting her bail Four minutes later at 2:01:31, Luckey and Potter approached the driver's side of the car and asked Wright to get out and place his hands behind his back, according to the report. Wright did as the officers asked and Luckey told him he was being arrested for his outstanding warrant. Both Wright and Luckey stood just outside of the open driver's side door, while Potter stood behind and to the right of the other officer, the report says. Seconds later at 2:01:49, Wright reportedly pulled away from the officers and got back into the car, with Luckey trying to maintain physical control of him, according to the complaint. At 2:01:55, Potter then said she would us the Taser on Wright. Instead, she pulled her Glock 9mm handgun with her right hand and pointed it at Wright, saying again that she would use the Taser on him. Potter shouted 'Taser, Taser, Taser,' as she pulled the trigger on her handgun at 2:02:01, firing one round into the left side of the victim, the complaint states. Wright immediately said 'ah, he shot me,' and drove away in his car before crashing and coming to a stop. Meanwhile, Potter said 'S**t, I just shot him!' after firing her gun. The entire incident from the traffic stop to the shooting took place within nine minutes and Wright was pronounced dead at the scene. Police body cam footage of the fatal incident showed three officers approaching Daunte Wright's car in Brooklyn Center on Sunday after he had been pulled over for the traffic stop Potter could be heard shouting 'Taser!' several times in the moments before she fired her gun Potter left her home in Minneapolis on Monday with her 54-year-old husband Jeffrey and their sons Sam and Nick after her address was posted on social media. Police guarded the property Tuesday night and fencing was erected around it. It was not immediately clear if Potter would be returning to the home after posting her bail. The Hennepin County Medical Examiner's office on Monday ruled Wright's death a homicide, noting that he 'died of a gunshot wound of the chest.' Potter is at least the third U.S. law enforcement officer to face charges after claiming they mistakenly killed someone with a gun when they meant to use a Taser, Reuters reported. NARA is an independent agency established in 1934 to identify, protect, preserve and make publicly available the historically valuable records of all three branches of the Federal government. The agency supports 44 site locations nation-wide consisting of Federal Records Centers, Regional Archives, Presidential Libraries and Museums, and the Federal Register. "NARA requires a modern network to enable staff to communicate from any location, including office, home and while traveling, which the MetTel SD-WAN enabled network provides," said Robert Dapkiewicz, general manager and SVP, Federal Programs, MetTel. "MetTel will work to transform NARA's current network infrastructure, which is based on a legacy hub-and-spoke architecture, to a fully meshed SD-WAN infrastructure." In addition to providing greater network flexibility and efficiency, SD-WAN is more secure through embedded encryption and MetTel's network comes equipped with added network firewall protection. MetTel has transitioned thousands of customer endpoints from MPLS technology to SD-WAN with greatly improved network performance, ease of administration and reduced operating costs. As part of the contract with NARA, MetTel will also provide Managed Network Services, including Managed Trusted Internet Protocol Service (MTIPS), Toll Free Service and Web Conferencing Services, with many optional services included in the contract award to be utilized at the agency's convenience. Utilizing the MetTel EIS Portal, NARA will have access to the latest technology to monitor, access reporting and performance details in near real-time on the voice and data services delivered via the MetTel network. The portal will provide improved visibility into network operation and service level agreement compliance. MetTel has a growing Federal practice. Since 2020 MetTel received contract awards from over one dozen federal agencies totaling over $2 billion in total contract value after all options. Over the last 18 months, MetTel has announced IT Communications projects with city and federal agencies, including the Social Security Administration, Department of Homeland Security, General Services Administration (GSA), United States Department of State, and the Veteran's Administration. About MetTel MetTel is a leader in communications and digital transformation (DX) solutions for enterprise customers. By converging all communications over a proprietary network, MetTel gives enterprises one, unified view and control point for all their communications and advanced network services. MetTel's comprehensive portfolio of customer solutions can boost enterprise productivity, reduces costs and simplifies operations. Combining customized and managed communication solutions with a powerful platform of cloud-based software, the company's MetTel Portal enables customers to manage their inventory, usage, spend and repairs from one simple, user friendly interface. For more information visit www.mettel.net, follow us on Twitter (@OneMetTel) and on LinkedIn, or call us directly at 877.963.8663. MetTel. Connect Smarter. Media Contact: Mike Azzi [email protected] 347.420.0957 SOURCE MetTel Related Links http://www.mettel.net American banking major on Thursday announced that it will exit from the consumer banking business in India as part of a global strategy. The business comprises credit cards, retail banking, home loans and wealth management. The bank has 35 branches in the country and employs approximately 4,000 people in the consumer banking business. On Thursday, the bank announced exiting from the consumer banking businesses in 13 countries, with its global CEO Jane Fraser attributing the decision to an absence of scale to compete in these geographies. Contours of the exit were not immediately known and the proposed exit from the consumer banking business will also need regulatory nods. "There is no immediate change to our operations and no immediate impact to our colleagues as a result of this announcement. In the interim, we will continue to serve our clients with the same care, empathy and dedication that we do today," Citi India's Chief Executive Ashu Khullar said. " the sharpened strategy announced today will strengthen our ability to bring the full global power of Citi to our institutional clients, reinforcing our leading positions across corporate, commercial and investment banking, treasury and trade solutions, as well as markets and securities services," he added. Citi had entered India in 1902 and started the consumer banking business in 1985. Apart from the institutional banking business, it will continue to focus on offshoring or global business support rendered from centres in Mumbai, Pune, Bengaluru, Chennai and Gurugram. Khullar said India is a strategic talent pool for Citi and it will continue to grow the five 'Citi Solution Centers'. At present, there are postings for 4,000 jobs at the solution centres posted on its hiring website, officials said. Citi had reported a post-tax net of Rs 4,912 crore for FY20 as against Rs 4,185 crore in the previous fiscal. Its retail bank serves people across the spectrum, including the salaried and the high networth individuals, through dedicated offerings. (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.) 19 Shares Share When I sat down to write this article, my thoughts immediately went to the tragic loss of one of my best clients, a physician who recently passed away after battling COVID-19. I remember him not only as an excellent physician but even more so as a great person. Unlike many physicians I speak to in the course of my work, this client had the foresight to do some careful estate planning. While his loss cannot be measured, this planning has provided his grieving family with some financial peace of mind and allowed them to focus on him during his illness. According to the latest CDC data, physicians on the front lines throughout this pandemic have been some of the most affected by COVID-19; over 460,000 health care professionals have been diagnosed with COVID-19. Estate plans are not one-size-fits-all, and the various strategies may not work for everyone. Without some experienced professional guidance, anyone might make some mistakes in decisions that seem unimportant at the time but could have huge ramifications on your familys financial future. Here are some of the most common mistakes that are best to avoid. 1. Only having a will. Most people believe that a will is sufficient planning to ensure their assets will be distributed according to their wishes, but even with a detailed and current will, the estate will still go through probate. 2. Not having a trust. A trust is a legal agreement that sets out terms for property held by one person for the benefit of someone else. For an individual wanting to make easy changes to the trust and move assets into and out of it, a revocable trust is the best option. Because of this simple adaptability, revocable trusts may not be protected from lawsuits even though they do avoid probate. 3. Not funding the trust. With all this talk about trust creation and provisions, its important to mention the number one mistake people make with trusts. Establishing the trust is a good first step, but for it to do anyone any good, it must be funded as outlined in the documents. For the best protection, this should include bank accounts, brokerage accounts, house, and other assets being held in the name of the trust, with the trust named as the life insurance beneficiary. For retirement accounts, the primary beneficiary should be the spouse with the trust as a contingent beneficiary. Basically, get everything into the trust. 4. Not incorporating estate tax planning. Any assets remaining in a persons estate after death are subject to an estate tax which varies between 18 percent and 40 percent. Currently, an estate tax exemption allows $11.58 million (double for married couples) to be exempt from the tax, but about sunset in 2025, and with the new tax initiatives under the Biden administration, its likely that future exemptions will be lower. To minimize estate taxes, its time now to discuss estate planning strategies, such as moving assets to irrevocable trusts, with an attorney and financial advisor to make sure there are solid plans in place. 5. Not having a health care proxy and power of attorney. Should the situation arise where an individual is unable to communicate while requiring medical treatment, if the individual has not established a health care proxy, their family has no authority to make decisions on their behalf. Also, in the case of an individual being incapacitated, there may be decisions other than medical ones that need to be made. A power of attorney is a legal document giving another person authority to make financial decisions on another individuals behalf. 6. Not incorporating income tax planning for beneficiaries. Inherited assets can also result in more income taxes for beneficiaries, as adult beneficiaries must take annual RMDs from inherited IRAs and 401(k)s. For those with high net worth, including physicians, tax strategies like second-to-die life insurance policies or Roth IRA conversions may help minimize the income tax burden on beneficiaries. 7. Not having a buy/sell agreement. Physicians often have jointly-owned businesses. Because they trust their partners, they often have informal agreements in place about selling and transferring shares and providing for a surviving spouse. These handshake agreements, however, do not hold up in court. Its best to establish a formal agreement that covers these issues, often done under a business-designated transfer on death. 8. Not combining asset protection and estate planning. Its no secret that physicians are more likely to be involved in lawsuits than those in other fields. When creating an estate plan, its important to speak with an experienced financial advisor who can suggest strategies such as a domestic asset protection trust, a Nevada asset protection trust, or a family limited partnership (FLP), all of which are designed with asset protection in mind. These sorts of vehicles can be incorporated into estate planning as part of a holistic financial plan. With this many mistakes listed as common, its easy to see how very important estate planning is and why its one of the most neglected aspects of financial planning. Between the inability to predict the future and the complicated nature of the process, many physicians continue pushing it off to a perpetual later. The family of my client who passed recently would be more devastated if he hadnt had his will and trust set up, as they would currently be coupling their grief with a drawn-out and costly process in court. A fiduciary financial advisor can take a 360-degree angle look at a financial plan to make sure that estate planning is not only included but done properly with even the most unexpected future in mind. Securities are offered through Securities America, Inc., member FINRA/SIPC. Advisory services offered through Securities America Advisors, Inc. Wall Street Alliance Group and Securities America are separate companies. You should continue to rely on confirmations and statements received from the custodian(s) of your assets. Securities America and its representatives do not provide tax or legal advice; therefore, it is important to coordinate with your tax or legal advisor regarding your specific situation. Syed Nishat is a partner, Wall Street Alliance Group. He can be reached on LinkedIn and on Twitter @syedmnishat. He holds the FINRA Series 7, FINRA Series 63, and FINRA Series 66 licenses, along with licenses for life, disability, and long-term care insurance. Image credit: Shutterstock.com CORONA, Calif., April 15, 2021 /PRNewswire/ - Ikanik Farms, Inc. (CSE: IKNK.U) (the "Company" or "Ikanik Farms") is pleased to announce its wholly owned, Colombian subsidiary Pideka SAS ("Pideka"), has received its production quota from the Colombian government for the production of psychoactive cannabis for the fiscal year, 2021. Ikanik Farms Inc. (CNW Group/Ikanik Farms Inc.) "We would like to thank the Colombian government for their partnership in completing this process. We are excited to begin our psychoactive production, which will be led by our award-winning California cultivation team, who brings over eight decades of combined experience, to provide California quality to the international markets." said Brian Baca, CEO of Ikanik Farms. Ikanik Farms is multinational operator and authorized producer of pharmaceutical grade, psychoactive cannabis and has been permitted to cultivate a total of 135,000 plants to support dried cannabis flower and derivatives for commercial sale. The quota includes an initial 100,000 plants, across five varieties to support flower production: Pina Narino, La Magdalena, Arequipe Kush, Tolima Limon and Bacata Extra CBD with the annual production capacity of 3,500 kilograms. The THC content exceeds 20% THC in some varieties and is eligible for use in formula magistral nationally and internationally amongst participating LATAM countries and is eligible for exportation to the European Union to support the medical cannabis demand. The additional 35,000 plants of the same varieties are approved to support 1,195 kilograms of flower production for the manufacturing of derivatives. The derivatives will be available for national and international sales. To date, the Company has exported THC from Colombia to Mexico for commercial sale. "We're proud to announce quota granted by the Colombian government for the production of psychoactive flowers and derivatives, as a result of our quality control measures taken within our indoor our seed to sale process." said Borja Sanz de Madrid, President of Ikanik Farms International, Inc. Story continues About Ikanik Farms Ikanik Farms is a California based, Multi-National Operator (MNO) who is building a dynamic portfolio of brands, inspired by its passion for health and wellness, action sports, and supported by its vertically integrated retail, distribution and cultivation in CA and its medical grade cultivation and laboratory in Colombia. The company's leadership brings decades of expertise in R&D, cultivation, retail, branding, and corporate finance. Ikanik Farms' operation in Colombia, through its pharma division Pideka, holds both GMP-PHARMA and (GACP) Good Agricultural and Collection Practice certifications for its Casa Flores operating facility. Forward Looking Statements This news release includes "forward-looking information" and "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of Canadian securities laws and United States securities laws (together, "forward-looking information). All information, other than statements of historical facts, included in this news release that address activities, events or developments that the Company expects or anticipates will or may occur in the future is forward-looking information. When used in this news release, words such as "will", "could", "plan", "estimate", "expect", "intend", "may", "potential", "believe", "should", and similar expressions, are forward-looking information. Although the Company has attempted to identify important factors that could cause actual results, performance or achievements to differ materially from those contained in the forward-looking information, there can be other factors that cause results, performance or achievements not to be as anticipated, estimated or intended, including, but not limited to: changes in laws, a change in management, the inability to obtain additional financing, increased competition, hindering market growth and state adoption due to inconsistent public opinion and perception of the medical-use and adult-use marijuana industry and, regulatory or political change. There can be no assurance that such information will prove to be accurate or that management's expectations or estimates of future developments, circumstances or results will materialize. As a result of these risks and uncertainties, the results or events predicted in the forward-looking information may differ materially from actual results or events. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking information. The forward-looking information in this news release is made as of the date of this release. The Company disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise such information, except as required by applicable law, and the Company does not assume any liability for disclosure relating to any other company mentioned herein. On behalf of the Board of Directors of Ikanik Farms Inc. Cision View original content to download multimedia:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/ikanik-farms-receives-initial-production-quota-for-psychoactive-cannabis-flower-and-derivatives-from-colombian-government-301270119.html SOURCE Ikanik Farms Inc. Developers and property owners get another five years of tax incentives should they locate their redevelopment projects in north Baton Rouge following the East Baton Rouge Parish Metro Council's extension of a special taxing district for the community. The council on Wednesday night chose to continue the north Baton Rouge Opportunity Zone through 2026 an action that only drew one vote in opposition, from council member Denise Amoroso. City-parish leaders pledged to do a better job at promoting the tax incentive, which attracted approximately $16 million in investments during its first five years, for an area of town that was crippled by years of disinvestment. "When you look at other parts of town and other investments, you have one project that exceeds $16 million, but that's a huge impact on our community," said council member Cleve Dunn, Jr., who sponsored the measure. "I think in the next five years we can double or triple that $16 million." Dunn previously said the opportunity zone not only spurs revitalization in a disinvested community through job creation and neighborhood investment, it also curbs excessive crime that historically hampered development on that side of town. City-parish planning commissioners say the North Baton Rouge Opportunity Zone operates more like an economic development district than most tax abatement programs by focusing on restoring commercial and residential properties without any legal mandate to actually create jobs. Developers apply for the incentive through the Louisiana Economic Development's Restoration Tax Abatement program. The city-parish Planning Commission is also involved, but mostly to approve projects that already won the state's blessing. According to criteria posted on LED's website, projects can qualify for tax abatements by expanding, restoring or in some way improving existing structures within approved development, historic or opportunity zones. Tax abatements are eligible on, among other expenses, building materials, machinery and equipment, laboring and engineering work. Non-eligible expenditures include acquisition costs for structures or land, and any movable and personal property. 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 Since the opportunity zone launched in 2016, there has been approximately $16.8 million in total investments tallied from the five projects that have applied for the north Baton Rouge tax incentive. A comprehensive report highlighting those projects shows they've created 21 permanent jobs and 124 construction jobs to date. Annual tax abatements totaled around $968,000, with an estimated loss of about $100,000 to the city-parish general fund over the course of five years. The list of approved projects include: Brown Eagle Warehouse, 7808 Airline Highway. Approved Aug. 22, 2018. The $2.9 million project was for improvements made to a building that would package and warehouse alumina for large commodity and chemical manufacturers. It created 12 permanent jobs. CR Apartments, 2080 North Lobdell Blvd. Approved April 25, 2018. Developer renovated a 312-unit apartment complex. The $3.5 million project created one permanent job. LA Fish Fry Products, 1450 Airway Drive. Approved Nov. 13, 2019. The $1.3 million project involved renovating a vacant warehouse into a storage-distribution facility. It created four permanent jobs. GCHP Progress Park. Approved Feb. 26. 2020. The $3 million project involved renovating deteriorating single-story duplexes into units for the elderly earning 20% to 60% of the area's median income. It created one permanent job. The renovation of a 248-unit apartment complex at 2136 North Lobdell Blvd. Approved Aug. 10, 2016. The $6 million project created three permanent jobs. Former Mayor-President Kip Holden tried to veto Metro Council's creation of the opportunity zone in 2016, saying it would render the city-parish "bankrupt behind that scheme." Holden also said the district was too large and would deprive the city-parish of too much money. Plank Road redevelopment: Grocery store, civic space, offices, more detailed in master plan A food hub anchored by a grocery store, a civic space for community meetings and events, a pocket park and a building that will house Build Ba The special zone encompasses pretty much everything north of Florida Boulevard and within the Baton Rouge city limits. It's one of 17 economic development districts in the city-parish. Former council member John Delgado, who authored and lobbied for the ordinance that created the district, said Wednesday that, given some of the opposition five years ago, he's impressed with the investments and projects the district has attracted thus far. "The better north Baton Rouge does, the better all Baton Rouge does," Delgado told the council in his plea for the ordinance's extension. "I'm glad to know it has done some good." YEREVAN, APRIL 15, ARMENPRESS. A discussion was held on April 12 at the European Parliament relating to the issue of the release and return of the Armenian prisoners of war from Azerbaijan. Human Rights Defender of Armenia Arman Tatoyan participated in the discussion and delivered a special report, emphasizing the need for international pressure on Azerbaijan, which, he said, will allow to avoid future crimes, the Ombudsmans Office told Armenpress. The discussion has been organized by head of the EU-Armenia friendship group at the European Parliament Loucas Fourlas who also delivered a report. MEP Marina Kaljurand and Executive Director of the European Armenian Federation for Justice and Democracy Heghine Evinyan also participated in the online discussion. Ombudsman Tatoyan told the discussion participants that on April 9 he has applied to the Council of Europe Committee of Ministers over the immediate return of the Armenian POWs who are illegally kept in Azerbaijan. He once again drew the attention on the fact that all servicemen and civilians of the Armenian side have been captured by the Azerbaijani armed forces during the continuous armed conflict, therefore, he noted, they all are prisoners of war in their status and should be immediately released and returned to the homeland without any political or other precondition. Tatoyan stated that the Azerbaijani authorities are artificially delaying and politicizing the process, grossly violate the rights of the POWs and their families, causing sufferings and creating tension within the society. He stated that the Azerbaijani authorities are using the issue of the Armenian prisoners of war for developing their policy of hatred. These crimes are of ethnic nature which are sponsored by the Azerbaijani authorities at the highest level, Tatoyan noted. The Ombudsman said the EU must express its position in an institutional way to eliminate these violations and prevent the future ones. Editing and Translating by Aneta Harutyunyan Fox News host Tucker Carlson has accused the Justice Department of double standards after the decision not to charge the Capitol cop who fatally shot Ashli Babbitt on January 6, after it emerged that an InfoWars staffer who filmed the shooting was arrested just a day earlier. The name of the Capitol police officer who shot Babbitt has still not been released, which Carlson called a double standard in comparison with other police shootings including the recent fatal shooting of Daunte Wright in Minnesota. InfoWars staffer Samuel Christopher Montoya, a Texas resident, was arrested at his San Marcos home on Tuesday, 24 hours before the DOJ said there was 'insufficient evidence' to charge the officer who killed Babbitt. Montoya, a video editor for the right-wing fringe outlet InfoWars, was filming inside the U.S. Capitol on January 6 when a Capitol police officer fatally shot Babbitt, an unarmed Air Force veteran who was trying to climb through a smashed window into the Speaker's Lobby. In a scathing monologue on Thursday, Carlson compared the handling of the case to other police shootings of unarmed suspects, accusing President Joe Biden's Justice Department of pursuing separate standards for political opponents. 'Two systems of justice -- one for the allies of the people in charge, and a very different one for their enemies,' Carlson said. 'If this happened in Ukraine, what are the chances NBC News would describe Samuel Montoya as a 'dissident journalist,' and then describe Ashli Babbitt an 'unarmed pro-democracy demonstrator'? The chances are roughly 100 percent,' he added. Fox News host Tucker Carlson has accused the Justice Department of double standards after the decision not to charge the Capitol cop who fatally shot Ashli Babbitt InfoWars staffer Samuel Montoya (left), who filmed Babbitt's shooting, was arrested one day before the Justice Department announced the officer who killed her would not be charged 'And, once again, who exactly shot Ashli Babbitt? Journalists exist to ask questions like these, but theyre not,' Carlson continued. In the Daunte Wright case, 'we know that officers name because every news organization in the country printed it immediately. She has now resigned and is facing charges. Her mugshot is all over the Internet,' he said. 'Two nights ago, a mob showed up at her house, forcing her to flee.' 'Last August, a police officer in Kenosha, Wisconsin shot a man called Jacob Blake. Remember that? Riots erupted immediately. Yesterday, that officer was cleared of all charges. When that story broke, NPR put that police officers name and photograph on the front of their website,' he continued. 'So thats the standard, except in this case where they are still hiding the identity of the man who shot Ashli Babbitt,' he added. On Wednesday, former Brooklyn Center officer Kim Potter, 48, was charged with manslaughter in Wright's death. Kenosha officer Rusten Sheskey, 31, was found legally justified in the shooting of Blake last August, which left Blake paralyzed from the waist down. A spokesperson for the Justice Department did not immediately respond to messages from DailyMail.com about the Babbit case on Thursday morning. Carlson pointed out that former Brooklyn Center officer Kim Potter (left) and Kenosha officer Rusten Sheskey (right) were both quickly named after the shootings of Daunte Wright and Jacob Blake. Potter was charged with manslaughter and Sheskey was found justified In a statement to DailyMail.com, Babbitt family attorney Terrell Roberts said: 'The actual evidence is this: the officer shot an unarmed woman who was not an immediate threat to him or any Member of Congress.' 'That is inconsistent with any claim of self-defense or the defense of others, period,' he said. 'We strongly disagree with the U.S. Attorney's decision. But we are not dissuaded from our goal of ultimately vindicating Ashli Babbitt's constitutional rights in the civil arena,' Roberts said. Montoya's arrest was made public on Wednesday, the same day that the the Justice Department announced the decision not to press charges in the case. Montoya is charged with entering and remaining in a restricted building, disorderly and disruptive conduct in a Capitol Building, impeding passage through the Capitol Grounds or Buildings, and parading, demonstrating, or picketing in a Capitol Building. According to an arrest warrant affidavit, a family member of Montoya tipped off the FBI that he was 'physically inside the U.S. Capitol near the shooting of a woman on January 6, 2021.' On Thursday, it emerged that officers with the Metropolitan Police Department of the District of Columbia (MPD) requested backup at least 17 times over the span of 78 minutes, according to an analysis of the events that unfolded when MAGA fanatics descended on the Capitol on January 6. The mob of Trump supporters would eventually grow to at least 9,400 people, outnumbering officers by more than 58 to one. A family member of Montoya tipped off the FBI that he was present at the Capitol riot. Above, an image from charging documents shows Montoya on January 6 Throughout the video, Montoya identified himself as a 'reporter' or 'journalist' as he attempted to work his way through crowds, but the FBI said he had no press credentials Infowars said: 'Montoya was reporting live on the ground freely exercising his First Amendment right to document the events of that day in a journalistic capacity' Geophysicist, 51, who 'dragged cop down Capitol steps into MAGA mob is denied bail A Colorado geophysicist who stormed the Capitol and dragged an officer down the steps has been denied bail after he attempted suicide and tried to flee to Switzerland. U.S. District Judge Emmett Sullivan denied 51-year-old Jeffrey Sabol's request to be released pre-trial, citing his actions on January 6 and his efforts to escape accountability, according to 64-page ruling filed on Wednesday. 'To arm himself, he stripped a vulnerable police officer of his police baton,' Sullivan said in the decision. 'He then used that stolen police baton to force another officer away from his post and into a mob of rioters who proceeded to viciously attack him, leaving him bleeding from the head. Sabol - along with four co-defendants - was indicted in January for their roles at the Capitol insurrection. The decision mentions that Sabol's motion included option to return to either to his home in Colorado or under house arrest in New York at a home owned by his girlfriend. But given the possibility of Sabol serving a 20 year maximum sentence for assaulting the police officer, Sullivan noted that 'he has an even more compelling incentive to flee.' Advertisement FBI investigators reviewed a video posted by InfoWars titled 'Patriots Storm Congress Raw Footage Includes Execution of Ashli Babbitt' in which the narrator identifies himself as 'Sam with Infowars.com,' according to the affidavit. 'It feels good to be in the Capitol baby!' the man filming the video said at one point, turning the camera toward himself and displaying a gleeful expression. The FBI showed this image to Montoya's family member, who positively identified him, the affidavit said. 'We're gonna crawl, we're gonna climb. We're gonna do whatever it takes, we're gonna do whatever it takes to MAGA,' Montoya said at another point in the video, according to the FBI. 'Look at this, look at this. I don't even know what's going on right now. I don't wanna get shot, I'll be honest, but I don't wanna lose my country. And that's more important to me thanthan getting shot,' he continued. 'I'm sure these officers are scared, but we're here, we're here to just show that we've had enough. We've had enough,' he said at another point. Throughout the video, Montoya identified himself as a 'reporter' or 'journalist' as he attempted to work his way through crowds. However the FBI said that 'The director of the Congressional press galleries within the Senate Press office did a name check on Samuel Christopher Montoya and confirmed that no one by that name has Congressional press credentials as an individual or via any other organizations.' In a staff-bylined article on Montoya's arrest, Infowars said: 'Montoya was reporting live on the ground freely exercising his First Amendment right to document the events of that day in a journalistic capacity.' Carlson sneered at the FBI's reasoning, saying: 'So that's the standard. If the U.S. Congress's credentialing office says that you're not a journalist, you're not a journalist.' 'Did Samuel Montoya have strong personal political views? Apparently he did. But you may have noticed that's not so unusual in journalism right now,' Carlson added. Babbitt, 35, was an Air Force veteran and ardent supporter of former Republican President Donald Trump who participated in the mob that stormed the Capitol on January 6. Officers were later seen tending to the bleeding woman on the floor of the Capitol building before she was taken to hospital where she succumbed to her injuries later that day While in the Speaker's Lobby, the Capitol Police officer, who was not been identified, fired a single round from his service weapon, striking Babbitt in the shoulder, prosecutors said Her shooting was captured on video and posted widely on social media. In it, she can be seen climbing through a doorway with a smashed window, when a Capitol Police officer on the other side fires his gun. The investigation into Babbitt's death focused on whether the officer had deprived her of her constitutional Fourth Amendment right not to be subjected to an unreasonable seizure. To prove such a case in court, the department would have needed to show not only that the officer used constitutionally unreasonable force, but that he did so 'willfully.' In a statement on Wednesday, the Justice Department said: 'the investigation revealed no evidence to establish that, at the time the officer fired a single shot Ms. Babbitt, the officer did not reasonably believe that it was necessary to do so in self-defense or in the defense of the Members of Congress and others evacuating the House Chamber.' 'This double-negative is an odd way of explaining the basis for not bringing charges,' said Terrell, the Babbitt family attorney. 'It plainly glosses over the obvious problem of squaring the decision not to prosecute with the known facts.' Prosecutors have filed charges so far against more than 400 defendants in the Capitol riots, with some facing allegations they conspired to storm the building in advance. DC Police called for backup 17 times in 78 minutes during MAGA mob riot as crowd grew to nearly 10,000 Capitol police officer Brian Sicknick collapsed and died after engaging with protesters Officers with the Metropolitan Police Department of the District of Columbia (MPD) requested backup at least 17 times over the span of 78 minutes, according to an analysis of the events that unfolded when MAGA fanatics descended on the Capitol on January 6. The mob of Trump supporters would eventually grow to at least 9,400 people, outnumbering officers by more than 58 to one. Capitol police officer Brian Sicknick collapsed and died after engaging with protesters. Police radio communications and footage from the insurrection were jointly analyzed by the Washington Post to understand the failures of police and how they were hindered by insufficient numbers. Cmdr. Robert Glover, who had just arrived with a team of D.C. police officers, shouted his first call over the radio at around 1.13pm from the west side of the U.S. Capitol as the mob stormed. Officers with the Metropolitan Police Department of the District of Columbia (MPD) requested backup at least 17 times over the span of 78 minutes when MAGA rioters stormed the U.S. Capitol Capitol Police officers were pulled back, as the crowd grew more intense, according to recordings, leaving MPD officers to the masses 'Hard gear at the Capitol! Hard gear at the Capitol!' he shouted into the radio channel used to communicate with joint operations centers at D.C. police headquarters, calling for more officers in riot gear. At 1.18pm, he announced: 'Multiple Capitol injuries. Multiple Capitol injuries.' As more time went on and as more Trump supporters stormed the Capitol, Glover's calls for help became more desperate. 'I need those two other hard platoons up here now,' he said between 1.36 and 1.39pm. He was told one was 'coming' as the MPD platoon Unit 42 geared up on the north side of the National Mall. 'They're gearing up, and they should be to you now,' Glover was informed. Capitol Police officers were pulled back between 1.50 and 1.59pm, as the crowd grew more intense, according to recordings. 'A decision was made by the United States Capitol Police to pull their personnel back inside the building at a point leaving one of my flanks pretty weak,' Glover said on January 12. Glover would go on to request guidance on a fallback position four times between 2.13pm and 2.25pm. 'I need a command official from Capitol so we can coordinate where they want us to pull back to,' he said. 'We cannot hold this without more munitions or manpower.' A rioter would soon break through police lines near the center of the inaugural platform, allowing the frenzied crowd to barge their way toward the entrances of the building. 'We lost the line! We've lost the line! All MPD fall back!' Glover screamed at 2.28 pm, shouting the code for an emergency. 'I repeat, 10-33, West Front of the Capitol. We've been flanked and we lost the line.' US Capitol police officers try to stop supporters of US President Donald Trump to enter the Capitol on January 6 The mob of Trump supporters would eventually grow to at least 9,400 people, outnumberings officers by more than 58 to one At 2.31pm, Glover called for backup for the 17th time as the MPD retreated up to an upper terrace. 'Cruiser 50 still going to need reinforcements upper deck West Front. Upper deck West Front; we cannot lose the upper deck,' he said. The MPD team would eventually lose the upper deck, some 10 minutes later. The analysis of the radio calls comes after a blistering internal report by the US Capitol Police described a multitude of missteps that left the force unprepared for the January 6 insurrection which saw hundreds of Donald Trump's supporters laying siege to the Capitol. The watchdog report, released internally last month, describes riot shields that shattered upon impact, expired weapons that could not be used, inadequate training and an intelligence division that had few set standards. A fifth South Carolina man has been arrested on charges connected to the Jan. 6 Capitol riot in which hundreds of pro-Trump insurrectionists stormed the U.S. Capitol. Nicholas Languerand faces various charges, including violent entry and disorderly conduct on Capitol grounds, assaulting an officer using a dangerous weapon, theft of government property and knowingly entering and remaining in restricted government area. An individual resembling Languerand is throwing a variety of objects at the law enforcement officers defending the entrance to the Lower West Terrace tunnel (of the Capitol), according to a complaint in the case. Among the objects thrown at law enforcement are what appears to be a large orange traffic barrier, a canister of pepper spray, and a stick-like object, the complaint continued. The complaint also says, The individual resembling Languerand was holding a police shield and hitting it against the ground. Languerand was arrested after the FBI got a tip from one of his acquaintances. The tipster told the FBI that Languerand had posted a photo of himself at the Capitol on Instagram. Surveillance photos taken at the Capitol of rioters also depicted an individual believed to be Languerand, the complaint said. Languerand was to be arraigned in at the federal courthouse in Florence before a magistrate judge at 2:45 p.m. Thursday. An arraignment is a usually brief initial appearance before a judge during which criminal charges are formally read to the defendant. The charges against Languerand were unsealed Thursday. Other South Carolinians facing charges in the Capitol riot and against whom charges are pending are: Elias Irizarry, 19, a Citadel freshman. Elliott Bishai, 20, a York County man planning to enter the U.S. Army in the next few months. William Norwood III, of Greer, is charged with knowingly entering or remaining in a restricted building without lawful authority, violent and disorderly conduct on Capitol grounds, obstruction of justice and theft of government property. Story continues Andrew Hatley is charged with uttering threatening, or abusive language, or engag(ing) in disorderly or disruptive conduct, at any place in the Grounds or in any of the Capitol Buildings with the intent to impede, disrupt, or disturb the orderly conduct of a session of Congress or either House of Congress. He is also charged with engaging disorderly conduct on Capitol grounds. James Giannakos, of Gilbert in Lexington County, is being investigated in connection with being at the Jan. 6 Capitol attack, according to an FBI search warrant. He has not been charged. This is a developing story. This story will be updated. WASHINGTON Thirty-year-old legislation that could lead to reparations for slavery received a vote for the first time on Wednesday night as a House committee advanced the measure, now championed by U.S. Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee of Houston. The bill titled HR 40 in a nod to the broken post-Civil War promise of 40 acres and a mule to Black Americans who were enslaved would establish a 13-member panel to propose to Congress ways to redress the wrongs of slavery, as well as subsequent racial and economic discrimination and their lingering effects. The legislations aim goes beyond financial payments, Jackson Lee said. Its goal is to bring American society to a new reckoning with how our past affects the current conditions of African Americans and to make America a better place. To merely focus on finance is an empty gesture, she said. Were asking people to understand the pain, the violence, the brutality of what we went through. And of course were asking for harmony, reconciliation, reason to come together as Americans. The 25-17 vote is the latest sign that the concept of reparations for slavery is gaining momentum especially among Democrats as the U.S. continues to grapple with systemic racism highlighted by the COVID-19 pandemic and recent slayings of Black Americans including Daunte Wright and former Houston resident George Floyd. TEXAS TAKE: Get political headlines from across the state sent directly to your inbox Republicans opposed the legislation, saying the findings of the committee it established are a foregone conclusion. U.S. Rep. Jim Jordan, an Ohio Republican, said reparations would take money from people who were never involved in the evil of slavery and give it to people who were never subject to the evil of slavery. The bill was first proposed in 1989 by U.S. Rep. John Conyers Jr. of Michigan. Jackson Lee has led the effort since he retired in 2017. In 2019, the proposal received its first-ever hearing in the judiciary committee, but the panel did not take a vote on it then. Now the proposal has the backing of key Democratic leaders, including President Joe Biden and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. Still, its unclear how far it may go, as Republicans and some Democrats oppose it. Jackson Lee said she is confident it will get a vote on the floor of the House. The bill calls for the commission to study not just the enslavement of some 4 million Africans and their descendants in the U.S., but also the decades of discrimination against Black Americans that followed, including in housing, education, and labor. The commission would also weigh the lingering negative effects on living African Americans and on society in the United States. The panel would have a year to propose appropriate remedies, as well as ways to advance racial healing, understanding, and transformation. While the scale of the undertaking the bill proposes would be new, there is precedent for reparations in the U.S. In 1988, President Ronald Reagan signed legislation authorizing $20,000 each to more than 100,000 people of Japanese descent who were incarcerated in internment camps during World War II. There are differing views on what reparations for Black Americans might look like. William A. Darity Jr., a professor of public policy at Duke University who has written a book on reparations, has estimated it would take at least $10 trillion to close the wealth gap between African Americans and white Americans. If this is about the full ramifications on Black wealth, about the destruction of entire businesses or neighborhoods, or the deprivation and loss of land, then we are talking about numbers that are far beyond the reach of what are relatively small programmatic initiatives, Darity told the New York Times. The Biden White House, meanwhile, has framed some of its earliest priorities as aimed at tackling systemic racism. The presidents $2 trillion infrastructure proposal includes a slew of proposals designed to boost communities of color, including replacing lead pipes more common in those communities, bolstering neighborhoods most prone to flooding against severe weather and investing in research and development at historically black colleges. ben.wermund@chron.com Its been called the Forgotten Outbreak in Alabama. On April 15, 2011, the state was hit by 45 tornadoes, a record at the time. But it was soon to be followed -- and overshadowed -- by the super outbreak of April 27, another historic tornado event. The April 15 outbreak stands today at No. 2 when it comes to most tornadoes on record in a single day in Alabama. April 15, 2011, is the No. 2 when it comes to the number of tornadoes in a single event in Alabama. The April 15 outbreak may have fewer headlines than April 27, but it was deadly. Seven people lost their lives in the storms, and 14 were hurt. The storms left damage from southwest Alabama all through central Alabama. Forecasters knew it was coming. The National Weather Service in Birmingham said by the morning of the 15th, a Friday, that it was evident environmental conditions were going to be perfect for tornado supercell development. They werent wrong. When April 15 happened, we were fairly convinced it was going to be a big event, and we were correct, said John De Block, the warning coordination meteorologist at the National Weather Service in Birmingham. According to the weather service there were eight EF0 tornadoes, 15 EF1s, 17 EF2s and five EF3s that day. Several of those were the dreaded long-track tornadoes. It was a massive event, a long event, 12 hours long, he said. It started early, with the first of several tornado watches being issued around 8 a.m. The first tornado touched down just after 10 a.m. in southwest Alabamas Choctaw County, and a string of warnings continued until 12:15 a.m. the next morning. Autauga County was one of the hardest hit, with six tornadoes touching down in the county in less than two hours. One of those was deadly, killing three people in a manufactured home. Three people were also killed in a mobile home in Washington Countys Deer Park, according to the weather service. Another person died in Marengo County, also in a mobile home. As tragic as April 15 was, the death toll could have been higher, according to forecasters. Its a lot like March 17 this year, De Block said. We were very fortunate that tornadoes did not tap into the potential and become major tornadoes. De Block remembers tracing some of the storms damage paths by helicopter. Flying over in Sumter County, the storms that went through northern Sumter County, the width of the storm and the scar in the Earth from the tornado that went through there that was an EF2, and I want to say it was a mile wide at that point in time, he said. He also remember an EF3 that hit Tuscaloosa County. One of the impressions that I had was flying the track that was in Tuscaloosa County, it was the Black Warrior EF3. Storm damage there was just incredible along the Black Warrior River, he said. That same area would be hit hard again on April 27. It was close to some of the damage from April 27, De Block said of the April 15 tornado. We actually had to distinguish the April 27 damage and the April 15 damage in the southern portions of Tuscaloosa County. The April 15 storms were part of a widespread severe weather event that spanned April 14-16. A total of 178 tornadoes touched down from Kansas to Pennsylvania. Thirty-eight people were killed over that span, making it the most deadly tornado outbreak -- at the time -- since the Super Tuesday outbreak in February 2008, according to NOAA. According to NOAAs National Centers for Environmental Information the April 15 outbreak, was one of the most significant outbreaks to ever affect the country to date. Here is a look at the Alabama tornadoes of April 15, 2011, and when they touched down (according to National Weather Service storm reports): 1. 10:10 a.m.: Choctaw County, EF0 2. 10:26 a.m.: Choctaw County, EF0 3. 10:43 a.m.: Washington County, EF1 (tornado started in Mississippi) 4. 10:48 a.m.: Choctaw-Marengo counties, EF1 5. 11:04 a.m.: Washington County, EF2, 1 injury 6. 11:20 a.m.: Clarke County, EF1 7. 12:45 p.m.: Sumter County, EF3, 150 mph winds (started in Mississippi) 8. 2:03 p.m.: Sumter County, EF2 9. 2:06 p.m.: Monroe County, EF1 10. 2:14 p.m.: Greene-Tuscaloosa counties, EF3, 140 mph winds 11. 2:33 p.m.: Hale County, EF2 12. 2:53 p.m.: Sumter County, EF2 13. 3 p.m.: Bibb County, EF1 14. 3:15 p.m.: Choctaw County, EF1 (started in Mississippi) 15. 3:44 p.m.: Greene-Hale counties, EF2 16. 3:59 p.m.: Shelby County, EF0 17. 4:04 p.m.: Marengo County, EF3, 1 death, 4 injuries, 150 mph winds 18. 4:11 p.m.: Monroe County, EF2 19. 4:19 p.m.: Marengo County, EF2 20. 4:29 p.m.: Monroe-Butler counties, EF2 21. 4:35 p.m.: Marengo County, EF2 22. 4:44 p.m.: Shelby County, EF1 23. 5 p.m.: Perry County, EF0 24. 5:12 p.m.: Choctaw-Marengo counties, EF2 25. 5:25 p.m.: Perry County, EF2 26. 6:05 p.m.: Dallas County, EF1 27. 6:23 p.m.: Lowndes County, EF0 28. 6:48 p.m.: Dallas County, EF1 29. 7:04 p.m.: Dallas County, EF1 30. 7:05 p.m.: Washington County, EF3, 3 deaths, 3 injuries 31. 7:48 p.m.: Autauga County, EF1 32. 7:56 p.m.: Autauga County, EF1 33. 8:06 p.m.: Autauga County, EF0 34. 8:20 p.m.: Clarke County, EF2 35. 8:25 p.m.: Dallas-Autauga counties, EF2 36. 8:27 p.m.: Elmore County, EF0 37. 8:29 p.m.: Autauga County, EF1 38. 9:05 p.m.: Mobile County, EF0 39. 9:26 p.m.: Monroe County, EF2 40. 9:47 p.m.: Autauga County, EF3, 3 deaths, 4 injuries, 150 mph winds 41. 10:17 p.m.: Elmore-Coosa-Tallpoosa counties, EF2, 2 injuries 42. 10:43 p.m.: Tallapoosa County, EF1 43. 10:45 p.m.: Escambia County, EF1 44. 10:57 p.m.: Butler County, EF2 45. 11:08 p.m.: Escambia-Conecuh-Covington counties, EF2 Gandhinagar April 15 : The Gujarat High Court on Thursday pulled up the state government on various figures provided by it on the Covid situation, particularly in the second wave, which prompted the court to file a fresh suo moto PIL over the matter. The division bench of Chief Justice Vikram Nath and Justice Bhargav D. Karia was unsatisfied with the government figures "which painted a rosy picture" and raised doubts about these as the "situation, in reality, was contrary". "We have a serious doubt on this figure of 53 per cent bed occupancy. Than what about so much noise on bed unavailability in hospitals. How come this figure does not appear to be correct?" it asked Advocate General Kamal Trivedi who submitted that figure of occupancy as on April 12. The court was also not satisfied as far as the availability of remdesivir injections was concerned. "The figures declared by the state of Covid positive patients is not matching the actual number of cases, looking at the deficit of remdesivir injections," CJ Vikram Nath said. "Either the figures are not correct, or doctors are indiscriminately prescribing remdesivir for common cold and fever," he added. "Do you have an idea of what is the requirement of remdesivir?" the court asked Trivedi, who contended that they have sufficient stock for cases in which it is required. "Say this on affidavit that there is enough stock for anyone who needs it on medical advice," the court ordered. To a query regarding testing, the Advocate General informed that RT-PCR testing facilities were adequately available in each of the 33 districts, but Justice Karia refused to buy it, saying it was not available in Anand district. The claims were also disagreed to by advocate Amit Panchal, who told the court that six districts did not have RT-PCR testing facilities and people had to get themselves tested in neighbouring districts. Advocate Anand Yagnik requested the court to have RT-PCR facilities in every district taluka. "11 district judges out of 33 have said that except in big cities of Gujarat, there is no RT-PCR. But the government is saying every district has it," Yagnik said in his submission. At this, the court stressed: "Testing is a very important aspect. The government can tie up with small labs in these small towns and aid them to set up testing facilities." The HC was also not satisfied with the government's online portal, which showed the status of Covid patients in various hospitals and the bed availability. As the Advocate General that the portal was being maintained by association of hospitals in Ahmedabad, Chief Justice Vikram Nath said: "You must take the data under your control and provide accurate information. You cannot leave it to the association. "The portal of the state does not provide real-time figures. It may show there is availability, but when you go to a hospital you will find otherwise." The Gujarat HC also gave a bit of advice to the government on looking at the near future, where the need for CT scan would be higher. "CT scan lines are getting longer. Start thinking on those lines, nobody knows how long this Covid will go on. Get CT Scan facilities in hospitals," it suggested. The court observed that the hospitals were exploiting the situation even in these desperate times. "Hospitals are not admitting patients who need oxygen... I fail to understand why people even at this time are looking to make a fast buck. Even oxygen is being black-marketed," the Chief Justice said. The court said that an order would be passed. "We will pass an order and grant you further time to file status report on remdesivir, testing, hospital beds etc," it told the government. The court did not announce the schedule for the next hearing. However, Yagnik requested the court to keep it on Saturday. Latest updates on Coronavirus (COVID-19) Gov. Gretchen Whitmer announced reforms to the state contract bid process she says will protect Michigan businesses from being undercut and workers being underpaid. Through the Department of Technology Management and Budget new protocols will require bidders on state government contracts to disclose their labor and environmental records, information on their economic impact in Michigan and certification that the business has properly classified. On a Zoom call announcing the change on Thursday, April 15, Whitmer was joined by members of the Michigan Council of Carpenters and Millwrights Michigan Businesses. Tom Lutz, Executive Secretary-Treasurer of the council, said the Michigan legislatures repeal of the Prevailing Wages on State Projects law in 2018 has opened the door to dishonest business practices, in particular companies using subcontractors to lower bids by not offering standard labor rates or health benefits and avoiding payroll taxes. In 2019, Attorney General Dana Nessel created a taskforce to investigate new complaints of payroll fraud. Her office estimated $107 million in tax revenue is lost each year from businesses illegally misclassifying workers or paying them off the books. People look around and they wonder where did all those good jobs go, Lutz said. They didnt just magically disappear or go away. Good jobs go away because good companies cannot compete when the rules are stacked against them. John Marinelli, Director of Commercial Contracting Corporation, was among the business leaders who shared stories of work that went to out-of-state bidders who lowered the price by using subcontractors. Marinelli estimated his company loses $15 to $20 million in revenue by being outbid by companies skirting the law. These reforms matter to our businesses and our workers, he said. Michigan families and Michigan-based businesses cannot afford this race to the bottom. Ron Slaght, owner of Diversified Construction Specialists, said his company lost a significant amount of work within school districts the first summer after the Prevailing Wage was repealed because companies paying lower wages replaced them. He and others lamented that many of those projects still end up being finished by Michigan-based companies when the lowest bidder runs out of money, material or its labor force leaves for the next job. When you dont pay good workers a fair wage, you dont get a good product at the end of the day, he said. We know this because quite often we get the phone call at the end of the project to come in and fix what that original company did or didnt do. Slaght added that companies not paying for health benefits or fair wages are forgoing an employers responsibility to their employees. In turn this cost Michigans healthcare system if medical costs cannot be paid by an injured subcontractor, he said. We do love competition, Slaght said of the bidding process. We just want it to be fair competition. More on MLive: Extended Benefits unemployment program ends in Michigan $850k in drilling bonds stolen by ex-state official, say prosecutors Michigans 6-month office ban extension another defeating blow, business groups say Victor Cha, right, chairman of the Center for Strategic and International Studies, speaks during a webinar hosted by the Institute for Global Economics (IGE), Thursday. On the left is IGE Chairman Jun Kwang-woo. Captured from webinar By Nam Hyun-woo The government's balancing act of hedging growing pressure from the rivalry between the U.S. and China is not a viable long-term strategy, and Seoul needs to get away from the idea that its alliance with the U.S. is an anti-China coalition, according to Victor Cha, a renowned U.S. academic in Asian affairs. Cha made the remarks during a webinar hosted by the Seoul-based Institute for Global Economics, Thursday. Cha is the Korea chairman at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) and former director of Asian affairs at the White House National Security Council. During his address, Cha said the South Korea-U.S. alliance faced "new headwinds" following rapid changes in the political dynamics in Asia over the past several years, and the Joe Biden administration is "signaling its seriousness in approaching Asia and rebuilding relationships" with allies through diplomatic activities including last month's Seoul visit by U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin. Cha said one of those headwinds includes South Korea's "growing isolation from the multilateral grouping" of major democracies in Asia in the face of an "assertive" China. Showing a chart of lines connecting the U.S., South Korea, Japan, India and Australia, Cha stressed that Seoul is only connected to those countries with dotted lines, meaning it is in talks with them over joining multilateral initiatives or organizations, such as the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership or Quadrilateral Security Dialogue, while the other countries are already members of the groups. "There are no solid lines connecting South Korea with other countries," he said. "This is a concerning thing that the isolation is growing in the coalition grouping." Cha said this is largely about China, describing the country as "a big, strong and sometimes a bullying neighbor" regarding South Korea. Citing Seoul's strategy of hedging challenges stemming from tensions between the U.S. and China, Cha said it will not be "a viable long-term strategy," and there will be "less and less hedge space." To address this, Cha underscored that the South Korea-U.S. alliance has to come up with a new framework which replaces the idea that the alliance is an anti-China movement, and pursue a "resilient Asia" that can ensure stable supply chains, eco-friendly networks and other broader values. And for this, the two countries should engage in more "serious and candid conversations." "China's economic coercion will continue, and no country can handle this alone," he said. "It will be better standing as a group than standing alone." He also said the Biden administration is attempting to rebuild Seoul-Washington relations to recover the trust which was "eroded" by the previous Donald Trump administration, as the alliance is critical in addressing challenges from China and North Korea. Cha said the alliance has focused on significant but narrow issues, such as defense cost-sharing, when there were much broader issues that could provide a public good to the international community. He pointed to cyber security, public health, climate change, energy, the environment and outer space cooperation as "new frontiers of an agenda for the alliance." (Support Free Thought) - As TFTP reported last month, in an unprecedented move, the New York City Council passed sweeping legislation to go after bad cops by removing qualified immunity, ushering in a new era for police accountability. This move was revolutionary as they were the first major area to make such a drastic change until now. Going after bad cops is now gaining momentum and this month, New Mexico became the second state in the country to abolish qualified immunity. On Wednesday April 7, Governor Lujan Grisham signed the New Mexico Civil Rights Act into law which ended qualified immunity in the state. It also allows for those who have been wrongfully convicted to go after the ones responsible for their violated rights. While that sounds like a no-brainer, as in, everyone who has been wrongfully convicted should be able to sue those behind their incarceration, qualified immunity made it difficult. I came within nine days of execution for a crime I didnt commit and qualified immunity prevented me from holding responsible the sheriffs deputies who committed egregious misconduct and stole my freedom, said New Mexico exoneree Ron Keine said, according to the Innocence Project. I commend the legislature and Governor for finally addressing the injustice of qualified immunity. I hope those few officers who prey on the public will think twice before victimizing the people of New Mexico. Before HB4, named the New Mexico Civil Rights Act, citizens had no way to enforce their personal rights and privileges granted by the state constitution when going up against an agent of the state. For those who may be unaware, qualified immunity is the legal doctrine that shields government officials from being sued for discretionary actions performed within their official capacity, unless their actions violated clearly established federal law or constitutional rights. The Supreme Court created qualified immunity in 1982 which granted all government officials immunity for violating constitutional and civil rights unless the victims of those violations can show that the rights were clearly established. This asinine law has shielded countless bad cops from accountability and states are finally attempting to change it. There is wide agreement across ideological lines that qualified immunity is simply bad policy, said Burly Cain, Executive Director of Americans for Prosperity New Mexico. When a police officer acting in an official government capacity violates a citizens constitutional rights, qualified immunity protects them from liability. The New Mexico Civil Rights Act finally fixes this injustice. The new act has received bipartisan support, according to the Innocence Project, from a coalition of organizations including the Innocence Project, Americans for Prosperity, American Civil Liberties Union, Institute for Justice, National Police Accountability Project, and Ben Cohen and Jerry Greenfield, founders of Ben & Jerrys. Qualified immunity is a court-created doctrine that allows public officials to escape accountability after they engage in misconduct, even when their actions send an innocent person to prison. The New Mexico Civil Rights Act represents an historic culture shift in the fight for real accountability in law enforcement, and we applaud Governor Lujan Grisham for signing it into law, said Laurie Roberts, a State Policy Advocate for the Innocence Project. HB 4 is an incredible victory for the people of New Mexico. For those harmed by government officials, it has often been impossible to hold anyone accountable. Fortunately, with this Civil Rights Act we are tipping the scales toward justice, said Barron Jones, Senior Policy Strategist for the ACLU of New Mexico. As stated above, this push by New Mexico was preceded by New York City and similar paradigm shifts are gaining traction across the country. In Illinois, House Bill 1727, introduced by Rep. Curtis Tarver sets out to incite change as well. The aptly titled Bad Apples in Law Enforcement Accountability Act aims to end qualified immunity for cops who violate the rights of citizens in Illinois. Naturally, there are critics in law enforcement who dont take too kindly to being held accountable. These folks want a blank check to continue violating the rights of citizens with impunity. These folks have been outspoken and continue to fear monger, claiming it will lead to an exodus from policing and it will stifle recruiting. In other words, telling cops that they should not beat up and kill citizens because it could lead to them being held accountable, is bad for recruiting more cops. However, as TFTP has reported, that is a good thing. If less people are attracted to the job of police officer because they know they cant brutalize the public with impunity, society will only be better off for it. A Camden County man, who admitted to exchanging sexually explicit images with a child, is accused of paying $20,000 in bitcoin to have his 14-year-old victim murdered, prosecutors said Wednesday. John Michael Musbach, 31, of Haddonfield, was indicted on a federal murder-for-hire charge, New Jersey Acting U.S. Attorney Rachael A. Honig announced. The alleged plot stemmed from a child pornography-related case that began with local charges in Atlantic County. Musbach pleaded guilty in 2017 to endangering the welfare of a child by sexual contact after an investigation revealed he used an online chat program to request and receive sexually explicit videos and photographs of the minor in 2015, according to prosecutors. He also sent the minor explicit images of himself, authorities said. The childs parents discovered the messages and alerted police in New York, where they lived, authorities said. Law enforcement officials called Musbach to tell him he was under investigation and told him to stay away from the child. After Musbach was identified as a Galloway resident, the Atlantic County Prosecutors Office served a search warrant at his former home, seizing various electronic devices. Musbach admitted he knew the child was 13 while he sent the sexual communications, according to officials. In 2018, Musbach was sentenced in that case to a two-year suspended sentence with parole supervision for life. The federal investigation, authorities said, emerged after a tip related to a website that offered hitmen. An informant in 2019 gave federal Homeland Security Investigations special agents a trove of messages from a murder-for-hire website hosted on the darknet, court documents show. The darknet is a section of the internet accessible using special software that offers anonymity and is often used for criminal activity. If you want to kill someone, or to beat the s--- out of him, we are the right guys. We have professional hitmen available throughout the entire USA, Canada and Europe and you can hire a contract killer easily, the darknet website advertised, according to court documents. The messages showed Musbach, who used the handle agentisai, arranging to have the child killed and discussing the price, an HSI special agent wrote in a criminal complaint. Alternatively to a gun order, I could place a hit order, Musbach sent to the site administrator, the complaint stated. However, the target would be 14. Is that an acceptable age or too young? I can budget up to $20k for the order. The chat logs show Musbach paid $20,000 worth of bitcoin in arranging to have the child killed in May 2016, more than a year before he pleaded guilty to the child pornography-related offense, according to court documents. As the messages continued, the sites administrator claimed the hitman was arrested and changed the terms of the deal. Ultimately, Musbach tried to call off the hit and asked for a refund, according to the complaint. I am sorry to disappoint you, the site administrator wrote to Musbach after a string of messages, the complaint said. Unfortunattely (sic) our site is a scam, and we pass customer and target information to law enforcement. HSI agents traced the plot to Musbach using the bitcoin information he provided to the murder-for-hire site, according to the complaint. They also matched the cryptocurrency transactions with Musbachs bank records. When agents examined Musbachs computer data, they found various Google searches for terms, including ways to kill people and How are you notified of an indictment dating to 2015, according to the complaint. An examination of Musbachs computer, revealed several internet searches establishing Musbachs intent to injure or kill an individual and also to cover-up these actions, the agent wrote. If convicted, Musbach faces a maximum potential penalty of 10 years in prison, federal authorities said. A defense lawyer for Musbach could not be immediately reached to comment. Officials said an arraignment would be scheduled for a later date in federal court. Our journalism needs your support. Please subscribe today to NJ.com. Noah Cohen may be reached at ncohen@njadvancemedia.com. Internacional Un mensaje interno de Estado Islamico en Africa Occidental confirma la muerte del lider de Boko Haram Researchers unearthed a fossil in Liaoning, China, that is being dubbed the "Monkeydactyl" - the first dinosaur with thumbs to be found. Chuang Zhao/ University of Birmingham Paleontologists have discovered a flying dinosaur with opposable thumbs dubbed the "Monkeydactyl." This is the first time researchers have found dinosaurs with thumbs that could grasp objects. The 160-million-year-old fossil was unearthed in Liaoning, China. Visit Insider's homepage for more stories. Paleontologists have unearthed a first-of-its-kind fossil of a small flying dinosaur - with thumbs. Scientists have dubbed the new Jurassic-period specimen the "Monkeydactyl," for its opposable thumbs. The newly discovered species of pterosaur was most likely a small, tree-dwelling creature with a wingspan of about 33 inches that closely resembled a pterodactyl. The 160-million-year-old fossil was found in Liaoning, China, and studied by an international team of researchers from the UK, China, Brazil, Denmark, and Japan who used X-ray scans to conclude it did indeed have thumbs. The researchers behind the discovery said in a study published this month that it was the oldest record of such a creature. Its scientific name is Kunpengopterus antipollicatus, with the word antipollicatus meaning opposite-thumbed in Greek. Opposable thumbs are usually found in mammals like humans and apes - and some tree frogs - but this creature was a rare reptile that could grasp objects. The study's lead researcher, Xuanyu Zhou from the China University of Geosciences, said the Tiaojishan palaeoforest in Liaoning, China, where the fossil was unearthed, was home to many organisms. To survive, the Monkeydactyl most likely eked out a "niche" for itself to avoid competing with other dinosaurs in the complex forest ecosystem, Zhou said. Fion Waisum Ma, a coauthor of the study who is a researcher at the University of Birmingham, said the discovery was made possible via micro-CT scans, which allowed scientists to see through the rocks and make digital models of the dinosaur's limbs. "This is an interesting discovery," Ma said. "It provides the earliest evidence of a true opposed thumb, and it is from a pterosaur, which wasn't known for having an opposed thumb." Story continues Rodrigo V. Pegas, a researcher from the Federal University of ABC in Sao Bernardo, Brazil, who also worked on the project, said the Monkeydactyl probably hatched from eggs. "Darwinopterans are a group of pterosaurs from the Jurassic of China and Europe, named after Darwin due to their unique transitional anatomy that has revealed how evolution affected the anatomy of pterosaurs throughout time," Pegas said. "They've always been considered precious fossils for these reasons and it is impressive that new Darwinopteran species continue to surprise us!" Read the original article on Insider Irish water has announced that water mains replacement works in Colliers Lane, Portlaoise have been temporarily postponed until next month. The works were scheduled to take place on 12 April, in conjunction with Laois County Council. They have now been postponed until early May, announced this Thursday April 15. Irish Water says that further updates will be provided before the works begin. Meanwhile their works in Tonduff, Abbeyleix will proceed as planned. "These works involve the replacement of over 1.5km of old cast iron water mains with new, high density polyethylene (plastic) pipes which will improve water quality and reduce high levels of leakage which was impacting the water supply to customers in these areas.The works will also involve laying new water service connections from the public water main in the road to customers property boundaries and connecting it to the customers water supply. Where the existing service connections on the public side are lead, these will be replaced as part of this improvement work. These works will be delivered in adherence with the HSE and government guidance on COVID-19," the company has stated. In Tonduff, the L-1656 road will be closed from 19 April to 7 May and the L-6717 road will be closed from 4 May to 21 May. "Diversions will be clearly signposted. The works may involve some short-term supply disruptions which we understand may cause inconvenience. The project team will ensure that customers are given a minimum of 48 hours notice prior to any planned water shut-offs. Irish Water and Laois County Council regret any inconvenience these improvement works may cause. The works will be carried out on behalf of Irish Water by Ward and Burke Ltd. and are expected to be completed by the end of May," Irish Water said. To date, Irish Water and Laois County Council have saved over 6 million litres of water daily across Laois as a result of leakage reduction and repair works in several towns and villages across the county. "This has significantly reduced the number of bursts and water outages, resulting in a more reliable water supply for homes and business in Laois," they said. Speaking about the project, Joe Carroll, Irish Water, said We understand that this type of work can be inconvenient and will ensure our work crews make every effort to minimise any disruption these works may cause. We would like to thank the local community, businesses, homeowners and commuters for their patience and cooperation while we deliver these vital water network improvement improvement works to safeguard the water supply in Laois. There is over 63,000km of water pipe in Ireland to maintain. Irish Water's national Leakage Reduction Programme will see 500 million invested up to the end of 2021 to reduce the level of leakage across the country by fixing and replacing old and damaged water mains. They say this will ensure a safe, reliable water supply which is vital for health, the environment and Ireland's growing population and economy. For more information, please visit www.water.ie/reducingleaks. Irish Water's customer care helpline is open 24/7 on 1850 278 278 and customers can also contact them on Twitter @IWCare with any queries. For updates please visit the Water Supply Updates section of the Irish Water website. "Irish Water is working at this time, with our Local Authority partners, contractors and others to safeguard the health and well-being of both staff and the public and to ensure the continuity of critical drinking water and wastewater services. Irish Water would like to remind people to follow the HSE COVID-19 advice and ensure frequent handwashing." The CROWN Act initiative, founded and led by beauty brand Dove and the CROWN Coalition, continues gaining traction in other states. To date, nine states including California, New York, New Jersey, Maryland, Virginia, Colorado, Washington and Connecticut have passed the CROWN Act while 25 other states have introduced similar legislation. New Mexico recently passed legislation inspired by the CROWN Act that also protects against hair discrimination. A federal bill passed in the U.S. House of Representatives last year and was reintroduced in March 2021, both in the House and Senate. "I'm so proud of the work we're leading with the CROWN Coalition to address racial equity in workplaces and schools through The CROWN Act," said Esi Eggleston Bracey, Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer of North America Beauty and Personal Care at Unilever. "Dove is excited Delaware has joined the other states in enacting The CROWN Act and applaud the leadership of Senator Darius Brown, Rep. Kendra Johnson, Rep. Franklin Cooke, Rep. Melissa Minor-Brown, Rep. Sherae'a Moore, along with Governor John Carney for making race-based hair discrimination illegal in Delaware." "I was proud to sponsor Delaware's CROWN Act and I join thousands of Delawareans in celebrating this important new law," stated Sen. Darius Brown. "This statute is part and parcel to establishing racial equity, fairness in employment, and ending race-based discrimination. It makes clear that traits historically associated with race - specifically hair texture and styles - are included in our definition of race and cannot be used to skirt long-standing anti-discrimination statutes. Hair should never define a person, their capability, or their place on this Earth and I am proud to have played a part in building a better, fairer future for all Delawareans." Support the movement that is continuously creating significant change for Black and Brown people by signing the petition at www.TheCROWNAct.com. The CROWN Coalition looks forward to more states joining the movement and passing this vital legislation. About The CROWN Coalition The CROWN Coalition are the official founders of the CROWN Act movement; an alliance founded by Dove, National Urban League, Color Of Change, and Western Center on Law & Poverty along with 80+ CROWN Act supporting organizations. For a full list of CROWN Coalition members, log on to the website @ www.thecrownact.com. The CROWN Coalition is proud to have sponsored and/or supported anti-hair discrimination legislation in California, New York, New Jersey, Virginia, Colorado, Washington, Maryland, Connecticut and Delaware. The bills address unfair grooming policies that have a disparate impact on Black women, men and children and has drawn attention to cultural and racial discrimination taking place within workplaces and public charter schools. The CROWN Coalition members believe diversity and inclusion are key drivers of success across all industries and sectors. Visit us @ www.thecrownact.com CONTACTS Marcy Polanco [email protected] 202.885.5527 Shemika Harmitt [email protected] 202.885.5527 SOURCE The CROWN Coalition Related Links http://www.thecrownact.com TSX | NYSE | LSE: WPM VANCOUVER, BC, April 14, 2021 /PRNewswire/ - Wheaton Precious Metals Corp. will release its 2021 first quarter results on Thursday, May 6, 2021, after market close. A conference call will be held on Friday, May 7, 2021 starting at 11:00 am ET (8:00am PT) to discuss these results. To participate in the live call please use one of the following methods: Dial toll free from Canada or the US: 1-888-231-8191 Dial from outside Canada or the US: 1-647-427-7450 Pass code: 3449069 Live webcast: Webcast URL The accompanying slideshow will also be available in PDF format on the 'Events' page of the Wheaton Precious Metals website before the conference call. The conference call will be recorded and available until May 14, 2021 at 11:59 pm ET. The webcast will be available for one year. You can listen to an archive of the call by one of the following methods: Dial toll free from Canada or the US: 1-855-859-2056 Dial from outside Canada or the US: 1-416-849-0833 Pass code: 3449069 Archived webcast: Webcast URL SOURCE Wheaton Precious Metals Corp. Related Links http://www.silverwheaton.com/ VANCOUVER, BC, April 15, 2021 /PRNewswire/ - TechX Technologies Inc. ("TechX'' or "the Company'') (CSE: TECX) (OTC: TECXF) (FRA: C0B1), a company focused in emerging technologies across growth sectors including: crypto, blockchain, AI and cloud technologies, is pleased to welcome Netcoins Founder and Coinstream CEO, Michael Vogel, as an Independent Director and his brother, CyberSC Founder & Chief Strategist Dominic Vogel, as an Advisor. Michael Vogel is a well-known leader and pioneer in the Bitcoin world. He founded Netcoins in 2014, rapidly scaled the company as CEO & CTO to thousands of customers and millions in revenue, before leading the company to public listing in 2018 - notably the first crypto company of its type to be publicly listed. Netcoins, which was acquired by BIGG Digital Assets Inc. (CSE:BIGG) (OTC:BBKCF) in 2018, is now one of the largest and longest operating Bitcoin exchanges in Canada. Michael is now the CEO of Coinstream, a Bitcoin company aimed at the US market, offering an ultra-simple way for Americans to buy cryptocurrencies. He is also founder and CEO of Encore Ventures, which is involved in the development and incubation/advisory of new startups and technologies in both crypto and tech spaces. Michael's specialty is fast-growing startups in disruptive sectors: taking new ideas and products from concept to market to scale, something he has done multiple times in building several multi-million dollar startups. He brings a wealth of experience and knowledge across board, public markets, executive and engineering levels. Michael is regularly interviewed in both Canadian and international media as a thought leader in the crypto industry. "Bitcoin and the cryptocurrency ecosystem is in a major growth phase, and TechX is very well positioned for rapid growth. The TechX team has already demonstrated a solid track record of success, and I'm excited to bring my sector knowledge and experience in scaling startups to the team," said Michael Vogel. As Founder & Chief Strategist at CyberSC, Dominic Vogel holds a proven track record within cybersecurity across a multitude of industries (financial services, logistics, transportation, healthcare, government, telecommunications, and critical infrastructure). Dominic actively participates in the Vancouver security community and is a well-respected cybersecurity expert for appearing on media news outlets across North America and Internationally on BBC World News. Dominic is highly regarded as a cybersecurity thought leader and was recently appointed to the BC Provincial Cyber Security Advisory Committee. Dominic focuses much of his energy on providing strategic security leadership to technology start-ups and small/midsize businesses to proactively solve their cyber risk challenges. He strives to provide practical cybersecurity advice to his clients and actively turning the security consulting world upside down. "We are extremely pleased to have these two highly-seasoned experts join the Company during our exciting move into the cryptocurrency space," said TechX CEO, Peter Green. "We've been working diligently to find the best of the best to assist with our vision to drive advancements in crypto and shape the future of digital technology through our team's ever-growing industry and operational expertise." "Michael is a cryptocurrency pioneer who personally founded and bootstrapped two multi-million dollar companies, including Netcoins, which he brought from nothing to $20 million in sales before it was acquired and publicly listed in 2018. Dominic has an equally impressive role within the cybersecurity space and is highly regarded for his deep expertise across several massive industries. I can't think of two better leaders to add to the TechX team," he added. Further, the Company has granted an aggregate 450,000 incentive stock options (the "Options"). The Options are exercisable at $1.19 per share for a period of two years from the date of grant and subject to vesting over two years. The Options have been granted under and are governed by the terms of the Company's incentive stock option plan. About TechX Technologies Inc. TechX Technologies Inc. is a company focused on emerging technologies across growth sectors including: crypto, blockchain, AI and cloud technologies. Led by senior leaders and industry experts, TechX invests in and provides subject matter experts within portfolio companies to accelerate success and maximize value for shareholders. On Behalf of the Board, TECHX TECHNOLOGIES INC. "Peter Green" Peter Green, CEO This news release may contain certain "Forward-Looking Statements" within the meaning of the United States Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 and applicable Canadian securities laws. When or if used in this news release, the words "anticipate", "believe", "estimate", "expect", "target, "plan", "forecast", "may", "schedule" and similar words or expressions identify forward-looking statements or information. Such statements represent the Company's current views with respect to future events and are necessarily based upon a number of assumptions and estimates that, while considered reasonable by the Company, are inherently subject to significant business, economic, competitive, political and social risks, contingencies and uncertainties. Many factors, both known and unknown, could cause results, performance or achievements to be materially different from the results, performance or achievements that are or may be expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. The Company does not intend, and does not assume any obligation, to update these forward-looking statements or information to reflect changes in assumptions or changes in circumstances or any other events affecting such statements and information other than as required by applicable laws, rules and regulations. SOURCE TechX Technologies Inc. Related Links https://tech-x.io/ Chairperson of the Russian Federation Council, Valentina Matviyenko, has called for maintaining the fragile peace in the Nagorno-Karabakh (Artsakh) conflict zone, TASS reports. "The important thing now is to avoid harsh statements, to support the fragile peace, and to move towards a final settlement [of the conflict] and an end to tensions in the region," she said. "Not only Armenia and Azerbaijan need this, but also Russia and regional states." Also, Matviyenko noted the important role of the Russian peacekeepers in the Karabakh conflict zone. "The important thing is to stop the bloodshed and get the dialogue into a peaceful political course; that is the victory of common sense. Now it is important to continue the dialogue," she stressed. There were no obvious public signs that Bernard L. Madoff, who died Wednesday at the age of 82, would eventually become infamous for running the largest Ponzi scheme in financial history. From his congressional testimony after the 1987 stock market crash to the regular round tables he participated in at the Securities and Exchange Commission, his image in the public eye was that of a masterful, innovative and eminently dependable financier. He seemed like the kind of person investors could trust their money with. Burt Ross, 78, a former mayor of Fort Lee, N.J., who lost millions of dollars investing with Mr. Madoff, said that betrayal of trust was part of what had damned Mr. Madoff in his eyes. Though he said he did not feel anger toward Mr. Madoff, he also said in an interview on Wednesday that he felt not an ounce of empathy after the financiers death. An evil man died, said Mr. Ross, adding that it was hard to calculate precisely how much Mr. Madoffs Ponzi scheme cost him. An old man who was evil died in jail. Its certainly where he deserved to die. SANTA BARBARA, Calif., April 15, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- LogicMonitor, the leading cloud-based infrastructure monitoring and observability platform for enterprises and Managed Service Providers (MSPs), today announced it has added 11 new partners to the LogicMonitor Partner Network. Of these new additions, eight partners are located in Europe, a region where cloud computing is expected to grow exponentially in the next few years. According to a study by Global Market Insights, Europes cloud computing market is anticipated to grow from its current value of $25 billion to over $75 billion by 2026. Cloud computing adoption rates continue to grow among European enterprises due to cloud offering a scalable approach that often results in reduced costs, increased operational efficiency and enhanced business agility. European partners are turning to LogicMonitor to give enterprise customers unprecedented visibility into their networks, infrastructure and applications as they begin or continue their cloud migration journeys. Enterprises have accelerated their digital transformation initiatives over the past 12 months and are eager to adopt cloud-based monitoring services in order to manage increasingly complex hybrid infrastructures and multi-cloud deployments, said Sanjay Gupta, Global Vice President of Channel and Alliances at LogicMonitor. Our cloud-based LogicMonitor platform is indispensable to modern enterprises seeking visibility into and control over every facet of their environments, and were proud to align ourselves with best-in-class partners around the world to extend its reach. New LogicMonitor partners in Europe include Amasol in Germany, CDW in the UK, Corporate Finance International (CFI) in Switzerland, Exccon AG in Germany, KAEMI in Germany, Netsecurity AS in Norway, Proact in Europe and the US, and SoftwareOne in The Netherlands. Additional partners joining the LogicMonitor Global Partner Network outside of Europe include Arvensys Technologies in Australia, Total eBiz Solutions in Singapore, and Xylex Technologies in the US. At Proact, we aim to give clients a full range of exceptional IT solutions and outstanding customer service, says Per Sedihn, Proacts Chief Technical Officer and Vice President of Portfolio and Technology. Integral to this is fulfilling the demand for a cloud-based IT monitoring and observability platform that prevents outages and optimizes business performance. By partnering with LogicMonitor, we can offer our customers the ability to monitor thousands of technologies out-of-the-box, thereby aiding our ambition to provide a truly holistic experience. From a company standpoint, the partnership also simplifies the sales process, enabling us to close more deals and expand the business. The LogicMonitor Partner Network is made up of MSPs, value-added resellers and technology integrators who leverage LogicMonitors best-in-class infrastructure monitoring and observability platform on behalf of their own customers. Upon joining, partners are given exclusive access to training and certification programs, sales and marketing collaboration, dedicated partner managers and much more. For more information on the LogicMonitor Partner Program and how to apply, please visit www.logicmonitor.com/partners. About LogicMonitor At LogicMonitor, we expand whats possible for enterprises and MSPs through infrastructure monitoring and observability software. LogicMonitor seamlessly monitors everything from networks to applications to the cloud, empowering companies to focus less on problem-solving and more on innovation. Our cloud-based platform helps ITOps, developers and business leaders see more, know more, and do more. For more information, visit www.logicmonitor.com. LogicMonitor Contact: Anna Lindsey Tel: (805) 323-3901 Email: anna.lindsey@logicmonitor.com ____ References: https://www.gminsights.com/industry-analysis/europe-cloud-computing-market https://datacenternews.asia/story/apac-cloud-market-to-grow-117-in-five-years-report STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. A bipartisan group of Congress members announced Thursday that theyll be pushing for the repeal of a tax deduction cap affecting the residents of high-tax states. Rep. Nicole Malliotakis (R-Staten Island/South Brooklyn) joined 13 other Congress members in calling for the repeal of the $10,000 state and local tax (SALT) deduction cap put in place by the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017. This is going to be a tremendous relief for the people that I represent in New Yorks 11th District the people of Staten Island and Southern Brooklyn, she said during a press conference in Washington D.C. This is something that we can do here in Washington to provide relief for middle class families that we represent. The SALT cap has become a wedge issue in the ongoing negotiations for President Joe Bidens $2.25 trillion infrastructure proposal, which would be paid for, in part, through tax hikes on corporations and the wealthy. Bidens American Jobs Plan proposal doesnt contain any changes to the SALT cap, but members of Congress are still negotiating the actual text of the legislation. During an April 5 White House Briefing, Press Secretary Jen Psaki said the SALT cap and other proposals that dont raise revenues are part of the ongoing discussion related to the infrastructure package. Our economic team and number data crunchers will be crunching numbers as we proceed, but were kind of in the early stages of these discussions at this point in time, she said. With the narrow partisan divide in Congress, the 30 members of the SALT caucus, mostly made up of members from California, New Jersey, and New York, could play a role in whether the infrastructure package passes. During her comments, Malliotakis made no mention of President Trump, who touted the bill that put the cap in place as a central policy achievement of his presidency, but called on state and local governments to take their own steps to provide tax relief. Gov. Andrew Cuomo has advocated for the SALT cap to be repealed, particularly now that this years budget package includes state tax hikes on corporations and the wealthy. For corporations making more than $5 million annually, the state will increase its corporate income tax rate from 6.5% to 7.25% for the next three years, according to the governors office. Those making up to $5 million will have their rates increased from 8.82% to 9.65%. Those making between $5 million and $25 million will have their rates increased from 8.82% to 10.3%. Anyone making over $25 million will have their rates increased from 8.82% to 10.9%. On Wednesday, the governor urged New Yorks congressional members to ensure they repeal the SALT cap. Theyre in power. No excuses, he said. Repeal SALT or dont come home to New York until you have because the taxes have gotten out of control and we need our property taxes lowered and its going to happen now because there are no more excuses. (Bloomberg) -- U.S. shale producers risk another oil-price war with OPEC and its allies if they resume the breakneck production growth of the last decade, according to Pioneer Natural Resources Co. Shale, and not the pandemic, was responsible for the initial oil-market crash of 2020, Chief Executive Officer Scott Sheffield said at BloombergNEFs annual summit. The cartel, frustrated at U.S. producers success in taking market share from OPEC, allowed prices to tumble, he said. OPEC and Russia were upset that we grew too much, said Sheffield. If we ever start growing again too much, were going to have another price war. U.S. producers responded to last years oil collapse by reducing capital spending, drilling and jobs as well as merging with rivals to shore up balance sheets. The result has been lost production of about 2 million barrels a day, or more than output from the entire Gulf of Mexico. But as prices rebound this year, due to both the economic recovery and Saudi Arabias unilateral output cuts, temptation is growing for U.S. shale to ramp up output. The Energy Information Administration sees U.S. oil production averaging 11.9 million barrels a day in 2022, up about 1 million barrels, or 9%, from the average this quarter. Sheffield is totally against the EIAs forecast, saying that producers now know the stakes and will stick to their mantra of capital discipline. If we grow another million barrels a day next year, were going to have another price war in my opinion going into 23, he said. So far there hasnt been much evidence of producers significantly boosting activity in the field, but investors will get a clearer picture once companies begin reporting first-quarter earnings in the coming weeks. West Texas Intermediate crude oil traded at about $62.80 a barrel on Wednesday, about triple from a year ago. Sheffield sees overall U.S. production growing at a annual rate of 2% to 3%, with most of the increases coming from the Permian Basin of West Texas and New Mexico, where Pioneer is one of the largest producers. All other shale fields will decline, he said. 2021 Bloomberg L.P. CHARLOTTE, N.C., April 15, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Duke Energy celebrates the power behind the power on National Lineworker Appreciation Day on April 18. The annual recognition spotlights lineworkers' role in powering the lives of millions of people across the U.S. Whether perched in a bucket or scaling a towering pole, their work ensures that electricity keeps flowing to power vital infrastructure from hospitals, schools and water treatment facilities to businesses, industries and our everyday energy needs at home. Their jobs are not for the faint-hearted. "While the view from the top of the pole may change each day, the essential service lineworkers provide has not," said Scott Batson, senior vice president and chief distribution officer. "Powering our customers and communities is the most important job we have, and I am proud of the unwavering commitment of our lineworkers serving on the front lines throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, even when severe weather struck." Record-breaking hurricane season Duke Energy lineworkers battled a record-breaking Atlantic hurricane season with eight hurricane deployments to restore outages in the company's service areas, as well as neighboring utilities across the nation the past year. Crews also tackled outages from high winds and ice storms, often working in extreme conditions to restore service to customers. "As severe weather has increased in frequency and intensity, line technicians serve an increasingly essential role in maintaining reliable service every day, improving resiliency to restore service faster, and enabling cleaner energy options and a lower carbon future for customers," added Batson. Building grid of the future Lineworkers have not only kept the power flowing to our customers and communities, and supported neighboring utilities they've also continued to build the energy grid of the future. Lineworkers are installing self-healing technology that automatically detects power outages and automatically reroutes power when outages occur. This smart technology helps reduce the number of outages and the duration of an outage, by restoring power often in less than a minute. Over the next few years, Duke Energy expects to install enough self-healing technology to serve most customers. Crews are also upgrading poles and lines that are stronger, making our system more resistant to severe weather, and placing outage-prone lines underground. The reliability improvements we are making in our service areas will improve the grid and better serve customers. As grid improvement work continues, line technician training programs and jobs can be found here: www.duke-energy.com/lineworker More than 7,800 Duke Energy and contract lineworkers are part of the Duke Energy team. They are responsible for constructing, operating and maintaining equipment and more than 300,000 miles of power lines in Duke Energy's service territories that is enough to wrap around the Earth 12 times. Those who wish to honor lineworkers and their families are encouraged to use the hashtag #ThankALineworker on social media. For more information about Duke Energy's lineworkers, follow @DukeEnergy and visit facebook.com/DukeEnergy. Lineworker b-roll, interviews and photography are available here: Interview soundbites from Duke Energy lineworkers B-roll video of storm prep and winter storm power restoration efforts B-roll video of COVID-19 safe-work practices High-resolution photos of winter storm power restoration work And, for a letter from a lineman to his wife serving from the front lines during the COVID-19 pandemic, visit illumination here. 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: 800.559.3853 SOURCE Duke Energy Related Links www.duke-energy.com Mr. Bidens tone underscored what a humbling moment it was for the United States. So many of the objectives cited by the military and other proponents of a continued presence in Afghanistan transforming the country into a stable democratic ally, weakening the Taliban, fighting corruption and the drug trade had either proved beyond the abilities of the United States and its allies or had yielded only partial or tenuous gains. And the cost in lives, treasure and the focus of the nation proved staggering. Mr. Biden said that as of Wednesday, more than 2,400 American service members had died in Afghanistan. Moments after speaking, the president traveled to Arlington National Cemetery to visit the graves of service members who lost their lives in Afghanistan. He said the decision to withdraw American troops was not difficult because it was absolutely clear to him that it was time to bring the war to an end. Standing in the rain among rows of white headstones, Mr. Biden said he was always amazed at, generation after generation, the women and men who are prepared to give their lives for their country. He said visiting the cemetery made him think of his son Beau Biden, who died of cancer in 2015 after serving in Iraq. In his speech, Mr. Biden who said he was the first president in 40 years to have had a child serving in a war zone rejected the idea that putting soldiers like his son in danger was the only way to achieve the United States goals in places like Afghanistan, where efforts to stabilize and modernize the country by rebuilding its military, civil society and infrastructure have largely faltered. We gave that argument a decade. Its never proved effective, the president said. American troops shouldnt be used as a bargaining chip between warring parties in other countries. You know, thats nothing more than a recipe for keeping American troops in Afghanistan indefinitely. Bengaluru, April 15 : E-commerce major Flipkart will acquire online travel technology company Cleartrip. A statement from Flipkart on Thursday said that it will acquire 100 per cent of Cleartrip's shareholding, as the company further enhances its investments to strengthen its digital commerce offerings for customers. Under the terms of the agreement, Cleartrip operations will be acquired by Flipkart. Cleartrip will continue to operate as a separate brand, retaining all employees while working closely with Flipkart to further develop technology solutions to make travel simple for customers, it added. Kalyan Krishnamurthy, CEO, Flipkart Group, said that Cleartrip is synonymous with travel for many customers, and as Flipkart diversifies and looks at new areas of growth, this investment will help strengthen its wide range of offerings for customers. "We welcome the Cleartrip team with their deep industry knowledge and technology capabilities to the Flipkart Group and look forward to providing deeper value and travel experiences for customers together," he said. Stuart Crighton, CEO and co-founder of Cleartrip said that Cleartrip has been a pioneer in capitalising on technology to simplify the travel experience for our customers. "This product-driven focus has enabled us to become the preferred travel partner of choice for consumers in a wide range of markets in the region. We are delighted to be part of the Flipkart family and are excited about the positive impact this collaboration can have for our customers and the travel industry in general," Crighton said. The deal closing will be subject to applicable regulatory approvals. New Delhi, April 15 : The National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Thursday said that it has filed second supplementary charge sheet against 18 accused, most of them members of the banned CPI-Maoist in the case of killing of five police personnel in Jharkhand in June 2019. An NIA spokesperson here said that the agency has named Sunil Tudu, Budhram Mardi aka Budhuram Mardi, Shriram Manjhi, Naresh Lohar aka Ramu Lohar, Alamgir Ansari, Lakhan Sardar, Joshep Purty aka Tipu, Annem Hassa Purti aka Anem Hassa Purty, Tabarak Ansari, Mangal Topno aka Lalu Sardar, Soyna Singh Sardar, Jitrai Munda, Boyda Pahan, Rakesh Munda, Naina, Maharaj Pramanik, Amit Munda and Anal Da, all residents of Jharkhand, under several sections of the IPC, Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, Arms Act and the Explosive Substances Act. The case pertains to deadly attack on the police patrolling party by Maoists at Kukru Haat in Saraikela-Kharswan district on June 14, 2019. The rebels also looted arms and ammunition of the killed policemen. A case was registered by Jharkhand Police and it had filed a charge sheet against 11 accused. The NIA took over the probe December on 9, 2020. The NIA official said that investigation has revealed that Anal Da, the Central Committee Member and Secretary of Bihar Jharkhand Special Area Committee CPI-Maoist, in collusion with other leaders, had conspired and planned the attack. "The recce of the place of incident was carried for around a month and final planning for execution was done at Arhanja forest on June 13. Maoists had planned minute details and had carried out extensive rehearsals for the attack," the official said. "Investigation also established that the plan was executed under the leadership of Maharaj Pramanik, Zonal Commander of Bundu Chandil Sub Zone, who had also enlisted the help of over ground workers and sympathisers of CPI-Maoist," the official said. The attack was carried out in order to loot the arms and ammunition, further strengthen their organisation and also as a retaliation for the killing of one of their cadres, Pradeep Swasi, by the security forces in that area, he added. Stop Helping White Supremacists Attack Black Women Malcolm X said, The most disrespected person in America is the Black woman, he said. The most unprotected person in America is the Black woman. The most neglected person in America is the Black woman. ADVERTISEMENT It was true then and its true now. The ongoing violence against Black women has hit an all-time high with the publishing of Black Lives Matter co-founder Patrisse Cullors home address in an effort to call attention to her purchase of several homes. Patrisse is more than just one of the co-founders of Black Lives Matter. Long before BLM came into existence she was an artist, an organizer, and a student. I watched as she would leave meetings to go to class or come into meetings straight from classinfant in tow and all. Like most Black women, including myself, Patrisse juggled more than one job all while being a momma, chasing her dream, and leading a global movement. Patrisse graduated. She earned that degree and today shes a professor among many other things. ADVERTISEMENT Nowhere is it written that if you care about and fight for Black lives that you have to live in squalor and poverty. That you are not allowed to get educated and move up in the world. You dont require Black attorneys who win multi-million dollar settlements and verdicts when were killed by the police to take a vow of poverty. Nor do you require Black male pastors to refrain from wearing thousand dollar shoes, buying that Rolls-Royce or living in a mansion on the hill. That part. Let me tell you something, if I sign a multi-million dollar deal with a studio to create content, I am buying a house too and I cant guarantee that house is going to be in the hood. In all of the chatter about what Patrisse is doing, whats not being talked about is the fact that she actually works. That she has jobs. Jobs that pay her and just like you or me would do, shes investing her money and taking care of her family. I fully expect white supremacists to go after women like Patrisse. Thats what they do. What I dont expect is for Black women and Black people to follow their lead. Since when do we take our cue from white supremacists? There have always been two sets of rules. The rules for Black women and the rules for everyone else. Like most Black women, Patrisse was expected to deliverand she did. She worked to get the first countywide criminal justice reform ballot measure passed in Los Angeles County. She helped lead the fight to stop a $3.5 billion jail expansion. She created a grassroots organization that continues to fight for the dignity and power of incarcerated people, their families, and the community. Am I defending Patrisse? Yes, I unequivocally am because I know what its like to be scared for your life because some white racists have given out your home address. Back in 2005, Stanley Tookie Williams, a co-founder of the Crips gang, was scheduled to die by lethal injection at San Quentin prison and I dared speak up against it. Conservative talk radio show The John and Ken Show on KFI-AM (640 AM) held a Tookie Must Die/Kill Tookie hour every day leading up to his execution. The hosts, John Kobylt and Ken Chiampou gave out my contact information over the air. I received dozens of death threats. Since this was pre-doxing, the threats were made via email and my cellphone. It was a scary time. I made it through because Minister Tony Muhammad made sure that I was protected. He and the brothers from The Nation of Islam did what were supposed to do when outsiders try to hurt our Black women, protect us. Weve seen this before. COINTELPRO was a series of clandestine activities by the FBI aimed at surveilling, infiltrating, discrediting, and disrupting Black political organizations. In Los Angeles, their efforts resulted in the deaths of two people at UCLA in 1969 and ultimately the demise of two Black political organizations which paved the way for todays street gangs. Mission accomplished. Patrisse didnt get rich off of Black Lives Matter. She earned her wealth by putting in the work and doing the things that would ensure she could earn the kind of money to be able to afford as many homes as she wanted. Now, normally that would be something that we celebrateagaintwo sets of rules. Are we going to standby and allow white supremacists to pull our strings to create chaos and conflict among us? The attacks against Patrisse are just the latest in the ongoing violence against Black women including trans women and disabled women orchestrated by the same people who dont really care how many homes Patrisse has but rather the discord its caused among Black people. Thats their real goal. By feeding into it, sharing it, retweeting it, posting it, emailing ityou are helping to perpetuate the attack against Black women created by white supremacists and reducing the support and influence of a movement that is larger than any one organization or person. If Patrisse and her family arent safe, none of us are safeand tomorrow it could be you or me. Jasmyne A. Cannick is a journalist, political strategist, and advocate. She helped lead the Measure R campaign in L.A. County with Patrisse Cullors to reform L.A. jails. Measure R was the first-ever countywide criminal justice reform ballot measure and the first ballot measure led by Black women in Los Angeles. It was passed by the voters overwhelmingly in 2020. The family of Lyra McKee will deliver letters to a large number of houses in Derry today and tomorrow asking people to help identify the gunman who killed her. The letters will be posted through doors in Creggan close to where the fatal shooting took place and throughout the surrounding area. Lyra's family have appealed for anyone with information to come forward because 'the dead cannot demand justice'. The talented 29-year-old journalist was observing a riot in Creggan on April 18, 2019, when a New IRA gunman opened fire at police lines and killed her. Lyra's sister, Nichola McKee Corner, is in Derry this week to watch a court case involving two men who are facing charges linked to the journalists death. One of those men is charged with murder. However, its alleged that he escorted the gunman to the scene, while the shooter remains at large. In the McKee familys own words, that night changed our lives forever. Just a few months after leaving North Belfast to make Derry her new home, Lyra was killed on Fanad Drive. The letter, which is written in English and Irish and signed by the McKee family, states: Lyra never caused harm to anyone in her 29 years of life. She cared deeply for people and went out of her way to help others, whether she knew them or not. Lyra worked hard to uncover dark, hidden truths within our society and beyond; she helped others find information that could lead to justice for them and their families; she highlighted injustice through her work and she would have continued to do this had it not been for the gunman who murdered her. This is not fair. Our Lyra deserves justice. Our mother died of a broken heart in March 2020. She just could not live without her baby. Our mother did not live to see justice for our Lyras murder. Our family continue to struggle to deal with the loss of our sister and mother but we are determined to pursue justice for them both. We believe that you can help us. We continue to be grateful to the 150 people who have come forward with information relating to our Lyras murder but, so far, this has not lead to the outcome we need: the arrest and conviction of the gunman who is ultimately responsible for robbing us of both our sister and our mother. In the past, the McKee family has issued a number of direct public appeals to the gunman himself which they say have fallen on deaf ears. They relate to the suffering of many local people who have rightfully demanded justice for the murders of innocent family members and friends. The letter continues: For some, this has thankfully been successful. For others, sadly, it has not yet been achieved. As a journalist, Lyra would have readily highlighted your right to demand justice and would have supported this right through her work. We are asking you to help us in our quest to achieve justice for our Lyra. If you have any information that could assist us in achieving justice for Lyra, our mother and our family, we ask you to share it now. Justice for Lyra will help to make Derry a safer place for everyone. The dead cannot demand justice. It is the duty of the living to demand it for them. SPEAK OUT FOR LYRA. To mark Ms McKees second anniversary on Sunday the family will be laying floral tributes at the location of her death and her graveside. Civic buildings including the Guildhall and Belfast City Hall will be lit up. The Custom House building in Belfast and the Lyric Theatre will have a portrait of Lyra projected onto them. The portrait was created by Lyra's niece Beth who is an art student. A number of video tributes will also be added to the Justice4lyra website, including those from Glenn Patterson, Lucy Caldwell and Sinead Gleeson. Anyone with information can contact Justice4Lyra@outlook.com or the CrimeStoppers line on 0800 555 111. 15 Apr 2021: 'Old people have to die': BJP minister's shocker on COVID-deaths While families continue to be devastated by the second wave of coronavirus, a minister from Madhya Pradesh has passed a distasteful remark about those who died. Prem Singh Patel on Wednesday claimed that while no one can stop deaths due to the disease, "people get old and have to die." He made the comment when asked about the rising coronavirus deaths in the state. What he said: He mentioned precautions will help in winning this battle In a clip shared by ANI, Patel stressed that precautions will help to defeat the disease. He said everyone should wear masks and maintain distance. He claimed that the health crisis was discussed in Assembly as well. Thereafter, he stated, "You said that many people are dying every day. As far as deaths are concerned, with age people get old and they have to die." Fact: You can watch the clip here Deaths: Meanwhile, the state government is being accused of under-reporting deaths Patel's comments come at a time when the Madhya Pradesh government is facing ire for allegedly under-reporting deaths. A report in NDTV claimed that 37 bodies were cremated at the Bhadbhada crematorium in the capital Bhopal on Monday. However, the government's health bulletin released that day mentioned a total of 37 coronavirus-linked deaths in the entire state. Figures: Official government data doesn't match the figures on ground Similarly, on April 8, 41 bodies were cremated in the capital city but the state's medical bulletin had pegged the entire death toll for that day at 27. A day later, 35 bodies were cremated but the official figures claimed that 23 coronavirus-linked deaths happened. On April 10, 56 bodies were cremated in Bhopal but the government said a total of 24 people had died. Defense: Minister asserted state isn't fudging data on deaths Despite the glaring gaps between the numbers from the ground and the health bulletins, the government claimed that it isn't hiding data. Vishwas Sarang, the Medical Education Minister, said, "The government has no intention of hiding the death count, we will not get any award by doing so." The state reported 9,720 fresh coronavirus cases and 51 deaths on Wednesday. Irish banks are offering among the most expensive cashback mortgages that end up costing the least knowledgeable borrowers many thousands of euro over the lifetime of their loans, a leading expert has warned. TCD professor Michael King said Irish banks continue to sell cashback mortgages to the least financially literate, who end up missing out on lower-cost home loans that don't lure borrowers with cash incentives. Citing his joint research updated in 2019, Prof King said Irish interest rates are higher across all cashback products compared with Britain and Canada. The original research by Prof King and Anuj Pratap Singh, Conned by a Cashback? Disclosure, Nudges and Consumer Rationality in Mortgage Choice found financial products offering a cashback cost consumers much more in the long run. In Ireland, cashback mortgages were about 32,200 more expensive over 30 years for a 300,000 home loan with a 86% loan to value ratio. The research also put the spotlight on the prevalence of cashback mortgages here. It found that some sort of cashback incentive was used in 54% of all mortgage products offered in the UK, 51% in Ireland, and 44% of home loan products available in Canada. Lower financial literacy Prof King said their research showed that people who chose cash backs have lower financial literacy and were less likely to do challenging paperwork. They were also less likely to switch to lower interest rates during the term of the loan, according to the research. A small minority of "sophisticated" borrowers can take advantage of cashback mortgages by switching, he said, but this means the more knowledgeable are being subsidised by less sophisticated consumers. There is a growing focus from the financial industry that investigating cashback mortgages is not a major priority of Irish regulators, including the Central Bank. Those concerns have grown as the limited competition in the Irish mortgage market, which already has among the most expensive home loans in the eurozone, is set to diminish further with the exit of Ulster Bank from the banking market in the Republic. Leading mortgage broker Michael Dowling has called for the Competition and Consumer Protection Commission to investigate cashback mortgage incentives and other incentives in the mortgage market. Long-term costs Mr Dowling has said he does not believe consumers understand what they are being sold and the long-term costs of the incentives. Financial consumer advocate Brendan Burgess of the Askaboutmoney website had called for cashback mortgages to be banned. Prof King said the "Conned by Cashback" research provided "strong evidence that advanced disclosure improves financial decision-making of customers and that negative nudges, or advertising, encourages prospective buyers into more costly mortgages". "We also find evidence that consumers who demonstrate limited attention bias choose more expensive cashback mortgages that are financially equivalent at the point of drawdown," he said. Though they never met, Daunte Wright and George Floyd have a lot in common. Both were fathers who died of police encounters. Both of them happened to be in the Minneapolis area. On Tuesday, it was reported that the two men had a personal connection: Floyd's girlfriend Courteney Ross was a former teacher of Wright's. Daunte Wright and George Floyd: Are they related? Naisha Wright, Daunte's aunt, announced the connection at a press conference on Tuesday with Floyd's family and attorney Ben Crump. Naisha Wright then pointed to her T-shirt, which featured George Floyd's image wearing a mask over his mouth with the words "I can't breathe" printed on it. Officer Kim Potter of the Minneapolis Police Department shot and killed Daunte Wright on Sunday, during Derek Chauvin's trial. Chauvin was the officer who kneeled on Floyd's neck for more than 9 minutes last summer. During a traffic arrest, Potter, a 26-year police officer, killed 20-year-old Wright. According to Police Chief Tim Gannon, she reportedly intended to use her Taser instead of her handgun. Both Potter and Gannon have since resigned from their jobs, CBS News via Yahoo reported. On Tuesday afternoon, Ross clarified her link to Wright to the Washington Post, telling the publication that Wright was a student at Edison High School at the time. She said one of the last times she saw him was in the summer of 2019 while driving around Brooklyn Center with George Floyd. They saw him being confronted by cops. Floyd was killed by police a year after this incident, just miles from where his and Wright's paths collided. Wright's death happened less than a year later. Teen Dies After Police Shot Him When He Fired At Officers in Knoxville, Tennessee High School Daunte Wright had multiple criminal charges When Daunte Wright was pulled over and fatally shot by officers, he had several criminal charges on his record, as per Washington Examiner. Wright, a 20-year-old male, has previously been charged with first-degree armed assault, running from police, and using a handgun without a permit. Wright had an arrest warrant out for him at the time of his deadly shooting after failing to appear in court on charges of escaping and possessing a weapon. According to court records, the aggravated robbery charge resulted from a 2019 incident. Wright and an associate went to a party and were asked to leave by two women who rented the apartment. However, when the two men said they didn't have a car, the women agreed to let them spend the night. Before leaving for work the following day, one of the women left the apartment to get $820 in cash to pay the other for her rent share. As Wright and his acquaintance waited for their ride, the other woman remained behind. After blocking the entrance, the woman claims that Wright took out a handgun "with silver trim out of either his right waistband or his right coat pocket" and demanded $820 while pointing the gun at her. After being convicted, Wright was released on $100,000 bail with the conditions that he would not touch the victim or witnesses, that he would not consume drugs or drink, and that he would not carry a weapon. Wright's bail was suspended in July after discovering a handgun possession and unable to communicate with his probation officer. When Wright was pulled over with an invalid license on Sunday, the investigation was still pending. Police Officer Who Shot Daunte Wright Mistakenly Fired Gun Instead of Using Taser, Police Chief Claims Minneapolis Chief: George Floyd had 'violent criminal history' George Floyd's "violent criminal past" must be recalled, and the protests over his death are the work of a "terrorism movement." In June 2020, the New York Post reported that the Police union chief Bob Kroll said, "What isn't being told is George Floyd's abusive criminal past. The media will not air this." Floyd was sentenced to five years in prison in 2009 for an assault and robbery two years before. He also had previously been accused of crimes ranging from theft with a handgun to drug possession, as per Daily Mail. Police Clash with Protesters in Brooklyn Center Over Officer-Involved Shooting @ 2021 HNGN, All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. Healthcare workers in Chile say they are feeling stretched to the limit amid a surge in coronavirus cases despite a record number of vaccinations in the nation. 5,497 cases of COVID-19 were recorded in the country in the latest 24 hour period, according to government statistics. Health Workers leader Esteban Maturana described the present situation as "more than critical." He said that health workers were struggling to deal with the number of patients in hospitals and estimated that 30% of personnel were unable to currently work due to "medical reasons." COVID-19 infections have been gradually rising in the nation despite the continuation of the country's vaccination program. Chile has vaccinated over 7.1 million people, and immunised an estimated 84% of people over 60. In total, more than 1,094,267 COVID-19 cases have been registered in Chile along with 24,548 deaths as a result of the virus. (Disclaimer: This story is auto-generated from a syndicated feed; only the image & headline may have been reworked by www.republicworld.com) Please disable your ad blocker, and refresh the page to view this content. 'Captured alive on May 8, killed on May 17 in alleged clash with Sabah police' FIVE ABU Sayyaf terrorists were killed following an a... Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, April 15) The country's total COVID-19 cases rose to over 900,000 with an additional 11,429 infections recorded on Thursday, the Department of Health said. The DOH said the nationwide tally is now 904,285, with 20.3% or 183,527 currently sick patients, also known as active cases. The country has been listing over 100,000 ill patients daily since March 26. The total does not yet include data from seven laboratories that did not submit their reports on time. At least 96% of the active cases have mild symptoms, 2.8% have no symptoms, 0.5% are severe infections, 0.4% are in critical condition and 0.30% are in moderate condition. The death toll jumped to 15,594 which is 1.72% of the case count after 148 more patients died. This marks the seventh straight day of three-digit deaths tallied. The recovery count is also at 705,164 or 78% of the total, with 856 new survivors. The DOH said 68 of the new fatalities were added after validation showed they were mistakenly tagged as survivors in the previous report. It also removed 24 duplicates, including ten recoveries and one death. The department also posted another high daily positivity rate of 19.1% out of 43,706 tests conducted as of noon of April 14. Positivity rate is the percentage of individuals that tested positive out of all patients tested in a day. The rate is high since the World Health Organization recommends that the percentage be kept below 5%. Experts have pointed out that high positive rates mean higher transmission and that there are likely more people with the coronavirus in the community who have not been tested yet. The DOH will still update the figure once it gets the remaining data from the laboratories. Among Filipinos abroad, the Department of Foreign Affairs counted three more infections, raising the total to 18,008 in 91 countries. Meanwhile, the survivor tally and death toll remained at 11,042 and 1,113, respectively, with 5,853 others undergoing treatment. PORTLAND, Maine, April 15, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Female-founder Liz Kirby has three children. The first two are the beautiful kids that she shares with her husband, and the third is her brainchild, Betoken CBD, a breakthrough wellness brand whose purpose is to make adult life easier by using the calming properties of CBD. Chill Mama CBD Bundle - Betoken CBD As a working mom and entrepreneur, she knows the necessity of being able to take mindful moments throughout the day for slowing down, easing anxiety, and calming the mind. She also knows the importance of taking time to resting, relaxing, and of course, with Mother's Day being one of those sacred times for self-care. That's why the new Chill Mama Betoken CBD Bundle is the perfect gift to give and receive this Mother's Day. Whether the bundle is for a working mom or a stay-at-home mom, it's a meaningful gift that provides comfort, calm, and peace to its recipient. The bundle, which retails for $95, includes a jar of Betoken CBD's signature Hello Mellow capsules and a comfy oversized "Mama" sweatshirt in a universal tan color. "Being a mom is my most important job, but I also know that I have to take care of myself first so that I can be the best mom possible to my children, and the best possible boss while running my business. Putting together the Chill Mama bundle is my way of offering that same level of self-care to other moms and female entrepreneurs out there," Liz explains as being the inspiration behind the bundle. The Chill Mama Betoken CBD Bundle also takes care of Mother Earth because the Hello Mellow CBD capsules are packaged in 100% recyclable glass jars. The jar comes with 30 chill pill capsules, each containing 15mg of Broad Spectrum Hemp, 385mg of Betoken's signature proprietary herbal blend consisting of HolyBasil, Skullcap, and Lemon Balm. The capsules contain 0.00% THC and are designed to be taken up to three times daily to help manage anxiety and find inner peace. Give the gift of calm this Mother's Day with the Chill Mama Betoken CBD Bundle, because moms deserve to chill out too. ABOUT BETOKEN Betoken is the only CBD company designed exclusively for grown-ups. What was once a routine morning 5k is now the source of chronic knee pain. Where falling asleep was once a matter of head hitting pillow, it's now a tossing-and-turning fiasco. Products are formulated to help people sleep, chill, and feel better. ABOUT LIZ KIRBY Liz and her husband have two young kids and live in southern Maine. Liz practiced law for three years before she "retired" in 2013 to embark on a series of more creative endeavors. She has been a CBD entrepreneur since 2018. CONTACT Contact Mikayla at [email protected] for questions or to schedule an interview. Betoken CBD 866-783-5750 553 Shore Rd, Unit 4 Cape Elizabeth, Maine 04107 Related Images chill-mama-cbd-bundle-betoken-cbd.jpg Chill Mama CBD Bundle - Betoken CBD Chill Mama CBD Bundle - Betoken CBD SOURCE Betoken CBD NASA Lands in Oakland! New Partnership with Chabot Space & Science Center Will Create NASA Learning Opportunities in the East Bay, NASA Ames "A new partnership between NASA's Ames Research Center in California's Silicon Valley and Chabot Space & Science Center in Oakland, California, is now underway. Anchoring the partnership, a new visitor center for Ames will provide an immersive, dynamic STEAM environment called "The NASA Experience," opening at Chabot in November 2021. Under the terms of a five-year Space Act Agreement, the organizations are beginning a long-term collaboration to create accessible STEAM, or science, technology, engineering, art, and math, community engagement and education opportunities in Oakland and beyond." Keith's note: A new STEM education activity at NASA Ames has been announced at - and by - NASA Ames. Typically, there is no mention of this NASA STEM education news by @NASASTEM Twitter account. There is no link within the NASA Ames press release of the NASA STEM Engagement Office at NASA HQ - which, in turn, makes no mention of this new NASA STEM educational partnership at NASA Ames. No one within the NASA education community seems to want to cooperate with any other part of NASA and the NASA STEM Office at NASA HQ - the place where you'd expect some sort of central focus on all that NASA does in terms of education, seems to be out of the loop. And NASA Public Affairs does not seem to care either. This is not #BuildBackBetter folks. The Biden administration took the first step Wednesday to repeal Trump administration rules that have barred recipients of U.S. family-planning funds from referring any of their 4 million low-income patients for abortions. The federal program, known as Title X, provided $286 million last year for birth control and reproductive care to low-income patients, mostly women, including screenings for breast and cervical cancer and sexually transmitted diseases. Regulations by former President Donald Trumps administration, in effect since June 2019, allowed doctors to discuss all options with pregnant patients at Title X clinics but allowed them only to refer the women to prenatal care, not to abortion providers. Doctors can give patients a list of providers in the area, including up to half who offer abortions, but cannot identify the abortion providers. The rules also require federally funded family-planning programs to house their abortion clinics in separate facilities, a mandate that has driven Planned Parenthood out of the program. According to reproductive-rights advocates, the changes have halted Title X services to 1.6 million patients, slashed services by about 80% in California and eliminated the federally funded providers in six states: Hawaii, Maine, Oregon, Utah, Vermont and Washington. President Biden issued a memorandum Jan. 28, saying the Title X rollback puts womens health at risk and ordering a review by his Department of Health and Human Services. On Wednesday, the department, now led by Californias former attorney general, Xavier Becerra, introduced regulations to restore the previous program, saying the changes have undermined the public health of the population the program is meant to serve. After 30 days of public comment, the new rules are due to take effect at the start of the new fiscal year in October, applying to Title X funding that would begin in the spring of 2022. We stand ready to mobilize our partners, and Planned Parenthoods 17 million supporters, to swiftly end this discriminatory policy and to create a pathway for health care providers that were forced out by the gag rule to re-enter the program, Alexis McGill Johnson, president of Planned Parenthood Federation of America, said in a statement. The American Medical Association and the American Civil Liberties Union also praised the announcement. The ACLU, whose suit challenging the Trump administration rules had been granted review by the U.S. Supreme Court, said it will ask the court to dismiss the case. Earlier this week, the Biden administration suspended another Trump administration rule that required women to appear in person, at a medical office, to receive mifepristone, the widely used pill prescribed for early-term abortions without surgery. During the pandemic, the Food and Drug Administration said, women could receive their prescriptions by mail, the delivery already allowed for other FDA-approved drugs. Bob Egelko is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: begelko@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @BobEgelko COLUMBIA Protesters moved from a Columbia neighborhood where a White Fort Jackson sergeant was caught on video berating and shoving a Black man, to the S.C. Statehouse grounds where they called for prosecutors to issue more charges. Army Sgt. 1st Class Jonathan Pentland 42, was arrested and charged with a misdemeanor, third-degree assault and battery on April 14, nearly two days after the confrontation took place. Richland County Sheriff Leon Lott has said his deputies needed time to investigate the case. A spokeswoman in his office told The Post and Courier on April 15 that race did not appear to be a factor in the confrontation. Pentland, who has been suspended from duty, did not utter a racial slur during the video, and no witnesses have reported him using one. The confrontation has become national news since a two-minute clip spread across social media of a large White man shouting at a smaller Black man, looming over him on a sidewalk in the The Summit neighborhood in northeast Richland County. The incident in Columbia has become a another spark for a country grappling with racial injustice as the murder trial of a Minneapolis police officer accused of killing George Floyd heads to the jury. Nearby, an officer in a Minneapolis suburb was charged with manslaughter this week in the shooting death of an unarmed Black man. "This is a new day and age for the citizens and residents of Columbia, South Carolina," Jerome Bowers of One Common Cause said outside the S.C. Statehouse as the protest began. "We're out here for tranquility. At the end of day, you're a human being and deserve respect." Protest organizers gathered in front of the Statehouse just before noon and spoke of being tired of law enforcement requiring an event to go viral for a Black person to receive justice. Sonya Lewis, a representative for One Common Cause, said she believed Pentlands actions constituted kidnapping and that his charge should be upgraded. We are not satisfied, Lewis said. Fifth Circuit Solicitor Byron Gipson said he has no immediate plans to add or upgrade the charges against Pentland. It absolutely looks bad. And the man is charged," Gipson told The Post and Courier on April 15. "On its face, its deplorable. Its despicable. In addition to shoving the man, Pentland told deputies he slapped a cell phone out of the man's hand, according to an incident report. The cell phone incident was not captured on the video. Gipson said, because the White mans actions were not more violent in the video, Its not a first degree assault. Gipson did not rule out the possibility of more charges pending a further review of the case. Several people calling Gipson's office requested prosecutors charge Pentland with "unlawful restraint," but the state does not have that charge. In the early afternoon, about a dozen protesters began walking up Main Street from the Statehouse toward the Richland County courthouse where Gipson has his office. After a couple of blocks on the sidewalk, the group moved to the street with Bowers leading the march with a megaphone. White supremacy and racism have no place here, he shouted. Police manned intersections to stop traffic and allow protest to pass. At the courthouse, the protest moved to the front door, with some protesters standing just inside the door as about a dozen Richland County Sheriffs deputies were gathered inside. The group asked for Gipson to come out and talk, but the protesters walked away after a half-hour of waiting. Pentland has been suspended from instructor duties at Fort Jackson while an investigation continues, a fort spokeswoman said. The fort is coordinating with the Richland County Sheriff's Office. The U.S. Department of Justice also is looking into the case. "Soldier conduct on and off duty must be exemplary to retain the trust of our communities and our nation," Fort Jackson Commander Brig. Gen. Milford Beagle said in a statement April 15. The video of the confrontation on April 12 does not show how it started or ended, or offer any explanation of what led to the fight. It does show a White man shoving a Black man and saying, You better walk away or Im going to carry your (expletive) out of here. Later the White man shouts, Youre in the wrong neighborhood, mother(expletive). Get out. Get out. The White man said the Black Man was harassing the neighborhood. The Black man says he lives in the neighborhood but does not answer questions asking where. Protesters stood and chanted outside Pentland's house in The Summit during much of April 14. But protesters were moved and the Pentland family were escorted to another location after the home was vandalized. Advertisement The winning photographers in the 2021 Sony World Photography Awards have been revealed - and the images in this year's winners' gallery are as fascinating as ever. The contest runs four competitions - professional, open, student and youth. This year, it received 330,000 entries from photographers across the globe. The winner of the professional competition, scooping the title of Photographer of the Year 2021 and the $25,000 (18,201) grand prize, is Scottish snapper Craig Easton for his series of portraits that examine 'misrepresentation of communities in northern England' and focus on the tight-knit neighbourhood of Bank Top in Blackburn. Mike Trow, chair of the 2021 professional competition, said: 'What is so impressive about this project is the intent, dedication and understanding Craig brings to it. These are not people who necessarily want to be photographed, but Craig gained their trust. They look frankly to camera and we see a mutual understanding between documenter and subject. It is the moral weight behind this work that makes it so important and deserving of this prize.' The winner in the open competition is Zimbabwean photographer Tamary Kudita for her stunning portrait of a young black woman wearing a Victorian dress while holding traditional Shona cooking utensils. South African student Coenraad Heinz Torlage is chosen as Student Photographer of the Year for his series on young farmers, while 19-year-old Pubarun Basu from India is Youth Photographer of the Year. His single image shows the shadow of railings projected on to curtains, creating the illusion of cage bars. A pair of hands is seen, as if trying to break through. Scroll down to see why they scooped their awards and to peruse some of the category-winning images in the professional competition... These fascinating portraits were snapped by Craig Easton, who scoops the title of Photographer of the Year in the Sony World Photography Awards 2021. His series of portraits 'examines the representation and misrepresentation of communities in northern England' and focuses on the tight-knit neighbourhood of Bank Top in Blackburn Coenraad Heinz Torlage, a student from South Africa, is the winner of the Student Photographer of the Year award. He impressed the judges with a series of images - called Young Farmers - about the next generation of farmers in South Africa and the challenges they face Torlage also captured this scene as part of his Young Farmers series, which he created in response to a brief asking students to depict the way they and their contemporaries see the world and how they plan to change it for the better A third fascinating image by Torlage from his Young Farmers series. He said: 'I often dreamt of winning and prayed that I could share my country and the amazing people in it with the world. I believe in the young farmers of South Africa, which this country needs in terms of food sustainability and ecological awareness. Winning is a dream made possible by the amazing people that I photographed and everyone who helped and supported me' LEFT: Another stunning portrait by Easton, the winner of the professional competition in the 2021 Sony World Photography Awards. Judge Mike Trow said: 'It is the moral weight behind this work that makes it so important and deserving of this prize.' RIGHT: This beautiful shot helped Zimbabwean photographer Tamary Kudita land the gong of Open Photographer of the Year 2021. It shows a young black woman dressed in a Victorian dress and holding traditional Shona cooking utensils A mesmerising shot by Pubarun Basu, aged 19, who is named as Youth Photographer of the Year 2021. The shadows of railings are projected onto curtains to create the illusion of cage bars from behind which a pair of hands is seen as if trying to break through. It is noted that the illusion of shadows and hands 'convey a sense of entrapment shared by so many across the world this past year' This thought-provoking image was snapped by Iranian photographer Majid Hojjati - the winner of the landscape category in the professional competition. He impressed the judges with a series of photos of deserted structures that 'in their quiet stillness poetically evoke the stories of those that once inhabited them'. He snapped this photo in Torbat, Iran Another image by landscape category winner Hojjati. He called his series of photos of abandoned structures 'Silent Neighbourhoods'. He took this image in Birjand, Iran Another breathtaking image by Hojjati in his winning 'Silent Neighborhoods' series. He snapped this photo in Arasbaran, Iran Spanish photographer Luis Tato is behind this incredible image of a motorcyclist surrounded by a massive swarm of locust, which was ravaging an area next to Archers Post in Kenya. He is the winner of the wildlife and nature category in the professional competition Another amazing image by Tato that shows a man trying to scare away a swarm of locust in Kenya. It is one of several images in a series of photos that documents a destructive infestation of desert locust across East Africa as it wiped out entire fields of vegetation and crops amid the Covid-19 pandemic In this sombre image by Tato, 65-year-old farmer Lochom Ekiru assesses the severe damage to his maize crops in Turkana County, Kenya, after bands of desert locust ravaged them. Tato explains: 'The farmer is a former pastoralist that lost all his cattle due to cattle raiding. After that, he decided to invest his savings and become a farmer. Now, he has tragically lost almost all his maize crops due to the locusts that ravaged them' A fascinating aerial shot of the wells and pipes at the Krafla geothermal power station in northern Iceland. It was snapped by Italian photographer Simone Tramonte, who is named the winner of the environment category in the professional competition. He submitted a portfolio of images that explores Iceland - a country that now produces 100 per cent of its electricity from renewable sources People bathe in Iceland's Blue Lagoon in another shot by Tramonte. He explains: 'Geothermal water that has already generated electricity at the Svartsengi Power Station and has passed through a heat exchanger to provide heat for a municipal water heating system is fed into the lagoon. The water's high silica content keeps it from leaching into the lava field and gives it an appealing aqua tint' Two striking images by Vito Fusco from Italy, the winner of the documentary category in the professional competition. His winning series of pictures documents the journey of the pyrethrum flower, known as the 'flower of death', which is cultivated in the hills of Nakuru, Kenya, as a natural insecticide Syrian photographer Anas Alkharboutli is behind this sweet image of children at a karate school in the Syrian city of Aleppo. The school caters for both disabled and able-bodied children. Alkharboutli is the winner of the sport category in the professional competition Another image by Alkharboutli from his series of images of the karate school in Aleppo. The school uses the sport to help children overcome the trauma of war Source: Xinhua| 2021-04-15 23:56:22|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close JOHANNESBURG, April 15 (Xinhua) -- Enhancing the effectiveness and performance of the country's ports was crucial in helping South Africa's sluggish economy to recover and grow, President Cyril Ramaphosa said during his visit to the Port of Durban on Thursday. He said measures were put in place to ensure that all problems being experienced were addressed. "Significant progress has been made to reduce congestion and improve turnaround times at the port, as well as to increase rail utilization," he said. "A multi-party work team has been established together with port users to address key issues related to port performance." He said state-owned company Transnet was working on growing investments in ports and ensuring rail infrastructure was maintained. "Public enterprises and transport departments are working to implement structural reforms that will modernize and increase investment in the transport sector," he said, adding Transnet would form private partnerships with other businesses. "Intensive work is being undertaken to determine the most appropriate way forward for corporatization of the National Ports Authority, as well as to introduce greater private sector participation and investment in port infrastructure," he said. Jannie Rossouw, head of School of Economic and Business Sciences at the University of the Witwatersrand, said these ports of entry were significant in the economy especially in trade. "They are important to international trade especially if South Africa wants to position itself as the conduit to Africa and especially in the Southern African Development Community. We need to upgrade the infrastructure to world standards," he told Xinhua. Enditem Residents of Niger's capital Niamey said Wednesday they heard shots, including from heavy weapons, during the night in a district that includes the presidency. "It was around 3:00 am, we have heard shots from heavy and light weapons and it lasted 15 minutes before stopping, followed by shots from light weapons," one resident of Niamey's Plateau district, which includes the president's official residence and offices, told AFP. "The gunfire lasted about 20 minutes," another resident said. "Based on the scientific findings, our overall assessment is there is a real risk of severe side effects associated with using the Covid-19 vaccine from AstraZeneca. We have, therefore, decided to remove the vaccine from our vaccination program," Xinhua news agency quoted Soren Brostrom, director general of the Danish Health Authority, as saying to the media on Wednesday. Copenhagen, April 15 (IANS) Denmark has decided to entirely cease administering the AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccine, the country's health authority confirmed. In a statement, the authority also claimed that the pandemic was "currently under control" in Denmark, adding that this had contributed to the decision. Denmark first suspended the use of the AstraZeneca vaccine on March 11, citing "very rare but severe side effects" discovered during the jab's safety monitoring. Denmark's decision on Wednesday came in the wake of the European Medical Agency's (EMA) recent verdict that "the benefits of using the Covid-19 vaccine from AstraZeneca continue to outweigh the risks for people who receive it". The Danish Health Authority agrees with the EMA's general findings, Brostrom said, adding that "in the midst of an epidemic, it has been a difficult decision to continue our vaccination program without an effective and readily available vaccine against Covid-19". However, the authority referred to further comments by the EMA that the "use of the vaccine during vaccination campaigns at the national level should also consider the pandemic situation and vaccine availability in each individual country". "We are basically in agreement with the EMA's assessment regarding the AstraZeneca vaccine. That is why it is important to emphasize that it is still an approved vaccine," said Brostrom. "But if Denmark were in a completely different situation and in the midst of a violent third outbreak and if we had not reached such an advanced point in our rollout of the vaccines, then I would not hesitate to use the vaccine, even if there were rare but severe complications associated with using it." According to the Statens Serum Institut's (SSI) updated overview, 149,884 people in Denmark have received at least one shot and 596 both shots of AstraZeneca's Covid-19 vaccine. "Those who have received the first injection with AstraZeneca will later receive an invitation to vaccination with another vaccine," the health authority said. Meanwhile, Denmark continues to administer the vaccines produced by Pfizer/BioNTech and Moderna. In total, 995,672 Danes have received at least one shot of a vaccine, which corresponds to 17 per cent of the population, the SSI said on Wednesday. --IANS ksk/ Pennsylvania registered 5,060 new COVID-19 infections on Thursday, up from 4,746 a week earlier. As of early Thursday, 2,577 people were hospitalized with COVID-19 in Pennsylvania, including 572 in intensive care. A week earlier, 2,451 were hospitalized and 517 were in intensive care. Pennsylvania also registered 44 new deaths, raising its total to 25,566. As of early Thursday, Pennsylvania had given at least one dose of COVID-19 vaccine to 41% of residents, tenth best in the country. The national average is 37%. Pennsylvania had fully vaccinated 24%, tying it for 23rd best. Pennsylvania had given 7.9 million vaccine doses, or 79% of the 10 million doses it has been allocated so far. After a trailer was stopped in a border checkpoint in Texas, border patrol agents found 20 migrants, including two children, hiding under the boards with hopes of crossing over to the US. In a Twitter post, Del Rio Sector Chief Patrol Agent Austin Skero shared images of the immigrants' attempt at illegal entry, cramming themselves in the trailer board with barely enough space to move. There were 18 adults and two children who were discovered lying on top of one another. Yesterday, a Del Rio Sector K9 alerted to this trailer at one of our checkpoints. An inspection located 2 children (ages 10 and 15) trapped under the trailer boards with 18 adults. With temperatures on the rise, smuggling attempts like these have a high potential to turn deadly. pic.twitter.com/Bf5X9oDijK Chief Patrol Agent Austin Skero (@USBPChiefDRT) April 13, 2021 According to Skero, the two minors who were found aged 10 and 15. It has not yet been confirmed if they were with their parents and relatives or traveling alone. In order to conceal the migrants, huge items and bags were placed on top of the boards. However, they were discovered after K9 agents were able to alert agents at the trailer, New York Post reported. Skero also raised concern that smuggling and illegal entry attempts of this kind have a high potential to be fatal especially with the rising temperatures. According to Daily Mail, its request for more information and comment from the US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) is yet to be returned as of Wednesday. ALSO READ: Biden Eyeing Trump Critics To Lead Border, Immigration Agencies VP Harris to Travel to Mexico and Guatemala The immigrants were discovered by patrol agents just two days before Vice President Kamala Harris' announcement that she would be traveling to Guatemala and Mexico to help find a solution and curb the migrant crisis at the U.S. border. In a statement, Harris said that she will not be coming to the overcrowded child migrant camps and to the southern border because Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas is already on top of handling that aspect of the crisis. Source: Xinhua| 2021-04-15 13:00:20|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close International Monetary Fund (IMF) Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva speaks at a press conference in Washington D.C., the United States, on March 4, 2020. (Xinhua/Liu Jie) "Certainly having the two largest economies cooperating on sustainable finance is a very positive step in a world that is undergoing transformation," said the IMF chief. WASHINGTON, April 15 (Xinhua) -- It is a "positive step" for the world that the United States and China are cooperating on sustainable finance under the Group of 20 (G20), International Monetary Fund (IMF) Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva has said. "Certainly having the two largest economies cooperating on sustainable finance is a very positive step in a world that is undergoing transformation, primarily because of the pressures that are coming from climate risks, and also to make sure that social and environmental issues are well integrated in investment strategies," Georgieva said in an exclusive interview with Xinhua on Tuesday. Photo taken on Jan. 13, 2021 shows the U.S. Capitol Building in Washington, D.C., the United States. (Xinhua/Liu Jie) Georgieva's remarks came after G20 finance ministers and central bank governors agreed last week that the sustainable finance study group will be upgraded to a fully-fledged working group, co-chaired by China and the United States. "What we expect is that the G20 will come up with a clear roadmap for how sustainable finance can more deeply be integrated in financial systems," she said. Georgieva said the IMF strongly supports the immediate objectives of the G20's sustainable finance agenda, citing standardized reporting and the role of international financial institutions in sustainable finance. "We will be of course engaged in providing technical support as the work moves forward," she said. Climate change presents pressing risks to financial stability in two ways, namely physical risks and transition risks, Georgieva said. On the one hand, more frequent and devastating climate-related natural disasters are already causing financial losses and putting pressures on financial institutions to more adequately recognize and buffer against these risks. Tourists visit the Temple of Heaven during the National Day and Mid-Autumn Festival holiday in Beijing, capital of China, Oct. 4, 2020. (Xinhua/Lu Peng) On the other hand, as policies shift towards low-carbon climate-resilient development, some sectors become less attractive for financing and also a high risk in the portfolio of investors, she said. "What the IMF is doing is using a very well-established tested instrument, financial sector assessment programs, to help countries identify these risks and integrate them in their financial sector policies," she said. Georgieva also praised the People's Bank of China, the Chinese central bank, for its efforts to encourage financial institutions to support green investments while attaching great importance to the quality of these investments. "I am so pleased that the People's Bank of China is very systematically engaging in providing a good guidance on green standards. In addition to that, it is taking to heart the other aspect of the transition to the new climate economy, which is climate-related financial stability risks," she said. The IMF and the People's Bank of China are scheduled to hold a high-level seminar on green finance and climate policy on April 15-16, discussing international experience on green finance and the role of central banks, financial regulators, financial institutions and investors. By the end of last year, China's outstanding green loans reached nearly 12 trillion yuan (about 1.84 trillion U.S. dollars), the highest in the world, official data showed. Weeks after Rutgers University announced that students will be required to be vaccinated against the coronavirus, at least one other New Jersey four-year college has decided to follow suit while several others say students can return without the shots as of now. Fairleigh Dickinson University said Thursday that students who attend either the Metropolitan Campus in Hackensack and Teaneck or the Florham Campus in Madison must be fully vaccinated before the fall semester begins. The requirement applies to students who will be on campus to live, attend classes or take part any in-person activities. Meanwhile, two South Jersey schools Rowan University in Glassboro and Stockton University in Galloway said that while they recommend students get vaccinated, it is not yet mandatory. We are encouraging all employees and students to get vaccinated and also asked them to voluntarily report if they have been vaccinated so that we can track the progress of vaccination on campus as we approach the fall, a Stockton spokeswoman said in an email. In Central Jersey, Rider University in Lawrence does not currently require vaccinations. A Rider spokeswoman said the university is strongly encouraging our students, faculty and staff to be vaccinated as soon as they are eligible. In North Jersey, William Paterson University in Wayne has not required students to be vaccinated. The school said it encourages students, faculty and staff to get vaccinated. The university will continue to adhere to all state and federal guidelines and regulations to ensure a safe and healthy work and learning environment, a university spokeswoman said. FDU the states largest private school, with an enrollment of more than 12,000 students said students might not be the only people on its campuses who need to be vaccinated. We are also considering this requirement for faculty and staff and will make that determination shortly, Christopher A. Capuano, the schools president, wrote in a letter to the university community. I cannot stress strongly enough the importance of getting vaccinated, Capuano added. This represents the essential step needed to substantially reduce the risk of infection on our campuses. Moreover, doing so will enable us to return to the in-person experiences in the fall that we all wish to have, and will provide a level of confidence that we are taking all steps necessary to ensure the safety and well-being of everyone in our community. All employees of New Jersey colleges and universities became eligible for the coronavirus vaccination on April 5. Everyone in New Jersey age 16 and older can begin scheduling an appointment on Monday, April 19. Among the major four-year schools who have yet to announce a decision: Kean University Monmouth University Montclair State University New Jersey Institute of Technology Princeton University Ramapo College of New Jersey Seton Hall University St. Peters University The College of New Jersey Ramapo said it is awaiting guidance from state officials before making a decision. We continue to provide our community members with information on how to secure the vaccine. We look forward to a fall semester on-campus that is safe, welcoming, and healthy, a spokeswoman said in an email. A College of New Jersey spokesman offered a similar response. The College of New Jersey continues to study the issue and has not yet made a decision on mandatory vaccinations, the spokesman said. We strongly encourage members of our community to get vaccinated as soon as they become eligible. At least 22,461 people across New Jersey have died of the coronavirus or related causes since March 2020, according to the states COVID-19 dashboard. Another 2,592 deaths were probably coronavirus-related, according to the state department of health. There have been 5,738,371 vaccine does administered in New Jersey as of 11:30 a.m. Thursday. Officials say at least 2,334,968 across the state are fully vaccinated. Our journalism needs your support. Please subscribe today to NJ.com. Jeff Goldman may be reached at jeff_goldman@njadvancemedia.com. WASHINGTON, D.C. - Republican congressional challenger Max Miller may have ex-President Donald Trumps endorsement and fundraising help in his effort to unseat U.S. Rep. Anthony Gonzalez. But the second-term incumbent still maintains a large fundraising edge over Miller. Federal Election Commission reports filed Thursday show that Gonzalez had more than twice as much campaign money as Miller at the end of March. The reports show that Miller - who benefitted from a Trump-hosted fundraiser at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida - raised $508,369 during the years first quarter, spent $68,814 and had $438,554 in the bank on March 31. Miller, of Rocky River, is a former aide in Trumps White House and a grandson of the late Forest City Enterprises co-chair Sam Miller. He announced his campaign on February 26, claiming that Gonzalez betrayed his constituents by voting to impeach Trump over his role in the Jan. 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol. Gonzalezs reports show he raised $616,524 in the years first quarter, spent $153,512 and had $1,027,947 in the bank at the end of March. A campaign spokesman for Gonzalez said it was the most money the incumbent had ever raised in a single quarter. His revenue included money from an online fundraiser hosted by former U.S. House Speaker John Boehner of Ohio, whose new book denounces Trump for causing the riot. The spokesman declined to say how much of the money came from the Boehner fundraiser. Gonzalezs donations include $10,000 from a political action committee associated with House GOP Leader Kevin McCarthy and donations from most of the other House of Representatives Republicans who voted to impeach Trump. The Cowboy PAC affiliated with Wyomings Liz Cheney gave him $5,000, the Republicans in Congress Empowering America PAC associated with South Carolinas Tom Rice gave him $3,500, and the Salt City PAC associated with New Yorks John Katko gave $1,000. U.S. Rep. Peter Meijer of Michigan, who also voted to impeach Trump, personally contributed $2,900 to his campaign. Meijers family owns a chain of superstores. Gonzalez also got $8,700 from members of the family that owns the J.M. Smuckers jam company, $5,800 from Cleveland attorney Dick Pogue, $5,800 from RPM International CEO Frank C. Sullivan, $3,000 from former Cuyahoga County Republican Party chairman Robert Frost, $2,900 from Carnegie Management and Development Co. CEO Rustom R. Khouri and $2,900 from billionaire former hedge fund manager Stephen Mandel. His campaign spent $64,600 on polling after the vote, $22,000 on political strategy consulting and $16,000 on fundraising consulting. Millers contributors included several Republican candidates for the U.S. Senate seat who attended Trumps Florida fundraiser for Miller in hopes of securing Trumps endorsement for their own campaigns. Auto dealer Bernie Moreno and former Ohio Republican Party Chair Jane Timken both gave $5,800 to Miller, and several members of Morenos family were also listed among his contributors. Another aspiring Republican candidate to succeed Rob Portman in the Senate - businessman Michael Gibbons - gave $11,600, the report says, which is double the amount that individuals are allowed to contribute to a political campaign in an election cycle. A note at the end of Millers report said the campaign is aware of all contribution limits and is working to obtain all required documentation for any temporarily excessive contributions. A political action committee affiliated with a fourth wannabe U.S. Senator - former Ohio Treasurer Josh Mandel - gave $10,000 to Millers campaign,. Other Ohio donors to Millers campaign include EnterTRAINment Junction operator Donald Oeters, who gave $2,900, shopping center developer John J. Cafaro, who gave $5,800, and Millers parents, who each gave $5,800. Former Trump White House spokeswoman Sarah Sanders, who is running for Arkansas governor, gave $250 to Millers campaign The report also shows that Miller made a $50,000 personal loan to his campaign. Most of the $69,517 that he reported spending was for digital marketing and transaction fees. In other Northeast Ohio congressional contests, Champaign County Republican Rep. Jim Jordan reported that he raised $2,128,768 during the quarter, spent $1,430,232 and had $6,812,348 in the bank on March 31. A spokesman for a Democrat who has announced hes running against Jordan, Lima warehouse manager Jeff Sites, said Sites has now raised more than $420,000 - putting him well above the $407K he raised for the cycle last time around with more than a year left until the primary. Sites has not yet filed his report. Niles-area Democratic Rep. Tim Ryan, a likely candidate for the U.S. Senate seat that will be vacated when Republican Rob Portman retires, raised $1,216,187 during the years first quarter, spent $202,279 and had $1,033,646 left. Bainbridge Township Republican Rep. Dave Joyce collected $172,175 between January 1 and March 31, spent $43,818, and ended the quarter with $794,849,. Toledo Democratic Rep. Marcy Kapturs report said she collected $54,720 in the quarter, spent $53,291.68 and had $773,824 in the bank. Holmes County Republican Rep. Bob Gibbs raised just $8,736 in the quarter, spent $14,155, and had a $486,155 war chest. Read more: Rep. Jim Jordan clashes with Anthony Fauci over freedom at House hearing Rep. Jim Jordan joins effort to cancel Major League Baseballs antitrust exemption after its decision to move the All-Star game Cleveland nonprofit gets federal grant to help local manufacturers respond to the coronavirus pandemic John Boehners political memoir disses Trump and Tea Party but avoids Ohio controversies White House says Biden infrastructure bill would improve Ohios roads and bridges HUD Secretary Marcia Fudge releases $5 billion to fight homelessness Democratic Rep. Marcy Kaptur joins Capitol riot lawsuit against Donald Trump, Proud Boys and Oath Keepers Sen. Sherrod Brown wants repeal of corporate tax provisions he says export jobs Nina Turner collects $2.2 million for congressional bid Jim Jordans campaign explains large errors on its Federal Election Commission reports Former Ohio GOP chair Jane Timken raises $2.1 million for U.S. Senate bid Planned Parenthood sues Ohio over its telemedicine abortion ban President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky had a phone conversation with President of Georgia Salome Zourabichvili, the Ukrainian presidents press service reports. "The two presidents discussed the escalating security situation in Donbas, emphasizing the dangerous trend towards an increase in the number of ceasefire violations and the number of killed [soldiers]," reads the report. Zelensky thanked Georgia and personally Salome Zourabichvili for the continued support for Ukraine's sovereignty and territorial integrity within its internationally recognized borders. Zourabichvili stressed that Ukraine and Georgia have a historical understanding and support each other in the issue of peace. The presidents emphasized the importance of dialogue and solidarity and discussed practical steps by Ukraine and Georgia in the context of further deepening relations with NATO. "Indeed, the time has come for concrete proposals for Ukraine and Georgia to obtain a NATO MAP and a plan to join the European Union. Consolidation of efforts and solidarity are crucial today," Zelensky said. The interlocutors exchanged views on the current security situation in the Black Sea region, in particular in the context of the temporary illegal occupation of the Crimean peninsula. Zelensky informed the president of Georgia about the Crimean Platform initiative, the inaugural summit of which will take place in Kyiv in August 2021. He expressed hope for Zourabichvili's personal participation in this important event and the active involvement of Georgian partners in the content of the initiative. ish Hans Kristian Gaarder, 60, tested positive for the virus after dying on April 6 in Gran, a municipality that lies some 40 miles north of Oslo A prominent Norwegian coronavirus denier has died from Covid-19 after hosting two events at his property. Hans Kristian Gaarder tested positive for the virus after dying on April 6 in Gran, a municipality that lies some 40 miles north of Oslo. Just days before his death, the conspiracy theorist, 60, hosted two illegal gatherings at a barn on his property on March 26 and 27. Several attendees have since tested positive for coronavirus and had passed the virus onto their close contacts, NRK reported. Local newspaper Hadeland reported that at least 12 people had tested positive after attending the events. Police are now working to establish the total number of attendees. Local officials believe Gaarder may have been ill for several weeks without informing anyone, newsinenglish.no reported. The Gran Municipality confirmed the death of a man in his 60s on its website. 'A man in his 60s, living in Gran, has died after being ill with coronavirus. The person was not tested for coronavirus before he died, but it is confirmed afterward that he was infected with the virus. 'Gran municipality has become aware that two events were held, Friday 26 and Saturday 27 March, on the man's property. We do not know how many and who have participated in the event, but ask the participants to take a corona test as soon as possible.' A statement on the website from the municipality's chief physician chief Are Lken said the death was 'a sad message to get,' adding that 'our thoughts now go to the relatives.' Just days before his death, the conspiracy theorist, 60, hosted two illegal gatherings at a barn on his property on March 26 and 27. Pictured: The barn bearing a sign reading: 'Culture barn' 'We are again reminded of how dangerous the virus can be and how important it is that we endure the strict measure for a while longer.' Gatherings have been banned in the area since March 16 in a bid to curb infections. On Wednesday, 599 new cases of coronavirus were reported in Norway along with 18 deaths. Some 106,000 infections have been recorded in the country since the pandemic began last spring, with 706 deaths reported. Gaarder was a prominent conspiracy theorist, appearing on television as well as editing an online magazine. He frequently claimed that coronavirus was comparable to a cold and shared several posts on his Facebook page that have been marked by the social media site as 'false information' Gaarder was a prominent conspiracy theorist, appearing on television as well as editing an online magazine. He frequently claimed that coronavirus was comparable to a cold and shared several posts on his Facebook page that have been marked by the social media site as 'false information'. In 2009, rose to prominence as one of three people who reported NRK and Norway's National Institute of Public Health to the police for 'engaging in extreme fear propaganda and lies regarding swine flu.' As well as sharing anti-vaxxer views, Gaarder also posted about the Illuminati and thoroughly debunked claims that Joe Biden's election victory was illegitimate. The March 26 event he held at his barn was advertised under the title: Trump, Biden and the way forward for the USA and the world. House Republican Leader Kevin McCarthy defended Matt Gaetz on Thursday, saying the embattled Florida congressman is 'innocent till proven guilty.' 'Matt Gaetz is the same as any American - he's innocent till proven guilty. There's no charges against him yet,' McCarthy said at a press conference in the Capitol. He confirmed Gaetz will keep his seat on the House Judiciary Committee, which has jurisdiction over the Justice Department, which is investigating Gaetz on a number of charges, including an allegation he sexually trafficked a 17 year old. McCarthy noted Gaetz has denied the charges and said House Republicans would not take any action against him until there was a formal charge. 'If there a charge comes forward that would be dealt with at that time,' he said. 'Matt Gaetz says he is innocent, there's an investigation going on and I'll let the investigation take care of itself before I take any action.' He noted he's spoken to Gaetz and the Florida Republican reassured him he is innocent. House Republican Leader Kevin McCarthy defended Matt Gaetz, saying the embattled Florida congressman is 'innocent till proven guilty' Rep. Matt Gaetz (far right) was back in the Capitol this week, attending committee hearings such as Wednesday's Judiciary panel hearing with Republican Reps. Louie Gohmert, Jim Jordan, and Thomas Massie Gaetz was on Capitol Hill Wednesday where attended the hearings of the committees he serves on and voted in the House. Lawmakers were back in the Capitol after a two-week Easter recess. He appeared relaxed as he showed up to Judiciary and Armed Services committee hearings, with several conservative Judiciary Committee members chatting amiably with him including Reps. Jim Jordan, the ranking member, and Andy Biggs, who leads the hard-right House Freedom Caucus. Asked for comment Tuesday on the charges against him, Gaetz referred reporters to a column he wrote last week saying he had not paid for sex and accusing his critics of being corrupt. Investigators are also looking into allegations Gaetz paid women via Apple Pay for ecstasy-fueled sex at Florida hotels after being introduced to them by former tax collector Joel Greenberg, who has been charged with sex trafficking a minor. In a bizarre twist in the saga, Gaetz has instead claimed he is the victim of an elaborate extortion plot by a former Justice Department official seeking to free an American hostage from Iran. Additionally, a new report on Wednesday alleged that Gaetz attended gated community house parties with other Republicans where cellphones were handed over at the door and the 'frat party boy' Florida representative would discuss politics while popping pills. Two women told CNN they regularly partied with Gaetz at drug, sex and booze-fueled bashes over the past few years, and that they would often receive payments the following day for sex with people at the events. Gaetz, meanwhile, announced a six-figure ad buy for a spot that targets CNN as he fights to save his political career. He also bickered on camera with CNN Congressional Correspondent Manu Raju on Tuesday evening when lawmakers returned to Washington D.C. for votes. The 30-second ad will be run in Gaetz's congressional district and nationally on select cable networks, according to Gaetzs congressional campaign, as the congressman fights 'the fake news cycle against him.' Matt Gaetz attended gated community house parties with other Republican lawmakers where cellphones were handed over at the door and the 'frat party boy. Gaetz at the Save America Summit Friday The two women, who spoke to CNN on condition of anonymity, said Gaetz was a regular fixture at the parties where the guest list read like a who's who of Florida Republican officials. The women said they would arrive at the gated community in the suburbs of Orlando and were told to put away their cellphones for the duration of the visit so they could not document what went on. Once inside, the women described nights fueled by champagne, cocaine and ecstasy, and sex, with money changing hands the next day. One woman told the outlet Gaetz behaved like a 'frat type of party boy' at the parties, where he would like to discuss politics and was seen taking mystery pills on more than one occasion. 'No one ever wants to stop partying, stop drinking, once you've had a few glasses of champagne in you,' one woman said. The woman said she was paid for sex after some of the parties by Greenberg, the disgraced former Seminole County tax collector in prison awaiting trial on 33 counts including sex trafficking a minor. Receipts show at least one of the women was sent hundreds of dollars by Gaetz and Greenberg through a digital payment app, reported CNN. The payments were made between 2018 and 2019 with at least one labeled that it was to pay for travel. One woman said she was paid for sex after the parties by Joel Greenberg (above) who has been cooperating with federal prosecutors Greenberg is pictured with Roger Stone and Gaetz after having dinner together in 2017 Greenberg has been cooperating with federal prosecutors since last year, a report revealed Tuesday - days after his attorneys said he was willing to reach a plea deal. The woman would not reveal who she had sex with at the parties but did say she had never received money directly from Gaetz. Both women insisted they never saw anyone at the parties who looked to be underage. Many of the partygoers would often show up to the parties still dressed in formal wear after coming straight from a political event that day. Other events were smaller affairs taking place in private hotel suites at the end of alcohol-fueled political conferences, the women told the outlet. It is not clear if the parties and the alleged payments are being looked at as part of the Justice Department probe. The two women said they have not spoken with DOJ investigators, probing the congressman's behavior. Claims that Gaetz had paid women for sex via payment apps first surfaced in a bombshell report from the New York Times earlier this month. The report, which cited several unnamed sources close to the DOJ investigation as well as text messages and payment receipts reviewed by the outlet, said multiple women had told investigators Gaetz would tell them a time and place to meet and how much he was willing to pay them for sex. They would then meet in hotels in Florida where the lawmaker and staunch Trump ally would sometimes take ecstasy before they had sex, the women said. Gaetz with his fiancee food analyst Ginger Luckey, 26. Two women told CNN they regularly partied with Gaetz at drug, sex and booze-fueled bashes over the past few years, and that they would often receive payments the following day for sex The DOJ investigation is also reportedly looking into whether one of the women was 17 at the time and whether he paid her or gave her gifts to have sex with him. Gaetz was reportedly first introduced to the women through close ally Greenberg, who investigators believe met the women through 'sugar daddy' websites. Greenberg is currently in jail awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges related to a minor aged between 14 and 17 across a six-month period in 2017. The minor is said to be the same 17-year-old girl at the center of Gaetz's sex trafficking probe. Gaetz's future is currently hanging in the balance as his friend and alleged accomplice Greenberg is said to have been cooperating with federal prosecutors since December. Greenberg, 36, has reportedly told investigators that both he and Gaetz gave women cash and gifts in exchange for sex, The New York Times reported Tuesday. Last week, Greenberg's lawyers said he was cooperating and was prepared to take a plea deal as he sits behind bars awaiting trial. 'I'm sure Matt Gaetz is not feeling very comfortable today,' Greenberg's attorney said. As well as the federal investigation, the House Ethics Committee has also launched an inquiry into a string of allegations including 'sexual misconduct and/or illicit drug use, shared inappropriate images or videos on the House floor, misused state identification records, converted campaign funds to personal use, and/or accepted a bribe, improper gratuity, or impermissible gift, in violation of House Rules, laws, or other standards of conduct.' Gaetz refused to answer a question from a CNN reporter Tuesday about whether he was cooperating with the committee inquiry. When asked, on leaving Congress, if he had a statement, he said: 'I think you can read my statement in the Washington Examiner. 'I think you can check out the work that your network has done to propagandize lies about me. I think that really ought to concern you.' Gaetz, one of the former president's biggest fans, fiercely denied being rejected by Trump after a CNN report said the president had snubbed him Gaetz was referring to a story by Project Veritas, a right-wing media watchdog, which filmed a technical director at CNN saying the network's coverage of Gaetz was designed to hurt him. 'The agenda is to get Matt Gaetz right now,' said Charlie Chester, a New York-based cameraman for the network. 'He's a problem for the Democratic Party because he's so conservative and he can cause a lot of hiccups in passing of laws. 'We're going to keep running these stories to keep hurting him.' The Florida congressman and his allies were enraged by a CNN story on Sunday, which reported that Donald Trump had refused to see Gaetz. Gaetz is among the most fervent supporters of the former president, and has long been determined to remain in his orbit. The congressman leaped to Trump's defense during both impeachment trials and has long been a fixture at Mar-a-Lago. Gaetz met his fiancee Ginger Luckey at the club in early 2020 and then proposed to her there in December. Gaetz has insisted he neither sought a meeting with Trump, nor was he rejected. Trump's spokesman Jason Miller said the same, and Trump issued a statement on Monday attacking CNN. 'Fake News CNN, relying on all anonymous sources, meaning they probably made the whole thing up, wrote a very dishonest story claiming Congressman Matt Gaetz asked for a meeting with me at Mar-a-Lago, in Palm Beach, Florida, and was denied. 'This is completely false,' he said. CNN stood by its reporting, however. Last week Maggie Haberman, The New York Times' White House correspondent, told CNN that her sources told her Trump had been warned to keep his distance from Gaetz. 'His first impulse was that he wanted to defend Gaetz, you know: 'He's one of our people,'' said Haberman. 'They have been very close, and it's been because Gaetz is a presence on television, he's from Florida, and he's willing to defend Trump vocally no matter what happens.' Trump's silence had been deafening since the allegations first broke in late March and the Republican party has largely stayed silent on the matter. On Wednesday Trump finally issued a statement saying Gaetz had never sought a pardon from him personally after the New York Times reported he had asked the White House for a pre-emptive pardon during Trump's final days in office. The scandal first erupted late March when it emerged Gaetz is under investigation by the DOJ for allegedly having a sexual relationship with a 17-year-old girl and for violating federal sex trafficking laws by paying for her to travel across state lines with him. Sources close to the DOJ probe told DailyMail.com earlier this month that Gaetz is expected to be indicted within the next few weeks after the 17-year-old testified before a Florida grand jury saying she had sex with the conservative Republican before she turned 18. Gaetz denies all allegations and has insisted he will not resign. Dr Reddy's Laboratories announced on Tuesday that the Indian drug regulator had approved the limited emergency use of COVID-19 vaccine Sputnik in the region. The Drug Controller General of India (DCGI) has given the company permission to import the Sputnik vaccine into India for limited use in emergency situations. Read on to know about the Sputnik V price, efficacy and side effects. Sputnik V in India The Russian vaccine Sputnik V has been approved for use in India by the DCGI (Drugs Controller General of India), but the government is yet to decide on the price at which the vaccine will be made available. The Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF) is yet to reach an agreement on a price. Sputnik V Efficacy and Sputnik V Side Effects In a phase 3 trial, the Sputnik V vaccine showed 91.6 per cent efficacy with no significant side effects. There is currently a scarcity of knowledge about rare, potentially life-threatening side effects, such as in rare pre-existing conditions or certain risk categories, such as allergy sufferers. Such side effects are only discovered after a large number of people have been vaccinated and after a longer duration of the study. According to TASS, Alexander Ginzburg, the Director of the Gamaleya Research Center for Epidemiology and Microbiology, stated that 5% of those who receive the SPUTNIK V vaccine experience redness around the injection site and a mild headache that goes away within 24 hours. Other than this there are no other side effects from this vaccine as of now so no precautions need to be taken. This information comes from an interim review of data released on February 2, 2021, in The Lancet journal. It was gathered from the findings of 20,000 participants in a trial. The adenovirus-based vaccine was given to 3/4 of them in a two-dose regimen, while the rest were given a placebo. Serious adverse effects, including those requiring hospitalisation, were uncommon in both the placebo and vaccine categories, and none were linked to vaccination. In other countries, the Sputnik V vaccine is currently being sold for about $10 per dose. So far, the pricing has been consistent in all countries. 60 nations, including India, have signed up to receive the vaccine, and some have already started distributing it. Sputnik V coronavirus vaccines, imported from Russia, will be available from Dr Reddy's Laboratories starting in May. As India's vaccine production ramps up, the drug giant will switch to locally sourced vaccines. Russia, Belarus, Argentina, Bolivia, Serbia, Algeria, Palestine, Venezuela, Paraguay, Turkmenistan, Hungary, UAE, Iran, Republic of Guinea, Tunisia, Armenia, Mexico, Nicaragua, Republika Srpska (the entity of Bosnia and Herzegovina), Lebanon, Myanmar, Pakistan, Mongolia, Bahrain, Montenegro, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Gabon, San-Marino, Ghana, Syria, Kyrgyzstan, Guyana, Egypt, Honduras, Guatemala, Moldova, Slovakia, Angola, Republic of the Congo, Djibouti, Sri Lanka, Laos, Iraq, North Macedonia, Kenya, Morocco, Jordan, Namibia, Azerbaijan, Philippines, Cameroon, Seychelles, Mauritius, Vietnam, Antigua and Barbuda and Mali are countries that have approved Sputnik V. Image Source: Shutterstock Faith is taking the first step even when we cant see the staircase, says the Rev. Bernard Keels, dean of University Memorial Chapel at Morgan State University in Baltimore, Maryland. The staircase is quite evident now, he says with pride. People are climbing. I have asked Keels to tell me the story of Morgan State. Like many of the nations Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs), Morgan State has deep roots in the Christian faith. Within a year of Abraham Lincolns signing the Emancipation Proclamation, black leaders in Marylands Methodist Episcopal Church had already set their sights on both spiritually uplifting and educating their communities. Pastors began to meet to discuss how the church could be the catalyst for establishing a university, Keels explains. These visionaries founded the Centenary Bible Institute in 1867 with nine students and a handful of faculty members. Centenary offered the first theological training opportunity for black people in the state. The first class met at the Sharp Street Methodist Church. Education and worship have always been closely intertwined in the black community, Keels points out. However, they were both illegal for enslaved black people in America. Believers met in secret in remote areas, hush harbors, far from prying eyes. They hosted whispered worship services where they would gatherat great riskin order to honor God and encourage one another. These whispered gatherings, Keels explains, served as a springboard into planning for Historically Black Colleges and Universities. Black folks know that the origins [of HBCUs] began in faith and that faith became the primary reason for learning. Reginald Broadnax, chair of religious studies at Clinton College, an HBCU in Rock Hill, South Carolina, underscores Keelss point. Clinton, he says, has always been supported by the African Methodist Episcopal Zion (AME) church, and part of AMEs mission was education. One of Mt. Olive AME churchs first buildings was purchased because it had a back room that could be used as a school. Weve always understood education as part of the mission of our church. For its first 100 years, Lincoln University in Pennsylvania, too, primarily operated as a seminary, training black ministers. Frederick Faison, associate vice president of student success, health, and wellness and university chaplain at Lincoln, shares the schools history with me. Image: Sarah Jung Lincoln was founded as the Ashmun Institute in 1854, making it the nation's first degree-granting HBCU. Indeed, as Horace Mann Bond, Lincolns first African American president, cites in the opening chapter of his book, Education for Freedom, this was the first institution found anywhere in the world to provide a higher education in the arts and sciences for male youth of African descent. In her 2014 book On Africa's Lands, Lincoln dean Cheryl Renee Gooch tells of two free black men, James Ralston Amos and his brother, Thomas Henry Amos, who had been unable to gain admission to a university to study for the ministry, and so, together with Presbyterian minister John Miller Dickey and his wife, Sarah Emlen Cresson, they established their own school. James Amos, a gifted orator, traveled on a speaking tour to raise money for the college, and he personally went into debt to help the school gain its footing. The Amos brothers were among Lincoln's first students and graduates, and in 1859, they and their wives led missions to Liberia, where they dedicated themselves to spreading the word of Christ to Africans. The Ashmun Institute was renamed Lincoln University in honor of President Lincoln in 1866. Carrying the Faith Forward The deep connection between faith and education is found at the heart of many HBCUs, says Marybeth Gasman, the Samuel DeWitt Proctor Endowed Chair in Education at Rutgers University and founder of the University of Pennsylvanias Center for Minority Serving Institutions. They started in church basements, they started in old schoolhouses, they started in peoples homes, she says in an interview with APM Reports. [Former slaves] were hungry for learning . . . because of course, education had been kept from them. Because many black schools were founded on the idea of nurturing the soul as well as the intellect, they have fostered a sense of respect and community. Led by Hampton Institutenow Hampton Universityin Virginia, HBCUs sought out and welcomed Native American students. During World War II, HBCUs saved the lives of more than 50 German Jewish refugees, offering work visas to Jewish academics and researchers. Institutions born out of a love of God and a desire to foster community in the face of adversity have always kept their eyes on both individual success for their students and the common good. So it continues today. During his time serving as Lincoln Universitys president, Horace Bond established the chaplaincy at the school so that Lincolns spiritual heritage, which he considered its beating heart, would not be lost. Building on this legacy, Faison, the current chaplain, created a program to highlight the history of the school as a place of both faith and learning: the Lincoln University Legacy Walk. First-year students travel the Legacy Walk to special sites on campus: the chapel, the Amos home, and the famed Hosanna Church. The Hosanna Churchthe only building still standing from the Hinsonville Village, an antebellum free black communitywas the site of great moments both sacred and secular. Abolitionists Sojourner Truth and Frederick Douglass preached from the Hosanna Church pulpit. Harriet Tubman included the Hosanna Church as a station on the Underground Railroad. Faith and scholarship, the Legacy Walk teaches, have been closely tied at Lincoln from the institutions earliest days until this very day. Faison notes that the original, founding Bible verse for Lincoln University was John 8:3132: To the Jews who had believed him, Jesus said, If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free. And here we are, he says, still emancipating. Emancipation in Action Fisk University in Nashville, Tennessee, established by the American Missionary Association, wedded faith and learning from the beginning. It was a school that was founded by members of the Christian faith and that was very much part of its identity, says Jason Curry, director of religious life at Fisk. It was also a school founded for just-freed slaves just a year after the Emancipation Proclamation. At least one-third of the students at Fisk University are the first members of their immediate families to attend college. Theyre here based on faith, says Curry. For them, its faith in action to get a college degree. And here we are: still emancipating. Frederick Faison Since the late 1800s, he writes in a welcome note to students, the students, faculty, and administrators of Fisk University have been actively involved in establishing and nurturing the religious culture that currently exists in our beloved university community. Today, Fisks faculty encourages students not only to recall their biblical histories and ancestral legacies, but to participate in stewarding those histories and creating legacies for the future. The school encourages volunteering in the local community and officially recognizes it through its service learning program. Curry takes students to the Capitol to lobby for social justice initiatives alongside advocacy organization Bread for the World. For historically black schools, teaching is and always has been joined to faith and to love. Asked how her school was weathering the storm that is 2020, the Rev. Gloria Winston-Harris, director of the office of spiritual development and dialogue at North Carolina Central University, sums it all up, We are family. Thats how. The Pandemics Compounding Problems Because their focus includes the soul as well as the brain, HBCUs and the campus families they create form a great base of spiritual support in a particularly trying year, darkened by pandemic and political unrest. As Bobby Donaldson, University of South Carolina associate professor and civil rights historian, puts it, Historically Black colleges have always been what people have called a shelter in a time of storm for African Americans. They are playing that role now. The racial unrest, police brutality, and protests added another layer to the teaching experience. Not only are educators dealing with a pandemic that affects how they teach and how students learn, they are dealing with events that affected the psyche of their students, South Carolina State instructor Dante Mozie says. You have a situation now where you have to be vigilant with regards to mental health, Mozie continues. Being in this job is like being a public servant. Youre serving the communityand in particular, working at a historically black college, youre in service to the black community, to the African American community. The Rev. Herbert Brisbon II, university chaplain at Dillard University in New Orleans, purchased hundreds of journals to distribute to students so that they had a place to process cathartically. As students suffered lossloss of loved ones, loss of any sense of normalcyBrisbon found himself considering how to respond to and ease their mourning when closeness and touch were not an option. How do we navigate not being able to hug? Especially in the black tradition, [touch] is something that is paramount when it comes to grieving or even worship, he says. How do we connect? Image: Sarah Jung Brisbon has chosen to comfort Dillard students in socially distanced chapel services. He has also reinstituted a Midday Manna gathering and has established bereavement hours where students can come together in COVID-safe ways for connection, guidance, and support. Fisks Curry acknowledges that these are tough times on campus. But the big picture is, we arent going to give up, he insists. Were going to find a way to translate the message of faith this semester and in subsequent semesters. We believe what Paul said in Philippians 4:13, and were going to continue to press forward even during these challenging times. When students cannot gather safely, administrators at HBCUs bring them into virtual environments that cultivate space for their sadness, questions, and conversation. When grief abounds but hugs cannot, these chaplains and leaders do not attempt to erase the pain; rather, they acknowledge it and make space for it. They lament and lead their students to do the same. Ultimately, each of these schools invites students into ongoing spiritual formation, emancipation, and education, inspiring not only the HBCU community but all of higher education. Abby Perry is a freelance writer who lives with her husband and two sons in Texas. You can find her work at Sojourners, Texas Monthly, and Nations Media. ROME The European Union was stumbling through a Covid-19 vaccine rollout marred by shortages and logistical bungling in late March when Mario Draghi took matters into his own hands. The new Italian prime minister seized a shipment of vaccines destined for Australia and along with them, an opportunity to show that a new, aggressive and potent force had arrived in the European bloc. The move shook up a Brussels leadership that had seemed to be asleep at the switch. Within weeks, in part from his pressing and engineering behind the scenes, the European Union had authorized even broader and harsher measures to curb exports of Covid-19 vaccines badly needed in Europe. The Australia experiment, as officials in Brussels and Italy call it, was a turning point, both for Europe and Italy. It also demonstrated that Mr. Draghi, renowned as the former European Central Bank president who helped save the euro, was prepared to lead Europe from behind, where Italy has found itself for years, lagging its European partners in economic dynamism and much-needed reforms. In his short time in office he took power in February after a political crisis Mr. Draghi has quickly leveraged his European relationships, his skill in navigating E.U. institutions and his nearly messianic reputation to make Italy a player on the continent in a way it has not been in decades. 2021 Shanghai Cherry Blossom Festival closes By:Liu Xutong | From:english.eastday.com | 2021-04-15 14:53 Recently, the 2021 Shanghai Cherry Blossom Festival officially ended. During the Cherry Blossom Festival this year, the fifth detachment of the Shanghai Armed Police Corps deployed more than 100 soldiers. During weekends and the Ching Ming holiday, they were responsible for maintaining order, ensuring order in the park and safetyfor tourists. This is the seventh time this unit has undertaken the duty of the Shanghai Cherry Blossom Festival. In response to large visitor numbersand various potential emergencies, the soldiers are equipped with megaphones, sirens, life jackets, anti-riot steel forks, explosion-proof blankets, baton shields, fire extinguishers, fire blankets, anti-riot gear and rescue equipment at the sentry and standby points. They also haveanti-epidemic items such as masks, rubber gloves, protective clothing, goggles, and disinfectant. During the George Floyd riots in Minnesota last Summer, the first night or two of violence was carried out predominantly by locals. But then the professional rioters and career criminals arrived, in the person of Antifa. That seems to be happening again, as Fox News reports, with reporter Mike Tobin on the scene: Members of the violent far-left activist group Antifa identified themselves to a Fox News reporter who was on scene in Brooklyn Center, Minn., ahead of another night of unrest following the police-involved shooting of a motorist on Sunday. *** Tobinspoke to [Laura] Ingraham from inside a vehicle. I can tell you this. The makeup of the population out here certainly changed tonight. I think Sunday night it was all about the locals that were here: They were genuine and angry, he said. As it goes on, you get more people coming in from out of town. I had several people that I spoke with who identified themselves as Antifa and angrily so. So you had that crowd out here. We saw an increased number of kids wearing the uniform if you will, the black hoodies, the backpacks. I saw leaf-blowers out there, different kinds of makeshift shields and things. It was changing dramatically in terms of the makeup, and certainly the numbers of the crowd. Leaf blowers? I am told that Antifa uses leaf blowers to blow tear gas back toward law enforcement. Antifa rioters and arsonists who travel from city to city to commit crimes obviously should be prosecuted and incarcerated, but that isnt happening. They rarely are arrested, and if prosecutedrarer stillare always, as far as I have observed, let off with a slap on the wrist. That needs to change, but it certainly wont change during the Biden administration, at least not at the federal level. The Democrats smile upon Antifa as that partys shock troops, much the same function that the Ku Klux Klan played in the South long ago. This is the segment of the Laura Ingraham show on which Tobin appeared: Watch the latest video at foxnews.com I feel like this was our core community, even before we were able to build one in the Bay, and has remained true to the point where, as we were questioning whether to open this or not, we were like, We dont even have that many friends left in the Bay anymore. All of our community is up there, so why arent we there?' I still love the Bay and a huge part of my heart is in Oakland, but now it feels like I get the best of both worlds because were still down there a few times a week. Something Different The ever-changing wine selection at Bay Grape isnt what youll find at most Napa Valley wine shops. For starters, dont expect to find any of the big named Napa brands. Small producers are Bay Grapes focus, and not all local either. You can find wines from all over the world, even Georgia, Slovenia or Serbia, right alongside NorCal bottlings from brands like Matthiasson, Maitre De Chai and Carboniste. Sometimes well carry people and they end up getting big and you can find them anywhere, and thats when well move on to find the next big thing, said Baldivino. Thats part of the fun of it, the selection is never stagnant. Were always tasting and searching for the next person thats doing cool shit. U.S. Department of Labor Cites Tax Preparation Service for COVID-19 Unsafe Work Environment A Boston company owner faces high charges for not allowing employees or customers to wear masks or social distance. A tax preparation service owner in Lynn, MA was fined $136,000 for prohibiting her employees as well as customers from wearing masks on the job and social distancing. Ariana Murrell-Rosario also refused to implement other precautions in protection against COVID-19. The U.S. Department of Labors OSHA cited Murrell-Rosario for willfully failing to develop and implement measures to prevent the spread of the coronavirus. OSHA opened an investigation on March 17, 2021 for an inspection after a referral from the Executive Office of Labor and Workforce Development, according to a press release. Besides prohibiting masks and social distancing, OSHA found that Murrell-Rosario and Liberty Tax Services did not provide adequate ventilation, as well as failed to provide pre-shift screening for employees, physical barriers and cleaning to reduce the risk of spreading the disease. "This employer's willful refusal to implement basic safeguards places her employees at an increased risk of contracting and spreading the coronavirus," said OSHA Regional Administrator Galen Blanton in Boston. "Stopping the spread of this virus requires business' support in implementing COVID-19 Prevention Programs, and ensuring that staff and customers wear face coverings and maintain physical distance from each other." The company has 15 days from its receipt of citations to comply or request an informal conference with the OSHA area director to contest the findings before the Independent Commission. OSHA created a National Emphasis Program focusing on companies with a large number of workers who are at serious risk of contracting the disease and strategies for change. You can read more about the spread of COVID-19 here. The Real Time Gross Settlement (RGTS) service for fund transfers will not be available for 14 hours on April 18, the (RBI) has said. "As technical upgrade of RBI's # is scheduled after the close of business of April 17, 2021, # service will not be available from 00:00 hrs to 14.00 hrs on Sunday, April 18, 2021. #NEFT system will continue to be operational as usual during this period for #moneytransfers," the tweeted on Thursday. Under RTGS, there is continuous and real-time settlement of fund-transfers individually on a transaction-by-transaction basis without netting. It is a safe and secure system for funds transfer without any upper or maximum ceiling and is available on all days on 24x7x365 basis. Last week, the central bank had proposed to expand and NEFT facilities to non-bank payment system firms in a phased manner. The objective of the move is to encourage participation of non- across payment systems. (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.) Hyderabad, April 15 : The Research and Innovation Circle of Hyderabad (RICH) on Thursday announced the shortlist of its first cohort of start-ups, selected under the Acceleration Initiative for Diagnostics (AID) programme, designed as a multi-stakeholder alliance to identify and nurture the best start-ups in the diagnostics space. RICH-AID is aimed at building a strong ecosystem of start-ups, innovators, hospitals, clinicians and mentors to help start-ups get access to facilities, equipment and expertise, said RICH, an initiative of by the office of Principal Scientific Adviser (PSA) to the Central government and the Telangana government. According to Invest India, the medical diagnostics market in India is estimated to grow at 20.4 per cent to reach $32 billion. Covid has accelerated the need for more diagnostics across all health sectors. The programme has been developed out of a perceived need to address the challenges faced by start-ups in the rapidly growing med-tech domain-ranging from the inability to access equipment, clinical samples, and research expertise to a lack of mentorship and difficulties in outreach. It will also help boost Hyderabad, which contributes roughly 35 per cent of the country's pharmaceutical output, as the pharma capital of India. RICH-AID will leverage the existence of India's largest med-tech park, a large number of research institutions, and over 15 life science incubators and other supporting facilities set up by Telangana. "The Covid-19 pandemic has underlined the need for accelerated research in diagnostics followed by a rapid go-to-market for such innovations which can help us deal with such medical emergencies. In Hyderabad, we already have a fertile ecosystem of industry, hospitals, clinicians and mentors. With the AID programme, we hope to bring all of these together in a manner which can best help young innovators convert their ideas into viable business propositions. This cohort is just the first of many such start-ups we hope to engage with and help transform the diagnostics space not just in Hyderabad but across India," said Ajit Rangnekar, Director General, RICH. Originally announced on January 28, the AID programme saw an enthusiastic response from entrepreneurs and start-ups across the med-tech ecosystem. A total of 76 applications were received from India, Canada, the US, and South Korea. Ten of the startups were selected on the basis of a number of criteria such as solution USP, technical strength, usability and scalability, readiness, validation, fit for purpose, commercial roadmap after the entries were evaluated by a panel constituting thematic experts and industry leaders. The United States has imposed new sanctions and restrictions on Russia in response to actions by the Russian government and intelligence services against U.S. interests and sovereignty, according to an executive order issued by President Joe Biden on Thursday, April 15. "Today, President Biden signed a new sanctions executive order that provides strengthened authorities to demonstrate the Administration's resolve in responding to and deterring the full scope of Russia's harmful foreign activities," the document reads. The executive order also sends a signal that the United States will impose costs in a strategic and economically impactful manner on Russia if it continues or escalates its destabilizing international actions. This includes, in particular, efforts to undermine the conduct of free and fair democratic elections and democratic institutions in the United States and its allies and partners; engage in and facilitate malicious cyber activities against the United States and its allies and partners; foster and use transnational corruption to influence foreign governments; pursue extraterritorial activities targeting dissidents or journalists; undermine security in countries and regions important to United States national security; and violate well-established principles of international law, including respect for the territorial integrity of states. In particular, the U.S. Department of the Treasury sanctioned 32 entities and individuals carrying out Russian government-directed attempts to influence the 2020 U.S. presidential election, and other acts of disinformation and interference. "Treasury, in partnership with the European Union, the United Kingdom, Australia, and Canada, sanctioned eight individuals and entities associated with Russia's ongoing occupation and repression in Crimea," the document reads. In addition, Treasury issued a directive that prohibits U.S. financial institutions from participation in the primary market for ruble or non-ruble denominated bonds issued after June 14, 2021 by the Central Bank of the Russian Federation and provided authority for the U.S. government to expand sovereign debt sanctions on Russia as appropriate. According to the document, the Transatlantic community stands united in supporting Ukraine against unilateral Russian provocations along the Line of Contact in eastern Ukraine, in occupied Crimea, and along Ukraine's borders, as well as agreeing on the need for Russia to immediately cease its military buildup and inflammatory rhetoric. The Administration also responded to the reports that Russia encouraged Taliban attacks against U.S. and coalition personnel in Afghanistan based on the best assessments from the Intelligence Community (IC). "Given the sensitivity of this matter, which involves the safety and well-being of our forces, it is being handled through diplomatic, military and intelligence channels," the document reads. According to the executive order, the United States is expelling ten personnel from the Russian diplomatic mission in Washington, DC. "The personnel include representatives of Russian intelligence services," the executive order reads. op Name: Arve Kjoelen Organisation: McAfee Job title: Chief Information Security Officer (CISO) Date started current role: July 2019 Location: Plano, TX Arve Kjoelen is Vice President and Chief Information Security Officer at McAfee, providing strategic and day-to-day leadership to McAfees security teams. Kjoelen has 25 years of information security experience in the financial and technology industries, and well as in consulting. Prior to joining McAfee, Kjoelen was the Chief Security Officer of a Denver-based technology firm. His interests include cyber ecosystem modelling, attack modelling, and controls optimisation. Kjoelen holds both a bachelors and masters degree in Electrical Engineering. What was your first job? I started out my career working at Ross and Baruzzini, a company that provided special systems and security systems for airports. I got to survey security at some of the bigger airports around the country and was able to get experience working in both physical security and cybersecurity. How did you get involved in cybersecurity? In college, I worked in our computer lab. Sometimes for fun, we would connect to computers in different labs around campus and we could tell if students were working late and if anyone else was in the labs with them at the time. Being college students, we thought it was a fun prank to play audio files on their computers to give them a little scare. I realised it was too easy to control these computers remotely. That realisation and interest around computer security is really what piqued my interest and has lasted to this day for me. What was your education? Do you hold any certifications? What are they? I hold a Masters degree in electrical engineering from Southern Illinois University, Edwardsville. Explain your career path. Did you take any detours? If so, discuss. I spent about half of my career working in consulting roles at organisations like E&Y and Deloitte, and the other half working in industry roles for companies like Wells Fargo, CyberGRX, and now McAfee. Was there anyone who has inspired or mentored you in your career? I continue learning from some great leaders here at McAfee. In the past, I have been fortunate enough to work with Patrick Gorman, who is now at Booz Allen Hamilton. Pat is someone who has pushed me to continue to grow, apply structure, and overcome roadblocks. What do you feel is the most important aspect of your job? Im a big believer in the importance of making time to connect with people, both in and out of the organisation. There is incredible value that comes out of spending enough time with others to have everyone sync up and get on the same page, so that you can then all work independently but still be working effectively towards a common goal. Not only is this conducive to productivity, but its also good for team morale which I think has a direct impact on performance. This year especially has been especially challenging as most, if not all, of our employees are remote. Weve found things like socially distanced meet-ups outdoors and the use of videoconferencing tools help ensure were still feeling like one team and connected. I also think that fostering an environment where continued education is encouraged is really important. Especially in cybersecurity, where the landscape is constantly changing, those of us who run security organisations owe our teams the opportunity to not only stay up to date, but participate in these changes. What metrics or KPIs do you use to measure security effectiveness? Ill use a handful of different metrics for measurement. If Im measuring effectiveness then Ill use operational metrics, SOC metrics (mean time to detect and respond), and vulnerability metrics (mean time to closure). For the broader picture, it is essential to measure status and progress on enterprise risks. This is also the right type of metric to discuss with the board. Finally, to achieve more precision around our risk judgments, we are connecting the broad risk picture with the attack anatomy of specific threat scenarios. This work has made our detailed threat work traceable to specific risks and increased our confidence in our risk modelling. Is the security skills shortage affecting your organisation? What roles or skills are you finding the most difficult to fill? Like most companies in cybersecurity, we have felt the skills shortage, but have remained focused on finding the best candidates with the breadth and depth of knowledge that is important to businesses across our industry. Cloud in particular is a hot area for a lot of companies right now. Cybersecurity is constantly changing how do you keep learning? The shifts that are taking place in cybersecurity are so large, its can be difficult to keep up. There is a constant flow of new ideas and technologies around cloud, automation and virtualisation; to keep up with it, you have to spend time outside of work reading and participating in trainings. Large amounts of information is available from public sources and reports, as well as from cloud providers and from security companies. To keep learning we have to be self-aware and know where our weak spots are. What conferences are on your must-attend list? Im a big fan of the RSA Conference that takes place every year. That conference is a showcase for innovation, and if you use your time effectively at the conference, you can really come away with a good picture of whats going on in cybersecurity and where the industry is headed. What is the best current trend in cybersecurity? The worst? From my perspective, the best trend in cybersecurity right now is the drive towards integration of threats, detections and response. From a product perspective that includes a couple of areas where McAfee plays well: The EDR / XDR market, and the Threat Management market. This For the last 10 years, the industry has focused on building the biggest and best data set, but whats really important is this push towards making the technology now tell us what to do with the data. It carries a lot of promise for me. The worst is our continued inability to share some of our most important work with each other. Although ISACs and security community groups provide a level of sharing better than in the past, we have not cracked the code on how to share the details of our integrations and processes in a way that creates a rising tide that helps lift all of us. What's the best career advice you ever received? Work to understand your companys business side as well as you understand the security side. What advice would you give to aspiring security leaders? Be aware of your limitations and trust your instincts. Surround yourself with people who can compensate for your own weaknesses. What has been your greatest career achievement? Im really proud of what the security team has achieved here at McAfee. The achievement of building a mature risk management organisation and a world-class security operations function is no easy feat. The team has worked incredibly hard to optimise our tools and processes and ensure we continue to improve. Looking back with 20:20 hindsight, what would you have done differently? Looking back I think the biggest thing Id say is around connections. Our team has a great culture and dynamic, and weve definitely stayed in touch while remote with things like virtual happy hours and lunches. I do think, however, theres always room for more creativity in how you connect with people so that we arent just adding another meeting to everyones calendars. Hanois iconic Hoan Kiem Lake is adored by tourists and locals alike, but many surrounding areas are simply too full Located deep in an alley on Hang Buom street is house No.53, built over 100 years ago. Although severely degraded with many cracks appearing in the rotten walls and stairs, the 3-storey house with dozens of apartments has been the residence for nearly 200 people for many years. Nguyen Trung Truc, a resident living in an apartment on the first floor said, The house has signs of dilapidation and the entrance to the house lacks sunlight, so it is dirty and dark. When opening the door, the smell flies straight into the house. Every time it rains, the house and the yard are wet. Trucs family and the households who live here all want to have a new spacious and cleaner place, but what they worry about most is how to earn a living after moving, when their current income mainly depends on street trading in the Old Quarter. With a history of more than 1,000 years, the area is both an administrative and commercial centre and a place with great historical value, architecture, and culture. The 36 traditional craft streets represent business activities, attracting not only people in Hanoi but also people in the surrounding areas to come here for settlement. Over the years, the rapid population growth has narrowed the land fund in the Old Quarter, creating great pressure on infrastructure, causing cramped and messy conditions which, in turn, affects the urban appearance and affection of international tourists to Hanoi, and is also related to damage caused to many historical monuments. Therefore, the relocation of the population in the Old Quarter area is considered a top priority of Hanois administration in urban reconstruction and conservation of cultural heritage. According to the urban planning, 215,000 residents in Hoan Kiem, Ba Dinh, Dong Da, and Hai Ba Trung will be relocated by the end of the decade. The land fund released from relocation will be used to restore monuments, build transport systems, reconstruct urban areas, and add additional public works such as parks, squares, and car parks. Higher quality of life According to data from the 2019 Population and Housing Census, the population density in Hoan Kiem district stood at around 39,800 people per kilometre, 137 times higher than the national population density. The Old Quarter alone now boasts about 4,300 houses. On average, about 3-4 families can live together in one house. There are some houses with dozens of families, for which the living area amounts to only 0.5-1.8 square metre per person. Of the nearly 1,000 homes with a life expectancy of less than 100 years, 63 per cent are in degradation, 12 per cent are in danger, and 5 per cent are polluted. Poor and unsafe living conditions are the reason for a number of accidents, ranging from daily inconveniences to house collapses. With such high population density in a cramped area, relocation is the first solution to reduce the pressure on the inner city. People here say they are very unhappy because their current accommodation is degraded and potentially dangerous so they cannot live there for long. If a new place can ensure essential services and solve the livelihood problem, we will be ready to move, said Nguyen Manh Cuong, a resident in Cua Nam ward of Hoan Kiem district. Pham Tuan Long, Chairman of Hoan Kiem Peoples Committee said the plan to lower the population in the four districts from the current 887,000 to 672,000 by 2030 remains associated with similar projects the district has implemented over the years. In addition to regulations on the relocated people, the city also plans to prepare resettlement areas for residents. The zoning planning aims to offer the best conditions for people. I am also willing to move if I am in the clearance area. Moving to a new place, people will have better living conditions and leave land for the city to re-plan for a more beautiful capital, Long said. Preserving heritage In addition to improving the urban living environment, one of the plans goals is to develop culture and preserve heritage sites and monuments of the Old Quarter. The most visible examples of the pressure created by the high population density are the many monuments, temples, and pagodas in the area that are spoiled by restaurants and parking lots. There are even relics being requisitioned to function as stands for goods. For example, Vinh Tru Pagoda on Hang Luoc street is recognised as a famous cultural destination in the Old Quarter. For many years its facade has often been occupied by surrounding shops as a parking place, which not only affects tourists but also lessens the majesty of such ancient architecture. According to Assoc. Prof. Dr. Luong Tu Quyen from the Faculty of Urban and Rural Planning of Hanoi Architectural University, the rapid and disturbing transformation of monuments on central streets will become increasingly difficult to control. Regardless of the purpose, Quyen says, population relocation is required in inner-city planning to preserve and improve the quality of life, while promoting traditional values in the Old Quarter. However, population relocation also needs to ensure the preservation of long-term habits and livelihoods for people, he added. These plans are nothing new. Over 20 years ago the city implemented a plan to rearrange the old town and had a policy of relocating universities, hospitals, head offices of ministries, and more from the historic inner-city area. Yet today it still has not found a solution to the problem of improving long-term livelihoods. Meanwhile, thousands of households in the Old Quarter mainly depend on business and retail trading activities, leading to disagreements within the people living here. The people who are determined to stick around are mostly households close to the roads. Others that voluntarily relocate are residents living in old deteriorated houses, with an area of less than 5sq.m per person. Economic and cultural experts all say that relocation on such scale would not be easy because it relates to thousands of households of many generations, especially families who have lived for many generations in Hanois Old Quarter. The key to a successful relocation, they say, could be to solve the problem of interests between people and heritage conservation. E-commerce giant has launched $250 million Amazon Smbhav Venture Fund (the venture fund) to invest in and entrepreneurs focusing on technology innovations in SMB (small and medium business) digitization, agriculture and healthcare. The venture fund will invest in technology-led that are passionate about unlocking the possibilities of a digital India. The fund will specifically focus on encouraging the best ideas to digitize SMBs (small and medium businesses). It would drive technology-led innovation in agriculture to improve farmer productivity and enable them to bring the best of Indias farms to consumers. It would also enable universal and quality healthcare access for all using technology. The small and medium sized businesses are the engine and the lifeblood of economies and it's true in India as well. We are very passionate about trying to enable acceleration of small and medium sized businesses in fueling innovation and the economy in India, said Amazon Web Services (AWS) chief Andy Jassy, is replacing billionaire founder Jeff Bezos as Amazon.com's next chief executive officer. Building on what we did last year, I am excited to announce a brand new $250 million Amazon Smbhav Venture Fund, where we're going to help inspire more SMBs, to be able to build brand new businesses, said Jassy at Amazon Indias flagship event Smbhav which was hosted virtually. Additionally, Amazon announced plans to digitally empower and bring 1 million offline retailers and neighbourhood stores online, on the marketplace, by 2025 through the Local Shops on Amazon program. At the same event, Amazon also launched the Spotlight North East initiative to bring 50,000 artisans, weavers and small businesses online from the 8 states in the North East region of India by 2025 and to boost exports of key commodities like tea, spices and honey from the region. These new initiatives were announced during a fireside chat at Amazon Smbhav between Andy Jassy, AWS CEO and incoming CEO of Amazon, and Amit Agarwal, Global Senior VP and Country Head, They reiterated Amazons long-term commitment to unlock the infinite possibilities for India. Amit Agarwal, Global Senior VP and Country Head, Amazon India said in 2020, Amazon pledged to digitize 10 million SMBs, enable $10 billion in exports, and create 1 million jobs by 2025. Through our initiatives, we are committed to be a catalyst and a partner in unlocking the possibilities for a Digital India, and realize the vision of an Aatmanirbhar Bharat as put forth by the Honble PM (Modi), said Agarwal. The launch of Amazon Smbhav Venture Fund aims to attract the best ideas and empower entrepreneurs in the country to partner in this vision. Additionally, our initiatives to onboard 1 million offline shops on Amazon.in and digitally empower the North East region will accelerate the progress towards a digital and self-reliant India. In the SMB sector, through the Venture Fund, Amazon will invest in technology that digitize SMBs for demand access, efficient operations and supply chain efficiency. The Venture Fund will independently invest in startups, building solutions to empower SMBs to launch, manage, and grow their business online, automate and digitize their operations. It would expand its business globally by exporting to customers worldwide. These investments will help seed and scale up innovation in the sector. Two additional focus areas will be agriculture and healthcare. In the Agri-tech sector, the Venture Fund aims to invest in Indian startups that are using technology to bring the best produce to consumers. This includes making agri-inputs more accessible to farmers, provide tailored agronomy solutions to farmers to improve productivity. Other such elements include distributing credit and insurance to farmers or reducing food waste by building efficient farm to fork supply chains. In the healthcare sector, the Venture Fund aims to invest in Indian startups that are using technology for doctor assistance, telemedicine and e-diagnosis. It includes AI-powered treatment recommendations or digitizing operations of healthcare providers such as independent primary care clinics, diagnostic labs, pharmacy value chain or speciality doctor clinics for improving access to a wider patient base agnostic of physical geographic location. Additionally, the Venture Fund will continue to invest in technology start-ups focusing on other sectors and themes as well where we can positively influence the livelihoods of SMBs. Towards this objective and as part of the Venture Fund, Amazon announced an investment in M1xchange a startup focusing on invoice discounting marketplace exchange for MSMEs (Micro Small and Medium Enterprises) established under the TReDS license (Trade Receivables Discounting System license). M1xchange connects MSMEs with banks & financiers (and vice versa) through the marketplace exchange and the MSME is able to assign its invoice dues to a bank or financier and receive financing at better rates; thereby, solving the payments challenge for MSMEs. Amazon is also onboarding 1 million offline retailers and neighbourhood stores by 2025. As part of its commitment to digitize SMBs in India, Amazon will onboard 1 million offline retailers and neighbourhood stores by 2025 through the Local Shops on Amazon programme. Amazon had launched the Local Shops on Amazon program to help bring offline retailers and neighbourhood stores online and supplement footfalls at their stores with a digital presence on Amazon.in. The programme has scaled rapidly and in less than one year, has more than 50,000 retailers in 450 cities across India. To help the discovery of the unique local selection offered by these stores for customers, Amazon will launch a dedicated storefront on its marketplace which customers can access in regional languages and also encourage the participation of these local stores in onsite sale events. To enable additional revenue streams for them, Amazon will also provide them opportunities to be part of programs like I Have Space for last-mile deliveries and Amazon Easy for assisted shopping. Another initiative, the Spotlight North East initiative is designed to boost the local economy, create jobs and accelerate financial inclusion and empowerment of women and the tribal community across the North-Eastern region of India. The programme aims to bring the benefits of e-commerce to 50,000 weavers, artisans, a majority from the tribal communities, and local small businesses including offline neighbourhood stores across the region by 2025 by enabling them access to technology and customers. Amazon will focus on bringing more than 5000 unique crafts, Geographical Indication (GI) products and other local products to its India marketplace. To showcase unique GI products and hidden gems like Chakshesang Shawls from Nagaland, Muga Silk from Assam, different types of weaves like Moirang Phee from Manipur, varieties of teas and spices like the Mizo Chilli. Amazon will launch a dedicated North East storefront on its marketplace. The firm said it will enable the participation of artisans and weavers from the region in key sale events through the year to help generate demand for their products. At launch, Amazon is partnering with government organizations including TRIFED and NEHHDC to engage, skill and digitally enable artisan and weaver communities across the region. Additionally, with its e-commerce exports program, Amazon Global Selling, the company will help boost exports of special agri-commodities from the North East like tea, honey, and spices to Amazon customers worldwide. Overall, the above three commitments are a further step in Amazons pledge of digitizing 10 million SMBs, enabling $10 billion in exports from India, and creating 1 million jobs by 2025 made during the previous edition of Amazon Smbhav in January 2020. Doodnath Maharaj was the general secretary of the Oilfields Workers Trade Union for nearly two decades. This is out of a total of 40 years service. He was a dedicated and loyal comrade who did his best work away from the limelight. Indeed, he shunned it, embodying a self-effacing personality that was deeply mystifying to many who came to know him. Source: Xinhua| 2021-04-15 18:10:49|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close NAIROBI, April 15 (Xinhua) -- Kenya's anti-terrorism police said Thursday they have arrested two women who had sneaked into the country with a cache of arms and ammunition. Head of anti-terrorism police unit (ATPU) John Gachomo said the weapons, which included an M4 sniper rifle with an effective range of 500 meters, four pistols, close-quarter Uzi automatic submachine gun capable of firing 600 rounds per minute and 3,700 bullets of different caliber were seized on Wednesday evening during an operation. Gachomo said the two women, who hold dual U.S. citizenship and live in Nairobi's Dagoretti Corner area, will be arraigned in court on Thursday. "We are still yet to know the motive of the two but we are investigating the issue," he said on the phone, adding that the weapons have been taken to experts for ballistic examination. He added the weapons seem to have been illegally imported into the country for terror activities. This comes in the wake of police revelations that they have been thwarting efforts by al-Shabab militants to attack critical installations and learning institutions in the country. Enditem The United States will announce sanctions against Russia on Thursday in retaliation for alleged election interference and hacking, American media reported. Tensions have escalated between the two countries in recent months over a raft of issues, most recently over Russia amassing troops on its border with Ukraine. The sanctions will affect more than 30 Russian entities and will include expelling more than 10 Russians from the United States, including diplomats, the Wall Street Journal reported, citing sources. The diplomats will be targeted as punishment over allegations, denied by Russia, that it offered to pay militants in Afghanistan to kill American military personnel, the newspaper said. The executive order will also expand an existing ban on US banks trading in Russian government debt. Washington is also set to formally accuse Russian intelligence of carrying out the SolarWinds hack that targeted more than 100 US companies and 18,000 government and private computer networks. The president of Microsoft, one of the companies targeted, has said the sophistication and scale of the SolarWinds attack was on a level not previously seen. Russia has denied carrying out the attack. Together with Britain, Australia, Canada and the European Union, the United States will also sanction eight individuals and entities over the occupation of Crimea, the Journal reported. The sanctions come at a difficult time for US-Russia relations. US President Joe Biden and Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin held a phone call Tuesday in which they agreed to "continue dialogue", after Biden last month described Putin as a "killer" who would "pay a price" for election meddling. US intelligence has previously said Putin and other senior officials "were aware of and probably directed" Russia's influence operation to sway the vote in the 2020 election in favor of Donald Trump. More recently a Russian troop build-up on the border with Ukraine -- where Kiev's forces have been battling pro-Russian separatists since 2014 -- has sparked widespread alarm and warnings from NATO. axn/reb US president Joe Biden has announced sanctions against a number of Russian officials and ordered the immediate expulsion of ten diplomats from the country, following allegations of election interference and hacking. The measures, announced jointly with the UK, target 32 blacklisted entities and individuals from Russian technology and construction forms, according to reports, amid mounting tensions. The sanctions come in response to the SolarWinds breach that was identified in December. The US government said for the first time on Thursday that that the hack, which affected at least 100 private-sector businesses and nine federal agencies, was carried out by Russia. The UKs foreign secretary, Dominic Raab, also accused Russia of hacking on Thursday, saying the UK stood with the US. "The UK and US are calling out Russia's malicious behaviour, to enable our international partners and businesses at home to better defend and prepare themselves against this kind of action, said Mr Raab. He added that the two "will continue to work with allies to call out Russia's malign behaviour where we see it." The US had last month warned of seen and unseen responses to the attack, alleging that Russian president Vladimir Putin authorised attempts to swing the 2020 US presidential election in favour of Donald Trump. US intelligence officials said in a report last month that Mr Putin sought to influence the 2020 election by spreading misleading information about Joe Biden. Russia termed the allegations baseless. On Thursday, Russian officials warned of retaliation for the round of sanctions, also targeting eight people and entities tied to the occupation of Crimea. The actions come amid an already frosty relationship between the US and Russia. Last month, the US imposed sanctions on seven senior Russian officials and 14 entities over the poisoning of opposition leader Alexei Navalny. Anthony Blinken, the US secretary of state, said in a statement on Thursday: "These actions are intended to hold Russia to account for its reckless actions. We will act firmly in response to Russian actions that cause harm to us or our allies and partners. Mr Biden had warned in an interview with ABC News that the Russian president will pay a price for efforts to interfere in the elections. Asked if Mr Putin was a killer, Mr Biden said, I do. Soon after, Russia called its US ambassador back to Moscow but did not give specific reasons for Anatoly Antonovs return. Russian foreign ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova said at the time: The main thing for us is to determine the ways in which the difficult Russian-American relations that Washington has led into a dead end in recent years could be rectified. In a call with Mr Putin on Tuesday, Mr Biden proposed a summit meeting in a third country in the coming months to discuss the full range of issues facing the US and Russia. He also told the Russian president that the US will act firmly in defence of its national interests in response to Russias actions, such as cyber intrusions and election interference, according to a White House readout of the call. Mr Blinken added that "Where possible, the United States will also seek opportunities for cooperation with Russia, with the goal of building a more stable and predictable relationship consistent with US interests." On a summer afternoon nearly four years ago, Maryam Muhammet thought her familys long journey to freedom was almost complete. The Uyghur woman had arrived in Istanbul from Egypt weeks prior with her two sons, a toddler and an infant, after fleeing the Chinese region of Xinjiang. Her husband had not yet joined the family in Turkey. The couple had heard from others in their community that Egyptian immigration officialsostensibly acting at the behest of the Chinese governmentwere hassling Uyghur men as they left, so they decided he would come later, on his own. This year's race marks the 40 th Anniversary of the Run for Clean Air, which has long been the Greater Philadelphia region's largest Earth Day celebration. The virtual 10K and 5K races give runners the freedom and flexibility to safely participate from anywhere they like while still showing their support for the Clean Air Council and a healthier environment. The run is a celebration of sustainable and healthy neighborhoods, clean air and improvements to the region's overall environmental health. "The first Run for Clean Air took place 40 years ago as a 5K trail run through the Wissahickon Valley Park and has since grown and evolved to become the Philadelphia area's leading Earth Day event," Joseph Otis Minott, Esq., Clean Air Council's Executive Director and Chief Counsel. "This year, that evolution continues as we host our second virtual run, giving runners everywhere a chance to safely hit the pavement amidst the COVID-19 world we still find ourselves in, celebrating all that we've accomplished for our environment in the last four decades while recognizing how much more work we have to do." Runners should register by March 28 to receive their shirt and medal in time for race day. Runners can complete their virtual races any time from April 17th through April 25th and from anywhere, but they're encouraged to take part in Earth Day celebrations by running and logging their time on April 17, 2021. Times posted that day will be included in Clean Air Council's live race day results broadcast. Runners are encouraged to share their training and runs with other avid runners and environmentalists by using the hashtag #runforcleanair on social media. "For the last eight years, Toyota and the Tri-State Toyota Dealers have partnered with Clean Air Council to celebrate Earth Day with the Run for Clean Air. We are proud to present this year's virtual run again, as the Clean Air Council continues to ensure everyone's safety while running for clean air. This event aligns with Toyota's ongoing commitment to be a leader in the alternative fuel segment and develop vehicles that help reduce carbon emissions. We want to congratulate all runners taking part in this year's virtual race and congratulate the Clean Air Council on the 40th Anniversary of this great event," said Paul Muller, President of the Tri-State Toyota Dealers Association. All virtual runners and walkers will receive a race shirt and finisher medal, which for the first time this year is also a Run for Clean Air Bluetooth speaker medal. Sign up and more information available here -- https://cleanair.org/run/virtual/ About Clean Air Council Clean Air Council is a member- supported, non-profit environmental organization dedicated to protecting everyone's right to a healthy environment. For more information about Clean Air Council, visit www.cleanair.org. Contact: Katie Edwards (215) 567-4004 ext. 102 SOURCE Clean Air Council Related Links cleanair.org Leading global PV and smart energy total solutions provider Trina Solars total volume of the orders for its distributed products Vertex S 500W and Vertex S 405W has surpassed 2 GW. The products, with high reliability and power generation efficiency, have been well received all over the world. In addition, the first batch of the Vertex S modules have arrived in Europe recently for mass installation in thousands of project sites. Trina Solar first exhibited Vertex S 405W and Vertex S 500W at the largest solar energy exhibition for residential and commercial segments in China, attracting wide attention. And as early as February 2020, the company launched the distributed Vertex 500W module based on 210 technology, as MBB, non-destructive cutting and high-density cell interconnection, which was warmly welcomed by the market as soon as it was unveiled. In November 2020, to meet the huge demand in the distributed market, Trina Solar launched the new series Vertex S, a new generation of high-efficiency PV modules specifically designed for distributed residential and commercial rooftop applications. The product follows the 210 mm cell technology, with output power exceeding 405W+ and module conversion rate over 21.1 per cent. Compared with traditional residential modules in the market, Vertex S features high reliability and high efficiency but small size and light weight, and presents flexible installation, good system adaptation, easy transportation, and environmental friendliness. With its diverse exterior design, it also supports more options to meet the diverse needs of both residential and commercial customers. According to calculations, on a 10 m by 5 m pitched roof, installed capacity can achieve 10.935 kW with Vertex S 450W modules, but only 10.125 kW with the 166mm 6 x 10 version of 375W modules. Much faster and more economical, with Vertex 500W module, as measured, the installed capacity increases by 11 per cent and 22 per cent respectively compared to competitors 450W and 410W PV modules, with the same area. The 500W module can achieve a maximum power of 510w+ and a maximum efficiency of 21.2 per cent, saving RMB 0.08 yuan per watt, making it an excellent choice for distributed applications. Because of their significant advantages, Trina Solars Vertex 500W and Vertex S have gone to the distributed market all over the world, recently arriving the Europe. Since the second half of 2020, the cumulative orders for Trina Solar's 210 mm distributed products have topped 2GW. Gonzalo de la Vina, Head of European Module Business at Trina Solar, said: We are experiencing strong market growth across Europe, thanks to the increasing momentum of renewable energy adoption. Vertex S is designed specifically for the European rooftop market and is a versatile solution for residential and commercial applications. Leveraging the advantages of Vertex S via our strong distribution network as well as commercial and industrial customers, Trina Solar is perfectly placed to meet the needs of the European residential and C&I market. To support the demands from the distributed market, Trina Solar has established an extensive network of distribution partners across the region. Likewise, the Companys strong regional sales and service teams, locating in all major markets, are committed to serving customers with products of high reliability and service of high quality. Tradearabia News Service The United States announced sanctions and the expulsion of 10 Russian diplomats Thursday in retaliation for what Washington says is the Kremlin's US election interference, a massive cyberattack and other hostile activity. President Joe Biden's broadside against Russia came the same week as he offered to meet President Vladimir Putin for their first summit -- an idea he reiterated in a speech Thursday, explaining that despite the sanctions it was now "time to deescalate." Washington is "not looking to kick off a cycle of escalation and conflict with Russia," Biden said, calling the sanctions "proportionate." In his executive order, the Democratic president widened restrictions on US banks trading in Russian government debt, expelled 10 diplomats who include alleged spies, and sanctioned 32 individuals accused of meddling in the 2020 presidential election. Biden's order "sends a signal that the United States will impose costs in a strategic and economically impactful manner on Russia if it continues or escalates its destabilizing international action," the White House said in a statement. The Kremlin said Thursday that sanctions would not "help" momentum for a summit and the Russian foreign ministry warned a Russian riposte was "inevitable." The latest tension comes against a backdrop of long-term anger in Washington at Russian election meddling and worries both in the United States and its European allies over Russia's recent troop build-up on the border of Ukraine. The almost fatal poisoning and ongoing imprisonment of Alexei Navalny, who is effectively the last open political opponent to Putin, has further spiked concerns in the West. A senior US official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told reporters that Washington was ready to impose more measures if necessary and also that additional actions are already in place but "will remain unseen." Story continues Despite this, Biden stressed he wanted to work with Russia and that a summit could allow them to "launch a strategic stability dialogue" on a host of global issues, ranging from Covid-19 to Iran's nuclear program. On Ukraine, however, Biden said he'd "strongly urged" Putin "to refrain from any military action" and he "affirmed US support for the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine." After Donald Trump's mixed signals to Russia -- and accusations that the Republican even seemed intent on shielding Putin from criticism -- the Democratic chair of the Senate foreign relations committee cheered Biden's approach. "It is reassuring and frankly a relief to have a president willing to clearly call Putin what he is -- a killer, a military aggressor in Ukraine, a source of malign influence, a cyber threat," Senator Bob Menendez said. - Allies back up US - The sanctions are designed to hurt Russia's economy by making it harder to raise money on international markets. Starting June 14, US banks will be barred from buying government bonds directly from the Russian central bank, the finance ministry or sovereign wealth fund. The White House statement explaining its actions listed in first place Moscow's "efforts to undermine the conduct of free and fair democratic elections and democratic institutions in the United States and its allies and partners." This referred to allegations that Russian intelligence agencies mounted persistent disinformation and dirty tricks campaigns during the 2016 and 2020 presidential elections, in part to help Trump's candidacies. The White House said the sanctions likewise respond to "malicious cyber activities against the United States and its allies," referring to the massive so-called SolarWinds hack of US government computer systems last year. For the first time, the US government named the Russian foreign intelligence service, the SVR, as the organizer of the attack. The SVR called the accusation "nonsense." The White House statement also called out Russia's "targeting" of dissidents and journalists on foreign soil. In addition, the Department of Treasury, together with Australia, Britain and Canada, sanctioned eight individuals and entities associated with Russia's occupation of Crimea in Ukraine. US allies responded with a carefully choreographed show of support. In Brussels, the NATO military alliance said US allies "support and stand in solidarity with the United States" against Russia's "sustained" hostility. The European Union also issued a statement expressing "solidarity with the United States on the impact of malicious cyber activities." The US ambassador to Russia, John Sullivan, said that at a "professional and respectful" meeting at the foreign ministry in Moscow he told officials of Washington's intention to hold the government "accountable for its adversarial actions." Britain's Foreign Office said it had summoned the Russian ambassador to complain about Moscow's "malign activity." burs-sms/bfm Purchase online access to The Chronicle-News E-edition and everything you need to stay informed about Trinidad, southeastern Colorado, Raton and northeastern New Mexico. You gain full access to The Chronicle-News website, archives, classifieds, obituaries and announcements, weather, state and national news and multimedia presentations including photos, video and more. Online access can be purchased for fixed time periods from one day ($0.99) up to one year ($72). Online access is not a recurring transaction. You will need to manually renew your subscription at the end of its term. said on Thursday it will ramp up efforts to promote a homegrown charging technology for (EVs) as an international standard, as the country plans to penetrate deeper into the growing sector. The Korean Agency for Technology and Standards held a virtual meeting with experts from home and abroad to further foster the technology for EVs with a capacity of 50 kilowatts, according to the Ministry of Trade, Industry, and Energy. proposed the technology as a global standard to the International Electrotechnical Commission last year, reports Yonhap news agency. The technology will allow EVs to be charged up to 80 per cent of their capacity within an hour. The agency said the technology proposed by holds more potential compared with that suggested by Japan, whose charging capacity stands at 11 kW. The country, meanwhile, is also carrying out studies to find a breakthrough to have cars charged while driving. The technology is expected to be first applied on buses that run on fixed routes before being available in other automobiles. The agency believes the development can lead to stronger demand for EVs once commercialized. The Moon Jae-in administration has been pushing to foster the industry for EVs in line with its green energy policy. South Korea plans to have eco-friendly cars, including hydrogen fuel cell cars, take up 30 per cent of the total automobiles registered in the country by 2030, rising sharply from the current estimate of 3 per cent. --IANS na/ (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.) India and the European Union (EU) will meet on 29 April, ahead of next months India-European Leaders Summit, with the aim of finalizing some of the deliverables from the summit, a person familiar with the matter said. Preparations are on for Prime Minister Narendra Modis visit on 8 May to Lisbon, where he is to meet the heads of state and government of EU countries. With covid-19 cases surging in the country, two other people in the know of the matter said PM Modi was at present focused on the pandemic situation in the country, and did not comment on whether the leaders summit would take place virtually or in person, with Modi travelling to Portugal. Preparations are, however, under way for the summit, one of the people cited above said. We are looking to close" an agreement on investment during the summit, the first person cited above said. Talks on the proposed pact are expected to take place on 29 April between Union trade minister Piyush Goyal and the executive vice-president and Commissioner for Trade Vladis Dombrovskis. The mechanism was set up during the July 2020 India-EU summit held virtually. Subscribe to Mint Newsletters * Enter a valid email * Thank you for subscribing to our newsletter. BERLIN With less than six months to go before Germans cast their ballots for a new chancellor, the political vacuum Angela Merkel leaves behind after 16 years of consensus-oriented leadership is coming more sharply into focus. A rare and rancorous power struggle has gripped Germanys conservatives this week as two rivals vie to replace her, threatening to further hobble her Christian Democratic Union, which is already sliding in the polls. Normally, Armin Laschet, 60, who was elected in January to lead the party, would almost assuredly be the heir apparent to Ms. Merkel. Instead, he finds himself unexpectedly pitted against his biggest rival, Markus Soder, the more popular head of a smaller, Bavaria-only party, the Christian Social Union, in a kind of conservative family feud. Experts and party members alike are calling for the dispute to be resolved within the coming days, as it risks damaging the reputation of the two conservative parties, jointly referred to as the Union. Because the two parties operate as one on the national stage, they must choose one candidate for chancellor. NTU Preliminary financial results for 3 months of 2021 In March, Novaturas Group resumed flights from Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia to Tenerife and Egypt. From Vilnius airport plains took off to United Arab Emirates and Maldives. During March, the Company served 6.4 thousand customers 18% more than in the corresponding period last year. If compared to 2019, the number of customers served in March 2021 reached half the number of customers served in 2019. In total, during January - March, the Company served 8.9 thousand customers - 71% less than last year and 78% less than in 2019. Group revenue in March amounted to EUR 4.1 million and was 6% lower than the same time last year and 59% lower than in 2019. Cumulative January - March turnover reached EUR 5.5 million and was 76% and 81% lower than the corresponding time last year and in 2019. "March 2021 has been noted by two positive aspects - we have finished refunding our travelers for the trips that have been cancelled due to the pandemic, and we have served 18% more customers than during same month last year. If compared revenues we have generated this March and in March 2019, we are only 6% behind. These achieved results might look modest if compared with operational and financial results generated in 2019, but in today's context it is a big step forward towards more sustainable planning, says Audrone Keinyte, Head of Novaturas Group. In April, the Company have resumed flights from all the Baltics to the most popular summer holiday destination - Turkey. The first plane took off from Vilnius on the 1st of April the earliest of all the Baltics. Flights from Tallinn have started on the 3d of April, and plains from Riga will take off on the 21st of April. Winter holiday programs to Egyptian resorts and Tenerife are also continued in April. Flights to other popular summer destination Greece is planned to start in May if the epidemiological situation is in favor. About Novaturas Group AB Novaturas Group is the largest tour operator in the Baltic States, offering summer and winter package holidays in more than 30 destinations worldwide and more than 100 sightseeing routes. In 2019, the group served more than 293 thousand customers. CFO Tomas Staskunas tomas.staskunas@novaturas.lt, +370 687 10426 (Natural News) In an April 4 letter he sent to the Spring 2021 virtual meeting of the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF), Pope Francis officially called for a new system of global governance and universal vaccines to cure the Wuhan coronavirus (Covid-19) and other pressing problems. The letter, which only mentions God once, talks about the pressing need to confront a series of grave and interrelated socio-economic, ecological, and political crises. It mentions vaccines three different times while segueing in and out of topics related to climate change. We are, in fact, in debt to nature itself, as well as the people and countries affected by human-induced ecological degradation and biodiversity loss, Francis claims. Replete with language that sounds as though it was ripped right from the pages of World Economic Forum (WEF) head Klaus Schwabs Great Reset manifesto, Francis letter advocates for a green financial agenda to replace the current financial system. Throughout his eight-year tenure as pope, Francis has addressed the WEF directly on four separate occasions. He also allowed the Vatican to hold a roundtable event at WEFs annual Swiss conference site in Davos. Francis would like to see a justly financed vaccine solidarity meaning equitable vaccine distribution for the Chinese virus worldwide in order to fulfill the law of love and the health of all. Francis also mentions in his letter the secular fraternity outlined in his recent encyclical Fratelli Tutti. Here, I reiterate my call to government leaders, businesses and international organizations to work together in providing vaccines for all, especially for the most vulnerable and needy, Francis writes. Pope Francis wants a one-world government now Just prior to the letters issuance, Francis issued a call for a new world order, arguing that the world should operate under a single globalist system of governance. There remains an urgent need for a global plan that can create new or regenerate existing institutions, particularly those of global governance, and help to build a new network of international relations for advancing the integral human development of all peoples, he maintains. Not once is Jesus Christ mentioned in Francis letter, nor is the Roman Catholic Church. The letters last line mentions God in a casual sign-off from the other topics that dominate its contents. Under Francis proposed model of recovery from the Chinese Virus, world governments should seek to generate new, more inclusive and sustainable solutions to support the real economy and the universal common good. The world must not, Francis says, return to an unequal and unsustainable model of economic and social life, where a tiny minority of the worlds population owns half of its wealth. One way world leaders can accomplish this, Francis says, is to eliminate the debt burden on the worlds poorest nations. Relieving the burden of debt of so many countries and communities today is a profoundly human gesture that can help people to develop, to have access to vaccines, health, education and jobs, he says. According to Eric LeCompte of the Jubilee USA Network, 56 percent of all countries in the world are either already in a debt crisis or are on the verge of one. African nations are suffering the most, with 14 of them vulnerable to default and nine others already in default or on the verge of it. Because of the debt trap and the pandemic, were facing the worst losses in development in the last 50 years, LeCompte is quoted as saying. To learn more about how the Wuhan coronavirus (Covid-19) is a ploy to usher the world into a new globalist order, be sure to check out Pandemic.news. Sources for this article include: TheNationalPulse.com NaturalNews.com AmericaMagazine.org TBILISI. The welcoming ceremony for Armenias President Armen Sarkissian, who has arrived in Georgia on an official visit, was held Thursday with the honor guard at the residence of the President of Georgia, the Armenian News-NEWS.am correspondent reports from Tbilisi. Also, the national anthems of Armenia and Georgia were performed by the military orchestra. After the official welcoming ceremony, the Armenian President made a note in the book of honorary guests of the Presidential Palace of Georgia. "I express my sincere satisfaction to be in neighboring and friendly Georgia again today at the invitation of Georgian President Salome Zourabichvili. I am confident that based on the results of the visit, we will further strengthen the friendship of our two peoplesfor the benefit of our future generations," the Armenian President wrote. Subsequently, a private conversation took place between Armen Sarkissian and Salome Zourabichvili. They discussed the agenda of bilateral relations, the opportunities for expanding cooperation, and regional issues and developments. An extended meeting is also expected. In the evening, an official dinner will be served in honor of Armenias President and his wife, Nouneh Sarkissian, on behalf of Salome Zourabichvili. In recent weeks, the first local health professionals have been given their Pfizer Covid-19 vaccine jabs. Among the first was the Silverdale Medical team. Dr Isabelle Duck says she got her jab on March 13 in the city. The process was well organised and quick, she says. There was a temperature check and a consent form to sign. Afterwards we were monitored for 30 minutes. I have had no side effects and was able to continue my weekend as normal. Dr Duck says there are several reasons why she got the vaccine. This vaccine helps to protect me from the illness. Yes, there is a small chance I may still get this infection, but the data suggest that if I were to become infected, I would most likely get milder symptoms. In addition to this, having been vaccinated, I am less likely to spread the infection, and am therefore protecting others. There will be a small number of people who cannot be vaccinated, such as those with allergies to components of the vaccine. However, it is recommended that everyone who can get the vaccine, gets it. We need to do this in order to protect those who cant, she says. Back stories March 17, 2021 A Keele researcher will embark on a two-year study to identify affordable treatments to help children living with spinal muscular atrophy. Dr Melissa Bowerman, of Keele University's School of Medicine, has been awarded 99,959 by theAcademy of Medical Science's Springboard grant schemeto continue her research into treatments for the devastating childhood disease. To undertake the study, Dr Bowerman will collaborate with Professor Kevin Talbot, Professor of Motor Neuron Biology and Head of the Nuffield Department of Clinical Neurosciences at the University of Oxford. Spinal muscular atrophy (SMA) is the most common neuromuscular disorder leading to infant mortality and is caused by the loss of function of the survival motor neuron (SMN) gene, which leads to the death of nerve and muscle cells. Although the first SMN gene replacement therapies have been approved, unfortunately they do not completely cure the disease and success is dependent on a range of factors such as age and disease severity. Furthermore, SMN gene replacement therapies are extremely expensive, which has limited their availability to patients worldwide, including in the UK. This study will evaluate the therapeutic potential of three commercially available drug candidates with the aim of providing affordable treatments that can complement existing therapies. Ultimately, Dr Bowerman's aim is to develop muscle-specific therapies that can be combined with existing SMN gene replacement treatments to improve the health of all SMA patients. IF YOU need evidence that the Democratic administration in Washington is hostile to the Granite State, look no further than its disposition toward our states lawsuit against Massachusetts over the Bay States bad faith policy of imposing its income tax on New Hampshire telecommuters who bot Flag carrier Oman Air has expanded its codeshare cooperation with Qatar Airways, offering Oman Air guests the flexibility to fly to 10 destinations in the US by connecting flights in Doha, Qatar. Now within easier reach from Muscat are New York (JFK), Houston (IAH), Chicago (ORD), Philadelphia (PHL), Los Angeles (LAX), Miami (MIA), Dallas (DFW), Boston (BOS), San Francisco (SFO), and Washington, D.C. (IAD). Oman Air Chief Executive Officer Engineer Abdulaziz Al Raisi commented on Oman Airs growing commercial cooperation with Qatar Airways as a win-win for both carriers, offering greater flexibility and seamless connectivity for business and leisure travellers flying between Muscat and the US, adding: Our enhanced codeshare agreement with Qatar Airways, an airline with remarkable reach and reputation around the world, facilitates travel between Oman and some of the most celebrated cities in the US while at the same time offering travellers from North America an easy way to connect to Omans breathtaking beauty, rich and diverse culture, and authentic hospitality. Commercial cooperation between Oman Air and Qatar airways began in 2000 with the aim to significantly increase the number of destinations available to guests of both airlines. To date, Oman Air guests can fly to sixty six (66) additional points on the Qatar Airways network across Africa, the Americas, Asia Pacific, Europe, India, and the Middle East. Qatar Airways passengers will also benefit from additional connectivity, with the ability to book travel on eight new destinations across Africa and Asia in Oman Airs network. - TradeArabia News Service She has been catching up on beauty treatments, ever since salons reopened on Monday. And Lizzie Cundy showed off the results of her swanky pampering sessions as she stepped out in London on Thursday for a quick bite to eat. The TV personality, 52, looked as glamorous as ever in a fur-look stole and faux leather jeans as she sipped on champagne and made the most of al fresco dining at Harrods in Knightsbridge. Wow: Lizzie Cundy looked as glamorous as ever in a fur-look stole and faux leather jeans on Thursday as she sipped on champagne and enjoyed al fresco dining at Harrods in Knightsbridge She completed the look with a leopard print top, black jacket and leather boots for added height. Lizzie rocked full coverage make-up and styled her caramel tresses in voluminous loose waves, while protecting her eyes from the sun with reflective shades. The mother-of-two took a quick moment away from her meal to talk to someone on the phone, right outside the luxury department store. Lizzie's outing comes after she was one of the first in the country queuing up to have a post-lockdown makeover as businesses reopened on Monday. Foot candy: The TV personality, 52, completed her look with a leopard print top, black jacket and leather boots for added height The media star dressed up for the occasion in a silver sequin mini dress as she arrived at The Lisa Harris Skin Science clinic in Weybridge for the pamper session. Lizzie put on a leggy display in the silver mini dress which she teamed with glittering heels. The former WAG enhanced her sun-kissed glow with a smokey eye and styled her ombre locks in relaxed loose waves. While many will wait until the retail and beauty sectors reopen on Monday morning, Lizzie decided to venture out into the depths of night to mark the celebration. Preened to perfection: Lizzie rocked full coverage make-up and styled her caramel tresses in voluminous loose waves, while protecting her eyes from the sun with reflective shades The radio presented looked delighted as she cut a big red bow before heading inside for her treatments. Lizzie has been keeping her social media followers entertained during the UK's third lockdown by posting gorgeous selfies to her Instagram. While her snaps have gone down a treat with her friends, the former WAG admitted her sons Josh, 25, and James, 21, have sometimes felt embarrassed by their mother's sultry shots. The TV star recently said: 'I know sometimes my sons put their head in their hands with the pictures I post.' Dr Julian Tang, a virologist, said if you can smell someone's breath you are too close Britons should use the 'garlic-breath distance' measurement to work out whether they are at risk of catching coronavirus, an expert said today. Dr Julian Tang, a virologist at Leicester University, warned people were standing close enough for the virus to jump between them if they could smell each other's breath. 'The way this virus transmits is really through conversational distance, within one metre,' he told Sky News. 'When you're talking to a friend or sharing the same air as you're listening to your friend talking, we call it the garlic-breath distance. 'So if you can smell your friend's lunch you're inhaling some of that air as well as any virus that's inhaled with it.' Dr Tang added the Government's slogan 'hands, face, space, fresh air' was sending the wrong message about how the virus spreads. At the start of the pandemic, experts thought the risk of getting infected was mainly from touching contaminated surfaces such as ATMs and petrol pumps. But evidence now suggests the SARS-CoV-2 virus is airborne, with infected patients emitting contagious particles when they cough, sneeze, talk or breathe. HOW IS COVID SPREAD AND WHAT TRIGGERS AN INFECTION? At the start of the pandemic, experts warned Covid was mostly spread through fomites - clothes, utensils and objects likely to carry the virus. They suggested an infection could be triggered by touching these and then placing a hand to the mouth, nose or eyes. But now evidence suggests the risk from this action is tiny - less than five in 10,000 according to one paper - and the US CDC says it is no longer the main route of transmission. Instead, scientists believe, the disease is mainly airborne which makes it much harder to contain. The World Health Organization says SARS-CoV-2, the virus causing the pandemic, is mainly spread through droplets expelled through sneezes, coughs and even talking. The droplets, which contain saliva, mucous and other substances from the airways including viruses, are larger than pure air particles. After being released from the body they travel short distances before falling to the floor, which is why social distancing is so crucial. Some experts have also suggested aerosols - lighter particles released in breath and when someone talks - are the major driver. It is for this reason that scientists are advising face masks are essential, to block the spread of particles, meaning fewer are put into the atmospher and able to be picked up. They add that ventilation is key indoors to keep fresh air circulating and ensure these droplets don't build up. Advertisement Dr Tang criticised No10's official slogan when it was unveiled last month, accusing ministers of misinforming people over how the virus spreads. 'I think the emphasis is wrong. So the message "hands, face, space", we think should be really "space, space, hands",' he said. The virologist also echoed other experts saying lockdown had been the driving force behind tumbling Covid cases and deaths. 'At the moment the lockdown is causing the main impact in terms of the reduction in cases and deaths,' he said. 'The vaccine roll-out is very rapid and encouraging but we'll see that impact once we start to open indoor spaces. 'If one or two people have antibodies that immune barrier will reduce the spread of the virus in an indoor environment where air ventilation is poorer and where people are close together unmasked talking and breathing the same air.' Dr Tang was speaking after publishing a paper in the British Medical Journal warning the virus is mostly transmitted through the air. He wrote those infected with the virus emit small droplets laden with the virus, which can then be inhaled by people up to two metres away. At the start of the pandemic, experts warned Covid was mostly spread through fomites - clothes, utensils and objects likely to carry the virus. They suggested an infection could be triggered by touching these and then placing a hand to the mouth, nose or eyes. But now evidence suggests the risk from this action is tiny - less than five in 10,000 according to one paper - and the US CDC says it is no longer the main route of transmission. Instead, scientists believe, the disease is mainly airborne which makes it much harder to contain. The World Health Organization says SARS-CoV-2, the virus causing the pandemic, is mainly spread through droplets expelled through sneezes, coughs and even talking. The droplets, which contain saliva, mucous and other substances from the airways including viruses, are larger than pure air particles. After being released from the body they travel short distances before falling to the floor, which is why social distancing is so crucial. Some experts have also suggested aerosols - lighter particles released in breath and when someone talks - are the major driver. It is for this reason that scientists are advising face masks are essential, to block the spread of particles, meaning fewer are put into the atmospher and able to be picked up. They add that ventilation is key indoors to keep fresh air circulating and ensure these droplets don't build up. It comes after other experts warned smelling someone's bad breath (halitosis) is a sign that more distance is needed to prevent transmission. Professor Trish Greenhalgh, a primary care expert at the University of Oxford, warned in December that face masks should be worn when people are packed close together. 'In addition to "shared air" (mostly an indoor risk), there's also the problem of being caught in the direct jet of an exhaled gas cloud when someone coughs, speaks, sneezes or just breathes out,' she said. 'If you're close enough to feel their warm breath on you or smell their halitosis (bad breath) you probably need a mask even outdoors.' (@FahadShabbir) DUBAI, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News / WAM - 15th Apr, 2021) The Food Banking Regional Network (FBRN), strategic partner in the "100 Million Meals" campaign, is delivering food parcels to communities in 13 of the 20 targeted countries in the middle East, Asia and Africa. Dubai-based FBRN, a network of food banks in 77 countries, will provide the logistical and transport services required to deliver food parcels to beneficiaries in Egypt, Sudan, Somalia, Angola, Uganda, Ghana, Sierra Leone, Tunisia, Jordan, Mauritania, Lebanon, Iraq and Yemen, in coordination with local food banks. Dr. Moez El Shohdi, Founder and CEO of FBRN, said, "A humanitarian campaign of this scale comes at a critical time to support millions of the vulnerable who are battling hunger and a pandemic. The outbreak of COVID-19 intensified the suffering in disadvantaged communities. Providing the vulnerable with food support brings them hope and a sense of security throughout the Holy Month of Ramadan." As a non-profit umbrella organisation, FBRN works to unify and coordinate global relief efforts to achieve the UN Sustainable Development Goal 2 that seek to end hunger around the world by 2030. FBRN provides financial and logistical support to local food banks across the Middle East, Africa, and South Asia to support the vulnerable, combat hunger, and reduce food waste. In 2020, it provided food support monthly for about 4.5 million low-income families who lost jobs amid the COVID-19 outbreak, while reintegrating 440,000 family breadwinners through education. It was also able to help 3.2 million families affected by world lockdowns. In combating food waste, the network saved an average of 52.5 million meals a month in 2020. The network also developed 17,600 charitable societies during the same year, in addition to training 780,000 volunteers. Donations to the 100 Million Meals campaign can be made on the campaign website www.100millionmeals.ae, by contacting on the toll-free number 8004999, via the designated bank account through Dubai Islamic Bank (AE08 0240 0015 2097 7815 201), and by sending "Meal" by SMS on UAE specified numbers, listed on the website, for Du or Etisalat networks. Irans ambassador to Moscow says Tehran has signed a contract with Russia to purchase 60 million doses of the Sputnik V COVID-19 vaccine, RFE reports. Kazem Jalali told the state-run IRNA news agency on April 15 that the deal with the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF), which is responsible for marketing the vaccine abroad, would provide enough shots to fully vaccinate 30 million people. Jalali said 60 million doses would be sent to Iran between June and December. He added that so far two Iranian companies have signed a contract with Russia for the joint production of vaccines in Iran. [April 15, 2021] Parker Hannifin Announces $1 Million Gift to the Greater Cleveland Food Bank CLEVELAND, April 15, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Parker Hannifin Corporation (NYSE:PH), the global leader in motion and control technologies, today announced that it has committed $1 million from the Parker Hannifin Foundation to the Greater Cleveland Food Bank, providing financial support for a transformative expansion initiative that will strengthen the organizations ability to address food insecurity across Northeast Ohio. Parker is thankful for the Greater Cleveland Food Bank and their mission to expand access to nutritious food for families and individuals in need, and we hope our contribution will help, said Tom Williams, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Parker. This investment builds on our long-standing relationship with the Food Bank and aligns well with our companys purpose. Together we are taking a meaningful step to fight hunger and strengthen our communities. The Greater Cleveland Food Banks expansion project includes the construction of a new facility on Coit Road, where it will have increased capacity to store, prepare, and distribute nutritious food to the community directly and to its 1,000+ partner agencies throughout the region. The expansion project will also include the renovation of its existing facility on South Waterloo Road to provide critical space o help serve more people and connect clients with resources to address the root causes of food insecurity. With these expansion plans and with partners like Parker Hannifin, we take another important step towards eliminating food insecurity in our communities. This transformative capital project will expand our distribution of healthy food, while also creating space to address the root causes of food insecurity, said Kristin Warzocha, President & CEO, Greater Cleveland Food Bank. We are grateful to Parker Hannifin for its leadership in the community and their partnership in making this vision a reality. On behalf of the Greater Cleveland Food Bank and the clients we serve, thank you for this extraordinary support. For more than 20 years, Parker has partnered with the Greater Cleveland Food Bank through recurring fundraising initiatives such as the Harvest for Hunger campaign, charitable contributions from the Parker Hannifin Foundation and volunteer events driven by team members from Parker locations across Northeast Ohio. This latest gift will help advance the Food Banks most urgent priority to build an expanded food distribution facility and serve more individuals, families and partner organizations in need of food assistance. About Parker Hannifin Parker Hannifin is a Fortune 250 global leader in motion and control technologies. For more than a century the company has been enabling engineering breakthroughs that lead to a better tomorrow. Learn more at www.parker.com or @parkerhannifin. About Greater Cleveland Food Bank For over 40 years, the Greater Cleveland Food Bank has worked to ensure everyone in our communities has the nutritious food they need every day. The Greater Cleveland Food Bank is the largest hunger relief organization in Northeast Ohio, serving clients and partnering with organizations in Cuyahoga, Ashtabula, Geauga, Lake, Ashland and Richland counties. For more information about the Food Bank and to get involved, visit https://www.greaterclevelandfoodbank.org ### Media Aidan Gormley, Director, Global Communications and Branding 216/896-3258 aidan.gormley@parker.com [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] Africa is "in a bind" over coronavirus vaccines, as some countries could run out of jabs without knowing when more will be available, the continent's disease control body said Thursday. Health officials hope to vaccinate at least 20 percent of the continent's more than one billion people by the end of the year. But many African countries are depending on AstraZeneca jabs produced in India and allocated under the Covax scheme, which aims to provide equitable access around the world and particularly in poorer countries. India announced last month it was putting the brakes on vaccine exports as it battled a new wave of infections and a faltering inoculation drive at home. "We are in a bind as a continent," Dr John Nkengasong, director of the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC), told a press conference. "Access to vaccines has been limited for us as a continent and it's affecting the way in which we roll out our vaccination programme." He highlighted the case of Ghana, which he said had already administered "70 to 80 percent" of its current supply of shots, most of which came via Covax. "Even if Ghana had the money it would not know where to go get the vaccine," Nkengasong said, noting that AstraZeneca is a two-dose vaccine. "We cannot predict when the second doses will come." As of Monday the African Union's 55 member states had acquired 34.6 million vaccine doses and administered 13.9 million, although 8.6 million of those were in Morocco alone, Nkengasong said. Separately, the World Health Organization (WHO) said more than 13.6 million jabs had been given out across Africa, of which 12 million were AstraZeneca. Most of the reported side-effects from jabs have been slight to moderate, the WHO's African Region said in a statement issued in Brazzaville, capital of the Republic of Congo. No cases of blood-clotting problems have been reported, it said, touching on a particular concern about AstraZeneca vaccines. Story continues - Indian supply line - The AU is also trying to secure shots bilaterally, outside the Covax scheme. The Africa CDC had at one point been in talks to acquire AstraZeneca shots direct from the Serum Institute of India, but Nkengasong said last week it had abandoned that effort to avoid replicating the work of Covax. He stressed Thursday, though, that he still saw the shot as central to Africa's vaccination strategy, despite concerns that it too might be linked to rare blood clots. "If they have vaccines at the Serum Institute today we'll be happy to get them," he said. Johnson & Johnson announced last month it would make up to 400 million doses of its own single-shot vaccine available to Africa, though the first shipments were not expected to arrive until the third quarter of 2021. South Africa is the only country to have acquired J&J shots of its own, but this week it suspended their rollout after US health authorities recommended a pause over blood clot fears. No blood clots linked to J&J have been reported in South Africa, Nkengasong said. Africa has recorded 4,371,327 cases of coronavirus, of which 116,371 have been fatal, according to the WHO's tally. The infection trend is rising in 15 African countries, and 45 countries have launched vaccinations, the UN's health agency added. bur/ri/tgb NASHVILLE Tennessee Department of Health announced today the release of the WICShopper application for smartphones. As a part of the Women, Infants and Children (WIC) program, the new WICShopper app is another tool to help participants establish and re-enforce healthy eating habits. The WICShopper app helps WIC participants identify what they can purchase with their prescribed WIC benefits. The app allows WIC participants to scan the UPC barcode of store products determining whether that product is allowable as a WIC food item and on the participants WIC benefits. There are many key features such as location of Health Department clinics and WIC authorized store locations, healthy recipes, cooking and shopping tips. The WICShopper App makes it one step easier to access healthy food and nutrition education resources available through WIC, said Tennessee Health Commissioner Lisa Piercey, MD, MBA, FAAP. The WICShopper App puts resources at the fingertip and is another example of how the Tennessee Department of Health is implementing innovative solutions to improve services for Tennesseans. Since the statewide rollout of the TNWIC Electronic Benefits Transfer (EBT) card in April 2019, the Tennessee WIC program continuously strives to enhance the process for WIC participants to receive benefits and purchase food products for their families. The WICShopper app represents the most recent example of this committment to Tennessee residents. WIC participants can download the WICShopper app onto their smartphones by going to the Apple App Store or the Google Play Store and search for WICShopper. Additionally, participants can visit the Tennessee Department of Healths website at www.tn.gov/wicshopper for instructions to download the app to their smartphone. The WICShopper app is available to all and free to download. The mission of the Tennessee Department of Health is to protect, promote and improve the health and prosperity of people in Tennessee. TDH has facilities in all 95 counties and provides direct services for more than one in five Tennesseans annually as well as indirect services for everyone in the state, including emergency response to health threats, licensure of health professionals, regulation of health care facilities and inspection of food service establishments. Learn more about TDH services and programs at www.tn.gov/health. Connect with TDH on Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn @TNDeptofHealth! PITTSBURGH, April 15, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- EQT Corporation (NYSE: EQT) today issued the following statement in support of H.J. Resolution 34, and S.J. Resolution 14 of the 117th Congress, which provide for Congressional disapproval of the 2020 Methane Rescission Rule submitted by the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency relating to "Oil and Natural Gas Sector: Emission Standards for New, Reconstructed, and Modified Sources Review" (85 Fed. Reg. 57018 (September 14, 2020)): "As the nation's largest natural gas producer, EQT knows that natural gas will continue to play a meaningful role in accelerating a sustainable pathway to a low carbon future. We believe the responsible development of natural gas will help meet future global energy demand as we address climate change together. As an industry leader in reducing methane emissions, we support reinstituting NSPS OOOOa as a uniform federal standard. EQT is committed to working with elected officials, regulators and other stakeholders to establish sound environmental policies that promote increased access to clean and affordable energy sources." Earlier today, EQT announced its commitment to seek independent certification of a majority of its produced natural gas under certification standards developed by Equitable Origin and MiQ. The certification process is expected to commence this month, and it is anticipated that certification from Equitable Origin and MiQ will be obtained later this year. These certifications will expand EQT's growing portfolio of certified natural gas, sometimes referred to as responsibly sourced gas. When its certification project with Equitable Origin and MiQ is completed, EQT will be producing more certified gas than any other producer's total domestic natural gas production (certified or uncertified). Equitable Origin has a proven track record of certifying energy companies on ESG indicators in accordance with its EO100 Standard for Responsible Energy Development, a set of rigorous ESG performance standards for energy development projects. MiQ, a non-profit partnership between RMI and SYSTEMIQ, is pioneering a market-based approach to rapidly reduce methane emissions across the natural gas sector. "We are committed to the highest standards of performance for our production operations," said Toby Rice, President and Chief Executive Officer of EQT. "Sound federal policies such as a reinstitution of NSPS OOOOa and independent certifications such as our project with Equitable Origin and MiQ will allow us to further demonstrate our commitment to producing our natural gas in accordance with high environmental and social standards, differentiating our company and supporting our collective objectives of accelerating a sustainable pathway to a low carbon future." Contacts Investors: Andrew Breese Director, Investor Relations 412.395.2555 [email protected] Media: Kelly Kimberly 713.822.7538 [email protected] About EQT EQT Corporation is a leading independent natural gas production company with operations focused in the cores of the Marcellus and Utica Shales in the Appalachian Basin. We are dedicated to responsibly developing our world-class asset base and being the operator of choice for our stakeholders. By leveraging a culture that prioritizes operational efficiency, technology, and sustainability, we seek to continuously improve the way we produce environmentally responsible, reliable and low-cost energy. We have a longstanding commitment to the safety of our employees, contractors, and communities, and to the reduction of our overall environmental footprint. Our values are evident in the way we operate and in how we interact each day trust, teamwork, heart, and evolution are at the center of all we do. To learn more, visit eqt.com. Cautionary Statements This news release contains certain forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, and Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended. Statements that do not relate strictly to historical or current facts are forward-looking. Without limiting the generality of the foregoing, forward-looking statements contained in this news release specifically include the expectations of plans, strategies and objectives of EQT Corporation and its subsidiaries (collectively, the Company), including the projected terms, scope, benefits and results of the natural gas certification project with Equitable Origin and MiQ (the Project), the projected market for certified natural gas, and the timing of implementation of the Project and obtaining certification or whether the Project and certifications will be implemented or obtained at all. The risks and uncertainties that may affect the implementation and execution of the Project and other forward-looking statements made herein include, but are not limited to, volatility of commodity prices; the costs and results of drilling and operations; access to and cost of capital; uncertainties about estimates of reserves, identification of drilling locations and the ability to add proved reserves in the future; the assumptions underlying production forecasts; the quality of technical data; the Company's ability to appropriately allocate capital and resources among its strategic opportunities; inherent hazards and risks normally incidental to drilling for, producing, transporting and storing natural gas, NGLs and oil; cyber security risks; availability and cost of drilling rigs, completion services, equipment, supplies, personnel, oilfield services and water required to execute the Company's exploration and development plans; the ability to obtain environmental and other permits and the timing thereof; government regulation or action; environmental and weather risks, including the possible impacts of climate change; uncertainties related to the severity, magnitude and duration of the COVID-19 pandemic; and disruptions to the Company's business due to acquisitions and other significant transactions. These and other risks are described under Item 1A, "Risk Factors," and elsewhere in the Company's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2020, as updated by Part II, Item 1A, "Risk Factors" in the Company's subsequently filed Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q and other documents the Company files from time to time with the Securities and Exchange Commission. In addition, the Company may be subject to currently unforeseen risks that may have a materially adverse impact on it. SOURCE EQT Corporation (EQT-IR) Related Links http://www.eqt.com Shijiazhuang Yiling Pharmaceutical, which produces Lianhua Qingwen, a commonly available over-the-counter medicine in China, has seen its sales skyrocket after the traditional Chinese medicine proved effective in the treatment of symptoms related to COVID-19. The company's revenue grew 50 percent year-on-year in 2020 on the back of surging Lianhua Qingwen sales. Net profit hit 1.22 billion yuan ($184.3 million) last year, up some 101 percent year-on-year, the company said. TCM has been recognized by many countries worldwide as effective in alleviating some symptoms related to the novel coronavirus, but faces challenges in being exported to markets outside China, according to the company. The biggest challenge for TCM being accepted abroad is the differences rooted in Chinese and Western cultures. Countries overseas sometimes misunderstand TCM, including how it is used, its efficacy and safety. Different legal systems for drug registration and approval in various countries have also restricted the promotion of TCM around the world. To tackle the problem, Yiling set up an international trade center in April 2020 to promote the techniques, ingredients and standards of TCM and its adoption in clinical use. As a result, Lianhua Qingwen has obtained registration and approval in 22 countries and regions including Canada, Russia, Singapore and Kuwait. Some countries, such as Thailand and Ecuador streamlined its approval in the wake of COVID-19. In Uzbekistan, the TCM was added to the COVID-19 treatment method, making it possible to be imported without tedious registration. Since the outbreak of COVID-19, a group of experts have carried out basic and clinical research on the prevention and treatment of the disease with TCM and showed its practicability. Their efforts have provided wisdom for the whole world. Under the guidance of the TCM administrations in China, the Yiling Medical Research Institute has held remote academic activities in more than 20 countries and regions, such as the United States, Canada, Italy and Thailand, to share TCM expertise. The biggest difficulty in experimental study is that TCM formulas consist of complex systems, each of which is comprised of a collection of hundreds of chemical ingredients. Lianhua Qingwen is composed of 13 kinds of Chinese herbs, and is a compound Chinese medicine. It is a combination of Maxing Shigan Decoction, formulated by Zhang Zhongjing, one of China's most celebrated physicians in the Han Dynasty (206 BC-AD 220) and Yinqiao Powder, formulated by Wu Jutong in the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911). Experts from medical research institutes such as the State Key Laboratory of Respiratory Disease at Guangzhou Medical University, Tianjin University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Beijing Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine, School of Pharmaceutical Sciences Xiamen University and Second Military Medical University performed evidence-based studies on Lianhua Qingwen's efficacy and functional mechanisms and found eight possible effective ingredients. The study of Lianhua Qingwen began in 2003 when the SARS epidemic hit China. It was used as an innovative TCM for influenza symptoms, according to news portal huanqiu.com. In the face of the SARS epidemic, academicians and experts at Yiling Medical Research Institute explored the usage of TCM in the treatment of such a disease and formulated its prescription. After being tested by evidence-based research, Lianhua Qingwen was approved for the market in 2004, becoming a new member on the list of anti-influenza drugs in China. The research won second prize at the National Science and Technology Progress Awards in 2011. On Feb 1, Lianhua Qingwen Capsules were listed as recommended Chinese patent medicines in the clinical treatment of light and ordinary-stage COVID-19 patients in Heilongjiang province. So far, the drug has been included in China's COVID-19 diagnosis and treatment plan issued by the National Health Commission. In the US, research on the capsules has been placed into a group study and is under data analysis. The history of TCM is a story of innovation. From the establishment of its theoretical system in the Qin Dynasty (221-206 BC) and Han Dynasty to its latest integration with Western medicine, the driving force to promote its development is innovation, according to the company. Besides the study of Lianhua Qingwen, Yiling has also stepped up research into collateral diseases and has built an international platform for its innovative study. In 2019, a TCM collateral disease theory project and guidance for the prevention and treatment of microvascular diseases, carried out by Yiling Medical Research Institute, won the first prize at the National Science and Technology Progress Awards. As a result of Yiling's efforts, academic associations concerning collateral diseases have been established in Europe, Canada and the US. International academic exchanges on collateral diseases have been actively held to promote the cooperation and development on treating the disease. Through cooperation with Cardiff University, Leiden University, Harvard and other medical research institutions, Yiling is committed to promoting TCM treatment in collateral disease and leading its teaching and scientific research around the world. The neighbourhood grocery stores in Mumbai aren't empty in the current COVID-19 lockdown, however, a consumer may not necessarily get what she wants immediately. In all likelihood the store owner would tell her that the product isn't available and he would get it delivered the following day. The supply chain and distribution mechanisms of FMCG companies and distributors aren't paralysed, but there is definitely a lag due to shortage of manpower. Reverse migration of labourers has led to a 15-20 per cent shortage of manpower, resulting in delays in products reaching the stores, say heads of logistics and distribution companies. The labour problem isn't as acute at the factories as it is in the last mile delivery chain. "It is compulsory for us to get a RT-PCR test done for all our employees and when we do the tests we find lot of our delivery boys who have no COVID-19 symptoms testing positive. Some of the delivery boys are not reporting to work out of fear of contracting the virus. Having said that, the labour situation isn't as bad as it was last year," says Praharsh Chandra, Co-Founder and COO, Shadowfax. He claims that since delivery of non-essential products is not allowed, they are able to the manage the labour shortage by deploying the workforce dedicated for non-essential delivery to deliver essentials. "The migration of labour is not at a crisis level, but it is certainly significant," agrees Amit Sharma, Co-Founder and CEO, Shop X. Also read: COVID-19: 100 more hospitals to get own oxygen plant under PM-CARES Fund Unlike last year, when kirana store owners came to the rescue of consumers by ensuring that their stores had basic essentials (they personally went to the distributor and picked up stock) through the lockdown, this time around they are battling with the fear of contracting the virus. "Many kirana store owners, especially in Maharashtra, are opening their stores for just 2-3 hours a day, as they are scared they would fall sick as COVID-19 infections are rapidly multiplying," points out Prem Kumar, Founder and CEO, Snapbizz. Since the stores are open for limited hours, the distributors also have a limited window to deliver products. On the other hand, some retailers and distributors have begun to hoard products. "If you went to a cash and carry retail store two weeks ago, there were 50-60 retailers buying products on a given day. Today, there are anywhere between 300-400 of them buying products in bulk," says Ashish Kumar, Co-Founder & CEO, Near.Store. In the north, hoarding is rampant at the distributor end, says Kumar Sangeetesh, Co-Founder, 1K Kirana. "The distributors are not letting stock go out of their warehouse so that they can increase prices when there is a gap between demand and supply. The price of edible oil has already increased by Rs 50 per case." If COVID-19 cases continue to surge at the current rate, Sangeetesh expects a labour crunch at the manufacturing units and thereby an impact on supply. Also read: Break the chain! 59% Delhi residents support 3-week lockdown, says survey Another reason for shortage of products is that last year many kirana stores were not able to repay the credit they had availed from the distributors. "Most kirana stores work on a one-three weeks credit cycle, and since they were unable to repay, many distributors are not willing to extend credit. This is creating working capital problems for lot of the smaller kirana stores," points out Sharma of Shop X. Gautam Kapoor, Co-Founder and COO, ShipRocket, says that the next 2-3 days will be crucial. "So far there is not much disruption, our people are being allowed to deliver. However, if the COVID-19 situation worsens it could impact supply chain and distribution." Also read: Apple announces first-ever $200 million carbon removal initiative Alex Parker-Jennings listens to Rory ODonnell, a social studies teacher at Leland & Gray Union Middle and High School, in Townshend, Vt., during the first day of having in-person classes for the year on Monday, Feb. 8, 2021. The school was closed to students as work was done to update the air filters to be able to handle the COVID-19 pandemic. SAN DIEGO (AP) In a Washington, D.C., suburb, Black and Latino barbers are busting myths about the coronavirus vaccine while clipping hair. Across the country, a university researcher in Phoenix teamed up with a company behind comic books fighting Islamic extremism to produce dance-inducing animated stories in Spanish that aim to smash conspiracy theories hindering Latinos from getting inoculated. And in San Diego, former refugees, Latinos and Black activists initially hired by health officials as contact tracers are calling back the people they reached about COVID-19 exposure to talk about the shots. A new wave of public health advocacy that is multilingual, culturally sensitive, entertaining and personal is rapidly replacing mundane public service announcements on TV, radio and online in the battle to stamp out vaccine disinformation circulating in communities of color and get more people vaccinated. With the way disinformation is spreading over social media, a stale piece with information to counter that that doesnt work anymore, said Mustafa Hasnain, who co-founded Creative Frontiers to make comic books fighting Islamic extremism. The innovative messaging has grown out of urgency: The virus has hit Black and Latino people disproportionately hard, yet their vaccination rates are less than half that of white people. The Biden administration this month launched a multimillion-dollar promotional campaign targeting communities where vaccine hesitancy is high and asked 275 organizations from the NAACP to Ciencia Puerto Rico to spread the word about vaccine safety and effectiveness. One ad is in Spanish and another aimed at Black Americans is narrated by the historian Henry Louis Gates Jr. Rumors that the vaccines could cause infertility or the shots could inject a government tracking chip are commonly heard in the Black and Latino communities. They have a long history of facing racism in the health care system, eroding their trust. Story continues I see a lot of similarities in how violent radicalization takes place and the current bout of disinformation around the pandemic and vaccination," Hasnain said. Similar to how radicalization works, there is an echo chamber created where distrust of authority figures is inculcated." Adding to it is concerns about the safety of the single-dose Johnson & Johnson vaccine. The U.S. government paused the shots to investigate reports of rare but potentially dangerous blood clots. Millions of doses of the J&J vaccine have been given in the U.S., the vast majority with no or mild side effects. But the questions stemming from six cases could complicate efforts to win over people who are already hesitant, and it was unclear how pro-vaccine advocates would respond to the latest challenge. Hasnains company is pressing forward with releasing Tuesday its latest Spanish-language animation targeting young Latinos. The animated stories are produced with Gilberto Lopez, a researcher and associate professor at Arizona State Universitys School of Transborder Studies. Lopez said young Latino men are especially reluctant to get vaccinated. The latest animation is set to hip-hop rhythms and features a know-it-all Uncle Rigo who spouts unfounded claims that a cool female doctor dispels. The silver lining of the lessons from the pandemic is this is a chance to reimagine the delivery of health care to our communities, said Dr. Stephen B. Thomas, who runs the Maryland Center for Health Equity at the University of Maryland School of Public Health. He works with Black and Latino barbershops and beauty salons to talk about vaccine safety. The program recently licensed three barbers as community health advocates. Black barbershops and beauty salons can be places of conspiracy theories that grow and thrive, or places where evidence-based science and referrals are done, said Thomas, who initially launched the Health Advocates In-Reach and Research initiative or HAIR to educate people about chronic diseases like diabetes. At the Shop Hair Spa in Hyattsville, Maryland, outside Washington, D.C., a colorful box asking, What is your health question?" is posted next to the prices for cuts. COVID-19 vaccine information is displayed on a red wall behind a salon chair. Barber Wallace Wilson said he understands people's reservations about getting vaccinated. I'm still skeptical about it, you know, because of the simple fact that I'm an African American male, and when you look at history, we've been used as guinea pigs," Wilson said. He was referring to a 40-year study by the U.S. government that tracked Black men infected with syphilis without treating them so scientists could observe the disease take its course. Customer James McRae shared his skepticism. But Wilson told McRae that this time is different because it's not just the U.S. government vaccinating people, it's the world, and everyone needs to do their part. I want everybody to be safe," Wilson said, carefully maneuvering a razor near the straps of McRae's red polka-dot mask. McRae agreed but was still leery, vowing to let God decide. Experts say any trust will evaporate if people decide to get a shot and then can't. Wilson has been on a wait list for more than a month. Dr. Fermin Leguen, head of the Southern Nevada Health District in Las Vegas, knows how much words matter. With information about the virus rapidly changing, the agency resorted to an automated translator to keep up. One slogan Mask Up, Back Up, Wash Up was translated in Spanish to say, To Mask, Support, To Wash Oneself. Leguen, who was born in Cuba, meets with Spanish-language media outlets after his weekly briefings as a way to get better information to people. In San Diego, Ana Castro was among the ethnically and racially diverse contact tracers with no prior health training hired last summer to help immigrants, refugees and racial minorities who may have been exposed to COVID-19. Castro knew the difficulties of the people she called. She was caring for her Mexican mother, who was bedridden with COVID-19. Now, she and others are calling back 10,000 people to talk about the vaccine and line up appointments. It allows for a conversation, which is missing doing broad messaging," said Corinne McDaniels-Davidson, director of the Institute for Public Health at San Diego State University, which created the program with the county health department. People need to feel they have reasonable and valid concerns that are addressed in their own language from people from their same culture." Among Castro's first callbacks was to a man she found had died of COVID-19. Castro and his 81-year-old wife spoke for half an hour as the woman shared memories about her husband. Im not just calling to sign people up to get the vaccine, she said. Im also making sure their emotional and physical well-being is being taken care of. Health experts hope credible messengers will get more shots in arms. Bertha Morales was hesitant even though she works for a health clinic in Phoenix. Her relatives insisted the vaccine would insert a tracking chip into her body or cause her to get sick and die. Then her employer offered a Spanish-language online talk that knocked down those rumors. Shes now fully vaccinated. I think the thing that really made me change was that I wanted to see my grandma but I didnt want to cause her to get sick," Morales said. It had been so long. ___ Snow reported from Phoenix. Associated Press journalist Julio Cortez in Baltimore contributed to this report. A mystery photo and a geography enthusiast helped locate a missing California hiker who is now safely back home. Rene Compean of Palmdale was on a hike Monday near Mount Waterman, a popular ski destination in the San Gabriel Mountains in Southern California. While the 45-year-old was on his outdoor adventure, he snapped a picture. It showed him from the knees down, dangling his bare legs from a precipice with a canyon below and slopes in the distance. Compean texted the shot to a friend. And then, he went off the map. He was reported missing at 6 p.m. by a friend, who received one last text from Compean saying he was worried he was lost and his cell phone battery was running low. The photo was turned over to investigators at the Los Angeles County Sheriffs Department who posted it to social media, asking if anyone recognized the spot in the photograph. Benjamin Kuo saw the message and thought he might be able to help. As a satellite image aficionado, he was already familiar with tracking California wildfires in remote areas. "I've got a very weird hobby, which is I love taking a look at photos and figuring out where they're taken," Kuo told NBC Los Angeles. Using satellite images, maps and the scenery below Compean's feet in the photo, Kuo was able to estimate the coordinates of where he believed the man had gone missing. Kuo sent his tip to the sheriff's office, and a helicopter was sent to survey the area Tuesday. There, as if by magic, was Compean. "I really don't know if I could make it there another day," Compean told Kuo in a virtual thank you meeting. "It was just so cold." Compean was airlifted to safety near the Chilao campgrounds and did not need to be hospitalized, according to the Los Angeles County Sheriffs Department. The Associated Press contributed to this report. [April 15, 2021] Reputation Promotes Shannon Nash to Chief Financial Officer REDWOOD CITY, Calif., April 15, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Reputation , the global leader in reputation experience management (RXM), today announced that it has promoted Shannon Nash, CPA, Esq., to Chief Financial Officer (CFO). In this role, Nash will elevate the organizations financial performance and exponential growth trajectory through a leadership style that emphasizes process, innovation and teamwork. She previously served as Reputations Chief Accounting Officer. Nash brings both a deep knowledge of the business along with more than 20 years of financial leadership to this role. With past CFO experience and a strong expertise in finance, accounting, business strategy, technology, cybersecurity and M&A, Nash is uniquely qualified to lead Reputations financial operation as the organization embarks on its next stage of growth. We are delighted to have Shannon transition into the CFO role within our organization, says Joe Fuca, Reputation CEO. Over the past year, she has brought tremendous value to our company, and we know she will continue to demonstrate her outstanding leadership qualities and operational mindset that have already helped us innovate and scale for rapid growth. Prior to joining Reputation, Nash served as CFO at Insidesource, where she built a first-class finance team and led the company through a financial restructuring, resulting ina two-year 75 percent growth in operating margin and 50 percent sales growth. Prior to her role at Insidesource, she served as VP of Finance and H.R. at Cumulus Media. She managed the financial strategy for the San Francisco market of the second largest radio broadcasting media company in the U.S., with over $1B in revenue, and 450 stations in 90 markets. I joined Reputation last year because I found the people and upbeat culture invigorating, and I wholeheartedly believe in its mission to help forge relationships between companies and communities, says Nash. Businesses need to have the right tools in place if they are to understand the avalanche of consumer sentiment data and make real-time improvements. Reputation is uniquely positioned to deliver a one-of-a-kind platform experience that manages interactions at scale and transforms customer data into business growth. I look forward to continuing on this journey with Joe and the entire team at Reputation. In addition to her work with Reputation, Nash was recently appointed to the board of directors and the audit committee at UserTesting, a leading provider of on-demand human insights. About Reputation Reputation (formerly Reputation.com), creator of the Reputation Experience Management category, is changing the way companies gather and act on customer feedback to drive decision making and enhance Customer Experience (CX) programs. Reputations interaction-to-action platform translates vast amounts of solicited and unsolicited feedback data into prescriptive insights that companies use to learn from and grow. Thousands of global organizations rely on the patented algorithms behind Reputation Score X to provide a reliable index of brand performance in order to make targeted business improvements. Backed by Bessemer Ventures and Kleiner Perkins, and trusted by over 250 integration partners, including Google, Facebook, Salesforce, J.D. Power, Amazon and Web.com, Reputation turns feedback into the fuel to grow businesses around the world. Visit reputation.com to learn more. Media Contacts: Shelby Valdez Reputation svaldez@reputation.com Brigit Valencia BOCA Communications reputation@bocacommunications.com [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] NEW YORK, April 14, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Bernstein Liebhard, a nationally acclaimed investor rights law firm, reminds investors of the deadline to file a lead plaintiff motion in a securities class action lawsuit that has been filed on behalf of investors who purchased or acquired the securities of AgEagle Aerial Systems, Inc. ("AgEagle" or the "Company") (NYSE: UAVS) from September 3, 2019, through February 18, 2021 (the "Class Period"). The lawsuit filed in the United States District Court for the Central District of California alleges violations of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. If you purchased AgEagle securities, and/or would like to discuss your legal rights and options please visit AgEagle Shareholder Class Action Lawsuit or contact Matthew E. Guarnero toll free at (877) 779-1414 or [email protected] The complaint alleges that throughout the Class Period, defendants made materially false and/or misleading statements, as well as failed to disclose to investors: (1) AgEagle did not have a partnership with Amazon and in fact never had any relationship with Amazon; (2) rather than correct the public's understanding about a partnership with Amazon, defendants were actively contributing to the rumor that AgEagle had a partnership with Amazon; and (3) as a result, defendants statements about AgEagles business, operations, and prospects, were materially false and misleading and/or lacked a reasonable basis at all relevant times. On February 18, 2021, Bonitas Research published a report revealing that AgEagle "was a pump & dump scheme orchestrated by AgEagle founder and former chairman Bret Chilcott and other UAVS insiders to defraud US investors." On this news, shares of AgEagle, fell $5.13, or 36.4%, to close at $8.96 on February 18, 2021. If you wish to serve as lead plaintiff, you must move the Court no later than April 27, 2021. A lead plaintiff is a representative party acting on behalf of other class members in directing the litigation. Your ability to share in any recovery doesn't require that you serve as lead plaintiff. If you choose to take no action, you may remain an absent class member. If you purchased AgEagle securities, and/or would like to discuss your legal rights and options please visit https://www.bernlieb.com/cases/ageagleaerialsystemsinc-uavs-shareholder-class-action-lawsuit-stock-fraud-367/apply/ or contact Matthew E. Guarnero toll free at (877) 779-1414 or [email protected]. Since 1993, Bernstein Liebhard LLP has recovered over $3.5 billion for its clients. In addition to representing individual investors, the Firm has been retained by some of the largest public and private pension funds in the country to monitor their assets and pursue litigation on their behalf. As a result of its success litigating hundreds of lawsuits and class actions, the Firm has been named to The National Law Journal's "Plaintiffs' Hot List" thirteen times and listed in The Legal 500 for ten consecutive years. ATTORNEY ADVERTISING. 2021 Bernstein Liebhard LLP. The law firm responsible for this advertisement is Bernstein Liebhard LLP, 10 East 40th Street, New York, New York 10016, (212) 779-1414. The lawyer responsible for this advertisement in the State of Connecticut is Michael S. Bigin. Prior results do not guarantee or predict a similar outcome with respect to any future matter. Contact Information Matthew E. Guarnero Bernstein Liebhard LLP https://www.bernlieb.com (877) 779-1414 [email protected] SOURCE Bernstein Liebhard LLP Related Links http://www.bernlieb.com This article is part of the On Tech newsletter. You can sign up here to receive it weekdays. Ill be honest with you. Im still not sure that cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin are useful. But they are a huge business, and theyre having their biggest moment so far. Coinbase, which helps people buy and sell cryptocurrencies, listed its stock publicly for the first time on Wednesday. Coinbase is like a bank, but isnt one, and its built to trade money that exists only as lines of computer code. And on Thursday, this not-bank for not-money was valued at more than $85 billion roughly the same as General Motors. My colleague Erin Griffith told me that Coinbases stock market debut both validates cryptocurrencies and shows how far they have to go to achieve the high-minded vision of upending the global financial system. Investing in cryptocurrency is also not just for true believers anymore. Its (relatively) mainstream, like investing in stocks or gold, which is both a success and not exactly what cryptocurrency die-hards had in mind. Shira: Lets start with the basics. What is Coinbase? And how does it make money? Erin: It is a cryptocurrency exchange, which is a place for people and companies to buy, sell and trade various cryptocurrencies including Bitcoin. Coinbase handles the whole process, similar to how Robinhood or Schwab handle peoples stock trades. And then Coinbase holds your cryptocurrency in a digital wallet so you dont need to think about the technical complexities of stowing and using cryptocurrency. Monday marked the start of Litter Control Week in South Carolina, as officials try to combat a problem that exists across the state. April is the state's Zero Tolerance for Litter Month, and the week is designed to educate and enforce state and local litter laws. During 2020, more than 1,500 people statewide were cited for littering, according to Palmetto Pride, South Carolina's anti-littering organization. According to the organization, more than 80% of littering is intentional. Keep Aiken County Beautiful was started in 2019 to address litter in Aiken County. While the program is still young, it has accomplished a fair amount. Program Coordinator Kandace Cave said KACB has distributed more litter pickup supplies in the first quarter of 2021 than it did during the entire 2020 calendar year. "Over 3,000 bags have been distributed this year," Cave said. "This demand for cleanup supplies indicates that people are tired of the litter and are willing to donate their time to help clean up our county. It is great that so many people are becoming more conscience of this ongoing issue and are taking action. I think we all want to get to a point where litter no longer exists in our community." Cave said KACB is planning its next large cleanup for Saturday, May 29. Titled Clean Slate on Highway 78, the event will target a 9-mile stretch of the highway. KACB is looking for at least 100 volunteers, Cave said. For more information, visit aikencountysc.gov/KACB. Samuel Ford, one of Aiken County's litter enforcement officers, said litter is a problem that has to constantly be addressed. Otherwise, it can become a big problem quickly. "It does not take very long for litter to accumulate if left unchecked," Ford said. Ford also said enforcement officers write tickets year-round, "but during Zero Tolerance for Litter Month, we take additional measures to educate the public about the litter laws in South Carolina." For more information on South Carolina's litter laws, visit palmettopride.org. Around 21% of roadway litter in South Carolina comes from unsecured loads, according to Palmetto Pride. Please take an extra minute to ensure your loads are secure," Ford said. "Its not optional; its the law." While it may take a long time to change the behavior of littering, Cave believes Aiken County is taking appropriate steps to achieve a litter-free community and will eventually reach that point. "That change will only happen with genuine support and active engagement from concerned citizens, schools, churches, businesses, government officials and law enforcement," Cave said. "Litter impacts all of us, so it will take all of us, collaboratively, working together to achieve a cleaner community." The newly appointed Minister of Finance Ho Duc Phoc talks on the priorities in his new role, including developing strong national financial capacity. Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh on April 8 presents the Vietnamese President's official decision on the appointment of Ho Duc Phoc (right) as the new Minister of Finance. VNA/VNS Photo Thong Nhat Could you share with us your feelings after becoming finance minister? Five years ago, I was honoured to be named the State Auditor General. After a successful tenure, now I am entrusted with the role of Minister of Finance, a multidisciplinary State agency that holds a critical role in managing the national financial resources, promoting the country's socio-economic development, and one that is under close scrutiny from both the people and the business community. It is obviously a great honour, but it is also onerous responsibility. As a full-time financial specialist, maturing from local level, having experience in many fields of work, I have been directly involved in the management and administration of the state budget, corporate finance, and Party building. In particular, over the past five years, in my capacity of the State Auditor General, the auditing of the management and use of public finance and public assets has helped me gain more knowledge and experience in economy and macro-finance. I consider this a great advantage for me when taking on this new role. However, I am determined to constantly try to study and improve myself in this new position, and work in unison with the leaders of the ministry and all civil servants, public employees, and workers in the whole financial sector to implement the directions and leadership of the Party and State consistently and effectively. At the same time, we would proactively coordinate with other ministries, sectors, authorities at all levels, localities, the business community, and businesses to successfully complete the assigned tasks, effectively contributing to nation building and development. 2021 is the first year implementing the Resolution of the 13th National Party Congress, objectives for 2021-25, and financial strategy for the next five and 10 years. What are the challenges facing the financial sector during this period? The COVID-19 pandemic still poses serious challenges for the world and our country, while economic and trade competitions continue to intensify. In Vietnam, the pandemic hindered business efforts to expand trade markets and relations, while many aspects of the economy labour productivity, quality, effectiveness and competitiveness remain quite limited. There are also significant constraints in terms of financial resources room for growth and fiscal policies to help the economy achieve the growth targets. In fact, the management of collection and use of State budget and public assets is sometimes ineffective, while waste of public investment is still taking place. Those factors will directly affect the implementation of the immediate and long-term financial and State budget tasks. 2021 is the first year of implementing the financial and State budget plan for the next five years and 10 years. The financial sector, standing on the achievements of recent times, will continue to offer consultation to the Government on formulating appropriate policies and mechanisms for the future, especially focussing on building and developing strong national financial capacity, effectively contributing to the country's development and reforms. Over the past 75 years of establishment and development, Vietnams financial sector has always been making strong breakthroughs to strengthen the country's financial capacity. The first challenge is to ensure fiscal policy, balance between revenues and expenditure, reduce public debt and budget deficit, along with figuring out the optimal way of management and administration of the national budget and resources, promoting the economic development of the country, promoting the growth of enterprises and improving peoples lives, building a solid defence and security base. With a strong cadre of responsible and professional civil servants, I believe that the financial sector, and myself also, would be able to complete the assigned tasks. What will be your priorities in the new role? This five-year term is a backbone period in the countrys development strategy towards 2030, with a vision to 2045. Therefore, the formulation and management of the financial and State budget plan must be active and cautious at the same time, contributing to the successful implementation of the Resolution of the 13th National Party Congress and stabilisation of the macro-economy, which would lead to economic growth, room to address social problems, security and national defence, better position in international integration, and national financial security. The restructuring of State budget will also be a priority to improve effectiveness and efficiency, which would include efforts to nurture the potential revenue sources, prevent revenue loss, prevent transfer pricing and tax avoidance, ensure efficient expenditure of State budget. There will also be efforts to improve fiscal policies and the national financial resiliency, in line with the development level and international integration level of the country. Another important task in the future is to continue maintaining strict budget and financial discipline; openness, transparency, accountability; along with pursuing robust reforms and resolution of bottleneck policies that hinder economic development. This would require further reforms of financial mechanisms for public non-business units, restructuring of State-owned enterprises; restructuring the financial market, insurance, accounting and auditing services, etc. The finance ministry is a multidisciplinary State agency whose works directly impact people and businesses, so financial policies must serve the development of the country, the needs of the people and the growth of the businesses, putting businesses at the centre of these policies. In particular, the ministry will also focus on mobilising resources from the public/society, through the promotion of financial, stock and insurance markets, in a way that is consistent with Socialist-oriented market mechanism, which would help build a strong and firm national financial system that conforms with international norms, which in turn, help elevate Vietnams economy on the international stage. VNS Government of new term to pursue reform, taking action Former Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc has left an indelible mark on the socio-economic development of the country. The newly-elected Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh will continue that strong reform thinking. ROCKY RIVER, Ohio An investigation into the conduct of five Rocky River High School teachers expanded after a former student accused a sixth teacher at the school of past inappropriate behavior toward her. The school district has provided scant details of the incidents that led to the investigation and eventual resignation or retirement of the six teachers about two weeks ago despite assurances of transparency. But records recently obtained by cleveland.com and The Plain Dealer as part of a public information request provide additional insight. In particular, the records include claims by a former student that former teacher Russell Shuster hugged and kissed her inappropriately and that another time he talked with her about his sex life. The situation involving Shuster came to light after the investigation had begun looking into the actions of five other teachers. In light of recent events at RRHS, I have decided to come forward about these experiences, states the former student in a March 12 email to Rocky River High School Principal Rob Winton. I wish to protect others from potentially predatory behavior or give others courage to come forward if they have their own stories to share. Shuster has not been charged with a crime. The school district notified him in a letter dated March 12 that it had received information that you engaged inappropriate communications and contact with a Rocky River High School student. Efforts to reach Shuster for comment were unsuccesful. Shuster voluntarily resigned about two weeks ago, as did four of the other five teachers, including Matthew McLaughlin, John McKenna, Rick Schuler and Adam Moeller. Joseph Toner retired. The Rocky River Police closed its investigation into the teachers only to re-open it on March 30 stating, previously undisclosed information may exist that indicates evidence of criminal activity. Rocky River Police Chief George Lichman did not return a call Wednesday seeking comment. The school district investigation found that one of the five teachers had photographs of a student, taken in a classroom, on his phone, and that others were found to have participated in an inappropriate text chain regarding staff members, although photos of students were not part of the chain. Among the accusations against the individual teachers: The school district notified McLaughlin, Schuler and Toner that it had information that each had engaged in inappropriate communications with other staff members regarding one or more Rocky River High School students. Records also state the district had possession of three photos of a student that McLaughlin had taken using his mobile phone and later turned over to his attorney. McKenna and Moeller were each notified that the district had information that you repeatedly engaged in inappropriate communications with other staff members that include the disparagement of staff members based on gender, gender identity, race, sexual orientation and that you distributed improper and inappropriate material to other staff members that includes obscene material. In a statement issued after the resignations, Rocky River Teachers Association President David Opdycke said that while disappointed, he was grateful to them for choosing to put the community first with their decisions to step down. He went on to state that the investigation found there were no sexually explicit photos involved in the incidents and no grounds for criminal charges. He said a photo found on a phone was taken as evidence that the student was not wearing a mask. After the investigation, it is clear that no students were put at risk by either the private text chain or photograph taken, Opdycke said. Part of the healing process for students, staff and the Rocky River residents will be letting go of the anger and panic triggered by the false narrative in the community. Everyone needs to take a deep breath and realize that these teachers are leaving, not because of inappropriate pictures of a student passed around in a text chain, because that did not happen, but due to insensitive private communications and the media firestorm that made staying in Rocky River an untenable position. The former student who made the claims against Shuster referenced three incidents, records obtained by cleveland.com and The Plain Dealer showed. She recounted being in the hallway at one time during her senior year talking about dating and college with Schuster, who knew about her personal life because he knew members of her family. Shuster told me about how he was only friends with girls in college and how they trusted him because he was staying a virgin until marriage, the former student stated in the email to Winton. I didnt address the comment, and the conversation carried on for a little longer until I left. Another incident that year occurred after the former student gave Shuster a thank you card for having offered her some food a few days prior. When I gave it to him, he hugged me and kissed me on my jaw right below my ear, kind of on my cheek, she wrote. Again, I felt uncomfortable and quickly ended the interaction. This occurred either during or before the start of the school day. Another incident happened when the former student was a junior taking pre-calculus from Shuster. During class she volunteered to measure her height and the distance from her belly button to the ground as part of a discussion about a mathematical theorem known as the golden ratio. After I gave him the measurements, he input the values into his calculator, which was being projected on the SmartBoard, and since they fit the ratio, he began to make comments about me being sexy, hot, and an example of mathematical perfection, the former student stated. I felt extremely embarrassed and uncomfortable, and everyone elses discomfort was audible as they gasped when the comments were made. School officials interviewed three former students who were in class during the golden ratio incident. One is quoted in school records as saying, It may have been embarrassing for (the former student) but Mr. Shuster quickly moved onto another topic. I dont recall exactly what was said because it happened a couple of years ago. Another said, I do remember that happening but I didnt interpret the comments like (the former student) may have thats not the whole story . . . When the results came back that (the former student) did fit the Golden Ratio, Mr. Shuster said, Oh, thats sexy, but he would always make comments about how a math equation was sexy if it came out even. The same person did not recall if Shuster referred to the former student as hot. Includes All Galaxy Products TOCCOA, GA / ACCESSWIRE / April 15, 2021 / Galaxy Next Generation, Inc. (OTCQB:GAXY) ("Galaxy" or the "Company), a provider of interactive learning technology solutions, is pleased to announce it has been awarded a catalog discount bid by Charlotte County Public Schools of Florida. The one year agreement includes 4 additional one year options, and includes all Galaxy interactive learning technology products. Charlotte County Public Schools operates all public K-12 schools in Charlotte County, Florida, with a student enrollment of nearly 18,000 children. It covers Port Charlotte, Punta Gorda, Englewood, Rotonda West, Babcock Ranch, and surrounding areas. It operates ten elementary schools, four middle schools, three high schools, and six specialty education centers. Gary LeCroy, Galaxy's Chief Executive Officer, commented, "We are thrilled to have been selected by Charlotte County Public Schools, as they look to upgrade their in-school learning technology products and communications platform. As is consistent throughout the country, schools have an increasing budget due to federal stimulus programs and are looking to spend a good portion of this money on improving their technology infrastructure and learning solutions." For additional information on Charlotte County Public Schools, please visit https://www.yourcharlotteschools.net. About Galaxy Next Generation, Inc. Galaxy Next Generation (OTCQB:GAXY) is a provider of interactive learning technology solutions that allows the presenter and participant to engage in a fully collaborative instructional environment. Galaxy's products include Galaxy's own private-label interactive touch screen panel as well as numerous other national and international branded peripheral and communication devices. Galaxy's distribution channel consists of 22+ resellers across the U.S. who primarily sell the Company's products within the commercial and educational market. Galaxy does not control where resellers focus their resell efforts, although generally, the K-12 education market is the largest customer base for Galaxy products - comprising nearly 90% of Galaxy's sales. For additional information, please visit our website at www.galaxynext.us. Safe Harbor Statement This press release contains 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. These forward-looking statements are based on the current plans and expectations of management and are subject to a number of uncertainties and risks that could significantly affect the company's current plans and expectations, as well as future results of operations and financial condition. A more extensive listing of risks and factors that may affect the company's business prospects and cause actual results to differ materially from those described in the forward-looking statements can be found in the reports and other documents filed by the company with the Securities and Exchange Commission. 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. Investors Contact: IR@GalaxyNext.us p 888-859-1274 SOURCE: Galaxy Next Generation, Inc. View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/640466/Galaxy-Next-Generation-Awarded-Catalog-Discount-Bid-by-Charlotte-County-Public-Schools The relations between Armenia and Georgia trace back to centuries, and Armenia attaches great importance to its relations and cooperation with neighboring Georgia. This is what President of Armenia Armen Sarkissian stated during his meeting with President of Georgia Salome Zourabichvili in Tbilisi. In his speech, Sarkissian stated that during his talks with Zourabichvili, they touched upon the ensuring of regional security and stability and took into consideration the new realities following the military aggression that Azerbaijan launched against Nagorno-Karabakh with the overtly active support of Turkey. Sarkissian also shared the Armenian sides views on and approaches to the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict and particularly emphasized that it will be impossible to establish lasting peace and ensure stability in the region without a fair settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. Sarkissian also mentioned the possibility of and need for resumption of the peaceful settlement of the conflict through the OSCE Minsk Group. I stressed the tremendous humanitarian issues that emerged after the war, including the importance of finding speedy solutions to the issue of releasing the captives and hostages or other detainees being kept by Azerbaijan. I also highlighted the inadmissibility of Azerbaijan speculating the situation created after the war and leading a policy of xenophobia and violation of national dignity. I also touched upon the protection of the Armenian historical, spiritual and cultural heritage in the territories that are now under Azerbaijans control, he said. The Scholarships Secretariat today honoured the Majority Chief Whip and MP for Nsawam/Adoagyiri, Frank Annoh-Dompreh with a citation at his office at Parliament House "in recognition and sincere appreciation of Hon Annoh-Dompreh's outstanding role in advancing the decentralization of Scholarships in the country which has resulted in transparency and increased access to Scholarship opportunities in Ghana". Mr Kingsley Agyeman Registrar of the Scholarships Secretariat noted that statements made on the floor of Parliament by Hon Frank Annoh-Dompreh as far back as 2013 under the NDC regime and 2018 under the NPP government gained the attention of the President Nana Akufo-Addo who directed the decentralization of Scholarships in the country. This Mr Kingsley Agyeman said has resulted in the Scholarships Secretariat decentralized to all the 216 Districts, Metropolis and Municipalities in the country with about 40,000 students currently benefitting from the Scholarship scheme nation wide. He said the problem of middle men or "goro boys" who claim to secure scholarships for people have also been eliminated through the decentralization of Scholarships in the country. Hon Frank Annoh-Dompreh, thanked President Nana Akufo-Addo for decentralizing the Scholarships Secretariat as well as the Scholarships Secretariat itself for the honour done him (Hon Frank Annoh-Dompreh ). Hon Frank Annoh-Dompreh said his advocacy for the decentralization of the Scholarships Secretariat was born out of his strong belief in ensuring strong Institutions in the country which can discharge their duties more effectively to enhance the development of the country . 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 MBABANE The fourth annual Holy Gospel Party Festival will once more serenade gospel fanatics with a star-studded line-up. Having been established in 2017 and hosted by local gospel sensation Linda Dlamini, the event will once more be held in the country at The George Hotel on May 29, 2021, in Manzini. Due to the prevailing COVID-19 pandemic, the event will be held under strict COVID-19 regulations. This was stated by Dlamini as he said the tickets would be readily available as of next week Monday at all Ocean Basket outlets, retailing at E250 each. The show is widely considered as one of the biggest calendar events since it hosts renowned and established gospel artists from the SADC region. The main act of the night will be one of South Africas best-selling gospel artists, Xolly Mncwango. Some of the local acts that will be performing on the day include Siphiwo Ndlangamandla and Nothando Dlamini. However, the gospel artist Linda said he would reveal more international acts in due course as he was still in the process of finalising with them. Dlamini further thanked The George Hotel for allowing him to use their venue for the show and further appreciated Destiny Music Group for also lending a helping hand. I would like to thank Destiny Music as they assisted with sound, stage and lighting, The George Hotel for the venue and also Arts and Culture Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Stanley Dlamini who has been a great help with his team and their hands-on approach, he said. He went on to also thank Bishop Nash Shongwe for the support he had given him to date. At its inception, the show was first hosted at the Metropolitan Church in 2017 and it has grown into one of the biggest gospel events locally and internationally. This is because Dlamini hosted the show in Alexandra, South Africa pre-COVID-19 era in a sold-out venue in 2019 where he shot his DVD that has proven to be a favourite among the gospel fraternity. The notable artists that have performed at this annual event before include Thina Zungu, Sbu Noah, Dumi Mkokstad, Nduduzo Matse, Ayanda Ntanzi and Takie Ndou to mention but a few. expressed Thando Shiba expressed his excitement about the upcoming show as he said he would be among the first people to arrive on the day. We really missed these gospel shows and I am so happy that they are finally here. Although we wont be as plenty as before, we understand that the show has to abide by the regulations set by our government as this is for our safety, he said. Biden 's ambassador to the United Nations Linda Thomas-Greenfield has said that white supremacy is 'weaved' into America's 'founding documents' because of the 'original sin on slavery' President Joe Biden's ambassador to the United Nations has said that white supremacy is 'weaved' into America's 'founding documents' because of the 'original sin on slavery'. Speaking on Wednesday, US ambassador to the UN Linda Thomas-Greenfield pledged to prioritize efforts to combat racism both home and abroad. 'On the weekends, the (Ku Klux) Klan burned crosses on lawns in our neighborhoods,' she said. 'I shared these stories and others to acknowledge on the international stage that I have personally experienced one of America's greatest imperfections.' 'I've seen for myself how the original sin of slavery weaved white supremacy into our founding documents and principles,' Thomas-Greenfield added. For the US to play an effective role the United Nations' Human Rights Council - which the country rejoined in February - it should first acknowledge its own challenges, she said during a speech at the National Action Network's 2021 virtual convention. 'When we raise issues of equity and justice at the global scale, we have to approach them with humility,' Thomas-Greenfield said. 'We have to acknowledge that we are an imperfect union and have been since the beginning. Every day we strive to make ourselves more perfect and more just. In a diverse country like ours, that means committing to do the work. 'It means learning and understanding more about each other,' she added. Thomas-Greenfield also recalled a recent speech she gave before the UN General Assembly for the International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, in which she spoke of how her great-grandmother was the child of a slave 'just three generations back from me.' She spoke about how she was raised in the segregated south of America, where she was taken to a segregated school on a bus. She continued to say that racism is not the problem of the person who experiences it, but rather it is 'the problem of the racist and it is the problem of the society that produces the racist.' 'In today's world, that's every society,' she noted, saying that in the US, White Supremacy led to the 'led to the senseless killing of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor and Ahmaud Arbery and so many other Black Americans.' Protests resulting from the deaths of Floyd and Taylor at the hands of police officers, and Arbery who was shot while jogging in Georgia, garnered international attention last summer, with protests also being seen over the last few days following the death of 20-year-old Daunte Wright on Sunday at the hands of another officer. Thomas-Greenfield also noted that other minority ethnic groups - including Latinos, Asian Americans, Sikhs, immigrants, Muslims and Jews - have all faced a spike in hate crime in the United States over the last few years. 'That's why the Biden administration has made racial equity a top priority across the entire government and I'm making it a real focus on my tenure at the U.S. mission to the United Nations,' she said. Before her comments on Wednesday, Biden told a civil rights group that parts of the US were 'backsliding into the days of Jim Crow'. 'Parts of our country are backsliding into the days of Jim Crow, passing laws that harken back to the era of poll taxes when Black people were made to guess how many beans, how many jelly beans, in a jar or count the number of bubbles in a bar of soap before they could cast their ballot,' Biden said in video-taped remarks. Many southern U.S. states put in place laws after the Civil War that would legalize racial segregation and disenfranchise black citizens. The laws are referred to as Jim Crow laws. It is high time to respond to a 'cry for justice 400 years in the making,' Biden said in videotaped remarks to civil rights organizers and activists, referring to the beginning of U.S. slavery on the continent in the 17th century. On his first day in officer on January 20, 2021, Biden issues a series of executive orders aimed at addressing racial injustice and gender equality. 'The president-elect's equity agenda is grounded in advancing racial justice and building back better for communities who have been underserved, including people of color and Americans with disabilities, LGBTQ+ Americans, religious minorities, and rural and urban communities facing persistent poverty,' the White House said in a statement at that time. Nearly three years after President Trump withdrew the United States from the international body, the Biden administration rejoined the Human Rights Council after taking office. The move drew some criticism from GOP lawmakers, as well as the former US ambassador to the UN under the Trump administration Nikki Haley. Speaking when the U.S. rejoined the UN organisation in February, Haley said the Human Rights Council 'covers for dictators and human rights abusers like Russia, China and Venezuela.' House Committee votes to advance reparations bill that could pay back trillions of dollars to 40M descendants of black slaves The movement to make the United States pay reparations to black descendants of slaves was given its most significant backing to date on Wednesday, as the House Judiciary Committee approved a proposal to begin studying the issue. The Committee's vote does not mean reparations are likely any time soon: their support for a new commission to investigate does not mean legislation to create the commission will make it to the House floor. Even if it does proceed to a vote, there is no guarantee that it would survive that vote, as the Democrats hold an extremely narrow majority. There's even less of a chance it would make it through the Senate, as 10 Republicans would need to sign on to make it filibuster-proof. However, supporters of reparations were celebrating, with Shelia Jackson Lee, the New York congresswoman who sponsored the bill, describing it as a triumph. Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee of New York, seen Wednesday, is the primary sponsor of the bill 'No such bill has ever come this far during Congressional history of the United States,' she said, following the vote. The bill, H.R. 40, aims to establish a 13-person commission to study whether the descendants of slaves should receive compensation from the U.S. government. The same reparations bill was first introduced in the House in 1989, but never received a committee vote. An estimated 40 million black Americans could receive some sort of payment to the tune of trillions of dollars. The move comes days after President Joe Biden reiterated his support for the study during a meeting with leaders of the Congressional Black Caucus. Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerry Nadler presides over a markup session on Wednesday that includes H.R. 40, which creates a commission that would study giving reparations to the descendants of slaves Wednesday's Judiciary Committee vote was the first time a reparations bill was voted on 'We did bring up the issue of reparations,' said Jackson Lee outside the White House on Tuesday, at the conclusion of the meeting. 'We have heard not only from the president, but the White House and his team, that he is committed to this concept. 'We are grateful for that,' she added. The resolution to study reparations was first introduced by the now late Rep. John Conyers in 1989 and was named after the '40 acres and a mule' that freed black Americans had been promised, but the federal government didn't act on. Conyers died in October 2019 aged 90, having spent 52 years serving as a representative for an area around Detroit. In a House Judiciary subcommittee hearing on the bill in February, witnesses provided the historical context for reparations - pointing out that government had paid them before. Kathy Masaoka, co-chair of the Nikkei for Civil Rights & Redress, spoke of the reparations given to interned Japanese Americans, and also noted that the commission hearings - which H.R. 40 would green light - helped the healing process in the community. North Carolina Democratic Rep. Deborah Ross spoke about how her state paid out reparations to those who were forcibly sterilized by the government. 'I don't believe that this particular resolution prescribes a way of going forward, but it's a conversation about what we need to do,' Ross said. 'And just as we did in North Carolina, when we passed a bill compensating people for forced sterilization, a terrible, terrible chapter in our history.' NEW YORK, April 15, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Bernstein Liebhard, a nationally acclaimed investor rights law firm, reminds investors of the deadline to file a lead plaintiff motion in a securities class action lawsuit that has been filed on behalf of investors who purchased or acquired the securities of SOS Limited (SOS or the Company) (NYSE: SOS) from July 22, 2020, through February 25, 2021 (the Class Period). The lawsuit filed in the United States District Court for the District of New Jersey alleges violations of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. If you purchased SOS securities, and/or would like to discuss your legal rights and options please visit SOS Shareholder Class Action Lawsuit or contact Matthew E. Guarnero toll free at (877) 779-1414 or MGuarnero@bernlieb.com The complaint alleges that throughout the Class Period, defendants made materially false and/or misleading statements, as well as failed to disclose to investors: (i) SOS had misrepresented the true nature, location, and/or existence of at least one of the principal executive offices listed in its SEC filings; (ii) HY and FXK were either undisclosed related parties and/or entities fabricated by the Company; (iii) the Company had misrepresented the type and/or existence of the mining rigs that it claimed to have purchased; and (iv) as a result, the Companys public statements were materially false and misleading at all relevant times. On February 26, 2021 Hindenburg Research (Hindenburg) and Culper Research (Culper) released commentary on SOS, claiming that the Company was an intricate pump and dump scheme that used fake addresses and doctored photos of crypto rigs to create an illusion of success. On this news, SOSs American depositary share (ADS) price fell $1.27 per share, or 21.03%, to close at $4.77 per ADS on February 26, 2021. If you wish to serve as lead plaintiff, you must move the Court no later than June 1, 2021. A lead plaintiff is a representative party acting on behalf of other class members in directing the litigation. Your ability to share in any recovery doesnt require that you serve as lead plaintiff. If you choose to take no action, you may remain an absent class member. If you purchased SOS securities, and/or would like to discuss your legal rights and options please visit https://www.bernlieb.com/cases/soslimited-sos-shareholder-class-action-lawsuit-stock-fraud-384/apply/ or contact Matthew E. Guarnero toll free at (877) 779-1414 or MGuarnero@bernlieb.com Since 1993, Bernstein Liebhard LLP has recovered over $3.5 billion for its clients. In addition to representing individual investors, the Firm has been retained by some of the largest public and private pension funds in the country to monitor their assets and pursue litigation on their behalf. As a result of its success litigating hundreds of lawsuits and class actions, the Firm has been named to The National Law Journals Plaintiffs Hot List thirteen times and listed in The Legal 500 for ten consecutive years. ATTORNEY ADVERTISING. 2021 Bernstein Liebhard LLP. The law firm responsible for this advertisement is Bernstein Liebhard LLP, 10 East 40th Street, New York, New York 10016, (212) 779-1414. The lawyer responsible for this advertisement in the State of Connecticut is Michael S. Bigin. Prior results do not guarantee or predict a similar outcome with respect to any future matter. Contact Information Matthew E. Guarnero Bernstein Liebhard LLP https://www.bernlieb.com (877) 779-1414 MGuarnero@bernlieb.com One of Editor & Publishers 10 That Do It Right 2021 Gov. Whitmer announces federal funding priorities to transform state by promoting job growth and supporting small business Gov. Whitmer announces federal funding priorities to transform state by promoting job growth and supporting small business FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: April 12, 2021 CONTACT: Press@Michigan.gov Kurt Weiss, Weissk1@michigan.gov Gov. Whitmer announces federal funding priorities to transform state by promoting job growth and supporting small business LANSING, Mich. - Gov. Gretchen Whitmer announced today her funding priorities as the state readies for more than $18 billion in federal funding available through the American Rescue Plan Act. State government is expected to receive $5.7 billion in additional federal funding, in addition to $4.4 billion directed to local governments and $3.9 billion to K-12 schools. Many Michiganders have already received stimulus checks from the federal government through the Act. "We have a once-in-a-generation opportunity to invest billions in Michigan's families, communities, schools, and small businesses," said Governor Gretchen Whitmer. "The American Rescue Plan will help us build back better, preparing our state for the future while creating thousands of jobs and uplifting working families. I look forward to working with the legislature to put these dollars to work in a strategic way that builds on our shared priorities. Let's get it done." "Michiganders expect and deserve state leaders to work together to ensure the spending of the federal funds is done in a way that transforms Michigan into a better place and helps our residents and businesses," said State Budget Director David Massaron. "Michigan will be placed at a competitive disadvantage compared to other states if we do not get this right. This type of funding opportunity is rare, and these dollars must be invested wisely to contribute to sustainable and shared prosperity." Several key priority areas for investment that have sustainable and long-term benefits include job creation, infrastructure, access to health care, and children and their education, which could involve: G rant programs for small businesses to keep our main streets vibrant and our communities resilient , s upport for Michigan's community development financial institutions (CDFI) to compliment the traditional lenders supporting businesses through Paycheck Protection Program loans, and c reation of a small business accelerator to provide startup capital and support for entrepreneurs. B usiness attraction efforts to invest in future technologies, mobility, and advanced vehicle technology research & development is also important. I nvest ing in workforce opportunity and talent retention will also help transorm the state. A ddress ing the long-term neglect of our infrastructure to help provide all Michiganders access to clean drinking water, broadband, public green space, climate resilient dams and local infrastructure, and a clean environment. Using l essons learned this past year to fuel invest ment in improved public health capacity, expanded access to behavioral health supports, additional services to the aging and expanded options to age in place, and redesigned and integrated access to state benefits. M aking long-term investments in our children and the next generation, including expanding access to preschool and childcare , addressing pandemic learning loss, creating out of school learning opportunities, providing wraparound supports for mental health and social-emotional wellbeing, creating safe learning environments, and providing incentives to improve teacher recruitment and retention efforts. In a letter sent to the Governor and legislative leaders, the business community has encouraged a thoughtful approach in the allocation of federal funding that produces long-term strategic investments. Groups signing the letter included Business Leaders for Michigan, the Detroit Regional Chamber, the Grand Rapids Chamber, the Lansing Regional Chamber, the Michigan Manufacturers Association and the Small Business Association of Michigan. Support has also been provided by the Council of Michigan Foundations. # # # IRVINE, Calif., April 15, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- SWARM Engineering, Inc, the next generation of cognitive software for the food supply chain, announced today it has closed funding for a $2.7 million seed round. SWARM Engineering is a Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) platform specifically for the food supply chain, rapidly solving complex problems such as supply & demand forecasting, optimizing inbound and outbound logistics, or maximizing yield in controlled environment agriculture. SWARM is a 'no-code' solution, so end users do not need data science expertise, knowledge of machine learning, or a degree in math to use the software. Business users simply define their problem, and SWARM matches their definition with a curated library of algorithms (which can be added to by customers or 3rd parties) to rapidly deliver a solution via the cloud. S2G Ventures, a Chicago-based investment firm focused on food and agriculture, led the seed round, which included participation from Serra Ventures via their new AgTech fund, Harvard Business School Alumni, Wells Street Capital, VTC Seed Fund, and Rinvest. Angel investor and former CEO of Bunge, Soren Schroder, also participated in the round. The capital will support continued technological innovation and team growth, to support an expanding list of customers, ranging from growers through to dedicated logistics firms. SWARM are anticipating continued growth in ag-data, combined with an ongoing scarcity of data scientists, especially those with agricultural expertise. They aim to simplify the use of AI and advanced Machine Learning in the food supply chain, so that organizations can reap the rewards of the huge advances being made, at affordable price points, using existing team members' skills and knowledge. Anthony Howcroft, CEO and founder of SWARM Engineering said, "I'm excited to have the capital to continue SWARM's exciting journey in solving real-world problems for food supply chain organizations, but I'm even more thrilled to be partnering with investors who are so knowledgeable and committed to this space." Sanjeev Krishnan, Chief Investment Officer and Managing Director of S2G Ventures explains, "COVID-19 exposed the fragility of our food system, in particular the food supply chain, resulting in impacts to farmers, producers, food businesses and ultimately consumers. We are excited to lead SWARM Engineering's seed round and support them as they help food and agriculture companies solve these increasingly complex supply chain challenges in a scalable way." Serra Ventures Managing Partner, Steve Beck, said, "AgriFood businesses are faced with remarkable challenges from a rapidly changing landscape in both consumer expectations and new business demands. Those businesses that leverage the benefits of the most advanced AI for logistics will have an unfair advantage. SWARM's no-code solution empowers companies to focus on what they do best - making great food products, while SWARM provide the best logistics solutions from today's rapidly evolving machine learning capabilities - a win for all." "SWARM has developed a truly disruptive technology which harnesses AI & ML to drive massive efficiency gains across multiple verticals within the broader food supply chain. Part of what makes SWARM's approach so revolutionary is that it democratizes AI & ML by making it both useful, and useable for its clients in the 'real world'." said James Ramey, Managing Member of the VTC Seed Fund. Soren Schroeder, former CEO of Bunge a global agribusiness and food company says, "The Ag-Food supply chain is all about optimization and prediction. Often the biggest challenge is to define a problem very precisely. SWARM can help companies - large and small define and solve very complex problems quickly, using the latest in data technology." The global pandemic has highlighted the critical importance of supply chains, and food has frequently made headlines in many cases, for all the wrong reasons; who can forget seeing dramatic images of milk being poured away because of logistical challenges? "In the next few years, we have a tremendous opportunity to make a step change in efficiency and sustainability in food production and transportation," says Howcroft, "We need to give the right tools to the people at the heart of the food supply chain to help them deliver this transformation." About SWARM SWARM is a Software-as-a-Service platform that uses a next generation cognitive computing system designed to tackle issues in the food supply chain and logistics such as load planning, inbound sourcing, demand/supply planning, maximizing yield, and pricing optimization. The SWARM platform is structured around a multi-agent approach which can utilize a curated market of algorithms. SWARM provides an easy way for business users to define problems, and rapidly match this to a solution without any software coding, or knowledge of advanced AI, or machine learning. About S2G Ventures S2G Ventures is a multi-stage venture fund investing across the food, agriculture, oceans and seafood markets. The fund's mission is to catalyze innovation to meet consumer demands for healthy and sustainable food systems. S2G has identified sectors across the food system that are ripe for change, and is building a multi-stage portfolio including seed, venture and growth stage investments. Core areas of interest for S2G are agriculture, oceans, ingredients, infrastructure and logistics, IT and hardware, food safety and technology, retail and restaurants, and consumer brands. For more information about S2G, visit s2gventures.com or connect with us on LinkedIn. About Serra Ventures Serra Ventures is a venture capital firm investing in early-stage technology companies in underserved geographies in the Midwest, West Coast and selected other regions. Sectors of focus include information technology, devices/instrumentation and agricultural technologies. The profile of an ideal startup is one that has just finished an accelerator program or has been through a round of seed funding to establish and prove a strong product-market fit. Serra Ventures has offices in San Diego, Chicago and Champaign, Illinois. The managing partners are former successful entrepreneurs who seek to serve their portfolio companies with real-world insight, hard work and a valuable network. In addition to capital, Serra works alongside its entrepreneurs in all areas of growth from strategic planning and partnerships, through business development and capital formation. As portfolio companies scale, Serra co-invests with leading venture firms. For more information, visit www.serraventures.com. About VTC Seed Fund The Virginia Tech Carilion (VTC) Seed Fund is an early-stage venture capital fund investing in disruptive companies across multiple sectors. The Fund is primarily funded by Virginia Tech and Carilion Clinic and concentrates its investment activities on the Virginia Tech and Carilion Clinic ecosystems as well as the greater Roanoke & Blacksburg region. Media Contact Holly Self, VP Marketing [email protected] (949) 751-6121 SOURCE SWARM Engineering JOB MARKET: LVMH Moet Hennessy Louis Vuitton has maintained its lock on being the most attractive employer for French business students. The French luxury giant, whose market capitalization reached 300 billion euros this week, tops the 2021 ranking conceived by Universum, an employer branding firm based in Stockholm that surveyed more than 50,000 students and asked them to identify their most ideal employers from a provided list of 130 firms. More from WWD LVMH has held the number-one spot for 16 years running, and French beauty giant LOreal has been in second place since 2018, when it dethroned Google. Breaking into the top-three this year is Chanel, which bumped Google down to fourth place. Apple remains at number five. Other fashion, retail and beauty firms in the top 100 include Amazon, ranked 17th; Groupe Galeries Lafayette, ranked 22nd; Decathlon, ranked 25th; Printemps, ranked 29th; Kering, 31st; Compagnie Financiere Richemont, 51st; Unilever, 52nd: Proctor & Gamble, 59th; Carrefour, 56th, and Veepee, previously Vente-Privee, ranked 76th. Reflecting the impact of the pandemic, companies in the hospitality and aviation sectors slipped in the 2021 ranking, while supermarkets gained favor. The top priority for business students in choosing their ideal employer is high earning potential, bumping challenging work to second place in the 2021 study. Only 22 percent of those surveyed preferred to work for start-ups, with 78 percent of students wishing to get hired by established businesses. See also: DeKalb County authorities arrested a Henager man Tuesday following a brief standoff after he barricaded himself inside a home. DeKalb County Sheriff Nick Welden said the DeKalb County Special Response Team, investigators with the sheriffs office, officers with Henagar police and agents with the FBI, acting on information executed a search warrant on Hulsey Road in Henagar. Following the standoff, Alton Scott Durham, 43, of Henagar, was charged with two counts of third degree domestic violence, second degree kidnapping and second degree property theft. Welden said this was the best possible outcome of what was a terrible incident. VERONA, Miss. (WTVA) - Property owners in Verona could see a decrease in homeowners insurance thanks to an improved fire rating. Verona Fire Chief Kristian Skou said the city recently received its new rating. The Mississippi State Ratings Bureau evaluates municipalities every few years and issues ratings based on various criteria including firefighter training and response, fire gear, number of hydrants and more. The rating scale ranges from 10-1 with 1 being the best rating, Skou said. Verona received a rating of 7 at the time of the citys last audit in 2016. This year the citys rating improved to 6. The fire chief credits the improvement to various projects and developments such as repairs to the citys water system and the adoption of the citys first fire code. The new rating went into effect on April 6. Property owners within the city limits are encouraged to contact their insurance companies for further information about possible savings. US President Joe Biden announced Wednesday afternoon that the remaining American troops in Afghanistan would begin pulling out on May 1 and that all of them would be withdrawn from Afghanistan by September 11, 2021. The choice of a final withdrawal date was intended to reinforce the longstanding lie by Washington that its invasion and occupation of Afghanistan were in response to the terrorist attacks on New York and Washington on September 11, 2001. In reality, the attack on Afghanistan was in preparation well before that date, and the invasion was aimed at accomplishing long-term strategic aims for American imperialism. Coalition forces pull security for the safety of the pilots and team of an MI-17 helicopter as it leaves the Gulistan district in Farah province, Afghanistan, April 12, 2009 (Source: Wikimedia Commons/Joseph A. Wilson) The televised statement from the White House and the accompanying media buildup, however, could not dispel the atmosphere of futility and failure that surrounds the withdrawalif, indeed, the final pullout takes place on schedule. Biden reportedly rejected pleas by Pentagon and CIA officials that any pullout should be conditions-based, i.e., conditional on some sort of agreement between the Taliban insurgents and the Kabul puppet regime established by the United States. By one account, citing an unnamed senior administration official, Biden viewed such an approach as a recipe for staying in Afghanistan forever. While warning the Taliban not to attack American forces or their NATO allies during the withdrawal period, Biden indicated that there were no circumstances in which he would reverse his decision. He only left open the threat that US military force could be employed against any possible terrorist threat to the United States, a warning that applies to virtually every country in the world. While there are officially 2,500 US troops in Afghanistan and another 6,500 from other NATO countries, press reports indicate that the actual number of American soldiers is 3,500. This does not count thousands of other American personnel, from CIA agents to mercenaries to Special Forces paratroopers, who are likely to continue operations in that country as long as Washington feels it necessary to prop up the Kabul regime, which has no other base of support. Afghanistan will remain a free-fire zone for US drone missiles, like nearly all the vast swath of territory from Central Asia through the Middle East and across northern Africa. There were mixed reactions in Congress to the Biden decision, and the split was not along party lines. Some Democrats applauded the action, mostly those from the Sanders-Warren wing of the party, while those closest to the military gave tepid backing, including Adam Smith, chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, and Robert Menendez, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. Senator Jeanne Shaheen of New Hampshire, a member of the Foreign Relations Committee, said she was very disappointed by the decision and cited the likelihood that government in Kabul would collapse. Republicans were publicly divided, with the most strident pro-Trump senators, including Ted Cruz and Josh Hawley, hailing the pullout, while Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell denounced it as a capitulation to terrorism. It is a retreat in the face of an enemy that has not yet been vanquished, an abdication of American leadership, he said Tuesday on the Senate floor. Secretary of State Antony Blinken informed Afghanistan President Ashraf Ghani Tuesday of Bidens decision and also relayed the proposed action to his NATO counterparts before a meeting in Brussels, which is expected to ratify similar actions by Germany and other countries with forces on the ground in Afghanistan. Ghani, for whom the announcement is something of a political death sentence, said he would have no comment on the US withdrawal until after Bidens official declaration. Speaking off the record to the press, top administration officials underscored the necessity for the United States to turn away from lesser conflicts, like that in Afghanistan, to more important strategic opponents like Russia and China, as well as North Korea and Iran. Afghanistan just does not rise to the level of those other threats at this point, one official told the Washington Post . In his remarks Wednesday, Biden referred to the 2,300 American soldiers killed in Afghanistan, the tens of thousands of wounded and $2 trillion expended on 20 years of war. He made no reference whatsoever to the catastrophic impact on the Afghan people and on Afghanistan as a society, one of many destroyed by American imperialism over the past two decades, along with Iraq, Syria, Libya, Yemen and large parts of northern Africa. Similarly, there has been virtually no mention in the US media of the damage and the colossal loss of life inflicted by American forces. Instead, there were crocodile tears about the savagery of the Taliban and the likelihood of severe setbacks for womens rights should the fundamentalist religious group come to power again in Kabul. One of the most cynical efforts to portray Bidens decision as a humanitarian and even progressive action came from David Sanger, the designated recipient of leaks from the CIA and Pentagon at the New York Times. He wrote that Biden was pulling out troops at least in part because he wants the United States focused on a transformational economic and social agenda at home, adding that in Bidens view the priorities are fighting poverty and racial inequities and increasing investment in broadband, semiconductors, artificial intelligence and 5G communicationsnot using the military to prop up the government of President Ashraf Ghani. He concluded, In the end, the argument that won the day is that the future of Kenosha is more important than defending Kabul. The resources squandered by American imperialism in Afghanistan will not go to rebuild deindustrialized cities in the Midwest, however. They will be redeployed against the major targets of Washington, in Russia and China. The real strategic thinking in Washington was expressed in a typically blunt and bloodthirsty column by Anthony Cordesman, one of the top analysts for American imperialism, at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), written just before Bidens formal announcement. He noted that the Taliban was gaining strength, and the regime in Kabul is hopelessly divided, corrupt and ineffective. Cordesman backed not only the withdrawal of military forces but the cutoff of all US military and civilian aid. It will be a tragedy, but the time has come for the strategic equivalent of a mercy killing, he added. While Afghanistan would likely be viewed as an American failure, he argued, the first benefit is to shift the burden of Afghanistan and the focus of any extremist activity outside its borders to China, Russia, Pakistan, and Iran. In other words, the wreckage created by the American intervention in Afghanistan would now become a problem for its neighbors, all of which are targets of US imperialism. India on Wednesday reported a net increase of 106,173 in active cases, the most ever in a day, to take its count to 1,471,877. Indias share of global active cases now stands at 6.07 per cent (one in 16). The country is 3rd among the most affected countries by active cases. On Thurrsday, it added 200,739 cases, the most in a day yet, to take its total caseload to 14,074,564. And, with 1,038 new fatalities, its Covid-19 reached 173,123, or 1.23 per cent of total confirmed infections. With 3,313,848 more people getting Covid-19 vaccine shots on Tuesday, Indias total count of those inoculated reached 114,493,238. The count of recovered cases across India, meanwhile, reached 12,429,564 or 88.31 per cent of total caseload with 93,528 new cured cases being reported on Tuesday. J Balvin and his girlfriend Valentina Ferrer confirmed they are expecting their first child together, after months of rumors. The artist, 35, and the former Miss Argentina, 27, announced the baby news on the cover of Vogue Mexico, released on Thursday morning. The cover featured a black and white image of J Balvin holding Valentina's growing midsection while she rocked unbuttoned bottoms and a crop top. The Instagram caption shared on Vogue Mexico's page had a quote from Valentina that called the baby a 'him.' Baby on the way: J Balvin and his girlfriend Valentina Ferrer confirmed they are expecting their first child together via the cover of Vogue Mexico, released Thursday Valentina donned a black short sleeved fitted top with a high neckline; she paired it with matching black jeans that she wore open at the waist. Her tresses were loose in natural waves around her; the beauty had her hands on her head. J Balvin was standing behind her with his tattooed hands around her waist and resting on her midsection. Only a glimpse of part of his face is seen as he is standing almost directly behind her for the black and white image. Mom and dad: The cover featured a black and white image of J Balvin holding Valentina's growing midsection while she rocked unbuttoned bottoms and a crop top. The Instagram caption shared on Vogue Mexico's page had a quote from Valentina that called the baby a 'him;' the couple pictured on September 5, 2019 in New York City The cover didn't have any words on it besides Vogue Mexico in black and red tones. Vogue Mexico posted the cover to their Instagram page, with a caption that read (translated from Spanish): 'A picture is worth a thousand words. Posing for the Vogue Lens. #ValentinaFerrer and #JBalvin confirm that they are expecting a baby and will be parents very soon.' It continued: 'I did the test in the bathroom and I repeated it three more times because I did not believe it. What surprised me the most was the first time I felt him kick.' Valentina called the baby a 'him,' and last week Hola! magazine reported that they were expecting a baby and that it was a boy, who they said they will call 'Rio.' Soon to be parents: Vogue Mexico posted the cover to their Instagram page, with a caption that read (translated from Spanish): 'A picture is worth a thousand words. Posing for the Vogue Lens. #ValentinaFerrer and #JBalvin confirm that they are expecting a baby and will be parents very soon;' pictured November 15, 2018 in Las Vegas at the 19th Annual Latin Grammy Awards The couple began dating after she appeared in his 2017 music video Sigo Extranandote. She played his wife and mother of his child in the music video. The lovebirds made their red carpet debut in 2018 at New York Fashion Week. Fans suspected the baby news when the model was spotted out in February 2021 in what appeared to be a baby bump. In 2018, Valentina, who was crowned Miss Argentina in 2014, told the NY Post that she wanted 'a big family - three or four kids. I'm a simple girl.' They were rumored to have briefly split in 2019 before reconciling in 2020, but it was never confirmed. J Balvin, who was born Jose Alvaro Osorio Balvin in Medellin, Colombia, is one of the best selling Latin artists - with over 35 million records sold globally. Duo: Fans suspected the baby news when the model was spotted out in February 2021 in what appeared to be a baby bump; seen June 23, 2019 at Paris Fashion Week In November 2020, J Balvin shared his struggle with anxiety and depression with his fans via his Instagram stories. The acclaimed reggaeton artist told his followers that the reason he's been absent from social media is because 'like any human being, I've had some challenges,' he said in the video - in Spanish. 'This time it's anxiety and depression. I don't like acting or faking my happiness or pretending that everything is perfect,' he said. 'I'm like any human being. I'm fragile and vulnerable, possibly even more than all of you. Soon, the storm will pass and I'll be back cracking jokes with you all. I'm not here to act but to be real and share what I'm feeling in the moment.' He ended it by using his real name, Jose, and said: 'I love you all.' In summer 2020, J revealed publicly that he had been diagnosed with COVID-19; he announced the news in mid-August, and revealed that he 'got it bad.' Speaking candidly: In November 2020, J Balvin shared his struggle with anxiety and depression with his fans via his Instagram stories [April 15, 2021] EveryAction Announces Acquisition of GiveGab, Combining Two Leaders in Nonprofit Solutions EveryAction, the fastest-growing and second-largest nonprofit software provider, announced that it has acquired GiveGab, an Ithaca-based company and the market leader in nonprofit, community-wide fundraising. The new partnership will enable EveryAction and GiveGab to offer the most innovative digital tools on the market to empower nonprofits and schools to successfully serve their communities. GiveGab will continue basing its operations in Ithaca, NY and the company's staff and leadership will remain at GiveGab. "We are thrilled to welcome GiveGab to the EveryAction family," said Stu Trevelyan, CEO of EveryAction. "It is imperative that nonprofits have access to the most cutting-edge digital tools available on the market, especially during times of crisis. At EveryAction, we're committed to developing the best technology to empower nonprofits to do the most good that they can." "We're excited to join forces with EveryAction, one of the most innovative companies in the space," said Charlie Mulligan, CEO and Co-founder of GiveGab. "EveryAction's values and culture are very similar to GiveGab -- they have a shared commitment to empower nonprofits and make a real difference in communities across America. With this new partnership, we now have even more resources to help us reach our goal of having a Giving Day everywhere." Due to the ongoing pandemic, nonprofits have had to shift the way they fundrase and how they serve the public. With the lack of in-person fundraising, successful virtual fundraising has become critical to the sustainability of today's nonprofits. Many nonprofits have helped communities large and small weather the Covid-19 crisis by raising funds for food banks, schools and other local aid organizations. That's why this partnership between EveryAction and GiveGab is so critical for the nonprofit world -- it combines two of the most innovative leaders in digital solutions for nonprofit fundraising and customer relations. GiveGab, best known for their highly successful "Giving Day" campaigns, have made an indelible mark on communities and schools in New York and across America. GiveGab's Giving Days raised $20,463,749.49 for New York-based organizations and schools last year alone. With this exciting new partnership, EveryAction clients will be introduced to GiveGab's leading Giving Day solution that has raised billions online and helped more than 40,000 nonprofits engage with their supporters. GiveGab's Giving Days grow donations 10 times faster than any other giving channel and retain donors 3 times more. ABOUT EVERYACTION EveryAction offers best-in-class digital, development, and organizing SaaS (News - Alert) products, with a unified customer relationship management (CRM) platform that serves nonprofits of all sizes. Headquartered in Washington, D.C., EveryAction is fueled by passionate people who truly care about doing more good, with a love of important causes and innovative technology. EveryAction is the fastest-growing nonprofit CRM in the space with the acquisition of GiveGab, EA8, Mobilize, ActionKit and DonorTrends. ABOUT GIVEGAB GiveGab is the #1 digital solution for Giving Days and year-round fundraising tailored to cause-based organizations, community foundations, education institutions, hospital foundations, and public media outlets. With customer satisfaction as their core value, GiveGab started building meaningful relationships with nonprofits in 2011 and quickly grew their connections through powering community-wide Giving Days in 2015. GiveGab further elevated its influence in the nonprofit fundraising space with the acquisition of Kimbia in 2018, leading to the year-round platform now known as Donation Forms. GiveGab has helped more than 40,000 nonprofits raise over $2 billion for great causes worldwide. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210415006069/en/ [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] Siliguri/New Delhi, April 15 : The Congress may find it tough to retain its last tally in the fifth phase of the polling in West Bengal where the party is contesting on 12 seats and has 3 sitting MLAs including a second term MLA in Naxalbari, said sources. Congress leader Rahul Gandhi had campaigned for the fifth phase and had targeted both the TMC and the BJP for dividing the state. Congress Senior Observer BK Hariprasad speaking on phone from West Bengal said, "this phase the Congress is strong and will enhance its last time tally in the elections." The Congress has retained the seat -- Matigara-Naxalbari Assembly constituency -- twice in a row and is represented by Sankar Malakar who is the MLA since 2011. The seat is reserved for Scheduled Castes. Congress leader Rahul Gandhi had addressed two public meeting on Wednesday at the Lodhan school ground in Goalpokhar in Uttar Dinajpur and at the Sarojini ground in Darjeeling district, which is part of the Naxalbari Assembly constituency. Apart from this seat the area has become a stronghold of the BJP but the Congress is hopeful that its alliance with the Left will give it enough seats in this phase. While Rahul Gandhi is a late entrant in the poll arena of West Bengal, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has led the BJP campaign so far in the state. The ruling Trinamool Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party are involved in a direct contest in Bengal, the Left is trying to win back its rural support, and the Congress is looking to retain its tally of 44 seats it won in the 2016 elections. The Congress' vote share had declined to 4 per cent in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, but it still remains an important factor in some districts such as Purulia, Malda and Murshidabad. In the fifth phase there will be elections in six districts including 16 constituencies in North 24 Parganas, 8 constituencies in Nadia district, 8 constituencies in East Burdwan district, 7 in Jalpaiguri district, 5 in Darjeeling and one constituency in Kalimpong district. There will be voting in 15,789 booths spread across 45 constituencies in six districts. -- The story has been published from a wire feed without any modifications to the text WAKE FOREST, N.C., April 15, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Revibe Technologies today announced they have raised over $3 million in new funding, led by Carolina Angel Network. The new capital will be invested in the clinical and regulatory development of Revibe's flagship digital therapeutic device, the AI-driven Revibe Connect smartwatch. The company also announced the hiring of Joseph Koziak as CEO, replacing founder Rich Brancaccio, who will transition to Chief Innovation Officer. The funding comes at an important time as numerous studies have shown the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on students already dealing with issues of focus. The Revibe Connect aids students by using an algorithm controlled by artificial intelligence to send vibration signals to the wearer reminding them to stay focused and achieve their best work independently. "I'm proud of the company I've built and the work I've done at Revibe, and even more excited about the work I will continue to do as I focus on my areas of strength: psychology, technology, and product innovation," said Brancaccio. "With such a huge opportunity in front of us, I wanted to maximize our chances of success by recruiting an experienced, top-tier CEO which we did with Joe." Before joining Revibe, Koziak served as the CEO of Amblyotech, a company that developed a digital technology for the treatment of amblyopia. The company was sold to Novartis in April of 2020. Over the past 25 years, Koziak has focused on the acquisition, development, and commercialization of medical devices, diagnostic products, and pharmaceuticals. He has founded biotechnology companies and has created successful exit strategies by way of IPO and M&A. Koziak has raised equity financings and negotiated industry-leading collaborations and licensing agreements with Roche, Novartis, Atrium, Glaxo, and Ubisoft. "After meeting with Rich and understanding the problems he was solving with Revibe, joining the team was an easy decision for me," explained Koziak. "The Revibe Connect is a best-in-class product and I look forward to leading this team and helping to fulfill Rich's original vision of helping children and young adults experience academic and personal success." Founded in 2013, Revibe has received research funding from the U.S. Department of Education and has been adopted by multiple school systems across the United States, including New York City, Denver, and Wake County, NC. About Revibe Technologies Revibe Technologies is passionate about leveraging technology to help children and adults with various difficulties, including ADHD and Autism, overcome obstacles in order to succeed in life. Their product, the Revibe Connect, is a machine-learning-powered wearable that provides personalized vibrations optimized for each user to increase focus while tracking various metrics and inputs that provide actionable data through historical and predictive analytics. Revibe Technologies hopes to be a resource for students, parents, teachers, schools, and clinicians. https://revibetech.com/ Information: Joseph Koziak, CEO Revibe Technologies Cell: 480 254 8530 Email: [email protected] SOURCE Revibe Technologies Related Links https://www.revibetech.com New York City's Department of Transportation (DOT) has signed and approved a legislation for e-scooters to be rolled out on Bronx streets this summer. At least 3,000 electric scooters from companies like Bird, Lime, and Veo will be supplied around the Bronx area. Although New York City has had a Citi Bike program since 2013, the scooters around the site will be proven and tested throughout the summer season. E-Scooters Rolling Out the Streets of Bronx New York Post reported that Bird, Lime, and Veo are selected for an application process to be the guinea pigs for its scooter-share program on the NYC streets. The pilot program will encapsulate a borough sliver that includes Eastchester, Co-Op City, and Morris Park. DOT stated that these three companies were chosen for the program for its previous performance in other cities and its cheap maintenance features, as the department has promised to keep the rides to a $5 price cap. The department added that they would add various e-scooter models such as standing and seating options. They even said that there would be a scooter that caters to people with disabilities. Furthermore, New York stated that it has plans to make a citywide e-scooter friendly city, but the Bronx will be a test site for now. DOT said that they want to see how the e-scooter will perform in the Bronx and, if successful, they will expand the program and make it to 6,000 units. The DOT also noted that anyone 16 years old and older can rent one of the e-scooters scattered around the Bronx and will not pass through the designated area. Riders under 18 and below are required to wear helmets. Read Also: Voro Motors Wolf King: Electric Stand-up Scooter Features 0-50 MPH in 4.8s, 62-mi of Range, and MORE! Gizmodo added that the dockless e-scooters will allow users to locate, unlock, and pay their rides using a smartphone app. Riders can park the two-wheeled transportation device in one of the area's designated parking corrals. MSN, meanwhile, pointed out that New York City is one of the U.S. cities falling behind the e-scooter share program. San Francisco, Los Angeles, Austin, and Portland are some of the many cities that have already incorporated the program to fight against sidewalk clutter, dangerous riding and parking issues. E-Scooters: Bird, Lime, and Veo According to a Bird blog post, the company is honored to be one of the e-scooter companies assigned to the Bronx pilot program. The company promised to offer top-quality e-scooters to every New Yorker, noting that they will be a responsible transportation partner on the program. It will also provide four-wheel options developed in collaboration with e-mobility providers WHILL. A Bird E-Scooter can cover 30 miles on a single charge, with its energy storage being able to resist rain, dust and harsh weather. The scooter's aluminum frame has a density bump to improve robustness and has tubeless wheels that promise smooth rides within the city, as Engadget wrote. Meanwhile, Lime e-scooters are funded by Google and Uber. The e-scooter has a smartphone app that lets the user unlock the device to ride around the city. The Lime App also locates e-scooets around the user and tries to pinpoint which Lime Scooter is closest. Lastly, Veo is an e-scooter with a distinct feature from others in the market: a swappable battery. The transportation device features 10-inch wheels with proprietary shock-absorbent tires and has built-in sensors to scan road conditions ahead. Related Article: Scoot Previews Electric Four-Wheel Drive British soldiers are pictured at the scene of a suicide attack on a European Union police vehicle along the Kabul-Jalalabad road in Kabul, Afghanistan, on Jan. 5, 2015. (Wakil Kohsar/AFP via Getty Images) UK to Begin Pullout of Troops From Afghanistan by May 1 Britain will begin the drawdown of its military presence in Afghanistan by May 1 in coordination with its NATO allies, the Ministry of Defence has confirmed. The British military presence in Afghanistan began in 2001 as part of a NATO operation in the wake of the 9/11 terrorist attacks on the United States. NATO assembled one of the largest coalitions in history to serve in Afghanistan. Our troops went into Afghanistan together, we have adjusted together, and now we are leaving together, the trans-Atlantic military alliance said in a statement issued on Wednesday evening. Following the announcement that NATO forces will begin withdrawing from Afghanistan on 1 May, Defence Secretary @BWallaceMP has made the following statement. pic.twitter.com/UcguvFGYpz Ministry of Defence (@DefenceHQ) April 14, 2021 The UK Ministry of Defence issued statements following the NATO announcement. The people of Afghanistan deserve a peaceful and stable future, UK Defence Secretary Ben Wallace said in a statement. As we drawdown, the security of our people currently serving in Afghanistan remains our priority and we have been clear that attacks on Allied troops will be met with a forceful response. The British public and our Armed Forces community, both serving and veterans, will have lasting memories of our time in Afghanistan. Most importantly we must remember those who paid the ultimate sacrifice, who will never be forgotten. Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab said the UK is standing with NATO and the people of Afghanistan to support a more stable, peaceful future for the country, and the wider region. We will support an orderly departure of our forces, whilst building up Afghanistans capacity for self-governance, and continuing counter-terrorism supportto protect the gains made over the last 20 years, he said in a statement. U.S. President Joe Biden said on Wednesday that he will withdraw all U.S. troops from Afghanistan by Sept. 11. He said that it is now time to end Americas longest war and time for American troops to come home. His predecessor, former President Donald Trump, attempted several times to draw down troop levels. Last year, Trump announced an agreement with the Taliban, saying troops would withdraw from Afghanistan by May 1. NATO said the drawdown will be orderly, coordinated, and deliberate and any Taliban attacks on Allied troops during the withdrawal will be met with a forceful response. The alliance said it will continue to support the ongoing Afghan-owned and Afghan-led peace process, and urged the Afghan government and the Taliban to adhere to their commitments to the peace process initiated by the U.S.-Taliban agreement and the U.S.-Afghanistan Joint Declaration. NATO Allies and partners will continue to stand with Afghanistan, its people, and its institutions in promoting security and upholding the gains of the last 20 years, said the NATO statement. Withdrawing our troops does not mean ending our relationship with Afghanistan. Rather, this will be the start of a new chapter. Jack Philips contributed to this report. For 17-year-old Maddy Boteler, hope is an air pocket big enough to keep her uncle alive. The thought of Chaz Morales getting plucked from a capsized lift boat in the Gulf of Mexico and returned safely to his three children in Slidell led the teen and her mother, Danielle Boteler, south to Port Fourchon on Wednesday. +6 'Need him to come home': Slidell woman prays for son's safe return after Seacor Power capsizes Darra Ann Morales and her son, Chaz, had been exchanging a series of sarcastic text messages about a dilapidated dresser he bought online when They came as an aspiring welcome party, wanting to be as close as possible to the 37-year-old crane operator, one of 12 people still missing after the Seacor Power capsized in a monster storm Tuesday, seven miles to the south. "That way we're just waiting for him to get pulled up," Maddy Boteler said. He has a big, giant, bald head. Im hoping that big head saves him." A day without answers, though, left her weary mother sitting on the shoulder of A.J. Estay Road, staring into her lap as the sun went down. Its been a rough day, Danielle Boteler said. Thursday promises more anxiety, but perhaps answers at last for the Botelers and other family members who have gathered in Port Fourchon, as a U.S. Coast Guard rescue operation enters its third day around the hobbled jack-up boat. +5 One dead, 12 still missing from lift boat that capsized in Gulf near Louisiana, Coast Guard says A crew member was found dead and 12 were still missing off the Louisiana coast Wednesday as the U.S. Coast Guard continued its search of the G The Seacor Power capsized in a fierce storm hours after leaving Port Fourchon Tuesday afternoon. Six of the 19 people aboard were rescued. The Coast Guard said Wednesday that one person was dead. Two Coast Guard cutters, three helicopters, planes and seven good Samaritan vessels have engaged in the search and rescue operation, which has spanned 1,400 square miles, the Coast Guard said Wednesday. But rough weather has kept divers on stand-by. More thunderstorms were expected throughout Thursday, as southeast Louisiana awoke under a flash-flood watch. Top stories in New Orleans in your inbox Twice daily we'll send you the day's biggest headlines. Sign up today. e-mail address * Sign Up The Botelers and several other family members huddled Wednesday in the open bays of the Port Fourchon firehouse. Maddy Boteler said they were getting their information from the news, social media and each other, trying to piece things together. She said they were told nothing about the six who were rescued. They didnt really stop. Why did they keep going? she wondered about the 129-foot ships course. Why did nobody know the weather was going to get that bad? A meeting in the fire station Wednesday with a representative of Seacor, the Houston-based company that owns the boat, didnt settle any of their questions, she said. They said they had nothing new for us." Danielle Boteler said Morales wasnt scheduled to work the trip on the Seacor Power, which they said was his regular boat. I think he picked up an extra hitch, she said. By late Wednesday, they agreed that their best hope for his rescue was an air pocket that would allow breathing room while Morales and other missing crew members wait in the dark. But they werent being choosy. Were hoping for air pockets, Maddy Boteler said. Were hoping for everything. Barranco has over 18 years of experience in mortgage banking, most recently as Mortgage Loan Officer at Bank of Fincastle/Colonial Mortgage. In her new role as Mortgage Banker, Mikki Barranco will originate, process, and close mortgage loans in the Daleville and Roanoke markets and the surrounding area. "Mikki is a great addition to the First Bank and Trust mortgage team in the Roanoke Valley. She will provide value and assist homeowners in the Daleville and Greater Roanoke markets with their home purchase, refinance, or construction needs," stated Andy Puckett, Senior Vice President of First Bank and Trust's Mortgage Division. Barranco is a graduate of Radford University, where she obtained a degree in Finance and Accounting. Mikki serves her community through the Botetourt County Chamber of Commerce, working as a Botetourt County Election Officer. She currently resides in Daleville, Virginia, with her husband, Stephen, and their four children. Kevin Sutton will join Barranco in First Bank and Trust's new Daleville location. Sutton has 19 years of banking experience and three years of experience as a commercial and agricultural lender with First Bank and Trust Company. He is one of several First Bank and Trust lenders who has played a pivotal role in dispersing crucial funding to businesses through the Paycheck Protection Program. "To date, First Bank and Trust Company has provided over $373 million in PPP loan support. 75% of these loans extended were for $50,000 or less, demonstrating our commitment to small businesses throughout Virginia, our entire footprint, and newly identified markets including Daleville," stated W. Mark Nelson, President & CEO of First Bank and Trust Company. "Mikki and Kevin will extend their mortgage, commercial and agricultural lending expertise to the Daleville and surrounding communities, while also delivering on our commitment to providing exceptional customer service in a community banking environment," stated W. Mark Nelson, President & CEO of First Bank & Trust Company. Mikki and Kevin's office is currently located at 3130 Chapparal Drive, Suite 203 in Roanoke. Mikki may be reached at [email protected] and Kevin may be reached at [email protected]. About First Bank & Trust Company First Bank and Trust Company, one of the top community banks in the United States, is a diversified financial services firm with office locations throughout southwest Virginia and the New River and Shenandoah Valleys of the state. First Bank and Trust Company also operates locations throughout northeast Tennessee. Financial solutions are addressed by offering free checking products for personal and business accounts, savings, money market and time deposit accounts. Lending solutions are managed by mortgage, agricultural and commercial lending divisions. Comprehensive wealth management solutions are available through trust and brokerage service representatives. For more information, visit www.firstbank.com or contact Kaitlyn Widner at [email protected] SOURCE First Bank & Trust Company Related Links https://www.FirstBank.com The on Thursday dismissed speculation that the last three phases of assembly polls in could be clubbed in view of the surge in coronavirus cases in the country. Since this morning, there has been speculation in the media that the last three phases of the assembly elections on April 22, 26 and 29 could be clubbed into a single phase. "(There is) no such plan of clubbing phases," an EC spokesperson in response to queries. There are suggestions that some political parties may raise the issue at an all-party meeting called by the chief electoral officer of on Friday. The meeting has been called to ensure that COVID-19 guidelines issued by the EC are adhered to by political leaders during campaigning. Amid the rising number of coronavirus cases, the EC had on April 9 flagged instances of star campaigners and leaders campaigning without masks and warned that it will not hesitate in banning events like rallies in case the COVID-19 guidelines issued by it last year are not followed. (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.) 7th Cello Festival of Ouro Branco with broad representation of the WWU casa de musica de ouro branco International names in classical music were invited to the 7th Cello Festival of Ouro Branco in Minas Gerais, which took place from 7 March until 3 April. It included Prof. Matias de Oliveira Pinto from the University of Music (WWU), responsible for the artistic direction of the festival, and WWU alumnus Fabio Presgrave. Our University was also good represented by some of its master students: Rafael Frazzato from Brazil (one of the award winners), Constanza Besoain and Karl Figueroa, both from Chile, also attended the festival being in Munster. The festival, dedicated exclusively to the instrument violoncello, was organised this time in a virtual format due to the pandemic. Thus, enabling a wide participation of teachers, musicians, students and audience from all over the world. For eight days, numerous cellists had the opportunity to participate in Masterclasses, lectures as well as in the National Cello Competition. With the presence of about 100 participants in each Masterclass, 1,500 in lectures and with an audience of 2,000 people in the concerts, the event organisers could celebrate the great success of the virtual edition of the Ouro Branco Violoncellos Festival at the end of the eighth day. The festival concerts are available to be enjoyed on Youtube [ pt ]. Source: Xinhua| 2021-04-15 22:34:32|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close ADDIS ABABA, April 15 (Xinhua) -- African countries have conducted 41,888,333 million COVID-19 tests, the Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) disclosed Thursday. The Africa CDC, a specialized healthcare agency of the African Union (AU), said COVID-19 tests that were conducted by African countries during the past week, registered a 2.4 percent increase from tests carried out in the previous week, the agency announced in its latest continental update. According to the agency, Africa's total COVID-19 positivity rate is 10.2 percent. The African continent has reported 4,383,168 COVID-19 cases, the Africa CDC also disclosed in its latest update. The Africa CDC also said the death toll from the pandemic stood at 116,727, while 3,933,939 patients across the continent have recovered from the disease so far. South Africa, Morocco, Tunisia, Ethiopia and Egypt are among the African countries with the most cases in the continent, according to the Africa CDC. In terms of the number of confirmed COVID-19 cases, southern Africa is the most affected region, followed by northern Africa and eastern Africa regions, while central Africa is the least affected region in the continent, according to the African health agency. Enditem The Telegraph Shamima Begum has claimed she fled to join Isil in Syria with two other Bethnal Green schoolgirls because she did not want to be the friend that was left behind. In her first detailed account of her departure from the UK at the age of 15 in 2015, the Isil bride told a new documentary she was young and naive and wanted to help the people of war-torn Syria. The 21-year-old continues to be detained at the al-Roj camp in northern Syria after her British citizenship was stripped by the Government You have permission to edit this article. Edit Close When Amy Coney Barrett was appointed to the U.S. Supreme Court, praying Christians hoped that at last their many prayers had been answered; that at long last the taking of little lives in abortion would end with the overturning of Roe v. Wade. Since the U.S. Supreme Court 1973 decision, over 61 million defenseless infants have lost their lives in abortion. But there is already some indication that Roe v. Wade may not be overturned. The fact that the high court was unwilling to intervene in any of the election cases gives us a foretaste of what may come. And, dont forget that in Roe v. Wade, which was decided in a vote of 7:2, six of those justices were appointed by conservative Republicans. Roe v. Wade began in 1970 when Norma McCorvey (Roe) found she was pregnant and wanted an abortion. Because abortions were illegal in Texas and since she could not afford to go to some place like New York she took the State of Texas to court. By the time the case reached the Supreme Court, it was December 13, 1971. The lawyer for Roe was Sarah R. Weddington, and the attorney for Wade was Jay Floyd, Assistant District Attorney for Dallas County, Texas. At that time there were only seven justices on the Court, since two had retired. Because of the lack of two justices, the case was heard again on October 11, 1972 before nine justices. Mrs. Weddington argued the second case against Texas attorney Robert C. Flowers, Assistant Attorney General for Texas. The case was decided on January 22, 1973. The decision of the Court was 7:2 against the State of Texas and in favor of almost unlimited abortion. In the first trial the issue was whether the Texas statute was too vague. The second trial dealt more with the question of what is a person. The Constitution says both at Amendment V, and Amendment 14, No person shall bedeprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law The Court also said that a woman had the right to privacy based on the Fourth Amendment which says, The right of the people to be secure in their persons shall not be violated But, does this guarantee a right to privacy? And, even if the woman had a right to privacy, that would not give her the right to destroy the life growing within her. We have privacy in our homes, but we have no right to commit a crime in our home. It is the same in the womb. The woman is to nurture that life within her, not destroy it. The justices also seemed to have a question about the statement in the Fourteenth Amendment which says in part, All persons born or naturalized in the United States, are citizens of the United States The question, then, was did a child become a person only after being born? However, the Constitution said that by being born in the United State he was a citizen of the United States, not whether or not he was a person. The Texas statute against abortion was passed in 1854. Before that time there was no law concerning abortion. Since there were no laws against abortion before the middle of the 19th century, the Court concluded that abortion was legal before that time. But that does not necessarily follow. The Christian churches traditionally held that abortion was wrong and it was not until the influence of the church began to wane that abortion laws were passed to protect the unborn. Anyone who argues the case against Roe v. Wade needs to study the Court proceedings of both trials, and then have a clear understanding of what, exactly, is a person. An abortion doctor once told me that he likes to get done as quickly as possible because the longer he waits the more the unborn looks like a human, a person. Another issue that came up was a Texas statute which made it a crime if the life of a child was taken during the time he was being born, something like Partial Birth Abortion. The Court seemed to feel that this would be wrong as this was not an abortion. So, an attorney needs a clear understanding of what exactly is an abortion and when does it take place, as well as when is a person considered to have been born. Must the whole body be delivered to be counted as born? What changes at birth? The case is pretty clear that a child born after 24 weeks of gestation has a good chance for survival. So, if born, he is a person, but if his life is taken in abortion, he is not a person. Birth is the only clear dividing line between conception and birth, and birth is just a condition of location. Even after 24 weeks each additional week sees improvement in size, but no change in the essential character of the unborn. Developmentally a fetus gains function very quickly and even before the woman may realize she is pregnant, the little heart is beating. Although the Court made a distinction between the first, second, and third trimesters, these are very subjective measurements. The concept of trimester has no medical standing. There are no dividing lines between trimesters as they gradually merge one into another. A trimester is a legal, not a medical construct. Birth, then, is the only change in development that can easily be measured. If a child is a person at birth, then it is evident that he is a person five minutes before birth, and if a person five minutes before birth, then he must be considered a person at conception. There is no other dividing line. The prolife movement has grown year by year since Roe v. Wade in 1973. If a prolife case is actually heard by the Court, it is evident that many will be upset, no matter how it is decided. As the Court indicated in Planned Parenthood v. Casey, many women have grown up since 1973 believing that if they became pregnant, they could end the pregnancy in abortion and not have the pregnancy affect their careers. Whoever sets out to argue a pro-life case before the Supreme Court with the hope of overturning Roe v. Wade must keep in mind some very basic things: First, the Court is very reluctant to overturn any previous decision, and in fact has rarely done so. Second, he must recognize that Roe was decided on very shaky ground. There is no right to abortion in the Constitution. The Court knew that but based its decision on the womans so-called right to privacy. Finally, the attorney must have a clear understanding as to when life begins, and the meaning of the term person as used in the U.S. Constitution. The big need today is for the church to tell the biblical truth to the rest of the world that abortion is wrong. Millions of infants will continue to perish unless we can carefully present the case for the need to overturn the Roe v. Wade decision. Image: Steve Rhodes To comment, you can find the MeWe post for this article here. Protesters wave a Black Lives Matter flag outside the Brooklyn Center Police Department, as they continue to protest after former police officer Kim Potter fatally shot Daunte Wright, in Brooklyn Center, Minn., April 14. Reuters This booking photo released by the Hennepin County, Minn., Sheriff shows Kim Potter, a former Brooklyn Center police officer who is charged on April 14 with second-degree manslaughter for killing 20-year-old Black motorist Daunte Wright. AP A Honduran immigrant who sought sanctuary in a Utah church for three years when her request for asylum was denied while fleeing an abusive boyfriend has finally left the church after she won a stay of removal. Vicky Chavez, 33, stepped outside of First Unitarian Church in Salt Lake City on Thursday with tears in her eyes as church congregants and friends cheered, celebrating her newfound freedom. Chavez has been granted a so-called stay of removal by President Joe Biden's administration that will allow her to remain in the United States for at least a year while she battles for permanent residency. She said she received the notice from Immigration and Customs Enforcement on Monday telling her that she had received the stay of removal. Chavez fled Honduras with her daughter Yaretzi, now 9, and entered the country illegally in June 2014. She was ordered deported by a federal immigration judge in December 2016 while pregnant with her second child, 3-year-old Bella, The Salt Lake Tribune reported. Vicky Chavez poses for a photograph at the First Unitarian Church on Thursday after she was granted a stay of removal Vicky Chavez, right, gets a hug after she steps outside the church for the first time in 1,168 days on Thursday Vicky Chavez celebrates as she steps outside First Unitarian Church for the first time in 1,168 days as church congregants cheered celebrating her newfound freedom Balloons were set up outside the church with a banner welcoming her to her new freedom Vicky Chavez leaves the First Unitarian Church for the first time in 1,168 days after a stay of removal was granted in her case Chavez will not have to worry about being deported for at least the next year while she fights for permanent residency Vicky Chavez, right, receives a hug after she steps outside First Unitarian Church for the first time in 1,168 days After exhausting her appeals in January 2018, Chavez had a plane ticket home to San Pedro Sula, Honduras. She instead accepted an offer of sanctuary from the church and has been living there with her two girls to avoid being deported. 'Vicky's life is no longer on hold,' the Rev. Tom Goldsmith, the church's minister, told reporters. 'She leaves this church with a full grasp of the English language, a couple of hundred friends and the confidence to pursue her dreams.' Chavez thanked her community in the church for helping keep her and her daughters safe over the past 1,168 days and said she plans to remain in Utah. 'I have no words to thank them for giving me a safe home for over three years,' Chavez said. 'Today I can say that I'm full of love and happy to have arrived here.' Chavez watches her daughter Yaretzi play on the piano in the chapel of the First Unitarian Church, in Salt Lake City in 2018 Chavez walks with her daughter Bella in the First Unitarian Church, in Salt Lake City in 2018 Chavez was ordered deported in 2016 while pregnant with her daughter Bella, pictured in 2018 Salt Lake County Mayor Jenny Wilson had tears in her eyes as she congratulated Chavez and called on citizens and elected leaders to have 'more compassion' for members of their communities. Chavez and her daughters were the first known immigrants to take sanctuary in Utah, according to local immigration advocates and the state chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union. She and her daughters slept in a converted Sunday school room and spent most of their time in another room with a TV, an easel and games. Skylar Anderson, Chavez's attorney, said he was overjoyed for his client and her family but urged elected officials in Congress to prioritize changes for the nation's immigration system and to make the process easier for those seeking asylum. 'There are millions of Vickys in this country - I've represented many of them,' Anderson said. 'There aren't enough churches to give sanctuary to all the Vickys of this country. This country needs to be that sanctuary.' Vicky Chavez, who for three years has sought sanctuary with her young daughters at the First Unitarian Church of Salt Lake City, poses in the church on March 24 after the church announced it was joining a lawsuit she has filed with others in similar situations The Rev. Tom Golsmith, left, shares a laugh with Vicky Chavez at the First Unitarian Church of Salt Lake City on March 24 Vicky Chavez studies English in her room within the walls of the First Unitarian Church in Salt Lake City in 2018 Vicky Chavez, center, is pictured in 2018 after taking sanctuary in the church when her application for asylum was denied Alethea Smock, a spokeswoman for Immigration and Customs Enforcement, had no comment Thursday about Chavez case. 'It was an act of faith for the church to offer sanctuary, and an act of faith for me to accept,' Chavez told the Deseret News last month. The outlet reported at the time that the church has joined a lawsuit from Chavez and three other undocumented women who were in similar situations in Ohio, Texas and Virginia. The women allege in the lawsuit that U.S. immigration officials under then-President Trump fined each of them about $60,000 because they spoke out about their cases, the Deseret News reported. Chavez told the outlet that she hopes to become an accountant and that in her free time inside the church she crocheted a 'figurine of Biden in a black face mask, blue suit and American flag pin.' In his first weeks in office, Biden signed several executive orders on immigration issues that undo his predecessors policies, though several Republican members of Congress are pushing legal challenges. Others who have emerged from sanctuary since Biden took office include Jose Chicas, a 55-year-old El Salvador native, who left a church-owned house in Durham, North Carolina, on January 22. Alex Garcia, a father of five from Honduras, left a Mapplewood, Missouri church in February. Edith Espinal, a native of Mexico, left an Ohio church after more than three years. Benson, leaders: Attack on voting rights is un-American Benson, leaders: Attack on voting rights is un-American APRIL 15, 2021 Call on legislators to change course and advance policies that made 2020 elections successful Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson and a diverse group of state leaders declared today in a joint press conference that the dozens of Republican bills introduced in the state Legislature constitute an anti-democratic, un-American attack on Michigan citizens' voting rights. "Michigan's GOP legislators have joined a national, coordinated, partisan effort based on false information about the 2020 election to attack all citizens' freedom to vote," said Secretary Benson. "The truth is that the 2020 election was secure, fair, and an accurate reflection of the will of the people, and legislation that seeks to undo the policies that brought about its record-setting turnout and success is anti-American and does harm to every Michigander." Benson was joined by state Rep. Matt Koleszar, the Democratic vice chair of the Michigan House of Representatives Elections and Ethics Committee and Detroit City Clerk Janice Winfrey. The group came together as leaders across the nation continued to denounce attempts to restrict voting rights by state legislators in Michigan and across the country. Nationally, more than 360 such bills have been introduced in 47 states according to the Brennan Center for Justice. State Rep. Matt Koleszar: "Michiganders made their opinion on the expansion of voting rights in the state clear when they overwhelmingly voted in favor of Proposal 3 in 2018. For Michigan Republicans to utilize the disproportionate power they hold due to their gerrymandered districts in an attempt to roll back those rights flies in the face of our democracy and our state constitution." Detroit City Clerk Janice Winfrey: "These bills are an attack on election administrators and our collective democracy. They include countless ill-informed and nefarious measures that will negatively impact our elections and voters. For example, by banning prepaid return postage on absentee ballot envelopes, the legislation discriminates against low-income citizens and prohibits a practice that I instituted 15 years ago which has continued without issue ever since." # # # For media questions, contact Tracy Wimmer at 517-281-1876. We welcome questions and comments at the Contact the Secretary of State page. Customers may call the Department of State Information Center to speak to a customer-service representative at 888-SOS-MICH (767-6424). Travellers are trying to break Covid rules with forged doctor's notes which claim they need emergency surgery. Immigration officers are uncovering multiple examples of fake letters designed to help passengers avoid paying for tests or fines under the regulations, the Mail can reveal. 'Forged letters have been uncovered which say the passenger's coming back for an emergency operation or other emergency treatment,' said a borders source. 'When immigration officers phone up the doctors named on the letters, they don't know anything about it.' Under the current restrictions, anyone coming to the UK to 'attend urgent, non-pre-arranged treatment' does not have to take a Covid test before travel, or on days two and eight after arrival. Immigration officers are uncovering multiple examples of fake letters designed to help passengers avoid paying for tests or fines under the regulations, the Mail can reveal. Pictured: The arrivals hall at London Heathrow on Thursday Lucy Moreton, of the Immigration Services Union, added that border guards were seeing 'upwards of 100' fraudulent Covid test certificates a day. She said many of those identified as fake had spelling mistakes on them, with the word 'negative' often spelt incorrectly. Most of the fake doctor's letters have been used by British nationals returning to the UK, it is understood. In February the Mail revealed passengers were arriving in the UK with forged negative Covid tests. Border Force officials detected the first counterfeit certificates within 24 hours of the new restrictions coming into force on January 18. Sources said it was 'highly likely' that not all forgeries were being detected by border guards. It means travellers could be gaining entry to Britain when they are infectious - potentially with mutant coronavirus strains - after being close to hundreds of others aboard a plane. International policing agency Europol issued an alert to European Union members in January highlighting growing concern over the involvement of organised crime gangs in counterfeiting. It highlighted a case last December of forgeries being sold for 100 at Luton airport, plus cases from France, Spain and the Netherlands where fake certificates were advertised for as little as 35. A defunct four-wheel drive hire company that called its customers 'absolutely idiotic', 'pathetic', 'delusional' and threatened to sue them has been fined for breaching Australian consumer law. One email sent by Australian 4WD Hire to a customer, who was also a NSW magistrate, simply read: 'F*** off. Kind regards'. The Gold Coast-based company has been fined $870,000 by the Federal Court for unconscionable conduct, misleading statements about insurance coverage and unfair terms in hire contracts. Two the former directors, Vitali Roesch and Maryna Kosukhina (pictured), were fined a combined $353,000 Two of its former directors, Vitali Roesch and Maryna Kosukhina, have also been fined a combined $353,000. Australian 4WD Hire, operated by Smart Corporation, went into liquidation in December 2019. Between January 2014 and August 2019, it claimed to offer comprehensive off-road insurance for its 4WDs, when in reality not all vehicles had comprehensive insurance. Hiring contracts also left it up to the company whether to submit an insurance claim or hold the customer liable for damage. The company was found to have contracts that included a $500 charge for drivers when they drove in 'prohibited' ways Contracts were found to be unfair because they included terms allowing customers to be charged up to $500 each time a vehicle was driven in 'prohibited' ways. This included driving at night outside of built-up areas, when visibility was poor because of fog or heavy rain. GPS data tracked when, where and how fast customers drove. The company used this information to prepare driver behaviour reports to show customers breached their hiring contracts. Customers who queried or challenged claims were met with intimidating emails from the fictional persona of Christine Burgess threatening to withhold at least $500 of their security deposits. 'We strongly suggest you stop embarrassing yourself and issue written apology within 24 hours,' one 2018 email said. 'Your statements are highly defamatory and will not be tolerated, the only dishonest and unreasonable one in this situation is you, and your attempts at commercial extortion are pathetic. 'The points you have made in your email are absolutely idiotic.' Another customer was in 2017 told 'you must be delusional if you think we would take your word over the certified professionals at our agency'. The company used fake identities to send abusive emails to customers questioning or challenging claims they wouldn't be receiving their $500 deposit (pictured, one of its directors, Vitali Roesch) In a follow up email, the 'Bussines Owner' told the same customer: 'Get a lawyer so I can sue your ass of (sic) you moron'. Justice Darren Jackson found such emails sent to 31 customers were designed to allow the company to keep part of all of the security bonds for its profit. 'It involved bad faith, deception, unfair pressure and sharp practice. It included harsh and unjustified threats of legal action and other adverse consequences for the customers which were out of all proportion to any prejudice which A4WD had suffered or would suffer as a result of the customer's conduct,' the judge said on Thursday. The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission, which took the company to court, said it received more than 60 complaints between 2016 and April 2019. Kolkata, April 15 : Myanmar's ruling military junta has charged 19 medical doctors with 'dereliction of duty' for participating in protests against the February 1 military coup, a state-run newspaper has reported. The doctors are charged with joining the civil disobedience movement in order to debilitate the state administrative machinery involved in combating the Covid-19 pandemic. Doctors, nurses and medical students had marched in protest rallies and joined strikes to oppose the military takeover that ousted Aung San Suu Kyi's democratically elected government. The doctors have been accused of supporting and participating in the civil disobedience movement "with the aim of deteriorating the state administrative machinery," the Global New Light of Myanmar newspaper wrote. The military government has already issued arrest warrants for 100 celebrities from the fields of literature, film, theatre, arts, music and journalism. Strikes have continued in various sectors of the economy and bureaucracy including railways and most banks remain closed. The doctors face charges of 'spreading information that undermines the stability of the country and the rule of law.' This is not the first time doctors have been targeted by the military. Earlier this month in Mandalay, the country's second-biggest city, security forces used stun grenades and fired guns to break up a march by medical workers protesting the army's takeover. The online news site The Irrawaddy reported that four doctors were arrested at that time. Protests continued on Wednesday across Myanmar even as people boycotted the official celebration of Thingyan, the country's traditional New Year, usually a time for family reunions and merry-making, but subdued this year due to the fear over killings by the security forces and the Covid pandemic. In leaflets and social media posts last week by the pro-democracy protests, people were asked not to hold any Thingyan celebrations, saying it would be disrespectful to "fallen martyrs" to enjoy the festival. The government's violent response to anti-coup demonstrations has led to the deaths of 714 people by security forces, according to the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners. Last week, at least 82 people were killed in one day in a crackdown by security forces on protesters, according to reports from independent local media and AAPP. Last Friday's death toll in Bago was the biggest one-day total for a single city since March 14, when over 100 people were killed in Yangon, the country's biggest city. Bago is about 100 kilometers (60 miles) northeast of Yangon. It is 487 days since the index case, or patient zero of the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), emerged in Wuhan, China, on December 1st, 2019. To date, the virus has spread globally, infecting over 138 million individuals and claiming the lives of over 2.97 million. Over 78 million people have recovered, however, many patients report the persistence of some symptoms of SARS-CoV-2 infection, including cough, insomnia, headaches, and body pains. In a new study, appearing on the pre-print server medRxiv*, researchers at the University of Trieste and Istituto Auxologico Italiano IRCCS in Italy report that more than half of patients with previous mild-to-moderate symptomatic COVID-19 complained of the persistence of at least one symptom 12-months after the onset of the illness. Persistent symptoms SARS-CoV-2 can spread via respiratory droplets or aerosols and can cause a wide range of symptoms. The most common symptoms include fever, cough, sore throat, loss of smell and taste, headache, body pains, and breathing difficulty. Though most of the infected individuals develop mild to moderate symptoms, some may experience severe disease. As the pandemic evolves, clinicians observed that some symptoms might persist for a long time in a proportion of patients recovered from the infections acute phase. Persistent symptoms may take a toll on the lives of long haulers, the term used to describe patients who experience COVID-19 symptoms even after recovery. The condition is also known as chronic COVID, chronic COVID syndrome, and long COVID. An increasing number of studies have focused on long COVID, but these primarily look at previously hospitalized severe COVID-19 patients, who reported symptoms up to six months after infection. The current study, however, aimed to evaluate the prevalence of COVID-19-related symptoms one year after the onset of mild to moderate disease. The figure reports the percentages of patients with COVID-19-related symptoms during the acute phase of illness (blue) and at 12-months follow-up (orange) according to severity (light=mild; dark=severe) Long COVID in mild to moderate patients To arrive at the study findings, the researchers conducted a prospective study on mild to moderate symptomatic adult patients consecutively assessed at Cattinara University Hospital, Trieste, Italy, from March 1 to March 31, 2020, who tested positive for SARS-CoV-2 RNA by polymerase chain reaction (PCR). Initially, all patients were home-isolated with mild to moderate symptoms. The patients are considered to have mild symptoms if they have less severe clinical symptoms with no evidence of pneumonia. These patients do not require hospitalization. Of the 304 patients completing the survey at baseline and follow-up interview, 161 or 53 percent of patients reported persistence of at least one symptom at 12 months follow-up. The most commonly reported symptom was fatigue or feeling tired, followed by an impaired sense of smell and taste, difficulty breathing or shortness of breath, and muscle pain. Females, 40 to 54 years olds, those with a body mass index (BMI) higher than 30, and those who had more symptoms during the acute infection phase were more likely to experience long COVID. People with long COVID may experience a significant impact on their quality of life and depression scale scores. The quality of life was markedly affected by fatigue, shortness of breath, and insomnia. Meanwhile, fatigue significantly impacted the depression scale. The researchers conclude, our study indicates that persistent symptoms of SARS-CoV-2 infection can be detected beyond 12- months from the onset of the illness in more than half of patients with mild-to-moderate disease. Identifying patients at risk for prevention and treatment will be critical to improving outcomes and reducing health costs. Finally, a structured and validated questionnaire for the assessment of symptoms in COVID-19 patients is highly desirable to characterize the full clinical spectrum of long COVID and improve the reliability and reproducibility of clinical studies. Dublin, April 15, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The "United States Real Estate Market by Segments (Private, Public) Construction, Category (Residential & Non- Residential), Company Analysis, Forecast" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering. United States Real Estate Industry was USD 1,208 Billion in 2020 and is expected to reach USD 1,751 Billion by 2027. In the United States, the market of Real estate is surging despite the pandemic COVID-19 crisis. For many Americans, residence is the highest source of prosperity and investment. Non-Residential or Commercial construction includes lodging, Office, health care, Educational, temples, Amusement and recreate, transportation, manufacturing, etc. It provides a source of more revenue in return. The United States is among the largest construction market globally. Infrastructure constructions take lots of time and capital to build and design project. In the United States, massive numbers of infrastructure and construction industry are built with government and private companies' support. Constructions made to provide support to the maximum population. The construction project is booming in the country, changing lifestyle and increasing population will propel the Real Estate market in this country. As per this report, Real Estate Market in the United States will grow with a CAGR of 5.45% from 2020 to2027. U.S real estate is growing year on year, and numerous infrastructure projects are being introduced every year. Northern Arizona University is planning for large construction projects that include STEM disciplines and the Biological Sciences Building renovation. The Southwest Florida International Airport is planning an enormous US$ 250 Million terminal expansion, and Citizens in the city of Shoreline will see a US$ 64.3 Million roadway reconstruction project launched in 2022 and many more cities. The upcoming year promises to bring a construction project to every region of the United States. Report Scope Company Analysis 1. Jones Lang Lasalle Incorporated 2. Cbre Group Inc. 3. Brookfield Properties LLC 4. Berkshire Hathaway home services 5. Cushman & Wakefield Holdings Inc. Real Estate Market of United States have been broadly Studied from 2 Segments 1. Private Construction 2. Public Construction Private Construction Market has been divided into 2 Categories and its Non-Residential Category is further divided into 14 Sub-Categories A. Residential B. Non-Residential 1. Lodging 2. Office 3. Commercial 4. Health care 5. Educational 6. Religious 7. Public safety 8. Amusement and recreation 9. Transportation 10. Communication 11. Power 12. Sewage and waste disposal 13. Water supply 14. Manufacturing Public Construction Market has been divided into 2 Categories and its Non-Residential Category is further divided into 12 Sub-Categories A. Residential B. Non-Residential 1. Office 2. Commercial 3. Health care 4. Educational 5. Public safety 6. Amusement and recreation 7. Transportation 8. Power 9. Highway and street 10. Sewage and waste disposal 11. Water supply 12. Conservation and development All companies have been covered from 3 viewpoints Overviews Recent Developments Revenues For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/r/kw06za Kenyan actress Angel Nyawira Waruinge famously known for her role as Tahidi Highs no-nonsense deputy principal Miss Morgan is coming to a screen near you. Miss Morgan has joined the vlogging wave occasioned by the coronavirus pandemic, becoming the latest personality to launch a YouTube channel. In a Welcome to my YouTube channel video shared Monday, Miss Morgan mentioned that her past struggle with depression and alcoholism influenced her decision to vlog. The Business Development Executive at Nairobi Performing Arts Studio noted that the positive feedback she received after going public with her battle late last year, galvanized her to finally launch her YouTube channel. For a long time now I have been wishing to open a YouTube Channel, more so because ever since I came out and talked about my issue with Depression and battling Alcoholism and I got very beautiful feedback from you and the things you people called me up and talked about really inspired me. The questions were overwhelming because I have come to realize that Depression is something that we really dont know how to tackle as Africans, and yet its out. And I want to tell you somethingever since I came to and talked about it, things have been different, the air has been crispier and I have been happier, said Miss Morgan. Also Read: Miss Morgans Advice For Upcoming Actors: Dont Do It For Fame SEATTLE, April 15, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- ThruWave announces their 3D millimeter wave (mmWave) Imaging was named Best New Product Innovation 2021 from the Material Handling Institute as part of their annual MHI Innovation Awards. ThruWave is pioneering 3D mmWave imaging for industry with a groundbreaking new sensing technology that allows their customers to detect objects inside closed packages. ThruWave applies millimeter wave technology to "see" through plastic, cardboard, packaging material and even walls at high speeds. Best New Product Innovation 2021 - ThruWave 3D mmWave Imaging - by MHI.org MHI Innovation Award Winner ThruWave 3D mmWave Imaging Wins Best New Product Innovation 2021, MHI Innovation Awards ThruWave sees beyond surfaces to what is inside. "We entered ThruWave's solution into the awards knowing that we have something truly unique and groundbreaking. It is not a common occurrence these days for new sensing technology to be developed and commercialized," explains Pieter Krynauw, CEO of ThruWave. "We are providing, for the first time ever, a human-safe and cost-efficient way for manufacturers, material handling and logistics operators to see inside of sealed containers that can allow them to drive down operational cost, improve safety AND improve quality." ThruWave's new 3D mmWave sensing technology can solve problems that previously could not be solved without manual human intervention or through the usage of expensive and potentially health hazardous x-ray equipment, making it either impractical or cost prohibitive in many supply chain applications. In some cases cameras are deployed today, but current camera technology is limited by only being able to see the surface of packages (not inside OR behind them) and are greatly exposed in dusty and low/no light conditions. "Our new sensing and imaging solution provides transformative technology to identify and reduce operational cost and carbon footprint, improve quality control, safety and security as well as increase efficiency of capital investments in automation," explains Pieter Krynauw, CEO of ThruWave. "ThruWave is bringing to the table an un-matched solution that will change sensing in the supply chain forever." ThruWave's 3D mmWave imaging solution is an easy and quick retrofit to existing conveyors or materials handling systems and can operate as a standalone system or a fully integrated solution exchanging data with WMS's, WES's and/or Control Systems. ThruWave is introducing their 3D mmWave imaging solution for material handling, manufacturing, logistics and supply chain during ProMatDX including live sessions including a product demonstration and an educational seminar titled, "Make Invisible Waste Visible: Optimize Shipping and Storage Costs with Real-Time 3D Imaging". Visitors to DX.PromatShow.com can view all sessions on-demand starting on April 19. About ThruWave Based in Seattle, Washington, ThruWave makes the invisible visible with human-safe3D millimeter wave imaging. Our groundbreaking millimeter wave imaging technology is the only high-throughput, human-safe approach for seeing through opaque materials like corrugated boxes and plastic totes to automatically dimension, count, and detect anomalies on the items inside. ThruWave sensors and software analytics are an easy retrofit for existing conveyor and robotic material handling systems, enabling supply chain and logistics customers to measure and improve their inbound and outbound item handling. For more information, visit http://www.thruwave.com . Media Contact: Laura Hoffman Director of Marketing and Communications, ThruWave, Inc. [email protected] | 206.627.0705 SOURCE ThruWave Related Links http://www.thruwave.com San Luis Obispo County District Attorney Dan Dow is seeking more potential victims linked to Paul Flores, the man prosecutors say assaulted and killed Cal Poly student Kristin Smart in 1996. Flores was charged with murder in the decades-long unsolved case of Smart, who went missing on the walk to her dorm after attending a party on Memorial Day weekend. Flores, 44, was the last known person to see her alive and has long been the only suspect in the case. Flores' charging document indicates that prosecutors plan on introducing evidence of prior sexual violence they allege was committed by Flores. These prior sexual acts include ... incidents described in the investigative reports and audio/video provided to defense, and other alleged incidents of abuse, which will be provided as they are obtained by the prosecution, the document said. Dow said investigators have evidence Flores continued to prey on women after Smart's death and the prosecutor appealed to any victims to come forward. We have evidence that we do believe there were other people not yet identified that have had some kind of a criminal act perpetrated on them by Mr. Flores, Dow said. Were concerned about sexual assault. Dow didnt disclose what investigators found, but said Flores frequented bars around his home in the San Pedro area of Los Angeles since 2005 and may have committed crimes there. He has a record of several convictions for driving under the influence. Flores and his father, Ruben Flores, were arrested Tuesday, marking the first time anyone has been arrested in connection with Smart's disappearance. According to investigators, Flores killed Smart during an attempted sexual assault and his father helped cover up the crime. Ruben Flores, 80, was charged with accessory to a felony. Paul and Ruben Flores attended their first arraignment Thursday morning, but their attorneys requested a continuation and no pleas were entered. The judge set their next court date for Monday at 1:30 p.m. A protective order submitted by the defense was also partially approved; the approval by the judge means some agencies involved with the case, like the San Luis Obispo County Sheriff's Office, cannot talk about the case publicly or release evidence. "After nearly 25 years of waiting, todays delay in the arraignment process was not unexpected or surprising," Smart's family said in a statement to SFGATE. "Make no mistake, we have begun the final quest to bring justice for Kristin. We know we are in good hands with the San Luis Obispo County District Attorneys office, and we will wait patiently for the process to commence." The Associated Press contributed to this report. Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, is seen during a press conference at the White House in Washington on Jan. 21, 2021. (Mandel Ngan/AFP via Getty Images) Anthony Fauci Suggests Australia Make Vaccine Rollout Top Priority White House chief medical advisor Dr. Anthony Fauci has suggested that Australia mirror Americas COVID-19 vaccine rollout model. Fauci, who was speaking via video link at the University of New South Wales inaugural David Cooper lecture on Wednesday, said the Biden administrations mass vaccination rollout model was changing the path of Americas pandemic outcome. We had an inconsistent response, which allowed us to really do worse than essentially any other country, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases in the United States said. What (President Biden) has done, for example, is open up community vaccine centres, get vaccines to the pharmacies, develop mobile units to go out to get the people who are in poorly accessible areas. Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, receives a COVID-19 vaccine, at the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Md., on Dec. 22, 2020. (Patrick Semansky/Pool/AFP via Getty Images) Currently, the United States has mobilised retired physicians, military personnel, nurses, and medical students to facilitate the roll-out of as many vaccinations as possible. And it worksthe day before yesterday we had 4.6 million vaccinations performed in a single day, Fauci said. Australia on the other hand, which unlike America is a low COVID-19 prevalence environment, has fared much better than other nations but has not achieved its initial goal to immunise 4 million people by the end of March. Prime Minister Scott Morrison has now sought to work with state and territory leaders to find a solution to the obstacles hampering the rollout timetable, such as supply issues and new expert medical advice against people under 50 getting the AstraZeneca jab. Fauci then suggested that the Australian government, which has administered an estimated 1.29 million vaccine doses, make the rollout the number one priority given the emergence of new virus variants that Fauci argued could impact the efficacy of the vaccines. I am always concerned about variants in general, Fauci said, noting that the South African variant of COVID-19 was capable of diminishing the current vaccine efficacy against infection. As long as theres the dynamic of virus replication somewhere, there will always be the threat of the emergence of variants, which could then come back, he said. And even though most of the rest of the world is vaccinated, it can threaten the world that has felt that theyve controlled the virus when theyre still quite vulnerable. A medical staff member treats a patient infected by the COVID-19 coronavirus at Red Cross Hospital in Wuhan, China on March 11, 2020. (STR/AFP via Getty Images) Fauci also noted that he believes that the Chinese Communist Partys (CCP) secrecy during the initial outbreak hindered the global response to the pandemic. CCP officials knew in early December 2019 that the virus had appeared in Wuhan but they sat on the information for six weeks. They arrested those who tried to warn of the danger, accusing them of spreading rumours, and employed the regimes rigorous censorship to prevent media coverage and to delete any mentions of the emerging crisis from social media. One of the things that prevented us from knowing right off it was going to be a big deal was the early lack of transparency on the part of China, which is really unfortunate, Fauci said. Not all Chinese, but the Chinese officials, because scientists that had been our colleagues for years in some respects, some of them were not allowed to really openly talk about it, he said. AAP contributed to this report. SIMSBURY Each small greenhouse along a public walkway, overlooking a waterfall held a single dining table beneath a chandelier. Behind them snaked an umbilical, connecting to an HVAC system that Tyler Anderson says cleans air faster than the ones in hospital ICUs. Costing more than $5,000 each, the seven greenhouses went up in October as a shield against the autumn chill and the loss of the outdoor dining that kept Andersons restaurant, Millwrights, alive after Gov. Ned Lamont banned indoor dining due to COVID-19. Anderson told Lamont that the greenhouses, plus a train-like line of cozy two-person compartments on the covered bridge connecting his outdoor dining to the rest of his dining-and-drinking spaces, were among the silly things tried during the pandemic. On Wednesday, he welcomed the governor and a bipartisan group of lawmakers and municipal officials as unlikely partners in keeping Millwrights and thousands of other Connecticut restaurants alive, even as 600 others failed. The occasion was the ceremonial signing of a law that extends for another year the executive order Lamont issued last spring that simplified and fast-tracked the regulatory process used by Anderson and other beleaguered restaurateurs to establish or expand outdoor dining. Theres creativity here, Lamont said. This is a park, and this is how you bring your parks back to life, your restaurants back to life, and your towns back to life with this type of creativity. One year and a month after Lamont declared an emergency granting him extraordinary powers, two things are clear: The restaurant industry suffered deeper financial losses than most, and helping them was politically popular even when bumping against home rule, the New England notion that all land use decisions are best made locally. The legislatures Planning and Development Committee has been a battleground this year over questions of whether local zoning is too restrictive, especially regarding housing. But when it comes to saving restaurants, the idea of the state nudging local zoning officials was embraced. It really was a collaborative team effort and a way to allow our businesses to streamline the process through local zoning. And it really does make a difference, said Rep. Cristin McCarthy Vahey, D-Fairfield, co-chair of Planning and Development. Weve been talking a lot about zoning, and we certainly will be in the session to come. This is an example of why and how its important to make efforts that are easy and simple for our businesses so that they can thrive. Sen. Tony Hwang, R-Fairfield, the ranking member of the committee, was fulsome in his praise of Lamont, leading a parade of Democrats and Republicans who sang the praises of collaboration and cooperation state and local, public and private. It was truly a collaborative bipartisan effort that followed the executive order of the governor in his wisdom and insight to protecting our restaurant businesses. They are truly our Main Street mainstays, Hwang said. And what it showed was a collaborative and bipartisan effort. It did not come easily. Lamont recalled tense meetings with Scott Dolch, the executive director of the Connecticut Restaurant Association, and David Lehman, the governors touchpoint for business restrictions and reopening as the commissioner of economic development. There was more in common than you may think, in this sense: We wanted the restaurants to open, we wanted the restaurants to open safely, and if you didnt give the customers confidence that they were opening safely, youre not going to get customers into your restaurant, Lamont said. Dolch agreed and made the tactical decision to avoid open warfare or litigation with the governors administration, preferring to position the governor as an ally, an eventual spokesman for the safety of restaurant dining. The governors office and Dolch collaborated on the ceremonial bill signing. The event had no legal significance but offered a messaging opportunity in a scenic locale for the governor, the industry and lawmakers eager to associate themselves with the effort. Greenhouses erected of desperation and necessity have become attractions, Dolch said. They have one seating at each mealtime, providing an element of exclusivity, as well as safety for patrons and staff. Now its a destination where people want to come, and more restaurants are doing that. And thats what this bill does. This bill isnt just about normal patios, this is allowing every restaurant a chance to work with their town, Dolch said. Thats the biggest piece about today. Its about recovery. Were on that path. Lamont first banned indoor dining, then allowed its eventual return at 50% of capacity, then 75% and now 100%. But the 100% is misleading, because safety rules that remain require either Plexiglass separations or six feet between tables. Millwrights has an indoor seating capacity of 280, but some of it is in space that does not lend itself to spacing or separations. It also included private dining rooms, and event business remains slow. Overall, Anderson said, he can seat about 150, including 54 outdoors in spaces that can accept only one seating a night. We just make sure that theyre sold on a nightly basis, Anderson said. So theres a little bit of a premium involved in that. Simsbury approved the greenhouses, but the state initially objected, questioning if Anderson was just creating another form of indoor dining. Local lawmakers like Rep. Eleni Kavros DeGraw, a Democrat from neighboring Avon, and others intervened. The governors office backed them. Its just an extraordinary thing. I worked in restaurants for many years. I know how small the margins are, I know what this means, not just to the owners and the managing partners of these restaurants, but to all the employees, she said. Rep. Mark Anderson, R-Barkhamsted, a member of the legislatures Commerce Committee, delivered the briefest remarks. I couldnt say no to an invitation to speak here. Because a little over seven years ago, I was engaged there, he said, pointing to a spot by the water where he proposed. So Im glad to see this restaurant still thriving, and Im still married. So its worked out really well. A woman who finally discovered her birth father only to be told he'd died 20 years earlier was left in tears after hearing his voice for the first time on Long Lost Family. Jean Smith, 67, from Poole, Dorset, has spent decades searching for her biological parent after learning he was stationed in the UK during the Second World War as part of the American Air Force. Although she was adopted into a happy home as a child, Jean, who appeared on Long Lost Family: What Happened Next tonight, spent her childhood dreaming of her father Johnny Perkins appearing in her life in his uniform and longed to find him. Jean had discovered her mother some years prior to contacting the show, but struggled to find her father and asked the ITV programme for help - with the research team eventually matching up her DNA to six siblings in the US. Jean Smith (pictured holding a photo of her birth father), 67, from Poole, Dorset, has spent decades searching for her biological parent after learning he was stationed in the UK during the Second World War as part of the American Air Force Jean was adopted into a happy family as a child but spent her childhood dreaming of her father Johnny Perkins appearing in her life in his uniform, not looking for her birth parents until she was in her 30s as not to upset her adoptive parents Sadly, Jean's half-sister informed her that their father had passed away in 1995, but co-host Davina McCall presented an emotional Jean with an audio recording of Johnny singing. Jean, who has been married for forty years and has three children and six grandchildren, was adopted into a loving home as a newborn - but still felt 'homesick'. She explained: 'I used to feel homesick, it's the only way I can describe it, I felt homesick but I was at home. You are desperate to know who your parents are. 'But when I was younger I never wanted to search in case I hurt my adopted parents' feelings.' At the end of the show, Davina McCall presented an emotional Jean with an audio recording of Johnny singing, as she heard her biological father's voice for the first time Jean was adopted into a loving home as a new born but said she felt 'homesick' until she started searching for her biological parents in her 30s (pictured: the picture of her biological father which her half-sister Sandra sent her) When in her 30s, Jean started searching for her biological parents and found her mother after three years. 'The first thing she said when she saw me was "You're more like your dad". It made me want to find my birth father, to get the whole picture,' recalled Jean, whose mother had been with Johnny for six to eight months before becoming pregnant. After finding out they were expecting they decided to give the baby up for adoption, with Jean adding: 'They had discussed marriage but decided it wasn't a good idea because they were so young.' The grandmother added: 'He's my dad, he's always been part of me. I need to find him.' The Long Lost Family team added Jean's DNA into a data base to discover blood relatives, and eventually found her half-sister Sandra (pictured), who lives in America. Sandra informed Jean that her biological father died in 1995, aged 63 Although she was adopted into a happy home as a child, Jean (pictured with Davina), who appeared on Long Lost Family: What Happened Next tonight, spent her childhood dreaming of her father Johnny Perkins appearing in her life in his uniform and longed to find him Jean had discovered her mother some years prior to contacting the show, but struggled to find her father and asked the ITV programme for help - with the research team eventually matching up her DNA to six siblings in the US The Long Lost Family team added Jean's DNA into a data base to discover blood relatives, and eventually found her half-sister Sandra, who lives in America. Within 24 hours of the match appearing, Sandra, who is 'very interested in genealogy' had emailed Jean herself. Sandra said: 'I've kind of known in the back of my mind that my dad had a daughter somewhere. I knew it was from when my dad was in the military before he met my mother.' Jean spoke to Davina, and told her the news of her father's death 'really did affect' her as she started thinking about things which could have happened if they had met earlier Jean (pictured) said that she 'needed' to find her father as he had 'always been part' of her Discussing her father's death from a suspected heart problem, Sandra added: 'He was pretty young, he was only 63, it was a shock, I thought we had more time. 'It's kind of sad that Jean doesn't get to meet our father. He was a very kind person, everybody liked him. I think he would've included her in the family. 'We've got a big family. Four brothers and one younger sister and they're all open to meeting her. Every body wants to. I'm just so glad that she just finally put her DNA out there.' Jean spoke to Davina about her father's passing, revealing that Sandra had eventually informed her over email. 'For the next two weeks I was in bits, it really did affect me,' said Jean. 'I started thinking about the things that could've been if we'd have met earlier on. It did hit me hard.' Davina then played an audio recording of Jean's father singing Welcome to My World by Jim Reeves, which left the grandmother in tears. 'Isn't that lovely to hear.' says the presenter, to which Jean replies: 'Yeah, to hear his voice... Very special.' Due to the pandemic, Jean was unable to meet her siblings in the US but was seen video calling her sister Sandra and one of her brothers. Mads Mikklesen is set to star in the fifth Indiana Jones film alongside Harrison Ford and Phoebe Waller-Bridge, it was revealed on Thursday. According to a report from Deadline on Thursday, the Danish actor, 55, has been cast in the forthcoming sequel, though it is not clear who he will be playing. His casting news follows on from Phoebe, who was announced to be taking part in the adventure flick earlier this month. Exciting! Mads Mikkelsen has been cast in Indiana Jones 5 and he joins Harrison Ford and Phoebe Waller-Bridge in the hotly-anticipated sequel, it was revealed on Thursday Mads has ample experience in franchise films, having previously appeared in James Bond, Marvel, and Star Wars movies in the past. In November last year it was revealed that Mads would be replacing Johnny Depp as Geralt Grindelwald in the Fantastic Beasts Franchise. The actor is also currently enjoying a successful awards season following the release of Danish film Another Round, and he is currently up for Best Actor at the Oscars. Last week, Disney revealed in a tweet that the Fleabag star, 35, was officially part of the cast for the adventure franchise's much-anticipated next chapter. One last adventure: Filming will begin in the summer with James Mangold set to direct, and currently 'meeting with other talent for other roles' (Raiders of the Lost Ark pictured) Mystery role: While it is not clear who he will be playing, Mads has appeared in James Bond, Marvel, and Star Wars franchises in the past (pictured in Rogue One: A Star Wars Story) Disney wrote in a statement: 'A new #IndianaJones adventure begins July 29, 2022. Phoebe Waller-Bridge joins the cast alongside Harrison Ford in the fifth installment of the iconic franchise.' The tweet continued: 'The inimitable John Williams will also return to score the film.' Director James Mangold will take over from Steven Spielberg - who has directed all four Indiana Jones films so far - however, Spielberg has signed on as a producer, and will still be closely involved in production. Deadline reports that filming will begin this summer, with Mangold currently 'meeting with other talent for other roles in preparation for production'. Exciting: Phoebe (pictured in 2020) officially joined the cast of the blockbuster franchise's much-anticipated next chapter last week Phoebe's forthcoming film won't be her first with LucasFilm. The Emmy-winner voiced L3-37 in Solo: A Star Wars Story, which was a prequel about Harrison's iconic character Han Solo. Harrison confirmed back in February last year that he would be returning to the franchise one final time, when he leaked details about the project during an appearance on Ellen DeGeneres' show. 'I can deny that it's NOT happening,' he smiled, letting several seconds pass before audiences finally caught on and erupted into applause. Big names: The Fleabag star was announced alongside John Williams, who is returning to score the movie Disney tweeted on Friday: 'A new #IndianaJones adventure begins July 29, 2022. Phoebe Waller-Bridge joins the cast alongside Harrison Ford' Ford said he was still 'excited' to play Indie, 39 years after originally playing the adventurous archaeologist in Steven Spielberg's classic. 'It's gonna be fun,' he told Ellen 'I am excited. They're great fun to make.' LucasFilm President Kathleen Kennedy also confirmed Harrison would be back at the time, as she spoke about the project on the BAFTA Awards red carpet. She said: 'Harrison Ford will be involved Its not a reboot. Its a continuation. He'll be back! Harrison confirmed back in February last year that he would be returning to the franchise one final time, when he leaked details about the project while on Ellen 'Were working away, getting the script where we want it to be and then well be ready to go.' Indiana Jones won over audiences with 1981's Raiders Of The Lost Ark - largely considered one of the best films in the action-adventure genre. It was followed up by the equally beloved prequel Indiana Jones And The Temple of Doom in 1984, and then later the sequel Indiana Jones And The Last Crusade in 1989. Indie got the reboot treatment once more in 2008 with Indiana Jones And The Kingdom Of The Crystal Skull, which was slammed by fans and critics. Beloved: Indiana Jones won over audiences with 1981's Raiders Of The Lost Ark (pictured) which is largely considered one of the best films in the action-adventure genre BADIRAGUATO, Mexico (AP) For the first time that Maria can remember, half of her marijuana harvest is still in storage on her ranch in Mexicos Sinaloa state months after it should have been sold. Sitting in her wooden house tucked into the same mountains that produced some of the worlds most notorious drug traffickers, including Joaquin El Chapo Guzman, the 44-year-old mother of four thinks she knows why: expectations Mexico will soon legalize marijuana. It has never happened to us where we harvest and have it (stored) in sacks, said Maria, who asked that her full name not be used and her exact location not be revealed because in the mountains surrounding Badiraguato, where organized crime controls everything, misspeaking can be dangerous. Mexican legislation awaiting final Senate approval, which now may not come before September, would legalize pot production and sale for recreational use while creating a private market regulated by the government. Medicinal use is already legal. The effort has generated uncertainty among families who have cultivated the crop for generations and throughout the trade. Growers expect the price of marijuana to drop further and think their trade will become economically unfeasible. They say in the past five years, the price they get has been halved. Everyone is waiting to see how the drug capos will respond to a new legal business. Meanwhile, half of Maria's crop sits unsold. Marijuana has become less lucrative each day compared to the cartels revenue from synthetic drugs like fentanyl. Demand and the price for pot fell when several states in the U.S. legalized it, though Mexico is still the top foreign supplier to U.S. consumers, according to a recent report by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration. Here in Sinaloas mountains, some farmers have stopped growing marijuana. Others are focusing on higher-quality strains that fetch a higher price or they continue to grow it, but along with opium poppies, hoping at least one of them will keep them afloat. Story continues Maria has been working between the tall leafy plants since she was 16 and says she even fell in love among them. At her house, surrounded by fruit trees and chickens, the family doesnt lack food, but the income from marijuana pays for everything else over the course of the year, from clothing to cellphones to her childrens schooling. Her eldest just got his degree in computer science. For her family and many others, the concern is not whether marijuana is legal, just that it keeps providing income. Since we heard they were going to legalize (marijuana) we began to make the poppy plots larger, Maria said. But that didnt work. In February, their main poppy crop was destroyed. They had planned to live off the revenue from it for a year. Hearing the military helicopters approach, Maria took her picture of Saint Jude, the patron saint of lost causes, off the wall and ran to the field to place it among the red flowers. The saint couldnt save them from the effects of the herbicide. Two months later, Marias husband worked among marijuana plants more than 3 feet high planted among the dead poppies. Its all theyre able to water with drip irrigation fed by extra water from the house. This little plot is from another seed and it is going to sell, they say, because its better quality, Maria said. The marijuana they managed to sell from the previous harvest yielded $500, or about $25 per kilogram. In contrast, the poppies that were destroyed would have produced about $5,000 worth of opium gum. The drug trade has brought a lot of money to inhabitants of these mountains over the years, but also a lot of problems. Maria remembers the years of bonanza when the family was able to buy some cows, which were later sold to pay for her childrens education. Her husband recalls periods of violence when rival groups killed and terrorized locals in an attempt to control the area. The couple wants a different future for their kids. But asked if she can imagine a time when the mountains are no longer tied to drug trafficking, Marias 18-year-old daughter says, never. The ties are strong and numerous. Years ago, Marias husband smuggled marijuana across the U.S. border in a backpack. Her daughters boyfriend moved marijuana from Phoenix into the U.S. interior. As Maria prepared chicken soup, narcocorridos, the ballads chronicling the exploits of drug traffickers, sang of the heirs of Mr. Guzman, who is serving a life sentence in the U.S. Guzman's sons control this area, according to experts. Five days after an AP team visited the area, Mexican marines carried out an operation near the birthplace of Rafael Caro Quintero, another notorious trafficker released in 2013 from a Mexican prison where he was serving time for the murder of a DEA agent. But otherwise there was little government presence and the area appeared calm, though watched closely by lookouts. One of the arguments Mexican politicians cite in their efforts to legalize recreational use of marijuana is reducing violence. Some experts are not so sure this will happen, but say shrinking the black market and the income of organized crime would be positive. The objective is not to end the illegal market, because thats not going to happen in the first years, but rather reduce it as much as possible, said Zara Snapp, an international drug policy consultant and co-founder of Instituto RIA, a public policy think tank in Mexico. Nongovernmental organizations like Snapps believe there needs to be a stronger social justice component to Mexican legislation. If the communities decide not to (move to the legal market) it is because there arent sufficient economic reasons, she said. While Maria prays to St. Jude and hopes her small remaining plot of marijuana carries her family through, in another part of the mountains a skinny 39-year-old man has been growing a strain of marijuana that sells at 10 times the price of the traditional Mexican marijuana because it has a much higher psychoactive content. If the man, who also requested anonymity, is able to get two harvests and the army doesnt find it like it did two years ago he will have 110 pounds of high-quality marijuana that should yield $15,000. Its not easy money. From the time you plant until you sell it, youre fighting, he said. Water is scarce. He pays two workers to be on the ranch, look after the plants and later carefully cut the the strong smelling reddish buds that he and others will then weigh and package. The man has been working in marijuana since he was 9 years old. His partner also comes from the business, but a different branch. My dad was a money launderer, he said casually. Decades ago, marijuana was such big business that it was carried out of the mountains on airplanes that landed on dirt roads. Now the man and his partner drive it to the state capital of Culiacan and sell it there. You have to go to whos in charge and give him half or sell it all to him to avoid problems, he said. For the man as with Maria the important question isn't legalization but the numbers, income numbers. "If they pay me the same -- or almost -- being legal, well great. Youll work more at ease, he said. "His role in advancing biotech innovation in global agriculture the past four decades is truly unparalleled," said Dan Vradenburg, chief executive officer of Trace Genomics , a company that developed the first and only soil microbiome test to help farmers predict soil disease, soil health and crop quality using DNA sequencing and machine learning. "We are honored to have Robb, a true pioneer in ag biotechnology who will bring his vast expertise and unique vision to a talented board," said Vradenburg. Other industry leaders on the board include Bill Buckner, former president/CEO of Samuel Roberts Noble Foundation/Noble Research Institute, as well as regional head, North American Operations Bayer CropScience, Veery Maxwell, partner Ajax Strategies, Cristina Rohr, principal of investments with S2G Ventures, and Mike Toelle, formerly with Country Partners Cooperative and CHS. Often recognized as the father of agriculture biotechnology, Dr. Fraley led a team of agriculture scientists at Monsanto dedicated to developing seeds and solutions that help farmers produce a more abundant, affordable and sustainable food supply. He oversaw a team of researchers focused on plant breeding and biotechnology, ag biologicals, ag microbials, precision agriculture and crop protection innovations. "Understanding soil biology, the living microorganisms beneath our feet, is paramount to producing crops sustainably, and Trace Genomics technology is unmatched in this field," said Dr. Fraley. "The world is running out of new farm land, yet farmers need to produce more to feed a growing population. It's imperative that we give them the tools they need to improve soil quality, reduce the amount of fertilizer and other inputs, and produce abundant, healthy crops. Trace Genomics is at the forefront of addressing these challenges." Retiring in June 2018, Dr. Fraley continues to passionately advocate for the use of technology to address global food insecurity and reduce the environmental footprint of agriculture. Among his notable honors, Dr. Fraley was awarded the prestigious 2013 World Food Prize for breakthrough achievements in founding, developing and applying modern agriculture technology and in 1999 was honored with the National Medal of Technology by President Clinton. In 2008, he received the National Academy of Sciences Award for the Industrial Application of Science for developing technologies that enabled the production of the world's first transgenic crops. The following year he received the Biotechnology Heritage Award from the Biotechnology Industry Organization (BIO) and the Chemical Heritage Foundation. In addition, Dr. Fraley has authored more than 100 publications and patent applications relating to technical advances in agricultural sciences. Dr. Fraley, who resides in St. Louis, holds a Bachelor of Science and Ph.D. in microbiology/biochemistry from the University of Illinois and an executive degree in business management from Northwestern University, and was a biophysics postdoctoral fellow at the University of California San Francisco. Trace Genomics uses soil science, genomics and machine learning to measure the bacteria and fungi in soil that cause disease and cycle nutrients. Those measurements are combined with soil chemical characteristics to provide farmers and agronomists with a window into the health and productivity of their soil, enabling them to make data-based management decisions. Based in Redwood City, Calif., with a new state-of-the-art laboratory in Ames, Iowa, Trace Genomics was co-founded by Poornima Parameswaran, PhD, vice president of Science, Tech & Innovation, and is led by Vradenburg. To learn more, visit tracegenomics.com. SOURCE Trace Genomics Related Links https://tracegenomics.com Riyadh, April 15 : A fire broke out at a university in southern Saudi Arabia on Thursday after the air defence system intercepted an attack by Yemen's Houthi militia. Saudi air defences intercepted and destroyed four bomb-laden drones and five ballistic missiles between Wednesday evening and early Thursday launched by the Houthis towards the southern Saudi city of Jazan, according to a statement by a Saudi-led military coalition. "The interception resulted in scattered debris on campus, which caused a limited fire that was contained," dpa news agency quoted coalition spokesman Turki al-Malki as saying, adding that there were no casualties. In Yemen, a Houthi military spokesman said the group launched 11 ballistic missiles and one drone targeting an oil facility for Aramco, Patriot anti-missile platforms and sensitive targets in Jazan. The attack on Aramco "caused a huge fire", the Houthis said. There was no comment from Saudi Arabia on an attack on an Aramco facility. The biggest attack on Aramco was in 2019, when two of the company's facilities were hit, temporarily disrupting crude oil production. The Houthis claimed responsibility for the attacks although Saudi Arabia and the US blamed Iran, which denied involvement. Saudi Arabia has formed the coalition in March 2015 to support the internationally recognized government of Yemen against the Houthis, who control the capital Sanaa and other areas. The Iran-linked Houthis have in recent months intensified attacks on Saudi Arabia. Korean drama "Law School" commenced with a good viewership rating and showed a positive response. The JTBC's new drama, which replaced the post-apocalyptic sci-fi series "Sisyphus: the Myth," starring Cho Seung Woo and Park Shin Hye, managed to score 5.1 percent for its nationwide rating and 5.7 percent in the metropolitan area, as cited by Nielsen Korea. Meanwhile, its competitor, KBS2's "Daebak Real Estate," which also premiered on the same date, reached 4.1 percent and 5.3 percent of national ratings. #LawSchoolEp1 Trends on Twitter Despite being compared with the US series "How to Get Away with Murder," viewers also expressed their support for the mystery crime series as #LawSchoolEp1 trends on Twitter alongside good feedback from the audience. With this, fans lauded the intense start of "Law School" and mentioned that they couldn't wait for succeeding episodes. #LawSchool giving us an intense start for the introduction of characters and the first case! A mystery crime drama that focus mainly on law students and professors in the legal department who will unfold the truth on unusual cases. I can't wait for more episodes #LawSchoolEP1 pic.twitter.com/7aSskp3N3i (@kdramatreats) April 14, 2021 i swear ep 1 was beyond my expectations i love it so much omg i honestly cant wait for the future episodes #LawSchoolEp1 pic.twitter.com/nvHQInuyrW kdrama fairy (@kdramafairy) April 14, 2021 The Mysterious Death of Professor Seo Byung Ju "Law School" episode 1 starts off dated October 2020 with an intense scene as one student saw a lifeless professor Seo Byung Ju (Ahn Nae Sang) inside his office at the elite Hankuk University. i swear ep 1 was beyond my expectations i love it so much omg i honestly cant wait for the future episodes #LawSchoolEp1 pic.twitter.com/nvHQInuyrW kdrama fairy (@kdramafairy) April 14, 2021 The scene jumps off to March 2020 as professor Yang Jong Hoon (Kim Myung Min), who is a former prosecutor and known as a straightforward professor, carries on his lecture. A first-year law student named Han Joon Hwi (Kim Beom), who is the top of his class, managed to wow the crowd with his interpretation of the case. However, it appears that the professor was unimpressed with him and advised him not to take opportunities for other students to answer. On the other hand, Kang Sol-A was also asked by Yang Jong Hoon but was too nervous to argue her case and ended up leaving the class. With Professor Seo's death, this has caused a disturbance in the university, and as the investigation continues, Lee Man Ho's name is being dragged. Played by Jo Jae Ryong, he was recently released from prison after being convicted as a child rapist. To recall, it was Kim Eun Suk who was then the judge was responsible for his case. Unfortunatley, she lost the case to Lee Man Ho after being only sentenced to 11 years. On the present day, it showed that he visited Kim Eun Su, who is now a law professor at Hankuk University. He barged in her class and discussed Article 10-2 of the Criminal code, or known as the Lee Man Ho Act. Kim Eun Suk was surprised by Lee Man Ho's return which caused her intense emotions and ended up bleeding, given that she's also pregnant. While the student rushed her to the hospital, Yang Jong Hoon remained in the classroom with his furious eyes gazing at Lee Man Ho. Yang Jong Hoon Arrested for Killing Professor Seo Another surprising news circulated the school as the dead professor was reportedly a drug addict. It came after drugs had been found in his car. During the student's mock trial, the police barge in and explain that the late professor was killed through methamphetamine overdose and believes that someone mixed this in his coffee and gave it to him. Following this, the officer's prime suspect was the professor and ended up handcuffing and arresting Yang Jong Hoon. A flashback also showed that Yang Jong Hoon is killing professor Seo inside his office. KDramastars owns this article. Written by Geca Wills Both present and past CMs of Uttar Pradesh - Yogi Adityanath and Akhilesh Yadav - tested positive for Covid-19 New Delhi: Both present and past CMs of Uttar Pradesh -- Yogi Adityanath and Akhilesh Yadav -- tested positive for Covid-19 as the pandemic spread its tentacles to infect more than 1.84 lakh persons in one day in India. The death toll too has started rising. In the past 24 hours, 1,027 fatalities were recorded as dead bodies piled up for last rites. Pressure is now rising on the government to defer the Uttar Pradesh panchayat polls. In Uttarakhand, facing widespread criticism over the huge maskless crowds at Haridwars Kumbh Mela, the state government is planning to cut short the duration of the religious gathering, where thousands of pilgrims are testing positive every day. With 10 states accounting for 68.16 per cent of the countrys total active cases, the medical health infrastructure is under tremendous pressure -- hospitals are overwhelmed with patients and facing an acute shortage of oxygen, ventilators and Remdesivir injections. Delhis AAP government has attached a number of hotels with hospitals to increase the bed capacity to treat Covid-19 patients. In Odisha, Congress candidate for Pipli byelection Ajit Mangaraj died of Covid-19, while in Mumbai actor Ashutosh Rana tested positive despite having taken the first shot of the Covid vaccine. In view of the short supply of Remdesivir injections, the government has decided to increase production and to reduce prices. The current total installed capacity of the seven manufacturers of Remdesivir is 38.80 lakh vials per month. Fast-track approval has been given for seven additional sites having a production capacity of 10 lakh vials/month to six manufacturers. Another 30 lakh vials/month production is lined up. This would ramp up the production capacity for manufacturing to around 78 lakh vials/month. As an additional measure, Remdesivir, API and formulation were placed under an export ban on April 11 by the DGFT to increase the supply of Remdesivir in the domestic market. On the governments intervention, Remdesivir supplies of approximately four lakh vials meant for export is being diverted by the manufacturers to fulfil domestic demand. The EOU/SEZ units are also being enabled to supply to the domestic market, the chemicals and fertilisers ministry said in a statement. Officials said Remdesivirs manufacturers have volunteered to reduce the price to less than Rs 3,500 by the end of this week. They have also been directed to give priority to fulfil hospital/institutional level supplies and the enforcement authorities have been directed by the DCGI to take immediate action against any blackmarketing, hoarding and attempts to overcharge for Remdesivir injections. Dr Harsh Vardhan, the Union health minister, said that the shortage of Remdesivir injections had happened because its production was reduced as Covid-19 cases were decreasing. Two siblings are at each others throat over alleged change of ownership on three buses that are currently operating under the Zimbabwe United Passengers Company (ZUPCO) franchise. William Munyoro has dragged his brother Tendai to court accusing him of barring him access to the three buses after receiving them through a shipment on his behalf via Walvis Bay, Namibia in 2019. According to the summons, William is demanding the three buses a Mercedes 0405 TEC, Van Hool AB-BC and an Airport Bus Evo 0405 or that his brother pays him the US$49 559, 90 he used to purchase the vehicles. Rusitu Power Corporation (Private) Limited and ZUPCO are cited as respondents. William discovered that Tendai had fraudulently changed the ownership of the buses into the name of Rusitu Power Corporation (Private) Limited. William has no relationship whatsoever with Rusitu Power Cooperation company. Tendai went on to contract the buses to ZUPCO without Williams knowledge and consent, wrote Williams lawyers. He says he had undertaken to reimburse Tendai on all extra costs incurred at the border. Tendai advised William that he had proceeded to pay USD$2 400 at the border being a short fall which had been levied on clearance charges and to which William was to reimburse him. Several efforts to repossess the buses have been fruitless as Tendai refused to release them to Plaintiff, reads the papers. Now, William is seeking relief from the court claiming he had already suffered a financial prejudice. The buses were bought in Denmark and Netherlands in October 2019. Tendai is yet to respond to the summons. H Metro [April 15, 2021] IBM to Acquire myInvenio to help Organizations Use AI-powered Automation to Better Streamline Business Processes ARMONK, N.Y., April 15, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- IBM (NYSE:IBM) today announced a definitive agreement to acquire myInvenio, a process mining software company based in Reggio Emilia, Italy. The acquisition will provide organizations with data-driven software that should help them identify the most impactful business processes to automate using AI including sales, procurement, production and accounting. It also further advances IBM's hybrid cloud and AI strategy, providing customers with a comprehensive suite of AI-powered automation capabilities for business automation. Financial details were not disclosed. With the acquisition of myInvenio, IBM will help companies overcome the challenge of streamlining business processes that are cumbersome or create bottlenecks, slowing down innovation and increasing costs. Today's news underscores IBM's continued investment in providing organizations with a one-stop shop of AI-powered automation capabilities for business automation, including process mining, robotic process automation (RPA) through the recent acquisition of WDG Automation , document processing, workflow, and decisions. All of these capabilities are tightly integrated with IBM Cloud Pak for Business Automation and powered by Red Hat OpenShift to run anywhere and help customers automate their entire enterprise. "Digital transformation is accelerating across industries as companies face increasing challenges with managing critical IT systems and complex business applications that span the hybrid cloud landscape," said Dinesh Nirmal, General Manager, IBM Automation. "Wit IBM's planned acquisition of myInvenio, we are continuing to invest in building the industry's most comprehensive suite of AI-powered automation capabilities for business automation so that our customers can help employees re-claim their time to focus on more strategic work." "Through IBM's planned acquisition of myInvenio, we are revolutionizing the way companies manage their process operations," said Massimiliano Delsante, CEO, myInvenio. "myInvenio's unique capability to automatically analyze processes and create simulations -- what we call a 'Digital Twin of an Organization' -- is joining with IBM's AI-powered automation capabilities to better manage process execution. Together we will offer a comprehensive solution for digital process transformation and automation to help enterprises continuously transform insights into action." IBM's acquisition of myInvenio builds on its OEM agreement with the company. Upon close of the acquisition, IBM has plans to integrate myInvenio's capabilities into its Automation portfolio, including IBM Cloud Pak for Business Automation, IBM's hybrid cloud software for using AI to transform business processes and help enable people to be more productive. myInvenio capabilities reveal inefficiencies, bottlenecks and tasks that can benefit from automation, to help organizations significantly reduce their operating costs and improve customer service. Simulations can be run to assess automation opportunities to measure the benefits of applying automation at the outset of the automation journey. By analyzing historical process execution data and desktop behavior, myInvenio technology can help determine where to apply RPA bots, automated decisions, AI models, and other automations to have the most impact on a business. myInvenio's capabilities could also be available to IBM business partners and IBM Global Business Services Automation practice to assist customers to generate insights about their business processes that could help lead to a clear data-driven roadmap for applying automation effectively. Using myInvenio's process mining capabilities together with IBM AI-powered automation, an organization can streamline their accounts receivable process by looking at interactions with ERP and invoicing systems. The process mining software enables them to understand if employees spend a lot of time manually examining invoices and auditing purchase requests to find anomalies two processes where AI-powered automation can help to boost efficiency and cut costs, while freeing employees to do more strategic work. Another example involves IT ticketing systems. Companies can use process mining to examine the most common IT requests and automate resolution. The transaction is subject to customary closing conditions. It is expected to close at the end of this quarter. For more information on today's announcement, please visit: www.ibm.com/cloud/blog/ibm-to-acquire-myinvenio To learn more about IBM AI-powered automation and how leading brands like PNC Financial Services and Banco Popular are transforming business processes to enable people to focus on higher value work, please visit: https://www.ibm.com/automation Media Contact: Hanna Smigala IBM Media Relations smigala@us.ibm.com +1-203-512-5497 View original content to download multimedia:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/ibm-to-acquire-myinvenio-to-help-organizations-use-ai-powered-automation-to-better-streamline-business-processes-301269574.html SOURCE IBM [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] RICHMOND, Va., April 15, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Duke's Mayonnaise has selected Richmond-based Familiar Creatures as its new agency of record, bringing together a 100-year old challenger brand and a newer ad agency startup who specializes in challenger brands. For over 100 years, Duke's has been a household name in the Southeast, where the brand is a staple of many restaurants. In its core markets, the brand enjoys near cult-like status in a mayonnaise category that typically doesn't garner such devotion. Duke's self-identifies as an underdog, using unconventional and grassroots marketing to build meaningful relationships with its unique fan base. "Duke's isn't your traditional 100-year old brand. And Familiar Creatures isn't your traditional creative agency," said Rebecca Lupesco, the Duke's Brand Manager of Mayohem. "We each consider ourselves challengers in our space, and, more importantly, we share a mutual trust and independent spirit that will allow us to create inspiration for the people who use and love our products." Familiar Creatures launched in 2018 with a unique agency model after seeing holding company agencies lose business to in-housing and smaller projects. Their "fractional AOR" approach provides challenger brands like Duke's the same creative and strategic firepower they'd expect from a larger agency, augmenting internal marketing teams for as long as needed. "We are thrilled to begin our new relationship with Duke's," said Dustin Artz, Co-founder of Familiar Creatures. "Their amazing story and passionate fans would make most packaged goods brands jealous." The agency will work with Duke's to evolve its current campaign, "Duke's It's got Twang!," building brand awareness and converting more followers to the brand. Fans of Duke's can expect to see more on-the-ground activations in the near future as the brand expands to new markets in an authentic and relatable way, including the promotion of the Duke's Mayo Classic coming in September. Familiar Creatures is an advertising agency based in Richmond, VA. Formed in 2018 by industry veterans, the agency's "fractional AOR" model takes challenger brands to the next level. Duke's Mayonnaise Duke's Mayonnaise was created in 1917 in Greenville, SC by Eugenia Duke. In addition to the flagship mayonnaise, which is still made according to Eugenia's original recipe, Duke's offers light, olive oil, and flavored mayonnaises, tartar sauce, sandwich relish and regionally-inspired Duke's Southern Sauces and dressings. Duke's Mayonnaise is owned by Sauer Brands, Inc., which was founded as The C.F. Sauer Company in 1887 in Richmond, Virginia. The company produces a broad line of inspired flavors to excite and delight consumers in the condiments, spices, seasonings and extracts categories. Sauer Brands also produces high-quality private-label products for the retail and foodservice channels. Learn more at sauerbrands.com. SOURCE Duke's Mayonnaise; Familiar Creatures We look forward to welcoming our faculty, staff and students back to campus for the start of the fall semester, Baker College President, Dr. Bart Daig. All in-person classes and lab courses will resume in-full, and on-campus housing will be open to student residents, at all Baker College campuses across Michigan for the new academic year, which begins August 23, 2021. The decision for a full return-to-campus at Baker College Michigans largest, private not-for-profit college and the top private transfer school in the state was recently announced by Jacqui Spicer, Baker College chief operating officer and head of the Colleges Pandemic Response Team. The Baker College return-to-campus plan incorporates its Michigan campus locations in: Auburn Hills, Cadillac, Jackson, Muskegon and Owosso, as well as Bakers extension site programs at the Culinary Institute of Michigan in Port Huron and Muskegon and the Auto Diesel Institute in Owosso. Prioritizing the health and safety of students, faculty and staff, the plan will continue to follow the most up-to-date guidance from the CDC on preventive health measures, including face coverings, social distancing and hand hygiene, to help prevent the spread of COVID-19. Baker College will not require anyone to receive a vaccine. However, believing it is in the best interest of everyone in its campus communities, leadership is strongly encouraging all faculty, staff and students to get vaccinated when eligible. Additionally, in partnership with Rite Aid, Baker College is currently offering on-campus vaccination clinic sites exclusively for Baker students and staff. We look forward to welcoming our faculty, staff and students back to campus for the start of the fall semester, said Baker College President, Dr. Bart Daig. As COVID-19 vaccinations continue to progress in our state and throughout local communities, we are cautiously optimistic about returning to relative normalcy this fall. That said, we will remain vigilant and flexible in our planning, with the health and safety of our students and staff as priority one. In addition to in-person learning, on-campus housing will continue to be available to students this fall. Baker has safely accommodated residence life students since the start of the pandemic, and will continue to adhere to best practices to ensure student residents receive a safe, enjoyable housing experience. As the COVID-19 pandemic continues to evolve and the calendar moves closer to the start of the fall semester, Baker College will provide additional information and any updates to its return to campus plan. Developments will be shared ongoing at baker.edu/coronavirus. We eagerly await the opportunity to come together again in person. Until then, let us all remain steadfast in doing our part to keep ourselves and others safe as this pandemic hopefully nears its end, said Daig. # # # About Baker College Founded in 1911, Baker College is Michigans largest, private not-for-profit college and the top private transfer school in the state. Baker College has multiple on-ground campus locations and two affiliate sites across the state, as well as an online global campus offering more than 40 academic program options for both undergraduate and graduate degrees. Learn more at http://www.baker.edu. [April 15, 2021] Bank of America Announces $25 Billion Common Stock Repurchase Plan Bank of America Corporation today announced that its Board of Directors has authorized the repurchase of up to $25 billion of common stock over time. This authorization reflects the company's commitment to return to shareholders excess capital that is not needed to support economic growth, deliver for customers and communities, invest in the future and sustain strength and stability through the cycle. The Board also authorized repurchases to offset shares awarded under equity-based compensation plans. For the second quarter 2021, the company's repurchase plans will be consistent with Federal Reserve System's (FRB) restrictions that common stock repurchases and common stock dividends be correlated to the average quarterly net income for the previous four quarters. Following the expiration of the restrictions, Bank of America expects to distribute additional capital to shareholders. Bank of America's ability to make capital distributions depends, in part, on its ability to maintain regulatory capital levels above the 9.5% CET1 requirement: the sum of the FRB regulatory minimum of 4.5% and applicable regulatory buffers; including the Stress Capital Buffer (SCB) of 2.5%; and the Global Systemically Important Bank Holding Company surcharge of 2.5%. As of March 31, 2021, Bank of America's CET1 ratio was 11.8%, which equated to approximately $35 billion excess CET1 capital above the 9.5% CET1 requirement. The timing and amount of common stock repurchases made pursuant to the Bank of America common stock repurchase program are subject to various factors, including the company's capital position, liquidity, financial performance and alternative uses of capital, stock trading price, regulatory requirements and general market conditions. Also, it may be suspended at any time. The common stock repurchases may be effected through open market purchases or privately negotiated transactions, including repurchase plans that satisfy the conditions of Rule 10b5-1 of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended. Forward-Looking Statements Certain statements contained in this news release may constitute "forward-looking" statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These forward-looking statements represent the current expectations, lans or forecasts of Bank of America based on available information. Forward-looking statements can be identified by the fact that they do not relate strictly to historical or current facts. These statements often use words like "expects," "anticipates," "believes," "estimates," "targets," "intends," "plans," "predict," "goal" and other similar expressions or future or conditional verbs such as "will," "may," "might," "should," "would" and "could." Forward-looking statements speak only as of the date they are made, and Bank of America undertakes no obligation to update any forward-looking statement to reflect the impact of circumstances or events that arise after the date the forward-looking statement was made. Forward-looking statements represent Bank of America's current expectations, plans or forecasts of its future results, revenues, expenses, efficiency ratio, capital measures, and future business and economic conditions more generally, and other future matters. These statements are not guarantees of its future results or performance and involve certain known and unknown risks, uncertainties and assumptions that are difficult to predict and are often beyond Bank of America's control. Actual outcomes and results may differ materially from those expressed in, or implied by, any forward-looking statements. You should not place undue reliance on any forward-looking statement and should consider all of the uncertainties and risks discussed under Item 1A. "Risk Factors" of Bank of America's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2020 and in any of Bank of America's other subsequent Securities and Exchange Commission filings. Bank of America Bank of America is one of the world's leading financial institutions, serving individual consumers, small and middle-market businesses and large corporations with a full range of banking, investing, asset management and other financial and risk management products and services. The company provides unmatched convenience in the United States, serving approximately 66 million consumer and small business clients with approximately 4,300 retail financial centers, including approximately 2,700 lending centers, 2,600 financial centers with a Consumer Investment Financial Solutions Advisor and approximately 2,400 business centers; approximately 17,000 ATMs; and award-winning digital banking with approximately 40 million active users, including approximately 31 million mobile users. Bank of America is a global leader in wealth management, corporate and investment banking and trading across a broad range of asset classes, serving corporations, governments, institutions and individuals around the world. Bank of America offers industry-leading support to approximately 3 million small business households through a suite of innovative, easy-to-use online products and services. The company serves clients through operations across the United States, its territories and approximately 35 countries. Bank of America Corporation stock (NYSE: BAC) is listed on the New York Stock Exchange. For more Bank of America news, including dividend announcements and other important information, visit the Bank of America newsroom and register for email news alerts. www.bankofamerica.com View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210415005473/en/ [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] As more people get vaccinated and states begin to roll back some of the restrictions put in place due to the COVID-19 pandemic schools, agencies and workplaces are working on a plan on how to safely return to normal. AUSTIN, Texas, April 15, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Digital Realty (NYSE: DLR), the largest global provider of cloud- and carrier-neutral data center, colocation and interconnection solutions, announced today it intends to redeem all 8,050,000 outstanding shares of its 6.625% Series C Cumulative Redeemable Perpetual Preferred Stock, or Series C Preferred Stock (CUSIP: 253868848). The Series C Preferred Stock held through the Depository Trust Company will be redeemed in accordance with the applicable procedures of the Depository Trust Company. The redemption date will be May 17, 2021. The Series C Preferred Stock will be redeemed for $25.00 per share, plus all accrued and unpaid dividends to, but not including, the redemption date in an amount equal to $0.211632 per share, for a total payment of $25.211632 per share, which will be payable in cash, without interest on the redemption date. After the redemption date, the Series C Preferred Stock will no longer be deemed outstanding and all the rights of the holders of the Series C Preferred Stock will terminate, except the right to receive the redemption price. In addition, because all the issued and outstanding shares of the Series C Preferred Stock are being redeemed, the Series C Preferred Stock will no longer trade on the New York Stock Exchange after the redemption date. The Series C Preferred Stock currently trades on the NYSE under the symbol DLR.PRC. The notice of redemption and related materials are being mailed to holders of record of the Series C Preferred Stock as of April 15, 2021. As specified in the notice of redemption, payment of the applicable redemption price, plus any accrued and unpaid dividends payable on the redemption date, without interest, will be made only upon presentation and surrender of the certificates representing the Series C Preferred Stock to the redemption agent, American Stock Transfer & Trust Company, LLC. Questions regarding the redemption of the Series C Preferred Stock may be directed to American Stock Transfer & Trust Company, LLC at: American Stock Transfer & Trust Company, LLC Operations Center 6201 15th Avenue Brooklyn, NY 11219 Attention: Reorganization Department Tel.: (800) 937-5449 For Additional Information Andrew P. Power Chief Financial Officer Digital Realty +1 (415) 738-6500 Investor Relations John J. Stewart / Jim Huseby Digital Realty +1 (415) 738-6500 [email protected] About Digital Realty Digital Realty supports the world's leading enterprises and service providers by delivering the full spectrum of data center, colocation and interconnection solutions. PlatformDIGITAL, the company's global data center platform, provides customers a trusted foundation and proven Pervasive Datacenter Architecture PDx solution methodology for scaling digital business and efficiently managing data gravity challenges. Digital Realty's global data center footprint gives customers access to the connected communities that matter to them with more than 275 facilities in 47 metros across 24 countries on six continents. To learn more about Digital Realty, please visit digitalrealty.com or follow us on LinkedIn and Twitter. Safe Harbor Statement This press release contains forward-looking statements that are based on current expectations, forecasts and assumptions that involve risks and uncertainties that could cause actual outcomes and results to differ materially, including statements related to the timing and consummation of the redemption of the Series C Preferred Stock. For a list and description of such risks and uncertainties, see the reports and other filings by Digital Realty Trust, Inc. and Digital Realty Trust, L.P. with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, including Digital Realty Trust, Inc. and Digital Realty Trust, L.P.'s combined Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2020 and other documents subsequently filed by the company with the SEC. The company disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise. SOURCE Digital Realty Related Links https://www.digitalrealty.com It could take up to two years to recover from the coronavirus learning gap after a rather abnormal school year. "It's been challenging," Linda Ashby said. She and her son, Tristan, are both asthmatic, so she chose to keep him doing virtual learning for the rest of the school year. "I didn't want him to go to school, get something there and bring it home and give it to me," Ashby said. "It's just easier for us to stay in our bubble this year." However, Ashby quickly noticed the impact virtual classes had on her son's grades. "He had Fs all across the board. He wasn't getting it. The examples, he wasn't understanding," Ashby explained. Thankfully, her job at SAIC offered a tutoring service to help. "Within two weeks with his tutor at Sylvan Learning, he was at an Aa low A, but still an A," Ashby said. Tristan wasn't the only one who faced this issue. Around 2,000 students across the state are using the same tutoring company to help with their online classes. "Everyone was so new to virtual or hybrid learning that I think it was natural that there was going to be this process and this time gap where students weren't going to learn as effectively as they would in a classroom," Sylvan Learning CEO John McAuliffe said. He says they've noticed a loss in learning during the pandemic. Their assessment showed an average learning loss of about three months in both reading and math across grades 3 through 8. While it may not seem like much, McAuliffe says "Kids virtually lost a year of school. This is going to be a year and a half to two year impact moving forward to try and get kids to the point they would have normally been had they been attending school." Several school districts have announced their plans to try and close the learning gap by offering summer classes or even starting the school year early. But, Ashby says she doesn't think she'll be able to put her son through summer school. "He needs that little break. He might be burnt out by the time he gets into 10th grade," Ashby explained. Plus, she needs a little break herself. "I was overwhelmed with working from home, the pandemic, and the kids here 24/7," Ashby said. McAuliffe says parents should not worry because he expects students to catch up once everything returns to normal. President Joe Biden removes his mask to speak from the Treaty Room in the White House about the withdrawal of U.S. troops from Afghanistan in Washington on April 14, 2021. (Andrew Harnik-Pool/Getty Images) White House Wont Say Whether Special Operations Troops Will Remain in Afghanistan After September 11 The White House hasnt yet announced whether special operations troops will remain in Afghanistan after President Joe Biden on April 14 outlined a drawdown of combat troops in the region that will begin May 1 and conclude by Sept. 11. Special operations troops were the first deployed in the war in Afghanistan nearly two decades ago. As of this year, as many as 1,000 special operations forces are reported to remain in Afghanistan on top of some 2,500 U.S. combat troops. Bidens announcement came after his predecessor, former President Donald Trump last year outlined an agreement with the Taliban, saying troops would withdraw from Afghanistan by May 1 in exchange for a promise from the Taliban for a reduction in violence, counterterrorism guarantees, and a pledge to kickstart intra-Afghan peace talks. The president said Wednesday that it is now time to end Americas longest war and time for American troops to come home, noting that the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks in New York City cannot explain why U.S. soldiers should remain in the Central Asian country. He said he made the decision after consulting with Vice President Kamala Harris, top military leaders, lawmakers, and former President George Bush. Bush, through his spokesman, declined to comment about his conversation with Biden. Biden said that the United States will continue to provide security assistance to Afghanistans army, adding that if the Taliban attacks, U.S. troops will defend themselves with all the tools available. The Taliban are also being held accountable for not allowing terrorist groups, including al-Qaeda, to flourish in Afghanistan, the president said. Bidens announcement, which he followed with a visit to Arlington National Cemetery, marks perhaps the most significant foreign policy decision in the early going of his presidency. The announcement comes just weeks after Gen. Richard Clarke, the head of U.S. Special Operations Command, told a Senate hearing that, the capabilities that the U.S. provides for the Afghans to be able to combat the Taliban and other threats that reside in Afghanistan are critical to their success. He told Congress that Afghanistans military forces need assistance from U.S. troops to successfully counter the Taliban, echoing the sentiments of other military leaders in saying that the Taliban have not upheld their commitment to reduce violence in the region, after numerous attacks in the country that have been blamed on the group. Those attacks have largely been against Afghans and havent targeted Americans. Clarke at the Senate hearing last month declined to provide the details of possible strategic options he has outlined to Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin on how he could provide needed counterterrorism troops or capabilities if special operations forces are not physically in Afghanistan. Jack Phillips and The Associated Press contributed to this report. An Auburn City Schools employee is in jail, accused of producing pornography with young boys in the 1980s. Auburn police announced the arrest of 58-year-old David Barkley Johnson. He is charged with five counts of production of pornography with minors. Police said the investigation began Feb. 5 with authorities received a complaint of crimes possibly involving juvenile victims. Investigators recovered pornographic images and determined Johnson had produced them. Johnson knew the victims, which court records say involved genital nudity of males under the age of 17, police said. The victims have since been notified. Charging documents state the alleged crimes happened between 1984 to 1987. According to the Opelika-Auburn News, Johnson is a maintenance supervisor for the school system. It wasnt immediately clear where he was employed when the alleged crimes happen. Auburn City Schools released this statement: Auburn City Schools is cooperating with law enforcement officials in an investigation. At this time, we do not have any indication that the arrest is related to the students or schools in our system. Due to the nature of matters related to personnel, no further comment will be made available. Johnson was arrested Wednesday with bond set at $125,000. The investigation is ongoing and anyone with information is asked to call the Auburn Police Division tip line at 334-246-1391 or the Detective Section at 334-501-3140. Credit: CC0 Public Domain The share of COVID-19 related deaths in Europe among those over the age of 80 has reached the lowest level since the start of the pandemic, the World Health Organization said Thursday. The trend could possibly be attributed to the rollout of vaccines among high-risk groups, according to Hans Kluge, the WHO regional director for Europe. "Over the past two months the trend among people more than 80 years of age has diverged from the trend seen in every other age group," Kluge told a news conference in Athens. Kluge noted that the group now accounted for close to 30 percent of COVID-19 related deaths. In mid-January, the figure hit a peak of 62 percent, WHO Europe said. The WHO's European chapter, which recently described the situation as "more worrying than we have seen in several months", also said they now saw "early signs that transmission may be slowing across several countries." But Kluge still urged caution, noting that on average 160 new cases were reported every minute. "Signs of decline are not equal to low rates of transmission," Kluge emphasised, and stressed the importance of the rollout of the vaccine. In the European Union, some 17 percent of the population had received a first vaccine dose, according to AFP figures. The WHO also said it would soon announce its conclusions on the safety of the vaccine by US drugmaker Johnson & Johnson, which has been approved since March but held back after worries of blood clots. It also maintained its recommendation for countries to use the AstraZeneca vaccine, which was dropped altogether by Denmark on Wednesday after an investigation of two serious cases, one of them fatal, of blood clots in people who had received an injection. "For now, the risk of suffering blood clots is much higher for someone with COVID-19 than for someone who has taken the AstraZeneca vaccine," Kluge said. The WHO's European region comprises 53 countries and territories and includes Russia and several Central Asian nations. Explore further Follow the latest news on the coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak 2021 AFP Downtown Northampton, where walkers and bikers intermingle with cars and buses among restaurants, retail shops and bars, is on its way to a major update. City planners presented four options to the public Wednesday night for a redesign of a half-mile of Northamptons social and economic center. Under the title Picture Main Street, the project would modify the sidewalks, traffic flow and landscape of the city center. All four proposed options aim to make the street and sidewalk safer and more accessible. The Massachusetts Department of Transportation identified the stretch of road as one of the regions top car crash clusters, with a majority of the resulting injuries affecting walkers and bikers, the Picture Main Street website states. As such, the proposals incorporate protected bike lanes, shortened crosswalks and expanded sidewalks. Downtown Northampton is one of the main economic engines of our city and its an important regional corridor that serves a lot of traffic and visitors, Mayor David Narkewicz said in an interview prior to the presentation. We want to maintain that vibrancy, we most importantly want to maintain safety and we also want to make sure that its a corridor thats accessible to not only motor vehicles, but also pedestrians and bicyclists. The project, not set to begin construction until at least 2025, would additionally upgrade aging underground water and sewer systems, make the entire section of street and sidewalk compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act and seek to expand space for outdoor dining. Funding will come mainly from a $16.6 million grant from the State Transportation Improvement Program, or STIP. The money, Ward 2 Councilor Karen Foster said, is specifically granted to redesign this section of road, and doesnt draw from other areas of the citys budget. Wednesdays meeting, though the fourth forum on Picture Main Street, was the first public presentation on the project alternatives. The four proposed options have varying trade-offs, dividing in different ways the limited space into street parking, sidewalks, bike lanes and car lanes. Alternative 1A, as the first option is known, allows four lanes of traffic, diagonal street parking and protected bike lanes. It also shortens crosswalks, reducing the amount of time pedestrians are exposed to traffic. But it cuts down nearly all sidewalks, in some places to under five feet, and eliminates roughly a quarter of existing parking. Picture Main Street "1A" proposal A slightly different option, Alternative 1B, also shortens crosswalks and creates painted, unprotected bike lanes, which the project website noted are not shown to provide any tangible safety or comfort benefit to people biking. That option would use the space not taken by bike lane barriers to expand sidewalks, which would allow new trees, public art and outdoor dining. Like Alternative 1A, it would eliminate a quarter of parking. Picture Main Street "1B" proposal Picture Main Street "1B" proposal Project designer Jason DeGray, the citys consultant for Picture Main Street, presented the proposals Wednesday night. He called the third option, referred to as Alternative 2, a compromise between two commonly-voiced priorities providing four vehicle lanes as well as an expanded sidewalk and protected bike lane. This was the only option to suggest parallel street parking, as opposed to diagonal spaces. The trade-off, DeGray said, is it would cut some sidewalks to under five feet and eliminate more than a third of parking on Main Street. Picture Main Street "2" proposal Picture Main Street "2" proposal The final option, known as Alternative 3, would create three lanes of traffic, including a dedicated left turn lane in the middle of the road. It would also feature diagonal parking, a protected bike lane and expanded sidewalks. This option would shorten crosswalks significantly and result in a roughly 20 percent loss in parking, the smallest drop of any of the proposals. The projects design team believes Alternative 3 to be the best choice, DeGray said. By using a shared left turn lane, possibilities for crashes are cut down while freeing space for other uses. Additionally, the open middle lane makes quick travel easier for emergency vehicles, he said. Picture Main Street "3" proposal Picture Main Street "3" proposal At the forum, attended by over 170 people, DeGray fielded questions and comments from the public on the proposed options. Multiple residents spoke of the projects impact on the environment. It seems we can not deal with climate change effectively without dealing with transportation effectively, and that means making it as easy as possible to choose alternatives to driving. James Lowenthall said. The 40 percent of the population in Northampton that live within one mile of downtown need to feel that its safe, convenient and attractive to walk or bike. Lilly Lombard, who said she previously chaired the Northampton Tree Commission, said the loss of trees, especially prevalent in Alternative 1A, would have a heat island effect, in which an urban area experiences higher temperatures. It would keep [pedestrians] off the street, Lombard said. Research demonstrates that people are drawn to cool tree lined spaces, they linger more and they go to restaurants. Jena Sujat, who owns Pinch, an artisan gallery in downtown Northampton, offered concerns over people having difficulty leaving parking spots with only one lane of traffic in each direction. Every time someone backs out of a parking spot into the one lane of traffic, theyre going to be stopping traffic, hundreds of times a day, Sujat said. She worried it could also force people to make risky decisions to reenter the road. Residents offered support for the protected bike lanes found in three of the alternatives. Jes Slavin, who said she lives near the downtown area, does not currently feel comfortable biking on Main Street. I would love for [my mother] to come visit and be able to bike downtown with her, but the way downtown is right now I really wouldnt be able to, Slavin said. I can barely bike down there, even as someone kind of comfortable in traffic. Not all residents were enthusiastic about the options. Several said they thought planners had favored Alternative 3, with the shared left turning lane, in the process. I feel like this is one of those Henry Ford situations. You can have any color, as long as its black, Amy Thornton said, paraphrasing a famous quote from the automaker about the Model T. Wayne Feiden, the citys director of planning and sustainability, said that officials will take Wednesdays comments into account and attempt to narrow down the designs by June. We like to say were building consensus. I dont think its possible to get a complete consensus among 20,000 citizens, he said. Mayor David Narkewicz offered a similar assessment. After a decade in office, he said he has no illusions about getting full agreement on an issue. At a certain point we will arrive at what we believe is the clearest consensus were able to achieve and then well move forward on it, he said. This is a major decision that affects everybody in the city. So everybody should have a voice, and then we just try to try to reach consensus. Hopefully were headed in that direction beginning tonight. [April 15, 2021] InterVenn Biosciences Announces that Padmanee Sharma, MD, PhD, has Joined the Company's Board of Advisors InterVenn Biosciences today announced that Padmanee Sharma, MD, PhD, has joined the Company's Board of Advisors, effective March 9, 2021. Dr. Sharma joins the InterVenn Board of Advisors with extensive experience in basic and clinical immunology and cancer research. Dr. Sharma is Professor in the Departments of Genitourinary Medical Oncology and Immunology and holds the T.C. and Jeanette Hsu Endowed Chair in Cell Biology in the Division of Cancer Medicine at MD Anderson Cancer Center. Her translational research focuses on learning how to apply immune-based therapeutic strategies to manipulate components of the human immune system to lead to tumor regression. She has designed and led or participated in more than 50 clinical trials of cancer vaccines and other immune-based treatments, specifically in the area of prostate cancer where she has explored differences in T cell subsets and function between pre- and post-therapy blood and tissue specimens. She also conducts laboratory research as part of her ongoing studies aimed at understanding how immunotherapy affects the immune system and tumor biology, in close collaboration with Dr. James P. Allison, who is also joining the InterVenn Board of Advisors. Dr. Sharma is amember of the scientific review panel for the Cancer Research Institute, the oldest institution dedicated to immuno-oncology research. Dr. Sharma has won multiple awards during her career including the Emil Frei III Award for Excellence in Translational Research in 2016 and was inducted into the American Society for Clinical Investigation in 2018. She is the recipient of the 2018 William B. Coley Award for Distinguished Research in Tumor Immunology. Dr. Sharma is a practicing physician who is driven by a deep commitment and dedication to her patients for whom she is not only a physician, but a very personal source of strength and confidence as she manages their care. "We are extremely grateful to welcome Pam to our Board of Advisors," said Aldo Carrascoso, Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer of InterVenn Biosciences. "Pam's leadership in the field of immunotherapy and her deep knowledge and experience in translational immuno-oncology research and clinical practice bring tremendous value to InterVenn. Her expertise and guidance will greatly benefit InterVenn this year and in the years to come." About InterVenn Biosciences InterVenn Biosciences utilizes a proprietary high-throughput glycoproteomic interrogation platform using artificial intelligence and mass spectrometry for next-gen precision medicine. The company is working to find new solutions in ovarian, pancreatic, liver, prostate, and kidney cancer, together with applications from the Vista suite of solutions for treatment and monitoring, immune profiling, patient stratification, and disease progression. For more information about InterVenn Biosciences, please visit the company's website. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210415005368/en/ [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] The High Court has granted permission to an Irish couple to challenge the direction from the Government that airlines must not let them board a flight from Ukraine unless they have pre-booked a quarantine hotel. The couple, who went to Ukraine 10 days ago for the birth of their son by surrogacy, claim failure to meet the pre-book requirement, especially in circumstances where there are no rooms available, is a breach of their constitutional and European Convention rights. They say there is no power to direct airlines to accept passengers without pre-booking and want an order quashing the designation of Ukraine on the banned list of countries. They want a declaration their rights have been breached by a failure of the State guarantee their return passage to Ireland. They also say the blanket imposition of a requirement to book a quarantine hotel, regardless of their individual circumstances, constitutes a wholly disproportionate and unreasonable interference with the right to liberty. Moving their challenge on Thursday, counsel Micheal OHiggins said it was a compelling application given the humanitarian situation that may arise. Counsel said this was because his side had letters from two doctors saying a newborn infant would be highly vulnerable to infection if placed in a quarantine hotel where there have been cases of outbreaks of Covid. The doctors said they should be exempt from the regulation and allowed to quarantine at home with their baby. The couple, who cannot be named to protect the identity of the child, travelled to Ukraine for the birth of their baby on April 5. The child has no entitlement to Ukrainian citizenship but they have obtained an emergency travel certificate for him which expires on Monday next. They had booked to fly home on Saturday but in the meantime, Ukraine was added to the banned list of countries. There are no more rooms available until Monday, when the travel certificate expires, and airlines are being told not to allow people board from these countries if they dont have a pre-booked room, they say. As a result they will be denied boarding either in Ukraine or on a stopover. An arrivals board in Terminal 2 at Dublin Airport. The couple are booked to fly home to Ireland on Saturday. Picture: PA They are concerned about being stranded either in Ukraine or the stopover with a new born infant, counsel said. They are also concerned about the safety of bringing their child to hotel quarantine which is not equipped with the practical or medical needs for a newborn. Granting their counsel leave to bring the challenge on a one side only represented basis, Mr Justice Charles Meenan said he was satisfied they had raised an arguable case. The minister for health had been written to twice before proceedings were brought without a substantive reply. He was satisfied the minister was therefore on notice. The case is also against the ministers for foreign affairs, transport, Ireland and the attorney general. This was a very urgent application in circumstances where there was a particularly serious issue involving the health and welfare of their ten day old baby and where the travel certificate expires on Monday. He said the case could come back on Friday before the judge who will be hearing two other legal challenges involving the quarantine hotels. Polte is the leader in 4G/5G cellular location, providing the most accurate and secure indoor to outdoor location insights for connected devices globally. Polte creates global visibility with significantly more accuracy than Cell ID, simply leveraging existing cellular networks and cloud computing. With Polte's simple API, customers can eliminate the expense and complexity of additional hardware, access points, or beacon deployments, allowing for rapid time to ROI. Taking a disruptive approach and offloading computational complexity from "edge to cloud," Polte both stretches the battery life of connected cellular devices while safeguarding the privacy of location data. DT had previously announced the addition of Polte as a solution partner to its IoT Solution Optimizer ecosystem, designed for companies that want to cost-effectively deploy reliable, battery-powered Mobile IoT solutions, from asset tracking to smart city services. "DT is proud to partner with Polte to explore its pioneering, industry-leading location capabilities with customers requiring universal asset visibility without the need for incremental infrastructure," said Jens Olejak, Head of New Access Technologies at Deutsche Telekom IoT. Customer pilots are projected to begin on Cat-M (LTE-M) and NB-IoT networks in Germany in April 2021, with a phased approach across Europe. Time to commercialization will be dependent on the results of this commercial validation phase. "Polte delivers an order of magnitude higher accuracy over competitive cellular location technologies, such as Cell ID," said Polte CEO, Ed Chao. "We look forward to working with DT to extend these benefits in cost, power and security to customers globally, and helping more businesses derive valuable location intelligence indoors and outdoors." About Polte Corporation: Polte, the innovator of Cloud Location over Cellular (C-LoC) technology, provides disruptive, low-cost indoor and outdoor IoT location solutions that empower enterprises with unprecedented, real-time visibility into all the things that matter. Leveraging global 4G and 5G cellular signals, Polte transforms what is possible with asset tracking by driving heightened accessibility and greater speed to ROI for supply chain, logistics, manufacturing, and a wide range of other sectors. For more information, visit us at www.polte.com. Or, stay up to date with everything Polte by following us on Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn. SOURCE Polte Related Links http://www.polte.com Many U.S. states and cities have a growing surplus of coronavirus vaccines, a sign that in some places demand is slowing before a large percentage of the population has been inoculated, according to an analysis by Bloomberg News. The data indicates that as many as 1 in 3 doses is unused in some states. Appointments for shots often go untaken, with few people signing up. Bloomberg analyzed state and U.S. data from Monday, providing a snapshot of vaccine use before Johnson & Johnson shelved millions of shots pending federal health officials' investigation into extremely rare cases of blood clots. That pause probably will cause the number of unused shots to fluctuate, but will not change much in the comparisons of states. Demand remains strong. In the U.S., 37% of people have gotten at least one dose, and the country is one of the world leaders in vaccinations. But even some states that are doing well are struggling with stubborn pockets where uptake is low. In Virginia, for instance, 83% of vaccines supplied to the state have been used - but the number of people getting shots differs sharply from city to city. That difference is especially stark in Charlottesville and Lynchburg, separated by an hour's drive on U.S. 29 past vineyards and open farmland. "Virginia is sort of a microcosm of the country," said Costi Sifri, director of epidemiology at UVA Health in Charlottesville. "We're going to have this same type of challenge played out in every state in the country. How do we close the vaccine gaps that are going to occur geographically?" In Charlottesville, a mostly Democratic area that is home to the University of Virginia, vaccine appointments are tough to snag even with two mass clinics in town. In Lynchburg, 70 miles south and dominated by conservative Liberty University, open appointments at an old TJ Maxx are easy to find. The disparity has led to in-state vaccine tourism where residents in northern Virginia flock south to snap up shots that would otherwise go unused. The wide availability of vaccines also signals that areas such as Lynchburg may be running out of residents willing to get vaccinated. The Bloomberg Vaccine Tracker shows the percentage of delivered doses that have been used in a state, based on Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data. In late February, with demand for vaccines high, 19% of doses in the U.S. were unused, a sign that almost every dose delivered was being quickly injected into somebody's arm. Bloomberg calculated rates of unused doses for this analysis using one-week averages, which are less volatile than day-over-day numbers. Now there are warning signs that vaccines are going unused. That's a concern for epidemiologists who maintain that at least 75% of the nation's population must be protected before the virus can be truly contained. Federal officials are in the early stages of rethinking distribution. Vaccines have been doled out based on population. "We're going to go through stages, as we vaccinate higher and higher portions of populations, where it will make sense for us to continue to watch where vaccines are needed, how vaccines are distributed, the best way to reach more people," Andy Slavitt, senior adviser for the White House's coronavirus response team, said at the end of March. Meanwhile, doses pile up. West Virginia - lauded for its rollout of shots early on - has gone from using all but a tiny percentage of its supply in mid-February to 26% of doses unused, a daily average of 352,000 unused doses over the past week. Some states have never gotten their vaccination strategy in gear. Alabama, Georgia and Mississippi represent a band of Southern states that have struggled to work through their supplies. States do not control all the distribution inside their borders. Mississippi says it has used 77% of the doses it has requested. But when the doses sent directly by the federal government to pharmacies and other locations are counted, 65% of doses in the state have been used, according to Bloomberg's analysis. Taken together, the worst-performing quartile of states holds 14.1 million unused doses, meaning that 31% of doses delivered in those states are yet to be marked as used. In the best-performing quartile of states, 11% of doses were unused. Early in the vaccine drive, West Virginia focused on its older population and has now shifted to those in their teens to mid-30s, where most new coronavirus cases are turning up, said Clay Marsh, the state's coronavirus czar. "We're seeing more incidents of more people needing more convincing or needing more time to make their decision," he said. "We're right on that interface of having more vaccine than arms to put them in." Statewide data can obscure what's going on at a local level. About 45% of Charlottesville's 47,200 residents have received at least one dose, according to Virginia Department of Health data. Demand has remained high enough that the Blue Ridge Health District, which includes Charlottesville, restricted access. Not until Monday did the district open eligibility to people 16 and older, in line with Democratic Gov. Ralph Northam's goal of allowing everyone in the state to get a shot by the beginning of next week. In Lynchburg, eligibility opened to everyone 16 and older April 5. Even before that, restrictions were not enforced much. About 29% of the city's 82,000 residents have received at least one dose, according to health department data. If it were a state, Lynchburg's vaccine rate would rank near the bottom, just above Alabama and Mississippi. "At first we didn't have enough vaccine, and now that we have a pretty good supply, the demand isn't there," said Kerry Gateley, health director for the Central Virginia Health District, which Lynchburg falls under. Unvaccinated pockets give the virus room to spread and, perhaps worse, the ability to evolve. Experts worry that that's a perfect recipe for virus variants. "They have the opportunity to undo the gains that we've worked so hard to achieve," Sifri said. Early in the vaccine drive, Black Americans were the focus of concerns about vaccine hesitancy and access. Newer polling shows that White evangelicals now exhibit the strongest resistance. For Gateley, this will be especially critical given Lynchburg's large evangelical community. Liberty University, the city's largest employer, was founded by Southern Baptist pastor and televangelist Jerry Falwell. Liberty clashed with health officials early in the pandemic when it quickly brought students back to in-person classes. But the university also owns and is leasing to the city a shuttered TJ Maxx store for a mass vaccination clinic, Gateley said. Liberty declined requests for comment. In Charlottesville, UVA Health has loaned the Blue Ridge Health District an array of resources, including running one of the city's mass clinics and helping lead 28 outreach events in February and March. That, and the region advocating for more doses, should help boost vaccinations, according to Ryan McKay, coronavirus incident commander for the Blue Ridge Health District. "We anticipate we're going to see a pretty big increase in the number of doses we administer," McKay said. Federal West Australian Labor MP Anne Aly warns the likelihood of a local terror attack carried out by a far-right extremist is a matter of when, not if. The counter-terrorism academic and parliamentary intelligence and security committee member also said Australia was trailing its Five Eyes partners in classifying fringe far right-wing groups as terrorist organisations. Labor Member for Cowan and counter-terrorism expert Anne Aly. Credit:Peter de Kruijff She believed there would be an acceleration of extremist ideology-fed conspiracies around world events such as COVID-19 and the Black Lives Matter movements that would lead to far-right groups becoming more prolific and violent. [Social movements and conspiracies] spark a reaction from these groups, so I think were going to brace ourselves for more, Dr Aly said. The crewmember found dead following the capsizing of the Seacor Power lift boat was a 63-year-old captain named David Ledet, authorities said Thursday. Ledet, of Thibodaux, appears to have drowned, according to Lafourche Parish's coroner, Dr. John King. As divers check for Seacor Power survivors, hopes of a rescue effort, fears of a recovery job The owner of a boat taking three divers to the capsized Seacor Power to look for 12 crewmembers who have been missing since Tuesday said the d King requested privacy on behalf of Ledet's family while extending condolences to all loved ones of the Seacor Power's crew, which had a dozen members still missing Thursday, two days after it overturned in the Gulf of Mexico just south of Lafourche. Nonetheless, as Ledet's name circulated on social media Thursday, tributes in honor of him poured in. One came from a woman identifying herself as Ledets cousin, who wrote that his body had been recovered Wednesday. She wrote that Ledet's wife and children were heartbroken about his death, but the family experienced a sense of closure from the recovery of his body. Continuing to pray for ... (those) still lost and their families, she wrote. Another came from a woman describing herself as a family friend, saying, My deepest condolences to Captain David Ledets family. May our friend (rest in peace). Top stories in New Orleans in your inbox Twice daily we'll send you the day's biggest headlines. Sign up today. e-mail address * Sign Up Ledet was one of 19 crewmembers who were aboard the Seacor Power jack up boat when it departed from Port Fourchon at 1:30 p.m. Tuesday en route to Main Pass 138, which is in the Gulf of Mexico about 40 miles east of Venice, Louisiana. There was a break in stormy weather when the ship left. But about an hour into the journey, forecasters warned that the ship was headed into an area that would experience tropical storm-force winds and potentially destructive waves. +6 'Need him to come home': Slidell woman prays for son's safe return after Seacor Power capsizes Darra Ann Morales and her son, Chaz, had been exchanging a series of sarcastic text messages about a dilapidated dresser he bought online when Due to a rare weather event known as a wake low, those winds ended up being hurricane-caliber, meaning they were much more intense than anyone anticipated. The Seacor Power capsized about 4:30 p.m. As of Thursday morning, rescuers had saved six crewmembers, and another 12 remained missing, authorities have said. Jack up boats like the Seacor Power have 250-foot legs that can be jacked into the seafloor to create a raised platform for tasks such as offshore construction. According to experts, they are reliable equipment for the offshore industry but aren't designed to endure conditions like those it encountered Tuesday. One social media user identifying himself as a former co-worker of some Seacor Power crewmembers said Ledet had been serving on the ship for 15 years. That user said offshore crews train to deal with inclement weather, but he didn't think anyone was prepared for what happened or what hit them Tuesday. Captain David ... is one of the most experienced captains I've ever worked with, that user said. Let's pray for the rest of the crewmembers (who) have not yet been rescued and pray that they make it out of this. It's all in God's hands. Source: Xinhua| 2021-04-15 13:04:46|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close Chickens for sale are seen on the 5633 train in southwest China's Sichuan Province, April 11, 2021. As modern high-speed trains shoot past new stations throughout China, a pair of slow-speed trains still run through Daliang Mountains. The 5633/5634 trains run between Puxiong and Panzhihua of Sichuan Province with an average speed less than 40 km per hour. The journey with 26 stations in between takes eleven hours and four minutes, with the ticket prices ranging from 2 yuan to 25.5 yuan(about 0.3-3.9 U.S. dollars). The slow-speed trains send children to their schools, sick people to healthcare, and the locals to the world outside of the mountains. (Xinhua/Shen Bohan) OTTAWA - The federal Liberals have used an unpopular tool to limit time for debate in the House of Commons on a bill that would harmonize Canada's laws with the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. Minister of Justice David Lametti in the House of Commons on Parliament Hill in Ottawa on Thursday, Dec. 10, 2020. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Justin Tang OTTAWA - The federal Liberals have used an unpopular tool to limit time for debate in the House of Commons on a bill that would harmonize Canada's laws with the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. The Liberals successfully passed a motion Thursday to impose closure on the opening round of debate on Bill C-15 in order to put it to a vote and move it along to a Commons committee for further scrutiny. The minority Liberal government received the support of the NDP to pass the time allocation motion, which will allow one additional day of debate before the bill is sent to committee. Conservative and Bloc MPs voted against limiting debate on the bill. Justice Minister David Lametti accused the Conservatives of using "dilatory tactics" to stall any and all Liberal government legislation. He stressed the aim of the time allocation motion was to ensure swift passage of the long-awaited UNDRIP bill. "This is a positive way forward, this is long overdue, there are no surprises in this bill this is the time to do our best as parliamentarians to move this forward," Lametti said. The Commons, meanwhile, overwelmingly passed another bill Thursday that has been stalled for months. C-14, which would implement emergency pandemic aid and other measures contained in last fall's economic statement, passed by a vote of 210-118, with support from the NDP and Bloc Quebecois. The Conservatives voted against it. The bill now moves to scrutiny by the Senate. The move to limit debate on Bill C-15 came just two days after Indigenous leaders expressed concern that the bill, stalled at second reading since it was introduced in December, might never make it through the all the legislative hoops before a possible election, which would kill it. C-15 represents the third attempt to have Parliament approve implementation of the UN declaration in Canada. Former NDP MP Romeo Saganash introduced two private member's bills to implement UNDRIP, the first defeated at second reading in the Commons in 2014 and the second stalling in the Senate just before the 2019 election. This time, the Liberals have essentially turned Saganash's bill into a government bill. The UN declaration, which Canada endorsed in 2010, affirms the rights of Indigenous Peoples to self-determination and to their language, culture and traditional lands. It also spells out the need for free, prior and informed consent from Indigenous Peoples on anything that infringes on their lands or rights. The bill does not include a definition of consent, raising objections from Conservatives who fear it would give First Nations a veto over natural resource development projects. Their concerns have been dismissed as "fearmongering" by Mary Ellen Turpel-Lafond, a former judge who helped draft similar legislation in British Columbia in 2019. The bill would simply put into operation policies and processes to ensure First Nations are involved at the outset when it comes to decisions regarding their existing land, title and human rights, she told a Commons committee last week. Many legal experts believe this could lead to fewer conflicts and less litigation, especially on issues of resource development. NDP MP Leah Gazan, who voted with her caucus in favour of time allocation Thursday, said she believes there could have been a better path for the government's UNDRIP bill. "I want to get this through the Senate this time I fundamentally believe the need for legislation that is going to help us create a framework to acknowledge Indigenous rights and title in this country is absolutely imperative," she said. "Im just really disappointed that this is the only way that the government sees this bill being able to go through." Conservative MPs, meanwhile, expressed concern over the bill, noting objections from some individual First Nations and Indigenous elders, who say they have not been sufficiently consulted. Lametti stressed that "robust consultations" will continue through the legislative progress of the bill and will also continue on an action plan promised within the new law that will set out how it is implemented. The plan had been to introduce an earlier draft of the UNDRIP bill last year, Lametti said, but these plans were sidetracked by the COVID-19 pandemic. "I dont like time allocation any more than the next member of Parliament and I would like to see everything debated fulsomely," he said. "But there is a responsibility in debate not just with prepared talking points but with actual new arguments and were not getting that from the Conservative party, were getting arguments repeated ad nauseam for the purposes of delaying and delaying and delaying." This report by The Canadian Press was first published April 15, 2021. By Benjamin Jumbe President Museveni has called upon the leadership of the Army to emphasize career planning and progression of service personnel for proper placement of staff. The President who is also the Commander in Chief of the Uganda Peoples Defence Forces Gen Yoweri Museveni made the call while commissioning a total of over 1,000 young officers and air force cadets at the Uganda Military Academy, Kabamba in Mubende District. The President said that continuous and timely training is crucial in terms of getting manpower noting that the government has handled security issues correctly. He also cautioned graduands against living promiscuous lifestyles, alcoholism and drugs. Meanwhile, the Chief of Defence Forces General David Muhoozi, lauded the President for prioritizing the continuous improvement and mobilization of the UPDF so as to match the demanding tasks and emerging issues. Brigadier General Charles Byaruhanga, the Commandant of the Uganda Military Academy (UMA) Kabamba urged the graduands to be God fearing and sacrifice for Uganda and respect the oath taken for the rest of their life. CHICAGO, April 15, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Technology Advisors, Inc., a digital transformation and CRM consultancy, is pleased to announce its partnership with MobileForce, a provider of productivity-enhancing business applications for Customer Experience (CX), Configure Price Quote (CPQ), and Field Service Management (FSM). "MobileForce's offerings provide the missing piece for many of our customers," says Technology Advisors CEO, Sam Biardo. "Their intelligent CPQ makes sales quoting more intuitive and their FSM solution provides the real-time data our field service customers require to better manage their agents. The fact that MobileForce's solutions are also easily integrated with CRM and back-office ERP ties it all together by enabling complete analytics." "With its long history of customer success, market understanding, and technical innovations, Technology Advisors add tremendous value to how we deliver solutions to our customers," says MobileForce Founder and CEO, Jagadish Bandhole. "That, otherwise, is often difficult for product companies executing on their own. TAI's business integrity, investment in technology, and decades of CRM expertise are essential elements of our partnership in bringing Customer Experience and Enterprise Productivity products to a broader market." MobileForce provides productivity-enhancing applications for businesses looking to streamline automation and remove friction from the sales process. Their apps are easily accessible through mobile and can be integrated with supporting software like CRM and ERP. In addition to providing CX-focused FSM and CPQ applications, MobileForce also offers clients branded portals to better support digital customer service initiatives, as well as Web and mobile app customization. Technology Advisors is a software consultancy focused on digital transformation initiatives and CRM optimization. The goal of TAI is to help customers drive more revenue by successfully utilizing their software mix for automation, departmental alignment, and streamlined services. To learn more about FSM with Technology Advisors, please visit this link. For more information on CPQ, please visit this link. About Technology Advisors Technology Advisors Inc. (TAI) is a business software consulting company out of Chicago that specializes in custom software integrations and enterprise-level CRM projects. The company helps businesses in various industries select and implement CRM, marketing automation, business intelligence tools, customer service solutions and other business software. TAI is uniquely positioned to personalize CRMs through its internal team of developers who customize the platform for clients' individual needs. The company continues to expand its software offerings and development to create tailored software experiences for its customers. Press Contact: Danine Pontarelli 847.655.3415 https://www.techadv.com SOURCE Technology Advisors Related Links https://www.techadv.com/ Police have launched an investigation after a baby was found dead on the grounds of a private school in Perth. The 11-month-old baby was found at Kingsway Christian College in Darch in Perth's north, police said late on Wednesday night. WA Police said on Thursday morning a person was assisting investigators with inquiries regarding the baby's death. They did not release any further details about the person. An 11-month-old was found dead on the grounds of Kingsway Christian College in Perth. Source: Google Maps "Major crime division are currently investigating the circumstances surrounding the death of an 11-month-old infant located in Darch," WA Police said in a statement. A spokesperson for St John Ambulance confirmed three crews were called to the school about 5.40pm on Wednesday. Police did not indicate if the baby's death was suspicious. The West Australian has reported forensics officers were seen focusing on one classroom and a white van on the grounds of the school, which was examined and then towed away by police. Officers were seen searching the area by torchlight late into the night on Wednesday, WA Today reported. The school is closed for holidays until next week, but an after-hours childcare facility was still operating, The West reported. It is unclear whether it will be running on Thursday. A nearby resident told the publication children had been picked up from the school earlier that day. Kingsway Christian College is a top private school, located about 18km from Perth's CBD, which teaches girls and boys from kindergarten to year 12. with AAP Do you have a story tip? Email: newsroomau@yahoonews.com You can also follow us on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter and download the Yahoo News app from the App Store or Google Play. [April 15, 2021] Mastercard Names Tim Murphy Chief Administrative Officer Mastercard (NYSE: MA) today announced the appointment of Tim Murphy, the company's general counsel, to the newly created position of chief administrative officer. In this role, he will have oversight of the company's Law, Franchise and Integrity activities, as well as the added management of its People and Capabilities function. This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210415005638/en/ Tim Murphy (Photo: Business Wire) Michael Fraccaro will continue as chief people officer and a member of the company's management committee, reporting to Murphy. Together, they will further shape and drive Mastercard's world-class culture with decency at its core. A 21-year veteran of the company, Murphy has helped to shape Mastercard throughout his tenure, beginning with his role as one of the lead lawyers for the company's initial public offering. Since then, he has blended business and legal insights and evolution, serving at different times as president of the company'sU.S. region and chief product officer. "In the decade I've worked with Tim, I've seen firsthand his ability to drive transformational change while sustaining fidelity to the core values that make Mastercard a special place to work," said Michael Miebach, chief executive officer. "We have a unique opportunity in bringing together the teams that care about our people, law, policy, security, franchise, compliance and inclusion. Tim is the right person to use this moment to advance the strategy Mastercard needs to thrive in an increasingly complex world." Richard Verma, executive vice president for Global Public Policy and Regulatory Affairs, has been promoted to general counsel and head of Global Public Policy. He will now lead the company's core legal and regulatory functions, as well as its global and regional public policy teams. Verma will also join the Mastercard's Management Committee. He joined Mastercard in late 2020, bringing more than 25 years of international experience across senior levels of business, law, diplomacy and the military. "In just a few short months, Rich has had a true impact on our engagement with policymakers and others across the globe. We'll look to continue to tap into his extensive experience in public policy, geopolitics, trade and international law, and strong relationships to support the global move to a digital economy," said Murphy. The company also announced two other executive changes. Ron Green, Mastercard's chief security officer, has been appointed to the company's management committee. Randall Tucker, the company's chief inclusion officer, has been promoted to executive vice president and will continue to lead a refreshed Diversity, Equity & Inclusion team. About Mastercard (NYSE:MA) 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. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210415005638/en/ [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] (Natural News) More than 300 homeowners in Manatee County, Florida were told to evacuate on Saturday, April 3, as a wastewater reservoir was at risk of collapse 40 miles south of Tampa. Officials warned that the reservoir could flood homes with 1520 feet of water if it collapses, according to a recent report from Live Science. The reservoir is a storage pond at a shut-down phosphate plant that used to manufacture fertilizer. The pond covers 79 acres and holds a mixture of saltwater dredged from Port Manatee, rainwater, stormwater runoff and fertilizer runoff from the phosphate plant. The reservoir also contains high levels of phosphorus and nitrogen, as well as stacks of phosphogypsum. This is a waste product from manufacturing fertilizer that contains radioactive elements, such as radium and uranium. The reservoir has been leaking since late March. Nevertheless, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said on Sunday that the water was not radioactive. Residents and experts alike had raised concerns that wastewater from the leaking reservoir could contaminate sources of clean drinking water in the area. Wastewater reservoir on brink of collapse Officials first reported that the reservoir was leaking on Friday, March 26. They found that two to three million gallons of water were flowing from the enormous reservoir per day. Engineers attempted to plug the leak over the weekend but failed. Upon closer examination of the breach, they found that part of the reservoirs containment wall shifted laterally, which meant structural collapse was possible. If the structure were to collapse, 600 million gallons of water would come rushing out in just a few minutes. To avoid a possible disaster, staff and personnel working at the site were evacuated, said Jacob Saur, Manatee Countys director of public safety. DeSantis also declared a state of emergency on Saturday. A natural gas plant that supplies energy to millions in the region is also in the flood zone, prompting additional concern. In a jail located a mile from the leaky reservoir, officials are moving inmates to higher floors and placing sandbags on the ground level in preparation for possible severe flooding. Scott Hopes, Manatee County administrator, says the area could be flooded with several feet of water if the reservoir were to collapse. Hopes had crews pump water out of the reservoir over the weekend. The crews made great progress and Hopes said he believed they will soon be in an even better position once more pumps come in. As of Sunday, less than 300 million gallons of water remained in the reservoir. Hopes said the risk of a collapse should drop over the next few days. However, the crews could take until this weekend to pump out enough water from the reservoir before officials can rule out a possible collapse. In a statement, the states Department of Environmental Protection said the company responsible for the now-defunct phosphate plant, HRK Holdings, would be held accountable for the leak. Released wastewater poses threat to environment Wastewater from the leaking reservoir is not expected to be toxic despite its levels of phosphorus, nitrogen and phosphogypsum. But experts say that the sudden infusion of those elements into Tampa Bay could significantly affect the local ecosystem. For instance, fertilizer runoff and wastewater from septic tanks have caused algal blooms in the past. These are dense layers of algae that cover the surface of the water, preventing light from reaching seagrasses below. Without ample light, seagrasses can die. Seagrasses are a primary food source for manatees. Algal blooms also usually lead to fish-kill events. Algae produce oxygen through photosynthesis during the day. But they also use oxygen at night, competing with fish and other organisms. Eventually, algal blooms can cause dissolved oxygen concentrations to drop too low for fish, resulting in a die-off. (Related: Freshwater fish species are in catastrophic decline, with one-third facing extinction.) Environ.news has more articles about the effects of wastewater on terrestrial and aquatic environments. Sources include: LiveScience.com WSJ.com AquacultureAlliance.com An afternoon shooting in Montgomery left one man dead. Montgomery police identified the victim as George Wheeler. He was 29. Police responded at 1:47 p.m. Wednesday to the 5900 block of Oakleigh Road on a report of a person shot, said Lt. Jarrett Williams. They arrived to find Wheeler unresponsive and pronounced him dead on the scene. The circumstances surrounding Wheelers death remain under investigation. No arrests have been announced. Anyone with information is asked to call Central Alabama Crime Stoppers at 334-215-STOP, the Secret Witness tip line at 334-625-4000, or Montgomery police at 334-625-2831. Residents of Millgrove, Pleasant View Survey, Dundas, Copetown and Ancaster to benefit from increased connectivity OTTAWA, ON, April 15, 2021 /CNW/ - The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted how much we rely on our connections. Now more than ever, Canadians across the country need access to reliable high-speed Internet as many of us are working, learning, and staying in touch with friends and family from home. Right now, too many Canadians living in rural and remote communities lack access to high-speed Internet. Through the Universal Broadband Fund (UBF) Rapid Response Stream, the Government of Canada is taking immediate action to get Canadians connected to the high-speed Internet they need. Today, the Honourable Filomena Tassi, Minister of Labour and Member of Parliament for Hamilton WestAncasterDundas, on behalf of the Honourable Maryam Monsef, Minister for Women and Gender Equality and Rural Economic Development, announced over $352,000 in federal funding to bring high-speed Internet to rural residents of Ontario, with an additional investment of $626,000 from Bell Canada. This project will connect 362 underserved households in the communities of Millgrove, Pleasant View Survey, Dundas, Copetown and Ancaster. The project being announced today was approved within six months of the November 2020 formal launch of the $1.75-billion Universal Broadband Fund. Projects funded under the UBF, as well as through other public and private investments, will help connect 98% of Canadians to high-speed Internet by 2026 and achieve the national target of 100% connectivity by 2030. Today's announcement builds on the progress the Government of Canada has already made to improve critical infrastructure in Ontario. Since 2015, the federal government has invested more than $2.85 billion in over 4,060 infrastructure projects in Ontario communities with a population of fewer than 100,000 people. These investments mean 481 km of new or upgraded roads that are making our communities safer; more than 938 projects to provide residents with cleaner, more sustainable sources of drinking water; and more than 5,427 additional housing units built in rural communities, helping ensure all Ontarians have a safe place to call home. Quotes "Today's important high-speed Internet investment of over $352,000 is fantastic news for the communities of Millgrove, Pleasant View Survey, Copetown, Dundas and Ancaster. Easier access to high-speed Internet means better connectivity for work, school and business. This is what the Rapid Response Stream of the Universal Broadband Fund is all about: helping ready-to-go projects receive faster approval so construction can start and more communities can be connected to high-speed Internet and the world." The Honourable Filomena Tassi, Minister of Labour and Member of Parliament for Hamilton WestAncasterDundas "Access to high-speed broadband networks will be a driver of Canada's recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic and of future social and economic prosperity, and Bell has committed to further accelerating our industry-leading capital investment plan over the next two years to connect even more communities across the country. We're proud to invest $626,000 and to partner with the Government of Canada in providing residents of Ancaster, Copetown, Dundas, Millgrove and Pleasant View Survey with access to the fastest fibre home Internet speeds available." Bruce Furlong, Senior Vice-President, Access Engineering and Deployment, Bell Canada Quick facts Canada's Connectivity Strategy aims to provide all Canadians with access to Internet speeds of at least 50 megabits per second (Mbps) download / 10 Mbps upload. The Universal Broadband Fund (UBF) is a $1.75-billion investment designed to help connect all Canadians to high-speed Internet. Applications to the UBF were accepted until March 15, 2021 , and are now being evaluated. investment designed to help connect all Canadians to high-speed Internet. Applications to the UBF were accepted until , and are now being evaluated. The UBF is part of a suite of federal investments to improve high-speed Internet. The suite includes the Connect to Innovate program, which is expected to connect nearly 400,000 households by 2023, and the recently announced $2-billion broadband initiative from the Canada Infrastructure Bank. Associated links Stay connected Follow Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada on Twitter: @ISED_CA SOURCE Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada For further information: Marie-Pier Baril, Press Secretary, Office of the Minister for Women and Gender Equality and Rural Economic Development, 613-295-8123, [email protected]; Media Relations, Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada, 343-291-1777, [email protected] Related Links http://www.ic.gc.ca/eic/site/icgc.nsf/eng/home LONDON (AP) Prince William and Prince Harry wont walk side-by-side Saturday as they follow their grandfathers coffin into the church ahead of Prince Philips funeral, minimizing the chances of any awkward moments between the brothers who are grappling with strained relations since Harrys decision to step away from royal duties last year. Buckingham Palace on Thursday released the broad outlines of the funeral program for Queen Elizabeth IIs husband, who died April 9 at 99. The palace revealed that William and Harrys cousin, Peter Phillips, will walk between the princes as they escort the coffin to St. Georges Chapel at Windsor Castle, west of London. Prince Charles, the heir to the throne and the father of the princes, together with his sister, Princess Anne, will lead the 15-member procession. The brothers had been closely watched as Saturdays funeral will almost certainly remind the pair of their shared grief at another royal funeral more than two decades ago. As young boys, both walked behind their mother Princess Dianas coffin in 1997 in London in a ceremony watched around the world. Palace officials refused to comment when asked whether the positioning of William and Harry was an effort to minimize family tensions, which have grown after Harry and his wife Meghan, the Duchess of Sussex, gave an explosive interview to Oprah Winfrey that suggested an unnamed member of the royal family had made a racist comment to Harry before the birth of their child Archie. Meghan, who is pregnant and living in California with Harry, is not coming to the funeral on the advice of her doctor. (See full list of guests who will attend below.) Were not going to be drawn into those perceptions of drama or anything like that,' a palace spokesman said while speaking on condition of anonymity in line with policy. This is a funeral and the arrangements have been agreed and they represent Her Majestys wishes. In another effort to preserve family unity, the palace said senior royals would wear civilian clothes to the funeral. The decision, signed off by the queen, means that Harry wont risk being the only member of the royal family not in uniform during the funeral. Members of the royal family often wear uniforms to public events by virtue of their honorary roles with the British Army, Royal Navy and Royal Air Force, but Harry lost his honorary military titles when he decided to give up frontline royal duties last year. As a result, protocol suggests that Harry, an army veteran who served two tours of duty in Afghanistan, would only wear a suit with medals at royal functions. The decision also sidesteps another potential controversy after reports that Prince Andrew, the queens second-oldest son, considered wearing an admirals uniform to his fathers funeral. Andrew retains his military titles even though he was forced to step away from royal duties after a disastrous interview with the BBC about his acquaintance with convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. Attendance at the funeral will be limited to 30 people because of the coronavirus restrictions in England. The list will include several of Philips relatives from Germany, together with immediate members of the royal family. The children in the family will not attend. Guests will wear masks inside the chapel and observe social distancing. The queen, always the first to set an example, will also wear a mask. In other details released about the funeral, Royal Marine buglers will play Action Stations, an alarm that alerts sailors to prepare for battle. Philip, also known as the Duke of Edinburgh, served in the Royal Navy for 12 years and maintained close ties to the armed forces throughout his life. Military personnel will have a large role in honoring him Saturday despite the attendance limit. Members of the Royal Navy, the Royal Marines, the Royal Air Force and the British Army will take part in the funeral procession. Philips coffin will be carried to St. Georges Chapel on a specially adapted Land Rover that he designed himself. Here is the full list of guests who will attend the funeral of Prince Philip on Saturday at St. Georges Chapel at Windsor Castle. 1. Queen Elizabeth II 2. Prince Charles 3. Camilla, the Duchess of Cornwall 4. Prince William, the Duke of Cambridge 5. Duchess of Cambridge 6. Prince Harry, the Duke of Sussex 7. Prince Andrew, the Duke of York 8. Princess Beatrice 9. Edoardo Mapelli Mozzi 10. Princess Eugenie 11. Jack Brooksbank 12. Prince Edward 13. Countess of Wessex 14. Lady Louise Windsor 15. Viscount Severn 16. Princess Anne 17. Vice Admiral Sir Timothy Laurence 18. Peter Phillips 19. Zara Phillips 20. Mike Tindall 21. Earl of Snowdon 22. Lady Sarah Chatto 23. Daniel Chatto 24. Duke of Gloucester 25. Duke of Kent 26. Princess Alexandra 27. Bernhard, Hereditary Prince of Baden 28. Prince Donatus, Landgrave of Hesse 29. Prince Philipp of Hohenlohe-Langenburg 30. The Countess Mountbatten of Burma ADVERTISEMENT The French President, Emmanuel Macron, has commended the Chairman of BUA Group, Abdul Rabiu for his commitment to developing lasting relationships between French and Nigerian businesses. This came as the French Minister for Foreign Trade and Economic Attractiveness, Franck Riester, paid a visit to the BUA Group HQ in Lagos Nigeria where he handed over a personal invitation from President Macron to Abdul Samad Rabiu to attend the Choose France Summit in June in Paris representing business leaders from Nigeria and Africa. The French minister also witnessed the signing of a progress acknowledgement statement between BUA Group and Axens of France for BUAs proposed 200,000 barrels per day refinery in Akwa Ibom. During the visit, it was also announced that the Chairman of BUA Group had been appointed Chairman of the France Nigeria Investment Club. Speaking during the ceremony, Mr Rabiu thanked the Minister and President Macron for their unwavering support in bringing BUA and French businesses together. He further added that so far, BUA had initiated partnerships and have developed personal relationships with a few French businesses, including Axens whilst expressing confidence in the quality of expertise and technical know-how of the French companies BUA has partnered with. In his comments, Jean Sentenac, President of Axens said that he is pleased that the project is advancing on schedule. He also praised the very good cooperation between all the involved parties and reiterated the commitment of Axens to delivering the BUA Refinery Project on time and with the highest standards. Represented by Franck Riester, the French Minister for Foreign Trade and Attractiveness, Mr Marcon invited Abdul Samad to the Choose France Summit and said the French Government is ever ready to support people-oriented and developmental projects in Nigeria. I am very pleased to see how committed Abdul Samad Rabiu is for the refinery and in the space of philanthropy. I want to stress how keen you were in promoting the interest of Nigeria and its people during our meeting in Paris and how committed you were to make the economy stronger and more resilient. I want to congratulate you for the vision and ambition you demonstrate in many sectors in your will to build projects shaping the future of Nigeria. We think that we have to support long term investment of French companies in Nigeria and Nigeria companies in France and this project of refinery is a wonderful project for Nigeria, Mr Macron was quoted to have said. Earlier, Mr Rabiu who stated that Nigeria imports most of its crude oil consumed daily noted that BUA Refinery when fully operational will reduce the huge cost transporting crude oil offshore, refining it, and bringing it back into the country. Mr Rabiu added that the decision to site the refinery in Akwa Ibom Southern Nigeria was strategic due to huge availability of raw materials and its proximity to export petroleum products to regional countries. Mr Riester was accompanied by a high-powered delegation of Jerome Pasquier, Ambassador of France in Nigeria; Laurence Monmayrant, Consul General of France in Lagos; Quentin Teisseire, Chief of Staff, Alexis du Boisberranger, Technical advisor for export and strategic partnership; Benedicte Constans, Advisor to the Minister, in Charge of Communication; Pascal Furth, Regional Economic Counsellor, French Embassy amongst others. Cathay SITE (Securities Investment Trust) the largest Asset Manager in Taiwan, today signed a Letter of Intent (LOI) for an exclusive strategic collaboration with Nippon Life India Asset Management (NAM India), a subsidiary of Nippon Life Insurance, one of the largest life insurance companies in Japan. As a part of the LOI, both CATHAY SITE & NIMF will work exclusively with each other and use their expertise to explore areas for developing, managing, marketing and distributing each other's investment products in India and Taiwan. Both companies will seek to develop and explore business opportunities in active and passive strategies, leveraging upon their specific investment and distribution reach, in India and Taiwan. Powered by Capital Market - Live News (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Credit: Pixabay/CC0 Public Domain Novartis announced Thursday it will join forces with fellow Swiss pharmaceutical giant Roche to produce tocilizumab, a drug being tested for its effectiveness against COVID-19-linked pneumonia. It is the third time Novartis has made its production capacities available to a competitor during the coronavirus pandemic, as several laboratories strike unprecedented partnerships to fight the global crisis. Novartis is already collaborating with BioNTech and CureVac in producing COVID-19 vaccines. The new tocilizumab deal will see Roche's manufacturing expertise transferred to the Novartis Drug Substance Singapore production site during the second quarter of 2021. "Novartis is fully committed to collaborating with Roche in offering our proven biologics production capabilities," said Steffen Lang, the firm's technical operations chief. "As one of the world's largest producers of medicines, Novartis can mobilise its manufacturing capabilities on multiple fronts." Sold as Actemra or RoActemra depending on the market, tocilizumab is a treatment for rheumatoid arthritis which is also being tested in clinical trials investigating its safety and efficacy against COVID-19-associated pneumonia. The injected treatment has suffered several setbacks in clinical trials. However, a large British study published in February reported encouraging results, particularly in reducing the risk of death. In January, Novartis announced an agreement with Pfizer-BioNTech to provide manufacturing capacity for its COVID-19 jabs. In March, it then struck an agreement to manufacture the mRNA and bulk drug product for CureVac's COVID-19 candidate vaccine. Faced with the desperate shortage of vaccine production capacity in dealing with the pandemic, unprecedented cooperation has been struck between laboratories. Novartis did not join the race to produce a COVID-19 jab, being no longer involved in vaccines following a major reorganisation in 2015. Its vaccines were sold to the British firm GlaxoSmithKline, with the exception of its influenza jabs which were sold off separately to the Australian laboratory CSL. Explore further Follow the latest news on the coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak 2021 AFP Moderna's Chief Medical Officer Tal Zaks said that the company's COVID booster shot should be ready by the end of 2021. Meanwhile, Moderna's CEO Stephane Bancel said that the company hopes it would be available in the fall. "I want to make sure there are boost vaccines available in the fall so that we protect people as we go into the next fall and winter season in the U.S.," Bancel was quoted in a CNBC report. Bancel added that the company hopes to submit the data needed to regulators within a few months. His statement comes after Moderna announced its existing vaccine was more than 90 percent effective at protecting against COVID up to six months after the second dose. The National Institutes of Health started testing options from Moderna to use as a third shot designed to ramp up protection as there were growing concerns of emerging and existing variants spreading in the country. Bancel said that he believes that annual COVID booster shots will be usual in the coming months, reiterating that the coronavirus is not going away. READ MORE: Moderna's COVID Vaccine for New Variant, Ready for Clinical Trials Combination Flu and COVID Vaccine Aside from the said booster shots, Moderna is also reviewing the possibility of a combination flu-and-COVID vaccine. Trials are set to start this year, according to a Yahoo News report. This has prompted other products to move forward, including personalized cancer vaccine in partnership with Merck. The CEO added that regulatory officials did a lot of extraordinary things for the COVID vaccine, noting that Moderna will not rush approval. Bancel said that he believes they can get a flu vaccine with high efficacy. Current flu vaccines given have efficacy rates of around 40 percent to 60 percent. COVID Variants and Vaccines On the other hand, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said that the British variant or B.1.1.7 variant has become the dominant strain in the U.S. Experts believe the said strain could be more dangerous, contagious, and deadly. Meanwhile, according to a study conducted by Israeli experts, the South African variant could evade the protection offered by the Pfizer vaccine. One of the authors noted that while the variant is better at infecting vaccinated people, it did not have enough data on whether it could cause serious illness among vaccinated people, according to an AFP News report. Before the study's findings, Pfizer and Moderna reported a 95 percent efficacy. Meanwhile, Johnson & Johnson's vaccine had a 72 percent efficacy rate for preventing moderate illness in the U.S. However, J&J vaccines' efficacy reduces to 64 percent in South Africa due to its variant, according to another CNBC report. The company faces another hurdle as regulators recommend the postponement of the vaccines' rollout after reports of blood clots among six women. One of the reported six women died. This came after lab contamination that possibly ruined batches of COVID doses of the company, with 62 million doses of the vaccine needing to be checked. ALSO READ: Moderna COVID-19 Vaccine Data for Young Children Unavailable Until 2022, CEO Says WATCH: Moderna CEO Hopes Covid Booster Shot Ready by Fall - from Bloomberg Markets and Finance ePIC Blockchain Technologies Inc., a Toronto, Canada-based Blockchain semiconductor design and mining rig vendor, completed its USD 7.5m Series A funding round. ePIC Blockchain is a Cryptocurrency ASIC and Mining Rig supplier currently shipping Mining Rig for Siacoin. The company also has 2 ASIC Mining Rigs slated for release during 2021. The proceeds from this raise, along with early customer orders, will be used to fund the prototyping and pre-production costs of ePICs third mining rig. Code-named Amnesia, this ASIC has been in development since early 2020 and is expected to launch in Q4 2021. In addition to its SC200 rig for Siacoin and Amnesia, ePICs aims to be in production with 1 other Altcoin mining rig in Q3 2021. FinSMEs 15/04/2021 ADVERTISEMENT Nigerias minister of information, Lai Mohammed, has blamed journalists and last years #EndSARS protesters for Twitters choice of Ghana as its headquarters in Africa. Earlier in the week, the microblogging platform announced the decision to set up its Africa head office in Ghana. The announcement has since generated reactions from Nigerians on social media. The social networking service said its new team members would be working remotely under its work-from-home policies while it explores the opportunity to open an office in Ghana in the future. Amid reactions from Nigerians that the continents biggest market was snubbed, Twitter said it chose Ghana because the West African country is a champion of democracy. It said its decision was informed by Ghanas support for free speech and online freedoms. It added that Ghanas recent appointment to host the Secretariat of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) also influenced its decision. However, in an interview on Thursday, Mr Mohammed registered his displeasure over the development, which he blamed on Nigerians. The reasons cited by Twitter for citing the headquarters in Accra, Ghana is that Accra is a champion of democracy and there is rule of law in the country, among other reasons. This is what you get when you de-market your country. The media is more to blame for this which most times exaggerate the challenges in the country. At no time was this worse than during the #EndSARS protest when Nigerian journalists both traditional and new media were trying to outdo themselves in painting Nigeria as a hell where nobody should live, he said. They all conspired to vilify not just the government but the people of Nigeria. We are not saying that you should not criticise the country but be fair and patriotic. When you destroy your own house, where are you going to live? You can imagine the kind of job opportunities that citing that headquarters in Nigeria would have generated, the kind of visibility it would have given Nigeria but we destroyed it. It is what the insiders say about their country that the outsider will use to judge and condemn the country. Photo: (Photo : Photo by Kat Jayne from Pexels) Evi Rowe was reportedly disturbed with sexual harassment by a male student on the top north coast of Sydney during year 8 in 2018 at St Edmund's College in Wahroonga. The teenager was later diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder following the suspected series of assaults. She reportedly panicked for 30 hours. Steve and Belinda Rowe identified the effects of the alleged disturbance on her daughter. Evi went to someone who could not toilet on her own out of a happy, bubbly kid. It also influenced the other children of the couple. They keep Evi close and safe, but they know that Evi's not the little sister they once had anymore. READ: Sexual Harassment In Schools: A Normalized Culture, Forced Girls To Wear Shorts Under Skirts St Edmund's College, a particular high school for adolescents with various disabilities, approached the Rowe's to inform them that their daughter may presumably be affected sexually by a masculine student. Text messages were also reportedly uncovered amongst students debating sexual content. The police investigated the allegations later and found that it was "probable" that the suspected assaults involved digital penetration of several young ladies on school grounds called the Sacred Space in an isolated rainforest. Lawyer Danielle De Paoli on behalf of the Rowe family said that Evi was "a child at risk, who was especially vulnerable." After their daughter was allegedly attacked in 2018, the College failed in its essential duty of caring for its students. After the Rowes said they did not want the suspected perpetrator to be charged with sexual harassment, detectives then closed the case given the child's age and status as well. ALSO READ: Cyberbullying: How Oversharing Online Can Lead To Potential Web Abuse And Harassment St Edmund's College response on the sexual harassment issue Evi's parents have been appalled that two other women students were told that the same man might have sexually impacted their identity. Three years ago, the school was already warned. The school retained a 'high level of treatment, and we take all of these issues very seriously,' argued St Edmund's principal Jon Franzin. In a statement, he said that their students' wellbeing is their number one concern and has always been it. The school regretted the case that has caused the affected families all the worry and anxiety. Franzin said that the school worked on investigating the matter with the police and other agencies at the time. "While receiving the assistance of external agencies, we acted quickly to fully investigate the allegations and talk with all parents and students involved..." he said. READ MORE: Digital Parenting: The Importance Of Learning The Texting Lingo Of Children Accordingly, the region does not have a wide area but a rainforest, with some stone benches - the Sacred Space is named. Their child, Evi, is probably around a 2- or 3-year-intellectual old's age, and she can't be without a grown-up while other children can. So, Mr. Rowe said, "It's just nuts to think that children would go alone." In the light of the supposed failures to protect their daughter, the family is now ready for civil proceedings against the school and recently published their intentional notice. They want the school to admit, however, that the children were not covered. This is why you have this massive gap between a combination of coed teens ranging from almost mainstream children to almost-two-year-old kids like Evi. Two men were arrested and are currently being quizzed by police in custody His partner, Louise Newell, is one of three people who were injured in the attack Father-of-three Dean Allsop was stabbed to death in row over noisy motorbikes Norfolk Police said emergency services were called after 7.35pm on Wednesday The girlfriend of a 'murdered' father-of-three is one of three victims in hospital after a 'mass stabbing' broke out following a 'row over noisy motorbikes' with a neighbour in a leafy Norfolk town. Dean Allsop, who was in his 30s, had been trying out the vehicles when a neighbour in a bungalow objected to the noise and went out to complain. A mass stabbing erupted which left Mr Allsop dead and three other people taken to hospital with knife wounds. Mr Allsop's partner Louise Newell who is believed to be aged 40 is thought to be one of the victims. He was said to have been knifed in front of his teenage son. Friends at the scene said she and another woman neighbour were both stabbed when they went out to see what was happening. Police confirmed that two men had been arrested at the scene beside an area of communal garages in Primrose Crescent in Thorpe St Andrew near Norwich, Norfolk. Father-of-three Dean Allsop was stabbed to death in front of his teenage son following a row over a noisy motorbike in Norfolk. Mr Allsop's partner, Louise Newell, is one of three people who were injured Friends at the scene say Ms Newell and another woman neighbour were both stabbed when they went out to see what was happening. Norfolk Police said emergency services were called to Primrose Crescent shortly after 7.35pm on Wednesday 'following reports of a disturbance involving a number of people'. It was confirmed that armed police were among officers who responded. Paramedics battled to save Mr Allsop, but he was declared dead at the scene close to his semi detached home where he lived with partner and children. Mr Allsop and Ms Newell had an 18-year-old daughter, a son aged 17 and another son aged around four. Mr Allsop's friend Andrew Russen described him as 'a full time dad' who looked after his three children while his partner worked Mr Allsop and Ms Newell had an 18-year-old daughter, a son aged 17 and another son aged around four. The family were said to have moved to the area around ten-years-ago from Essex. Mr Allsop's friend Andrew Russen described him as 'a full time dad' who looked after his three children while his partner worked. He added: 'He was a top bloke. Everyone said the same. He was a proper family man. He was great with everyone's partners and kids. 'He loved fishing and motorbikes. He always wanted to help people and nothing was too much for him. This just shouldn't have happened.' Three people are in hospital, including Ms Newell, while police are interviewing two men over the incident The scene was still taped off today as investigators continued their work on the murder probe White-suited forensic officers were also been checking for evidence inside Mr Allsop's semi-detached home today as friends placed flowers outside in tribute to him. His friend Aaron Barkshire, 29, who lives nearby, said: 'Dean and his son who was aged 17 or 18 both had road legal motorbikes and were going out for a ride. 'This neighbour went outside because he didn't like the noise of the bikes. There was a bit of a verbal argument and it just turned nasty. Mr Allsop was a motorcycle enthusiast, pictured is one of his bikes, along with his son. Locals say they were about to go out for a ride before the brutal attack 'Dean and his son were with the bike and he didn't like the noise, so he came out giving it a lot. Dean rang the police and it got a bit verbal between them. 'It is awful that something so trivial caused this. It is just phenomenal.' Mr Barkshire who is a motorcycle mechanic said he witnessed the start of the argument and walked away to his garage. He said: 'I didn't want to get involved being a neighbour of both parties. I went into the garage and that is when I heard a knife was involved so I locked myself in my garage. 'I was fearing for my life because there was a guy with a knife and I thought I would be next, but I didn't hear any commotion or anything. 'My Mrs rang me to ask me if I was OK because she could hear what was going on. Police remain at the scene, where a motorbike has been covered with a piece of white sheet White-suited forensic officers were also been checking for evidence inside Mr Allsop's semi-detached home today as friends placed flowers outside in tribute to him Two bikes can be seen standing within the police cordon, while two men remain in custody today 'I decided to go back to my house and as I went out, Dean's son was shouting to me to call the police because his Dad had been stabbed multiple times. 'I saw this guy standing there with a knife. It was a big knife. I was fearing for my life because this guy had seen me go into the garage and there was a massive knife. I thought ~I was next in the firing line 'I saw Dean covered in blood, but he was alive at this point. We heard a lot of commotion and I think it carried on thereafter. It was all in a blue like slow motion.' Mr Barkshire described Mr Allsop as having 'a heart of gold'. He added: 'He treated my kids as one of his own.' A friend of Mr Allsop said they saw him 'covered in blood' following the incident on Wednesday Norfolk Police said emergency services were called to the scene after 7.35pm yesterday night Among units deployed were armed officers in precaution of any further violence exploding He said: 'His son had just rebuilt his bike and Dean contacted me to ask if I could listen to it as I am a mechanic. This was at about 10am and I said I would do when I next saw him.' At least eight police cars, ambulances and rapid response vehicles were seen in the area after the stabbing. An East Anglian Air Ambulance helicopter was also called to the scene and landed on nearby playing fields. Retired health care assistant Eve Cooper, 67, said: 'I realised something was happened when heard the ambulance and saw the police cars. 'Then the helicopter came down so low that I could see the pilot. It was pretty awful. I am a Londoner and I felt safe here, and I want to feel safe again.' A Norfolk Police statement said: 'Officers arrived on scene to find four people with injuries. Despite treatment by paramedics, a man was pronounced dead at the scene. 'Three other people were taken to hospital for treatment to suspected knife wound injuries. 'Police arrested two men at the scene in connection with the incident who will be questioned in due course. 'Police have cordoned off the scene in Primrose Crescent while enquiries are carried out.' Superintendent Tracey Little of Norfolk Police added: 'A number of police resources, including armed units, were deployed to the scene. 'A murder investigation has been launched and we are in the early stages of our enquiries to establish the circumstances surrounding the incident. 'We would like to hear from anyone who may witnessed the incident or has information concerning it.' Police forensic teams were still at the scene today and the area remained cordoned off by officers. A tent which was believed to be covering potential evidence was visible outside the communal garages area. Thorpe St Andrew is a small town and suburb two miles east of Norwich city centre and has a population of around 13,000 people. The community stands beside the River Yare on the edge of the Norfolk Broads. Police are appealing for anyone with information to call 101. By Ali Kucukgocmen and George Georgiopoulos ANKARA (Reuters) - The foreign ministers of Turkey and Greece clashed openly on Thursday at a joint news conference in Ankara that began with hopes of improved relations but quickly descended into acrimonious accusations from both sides. Seeking to ease months of tensions over territorial disputes in the eastern Mediterranean, Greek Foreign Minister Nikos Dendias met Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan and Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu in the first visit by either side since their navies came close to fighting last year. However an initially cordial atmosphere at a media appearance following the meetings turned sour as Dendias said violations of Greek sovereignty would be met by sanctions and Cavusoglu rejected his comments as "unacceptable". "You come out here, and try to accuse Turkey, to give a message to your country. It is not possible for me to accept this," Cavusoglu said in response to the remarks. The two countries are allies in NATO but at odds over many issues, such as competing claims over the extent of their continental shelves in the Mediterranean, air space, energy resources, ethnically split Cyprus, and the status of some islands in the Aegean. Tensions flared last summer when Turkey sent a drilling ship to contested Mediterranean waters, but have eased slightly after Ankara withdrew the vessel and the countries resumed bilateral talks over their disputes following a five-year hiatus. Having begun by offering Greek support to Turkey's bid to join the European Union and a new agenda to reset relations, Dendias accused Turkey of repeatedly sending aircraft over its territory. "Greece's position is clear. Turkey has violated international law and maritime law in the Aegean and eastern Mediterranean," Dendias said. Cavusoglu rejected the charge, saying Turkey had not infringed on Greek sovereignty in its search and drilling work and accusing Athens of pushing back migrants in the Aegean. Story continues "When we get into mutual accusations, we have a lot to tell each other. If you want to continue these arguments, tensions, you can (and) we will do so as well," he added. However both sides said they wanted to continue to try to resolve their differences through dialogue. (George Georgiopoulos reported from Athens; Additional reporting by Tuvan Gumrukcu; Writing by James Mackenzie) Fishing boats at Nhat Le Port in the central Quang Binh Province, April 2021. Photo by VnExpress/Minh Nga. Newly-elected Minister of Foreign Affairs Bui Thanh Son requested Malaysia and the Philippines to continue treating detained Vietnamese fishermen in a humane way. During his phone call with Malaysian Foreign Minister Hishammuddin Hussein and Filipino counterpart Teodoro Locsin on Wednesday, Son suggested the two countries handle these cases "in a cooperative and friendly way," as reported by the government portal. In recent years, a number of Vietnamese fishing vessels have been caught trespassing in neighboring waters, with hundreds of fishermen arrested for illegal fishing in neighboring countries, including Malaysia and the Philippines. Despite its 3,260 kilometer (2,025 miles) coastline, Vietnam is running out of near-shore seafood resources, forcing fishermen to encroach on foreign waters. Son thanked the governments of both countries for facilitating repatriation flights for Vietnamese citizens amid the complicated developments of the Covid-19 pandemic as well as cooperation in accessing safe Covid-19 vaccines. Last year, 75,000 Vietnamese stuck abroad were brought home on repatriation flights operated by domestic carriers. BRANFORD The state medical examiner said Wednesday that the man suspected of shooting a bystander and engaging police in an armed standoff on Main Street Tuesday died by suicide. Police earlier had said investigators believed the suspect had died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound. Police Chief Jonathan Mulhern confirmed late Wednesday that the shooter was Matthew Walker of Branford. Lt. Corrianne Carangelo, Deputy Chief John Alves and Detective Dominick Eula shared information regarding the incident, which lasted for several hours, during a press conference a day after the standoff. Herschel Patel of Branford confirmed Wednesday that his father, Ashwin Patel, was the bystander shot during the incident. Carangelo said the department was notified of gunshots being fired from a second-floor window on Main Street around noon Tuesday, arriving on scene within 90 seconds. Mulhern said Tuesday that police first responded to Pepes Service Station at 177 Main St. The shooter was holed-up for several hours in a second-floor apartment of a house at 241 Main St., above the Leon James International Hair Studio, Mulhern said. Officers were met with heavy gunfire, Carangelo said. One man was found wounded; he was transported to the hospital to be treated for non-life-threatening injuries. The South Central Regional SWAT Team, as well as officers from East Haven, Madison, North Haven, Guilford and North Branford, and the Connecticut State Police responded, Carangelo said. Branford firefighters, among other agencies, were there as well. While officers attempted to speak with the shooter throughout the incident, contact was not made, Carangelo and Alves said. The individual was found dead, seemingly of a self-inflicted gunshot wound, around 6 p.m., Carangelo said. Alves expressed the stress of the incident, describing it as a very difficult day for the town of Branford. We are very, very fortunate that more lives were not lost due to this incident, said Alves. I would like to thank the public for their cooperation yesterday, for their patience, and those involved for their bravery. While no officers or other civilians were injured, many other civilians were terrified, and many other nearby homes and vehicles were damaged, Alves said. Alves said those with information to share about the incident can call the department at 203-481-4241. Those in need of help coping with the incident can contact police or call the Branford Counseling Center, which will provide free services, at 203-481-4248, he said. The officers said they were unsure how many rounds were fired, but multiple weapons were involved. Both long guns and handguns were used, Eula said; Walker owned firearms legally, though it still was unclear whether the weapons used were in his name. No explosive devices were found, but the New Haven police bomb squad was called to the scene, Eula said. Alves said the department is still investigating whether the shooter was firing with purpose or at random. Alves said the department still was looking into the suspects background and whether police had interacted with him before. The younger Patel said his father remained hospitalized Wednesday and it was not known when he might be able to return to work. Alves wished him a speedy recovery Wednesday. A GoFundMe campaign to benefit Ashwin Patel had raised nearly $7,000 by early Wednesday afternoon. Suicide Prevention Resources: If you feel you are in danger of suicide, call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline, anytime, at 800-273-8255 (273-TALK). Help also is available by calling 211 and you can also text CT to 741741 to connect with a trained crisis counselor. Other resources are available at portal.ct.gov/DMHAS, the website of the state Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services. crisistextline.org/ william.lambert@hearstmediact.com The highly infectious coronavirus variant wreaking havoc in Brazil, which is gaining momentum across Western Canada, has arrived in Manitoba, marking another worrisome milestone in the province's battle against COVID-19. The highly infectious coronavirus variant wreaking havoc in Brazil, which is gaining momentum across Western Canada, has arrived in Manitoba, marking another worrisome milestone in the province's battle against COVID-19. The Manitoba government refused to provide details Thursday about the potential spread of the P1 novel coronavirus variant, which experts consider to be the most concerning of the mutations. A Manitoban who lives in the Interlake-Eastern Health Region, who had travelled outside of the province and became sick with COVID-19, tested positive for the P1 variant. The province confirmed the first case on Thursday. The Free Press sent a number of questions to public health officials to get information about the number of close contacts ordered into self-isolation, whether the traveller was exempt from quarantine rules, and if the travel was international or domestic. The province did not release more information, nor was Dr. Brent Roussin, Manitobas chief public health officer, or other health officials made available. "We dont have any additional information to provide beyond what is listed on the dashboard and in the bulletin," the province said in a written statement to the Free Press. "If a public health risk is assessed and it is deemed necessary to protect the health of others, further information is released." Dr. Nazeem Muhajarine, a University of Saskatchewan epidemiology professor, said the evolving research leans toward the P1 variant being from two to 2.5 times more infectious than the original strain that was first detected in Wuhan, China. Dr. Nazeem Muhajarine is a University of Saskatchewan epidemiology professor. (Courtesy of University of Saskatchewan) The P1 variant gained attention in the Brazilian city of Manaus, which had so many COVID-19 infections during the first wave that officials presumed the region had herd immunity. But P1 emerged, and by last December it seemed to have reinfected many people who had recovered from COVID-19 months earlier. "This is highly transmissible and it could even be more virulent and more lethal, because of its ability to evade immunity," Muhajarine said. "It's probably the one that could most likely evade an immune response." Muhajarine said Manitoba officials have no option but to consider beefing up travel restrictions. Currently, travellers are required to quarantine for two weeks after arriving from another province, unless they are exempt under the public health order. The policy could be modified by shortening the exemption list, ramping up enforcement or restricting travel within Manitoba. "You need to take every care possible to keep yourself safe, and one way to do that is to stay where you are and not to travel," said Muhajarine. "P1 has to be brought from outside, it can only be imported, so travelling should really be restricted right now, especially with P1 detected now." So far in Manitoba, 647 COVID-19 cases have been caused by a variant of concern, including 567 caused by the B.1.1.7 variant (which was first detected in the U.K.). Eighty-seven previously reported cases were categorized as a variant of concern on Thursday. Dr. Horacio Bach, an infectious disease expert at the University of British Columbia, said Manitobans should presume that even with one detected P1 case, there are probably 10 circulating. "Once you get the P1 variant, its a matter of time that it will take over the rest of the variants," Bach said. In Canada, cases caused by the P1 variant have predominantly been recorded in British Columbia, which has been cited as the worst place for cases involving the variant outside of Brazil. The number of cases caused by the variant exploded in B.C. last month, in part due to dozens of infections at the Whistler ski resort, despite none of those cases having travelled outside of Canada. Last week, B.C. stopped sequencing COVID-19 cases for variants because of how many contained the B.1.1.7 (U.K) and P1 strains. Recently, in Alberta, a large workplace-related cluster involving the P1 variant was also reported. Bach and other experts are urging B.C. to beef up quarantine enforcement and close in-school learning, a move reserved for worst-case scenarios. Dr. Horacio Bach, an infectious-disease expert at the University of British Columbia. (Supplied) "At this stage, probably in one month, we'll run out of space in the hospitals, and that's the main problem when you have so many infections," he said. "Its coming back to the very beginning of the pandemic." The Manitoba government was unable to say how many COVID-19 patients in hospital Thursday had a variant of concern, but there have been no hospitalizations related to the P1 variant. As of Thursday morning, 137 COVID-19 patients were hospitalized in Manitoba; 35 of them in intensive care. Bach said a P1 case could be so damaging that it might be worth issuing more public information on possible exposures and where the case is located and that more surveillance testing might avoid a wider outbreak. "Once you get the P1 variant, its a matter of time that it will take over the rest of the variants." Dr. Horacio Bach, an infectious disease expert at the University of British Columbia "The specific region might need to be surveyed for emergence of the P1 variant. If you find one match, you probably have 10," he said. On Thursday, Manitoba reported 153 new COVID-19 infections and one more death. A woman in her 30s from the Interlake-Eastern region had died from COVID-19. The Manitoba First Nations COVID-19 Pandemic Response Co-ordination Team said the woman was Indigenous. Of the 153 new cases announced Thursday, 73 were in the Winnipeg health region, 57 were in the Northern health region, 10 were in the InterlakeEastern health region, seven were in Prairie Mountain and six were in the Southern health region. Test positivity rates were 5.3 per cent provincewide and 5.1 per cent in Winnipeg. An outbreak was declared at Winnipeg's Parkview Place personal care home. with files from Katie May dylan@freepress.mb.ca danielle.dasilva@freepress.mb.ca Danielle Da Silva Reporter Danielle Da Silva is a general assignment reporter. Read full biography Flash China has lodged solemn representations with the United States over the U.S. government sending a delegation to the Taiwan region, a Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson said Wednesday. Spokesperson Zhao Lijian made the remarks at a press briefing when commenting on U.S. President Joe Biden sending a delegation of former U.S. officials to Taiwan, scheduled to visit the island from Wednesday to Friday. Reiterating China's firm opposition to any form of official contact between the United States and Taiwan, Zhao noted that this position is consistent and clear. "We urge the United States side to strictly abide by the one-China principle and the three China-U.S. joint communiques, immediately stop any form of official contacts between the United States and Taiwan, prudently handle Taiwan-related issues, and refrain from sending any wrong signals to the 'Taiwan independence' separatist forces so as to avoid further damage to China-U.S. relations and peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait," the spokesperson said. Roseburg, OR (97470) Today Cloudy skies this morning will become partly cloudy this afternoon. High 69F. Winds NNW at 10 to 15 mph.. Tonight Some clouds. Low 46F. Winds NNW at 10 to 15 mph. I love Hanson. Yes, the band Hanson, with brothers Isaac, Taylor and Zac. It is 1997, I am 12 years old and I am not allowed to wear makeup, no matter how much I protest. And Hansons first single, MMMBop, is the hit of the summer. But Hanson is not popular the way the Backstreet Boys are popular. Theyre from Tulsa, Okla., theyre very religious (read: wholesome) and, as the boys in my sixth-grade class always say, their long hair makes them look like girls. Advertisement A few Saturdays ago, I was 12 again. Hanson yes, theyre still touring played the Greek Theatre. But as I made my way to my seat, I was dismayed to notice a sea of empty red rows in the balcony. I was suddenly a tween on the defensive again, and I felt the urge to defend the band to curse everyone who didnt understand how great they were. Of course, everyone who was at the Greek felt like kin, other women in their 30s wearing faded Hanson T-shirts from the 1990s. The chosen few who really get Hanson. Most people dont even know theyve been making music for the past two decades. Wait, Hanson is still a thing? the clueless ones ask. What do they even play after MMMBop? Plenty. Hansons new tour is called String Theory, because theyre performing each show with a 46-piece orchestra in every city they visit. Collaborating with Academy Award-winning arranger David Campbell, theyve reimagined old songs and written new ones specifically to play with a symphony. (An album of the same name was released Friday.) This is Hanson saying: Were grown-up now. Yes, well play MMMBop for you, but its going to be mellower, were nixing the drums and adding violins. No more pushing or shrieking or fainting. You may remain in your seats, and your ears wont ring the next day. Well even give you an intermission. In other words, this is exactly the kind of concert you want to attend as a 32-year-old. Except that for me, part of loving Hanson is loving the memory of who I was when I became their fan: an outsider who found kindred spirits in a band that wasnt quite mainstream. Advertisement Best friends, best fans I was in sixth grade when I became a Hanson fan, and I wasnt cool. I had Harry Potter glasses and desperately wanted to hang out with the girls who bought all their clothes at Express. But there was one girl in my class who loved Hanson too: Julia. She had braces and really wanted to be friends with me, which, naturally, meant I did not want to be friends with her. But when our class took a field trip to Plimoth Plantation, we ended up sitting next to each other on the school bus. She had brought Hansons album, Middle of Nowhere, so we each took an earphone and listened on her Discman. Hanson bonded us. Every weekend, we had sleepovers during which we devoted all of our time to obsessing over the band. We made VHS tapes with recordings of all of their television appearances. We crafted collages of them from the pictures we found in Bop and SuperTeen magazines. We read and wrote fan fiction about them. We chatted about them on America Online, where my screen name was AmyZac. Advertisement And on June 26, 1998, we went to our first concert ever together: a Hanson show. Which is why, when Julia moved to Los Angeles this past summer, the first thing I imagined us doing together was going to a Hanson concert. Since graduating from high school, weve lived on opposite sides of the country. While my Hanson fandom has never wavered, its something Ive had to enjoy mostly in private. Ive been to a number of their shows in town and even interviewed them for this paper but always alone. So when I saw Hanson was coming to town in October, I told her to mark down the date on her calendar. Twenty years after seeing them for the first time, we would once again come together for our favorite band. Advertisement Part of loving Hanson is loving the memory of who I was when I became their fan: An outsider who found kindred spirits in a band that wasnt quite mainstream. In anticipation of the show, I pulled my old Hanson binder out of storage. Filled with hundreds of sheet protectors, the binder contains every important piece of band-related memorabilia I own. I saved the ticket stub for that first show $28.50 plus a $5 service fee along with one of my earplugs and silly string Hanson sprayed at the audience. There is also a photo of Julia and me before the show. It is distorted because it was taken on a disposable camera, but you can still see that we wore matching Roxy tank tops. I also wore a necklace that I got at a street market in downtown Boston: A glass heart containing a grain of rice floating in oil. One side of the rice says Amy; the other side says Zac. I called my mom back in Massachusetts to see what she could recall about the momentous day in our lives, since she had to escort us to the show. The details she remembered, however, werent particularly revelatory. She said there was a lot of traffic and the parking lot was endless. Lots of kids apparently arrived in limousines. She liked the music more than she expected to, but there were so many screaming girls that she was legitimately concerned she might go deaf. For Julia and I, of course, the night still conjures deep emotion. Toward the end of the concert, we left our seats and attempted to get as close as possible to the stage. The brothers kept leaning into the audience from the stage and touching concertgoers hands. Zac threw some of his drumsticks into the crowd, and Taylor kept spraying his water bottle on the audience. Advertisement But we just couldnt get through, Julia recalled. And then we tried to find their tour bus, but theyd left. It somehow ended as the worst night of our lives. We didnt meet them or randomly get pulled backstage like in one of our fan fiction stories. I remember you saying: Were never going to meet them. Reader, I was obviously very over dramatic, and very wrong. Hanson with strings This past Saturday, Julia picked me up at 7 p.m. to drive to the Greek. When we arrived at will call, I picked up our tickets and found two VIP passes inside the envelope. A note explained that the pass would grant us access to a special lounge where the after party would take place. Advertisement Julia, I said, handing over the sticker, this probably means were going to meet them. She took a deep breath, the thought almost incomprehensible. At promptly 8 oclock, Hanson walked onstage. They explained the ethos behind String Theory how the project was a symbol of reaching for the crazy dream. Then the show began. And being with Julia, I could get into the music. We harmonized to the songs weve known for years and analyzed the lyrics to the new songs. We danced in the aisles and posted videos to Instagram and may or may not have screamed their names a few times. Advertisement Ive never done Ecstasy, Julia said when the two-hour set finished, but this has gotta be what its like to come off a drug. Hanson with the Colorado Symphony at Boettcher Concert Hall in Denver. (Rebecca Sarkar) At the risk of saying something I probably shouldnt, I think were a band that has always been underestimated. Zac Hanson After waiting in vain for an encore, we decided to wander over to the after-party space: An indoor-outdoor lounge filled with cookies and twinkly lights. We found a corner seat and tried to act like we werent watching the door like hawks. I told Julia that when Hanson arrived, I was going to approach them to ask a couple of questions about the show, and that she should come with me. Advertisement Zac entered first, then Taylor, with all five of his children and his pregnant wife in tow. He was holding the hand of his 6-year-old, a redhead named Wilhelmina. Even though we seemed to be in a somewhat exclusive space, the guys were immediately surrounded by fans asking for selfies. Julia and I lurked in the background, not wanting to look like desperate fangirls but still feeling like them. We decided to approach Isaac first. I asked him how he thought Hanson had evolved since the days when Julia and I first started listening to them. He explained that this tour was about doing something really boldly different, noting that the group visualized the set almost like a movie. Julia, left, and Amy at Hansons show at the Greek Theatre on Oct. 18. (Amy Kaufman) Its definitely different for us, and its intentionally different, he said, explaining the shows more mature vibe. Were painting with bold colors in this show. You cant come to this show and just think its a pop show. Its a musical. Advertisement Roughly an hour later, when there were only two people around Zac instead of 15, we decided to walk over to him. We were somewhat more nervous to talk to him because he was the member of the band who was our exact age, and when youre 12, that means hes the one you like the most. He said he was proud of the bands new material, and hoped fans like us who had been with them from the beginning felt a feeling of vindication and the feeling of coming home all in one. At the risk of saying something I probably shouldnt, I think were a band that has always been underestimated, he said, preaching to the choir. As a Hanson fan, I think you would see this show and say to yourself, You cant misunderstand. No one has ever doubted that we were talented. From day one, people have said, You play your own instruments, you write your own songs. What we have suffered from, he continued, is not a misunderstanding of ability, its a misassociation. So when you stand in this environment, it is unequivocally, without confusion, what it is. And you get to see it for that and experience it as a work, not as a piece of pop culture. Advertisement Then he said he had to wake up at 3 a.m. and walked out a side door just before midnight with his brothers. Walking back to our car through empty Griffith Park, Julia and I were high off the buzz of being momentarily transported back to our childhood. But she said she was also overtaken by an odd sense of melancholy the kind you get after meeting someone who has meant so much to you. It was the never meet your heroes thing everyone always talks about how discombobulating it can be to come face-to-face with people you spent years turning into a fantasy. She dropped me off and the next morning, I woke up to an email from her in my inbox: Im twenty years past the person I was when I was twelve, and yet seeing Zac Hanson in person gave me the exact same feeling the heart-in-throat, stomach-flip that it once did. He was talking to a group of people and I was watching him through a window. I was two ages at once, and it was uncomfortable and ecstasy all in the same moment. I wonder what it would have been like if my twelve-year-old self knew that one day this would be me. I wonder if she would know the empty feeling I have now. I want so deeply to make meaning out of what it means for me now, but honestly, Ill have to make meaning for my young, insecure self: She would have loved it and cherished it for the rest of her life. ALSO Advertisement At 21, Bella Thorne has 4 movies out, 18 million Instagram followers, 19 cats and the will to survive Actress Sarah Scott reported sexual misconduct on a Hollywood set and found a difficult path to a resolution How did Donald Trump become president? A slew of new documentaries tackle the question amy.kaufman@latimes.com Advertisement Follow me on Twitter @AmyKinLA Nobody has reached more European Cup semi finals than Real Madrid's 30. In fact, it's not even close. Bayern Munich are next down the list with 21 appearances in the last four, followed by Barcelona's 16 appearances and AC Milan's 12. In recent years, Los Blancos have extended their lead. They've reached the semi finals in nine of the last 11 editions of the Champions League, winning the competition four times in that spell. Jose Mourinho put an end to the quarter-final curse in 2010/11, with Real Madrid going on to reach the last four in successive years until 2018/19. In the last decade, Real Madrid have appeared in eight Champions League semi finals, with Barcelona next up on five. The Zidane era This will be Zinedine Zidane's fourth Champions League semi-final as Real Madrid boss. He's won all of the previous three so far. The French coach has knocked out Manchester City, Atletico Madrid and Bayern Munich at this stage. Chelsea are waiting in the penultimate round this season. They've never met Real Madrid in the Champions League, with their previous encounters coming in the 1970/71 Cup Winners' Cup and the 1997 Super Cup. Chelsea came out on top on both occasions. Washington, April 15 : The US Senate has voted with sweeping bipartisan support to open a debate on an anti-Asian American hate crimes bill, clearing a key hurdle to its final passage vote in the chamber. The evenly-split Senate late Wednesday voted 92-6 to move forward debating on the Covid-19 Hate Crimes Act, a bill drafted by Democrats that intended to speed up administrative processing of hate crimes, which the Asian American community has seen a skyrocketing surge during the pandemic, reports Xinhua news agency. "I'm so glad that our Republican colleagues have voted with us to proceed with this legislation. This was never intended as gotcha legislation. It was always intended as bipartisan legislation," Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer said after the vote. Under the bill, the Justice Department would be required to designate an official to review pandemic-related hate crimes, as well as to coordinate with local law enforcement and community-based groups to facilitate and raise awareness about hate crimes reporting. The bill would also call on the federal administration to offer guidance on "best practices to mitigate racially discriminatory language" describing the coronavirus pandemic. Schumer and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell have started negotiating a deal on amendments to the bill, local media reported, noting the first amendment vote is expected to be on a bipartisan bill called No Hate Act, which aimed to improve the reporting of hate crimes, beef up hate crimes training for law enforcement and set up a hate crimes hotline. Schumer said on Wednesday that there was bipartisan interest in moving forward with such an amendment, adding he and McConnell are making "good progress" on reaching a deal on "sensible, germane and constructive amendments". Without a deal, the Senate debate over the bill could easily stretch into next week. Democratic Senator Mazie Hirono, who introduced the legislation, said on Wednesday that in total about 20 amendments have been filed so far, though some of them "have absolutely nothing to do with the bill". "We're working with the Republican leader to determine if and how many other amendments to the bill there will be, so that we can consider them and vote on final passage without any gotcha or not-germane amendments," said Hirono. Some Republican senators criticised that Democrats had advanced the bill directly to the Senate floor without going through committee first. They also expressed concerns that the bill's focus on Covid-related hate crimes might be too narrow. According to Stop AAPI Hate, a California-based non-profit social organization tracking incidents of violence against Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders during the pandemic, it received nearly 3,800 reports of attack or abuse between March 2020 and February 2021. Protesters took to the streets in more than 60 cities across the US after the shootings killing six Asian American women and two others in Atlanta in March. ST. LOUIS, April 15, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- For the fifth year in a row, Ameren Corporation (NYSE: AEE) has been Certified by Great Place to Work. The prestigious award is based entirely on what current employees say about their experience working at Ameren. This year, 83% of employees said it's a great place to work 24 points higher than the average U.S.-based company. Great Place to Work is the global authority on workplace culture, employee experience, and the leadership behaviors proven to deliver market-leading revenue, employee retention and increased innovation. "Great Place to Work Certification isn't something that comes easily it takes ongoing dedication to the employee experience," said Sarah Lewis-Kulin, vice president of global recognition at Great Place to Work. "It's the only official recognition determined by employees' real-time reports of their company culture. Earning this designation means that Ameren is one of the best companies to work for in the country." "It is an honor to be part of such a strong, dedicated team that is focused on delivering on our mission To Power the Quality of Life for our customers and the communities we serve," said Mark Lindgren, senior vice president, corporate communications and chief human resources officer of Ameren Corporation. "We take pride in our commitment to provide co-workers a rewarding professional experience that includes a deep commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion; comprehensive reward programs; flexible work policies; mentorships; as well as innovative training programs that make Ameren a great place to work." As an example of its commitment to co-workers, Ameren launched several programs and initiatives to support co-workers and their families in response to the pandemic. Some of these efforts included enhanced safety measures and co-worker protocols that not only benefit Ameren co-workers, but also customers and communities throughout the company's service territories in Illinois and Missouri. According to Great Place to Work research, job seekers are 4.5 times more likely to find a great boss at a Certified great workplace. In addition, employees at Certified workplaces are 93% more likely to look forward to coming to work and are twice as likely to be paid fairly, earn a fair share of the company's profits and have a fair chance at promotion. About Ameren Corporation St. Louis-based Ameren Corporation powers the quality of life for 2.4 million electric customers and more than 900,000 natural gas customers in a 64,000-square-mile area through its Ameren Missouri and Ameren Illinois rate-regulated utility subsidiaries. Ameren Illinois provides electric transmission and distribution service and natural gas distribution service. Ameren Missouri provides electric generation, transmission and distribution services, as well as natural gas distribution service. Ameren Transmission Company of Illinois operates a rate-regulated electric transmission business in the Midcontinent Independent System Operator, Inc. For more information, visit Ameren.com, or follow us on Twitter at @AmerenCorp, Facebook.com/AmerenCorp, or LinkedIn.com/company/Ameren. About Great Place to Work Certification Great Place to Work Certification is the most definitive "employer-of-choice" recognition that companies aspire to achieve. It is the only recognition based entirely on what employees report about their workplace experience specifically, how consistently they experience a high-trust workplace. Great Place to Work Certification is recognized worldwide by employees and employers alike and is the global benchmark for identifying and recognizing outstanding employee experience. Every year, more than 10,000 companies across 60 countries apply to get Great Place to Work-Certified. About Great Place to Work Great Place to Work is the global authority on workplace culture. Since 1992, they have surveyed more than 100 million employees worldwide and used those deep insights to define what makes a great workplace: trust. Their employee survey platform empowers leaders with the feedback, real-time reporting and insights they need to make data-driven people decisions. Everything they do is driven by the mission to build a better world by helping every organization become a great place to work For All. Learn more at greatplacetowork.com and on LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook and Instagram. SOURCE Ameren Corporation Related Links http://www.ameren.com Source: Xinhua| 2021-04-15 18:36:30|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close -- The number one priority for policymakers today is to "accelerate vaccinations everywhere for everyone." "A shot in the arm is the fastest way for the world economy to recover. And it is bringing tremendous value for all countries." -- China's economy is "recovering strongly," which has "positive spillover effects for the rest of the world" through the channels of trade and China's demand for raw materials, consumer and manufacturing goods. -- China also plays an important role in revitalizing trade as an engine for growth, supporting developing countries that are falling behind in the recovery and facilitating the transition to the new climate economy. -- "It is a remarkable demonstration of multilateralism" that the IMF membership has agreed to support a new Special Drawing Rights allocation of 650 billion dollars, the largest in the history of the organization. by Xinhua writers Gao Pan, Xiong Maoling, Xu Yuan WASHINGTON, April 14 (Xinhua) -- As the global economy is arduously climbing out of the pandemic-induced recession, International Monetary Fund (IMF) Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva has called for accelerated vaccinations because "a shot in the arm" is the fastest way for the world economy to recover. Warning against a "dangerous divergence" that threatens to leave developing and low-income countries behind in the process, the IMF chief has also advocated a green, inclusive and fairer recovery. Meanwhile, China, one of the engines of the global economy, can play "an important role" in the post-pandemic recovery by boosting growth, revitalizing trade, supporting developing countries, as well as tackling climate change, she said. Photo taken on April 6, 2021 shows an exterior view of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) headquarters in Washington, D.C., the United States. (Photo by Shen Ting/Xinhua) REVERSE DANGEROUS DIVERGENCE While the global economic outlook has brightened due to massive policy support and vaccine rollouts, recoveries are diverging dangerously across and within countries. "It is so very important to lift up the world economy by paying attention to this dangerous divergence. And this is why we are calling for collaboration of countries and a comprehensive support to those falling behind," Georgieva said. The number one priority for policymakers today is to "accelerate vaccinations everywhere for everyone," said the IMF chief. "A shot in the arm is the fastest way for the world economy to recover. And it is bringing tremendous value for all countries," she said, adding accelerated vaccinations will increase global output by 9 trillion U.S. dollars between now and 2025. Georgieva also urged the international community to provide more grants, concessional financing, debt restructuring, or even debt relief to those countries with vulnerabilities and high level of debts. "The crisis has shown us how interdependent we are, and it has stressed for all of us the value of working together," she said. POST-PANDEMIC GREEN RECOVERY In Georgieva's view, the COVID-19 pandemic and climate change share something in common. Both crises would cause human tragedies and economic catastrophes, but a coordinated green public investment push can help address both. While climate change is a growing risk to macroeconomic and financial stability, addressing the risk offers an opportunity for "creating green jobs and boosting growth," Georgieva said. Robots operate on a production line at an automotive glass workshop of the Fuyao Glass Industry Group Co., Ltd. in Fuqing City of Fuzhou, southeast China's Fujian Province, Jan. 12, 2021. (Xinhua/Jiang Kehong) "This is why it is so important that at the time when we strive to come out of the most severe recession since the Second World War, we want to take advantage of investing in transformation that would protect us against shocks in the future," she said. Georgieva noted that the IMF is offering support for capacity development to central banks and finance ministries as countries speed up integration of climate actions in their economies. "It is paramount for us to support the members as they take on this transition and more specifically to support them in our policy engagements with assessment of climate-related financial stability risks and how they can be prevented with incorporation of climate data in macroeconomic data," she said. In the latest World Economic Outlook released last week, the IMF projected that the global economy will grow by 6 percent in 2021. A debt-financed green investment plan combined with carbon pricing could boost global economic growth for many years, creating around 12 million net new jobs through 2027, according to an IMF study. CHINA'S IMPORTANT ROLE China emerged from the epidemic-induced slump in 2020 with a 2.3-percent GDP growth, making it the world's only major economy to attain positive growth last year. Last week, the IMF projected that China's economy will grow by 8.4 percent this year, 0.3 percentage point above the January forecast. China's economy, Georgieva said, is "recovering strongly," which has "positive spillover effects for the rest of the world" through the channels of trade and China's demand for raw materials, consumer and manufacturing goods. But China's growth is still more fueled by public investments and there is space for growth to be "more balanced towards private consumption," Georgieva added. Photo taken on Jan. 14, 2021 shows a night view of Lujiazui in Pudong of east China's Shanghai Municipality. (Xinhua/Fang Zhe) "What we would expect to see is that policymakers in China step up incentives to boost consumer demand, especially by improving and expanding social safety net, something that China recognizes is important," she said. In addition to boosting global growth, China also plays an important role in revitalizing trade as an engine for growth, supporting developing countries that are falling behind in the recovery and facilitating the transition to the new climate economy, Georgieva said. China's commitment to achieving carbon neutrality is "part of a very important mobilization of the global community to prevent the world from the catastrophic impact of climate change," she said. NEW SDR ALLOCATION Georgieva said "it is a remarkable demonstration of multilateralism" that the IMF membership has agreed to support a new Special Drawing Rights (SDR) allocation of 650 billion dollars, the largest in the history of the IMF. "In comparison, in the midst of the global financial crisis, the membership allocated 250 billion dollars to help countries deal with the consequences of this crisis," she said. Georgieva said she has committed by the end of June to make a proposal on the new SDR allocation to the IMF board of directors. Once the proposal is approved, it will be submitted to the IMF board of governors for a final vote. "Given that we all are under pressure to act for the exit from the crisis, I am confident that sometime in summer, by mid-August, the new allocation will be distributed to our membership," she said. A woman walks past the International Monetary Fund (IMF) headquarters in Washington, D.C., the United States, March 30, 2021. (Photo by Ting Shen/Xinhua) Georgieva said the upcoming SDR allocation is "significant" as it provides much-needed reserves boost to emerging markets and developing countries, especially low-income countries, whose reserves have been severely depleted in response to the pandemic. Meanwhile, "it sends a powerful signal that we are in this together and building confidence for the exit from the crisis," she said. By strengthening their reserves, countries are in a better position to allocate fiscal space to fight the pandemic, vaccinate their people, and support vulnerable parts of the population, according to Georgieva. Created by the IMF in 1969, the SDR is an international reserve asset to supplement members' official reserves. It can be exchanged among governments for freely usable currencies in times of need. (Video reporters: Gao Pan, Hu Yousong, Tan Yixiao, Jia Pan) (Video editors: Zhang Qiru, Zhu Cong) Married At First Sight relationship expert Mel Schilling flew to the UK earlier this month to film the British version of the show. And the 49-year-old dating guru celebrated the end of Covid lockdown on Thursday at her holiday home in Brighton, a seaside town 75km south of London. She shared a selfie with the famous Brighton Palace Pier amusement park behind her as people strolled on the nearby boardwalk. 'Lockdown is O.V.E.R': Married At First Sight expert Mel Schilling celebrated the end of Covid lockdown on Thursday at her holiday home in Brighton, a seaside town 75km south of London The beaming blonde, who was wrapped up in a puffy coat and a grey scarf, wrote in the caption: 'Lockdown is O.V.E.R.' Australian Mel had flown out to Britain earlier this month after being granted an exemption to travel because of her involvement in Married At First Sight UK. Her husband, Gareth Brisbane, and their six-year-old daughter, Madison, are still waiting for their exemptions from immigration officials. Out on the town! She shared a selfie with the famous Brighton Palace Pier amusement park behind her as people strolled on the nearby boardwalk 'I'm very aware of how lucky I am': Mel had flown out to Britain earlier this month after being granted an exemption to travel because of her involvement in Married At First Sight UK She wrote on Instagram at the time: 'I'm very aware of how lucky I am to be travelling internationally at the moment and so grateful to [British TV production company] CPL Productions for unwavering support and encouragement.' Mel said she'd been granted her exemption after 'two weeks of uncertainty', and that her family would be joining her as soon as they are permitted. 'Covid has added a whole new level of complexity to international travel and I'm just so grateful... It's been a real team effort!' she added. Waiting game: Her husband, Gareth Brisbane, and their six-year-old daughter, Madison, are still waiting for their exemptions from immigration officials 'And now... onward and upwards. Stay tuned for all our UK adventures.' Mel announced she was joining the 'revamped' UK version of Married At First Sight in March. The reality show is being 'sexed-up' following the popularity of the scandalous Australian series, which was a lockdown hit on E4 this year. New gig: Mel announced she was joining the UK version of Married At First Sight in March. The reality show is being 'revamped' following the popularity of the scandalous Australian series A mother has been left 'broken' after her teenage son died following a fight with gatecrashers at a party, just months before he was due to get his driver's licence and set out on a long-planned adventure. Jason Langhans, 17, died in hospital on Saturday after being involved in an altercation about 2.30am on March 21 at a 16th birthday house party in Tooradin in Melbourne's south-east. Detectives are hunting for three people of interest who had crashed the 16th birthday party in the early hours of the morning. It's believed Jason had tried to break up an argument with a partygoer and the three gatecrashers when he was stabbed to the head with an object believed to be a screwdriver. Speaking to reporters on Thursday as she made an appeal to find the perpetrators, the teenager's mother Carolyn Langhans, said the trauma first began when she was woken up in the night by her son's friend who had dropped him home. Jason Langhans, 17, died in hospital on Saturday after he was viciously attacked about 2.30am on March 21 at a 16th birthday house party in Tooradin in Melbourne 's south-east After noticing the 17-year-old was falling in and out of consciousness, she immediately called triple 0. The Cranbourne North teenager was rushed to hospital and had multiple surgeries before going into intensive care, but suffered a stroke following medical complications on April 6. Jason's family had to make the 'horrendous' decision this week to turn off his life support. 'I never got the chance to say goodbye. I'm devastated. My heart is broken. There is no other way I can explain,' Ms Langhans said as she fought off tears. 'It's still a dream, a nightmare. It's not real to me at the moment.' The teenager's mother Carolyn Langhans, said the nightmare first began when she was woken up in the night by her son's friend who had dropped him home Jason was supposed to be celebrating his 18th birthday in July and had recently signed up for a plumbing apprenticeship Homicide detectives have launched an appeal for information to find three persons of interest they would like to speak to in relation to the teenager's murder Jason was supposed to be celebrating his 18th birthday in July and had recently signed up for a plumbing apprenticeship. He'd bought a car and was planning to go for his license on his birthday so he could go four-wheel driving with friends. 'That's all gone now, it's all been taken away,' Ms Langhans said. 'It's been horrible, every day at The Alfred (hospital), just wishing that he would open his eyes and talk to us, and just nothing, which is heartbreaking. We are lost. There is a big hole in our hearts.' 'He is a loving, caring, gentle person. He wouldn't hurt a soul.' Homicide Squad Detective Inspector Andrew Stamper said the teen had acted heroically as a 'peacemaker' when the confrontation kicked off as guests were leaving the party. Homicide Squad Detective Inspector Andrew Stamper said the teen had acted as a 'peacemaker' when the confrontation kicked off as guests were leaving the party 'At that moment, without any provocation, without any warning, what has been described as one of the unknown men has slapped Jason to the head twice,' he said. 'We now know that, that the male had a sharp instrument in his hand when he did that.' Police have since revealed a fourth person who was invited to the party had arrived at the house with the three gatecrashers and is assisting police with inquiries. That male did not know the gatecrashers well. Jason's sisters, Stacy and Emma supported their mother at the appeal on Thursday but their father was too grief-stricken to attend. '(Jason) would do anything for anyone, he didn't deserve this,' Emma said. 'We're only here for one reason: to get justice.' After the attack unfolded, a group of around 15 partygoers chased the three gatecrashers out of the home before they disappeared into the grounds of nearby rural properties. Police believe another altercation occurred on one of the properties. They are particularly interested in hearing from anyone who has information about the three suspects, the later altercation or the area where it occurred, or the weapon used in the second attack. Officers have scoured the area looking for the murder weapon. The three men of interest are described as Middle Eastern, believed to be between 17 and 18, and are not from the surrounding area. All three are described as about 170cm tall, and were wearing dark clothing. The first man had dark, short-cropped hair, the second had wavy black hair brushed across his face, and the third has a dark crew cut and is believed to have visible injuries to the left side of his face. Anyone with information is urged to call Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000. Iran's top leader insists U.S. lifts sanctions first to revive nuclear deal Xinhua) 08:57, April 15, 2021 Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei speaks during Friday prayers in Tehran, Iran, Feb. 3, 2012. (Xinhua/Official Website of the Iranian Supreme Leader) TEHRAN, April 14 (Xinhua) -- Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on Wednesday reiterated Tehran's position that U.S. sanctions must be lifted before Iran returns to its compliance with the 2015 deal, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA). "The officials' assessment is to go and negotiate in order to implement that policy, and we have no objection in this regard," Khamenei said in a public event, as quoted by his official website. Talking through videoconference in a religious ceremony broadcasted to celebrate the first day of the holy month of Ramadan, Iran's supreme leader stated that the U.S. officials' expressions of readiness to negotiate do not mean that Washington is ready to "listen and accept what is fair," but are rather a sign of their determination to "impose their unjust position." The United States "has not kept its promises on dozens of occasions," he said. Photo taken on April 9, 2021 shows a meeting of the Joint Commission of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) in Vienna, Austria. (EU Delegation in Vienna/Handout via Xinhua) The JCPOA resumed talks in Austria's capital Vienna on April 6. The U.S. government has sent representatives to take part in the process, but Tehran has until now refused to meet them, since Washington abandoned the JCPOA in May 2018 and unilaterally reimposed sanctions on Iran. This week, voices were clearly heard in Iran asking the government to halt the Vienna talks after the Iranian uranium enrichment plant in Natanz suffered an attack on April 11, which Iran has accused Israel of the "sabotage." (Web editor: Shi Xi, Liang Jun) Source: Xinhua| 2021-04-14 22:00:24|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close File photo taken on Oct. 12, 2017 shows huge tanks that store contaminated radioactive wastewater in Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant, in Fukushima Prefecture, Japan. (Xinhua) BEIJING, April 14 (Xinhua) -- China strongly urges Japan to reconsider its decision on the disposal of nuclear waste, a Foreign Ministry spokesperson said Wednesday. Spokesperson Zhao Lijian made the remarks at a daily news briefing when asked to comment on the international response to Japan's decision to dispose of Fukushima's radioactive water by releasing it into the sea. The international community including the Republic of Korea (ROK), Russia and the European Commission expressed deep concern over the issue. Zhao said China strongly urges the Japanese side to face up to its responsibility, follow the science, fulfill its international obligations and duly respond to the serious concerns of the international community, neighboring countries and its own people. Citing Japanese media report that the work of releasing nuclear waste into the sea will start in two years and last for 30 years and that the total amount of nuclear waste will exceed 1 million tonnes, Zhao said that the amount, duration, scope of affected areas and the risk level is unprecedented. He then raised three questions to the Japanese side. First, has the Japanese side really heard the doubts and concerns at home and abroad? Zhao pointed out that there were protest marches in many places in Japan including Tokyo and Fukushima. Besides China, ROK, Russia and the EU, 311 environmental groups expressed firm opposition to the Japanese decision. The Climate and Energy Campaigner at Greenpeace Japan said that the Japanese government turned its back on the clear evidence that the technology and conditions for greater storage capacity is available, they have opted for dumping the water into the Pacific Ocean. "The Japanese government has taken the wholly unjust decision in total disregard of the environment," he said. Second, does Japan's decision really comply with international law? Zhao said Japan's decision will set a precedent for discharging treated wastewater into the ocean after a serious nuclear accident. Japan, as a signatory to the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), should be aware of the relevant provisions of the Convention. States shall take all measures necessary to ensure that pollution arising from incidents or activities under their jurisdiction or control does not spread beyond the areas where they exercise sovereign rights in accordance with the Convention. "Japan is also obliged to undertake such international obligations as notification and full consultation, environmental assessment and monitoring, preventive measures to minimize risks, and information transparency," Zhao said. "Has Japan fulfilled all these obligations?" He further noted that the endorsement of the Japanese decision by the United States does not mean endorsement by the international community, and the United States should shoulder its responsibility and urge Japan to prudently handle the disposal issue in an honest, scientific and responsible manner for the sake of marine environment and mankind's health rather than confusing right with wrong, foregoing principles and adopting double standard. Third, does the nuclear wastewater that Japan plans to release into the sea really meet international standards? Zhao said that the assessment report of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) expert group clearly pointed out that the treated water still contains other radionuclides apart from tritium. According to statistics by Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings Inc., there are 62 kinds of radionuclides in the water. "The oceans are not Japan's trash can, and the Pacific Ocean is not Japan's sewer," said the spokesperson, adding that the price of Japan's disposal of nuclear waste should not be borne by the entire world. Zhao said the Japanese side should reevaluate the issue and refrain from wantonly discharging the wastewater before reaching consensus with all stakeholders and the IAEA through full consultations. "China reserves the right to make further reactions," Zhao added. Highlights Oppo may launch the A74 5G smartphone in India by end of this month. The Oppo A74 5G specifications for India may be a bit different from its other versions. The Oppo A74 5G is powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon 480 SoC. Oppo recently launched the F19 smartphone in India. That is the third smartphone in the F-series this year and comes weeks after the Reno 5 Pro 5G arrived. So, both the F-series and the Reno series have seen fresh phones in India. But, on the other hand, there has been no update on what is happening with the A-series. There is finally some information. A new leak claims that Oppo may launch the A74 5G smartphone in India by the end of April. The Oppo A74 5G and A74 4G debuted in some Southeast Asian countries recently. Oppo is likely now planning to introduce one of them, the A74 5G, in India, according to the tipster Abhishek Yadav. His leak claims that the Oppo A74 5G will be mainly for the offline market, which might mean that the company will bring the phone to Flipkart and Amazon for sale. The Oppo A74 5G may sell for around Rs 20,000 in offline markets, Yadav has said in his tweet. Although Oppo has already launched the A74 5G in some markets, its Indian counterpart may be different in terms of specifications. According to the tipster, the specifications of the Oppo A74 5G will be similar to that of the Oppo A93 5G, which arrived in China earlier this year. If this tip holds any water, the following is the set of specifications of A93 5G that will be available on the A74 5G. Oppo A74 5G specifications for India version The Oppo A74 5G will come with a 6.5-inch Full-HD+ IPS LCD with a 90Hz refresh rate. The aspect ratio will be 20:9 on the phone. It will run ColorOS 11.1 that is based on Android 11. Powering the Oppo A74 5G will be an octa-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 480 processor that also brings the 5G connectivity to the phone. The Oppo A74 5G will come with 6GB of RAM and 128GB of internal memory, but you can add more via a microSD card. The phone has a side-mounted fingerprint sensor. For photography, you get a 48-megapixel main camera on the back. This camera is a part of the triple camera system that also includes two 2-megapixel cameras. The Oppo A74 5G will have a 16-megapixel camera for selfies. Now, this is perhaps the only change to the list of specifications. The Oppo A93 5G has an 8-megapixel selfie camera. The phone will come with a 5000mAh battery with support for 18W fast charging. The Oppo A74 5G will be 8.4mm thick and weigh 188 grams. For now, Oppo has not said anything about the launch of the A74 5G, which is why we will have to wait for an official announcement. LOS ANGELES, April 15, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- With news that ArcLight Cinemas and Pacific Theatres will permanently close their doors, a Los Angeles tech startup is using augmented reality to pay homage to the hidden history of the iconic Cinerama Dome on Sunset Boulevard in Hollywood. While the Cinerama Dome may be closed, an augmented reality app made by Los Angeles tech startup ReplayAR offers glimpses into the venue's colorful past. LA tech startup ReplayAR uses patented augmented reality technology to recreate a 1966 view of the Cinerama Dome at the modern-day Pacific Theatres' ArcLight Hollywood complex. A Los Angeles augmented reality app recreates the opening of the newly-built Pacific Theatres' Cinerama Dome as it debuts "It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World" on November 7, 1963. The developers of ReplayAR released an augmented reality video that highlights the renowned venue by virtually projecting old photographs from the past onto the real-life Cinerama Dome of today. The video was filmed on location using a free AR photo app that lets smartphone users "freeze time" and instantly turn their digital photographs into locational augmented reality memories. People can also use the app to record videos of their AR creations to share on social media. "ReplayAR explores visual context at the intersection of where and when," said inventor and company co-founder Jay Huddy. "We felt AR could shine a light on the colorful past of this historic landmark and remind us of the role cinematic institutions like ArcLight Cinemas and the Cinerama Dome have played in shaping Los Angeles." The project is a special edition of ReplayAR's "AR Time Capsule" series which uses their app's patented AR technology to explore the invisible history that surrounds us in everyday life. The series has previously featured AR history tours of uplifting events like the Rockefeller Christmas Tree lighting at Rockefeller Center, and Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade in Herald Square, as well as more somber historical moments, like the aftermath of the September 11 attacks on the World Trade Center. Closer to home, ReplayAR will soon be releasing a new augmented reality history tour of greater Los Angeles, allowing local Angelenos a chance to revisit memorable moments from LA's past. ReplayAR, an augmented reality technology startup company founded in Burbank, is currently working with it's partners towards the full realization of their patented technology: connecting their users to form a global real-world AR social network. "Seeing AR photos of my son growing up in our home is a timeless experience" said ReplayAR co-founder Brandon Martin, "It's not just for historical events. It's also a great way to capture and replay personal memories right at home where they happen, like your own virtual scrapbook." ReplayAR's historical exploration of the Cinerama Dome and other video installments of their "AR Time Capsule" series can be found on their YouTube channel and at ReplayAR.com. A single-user version of the ReplayAR augmented reality app is available for free on the App Store for iOS and Play Store for Android. About ReplayAR: ReplayAR, Inc. is an augmented reality software company. Its mission is "to pioneer innovative technologies that preserve and protect historical truth while connecting and inspiring a global community through the shared continuum of our human experience." Contact: Brandon Martin 646-919-0025 [email protected] http://www.ReplayAR.com SOURCE ReplayAR Related Links http://www.ReplayAR.com The dance troupe that performed a twerking routine at a navy ceremony in Sydney over the weekend has hit out at the ABC for deceptive and creepy editing of its performance. The 101 Doll Squadron has deleted its social media pages following criticism and widespread media coverage of their dance at the launch of the navys latest ship, HMAS Supply. The 101 Doll Squadron performs a twerking routine at the launch of the navys latest ship, HMAS Supply, in Sydney at the weekend. Credit:ABC News In a statement, the squadron said the ABC edited the dance to make it appear that dignitaries, including Governor-General David Hurley, were part of the audience watching the routine. The 101 Doll Squadron members have been under personal attack on all media platforms since the weekend and we now feel unsafe, the statement said. China's foreign trade has an auspicious start in 2021 People's Daily Online) 15:25, April 15, 2021 In the first quarter of this year, China's merchandise imports and exports amounted to roughly 8.47 trillion yuan ($1.29 trillion) in total, an increase of 29.2 percent over the same period last year, indicating a rosy trend for China's foreign trade prospects, according to the General Administration of Customs (GAC). 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) The total value of Chinese merchandise imports and exports in the first quarter registered respective increases of 25.3 percent and 20.5 percent over the same period in 2018 and 2019. In March of this year alone, the value of China's combined imports and exports soared by 25 percent month-on-month, of which imports and exports rose by 35.2 percent and16.8 percent respectively. "The figures as represented by China's imports and exports in the first quarter look good, which can be attributed to a combination of domestic and international factors," said Li Kuiwen, spokesman for the GAC. This excellent performance reflects the fact that China's foreign trade has become continuously more optimized over time in terms of trade entities, domestic regional layouts, international market layouts, trade modes and product structures, Li explained, noting that the quality and efficiency of foreign trade have both been gradually improved. Li revealed that China's policies and measures to coordinate COVID-19 prevention and control as well as economic and social development have proven to be effective, which not only helped facilitate the steady recovery of domestic production and consumption, but also provided strong support for the sustained and stable operation of foreign trade. Of particular note, the vitality of private-owned enterprises, which have emerged as the main driving force behind foreign trade growth, has received a further boost. In the first quarter, the combined import and export growth rate for these enterprises was 13.5 percentage points higher than the overall growth rate for foreign trade. As another main driving force spurring the growth of foreign trade, cross-border e-commerce has also maintained a strong growth momentum since the beginning of this year. Preliminary customs estimates indicated that China's cross-border e-commerce imports and exports totaled 419.5 billion yuan in the first quarter, an increase of 46.5 percent over the same period last year. "Chinas customs will continue to promote the B2B export supervision pilot reform of cross-border e-commerce, and support the overseas warehouse model for the export of cross-border e-commerce goods and products, all in a bid to promote the healthy and rapid development of new business forms, the likes of which include cross-border e-commerce," Li said. (Web editor: Hongyu, Liang Jun) As for the NCC, FMOCDE, and the CBN, they need to call the banks to order, while also ensuring that a feasible solution is quickly worked out to avert further crises It is unfair that we have to pay twice for using a service that originally should encourage financial inclusion for all. If anyone ever thought that Nigerian banks care about their customers, the event of Friday, April 2 clearly exposed their selfishness and indifference towards what matters to their customers. How do you explain that a service as important as the USSD was disabled for millions of subscribers by these banks over a disagreed fee with MTN on charges for the service, without formally notifying customers, and leaving them confused and stranded? It is well known that USSD serves as a critical channel for delivering financial services, particularly for the underserved and/or financially excluded, which was why it was highly upsetting that the banks could go on with their callous act without a care about how their actions would affect customers, all in the bid to protect their supposedly threatened profit. Ironically, these same banks are indebted to the telcommunication companies to the tune of N42 billion for the same USSD services provided to them, for which they bill their customers. Where did the monies deducted go to? Why were they not remitted to the telcos accordingly, after taking these from customers accounts? According to the telcos, since the USSD pricing determination by the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), banks havent paid them the accumulated costs of USSD transactions. It was to this end that the Association of Licensed Telecom Operators of Nigeria (ALTON) threatened to disconnect the banks from providing payment services on the platforms of telcos until they paid the N42 billion debt. It took the intervention of the NCC and the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to call off the threat by the telcos to disable the USSD services allowed banks, after which agreements to charge a fixed amount and also settle all indebtedness for past services were reached. Clearly the new arrangement, which will see customers part with N6.98k each time they use the USSD for banking transactions goes against the purpose for introducing the USSD as a way of financial inclusion, especially for the underserved, as Nigerians now have to pay the additional fees to their respective telecom providers in addition to the service fee deducted for access to bank services through the USSD channel. one wonders why the NCC, the Minister of Federal Ministry of Communications and Digital Economy (FMOCDE), Mallam Isa Ali Pantami and the CBN could facilitate such an arrangement that further impoverishes customers, just to let the banks off the hook, while they make money off their customers. That said, one wonders why the NCC, the Minister of Federal Ministry of Communications and Digital Economy (FMOCDE), Mallam Isa Ali Pantami and the CBN could facilitate such an arrangement that further impoverishes customers, just to let the banks off the hook, while they make money off their customers. Why make customers the sacrificial lamb in settling the dispute between both parties? Havent we suffered enough unfairness from the plethora of financial obligations to the system? And if my instinct serves me right, knowing how these banks operate, I wouldnt be surprised that somehow they would find ways of passing on their accummulated debt to customers through hidden charges. Already, these banks are beginning to deny their indebtedness to the telcos, after failing to resolve their difference over pricing of the USSD short code service. One of the banks heads was quoted a few days ago as saying that there was no such thing as an obligation due from banks to telcos. According to him, the banks chose not to make a public statement of it because it is not appropriate for them to be found fighting with telcos in public. It is true that they continue to provide this service but this service has nothing to do with the banks, he said. His submission goes contrary to the joint statement put together by the NCC and CBN on Pricing of Unstructured Supplementary Service Data (USSD) in which it was disclosed before all stakeholders, including the banks, that there was an accumulation of outstanding fees for USSD services rendered by the telcos to the banks. The question then is who will fight for the customers should the matter further degenerate? Are we always going to be at the receiving end? Why do we as customers have to bear the cost for these banks, even when they have continued to rip us off our hard earned money? It is baffling that this bank head would make such a statement after all this while, perhaps as a result of the continued dispute between the banks and telcos over fees chargeable on services carried out on each others platform. It is even more distasteful that the regulators are silent over his statement, thereby ridiculing the entire mediation efforts. But what I find quite instructive is that, amidst the mounting debt owed them, the telecom providers at no point discontinued their services to the banks; however, the banks were quick to shut out MTN over a little disagreement on reduction of commission on the service charges without any consideration. Their actions say a lot. No one can question their excesses. Unfortunately, too, the silence from the regulators over this tyrannical act does not help matters either. It is as if everyone is afraid of the banks, more like they are the governments sacred cash cow that are immune to scrutiny and criticism. If there is one thing that is certain, it is that the customers will continue to suffer for trusting the banks with their money if this issue is not resolved once and for all. The question then is who will fight for the customers should the matter further degenerate? Are we always going to be at the receiving end? Why do we as customers have to bear the cost for these banks, even when they have continued to rip us off our hard earned money? ADVERTISEMENT Where is the Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission in all of this? Isnt it their function to secure the protection of rights for all consumers in Nigeria. What has been done so far on their part to ensure fair, transparent and equitable billing charges for bank customers using the USSD? As for the NCC, FMOCDE, and the CBN, they need to call the banks to order, while also ensuring that a feasible solution is quickly worked out to avert further crises, and while at that, they would need to revisit the new payment structure that pegs the charges on USSD on customers. It is unfair that we have to pay twice for using a service that originally should encourage financial inclusion for all. Ibukun Awopetu, a freelance journalist, writes from Lagos. FAIRFAX, VA / ACCESSWIRE / April 15, 2021 / Visium Technologies, Inc. ("Visium" or the "Company") (OTCPINK:VISM), a provider of real-time cybersecurity, context-focused analysis and predictive visualization technologies today released an Investor Update Letter from the Company: Dear Investors, As an update on the Company's current activities, Visium's management is providing all existing and potential investors the latest information on developments with the company. Please be advised - this letter is not a substitute for reviewing our press releases and SEC filings. Some of this update is opinion - so be sure to note the forward-looking statements disclosure at the end. We want to simplify the complexity and put our latest news items in context and keep you updated on our activities and events that may not rise to the level of a press release or SEC filing. If you have additional questions, you can reach us at IR@visiumtechnologies.com. We continue to work diligently to become a world-class cybersecurity and digital risk management company, with a focus on overlaying context to cybersecurity and business critical data-sets, with intuitive visualizations. Internet of Things, ("IoT"), threat identification, and big-data analytics. We have : 1) Deployed our new web site and digital presence: www.visiumtechnologies.com, which now better reflects the Company's capabilities 2) Enhanced CyGraph to enable real-time streaming data ingestion and analysis, including native ingestion of Nessus, NetFlow and Splunk data 3) Entered into technology partnerships and integration agreements with several technology partners, and undertaken development and integration of CyGraph into those technologies 4) Begun development efforts to enable enhanced customer/user experience by automating the onboarding process and improving the user interface (UI) visualization capabilities Our efforts to partner with technology companies are driven by two factors: First, CyGraph TM is a phenomenal technology that complement and significantly enhances the capabilities of existing cyber tools and technologies by providing the missing element, TrueContext TM . The companies that we are partnering with will be able to offer CyGraph's analytics and visualization capabilities as a boost to their customer's current cyber and data analytics capabilities; And is a phenomenal technology that complement and significantly enhances the capabilities of existing cyber tools and technologies by providing the missing element, TrueContext . The companies that we are partnering with will be able to offer CyGraph's analytics and visualization capabilities as a boost to their customer's current cyber and data analytics capabilities; And Secondly, these partnerships will increase the market awareness of CyGraph and highlight the proprietary upgrades that Visium has developed. These technology partnerships represent a channel for sales that should begin to produce results for Visium in the near future. As mentioned, the additional key focus of our development efforts has been on improving the customer experience and building automation into the CyGraph platform. This will be a key to enabling our growth and success at scale. During the age of COVID some of these efforts have taken longer than anticipated, but this cycle of development activity is well underway and will position the Company for significant growth. In addition to our business and product development activities, we have filed a lawsuit in the United States Bankruptcy Court against the parties who filed the involuntary bankruptcy petition against us in December 2020. The Court found in the involuntary bankruptcy case that the action against the Company was brought in bad faith and allowed us to bring this action against the original plaintiffs. We are seeking damages for attorneys' fees and costs, as well as compensatory and punitive damages. This case will play out over the coming months. Also, we recently filed an S-3 registration statement with the Securities & Exchange Commission. This registration is commonly referred to as a shelf registration, as it allows us to raise money from accredited investors at any time over a three-year period. Having this shelf registration will allow us to raise capital on an as-needed basis at the most favorable terms possible. The future of Visium is clear and bright, as the data modeling, analysis and visualization market is open to a solution such as CyGraph to fill context gap. We have an incredibly talented team that we continue to augment with seasoned professionals. Our latest additions to the team are focused on sales and marketing. That is our priority now that the cycle of product development on our latest software release is concluding. We are building a great company and remain committed to pursuing initiatives that maximize value for all Visium stakeholders. We will continue to update our investors with our progress in the coming weeks. I sincerely appreciate your continued support and confidence in our efforts. Best, Mark Lucky CEO, Visium Technologies, Inc. About Visium Technologies, Inc. Visium Technologies, Inc. (OTC PINK:VISM) is a Florida corporation based in Fairfax, Virginia, focused on global cybersecurity clarity, machine learning, advancing technology and automating services to support enterprises in protecting their most valuable assets - their data, business applications, and IoT on their networks and in the cloud. For more information, please visit www.visiumtechnologies.com Safe Harbor Statement: Under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995: This release includes forward-looking statements that reflect management's current views with respect to future events and performance. These forward-looking statements are based on management's beliefs and assumptions and information currently available. The words "believe," "expect," "anticipate," "intend," "estimate," "project" and similar expressions that do not relate solely to historical matters identify forward-looking statements. Investors should be cautious in relying on forward-looking statements because they are subject to a variety of risks, uncertainties, and other factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed in any such forward-looking statements. These factors include, but are not limited to, whether the reverse stock split will be beneficial to the Company and its shareholders, any inability to meet the NYSE American continued listing standards in the future for any reason, and those other factors described in our filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. Any responsibility to update forward-looking statements is expressly disclaimed. Contact: Visium Technologies, Inc. Corporate: Mark Lucky, Chief Executive Officer IR@visiumtechnologies.com Follow us on Twitter and Instagram Twitter | Instagram Corporate Office: 4094 Majestic Lane Suite 360 Fairfax, VA 22033 Phone: 703-273-0383 Investor Relations: Peter Nicosia Bull in Advantage, LLC Phone: 585-703-6565 Email: Info@BlueHorseshoeStocks.com SOURCE: Visium Technologies, Inc. View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/640565/Investor-Update-for-Visium-Technologies-Inc The Canadian miner sold 25,547 ounces during the three-month period to end March 31, 2021, a figure that the company called very strong. Karoras gold output was in line with its 2021 production guidance of 105,000 to 115,000 ounces Karora Resources Inc ( ) (OTCMKTS:KRRGF) (FRA:5RN1) has revealed 1Q production figures from its Beta Hunt and Higginsville mines in Western Australia that showed the operations produced 24,694 ounces of gold during the quarter. The Canadian miner sold 25,547 ounces during the three-month period to end March 31, 2021, a figure that the company called very strong. Karoras gold output was in line with its 2021 production guidance of 105,000 to 115,000 ounces, it told shareholders. The firm said it expects gold grades to increase over the year as higher-grade production from new mining areas in the Higginsville Central area come online, and the Spargos open pit project starts producing later in the year. Karora said its 2021 gold production and grades will be higher in the second half of the year compared to the first half, with all-in-sustaining-cost guidance of between US$985 to US$1,085 per ounce for fiscal 2021. CEO Paul Andre Huet told investors that the firm delivered a strong quarter of production that was in line with its budget and previous six quarters of production. First quarter production is directly on track with our budget and in line with our previous six quarters of consistent production of approximately 25,000 ounces per quarter, despite planned open-pit sequencing mining slightly lower grades during the quarter, Huet said in a statement. The firm ended the quarter with C$76.7 million in cash, down slightly from the $79.7 million it had in the previous quarter. During the first quarter we invested heavily in preparing new, higher grade mining areas at Higginsville Central and Spargos, along with increased resource definition, grade control and exploration drilling to set us up for a very successful year, Huet added. We also made investments during the first quarter to improve productivity with substantial mining fleet replacements and additions at Beta Hunt and Higginsville. The Toronto-based firm also closed its royalty transaction with Maverix Metals after making its final US$2.5 million payment in 1Q 2021. The reduction of royalties at Beta Hunt has not only improved our mining cost profile, but has truly opened the mine up to the tremendous series of exploration discoveries we have delivered since September, Huet said. These include the very exciting and higher grade Larkin Zone, the significant extension to Western Flanks North, the 30C high-grade Nickel trough as well as the recently announced very high-grade Gamma/50C Nickel zone. With these new discoveries, we are executing on our plan to continue to grow Beta Hunt into a very large operation. Contact Angela at angela@proactiveinvestors.com Follow her on Twitter @AHarmantas Burma Prominent Anti-Regime Protest Leader Run Over, Dragged Away by Myanmar Junta Forces Ko Wai Moe Naing at an anti-regime protest in Monywa. A prominent anti-regime protest leader in Monywa, Sagaing Region was beaten and dragged away by junta forces after having his motor scooter rammed on Thursday afternoon. Ko Wai Moe Naing was detained after regime forces drove a large vehicle head-on into a group of motor scooters carrying him and other anti-regime protesters. After being violently knocked to the ground, witnesses said the 26-year-old was beaten and dragged away. Since anti-regime protests broke out in early February in Monywa, a business hub on the eastern bank of the Chindwin River and the largest city in Sagaing Region, the Muslim man had been at the forefront of the rallies. When he wasnt shouting anti-regime slogans via a megaphone, the Sagaing Regional Youth Committee leader could be seen on stage, reasonably explaining to crowds why the anti-regime movement was important. Prior to his anti-regime activism on the streets, Ko Wai Moe Naing was among those who came up with the idea of banging pots and pans as a sign of opposition to the regime. It has since become a nightly ritual across the country, with people beating their cooking utensils and vessels for 15 minutes in the evening before shouting anti-regime slogans. His prominence quickly made him a target of the regime, and he was charged with incitement in March. Like other cities and towns across the country, Monywa has been actively defying military rule, and has suffered deadly crackdowns and arrests. Ko Wai Moe Naing said recently that the reason he defied the regime was simple; because he utterly rejected it. He said that under the democratic government of 2016-20, people were treated with human dignity and experienced greater political freedom and an abundance of academic and professional opportunities. We simply dont want to go back to the dark age [under the regime]. What haunts me most is how I would survive under their rule, he said. So, when it comes to arrest or death, neither of them matter to me, he added. Upon learning of Ko Wai Moe Naings arrest on Thursday, Ko Tayzar San, a prominent anti-regime leader in Mandalay, called on people to accelerate the anti-regime protest. I also warn the military council [junta] that there are many more Wai Moe Naings among the people. If you arrest one, another will take the front line, he said. You may also like these stories: Myanmar Junta Forces Shoot Man Dead in Mandalay Mosque Compound Myanmar Military Launches Airstrikes Against Ethnic Armed Group in Kachin State Thai Govt Considers Partial Lockdown in Bangkok, Surrounds remaining of Thank you for reading! This is your last free article before you will be asked to subscribe. Already have a paid subscription? Sign in Not even a week had passed since Pennsylvania restaurants were able to host 75% of their full indoor capacity, and Todd Pasini was already moving tables back down to the basement at Urbano Mexican Kitchen & Bar, bringing the restaurants possible occupancy back down. He just couldnt do that to his short-handed staff. Urbano is one of the three restaurants under the 3PA Restaurant Group, for which Pasini is the director of operations. Urbano and Tapas on Main, another 3PA restaurant, are currently hiring in order to match the increasing crowds returning to in-person dining. They have been since mid-March. Other restaurants throughout the Lehigh Valley are also in hiring mode. Last spring, the country was engulfed in the COVID-19 pandemic it crushed all sectors of American industry, and the world of food and drink service took the brunt of it. Eating inside a restaurant became a thing of the past as curbside pickup, takeout and delivery became restaurant lifelines. Because of that, employment took a nosedive, as restaurant owners couldnt afford to pay waiters, cooks and hosts if there were barely any customers to wait on, cook for and host. A full year later, the food service ecosystem is beginning its recovery. Restaurants fortunate enough to still be standing have reopened thanks to the increase to 75% indoor capacity that went into effect on April 4 per an order by Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf. And the crowds were coming to meet them, as the continued expansion of the COVID-19 vaccine program is reaching more and more people, allowing for them to safely go out for a meal. But while crowds are coming back, those who serve them arent, or at least not as much as theyre needed. Walk through Bethlehem and Eastons downtowns and youll see some signs offering job opportunities. Now hiring (all positions) can be seen in the windows of Tandoor Grill in Easton. An orange paper blaring Help wanted is hung in the front of Johnnys Bagels & Deli in Downtown Bethlehem. The front door of Carls Corner reads Were Hiring! Just like everyone else! A we're hiring sign is on display in a window at Nick's Pizza Restaurant in Bethlehem. Restaurants in the Lehigh Valley are aggressively hiring more because they're suddenly struggling to meet demand thanks to Pennsylvania easing indoor dining restrictions this month.Saed Hindash | For lehighvalleylive.com In February 2020, just before the pandemic hit, employment among Pennsylvanias food service and drinking establishments was at about 409,000 employees, according to data from the states Department of Labor & Industry. Two months later, at the end of last April, that number had plummeted to 178,200 people well over a 50% drop. In the Lehigh Valley alone, there were 25,300 people employed in food and drink service last February and only 11,200 last April, according to department data. The Lehigh Valley is classified as the Allentown-Bethlehem-Easton Metropolitan Statistical Area. In addition to Lehigh and Northampton counties, the MSA includes Carbon County and New Jerseys Warren County. Many of those workers who were suddenly out of a job were forced to seek unemployment benefits, a time-consuming process given the skyrocketed demand for the Pandemic Unemployment Assistance program. In the year that followed, restaurants got creative with outdoor dining as indoor capacities gradually increased until hitting the 75% threshold on April 4. So as things got better, how many of those jobs came back? The Department of Labor & Industry currently has data available through February of this year, so any employment increase in the last month isnt represented. Even without the likely bump from last month factored in, of the 230,800 jobs lost in the food service industry statewide, about 138,200 have been filled again, a roughly 60% recovery. In the Lehigh Valley, 8,800 of the 14,100 jobs lost have been recovered, about 62%. Its still a net loss of 92,600 jobs across Pennsylvania and 5,300 in the Lehigh Valley in the food service sector, which in addition to restaurants and bars includes catering companies and food suppliers that serve institution such as college dining halls. That lingering void has left managers like Pasini in a bind. Moving those tables off the dining room floor at Urbano meant fewer customers, which isnt ideal, but it was necessary. We literally dont have the staff to cover those tables, he said. And the ones that are hanging in for us, I dont want to destroy them either. Giving them an unrealistic burden is not what we want to do. Claudia Palmer, a waitress at Urbano Mexican Kitchen & Bar, brings out food for patrons on Tuesday April 13, 2021. Restaurants in the Lehigh Valley are aggressively hiring more because they're suddenly struggling to meet demand thanks to Pennsylvania easing indoor dining restrictions this month.Saed Hindash | For lehighvalleylive.com Pasini noted that some employees just arent comfortable coming back to work yet, especially as crowds are growing. Others, however, are making more of a business decision. According to the Department of Labor & Industrys occupational wage data, last collected in May 2019, employees in food preparation & serving related occupations made an average of about $25,000 a year. The scale is skewed by head chefs and supervisors, who make about $59,000 and $38,000 a year, respectively. Most other jobs in the field short order cooks, bartenders, waiters and waitresses, dishwashers and more make between $20,000 and $25,000 annually, sometimes less and sometimes more depending on experience level. With the rollout of the states Pandemic Unemployment Assistance program, workers who dont regularly qualify for unemployment benefits were given a lifeline as a number of industries tanked. Those workers in the PUA program earn $300 per week in addition to other calculated benefits. Earning $300 a week for a whole year is already more than $15,000 without factoring in the other benefits. There are some who are making more collecting than they would be working Pasini said. And maybe for them, collecting outweighs the risk of coming back to work while the pandemic lingers. Regardless of the individual reasons for staying out of work, theres still a growing gap in demand for a service that might not have the manpower to produce it. The PUA benefits are set to expire in early September, but warm-weather outdoor dining and increased indoor capacity are already here. At this point, those restaurants hoping to shore up staff can only wait for applications to roll in. The Lehigh Valley food industry is a close community, and there have been discussions about how this issue thats affecting a number of establishments, although owners and managers are struggling to find a solution. For now, theyre leaning on each other. Pasini thinks of a running joke thats circulating among Downtown Bethlehem restauranteurs. Can you spare a bartender tonight? Its a joke because, as they already know, nobody can. Our journalism needs your support. Please subscribe today to lehighvalleylive.com. Connor Lagore may be reached at clagore@njadvancemedia.com. Bangalore, April 15 : Kannada star Kichcha Sudeepa's next, "Vikrant Rona", has been scheduled to release on August 19. The multilingual action adventure is set to release in 14 languages across 55 countries. "(I am) Excited about the release announcement, the post-production work is going on full swing. Some of the best technicians are a part of our film, and together we are working towards giving our audience a glimpse into the world of Vikrant Rona in the best way possible," said the film's director Anup Bhandari. "We endeavour to present the world's new hero, Vikrant Rona, to the audience in the language of their preference. The film is a visual wonder and, considering the pandemic, we feel the audience deserves to watch a film of such magnitude in theatres," producer Jack Manjunath said. As per the film's team, "Vikrant Rona" has planned for a 3D release. Besides Kichcha Sudeepa, the film also stars Nirup Bhandari and Neetha Ashok in pivotal roles. Ritter Communications Spends $4 Million, Continues Expansion By Luke Bellos - Editor, Virtual PBX Arkansas-based broadband service provider Ritter Communications has announced new funding toward the companys expansion into Morrilton, located in the states River Valley. The company has allocated an additional $4 million dollars to continue the ongoing project. As a part of the broadband connectivity expansion, Ritter will now offer customers the companys full suite of telecommunication services, which include television, voice, networking, and custom cloud solutions. The expansion is just one of many ongoing projects within the rural regions of the state, with new developments currently happening in locations that include Texarkana,Pine Bluff, Lonoke, and Arkadelphia. Weve seen dramatic changes in the last year in the way businesses utilize the internet, meaning true 100% fiber internet has become less of a luxury and more of an operational necessity, said Ritter Communications CEO Alan Morse. The Morrilton expansion will make Ritter Communications the first provider in the area to offer XGS-PON service, which will enable business customers to access up to 10 gigabits per second of 100% fiber connectivity. We see the demand for high-quality broadband in Morrilton, with 30 businesses ready to connect, and we look forward to expanding our 100% fiber internet services to more in the Morrilton business community. added Morse Ritter Communications will start turning up zones in May, and we are eager to bring the Morrilton community our advanced business solutions and superior customer service. Please enable JavaScript to view the Edited by Maurice Nagle With rising cases of COVID in India, hospitals are finding it hard to accommodate patients in their isolation wards. The horrific reality came forward once again when the video of a 30-year-old woman who traveled from Hazaribagh to Jharkhand capital Ranchi to admit her COVID-infected father at Sadar Hospital surfaced online. In the video that went viral, the woman narrated how she had to wait in the hospitals parking lot for nearly half an hour before she finally got any help and by that time, her father passed away. It was heart-wrenching to see a daughter pleading for help for her father and no one was there to help her in time of need. On her way out of the hospital with her fathers body, the woman saw the health minister Banna Gupta and confronted him. She can be heard saying, Mantri Ji, doctor doctor chillate reh gaye koi doctor nahi aaya aadhe ghante takyahan ka halat itna kharab hai, yahi mar gaye (papa) tadap tadap kekhali vote lene aate hai (Mr. Minister, we were crying out loud for a doctor, kept asking for a doctor for more than half an hour, nobody came to our rescue the condition is so bad here my father died waitingthey only come here for votes). Heres the video thats going viral: These are scenes youre going to see more and more in the days ahead. Horrifying. pic.twitter.com/ioIdQ6TXBU Shiv Aroor (@ShivAroor) April 14, 2021 After the incident, the health minister asked the Civil Surgeon to do an inquiry into the womans complaint at Sadar Hospital. A woman started crying after her father died. I am shaken by the incident. I have ordered an inquiry, he said. People who saw the video had their own opinions. Some said that its also the responsibility of the citizens to take care of themselves as COVIDs second wave is much more dangerous while some were feeling choked to see her pain and agony. Shiv Aroor Twitter Shiv Aroor Twitter The video shows us the state of the health care infrastructure in Jharkhand. In the last 21 days, more than 144 people in Jharkhand have died of Covid-19. From less than 1,000 active cases, the states cases have climbed to 1,44,594 with 1261 deaths in the state. Its time that we also understand that its better to stay at our homes until very necessary and unavoidable. CORONA, Calif., April 15, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Ikanik Farms, Inc. (CSE: IKNK.U) (the "Company" or "Ikanik Farms") is pleased to announce its wholly owned, Colombian subsidiary Pideka SAS ("Pideka"), has received its production quota from the Colombian government for the production of psychoactive cannabis for the fiscal year, 2021. "We would like to thank the Colombian government for their partnership in completing this process. We are excited to begin our psychoactive production, which will be led by our award-winning California cultivation team, who brings over eight decades of combined experience, to provide California quality to the international markets." said Brian Baca, CEO of Ikanik Farms. Ikanik Farms is multinational operator and authorized producer of pharmaceutical grade, psychoactive cannabis and has been permitted to cultivate a total of 135,000 plants to support dried cannabis flower and derivatives for commercial sale. The quota includes an initial 100,000 plants, across five varieties to support flower production: Pina Narino, La Magdalena, Arequipe Kush, Tolima Limon and Bacata Extra CBD with the annual production capacity of 3,500 kilograms. The THC content exceeds 20% THC in some varieties and is eligible for use in formula magistral nationally and internationally amongst participating LATAM countries and is eligible for exportation to the European Union to support the medical cannabis demand. The additional 35,000 plants of the same varieties are approved to support 1,195 kilograms of flower production for the manufacturing of derivatives. The derivatives will be available for national and international sales. To date, the Company has exported THC from Colombia to Mexico for commercial sale. "We're proud to announce quota granted by the Colombian government for the production of psychoactive flowers and derivatives, as a result of our quality control measures taken within our indoor our seed to sale process." said Borja Sanz de Madrid, President of Ikanik Farms International, Inc. About Ikanik Farms Ikanik Farms is a California based, Multi-National Operator (MNO) who is building a dynamic portfolio of brands, inspired by its passion for health and wellness, action sports, and supported by its vertically integrated retail, distribution and cultivation in CA and its medical grade cultivation and laboratory in Colombia. The company's leadership brings decades of expertise in R&D, cultivation, retail, branding, and corporate finance. Ikanik Farms' operation in Colombia, through its pharma division Pideka, holds both GMP-PHARMA and (GACP) Good Agricultural and Collection Practice certifications for its Casa Flores operating facility. Forward Looking Statements This news release includes "forward-looking information" and "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of Canadian securities laws and United States securities laws (together, "forward-looking information). All information, other than statements of historical facts, included in this news release that address activities, events or developments that the Company expects or anticipates will or may occur in the future is forward-looking information. When used in this news release, words such as "will", "could", "plan", "estimate", "expect", "intend", "may", "potential", "believe", "should", and similar expressions, are forward-looking information. Although the Company has attempted to identify important factors that could cause actual results, performance or achievements to differ materially from those contained in the forward-looking information, there can be other factors that cause results, performance or achievements not to be as anticipated, estimated or intended, including, but not limited to: changes in laws, a change in management, the inability to obtain additional financing, increased competition, hindering market growth and state adoption due to inconsistent public opinion and perception of the medical-use and adult-use marijuana industry and, regulatory or political change. There can be no assurance that such information will prove to be accurate or that management's expectations or estimates of future developments, circumstances or results will materialize. As a result of these risks and uncertainties, the results or events predicted in the forward-looking information may differ materially from actual results or events. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking information. The forward-looking information in this news release is made as of the date of this release. The Company disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise such information, except as required by applicable law, and the Company does not assume any liability for disclosure relating to any other company mentioned herein. On behalf of the Board of Directors of Ikanik Farms Inc. Investor Relations, ir@ikanikfarms.com, +1 951-210-7250 Ecuadoreans on Tuesday reacted to President-elect Guillermo Lasso's goal to carry out a campaign promise to vaccinate nine million people against COVID-19 in the first 100 days of his government. On Sunday, the South American nation elected the conservative businessman for a four year term after voters rebuffed a left-leaning movement that yielded an economic boom and then a recession since taking hold of the presidency last decade. Lasso has labelled his proposed vaccination process "fundamental." However, some medical experts believe that his goal will be difficult to achieve. Epidemiologist Dr. Esteban Ortiz said that the President-elect would have to "coordinate very closely with academia, with medical associations, with scientific societies and be able to deploy a very interesting response to the program." He also said that he believed Ecuador would need to "vaccinate 180,000 people daily" as opposed to the "more or less 20,000" vaccinations which were currently being carried out. Image: AP (Disclaimer: This story is auto-generated from a syndicated feed; only the image & headline may have been reworked by www.republicworld.com) Apr. 14A man bitten by a Spokane police dog used by an officer who was later punished for violating department policy is suing the city alleging use of excessive force. Lucas Ellerman, 30, filed an excessive force lawsuit in Spokane Superior Court against the city and Officers Dan and Scott Lesser. Ellerman, who led the two officers on a chase in February 2019 that ended in his violent and controversial arrest, is seeking more than $650,000 in damages, according to a tort claim filed with the city earlier this year. Tort claims typically are the first step in initiating a lawsuit against a municipality. "Defendants, and each of them, owed a duty to use ordinary care and avoid unreasonably escalating an encounter to the use of excessive force," the lawsuit alleges. Dan Lesser resigned from the K9 unit following the incident and eventually issued an apology for the language he used during the stop. Dan Lesser can be heard in body camera footage of the encounter telling Ellerman "I'm going to put a bullet in your brain" and repeating "I will (expletive) kill you." Dan Lesser called for his nephew, Scott Lesser, to retrieve his dog from his car after pinning the car Ellerman was driving against a snowbank. He then lifted the dog into the cab of the truck, and the dog bit Ellerman on command. Ellerman also alleges Scott Lesser punched him in the head with excessive force, causing a cut above his right eyebrow. Dan Lesser told investigators the punches were necessary to achieve compliance, according to the Spokane Police Ombudsman review of the case. Dan Lesser was reassigned to patrol after his resignation. He serves as a sergeant, department spokesman Sgt. Terry Preuninger said. Preuninger declined to comment on the case. The incident became a point of contention between the Spokane Police Guild and the Office of the Police Ombudsman, which urged a formal investigation. Ombudsman Bart Logue's review of the case later determined the officers endangered themselves and others by approaching the vehicle and hoisting the dog through the window, but the ombudsman is legally prohibited from recommending discipline or scrutinizing discipline decisions made by the police department. Story continues Ellerman visited the hospital twice the day of the arrest for treatment of bite wounds to his lower left leg, according to the tort claim. He pleaded guilty to charges and was moved to the Washington Correction Center in Shelton in April 2019. Shortly thereafter, he again was taken to the hospital for treatment of an ongoing infection, according to the claim. Ellerman is serving a 70-month sentence at Airway Heights Correctional Center after pleading guilty to drug, firearm and eluding police charges. The excessive force lawsuit has been assigned to Spokane Superior Court Judge Michelle Szambelan. No hearing date had been scheduled as of Wednesday. Ellerman is represented by the firm Maxey Law Offices. Advertisement The modified Land Rover that will carry the Duke of Edinburgh's coffin was today spotted at Windsor Castle as members of the King's Troop Royal Horse Artillery rode along the Long Walk in preparation for the funeral. Dozens of riders carrying three guns travelled up to Cambridge Gate this afternoon, where tributes to Prince Philip have been laid following news of the Duke's death aged 99. His funeral will take place at St George's Chapel in the grounds of Windsor Castle at 3pm on Saturday. It is understood a reduced guest list will be in attendance due to Covid-19 restrictions which limit numbers to 30. Members of the King's Troop - a ceremonial unit of the British Army - will fire minute guns from the east lawn of Windsor Castle as the duke's coffin makes its final journey from the castle to St George's Chapel. The guns will fire for the duration of the procession, and the Curfew Tower Bell will toll. During rehearsals today, one of two modified hybrid Land Rovers Prince Philip had personally designed as 'open top' hearses for his funeral was seen approaching Windsor Castle as preparations got underway. The modified Land Rover Defender TD5 130 chassis cab vehicle was made at Land Rover's Solihull factory in 2003, and the duke oversaw a series of changes. He requested a repaint in military green and designed the open top rear and special 'stops' to secure his coffin in place. Prince Philip had asked for the vehicle to be made in place of a traditional gun carriage under Operation Forth Bridge. A second Land Rover - in black - was made in a 'belt and braces' approach in case one breaks down. The Land Rover Defender hearse that will carry Prince Philip's coffin was today seen for the first time at Windsor Castle Philip requested the vehicle (above) - a modified Defender 130 Gun Bus - in place of the traditional gun carriage under Operation Forth Bridge Photographs captured soldiers from the Household Division Foot Guards Regimental Band marching outside Windsor Castle Members of the Household Cavalry Mounted Regiment ride their horses into the grounds of Windsor Castle in Windsor, west of London, on April 15 Military on horseback ride outside Windsor Castle after Prince Philip died at the age of 99 last Friday Prince Philip's funeral will take place at St George's Chapel in the grounds of Windsor Castle at 3pm on Saturday. It is expected a reduced guest list will be in attendance due to Covid-19 restrictions which limit numbers to 30 His creation of the bespoke Land Rover hearse was a 16-year project. Work began in 2003, the year Philip turned 82, and was finished aged 98 in 2019. With heavy duty wheels and angular structure, the sturdy design stands testament to the Duke of Edinburgh's penchant for engineering and functionality. Indeed, Jaguar Land Rover's chief executive has admired Philip's handiwork, hailing his 'impressive knowledge and deep interest in vehicle design, engineering and manufacturing'. Land Rover has maintained the vehicle since it was built and has prepared it for the funeral in collaboration with the Royal Household. Details on the vehicle include matching green hubs, a black front grille, a single cab and no registration plates. The Land Rover's original role would also have been to transport the duke 22 miles from Wellington Arch in central London to Windsor, but the coronavirus pandemic curtailed the long-held plans for military parades in honour of Philip through the streets of both the capital and the Berkshire town. It will be flanked by pall bearers reflecting the duke's special relationships with the military, the Royal Marines, Regiments, Corps and Air Stations. The Land Rover Defender that will be used to transport the coffin of Britain's Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh during the funeral procession is parked in Windsor Castle, Windsor The modified Land Rover Defender TD5 130 chassis cab vehicle was made at Land Rover's Solihull factory in 2003 and the Duke oversaw the modifications requesting a repaint in military green and designing the open top rear and special 'stops' to secure his coffin in place Sailors and Royal Marines during rehearsals for the funeral of the Duke of Edinburgh at HMS Collingwood in Fareham today Sailors stand to attention as they take part in rehearsals for the Duke of Edinburgh's funeral, which will take place on Saturday Soldiers in ceremonial dress arrive at Windsor Castle, after Britain's Prince Philip, husband of Queen Elizabeth, died at the age of 99 Scores of Britons, some sitting with picnic lunches, watched on today as the King's Troop riders rehearsed for Saturday's procession. They began at Combermere Barracks and entered the Long Walk from Albert Road, with photographs also capturing soldiers from the Household Division Foot Guards Regimental Band marching outside Windsor Castle. Members of the Household Cavalry Mounted Regiment were later pictured on horseback near to the Berkshire palace as they rehearsed for the procession, which will be televised live on BBC One from 12.30pm on Saturday. Elsewhere today, sailors and Royal Marines were seen standing at attention as they took part in rehearsals for the funeral of the Duke of Edinburgh at HMS Collingwood in Fareham, Hampshire. A full military procession and members of the Royal Family will accompany Prince Philip's coffin as it makes its final journey from Windsor Castle to St George's Chapel at the weekend. Details of the invited guests are yet to be announced but it is expected that the majority of the reduced guest list will be members of the royal family. Prince Harry will be among those to attend, but pregnant Meghan Markle will not travel from the US following medical advice. Members of The King's Troop Royal Horse Artillery rehearse on the Long Walk in front of Windsor Castle today It was revealed today that members of the Royal Family will not wear military uniform at Philip's funeral. It is understood the Queen has decided that senior royals attending the service should instead be in civilian clothing. The move means the Duke of Sussex will not be one of the only close family members who is not in uniform at the service. Prince Harry lost his honorary military titles after deciding to step down as a senior working royal. Reports also suggest that the Duke of York, who spoke of his father as being 'the grandfather of the nation,' had been considering wearing an admiral's uniform. Prince Andrew stepped down from royal duties following controversy over his friendship with convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein in 2019. He was due to be promoted to Admiral in 2020 to mark his 60th birthday but this did not go ahead following the fallout from his disastrous Newsnight appearance. The no-uniform rule has been described as 'the most eloquent solution to the problem,' a military source told The Sun. Military on horseback inside the gates of Windsor Castle during rehearsal preparations are seen taking place ahead of Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh funeral Soldiers in ceremonial dress arrive at Windsor Castle as rehearsals for the Duke of Edinburgh's funeral took place today Military on horseback make their way up The Long Walk towards Windsor Castle during rehearsal's for Prince Philip's funeral Members of the public watch as the King's Troop Royal Horse Artillery move up the Long Walk, Windsor Castle, Berkshire, during a rehearsal for the funeral of the Duke of Edinburgh The Duke's funeral will take place at St George's Chapel in the grounds of Windsor Castle at 3pm on Saturday. It is understood a reduced guest list will be in attendance due to Covid-19 restrictions which limit numbers to 30 The decision is a break with tradition for ceremonial royal funerals and will contrast with the strong military presence which will be on show to honour Philip, who served with distinction in the Second World War. The Queen has continued to work as she grieves, carrying out an official engagement on Wednesday to formally welcome her new Lord Chamberlain to his post. She hosted a ceremony at Windsor Castle for Baron Parker who will oversee Philip's funeral as part of his role as the most senior official in the royal household. Today, Prince Charles was in tears and looked to the heavens as he and his wife Camilla inspected thousands of tributes left for his father by members of the public. The Prince of Wales and Duchess of Cornwall were moved by the sea of bouquets, cards and other items left by the Duke of Edinburgh's mourners in the Royal Parks and at the gates of Buckingham Palace. A soldier in ceremonial dress seen through a door at Windsor Castle today as rehearsals took place for Prince Philip's funeral Soldiers from the Kings Troop Royal Horse Artillery taking part in a rehearsal ahead of the funeral of the Duke of Edinburgh Royal Marines are pictured during rehearsals for the funeral of the Duke of Edinburgh at HMS Collingwood in Fareham It was revealed today that members of the Royal Family will not wear military uniform at Philip's funeral. It is understood the Queen has decided that senior royals attending the service should instead be in civilian clothing The royal couple paused for long periods as they looked at the piles of tributes, and looked particularly sad when they saw a toy Land Rover, his father's favourite car, which Philip asked to be the hearse to carry his coffin this weekend. The flowers and condolence messages were transferred from outside the palace and the parks such as St James' Park to the nearby private gardens at Marlborough House, which is the headquarters of Commonwealth Foundation. Marlborough House is just along The Mall from Buckingham Palace in central London, and Charles had tears in his eyes this morning while inspecting the flowers and reading cards left for his father as well as notes laid for his mother and other mourning members of the Royal Family. Flowers, cards and balloons left at Windsor Castle, where the Duke of Edinburgh's funeral takes place on Saturday, have also been collected and placed in the grounds for royals to see them. A Clarence House spokesman said: 'Today, the Prince of Wales and the Duchess of Cornwall visited Marlborough House Gardens to view a selection of flowers left by members of the public in memory of The Duke of Edinburgh. 'The flowers and condolence messages have been moved from outside Buckingham Palace and within the Royal Parks to the private gardens at Marlborough House. 'The Royal Parks will continue to move the flowers during this period of National Mourning. Marlborough House Gardens was chosen so as not to encourage crowds from gathering outside the Royal Palaces due to Covid-19.' Land Rover hearse that Philip designed himself: Open top Defender TD5 130 was custom built to Duke's orders at manufacturer's Solihull factory in 16-year project - including new coat of military green paint By Jack Elsom for MailOnline For 16 years Prince Philip tinkered and toiled on a secret project he knew he would never live to see used - the hearse to carry his own coffin. Now, two days before his funeral on Saturday, the custom-made Land Rover designed by the Duke has been unveiled for the first time. His work on the bespoke Land Rover Defender TD5 130 chassis cab begun in 2003, the year he turned 82, and was finished aged 98 in 2019. The open top rear has been modified to fit his coffin and equipped with special rubber grips on silver pins - known as the 'stops' - to keep it secure while it makes the journey through Windsor to St George's Chapel. A military man to his core, Philip also requested the original Belize Green paintwork was changed to Dark Bronze Green like those used by the armed forces. Now, two days before his funeral on Saturday, the custom-made Land Rover designed by the Duke has been unveiled for the first time The Land Rover Defender hearse that will carry Philip's coffin is seen for the first time as it is driven into Windsor Castle today His work on the bespoke Land Rover Defender TD5 130 chassis cab begun in 2003, the year he turned 82, and was finished aged 98 in 2019 The open top rear has been modified to fit his coffin and equipped with special rubber grips on silver pins - known as the 'stops' - to keep it secure while it makes the journey through Windsor to St George's Chapel For 16 years Prince Philip tinkered and toiled on a secret project he knew he would never live to see used - the hearse to carry his own coffin The military green repaint was one of many modifications Philip made to the vehicle, that was first built a the manufacturer's Solihull factory. With heavy duty wheels and angular structure, the sturdy design stands testament to the Duke's penchant for engineering and functionality. Indeed, Jaguar Land Rover's chief executive has admired Philip's handiwork, hailing his 'impressive knowledge and deep interest in vehicle design, engineering and manufacturing'. Land Rover has maintained the vehicle since it was built and has prepared it for the funeral in collaboration with the Royal Household. Chief executive Thierry Bollore said: 'We are deeply privileged to have enjoyed a very long and happy association with the Duke of Edinburgh over many decades. 'We are also honoured that the Land Rover which the duke designed will be used at the funeral on Saturday. 'The duke was a tremendous champion for design, engineering and technology. 'During his visits to our sites he engaged with hundreds of employees and demonstrated his impressive knowledge and deep interest in vehicle design, engineering and manufacturing. 'The duke was a truly remarkable man and will be greatly missed.' The military green repaint was one of many modifications Philip made to the vehicle, that was first built a the manufacturer's Solihull factory Details on the vehicle include matching green hubs, a black front grille, a single cab and no registration plates With heavy duty wheels and angular structure, the sturdy design stands testament to the Duke's penchant for engineering and functionality Details on the vehicle include matching green hubs, a black front grille, a single cab and no registration plates. The Duke used Land Rovers throughout his adult life and granted his Royal Warrant to Land Rover over 40 years ago. He visited Jaguar Land Rover's manufacturing facilities on numerous occasions over the decades and accompanied the Queen when she opened Jaguar Land Rover's new Engine Manufacturing Centre in Wolverhampton in 2014. The Land Rover's original role would also have been to transport the duke 22 miles from Wellington Arch in central London to Windsor, but the coronavirus pandemic curtailed the long-held plans for military parades in honour of Philip through the streets of both the capital and the Berkshire town. It will be flanked by pall bearers reflecting the duke's special relationships with the military, the Royal Marines, Regiments, Corps and Air Stations. Palace officials have told how the duke's interest in design sparked his desire to make the Land Rover and include it in his funeral plans, codenamed Operation Forth Bridge. Two Land Rovers were made for 'belt and braces' in case a backup was needed. In 2019, the duke, then 97, was driving a Land Rover Freelander when he was involved in a serious car crash involving a mother and a baby. The car Philip was driving was hit by another vehicle when he pulled out of a driveway on the Sandringham estate in Norfolk on to a busy A road, after being dazzled by the low sun. The duke's car flipped over and he was trapped, and had to be rescued through the sunroof by a passing motorist. He was miraculously unscathed. The baby was unhurt, but both women in the other vehicle had to be treated in hospital, and one broke her wrist. Three weeks after the crash, Buckingham Palace announced that Philip's driving days on public roads were finally over and that he had voluntarily surrendered his driving licence. The CPS later confirmed Philip would face no action over the crash. Slovaks recall the Duke of Edinburghs sense of humour What was it like to meet Prince Philip? Some Slovaks know well. Prince Philip and young people who took part in the Duke of Edinburgh's Award talk at Buckingham Palace in 2012. (Source: DofE) Font size: A - | A + It was because of the Duke of Edinburghs Award Scheme, which he completed in Great Britain, and a meeting with Prince Philip in the nineties, that Matej Sapak, a young Slovak student keen on physics and informatics, found the courage to apply for Harvard. That experience opened my eyes, Sapak, now the headmaster of the LEAF Academy, said. Millions of young people, including Slovaks, have challenged themselves, acquired life skills and helped their communities through the Award Scheme, a global youth development program co-founded by Prince Philip, the Duke of Edinburgh, in 1956. Sapak is a gold award holder. It allowed me to think about what a man could do if he had a little luck, perseverance and was looking for ways to do additional things on top of the usual, the headmaster added. 15. Apr 2021 at 18:58 | Peter Dlhopolec Rubio: Nobody in GOP Can Defeat Trump in 2024 If former President Donald Trump decides to run for president in 2024, no Republican can defeat him, said Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) in an interview Wednesday. It came after Trump endorsed Rubio, the ranking Republican on the Senate Intelligence Committee, for reelection in 2022. Rubio described Trump as the most popular and most influential Republican in America if the former president runs for the White House in 2024. Trump has not yet made a decision on whether he will run again. If he decides to run for the president and the nomination, hes going to be the partys nominee, Rubio told Newsmax. Thats the way I see it. Rubio clarified: He hasnt made that decision. Its still a long way down the road, but if Donald Trump decides to run in 2024 again, hes going to be the Republican nominee, and I think almost everyone that Ive talked to would agree with that. Last week, Trump endorsed Rubioa former 2016 GOP presidential opponentfor his reelection. Marco has been a tireless advocate for the people of Florida, Trump said in a statement. Marco will never let the great people of Florida, or our Country, down! The former president said that he was pleased with how Rubio headed the Senate Intelligence Committee with Republicans had the majority in the upper chamber. He also ruled that President Trump was in no way involved with Russia, as he presided over the Senate Intelligence Committee on the FAKE Russia, Russia, Russia Hoax, Trump, whose primary residence is in Palm Beach, added in his statement, which was released via his Save America PAC. Referring to the former presidents endorsement, Rubio said in the Newsmax interview: This is an extra-special endorsement because hes a resident and voter in Florida. So I dont just need his endorsement, I need his vote and the votes of all his family who are also moving to Florida. The former commander-in-chiefs endorsement came as there was speculation his daughter, Ivanka Trump, would possibly challenge Rubio for his seat. Ivanka responded to those reports, telling news outlets that Marco has been a tremendous advocate for working families, a good personal friend, and I know he will continue to drive meaningful progress on issues we both care deeply about. If Trump decides to run in 2024, he would likely have to reestablish himself on social media after Twitter, Facebook, and others suspended his account in January. An aide to Trump, Jason Miller, said in a March interview that a possible social media platform backed by Trump is being developed and could be ready within three months. Help India! The Bhil tribal belt of Gujarat celebrates Holi according to their rituals. The celebration of Holi is integral in the Bhil tribe as it symbolizes the end of the winter harvesting season. People devote their harvested crop to their deities as an offering. Mitesh Vasava, TwoCircles.net Support TwoCircles Gujarat: Holi is widely commemorated in the Adivasis region of the Indian states of Gujarat, Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh. The Bhil tribal belt of Gujarat celebrates Holi according to their rituals. The celebration of Holi is integral in the Bhil tribe as it symbolizes the end of the winter harvesting season. People devote their harvested crop to their deities as an offering. Every year during these festive days of Holi, Ghariya Mahotsav (Festival) is organized at each tehsil of Narmada district in the western Indian state of Gujarat for a week after Holi Dahan, the ritual that symbolizes the victory of good over evil. On the eve of Holi, typically at or after sunset, the pyre is lit, signifying Holika Dahan. Ghariya are the people who dance during the festive days wearing fancy clothes. Adivasi people gather at Haat, which is an open-air market that serves as a trading venue for local people in rural areas, to watch Gariyas dance, play games, enjoy fun rides and do shopping. Young boys and girls also come to the Haat to find a partner. During these five days of festivities, music is played and people dance with their friends and relatives. However, the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic has impacted this widely celebrated festival. The most affected due to the pandemic are the local businesses, restaurants, and local vendors. In 2020, the local businesses had earned good profits due to both national and international tourist footfall. This helped the Adivasis to survive in the lockdown. However, due to the rise in the Covid-19 cases this year, local people avoided mass gatherings. The Haat is deserted and there is no carnival organized by the Gariyas (performers). Compared to the previous year, there is so much change this year. Not many Bodiya (fancy-dressed performers) have come. Last year, during this time on the 3rd day of celebration, I saw around 15-17 groups who were performing. The Haats this year are also deserted. I dont think police gave permission to Gariyas in major town areas of Narmada district, Soni Ben Vasava, 77, from Ramgadh village, Rajpipla tehsil of Narmada district told TwoCircles.net. Soni Ben Vasava has witnessed generations of Holi celebrations of the Narmada district region. Vasava has also seen changes in rites of Adivasis. When we were young, we used to collect Indigo, Butea flowers (Palash flowers) to play Holi. Earlier people used natural things like banana and neem leaves to become Ghariya and people gave them food and grains as a donation. Now Ghariya only wants money. There were also ritual animal sacrifices, which are no longer performed in most of the villages, she says. Vasava further said that, although there are still some villages in the deep forest which till date celebrate Holi in the old ways, but people now buy everything from Haat or the market. Vasava says that the colour used in Holi these days is artificial, which is not good. People are becoming more market-oriented. They are not enthusiastic as earlier people were, she comments. Umeed Bhai Vasava, (37) is the Shaman (a person regarded as having access to, and influence in, the world of good and evil spirits) of Khatamla village, Rajpipla, Narmada district. Talking to TwoCircles.net, he says, During these festive days, people do not work and celebrate day and night. People whose vow is fulfilled should give up their comfortable life like sleeping on the bed, eating non-veg and drinking liquor. A person whose vows have been fulfilled has to spend a month sleeping on the floor in an empty room. Because of Covid-19, this year many people did not perform votive. They are just offering grains and fruits to deities. This year, the enthusiasm amongst people is quite low as compared to previous years, the Shaman added. Elaborate Holi celebrations Preparation for the Holi for the Adivasi people starts a week before the festive day and celebrations go on for one week after the Holi. Dates of organizing Haats (a weekly market funfair) are decided locally by Panchayat members and conveyed to local authorities. On these festive days, people visit their hometown from wherever they may be residing. While preparing for Holi, parents tie Gadi (Donuts made of cow pats) around the wood used for the pyre. The ritual is performed for welfare of their children. Before the commencement of Holi Dahan, the village Shaman performs the rituals and dedicates the harvest to local deities. After completing these rites, the Shaman goes to the Holi site to fire the stack of woods. Women perform rituals like offering water and dhanni (popcorns) to the fire. After these ritualistic prayers, men, women, and children dance around Holi on the drum beats, flute, shehnai and tarp music till midnight. The Adivasis also pray for their ancestors and loved ones who have passed away and also prepare a separate meal for them. Adivasi men play a special role by performing rites dances called Gariya dance. The dancers wear a special attire on the occasion, which includes a dhoti, a long scarf to wrap around the neck to the waist, a ghungroo belt (anklet bells) on the waist or a hat of peacock feathers, and small circle-marks on the body. Every Adivasi village has a unique dress code. Haat is a place where everyone is gathered. Rajpipla, Dediapada and Netrang and Sagbara of Narmada district, Gujarat are some of the major places where these funfairs are organized on these festive days. People go to watch Gariya and to dance and eat. Handmade toys, utensils, swords, knives, bows and arrows made by the Adivasis are displayed. On normal days, girls wear salwar and suit, while married women wear Sarees. The boys and men wear trousers and shirt. However, during the festive days, girls wear traditional plain salwar and choli with heavy silver ornaments, whereas boys usually wear dhoti half-shoulder shirts or trouser-shirts. During the celebration, the tradition is that unmarried boys and girls (potential groom and bride) have the right to select their partners. If a girl and a boy are interested in each other they will exchange things, such as a snack or a paan (betel leaves prepared and used as a stimulant), for consent. Village kids do roadblock with pairs of ropes and bamboo sticks to collect Fagwa (aid) from every visitor. They were happy with the few coins they get. The kids use this money to buy snacks and other things from the Haat. 2020 began with Australia ablaze, forests from Brazil to Siberia have been devastated, with billions of human and non-human lives destroyed. The global pandemic has changed everyone's life, and other disasters both natural and man-made recur regularly. "... what I demand passionately of us all is a clear recognition of our problem and the will to solve it," says pioneering Australian activist of the '60s and '70s Brian Medlin in his seminal environmental essay 'Ecological Crisis and Social Order' which calls for revolutionary action and informed thought to save the planet and progress humanity towards a better future. Decades later, a new book of collected writings entitled The Level-headed Revolutionary, by the celebrated philosopher, environmentalist and Flinders University academic Brian Medlin (1927-2004), is as cogent as ever, providing sage insights for these tumultuous times. How to stay sane and constructive in the face of environmental crisis and the very meaning of life and death are covered in the book's chapters. Written more than 30 years ago, 'Ecological Crisis and Social Order' calls humans to recognise their place in the natural world, embracing all of nature - including cockroaches. "We shall never be safe in the world for as long as we think only of our own safety in it, that we shall never properly cherish our resources while we think of them only as resources," he writes. "Amongst the many bad features of this limited perception of the world, the worst is that it readily goes over into an adversarial attitude to non-human nature. "We are taught contempt so that we will buy Mortein: 'If you hate cockroaches as much as I do ...', begins the nice young man in the commercial. "Well, I for one don't hate cockroaches and I commend them to your interest and admiration. They have beautiful mouth-parts and their behaviour is engaging. "The non-human world is to be valued, but not simply because it may serve humankind. Nor is it to be valued as an extension of ourselves. Not even as a means of self-realisation. "It is to be valued for itself, because it has value in itself. Until we win our way back to a proper reverence for non-human nature, we shall remain lost in a world growing ever more hostile to us." Brian Herbert Medlin (1927 - 2004) was Foundation Professor of Philosophy at Flinders University from 1967 to 1988. He pioneered radical philosophy in Australian universities and played an active role in the campaign against the Vietnam War. He wrote Human Nature Human Survival Flinders University (1992) and his ideas feature in another anthology Never Mind about the Bourgeoisie: The Correspondence between Iris Murdoch and Brian Medlin 1976-1995. Edited by Gillian Dooley and Graham Nerlich (Cambridge Scholars Press, 2014). His writings say people have choices, and one is to confront daunting challenges and take positive actions. "Some may think it difficult. Of course it's bloody difficult. It's probably the hardest task that the human species has ever set itself. "Well, just our luck that it falls to us then. Those who despair will find it daunting. For us, however, it is challenging. And we are the ones who'll do the job." "The fact is that without passions and desires, reason is simply undirected, goal-less," Medlin also says in the essay 'Objective Despair'. "Thought needs motivation and this applies to scientific thought as well as to any other. In fact, given the daily tides of ideological sludge against which we must make way, it is so hard to be reasonable that only a passionate person can hope to bring it off." British author Dame Iris Murdoch, who forged a strong friendship with Medlin, says humane, witty and vigorous words are prophetic. "Brian Medlin is a poet as well as a philosopher. He is also a prophet crying out to his people. Prophets are needed," she writes in the book. The Level-headed Revolutionary editors, Flinders research fellow Dr Gillian Dooley, another student and close friend of Brian Medlin academic Wallace McKitrick, and 1970s Flinders graduate and philosopher Dr Susan Petrilli, selected the contents from a rich anthology. This includes stories of growing up in a working class family in South Australia's Mid North, and the nature of philosophy and the contemporary university. "(Medlin) is the best writer of all Anglophone philosophers since the second world war," UK Professor Roy Edgley also writes in the foreword. "His work reveals a strongly Australian character." As Brian Medlin himself writes: "As a level-headed revolutionary, a real conservative, what I demand passionately of us all is a clear recognition of our problem and the will to solve it." The book, The Level-headed Revolutionary (Essays, Stories and Poems by Brian Medlin), has been published by Wakefield Press (RRP $34.95). https:/ / www. dropbox. com/ sh/ pbwult4t8afr1hp/ AADDXHuSXeICJ0FBWEM19459a?dl= 0 ### For the seventh consecutive year, Bulgari presents a new Octo Finissimo model and a new world record for thinness with a brand-new perpetual calendar. As a reminder, Bulgari has received over 60 awards since 2014 for its Octo Finissimo collection, including the Grand Prix dHorlogerie de Geneve that was awarded a prize for its mastery of ultra-thinness in contemporary fine watchmaking. The Bulgari Octo Finissimo is also well-known for its simple three-hand automatic wristwatch, as well as for its chronograph, tourbillon, and minute repeater, all of which are the thinnest in the world. The Octo Finissimo Perpetual Calendar automatic calibre comprises over 400 components that are assembled in a space that measures only 2.75mm high. When cased, the timepiece also only measures 5.8mm! This mastery of both complications and miniaturization is accompanied by a radical aesthetic that is unique to Bulgari and is highly prized by discerning collectors and fans of strong design. Since 2017, this style of modern elegance has been perfectly embodied in the collections full titanium cases, which also steal the show here. However, a second version is also available in platinum, expressing a completely different look and also highlighting the perpetual calendar functions slightly better thanks to better legibility. Looking ahead to Geneva Watch Days 2021 Managing Director of Bulgari watches, Antoine Pin, explains to WorldTempus the approach behind this piece of fine watchmaking that was unveiled during Watches And Wonders 2021 digital edition. In this video made at the brands Neuchatel headquarters, Pin confirms his intention to organize the second edition of Geneva Watch Days at the beginning of September 2021. Like last year, this will be a physical event. All the brands which followed Bulgaris (and Bulgari Group CEO Jean-Christophe Babins) initiative last summer are predicted to participate again. They were Artya, Bovet, Breitling, Carl F. Bucherer, Czapek, De Bethune, Ferdinand Berthoud, Girard-Perregaux, H. Moser & Cie, Louis Moinet, Maurice Lacroix, MB&F, Reuge, Ulysse Nardin and Urwerk. Pandemic permitting, Geneva Watch Days 2021 is expected to attract even more brands. WorldTempus was the official media partner, along with GMT magazine. Bulgari - Interview with Jean-Christophe Babin, CEO of Bulgari - Geneva Watch Days - WorldTempus Bulgari - Interview with Antoine Pin - People and Interviews - WorldTempus Geneva Watch Days - 200 Watches in 4 Days ? Bring it on ! - Geneva Watch Days - WorldTempus Bulgari - Novelties from Bulgari - Watches and Wonders - WorldTempus TRINIDAD and Tobago Unit Trust Corporation (UTC) executive director, Nigel Edwards, says the changes the 39-year-old financial institution is undergoing at this time are transformational. The UTC is now in the middle of a three-year cycle of strategic changes that will culminate in 2023 and beyond, he said. Former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said President Joe Biden is correct in the Afghanistan troop withdrawal, though he needs to get it done right. The date set for troops to leave is September 11 this year, but he stresses the military pullout's execution. Afghanistan Troop Withdrawal crucial for the United States Pompeo said that it wouldn't be easy if the Biden administration assumes there will be no hitches; it begins on May 1, reported the Epoch Times. He was one of the Trump-era panel members who talked with the Taliban on how US troops will be withdrawn from Afghanistan. There should be coordination and collaboration with Taliban officials to draft a formal agreement for US troops by May 1, the same as the current administration's intended date. Key points were fewer hostilities and no terrorism anymore, also to start Intra-Afghan peace talks. On Fox News' "America Reports," Pompeo was quoted saying, "We reduced [troops] from 10,000 plus to around 2,500 on our watch, and ... [we did] everything we could to make sure we were never attacked from Afghanistan again." Biden was quoted on Wednesday that it is now "time to end America's longest war" and "time for American troops to return home," adding that September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks in New York City "cannot explain" why US troops should stay in Central Asia. Taliban Support for Al Qaeda Terrorists Is Against US Agreement to Sever All Ties He claims to have decided after talking to Vice President Kamala Harris, military officials, and even ex-President George Bush. Pompeo stated that the groundwork was set by ex-president Trump and his administration, which is the blueprint Biden is using. How many special operations troops will be left in Afghanistan is not definite, according to the president. To date, 1,000 special ops forces are still there. Pompeo said the US would be lessening its presence in the Asian country, which should be done with the past administration's blueprint. He said that President Trump preceded Biden, who set the policies to move out troops to make a point. He added the leader of the unrest in Iran, not Afghanistan, as caution. Pompeo said that execution is important to ensure a smooth withdrawal as a parting shot to the Biden administration. He added that coalition forces should be part of the process, said that the Taliban needs to make a crucial decision that matters a lot. Taliban can be pariahs and trouble makers or help find peace with the Afghan government. If all Afghan conflict parties decide to work together, it means developing the country from continual conflict, but they have to get their act together. Violence has happened with regularity without ending, putting US and Coalition forces in alert. Not all agree that pulling out troops is the right thing to do; Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) calls the plan a mistake. Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) said that leaving Afghanistan will be a nasty self-inflicted wound. Even with Afghanistan's troop withdrawal from the Trump era, the GOP doesn't believe that President Biden can pull it off. Obama Administration Allotted Money to an Al-Qaeda Affiliate From 2014 to 2015 @ 2021 HNGN, All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. More people died than were born in Slovakia for the first time in 17 years The number of people who immigrated to the country significantly exceeded the number of people who emigrated. Font size: A - | A + The mortality rate for Slovakia in 2020 was higher than the birth rate. The number of deaths reached 59,100 people last year, while 56,700 children were born. For the first time since 2003, mortality exceeded natality, the Statistics Office informed. In 2020, Slovakia suffered its worst death toll since the end of WW2 Read more In terms of population, Slovakia had 5,459,781 inhabitants at the end of 2020, 49 percent men and 51 percent women, meaning the number of inhabitants increased by 1,908 people in y-o-y comparison. The growth in population was thanks to an increase in migration, where the number of people who immigrated to the country significantly exceeded the number of people who emigrated. In the last ten years, the increase in population in Slovakia has risen from 5,000 to 12,000 inhabitants per year. Out of the overall number of immigrants, 58.2 percent were Slovaks. Consequence of the pandemic At the same time, the number of emigrants dropped to the lowest value since 2012. More than 2,400 people moved from the country. It is one of the consequences of the Covid-19 pandemic, said Zuzana Podmanicka from the Statistics Office, as quoted by the SITA newswire. The number of deaths continues breaking long-term averages Read more The number of deceased in y-o-y comparison was 5,900 higher because of the pandemic, representing an increase of more than 10 percent. The birth-rate decreased in Slovakia over the same period. Altogether, 56,650 successful births occurred in Slovakia, 404 less than in 2019. Overall the population decreased by 2,439. The number of children born was also lower than the average over the previous five years (2015 to 2019) when there were 57,200 successful births per year. 15. Apr 2021 at 17:33 | Compiled by Spectator staff VANCOUVER, British Columbia, April 15, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Hanstone Gold Corp. (TSX.V: HANS, FSE: HGO) (Hanstone or the Company) is pleased to provide a summary of the results from the UAV Magnetic Survey (the mag survey) undertaken on its flagship Doc Property, located within 2km of the Kyba Red Line in British Columbias prolific mining district known as the Golden Triangle. The survey resulted in the generation of several additional potential drill targets for the planned 2021 drill program. Two of the magnetic low anomalies, coincidental with previously known historically drilled mineralized structures, were verified with significant gold intersections during the 2020 large diameter core drill program (see December 3, 2020 Company News Release). A photo accompanying this announcement is available at https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/65307a6e-d678-43db-bd7f-5843dfe2bc99 Kyba Red Line: World-class porphyry/intrusion related Au-Cu deposits occur with 2 km of the Kyba Red Line (Northern Miner, 2015) Doc zone core drilling and surface sampling in 2020 returned several high gold grades with assays as high as 241.89 g/t Au surface sample and 113.7 g/t Au in drill core over 1.28 meters. Results from the 2020 drill program on the neighbouring Q26 zone also returned significant gold assays including 5.1 g/t Au over 1.97 m and 2.2 g/t Au over 6.0 meters. The results of the mag survey carried out in late 2020 demonstrate that both the Doc and Q26 zones are associated with low magnetic signatures (blue) and adjacent magnetic highs to the west (red) of each low. Based on the 2020 drill results, it appears the gold bearing mineralized structures and vein systems occur proximal to the transition between the magnetic highs and lows. A photo accompanying this announcement is available at https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/d6c7be8f-9e31-4c5e-9cf0-b7cd43a6e0b7 The mag survey also outlined a much larger, deep seated area of low magnetic density bordered by a high magnetic area to the west known as the Doc Offset. The significantly larger Doc Offset zone is one of the many potential targets to be investigated in 2021 with surface mapping, sampling, and potential drill testing. As shown in the figure below, the Q26, Doc and the Doc Offset all exhibit the same low magnetic profile. These zones may have been part of a larger mineralized system that has been offset by strike slip faulting. Current plans are to test this theory during the 2021 exploration program with mapping and sampling and possible drill testing of this deeper seated magnetic low occurrence. A photo accompanying this announcement is available at https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/a65615d7-144b-46e2-bd7c-66d969301864 Concurrent with the follow-up of untested mag survey areas, the 2021 drill program will focus on the Doc and Q26 zones to extend the known mineralized structures both along strike and at depth with the goal of outlining an NI 43-101 compliant preliminary mineral resource on the Doc Property. Additional information can be found on the companys website at www.hanstonegold.com . Ray Marks, President and CEO of Hanstone stated: Management is confident that the results of the UAV Magnetic Survey can assist in the planning of the 2021 exploration and the locations of drill program priority targets. The magnetic signatures appear to be coincidental with the previously known mineralized occurrences and have uncovered previously unexplored potential targets for further evaluation. Hanstone is excited to test the newly interpreted Doc Offset which seems analogous to the mineralized Doc and Q26 areas. We are all looking forward to providing our shareholders with an exciting 2021 drilling and exploration program that is designed to further define potential mineral resources and additional targets for exploration and future development. About Hanstone: Hanstone is a precious and base metals explorer with its current focus on the Doc and Snip North Projects optimally located in the heart of the prolific mineralized area of British Columbia known as the Golden Triangle. The Golden Triangle is an area which hosts numerous producing and past-producing mines and several large deposits that are approaching potential development. The Company holds a 100% earn in option in the 1,704-hectare Doc Project and owns a 100% interest in the 3,336-hectare Snip North Project. Hanstone has a highly experienced team of industry professionals with a successful track record in the discovery of gold deposits and in developing mineral exploration projects through discovery to production. Ray Marks, President and Chief Executive Officer The technical information in this news release has been reviewed and approved by Doug Engdahl, P.Geo. (President & CEO, Axiom), and Matthew Schwab, P.Geo. (Senior VP, Axiom), each of whom is a Qualified Person for the Company as defined under National Instrument 43-101 - Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects ("NI 43-101"). For Further Information Contact: Carrie Howes, Director of Communications+1-778-551-8488, carrie.howes@hanstonegold.com Or visit the Companys website at www.hanstonegold.com. Cautionary Statement Regarding Forward Looking Information: The information contained herein contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of the United States Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 and forward-looking information within the meaning of applicable Canadian securities legislation. Forward-looking information includes, but is not limited to, statements with respect to the activities, events, or developments that the Company expects or anticipates will or may occur in the future. Generally, but not always, forward-looking information and statements can be identified using words such as plans, expects, is expected, budget, scheduled, estimates, forecasts, intends, anticipates, or believes or the negative connotation thereof 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 or the negative connotation thereof. Forward-looking information and statements are based on the then current expectations, beliefs, assumptions, estimates and forecasts about Hanstones business and the industry and markets in which it operates and will operate. Forward-looking information and statements are made based upon numerous assumptions, including among others, the results of planned exploration activities are as anticipated, the price of gold, the cost of planned exploration activities, that financing will be available if needed and on reasonable terms, that third party contractors, equipment, supplies and governmental and other approvals required to conduct Hanstones planned exploration activities will be available on reasonable terms and in a timely manner and that general business and economic conditions will not change in a material adverse manner. Although the assumptions made by the Company in providing forward-looking information or making forward-looking statements are considered reasonable by management at the time, there can be no assurance that such assumptions will prove to be accurate. Forward-looking information and statements also involve known and unknown risks and uncertainties and other factors, which may cause actual results, performances, and achievements of Hanstone to differ materially from any projections of results, performances, and achievements of Hanstone expressed or implied by such forward-looking information or statements, including, among others, negative operating cash flow and dependence on third party financing, uncertainty of the availability of additional financing, the risk that future assay results will not confirm previous results, imprecision of mineral resource estimates, the uncertainty of commodity prices, aboriginal title and consultation issues, exploration risks, reliance upon key management and other personnel, deficiencies in the Companys title to its properties, uninsurable risks, failure to manage conflicts of interest, failure to obtain or maintain required permits and licenses, changes in laws, regulations and policy, competition for resources and financing, or other approvals. Although the Company has attempted to identify important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those contained in the forward-looking information or implied by 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 forward-looking information and statements will prove to be accurate, as actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated, estimated or intended. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements or information. The Company undertakes no obligation to update or reissue forward-looking information because of new information or events except as required by applicable securities laws. Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. Mumbai, April 15 : Actress Sonam Kapoor Ahuja uploaded a video on Thursday where she expressed her support to the Film Heritage Foundation, and the work the organisation has been doing to preserve timeless classics. The actress put up multiple pictures in one post, along with a video to show the work and the need to preserve film heritage. She also hopes that future generations see the kind of efforts veterans have put into the art of cinema. In the Instagram caption, she wrote: "Being a second generation actor in a family that celebrates cinema, I've grown up watching my peers and relatives give their all to each film they've been in. I would want the future generation to not just be able to see their passion, but also witness what it is like to pour their heart out in films. My decision to associate with Film Heritage Foundation is a testament to how strongly I feel about preserving our heritage for the future to see, appreciate and love." Sonam hails from a film family. Her father Anil Kapoor, uncle Sanjay Kapoor and younger brother Harsh Varrdhan Kapoor are actors, too, as are cousins Arjun and Janhvi Kapoor. Her sister Rhea and uncle Boney Kapoor are producers, while Boney's wife, late Sridevi, was one of the biggest superstars of Bollywood. Sonam will soon be seen in the film "Blind". For the role , she has been learning the body language of the visually impaired. A shopper thought he was watching a huge worm writhing in a plastic-wrapped lettuce he had just brought home from a supermarket in Australia until a snake tongue flicked. I kind of completely freaked out when I saw this little tongue come out of its mouth and start flicking around and realised it was a snake because worms dont have tongues, Alex White said on Thursday. I definitely kind of panicked a bit, he added. It was a venomous paled-headed snake that authorities say made a 540-mile journey to Sydney from a Toowoomba packing plant wrapped in plastic with a pair of cos lettuces. The refrigerated supermarket supply chain likely lulled the cold-blooded juvenile into a stupor until Mr White bought the lettuces at an inner-city Aldi supermarket on Monday evening and rode his bicycle home with salad and snake in his backpack. Mr White and his partner Amelia Neate spotted the snake moving as soon as the lettuces were unpacked on to the kitchen table. They also noticed the plastic wrapping was torn and that the snake could escape, so they quickly stuffed the reptile with the lettuces into a plastic food storage container. White phoned the WIRES rescue organisation and a snake handler took the snake away that night. The venomous paled-headed snake photographed in Sydney (Gary Pattinson/WIRES via AP) Before the handler arrived, Mr White said WIRES had explained to him: If you get bitten, youve got to go to hospital really quickly. Aldi is investigating how a snake could have found its way into a supermarket. Weve worked with the customer and the team at WIRES to identify the snakes natural habitat, which is certainly not an Aldi store! the German-based supermarket chain said in a statement. We are working closely with our produce supplier to investigate how this incident could have possibly occurred, Aldi said. WIRES reptile coordinator Gary Pattinson said while the snake was less than 20cm (8in) long, it was as venomous as it will ever be. Mr Pattinson is caring for the snake until it is returned to Queensland state next week, following the WIRES policy of returning rescued wildlife to where it comes from. Its the first snake Ive ever had in sealed, packed produce, Mr Pattinson said. We get frogs in them all the time. Ms Neate said her brush with a venomous snake in a Sydney kitchen was a setback in her efforts to assure relatives in Germany that Australias notoriously deadly Outback wildlife was nothing to worry about. For the last 10 years or so, Ive told my family at home that Australias a really safe country, Ms Neate said. Ive always said Im just in the city, its totally fine here, she added. Real Madrid's season continues to go from strength to strength. And that's not only to the delight of their fans, but also the club's accountants. With Los Blancos getting to the semi-finals of the Champions League - an outcome many wouldn't have predicted after their poor start to the campaign - they now stand to potentially make as much as 100 million euros in revenue from the competition. The group stages netted them 56.2 million euros, and they could stand to make a further 40 million euros from TV and other commercial avenues. Real Madrid should also stand to gain more from being the last Spanish team left in the competition, but the exact figure won't be known until the winners are crowned. What's clear is that this money is coming into the club's coffers at just the right time, given the huge hole left by the lack of fans coming to games. Including the upcoming visit of Chelsea, Los Merengues will have played six games at the Estadio Alfredo Di Stefano in the Champions League this term, with no gate receipts. If Zinedine Zidane and his charges make it to the final of the competition, they will land 15 million euros, with the winner of that game taking home a further 19 million euros. In 2019, Barcelona - as a result of the competition's 'market pool' pot split - made 117 million euros from the competition, despite only reaching the semi-finals. The winners of the 2020 edition - Bayern Munich - made 83 million euros last year, a reduced figure due to playing fewer matches as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. Source: Xinhua| 2021-04-16 01:00:29|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close ANKARA, April 15 (Xinhua) -- A Turkish soldier was killed in a rocket attack on Turkey's military compound in northern Iraq, the Turkish defense ministry said Thursday. The rocket attack was carried out on Wednesday night against the Bashiqa (Gedu) base area in Mosul Province, according to a ministry tweet. One of the three rockets landed in the base area and the others hit a nearby village, the ministry said. "One of our heroic brothers was martyred in the attack, and a child living in the village was injured," said the statement. Necessary measures were taken in the region and an armed drone was deployed, the ministry noted. Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu had a phone conversation with Masrour Barzani, prime minister of Iraq's Kurdistan Regional Government, over the incident, semi-official Anadolu Agency reported. Shortly before the attack on the Turkish military base, a booby-trapped drone on Wednesday struck a U.S.-led coalition base in the airport of Erbil, the capital of the semi-autonomous region of Kurdistan in northern Iraq. Enditem Two reports Thursday panned how Louisiana supports its roads and bridges and how a substandard transportation system is costing motorists $7.6 billion per year. State investments in roads and bridges nationally averages 73% of the cost, but is only 49% in Louisiana, according to a study by the Blanco Public Policy Center at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette. It said transportation here accounts for 4% of total state spending, the second lowest in the nation and well behind Florida at 11.8%, Texas at 10.8% and Mississippi at 6%. Meanwhile, poor driving conditions are costing Louisiana motorists $7.6 billion per year, according to a separate study financed by insurance firms, labor unions and others. The review also showed that drivers in Baton Rouge and New Orleans lose 60 hours per year while stuck in traffic, and waste more than $1,200 annually because of backups. It said motorists in Baton Rouge and New Orleans squander 26 gallons of gasoline per year and those in Lafayette 17 gallons. That study was done by TRIP, a nonprofit research group that focuses on transportation issues. Motorists in Louisiana pay 38 cents per gallon, including 20 cents in state charges. The Blanco report noted that the 16-cent base tax was approved in 1984, and said it has lost 61.5% of its purchasing power because of inflation. Another four cents was approved by voters in 1989 and took effect in 1990 to fund 16 projects that were supposed to be finished by 2005. Two of the 16 have not been completed. All but two states have boosted gas taxes since Louisiana did, according to the review, and 36 have done so since 2010. The estimated costs of bad roads to drivers in the TRIP report is more than half of the $14 billion backlog of road and bridge needs that are left undone because of a funding shortage, including resurfacing, bridge repairs and safety measures. Another $15 billion or so of the state's "wish list" includes a new bridge across the Mississippi River in Baton Rouge and the completion of Interstate 49 between New Orleans and Lafayette. +2 First look at possible crossings for new Mississippi River bridge nearly two years away The public will get its first look at 15 possible crossings for a new bridge across the Mississippi River in Baton Rouge in the spring of 2022 The TRIP review said 26% of roads in Baton Rouge are in poor condition, 30% in New Orleans and 39% in Lafayette. The scoop on state politics in your inbox Get the Louisiana politics insider details once a week from us. Sign up today. e-mail address * Sign Up One in four roads in Louisiana is rated as poor, according to the TRIP study. The report said one-third of the state's bridges were built in 1969 or earlier and that most bridges are designed to last 50 years. The Blanco report also focused on bridge conditions. "After normalizing bridge area to the size of the state, Louisiana stands out as having by far the worst condition of bridges, with the amount of bridge area in poor condition more than nine times as much as Texas and Alabama, more than seven times as much as Florida and more than three times as much as Arkansas or Mississippi," it says. Whether road and bridge spending will change this year is unclear. The state is getting $3.2 billion from the latest round of federal stimulus dollars, and some state leaders favor using part of the money on infrastructure. Earlier state Rep. Jack McFarland, R-Jonesboro, proposed a bill that would boost the state gas tax by 10 cents per gallon initially, and 22 cents eventually, to boost annual road and bridge money by $660 million. McFarland has since dropped the bid after Gov. John Bel Edwards and Senate President Page Cortez, R-Lafayette, said they doubted the proposal could gain the two-thirds support needed for legislative approval. Lawmakers who oppose any hike in the gas tax say their constituents are unwilling to pay more. DOTD chief skeptical for any gas tax hike in 2021 Louisiana's transportation chief Monday stopped just short of dismissing chances for a gas tax hike in 2021 that is being pushed by industry groups. Rep. Barbara Freiberg, R-Baton Rouge, is sponsoring what was McFarland's bill in hopes of generating a discussion on road road and bridge needs. The TRIP report said its conclusions are based on data provided by the Federal Highway Administration. The $7.6 billion includes additional vehicle operating costs to drive on rough roads, lost time and wasted fuel sparked by congestion and the costs of traffic crashes. The Blanco Public Policy Center is named after former Gov. Kathleen Blanco. Shillong, April 16 : Meghalaya's opposition Congress on Thursday has emerged as the single-largest party in the 29-member Garo Hills Autonomous District Council (GHADC), winning 12 seats while the ruling National People's Party (NPP) won 11 seats, officials said. The election to the GHADC was held on April 12 and the results were declared on Thursday. The Bharatiya Janata Party, a junior partner of the NPP-led Meghalaya Democratic Alliance (MDA), has bagged two seats while the Garo National Council secured one and three seats went in favour of the independent candidates. The United Democratic Party, a local party, could not even open its account. BJP's Bernard Marak won the key Tura seat, under the South Tura Assembly constituency represented by Chief Minister Conrad K. Sangma. Marak was a former member of the Achik National Volunteer Council, a militant outfit that signed an agreement earlier with the government. NPP sources said that the BJP is most likely to support the NPP and the party is also trying to get the support of the three independents to govern the GHADC. Meghalaya has three tribal autonomous district councils -- the Khasi Hills Autonomous District Council, the Jaintia Hills Autonomous District Council and the GHADC - for the socio-economic development of the tribals, which constitute 86.15 per cent of the state's three million population. Mogadishu, Apr 15 (UNI) At least 17 people died as a result of a roadside bomb that hit a minibus not far from Somalia's capital of Mogadishu, media reported. According to the Garowe Online media outlet, two people also sustained injuries in the explosion, which occurred as the bus was traveling from Mogadishu to the southern Middle Shabelle region. The Al-Shabaab group (part of the Al-Qaeda terrorist organization, banned in Russia) was reportedly responsible for the blast. The radical Islamist group, based in East Africa, has long been leading an insurgency against the Somalian federal government, staging numerous attacks in an effort to impose a radical version of Sharia law in the country. UNI XC GNK 0419 New Delhi: Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray on Sunday dared ally BJP to resign from the Maharashtra government and face midterm polls. He also criticised Prime Minister Narendra Modi over his campaign for upcoming Gujarat assembly polls. "I challenge you (the BJP) to resign from the government and face polls once again. We will show you the might of the Shiv Sena. Even during the (Modi) wave, BJP got votes in the name of Sena," said Thackeray while addressing a local poll rally in Nanded. Nanded-Waghala Municipal Corporation (NWMC) polls are scheduled for October 11. Taking jibe at PM Modi, Thackeray said people were forwarding a joke on social media that the Prime Minister of India 'may visit India soon', seemingly referring to Modi's frequent foreign tours. "I was watching news on television. Saw the PM campaigning for Gujarat polls that are two months away. How did he suddenly remember his school today after being in power for three years? Did he not feel like visiting his school ever before? Why just before the polls?" questioned Thackeray. Modi on Sunday visited his birth place Vadnagar in north Gujarat first time since he became the Prime Minister. Thackeray further said his father late Bal Thackeray taught him to never tell a lie to people or wear a "mask" (being a hypocrite) and that he has been following it. "You (the PM) are making an announcement that you have given a Diwali gift to the people by slashing GST rates. Come here to Nanded and visit the homes of farmers. You will know if it is Diwali or 'Diwala' (poverty) for them," he said. "Farmers are burdened with debts. Now, like development, even electricity is nowhere to be seen due to a shortage of coal," quipped the Shiv Sena supremo. He also asked how many rich people stood in the queues after demonetisation. "Lakhs of people lost their jobs but terrorism did not cease. Farmers lost their money kept in cooperative banks," he said. Thackeray asked the crowd if they would vote for a party that "ordered" lathicharge on women students in Banaras Hindu University in Uttar Pradesh a state ruled by the BJP when they complained against eve teasing. He further said that in Bihar people voted for Nitish Kumar for development despite Modi's financial package of Rs 1.25 lakh crore for the state. "What Nitish Kumar later did is another issue." Taking a dig at Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, he said that while he may speak of "invisible hands" supporting the BJP, the Sena voices its criticism openly. "We do not know how to hide and work. We openly criticize if something is wrong. Sharad Pawar's NCP may continue to remain the invisible hands supporting you," he said. He added that Fadnavis, during the Kalyan Dombivali Municipal Corporation polls, had promised a huge financial package but nobody knew what happened to his promise. For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. Chief Minister is scheduled to hold a meeting with Lieutenant Governor today at 11 am to review the prevailing COVID-19 situation in the national capital. "In view of the spread of Covid-19 infection, CM will discuss the situation with Lieutenant Governor at 11 am on Thursday," the Chief Minister's Office tweeted on Wednesday. It said that the Chief Minister will also hold a meeting with Health Minister Satyendar Jain, Chief Secretary and other senior officials on the situation in at 12 noon. The COVID-19 situation in the national capital continues to worsen as the city registered the highest single-day spike of 17,282 fresh COVID-19 infections and 104 related deaths on Wednesday. The total infection caseload of Delhi has reached 7,67,438. There are 50,736 active cases so far. With 104 additional deaths in the last 24 hours, the overall COVID-19 death toll of the national capital now stands at 11,540. Furthermore, a total of 9,952 people recovered from the virus in the said period, taking the total number of recoveries to 7,05,162. The COVID-19 positivity rate of Delhi also jumped to 15.92 per cent on Wednesday. (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 biggest problem in America is a lukewarm church that is bowing at the altar of race, megachurch pastor and prominent Latino evangelical leader Samuel Rodriguez believes. "Somehow, race just became God," the 51-year-old pastor of the Sacramento, California-based New Season Church said in an interview last week with Dave Rubin of "The Rubin Report." The pastor, who is of Puerto Rican heritage, noted that some pastors speak more about race than they do about Jesus, Moses or Abraham. "Race and sexuality became idols," he elaborated, "And we are worshiping on the altar of the gods created by culture." Source:The Christian Post Ending the Deadly Cycle: The Killing of Daunte Wright and the Assault on Army Lieutenant Caron Nazario It was nearly a year ago in May of 2020 when I wrote an opinion editorial on the murder of George Floyd. Here I am a year later writing about another death of an unarmed Black man killed during a traffic stop in Minnesota while in Virginia an Afro-Latino U.S. serviceman was mistreated and berated by officers for a different vehicle infraction. The killing of Daunte Wright in Minnesota by a 26-year police veteran, and former president of the local police union, who has stated she mistook her heavily weighted firearm for her lite-weight taser, is proof that training is not enough. The lack of judgement on the part of the officer cost Mr. Wright, age 20, his life. Lt. Nazarios brutal verbal and physical attack by Virginia officers was unprovoked, well beyond abusive, and displayed a staggering amount of aggression by officers who could have communicated with Lt. Nazario in the same calm and respectful manner the active-duty lieutenant displayed and provided the officers. Lt. Nazario was never arrested, never detained, nor cited. A false police report, however, was submitted wrongly presenting Lt. Nazario as a high-risk stop and a threat. ADVERTISEMENT The tragic and unforgettable death of George Floyd a year ago has not altered the way law enforcement treats, responds to, and views individuals of color. Policing, in its current form in our country, is in serious need of reformation; it is just not working. From recruitment to training to the overly aggressive and gang-like cultures forming in departments across our nation, we need to act now to ensure that public safety is a priority, and that police engagement is based upon de-escalation, not brutal force. I have acted to implement reforms within law enforcement only to be met with resistance by unions who continue to espouse the good old days of lock them up and throw away the keys a mentality of maintaining the status quo at the expense of Black and Brown communities. Reforms, along with funding for community programs that lift people out from poverty and provide a proper education and pathway to greater economic futures, must be our priorities as a society. The unjustified and continuous killing of unarmed people of color at the trigger-hands of a arrogant, undisciplined, and aggressive members of the law enforcement community must end and a new vision of policing in America must be discussed and formulated immediately. ABOUT ADVERTISEMENT Reggie Jones-Sawyer represents the communities of the 59th Assembly District including South Los Angeles, Walnut Park, Florence-Firestone and Huntington Park in the State Legislature, and serves as the Chair of the Assemblys Public Safety Committee. Please Support the following bills: AB 89 PEACE ACT (Peace officer Education and Age Conditions for Employment [(PEACE] Act) AB 750 False Reporting by Peace Officers AB 1347 Bail Reform Page Content The Government of Sint Maarten remains committed to the continuity of the Airport Terminal Reconstruction Project. The internal changes within the Princess Juliana International Airport Operating Companys management staff (PJIAE NV) have no bearing on this commitment. This means that the project will continue according to the current financing agreement in place. Adherence to corporate governance guidelines at Princess Juliana International Airport is a primary concern of the Government when conducting policy toward its companies. As sole shareholder representative of the Princess Juliana International Airport Holding Company (PJIAH NV), the Council of Ministers will look into whether the proper procedures were followed with the dismissal of PJIAE NVs Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Brian Mingo, in accordance with the Corporate Governance Code. As per the European Investment Bank (EIB) Financing Agreement and the World Bank (WB) Agreement, PJIAE must inform the EIB & WB of the termination of the CEOs contract and his replacement on the management board, thereby reconfirming its commitment to the continuity of the Airport Terminal Reconstruction Project. On April 8th, the supervisory board and management of PJIAH met with members of the Ministry of the Interior and Kingdom Relations (MinBZK), to negotiate the Cooperation Agreement between PJIAH, PJIAE, MinBZK, and Royal Schiphol Group, which expires on August 1st, 2021. The Airport Terminal Reconstruction Project will continue as per all signed agreements. The restoration of the Princess Juliana International Airport to its full potential remains a high priority for the government and people of Sint Maarten. Its timely completion is critical in fully restoring the countrys damaged economy as a result of the devastating 2017 hurricanes and the unexpected COVID-19 pandemic. The government will ensure the agreements with the World Bank and the European Investment Bank are upheld. smartTrade Technologies announced today that 225 year-old Swiss Bank Lombard Odier Co Ltd has integrated LiquidityFX, smartTrade's in-house developed FX solution into its banking platform, to offer enhanced FX trading services to its clients. LiquidityFX is an end-to-end solution with connectivity to over 130 liquidity providers. Aggregation, pricing, risk management, distribution and post-trade are integral functions of the platform which supports a range of instruments including FX Spot, Forwards, Swaps, NDF, Options and Precious Metals. As part of a strategic approach to building its proprietary banking technology and fostering innovation, Lombard Odier constantly seeks to strengthen its services. By integrating a flexible trading services solution into its proprietary wealth management platform G2, it offers a comprehensive set of tailored FX trading functionalities to its private, institutional and third party clients. "We are constantly expanding our offering to ensure that our clients can take advantage of a wide range of investment opportunities and enjoy superior investor experience. FX markets offer a growing number of sophisticated trading instruments that we want to make available to our clients in an easy and cost-efficient way," explained Stephane Monier, CIO of Bank Lombard Odier Co Ltd "LiquidityFX is the perfect fit for Lombard Odier," said David Vincent, smartTrade's Chief Executive Officer. "It's a mature solution enriching their existing offering, which made integration into their innovative technology platform easy and fast. Liquidity FX's rich functionality will enable Lombard Odier to further expand its FX trading business in line with its growth strategy whilst offering an improved service to both its wealth and institutional clients. We are very pleased that Lombard Odier has chosen LiquidityFX and we look forward to a long and fruitful relationship." About Lombard Odier Lombard Odier is a leading global wealth and asset manager. For 225 years and through more than 40 financial crises the Group has combined innovation and prudence to align itself with the long-term interests of private and institutional clients. The Group is solely owned by its Managing Partners and has a strong, liquid and conservatively invested balance sheet with a CET1 ratio of 29.7% and a Fitch rating of AA-. Lombard Odier provides a complete offering of wealth services, including succession planning, discretionary and advisory portfolio management, and custody. Asset management services are offered through Lombard Odier Investment Managers (LOIM). The Group has created cutting-edge banking technology, which is also leveraged by other Swiss and European based private banks and financial institutions. The Group had total client assets of CHF 316 billion at 31 December 2020. Headquartered in Geneva since 1796, at end-December the Group had 30 offices in 24 jurisdictions and employed 2,560 people. For more information: www.lombardodier.com About smartTrade smartTrade Technologies, pioneer of multi-asset electronic trading solutions, offers innovative technology allowing you to focus on your trading and grow your business while quickly adapting to changing market requirements. smartTrade provides agile end-to-end trading solutions supporting Foreign Exchange, Fixed Income, Equities, Derivatives (including Options), Cryptocurrencies and Money Markets. Our solutions offer connectivity to over 130 liquidity providers, aggregation, smart order routing, order management, pricing, distribution, risk management and fully customizable HTML5 user interface. smartTrade works with a variety of clients ranging from banks, brokers and asset managers to corporate firms. LiquidityFX for Foreign Exchange and smartFI for Fixed Income are provided as a fully managed and hosted service, colocated in all the main marketplaces globally. smartAnalytics, our multi-asset Big Data analysis solution, allows the creation of historical or real time dashboards and reports to interact more effectively with markets and end customers. For more information, visit www.smart-trade.net View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210415005039/en/ Contacts: Lara Michel Head of Marketing smartTrade Technologies lmichel@smart-trade.net 5,800 Fully Vaccinated Americans Have Contracted COVID-19, 74 Dead: CDC Nearly 6,000 Americans have contracted COVID-19 despite being fully vaccinated against the virus that causes it, federal officials said April 15. The Americans contracted the CCP (Chinese Communist Party) virus, which causes COVID-19, despite getting both doses of the Pfizer or Moderna vaccine, or the single-shot Johnson & Johnson vaccine, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) told The Epoch Times via email. Of the 5,814 fully vaccinated people who were confirmed as so-called breakthrough cases, nearly 400 required treatment at hospitals and 74 died. A little over 40 percent of the infections were in people 60 years of age or older, and 65 percent were female. The CDC declined to make a state-by-state breakdown available, though it has developed a national database where state health department investigators can enter, store, and manage data for cases in their jurisdiction. The CDC later posted a webpage on the breakthrough cases. The figures were for cases through April 13. More than 78 million people have been fully vaccinated against COVID-19 in the United States as of April 15. To date, no unexpected patterns have been identified in case demographics or vaccine characteristics, the CDC stated. COVID-19 vaccines are effective, and are a critical tool to bring the pandemic under control. All of the available vaccines have been proven effective at preventing severe illness, hospitalizations, and deaths. However, like is seen with other vaccines, we expect thousands of vaccine breakthrough cases will occur even though the vaccine is working as expected. CDC Director Rochelle Walensky stated during a congressional hearing on April 15 that the causes of the breakthrough cases are being probed. Some of these breakthroughs are, of course, failure of an immune response in the host. And then some of them we worry might be related to a variant that is circulating. So were looking at both, she said. The number of cases the CDC has identified does not include people who contracted COVID-19 less than two weeks after their final dose, according to Walensky. In March, states began reporting numbers for people who had gotten infected despite full vaccination. Epidemiologists in Washington state identified 217 of the cases, five of whom died. In Michigan, 246 of the cases were recorded between Jan. 1 and March 31. Three of those patients died. Texas, South Carolina, and Oregon are among the other states that have reported more than 100 cases among residents. People arrive at the Javits Center mass vaccination location in the Manhattan borough of New York City on April 13, 2021. (Carlo Allegri/Reuters) Washington state Health Secretary Umair Shah said in a statement: Finding evidence of vaccine breakthrough cases reminds us that, even if you have been vaccinated, you still need to wear a mask, practice social distancing, and wash your hands to prevent spreading COVID-19 to others who have not been vaccinated. We encourage everyone to get vaccinated as soon as they are eligible, and encourage friends, loved ones, and co-workers to do the same. According to U.S. drug regulators, Pfizers vaccine is 95 percent effective in preventing infection by the CCP virus. Modernas was shown in a clinical trial to be 94.1 percent effective, while Johnson & Johnsons was 66.9 percent effective. The Johnson & Johnson vaccine was tested when variants were circulating, unlike the others. The percentages are based on results from vaccine recipients two weeks after the final vaccination. The percentage of vaccine breakthroughs in a population depends on multiple factors, including vaccine efficacy, the amount of virus circulating, and the length of time since vaccination, according to Natalie Dean, an assistant professor of biostatistics at the University of Florida. I love to see small numbers as much as anyone, but know that numbers like this cannot be directly interpreted as a measure of vaccine efficacy (although I have a feeling they will be). We can only interpret them against a background rate in unvaccinated people, Dean wrote on Twitter. Similarly, most breakthroughs have been in elderly adults should not be read as the vaccine is less effective in elderly adults. The majority of vaccinations (and the longest amount of follow-up time) have been in elderly adults. Again, we need more info to interpret. Dr. Anthony Fauci, the longtime head of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, stated in a briefing last week that the breakthrough cases are not a cause for concern. I think the important thing is to look at what the denominator of vaccinated people is, because it is very likelyand what were hearing at least indirectly, and were certainly going to be confirming thatthat that number of individuals who were breakthrough infections is not at all incompatible with a 90-plus percent vaccine efficacy, he said. So I dont think that there needs to be concern about any shift or change in the efficacy of the vaccine. Space News space history and artifacts articles Messages space history discussion forums Sightings worldwide astronaut appearances Resources selected space history documents advertisements NASA's New Horizons reaches rare distance, looks out to Voyager April 15, 2021 New Horizons is a long, long, long way from home. Fifteen years after launching from Earth at a record speed, and six years since it became the first-ever spacecraft to fly by Pluto, NASA's New Horizons is about to reach a mile marker that only four other robotic probes in history have surpassed. On Saturday (April 17) at 8:42 p.m. EDT (1242 GMT April 18), New Horizons will reach 50 AU (astronomical units) from the sun or 50 times the distance the Earth is from the sun. That is 4.65 billion miles (7.5 billion kilometers). At 50 AU, it takes more than 6.5 hours for signals sent from New Horizons to reach Earth, and that is while traveling at the speed of light. "I just think of the enormity of it," Alan Stern, New Horizons principal investigator at the Southwest Research Institute in Boulder, Colorado, said in an interview with collectSPACE. "It hasn't been done in a generation, since the Voyagers crossed these distances, and we're the only spacecraft out there in the outer heliosphere and the Kuiper Belt." Way out there New Horizons is the fifth most distant spacecraft from Earth. Pioneer 10, which was launched in 1972 and was the first probe to pass through the asteroid belt and to fly by Jupiter, reached 50 AU on Sept. 22, 1990. Today, it is approximately 129 AU from Earth. Its sister ship, Pioneer 11, reached 50 AU a year later in 1991. It was launched in 1973 and in addition to flying by Jupiter, was the first to make direct observations of Saturn. It is now about 105 AU from Earth. NASA launched Voyager 1 on Sept. 5, 1977, 16 days after its twin, Voyager 2. Voyager 1 studied Jupiter and Saturn, while Voyager 2 also encountered Uranus and Neptune. Voyager 1 today is 152 AU from Earth. Voyager 2 is at 127 AU. While Pioneer 10 and Pioneer 11 ceased operations years ago, both Voyagers remain active today. The Pioneers and the Voyagers are so far out today that none of them are the nearest probe to New Horizons. NASA's Juno spacecraft, in orbit around Jupiter, is at this point closer. "In the very distant future, we will be so far from everybody else that we will be closer to the Voyagers and the Pioneers, but we will never pass them because three of the four are going faster than us," said Stern. "Right now, we are almost 100 AU from Voyager 1." To underscore how far Voyager 1 had traveled, NASA pointed the probe's camera back toward the inner solar system in 1990 when it was approximately 40.11 AU from Earth. The resulting mosaic image, now known as the "Family Portrait," captured six planets Venus, Earth, Jupiter, Saturn, Neptune and Uranus as just a few pixels of light each. At 50 AU from the sun, New Horizons could not do the same. "The math tells us that would burn out our camera because we would be pointed at the sun," Stern said, noting that even at such great a distance, the sun remains too bright for its long-range reconnaissance imager, which was calibrated for the dimly lit encounter with Pluto. "So we don't want to do that until we are past the Kuiper Belt years from now." Instead, Stern and his team pointed New Horizons toward Voyager 1, marking the first time that a spacecraft in the Kuiper Belt photographed the location of an even more distant spacecraft now traveling through interstellar space. "Of course, we didn't see Voyager 1 because it is too faint, but we imaged the star field," Stern told collectSPACE. "We looked with the camera to where the farthest spacecraft is and took a picture of that star field from our position in the Kuiper Belt. It is just hauntingly beautiful to me, even though it is just a picture of stars." "This is an homage to Voyager's pioneering mission, in addition to marking what we are doing," he said. Over the hill More than just a round number milestone, reaching 50 AU means that everything New Horizons does now is exceeding its planned design lifespan. "One of the first things you do when designing a spacecraft is set requirements and one we had to set was what the maximum distance was we were designing the spacecraft to operate at," said Stern. "Now, you always build in margins so you can do better, but we had to have some number so if we crossed that goal line, we could declare victory that the spacecraft had met its design objectives." "That goal line was 50 AU," said Stern. New Horizons flew by Pluto, returning the first close-up look at the world and its moons, in July 2015, when the spacecraft was 39.2 AU from the sun. Four years later on New Year's Day 2019, New Horizons made the farthest flyby in history (to date), capturing the first close-up observations of a Kuiper Belt object ("Arrokoth") at a distance of 43.4 AU from the sun. "We're still getting data back from that flyby," said Stern. "Meanwhile, as we fly across the Kuiper Belt, we're doing three other things: we're studying the heliospheric environment, the plasma, the dust and the gas; we're studying other Kuiper Belt objects, we know have more than 30 that we have observed in ways you cannot from Earth or from any other spacecraft; and we're using the Subaru telescope in Hawaii, which is one fo the largest telescopes in the world, to find new Kuiper Belt objects to study and hoping we find a flyby target because we still have fuel in the tank and are capable of doing another flyby." The hope is to find another target before New Horizons runs out of power. Though it draws its electricity from a nuclear battery (a radioisotope thermoelectric generator, or RTG), its plutonium power supply generates 33 watts less every decade. By the late 2030s, when New Horizons will be at or near 100 AU from the sun, it may be too low on power to operate. Even if New Horizons does not make it to 100 AU, Stern is impressed with how far the mission has gone and even more so with how much its team has been able to achieve. "When the Voyagers flew, their team was 450 people. New Horizons is doing this on about 50 bellybuttons, so about 10 times smaller," he said. "When I think about what our team has accomplished over these 15 years with one spacecraft and no backup, going all the way out there to study Pluto for the first time, the Kuiper Belt for the first time and now pass the 50 AU marker where it was designed to be its maximum distance, it just sounds like science fiction to me," said Stern. "I have to pinch myself that this group of people were actually able to do this thing, it is so much larger than life." Rendering of NASA's New Horizons spacecraft, which will reach 50 AU (astronomical units), or 50 times the distance between Earth and the sun, on Saturday, April 17, 2021, a mile marker surpassed by only four other robotic probes in history. (NASA/JHUAPL/SwRI) Currently in the Kuiper Belt beyond Pluto, NASA's New Horizons is just one of five spacecraft to reach 50 AU (astronomical units), or 50 times the distance between the sun and Earth, on its way out of the solar system. (NASA/JHUAPL/SwRI) To mark reaching 50 AU, NASA's New Horizons pointed its camera in the direction of Voyager 1 (marked with a yellow circle). At about 100 AU from New Horizons when this image was taken, Voyager 1 was too faint to be resolved. (NASA/JHUAPL/SwRI) 2021 collectSPACE.com All rights reserved. .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... SAN ANTONIO, Texas A handgun-wielding man who opened fire outside the San Antonio airport was fatally shot by police Thursday, hours after hed shot at vehicles from a highway overpass in the northern part of the Texas city, officials said. The citys airport was placed on lockdown after police got a call around 2:30 p.m. about a car driving the wrong way on a road at the airport, police Chief William McManus said during a news conference. An officer stopped the car at Terminal B and the man jumped out and began shooting, he said. Police returned fire, hitting the man, McManus said. The man was later pronounced dead at a hospital. No one else was hit by gunfire. McManus applauded the officer who shot the man, saying the action saved many lives. The shooter had a lot of ammunition and a big handgun that he was shooting indiscriminately toward people, the chief said. ADVERTISEMENTSkip ................................................................ McManus said the shooter, who was not identified, was a man in his 40s who police have interacted with before. The man has a history of mental illness, McManus said. The shooter is believed to be the same person who earlier in the day opened fire from a busy overpass in northern San Antonio, McManus said. The man matched the description given on the man seen shooting from an overpass, and the shell casings left behind matched the .45 caliber handgun used at the airport. FBI special agent Chris Combs said there is no reason to think the shooting was terrorism and that the investigation is being handled locally. Unfortunately this man has a history of some mental imbalances, Combs said said. Airport spokeswoman Evelynn Bailey said airport police responded to the lower level of Terminal A and contained the situation. Flight operations were not interrupted, according to the website FlightAware.com. Sharon Shea says she is proud and honoured to be named as the first ever permanent Maori Board chair of the Bay of Plenty District Health Board, calling it an important signpost for the community. Minister of Health Andrew Little confirmed Sharons appointment on Tuesday, along with those of deputy chair Geoff Esterman and new board member Wayne Williams. The appointments are effective for the period April 13, 2021, to December 5, 2022. "Its a privilege to be appointed the permanent dhair and I am totally committed to ensuring the health and wellbeing of everyone in the Bay is improved,' says Sharon. "I feel honoured to bring a tangata whenua perspective to the boards leadership and to support the whole community. "I believe that being the first Maori chair is an important signpost for our community in terms of working in partnership to benefit the greater good. As a child born at Tauranga Hospital, and then as young woman at Tauranga Girls, I could not have foreseen this leadership opportunity and am very grateful for the opportunity to give back to our community and contribute to building a better Aotearoa." Sharon has strong waanau and whakapapa connections to the Bay of Plenty. She is originally from Te Puna - her iwi are Ngati Ranginui and Ngaiterangi and her hapu is Pirirakau and her family is the Borrell and Tangitu family, well-known in the Tauranga area. Growing up in Mount Maunganui, Sharon attended Omanu Primary School, Mount Intermediate and Tauranga Girls College before leaving for Auckland University. She gained a BA/LLB (Bachelor of Arts - Bachelor of Legislative Law) from Auckland and then studied Comparative Social Policy at Oxford University, topping her class in achieving a first-class honours degree. Sharon is an experienced governor and has been acting chair of the BOPDHB Board since March 2020, when Sir Michael Cullen stepped down due to health reasons. She has worked in the health sector for nearly 25 years and has held senior management roles at multiple levels in the health system. She owns and runs several companies as well as sitting on a number of boards. Sharon says the Covid-19 response, achieving health equity, and good financial stewardship, are high on the boards agenda. "In particular, our Board is dedicated to keeping people in the Bay safe from Covid-19 and improving health equity for those in our community, that need support the most," she says. "We are a Board that are serious about being responsible financial stewards of the health system and we are working hard to ensure investment into frontline services is prioritised." BOP Maori Health Runanga chairperson Linda Steel congratulated Sharon on her appointment. "Te Runanga Hauora Maori o Te Moana a Toi congratulate Sharon Shea in her appointment as the confirmed Chair of the Bay of Plenty District Health Board," says Linda. "Sharon's leadership is exemplary of the many skillsets she brings to the table and as a highly-skilled wahine Maori as the figurehead for both the BOPDHB Board and its Te Tiriti o Waitangi partner, Te Runanga, we are extremely proud of the Ministers appointment." On welcoming Dr Geoff Esterman to the role of Deputy Chair, Sharon also extends her thanks to Ron Scott who had been in the Acting Deputy Chair role. Geoff Esterman. Geoff is a GP and owner of the Gate Pa Medical Centre, a practice in a low/mid decile area of Tauranga. In his role he has enabled accessible quality whanau-based healthcare for up to four generations of patients over the last 29 years. He is currently on his third term as an elected member of the BOPDHB Board and says he's "honoured by and enthusiastic about the opportunity" represented by being named Deputy Chair. "I believe having a clinician as Deputy Chair, and someone who understands well how community services and particularly General Practice operates, will increase the opportunity for the BOPDHB to increase its emphasis on working more upstream," he says. "This will help continue the work on breaking down some of the silos that occur in the system. "I think it is also important from a quality of care perspective. I would also like to thank Ron (Scott) for the work he has completed previously in this role and in particular for the education in Governance he has given me." Sharon also extends a welcome to new board member Wayne Williams, who she says "brings significant financial experience" with him to the board table. Wayne Williams. Wayne has substantial leadership and financial management experience from the professional, corporate and government sectors, including relationships with Boards, Finance Audit Risk Committees and Chief Executives. He is currently acting as a director of the Moko Foundation, an organisation which supports and empowers communities with a focus on vulnerable children and young people. KANSAS CITY, Mo., April 15, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Lipper International, a provider of exceptional items for the kitchen, home, and office, has partnered with DSI, a leader in innovative inventory management solutions, to upgrade to the latest version of DSI Cloud Inventory, an innovative mobile-first, cloud-based inventory management platform. Lipper has been a wholesale provider of beautiful and functional home goods since 1963. The privately-owned, woman-led, family business is known for its unique, imported selection of natural wooden products for the kitchen, home, office, and children's playroom. Lipper's customers include well-known retailers such as Amazon, Bed Bath Beyond, Kohls, TJ Maxx, Target, and Walmart. Lipper chose to partner with DSI in 2017 to eliminate paper-based processes and streamline their warehouse operations and has enjoyed tremendous success while utilizing the Cloud Inventory platform. Implementing Cloud Inventory's reconfigurable Software as a Service (Saas) has allowed Lipper to be self-sufficient with their inventory management operations, resulting in a 100% reduction of overtime hours paid during peak season while increasing sales by 20% year-over-year. Additionally, Lipper was able to easily combine Cloud Inventory with their newly installed NetSuite Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system. Based on their previous success in partnering with DSI for the installation of Cloud Inventory, Lipper was confident in the Cloud Inventory upgrade and in the adaptable configurability and real-time inventory visibility and control that the upgraded platform would provide. In addition, the flexibility of the Cloud Inventory platform meant that it could be easily upgraded without costly and time-consuming overhauls to Lipper's NetSuite ERP. The upgraded Cloud Inventory platform will further enhance the features that Lipper relies on for inventory optimization, customer response, and revenue generation. Without an in-house IT staff, Lipper uses the Cloud Inventory cloud-based solution to reduce their server and IT footprint. In addition, Cloud Inventory enables the optimal, real-time inventory visibility and control that Lipper needs to handle requirements around cross docking, min/max auto replenishment, dynamic bin management, item fulfilment for drop ship, labeling, analytics, and more. "We know that DSI is a partner we can count on, so it was an easy call to upgrade to the latest version of Cloud Inventory," said Amy McCauley, President & CEO of Lipper International. "Cloud Inventory has enabled us to be more dynamic and cost effective in our approach to inventory management. We are confident that this upgrade will build on these positive steps." The Cloud Inventory upgrade will provide Lipper with real-time inventory control across the supply chain, while enabling strong configurability that stands to perpetuate the company's success and ability to adapt to new challenges. The upgraded platform optimizes Lipper's ability to mobilize their warehouse and remain agile and efficient while enhancing revenue. "We are excited to continue this successful partnership with a leading company like Lipper," said Mark Goode, President & CEO of DSI. "This upgraded version of Cloud Inventory will further boost Lipper's ability to streamline their warehouse operations and maintain optimal mobile inventory control." For more information on Cloud Inventory visit CloudInventory.com . About DSI DSI's Cloud Inventory and mobile-first applications empower organizations with real-time inventory visibility at all points in the supply chain, from the warehouse to the field. Based in Kansas City, our global team has the supply chain knowledge and mobile-first development expertise to deliver solutions that solve today's business challenges. Visit www.dsiglobal.com to learn more. About Lipper International Lipper International provides dependable housewares for the kitchen, home, office, and child's playroom. Our woman-owned family business is run by 2nd and 3rd generation leaders and is centered on bringing a little love to your home. Family is important to us, and each product we decide to make is designed to help make your time at home with family easier and more beautiful. For more information visit www.lipperinternational.com. Media Contact: Meredith Strassle Director, Content & Communications [email protected] SOURCE Data Systems International (DSI) [April 15, 2021] Bell Let's Talk Post-Secondary Fund supports student mental health in Quebec $625K in initial grants awarded to 25 post-secondary institutions to help implement new campus mental health standard in initial grants awarded to 25 post-secondary institutions to help implement new campus mental health standard Additional Bell Let's Talk funding in June will support new student mental health programs that answer specific needs MONTREAL, April 15, 2021 /CNW Telbec/ - Bell Let's Talk today announced that $625,000 in grants from the Bell Let's Talk Post-Secondary Fund have been awarded to support 25 schools in Quebec implementing one or both of the National Standard of Canada for Mental Health and Well-Being for Post-Secondary Students or the Quebec Action Plan on Student Mental Health for Higher Education. "Bell is committed to enhancing student mental health and we are pleased to have received so many applications from post-secondary institutions in Quebec to accelerate the important work they are doing to support the mental health and well-being of their students," said Karine Moses, Bell's Vice Chair, Quebec. "The care these institutions have for their student populations and their dedication to creating mentally healthy campuses is truly impressive." The Quebec Action Plan on Student Mental Health for Higher Education, which is currently being developed, will come into effect in the fall of 2021 for students in Quebec. The National Standard of Canada, enabled by Bell Let's Talk funding, was developed by the Mental Health Commission of Canada (MHCC) in partnership with the Canadian Standards Association (CSA). Schools will be able to use one or both frameworks to improve student mental health. Bell Let's Talk will launch the second phase of the Post-Secondary Fund with grants for institutions that have identified specific gaps or needs in their mental health support services and are building new programs to address them in alignment with the standards. "Bell Let's Talk looks forward to further accelerating our post-secondary initiative in June with additional funding for programs developed by participating schools that directly address the needs of their students," said Mary Deacon, Chair of Bell Let's Talk. "There is a clear need for action in post-secondary student mental health, and we are proud to be working with these leading educational institutions to support the needs of students in Quebec." According to the 2019 National College Health Assessment, about 16% of students have seriously considered suicide, and almost 3% attempted suicide in the past year. Over the past year, the psychological impacts of COVID-19 have affected students at post-secondary institutions in Quebec and across Canada. "For several years, CEGEPs have been reminding students regularly of the importance of promoting and adopting practices aimed at good mental health. With the current COVID-19 situation, any help is welcome to support young people who find themselves more isolated and vulnerable than ever," said Bernard Tremblay, President and CEO of the Federation des cegeps. "We welcome this commitment from Bell Let's Talk, which is once again investing in the college network to support the development, promotion and awareness of mental health services." "To meet the diverse needs of our student community, mental health support services take many forms and the funds received through the Bell Let's Talk initiative make it possible to properly assess how to strengthen these programs as a whole," said Daniel Jutras, Rector of Universite de Montreal. Five member institutions of the Estrie Higher Education Hub: Bishop's University, Cegep de Sherbrooke, Champlain College, Sherbrooke Seminary and Universite de Sherbrooke, have formed a partnership that will allow schools to pool their expertise and resources to create learning environments where all students can thrive. "Thanks to the support of the Bell Let's Talk Post-Secondary Fund kickoff grant, our collaboration efforts will go further to help and better equip our community in matters of mental health," said Marie-France Belanger, Executive Director of Cegep de Sherbrooke. "We are proud to work together to implement best practices to promote the psychological health of more than 50,000 students and staff members." To see a complete list of schools in Quebec that received a $25,000 kickoff grant, please click here. About Bell Let's Talk The largest-ever corporate commitment to mental health in Canada, Bell Let's Talk is focused on 4 key action pillars: Anti-stigma, Care and Access, Research and Workplace Leadership. Since its launch in September 2010, Bell Let's Talk has partnered with more than 1,100 organizations providing mental health supports and services throughout Canada, including hospitals, universities, local community service providers and other care and research organizations. To learn more, please visit Bell.ca/LetsTalk. Media inquiries: Vanessa Damha 514 870-6663 vanessa.damha@bell.ca @Bell_LetsTalk @Bell_News SOURCE Bell Canada [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] Argentina's President on Wednesday announced new coronavirus restrictions in the country amid a surge in new infections. Alberto Fernandez revealed that there would be an evening curfew of between 8pm and 6am where it wouldn't be possible to "circulate the streets." He also ordered the suspension of all "recreational, social, cultural, sporting and religious activities" as part of the new plan. Argentina reported on Wednesday that it had 25,157 confirmed cases in the latest 24 hour period, bringing the total number to 2.6 million cases. (Disclaimer: This story is auto-generated from a syndicated feed; only the image & headline may have been reworked by www.republicworld.com) A trooper who was injured during a mass shooting in Bryan last week has been released from the hospital, authorities said. Trooper Juan Rojas Tovar, of the Madisonville Texas Highway Patrol Office, was shot while the suspected shooter fled police, authorities previously said. Mamata Banerjee on Thursday evening also appealed to the EC to club the remaining phases of the polls into one Polling for the sixth, seventh and the eighth phase will be held on April 22, April 26 and April 29, respectively. (Representational Photo: ANI) Kolkata/Berhampore: Undeterred by the exponential rise in daily cases of the coronavirus disease across the country and West Bengal, the Election Commission of India (EC) ruled out a possibility of clubbing the remaining phases of the ongoing Assembly elections in the state due to lack of availability of another 1,500 companies of the Central paramilitary forces. "There is no such plan of clubbing" the three poll phases, the Election Commission said after new Chief Election Commissioner Sushil Chandra took stock of the ground reality from various poll observers deputed in the state and chief electoral officer West Bengal Ariz Aftab in a video conference. At the meeting, opinions were also sought from them about the deployment and distribution of the Central forces in case of clubbing the last three poll phases after the state recorded daily new Covid-19 cases at 6,769 till Thursday with 22 fresh deaths in the last 24 hours, sources said. This time, election to the West Bengal Assembly is being held in eight phases. Polling for four phases have ended and the fifth phase will be held on Saturday. Polling for the sixth, seventh and the eighth phase will be held on April 22, April 26 and April 29, respectively. West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee on Thursday evening also appealed to the EC to club the "remaining phases" of the polls into one, within few hours of the central poll panel's decision to go ahead with the existing poll schedule even after the deadly virus claimed a Congress candidate's life and infected two others, including one from the Trinamul Congress in the state. She also stressing that her party had opposed the prolonged eight-phase poll schedule. The TMC supremo tweeted, "Amid an ongoing pandemic, we firmly opposed @ECISVEEP's decision to conduct WB polls in 8 phases. Now, in view of the huge surge in #COVID19 cases, I urge the ECI to consider holding the remaining phases in ONE go. This will protect the people from further exposure to #COVID19." Ms Banerjee's plea to the EC's move came a day after Mr Aftab called an all-party meeting, to be attended by one representative each from 10 political parties, at 2 pm on Friday to discuss the strict compliance of Covid-19 guidelines in light of the fresh wave. All political parties in West Bengal have been asked to send only one representative each for the meeting. The meeting will discuss matters related to campaigning for the remaining phases of the election. Among the deceased, was a Congress candidate at Shamshergunj in Murshidabad: Rejaul Haque Biswas (51), alias Montu, who was infected by Covid-19 two days ago. He was brought from Basumati Hospital in Jangipur of the district on Wednesday night to a private hospital off EM Bypass in Kolkata. He died there at around 5 am on Thursday becoming the first poll candidate to fall prey to the virus. State Congress chief Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury said, "I spoke to him two days ago. I was scheduled to address a rally in his support in Shamshergunj. But Covid-19 snatched his life so early." Besides Sanjkuta Morcha candidate from the RSP at Jangipur: Pradip Nandy tested covid positive. Admitted at the Berhampore Covid Hospital, his condition is stated to be critical. In the TMC, Goalpokhar candidate Golam Rabbani has also been infected by Covid-19. Mr Chowdhury added, "I request everybody, including the EC, with folded hands to check this pandemic during the polls. The Congress will abide by any decision for the sake of life." Heres a troubling fact: Black and Latino drivers are stopped more often than white drivers, based on less evidence of wrongdoing. According to a 2019 Stanford University Study, titled the Stanford Open Policing Project researchers compiled the most comprehensive evidence regarding racial disparities in traffic stops ever collected. The data points to consistent racial profiling in how police decide to stop and search white versus minority drivers. If the Stanford findings arent troubling enough, the past few days in America have once again put a spotlight on how black and brown people are treated badly at traffic stops. The viral video showing a black and Latino United States Amy Lt. being yelled at, disrespected, commanded and pepper sprayed by police in Windsor Virginia, as they pointed loaded guns at him, is in a word: despicable. Worse, he was stopped under suspect circumstances (allegedly he did not have proper tags, when in fact he had temporary tags for a new car.) Conjuring up Jim Crow history As a proud Virginian myself, I felt both anger and dismay as to what I watched as the black soldier, Caron Nazario, was pulled over with guns drawn down on him, as he was being screamed at to obey and when he asked what was happening, he was told that he was about to ride the white lightening by peace officers here in the Commonwealth. The white lightening phrase jarred me to my very soul. Because it conjures up the worst of the Jim Crow south and white men hunting black men in the dark or walking them slowly down the hallways of death row to sit in the electric chair (aka white lightening) as seen in the movie, "The Green Mile. But it isnt really that surprising when you look at the history of policing in the deep south and throughout America. Caron Nazario on Dec. 20, 2020, in Windsor, Virginia. We all know about the slave patrols that started in America in the deep south, in places like Virginia (the wealthiest of the original 13 colonies). While policing in America certainly has also has its roots in English constables, policing in southern slave-holding states was created for vastly different reasons dating back to the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. These patrols were used to track runaway slaves like Harriett Tubman and later to enforce Jim Crow laws in the late 1880s through the 1960s. Story continues According to Professor Michael Robinson of the University of Georgia, who is a scholar in the area of social work and colonial slavery, the first deaths in America of Black men at the hands of law enforcement can be traced back as early as 1619 when the first slave ship, a Dutch Man-of-War vessel landed in Point Comfort, Virginia. Black Americans: In face of more police violence, what happened to Biden pledge to have backs of Black America? If the police actions videotaped in Virginia, last December against Lt. Nazario were not bad enough, stunningly Minneapolis police are back in the spotlight (no, not for George Floyd) for the so-called accidental death of Duante Wright, a 20-year-old black man, at the hands of a female veteran police-officer who allegedly discharged her gun instead of her taser. Smith was stopped for an obstructive air freshener and was found to have warrants for his arrest. The rest, caught on police cams, shows Wright trying to get back into his car, the officer fires her weapon, and yells Sh*t. I shot him as Wright drives off and dies in his car. Implicit bias in police officers Tragically Wright is not alive to tell his story as is Lt. Nazario, who will most certainly have his day in both the courts of public opinion and law. Stanford Professor Jennifer Eberhardt calls it implicit bias or unconscious bias which is a big contributing factor to why police both pull their weapons more on black citizens, and handcuff them more. And most disturbing of all, fire upon them more. Returning for a moment again to the Stanford Open Policing Project, it examined almost 100 million traffic stops conducted from 2011 to 2017 across 21 state patrol agencies. The results show that police stopped and searched black and Latino drivers based on less evidence than used in stopping white drivers, who are searched less often but are more likely to be found with illegal items. Here is the bottom line: to all of us who have black fathers, brothers, sons, and nephews this national moment we continue to find ourselves in right now is terrifying. It seems as if we have slipped back past the bounds of time, and that black men are being hunted once again. I remember 20 years ago when my own brother was a new officer stationed in Virginia Beach, Fort Story as the XO and was pulled over one night coming home from work. He experienced nothing like Lt. Nazario, but he experienced something that shook him to his core. I still remember the shaking of his voice when he called me to ask me if his rights had been violated. Addiction doctor: Don't let George Floyd's substance use muddy the facts in Derek Chauvin trial When I reflect on the video of Army Officer Nazario, I think of the story, my very white, male pastor shared with us one Sunday of his being stopped by the police in North Carolina for speeding. He shared how he argued with the officer. Told him he would fight the ticket. His wife begging him to be quiet. And with his family in tow, drove off mad. Every black person in our church that Sunday, in our wealthy northern Virginia suburb was upset. I was so upset, I said something to him and to his wife. He apologized and was horrified by his lack of awareness of how that story would impact his black male parishioners acutely. It simply never occurred to him to not share his encounter with how he gave that officer a piece of his mind. It was a teachable moment for him and all the white men and women in our church. But for us, as black men and women, and teenage boys who had been given the talk it was yet more unsettling proof that white citizens can be stopped, argue, resist arrest, yell, have a gun lawfully in the car or assert their rights, and we can do none of that and, yet still end up dead. Sophia A. Nelson is an adjunct professor at Christopher Newport University in Virginia and the author of E Pluribus ONE: Reclaiming Our Founders Vision for a United America. Follow her on Twitter: @IAmSophiaNelson You can read diverse opinions from our Board of Contributors and other writers on the Opinion front page, on Twitter @usatodayopinion and in our daily Opinion newsletter. To respond to a column, submit a comment to letters@usatoday.com. This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Wright, Nazario cases show danger of police officers' racial profiling The Republican Governor of Nebraska, Pete Ricketts, approved a document that makes his state a Second Amendment Sanctuary State. It effectively ignored attempts by the Biden administration to make a gun grab from law-abiding gun owners. Second Amendment rights assaulted by Democrats Nebraska is one of the states denying the fear-mongering of the Biden administration, saying it supports gun ownership and gun right as enshrined by the second, reported the Epoch Times. He said that Nebraska always supports gun ownership and gun rights guaranteed by the second while signing the document in an event. He was quoted to say, "As a symbol of that support, I am signing a proclamation declaring Nebraska a Second Amendment Sanctuary State, and with my signature, it will become official." By the time the governor signed the declaration, several counties in Nebraska are already sanctuaries for the Second. The Republicans of Nebraska have attacked the administration's proposed gun control that took advantage of mass shootings to attempt a gun grab on gun owners. Simultaneously, President Biden made unconnected claims contested as chipping away on the constitutional right to bear arms. A week ago, President Joe Biden had several executive orders that gave vague reference to 'ghost guns' and red flag legislation that infringed on gun ownership, giving special mention to stabilizer braces that the National Firearms Act will regulate. House Democrats passed two gun measures that are partisan without GOP participation on more background checks. Republican senators pushed back against what was deemed unconstitutional and against the Second Amendment; they would block what is seen as another assault on the constitution. Governor Abbott Belittles Biden's Attack on Gun Ownership as 'Toothless' Many argue that the Democrats are taking away protection from law-abiding citizens intentionally. Other citizens have openly challenged the measures and mocked the President for his toothless attempts at gun control that will benefit lawless elements. According to Governor Rickett in Tweet, he denounced the White House and U.S. Congress for going after gun owners that is not in the scope of the orders or bill issued by the Democrats. He called a federal overreach and unlawful gun grabs that are unacceptable to gun owners who follow the law. In Utah, early this month, their deputies in Cache County said they wouldn't acknowledge the White house orders that violate Americans' gun rights. Sheriff D. Chad Jensen stated that Cache county would not allow the federal government to enforce its repressive laws. On April 9, Sheriff Jensen said that he would support gun laws to prevent and penalize guns used for crimes. He adds that deter criminals from possessing firearms is the goal, not take it away from those protecting themselves. The White House is still guilty of overreaching and using issues not connected to gun violence to justify its actions. White House press secretary Jen Psaki said that President Biden would press the issue and give more executive orders. Despite what the President says, he has attacked the Second Amendment that is every American's right to bear arms, even saying that no Amendment is absolute bristling conservatives more. Sen. Kennedy on Recent Mass Shootings: It's Not a Gun Control Problem @ 2021 HNGN, All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. New images have depicted the moment Maurizio Gucci is gunned down outside his office by hitman Benedetto Ceraulo in 1995 in new movie The House Of Gucci. As filming continues to roll in Italy, Adam Driver, who is depicting the Gucci heir, was seen sprinting away from the gunman as he was shot down - at the request of his estranged wife Patrizia Reggiani, played by Lady Gaga. The Ridley Scott autobiographical drama documents Reggiani's marriage, divorce and subsequent plot to murder her ex-husband, with new images showing the explosive moment Adam is gunned down in character. RUN! New images have depicted the moment Maurizio Gucci is gunned down outside his office by hitman Benedetto Ceraulo in new movie The House Of Gucci Adam was suited and booted as he zipped around the streets of Rome while he was followed on by the crazed gunman. Gaga stars as the 'black widow' opposite her on-screen husband Adam, who is playing the heir to the celebrated Italian fashion empire. The film, which documents Reggiani's sensational plot to murder her ex-husband, is based on the novel The House of Gucci: A Sensational Story of Murder, Madness, Glamour, and Greed by author Sara Gay Forden. Reggiani was found guilty of paying a hit man 300,000 (240,000) to murder 46yearold Gucci, an heir to the fashion empire. On ya bike! As filming continues to roll in Italy, Adam Driver, who is depicting the Gucci heir, was seen sprinting away from the gunman as he was shot down - at the request of his estranged wife Patrizia Reggiani, played by Lady Gaga Action: Adam was suited and booted as he zipped around the streets of Rome as his character while he was followed on by the crazed gunman Shocking: Adam, in character, was seen sprinting away from the onscreen hitman as he held a gun at him Fatal shot? In one of the pictures, Adam could be seen falling on the stairs as the onscreen gunman stood behind Her husband had left her for another woman 10 years previously after telling her he was going on a short business trip, from which he never returned. She was also said to be furious her former husband had started seeing other women, and feared her daughters' $170million inheritance was at risk if he remarried before ordering the hit. She also wanted more than the $650,000 she had been offered in a divorce settlement, the court heard.+ Reggiani eventually hired hitman Benedetto Ceraulo, a debt-ridden pizzeria owner who shot Gucci dead on the steps of his office in Milan as he arrived for work. Ceraulo was convicted and sentenced to life in prison. She was convicted after her clairvoyant and confidante Pina Auriemma turned informer and told police about the plot. A helping hand: The Ridley Scott autobiographical drama documents Reggiani's marriage, divorce and subsequent plot to murder her ex-husband, with new images showing the explosive moment Adam is gunned down in character Starring role: The heirs to Gucci have aired their concerns about their depiction in upcoming Ridley Scott film Off we go: Between takes Adam was zipping around on-set During the murder trial, which transfixed Italy, Reggiani arrived each day wearing head-to-toe Gucci clothes and accessories. The court heard how she had ordered the murder of her husband after he offered her $650,000 in a divorce settlement. She was initially sentenced to 29 years in 1998, which was reduced to 26 on appeal. She served 18 with her pet ferret Bambi as a companion for some of the time - before being released in October 2014. Having Bambi by her side was a special privilege negotiated by her lawyers however he was to suffer an unfortunate demise when a fellow inmate accidentally sat on him. Lump sum: In 2017 a court ruled Reggiani was entitled to receive 900,000 a year from her ex-husband's fortune and she was given a lump sum of 16million for her time in prison Well-known for her luxury lifestyle, Reggiani once said: 'I'd rather cry in a Rolls than be happy on a bicycle' and turned down the offer of day release while in prison because it would have meant doing 'menial' work. In 2017 a court ruled Reggiani was entitled to receive 900,000 a year from her ex-husband's fortune and she was given a lump sum of 16million for her time in prison. Maurizio Gucci was the grandson of Guccio Gucci, founder of the fashion company made famous with its double G logo. Yay! In 2017 a court ruled Reggiani was entitled to receive 900,000 a year from her ex-husband's fortune and she was given a lump sum of 16million for her time in prison In the early 1990s it was hit by problems and he sold the label for $120 million, just two years before his death. It comes after the heirs to Gucci aired their concerns about their depiction. The great-grandchildren of Gucci fashion empire founder Guccio Gucci have appealed to filmmaker Sir Ridley Scott to respect their family's legacy in the new movie that focuses on a sensational murder. The new film is scheduled to go on general release from November 24 2021. More than 14 metric tons of farm-raised fish along a river in the north-central Vietnamese province of Thanh Hoa died within Wednesday alone, while competent authorities have yet to confirm the reason behind the incident. The mass fish deaths occurred along a section of the Ma River in Cam Thanh and Cam Luong Communes in Cam Thuy District. As of Thursday morning, a total of 108 households in the two communes had been affected, according to the Cam Thuy District bureau of agriculture and rural development. Farm-raised fish die en masse along the Ma River in Cam Thuy District, Thanh Hoa Province, Vietnam, April 14, 2021. Photo: Ha Dong / Tuoi Tre Local fish farmers are now at risk of becoming empty-handed as the harvest time is just around the corner. The provincial Department of Agriculture and Rural Development has asked district-level administrations along the river to closely monitor fish farming activities. Police in Quan Hoa District, located about 100 kilometers northwest of Cam Thuy District, confirmed on Thursday morning they had discovered a forestry processing cooperative dumping untreated wastewater into the Ma River. Farmed fish die en masse along the Ma River in Cam Thuy District, Thanh Hoa Province, Vietnam, April 14, 2021. Photo: Ha Dong / Tuoi Tre Officers have collected samples of the wastewater for further tests. They have not confirmed that the activity is linked to the mass fish deaths in Cam Thuy District. The Peoples Committee in Quan Hoa District has ordered a comprehensive inspection of all forestry processing facilities in the locality. Similar fish deaths have also been recorded along another section of the Ma River in Ba Thuoc District, which is adjacent to Cam Thuy District, since March 15. A woman carries buckets containing dead fish in Cam Thuy District, Thanh Hoa Province, Vietnam, April 14, 2021. Photo: Ha Dong / Tuoi Tre More than 16 metric tons of fish have gone 'belly-up' in Ba Thuoc so far. Local authorities have discovered three wood processing facilities discharging untreated wastewater into the river. After carrying out several tests, competent authorities have ruled out an epidemic as the reason behind the phenomenon. A forestry processing cooperative is found dumping untreated wastewater into the Ma River in Quan Hoa District, Thanh Hoa Province, Vietnam, April 15, 2021. Photo: Binh An / Tuoi Tre Like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter to get the latest news about Vietnam! U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken has said that he was pleasantly surprised by the consolidated position of all NATO member states that condemned the intensification of Russia's aggression against Ukraine. He said this in Brussels on Wednesday, April 14, at a joint press conference with U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin and NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg following a meeting of the North Atlantic Council, according to an Ukrinform correspondent. "What was striking to me was, in the North Atlantic Council meeting, listening to every single ally, all 30 of us, express those concerns and a determination to see Russia take steps to de-escalate the tensions that it is creating," Blinken said. He said that the United States was deeply concerned about Russia's ongoing aggressive actions and rhetoric directed at Ukraine. "We're watching very closely, as we see very credible reports of this troop buildup in occupied Crimea and around Ukraine's borders," Blinken said, adding this has reached levels not seen since Russia's invasion in 2014. "We've also seen continued attacks by Russian-led forces at the line of contact in eastern Ukraine that, at least as of this morning, had resulted in 12 Ukrainian personnel killed since the last week in March," he said. But at the same time, according to him, Ukraine has demonstrated real restraint in the face of Russian provocations. "That's why we're focused on this. That's why the alliance is concerned and we are united in that concern," Blinken said. Photo: Getty Images MUFG discusses the potential implications of Bank of England chief economist Andy Haldane leaving in June and the latest trade data. According to MUFG, strong economic recovery is likely to be the dominant factor in determining BoE policy and Sterling trends with the Pound still securing net support. Nevertheless, the balance of risks is tilted towards a slightly less hawkish Bank of England (BoE) policy stance and weaker exports to the EU than would have been the case without Brexit. This implies that Pound Sterling support is liable to be weaker than would have been the case otherwise. It was announced on Tuesday that Haldane would leave the bank following the June policy meeting. The timing is important as the Bank of England will release its next Monetary Policy Report in early May and the following report is not due until the beginning of August. Haldane will, therefore, have no significant input to the report beyond the next two weeks, before the UK enters any strong recovery period, at least as far as official data is concerned. Haldane has tended to be the most hawkish member of the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) with markets speculating that there will be a less hawkish policy. MUFG notes that external member Vlieghe will also leave the bank at the end of August when his second policy term expires. The loss of the most hawkish MPC member will also be partially offset by the loss of dovish MPC member Vlieghe who is also set to leave soon as well. Governor Bailey will have the opportunity to reshape his team, although the Treasury has ultimate control over MPC appointments. MUFG assumes that the rate of UK recovery will be more important than the personnel within the committee. We remain comfortable with our view that the BoE will likely begin to taper QE purchases later this year as the UK economy starts to rebound more strongly in the coming months. ING also expects any impact to be short-lived; The fact that the market pricing of the BoE policy path was largely unchanged yesterday provided a case in point. JP Morgans London desk considers that the Pound was hit more by an unwinding of long positions rather than the news itself; sterling got hit much more aggressively than I expected given that there was little reaction in the rates market, there was clearly more positioning left in sterling than most (including myself) thought. MUFG notes that UK exports to the EU recovered to 11.6bn for February after the collapse to 7.9bn in January. Above: UK trade balance chart The bank notes that exports to the EU averaged GBP12.4 billion/month in the second half of last year which suggests there is still a significant impact from post-Brexit disruption. MUFG expects a further recovery over the next few months; Trade disruption is expected to ease further going forward as both sides become more familiar with the new trading arrangements. MUFG adds; A strong cyclical UK economic recovery in the coming quarters should continue to provide support for the pound. With the air show world sensing a much-hoped-for return to normalcy beginning to arrive, the legendary biennial Warbirds Over Wanaka International Airshow in Wanaka, New Zealand is already making plans for their event over the Easter weekend of 2022, as their recent press release stated This Airshow will be particularly special, as it will help celebrate the 85th Anniversary of the Royal New Zealand Air Force. While the 2020 Airshow was cancelled due to New Zealand being in Covid-19 lockdown, the 2022 event is already shaping up to be a must see for all aviation enthusiasts, and tickets have begun selling as of this March 15th. General Manager, Ed Taylor says, following confirmation of the RNZAFs presence, that discussions are already underway with a number of international air forces regarding their participation at Warbirds Over Wanaka 2022. Its hoped a number of air forces will be in attendance, Taylor noted. Warbirds Over Wanaka has hosted the air forces of the United States, Australia and France over recent years. Their displays add an international wow factor the crowds really appreciate and were always grateful for the support they give our event, he continued. The Royal New Zealand Air Force is a regular attendee at Warbirds Over Wanaka, and is looking forwards to putting on a significant display next year. Air Vice-Marshal Andrew Clark, RNZAF Chief of Air Force, says the ability to mark the air arms 85th Anniversary at Warbirds Over Wanaka is a great opportunity, noting Our personnel enjoy being part of the Airshow, involved in the flying displays and on the ground engaging with attendees. To be able to mark an important milestone date in our history at the same time is fitting and were thankful to Warbirds Over Wanaka for this opportunity. The other great news is confirmation that next years Warbirds Over Wanaka will feature a rare Polikarpov I-16. This Russian WWII fighter aircraft arrived in New Zealand from Germany just before the 2020 Airshow ended up being cancelled. Weve been working with the owner ever since and, through his generosity and the support of our sponsors, Hamburg Sud and Mainfreight, were now in a position to confirm the aircraft is staying here to take part in the 2022 event. This aircraft is one of nine Polikarpov fighter wrecks famously located in Siberia by Warbirds Over Wanakas founder, Sir Tim Wallis, back in the early 1990s. Sir Tim organized for their restoration in one of the original Russian Polikarpov factories before they returned to Wanaka where they instantly became a huge hit with vintage military aircraft fans from around the world. After Sir Tim Wallis progressively sold off his warbird collection during the early 2000s, the Polikarpovs went to new owners across the globe. Today it is believed that only three of the I-16s are still flying, making the return of one of these charismatic fighters to the skies over Wanaka very special indeed. We know there are thousands of fans who will travel to Wanaka just to see this distinctive little aircraft with its noisy 1000hp engine come ripping down the flightline, Ed Taylor commented. Lithuanian two-time World Aerobatic Champion, Jurgis Kairys, will put the pugnacious Polikarpov through its paces over Wanaka in 2022. As already noted, tickets for the 2022 Warbirds Over Wanaka International Airshow are already on sale and those looking to lock in their purchase early can do so at the following link: https://www.warbirdsoverwanaka.com/2020-airshow/tickets/ In the cell nucleus histones play a crucial role packaging DNA into chromatin. Histones are however very sticky to both DNA and RNA, so to ensure they are transported to the cell nucleus after synthesis and bind to the right portion of DNA to organize the chromatin, they are guarded by complexes of histone chaperones. Histone chaperones are proteins that bind to histones to help protect them from non-specific binding events until they reach their goal. This process fails sometimes and histones get stuck during their supply to chromatin without any purpose. In a study published in Molecular Cell, researchers have shown that the protein DNAJC9 holds an important role in safeguarding histones and thereby chromatin. Active fixer joins passive bystanders "Until now researchers have assumed that histone chaperones only act to passively shield histones. We have found out that DNAJC9 actively engages the cellular protein folding machinery - which means it actively recruits enzymes and molecular chaperones to redeploy histones that have been trapped," says assistant professor Colin Hammond, who has lead the study. Hammond is part of the Protein Memory Program in the Novo Nordisk Foundation Center for Protein Research at University of Copenhagen. Once released from their trapped condition histones can re-engage histone chaperones like MCM2 and be assembled into nucleosomes to organize chromatin. When the protein DNAJC9 is mutated to lose its ability to recruit the protein folding machinery, the histones stay trapped and are thereby lost for proper chromatin deposition. This means that traditional histone chaperones cannot fully protect histone proteins from spurious interactions. Rather, the cell is dependent on the combined action of molecular chaperones and histone chaperones to safeguard these fundamentally important proteins during their dynamic lives." Colin Hammond, Assistant Professor, University of Copenhagen Strong collaboration necessary The study is based on a strong international collaboration. Co-first author Hongyu Bao in Hongda Huang's lab and other partners from Southern University of Science and Technology in China, and Dinshaw Patel from Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, provided the structural discoveries of DNAJC9. The functional analysis was spear-headed by Colin Hammond in close collaboration with colleagues from the Proteomics Program at CPR, Ivo Hendriks and Michael Lund Nielsen, to dissect the function of the protein through in depth proteomic assays. Relevant insights for cancer research DNAJC9 is an essential protein in many cancer cell types and the levels of the protein correlate with the rates at which cancer cells proliferate. Chromatin in cancer cells may be more reliant on DNAJC9 compared to regular cells, and if this is the case DNAJC9 could be a target for the development of future cancer treatments. "Although it's still early days, we hope this fundamental advance in our understanding of DNAJC9 biology helps to pinpoint a function essential for cancer cell viability with therapeutic potential," Colin Hammond says. New Delhi, April 16 : Food Secretary Shudhanshu Pandey said on Thursday that wheat procurement has gained pace in the ongoing Rabi Marting Season (RMS) 2021-22 with the government agencies procuring 64.7 LMT of wheat worth Rs 12,800 crore at MSP (Minimum Support Price) of Rs 1,975 per quintal, against an estimated target of 427 LMT this year. Speaking to mediapersons virtually, Pandey said that the government of India is committed to purchase wheat at MSP and ensure that payments are made directly into the accounts of the farmers. He said that from the current RMS 2021-22 onwards, transfer of MSP will take place through the DBT mode across India. Briefing about the wheat procurement in Punjab, he informed that 10.6 LMT has been procured as on April 14. In Punjab, wheat procurement started from April 10, and the agencies have bought 10.56 lakh tonnes of wheat in only five days. Procurement in Punjab is in full swing and on April 14, there was an arrival of 5.57 LMT wheat in the mandis, which is likely to speed up in the coming days. Pandey said that there is no stakeholder interest clash or encroachment in Punjab. Arhtiyas are receiving their commission separately through the e-mode of payment. Earlier, the MSP was going to the farmers via the Arhtiyas, but now it is being directly transferred to the farmers online. As per the data available with the Food Corporation of India (FCI), the government agencies in Haryana have procured over 30 lakh tonnes of wheat as on April 14, while 20.63 lakh tonnes of wheat has been bought directly from the farmers in Madhya Pradesh. Over 1.83 lakh tonnes of wheat was procured in Uttar Pradsh till April 14. Responding to a question about storage conditions of godowns, he said it is an incorrect perception that due to the poor condition of godowns, foodgrain stocks get ruined. In 2019 and 2020, the damage was 0.006 per cent and 0.004 per cent of the total storage, he added. "To improve the storage infrastructure in India and increase storage capacity by 100 LMT, we are launching a storage modernisation plan. By 2024-25, we will store our stocks in modern silos and phase out the conventional godowns, Pandey said. On proposals for maize procurement in Bihar, the secretary said that the existing policy of the government of India is to ask for quotes from the states and accordingly the MSP is announced. So, the state governments can procure the required quantity of maize according to their needs, he said. Additionally, as a result of the government permitting ethanol production, Bihar has announced a policy on this which will increase the demand for maize crop in the state. Northbrook, IL -- (SBWIRE) -- 04/15/2021 -- According to a new market research report "Emotion Detection and Recognition Market by Component (Solutions [Facial Expression Recognition, Speech & Voice Recognition], Services), Technology, Application Area, End User, Vertical, Region - Global Forecast to 2026" In the post COVID-19 scenario, the emotion detection and recognition market size projected to grow from USD 19.5 billion in 2020 to USD 37.1 billion by 2026, at a Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of 11.3% during the forecast period. The major factors driving the market growth include the rising need for accretion of speech-based emotion detection systems to analyze emotional states, Adoption of IoT, AI, ML, and deep learning technologies across the globe, growing demand in the Automotive AI industry, growing need for high operational excellence, and rising need for socially intelligent artificial agents. Browse in-depth TOC on "Emotion Detection and Recognition Market" 369- Tables 42- Figures 344- Pages Download PDF Brochure @ https://www.marketsandmarkets.com/pdfdownloadNew.asp?id=23376176 Based on technology, the biosensors technology segment to lead the market in 2020 The biosensors technology is a critical component for emotion detection and recognition, providing essential information on the emotional state of humans. The use of this technology could prove to be useful in capturing hidden physiological or emotional states of an individual, thus, overcoming the limitations of facial or gesture recognition systems used to capture emotions. This technology is also extremely useful to monitor emotions, such as stress, anxiety, anger, and depression that have enormous applications in the medical and defense sectors. The rapid adoption of these devices has been witnessed as they are capable of providing real-time information on the emotional state of humans and monitoring any physiological changes in the user. Based on the end user, the industrial segment to grow at the fastest rate during the forecasted period The industrial end user includes big manufacturing giants and heavy industrial equipment manufacturers, such as automobile, chemical industry, real estate, renting and leasing, textile industry, brewing industry, and the energy industry, which consists of electricity industry, natural gas industry, and the petroleum industry. These end users deploy emotion detection and recognition software to minimize or restrict fraudulent activities. The emotion detection and recognition technology can be integrated with devices and used across other automotive industries to have an emotional connect with the users and track the data with emotion sensors to gain a deeper understanding of human emotions and improve customer experiences. North America to hold the highest market share during the forecast period North America is the largest revenue contributor to the emotion detection and recognition market, as the growth of the region is being driven by the rising internet penetration and increasing adoption of cloud-based and Internet of Things (IoT) applications across verticals. Countries in North America are well-established economies, enabling investments in advanced technologies. Request Sample Pages @ https://www.marketsandmarkets.com/requestsampleNew.asp?id=23376176 The US and Canada have made significant investments in Research and Development (R&D) activities, contributing to the growth of new technologies. In addition, massive government funding and a strong technical base aid the growth of the emotion detection and recognition market in the region. The demand for emotion detection and recognition technologies, such as facial feature extraction and 3D modeling, biosensors technology, and Natural Language Processing (NLP) is increasing across end users, such as enterprises, defense and security agency, and commercial and industrial. Key pure play vendors, such as Affectiva, Kairos, and Eyeris, along with several start-ups in the region, offer enhanced emotion detection and recognition solutions to cater to the needs of customers. Such factors are expected to fuel the growth of the global emotion detection and recognition market in North America. Market Players The major vendors covered in the emotion detection and recognition market include NEC Global (Japan), IBM (US), Intel (US), Microsoft (US), Apple (US), Gesturetek (Canada), Noldus Technology (Netherlands), Google (US), Tobii (Sweden), Cognitec Systems (Germany), Cipia Vision Ltd (Formerly Eyesight Technologies) (Israel), iMotions (Denmark), Numenta (US), Elliptic Labs (Norway), Kairos (US), PointGrab (US), Affectiva (US), nViso (Switzerland), Beyond Verbal (Israel), Sightcorp (Holland), Crowd Emotion (UK), Eyeris (US), Sentiance (Belgium), Sony Depthsense (Belgium), Ayonix (Japan), and Pyreos (UK). About MarketsandMarkets MarketsandMarkets provides quantified B2B research on 30,000 high growth niche opportunities/threats which will impact 70% to 80% of worldwide companies' revenues. Currently servicing 7500 customers worldwide including 80% of global Fortune 1000 companies as clients. Almost 75,000 top officers across eight industries worldwide approach MarketsandMarkets for their painpoints around revenues decisions. Our 850 fulltime analyst and SMEs at MarketsandMarkets are tracking global high growth markets following the "Growth Engagement Model GEM". The GEM aims at proactive collaboration with the clients to identify new opportunities, identify most important customers, write "Attack, avoid and defend" strategies, identify sources of incremental revenues for both the company and its competitors. MarketsandMarkets now coming up with 1,500 MicroQuadrants (Positioning top players across leaders, emerging companies, innovators, and strategic players) annually in high growth emerging segments. MarketsandMarkets is determined to benefit more than 10,000 companies this year for their revenue planning and help them take their innovations/disruptions early to the market by providing them research ahead of the curve. MarketsandMarkets's flagship competitive intelligence and market research platform, "Knowledge Store" connects over 200,000 markets and entire value chains for deeper understanding of the unmet insights along with market sizing and forecasts of niche markets. Contact: Mr. Aashish Mehra MarketsandMarkets INC. 630 Dundee Road Suite 430 Northbrook, IL 60062 USA: 1-888-600-6441 Email: sales@marketsandmarkets.com MnM Blog: https://mnmblog.org Content Source: https://www.marketsandmarkets.com/PressReleases/emotion-detection-recognition.asp She is frequently seen rocking activewear or racy underwear for her multiple modelling campaigns. But Arabella Chi wrapped up in chic wrap coat on Wednesday as she headed to the private members' club, Annabel's, in London with a friend. The former Love Island star, 30, put on an elegant display as she entered the swanky Mayfair venue in style. Stunning: Arabella Chi wrapped up in chic wrap coat on Wednesday as she headed to the private members' club, Annabel's, in London with a friend She completed her monochromatic look with cream trousers, a high-neck top and Comme des Garcons trainers. Arabella added a designer touch with a Louis Vuitton handbag but kept jewellery to a minimum, opting for simple rings. The reality star styled her sleek blonde locks in a straight hairdo while enhancing her radiant complexion with soft make-up. Her friend cut a casual figure in a denim jumpsuit and sported a mint green Dior handbag draped across her torso. In vogue: The former Love Island star, 30, put on an elegant display as she entered the swanky Mayfair venue in style While celebrating her milestone 30th birthday last month, Arabella took to Instagram to share a snap of herself in a black leather bustier as she reflected on her big day. She wrote: 'Thirty , Flirty & Thriving... I have mixed feelings going into my 30s and I hope the saying your 30s are the best years of your life is true... but looking back on my 20s I am so proud at what I have and over the past year. 'I can honestly say despite being in a global pandemic growth wise it has been my best year yet and I am so lucky I have the people that I do surrounding & supporting me.' (sic) Cream ensemble: She completed her monochromatic look with cream trousers, a high-neck top and Comme des Garcons trainers Finishing touches: Arabella added a designer touch with a Louis Vuitton handbag, but kept jewellery to a minimum, opting for simple rings Radiant: The reality star styled her sleek blonde locks in a straight hairdo while enhancing her radiant complexion with soft make-up Arabella also shared snaps of what she branded 'birthday cake number 3' as she welcomed a new decade in decadent style. The blonde beauty has returned to London after she was one of the many influencers who jetted off to Dubai for 'work trips'. The reality star made her way back to the UK before the mandatory hotel quarantine was enforced on returning travellers. Arabella has been focusing on her modelling career after she split from her boyfriend Wes Nelson in April 2020. Expensive taste: Her friend cut a casual figure in a denim jumpsuit and sported a mint green Dior handbag draped across her torso Back home: The blonde beauty has returned to London after she was one of the many influencers who jetted off to Dubai for 'work trips' WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - Empty middle seats on flights can lower passengers' exposure to infections diseases, including COVID-19, according to a new study by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. CDC has recommended airlines to keep aircraft cabin middle seats vacant to prevent transmission of viruses. CDC says flights can hold large numbers of people very closely for long periods of time, a very suitable condition for transmitting infectious diseases. However, according to a study, when the middle seat was kept vacant, transmission were reduced by 23% to 57%, compared with full aircraft occupancy. 'Physical distancing of aircraft passengers, including through policies such as middle seat vacancy, could provide additional reductions in SARS-COV-2 exposure risk,' the study notes. Researchers at CDC estimated how far airborne virus particles travel inside a plane by using mannequins that emitted aerosol to measure the flow of virus particles through airline cabin mock-ups. Current CDC guidelines recommend against travel for persons who have not been vaccinated against COVID-19, and a January 2021 CDC order requires masking for all persons while on airplanes. Last year, Delta, Southwest, Alaska and JetBlue blocked middle seats on planes, while United Airlines refused to do it. American Airlines blocked seats for a short time. 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. They've always shared an intense bond with their mom, Kris Jenner. And Kim Kardashian questioned Caitlyn Jenner's role in their family unit while chatting with Khloe and Scott Disick in a new trailer for the final season of Keeping Up With The Kardashians. Kim noted that Kris had been in contact with Caitlyn's business manager, Sophia Hutchins, but wasn't sure where to go from there. Interesting: Kim Kardashian questioned Caitlyn Jenner's role in their family unit while chatting with Khloe and Scott Disick in a new trailer for the final season of Keeping Up With The Kardashians 'Sophia called mom to try to connect her and Caitlyn, and to try to get them on the phone to get some business advice,' she told her sister. Kim and Khloe were catching up on a few family things in the backyard for the scene with Scott, Kourtney's ex. 'I mean mom's the one to get advice from for sure, but I don't know where mom's headspace is at,' Khloe pointed out. Caitlyn, who transitioned at the age of 65, was previously married to Kris from 1991-2015 and they have two children together, Kendall and Kylie. 'I just feel like that whole dynamic has been through so much, and I think it's taken mom a really long time to get to where she is now emotionally and how she feels about everything that I don't know if mom has anymore to give or if mom emotionally can handle that,' Kim said Hanging out: Kim and Khloe were catching up on a few family things in the backyard for the scene with Scott, Kourtney's ex 'I mean mom's the one to get advice from for sure, but I don't know where mom's headspace is at,' Khloe pointed out 'So, like at this point, what's everybody's relationship like with Cait and Sophia,' Disick asked. 'I mean, I talk to Caitlyn every once in a while,' Kim said. 'Definitely like super supportive and checks in and stuff like that, but I'm so busy.' 'I talk to Sophia very seldomly and Cait probably like every blue moon,' Khloe shared. 'But it's just cause we're busy ... it's COVID. There's no beef.' 'So, like at this point, what's everybody's relationship like with Cait and Sophia,' Disick asked 'I just feel like that whole dynamic has been through so much, and I think it's taken mom a really long time to get to where she is now emotionally and how she feels about everything that I don't know if mom has anymore to give or if mom emotionally can handle that,' Khloe said 'I just feel like that whole dynamic has been through so much, and I think it's taken mom a really long time to get to where she is now emotionally and how she feels about everything that I don't know if mom has anymore to give or if mom emotionally can handle that,' Khloe said. 'I think my mom has just definitely had her fair share of hurt in this relationship with Caitlyn,' Kim added. 'You know she has a hard time getting over things and it's completely understandable.' 'I don't have any idea where moms headspace is with Caitlyn or herself or Sofia ... I don't,' the Good American founder noted. 'So I don't know if she's even ready for that conversation.' 'I think my mom has just definitely had her fair share of hurt in this relationship with Caitlyn,' Kim added. 'You know she has a hard time getting over things and it's completely understandable' 'Honestly, mom and I have not spoken about where she stands with Cait, like, in a long time, cause it's just better to not talk about it, so I don't know if this is like triggering for her,' Khloe added 'Honestly, mom and I have not spoken about where she stands with Cait, like, in a long time, cause it's just better to not talk about it, so I don't know if this is like triggering for her,' Khloe added. 'Well it's definitely gonna be triggering,' Scott said. New episodes of the final season of Keeping Up With the Kardashians air Thursdays at 8 p.m. on E!, with a reunion special hosted by Andy Cohen. People charged with violent crimes often attempt to transfer responsibility for the incident to injured victims. Its especially prevalent in domestic violence cases, when a charged husband blames his wife for provocation. And it often arises in rape and other sexual assault cases. Through evidentiary rules, the courts generally hold people responsible for their own violent conduct, regardless of their motivation. Except in demonstrable cases of self-defense, violent conduct toward another person almost always is a crime. Pennsylvania law allows an exception, however, known as the panic defense or trans-panic defense which sometimes is employed by defendants charged with violent crimes against gay or transgender people. In a 2017 case cited by legislators trying to eliminate the defense, for example, a Philadelphia man attempted to employ the defense after severely beating a transgender woman with whom he had initiated a sexual encounter. He was convicted. But the Legislature should maintain the same standard regarding violence that applies to crimes against everyone. Reps. Mike Schlossberg of Lehigh County and Ben Sanchez of Montgomery County and state Sen. Maria Collett of Montgomery County, all Democrats, plan to introduce a bill outlawing the trans-panic defense. It should pass, as similar versions have become law in 13 other states. Violent criminals should be held responsible for their own conduct, regardless of what they claim as provocation. That deterrence should protect LGBTQ people to the same degree that it protects everyone else. SAULT STE. MARIE, ON, April 15, 2021 /CNW/ - The Government of Canada is working with all partners to protect the health and safety of Canadians and to reduce the spread of COVID-19 and the variants of concern in Canada. Self-isolation is one of the most effective ways to help stop the spread of COVID-19. However, for some Canadians, crowded housing conditions and restrictive costs can make it unsafe or impossible to self-isolate, increasing the risk of community transmission. Today, Terry Sheehan, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Economic Development and Official Languages, on behalf of the Honourable Patty Hajdu, Minister of Health, announced funding to operate a safe voluntary isolation site in Sault Ste. Marie and Algoma District, Ontario. These sites help those who have COVID-19, or have been exposed to it, access safe isolation accommodations to keep themselves and their community safe. Voluntary isolation sites reduce the risks of spreading the virus among household contacts in locations where people are faced with crowded housing and resource constraints. These sites are one of the rapid response tools established to help stop the spread of COVID-19, and can be deployed to communities facing outbreaks. The Safe Voluntary Isolation Sites Program directly supports cities, municipalities, and health regions that are at-risk of COVID-19 community transmission. Sites selected under the Program provide an accessible location where identified individuals can safely self-isolate for the required period. Local public health officials determine eligible individuals who may be offered the option to transfer to the isolation site on a voluntary basis to keep them and their household contacts safe during an outbreak in their community. Quotes "Ensuring that everyone is healthy is the best way to protect all of us. This safe, voluntary isolation site in Sault Ste. Marie will provide a place people can isolate if they are not able to safely do that at home. This funding will support another important tool for our health leaders to stop the spread of COVID-19." The Honourable Patty Hajdu Minister of Health "This funding, to operate a voluntary isolation centre in our region, will increase our ability to support residents of Sault Ste. Marie and the Algoma District when they cannot properly self-isolate at home." Terry Sheehan Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Economic Development and Official Languages "Self-isolation is an effective means to help stop the spread of COVID-19, and I want to recognize the Government of Canada for helping ensure people in Sault Ste. Marie and Algoma who cannot do so at home will have a safe, voluntary option. With the variants of concern spreading throughout the country, it is paramount that everyone follows public health advice and that all levels of government work together to provide people with the resources needed act in accordance with it." Christian Provenzano Mayor of the City of Sault Ste. Marie "Household transmission is a major driver of COVID-19 spread, especially in housing situations where individuals cannot safely self-isolate from others. The funding provided to develop the Safe Voluntary Isolation Site in our region will greatly increase our ability to support residents of Sault Ste. Marie and the Algoma District, and reduce transmission of the virus." Mike Nadeau CEO of the District of Sault Ste. Marie Social Services Administration Board "The funding and operation of the Safe Voluntary Isolation Site Program, here in Algoma, is a great example of how local partners can be empowered and resourced to support the families and households in our communities who are disproportionately impacted by COVID-19." Dr. Jennifer Loo Algoma Medical Officer of Health Quick Facts Government of Canada funding of $336,000 to the District of Sault Ste. Marie Social Services Administrative Board will allow the continued operation of a site comprised of eight rooms in Sault Ste. Marie and Algoma District. funding of to the District of Social Services Administrative Board will allow the continued operation of a site comprised of eight rooms in and Algoma District. As part of Canada's rapid response tools against the spread of COVID-19, the Government of Canada is providing a total of $100 million in funding to municipalities and health regions to establish Safe Voluntary Isolation Sites across the country. rapid response tools against the spread of COVID-19, the Government of is providing a total of in funding to municipalities and health regions to establish Safe Voluntary Isolation Sites across the country. To date, the Safe Voluntary Isolation Sites program is providing approximately $72.6 million to support projects in Ontario , which totals approximately 2,150 rooms across the province. to support projects in , which totals approximately 2,150 rooms across the province. Regular monitoring and reporting of safe voluntary isolation sites will be conducted in coordination with local public health officials. The sharing of best practices will be encouraged among the selected isolation sites to improve how the sites operate and how services are delivered to individuals who access the sites. To prevent the spread of COVID-19, Canadians are advised to follow local public health measures, avoid places that do not have controls in place to reduce the spread of COVID-19, and to stay home if they are experiencing any symptoms. Associated Links Support for Provinces and Territories Canada.ca/coronavirus SOURCE Public Health Agency of Canada For further information: Contacts: Cole Davidson, Office of the Honourable Patty Hajdu, Minister of Health, 613-957-0200 ; Media Relations, Public Health Agency of Canada, 613-957-2983, [email protected]; COVID-19 public enquiries: 1-833-784-4397 Black Women Making Boss Moves Black-owned radio stations form a consortium to celebrate Black Women entrepreneurs From Madame CJ Walker, the worlds first female self-made millionaire, to billionaire Oprah Winfrey, black women have always had an entrepreneurial spirit. Three black-women radio stations across the country, teamed up to form an Independent Black Media Consortium and recognize local black female trailblazers during Womens History Month with the #LevelUp campaign. The #LevelUp campaign is a joint production of Radio Free 102.3FM KJLH in Los Angeles, Chicagos WVON 1690AM and Philadelphias WURD 96.1FM to celebrate the enterprising nature of Black Women entrepreneurs. The campaign provided savvy entrepreneurs an opportunity to pitch their service or product to a group of industry professionals to win the top prize, a marketing campaign valued at over $10,000. This country was built, in no small part, by the sweat and innovation of black women, said Karen Slade, KJLH Radio General Manager. Todays entrepreneurs are carrying on a long standing tradition and we want to honor that. ADVERTISEMENT Greater Los Angeles African American Chamber of Commerce (GLAAACC) President Angela Gibson-Shaw, Center by Lendistry President, Constance Anderson and Billups Group President, Robbin Billups, served as #LevelUp judges. Each judge was selected based on their business acumen in specific areas, as well as, their decades of experience working with start-ups to build capacity and capability. In Los Angeles, KJLH Radio received over forty entrepreneur applications and three were selected as finalists. Each finalist presented their best pitch to the judges and were scored in a variety of areas including business plans and future scalability. The winner was Nicole Green, owner of Cocos Lip Smacking Cakes. Nicole, a self-taught baker who went from selling cupcakes on the corner of her familys home to owning her own bakery, received the highest score and was declared the winner of 2021 KJLH #LevelUp campaign. Green has been serving delicious desserts ranging from cupcakes, cakes, cookies and chocolate dipped treats at her bakery and food truck locations throughout Los Angeles County. She has created desserts for birthday parties, baby showers, corporate events, school fundraisers and for celebrity events like TVOne reality series, Hollywood Divas. My passion for baking has gone to lengths I had only imagined, said Green. Turning my creativity into a reality is the best feeling. As a part of the #LevelUp $10,000 marketing campaign, Green will talk about her business with winners from WURD in Philadelphia and WVON in Chicago for an interview on all three stations. Its been a privilege to be a part of this interactive, multimedia contest spotlighting Black women-owned business. I congratulate Nicole and all of the finalists and winners in Philadelphia and Chicago, said Slade. As a black woman in business, its up to us to acknowledge and lift each other up. ADVERTISEMENT For more information on #LevelUp, visit kjlhradio.com and KJLH social media The seizure of huge quantities of heroin in the last one week has once again shown how narco-terror in Kashmir has become a major concern for the law enforcing agencies. On April 14, a joint team of Jammu and Kashmir police, Army and the Border Security Forces (BSF) foiled an infiltration bid along the Line of Control (LoC) and an attempt to smuggle narcotics in north Kashmirs Kupwara. The team claimed to have recovered 10 kilograms of narcotics putting its approximate value at Rs 50 crore in the international market. A similar consignment of deadly heroin, with estimated market value, as per the police, somewhere between Rs 50-60 crore, was seized on April 8 along the LoC in the same district. On January 21, a huge consignment of Afghan grade heroin and opium worth six crores in the international market was recovered by the police in Qaimoh area of south Kashmir Anantnag district. As per the data available with J&K Police, in 2020 alone, 36.08 kilograms of pure heroin and 49.7 kilograms of brown sugar were recovered from different parts of the Valley. These recoveries, police say, have clearly shown that the cross border narco-terror threat has become a major area of concern in Kashmir. Also read: ICG apprehends Pakistan boat with 30 kg heroin In the wake of a serious crackdown by the law enforcement agencies against the Hawala operators, Pakistan-based agencies use LoC route to send narcotics to fund the terrorism and unrest in the Valley. Since early 2019 when the cross LoC trade was shut down, narco-trade has become the exclusive route to finance terrorism and unrest in Kashmir, a senior police officer told DH. He said narco-terrorism in Kashmir seems to have a plausible reason for its growth since Pakistan-backed terror operatives in the valley have a readymade network of over ground workers (OGWs) in border areas who have been acting as couriers of arms/ammunition, fake currency etc in the recent past. Kashmir police chief, Vijay Kumar, said the drug menace is as big a challenge as militancy. Large quantities of narcotics are being pumped into the Valley from across the border. It is quite clear who is pumping drugs and narcotics here. Our focus is not only on fighting terrorism but on fighting drug trafficking and drug abuse too, he said. The arrival of such deadly drugs has resulted in heroin abuse showing an alarming increase in Kashmir in recent years. From 15 per cent heroin abuse recorded in 2016, it has now gone up to 90 per cent, said doctors at a government de-addiction centre in Srinagar According to Dr Yasir Rather, a consulting psychiatrist at Government Medical College (GMC), Srinagar, most of the drug abusers reporting at the hospital in the last few years are heroin addicts and their number is increasing constantly. Almost 90 per cent of drug abusers coming for treatment are those who consume deadly heroin. Even as young as 14-year-old patients are coming to seek help which is more alarming, he told DH. Source: Xinhua| 2021-04-16 06:18:11|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close DUBLIN, April 15 (Xinhua) -- The United States replaced Britain to be the largest source of Ireland's imported goods in the first two months of this year, according to the figures released by Ireland's Central Statistics Office (CSO) on Thursday. During the period, Ireland imported a total of 2.3 billion euros (about 2.75 billion U.S. dollars) worth of goods from the United States, up 4.4 percent over a year ago while its goods imports from Britain tumbled by over 46 percent year-on-year to 1.67 billion euros. In the first two months, the United States also remained as the largest market for the Irish exported goods, with Irish goods exported to the the country up by nearly 15 percent to 9.18 billion euros. Apart from the the United States, Ireland's goods exports to and imports from other major trade partners, including Britain, France, Germany, China and Belgium, all decreased during the period, showed the CSO figures. During the January-February period, Ireland exported a total of 25.69 billion euros worth of goods while its total imported goods were valued at 12.61 billion euros, down 3.2 percent and 16.3 percent respectively over a year ago. (1 euro = 1.20 U.S. dollars) Enditem Hudson, NY (12534) Today Lots of sunshine. Hot. High near 90F. Winds W at 10 to 15 mph.. Tonight Mostly clear. Low 63F. Winds SSW at 5 to 10 mph. A medical smartwatch for researchers and healthcare providers to collect continuous and objective data from patients, while enabling health monitoring at scale BOSTON, April 15, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- EmbracePlus by Empatica has received the European CE mark as a Class lla medical device, for its ability to consistently provide quality physiological parameters to users. EmbracePlus is a medical smartwatch that continuously and remotely collects and processes physiological signals from the wrist, including pulse rate, pulse rate variability, blood oxygenation, respiratory rate, skin temperature, electrodermal activity, rest, and actigraphy data. These data are continuously sent to a smartphone app, and transferred to the cloud for review and analysis by clinical researchers and healthcare professionals, through a single portal. Data can be streamed simultaneously from thousands of devices. This is possible both via Empatica software and third party-applications that can be developed using Empatica's SDK. Boasting Empatica's proprietary PPG and EDA sensors, EmbracePlus is the only medically certified smartwatch that enables continuous vital signs monitoring alongside continuous EDA monitoring, an important metric in the fields of neurology and psychiatry research. EmbracePlus also enables the development and monitoring of digital biomarkers, the output of data reprocessed by algorithms. An example is Empatica's Aura, which can detect the early onset of respiratory infections, including influenza and COVID-19. EmbracePlus is built to enhance remote and passive data collection from clinical trial participants, which has become increasingly prevalent since the pandemic. Clinical trials depend on rich patient data, yet collecting such data has traditionally been expensive, time-consuming, and error-prone. Clinic visits only capture snapshots of a patient's health, i.e., one electrocardiogram or phenotype analysis, and require patients to take time away from their work and family. Wearables track patient data from patients' homes over large time periods, resulting in rich datasets. The combination, quality, and scale of data collected remotely by EmbracePlus can enable the creation of novel digital endpoints, allowing clinical trials to become patient-centric while uncovering new insights. Empatica CTO Simone Tognetti stated: "The EmbracePlus is the result of years of hard work from our team, culminating in a medical device that offers the best of Empatica's technology, used in over 1,000 published papers: a compact and comfortable design with powerful sensors. We believe it will help in delivering our vision, to help millions of patients with new insights about their health and ultimately better care." EmbracePlus has been developed with key partners including HHS, USAMRDC, and the NASA-funded Translational Research Institute for Space Health. It is currently being rolled out for use with select clinical partners, and will not be directly available to consumers. -- Empatica, a digital healthcare company headquartered in Boston, MA, with offices in Milan, Italy, and Seoul, South Korea, is a pioneer in digital biomarker development and continuous patient monitoring driven by AI. Empatica's smartwatches are FDA-cleared and CE-marked, and have been sold to thousands of institutional partners for clinical trials and research, in studies examining depression, addiction, stress, oncology, epilepsy, migraine, and other conditions. Photo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1487762/Empatica_EmbracePlus.jpg Governor Newsom Gives Update On Vaccine Distribution View Photo Sacramento, CA A bill that would have banned hydraulic fracturing, better known as fracking, fell one vote short in the Senate Natural Resources Committee this week. The committee action effectively kills the bill, SB 467, this legislative session. Four Democrats abstained from voting. Governor Gavin Newsom says it is an issue he will continue to pursue. It shows you how challenging it is, even in a Democratically dominated legislature, in order to advance that cause. But were creative, were resourceful, and youll be hearing a lot more on this topic very shortly. The bill would have banned new hydraulic fracturing permits starting next year and would have prohibited it entirely by 2027. It was opposed by trade unions and members of the oil and gas industry who argued that it would force California to rely on oil from other states and countries. Banning fracking is among the environmental initiatives Newsom is proposing for the state. Keeping client information confidential and secure is paramount for lawyers and legal professionals everywhere, especially with remote working trends and cybersecurity concerns, said Ben Ow, President and CTO of AXEL. AXEL, the innovative software company focused on data custody, privacy and security solutions, announces a new partnership with the Florida Bar Association, the third largest bar association in the United States. The partnership will designate AXEL as an approved member benefit provider to be included in their online vendor directory. Starting today, all Florida Bar members can sign up for a free trial of the AXEL Go secure file-sharing and storage platform to better protect their client files and confidential information. The AXEL Go Basic Plan is available at no charge, while the Premium and Business subscription plans will be offered to Florida Bar members at a 20% discount. "The Member Benefits Committee was interested in the uniqueness of AXEL Go's secure file sharing," shared Michelle Suarez, Chair of The Florida Bar Member Benefits Committee. "As lawyers, we are concerned about protecting our client's information and client data security," Chair Suarez continued. "We did not have anything like this in the program as a standalone product and now is a great time to add AXEL Go." The company recently launched its Business subscription plan, which is geared toward small law firms looking for a more trusted and secure way to manage their file sharing and storage capabilities. Keeping client information confidential and secure is paramount for lawyers everywhere, especially with the increase in remote working trends and cybersecurity concerns, said Ben Ow, President and CTO of AXEL. The Florida Bar is ahead of the curve to recognize this and provide its members with access to a cost-effective solution. AXEL Go empowers legal professionals to uphold their ethical and legal obligations. The AXEL Go application is part of AXELs wider, patented blockchain-based technology platform designed as an easy-to-use, money-saving solution that prevents potentially destructive data breaches. The Business plan provides subscribers with five Premium accounts (normally $9.99/month each), with the ability to add more users according to individual or organizational needs. Each Premium account (in contrast to the free Basic account) includes the following extra features: 10GB of secure, blockchain-backed online storage No file size limits for shares (Basic accounts allow a 10MB file size limit) The option for AES 256 encrypted storage 2-Factor Authentication for logins and file storage As part of the Business plan, customers also receive an additional 100GB of shared online storage as a collaboration workspace for the associated Premium accounts. Business plans are priced at $59.99 USD per month with an additional 17% discount if paid annually. Additional users can be added at $4.99 per month each. About AXEL AXEL believes in a better internet for everyone, and that personal information is private property it should never be compromised with third parties, ever. AXELs commitment to creating awareness and educating the public about data privacy is fueled by companies that cross the line of whats acceptable when it comes to user privacy and protection. AXEL continues to expand its suite of affordable, patented technology solutions for data privacy, data security and data custody. For more information, visit AXEL and AXEL Go, and follow on Discord, Twitter, and Telegram. With population levels in UAE's top real estate markets, Abu Dhabi and Dubai, estimated to have declined by roughly 5% in 2020, growing levels of supply and existing vacancy levels, there has been a steep decline in residential property values in both these emirates, according to global real estate consultancy Knight Frank. Whilst population growth is expected to return in 2021, it will likely not be at least until late 2022 before the population levels return to their pre-pandemic levels, stated the expert. In Dubai, this lower level of demand will be further compounded by a continuing influx of supply, which in turn is likely to continue to put pressure on property values, Knight Frank stated in its UAE Property Value 2021 Movement report. Since the outbreak of the Covid-19 global pandemic, there has been an unpresented curtailment of economic activity and social mobility and as a result, unsurprisingly, global GDP was forecast to contract at the fastest rate seen in decades. Despite the initial shock and considerable levels of uncertainty, Knight Franks said it had not seen the worst-case scenarios come to fruition. On the back of a mixture of fiscal and monetary stimulus packages enacted in around 197 countries, the IMF has revised the rate of contraction for global GDP down from a high of 4.9% to 3.3% as at April 2021, it added. "In the UAE, despite various fiscal initiatives enacted on an emirate level and a wide-ranging federal monetary stimulus package, property values in most parts have seen material declines. However, it is important to note that this is not the case in all segments," remarked Taimur Khan, Head of Research at Knight Frank Middle East. The pandemic has, in certain real estate asset classes, accelerated pre-pandemic shifts in demand, for example from physical retail to e-commerce, which in turn has helped underpin values in the industrial sector. "More so, in certain cases, revaluations have arguably spurred investment activity in what was a largely subdued marked beforehand. Looking ahead, we forecast that the vast majority of the UAEs real estate market will see values remain at similar levels to 2020 or even begin to increase in some cases," he stated. On the UAEs hospitality sector, Knight Frank said since it is heavily reliant on international tourism, it has undoubtedly seen the most significant impact on property values as a result of the pandemic. "Of the two largest tourism markets in the UAE, Abu Dhabi recorded relative outperformance compared to Dubai. This was underpinned by the size of the capital's market and diverted demand from UAE residents," noted Khan. "Whereas in Dubai, given the size of the market and the reliance on international source markets, values have declined much more significantly. As the market continues to recover, gradual performance improvements will reflect gradual increases in hotel values," he added. On the UAEs industrial sector, the expert said it could be singled out as one of the few sectors to benefit from the pandemic. "Despite this, we have seen industrial property values in Dubai decline as rents continue to fall across all segments of the market," stated Khan. "However, in Abu Dhabi, values in 2020 remained stable despite the ongoing pressure on rents. Both in Abu Dhabi and Dubai, we envisage that markets look to have bottomed out and as a result, in 2021, we expect values to remain stable on average," he added. On the retail sector, Khan said: "With footfall and retail spending seeing heavy declines, and the evermore common practice of turnover rents, in conjunction with lower base rents, it is not surprising that retail property values declined in both Abu Dhabi and Dubai in 2020." "Looking ahead, in Abu Dhabi, given its relatively low levels of upcoming supply we expect values to remain stable compared to 2020 levels. Whereas in Dubai, given significant levels of upcoming supply and hybrid, or turnover only rental models going forward, we expect values to continue to decline in 2021," he added. On the office sector, Knight Frank said whilst the pandemic will impact the future form and function of office spaces, it has been an accelerator of already shifting fundamentals rather than the root cause of these shifts. "In Abu Dhabi, given relatively low levels of new supply and stability in rental rates, overall we have seen values for institutional grade assets remain relatively stable in 2020," noted Khan. "While in Dubai, with rental rates continuing to fall and a surge in vacancy, office property values have declined materially on average," he added. Source: Xinhua| 2021-04-15 21:55:37|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close KAMPALA, April 15 (Xinhua) -- Health officials in Uganda on Thursday said the east African country has renewed efforts to ensure health equity even among people in the most remote areas. The country on Thursday was belatedly commemorating the World Health Day, which is globally marked on April 7 annually. The commemorations, which will last until Dec. 12, Universal Health Coverage Day, are held under the theme -- Health Equity - Building a Fairer and Healthier World. Ruth Aceng, minister of Health, said ensuring health equity is one of the country's long-term strategies toward attaining Universal Health Coverage and hence achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals. Aceng said lack of health care equity is of increasing concern as countries transition to a situation of high infectious and non-communicable disease burdens. In many African countries, including Uganda, there are substantial health care disparities with most health care resources located within urban centers, said Aceng. "This situation requires a robust Primary Health Care network to diagnose, treat, and monitor patients due to a long continuum of care." UN Resident Coordinator in Uganda Rosa Malango said countries must now implement the commitments they made towards achieving universal health coverage, including increasing the share of the health budget to 15 percent of the total national budget. The health budget in Uganda only takes 5 percent of the national budget. "We can build resilient health systems capable of ensuring that people obtain services when and where they need them," Malango said. "We can innovate and develop vaccines, health equipment and protective gear to increase access to care regardless of your location or status." Yonas Tegegn Woldemariam, the World Health Organization (WHO) country representative to Uganda, said the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has showed how critical it is to address health inequities. "COVID-19 is just the latest example of why WHO is so focused on achieving Health for all. In WHO we know that it is important to create circumstances and social, economic and environmental conditions that allow people to fulfil their health potential," Woldemariam said. "People must be helped to overcome barriers that prevent them from accessing quality health services and to ensure that those services are available everywhere and to everyone." Minister Aceng said over the years, government has continued to prioritize access to health care, noting that currently 86 percent of the country's population is now within a 5-km reach of either a public or private health facility. "This is intended to bridge the gap of distance and access to health care as well as the economic opportunity costs associated with travel to the health facility," the minister said. To reduce the high level of out-of-pocket health expenditure, the Ministry of Health has put in place a national health insurance scheme. According to the Ministry of Health data, out-of-pocket expenditure in Uganda is 40 percent, which is 25 percentage points higher than recommended WHO levels for out-of-pocket expenditures. High out-of-pocket expenditure has led to a high incidence of catastrophic health spending among the poor in Uganda. Aceng said the ministry has also revised the resource allocation formulae to enhance equity in the distribution of local government transfers across districts and health facilities. Government has also continued to provide subsidies to private-not-for-profit health providers to lower user-fees, while health care is provided for free in the public health facilities since 2001. The country has also upgraded over 200 Health Center IIs to Health Center IIIs in a bid to ensure that every sub-county has a health facility at the level of Health Center III. At Health Center III level, there are all forms of health care including maternity services. Malango said the UN will continue to support Uganda to improve the health and well-being of its people through the UN Sustainable Development Cooperation Framework 2021-2025 and the country's development programs. Enditem Vicki Gunvalson is one of the former stars of The Real Housewives of Orange County. Bravo fans got to see all of her ups and downs on the reality series for 14 seasons and the insurance maven is still making headlines. Days after celebrating her 59th birthday, there have been rumors shes dating someone 36 years younger than her. Gunvalson is breaking her silence and setting the record straight. Vicki Gunvalson | Astrid Stawiarz/Bravo/NBCU Photo Bank via Getty Images Did Vicki Gunvalson break up with her fiance? Despite leaving RHOC after season 14, some fans are still invested in Gunvalsons life journey. The last viewers saw of her she was riding off a limo with her fiance Steve Lodge. Although her followers always questioned if he was a right fit for her, Gunvalson showed she had plans to settle down with the former police officer. Gunvalson is someone that is extremely active on social media is constantly sharing updates on her everyday life. One person that has been missing was Lodge, who doesnt make that many appearances on Gunvalsons Instagram. People began noting Lodges absence and rumors started circulating the couple had broken up. Just because Steve and I dont always share pictures of each other on social media, is not indicative of the status of our relationship, Gunvalson told Champion Daily back in December 2020. I flew to North Carolina on a red-eye to spend Christmas Day with Briana [Culberson] and her family while Steve stayed back and spent Christmas in California. I am currently en route to my home in Puerto Vallarta to spend New Years with Steve. Steve Lodge and Vicki Gunvalson | Phillip Faraone/Bravo/NBCU Photo Bank RELATED: RHOC Alum Meghan King Weighs in on Kelly Dodds Controversial Statements The reality TV personality recently bought a condo in Mexico and spends a lot of time by the beach. In her statement she shared that she was balancing her family and career and makes the most out of her time with her fiance. Is Vicki Gunvalson dating a 23-year-old man? Despite Gunvalson slamming rumors back in December that she had split from Lodge, more gossip surrounded the former RHOC star. In recent weeks, it was reported that Gunvalson was dating a guy that was 23-years-old. If the rumor was true, that would mean Gunvalson wouldve been in a romance with someone 36 years younger than her. However, the entrepreneur has debunked all the allegations. In regards to the rumor that I am no longer engaged and that I am currently dating a 23-year-old, Gunvalson told Celebuzz about the ridiculous rumors adding a LOL. This is absolute pure and utter tabloid gossip that someone made up, Gunvalson added. If youve been following me, you would definitely know I am certainly not dating a 23-year-old. This allegation is so ridiculous I actually laughed when asked about it at first. Clearly the press must be bored today. Vicki Gunvalson | Charles Sykes/Bravo/NBCU Photo Bank RELATED: RHOC: Kelly Dodd Dodd Calls Vicki Gunvalson the Cheapest Chick on Earth RHOC is on pause As Gunvalsons love life comes into question, her former co-stars have been put on pause. RHOC, the show that started all the other housewives franchises, has been halted after 15 seasons. Andy Cohen recently revealed they are in no rush to start filming season 16. The status of OC right now is that were just taking a pause. Were in no rush to get into production, Cohen told Variety. One of the benefits of Salt Lake City coming out so strong out of the gate and becoming such a hit is you dont need to be in such a rush then to get Orange County back, because you have more to play with. Cohen didnt reveal how long the pause would last but said that a cast shakeup might happen as producers weigh options on how to move forward. Rev. Dr. Tommy L. Davis went to be with the Lord on Thursday, April 8, 2021. He was preceded in death by his wife, Linda Davis. He is survived by two sons, Charlie Davis and Danny Davis (Natalie), two grandchildren, Miller Davis and Amanda Jones (Casey) and one great-grandchild, Bear Jones. The family will receive visitors at Hamilton Funeral Home at 4506 Hixson Pike on Monday, April 19, from 4-8 p.m. and Tuesday, April 20, from 11 a.m.-1 p.m., with a service to follow. True to form, Dad wrote his own obituary. Some other highlights follow: I, Thomas Leota Davis, trusted the Lord Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior at the early age of eight, nine, or ten. My parents, William Fred Davis, a barber for about sixty years, and Ella May Davis, who stayed home and took care of us kids, had no formal education, but had plenty of common sense to make up for the lack of formal training. I suppose one of their greatest assets was that they loved each other very much, and loved and took care of us kids to the best of their abilities. The best that I remember, we never went without food or clothing, or without shelter or love. The best of these was love. I attended Cedar Hill Baptist Church and was saved during a revival meeting, not knowing what the Lord had in store for me. I was a skinny, snot-nosed, red-headed, freckle-faced, barefoot boy from a place called Black Bottom. I know now, as I look back over the sixty-plus years, that He guided, led, and put me in His service as He saw fit. I did not have too much of a choice, but to be willing to do and go where the Spirit was directing me to follow. When I got into East Lake Junior High School, all of my friends were attending East Lake Baptist Church, where I moved my membership and, later in 1953, became ordained into the gospel ministry. I think that I knew from the very beginning of being saved that I was set aside for His service. I did not always obey and seek His guidance through the formative(spiritual) years, but He watched over me and protected me so that I could be used in His service. Charles Gray and I went to work at DuPont in the summer of 1951, after graduating from Chattanooga High School, and he from Central. This is another time that the Lord just put two born-again Christians together to serve Him and do His bidding. We quit DuPont to attend college at Tennessee Temple in 1951. We were there for one semester and were called, led, guided by the Holy Spirit to transfer to Campbellsville Junior College in Campbellsville, Kentucky. This is where George Gray, Charles brother attended school. To show you how the Lord works, the very first weekend we were at Campbellsville, we were invited to attend a youth revival, singing in the Baptist student union choir. From that point on, we sang, preached, and enjoyed the fellowship of the Lord. We saw, over the years, in revival meetings throughout Kentucky, Indiana, Tennessee, Georgia, and West Virginia, young people and adults alike came to know Christ as their own personal Savior through the ministry that the Lord set us apart to do. After spending one and a half years at Campbellsville College, Charles Gray and I were called to Louisa Baptist in Louisa, Kentucky after a summer of evangelistic meetings in the aforementioned states. He was called as a pastor, and myself as a minister of music and youth. The Lord sent a harvest of souls and many were blessed through that ministry. I was married in 1955, and we had a son named Charles Thomas Davis on Christmas Day of 1955. We were married for thirteen years, and after that time, we went our separate ways. By this time, I was back in Chattanooga, Tennessee, ministering at various churches. Hickory Valley Baptist, Kings Point Baptist, Middle Valley Baptist, Central Baptist of Hixson, and Bayside Baptist, to name a few. After being in the music ministry for about fifty years, I resigned from this position. My last church was Signal Hills Baptist Church, where I got reacquainted with Dr. Dolphus Ray Warren, who encouraged me to get back into school after being out for forty years. I enrolled in Covington Seminary in 1997, received my bachelors degree in 1998, a Masters in ministry degree in August of 1999, a Doctorate in Ministry in August of 2000, a Doctorate of Theology in 2001, and a Doctorate of Philosophy in Religion in 2002. I graduated with honors with the doctorate of ministry. I served as faculty advisor for the school for several years. During the second year, I was a teacher at the college every Tuesday night. The Lord continued to direct the path of that little, skinny, red-headed, freckle-faced boy He lifted from Black Bottom and put into the ministry of His service. I was married to Linda Coppinger Davis for twenty-five years (now deceased). We had a son, Stephen Daniel Davis, who continues to be a blessing to me as I grow in His grace and knowledge. I served as the chaplain of the Southern Belle Riverboat. I had a wedding ministry at the county jail, Silverdale Correctional Institute, and the South Eastern Correctional Institute in Pikeville, Tennessee. It was my privilege to have prayer and give these couples a Christ-centered wedding service to at least get them started knowing that Christ died for them and will save them from their sin. If they but call upon Him and ask forgiveness, they too will have eternal life in His presence to serve and worship Him. At the time of my passing, I was a member of Stuart Heights Baptist Church. ---- Dad had two grandchildren, Amanda Jones and Miller Davis. He also has one great-grandchild, Aidan Bryant (Bear) Jones, who he got to see on several occasions. He loved his family very much and we just thought he doted on the grandkids until the great-grandson arrived. Dr. Ray Warren was Dads self proclaimed BFF. They talked and texted almost every day for many years, and Dad cherished their friendship. During his seventy (70) year ministry, Dad married nearly 19,000 couples in Hamilton County alone. That number does not include the years he spent at the Ringgold Wedding Chapel and all of the other counties in which he married folks. The total number will probably never be known. Arrangements are by Hamilton Funeral Home & Cremation Services, 4506 Hixson Pike, Hixson, 423 531-3975. Juan Gavidia, CEO of Orvana Minerals stated: "While we are on track to deliver on our production guidance for fiscal 2021, we are also pleased to report that exploration at OroValle continues to produce positive results, enhancing our current 5-Year Life-of-Mine Plan. OroValle's future has never looked brighter than today. Completing Orvana's big picture, we look forward to updating shareholders with exploration results at our in-development Taguas Project in Argentina, and with metallurgical testing programs completion at EMIPA, Bolivia, over the next upcoming quarters." Q2 FY2021 OPERATIONAL RESULTS OroValle 10,785 gold ounces, and on track to meet fiscal year 2021 guidance 1.4 million pounds, and on track to meet fiscal year 2021 guidance 6,530m of exploration drilling at OroValle were undertaken pursuant to aggressive resources annual program Taguas 3,000m of diamond drilling were undertaken in the quarter, with 2,000m more to be completed in Q3 of diamond drilling were undertaken in the quarter, with more to be completed in Q3 An updated Resource Estimate is expected in the next quarter EMIPA The Oxides Stockpile Project quality assurance (metallurgical) testing is currently in progress, and a decision on the project is expected by the end of fiscal year 2021 Objectives for Remainder of FY2021 OroValle: Strong cash flow generation. Deliver on production guidance, and go beyond replenishment of annual depletion thus, extending mine life Strong cash flow generation. Deliver on production guidance, and go beyond replenishment of annual depletion thus, extending mine life Taguas: Issue expanded-resource PEA by end of 2021, and define the Infill Drilling Program required to develop a Pre-Feasibility Study during 2022 Issue expanded-resource PEA by end of 2021, and define the Infill Drilling Program required to develop a Pre-Feasibility Study during 2022 EMIPA: Make final decision on Oxides Stockpile Project. Subject to final approval and access to required financing, it will be a one-year construction project in 2022, and a three-year production life between 2023 and 2025 Production Results Q2 FY2021 Q1 FY2021 Q2 FY2020 FY 2021 Guidance Ore milled (tones) 159,603 180,380 148,339 Gold Equivalent (oz) 14,197 18,398 14,843 Gold Grade (g/t) 2.31 2.60 2.74 Recovery (%) 90.9 93.6 93.0 Production (oz) 10,785 14,127 12,139 50,000 - 55,000 Copper Grade (%) 0.47 0.63 0.52 Recovery (%) 82.3 81.6 83.1 Production (K lbs) 1,355 2,044 1,422 7,000 - 8,500 Orovalle H1 Exploration Update El Valle Boinas Fiscal year 2021 drilling program focus continues on the Oxides areas with a total of 13,743m drilled in H1 2021 (see Figure 1). Detail of areas and drilled metres are in Table 1 below and full detail of the drill program can be found in Table 2: Infill (m) Brownfield (m) TOTAL (m) A208 3,658 - 3,658 Boinas South 2,167 - 2,167 S107 867 - 867 High Angle East - 4,648 4,648 Other Areas 1,796 607 2,403 TOTAL 8,488 5,255 13,743 Table 1. Orovalle H1 Drilling Fiscal Year 2021 Highlights per Area (see detailed assays in Table 2): A208: 8.9m with 28.93 g/t Au . Drilling advancing to the North, next to East Breccia. . Drilling advancing to the North, next to East Breccia. Boinas South : 5.9m with 11.87 g/t Au and 1.31% Cu . Mineral expansion is open at depth and to the North. Drilling continues to the North, connecting the Black Skarn area, around the intrusive contour. : . Mineral expansion is open at depth and to the North. Drilling continues to the North, connecting the Black Skarn area, around the intrusive contour. S107: 2.1m with 43.28 g/t Au and 1.23% Cu . Drilling focused on open mineralization at depth. . Drilling focused on open mineralization at depth. High Angle East : 4.3m with 38.38 g/t Au and 4.22% Cu. Structure growth remains open at depth and to the North. Area 208 (A208) Information obtained from 16,802m of infill drilling since 2019 allowed for better understanding of the structure, which remains open at depth. Zoning can be identified within the structure, where the highest gold grades are located at the footwall. Boinas South (SB) The drilling campaign was focused on the lower part, targeting skarn material with the highest gold and copper grades. The structure remains open at depth and to the North. An infill drilling campaign is being planned for the next few months. S107 The infill drilling carried out in the deep zone has demonstrated a change in the inclination of the mineral layer, from a subvertical position to 45 Northwest, fitting the contact with the limestone. The skarn contains bands of massive copper sulphides. High Angle East (HAE) Drilling continues on the latest discovery at El Valle (see news release dated October 22, 2020). Zones within the structure contain Au and Au-Cu bands. The structure remains open at depth and to the North. Greenfield exploration update A total of 1,016.7m was completed at the Lidia Project in H1 FY2021. The second phase is anticipated for September 2021, once the results of the first phase have been completely evaluated. Quality Control The analytical work for the brownfield and infill drilling programs are being performed by the Orovalle laboratory, which is ISO 9001:2015 certified. Sample preparation was carried out at the El Valle facility. All diamond core samples have been prepared using the following procedure, once split: The core samples are dried at a temperature of 105C and then crushed through a jaw crusher to 95%<6 mm. The coarse-crushed sample is further reduced to 95%<425 microns using an LM5 bowl-and-puck pulverizer. An Essa rotary splitter is used to take a 450 g to 550 g sub-sample of each split for pulverizing. The remaining reject portion is bagged and stored. The sample is reduced to a nominal -200 mesh using an LM2 bowl-and-puck pulverizer. 140 g sub-samples are split using a special vertical-sided scoop to cut channels through the sample which has been spread into a pancake on a sampling mat. Samples are then sent to the laboratory for gold and base metal analysis. Leftover pulp is bagged and stored. After sample preparation, 30g samples are analyzed for Au by fire assay with an atomic absorption spectroscopy (AAS) finish and two-gram samples for Ag, As, Bi, Cu, Hg, Pb, Sb, Se, and Zn by ICP-optical emission spectroscopy (ICP-OES) after an aqua regia digestion. The reported work has been completed using industry standard procedures, including a quality assurance/quality control ("QA/QC") program consisting of the insertion of certified reference material, blanks and duplicates samples into the sample stream. The exploration update was prepared under the supervision of Guadalupe Collar Menendez, a qualified person for the purposes of NI 43-101 and an employee of Orovalle Minerals S.L., a subsidiary of Orvana. H1 2021 Intercepts from A208, S107, SB and HAE Zone DDH From (m) To (m) Thick (m) Au(gpt) Ag(g/t) Cu(%) A208 20V1836 9.00 10.55 1.22 15.59 1.8 0.26 A208 20V1836 19.60 20.90 0.90 3.31 0.5 0.08 A208 20V1836 23.90 25.50 1.10 6.34 1.2 0.05 A208 20V1836 62.30 63.75 0.89 4.78 0.5 0.02 A208 20V1836 87.45 88.50 0.64 4.54 0.5 0.03 A208 20V1840 10.40 12.70 2.17 4.21 3.6 0.24 A208 20V1840 35.80 37.00 0.81 8.03 0.5 0.02 A208 20V1840 102.00 105.00 2.67 13.01 0.5 0.04 A208 Including 102.00 103.50 1.33 20.33 0.5 0.04 A208 20V1843 16.10 18.90 1.99 2.75 1.9 0.23 A208 20V1843 31.50 32.70 1.00 12.95 0.5 0.06 A208 20V1843 37.50 41.85 3.63 5.43 0.5 0.03 A208 20V1843 124.50 130.35 5.13 2.32 6.1 0.31 A208 20V1843 134.75 137.55 2.46 2.64 1.9 0.25 A208 20V1845 8.50 9.80 1.10 5.13 1.0 0.32 A208 20V1845 17.65 20.50 2.44 2.72 3.3 0.10 A208 20V1845 25.90 27.50 1.37 3.19 0.5 0.03 A208 20V1845 90.20 91.70 1.43 13.67 5.0 0.36 A208 20V1845 152.35 161.70 6.75 6.72 1.1 0.07 A208 20V1847 22.90 23.90 0.73 11.37 1.5 0.02 A208 20V1847 34.70 46.10 7.98 5.26 0.5 0.05 A208 Including 38.20 39.00 0.56 21.63 0.5 0.03 A208 Including 43.80 44.90 0.77 12.83 0.5 0.03 A208 20V1847 90.70 131.00 26.87 6.41 0.5 0.03 A208 Including 92.70 102.70 6.67 11.67 0.5 0.01 A208 Including 106.70 108.70 1.33 13.89 0.5 0.01 A208 Including 117.00 119.00 1.33 20.87 0.5 0.03 A208 20V1847 171.00 173.00 0.96 3.64 0.5 0.01 A208 20V1847 186.55 187.60 0.63 6.05 0.5 0.02 A208 20V1847 198.00 201.30 1.98 9.21 0.5 0.02 A208 20V1849 8.30 9.00 0.53 9.39 1.80 0.58 A208 20V1849 25.10 36.30 6.84 2.45 1.15 0.09 A208 20V1849 94.60 103.10 4.91 10.16 0.10 0.04 A208 Including 94.60 96.60 1.16 13.65 0.10 0.02 A208 Including 101.85 103.10 0.72 39.80 0.10 0.06 A208 20V1849 156.70 158.70 0.82 5.16 0.10 0.02 A208 20V1849 166.70 168.70 0.82 3.22 0.10 0.02 A208 20V1852 9.70 11.15 1.16 3.82 1.10 0.12 A208 20V1852 26.05 45.50 15.13 2.65 0.50 0.07 A208 Including 44.20 45.50 1.01 18.45 0.20 0.02 A208 20V1852 187.70 188.90 1.20 2.31 0.80 0.12 A208 20V1858 8.60 9.70 0.86 6.88 2.00 0.62 A208 20V1858 24.75 26.20 0.64 11.14 2.10 0.07 A208 20V1858 37.20 40.20 1.07 6.08 0.85 0.06 A208 20V1858 46.35 47.90 0.55 3.12 0.50 0.04 A208 20V1861 10.40 11.45 0.69 2.93 29.70 2.23 A208 20V1861 43.65 60.00 4.18 8.89 0.75 0.11 A208 Including 49.45 51.00 0.40 41.46 0.50 0.05 A208 Including 55.25 57.55 0.59 21.07 0.50 0.05 A208 20V1861 66.60 69.25 1.38 3.22 5.71 0.10 A208 20V1861 73.60 77.80 2.19 18.20 0.50 0.03 A208 Including 76.40 77.80 0.73 28.99 0.50 0.02 A208 20V1861 163.90 165.15 0.65 3.13 0.50 0.01 A208 20V1861 170.40 171.45 0.55 7.85 0.50 0.01 A208 20V1865 95.90 97.40 1.37 6.24 0.50 0.04 A208 20V1865 114.80 116.30 1.37 2.74 0.50 0.02 A208 20V1865 148.15 149.55 1.24 5.46 1.90 0.10 A208 20V1868 80.20 81.40 1.11 2.32 0.5 0.09 A208 20V1868 115.40 119.85 3.91 2.68 0.8 0.20 A208 20V1868 122.75 125.30 2.24 1.94 5.1 0.12 A208 20V1869 78.50 79.90 1.12 5.08 0.5 0.02 A208 20V1869 135.55 137.30 0.64 6.24 0.5 0.02 A208 20V1869 161.30 167.30 3.20 6.42 0.5 0.11 A208 20V1869 164.30 167.30 1.60 12.02 0.5 0.08 A208 20V1870 112.90 114.50 1.05 2.29 1.3 0.40 A208 20V1870 130.75 132.00 0.82 17.10 0.5 0.01 A208 20V1870 146.00 147.30 0.85 8.89 2.4 0.09 A208 20V1871 84.90 108.60 12.11 5.71 0.5 0.03 A208 Including 98.05 99.80 0.89 26.61 0.5 0.01 A208 Including 101.55 103.30 0.89 13.09 0.5 0.01 A208 20V1872 117.90 119.15 1.07 31.27 0.5 0.03 A208 20V1872 137.30 148.70 8.87 28.93 0.6 0.09 A208 Including 137.30 139.95 2.06 81.31 0.5 0.02 A208 Including 144.05 145.60 1.21 15.49 0.5 0.00 A208 Including 147.15 148.70 1.21 57.01 0.5 0.02 A208 20V1872 154.75 156.30 1.21 2.62 1.8 0.13 A208 20V1873 89.90 91.55 1.52 2.15 0.5 0.01 A208 20V1873 101.85 104.65 2.49 7.83 0.5 0.10 A208 20V1873 101.85 103.25 1.24 14.03 0.5 0.10 A208 21V1874 106.35 110.15 3.67 11.75 0.5 0.01 A208 Including 108.25 110.15 1.84 20.62 0.5 0.01 A208 21V1875 No intercepts >2g/t Au A208 21V1876 72.00 74.00 1.82 5.55 0.5 0.01 A208 21V1876 120.10 121.85 1.59 31.59 0.5 0.03 A208 21V1876 128.85 130.60 1.59 8.72 0.5 0.03 A208 21V1877 132.00 133.50 1.25 8.01 0.5 0.02 A208 21V1878 91.90 93.90 1.89 4.67 0.5 0.04 A208 21V1879 92.90 100.75 6.45 5.58 1.3 0.09 A208 Including 95.50 96.80 1.07 11.67 0.5 0.05 A208 21V1880 60.90 62.40 1.50* 4.91 0.5 0.15 A208 21V1880 97.75 98.85 0.94 11.73 0.5 0.06 A208 21V1882 62.20 63.80 1.60* 2.15 0.5 0.11 A208 21V1882 94.85 97.85 2.63 21.52 0.5 0.03 A208 Including 96.35 97.85 1.32 40.86 0.5 0.03 A208 21V1882 101.85 103.35 1.32 2.04 0.5 0.08 A208 21V1882 106.35 107.85 1.32 2.57 0.5 0.01 A208 21V1883 51.75 53.75 2.00* 5.70 0.5 0.11 A208 21V1883 56.65 59.50 2.85* 38.04 0.5 0.27 S107 20V1838 No intercepts >2g/t Au S107 20V1839 No intercepts >2g/t Au S107 20V1842 88.90 90.10 1.11 9.78 94.20 7.65 S107 20V1841 8.90 10.65 1.75* 2.22 0.50 0.00 S107 20V1844 88.00 94.10 3.39 3.26 21.99 1.98 S107 20V1844 225.20 226.60 1.40 2.39 4.30 0.26 S107 20V1846 85.70 87.30 1.26 2.73 12.90 1.09 S107 20V1848 89.05 90.20 1.15* 2.78 4.20 0.03 S107 20V1850 41.35 42.80 1.45* 4.01 24.00 0.36 S107 20V1850 78.85 82.15 2.09 43.28 30.76 1.23 S107 Including 80.80 82.15 0.85 94.90 69.70 2.86 S107 20V1851 87.15 88.80 1.47 4.29 48.06 3.88 S107 20V1853 89.00 96.20 5.52 1.52 14.98 1.30 S107 20V1854 102.00 102.65 0.40 10.91 112.10 7.15 S107 20V1855 45.85 48.30 2.45* 13.06 17.72 1.38 S107 20V1855 58.55 59.90 1.35* 2.91 7.20 0.21 S107 20V1855 96.50 97.45 0.84 5.80 2.60 6.38 S107 20V1856 62.60 63.55 0.95* 5.58 25.30 0.42 S107 20V1856 85.80 90.85 4.21 1.18 14.77 0.77 S107 20V1857 61.20 62.50 1.30* 3.96 13.50 0.32 S107 20V1859 63.95 65.10 1.15 10.79 4.00 0.06 S107 20V1859 95.35 98.40 2.88 3.49 28.78 0.95 SB 20SB001 0.90 1.75 0.72 18.96 137.20 3.35 SB 20SB001 66.45 67.85 1.09 2.39 6.90 0.24 SB 20SB001 71.80 79.35 5.87 11.87 46.69 1.31 SB including 75.15 77.80 2.06 14.64 96.43 2.40 SB 20SB001 85.80 90.00 3.97 4.59 0.70 0.04 SB 20SB002 1.05 1.95 0.78 2.10 16.20 0.92 SB 20SB002 72.00 74.50 2.50 2.10 52.34 4.50 SB 20SB002 80.65 81.60 0.94 3.00 27.80 0.47 SB 20SB003 65.75 93.00 23.62 3.39 36.21 1.71 SB including 66.75 67.85 0.95 7.95 98.40 9.68 SB including 69.80 72.20 2.08 3.95 53.45 1.48 SB including 79.60 85.95 5.50 6.94 71.93 3.00 SB including 91.40 93.00 1.39 5.64 1.90 0.01 SB 20SB004 No intercepts >2g/t Au SB 20SB005 0.00 0.60 0.55 2.74 24.70 0.80 SB 20SB005 1.50 2.70 1.11 2.64 22.10 1.06 SB 20SB005 4.60 5.90 1.20 5.93 55.60 1.52 SB 20SB006 0.00 0.70 0.65 2.89 22.20 0.70 SB 20SB006 2.20 3.65 1.35 2.89 19.30 0.65 SB 21SB007 0.00 1.00 0.89 2.33 20.20 0.78 SB 21SB007 60.15 74.70 13.90 2.77 12.92 0.50 SB Including 73.20 74.70 1.43 16.68 0.50 0.22 SB 21SB008 0.00 2.20 2.13 3.72 33.10 2.70 SB 21SB008 67.15 68.80 1.37 2.40 64.10 0.97 SB 21SB008 78.30 79.55 0.99 3.96 0.50 0.07 SB 21SB009 0.00 0.95 0.81 5.13 59.60 7.00 SB 21SB011 53.00 56.10 2.86 2.32 20.94 0.91 SB 21SB010 0.00 1.55 1.21 7.54 53.50 4.01 SB 21SB012 51.50 57.25 5.30 5.27 77.67 2.26 SB 21SB012 65.30 74.20 5.64 3.52 18.52 0.43 SB 21SB013 62.40 64.10 1.53 14.54 144.30 2.29 SB 21SB014 54.90 58.30 2.87 2.20 18.18 1.09 SB 21SB014 62.65 64.10 1.22 2.86 19.10 0.68 SB 21SB015 52.30 63.80 9.46 3.45 18.76 0.48 SB 21SB016 84.95 86.45 0.75 2.37 27.90 0.62 SB 21SB017 69.00 70.25 1.11 2.21 11.20 0.26 SB 21SB017 78.40 79.55 0.83 2.85 1.10 0.02 SB 21SB018 56.65 59.85 2.99 6.63 38.97 1.07 SB Including 58.70 59.85 1.07 15.63 97.10 2.64 SB 21SB018 74.00 76.40 1.87 2.58 4.60 0.12 HAE 20HA41 213.70 214.80 1.10* 4.34 11.70 0.89 HAE 20HA42 No intercepts >2g/t Au HAE 20HA43 178.50 193.30 14.80* 2.16 2.16 0.13 HAE including 178.50 184.75 6.25* 3.46 1.95 0.04 HAE 20HA43 188.95 190.40 1.45* 2.62 5.50 0.28 HAE 20HA43 191.85 193.30 1.45* 2.04 0.50 0.05 HAE 20HA44 202.50 209.75 7.25* 1.39 0.80 0.03 HAE 20HA44 221.10 222.10 1.00* 1.64 17.10 0.94 HAE 20HA45 186.20 200.45 14.25* 2.09 7.29 0.25 HAE including 187.70 193.70 6.00* 3.29 1.78 0.03 HAE 20HA46 175.05 188.70 13.65* 2.83 2.37 0.06 HAE including 175.05 176.55 1.50* 16.39 0.50 0.05 HAE including 184.20 188.70 4.50* 2.85 6.17 0.14 HAE 20HA47 165.05 167.10 2.04* 2.02 168.93 8.94 HAE 20HA48 152.85 155.00 2.15* 1.90 5.27 0.09 HAE 20HA49 135.70 139.70 4.00* 2.95 24.41 1.39 HAE 20HA50 No intercepts >2g/t Au HAE 20HA51 214.00 220.75 6.75* 4.95 3.15 0.23 HAE 20HA51 223.30 225.10 1.79* 1.79 6.65 0.14 HAE 20HA52 128.80 130.00 1.19* 3.31 45.00 1.08 HAE 20HA53 167.80 171.30 3.50* 2.79 21.25 0.47 HAE 20HA53 178.70 184.70 6.00* 8.85 386.16 1.69 HAE 20HA54 159.90 163.80 3.90* 2.58 1.39 0.03 HAE 21HA55 92.75 94.00 1.25* 5.34 21.80 1.26 HAE 21HA55 96.50 99.85 3.34* 8.68 5.21 0.10 HAE 21HA55 176.00 176.90 0.90* 3.39 16.50 0.58 HAE 21HA56 109.45 112.70 3.25* 3.57 3.24 0.12 HAE 21HA57 31.90 33.25 1.35* 4.03 0.50 0.03 HAE 21HA58 204.45 206.00 1.55* 4.01 12.70 0.40 HAE 21HA58 207.55 209.10 1.54* 2.34 23.50 0.87 HAE 21HA59 No intercepts >2g/t Au HAE 21HA60 147.30 150.00 2.69* 10.55 3.90 0.23 HAE Including 148.65 150.00 1.34* 18.02 7.30 0.42 HAE 21HA60 155.40 156.55 1.15* 2.34 0.50 0.00 HAE 21HA60 165.50 169.00 3.50* 3.06 1.01 0.00 HAE 21HA61 188.40 189.90 1.50* 2.67 1.70 0.07 HAE 21HA62 55.85 60.15 4.30* 38.38 76.35 4.22 HAE Including 55.85 57.25 1.40* 83.21 101.80 2.85 HAE Including 58.65 60.15 1.50* 25.89 71.40 5.07 HAE 21HA62 136.55 139.05 2.50* 8.92 37.70 0.81 HAE Including 137.80 139.05 1.25* 11.38 8.90 0.19 * Not true widths as there is currently insufficient data to calculate true orientation ABOUT ORVANA - Orvana is a multi-mine gold-copper-silver company. Orvana's assets consist of the El Valle operation in northern Spain, and the Don Mario gold-silver property in Bolivia, currently in care and maintenance. Orvana is in the process of closing the acquisition of Taguas, Argentina. Additional information is available at Orvana's website (www.orvana.com). Cautionary Statements - Forward-Looking Information Certain statements made herein constitute forward-looking statements or forward-looking information within the meaning of applicable securities laws ("forward-looking statements"). Any statements that express or involve discussions with respect to predictions, expectations, beliefs, plans, projections, objectives, assumptions, potentials, future events or performance (often, but not always, using words or phrases such as "believes", "expects", "plans", "estimates", "intends" or "anticipates" or stating that certain actions, events or results "may", "could", "would", "might", "will" or "are projected to" be taken or achieved) are not statements of historical fact, but are forward-looking statements. The forward-looking statements herein relate to, among other things: Orvana's ability to achieve improvement in free cash flow; the potential to extend the mine life of El Valle and Don Mario beyond their current life-of-mine estimates including specifically, but not limited to in the case of Don Mario, the processing of the mineral stockpiles and the reprocessing of the tailings material; Orvana's ability to optimize its assets to deliver shareholder value; the Company's ability to optimize productivity at Don Mario and El Valle; any measures taken by the Company to prevent and/or mitigate the impact of COVID-19 and other infectious diseases at or near the Company's mines and support the sustainability of its business including through the development of crisis management plans, increasing stock levels for key supplies, monitoring of guidance from the medical community, and engagement with local communities and authorities; estimates of future production, operating costs and capital expenditures; mineral resource and reserve estimates; statements and information regarding future feasibility studies and their results; future transactions (including the completion of the acquisition of Taguas); future metal prices; the ability to achieve additional growth and geographic diversification; future financial performance, including the ability to increase cash flow and profits; future financing requirements; mine development plans, Orvana's exploration activities and programs and its plan and expectations for its properties, as well as the timing and costs associated with same; . Forward-looking statements are necessarily based upon a number of estimates and assumptions that, while considered reasonable by the Company as of the date of such statements, are inherently subject to significant business, economic and competitive uncertainties and contingencies. The estimates and assumptions of the Company contained or incorporated by reference in this news release, which may prove to be incorrect, include, but are not limited to, the various assumptions set forth herein and in Orvana's most recently filed Management's Discussion & Analysis and Annual Information Form in respect of the Company's most recently completed fiscal year (the "Company Disclosures") or as otherwise expressly incorporated herein by reference as well as: there being no significant disruptions affecting operations, whether due to labour disruptions, supply disruptions, power disruptions, damage to equipment or otherwise; permitting, development, operations, expansion and acquisitions at El Valle and Don Mario being consistent with the Company's current expectations; political developments in any jurisdiction in which the Company operates being consistent with its current expectations; certain price assumptions for gold, copper and silver; prices for key supplies being approximately consistent with current levels; production and cost of sales forecasts meeting expectations; the accuracy of the Company's current mineral reserve and mineral resource estimates; and labour and materials costs increasing on a basis consistent with Orvana's current expectations. A variety of inherent risks, uncertainties and factors, many of which are beyond the Company's control, affect the operations, performance and results of the Company and its business, and could cause actual events or results to differ materially from estimated or anticipated events or results expressed or implied by forward looking statements. Some of these risks, uncertainties and factors include the effect of COVID-19 and other infectious diseases on the Company's operations, workforce and supply chain, fluctuations in the price of gold, silver and copper; the need to recalculate estimates of resources based on actual production experience; the failure to achieve production estimates; variations in the grade of ore mined; variations in the cost of operations; the availability of qualified personnel; the Company's ability to obtain and maintain all necessary regulatory approvals and licenses; the Company's ability to use cyanide in its mining operations; risks generally associated with mineral exploration and development, including the interpretation and actual results of current exploration activities, changes in project parameters as plans continue to be refined as the exploration program advances, the success of exploration activities, the Company's ability to continue to operate the El Valle and/or Don Mario and/or ability to resume long-term operations at the Carles Mine; the Company's ability to successfully implement a sulphidization circuit and ancillary facilities to process the current oxides stockpiles at Don Mario; the Company's ability to acquire and develop mineral properties and to successfully integrate such acquisitions; the Company's ability to execute on its strategy; the Company's ability to obtain financing when required on terms that are acceptable to the Company; challenges to the Company's interests in its property and mineral rights; current, pending and proposed legislative or regulatory developments or changes in political, social or economic conditions in the countries in which the Company operates; general economic conditions worldwide; and the risks identified in the Company's disclosures. This list is not exhaustive of the factors that may affect any of the Company's forward-looking statements and reference should also be made to the Company's Disclosures for a description of additional risk factors. Any forward-looking statements made herein with respect to the anticipated development and exploration of the Company's mineral projects are intended to provide an overview of management's expectations with respect to certain future activities of the Company and may not be appropriate for other purposes. Forward-looking statements are based on management's current plans, estimates, projections, beliefs and opinions and, except as required by law, the Company does not undertake any obligation to update forward-looking statements should assumptions related to these plans, estimates, projections, beliefs and opinions change. Readers are cautioned not to put undue reliance on forward-looking statements. SOURCE Orvana Minerals Corp. Related Links www.orvana.com Stephen Spillman / Stephen Spillman Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton claims that after visiting the Freeman Coliseum migrant shelter this week, he is "absolutely concerned" about a Mara Salvatrucha resurgence. Paxton previously told the Epoch Times, a right-wing online publication, that he was worried places like Houston and Dallas would see an uptick in gang violence. On Wednesday, he shared the article on Twitter and added San Antonio into the conversation. Congressman Michael McCaul, the lead Republican on the US House Foreign Affairs Committee, urged President Joe Biden on Thursday to expand a series of sanctions on Russia to companies involved in the completion of the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline WASHINGTON (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 15th April, 2021) Congressman Michael McCaul, the lead Republican on the US House Foreign Affairs Committee, urged President Joe Biden on Thursday to expand a series of sanctions on Russia to companies involved in the completion of the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline. "If the Biden Administration is serious about imposing real costs on the Putin regime's efforts to undermine US democratic institutions and weaken our allies and partners, then it must ensure the Russian malign influence Nord Stream 2 pipeline project is never completed. Therefore, I urge the Biden administration to make additional sanctions designations today on the numerous entities widely known to be actively involved in the pipeline project as is required by congressionally-mandated sanctions.," McCaul said in a press release. McCaul's statement followed Biden's declaration of a national emergency with respect to Russia and the imposition of multiple sanctions against Moscow over purported efforts to influence the 2020 US elections and intrusions in cyberspace - charges repeatedly denied by Moscow. The sanctions included the expulsion of ten Russian diplomats and restrictions on the nation's access to the global banking system. But Biden's announcement made no mention of Nord Stream 2, a pipeline linking Russia to Germany. The pipeline is 95 percent complete with construction of the remaining stretch blocked during the Trump administration under bipartisan pressure in Congress, which overrode Trump's veto of the Protecting Europe's Energy Security Act of 2019. The act directs the US president to impose visa- and asset-blocking sanctions on any foreign person that knowingly provides pipe-laying vessels for constructing a Russian-origin energy export pipeline that makes landfall in Germany or Turkey. McCaul said legal approval provided by the Justice Department last month for two sanctions packages targeting Nord Stream 2 AG and its CEO, Matthias Warnig, had been reversed by the State Department. An Accra Circuit Court has sentenced a 29-year-old trader, Mohammed Buzu, to 20 years imprisonment in hard labour for robbing a staff of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), Dr Oral William, and one other person. The court sentenced Buzu to 15 years imprisonment on the charge of robbery and five years on the charge of causing harm. This was after the Court had found him guilty on those charges and sentenced him accordingly. The sentences are to run consecutively. Buzu, after the robbery on January 18, slashed Dr William's left hand with a machete. Two other accomplices; Kenneth Antwi and Baffour Adjei Gyimah, were, however, discharged by the Court during the course of the trial. Prosecuting, Chief Inspector Martin Adu-Acheampong narrated that the first complainant, Dr William, an Economist, and the second complainant, Mrs Claudia Allen William, a teacher, were both residents of Cantonments in Accra. Chief Inspector Adu-Acheampong said Buzu resided at Dansoman and on January 18, this year, at about 3am; Dr William heard a noise emanating from his bathroom and decided to check what was going on, only to see Buzu armed with a machete, cutter and a pair of plier. The prosecution said Buzu ordered Dr William to surrender all his monies but Dr William told him he had no money on him. It said when the second complainant heard her noise, she tried to ascertain whom her husband was interacting with, and Buzu on seeing her, ordered her to lie down. The prosecution said Buzu demanded that the two complainants showed him where they kept their monies but the complainants told him they did not have money in the house. It said Buzu then raised the machete to slash Mrs William but her husband blocked it with his left hand, slashing his hand in the process. Buzu then robbed them of their IPhone X valued at $1,000, one Samsung J7 valued at $220, one Blue Vivo 5 Smart phone valued at $165, a Kate Spade black leather bag valued at $400, a wallet valued at $100, one sun glass valued at $300, cash in the sums of GH200 and $200, all totalling GH14,695.00 and bolted. It said Dr William was rushed to the 37 Military Hospital and later flown to South Africa for further treatment. The prosecution said on January 18, a report was made to the Police at Cantonment and during investigations, the Police tracked the victims IPhone to Pokuase on February 15, where a witness in the case was arrested and the phone was retrieved. Source: GNA Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority. Featured Video According to information published by Tass on April 15, 2021, the Project 23120 logistics support vessel Vsevolod Bobrov built by the Severnaya Verf Shipyard has passed another stage of its shipbuilders sea trials in the Gulf of Finland, the Defense Ministrys press office said. Follow Navy Recognition on Google News at this link Russian Navy Elbrus-class supply vessel of project 23120 (Picture source: VPK) The Severnaya Verf Shipyard is a subsidiary of the United Shipbuilding Corporation. During the trials, crane and towing equipment, communication and navigation systems, and the propulsion unit were checked. Before the next stage of the sea trials, the vessels sea valves will undergo a planned short dock examination at the Severnaya Verf Shipyard, the press office said. Earlier, during the second stage of the shipbuilders sea trials, the Vsevolod Bobrov practiced towing a vessel of the same displacement for four hours. The sea trials in the Baltic Sea will last about a month. The trial crew of more than 100 persons and the vessels crewmen will take part in the tests. The trial crew will check the main powerplant, other systems and mechanisms, cranes and hoists at sea. The Vsevolod Bobrov is the second Project 23120 vessel built by the Severnaya Verf Shipyard. The Elbrus lead vessel joined the Northern Fleet in 2018. In 2019, it made a 175-day round-the-world voyage with other Russian warships led by the Project 22350 frigate Admiral Gorshkov. The Project 23120 was upgraded according to the results of the operation of the lead vessel. In particular, its deck has been improved and communication and navigation systems have been upgraded. The Vsevolod Bobrov is the second supply vessel of project 23120 built by the shipyard. The Elbrus lead vessel joined the Northern fleet in 2018. It made a successful 175-day round-the-world voyage in a group of Russian warships in 2019. The vessel is multifunctional: it can carry out loading, transportation and transfer of goods; tow ships, up to the aircraft carrier; participate in rescue operations and provide medical assistance to those in distress (equipped with a pressure chamber for decompression); conduct mapping of the bottom topography and search for sunken objects. The hull of the vessel with the ice class ARC4 will allow it to sail in the Arctic latitudes, overcoming the ice thickness of 0,6 m. The Vsevolod Bobrov has a length of 95m and a width of 22 m with a maximum draught of 9m. The vessel can accommodate a crew of 27 people and up to 43 rescuees. It can store and transport payloads weighing 4.5t or up to 40 shipping containers. The deck is equipped with two large, collapsible, electro-hydraulic cranes towards the stern to lift cargo weighing up to 50t. It is also outfitted with main and auxiliary towing winches with a pulling capacity of 120t and 25t respectively for towing ships in distress. SGS Colombia SAS, in collaboration with Ikanik Farms, completes development of the GPTCP Certification CORONA, Calif., April 12, 2021 /PRNewswire/ - Ikanik Farms, Inc. (CSE: IKNK.U) ("Ikanik Farms" or the "Company") is pleased to announce that Pideka SAS. ("Pideka"), a wholly-owned subsidiary of Ikanik Farms, has successfully completed its cooperative agreement with SGS Colombia SAS ("SGS") to design, initiate, develop, and implement a normative standard for the international certification of medicinal cannabis. This certification works to establish a new baseline standard for the quality and safety of pharmaceutical grade cannabis products known as the "GPTCP", or "Good Production Transformation & Commercialization Practices Cannabis Pharma". "Completing this collaborative certificate with SGS Colombia is a milestone achievement and a reflection of the company's dedication to best-in-class quality for the cannabis industry." said Brian Baca, CEO of Ikanik Farms. About the GPTCP Certification The GPTCP certificate ensures the company maintains international standards and differentiates itself by adhering to a global benchmark standard of quality for the production cannabis. With the collaborative development of the SGS certified seal of self-regulation and sustainability, industry best practices are promoted and fosters a competitive approach to quality, through best in class and standardized processes across the industry, providing end consumers with product confidence. The GPTCP encompasses facets of the requirements under various standards such as the BPA, BPM, INVIMA, ICA, ISO 9001, SG-SST, EUGMP at both the national (Colombian) and international levels. The quality certification and delivery of high-caliber products is one of the Company's key objectives, supported through operating certifications obtained for its operations, including (GACP, GMP FARMA, ISO-9001, and EUGMP) About SGS Colombia SAS SGS Colombia SAS is a subsidiary of SGS SA, one of the world's leading inspection, verification, testing and certification companies. SGS is recognized as a global benchmark for quality and integrity. With more than 97,000 employees, SGS operates a network of over 2,600 offices and laboratories around the world. About Ikanik Farms Ikanik Farms is a California based, Multi-National Operator (MNO) who is building a dynamic portfolio of brands, inspired by its passion for health and wellness, action sports, and supported by its vertically integrated retail, distribution and cultivation in CA and its medical grade cultivation and laboratory in Colombia. The company's leadership brings decades of expertise in R&D, cultivation, retail, branding, and corporate finance. Ikanik Farms' operation in Colombia, through its pharma division Pideka, holds both GMP-PHARMA and (GACP) Good Agricultural and Collection Practice certifications for its Casa Flores operating facility. Forward Looking Statements This news release includes "forward-looking information" and "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of Canadian securities laws and United States securities laws (together, "forward-looking information). All information, other than statements of historical facts, included in this news release that address activities, events or developments that the Company expects or anticipates will or may occur in the future is forward-looking information. When used in this news release, words such as "will", "could", "plan", "estimate", "expect", "intend", "may", "potential", "believe", "should", and similar expressions, are forward-looking information. Although the Company has attempted to identify important factors that could cause actual results, performance or achievements to differ materially from those contained in the forward-looking information, there can be other factors that cause results, performance or achievements not to be as anticipated, estimated or intended, including, but not limited to: changes in laws, a change in management, the inability to obtain additional financing, increased competition, hindering market growth and state adoption due to inconsistent public opinion and perception of the medical-use and adult-use marijuana industry and, regulatory or political change. There can be no assurance that such information will prove to be accurate or that management's expectations or estimates of future developments, circumstances or results will materialize. As a result of these risks and uncertainties, the results or events predicted in the forward-looking information may differ materially from actual results or events. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking information. The forward-looking information in this news release is made as of the date of this release. The Company disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise such information, except as required by applicable law, and the Company does not assume any liability for disclosure relating to any other company mentioned herein. On behalf of the Board of Directors of Ikanik Farms Inc. SOURCE Ikanik Farms Inc. Related Links https://ikanikfarms.com/ Accident Fund Points Investigative Services Director AF Group has appointed Nina Burnett as director of investigative services. She will lead claim fraud investigations for an insurance group that specializes in workers compensation. Burnett previously was director of health care investigations for Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan. Prior to that, she worked for 10 years as a special agent for the FBI, where she specialized in the investigation of health care fraud. Burnett obtained a bachelor of arts degree in history from Columbia University and Juris Doctor degree from Columbia University School of Law. She holds several professional designations including Accredited Health Care Fraud Investigator (AHFI) and Certified Professional Coder (CPC). Accident Fund, based in Lansing, Mich., owns Accident Fund Insurance Co. of America, Accident Fund National Insurance Co., Accident Fund General Insurance Co., United Wisconsin Insurance Co., Third Coast Insurance Co. and CompWest Insurance Co. Great American Promotes Claims Leader to VP Great American Insurance Group has promoted Timothy E. Markey to division vice president within its Fidelty/Crime Division. Markey joined Great American in 2017 as divisional assistant vice president. He was named head of claims for Fidelity/Crime in early 2000 and is responsible for all aspects of the divisions claim handling, subrogation and litigation management, the Cincinnati-based carrier said in a press release. Markey has held leadership positions in several fidelity industry professional organizations, including his current post as vice chair of the Fidelity Claims Advisory Committee for the Surety and Fidelity Association of America. Markey earned a bachelors degree in business management from the University of Scranton in Pennsylvania and a Juris Doctorate from Seton Hall School of Law. He is a member of the New Jersey Bar. Envista Appoints Major Loss Practice Team Envista has reassigned five managers to a new line of business that is wholly dedicated to performing major loss investigations following complex, catastrophic incidents and disputes. Mark Ewing, most recently senior principal consultant and complex loss consultant, was appointed as vice president-specialty practices, the Atlanta-based forensics consulting firm said in a press release. Scott Nacheman, who joined Envista last June as a principal consultant, was appointed to practice leader-major loss. Larry Canary, Farhood Nowzartash and Michael Pagano were appointed group directors within the major loss practice, specializing in fire and explosion investigations, civil/structural and mechanical, electrical and plumbing. Hunton Andrews Kurth Appoints Insurance Attorney The Hunton Andrews Kurth law firm has appointed Lara Degenhart Cassidy as special council in Washington, D.C. Cassidy has nearly 30 years of experience representing corporate policyholders and individuals in complex coverage disputes, the Hunton firm said in a press release. Cassidy previously worked for Perkins Coie. The firm said she led the appellate briefing in MBIA Inc. v. Federal Insurance Co., which led to a groundbreaking Second Circuit Court of Appeals decision on directors and officers insurance coverage issues that resulted in full coverage for her financial-services client. Cassidy is the eighth attorney to join the Hunton firm in the past year. Cassidy earned her undergraduate degree at Southwestern University and her law degree from the University of South Carolina School of Law. Abicare Appoints Clinical Director Abicare, a workers compensation utilization review services provider, has appointed Aliza Krug as its clinical director. Krug manages the clinical quality of Abicares utilization review processes, including training physician reviewers. She most recently was a physician assistant in primary care for the Stamps Student Center at the Georgia Institute of Technology. Before that, she worked in occupational medicine, treating workers compensation patients in both urgent care and orthopedic settings and has experience in pulmonology, Abicare said. Krug is proficient in diagnostics, procedural skills, medical therapies, records review, and monitoring. She is a board-certified physician assistant and holds a master of medical science degree from Mercer University, where she was chair of the Godsey-Matthews Society. Abicare, based in Atlanta, has URAC accreditation in workers compensation utilization management and its other services include peer review, clinical bill review, and pharmacy intervention programs. In December 2016, Donald Trump, then our nations president-elect, took a congratulatory phone call from Tsai Ing-wen, the president of Taiwan. Their reportedly cordial chat, initiated by one democratically elected leader to another, incoming one, lasted about 10 minutes. Seems like a formality that should have been little noticed or remarked upon, doesnt it? If only. At the time, critics acted as though our nations president-to-be had done the unthinkable. And the leadership of the Peoples Republic of China responded similarly. It seemed to bode well for the incoming administration, demonstrating that it wouldnt be pushed around by China and would not be needlessly constrained by the diplomatic niceties that had for so long dictated our nations dealings with Taiwan, which Beijing has officially viewed as a breakaway province for nearly three-quarters of a century. The message: Well deal with Taiwan as we see fit, not as dictated by the Chinese Communist Party. That was a message worth sending. Now, with Joe Biden having succeeded Trump in the White House, the U.S. has sent a delegation, consisting of a former senator and two former top State Department officials, to Taipei. This, too, is worth cheering. Though Bidens predecessor was so often so wrong about so much, it can be easy to forget that there actually were occasions when Trump was right on the money. He most assuredly made some good moves in the Middle East. And when it came to our dealings with China and Taiwan. Chinas president, Xi Jinping, believes fundamentally that his nation, where a single party, with the guy at the top making all the decisions, is on the rise even as America, where the people are ultimately in charge, is declining. The question, at the end of the day, is about two completely opposite systems of governing: one repressive in the extreme, the other always striving to be as open as it can be. Xi is betting that the temporary successes of his totalitarianism will seem somehow bright and shiny when compared with the difficulties that are sometimes manifest and apparent in our democratic republic. It would have been easy -- and completely incorrect -- for the Biden administration to decide to take the opposite position from the one taken by Trump -- no matter what the issue at hand. On Taiwan, Biden wisely chose another course. LA JOLLA--(April 15, 2021) One of the characteristic hallmarks of Alzheimer's disease (AD) is the buildup of amyloid-beta plaques in the brain. Most therapies designed to treat AD target these plaques, but they've largely failed in clinical trials. New research by Salk scientists upends conventional views of the origin of one prevalent type of plaque, indicating a reason why treatments have been unsuccessful. The traditional view holds that the brain's trash-clearing immune cells, called microglia, inhibit the growth of plaques by "eating" them. The Salk scientists show instead that microglia promote the formation of dense-core plaques, and that this action sweeps wispy plaque material away from neurons, where it causes cell death. The research, which was published in Nature Immunology on April 15, 2021, suggests that dense-core plaques play a protective role, so treatments to destroy them may do more harm than good. "We show that dense-core plaques don't form spontaneously. We believe they're built by microglia as a defense mechanism, so they may be best left alone," says Greg Lemke, a professor in Salk's Molecular Neurobiology Laboratory. "There are various efforts to get the FDA to approve antibodies whose main clinical effect is reducing dense-core plaque formation, but we make the argument that breaking up the plaque may be doing more damage." Alzheimer's disease is a neurological condition that results in memory loss, impairment of thinking, and behavioral changes, which worsen as we age. The disease seems to be caused by abnormal proteins aggregating between brain cells to form the hallmark plaques, which interrupt activity that keeps the cells alive. There are numerous forms of plaque, but the two most prevalent are characterized as "diffuse" and "dense-core." Diffuse plaques are loosely organized, amorphous clouds. Dense-core plaques have a compact center surrounded by a halo. Scientists have generally believed that both types of plaque form spontaneously from excess production of a precursor molecule called amyloid precursor protein (APP). But, according to the new study, it is actually microglia that form dense-core plaques from diffuse amyloid-beta fibrils, as part of their cellular cleanup. This builds on a 2016 discovery by the Lemke lab, which determined that when a brain cell dies, a fatty molecule flips from the inside to the outside of the cell, signaling, "I'm dead, eat me." Microglia, via surface proteins called TAM receptors, then engulf, or "eat" the dead cell, with the help of an intermediary molecule called Gas6. Without TAM receptors and Gas6, microglia cannot connect to dead cells and consume them. The team's current work shows that it's not only dead cells that exhibit the eat-me signal and Gas6: So do the amyloid plaques prevalent in Alzheimer's disease. Using animal models, the researchers were able to demonstrate experimentally for the first time that microglia with TAM receptors eat amyloid plaques via the eat-me signal and Gas6. In mice engineered to lack TAM receptors, the microglia were unable to perform this function. Digging deeper, they traced the dense-core plaques using live imaging. Much to their surprise, the team discovered that after a microglial cell eats a diffuse plaque, it transfers the engulfed amyloid-beta to a highly acidic compartment and converts it into a highly compacted aggregate that is then transferred to a dense-core plaque. The researchers propose that this is a beneficial mechanism, organizing diffuse into dense-core plaque and clearing the intercellular environment of debris. "Our research seems to show that when there are fewer dense-core plaques, there seem to be more detrimental effects," says Youtong Huang, first author on the paper. "With more-diffuse plaques, there's an abundance of dystrophic neurites, a proxy for neuronal damage. I don't think there's a distinct clinical decision on which form of plaque is more or less detrimental, but through our research, we seem to find that dense-core plaques are a bit more benign." Their findings suggest new ways of developing a treatment for Alzheimer's disease, such as boosting expression of TAM receptors on microglia to accelerate dense-core plaque formation. The team would like to conduct cognitive studies to see if increasing the activity of microglial TAM receptors would alleviate the effects of AD. Lemke, who holds the Francoise Gilot-Salk Chair, believes that the current failure rate of most Alzheimer's drug trials is about to end. "Some people are saying that the relative failure of trials that bust up dense-core plaques refutes the idea that amyloid-beta is a bad thing in the brain," says Lemke. "But we argue that amyloid-beta is still clearly a bad thing; it's just that you've got to ask whether dense-core plaques are a bad thing." Lemke suggests that scientists looking for a cure for Alzheimer's should stop trying to focus on breaking up dense-core plaques and start looking at treatments that either reduce the production of amyloid-beta in the first place or therapies that facilitate transport of amyloid-beta out of the brain altogether. ### Other authors on the study are Kaisa E. Happonen, Patrick G. Burrola, Carolyn O'Connor, Nasun Hah, Ling Huang, and Axel Nimmerjahn of Salk. The work was supported by grants from the US National Institutes of Health; the Cure Alzheimer's Fund; the Coins for Alzheimer's Research Trust; the Leona M. and Harry B. Helmsley Charitable Trust; UC San Diego Goeddel's Chancellor's, Marguerite Vogt, and the H.A. and Mary K. Chapman Charitable Trust graduate fellowships; and Anderson, NOMIS Foundation and Sweden-America Foundation postdoctoral fellowships. About the Salk Institute for Biological Studies: Every cure has a starting point. The Salk Institute embodies Jonas Salk's mission to dare to make dreams into reality. Its internationally renowned and award-winning scientists explore the very foundations of life, seeking new understandings in neuroscience, genetics, immunology, plant biology and more. The Institute is an independent nonprofit organization and architectural landmark: small by choice, intimate by nature and fearless in the face of any challenge. Be it cancer or Alzheimer's, aging or diabetes, Salk is where cures begin. Learn more at: salk.edu. DETROIT A 7-year-old girl was shot during an argument between her parents when her mother attempted to flee their home in Detroit, FOX 2 Detroit reports. Detroit Police received a report of an argument escalating to gunfire around 1:25 a.m. Thursday, the TV station reports. The child and her mother were in a vehicle attempting to leave when the childs father began firing a gun; bullets struck the girl and the vehicle. The girl was taken by her mother to a local hospital and is in stable condition, the report said. As police responded to the scene, the suspect barricaded himself inside the residence, the report said. Officers set up a perimeter and the suspect soon surrendered without further incident. READ MORE: Second child, 3, dies after Michigan fathers murder-suicide shooting Mothers cremains lost in minivan theft 26-year-old man dead after motorcycle-car crash Teen charged after homemade bomb explodes in classroom U.S. President Joe Biden says the United States wants a stable, predictable relationship with Russian and is not looking to "kick off a cycle of escalation and conflict" through wide-ranging sanctions on Russia. Speaking at the White House on April 15 after the White House announced the sanctions, Biden also warned that if Russia "continues to interfere with our democracy, I am prepared to take further actions to respond." Biden said when he spoke with President Vladimir Putin he warned him that that United States would respond to election interference and the SolarWinds cyberattack "in a measured and proportional way." He said the United States "could have gone further" in its retaliation, but he chose not to because he wants to avoid an escalation. Earlier in the day, Biden announced the expulsion of 10 Russian diplomats and sanctions against dozens other Russian individuals and entities as it moved to hold the Kremlin accountable for election interference and the SolarWinds cyberattack. The salvo of measures "sends a signal that the United States will impose costs in a strategic and economically impactful manner on Russia if it continues or escalates its destabilizing international actions," the White House said. In a potential blow to the Russian economy, the U.S. Treasury also placed additional limits on the Russian sovereign-debt market in a step that is sure to spook investors. The sanctions, which Moscow swiftly denounced while warning of retaliation, come amid rising tensions between the West and Russia over a buildup of Russian troops near Ukraine and the imprisonment of opposition leader Aleksei Navalny after he was poisoned with a nerve-agent last year. But Biden said there are areas in which the United States and Russia "can and should work together." He cited the decision shortly after he took office to extend the New START treaty "and maintain that key element of nuclear stability between our nations." He said in his calls with Putin since taking office he expressed his belief that communication between him and Putin personally and directly "was to be essential in moving forward on a more effective relationship and [Putin] agreed on that point." The summit Biden proposed to take place this summer in Europe could launch a strategic stability dialog to pursue cooperation in arms control and security, he said. "We can address critical global challenges that require Russia and the United States to work together, including reigning in nuclear threats from Iran and North Korea, ending this pandemic globally, and meeting the existential crisis of climate change," he said. Biden also noted U.S. "unwavering" support for allies and partners in Europe and concern about Russia's buildup on Ukraine's border and in occupied Crimea. "Now is the time to de-escalate. The way forward is through thoughtful dialog and diplomatic process. The U.S. is prepared to continue constructively to move forward with that process," he said. In a separate statement acknowledging the sanctions, Secretary of State Antony Blinken also voiced concern over Navalny's fate. "We remain concerned about Navalny's health and treatment in prison, and call for his unconditional release," the statement said. In targeting the Russian sovereign-debt market, Biden's executive order prohibits U.S. financial institutions from participating in the primary market for ruble or non-ruble denominated bonds issued after June 14. The United States already bans American investors from buying newly issued Russian government foreign-currency debt. "Judging from history, removing U.S. investors as buyers in this market can create a broader chilling effect that raises Russia's borrowing costs, along with capital flight and a weaker currency. And all of these forces have a material impact on Russia's growth and inflation outcomes," a senior Biden administration official said. Hacking Allegations U.S. intelligence officials have previously pointed the finger at Russia for a massive hack known as SolarWinds that hit large swaths of the U.S. public and private sectors last year, including at least nine U.S. federal agencies. Russia has denied the accusations. In the latest measures, the United States named those behind the SolarWinds hack. "Today the United States is formally naming the Russian Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR), also known as APT 29, Cozy Bear, and The Dukes, as the perpetrator of the broad-scope cyber-espionage campaign that exploited the SolarWinds Orion platform and other information technology infrastructures," the White House said. "The U.S. Intelligence Community has high confidence in its assessment of attribution to the SVR." The 10 diplomats being expelled include representatives of Russian intelligence services, the White House said. Besides that hack, U.S. officials last month said that Putin authorized interference and disinformation campaigns to help former U.S. President Donald Trump in his unsuccessful bid for reelection as president. The latest sanctions include six Russian companies that support the country's cyber activities, in addition to sanctions on 32 individuals and entities accused of attempting to spread disinformation and interfere in last year's presidential election. Russian election interference did not impact U.S. election systems or vote tallying. The statement also said that Washington was using diplomatic, military, and intelligence channels to respond to reports that Russia encouraged the Taliban to attack U.S. and allied troops in Afghanistan based on the best assessments of the intelligence community. The White House did not publicly confirm the reports, but said that the safety and well-being of U.S. military personnel, and that of our allies and partners, is an absolute priority of the United States. NATO and the European Union both expressed solidarity with the U.S. move. "NATO Allies support and stand in solidarity with the United States, following its 15 April announcement of actions to respond to Russia's destabilizing activities," the statement said. "The European Union and its Member States express their solidarity with the United States on the impact of malicious cyber activities, notably the SolarWinds cyber operation, which, the United States assesses, has been conducted by the Russian Federation," the EU's foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said in a statement. "The compromise affected governments and businesses worldwide, including in EU Member States," the statement added. In reaction to the announced sanctions, U.S. Ambassador to Russia John Sullivan was summoned to the Russian Foreign Ministry, which said that "a response to the sanctions is inevitable." Just before the sanctions were announced, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told the TASS news agency that any sanctions would be considered "illegal." With reporting by Reuters, AFP, AP, TASS, and Interfax As an existing print subscriber it is easy to get FREE access to all our online content. When you click get started below it will walk you through creating an online account to attach your print subscription number to. After your account is created it will ask you to either add a subscription for online access or click on the print subscriber button. Click the print subscriber button header and it will open a dropdown, now click on get started. The page will reload and you will be prompted to enter an account number and a zip code. IT IS VERY IMPORTANT TO USE THE NUMBER OFF OF THE MOST RECENT ISSUE OR ANYTHING AFTER JANUARY 28, 2019 TO GAIN ACCESS! OLD ACCOUNT NUMBERS WILL NOT WORK The account number and zip code are easily available on your most recent issue of the High Plains Journal or Midwest Ag Journal in the address fields as is shown here. Sometimes the account number has extra zero's in front of it, just ignore those. A former NHS management consultant earning 2,000 a day was a serial fraudster who siphoned nearly 1.4 million from a string of companies and the health service. Chartered accountant Stephen Day has been jailed for 11 years and five months after admitting 12 counts of fraud. A judge told him he was guilty of 'industrial-scale dishonesty'. The 53-year-old, who has also been banned from being a company director for nine years, committed the offences while professing to be a 'financial turnaround consultant'. The companies he targeted included some providing home visits to vulnerable adults and services to the NHS. Stephen Day, 53, was jailed for 11 years and five months after admitting 12 counts of fraud One of one of several properties purchased by Stephen Day, an account who committed "industrial scale dishonesty" to fund and extravagant lifestyle. Police investigators and the NHS Counter Fraud Authority found that Day bought several properties in Scotland and took a holiday in Dubai. Others were a property management company and the Royal Bank of Scotland. Day, who worked in Manchester, carried out the offences between August 2011 and September 2014. While in a position of trust and power within the businesses, he would take over financial control of their bank accounts, and large sums would go missing. The cash was being paid into Day's own company accounts instead of suppliers, but he duped directors with a fake paper trail claiming the money was being used legitimately. Several companies raised concerns about money disappearing, and complaints were made to Greater Manchester Police. At the same time as advising the private businesses, Day was working as a consultant financial director for numerous NHS trusts, being paid up to 2,000 a day. He drew his NHS salary while making false excuses for being unable to work, including illness, cancer and car crashes and even the death of his father, who had actually died nine years earlier, the court heard. It cost the NHS 88,000 in lost wages. Despite being gay and in relationships with two men, Day also struck up a romantic connection with a woman and stole nearly 5,000 from her. Police investigators and the NHS Counter Fraud Authority found that Day bought several properties in Scotland and took a holiday in Dubai. He was also refurbishing two properties a 45-acre estate in Scotland which had its own salmon fishing area on the River Annan, and one in South Africa. Sentencing him at Leeds Crown Court, Judge Simon Batiste said: 'These offences were carefully planned, highly sophisticated and relied on people trusting you as an accountant. 'In other cases you have falsely claimed to have cancer, have claimed to be widowed when not in fact married and claimed relatives including your mother and father had recently died when they had either been dead for many years or were alive at the time. 'In short, there was no boundary of dishonesty that you were not prepared to cross. This was industrial-scale dishonesty purely to fulfil your own greed.' Judge Batiste said the 'enormous' consequences included 'businesses losing viability and being wound up, people losing their jobs, reputational damage and people being unable to sell their homes'. He told Day, of Blairgowrie, Scotland, but who used to live in a 550,000 detached house in Aberford, West Yorkshire: 'You have caused misery, hardship and anxiety to many.' The court heard the combined value of all 12 frauds was 1.38 million. Day was reported to police when he refused to hand over payroll information to a company unless it provided 50,000 that he said he was owed for 'unpaid debts'. Richard Rippin, head of operations at the NHS Counter Fraud Agency, said the value of lost NHS wages fraudulently gained by Day 'would have been enough to fund the annual salaries of three nurses'. Judge Batiste also attacked Day's behaviour ahead of the court case, including fixing a medical operation for the day he had been due to be sentenced. A proceeds of crime hearing is due to take place. ExxonMobil's Slagen oil refinery in Norway which may be turned into an import terminal will import fuel products for further distribution in the region, making the apt use of its existing infrastructure. (File photo) IRVING, US: ExxonMobil is considering whether to close down its Slagen oil refinery in Norway, which has a capacity to process 120,000 barrels of crude per day, turning the site into a fuel import terminal, reported Reuters. In practice it means that we would stop producing oil products at the refinery and instead we will import them, said Anne Fougner, Essos spokeswoman. The refinery at Slagentangen near Toensberg in south-east Norway was built in 1961 and process crude oil from the North Sea, exporting about 60 percent of the output, according to Exxon. However, the Board of Directors of Esso Norge AS has initiated an information and consultation process with employees and their representatives as part of an extensive review of the long-term economic viability of the oil refinery. We thank our employees for their tremendous efforts during this challenging time, said Per-Erik Aasum, president of Esso Norge AS. We understand the significant impacts a conversion would have on our employees, and we are committed to keeping an open dialogue throughout the process to ensure our employees are treated fairly and with respect. During the course of the evaluation, the Slagen oil refinery will remain in operation to ensure continued, reliable fuel supply, assured ExxonMobil. Worldofchemicals News Funds Help Protect First Responders and Essential Healthcare Workers BOSTON, MA / ACCESSWIRE / April 15, 2021 / Penny Wise PPE Protection, a provider of sterile personal protective gear storage for front line workers, won $4000 through Clark University's Ureka Challenge 2021. Penny Wise PPE took first place in the competition with its CopperClean bag, invented during the coronavirus pandemic with a germicidal copper-lining to prevent cross-contamination of masks used by health care professionals. The Ureka Challenge is a pitch competition for Clark University student entrepreneurs. Accepted ventures are awarded $100 of investment seed money from the Ureka Committee at the start of the Challenge. The Ureka participants present to a judging panel of alumni, staff, and prominent business owners who ultimately decide the winner. Penny Wise PPE's founder, Ethan Lutz, said "The CopperClean bag was created by first responders, for first responders. In the course of the pandemic, we have sold hundreds of units to protect hundreds of healthcare workers nationwide." You can learn more about Penny Wise PPE's initiatives by visiting PennyWisePPE.com or watching its product pitch. About Penny Wise PPE Protection Penny Wise PPE Protection was founded by Massachusetts Emergency Medical Technicians (EMTs) to make reusable mask storage safe. The Penny Wise PPE Protection CopperClean storage bag is a sanitary and contamination-free alternative to paper bags which can harbor cross-contamination for up to 24 hours. Cross-contamination puts providers at risk and lowers the lifespan of PPE costing institutions thousands in additional PPE spending. The CopperClean bag features a germicidal copper lining that prevents cross-contamination by destroying bacteria and viruses on contact. The CopperClean bag has been approved for sale via a DOD Commercial Item Determination. Media Contact Ethan Lutz Founder and CEO Phone: 508-556-4285 Email: elutz@pennywiseppe.com Visit us on Facebook | Twitter | LinkedIn | YouTube SOURCE: Penny Wise PPE Protection Inc. View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/640385/Penny-Wise-PPE-Protection-Wins-Grand-Prize-Ureka-Challenge-2021 Geneva, April 15 : A group of UN experts have said that the US' anti-terrorism program "Rewards for Justice" is violating the human rights of some of the individuals it targets. According to a joint statement by the experts on Wednesday, the program, operated by the US State Department, offers money for information about people outside the US who are designated by the US government as being associated with terrorism but have not been charged with any crimes, reports Xinhua news agency. The UN experts said that many of the people targeted by the program have had their due process rights denied, including the presumption of innocence and fair trial. By offering money for information that can lead to the capture of these individuals, "the program encourages others to participate in the denial of these rights", the experts argued. The offers of money to foreign individuals alleged to be involved in terrorist activity comes with threats to impose sanctions if they don't cooperate with the US government's demands, the experts added. The experts who signed Wednesday's joint statement include Alena Douhan, UN Special Rapporteur on the negative impact of unilateral coercive measures on the enjoyment of human rights, and a number of experts from the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention. Sofia, April 15 : Bulgaria's Prime Minister Boyko Borisov on Thursday resigned from his coalition government, as expected, after the parliamentary election earlier this month. The announcement was made by the Interim President of the newly elected Parliament, Mika Saykova, during the first session, dpa news agency reported. The resignation of the nationalist government, which has been in office since 2017, was to be routinely approved by MPs. Thousands of protesters had demanded his resignation over corruption allegations during summer protests in 2020. In the election on April 4, Borisov's pro-European populist GERB party had again become the strongest party in the European Union and NATO member state with 26 per cent of the vote, but fell short of a majority in parliament. Three protest parties also entered the new parliament, making a total of six political forces. The new Parliament in Sofia met on Thursday for its constituent session. The election of a Parliamentary Speaker is likely to give an indication of the new majority that is emerging. WEST PALM BEACH, Fla., April 15, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- New Journey PAC Chief Executive Officer Autry Pruitt today issued the following statement on the firing of Brooklyn Center, Minnesota City Manager Curt Boganey: "Democrats plumbed new depths of anti-Black hatred this week with the firing of Curt Boganey, the former city manager of Brooklyn Center, Minnesota. His only crime was to say a 26-year veteran police officer deserved due process in the shooting death of Daunte Wright. "The bigotry of these Left Wing Supremacists should frighten not just Black Americans like Mr. Boganey but every American. When people are deprived of employment simply for suggesting that others deserve due process, nobody is safe from the mob. "We saw this kind of tyranny throughout the 20th century. From Germany in the 1930s, the Soviet Union in the 1940s, China in the 1960s and Cambodia in the 1970s, generations around the world have endured totalitarians like those responsible for the firing of Mr. Boganey. For him, his crimes were amplified because he's a Black man and there is nothing the Left hates more than a Black man who does not toe the line." CONTACT: Scott Hogenson, 703-967-6298 SOURCE New Journey PAC MUNICIPALITY OF BRENDA-WASKADA The Waskada School Parent Advisory Council hosted a rally at the K-12 institution on Wednesday to publicly voice their opposition to Bill 64, the Education Modernization Act. Advertisement Advertise With Us MUNICIPALITY OF BRENDA-WASKADA The Waskada School Parent Advisory Council hosted a rally at the K-12 institution on Wednesday to publicly voice their opposition to Bill 64, the Education Modernization Act. In order to abide by public health guidelines, the council asked all participating parents and teachers to stay in their vehicles and simply honk their horns in approval as PAC member Carla Lee ran through a list of reasons why Bill 64 poses a unique threat to rural schools. In total, around 60 vehicles showed up on Wednesday in solidarity with the Waskada School parent council, including members of the nearby fire department and their blaring fire engine. Waskada School Parent Advisory Council members Carla Lee and Jill Guenther address a group of concerned citizens on Wednesday who are also wary of the impact Bill 64 could have on their small, rural community. (Kyle Darbyson/The Brandon Sun) In her speech, Lee highlighted elements of Bill 64 that the local parent council members believe could uniquely impact rural communities if it is passed into law. Barring any amendments, this piece of legislation aims to completely revamp the provinces education system by dissolving all of Manitobas school boards except for the Division scolaire franco-manitobainein favour of a single provincial authority. At that point, the 37 school divisions will also be reorganized into 15 regional catchment areas, although Education Minister Cliff Cullen specified that these regions will not have "any legislative authority." Even though Cullen pledged to give parents a voice through installing school community councils at every institution, Lee said that this new setup is not an acceptable substitute for the elected school board trustees of the Southwest Horizon School Division. Waskada School Parent Advisory Council members Carla Lee and Jill Guenther hold a rally outside the K-12 institution on Wednesday afternoon to stand in opposition to Bill 64, the Education Modernization Act. To abide by public health guidelines, the council asked all local participants to stay inside their vehicles and honk their horns in support. (Kyle Darbyson/The Brandon Sun) "How will our voices be heard if you have placed no governing powers in the hands of these councils?" she said on Wednesday through a megaphone. "Giving us the ability to voice our concerns without the ability to implement programming does little to empower our rural community." Plus, local teacher Katie Thom told the Sun on Tuesday that small communities like Waskada with a population of around 200 people struggle to find school volunteers under normal circumstances; a dynamic that would become even worse under Bill 64. "Ive been on our daycare board for seven years now, and its hard to get volunteers," Thom said. "And in small communities, its kind of the same individuals who are volunteering for different things, and I dont feel that thats adequate representation either." Thom also mentioned how the unique needs of Waskada School students could be lost in the shuffle if Southwest Horizon gets merged with the Fort La Bosse and Turtle Mountain school divisions under Bill 64. Grade 3 student Marlie Hatt shows her support for the autonomy of rural schools during Wednesdays car rally against Bill 64, which took place outside Waskada School. (Kyle Darbyson/The Brandon Sun) "We have a great working relationship with Turtle Mountain and Fort La Bosse. I know lots of teachers who teach there as well," she said. "But when things get shifted, which programs get to stay and which programs get to be dropped because of money?" On Wednesday, Lee also talked about how Bill 64 could impact the community of Waskada in the long term, especially since the Progressive Conservative government has made no secret about their plans to cut $40 million worth of what they see as administrative bloat through their education reform. While Cullen has already mentioned that this money will be redirected to help teachers in the classroom, Lee said that sentiment doesnt bring comfort to a community that has already lost countless heath care, hydro, agriculture and mining jobs to larger urban centres. "Fewer jobs in our communities result in fewer people, which will lead to the death of our school and our communities," she said. Waskada School Parent Advisory Council member Carla Lee uses a megaphone to address fellow parents on Wednesday afternoon during a rally that the group organized to raise awareness about Bill 64, the Education Modernization Act. (Kyle Darbyson/The Brandon Sun) In fact, Thom said one of her biggest fears under this proposed centralized governance structure is that the province could close Waskada School down and send students to a nearby institution, especially if the decision is left in the hands of a provincial appointee in Winnipeg. "We only have around 68 students," she said on Tuesday. "So if a finance person in Winnipeg is looking at numbers when they start making all of these changes, theyre going to see a tiny school of 68 and think hmmm what are we going to do with that one?" To wrap up Wednesdays rally, Lee advised her fellow Waskada residents to contact their local MP (Larry Maguire) and MLA (Doyle Piwniuk) to remind them what rural educators and parents in Manitoba stand to lose under Bill 64 in its current form. "We urge the government to listen to our community," she said. "Do not take away our local school boards or we will get lost in geography and numbers." The legislature is expected to vote on Bill 64 this coming fall. kdarbyson@brandonsun.com Twitter: @KyleDarbyson Donald Trump's tumultuous presidency and the Jan. 6 Capitol assault are signals that people are less enamored by democracy, a former Polish foreign minister who has the ear of the White House and Congress tells Axios. Why it matters: Radosaw Sikorski, currently a member of the European Parliament, said its critical that democratic countries like the U.S. now showcase their resilience to the world. You had a heart attack," Sikorski said, "and its a signal you need to change your lifestyle. The solution is to make the political system more representative, especially in the Senate. What they're saying: We can only stand up to populists and to authoritarians around the world when our own house is more or less in order, Sikorski told Axios, speaking about the United States and the European Union. Sikorski is no political bystander. Besides heading foreign affairs for a central European nation that was the scene of some of World War II's most gruesome battles and atrocities, he's currently chair of the European Parliaments delegation for relations with the U.S. Sikorski visited the White House and Capitol Hill during a trip to the U.S. this week. He offered his opinion on those issues in private meetings with senior members of the White House and U.S. senators. During an interview, Sikorski recommended considering governance like it's a business. Part of why communism collapsed, he said, is because democracy outperformed. "We need to show the world, including our democratic allies, that democracies can retain this ability to remake themselves ... and that they can provide a rising standard of living for the population." One facet of this for the US. is signaling its rivalry with China loudly, and sending a message to allies like Turkey, Poland and Hungary. "Either you're with us including your rule of law and politics inside your own country or you will be easy pickings for the other side," he said. On Putin, Sikorski encouraged President Biden to continue to be tough on the Russian president while he dispatches more troops to the Ukrainian border. Thursday, April 15, 2021 SYKES Australias global clients rely on the company for digital marketing, customer service, and technical support The company has grown exponentially with a team of committed partners who are dedicated to providing the best support possible In the wake of COVID-19, SYKES Australia implemented new strategies to keep peoples well-being prioritized About SYKES Australia SYKES Australia is a digital marketing, customer service, and technical support provider to brands around the world. SYKES is a global leader in providing support, comprised of a diverse, fun-loving, and energetic team within a vibrant workplace. SYKES Australia opened its first contact center in George Street with only 125 employees. Focused heavily on outbound telemarketing, the company spent its first years helping a global client enter the Australian market. Seeing progress and growth, SYKES Australia began to scale, exploring more services and fostering new partnerships locally and worldwide. Today, the company has created its own mark in the field, continuously providing support for big global companies and leading Australian brands. Operations also expanded across New South Wales and Queensland. SYKES Australias COVID-19 Response After recuperating from the relentless bushfires, SYKES Australia faced the coronavirus crisis with resilience and strength. The employee-centric company put its peoples mental health and well being above all, implementing a work-at-home (WAH) solution for its biggest client in just days. To support this transition to WAH and employees through COVID, SYKES developed new communications channels, tools, and support packs to assist both staff and leaders in the new normal. SYKES provided consistent support to its clients in the face of adversity and fear. This was made possible with the culture SYKES has established and the talented team whose character shone like a bright light of hope, confidence, and strength in trying times. SYKES Australia won a Bronze Stevie for COVID-19 Response Categories - Most Valuable Response by a Customer Service Team in the 2021 Stevie Awards for Sales & Customer Service. Interested in entering the 2022 Stevie Awards for Sales & Customer Service? MACKINAC ISLAND, MI - If part of your Mackinac Island travel plans this year are to hop on a bike and zip around M-185, the 8.2-mile highway that hugs the perimeter of the island, youll probably only be able to do that in early spring or much later this fall. Michigan Department of Transportation officials say construction and road closures will affect about 4 miles of the iconic no-cars-allowed road this year as crews work to finish a rebuilding and anti-erosion project they began last year. High water and wave action in recent years caused wash-outs and crumbling road sections in several spots, making the urgent repairs necessary. Construction could begin as early as May. The exact start date is not yet available, as the project is still in the contract-bidding phase and some details remain tentative, said Dan Weingarten, an MDOT communications representative. The work will be done on the back half of the island, from roughly British Landing to Arch Rock, along Mackinacs northwestern and northeastern shoreline. Preliminary plans are to close M-185 in one-mile stretches as the work is done. The emergency repair work MDOT undertook last year restored the roadway to a gravel surface in the damaged areas suitable for non-motorized traffic, Weingarten said. So this years work, to reinforce more areas of shoreline and restore the asphalt pavement, will only have to close and detour M-185 in approximately one-mile segments at a time. Repairing and replacing the armor stone barrier will likely take construction crews until Labor Day to complete. Then the newly-rebuilt sections of M-185 will be repaved, probably in September. MDOTs share of the project is about $6 million. High water levels that first caused the damage in 2019 - and escalated the problem in early 2020 - are now beginning to fall back toward more normal levels. For bikers, walkers and carriage riders accustomed to traveling the islands entire ring, this means youll be able to go roughly from British Landing south and east to just past Mission Point Resort. The islands popular downtown shopping district and Fort Mackinac area will not be impacted. One other pavement area that will get some work is M-185 near Devils Kitchen, a much-photographed geological formation along the western edge. Work will start at the Devils Kitchen location and then proceed to the eastern shore and move north to British Landing, Weingarten said. Each segment will have bicycle/horse/pedestrian traffic detoured inland during repairs and will be reopened to traffic when complete. Detour routes for non-motorized traffic will be similar to those used during last summers emergency work on the island. A summer-long construction project on Mackinac Island's M-185 could begin as early as May 2021. Photo provided by MDOT. Silver Lining: Explore the Islands Interior Trails All these road-closed and detour signs might sound disappointing, but they can also open up fun new avenues for adventure, Mackinac State Historic Parks staff said. Thousands of visitors each summer pedal around the island, but far fewer actually take a spin through interior. The bulk of the island is state park land, and is crisscrossed by more than 70 miles of trail and roads that are great for hiking and biking. These routes go past historic spots, too, and are typically less congested than M-185. Theres also more hills - so youll definitely be earning that post-exercise stop for the islands famous fudge. There are so many other places to check out. Maybe youve been to the island before, but you can see it in an entirely new way this summer, said Dominick Miller, chief of marketing for Mackinac State Historic Parks. Just like construction season last summer, island authorities will be asking people to obey the road-closed signs on M-185. People going around the signs could be ticketed or fined. Its very unsafe for people to go past those barriers, Miller said, adding there is a lot of loose gravel and washed-out areas. Hes also hopeful MDOT can provide some flaggers during the busiest times to reinforce the closure and detour signs. Park staff will be working with bike shops, carriage tours and horse rental businesses to make sure they know the turn-around areas. READ MORE Mackinac Island announces 2021 opening dates for resorts, hotels, shops and more How Grand Hotels cupola lookout spot became a bar with Mackinac Islands best view Mackinac Islands Lilac Festival returns in June with stationary Grand Parade, new events (Reuters) -The White House said in a statement on Thursday that Russia's foreign intelligence service, known as the SVR, was responsible for the SolarWinds hack, which led to the compromise of nine federal agencies and hundreds of private sector companies. Senior U.S. government officials had already said the Russian government was responsible for the sprawling cyber attack, but Thursday's announcement offers the first formal statement pinning the operation on a specific agency. The White House statement was paired with a series of sanctions against five Russian cybersecurity firms, which the Treasury Department said had been involved in supporting Russian cyber operations. While some national security experts say the SolarWinds hacking operation could be viewed as a traditional espionage activity that is not uncommon between government hackers, the Treasury Department in its statement said the "scope and scale of this compromise combined with Russias history of carrying out reckless and disruptive cyber operations makes it a national security concern." The National Security Agency, FBI and Cybersecurity Infrastructure Security Agency also revealed on Thursday that the SVR was exploiting five known computer software vulnerabilities. The announcement came with links to a series of related software patches by the companies who make those products, including VMware and Fortinet. "The vulnerabilities in today's release are part of the SVR's toolkit to target networks across the government and private sectors. We need to make SVR's job harder by taking them away," Rob Joyce, NSA director of cybersecurity, said. (Reporting by Christopher BingEditing by Chizu Nomiyama, William Maclean) (Natural News) A new hypersonic missile set to be used by the Air Force failed to launch during a test flight. The AGM-183A Air-launched Rapid Response Weapon (ARRW) did not deploy from the aircraft it was attached to in an April 5 test run. Because of the ARRW boosters failure, the B-52H Stratofortress carrying it returned to Edwards Air Force Base in California with the missile still attached. The ARRW system is designed to launch in mid-air from beneath the wing of a carrier plane. However, the April 5 setback meant that additional work will be needed to get the new weapon up to speed. While [the ARRW] not launching was disappointing, the recent test provided invaluable information to learn from and continue ahead. This is why we test, Armament Directorate Program Executive Officer Brig Gen. Heath Collins said in an April 6 statement. The ARRW program has been pushing boundaries since its inception and taking calculated risks to move this important capability forward. Built for the Air Force by aerospace firm Lockheed Martin, ARRW is designed to provide the ability to destroy high-value, time-sensitive targets. The statement also said ARRW will expand precision-strike weapon systems capabilities by enabling rapid-response strikes against heavily-defended land targets. The April 5 test flight was the eighth after seven trials where the B-52H intentionally did not fire the booster. The objectives of the test included demonstrating that the booster can be safely released. The test also sought to assess key elements of the missile systems performance. Engineers and testers would be able to explore the defect and resume testing as the missile was retained, according to the statement. The ARRW is expected to be the first hypersonic weapon to become operational with the U.S. military. World powers work on their hypersonic weapons Hypersonic weapons usually travel at speeds above Mach 5, or at least five times faster than the speed of sound which is about 761 mph at sea level. ARRW will supposedly fly at a speed between Mach 6.5 and Mach 8, which is equal to 5,000 to 6,000 mph. Flying at such speeds will take the ARRW only 10 to 12 minutes to strike targets located 1,000 miles away, an October 2020 report by The Drive said. Once the booster reaches such speeds, ARRW will deploy an unpowered but maneuverable glide vehicle containing the warhead. This quality differentiates hypersonic weapons such as ARRW from intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs) that follow predictable trajectories. The U.S. military has also focused on tapping 5G technology in line with the eventual adoption of ARRW and other hypersonic weapons. Italian geographer and journalist Manlio Dinucci elaborated on this topic in a December 2019 piece for Global Research. He wrote that 5G will play an essential role for the use of hypersonic weapons which travel at a speed superior to Mach 5 (five times the speed of sound). Dinucci continued that 5G technology enables the collection and transmission of large quantities of data to guide hypersonic missiles on various trajectories and change their direction to avoid interceptor missiles. Not to be outdone, other world powers have commenced work on their own hypersonic missile systems. Chinas DF-17 hypersonic missile was first unveiled in 2013 and entered service six years later making its debut during a military parade celebrating the countrys 70th anniversary. This medium-range ballistic missile can reach up to 2,500 kilometers (1,553.4 miles) and can be mounted to a DF-ZF hypersonic glide vehicle. U.S. intelligence sources described the hypersonic missile as remarkably accurate during field tests, being able to land within meters of intended targets. (Related: China unveils doomsday hypersonic missiles that can strike any U.S. city in 30 minutes, while the Pentagon is focused on making sure transgenders feel safe in the military.) Russia has also worked on its version of a hypersonic missile. A December 2019 report by the Associated Press described the Avangard hypersonic glide vehicle as being able to fly 27 times faster than the speed of sound. It is mounted on top of an ICBM, but can make sharp maneuvers that foil any attempts to intercept it. Furthermore, the Avangard carries a nuclear weapon of up to two megatons. The hypersonic vehicle was first launched in 2018 from the Dombarovskiy missile base. It successfully hit a practice target in the Kura shooting range in Russias far eastern Kamchatka Peninsula, located 3,700 miles away. Visit MilitaryTechnology.news to read more articles about ARRW and other hypersonic missile systems. Sources include: Space.com Edwards.AF.mil TheDrive.com GlobalResearch.ca NationalInterest.org APNews.com ADVERTISEMENT President Muhammadu Buhari has returned to Abuja after weeks in London for medical consultation. The presidential aircraft conveying Mr Buhari and some of his aides landed at the Presidential Wing of the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport Abuja at about 4.45 p.m. Those at the airport to welcome the president included the Chief of Staff to the President, Ibrahim Gambari, the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Muhammed Bello, and the National Security Adviser to the President, Babagana Monguno. Others were the service chiefs, acting Inspector-General of Police, Usman Alkali, the Director-General, National Intelligence Agency (NIA), Ahmed Rufai, the Director General of the State Securitt Services, Yusuf Bichi and other presidential aides. President Buhari, after a brief welcoming ceremony at the airport, boarded a presidentrtial helicopter that conveyed him to the Presidential Villa. See Pictures Below: ADVERTISEMENT Nigerias independent fact-checking platform, Dubawa, on Wednesday, commenced a two-day training workshop for officials of National Orientation Agency (NOA) on combating fake news. The training, which is the first of its kind for the agencys staff and key personnel on how the fight against fake news, will help not only in promoting credible democratic discourse in Nigeria but also aid NOA to deliver its mandate to the Nigeria populace. The Director General of NOA, Garba Abari, in his opening remarks,, explained the intercourse between freedom of information and fake news. Mr Abari said the licence to freedom of information in the century had been abused with the impulse of fake news mostly through social media. We are in an era where all manner of information are accessible on social media. It has become necessary for our citizenry to become educated, skilled, equipped in the act of fact-check. This will enable them to independently confirm information in their various positions before sharing to others to debunk or disregard them. The advent of social media has heightened the negative impact of fake news and misinformation, the DG said. He emphasised the need for the agency to also equip its staff with tools to combat them in their respective jurisdiction. NOA is the federal governments agency officially mandated to share information and enlighten the Nigeria populace. The Executive Director of Premium Times Centre for Investigative Journalism, Dapo Olorunyomi, aligned with Mr Abaris view when he identified technology as one of the factors of fake news. Journalism, technology and the public are the major driving forces of information disorder. Technology has added volume and speed, making verifying misinformation much more challenging, he said. He also explained intent to harm as the thin line between misinformation, disinformation and mal-information. Earlier, Mr Olorunyomi explained how fake news contributed to the noncompliance of COVID-19 protocols. The Editor of Dubawa, Kemi Busari, said peoples biases at times influence how they gather and interpret information before sharing. He added that preempting false information has proven more effective than debunking false information because when most people come in contact with false information, they dont bother to go back for the truth. PTCIJ Program Director, Tosin Alagbe, and Nigeria Dubawa Programme Assistant, Temilade Onilede, were among those who attended the training. Photo: (Photo : Twitter: @inc_brands) In New York, police investigate a Syracuse shooting that killed a baby and wounded two other children. According to Syracuse police, a baby girl was killed, and two other young girls were injured by bullets while in the backseat of a vehicle. Deputy Chief Derek McGork of Syracuse, New York, said at a midmorning news conference that the children were riding in a car with two people, their mothers, shortly before 7 p.m. on Sunday, April 11, when someone opened fire from a vehicle traveling in the opposite direction. Two women were driving when shots were fired from a moving vehicle, according to McGork. He clarified that the women sped away and then came to a halt when they realized the children had been shot. According to Onondaga County District Attorney Bill Fitzpatrick, the 11-month-old girl was shot several times during the Syracuse incident. He said the other two daughters, ages 3 and 8, are sisters and are expected to live. The mother's kids rushed the kids to Upstate University Hospital in Syracuse. Dior Harris, the infant, died shortly after birth. Syracuse Police Chief Kenton Buckner said Monday that the other two daughters, 3-year-old and 8-year-old sisters, were in good health. Authorities did not reveal their identities. READ: Son killed, husband injured in shooting incident at New Jersey judge's home On Monday, no arrests had been made. Chief Kenton Buckner said police have no leads on a motive or possible suspects of the Syracuse shooting incident. Mayor Ben Walsh of Syracuse, who lives less than a mile from the shooting site, said, "This is a nightmare, an unthinkable tragedy." "How could someone in their right mind aim a gun at a car full of children and pull the trigger in broad daylight?" Walsh remarked. "It's beyond comprehension." According to authorities, specialists withheld the victims' identities to protect their privacy and provide time for relatives to be informed. Police were searching the area for surveillance video and urging anyone with information to come forward. Police did not yet identify the car from which the shots were fired. ALSO READ: Texas Baby Killed, Brother Wounded in the Shooting of a Teenager Syracuse Shooting Suspect Authorities in New York have charged a man with second-degree murder after an 11-month-old girl killed on the spot and two other children were injured in a drive-by shooting over the weekend. According to the OCDA, Syracuse Police arrested Chavez Ocasio, 23, on Monday. Second-degree murder, second-degree criminal possession of a firearm, and tampering with physical evidence were all levied against Ocasio. At his arraignment on Tuesday, he pleaded not guilty. READ MORE: Parents of Spa Shooting Suspect Help Authorities Catch Him According to OCDA, Ocasio faces life in jail and is housed at the Onondaga County Justice Center. On Friday, he is scheduled to appear in court. McGork also explained the Syracuse shooting incident further that they sped away as the victims were being shot at. The driver, who happens to be the deceased's mother, came to a halt and dialed 911 when she realized the children were hurt. According to online jail records, Chavez R. Ocasio, 23, is being held in the Onondaga County Justice Center on various charges, including violating his parole, interfering with physical evidence, and unlawful possession a firearm in the second degree. On Tuesday, he will appear in court for the first time. Haiti - FLASH : Armed men rape two children and an adult in an orphanage The day after the kidnapping of 7 religious https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-33459-haiti-insecurity-the-church-victim-of-kidnapping.html about fifteen unidentified armed men broke into around 1:00 am, in the "Chanje Lakay" orphanage in Croix-des-Bouquets, after having killed the guard. These lawless individuals severely beat Bryann Jefferson Clergy and his wife who run the orphanage to find out where the money was in the facility. For nearly two hours they searched and vandalized the orphanage and took all the money they could find. During this savage operation, a 15-year-old girl and a 13-year-old boy as well as a 27-year-old employee who works at the orphanage were raped, while the children of the orphanage were seized with terror and panic. The thugs left the orphanage in peace around 3:00 am with their loot... The rape victims were taken to hospital for examinations and medical follow-up. In addition Arielle Jeanty Villedrouin, Director General of the Institute for Social Welfare and Research (IBESR) announced psychosocial support for children traumatized by these events. HL/ HaitiLibre Members of the royal family have been banned from wearing their popular military uniforms during the funeral for Prince Philip. Acco... Members of the royal family have been banned from wearing their popular military uniforms during the funeral for Prince Philip. According to The Sun, UK, Queen Elizabeth barred all members of the royal family from wearing military outfits. The Queen, according to the report, took the decision in order to avoid the sole focus of Prince Philips funeral from getting deviated. There was previously a drama around Prince Harrys choice of attire for the funeral, and many people wanted him not to be in his military uniform after he gave up his position as a working royal. In the same vein, Prince Andrew, was also told to opt out of wearing his military uniform over his friendship with convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein Now Elizabeth II has decided that no one should wear a military uniform on that day but all senior male royals wear suits and ties. A military source told The Sun, Its the most eloquent solution to the problem. The Queen and the rest of the family want nothing to detract from what is most important, commemorating the Dukes remarkable life, a separate royal source said. " " You won't get far if you follow the stairs to nowhere. Photo courtesy Winchester Mystery House , San Jose, CA Mrs. Winchester served as her own architect, but it's possible that some ghosts had a hand in designing the house as well. Each night, Mrs. Winchester would retreat to her seance room and receive instruction from the spirits on the progress of her house. The next morning, she'd present her construction workers with hand-drawn sketches of what was to be done. Sometimes it seemed she didn't care what she built, as long as she could hear the hammers of her crew. The crew might spend a month constructing a room, only to be ordered to destroy it the next month. Because Mrs. Winchester paid well, no one disputed her instructions. Mrs. Winchester had inherited $20 million and just less than half of the Winchester Repeating Arms Company stock [source: Taylor]. This left Mrs. Winchester with a daily income of about $1,000 to spend on her house [source: Taylor]. (Multiply those figures by about 20 to get an idea of how much money that would be in 2008 [source: U.S. Department of Labor].) Advertisement But what of these doors and stairs to nowhere? Doors may open onto walls, or in the case of a second story door, to the outside, resulting in a big fall for anyone who might try to exit that way. A closet door in the second floor seance room opens onto a first-floor sink several feet below. The stairs to nowhere are pretty much what they sound like: Stairs go up until they reach the ceiling, and then they just stop. The useless stairs might have a simple explanation; the stairs were likely a part of the original house that Mrs. Winchester bought, and when she started adding on to the home, she covered up the stairs. Whether it was accidentally or on purpose, Mrs. Winchester usually covered up her mistakes by just continuing to build around them. Because she had no master plan for the house, her architectural ideas didn't always work out. Since she had no deadline for completion, she'd either tear down the mistake or cover it up with something else. Some people think that these touches were designed to confuse the evil spirits that were haunting Mrs. Winchester. Believing that ghosts would get lost on stairs that went nowhere or accidentally step out of a door that went outside, Mrs. Winchester might have deliberately installed these weird touches. If this sounds strange to you today, you're not alone. Even at the time that Mrs. Winchester was building the house, she was regarded with suspicion. Some thought her an eccentric with too much money on her hands, and her home took on the nickname "mystery house" not long after her death. Because Mrs. Winchester left no diary or other communication, we honestly have no idea what might have been going on her mind. What we do have is her house, which is still open to tourists. Is it a monument to madness or money? Is it still haunted? On the next page, we'll poke around inside the Winchester Mystery House. Stairway to Heaven? While the stairs to nowhere get a lot of attention, all the stairways in the Winchester house are unique. Most stairs in the house are only about 2 inches (5 centimeters) tall. The staircases zigzag back and forth, going around and around in circles. Were these staircases also built to confuse the spirits? Possibly, but the height of the stairs served a very specific purpose. Mrs. Winchester had very bad arthritis, and these small stairs allowed her to get around. See the calendar and panic that taxes are due? Take a breath. The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) announced last month that the filing deadline would be pushed back to May 17, about a month from the typical date of April 15. This continues to be a tough time for many people, and the IRS wants to continue to do everything possible to help taxpayers navigate the unusual circumstances related to the pandemic, while also working on important tax administration responsibilities, said IRS Commissioner Chuck Rettig. Even with the new deadline, we urge taxpayers to consider filing as soon as possible, especially those who are owed refunds. Filing electronically with direct deposit is the quickest way to get refunds, and it can help some taxpayers more quickly receive any remaining stimulus payments they may be entitled to. This will offer taxpayers more time to file as well as pay any taxes owed. The IRS opened this years filing season on Feb. 12, 2021, a later start than in typical years, in part due to the impact of the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. Those unable to file on time can request an extension to Oct. 15, though taxes not paid by the deadline are subject to interest and penalties. Penalties, interest and additions to tax will begin to accrue on any remaining unpaid balances as of May 17, 2021, the IRS said. Individual taxpayers will automatically avoid interest and penalties on the taxes paid by May 17. Related Content: News Release Basel, April 15, 2021 Dufry prices EUR 725 million Senior Notes and CHF 300 million Senior Notes Dufry priced EUR 725 million 3.375% Senior Notes due 2028 and CHF 300 million 3.625% Senior Notes due 2026. The interest will be payable semi-annually in arrears. Proceeds from the offering are intended to be used to refinance existing bank debt and for general corporate purposes. It is expected that the Notes will be admitted to the Official List of The International Stock Exchange. The Notes will be offered and sold only to non-U.S. persons outside the United States pursuant to Regulation S under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the "Securities Act"). Important Notices This media release is for information purposes only and does not constitute an offer to sell, or a solicitation of an offer to buy, nor will there be any sale of these securities in any state or jurisdiction in which such an offer, solicitation or sale would be unlawful prior to registration or qualification under the securities laws of such state or jurisdiction. The securities discussed in this media release will not be and have not been registered under the Securities Act, and may not be offered or sold in the United States absent registration or an applicable exemption from the registration requirements of the Securities Act. Dufry has no intention to register any portion of the offering of these securities under the Securities Act. Information in this press release may involve guidance, expectations, beliefs, plans, intentions or strategies regarding the future. These forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties. All forward-looking statements included in this release are based on information available to Dufry AG as of the date of this press release, and we assume no duty to update any such forward-looking statements. Factors that could affect the Company's forward-looking statements include, among other things: global GDP trends, competition in the markets in which the Company operates, unfavorable changes in airline passenger traffic, unfavorable changes in taxation and restrictions on the duty-free sale in countries where the company operates. The Notes are not intended to be offered, sold or otherwise made available to and should not be offered, sold or otherwise made available to any retail investor in the European Economic Area. For these purposes, a retail investor means a person who is one (or more) of (i) a retail client as defined in point (11) of Article 4(1) of Directive 2014/65/EU ("MIFID II"), (ii) a customer within the meaning of the Insurance Distribution Directive where that customer would not qualify as a professional client as defined in point (10) of Article 4(1) of MiFID II, or (iii) not a qualified investor as defined in the Prospectus Regulation. Consequently no key information document required by the PRIIPs Regulation for offering or selling the Notes or otherwise making them available to retail investors in the EEA has been prepared and therefore offering or selling the Notes or otherwise making them available to any retail investor in the EEA may be unlawful under the PRIIPs Regulation. This media release has been prepared on the basis that any offer of the Notes in the United Kingdom (the "UK") will be made pursuant to an exemption under Regulation (EU) 2017/1129 as it forms part of domestic law by virtue of the European Union (Withdrawal) Act 2018 (the "EUWA") from a requirement to publish a prospectus for offers of Notes. The Notes are not intended to be offered, sold or otherwise made available to and should not be offered, sold or otherwise made available to any retail investor in the UK. For these purposes, a retail investor means a person who is one (or more) of: (i) a retail client, as defined in point (8) of Article 2 of Regulation (EU) No 2017/565 as it forms part of domestic law by virtue of the EUWA; (ii) a customer within the meaning of the provisions of the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 ("FSMA") and any rules or regulations made under the FSMA to implement Directive (EU) 2016/97, where that customer would not qualify as a professional client, as defined in point (8) of Article 2(1) of Regulation (EU) No 600/2014 as it forms part of domestic law by virtue of the EUWA. Consequently, no key information document required by Regulation (EU) No 1286/2014 as it forms part of domestic law by virtue of the EUWA (the "UK PRIIPs Regulation") for offering or selling the Notes or otherwise making them available to retail investors in the UK has been prepared and, therefore, offering or selling the Notes or otherwise making them available to any retail investor in the UK may be unlawful under the UK PRIIPs Regulation. For further information please contact: Dr. Kristin Kohler Renzo Radice Global Head Investor Relations Phone: +41 79 563 18 09 kristin.koehler@dufry.com Global Head Corporate Communications & Public Affairs Phone: +41 61 266 44 19 renzo.radice@dufry.com Dufry Group - A leading global travel retailer Dufry AG (SIX: DUFN) is the leading global travel retailer operating over 2,300 duty-free and duty-paid shops in airports, cruise lines, seaports, railway stations and downtown tourist areas, in more than 430 locations in 64 countries across all six continents. The Company, founded in 1865 and headquartered in Basel, Switzerland, is offering customers a first-class shopping experience, global brands, a unique market access and landlords a reliable, value-enhancing partnership. To learn more about Dufry, please visit www.dufry.com. Social Responsibility Dufry cares for children and supports social projects from SOS Kinderdorf in Brazil, Cambodia, Mexico, Morocco and Ivory Coast. SOS Children's Villages is an independent, non-political and non-demonstrational organization established for orphaned and destitute children all over the world. Source: Xinhua| 2021-04-14 19:03:31|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close A front-line medical worker receives the COVID-19 vaccine at the University Teaching Hospital (UTH) in Lusaka, Zambia, on April 14, 2021. Zambia on Wednesday launched the COVID-19 vaccination program against the pandemic. (Photo by Martin Mbangweta/Xinhua) LUSAKA, April 14 (Xinhua) -- Zambia on Wednesday launched the COVID-19 vaccination program against the pandemic. The national launch, which was held at the University Teaching Hospital (UTH), the country's highest referral hospital in the country's capital Lusaka, was attended by officials from the health ministry, cooperating partners and private sector representatives. The launch involves the first pillar of the program under the COVAX Facility consisting of 228,000 doses of AstraZeneca manufactured in India. The first pillar will cover 20 percent or 3.6 million of the eligible over 18 years people and will target front-line health workers and other people at most risk. A total of 8.3 million people are targeted to be vaccinated. Minister of Health Jonas Chanda said the launch of the program signifies the government's commitment to the fight against the pandemic. He said the launch signals the rollout of the program to all parts of the country with provincial launches expected in the coming days. The Zambian minister, who was the first to get the vaccination, said the fierceness of the pandemic requires that it must be tackled with seriousness, adding that the vaccination program was a great stride to tackle the pandemic and protect citizens. He reiterated that the vaccination program will be conducted in a cautious and phased manner on a voluntary basis and urged all eligible citizens to get vaccinated. He further revealed that the country expects the second batch of the vaccines under the COVAX Facility next month and commended cooperating partners for financing the vaccine mechanism. United Nations (UN) Resident Coordinator Coumba Mar Gadio said the launch of the program was a momentous occasion and was a mark of the government's commitment to fighting the pandemic. She said she was impressed at the rate the Zambian government has managed to get the vaccine when other countries were still struggling and urged citizens to take the vaccine as it was safe and vital in fighting the pandemic. Enditem Scott Distler: Finding a way out of 'the cave' New Delhi, April 15 : The Delhi High Court on Thursday declined to grant bail to Shahrukh Pathan, who was seen in a viral video pointing a gun at an unarmed Delhi Police personnel during the riots in the capital in February 2020. A single bench of Justice Suresh Kumar Kait said: "The video clipping and pictures played before this Court have shaken the conscience of this Court how petitioner could take law and order in his hands." In a viral video, Pathan, a resident of north-east Delhi, was seen pointing his pistol at the policeman on the Jaffrabad-Maujpur road. The police arrested him on March 3. The High Court noted that whether or not petitioner had intention to kill the complainant or any person present in the public with his open-air pistol shots, but it is hard to believe that he had no knowledge that his act may harm anyone present at the spot. "Keeping in mind the gravity of offence committed by the petitioner as also the facts of the present case, I am not inclined to grant bail to the petitioner", said the High Court in its order. The Delhi Police was represented through advocates Rajat Nair and Amit Mahajan. The court noted that Pathan's role was not confined to participation in the mob of rioters but of heading the large crowd, holding a pistol in hand and releasing open fire shots. Declining to grant bail to Pathan, the High Court said the trial court has rightly held that "the petitioner (Pathan) is alleged to have participated in riots and his picture speaks a volume about his involvement." The police have submitted before the court that the charge sheet in this case has already been filed and trial is in progress. The police urged that no leniency should be shown towards the petitioner and this petition deserves to be dismissed. Pathan had moved the High Court after the trial court denied him bail. Pathan's counsel had submitted that the trial court while refusing to grant bail to his client has not considered material factual aspects and has mechanically held that the allegations levelled against him are grave. They can find it, or they die. In my last column, I wrote about deer in my yard and how habitat destruction may be responsible. I got a runaround from local government officials on the issue of regulating commercial development and its consequences. I was referred to the State of Illinois. This is sort of a dilemma. We have commercial development that benefits people but that same development removes green spaces and wetlands in the environment. Does the State of Illinois require mitigation for commercial development? I spoke with Kim Biggs, with the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency who informed me that the EPA doesnt have direct oversight of local developments. However, it does require that construction sites that disturb one acre or more are required to have coverage under Illinois EPAs National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) general permit for stormwater discharges from construction activities. The IEPA also requires construction activities occurring in Illinois waterways, floodplains and wetlands often require both state and federal authorization. It says nothing about habitat destruction and replacement. Chris Krusa, a volunteer with Piasa Palisades Group of the Sierra Club was very helpful. He informed me that there is a species that is endangered in the American Bottoms, where much of the warehouse building is occurring. It would appear that the Chorus Frog is having its breeding grounds encroached upon by development. And, Christine Favilla, Three Rivers Project Co-coordinator of the Sierra Club, sent me a statement, which reads in part, In regards to the warehouse development and the state-threatened Illinois Chorus Frog, the Sierra Club is concerned with the national and county permit process in light of the weakened Endangered Species Act regulations. This still doesnt explain the deer in my yard but it could explain why spring is less noisy. I asked a biology professor at SIUE about habitat destruction in the flood plain. If you think about down by the river in the flood plain, water birds that rely on habitat when they migrate up and down the Mississippi, rely on flood plain habitats to rear their young. They do well when there are aquatic habitats available, said SIUE Assist Professor Thomas Anderson. He noted that land set-asides and mitigation is one answer to habitat destruction but not the only one. Anderson said new habitats created to replace destroyed habitats are not the same. And he agreed that you cant replace a natural lake with a pit full of water. Still, no explanation for the deer but a water theme is developing. The hunt for answers continues to Illinois Department of Natural Resources. The spokesperson, Rachel Torbert, replied with a statement after discussing with IDNR staff. An excerpt follows: Deer are regularly seen in urban areas, as are turkeys, foxes, possums, raptors, and geese. Not likely because their habitat elsewhere was destroyed, but because they tolerate being in urban areas and there were resources to be had, a niche to exploit. Wildlife is displaced when natural areas are developed. But again, the presence of wildlife in town may not always be related to a specific development or loss of a specific habitat in the area. State Rep. Katie Stuart was in session in Springfield voting on much more pressing matters than deer and frogs, however, Im sure she would be sympathetic to them both. So, in my quest for an answer to why deer are roaming all over Edwardsville, I should just rely on good old common sense. While the State of Illinois wont say it, the commercial destruction of natural habitat forces wild animals to seek food and protection wherever they can find it or they die. James M. Grandone is a long-time resident of Edwardsville. He holds a bachelors degree in Political Science from the University of Illinois and is a former Coro Fellow. He is a member of the Chicago Bar Association and the New York Center for Foreign Policy Affairs. He lives in the Leclaire neighborhood with his wife, Mary. Philippines files new diplomatic protests over Chinese boats in disputed waters April 15,2021 | Source: Reuters The Philippines filed fresh diplomatic protests to China on Wednesday after accusing its giant neighbour of undertaking illegal fishing and massing more than 240 boats within the Southeast Asian countrys territorial waters. The Philippine Department of Foreign Affairs said that two protests had been lodged, days after Manila summoned Chinese Ambassador Huang Xilian to press for the withdrawal of its vessels on the disputed Whitsun Reef in the South China Sea and other Philippine maritime zones. The Philippines last month described the presence of over 200 boats believed to be manned by militias inside its 200 mile (322 km) exclusive economic zone as swarming and threatening, while the United States, Japan and others have voiced concern about Chinas intentions, prompting rebukes by Beijing. In a Twitter post, Foreign Secretary Teodoro Locsin said: they really are fishing everything in the water that belongs by law to us. A Philippine government taskforce said the vessels, which are about 60 metres (197 ft) in length, can catch a tonne of fish a day. It said 240 were in various areas in Philippine waters as of Sunday, including nine at Whitsun Reef. The continuous swarming of Chinese vessels poses a threat to the safety of navigation, safety of life at sea, and impedes the exclusive right of Filipinos to benefit from the marine wealth in the EEZ, the task force said in a statement late on Monday. Chinas embassy in Manila and the foreign ministry in Beijing did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Chinese diplomats have previously said the Whitsun reef was part of its traditional fishing grounds, and that vessels were taking shelter from rough seas and did not have militia aboard. Since coming to power in 2016, President Rodrigo Duterte has criticised U.S. foreign policy and sought to improve ties with Beijing, but Chinas maritime assertiveness has put him in a difficult spot at times. The Philippine navy planned to deploy three more ships in the South China Sea. We have to understand that to say that one area is ours, we have to be there, army spokesman Major General Edgard Arevalo said. 2021 Reuters. All Rights Reserved. Theme(s): Fishing Craft, Gear and Fishing Methods. Sustainable student housing building design for higher education Rushings student housing projects have been focused on minimizing energy usage and reducing greenhouse gas emissions. By ERIC VANDER MEY Rushing Vander Mey Sustainable building design for student housing is critical to the growth of local universities that have aging facilities, limited state funding for new housing, and that are trying to attract the best and brightest young students from around the world. Over the past 10 years, Rushing has had the opportunity to work on many higher education student housing projects in western Washington. All the projects were highly focused on minimizing energy usage, reducing greenhouse gas emissions, reducing water usage and reducing long-term maintenance costs, while maximizing amenities for the students. The most recent phases of the University of Washington North Campus housing expansion include four new student housing buildings along Denny Field (McCarty, Madrona, Willow and Oak halls). These buildings achieved a LEED NC gold rating. The building LEED energy models demonstrate a 42% reduction in site energy consumption compared to the ASHRAE 90.1 baseline. By using heat recovery and heat pump systems, the projects reduced natural gas consumption by two-thirds. Photos courtesy of Rushing [enlarge] Heat recovery and heat pump systems reduced natural gas consumption by two-thirds at new residence halls on the UW North Campus. Many of the key measures used to meet these sustainability goals involve the mechanical, electrical, plumbing and lighting systems. Some measures were simple and others much more complicated. Each of the measures were thoroughly vetted with the design teams and many tested with various student groups on campus in existing buildings prior to implementing in the new construction projects. Below is a summary of a few of the key measures. The residential units in most of these buildings use electrical resistance baseboard space heaters and do not have mechanical cooling. The efficient thermal envelope and tight air barrier design help to minimize the space heating loads, but the push-for-heat thermostats provide the optimization to reduce energy usage in student rooms. These simple thermostats allow occupants to set the space heating temperature. Once set, the thermostat allows heat for two hours then automatically sets back to 66 degrees. If the temperature is not set for another 48 hours, the thermostat automatically sets back to 55 degrees. This allows most of the building to setback without any facility staff adjustments over winter break while maintaining freeze protection. King Electric developed the latest version of this thermostat specially for the project. Domestic hot water is a significant portion of the energy and water usage for student housing buildings, contributing to 25%-35% of annual energy usage mostly due to the heavy use of showers. The North Campus housing projects, after testing many shower heads (including personal in-home testing by the Housing & Food Services capital planning and sustainability manager), settled on an ultra-low-flow shower head that outperformed many other shower heads with higher flow rates. The Bricor Eco-Mi$er 1.06-gallon-per-minute shower head helped to reduce domestic water usage by more than 50% over a code-compliant building, achieving a 58% reduction in flow. [enlarge] These units are water-to-water heat pumps for domestic hot water production. Other measures implemented were not as simple but will provide substantial energy and carbon emissions savings for the student housing projects over the coming years. These include central heat recovery systems to transfer waste heat from commercial kitchen refrigeration systems and electrical rooms that utilize water-to-water heat pumps over to domestic hot water production. This concept can be applied within a building or even across multiple buildings, allowing heat from dining and commercial kitchens to reduce the use of boilers in adjacent buildings. For the UW North Campus housing project, the integrative design process and life-cycle cost analysis study resulted in shared central plant equipment between the buildings for only the heating systems. Central systems for multiple buildings did not pencil for the cooling systems based on the low summer occupancies. The residential areas are supported by a wide range of common areas throughout the various buildings. These include student meeting rooms, study centers, maker labs, chemistry labs, gaming centers, cafes, dining cafeterias and commercial kitchens. Mixing these commons areas within the same structures as the residential housing allows for greater energy exchange, providing significant energy and greenhouse gas emission reductions. For example, heat is recovered from the more energy-intensive commercial kitchen common areas in Willow Hall and shared with the residential uses in Willow, McCarty and Madrona halls. West Campus buildings (Lander, Maple and Terry halls) provided a unique energy exchange opportunity for the UW central cooling water system. This system operates to provide chilled water for cooling during the summer months but during other times of the year acts as an energy exchange loop. These three buildings provided an opportunity to harvest heat from other buildings on the central cooling water loop that are cooling server rooms and electrical rooms with internal loads throughout the campus. [enlarge] Air-to-water hydronic heat pump modules were installed on rooftops on the UW West Campus. In addition to air-to-water heat pumps that supplement the natural gas boiler systems, water-to-water heat pumps and energy recovery coils are used to provide heat for the domestic hot water systems and commercial kitchen make-up air units. While many other design ideas and measures were studied along the way, the systems serving residential units remained simple throughout the evolution of the design. With the recently enacted 2018 state and city energy codes requiring energy recovery ventilation for Group R-2 dwellings and sleeping units, this presents a new challenge for student housing projects in Washington. These energy and mechanical code requirements provide the framework to build higher-performance buildings. The energy recovery ventilation systems have the added advantage of supplying fresh tempered and filtered air to each student housing unit. The added challenge will be finding ways to cost-effectively implement these requirements in the student housing projects that are constructed to operate very differently than market-rate apartment buildings. Rushing is excited about the significant impact these past and future housing projects will have on the lives of our states higher education students, providing a sustainable and comfortable environment to live, learn, work and play. We look forward to implementing these sustainable design measures on future projects. Eric Vander Mey has been the principal in charge at Rushing for numerous student housing projects for the University of Washington (Seattle and Bothell campuses) and Western Washington University. Other Stories: Rep. Cheney Says She Would Not Back Trump In 2024 The third-highest ranking Republican in the House of Representatives said that she would not support former President Donald Trump if he runs for president in 2024. Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.) made the comments at the end of an interview on Neil Cavutos show on Fox News Wednesday and got an immediate response from Trump. Ive been very clear about my views about what happened on Jan. 6, about my views of the presidents culpability, I obviously voted to impeach him, I think that it was the gravest violation of an oath of office by any president in American history, Cheney said. I think for us as a party, weve got to be the party of hope and aspiration, and we cannot embrace insurrection, we cant minimize what happened on Jan. 6, and I think that all of us regardless of partisanship have an obligation and a duty to the Constitution. Cavuto then asked, If Donald Trump were the 2024 nominee, would you support him? I would not, Cheney replied. The former president released a statement Wednesday about Cheney shortly after her comment on Fox. And so many people, many people are looking to run against Crazy Liz Cheneybut we only want one, read the statement from Trump. She is so far down in Wyoming polls that the only way she can win is numerous candidates running against her and splitting the vote. Hopefully, that wont happen, he added. Ill make an Endorsement soon! Trump and Cheney have sparred before over differing views on bringing U.S. troops back from the Middle East. She was also one of the 10 House Republican members of Congress who voted to impeach Trump after the U.S. Capitol breach on Jan. 6. After the Wyoming congresswoman announced her intention to vote in favor of impeaching Trump, the states GOP put out a statement on Jan. 13 which in part read: Wyoming voted for the reelection of President Trump by a margin of 70 percent to 30 percent. 195,000 Wyomingites voted for President Trump. Representative Cheney is in Washington, D.C. to represent Wyomings interest, not the interest of the Beltway elites. After the impeachment effort and Trumps acquittal, the Wyoming GOP put out another statement saying: Wyoming believes in the rule of law and remains a MAGA state. Hats off to our U.S. Senators John Barrasso (R-Wyo.) and Cynthia Lummis (R-Wyo.) for voting with the prevailing side and commonsense Americans. Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) greets supporters after speaking to a crowd during a rally against Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.) in Cheyenne, Wyoming, on Jan. 28, 2021. (Michael Ciaglo/Getty Images) In addition, Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.), a supporter of Trump, went to Cheneys home state to rally people not to vote for her reelection in 2022 and pushed a campaign to remove her from House leadership, which was not successful. Despite the negative PR from Gaetzs actions, Cheneys office recently wrote in a Twitter post that her reelection campaign had raised $1.5 million in the first three months of 2021. In his statement, Trump also had words of criticism for Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska), who he said also needs to be replaced. Murkowski was one of the seven senators who voted to impeach Trump for the Jan. 6 breach. Meanwhile, other Republicans who have said Trump was responsible for inciting the Jan. 6 riot have not yet made public statements on whether they will back Trump in 2024, should he be the GOP nominee. However, Sen. Mitt Romney (R-Utah) who was one of the seven, said the former president has a great chance of winning the GOP presidential nomination if he does run. Rob McElhenney showed off his new buff look. The 44-year-old It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia star/creator put his shredded body on display for a photoshoot with Men's Health. His sweaty pecs and ripped six pack were highlighted in the workout photos, where he explained it's been hard to get one very important person on board with his fit appearance: his wife. Buff: Rob McElhenney showed off his new buff look. The 44-year-old It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia star/creator put his shredded body on display for a photoshoot with Men's Health 'In fact, my wife really was displeased with the way I looked, because she felt like I was trying too hard, and I was,' he told friend Ryan Reynolds in the interview. The star is married to his co-star Kaitlin Olson. The pair met on the set of the hit series in 2005 and wed in 2008. '[The] people who were most fascinated by my body when I was in great shape were dudes. Women could give two s----,' he added. McElhenney and the Deadpool performer recently partnered to take 100 percent control of the National League club Wrexham with a $2.76M investment. Ripped abs: His sweaty pecs and ripped six pack were highlighted in the workout photos, where he explained it's been hard to get one very important person on board with his fit appearance: his wife Displeased wife: 'In fact, my wife really was displeased with the way I looked, because she felt like I was trying too hard, and I was,' he told friend Ryan Reynolds in the interview. The star married co-star Kaitlin Olson (here in 2019) after meeting on the set of the hit series in 2005 He talked to the outlet about his fitness regime and the 'fascination' men have with wanting to look like gym rats. 'There's this fascination that men want to look like that and men want to be that aesthetically pleasing to other men. I'm actually talking about straight men as much as men in the gay community. It's interesting that it's not based in sexuality or sex appeal and more about this body image that we've sort of grown accustomed to. It's the thing people find fascinating, because it relates to their lives,' he said. The Mythic Quest performer continued: 'So much of it is wrapped up in health... but also aesthetics and sex and all sorts of things that make us human, and it's something we're all grappling with in different ways every day.' Male fascination: He talked to the outlet about his fitness regime and the 'fascination' men have with wanting to look like gym rats: '[The] people who were most fascinated by my body when I was in great shape were dudes. Women could give two s----' Pressure: Rob also revealed to the fellow ab-coated actor that he does feel pressure to have the physique of a superhero: 'Aesthetically, the superhero stuff hasn't helped. We now have this ideal of being the biggest dude or the most ripped guy in the room' He revealed to the fellow ab-coated actor that he does feel pressure to have the physique of a superhero. 'Aesthetically, the superhero stuff hasn't helped. We now have this ideal of being the biggest dude or the most ripped guy in the room,' he confessed to Reynolds. But he is quick to point out that despite feeling expectations to look a certain way in Hollywood, he knows it's nothing compared to what women have to deal with. Expectations: The actor (here in 2018) is quick to point out that despite feeling expectations to look a certain way in Hollywood, he knows it's nothing compared to what women have to deal with: 'men have had the benefit of not being held to such a stringent standard, aesthetically' 'I don't want to cry foul too much, because women have been held to a very difficult and specific standard for so long and continue to be, and men have had the benefit of not being held to such a stringent standard, aesthetically at least,' he said. 'However, I will say and I hear this from a lot of men, and I think it's a little bit less taboo to talk about that men, too, are held to a standard of masculinity that's impossible to live up to or is probably essentially unethical to live up to: that sort of quiet, masculine tough guy who's both jacked and ready to throw down at any moment but also sensitive but not too sensitive.' Rob is currently hard at work writing the 15th season of the popular FX show he also created, which surpassed The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet as TV's longest-running live-action comedy. Philadelphia freedom: Its Always Sunny In Philadelphia - featruring (L-R) Kaitlin Olson, Glenn Howerton, Charlie Day, Danny DeVito and Rob McElhenney - has been renewed for a record 15th season Funny: 'Were going to keep doing it forever if people keep watching,' McElhenney said in January at the TCA Winter press tour; he's and co-star Charlie Day have appeared on the series since 2005 'Were going to keep doing it forever if people keep watching,' McElhenney said in January at the TCA Winter press tour. The FX staple, which chronicles the comings and goings of friends who have a South Philadelphia bar, features a cast including McElhenney, Glenn Howerton, Charlie Day - who are also writers and exec producers - and Olson and Danny DeVito. He and wife Kaitlin are also busy at home with their two children: sons Axel Lee, 10, and Leo Grey, nine. Local News, Crime, Community, Charity & Cause, Press Releases By Chris Boyle Published: April 15 2021 At the center of attention was K9 Reis, a two-year-old dark brindle colored Dutch Shepherd from the Netherlands. County Sheriff Errol D. Toulon Jr., along with Undersheriff Steven Kuehhas, Undersheriff Kevin Catalina, Deputy Sheriff PBA President John Becker, and Suffolk County Correction Officer Association President Lou Viscusi hosted two consecutive ceremonies recently to pay tribute to several fallen law enforcement officers in the most unique way. At the center of attention was K9 Reis, a two-year-old dark brindle colored Dutch Shepherd from the Netherlands. He is a high-drive, strong-willed dog who exhibits a uniquely high level of courage. Its not surprising that his handler named him Reis, a tribute to a beloved Sheriffs Correction Officer, Andrew Reister, who was killed in 2008 while working an off-duty job. This morning, the family of Andrew Reister gathered at the Sheriffs Office to participate in a formal naming ceremony and watch Reis demonstrate some of his talents. Suffolk County Correction Officer Association President Lou Viscusi said, I had the pleasure of working alongside Andrew, both in the facility and on the COBA Board. He was not only a coworker but a friend who would do anything to help others. I thank Deputy Sheriff Korte for choosing to honor him this way. Later in the afternoon K9 Reis received a state-of-the-art Armor Express ballistic vest donated by the Simonsen Foundation in conjunction with Blue Lives Matter K9 and the Capital K9 Association. Leanne Simonsen established the Simonsen Foundation in honor of her husband, deceased NYPD Detective Brian Simonsen, who was shot and killed February 2019 in the line of duty. The vest was donated in memory of another fallen officer, NYPD Transit Detective George Caccavale, who was only 33 years old when he was shot and killed in 1976 while working an off-duty job. His daughter, Carla Caccavale, and her children, were also present at the ceremony. Leanne Simonsen said, We started this foundation to ensure that my husband, Brian Simonsen, would never be forgotten. When Brian was killed my world went dark. Through this foundation, the people we have met, and the work we have done, the light has started to return with all the good we have done in Brians name I often say through the most unfortunate circumstances we had the good fortune of meeting the most amazing people, said Carla Caccavale. All those who came out today exemplify exactly this. Especially Leanne and everyone here who upholds the solemn vow to never forget. Our family is incredibly honored and is committed to paying it forward to honor another fallen hero. I think its safe to say that my Dad, Brian, and Andrew are beaming down with pride. Sheriff Toulon was honored to help carry on the memory of Fallen Suffolk County Correction Officer Andrew Reister and thanked all those involved for facilitating the vest donation. There is a strong and unique bond among law enforcement families who have lost loved ones. It was a pleasure to share this time with Stacey and her family, and we are incredibly grateful to the Simonsen Foundation, Blue Lives Matter K9, and the Capital K9 Association for their support, and for the excellent workmanship by Armor Express. Reis will be well protected. said Sheriff Toulon. As a former New York City Police Officer and President of the Suffolk County Deputy Sheriffs PBA, it is truly a privilege to be a part of this ceremony honoring our fallen brothers, said John Becker. Lindsay Ekizian, Founder of Blue Lives K9 said, Since the inception of Blue Lives K9 we have strived to collaborate with amazing people for various K9 causes. This is a prime example of great people coming together to make sure our four legged heroes are protected while honoring those heroes we have lost too soon. Sal Khan of the Capital K-9 Association said, The Capital K-9 Association team understands the critical role that Police K9 teams play in our communities and the inherent dangers associated with this role. With that, Capital K-9 Association has made it our mission to provide lifesaving ballistic vests and safety equipment to working Police K9's across the nation to ensure our 4 legged Police K9s make it home safely. Since 2011, we have proudly protected over 110 K9's and look forward to supporting more K9 teams in need of help. Our passion for producing the most innovative lifesaving armor systems is made possible by the commitment of every Armor Express employee. We are honored to collaborate with these amazing foundations to honor the legacy of Det. Simonsen, Det. Caccavale and Correction Officer Reister as we present K9 Reis with an Armor Express Tex10 K9 ballistic vest, said Robert Hogan, Director of Armor Express. Region health chief to ask Phuket to roll out lockdown measures PHUKET: The chief of the regional health office will ask Phuket officials to implement lockdown measures on the island to help prevent the spread of COVID-19. COVID-19Coronavirushealth By Bangkok Post Thursday 15 April 2021, 09:22AM Police and health officials check vehicles as they arrive on the island at the Phuket Check Point at Tha Chatchai. Photo: PR Phuket Public health inspector Dr Pitakpol Boonyamalik, who oversees the 11th Health Area of Thailand delivered the news during an online conference for health officials in the southern region yesterday (Apr 14), reports the Bangkok Post. "The number of new COVID-19 infections in this health region continues to soar by the day. I must propose that the provincial communicable disease control committee of Phuket, in particular, considers locking down the province after Songkran in order to contain the outbreak situation there," Dr Pitakpol said. The 11th Health Area of Thailand covers Chumphon, Surat Thani, Nakhon Sri Thammarat, Phuket, Phang Nga, Krabi and Ranong. In July, Phuket will be the first province to waive the quarantine requirement for vaccinated foreign visitors, as part of the governments plan to reopen the country. Dr Pitakpol said that despite the cases in the southern region being relatively low, with none listed in a high-risk zone, the situation is still worrying. Many of our current patients did not have a history of travelling into the outbreak zones before, which points to the possibility that they could have contracted the virus from people who were quarantining at home or people who were deliberately concealing their travel history, said the doctor. Meanwhile, retailers and malls nationwide have been asked to close earlier at 9pm, following the private sectors most recent bid to help curb the countrys third COVID-19 outbreak. Yol Phokasub, president of Thai Retailers Association (TRA), yesterday said that the TRA and Thai Shopping Centre Association (TSCA) jointly announced to their members and trade partners nationwide that they must maximise their COVID-19 screening measures. Both associations asked their members to close earlier at 9pm, starting from today (Apr 15) and until further notice. These businesses are also being advised to suspend all activities that would involve gatherings of large numbers of people. They are further being advised to have their staff work from home as much as possible, said Mr Yol. He said the two associations hope their move will lead to more action by the private sector in supporting the countrys work to contain COVID-19 and ending the latest wave of the outbreak as soon as possible. PITTSFIELD Running for the Massachusetts Senate seat Adam Hinds has held since 2017, a Pittsfield man says he is elevating a platform that is pro-life, pro-Second Amendment, pro-energy and pro-business. Brendan M. Phair, 50, has told The Eagle that he is running to represent the Berkshire, Hampshire, Franklin and Hampden district. Phair, who does not have a party affiliation, has not held office previously and said he will campaign while remaining employed as a special education paraprofessional at Taconic High School. Berkshire County votes consistently Democratic, and voters have elected a Democrat to the state Senate for each two-year term since 1997. Hinds, who told The Eagle he has not spoken with Phair, previously faced an opponent in the 2018 Democratic primary. The Pittsfield Democrat won 87.5 percent of the vote in the contest with self-described moderate realist Thomas Wickham, of Lee. To appear on the ballot in 2022, Phair would need to file nomination papers and submit at least 300 certified signatures. His wife, Alison Phair, is his treasurer and chairs his political committee. Hinds (copy) State Sen. Adam Hinds, D-Pittsfield, said he is focusing on his legislative work but would welcome Phair into the race. Phair said he believes that he can win, although he acknowledged that he brings a dramatically different perspective from Hinds, whom voters have elected for three terms. I know its not going to be easy, but I do believe I can win. Im definitely in this to win it, Phair said. Will fundraising be an issue? Yes, because Im an unknown and Im a political novice, admittedly. I have a lot to learn. Phair said he has considered running for a few years but decided to enter the race after taking offense to a vote Hinds cast for a provision in the state budget expanding abortion access. Hinds said he remains proud of that vote. Of the states 40 senators, Hinds was among 32 Democrats who voted to override Gov. Charlie Bakers veto and reenact that provision. I feel strongly about protecting a womans right to choose and for having access to health care and reproductive health care, Hinds said. Phair called Hinds a good guy but said they disagree on social and economic issues. On the latter, Phair said he believes the state should do more to limit its debt and to attract businesses. He said he does not have any particular inclination toward either party because he feels Republicans do not come through on their promises of fiscal restraint. I think I can bring a different perspective that a lot of voters in the four counties maybe arent familiar with, or they havent really seen my conservative views laid out in detail, Phair said. And I think I can really articulate what I stand for and, if I get my message out, people could learn a lot more about those positions in a deeper way. Hinds said he is focusing on his legislative work but would welcome Phair into the race. Im going to continue to do my work, and if he throws his hat in officially, Im happy to engage in a robust campaign, Hinds said. I would welcome anyones participation in democracy so we can have strong debates. (@FahadShabbir) Members of Britain's royal family at Prince Philip's funeral will wear civilian clothing, Buckingham Palace said on Thursday, reportedly to avoid awkwardness about which princes are entitled to wear military uniform London, (APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 15th Apr, 2021 ) :Members of Britain's royal family at Prince Philip's funeral will wear civilian clothing, Buckingham Palace said on Thursday, reportedly to avoid awkwardness about which princes are entitled to wear military uniform. Queen Elizabeth II, 94, will pay her last respects to her late husband at Windsor Castle on Saturday, leading a congregation of just 30 because of coronavirus restrictions. Philip, also known as the Duke of Edinburgh, died aged 99 last Friday. Officials confirmed that royal men will be in morning coats with medals, while the women will wear day dresses. The announcement came after a swirl of media speculation about the Queen's second son, Prince Andrew, and grandson Prince Harry. Former British Army captain Harry -- who did two tours of Afghanistan -- was stripped of his honorary military titles after his shock departure from royal life last year. Under royal protocol, he is not allowed to wear formal military dress, and is now entitled only to wear a suit with his service medals. Andrew, a former Royal Navy helicopter pilot who saw action in the 1982 Falklands War, had been set to take the honorary rank of admiral for his 60th birthday last year. But the appointment was put on hold after he stepped back from royal duties due to an outcry about his friendship with the convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. The Sun tabloid said there would have been "serious displeasure" in the Navy had he worn uniform. The Daily Telegraph said there had been "intense discussions" to avoid a situation where the only two royals to have seen frontline duty were the ones not in uniform. It said the Queen, who will follow Friday's funeral procession in a Bentley, "personally stepped in" to suggest the civilian clothing rule, allowing the family to present a united front. The funeral, though stripped back, will still have a strong military element, due to Prince Philip's past as a World War II naval commander. Harry's appearance at the funeral will be the first time he has been seen in public with the royals since he and his wife Meghan gave an explosive television interview broadcast last month accusing unnamed royals of racism. Meghan will not be at the funeral. She was advised not to travel on medical grounds as she is heavily pregnant with the couple's second child. Chennai, April 15 (IANS) A division bench of the Madras High Court on Thursday stayed its order directing the Chennai Corporation to exhume the body of Dr Simon Hercules, who had succumbed to Covid-19 last year, from a burial ground at Velangudu and rebury it at a cemetery in Kilpauk, as requested by the family. The bench comprising Justices M.M. Sundresh and R.N. Manjula passed the interim order on an appeal moved by the corporation against the single bench order of the court dated March 31. The division bench said in its order, "The authorities are required to deal with much more serious issues than this during the second wave of the pandemic." It may be recalled that a single bench of Justice Abdul Quaddhose had on March 31 ordered to exhume the body of Simon Hercules following a petition filed by his widow, Anandhi Simon. Justice Quaddhose had made it clear in the order that the dignity of the deceased should be maintained throughout the process. The order stated, "The Covid-19 guidelines issued by the Central government and the WHO had made it clear that the infection would not be contracted from a dead body." With India not having a proper legislation on exhumation of bodies, Justice Quaddhose had after some research decided to rely on a statute of Ireland - the Local Government (Sanitary Services) Act. Quaddhose had said, "This court, after perusing and examining the safeguards adopted in Ireland for the purpose of exhumation, is of the considered view that till such time a legislation on exhumation comes in place in India, the same safeguards shall be followed while exhuming Dr Simon's body." Simon Hercules was a neurosurgeon and MD of New Hope Medical Centre in Kilpauk who died of Covid-19 on April 19 last year. The locals had opposed the burial of the doctor's body at the Kilpauk cemetery as they feared that it would spread the disease in the area. The body was taken to a burial ground at Vellangadu where a mob had turned violent, resulting in damaging the ambulance in which the body was carried, and injuring the doctor who had driven the ambulance. Later, with the help of the police, the body was interred at Velliangadu. His widow, Anandhi Simon, had requested the Chennai Corporation on April 25, 2020 to exhume his body and to bury it at the Kilpauk cemetery as per his last wish. However, her plea was rejected by the corporation which had said that a committee of public health experts which it had constituted had advised it to not to permit reburial of the body to minimise risk to the public. --IANS aal/arm An Air National Guard MQ-9 Reaper drone crashed shortly after takeoff last summer at Syracuse Hancock International Airport, but military officials decided not to inform the public until now. A U.S. Air Force accident investigation board disclosed details of the crash in a report issued last week, almost a year after the unmanned aircraft lost engine power while taking off for a training mission. No people were injured in the June 25 crash, which investigators blamed on errors by operators who piloted the drone remotely from the New York Air National Guards 174th Attack Wing at Hancock Field. The aircraft sustained more than $6 million in damage in the crash. After slamming into the ground, destroying a row of runway lights and doing a 180-degree spin, the plane came to rest in a patch of grass 600 feet off the runway, according to the Air Force investigation. The plane leaked some fuel, but there was no fire. The MQ-9 Reaper, known as a hunter-killer drone, can carry up to eight Hellfire missiles. It was unarmed for the training flight. The Air Force report did not explain the lack of transparency in reporting the crash to the public. The Reaper drone fell less than a mile from a busy commercial strip lined with gas stations and businesses on East Taft Road in North Syracuse. The report said the drone operator pushed the wrong lever during takeoff, which caused the engine to fail. The accident puts a spotlight on the unique arrangement between the Air National Guard and Hancock Airport, where drones are allowed to take off and land on the same runways used by commercial airlines carrying the traveling public. In December 2015, the Federal Aviation Administration gave the New York Air National Guard permission to make daily flights in and out of Hancock Airport with the drones, using the same runways as commercial airlines. The decision marked the first time that unmanned aircraft were permitted to take off from a commercial airport in the United States. More than 2.5 million passengers fly in and out of Syracuses airport in a typical year. A spokesman for the New York Air National Guard, asked why the military didnt immediately disclose the crash, said officials didnt see any need to alert the public. There was no reason to do anything other than recover the airframe, Col. Richard Goldenberg told syracuse.com | The Post-Standard in an interview Wednesday. No one was injured, and there was no requirement to close the airport or the runway, Goldenberg said. Hancock Airports emergency operations team was alerted, he said, and the airport fire and rescue squad responded to the crash. Goldenberg said the airport, which is run by a public authority, could have chosen to alert the community. Jason Terreri, the airports executive director, said he left that decision to the Air National Guards 174th Attack Wing. Ultimately it was their decision, and they decided not to put anything out, Terreri said in an interview. He said the airport shut down its runway operations for about 20 minutes after the crash as emergency personnel responded at 9:26 a.m. June 25. No air traffic had to be rerouted, and the traveling public was never at risk, Terreri said. While emergency personnel cleaned up a small fuel spill from the crash, departing and landing passenger planes used the airports second runway. Terreri said the airport sometimes alerts the public to emergency landings or other disruptions that could affect travelers. We have incidents at the airport that happen, he said. Thats what the staff is trained for. If there is any impact to the public, thats when we make them aware. If there is no impact to the public, we dont put anything out. The crash was at least the second involving an MQ-9 Reaper drone operated by the 174th Attack Wing. In November 2013, a Reaper drone on a routine training flight crashed into Lake Ontario about 12 miles from the eastern shore, along the border of Oswego and Jefferson counties. That aircraft had taken off from Wheeler-Sack Army Airfield at Fort Drum in Jefferson County. At the time, the FAA did not allow the drones to take off or land at their base at Hancock Airport. In that accident, the Air National Guard disclosed the crash to the public as a Coast Guard helicopter and search vessel searched for the wreckage in Lake Ontario. When the FAA granted special permission for the training flights to use Hancock Airport in 2015, it included an extra safety requirement. The FAA required the drones to be escorted by piloted chase planes from the Civil Air Patrol until the Reapers reached a cruising altitude of 18,000 feet. The pilots in the air were directed to warn the drones remote pilots on the ground if nearby aircraft were on a potential collision course. But the FAA waived that requirement in September 2019, allowing the 174th Attack Wings squadron of Reaper drones to fly in and out of the Syracuse airport without an escort. The waiver marked the first time that the federal government allowed military drones to fly unescorted from a commercial airport in the United States. The FAA granted the waiver after the military installed ground-based detect and avoid radar a first of its kind for military operations of Reaper drones. The 174th Attack Wing has touted the technology as potential template for other military installations or commercial airports. The FAA did not respond Wednesday when asked if unescorted military drones have been allowed to take off and land at other U.S. commercial airports. The Air Force board that investigated the June crash in Syracuse found no fault with the technology installed at Hancock Airport or with the MQ-9 Reaper drone that crashed. A 21-page report blamed a basic pilot error as the cause of the crash and concluded that a contributing factor was poor design of the pilots control console. The crash occurred shortly before 9:30 a.m. on a clear summer day. About 44 seconds after takeoff, with the plane only 150 feet off the ground, the pilot mistakenly cut off engine power by pulling a condition lever backwards. The move cut off the planes fuel supply, the investigation found. The planes operators on the ground misidentified two levers that are next to each other on a control panel, according to the Air Force investigation. The pilot should have pushed an adjacent flap lever forward to reduce the flaps on the plane, allowing the plane to ascend to its training altitude of about 18,000 feet. Goldenberg said the pilot and supervisors on the ground initiated emergency protocols to try to land the plane safely when they realized it had lost engine power. He said the operators tried to glide the powerless drone back down onto the runway. The aircraft crashed 21 seconds after losing engine power, landing 600 feet off the opposite end of the runway where it took off. Goldenberg said he did not know if the pilot or other training crew members were disciplined over the accident. The Air Force investigation board concluded that poor design of the ground-control panel was a contributing factor to the accident, noting the proximity of the levers. The levers lack markings, color differentiation or safety guards that could have helped prevent the accident. These levers could easily be mistaken by an inexperienced, fatigued, or confused crewmember, the board wrote in its report. The 174th Attack Wing is the only unit in the National Guard that trains and qualifies drone pilots and maintenance crews for the Air Force. The Air Force has assigned 12 MQ-9 Reaper drones to the unit, eight of which are currently based at Hancock Field. Two of the Reapers are based at Fort Drum and two others are overseas. The 174th Attack Wing has also remotely operated Reaper drones in Afghanistan from its Syracuse base, which has drawn protests locally from peace activists. Last year, the units Reapers were in the air for 4,408 flying hours to train new crew members. All told, 78 pilots and 67 sensor operators graduated from its training program last year. Got a tip, comment or story idea? Contact Mark Weiner anytime by: Email | Twitter | Facebook | 571-970-3751 2 1 of 2 Harris County Constable's Office Precinct 1 Show More Show Less 2 of 2 Harris County Constable's Office Precinct 1 Show More Show Less Constables deputies on Wednesday arrested a man accused of sexually assaulting a teen while locking her in a storage unit for five days. While investigating, the Harris County Precinct One Constables Office found that Joel Micah Arnold, 34, took the 17-year-old to a storage facility in the 19100 block of FM 529 in Cypress on March 27, office representatives said in a news release. Here are a couple of soundbites from Christine Lagardes statements today. We consider that both fiscal and monetary support are needed and will be needed until the pandemic crisis is over and will be needed well into the recovery, ECB President Christine Lagarde says at Reuters event. Your free daily email from Fuller Treacy Money Comments of the Day 15 April 2021 Video commentary for April 14th 2021 Eoin Treacy's view A link to today's video commentary is posted in the Subscriber's Area. Some of the topics discussed include: bitcoin pauses following coinbase IPO, Wall Street susceptible to some consolidation, Moderna firms, Russia bounces with oil and geopolitical tensions easing, emerging Europe firm, Euro firm, Bunds weak, Treasuries steady. ECB's Lagarde: Economic Support Needed "Well Into the Recovery" Here are a couple of soundbites from Christine Lagardes statements today. We consider that both fiscal and monetary support are needed and will be needed until the pandemic crisis is over and will be needed well into the recovery, ECB President Christine Lagarde says at Reuters event. Preserving favorable financing conditions is a condition for the economy to recover -- they go hand in hand Eoin Treacy's view The question is not whether the ECB will provide assistance but rather how much. The spectre of deflation has been hanging over Europe for most of the last decade and there is a credible argument the region is heading into a Japan-like era of lower consumption and low growth. Avoiding that potential is the primary goal of both the ECB and every Eurozone government. Russia Scores New Bond Record as Yields Drop on Summit Hopes This article from Bloomberg may be of interest to subscribers. Here is a section: Russia sold a record volume of ruble bonds as state banks continued to prop up demand and sanctions jitters faded after U.S. President Joe Biden proposed a summit with Russias Vladimir Putin. The Finance Ministry sold 213 billion rubles ($2.8 billion) of fixed-coupon debt due in March 2031 in its second auction of the day, beating a record set two weeks earlier. The yield on Russias 10-year bonds fell the most since November as Tuesdays phone call between the leaders appeared to reduce the possibility of penalties targeting the nations local OFZ debt. Were seeing considerable demand once again, with big local players buying about 70% of both offerings today, said Stanislav Ponomarev, a money manager at Transfingroup JSC in Moscow. Theres been demand from foreigners since the morning, but it looked more like they were closing short positions rather than increasing their Russia allocations. The prospect of fresh sanctions has been mounting for the best part of a month and the recent troop buildup on the border with Ukraine has added to the tensions. State banks have stepped in to backstop the recent auctions as foreigners stay clear. The market was extremely negative on Russia, said Sergei Strigo at Amundi Ltd. Now there is a pullback on renewed hope of some sort of normalization in relationships, even if its short-term. Levels on the ruble and OFZs look much more attractive. Eoin Treacy's view How serious is the US administration in countering China? Thats the primary question for investors as they assess the potential for a normalisation of relations between the USA and Russia. As a major commodity producer, seller of advanced weapons systems and with significant experience in space, Russia is being courted by China. Trafigura Sees Green Copper Supercycle Driving Prices to $15,000 This article from Bloomberg may be of interest to subscribers. Here is a section: Trafigura expects the metal to breach $10,000 a ton this year, before entering a range of $12,000 to $15,000 a ton over the coming decade. Other ardent copper bulls including Group Inc., Corp. and have similarly strong near-term forecasts, but Trafigura has set itself apart with its lofty long-term target. Goldman expects copper to hit $10,500 a ton within 12 months, while Citi sees it reaching $12,000 next year in its bull-case forecast. In the years to come, thats likely to become the floor for prices as the industry revalues the metal, according to Trafigura. You cant move to a green economic environment and not have the copper price moving significantly higher, Bintas said. How can you have one without the other? Eoin Treacy's view Every country wants its economy to recover from the ravages of the pandemic. They are all looking at the same playbook. They need to increase growth without raising taxes and need a quick way to get as many people back to work as possible which will hopefully kick start the velocity of money. Infrastructure development has been the preferred strategy to achieve those goals after every other recession and this one is now different. The only question was what kind of infrastructure would be approved. Eoin's personal portfolio: futures long opened March 30th Eoin Treacy's view One of the most commonly asked questions by subscribers is how to find details of my open traders. To make it easier I will simply repost the latest summary daily until there is a change. 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(ANSA) - ROME, APR 15 - A road map will be drafted for the withdrawal of Italian troops from Afghanistan along with those of its NATO partners starting in May and ending in September, Foreign Minister Luigi Di Maio said on Facebook Thursday. "After 20 years, NATO has decided to leave Afghanistan," he wrote. "The ministries of foreign affairs, of defence and the Chiefs of Staff, meeting at the premier's office, will therefore draft a road map that will permit the withdrawal of the Italian troops, to which I renew the most heartily felt recognition for the support furnished in all these years to the Afghan people. "A support founded on the respect for rights, above all of minors and Afghan women. "Our contribution to the Afghan people has been decisive in these years", said the foreign minister. Di Maio said the "Italian way to reconstruction has been opened". The foreign minister earlier described the pullout after 20 years as an "epochal decision". (ANSA). By Kim Bo-eun Local battery makers are in a rush to expand production facilities in the U.S. to capture opportunities amid the fast-growing market for electric vehicles (EVs) there. According to Reuters, Thursday, LG Energy Solution (LGES) will officially announce a decision to build a second battery plant in the U.S., Friday, in a cooperative venture with GM. The two companies earlier set up Ultium Cells that will produce batteries for GM's EVs manufactured in Lordstown, Ohio. The second factory will be built in Tennessee nearby GM's Spring Hill plant and will likely require a similar $2.3 billion investment as the Lordstown plant, the report said. LGES said it could not comment on the report. The battery maker said last month that its joint venture with GM was looking to build a second battery plant, and that the site and scale of investment would be decided on in the first half of the year. The firm said the battery plant would use state of the art technology to provide a stable supply for GM's EVs. The LG affiliate earlier said it would separately invest up to 5 trillion won to build new production plants in the U.S. by 2025 and decide on two sites by June. SK Innovation (SKI), which is constructing two battery cell plants in Georgia, got the green light Sunday to continue building the factories after it settled a major battery dispute with LGES. The SK battery affiliate's first plant in Georgia is nearing completion and the company plans to launch operations soon. The second plant is about 20 percent complete. The battery maker is set to further engage in aggressive investments, pledging additional overseas spending Sunday. Samsung SDI is the only local battery maker without a manufacturing plant in the U.S., although it does have an assembly plant in Michigan. The company, which is eyeing sites for a battery cell plant, is not ruling out the possibility of building the facility there. This has become more likely after U.S. EV startup Rivian unveiled this week that the Samsung unit would supply batteries to the company. Rivian is backed by investments from Amazon and Ford. "The U.S. is an important market and the tariff incentive is a factor that should be considered," an industry official said, declining to elaborate. Under the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA), battery makers will be able to enjoy tariff-free benefits if they base 75 percent of their production in the region by July 2025. Samsung SDI said in a conference call on its 2020 earnings that it was looking into new production sites. Outside of Korea, the company has production sites in Hungary and China. President Joe Biden holds up a silicon wafer as he participates in the virtual CEO Summit on Semiconductor and Supply Chain Resilience in the Roosevelt Room of the White House, Washington, April 12, 2021. AP-Yonhap Patna: Health worker takes swab sample of a passenger at Patna junction arrive from Mumbai via special train, as coronavirus cases spike across the country, in Patna on Friday, April 9, 2021,(photo:AFTAB ALAM SIDDIQUI/IANS) Image Source: IANS News Patna: Health worker takes swab sample of a passenger at Patna junction arrive from Mumbai via special train, as coronavirus cases spike across the country, in Patna on Friday, April 9, 2021,(photo:AFTAB ALAM SIDDIQUI/IANS) Image Source: IANS News Patna, April 15 : The second wave of coronavirus is sweeping the corridors of the Bihar Secretariat with several senior officers testing positive and a few offices getting sealed after cases among the staff. Chief Secretary Arun Singh has tested positive and went into home isolation as soon as his RT-PCR report came positive. A team of doctors is monitoring his health. Singh had recently participated in the Chief Minister's assessment meeting on the corona crisis in Bihar. Beside him, Additional Chief Secretary, Home Chaitanya Prasad, Principal Secretary, Finance Dr S. Sidhartha and Cabinet Minister Madan Sahani tested positive on Wednesday. Amid the rising cases, the Health Department has sealed the Land Reforms and Revenue Department office located in the Secretariat after four employees tested Corona positive on Thursday. Other employees were directed to go under home isolation. Earlier, offices of Panchayati Raj and the Home departments were also sealed by the Health Department after a number of cases emerged among the staff. Source: Xinhua| 2021-04-15 17:20:40|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close PHNOM PENH, April 15 (Xinhua) -- Cambodia on Thursday confirmed 344 new COVID-19 cases in the last 24 hours, bringing the total number of infections in the kingdom to 5,218, the country's Ministry of Health said in a statement. The new cases included 339 local cases, mostly in capital Phnom Penh, and five imported cases, the statement said, adding that the imported cases were detected on four Indonesian men traveling to Cambodia from Indonesia on April 13 and one Cambodian man returning from Thailand on April 7. The Southeast Asian country also reported the recovery of 29 more COVID-19 patients. Since the start of the pandemic in January last year, the kingdom had registered a total of 5,218 COVID-19 cases with 2,858 currently receiving treatment and 36 confirmed deaths, the statement said. In the latest move to curb the virus spread, Cambodian Prime Minister Samdech Techo Hun Sen decided Wednesday night to place Phnom Penh and its neighboring Ta Khmau city under a 14-day lockdown from April 15 to 28. Cambodia began an anti-COVID-19 inoculation drive on Feb 10. As of Wednesday, more than 1.2 million out of the country's 16 million population had been vaccinated against the virus, showed a government report. Enditem [April 14, 2021] Beth.Technology Announces Major Rebrand to I/O Fund Beth.Technology, an actively managed tech fund that offers in-depth research and real-time trades, has completed an extensive rebranding initiative to reflect the company's comprehensive services, team-oriented approach, and vision for the future. The rebrand includes a new logo, updated website, and a new name: I/O Fund. I/O Fund empowers retail investors by offering an actively managed and transparent portfolio alongside institution-level research and real-time notification of entries and exits. The I/O Fund specializes in tech microtrends and has outperformed other popular tech focused innovation funds on the market. I/O Fund competes at the highest level and offers full transparency for individual retail investors. The I/O Fund also features a free public newsletter with past stock coverage that included Roku at $33, Zoom at $137, and Bitcoin around $9,500. Premium subscribers are notified of even lower entries, such as Zoom at $62, and Bitcoin at $7,700. With audited returns of 115.5% from May 9, 2020 to Dec. 31, 2020, I/O Fund outperformed popular tech focused innovation funds within the same time frame. The actively managed fund was founded on May 9th, 2020 following the launch of the premium service on July 15, 2019. "This rebrand reflects a significant step forward in our evolution, redefining who we are as a team and as a company," said I/O Fund Founder and CEO Beth Kindig. "We evolved from a tech insider with a blog to a full-service fund with an expert team. Our brand is built on credibility, transparency, and industry knowledge. I'm proud to offer these benefits and raise the bar on tech analysis for retail investors." Lead Analyst and CEO, Beth Kindig, uses fundamental analysis at I/O Fund to identify the leaders of the most important tech microtrends. Then Portfolio Manager, Knox Ridley, uses technical analysis to guide entries, exits, risk management, and provide market commentary on the decisions the I/O Fund makes in the actively managed portfolio. "At I/O Fund our goal is to get outsized returns-without excessive risk-taking -by predicting future tech leaders before the run, and spotting periods of market weakness before they happen," Knox Ridley said. "We share that knowledge with our readers, alongside real-time entries and exits in I/O Fund, so they see how decisions are made when running a competitive growth portfolio that exceeded the best funds on Wall Street last year. To communicate this expanded vision, the fund needed a new identity. I'm extremely proud of our team, and our market-beating results." For more information about I/O Fund, please visit our website at http://io-fund.com/. About I/O Fund I/O Fund is an actively managed fund that offers in-depth research and real-time trades. We specialize in tech microtrends and have outperformed popular tech focused innovation funds since our inception with audited performance results. I/O Fund empowers retail investors by offering a transparent portfolio alongside institution-level research and real-time notification of entries and exits. We also offer a free public newsletter with past stock coverage that included Roku at $33, Zoom at $137, and Bitcoin at $9,500. Premium members are notified of lower entries, including Zoom at $62, and Bitcoin at $7,700. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210414005960/en/ [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] More than 30 per cent of black over-60s have still not had their first Covid vaccine despite No10's PR blitz to encourage uptake among BAME people, data has shown. The proportion of black people who have not had a jab is nearly seven times higher than it is for white over-60s and higher than all other ethnicities, weekly figures show. The data published yesterday which comes from NHS health records shows more than one in five Chinese and Pakistani over-60s in England have not yet had a jab. Some 15 per cent of Bangladeshi people and 11 per cent of Indian people in that age group had also not taken the vaccine by April 7. Rates were much lower among white, mixed race and Irish people between four and eight per cent. Ministers launched a media campaign in February to address vaccine hesitancy after experts raised concerns about low uptake in ethnic minorities. The Department of Health worked with more than 50 ethnic minority TV channels and radio stations that broadcast in 13 different languages to tackle anti-vaxx misinformation. And a survey at the start of the month showed self-reported hesitancy among black people had halved since the start of the advertising campaign. But the latest figures will raise concerns that more still has to be done to ensure jabs are being given to people of all ethnicities in a successful national roll-out. Professor Anthony Harnden, deputy chief at the JCVI, said in a seminar today: 'There are problems in London, where the coverage rates are lower, and there are problems among certain ethnic minority groups, such as black Africans, where rates are lower, and we still need to do a lot of work with those groups.' The figures show that a smaller proportion of black people have taken up the vaccine offer in every age group, compared to other ethnicities. Just 12,474 out of 19,530 eligible black people aged 60 to 65 had received a jab by April an uptake rate of just 63.9 per cent. This was lower than mixed-race (74.3 per cent), south Asian (81.6 per cent) and significantly lower than white people in the age group (91.9 per cent). But the proportion was slightly higher for each age group as they got older, in line with uptake among all ethnicities. Some 67 per cent of black people aged 65 to 70; 71 per cent aged 70 to 80; and 74 per cent aged 80 and over have had a dose. THE GOVERNMENT'S PR BLITZ TO ADDRESS HESITANCY IN ETHNIC MINORITIES The Department of Health and Social Care launched its UK Covid-19 Vaccine Uptake Plan on February 13. It released targeted information and advice via 50 ethnic minority TV, radio, social media, and printed materials. DHSC and NHS social media channels are producing advice and information videos every day to answer questions about vaccines and provide the latest details about the vaccination programme. DHSC also worked closely with social media platforms to identify and act against incorrect claims about the virus and anti-vaccination messages which could endanger people's health. Advertisement The Government began its PR blitz to address hesitancy in minority ethnic groups on February 13 the day after the most recent ONS data begins at. It launched its Covid vaccine uptake plan on that date, outlining plans to reach minority ethnic groups on broadcast and social media in a policy paper. Ministers are working with more than 50 ethnic minority TV channels and radio stations that broadcast in 13 different languages to tackle anti-vaxx misinformation. More than 90 faith, healthcare provider networks, influencers and experts from a range of communities have been recruited to hold Q&As to address people's concerns about the Covid vaccine. Officials are also working with the BBC World Service to produce videos on key questions from South Asian groups in Urdu, Punjabi, Tamil, Gujarati, and Sylheti. An advert featuring Adil Ray, Moeen Ali, Denise Lewis, Romesh Ranganathan, Meera Syal was aired simultaneously on ITV, Channel 4, Channel 5 and Sky TV channels on February 18. And this Tuesday, film stars Chiwetel Ejiofor and Thandie Newton, author Malorie Blackman and radio DJ Trevor Nelson were among the signatories of an open letter by Sir Lenny Henry urging black Britons to get the Covid-19 vaccine. In the letter Sir Lenny acknowledges the 'legitimate worries and concerns' that people feel, adding: 'We know change needs to happen and that it's hard to trust some institutions and authorities.' He continued: 'But we're asking you to trust the facts about the vaccine from our own professors, doctors, scientists involved in the vaccine's development, GPs, not just in the UK but across the world including the Caribbean and Africa. 'Many of whom are our relatives, many of whom have made the ultimate sacrifice to protect the people of this country from this pandemic.' A detail of "XIV III MMXIX ," 2019, by Kazuo Torigoe. Oil on copper; 16 3/4 inches by 10 1/2 inches. Recipient of the Best Trompe L'oeil Award at the 14th International ARC Salon (20192020). (Courtesy of the Art Renewal Center) Trompe Loeil: The Delightful Art of Deception Kazuo Torigoes award-winning painting Japanese painter Kazuo Torigoe creates incredible oil paintings on copper that make you wonder what in the painting is real. On Torigoes website, lilies and hydrangeas seem to outgrow their frames. Luscious plums, apples, and two halves of a ripe fig look so appetizing that they make your mouth water. Some of his paintings contain carefully arranged playing cards, candles, and beetles, creating small allegorical worlds. Torigoes painting XIV III MMXIX combines many of these elements, but all in one frame. Its a fantastical painting that won him the Best Trompe Loeil Award at the 14th International ARC Salon (20192020). XIV III MMXIX , 2019, by Kazuo Torigoe. Oil on copper; 16 3/4 inches by 10 1/2 inches. Recipient of the Best Trompe Loeil Award at the 14th International ARC Salon (20192020). (Courtesy of the Art Renewal Center) Delightful Illusions Trompe loeil, French for deceives the eye, is an artistic technique whereby objects appear real on a two-dimensional surface. The technique has been used for centuries in painting, architecture, and the decorative arts to delight and astonish viewers, sometimes with comedic effect. According to Pliny, two painters in the late fifth century, Zeuxis and Parrhasius, competed to create the most realistic painting. Zeuxis rendered grapes so realistically that birds came to eat them. Zeuxis turned to Parrhasius and asked him to reveal his painting, which he believed was concealed behind a curtain. But Zeuxis had been fooled, for the curtain was Parrhasiuss painting! And according to the Renaissance art historian Giorgio Vasari, in the 13th century an Italian boy painted a fly on the nose of a figure that his master, the renowned painter Cimabue, had painted. The fly was so lifelike that when Cimabue came back to finish the painting, he kept trying to brush the fly away. The talented boy was Giotto, who became one of the most celebrated painters of the early Renaissance. Kazuo Torigoes Award-Winning Trompe Loeil In Torigoes painting XIV III MMXIX, an antique wooden altarpiece contains small compartments packed with different curios, reminiscent of a gentlemans cabinet from the days of the 18th- and 19th-century European Grand Tour. There are glass test tubes with insect specimens; exotic shells and crystals from seemingly faraway lands; and three small corked bottles containing blue-, green-, and peach-colored minerals, to name a few items. XIV III MMXIX , 2019, by Kazuo Torigoe. Oil on copper; 16 3/4 inches by 10 1/2 inches. Recipient of the Best Trompe Loeil Award at the 14th International ARC Salon (20192020). (Courtesy of the Art Renewal Center) In many ways, art and reality overlap in Torigoes painting. In a video of his artist statement, he says that he purified lapis lazuli to create ultramarine blue paint, and he finely crushed malachite to create green paint. Artists traditionally used these minerals in the past, and it appears that Torigoe depicted both at the bottom-left of the painting in the two small corked bottles. In addition, the frame is an altarpiece. Its real, not a painted illusion. Its an antique wooden altarpiece that Torigoe carefully restored. To create his trompe loeil paintings, Torigoe first paints the illusion (in this case, the cabinet compartments) onto a copper plate. He favors copper for its relative stability and rigidity. Oil painting on copper was popular in parts of Europe in the 16th and 17th centuries, he says. Torigoe then creates shadows in the painting that appear to be cast from the altarpiece frame. Connecting the composition and the frame gives the illusion of objects jumping into the viewers orbit. In theater, they call this breaking the fourth wall, where the action enters the audience space. Torigoe hopes that when you view his paintings, you see them as a homage to classical expressions and the materials once used. To see more of Kazuo Torigoes art, visit KazuoTorigoe.com Within the framework of the industrial cooperation plan linked to the mine hunter programme for the Belgian and Dutch navies, Naval Group has concluded a collaboration agreement with Space Applications Services (SpaceApps). The company based in Brussels will conduct a one-year study for Naval Group in the field of multi-UAV planning. Follow Navy Recognition on Google News at this link (Picture source: Naval Group) An ambitious industrial cooperation plan accompanies the programme supplying the Belgian and Dutch navies with twelve mine hunters, a contract awarded in 2019 to Belgium Naval & Robotics, the consortium set up by Naval Group and ECA Group. The two companies have implemented a centre of excellence in Belgium, in partnership with players in the industrial and research sector and universities. This centre is called MCM Lab and is dedicated to innovations in the field of mine countermeasures. In this context, Naval Group has concluded a collaboration agreement with Space Applications Services (SpaceApps). The company based in Brussels conduct a one-year study for Naval Group in the field of multi-UAV planning. Through this study, Space Applications Services applies its aerospace expertise to the naval sector. All technical skills and teams are deployed to make mine hunters even more efficient in their missions. The expertise of SpaceApps with regard to augmented reality, real-time classification, communication between different UAVs, identification of the degree of autonomy, management of communication problems in an underwater environment, is a valuable contribution to multiUAV research and rescue missions, optimal planning and allocation of resources and the set up of communication relays to coordinate data between the operator centre and each UAV. This initiative also allows to progress in the detection of elements navigating in an underwater environment. NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) Africa's top health official said Thursday he wants to believe that India will lift export restrictions on COVID-19 vaccines as soon as possible, warning that India is not an island while some African nations still have seen no shots at all. John Nkengasong, director of the Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, spoke as the African continent of 1.3 billion people doesnt know when second doses of key vaccines will arrive and India sees a devastating resurgence in infections. India is a major vaccine producer and a key supplier to the United Nations-backed COVAX initiative aiming to bring shots to some of the worlds poorest countries. If you finish vaccinating your people before Africa or other parts of the world, you have not done yourself any justice because variants will emerge and undermine your own vaccination efforts, Nkengasong said in a weekly press briefing. He said the uncertainty around the arrival of second doses puts the African continent in a very dicey situation. Some countries have already exhausted their initial vaccine doses, including Ghana and Rwanda, he said. Nkengasong stressed that people should not worry now about receiving delayed second doses, but added that we are very insistent, use the vaccines before the first expiration date despite guidance he said the Serum Institute had given on an extension. A World Health Organization vaccination official in Africa, Richard Mihigo, told The Associated Press that COVAX continues to engage in intensive discussions with the government of India and Serum Institute of India to maintain some supply in April, and resume supply in full in May to June. However, for those second doses hoped for in May and June, we have no clear indication of when deliveries would resume and how many doses would be released. Meanwhile, Mihigo said, we saw positive signs that the remaining African countries for which initial deliveries were suspended will have received initial COVAX doses in the coming week. Story continues African governments were already anxious about vaccine supplies as the world's richer nations acquired the bulk of doses for themselves. Mihigo said just one in 500 doses globally has been given in low-income countries. Now African nations have the added uncertainty of questions raised about the two main vaccines available for the continent, AstraZeneca and Johnson & Johnson. South Africa this week suspended the use of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine due to preliminary reports of rare blood clots, leaving the country with Africa's highest number of infections without any shots at all. In February, it scrapped plans to give the AstraZeneca vaccine to health care workers because a small, preliminary test showed it gave minimal protection against mild to moderate cases of COVID-19 caused by the variant dominant there. African officials aim to vaccinate some 750 million people across the continent over the next two years. So far, just under 14 million vaccine doses have been administered across the 54 countries. More than 34 million vaccine doses have been acquired, with 32 countries having received them from COVAX. Africa has confirmed 4.3 million coronavirus infections and has a case fatality rate of 2.7%, above the global average of 2.2%. The past week has seen a 2% decrease in new cases. Variants of the virus remain a concern. Nkengasong said 19 African countries have reported the variant first detected in Britain, while 18 have reported the variant first detected in South Africa. ___ Follow all of APs pandemic coverage at https://apnews.com/hub/coronavirus-pandemic, https://apnews.com/hub/coronavirus-vaccine and https://apnews.com/UnderstandingtheOutbreak One Kiwis confusing decision to combine Fish and Chips with Porridge has gone viral on TikTok this week and we have so many questions. Fish and Chips are a kiwi meal staple, and the general consensus is that theyre perfectly fine the way they are, and therefore should NOT under any circumstances be tampered with. However, one Kiwi has broken the unwritten rule and combined Fish and Chips with Porridge to create what we can only imagine is a horrifying experience on the tastebuds. The creation went viral on TikTok this week, and was quickly distributed amongst users of the Reddit forum titled Make Me Suffer. The video features the kiwi woman bringing her leftover fish and chips combined with milk to a boil on the stove. Wait for it to come up to a boil, then it will become thick and voila! She narrates, and the final results are unappealing, to say the least. Fellow New Zealanders have called out for justice, asking if it was possible to revoke a citizenship by majority rules? Charged with treason for desecrating a national symbol, another added. Luckily for us, most international Reddit users who witnessed the disgrace automatically assumed that the abhorrent recipe was of British invention, and subsequently blamed the UK. God the British really are clueless with food, arent they? one person commented. We will more than HAPPILY let the UK take the blame for this one, because we certainly arent claiming it. WATCH HERE Deep Yellow Limited ( ) (OTCQX:DYLLF) CEO John Borsoff tells Proactive the uranium exploration company has advanced towards a bankable feasibility stage with its Namibia-based uranium project. Borsoff says the group was 'very encouraged' with results from its pre-feasibility study, including a 12-year mine life, an NPV of $207M, and an operating cost of sub $30/pound. The group is now working on converting the remaining 50% of its project into reserves, increasing the mine life to 20 years. YEREVAN, APRIL 15, ARMENPRESS. Prime Minister of Armenia Nikol Pashinyan received Toivo Klaar, the EU Special Representative for the South Caucasus and the Crisis in Georgia. EU Ambassador to Armenia Andrea Wiktorin was also present at the meeting. As ARMENPRESS was informed from the Office of the Prime Minister, the PM assessed the Armenia-EU cooperation as effective, in the sidelines of which numerous programs are brought to life. Nikol Pashinyan highlighted EU's involvement in infrastructural programs carried out in Armenia and informed that the Government has made a decision to launch the construction of Sisian-Kajaran section of ''North-South'' highway. Referring to the situation and the humanitarian problems created by the war unleashed by Azerbaijan against Artsakh, the PM noted that the return of the POWs remains a key priority for the Armenian side, which is provided by the 8th point of the November 10, 2020 declaration, but Azerbaijan is trying to distort the nature of that point and delay the return of POWs, hostages and other detainees. Nikol Pashinyan drew the EU Special Representative's attention to this important humanitarian issue and highlighted the practical steps of Armenia's international partners, including the EU, for the solution of that issue. PM Pashinyan also referred to the xenophobic policy officially promoted by top Azerbaijani leadership, an overt demonstration of which is the recent opening of a ''park'' in Baku on Artsakh war and the 'exhibition'' glorifying the war crimes committed by Azerbaijan with the involvement of children in that policy. Nikol Pashinyan expressed deep concerns over that, assessing it as a serious challenge for the regional peace and emphasized that it's impossible to imagine such a behavior in the 21st century by a country that is a member to the Council of Europe, something that is incompatible with the civilized world. PM Pashinyan highlighted the adequate reaction of the international community to the hate-policy of Azerbaijan and emphasized that it's the greatest ground for applying ''remedial secession'' principle for Nagorno Karabakh. The EU Special Representative noted that the EU highlights the establishment of peace in the South Caucasus and assessed concerning the challenges directed to it, which make the creation of adequate atmosphere impossible. Toivo Klaar presented to PM Pashinyan his impressions of the visit to the bordering communities of Armenia and the meetings there. The importance of the protection of the rights of the bordering communities was emphasized. PM Pashinyan also drew the attention of the EU Special Representative on the Azerbaijani policy of speculating over the entry to Artsakh, which is aimed at hindering the humanitarian activities of international organizations in Nagorno Karabakh. Nikol Pashinyan highlighted the importance of bringing Azerbaijan to constructive field. Responding to the issue, the Ambassador of the EU to Armenia noted that the EU will continue the implementation of humanitarian programs in Artsakh. The interlocutors exchanged views on the settlement of NK conflict. PM Pashinyan noted that the status of Nagorno Karabakh remains unsolved and the position of Armenia on this issue is that it's necessary to continue negotiations in the sidelines of the OSCE Minsk Group Co-chairs. Nikol Pashinyan and Toivo Klaar also referred to other issues of regional importance, exchanged views on opening transport and economic infrastructures. Nationally and in Philadelphia, the minimum wage is $7.25. Tweet this The company announced that it is making the change in part to recognize the hardships that workers experienced during the past year, especially women and people of color. "Despite the intense economic hardship that has hit the restaurant industry and our workers over the last year, we believe that now is the time. We believe it not only is the right thing to do for our workers who have been through so much over the past year, but that it is also good for business, and will help with recruiting and retention," said HipCityVeg Founder and CEO, Nicole Marquis. "Fifteen for our Families is the next important step toward growing our company and culture, building the world we want to live in, and communicating through our actions how much we value those who helped us get through the past year, and contribute to our success. We want our team, and their families, to continue to be part of our family," said Marquis. The company says it provides careers to its employees, not just jobs, and grows the management team from within whenever possible. "I'm proud to have been able to build my career in a company that recognizes the value of people and believes in professional growth. I started five years ago as a line cook, and moved up through the ranks to the highest store level. I meet with the company's leadership every week, and we know we are all in this together," said Rodney Sanders, General Manager of HipCityVeg's Dupont Circle store in Washington, DC. Marquis & Co. is a plant-based restaurant group based in Philadelphia with 9 restaurants and 3 brands, including HipCityVeg, Bar Bombon, and Charlie was a sinner. HipCityVeg operates five locations in the Philadelphia area, and two in Washington, DC, with additional locations opening in 2021. Contact: Aviva Goldfarb, [email protected], 202-744-2388. SOURCE HipCityVeg Related Links https://hipcityveg.com Chandigarh, April 15 : With the number of Covid-19 cases surging at a much faster rate in the second wave, it was assumed that the UK variant of the virus could be responsible for this alarming spike, the PGI hospital said here on Thursday. This has been amply proved by the latest findings of the PGIMER samples sent to the National Centre for Diseases Control as 70 per cent of the samples had UK variant of Covid-19 while 20 per cent of the samples had the 681-H mutant, said Jagat Ram, Director, PGIMER. Detailing further about the inference, he said, "The Department of Virology, PGIMER, Chandigarh, had sent 60 positive samples of Covid-19 to the National Centre for Diseases Control (NCDC) in New Delhi in March." It was found that 70 per cent of the samples had UK variants of Covid-19, one sample was found to have double mutation. The 681-H mutant of Covid-19 was observed in 20 per cent of the samples. Majority of the samples were from Chandigarh, he informed. Sending a note of caution, Jagat Ram said, "Considering the high transmission and faster spread of Covid-19 by the UK variant, it is suggested that everyone should follow appropriate behaviour by wearing masks, maintaining social distancing and frequently using sanitiers and hand washing." The PGI director further advised to avoid crowded places and non-essential travel. Stressing on the need of vaccination for priority groups, Jagat Ram said, "The priority groups should get vaccinated against Covid-19 which will help reduce the intensity and severity of the disease, which will further help in breaking the chain of the transmission." Latest updates on Coronavirus (COVID-19) President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky has held a telephone conversation with President of Finland Sauli Niinisto, the Ukrainian presidents press service reports. The Head of the Ukrainian State informed his colleague about the aggravation of the security situation in the east of the country and the concentration of Russian troops on the border with Ukraine. The leaders exchanged views on further measures to deter Russian aggression," reads the report. Zelensky also thanked Finland for its strong support for Ukraine's sovereignty and territorial integrity. In addition, the interlocutors discussed cooperation in countering hybrid threats as one of the key elements in ensuring the national security of both countries. According to the presidents press service, special attention during the conversation was paid to current issues of Ukraine's interaction with the European Union. As reported, on April 14, President of Finland Sauli Niinisto in a telephone conversation with Russian President Vladimir Putin discussed the difficult situation in Crimea and on the Russian-Ukrainian border. The President of Finland expressed serious concern over the escalation of the situation related to the movement of Russian troops. iy BEIRUT (Reuters) - Syria denied a report by the global chemical weapons watchdog which said there were reasonable grounds to believe that the Syrian air force dropped a chlorine bomb on a residential area in the rebel-controlled Idlib region three years ago. "The report includes false and fabricated conclusions," the foreign ministry said in a statement. "The ministry condemns the report in the strongest terms." Syria and its military ally Russia have consistently denied using chemical weapons during President Bashar al-Assad's decade-old conflict with rebel forces, saying any such attacks were staged by opponents to make Damascus look like the culprit. Monday's report by the OPCW chemical weapons watchdog's investigative arm said no one was killed in the February 2018 attack but a dozen people were treated for symptoms consistent with chemical poisoning. "We in Syria do not believe - not on a practical or moral level - in using these weapons," foreign minister Faisal Mekdad said in an interview with Syrian state broadcaster Ekhbariya. (Reporting By Maha El Dahan; Editing by Dominic Evans) [April 15, 2021] Detrack, Singapore's First SaaS Real-time E-POD, is Leading the Way in Last Mile Delivery Technology SINGAPORE, April 15, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- With stay-at-home shopping, seamless fulfilment, and contactless distribution here to stay, last mile delivery becomes a big part of customer satisfaction. Tackling the challenges of transparency and visibility in the delivery network, Singapore's leading delivery tracking Software as a Service (SaaS) platform Detrack allows both businesses and customers full control over the last mile in a safe, secured, and stable manner. In line with the Government's Budget 2021 initiatives, this cloud-based real-time delivery tracking and electronic proof of delivery (E-POD) solution has stayed at the forefront of the logistics technology, trailblazing many 'Firsts' in Singapore, and helping companies with one simple yet complex aspect of the business operations. Always a consumer champion, Detrack has introduced innovative and affordable technology, setting the brand apart from other competitors in the market. FIRST TO INTRODUCE SAFE, CONTACTLESS LAST MILE TECHNOLOGY - WITH REMOTE SIGNATURE FEATURE With the COVID-19 pandemic outbreak, there is a need to reduce human interactions with the use of technology; hence the growing need for digitisation and digitised signatures. Designed with user safety in mind, Detrack provides drivers and customers three fully-featured, configurable contactless delivery options, ensuring adequate proof of delivery upon package arrival. This includes the use of real-time live map view, photo proofs, instant text (SMS) request for remote contactless signing , and more. FIRST TO PROVIDE TAP TO TRACK FEATURE FOR END USERS Tracking has become commonplace in the e-commerce world, and has become inextricable from customer service. Spearheading the industry, Detrack is the first SaaS to provide a Tap To Track feature, which allows customers to track their own deliveries live on a map with an ETA - a concept widely familiar with ride hiling apps. Providing a higher level of tracking, with Detrack, customers now have visibility down to the second with just one tap from a link delivered to their mobile device. A technology fully owned by Detrack, businesses can also personalise their Tap To Track system with their company logo, message, hotline and more. Adding another layer of customer satisfaction, customers are also able leave their feedback using Tap To Track. FIRST TO BRING ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE (AI) FOR COMPLIANCE IN THE LAST MILE AI has largely transformed business operations and technological advancements in the last decade, even in the domain of logistics. Aside from using AI to save fuel charges by optimising delivery routes, Detrack is taking a step further by introducing AI for compliance in the last mile. In recent years, several companies have been threatened by lawsuits regarding the breach of personal data protection policies . Particularly, and more dangerously, for logistics companies, a breach is thinly threaded by an honest photo proof following a completed job. Using Detrack to assure drivers and businesses are Personal Data Protection Act (PDPA) compliant, the newly instituted facial recognition feature within the app will send an immediate notification should a face be captured in the photo proof. "A firm believer in technology, and making technology work for people everything about Detrack is designed with the user in mind. Nothing delights us more than being able to help you gain visibility and control of your fleet, fed automatically and conveniently via your devices," says Dason Goh, CEO and Co-Founder, Detrack Systems Pte Ltd. Detrack is also fully compliant with other key data protection policies, i.e. General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), and Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), and works closely with renowned cybersecurity firms to ensure the company, partners, and clients are safe from potential breaches. Currently, the logistics tech start-up is also developing George , the world's first Geocoding Artificial Intelligence algorithm to combat the inaccuracies of Global Positioning Systems (GPS) coupled with the rising expectations of on-time deliveries. As of 2021, Detrack is the global solution in more than 50 countries and has been used to complete nearly 60 million jobs. A full list of Detrack 'Firsts' can be found in the Appendix below and images HERE . About Detrack Launched in 2014, Singapore-based startup Detrack is an award-winning revolutionary real-time vehicle tracking and electronic proof of delivery (E-POD) solution that works anywhere in the world, with just the use of smartphones (iOS & Android). With Detrack, businesses are able to allow end consumers to track their deliveries in real-time, and backend operations to track the entire fleet and capture onsite proof of delivery including signatures, photos, barcodes etc. - while receiving regular delivery notifications instantly. Detrack is now the global solution in more than 50 countries, supporting 35 business types. Since January 2021, the app has been translated to 26 languages, with more than 80,000 installations; users have completed over 59 million jobs and captured more than 177 million E-PODs. For more information about Detrack, please visit https://www.detrack.com . APPENDIX: First bootstrap start-up to scale across 50 countries First global SaaS real-time electronic proof of delivery solution launched in 2014 First to be translated in 26 localised languages First to implement 'pay-as-you-use' model First driver is free First to introduce 'Tap to Track' feature First to account battery usage First to offer instant real-time notifications as a SaaS First to work in areas with poor or no 3G / 4G / mobile data connection First to work in offline mode SOURCE Detrack [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] Tech giant Apple has launched a new $200m (167m) fund to invest in forestry projects as part of the company's efforts to reduce carbon from the atmosphere while generating a financial return for investors. The Restore Fund was launched with Conservation International and Goldman Sachs and will aim to remove at least one million metric tonnes of carbon dioxide annually from the atmosphere. It will make direct investments in working forests around the world, including Europe with identified projects to be announced later this year. The fund will specifically invest in forestry projects that focus on restoring woodlands and protecting local habitats, so that carbon levels drawn from the atmosphere by that area of woodland is accurately measured and maintained. Dina Powell, Head of Sustainability at Goldman Sachs said: "We all agree that the urgency of climate transition requires private capital to work alongside new and established efforts aimed at sustainably removing carbon from the atmosphere with rigour and high standards. We believe launching this Fund can catalyse significant additional investment capital for climate impact." The Restore Fund is part of Apples broader goal to become carbon neutral by 2030. While the company will directly eliminate 75% of emissions for its supply chain and products by 2030, this Fund will help address the remaining 25% of Apples emissions by removing carbon from the atmosphere. The project is similar to other initiatives by multinationals and large corporations to reduce emissions or offset the carbon impact of manufacturing. Apple's largest facility outside the US is located in Cork across two campuses with the company set to expand further in the city over the coming months. The device-maker said its Hollyhill campus is now run on an entirely carbon-neutral basis with multimillion investments taking place over the past eight years to upgrade buildings. There are more than 200 solar panels installed at Hollyhill. Rainwater is harvested from the roof to supply restrooms across the building while Hollyhill also achieved Zero Waste to Landfill accreditation with its onsite reuse and reclamation. Apple said it is also committed to reach carbon neutrality by 2030, meaning each iPhone, iPad or other devices will have a net-zero climate impact in under ten years time. The company said more than 110 of its manufacturing partners around the world are moving to 100 per cent renewable energy for their Apple production. Lisa Jackson, Apples Vice President of Environment, Policy, and Social Initiatives said: Through creating a fund that generates both a financial return as well as real, and measurable carbon impacts, we aim to drive broader change in the futureencouraging investment in carbon removal around the globe." [April 15, 2021] Fiverr Releases Third Global Small Business Needs Index, Highlighting the Strength and Optimism of Small Businesses and Entrepreneurs Fiverr International Ltd. (NYSE: FVRR), the company that is changing how the world works together, today released its third Small Business Needs Index. The index analyzes data from the millions of searches across the platform. The services small businesses are looking for and search terms they use allow the marketplace to predict what's important, what's trending and what's next for small businesses. This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210415005128/en/ Fiverr Small Business Needs Index (Photo: Fiverr) The past year has been a whirlwind for small businesses as the COVID-19 pandemic forced worldwide stay-at-home orders and subsequent shutdowns. On top of their usual expectations to adapt to changing customer needs, many had to figure out how to digitally transform in order to survive. Now, over one year into the pandemic, many are still operating online or with limited in-person capacity. "While this year has been a year of upheaval and change, we've also seen strength and resilience in ways we've never seen before," said Hila Klein, COO of Fiverr. "Entrepreneurialism is still out there. Technologies are being used in new and innovative ways. People are getting more creative than ever. And most importantly, a recovery is in sight." Slim & Husky's, a pizza beeria based in Nashville, used Fiverr to enhance their e-commerce offerings and digital presence. "The past year was one that no small business, and especially no restaurant, could have prepared for - finding the right services to help us pivot our business was essential to our survival," said Clint Gray, Co-founder at Slim & Husky's. "Now, over one year into the pandemic, we are grateful for the help we received along the way and feeling hopeful for our future." When looking at services that have seen a significant increase in search over the past six months, five major global themes emerged. It is evident that these are areas where small businesses and entrepreneurs are focusing their efforts in order to rebuild, to pivot and for some, to even start fresh. Creating Your Digital Storfront - Whether it is Amazon, Shopify, or Wordpress, Small Businesses are looking to create and optimize their digital presence. Amazon virtual assistant, 778% Shopify store design, 302% Shopify sales funnel, 103% Website design wix, 102% Wordpress theme customization, 63% How to Recover and Building Back - One year into the pandemic building back is top of mind, starting with a focus on stronger finances and higher profits. We see this particularly evident in restaurants creating their own apps to avoid high delivery app fees. Food delivery app, 117% Crowdfunding, 115% Quickbooks, 83% Bookkeeping, 40% Accounting, 33% Creativity Becomes Cash - Whether they are following a passion or simply trying a new way to earn extra income, many creatives are turning their creativity into businesses. This is particularly evident in fashion. Teespring promotion, 111% Custom t-shirt design, 106% Clothing design, 56% Streetwear, 48% Embroidery digitizing, 46% Starting Something New - Having extra time due to Covid lockdowns has proven itself good for entrepreneurialism and innovation. Searches for services to help with starting a business have been steadily rising. Business card design, 106% Product mockup, 89% Trademark, 82% Market research, 54% Brand Identity, 32% Up and Coming Technologies - Business owners are tapping into technologies both new and old to help support their workflows and business processes. Getresponse, 91% Elementor Pro, 89% Cash App, 83% Divi, 50% Autocad, 32% In the United States specifically, it is clear businesses that have moved online are now looking to take advantage of tools like Google (News - Alert) Analytics (Google Analytics, 283% increase in search) to measure and report web traffic. Entrepreneurs are looking to turn their dreams into reality and are finding the right tools to do so, such as finding help with a business plan (Business Plan Writer, 150% increase in search). In fact, according to the U.S. Census Bureau, Americans are starting new businesses at the fastest rate in over a decade. Many new clothing trends have emerged this year, ranging from monochrome and tie-dye to luxe loungewear, and up and coming companies are looking for the best ways to get their designs manufactured (Clothing Manufacturer, 79% increase in search). Fiverr's Small Business Needs Index also breaks down the fastest growing and most popular searches for businesses in Australia, Germany, Israel, the Netherlands, Spain, and the U.K. A country-by-country breakdown is viewable here. About Fiverr Fiverr's mission is to change how the world works together. For over 10 years, the Fiverr platform has been at the forefront of the future of work connecting businesses of all sizes with skilled freelancers offering digital services in more than 500 categories, across 9 verticals including graphic design, digital marketing, programming, video and animation. In the twelve months ended December 31, 2020, over 3.4 million customers bought a wide range of services from freelancers across more than 160 countries. We invite you to become part of the future of work by visiting us at fiverr.com, read our blog and follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210415005128/en/ [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] Terry Crews discussed his new audiobook on marriage titled Stronger Together that he created with his wife Rebecca King Crews while appearing on Jimmy Kimmel Live. ADVERTISEMENT The audiobook, available on Audible, covers Terry Crews and his wife's 30-year-marriage and how they worked past issues such as the actor's previous addiction to porn. Terry Crews said on Wednesday the idea for the project came while he was hosting a speaking engagement in Vietnam where he dived into themes of positivity and motivation. The speech included personal details about their marriage, with Rebecca King Crews eventually taking the stage to answer how their relationship survived from her perspective. "We always have this male side and female side, but when both of us tell the story at the same time, it's like watching it in 3-D because there is two different perspectives," Terry Crews said. The actor mentioned how marriage, when it was first instituted, people's life expectancy was lower and how this naturally led to shorter marriages. "We said man, 'We got to let people know what this is like. That you are stronger together. That you are better off making it. If you can make it work, try,'" Terry Crews said. The 52-year-old then discussed what inspired the audiobook's title. "We saw what was happening in the country. We are stronger this way. Republican, democrat, male, female, black, white, asian, hispanic and everybody we noticed, there became these camps. It was almost like a willful segregation," he said. FOLLOW REALITY TV WORLD ON THE ALL-NEW GOOGLE NEWS! Reality TV World is now available on the all-new Google News app and website. Click here to visit our Google News page, and then click FOLLOW to add us as a news source! "We decided this is what we have to talk about right now. There is a way to make things work but we got to do the effort. We got to make it happen," he continued. Terry Crews also played Name That Famous Celebrity with Corinne Foxx and Jimmy Kimmel Live superfan Yehya, in what may be his last appearance on the late night show. Terry Crews and Fox were blindfolded while Yehya tried to describe a random selected celebrity. Terry Crews and Fox had to guess which Hollywood star Yehya was talking about in order to earn points and were tied at the end. Microsoft has released fixes for more than 100 security flaws including 19 rated critical and actively exploited zero-day vulnerabilities in its latest round of patches. Security researchers at Kaspersky have already spotted hackers using one of the zero-day vulnerabilities an out-of-bounds write vulnerability in a Desktop Window Manager .dll file for privilege escalation in the wild. In a blog post, the Russian security firm said this exploit was likely used together with other browser exploits to escape sandboxes or get system privileges for further access. Higher privileges could give attackers the opportunity to execute code, install malware, or create extra accounts to remain in the network undetected. Four new Microsoft Exchange Server vulnerabilities were also patched in the update round, two of which require no authentication in the server for exploitation. Microsoft said it was not aware of any active exploits in the wild but recommended affected systems get immediately fixed as the vulnerabilities have a high likelihood of exploitation. The Australian Cyber Security Centre (ACSC) published an advisory on Thursday morning once again warning administrators to keep their Exchange Servers updated after Microsofts revelation last month that a series of zero-day vulnerabilities were being exploited by a Chinese hacking group known as Hafnium. These vulnerabilities could be exploited by attackers to gain and persist access to Microsoft Exchange deployments, the ACSC. The patches previously released by Microsoft in March 2021 do not remediate these new vulnerabilities and organisations must apply Microsofts 13 April 2021 updates to prevent potential compromise. More new Exchange Server attacks Exchange Server vulnerabilities have been such a problem that the US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) recently started secretly removing web shells on affected private systems. Public disclosure of the widespread vulnerability, while necessary for public awareness, has also led to different threat actors using the security flaws to deliver payloads like ransomware. This week, security firm Sophos discovered attackers using the ProxyLogon exploit to install a cryptocurrency miner on unsuspecting servers. Using a Powershell command, the attackers quietly inject a miner into a Windows system process with a forged certificate so it looks legitimate then deletes the evidence while it mines privacy coin Monero (which is used by dark web marketplaces). Andrew Brandt, a researcher at Sophos, said the attack was unique in the way it used already-infected Exchange Servers to spread the crypto miner. The attackers implemented a range of standard anti-detection techniques, installing the malicious miner in memory to keep it hidden from security scans, deleting the installation and configuration files after use, and using the traffic encryption of Transport Layer Security to communicate with their Monero wallet, he said. As a result, for most victims the first sign of compromise is likely to be a significant drop in processing power. Servers that remain unpatched could be compromised for quite some time before this becomes clear. Sophos observed the miner operating through the Monero blockchain and noted spikes where it gained and lost infected servers. Scout and Rumer Willis were spotted indulging in some family time while out in Los Angeles this Wednesday. The daughters of Bruce Willis and Demi Moore surfaced from lockdown to enjoy a sunlit stroll that day. For her latest outing Scout, 29, flashed her cleavage in a plunging black tank top that matched her leggings and leather boots. Sister act: Scout and Rumer Willis were spotted indulging in some family time while out in Los Angeles this Wednesday Meanwhile Rumer bundled up in a charcoal sweater and played up her endless pins in her own pair of leggings, slipping on Birkenstock sandals with socks. Both showbiz legacies made sure to take the precaution of wearing masks while stepping out amid the ongoing pandemic. Demi shares Rumer, Scout and a 27-year-old daughter called Tallulah with Bruce whom she was married to from 1987 to 2000. Bruce, still sizzling at 66, is now married to 42-year-old model Emma Heming with whom he has two more daughters - Mabel, six, and Evelyn, eight. Celeb scions: The daughters of Bruce Willis and Demi Moore were seen surfacing from lockdown to enjoy a sunlit stroll that day Off she goes: For her latest outing Scout, 29, flashed her cleavage in a plunging black tank top that matched her leggings and leather boots The blended family get along so well that earlier in lockdown Bruce was isolating in Idaho with Emma, Demi and all of his daughters. Scout is currently dating the leggy musician Jake Miller with whom she celebrated her three-year anniversary near the end of 2020. Meanwhile early last month Rumer fired up her Insta Stories and candidly told her fans about her issues with anxiety. 'I have been Dealing with bad anxiety since yesterday, but working on learning how to self soothe,' Rumer revealed on social media. Meanwhile: Rumer bundled up in a charcoal sweater and played up her endless pins in her own pair of leggings, slipping on slippers with socks Careful: Both showbiz legacies made sure to take the precaution of wearing masks while stepping out amid the ongoing pandemic 'Its really had when they get bad and sometimes I feel like Im dying, I get nauseous and my heart wont show down.' The showbiz legacy went on to note: 'But I realized the worst thing I can do is try to fight against it or be resistant to it.' Rumer shared her process: 'I have to catch myself when I find myself focusing on just wishing it was somehow different.' Tlou Energy PLC's (LON:TLOU, ASX:TOU, ) chief financial officer Colm Cloonan presents his plans to Proactive London for their flagship Lesedi power project, in Botswana. The team has secured a mining licence for the area, flowed coal bed methane for the planned gas-to-power operation and received environmental approval. Added to that, Lesedi also has sign-off from the Energy Regulatory Authority and an initial power purchase agreement from the countrys Power Corporation. Advertisement Guardsmen and cavalry on Thursday went through their paces as they rehearsed for Prince Philip's funeral on Saturday. Soldiers on horseback trotted down the Long Walk towards Windsor Castle while mask-wearing Marines stood grasping their weapons at HMS Collingwood in Fareham, Hampshire, ahead of the big day. The Ministry of Defence shared pictures of The King's Troop Royal Horse Artillery, Navy crew from HMS Heron and commandos practising their roles. Meanwhile other military personnel rehearsed for the event at Army Training Centre Pirbright, near London, as the sun came out. One of the four Royal Marine buglers who will play 'The Last Post' at the service said it was an 'honor and privilege' to perform the role. Sgt Bugler Jamie Ritchie said: 'It's incredibly important. We feel nervous. We feel the pressure, but we're channeling that and we're using that and we're going to deliver an outstanding performance.' Polcie stood by as guardsmen and cavalry on Thursday went through their paces as they rehearsed for Prince Philip's funeral on Saturday Soldiers on horseback trotted down the Long Walk towards Windsor Castle while mask-wearing Marines stood grasping their weapons at HMS Collingwood in Fareham, Hampshire, ahead of the big day The Ministry of Defence shared pictures of The King's Troop Royal Horse Artillery, Navy crew from HMS Heron and other commandos practising their roles Troops leave Windsor Castle today after a rehearsal for the Duke of Edinburgh's funeral which takes place on Saturday Sailors during rehearsals for the funeral of the Duke of Edinburgh at HMS Collingwood in Fareham, in a photo released today Rehearsals have been taking place at Windsor Castle today ahead of the Duke of Edinburgh's funeral this Saturday The King's Troop Royal Horse Artillery move up the Long Walk at Windsor Castle today during a rehearsal for the funeral A Ministry of Defence photograph released today of Marines during rehearsals for the funeral at HMS Collingwood in Fareham Royal Marines take part in rehearsals for the funeral at HMS Collingwood in Fareham, in an MoD picture released today An MoD photograph released today of sailors during rehearsals for the funeral at HMS Collingwood in Fareham Royal Marines take part in rehearsals for the funeral of Philip at HMS Collingwood in Fareham, in an image released today The King's Troop Royal Horse Artillery on the Long Walk today after taking part in a rehearsal for the Duke's funeral Dozens of riders carrying three guns rode along the Long Walk up to Cambridge Gate in Windsor today Crowds gather to watch as members of the King's Troop Royal Horse Artillery ride to Windsor Castle today The King's Troop Royal Horse Artillery move up the Long Walk in Windsor today during a rehearsal for the funeral Scores of people, some sitting with picnic lunches, watched as the riders passed by in Windsor this afternoon The role of King's Troop Royal Horse Artillery includes firing royal salutes at other grand occasions of state The Land Rover Defender hearse that will carry Philip's coffin is seen for the first time as it is driven into Windsor Castle today Police officers on the Long Walk at Windsor Castle today as Thames Valley Police prepares for the funeral on Saturday Wardens stand outside Windsor Castle today following the death of the Duke of Edinburgh at the age of 99 last Friday A British Army Land Rover ambulance is driven away from Windsor Castle today as funeral preparations continue A service has been held in the city of Exeter at the Exeter Cathedral to commemorate and remember the death of the Duke of Edinburgh A service has been held in the city of Exeter at the Exeter Cathedral following the death of the Duke of Edinburgh last Friday Mumbai: Mumbai-based couple Oniba and Sharique Qureshi, who was sentenced to 10 years in jail in a drug case in Qatar in 2019, returned to the city on Thursday with their minor daughter. A Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) official said the couple landed at the Mumbai airport at 2.30 am. The couple had been cleared of all charges after it came to light that a relative planted narcotics in their bag without their knowledge. Drugs The couple was arrested at Hamad International Airport in July 2019 after Qatari authorities recovered 4.1 kg of hashish in their bag. It later came to light that Shariques aunt, Tabassum Qureshi, had used them to transport the drugs. The trip had been sponsored by Tabassum, the official said. At that time, while Sharique was employed with a Japanese company, Oniba had just learnt that she was pregnant. She delivered a girl, Aayat, in jail last February. The couples family members approached the Indian Government, asking it to intervene in the matter. Drugs Following this, the NCB got in touch with the authorities in Qatar and the family challenged the lower court order convicting the couple. Eventually, the couple was cleared of all charges. Editor's note: The "Words from Wiechers" series considers the lessons our industry can learn from the late Johann Wiechers, Ph.D. He was an adviser, colleague and leader in the industry until his passing in 2011. Presenting Wiechers's insights is Tony O'Lenick. In Chapter 10 of his book, Memories of a Cosmetically Disturbed Mind, Wiechers diverted his attention from cosmetic science to world events. In this case, the world-changing event was 9/11, not the COVID-19 that plagues us now. The cause of the event was different but in both cases, our lives changed in fundamental ways. Our assumptions about our world also changed, and our keen interest in cosmetic science and how we discuss it has changedhopefully for only a time but maybe for longer than we would like. See related: Words from Wiechers; Is Cosmetic Science Really 'Bad'? As I pen this column, the 2020 SCC December Meeting is being conducted in a virtual setting. Despite requiring exceptional planning and a special effort from SCC officials and staff, I would much prefer meeting in person in NYC. In his piece from 19 years ago, "Speaking is Silver, Silence is Golden," Wiechers asks: Where were you on 9/11? The horrible events that took place in New York and Washington changed our world forever. In my last column, I wrote about achieving personal happiness and satisfaction via the use of cosmetics, but these recent attacks have made it painfully clear that personal happiness is not enough. We will actually need happiness for societies to overcome our current problems. "Lets look at the impact of 9/11 on cosmetic science beyond the adaptations of already-slimming profit projections that many cosmetic companies have made. At the time of the disaster, there were various cosmetic conferences about to start in the world. The 15th COLAMIQC Latin American Cosmetic Congress in Buenos Aires, Argentina, had started the very same day. In Basel, Switzerland, Stratum Corneum III would start the next day but probably all delegates had already arrived there. 'Meetings still took place, although the attendants probably did not focus on the science to the same extent as they would otherwise have done.' "These meetings still took place, although the attendants probably did not focus on the science to the same extent as they would otherwise have done. The Sunscreen symposium organized by the Florida Chapter of the SCC that would start on September 13 was cancelled. Even if people wanted to go, they could not, due to all air traffic being halted. Events that were planned in the week after 9/11, such as the IFSCC 2001 Conference in Taipei, were held in a somewhat reduced format. Even we as cosmetic scientists were divided into two camps: those who could travel and those who could not. "There will be less talking for a while, less convincing. People will be uncomfortable travelling for quite a while. This also happened after the Gulf War and then it took 18 months for air traffic to pick up again. But now there is not an underlying booming economy. We will go only where we strictly have to be. If the time to talk will become more precious, maybe the world will be learning again how to communicate. Communication is a two-way process and not the same as talking convincingly about yourself. "To maintain this beautiful world of ours, we must indeed communicate more, but also listen even more than that. Thats quite a New Year resolution for a talkative guy like myself. But lets not wait until 2002. The Christmas season is a time for reflection. Why dont we invite our neighbors with whom we never talk to join us and ask them to share their thinking? Maybe that would help to convey the message of peace in this world. Maybe our personal happiness can only really start after weve given some happiness to someone else in this world. "Dear Readers, I realize that there was not a lot of cosmetic science in this column. There is too much on all our minds right now that prevent our beloved science area from having top priority. It was something that I had to get off my chest before I could even think about the usual cosmetic subjects. I hope to regain my usual satirical style again very soon. We should pause and consider communicating; not only the cost of communication, but also the much higher cost of failing to communicate. "I thank all of you that have sent me some mail agreeing or disagreeing to my writings over the last year. It has been a pleasure communicating convincingly with you. If you write more, even I one day might also learn the listening skill. I wish you all the best greetings of the festive season and a most peaceful 2002. May not only your wishes materialize, but also those of your neighbors you do not even know. Only then we can transform from personal happiness to happiness for a whole society." While there are differences between 9/11 and COVID-19, the underlying similarities and what we do about them have very important similarities. Both are catastrophic events that were thrust upon us. Both changed our lives. Both occurred in a world where communication and listening to differing points of view seem impossible. We must begin to communicate and beat the COVID threat but just as importantly, we need to heal as a people. Wiechers was correct. Speaking is silver but silence (or listening) is gold. He is also right in that we should pause and consider communicating; not only the cost of communication, but also the much higher cost of failing to communicate. See related: Words from Wiechers; What You Say is What You Get The crew of the Coast Guard Cutter Glenn Harris pulls a person from the water after a 175-foot commercial lift boat capsized 8 miles south of Grand Isle, Louisiana, on April 13, 2021. (USCG/Coast Guard Cutter Glenn Harris) Capsized Ship Off Louisiana: 12 Missing, 1 Dead, 6 Rescued PORT FOURCHONCoast Guard boats and aircraft have covered an area larger than the state of Rhode Island to search for 12 people still missing Wednesday off the Louisiana coast after their offshore oilfield vessel capsized in hurricane-force winds. One workers body was recovered Wednesday and six people were rescued Tuesday after the Seacor Power overturned Tuesday afternoon in the Gulf of Mexico, the Coast Guard said. The search, interrupted by darkness and bad weather, has totaled nearly 40 hours and more than 1,440 square miles of Gulf waters by Wednesday afternoon, according to a news release. The hunt for the missing continued into the evening, said Petty Officer Carlos Galarza. Coast Guard Capt. Will Watson said earlier that winds were 80 to 90 mph and waves rose 7 to 9 feet high when the lift boat overturned. Thats challenging under any circumstance, Watson said. We dont know the degree to which that contributed to what happened, but we do know those are challenging conditions to be out in the maritime environment. In this photo provided by the U.S. Coast Guard, crew members of the Coast Guard Cutter Glenn Harris search for survivor on April 13, 2021 after a 175-foot commercial lift boat capsized 8 miles south of Grand Isle, La. (U.S. Coast Guard via AP) The bulky vessel, also called a jackup rig because it has three long legs it can lower to the sea floor to lift the boat out of the water as an offshore platform, flipped over Tuesday afternoon south of Port Fourchon, a major base for the U.S. oil and gas industry. One worker was found dead on the surface of the water, Watson said at a news conference Wednesday. Asked about the missing workers prospects, he said, We are hopeful. We cant do this work if youre not optimistic, if youre not hopeful. Divers were heading to the local area Wednesday afternoon, Coast Guard spokesman Petty Officer John Micheli said. Numerous other agencies helped with the search. Marion Cuyler, the fiancee of crane operator Chaz Morales, was waiting with family of other missing workers at a Port Fourchon fire station near a landing site where helicopters were coming and going. She said she talked to her fiance before he left Tuesday. He said that they were jacking down and they were about to head out, and Im like, The weathers too bad. You need to come home. And hes like, I wish I could. Darra Ann Morales shows a photo of her son Chaz Morales, with Chaz Jr., 10, at left, at the family home in Slidell, La., on April 14, 2021. (Max Becherer/The Times-Picayune/The New Orleans Advocate via AP) The relationship of those on board to owner Seacor Marine was not immediately clear. The boat, capable of working in up to 195 feet of water, can carry a crew of 12, two special personnel and 36 passengers, according to the company website. We are deeply saddened by the news of the vessel capsizing and are working closely with the U.S. Coast Guard and local authorities to support all efforts to locate our valued team members and partners, the Houston-based company said in a statement. Watson said the Coast Guard is investigating what part the harsh weather played in the accident. The vessel left Port Fourchon at 1:30 p.m. Tuesday, bound for Main Pass off the southeast Louisiana coast, he said. We did have some weather reports yesterday that there would be some challenging weather. But this level of weather was not necessarily anticipated, he said. The National Weather Service in New Orleans issued a special marine warning before 4 p.m. Tuesday that predicted steep waves and winds greater than 50 knots. The Coast Guard received a distress message from a good Samaritan at 4:30 p.m. and issued an urgent marine broadcast that prompted multiple private vessels in the area to respond, saving four people, the agency said. Coast Guard crews rescued another two people. At one point, video showed the boat129 feet long at its beamwith one leg pointed awkwardly skyward as rescuers searched the heaving water. The Coast Guard and multiple good Samaritan vessels responded to the capsized vessel and searched for multiple missing people in the water. (USCG/Coast Guard Cutter Glenn Harris) Although the Coast Guard said the lift boat capsized during a microburst, a National Weather Service meteorologist said the system was more like an offshore derechoor straight winds storm. This was not a microburstjust a broad straight-line wind event that swept over a huge area, Phil Grigsby said. He said the weather services nearest official gauge, at Grand Isle, showed about 30 minutes of 75 mph winds, followed by hours of winds over 50 mph. The initial storm system was followed by a low-pressure system called a wake low, which amplified the winds and made them last longer, Grigsby said. It was the strongest wake low Ive seen in almost 18 years here, he said. Shrimp boat captain Aaron Callais said the bad weather started with small, quickly dissipating waterspouts that buffeted his fathers boat, the Ramblin Cajun. There was nothing we could do. One minute we were facing north, the next south, then east and west, he said. Things were flying in the cabin. Callais posted video on Facebook of wind battering the boat as he talked on the boats satellite phone to friends and family, including his dad, letting him know the situation, that it wasnt looking good. We didnt know if we were going to make it out. By Stacey Plaisance, Kevin Mcgill and Jeff Martin Shrugging off the disruptions of last year, businesses and agencies are looking for a strong revival in 2021. Adgully as part of our annual TRENDING NOW endeavour has been 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. Also read: Adobe Appoints Nitin Singhal to Lead its Digital Experience Business, India In an exclusive interaction with Adgully, Nitin Singhal, Managing Director, Digital Experience, Adobe India, speaks about how the digital landscape has changed in the pandemic period and how empathy has become one of the key differentiators for brands to gain a significant share of the consumers mind. The pandemic has redefined how we do business in the times to come. What have been some of the learnings from the past year in the Indian ecosystem? 2020 was a very extraordinary year COVID-19 has had an incredible impact on the way we lead our lives, both personally and professionally. If you look at how the economy has fundamentally changed, we have moved from a world with digital to a digital-first world. Businesses have had to pivot from delivering delightful, personal, relevant interactions to supporting critical needs of our customers with empathy. Businesses have had to address several challenges remote working, the ingest of new digital customers, the need for greater convenience, changes in buying behaviour, as well as how well they were able to engage their employees and ensure their well-being. Id like to talk about a few stories that are quite interesting and I get inspired by the business resilience that these customers have been able to demonstrate. Let me take a very important example in the travel industry IndiGo has been our customer for many years and has been hugely impacted by COVID-19. At a time when air travellers were deeply concerned about reaching their destinations with safety and security, IndiGo was one of the airlines that was able to build resilience by accelerating their digital transformation efforts. They improved upon the digital engagement with their customers so that they could trust the safety that the airline brought during their journey. IndiGo already had digital processes in place for bookings and check-ins online, but they accelerated their digital capabilities to offer a much better experience and reassurance to their customers during these challenging situations. I think IndiGo was one of the airlines that embraced the digital transformation very early on and they also understood the customer sentiment and made sure that they were able to automate and deliver content that was tailored to what their consumers expected. To cite another example from the airline industry, we had a similar experience with Bengaluru International Airport Ltd (BIAL), one of the leading airports in the country. They saw a very sharp decline in the number of air travellers due to COVID-19. However, they took on the resolve to maintain a strong foundation to accelerate their digital capabilities and improve customer experience. The company created a fully digitised customer journey from parking to boarding and was one of the first airports to go completely contactless end-to-end. Their clear and consistent engagement with passengers coming to the airport built the trust with BIAL. Another example that is truly inspiring is that of HDFC Bank, which also faced significant challenges in digital transformation. Due to the pandemic, there was a huge amount of traffic on their digital properties with new customers coming on board. HDFC Bank wanted to make sure that they were able to leverage on the digital platform and deliver a friction-less engagement to their customers. This is the new world order. Digital transformation in customer experience management has leapfrogged, making it more relevant for businesses now than ever before. If you look at the survey of Fortune 500 CEOs, three-fourth of them believe that COVID-19 will force companies to accelerate their digital transformation and we are experiencing that. We are seeing a lot more companies asking how Adobe can help them. The traditional way of handling digital is no longer valid. Businesses need to create the big picture and we are well positioned to offer that, because at Adobe we have the art, which is content, and the science, which is data, to help customers transform digitally. What are some of the trends that you have noticed basis some of your engagement with clients? Could you share the trends that you have noticed as businesses pivoted in this digital-first world? The examples that I cited above definitely hint towards the trend, which is that every business definitely has to be digital now; thats the new normal. There is a need and urgency to accelerate their adoption of digital solutions. Organisations are seeing a lot of new customers who want to now transact with them digitally. Be it on your website or your app, they are creating some new journeys absolutely unheard of earlier. At the same time, what is happening is that my existing customers have become less predictable. Therefore, both of these groups of customers have made the CX proposition even more important than before. I think a companys ability to deliver great customer experience is no longer just a nice-to-have offering, but it is the difference between sustenance and becoming irrelevant. Id like to quote our President, Chairman and CEO Shantanu Narayen, who said that The genie is not going back into the bottle when it comes to the impact and opportunity of digital. I truly believe this that it is here to stay. Companies, in order to increase their relevance in the next 3-5 years, need to adopt digital at a faster pace. They need to be ready for all the new customers who are coming on board as well as use data and insight to cater to the changing needs of their existing customers. We will soon be launching Adobes Digital Trends report for 2021 and what that talks about is that companies in the APAC have never been more interested in being agile than now, which means that they have to cater to the needs of their consumers much faster than what they had been doing in the pre-COVID-19 period. Organisations have done a lot of soul searching, if I may say so, last year and they have changed the way they communicate ( with more empathy now) and how they engage on social issues and live up to the organisations purpose. Adobes Digital Trends 2021 report will also talk about empathy by brands, which will be key comparative differentiator for customer experience. I think analysing and adapting to customers emotional journey in the new world will be the next evolution of experience management. But most organisations are still not there and not displaying authentically this digital empathy. One-third, or almost 37 per cent, of the executives in Indian organisations have significant insights into customers mindset, but they need to be better. I think businesses that have been resilient and succeeded in 2020 to be able to occupy the consumer mind share, need to now look at the newfound priorities and ensure that they build on their success. An important area that is critical for any organisation this year, and also going forward, is the close partnership between GMO and CIO. What happens is that the data available in the organisation and the applications that generate that information is under the aegis of a CIO. But how you deliver experiences and what brand empathy and value you create with prospects is the responsibility of the CMO. What this pandemic has done is highlighted the need for the CIO and the CMO to build a holistic experience for their customers, which means bringing or optimising the data and insights and creating personalised experiences at scale. In order to achieve success in 2021, companies need to understand that convenience on the digital platform is now commoditised, so its no longer something that you can talk about as a USP, rather it is an expected norm. To differentiate the experience that you create in the minds of your consumers, you need to think of customers as people and not data sets, and make empathy the future of experience. Secondly, even as the world returns to normalcy in the new normal, the customer is not slowing down and we have seen that with a lot of our customers who are using our technology that there will be multiple disruptive factors that the businesses will have to tackle. And lastly, as I said earlier, is the fact that companies that want to provide great customer experience are those whose employees are enthusiastic about their brand and its purpose. What is Adobe Indias outlook for 2021? Im quite bullish about 2021. If you look at our vision, it is changing the world through digital experiences and thats so relevant in the times that we have today. Digital is the catalyst for any companys growth, whether we look at organisations in retail, banking, insurance, or e-commerce. Adobe has proven its leadership in customer experience management, we have demonstrated success and weve had multiple customers transform. We are uniquely positioned to offer, what could be called, a playbook that will help customers leverage the power of digital. So, we will make sure that the customers stay ahead of the challenges that they face, adopt technology at a fast pace what we call as being agile. And since digital has become the core strategy for success, we are going to be the strategic partners for companies across various verticals. We have the ability to provide them industry thought leadership, guide them with a blueprint for being successful digitally. We have ourselves been a digital company, and then we transformed to cloud much earlier, when cloud wasnt really something that a lot of our peer groups understood. So, from my perspective, I see 2021 as a great opportunity for us. We are the fastest growing region in the APAC; we are an organisation which is investing heavily on Artificial Intelligence, making sure that we are able to take customer experience to scale. Across various verticals, for instance, e-commerce, we work with the top four out of the five. If you look at the travel & transport sector, there too we work with the top four companies. Thus, as a company we have always been relentlessly focused on making customers successful in their digital transformation and Im sure that based on our success, based on what we can do, based on the playbook that we carry for customer experience management, Adobe India will be very successful in 2021 and for many years to come. A Maryland state trooper shot and killed a 16-year-old white youth in a residential driveway in the Leonardtown area of St. Marys County on Tuesday afternoon. Law enforcement officials said the trooperwho was also whitemistook a toy gun held by the teenager for a real weapon. Peyton Ham, an honor student attending an advanced academy at Leonardtown High School, was shot twice by the officer and died at a hospital in the area. The Washington Post reported that a representative of the Maryland State Police said that they received two 911 calls that a male was acting suspiciously and appeared to have a gun. Peyton Ham, 16, was shot and killed on Tuesday afternoon by a Maryland state trooper. (Photo Credit: Family of Peyton Ham, Michael and Kristee Boyle) The state police reported that an eyewitness said Ham took a shooting stance and pointed his weapon when he was approached by the trooper. The officer then fired his weapon and wounded the youth. Another witness was reported to say that Ham then pulled out a knife and attempted to get up. The state police official said, The trooper ordered him to drop the knife before he fired again. The police later released photos of the gunwhich turned out to be an airsoft gun that fires non-lethal plastic pelletsand a folding pocket-knife as evidence of their account. The Maryland State Police do not wear body cameras and, although their vehicles are equipped with the dashcams, the agency spokesperson said there was no in-vehicle footage of the events on Tuesday. The unidentified office who shot Ham has been a trooper for two years and seven months and has been placed on leave. The family of Peyton Ham released a statement that described the youth as an avid history enthusiast who was looking forward to attending college to pursue a law degree and a career in politics. The statement said, Our family is absolutely heart broken and shattered over this sudden, unexpected loss of life of a talented young man, filled with promise. Words cannot express the gratitude our family is feeling with the overwhelming love and support being extended by our friends and family in our amazing community. The killing of Ham is reminiscent of the shooting of Tamir Rice, a 12-year-old black youth, by a police officer in a city park in Cleveland, Ohio, in 2014. In that instance of police murder, two officers were responding to an emergency caller who said a male was randomly pointing a pistol that was probably fake at people in the area. A surveillance video showed the officers pull their cruiser up to the youth and one of them jump out of the vehicle and immediately shoot Rice in the torso. The youth died in the hospital the next day, and the pistol was found to be an airsoft gun. One year later, the officers were cleared of any wrongdoing by a grand jury, and in 2020 the US Justice Department refused to bring charges against the Cleveland cops. The killing of Peyton Ham in Leonardtown, Maryland, was one of numerous events over the past week involving the ongoing instances of police violence and the protection of the shooters by government officials and the courts. According to a database of people killed by police in the US maintained by the Washington Post, there have been 262 deaths from police shootings so far in 2021. This rate is on a par with every year in the database of more than 1,000 people killed by police going back to 2015. The complete data set (6,768 deaths) shows that lethal force has been used by police in all 50 US states, and those with the highest rates of shootings are New Mexico, Alaska and Oklahoma. The data also shows that 95 percent of victims are male, more than half are between the ages of 20 and 40, more than half are white, and African-Americans and Hispanics are killed at disproportionate rates. The following police-violencerelated developments took place in the US over the past several days: Kenosha , Wisconsin: Rusten Sheskey, the police officer who shot Jacob Blake seven times in the back last August, returned to active duty on March 31, according to a statement from Kenosha Police Chief Daniel Miskinis on Tuesday. Blake was shot in front of three of his children who were in the back seat of his car and paralyzed from the waist down. Even though Sheskey was previously the subject of five internal police investigations involving excessive force and property damage, the Kenosha District Attorney announced in January that he would not bring any charges against the officer based on the facts and the laws. The entire incident was caught on smartphone video by a neighbor across the street and has been viewed online millions of times. Windsor, Virginia: Video was released on Sunday of two police officers pointing guns at Caron Nazario, who is black and Latino and a 2nd Lt. in the US Army, during a traffic stop that took place last December. The copsidentified as Joe Gutierrez and Daniel Crockerpointed their guns at and pepper sprayed Nazario in the face as he asked them what he was being pulled over for and insisted that he did not need to exit his vehicle until they explained the reason for the stop. Instead of responding to Nazarios request, which he made with his hands in the air, Gutierrez can be heard on the video threatening to kill the driveryou are fixin to ride the lightning, sonfor failing to comply with his demand to get out of the car. Nazario feared for his life and has filed a $1 million lawsuit for compensatory damages asserting that the officers violated his First and Fourth Amendment rights. According to Windsor Town Manager William Saunders, Gutierrez has been fired from the city police department while Crocker is still on the force. Chicago, Illinois: On Tuesday, the family of Adam Toledo viewed the police body camera footage showing the shooting of the 13-year-old on March 29 by an officer who chased him into an alley, the familys attorneys said in a statement. According to a statement by the Civilian Office of Police Accountability, the body assigned to investigate police misconduct, the family has requested that the video not be immediately released. It is unclear when the footage will be published, as authorities are fearful of the public response to the exposure of yet another killing of a young person by Chicago police. Attorneys for the Toledo family said, The experience was extremely difficult and heartbreaking for everyone present and especially for Adams family. In the meantime, city officials and the media have moved to portray the youth as a hardened criminal who essentially got what he deserved to justify the actions of the officer who shot the boy. The police have claimed that security camera video shows Toledo with 21-year-old Ruben Roman who fired a gun at a passing car and set into motion a ShotSpotter system that alerted police of the incident. Within minutes, Chicago police arrived on the scene and chased the two. While Roman was caught immediately, Toledo was pursued by an officer into a nearby alley and shot in the chest. Police and prosecutors say that a gun laying near where Toledo fell matches the shell casings found at the location where Roman was seen firing the weapon. Buffalo, New York: On Tuesday, a state court vacated a ruling that upheld the firing of Officer Carol Horne, who intervened to save the life of a black man who was handcuffed and brutalized by a fellow white officer in 2006. According to the case record, Horne, who is also black, saw the other officer putting the man in a choke hold while he said he could not breathe. She forcibly removed the white officer and engaged in a fist fight with him. Following an internal investigation of the incident, Horne faced reassignment, was charged with violating departmental procedures and then fired in 2008, one year shy of reaching 20 years on the force. The other officer was promoted to lieutenant in the same year, and he later sued her for defamation and won a $65,000 settlement. Kolkata, April 15 : Murshidabad's Congress candidate Rezaul Haque died of Covid-19 at a private hospital here on Thursday morning. Haque was contesting in this Assembly election from Samsergunj in Murshidabad district where election is supposed to take place in the seventh phase on April 26. Party sources said that Haque was tested positive a couple of days before and was in home isolation but after his condition deteriorated, he was initially admitted to a local private hospital and later shifted to a medical facility in Kolkata. State Congress president Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury said: "His death is a huge loss to the party. He had contributed to the party all through his life and we had a strong hope that he would win from Samsergunj constituency. May his soul rest in peace". However, Trinamool congress spokesperson and Minister-Of-State for Parliamentary Affairs Tapas Roy blamed the BJP government for this second Covid wave. "Every death is unfortunate but we think that Narendra Modi and the BJP government is responsible for this. They have not taken enough initiative to control the spread of the disease. Even vaccines are not available. We have told them that we are going to buy it but they have no supply,a Roy said. Samsherganj goes to polls in the seventh phase on April 26. As of next week, students and staff will receive one rapid test per week to be taken home, Claude Meisch announced in a press briefing on Thursday. Extensive use of rapid tests alongside the Large Scale Testing strategy should pave the way for a gradual return to normal. In the week after in-school testing will commence. Besides this announcement, Minister of Education Claude Meisch and the head of the General Directorate of Secondary Education Romain Nehs shared the main findings of a third major report on coronavirus developments within schools. The self-test pilot phase, which took place prior to the Easter break, was a big success, Meisch concluded, adding that in the last week of March 4,000 students received a self-testing kit. This resulted in four positive cases. In the first week of April, one student tested positive out of 3,000 tests. 97% of parents allowed their child to partake in the pilot in primary schools, with around 85% in secondary schools. Regarding the evolution of coronavirus overall, the situation is slowly improving, with infection numbers remaining below levels initially expected. Data has shown that when the British and South African virus mutations were most prevalent in the Grand Duchy, which was the case between mid-February and late March, more students tested positive for Covid-19. While in mid-January the UK variant accounted for 57% of cases and the South African variant was registered in 3% of cases, that figure increased to 74% and 17%, respectively, between February and March, before dropping back down to 66% and 11%, respectively. Officials further determined that elevated incidence rates no longer correlate with older age. Nehs acknowledged that, at this point, they have no explanation why that is the case. The incidence rate in preschools and primary schools reached a peak in mid-March with 327 cases per 100,000 students, when the British and South African variants were most prevalent. In secondary education the number stood at 370 in March, but has plateaued since. "We are all part of the solution", Meisch concluded. "Everyone can help normalise school life with the help of self-tests." He also issued a warning to stay vigilant, as the virus remains a threat. Officials have already prepared new measures, such as remote learning, in case the situation were to become more drastic again. "If you can poke your nose, you can administer a self-test" Rapid tests and ongoing mobile testing crews are helpful tools in the identification of new infections, both speakers said. The Ministry of Education recommends that everyone conduct one rapid test per week, but it will not become mandatory, Meisch stated. The Luxembourgish model is inspired by the Austrian testing strategy, where testing is even mandatory for pupils. Schools are free to organise the logistics of their operations, which can happen on specific days or in continuous manner. Teachers will be responsible for forwarding test results to public health officials. A new promotional video should help children to better understand how to administer the tests. For further information on the testing strategy in schools, people may visit www.edutesting.lu. For decades, Senator Lindsey Graham traveled the world with his friend John McCain, visiting war zones and meeting with foreign allies and adversaries, before returning home to promote the Republican gospel of an internationalist, hawkish foreign policy. But this week, after President Biden announced that troops would leave Afghanistan no later than Sept. 11, Mr. Graham took the podium in the Senate press gallery and hinted that spreading the partys message had become a bit lonely. I miss John McCain a lot but probably no more than today, Mr. Graham said. If John were with us, Id be speaking second. Mr. McCain, the onetime prisoner of war in Vietnam, in many ways embodied a distinctive Republican worldview: a commitment to internationalism and confrontation when necessary that stemmed from the Cold War and endured through the presidencies of Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush before evolving after the Sept. 11 attacks to account for the threat of global terrorism. CHARLOTTE, N.C., April 15, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- NearU Services ("NearU"), a founder-led premier home services platform in the Southeast, today announced the acquisition of Carolina Air, Inc. Heating & Cooling ("Carolina Air" or "Company"), a top-rated HVAC contractor in Pinehurst, North Carolina. This acquisition broadens NearU's presence and establishes a strong local foothold in the Triangle and Sandhills regions of North Carolina. NearU's Founder and CEO, Ashish Achlerkar, said, "Carolina Air has been a proven leader in the Triangle and Sandhills markets for over three decades. The Company has an established track record in serving thousands of residential and light commercial customers for their HVAC service needs, including providing them valuable annual maintenance services. Gary and his team have done an outstanding job establishing Carolina Air as the preferred service provider in the Pinehurst market, and NearU is committed to take that legacy to greater heights. NearU's portfolio in North Carolina now extends to the Triangle, continuing our strong growth within the Carolinas. We warmly welcome the customers and very talented employees of Carolina Air to the rapidly growing NearU family. Our goal is to provide each employee the opportunities to grow and work in an environment and culture that is best in class." "I have completed nearly three decades in the trades, and always prioritized employees and customers ahead of everything else. While I had several opportunities to consider when choosing a transition partner, I wanted to be very selective and choose a home services platform that is perfectly aligned with that focus. I am very confident that NearU is that partner, and they will take great care of our customers and employees. While the nuances of the transition process were outside of my area of expertise, the NearU team held my hand to completion. Their approach is fair, transparent, and efficient. I endorse NearU's vision for the industry and will remain its champion as they transform customer and employee experience for the better," said Gary Bullard, Founder of Carolina Air. Under NearU's ownership, the Carolina Air team will continue to operate under the reputed local brand of Carolina Air, Inc. Heating & Cooling. The Company will go on serving customers under the existing management team led by General Manager, Sean Jordan. NearU's operations and marketing teams have a well-defined value creation plan for Carolina Air, its employees, and its customers. NearU is well capitalized and is actively seeking other long-standing, highly reputable brands to join the growing NearU family. About NearU: NearU is an employee and customer-centric provider of essential home services with a focus on HVAC, plumbing, and electrical services. NearU is well-capitalized and seeks to grow organically and through partnerships with leading HVAC and other skilled trade contractors. More information is available at www.NearU-Services.com. About Carolina Air, Inc. Heating & Cooling: Carolina Air, Inc. Heating & Cooling has been professionally servicing and repairing heating and cooling systems throughout Moore and surrounding counties. The Company was formed in 1999 and recently became a part of NearU HVAC Services. More information is available at www.CarolinaAir.com. For More Information, Contact: Ashish Achlerkar NearU Founder and CEO (215) 341-7561 [email protected] SOURCE NearU Related Links http://www.NearU-Services.com Dell has announced updates to their Inspiron series of laptops, featuring both Intel 11th Gen Intel Core CPU and AMD Ryzen 5000 mobile CPU options. There are new models introduced for this year, which are the Inspiron 13, 14, 15, 16 Plus and the Inspiron 14 2-in-1. The Inspiron 13, 14 and 15 laptops have been updated with new Adaptive thermals that dynamically adjust its power consumption for improved sustained performance. They now come with lid-open sensors and optional Windows Hello login via fingerprint reader, which will enable faster logins. Quick charging has also been added, where the laptop can charge up to 80% in an hour. The Dell Inspiron 16 Plus features a larger 16-inch display with an aspect ratio of 16:10 and a 3k resolution, which will help for productivity tasks. The Inspiron 16 Plus laptop is powered by 11th Gen Intel Core H-Series processors, and it can be configured with a discrete NVIDIA GTX or RTX GPU. The Dell Inspiron 14 2-in-1, as the name suggests is a convertible laptop with a 14-inch Full HD touch display that can be placed in various form factors such as laptop, tent, stand and tablet mode. The laptop can be configured with either a 11th Gen Intel Core or AMD Ryzen 5000 U-Series Mobile Processor, with a range of graphics options. The Dell Inspiron 13 starts at $599 (Rs. 45,035 approx.), Inspiron 14 at $440 (Rs. 33,080 approx.), Inspiron 14 2-in-1 at $729 (Rs. 54,780 approx.), and Inspiron 15 at $550 (Rs. 41,340 approx.). The Dell Inspiron 13 is already available in the US and the other will be available from May 4. The Dell Inspiron 16 Plus will arrive in North American from June 3 starting at $950 (Rs. 71,400 approx.). .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... ISLAMABAD The Biden administrations surprise announcement of an unconditional troop withdrawal from Afghanistan by Sept. 11 appears to strip the Taliban and the Afghan government of considerable leverage and could ramp up pressure on them to reach a peace deal. The Taliban and Afghan government can no longer hold the U.S. hostage the Taliban with escalating violence and the Afghan president by dragging his feet on a power-sharing deal with the insurgents that doesnt include him as president because Washington made it clear that U.S. troops are leaving, no matter what. Still, there are growing fears that Afghanistan will collapse into worsening chaos, brutal civil war, or even a takeover by the Taliban once the Americans are gone opening a new chapter in the constant war that has lasted for decades. ADVERTISEMENTSkip ................................................................ Already, violence and seemingly random attacks on civilians have surged since former U.S. President Donald Trumps administration reached a deal with the Taliban in February 2020 that had committed Washington to withdraw by May 1 this year. More than 1,700 civilians were killed or wounded in attacks the first three months of 2021, up 23% from the same period last year, according to the U.N. Assistance Mission in Afghanistan. On Wednesday, the Biden administration set a new timetable. It said it would begin pulling out its remaining 2,500 troops on May 1 and complete the pullout at the latest by Sept. 11 the 20th anniversary of the al-Qaida terror attack on the U.S. that had triggered the U.S.-led invasion of Afghanistan. NATO announced it would follow the same timetable for withdrawing nearly 10,000 troops, 7,000 of whom are non-U.S. soldiers. In leaving, Washington has calculated that it can manage its chief security interest ensuring Afghanistan doesnt become a base for terror attacks on the United States from a distance. Still, it is hoping to leave a country with a chance at peace. The U.S. is pressing the Taliban and the Afghan government to reach a peace agreement during an April 24 to May 4 conference in Turkey. At the moment, its not certain that the Taliban will attend. In response to the new withdrawal timeline, the Taliban said they wont attend any conference on Afghanistans future while foreign forces are still in the country. A spokesman, Zabihullah Mujahid, said that if the original May 1 deadline is not met, problems will be compounded. Still, he did not explicitly threaten a resumption of Taliban attacks on U.S. troops. U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken made an unannounced visit to Afghanistan on Thursday to sell Afghan leaders and a wary Afghan public on the withdrawal plan. A day earlier, he ramped up indirect pressure on the Taliban during a phone call with Pakistans powerful military chief. With their leadership headquartered in Pakistan, the Taliban ignore Islamabad at their own peril. Until now, Pakistan has been key to getting the insurgent militia to earlier rounds of talks and has expressed support for the Turkey conference. The Taliban control about half of Afghanistan. But they also have much to lose if they walk away from the peace process, particularly a chance at international recognition. The group has been courting world powers since 2013 when they set up their political office in the Qatari capital Doha. The U.S. has warned that the Taliban wont get that recognition if they are not part of a new government. The Turkey conference, jointly convened by the United Nations, lends international support to that warning. The bet is that the Taliban wont want to rule as a pariah, as they did from 1996 until their overthrow by the U.S.-led coalition in 2001. They had no money to feed their people, unemployment was rampant and drought and poverty devastated farmers. Their only source of income in the final years was from al-Qaida and its wealthy Saudi leader at the time, Osama bin Laden. Its important for the Taliban to recognize that it will never be legitimate and it will never be durable if it rejects the political process and tries to take the country by force, Blinken said at a press conference in the Afghan capital of Kabul at the end of a one-day, surprise visit. Torek Farhadi, a former Afghan government adviser, said he doesnt expect the insurgents to attend in Turkey. Instead, he said, they are likely to negotiate with local leaders around Afghanistan and wait for the Americans to leave, further weakening and isolating President Ashraf Ghani. The Taliban have refused to even sit across the table from him. Responding to the U.S. strategy shift, Ghani pledged to pursue peace, without elaborating. He tweeted late Wednesday that he had spoken with President Biden and we will work with our U.S. partners to ensure a smooth transition. Previously, Ghani had floated an alternative peace plan that calls for him to head an interim government until fresh elections can be held. Rejected by the Taliban, its seen by his political opponents as an attempt to cling to power. Ghanis government has been denounced for runaway corruption and divisive politics. He has embraced warlords he once shunned, like Uzbek powerhouse Rashid Dostum, accused of war crimes. The many warlords who hold sway in Kabul have amassed considerable wealth in the last 20 years and boast loyal militias with well-equipped arsenals. Most Afghans say the U.S. and NATO troop presence has kept feuding warlords apart and fear that without it the country will collapse back into the brutal infighting that raged from 1992-1996, giving rise to the Taliban. The previous Trump deal with the Taliban had imposed conditions. The big one was that the Taliban break with their longtime ally, al-Qaida, and stand against other militants before U.S. troops would withdraw. A senior Taliban official earlier told The Associated Press that the group last month ordered the remnants of al-Qaida and other militants out of the country and told its own fighters not to associate with foreign fighters. Asfandyar Mir, at the Center for International Security and Cooperation at Stanford University, said the order against foreign fighters was a good first step. But he noted it only confirms the Talibans use of foreign fighters, which it long denied even as publications affiliated to the Taliban and al-Qaida touted al-Qaidas oath of loyalty to the Taliban leader, Hibatullah Akunzada. Mir also pointed to the evidence of al-Qaida operations even in recent years in areas under Taliban control. Controlling militant groups will be even harder if Afghanistan tumbles into chaos. Michael Kugelman, deputy director of the Asia Program at the U.S.-based Wilson Center said that its hard to imagine any scenario under which peace would break out post-Sept. 11 in Afghanistan. The best hope is that the peace process wont be dead, he said. Deep in the Australian outback lies a small town with no police presence, where horrific violence is a daily occurrence and where sexual assault goes unchecked. The 'completely lawless' community of Fregon is hidden away in the red dust of the South Australian desert, about 1,300km north of Adelaide, and is home to one of Australia's most shocking crimes. Outback nurse Gayle Woodford, 56, took up a role at the Nganampa Health Council and often travelled to Anangu Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara (APY) Lands for work. In 2016, she was lured into a trap and then abducted, raped and murdered before being buried in a shallow grave near the town by a man with a violent history. Gayle Woodford's (pictured) body was found buried in a crude grave three days after she went missing from her Fregon home in SA's north The 'completely lawless' community of Fregon (pictured) is home to one of Australia's most shocking crimes after a regional nurse was raped and murdered The mother-of-two's death sparked a number of inquiries into the dangers facing health workers in remote areas and cast a spotlight on the realities in Fregon. On Thursday SA Deputy Coroner Anthony Schapel handed down a damning report into Ms Woodford's tragic end at the hands of local resident Dudley Davey, who is now serving a 32-year sentence for the crime. His findings paint a concerning picture and recommend a permanent police presence be established given the level of violence. While Mr Schapel said it was difficult to determine if a police presence in the town would have prevented Gayle's death, it was a matter of common sense and human experience that it would have a deterrent effect on criminality and other misbehaviour. 'The evidence of those witnesses who were called and who expressed a view about police presence in the Fregon community having regard to the level of lawlessness within it, would suggest that a permanent police presence would be essential,' the coroner said. 'The proposition that a community in which certain of its members need to be protected by cages does not require an immediate police presence within that community would, I think, strike the ordinary man or woman in the street as perverse.' Fregon is hidden away in the red dust of the South Australian desert, about 1,300km north of Adelaide The mother-of-two's death sparked a number of inquiries into the dangers facing health workers in remote areas and cast a spotlight on the realities in Fregon (pictured) Deep into the Australian outback lies the small town of Fregon with no police presence, where horrific violence is a daily occurrence and where sexual assault goes unchecked The town is an Aboriginal community, one of six in the APY lands. The first recording by non-Indigenous Australians of the community was by Ernest Giles in September 1873. He and his party member, William Tietkens, came across a group of around 200 men who were reported to have thrown spears. The town is now home to anywhere between 200 and 300 people at any given time. But it does not have a police presence, with the closest police located in Umuwa, which is not permanently manned and is situated more than half an hour away. Police also have a permanent presence at several other locations in the APY lands, which estimated to be around the same size as South Korea, with a population of around 2,500 people. The 24-hour manned stations include Mimili, just over two hours drive away from Fregon, Ernabella, more than 40 minutes away, and Amata, around two and a half hours away. According to a report from ABC, it takes officers around an hour and a half to head to calls in Fregon. 'The violence in Fregon was described by a medical practitioner of several years' standing in remote communities such as these as 'ongoing' and 'continual,' the report says. 'If there was no violence in the Fregon community on a given day, it was a good day'. Dudley Davey (pictured, centre) subsequently pleaded guilty to her rape and murder and is serving a minimum 32-year jail term The four-wheel-drive ambulance Ms Woodford used for work, which was found being driven by the 34-year-old man charged with theft and her alleged murder Gillian Steel, the manager of Fregon's Kaltjiti Arts, told The Australian the area 'definitely' needs a manned police station. She recounted how she was forced to barricade herself inside the art centre after a group attacked her demanding money with a steel bar. GAYLE WOODFORD'S DEATH March 23, 2016: Outback nurse Gayle Woodford, 56, is last seen on South Australia's Anangu Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara (APY) Lands, with her disappearance prompting a search. About the same time as Ms Woodford goes missing an ambulance she used for work is driven from a local health clinic. March 24, 2016: Police use GPS data to track the ambulance and intercept it in Coober Pedy. The 36-year-old Mimili man behind the wheel, Dudley Davey, is charged with the theft of the vehicle and other driving offences. March 26, 2016: Ms Woodford's body is found in a shallow grave outside the remote SA town of Fregon where she lived. Calls emerge for greater safety provisions for remote health clinicians, with an online petition collecting more than 130,00 signatures. March 27, 2016: Davey is charged with Ms Woodford's murder. March 29, 2016: Davey makes his first appearance at the Port Augusta Magistrates Court, losing a bid to have his name suppressed. February 23, 2017: Davey pleads guilty to murder and rape charges and is committed to the Supreme Court. Advertisement 'There are constant problems. It has only got worse. Gambling is a real problem, which creates a whole range of other issues, and the little kids are doing it as well, so a police presence will help,' she said. Davey, the 'cold blooded' killer convicted of Ms Woodford's gruesome death had a litany of sexual assault offences to his name prior to the attack. Part of Mr Schapel's report asked how a depraved offender with such a long list of convictions was able to be released into a remote community with no supervision. At his trial the court heard the then 34-year-old had launched a number of attacks on women over 20 years, including an 'eerily similar' assault of another nurse in Fregon during 1998. 'The practitioner described Fregon as "completely lawless" and the most violent place in which she had resided and worked while employed by the NHC in the APY Lands. 'To the point where she believed serious consideration needed to be given to the withdrawal of services from this community so as to bring it to its closure,' the report says. 'Mrs Woodford's murder is in keeping with the general lawlessness within the Fregon community and the fact that this atmosphere of dysfunction and violence largely remained unchecked.' Speaking in 2017, after Dudley Davey was sentence for murder, rape and the theft of a community ambulance, Gayle's family broke and and hugged outside the court. Grieving husband Keith Woodford made an emotional public statement after 14 months of silence and said: 'Dudley Davey should never, ever be allowed out of jail for the crime that he committed,' Nine News reports. 'We will always mourn Gayle, there's so many people that have helped us to cope with [her death],' he said. Since Gayle's death, the South Australian Parliament passed Gayle's Law - requiring health practitioners in remote areas of South Australia to be accompanied by a second responded when attending out of hours or unscheduled calls. Gayle's law applies to a variety of health services including the South Australian Government or anyone working on its behalf, privately practicing doctors, nurses and midwives as well as local councils providing services in remote areas. Second responders must hold a driver's licence, have a working with children check and must not be prohibited from working with children. The husband of Gayle Woodford, Keith Woodford (pictured, centre), outside the Adelaide Coroners Court in 2020 with family Reporter Mary Schenk is a reporter covering police, courts and breaking news at The News-Gazette. Her email is mschenk@news-gazette.com, and you can follow her on Twitter (@schenk). The California Gold Rush town of Placerville will change its logo to remove a noose that stems from its mid-19th century reputation as 'Hangtown' following lynchings of criminal suspects by mobs of miners. The first lynchings, of two Frenchmen and a Chilean, was carried out in 1849 - five years before the official founding of the town. Placerville is 50 miles east of Sacramento, and now home to 10,000 people. The City Council voted Tuesday night to remove the noose after listening to emotional comment from residents. Some argued that it is part of the history of the town, but others said it is violent and gives the city a bad reputation, the station reported. The council's vote was unanimous. Placerville's logo will be changed and the noose removed following a vote on Tuesday The city was founded in 1854: the hangman's tree is visible in the high street in a historic picture Placerville was a gold rush town, which sprung up as thousands of miners flocked to the area 'I am horrified and deeply hurt that we have a symbol of a noose in our logo,' said one caller during a Zoom debate on the issue on Tuesday. 'A noose is a symbol of death. A noose is a symbol of lynching. A noose is a symbol of racism. I think we're better than that.' Yet others, according to KCRA, said it should be put to a public vote. 'I would like us to keep our noose. It's taking away from our history,' said another. 'We need to keep our history. This world right now is taking inch by inch little pieces of our history and throwing it away. 'If you guys are gonna change anything it needs to come out to the people and the people should be able to vote on it.' The decision comes amid a reconsidering of images of nooses in the context of racial injustice and the history of violence against black people in America. The signs and symbols of Hangtown are commonplace in Placerville, the El Dorado County seat in the western foothills of the Sierra Nevada about two hours northeast of San Francisco. The circular logo shows a miner washing gold in a stream. The noose hangs from a tree in the background. Written around the image are the words 'City of Placerville,' 'Old Hangtown' and '1854,' the year the city was incorporated. Placerville dates to the era when thousands of fortune-seekers from all over the world suddenly descended on California in search of the Mother Lode. The city of Placerville as seen in modern times, 170 years after it was founded The city's mining heritage is celebrated with the preserved mine shafts and historic buildings A plaque is seen informing visitors about Placerville's history According to the city's history presentation, the area was first called Dry Diggins - a reference to a type of mining. It became known as Hangtown when three men - two French and one Chilean - were lynched in 1849 on suspicion of crimes. The fourth and final lynching occurred in 1850 after a man stabbed someone in a saloon, according to the presentation by Brendan Lindsay, associate professor of history at California State University, Sacramento. Other lynchings were considered but suspects were ultimately turned over to authorities and the name Placerville rapidly overtook the nickname in published reports. Tinder playboy Gable Tostee was in a hotel room with a woman who was threatening to jump from the 10th-floor - years after he was found not guilty of killing a date who fell from his apartment balcony. Tostee, who now goes by the name Eric Thomas, was acquitted of both murder and manslaughter after his Tinder date Warriena Wright plummeted to her death from his 14th-storey Gold Coast apartment in 2014. He found himself in another high-rise drama in the early hours of Wednesday morning, with police called to the Legends Hotel in Surfers Paradise at about 4.30am, The Courier-Mail reported. Gable Tostee (right), who now goes by Eric Thomas, was acquitted of both murder and manslaughter after his Tinder date Warriena Wright (left) plummeted to her death from his 14th-storey Gold Coast apartment in 2014 Tostee found himself in another high-rise drama in the early hours of Wednesday morning, with police called to the Legends Hotel in Surfers Paradise (pictured) at about 4.30am Police sources told the paper Tostee was with a woman and her 12-year-old daughter, who was forced to call emergency services after her mother threatened to jump from the building. Tostee was reportedly attempting to stop the woman, who was locked in the hotel bathroom when paramedics and police arrived. The woman was then taken to hospital for a mental health assessment. A senior police officer said there was no suggestion Tostee had done anything wrong. Pictured: Ms Wright, a 26-year-old from New Zealand 'He just happened to be present when the incident occurred,' they said. No charges have been laid. In February 2019, police were called to Tostee's home in Carrara following a disturbance. A woman was taken to hospital for a mental health assessment after he alleged she was 'going off' and he had been assaulted. There were no charges laid over that incident. Ms Wright, a 26-year-old from New Zealand, plunged to her death from Tostee's 14th storey Surfer's Paradise apartment on August 8, 2014. Tostee was committed to stand trial but was acquitted of murder, manslaughter and any wrongdoing after harrowing three-hour audio footage was heard in court in 2016. Daily Mail Australia has contacted Tostee for comment. Who scratched Calvin Purdie Jr.? That was was the big question Thursday morning as the fourth day dawned on the Harrisburg mans trial over the slaying of a woman who was strangled and set on fire in the bedroom of her Hershey-area home. District Attorney Fran Chardo is trying to convince a Dauphin County jury that the victim, 49-year-old Charlotte Chaplin, inflicted those scratches found on Purdies face and left arm as she fought for her life. The fact that Purdies DNA was found beneath Chaplins fingernails supports that scenario, Chardo contends. First Assistant Public Defender Paul Muller hacked at that theory as he cross-examined Chaplins daughter Shania. Mullers aim was to promote an alternate scenario that Shania Chaplin had scratched Purdie, the father of her daughter, during a groggy argument hours before her mom was murdered early on May 23, 2019. It is possible that you scratched him that night and dont remember? Muller asked. Correct, Shania Chaplin replied. She said she had told police that she sometimes scratched Purdie when they fought. The argument in the wee hours of May 23, 2019 erupted when Purdie found some condoms, which they didnt use, in her bedroom of the home at 517 W. Chocolate Ave. that she shared with her mother and then-4-year-old daughter, Shania Chaplin said. Purdie accused her of cheating on him, she said. She said she had gotten the condoms from her mom. She said that same suspicion that she was unfaithful prompted Purdie to smash a window of the home and break in a month before her mom was killed. Yet a few weeks after that incident, she, Purdie, her mom and her daughter took a trip to New York City together, Shania Chaplin said. There was no bad blood if she wanted to go to New York City with you and Calvin? Muller asked. My mother was a sweet person, Shania Chaplin said. Your mom and Calvin had never fought before? Muller asked. Correct, she replied. Chardo stressed that Shania Chaplin had testified during Purdies preliminary hearing on the murder case that she knew she did not cause the scratched seen on his face as firefighters were on the scene battling the blaze. Muller responded by having Shania Chaplin read aloud a part of a letter she wrote to Purdie while he was in prison after that preliminary hearing. Just like I said, those scratches may have come from me. But Im not sure, she wrote. Calvin Purdie Jr. Public Defender Elizabeth Ruby called Arthur Young, a private forensic scientist, as a defense witness. Young said DNA can be transferred between people by way of contact with other materials, including clothing and towels. You are shedding skin cells continuously, Young said. Questioned by Chardo, Young said scratching another person is also a way to get a significant amount of their DNA under your fingernails. Chardo is seeking convictions on first-degree murder and arson and a life prison sentence for the 35-year-old Purdie. Muller is arguing that someone else, perhaps a former boyfriend, killed Charlotte Chaplin. Purdie has told Judge William T. Tully that he does not intend to testify. Note to journalists: Please report that this research will be presented at a meeting of the American Chemical Society. A press conference on this topic will be held Thursday, April 15, at 11 a.m. Eastern time online at www.acs.org/acsspring2021conferences. WASHINGTON, April 15, 2021 Some snake species slither across the ground, while others climb trees, dive through sand or glide across water. Today, scientists report that the surface chemistry of snake scales varies among species that negotiate these different terrains. The findings could have implications for designing durable materials, as well as robots that mimic snake locomotion to cross surfaces that would otherwise be impassable. The research began as a collaboration with Woodland Park Zoo in Seattle, explains Tobias Weidner, Ph.D., the projects principal investigator. One of the zoos biologists told Weidner that not much was known about the chemistry of snake surfaces. Biologists typically don't have techniques that can identify molecules on the outermost layer of a surface such as a snake scale, he says. But Im a chemist a surface scientist so I felt I could add something to the picture with my labs methods.The researchers will present their results today at the spring meeting of the American Chemical Society (ACS). ACS Spring 2021 is being held online April 5-30. Live sessions will be hosted April 5-16, and on-demand and networking content will continue through April 30. The meeting features nearly 9,000 presentations on a wide range of science topics. In that initial project, the researchers discovered that land snakes are covered with a lipid layer. This oily layer is so thin a mere one or two nanometers that no one had noticed it before. The team also found that the molecules in this layer are disorganized on the snakes back scales but highly organized and densely packed on belly scales, an arrangement that provides lubrication and protection against wear. Some people are afraid of snakes because they think theyre slimy, but biologists tell them snakes arent slimy; theyre dry to the touch, Weidner says. Thats true, but its also not true because at the nanoscale we found they actually are greasy and slimy, though you cant feel it. Theyre nanoslimy. In the new study, the team wanted to find out if this nanoslimy surface chemistry differs in species adapted to various habitats, says Mette H. Rasmussen, a graduate student who is presenting the latest findings at the meeting. Both Weidner and Rasmussen are at Aarhus University in Denmark. Working with recently shed skins, Rasmussen compared the surface chemistry of ground, tree and sand snakes. She used laser spectroscopy and an electron microscopy technique that probes the chemistry of the surface by knocking electrons out of it with X-rays. The project was a collaboration with Joe Baio, Ph.D., at Oregon State University; Stanislav Gorb, Ph.D., at Kiel University and researchers at the U.S. National Institute of Standards and Technology. Rasmussen found that the tree snake has a layer of ordered lipid molecules on its belly, just like the ground snake. But the sand snake, which dives through sand, has an ordered lipid layer on both its front and back. From a snakes point of view, it makes sense, she says. You would like to have this friction reduction and wear resistance on both sides if youre surrounded by your environment instead of only moving across it. Next, the researchers want to find out where the lipids come from and to look at variations across other snake species, including those that live in water. They would also like to identify the lipids, though Weidner suspects the chemical makeup of the lipid layer is less important than the organization and density of the lipid molecules it contains. The work could have broad applications. A snakes slithering locomotion requires constant contact with the surface its crossing, which poses stringent requirements for friction, wear and mechanical stability, Rasmussen says. Learning how snakes maintain the integrity of their skin when encountering sharp rocks, hot sand and other challenges could help in the design of more durable materials. In addition, the researchers say, multiple groups are developing robots that mimic a snakes slithering or sidewinding locomotion and unlike robots with wheels can therefore negotiate difficult terrain such as steep, sandy slopes. These groups have recently begun taking into account the microstructure of snake scales, Rasmussen notes, but scales surface chemistry is also critical to their performance. Bringing these fields together could one day lead to snakelike robots capable of helping in rescue operations or freeing a Mars rover stuck in sand, she says. The researchers acknowledge support and funding from the Independent Research Fund Denmark and the National Science Foundation. COVID: Tunisia sees record-high hospitalisations 'Serious situation', more younger people getting sick (ANSAmed) - TUNIS, APRIL 15 - The epidemiological situation in Tunisia is currently very serious, the director of the National Observatory for New and Emerging Diseases, part of the Tunisia health ministry. The official, Nissaf Ben Alaya, noted that a record-high number of hospitalizations had been necessary in the country on April 13: 2,270. The previous peak of patients in hospital had been January 26, when 2,210 had been hospitalised for reasons related to COVID-19. Of them, 440 were in intensive therapy and 140 required ventilators. Tunisia has since the beginning of the spread of the virus recorded 276,727 cases of COVID-19 and 9,480 deaths. However, healthcare services capacity is currently almost exhausted and in some cases facilities are already full, said Hanen Touiri, member of the country's Scientific Committee for the Fight against COVID-19, noting that the age of the patients arriving in hospital was ever lower. The national vaccination campaign, which began on March 13, is proceeding slowly. According to the Tunisia health ministry, almost 176,000 people have received the first dose of the vaccine and over 8,000 of these received a second dose as well. Over a million people have registered on the Evax platform. The healthcare authorities have renewed calls to follow regulations to contain the spread of the virus. (ANSAmed). Chief of Defence Staff Gen on Thursday said the withdrawal of US troops from should not create a vacuum for "disruptors" to step in and that India wants a peaceful resolution to the conflict in the country. In an address at the Raisina Dialogue, he said India would be very happy to provide whatever support it can extend for the development of and make sure that peace returns to it. He said if the US was of the view that withdrawal of its forces and similar drawdown by its NATO allies would lead to peace in Afghanistan, then, India would be happy to see emergence of such a situation. "But our concern is that the vacuum that is going to be created should not create space for disruptors to step in, and, therefore, the violence continues in Afghanistan," Gen Rawat said at the virtual conference. He, however, did not explain whom he referred to as disruptors. In a major announcement, President Joe Biden on Wednesday said the US troops will be withdrawn from beginning May 1 and the process will be completed by September 11. In a tweet last night, Afghan President Ashraf Ghani said he spoke to Biden and that his country respects the US decision. In his remarks, Gen Rawat said there are many nations which are willing to step into Afghanistan to take advantage of the opportunities following the withdrawal of US troops. He, however, did not name the countries. Afghanistan is a nation which is rich in resources and there are nations which tend to exploit resources for their own benefit...If that happens, it should be prevented. The international community must step in to ensure that Afghanistan is for the Afghans," he said. There have been renewed global efforts to bring lasting peace to Afghanistan. Russia recently organised a conference in Moscow where all major stakeholders were invited to brainstorm over ways to move forward in the peace process. India has been a major stakeholder in the peace and stability of Afghanistan. It has already invested USD two billion in aid and reconstruction activities in the country. India has been supporting a peace and reconciliation process which is Afghan-led, Afghan-owned and Afghan-controlled. Last month, Afghan foreign minister Mohammad Haneef Atmar visited India during which External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar conveyed to him New Delhi's long-term commitment towards a peaceful, sovereign and stable Afghanistan. (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: Petrol Pumps owners across the country has announced a day-long strike on October 13 protesting against discrepancies in supply and demand to include petroleum products under Goods and Service Tax (GST). The day-long strike has been called by United Petroleum Front, an umbrella organisation of all petrol dealers controlling 54,000 petrol pumps across the country. All India Petroleum Dealers Association (AIPDA), an union of petroleum pump owners have called for indefinite strike from October 27. Also read: Petrol price falls Rs 2.5 per litre, diesel by Rs 2.25 as Centre slashes excise duty Ajay Bansal, AIPD president, We are calling the strike to bring petroleum products under GST. Both the unions have been also demanding an increase in dealer margins. Congress is also supporting the demands of the two petroleum dealers association to bring petroleum products under GST. Congress spokesperson Randeep Singh Surjewala said, It will put a brake on the governments levying as high as 70 to 80 percent tax to fill their treasury ignoring the common man plight. For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. VANCOUVER, British Columbia, April 15, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- CMC Metals Ltd. (CMC or the Company) (TSXV:CMB) (OTC:CMCXF) (Frankfurt:ZM5N) is pleased to announce positive preliminary exploration results from a reconnaissance site visit conducted on its Bridal Veil Property in Newfoundland. A brief visit involving the sampling of known showings on the property resulted in the identification of an extensive area of anomalous copper and bismuth mineralization with minor silver. The area has coincident EM anomalies that are yet to be explained. Values from grab samples of veined psammitic metasediments ranged from 0.041% to 3.473% copper, 0.74-136.96 g/t bismuth, and 1069-19340 ppb silver. Historical sampling have returned grades of up to 9.4% copper, 10.2% lead, 7.8 oz/t silver and 3.75 g/t gold. The Bridal Veil mineral occurrences have been previously identified as being related to an epigenetic copper-silver +/- lead and gold orogenic vein system hosted in deeply dipping shear zones. The property is transected by the Trans Canada Highway approximately 10 kilometers east of Gander and 15 km east of Newfound Golds Queensway Project. Kevin Brewer, P.Geo. President and CEO of CMC noted, We are highly encouraged about these preliminary results at Bridal Veil. Less than 15% of the property area has been explored to date. At this stage it is clear we need to better understand the mineralizing system as the tenure of mineralization is very encouraging. It is now a matter of determining the extent, possible continuity, and subsurface potential of this mineralization throughout the property. Our plans are to further examine this property in the fall after work is completed on our flagship property at Silver Hart in Yukon. About CMC Metals Ltd. CMC Metals Ltd. is a growth stage exploration company focused on opportunities for silver in Yukon and British Columbia and polymetallic deposits in Yukon and Newfoundland. Our silver-lead-zinc prospects include the Silver Hart Deposit and Blue Heaven claims (the Silver Hart Project) and the recently acquired Rancheria South, Amy and Silverknife claims (the Rancheria South Project). Our polymetallic projects with potential for copper-silver-gold and other metals include Logjam (Yukon), Bridal Veil and Terra Nova (both in Newfoundland). Qualified Person Kevin Brewer, a registered professional geoscientist in BC and Yukon, is the Companys President and CEO, and Qualified Person (as defined by National Instrument 43-101). He has approved the technical information reported herein. The Company is committed to meeting the highest standards of integrity, transparency and consistency in reporting technical content, including geological reporting, geophysical investigations, environmental and baseline studies, engineering studies, metallurgical testing, assaying and all other technical data. On behalf of the Board: John Bossio John Bossio, Chairman CMC METALS LTD. For further information concerning the CMC Metals Ltd., or its exploration projects, please contact: Investor Inquiries: Kevin Brewer, P. Geo. President, CEO and Director Tel: (604) 605-0166 kbrewer80@hotmail.com To be added to CMC's news distribution list, please send an email to info@cmcmetals.ca or contact Mr. Kevin Brewer at 604-605-0166. 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 certain statements that constitute forward-looking information within the meaning of applicable securities law, including without limitation, statements that address the timing and content of upcoming work programs, geological interpretations, receipt of property titles and exploitation activities and developments. In this release disclosure regarding the potential to undertake future exploration work comprise forward looking statements. Forward-looking statements address future events and conditions and are necessarily based upon a number of estimates and assumptions. While such estimates and assumptions are considered reasonable by the management of the Company, they are inherently subject to significant business, economic, competitive and regulatory uncertainties and risks, including the ability of the Company to raise the funds necessary to fund its projects, to carry out the work and, accordingly, may not occur as described herein or at all. Actual results may differ materially from those currently anticipated in such statements. Factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those in forward looking statements include market prices, exploitation and exploration successes, the timing and receipt of government and regulatory approvals, the impact of the constantly evolving COVID-19 pandemic crisis and continued availability of capital and financing and general economic, market or business conditions. Readers are referred to the Companys filings with the Canadian securities regulators for information on these and other risk factors, available at www.sedar.com . Investors are cautioned that forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance or events and, accordingly are cautioned not to put undue reliance on forward-looking statements due to the inherent uncertainty of such statements. The forward-looking statements included in this news release are made as of the date hereof and the Company disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as expressly required by applicable securities legislation. A photo accompanying this announcement is available at https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/c74965da-d72f-4cff-8965-9d2c88caa0d4 Bank of America Reports First-Quarter 2021 Financial Results Bank of America reported its first-quarter 2021 financial results today. The news release, supplemental filing and investor presentation can be accessed in the following ways: This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210415005486/en/ Investor Conference Call information: Chief Executive Officer Brian Moynihan and Chief Financial Officer Paul Donofrio will discuss the financial results in a conference call at 9 a.m. ET today. For a listen-only connection to the conference call, dial 1.877.200.4456 (U.S.) or 1.785.424.1732 (international), and the conference ID is 79795. Please dial in 10 minutes prior to the start of the call. Investors can also listen to a live audio webcast of the conference call and view the presentation slides by visiting the Events and Presentations section of the company's Investor Relations website. Replay information for Investor Conference Call: Investors can access replays of the conference call by visiting the Investor Relations website or by calling 1.800.934.4850 (U.S.) or 1.402.220.1178 (international) from noon on April 15 through 11:59 p.m. ET on April 25. Bank of America Bank of America is one of the world's leading financial institutions, serving individual consumers, small and middle-market businesses and large corporations with a full range of banking, investing, asset management and other financial and risk management products and services. The company provides unmatched convenience in the United States, serving approximately 66 million consumer and small business clients with approximately 4,300 retail financial centers, including approximately 2,700 lending centers, 2,600 financial centers with a Consumer Investment Financial Solutions Advisor and approximately 2,400 business centers; approximately 17,000 ATMs; and award-winning digital banking with approximately 40 million active users, including approximately 31 million mobile users. Bank of America is a global leader in wealth management, corporate and investment banking and trading across a broad range of asset classes, serving corporations, governments, institutions and individuals around the world. Bank of America offers industry leading support to approximately 3 million small business households through a suite of innovative, easy-to-use online products and services. The company serves clients through operations across the United States, its territories and approximately 35 countries. Bank of America Corporation stock (NYSE: BAC) is listed on the New York Stock Exchange. For more Bank of America news, including dividend announcements and other important information, visit the Bank of America newsroom and register for news email alerts. www.bankofamerica.com View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210415005486/en/ After Manchester City booked their place in the Champions League semi-finals on Wednesday night, Phil Foden took to social message to send a message to Kylian Mbappe ahead of the Sky Blues' tie with Paris Saint-Germain. Pep Guardiola's side beat Borussia Dortmund 4-2 on aggregate and progressed to the next round of the competition thanks to a 2-1 victory in Germany. "Are you ready?" Foden asked in a tweet, in which he tagged Mbappe. Despite the post having been quickly removed, it went viral on social media, with reports in England stressing that the post was uploaded by a social media company who manage Foden's account. For the time being, Mbappe has not responded to Foden's challenge, with the Manchester City midfielder reportedly being frustrated by the whole incident. Leading public health experts have warned the Australian population is unlikely to get COVID-19 vaccinations until the end of next year without a dramatic boost in Pfizer vaccine supplies. University of NSW epidemiologist Professor Mary-Louise McLaws said extra vaccine supplies were needed by September to get the general population vaccinated by May or June 2022. I dont think we will vaccinate our population until the end of next year, she said. Public health experts have warned the Australian population will not get vaccinated until the end of next year unless Pfizer vaccine supplies are boosted by September. Credit:Edwina Pickles The warning comes as the federal government looks to states and territories to set up mass vaccination centres as it goes back to the drawing board to work out how to complete its COVID-19 vaccination program. TOKYO As he visits Washington this week, it would seem as if Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga of Japan could take a victory lap. Mr. Suga is the first foreign leader to be invited to the White House by President Biden, who has vowed to reinvigorate alliances. Japan already had the distinction last month of being the first international destination for the new U.S. secretaries of state and defense. And Mr. Suga will not have to contend with threats of higher tariffs or the need for constant flattery that drove Mr. Bidens mercurial predecessor. But even as relations between the two countries are calming, Japan faces a perilous moment, with the United States prodding it to more squarely address the most glaring threat to stability in Asia: China. It is the latest step in an age-old dance between the two nations. Ever since the United States forged an alliance with Japan during its postwar occupation, Tokyo has sought reassurance of protection by Washington, while Washington has nudged Tokyo to do more to secure its own defense. SPRINGFIELD, Ore. Springfields Twisted River Saloon has appealed their citation, which comes after state officials say they violated several COVID-19 safety protocols. The company was recently fined $18,430, according to the Oregon Department of Consumer and Business Services. State officials say the restaurant put employees at risk. Multiple complaints against the business led to an inspection. MORE: TWISTED RIVER SALOON LOSES LIQUOR LICENSE FOR COVID-19 RULE VIOLATIONS Twisted River reportedly opened for indoor dining in early January and continued the practice through the end of February, which was during a time when Lane County was considered to be at the extreme risk level. The owner reportedly told inspectors he chose to reopen even though he knew it went against state requirements. Most employers in Oregon are striving to do the right thing by following on-the-job safety standards designed to reduce the risk to workers of COVID-19. We thank them for their efforts as part of a project we all share to defeat this virus, said Michael Wood, administrator for Oregon OSHA. As for those employers that insist on disregarding standards and putting workers at risk, we will continue to take enforcement action where appropriate. RELATED: ALONG CAME TRUDY REMAINS OPEN DESPITE FINES In addition to allowing indoor dining, Twisted River reportedly also failed to develop and implement an infection control plan, state officials said. This involves rearranging the work space to ensure physical distancing. Lastly, officials also said the company did not conduct any COVID-19 risk assessment to identify employees potential exposure to the virus and how to reduce it. Thank you for reading! Please purchase a subscription to read our premium content. If you have a subscription, please log in or sign up for an account on our website to continue. Source: Xinhua| 2021-04-15 22:47:55|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close Citizens pose for a photo during an activity themed on National Security Education Day at the Hong Kong Police College in south China's Hong Kong, on April 15, 2021. Hong Kong on Thursday embraced its first National Security Education Day after the law on safeguarding national security in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) came into force in mid-2020. Various activities, including lectures, exhibitions, mosaic walls and doors open days of disciplined services, were held to boost the public awareness of safeguarding national security in the global financial hub. (Xinhua/Li Gang) HONG KONG, April 15 (Xinhua) -- Hong Kong embraced its first National Security Education Day on Thursday after the law on safeguarding national security in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) came into force in mid-2020. WIDE PARTICIPATION Various activities, including lectures, exhibitions, mosaic walls and Open Days of disciplined services, were held to raise public awareness of safeguarding national security. The events, under the theme "Uphold National Security, Safeguard Our Home -- Improve Electoral System, Ensure Patriots Administering Hong Kong," were organized by the Committee for Safeguarding National Security of the HKSAR, which was established by the HKSAR government in July 2020. Five institutes of disciplined services - the Hong Kong Police Force, the Fire Services, the Correctional Services, the Customs and Excise, and the Immigration - were open to the public on Thursday. In the Hong Kong Police College, officers performed Chinese-style marching and held anti-terrorism drills. From Statue Square and Sha Tin Town Hall, people participated in forming a giant pattern of "Together We Safeguard Our Nation & Homeland" on mosaic walls. Educational activities also took place on campuses. At the HKFEW Wong Cho Bau Secondary School, students hoisted national flags, sang the national anthem, read display boards about national security, and joined online contests. "National security education will help children form correct values and national identity," Chim Hon-ming, the principal of Chiu Sheung School, Hong Kong, said. PEACE RESTORED Looking back at the past year, it has been a consensus in Hong Kong that the national security law opened a new chapter for the global financial hub. When Hong Kong was faced with unprecedented crises, the central authorities made resolute responses and passed the law on safeguarding national security in the HKSAR, which effectively restored stability in Hong Kong and helped the Hong Kong society get out of the shadow of violence, Chief Executive of the HKSAR Carrie Lam said Thursday. So Wing-on, president of Cross-Strait Peaceful Development Federation, still clearly remembered the social unrest in 2019. "People who dared to say they love the country were very likely to be assaulted (by rioters) ... and those messing up with Hong Kong did whatever they wanted," he said. "At that time, we eagerly anticipated the country would take action to bring Hong Kong back to normal." While Hong Kong has regained stability, So said national security education for the public is of particular significance. Yim Wai-ning, executive director of the Hong Kong Federation of Overseas Chinese Associations, said fact has proved the significance of the national security law to Hong Kong's prosperity and stability. Only when national security is safeguarded, will the implementation of "one country, two systems" continue, the well-being of Hong Kong compatriots be ensured, and the long-term peace and stability of Hong Kong be truly realized, Yim said. According to a survey conducted by local think-tank Bauhinia Institute, 85.7 percent of respondents agree that Hong Kong has the constitutional responsibility to safeguard national security and 78.6 percent of residents believe the Hong Kong society has become more peaceful since the national security law took effect. MORE EFFORTS NEEDED While Hong Kong has returned to peace and order, continued efforts should be made to safeguard national security and ensure Hong Kong's success will be sustainable. Luo Huining, director of the Liaison Office of the Central People's Government in the HKSAR, said the central authorities will remain committed to the responsibility of safeguarding national security and will, as always, lend full support to the HKSAR for its lawful crackdown on criminal activities endangering national security. He urged the HKSAR to earnestly discharge its constitutional obligation for safeguarding national security and asked all Hong Kong compatriots to fulfill their legal obligations of safeguarding national security. Although the society has largely resumed normalcy, Secretary for Security of the HKSAR government John Lee said it does not mean the national security risk has disappeared. Hong Kong should keep its guard up in case there is a resurgence of "Hong Kong independence," local terrorism and external interference, among others, Lee said. Commissioner of Police of the HKSAR government Chris Tang said no matter who conducts activities endangering national security, the police will bring the offender to justice. Enditem Founded by an Iraq War veteran to provide scholarships to the families of service members who were killed or badly wounded in war, Folds of Honor has awarded 29,000 scholarships since 2007 including 4,500 in the past 15 months. In 2020 amid the pandemic, Folds of Honor formed a partnership with Midwestern tomato and ketchup manufacturer Red Gold to support the non-profit with part of the proceeds from the sale of Folds of Honor brand ketchup. The initiative began with the popular 20 oz. plastic bottles offered by the ketchup company for sale to consumers at supermarkets and to restaurants, then quickly expanded to additional product offerings in packaging for restaurants. Within the first eight months of the partnership, Folds of Honor "Ketchup with a Cause" generated more than $100,000 to fund scholarships. "We are so humbled, so excited and so grateful for what Red Gold is doing to raise awareness for our cause and the meaningful impact that they have already made in such a short time", says Ben Leslie, Folds of Honor Executive Vice President. Most recently, Red Gold launched a new 1 oz. Folds of Honor ketchup dipping cup to help restaurant operators provide additional ketchup for take-out and delivery during the pandemic while the supply of traditional ketchup packets was in high demand. The dipping cups, proudly displaying the Folds of Honor logo also demonstrated to patrons that the restaurant stood for supporting military families even though the restaurants might be struggling through the hard times of the COVID pandemic. In critical times, Red Gold Folds of Honor ketchup is here to serve in more ways than just with a side of fries. "This is a great time for our country to unite as they insist on Red Gold's Folds of Honor Ketchup as an All-American brand with a cause that honors the sacrifice of our heroes with education as its legacy. I look forward to seeing Red Gold ketchup in every home and at restaurants across the nation," says Leslie. Red Gold is a family-owned American company who manufactures tomato products entirely in the U.S. The company has been producing ketchup and tomato products for nearly 80 years. Its origin was in service to American heroes fighting in WWII and was ready and willing to join the Folds of Honor team to support the worthy cause and to assure an ample supply of ketchup to America. For more information on Folds of Honor Ketchup for restaurants, visit https://redgoldfoods.com/foodservice/folds-of-honor For information on where to find Folds of Honor Ketchup at your local supermarket, visit https://redgoldtomatoes.com/foldsofhonor About Folds of Honor Folds of Honor is a 501(C)(3) nonprofit organization that provides educational scholarships to families of military men and women who have fallen or been disabled while on active duty in the United States armed forces. Our educational scholarships support private education tuition and tutoring for children in grades K-12, as well as higher education tuition assistance for spouses and dependents. Founded in 2007 by Lt Col Dan Rooney, a PGA member and F-16 fighter pilot currently stationed at Tyndall AFB Florida as a member of 301st Fighter Squadron who served three tours of duty in Iraq, Folds of Honor is proud to have awarded more than 29,000 scholarships in all 50 states, as well as Guam, Puerto Rico, and the Virgin Islands, including more than 4,500 in 2020 alone. For more information or to donate in support of a Folds of Honor scholarship, visit www.foldsofhonor.org About Red Gold, Four generations of the Reichart family have been producing the world's freshest, best-tasting tomato products since 1942. When the US entered WWII, the government asked citizens to step up and help the war effort and the call was answered. Since then, Red Gold has become the largest privately owned tomato processor in the nation with three state-of-the-art facilities in Elwood, Geneva, and Orestes, Indiana. The company also boasts a million-square-foot distribution center in Alexandria and operates the subsidiary RG Transport trucking fleet in Elwood. Red Gold partners with local family farms across Indiana, southern Michigan, and Northwest Ohio to sustainably produce premium quality canned tomatoes, ketchup, sauces, salsas, and juices for foodservice, private brands, brands, export, co-pack, club, and retail channels of distribution. The Red Gold family of consumer brands includes Red Gold, Redpack, Tuttorosso, Tomato Love, Sacramento, Huy Fong Sriracha, and Redneck Riviera 1776 BBQ. Superior Quality, Outstanding Service, and Operational Excellence are the shared values that contributed to the employee-created mission statement: "To produce the freshest, best tasting tomato products in the world." Visit the award-winning website for great recipes, tips and culinary inspiration: www.RedGoldTomatoes.com. SOURCE Red Gold, LLC Related Links http://www.redgoldtomatoes.com According to Gucci family members, the dashing men at the head of Ridley Scott's upcoming House of Gucci murder movie might've assassinated the family's reputation for fine taste in clothing, and they fear the film itself will cross a personal line. Speaking to the Associated Press, the great-grandchildren of Guccio Gucci the luxury clothing brand's founder and grandfather to Maurizio Gucci (Adam Driver), whose orchestrated murder at the hands of ex-wife Patrizia Reggiani (Lady Gaga) in 1995 anchors the film's plot say that the filmmakers didn't consult them when adapting their ancestors' stories for the big screen, and dressed them in ways that feel inauthentic. "We are truly disappointed. I speak on behalf of the family," Patrizia Gucci, one of Maurizio's second cousins, told the Associated Press on Wednesday. "They are stealing the identity of a family to make a profit, to increase the income of the Hollywood system... Our family has an identity, privacy. We can talk about everything, but there is a borderline that cannot be crossed." One such infraction, the report notes, is the film's costuming, which Patrizia Gucci said "doesn't resemble" the family's aesthetic particularly that of Aldo Gucci, played in the movie by Al Pacino. "My grandfather was a very handsome man, like all the Guccis, and very tall, blue eyes and very elegant," she continued, "He is being played by Al Pacino, who is not very tall already, and this photo shows him as fat, short, with sideburns, really ugly." When it comes to her father, Paolo Gucci (Jared Leto), Patrizia Gucci took offense at the unkempt hair and lilac corduroy suit the Oscar-winning actor (who's borderline unrecognizable in paparazzi shots) was seen wearing on the set: "Horrible, horrible. I still feel offended," she said. Lady Gaga/Twitter Patrizia Gucci also said that she reached out to the director's wife, Giannina Facio, for an explanation on the scope of the film, but hasn't received a reply. She said that Facio met with Gucci family members who haven't been involved with the fashion house since 1993 in the early 2000s with interest in a separate project focusing Aldo and Paolo, though it never came to fruition. Story continues Representatives for Scott, RSA Films, and United Artists Releasing did not provide EW with comment on the Gucci family's quotes. The Gucci family lost its stake in the brand when Maurizio Gucci sold his share to the Bahrain-based Investcorp. It is now owned by Kering, the CEO of which, Francois-Henri Pinault, is married to Salma Hayek, who has a small role in the movie as well. Under its current ownership, the fashion house is reportedly cooperating with production, and even opened its archives to the film for wardrobe and props. Various paparazzi photos released in recent weeks have shown Gaga, Driver, Leto, Hayek, and more filming on location in Italy, including what appears to be a scene featuring a marriage and a ride on a rowboat. House of Gucci is eyeing a release on November 24. Check out more from EW's The Awardist, featuring exclusive interviews, analysis, and our podcast diving into all the highlights from the year's best films. Related content: Prince Philip proudly served as Captain-General of the Royal Marines for 64-years. Prince Harry lasted for just 26 months in the role, which he accepted after Philip retired in 2017, before swanning off to California and accusing the Royal Family of racism as his grandfather lay in hospital fighting for life. Prince Andrew's despicable refusal to assist the FBI in their investigations into his paedophile best mate Jeffrey Epstein saw the military rightly run a mile from his ongoing involvement. After overwhelming pressure, he reluctantly agreed to defer an honorary Navy promotion to Admiral that he was due to receive when he turned 60. But this week, he demanded to wear the Admiral uniform to his father's funeral anyway, leaving the prospect of civilian Harry being the only senior member of the family in a bog-standard suit. Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh and Prince Harry watch the fly-past from the balcony of Buckingham Palace during Trooping the Colour, Queen Elizabeth II's Birthday Parade on June 14, 2014 I'm not for a second comparing the predicament of Harry and Andrew they are clearly very different. But the decisions both exiled princes have made come with very clear consequences. One of those consequences is about the right to take part in major occasions of state and family dressed in military uniform. It might not matter to you or me. Who cares what the male royals wear to Philip's funeral? But to the late Duke of Edinburgh, whose life was guided by the importance of his military experience during World War Two as a member of our greatest generation, it would have been of utmost importance. Prince Andrew in ceremonial dress at a service to mark the centenary of the RAF in London on July 10, 2018 (left); and Prince Harry attending Royal Albert Hall with Meghan in his dress as Captain General of the Royal Marines on March 7, 2020 (right) Prince Harry walks with his best man, the Duke of Cambridge, as he arrives at St George's Chapel at Windsor Castle for his wedding to Meghan Markle, May 19, 2018 So the decision for all the royals including Prince Charles, Princess Anne and Prince William to wear suits instead of their military garb on Saturday stinks to high heaven. The selfish, egotistical and 'me me me' positions of Andrew and Harry have forced the Queen to forego royal tradition, at a time when she needs this sort of crap to deal with least. Once again, the bad behaviour of his offspring is overshadowing Prince Philip's exemplary service and piling unneeded pressure on his grieving widow, who we must never forget, despite her boisterous appearance, is 94 herself. It's indicative of today's woke culture that the conclusion is that the rules must be changed to spare Harry's blushes and Andrew's gigantic ego. The royal couple who have done the nation proud this week is Prince Edward and his wife Sophie Wessex, whose reassuring public statements and steadfast support for the Queen in private got the tone just right. Watching Sophie, a former public relations executive who went through her own very bumpy entrance into the Royal Family, I couldn't help wondering how much better it would have been if Meghan had followed her path. Prince Andrew's despicable refusal to assist the FBI in their investigations into his paedophile best mate Jeffrey Epstein saw the military rightly run a mile from his ongoing involvement, says DAN WOOTTON (left) Instead, Harry and Meghan have to live with their decision to throw their flesh and blood under the bus to Oprah Winfrey. Sources close to the couple are reported to have told Heat Magazine this week of their regrets over the timing of the interview, saying the Sussexes 'wish things could have been different'. Well, I'm afraid to say it's far too little too late for those kinds of thoughts. After all, they went through with such an incendiary chat with their eyes wide open. Harry and Meghan were warned of the pressure of putting the Queen and Philip through such professional and personal trauma as the Duke battled ill health. Despite claims to the contrary, the interview took place AFTER Philip was admitted to hospital. Meghan tried to justify the decision by telling Oprah in the chicken pen that she'd attempted to call the Queen directly after learning the news. Her pal Oprah never asked the obvious follow up question of whether Her Majesty picked up the phone and if they had asked her permission to go ahead with the bombshell interview. That's highly unlikely. The moment he found out his grandfather had been admitted to hospital, Harry should have immediately called Oprah and postponed the interview. But the couple's craven desire to release their bombshells at the same moment as they revealed the sex of their unborn baby trumped what was the correct and decent thing to do. The Duke of York, Prince of Wales, Duke of Edinburgh, Princess Anne and the Earl of Wessex follow the coffin of the Queen Mother from Westminster Hall to Westminster Abbey in 2002 They will have to live with their decision and, while I, of course, sympathise with Harry for the loss of a dear grandfather, he cannot rewrite history. Speaking of a desperate attempt to change the narrative, on Monday I revealed on MailOnline how Andrew is hoping his re-emergence to publicly mark his father's death will help change public opinion and provide a path back to royal duties. But, as usual, his arrogance over the demand to wear the Admiral uniform that he hasn't been granted, first revealed by the Daily Mail's Royal Editor Rebecca English, shows how delusional he really is. Andrew's bumbling on camera interview on Sunday was another misstep. Why not release a tribute on paper, just like Princess Anne, Prince William and even his daughter Princess Eugenie? Until the disgraced Duke of York agrees to sit down with US law enforcement, as he has been falsely promising to do for years, and tell them EVERYTHING he knows about Epstein he should be banished from public life. So on Saturday we will see a family try to put their significant differences aside to rally around the Queen. But make no mistake, crisis and acrimony is bubbling just below the service. Meghan and Harry want vengeance for what they see as their mistreatment and won't rest until they believe justice has been served. Andrew wants to return to the spotlight, even with Ghislaine Maxwell's trial just around the corner, and there's only so much royal courtiers can do to stop him trying. What a great shame for the Queen that she no longer has her rock to knock some heads together and tell her wayward relatives to sort themselves out before they do long lasting damage to the monarchy. It's a disgrace that the needs of FBI-avoiding Andrew and petulant Harry risk overshadowing Prince Philip's life of service. LONDON, April 15, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Gate Capital Group Ltd is pleased to announce the expansion of its service offering together with investment opportunities via the launch of The Written Fund. The Fund's focus is to invest in equities utilising an active covered option writing strategy, in order to generate additional cashflow as well as managing entry and exit points. The Fund's objective is to achieve medium to long term capital appreciation. Option Writing allows an Investor the opportunity to generate superior risk adjusted returns on underlying equity positions. The Written Fund gives its investors the opportunity to benefit from a Covered Options Writing approach: accessing enhanced risk/reward opportunities in a regulated and diversified fund structure. The Written Fund's Portfolio Manager is Bruce Williams; a leading practitioner of Options investments, with over 30 years of experience in the use of Options as an integral part of portfolio management. According to Mr Williams: "Using Covered Options Writing as part of a diversified portfolio helps to increase the probability of more predictable returns, smoothing-out market volatility." The Written Fund will be actively managed; investing most of its assets in a portfolio of equities and equity-related securities, which are listed on recognized exchanges in the UK, Europe and USA. The portfolio will be pursuing an active Options Writing strategy. The Written Fund utilises a UCITS structure, with 2 Classes in 3 Currencies (GBP/EUR/USD). It is ISA eligible. The Written Fund's management company is Equity Trustees Fund Services (Ireland) Ltd. Administration and custody is provided by Societe Generale (Dublin). The Investment Manager of The Written Fund is Gate Capital Group Ltd, an investment management boutique, based in London, serving discerning clients. Mr Williams comments that writing Options in a structured way allows investors to lower the cost-base of owning equities, as the cashflow received effectively lowers the acquisition price. Some studies suggest that the use of Options can enhance the overall risk adjusted return of an equity investment. This aspect may explain why the percentage of individual American investors using Options, in some form in their investment portfolios, has risen to 26% (from 18% in 2018); as they seek to access investment opportunities as well as managing risks/returns more productively. In the UK, the use of Options by individual investors is not as pronounced. For more information, please visit: The Written Fund or Gate Capital Group. SOURCE Gate Capital Group Ltd Related Links www.gatecapitalgroup.com Gearoid O Loingsigh criticises mandatory hotel quarantine, likening it to a prison sentence and saying the time to introduce it was last year inferring that he would have used it then State quarantine is window dressing (Irish Examiner, Letters, April 13). Pardon my French but what a load of horse manure. The science and the logic is very clear. With 2.4% of the small numbers quarantining testing positive for Covid-19 similar to the current national positivity rate the conclusion is irrefutable. And the available science tells us that while vaccines provide incredible levels of protection, those availing of them can still transmit the virus. With a low, relatively speaking, number of people inoculated in this country, the risks of importing the virus, not to mention the more deadly variants, is very high in the absence of border controls. Mr O Loingsigh, writing from Colombia in South America, says Ireland has been a disaster on Covid-19. This from a country where its major city of Bogata, with 8m inhabitants, went into strict lockdown last Saturday as the city battles a third wave of the pandemic. To date, only 2.4m of the countrys 50m have received at least one dose of a Covid-19 vaccine. Does your letter writer think it is OK in those circumstances to come back to Ireland without an accredited form of vaccination and that he would self-isolate for 14 days of his own accord? Tom McElligott Listowel Co Kerry Rubbish solution to dog poo problem Local county officials and councillors appear to have differing views when it comes to providing rubbish bins and dog poo bins in public places, according to Sean ORiordans report Concern at littering of beauty spot (Irish Examiner, April 13). Surely, every decent, civic-minded person will bring their litter and their dogs poo home to deposit within their household rubbish. How come then that public money is being requested to fund litter bins for the non-civic-minded litter louts. This simply does not make sense. Such bins need daily management, otherwise a careless deposit of a cigarette or match could cause serious fire damage, resulting in the replacement of the bin, maybe the pole to which it is fixed, or possibly the call-out of the fire brigade. People who deposit such rubbish either on the ground or in a bin provided are undoubtedly in the minority. Eradication of litter is a very old chestnut to crack but one that needs cooperation of all from an early age. Education of our young is imperative and the re-education of our not-so-young seems to be a necessity. Im sorry to say that litter wardens probably a necessary evil are so few; there is nothing like the sight of one to change peoples attitude. If the Killarney National Park, a pride of Kerry, can be managed without the unsightly mounting of litter bins, then the comparatively smaller park that is the Haulbowline Amenity Park can follow their good example. Joe Burns Monkstown Co Cork Frustration trying to make a donation Ive had it. In the past two or three weeks Ive tried to donate to several charities online and by post. They all ask a lot of irrelevant information which I have no intention of giving. They want name, address, email address, and phone number(s). They dont need these to accept donations, so why? The online ones are even worse. By post you can ignore details and cross out the bits in the form, but the online sites are set up so that you have to give the information requested or you cant donate. Ive even had one tell me to use a real phone number when I tried every version of mobile and landline I have. Another rejected a partial address and another told me my address was wrong. I may be stupid, but I do know where I live. Ive even had a donation rejected because I refused to sign up for monthly payments. Of course the reasoning is that they want all this information is so they can flood me with totally unwanted, useless information and requests for repeat donations. I have decided that I wont ever donate online again to anyone and will only put a cheque in the post without any information. Pat Browne Skehard Rd Cork Government will pay price for housing crisis There are 300 houses in need of refurbishment in Limerick More empty homes than homeless in Limerick (Irish Examiner, April 12). As a visitor to this beautiful city, I have witnessed a lot of people sleeping on the streets. There are no reasons to justify all of this. Unfortunately, this wanton failure by this Government and their neglect of the people of Limerick means, come election time, this issue will have disproportionate consequences and will open the door for those who support right-wing parties of old. Noel Harrington Kinsale Co Cork Its a tax not a TV licence fee Noel OLeary Why should I pay my licence fee? (Irish Examiner, Letters April 14) writes that by withdrawing DAB services, RTE has broken its (implied) contract to provide such services. According to RTEs website, the payment is collected by An Post, appointed by the Minister for Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport, and Media and monies collected go to this government department, which in turn pays over 85% of this to RTE to carry out its public service commitments. Taxes have been defined as involuntary fees levied on individuals or corporations and enforced by a government entity. Let us stop the nonsense of referring to the fee here as a licence it is a tax pure and simple, backed by the laws of the State, and I wish Mr OLeary luck in enforcing his contract. It might be much more pertinent to ask what rationale a public sector entity such as RTE uses to decide, for example, how it justifies significant six-figure sums paid to individuals, be they staff or contractors, providing their talents to said public body, while at the same time curtailing other services and constantly harping on about the level, and collection rates, of the licence/tax. Kevin Curran Tower Cork Credit: CC0 Public Domain Lung cancer is the most common cause of cancer deaths, accounting for about a third of all tumor-related deaths. Adenocarcinomas, a non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), account for about 40 percent of cancer diagnoses, but few treatments are available for the disease. A team of investigators led by Elena Levantini, Ph.D., a research associate in Hematology-Oncology in the laboratory of Daniel Tenen MD, at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC), evaluated a novel agent, PTC596, capable of decreasing tumor growth in preclinical studies performed on a mouse model of mutant K-RAS lung cancer. The researchperformed in collaboration with the Cancer Science Institute of Singapore at the National University of Singapore (CSI NUS) were published today in the journal Communications Biology. The findings, which represent a comprehensive snapshot of the tumor's components, will facilitate the development of novel therapies to overcome relapse and tumor progression in patients with NSCLC. Using single cell RNA sequencing methodology, Levantini and colleagues sampled the whole transcriptomethe full set of RNA molecules expressed by a cellof individual tumor cells from the team's murine model and from clinical pulmonary specimens. In addition to highlighting a high degree of similarity between the species, the scientists also identified a specific population of tumor cells in both mice and humans present only in tumors positive for the mutated oncogene K-RAS, and not in healthy lung cells. Next, the team used the murine model to evaluate a novel therapy currently in Phase 1b clinical trials. The drug, PTC596, aims to eliminate cancer cells by inhibiting the activity of the BMI1 oncogene. "Identifying these molecular networks underlying cancer is an important step toward producing new targeted drugsso-called molecular or personalized therapy," said Levantini, who is also an Instructor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School (HMS). "Currently, most patients receive generalized chemotherapy treatments which do not target the specific molecules involved in the tumor process, which can also cause damage to healthy cells. Until we are able to decipher the complexity of the tumor cell subpopulations, we will not be able to design targeted therapeutic options to decrease the number of patients who experience tumor recurrence." Levantini and colleagues previously identified the key role BMI1 plays in tumor growth. With the work published today, the researchers have paved the way for future clinical applications for using the new therapeutic option in a relevant subset of lung cancer patients with K-RAS mutated. Levantini stresses, however, that further careful validation is required before proceeding to treat patients with the new therapeutic option. The team's findings could have important implications for other cancers as well, given that the activity of the oncogene BMI1 is also significantly increased in other subtypes of lung cancers, as well as in other solid tumors (skin cancer, breast, colon and intestinal, and in glioblastoma) as well as in leukemias and lymphomas. Explore further Researchers inhibit tumor growth in new subtype of lung cancer More information: Giorgia Maroni et al. Identification of a targetable KRAS-mutant epithelial population in non-small cell lung cancer, Communications Biology (2021). Journal information: Communications Biology Giorgia Maroni et al. Identification of a targetable KRAS-mutant epithelial population in non-small cell lung cancer,(2021). DOI: 10.1038/s42003-021-01897-6 In urging caution ahead of Americas 2003 invasion of Iraq, then-Secretary of State Colin Powell warned President George W. Bush that if we introduced new chaos by overthrowing Saddam Hussein and his murderous regime, wed be responsible for whatever came next. You break it, you own it, he said. Bush, tragically, pushed forward anyway and succeeded in both toppling a tyrant and sending Iraq straight into the abyss, with thousands of our troops and nearly a trillion dollars and our international standing right with it. U.S. forces would remain in Iraq for eight years before President Obama pulled the last troops out by December 2011. Disaster ensued, of course. Filling the vacuum left by our departure, ISIS introduced a level of barbarism to the region that not even the war-weary Iraqis themselves had imagined possible. Even as the terror rose throughout the region, Obama refused to reengage in Iraq beyond eventually sending a token force of 5,000 troops back, insisting that Iraq itself would have to fight this new war. In time, Iraq did just that, declaring victory over ISIS in 2017. President Trump, continuing Obamas policy of keeping our troop levels low, began withdrawing those forces again in 2018, though precise figures of how many and how soon were not disclosed. In 2018 Trump declared ISIS was defeated in neighboring Syria as well. Against this backdrop, President Biden has announced that the remaining troops in the other war launched after 9/11 in Afghanistan, and on much stronger grounds will be home by Sept. 11, the 20th anniversary of al-Qaidas monstrous attack on the United States. There are roughly 2,500 troops there now, with another 1,000 members of the Special Forces. I'm now the fourth U.S. president to preside over a troop presence in Afghanistan - two Republicans, two Democrats, Biden said Wednesday. I will not pass this responsibility to a fifth. The United States has already agreed to remove our troops, under a deal negotiated last year by the Taliban and President Trump, who had steadily reduced our footprint there. Many had hoped Biden would reverse that position, however. Were glad he didnt. Trumps basic instincts on ending forever wars were correct. His call in November, however, to bring the troops home by Christmas brought many objections, including by this editorial board. Ending the war there is not something that should be done without careful and deliberate planning by competent military experts to guarantee the safety of our troops, protect our allies and preserve the successes of the mission, we wrote then, noting that Trumps sudden news came a broad purge of military leaders. Devoid of an overarching foreign policy, the presidents rush to end our longest war smacked of expediency. Bidens decision, explained in a speech Wednesday, resolves those concerns, and we support his decision to end the war in Afghanistan. He is taking enormous risks in doing so. Republican critics including many deeply knowledgeable about foreign policy, such as Rep. Michael McCaul of Texas have blasted his decision, raising the specter of another ISIS-like force rushing to fill the vacuum our troops absence could create, as happened in Iraq. These are reasonable fears. Undoubtedly, Afghanistan will face terrible trials in the months and years ahead. But to those objections, we simply ask: If 20 years, and four administrations, havent been enough to let Afghanistan stand on its own, why would another six months, or two years, or even a fifth administration succeed where so many have already failed? Nearly 50 years ago, as South Vietnam faced oblivion at the hands of the North, its government called on President Ford to keep Americas commitments to help the South should its very survival be threatened. Congress said no, and the horrors that followed as the North Vietnamese overwhelmed their enemies and sent millions into re-education camps are enough to pull tears down the cheeks of even the most stoic. Bitter as the knowledge was, what Congress knew then and Biden knows now is that sending troops and treasure back into Vietnam might have prevented the Souths collapse for a season or a year, but that a nation that cannot stand on its own will eventually fall. What will happen after America withdraws from Afghanistan? We can hope the investments made over the past 20 years the better schools and roads, the newly respected human rights for women and others, and stronger civil institutions will be a bulwark in a new Afghanistans efforts to remain free of the Taliban. If enough Afghans yearn to be free of tyranny, then perhaps Biden will have gambled correctly that our continued diplomatic and humanitarian engagement with Afghanistan even without troops on the ground will be enough to stop a complete collapse of the government in Kabul and render impossible new terrorist attacks against America and our allies. No president can predict the future, but this one has concluded reasonably that no war should continue forever, either. Source: Xinhua| 2021-04-16 02:09:21|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close The file photo taken on May 27, 2020 shows Iranian President Hassan Rouhani addressing the opening session of Iran's new parliament in Tehran, Iran. (Photo by Ahmad Halabisaz/Xinhua) Iran is "not looking for a nuclear bomb," despite its recent decision to enrich uranium with 60-percent purity, said Iranian President Hassan Rouhani. TEHRAN, April 15 (Xinhua) -- Iranian President Hassan Rouhani on Thursday dismissed concerns about Iran's plan to enrich uranium to 60-percent purity, saying that "we are not looking for a nuclear bomb." "Some have interpreted that 60 percent is a means to reaching 90 percent (of uranium enrichment). It is not correct. It is wrong to think that we are paving the way for the production of the atomic bomb," Rouhani was quoted by official IRNA news agency as saying. "Today, if we want, we can enrich 90 percent (uranium), but ... we are not looking for a nuclear bomb," he said. The file photo taken on April 9, 2007 show the general view of the Natanz nuclear plant, some 300 km south of Tehran, Iran. (Xinhua/Liang Youchang) The United States should return to the 2015 nuclear deal, or the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), and remove anti-Iran sanctions, he said. On Tuesday, Iran informed the International Atomic Energy Agency of its plan to enrich uranium at 60-percent purity following the attack on its Natanz nuclear facility. Also, Iran said that it would install an additional 1,000 centrifuges with 50 percent higher enrichment capacity at the nuclear facility. Rouhani said Wednesday that Iran's plan to launch IR-6 centrifuges and 60-percent uranium enrichment were "a response to the evils" committed by other countries. The photo taken on April 9, 2021 shows a meeting of the Joint Commission of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) in Vienna, Austria. (EU Delegation in Vienna/Handout via Xinhua) A blackout struck the Natanz enrichment facility in central Iran on Sunday morning. Iranian authorities have accused Israel of the recent "sabotage." Under the 2015 nuclear deal, Iran was allowed to enrich uranium only up to 3.67-percent of purity and its stockpile should not be more than 300 kg. However, in a response to the U.S. withdrawal from the deal and imposition of sanctions, Iran on Jan. 4 this year started to produce uranium enrichment to 20 percent of purity and the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran announced on April 3 that its stockpile has hit 50 kg. Thank you for reading! On your next view you will be asked to log in to your subscriber account or create an account and subscribepurchase a subscription to continue reading. Source: Xinhua| 2021-04-15 10:54:20|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close SEOUL, April 15 (Xinhua) -- South Korea's export logged the biggest first-quarter figure as the COVID-19 pandemic raised demand for tech products, medical supplies and automobiles, customs office data showed Thursday. Export, which accounts for about half of the export-driven economy, reached 146.5 billion U.S. dollars in the January-March quarter, up 12.5 percent from the same quarter of last year, according to Korea Customs Service. It was higher than any first-quarter reading as the pandemic changed the way of people's lives across the world. The pandemic encouraged people to work from home and attend online classes, boosting demand for computers, mobile phones and semiconductors. Demand globally increased for testing kits and medical supplies for the COVID-19, while the prolongation of tougher quarantine measures led to a recovery in the vehicle sale. Chip export advanced 13.4 percent in the first quarter on a yearly basis, while those for cars and telecommunication devices, such as smartphone, surged over 30 percent. The shipment of medicine and medical supplies soared 70 percent in the quarter, and precision machinery shipment jumped 20.9 percent. Export to China, South Korea's biggest trading partner, took up 24.8 percent of the total in the first quarter. It was followed by the United States with 15.5 percent and the European Union (EU) with 11.0 percent each. Enditem (Natural News) Some leaders in the Roman Catholic Church are warning their laity not to be injected with experimental Wuhan coronavirus (Covid-19) chemicals from Johnson & Johnson (J&J) or AstraZeneca because the jabs contain ingredients derived from aborted human babies. Archbishop Allen H. Vigneron and a coalition of six other Catholic leaders across the state of Michigan say that many people do not even know the so-called vaccines contain aborted fetal tissue because public health officials are failing to be honest and transparent about it. They utilized in the design, production, development, and confirmatory testing a cell line that originated from tissue taken from an aborted baby, the Catholic leaders warn about the two injections from J&J and AstraZeneca. These vaccines may be received only if there are no other alternatives. To learn more about the dangers and ineffectiveness of vaccines made from aborted human fetal tissue, visit ChemicalViolence.com. Catholic leaders say its morally permissible to become a GMO human with Pfizer, Moderna jabs As for the more widely administered messenger RNA (mRNA) injections made by Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna, the Catholic leaders say that these are preferable because neither of them contains cell lines originating in tissue that was taken from aborted babies. It is morally permissible to receive the vaccines developed by Pfizer and Moderna, they declared. Even though both the Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna jabs were tested using cell lines from aborted fetal tissue, the Catholic leaders claim that this connection to the abortion is very remote, and thus morally acceptable in the eyes of the god of Roman Catholicism. it is important to keep in mind that there are varying levels of responsibility, they claim as justification for why the one pair of jabs is better than the other pair. Greater moral responsibility lies with the researchers than with those who receive the vaccine. Because J&J and AstraZeneca directly synthesized aborted baby body parts into their vaccine formulas as opposed to just using the tissue for testing purposes like Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna did, the latter companies injections are what Catholics should opt for, if possible, the leaders say. The vaccines developed by Johnson & Johnson and AstraZeneca are more morally problematic. Big Tech censoring personal reports about health damage caused by Covid-19 injections As for the litany of health risks associated with all of these injections, the Catholic leaders failed to warn their laity about any of them, instead choosing to focus on the immorality of choosing J&J or AstraZeneca over Pfizer-BioNTech or Moderna. This could be due to the fact that reports about serious adverse events caused by the injections are being silenced all across social media, including on Facebook where users personal reports about side effects are being fact-checked or censored. According to reports, Facebook fact-checked a womans post about the serious adverse reactions she suffered immediately after getting injected. One week later, she passed away. On March 10, Denise Penrod wrote about multiple side effects she suffered after getting jabbed: The vaccine is killing me today. My arm hurts, beyond exhausted, headache, stomach cramps and earaches. Multiple people told me that I looked pale today. Yesterday, I was fine but today its taking a toll on me. Facebook quickly plastered up a warning over Penrods post stating that COVID-19 vaccines go through many tests for safety and effectiveness before theyre approved. Source: World Health Organization. Just a few days later, Penrods safe and effective vaccine injection killed her, defying Facebooks claim that this is impossible because of all the tests for safety and effectiveness that her jab supposedly underwent before being plunged into her arm. According to Penrods obituary, she passed away unexpectedly on March 17, one week after her injection. She was only 25 years old. Sources for this article include: BigLeaguePolitics.com NaturalNews.com SmithAndWalkerFH.com Sacha Baron Cohen and Maria Bakalova reunited for a Borat Subsequent Moviefilm special featuring never-before-seen footage, which will premiere 'soon' on Amazon Prime Video. Just like the movie itself, the special comes with an extra long title: Borat Supplemental Reportings Retrieved From Floor of Stable Containing Editing Machine. In it, the Kazakh reporter/spy Borat Margaret Sagdiyev cuddles with Amazon's Alexa ('tiny woman trapped in a tower') and learns about feminism from his Texan hosts. 'Jagshemash!' Sacha Baron Cohen (L) and Maria Bakalova (R) reunited for a Borat Subsequent Moviefilm special featuring never-before-seen footage, which premieres 'soon' on Amazon In another scene, Borat's 15-year-old daughter Tutar - played by the Bulgarian 24-year-old sensation - asks a make-up artist to make her 'look like R. Kelly.' There's more from babysitter Jeanise Jones, who was so sympathetic to fans they crowdfunded $185K for her (on top of her $3,600 paycheck) through GoFundMe. The 49-year-old Englishman breaks character after being cornered in his van by an angry mob during a scene shot at a far-right, anti-lockdown rally in Washington State on June 27. 'Go, go, go, go. Just keep going. If you stop, youre going to be in a violent situation,' Sacha warned the driver in the clip. 'These liberal snowflakes have crazy ideas about women!' In it, the Kazakh reporter/spy Borat Margaret Sagdiyev cuddles with Amazon's Alexa ('tiny woman trapped in a tower') and learns about feminism from his Texan hosts Makeover! In another scene, Borat's 15-year-old daughter Tutar - played by the Bulgarian 24-year-old sensation - asks a make-up artist to make her 'look like R. Kelly' Scene stealer: There's more from babysitter Jeanise Jones (L), who was so sympathetic to fans they crowdfunded $185K for her (on top of her $3,600 paycheck) through GoFundMe 'We're going to be in a violent situation': The 49-year-old Englishman breaks character after being cornered in his van by an angry mob during a scene shot at a far-right, anti-lockdown rally in Washington State on June 27 Back in October, Cohen shared the same scary footage on The Late Show, confessing that this 'was the first movie where I've had to wear a bulletproof vest.' 'One of the guys who stormed the stage went for his pistol,' the controversial comedian explained to host Stephen Colbert. 'And luckily enough there was a very brave guard who actually grabbed his hand, leaned in and said, "It's not worth it, buddy." That worked! So that was very nice of him to do that.' Larry Charles' sequel to Sacha's hit 2006 mockumentary comedy earned between $10-20M and scored a 'certified fresh' 85% critic approval rating (out of 295 reviews) on Rotten Tomatoes. Scary! Back in October, Sacha shared the same footage on The Late Show, confessing that this 'was the first movie where I've had to wear a bulletproof vest' Cohen explained to host Stephen Colbert (L): 'One of the guys who stormed the stage went for his pistol...And luckily enough there was a very brave guard who actually grabbed his hand, leaned in and said, "It's not worth it, buddy." That worked!' Cohen and eight other Borat writers will compete for the best adapted screenplay trophy at the 93rd Academy Awards, which air April 25 on ABC. Maria was 'so grateful' to receive a nod for best supporting actress and she'll face off against Glenn Close, Olivia Colman, Amanda Seyfried, and Youn Yuh-jung. And for his role as Abbie Hoffman in The Trial of the Chicago 7, the 6ft3in funnyman will compete for best supporting actor against Daniel Kaluuya, Leslie Odom Jr., Paul Raci, and Lakeith Stanfield. Heartwarming: Larry Charles' sequel to the controversial comedian's hit 2006 mockumentary comedy earned between $10-20M and scored 85% on Rotten Tomatoes Who will win? Sacha and eight other Borat writers will compete for the best adapted screenplay trophy at the 93rd Academy Awards, which air April 25 on ABC 'Wow wa we waa!' Maria was 'so grateful' to receive a nod for best supporting actress and she'll face off against Glenn Close, Olivia Colman, Amanda Seyfried, and Youn Yuh-jung Monday marked the 32nd anniversary of the death of the late political and social activist, and Sacha paid his respects via Twitter. 'Remembering the courage and wisdom of Abbie Hoffman, who the world lost 32 years ago today,' Cohen wrote. '"Democracy is not something you believe in or a place to hang your hat, but it's something you do. You participate. If you stop doing it, democracy crumbles."' Different movie: And for his role as Abbie Hoffman in The Trial of the Chicago 7, Cohen will compete for best supporting actor against Daniel Kaluuya, Leslie Odom Jr., Paul Raci, and Lakeith Stanfield Patrick Merryman started his clothing line Marlboro.NY just last year, but hes already made quite a statement. The hero piece of his debut collection, a long-sleeve cotton t-shirt, declares in capital letters: God Loves Upstate New York. On a hooded sweatshirt, a cheeky, winking apple serves as a crest of sorts, presenting a stylish dichotomy: Its both a satire of New York City and an upstate salute. Something clicked where I was like, man, there should be way more pride in where youre from when youre from upstate New York. I said to my wife that Theres like way more to New York than the Big Apple and I started to just put that on stuff, he recently said via Zoom. Well, if Merrymans right and God does, in fact, love upstate New York, He isnt the only one. After 2020s real estate boom rocked the region, sending a steady stream of city dwellers north to the Hudson Valley, a crop of regionally branded and inspired goods seemed to follow suit. Merchandise created and sold from Albany all the way south to Brooklyn which isnt, in fact, upstate at all for anyone out there challenged in geography seems to be cashing in on the apparent regional marketing cachet of upstate. But 30-year-old Merryman, who works full-time as the Director of Digital Media at Hawkins International Public Relations, didnt set out to become the unofficial outfitter of transplants and ex-pats when he launched Marlboro.NY, named for the Ulster County hamlet where he was raised. Courtesy of Cameron Smith The goal was to make the target audience not a cool person, Merryman explained. I wanted to make clothes for my dad ... for people my mom knows. I wanted it to feel like something you might have grabbed at a thrift store or that your dad would have given to you when it didnt fit him anymore. Thats definitely whos buying it. Despite not targeting the cool set, they came calling anyway. In September, a mention on The Strategist, New York Magazines website devoted to online shopping, in which Chloe Anello called the brand essentially an ode to upstate New York, resulted in a hundred sales of the God Loves Upstate New York t-shirt, according to Merryman. I sold a lot to the Brooklynites and people who are in Brooklyn and transplanted [to the Hudson Valley], he explained. Trademarking an upstate ethos A few years before Merryman called upon his hometown for aesthetic inspiration, Kingston boutique Hamilton & Adams tapped into the areas branding power with a playful spin on Netflix and Chill, 2015-era internet slang. The success of co-owner Andrew Addotta and Clark Chaines Upstate & Chill merchandise (yes, theyve trademarked it) proved that the interest in upstate pride had no chill, as the kids say. The shop now sells t-shirts, hoodies, mugs, flags, hats, pint glasses and more printed with Kingston, Hudson Valley and New York State insignia, which is responsible for a whopping 40 percent of total sales, Addotta recently told Times Union: Hudson Valley. People across all demographics will buy the t-shirts, the mugs, whatever it may be and even before we opened, we knew that even though there are plenty of people living and visiting here, we were gonna have to have a broad assortment in order to be able to capture their interest. It was never gonna just be a boutique driven store focusing on one segment of society, he explained. Seeing stock with local branding triumph was a big level up for Addotta, he explained, causing him to double down. We focused on expanding the offering there, reducing what we were buying from other brands. It helps us support other local people; our candles are made in Catskill, our t-shirts are printed here in Kingston, he said. Compas Life Go farther north to Albany and youll find a different upstate, but the same old push for retailers to capture and capitalize on regional pride. After the success of a green t-shirt that read Upstate of Mind at a local market, Compas Life co-founders Tim Fealey and John Schildbach switched gears in 2020 to focus their business exclusively on upstate branded apparel and accessories. They, too, have trademarked their collection. (And yes, the brand is spelled with just one s.) Once we started to really build around it, everything kind of went up, Fealey said, noting that in recent years Compas Life has shipped their Upstate of Mind merchandise to 30 different states and Europe. I feel like theres been this resurgence of these little towns. People are proud and even if theyre not from there, when they go there, theyre like, Oh yeah, I was there. It was cool. Like, I will wear that on a t-shirt. Not ironically, Feasley explained. It seems everyone is cashing in on the selling power of Hudson Valley and points north, even if theyre nowhere near it. In the wilds of Williamsburg, Brooklyn, upstate-branded merchandise lines the shelves at Upstate Stock, a coffee shop and boutique. Products like Hunter Mountain Red Clover Solid Cologne and Minnewaska Dogwood Flowering Coconut Wax Candle which is actually made in Brooklyn and then sold in a store located 93.4 miles from Minnewaska State Park are displayed next to shirts that read Greenpoint and Williamsburg. Its a sign that the regions got a lot more to offer than just real estate. But for Merryman, the Hudson Valley is more than a business opportunity, it embodies something far too empyreal to fully ever capture on a t-shirt. Upstate New York can make you feel like an early settler. Like youre finding different things for the first time. You park your car in Cold Spring and decide youre just gonna walk in and out of antique shops all day and suddenly youre like Wait is this what were supposed to do? Should we be antiquers? Should we just quit our jobs? It takes like five minutes to turn you into a Portlandia character, he explained with a laugh. The whole area is making you feel like I think Im doing everything wrong, and that is the beauty of what upstate New York is. Chandigarh: The Punjab and Haryana High Court today granted interim bail to Ryan International Group CEO Ryan Pinto, and his parents, founding chairman Augustine Pinto and managing director Grace Pinto, in connection with the killing of a 7-year-old student in a Gurgaon school run by the group. The court has also asked the CBI, which is probing the case, to submit a report in the matter on December 5. "High Court Justice Surinder Gupta today granted interim bail to them (the three trustees) till December 5," said Arshdeep Singh Cheema, who along with Sandeep Kapur, appeared for the Pinto family. They have also been asked by the court to join the investigation whenever called by the CBI, Cheema said. "The CBI has also been asked by the high court to submit a report in this matter on December 5," said Cheema. On September 28, the high court had stayed the arrest of the three trustees of the Ryan group, who had sought anticipatory bail in this case. Ryan Pinto, and his parents had approached the High Court on September 16, seeking anticipatory bail in connection with the student's killing. Class 2 student Pradhuman Thakur was found with his throat slit in a school washroom on September 8. Schoolbus conductor Ashok Kumar was arrested in connection with the crime. There was nation-wide outrage over the child's killing and allegations were levelled against the school management also. On September 25, the High Court had impleaded CBI as a respondent in a petition seeking bail for the three Ryan International Group trustees. The Haryana government had earlier recommended a CBI probe in the matter. The premier investigating agency took over the case on September 22. For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. Friends of Tseng Yi-lin speak to reporters at the Seoul Central District Court in southern Seoul, Wednesday. The court sentenced a man to eight years in prison for causing a car accident under the influence, which resulted in the death of the Taiwanese student. Yonhap A man has been sentenced to eight years in prison for causing a car accident under the influence that resulted in the death of a Taiwanese student studying here last year, a Seoul court said Thursday. The Seoul Central District Court on Wednesday handed down the prison term to the 52-year-old man, surnamed Kim, on charges of violating the anti-DUI law. The man was indicted for hitting and killing Tseng Yi-lin, a 28-year-old Taiwanese woman, while drunk driving in the southern Seoul ward of Gangnam on Nov. 6. Tseng, a doctoral student studying theology at a Seoul university, was crossing a crosswalk at the time of the accident. The driver was found to have violated the traffic signal and was driving faster than allowed. The deadly crash sparked public outrage in and out of Korea after her family posted a petition calling for tough punishment for the driver on the website of Cheong Wa Dae. During a court hearing, Kim admitted to his crime but pleaded for leniency, claiming that he had difficulty driving at that time because a contact lens he was wearing on his left eye caused trouble and his right eye was in poor condition following cornea transplant surgery. Dismissing his plea, the court chastised the man, saying that he should have driven more carefully under the circumstances and that his drunk driving was all the more inexcusable. It also pointed out that he had a brush with the law twice in the past for similar offenses. "A young woman had to suffer sudden death at age 28. It is hard to fathom the shock and grief her family back home had to experience," the court said. It is deemed unusual that the court levied a heavier sentence than the six years sought by prosecutors. After the ruling, the victim's attorney said while they welcomed the ruling, the penalty for DUI offenses should be strengthened to prevent similar cases from happening. "I think an eight-year prison sentence is still lenient (for the accused), considering a life sentence became possible by law," one of the victim's friends, surnamed Park, said. "I don't know how the punishment can possibly compare to the life my friend lost." In 2018, South Korea revised its Road Traffic Act after a high-profile accident in which a young Army conscript was killed by a drunk driver in the southeastern port city of Busan. Under the revised law, DUI offenses resulting in deaths can be punished up to life imprisonment. (Yonhap) The millionaire founder of internet hosting firm UKFast has been charged with another count of rape involving accusations from nearly 30 years ago. Lawrence Jones, 53, will appear in court next week for allegedly raping someone in Salford in 1993. In February the former chief executive from Hale, Greater Manchester, pleaded not guilty to raping a woman at a Manchester city centre hotel in 2010. And in January he also pleaded not guilty to sexually assaulting the woman by touching her on her thighs when she did not consent on a date in 2013. Lawrence Jones, 53, will appear in court next week for allegedly raping someone in Salford in 1993 (pictured at Manc Lawrence Jones, the former CEO of Manchester-based UKFast, leaves Manchester Magistrates Court with his wife Gail in January The six charges facing Lawrence Jones Rape: Salford, 1993 (plea pending) Rape: Manchester, 2020 (denied) Sexual assault: 2013 (denied) Sexual assault: Snowdonia, 2010 (denied) Sexual assault: Snowdonia, 2010 (denied) Sexual assault: Cheshire, 2010-2012 (denied) Advertisement Jones also denied three other sexual assault charges relating to a second person. He is alleged to have intentionally touched her in an intimate area while they were in Snowdonia, Wales, between March 2010 and October 2010. Jones is also alleged to have intentionally touched the female in Snowdonia, Wales, again in 2010. He is also accused of intentionally touching the woman in an intimate area in Hale Barns, Cheshire, between October 2010 and January 2012. A trial for these charges has been pencilled for February 2022. Jones released a statement in January when he was charged with the initial offences. It said: 'Approximately eighteen months ago, I contacted the police and was interviewed voluntarily because I became aware of rumours circulating about me that although false were extremely damaging. 'I have fully co-operated with the police throughout, and am determined to ensure that my name is cleared. 'In the circumstances, at this time it would not be appropriate to say any more, other than to state clearly that I did not do what is being alleged.' Chennai: The Health Secretary of Tamil Nadu, Dr. J Radhakrishnan said on Thursday (April 15) that the people in the state do not have to worry because of the copious availability of medication to treat COVID-19 and other ailments in the state. Addressing the media a day after Tamil Nadu saw its highest number of daily Covid-19 cases since the pandemic began, the Health Secretary reassured the public about the states robust healthcare system and the availability of beds right from Public health centers to secondary care hospitals among others. On Wednesday, Tamil Nadu witnessed 7,819 cases, which took the active cases to 54,315. Urging the public to not panic over the rising cases, the Health Secretary said that the state has been witnessing a low death rate of 1.35%. He said, In cities like Chennai and Coimbatore more and more people are choosing to get admitted in hospitals, hence there is a difficulty in getting beds. Now we have put in a system for screening patients who can be allocated beds based on requirement. There are about 50,000 active cases now and the occupancy of beds n Tamil Nadu is around 10 percent, whereas it is 20 percent in Chennai city said Radhakrishnan. He also added that the State government has requested the Centre to grant permission to inoculate athletes, differently-abled and shopkeepers, those who are aged below 45. Making a mention of the availability of drugs to treat COVID-19 and other ailments, he said that Tamil Nadu had stocks worth Rs.120 crore that would easily last 3 months. Separate teams have been formed to ensure the availability and uninterrupted supply of power, oxygen etc. at hospitals, along with the provision of diesel generators. Live TV Q. From an economic development perspective, how did COVID-19 impact the MDC? A. The board members of the Midland Development Corp. (MDC) are wise stewards of the tax dollars they are trusted to invest in Midland. Thanks to excellent leadership and conservative financial planning, the MDC was well-positioned to weather the economic downturn caused by COVID-19. All the MDCs commitments have been honored, and all our partners have continued to meet their contractual requirements for jobs and capital expenditures in Midland. Investments made by the MDC in health care and education have proved their worth many times over through the COVID-19 crisis: The MDCs five-year reimbursable physician recruitment agreement with Midland Health helped ensure that our city had adequate health professionals available to provide care. The Texas Tech University Health Science Center (TTUHSC) Child & Adolescent Psychiatry program, funded by the MDC, has been an invaluable resource for mental health care throughout the pandemic. TTUHSCs Physician Assistant program, expanding in Midland thanks to an MDC investment, has begun administering the COVID-19 vaccine to vulnerable populations in critical need. Q. What do you expect to change in 2021? A. In 2021 the MDC will continue to carry out its organizational mission to strengthen and diversify Midlands economy while aggressively pursuing new opportunities for Midland. Planning for a rapid economic recovery, businesses that were cautious and restrained in 2020 have begun to accelerate their plans for relocation and expansion in 2021, and the MDC is on the forefront of capturing attention for Midland. Q. Midlanders have seen projects at the spaceport and institutions of higher education. The MDC also has put seed money in construction projects across the city. Whats next on the horizon? A. While oil prices and rig counts have begun to recover from the depths of the economic contraction in 2020, the fact remains that the Midland MSA lost 11,000 jobs from December 2019 to December 2020, and that the unemployment rate leapt from 2.0 percent to 8.0 percent in the same period. Midlanders are still facing joblessness and financial insecurity. The MDCs superordinate goal in 2021 is to bring new primary jobs to Midland, creating opportunities for those who have lost their livelihoods. The Permian Basin has always represented financial opportunity, and we are confident that our region can continue to promise that. Q. Is this a shift from the focus on business recruitment to a shift to business retention, expansion and quality of life projects? A. The MDCs focus will always be strengthening Midlands economy. That includes leveraging funds to accelerate critical road and infrastructure projects, making investments in education and health care that are vital for Midlands workforce, and helping businesses grow in Midland. Looking at the macroeconomic level, 2020 exposed weaknesses in our nations supply chains and labor markets, while the political climates of several states became even less friendly to business. As industries work to rectify those deficiencies in 2021s economic expansion, they will be seeking locations like Midland that offer strong infrastructure, an eager workforce, and business-friendly policies. The MDC will utilize its resources to attract those businesses to Midland, ensuring that our city reaps the rewards of this transitional economic era. MDCs tenants at the Spaceport Business Park exemplify new opportunities for Midland. AST & Science is building a space-based cellular broadband network accessible by standard smartphones and is in the process of becoming a publicly traded company through a special purpose acquisition company (SPAC), with a valuation of $1.8 billion. AST will manufacture its satellite components in Midland and needs to add more than 100 jobs to its employee base here by 2023. This attainable diversification deploys our existing workforce, as new industries thrive alongside Midlands core energy sector. Oxford and Exeter universities are at the top of a 'rape culture' league table compiled from more than 1,000 testimonies from students. The Everyone's Invited website, which publishes accounts of sexual abuse and harassment, released the data yesterday to highlight the problem on campuses. It said rape culture is 'endemic' at universities and praised the 'courage' of young women who had come forward to share their stories. The website released a list of 17 universities mentioned in more than five testimonies, almost all of which were in the elite Russell Group. The Everyone's Invited website, which publishes accounts of sexual abuse and harassment, released the data yesterday to highlight the problem on campuses (stock image) Exeter was at the top, having been mentioned by 65 students. Grammar school apologises over sex claims Pictured: Scarlett Mansfield By Andrew Levy for the Daily Mail A leading grammar school has apologised after being accused of breeding a 'toxic and ubiquitous rape culture' by a former pupil. Scarlett Mansfield, 26, pictured, said she and other female former pupils had been left 'traumatised' by their time at Colchester Royal Grammar School in Essex. Allegations include a 'rape society' set up by boys to discuss unsavoury topics and a pupil twice locking himself in cars with girls and refusing to get out until they performed a sex act on him. One ex-pupil claimed to have been raped at a party when she was 15. Miss Mansfield joined the school, which regularly tops A-level league tables, in 2011. The freelance writer, who has a master's degree from Oxford, said: 'I moved to CRGS for the sixth form under the promise that it offered the best education money can't buy.' But, she found that 'an undeniable toxic and ubiquitous rape culture was prevalent'. John Russell, who became head in 2015, said he was 'shocked and saddened' by the 'wholly unacceptable behaviours' experienced by some female pupils and urged any victims of crime to contact police. Advertisement Oxford, in second place, was mentioned 57 times and Edinburgh and Leeds 53 times each. Others in the list were Manchester, York, Durham, Imperial College, King's College, the London School of Economics, University College London, Queen's Belfast, Bristol, Cambridge, Portsmouth, Nottingham and Nottingham Trent. A website spokesman said: 'We are encouraged that university students have found the confidence to come forward and share their testimonies. Many people find that the act of sharing their story helps them in many ways. From the testimonies it is clear that rape culture is endemic on university campuses across the UK.' A list of all 108 universities mentioned at least once has also been released and it includes most UK institutions as well as some abroad. The 1,035 new testimonies from students were received in one week. It comes after elite private schools including Westminster, St Paul's, Eton, Dulwich College, Latymer Upper, Highgate and King's College, Wimbledon, and state schools such as The London Oratory were named in 12,000 anonymous testimonies on the website. Some have called in police to investigate the claims of rape and sexual abuse and harassment. The Government has instructed Ofsted to conduct an emergency review of schools' safeguarding procedures. The website spokesman added: 'We want to continue to expose the prevalence of rape culture across all of society.' One testimony from an Oxford student described how, after a party in 2020, a housemate took advantage of her. 'I went to my room, and he came in and started kissing me,' she said. 'He started to have sex with me and I quickly sobered up. I asked him to stop and he ignored me. I spent the entire time crying and he only left when another housemate came to check on me.' A Russell Group spokesman said: 'No student should feel unsafe or have to tolerate harassment or sexual misconduct. Our universities take this issue incredibly seriously and provide a range of support to help students feel safe. Where a crime has been committed it should be reported to the police.' A University of Exeter spokesman said: 'We have made it clear to all members of our community that we have zero tolerance for sexual harassment, abuse or assault, and that criminal or disciplinary proceedings will be brought against those who commit these offences.' YEREVAN, APRIL 15, ARMENPRESS. The international community should understand how serious the situation is in Artsakh and what tragic consequences the aggression unleashed by Azerbaijan has left, Deputy Foreign Minister of Artsakh Armine Aleksanyan said in an interview to the Italian ASRIE Analytica. At the moment the International Committee of Red Cross is the only international organization operating in our region by providing first aid and support to the citizens. For the sake of Artsakh and the whole humanity, much more international organizations must be involved, not only for providing aid and support, but also for witnessing and recording the war crimes and the human rights violations, she said. The Artsakh deputy FM stated that Azerbaijan is currently taking actions to eliminate the Armenian cultural and historical past, destroying the churches and monuments, and noted that the whole world is showing indifference to all these incidents. Everyone should be aware of this, as what is now taking place with our people and country, can repeat in a different part of the world in the future based on the fact that the international community has closed its eyes and the Baku leadership has not given response to its committed massacres and human rights violations, the deputy minister said. Armine Aleksanyan also talked about the role of Turkey in the recent war launched against Artsakh, stating that Ankara provided all support to Azerbaijan, causing thousands of human deaths and displacement of tens of thousands of peoples. She stated that after the war the Azerbaijani leadership still continues the military rhetoric, and President Ilham Aliyev is regularly making nationalist remarks based on Armenophobia. Editing and Translating by Aneta Harutyunyan Gun advocates at the NRA's annual convention in Dallas, on May 5, 2018. (Loren Elliott/AFP via Getty Images) Democratic Lawmakers Propose Ban on Gun Magazines That Hold More Than 10 Rounds Top gun rights group says magazine ban is 'obsolete' Several Democratic members of Congress have proposed firearm legislation that would ban the sale, transfer, possession, manufacture, or importation of magazines that can hold more than 10 rounds. Several states including New York and California have previously imposed bans on magazines that hold more than 10 rounds. Magazines that held more than 10 rounds were banned under the Federal Assault Weapons Ban of 1994, which expired in 2004. On April 14, Sen. Bob Menendez (D-N.J.) as well as Reps. Diana DeGette (D-Colo.), Dina Titus (D-Nev.), and Ted Deutch (D-Fla.) introduced the measure (pdf), known as the Keep Americans Safe Act. The Department of Justice has previously said that the 1994 federal ban on so-called high-capacity magazines didnt lead to a significant drop in shootings and murders. That study has been often cited by gun-rights groups including the National Rifle Association (NRA) and Gun Owners of America for why such legislation would be ineffective. We cannot clearly credit the ban with any of the nations recent drop in gun violence, the DOJ stated in 2004. Should it be renewed, the bans effects on gun violence are likely to be small at best and perhaps too small for reliable measurement. But Menendez said the bill is designed to end mass shootings, such as last months incidents in Boulder, Colorado, and Atlanta. High-capacity magazines are good for one thing and one thing onlyhigh-capacity killing, Menendez said in an April 14 statement. The Keep Americans Safe Act is a common-sense piece of legislation that will save lives and will finally limit the sale of large-capacity magazines that are designed for killing as many people as possible without having to stop and reload. With the 60-vote filibuster in place, its unlikely that Menedezs billin its current formwould be approved by the Senate. Republicans have signaled opposition to President Joe Bidens recent executive actions against ghost guns, red flag law proposals, and re-classifying pistols with stabilizing braces as riflesas well as his nominee to lead the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF). Menendezs bill also would modify the high-capacity definition to prevent coupled or joined magazines, create a buyback program for magazines holding more than 10 rounds, requires devices manufactured after enactment to have conspicuous serial numbers and date of manufacture to help law enforcement identify restricted magazines, and would allow the ATF and FBI to destroy magazines holding more than 10 rounds. Gun Owners of America, in a statement, said that the new proposal suggests that its Democratic sponsors have an ignorance about modern firearm technology and the Bill of Rights. Most modern home defense rifles and carry handguns come standard with magazines that hold more than the arbitrary limit of ten rounds, the group stated. The idea that magazines that hold 100, 50, or 30 rounds are neither for sport nor self-defense is a farce. Gun owners commonly equip their self-defense firearms with so-called high capacity magazines and shoot them for sport all the time. Senator Menendezs standard capacity magazine ban is obsolete, and Gun Owners of America will make sure it never becomes law. The reason why, the group says, is because gun owners can manufacture their own 17-round or 30-round Glock magazines via a 3-D printer. Former reality TV star and Penthouse cover girl Suzi Taylor was urged to wear something tight and black with high heels for a late-night hook up with a stranger at an inner-city Brisbane apartment. The night would allegedly end with a man tied up and held against his will, with the former Block contestant and co-accused Ali Ebrahimi charged with extortion, deprivation of liberty and assault. Taylor and Ebrahimi have both pleaded not guilty before a jury trial in the Brisbane District Court set down for four days. The 50-year-old, whose real name is Suellen Jan Taylor, was posing as an escort called Katie when she agreed to meet with David John Butler through the raunchy website Scarlet Blue in the early hours of October 30, 2019. Former Block contestant Suzi Taylor (pictured), whose real name is Suellen Jan Taylor, and co-accused Ali Ebrahimi are on trial in the Brisbane District Court, charged with extortion, deprivation of liberty and assault. They have both pleaded not guilty They agreed to a sum of $250 for half an hour of Katie's time, and the hospitality worker texted Katie directly, urging her to dress sexy. 'Babe, can you wear something tight and black with stockings and high heels x. I'm calling an Uber now. Babe xx,' he wrote in messages shown in court on Thursday. Mr Butler told the court he did not know who Katie was - he only saw pictures of her body, not her face, on the website. He arrived at the New Farm apartment with a bottle of champagne and red wine, and the pair relaxed over drinks. Mr Butler said it was obvious Taylor had been drinking long before he arrived. 'She was intoxicated. She was dancing around - sloppy behaviour. Not walking properly and slurred speech,' he told the court. The court heard Taylor was posing as an escort called Katie when she agreed to meet with David John Butler through the raunchy website Scarlet Blue on October 30, 2019 Taylor was constantly on her phone as the 30 minutes they agreed became an hour, then two and Taylor started getting text messages from co-accused Ebrahimi. 'It's been thirty minutes, confirm. Get paid if you haven't,' Ebrahimi wrote to Taylor the court heard. Ebrahimi became increasingly irate, 'he needs to pay, f*** this' and then 'three hours, stay on top of the payments. Business is not being too nice, honey.' Taylor invited Mr Butler into her bedroom, Fleetwood Mac playing in the background, and they kissed as she took off her top. 'She was very forceful. She kept telling me to come to the bedroom, come to the bedroom,' Mr Butler said. He claims it was then she said: 'If you want this to continue and go any further, you have to give me some money.' Even though Mr Butler had the $250 they agreed in his wallet, he refused to pay, and an angry Taylor called out: 'Ali, he's got no money.' Ebrahimi allegedly stormed into the bedroom, grabbed Mr Butler by the throat and started to hit him as he dragged him from the room. Taylor and Ebrahimi allegedly demanded money, attacking Mr Butler when he to refused to pay. Mr Butler told the court it was obvious Taylor had been drinking long before he arrived at her New Farm apartment 'I tried to get away. He (Ebrahimi) grabbed me by the throat and dragged me to the kitchen,' Mr Butler said. 'When I started resisting, he starting punching and kicking me. He grabbed a cord and started to tie me up.' Mr Butler's hands were fastened tightly behind his back, and he claimed to have been repeatedly assaulted by Taylor and Ebrahimi over several hours. They allegedly took his wallet and phone, demanding access to bank accounts to transfer cash to their accounts. 'He said he was going to kill me,' Mr Butler said. He heard the pair say they had transferred the money - $950 - and he was held in the unit for several hours while the transaction was pending. The case before Judge Suzanne Sheridan continues. McDonalds will mandate worker training to combat harassment, discrimination and violence in its restaurants worldwide starting next year, the company said Wednesday. The training requirement will impact 2 million workers at 39,000 stores worldwide. Its really important that we be very clear: a safe and respectful workplace where people feel like theyre going to be protected is critically important for our business, McDonalds President and CEO Chris Kempczinski told The Associated Press in an interview. Its just what society is expecting. The change is part of a larger reckoning over sexual harassment at McDonalds. At least 50 workers have filed charges against the company over the last five years, alleging physical and verbal harassment and, in some cases, retaliation when they complained. The problem wasnt confined to restaurants. In November 2019, McDonalds fired its former CEO Steve Easterbrook after he acknowledged having a relationship with an employee. Kempczinski, who joined McDonalds in 2015, said the company needs to set expectations and then continually refer to them, especially since staff turnover in restaurants can be high. If youre not constantly talking about values and keeping them in the fore, if you get complacent, then perhaps theyre not as obvious to people or theyre not as inspiring as they could be, he said. McDonalds restaurants worldwide 93% of which are owned by franchisees will be required to meet the new standards starting in January 2022. They must also collect feedback on the stores work environment from employees and managers and share those results with staff. Corporate evaluations will consider whether employees feel safe, both physically and emotionally, Kempckinski said. Many McDonalds franchisees support the change. As employers, we have an important role to play in setting the bar high for a values-led, safe and inclusive working environment, said Mark Salebra, the chairman of the National Franchisee Leadership Alliance, in a statement distributed by McDonalds. The alliance represents more than 2,000 U.S. franchisees. In legal filings, McDonalds workers have complained about unwanted touching, lewd comments, verbal abuse and physical assaults while on the job. In some cases, workers accused managers of ignoring their complaints or retaliating by giving them fewer shifts or transferring them to other stores. In 2018, McDonalds attempted to deal with the problem by introducing harassment training for its U.S. franchisees and general managers. The following year, it started a hotline for employees to report problems and opened the training program to all of its 850,000 U.S. employees. But at that time, the company didnt require franchisees to provide the training. Kempczinski, who became president and CEO after Easterbrook was forced out, said many franchisees provided the training. But as he thought about the companys values during the pandemic, which put more emphasis than ever on the health and safety of food workers, he felt it was important to expand the training and make it a requirement. Kempckinski wouldnt say whether McDonalds has removed any franchisees from its system because of worker harassment charges. Often, when a franchise isnt ensuring workers safety, it has other problems that can lead to its dismissal from the system, he said. Details are still being worked out, but Kempczinski said he expects employees will be given training when they start working for McDonalds. Restaurants might also have training once a year for all employees. Thats similar to the kind of training that is already being done at the companys Chicago headquarters. McDonalds said it will continue to work with experts and make anti-harassment materials available, but franchisees will be allowed to choose their own training programs. Kempczinski said he hopes McDonalds action becomes a model for the restaurant industry. Lets use this to raise the entire standards for the industry, he said. In 1953, the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II took place in Londons Westminster Abbey, 16 months after the death of her father, and more even Donation comes as deaths and emergency room visits from opioid overdoses have accelerated during the COVID-19 pandemic. Deaths and emergency room visits from opioid overdoses have accelerated during the COVID-19 pandemic. According to preliminary data released Wednesday by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, over 87,000 drug overdose deaths occurred in the United States in the 12 months ending in September 2020 the highest number of deaths ever recorded in a 12-month period. Emergency room visits for opioid overdoses also rose 32% in May through October 2020 compared to the previous year, according to a February 3 article in JAMA Psychiatry. Since 2017, Direct Relief has distributed Pfizer-donated naloxone to 725 organizations in 51 states and territories. Approximately 700,000 doses were distributed in 2020 alone. The Pfizer-Direct Relief program is believed to be the largest charitable naloxone initiative in the United States. Direct Relief distributes the naloxone in kits containing needles, syringes, and alcohol prep swabs donated by the global medical technology company BD. "Pfizer's partnership with Direct Relief aims to save lives by making naloxone more readily available when quick action is needed to reverse opioid overdoses," said Niesha Foster, Vice President, Product Access, Global Health & Social Impact. "Our additional donation underscores our commitment to improving public health." When it began in 2017, the program provided naloxone to community health centers and free and charitable clinics. As the program continued, the recipients broadened to include public health departments, harm reduction organizations like Virginia Harm Reduction Coalition and the Iowa Harm Reduction Coalition, and other opioid overdose prevention and treatment organizations. Many of the organizations, in turn, provide the naloxone kits to opioid users, and family members and friends of opioid users, who are likely to be nearby to someone who overdoses. Some of the recipient groups provide training in the use of naloxone. A recent study found that opioid deaths decreased by 21% when naloxone was distributed widely to first responders and laypeople likely to witness or experience an overdose, compared with minimal distribution to those groups. The study, published in Jan. 2020 in the International Journal of Drug Policy, found a 14% decrease in overdose deaths when naloxone was distributed to laypeople but not to first responders. A 2019 study in JAMA Internal Medicine found that laws allowing pharmacists to dispense naloxone "were associated with significant reductions in fatal overdoses." Direct Relief last year retained a research organization to evaluate the naloxone access program. The organization interviewed 20 recipients, including harm reduction groups, community health centers and public health departments. Providing naloxone to friends and family "allows for family members, neighbors, and friends to become the first responders," the program evaluation said. "This increases the likelihood of a timely response and, in turn, reduces the chances of fatal overdoses." The evaluation found that the naloxone donations free up funds that recipients can use for other programs, such as street outreach, counseling, and needle exchange programs to reduce disease transmission. Several interview participants highlighted the importance of providing opioid overdose prevention education alongside naloxone distribution. The organizations reported seeing strong interest from community members in becoming opioid overdose responders who receive naloxone and are trained to administer it. Naloxone-receiving groups interviewed for the evaluation reported that the social isolation experienced during the COVID-19 pandemic had triggered increased drug use, overdoses and relapses. About Direct Relief A humanitarian organization committed to improving the health and lives of people affected by poverty or emergencies, Direct Relief delivers lifesaving medical resources throughout the world to communities in needwithout regard to politics, religion, or ability to pay. For more information, please visit https://www.DirectRelief.org. SOURCE Direct Relief Related Links http://www.DirectRelief.org VANCOUVER, BC, April 15, 2021 /PRNewswire/ - Sweet Earth Holdings Corp. (CSE: SE) (FSE: 1KZ1) (OTCQB: SEHCF) ("Sweet Earth" the "Company") is pleased to announce that it has been featured in the Healthy Living section of Woman's World1 magazine, America's leading health and fitness tabloid / portal for women over fifty years of age. The article, which is featured in the April 12, 20212 issue of Woman's World Magazine highlights the potential benefits of using CBD Hydrating Oat & Honey Facial Cleanser for dry eye syndrome ("DES"). The Company has seen a significant increase in sales of its facial cleansers since the article. The Healthy Living article is a treatment-focused synopsis of a patient, who was recommended by a friend, to apply Sweet Earth's facial cleanser as a natural remedy to alleviate severe dry syndrome symptoms3. Over the next several months the patient's symptoms began to subside, and she is now symptom free. According to Healthline4 and Weedmaps5, CBD is scientifically known to provide relieve and benefits for inflammation, including areas around the eye; however, it's potential benefits for DES have yet to be researched. The Company will commence a study in the near future to better understand its product's benefits for DES. Sweet Earth is a farm-to-shelf company emphasizing the value of research, as highlighted in its February 16, 2021 news release on bioavailability studies and product development with NAVCO Pharmaceuticals Limited, an accredited laboratory located in Burlington, Ontario. The Company's current study, "Skin Redeemability for Body Creams" specifically tests the bioavailability, safety, and efficacy of its lotions by better understanding permeability. Chris Cooper, CFO of Sweet Earth, commented, "We are very excited about the positive exposure of from the Woman's World magazine article and have already seen a significant positive impact on sales. We are equally encouraged by the positive feedback from the growing number of product users. It is fortunate that our previous and ongoing research appears to display positive user results." 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. __________________________ 1 Woman's World is an American supermarket weekly magazine with a circulation of 1.6 million readers and leading online portal. 2 Subscribers receive the magazine prior to news stand display. The magazine's impact on online sales began April 2, 2021. 3 Dry eye syndrome, also known as keratoconjunctivitis sicca, is the condition of having dry eyes. Other associated symptoms include irritation, redness, discharge, and easily fatigued eyes. Blurred vision may also occur. The symptoms can range from mild and occasional to severe and continuous. 4 Source: https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/cbd-oil-benefits 5 Source: https://weedmaps.com/learn/cbd/cbd-oil-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 cigarettes that 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 Neither the Canadian Securities Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. SOURCE Sweet Earth Holdings Corporation All Australian troops will be withdrawn from Afghanistan by September this year, after Prime Minister Scott Morrison declared an end to the nations longest-ever war. After the death of 41 Australian soldiers, billions of dollars and accusations of war crimes, the nations involvement in the 20-year conflict now has an end date. Australian Army soldiers from Special Operations Task Group in 2012. Coalition forces, including Australia, removed the Taliban in the opening days of the conflict, but the groups diplomatic re-emergence and the withdrawal of troops means it will now be up to the people of Afghanistan to secure a peaceful path forward. The Prime Ministers announcement was sparked by US President Joe Bidens decision to announce a phased withdrawal. Mr Biden decided to leave American troops in Afghanistan beyond the May 1 deadline negotiated between the Taliban and the Trump administration, but has instead set the 20th anniversary of the September 11 terror attacks as the new withdrawal date. Emilie Munson, Times Union, Albany, N.Y. (TNS) U.S. Rep. Elise Stefanik raised $1.2 million for her campaign from January to April, demonstrating her formidable fundraising and handing her a strong base on which to launch a campaign for governor or seek re-election in Congress. The Schuylerville Republican is not ruling anything out nor will she make her decision based on others timetables, her adviser Alex DeGrasse said when asked about a challenge to embattled incumbent Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo, who is in his third term and has indicated he will seek a fourth. Congresswoman Stefanik continues to receive encouragement from all corners of the state as she would immediately be the strongest Republican candidate in both a primary and general gubernatorial election, DeGrasse said. She continues to set records as the most prolific New York Republican fundraiser ever in state history consistently earning the strongest performance at the ballot-box cycle after cycle on Election Day. Stefanik has positioned herself as one of Cuomos biggest critics, calling for his resignation over sexual harassment allegations and his handling of COVID-19 deaths in nursing homes. She also sells merchandise tagging Cuomo as the worst governor in America, part of her very public feud with the governor. Stefanik is not tamping down rampant speculation that she will run for governor, even as a congressional colleague, U.S. Rep. Lee Zeldin, R- Shirley, has officially announced his candidacy. The fourth-term congresswoman has $2.5 million campaign cash on hand in her congressional campaign account, her campaign announced Wednesday. Her campaign team said her fundraising haul and cash on hand are the largest on record for a North Country congressional candidate in the first quarter of a campaign cycle. Its more than likely that Stefanik could use her congressional campaign bounty to support a gubernatorial run, although the state Board of Elections has not ruled on the question. John Conklin, a spokesman for the state Board of Elections, noted that recent campaigns in which candidates for federal office used those funds to run for state positions were not successfully challenged. They included U.S. Rep Sean Patrick Maloney, who used his congressional campaign funds to run for state attorney general in 2018, and Don Boyajian, who ended his congressional campaign against Stefanik in 2018 to run for state Assembly. In addition, I believe there is a court case from 1994 involving Gov. [ George E.] Pataki which stated that generally a federal to state transfer was permissible, Conklin said. Stefanik has also positioned herself as a key player in the fight to help Republicans take back the U.S. House of Representatives in 2022. They must flip eight seats to do it. Since the November election, Stefaniks E-PAC has already donated over $55,000 to female candidates and committees and has raised $250,000 through WinRed for female candidates, including Republican Julia Letlow, who recently won a special House election in Louisiana after the death of her husband, Congressman-elect Luke Letlow. Stefanik blasts her supporters daily with emails and texts urging them to contribute to help her oppose President Joe Bidens gun-grabbing policies and to support Republican races elsewhere in the country. Zeldin, a four-term congressman who like Stefanik emerged as a strong ally for President Donald Trump, is the only Republican candidate now declared against Cuomo. But several others are considering campaigns too, including Andrew Giuliani, the son of Trumps lawyer and former mayor of New York, Rudy Giuliani; and three former gubernatorial candidates and current or former county executives: Joel Giambra of Erie County, Rob Astorino of Westchester County and Marc Molinaro of Dutchess County. Molinaro may be mulling a run for governor or a challenge to U.S. Rep. Antonio Delgado, D- Rhinebeck, in the purple 19th District. Reached by text message Wednesday, Molinaro said he has no news ... yet. A large number of students, academics and politicians were demanding the cancellation of the board exams due to the growing Covid-19 cases Modi said the Centre would keep in mind the best interests of students and ensure their health is taken care of and also that their academic interests are not harmed. Representational Image/PTI New Delhi: The Central Board of Secondary Education on Wednesday cancelled the Class 10 exams and postponed the Class 12 exams in view of the massive surge in Covid-19 cases across India. This was decided at a meeting that was chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, where Union education minister Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank, the principal secretary to the PM, the Cabinet Secretary, the school and higher education secretaries and other top officials were present. The Council for the Indian School Certificate Examinations, that administers the ICSE (Class 10) and ISC (Class 12) exams, is, however, yet to take a decision on when they are to be held. The education minister said after the meeting that the CBSE exams for Class 12 that were to be held from May 4 to June 14 have been postponed. He said the situation would be reviewed on June 1 by the board and details would be shared subsequently. A notice of at least 15 days will be given before the start of the examinations. The minister said the results of the Class 10 exams, which now stand cancelled, will be prepared on the basis of an objective criterion to be developed by the board. He said that any candidate who is not satisfied with the marks allocated to him/her on this basis will be given an opportunity to sit in an exam as and when the conditions are conducive to hold exams. At the meeting, the Prime Minister reiterated that the well-being of the students has to be the governments top priority. He also said the Centre would keep in mind the best interests of students and ensure their health is taken care of and also that their academic interests are not harmed. Noting that the pandemic was seeing a resurgence in many regions of the country, schools were already shut in 11 states. Many states, including Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh, have already postponed their board examinations. An education ministry statement said: Unlike state boards, CBSE has an all-India character, and therefore, it is essential to hold exams simultaneously throughout the country. A large number of students, academics and politicians were demanding the cancellation of the board exams due to the growing Covid-19 cases. Punjab CM Amarinder Singh wrote to the Centre seeking postponement of the board exams. Citing the rising cases, he said quite understandably, the steady increase in Covid-19 cases in most states of the country has created a sense of great apprehension and anguish among students and parents alike regarding the board examinations for Classes 10 and 12. He added: In Punjab too, the state government is receiving requests from various quarters seeking postponement of the board examinations by the State board as well as by the CBSE and ICSE. On Tuesday, Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal had urged the Centre to cancel the board exams in wake of the increase in the number of coronavirus cases in the national capital. Welcoming the Centres decision, he said it would provide great relief to students and their parents. I am glad the exams have been cancelled /postponed. This is great relief for lakhs of students and their parents, he tweeted. Last week, Congress leaders Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra had also urged the minister to intervene and direct the CBSE to rethink its decision to go ahead with the board exams in May. The coronavirus pandemic in America has turned into a patchwork of regional hotspots, with some states hammered by a surge of infections and hospitalizations even as others have seen the crisis begin to ease. The spring wave of the pandemic has driven hospitalizations above 47,000, the highest since March 4. Thirty-eight states have reported an increase during the past week in the number of people hospitalized with covid-19, the illness caused by the virus, according to a Washington Post analysis of data provided by the Department of Health and Human Services. But the national statistics fail to capture the intensity of the coronavirus emergency in the hotspots. Michigan reported more than 10,000 new infections on Tuesday alone. The state on Wednesday reported an average of 46 deaths a day, up from 16 a month earlier. "We're still climbing, unfortunately," said Nicholas Gilpin, system medical director for infection prevention at Beaumont Health, which runs eight hospitals in the Detroit area and has more than 800 patients hospitalized. Michigan officials have pleaded with the White House for more vaccine doses, but the Biden administration has said it will stick to allocations based on state populations. Administration officials stressed that vaccines aren't rapid-response tools for outbreaks. "What we need to do in those situations is shut things down," Rochelle Walensky, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said Monday. "We need that vaccine in other places. If we vaccinate today, we will have, you know, impact in six weeks, and we don't know where the next place is going to be that is going to surge." Along with Michigan, 32 other states have also registered increases in infections in the past two weeks, including all the states along the Great Lakes from Wisconsin to Pennsylvania. Minnesota and South Dakota are also up, making the Upper Midwest the major regional center of the spring wave. If there's a single broad trend, it's that the northern tier of the country is generally faring worse than the southern - for the moment. Other regional hotspots include Maine and New Hampshire in northern New England; Delaware and Maryland in the mid-Atlantic; Colorado, Arizona and Nevada in the Mountain West; and Oregon and Washington in the Pacific Northwest. By contrast, much of the Deep South, with the exception of Florida and Georgia in recent days, has reported sharp decreases. Since the winter wave ended, West Texas and the Great Plains have seen improving numbers. "The spring wave has not had a huge amplitude nationally, but has been very regional," said David Rubin, director of PolicyLab at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia. He and his colleagues have pointed to weather and seasonality as a factor in infection rates, with warmer and lengthening days supporting less virus transmission. "There's a clear latitude effect. If you go up into Canada, they've been having a really hard time," he said. The vaccination campaign appears to have altered the demographics of hospitalizations: With a large majority of elderly people now inoculated, the average age of patients has dropped. Gilpin, of Beaumont Health, said patients are generally less ill than in previous phases of the pandemic. As of Thursday, more than 76 million people in the United States had been fully vaccinated. The vaccines are not foolproof, however - something known since the first results emerged from clinical trials. The CDC said Thursday that 5,800 cases of post-vaccination "breakthrough infections" have been reported nationwide. That's fewer than 1 in every 13,000 vaccinations. Of those breakthrough cases, 29% were asymptomatic and 7% required hospitalizations. CDC spokeswoman Kristen Nordlund said 74 of those vaccine recipients who had breakthrough infections died. Separately, officials in the state of Washington reported Wednesday that 217 people among the 1.7 million fully vaccinated there had suffered breakthrough infections. Five deaths among patients ranging in age from 67 to 94, all with multiple underlying conditions, are under investigation, the state department of health said. Anthony Fauci, President Joe Biden's chief medical adviser on the pandemic, said during Monday's White House task force news conference that there are two distinct types of vaccine failure. "Primary vaccine failure" is when the body doesn't mount a robust immune response. That could be caused by poor health, age, medication or something wrong with the vaccine. "Secondary vaccine failure" is when immunity fades over time, or if the person is exposed to a different virus strain. "However, even if a vaccine fails to protect against infection, it often protects against serious disease," Fauci said. The CDC said these breakthrough infections were seen in all age groups. Women accounted for 65% of reported breakthrough cases. The CDC did not break down the cases by vaccine type. "To date, no unexpected patterns have been identified in case demographics or vaccine characteristics," Nordlund said. She added that the CDC continues to advise vaccinated people to take precautions in public places, such as wearing masks, maintaining social distancing, and avoiding crowds and poorly ventilated places. The nation appears to be moving forward, if not always smoothly, toward its goal of crushing the pandemic. By the end of the week, the United States is poised to reach the milestone of 200 million vaccine shots into arms, and the now-rapid pace of inoculations among the most vulnerable populations is driving down mortality rates from covid-19. But vaccine hesitancy is much on the mind of public health officials. In coming weeks, the supply of doses may outstrip demand. Biden administration officials said Wednesday the country is averaging 3.3 million vaccine doses a day. On Wednesday, the government reported only 2.5 million vaccine doses administered - even though that included pre-pause Johnson & Johnson vaccinations. That pause is because of a rare blood-clotting condition seen in six women, one of whom died. That number is small compared with the 7.5 million doses delivered, but the similarity of the cases to blood clotting seen in Europe in the rollout of the AstraZeneca vaccine - which uses a similar vector for introducing the vaccine into the body - has grabbed the attention of the scientific community. This country's vaccination efforts have relied far more heavily on the Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna vaccines. But Johnson & Johnson has been ramping up in recent weeks, with 344,000 vaccinations reported Monday before the pause. Any attempt to forecast the future of the pandemic has been hampered by unknowns about the virus and the human immune response to it, the unpredictability of human behavior, the successes or failures in persuading people to get vaccinated, and many other crosscurrents that can push infection and hospitalization numbers in opposite directions. Changing metaphors: There are many dials controlling this situation, manipulated simultaneously, clockwise and counterclockwise. One dial involves the speed of vaccination. That took a setback this week. Inoculations with the Johnson & Johnson vaccine were paused nationwide amid reports of six women between the ages of 18 and 48 who suffered a rare blood clotting disorder. That is not a showstopper given that Johnson & Johnson so far has represented only about 5% of vaccinations. But the news was unwelcome in Michigan. The worries about this one vaccine could erode confidence in the broader vaccination campaign and the assurances of public health experts, at a moment when vaccines are the most powerful tool for ending the pandemic, Gilpin said. "You've already got a pretty concerned chunk of the population that are already skeptical of the vaccine. This is not going to help," Gilpin said. "This has become a race, a race to get the vaccine into people as quickly as possible before the virus can continue to spread, or continue to mutate. And so this will slow us down." Rubin, of Children's Hospital, said human behavior is the biggest cause of recent infection upticks. Fatigued by the pandemic, people are lowering their guard, traveling more readily, socializing indoors with unvaccinated people. Governors and mayors are easing restrictions on gatherings. "The biggest driving force of the spring resurgence has been how quickly the American people have abandoned social distancing," Rubin said. One of the big unknowns is the number of people who have already been infected with the virus and may have at least partial immunity. The official count is 31 million, but some experts believe the true number is many times that. Some states hammered by high numbers of infections earlier in the pandemic, such as Iowa, have recorded more modest spring numbers, while states such as Maine and New Hampshire, largely spared until now, are seeing sharp spikes in cases. On Tuesday, the country's seven-day daily average for new infections topped 71,000 for the first time since Feb. 18. Federal coronavirus data released Wednesday showed 1,414 counties color-coded as red, with "high transmission" rates, a rise from 1,317 on March 14. There was a mirror image to that increase: The number of counties color-coded blue, "low transmission," also rose in the same time period, from 186 to 249. Within states, the trends are not uniform. In Georgia, which has seen its average of new cases increase more than 17% in the past week, 38 of its counties - many in the north and west of the state - have registered case average increases, while 52 have experienced decreases and the other 67 counties reported no change. The northern states such as Michigan and Minnesota may have reached a peak in cases, as the upward trend of new infections has flattened in recent days. Rubin said modeling by Children's Hospital of Philadelphia suggests those states, as well as the New York City area, could soon experience declining infections. The forecasts are based in part on widespread drops in test positivity percentages that have consistently foreshadowed declines in caseloads and hospitalizations, Rubin said. Highly contagious, mutation-laden variants of the virus are circulating. A variant first seen in the United Kingdom, known as B.1.1.7, and believed to be at least 50% more transmissible, is now the dominant strain in the United States, according to the CDC. Several other less-common variants are in the mix. The vaccines work against the variants for now, but evolution of the virus could necessitate changes in the vaccines similar to the reformulation of seasonal flu shots. "There are these variants that are wild cards. But one thing we know for sure is if a virus can't circulate, if it can't replicate, it can't create new variants," said Ellen Foxman, an immunologist at Yale School of Medicine. That points to the need for mass vaccination, she said, and the Johnson & Johnson vaccine pause shouldn't derail the campaign. "You want normal life? That's your ticket, is mass vaccination. We don't want to let this one little bump of this very rare complication of this one vaccine to interrupt the progress that we've been making," she said. - - - The Washington Post's Lena H. Sun contributed to this report. Fremantle Media has appointed lawyers to investigate Neighbours amid a string of recent scandals, according to TV Tonight. Former cast members Sharon Johal, Sachin Joab and Nicola Charles have spoken out against the long-running soap in recent weeks, alleging racism and abuse on set. Most recently, Nicola claimed her former castmates once tried to get her kicked out of Australia. Investigation: Production company Fremantle appointed lawyers to investigate Neighbours amid shocking allegations of racism and abuse on the long-running show. Pictured Nicola Charles The 51-year-old British soap star, who played Sarah Beaumont from 1996 to 1999 and again from 2013 to 2016, alleges that before trying to get her deported, the cast also openly victimised her for being a former model, rather than a serious actor. 'They would say under their breath, 'fu**ing MTA' behind my back and as I walked past after scenes,' she told News Corp on Wednesday. 'For a long time I didn't know what 'MTA' meant finally I found out it was 'model turned actor'. 'That's when I started thinking, 'OK, they don't see me a real actor even though I did go to drama school in the UK,' she continued. Former Neighbours star Nicola Charles recently alleged that the cast of the soap sneered at her for weeks before trying to get her kicked out of the country in the late nineties. Pictured: Nicola Charles on the Big Breakfast TV programme in 1997 Nicola has also alleged that her Neighbours castmates tried to get her deported from Australia. Nicola claims in her autobiography Soap Star, which is set to be released on Friday, that she found a handwritten letter sent to the immigration department shortly after her six-month probation ended in 1996. While she didn't identify the cast members in question, Nicola was stunned anybody would go to such lengths to make her lose her job. 'I did know who they were, the individuals who did it, but I thought - who goes to that length, and what have I done to be disliked that much?' she wrote, in an excerpt published by the Herald Sun on Monday. Allegations: Nicola has claimed that her castmates tried to get her deported back to Britain because she was 'taking a job from an Australian'. Pictured: Nicola Charles and Alan Fletcher on the set of Neighbours 'That experience coloured my relationships with everyone on the cast and crew, because I kind of felt nervous about trusting anyone after that.' Nicola claims she learned during a meeting with a producer that there was some 'resistance' to her involvement among certain cast members. Her own immigration lawyer apparently later confirmed a complaint from two Neighbours actors had been made because a British actor was given a full-time role on the show, thereby 'taking a job away from an Australian performer'. 'What have I done to be disliked that much?' Nicola claims she learned during a meeting with a producer that there was some 'resistance' to her involvement among certain cast members But Nicola said this didn't make sense because her character was British, adding: 'I did not take a role from a local actor because there was no role.' In September last year, Nicola revealed sordid details of what she claims went on behind the scenes of the long-running soap. She told the Herald Sun that a producer on the show once offered to pay for her to get a breast enlargement, and also encouraged her to leak naked photos. Fame: Nicola's character is best remembered for her extramarital affair with Dr Karl Kennedy 'I was patted on the knee in a very condescending way and told you can always leak photos of yourself after you wrap with the show to boost your image,' she said. 'It's from days of old that one, naked photos leaked online. This is the same Neighbours' producer who said to me, 'Would you like me to buy you a set of t**s?' 'I said no thank you, I plan on breast feeding. He said, 'It's fine, I've done it for all the other girls,' and I said, 'Really, I'm okay, thank you.'' Speaking out: Nicola alleges in her autobiography Soap Star, which is set to be released on Friday, she found a handwritten letter sent to the Australian immigration department in 1996 She refused to name the producer, explaining he has since died. Nicola said the culture of the show appears to have since changed for the better, and praised the series for including storylines involving gay people and minorities. It comes after two Aboriginal-Australians claimed last week that they had witnessed racist incidents while working on the set of neighbours. Evidence: Nicola's own immigration lawyer apparently later confirmed a complaint from two Neighbours actors had been made because a British actor was given a full-time role on the show, thereby 'taking a job away from an Australian performer' Shareena Clanton, 30, alleged producers fostered a toxic workplace environment and claimed the show was a 'culturally unsafe space' in a bombshell Instagram post. Among several complaints, Clanton accused a staff member of making crude remarks and claimed she heard the N-word used on set twice, prompting production company Fremantle to bring in an Indigenous consultancy firm to carry out a review. A day later, former Neighbours actor Meyne Wyatt alleged that he had also experienced racism on set in a tweet. Actress Sharon Johal also released a statement about her 'painful' four years on Neighbours, which included racial slurs, mocking comments and a colleague calling her a 'c**t' after she confronted them over an offensive remark. Allegations: Actress Sharon Johal also released a statement about her 'painful' four years on Neighbours, which included racial slurs, mocking comments and a colleague calling her a 'c**t' after she confronted them over an offensive remark In a statement, Fremantle's Asia Pacific CEO Chris Oliver-Taylor said 'all complaints are taken seriously and we are investigating all allegations fairly'. 'Fremantle is committed to providing an environment where employees and others in the workplace are treated fairly and with respect, and are free from unlawful discrimination, harassment, victimisation and bullying,' Mr Oliver-Taylor said. 'We do not tolerate behaviour that does not align to our Anti-Discrimination, Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO), Harassment and Bullying Policy and take all complaints very seriously, investigating all allegations fairly and thoroughly.' In his capacity as President of the UNSC in April 2021, Vietnamese President Nguyen Xuan Phuc will preside over a high-level open debate on enhancing cooperation between the UN and regional and sub-regional organisations in promoting confidence-building and dialogue in conflict prevention and resolution. A meeting of the UNSC The UNSCs meeting will be held on April 19 in both in-person and online forms, according to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Vietnam for the second time assumed the role of rotating President of the UNSC in the 2020-2021 tenure this month. On April 1 morning, the UNSC adopted the April Programme of Work proposed by Vietnam, under which the council will hold 15 open debates and 10 closed meetings discussing various peace and security matters in the world, including situations in the Middle East, Syria, Libya, Yemen, Sudan, South Sudan, Mali, West Sahara, Colombia, and Kosovo. Vietnam is scheduled to chair four video-teleconferencing (VTC) open debates this month, with the first taking place on April 8 addressing the Maintenance of international peace and security: Mine action. There will also be debates on Women and peace and security: Sexual violence in conflict on April 14, and Protection of civilians in armed conflict: Indispensable civilian objects on April 27./. VNA The French poet Charles Baudelaire famously remarked, The greatest trick the Devil ever pulled was convincing the world he didnt exist. In a similar manner, the current policy of verbal appeasement that refuses to recognize the historical reality of the Armenian genocide maintains a time-worn fiction and denies the reality of the victims suffering. As the world community commemorates the Armenian genocide on April 24 more than a century after it began, the Biden administration, following the lead of congressional representatives from the House and the Senate, must now demonstrate the moral courage to call these crimes by their rightful name. Regaining the high ground of moral authority represents an uphill battle for President Joe Biden and for U.S. diplomacy. Taking the lead on this issue and delivering a clear statement calling the Armenian genocide exactly what it is for the sake of the Armenian people and for history would represent a step in the right direction and it could create new momentum for positive change. One of the most profound effects of the Trump administration involved the massive erosion of U.S. moral authority in the field of global affairs. The administrations myopic focus on parochial U.S. interests at the expense of global cooperation was highlighted by the U.S. withdrawal from the Paris Climate Accords, the denigration of individual European leaders and the NATO alliance, and the description of developing nations as s---hole countries. This loss of U.S. moral authority is neither merely symbolic nor temporary, but involves real consequences for U.S. hard and soft power and reversing the decay of U.S. moral authority requires decisive action on the part of the Biden administration. Biden is faced with a daunting challenge in reestablishing the moral authority of U.S. foreign policy. It requires the courage to reexamine past positions and the wisdom to chart a new course based on universal values. Ending the policy of verbal appeasement with regard to the Ottoman Empires role in the genocide of an estimated 1.5 million Armenian men, women and children between 1915 and 1923 offers one opportunity to signal a reset in U.S. foreign policy in which issues of moral authority outweigh realist concerns of economic, political and military accommodation. The ongoing crises associated with Syria and Iraq provide a decisive moment for reversing the past course leading into the oblivion of historical denial and for ending the timeworn policy of verbal appeasement with regard to Turkey. Historians argue that the past is prologue, and perhaps this is nowhere more apparent than in the Middle East today. Ironically, it was the current president of Turkey, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who illustrated this point in his address to the United Nations in September 2018 by warning of the impending annihilation of a whole civilization in Syria and the ethnic cleansing of the Rohingya people in Myanmar. Erdogans use of the terms annihilation and ethnic cleansing were reminiscent of the words of Henry Morgenthau Sr., the U.S. ambassador to the Ottoman Empire, a century earlier who described the Ottoman campaign against the Armenians as a campaign of race extermination. Samantha Power, a former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, aptly described genocide as a problem from hell. Dealing with the causes, events and after-effects of genocide is without doubt a predicament of infernal dimensions. But the open and candid identification of genocide does not require the valor of angels, but rather the strength of conviction in doing the right thing. As a historian, I recognize the importance of not repeating the mistakes of the past and the U.S. engagement with Rwanda offers a clear lesson about the peril of ignoring moral imperatives for the sake of political expediency. Former President Bill Clinton revealed the danger of the latter in his apology to the people of Rwanda during a visit in 1998 four years after the genocide there. Clinton admitted that the U.S. and world community did not act quickly enough after the killing began. He also reflected, We did not immediately call these crimes by their rightful name: genocide. Charting a new course requires a simple statement from a president who has repeatedly emphasized the need for the U.S. to live up to its founding ideals. Not only would such a pronouncement signal the end of a deafening silence for millions of Armenians worldwide, but it would demonstrate the new presidents commitment to rebuilding the shattered remains of U.S. moral authority in a world in continued need of such a voice as demonstrated by events in Syria, Iraq and Myanmar. Early this year, a group of hackers associated with the Chinese government and known as Hafnium exploited a vulnerability in Microsoft's Exchange Server. The attack allowed them to gain access to over 60,000 servers, including those of major corporations and banks. This attack is separate from the SolarWinds hack that affected thousands of customers last year through a backdoor vulnerability in the company's software. In that case, a Russian group was able to piggyback on SolarWinds' software, which -- when installed via an update on client networks -- allowed the hackers to deploy malicious code. In that case, Microsoft worked with cybersecurity firm FireEye to cut off the attack by sink-holing the domain used to receive further instructions. Th Exchange Server attack was different, in that it took advantage of a known security flaw that affected on-premises exchange servers. Known as a zero-day attack, hackers were able to exploit the vulnerability without any interaction from the user, and without them knowing that malicious code had been placed on the server. The breach was so widespread that the Biden administration called for a "whole of government response." It appears Microsoft was first notified of the problem in January, but did not release a patch until March. That was also the first time the issue was acknowledged publicly. During that time, hackers had access to sensitive information at thousands of companies, government agencies, and other organizations. Since then, many were able to patch the flaw and remove malicious code, known as web shells. Some users, however, had yet to mitigate the attack. Even if they had installed the patch, the government said that a few hundred organizations had not removed the web shells from infected servers. That left them vulnerable not only to the original hackers but, once the backdoor became public, to other groups that took advantage of the same exploit. In a statement, the Department of Justice said: Throughout March, Microsoft and other industry partners released detection tools, patches, and other information to assist victim entities in identifying and mitigating this cyber incident. Additionally, the FBI and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency released a Joint Advisory on Compromise of Microsoft Exchange Server on March 10. Despite these efforts, by the end of March, hundreds of web shells remained on certain United States-based computers running Microsoft Exchange Server software. Now, with the blessing of a Federal Court in Houston, the FBI is using the same set of tools the hackers used, and is accessing servers to remove malicious code. In most cases, this is happening without the knowledge or awareness of the server's owner. I think it's fair to say that this is unprecedented. The federal government isn't usually allowed to hack in and remove content from a computer network. I'm not suggesting that what they did was illegal -- it clearly wasn't, hence the order from a judge. It does reveal, though, that the federal government has extraordinary capabilities when it comes to cybersecurity. Just yesterday The Washington Post reported how the FBI was able to unlock the iPhone of the San Bernardino shooter. The agency used an Australian firm, Azimuth, to develop a way to access the device at the center of a huge battle between Apple and federal law enforcement. In the Exchange Server case, the government felt that the risk of further compromise for the companies involved warranted drastic action. "This court-authorized operation to copy and remove malicious web shells from hundreds of vulnerable computers shows our commitment to use any viable resource to fight cybercriminals," said Acting U.S. Attorney Jennifer B. Lowery of the Southern District of Texas. A suspected armed robber was killed by the police on Wednesday night at Elmina in the Central Region. The suspect and his gang are said to have engaged the police in a shootout when the police tried to arrest them. The police suspect he is linked to last Monday's robbery and murder case at the Takoradi Market-Circle, reports Graphic Online's reporters in the Western Region, Dotsey Koblah Aklorbortu and Augustina Dzodzegbe. The police are said to have closed in on the suspects at Elmina, along the Cape Coast-Takoradi road and in an attempt to arrest them, a shootout ensued and one of the suspects, identified by the police as Shankiki, aged about 30, was shot whilst two others managed to escape on a motorbike. One other suspect, identified as 25-years-old Inusah Fuseini, has been arrested for interrogation. The operation was carried out by a team of officers from the Western Regional Criminal Investigations Department with support from the SWAT team in Accra. The suspects upon seeing the police are said to have fired at the police. The police responded and it led to the death of one suspect. A tortoise and some items including a talisman were found at the scene. The police also retrieved one motorbike from the scene. The suspect is said to have disguised the registration number of the motorbike by placing a sticker with different numbers on it. The robbery, on April 12, left 61-year-old, Charles Kwakye Agyako, dead after he was shot in the chest by the robbers on motorbikes after withdrawing money from a bank. The Western Regional Police Command had offered a GH10,000 bounty for information on the robbers. Source: Daily Graphic 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 During March 29April 25, 2020, emergency department (ED) visits in the United States declined by 42% after the declaration of a national emergency for COVID-19 on March 13, 2020. Among children aged 10 years, ED visits declined by 72% compared with prepandemic levels (1). To assess the continued impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on EDs, CDC examined trends in visits since December 30, 2018, and compared the numbers and types of ED visits by patient demographic and geographic factors during a COVID-19 pandemic period (December 20, 2020January 16, 2021) with a prepandemic period 1 year earlier (December 15, 2019January 11, 2020). After an initial decline during MarchApril 2020 (1), ED visits increased through July 2020, but at levels below those during the previous year, until December 2020January 2021 when visits again fell to 25% of prepandemic levels. During this time, among patients aged 04, 511, 1217, and 18 years, ED visits were lower by 66%, 63%, 38%, and 17%, respectively, compared with ED visits for each age group during the same period before the pandemic. Differences were also observed by region and reasons for ED visits during December 2020January 2021; more visits during this period were for infectious diseases or mental and behavioral healthrelated concerns and fewer visits were for gastrointestinal and upper-respiratoryrelated illnesses compared with ED visits during December 2019January 2020. Although the numbers of ED visits associated with socioeconomic factors and mental or behavioral health conditions are low, the increased visits by both adults and children for these concerns suggest that health care providers should maintain heightened vigilance in screening for factors that might warrant further treatment, guidance, or intervention during the COVID-19 pandemic. Data were obtained from the National Syndromic Surveillance Program (NSSP),* a collaborative system developed and maintained by CDC, state and local health departments, and academic and private sector health partners. NSSP collects electronic health data in near real-time, including ED visits from a subset of hospitals in 49 states (all but Hawaii) and the District of Columbia. This study analyzed information collected from approximately 71% of nonfederal facilities, nationwide, using data for all ED visits from participating hospitals in the 46 states that reported ED visits consistently during the prepandemic (December 15, 2019January 11, 2020) and pandemic (December 20, 2020January 16, 2021) periods assessed. All hospitals in Hawaii, Ohio, South Dakota, and Wyoming, and hospitals in other states that started or stopped reporting during 20192021 were excluded. Patient diagnoses were analyzed using a subset of records that included at least one specific, billable International Classification of Diseases, Tenth Revision, Clinical Modification (ICD-10-CM) code. Facilities that did not report diagnostic codes consistently or reported incomplete codes during 20192021 were excluded. ED visits were categorized using the Clinical Classifications Software Refined tool from the Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project, which combines ICD-10-CM codes into clinically meaningful groups (2). This analysis was limited to the top 200 diagnostic categories (pediatric = 455 total diagnostic categories; adult = 497 total diagnostic categories) for each patient-level category evaluated during the assessed periods. The 10 categories with the highest and lowest significant (p<0.05) prevalence ratios (PRs) were identified. Trends in ED visits during December 30, 2018January 16, 2021 were examined; overall analysis of trends focused on the prepandemic period during December 15, 2019January 11, 2020 and the pandemic period during December 20, 2020January 16, 2021, with comparisons by patient sex, age, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) region, and reason for the visit. Estimates of weekly change and PRs were calculated to assess differences in numbers of ED visits between the two periods. All analyses were conducted using R software (version 4.0.; The R Foundation) This activity was reviewed by CDC and was conducted consistent with applicable federal law and CDC policy.** After decreasing by 42% during MarchApril 2020 (1), overall U.S. ED visits increased through July 2020 then stabilized in August 2020 at levels 15% below those during the same prepandemic period. During December 2020January 2021, numbers of visits declined again to a level 25% lower than those during the previous year (December 2019January 2020) (Figure), including a 23% decline in visits by males and a 27% decline in visits by females. During December 2020January 2021, the numbers of ED visits in all age groups were lower than were those during the prepandemic period. The largest observed decline in visits was among children, especially those aged 04 years (66%) and 511 years (63%) (Supplementary Figure 1, https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/104808). ED visits by adults aged 18 years were 17% lower than ED visits during the prepandemic period (Figure). During December 2020January 2021, ED visits varied by HHS region, ranging from an overall 29% decrease in the upper Midwest to a 21% decrease in the Northeast. ED visits by adults and pediatric patients declined in all regions (Supplementary Figure 2, https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/104808), ranging from a 23% decrease in the West (Region 9) to a 14% decrease in the Northeast (Region 3) among adults, and from 65% in the Northeast (Region 2) to 53% in the Midwest (Region 7) among children. During December 2020January 2021, the proportion of ED visits for infectious diseaserelated concerns (i.e., exposure, encounters, screening, or contact with infectious disease) was higher than that during the same period before the pandemic for adults (PR = 5.86) and children (PR = 9.22), as were the proportion of visits related to socioeconomic and psychosocial (mental and behavioral healthrelated concerns) factors (adults PR = 1.37; children PR = 2.56). Among adults, the proportion of ED visits during this period was also higher than that during the prepandemic period for menopausal disorders (PR = 1.89); respiratory failure, insufficiency, and arrest (PR = 1.62); acute pulmonary embolism (PR = 1.59); cardiac arrest and ventricular fibrillation (PR = 1.45); malaise and fatigue (PR = 1.34); acute and unspecified renal failure (PR = 1.33); and symptoms of mental and substance-use conditions (PR = 1.28) (Table 1). Among children, the proportion of ED visits during this period was higher compared with the prepandemic period for calculus of the urinary tract (PR = 2.70); open wounds to limbs, subsequent encounter (PR = 2.67); suicidal ideation, attempt, and intentional self-harm (PR = 2.64); sexually transmitted infections (HIV and viral hepatitis) (PR = 2.57); schizophrenia spectrum and other psychotic disorders (PR = 2.55); lifestyle and life management factors (e.g., tobacco use, lack of physical exercise, high-risk sexual behavior, sleep deprivation or insomnia, or stress or burnout) (PR = 2.55); feeding and eating disorders (PR = 2.52); and open wounds of the head and neck, subsequent encounter (PR = 2.51) (Table 2). Decreases in the proportion of ED visits related to gastrointestinal and upper respiratoryrelated factors were identified in both adults and children, with the largest declines among children for influenza (PR = 0.01), acute bronchitis (PR = 0.17), pneumonia except that caused by tuberculosis (PR = 0.30), otitis media (0.36), and sinusitis (PR = 0.42). Pictured: Ashleigh Chapman and her son, Heath A teenage mum has revealed the heartbreaking moment she realised her 'happy' little boy's innocent cough was really the sound of him choking to death on a balloon. Thursday, April 8, started out as a regular day for Ashleigh Chapman and her 11-month-old son Heath at home in Mount Warrigal, south of Sydney. They played together in the morning before the 19-year-old fed Heath - who was just 10 days shy of his first birthday - and went to the kitchen to eat lunch. Having heard what she thought was a normal cough from the other room, she assumed nothing was amiss. But when she heard a second sound and went to check on Heath - she found him unconscious on the floor - having choked on a mostly-deflated balloon. 'My world got taken away from me within minutes, how am I suppose to keep living without my baby?,' she told Daily Mail Australia. 'I didnt know how quickly it could happen and once a balloon is inhaled its nearly impossible to remove it from someones windpipe without surgery,' she warned. Ashleigh Chapman (pictured) is 19 and had one child with her partner Jesse. Their son, Heath, died last Thursday Little Heath (pictured) was nearing his first birthday at the time of the tragedy - promoting his devastated mum to issue a warning to parents She is now desperately trying to raise awareness for other parents, with balloons commonly used for party decorations and sensory activity. The mum frantically started checking the youngster's airways when she found him but couldn't find anything, and quickly called triple-0 and her partner - Heath's father Jesse McLean. Ms Chapman's home soon filled with paramedics, police and doctors who soon rushed the youngster to hospital. Doctors tried to revive Heath for an hour, but he was eventually pronounced dead. 'I heard a cough. Just a normal cough. I let it slide,' she told 7 News about the tragedy. Ms Chapman (pictured, left and right, with Heath and her partner Jesse McLean) is now trying to raise awareness about the dangers of balloons and wants larger warning labels on packets 'Then two or three minutes later, I heard another cough, like a struggle cough.' When the young mother was later told her son was dead, she said: 'I just dropped.' 'I didn't believe it. I said, "don't tell me that". I broke down.' Ms Chapman spent some time with the boy's body after he died, but she said it didn't really sink in until she saw him motionless the next day. All she wanted to do was give Heath a cuddle, or to wake him and take him home, but instead she was faced with funeral plans and decisions about urns - describing her life as a 'living hell'. The youngster (pictured) had put a balloon which was mostly deflated in his mouth and choked to death Pictured: Baby Heath with his parents, Jesse and Ashleigh. Their son's death left them devastated An autopsy later revealed a balloon, which was not completely deflated, was lodged in his windpipe. Ms Chapman blames herself. 'We decided to open them one day and we blew them up. I'm kicking myself that they were there,' she said. She is now trying to raise awareness about the dangers of balloons and wants larger warning labels on packets. Ms Chapman remembered Heath as a 'bright and bubbly' baby who made everyone's day. Ms Chapman remembered Heath as a 'bright and bubbly' baby who made everyone's day She said she loved being his mother and is grateful for all the memories he gave her. A Go Fund Me has been set up by a family friend to help the family pay for the funeral. 'We have no words to describe the grief that their family is experiencing right now, and many friends and family have asked for how they can help at this difficult time,' the fundraiser read. 'In the weeks and months ahead, they will miss their child terribly and will be in need of love, compassion, time and understanding. Consideration of making a small contribution can help lift some burden.' The devastated mum said she has been inundated with messages from other mothers, thanking her for bringing the dangers of balloons to their attention. 'People dont really think how dangerous they can be and how quickly it all can happen,' she explained. 'When you think about all the places that have balloons its crazy. 'For example; at carnivals they have clowns there making balloon animals and while they are making the animal if the balloon pops they just grab another balloon and continue without picking up the broken balloon.' RENO, Nev., April 15, 2021 /PRNewswire/ - i-80 GOLD CORP. (TSX: IAU) ("i-80", or the "Company") is pleased to announce that, together with its wholly-owned Delaware subsidiary Premier Gold Mines USA, Inc. ("PG USA"), it completed the previously announced purchase agreement with affiliates of Waterton Global Resource Management, Inc. ("Waterton") to acquire from Waterton all of the outstanding membership interests of Osgood Mining Company LLC ("Osgood"). Osgood is the owner of the Getchell Project in the Getchell gold belt near Winnemucca, Nevada ("Getchell" or the "Getchell Project") for consideration consisting of US$50 million in cash and common shares, plus contingent value rights and warrants as described in more detail below (the "Transaction"). The Getchell Project is located at the intersection of the Getchell gold belt and the Battle Mountain-Eureka trend immediately south of Nevada Gold Mines' Turquoise Ridge operation. Open pit mining occurred on the property between 1980 and 1999 and underground test mining (the Pinson Mine) was conducted in the early 2010s. The Project currently hosts both a high grade open-pit and underground deposits (see table 1 below) and the Pinson Mine has been in care and maintenance since 2015. Table 1 - Summary of 2020 Mineral Resources at Getchell Project Tonnes 000's Grade g/t Au Ounces 000's Measured Resources Open-Pit Restricted 9,730 2.33 730 Underground Restricted 167 9.91 53 Sub-Total 9,897 2.47 783 Indicated Resources Open-Pit Restricted 10,730 1.58 545 Underground Restricted 395 10.73 136 Sub-Total 11,125 1.92 681 Measured + Indicated Resources Open-Pit Restricted 20,460 1.95 1,275 Underground Restricted 562 10.49 190 Sub-Total 21,022 2.16 1,465 Inferred Resources Open-Pit Restricted 1,259 1.61 65 Underground Restricted 1,520 11.90 581 Sub-Total 2,779 7.23 646 Notes: CIM Definition Standards (2014) were used for reporting the Mineral Resources. Ms. D. Nussipakynova, P.Geo., of AMC takes responsibility for the Mineral Resources. The Mineral Resource COG is based on a metal price of $1,550/oz Au. Underground Mineral Resources as stated are constrained within modeled underground stope shapes using a nominal 4.57m minimum thickness, above a gold cut-off grade of 5.14 g/t Au. Drilling results up to 31 December 2015. Drilling database provided 18 April 2019. Mineral Resources that are not Mineral Reserves do not have demonstrated economic viability. Claim ownership in the Mineral Resource area varies. Mineral Resource by claim is provided in the January 2021 Technical Report "Getchell Project NI 43-101 Technical Report" The numbers may not compute exactly due to rounding. Source: AMC Mining Consultants (Canada) Ltd. The Getchell Project will be the focus for the Company in 2021 with a +22,000 metre drill campaign designed to upgrade and expand mineralization within both the underground and open pit horizons. The Company is currently progressing work on a Preliminary Economic Assessment for the Project that is expected to be released during the current quarter. Permitting for the purposes of developing an open pit at Getchell is expected to be initiated in the near future. Ewan Downie, Chief Executive Officer of i-80, commented: "The Getchell Project is strategically located proximal to the Turquoise Ridge and Twin Creeks mining operations of Nevada Gold Mines. We look forward to immediately commencing a major drill campaign aimed at advancing the development of the high-grade Pinson underground mine within the next twelve months, while at the same time progressing permitting of the open pit, heap leach, mining opportunity." Consideration paid to Waterton consisted of (i) US$23,000,000 in cash, (ii) 13,036,846 common shares of i80, (iii) warrants to purchase 12,071,152 common shares of i-80, with an exercise price C$3.64 per common share, for a period of 36 months following the closing date, and (iv) contingent value rights include a payment to Waterton in the amount of US$5,000,000 upon the public announcement of a positive production decision related to the Getchell Project (underground or open pit), and an additional US$5,000,000 upon production of the first ounce of gold (excluding ordinary testing and bulk sampling programs) following a 60 consecutive day period where gold prices have exceeded US$2,000 per ounce. The common shares and warrants issued are subject to a statutory hold period under applicable Canadian securities legislation expiring on August 15, 2021. Tim George, PE, has reviewed and approved the scientific and technical information contained in this press release and is a "qualified person" within the meaning of National Instrument 43-101 Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects of the Canadian Securities Administrators. The securities referenced herein have not been, nor will they be, registered under the United States Securities Act of 1933, as amended, or any state securities law, and may not be offered, sold or delivered, directly or indirectly, within the United States, or to or for the account or benefit of U.S. persons, absent registration or an exemption from such registration requirements. This news release does not constitute an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy 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. About i-80 Gold Corp. i-80 Gold Corp. is a Nevada-focused mining company with a goal of achieving mid-tier gold producer status. In addition to its producing mine, El Nino at South Arturo, i-80 is beginning to plan for future production growth through the potential addition of the Phases 1 & 3 projects at South Arturo and advancing the development of the Company's Getchell and McCoy-Cove Projects. Certain statements in this release constitute "forward-looking statements" or "forward-looking information" within the meaning of applicable securities laws, including but not limited to, the drill program at Getchell, the benefits of the acquisition and timing of the PEA. Such statements and information involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause the actual results, performance or achievements of the company, its projects, or industry results, to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements or information. Such statements can be identified by the use of words such as "may", "would", "could", "will", "intend", "expect", "believe", "plan", "anticipate", "estimate", "scheduled", "forecast", "predict" and other similar terminology, or state that certain actions, events or results "may", "could", "would", "might" or "will" be taken, occur or be achieved. These statements reflect the Company's current expectations regarding future events, performance and results and speak only as of the date of this release. Forward-looking statements and information involve significant risks and uncertainties, should not be read as guarantees of future performance or results and will not necessarily be accurate indicators of whether or not such results will be achieved. A number of factors could cause actual results to differ materially from the results discussed in the forward-looking statements or information, including, but not limited to: material adverse changes, unexpected changes in laws, rules or regulations, or their enforcement by applicable authorities; the failure of parties to contracts with the company to perform as agreed; social or labour unrest; changes in commodity prices; and the failure of exploration programs or studies to deliver anticipated results or results that would justify and support continued exploration, studies, development or operations. SOURCE i-80 Gold Corp Sonoma seeps through SingleThread's every pore. It's in the farm's heirloom Gravenstein apples and cabernet vines. It's in the dining room's clay-tiled walls and local burl wood oshibori trays. It's bottled in the wine and cooked within the kitchen's Japanese donabe pots. "I think so much of what we do is informed by our sense of place," says Katina Connaughton, SingleThread's co-owner (along with her chef-husband Kyle Connaughton) and head farmer and florist. "Not to say that we couldn't do a version of SingleThread in southern California, but it wouldn't be the same. There's so much biodiversity here in this county that ranges from the land to the sea and I think that's something that just inspires us." In just five years of operation, SingleThread's Japanese-influenced Sonoma cuisine has run away with nearly all of the world's most prestigious food, wine and restaurant accolades, including three Michelin stars, a James Beard Award, and a World's 50 Best Restaurant Award. Not even the pandemicnot to mention a wildfire season straight from hellcould put the brakes on the Connaughton's Healdsburg juggernaut. Not that they didn't try. "It's like we were riding two rollercoasters at the same time," says Kyle. "We were evacuated, we had to shut down our whole outdoor program at Kistler [Vineyards] for awhile, and there is literally no volume of takeaway you could do to not be in the red." But survive it has, thanks in large part to the support of the community from which SingleThread was forged. "The currency exchange last year was really built off of compassion and community and gratitude. We had the ability with our takeaway and meal donation programs to really get into the hearts and homes of the community," Katina says. While last August and September the Connaughtons and their team collaborated with Kistler Vineyards to do a summer dinner series among the vines, on site dining at SingleThread had been on hold since the pandemic's start. But with the third wave now in the rearview mirror, they're finally back with Usu-Zan, a new culinary adventure and homage to Hokkaido, Japan, the couple's former home. The rustic outdoor dining room designed by Ken Fulk isn't just SingleThread al fresco, it tells an entirely different story. "It's really more about how Hokkaido shaped us as people and our philosophy, and ultimately how it became expressed at SingleThread," Kyle explains. Cloistered in a heated tent, surrounded by folk art ink rubbings, custom bamboo screens and greenery, Usu-Zan is a transformative journey to a distant land that merges the best of Sonoma with the best of northern Japan. The nine-course dinner hinges on a special family-style hot pot prepared in handmade donabe vessels shaped and fired by a family of artisans in Iga, Japan and opens with an apple amazake, a sweet and spicy non-alcoholic aperitif. The base of the drink is a house-made amazake, a rice beverage that ferments like sake but in which the liquid is removed before alcohol production begins. "We combine that with Gravenstein apple and spices so it's kind of a hybrid of very Japanese flavor from the amazake and Sonoma and American flavors," says Kyle. "It's a fun representation of the two sides of us." It's versatile, too. Served without alcohol or with an added dash of spirits, the drink pairs well with savory and umami flavors that balance out the sweetness and viscosity in the glass. Kyle suggests preparing it alongside a roasted or braised pork or with a heavy holiday meal. SingleThread's Usu-Zan experience lasts through May 31st. Recipe: Make SingleThread's Apple Amazake at Home Amazake, a fermented rice beverage similar to sake but without the alcohol, acts as the base of a fresh fruit aperitif served at the start of SingleThread's Hokkaido-meets-Sonoma Usu-Zan dinner experience. (Photography by Patricia Chang) Serves 1-2 2 oz fresh pressed apple juice* 1.5 oz amazake, Kyle recommends this one by Morinaga 1/4 tsp cinnamon (The Spice Hunter) 1/2 oz simple syrup 1/4 oz fresh lime juice Pinch of sea salt (The Spice Hunter) *For a summer variation, try swapping the apple juice with carrot or strawberry juice and the cinnamon with fresh mint. Combine ingredients, stir or shake well, and enjoy! // SingleThread is open for outdoor dining and limited indoor dining Thursday through Monday with seatings from 4pm to 6:30pm; 131 North St (Healdsburg), singlethreadfarms.com. Thank you to our partners at The Spice Hunter. The Spice Hunter has searched the globe to bring you the highest quality herbs, spices, and blends. From their global fusion rubs to dips and seasoning mixes, the California-based company's products enhance your cooking with bold flavors, delicious aromas, and vibrant colors. Whether you're looking to try a different cuisine or add a new twist to your favorite recipe, these premium and gourmet products provide plenty of inspiration by adding diversity to your pantry and allowing you to be your own gourmet chef. For all your cooking needs, shop online and receive 25 percent off plus free shipping on orders over $25 with the code 7x725 through July 31st. Offer cannot be redeemed with other discounts; spicehunter.com. Look for the second stop on our California Culinary Road Trip this spring: On May 3rd, we're sitting down with chef Tanya Holland at her iconic Oakland restaurant, Brown Sugar Kitchen. People say it seems like the kid threw away the gun, sure, maybe you can say that now when you see it on the video, but when he turned around theres no way that officer could have known that. From everything I hear, hes a good cop. You can see him doing everything he can on the video to help the kid. Stay with me, stay with me. In my mind, the officers actions were totally justified. Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, April 16) Some environmentalists argued the overlaying of dolomite sand along a portion of Manila Bay is not the solution to its solid waste management problem. Prof. Marlon Pareja, an educator and scientist from De La Salle University - Dasmarinas said the dolomite beach project has nothing to do with reducing solid waste floating at the iconic bay. "Kung sasabihin ng government na mare-reduce ang solid waste because of the dumping of the dolomite, puwede ko pong sabihin na wala siyang [kinalaman] kasi it's not part of the whole process of solid waste collection. Hindi po siya efficient as far as solid waste collection is concerned," Pareja said. [Translation: If the government would insist that solid waste will be reduced because of the dumping of the dolomite, I can say it's not related because it's not part of the whole process of solid waste collection. It is not efficient as far as solid waste collection is concerned.] Backhoes were seen dumping fresh batches of crushed dolomite along the baywalk the past few days. The Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) earlier said this is part of the government's P389-million "white sand" project to rehabilitate the area. DENR Undersecretary Jonas Leones earlier confirmed to CNN Philippines they will reopen the so-called Dolomite Beach to the public by the third quarter provided quarantine restrictions have already eased. Leones added they will put strict protocols in place to ensure the preservation of what they deem as a Boracay-like beach in Manila. He said people can only visit at certain hours during the day and no one is allowed to stay overnight at the beach. The official also responded to critics who have been saying they're only focusing on the beach as their way of rehabilitating Manila Bay. "Sabihin ko lang sa mamamayan natin, hindi lang ito [Manila Bay Rehabilitation Program] nakafocus sa Manila Bay mismo, but in all of tributaries, esteros, ina-address na rin po natin 'yang problema na 'yan," Leones said. [Translation: I'll assure our citizens that the Manila Bay Rehabilitation Program is not just focused solely on Manila Bay, but in all of its tributaries and estuaries. We are addressing problems related to that.] Aileen Lucero, EcoWaste Coalition national coordinator, however, said there are lots of trash deep down the waters of Manila Bay for the government to even bother about the baywalk's "cosmetic beautification." She added government must focus on reducing solid waste and creating alternative delivery systems for better garbage collection in areas near the Manila Bay. "We do not need this cosmetic beautification para lang sa isang beach nourishment [project]. Ito kasi ay magpapabalik-balik lang," Lucero said. "Sa ilalim ng Manila Bay, marami ring basura at nadaragdagan pa lalo ng basura dahil marami pa dahil wala namang national ban para rito sa mga single-use plastic." [Translation: We do not need this cosmetic beautification for a beach nourishment (project). The garbage will just keep going back. Beneath the waters of the Manila Bay, there are many waste and it keeps adding up because there is no national ban on single-use plastics.] Both Pareja and Lucero have suggested to the government to focus on developing and implementing an "accurate and science-informed" National Waste Recovery Plan as framed in the Republic Act 9003 or the Ecological Solid Waste Management Act. They added policy makers should shift their focus to recovery and reduction of solid wastes rather than end-of-pipe solutions such as cleanup drives. "Cleanup is a waste of money actually kasi ang tingin ng tao eh okay lang na magkalat ako, mayroon naman na magki-cleanup so it's not sustainable. Kung lalagyan natin siya ng isang batas na nagbabawal ng mga single use [plastics] na dinidispose nila, tinatapon lang kung saan, kung ie-enforce natin 'yung RA 9003, hindi natin kailangan mag-cleanup." [Translation: Cleanup is a waste of money actually because people can perceive that it's okay to litter since it will be cleaned, so it's not sustainable. We don't need a cleanup if there is a law banning single-use (plastics), proper waste disposal, and proper enforcement of RA 9003.] KYODO NEWS - Apr 15, 2021 - 19:01 | All, Japan While the South Korean public grows increasingly critical of Japan's decision to release treated radioactive water into the sea, the administration of President Moon Jae In is facing criticism of its own over its seemingly inconsistent stance on the matter. A local newspaper reported Thursday that a working group within the South Korean government had concluded last year that releasing the water from the stricken Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant into the Pacific would not pose a problem from a scientific standpoint. According to the JoongAng Ilbo, a working group that was made up of government agencies such as the Oceans and Fisheries Ministry issued a report in October in which the possible impact of the treated water on the country's public and environment had been analyzed. The group's report said that even if the water reached the sea near South Korea several years after its release, it "would not have a significant impact because the water would be spread and diluted while it is carried by the ocean current." The report also said tritium, a relative of hydrogen that emits weak radiation, is "difficult to be concentrated or accumulated in a living body," and that there is an "extremely low possibility" of being exposed to radiation by consuming fisheries products. The office of Prime Minister Chung Sye Kyun said Thursday that the report represented a "certain experts' view." On Wednesday, one day after the Japanese decision, Moon instructed government officials to actively consider ways to take Japan's decision to the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea in a bid to stop its neighbor from discharging the water into the sea. A spokesperson for the main opposition People Power Party criticized the Moon administration for its two seemingly inconsistent positions. "If on the one hand the working group issues a report indicating there is no problem, but the presidential office says on the other hand that we will take legal action, whose words should the people believe?" A protest rally was held outside the Japanese Embassy in Seoul again on Thursday, with some people also voicing criticism of the United States and the International Atomic Energy Agency over their support for the Japanese plan. Tuesday's decision by the government of Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga to start discharging the treated water into the sea in around two years' time has sparked strong reactions from Japan's neighbors, such as China and South Korea. The decision had followed years of discussions on how to dispose of the water used to cool melted fuel at the plant in northeastern Japan, which was hit by a massive earthquake and tsunami in 2011. Japanese government officials pointed out that other countries with nuclear power plants, including South Korea, have also released treated radioactive water from their plants into the environment. A Melbourne woman charged after the fatal stabbing of a young tradie will be released on bail to live with her sister, who is on bail too. Scarlett Taylor, 21, is facing unlawful assault and affray charges over the death of 26-year-old Cam Smith outside Seaford train station in Melbourne's southeast. The carpenter was stabbed in November after he stepped in to defend his girlfriend when they were allegedly confronted by a group of four young people including Taylor. Scarlett Taylor, 21, has been order by the magistrate to live with her half-sister while on bail She was granted her freedom on Thursday despite police concerns she may have assisted with disposing of the murder weapon. Her former boyfriend Jack Ledlin is charged with Mr Smith's murder, while Taylor is accused of inciting a confrontation between herself, the victim and others. Magistrate Susan Wakeling heard in a bail application on Thursday that Taylor would live with her half-sister Holly Stockdale, who is herself on bail. Ms Stockdale has been convicted of breaching bail conditions in the past, and was arrested earlier this month after twice failing to attend court. Ms Stockdale said she knew it was a mistake and being arrested made her feel awful. But she's promised she'll dob in Taylor if she is granted bail and breaches the rules. 'I wouldn't want my sister to make that mistake like I have,' she said. Taylor's lawyer David Rofe said families weren't perfect, but Ms Stockdale had been truthful about her own struggles and argued the risk could be mitigated. Police opposed the bail application, concerned Taylor might attempt to destroy or hide the alleged murder weapon, which has not been found. Cam Smith, 26, was stabbed outside Seaford train station in Melbourne's south east Ms Wakeling accepted in her reasons that there were risks with releasing Taylor on bail. Taylor has complex mental health issues, a history of drug abuse and poor compliance with bail. She said Ms Stockdale also had poor compliance with bail and court orders and she would not rely on her to supervise Taylor. Instead, Taylor will be supervised over the phone and in person through a court bail program which will include mental health referrals. Another man, Liam Casley, is also facing assault and affray over the incident. He remains in custody after being denied bail. A 17-year-old from Frankston is charged with affray, intentionally causing injury and committing offences while on bail, and is currently on bail. When prosecutors put a man accused of killing a New Orleans police officer on trial in 2018, they struck Black potential jurors much more often than White ones. At an appeals court hearing Wednesday, a lawyer for convicted killer Travis Boys said that should have prompted a hearing on racial bias, while the Orleans Parish District Attorneys Office scoffed at the idea that a jury with five Black members was tainted. At stake is the appeal of Boys, 39, whos serving a life sentence for fatally shooting Officer Daryle Holloway in 2015. Boys is asking the Louisiana 4th Circuit Court of Appeals to overturn his first-degree murder conviction and grant him a new trial. Judges James McKay III, Daniel Dysart and Dale Atkins didnt ask questions or tip their hands on Wednesday, but their decision is bound to lead to further courtroom wrangling, in what Assistant District Attorney David LeBlanc called an emotionally charged case. Holloway was a 22-year veteran of the force who was widely admired by his peers. He was killed inside his own police cruiser as he transported Boys to jail for allegedly firing a gun at his wife inside their St. Roch apartment. Prosecutors said he was able to smuggle a gun into Holloway's patrol car because of another officer's improper frisk and pat-down, then crawled through an open partition between the front and back of the patrol car and fired. Boys pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity at his trial, but jurors unanimously rejected that claim. His appeal briefs raise more questions about his mental health, but they rest largely on the claim that the trial was flawed from the start by the make-up of the jury. Under U.S. Supreme Court precedent, striking even one juror because of race is enough to invalidate a verdict. In Boys case, prosecutors used peremptory strikes, where they dont have to explain their reasoning, to toss eight of 19 qualified Black jurors, compared to three of 27 qualified White jurors, according to a defense brief. Top stories in New Orleans in your inbox Twice daily we'll send you the day's biggest headlines. Sign up today. e-mail address * Sign Up Boys attorney Anna VanCleave said would-be Black jurors were struck even though they answered in near-identical fashion to White jurors. Prosecutors struck one Black juror even though she owned a pistol and had voted to convict a defendant at a prior trial. We actually have much more than just numbers, VanCleave told the appeals court at the virtual hearing Wednesday. There were enough signs of racial bias that at the very least, Orleans Parish Criminal District Court Judge Karen Herman should have forced prosecutors to put their reasons for striking jurors on the record, VanCleave said. Earlier this month, the Orleans Parish District Attorneys Office offered to do just that in a joint motion with Boys defense team. The sight of Williams office joining a brief from the convicted killer of an officer initially drew an angry response from New Orleans Police Superintendent Shaun Ferguson. The 4th Circuit panel denied the joint motion without comment. Meanwhile, Williams said the motion was a tactical move aimed at proving there was no racial bias, not a concession of wrongdoing. The district attorney smoothed over his relationship with Ferguson at a face-to-face meeting on April 7. Ordering such a hearing is the most the appellate court should do, and it shouldnt consider tossing the conviction altogether, LeBlanc of the District Attorneys Office said Wednesday. But he also urged the judges to simply defer to Hermans trial ruling that there wasnt even a superficial case of racial bias. The numbers dont support the idea that discrimination motivated the jury strikes, LeBlanc said. Many strikes of potential Black jurors were for cause, meaning that prosecutors had to explain race-neutral reasons to the judge and receive her approval. After taking strikes for cause into account, the ratio of seated Black jurors nearly matched that of the remaining jury pool, he said. More factors weighed against the idea that there was intentional discrimination, LeBlanc said. Boys and Holloway were both Black. The defense team waited until the end of jury selection to raise an objection to the process. Prosecutors asked the same questions of White and Black jurors rather than tailoring by race. Most importantly, five Black jurors were ultimately seated and they all voted to convict, LeBlanc said. "This is a tragic case and its often emotional, but Travis Boys was treated in a constitutional and humane manner since his arrest for the murder of Officer Holloway," LeBlanc said. "This case is not infected with racism." FILE PHOTO: Britain's Secretary of State of International Trade and Minister for Women and Equalities Liz Truss is seen outside Downing Street, in London, Britain LONDON (Reuters) - Britain's international trade minister Liz Truss said she was having "very positive" discussions with the United States Trade Representative Katherine Tai about resolving the Airbus Boeing trade dispute. "I am having very positive discussions with Katherine Tai, my counterpart, about resolving the Airbus-Boeing dispute which has been going on for 16 years," Truss told parliament on Thursday. (Reporting by Paul Sandle and Sarah Young; Editing by Alistair Smout) The strong presence of IPs drive the province's socioeconomic development Covering over 119 hectares, the project will be built at a cost of VND1.355 trillion ($58.9 million), VND400 billion ($17.4 million) of which is investors equity. Construction time must not exceed 36 months from the date of land allocation, and the projects operation duration will be 50 years from getting the approved investment proposal. Under the decision, Long An People's Committee was tasked to direct Long An Economic Zones Management Authority to guide the investor and ensure that the investment project and the investor's equity contributions stay on schedule. For its part, the committee must ensure the accuracy of information, statistics, and assessment in line with regulations, and guarantee the compatibility between the projects implementation and approved plannings. Earlier, via Official Letter No.1840/TTg-CN dated December 28, 2020 the PM approved the revised development planning of Long An industrial parks (IPs) to 2020, adding Long An's three expanded IPs to the country's IP development planning to 2020. Accordingly, Hoa Binh IP in Thu Thua district will be expanded by 49ha, Long Hau IP in Can Giuoc district by 90ha in the second phase, and Xuyen A IP in Duc Hoa district by 177ha in the third phase. According to Long An Economic Zones Management Authority, the province will have about 1,500ha of additional cleared land in its IPs to cash in on rising foreign direct investment (FDI) flows into Vietnam in 2021. The sectors most appealing to foreign investors are textiles and garments, footwear, animal feed, poultry, seafood, food processing, beverages, and manufacturing. Long An took the lead nationwide with nearly $3.2 billion, accounting for nearly 32 per cent of the countrys total FDI volume in the first quarter this year. According to Nguyen Thanh Thanh,director of Long An Economic Zones Management Authority, the presence of many IPs has played a huge role in driving local socio-economic development by contributing nearly VND3.9 trillion ($169.57 million) to state coffers and creating jobs for more than 148,000 workers. According to the latest figures from the Long An Department of Planning and Investment, as of March 20, 2021, Vietnam lured in a total $10.13 billion in total committed FDI. The province took the lead nationwide with nearly $3.2 billion, accounting for nearly 32 per cent of the countrys total FDI volume during the period. This late March, Long An granted an investment certificate to LNG Long An I and II gas power project of Singapores VinaCapital GS Energy Pte., Ltd. The project has a capacity of 3,000MW, including two combined cycle gas turbine plants that possess a capacity of 1,500MW each, with registered investment capital totalling $3.1 billion. The project is expected to begin operation in December 2025. Also in the first quarter of 2021, Long An granted investment certificates to 10 new foreign investment projects and six others requesting leave for capital expansion. So far, the province is home to more than 1,100 foreign investment projects worth more than $9.17 billion in total committed value, 588 of which have already come on stream. Haiti - NOTICE : Romania, scholarship program, open applications The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Romania, informs that the registration procedure for the university scholarship program (year 2021-2022) to foreign citizens who come from countries which are not members of the European Union, for bachelor's, master's and doctoral studies, is launched. Interested candidates will kindly note that these grants will be awarded on the basis of competitive applications. The fields of study are : political and administrative sciences, educational sciences, Romanian culture and civilization, journalism, technical studies, oil and gas, agricultural sciences, veterinary medicine, architecture and visual arts. All information relating to the selection competition for beneficiaries including grant application form is available in French on the website of the Romanian Ministry of Foreign Affairs : https://www.mae.ro/fr/node/10253 Applications must be submitted to the Romanian Embassy in France (5, rue de l'Exposition, 75007-Paris) or can be sent to the Diplomatic Mission accredited in Bucharest of the applicant's country of origin. Deadline for submission of applications April 30, 2021. HL/ HaitiLibre Spraggs Running for Marshall Co. Judge-Executive By Bill Hughes BENTON - A current Marshall County Commissioner has announced he is running for County Judge-Executive.Kevin Spraggs was elected to his first term as 2nd District Commissioner in 2018. He told West Kentucky Star he was considering running for re-election, but realized he didn't want to place himself in the same situation for another four years."I'm going all in. I'm either Judge or my political career is over. That's just where I am and that was my level of frustration with things," Spraggs said.He has been a vocal opponent of several of the policies of current County Judge-Executive Kevin Neal. He opposed approval of any budget that did not include funding for school resource officers, and also questioned what he called excessive expenses for several items being purchased for the new Marshall County 911 Center.Spraggs said, "None of my 'no' votes have been because of the Judge. They have simply been because I did not support what was in front of us to vote on, and in some cases I did support what was in front of us, and he did not."Spraggs said there has been very little attempt to compromise at Fiscal Court meetings since he was elected, but his experience can help.He said, "Being a realtor and auctioneer for the last 25 years, what I do is bring people together that disagree. Neither of you may be totally happy, but you can reach an agreement where you both can live with it and walk away, and that's one thing that we're lacking at the table at the Fiscal Court. There's too much animosity. It seems like you can't disagree, and you should be able to. If we're agreeing on everything, then something's wrong."Spraggs said he and his wife own three businesses, so if elected, he would bring that bottom-line experience to the position, along with his people skills. He wants to establish a good working relationship with employees, department leaders, other elected officials throughout the county and region.He touted his accessibility during his current term, and said that would continue if elected as County Judge-Executive."I'm getting paid, I should be accessible. That's just something that I feel you should do for the people you're working for," Spraggs said. "The people of the county are the boss of the Fiscal Court."He announced his candidacy early, because he had heard rumors that others were considering running for the office, but might stay out of the race if he entered.Spraggs is a Republican, and so is Neal. If Neal decides to run for re-election, they will face each other in the May 17, 2022 primary election. Spraggs said he expects 4-5 people to run for the open commissioner's seat. Shareholders cheered as the budget carrier Easyjet said Britons can bank on going abroad this summer. In one of the most upbeat predictions from an airline yet, boss Johan Lundgren believes holidaymakers will be able to visit almost all major European countries by the time leisure travel restarts in May. The City has become increasingly nervous about the Governments proposed traffic light system, which will categorise countries into green, yellow and red lists. All will require Covid tests but yellow countries will also require isolation on returning home, and red will involve hotel quarantine stays. Easjet boss Johan Lundgren believes holidaymakers will be able to visit almost all major European countries by the time leisure travel restarts in May But Lundgren insisted that relatively free movement between the UK and beach favourites including Spain, France, Portugal and Croatia should be achievable, and that they would be on the green list despite vaccinations in Europe lagging behind Britain. The airline will fly 20 per cent of its normal schedule between April and June. A bigger risk, according to Lundgren, would be requiring pricey PCR Covid tests, which can cost 120 per person. The Governments travel strategy is still being hammered out, but Lundgren warned that expensive testing risks turning back the clock and making travel too costly for some. Stock Watch - Immotion Wallace & Gromit studio Aardman Animations will clean puppets and props using high-tech cabinets supplied by AIM-listed Immotion. The cabinets use ultraviolet rays to safely disinfect delicate kit. For Aardman, this will include the puppets for the new Shaun the Sheep movie. Immotions other customers include the NHS and Hewlett Packard, for cleaning its virtual reality headsets. Shares rose 13.9 per cent, or 0.75p, to 6.15p after the deal, which was for an unspecified amount. In a first-half trading update, Easyjet lost around 700million over the winter after second Covid waves grounded flights. Revenues tumbled 90 per cent to 235million in the six months ending March, as passenger numbers fell by 89pc to 4.1m. It will post a loss of about 700million. The shares rose 5.8 per cent, or 54p, to 978p, making it one of the top risers on the FTSE 250 yesterday. But it was pipped to the post by Tullow Oil, which barrelled to the top of the mid-cap leaderboard as crude prices surged by 5 per cent to $67 a barrel. The crude rally was prompted by the International Energy Agency raising its forecast for oil demand this year though it is still cautious about vaccine roll-outs and the rising cases in Asia as well as Europe. Tullow jumped 9.4 per cent, or 4,26p, to 49.64p, and there were rises for BP (up 3.4 per cent, or 10.1p, to 308.35p) and Royal Dutch Shell (up 2.8 per cent, or 36.6p, to 1365.2p). The FTSE 100 index closed 0.7 per cent higher, up 49.09 points, to 6939.58, while the FTSE 250 rose 0.4 per cent, or 86.99 points, to 22,355.45. Another mid-cap winner was the high-tech defence company Qinetiq. Shares in the Farnborough-based company, which was spun out of the Ministry of Defence and is said to have been the inspiration for the character Q in James Bond, climbed 8.9 per cent, or 28.6p, to 349.6p, after it upgraded its annual profit forecasts. Recruiter Robert Walters was also in demand, rising 6.3 per cent, or 40p, to 674p, after revealing it too would beat expectations. It is the third firm in the sector this week, following Page Group up 0.7 per cent, or 4p, to 544.5p and Hays, which climbed 0.4 per cent, or 0.6p, to 166p, to report that hiring activity has picked up. Elsewhere, Barclays fell prey to a blink and youll miss it share price plunge. Its stock tumbled by 10 per cent early in the morning in an incident chalked up as a fat finger error, which is when a trader presses the wrong key while putting through a trade. But it ended the day 0.4 per cent higher, up 0.76p, to 187.58p. British fashion house Burberry was boosted by strong figures from French conglomerate LVMH. It rose 1.2 per cent, or 25p, to 2086p, after an update from the Louis Vuitton-owner showed luxury spending had rebounded in Asia and the US at the start of 2021. Net revenue of $20.0 million in Q1 2021, up 24.7% versus $16.0 million in Q4 2020 Q1 2021 provincial sales growth of 7.6% quarter over quarter amid provincial inventory rightsizing initiatives across the sector Estimated share of the extract-based market increased to ~5.5% in Alberta, British Columbia and Ontario in Q1 2021 from ~4.9% in Q4 2020, based on Headset data and not including B2B LP manufacturing Manufactured approximately 1.4 million units of finished goods over the twelve months ended February 28, 2021 KELOWNA, BC, April 14, 2021 /CNW/ - The Valens Company Inc. (TSX: VLNS) (OTCQX: VLNCF) (the "Company," "The Valens Company" or "Valens"), a leading manufacturer of cannabis products, is pleased to report its first quarter financial results for the period ended February 28, 2021. Tyler Robson, Chief Executive Officer, Co-Founder and Chair of The Valens Company, said: "In the first quarter of 2021, Valens built upon the solid foundation that was laid in 2020 as we continue to lead the Canadian industry as a highly trusted third-party manufacturer of cannabis consumer packaged goods. Despite a slowdown in Canadian cannabis sales early in the year as a result of storefront restrictions and provincial inventory management due to the pandemic, we had strong sales growth with provincial sales increasing quarter over quarter. We expect to grow our provincial sales through fiscal 2021 as we continue to manufacture winning SKUs across all Cannabis 2.0 categories, including the newly-entered edibles and topicals segments, and an evolving portfolio of Cannabis 3.0 products. With the addition of the LYF Facility and the GTA Facility nearing completion, our strengthened manufacturing platform allows us to efficiently launch new SKUs, increase our market share alongside our customers and provides the capacity for us to drive significant volumes of previously launched and trusted products that have continued to gain acclaim from consumers across the country." Key Highlights Gross revenue increased 21.4% in Q1 2021 to $21.8 million compared to $17.9 million in Q4 2020 compared to in Q4 2020 Net revenue increased 24.7% to $20.0 million in Q1 2021 compared to $16.0 million in Q4 2020 in Q1 2021 compared to in Q4 2020 Product sales increased 23.3% to $17.9 million in Q1 2021 from $14.5 million Q4 2020 in Q1 2021 from Q4 2020 Product sales as a percentage of net revenue remained at ~90.0% in Q1 2021 Despite a decrease in sales in January and February in the broader Canadian cannabis market, Valens' provincial sales increased by 7.6% from Q4 2020 Manufactured approximately 1.4 million units of finished goods over the twelve months ended February 28, 2021 Estimated share of the extract-based market increased to ~5.5% in Alberta , British Columbia and Ontario in Q1 2021 from ~4.9% in Q4 2020, based on Headset data and not including B2B LP manufacturing , and in Q1 2021 from ~4.9% in Q4 2020, based on Headset data and not including B2B LP manufacturing Continued to entrench the Company's position as the largest third party vape manufacturer in Canada Manufactured and distributed the second best-selling vape SKU, Verse Cannabis' Tropic Lemon 1.0g vape cartridge, across Alberta , British Columbia , and Ontario during Q1 2021, according to Headset data , , and during Q1 2021, according to Headset data Ended the quarter with a strong cash position of ~$49.3 million Corporate and Operational Highlights: In the first quarter, The Valens Company continued to execute on its corporate strategy and advance its platform, as illustrated by the following milestones and initiatives: Improved capital position with the closing of its bought deal public offering (the "Offering") on January 29, 2021 , for total gross proceeds of $39.7 million . The Company plans to use a majority of the net proceeds of the Offering to pursue strategic M&A and business expansion opportunities in Canada and international markets, with the balance of the net proceeds for working capital requirements and general corporate purposes. with the closing of its bought deal public offering (the "Offering") on , for total gross proceeds of . The Company plans to use a majority of the net proceeds of the Offering to pursue strategic M&A and business expansion opportunities in and international markets, with the balance of the net proceeds for working capital requirements and general corporate purposes. Expanded product distribution capabilities and increased total addressable market with the amendment of its Health Canada licence to sell dried cannabis products to authorized provincial and territorial retailers in Canada . With this new licence, the Company now offers a complete portfolio of products to its customers in the Canadian cannabis market. Valens expects to begin manufacturing and shipping dried cannabis products, including flower and pre-rolls, to various provinces in the second quarter of 2021. to authorized provincial and territorial retailers in . With this new licence, the Company now offers a complete portfolio of products to its customers in the Canadian cannabis market. Valens expects to begin manufacturing and shipping dried cannabis products, including flower and pre-rolls, to various provinces in the second quarter of 2021. Submitted a site evidence package to Health Canada for the Company's fourth facility in Canada , located in the Greater Toronto Area ("GTA Facility"). The GTA Facility is now in the final stages of construction and will add 30,000 square feet of manufacturing space, focused on the formulation, co-packing, and manufacturing of cannabis-infused beverages and other customized 2.0 and 3.0 products using SoRSE by Valens emulsion technology. The GTA Facility is expected to receive its micro-processing licence in the second calendar quarter of 2021, after which the Company expects to begin manufacturing products at the facility and begin commercializing and shipping out products in the second half of fiscal 2021. , located in the ("GTA Facility"). The GTA Facility is now in the final stages of construction and will add 30,000 square feet of manufacturing space, focused on the formulation, co-packing, and manufacturing of cannabis-infused beverages and other customized 2.0 and 3.0 products using SoRSE by Valens emulsion technology. The GTA Facility is expected to receive its micro-processing licence in the second calendar quarter of 2021, after which the Company expects to begin manufacturing products at the facility and begin commercializing and shipping out products in the second half of fiscal 2021. Launched new and innovative Cannabis 2.0 product formats, including nuance's CBD 100, a high-potency CBD-dominant oil on the Medical Cannabis by Shoppers marketplace. Valens expects to unveil additional products on the platform in the coming quarters, such as topical formats like bath bombs and menthol rub, as well as water drops and additional premium oils. In partnership with Verse Cannabis, the Company launched an additional three vape cartridge flavours, Sunset Peach, Mandarin Mint and Summer Berry , in response to the popularity of the first launched Tropic Lemon 1.0g vape cartridge, which was the second-best selling vape SKU across Alberta , British Columbia , and Ontario in Q1 2021 per Headset data. Additionally, in the first quarter, the Company manufactured 53 SKUs in comparison to 62 in Q4 2020, including product formats in a number of newly entered categories such as edibles and topicals, and other existing categories such as tinctures, vapes, concentrates and beverages. The decrease in unique SKUs quarter over quarter can be attributed to Valens' focus on maximizing SKU and sales velocity of existing products that have proven to lead within their respective categories within the Canadian market. Financial Summary: Net revenue increased 24.7% to $20.0 million in Q1 2021 compared to $16.0 million in Q4 2020 Net Revenue Breakdown (in thousands of Canadian dollars) Three months ended February 28, 2021 $ Three months ended November 30, 2020 $ Product Sales 17,853 14,478 Toll Processing and Co-Packing 1,745 989 Analytical Testing 416 438 Other Revenue - 139 Total Net Revenue 20,014 16,044 Product sales revenue, including both provincial sales and B2B sales of finished goods, distillate, isolate, and other ingredients: Increased 17.2% to $17.9 million in Q1 2021 over Q1 2020, comprising ~90% of total net revenue, which can be attributed to the scale up of product manufacturing and sales of bulk oil for customers in Q1 2021 over Q1 2020, comprising ~90% of total net revenue, which can be attributed to the scale up of product manufacturing and sales of bulk oil for customers Provincial sales, included as part of product sales revenue, increased 7.6% from Q4 2020 to Q1 2021 Gross profit was $4.8 million , or 21.9% of revenue, in Q1 2021, compared to $18.1 million , or 56.6% of revenue, in Q1 2020 , or 21.9% of revenue, in Q1 2021, compared to , or 56.6% of revenue, in Q1 2020 Gross margin percentage was impacted due to the Company's transition to product development and manufacturing, as well as the repositioning of vape hardware utilized with certain industry partners. Additionally, various factors related to pandemic restrictions across the country, including provincial inventory rationalization and retail store opening limitations, led to the decrease in gross margin percentage. Adjusted EBITDA(1) was $(2.2) million in Q1 2021, compared to $14.3 million , or 44.7% of revenue, in Q1 2020 Jeff Fallows, President of The Valens Company, said, "The solid financial results that we reported today for Q1 2021 reflect our successful transformation as a business through several key strategic initiatives and during an uncertain, challenging pandemic environment. With our recent public financing, we have a strong capital position to fuel our growth as we launch new and innovative Cannabis 2.0 and 3.0 product formats and agreements, continue to build out our manufacturing capabilities and accelerate our international expansion strategy. Additionally, subsequent to the quarter, we announced new strategic agreements with leading cannabis partners in the industry that we expect will expand our product offerings and we look forward to increasing the number of those agreements through 2021." The following table of financial highlights is presented in thousands of Canadian dollars, except per share, biomass extracted amounts and number of SKUs. Three-months ended February 28, 2021; Q1 2021 Three-months ended November 30, 2020; Q4 2020 Three-months ended August 31, 2020; Q3 2020 Three-months ended May 31, 2020; Q2 2020 Three-months ended February 29, 2020; Q1 2020 Gross Revenue $ 21,774 17,932 18,517 17,627 31,980 Net Revenue $ 20,014 16,004 18,128 17,627 31,980 Gross Profit (loss) $ 4,768 (5,993) 7,313 6,318 18,086 Gross Profit % 21.9% N/A 39.5% 35.8% 56.6% Adjusted EBITDA $(1) (2,241) (4,280) 1,440 2,699 14,282 Adjusted EBITDA %(1) N/A N/A 7.8% 15.3% 44.7% Net income (loss) $ (5,647) (16,634) (3,064) (3,528) 2,543 Net income % NA N/A N/A N/A 8.0% Basic / diluted income (loss) per share $ (0.05) (0.13) (0.02) (0.03) 0.02 Cash and short-term investments $ 49,300 21,376 30,257 45,067 44,286 Biomass extracted (Kilograms) (2) 17,813 10,311 8,054 30,059 19,962 Number of SKUs 53 62 56 36 9 (1) Adjusted EBITDA is a non-GAAP measure used by management that does not have any standardized meaning prescribed by IFRS and may not be comparable to similar measures presented by other companies. Management defines adjusted EBITDA as loss and comprehensive loss from operations, as reported, before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization, and adjusted for removing share-based payments, realized gains and losses from short term investments and liabilities and other one-time and non-cash items including impairment losses. Management believes adjusted EBITDA is a useful financial metric to assess its operating performance on an adjusted basis as described above. See reconciliation of "Adjusted EBITDA (non-GAAP measure)" in the Company's Management's Discussion and Analysis for the period ended February 28, 2021 for additional information. (2) Biomass extracted includes input from Licensed Producer partners for toll processing, in addition to the Company's own biomass inventory for 2.0 products. The management's discussion and analysis for the period and the accompanying financial statements and notes are available under the Company's profile on SEDAR at www.sedar.com. Update on Fiscal 2021 Strategic Initiatives Continued focus on US and other international markets , as broader legal and regulatory frameworks continue to evolve, and, with respect to certain cannabis products, subject to legalization at the federal level and dependent on the requirements of the TSX. The Company is currently in advanced discussions with respect to a number of global expansion initiatives, including increasing its existing international shipments with receipt of EU GMP certification on track for year-end. , as broader legal and regulatory frameworks continue to evolve, and, with respect to certain cannabis products, subject to legalization at the federal level and dependent on the requirements of the TSX. The Company is currently in advanced discussions with respect to a number of global expansion initiatives, including increasing its existing international shipments with receipt of EU GMP certification on track for year-end. Closed LYF Food Technologies ("LYF") Acquisition and accelerated Valens' entry into the edibles market, increasing its edible product portfolio and market share with collective capabilities to produce innovative gummies, chocolates, and baked goods. Since completing the acquisition, The Valens Company has launched soft chews in partnership with Verse Cannabis and has since completed repeat shipments of the products to Alberta , Ontario , and British Columbia , in addition to launching Summit soft chews alongside partner A1 Cannabis in Ontario and manufacturing and shipping edible products with other existing LYF customers. increasing its edible product portfolio and market share with collective capabilities to produce innovative gummies, chocolates, and baked goods. Since completing the acquisition, The Valens Company has launched soft chews in partnership with Verse Cannabis and has since completed repeat shipments of the products to , , and , in addition to launching Summit soft chews alongside partner A1 Cannabis in and manufacturing and shipping edible products with other existing LYF customers. Entered the topicals category with the launch of nuance CBD bath bombs , complementing the brand's existing lineup of premium wellness products. Valens expects to lead the wellness category in Canada with the launch of additional products under the nuance product offering in the coming quarters, including balm, menthol rub, soft chews, honey, and a variety of bath bombs. , complementing the brand's existing lineup of premium wellness products. Valens expects to lead the wellness category in with the launch of additional products under the nuance product offering in the coming quarters, including balm, menthol rub, soft chews, honey, and a variety of bath bombs. Expanded domestic distribution network to Manitoba , increasing Valens' ability to capture increased market share in Canada with the ability to now sell products in five provinces. Near-term entry into the remaining Canadian provinces and territories, including Quebec , is expected imminently as discussions continue with provincial and territorial boards and private retailers. , increasing Valens' ability to capture increased market share in with the ability to now sell products in five provinces. Near-term entry into the remaining Canadian provinces and territories, including , is expected imminently as discussions continue with provincial and territorial boards and private retailers. Increased share of the extract-based market in Alberta , British Columbia , and Ontario to an estimated ~5.5% in Q1 2021 from ~4.9% in Q4 2020 , based on Headset data and not including B2B LP manufacturing. Subsequent to the quarter, Valens announced that it will be distributing select products from its partner Verse Cannabis to the Medical Cannabis by Shoppers platform, which is expected to increase both the brand's national exposure and market share capture. , based on Headset data and not including B2B LP manufacturing. Subsequent to the quarter, Valens announced that it will be distributing select products from its partner Verse Cannabis to the Medical Cannabis by Shoppers platform, which is expected to increase both the brand's national exposure and market share capture. Entered into extraction and custom manufacturing agreements with leading Canadian licensed producers. Subsequent to the quarter, Valens entered into an extraction and custom manufacturing agreement with Rubicon Organics, where it will leverage its full complement of proprietary extraction capabilities, including organic certified CO2, ethanol, and other extraction technologies, to deliver customized consumer experiences in a variety of 2.0 products under the LP's product portfolio. Additionally, Valens entered into a custom manufacturing agreement with Experion Biotechnologies Inc. to provide end-to-end pre-roll manufacturing services and product distribution services, with continued discussions to expand the existing agreement to include additional product development and manufacturing services for a range of next generation products. Q1 2021 Conference Call Details The Company will host a conference call on Thursday, April 15, 2021 at 11:00 am Eastern Time / 8:00 am Pacific Time to discuss the financial results and business outlook. Participant Dial-In Numbers: Toll-Free: 1-877-407-0792 Toll / International: 1-201-689-8263 *Participants should request The Valens Company Earnings Call or provide confirmation code 13717926. The call will be available via webcast on the Valens investor page of the Company website at https://thevalenscompany.com/investors/ or at this link . Please visit the website at least 15 minutes prior to the call to register, download, and install any necessary audio software. A replay of the call will be available on the Valens investor page approximately two hours after the conference call has ended. Tyler Robson, Chief Executive Officer, Chris Buysen, Chief Financial Officer, Jeff Fallows, President, and Everett Knight, Executive Vice President of Corporate Development and Capital Markets, will be conducting a question-and-answer session following the prepared remarks. About The Valens Company The Valens Company is a leading manufacturer of cannabis products with a mission to bring the benefits of cannabis to the world. The Company provides proprietary cannabis processing services across five core technologies, in addition to best-in-class product development, formulation and manufacturing of cannabis consumer packaged goods. The Valens Company's high-quality products are exclusively formulated for the medical, therapeutic, health and wellness, and recreational consumer segments, and are offered across numerous product formats, including oils, vapes, concentrates, edibles and topicals, as well as pre-rolls, with a focus on next-generation product development and innovation. Its breakthrough patented emulsification technology, SoRSE by Valens, converts cannabis oil into water-soluble emulsions for seamless integration into a variety of product formats, allowing for near-perfect dosing, stability, and taste. In partnership with brand houses, consumer packaged goods companies and licensed cannabis producers around the globe, the Company continues to grow its diverse product portfolio in alignment with evolving cannabis consumer preferences in key markets. Through its wholly owned subsidiary Valens Labs Ltd., the Company is setting the standard in cannabis testing and research and development with Canada's only ISO17025 accredited analytical services lab, named The Centre of Excellence in Plant-Based Science by partner and scientific world leader Thermo Fisher Scientific. Discover more on The Valens Company and its subsidiaries at http://www.thevalenscompany.com. Notice regarding Forward Looking Statements All information included in this press release, including any information as to the future financial or operating performance and other statements of The Valens Company that express management's expectations or estimates of future performance, other than statements of historical fact, 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 date hereof. Forward-looking statements are included for the purpose of providing information about management's current expectations and plans relating to the future. Wherever possible, words such as "plans", "expects", "scheduled", "trends", "indications", "potential", "estimates", "predicts", "anticipate", "to establish", "believe", "intend", "ability to", or statements that certain actions, events or results "may", "could", "would", "might", "will", or are "likely" to be taken, occur or be achieved, or the negative of these words or other variations thereof, have been used to identify such forward-looking information. Specific forward-looking statements include, without limitation, all disclosure regarding future results of operations, economic conditions and anticipated courses of action, and statements in this news release with regards to U.S. and international growth, policy changes and business opportunities. The risks and uncertainties that may affect forward-looking statements include, among others, Canadian regulatory risk, U.S. regulatory risks, including laws and regulations and any amendments and potential legal reform thereto regarding the application of U.S. state and federal law to U.S. hemp (including CBD) and cannabis products and the scope of any regulations by the U.S. Federal Drug Administration, the U.S. Federal Trade Commission, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (the "USDA") and any state equivalent regulatory agencies over U.S. hemp (including CBD) and cannabis products and other risks relating to entering the U.S. market, U.S. border crossing and travel bans, the uncertainties, effects of and responses to the COVID-19 pandemic, reliance on licenses, expansion of facilities, competition, dependence on supply of cannabis and reliance on other key inputs, dependence on senior management and key personnel, general business risk and liability, regulation of the cannabis industry, change in laws, regulations and guidelines, compliance with laws, reliance on a single facility, limited operating history, vulnerability to rising energy costs, unfavourable publicity or consumer perception, product liability, risks related to intellectual property, product recalls, difficulties with forecasts, management of growth, litigation, ability to identify, complete and integrate acquisitions, many of which are beyond the control of The Valens Company. For a more comprehensive discussion of the risks faced by The Valens Company, and which may cause the actual financial results, performance or achievements of The Valens Company to be materially different from estimated future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by forward-looking information or forward-looking statements, please refer to The Valens Company's latest Annual Information Form filed with Canadian securities regulatory authorities at www.sedar.com or on The Valens Company's website at www.thevalenscompany.com. The risks described in such Annual Information Form are hereby incorporated by reference herein. Although the forward-looking statements contained herein reflect management's current beliefs and reasonable assumptions based upon information available to management as of the date hereof, The Valens Company cannot be certain that actual results will be consistent with such forward-looking information. The Valens Company cautions you not to place undue reliance upon any such forward-looking statements. The Valens Company disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as required by applicable law. Nothing herein should be construed as either an offer to sell or a solicitation to buy or sell securities of The Valens Company. SOURCE The Valens Company Inc. For further information: Jeff Fallows, The Valens Company, Investor Relations, [email protected], 1 647.956.8254; KCSA Strategic Communications, Phil Carlson / Elizabeth Barker, [email protected], 1 212.896.1233 / 1 212.896.1203; Media, KCSA Strategic Communications, Anne Donohoe, [email protected], 1 212.896.1265 Related Links https://thevalenscompany.com/ Some 700 nurses in the Massachusetts Nurses Association (MNA) at St. Vincent Hospital are in the sixth week of their strike against unsafe staffing ratios in Worcester, Massachusetts, the most important struggle of health care workers in the US. St. Vincent is owned by Dallas-based Tenet Healthcare, a multibillion-dollar corporation that operates 65 hospitals across the country and is using the strike in Worcester to hold the line on staffing ratios to boost their bottom line. Striking nurses at St. Vincent Hospital in Worcester, Mass. (WSWS Media) There is broad support among nurses across the US for the St. Vincent nurses, especially their demands for adequate staffing ratios. However, the MNA is isolating the strike and refused to mobilize the support of the 23,000 members of the union across Massachusetts. The MNA also does not provide strike pay for the nurses, although the union controls millions of dollars in assets and many of its top officers and employees make more than $100,000 a year. Meanwhile, spending by Tenet to break the St. Vincent nurses strike will surpass $33.5 million this week. These funds are going for beefed-up security inside the hospital and a daily rate of $30,000 for Worcester police to keep the entrances open. They are also paying for lodging for strikebreaking nurses, who are paid double the normal rate, and a fleet of vans and buses to transport them into the hospital. In opposition to this, the World Socialist Web Site and the Socialist Equality Party call for the expansion of the strike, including mobilizing support from the whole 23,000 nurses in the MNA, as well as the provision of $750 in weekly strike pay, paid for out of the unions $9 million cash hoard and the furloughing all nonessential union personnel. To fight for this, the WSWS calls on St. Vincent nurses to contact us to begin building an independent rank-and-file committee. The WSWS spoke to Katy, a nurse in Ohio. I fully support the struggle of St. Vincent nurses, she said. The main demand of the St. Vincent nurses is safe staffing, but for those who dont work in health care it is important to understand exactly what unsafe staffing is. I work on a neurology med-surg unit. Although its med-surg, we take care of some very sick patients. For nurses at St. Vincent, the med-surg [medical-surgical] nurse-to-patient ratio is of critical concern. They are seeking a fixed maximum ratio of four-to-one, and the creation of two floating units of nurses to be able to respond to crises. The reduction from a ratio of five-to-one to four-to-one has been demonstrated to result in lower patient mortality. Katy added, We have patients who have just had cancerous brain tumors removed, patients who have had debilitating strokes where they can no longer speak or move half their body, elderly patients who have grown delirious from being in the hospital and need lots of one-on-one attention. When Im given six patients, there is not enough time to provide the care these patients need. The stroke patient will wet the bed because I couldnt get to the room in time. The brain tumor patient could have a neurological change that I would not notice right away. The confused, delirious patient will try to get out of bed and fall. When a unit is short staffed, there can be devastating consequences. On shifts like this, I dont have time for a meal, and just when I feel like Im catching up, I get another admission. My co-workers and I joke about taking crying breaks in the bathroom. We always try to help each other out, but the impact of short staffing on our mental health is terrible. Sometimes when I get in bed at night after work, my heart still feels like its racing. Additionally, most hospitals will deal with nurse staffing on the hospital level, not just the unit. That means that nurses will be moved around from unit to unit when staffing is required. This is called floating and it means you are told at any point in your shift that you need to go to an entirely new unit, pick up an entirely new assignment of patients with problems that you are not trained to care for. The other day I was on a liver transplant unit. I had no idea what I was doing or even where to find simple supplies. Its scary, but it is so normal. These days I can expect to float about once every other week. A former nurse from Southern California sent the following statement to the World Socialist Web Site: This is one of the longest nurses strike that I have ever encountered since becoming a nurse 13 years ago. I encourage the St. Vincent Hospital nurses to continue their fight for increased staffing, safe staffing ratios and acuity of assignments be distributed in an equal and safe manner. I worked in a hospital for 12 years and encountered the very same issues of understaffing, ratio violations and unequal workload given out by managers that placed patients at risk for demise. This is all done for the rotten for-profit health care system in America so that these behemoth hospital chains can maximize profits. I was in the California Nurses Association (CNA) union, and during the 12 years that I worked at my former hospital I saw a pattern of the union leadership giving away many of our hard-earned benefits, rights, and patient safety policies. And when bargaining, pickets and strikes happened, the union leadership kept us isolated from other fights happening at other CNA hospitals. CNA also did not pay strike pay but collected dues from thousands of nurses from across California. It is not that they could not pay strike pay; it is that they do not want to pay it. CNA/National Nurses United had plenty of funds to hold enormous conventions in other states and pay for nurses food, lodging and travel to and from these locations and invite politicians and Hollywood entertainers. And not to mention donating membership dues to Democratic Party candidates, who have done nothing to help the working class and poor. I urge St. Vincent nurses to continue their fight for increased staffing, safe staffing ratios and acuity of assignments distributed in an equal and safe manner, but also to demand strike pay from their union leadership who are enriching themselves from nurses hard-earned dues monies. Nurses should demand that MNA mobilize other union workers at St. Vincent and call for workers from Amazon, teachers, autoworkers and miners, and bring the hospital financially to its knees. Monica, a nurse from New York and a supporter of the New York Educators Rank-and-File Safety Committee said: Tenet Healthcare is a multibillion-dollar corporation that is leaching from the needs of workers for the private enrichment of the few. Nurses are the bedrock of hospital bedside care, and their demands are legitimate. [But] the Massachusetts Nurses Association (MNA) is obviously not looking out for the nurses. The fact that nurses pay dues and the MNA is unable to extend any strike pay is just one example of the fact that these bureaucrats are in it for themselves and not the struggle of the working class. Monica pointed to the recent appearance by a top MNA official on an online broadcast sponsored by the Morning Star, a Stalinist newspaper in Britain. The history of Stalinism is one of total and utter betrayal of the working class. The entire political line is one of collaboration with the ruling class. That type of collaboration never comes out well for the working class. In looking at these courageous strikers around the countrythe nurses in Worcester, miners in Alabama, the Columbia graduate students in NYC, soon the NYU graduate students, just to name a fewI have to ask myself: What does this system really do when it comes to the working class standing up for their right to strike? What do the unions do? They allow scabs to cross the line, they send for the police to back up the ruling elite. That right there is evidence for the working class that class collaboration is never in our benefit, that we live in a dictatorship of the ruling class and their lackeys like the trade union bureaucrats. We in the working class instead have to unite with nurses, Amazon workers and the working class all over the world. The fact is, the whole idea that workers have the right to strike [from the unions point of view] is only if its allowed by the ruling class. They arent going to allow a real strike if it cuts into their profits. This is what working class people need to recognize. The betrayals are there. People need to study and learn that the ruling class will never allow a genuine fight. They will make sure they win. Thats why all the union bureaucrats are out there talking about how we nurses need to compromise. No, we dont! We dont have to when we are the entire base of society. An oversupply of undervalued certified timber and a lack of interest from local wood processors currently stand in the way of Vietnams export plans to increase its foothold in Western markets. However, German assistance might help solve some of the issues that forest growers are facing. Wood exporters face array of obstructions. Photo: Le Toan/VIR Data from associations like VIFOREST, FPA Binh Dinh, HAWA, BIFA, and Forest Trends shows that Vietnams import value of timber and its products reached about $2.55 billion in 2020, with a turnover similar to 2019. Logs, sawn timber, and artificial boards were the main groups imported into Vietnam to serve the processing needs of domestic consumption and for exports. The five main supply markets for Vietnam are China, the United States, Cameroon, Thailand, and Chile. The import value from these five markets reached $1.57 billion, accounting for over 61 per cent of the total import value into Vietnam. Chinas import turnover reached $846 million, accounting for 33 per cent of total imports into Vietnam, up 28 per cent compared to 2019. In 2020, Vietnam imported over 214,000 cubic metres of timber worth $71.6 million and 597,500cu.m of sawn timber worth $221.8 million from the US. Meanwhile, imports from Cameroon reached $215.96 million, down 24 per cent compared to 2019. Vietnams imports from Thailand reached $120.43 million, up 9 per cent compared to 2019. Imports from Chile meanwhile reached $66.78 million, down 17 per cent compared to 2019. One of the most important timber policies to be issued by the government in 2020 was the decree regulating the Vietnam Timber Legality Assurance System (VNTLAS). Imported timber control is one of the central parts of the decree, where the management of imported timber is carried out according to criteria that identify whether a country is in a positive or negative geographic area, and which type of timber is risky. To realise the provisions of this decree, in November, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development announced a list of wood types imported into Vietnam and another list of active geographical regions for wood exports to Vietnam. Accordingly, 322 species of wood were identified for import into Vietnam and 51 countries were identified in active geographical areas. Timber species and supplying countries not on this list will be considered as risky. According to the VNTLAS, enterprises importing risky timber into Vietnam need to perform due diligence, with legal evidence proving the legality of imported timber. Thanh Hoa Co., Ltd., one of the largest wood material suppliers in Vietnam, has no way of purchasing timber certified by the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) an international non-profit, multi-stakeholder organisation established in 1993 that promotes responsible management of the worlds forests from northern provinces due to problems with regulations and high freight rates. Vietnam owns nearly 300,000 hectares of FSC wood, but the surplus of such wood is a big problem, commented Tran Thien, director of Thanh Hoa. He calculated that the export of outdoor wood products accounts only for about $300 million, about 12,000 FSC wood blocks, equivalent to about 100,000ha of plantation. Meanwhile, most wood furniture processors do not buy FSC wood. For many years, Vietnam has been developing a certified wood material zone with international support. However, FSC afforestation is losing its sense of sustainability as forest owners cannot get any money from their FSC timber. The actual value of FSC timber is falling sharply, down to 5 per cent of previous prices, and even continues its downward trend to a lower level, with half of forest owners only getting about 3 per cent. Thien said that for FSC, the evaluation cost for foreign organisations is very high, with cost for initial evaluations coming close to $100,000, and the annual assessment also amounting to over $5,000 a huge expense for forest growers in the context of a shrinking income. In the central province of Quang Ngai, the FSC reforestation area has been following the World Banks international standards since 2005, and many growers have dropped the annual FSC assessment to save money. Thien commented. Forest owners are often too small in the whole chain to profit from FSC timber. Meanwhile, the sustainability of the wood production, processing, and export chain only functions when processors prioritise FSC timber. However, they have to pay at least 2-3 per cent of the product value upfront. Afterwards, FSC growers have to also afford the rest of the cost, such as assessing and transporting the timber to factories. The waste of FSC raw materials is occurring while Vietnam has been warned about issues in legal timber supply from countries that import wood products. Meanwhile, FSC timber is believed to be an effective solution to deal with risks of wood origin. The right mechanism Vietnams major goal is to manage forests sustainably and harmonise international regulations on legal timber sourcing. Do Quang Tung, head of the Forestry Project Management Unit under the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, admitted that area fragmentation is one of the reasons that the country faces difficulties in applying international experience for greater benefits and to reduce the cost of the FSC assessment for growers. Tung realised that for years Vietnam has been moving towards sustainable forest management, but still mainly relies on the support of international organisations. Planted forests in several provinces, including in the Central Highlands province of Kon Tum, were abandoned after their funding ended. The lack of a master plan for the development of certified raw materials, as well as the intensification of large timber material afforestation, has caused unmet demand for raw materials for the wood processing and export industry. Global environmental pressure forces large corporations to spend money on FSC, though without much economic significance. In Vietnam, the value is declining, but Tung said FSC is still one of the criteria to determine legality in Vietnams wood import markets, including the European Union and the United States. Hoang Thanh, agricultural programme manager for the EU Delegation to Vietnam, said that the EUs timber regulations recognise the legality of timber and its products with Forest Law Enforcement, Governance and Trade licences that have been verified through control systems of several partner countries who agreed upon the same standards with the EU. Thanh said, Licensed timber and products thereof are not subject to the accountability under the EU timber regulations. Outside support To counter some of the issues, the German government is supporting Vietnam with around $47 million, including commercial loans and grants, for certified afforestation. The Vietnam Administration of Forestry, which is profiting from the support, is now expected to operate in the four central provinces of Binh Dinh, Thua Thien-Hue, Quang Nam, and Quang Ngai, which are all supplying wood and timber materials. Similar to other international support, the German government can help Vietnam expand the area of certified forests, but several issues need to be addressed. This time, it is advisable to choose a province surrounding the wood consuming provinces, such as Dong Nai, Binh Duong, Binh Phuoc, Long An, and Ca Mau, which are reasonable for timber transportation to Ho Chi Minh City, Thien of Thanh Hoa commented. Tung said, The hardest thing right now is to decide which province borrows and has to pay following the new official development assistance mechanism. Provinces can borrow about $12 million from this source to improve the capacity of FSC growers through appropriate mechanisms, something that all provinces want to do but many remain concerned about. Ha Cong Tuan - Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development The export target for this year stands at $15 billion, with the turnover expected to increase by 14-15 per cent compared to 2020, but the problem of raw materials must be solved first. Currently, domestic timber sources are speeding up their FSC certifications. As the origin of imported wood is strictly regulated in foreign markets, this process must be strictly controlled to ensure the legal origin of wood and timber. The income per unit of planted forest has tripled over the past 15 years thanks to the development of the wood processing industry. At that time, plantation timber was valued at only $17.40 per cubic metre. Now, the minimum value reaches about $43 per cu.m which represents one of the achievements of the wood processing industry. Some producers are willing to share their benefits through investments in raw material areas, the assessment of sustainable forests, and a commitment to product sales. However, wood processors are never willing to share more profits for growers, apart from certain price mechanisms. The countrys policy regime is appropriate and has been increasing both forest area and productivity. People ask for more land to plant forests, which means that they are satisfied with the mechanism. Of course, in some places, the life of forest planters is still difficult, but this is a general issue of the entire economic system, not just the forestry sector. VIR Lack of raw materials threaten wood prices Input material prices for Vietnamese wood exporters have risen sharply, but most of them are stuck in the mud as there seems no suitable way to increase their selling prices accordingly. Statement by Ambassador Byrne Nason at UNSC Open Debate on Conflict Related Sexual Violence Statement Thank you for convening todays Open Debate and in particular for ensuring that we have had such strong representation of civil society among the briefers. To Caroline Atim and Denis Mukwege thank you for being truth-tellers of the reality of sexual violence that is all too often shrouded in stigma and obscured. Your focus on empowering survivors helps them to regain the sense of agency that these violations so horribly undermine. I also want to pay tribute to Special Representative Patten. Your work in documenting the evidence of these heinous crimes and calling to account their perpetrators makes an enormous contribution. It serves to elucidate our understanding. Importantly, evidence-based reporting reinforces our ability to address impunity. Todays work of documenting crimes will lead to tomorrows convictions. Your work is badly needed and deeply appreciated. I was especially pleased to hear from Beatrix, the Womens Protection Adviser working with MINUSCA. In our view, ensuring the adequate resourcing of Womens Protection Advisers from regular mission budgets is crucial. This Council has an obligation to follow through on the promises it, the promises we, make in the establishment of mandates. This absolutely includes Women Protection Advisor posts, and to assume our clear responsibilities, we should expand their deployment. Mr President, The Secretary Generals report warns of the risk that COVID-19 will reverse hard-won gains on gender equality, reminding us that inequality is a root cause and a driver of sexual violence in times of conflict. Of course it is a driver in peace times too. Lets be clear, to eliminate sexual and gender based violence, including in conflict, our most fundamental task is to achieve gender equality, at every level. We should not fool ourselves that the shocking sexual and gender based violence in times of war, disease and disaster is somehow extraordinary, or aberrant. Lets not fool ourselves that things will go back to normal once the crisis has passed. What we witness in times of conflict and crisis is the transfer of violence from the private to the public sphere. We see the deliberate weaponisation of the gendered violence that one in three of us who are women will experience in our lifetime. Most of the violence is suffered by women and girls from men they know. This is a kind of normal no woman wants to return to. The kind of normal we cannot afford to return to. I echo, therefore, the words of the Secretary General that recovery from this pandemic demands us to silence the guns and amplify the voices of women peacebuilders, and to invest in public welfare rather than the instruments of warfare. To succeed, we must support the courageous work of grassroots and women-led organisations, as well as brave women human rights defenders. At a minimum, we must protect them from reprisals. Our recovery policies must also recognise the intersecting forms of discrimination. The discrimination that compounds vulnerability to violence, as Caroline so powerfully attested today. To build back better we need to advance equality and participation for all, including those with disabilities, LGBTI+ persons, migrants and refugees, and members of racial and ethnic minorities. And lets remember, this Council has the means to act. We have put in place a robust framework to deal with conflict-related sexual violence over the last decade. And yet, compliance by parties to conflict is appallingly, shamefully low. 70% of parties listed in the Secretary Generals report have been appearing in the list for five years or more without taking corrective action. The fact is we are failing in our responsibility if we do not ask ourselves why this is. This Council can and must do more with the tools at its disposal. It is our responsibility. To do what? We believe that we must fully implement the recommendations of the IEG on Women, Peace and Security. We believe that we should ensure that monitoring and early warning processes on conflict-related sexual violence (CRSV) are incorporated into all peacekeeping and special political missions that include a protection of civilians mandate. We believe we need to examine our use of targeted sanctions specifically the designation criteria of conflict-related sexual violence and listing of sanctioned individuals. This is an under-utilised tool to deter and punish sexual violence in conflict. We need to bring together our work on sanctions and on gender more systematically. Ireland supports the call by the Secretary General to invite the Special Representative on Sexual Violence in Conflict to share information with sanctions committees, and we will play our part in advancing that effort. Sanctions are not our only tools for seeking accountability. As Special Representative Patten has said, the fight against CRSV is the fight against impunity. Rape and other forms of sexual violence are not somehow lesser crimes they can constitute war crimes, crimes against humanity, or constitutive acts with respect to genocide. Lets face it. The persistently paltry record of investigations, prosecutions and convictions for conflict-related sexual violence is fundamentally a failure of political will. Todays debate, Mr. President, is not about some vague concept. Its about the reality of our work on international peace and security. The ICCs recent conviction of Dominic Ongwen and its affirmation of Bosco Ntagandas conviction are encouraging developments, as is the continued work of Colombias Transitional Justice mechanisms. But they are all too rare and we believe that this Council must reflect on its failure to make effective use of the accountability tools at its disposal, including the referral of situations to the ICC. We can draw a straight line from impunity for sexual violence in the past to the recurrence of violence in the future. In 2017, sexual and gender-based violence was a hallmark of the Tatmadaws operations in northern Myanmar and in Rakhine: today they turn their guns on civilians. As we heard from the SRSG today, deeply distressing reports of horrific sexual violence continue to emerge from Ethiopia, including abuses perpetrated by armed actors in the conflict in Tigray. The SRSG has spoken of acts that may amount to sexual atrocities. These and other violations must cease immediately. We call on all armed parties to the conflict to fulfil their obligations under international humanitarian and human rights law, and end hostilities, which will also help to facilitate humanitarian access. We call on them to ensure their forces respect and protect civilian populations, particularly women and children, from all human rights abuses; and that they explicitly condemn all sexual violence. We welcome the announcement by the High Commissioner for Human Rights confirming plans for a joint investigation with the Ethiopian Human Rights Commission into human rights violations in Tigray, including sexual violence. This is an urgent task to bring an end to ongoing violations and it is also vital for accountability, to bring perpetrators to justice, whatever their affiliation. We are in full support of the High Commissioner in this critical undertaking. Mr President, As I conclude, the war correspondent, Christina Lamb, has noted the absence of womens names in war memorials. The stigma of rape in war belongs not to its victims but to its perpetrators. The stories of survivors of sexual violence, mostly women, need to be told. Importantly they need to be truly heard. But thats not enough. We must demand the prosecution of the crime of conflict-related sexual violence on an equal basis with other war crimes and crimes against humanity. The survivors of these crimes deserve nothing less than justice. They deserve redress, they deserve access to comprehensive survivor-centred services including sexual and reproductive health. Above all, they are entitled to the right to participate on a full, equal and meaningful basis in public life. Mr. President, that would be a fitting memorial. Previous Item | Next Item In brief: Add Reuters to the growing list of major news publications adopting a subscription-based model. The news organization, which got its start way back in 1851, said it is preparing to charge readers $34.99 per month to access stories on its website. Reuters.com will remain free for a preview period, but will require users to register after five stories, the publication said, before admitting it wasnt clear when it would start charging for access. That may seem high but apparently, it is par for the course. A quick check of Bloomberg reveals a monthly rate of $34.99 for unlimited digital access. The Wall Street Journal, which has been behind a paywall since it first went online in 1996, currently commands $38.99 a month (both after promo periods expire) while The New York Times goes for $17 every four weeks. If you want to read the Financial Times online, itll cost you $40 per month. Reuters marketing chief Josh London described the move as the largest digital transformation at Reuters in a decade. Bloomberg cited competition from companies like Facebook, Google and Amazon for online advertising as one reason that news outlets are shifting to digital subscriptions. Reuters earlier this week named Alessandra Galloni as its new editor in chief. When she replaces the outgoing Stephen J. Adler next week, she will become the first woman to lead Reuters in its nearly 170-year history. Images courtesy ll.studio, mark higgins Members of the police anti-terrorism unit used lethal force after the suspect attacked them with a sickle during a raid on his home in the provincial capital Makassar, dpa news agency quoted a police spokesman as saying. Jakarta, April 15 (IANS) Indonesian police on Thursday shot dead a man allegedly linked to last month's suicide bombing outside a church in South Sulawesi province, a spokesman said. "The suspect was believed involved in the group that attacked the cathedral church," Zulfan said. Police have arrested at least 31 people in connection with the March 28 attack on the Sacred Heart of Jesus Cathedral in Makassar, which left the two attackers dead and injured 20 people. Investigators said a newly married couple linked to Jamaah Ansharud Daulah (JAD), a militant network that supports the Islamic State terror group, carried out the attack. JAD has been blamed for a series of militant attacks in Indonesia in recent years, including suicide attacks on three churches in Surabaya, the country's second-largest city, in 2018. The coordinated attacks involving two families, including children, killed 15 people and 13 attackers. --IANS ksk/ New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday met one of his old friends and long-time RSS pracharak Haribhai Adhunik during his two-day visit to Gujarat at the famous Dwarkadhish Temple. After offering prayers at the temple, the Prime Minister saw his old friend standing with some people in the temple courtyard, while he was leaving the temple. Adhunik is also a member of the administrative committee of Dwarkadhish Temple. The duo talked for a while before PM Modi left. While speaking to reporters, Adhunik said that he had known his friend for many years and both share a special friendship. ALSO READ: PM Modi to visit Vadnagar today, to inaugurate medical college and hospital I have been in the RSS since the last 52 years. We are old friends, as we knew each other for many years now. Whenever Modi used to come to Dwarka as an RSS worker, he used to stay at my home. We went to many places together while in RSS in the past, PM Modis friend said. (With PTI inputs) ALSO READ: Uddhav Thackeray hits back at PM Modi for his Diwali allusion, asks whether government will refund taxes collected so far For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. US Ambassador to Russia John Sullivan left the Russian Foreign Ministry where he had been summoned in relation to Washingtons new sanctions against Moscow without comment, TASS reported. His automobile departed not from the main entrance but from a side door of the building of the Russian diplomatic agency; there were no comments for reporters. Earlier, Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova reported that the US ambassador had been summoned to the Russian Foreign Ministry, noting that this conversation would be "a difficult one for the US side." A young US military serviceman has tested positive for Covid-19 after arriving in the Northern Territory. The 22-year-old arrived to join the Marine Rotational Force in Darwin on Monday and was diagnosed with the virus on Wednesday. The marine is experiencing mild symptoms and has been placed in isolation in the Howard Springs quarantine facility, NT Health confirmed on Thursday. The marine is one of around 2,200 servicemen and women arriving in Darwin by June to train with the Australian Defence Force. A young US military serviceman has tested positive for Covid-19 after arriving in the Northern Territory (stock image of Australian Defence Force in Brisbane) Defence Minister Linda Reynolds has previously said all US personnel would undergo COVID-19 testing within 72 hours of departure for Australia and must present a negative result before boarding their flight. They are also required to complete mandatory 14-day quarantine with virus testing on arrival in Australia and again before exiting the quarantine facility. The Marine force has rented a secure facility outside Darwin - understood to be Bladin Point, about 20km south of Darwin - for the majority of personnel to complete their quarantining. The total number of coronavirus cases diagnosed in the NT is 114. All cases have been related to international or interstate travel, with no cases of community transmission. The indefinite strike called by the employees of road transport corporations in over wage related issue entered its ninth day on Thursday, continuing to affect bus services across the state. With a stalemate between the government and employees of four transport corporations in the state, over their demand for wages as per the 6th Pay Commission continuing, majority workers did not turn up for work, resulting in buses remaining off road, affecting commuters. Aimed at intensifying their protest, the striking employees have decided to stage a candlelight protest on Thursday evening. They have also planned to approach all the MLAs to urge them to raise their issue at the government-level. Amid threats of tough action, "no work no pay", few RTC employees have returned to work and are operating buses on some routes in the city and different parts of the state. Pegging the revenue loss at Rs 152 crore with buses belonging to all the four RTCs not running, Deputy Chief Minister Laxman Savadi, who also holds Transport portfolio, last evening said over 3,200 buses were operating so far, as employees were returning to work on the request of the government. He also appealed to employees not to listen to vested interests who are instigating for the strike and to get back to work. Savadi in his statement had also said that a total of 60 buses belonging to all the four RTCs were damaged so far by miscreants in the name of protests as he condemned the act. Some Volvo buses have been damaged, he said, adding that police have started taking action against those involved. The government has made it clear that it was not possible to implement the sixth pay commission for the RTC employees, and had ruled out any talks with them. RTCs that have been warning employees against continuing with the strike, have started taking action against trainee and probationary employees by dismissing them for absence from work and not responding to notice. Private buses, mini buses, maxi cabs and other passenger transport vehicles, whom authorities have roped in to manage the crisis and help commuters, were seen providing services to passengers in different parts of the city and the state. Metro, autos and cabs were also being largely used for commuting within the city. Citing inconvenience caused to the public and that the strike was against provisions of the industrial disputes act, the Labour department last week had issued an order banning the strike, and had referred the dispute to the industrial tribunal, Bengaluru for adjudication. (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.) Vienna, April 15 : As Japan's decision to discharge the nuclear wastewater from the crippled Fukushima plant into the Pacific Ocean sparked an international backlash, International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) chief Rafael Mariano Grossi said that he took these concerns "seriously" and called for "transparency". "The way to deal with these concerns, for me ... it's very simple. It has one name: transparency," Grossi, Director-General of the IAEA, told Xinhua news agency in an interview here on Wednesday. Grossi stressed that when the wastewater is released, it should cause no harm to the environment. The Japanese government on Tuesday announced its decision to start releasing radioactive water accumulated at the damaged Fukushima nuclear plant into the sea after treatment, amid domestic and international opposition. Tokyo Electric Power is expected to start discharging the water into the sea in two years after it has been treated. The operator has stored over 1.2 million tonnes of water in more than 1,000 huge tanks at the site. On Wednesday, China strongly urged Japan to reconsider its decision on the disposal of nuclear waste, while South Korea, Russia and the European Commission had expressed deep concerns over the issue. Grossi noted that not only Japan's neighbouring countries but also the local residents, such as fishermen, were "all very concerned". "The issue at hand is very well known. We all know what is there. We all know the amount of the water. What we need to do is to make sure that when this starts to be released, there will be no harm to the environment, no harm whatsoever," he said. Grossi noted that the IAEA would cooperate with Japan, with professional work organised "before, during and after the controlled release of treated water into the ocean". "So the work will start now and we will have to make sure that every step of the way we observe this cooperation, that this cooperation is unhindered, that we have access to everything we need to have access (to)," he said. The Fukushima plant suffered meltdowns at three of its six reactors after it was hit by a powerful earthquake and ensuing tsunami in March 2011. Since then, the operator has continued to inject water into the three reactors to keep cooling melted atomic fuel there. Radiation-contaminated water at the site has been treated through an advanced liquid processing system, but tritium, a radioactive isotope of hydrogen, cannot be removed. Noted North America Cup contender Bayfield Beach made his 2021 debut during the Wednesday (April 14) qualifying session at Miami Valley Raceway on the same card as talented 2020 freshman trotter Cuatro De Julio. Driven by Chris Page for trainer Brian Brown, Bayfield Beach bolted from post 7 to sit third to a :28.1 opening quarter set by Livin For A Dream. That pacesetter continued unchallenged through middle fractions of :57.1 and 1:26 as Page readied his Somebeachsomewhere colt for the stretch drive. Once straightening for the finish, Bayfield Beach barreled by his competition to hit the finish in 1:54.2, and three lengths better than second-place finisher Imma Be. "Very happy," Brown told Trot Insider after the qualifier, noting that the colt was better behaved than some of his past outings but still has room to improve mentally. He'll return to qualify again in one week's time. Bayfield Beach, bred by Schooner II Stable, competes for owners Crossover Racing, Country Club Acres Inc., Richard Lombardo and Joe Sbrocco. The colt, who finished as runner-up in the $720,000 Metro Pace final and earned over $300,000 last season, sits at #10 in Trot Magazines 2021 Pepsi North America Cup Spring Book. In the following qualifier, late-season breakout Cuatro De Julio went a blowout mile as he made his 2021 debut. The sophomore son of Trixton caught national attention following a dominant campaign on the Kentucky Fair and Sires Stakes circuit before competing and winning on the Grand Circuit during the stakes meeting at The Red Mile. On Wednesday, regular pilot Al Eferstein rocketed Cuatro De Julio off the gate and travelled a clip of :28.2, :56.4 and 1:25.1 before stopping the clock in 1:54.1. He finished 23 lengths in front of the next-closest finishers A Fancy Face and Street Gossip. World champion Guardian Angel As also went his first mile of 2021 in the qualifier, with the seven-year-old finishing fourth with a time of 1:59.1. Towards the end of the card, North America Cup-eligible Captains Place went a 1:53.3 mile when competing against older competition. The son of Captaintreacherous, driven by Tyler Smith for trainer Todd Luther, sat the pocket to five-year-old mare Giggles In Dream through fractions of :28.2, :56.4 and 1:25.3 before settling for second in a :27.4 spring to the beam. Bllack Hole, who won a preliminary of the Graduate Series last year at The Meadowlands, finished third. Credit: CC0 Public Domain Greece plans to open its borders to vaccinated visitors from several countries from next week, the government said Thursday, as the country seeks to restart its badly-hit tourism sector. The scheme is part of a pilot project to allow entry to people with the so-called vaccine passports, an exception until now open only to Israeli visitors. Under the initiative, travellers will be able to avoid a seven-day quarantine currently imposed on visitors. The European Union has said it wants to get a vaccine passport off the ground for travellers, though plans have not yet been formalised. Tourism on the continentGreece includedhas been ravaged by the pandemic, with many nations shutting borders for non-essential travel. The vaccine passport trial run in Greece comes before the country plans to restart tourism in mid-May. "It's a pilot opening," government spokeswoman Aristotelia Peloni told reporters. "It involves visitors coming either with vaccine certificates or following PCR tests," she said. Peloni said the scheme was open to "European and certain other countries" without giving further detail. The tourism ministry did not respond to AFP requests for details on the project. According to reports, the initiative is open to EU states and countries with widespread vaccination such as the UK, Israel and Serbia. Peloni said travellers will be subject to the same movement restrictions as Greece residents. This includes limiting travel between regions, she said. There are currently between 2,000 and 4,000 new coronavirus cases in Greece daily, more than when the latest lockdown restrictions were announced in November. Retail shops reopened on April 5 but restaurants are not expected to resume operation until early May. Peloni on Thursday said the planned full launch of the tourism season on May 14 will depend on the course of the pandemic. Greece's own vaccine drive has sped up in recent weeks, and nearly 1.5 million people in a population of around 11 million have received at least one dose. Explore further Follow the latest news on the coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak 2021 AFP SPRINGFIELD Besides a quality education and balanced meals every day, some students have other needs that can often go unnoticed, like shoes that fit just right and havent been handed down from siblings or cousins. We often see children who have to share shoes with their siblings or will wear the same pair of shoes year after year even if they are worn out. There is definitely a need for some of our families, said Jose Escribano, principal at Brightwood Elementary in Springfield. On Thursday, 75 children a the school received brand new Nikes from the family of Peyton Smith, an avid sneaker lover or sneakerhead who died of cancer last October at age 18. His family lives in Vermont, but partnered with the Shoes That Fit organization to donate shoes to three schools in New England where they saw a need. He loved sneakers. Just like sneakers were important to him, he always felt it was important for kids to have their own pairs of sneakers, said his father, Matthew Smith, who handed shoe boxes to several of the children Thursday. Theres nothing better than what we just did, to watch them open a sneaker box and see a fresh pair of sneakers and know that theyre yours, Matthew Smith said. That was something that was important to Peyton and its important to us. Before he died Peyton Smith was able to fulfill a lifelong dream of designing his own sneaker. He travelled to Nike headquarters in 2019 to collaborate with several sneaker designers on a custom pair of Air Jordan IVs. Only a few pairs were made, and his family has them as a reminder of their sons creativity and passion. Springfield Mayor Domenic J. Sarno stopped by the school to meet the Smith family and students receiving the shoes. Feet grow quickly at this young age, and if you dont have shoes that fit you well that is a hindrance to learning and to the good work that is going on at Brightwood, he said. It is so kind-hearted that this family thought of our students. Brightwood parent facilitator Emily Cruzado said she worked with Escribano to determine which children would receive the donation. We picked the families that we feel need them the most, she said. We have the best families. We love them and they love us and whatever we can do to help them we will do it. They are so appreciative of this donation and so are we. In honor of Smith and to show appreciation for the donation, all of the school staff wore sneakers on Thursday. Staff were so inspired by the donation that they are teaming up with their parent teacher organization to donate shoes to a school in Puerto Rico. Its a small way for us to pay it forward, Escribano said. Related content: Digital currency exchange Coinbase saw its value top 80billion on its stock market debut in New York last night. In one of the most exciting flotations for a decade, Coinbase shares were expected to open at $250 but instead started trading at $381 before reaching $429. That valued the company at 81billion, making it more valuable than all but four companies listed on the stock market in London and almost as big as Goldman Sachs. Cashing in: Coinbase Employees celebrate on Wall St as the digital currency exchange's value soars Shares drifted lower in later trading, closing at $328. The float has made its founders former Airbnb engineer Brian Armstrong and ex- Goldman Sachs trader Fred Ehrsam two of the world's richest men. It is understood Armstrong's stake is worth almost 11billion. Founded in 2012, Coinbase is the biggest company of its kind in the US and makes money by taking a small cut of the crypto-currencies traded on the platform by individuals and institutions. Armstrong, who is also chief executive, said: 'Hopefully Coinbase going public and having this direct listing is going to be viewed as kind of a landmark moment for the crypto space.' The exchange was used by Tesla in February when Elon Musk's firm snapped up 1billion in bitcoin. The float proves that crypto-currencies are now mainstream as bitcoin prices hit a record high of $64,800. Coinbase officially had 43m customers in 2020, with 2.8m making transactions monthly. Revenue more than doubled to 820million last year and it swung to a profit of 233million after losing tens of millions in 2019.But not everyone is convinced. David Trainer, chief executive at research firm New Constructs, said Coinbase has 'little-to-no-chance of meeting the future profit expectations that are baked into its ridiculously high valuation'. Some fear that the bitcoin volatility may affect crypto-currency business and that there could be a crackdown by regulators. Armstrong said regulation was 'right up there with cybersecurity' in posing a threat to the crypto-economy He said: 'We're very excited and happy to play by the rules. And basically, we just ask that, hey, we want to be treated on those level playing fields with traditional financial services at the very least, and not have any kind of punishment for being in the crypto space.' New Delhi, April 15 : In what should worry Indian parents the most, an increasing number of children are now being infected with Covid-19 along with serious symptoms in the ongoing lethal second wave. The city-based doctors on Thursday urged parents not to take their kids out and expose them to the virus. Earlier, the novel coronavirus showed very mild or no effect in children. However, in its second run, the virus is turning out to be much severe for both children as well as adults under 45. "Lots of new cases of Covid-19 infections in children are coming in this second wave and the numbers are much, much higher than they were earlier," Dr Krishan Chugh, Director and head of the department of paediatrics at Fortis Memorial Research Institute, Gurgaon, told IANS. In most children who are affected by Covid-19, the symptoms present are mild fever, cough, cold and abdominal issues. Some are even complaining of body pain, headache, diarrhoea and vomiting. The World Health Organisation (WHO), in an October 2020 document, reported that Covid-19 is much less frequent in children than in adults. Children and adolescents represented about 8 per cent of reported cases (and 29 per cent of the global population). But in the second wave, "all age group of children, even below 1 year, are getting affected", Dr Sarita Sharma, Senior Consultant Pediatrician at PSRI Hospital Saket, told IANS. "With the new wave of Covid, children are more symptomatic," Sharma added. The situation is far different from last year for the children. "More kids are now being affected with high fever up to 103-104 degrees Celsius, which is persistent for 5-6 days," Dr Dhiren Gupta, senior consultant paediatrician at Sir Ganga Ram Hospital in New Delhi told IANS. "There are few cases that have escalated to pneumonia, and required oxygen and other respiratory support," Chugh said. According to Dr Gupta, the saving grace is that compared to adults, the rate of pneumonia in kids is less. Some kids are also reporting more severe complications like multisystem inflammatory syndrome (MIS-C) -- a rare inflammatory condition with persistent fever. It generally occurs 2-4 weeks after the onset of Covid. The experts said that mild symptoms in children should not be ignored, and parents must look out for symptoms such as diarrheoa, breathing problems and lethargy, particularly after fever, said Chugh. Parents must be careful in recognising such problems in kids, as early intervention would help in better outcome. "If the fever persists for 5-6 days, parents must monitor the blood pressure of their kids. However, there is no need for checking their oxygen levels with pulse oximeters, as they are highly unlikely to face oxygen saturation. The devices are unfit for kids," Gupta informed. While vaccines for kids are still under trial and may take months before it can be tested and proved beneficial for kids, the only remedy is to wear masks, maintain hand hygiene and social distancing. "Do not take your kids out and expose them to the virus. Avoid every possible reason for infections, even via you," Chugh advised. (Rachel V Thomas can be contacted at rachel.t@ians.in) Latest updates on Coronavirus (COVID-19) -- The story has been published from a wire feed without any modifications to the text The Centre has given its nod to Mumbai-based Haffkine Institute to manufacture Bharat Biotech's COVID-19 vaccine Covaxin. During a video-conference between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and chief ministers of the states, Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray had requested to allow Haffkine Institute, run by the Maharashtra government, to manufacture Covaxin. In a letter to Maharashtra Chief Secretary Sitaram Kunte, Renu Swarup, Secretary in Department of Biotechnology, said Haffkine Institute can manufacture the vaccine doses. Technology transfer will take place from Bharat Biotech to Haffkine for manufacturing Covaxin. Haffkine has been given a time of 1 year for it and the state government is likely to spend around Rs 180 crore in making necessary changes in the institute's assembly line for making Covaxin. Also read: Just 3 days! India cuts approval time for foreign Covid-19 vaccines The Maharashtra government will appoint a senior officer to monitor and complete the project, which will increase availability of Covaxin, in time. The Haffkine Institute is a multi-disciplinary institute engaged in training, research and manufacturing of anti-rabies serum, anti-snake venom serum and oral polio vaccine. Currently, Covishield, manufactured by the Serum Institute of India, and Covaxin are being administerd under the country's COVID-19 vaccination programme. As the number of COVID-19 cases continue to rise in the country, the Centre this week also gave emergency use authorisation to Russia's Sputnik V vaccine. Besides, it has also fast-tracked the approval process for foreign vaccines. India reported 2,00,739 new COVID-19 cases in the preceding 24 hours as on Thursday morning, while 11.44 crore doses of vaccine have been administered so far. Also read: COVID-19: 100 more hospitals to get own oxygen plant under PM-CARES Fund Karen Olivo, who originated the role of Satine in the Broadway production of Moulin Rouge will not be returning to the New York show when the ongoing shutdown ends, she revealed on Instagram. Olivo, Tony-nominated for playing Satine, departs the show calling for greater integrity in the theatre industry, and in protest of the wide-ranging industry silence following the recent Hollywood Reporter article detailing lengthy workplace harassment claims against theatre and film producer Scott Rudin. (Rudin, a producer of many Broadway shows, is not part of the Moulin Rouge! team.) "Social justice is actually more important than being the Sparkling Diamond," Olivo said in a scathing video post. "Building a better industry for all my students than me putting money in my pockets. The silence about Scott Rudin, unacceptable...Now it's about humanity. What is your integrity saying you should do? Are you going to protect your pocketbook and let people go to the emergency room, so you can do your next concert?" This article originally ran on our US sister site TheaterMania. The Broadway production of Moulin Rouge! has responded on its social channels: Four entities Repco Bank, Chaitanya India Fin Credit, UAE Exchange and Financial Services, and Pankaj Vaish and others have applied for licence to start a universal bank in the country. Those who have applied for licence for small (SFBs) are VSoft Technologies, Calicut City Service Co-operative Bank, Akhil Kumar Gupta, and Dvara Kshetriya Gramin Financial Services. The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on Thursday released the names of the applicants under the guidelines for on tap licensing of universal and SFBs. Chaitanya India Fin Credit, the entity backed by Flipkart founder Sachin Bansal, had expressed its interest in a universal bank in January last year. Chaitanya India began work as a micro- institution in 2009 to support low-income families which had been traditionally away from formal banking. It operates in seven states in the country, serving over half a million clients. Repco Bank is a multi-state cooperative society. The bank was promoted by the Centre in association with the governments of Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Karnataka, and Andhra Pradesh. It was registered on November 11, 1969, to promote the rehabilitation of repatriates from neighbouring countries, mainly Sri Lanka and Burma (now Myanmar). These governments hold a 55.3 per cent stake in the bank and 44.7 per cent is with individuals. Its business was Rs 15,202 crore (deposits Rs 8,197 crore and advances Rs 7,005 crore as of March 2020), according to the bank website. The entities of NRI tycoon B R Shetty, who backs UAE Exchange, have run into trouble and lenders have begun legal proceedings to recover dues. The RBI last month formed a five-member standing external advisory committee (SEAC), headed by former deputy governor Shyamala Gopinath, to evaluate applications for universal and SFBs. Pankaj Vaish, is a former Citibank executive and has worked with financial services group Lehman Brothers and Nomura in India. VSoft Technologies provides banking and payment solutions to financial institutions of all sizes worldwide. It was founded in 1996 in Atlanta, Georgia, United States. [April 15, 2021] Alfa-Bank Automates Model Monitoring with FICO Platform, Cuts Reporting Time by 90 Percent LONDON, April 15, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Highlights: Alfa-Bank, the largest universal privately owned bank in Russia , has used FICO Decision Central to automate monitoring of its predictive models, to meet requirements from the Central Bank of Russia , has used FICO Decision Central to automate monitoring of its predictive models, to meet requirements from the Central Bank of Automation of model monitoring has cut report preparation time by 90 percent and improved transparency Alfa-Bank has won the 2021 FICO Decisions Award for Regulatory Compliance Alfa-Bank, the largest universal privately owned bank in Russia, has used FICO Decision Central to automate monitoring of its predictive models, in order to meet requirements from the Central Bank of Russia. The project has reduced report preparation time by more than 90 percent, created complete transparency into model performance and recommendations for improvement, and will help the bank qualify for an internal ratings-based (IRB) approach to Basel II, which should reduce the capital the bank needs to set aside on loans. For its achievements, Alfa-Bank has won the 2021 FICO Decisions Award for Regulatory Compliance. More information: https://www.fico.com/en/products/fico-decision-central "Alfa-Bank is using more and more predictive models based on different data types," said Vera Perevitskaya, head of the validation at Alfa-Bank. "Because of this, we implemented FICO Decision Central to make the monitoring of models more transparent and comfortable. We can now prepare the reports nearly two times faster and are fully compliant with Russian Central Bank regulation." Alfa-Bank also worked with FICO to develop a wide range of custom statistical and qualitative tests covering different types of models, including PD, EAD and LG, for retail and corporate business models, and special tests for low-default portfolios. "Alfa-Bank has provided an excellent example of how modelmonitoring should be done," said Nikhil Behl chief marketing officer at FICO. "This kind of work is absolutely critical, not just to meet regulations but to ensure the quality of the models that drive a bank's lending decisions. As an economy changes such as in the current pandemic continuous validation of model performance is even more important." "Model maintenance or the model lifecycle is a very hot area in the world of analytics," said David Dittmann, vice president, data & analytics, P&G and one of the FICO Decisions Awards judges. "I was impressed that Alfa Bank was pushing forward with new ways to think and manage the model lifecycle that addressed the top risk and compliance challenges." About Alfa-Bank Alfa-Bank is the largest universal privately owned bank in Russia. It has been leading in all banking business segments for 30 years. Alfa-Bank serves more than 850 thousand corporate clients and 18.7 million retail customers. Alfa-Bank is developing according to the phygital model, combining digital innovation with an effective physical presence network, which has 498 retail offices in Moscow and Russian regions, 900 cities with courier delivery and 27,900 of its own and partner ATMs. According to 2020 IFRS report overall assets of "Alfa-Bank" Banking group including ABH Financial, AO Alfa-Bank and financial subsidiaries is $61,9 bln., credit portfolio - $42,7 bln, shareholders' equity $8,7 bln, net income $1347 mio. https://alfabank.com/ About the FICO Decisions Awards The FICO Decisions Awards recognize organizations that are achieving remarkable success using FICO solutions. A panel of independent judges with deep industry expertise evaluates nominations based upon measurable improvement in key metrics; demonstrated use of best practices; project scale, depth and breadth; and innovative uses of technology. The 2021 judges are: Prasanna Dhore, chief data & analytics officer, Equifax chief data & analytics officer, David Dittmann , vice president, data & analytics, P&G (2019 winner) vice president, data & analytics, Rene Javier Guzman, market & liquidity risks director at Banreservas (2019 winner) market & liquidity risks director at Tomas Klinger , decision science and data director at Home Credit (2019 winner) decision science and data director at Marcel Le Gouais, managing editor at Credit Strategy managing editor at Tiffani Montez , banking analyst at Aite banking analyst at Lisa Morgan , journalist & analyst at InformationWeek journalist & analyst at Ignazio Provinzano , head of risk operations at Swisscard (2019 winner) The winners of the FICO Decisions Awards will be spotlighted at and win tickets to FICO World 2021, the Decisions Conference, November 2021 in Orlando, Florida. About FICO FICO (NYSE: FICO) powers decisions that help people and businesses around the world prosper. Founded in 1956 and based in Silicon Valley, the company is a pioneer in the use of predictive analytics and data science to improve operational decisions. FICO holds more than 195 US and foreign patents on technologies that increase profitability, customer satisfaction and growth for businesses in financial services, manufacturing, telecommunications, health care, retail and many other industries. Using FICO solutions, businesses in more than 120 countries do everything from protecting 2.6 billion payment cards from fraud, to helping people get credit, to ensuring that millions of airplanes and rental cars are in the right place at the right time. Learn more at www.fico.com . FICO is a registered trademark of Fair Isaac Corporation in the US and other countries View original content to download multimedia:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/alfa-bank-automates-model-monitoring-with-fico-platform-cuts-reporting-time-by-90-percent-301269907.html SOURCE FICO [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] The company said the program will focus on three priority drill targets, which have the potential to deliver a significant discovery Mirasol said its Sascha Marcelina project has many geological similarities Newmonts Cerro Negro mine Mirasol Resources Ltd ( ) (OTCPINK:MRZLF) (FRA:M8R) announced the start of a 2,600 metres (m) drill program at its Sascha Marcelina gold and silver project in Argentina. The company said the program will focus on three priority drill targets (the Estancia, Pellegrini Silica Cap and Igloo prospects), which are characterized by coincident large-scale outcropping alteration, anomalous rock chip geochemistry and Induced Polarization (IP) geophysical anomalies. Mirasols exploration activities have defined multiple new and quality drill targets, which have the potential to deliver a significant discovery, Mirasol Resources President Tim Heenan said in a statement. Heenan added: Having been involved in the early discovery years at what is now Newmonts Cerro Negro mine, I believe the two districts have many geological similarities. For example, both projects have a large, mineralized footprint and veins in close proximity and distal to a topographically elevated silicified hill, which is interpreted to represent the center of the hydrothermal system in each project. The company also noted that previous exploration work at the Sascha Marcelina project defined a large alteration footprint of more than 20 square kilometres (km), hosting an epithermal quartz vein system within multiple mineralized trends. In preparation for drilling, Mirasol completed a 39 line-km of IP Pole-Dipole ground geophysics survey at the Estancia, Pellegrini, and Igloo prospects that defined significant chargeability and resistivity anomalies, indicating the possible presence of sulphides and silica bodies, which could represent zones of hydrothermal alteration and mineralization at shallow depths. The company added that it has defined a series of new highly prospective, large-scale targets that are supported by a prospective geological setting, widespread indications of gold and silver mineralization, and near surface, coincident geophysical anomalies. The combination of these features, Mirasol said, strengthens the potential for better mineralized gold-silver veins at depth. Mirasol Resources is a project generator and exploration company that specializes in identifying quality gold, silver and copper properties in the mineral-rich mining regions of the Atacama-Puna in northern Chile and the Santa Cruz province in southern Argentina. Contact Sean at sean@proactiveinvestors.com Kilkenny doctor Martin Tobin has been recalled to the stand this afternoon in the high profile US trial of Derek Chauvin, the Minneapolis police officer charged with the murder of George Floyd. The Prosecution sought further testimony from the expert witness in rebuttal after another witness yesterday testified that carbon monoxide may have played a role in the death of Mr Floyd. Dr Tobin is originally from Freshford. Mr Floyd died last year in an incident in which he was handcuffed by police with the officer's knee pressed on his neck. Dr Tobin, a highly-regarded expert pulmonologist, last week testified that he died from a low level of oxygen, causing damage to his brain and an arrhythmia that caused his heart to stop. In his opinion, Dr Tobin said, the cause of the low level of oxygen was shallow breathing - a result of a combination of his prone position, being in handcuffs, and the knee on the back of his neck. Yesterday, another witness suggested that carbon monoxide from a vehicle exhaust may have factored in Mr Floyd's death. Irish medical expert Dr Martin Tobin has been recalled as a rebuttal witness by the prosecution in the #DerekChauvinTrial. He is a pulmonologist and is being asked about claims that carbon monoxide may have been a factor in the death of #GeorgeFloyd. @rtenews pic.twitter.com/VZOTfrrdV2 Brian O'Donovan (@BrianOD_News) April 15, 2021 Taking the stand again today, Dr Tobin said he did not agree with the carboxyhemoglobin proposition put forward by the other witness. His follow-up evidence can be viewed here. The defendant, Mr Chauvin, has decided not to take the stand to give evidence. The trial continues, with closing arguments to follow. As a Technocracy, Chinas Technocrat scientists believe that the future of mankind lies in the engineering of its collective DNA. Nevertheless, Chinas agressive collection of American DNA should be doubly-alarming because it can only spell one ultimate outcome: bio-warfare. That is, genetically engineering viruses or other diseases that will be selectively harmful to U.S. populations. It has been relatively easy for China to acquire American DNA, and what it could not get through semi-legal means, it simply stole. The ancient Chinese military strategist, Sun Tsu, who wrote the famous book The Art of War, advises the modern Chinese Technocracy: The opportunity of defeating the enemy is provided by the enemy himself. In the midst of chaos, there is also opportunity. The greatest victory is that which requires no battle. He will win who, prepared himself, waits to take the enemy unprepared. Be subtle! be subtle! and use your spies for every kind of business. To fight and conquer in all our battles is not supreme excellence; supreme excellence consists in breaking the enemys resistance without fighting. The best victory is when the opponent surrenders of its own accord before there are any actual hostilitiesIt is best to win without fighting. Anyone who is unable to discern this strategy being applied to America is either naive, blind or deceived by Chinese propaganda that tells you it cant possibly be true. Shares of hit a 31-month high of Rs 192.45 after rallying 17 per cent on the BSE in intra-day trade on Thursday on the back of heavy volumes. The trading volumes on the counter jumped nearly three-fold with a combined 470,000 equity shares changing hands on the NSE and BSE, till 02:10 pm. The information technology (IT) software products company's stock was trading at its highest level since September 2018. In the past six weeks, the stock has zoomed 134 per cent from the level of Rs 82.15 on March 4, against 4.5 per cent decline in the S&P BSE Sensex. Aurionpro is a leading player in banking and fintech segment offering IP based solutions, which include transaction banking platform, iCashPro+ and lending platform smart lender and ACE platform. On March 9, announced the signing of the strategic partnership with Future-Tech, UK for data center design and consultancy projects in India & South Asia. The management said that Aurionpro has ventured into this business at a right time as Indian Data Centre market is likely to reach $4 Billion. Further, Covid-19 pandemic has accelerated the pace of digitisation and as the world is gearing up for the 5G technology, the requirement for the world class Data Centers will increase multi fold. Aurionpro, with its capacity, experience and best resources is poised to tap the immense opportunities in this space, it said. In a press release, Aurionpro said that it has ventured into the Data Centre building, consulting and hybrid cloud services in recent years and has built a strong team of industry veterans, with over 20+ years of experience in the field, for this purpose. Aurionpro has also signed up with one of the customers and is providing consultancy and assistance for rolling out of 100 MW Data Centers within next few years. Further, Aurionpro is also providing consultancy to the other industry leaders on Data Centre designs and implementation, it said. Future-Tech, head quartered in Wokingham, England will bring further specialisation, engineering excellence and direct industry knowledge to the companys established and expanding team within India and South Asia. Future-tech has been engaged on providing more than 3GW of data centre capacity. The Future Tech is involved in the projects ranging from high density and micro-edge environments to multi-MW campuses, the largest so far being more than 270MW, the company said. The management in 2019-20 annual report said, the IT sector had faced headwinds during the year 2020, however, sharp recovery may be witnessed during the year 2021. The increased digitization and technology adaptation will also boost demand for the enterprise security solutions like ISLA in coming years. Further, in order to boost the economies, impacted due to the pandemic, the governments are expected to boost spending on infrastructure in future. This will boost business opportunities in the smart city and smart mobility space, it said. Source: Xinhua| 2021-04-15 18:42:45|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close Former serf Bulu holds her grandson at home in Tunbei Village of Nyingchi, southwest China's Tibet Autonomous Region, March 28, 2021. In old Tibet, Bulu and family members had to flee their hometown and beg for food due to heavy labor imposed on them. "The serfs were constantly working and being beaten," Bulu recalled life back then. Only a little tsamba and radish were served for three meals a day. At night, she had to sleep with dog to keep warm. After the democratic reform in 1959, Bulu and her family were given land, cattle and sheep. "From then on, everyone sat around the table and became masters of themselves," Bulu said. (Xinhua/Sun Ruibo) After three consecutive nights of protest, Brooklyn Center, Minnesota police Officer Kim Potter was arrested and charged with second-degree manslaughter in Sundays fatal shooting of a 20-year-old black man. Potter had resigned from the force on Tuesday after initially being place on administrative leave. Police claim that Potter, who is white, accidentally shot Daunte Wright during a traffic stop in the Minneapolis suburb when she mistook her firearm for her taser. Flowers are placed on a banner as demonstrators gather outside the Brooklyn Center Police Department on Tuesday, April 13, 2021, to protest the shooting death of Daunte Wright on Sunday during a traffic stop in Brooklyn Center, Minn. (AP Photo/John Minchillo) During a press conference, police claimed that Wright had been pulled over because of an expired registration tag, and officers attempted to arrest him after discovering Wright had a misdemeanor warrant. Body cam footage showed Potter pulling out her pistol after Wright slipped out of her grip when another officer was trying to handcuff him. Wright was sitting in the drivers seat of his car when Potter verbally threatened to tase him. Within seconds, Potter discharged her firearm, striking Wright in the chest and killing him. It is unclear what led to Potter allegedly mistaking her gun for her taser. However, Potter had no justification for using deadly force against Wright, and the use of a taser in the situation was dangerous. Protests began in Brooklyn Center shortly after Wright was murdered Sunday afternoon, before spreading to other cities in the Twin Cities area and across the country. Minneapolis, St. Paul, Brooklyn Center and other surrounding cities implemented curfews Monday and Tuesday nights as hundreds marched through the streets. Police in Minnesota reported 79 arrests Tuesday night. Police clashed with protesters in Brooklyn Center after protesters gathered outside of the local police headquarters Tuesday night. In the past few days, police have fortified the perimeter with concrete barriers and chain-link fencing. Protesters chanted and demanded justice as police in riot gear and National Guard soldiers stood watch. About 90 minutes before the 10:00 p.m. curfew, police declared that the gathering was unlawful and ordered the crowd to disperse. Officers claimed they ordered protesters to disperse because they were launching fireworks and trying to take down the fencing. The situation escalated, and police fired with flashbangs and tear gas. Riot police advanced in a line and pushed protesters back, once again demanding they leave the area. At one point, officers ordered that journalists leave the scene or face arrest. CNN reporter Sara Sidner, who attended Tuesdays Brooklyn Center demonstrations, expressed her shock, tweeting: In my 25 years as a reporter I have NEVER heard police in America actually say journalists will be arrested during protests. But that happened in #BrooklynCenter last night. Around 9:30 p.m., police began arresting protesters. A journalist from Status Coup News said police created a warzone-like state during the arrests. A video taken at the scene shows dozens of officers surrounding three people in a car and shouting for them to exit the vehicle. One officer suggested slashing the vehicles tires. Ten miles away from Brooklyn Center, the trial of former Minneapolis Officer Derek Chauvin for the murder of George Floyd is currently in its third week. On Tuesday Chauvins defense team began calling its first witnesses after the prosecution rested its case. Throughout the trial, defense attorney Eric Nelson has maintained that Floyd died because of drug use and an underlying heart condition. Additionally, Nelson has argued that officers were distracted by protesters, who shouted at Chauvin and his partners pinned Floyd to the pavement. The defense called use-of-force expert Barry Brodd, who said the force officers used against Floyd was objectively reasonable, adding that Chauvin acted with reasonableness. Furthermore, Brodd testified that he did not consider officers putting a suspect in a prone position to be a use of force. In 2018, Brodd also testified that former Officer Jason Van Dyke was justified in his use of force in the fatal shooting of 17-year-old Laquan McDonald by a Chicago police officer in 2014. Dr. David Fowler, a retired forensic pathologist, was called to supplement the argument that Floyd died from sudden cardiac arrhythmia related to underlying health issues and fentanyl and methamphetamine ingestion. Currently Fowler faces a federal civil lawsuit after ruling the death of 19-year-old Anton Black an accident after he was killed by police in 2018. Theres multiple entities all acting together and adding to each other and taking away from a different part of the ability to give oxygen into his heart, Fowler said. At some point, the heart exhausted its reserves of metabolic supply and went into an arrhythmia and stopped pumping blood effectively. Fowler claimed that Chauvins knee was not obstructing Floyds airway or carotid artery, saying it was nowhere close. He testified that the fact that Floyd was speaking and making noise was very good evidence the airway was not closed. Under cross-examination, Fowler agreed with prosecutor Jerry Blackwell that Floyd died long before he arrived at the hospital. He also agreed that officers should have given Floyd immediate medical attention, stating that he was critical about officers not assisting Floyd. Immediate medical attention for a person who has gone into cardiac arrest, may well reverse that process, Fowler said. He also noted that Floyd could have died from carbon monoxide poisoning because he was pinned directly next to the exhaust pipe of the running police vehicle. He explained to jurors that as carbon monoxide intake goes up, a persons oxygen-carrying capacity goes down. Furthermore, people with heart conditions are more adversely affected and die at lower levels of carbon monoxide poisoning than healthy people. Multiple Minneapolis police officers, including Police Chief Medaria Arradondo, have testified for the prosecution seeking to distance the department from Chauvin, depicting him as someone outside of what the police stand for. They are seeking to reinforce the argument that police brutality is the result of a few bad apples in an otherwise innocent profession. However, police are not peacekeepers. They function as armed enforcers of the state with the purpose of protecting the rights and privileges of the ruling elites. This social function requires the violent repression of the working class, with police killing an average of three people every day in the US. Credit: Unsplash/CC0 Public Domain Google on Thursday went international with tools designed to help people find COVID-19 vaccination locations, as the US internet titan ramps up efforts to fight the pandemic. The internet titan also plans to launch a cloud-based "virtual agent" that people can use to schedule vaccination appointments or get information on the topic in some 28 languages using chat, text messages, or phone calls. Google said it will provide 250,000 vaccine doses to "countries in need" along with adding the ability for people to find sites for the jab in Canada, Chile, France, India, Singapore and the United States. "As we've learned throughout the pandemic, no one is safe from COVID-19 until everyone is safe," Google said. "Getting vaccines to everyone around the world is a challenging, but necessary, undertaking." Google is among an array of tech companies including Amazon and Uber that have stepped up with resources or efforts to help get people vaccinated against COVID-19. Along with providing a total of 250,000 COVID-19 vaccine doses to countries in need, Google is funding "pop-up" sites for the jab in the United States, and committing an additional $250 million in ad credit to spreading vaccine information. "There's a lot of work ahead to make sure everyone who wants to get vaccinated can," Google said in a blog post. "Globally, it could be years before some countries even have enough vaccines." 2021 AFP TUPELO, Miss. (WTVA) Doctor Anthony Fauci said the pause on the Johnson and Johnson vaccine should not stop Mississippians from getting vaccinated for the coronavirus. "I think the people in Mississippi need to appreciate that this is an exceedingly rare event, is literally less than one per million people, which is quite extraordinary," said Fauci in discussing the six reported blood clots that led to the federal government's recommendation. Dr. Anthony Fauci in a Zoom interview with WTVA 9 News on April 14, 2021. Dr. Anthony Fauci in a Zoom interview with WTVA 9 News on April 14, 2021. President Biden's chief medical adviser talked about coronavirus vaccines Wednesday with WTVA 9 News. He not only recommended the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines but expressed his faith in the government's system to review vaccines. "I think the people in Mississippi should realize that the system that follows this for safety is such a strict system, that safety trumps everything else," said Fauci. Hong Kong: Boarding, quarantine rules adjusted The Government today announced that it will adjust boarding and quarantine arrangements for people arriving from overseas places. The Food & Health Department explained that starting April 14, the Government began implementing the tightened commercial flight suspension mechanism to address the risk of importation of mutant strains of COVID-19 from very high-risk places. The Government also announced a plan to shorten the quarantine period for fully vaccinated people arriving from places overseas that are not considered high risk on the basis of the vaccine bubble. The criteria under the tightened flight suspension mechanism include three or more (originally five or more) passengers on a passenger flight arriving at Hong Kong confirmed to have COVID-19 by arrival tests or two or more passengers on any two flights of the same airline from the relevant original port within a seven-day period (originally three or more on two consecutive flights) confirmed to have COVID-19 by arrival tests. The bureau pointed out that a newly added place-specific flight suspension mechanism took effect in parallel. If five or more passengers among all flights from the same place, regardless of airline, are confirmed by arrival tests for COVID-19 with the N501Y mutant strain within a seven-day period, the Government would prohibit all passenger flights from that place from landing in Hong Kong for 14 days. At the same time, the Government would specify that place as an extremely high-risk place to restrict people who have stayed there for more than two hours from boarding passenger flights for Hong Kong for 14 days. After 14 days, the relevant place would be specified as a very high-risk place, and passenger flights to Hong Kong from that place could resume while people in the relevant place who fulfilled boarding requirements could also board for Hong Kong. However, they must undergo compulsory quarantine for 21 days upon arrival, and the shortened quarantine period for fully vaccinated people set out below would not be applicable. To implement such arrangements, the grouping of boarding and compulsory quarantine arrangements will be adjusted. The bureau noted that subject to the development of the epidemic and actual situation, the Government, in the first half of May, plans to specify Brazil, Ireland, South Africa, and the UK as very high-risk places or Group A2 specified places. These four places are currently classified as extremely high-risk places. As for India, Indonesia, Pakistan and the Philippines, from which there had been numerous imported cases including many with the mutant virus strain, they will also be described as Group A2 specified places. Subject to the importation of cases and mutant virus strains from Group A2 specified places, the Government will specify the relevant place as an extremely high-risk place or Group A1 specified place in accordance with the aforementioned suspension mechanism as appropriate. On continued observation of the epidemic situation of a relevant place, including case incidence and vaccination progress, the Government may also consider lowering the specification of a specific place to a high-risk place or Group B specified place where appropriate. Regarding quarantine arrangements for fully vaccinated people, the Government will supplement new arrangements applicable to such individuals and shorten the compulsory quarantine period from 21 days to 14 days under the vaccine bubble concept. For low-risk Group D specified places, such as Australia, New Zealand and Singapore, the compulsory quarantine period for fully vaccinated people will be shortened from 14 days to seven days. People who have completed quarantine under the adjusted Group B, Group C and Group D requirements will be required to self-monitor for seven days and undergo compulsory testing after their shortened quarantine. The bureau emphasised that the Government will announce the adjusted arrangement and exact grouping of places after finalising the details. Such arrangements will be gazetted in late April or early May. This story has been published on: 2021-04-15. To contact the author, please use the contact details within the article. Bahrain takes part in Global Technology Governance Summit; Fourth Industrial Revolution discussed TDT | Manama The Daily Tribune www.newsofbahrain.com The rate of innovation from steam engines to electrical outlets, to computer terminals to AI chatbots is accelerating and the world is getting better for it. National Space Science Authority (NSSA) Chief Executive Officer Dr Mohamed Ebrahim Al Aseeri took part in the Global Technology Governance Summit in Japan where he gained vast knowledge about the technology-driven future. The summit brought together 2,000 global stakeholders from 125 countries representing 50 governments and more than 600 company leaders from across the world to discuss topics on new technologies of the Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR), global technology governance, industry transformation, government transformation, and frontier technologies. Dr Al Aseeri hailed the summit as a great opportunity to have access to the latest trends in technology. We can say that the Kingdom of Bahrain is witnessing a technological impetus that keeps pace with global changes. The Kingdoms infrastructure is able to expand and adapt to all future requirements and to assimilate them, said Dr Al Aseeri. This makes us proud as Bahrainis, and there is no doubt that Bahrain is confidently moving towards the future using all potential and capabilities to keep pace with the requirements of the Fourth Industrial Revolution. The summit outcomes are many and affect all lives. The participants exchanged views on several topics related to the goals of the summit in which lecturers presented summaries of their ideas and experiences in several fields related to the ability to harness and spread new technologies for the Fourth Industrial Revolution, he said. Such technologies will play a major role in ensuring that the world recovers from the epidemic and avoids future crises, given the great interest of world leaders in technology governance to address the most pressing global challenges, he added. Al Aseeri pointed that the summits outcomes and commitments include the launch of two new regional networks of cities in Latin America and South Asia as part of the G20 Global Smart Cities Alliance. Executive leaders from the public and private sector, representing more than 12 countries on five continents, released a new roadmap for building a connected future that benefits all. Earlier this year, Le Trieu Anh, born in 2001, is one of 10 students chosen to receive a scholarship worth VND2 billion to study at University of Sydney. Le Trieu Anh She is the first Vietnamese student to receive such a big scholarship granted by the school, which is listed as No1 in clinical medicine research in Australia and top 18 globally, according to QS Ranking 2020. Many Vietnamese students have studied at medical schools in Australia but most of them followed a university program before taking exams to study for master's degree. But Anh won a scholarship to pursue Bachelor of Science/Doctor of Medicine, and will attend a 7-year training program at the university to obtain master's degree. Anh was a biology major at the HCM City High School for the Gifted. When she was in the 12th grade, she won a scholarship to study at Abbey College in the UK with 60 percent of cost covered. Studying abroad was a turning point for Anh. She said while she was in Vietnam, her GPA (grade point average) was just 9.0 or less. However, she gained many high achievements during one year of studying in the UK: a gold medal from a national chemistry competition organized by Cambridge University, a gold medal in a national math competition organized by UK Mathematics Trust, and a silver medal at the British Biology Olympiad. Anh believed that she would study Medical Science and would do scientific research after graduation. However, she changed her mind after hearing about University of Sydney's Bachelor of Science/Doctor of Medicine program. If I attend the training program and obtain a degree in medicine, I will have more choices for the future: I can continue studying to work as a physician or I can conduct scientific research, she said. She had to compete with 2,000 other excellent candidates. I luckily found a path suitable for me and the school found me suitable for the program, so I was admitted, she explained. She also was accepted to the University of Melbourne and Monash University, but chose University of Sydney. I am happy when learning Anh said she feels lucky because, unlike many other students, she feels happy when learning. Sometimes I feel overloaded with too many exercises. But I feel elated as I can know new things every day, have something to think about, and have something to strive for, she said. I think what bring success to me is that I always try my best and try to find opportunities for myself. This is what my mother taught me, she said. Her hobbies include making cakes and playing the guitar. Ngan Anh Student wins prize for submarine robot invention Tran Viet Lan, whose parents own a motorbike repair shop in Phu Yen province, has has won many provincial and national prizes for his inventions since he was an eighth grader. Sebastian Robins Joins Chargeback Gurus Dispute Intelligence Team Joining Chargeback Gurus gives me a unique opportunity to engage with the payments value chain to help curb fraud, improve risk management, and ultimately make business more profitable for merchants, said Robins. Chargeback Gurus, a leading provider of chargeback management services, announced today that Sebastian Robins joined the company to lead their Dispute Intelligence Team. With more than 20 years of experience in the payments industry, Robins is an expert in risk management, fraud prevention, and chargeback management. The diverse array of financial institutions, card networks, and merchant service providers that Robins has worked for include Visa International (United States and Singapore), Citibank (United States and Argentina), Unibanco (Brazil), Global Collect (the Netherlands), and Daftcode (Poland). This experience has given him a 360-degree view across the global payments system, fraud risk and a deep understanding of the business needs and interests of all the stakeholders involved. As a risk management and fraud prevention expert, he has collaborated with fortune 500 merchants, issuers, and acquirers across four continents. Robins brings advanced analytics skills, relationship with card networks, issuers and acquirers, extensive operational experience, and a thorough knowledge of the industrys operating rules and regulations to his role at Chargeback Gurus leading the Dispute Intelligence Team. This team provides the deep dive analytics that enable merchants to determine the true root causes of their chargebacks and develop creative solutions that allow them to sell and grow with confidence. Joining Chargeback Gurus gives me a unique opportunity to engage with the payments value chain to help curb fraud, improve risk management, and ultimately make business more profitable for merchants, said Robins. I believe my experience, skills, and relationships across the industry can facilitate fruitful collaborations to meet those objectives. The recent exponential growth of card-not-present sales has invited fraud and abuse, leaving merchants to bear the impact of financial liability, reputational damage, and threats to business continuity. In his new position at Chargeback Gurus, Robins looks forward to leveraging his in-depth experience, subject matter expertise, and industry connections to enhance relationships between merchants, acquirers, and issuers, creating better outcomes for not only for merchants but for the overall integrity of the payments ecosystem. Chargeback Gurus believes in providing the best chargeback management solutions and expert team for our fortune 500 clients and other card not present merchants. Sebastians arrival will support our rapid growth and leadership position, said Suresh Dakshina, President of Chargeback Gurus. As we continue to strengthen the solutions we offer our clients, his experience, relationship and insights will help our merchants recover more revenue and proactively prevent disputes leading to increased return on investment. About Chargeback Gurus: Chargeback Gurus is a global leader in managing, preventing, and fighting ecommerce fraud and chargebacks. Their white glove service is designed to take the pain out of chargebacks for any card not present merchants. For more than sixteen years, the founders have been providing merchants with the analytics, strategies, and support merchants need to win disputes and recover their revenue. To learn more, visit ChargebackGurus.com. Tulsi Gabbard Warns Ukraine Tensions Could Cause War April 14 , 2021 (EIRNS)Appearing on Tucker Carlson Tonight on April 13, former member of Congress, presidential candidate, and combat veteran in Iraq Tulsi Gabbard warned the American people of the existential threat of conflict with Russia: [The situation with Russia and Ukraine] is moving in a very dangerous direction. The question for the American people is, are we willing to go to war with Russia on behalf of Ukraine? And we need to understand that such a war would come at a cost beyond anything that we can really imagine. Because this is not a war thats happening to someone else, somewhere else on the other side of the world. No, this is something that will directly impact me, and you, Tucker, every single one of your viewers, and all of our loved ones. And this is a war that is not a game. Its a war in which there are no winners, because youve got thousands of nuclear weapons that the U.S. has aimed towards Russia; Russia has thousands of nuclear weapons that are aimed towards us, that could hit any town or city in the U.S. in less than thirty minutes, that could exact a cost on every one of us that would result in excruciating death and suffering beyond comprehensionhundreds of millions of people dying and suffering seeing their flesh burned from their bones. This is something that you cant really even imagine. And its a cost that we will all pay. In response to Carlsons question, why in the world would we ever contemplate going to war with Russia, honestly? Gabbard continued: It is one that we should not do, for those very reasons. You look at the impacts of what a nuclear war brings. It brings about the end of the world as we know it. And our leaders should understand this consequence and take it seriously. This is why President Biden, instead of continuing to escalate tensions and escalate this new cold war between the United States and Russia, he needs to de-escalate these tensions, to take the heat out of it, and bring an end to this new cold war. Because if he doesnt, its not a question of if we go to war with Russia, if this war goes to a nuclear holocaust: it really is then just a question of when. And if we continue down this path that we are on, its something that could happen a lot sooner than any of us think. Carlson concluded by referring to how he had opened the segment, by contrasting the importance of Gabbards warning to the war over pronouns: Im just amazed by the magnitude of the stories that all of us are missing, including those of us who are paid to follow this stuff, and especially this story. So I appreciate how you so crisply and wisely addressed that. Its terrifying. Photo: (Photo : Taylor Deas-Melesh / Unsplash ) The Kenny family from Myrtle Beach, Horry County, South Carolina, was coming home from their vacation at Walt Disney World when they made a shocking discovery with which they were not prepared to deal. Family after Disney Vacation Finds Home Wrecked Imagine coming home from a vacation and opening the door to find most of your high-ticket items entirely wrecked. Such was the headache that welcomed the Kenny family returning from their trip to Disney World. Brian Kenny and his wife Kara recounted the sight to which they came home. Kara said it was something "beyond what could be imagined." The computer was smashed, the TV was destroyed, Bryan's watch collection damaged, and so was the brand new hot tub they recently purchased this summer, Fox8 reported. "The tub was destroyed with a shovel, and the computer was urinated on so much it caused the insides to fry and cause smoke," Bryan said. ALSO READ: Couple That Lost Baby Now Saving Money For Headstones on Unmarked Graves Cleaning Up Nightmares after a Vacation Then, there was the cleaning up that needed to be done. All the bedrooms of the home were in total disarray. There were broken glasses and even holes in the walls. Top that off with sticky liquid, which covered the entire floor. The couch was also all glittered up and destroyed with soda. They were Forewarned The couple was yet to arrive home when they received a phone call alerting them that their home had been broken into. The couple did not want to spoil their children's trip, so they stayed in Florida according to their itinerary. And also, because they knew the damage was a done deal and was waiting for them at home, DailymailUK reported. But what they would come home to was beyond the mere vandalism that was reported to them. Bryan said they did not consider the case of vandalism to be "as bad as what actually happened." Persons Responsible for House Damage Won't Face Charges To add to the family's horror, they found out that the perpetrators of their wrecked home cannot be charged due to one factor--they were underaged. The minors admitted to entering the house through a window to get a drink. The police report noted that the kids' vandalism had been intentional, News Channel 8 reported. The Horry County Police Department added that the children could not be charged for damaging Kenny's home. ALSO READ: Pregnant Couple Caught in Nashville Flood Seek Refuge on Neighbor's Roof Insurance Fails to Help Distraught Family The family quickly called their homeowner's insurance company only to find out that not a single one of the damaged personal properties can be covered under their insurance plan. Though the children broke many things, the insurance company will only help them out with the cost of repairing the structure. ALSO READ: Single Mother Teary-Eyed to Receive Free One Year Mortgage Donation After Losing Job The Total Cost of Damage The Kenny family plans to pursue civil action against the parents of the boys who damaged their home. Because of the boys' age, the maximum compensation would be $5,000, which is much less than their repair bill of nearly $40,000. The family is currently staying at an Airbnb for over two weeks while demolition crews are working on the floors and walls damaged by the kids. (Newser) President Biden confirmed Wednesday that he will not be taking the Afghanistan war into its third decade. "It's time to end the forever war," he said in a speech from the Treaty Room of the White House, which CNN notes is the same room in which George W. Bush announced the start of US military involvement in Afghanistan after the 9/11 attacks almost 20 years ago. "War in Afghanistan was never meant to be a multigenerational undertaking," Biden said, per the New York Times. "We were attacked. We went to war with clear goals. We achieved those objectives." Biden plans to withdraw all US troops by Sept. 11 this year. Around 2,500 US troops are left in the country. NATO officials said after Biden's speech that the alliance plans to withdraw its 7,000 troops from the country along the same timeline. story continues below Biden said it was time to "end the cycle" of extending the American presence in the hope of creating better conditions to pull out. "I am now the fourth American president to preside over an American troop presence in Afghanistan. Two Republicans. Two Democrats," he said. "I will not pass this responsibility to a fifth." Unlike the deal Donald Trump negotiated with the Taliban last year, Biden's withdrawal plan is not conditions-based, officials say. Biden said he spoke with George W. Bush and Barack Obama before announcing the decision. After the speech, Biden visited Arlington National Cemetery and said it was "absolutely clear" to him that withdrawing from Afghanistan was the right move, the AP reports. (Read more Afghanistan war stories.) Before humans can benefit from new drug therapies and nutritional additives, scientists test their safety and efficacy in animals, typically mice and rats. But, as much as they've done for biomedical research, rodents aren't always the best research model for studies on neonatal brain development and nutrition. That's where pigs can play an important role. University of Illinois researchers say the domestic pig is ideal for these studies because their brain size, rate of development, and digestive system are excellent analogs for human newborns. They know a lot about pig brains, having built the first - and recently, the second - complete, MRI-based atlases of the organ. They've used the first to study the effects of numerous nutritional interventions in pigs. But some critics say they can't be sure those outcomes reflect reality. After all, these research subjects are raised in carefully controlled environments, not mingling with siblings and mom in farm-standard farrowing crates. So just how much does the pig's early rearing environment affect brain development? "We've been countering a lot of criticism about whether the development of the pig brain is the same in our laboratory as it is on any pig farm. And the answer is yes. We now have indisputable evidence to say that the brains of pigs raised in an artificial environment grow and develop in the same way structurally as those of pigs raised by their mother," says Ryan Dilger, associate professor in the Department of Animal Sciences and senior author on a new study in Frontiers in Neuroscience. In the study, the research team brought 2-day-old piglets to their facility, known as the Piglet Nutrition and Cognition Laboratory, which is outfitted with large individual enclosures that let pigs see, smell, and hear others in adjacent pens. Dilger says the high ambient temperature and ability for pigs to socialize is important. In our nutritional studies, we want to keep them separated to avoid cross-contamination of the bacteria found in their colon, which is collectively known as the microbiota. But the pigs still get to express social behaviors by seeing, hearing, and smelling each other. And in many of our studies, we let the pigs out of their enclosures to socialize each day, so they get to have a piggy party each afternoon." Ryan Dilger, Study Senior Author and Associate Professor, Department of Animal Sciences Another subset of piglets stayed with their littermates and mothers in farrowing crates on a research farm on the U of I campus. At 4 weeks of age, when pigs have developed enough that they no longer need to solely drink milk, the artificially reared pigs moved back to the farm and were group-housed with their sow-reared counterparts. So, in the end, the pigs only lived in different environments for the first four weeks of life and from that point forward, all pigs were treated the same. All pigs were anesthetized and scanned in a state-of-the-art magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) machine at 1, 2, 3, 4, 8, 12, 18, and 24 weeks of age. The researchers assessed brain macro- and microstructure of the artificially reared and sow-reared pigs using the new pig brain atlases for young and adolescent pigs. Not only did the pigs eat and grow at the same rates in the two rearing environments, their brain development was equivalent overall as well. The researchers found no differences in absolute volumes of the whole brain, gray matter, white matter, cerebrospinal fluid growth, or microstructural changes (neuronal connections between brain regions) over time in the two groups. Joanne Fil, doctoral student in the Neuroscience Program at Illinois and first author of the study, says, "We looked at a surrogate measure of myelin, myelin water fraction, which reflects the fat and protein surrounding neurons and helps them communicate more effectively. Humans and pigs develop a lot of myelin significantly after birth, so if we see more myelination, then we assume the brain is maturing at a different rate. Longitudinally, there were no differences between the myelin water fraction in the two groups. "We did see slight differences in the rate of development, with artificially reared pigs having a slightly higher rate of myelin development than the sow-reared pigs, but in the end, pigs raised in either environment reached the same place when it came to brain growth." The researchers also compared the pigs' memory in behavioral tests. The pigs were presented with two stationary toys to play with - one they had previously been able to investigate and one they had never seen before. If they spent more time checking out the new toy, that was evidence they remembered the older one and therefore had encoded a memory. At a couple of early time points, 4 and 8 weeks, pigs in the sow-reared group had slightly greater object recognition. The authors suggest that might have been due to greater peer interaction in the sow-reared environments. However, the differences were slight and temporary. "Behavior is always more variable, more subjective. That's why we like the objective and structural measures of the brain we can evaluate by MRI," Dilger says. "And what we found is that when both sets of pigs are healthy and we've met their nutritional requirements, the rearing environment didn't appear to influence brain development. Their brains effectively grew the same." In addition to supporting the continued use of laboratory rearing environments in pig neuroscience research, the study provides new data on pig brain development over time. For half a dozen years, the first pig brain atlas served as the definitive reference for researchers around the world. But that atlas was based on 4-week-old pigs and couldn't be easily extrapolated to older animals. Not only do the new atlases include one for 12-week-old pigs, the rearing environment study provides absolute volume measures for pigs at many more time points, up to adulthood. "This provides a lot of foundational data where somebody could come back and ask how many cubic millimeters is the pig brain at a particular age. We can model that based on what we have here," Fil says. "Our objective was comparing the two rearing environments, but also providing what is expected for a certain age of pig. That helps because we can start to develop nutritional interventions for specific ages and understand what parts of brain development can be influenced by nutrition." Dilger adds, "There's a lot of power in the pig as a model for biomedical research, and we're showing that by bringing together engineering and agriculture, which are central to our mission as a land-grant institution. We use lots of mice in research on our campus, but we're also very good at working with pigs. We're mixing the biomedical world with the agricultural world, to ultimately benefit both pig and human nutrition. The article, "Influence of rearing environment on longitudinal brain development, object recognition memory, and exploratory behaviors in the domestic pig (Sus scrofa)," is published in Frontiers in Neuroscience [DOI: 10.3389/fnins.2021.649536]. Authors include Joanne Fil, Sangyun Joung, Courtney Hayes, and Ryan Dilger. Funding was provided by Nestle. Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, April 15) The suspension of the rollout of AstraZenecas COVID-19 vaccine in other countries will not affect Manila City's procurement of that brand, Mayor Isko Moreno said on Thursday. In an interview with CNN Philippines, Moreno said the local governments tripartite deal with the British-Swedish manufacturer will stay until the Food and Drug Administration issues a notice. I dont think so, Moreno told The Source when asked if global developments will affect the LGUs planned purchase of 800,000 vaccine doses. I mean generally, yes, there are incidents including Pfizer, AstraZeneca, Sinovac all vaccines have some story to tell, the mayor explained. But generally, tuloy tuloy naman sa buong mundo. So wala pa namang abiso sa amin ang FDA. [Translation: But generally, its still being used in the world. And the FDA has not sent any notice yet.] Last week, Philippine health authorities decided to temporarily stop giving the AstraZeneca vaccine to people under the age of 60. The move came after European drug regulators found a link between the coronavirus shot and a few cases of unusual blood clots with low platelet count a report that prompted several countries including Denmark, Iceland, and Norway to suspend their rollout. The Department of Health, meanwhile, assured there have been no reports of unusual blood clotting among Filipinos who received the AstraZeneca vaccines. READ: DOH: No reported blood clots due to AstraZeneca as PH uses up stocks In February, Manila released an initial payment of P38.4 million for 800,000 AstraZeneca vaccine doses, good for 400,000 residents. Moreno said the shipment may arrive by September. As of Thursday, the city has vaccinated approximately 72,000 people, Moreno noted, adding that inoculation for the second dose is ongoing. The mayor said inoculation for the first dose has been halted due to lack of vaccine supply. Nagbabakuna kami ngayon (Were vaccinating now) for our second dose. But we cannot utilize those second doses para sa (for the) first dose, he explained. Outside of serving as the first female president of the ACLU from 1991 to 2008, Nadine Strossen has had an extensive teaching career and has written multiple books about constitutional law and civil liberties. Vancouver, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - April 15, 2021) - Tevano Systems Holdings Inc. (CSE: TEVO) ("Tevano", or the "Company") announced today it believes that, as a result of new sweeping enforcement powers granted to WorkSafeBC inspectors, inquiries about its Health Shield temperature scanning device have grown. On April 8, 2020, BC Provincial health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry announced that, due to increasing COVID-19 cases across BC, the province was adopting a new public health order permitting WorkSafeBC inspectors to expedite closures of workplaces where three or more employees have tested positive for COVID-19 and transmission has been confirmed at the workplace. The announcement indicated that a closure order may be for 10 days or potentially a longer period, and a list of closed businesses will be made available to the general public. This new public health order took effect April 12, 2020. "These recent measures recognize that workplaces are one of the most common sources of transmission in the province," said David Bajwa, Tevano CEO. "Workplaces are environments where safety processes can pay major dividends in terms of protecting employees and ensuring business operations remain open and profitable. We are seeing growing inquiries about our Health Shield device as we believe businesses understand devices such as ours offer a valuable first line of defence that can make the difference between maintaining vital business operations and having to deal with the ugly realities of enforced closures." After a recent deployment of Health Shield devices at multiple entrances at the headquarters of a leading light industrial equipment manufacturer, an employee entering the facility was scanned and a fever detected. After secondary testing, it was confirmed that the employee was positive for COVID-19. The employee was subsequently able to quarantine without affecting the rest of the workforce and causing a business closure. Using thermal imaging, Tevano's Health Shield device is able to carry out split second temperature sensing of visitors. AI-powered facial detection ensures face mask compliance and provides alert options. These alert options include SMS, localized alarms, detailed on screen messaging and turnstile lockdown. Health Shield can be customized by operators to ensure specific safety protocols are met and backed up by recorded data. About Tevano Tevano is the developer of Health Shield, an AI-driven electronic device that provides instant body temperature scanning and notifies users if they need to wear a face mask. Health Shield devices can be placed at all entrances that patrons and/or employees use to gain access to buildings. The Health Shield device is supported by a cloud software solution that can be used to manage multiple devices and provide detailed reporting and analysis. Tevano benefits from an equity-based relationship with kiosk and screen-based technology leader, Nevatronix. Management believes the relationship provides Tevano with access to highly robust supply chains and gives the company a unique capacity to react to and service evolving commercial markets for health tracking technologies. For more information, please visit www.tevano.com. For media requests, please contact josh@sjspr.co or call 416-628-7441. On behalf of the Board of: TEVANO SYSTEMS HOLDINGS INC David Bajwa, Chief Executive Officer davidb@tevano.com 778-388-4806 CAUTIONARY STATEMENT REGARDING FORWARD-LOOKING INFORMATION: This news release contains forward-looking statements and forward-looking information within the meaning of applicable securities laws. These statements relate to future events or future performance. All statements other than statements of historical fact may be forward-looking statements or information. More particularly and without limitation, this news release contains forward-looking statements and matters. The forward-looking statements and information are based on certain key expectations and assumptions made by management of the Company. Although management of the Company believes that the expectations and assumptions on which such forward-looking statements and information are based are reasonable, undue reliance should not be placed on the forward-looking statements and information since no assurance can be given that they will prove to be correct. Forward-looking statements and information are provided for the purpose of providing information about the current expectations and plans of management of the Company relating to the future. Readers are cautioned that reliance on such statements and information may not be appropriate for other purposes, such as making investment decisions. Since forward-looking statements and information address future events and conditions, by their very nature they involve inherent risks and uncertainties. Actual results could differ materially from those currently anticipated due to a number of factors and risks. These include, but are not limited to, the Company's ability to raise further capital and the Company's ability to obtain regulatory and exchange approvals. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on the forward-looking statements and information contained in this news release. Readers are cautioned that the foregoing list of factors is not exhaustive. The forward-looking statements and information contained in this news release are made as of the date hereof and no undertaking is given to update publicly or revise any forward-looking statements or information, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, unless so required by applicable securities laws. The forward-looking statements or information contained in this news release are expressly qualified by this cautionary statement. Neither the CSE nor the Investment Industry Regulatory Organization of Canada 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/80530 (TNS) - The frequency of natural disasters has soared in recent decades. Total damage topped $210 billion worldwide in 2020. With climate change, the costs attributed to coastal storms will increase dramatically.At the same time, coastal habitats such as wetlands and reefs are being lost rapidly. Some 20% of the worlds mangroves were lost over the last four decades. More than half of the Great Barrier Reef was degraded by bleaching in 2020 alone. In California, we have lost more than 90% of our coastal marshes.Coastal habitats serve as a critical first line of defense, and their loss puts communities at even greater risk from coastal flooding. Coral reefs work as natural breakwaters and reduce flooding by breaking waves offshore. Wetlands such as marshes and mangroves protect coastlines by dampening storm surge and waves; they also prevent erosion and can build new land.On Jan. 27, President Joe Biden committed to protect 30% of U.S. land and coastal seas by 2030 as part of the U.S. climate strategy. These 30-by-30 targets are already being adopted by many nations ahead of the upcoming United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity meeting.Less certain is how we can pay for this when national budgets are stretched. The answer is to use nature to help us. We spend hundreds of billions every year on disaster management and post-disaster recovery, and less than 3% of this on natural defenses, which could reduce the damage of these disasters.Mangrove restoration has proved successful in defending coastal areas. Hundreds of thousands of acres have been replanted across the tropics, mainly in Southeast Asia. But more than 25,000 acres are still lost every year. New studies that combine flood risk and economic models show that mangroves reduce property damage from storms by $65 billion annually across more than 400,000 miles of coastline in 100-plus nations.Coral reef restoration has lagged further behind. The flood risk models show that when we lose just the top 1 meter (about 3 feet) of coral reefs, the annual cost of storms will double globally, including in hot spots where reefs provide millions of dollars of flood protection annually. The U.S. has more than 325 kilometers (about 202 miles) of these critical reefs in two states and four territories.The good news is that reefs and wetlands can recover and even adapt. But the sad truth is we dont protect what we dont value. Thats why we need to change the way we account for the economic value of natural assets and the costs of their loss. The flood risk studies lay the foundation for that change. Heres what we can do to change how we defend our coastlines.Currently, economic indicators such as gross domestic product account for only what we take from the environment, be it fish or timber. We dont place a value on the natural assets we leave intact that provide critical benefits such as flood protection. But we can incorporate these values in national economics as the World Bank and the United Nations are doing by assessing the value of natural assets, just as we would for, say, a seawall.Rethink public and private infrastructure investmentsSignificant opportunities exist to greatly expand support for natural infrastructure using the same financial mechanisms that have traditionally supported infrastructure projects, like roads and levees. In 2016, residents across all nine San Francisco Bay Area counties overwhelmingly approved a small tax on every parcel of land to finance wetland restoration.The Biden administration has proposed significant investments in the nations crumbling built infrastructure. It should also invest more to restore degraded natural infrastructure, which can help create green jobs.One promising example is Reefense, a project recently started by the Defense Department to build coral and oyster reefs to defend U.S. military installations in coastal areas around the world. The department found that traditional protections such as seawalls may amplify wave energy, exacerbate flooding and increase erosion. It is moving to develop the use of reefs and reef-mimicking structures to deal with the effects of storms and sea level rise.Allocate more disaster recovery money to repair storm-damaged natural defensesAfter the 2017 hurricanes devastated the coasts of Florida, Puerto Rico, Texas and the U.S. Virgin Islands, Congress appropriated $100 billion to rebuild coastal infrastructure. Less than 0.02% of those funds may go to rebuild the storm-ravaged reefs that protect people from San Juan to Miami.Identifying coastal habitats as national infrastructure would help ensure that we quickly rebuild them after storms just as we do constructed infrastructure. Perversely, coral reef restoration in the U.S. is vastly more expensive than elsewhere because of special permitting requirements. Successful oyster reef restoration in the U.S. can provide lessons that could be applied to coral reefs.Public and private insurers should expand incentives for natural defensesThe Federal Emergency Management Agency offers insurance incentives for open space preservation; FEMA and private insurers should expand these to cover natural defenses. Coastal landowners will respond. In Alabama, surveys showed that small incentives could change whether landowners choose to restore marshes or continue to rebuild failing bulkheads.Using insurance industry risk models, we found that marshes and wetlands prevented more than $625 million in direct flood damage on the New Jersey coast alone during Hurricane Sandy. To broaden incentives to property owners, these habitat-based benefits should be included in the models used by underwriters.After Hurricane Delta hit the reefs of Quintana Roo, Mexico, in October, an innovative insurance policy, purchased earlier by a public-private coastal trust, paid out money to replace dislodged coral heads and prevent further damage. We should promote such strategies, which the California insurance commissioners office is starting to explore.With help, wetlands and reefs can rebound and serve as resilient defenses for coastlines as they have for millennia. Coastal habitats can even keep up with sea level rise as a dynamic defense something no artificial structure can do. As we experience more extreme weather catastrophes, the most cost-effective way to protect coastal populations is to do it naturally.___(Michael W. Beck is a research professor in the Institute of Marine Sciences at UC Santa Cruz. His work focuses on coastal resilience, climate adaptation and disaster risk reduction.)2021 Los Angeles Times. Visit at latimes.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC. Lets face it: theres nothing quite like being out on the open water without an outboard motor. If you love fishing, birdwatching or simply being with family and friends, paddling is a great and largely stress-free thing to do. At the height of the pandemic, kayaks and other personal watercraft were ridiculously hard to find in Connecticut. Dicks, Cabelas and other major sporting goods stores sold out as soon as they came in. Local shops kept pace as long as they could, while the second-hand market for boats and paddleboards quickly overheated. This year, youre more likely to walk into a retail shop and see kayaks, canoes and paddleboards lining the walls for now. But if youre not ready to commit to a boat or board, paddles, roof rack, straps, life jacket, waterproof bag and other essential equipment, a number of places around the state allow you to rent what you need to hit the water for the day. Here are a few places to outfit your household for a Connecticut water adventure. (Check for COVID-19 restrictions and other safety protocols from vendors.) Adventure Mystic, 15 Holmes Street, Mystic, 860-245-6086, adventuremystic.com. Paddleboards, single and tandem kayaks and bicycles for rent on the Mystic River, by the hour or by the week. Ask about the five-man monster paddleboard. Lessons, camps, paddleboard yoga and other adventures available. Open May 1. Black Hall Outfitters, 132 Shore Road, Old Lyme; and 362 Boston Post Road, Westbrook, 860-434-9680, blackhalloutfitters.com. Rent single, tandem and paddle and pedal-drive fishing kayaks, paddleboards and canoes on the Black Hall and Menunketesuck Rivers. Sunset paddles, eco-tours, camps, group outings and field trips are available. Open now. Blue Heaven Kayak & Paddleboard Rentals, 2 Washington Street, Mystic, 860-912-4188, facebook.com/blueheavenkayak. Hourly (or more) kayak and paddleboard rentals, local art by the owner, sunset meditations, lessons and more on the Mystic River. Open April 21. Branford River Paddlesports, 50 Maple St., Branford, 203-980-8451, branfordriverpaddlesports.com. Kayak and paddleboard rentals, tours of the Thimble Islands, lessons, paddleboard yoga and more on the Branford River, with access to the Long Island Sound. Open May 27. Clarke Outdoors, 163 US-7, West Cornwall, 860-672-6365, clarkeoutdoors.com. Novice paddlers can canoe, kayak or raft your way down a 10-mile section of the Housatonic River, with the famous West Cornwall covered bridge marking the halfway point of the trip. Hot showers are available when youre done. Open early May (most likely). Collinsville Canoe & Kayak, 41 Bridge Street, Canton, 860-693-6977, collinsvillecanoe.com. Single and tandem kayaks, canoes, paddleboards and bikes for two-hour rentals and up on the Farmington River, plus paddling classes for all levels. Call about opening day. Cove Landing Marine, 250 Hamburg Road #3451, Old Lyme, 860-434-5240, covelanding.com. Single or tandem kayak and paddleboard rentals in Hamburg Cove on the Connecticut River for two hours up to a full day of paddling. Open April 24. The Happiest Paddler, 70 Main Street, East Hampton, 860-267-1764 (call after May 2 for availability), happiest-paddler.com. Kayak, canoe, paddleboard and even paddleboat rentals on beautiful Lake Potocopaug. Call after May 2 to check availability. Indian River Marina, 58 Commerce St., Clinton, 860-664-3704, indrivmar.com. Rent kayaks, canoes and paddleboards or arrange for a sunset paddle on the Indian River, close to where it converges with the Hammonasset and Hammock Rivers on their way to Long Island Sound. Rental season begins May 15. Main Stream Canoes & Kayaks, 170 Main Street, New Hartford, 860-693-6791, mainstreamcanoe.com. Canoe and kayak trips (6-12 miles) on the Farmington River, or relaxing paddles around West Hill and Winchester Lakes in Northwest Connecticut. Metacomet Canoe & Kayak, 67 Palisado Ave., Windsor, 860-713-9143, metacometcanoe.com. Canoe and kayak rentals on the Farmington and Connecticut Rivers. Moonlight trips and multi-day rentals available. New England Watersports, Stony Creek Boat Launch (1 Indian Point Road), Branford, 203- 871-1376, Branford, newenglandwatersports.com. Kayak and paddleboard rentals in the Branford hamlet of Stony Creek into the Long Island Sound. Open weekends from June 12-Sept. 6. (Protip: sign up to paddle during the Branford fireworks on June 26 from 8-10 p.m.) Quinnipiac River Marina, 307 Front St., New Haven, 203-777-3625, http://quinnipiacrivermarina.com. Kayak and canoe rentals and guided tours on the Quinnipiac River. (Theres also storage for your boat, if you already have one.) Scoot & Paddle, 28 Naugatuck Ave., Milford, 203-713-8282; and 412 Roosevelt Drive, Derby, 203-343-9126, scootandpaddle.com. Kayak and paddleboard rentals in Milford on the Long Island Sound or on a seven-mile lake in Derby (pack a lunch). Peak season runs from Memorial Day to Labor Day (call for hours during off-peak season). Sea Kayak Connecticut, 575 Riverside Ave., Westport, 203-557-6033, seakayakct.com. Sit-on-top kayak and paddleboard rentals and tours of Cockenoe and Sprite Islands or Westport Harbor. Celebrate Independence Day by signing up for the July fireworks tour. Call for availability. SoundWaters Kayak & Paddle Board Rentals, 200 Southfield Ave., Stamford, 203-323-1978, soundwaters.org/sails-rentals/rentals. Kayak and paddleboard rentals at SoundWaters Dock in Stamfords Boccuzzi Park. Group outings available. Open from Memorial Day to Labor Day. Thimble Island Kayak Rental, Branford, 203-859-0546, thimbleislandkayak.com. Kayaks, paddleboards and canoes seating up to three people close to Stony Creek and the Thimble Islands. All rentals include free delivery and pick up in Branford, All rentals include free delivery and pickup in Branford (pickup/delivery available elsewhere for a fee). Three Belles Outfitters, 113 Oswegatchie Hills Road, Niantic, 860-691-3001, threebellesoutfitters.com. Recreational and fishing kayak and paddleboard rentals on scenic Smith Cove in Niantic, less than a mile from Long Island Sound (direct access through the Niantic River). Sunset and other tours available, and theres even a kids paddle club. michael.hamad@hearstmediact.com OKLAHOMA CITY, April 15, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- PHX Minerals Inc. (NYSE: PHX) ("PHX" or the "Company") announced today that it has commenced an underwritten public offering of 5,000,000 shares of its common stock (the "Common Stock Offering"). PHX also intends to grant the underwriters a 30-day option to purchase up to 750,000 additional shares of common stock. PHX intends to use the net proceeds from the offering for a pending acquisition and for general corporate purposes. Stifel is acting as the book-running manager for the offering, and Northland Capital Markets and Seaport Global Securities are acting as co-managers. The offering of these securities is being made pursuant to an effective shelf registration statement on Form S-3 previously filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The offering will be made only by means of a prospectus and prospectus supplement. A copy of the prospectus and prospectus supplement relating to these securities may be obtained, when available, from Stifel, Nicolaus & Company, Incorporated, Attention: Syndicate Department, One South Street, 15th Floor, Baltimore, MD 21202, by email: [email protected] or by telephone: (855) 300-7136. This press release does not constitute an offer to sell or a solicitation of an offer to buy the securities described herein, nor shall there be any sale of these securities in any state or jurisdiction in which such an offer, solicitation or sale would be unlawful prior to registration or qualification under the securities laws of any such jurisdiction. PHX Minerals Inc. (NYSE: PHX) Oklahoma City-based, PHX Minerals Inc. is a natural gas and oil mineral company with a strategy to proactively grow its mineral position in its core areas of focus. PHX owns approximately 253,000 net mineral acres principally located in Oklahoma, Texas, North Dakota, New Mexico and Arkansas. Additional information on the Company can be found at www.phxmin.com. Cautionary Statement Regarding Forward-Looking Statements This press release includes "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. Words such as "anticipates," "plans," "estimates," "believes," "expects," "intends," "will," "should," "may" and similar expressions may be used to identify forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are not statements of historical fact and reflect PHX's current views about future events. Forward-looking statements may include, but are not limited to, statements relating to: our ability to execute our business strategies; the volatility of realized natural gas and oil prices; the level of production on our properties; estimates of quantities of natural gas, oil and NGL reserves and their values; general economic or industry conditions; legislation or regulatory requirements; conditions of the securities markets; our ability to raise capital; changes in accounting principles, policies or guidelines; financial or political instability; acts of war or terrorism; title defects in the properties in which we invest; and other economic, competitive, governmental, regulatory or technical factors affecting our properties, operations or prices. Although the Company believes expectations reflected in these and other forward-looking statements are reasonable, we can give no assurance they will prove to be correct. Such forward-looking statements are subject to a number of assumptions, risks and uncertainties, many of which are beyond the control of the Company. These forward-looking statements involve certain risks and uncertainties that could cause the results to differ materially from those expected by the Company's management. Information concerning these risks and other factors can be found in the Company's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including its Annual Reports on Form 10-K and Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q, available on the Company's website or the SEC's website at www.sec.gov. Investors are cautioned that any such statements are not guarantees of future performance and that actual results or developments may differ materially from those projected in forward-looking statements. The forward-looking statements in this press release are made as of the date hereof, and the Company does not undertake any obligation to update the forward-looking statements as a result of new information, future events or otherwise. SOURCE PHX MINERALS INC. Related Links http://www.phxmin.com The Telangana health department issued a dire warning today, saying the fast-spreading Coronavirus could well be airborne in the state now. AFP. Hyderabad: The Coronavirus pandemic in Telangana is really bad, the government warned Wednesday. The situation is as bad in the state as in Maharashtra, with chances of the Covid-19 virus now being airborne, the hospitals in Hyderabad and elsewhere are unavailable for people and rate of spread is fastest since the pandemic began. The Telangana health department issued a dire warning today, saying the fast-spreading Coronavirus could well be airborne in the state now. If people do not step up to help prevent its spread, then Telangana could well turn into another Maharashtra, which is reporting upwards of 50,000 and 60,000 new Covid-19 cases a day. In a video message evening, Director of Health Services Dr G. Srinivasa Rao said the fast rate of infections among people could also well mean the virus could now be airborne. Presently, the virus is spreading very fast, very very fast. If someone in a family is infected, then it is just taking a few hours, or at most a day or two for others in the family also to get infected by Covid-19, especially in closed settings of homes, he said. It will not be a stretch to say the virus is now airborne, he said. The government has so far advised people to wear masks in public places. From now on, you must wear a mask even at home. Anyone who goes out, there is a chance of catching the virus and infecting others at home. If anyone in the family is vulnerable, then they have to be hospitalized. There could be an increased loss of lives. Please take precautions, Dr Rao said. People must scrupulously follow safety precautions. People must wear face masks properly and adhere to all safety norms. It is the responsibility of each individual to stay safe, he said. Government has no plans for any lockdowns or restrictions. It does not mean the situation is not dangerous. Situation is extremely dangerous. The government is not imposing any restrictions only to ensure the livelihoods are not affected, he said. We have witnessed a surge in Corona cases over the past four weeks. We can expect a similar situation to continue for the next four to six weeks, he said. Dr Rao warned that the situation was serious enough to start worrying about availability of hospital beds for people coming down with Covid-19. Thousands of hospital beds are available. Government is doing all it can. But if the current pace of infections continues, day is not far when hospital beds will become scarce. There are already several reports that some hospitals have run out of beds to treat Covid-19 patients, he said. He said that tens of thousands of healthcare and frontline workers have been working hard over the past one year to protect people from Covid. It is everyones responsibility to keep them safe so everyone else can be taken care of. [April 15, 2021] Insurity Selects Larsen & Toubro Infotech as the Strategic Partner and System Integrator for its New Data Warehousing & Analytics Suite, Built on Snowflake Insurity, a leading provider of cloud-based software for insurance carriers, brokers and MGAs announced that it has selected Larsen & Toubro Infotech (News - Alert) (BSE: 540005, NSE: LTI) as a strategic partner and system integrator (SI) for its new Data Warehousing & Analytics Suite, built on and powered by Snowflake. LTI will be the primary implementation partner for property and casualty (P&C) insurers who want to deploy the Snowflake-based suite. LTI brings decades of experience in working with leading P&C insurers globally. LTI has a proven track-record in managing complex projects, handling multiple solutions across business lines, and building lasting value for insurers. Insurity Analytics already delivers insights to more than 100 leading insurance companies. With Snowflake's powerful data platform capabilities as the infrastructure for Insurity's software platform, insurance customers will have a first-to-market, fully- integrated, modern software platform, fueled by the industry's most advanced analytics offerings. The Insurity Data Warehousing & Analytics Suite accepts data from any policy, billing, claims, reinsurance, or MGA or TPA sources. It provides out-of-the box support for 31 Commercial, Personal & Specialty Lines of Business (LOBs), and is empowered by more than 16,000 data attributes. Drawing from the broadest and deepest data repositories in the industry, based upon non-proprietary ACORD standards, Insurity Data Warehousing & Analytics Suite delivers insights beyond what is available from any other data solution in the property and casualty marketplace. LTI is a global technology consulting and digital solutions company with operations in 31 countries and 33,000 team members. LTI enables clients to improve the effectiveness of their business and technology operations. For over 12 years, LTI has partnered with Insurity to streamline property and casualty insurance software implementations across various geographies, multiple divisions, different currencies, disparate languages, and complex reulations. LTI is an Elite partner to Snowflake and has invested in developing a state-of-the-art solution suite, called PolarSled, to accelerate the migration to Snowflake. The Insurity Data Warehousing & Analytics Suite, implemented by leveraging LTI's proven consultants and PolarSled solution suite will enable P&C insurers to: Get their data warehousing and analytics up and running faster, under budget, and on-time: Moving data warehousing and analytics to cloud-based solutions can result in savings of millions of dollars in IT maintenance and hosting costs. LTI enables faster data migration allowing insurers to get up and running faster due to Snowflake's easy-to-use, powerful platform, where users can easily unify, integrate, analyze, and share their data within the Data Cloud. Moving data warehousing and analytics to cloud-based solutions can result in savings of millions of dollars in IT maintenance and hosting costs. LTI enables faster data migration allowing insurers to get up and running faster due to Snowflake's easy-to-use, powerful platform, where users can easily unify, integrate, analyze, and share their data within the Data Cloud. Reduce underwriter workload: Through Insurity's software and LTI's expertise, data is consolidated into one central data repository for monitoring portfolio performance across all business units. This is used to build advanced analytics that automate decision making, reducing underwriters' daily workload. Through Insurity's software and LTI's expertise, data is consolidated into one central data repository for monitoring portfolio performance across all business units. This is used to build advanced analytics that automate decision making, reducing underwriters' daily workload. Increase profitability and bring new insurance products to the market faster: With the Insurity Data Warehousing & Analytics suite, insurers can access real-time data at multiple data processing stages to identify patterns and trends in their data much sooner. Underwriters can quantify the full life cycle of a policy before writing it, claims departments can reduce expenses and better predict runaway or "jumper claims," and insurers can introduce new insurance products based on emerging but underserved needs - dramatically improving overall profitability. "Only Insurity Analytics is bringing a data model proven at more than 100 major insurers into Snowflake. LTI is an Elite Services Partner of Snowflake and has over 12 years of experience implementing Insurity software. This is the best of both worlds - a proven Data Warehousing & Analytics software built on Snowflake, now implemented by an exceptionally experienced system integrator and global partner like LTI. We are sure this will transform the way P&C insurers analyze data, write policies, and go-to-market," said Roy Wood, Chief Customer Officer at Insurity. "LTI is thrilled to partner with Insurity to deliver fully cloud-based data warehousing and analytics solutions. Insurity's software has been built using insights from more than 100 insurers over thirty years. LTI's deep expertise in the insurance domain, our institutional knowledge of Insurity's products and solutions, and our strong partnership with Snowflake makes us the ideal partner to deliver this transformation predictably. Insurity and LTI together are well positioned to solve the biggest challenges insurers are facing today and, in the future," said David Althoff, Chief Business Officer, Insurance, at LTI. To learn more about Insurity's new Data Warehousing & Analytics Suite, please reach out to Laura Krause at Laura.Krause@Insurity.com About Insurity Insurity is a leading provider of cloud-based software and analytics for insurance carriers, brokers, and MGAs. Insurity is trusted by 15 of the top 25 property and casualty carriers in the US and has over 200 cloud-based deployments. Through its best-in-class digital platform and with unrivaled industry experience and thought leadership, Insurity is uniquely positioned to deliver exceptional value, empowering customers to focus on their core businesses, optimize their operations, and provide superior policyholder experiences. For more information, visit www.insurity.com. About LTI LTI is a global technology consulting and digital solutions company helping more than 400 clients succeed in a converging world with operations in 31 countries. Founded in 1997 as a subsidiary of Larsen & Toubro Limited, their unique heritage gives LTI unrivalled real-world expertise to solve the most complex challenges of enterprises across all industries. Each day, LTIs team of more than 33,000 enables clients to improve the effectiveness of their business and technology operations and deliver value to their customers, employees, and shareholders. Find more at www.lntinfotech.com. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210415005709/en/ [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] Greg Sukiennik has worked at all three Vermont News & Media newspapers and was their managing editor from 2017-19. He previously worked for ESPN.com, for the AP in Boston, and at The Berkshire Eagle in Pittsfield, Mass. MOSCOW -- Lyubov Sobol, a lawyer for jailed opposition politician Aleksei Navalny's Anti-Corruption Foundation (FBK), has been handed a one-year suspended sentence of correctional labor for trespassing in what she described as a decision designed to silence her. The magistrate's court in Moscow on April 15 found Sobol guilty of illegally forcing her way into the apartment of Federal Security Service (FSB) officer Konstantin Kudryavtsev in December 2020, hours after Navalny had published a recording of what he said was a phone conversation with Kudryavtsev. Sobol told reporters outside the courthouse that she will appeal the verdict. During the 49-minute phone call, in which Navalny posed as an FSB official conducting an internal review, Kudryavtsev described the details of an operation to poison the Kremlin critic in August. Investigators say Sobol pushed Kudryavtsev's mother-in-law, who opened the door, and forcibly entered the apartment. Sobol rejected the charge, saying she did not push Kudryavtsev's mother-in-law, but went to the apartment to meet Kudryavtsev to ask him about his conversation with Navalny. Her team has described the case as political "revenge" for a lawyer not being afraid to ask questions of the alleged assassin. In her final statement at the trial, Sobol reminded the court that no probe had been launched into Navalny's poisoning. "I am sure that my verdict will be guilty. Because it is me on trial, not those who poisoned Navalny, not members of the [ruling] United Russia [party]," Sobol said. Kudryavtsev was not summoned to the trial to testify, which investigators said was not necessary because he was neither a witness nor a plaintiff in the case. Navalny was arrested on January 17 upon his return to Russia from Germany, where he received life-saving treatment for the poisoning in Siberia in August. Navalny has insisted that his poisoning with a Soviet-style chemical nerve agent was ordered directly by Russian President Vladimir Putin. The FSB and the Kremlin have denied any role in the poisoning. In February, a Moscow court ruled that while in Germany, Navalny had violated the terms of parole from an old embezzlement case that is widely considered as being politically motivated. Navalny's 3 1/2-year suspended sentence from the case was converted to a jail term, though the court said he will serve 2 1/2 years in prison given time already served in detention. The United States and European Union have imposed sanctions on Russia over the Navalny affair and ensuing crackdown on protesters. Last month, Sobol said she planned to run for parliament's lower chamber, the State Duma, in September elections Sobol is currently under house arrest in another case. She and several other associates and supporters of Navalny were charged with violating sanitary regulations during unsanctioned rallies on January 21 to protest Navalny's incarceration. According to Russian law, those handed a suspended sentence of correctional labor must pay the State Treasury a certain amount of their salary if they are employed. If they are unemployed, they must work at jobs defined by the Federal Penitentiary Service during the term of their sentence. But the suspended sentence can also be made real prison time if she violates the terms of the court. "We understand that a suspended sentence, on the one hand, in Russia in a political case can be considered an acquittal," Sobol told Current Time, the Russian-language network led by RFE/RL in cooperation with VOA. "But on the other hand, conditional conviction is an insidious measure, because just like that, at the snap of a finger, it changes to a real punishment for any administrative violation." "This is such a short leash that the Kremlin wants to put me on so that I'm silent," she said, adding that she would continue her human rights activities and questioning corruption. The 71-year-old intellectual was convicted of involvement in the failed summer 2016 coup against Erdogan. Activists denounced abuses and violations in the trial against him. His first words: News came "suddenly. I want to spend time with my children. Istanbul (AsiaNews / Agencies) - I don't know how it came out. I was sitting [in prison] and, all of a sudden, they told me that the same evening they would release me ". These are the first words of the Turkish journalist and writer Ahmet Altan, released yesterday after more than four years spent in prison following his conviction for his (alleged) involvement in an attempt to overthrow the established order. The reference is to the (failed) coup of mid-July 2016, which - according to President Recep Tayyip Erdogan was orchestrated by (alleged) supporters of the Islamic preacher Fethullah Gulen, former ally and current number one enemy of the "sultan" of Ankara. The Supreme Court verdict comes one day after the official request for freedom for the 71-year-old intellectual made by the European Court for Human Rights (ECHR). Commenting on the trial, activists and members of civil society denounced repeated violations of the civil rights of the accused, in the context of a trial motivated by political reasons. "I have just seen my children - Altan told AFP - and now I want to spend some time with them". Editor of a newspaper and appreciated writer, he was arrested following the publication of some articles critical of President Erdogan and in support of the rights of the Kurds. Among the charges that led to his arrest, and the subsequent trial, that of having "disseminated subliminal messages to the public". The judges later found him guilty of wanting to overthrow the government, a sentence that was subsequently overturned by the supreme court. The trial underwent a review that eventually led to a sentence of 10 years and six months for "supporting a terrorist organization" involved in the attempted coup. In 2017, Altan himself appealed to the European Court of Human Rights, calling all the charges against him "grotesque". Western observers and activists, especially Europeans, have followed the journalist's legal story for a long time, together with those of other high profile figures jailed for crimes of thought and opinion. Often in the past, European emissaries and diplomats, much more than American colleagues under the presidency of Donald Trump, have raised the issue of human rights in meetings with their counterparts in Ankara. In this sense, the most famous - and controversial - case concerns Osman Kavala jailed without any sentence for almost four years and arrested again after being cleared of all charges in 2019. After the night of the attempted coup in mid-July 2016, in which 250 people died and Erdogan's power wavered for a few hours, the Turkish government launched a full blown witch hunt. Tens of thousands of alleged participants, at home and abroad intellectuals, activists, soldiers, judges, teachers, ordinary people were targeted for links, real or imagined, with Fethullah Gulen, or even priests sentenced to prison for offering a piece of bread in "Christian charity". Corp, the Taiwanese assembler of Inc's iPhones, has restructured its internal setup and management ranks in India, two sources said, after an investigation last year into violence at one of its plants. Wistron's smooth working is key to Apple's ambitions in India as it gradually moves production to markets beyond China, navigating the trade war between Washington and Beijing and the coronavirus pandemic. The firm has curtailed the roles of its India head and operations head, an industry source and a government official told Reuters, but declined to be identified as the matter was private. "This is signalling to investors, to clients, to India that it has moved beyond the shadow of the December incident, and is ready for new business," the industry source said. Some internal reporting structures would also change as part of the rejig the industry source added, without giving specifics. did not respond to a request for comment. did not comment on the matter. The move comes after a rampage in December by thousands of Wistron's contract workers, angered over payment delays and incorrect pay deductions, who destroyed equipment and vehicles at its Narsapura plant in southern Karnataka state, causing millions of dollars of damage and forcing an extended shutdown. put Wistron on probation after its audit showed the contract manufacturer had violated a supplier code of conduct. Wistron also admitted some workers had not been paid properly or on time, and removed a top executive. The government source said that as part of the shake-up, Sudipto Gupta, the firm's former managing director in India, was moving to a business development role. Wistron is searching for a new India head, but has yet to make a final decision, the industry source said, adding that its former head of operations had also been moved to a less critical role. In February, Apple said Wistron had begun restarting operations at the violence-hit site and it was working with the Taiwan firm to ensure all necessary systems were in place. About 7,000 workers are now assembling iPhones at the plant and shipments have started, one of the sources said. Apple's other key Taiwan-headquartered suppliers, Foxconn and Pegatron, also have a presence in India. The three together have committed to invest a total of almost $900 million in India over five years to tap into a new production-linked incentive plan, Reuters has reported. Wistron is also looking to expand into making Internet of Things (IoT) devices and servers, a third government source said. That plan, which will help Wistron widen its India base beyond Apple, is likely to kick off over the course of the next year, the industry source said. (Reporting by Sankalp Phartiyal; Editing by Clarence Fernandez) Opponents of Myanmars ruling junta splashed red paint and dye on buildings and streets across the country on Wednesday to symbolize the blood of hundreds of civilians killed by the regime, which searched houses in major cities to root out protesters and moved to arrest doctors who oppose the military takeover. Protesters in multiple cities marked the second day of Burmese New Year with what they called they called a Blood Campaign Against Dictatorship the latest in a series of symbolic shows of resistance to the 10-week-old junta. Previous demonstrations have featured auspicious numbers, flowers and shoes all aimed at galvanizing protesters and honoring the more than 700 people killed since the Feb. 1 military coup deposed leader Aung San Su Kyis civilian government. Carrying placards saying Dictators must not be allowed to rule the country, marchers dressed in red splashed blood-colored paint and protested in Yangon, Irrawaddy, Mandalay and Sagaing Regions as well as in Kayin and Mon states. Unmoved by widespread opposition to the coup, security forces continued their onslaught with a mix of indiscriminate shooting at civilians, including many people who were not involved in protests, and deliberate efforts to round up protesters in their homes and punish doctors, rail workers and others who joined the nationwide Civil Disobedience Movement in support of street protests. The Sagaing region city of Kalay, scene of fatal attacks on troops last week and the shooting deaths of some 30 civilians, soldiers shot at a group of five men who were carrying an oxygen cylinder for a patient at a medical clinic and wounded Aung Myint Shwe, 27, in the abdomen. As they were riding on motorbikes with the oxygen cylinder, the soldiers might have thought they were up to something, said a witness. First there were two shots and the men thought it was meant to scare them. Later on, a volley of gunfire erupted and this guy was hit in the belly and fell off the bike. Residents said they heard gunfire every time motorcycles passed by, but protests went on without pause. In Bago, also the scene of major bloodshed this month, a fire broke out at about early on Wednesday and destroyed three stalls in the compound of the Shwethalyaung Pagoda. A local resident said the juntas forces had previously occupied the compound but left before the fire. Am anti-coup red paint protest for Burmese New Year on a bridge in Hlaing township of Yangon, April 14, 2021. Guest List Act Moving to mop up opposition to the latest junta in a country that has been under harsh military rule for two thirds of its 73 years as an independent nation, authorities resurrected a repealed law requiring residents to report any guests and visitors. Aung San Suu Kyis government had repealed the Guest List Act in 2016 but the military regime reinstated it in February and authorities in Myanmar were enforcing with house-to-house checks, witnesses said. Weve been asked to prepare guest lists since a few weeks ago. Forms had to be filled. They came to our ward a few days ago for inspection. Some were in uniforms and some were in plainclothes, said Ma Yin Yin, a resident of Yangons Hlaingthaya township, where dozens of protesters were killed last month. The draconian rule also applied to people staying in hospitals, residents said. Im now at this hospital to stay with a family member who is receiving medical treatment. We were told yesterday by hospital staff that only one person can stay with the patient and that we need to bring household lists for registration, said a resident of Yangon, who declined to give his name or that of the hospital. Some people who had accepted the military and many who feel scared filed in guest lists and so those who didnt have become the minority, added the man. Many people have not complied with them and it could mean a lot of problems. Inspections of households could come in the middle of the night and people could get arrested straight away, he added. The revised Guest List Law was stripped of requirement for a warrant and witnesses leaving people subject to arrest at any time or place without a valid reason. In most authoritarian countries with lots of restrictions, this kind of action is to enable authorities to trace peoples movements, said Khin Maung Zaw, a prominent lawyer. It must be aimed at finding out if any strangers are in the neighborhood and who is at which location, he added. Children and spouses taken hostage Witness told RFA that authorities were arresting the spouses or children of wanted individuals when the target is not found at home. Some 40 soldiers and police looking former political prisoner Bo Bo Han at his home in Aungban in Shan State, arrested his wife, Ei Ei Nyein, when they couldnt find him. Police confiscated his three personal computers, Wi-Fi equipment, and a CCTV camera, friends of the family told RFA. Authorities also moved Wednesday to round up doctors, nurses and medical students who marched and joined strikes against the coup, charging 19 doctors from public hospitals in Naypyidaw and Tanintharyi regions and Shan state under Section 505(a) of the Penal Code for spreading dissent against the military, the junta said. Most of the doctors who have been charged remained in hiding to avoid arrest. Among them were doctors from the 1,000-bed People's Hospital in Naypyidaw who had treated Mya Thwe Thwe Khaing, the first fatality since the military takeover. The doctors had produced an x-ray to refute military claims that the 20-year-old woman was hit by a rubber bullet and rejected a junta request to transfer her to a military hospital. In Myitnge in the central Mandalay region, witnesses told RFA that six people were shot dead on Tuesday when troops fired on Ywa Thit Kyaung Monastery, where a protest leader was hiding, and marauded through the streets of the railway town. Ko Zaw, 46, a resident of Yankin ward in Myitnge, was shot in the abdomen and died. He was survived by his wife and a disabled daughter, while Aung Chit Thu, a 30-year-old mason, was shot dead in the village, leaving a wife and a 3-year-old son behind. "The bodies of the two men were hidden in nearby houses yesterday and wrapped in blankets. They were buried early this morning for fear of being grabbed by the military. They were not even given the prayers by monks," a railway employee neighbor of Aung Chit Thu's told RFA on condition of anonymity. The Assistance Association for Political Prisoners, a Myanmar human rights group based in Thailand, said that as of Wednesday, 715 people had been confirmed killed and 3,020 people were under detention by the military regime. According to RFA data, more than 720 people have been killed by the military council in the country since the military coup on February 1, including at least 23 slain in Myingyan alone. Reported by RFAs Myanmar Service. Translated by Khin Maung Nyane and Kyaw Min Htun. Written in English by Paul Eckert. During last years presidential campaign, Joe Biden promised to work across the aisle to reach consensus with Republicans in Congress. But so far, weve seen no evidence of that, beyond a few bipartisan meetings at the White House that produced no agreement. So, now Biden is redefining the word bipartisan. Its no longer about making deals with Mitch McConnell, but going over his head, and fashioning policies that appeal to Republican voters themselves. If you looked up bipartisan in the dictionary, I think it would say support from Republicans and Democrats, his senior advisor, Anita Dunn, recently told the Washington Post. It doesnt say the Republicans have to be in Congress. Yes, we are witnessing a bait and switch. During the campaign, Bidens Democratic rivals called him a dreamer when he said he could make deals with Republicans in Washington. And lets face it, his critics were correct. But if you dig a little deeper, you can see why he has little choice. Republicans are playing the same game they played with President Obama opposing everything, and rooting for Bidens failure. Not a single Republican voted for the immensely popular $1.9 trillion recovery plan, and now GOP leaders are taking the same hard line on the infrastructure bill. So what exactly is Biden supposed to do, scale back his ambitions to meet the approval of McConnell and his crew even when the public is demanding action, and even when Republican voters express substantial support for acting boldly? In one survey on the rescue plan, 77% said getting Americans the help they need was more important to them than passing a bipartisan package. Biden saw what happened to President Obama, who scaled back his ambitions to win GOP support, and got nothing but a slap in the face in return. During the Great Recession, he scaled back his stimulus plan, and still got no Republican votes. When he designed the Affordable Care Act, he modeled it on a plan enacted by Mitt Romney in Massachusetts, and declined to include a public option that would have allowed government plans to compete directly with private insurers. Again, he got nothing but the hand. And who could forget what Republicans did to Merrick Garland? McConnell refused to give his nomination to the U.S. Supreme Court a floor vote, even though it, too, had bipartisan support. The Senate Republican leaders justification for this, that justices shouldnt be seated in an election year, lasted right up until the moment he heard Ruth Bader Ginsberg had died. So yes, Biden did promise to partner with Republicans, but he cant do that if their leaders in Washington are obstinate, even when their own people are with Biden on core issues. Republicans in state and local offices are more practical, and are offering Biden support on the infrastructure plan. Mayor John Giles of Mesa, Ariz, called it a very good thing for his city. He ticked off the benefits to the New York Times: Finally upgrading an airport tower, widening roads, expanding broadband Internet and a regional light rail. Giles said he felt let down by the Republican opposition in Congress. It was only a few months ago that we all agreed that infrastructure was a bipartisan issue, he said. That attitude shouldnt shift just because theres a new administration in the White House. Gun safety offers another glaring example. A recent Newsweek poll showed that 84 percent of Americans support universal background checks, including 77 percent of Republicans, and still Republican leaders in Congress resist. Should Biden, in the name of bipartisanship, reject the overwhelming desire of Americans to take at least some modest steps to reduce the mass shootings? No, Biden should not restrict himself to the cramped ambitions of McConnell, giving veto power to a man who has acted in bad faith, over and over. This president is determined to get things done, and if that means doing it without GOP support, then so be it. Biden has vowed to be the president for all Americans. Thats exactly what hes doing. McConnell and his Republican colleagues are the ones standing in the way, and freezing this partisan standoff in place. Our journalism needs your support. Please subscribe today to NJ.com. Bookmark NJ.com/Opinion. Follow on Twitter @NJ_Opinion and find NJ.com Opinion on Facebook. 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. As the country faces a spike in killings and kidnappings while preparing for an upcoming constitutional referendum and a general election later this year, the Prime Minister of Haiti Joseph Jouthe announced early Wednesday about his resignation. The Haitian Prime Minister served the country for more than a year but he did not provide an explanation regarding his resignation. But after Jouthe stepped down, Haiti President Jovenel Mosie shared that there is already a new prime minister appointed. According to Aljazeera, Haitian President Jovenel Mosie mentioned in his post on Twitter that he accepted the resignation of Jouthe in order to open the possibility of addressing the problem of insecurity and continue discussions with a view to reaching the consensus. He emphasized that it is necessary for the political and institutional stability of Haiti. President Mosie also mentioned that Minister Claude Joseph has been appointed as the latest Prime Minister. Meanwhile, it is not the first time that Jouthe attempted to step down in his position as he previously submitted his resignation also to Moise. Mosie rejected the previous request, but this time, he accepted it. Haiti is currently considered the poorest country in the Americas. Before experiencing the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, the country has been plagued already by poverty, insecurity, and natural disaster. Kidnappings Rise In addition, 'kidnap for ransom' has surged in Haiti as armed gangs have gained influence in the country. The Caribbean country continues to struggle due to the ongoing political crisis. The recent abduction in Croix-des-Bouquets of seven members of the Catholic clergy triggered nationwide anger on Sunday. ALSO READ:Mexican President Says Mexico's Future is Coal Not Renewable Energy The abducted individuals include five Haitian members of the clergy, alongside two French citizens, consists of a priest and a nun. The Catholic Church of Haiti slammed the government on Monday for failure to act immediately over the abduction. The religious group demanded the government with stinging comments decrying Haiti's descent into hell. Furthermore, protests have erupted in the country over the security situation and the mandate of Moise. For civil society groups and legal experts stated that it ended on February 7. But Moise has remained firm that his five-year presidency is extended until next year, Voice of America reported. The disagreement in the country stemmed after an election won by Moise in November of 2015 was later on considered fraud. But, a year later, he was re-elected, which created confusion for the people of Haiti. On the other hand, according to Human Rights Watch, legislative elections were postponed indefinitely in October 2019, which left the country without a parliament since January 2020. But in the middle of the struggling stability of the country, he stated that he plans to hold a constitutional referendum in June, which critics call part of a larger effort to consolidate power. In the last six years, Haiti had a high turnover of prime ministers, as eight of them were already appointed to the position since 2015, France 24 reported. RELATED ARTICLE: Lasso Wins Ecuador Presidential Elections With Promise to Revive Economy WATCH: Haitian prime minister resigns after only a year on the job - WPLG Local 10 Source: Xinhua| 2021-04-15 16:11:08|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close JIUQUAN, April 15 (Xinhua) -- The manned spacecraft and carrier rocket for the Shenzhou-12 manned space mission have arrived at the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in northwest China. The manned craft and the Long March-2F carrier rocket are now undergoing final assembly and testing at the launch site, the China Manned Space Agency (CMSA) said on Friday. The astronauts for the Shenzhou-12 manned space mission are participating in intensive training before embarking on their space journey, said the CMSA. All facilities at the launch site are in good condition, and all systems that will be involved in the mission are undergoing orderly preparations, it said. Enditem WASHINGTON, D.C. - Ohios Rep. Jim Jordan got into a shouting match at a Wednesday hearing of the House Select Committee on the Coronavirus where he repeatedly asked National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases Director Dr. Anthony Fauci when Americans will get their freedoms back. Fifteen days to slow the spread turned into one year of lost liberty, Jordan said before asking Fauci: What metrics, what measures, what has to happen before Americans get more freedoms? After Fauci told him that precautions to prevent spreading he virus can be lifted after the nation vaccinates as many people as soon as it can and infections decrease, Jordan again demanded What measure, what standard, what objective outcome, do we have to reach before before Americans get their liberty and freedoms back? He declared First Amendment rights, and rights to attend church, petition ones government, freedom of the press and freedom of speech have all been assaulted. I dont look at this as a liberty thing, Fauci replied as Jordan interjected Thats obvious. Its a public health thing, Fauci continued, accusing Jordan of turning the issue into a personal thing... We have about 60,000 infections a day which is a very large risk for a surge. Were not talking about liberties. Were talking about a pandemic that has killed 560,000 Americans. What youre going to see as more and more people get vaccinated, and we get over 3 million people a day, youre going to see the level of infection come down and down and gradually there will be more flexibility for doing the things that youre talking about, Fauci continued. The Champaign County Republican repeatedly demanded that Fauci supply him with concrete criteria for lifting restrictions, even after his time for questioning Fauci expired and the committees chairman, South Carolina Democratic Rep. Jim Clyburn, gaveled down Jordan. You need to respect the chair and shut your mouth, California Democratic Rep. Maxine Waters said to Jordan. Click here to watch video of their exchange. Read more: Rep. Jim Jordan joins effort to cancel Major League Baseballs antitrust exemption after its decision to move the All-Star game Cleveland nonprofit gets federal grant to help local manufacturers respond to the coronavirus pandemic John Boehners political memoir disses Trump and Tea Party but avoids Ohio controversies White House says Biden infrastructure bill would improve Ohios roads and bridges HUD Secretary Marcia Fudge releases $5 billion to fight homelessness Democratic Rep. Marcy Kaptur joins Capitol riot lawsuit against Donald Trump, Proud Boys and Oath Keepers Sen. Sherrod Brown wants repeal of corporate tax provisions he says export jobs Nina Turner collects $2.2 million for congressional bid Jim Jordans campaign explains large errors on its Federal Election Commission reports Former Ohio GOP chair Jane Timken raises $2.1 million for U.S. Senate bid\ Planned Parenthood sues Ohio over its telemedicine abortion ban Covenant Health has acquired West Texas Family Medicine. Covenant Health made the announcement public on Thursday. The acquisition includes two clinic locations in Plainview, one in Hale Center and one in Floydada. Those clinics, which include 80 employees and four physicians including Dr. Mark McClanahan, Dr. Jon Watkins, Dr. Monte Swanson and Dr. Craig Horton will officially become Covenant Medical Group caregivers on Monday (though Thursday and Friday were anticipated to be orientation days for those employees).The building in clinic in Floydada will be leased by the Cogdell Clinic Board. West Texas Family Medicine was established in 2009 and was run by the four doctors mentioned. In a statement provided through Covenant Health, McClanahan noted challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic taught us that we really need to be a part of a bigger organization to stay viable. The transition is expected to be smooth with operations, hours and providers remaining the same at each clinic location. It was also noted that medical leaders hope to utilize the medical plaza on Fifth Street. The West Texas Family Medicine leaders approached Covenant Health in late 2020, notes a news release from Covenant Health Plainview. Acquiring West Texas Family Medicine clinics will have a great impact on our community and the surrounding communities that we serve, said Covenant Health Plainview CEO Cassie Mogg. Just 12 games into the 2021 MLB season, the New York Yankees find themselves in last place in the American League East, four games behind the first-place Boston Red Sox, who are surging thanks to a nine-game winning streak. Part of Bostons hot start is due to Garrett Whitlock, the former Yankees prospect who the Red Sox selected in Decembers Rule 5 Draft. Whitlock must remain on the Red Soxs major-league roster all season. Otherwise, his rights revert back to New York. But so far, so good in Boston, as Whitlock hasnt given up a run in three appearances, striking out nine in 6.1 innings of work. Introducing Yankees Insider: Get exclusive news, behind-the-scenes observations and the ability to text message directly with beat writers Fellow Red Sox reliever Matt Andriese deserves some of the credit for Whitlocks success. Thats because WEEI reports Andriese has shown Whitlock the art of the changeup. I noticed from Day 1 his stuff was really good. I started playing catch with him probably two or three times every five days. We kind of had similar schedules, so I started playing catch with him and I was just talking to him about his changeup. ... I felt him out early on. It wasnt like, Hey, this is what you need to do. His changeup was good already. We had some good conversations about it, about the mentality around it, the arm speed. Nothing to do with the grip. ... It was just a process throughout spring training where we slowly worked on the pitch itself. It wasnt like, This is how I hold it. You need to do this. It was just helping a younger guy out, helping his way through spring training. ... I would see his changeup and it had a lot of depth to it but he was trying to throw it in the zone, middle. I told him, Why dont you have the mentality of killing the spin on it. So you finish on your arm side which creates a little bit extra drop. Its a hard thing to explain because its such a feel pitch. WEEI reports Whitlock has thrown 28 changeups this season, 46% of which have elicited swings and misses. Whitlocks strong start comes after an impressive spring training for Boston. The 24-year-old Whitlock, who had Tommy John surgery in July of 2019 when he was a Double-A prospect with the Yankees, gave up one run in nine innings of work while striking out 12 in four Grapefruit League appearances. Get Yankees text messages: Cut through the clutter of social media and text during games with beat writers and columnists. Plus, exclusive news and analysis every day. Sign up now. Thank you for relying on us to provide the journalism you can trust. Please consider supporting NJ.com with a subscription. Mike Rosenstein may be reached at mrosenstein@njadvancemedia.com. Tell us your coronavirus story or send a tip here. File photo showing then Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin shaking hands with then U.S. Vice President Joe Biden, in Moscow on March 10, 2011. (Alexander Natruskin/Reuters) Biden Administration Expels Russian Diplomats, Imposes New Sanctions The Biden administration on April 15 imposed fresh sanctions on Russia and expelled some diplomatic personnel over cyberattacks allegedly carried out by Moscow against the United States. President Joe Biden signed an executive order that provides strengthened authorities to demonstrate the Administrations resolve in responding to and deterring the full scope of Russias harmful foreign activities, the White House said in a statement. The executive order was designed to send a message to the Kremlin that the White House will impose costs in a strategic and economically impactful manner on Russia if it continues or escalates its destabilizing international actions, including efforts to undermine the conduct of free and fair democratic elections and institutions in the United States. The White House news release also made mention of Russias alleged attempts to engage in and facilitate malicious cyber activities against the United States and its allies and partners. Russia is accused of facilitating a cyberattack in December against SolarWinds software used by a number of federal agencies. In that intrusion, Russian hackers are believed to have infected widely used software with malicious code, enabling them to access the networks of at least nine agencies in what U.S. officials believe was an intelligence-gathering operation aimed at mining government secrets. A spokesperson for the Kremlin, Dmitry Peskov, condemned the fresh round of sanctions and promised that Russia would respond against the United States. We condemn any pursuit of sanctions, we consider them illegal. In any case, the principle of reciprocity in this matter is valid; reciprocity in a way that best serves our interests, Peskov said, according to the TASS news agency. About a possible PutinBiden meeting, Peskov said, It goes without saying that possible sanctions being discussed would by no means promote such a meeting. According to the White House: The [Russian Foreign Intelligence Services] compromise of the SolarWinds software supply chain gave it the ability to spy on or potentially disrupt more than 16,000 computer systems worldwide. The scope of this compromise is a national security and public safety concern. Moreover, it places an undue burden on the mostly private sector victims who must bear the unusually high cost of mitigating this incident. The executive order announced April 15 includes sanctions against six Russian firms that support the countrys cyber activities, and 32 individuals were also hit with sanctions. The Biden administration said that the 10 diplomats being expelled include representatives of Russian intelligence services. Despite the new order, Biden believes he should hold a summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin to talk about issues facing our relationship, said national security adviser Jake Sullivan in a CNN interview on April 15. U.S.Russia relations can be stable and predictable, he said. President Biden made no bones about the fact we will be taking actions this week, but he also indicated that he wants to get to that stability in this relationship, and he believes that if President Putin is prepared to do that as well, we can find a course ahead that does not lead to a cycle of confrontation, Sullivan said. The actions are the second major round of sanctions imposed by the Biden administration against the Russian government. Last month, the U.S. sanctioned seven mid-level and senior Russian officials along with more than a dozen government entities for its treatment of opposition leader Alexei Navalny and his subsequent jailing. The White House decided to keep the Trump-appointed U.S. ambassador to Russia and invited Putin to a climate change conference in late April. It wasnt immediately clear what, if any, other actions might be planned against Russia. Officials had previously said they expected to take actions both seen and unseen. The Associated Press contributed to this report. Source: Xinhua| 2021-04-15 00:47:00|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis (L) poses with visiting President of the Libyan Presidency Council Mohammad Menfi at Greek Prime Minister's Office in Athens, Greece, on April 14, 2021. Greece and Libya's new leadership agreed to discuss the delimitation of their maritime zones, Mitsotakis said on Wednesday during a meeting with Menfi. (Xinhua/Marios Lolos) ATHENS, April 14 (Xinhua) -- Greece and Libya's new leadership agreed to discuss the delimitation of their maritime zones, Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis said on Wednesday during a meeting with the visiting President of the Libyan Presidency Council Mohammad Menfi. "Greece will stand by you and the Libyan people, in your difficult task of rebuilding your homeland," the Greek prime minister said, welcoming the Libyan leader in Athens in a statement broadcast on Greek national broadcaster ERT. "I welcome the intention of you and the Prime Minister of Libya for talks between your country and Greece over critical issues, such as the delimitation of maritime zones," Mitsotakis said. "Greece has extended a helping hand to Libya and this has been clear so far and my visit today is a reflection, an expression of our desire to have cooperation with Greece in all areas and in all fields," Menfi said. Libya has suffered from a civil war since the killing of former leader Muammar Gaddafi in 2011. Since 2014 power has been split between two rival governments: the UN-backed Government of National Accord based in capital Tripoli and another in the city of Tobruk allied with eastern-based military commander Khalifa Haftar. On Feb. 5, 2021, members of the Libyan Political Dialogue Forum elected a new Prime Minister and a new Presidency Council in Geneva to lead the country to elections at the end of 2021. The signing of an agreement on maritime borders between Turkey and the previous government of Tripoli in 2019 soured relations between Greece and Libya. Athens and Ankara have been at odds for long over maritime boundaries and oil and gas drilling rights in the Mediterranean Sea. A new era in cooperation between Greece and Libya has opened after the election of the new leadership, Greek President Katerina Sakellaropoulou said during separate talks with Menfi shortly later. Last week Mitsotakis visited Libya for the reopening of the Greek embassy in Tripoli and earlier this week Greek Foreign Affairs Minister Nikos Dendias was in Benghazi for the reopening of the Greek consulate in the city, she noted. "We want to exchange views and have joint committees working on all issues so that our relations can return to normal as in the past, and improve even further," Menfi said, according to an e-mailed press release issued by the Greek leader's office. He added that Libya wants to strengthen ties with Greece in economy, trade and culture among others. Enditem The third largest airline in the world is now linked to a Chinese Communist Party-backed educational foundation that champions communist propaganda amongst the American youth. United Airlines has been discovered to subsidize travel for American high school students who participate in a CPP-backed communist propaganda, encouraging the youth to "take actions or adopt positions supportive of Beijing's preferred policies." The program is the brainchild of the China-United States Exchange Foundation (CUSEF), which is funded by the Vice-Chairman of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), the "highest-ranking entity overseeing" China's United Front Work Department. According to the National Pulse, the communist propaganda program's goal is to alleviate any "sources of potential opposition" to the policies and authorities of the Chinese Communist Party and to encourage Chinese communities abroad, foreign governments, and others to position themselves as allies and supporters of Beijing's policies. Foreign Agent Registration Act (FARA) filings with the Department of Justice showed that CUSEF has implemented these programs that involve "effectively [disseminating] positive messages to the media, key influencers and opinion leaders, and the general public." CUSEF has been known to sponsor trips to China for mainstream corporate media outlets to give insights and in exchange get "favorable coverage." The foundation has also sponsored trips for U.S. officials who they deem are "open-minded" about the CCP. Most recently, CUSEF has been found to have sponsored yet another trip for American high school students from the Chicago Urban League, with United Airlines funding the students' flights. A press release revealed that over 20 American high school students from 18 public and charter schools in Chicago were sent on an "educational, cultural and social trip through China" to experience "the sights, sounds and cultures of Beijing, Shanghai and other Chinese cities." This is not the first time CUSEF had targeted American high school students as it also sponsored similar trips, this time aimed at college-level students. Testimonials of such praised China as an "amazing communist country" and how "the culture and history of China far exceeds those of the United States." In fact, a review said that China exceeds the U.S. so far that "it's predicted that China will be the #1 country of foreign policy and investments in less than 20 years." "Open your eyes and your mind, research for yourself and don't be corrupted by the misinterpretation the classrooms feed us," Keara Jones, a student from Clark Atlanta University who participated in the CUSEF program in 2017 wrote, indicating how effective the CCP's propaganda is. Despite tensions between the U.S. and China, there has still been an outpour of Chinese students looking to study in America. According to Nikkei Asia, there has been a "dramatic surge" in the last few decades of international enrollment in the U.S., particularly from China. In fact, Chinese students represent 35% of the total number of international enrollees, indicative of how not all Chinese citizens may not see a bright future within their borders. The report also revealed how there are over 350,000 mainland Chinese who have been studying in the United States in the past few years. We've heard the announcement by the Tourism Ministry that cultural workers are to get priority access to vaccines and travel exemptions. A New Jersey man has sued the federal government for the right to sell his own organs claiming that it is unconstitutional to ban him from doing so. John Bellocchio, 37, filed a lawsuit against US Attorney General Merrick Garland arguing that if he and other Americans can legally donate organs, then they should also legally be able to sell them too. The lawsuit, filed in Manhattan federal court on Thursday, claims that allowing people to sell their organs will eliminate the black market for body parts and also shorten wait list for people depending on organ donations to save their lives. Bellochio says similar precedents already exist, including allowing men to sell their sperm, women to sell their eggs, and for surrogate mothers to rent out their wombs. Bellocchio, a career academic turned businessman, was initially inspired to sell kidney when he faced financial strains but was dismayed to find it was illegal A New Jersey man filed a suit against United States Attorney General Merrick Garland claiming it is unconstitutional to prevent him and others from selling their organs Bellocchio, a career academic who now matches service dogs with disabled people, was initially inspired to sell kidney when he faced financial strains but was dismayed to find it was illegal, according to the New York Post. 'If the opportunity existed so that I could help out someone in need while helping myself, I might do it,' Bellocchio said. 'However, demand outstrips supply, and there is no valid constitutional or public policy rationale why one should not be able to receive a profit from such a transaction.' he added. The suit argues that the current law against it violates his constitutional right to freedom of contract in determining what can be done with his own personal property, which in this case includes his body parts. His attorney, Matthew Haicken said if Bellocchio had the opportunity, he should be legally free to sell his kidney. Matthew Haicken, Bellocchio's attorney, said if his client had the opportunity, he should be legally free to sell his kidney John Bellocchio, 37, sued the federal government arguing that if he and other Americans can legally donate organs, they should also legally be able to sell them for profit 'I believe the current law is unconstitutional. People should have the right to do with their body whatever they want,' Haicken told The Post in a statement. There are currently more than 100,000 people on the national transplant waiting list, according to Organdonor.gov Most people in the United States have to wait about 4 years or more to get a kidney from the waitlist, according to the United Network for Organ Sharing. Of those people, some never get a matching kidney from the list and about 5% of kidney patients die each year while they wait for a kidney. Kidney transplants are a fairly low-risk procedure, with living donors able to live healthily with just one of the organs. They are the most sought-after organs, and also the most common body part to be donated and transplanted. Bellocchio told The Post that de-criminalizing selling organs can give people a financial incentive to potentially save the lives of the people on waiting list for kidney transplants in the U.S. Invesco Income Growth Trust Plc - Result of Meeting Invesco Income Growth Trust plc (the "Company") Results of First General Meeting 15 April 2021 In connection with the proposals for a combination of the assets of the Company with Invesco Select Trust plc ("IST") by means of a reconstruction and winding up of the Company under section 110 of the Insolvency Act 1986, the Board is pleased to announce that the special resolutions, which were put forward at the First General Meeting held today and voted on a poll, have been approved by Shareholders. Resolution number Votes For % Votes Against % ISC Votes Withheld To approve the reclassification of the shares in the capital of the Company as shares with "A" rights and shares with "B" rights and to approve changes required to the Company's articles of association 13,364,136 99.7 40,504 0.3 58,352,966 66,756 2. To approve the scheme of reconstruction and winding up of the Company subject to certain conditions being satisfied 13,364,136 99.7 40,504 0.3 58,352,966 66,756 The full text of the special resolutions can be found in the notice of First General Meeting contained in the Company's circular to Shareholders dated 30 March 2021 (the "Circular"). The Circular is available for viewing at the National Storage Mechanism which can be located at https://data.fca.org.uk/#/nsm/nationalstoragemechanism and on the Company's website, https://www.invesco.com/uk/en/investment-trusts/invesco-income-growth-trust-plc.html. Enquiries: J.P. Morgan Cazenove +44 (0) 20 7742 4000 William Simmonds Invesco Asset Management Limited +44 (0) 20 3753 1000 Angus Pottinger Will Ellis LEI: 549300DI4285Q8ZFO135 In the opening session of its flagship event Smbhav, Amazon India today announced a $250 MM Amazon Smbhav Venture Fund (the Venture Fund) to invest in startups and entrepreneurs focusing on technology innovations in SMB digitization, Agriculture and Healthcare. The Venture Fund will invest in technology led startups that are passionate about unlocking possibilities of a digital India. The Venture Fund will specifically focus on encouraging the best ideas to digitize SMBs (Small & Medium Businesses), drive technology led innovation in agriculture to improve farmer productivity and enable them to bring the best of Indias farms to consumers, and enable universal and quality healthcare access for all using technology. Additionally, Amazon announced plans to digitally empower and bring 1MM offline retailers and neighbourhood stores online, on the Amazon India marketplace, by 2025 through the Local Shops on Amazon program. At the same event, Amazon also launched the Spotlight North East initiative to bring 50,000 artisans, weavers and small businesses online from the 8 states in the North East region of India by 2025 and to boost exports of key commodities like tea, spices and honey from the region. These new initiatives were announced during a fireside chat at Amazon Smbhav between Andy Jassy, AWS CEO and incoming CEO of Amazon, and Amit Agarwal, Global Senior VP and Country Head, Amazon India where they reiterated Amazons long-term commitment to unlock the infinite possibilities for India. Speaking at Smbhav 2021, Amit Agarwal, Global Senior VP and Country Head, Amazon India said, In 2020, we pledged to digitize 10MM SMBs, enable $10B in exports, and create 1MM jobs by 2025. Through our initiatives, we are committed to be a catalyst and a partner in unlocking the possibilities for a Digital India, and realize the vision of an Aatmanirbhar Bharat as put forth by the Honble PM. The launch of Amazon Smbhav Venture Fund aims to attract best ideas and empower entrepreneurs in the country to partner in this vision. Additionally, our initiatives to on-board 1MM offline shops on Amazon.in and digitally empower the North East region will accelerate the progress towards a digital and self-reliant India. In the SMB sector, through the Venture Fund, Amazon will invest in technology startups that digitize SMBs for demand access, efficient operations and supply chain efficiency. The Venture Fund will independently invest in startups, building solutions to empower SMBs to launch, manage, and grow their business online, automate and digitize their operations, and expand their business globally by exporting to customers worldwide. These investments will help seed and scale-up innovation in the sector. Two additional focus areas will be agriculture and healthcare. In the Agri-tech sector, the Venture Fund aims to invest in Indian startups that are using technology to bring the best produce to consumers, make agri-inputs more accessible to farmers, provide tailored agronomy solutions to farmers to improve productivity, distribute credit and insurance to farmers or reduce food waste by building efficient farm to fork supply chains. In the Healthcare sector, the Venture Fund aims to invest in Indian startups that are using technology for doctor assistance, telemedicine, e-diagnosis, AI powered treatment recommendations or digitizing operations of healthcare providers such as independent primary care clinics, diagnostic labs, pharmacy value chain or specialty doctor clinics for improving access to a wider patient base agnostic of physical geographic location. Additionally, the Venture Fund will continue to invest in technology start-ups focusing on other sectors and themes as well where we can positively influence the livelihoods of SMBs. Towards this objective and as part of the Venture Fund, Amazon announced an investment in M1xchange a startup focusing on invoice discounting marketplace exchange for MSMEs (Micro Small and Medium Enterprises) established under the TReDS license (Trade Receivables Discounting System license). M1xchange connects MSMEs with banks & financiers (and vice versa) through the marketplace exchange and the MSME is able to assign its invoice dues to a bank or financier and receive financing at better rates; thereby, solving the payments challenge for MSMEs. As part of its commitment to digitize SMBs in India, Amazon will onboard 1 million offline retailers and neighbourhood stores by 2025 through the Local Shops on Amazon program. Amazon had launched the Local Shops on Amazon program to help bring offline retailers and neighbourhood stores online and supplement footfalls at their stores with a digital presence on Amazon.in. The program has scaled rapidly and in less than one year, has more than 50,000 retailers in 450 cities across India. To help the discovery of the unique local selection offered by these stores for customers, Amazon will launch a dedicated storefront on its marketplace which customers can access in regional languages and also encourage the participation of these local stores in onsite sale events. To enable additional revenue streams for them, Amazon will also provide them opportunities to be part of programs like I Have Space for last-mile deliveries and Amazon Easy for assisted shopping. The Spotlight North East initiative is designed to boost the local economy, create jobs and accelerate financial inclusion and empowerment of women and the tribal community across the North Eastern region of India. The program aims to bring the benefits of ecommerce to 50,000 weavers, artisans, a majority from the tribal communities, and local small businesses including offline neighbourhood stores across the region by 2025 by enabling them access to technology and customers. Amazon will focus on bringing 5000+ unique crafts, Geographical Indication (GI) products and other local products on its India marketplace. To showcase unique GI products and hidden gems like Chakshesang Shawls from Nagaland, Muga Silk from Assam, different types of weaves like Moirang Phee from Manipur, varieties of teas and spices like the Mizo Chilli, etc. Amazon will launch a dedicated North East storefront on its marketplace. Amazon will enable participation of artisans and weavers from the region in key sale events through the year to help generate demand for their products. At launch, Amazon is partnering with government organizations including TRIFED and NEHHDC to engage, skill and digitally enable artisan and weaver communities across the region. Additionally, with its ecommerce exports program, Amazon Global Selling, the company will help boost exports of special agri-commodities from North East like etc. to Amazon customers worldwide. Overall, the above three commitments are a further step in Amazons pledge of digitizing 10 million SMBs, enabling $10 billion in exports from India, and creating 1 million jobs by 2025 made during the previous edition of Amazon Smbhav in January 2020. Democratic Rep. Maxine Waters told Republican Congressman Jim Jordan to 'shut his mouth' when he asked Dr. Fauci when the pandemic will end and America will get their 'liberties' back. The House Coronavirus Crisis Subcommittee descended into chaos on Thursday when Jordan probed the White House COVID advisor on restrictions that have been place for a year. 'We had 15 days to slow the spread turned into one year of lost liberty,' Jordan said during the tense session. 'What metrics, what measures, what has to happen before Americans get their freedoms back?' 'Youre indicating liberty and freedom. I look at it as a public health measure to prevent people from dying and going to hospital,' Fauci told Jordan and said the US will return to normal when enough people are vaccinated. 'You don't think Americans' liberties have been threatened the last year, Dr. Fauci?" Jordan added. "They've been assaulted!". Fauci then told Jordan 'you're making this personal' when the Ohio Rep. said no one was allowed to criticize him. 'You need to respect the chair and shut your mouth!' Waters then interjected. It came after she opened her testimony by saying:' Dr. Fauci, I love you. Fauci was also chided by Reps. Steve Scalise as he testified alongside Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director Rochelle Walensky. Democratic Rep. Maxine Waters told Republican Congressman Jim Jordan to 'shut his mouth' when he asked Dr. Fauci when the pandemic will end and America will get their 'liberties' back 'We had 15 days to slow the spread turned into one year of lost liberty,' Jordan said during the tense session. 'What metrics, what measures, what has to happen before Americans get their freedoms back?' Scalise held up pictures of packed border facilities and accused the U.S. government of operating with a double standard. 'COVID-positive migrants are released into the country, and that's allowed - but a vaccinated person can't go to a restaurant?' Scalise said. 'Kids packed in crowded, poorly ventilated cells six inches, not six feet, apart for 20 hour a day or more - but we can't open schools for in-person learning?' Fauci answered Scalise's questions more delicately, while pushing back on Jordan's assertions. 'No doubt it's a very difficult situation at the border,' Fauci told Scalise. 'I mean obviously everyone would like to see that situation fixed, I know that it's a very difficult situation,' he added after the Louisiana Republican asked if migrants in custody should be following COVID-19 social distancing protocols. Jordan brought up the border too, pointing out how the Biden administration was violating the freedom of the press, by not letting journalists into the overcrowded facilities that Scalise had brought pictures of. 'Guess what! The press isn't allowed in those facilities,' Jordan said. 'Youre indicating liberty and freedom. I look at it as a public health measure to prevent people from dying and going to hospital,' Fauci told Jordan and said the US will return to normal when enough people are vaccinated. 'You don't think Americans' liberties have been threatened the last year, Dr. Fauci?" Jordan added. "They've been assaulted!". Fauci deployed a different tactic, telling Jordan, 'I think you're making this a personal thing and it isn't.' 'You are, that is exactly what you're doing,' Fauci charged. 'My recommendations are not a personal recommendation, it's based on the CDC guidance, which is underscored ...' Fauci continued, before being interrupted by Jordan. Jordan demanded, again to know 'what measures have to be attained before Americans get their First Amendment liberties back.' 'I just told you that,' Fauci said. 'No, you haven't given anything specific,' Jordan shot back. 'Right now we have about 60,000 infections a day, which is a very large risk for a surge, we're not talking about liberties, we're talking about a pandemic that has killed 560,000 Americans, that's what we're talking about,' Fauci replied. Jordan pointed to businesses being closed and people not being able to go to church and continued to press Fauci for a number. 'When 90 per cent of the members of Congress get vaccinated,' inserted the chairman of the committee, Rep. Jim Clyburn, a South Carolina Democrat, hitting the gavel to tell Jordan his time was up. The House's No. 2 Republican, Rep. Steve Scalise (pictured), held up pictures of cramped border conditions and asked Dr. Anthony Fauci why migrants weren't following the rules Americans were forced to We have never been and will never be a full-fledged part of Azerbaijan. Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh) Foreign Minister David Babayan on Thursday told reporters this, in connection with the remark that Armenias leadership, following the example of Syunik Province, actually recognizes the borders of the ex-USSR, and when asked what conclusions can be drawn from this. "The question is not clear. First, the NKAO [i.e., Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Oblast] self-determined even within the USSR. In 1991, the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic [(NKR)] was proclaimed. The process was carried out in full compliance with all working laws of the USSR and the norms of international law. Therefore, to say that the NKAO, NKR, Karabakh in general can be part of the present or of the Soviet Azerbaijan is wrong. We [Artsakh] have never been and will never be a full-fledged part of Azerbaijan. Everyone should understand that. But even in Soviet times, Karabakh had its statehood, and we were not subject to Azerbaijan directly in many domains," Babayan said. Roberts: 'The Pioneers' reveals great things done by common men Donus Roberts reviews the book "The Pioneers," which covers the history of what's now called the Midwest. The Amuwo Odofin Maternal and Child Centre (AOMCC) in Lagos State achieved zero mortality out of a total of 493 birth deliveries it recorded between January and March this year. According to figures made available to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), the hospitals normal deliveries were 246, while its caesarean section recorded 247 births during the first quarter of this year. Oladapo Soyinka, AOMCC Chief Medical Director, said the feat was made possible following staff motivation and synergy with partners. Mr Soyinka, who spoke at the hospitals Fourth Annual Stakeholders Meeting on Wednesday in Lagos, said the number one cause of maternal mortality in sub-Saharan Africa was bleeding without immediate medical response. Nigeria has about 512 maternal mortality per 100,000 births, one of the worst in the world, according to health minister Osagie Ehanire. Mr Soyinka said that AOMCC had at the beginning of the year set a vision of No Mortality. We decided that we will have zero tolerance for maternal mortality; any case that comes, we will give it our best shot, he said. He said, to achieve that, the hospitals staff were motivated by receiving rewards for every month that there was no record of maternal mortality. Mr Soyinka said apart from staff motivation, another major reason for the achievement of zero maternal mortality was the synergy between the hospital and its partners. He reiterated that having a good rapport with them had helped reduced issues that could lead to complications and maternal mortality. He noted that there were challenges which the hospital was able to salvage by having a responsive team. He said: We reached out to all the primary health centres, the Association of General Practitioners, traditional birth attendants, and made our numbers accessible. We are also working on early referrals, they can call to find out if theres a bed space or call to let us know they are transferring a patient to us. The Chairman of traditional birth attendants in Amuwo Odofin, the Medical Officers of Oriade and Festac have my number and can call me and say, somebody has been in labour and is bleeding. Immediately I receive such calls, I alert my hospital staff to get ready as we salvage the issue once they arrive. Earlier, Mr Soyinka said the hospital had increased its patient satisfaction benchmark to 90 per cent in 2021 from 80 per cent in 2020. He commended the Lagos State Government for helping it achieve the landmark by improving the hospitals manpower with additional doctors, nurses and laboratory scientists. He added that the hospital was already working on its space constraints and had collaborated with a non-governmental organisation to have additional buildings. ADVERTISEMENT Also, Mercy Alokha, AOMCC Director of Service Delivery, said the hospitals achievement was a result of feedback received from patients and stakeholders. Our patients are watching us and appreciating what we are doing. They have given us ideas on things they want us to do better. They want more rooms, privacy and confidentiality where they can consult with doctors without others listening. We are working on improving the space constraints, Ms Alohka said. (NAN)